Expect this to be a long story. A bit of everything will be thrown in, again this is for your entertainment, so no complaints. Either enjoy it or don't read it.
Summary: Sarah's involvement with the goblin king a thousand years ago and a thousand years later. Will he be able to convince her in time to go with him, will an ancient rival win her instead? Will her human friends mess everything up? Lots of folklore. Drama, romance, a little comedy.
Part 1 The Princess And The Goblin King, The Real Story.
In the time of kings, when feudal lords ruled the lands, and people had very well defined places in the world, a bored princess with raven black hair waited, and she waited, and she waited, and she waited. She didn't know what she was waiting for, but she was waiting none the less.
Little was interesting in her life. She would rise early and be told what to do, she would attend the morning mass followed by a few hours with a tutor. If she was lucky she could find time to walk in the garden, or go to the forest in the far reaches of the palace grounds. The only nightly solace she took was watching the large white owl which would perch upon the willow tree by her window.
Once in a while she would sneak out of the castle. It was especially easy when there were visitors or something important was happening. It seemed people had less time for her then. She could see the tip of a waterfall from her window on clear days and she would ride out to that very waterfall and relax by the river banks making daisy chains and breathing the fresh air. But those days were too few.
She was bored of her life and secretly she would wish on the biggest star in the sky for something to make her life worth living. For the stories she loved so much to come true. This girl was able to read and the castle library held many books bound in leather, gold and handwritten by the scholars of the time. Most of the books were various bibles and religious writings. Some however were dark tales of foreign kingdoms. Tales of little people and illusive creatures and of underground beings that only came out at night.
"Do not trouble yourself with such fanciful books. They will only deter you from the kingdom of heaven." her tutor would say.
To which she would nod her head and sneak out another over sized book to her room. Every being in the stories had a king, even the feared goblins. Those were beings that played tricks, stole children and switched them with changelings or so she was told.
When she was a child, her handsome and beloved uncle, the grand duke, traveled often to the northern and western lands and would return with stories of the small beings who hid from humans and played tricks on them. She loved when he would visit, for he had tales of the most fanciful ungodly beings of the old religion.
"Uncle, please tell me about the goblins." she asked as they sat in front of the large fireplace.
"Well little princess, they live in a land under the mountains. They mine treasures, the like we have never before seen. Gold and jewels abound. And they are ruled by a great king. His name is Gwyn ap Nudd." he told her animatively.
"Tell me about him? Tell me about the king. Is he like father?" she asked eagerly, urging him to continue.
"They say he has the power to move stars, a winter king who is the bearrer of light. He also has an unknown power over time. They say he comes above ground to steal children. Especially when someone wishes the child away. It gives him full power over the wisher. The child goes away never to be seen again."
"What happens to the child?" she asked very attentively.
"No one knows. Some say it is turned into a goblin, others say they are given to the farae people or other little people to raise as their own."
"What do you think the king looks like?"
"He is ancient for one of his species. A half bread goblin, fey. In the east he is said to be a short hairy goblin in silver armor. In the north he is said to look like a man. In our land he is said to be black faced. All agree that the hair on his head is fair and wild."
"I hope I can meet him. I'll bet he's so much fun. I think I wish only to marry the goblin king. " she said twirling in the large room making her uncle laugh.
The wish did not go unnoticed however, Deep in the underground a new and young king heard her wish and it peaked his interest. He took out a crystal and looked at the wisher. She was just a small child, a very pretty child who would undoubtedly grow into a beautiful woman. But for now she was far to young to play with and he was busy with his new duties to his kingdom.
"That is a strange request. Are you not afraid?" her uncle asked.
"Nope, I'm not afraid of anything. I'm a princess….I wonder what he would be like? Do you think he's good or bad?"
"I hear he is a trickster, a magician, and a master of disguise. If you were to meet him you would never know who he was. He could be among us as we speak."
"What else! What else!"
"Well they say he comes above ground and tricks people. One time he is a beggar and if he isn't given alms, he sends his goblins to torment those ungiving souls who did not give him charity. Another time he came as a stranger and set his goblins on those who turned him away from their homes. I also hear that at night he turns into a large owl or blackbird, fly's into little girls rooms…. and….. Gets Them!" he yelled making her jump.
"Oh uncle." she said and they laughed.
She would listen to these stories for years and years from her favorite uncle, until he died, taking much of his knowledge of the under lands with him. When he passed she was at the age she could be married. The very same year her father had remarried the sister of the king of a neighboring kingdom and a year later the birth of a son stripped the princess of any chance to have an important place in the kingdom or any choice of nobles for a husband.
She was angry, she was used to being the only child. She missed her mother who had long ago disappeared never to be seen again. No one would tell her the truth about her mother, but she knew, over hearing some of the servants, that the woman had run away with a traveling band of gypsies when she met a young man and fell in love. The princess had resented everyone after finding out that information. Her absent father, her run away mother, the death of the only person she ever felt cared about her and she grew with the feeling that no one else would ever love or care for her.
'Everyone leaves me.' she thought to herself. Then she would wish on the brightest star in the sky. 'I can't trust anyone and I can't stand being here oh how I wish something would happen so I could leave this horrible place. I swear I will only marry the goblin king and not whomever they chose for me.' she said in a vow to herself.
"I will not leave you princess." a mysterious voice said.
"Who are you? Show yourself."
"Why I am Greidawl and I am here to keep your company." the handsome man appeared.
"How did you get in?" she asked not taking her eyes from him.
"Why no one can see me but you."
"Why do you come to me spirit?"
"I'm no spirit. But I wish only to be your friend. I can show you great magic. Do you like magic?"
"Yes. I want to see." she said her curiosity overcoming her fear.
"Good." he said and started a few tricks of light.
A month passed and Greidawl and the princess became secret friends. Something inside of her made her fear his intentions but she never let on, it didn't matter if he was the devil himself or an angel, he was the only person to pay her any attention and offer friendship.
"But why don't you like to talk about the goblins? They are so interesting and my uncle used to tell me about them all of the time." she said.
"They are heinous creatures of great evil, and their king the most evil of them all. He once forcibly stole the fiance of his rival and made her his. Then drove his rivals son to insanity to which he never recovered and finally threw himself into a river."
"That's horrible!" she exclaimed.
"He had committed many more atrocities. He was a great archer, I'll give him that but with that talent he killed many innocents. They say a goblin will live until it is killed by iron and it is a truth."
"He sounds horrible but what more do you know of him?"
"You are too fascinated with such a being. You should stop making wishes unless you want to join him in the darkness. The season draws to an end and I must soon go, let us not talk about such unpleasant things."
"But why must you go?" she asked wanting to hear more.
"The summer draws to an end and I can not stay when the chill in the air begins. But do not fear I will return when the winter is done."
"I shall miss you terribly." she said to her sole companion.
"Will you wait for me?" he asked.
"I will, gladly."
"Then I shall return and claim you as my wife when the snow melts."
"But…"
"Are we not friends? Would you rather marry a brutal mortal? You are of age and I give my declaration of intention. Farewell until next year." he said then disappeared, leaving her confused and scared of the idea of marriage.