Robert's Story

The sovereigns whom you met yesterday are King Kendrick and Queen Emogen. They rule over a magical realm which to most only exists in the minds of daydreamers. The Goblin Kingdom is but one realm in the Underground but it is very important and one of the only means in which to enter. They have many tasks to do there but the most important is that of claiming the children who have been wished away.

Ah! Before you ask, those children almost always get turned into goblins and it takes many centuries for them to mature into what Kendrick looks like, which is a somewhat… humanoid form if I were to use human terminology. How we all evolved, it would be fairer by far to say you humans look like goblins!

As I was saying…

I was a respected lord in the Goblin Kingdom for nearly half a millennia. Kendrick, the king, was put on his throne at a very young age following the premature death of his father. He was little older then Jareth is now and was much too young for the responsibility. Against my better judgment, I offered before a very secretive group which even now I may not utter their names, to act as the boy's personal manservant. I gave him direction as best I could, questioning him when he seemed uncertain and deterring him when he seemed overly confident. Just to certify my explanation, my guise was not needed in the select body present to assist the crown, it was needed to make the operations appear more stable than they actually were. I was given information which I then gave to Kendrick and the same was for any suggestions or advice.

It worked this way for a century without mishap until one day a wish was made. The wish is a very sacred thing in the Goblin City and it is made for the sole purpose of getting rid of any unwanted children. A girl wished her baby sister away, she was perhaps only twenty-four at the time but during that age, she was almost considered an old maid past her prime. She was beautiful, even to the goblin eyes, with tanned skin and light brown hair. Her eyes were a brown so deep that Kendrick commented on how they drew him in. He challenged her, breaking the rule that was ancient even before his father took the throne. She claimed that she didn't care, that she didn't want the child but he taunted her and she, in return, mocked and challenged him. She completed the labyrinth that was hastily erected for the challenge with ease. Admiration seemed to flow from Kendrick's very pours as he watched over her in his crystal ball. He tried taunting her multiple times though out the run and she overcame him at every turn. A trap laid carefully for her was turned back on him. Finally, she made it through the labyrinth and to a room which seemed somehow to inspire M. C. Escher. She found Kendrick in there and her only response was to smirk.

I still get a laugh out of that.

She sees the king and there is no fear in her at all but she suddenly sprouts poetry. 'Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen.' Kendrick is amused by this point so he decides to play along. 'By what right have you to claim the child that I have stolen?' The fiery beauty tossed her head and proclaimed. 'For my will is as strong as yours and my Kingdom as great!' Kendrick raised his handsome brow and asked, 'My strength is greater, little one. Would you pit yourself against me?' The woman straightened even more and said, softly, 'You have no power over me.' Kendrick roared in mock anger and released the child into the possession of her sister. The woman, now Goblin Queen Emogen, stayed in the Goblin City, not wishing to return to her parents who would disgrace her for being unwanted and undesired. She was courted and wed within a year of her stay. Kendrick adopted the child and she was raised as their very own flesh and blood. Jareth knows her only as his eldest sister and the one who tormented him the most.

My part in the kingdom was nearly at an end. Kendrick was mature enough to see to his responsibilities. The years dripped off and I became lonely. I still acted as his vassal since I had nothing better to do and it kept me close to my friends. His children, daughters all of them, came to respect me. Kendrick still confided in me off and on. It was two hundred years after their marriage that Emogen became pregnant again. This was after, I believe, her twelfth daughter and I'm not counting her young sister who was altered if not completely changed. Kendrick came to me with the hope that this was his son finally and the one to take over his kingdom. It was the most difficult pregnancy for Emogen and clearly her last; similar to what Toby was for you. She almost lost him twice. The second time she gave birth. It was indeed a boy and he lived, though he was very weak. Because of the difficulty and the fact that this was the heir, Kendrick was extremely protective over him. He would allow no other hand to care for him except for his, Emogen's and my own. I was honoured of course and I cared for the boy. So after a couple of years it was certain that he would live, the restrictions were relaxed. I was finally allowed my distance.

During this time of near isolation with only the king, queen and baby to talk to, I am slightly embarrassed to say that I started a horrid affair with one of the servants who cleaned the royal rooms. She was a pretty little thing and quite small being that she was a fairy and I managed to convince myself that I had fallen in love.

No dear, she was not the size of Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, she was similar to that of an undersized human woman, perhaps a foot and a half shorter than you.

When Kendrick discovered us in a very compromising situation well after the restrictions were lifted, perhaps ten or so years later, he became furious. I think it was possible that he felt somehow betrayed by me, I am not sure. I escaped with my lover to the Aboveground, the human world, and started my life in exile. My powers were all but lost and the more time I spent above, the more I became like a human. It took an almost solid sixty years for me to appear as I am now and that includes the normal ageing process of a man.

That's all.

X

Back in the living room

The music ran out but the husband and wife still swayed. "Was that Linda? Sarah's mother?" Karen asked timidly. The story had been overwhelming but she was unable to keep from asking.

Robert sighed. "No, that wasn't Linda. Her name was Emsi and she died shortly after our sojourn to this world. I mourned for a long time, longer then I really care to admit before I found Linda. I was young enough, or appeared young enough, to place myself into the highschool she attended. It only took one or two forged pieces of identification and a slip of paper claiming that I was a ward of the state with no legal guardians. I romanced her only because she reminded me of my dark little fairy and I slept with her. It was the fad of that year… or those decades rather. She was a mother even before she graduated which she never accomplished. She ran off a few years later to be an actress, which she does fabulously, but she left me with Sarah and no mother. I was tempted to return to my home then and there but I'm stubborn…"

"Father like daughter." Karen said gently. "Go on."

He stopped swaying and sat heavily on the couch, holding out his arms for Karen to join him. "Kendrick found me and came to see my daughter. She was only four at the time but he was entranced. She is very much like her mother in looks if not temperament. Kendrick declared that she would marry his son and become queen of Goblin City and we drew up the agreement which you saw last night. I could not disobey him, even in my self-exile." Robert pulled his wife closer. "Sarah's bound to the kingdom now ever since she wished Toby away. I didn't want her to be quite this soon but it seems she has a fire to echo Emogen's which makes her a perfect match; though a bit young."

Karen spoke quietly. "When will you tell her?" Her emotions were just a bit too close to the surface at the moment and the thickness of her voice was the telltale sign.

"When she is to go below at Christmas."

"Oh Robert, the poor girl." Karen buried her face in his shirt. "Does Jareth know?"

"No, and he's not to know any of what I told you this evening. Not for some time yet."