TEN

The entertainment lasted all day and into the night. Celebrations were a treasured commodity in our village, and any occasion of some importance was a perfect excuse to throw one. By the time Father and Journey and I made our way to our cabin the moon was high in the sky, and Journey was hard pressed to stay on her feet. Father ended up carrying her, and my heart was glad to see that he had gained enough strength to lift my tall, somewhat heavy sister.

"Ah, a grand occasion," Father said with satisfaction as we reached our cottage. He shifted Journey in his arms and opened the door, as my arms were full of blankets and leftover food. I dumped it all unceremoniously on the table and helped Father put a sleepy Journey to bed.

When I finally retired to my own bed, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head touched the pillow. I dreamed that I was in the castle, and it was cold and empty. Nothing moved, and even the shadows had gone. I called out to the Goblin King, but there came no answer. It was lonely in the castle…so dark, and cold, and lonely. I wandered for what seemed like hours, hopelessly searching, yet I found no one. As I was about to collapse weeping in despair, there came the faintest murmur of my name. I listened, hard, and it came again. It was him. He was calling for me, but his voice was weak, faint, and growing fainter, until it was nothing but a mere whisper.

I searched frantically for him, sensing that I was about to lose him, and when I woke up, tangled in my sheets, for the first time his name—his true name—was on my lips.

"Briar!"

Wiping sweat from my brow and tears from my eyes, I turned my gaze to my bedside table, where I had placed the blossom Maggie Lue had given me in a vase of water. To my horror, I saw that the bud had withered, its petals curled and dried into dark gray husks, and the pure white leaves had turned black. When I touched it, it crumbled into dust, sending up a whiff of fragrance, and I nearly gagged. Its sweet, intoxicating aroma had become the moldy smell of a grave…

* * * * *

I didn’t bother to pack any clothes; just tossed on the clothes I’d worn to the banquet and threw a cloak about my shoulders, squinting through the tears that streamed down my face as I fastened it. I had to get to the castle. The Goblin King was dying. I knew this as well as I knew my own name. Without a rational explanation, I could sense it to the depths of my soul, and for the first time I freely admitted to myself that I not only liked the Goblin King, I truly loved him. Loved him more than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone.

Throwing open my door I was startled to see my father standing by the window, bathed in moonlight. He wasn’t nearly as startled at my sudden appearance, I noticed. In fact, he seemed to be expecting me. He nodded casually in my direction, taking his pipe from his shirt pocket and measuring the tobacco into it, like he did every other day. He seemed to be waiting for something. "Father, I…have to go away," I began awkwardly. "I had a dream, you see…"

"Strange, I don’t see the horse out there tonight," Father commented as he gazed out the window, just as though I’d never spoken.

I looked at him, startled. "Wh-what did you say?"

"The horse. There’s been a strange stallion out there, near every night. Just standing there at the edge of the forest and staring at the house like it could see clear through it. Oddest thing I ever seen, but it wasn’t doing any harm, so I let it be," he replied, taking a deep breath of the sweet-smelling smoke.

"You’ve seen him, too?" I asked before I could think the better of it. Father shot me a strange glance.

"Yes. Actually, he started appearing soon after you came back to us. Certain times it looked almost like he had fangs or something, but that’s ridiculous, isn’t it? He’s only a horse, after all." The look he gave me let me know that he thought maybe it wasn’t so ridiculous after all. "Anything you’d like to tell me?" he added.

I sighed. "Yes. The horse you saw is Isolese. He belongs to the Goblin King. He’s been sent to…take me back again," I admitted. "Tonight I dreamed of him. Of the Goblin King, I mean. He’s dying. I must return."

"I see," Father replied. "Why haven’t you gone back before?"

"Because Journey convinced me to stay…or I convinced myself. It doesn’t matter!" I cried. "I had promised to return after you’d died. You were very sick, you see, and I didn’t think you’d get well. He allowed me to return, but he gave me only a month to stay. But I realized that a month in the enchanted castle is a year in our world, and you got better, and Willow was to have a child…." I trailed off, shaking my head helplessly.

The look my father gave me was one of understanding. "It’s all right," he said. "Willow told me that you’d need to return soon. I should have told you to go sooner, but I didn’t want you to leave. It was so good to have you back again, and Journey and Willow both begged me to convince you to stay. Now I realize that we were selfish. You should have gone back when the time came, as soon as you knew I would be well. Still, it looks like maybe he’s given up on you. The horse isn’t here tonight."

"I know, and I’m worried. Isolese wouldn’t fail to appear unless something’s happened to his master," I replied, feeling that familiar dread again. "He…told me he would die soon if I didn’t return. It’s been nearly a year since I came back…" I shook my head again. "Would you be angry if I left? I was speaking with Maggie Lue. She told me to make my peace, and I guess…it’s time for me to do that. But please give me your blessing. I won’t be happy unless I know you are."

Father took another deep breath on his pipe and let it out slowly. "Child, I wouldn’t be angry if you left," he finally replied. "Disappointed, yes, because I’ll miss you terribly. I daresay your sisters won’t be happy, but they’ll learn to cope. Now that Autumn’s been born, perhaps she’ll ease the pain of your leaving."

"I don’t want to hurt anyone," I said earnestly. "I love you all, but…I care for the Goblin King, as well, and if he needs me I must go to him. I know he would do the same for me. I’ve been selfish, too, and I feel horribly guilty about it. I didn’t leave because I was afraid that you would become ill again, and I knew that after I left, I’d never be able to see you again but through the Image Pool. Time passes so strangely in the castle…years can pass in as many months! I couldn’t bear to see you all die."

"Child, don’t worry about us," my father said firmly. "From the moment you were born, you were different. Blessed, your dear mother called it, and I never understood until now. You never really did fit in here, though you tried."

He paused and fingered a lock of my long, silvery hair. "You always seemed to know things that no one else did. But I believe that you’ve found a soul mate in the Goblin King. He’s someone who understands you, and you belong there with him. Since you’ve come back, you’ve been… misplaced. Maybe because you know, in your heart, that you don’t really belong here."

I swallowed. "So it’s really all right if I left, even though we’ll never see each other again? I’ll miss you all, and I’ll miss never knowing Autumn, but I can watch her grow up from afar, and I’ll think of her often. Perhaps she’ll know that."

Father smiled and nodded before embracing me, one last time. "You’d best hurry back quick," he said, and his voice sounded suspiciously hoarse. He coughed. "I’ll tell your sisters you said goodbye and that you love them, but that you had to leave immediately. I’m sure they’ll understand."

"Thank you, Father. I love you," I replied tearfully. "You’ll always be in my heart." I kissed his cheek, then silently opened the door and slipped out of the cottage, hurrying to the edge of the forest. As I had feared, Isolese wasn’t there.

"Isolese!" I called softly. "Where are you? Come to me!" I waited, listening for the sound of hooves striking the hard dirt. I waited for an eternity, and when the midnight stallion finally did appear, he came upon me without a sound so that I nearly jumped out of my own skin when he nudged me gently. "Oh, Isolese," I whispered, hugging the sleek neck. "Where is he? Is he hurt? Take me to him! It’s time for me to return. I’m sorry for making you wait for me for so long, but I’m ready to come home now."

Without another word, I mounted the stallion’s back, and he silently leaped into the forest. From the first leap he took, though, I realized that something was wrong with him. Instead of flying like a spirit through the forest, as he so easily did, Isolese’s run was labored and jerky. He seemed to stumble, and his sides heaved as though he could not breathe. Alarmed, I whispered words of comfort and stroked the powerful, sweating neck, feeling him straining to carry me to the castle. Finally, the ancient city began to appear around us, seemingly more run down than ever, the remaining walls of broken-down buildings having crumbled completely into piles of rubble and dust. The castle was just ahead, and the poor stallion carried me to its door before suddenly collapsing beneath my slight weight, tossing me from his back and laying with his sides heaving and his tongue lolling from his fanged mouth.

"Isolese!" I cried, scrambling to my feet, unheeding of my own cuts and scrapes. I cradled the sleek head in my lap, stroking his face as I cried. "I’m sorry, my friend. I’m so sorry. What’s happened? Please be well." Isolese looked at me calmly, his starlit eyes gentle, as though to tell me that everything was all right. Then, with a massive shudder, his breathing quit, and his eyes closed, and he lay dead on the cold ground.

I stood slowly, my heart a lead weight in my chest and my throat closed over with grief. He had worked so hard to bring me here, to save him and his master. Perhaps I could not save Isolese, but there was still time to find the Goblin King, and I would not give up until I had. Determination flooded my body and lent strength to my legs. I ran into the castle, whose entrance was made by doors sagging open on grime-encrusted, broken hinges. The sight that greeted me on the other side was enough to steal my breath away. The splendor had vanished, and dirt and dust coated every surface. Glass and debris littered the floor, and the fine tapestries and paintings on the walls were shredded and faded with age. "What has happened here?" I gasped. "Shadow, where are you? It’s me, Gabriella."

No ghostly apparition appeared before me, and I had the distinct impression that the castle had been…abandoned. The enchantment had vanished as if it had never been. Impossible! I thought. For the magic to be gone, it means that the Goblin King must already be…

I would not let myself finish that thought, but hurried from the room with more urgency than ever, running down hallways that remained dark as the candles failed to light my way. The floors were covered with thick layers of dust that rose in plumes at my feet, and thick, glistening webs hung in streamers from ceiling to floor. I prayed fervently that I would not meet up with the owners of those webs.

Then, as I was searching an abandoned room—one I suspected had been mine, although there was little enough of it left for me to be certain—there came a foreboding groan from directly above. There was barely enough time to shriek before a heavy wooden beam suddenly came crashing down from the ceiling, right toward me. Luckily, I was standing beside the heavy oak wardrobe, and when the beam hit, the wardrobe splintered like a matchstick. It was enough to give me a few precious moments of time to leap hastily out of the way.

But I did not leap far enough, and a part of the wardrobe fell across my legs, pinning me to the floor. The pain was not so bad that I passed out, but I knew I had injured the knee of my left leg, and I could feel something hot and wet trickling down my calf. Sobbing, my thoughts only on finding the Goblin King before it was too late, I managed to find enough strength within me to push the broken timber away.

My knee was a mess; it looked as though it had been shattered, and now the pain was growing worse. But I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, tore a strip from my dress to bind the injury, and struggled to my feet with the support of the same wooden beam that had nearly killed me. There was a piece of the wardrobe, a rod that had held the dresses upon their hangers that now became a useful brace. It was very heavy, being made from solid gold, but I gripped my make-shift crutch for dear life and hobbled from the room, praying that I would not meet up with more ill-fortune. I had to find him, and I had no idea where to look next. The castle was huge, and without the enchantment to guide me, it could take me literally forever to find the Goblin King!

Finally, through good fortune and little else, I saw the huge, golden doors of the Great Hall ahead of me, and suddenly I knew in my soul that I would find the Goblin King there. The urge was so powerful that I found myself being dragged ahead almost as though someone was physically pulling me. Perhaps the shadows had not completely vanished, after all? Grime and tarnish so caked the doors that they looked more black than gold, and they seemed to have aged by centuries. But they were just as heavy as always and I had to push hard to get them to open.

Suddenly, they gave way under my shoving, snapping on their hinges like dry twigs, and falling in slow motion to the floor. They landed with a noise like twin claps of thunder that sent huge clouds of dust billowing into the air. Caught by surprise, I stumbled into the Great Hall, landing painfully atop one of the doors, and found myself staring out across a marble floor that was covered with dust and littered with debris. Struggling to my feet, I saw that the high arched windows had all been broken, showering the floor with gleaming needles of glass. The gardens had overrun the Hall, but the splendor of them had faded into nothing but wild brambles and blackened, withered vines. I had to fight my way through thorn thickets to reach the center of the Hall, using my crutch like a sword to cut them out of my way despite the pain I suffered as I was forced to put weight on my injured leg. It was there I found that the beautiful chandelier had fallen and shattered against the floor, its crystal smashed, and the gold twisted beyond repair.

Suddenly, I heard somebody whisper my name and turned to the far wall, toward the portrait which now lay on the floor, half propped against the wall. It was ripped in several places, faded in others, but the beast glared out at me, more frightening than ever. It seemed to me that the image of the Goblin King had somehow vanished completely into the painted tree’s shadow. It was no longer visible in the portrait. Before I had time to worry about the dark meaning of this change, a large spider scuttled from the upper corner of the portrait and crawled down across the torn canvas and over the floor. I traced its path with my eyes as it vanished into a shadowed corner, and it was there, nearly invisible in the darkness, that I found the Goblin King.