Disclaimer: I do not own The Labyrinth. If you try to sue me, all I'll be able to do is empty out my pockets and give you some spare change and lit balls. *grins innocently* Hope ya enjoy!
The Labyrinth: Another Tale
The Sequel
I
"Alas; the love of women! It is known
to be a lovely and fearful thing."
--George Gordon, Lord Bryon
~*~
A pair of purple eyes, the color of spring's first sweet violets, stared into a crystal as it was threaded between a pair of soft white hands. Jade, the daughter of Jareth and Bryanna, smiled softly as she observed the events happening in the flawless crystal.
She hooked several strands of hip length red-orange hair behind her pointed ears, desperate to get it out of her face. The crystal stopped, poised on the tips of her fingertips. Her smile broadened as she watched her mother and father listen to the complaints and worries of the people her mother ruled over, in the Fae realm.
I'm glad mother and father let me stay home this one time, Jade thought happily as she watched her mother loose patience with one of her people and turned him into a rowan tree.
Since Jade was the heir to both the Goblin and Fae realm, her parents had both decided to let her rule in their place, so she could get used to the idea of looking after a realm. She glanced into the ball again, and sighed when she noticed her reflection.
Her mother had stopped aging when she had started practicing magic. So had her father, and all of her relatives. And, like the rest, Jade had stopped aging when she turned sixteen, the age in which she inherited all of her magic, all of her powers.
She looked into the ball again, and giggled when she saw that her father was trying to console her mother, trying to get her to turn the noble Fae back into a living being. Jade grinned at her father unsympathetically. Her mother was known for her temper, and her father would have a difficult convincing Bryanna to turn the noble back into his original form.
"Glad as I am to be left alone for a while", Jade began, talking to herself wistfully, "I wish something exciting would happen, like they do when my father is here."
A goblin, one of the older and wiser ones, looked at her thoughtfully.
----becarefulwhatyouwishfor---- it hissed.
Jade looked at it in surprise. "Why do you say that?"she asked it.
----because,itmightcometrue----
Jade looked at it for a minute, searching the evil eyes for meaning. But the goblin showed her nothing in it's eyes. Just evil; evil so twisted that it would have made a normal person shudder in fear.
Suddenly, her crystal started to glow and Jade looked at it in surprise. In the depths of the clear ball, she saw an image. Looking closer, she saw that it was a young man, no more than 17. He was tall and broad-shouldered, reminding Jade of the Celtic warriors of old. His eyes were a deep emerald green, the color of the pine forests deep in the Fae realm. His hair was black; so dark, in fact, that it was blue-black. It came to his shoulders and reminded Jade of silk.
Jade's smile broadened when she saw that he was chasing a little boy and didn't look at all happy. Looks like I might get some excitement after all, she thought as she continued to watch the two males.
* * *
"Damn it, Malcolm! Get your scrawny little butt back here, right now!!" Duncan McDouglas yelled in his lilting Scottish burr as he continued to chase the newly turned two year old..
The child, Duncan's nephew, just giggled and ran all the faster.
Duncan growled deep in his throat and continued to chase Malcolm, all the while mentally cursing his older brother, Robert, for spawning this little demon.
Finally, after several more minutes of chasing after the toddler, Duncan finally managed to corner him. With a shout of triumph, he grabbed Malcolm and slung him over his muscular shoulder. The child began screaming, but Duncan blocked him out, humming a soft Gaelic lullaby.
As Duncan carried Malcolm up the stairs of the ancient McDouglas castle, the child quieted, listening to the soft croon of the lullaby. But, unfortunately, it was a short repise.
After several more minutes of walking, Duncan finally made it to the nursery, where Malcolm slept. Duncan's brother and his wife had to go to Edinburgh for several weeks, and Duncan had been stuck taking care of Malcolm. And that included putting him to bed, which was the worst thing about baby sitting him. Malcolm did not like being put to bed.
But, luckily, Duncan had inherited his family's strange gift for music, and Malcolm loved being sung lullabies to. Except for tonight.
"DUN WANNA GO BED!!!!!!!"he screamed at his uncle, curling his hands into little fists and pounding them against Duncan's shoulders. "DUN WANNA GO BED!!!!!!! CAN'T MAKE ME!!!!!!!!"
Duncan sighed, and softly tossed his nephew into his crib. "Quiet," he ordered, his usually soft voice, threaded with a Scottish burr, was now rock hard.
Malcolm just screwed up his face and glared at Duncan. Then, he began to scream. Duncan winced and glared back. After several more minutes of enduring Malcolm's screaming, he finally roared, "I SAID QUIET!!"
Shocked, Malcolm immediately quieted. Duncan had never raised his voice before at Malcolm, never. "Now," Duncan began, still glaring at his nephew, "I will give you a choice. You can go to bed with or without a story. Which do you want? It's up to you. But, before I begin, I promise you this: You will go to bed."
Malcolm pouted, then muttered, "Wanna story."
Duncan smiled cheerfully, knowing it was forced. "Good. Now, I'll tell you a story that Robert, your daddy, told me when I was a little boy. Do you want to hear it?"
"Yesh," Malcolm replied, lisping slightly.
"Fine. Here it goes: Long, long ago, when the world was newly made, there were four major races. One of the was the Tuatha de Danaan. The Sidhe. The Fae. They were beautiful, these little people. But, they were also powerful. Do you know why?"
"No," was the muttered reply.
"They could work magic, that's why. Now, one day, there was a huge battle, and the Sidhe lost. They were banished to the hills, underground, in Scotland and Ireland, and some parts of England. There, they formed realms. A Fae realm, an Elf realm, a Selkie realm, and....... a Goblin realm."
At this, Malcolm's eyes became wide-eyed and he stared at his uncle in fear.
"Yes, little one. There was a Goblin realm, ruled by a cruel and evil King. He never loved, except for one time. He loved a girl, but she did not love him back. And so, he became even more cruel, spurned by bitterness and hate."
The little boy shivered a bit, terrified by Duncan's story.
Seeing this, Duncan switched to another story. "Malcolm, do you know where the McDouglas's get their music talent?" he asked the small toddler.
"Nu....."was the uncertain reply.
"Well, according to legend, we are descendants of the Elves. That is why some of us get slightly pointed ears." And then he leaned forward; to show that, indeed, Duncan's ears were slightly pointed. "It is our Gift," he continued. "Our little bit of magic."
And, with that, he stood up and started to head for the door. Malcolm saw this and he again began to scream. Duncan, finally beyond frustrated, turned to his nephew. "Gods bless it!! Sometimes, I do wish that Robert's stories are true! In fact.......I wish that the goblins would come and take you away from me, right now!! If only to be rid of you for a few quiet hours!"
Malcolm stopped screaming, and looked at Duncan in stunned silence. He was a child; and, somewhere deep inside of himself, where the world had not yet begun to corrupt, he knew that Duncan had just done a very bad thing, and he would later regret it.
Duncan gave his nephew one more glare, then turned off the light and walked back down the stairs. Malcolm, terrified and somehow knowing what Duncan had just done, screamed for his uncle.
* * *
Jade stared into the crystal ball and grinned.
* * *
Duncan made it to the top of the stairs before he stopped, knowing that something was wrong. Malcolm wasn't screaming anymore.