The Goblin King

“My child!  My child is gone!  They took my baby!”  I was sitting on a terrace, as she came running up to me, crying.  She was obviously upset, so I asked her to calm down and explain.  Of course that wasn’t so easy.  It took her half an hour to calm down enough for me to understand her rambling.  “The father of my child suddenly appeared in front of me…he said he wanted her back and then two little ugly dwarfs…like gnomes almost… came out of a wall and took her.  My little Amber, please you have to help us”  I had never seen her, nor was I of the police.  The only way I could think of to help her was bring her to the right authorities, but something withheld me.  I think it was the “two ugly dwarfs, like gnomes” that did it.  I’ve always been somewhat intrigued by the fantastic and the supernatural, so naturally it triggered my interest, and I knew the cops would never believe her.  I decided to help her myself, and figured the best way to do so was to go to the place where her baby Amber had been kidnapped.  I asked her to talk about the baby’s father while we were returning to the scene of the crime, and so she did. “Goreld was his name”, she said.  “He was wonderful.  He came to me on the most remarkable times, but always when I needed a kind word.  He was so good to me, took me to places I could have never imagined.  When I told him I was pregnant he was very happy, and yet sad at the same time.  He said he didn’t think it was possible and was glad that it was, but meanwhile he felt terrible that he wouldn’t be able to see it grow up, unless I was prepared to leave everything behind and go to his dwelling place.  He then said he didn’t want to force me to go live there because it was a lonely place, so he said he’d leave me and the child alone.  He wouldn’t be returning after that because it would make him too sad, and he couldn’t afford to be sad.  I missed him so much, and at first I was glad when I saw him again, but when he ordered those … things to take my Amber…”  She started crying again.  I couldn’t get her to stop for at least 15 minutes.  We came to the place where she said the two dwarfs came out of the wall.  It was a little ally, on the outskirts of the town.  The wall was the remains of the town’s defense mechanism from years ago.  While she was still sobbing, I looked at it closely.  Though the wall was old and cracked at most places, here it was almost perfect.  I heard her mutter “I can’t believe the last thing I said to her”, but didn’t really pay any attention to it.  I was busy working out how they could get through a solid wall.  Even though I was into fantasy and magic, I still thought that there had to be a logical explanation to it.  Maybe a door or something like that was in the wall.  If there was a door, it had to be hollow on the other end of it, so tapping on the wall would show where.  I started tapping and suddenly my hand went straight through the wall!  Not that the wall broke or anything, no, it really did go through the wall, as if the wall was a sort of gateway to another dimension.  The woman had seen it and had stopped her weeping out of astonishment.  “Let’s see, if the dwarfs came out of this wall, they must have taken your Amber with them into the wall.  So best thing for us to do is go through the wall as well and see what we can find out”, I suggested.  The woman agreed and we went in.

On the other side of a wall there was a magnificent landscape.  Hills, rivers, lakes, green grass, trees…it was wonderful.  Suddenly someone appeared in front of us.  He was dressed as someone from the early 1800’s, like some old-fashioned British Lord.  He was very handsome though, with light brown hair, green eyes, with features that could have been from a Roman god.  “What are you doing here Lucy”, he said, with a strange air around him.  It was as if he was sad that she’d come because he was going to disappoint her, or maybe even worse, yet delighted to see her in a strange way.  “I want Amber back Goreld, please give her back.”  “You said you were going to harm her, I took her away and now she’s safe.”  “I never meant that”, Lucy said, with tears in her eyes.  “I never really wanted to hurt her, but she was crying and I was tired and…”  “It doesn’t matter Lucy.  You can’t have her back.”  “Please.  I love her, without her I have no life.  Please let me have her back.”  “You do really seem to care.  And since I was quicker to take her then others…”  “Others?” I whispered.  He looked at me with eyes that seemed to pierce through mine.  He then turned back to Lucy and continued “There is a way.  If you can find her, before the sun sets”, with these words he pointed to the rising sun, “you can keep her.  If not she stays here.”  While finishing those last words he was already disappearing, until suddenly he had completely vanished.  We looked at each other and decided to start looking.  Of course looking for a little baby in a wide country isn’t that easy.  While we were walking we discussed our best strategy, and decided that looking for Goreld’s home.  Since the child was his, he was bound to keep it close by.  Now all we had to do was find out where his home was.
We came across three remarkable creatures, who had the bodies of dogs, tails of cats but deformed human heads.  They were posted in a circle, looking at each other, but when we came closer they looked at us directly.  “What do you want”, the first one said.  Lucy answered: “I want my daughter back.”  “That’s impossible”, the second one replied, and then the third continued: “A child that has entered this realm cannot return.”  “But it should be with me, her mother!” Lucy desperately cried out.  “If the child is here, there is a reason for it”, the second one said, followed by the first: “If Goreld brought her here, it was for a reason”, and the third one added: “All children are here for a reason”.  “What is that reason?” I asked, and they answered, as if out of one mouth:  “To give them a better life then they could have in your realm.  Here no one causes them any harm.”  Lucy stood still for a moment. Her mouth had dropped open from amazement and then she yelled out “But I wasn’t causing her any harm!  I love her and I want her back!”  “Nonetheless”, the first one answered, “adult humans are not allowed here.”  The second one continued: “You must return, now”, followed by the last: “But don’t worry, your daughter is well taken care of, as are all the children who reside here.”  “Goreld gave us permission to go look for her”, I mentioned.  At that piece of information the three creatures looked surprised and looked at each other.  Some sort of conversation went on between them, through their eyes.  After a couple of minutes they turned back to us and the second one said. “In that case, you may pass.”  As we were walking past them the third one mentioned: “But remember, you must have left this realm before the sun sets, or you will be trapped here forever.”  I looked at the sun and noticed it had already climbed alarmingly high in the sky.
“We should have asked where Goreld lives.”  I felt really stupid that I hadn’t thought of that earlier, but Lucy didn’t seem to mind.  She hadn’t thought of it either presumably.  “I have a feeling we’re going the right way”, she murmured, “I can feel his presence, plus it seems to be the only road.” She had a point there, it was the only road.  All around us were green meadows and flowers, but no other path.  So we kept on following it until suddenly the road stopped.  In front of us was a huge lake, but no way to cross it.  “I think he lives on the other side”, Lucy said.  I looked around and the lake stretched as far as I could see in all directions except the one from whence we came.  I felt sorry to disappoint her, but if we would walk around the lake, we probably wouldn’t even make it halfway before the setting sun.  “How can you be sure?” I asked, trying to stall the question of how to get across.  “I have to believe we’re going the right way.”  I looked at her and saw a strange mix of decidedness and desperation on her face.  Well, I had led her into this country, I might as well follow where she wanted to go.  I followed her gaze across the lake and found myself wondering how deep it would be.  I muttered: “I wonder if we could swim across it”, but she replied “I wouldn’t try that if I were you” and pointed towards the middle.  The head of a creature had emerged from the water.  It was huge, it’s head alone was about as big as the both of us.  The neck followed, long and snakelike.  It’s head reminded me of a dragon’s, with horns and sharp teeth, but the neck made it seem as if it was the monster of Loch Ness.  It’s scales were of a most peculiar colour, a mix of green and blue, shining as the sun reflected on it.  It opened it’s mouth and I immediately agreed that swimming across was not an option, it could swallow us hole in one gulp, but would probably prefer to turn us into mashed human using those razor sharp teeth, of which there was not one, but 5 rows.  It moved quickly towards us.  For a second we just stood there, too shocked to move.  It snapped it’s mouth shut in our direction, and that got us out of our daze.  We both screamed and ran away.  
“Mala-igha!” a voice screamed.  We stopped dead in our tracks.  In front of us was a woman in the most beautiful gown I had ever seen.  It was made of dark blue silk, with silver thread embroidered on it, making it appear as if she was clad in the night sky itself.  Unfortunately, the lady herself was one of the most ugly women I’d ever seen.  Her skin was a sort of pale green, and she had what appeared to be some sort of nasty dark green rash on her cheeks.  On closer inspection it was moss growing on her face.  Her features were not only very irregular, they were also protruding from her face in a very awkward fashion, everything looked lob sided.
Her command had not only stopped us, but also the creature in the lake.  The lady walked across to it, and the creature lowered it’s head and nuzzled her as if it was a big great cat.  She turned to us.  “Shay uni malagi essten?”  “Excuse me?” I blurted out.  “I’m sorry,” she replied, “you are not from around here, you do not speak the language.  What are you doing here?”  Lucy answered: “We’re looking for my Amber.  Goreld took her and I want her back.”  The green woman cocked her head and looked at us.  Then she took one step closer.  She had stood several feet away from us, but with one step she was right in front of Lucy, gazing in her eyes.  “You are the one Goreld loves”, she said, not as a question, but just stating facts.  “The mother of his child.”  She circled around Lucy, and then around me.  “And you have nothing to do with them what so ever.  Yet you help her find her child.”  I wanted to answer but I found I couldn’t move my mouth.  She placed a pale green hand on my chest.  It felt as if her fingers were made of twigs.  “Your heart is pure, and so is hers or else Goreld wouldn’t love her.”  She removed her hand and it felt as if I could breath again, I hadn’t realized I had been holding my breath before.  “Your child is in safe hands, but you do love her.  Usually the parents of the children that reside here don’t love them as much.  Therefore I shall help you.  I can not give you your daughter back, but I can set you in the right direction.  Climb my Gheraib, and he shall bring you to the side of the lake which is closest to your girl.  From there on, follow the sun and you will arrive in the Golden Child City.  This will help you get in.”  She reached inside her gown and pulled out a piece of bark.  Before either of us had realized what she had given us, and thought to ask how it could get us in, she was gone.  Lucy placed the bark in her handbag and turned towards the creature.  “You’re not seriously getting close to that animal?” I wondered.  “She said we had to climb it.  Please, the sun as already passed it’s highest point.”  A quick glance at the sun revealed that it had indeed started to come down again, and I followed her.
Climbing the creature was a lot easier than it had seemed.  The scales on the creature had looked smooth when it had emerged from the water, but on closer inspection they were big and thick enough to be used as a makeshift staircase.  We sat on it’s back and it glided towards the centre of the lake.  It’s back was so broad we could not straddle it like a horse, but it was wide enough to allow us to sit rather comfortably without immediate threat of falling of.
Before long we started seeing shoots of electricity in the water.  We were fascinated by it, and leant over to see it more closely, when suddenly a seal jumped out of the water and had nearly bit my nose off if Lucy hadn’t pulled me back.  These seals were not seals like you’re expect, they were read and orange, and the electricity shot off their backs.  Soon another one jumped up, trying to get on the Gheraib’s back, to do who knows to us.  “Gheraib, what do we do?” I screamed, hoping the creature could talk.  I was disappointed, the big beast only rumbled from deep within it’s body and went on.  I heard Lucy scream and turned towards her.  “One of them shocked me!” she exclaimed.  “We have to fight them” I shouted back.  “But how?  We have to weapons?”  “Do you shoes have rubber soles?”  “Yes”  “Use them!”  I took of my shoes and placed my hands in them, ready to hit the jumping seals with them.  From the corner of my eye I could see Lucy do the same thing, but I didn’t have much time to reflect on that.  A seal jumped up and tried to touch me with it’s tail, but I hit it on the stomach full force.  I tried desperately to keep my feet from the water, as electricity and fluids usually didn’t mix well.  I couldn’t understand how the Gheraib didn’t feel the influence of the electricity, but assumed it’s thick scales would protect it from the scorching effect.  After half an hour of defending ourselves like that, the seals gave up.  We cheered and laughed, until we felt our ride going deeper in the water.  For a moment I feared it was going to drown us, but then Lucy pointed towards the shore.  It had brought us to where we were supposed to go, and it was time to get off.
Back on land, after we had put our shoes back on our feet, we did as the lady told us, and followed the sun.  “I’m pretty sure it goes down faster than in our world”, I muttered.  Lucy stopped to look at it and said “it appears so.  All the more reason to make haste and find Amber.  We have to find her before the sun sets.”  “But those three oracle like thingies said we had to be gone by the sun sets as well.”  “I’m sure getting out is easier as getting in….isn’t that always the way?”  “As a kid I used to love a story about a girl that went searching for her little brother.  A goblin king had stolen him from her, and she had to solve a labyrinth to get him back.  In order to go home, all she had to do was realize that the king had no power over her, and everything returned to normal.”  “Too bad that this one does hold power over me.  I still love him.”  “He stole your child!”  “I know.  But long before he had already stolen my heart.”  I looked at her, wondering what went on in the heart of this woman.
Before I could continue the conversation a buzzing interrupted my thoughts.  Wasps!  I hated wasps.  I stood rigid and barely dared to look as a whole swarm of them grouped together in the shape of a giant face.  “What do you want?” Lucy demanded.  “You cannot go on”, the wasps buzzed.  They talked?  I opened my eyes and saw that not only they talked, but their little bodies together even made facial expressions.  “We can go on”, I said, “We have Goreld’s permission to look for her child”.  I pointed to Lucy as I said that.  The wasps swarmed together in a surprised face and then it turned to pensive.  “If Goreld said so” the buzzed.  We wanted to go on but the swarmed faster together.  “But everyone that passes us must fulfill a task.”  “What task would you have us do?” Lucy asked.  The wasps buzzed for a moment and then replied: “Our house is drafty.  You have to fix it.”  “Fixing a hole,” I muttered and reluctantly followed the wasps.
They all disappeared into their nest through the bottom and reappeared on top.  “We need a way to fix it without closing either of the openings forever.”  “Ever thought of a door?” I asked.  The face changed to a question mark.  “A door?  What’s that?”  Lucy chuckled and then went on to explain that it’s a way of closing the entrance to a house, but still being able to open it afterwards.  The wasps loved the idea, and wanted us to make one for their nest.  “How do you make a door for a wasps nest?” Lucy asked.  “Take the bark, we can attach it to the top opening.”  “No it has to get us in the city!”  “Lucy, in case it has escaped your attention, the city is there, and the only thing stopping us from getting in are these insects.”  She looked in the direction I was pointing and gasped.  It was a wonderful site to see.  The buildings were made of stones in the colour of gold.  They were all rounded and chubby, reminiscent of babies.  We were only a couple of minutes walking removed from it, and there weren’t any guards or gates to stop us from getting in.  She still wasn’t convinced, and asked the wasps how we had to get into the city.  “We are the guardians of the Golden Child City.  Finish this task, and we shall let you pass.”  As they said this, they mimicked a guard with a sword blocking an entrance, but then the guard drew it’s sword away and bowed.  “Very well,” Lucy said, and we placed the bark over the opening in a way that it would fall back as soon as all the wasps had left the nest.  They went in and out a couple of times, then formed a face that broke into a smile.  “We love it!  There are still two exits, and no more draft!  Welcome to the Golden Child City, we hope you will find what you are looking for.”  We said our goodbyes to the wasps and went on.  “Well, that’s the first time I’ve known wasps to be nice,” I said while leaving.
Shortly after we were in the city.  Soon we realized that finding Amber there was no easy task.  Everyone there was a baby of Amber’s age, just about crawling, wearing masks and the same clothes.  Lucy started to take off the masks of each of the babies, but I held her back.  “I understand you want your girl, but the sun is setting fast.  We do not have time to take the masks of each of these babies.  Think.  What will Amber always crawl to?”  Lucy looked devastated for a second and then her face cleared.  “She always climbs as high as she can.  We have to find the highest part of this town!”  We started running, taking which ever road that climbed.  We ended up on an empty square in front of a huge castle, with a big golden door.  “She’s not here…She’s not here!”  Lucy started screaming and kicking the door in frustration.  The sun was almost completely set, and we had not found her baby girl.  I felt sorry for her and wanted to hold her, to remind her that we had to get out of here still.  Then the door opened, and we saw a throne sitting on a dais.  And on the throne was a baby.  This one didn’t have a mask on, and Lucy immediately ran towards the little girl.  “Amber!”  She seized the baby and hugged and kissed it, when suddenly the entire castle started to tremble, and Goreld appeared.  Now he was definitely sad.  “A parent has come to claim her child.  The Golden Child City will die now.”  “How is that?” I wanted to know.  “This is a safe haven for all children that have been cursed with bad parents.  My goblins take them from your world and bring them here, where they can grow up in peace and with love.  But if a parent was ever able to come and claim his or her child, then it means that it is no longer safe for them here.  It also means I’ve made a mistake and took a child that actually had caring parents.  This is my punishment.  My abductions were going to go unnoticed and unpunished as long as I only took those that need out love and care.”  “But this is your own child”, Lucy said, “surely you had a right.  All you had to do was ask.”  “No, the gate has been breeched.  Now anyone can come in.”  “We won’t tell anyone, I promise,” I said.  “The only way I can preserve this, is if you both stay here with me.  I have already told Lucy that I do not expect that of her.”  “But what if I want to?” Lucy asked.  “You want to?” The happiness in his face made it clear that he wished nothing more.  “I’ve missed you so, Goreld.  And this isn’t a lonely place at all, it is wondrous.”  “Be not mistaken, my dear.  This is the only place where there is this type of life.  In order for the children to remain here, they have to change into all kinds of creatures, otherwise they would long for your world too much.”  “Would I have to change?”  “Not if you stay out of your own free will.”  “Would Amber?”  “Since she is my daughter, I don’t think so.”  “Then I’m staying.  No place could be lonely if I’m with you.”  They hugged in the last daylight, and then I realized…what about me?
Goreld looked at me as if he had read my mind.  “You can return home.  You are not a parent.  And I thank you for bringing Lucy to me.”  He snapped his fingers, and in the blink of an eye I was back in the alley.  

The wall in front of me that had been clear before, looked old and cracked now.  I touched it and felt nothing but stone.  I picked up a small stuffed animal, which had Amber’s name embroidered on it.  The only piece of evidence that I hadn’t just dreamt what had passed.  No one but this stuffed animal would ever believe me.