Chapter 106

Weeks passed much the same as they had been. Games had now become a part of their frequent activities, and neither Avalina nor the Horned King had had any more relapses into the darkness that now pulled at them both.

Arawn had not tried to attack again, but this did nothing to lower the servants' guards in the slightest. They kept themselves prepared at all times.

The Invisibles had boarded up the castle windows to prepare for the coming winter, and Avalina had taken to reading to Creeper occasionally when he wanted to listen. He never stayed near when his master was present, however. Not that Avalina could blame him, given his history with the lich, but it still troubled her.

Avalina took the Horned King riding quite often, and not always to the ridge. She took him all over the forests in every direction, always making sure to stick to the back trails and stay deep in the trees, where no one would ever go. She knew this stretch of forest well and steered clear of the brush farmers she knew were nestled in the hills.

She spoke nothing of it to the Horned King, and he never questioned her choices on the trails.

There were more leaves on the ground now than on the treetops. The woodland was thickly blanketed with them, and only a few here and there clung stubbornly to the mostly-bare limbs as the weather grew steadily cooler at night.

The past several mornings Avalina had stepped outside to see frost on the ground and her breath in the air, and Mitternacht had rejoiced in the chill, the cooler weather making him frisky.

Avalina could tell by the way the sun shone, rose and set that there would not be many pretty days left, so early one morning when the day promised to be pleasant, she and the Horned King rode Mitternacht up into the hills for a little exercise.

Mitternacht was fitter than ever. Long days of racing the gwythaint in the summer and packing double through the autumn months had fleshed him out like Avalina had never seen. He had always looked like the warhorse that he was, but in these past months she could see how much stronger and swifter he had become, and her own heart was strengthened too with this knowledge.

They stopped at every meadow they saw to spot for deer, but there were not many out today. All they caught sight of at one meadow was a flush of white tails disappearing into the trees.

"They can see us now, with all the leaves gone," Avalina explained to the lich sitting behind her in the saddle.

"They'll be extra jumpy with winter coming on."

There were not as many squirrels now as there had been either, and the faint birdsong had vanished over the months as they flew to warmer lands.

Only yesterday afternoon had Avalina been cooling Mitternacht off after some brisk exercise around the castle and heard the calls of the wild geese.

She had watched them as they flew over her head in a V shape, so low she could hear their wings pumping and see their patterned plumage.

"Fly south! South! South!" Cried the leader, and so on until the others had taken it up as well and disappeared over the trees.

Avalina had stared in the direction they had gone for a long time, paying no mind to the chilly air until Mitternacht had lain his head on her shoulder with a soft sigh.

He had known what she was feeling.

Today she was going to a place she hadn't shown the Horned King yet.

It was one of her favorite places, no farther away than the ridge, simply a little more difficult to get to. Several main trails would have to be crossed before they could get there, and Avalina was cautious.

Easing Mitternacht up to the edge of the treeline by one of the trails, she whoa'd him and listened, turning her head this way and that.

Mitternacht followed suit, twitching his ears back and forth as he surveyed the common trail some of the brush farmers in these parts took.

When she could hear no one, she gently tapped his sides and walked him across the dirt trail that was wide enough to be a road, before slipping back into the trees and onto a discreet deer path.

Avalina wasn't exactly nervous, she knew all these trails by heart and brush farmers rarely traveled. This was about the time of year they would be going to the cities for supplies to last them through the winter though, and it paid to be careful.

Besides, you never knew if one could just be out for a stroll.

The leaves swishing underfoot made it impossible to sneak along, let alone hear anything other than themselves, so Avalina had to stop Mitternacht every few minutes to listen and make sure she couldn't hear anyone.

The day was cool, but nonetheless pleasant, and the sunlight, although somewhat dim, was cheerful.

A limb approached that was at least three to four inches thick, hanging over the trail, and Avalina was about to lean to the side to avoid it when the Horned King reached out and snapped it in two like it was nothing.

Mitternacht and Avalina both jumped at the sharp crack as wood bits flew from the break.

She felt the Horned King's faint amusement at this, and she turned her head to look up at him out of the corner of her eye, a faint smile playing at her mouth.

"Maybe a warning next time?"

The lich rumbled in his chest.

"Maybe."

After a few minutes, the Horned King spoke again when Avalina halted Mitternacht, his chest vibrating against Avalina's back with his words.

"Are you expecting trouble?"

"No, not really," she answered quietly, "But it pays to be careful. A lot of the wider trails are used by most of the brush farmers around here."

"I see."

The next time they stopped he spoke again.

"Where are we going?"

Avalina smiled.

"You'll see. It's a very pretty place. You can see for miles. It's not as pretty as the ridge, but it's still nice. People have picnics there all the time in the summer."

The lich gave a faint affirmative growl, and they went on.

After a while, Avalina stopped Mitternacht again at the top of a small hill to let him catch his breath, and gravity pushed her back slightly against the lich. Sitting up perfectly straight in her current seating position was a pain and rather hard to do, particularly going uphill, considering the Horned King had most of the saddle.

The practical thing to do to fix this would be for the Horned King to ride in the front, while Avalina, being smaller, rode behind, but neither of them had ever brought it up for their own reasons.

Avalina didn't bother bringing it up because Mitternacht, although tolerant of the lich, would be quite likely to throw a royal fit if anyone but Avalina touched his reins and tried to drive him, and Avalina did not want that. Mitternacht actually seemed to enjoy the lich's company a little bit, and Avalina did not want to ruin the magnificent progress they were making.

The Horned King did not mention it for much the same reason, but the girl was so small compared to him she wouldn't be able to see where they were going if she rode in the back. And she was the one behind all these outings in the first place.

The Horned King grasped the pommel of the saddle on either side of Avalina, and she did not bother to straighten up. The angle difference was scarcely noticeable at all, but it was much more comfortable, and as she rested slightly against the lich, she subconsciously pressed her left ear against him to listen.

Thump.

Thump.

She shut her eyes for a moment, feeling it bump against her eardrum.

Thump.

Thump.

It was his heartbeat.

Thump.

Avalina sensed something different around him, something she had felt before but could never name, and she pulled back.

"What?" She asked.

It took a moment for him to answer, as if she had shaken him from a deep line of thought.

"You seem to enjoy listening," he told her, and she couldn't help the uncomfortable blush that crept into her face at this.

"It's beautiful," she told him softly, and he stiffened.

Avalina winced at this, wondering if she had done something wrong.

It took a long moment for him to regain his composure, but she could feel no anger in the air.

She wasn't sure what had bothered him, but she had spoken the truth.

His heartbeat was beautiful. To her. And she didn't care about differing opinions.

Thump.

After a moment, she reluctantly eased Mitternacht back into a walk, and the shifting movement drowned it out.

"You think it. . .beautiful?" The lich asked the next time they stopped.

Shock was evident in his voice.

"Of course," Avalina told him softly.

"Don't you?"

He was silent for a long while, before giving a faint rumble in his chest that could mean one thing or the other.

A while later, Avalina reined Mitternacht to a stop and dismounted. The Horned King, seeing she meant to stop here for a while, followed with a faint questioning look.

"Mitternacht can graze or get a drink if he wants," Avalina said, slipping off the horse's equipment and indicating a stream several yards off to the side, "He would appreciate a break from being ridden, and we can walk up the hill. It's not that far."

Leaving his equipment on low hanging tree limbs, she and the lich began to climb. The hill wasn't steep but it was rocky.

"Race you to the top?" Avalina suddenly asked, a playful look on her face, watching him. The Horned King gave her a faintly challenging look, and Avalina took that as a yes.

"You're it!" She cried, lightly tapping his arm, before taking off up the hill as fast as she could.

Avalina heard him chuckle faintly as he gave chase, but she did not look back.

Running, running. . .she dodged rocks and trees, sticking to the woodland trail as she raced up, up, up. She could hear him in pursuit from somewhere behind her.

Adrenaline flowing, she pumped as hard as she could.

Finally reaching the top, she ran along the crest, following the trail to the picnic place. The path had been used more than the other trails, as it was a common place for people to frequent during the pretty months, so it was wider and a little smoother than the average forest trails she and Mitternacht were more accustomed to.

Breaking out of the treeline onto the grassy knoll that was their destination, Avalina slid violently to a halt, feeling as if she had been struck by lightning.

There were people already here.

They turned towards her, a male and a female, and for a single moment, it was silence.

"Avalina!" They cried, running toward her.

Avalina didn't know what to do. Too late to retreat. . .frozen to the core, she remained there as they approached, her mind having gone entirely blank as to what to do in this situation.

"Avalina, where have you been?" They asked, before stopping about twenty feet from her with a shriek and a gasp.

The Horned King was standing there behind her, having just came out of the trees himself.

Frightened, she glanced up at him, her heart suddenly beating double time in her chest, anticipating a negative reaction.

Before it promptly stopped, leaving her breathless with fright.

The Horned King was staring past her at the two individuals, and there was a look on his face she had never seen before. Not even when she had first been his prisoner, she had never seen this.

Never.

It was a look of pure, unbridled hatred, the likes of which Avalina had never seen on anyone in her life. It knew no bounds, and she could only stare in horror at him, frozen at the sight of so much fury.

She felt her blood turn to ice, his eyes flickering blood red, as he snarled out a single word, so soft and wicked in its hatred it could have been lost in the air, save for the emotion driving it forward.

"Pig-Keeper."

Well...he's dead. So very, very dead. Lol, did y'all think I'd forgotten about the movie's other characters and abandoned them? XD Surprise! XD But seriously, I think everyone reading can safely say the crap's gonna hit the fan now, huh? Please leave a review! :D