It was as though all the air had been pulled from my lungs. The austere young man had been tricked—tricked into holding his throne. And that was the truth of the gallery of Goblin Kings. There has always been Der Erlk?nig. There always will be Der Erlk?nig. I could not breathe for the pity that wrapped its hand about my throat.
“The foolish young man thought it wasn’t much of a sacrifice—after all, a changeling had no soul, and he had never had a name that was truly his own.” The Goblin King’s laugh was as bitter as anodyne. “But as the years wore on, as the weight of immortality grew heavier and heavier, he realized what a fool he truly had been, to have taken the king underground at his word. For no power in the world above or below was worth the torment he felt.”
“Oh, mein Herr.” I lifted my hand to push the hair away from his face, but the Goblin King was not finished with his tale.
“Then, one day, he came across a maiden in the wood.”
“A brave maiden?” I ventured.
“Brave,” he agreed. “And beautiful.”
I scoffed. “This is a fairy tale indeed.”
“Shush.” He touched a finger to my lips. “The maiden was both brave and beautiful, beautiful in ways that she did not see. Could not see, for all her beauty was locked away inside, magic and music, waiting to be set free.”
I was brave and beautiful. It was both a pretty lie and an ugly truth.
“They became friends, the beautiful maiden and the foolish young man. They became friends, and the foolish young man began to remember all that was good and wonderful about the world. About humans. Music, faith, folly, passion. But,” the Goblin King said, “as they grew older, the beautiful maiden forgot the foolish young man. She forgot him, and the foolish young man forgot why he had wanted to be human.”
I cringed.
“So he set out a trap, caught the beautiful maiden, and kept her in a cage. She had a song and he wanted it, so the foolish young man made her sing it again and again until he let her out. But the beautiful maiden dutifully returned to her cage night after night, and for the first time in eternity, the foolish young man thought he could be happy.”
“And was he?” I asked in a hoarse voice.
“Yes,” he said, barely audible. “Oh, yes. He had never been happier.”
My throat closed up.
“But, happy as the foolish young man might have been, the beautiful maiden was not. The cage was killing her, killing her spirit. And gradually, little by little, all that the foolish young man cherished about the beautiful maiden began to disappear. There was nothing he could do but watch her fade into a ghost before his very eyes, nothing unless he ripped out his own heart. Keep her, make himself happy, and watch her die? Or set her free, break his heart, and watch her live?”
He fell silent.
“So how does the story end?”
He met my gaze, and for the briefest moment, I thought those remarkable eyes brightened and deepened in color, just like the portrait of the austere young man, just like the eyes he must have had when he was human.
Then I blinked and they were as they ever had been: pale, faded, and icy.
“You are the one who wanted a happy ending, my dear. So you tell me, how does the story end?”
Tears slipped from my face, and he wiped them away with his thumbs.
“The foolish young man lets the beautiful maiden go.”
“Yes.” His voice was clotted thick with unshed emotion. “He lets her go.”
I burst into sobs then, and the Goblin King gathered me close, rocking me in his arms as I cried. I cried for the breaking of the foolish young man’s heart. I cried for the happiness we might have had. I cried for the selfishness I could not overcome. I cried for him, for us, but most of all, for myself. I was going home.
“You must leave, Elisabeth,” he said softly.
I nodded my head, unable to speak.
“Choose to live, Elisabeth. There’s a fire within you; keep it alight. Feed that flame with music and seasons and chocolate torte and strawberries and your grandmother’s Gugelhopf. Let it grow with your love for your family. Let it be a beacon to set your heart by, so that you may remain true to yourself.” He stroked my cheek. “Do this, so that I may remember you like this: fierce and full of life.”
I nodded again.
“Are you ready?”
No. “Tomorrow,” I said.
He smiled, then kissed me. His lips were gentle, and in them I tasted a farewell.
I kissed him back. Time did not stop for anyone, least of all me, but in that moment of our kiss, I found a little pocket of eternity.
THE MYSTERY SONATAS
If I did not sleep, tomorrow would never come.
I left the Goblin King slumbering in my bed and ran away. Not to the retiring room, where our music waited upon the stand, but to the chapel. It was his sanctuary, his place of refuge, but on this last night before my freedom, I wanted a word with God.