Mara
Prologue
A/N - So for some reason I've really got back into Labyrinth and have been having quite a few story/drawing ideas. So here goes, this is my first Labyrinth fic and hopefully it isn't too horribly awful. If you think it's worth continuing then feel free to drop me a review, it will earn my undying love and gratitude.
It had been such a vivid dream, the kind that doesn't just burst with colours and sounds but inflames every sense and remains with you forever. Though for some reason after that night Sarah Williams could not remember having a dream so full of colour. When she really sat down to think about it she could not remember ever dreaming at all.
Jareth the thirty third, king of the goblins and guardian of the Labyrinth, who would forever go down in history as Jareth the Vain son of Jareth the Mad had spent the night among the stairs and arches of the castle's inner sanctum. It was a place where the membrane between his world and the next was at its thinnest and where the mortal realm could be easily watched. He had not left his spot in thirteen days, lying on his back on the cold stones; legs dangling over the dangerously long fall into… no one really knew what. He would glare at the crystal in his hand so intensely that he could have shattered it, then leap up onto his feet and throw the thing as hard as he could in frustration when the cloudy image inside the perfect sphere refused to become any clearer.
No power over her, indeed. He wasn't expecting that phrase to be taken so literally. He couldn't even see her, let alone travel to the above world. He would really miss that freedom he had taken for granted, humans were always so entertaining the the world above was just vast in comparison to his own sleepy kingdom. And he would miss watching her. It was as though he had been permanently locked out of her life. The Labyrinth's latest champion, the human girl, Sarah Williams was now out of bounds, and there was nothing Jareth hated more than being excluded.
On the morning of his thirteenth day of sulking he was rudely awoken from his uncomfortable spot on the flagstones by a ball of thread rolling down the nearby steps and hitting him squarely in the temple. He held back a groan; he knew what that iridescent string meant that moved of its own accord, fine as spider's silk and stronger than a steel girder. He reached for the glittering thread and followed it back to its source out of that cold and logic defying room and into more inhabited wing of the castle. Luckily he didn't have to walk far this time as previous encounters with following enchanted threads had led him all over the Labyrinth. This time he was half led have dragged along to the entrance of the throne room (temporarily cleared of goblins) where he saw the magic coil's owner. The king sighed, he had been wondering when she would choose to grace the castle with her presence.
The woman in question, sat on his throne knowing he could do nothing to stop her. She reclined lazily as she wound the strange thread between her fingers, winding it back into a perfect ball. She was ageless, youthful in appearance yet impossibly old by human standards, with a delicate and ephemeral beauty that masked an iron will. Like the thread in her hands her hair was long growing past her ankles and half way across the throne room and was so white it shone in the dawn sunlight. She bore a striking resemblance to her king in the way that she carried herself, and shared the sinful pride that only a noble can possess.
"Darling." She greeted him with a wry smile.
"Mother." Jareth replied, acknowledging the woman who had gained a reputation across the kingdom as Ariadne the Shrewd. She had not ventured inside the castle since his coronation ceremony, preferring to summon him to her mansion on the outer edge of the Labyrinth's wall which she did very rarely. As such they hadn't spoken in nearly a hundred years. "Shouldn't you be at the south gate, minding your own business?"
"Oh good, you know what I'm about to say. That'll save us some time." The dowager queen grinned and kicked off her pearl encrusted slipped and crossed her legs under the endless ivory fabric of her gown. "Perhaps you could have heeded my advice in the first place and saved me a trip. I came because you have been neglecting your duties as king; someone had to fill in for you. Now a little bird...well quite a large bird that had been made into a hat, told me that the Labyrinth has chosen a victor for you, but you let her go. I knew you were afraid of commitment my son, but that really was foolish of you."
"She was only a child, mother. What was I supposed to do?" Jareth growled, he knew it had been foolish and he was paying the price.
"She would have grown up eventually. You know as well as I do that only a Champion can marry a Goblin Royal, a Champion that is chosen by the Labyrinth and who is deemed worthy of our line."
"Well I'm sorry, mother, but don't you think it's a little insane to let a giant maze choose your spouse? From what I've seen, it's never made anyone in this family very happy."
"It's in the rules, Jareth. There's nothing we can do to change that. And frankly, you need all the help you can get." The older fae said, perhaps with a hint of sadness at his words, although he could never really tell with her. "I wouldn't worry too much if I were you; those who have journeyed here often find their way back eventually. And besides, she left these behind and she'll be wanting them back."
She held out an object that bore a slight resemblance to one of his crystals. It was larger and instead of the pure clarity one would expect it was awash with every colour, swirling and dancing. "Oh look! They're mostly about you. How very sweet." The queen chuckled tossing the glittering orb in his direction as though she had grown bored with it and stood up to leave.
"And Jareth, do get back to work. This place really is a mess." And before he could argue she was gone in an opalescent cloud of glitter and the silent flutter of wings.
To be continued...