Chapter 115

Avalina shuddered as the icy air outside the stable enveloped her, freezing her to the bone. Her poor diet and extreme lack of sleep had taken its severe toll on her immune system, and she shivered three times as hard as she would have under other circumstances.

Slipping into the castle was a relief from most of the frosty air, but a different type of chill took her, one that no amount of fire could dissipate.

Tiptoeing down the halls, she searched for him, checking the places she thought he would most likely be. She had never had a problem finding him before, but now she could not find him anywhere, which was unusual.

She almost wanted to call out, but she did not dare, as it would be likely to put him in an even worse temper. the Horned King disliked racket and she had no wish to raise her voice anyway. The castle was quiet and she doubted the lich would be happy if she stirred the Invisibles up while shouting for him.

After some time in her searching, Avalina discovered herself at the foot of the long, somewhat winding staircase that she knew led directly up to the Horned King's chambers. It was the only room at the top of those steps.

He had forbidden her to ever go up there. But he was nowhere else, and she had to speak with him. It made sense that he would be shut up in his room.

Shaking, she placed a foot on the bottom stair, waiting for a long moment in the silence for any reaction, half expecting him to appear from nowhere, as he was wont to do, but there was nothing.

After a long moment, she slowly began to climb, leaning on the wall for balance as her weakness made itself known.

The staircase was long and steep, and she had to stop a couple times to catch her breath before she reached the top.

Once there, however, she was struck with another pang of fear. Surely he would be furious at being bothered, and doubly angry that she had disobeyed his orders, after he had expressly forbidden it. It would not be a good start to the conversation at all.

Avalina began to tremble again. She really should have thought this out better. She had no idea what she could possibly say, and even if she did know she could think of no way to go about saying it.

She could usually sense him when he was near, but she could not feel anything coming from the other side of the door. That was. . .odd. And disturbing. No noise emanated from the other side either, not that she expected that. He was quiet as a ghost whenever he moved.

Avalina fought with herself for several minutes, trying to gather the courage to knock, but her brief moment of strength in the stable had left her, and she could not even make herself raise her hand to tap the wood.

Eventually, she felt an Invisible nearby, and before she could say a single word to them, they had casually pushed the door open without even a knock and barged inside.

Avalina thought her heart had stopped when the door swung open, revealing the darkened room and blasting her with icy air. She tensed in fright, expecting him to let her have it any second. . .

No sound. No response at all. The place was quiet as a tomb. And she could not sense him.

Taking a tiny step forward to see into the room better, she took it in.

To the vague right of the door was a throne-like chair atop a small flight of steps, a scaled down version of the one in the throne room. On the left side of the room was a handful of steps that led up to a platform, obviously meant to be the bedchamber, but there was no bed. It was nothing but empty floor, and Avalina fancied she could see a slightly paler track along the center where the Horned King had paced the stones in thought or anger.

The sight was a bit unsettling.

The window in the wall above the platform was wide open, its wooden shutters and moth-eaten curtains flapping and thumping in the slight breeze, and Avalina shivered, noticing the cobwebs and shredded bits of old cloth that hung from the ceiling.

And he wasn't here.

Where he could be, she had no idea. She had searched as much as she could, and her legs were warning her that they could not hold her up much longer.

Relieved he hadn't caught her snooping about, but all the same disappointed that she hadn't seen him, Avalina carefully maneuvered back down the steps to the main floor, sitting down on the bottom step for a rest, wondering what to do now. She needed to find him, but she trembled at the mere idea of it.

Her eardrums itched. Avalina rubbed her ears to clear it, but the feeling did not pass by.

Shaking her head at the annoying sensation, Avalina froze stiff as she caught something familiar.

It was whispers that brushed against her eardrums. Someone was whispering.

More than that. She knew this voice.

Terror struck her heart as it gave a soft, hissing laugh.

*Him.*

Shaking all over again, Avalina tried to shut it out, but she could not.

It sounded muffled, indirect, as if it wasn't meant for her to hear. But it was there, and she could hear it. And it was whispering.

Almost in a trance, she got up, turning her head this way and that, searching for the source of the noise as she walked back through the castle.

Something compelled her to push open the door to the winding steps she knew led down to the dungeon, and she shook again, remembering the time she had spent down there.

The whispers had gotten louder when she opened the door. It was coming from down there.

It was like it was calling her. No, it knew she was listening now. It *was* calling her.

'Come, come,' it whispered tauntingly.

Avalina wanted to run away. But her legs were frozen to the spot, refusing to work.

'Join us.'

'No, no!' Avalina thought, shivering.

'Obey me,' the whisperings demanded softly.

'No!' She fought, staring down the steps into the darkness, 'Leave me alone!'

'You have no choice in this matter, pathetic human,' the whispers snapped.

'Come to me. Now.'

Dimly, Avalina felt the Invisibles around her whisking about in a panic. They heard it too. But everything seemed rather. . .detached. The whispers was the only thing that felt real. but it couldn't be. It had to be a dream. A nightmare!

Slowly, she took the first step down.

'Goood,' the voice hissed in triumph.

'Come to me.'

Her heart thudding so hard in her chest she felt she would pass out, Avalina took another step. And another, descending slowly into the depths of the castle.

'Who are you?' She thought fearfully, 'And what do you want with me?'

The voice hissed a faint laugh.

'Come and see.'

Shivering, she followed the whispers, barely aware of the Invisibles racing around her in an attempt to stop her, but she could not acknowledge them.

The Invisibles lit the torches going down the steps so she wouldn't fall, but still trying to stop her.

'Where is he?' She asked, trembling.

'Why, he's with me,' the voice answered, sounding entirely too pleased at this fact.

'Join us.'

Arriving at the bottom of the flight, she stood there at the two separate doors, uncertain as to which one to take.

Pulling open the left one, she jumped as the whispers got even louder.

'Yes, yes,' the voice hissed in delight.

'This way. Come to me.'

Shaking violently, Avalina began to descend another flight of steps, this one much longer and steeper than any of the others in the castle, slowly, hearing the voice goad her on.

'Come to me.'

'Let me go!' She cried in fright, although she did not make a sound.

'I am not forcing you to come,' the voice hissed happily.

'You're doing that yourself.'

Avalina wanted to stop walking. She wanted to turn and flee. But she kept descending, slowly, her cloak dragging the steps, unable to do anything.

'Stop it!' She cried.

'You wanted to see him, did you not?' The voice snarled, making her shake even harder.

'Then come to me.'

Her boots slipped on one of the steps. It was dank down here, and the pain that shot through her when she fell broke the conversation.

Gasping, she shook her head, sitting there for a moment before slowly getting to her feet, holding her side.

She could still hear the whispers, but it was no longer talking to her. Rather, it seemed preoccupied, as if it had moved on to something else.

Turning, she looked back up at the staircase spiraling away above her head, disappearing into shadows, and then down, where they vanished into darkness as well, the only light in sight the torch burning on the wall by her.

She should go back. She shouldn't be down here. But. . .

'He said he was with him,' she thought to herself.

'If he is. . .'

Avalina trembled at the notion.

'I can't just leave him.'

After casting another look back up the steps, she made up her mind and began to follow the staircase down, watching her step more carefully than before and trying to ignore the fear her heart was hammering with.

As she continued to sink lower into the depths of the castle, she became aware of the sickening stench of rotting flesh making itself known. and she choked and nearly retched at the smell. She almost turned back, but the idea of the Horned King down here, by himself with that voice, kept her going.

He could look after himself. She knew this. But no one should have to face that wretched voice alone.

After what seemed like hours, the steps came to a door, leading to the very bottom room of the castle, and she noticed it was ajar.

Peeking through it, she saw the steps lead on down to stop in the center of a massive room. In the center of the room was a small platform, and on it sat a tremendous hunk of intricately designed black metal.

Avalina knew exactly what it was, despite never having seen it before. The Black Cauldron.

And pacing across the room in front of it, between the platform and the foot of the steps, snarling something unintelligible from this distance, was the Horned King.

The Horned King's hatred all but blocked out anything else he might be feeling, leaving him in a black haze that yearned to shed blood. Yearned to kill something.

Something had prevented him from breaking her neck that day in the library, although at the moment he had dearly wanted to. He could still do it, easily, if he so chose.

She knew the location of the Pig-Keeper. This information alone was enough to send him into a rage.

He had searched for that miserable boy for months, coming up empty handed every time, and the answer had been right in front of him the entire time. How could he have missed it? She knew the boy. She knew where he lived. She could tell him where the Pig-Keeper lived.

She had refused.

Why he hadn't forced it out of her already was a mystery even to him. Perhaps a part of him realized that in the rage he was in now, he would probably kill her before any information could be gained.

The Pig-Keeper was important to her. She had said so herself. This made the lich so angry he could scarcely see from it.

She had struck him.

He could not believe she had done it. It hadn't hurt, she hadn't even hit him hard, but he could still feel the impact of it, and the strength of the emotion behind that action.

He could never remember being struck in his entire existence. But she had done it.

Even more shocking was that Avalina was not a violent type of person. He must have completely pushed her over the edge to evoke such a reaction.

A part of him was pleased at this. He could hurt her without ever touching her, and he reveled in power over another of any type, but another part of him was mildly disgusted with it.

He was in no mood to see the girl at all. Every time he laid eyes on her he was reminded of the Pig-Keeper escaping right through his fingers, and it infuriated him, which in turn terrified her and drove the wedge even deeper between them.

He wanted her to hurt. He wanted her to know how angry he was. But he also didn't. He wanted to talk with her again, see her smile again, hear her laugh again, that had always warmed him in the past.

All he got now was wave after wave of fear coming from her and tears. Worse than he had ever felt it. And it frustrated him.

He had tried to speak to her in the stable one day, but the horse would have none of it.

The Horned King had never had an animal actually try to attack him before. (The mad wolves didn't count.) They were always fleeing from him, but the rage of the horse had matched the terror of the girl in the back of the stall, watching him tearfully.

His anger had been muted for a moment, and he had felt his chest ache, looking at her, before the horse reared up between them and refused to allow him to see her anymore.

Why was he feeling this way? Surely he couldn't be. . .

But as the lich had left, he realized he was missing her.

This angered him even more. The Horned King could surely not be missing the company of a slip of a peasant that was so completely below him. It was nonsense. She was his prisoner, his slave if he so chose. He owned her.

But he enjoyed her company. Having her near. This should not be happening.

The Cauldron, which had kept silent for so long, began to summon him again, more insistently than it ever had before. He fought against it for as long as he could, but without Avalina to bring the Life into his presence and banish the whispers from his mind, he found himself in the bowels of the castle once more, in the very room he had stored all his undead soldiers, pacing back and forth across the floor in front of the platform the Cauldron sat upon, snarling softly to himself as he argued with the hissing, malicious voice of his master.

'You knew it all along,' the voice taunted.

'She doesn't care for you. She never did.'

'You should not speak of things you know nothing of,' the lich snarled.

'You have gotten disrespectful during your absence,' the whispers hissed back.

'You are no longer my master,' the Horned King hissed in reply, trying to quell his faint inner shaking.

'You seem very confident you will not return to the Cauldron,' the voice remarked.

'Are you really that certain that anyone could *love* a monster like you?'

The Horned King gritted his fangs at the hated word.

She. . .she called me. . .friend.'

How strange it felt, even thinking that word. Even stranger was that someone associated him with it. And even stranger than either of those things was that he did not feel positively disgusted at the notion, as he had expected. He had never thought much of mortals and their petty emotions, but this. . .

'How can she call you her friend?' The voice insisted.

'How can *anyone* call you that? With a past like yours? How you've treated her?'

The Horned King snarled in fury, determined to beat this faceless, creeping opponent.

'She took me to the ridge. Her special secret. She would not have done that unless she was telling the truth.'

'She missed it,' the Cauldron fired back,'She couldn't bear not visiting the place. Her urge to ride up there was stronger than the need to keep it hidden from you.'

'Lies,' the lich growled, 'She would not lie to me.'

'You've kept her prisoner, threatened her family, threatened her. . .what are the chances of her telling you the truth?'

'No one dares to lie to the Horned King.'

'And no one would dare to approach you like she, either. It makes sense that she would lie to get something she wanted,' the voice of his master commented.

'She is. . .different.'

'Prove it. Where's one bit of evidence that she isn't exactly like every other mortal you've killed and fought against?'

'She's. . .she's. . .'

It infuriated the lich when he could not think of anything, although he knew better.

'See?' The voice said slyly.

'Silence, the Horned King hissed softly, clenching his fists slowly.

'There is more to her than that.'

'Oh, really? How sentimental.'

'She. . .enjoys my company.'

'Only because she's bored out of her mind here. She has no one else to talk to.'

The Horned King snarled in denial.

'She. . .taught me to. . .play.'

The Horned King thought of their many sessions by the piano, and then racing through the castle in this thing Avalina called, "tag."

'Only because she's lonely. If you were to set her free she would disappear and never come back.'

The lich snarled as the voice, realizing this was something he could not fight against, taunted harder.

'You know this to be true! She's only inventing ways to amuse herself. The instant you release her she will vanish like the mist. How could she possibly care for you like she claims when you hold her prisoner?'

The Horned King had no reply to this, and the Cauldron continued smoothly.

'She has no reason to truly care for you, nor will she ever. You have captured her, held her here against her will, threatened to destroy everything she cares about if she tries to escape, and nearly killed her more than once. How can you expect her to feel anything for you but loathing?'

The Horned King stiffened, searching for anything to counter with.

Her eyes. Her smile. Her laugh. Her aura. He could feel the sincerity in them every time he was near her.

Or at least, he had.

'Mortals are crafty,' Doubt pressed.

'She is lying to you.'

'If she was lying I would have felt it,' the lich nearly snarled, 'Mortals are easy to read.'

'Perhaps you have become so desperate to free your soul, you are searching for something that is not there? Perhaps she was deceiving you and you refused to see it?'

'She would not lie to me.'

'It still doesn't change who you are. Or what you've done. Nothing can ever change that. And nothing can ever change you. You should have killed the boy when you had the opportunity.'

The Horned King growled deeply in his chest, remembering.

'The only reason that boy is still alive is because of her. I gave her my word I would not harm him.'

'You. . .ha! Gave your word?' The voice snorted in disgust, before seeming to realize something.

'Are you implying you actually have feelings for the girl?' It taunted.

'Disgusting. But it will not save you. Nothing can save you. For you are as heartless as I, and no pathetic mortal could ever free you.'

'Avalina said she saw. . .hope in me.'

'Calling her by name now, are we? How touching,' His master scoffed.

'What has happened to you, my apprentice? You were once a monster beyond compare, the Emperor of All Evil, something the entire world feared, and now look at you. You've gone soft. You're not the horrifying warlord you were.'

'The world still fears me.'

'Only because they cannot see what a disgrace to the name of Evil you have become. You've grown weak. Pathetic.'

The Horned King snarled in fury.

'I have *not* become *weak.*'

'Oh?' The voice laughed cruelly.

'Then tell me, why did you ever spare that useless wretch of a girl? The Horned King I knew would have killed her on the spot.'

The lich offered no reply.

'Just as I thought. You've turned soft. You were always weak.'

"Lies!" The Horned King snarled viciously.

"The only reason she is still alive is because she is enough to amuse me. She means nothing to me."

After a moment, he bit out, "I should have killed her the day she arrived."

He was not aware he had spoken the words aloud until the echoes came back off the chamber to ring in his ears, right before he bared his fangs in anger.

He sensed someone in here.

He realized who it was before he even turned around, her aura washing over him, and he looked up on the steps behind him to see Avalina there, her eyes spilling over with tears.

To DarkraixCresselia: I'm curious though XD If you've never seen the movie, how did you get acquainted with the Horned King? XD

Today I reached 6000 views on Hope For The Heartless. Whoo! Where's my wheelbarrow? And I'm gonna fill it with explosives, baby! *Cackles* I'm on top of the world!

Oh, and a thousand thank you's to to one of my brilliant editors, I have a new icon for this story! I know it's a little tiny, but it *is* an icon XD I'm sorry I can't make it bigger, but it's supposed to be the Horned King and Avalina. Isn't it just so beautiful?