Disclaimer: I don't own the labyrinth or any characters from it. This story came from the idea of a story i read about 16 years ago. It is out of print now and i hope you enjoy it with this little twist.
From across the lands and the seas,
Though awake or in a dream.
She answered the call,
The call of destiny.
"I come to you my love,
But—are you what you seem?
Are you flesh and blood, heart and soul,
Or only a distant dream?"
Call of Destiny
(Prologue)
Goblin Kingdom, Underground, 8420
"Oh, look, just look! You broke my favorite doll, you beast! She's all hurted, an' it's your fault. I hate you, Jare!"
Tears steamed down the little half elfin, half human girl's face as she picked up her beloved baby and cradled it to her bosom. The porcelain face that she was certain even cleaver Verma could not mend. Oh, poor, poor Fara! She'd been her favorite baby, for she'd come from the Elvin Kingdom across the forgotten desert and through the labyrinth to the Goblin Kingdom. Her mother, whom she had never seen, left it to her before she passed away aboveground. And now poor Fara's cheek was broked…
The boy, far more her senior, eyed her scornfully, his fists planted arrogantly on his hips.
"Pah!" He dismissed her grief with all the airy superiority of a soon to be young fae coming into adulthood. "You are but an infant and part human at that! What did you expect? There can be no war without casualties, foolish girl! Your stupid human doll—Fara is a hero, wounded by the rebellious Karin El-Aistrian while defending the life of the great Goblin King, Jareth! She will receive honor and rewards for her courage. Perhaps I will give her fifty—no, a hundred!—goblin and many of the finest horses in all the underground!" he boasted. "Here give that stupid doll to me!"
"No! You hurt her, Jare!" Ann accused, using the name she'd given the fae boy when they'd first met. She hadn't been able to pronounce his name properly then,'cos she'd still been just a baby, and so it had been "Jare" ever since. "Fara doesn't like you no more. An'she don't want no horr'ble goblins. She just wants a new—a new—f-face, so's she'll be-be p-pretty 'gain!"
Great hiccupping sobs sounded from behind the doll pressed close to her damp face, and the boy felt, for the first time, an uncomfortable pang of guilt to see his little friend so upset. It had been an accident, true, but the doll's sorry state had been his fault nonetheless. While acting out the part of his treacherous uncle, Karin El-Aistrian, he had dealt his porcelain "attacker" a mighty blow with one of his magic crystals…
"When my father is King of the Underground, he will send you a thousand such toys," he promised stiffly, hoping she'd dry her eyes. "And each one will be far grander than your ugly old Fara."
"Don't want t'ousand dollies," the little girl sniffed, rubbing her teary eyes on her doll's petticoats. "Want Fara's f-face pretty 'gain."
The boy looked cross. He was the son of the Goblin King, Garrin El-Aistria, and as heir to his father's province in the underground, accustomed to getting his own way. He scowled at her, his handsome mismatched blue and green eyes sulky beneath their fringing of dark lashes. His head was capped with unruly, long, platinum blonde hair. His fair skin, the heritage of his fae background, was just showing the suggestion of coming into adulthood. He impatiently tapped the ground with his booted foot.
"Oh for the love of…I do not know why I bother with you, unless it is to learn Elfish! It cannot be that I find your company pleasing, for you are such a crybaby!" he said scornfully, and added a string of insults in his native Goblin for good measure.
"And you're just a b-big b-bully, Jare!" she retorted.
"Bully? Hold your tongue! You will not speak to me in that way, girl!" he said arrogantly, for he was often his most arrogant when feeling most guilty! Besides, although fae women were allowed certain freedoms rare to other women in the underground, retaliating hotly with a show of temper and the calling of names when a man had spoken was not tolerated! "I had thought to take you for a venture through the labyrinth on Ashtar, but now I won't," he said punishingly. "You can stay here with the others and wait for your father to come. I hope he brings good news from the council or you might have to leave!" He rolled his mismatched eyes in a look that spoke volumes.
"Don't care!" Sarah Ann El-Fanil defied him, pouting. It was a lie, for she loved horses with a passion and a ride on Jare's glossy, spirited black colt was a rare treat indeed. "Don't want to ride your stupid ole horse anyway! It's ugly n' nasty—just like you! Go away you mean boy. I hate you!"
Tight-lipped at her cutting remarks about his beloved black colt, Jareth nodded. "Yes. It is only fitting you should stay home! My beautiful Ashtar would not wish to have such a baby as you ride him with me, for then we would have to go slowly—as befits a horse who carries a little girl. Alone, Ashtar will fly like the wind.
He spun on his heel and began to stride quickly away across the courtyard, past the splashing fountains and the flower garden towards the stables of the great Goblin Castle.
Little Ann, as she was know, trotted after him, half-tempted to beg his forgiveness, for she would have liked to ride the colt with him and it was worth telling a lie to do so. Ashtar liked her. He always nuzzled her cheek and then her pockets with his velvety nose and mouth, in search of sugar cubes she gave him! Still, her fierce little temper had not abated, nor her pride, which had been wounded by Jare's name-calling and glancing down at the doll's caved-in porcelain cheek, was a powerful reminder that the horrid boy was everything she'd said he was. Poor Fara was ugly now. She'd never, never ever by pretty again, an' it was all his fault. As she looked at the ruined doll cradled in her little arms, tears filled her dark brown eyes anew. With a burst of renewed fury, she picked up a small, withered peach that had fallen prematurely from the towering peach tree way above the stables, and hurled it after Jareth, pleased when it struck him squarely between the shoulder-blades just as he was about to enter the stables.
"Oww!" he cried, and spun to face her. "That hurt!"
"Good for you!" You're not my friend no more!" she crowed, and crossed her eyes and stuck out her small pink tongue as far as she could in a horrible grimace. "You—you goblin!" It was something he'd taught her himself to call people when he was upset with them.
"Pah! Go back to your nurse, Dark one!" he taunted back, knowing how she loathed him teasing her about her hair-coloring, which was rare to a fae. Most fae or elfin in the underground were light-headed and fair, but her hair was dark brownish auburn almost black that he secretly found fascinating and almost beautiful, though he'd never admit that to her. With his parting shot, he left.
Ann sighed. Her anger had vanished, replaced by the keen awareness that she'd have to spend the entire day—and possibly tomorrow too—alone, until Jare's temper cooled. And there was nothing much to do without Jareth to play with. She wandered when her father would be coming back from the important council meeting that he had departed on a few month's ago.
Of a sudden, Ann was afraid. All of Uncle Garrin's serving women were not trying to cheer her up with words of encouragement that her father would come back to the Goblin Castle. Ann had sensed that something was very wrong by the way everyone was behaving….
Still, she thought, brightening at the recollection, father said before he left that very soon they would be returning to their Kingdom and she would be getting a new mother and sister's to play with, and that was something to look forward to, she supposed. She sighed again. She did hope her father would return soon with more good news from the council.
"Well, whenever father returns, I will be happy and won't care what Jare does, right Fara, my dear?" she whispered to the doll, and skipped off to find her nurse, Verma.
"You have been a very true friend to me, Gareck El-Fanil. I will not forget all you have done for me and my sons these past few years." the Goblin King's voice thick with emotion.
"It was my pleasure, Garrin. You and those of your Kingdom have been gracious to me and my daughter, but the war is starting to get out of hand and the council has told me what I am to do now. I just hope that my daughter will understand for I don't. I will miss her and your graciousness to us old chap." The elfin's voice cracked, and he turned where he sat cross-legged upon a pile of cushions to busy himself pouring another tiny cupful of strong, thick black coffee for them both, a tactic designed to hide the emotion on his face. Gareck El-Fanil was elfin to the core, and unlike a lot of fae, the elfin did not display their feelings readily in public.
Nonetheless, his words were sincere, his dismay at the imminent departure of his daughter and himself away from his friends was genuine. He sighed. It was damned funny how life went! When the Council has asked him to journey to the Goblin Kingdom to get away from imminent danger he had been outraged, seeing the prolonged stay a hindrance to his kingdom.
But, the Council had explained delicately the High King could not afford to implicate itself to favor one region to another by taking sides, nor by giving sanctuary to him and his daughter—or at least not officially, it couldn't! It was a matter of diplomacy. Surely, Gareck could see that, and appreciate the peaceful, intelligent, and well-educated Garrin could keep him safe and keep diplomacy between the two regions without involving the High King or council. The Kros elfin fighting over the throne of the elfin kingdom would not dare to try and pressure the Goblin King into anything and wouldn't want his wrath upon them so it was considered a neutral area for Gareck and his daughter to stay.
Gareck had left his kingdom reluctantly, with his daughter, and would again leave the Goblin Kingdom reluctantly to return to the Elvin Kingdom, but first he would have to put his daughter into hiding. It would be doubtful that Garrin or Gareck, or Jareth and Ann would see each other again.
"And I will miss you and your most beautiful daughter, my friend," Garrin said warmly in answer to Gareck's comment. "But I am not for sure it is best that the Council is going to split a daughter from her only parent, and send her into hiding aboveground. She will not remember the underground or her origins. I truly feel for your soon to be loss my friend first your beloved and now both of your's only child. I hope to meet with you again and I will help you or her in anyway possible. I wish you all the best of luck, Gareck, my friend."
It was an hour later that Gareck found Ann seated in a corner of the sun-washed courtyard, her precious doll held firmly between her little knees. She seemed intent on mending a rather gruesome-looking crack that had caved in one side of the pretty, painted face by packing it with an oozy lump of gray clay. She looked up as he approached, and gave him a sweet, sunny smile that made her eyes shine almost golden, in contrast to her dark hair and the smears of clay daubing her rosy cheeks. She got up and ran to her father and hugged him with all her might.
"Hello, there, my dove," he greeted her, forcing himself to smile despite his anxiety for himself and his loving little girl. "How have you been doing this afternoon?"
"I'm very well, and I have missed you bunches," she said demurely accepting the kiss he planted upon her brow. "But my dear Fara is ind'sposed. I'm making her all better, just like a medicine healer. Look!"
"Hmmm. Poor old Fara," Gareck commiserated, taking Ann and her doll into his arms. He settled her comfortably on his knee as he sat upon the rim of one of the fountains, and carefully inspected her repairs. "Mmm. Looks good! I'd say you're doing a fine job of patching her up, my dove."
"It was Verma's idea. Jare says Fara's a hero now, 'cos he hurted her when we were playing battle, see? But he just said that to make me feel better," she said softly with a wisdom beyond her years. "He was sorry he hurted Fara, see?"
"I do believe you're right, Lady Ann! Jare's your friend, and I'm sure he felt very badly that Fara was—er—injured by him in battle," Gareck agreed solemnly, wondering how best to break the news to his little daughter. "But Ann, enough of Fara's injury for now, mmm? I have some news for you—two pieces of news, actually. Can you guess what?" She shook her head, wide-eyed. "Well, the first news is that the council is letting me go back to the kingdom to help with getting this war over.
Ann smiled at the thought of them being able to go back home to their own kingdom, but was a little saddened also.
"Well the council also decided that it might not be the best place for you to go back to. So, they would like me to send you on a type of visit to the aboveground.
"Can you and Jare come too?" she asked hopefully, voicing the question he'd dreaded.
"Well, no, I'm afraid not. You see, Jare and his father will have to stay here and govern over their kingdom, and I will have to see to ours."
A sudden squeezing sensation gripped Ann's little chest. Her lower lip trembled. "You mean, I must go away by myself and leave you and Jare and Uncle Garrin and Verma and everyone?" It was a thought too horrible to contemplate, for she had loved them all for half her lifetime.
"Well, yes, I'm afraid so. But it is for the best for everyone."
"But I don't want to go aboveground. I don't know anyone and I will miss everyone!" Ann cried, her eyes filling with tears. "I don't want to leave You and Jare an' Ashtar an' everyone! Why do I have to go, father, why, why?" she pleaded.
"Because it is for the best and you will be safe away from danger. I will be able to protect our kingdom better knowing you are safe from harm, and hopefully the war will end soon and you can come home back to me." Her father explained gently. "Come dry your eyes, my dove, and try very hard to be a grown up, and not be so emotional. You will make me worry about you being unhappy, won't you?
She jumped down from his lap, her tear-streaked face suddenly shining with a solution. "I know, father! You can go back to the kingdom and I can stay here with Jare and Uncle Garrin."
"I'm sorry, my dove, but the council has stated for me to do this," her father said with regret. "Do you know whose help I need the most with this?"
"Uh-huh?" She shook her head, making her dark hair sway engagingly.
"Yours! I need your help the most," her father said pleadingly "I want you to promise me that you will be happy no matter what happens, my dove."
"Is a pr'mise like when Jare says I must swear on the Goblin throne?" she demanded gravely.
"Why, something like that, yes!" her father agreed, hiding a smile.
"Then I swear on the Goblin throne that I will try to be happy no matter what happens", she said sternly.
"Good enough!" Gareck declared, standing up and taking her sticky little hand in his. "Now, let's go and see Uncle Garrin and say our goodbyes.
"Okay, now come along Fara, my dear, don't dawdle so!" the little girl told her doll, now tucked in the crook of her arm.
Hand in hand, she and her father left the sunlit courtyard, oblivious of the burning mismatched eyes—bright with unmanly tears—that watched their departure through a latticed window.
"You will come back, my little friend!" Jare muttered fiercely under his breath. "I, Jareth El-Aistrian, heir to the Goblin throne, swear that you will!"
Jareth had returned to the courtyard out of guilt, intending to offer his crushed little friend the treat he's promised before their quarrel, a ride on Ashtar, his colt, only to overhear the disturbing conversation between Ann and her father, Garreck. His anger at her was spent now, replaced by a sense of imminent loss.
If it is fate that we should be parted, then so be it," he muttered. "But someday, when you are grown, you will return to me, my little friend. Our destiny is written in the stars!"
Enchantress of Dreams: Hope you enjoyed the prologue to this story the other story i am writing Hearts vision will still continue as will this one. Thanx to my readers...