Chapter 77

As the days turned into weeks, Avalina was trying not to get her hopes too high for the ground she had cleared, but it was hard. The Invisibles had given her seeds of many different types, and she had planted them all, whispering a prayer for rain as she did so.

The sun came through those thick clouds nearly every day now. Not completely, but enough to feel the warmth and see the beams. That first day, Avalina had sat in the courtyard on Mitternacht, hardly able to believe what she was feeling as its warmth seeped into her. Neither she or Mitternacht had felt the touch of the sun in a very long time, and the joy of it was enough to spring tears to her eyes.

It rained more in those weeks than it had for a long time, and Avalina thanked whoever would listen that her prayer had been answered.

It wasn't the pounding type of thundershower that was more of the normal for Prydain, it was the easy, gentle type of rain that worked itself deep into the earth instead of just running off it. Exactly what that hard, dusty ground needed.

Creeper visited the library more often to talk to her, but Avalina said nothing about it. He would never admit it, but he was just as lonely as she was, with no one to talk to. They spoke of many things, but Avalina bit her tongue and held her curiosity at bay about how he came into the Horned King's service.

"Creeper, are you from another land too, like the gwythaint is?" Avalina asked hesitantly one evening by the fire. It was raining heavily outside, barring her indoors for the rest of the night.

Creeper, rather than stiffening up like she had expected, looked puzzled himself.

"Well, uh. . .I suppose I am," he said slowly. "I remember coming here a long time ago when the Horned King first waged war with Prydain. He conquered other places first."

Avalina shivered faintly.

"I see. Did you have any family? Are there any others like you?"

The goblin now looked even more puzzled.

"I'm not sure, really," he said, looking down at his hands.

"I've served the Master ever since I can remember. I've never seen any more of my kind."

"I'm sorry, Creeper," Avalina said softly. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

Creeper looked up. "How are they bad?" He asked, cocking his head a little. "I can't remember anything that you asked about, so why would it be a bad thing?"

Avalina decided to ask him the question she'd been wanting to ask him.

"How did you come into service for the Horned King?"

Creeper shuddered, but replied.

"I'm not sure. The first thing I remember was waking up, like I'd been asleep for a very long time, and seeing the Horned King there. I've served him ever since."

"So you've never been free?" Avalina asked in shock. "Never?"

"I was, for a little while," Creeper admitted. "After the Master's first defeat I roamed Prydain's wilderness with the gwythaint until his return. I'd never felt so alive in my life."

"Prydain has that effect on you," Avalina agreed, before hesitantly asking, "How did the Horned King come back?"

"I don't know. I thought he was dead, and then. . .he's not anymore. I don't know how it happened."

Creeper shuddered hard.

"I really shouldn't be talking about these things. Master'd kill me if he found out."

Avalina nodded in understanding as Creeper jumped down from his chair.

"I have things to do."

"Thank you for talking with me," Avalina said softly. "I get lonely too."

Creeper turned back to her, looking irritated at first and with his mouth half open for a sharp reply, but the sincere look on Avalina's face stopped him.

"You're. . .You're welcome," he said in an uncomfortable rush, before hurrying out the door.

Avalina couldn't see the faint grin on his face.

Avalina trotted Mitternacht out to the plot to see if the rain had done anything. It had been several weeks of hacking up the earth, planting things, and then hoping. And Avalina's hope was beginning to falter. It had been so long. . .if the seeds were going to grow, surely they would have done it by now.

Dismounting, she carefully walked the length of the plot, looking.

'Its nothing,' she thought in disappointment.

'I should have known better to get my hopes up. The Horned King warned me not to. But I was so sure that if I worked hard enough, something would happen. I guess it's true. His lands *are* too full of Death for anything to grow.'

Disappointed, she began to turn away, just as something caught her eye.

Carefully stepping around where she knew the seeds to be, Avalina brushed away a tiny wet clump of dirt that seemed to be sticking straight up in the air, gasping as her hand came away.

A tiny sprig of brightest green straightened up, now freed from the little clod of dirt that had been holding it down, reaching for the sun with like a tiny green spear.

It looked so fragile, so delicate. . .and yet it had dared to grow. Here, in the lands of Death itself!

Avalina stared in awe, gently touching it with the end of her finger to see if it was really real.

"Great stars," she whispered. "It's alive."

Standing up, she shakily backed away, her voice coming out as little more than a squeak.

"It's alive."

Mitternacht looked over at her, right as her heart realized its joy and she leaped into the air.

"It's alive!" She shouted for all the world to hear.

"It's alive!"

The horse pawed excitedly, dancing, his rider's joy filling him as well.

"Oh, come on Mitternacht!" Avalina cried, leaping to the saddle, "We have to tell him!"

"Sir, you have to come and see! It's alive!"

"I believe you, but I must decline."

The Horned King's eyes softened slightly at Avalina's crushed expression.

"This is not like the horse," he told her slowly, hoping that she would understand. "Plant life, as you can no doubt see outside the castle, cannot grow anywhere in my presence. Even the lake water around the land turned foul, and the fish have gone."

"But why?" She asked curiously.

The Horned King sighed softly, the noise making Avalina's skin prickle.

"For I am Death, child, and life cannot exist around me. You must try to understand this. If I attempted to approach the little piece of ground you've worked so hard on, it would all be wasted in the blink of an eye. Would you want that?"

Sadly, Avalina shook her head.

"I suppose not. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. It is I that should be apologizing to you for being. . ..unable to enjoy these things."

The Horned King looked down at his terrifying shadow on the floor for a moment, before looking back up to her.

"But. . .its not your fault, is it?" She asked, a confused look on her face. "That you can't go near those things?"

The Horned King closed his eyes for a moment, before heavily turning away, not wishing to speak any more of the subject.

"Yes, child, it is. Now, run along and enjoy your day. I will see you tonight."

Nodding sadly, Avalina slowly backed out of the room, the Invisible shutting the door behind her.

'Too close,' the Horned King thought, fisting his hands into his robe.

'Too close.'

He had no desire to tell her anything about how he became the monster he was now, and he had very nearly did so. She had asked just the right questions and he had answered in just the right way to start down a memory lane he did *not* wish to revisit.

He would have to take precautions in the future. A past like his would scar the girl for life, and as curious as she was, he would have to be very careful how he worded things from now on.

She was too young, and too full of Life, to be faced with so much Death.

Avalina stood, a bit disoriented, on the top of a stone ledge, looking down at the floor, several dozen feet below her. Carefully, she tried to back away from the edge, only to realize that she could not. Her hands were tied above her head in a rather uncomfortable position, so high that she could barely place her feet fully on the stone.

To her left, close enough to touch, she saw a reddish-haired boy standing by her, in the same position. Eilonwy beside him, and an older man Avalina did not recognize at the other end.

She wanted to ask what was going on, but a gasp below drew her attention downward.

A massive hunk of black iron, covered in intricate designing, sat on a stone platform below them. She saw Creeper scurrying away to the side of the room, as a long, menacing shadow rose up the wall, seconds before the Horned King entered the room.

The atmosphere turned from dangerous to horrifying.

Avalina felt her blood freeze in her veins at the sight of him, her heart shivering, as he stared up at them. His features were twisted in a malicious, triumphant sneer as he raised his arm to indicate them.

"My, such a brave and handsome crew," he purred, his voice as sickening as gravel and honey as he placed his hands together in front of his chest in a mocking gesture.

"A pig-boy, a scullery maid, and a broken down minstrel."

Avalina felt her teeth shiver in her mouth as she watched him.

Turning away from them, he continued to speak as he reached for an object covered with a white sheet behind him, projecting his voice a little more to make sure they heard.

"Perhaps it may interest you to see what Fate has in store for you."

This was followed by the darkest, coldest chuckle Avalina had ever heard in her life. It stood her hair on end and froze her to the spot. She could sense his overwhelming triumph, his almost delirious victory in that laugh. A plan he had sought for an eternity to project was finally falling into motion, and nothing could stop him now.

Nothing.

In one swift, graceful movement, he had whipped off the sheet and raised his prize above his head, a decomposing skeleton in armor. Its arms and legs dangled down limply from his grip.

"Now, I call on my army of the dead!" He said imperiously, "The Cauldron-Born!"

Avalina trembled violently as she watched him place the skeleton into the Cauldron, before stepping back and raising his arms to the ceiling.

"Arise, my messengers of Death!" He nearly shouted, his voice echoing off the walls making him that much more terrifying.

"Our time, has, Arrived!"

At this, the floor began to vibrate slightly beneath her feet, and she stared in horror as the mouth of the Black Cauldron began to leak blood.

'What's happening?' She thought in a panic. She tried to ask the boy beside her, but no words would come out.

The Cauldron's taloned foot bit aggressively into the stone, as the Horned King threw his arms up again.

A blinding strike of fiery light spewed from the Cauldron, creating a red, burning mist in the air all around it. A flaming skull could be made out inside the fire, before a buzzing, light blue force surrounded it, pulling it and all the flaming sparks back into the Cauldron with a crack like thunder.

Instantly, a deathly-looking green mist began to seep from the Cauldron, going out over the floor and covering the entire room, which were full of human skeletons that had obviously been soldiers at one time.

Avalina's stomach pressed against her throat and she begged herself not to retch.

Across the room from them, a group of the Horned King's living henchmen were watching the proceedings fearfully. One of the bolder ones used his spear to jab at a bubble of the green mist that had pooled in front of him. The mist hummed threateningly as he did so.

A skeleton reared up so quickly from the mist, Avalina jumped, her eyes as big as saucers.

Her voice froze in her throat, the only noise she was able to make a gasp as two more joined the first and leaped out of the mist in a diving motion, falling on the men that were closest. They were dead before the others even realized what had happened.

The skeletons were *alive!*

"Oh, its horrible!" Eilonwy said softly in horror, watching the scene unfold below her as more and more skeletons began to rise, staring about with empty eye sockets, their skeleton fingers tightening around weapons of old in a rather habitual manner, as if repeating something they had done so many times in the land of the living.

The Horned King watched in wicked glee.

"My beloved warriors have come to life!" He rasped in triumph, watching them as anyone else might watch a celebration, basking in his long-sought victory.

"Long dead from centuries past! *Never* has anyone created an army like *thiss!*"

His pleasure in watching this terrified Avalina far more than the actual moving skeletons themselves.

"Go forth, my deathless warriors!" The Horned King ordered, extending an arm to the entrance.

"Destroy *all* in your path!"

Suddenly, the piece of stone Avalina was standing on crumbled beneath her feet, earning a cry of panic from her.

For one, horrifying moment she hung there, suspended in midair, the rope cutting painfully into her wrists, before it broke, not able to hold her weight any longer.

Avalina screamed as she fell through the air to hit the floor on her back, the other prisoners watching in horror.

"Avalina, look out!" Eilonwy screamed from above her.

Stiffly, Avalina sat up, to see a group of the animated skeletons moving purposefully toward her, weapons raised.

Leaping to her feet, she fled from them in terror.

Her movement only attracted more attention, and soon more Cauldron-Born were following her around the room, reaching for her with their skeleton hands.

She dodged one that grabbed at her face.

A sharp pain in her scalp was followed a ripping noise, and she guessed she had lost some hair, but she did not dare to look back.

Running, dodging, sidestepping, Avalina ran all around the room, trying to dodge them all, but there were too many! She shrieked aloud in pain as one grabbed her shoulder. Twisting, she leaped away, only to find the hand still gripping her. The rest of the skeleton was in pursuit of its missing appendage.

Screaming, Avalina yanked the hand off and awkwardly threw it away, falling over a step. In a panic she leaped up and ran blindly up the stairs. The only thing on her mind was getting away from the Cauldron-Born.

Raising her head, she gasped in horror and barely skidded to a stop in time, just out of the Horned King's reach.

Whipping around, she saw that the Cauldron-Born were coming up the steps behind her like zombies.

Turning back, she had no time to even scream as the Horned King grabbed her by the throat, his eyes alight with a murderous black fire.

"Why don't we have a little demonstration of my beloved army's killing efficiency?" He snarled softly in her face, her eyes wide in horror.

In one smooth movement, he tossed her backwards as if she weighed nothing.

Avalina landed hard on the steps, right into the Cauldron-Born.

She screamed and kicked and fought, but they swarmed her, holding her down.

One held its sword high over its head and struck down at her heart, and Avalina knew no more.

She was not aware she had been screaming until the silence filled her ears. Nor was she aware that she was sitting bolt upright in bed until she saw the fireplace snapping dimly on the other side of the room.

Shivering so violently the bed shook, Avalina huddled up by the headboard and cried.

. . . .So nobody says anything about my astounding creativity in Chapter 75's footer? I'm hurt :'( XD Lol just teasing. Still, reviews would be awesome, yo! XD