Chapter 87
After the meal, the Horned King walked Avalina to her room, despite the fact that he was still covered in the aftermath of the "Party." He left a trail of glittery confetti everywhere he walked, and Avalina thought this was hilarious.
So did the Invisibles.
Keeping out of his aura, Avalina felt most of the fear from her nightmare dissipate as they talked.
"Sire?" she asked hesitantly, the slight change in her voice causing him to look at her more intently.
"Yes?"
"Where did Creeper come from?"
The Horned King stiffened slightly and Avalina flinched, before he regained his composure.
"He was an accident."
Avalina's eyebrow came up, inviting him to go on.
"What happened?"
"What did he tell you?" The Horned King demanded.
"Nothing," Avalina said, jumping slightly in fright.
"He just said he doesn't remember any more like him, and. . .I was just wondering."
The Horned King was silent so long she didn't think he would answer her at all, but finally, his voice grated out into the air.
"He was a failed experiment I was working on. It did not succeed, and he was created instead. When I was working on a concoction to aid me in something, a small stone figure fell off the decaying castle and into my work area. Thus came along the Creeper."
Avalina noticed how callously he spoke of the goblin, how coldly, as if he did not care a single bit what happened to him.
"That item was for me, and he took it away," the lich growled softly to himself.
"He had no right."
"It wasn't his fault," Avalina said softly, "He was only stone when it happened."
Now she knew why he was so cruel to the goblin. She could feel his anger about the matter, and it scared her.
"Centuries of work, gone in a moment."
She wondered if he even remembered she was there.
"What was it that you wanted?"
"Nothing of your concern."
Frightened, Avalina asked no more.
When they approached her door and an Invisible opened it for her, she asked, "Are you angry about what they did? Earlier?"
The Horned King growled softly.
"Not as badly as they would like, I'm sure."
Seeing her expression, he softened slightly.
"It no doubt looked very amusing, yes?"
Avalina gave a small giggle.
"Yes, it did. You still look funny."
She laughed again as he looked down at his sparkling robe, feeling the weight of the ribbons hanging off his horns follow the movement.
"I can only imagine."
Giggling, she told him," And you still have cream everywhere."
"Don't remind me."
Avalina laughed as the Horned King slowly shook his head.
"I will let you retire."
As he walked away, Avalina suddenly remembered something.
"Sir!" She called, walking back up to him, still keeping her distance.
He turned back, stopping as he waited for her to speak.
"Yes?"
Avalina froze for a moment, wondering how to word it. She had to know, but at the same time, saying something about it could make him angry.
He stood patiently as she struggled with herself, frowning slightly when he sensed the desperation there.
"You won't kill my family, will you?" Avalina asked, her eyes clouding up.
The Horned King twitched a brow ridge. This was unexpected. She hadn't brought her family up for quite some time, and he wondered what had brought this on.
Her fear was building again, and then he understood. Her nightmare must have contained him killing her family in some way. He felt a surge of anger against Arawn for this, before he controlled himself.
"Not if you remain here," he told her, his voice colder than normal. "I will keep my word if you keep yours."
"Promise?"
He nearly huffed.
"Yes."
Turning away, he began to leave again as she whispered.
"Goodnight."
The word made him pause slightly, before he continued on his way, nonetheless answering her.
"Goodnight."
The garden was growing faster than Avalina had ever dreamed imaginable. It seemed to rise from the ground as if it were on wings. She swore, all she had to do was close her eyes for a moment, and then open them to see that the green things all around her had spread and grown taller in that one moment.
Weeding was almost minimal. Thick soft grass was spreading over the ground, with hardly a weed to be seen. The sun was warm, the breeze was cool and light, and the earth was rich.
Closing her eyes, Avalina leaned into the sun's warmth and the breeze's caress like someone else might their lover, scarcely able to contain how joyful she was.
The scent of the lakewater mingled with the scent of the flowers and green things all around, and Avalina inhaled deeply.
It smelled so wonderful, she wondered if the Horned King could smell it from the castle. . .
'The Horned King. . .'
Opening her eyes, she realized the sun was directly overhead.
'Music hour!'
Avalina gasped aloud and leaped to her feet, running toward the castle as fast as she could, fear aiding her feet.
'I'm late!'
In the two weeks since the Invisibles had been keeping guard, Avalina had had no more nightmares, and she steadily became more cheerful.
This pleased him.
What didn't please him was the fact that she was late. Avalina was never late.
The Horned King stared out of the window, watching the drawbridge. Watching for her.
He had been irritated at first, which then gave to wondering if something had happened.
He must not have been watching the drawbridge that well, for he heard her running feet coming down the hall toward the music room.
She was wise to run. He did not appreciate being kept waiting.
Her aura hit him well before she opened the door and came inside.
He turned around to say something reproachful, but stopped in mid-breath.
Dirt stains covered her split skirt and boots, proving she had been working in her garden. The sun had gently kissed her face, turning it so very faintly pink, and her hair looked as if the wind's breath had filled it and tossed it to and fro. The light in her eyes was so bright he thought for the briefest of moments that they might actually catch a greenish-gold fire. She looked completely. . .
'Angelic.'
The thought made itself known before he could stop it, but he realized it was completely true. In all his existence, he didn't think he had ever seen something, or someone, overflowing with so much life. . .Her aura was the strongest he had ever felt it, and he felt it wash against him as the scent of earth and flowers blew in the door with her. It was all so strong. . .weakly, he sat down as another wave assaulted him when she moved.
"I'm sorry, sir!" She gasped, obviously terrified that he would be angry. "I lost track of time and. . ."
The Horned King held up a hand for silence, still overwhelmed by the sheer power of her aura.
Trembling, Avalina fell quiet.
'Oh, he's furious!' She thought miserably, watching him.
'I am in so much trouble!'
The Horned King stared at her for so long she seemed to shrink under his gaze, not wanting him to finally voice his displeasure.
She jumped when he spoke.
"I will excuse you, this time," he told her, causing her to look up in relief, "On one condition."
Avalina tensed slightly.
"Y-yes, sir?"
Here, the Horned King paused, and when he continued, his voice was as monotone and gravelly as ever, but somehow it sounded. . .wistful.
"That you bring in the Life with you from now on."
"I. . .I'll try, sir."
The Horned King gave a brief nod.
"Good. Now," He said, twitching the fingers of his right hand faintly toward the piano bench, "You may begin."
It was very late that night, well after the meal, and the Horned King was walking through the castle, not anywhere in particular, when he happened to pass the library and see the fire still going instead of having burned down.
Carefully approaching the circle of furniture, he froze in surprise for nearly a full moment.
Avalina was stretched out on the couch by the fire, a book on her stomach, a page marked by one of her fingers, sound asleep. The firelight made her hair shimmer faintly in the darkness as it fell over the couch arm in tossing, curling waves.
Hardly daring to even move, the Horned King carefully inched closer, studying her. He sensed an Invisible in the room, but he paid it no mind.
He felt the strength of her aura press against him at the ten-foot mark, and he lifted a hand faintly, as if to touch it. It was so strong, so very strong, he half expected it to take a bodily form all of its own.
Of course, it already had. Avalina was the bodily form her spirit took.
Slowly, moving like the undead creature he was, he came closer, stepping inside the unspoken boundary they had mutually agreed on without ever having to say a word. Avalina could not stand his aura at such close proximity for very long.
He heard the Invisible give a soft, warning hiss as he bent down, and he remembered all too well what they had spat at him the day he had visited her while she had been recovering from her time in the dungeon.
'Don't you dare touch her! A monster like you doesn't even deserve to *look* at something like her!'
And they were right. They had been then and they still were now.
He didn't deserve it.
The Horned King carefully slipped the book from her fingers, marking it with a piece of paper she had on the table by the couch, silently reading the title as he did so.
'The Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.'
The Horned King twitched his head slightly.
'Fairytales.'
As he set the book on the table, a soft gasp drew his attention back to Avalina.
She panted slightly in her sleep, as if fighting for air, and he remembered his aura of Death he carried with him.
Slowly, so as not to rip it forcefully from her, he backed away from her, until her breathing eased and became regular again.
Despite the fire, the room was cool, and he did not miss the fact that she was shivering slightly.
He beckoned at the Invisible for a blanket.
"There isn't any available right now," it whispered. "I'd have to go get one, and that would take half an hour or more."
"Can't you conjure one?"
"The Fates were not happy we let Avalina hear us and so forth," the Invisible said sheepishly.
"Our conjuring gifts have been temporarily revoked."
"For how long?" The Horned King hissed angrily.
"About a week, I guess."
Snarling softly to himself, he stared at Avalina's sleeping form, which occasionally shuddered as a shiver went through her, before mentally throttling those blasted Invisibles.
'I cannot believe I am doing this.'
With a soft sigh, he undid the clasp that held his fur stole around his neck and beckoned for the Invisible to use it. He did not want to approach Avalina again. He could suffocate her without even trying.
The Invisible carefully laid it over her, her shivers stopping almost immediately, before the Invisible suddenly stiffened.
The Horned King could not see, but he felt the air change.
"What?" He hissed.
The answer was like a deadweight.
"Arawn."
The Horned King stiffened himself, his gaze immediately going to Avalina. She hadn't moved yet.
"Come, my friends!" The Invisible cried softly.
"He is here!"
Instantly the Horned King felt the area around the fire get rather crowded as the Invisibles formed a circle around the girl, talking amongst themselves.
"Is he already inside her head?"
"Yes, but he hasn't started acting yet. We have to push him back."
"How?"
"Turn his bad images into good ones before she sees them."
They grew silent after that, no doubt working. The Horned King sensed the need for silence and kept it. The last thing the Invisibles needed now was a distraction.
He stood there for a very long time, before finally sitting down in a chair, feeling odd without the familiar weight on his back.
Avalina shifted in her sleep, turning over to face the lich, snuggled comfortably under his stole. Her face held no tension or fear, and the Horned King sank his claws into the chair, willing her not to see the horrors his master was no doubt trying to unleash against her mind.
The Horned King had no idea what was going on, and it took all of his control to keep from demanding an answer. The Invisibles were having quite a time, he could sense their tension.
Once, Avalina's brow twitched down and she gave the tiniest of whimpers. To anyone else it wouldn't even be noticeable, but the lich was ten feet from her, and he gritted his fangs together, fighting down the urge to shake her awake then and there to prevent Arawn from even posing a threat for the moment.
'Fight it,' he thought, gripping the chair even tighter.
'Don't let him snare you.'
It must have been over half an hour later when the Invisibles finally gasped in relief, sounding worn, but triumphant.
"Whew, finally, he's gone."
"For now. But he'll be back, you can bet on that."
"He gave us a fair amount of trouble. For a second I was worried he'd broken through our defenses."
"He did, but Avalina didn't see a thing. She just felt danger in that dream she was having, until we chased him out."
"Boy, he was madder than a hornet."
The Horned King thought they sounded entirely too pleased with that fact.
He listened to them swap shifts, and the others left, with a promise from the one on guard to alert them immediately if there was the slightest hint of trouble.
Staring at the sleeping girl, the Horned King felt an odd spark rise up inside him.
His master had tried to hurt her again. And he had lost.
'You can go choke on your failure, Master,' He thought in malicious satisfaction, remaining seated, watching her.
'You're not getting her again.'
A gi-normous bellow-out to my very first reviewer and favoriter on here, Kitteninthemoonlight! Please accept this chapter as a birthday gift from me! I hope you enjoy it! :D And you girl, are awesome. Don't ever forget it! And when life gets you down, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. . ." Is it bad I know that whole thing? LOL I hope your birthday is epically awesome and totally tubular! LOL
And to Laughing jill. . .girl, I read *ALL* comments XD. They are treated with all the reverence of priceless jewels XD.