"Remembering" by Andrea 'Dearlady' Brink
Started January 12, 2011.
The Goblin King is determined to return Above to see Sarah, but when something goes terribly awry,
he finds himself alone in a new, strange world, with no recollection of who he is..
"If I traded it all,
If I gave it all away,
for one thing,
just for one thing..
wouldn't that be something?"
Finger 11, "If I traded it all"
Prologue
"The Court now recognizes Jareth, King of the Land of Goblins, Ruler of the Labyrinth and surrounding properties." Hushed whisperings immediately circled through the people gathered. Jareth had never appeared as a petitioner before the Court.
No one in the Goblin King's kingdom knew how old he was, or how long he had been the ruler of the Labyrinth. But everyone knew that he had always been alone, to rule over the land and the creatures and the magic. Everyone in his kingdom knew of the girl who had bested his Labyrinth; the only one known in history to have done so, and everyone knew how angry the King was to have lost at his game. But no one realized how quickly the smart, stubborn, beautiful young girl had found a way into the Goblin King's heart.
It was for this reason, several years later, that he now found himself standing in the center of what could only be described as a coliseum-like courtroom; rows upon rows of stadium-tiered seats towered above him, filled with dignitaries from all over the Underground. The effect of the room was to make the interviewed person feel negligible, yet under intense scrutiny; and indeed, every eye in the building was locked upon him at the moment. He had been here many times before; usually as an occupant of the tiered seats, though he had occasionally prosecuted alleged criminals of his kingdom here also.
But he'd never stood here when the prejudiced decision of so many could change the course of his life forever. Though it was utterly terrifying, he kept the calm, indifferent mask on his face that he usually wore at such events.
The High Judge looked down at Jareth from the highest perch in the room and banged his gavel loudly on the wood of the desk.
"Order! I'll have order!" The surrounding whispers died down immediately.
"Now, Jareth, why have you come to petition the Court to be allowed Above? Can't you travel Above whenever you are Summoned?"
"Certainly, I can, Your Honor," Jareth clasped his hands behind his back as he addressed the Judge. "However, that also means that I cannot travel Above to converse with a particular individual unless I am Summoned by that individual." More whispers met his response.
"Indeed. And why the necessity to go Above? You have no unfinished business with Wishers that I am aware of. The last one Wished away was well over a year ago." The Judge eyed Jareth as if daring him to argue with him.
"You are perceptive as always," Jareth bowed slightly towards the Judge. The last child Wished away, a young girl of about two years old, had actually been granted to the Judge's daughter, and was the first child in their family. While Jareth had no say in the matter of where the children were adopted, when he had heard the news that the young girl had been placed in so high a familial position, he had immediately leapt upon filing his petition. The chance that the Judge might choose in his favor could not be passed up.
"I have petitioned the Court to go Above, without Summons, to speak with an individual who had Wished away a child several years ago." Another ripple of chatter swept through the audience.
"Silence!" The Judge bellowed at the crowd, then turned his attention back to Jareth. "I assume you speak of the young girl who beat your Labyrinth?"
Jareth nodded. "Yes, although time has passed for her; she is no longer a young girl, but a woman."
"And why do you desire to speak with her? If she has not Summoned you, I daresay she has no further business with you. The child was returned, was he not?"
Jareth nodded again. "Yes, her brother was returned to her. I wished to speak with her.." Jareth felt the eyes of many focus even more shrewdly on him, and he damned the formalities that required him to speak in this mass arena, instead of a more private venue with the Judge alone. "I wished to speak with her because she is the only Challenger to ever beat my maze. The only one who successfully rallied my own subjects to her cause-"
"Then it sounds like this is a girl who should be deemed an Enemy of the Kingdoms, not someone to go a-calling," a harsh voice interrupted him from somewhere up in the stands.
The dignitaries turned in their seats, trying to spot the speaker, though Jareth knew the voice at once.
Darivel.
The man was, at best, a psychotic madman whose only ambition in life was to attain as many kingdoms as possible through deceit and murder, and at worst, was a psychotic madman who delighted in torturing and killing innocent people and creatures. Either way, he was a psychotic madman. The walking red carpet that Sarah had befriended on her journey through his maze was actually a refugee from one of this man's kingdoms. Jareth had only allowed the giant, rock-slinging disaster into his kingdom in the first place because he'd heard stories of what Darivel and his men did to the beasts. There was no way he could have refused and sent the creature back to the hell it had escaped from.
Jareth set his jaw and continued speaking to the Judge as if he had not been interrupted. "I wish to speak with the only woman who would be a fitting match to the Crown." The crowded room gasped in unison and began talking quite loudly amongst each other.
"ORDER!" The Judge pounded his gavel so loudly Jareth thought the handle would snap. The room quieted just enough for the Judge to be heard over the commotion. "Do you mean to tell me that you would like to invite a mortal woman to be your Queen?"
Jareth knew this would be a tough case to sell to the panel of dignitaries if the judge decided not to rule in his favor. It was common practice to adopt mortal-born children into Fae families to help bolster their numbers, as Fae couples had extremely low birthrates due to their longevity, but no one had ever appointed a mortal-born individual to any position of power. It was simply unheard of.
And for no good reason, Jareth thought. They would have never thought twice about it if Sarah had been Fae. She had shown many of the qualities they looked for when choosing new rulers.
For a moment, the Judge simply stared at Jareth, an unreadable expression on his face.
"And, if we were to grant you permission to go on your journey Above," the Judge said slowly, "would this woman willingly return with you to become your Queen?"
Jareth struggled to keep his face impassive when he replied. "I do not know, Your Honor," he said truthfully. "It has been some time since she has seen me, and even I have to admit, it was not under ideal circumstances at the time." He heard a few people in the stands chuckle at this. Jareth privately thought that Sarah had to have some feelings for him- the way she looked at him when they danced, the way she followed him with her eyes.. He was an attractive man, undoubtedly, but there was more to it than that.
"Very true." The Judge stared at Jareth with such intensity, he had to fight the urge to fidget or look away.
"Very well," he said again, suddenly rising. "I hereby grant you permission to travel Above for a period of twenty four hours-"
"Sir, I regret that I must protest at that time allowance," Jareth interrupted. He hoped he was not destroying his only chance at all to go Above and speak to Sarah, but there was no way he could see if she had feelings for him in return, and convince her to return with him to rule in a mere twenty four hours.
The Judge stared at him, mouth agape. "And how long would you request you be allowed Above?" he asked with the air of one doing someone an incredible favor.
"I.. I would find it most generous of the Courts to grant me permission to stay Above for the maximum span of two weeks." The crowded room burst out into argumentative cries. Jareth continued talking above the noise. "I believe that two weeks would be a sufficient amount of time to adequately prepare this woman for the task of becoming a ruler." In all honesty, it was the most time he could allow himself to have- no one had ever stayed Above for longer than two weeks and returned alive to tell the tale. The exact cause was unknown, but it was believed that the lack of magic Above weakened and eventually killed any Fae foolish enough to stay that long. It was a dangerous request at best.
"Your Honor!" A familiar raspy voice shouted above the noise. "I cannot allow this!"
"Order in the Court!" the Judge pounded his gavel again, and for the time, the room was once again quiet. "The Court recognizes Darivel," he said, skipping the rest of the formalities. "What do you want, Darivel?"
Jareth's blood burned as the man stood, a sneer on his scarred face. He pushed a lock of black hair out of his eyes and addressed the crowded room.
"I cannot allow this man to go on a vacation Aboveworld for two whole weeks, to tarry with some whore, with his kingdom left unattended! Who will keep order in his stead? Would you have those goblins of his wrecking havoc on the rest of our Kingdoms?"
The room murmured at this age-old argument; the goblins simply could not be left unattended.
"Agreed," the Judge said, more to himself that to Darivel. He sat for a moment, lips pursed in thought.
"Well," he finally said, "Jareth, I am granting your nearly unheard-of request to be allowed Above for a time span of two weeks," Jareth clenched his fist at his side in victory, "however, since, indeed, we cannot let your goblin population run amok in your absence, I am appointing Darivel-" the Judge looked to the scarred man as he spoke, "to keep peace in your leave, as he was terribly concerned for the safety of the other kingdoms.."
Darivel looked with rage from the Judge, to Jareth.
A black vulture with a scarred face landed atop one of the scraggly trees that grew in the Borderlands beyond the outer wall of the Labyrinth. The tree branch it landed on bowed dangerously under it's weight, so the bird gave a harsh noise of protest, and flew to land on the ground.
Upon landing, the bird transformed with an alien grace into the tall, dark-haired silhouette of Darivel. He magicked a crystal into existence and stared into its depths with a satisfied smirk. He leaned against the scraggly little tree and watched the window of one of the taller towers on the castle as he waited.
Sure enough, within a few moments, a tawny colored barn owl took flight out of the window.
Darivel quickly stood and flung the crystal with all his might at the barn owl, backing the throw with his magic to make it's aim true and it's distance long.
The crystal hit the owl square in the chest just as the bird disappeared in a poof of glitter and light. "Goodbye, Jareth," Darivel smirked, then turned on his heel, and entered the doors into the Labyrinth.
Author's Note:
This story has been competing with "Three Sides" for room inside my skull, and I finally got sick of their fighting and I've now put them each into their separate corners, told them to be good, or else. For now, they're playing nice and I'm hoping to update each story in a timely manner. If you'd like updates faster/more often, please review, as they actually do encourage me to get my butt in gear since there are people waiting on me.
In the meantime, please check out my plush Jareth barn owl; there is a link in my profile.