Chapter 74
Avalina turned another page on the book she was reading, barely noticing the door to the library come open.
She had read all afternoon yesterday and well into the night, her only breaks being supper-time in the dining hall and caring for Mitternacht.
She hadn't had a chance to read in months, and she was bent on making up for lost time.
Avalina had ridden Mitternacht this morning in the muck outside, letting him get some fresh air. It smelled so clean after the rain, and everything was wet. . .and she had galloped her horse in the mud for a little bit before cleaning up for the music hour, and then heading to the library.
Raising her head as a shadow crossed the floor in front of her, she saw Creeper standing by the hearth, warming himself at the little fire.
Despite the fact that it was rather warm outside, the rooms without windows, (the library included) remained cool all the time, so fires were always going.
"Hello, Creeper," she greeted kindly.
The goblin leaped into the air with a shriek, nearly falling into the fireplace, before whipping around to glare at her.
"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized, "Are you alright?"
The way the furniture around the fire was positioned, he must not have seen her. Either that or he wasn't paying attention.
"What's the idea?" He snapped, the firelight reflecting eerily off his mismatched eyes.
"Are you trying to kill me?"
"No," she said apologetically, trying not to shiver at the look in his eyes. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"I wasn't scared!"
Avalina chuckled.
"Whatever you say."
Growling, the goblin turned to leave, but Avalina stopped him.
"I really am sorry."
The goblin paused for a moment, and she took advantage of it.
"And I never got to thank you for showing me the gwythaint."
At this, the goblin turned back around to face her, his expression still a bit angry.
"Why'd you have to panic and take off screaming?"
"I thought it was going to attack me."
"You thought I'd let it?"
Avalina balked, temporarily at a loss.
"It was chained up, human, it couldn't hurt you! And I had to pay for your paranoia."
Avalina flinched at the memory.
"He could have done a lot worse. And I'd never seen a dragon. . .gwythaint," she corrected herself, "Before yesterday. I didn't know what to expect. You should have warned me what it was first!"
The goblin huffed angrily and turned away.
"But, thank you for showing her to me," Avalina said again. "She is beautiful."
". . .She?" The goblin asked, turning back around.
"You didn't know she was a girl either?"
"Of course not!" He snapped, embarrassed. "How was I supposed to tell? And what do you mean by, 'You didn't know either.' Who else didn't know?"
Avalina raised a brow slightly.
"Who else is in this entire castle besides us?"
The goblin stilled at this, and after a moment Avalina gestured to the chair across from her.
"Would you like to sit down?"
"If I wanted to, I would have."
"I wish you would."
"What's it to you?"
"Don't you ever get tired of no one to talk to?"
"No!"
"Why?"
"Because I don't get lonely!"
"I never said you were. You said that yourself."
The goblin opened his mouth a couple times, before snapping it shut. She had him there.
Grumpily, he stomped over to the chair and jumped up in it with a huff.
"Fine, human," he snarled faintly, "What is it that you want to talk about that is soooo important?"
Avalina paused.
"Well. . .um. . ."
'Great, now I've gone blank.'
"I don't know. What would you like to talk about?"
The goblin facepalmed, before glaring over at her with his good eye.
"How should I know? You were the one that wanted to talk in the first place!"
Catching the picture on the front of the book she was reading, an idea hit.
"Do you like flowers?"
"What. . .what kind of stupid question is that?" Creeper spluttered, staring.
"Do I *look* like the type of creature that likes *flowers?*"
It wasn't supposed to be funny. He was irritated already and Avalina was nervous. But the image of the little goblin gardening flowers all the colors of the rainbow and chasing the Invisibles all over with a spade was just too funny.
Laughing, Avalina looked over at him.
"Well, then, let's see if you can do better!"
"Fine," he snapped huffily, crossing his arms.
"Um. . .um. . .well. . ."
Avalina, laughing helplessly by this point, pointed at him through her laughter.
"Not as easy as it sounds, is it?"
Creeper snorted, but he couldn't help grinning slightly himself. Her laugh was infectious.
"Ok, ok," Avalina chuckled, "Let me try again. Do you like gwythaints?"
". . .No."
"Why not?"
"Well. . .well. . .why *not* hate them? They're just useless animals with no room for anything in their heads except survival instincts, and you have to take care of them whether you want to or not and the one in the stable ruined my life."
Avalina gaped for a moment before gathering herself.
"Well. . .that explains it."
"Explains what?"
"Exactly why Mitternacht dislikes you so much."
"What does that *horse* have to do with the gwythaint?"
"Nothing. I'm just saying that animals can pick up on whether you like them or not, and they'll act differently toward you because of it. Mitternacht tolerated Mueric because under that man's facade, he loved horses. Mitternacht could tell that a long, long time before I was able to. Whereas my brother just. . .doesn't like horses. Or animals in general, really, except on a plate. And Mitternacht knew this and distrusted him because of it. You don't like him, so its natural he would act the way he did around you."
"He almost killed me."
"But he didn't, did he?"
"What's your point, human?"
"Creeper, trust me, I've known him for years and I've seen him in killing mode. I also know when he's just playing, bluffing you into thinking he's going to. And take my word for it, if he really wanted to truly kill you, you wouldn't be here now. You'd be six feet under pushing up daisies."
"And here we are, back to flowers. Is that *all* girls talk about?"
Avalina laughed.
"No, but there's another other topic I love talking about. Which will it be, horses or flowers? Your choice!"
A silence followed.
". . .I hear the roses are lovely this time of year."
The Horned King had not noticed his feet had stopped at the entrance to the library until he looked inside and saw Avalina and Creeper sitting in chairs by the fire, talking.
After the initial faint surprise, he had been able to hear what they were saying.
"Oh, gardens are wonderful, Creeper," Avalina was telling him. "Especially flower gardens. They're so bright and pretty! There's a meadow that Mitternacht and I used to visit every day, and it always had the prettiest flowers you could ever see. And deer would graze, if you were very quiet, and squirrels would run up the branches above your head, and the birds would sing and preen their pretty feathers, and little fish would jump out of the stream and splash! There was Life everywhere you looked, you could just feel it! It was wonderful."
The Horned King would have been deaf not to hear the wistfulness in her voice.
"Why do you want a garden so much?" The goblin asked her. This grabbed the Horned King's attention.
"A garden would be wonderful, Creeper, but nothing grows here," Avalina told him softly. "This place, his lands, they are too full of Death for anything to ever grow. It would die before it even got started. If I had a bit of ground, perhaps I could try, but it could never work. Gardens need sunlight, and here there isn't any."
The Horned King got an odd, faintly heavy feeling in his chest as he listened.
He had forgotten that she had been around living things all her life. Whether they be animals, plants, trees or other people, they were all alive, and suddenly he realized what a shock to her it must have been, to give up everything with Life that she knew, to come and be his prisoner, surrounded here by nothing but Decay, so that Death would not claim the things she had given herself up to save.
He was reminded of how brave this child was, doing something grown men would not do.
Suddenly, the gift he had given her yesterday seemed rather insignificant, compared to her tremendous sacrifice. He was shaken from his musings by Avalina's voice.
"Besides, the Horned King gave me this beautiful library, any book I could ever ask for is here. I will be content to enjoy this. Reading was a privilege I was seldom granted before, and now I can read as much as I like."
'So easy to please,' he thought. 'She's had everything taken from her, and still manages to be happy, while being held a prisoner of a heartless monster like me. How does she do it?'
Slowly, he stepped away from the door so they would not see him and headed to his chambers.
'His lands are too full of Death for anything to ever grow. Without sunlight. . .'
'Just as I am too full of Death myself for anything to ever change me,' he thought heavily.
'And without even a heart to give a scrap of hope to. . .'
He gave a soft sigh.
'And yet. . .every time she sings, every time she plays, I somehow become fooled into believing that it might actually be possible. That perhaps all is not lost. That perhaps, I do have. . .hope.'
The memory of meeting the horse came to mind, followed by Avalina meeting the gwythaint, and then yesterday.
'She actually smiled at me,' he remembered.
'She stared right into my face, the face of the *Horned King*. . right into Death itself. . .and smiled like she would to a friend. And for a little while. . .she felt no fear. And for a short time I almost had. . .hope.'
The Horned King slowly entered his chambers, pondering over this in the undead way he had.
An Invisible brushed lightly around him, indicating something.
"What is it?" He ordered coldly.
"Sire, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but as of today you have thirteen moons remaining until your deadline."
The Horned King felt a shudder go through him as an image of the Cauldron flashed before his eyes.
"Leave me."
"Yes sir."
The door softly clicked shut.
Please take the time to review people! And anyone that hasn't seen it, check out Faerydame's Youtube video tribute to this fanfiction. Type in Horned King X Avalina Save Me and it should pop right up. Also, as of yesterday the video is on page 8 when you just type in Horned King and go browsing. How cool is that? XD
Today I passed 2000 views. I feel like CeLeBrAtInG! XD