"The King's messenger left this note here for you, Ansel." Talia told him one morning.

"He wants me to come to the castle... and play for his guests?" Ansel wondered aloud once he read it.

"Of course..." Talia said, looking at him seriously. "Not as much for his guests than for the remaining rats... The King changed the date of the wedding and the first guests are already arriving. The Prince himself will be here in a couple of days. You did a great work, the town is rat-free, there are only those left in the castle's gardens. At least that's what the people in the town say."

"But... She did not tell me anything... " Ansel said, looking at the woman, feeling confused.

He and Princess Rose spent every night since his arrival together, but she never mentioned the Prince or her approaching wedding since their first encounter.

"Why would she? Aurora Rose knows that you cannot help her, she would not want to trouble you." Talia shrugged. Then she smiled sadly, as she added, "It is not easy to be a Princess. Especially when your heart does not beat for the one you are obliged to marry..."

"Is this Prince really as bad as she believes?" Ansel asked, knowing well that this should not concern him. The less he knew about them the better, it would be easier that way when the moment came to end it all.

Talia sighed. "He... is not known as a wise and clement ruler, his subjects are not as lucky as the inhabitants of this island... Rose only met him a couple of times so far but after each of those encounters the poor soul cried her heart out on my shoulder."

Ansel pulled his hood lower, covering his eyes, not wanting Talia to notice his emotions stirring inside of him again. This was wrong, he could not afford to feel like this...

He greeted Talia quickly and left the inn, making his way towards the castle. The Piper spent the whole day in its gardens, hiding in the deepest shadows, his songs keeping the rats away from the overjoyed, loud, wedding guests. He was hoping to meet the Princess and talk to her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

When she did not seek him even at night, he knew that something was not right. Ansel reached the castle again and there he realised that her tower was guarded. Two knights stood by his rosebush, making it impossible for Rose to leave her chamber unnoticed.

Someone must have seen them and... He didn't want to think about what the King could have done to punish his daughter, who was promised to a Prince, for meeting with a Rat-catcher at night.

Alien, unexpected thoughts flooded his mind suddenly, unbidden but insistent... What if he... made the knights fall asleep with his music, flew to her window and took her far away from here, to a place where neither her father nor Lady Des...

"Ansel, you belong to me..." the chilling, whisper-shouted words filled his head, obliterating his other thoughts, spreading like frost through his entire body. The Piper may have started to forget who he was, but Lady Destiny remembered well.

He shook his head and wrapping his cloak tighter around him made his way back to the Golden Rose.

The days that followed were a torture for him. The Prince arrived and Ansel got glimpses of him, his arm wrapped around Rose's waist, as he steered her through the crowds of guests gathered in the castle. Ansel could feel that the Princess knew about his presence within the deepest shadows of the building, but she purposely avoided looking at him.

It was the evening before the wedding when the last rat left the island, and Ansel asked for an audience with the King. The moment to pay for his service arrived and the Piper had never wished so greatly that the humans would really pay him the promised money, as he did now...

"So we meet again, Rat-catcher. Why, I was hoping that your mistress would forget about my debt... I treated you well and the wedding cost me so much..."

Ansel just stood silently in front of the foolish man who had just sealed his fate. They were all the same when they had to part with their gold, Lady Destiny knew them too well.

"Here. Leave now." The King said, throwing a small pouch at Ansel's feet. It was too small to hold the amount of money he had promised to pay.

Without a word Ansel picked it up, bowed to the unwise King and left the throne room. The moment he stepped into the dim corridor Rose rushed into his arms, surprising him.

"I'm sorry Ansel," she sobbed. I couldn't come to meet you. He, the Prince, threatened me, saying he would harm you if... His people saw me with you... And now you are leaving..."

He enclosed her in his embrace, wanting to hold her there, close to his unbeating heart forever, safe and... Loved...

The Princess looked up at him, perceiving his emotions that had been sleeping for so long, stirring back to life. "I... I can feel it too..." she whispered.

She had never looked as beautiful as in that instant. Her eyes were wide with surprise, her cheeks flushed with a faint blush as she realised that she had just found love, which she was about to lose immediately.

Standing on tiptoes she pressed her lips to Ansel's and he drew her closer, returning her kiss.

Too soon she pulled away, and ran away from him, from herself.

"Rose!" He called, knowing well that their time was over.

"That's it! We can as well stop this now." Lady Destiny's voice, reverberating off the walls of the castle, hushing everything and everyone instantly recalled him to his senses.

He noticed how Rose stood still at the bottom of the corridor, petrified, and the whole place exploded with unnatural silence the moment Destiny spoke.

It was all over.

Ansel closed his eyes briefly, trying to compose his features before he would face her. Destiny was not alone, her Angels, his brothers, came here with her. Their eyes, half hidden by the large hoods of their black cloaks, were trained on him as he turned around and walked to their mistress, passing her the pouch with the King's money.

She accepted it, shaking her head at its insufficient weight as she said, "Finish your work, my Piper."

He bowed, and bringing his flute to his lips, started to play. Tears ran down his cheeks as he watched Rose glide to the floor, slowly, lightly, like a falling leaf.

"Well done, Ansel. Come, let us go now." Lady Destiny smiled at him, pretending not to see his tears.

"I... killed them all... I... can't go on like this... Rose..."

Instead of following Destiny, he walked to the Princess lying on the floor, falling to his knees next to her. What has he done...

"Ansel... " Destiny, her hand on his shoulder spoke, "they are all dead. All... except her. I could not do this to you... But she's the foolish King's daughter and I will punish her, for the deeds of her father, and... for stealing you away from me. The girl will sleep for one hundred years, as deeply as if she was dead. Afterwards, if she still remembers you, she will live again. If not... "

Lady Destiny spread her arms, the long sleeves of her floor-length white dress sweeping the stone floor. The air around them filled with a strange, faint whisper. Ansel could easily imagine what he had seen too many times before-- all the corpses turning to dust, then flying away on a gust of wind. The castle, the whole island was now deserted, except for them and the sleeping Princess.

"Carry her to her chamber, Ansel, then come with us. You are mine for the next one hundred years, at least."

Ansel rushed to obey her, not wanting to give Destiny a reason to change her mind.

He laid Rose on her bed as well as he could and after he kissed her one more time, left the castle.

When Ansel reached the place again, one hundred years later, the island, shrouded in the morning mist, was unrecognizable. The rose he had conjured with his flute at the foot of Rose's tower grew into an immense bush, burying the castle beneath its infinite green leaves and pink blooms.

Unsurprisingly, Lady destiny was already waiting for him on the cliff above the lake, in the shadows of the ancient trees.

"Go to her, my Piper. If she will recognize you, and will agree to follow you, you can take her wherever you want. You are free."

"Thank you, Lady Destiny... I..." he bowed and kissed her hand, not knowing what to say. He owed her... everything.

But he had neither time nor peace of mind to look for more appropriate words now, he was suddenly too impatient to see his Princess again. Ansel ran to the very edge of the rock wall and jumped, landing on the arched bridge.
The moment he brought his flute to his lips and played the first notes of his tune, the rose-covered branches began to slither out of his way.

The Piper walked through the deserted streets of the once lively town, with a single thought on his mind, Will she remember...?

As he stepped into the castle and his music echoed off its walls, he heard her voice, calling him... "Ansel... "

"Be happy, my Piper." Lady Destiny smiled when the Princess' voice was carried to her by the summer breeze.

Turning her back to the castle she morphed into a translucent white cloud, vanishing like the morning mists rising from the lake.