Chapter 80
As Avalina had fearfully predicted, Mitternacht's stone bruise was rather bad, rendering him unridable for a few days.
Mitternacht was as disappointed as she.
Over the next few days, when the Horned King did nothing that could be considered different or aggressive behavior towards her, Avalina's fresh fear of him began to cautiously wane. He acted the same towards her as he had for several weeks, and Avalina's new internal struggle brought on by her terrible nightmare slowly began to dim as the Horned King did nothing out of the ordinary. (At least, out of the ordinary with his usual behavior)
One day after the music session, Avalina was standing in the courtyard, watching Creeper ride the gwythaint. Up and down, back and forth through the air, the dragonic creature moved as gracefully as any bird, able to do maneuvers at a speed that was surprising for an animal of that size.
She was so entranced, watching, that she did not notice the Horned King behind her until he spoke.
"Enjoying the display?"
Avalina nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Y-yes sir, very much," she stammered, looking nervously back at him.
He came up to stand beside her in the courtyard, watching the gwythaint, Avalina turning back to watch as well.
"She's beautiful," she murmured, watching his face.
The Horned King's breath rattled in his throat, staring upward.
"Showoff."
It took a moment for her to realize he was speaking of the goblin.
"Have you ever flown before?" She asked him.
A pause.
"No."
"I think it would be amazing. It looks like it."
"Perhaps."
"How does Creeper do it so well?"
"He's had years of practice."
"Oh."
After a pause, Avalina asked, "Is it hard?"
"I don't know."
Avalina and the Horned King stood together for several minutes, watching the graceful acrobatics of the gwythaint as it arced through the air, its wings pumping in smooth, powerful strokes.
"It looks like it would be fun," she said softly to herself, unaware she had voiced her thought out loud. Too busy watching the scene above her, she didn't notice the Horned King glance over at her.
"Hm."
After a minute more, he raised his arm and beckoned slowly. The gwythaint immediately turned in his direction, losing altitude, and landed gracefully in the courtyard.
Creeper, shivering in fright, stammered out, "Y-y-es, Master?"
"Get off."
The Horned King's voice was like stone, making Avalina stiffen in fright. Terrified, the goblin dismounted the gwythaint and slowly came over to the lich, dreading what he might do, the gwythaint following him over.
Avalina held out her hand in greeting, and the gwythaint happily allowed herself to be petted, ruffling her wings slightly as she did so.
"Hello, beautiful," Avalina told the creature happily as she ran her hands over the gwythaint's slender neck, "We really must think of a name for you soon."
The gwythaint's yellow-green eyes burned as it sniffed the girl over, those massive wings coming out again proudly, sitting in a folded upright position, almost like dog ears.
The Horned King scrutinized the pair for a moment, thinking, before he gestured to Avalina, the movement catching her eye.
"Get on."
"What?" Avalina asked, startled, staring at him with huge eyes.
"You heard me."
"But. . .B-but. . .I can't ride a gwythaint!" She sputtered in shock.
"I don't know how!"
"You've ridden horses."
"Sir, I've ridden *a* horse!" Avalina corrected him. "I've never ridden any animal other than Mitternacht and the ox at home. That's it. I don't have any experience with anything else."
The lich regarded her in faint surprise, a brow ridge lifted slightly.
"Then for someone with such a limited experience, you still ride better than most people I've seen," he finally told her, gesturing to the gwythaint again.
"Now get on."
Avalina uncomfortably looked up at the gwythaint's back, then uneasily back at him.
"I don't want to fall. . ."
"If she taught Creeper to ride, then she can surely handle you. You already know a little, which is more than he did."
Avalina glanced at Creeper, seeing his slightly crushed expression, then back at the Horned King as he finished speaking.
"Now get on. She won't let you fall."
Shaking slightly, Avalina went around to the left side of the animal, her back to the lich. She noticed hollowed out corncobs had been stuck on the spikes on the gwythaint's withers, to prevent the rider from getting impaled.
Trembling, she placed her left hand firmly around the rear spike, the other resting on the gwythaint's back. The animal, when standing more or less upright on its legs as it was now, was as thick as a well-built pony through the girth and about 14 and a half hands high at the withers, a dwarf compared to Mitternacht's 17.1 hands.
Curious, the gwythaint watched her, its wings still out slightly.
Taking a deep breath, Avalina bent her knees slightly, before throwing her right leg over and pulling the rest of herself on, all in one smooth motion.
The gwythaint shifted a little, not used to carrying anything heavier than the goblin, and eyed her, but there was no aggression in its gaze.
"Please don't throw me," she whispered softly, causing the gwythaint to turn its head right around on its long, serpentine neck and regard the girl.
"Hang on," the Horned King instructed her as he raised his arm, "Tight."
Avalina barely had time to grip the spikes with both hands before the gwythaint spread out its wings and thrust itself off the ground.
Avalina couldn't help but shriek as the animal under her leaped into the air and pumped its wings hard, beating a tattoo in the air as it rose steadily higher, throwing its head up and down for extra momentum.
Gripping her legs tightly to the gwythaint's sides, she squeezed her eyes shut and held for all she was worth as the gwythaint continued to rise.
'Oh, Fates, don't let me fall!' She prayed.
'I don't want to die today!'
The gwythaint leveled out then, spreading its wings to its fullest as it rode a warm updraft, coasting on the wind.
Avalina dared to open her eyes a tiny crack, before they popped open in frightened awe.
She was flying.
Looking up, all she saw was black and red, sliced through with scattered sunbeams. It was all around her. The threatening clouds looked even moodier up close, but somehow they didn't look quite so ugly.
And for the first time since Mitternacht had gotten injured, Avalina felt. . .free.
And then she looked down.
The land was so far below them the castle looked small. The trees looked like broccoli tops from up here, almost like they did at her secret place back at home.
The only clear space below them was the Horned King's grounds, the forest came up like a green flood and hid everything else from view on every side except the lake, which spread out toward the north as far as the eye could see, save for the treeline hidden away on the other side. The area around the Horned King's castle was darker and foul-looking, but as the gwythaint coasted out, she could see the rest, beyond the Horned King's reach, filling up the horizon, sparkling in the sunlight like a sea of bluest diamonds.
They were so high in the air Avalina felt herself grow dizzy, and she clung to the gwythaint tighter in fright, praying desperately she wouldn't fall off.
The gwythaint banked slowly to the left, its neck stretched out, scanning the scenery below them like a hawk.
They took a wide circle across the blue part of the lake, and then out over the green forest, the fresh, clean air hitting Avalina's lungs like cold water on a hot day. Oh, how she had missed this. . .
Tightening her grip, she leaned slightly over to the right to see better, the gwythaint going along with her.
With a start, Avalina realized she'd been unconsciously steering the gwythaint the way she wanted to go. And the gwythaint had obeyed her!
In wonder Avalina leaned slightly to the left. The gwythaint coasted left. It was almost like riding Mitternacht!
Gripping the gwythaint firmly, she slid her legs forward slightly onto its slim shoulders. The gwythaint gracefully began to lose altitude, sinking down steadily.
Avalina let the animal coast over the treetops, enough where she could reach out and touch them if she wanted.
The gwythaint gave an odd clicking noise, turning its head sideways to look at her with one eye.
'It wants to play,' Avalina realized.
The Horned King must have trusted the gwythaint quite a lot in order to let Avalina ride at all, and he had obviously been impressed with her skill as a rider.
Avalina loved riding. More than anything else. More than reading, more than music, more than anything. And she loved to gallop. And the rider side of her, if she acknowledged it, was aching to know if this gwythaint had another gear.
The rider liked to go fast.
Taking a slow, deep breath, she gripped the gwythaint's spikes tightly and closed her eyes for a moment, steadying herself.
She was about to do something most people would consider insane. But so had she all those years ago, when Mitternacht had first taught her how to fly.
'Alright then.'
Quickly she slid her legs forward, aiming the gwythaint at a hole in the forest roof, where a tree had fallen a little while back, leaving a blank space.
The gwythaint loosed a sound that sounded like a cackle of triumph, rising a little in the air, before folding its wings and snaking down.
They narrowed their eyes as the gwythaint plunged through the opening, opening its wings the instant they were clear.
The deep shadow of the forest allowed hardly any sunlight inside, but there was enough to see by.
The gwythaint folded and opened its wings in flawless timing, sliding in between the trees like a wraith of the air, leaning itself this way and that, Avalina going along with the movement, concentrating on steering.
One wrong move would have consequences. The trees were so thick down here. . .they would have to be extremely careful.
Dipping, rising, ducking, dodging. . .
They burst out into a small meadow, sending birds flying everywhere, and Avalina slid her legs back, asking the gwythaint to rise.
The gwythaint shot straight up like an arrow in flight, its massive wings pumping hard to gain altitude.
Higher, higher. . .Avalina gripping the gwythaint tightly, leaning forward over its neck as much as she could to aid the creature.
Higher, higher. . .it was so effortless. . .Avalina concentrated on the menacing clouds above their heads, narrowing her eyes at them in defiance.
"You don't scare me."
The gwythaint snorted hard and gave a sharp, short cry of excitement, fueled by its rider's adrenaline.
It liked to go fast too.
Reaching the cloud wall, the gwythaint did not stop, instead shooting straight through.
All Avalina could see around her were swirling mists of red and black, all around her.
She couldn't see.
A little apprehensive, she leaned closer to the gwythaint, right before they burst through the mist and into the full sunlight.
Avalina closed her eyes as it hit her body, the heat traveling through her skin to meet the blazing fire inside her heart.
The two fires met, and for a moment, all was still. There was no tomorrow. No yesterday. No boundary between earth and sky.
For this one moment, *this* moment, was all that mattered. Only this.
Avalina's joy had been building throughout the entire flight, but now she couldn't hold it in any more.
She burst out laughing in joy, that fire filling her up, the sound all but lost behind them as they swept through the air. Tears of overwhelming happiness stung her eyes, her hair whipping behind her.
Coasting out above the mist, Avalina could not make out anything below her, but judging by the contented, relaxed way the gwythaint was flying, she did.
And she also felt a little tired.
Avalina reluctantly decided it was time she went back to the ground. She didn't know how long the gwythaint had been worked before she came out to watch, and it was best to be careful.
Leaning forward so the animal could hear her, Avalina whispered excitedly, "Let's make it a finale to be proud of."
The gwythaint gave a proud screech and readied itself, before going up slightly.
Folding its wings as tightly to its body as it could, folding tightly over Avalina's legs in the process to help hold her on, they plunged straight down.
They broke out of the mist like a strike of lightning, leaving a dark cloud trail behind them that followed for a little ways before dissipating.
Avalina's stomach rose to her throat from the speed, and she thanked the stars it was empty.
They headed straight for the courtyard, Avalina loosing a yell of triumph as the fire filled her chest to bursting.
"Whooo-hoooo!"
She felt the gwythaint try to slim itself down even more to accelerate.
The courtyard was finally beginning to look less like a small grey circle and more like a cobblestone structure as they ripped through the air, faster than Avalina had ever gone in her entire life.
Her hair was snapping madly behind her, and the wind whistled in her ears.
Her eyes blurred with tears as the air stung them harshly, but she narrowed them and forced herself to keep them open.
She was going to remember this. Every last second of it. The pain didn't matter in the slightest.
The courtyard was coming up at a phenomenal speed.
Avalina had quit steering a long time ago. The gwythaint knew its body better than she did, and it would know when to stop.
Breathing was all but impossible as the wind hit her, her chest resisting with every breath.
'A little longer,' she thought, drawing another breath.
They were coming down at the speed of a flying arrow.
She felt the gwythaint stiffen underneath her, and she heeded the warning, gripping the spikes even tighter and hugging the gwythaint with her legs for all she was worth.
Three hundred yards. . .two hundred. . .fifty. . .
'Almost there. . .'
Over the screaming wind, Avalina wondered briefly if she heard the Horned King roar something.
At the last possible second before they did a vertical nosedive into the courtyard, the gwythaint whipped out its wings and flared them wide, the sound making a crack in the wind like a tree ripping right in half.
With hardly a foot to spare, they coasted out over the courtyard, the gwythaint gracefully rising to avoid Mitternacht's stable and doing a small circle above the courtyard, before gracefully floating down to light in front of the castle steps, faintly stretching its wings before folding them neatly to its sides.
Gasping for breath, Avalina sat there dazedly for several long moments, before looking over at her audience.
The Horned King and Creeper were staring at her like she had sprouted horns of her own.
They both wore the exact same dumbstruck expression. . .their brow ridges nearly disappearing into the folds of their hoods, mouths hanging open as they stood there, their arms and shoulders completely slack.
Avalina couldn't help it. She cackled out loud at their expression and was not one bit afraid or sorry for it.
Unable to speak from lack of air and helpless laughter, Avalina slowly slid off the gwythaint's back.
Her legs crumpled underneath her, unable to hold up her weight, dropping her to the courtyard, and she realized she was so weak she could hardly sit up. Her entire body shook uncontrollably as she alternated between laughing to her heart's content and gasping for breath, the gwythaint sniffing her over, seeming rather pleased with itself.
Leaning back against the gwythaint's hind leg, too weak from her adrenaline rush to even sit up by herself now, Avalina laughed like there was no tomorrow, remembering the ride and all its exhilarating freedom. . .before cracking up all over again at the slack-jawed expressions on her audience's faces.
Barely able to breathe at all, all she could do was point as she laughed and laughed and laughed.
Words would have to wait.
Ok, just to clear up any questions anyone might have that isn't as horse crazy as me XD. A hand is how people measure horses. There are four inches in a hand. So, the gwythaint, at 14.2 hands, would be four feet ten inches tall at the withers. Mitternacht, at 17.1 hands, would be five feet nine inches at the withers. And the height limit for Friesians is 17 hands even, but this is my story, a work of fiction, so nobody should get too worked up that Mitternacht is an inch taller than Friesians are normally allowed to be in real life. This story has dragons and a lich in it for crying out loud XD lol!
I really hope ya'll are enjoying reading this, because I am having an absolute blast writing this. :D