Chapter 113
Avalina wept in Mitternacht's stall for hours afterward, gripping the horse's mane like he was all she had left in the world. The horse stood quietly and was very still, his head lowered to his rider's level as she sat in the straw, tears cascading down her face.
He nuzzled her shoulder in as comforting a manner as he knew how as she laid her head on his neck and held him close.
She couldn't believe what she had just done. She hadn't meant to. The thought had never even crossed her mind. But the lich threatening her family again had snapped her control in pieces and her body had reacted without her brain's permission.
She hadn't meant to slap him. She shuddered as the realization passed over her again.
She wished she could take it back. She wished nothing more at this moment than to rewind what she had just done in the library, and not because she feared him, although that did not help the problem. She regretted it because whether he believed it or not, the Horned King was her friend, moreso than anyone else in her life who walked on two legs, and her striking him had to be the surest contradiction to what she had just told him about friends not betraying each other. And while she doubted she had hurt him physically, she had seen the shock on his face, the fury, and right before he grabbed her she thought she had seen the faintest glint of hurt betrayal in his eyes.
This cut Avalina deeper than she had ever thought possible. She hadn't meant to hurt him like that. That was the last thing she wanted to do. But she had done it, and nothing could take it back. She didn't even know if she could fix it.
Judging by the way things had gone afterward, probably not.
"Oh, Mitternacht, what have I done?" She sobbed, hiding her face in his mane.
"He'll never forgive me for this."
The horse snorted softly, flicking his ears back at the scent of her sorrow and breathed softly on her shoulder. He disliked it when his rider was unhappy. It made him unhappy, and he sniffed her over, determined to find the source of her pain.
"How could I have done that?" She shivered, huddling down in the straw a little more.
"What sort of a friend am I, to have done something so awful?"
Avalina had never struck anyone in her life. Well, except her brother, but he didn't count, and she had only done that once, when they were younger and he had been about to kill a little songbird because its wing was broken. Avalina had been screaming out her bedroom window at him not to do it, but he had ignored her. Avalina had ran outside half dressed and beat him over the head with her shoe, the only thing she had been able to grab.
But she had never struck anyone with her hand before at all. It was something so foreign to her it was almost impossible to even imagine.
"What am I supposed to do?" She cried to Mitternacht, although she knew he couldn't give her an answer.
"I don't know what to do to fix this. How *can* I fix something like this? I told him he was my friend and then. . ."
Another sob choked its way out of her, causing more tears to run down her face.
"I did the worst thing I could have done."
'If only we had never met Taran that day! If only I hadn't taken him there! If only we hadn't gone. . .'
Avalina wished they had never met the others. If they hadn't none of this would have happened.
"I let him down."
Something else that did not help matters was that the Horned King now knew that she possessed the knowledge of where Taran lived. She hadn't meant to spill it, but lying to the lich was impossible. It was like he possessed a sixth sense of sorts to a person's feelings and whether they were sincere or not.
She had no idea if he would try to force it out of her or not. The odds of that were very large. His actions certainly gravitated toward that possibility, and if he did try...Avalina trembled so badly the horse pulled back for a moment to sniff her over again and see what had caused this.
Avalina did not know if she could stand the torture that would no doubt come with her refusal to tell the lich anything. His cruelty knew no bounds, particularly when he sought something he desired with such an intensity as this.
She couldn't betray Taran. The Horned King would kill him if he were to ever discover the boy's location, and very possibly Dalben as well, along with anyone else who got in his way. Avalina couldn't let him do that. But if he abused her enough. . .Avalina didn't know how much she could take before she broke.
She had broken today in the library and hadn't realized it until it was too late.
Taran was her friend. But so was the Horned King. She had thought he felt the same way toward her, but he had never said so and she regretted ever assuming it.
But her two friends were eternal enemies, and she was trapped between them, with no way out, and by the unfortunate looks of things, no way to resolve it peacefully in any manner. Which meant that Avalina very well might be forced to choose between them at some point, and that scenario terrified her.
If the Horned King threatened her family again Avalina didn't know what she would do. She had never felt more torn and helpless in her entire life. She had no control over anything this situation threw at her.
Some time later, Avalina's sobs gradually reduced to hiccuping gasps that shook her whole body and left her freezing cold, and she huddled down farther into the straw in an attempt to warm herself, her teeth chattering.
Mitternacht raised his head suddenly, flicking his ears forward for a moment before lacing them back and giving a soft, threatening noise in his chest, looking toward the stable door.
Avalina shivered all over, not daring to move, lest he hear her, and tried to hold her hiccuping breaths, failing miserably.
Mitternacht blew loudly and stepped up to the stable door, tension in his every muscle.
Avalina, nearly crying in terror all over again, was jolted from her frozen state by a voice making itself known.
"Are you in here, human?"
Her waves of relief made her so lightheaded at the sound she could hardly see for a long moment.
Feeling her joints begin to work again, she shakily got to her feet, and leaning weakly on Mitternacht, looked over the stall door.
Creeper stood just inside the stable door at the end of the hall, looking as if the slightest wrong movement would send him fleeing in terror.
He looked away from the horse and over to her with some relief.
"Oh, hello Creeper," Avalina managed out, trying not to slur her words together with her teeth chattering so hard, "How are you?"
Hastily she wiped her eyes, although she knew it was fruitless. Her face was probably red and blotchy as cherry pie.
"Freezing my toes off," Creeper grumbled irritably, keeping one eye on the horse, who snorted and tossed his head in a threatening gesture.
"Can't you come over here?" He urged, one hand on the door.
Avalina nodded and slipped out of the horse's stall, giving Mitternacht a light kiss on the muzzle before walking over.
Seeing Creeper's disgusted face, Avalina couldn't help but cough out a faint laugh.
"What is it?" She asked, acutely aware of Creeper staring at her face, able to see she had been crying for quite some time.
After a moment of staring at her, Creeper looked like he was about to say something about it, but shook himself and stepped outside.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?" Avalina asked, suddenly a bit wary.
"To the gwythaint's stable."
The howl of wind smothered Avalina's sigh of relief.
Stepping into the stable, she bolted the door behind them and followed Creeper to the gwythaint's stall, where she sat on her perch. She gave a welcoming chirr at them and reached out to smell Avalina.
"Hello Addie," Avalina murmured softly, stroking the gwythaint's face. Addie closed her eyes contentedly and rustled her wings.
"Over here," Creeper indicated, petting the gwythaint's shoulder.
Walking around to the side of the animal, Avalina rubbed slowly down Addie's back, marveling at the feel of her hide.
"Put your hand there," Creeper said, pointing to her flank.
Doing so, Avalina furrowed her brow faintly.
"Why, Creeper? Is she sick?"
She gasped faintly as the gwythaint's flank suddenly bulged beneath her hand, before receding.
Staring at Creeper, he nodded at her unspoken question.
Gently placing her ear to the gwythaint's side, Avalina closed her eyes and listened.
There was the normal sounds of an animal's anatomy working properly, but under that was something else, something extra, and Avalina strained to hear it better as the gwythaint turned around to nuzzle her guests.
It was so very faint, but she could hear it, and it was accented by the gwythaint's side bulging again, although not so much as before, before receding.
"The baby's kicking," Avalina whispered in awe, not wanting to speak out loud.
Creeper nodded.
"Thought you'd wanna see it."
"Oh, yes!" Avalina said, trying to hide another strand of hurt that twisted through her, "Thank you so much!"
'I just wish he could see it.'
The tears slipped before she could stop them, and she was grateful that her hair fell over her face as she lowered her head, so Creeper couldn't see.
"What's wrong, human?" Creeper asked, cocking his head.
"You've been crying all day."
Avalina sniffed in surprise and looked up, more startled that he would actually act concerned rather than notice.
Creeper looked like he didn't know whether to feel sympathy or awkward, but he had asked.
"Did Master hurt you?"
Another bout of tears followed, unbidden, as Avalina hastily wiped her face, trying to keep them at bay.
"Sort of," she managed, "But I'll be alright."
Noticing the goblin was looking at her throat, trying to see if there were any marks, Avalina shook her head.
"Not that kind, Creeper."
Seeing Creeper's skeptical, puzzled face, she shook her head again.
"Never mind."
After a moment, the goblin ventured, "Did he yell at you?"
Avalina shivered and nodded, after a private battle with herself. There wasn't much point in hiding it, her face was a dead giveaway.
"He. . .usually kills people he yells at," Creeper managed, privately wracking his brains to try and remember the last time he had heard his Master yell. Usually when the lich was inclined to raise his voice, it meant someone was about to die.
Avalina shuddered again as the goblin continued to speak.
"But. . .you're still alive, so. . .I think you'll be alright."
She realized he was trying to make her feel better in the only way he knew how, so she nodded.
"I hope so."
Realizing she was making the goblin extremely uncomfortable she turned to go.
"Thank you for showing me, Creeper," she told him softly, "It means a lot."
The goblin shuffled a foot and nodded almost sheepishly, before Avalina slipped back out of the stable and into the courtyard.
She couldn't see the sun, but her internal clock was reminding her that it was time for the music session, and Avalina shuddered all over again, dreading seeing him for the first time in months.
Walking through the castle, Avalina scarcely dared to breathe, shivering in apprehension as she watched the shadows move along the walls.
But she did not see the one she sought.
Pushing open the door to the music room, Avalina's tension became so great she could scarcely move when she saw him standing there by the window.
She had not taken two steps into the room when his voice growled out, freezing her to the spot.
"Out."
The word struck her harder than any fist.
Feeling herself choke up, she slowly backed out, shutting the door as she did so.
A sob wrung itself from her as she headed to her room, feeling colder inside than she ever thought possible.
"Well," one of the Invisibles huffed angrily, "This just poops all over everything."
"Poop on everything," the other agreed, "Poop on the world! This whole thing stinks!"
"What can we do?" The fourth asked solemnly.
"We have to fix this."
"I'm not sure there's anything we *can* do. Anything we try here could make things that much worse. Especially with the master," the first Invisible said.
"I haven't seen him this angry since you two trashed his room," the fourth added.
"Um...which time?" The second inquired in a false display of innocence.
". . .You did it more than once?" The first groaned.
"Well, yeah, what do you think we are, quitters?" The third grinned.
"Forget I asked," the first grumbled.
"Asking forgotten!"
"Asking forgotten!"
"I guess all we can do is just wait," the fourth admitted.
"There's really not much we can do."
"We don't do waiting," the third Invisible said.
"Yeah, waiting's for losers."
"Well, you two are going to have to this time," the first said crisply.
"The less we annoy the master the easier Avalina will have it. I hope."
". . . . . .That just poops all over everything. The waiting part, not the other."
"Poop on the world!"
"Would you *please* stop that?" The first Invisible snapped.
"That is beyond horrible, even for y'all. Where did you even pick that up?"
"Nowhere."
"Nowhere."
Cackles followed this and the first Invisible groaned.
"Never mind then. I don't want to know. But find a substitute for it right now or so help me, I will *make* a way that you never touch another scrap of glitter or sparkly stuff *ever* again."
"You wouldn't!"
"You can't!"
"Yes I can. I have a feeling the Fates will side with me on this one," the first Invisible said smugly.
"You. . .You. . ." The two of them spluttered.
"Yes?" The first asked, triumph lacing every letter, before the others exploded in perfect unison.
"Thou dung heap!"
"Thou dung heap!"
The first choked in fury as the other two whisked out the door, cackling in victory.
"Later, Dusty Rainbow!"
"Later, Dusty Rainbow!"
The fourth snickered under its breath.
"Well, you *did* tell them to change it."
"Shut up."
I'll be honest, I came a hair not posting the Invisibles' conversation, simply because it was just so weirdly wrong. XD It's a long-running gag with a group of hilarious friends of mine about poop. . .hehe...yeah. *This* is the sick minded person who's writing this story, people! Ya freaked out yet? Lol
To DarkraixCresselia: Thank you so much for your beautiful review, I appreciate it so very much. I mean, "Thank you," just can't quite cut it. I feel unworthy of receiving such compliments! I actually teared up a little when I read it XD Which is huge, coming from me lol. And then I felt like I could scale any mountain, blast a crater in the earth with Nerf Guns and then take over the world using only a wheelbarrow. And then you favorited it! Today is going to be a good day. XD
To Nearbygone: I've constantly got myself under pressure to keep writing, especially since whenever I sit down, the characters in my head have fallen completely silent. It's maddening. But I love writing so much though!
To Kitteninthemoonlight: Bahaha! You'll just have to see. XD
Thank you to all my readers! :D