Chapter 120

Creeper had watched Avalina struggle for her life in the freezing water, the ice giving out all around her, before she was pulled under. Her scream was smothered swiftly by the water as she disappeared, replaced by a stream of bubbles. Creeper had been frozen to the spot, unable to move an inch, much like he had been out on the lake, unable to think at all.

Then his Master appeared.

Normally Creeper would go to all lengths to ensure his master didn't see him, regardless of anything else going on. He had been trained to live in fear, hide when possible and grovel the rest of the time, and whenever his master was near all but walk on eggshells for fear of angering him.

But for the first time in his life, when that red mist and crackling blue lightning appeared a moment before his master did, Creeper felt relief.

Help had come.

In the very last form the goblin could ever had imagined.

Even the dancing sparkles on the sunlit snow shrank from him as his menacing aura swept over everything, the dissipating red smoke only adding to his dark presence, and the goblin fought down a yelp, before noticing the lich was not focused on him.

Then he remembered.

Avalina.

Gesturing frantically to his master, the goblin had alerted the lich to the problem at hand, willingly drawing the Horned King's attention to him for the first time in his life. All the same wondering what he would possibly do in this situation.

The absolute last thing Creeper had expected the lich to do was dive.

Creeper stayed frozen in horror on the bank after his master disappeared beneath the surface of the water, staring with eyes the size of saucers.

'Why did he do that?' Creeper thought in shock.

'Why would he do such a thing? Water is the one thing he fears. It's the one thing that can harm him.'

Thinking back, he remembered all the times he had glimpsed his master spending time with the girl, in many different ways, and how joyful Avalina had been in those times. How even the lich's presence seemed to change by the faintest of margins whenever the human was near.

And now this. His master was saving her life, (for the second time, if you counted the wolves) at the possible risk of his own. (Was he immortal? The goblin didn't know for certain) Why was he doing this? It didn't make sense. Creeper knew so little of humans and their emotions he kept drawing blanks, but he vaguely remembered how the Pig-Keeper had agreed to comply with his master if it meant saving that magic pig. Not quite the same scenario, but it was close enough for the goblin. The only time he had seen a human save something else like this was if. . .

It was then, in that instant, all the pieces fit together in Creeper's brain, and he finally realized why his master was doing this.

'He cares about her.'

This revelation was so groundbreaking the goblin nearly fell over.

The mere thought of the Horned King even thinking about anyone save himself was laughable, at least. Something unfathomable at most. Let alone actually *caring* about someone. His master cared for no one.

But this wasn't just a thought. Creeper had been watching it all happen for months and never bothered to notice. He was watching it now.

His master cared about something. Something *other* than that Black Cauldron he had obsessed over for so long.

He cared about her.

Even from this distance, he heard his master's scream of anguish under the ice, and it chilled him to the core. Even the horse stopped plunging about in panic and froze at the sound.

Long moments passed, and the bubbles and ripples visible in the gaping hole in the ice slowly dimmed to nothing.

For a horrifying moment the water went still, and Creeper trembled.

Before his master broke the surface, girl in tow, with a roar of agony.

All his attempts to pull himself and the human out of the water were utterly fruitless. Every time it looked like they would make it, the ice under them would give and they would go down again.

The lich was getting tired...so very tired...the goblin could see it as his master's struggles began to slow in the freezing water, solid land only a few feet from them now.

The Horned King had never been needed by anyone. But Avalina needed him now. He couldn't stop. And the goblin needed to urge him on if they were to ever survive.

Creeper had called to his master before he was quite aware of what he was doing. In truth, seeing the lich sink beneath the water permanently held a great deal of appeal to the goblin, but the realization that Avalina would go with him if he did shook him into speaking. And his newest revelation had not dimmed in his mind in the slightest.

'He cares about her,' he thought again in disbelief.

'He...cares. I wonder...does the human feel the same?'

His shout prompted his master to try again, finally staggering out of the watery graveyard of the lake, and Creeper, in a move that even shocked himself, leaped forward at the last second and grabbed his master's robe, preventing the monster that had tortured him all his life from falling back into the fate he most certainly deserved.

But if his master slipped back, so would Avalina, and this prompted the goblin to help his master away from the bank before letting go of him and stumbling back, still in shock over what he had done.

Seeing his master in such a agonized, humbling state made Creeper uncomfortable, but he could not quell a vicious thought.

'Not so nice when you're the one on the receiving end, is it, Master?'

With huge eyes, he had watched as the Horned King spoke to the horse, and Creeper made himself as inconspicuous as possible, remembering how the creature hated him.

To his utter disbelief, the horse not only allowed his master to approach, but mount as well.

Then they had galloped to the castle as fast as they could go, leaving the goblin alone in the snow.

Turning back to the lake, he noticed how black the water was in comparison to the ice all around, and he trembled as he looked, remembering how it had nearly become a grave right before his eyes.

Another grave, rather. Who knew how many of the Horned King's men had lain at the bottom of the black, watery pit since the castle was destroyed.

It was a long walk back, and he could hear his master's roars of agony from the courtyard and did not dare enter the castle, instead going to the gwythaint's stable to wait it out. He had no intention of going near the lich anyway unless he absolutely had to.

The fact that he had just saved his master from a tortuous fate was still shocking to the goblin. He couldn't believe he had done it. The only thing that made sense was that he had done it to help the human.

But since when had Creeper ever cared about anyone but himself?

Completely confused, he could only stay with the gwythaint for the rest of the afternoon, rethinking the events of earlier.

What seemed like an eternity later it stopped, and Creeper, thinking it was over, slipped inside to get something to eat, only to see Avalina screaming on the floor (Her voice could not carry through stone like the Horned King's) with his master holding her down.

Creeper felt he had turned to stone as he watched the events unfold. His first thought was that his master had hurt the girl somehow, but it soon became clear that that was not the case.

He could plainly hear his master and the Invisibles talking, and from what little he could gather, apparently the girl had done something his master thought the Invisibles could prevent and was demanding answers from them over that.

An Invisible had urged him to leave the room before his master noticed him, and he was only too happy to comply, despite his curiosity.

It wasn't worth getting punished over.

But he spared one more astonished look at them down through the balcony railing, of his master holding the human to him in almost a comforting manner, and Creeper did not quite know what to think, except that his realization from earlier was true.

His master cared for the girl.

The goblin did not see the tiny smile he bore as he slipped farther into the castle. If the Invisibles had mentioned it to him it would have vanished immediately.

A few minutes later, when he was comfortable in a separate room in the castle, he was reminded sharply of something as an Invisible set a small tray of food down for him.

"Hey!" He said indignantly, "You said you weren't allowed to touch someone's free will!"

"Uh. . .yeah?" It answered, "So?"

"You've most definitely touched mine, you liar!" Creeper snapped.

"Oh, we have?"

The voice sounded puzzled.

"Since when?"

"When you threw me out the window!" Creeper shouted.

"How's that for interfering, huh?"

"I didn't interfere," the voice said calmly, "I said I needed your help and wouldn't quit pestering you til I got it. You agreed to help, so I didn't touch your free will at all. It's not my fault you didn't ask what you'd have to be doing first."

Chuckling softly, it shut the door, leaving a thoroughly infuriated goblin behind them.

Avalina was drowsily nudged from wakefulness at the gentle sensation of floating.

Blearily cracking her eyes, she realized the Horned King was walking through the castle, but she could not feel his individual steps that easily. He practically glided across the floor, and the sensation felt as smooth as it looked.

She couldn't help the prickle of fear that swept through her, despite herself. She felt his arms stiffen by the faintest of margins, and she winced in shame at her cowardice, before his grip around her tightened faintly in an almost comforting gesture.

He knew.

His aura felt different. She wasn't quite sure how, only that it was. It felt a little stronger, a little fiercer, but not in a bad way.

The floating sensation was putting her back to sleep.

She came out of it a little more when he carefully laid her on her bed.

Forcing her eyes open a little more, she watched the lich pull the covers over her.

"Rest," he rumbled, "You have been through much. Your body is still weak from nearly freezing, and you could still become ill if you do not get bedrest for a couple days, at least."

Avalina stared at him, a guilty, slightly apprehensive look on her face, and he lowered his gaze with a soft sigh.

"I do not blame you for fearing me," he said slowly, "My behavior toward you has been inexcusable these past weeks. But perhaps I. . .might be able to regain what has been lost?"

He saw the uncertainty in her eyes when she spoke.

"I. . .I think so."

His relief that she had not denied it outright urged him on.

"I understand it may take you some time to recover from. . .that."

Avalina heard a faint tinge of regret in his words, and she sought for a way to ease it.

"You've gotten me off to a pretty good start," she admitted, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

The way his eyes softened ever so slightly warmed her heart.

"I do not understand," he ground out slowly, lowering his gaze, "How you can be so forgiving to a . . .monster. . . (He remembered she didn't want to hear him refer to himself with that word but he could think of nothing to better describe him) like myself."

After a pause, he questioned, "How do you it, child?"

Avalina heard the weight in his voice as he spoke, and how he glanced unbidden down at his hand, resting on the bed, and she realized just how much he had put into those words. Everything he meant by them.

Everything.

Slowly, she reached over and placed her hand over the lich's on the blanket as he went to draw away, feeling him stiffen in surprise as he looked back up at her.

"You're not a monster," she told him softly, tightening her fingers slightly around his, praying he could feel the truth she put into every syllable.

"Not to me."

The Horned King could only stare at her in disbelief, and Avalina did not look away, watching how his deathly eyes, staring into hers, seemed to reflect everything his heart was feeling.

Too overwhelmed for words, the lich slowly rose, returning her gesture gently before backing away.

"Rest now," he all but choked out, and Avalina gave him a small nod in return.

He swept out of the room to be alone with his thoughts, not looking back, and Avalina gave the closed door a tired, joyful smile, before falling asleep, feeling the Invisibles in the room, no doubt guarding her from the dark presence of the Cauldron.

I feel like this chapter was just a filler and didn't really go anywhere or do anything, but I also felt like the other chapter needed something like this following it up, so that's how this one was made XD I'm sorry for the lack of direction in this one but I felt like the story needed it, you know?

Thank you to everyone who reviews! :D