Then he kissed my cheek last, and I was so close to tears that I could only wave my hand and nod and force a smile before I set off down the path.
My boots forged a path down the rutted roads of Fairhaven, well traveled paths at first. It was so early that thankfully, not too many people I knew were out, but a young man who had once courted Trixie passed by and tipped his hat, asking if I was going somewhere important. And the baker’s daughter said hello and said I looked very nice today. In both cases, I acted coy, as if perhaps I was meeting a young man and I didn’t want everyone gossiping about it. Well, it wasn’t a lie, even the young part. People reckoned the goblin king was no older than thirty, which was a bit younger than some of the wealthy suitors Trixie and Marta had their eyes on.
Soon, I had left my neighborhood. The houses grew smaller, with larger yards where chickens, pigs and gardens mingled: the small farms that provided much of the food for the town markets. And then, before I knew it, I was walking on the road that led out of town. An old stone wall wove along beside me, and sheep grazed on the green hills.
It was an hour or so to walk to the next hamlet, where my best clothes stuck out even more, so I hurried through quickly. It was deep into the morning by now, so everyone was out and about. I felt as if all the women were looking at me and knew where I was going. I saw heads bow close, whispers exchanged.
But once I made it through, there was nothing between the goblin king and me except miles of lonely road.
Of course, I was not used to walking such distances. Here and there, I had to stop and rest a moment. At one point, I came to an ancient circle of stone. I stopped to admire it, because I had never come this far before, and I was always curious about the lives of people who had lived among these hills centuries ago.
I drained my water flask by mid-day, but clouds were gathering in the sky. Before long, I would have all the water I could wish for and a great deal more. A spring downpour pelted me for what felt like hours, leaving my hair soaked and making my cloak feel heavy on my shoulders.
By the afternoon, I was starting to wonder if I really knew what the goblin king’s cave looked like. Would it be obvious? What if it was a tiny door, overgrown with weeds, tucked into the side of a hill, and in my exhaustion I missed it entirely?
The terrain had grown rockier, the trees taller, the hills larger. My legs dragged. I yearned for dinner, and kept staring at the sun, willing it to stay put, but it was sinking quickly, as suns tend to do.
The hills were turning vivid colors as the sunlight hit the grasses sideways. Soon it would be getting harder to see. Little creatures rustled in the tall grasses on either side of the road. It was only supposed to be a day’s walk. Had I walked too slow? I wondered what I would do if I never found the place. Should I attempt to turn around and walk home through the night? Sleep in the woods? Just press on?
As I was starting to feel the edge of real despair, I saw an iron gate at one of the bends in the road. It was open, and at the top was an iron arch molded into a official-looking seal, with a moon flanked by two rather gargoyle-like beasts. A path led me forward, around the gentle swells of two green, tree-covered hills on either side. Small wildflowers bloomed in abundance. It was a beautiful, sheltered place.
At the end of the path was a lush rose garden. It was too early in the spring for the roses to be in such proliferation, and yet, here they were, blooming as if it was the middle of summer. Huge yellow ones, pink ones with an almost squarish shape, white ones with frilled petals, red ones with more slender blooms. There was such a variety that somehow, they seemed to compel me to choose one.
I had always liked the wilder roses best. I kept walking around the bushes, trying to find a rose that suited me best. In the process, I spotted a door tucked among the flowers. I didn’t knock yet. I needed to find a rose first.
Ah—there was the one! A smaller, more humble flower in a dark crimson. My hand had just met the stem when the door creaked open.
“Picking my roses, are you?”
But it was too late. The flower was in my hand.
I turned, cheeks burning, stammering out, “I’m—I’m sorry, I—“ What was I thinking, grabbing flowers from a man’s garden without asking?
And there he was. The goblin king himself. My eyes hardly knew what to make of him, where to look first. The sharp, stunning golden eyes? A mouth of fearsome teeth—far more of them than he needed, I thought. Or his hands, covered in black leather gloves with elongated tips to make room for his claws?
And then there were the small black horns rising from his coarse, wild black hair. Each one was adorned with a golden ornament, shaped like a twig or an antler, like two small horn-circlets.
“Never mind it,” he said. His voice was a little raspy and growly. “Come here. Let me see what the night has brought me this time.”
My heart was fluttering in an uneven patter as I came closer, realizing how tall he was. Tall and strong and broad. My eyes only came up to his chest. He was dressed more like a laborer than a king, I thought, his shirt, vest, and trousers well-fitted but homespun and simple. He had good quality boots and a hooded cloak, although the hood was down as if he wanted me to get a proper look at what I was getting into.
“You’re awfully pretty,” he said, with a slightly skeptical tone. “At least, as far as the humans prefer.”
“I can’t help it,” I said.
“Surely a girl like you could find a husband to care for you, if you are penniless.”
I was vaguely irritated, and didn’t care to explain my business to him. “And yet, here I am, so obviously not. Did you ever consider that maybe there isn’t anyone in town worth marrying?”
“You probably haven’t looked very hard.”
“Will you give me a coin or not?”
“Will you allow me to fuck you in exchange for one gold coin? No sicknesses nor babes can result. I will take you as many times as I like tonight and in the morning you may go unless you choose to stay.”
How blunt. So, it really was this and nothing else. There wasn’t some other secret purpose for inviting women to his house.
So, I really was going to lose my virginity tonight, to this beast of a man. I was surely blushing again. I hoped it was too dark to see.
There really was no question of saying no at this point. I had come all this way, and I needed food and shelter. Besides that…well, he was not so ugly as I expected. Or maybe he was precisely as ugly as I expected. The portrait of him in the book was fairly accurate. But you liked that portrait, whispered some voice deep down inside of me.
“Yes,” I said.
“Then, come in.” He held the door open.
I took a hesitant step inside, and then another, and the door shut behind me with a hollow thud. I glanced back, since I had not seen him move, nor heard his clothing rustle. It appeared that it had shut all by itself.