Chapter 127

The Life that swept through his chambers when she entered was nigh overwhelming, and the Horned King took a moment to compose himself before answering her joyful exclamation.

"I am. . .pleased," he ground out, the faintest of smiles at the corners of his mouth, something that warmed Avalina's heart and made her smile even bigger.

"I'm so happy!" She laughed.

"I saw a robin! And he found food! Do you like robins?"

The lich had to think a moment, trying to remember what a "robin" looked like. To his distaste he realized he could not.

"I am not certain," he replied.

"I cannot recall seeing one."

Avalina's face fell for a moment, before brightening.

"It's alright, you'll get to see them soon!"

Avalina sensed the lich had been about to say something and had not. Puzzled, she asked, "What is it?"

The Horned King gave a reluctant sound in his chest as he neared her.

"Child, I caution you. Do not raise your hopes too highly. It is. . .doubtful that any creatures will come here, in. . .my presence."

Avalina faltered.

"But. . .I saw a bird, just now. . ."

The lich emitted a soft, heavy sigh, and was about to speak, when another voice (or was it voices?) came out of nowhere, heavily accented.

"Och, quit been sich a Johnny Rencloud, ye olde be-antlered buzzard!"

Avalina choked in surprise and barely suppressed laughter as the Horned King turned his head slowly to the left in a heavily annoyed fashion. This prompted the voices to burst out laughing.

"Out," the lich ordered in his gravelly monotone, and they did, laughing as they shut the door.

"They. . .haha. . .be-antlered buzzard?" Avalina gasped, trying to keep her amusement in check.

"Do they. . .haha!. . .always do that?"

"Yes," the Horned King growled in annoyance.

"It gets. . .tiresome occasionally."

"I'm sorry," Avalina apologized, immediately feeling guilty, "I shouldn't have laughed."

"You have nothing to regret," he told her, the faintest hint of warmth in his voice.

"I imagine it would be amusing to you."

Avalina smiled softly, before furrowing a brow.

"Sir?" She asked, somewhat hesitantly.

"Yes?" He replied, furrowing his own brow ridge slightly.

During her moment of uncertainty, the lich silently prepared himself. When she took a moment before asking, it was usually something serious, and he faintly wondered what it could be.

"What exactly *are* the Invisibles?"

The question hit him hard.

He thought he had prepared an answer for every question she might ask that pertained to him, but this one had caught him by surprise. Why had he not anticipated this question already?

Even when they weren't about, the Invisibles made their presence well known, often in the most ridiculous of ways. He still remembered the confetti bomb they had planted at his door one morning, showering him in brightly colored bits of paper that stuck to him and refused to come off for days. Not as bad as this thing they called "glitter," but still. . .

'How to explain this?' He thought, his mind already searching for an explanation that did not involve anything pertaining to himself or the Cauldron.

He should have anticipated this question. He *had* anticipated this question, months ago, but the curt reply he had planned to give her, telling her to mind her own business, did not feel justified in his mouth and he refrained from speaking it.

If he could have a moment to himself, he could formulate a satisfactory reply, but with her watching him, waiting for an answer. . .

'Just tell her the truth,' the little voice in his head reasoned.

'It cannot possibly harm anything.'

"They are. . .my servants," he answered carefully, watching her.

"I am not entirely certain what they are, myself."

Avalina tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"But. . .if they work for you, wouldn't you know what they are?"

The Horned King withheld a huff.

'Work? Nothing could be less accurate.'

"No," he admitted.

"Oh. Have you had them long?"

"Only recently."

"How did you get them?"

The lich bit back a sigh. Her questions were drawing closer to home and he could not stave them off forever. He could, of course, tell her to drop the subject, but it would accomplish little. Telling her would get this uncomfortable matter out of the way and ensure she did not ask again later, but was it wise to do so?

"They were a. . .gift from the Fates," he finally growled out.

"And I use that term very loosely."

Avalina's eyes grew round.

"The Fates gave them to you?" She asked in awe.

"They're. . .they're. . .real?"

The shock in her voice was obvious.

After the lich nodded, she asked the inevitable.

"Why?"

After a moment to collect himself, he replied.

"To aid me."

After an uncertain pause, Avalina asked timidly, "Like how?"

He could practically see what she was thinking. Why would the Fates give the evilest being in the world something to aid him?

'Quit beating about the bush and get on with it,' the little voice said somewhat irritably.

'Might as well get it over with.'

"I have no men," he answered.

"No army. No one to do my bidding, save the goblin."

Seeing as she looked even more confused than she had before, he mentally groaned. He wasn't being completely honest and he felt she might sense this.

"Couldn't you gather some new ones?"

"Would you want me to?"

Avalina shivered faintly.

"No, sir."

His faint guilt made his reply sharper than he meant, and his inner voice harshly berated him, seeing the faintly frightened look she gave him.

'You're worse than a peddler.'

To his relief, she asked no more of the subject, but he felt very much a fool.

'You should have told her.'

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

". . .How did you come back?"

This was sensitive territory. Right when he thought the ice couldn't get any thinner. . .but he could answer truthfully here, at least.

"I do not know," he answered her.

"Although the knowledge would be quite valuable."

Avalina was silent for a long while, before she asked another question. She had gotten softer with each question and now her voice was hardly above a whisper.

"Did it hurt?"

The lich stiffened as her question unintentionally triggered a flashback.

'The flames. . .the unspeakable agony. . .

'Master, please, no more!'

Those fiery fingers raking across his very soul. . .

'I beg of you, no more!'

That laugh. . .his master's laugh. . .

'Please!'

Ahahahahaha...'

His talons gripped the sill so tightly they scored marks in the stone, and his answer was a deep, gravelly snarl, soft as Death itself.

"It was Hell."

Avalina jumped, and the movement brought the Horned King back to himself with a jolt, suddenly aware that his eyes were threatening to change colors.

Feeling disoriented, he slowly took a deep breath to compose himself, seeing how she was tensed to jump away from him, and he felt a pang in his chest at her expression.

"I. . .did not intend to frighten you," he rumbled uncomfortably, turning away. He couldn't look at her anymore, and concentrated instead on looking out the window, feeling too unsettled himself to speak what he was thinking.

'Child. . .no more questions,' He thought heavily.

'Not today.'

A somewhat awkward silence passed, in which neither said anything, Avalina still shaken by what she had seen in his eyes and the Horned King still on edge from the flashback of the Cauldron.

He had not had one in weeks and had let his mental guard down by mistake, and this one had flared up from nowhere.

The lich had nearly sealed himself away with his thoughts when her soft voice pulled him back.

"I'm sorry."

Turning to her, he took her in with a faint start. Tears were pooling in her eyes and he could sense the pain and guilt she was feeling.

"Child, whatever are you crying for?" He asked, that blasted inner voice scolded him harshly for scaring her.

"I didn't mean to upset you," she whispered, backing up a step with a soft gasp when he came forward, and he halted, not wishing to frighten her anymore, his chest feeling heavier than it had before she came in.

"I'm so sorry. . I didn't mean to bring back bad memories. . ."

"It is not your fault," he told her, cutting her off, "I did not mean to trouble you."

Slowly, she came a little closer, something he silently thanked her for, her aura already calming him. He could feel her mind practically teeming with more questions, under that pain she currently bore.

If he had been more cautious, she would not be feeling sad. . .

Months previous, he would have sent her away by this point, shutting away any questions she may have wanted to ask him. But now, for the first time in. . .possibly ever. . .the lich felt an urge to talk. Not simply listen, but. . .talk. About himself, although his memories (At least, what had returned to him) made next to no sense. Perhaps if she asked things, he would recollect more. . .

"You may ask another question, if you like," he stated, seeking to calm her racing heart. Seeing her about to refuse, he added, "I know you are overflowing with them."

"I. . .I don't want to bother, you. . ."

Her uncertain, almost frightened tone urged him on.

"If you are curious about something, you may inquire of it. You forget, I possess the ability of refusing to answer anything you may say."

She gave the softest hint of a smile, coming to stand with him by the window, something that faintly surprised the lich but he nonetheless welcomed it. She would not have done this so easily months previous.

After a while of staring out silently into the greyish landscape, overshadowed by the reddish-black sky, (which gave his lands a strange tint) he finally felt her summon the courage to ask another question, something that both relieved and tensed him.

"Sir?" She asked somewhat timidly.

"Yes?" He rumbled in as an encouraging tone his dead voice would allow.

". . .Um. . .what exactly is the. . .Black Cauldron?"

The Horned King drew a breath. After a moment of attempting to piece his thoughts together, he began.

"I am not entirely certain. I believe it existed well before I."

After thinking deeply for a moment, he continued.

"It is possible it may have had other uses at some point in history, or was meant for something else. However, as you no doubt know, it is now used for nothing but evil, and to my knowledge, always has been. Namely, creating Cauldron-Born."

More to himself than the girl, he added, "Perhaps with time its powers have weakened somewhat, or shown favoritism toward evil, rendering it useless, save for. . .that."

Avalina involuntarily shuddered, and the lich turned to her.

"Do you wish me to stop?" He asked.

Avalina shook her head slowly.

"No," she said softly. "Go on."

The lich resumed, memories of all he had ever read about the Black Cauldron coming back to him more easily than he had expected.

"Not even I am certain how it came into existence, only that it was owned by the Enchantresses Three before. . .Arawn. . ."

He forced the unpleasant flashbacks away. . .

"Achieved possession of it."

Avalina looked up at him, sensing how tense he had gotten, and her skin prickled. What could make the Horned King uneasy like this? Nothing phased him. Did it?

"Who is Arawn?" She asked, suddenly feeling uneasy herself.

"My. . .old master," the Horned King ground out, with obvious reluctance. If Avalina had not been around him so much she would not have noticed, and she unconsciously moved a step nearer him, the room feeling somewhat chilled.

"You. . .have a master?" She asked, her surprise in every syllable.

The Horned King nodded once.

"I *had* a master," he corrected her, "But not anymore."

"Was he named after the Death Lord that ruled Annuvin once?" She asked timidly. In many of her lessons the subject had been referenced, but it had always been something they weren't studying at the moment and he had skirted around it every time. She hadn't been certain she had wanted to learn about this "Death Lord" anyway, but she couldn't help glancing over random articles. . .

"No," the lich dredged out, "He *was* the Death Lord of Annuvin."

"What?" Avalina gasped in shock.

"But. . .he. . .he existed centuries ago. . ."

"Yes," the Horned King answered patiently, "And he existed centuries before my time. He kept himself alive through various dark means."

Avalina was stunned.

"But. . .he. . .you. . ." She stammered.

"If you studied under him, then. . .you. . ."

"Am well over a thousand years old," he answered, seeing she was having trouble.

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"A thousand!" She exclaimed.

"That. . .I mean, what. . .how?"

"I have many theories," he dredged out, "One possibility is that he did something to me to ensure I could not be defeated. It is the only one that seems. . .logical. Or perhaps I was. . .cursed. That is also plausible. But I have forgotten much."

Her aura was bursting with confused questions she did not know how to word, and after a taking a minute to compose himself, the lich elaborated, seeing no reason to keep this knowledge from her. What little he could recall, anyway.

"Arawn was. . .extremely powerful. None could match him. Much of what I know was learned from him. I studied and worked under Arawn for. . .many years. He planned to. . .rule Prydain."

Concentrating, he sought to piece the memories together that felt like images of a hallucination.

"But. . .he failed. How, I knew not, and it was the most. . .unexpected news. I had thought my master undefeatable. He was on the other side of the world when it occurred, and news of his demise did not reach me until the following year. I knew nothing of his plans previously, but one of my henchmen had heard murmurings of a great Black Cauldron rumored to create an undead army, and that Arawn had sought it. There was no way to confirm this news, but it seemed. . .plausible."

The Horned King paused for a moment, trying to keep the events correct in his mind, but he wasn't even certain he could recall them properly. . .perhaps speaking everything he could remember would help it stay in his mind, instead of vanishing.

"I sought the Cauldron for. . .centuries. It was all I thought of. I. . .collected the slain to use for my undead army in the event I found what Arawn had reportedly pursued."

Avalina trembled violently, remembering the Cauldron-Born from her nightmares, but the Horned King was lost in memory and did not seem to notice.

"Centuries passed. I conquered other countries. I heard no more of the Cauldron and reached the conclusion it had been nothing but a rumor to distract me, or had been hidden so well no man could find it. But I could not believe Arawn had not known what he was doing when he disappeared to search for this evasive object. So I continued collecting. . .the fallen. It had been an obsession too long for me to give up old habits so easily. If the Cauldron existed, I would find it."

Avalina bit her lip to keep it from trembling too and stared at him with huge eyes, shivering from head to foot. She could still feel those skeletons grabbing her. . .holding her down. . .running that sword through her chest. . .she clenched her jaw, preventing her teeth from chattering.

"But then. . ."

He was silent for many minutes, unmoving, and Avalina said nothing, sensing he should not be interrupted. Still trembling, she jumped when he finally spoke.

"A rumor passed by again that a prisoner informed me of. This time of an oracular pig residing in Prydain. After I was certain he was telling the truth, he was. . .removed from my way."

Avalina put a hand to her mouth in horror as he went on.

"I needed the animal to show me the location of the Black Cauldron. If it existed. But it had to exist. My plans depended on it. My men were now too few to be an efficient fighting force. Not that they ever were."

He growled softly, freezing Avalina's blood, as he continued, still lost in memory. His sentences were short and detached, almost uncertain, as if he didn't quite believe what he was saying.

"I had already battled Prydain once and. . .lost."

That last word was a hiss of fury and Avalina stared at him a bit fearfully. She remembered hearing talk of the first war between the Horned King and Prydain but had been too young to comprehend most of it. Their farm was so secluded they had seen nothing pertaining to the danger that had been practically outside their door.

"I had never lost before. I and my armies. . .withdrew to Annuvin to regroup and gather remnants from other countries I had previously conquered. They were reluctant to work for me but I. . .convinced them."

Avalina felt her insides turn to ice at the mental images those words conjured. His following sentence was a soft hiss.

"They dared not fight against me."

Another long silence, before he picked up his recollections, which seemed to become more detailed the more recent they had been.

"I returned to Prydain. My men burned and pillaged a city I had thought the pig to be in, but it was not so."

Avalina remembered this well and shook harder. She had seen the smoke, seen the people that had fled. . .many wounded and dying. . .

The nightmare of the Cauldron-Born burning her farm and killing her family came back without warning and she felt a chill of terror, but did not move. She didn't want to hear any more, she knew what was coming, but. . .she was frozen to the spot as he continued to talk, more to himself than her. She doubted he even realized she was there anymore.

"That very night the gwythaints delivered the oracle swine."

'Oracle pig?' Avalina thought in confusion, 'What is he talking about?'

"Somehow the Pig-Keeper managed to slip inside the castle and found his way to the throne room."

The Horned King's voice took on a very dangerous tone, and Avalina shrank from it, her thoughts racing.

'He must be talking about Taran. He has to be. But. . .oracle pig? What is that?'

"I. . .convinced him to obey. And the pig. . .revealed to me the Black Cauldron. So long had I pursued that elusive object, I. . .acted rashly. And they escaped before any real information could be gained."

'Oracle pig...oracle pig...what does he mean?' Avalina thought to herself. 'Taran. . .he's the Pig-Keeper, but. . .'

And then it clicked.

'Hen Wen?' She thought in shock.

'No, it can't be. Hen Wen's not. . .or. . .is she?'

Avalina had no trouble remembering the impeccable conditions the pig was kept in at Dallben's. But the other animals were cared for incredibly well too...

'Hen Wen has to be who he's speaking of,' she thought, 'Dallben's never had any other pigs that I know of. But Hen Wen? Oracle? Is that even possible?'

She was brought back to the present when the Horned King continued.

"The gwythaints led my men straight to the prisoners. And they had the Black Cauldron with them. The pig was nowhere to be found, but it mattered not. I had the Cauldron. The key to. . .everything. It was all I needed."

His voice had changed from threatening, to almost. . .reminiscent. And laced with faint triumph.

"At long last, I raised my beloved army. After centuries of waiting. The greatest fighting force the world has ever seen. The Cauldron-Born. No one has ever created an army like mine. Undefeatable."

Avalina was convinced by this point the Horned King no longer remembered she was there. His voice sounded too distant. . .but she dared not move.

"The dead make for an impeccable army," he rasped.

"They never retreat, never surrender, and they continue fighting when their limbs are cut off. They will never betray you, for you alone control them."

Avalina thought her heart would stop, listening to him. He sounded as if he would give anything to be re-granted what he had lost. And it frightened her.

"I. . .had it. Victory was mine. All I wanted, within my grasp, and then. . ."

A deep, rumbling snarl emitted from him, and his eyes flashed blood red in fury. Avalina couldn't help the gasp that made itself known, but the lich did not even seem to notice.

"That Pig-Keeper destroyed everything," he snarled.

"Centuries of searching, preparing, planning, gone in a single instant. My greatest triumph, years in creating. . .eradicated. By a *pig keeper.*"

There was so much venom in the words Avalina thought she would faint.

"How could this have happened? The world's most fearsome warlord, the Great Horned Lich King, ruler of Annuvin and conqueror of countless countries, defeated by a mere boy! Never have I been so humiliated!"

Avalina's heart was in her throat, watching him. She realized all that rage and despair he had kept bottled inside and poisoned him for so long was finally coming out, and he was practically shouting. She wanted to calm him, but he needed to get this out. . .but she was so afraid. . .he was always so composed, seeing him like this terrified her. . .feeling weaker by the second, she was forced to lean against the wall for support.

"I had it! I had everything I ever wanted! Everything I sought for...all I ever desired in my entire existence. It was finally mine! And he took it all from me!"

The Horned King's eyes were a bloodier red than Avalina had ever seen them. . .she could scarcely breathe for fright. . .every muscle tensed for flight. . .yet she was rooted to the spot.

"And then. . ." The lich snarled, "Then he destroyed. . .me. As if obliterating everything I spent centuries making wasn't enough! I *hate* that *damnable* Pig-Keeper!"

He meant it too. Avalina heard the truth in every syllable, and it froze her to the core. She had never heard him raise his voice like this before.

"A dozen lifetimes of torture could not equal what I endured! And that is where I found. . .Arawn. And I finally realized what had happened to him, all those centuries ago. He. . .delighted in having a new victim to suffer as much as he did. It didn't matter that I was once his apprentice."

The Horned King shuddered so violently Avalina felt the vibrations through the stone as she leaned against the wall, and despite her fear, she felt a deep stab of pity for her friend. How much he must have suffered. . .although many would say he deserved it all and more. And her heart ached for him.

The onslaught of memories, once started, kept right on coming. And coming. After he managed to start piecing them together, they wouldn't stop. . .he was finally able to rip free from them when the flashbacks threatened to overcome him, and he came back to himself with a jolt.

Shaking his head, he took in the scenery outside, before his senses came back and he turned to his left, feeling Avalina's aura once more, now that he wasn't lost in memory. Such wretched memories. . .

She was a few feet to his left, watching him with an anxious expression on her face, and he tensed. He had completely forgotten she was still in the room, and he silently cursed himself, remembering all he had spoken aloud.

There was nothing to say. He saw no reason to apologize, (she had asked him, after all) but after a moment, inquired, "Are you. . .alright?"

"Yes," she answered softly, but her expression suggested otherwise. She looked paler than normal and her face was drawn, and he could feel how strained her aura was. He remembered that she had been beside him at the window when she had started asking questions, and now she was over there. . .not that he blamed her.

"I. . .apologize if I frightened you," he dredged out, "It. . .was not my intention."

"No, it's alright," she almost whispered, suddenly seeming to realize where she was and moving slowly over to him.

"I did ask."

To the Horned King's surprise, she inched slowly back up to him, studying him with an expression that could have been faintly troubled or sympathetic, and he knew he wasn't imagining the extra liquid at the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry. . .about. . .you, and. . .that, " She whispered, and after a moment he understood.

"Child, I. . .deserved everything I endured," he rumbled, feeling faintly disturbed at seeing her distress.

"You should not pity me."

"I can't help it," she whispered softly, looking down.

The Horned King could think of nothing to say in reply, and they stood there for some time, her aura slowly calming him as her fear slowly dissipated.

"You have another question," he finally rumbled. It was not a question itself, but a statement, and she looked up at him a bit uncertainly, as if wary of continuing. However, eventually she did so.

"Did. . .you want to find the Black Cauldron to take over the world?"

After a moment, the lich's reply was short, soft as it was heavy. He saw no reason to keep it from her.

"Yes, child."

Another silence passed, longer this time, before she softly spoke again.

"If. . .you don't mind me asking. . ."

She faltered for a long moment, although he faintly tilted his head toward her in a silent invitation to continue. This encouraged her just enough to get her words out, hardly above a whisper.

"Why did you want to. . .destroy everything?"

The question was a dead weight as it fell heavily against him, and his hands (which were clasped behind his back) gripped themselves tightly, readying his reply.

He was not prepared for the blank void that met him. He had expected to have an answer, immediately, but all that met him was. . .nothing.

He had nothing.

Frowning, he concentrated harder, tracing back through his fragments of memory that he had recently gained and things of old, searching. . .there had to be a reason. There had to be. . .

His brow ridges furrowed as he concentrated on what little he could remember, none of it relating, sifting through it. . .none of it seemed substantial in any way, and he gritted his fangs, frustrated.

His memory would not be giving him anything of use pertaining to the subject, it seemed. There were too many empty spaces. Nothing he seemed to recall matched up.

"I do not remember."

His answer fell as heavily as her question, and the room was silent as a tomb.

Avalina was stunned into silence at this for so long the lich turned back to her in puzzlement.

"But. . .there had to have been a reason," she nearly whispered, "Right?"

That last word sounded so desperately hopeful. . .

"Surely there was, right?"

The Horned King could sense her distress. It was a different type than what she had exhibited previously, but seemed deeper, more painful.

"I long for the answer as much as you," he grated softly, deliberately. "But if I cannot remember, perhaps it is of no importance."

"Not important?" Avalina wavered, "Of course it's important. Memories are reasons for things, they make a person who they are, and if you forget. . ."

She was nearly in tears.

"Then you forget who *you* are."

"I am the Horned King," he replied, realizing for the first time how dull and uninterested he sounded in his own titles. "Death Lord and former ruler of Annuvin, conqueror of. . .many countries. And that is all of any significance to me now. There is nothing else."

But. . .you couldn't have just decided one day to destroy the world, could you?" Avalina asked, her voice shaking, "Surely something happened to make you want to?"

"It does not matter," the lich answered. "I believe it would be more merciful to both of us for any past occurrences I cannot remember to. . . simply stay buried. There is much suffering when you attempt to bring back things of old."

"But. . ." Avalina nearly sobbed, "You can't even remember your name! Or if you even had one!"

The Horned King's heart sank at her pained words, before he placed a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Enough," he rumbled softly, feeling wretched for even starting this and making her sad. "We cannot help what has happened, nor can we ever know for certain. If I had known it would distress you so I would not have elaborated upon this."

"No," Avalina protested, looking up at him, "You needed to say it. You might have forgotten it aga. . ."

"And you should not be so disturbed at the loss of my name," he softly reprimanded, "It is merely a string of letters, easily replaceable, and I believe you said you were going to give me a new one at some point, correct?"

"Well, yeah," Avalina sniffed, "But that's not the same. . ."

"I believe any name I may or may not have possessed at some point could never stand to what you will give me in exchange, child," he told her.

Avalina smirked a little through her tears.

"Even Mr. Green?"

The lich growled in mildly irritated amusement.

"Anything but that."

Her soft giggle warmed his heart.

"If you remember anything else, you'll tell me, right?" She asked hopefully, her eyes wide.

Seeing him pause at this, she added hastily, "I promise I won't cry."

The Horned King gave a vaguely exaggerated sigh, but she could sense the he was not truly irritated, though his voice remained monotone as ever.

"I will think about it."

Avalina smiled happily up at him, before placing her hand gently over his own, which was still on her shoulder. He had not thought to remove it and was not prepared for her touch. He almost drew away, but her warmth held him there as she spoke.

"Ok! But can you please think about it later? I finally learned that new song you've been wanting to hear!"

She nearly danced with excitement, and the lich gave a soft chuckle.

"Of course."

To everyone that reviewed, thank you all so much! Your reviews make me so happy! =D Hope you really enjoyed this chapter too! Oh, and I've beaten my Longest Chapter record again! This chapter (without the disclaimers) is 5,109 words! 0_0 How freakin cool is that?! *parties madly* Again, thank you all sooooooo much! =D