Chapter 95
The Horned King stood well outside the drawbridge, watching the rapidly approaching dust cloud through his spyglass.
Avalina and the goblin had constantly changed racing courses, since neither of them wanted their mounts to get spoiled by racing to the courtyard all the time.
Today it was a sideways track across the Horned King's land in front of the castle, and they had set up a stake for the finish line.
This was not the first time Avalina had invited him to watch from the ground. Mitternacht had met the Horned King many more times after the stone incident, and after the lich had finally began brushing him now and then at Avalina's urging, the horse now treated him as casually as he did the gwythaint and goblin.
But this was the first time the Horned King had finally accepted Avalina's offer.
He could hear the hoofbeats now, see them racing closer, like a streak of black lightning in the pale landscape.
They were coming up fast. . .he lowered his spyglass when they were only a few hundred yards from him.
He could hear the horse pumping hard. . .the gwythaint's wingflaps above them were so strong they scattered the mild covering of fall leaves on the ground below them.
They blew past him so hard he felt the dirt particles batter his robe, and he had to turn away as the dust cleared. He had seen the fire in the horse's eyes, reflected only by his rider's.
He heard Avalina laughing, saw the horse dancing excitedly as they pulled up to an easy stop, the gwythaint lighting gracefully on the ground by them.
Trotting Mitternacht up, Avalina called happily, "Did you like it?"
The Horned King gave a brief nod, saying nothing about how he had felt his very blood jump when the horse had swept past him.
"It was not un-enjoyable."
Avalina lightly lit down from the horse's back a few feet from him and rubbed the animal's neck.
"Good job, boy!"
Mitternacht snorted and tossed his head in agreement.
"It must feel. . .exhilarating," the Horned King said in his gravelly voice.
"Oh, it is!" Avalina gasped, and he noticed she was panting herself.
"No words in the world can describe it completely."
"I can only imagine."
Mitternacht came closer to him, his neck and head stretched out. He stopped at the point where the Horned King's aura became the worst and snorted through his nose, fixing the lich with intelligent eyes.
The Horned King did not move, and stood there as the horse regarded him with deep interest.
"Sire, have you ever ridden anything?" Avalina asked timidly.
The Horned King was silent for a moment, the still only being broken by Mitternacht's soft rumble in his chest.
"If I ever did, then I cannot remember it."
Avalina watched the two of them for a moment more, before going up to the horse and whispering something in his ear, perhaps in answer to the noise the animal had made earlier.
Mitternacht gave a sound in reply that was so soft the Horned King barely heard it, before Avalina turned back to him.
"Would you like to?"
The Horned King stared for a moment, before catching on.
"No."
"He won't mind."
The Horned King looked at her like she had lost her mind.
"He would truly go mad then, child, and then he would have to be destroyed. I cannot believe you would even ask that of him."
"I didn't ask him," Avalina said, looking hurt, "He asked me."
The Horned King's brow ridge twitched up in faint skepticism, but he could sense no lies in her face.
"Are you trying to get one or more of us killed? You told me yourself what happened to the king of Prydain, and also to your brother when he tried to ride without you."
"No. I just thought you might like to ride him, that's all," Avalina explained.
"Mitternacht didn't give King Gwydion or Arran permission to ride, but he just told me that if you want to, then you may."
The Horned King stared at her for a long moment, then back at the horse, who was still eyeing him thoughtfully.
"Please?" Avalina said softly. "He won't hurt you. I promise. He told me so."
The Horned King only looked at her and the horse with a thoroughly disbelieving look.
"I do not think. . ." He began.
"Think what?" Avalina asked softly.
"It's a good idea? That I'm wrong? You told me I had a way with horses, so why don't you believe me?"
"I do believe you," the Horned King answered, a bit uncomfortably.
"But even assuming that he will be quiet, the idea of jostling up and down does not appeal to me."
Avalina was quiet for a moment, before she softly asked, "Sir?"
The Horned King looked at her.
"It's actually very smooth. Some horses aren't, but Mitternacht is. You. . .may not know anything about riding an animal of any type, but that won't matter. You don't have to worry."
"I am not worried," the Horned King replied.
"Simply contemplating."
Avalina glanced up at the horse, then back to the lich.
"He knows."
The Horned King looked back at the horse, who was eyeing him calmly, almost challengingly, as if saying, "Well, what will it be, undead? Which choice will you make?"
Mitternacht snorted softly and twitched his ears, eyes never leaving the lich.
"Please?" Avalina said softly, choosing her words carefully.
"You don't have to if you don't want to, but it's a feeling unlike anything else in the world. You can trust me."
The Horned King looked down at Avalina, then to the horse and back again, taking in her almost pleading look, and the waiting stare of the horse, weighing his options.
He could refuse and be done with the whole thing. This was a foolish idea and he should have banished it from her mind the moment it came up, but the more she talked about it the more he wondered what it was like to ride the storm like Avalina did, to race along so fast. . .
Or he could accept Avalina's offer and the challenge the horse had clearly dealt him and trust Avalina's word that the animal would not act up. The Horned King had no fear of being thrown, but it would be most undignified and once he ever started he knew he would never be able to walk away from it if the horse really did toss him off. The Horned King never backed down from anything.
He nudged away a faint but vaguely annoying image of Avalina's hurt expression should he refuse to ride. She had offered the chance to him, whether he took it or not was another matter.
After several moments, his answer was so soft it could hardly be heard.
"Very well."
Avalina smiled happily and went to the horse's head.
"Ok, come here!"
She silently prayed this would work as the Horned King's aura drifted over her and made it harder for her to breathe. Mitternacht had never given her a false signal before, and she knew she couldn't have misinterpreted what he told her. It was like he knew that she wanted the Horned King to experience the exhilarating freedom she felt every day. The horse could sense his heavy feelings just as easily as Avalina could, if not more so.
Horses were perceptive like that.
Mitternacht stood calmly when the Horned King laid a hand on his neck, though he turned briefly around to glance at the lich, the white showing faintly around his eye. After a moment, however, he returned his attention to Avalina at his head.
The Horned King placed a hand on the cantle and the other on the horn, looking back at Avalina and the horse.
Mitternacht stood quietly, waiting, but kept his ears back however, no doubt to pay attention to what was going on at his side.
After watching Mitternacht a moment and saying something indecipherable to him, Avalina nodded at the lich in a go-ahead.
The Horned King cautiously slid his left foot into the stirrup and watched the horse's ears, which stayed back but never moved.
After another moment or two, he rose from the ground and placed himself in the saddle with such a smooth, graceful movement it took Avalina's already struggling breath away. She stared up at him in surprise as he settled himself into the saddle carefully, his unease evident.
He looked down at her, shaking her from her thoughts and back to reality.
"See?" She said squeakily, realizing it wasn't quite so hard to breathe as she remembered from last time, "It's not so bad, is it?"
The Horned King shot her a withering look.
"We will see."
Avalina noticed his hands were gripping the horn and swell of the saddle-front so tightly his skin was a lighter green than usual.
'He's worried,' she realized, but she kept her mouth shut, knowing better than to say anything here.
'Or very uneasy.'
Lightly keeping a hand on her horse's muzzle, she told the Horned King, "Now, rub his neck and talk to him. Tell him he's a good boy."
The lich ran his hand across the right side of the horse's neck, and Avalina couldn't help but grin when she saw him pulling all the unruly locks over to the left side where the other half of Mitternacht's mane was.
"Good boy," the Horned King dredged out with an effort.
The horse acknowledged his touch by turning his head slightly sideways to look at him with one glossy eye before turning back around to the girl.
Taking Mitternacht's bridle, Avalina instructed, "Now, press your heels lightly against his sides and say, "Walk on."
The Horned King slowly did as she said, and Mitternacht shifted, one ear back and one cocked forward to listen to Avalina.
"Come on boy," she murmured, tugging lightly on his bridle and beginning to lead him away, "That's a way."
The horse followed her immediately, one ear back, paying attention to his rider, as Avalina was doing.
The Horned King was not prepared to feel the horse walking beneath him and gripped the front of the saddle tighter, and Avalina noticed how pale his hands were around the joints.
It was unlike anything he had ever felt.
The rolling shift of the horse's back, shoulder and hindquarter muscles as he placed one foot in front of the other was so foreign to the lich, he constantly felt he was going to fall off, which did not help his unease much.
Gripping the horn and swell of the saddle as tightly as he could, every bit of him was tense as Avalina slowly led the horse out across the ground.
"You don't have to grip the saddle so hard," she softly tried to reassure him.
"You're not going to fall off, I promise."
The Horned King kept his fangs gritted to prevent from saying something cutting and only nodded. He hated being in a situation he couldn't control, and this was one of them.
He couldn't control this horse, should he take the urge to go cavorting like the lich had seen the animal do with Avalina sometimes. How had she talked him into this again? He looked down at her and caught a glimpse of her smiling up at him before she turned back to walk alongside the horse's head, her hair blowing out behind her slightly in the breeze and mingling faintly with Mitternacht's mane.
'That's how,' a little voice told him inside his head. He shut it out and concentrated on staying on the horse, unprepared for the faintly warm feeling he got inside his chest at the thought.
'She smiled at me.'
Slowly, he felt himself relax, a little bit at a time, his body movements molding to the horse's easy, rolling gait. Avalina had been right. He was a smooth horse to ride. He had expected it to be rough and ungainly, the way it looked on a lot of horses, but this was...dare he say it? Pleasant.
Mitternacht felt the change in the rider and relaxed a little himself, flicking that one ear forward to match the other one, watching Avalina, his head dipping slightly with his steps, before moving it back.
Avalina did not look back, but the way the horse had relaxed a little told her the Horned King was feeling better, and she smiled in relief.
She noticed he never touched the reins, which she was grateful for. She hadn't told him not to, but she was glad he had known better. Mitternacht's behavior with other riders had possibly convinced him.
Slowly, she led the horse in a circle, not bothering to hold his bridle. He followed her like a dog at her side.
Looking back at the Horned King, she saw him sitting in a more relaxed posture than before, his hands not gripping the leather quite so tightly, sitting back in the saddle like someone who had ridden many times before. The tension he was under was still obvious, however.
"I believe that is enough," the Horned King finally dredged out after several more minutes of walking. The tone in his voice made Avalina whoa the horse and turn back.
He slowly dismounted, standing by the horse for several moments, one hand on the saddle, and Avalina realized something was not right.
"Are you alright?" She asked him in concern, seeing how his eyes...or, eye sockets, rather...were a bit larger than normal, and he hadn't let go of the horn just yet.
He turned back to her and seemed to compose himself, removing his hand from the saddle as he did so.
"Yes," he answered her, "Your concern is needless."
"How'd it feel?" She asked, hearing nothing sharp or cold in his tone.
"It is as you described. It feels like nothing else in the world."
Avalina grinned happily as the lich backed a few feet away from them, clearing the air around her of his aura.
"So, you liked it?" She asked, scratching the horse's neck.
The Horned King nodded faintly in response, which made Avalina's grin grow wider and dance slightly on her feet.
"I'm so happy!"
Together, the three of them headed back to the castle, the lich and the girl talking lightly, the horse walking steadily beside her.
First off, I apologize for the insanely long wait. I didn't mean to take this long to update. First it was real life, then it was a lack of inspiration to write, then it was real life again, and then it was writer's block. -_- Not a pleasant combo. Anyhow, the point is, I'm back on track and so is this story, and I hope to be updating constantly again as soon as possible. Thank you all for sticking with me, if you still are XD. I also got a new reader during this long absence, so that's a good thing XD. I won't call you out or anything, but thank you for following my story! It really does me a whole lot of good:)
lawson out! And please, if you don't mind, leave a review! XD I hate it when nobody reviews.