Chapter 109

"So, you're saying. . ."

Taran tried to comprehend everything Avalina had just told him as she pulled his shirt back down, her bandaging attempt over.

"That he's. . ."

Taran couldn't believe anything she told him.

"He's. . .doing. . .all that? And. . .*playing* with you?"

The shock in the boy's voice made it sound like he was squeaking.

"Yes," Avalina replied.

"You mean he's. . .changed?"

"Well, I. . .I *thought* so," Avalina answered.

"At least, until. . ."

She couldn't bring herself to finish, feeling like a traitor for even starting the sentence.

In truth, however, she felt that she had been the one to be betrayed. She had been so certain she could trust him, not only as an acquaintance, but as a friend, and then. . .all this had happened. Her head hurt terribly, but the emotional wound at his action hurt far more than any physical pain ever could.

Taran was still struggling to understand.

"But he's the Horned King!" He sputtered.

"He doesn't care about anythi-ah!"

He gasped as his ribs creaked together.

"Careful!" Avalina cautioned him.

"It just doesn't make any sense! Nothing you told me makes sense!" He exclaimed softly when the pain had worn off a little.

"How did he come back?"

"I can't explain it either, Taran," Avalina said.

"I can't explain any of it, nor do I understand completely. All I know is that he's *different* than he used to be. He's been rather. . .kind to me."

She had withheld telling him most of her story, for some reason feeling rather protective of those memories. She knew it would be fuel for her argument in the Horned King's defense but she couldn't make her tongue work to tell him, feeling like she would be spilling much valued secrets. So she had simply told him the main points and no more.

Taran could only stare at her like she was some sort of blathering idiot. To be honest she couldn't blame him. She probably would too.

"Kind?" He whispered in shock.

"Kind?! *Him?!* Avalina, you must be delusional! He's the *Horned King!* Nothing can compare to his evil!"

"I'm not lying, Taran!" She told him as she slowly helped him to his feet, "I'm telling the truth! Everything I told you actually happened. The death of the entire Mad Pack should have been evidence I'm not making this up! He saved my life that day at risk of his own!"

Taran groaned in pain as he stood, not resisting as she draped his good arm around her shoulders to help him walk.

"And he saved Eilonwy today," Avalina added.

Taran was silent for a moment, thinking everything she said over.

"He only saved her to use her as insurance I would not flee. He wants me dead, Avalina."

Avalina trembled at this.

"I know," she murmured.

"If only Eilonwy had been trapped with us! Then you could be long gone before he ever reappeared."

"So could you," Taran hissed through clenched teeth as another wave of pain went through him.

"You could be free from him."

"I can't, Taran," Avalina reminded him.

"How can you stand there, after he's threatened to kill you, your family, your friends and your country if you do not remain his prisoner, and call him 'kind?'" Taran bit out.

"He's the most wicked, heartless creature on the planet! He's not kind, he's not anything good! Not anything! He's the epitome of evil in its purest form, and you-!"

"You don't know him like I do, Taran!" Avalina cut in, on the verge of panic. Why she felt suddenly desperate, she didn't know.

"Know him?!" Taran exclaimed.

"What is there to know about him? He tried to kill me! Twice, in fact. He would have destroyed the entire world and murdered everyone in it on top of all that. What else is important to *know* besides that?"

"But you killed him! Wouldn't you be at least a little upset at someone if they killed you?" Avalina pressed. She was hopelessly straddling the fence here, but what choice did she have? She wanted to agree with Taran. Everything he said was right. But everything she had said was right too. And why was it that she felt so angry at Taran, despite the fact that everything he was speaking was the truth?

Taran was silent so long she wondered if he would answer at all, but finally he rasped out, "I don't know what to think anymore. All of this is just so insane. I wish I knew what to believe."

"Believe me," Avalina pleaded.

"Please? Look, I know it's hard and it's crazy and it's just plain illogical, but. . .he's *different,* Taran. I just can't explain it. I've been with him for a long time now, and I promise you, he's nothing like he was when I first came. He's *changed* somehow."

"He certainly didn't act changed to me," Taran groaned out as his ribs shifted again, "He acted like the monster he's always been. He can't change."

"Anyone can change, Taran."

"Well," he said, a little bitterly, "I guess we'll find out soon."

Avalina chilled at his words, but said no more, instead letting Taran lean on her as they slowly descended.

They heard the horse coming a long time before he appeared. Eilonwy would have frozen, but the Horned King did not stop walking. He did slow, however, as the horse blew into view.

The horse skidded to a stop in front of them on the trail, his ears up in recognition, sniffing for a moment, before going around the Horned King and his captive and galloping up the hill like a mad thing.

They weren't who he wanted.

Eilonwy screamed in fright as the creature whipped past them, before it thundered up the hill and disappeared into the trees. A few moments later they heard the animal whinny loudly in a searching call normally reserved for fellow herd members.

"Where are you?" The horse seemed to cry out, before unleashing a roar of frustration. Both sounds echoed for many moments off the country around them before they fell forebodingly silent.

The thunder of hoofbeats drew nearer, and the Horned King pulled himself and the princess off the trail as the horse flashed by them and on down the hill, not even giving them a glance. The animal unleashed another piercing whinny as he disappeared from sight again, and the hoofbeats gradually faded from hearing.

Eilonwy stared after the creature with wide eyes, her heart still racing after nearly being run over. The Horned King didn't seem fazed in the slightest, pulling her along as he continued walking.

'That's Avalina's horse,' she remembered.

'He's looking for her.'

"Oh, good boy, Mitternacht!" Avalina gasped in relief as she stroked his muzzle with her free hand.

"I wondered where you'd gotten to."

"He was probably checking out our horses," Taran managed out.

Over the minutes, Taran's face and tongue had swollen where the Horned King had struck him, making it difficult for him to see out of his right eye or talk. He and Avalina's rest stops were becoming more frequent and it was obvious he couldn't keep walking much longer.

"You have horses with you?" Avalina asked, relief crashing through her. She had been wondering how Taran could possibly make it back to Dalben's in his current condition on foot.

"Yes," Taran replied with difficulty.

"On the opposite side of the hill."

Now Avalina understood why Mitternacht had not come sooner. He had been rather far away when it all happened. Mitternacht always kept an exceptional eye on Avalina most of the time, and Avalina privately thought it was because a part of the horse's great heart feared she would disappear and never return, like his knight had done so long ago.

"Good," she told him in relief, "You have something to ride to Dalben's now and get some real medical help."

Sensing he was about to say something about possibly not making it past the bottom of the hill, she quickly cued Mitternacht up beside her and asked him to kneel. After a moment, the horse complied.

"Get on," she told Taran.

"You're worn out."

He gave the horse a frightened glance and opened his mouth to protest, but Avalina cut him off.

"Just do it, Taran."

Taran shut his mouth, and after many groans on Avalina's part and choked cries of pain from his own, he was on the horse.

Exhausted, Avalina wanted nothing more than to get on too, but she refrained. Taran's ribs were already giving him a great deal of pain, and if one of them were to move wrong if she was to bump him the wrong way. . .she shuddered at the thought.

"I swear," Taran groaned out, "If I make it out alive, I'm alerting all of Prydain, and we'll come and rescue you somehow."

"Oh, no Taran!" Avalina said in a panic.

"If you do, he'll kill my family! Please, Taran, no! Promise me you won't tell a soul. Promise me!"

The sound of so much desperate panic in her voice made Taran weakly lower his head in defeat.

"I. . .promise."

Avalina gave a tiny sigh and nodded in relief.

Gripping Mitternacht's mane, she leaned on him heavily as they continued to travel. Mitternacht sensed the need for easy movements and walked along as smoothly as a canoe through a peaceful current, not jolting his injured rider in the slightest.

It was in this fashion they reached the bottom of the hill, stepping out into the tiny clearing where Avalina had dismounted not an hour past.

It felt like days ago.

Easing Taran off the horse, Avalina saddled the animal, figuring it would be best to get out of here as quickly as possible when the others showed up.

Avalina was shaking uncontrollably. She was so afraid. . .not for herself, but for Taran. She shouldn't have allowed him to come down here, but Eilonwy. . .she realized with very nearly a sob that she wasn't certain if the Horned King meant it when he had threatened Eilonwy's life or he had simply used it to play Taran into his grasp again. The Horned King would no doubt try to finish what he had started earlier, and she kept seeing Taran's limp form in the lich's grip, dying. . .dying. . .

Mitternacht sensed something was very wrong and nuzzled her, laying his ears back at the scent of her fright. Avalina hugged him tight, choking her tears down. Crying was the last thing any of them needed right now, especially Taran.

Right as she looped Mitternacht's reins over a limb, the horse whickered a warning and she turned, a lump of apprehension and fright rising to her throat as she saw the Horned King appear from the treeline across from them, dragging Eilonwy with him.

The instant they were out of the treeline and the princess laid eyes on them, she promptly tried to fight free from the lich, drawing in a breath as she did so. She had to tell Taran to get out of here and save himself!

"TAR-ah!"

The Horned King had anticipated she would try this and quickly choked her scream off as he progressed further into the clearing, dragging her with him.

He saw the Pig-Keeper start toward them, only to nearly fall before Avalina caught him, exclaiming something the lich couldn't quite make out.

He felt his eyes threaten to change at the sight of his murderer so close to the girl and quickened his deliberate strides.

The princess gagged in his grip but he paid her no mind. She would pass out soon enough.

Every moment he looked at the boy his hate multiplied itself.

'The screaming of the souls. . .the constant torment. . .'

The lich's eyes were already glowing, and he tossed the princess carelessly away from him without a glance in her direction as he drew nearer, vaguely hearing her unconscious body hit the ground.

'Mercy, I beg of you! Mercy!'

He snarled as he closed in on the boy. . .

'Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain. . .everywhere. . .'

He raised his hand. . .

"No!"

Avalina pushed between them.

"Sire, please, no!"

The Horned King looked down with a faint jolt. The clearing came back into focus around him as he laid eyes on her.

"Please, sire, don't do this!" She begged, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Please!"

The Horned King took in her face with a mild start.

She looked horrible. The entire left side of her face was very red and swollen, already turning shades of black and purple. There was a skinned place on her left cheekbone, another directly above her eye (which was rapidly swelling shut) and a third directly under the hairline, all three still bleeding.

She was covered in dirt and blood, tears cutting tracks through it to slide down her face. Her lip was split and bleeding as well, and her speech was slightly thicker than usual, indicating a swollen tongue.

His hatred for the boy compounded as he took it all in, morphing into something else. It was that same sensation he had vaguely felt, for the briefest of moments, when he had visited her after she nearly died in his dungeon.

'I did this to her.'

What was this feeling? Guilt, perhaps?

"Step aside," he snarled at her, his temper nearly gone.

"No, please no!" She begged, more tears slipping out of her eyes.

"He's had enough!"

The lich felt his chest grow heavy, hearing her. But the Pig-Keeper was directly behind this tiny obstacle. The very person that had ruined everything he had spent centuries building was mere feet away from him.

"Out of the way," he growled, deeper this time, which earned a very noticeable tremble from the girl.

"Sire, please no!" She sobbed.

"Please! Don't do this!"

The Horned King went to move her aside, only to pause at the horrified flinch from her as he raised his hand.

'She expects me to. . .'

His chest hurt. He needed to take his anger out on something. The Pig-Keeper. . .

Avalina suddenly shivered all over and staggered slightly. She would have fallen if he hadn't steadied her by the shoulder.

He did not miss how she flinched again at his movement, no doubt expecting him to strike her again, and he bared his fangs in anger before noticing her eyes (the one that wasn't swollen shut, anyway) did not seem to be focusing on him.

Staring at her, he watched as she tried to correct it, but she was having trouble seeing. . .another wave of weakness washed over her and she laid her hand against him for balance.

Right over his chest.

His eyes widened as he felt her warmth seep through to him, directly over the area he thought he had lost forever.

Thump.

"Please," she whispered, trying to look up at him.

"I beg of you, please, don't do this."

Thump.

The Horned King could feel her pain, her distress, her panic. She didn't want him to touch the boy anymore, that much was obvious, and while it angered him that she would try to protect his enemy from him, the heavy feeling in his chest increased the longer he looked at her.

Thump.

Killing the boy was all he had ever wanted. Since the moment he had returned, that had been the one thing he had sworn he would do. His only desire. His only goal. And here it was, right in front of him, the chance being dropped right in his lap. He would be a fool to pass it up.

Thump.

Looking over her head at the boy, the lich took him in. His face looked even worse than Avalina's, if that were possible, and he was bleeding profusely from the mouth. Barely on his feet, he couldn't see out of his swollen right eye, he couldn't straighten up all the way, and his left arm hung in a makeshift sling, obviously from Avalina's skirt. His shoulder was dislocated, he could see it from here. Strips of her riding cloak were visible, hanging out from the bottom of his shirt, obviously tied around his ribs, a few of which the Horned King was certain he had broken.

Thump.

This was his chance. The chance he had longed for for so long, to make that damnable Pig-Keeper pay for everything he had done. And for everything the lich would suffer when his brief grace period from the Cauldron was over.

The Pig-Keeper had to die.

Thump.

He glanced down at Avalina.

'I see hope in you.'

The memory tugged against his mind, and he growled softly in anger, trying to blot it out, but it was immediately replaced with another.

'You're my friend.'

Thump.

If he killed the boy, she would never be the same. A part of him knew this. He doubted she would ever forgive him for it. But even if she did, (Which was unlikely) everything that had happened in the past few months between them would be as if it never existed. She would never trust him again.

He doubted she still trusted him now. It wasn't like he had much of a chance of saving himself from the Cauldron anyhow.

"Stand aside," he snarled again, but he thought in fury that it sounded noticeably less demanding that before.

"This is your final warning."

A fresh sob wrung itself from her as she shook her head tearfully.

"No. Please, I beg of you, don't do this! Please!"

If only she would quit looking at him like that. . .irritated, he looked over her head and tried to approach the boy, but he could still hear her pleading. Pleading for the Pig-Keeper's life. He could still feel her hand there, trying to prevent him from going any closer.

Thump.

Pausing, he looked down at her again, taking in her appearance and feeling his anger grow at the sight of it, before looking back at the Pig-Keeper.

The boy wasn't much taller than Avalina, and his youthful features suggested he was very close to her age, if not exactly so.

The image of the Pig-Keeper, obviously in a great deal of pain, risking his own life to save Avalina's as she hung over the abyss today came to mind and refused to leave. She had been in danger, and the Horned King hadn't been able to reach her.

He had nearly lost her today. He would have if it hadn't been for. . .

The realization that he owed the boy was sharp. If it hadn't been for the Pig-Keeper, Avalina would be dead right now.

His most hated enemy had just saved her life. He was in the Pig-Keeper's debt. This infuriated him, but there was no working around or denying the fact.

Thump.

Going to move around her, he felt her terror spike as a series of panicked words issued from her mouth again, and he looked down at her.

Thump.

A long, soft sigh from the lich followed, before he slowly tightened his grip on her arm, before releasing it in the only gesture of a promise that he knew.

The look he gave Avalina, one of such resigned reconsideration, made her gasp in relief. It was in that moment that she knew he had changed his mind. She could see the promise in his eyes, fuzzy though her vision may be. No spoken words were necessary.

He wouldn't hurt Taran.

Making sure not to bump her, he passed her slowly, before stopping directly in front of the boy, less than a yard from him, feeling his terror coming off him in waves.

They stood there for long moments, staring at each other, the boy frozen and terrified, the lich with blazing eyes and the urge to kill raging through him like a river.

A river he dammed with every last bit of his strength.

The Horned King clenched his fists and gritted his fangs in his rage. The one person that had made his life a literal living hell for an endless amount of time was right here, but that unspoken promise and that wave of relief in her eyes as she saw it was the only thing preventing him from breaking the boy's neck right now.

"I hate you," he snarled in the Pig-Keeper's face, so much hellish venom in those three little syllables the boy jumped, but still did not move, unable to look away from the lich.

'But. . .he saved her life today.'

The Horned King grabbed the boy suddenly, earning a shriek of panic from Avalina and a cry of pain and terror from the Pig-Keeper.

The lich twisted the boy around and threw him to the ground, where he lay there on his stomach, screaming in pain from his broken ribs.

In one, swift movement, the Horned King gripped the boy's arm and gave it an expert twist and a shove, hearing the loud, muffled "Pop!" of the shoulder going back into joint.

The Pig-Keeper went rigid beneath him in a silent scream of agony, and the Horned King felt a spike of vicious malice rise up inside him at the reaction. Any other type of pain he had wanted to deal the boy was out of the question, but this was quite satisfactory.

Grabbing Taran's throat, he forced him to look directly up at him, feeding off the terror that the Pig-Keeper was filled with, and snarled in the boy's face, the Horned King's quiet tone filled with every ounce of the hate and rage he felt for this insignificant little brat who had given him so much misery.

"I will kill you the next time we meet."

The words were so deliberate, so truthful, they froze Taran's heart.

Slowly, the lich straightened up, leaving the boy lying on the ground, moaning in pain, and growled at Avalina.

Through his haze of agony, Taran was only barely aware of the sound of the horse's hoofbeats receding into the trees as they departed.

I appreciate reviews so much! They make my day! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who reviewed! It means a LOT to me! :)

To Nearby: When I was first imagining this scene, I just couldn't picture it without an earthquake XD Like even the ground couldn't handle all the emotions running over the top of it and it just cracked from the pressure XDXD. But thank you for reviewing, I really appreciate it. :) Hope you get to feeling better soon!