"She dropp'd a tear more rare than pearl,
Then suck'd their fruit globes fair or red:
Sweeter than honey from the rock,
Stronger than man-rejoicing wine,
Clearer than water flow'd that juice;
She never tasted such before,
How should it cloy with length of use?
She suck'd and suck'd and suck'd the more
Fruits which that unknown orchard bore;
She suck'd until her lips were sore;
Then flung the emptied rinds away
But gather'd up one kernel stone,
And knew not was it night or day
As she turn'd home alone."
– "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti
The King's Peach
Sarah bit into the peach. Sweet juice burst across her tongue as she chewed the fuzzed fruit. The treat was more delicious than anything she had tasted before and she could not stop herself from taking greedy bites. She smiled at Hoggle with juice-coated lips for offering her the gift, but the juice that oozed onto her hand turned as red as blood. The remains previously ripe peach rotted into a blackened lump. She clutched her hand hard around the pit, letting the rot leak between her fingers. Shadows danced in her periphery, narrowing her vision. She blinked hard to clear them, but it only serviced to dizzy her.
"Hoggle, what have you done?" she asked.
Sarah stumbled through the trees around her, watching the bark swirl before her eyes. The ground seemed to rush towards her in great waves until she could no longer step forward and collapsed to the ground. The drugging effects of the fruit weighted each limb like stones into the mossy ground.
Sarah's eyelids pulled against her efforts to keep them open. In her haze, three crystalline bubbles floated toward her and, in their surface, she he saw herself. Only, this false reflection dressed in a sparkling ball gown and had her face painted with heavy makeup.
She watched the bubbles burst and glitter rain to her clothes before the world went dark.
When Sarah came to, she was standing in at the edge of a ballroom, watching a mass of costumed people dance and twirl together. Some wore masks like beasts, others simple dominos, but they were all garbed in finery that beckoned her thoughts to the fairy tales and pirate stories she had read.
Looking down, Sarah found that she wore the princess-like gown she had seen in the bubbles. She ran a hand over her hair and found it teased and adorned with ribbons.
Across the room, Jareth the Goblin King stood laughing with a beautiful woman. Her view of him winked as other dancers moved between them, but she could feel is gaze on her. She began to work her way through the throng of people who jostled her with their careless movements. She kept her eyes steady on Jareth's fountain of white hair, but he disappeared and reappeared elsewhere, always beyond her reach. She corrected her path through the dancers so often that she felt dizzy. The perfumed heat of the room suffocated her.
The crush of bodies against hers became too much and Sarah felt nervous sweat pooling under her arms and at the base of her neck. Each time he appeared, Jareth seemed distracted by any number of elegant women, and spared Sarah only the slightest glance. She lost sight of him and twirled, skirts flaring, hoping to discover his location. All she could see were the endless crowds of partygoers that pressed close to her with their pawing hands, gaping mouths, and garish clothes. Sarah's breath came in fast pants.
A slender hand reached toward her, palm up. As though from thin air, Jareth stood before her. She allowed him to pull her from the mass. His presence was like a stone falling into a pond, and the dance floor cleared around them in ripples. He clasped her close and moved her in an effortless dance. She felt the press of his hand against her slender waist and the heat where their palms met, but she could not feel her feet glide along with his.
Their eyes met and she stared, transfixed. He sang to her, but the words brushed across her cheeks like a caress, and were lost before she could discern them.
"What's happening?" She said. Her tongue felt swollen. Could it be from the poisoned peach? "I ate a peach and fell asleep, but then I was here." Sarah watched Jareth, but his expression remained calm.
"This ball is for you. Don't you like it?" He twirled her fast then, and the room blurred.
"For me?"
"To welcome you." Jareth brushed the back of his fingers over Sarah's cheek and on to her dark hair. Sarah's mind was fuzzy and she had to close her eyes to focus. She wished she could block out the music that drowned out her thoughts.
"But I'm not staying," she said.
"Of course you are." Jareth gave a humorless laugh. "You ate the goblin fruit."
Sarah recalled the cloying scent of rotting fruit. She moved her hand from Jareth's shoulder and, when she turned it over, the peach pit appeared in her palm.
"You have eaten the food of my realm, and now you cannot leave. You will stay and be my queen."
Sarah's head spun and she swayed against Jareth. She let her forehead press into the silk brocade of his coat. She had to parcel out each of his words to process them one by one. She ate the fruit. And now she was trapped.
"That's not fair." Sarah shook her head against Jareth's chest.
Jareth clucked his tongue at her. "For all your interest in fairies and goblins, you were unaware that if you eat in the underground you may never return to your world?" His words were castigating.
"But, I can't," Sarah said.
"I am not asking you, Sarah," The music screeched to a stop. "You are here, and here you will stay."
Jareth took hold of her wrist and pulled Sarah through the crowd. The party guests turned to stare as the king dragged the girl from the room. They passed mirrored walls and she noted the anger etched on Jareth's face. They passed through the set of gilded doors into a stone hallway that seemed to twist onward. Sarah let herself be lead down the serpentine path and Jareth took turn after turn into side halls. Soon, Sarah knew she would never be able to retrace their path. The king came to a sudden stop and tossed her against the wall like a doll. As she stumbled to stand, Jareth threw open a set of heavy doors and disappeared inside. Sarah had landed against the frame of a painting and, once she regained her balance, she studied it.
She was staring at a portrait of herself.
The girl in the painting had the same dark hair and thick brows, the same exotic tilt to her eyes.
"It can't be," she said. Even the puffed sleeves of the ball gown matched the dress Sarah currently wore. There was something slightly off though. Something told her that this wasn't her.
"Mom," the word slipped out before her mind had even finished forming the thought. Sarah turned and found Jareth lounging in his throne. Beside it stood another throne, empty but for a jeweled tiara.
Sarah's mind felt clearer now that she was free of the heady ballroom, but she still could not muddle through how the painting had come to be there. She marched into the throne room, stopping at the edge of the raised dais.
"Is that my mother?"
"See for yourself," Jareth said. He flipped his hand and a crystal orb appeared. The orb clouded and then a scene appeared. Sarah leaned forward.
It was her mother. She was young, and her clothing had a 1970's style. She wound through the Labyrinth, as Sarah had just done. The scene changed and now her mother sat in the second throne, in the gown that Sarah wore. At the image, Jareth threw the orb away, shattering it against the wall.
"Your mother came here once, but I lost her."
"But why was she here? Why did she come to the Labyrinth?"
"For you, of course."
"For me?" Sarah shook her head.
Jareth leaned back in his throne again, but now Sarah could see the control it took for him to appear casual.
"You mean the goblins took me? When I was a baby?"
"Your mother was willing to trade herself for your freedom, for a time." Jareth studied her. "But she escaped. I was too kind. I trusted her too much."
The ice in Jareth's glare caused Sarah's breath to catch.
"I won't make that mistake again."
"So do you think that by keeping me here, my mother will come back?"
Jareth flicked a hand in dismissal.
"I watched you in the park today, and I heard you say the exact words your mother told me before her escape. You are the exact image of her in her youth."
A sick feeling churned Sarah's stomach. The predatory way that Jareth watched her was akin to a spider watching a fly tangle in its web.
"Then you presented the perfect opportunity to lure you here."
"Toby!" Sarah had nearly forgotten why she was here. "Where is he?"
"He will be returned safely now that I have you."
As if on cue, the baby crawled into the room, pursued by two goblins.
Jareth snapped at his minions and ordered them to return Toby to his crib. The two creatures struggled to hoist the baby's wriggling weight between then but soon disappeared from the room with Toby in tow. His departure caused Sarah's stomach to sink. There must be some way to escape the goblin king.
"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," Sarah began. "My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great..."
"Sarah! Look what I'm offering you. Your dreams. My kingdom. My heart."
"My kingdom as great... my kingdom as great..." Sarah stopped. "Damn, I can never remember that line."
"I ask for so little. Just fear me. Love me. Do as I ask, and I shall be your slave." Jareth came to her and took her hands. She searched her mind for the last of the line but drew a blank. All she could think of were Jareth's pleading eyes.
"Stay and be my queen Sarah. I will send the baby home and you'll never need to worry over him, or your father and stepmother, again." Jareth swept out a hand and the stone wall disappeared, revealing a view of the goblin realm and labyrinth, much like she had seen from her bedroom. Only now the kingdom looked brighter somehow, the plants greener, and the sky was a twinkling twilight blue.
"Queen," Sarah whispered, tasting the word, feeling it on her tongue. "The goblin queen." Compelled, she moved to the edge of the floor to gaze out over the kingdom.
Jareth moved to behind her and clasped her shoulders.
"But down in the underground
You'll find someone true
Down in the underground
A land serene
A crystal moon."
The song enchanted Sarah. Turning to face her king, Sarah nodded.
"I'll stay. I'll be your queen."
"It's only forever, not long at all." He sang the words into her ear like a kiss, and then Jareth embraced his queen.