Chapter 144

It took the Horned King a moment to comprehend what she had said, and his heart grew heavy as he did so. He knew what he would do to the garden if he ever entered it. Avalina was well aware of this too, he knew, but regardless, something had to have happened to make her this excited and apparently forget all she had seen him do to plant life. He did not want to bring her low, but he simply could not do what she said.

"Child, you know I cannot..." the Horned King began heavily, but for the first time he could remember, Avalina interrupted him, practically dancing on her toes before him.

"Oh, you can now, sir! You couldn't before, but it's alright now! You can come, and nothing will die!"

At any other time he would have been irritated at being talked over, but her excitement was infectious, and well-mannered as she was...if she bothered to interrupt him it had to be very unusual.

"Why do you say this?" he asked, furrowing his brow ridges faintly at her as curiosity sparked.

"I...saw a snake in the garden just now," she panted. "A real, venomous snake. He came, and stayed for a while, and harmed nothing. After he left I came here to tell you."

"A snake?" the lich felt an uneasy twinge. If there was a venomous predator residing on his grounds, Avalina could be in great danger. Even with the Invisibles about, he knew they had their limitations and he wasn't taking chances. A snake bite was all but incurable by normal means.

"Yes," she said happily, all but jumping up and down.

"You should take caution against such dangers in the future," the Horned King told her. "A snake bite can be fatal."

"I will, don't worry," she promised, before asking softer, but no less excitedly, "So can you come with me now?"

The Horned King gave a slow, grating sigh. He didn't understand how she could be so intelligent, then in moments of ill-thought inspiration throw all the knowledge he knew she possessed to the winds and pursue the next random plan she had schemed up. She hadn't done this when she first arrived here.

The Invisibles, he told himself for the half dozenth time, were a bad influence on people.

"Child, you know that I am Death..." he said heavily, not wishing to hurt her anymore. He knew it frightened her when his aura killed things. But for the second time in five minutes, she had interrupted, cutting him off mid-sentence. She had never done this before, and while unusual, it was beginning to rile him. He was about to reprimand her for it, but the look she was giving him stayed his tongue.

"But sir, is not the serpent Death also?" she asked, staring up at him with an expression akin to nigh-panic at the thought of him refusing, as if begging him to understand and agree with what she was saying. "He visited the garden, and nothing died. Nothing was even injured. I was meant to see that snake, I know it. The garden's so big we couldn't have met by mere chance. It was a sign for us. It's alright now."

The Horned King stared at her, absorbing her words. Every moment that passed she grew more desperate, almost agitated, when he showed no sign of relenting, and he noticed with surprise she was gripping his hand and arm so tightly her arms shook from the strain, although he could hardly feel the excess pressure himself. (a side effect of being a lich) She was so excited he could hear her heartbeat racing beneath her chest, loud enough for his sensitive ears to pick up, and her cheeks were flushed. She looked as if she were about to cry, yet there were no signs of it on her face.

"You must calm down," he said softly, brushing some hair from her eyes and noticing how hot she was. Her breath came fast and she felt very nearly feverish, but the Invisibles, seeming to read his mind, murmured softly in his ear that she was not. "You are too hot. Sit down."

For the first time he thought she would disobey him, but after a few moments she reluctantly sat down and accepted the water the Invisibles brought her.

"Now," the Horned King said after she had calmed and relaxed a bit, "Tell me everything from the beginning once more, and spare no detail."

Avalina immediately did so, sparing nothing of what she had seen. When she was finished, he sat in deep thought for many minutes, and Avalina did not speak, although she dearly wanted to.

"Pardon me a moment," he said finally, rising and stepping outside the room, the Invisibles following.

"Is there any possibility, however faint, that this could be a trick of Arawn's?" the Horned King asked after they had shut the door behind him.

"Well, there's always a possibility of that, Sire, but as far as we can gather it's almost completely impossible here."

"Almost?"

"In his current state he's not powerful enough to project illusions of that sort. At least, not that we know of. He can only attack people in their dreams, but since he's confined to the Cauldron it's extremely doubtful he can muster the strength for much else. Especially with us here blocking his every attempt."

The Horned King silently mulled this over for a few minutes. It would be just like Arawn to try something of this caliber. He knew his former master hated life of any sort, and tricking the lich, through Avalina, into going into the garden and obliterating everything the girl had worked so hard on for so very long, would be right down Arawn's alley. The most powerful being in the world when he was alive, Arawn's power had been all but limitless. A couple of his specialties had been illusions strong enough to look completely real to someone who wasn't aware of this power, and shape-shifting into various animals. A snake had been one of them.

"So there is a possibility it is a trick."

"Yes. But we don't think it is, Sire. Surely if it was, side effects would be left of his presence..."

They were interrupted by a gentle tap on the other side of the wood, before the Invisibles pulled the door open, revealing Avalina standing there. She looked a good deal calmer than before, albeit faintly guilty at interrupting them, but her eyes were dancing in excitement and the Horned King could see the question all over her face. He didn't wish to make her uneasy but he had to know.

"Avalina," he began, "Are...are you absolutely certain you saw a snake?"

"Of course," she said, a little dismay creeping into her expression. "I told you exactly what I saw. Don't...don't you trust me, sir?"

"I would never doubt you," he replied, "However, I have reason to believe Arawn might have been behind it, attempting to trick me into unintentionally destroying your garden. I do not wish that to happen."

"It wasn't Arawn," she said earnestly. "I know what he...what he feels like, you know?" She trembled faintly. "I would have been able to tell if it was him."

The lich nodded. He had temporarily forgotten her hyper-active ability he could only call a sixth sense of some sort. It was almost as sensitive as his own, and if she said she hadn't sensed Arawn, he believed her. He had a deep suspicion that Arawn, despite his power, was simply too overwhelmingly evil to conceal his own presence, and while this had been something the warlord had once boasted of while he was alive, it was now nothing but a beacon.

"I promise, the garden's safe now," Avalina told him. "I'm certain of it."

Seeing he still hesitated, she asked, very softly, extending a hand, "Please? /Please/ come?"

The Horned King felt her apprehension and the fear he would refuse rising with each passing moment he remained silent, and he understood just how much this meant to her. He realized now she had probably been striving for this very day for months, and to have him turn the opportunity down would crush not only her, but any hope he might have, however slight, of being able to walk among living things again.

A deep, dredging sigh escaped him, before he slowly reached forward and took her outstretched hand in his.

"Very well."

After they had disappeared down the stairs, Avalina nearly dragging the Horned King along, the Invisibles could be heard wickedly cackling to each other.

"Finally, they're /gone/! Let's get to work, fellow fiends!"

Mounting up behind Avalina, the Horned King could not help feeling a very real twinge of apprehension. For the first time in over a thousand years, he was about to see if he could approach something he had invariably rendered lifeless in the past. If it worked like Avalina insisted it would, it would be worth it. But if not...all she would have to show for her effort would be a blackened stretch of decay.

Mitternacht started off in his strong, easy gait out of the courtyard, never slowing or pausing. The Horned King stiffened in the saddle and steeled himself for the worst, watching the ground ahead of them.

As Mitternacht walked off the drawbridge and onto the soil, the Horned King's apprehension rose to a staggering margin as he stared at it, expecting it to shrivel and blacken at any moment...sift into dust...

But nothing happened. Mitternacht kept walking through the green, faintly waving plants dotted generously with bright flowers, and...nothing died. The grass stayed green and the flowers stayed their various respective colors, so thick the riders couldn't see the earth underneath.

And nothing died.

The Horned King stared all around him in amazement and disbelief, the horse's smooth, relaxed strides enhancing the nigh-dreamlike state the lich felt himself slipping into as he took everything in.

Passing beneath the first stretch of trees, their leafy crowns shielded out most of the sun, but golden beams still slid through the leaves and dappled all in sight.

So lost in thought was the lich, he wasn't aware they'd stopped until Avalina spoke.

"This is the place!"

Throwing her leg over Mitternacht's neck, she slid to the ground, looking up after a moment when the other hesitated.

"You can get down, you know sir," she said, amusement squinting the corners of her eyes. "It's safe now."

The Horned King sat still for a moment more, before he slowly, almost hesitantly, dismounted, his boots hitting the grass with a soft, rustling crunch.

He had not stood upon anything but cobbled stones and dust for centuries. The living plants underfoot felt as foreign to him as water and he reflexively gripped the saddle tight, the only anchor in the shifting earth. Feeling the grass stems give under him gave the sudden illusion he was sinking, but before he could contemplate remounting Mitternacht, it stopped.

The Horned King's boots stayed rooted to their position as he stared around him. For one of the few times in his existence, he found himself completely at a loss. He was spellbound.

The thick, waving grass, speckled with flowers, stretched out underneath the canopy of leaves, which was held up by strong trees all around them. Light pierced the leafy roof in places, minuscule particles in the air twirling like miniature fairies in the golden shafts. A gentle breeze played with anything it could grasp, ruffling the lich's robe and hood and making the grass bow and ripple. In the distance, he could faintly smell the lake, but it was almost smothered by a warm, fragrant, somewhat earthy scent that urged his once-dead lungs to inhale more deeply. Avalina had invariably brought this into the castle with her after being outside, so while he was familiar with it, having so much at once would have choked him with its unexpected richness had he not been a lich.

Knowing they would be awhile, (as well as giving her horned companion a little time to get accustomed to his surroundings) Avalina slipped off Mitternacht's equipment, placing it in a neat pile on the ground. After some petting, the horse began to graze, and still the Horned King remained where he stood. The only movement was the slow rotation of his head as he stared, and stared, and stared.

"Sir?" Avalina asked after nearly fifteen minutes since they'd dismounted. The lich turned to her as one who has just emerged from a deep trance, his eyes holding a somewhat blank expression, as if he were somewhere so far away nothing could pull him back. He looked a lifetime away, and Avalina was startled by the entirety of his vacancy. She almost spoke to him again, before his eyes rested on her and slowly focused again, bringing their owner back to the here and now.

"How is this possible?" he rasped softly, sounding as if he were having trouble speaking. "Child, what have you done?"

Unable to think of an answer to his question, Avalina merely shrugged, grinning happily. "I told you the snake was a sign."

When he didn't reply after a moment, she asked, "Would you like to walk around a bit?"

The lich nodded faintly. "Yes."

He took one step toward her and nearly fell. The grass gave a false sense of footing before being flattened to the earth and he was not prepared for it. It felt like he had missed a step on the castle stairs and gave a very real sensation of walking off onto nothingness and falling to one's death.

Avalina was beside him in an instant, grabbing one of his hands he had stretched out habitually to try and regain his balance, steadying him.

"Are you alright sir?" she asked, concern etching her features.

The Horned King growled in faint frustration. "Merely unprepared."

Attempting another step, he would have fallen for certain had Avalina not steadied him, and she understood why he was having trouble. He probably hadn't walked on grass for a millennia, maybe more, and it was as foreign to him as walking on water was to her.

"Sir, lean on me," she told him, "Until you get used to it."

"I require no assistance," the lich replied a bit colder than necessary, straightening up.

The next step met the same result as the first two, Avalina the only thing preventing him from falling flat on his face.

The Horned King gave a snarl, and Avalina sensed a vein of something running through the lich's aura she had never felt before...embarrassment. It was as poignant as it was unexpected, and she felt a jolt of sympathy for him. Even in moments of extreme agony, she had never seen him in a situation he didn't have control of, save for when he had inhaled water saving her from the lake. And he wouldn't have lost control of that situation if she hadn't been present, because it never would have happened. Not being in complete control of everything around him was something so alien to him, he had no idea how to react. But maybe she could ease the nigh-fury she could feel bubbling beneath his frustrated exterior.

"Sir, it's alright," she reassured him, "You just have to get used to it, that's all."

Putting her arm across his back before he could reply, her other hand never letting go of his, she continued. "I can't even begin to list all that you've helped me with. Let me help you this time. Please?"

The lich looked down at her, his frustration dimming faintly after a few moments.

"I might injure you unintentionally, child. I do not wish..."

"You won't," she told him, "I promise. I'm...I feel...stronger than I was before. I can support you now, a little."

The lich watched her for a moment, thinking, feeling her aura twine around him, before he finally dredged, "Very well."

And so Avalina led the Horned King through the garden, steadying him, as he gripped her shoulder as carefully as possible, leaning on her for balance when his feet failed him. After the first few awkward minutes, no further complications arose and they stepped together in sync, in such a fashion that Avalina provided as much support as possible without overdoing herself.

"Sir, it would help if you lifted your feet a bit more," Avalina suggested softly after a few minutes. "You're wading through the grass more than walking."

The Horned King, so used to moving across flat stone where there were no obstacles, awkwardly lifted his steps a little higher and instantly found it both easier and more complicated. Walking was simpler, but his balance was worse.

But Avalina was there for him. And so he accepted her help, understanding that she needed to feel needed as much as he needed her to lean on. She took him in a fairly wide circle through the meadow and small chunk of woodland here, showing him everything in this small area she had labored on for so long.

Words were lost to the Horned King as they walked. He couldn't believe what was happening. It was too much to expect. Simply too much. And yet, here it was.

It felt like a dream. It had to be. He had no remembrance of what one felt like, (or if he'd ever had any) but surely things this impossible...this perfect...could never last.

He was the Horned King. Many would call him a demon. He was a lich, and his very aura was Death. And yet, here, in this...this dream...nothing died.

This was not supposed to happen.

As his line of thought tapered, he realized he had stopped walking, and Avalina was looking up at him expectantly. Her cheeks were flushed and he wondered if she were tired. She gave no sign of it.

"What do you think?" she asked.

The Horned King struggled for an adequate answer.

"It is...magnificent."

Avalina grinned, blushing with pride. "Thank you sir."

A faint smile softened the lich's features, his grip on her shoulder tightening minutely. "No child. Thank /you/."

Avalina only nodded sheepishly. "You're welcome. Would you like to keep walking or sit down?"

"The latter," he replied after a few moments. "I desire to hear your flute."

Avalina grinned. "I was going to show you today anyway."

The Horned King settled himself carefully on the grass, leaning against a thick tree trunk, while Avalina fetched her flute from the saddlebags and came back, sitting down beside him. The tree was so thick both of them could rest against it rather comfortably.

Raising the instrument to her lips, Avalina began to play a gentle tune, the bright, airy notes spilling into the air and mingling with the faint birdsong. The Horned King listened, and closed his eyes.

After a few minutes, the lovely strains slowly faded into nothing and left them alone with the woodland sounds, something neither of them seemed to mind. The lich stared all around, taking everything in, before slowly, almost reluctantly, running his fingers through the grass he sat upon. It felt so...strange. And yet, so oddly wonderful.

"Sir, look!" Avalina whispered, nudging him. The Horned King followed her gaze to the treetops above them and stiffened in surprise as a squirrel ran across a limb, looking down at them.

"I come here so much, they're used to me," Avalina whispered. "He's curious though."

The squirrel flicked its tail, before being joined by another. They raced each other over the limbs before disappearing into the leaves.

The Horned King hadn't been aware he'd stopped breathing for a moment til the squirrels left. They hadn't feared him!

He and Avalina sat there in silence for a long time, simply watching and listening. Avalina told him each type of bird and insect as they heard them, and more animals came and went, going about their business. They were so used to Avalina's presence they all but ignored her, and after some cautious staring and whiffing the air, they paid little mind to her companion as well.

The Horned King could only watch in utter awe as four rabbits emerged from the grass a couple dozen yards to their right, playing and grazing together. Their dark, liquid eyes reminded the lich somewhat of Mitternacht's, as they took him in calculatingly, cautiously watching, before they eventually ignored him, save a glance up here and there.

After a time, Avalina softly played her flute again for a few minutes, before going silent once more.

As the sun continued its path across the sky (clouds occasionally blocking it out), the Horned King observed more various wildlife than he had seen in centuries. Rabbits, squirrels, insects, and all manner of birds made their presence known, either by call or sight, and Avalina knew them all. They came and went at leisure, the two friends watching and enjoying each and every one.

After a time Avalina fell quiet when she had named everything for the lich, content to simply sit with him. Both noticed, but scarcely cared as the sun began to hang low on the horizon. Purples, oranges, reds, pinks and golds lit up the sky, spilling onto the landscape below like overturned paints running flawlessly together. It reflected off the sparkling lake, so well it was difficult to tell where water ended and sky began.

Deer appeared, emerging from the trees and moving gracefully through the meadow to drink from the lake, while the two companions watched silently from their place. A buck appeared as well, his antlered silhouette a striking image against the watery background, and they fell to grazing not long after, ignoring Mitternacht after some cautious glances his way. Mitternacht, grazing closer to his rider near the trees, did not bother them.

The Horned King had scarcely said a word since he arrived. However, Avalina could sense he didn't mind her naming every type of creature that crossed their vision, nor did he mind her flute, and she never asked him to reply. He wasn't ready to speak yet.

It was when the sun had been swallowed by the horizon and the sounds of the night creatures began to take the place of the ones who ruled the day, that Avalina sensed he was now willing to make conversation.

"How do you feel?" she asked softly, watching him.

The Horned King took nearly a minute to reply, and when he did, his voice sounded so much more grating than usual, Avalina could /hear/ the emotion rather than merely sense it, something rare from the lich.

"...I feel...awake."

Turning to her, he saw the happy tears building in the corners of her eyes, before she hugged him tight. A few moments later the Horned King carefully returned the gesture, and when Avalina showed no signs of breaking hers anytime soon, did not bother to end his.

No further words were spoken as the sunlight receded and stars began to dot the sky. It was getting later but neither of them showed interest in moving, let alone going back to the castle.

A faint breeze swept through, cooling the air, and crickets and cicadas made themselves heard as fireflies generously peppered the darkness. The crescent moon rose above the trees, dappling the earth with its soft, otherworldly light, as Mitternacht stood near the two companions, his swiveling ears listening attentively to the night.

"Sir?" Avalina asked softly, hardly above a whisper.

The lich answered slowly, as if he had been shaken from his thoughts.

"Hm?"

Avalina paused, suddenly racked with misgivings. What if he didn't like it? What if...what if...

The Horned King sensed her sudden anxiety and looked down at her.

"I am listening, child."

"I think I've...I mean, I've did some studying, and...I think...I've got a...a name for you."

"Oh?" the Horned King asked, surprised. "Go on."

"I decided on...on..."

Avalina took a quick, nervous breath, and the lich faintly tightened his arm around her in encouragement, wondering what she had possibly chosen.

"Morvenius," she finally blurted out.

The Horned King arched a brow ridge, silently repeating to himself what she had just spoken.

"That is a name even I do not know," he said. "Perhaps an explanation as to how you came upon it?"

"Well, you see..." Avalina hesitantly started, "I...I couldn't find one I liked, so I...um..."

"Invented one?"

Avalina blushed. "Sort of, yes. How did you know?"

The lich rumbled in amusement. "It has a...certain ring to it." After a moment he continued. "Knowing you, it has a much-pondered meaning behind it, does it not?"

"Yes sir, it does."

"Well?"

Avalina fiddled with a grass blade.

"I, um...really liked what two different names meant, but I wasn't fond of their phonetics, so I mixed them together to make one I /did/ like."

Avalina broke the grass blade in half, hurrying with the rest before she lost her nerve.

"So my choice, a combination of the two, means 'Release of a gentle man.'"

Apprehension growing by the second, she awaited his answer.

He was silent for a time.

"Why that meaning?" he finally asked, looking at her very hard in the moonlight.

"Because that's what I see," she answered truthfully, looking up at him.

"Hm..."

He remained silent so long Avalina feared the worst.

"Do you not like it?" she asked tentatively. "I can pick another..."

"No," he replied, almost sharply. "Is...that what you see when you look at me?"

"Yes," Avalina said, knotting her hands together. "It...I think it fits you."

The silence stretched on for nearly ten minutes, before the Horned King finally spoke.

"You chose carefully," he stated. "And you think it fits me, hm?"

Avalina nodded, blushing in the darkness. "Yes sir."

The Horned King gave an odd sort of cough. "Nothing pertaining to death and dread caught your eye?"

"Of course not!" Avalina exclaimed, before she realized he'd been half-teasing as he faintly nudged her. Grinning, she nudged him back, scooting closer to him as she did so. "That may have been who you were, but it isn't who you are now. Not to me."

Another silence passed, more comfortable than the last, before the Horned King rumbled softly in his chest.

"I would be honored to wear that name."

"Really?" Avalina asked, her eyes brightening in excitement.

The lich nodded. "Say it again."

Avalina did so. "Morvenius," she repeated softly, eyes never leaving his face.

"...Again."

She complied.

"Once more."

After the third 'Morvenius' had left her mouth, the lich seemed to be satisfied. "You speak it well."

Avalina blushed. "Thank you sir. I've been thinking about it a lot."

The Horned King faintly chuckled. "I had no qualms of that. It will take some getting used to, however. I doubt I will become accustomed to it overnight."

"I know," Avalina admitted. "It's...going to feel a bit strange calling you by name, after all this time...but I'm also sort of looking forward to it."

The Horned King gave a soft, contented growl that was very nearly a purr.

"Likewise."

Both were silent for a while, before Avalina spoke.

"Sir...I mean, Morvenius?"

The lich gave a faintly amused sound.

"Yes child?"

"Are you left or right-handed?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You don't seem to have a specific side you favor when you do anything, that's all, and I was just wondering."

He thought a moment before replying.

"I do not believe I am either. I can use both with equal efficiency, making me ambidextrous."

"Have you always been able to do that?"

"Yes. But training oneself to do so is not impossible."

"Maybe I should try to learn." She laughed a bit sheepishly. "I sprained my right wrist once and couldn't do anything for myself til I got better."

"It will prove a useful ability."

After a minute, she asked, "I wonder if the Invisibles are left or right-handed?"

"I do not think it matters. Regardless of which they favor, they will still cause untold amounts of trouble."

A moment later the lich continued. "They treat you well, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"No bombs outside the door or marbles on the stairs?"

"No sir," Avalina laughed, "They don't do that to me."

"Good." The Horned King growled faintly in his throat. "If they did I would not be pleased with them."

"I thought you were never pleased with them, sir."

He saw her teasing smirk in the darkness and grumbled faintly in begrudging amusement before he could stop himself. "As long as they care for you I will attempt to keep my irritation to a minimum. But may the Fates have mercy on them if they are ever punished for their deeds with mortal bodies." He bared his fangs in a feral grin. "I will certainly enjoy that."

After a second he corrected himself. "I misspoke that. May the Fates have /no/ mercy on them."

After laughing, Avalina asked, "You won't hurt them too badly, will you?"

The lich growled. "I suppose not. They keep your nightmares away, yes?"

"Yes," Avalina replied after a moment, faintly subdued.

He furrowed his brow ridges. "All of them?"

"Well...no," Avalina admitted softly. "They can't control the natural ones, remember?"

The Horned King narrowed his eyes faintly. "About what?" he asked.

"Sometimes I...still have nightmares about the wolves. And..." she shivered. "Arawn."

"Why did you not tell me?"

"I didn't want you to worry."

The lich gently tightened his embrace around her shoulders. "Neither of them can harm you anymore. The Invisibles will protect you from Arawn."

Avalina moved closer. "I know," she said, "But sometimes I have trouble remembering that when I'm asleep."

A few uneasy moments passed, before Avalina gasped as a shooting star shot in a brilliant arc across the sky.

"Oh, quick, make a wish!" she gasped.

"Why?"

"Because if you wish on a shooting star, it just may come true."

"A pointless activity."

"No it's not," Avalina laughed. "Sometimes it really does work."

"I do not believe in 'wishing'. One can only acquire items they desire through their own means, not speaking to a piece of burning rock."

"But if you /could/ wish for something, anything at all, what would it be? Come on, make a wish with me?"

The Horned King growled faintly in amused longsuffering. "Very well."

A couple minutes of silence later, Avalina hesitantly said, "Can I ask what you wished for?"

"I believe it is supposed to be a secret," the lich answered wryly, "Lest it not come to pass."

Avalina laughed faintly, defeated. "You can't blame me for trying. But if it comes true, will you tell me?"

"...Yes."

Nothing more was said for a time, as they watched the moon rise higher and more stars appear. Bats flitted here and there above the fireflies and an owl passed by once on silent wings. Mitternacht cocked a back leg in contentment and switched his tail.

Avalina yawned faintly and made herself comfortable against her friend, not wishing to go back to the castle yet. The Horned King was absorbing the night as intently as he had the day and she wasn't going to interrupt him.

Both of them had waited a very long time for this.

The Horned King stared up at the starry heavens, wondering how he could have ignored its majesty for so many years. In places it looked more blueish than black, and the intricacy of the stars was something truly to be admired. He used them regularly as a warlord to navigate by, as tools, but he could not remember the last time he had simply looked up and truly /seen/ them.

How brilliant some were...and how tiny were others...so much more colorful than white and blue, he could pick out reds, yellows and greens among them. He knew all the stars and constellations by name, and now they greeted him almost as old comrades.

"Remember us?" they might have said, if stars could talk. "We guided and aided you more than any mortal could."

But they spoke not a word aloud.

Seeing them there, glittering down from so far away, so peacefully and all-seeing, filled the lich with an odd sensation he could not name. It wasn't unpleasant, but it...ached. And soothed at the same time.

He looked down at Avalina. She was curled against him, her breathing slow and rhythmic, and he knew her at once to be asleep. Her aura held that sense of peaceful calm only the arms of Morpheus could provide. Moonlight lay gently against her skin, her hair looking darker by contrast, and her face wore such a relaxed expression that any thoughts the Horned King may have had about waking her so they could return to the castle vanished.

The night air was pleasant. They could wait a little longer.

Returning his gaze to the stars, the Horned King leaned his head back against the tree trunk behind him, silently watching.

The stars watched silently back.

Taking a deep breath of midnight air, the lich closed his eyes. He could smell the grass and flowers, and the lake. And Mitternacht.

He felt himself relaxing muscles he didn't know were tense.

He could feel the grass beneath him. Avalina's warmth beside him.

This sense of peace permeated everything, to the very marrow of his bones.

He could hear the night insects. The breeze swishing faintly in the treetops overhead. Avalina's breathing. Her heartbeat.

His breathing fell into a pattern it had not followed for a thousand years. A pattern only one thing could weave.

His senses slowly faded into the blackness behind his eyelids, the peacefulness drowning out everything else as it gently folded its soft wings around him, drawing him down...down...down...

Deer grazed in the meadow, and insects sang. The celestial light both soothed and sharpened everything beneath, picking out a pair of companions beneath a large, spreading tree, and the big, black silhouette of a horse prominently distinct.

The night was calm and peaceful, and the silent steed seemed to have taken it upon himself to ensure it stayed that way, as he stood watchful guard over his two sleeping charges.

Well, the Horned King's making progress all the time, isn't he? XD This chapter has been in my head ever since I started this story and I'm glad to see it finally materializing. *parties* This chapter was a long time coming, as I warned y'all, but I had no idea it would take /this/ long. XD I've actually had this thing written for a month, except for the name. *facedesk* It gave me no end of trouble cause I wanted to make something perfect, and my two editors kept me scrapping name ideas cause they didn't fit. Lol I thank my editors for helping me not make a fool of myself by using something that just wasn't matchable. XD

Also, I've been swept up in the flurry of moving back to our old house and that's been extremely busy and I haven't had much time to write or anything...but anyway, I hope my readers enjoy this latest installment. XD Gosh, I've /missed/ y'all! Lol And I have a feeling you've missed this story too, am I right? XD I'll try my best not to disappear like this again, but until we get moved in completely I can't promise anything.

Have a great day, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! =D

Oh, and random fact: I've watched the Horned King in the movie, and he doesn't seem to favor a particular hand to do things with...he uses both equally, so it seemed logical that he would be ambidextrous. Something rather fitting a thousand-plus year old warlord, no? Lol