Part 2
It happened the princess went out in her carriage on a particularly warm winter day to see how the new cathedral was coming along. It was led by a horseman and two guards who traveled behind. The streets were made of dirt and the people dirtier then the ground. She passed the food stands and stalls selling already half rotted fruit and vegetables. The smell of burning meets and horse meneuer filled the air. Flies circled around the meat that hung off of shoddy planks. The smell was rancid and she wondered how people lived that way. They traveled a bit farther to where the large church was being finished.
She spotted a very interesting and strikingly handsome looking man doing tricks for the children of the village out in front of the cathedral. He was obviously a foreigner and magician by the way he was dressed in tight brown leather pants and a frilled white shirt, definitely not a gentlemen but strangely regal and self assured. He was probably a traveling gipsy or other untrustworthy foreigner she had been warned so many times about. The guard counseled her against stopping but she did not care and she insisted on stopping to watch his tricks.
She watched him from her carriage as he juggled glass balls flawlessly. She was captivated by his fluid movements in his manipulation of the objects. He watched her from over his shoulder with a large grin as he pulled out another and yet another orb.
The light reflected from the spheres bent into every color and a beam shone in her eyes. As if in a trance she did not move as he walked over to her still moving the glass orbs making each disappear until there was only one.
"Good afternoon my lady." he moved the orb as her eyes continued to follow it back and forth.
"Step away from the carriage charlatan." the guard ordered.
"I am here simply for her ladies entertainment." he pulled out a second orb and each rolled over his fingers.
"Please I want to see." she said to the guard not removing her eyes from the shining glass.
"What does her lady fancy? Perhaps she likes lilies." he turned an orb into the flower. "Ah no for such a lovely girl, a rose." the flower turned from white to red and he handed it to her.
"Tell me magician, what is your name?" she asked getting trapped in his strangely colored yet very expressive eyes, the air of danger about him made him all the more interesting and her body began to heat.
"Jareth, my princess." he said with a flourished bow.
She was very amused and interested in him. "You are a stranger here, where are you from?"
"I am no stranger to this land, although I have not been summoned… to court… for a long time. As for where I am from, well I am from here, from there, from a far away land."
"But from where? What is it like to be somewhere not here?"
"So curious a mind. Ah well, it is a great kingdom. The weather is always temperate, the moon is a crystal sphere in the vast sky, but it can be tricky to get to the castle. It's a bit of a maze. The people there are not much different from those here…..perhaps a bit shorter." he said jovially.
"So you are from one of the Southern kingdoms? Italy? Do you know any stories? I will pay you for stories." she said eagerly.
"What kind would my lady wish to hear? Perhaps a love story?" he leered.
"No kind magician, do you have any stories about goblins, or the farae people of the dark and frozen north or savage East?"
"As you wish my lady. I know many. Enough to fill several lifetimes." he said exciting her.
"Please tell me. I wish to hear them all. No one wants to talk about them."
"You have come to the right person with your request, my lady."
"Tell me about the kings and queens and the people and what they do. I want to know everything about them."
"Well you see far, far away, the greatest of kings, the king of the goblins, who had just ascended the throne from his father, happened to find himself bored so he went looking for a wife. There was a curse and prophecy about a girl, a beautiful princess who would make a wish. The king had found himself in love with her as soon as he first saw her through his crystal years ago. But at that time she was too young to claim. He spent many hours watching her, as she listened to stories about his people and she wished many times to marry only him. She was still too young then, but now she is ripe for the picking. He has given her certain powers over him and even as we speak , he has begun courting her."
"Tell me more about the prophesy which is also a curse" she urged.
"It spoke of a princess that the goblin king would meet and fall in love with immediately. He would have to convince her to come with him to the underground before her seventeenth birthday, if he was unable, he would lose his heart and she would have to gain it back for him and he would not get another chance to be with her for a thousand years."
"That long… wow. So his heart would go with her and she would have to help him get it back."
"Yes she would have to return it to the center of his being through a vast maze. That is how underground magic works." he said.
"But that's so romantic that he would get another chance. I hope he can convince her. A thousand years is a long time to wait. Do you think he would wait?"
"I believe he would wait for all eternity. There is however on problem."
"What is it?"
"Well you see, in order for him to have her she has to make a wish."
"What kind of wish."
"A very simple wish, nothing of any consequence…she has to wish herself away to the goblins."
"Can someone truly be wished away to the goblins?" she asked.
"Anyone under seventeen may wish themselves away to the goblins, or they may choose to wish away another,…. an enemy,…. a loved one."
"What happens to those who are wished away?"
"Oh many different things. Some become goblins, some become other creatures, others remain human. The one thing they have in common is they never again come to the aboveground."
"What if someone is wished away, by mistake?"
"You see precious, the king of the goblins is the betting sort. He may choose to wager on a game of chance or he may not."
"Oh what kind's of games does he play?"
"How do you feel about a mazes?" he gave a sneer.
"Your highness we really must be getting back to the castle." the head guard said.
"Jareth the magician, It was a pleasure. I wish to see you again soon. There is so much I want to ask you about the goblins."
"Your wish is my command, my lady." he said with a bow as the carriage pulled away with her looking back until she could no longer see him.
She was intrigued to say the least. His mismatched eyes captivated her and so did his crooked smile. She was unable to stop thinking about him. He would appear in her dream continuing his tricks and attempting to seduce her but then he would be too far away. She saw herself in a huge maze wearing strange clothing and did not know which way to turn, she only knew she would find him in the center. Then she would wake.
Two weeks after her meeting she was told she would have to be married. A husband had been chosen for her. She was very upset about the situation but no one would listen to her pleas or yells. The only one she could complain to was her maid.
"My princess I am sorry there is nothing I can do. You will have to marry your step mothers nephew." the maid said.
"But I do not want to, do I not have any say in my life? I hate him, he's so old and fat and I hear he is cruel and mean. He sent his last wife to her death because he got tired of her. He's so horrible. How could they do that to me?"
"It is a favorable marriage."
"If I were king I could marry whoever I wanted. It's because I'm a girl."
"That is just our lot. You should be happy to be a woman. You do not have to do battle and you may use your time at leisure. You can bare many children for him, they will be a comfort to you. You can also devote your time to God. Perhaps if you pray for patience it will be granted."
"Pray, all I have done is pray and this is what has been granted to me! I'm done praying, it's always been so pointless. He has forsaken me. None of my wishes ever come true. When he returns, the spirit, he says he will claim me as his wife in the spring. I don't think he's going to be happy about the situation. I'd rather marry him. If I can hold the wedding off until then I can go with him to his realm and never have to set foot in this castle again."
"Please do not speak of such devils miss, or you will put us all in danger of losing our souls. The one you keep speaking of is an affliction of the mind or the devil himself come to drag you to the underworld." the maid said sending the girl into a fit of anger.
"My stupid baby brother will be king. I hate him. I hate them all." she yelled. "It's all his fault, if he hadn't been born they wouldn't have had a choice but to keep me here and I wouldn't have to marry that disgusting man." she spent the rest of the night crying to no avail and a white owl looked on through the window.