Chapter 136

Avalina smiled as she poured Mitternacht's grain in his trough and watched him attack it with vigor. Since he had grass to eat now he didn't need as many oats as normal, so his portion had been quite small the last little while.

It would take him a few minutes to finish up, (he usually insisted on going round his trough til he was absolutely positive every single kernel was gone) so Avalina slipped out the stable and into the fresh, clean air, taking a deep breath. It felt so good, being able to breathe and not having to worry about coughing on dust!

Creeper was in the gwythaints' stable across the courtyard, caring for them, and would bring them out upon finishing.

The early morning sported a faint layer of fog that partially covered the land, but it would burn off shortly. The sun never did shine at full strength here, (the red-black clouds above the castle blocked much of it out) but it shone enough for things to grow.

After checking all the flowers by the drawbridge, making sure they were in top shape, Avalina skipped lightly out to the first cluster of trees to check the flowers there. Seeing they were overcrowding, she gently began to work her fingers into the loose earth around them, carefully extracting the extras and happily singing to herself as she worked. She'd have to transplant them somewhere else...

The horse clopped along the trail, its head hanging low and its energy spent. Cursing, the rider dealt the exhausted animal another kick, more out of frustration at the slow pace than attempting to make it go any faster, knowing the animal was finished and swifter travel might very well make it drop dead on the spot.

Weeks of hard and furtive riding had shortened his almost nonexistent temper and lengthened his blade, so to speak, and his position was less than favorable. Currently he was riding to the meeting place of his companions.

Companions. He used the word very loosely. They only banded together for mutual benefit, but it was doubtless that they would turn on each other like dogs at any given moment. Still, there was protection in numbers, and the more of them there were, it was doubtful any villagers would give them trouble.

The wilderness of Prydain offered plenty of hiding places from the human figures of authority, but the larger predators seemed to be drawn to him like flies. Like even Nature herself had turned on him. Last night he had lost his pack horse to something or another, barely escaping with his life and the horse he still had. Not that there was much left of the animal under him to be called that.

His group had scattered last night, but he knew where they were all going. He would meet them there.

His horse stumbled and he swore, yanking the animal's head up harshly. He needed a new mount, and quickly. This one was about as useful as carrion.

The morning air was quiet, and suddenly he whoa'd his horse, listening at the gentle sound that drifted faintly against his ears.

Someone was singing. Female, he guessed. The sound echoed off the trees and drifted through the undergrowth, but after a few moments he took a small side trail and followed the noise. His horse was too exhausted to pay much attention, but after working through a couple small meadows and several tree clusters, he turned a corner and saw the source of the noise.

It was female, as he'd suspected, and she was tending a flowerbed of some type, her back to him, but that wasn't what caught his attention.

His eyes glinted as he took everything in. Her small, fragile shape, no weapons to be seen, fresh hoofprint grooves in the earth near her, and perhaps most importantly, she was all alone.

Fingering the sword-hilt at his side, he eased his horse up behind her as a wicked smirk stole across his face.

Today was beginning to look up.

A chill shot up her spine for seemingly no reason, and Avalina's next lyric caught in her throat, feeling the atmosphere change quickly as a snuffed torch.

Freezing, she heard footsteps, and looked up and behind herself to see a horse and rider almost on top of her.

Gasping, she leaped away from them, swiftly backing up as she took them in.

The horse was exhausted. From the bones jutting under the rough, ragged coat to the blank, nearly-dead expression in its eyes. It hadn't rested in days, Avalina guessed, and the filth that coated its legs and chest further convinced her.

The pity she felt for the creature was instant.

Raising her gaze to the rider, she felt her skin crawl.

The man was huge, from boot to shoulder, and the horse looked even more pitiful with him astride it. He was almost as filthy as his mount, and his clothes looked like a barbarian's. His skin was dark from many hours in the sun and his chin-length black hair needed a wash, accented by the unkempt stubble that adorned his face. A rusted sword sheath hung at his left hip, but what caught her attention most and held it were his eyes.

They were narrowed and squinted, looking far too small for the rest of him, and held a look inside them that practically screamed malicious intent. They were as black as the pits, and Avalina felt the very hair on her neck stand up as the man raked his gaze over her. The sensation grew even worse when the man doffed his cap to her.

"A thousand pardons, miss," he said, grinning and exposing very bad teeth, "I didn't mean to startle ya."

'Yes, you did,' Avalina thought, his voice setting her teeth on edge. Nobody with a tone like that ever approached with good intentions.

"What's a thing like you doin' out here all by yourself?" He questioned.

"I'm not alone," Avalina said, far too quickly to even sound partially convincing, and she could have slapped herself when he grinned even wider in triumph and dismounted.

Casting a glance toward the castle, she realized she couldn't see it from here and odds were the stranger hadn't seen it either.

'If he'd seen it he wouldn't even be here, she thought to herself as he tied his horse to a low-hanging limb, 'And I wish he had!'

"Who are you?" she asked warily, determined to keep her voice from shaking. The urge to simply run away was unbelievable but she saw the dagger in his belt and something told her not to turn her back on him, not even for a moment. If he had that thing, he probably knew how to throw it, and should she try to run, or yell for someone...

"I happen to be needin' a new horse," he said as he approached her, ignoring the question. "And I see you have one here."

"No," she told him, fighting the urge to flee where she stood, "I don't have any to give you." 'Creeper, what's taking so long? Bring Addie out for exercise like you always do around this time!'

His eyes glinted. "I know you got a mount somewhere, wench, and I'm not asking for it," he said harshly, his temper already fraying.

"Perhaps sir, if you would take better care of the poor beast you ride, you would not need mine," Avalina replied, her anger at his horse's condition shown in her soft voice. 'CREEPER! Where ARE you!?'

The man pulled himself up to his full height, (she noticed with a faint thread of triumph he wasn't quite as tall as the Horned King) and scowled darkly at her.

"Maybe I didn't make meself clear," he said, foreboding coating his voice. "Either I take the animal, or I take /you/. Now which'll it be?"

Noticing how he fingered his sword handle (it had dark stains on it that made her stiffen in fright) Avalina kept backing up as he steadily approached. 'Maybe if I can get within sight of the castle somebody will come!'

"He's in the stable," Avalina said, trying to stall him. 'If I can just make it to the courtyard...'

"Don't give me that," the man snapped, gripping his sword, "There ain't no stables around here!"

"It's right around the corner here," Avalina said, gesturing. "If you'd care to look." 'Creeper, if you're not in the courtyard, I will slap you!'

The man narrowed his eyes, following her. Avalina didn't turn away from him and backed out into the meadow in front of the castle, her heart leaping in hope as she laid eyes on the massive structure.

'Maybe the Horned King will be at the window like he usually is! He'll see!'

Coming out of the trees, a sharp intake of breath escaped him as the man froze, taking in the castle in all its forbidding glory.

'He knows who lives here,' she thought, feeling a tiny bit of relief. 'Maybe he'll leave now. But why is the drawbridge closed?'

She furrowed her brows faintly in puzzlement. 'The drawbridge hasn't been closed in months. Why is it shut now?'

Her relief turned to ice that chilled her to her marrow when he suddenly chuckled, but there was not a drop of amusement in the sound.

"Clever," he told her, "But there's nobody here but you. That castle's been empty for over a year now, and nobody ever dares go in, or approach. And ye wouldn't either, if ya knew who used to live there."

"I know," she said, fear twisting through her as he began to approach her, much more swiftly than before, "I'm staying with him now and my horse is in his stable." 'Can /nobody/ see this man!?' She thought, her trembling beginning to make itself known. 'We're right here in plain sight of the castle, for Fates' sake! And why isn't that drawbridge /open?/ Did something happen in there?'

"You think me a fool?" The man asked viciously. "Enough lies!"

With one swift movement, he had whipped his sword out of its sheath and pointed it right at Avalina's throat. Avalina shrieked in fear, jumping back, but ran against a tree and realized in horror he had somehow maneuvered himself between her and the castle, cutting her off.

"Now," he snarled hatefully, "Where is your mount?"

"In the stable!" She cried, pressing as tightly against the tree as she could, feeling the blade's icy tip rest against her.

An image of the Cauldron-Born running that blade through her chest came back instantly and she loosed a cry of terror, feeling the pressure increase.

"Please, no!"

A gwythaint's scream cut sharply through the air, interrupting them and causing the man to turn around.

Gethin sat perched atop the closed drawbridge, screeching at them for all he was worth and flapping his wings madly. He still couldn't fly but he was obviously making the situation known to everyone in hearing distance.

'That's it, Gethin!' Avalina thought, urging him on. 'Tell them!'

The man swore in fear as his horse, no longer looking quite so listless, shied at the end of its rope, trying to run from the predator.

Avalina, seeing he had lowered his sword slightly, tried to rush past him and get to the castle.

"CREEPER!" She screamed.

The man grabbed her arm and yanked her viciously around, dragging her back to his mount as fast as he could go.

"Let go!" Avalina cried in pain, but he was so strong she couldn't even begin to fight him.

The man yanked his horses' head down and bodily threw Avalina into the saddle in front of him, before leaping up himself and pinning Avalina to him, ensuring that she couldn't fight back.

Avalina screamed in terror as the horse whirled and galloped away from the castle as fast as the exhausted beast could go.

Terrified, she thrashed her legs as hard as she could, any feelings of pity for the horse pushed to the side as fear took over. She had to save herself!

"SIRE!" She shrieked in a panic. "MITTERNACHT! ADDIE! HELP ME!"

She saw the man's fist from the corner of her eye right before everything went black.

The Invisibles had only closed the drawbridge for a minute. Just long enough to test the chain and gears and hinges and make sure everything was still in good condition after so much inactivity. Oiling all the moving parts, they worked swiftly as Creeper turned Gethin into the yard for a minute so the gwythaint would stop stealing his brushes, while the goblin quickly cleaned Addie off in the stable.

'The little weasel's just got to stick his nose in everything,' Creeper thought irritably, tossing a thoroughly chewed brush to the side and getting a new one. "Addie, you gotta have a talk with that brat of yours and make him stop stealing stuff!"

The panicked screeches of Gethin from the yard were so unexpected Creeper dropped his brush as Addie's head snaked up instantly.

Creeper ran outside, (the Invisibles locking Addie in the stable behind him, much to her wrath) and saw Gethin perched atop the closed drawbridge, his claws scoring grooves in the seasoned old wood as he flapped his wings in a panic, watching something from the other side.

'How did he get up there?' The goblin thought, flabbergasted. 'Did he claw his way up?'

And then Creeper heard the human screaming. A chill raced up his spine.

'She's in trouble!'

Scaling the wooden drawbridge faster than he'd ever climbed anything in his life, he topped it just in time to catch a glimpse of a strange horse galloping into the trees, with a strange rider gripping the human girl as she screamed for help, before they were gone.

He could hear Mitternacht roaring inside his own stable, pawing madly at the door. He knew something was horribly wrong.

Creeper, despite the horror of the situation, was frozen with indecision.

'I've gotta go get her!' He thought as he scaled down. He was halfway to Addie's stable when he suddenly stopped, his mind racing a mile a minute. 'But wait. If I just leave Master will be furious. And when he gets mad. . .'

The goblin shuddered at the idea of the Horned King's displeasure.

"And what he wants me to do is usually the opposite of what I think I should do...'

Creeper stamped a foot in hopeless rage at himself before racing inside as fast as he could go.

'I must tell the Master!'

The Horned King had been in the library all morning, combing through the books and deciding what to teach Avalina next, when Creeper burst in the door, tailed by the Invisibles, with all of them yelling at once. The lich felt the urgency that flooded the air (and their voices) and instantly knew it wasn't just a petty disagreement. Something was very wrong.

A raised hand had silenced them, briefly, before an Invisible had kicked Creeper forward to relay whatever it was that had them so torn up, but he was stammering so badly the Invisibles took over.

Through all of them explaining at once, he pieced together what had happened, and when they were finished his deathly eyes were blacker than the darkest, deepest cavern.

Creeper whimpered in fear as his master's hands clenched so tightly by his sides they turned a slightly paler green.

The goblin had only seen his master lose his deathlike composure a handful of times, at the very most, in all the years he'd served him, but the Horned King's stillness did not mean a thing. Creeper knew he was absolutely furious. And pondering a plan much faster and more thoroughly than anyone else the goblin had ever seen. If he knew anything about his master, Creeper knew the lich invariably controlled himself with an iron fist, (just as he controlled all who came under him) never allowing anyone else to see what he was thinking. (Save for maybe the human, although the goblin privately doubted his master would bother voicing his thoughts to a mere girl) Nor did the horned undead ever act rashly. (That one incident with the Pig-Keeper and the Cauldron notwithstanding.)

The little group of messengers watched the lich stand there, still as a stone, for what felt like hours, before he slowly demanded, "Did she go willingly?"

"N-no Sire!" Creeper answered, pain and panic obvious in his voice. "She was...screaming for us."

The Horned King's sharp intake of breath as his chest constricted with a mixture of emotions he didn't understand sounded like a soft snarl of fury. (Which would be anything but false)

"Follow them!" He ordered Creeper. "If there are too many to engage, report immediately."

"Y-yes Sire!" The shivering goblin answered, before streaking out of the library as fast as he could go. An Invisible lingered, but a vicious hiss took care of that one too, leaving the lich alone.

He had considered merely loosing the raging stallion in the stable and letting him lead Creeper and Addie to Avalina, but his calculating mind had stayed him. It was simply not logical to allow a furious horse and an equally dimwitted goblin riding an angered gwythaint to pursue in such an obvious fashion. No, the element of surprise was best.

The possibility that the intruder was traveling in a group was rather low, but the Horned King was taking no chances. The Invisibles had spared no bit of information, right down to the man's dress and rusted sword. They hadn't seen his face but they'd told him everything they knew. His horse had been worn out and the rider very harsh, with no known motive for taking the girl. The details mattered little to the Horned King, but the way the man had treated Avalina mattered very much.

She had been screaming for him, they said, as that mortal had stolen her away in plain sight. And he had not came when she needed him. That pathetic excuse for a human had taken her from him, trespassing on his lands...on everything she had worked so hard to create...

The Horned King growled so murderously it would have made ghosts tremble, as his eyes briefly flickered with raging black fury.

He had told her nothing would harm her here. He had promised. Ordinarily this would mean nothing, but he had not sworn to keep his word to just anyone. He had sworn to her. And then...

He could envision her fighting against this faceless man, screaming in terror for the lich, her horse, the goblin, for anyone, to come. And no one had. Only the Fates knew where she was, or if she was even-

The Horned King ripped the thought to shreds, refusing to dwell on it, and bared his fangs as this alien emotion of Helplessness twisted inside him and hurt his heart. He had never felt an emotion as pointless as this. As /weak/ as this. And he loathed it with every ounce of his being.

His chest felt as if a massive boulder was sitting on it, but his fury knew no bounds, raging on underneath as he headed to his chambers to await any news, noticing he still held Avalina's lesson for today.

The lich's eyes flickered hellishly in the dimness of the castle.

'That mortal will rue the day he was ever born.'

That idiot man doesn't know what he's gotten himself into...XD I really, really, /really/ didn't want to use this subplot as an excuse for excitement, but I literally have nothing else that could even be considered a real problem for them to get through. It's cliched and it's stupid but I have nothing else to use. Oh yeah, and I utterly hate this chapter. XD I just hope it's not /too/ awfully predictable. Which is incredibly doubtful, considering the cliched material I had to use, but oh well. *facedesk* I feel like I have failed this chapter and my readers. Sorry y'all. :( I'll try to do better in the future, I promise!