Chapter Two.
By the time the pair had reached the camp the others were up and had continued in their pursuit of Acorn the Dwarf. Jareth knew that she couldn't keep wearing a torn t-shirt, and she was in need of refreshing anyway. Frankly, there were no showers and no sinks for which to brush teeth. Fae were not in need of such amenities, but she had not been living as a fae and her powers were barely awakened.
"Your shirt is torn," he pointed out. "Use your magic to change your clothes."
"Ok," was all she could say.
"Focus. Think about what you want and then allow yourself to have it." He was trying not to look at her when he spoke to her. He hadn't realized that her shirt was completely ripped open from bottom to top, and only hanging on together by a mere thread.
She looked over at Jareth, still not trying to look at her, and took a deep breath. If there was anything that she ever wanted, it was to dress like him. It marked her true personality. How she felt inside was the freedom and royalty that defined Jareth's attire. She imagined a more feminine version, to every detail, even the way she would smell as a fae, and then allowed her heart to be at peace with it.
She could hear the ether swirling around her like a mist. From head to toe it transformed her. She could smell the body odor transforming from raw human stink to the smell of frankincense and roses. Her hair was no longer oily and messy, but it was in a beautiful fishbone French braid from her scalp to down her back. Her shirt was not a torn piece of cotton, but a beautiful frilly peasant shirt, with a more modest scooped neckline than Jareth's, as to cover her assets modestly, and a corset vest that was her support instead of the brazier of the human world. She wore grey pants that came up over her hips and tucked underneath the corset. Her boots were black, but had more of a heel than his. Her gloves were grey instead of black, and she imitated the pendant he wore by creating a white cloth choker necklace with a miniature version of the pendant in the center of it.
Something different happened in her transformation that neither of them had expected. When she was finished with her transformation, and the acceptance of her fae nature, she realized that something extra, and heavy, was hanging off of her back. It was not a cape, but a set of enormous white wings. They were the shape of owl's wings, but they were massive. When she closed them, they dragged on the ground. She was already five foot and seven inches tall, and now she wore four inch heels adding to that height, putting her wingspan at over seven feet on one side.
Jareth was stunned at her appearance. He wanted to ask her why she chose his style of clothing but was too taken aback at her beauty and magnificence. She was already more beautiful than any other woman in the human world, and even could stand in comparison to other fae women, but now he was certain that she was more gorgeous than any other creature he had ever seen. He'd been around for over a thousand years, so he had seen a lot. When he saw her wings rising up out of her back, he nearly gasped. He took a half step backward and shifted his weight. Immediately he knew that she is the woman from the prophecy, the one who would break the curse and restore his kingdom and honor. Part of him didn't want the curse broken, he didn't have to trust anyone if he spent his life alone, but then…. At this point, did he really want to live alone? Was he really allowing her into his heart? Could he trust her? She never was the type to belie her character, but she wasn't exactly trusting either. Could she ever trust him?
Liz was standing there in awe of the work that she had done, but feeling as though she wasn't quite ready to learn to fly, and having had enough of the day, she made them dissolve into her back as a fluid motion. She walked over to Jareth and touched a hand to his shoulder.
"Thanks. I think I need a nap, though. This morning was a bit trying." She then created her bedding next to the fire pit and laid down on it.
"I quite agree," Jareth replied, and followed her to the spot on the ground next to her.
Still feeling a bit of regret for the morning's lessons, he laid next to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "for everything."
"I know. I forgive you." She genuinely did, but she had to know… "What happened the night of my attack?"
"I wanted to see you. I planned to be a human man for you to meet. Perhaps tell you the truth with time and a relationship. As I was approaching your apartment, I heard a woman screaming for help in the alley. I rushed to her aid. When I saw her, I gave chase to the vile creature that thrust himself on her. I transformed him into a beast and cast him into the Bog of Eternal Stench. Sir Diddymus keeps guard over him there. When I returned to give the woman aid, I saw that it was you." He dug his face into her shoulder. "I thought I had lost any chance of love I once sought. It crushed me. From that day forward, I have watched over you and swore to protect you."
She listened to the story with tears in her eyes. She thought his voice had sounded familiar and soothing, but hadn't connected the dots. He was the man who stayed by her side and nursed her back to health. No wonder she had connected so quickly with him, and no wonder he rushed to prevent the bandits from doing their work.
"Did you know that I called your name?" She paused a moment to allow him to answer.
"Yes, I came whenever you would call," he said.
"I didn't believe that it would work, but at night, when I was still healing, I would call your name. It was the only thing that ever gave me comfort. I could drift away into a fantasy land and that man couldn't hurt me anymore." She snuggled back into his chest as she spoke to him, and fell fast asleep.
He'd known that she'd called for him. Even when she wasn't sure in what she believed, she relied on him. He was sure that she never noticed he was actually there, but by the way that their whatever-it-was kind of relationship was rapidly evolving, he knew that conversations would have to be had. He knew that he cared for her, but he didn't really know why. The why is important when a fae's heart is on the line, or any heart for that matter.
Virginia, Tony, and Wolf continued to try to navigate the Disenchanted Forest. Wolf led them by only his sense of smell. They wandered around the entirety of the day seeking the dwarf and the magic mirror. Winding through the woods they barely spoke to one another until it began to get dark.
"We can't walk around all night," Ginny said.
"Oh yes we can. There's an evil murderer on the loose, remember?", said wolf.
"Sh!" Virginia heard something. It sounded like horses.
The party snuck up to a row of bushes and peered through them. Up ahead they found a gypsy camp. They were dancing around the fire and in relative comfort.
"What are supposed to do?", asked Virginia.
"Why join us of course!" The male voice came from behind them somewhere. When they turned to look, there was a hunting party surrounding them with knives and crossbows. They had no choice but to join the group and hope for the best.
In the camp they ate their hedgehog, danced with them, and sang songs with them. The elder woman of the gypsies read the trio's tarot cards and predicted their futures. She needed a clipping from Ginny's hair to read her fortunes, which wolf was wary about, but didn't try to argue with either of the two women. The night passed relatively peacefully.
That is until they departed early in the morning. Once all of the gypsies were asleep, Wolf woke Ginny and Tony and motioned them to leave silently. Virginia couldn't help herself from freeing some magical birds that were caged by the gypsies at the camp. The sound of banging against the caravan of the elder woman from the cage door of the bird kept there, opening caused the gypsies to stir and follow in pursuit of them. Oddly enough, though, the old woman called the hunting party off and they returned to the camp.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the trio of travelers, the gypsy elder had cursed Virginia's hair, and it began to grow to unprecedented lengths as they traveled through the forest seeking shelter from the storm and the night. They had to find some place to stop, or Ginny would get tangled in the trees with no way to free her enormously long hair from the ensnarement.
As they searched for shelter, they stumbled upon an old run-down cottage tucked away in a small clearing in the forest. Virginia and Wolf immediately recognized it as Snow White's cottage. They drug the golden dog and Virginia's hair inside and lit a fire.
"You know, we really shouldn't have a fire, there is someone following us." Wolf tried to warn Virginia against drying her hair by the fire, but she was stubborn.
"I don't care, I am not going to bed with wet hair," she said while holding a lock of hair in the direction of the heat and flame.
Wolf and Virginia stayed up for a long while talking about the kingdoms, Wolf's life, and Virginia's hurt, which she kept constantly denying. Wolf wondered secretly if she knew where her mother was. He knew, but did she know? He wondered if she would ever allow people into her heart and heal from the abandonment she faced from her mother.
Virginia kept her feelings buried deep. She didn't want anyone to know how alone and afraid she was all the time. She figured that if she didn't let people in, then she wouldn't have to deal with the pain of them leaving her. She didn't tell anyone that her mother leaving made her feel unwanted. She had hoped that she could bury it beneath a facade of bravery and hard heartedness. To Wolf, it shone through like a diamond in the sunlight, and that aggravated her.
They fell asleep talking to one another, face to face. Virginia, ever defensive and in denial of her growing feelings for Wolf, and Wolf swooning at all of the sights, sounds, and smells of Virginia. There were no dreams, there were only thoughts, one for the other, of emotions and circumstances. Wolf thought, "I could convince her to stay with me here in this world, and we could raise a family with cute little wolf cubs running around everywhere. Ooooooh! Huff puff! If only I could persuade her to stay!"
Virginia thought, "No. NO! I am NOT in love with him. I mean, even if I was in love with him, which I'm not, I wouldn't be able to stay here in this world with him. I have a job, not the best job, but a job. And I'm going to open a restaurant someday. If he came with me, he would eat all the food and scare away my guests! He couldn't stay with me, and long-distance relationships never work. No. It would never work anyway. Right?"
Their thoughts faded into the blackness of sleep and once there, they didn't wake until morning.
Liz slept the rest of the day and all through the night. Neither one of them realized the extent of her fatigue. When they woke, it took Liz by surprise that her breath didn't smell and her teeth were already clean. "One of the many awesome features of being a fae," she thought. Jareth was lying on the ground propped up on one arm looking at her. His features serene, and his body perfectly still. His expression was almost one of sheer happiness. His mouth wore no smile, but his eyes seemed to emulate a smile that she could not explain. She rolled over to look back at him.
She touched her hand to his chest, but this time, it was his turn to remove his glove. He was resolved to confess his feelings for her, the good, the bad, and the mischievous, but she had put her finger over his lips. He wanted to feel her skin against his in an innocent way. The simple touch of her fingertips first on his chest, then the palm of her hand made his heart jump. That's what he needed to feel. Its what he needed to know.
He didn't speak. He took it all in. What was happening to them? Was she in love with him? Could she ever be? Until a few weeks ago, her crush was based on the fact that he wasn't real. Would she feel the same or even dare to dive a little deeper now that he was real and she was fae? He knew that they couldn't stay in limbo forever, soon they would need to discuss where they were with each other.
"Get ready, we have training to do."
With that, the both of them removed themselves from the ground and set to work. Jareth tested her magical abilities as well as her combat. He was ruthless, but careful not to provoke her pain.
When Virginia and Wolf woke up, Ginny's hair was growing up the staircase that led upstairs where Tony was sleeping.
"Oh, my God" ,she shrieked!
"What, what?" Wolf woke to a start with his primary concern for the woman whose voice let out the shriek.
"Its growing up the stairs!"
"Don't panic," was all that Wolf could muster out.
Together the three of them quickly gathered as many cutting tools as they could find. They headed outside to attempt to cut the growing tangled trusses from her head, but to no avail. Try as they might, none of the utensils would cut the cursed locks. Just as they were about to give up hope, and Virginia let out an over-dramatic exclamation, a little bird landed on a branch just above her head.
"Because you helped us, we will help you." The bird began to tell them of a woodsman with a magic axe that cuts anything that it hits. When she had told all she could to the fumbling trio, she flew quickly again.
Without hesitation, the group got up and marched on their way to find the magic axe. Traveling for hours, they searched the Disenchanted Forest for the woodsman, but then Wolf caught a whiff of something. They had forgotten all about their mysterious hunter in pursuit of Virginia and their deaths. He was gaining on them now. They had no time to lose, and with Virginia's hair so long and unkempt, there was no way to out run him.
Wolf devised a plan to bury Virginia, Tony, and the golden dog, while he ran in circles to throw him off their trail. Rather efficiently, he was able to both dig and hide them beneath the leaves of the forest floor. Then he ran off to start his circles, but little did he know that as soon as he'd finished, the queen's huntsman had already arrived.
The huntsman walked around the forest clearing looking for signs of the group carefully. Every step was intentional and slowed so as not to make a sound. He barely crinkled a dried leaf. He could find no sign of them, and as he turned to a new direction, he heard a noise, a sneeze. Without doubt, he turned around, and Virginia knew that she and Tony had to get out of there as quickly as possible. But there was one fault with their plan.
Virginia couldn't run as fast with her arms full of her hair, so she dropped it and ran for her life. Unfortunately, that was just the edge on them that the huntsman needed. He quickly caught up to the ends of her hair and stepped down - hard. The force jerked Virginia backward and on the ground, and Tony, though upset, knew that he couldn't go back for her. Who would save her from the huntsman if Wolf didn't know where they were and Tony was dead?
He carried her to his tree house hidden deep in the forest with a magically concealed door. She was terrified and just knew that she was going to die. She tried to lie to the huntsman, but no matter how hard she tried, he saw through her every defense. Fortunately for her, though, the huntsman received a message from a little bell on the wall that had him conducting business elsewhere. She was relieved just enough for her thoughts to become coherently chaotic. "Why couldn't I have been more like Liz", she thought. "I'm really regretting not going with her to self defense classes."
As she sat there, she wished for Wolf and her father. She hoped help would come before the huntsman came back to take her life as he had promised. It wasn't long before the little bird that helped them before returned to her. Virginia sent a message with the little bird to her father and Wolf to find her. Off the bird went.
Tony and Wolf set out to find Ginny and as they went they stumbled across a man chopping wood.
"You haven't happened to see a woodsman with a magic axe around here, by any chance?" Tony asked in his usual desperate tone.
"I haven't seen anything. I'm blind," the woodsman replied.
Tony was surprised that he could chop anything without sight. The woodsman replied asking if Tony had ever seen a tree move to make his point. They didn't waste time. Tony asked if that was the magic axe, to which the woodsman replied in the affirmative.
"May we borrow it?" Tony tried to get to the point. He was in a hurry and wanted to save his daughter before the huntsman killed her.
"Oh, you may have my magic axe, if you can guess my name," the woodsman replied.
The stipulations were clear. If Tony guessed right before the woodsman finished chopping his pile of wood, then they got the axe. If he guessed wrong by the time the woodsman was finished, the woodsman got Wolf's head. In both desperation and a moment of what Tony thought was brilliance, they accepted.
When the little bird arrived to find Wolf and Tony, she saw that they not only had found the woodsman, but they were nearly out of chances at getting the axe. Tony was a really bad guesser at the woodsman's name. The woodsman would have Wolf's head before he ever guessed it correctly. She knew she had to help again. She quickly whispered the name that was in the hat next to the woodsman into Tony's ear. By the time she had told him, the woodsman was finished with the last log to chop.
"Just a minute," Tony shouted and paused for emphasis, "Juliet!"
Wolf gasped in joy and excitement. He was so relieved that the birds had helped again. The two of them left the clearing and headed in the direction the bird had shown them. They weren't too keen on solving the riddle that she had originally met them with.
When they arrived at the tree they called to Virginia and she informed them of the door, but they couldn't find it. Wolf ignored Tony's asinine remark to simply cut the tree down. He had a better idea. Wolf shouted up to Virginia.
"Virginia? How long is your hair now?"
"Ugh! Its longer than ever! Its…. No. NO! NOOOOOO!"
"I've always wanted to say this!" He said it turning to Tony, who had a look of disgust on his face. "Love of my life, let down your lustrous locks!"
Before long wolf had climbed the hair rope, causing Virginia an unimaginable amount of head and scalp pain. Once he made it inside he freed her and they were on their way to find the mirror again, and to cut the cursed hair off of her head.
They were interrupted by the huntsman before they could exit the house-tree. During the scuffle, the huntsman ended up falling onto one of his own bear traps. It had clamped tight around his knee and he had passed out. Wolf told Virginia to kill him, but she couldn't stoop to that level. So, the three of them went on their way leaving the huntsman as he was in his house-tree, alive. They wandered to another clearing just on the outskirts of the Disenchanted Forest and decided to camp there for the night.
Training was tough. Liz kept getting a sinking feeling in her gut that something was wrong with Ginny. She was distracted to say the least. She could tell by the look on Jareth's face that he was not happy with her distraction.
"Stop, please. I need a break," she said.
"Where is your head, Elizabeth?"
"I'm sorry. I am trying to push past it and not let it bother me, but I kept feeling like something is wrong with Ginny."
"I see." He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her as he normally did when teaching her a new ability. "When you want to summon a spyglass, you do this."
He took her arm and made it move in a fluid circular motion creating a ripple in the air like the one the portal from the traveling mirror made. Then he made her hand reach forward and told her to say Ginny's name.
They saw the whole ordeal through the spyglass with the huntsman and the magical axe. They even witnessed Wolf cut her hair so short that she looked almost boyish. She was grateful that Wolf's aim wasn't any worse than it was. Seeing that she had been in trouble, but is now fine, they continued their work. It was another long day of training, and it didn't get any easier now that she was free from distractions.
Jareth's plan was to continue to intensify her training until she could stand up to him full power and toe-to-toe. He knew that she still needed to believe in herself. He knew that when the time was right, she would do what needed to be done and not hesitate, but he still wanted to push her as far as he could to prepare her for that moment.
As the day came to a close, they prepared camp in the usual manner. They made their fire, supper, and bed, and laid down. It was always with Liz on the bedding roll and Jareth on the ground. She didn't understand why he always was on the ground and not some kind of blanket at the very least, but then she presumed that it was because of his decency and respect for her that he did it. For a long time, despite how exhausted they were, they just looked up at the stars together, except, this time, Jareth wasn't holding onto her. He was lost in his own thoughts with his arms crossed behind his head on his back.
At some point I will have to tell her my intentions, and my feelings for her, Jareth thought. I can't keep up this charade forever. She wants to take it slow, but time is short. He decided that soon, perhaps even tomorrow, he would make a move that would change the pace of their growing relationship.
Brody wandered the woods in search of a trace of the fae man and his precious woman. He almost didn't see the old woman standing there staring at him and his crew while he examined a footprint to see if it was theirs.
"Whatta you wont?" Brody wasn't in the mood for games.
"Oh, nothing," she replied, "just thought you could use some help lookin' for that fae and his little female companion."
"Whatta ya know about them? Imma kill em, just so you know!"
"I was planning on it. I can help you. I have a potion that steals the life from a fae, if you want it, that is."
The offer was too good to refuse, but Brody was just smart enough to ask the right questions when it comes to magical people and doing their bidding.
"Whatta ya wont from me? I got gold."
She chuckled, "Keep your gold, boy, I need more than that from you."
He looked at her a bit confused, but followed her to her little hidden cabin, anyway.
"I need you. You're going to kill Jareth for me with this," she hands him the potion, "and if you fail, you serve me for all eternity, but if you succeed, you're free. Sound like a deal?"
"Fair enough," he said, "but I got two questions for ya. A. What about me boys? An' B. What's tha catch?"
"No catch," she said, "fair is fair. As for your boys, if they help, then the deal extends to them as well."
"Sounds fair enough, you got yourself a deal."
Jareth laid next to Liz deep in thought. He was contemplating how he was to tell her his feelings. Even if he wasn't sure if what he felt was love or lust, she deserved to know the truth. She deserves to know how attractive she is and how much of a desire for her he has.
"Jareth?"
Her voice pulled him out of his reverie. "Yes?" He replied without breaking his gaze upon the sky.
"Is something wrong? You seem like you're far away and somewhere else right now."
"Tomorrow there will be no training. We are going for a stroll. I would like to show you something." He still did not look at her completely but flicked a glance at her from the corner of his eye.
"Okay," was her only reply.
They had still been looking up at the stars when she spoke. The moon was big and bright. It shone a silvery light over everything it looked upon. She wasn't looking at the stars any longer. She was looking at him. Her own thoughts were racing through her mind.
Unlike other people and those romance stories she'd occasioned to read, there was no animosity that bloomed from an unwanted attraction into one of the strongest loves of all time. There wasn't a slow and steady growth of love that was cultured or realized over time. No, between them was this awkward and unspoken thing without a name that was hidden away and dormant until now. Now that it was exposed, now that it was real, it was growing and growing fast. There was never any denial of the sexual tension between them, but with them both modest creatures, and filled with ether, which she had other theories on that topic to explore later, there was no acting on the temptations at all. Their nearness was expected, but she still fooled herself into thinking that she was merely a friend and they were taking it slow. She had believed that he was real as a young girl, formed a young girl's crush, then put him away as a young woman, now grown, but remained that in her dreams, where he was only real at night, she would maintain that crush. It was never a real love, or so she thought, but now that she is overwhelmed by the senses she once put away and thought as childish, she is beginning to doubt its falsehood.
There was one thing about this moment, however. If she were to be completely honest with herself in this moment, she would have to say that no friend feels the way she feels about this man, but she was determined not to be broken. After all, there were many men in her life that never took her seriously, and she wasn't about to be a Fae's fool, even if she was fae herself. Then again, there was something in his eyes, something that said that he was trustworthy. Even though he was full of mischief, which she absolutely adored….. Her thoughts broke off. She adored something about him. Could it be that she adored him? Was he really worth the risk? Never before had Jareth wooed a woman just to use her for something. She had to realize this. Even though he was full of mischief, she adored him because he was honest about who he was. "Tomorrow, I am letting go of my past pain and giving into my feelings for him. I can't live trapped forever. I might get hurt, and I might not, but I'm not going to wait around forever hoping that I won't. Tomorrow, I start the path to finding out," she thought with determination.
Jareth was interrupted by her question, which he promptly answered, but then continued to allow his thoughts to run wild like a herd of horses. The more he thought, the more that realization dawned on him. Yes, he had been sexually attracted to the beautiful specimen that now lies next to him under the moonlit sky.
As he watched the trees dance back and forth blocking his view of the stars and moon, he thought about what it would be like to dance with her. He knew it went so much deeper than lust. He had watched her as a child. Then, it was only intrigue, someone to watch to pass the time. He had sensed the connection to the Ether within her, but Tony never entered her room for him to see who her father was. This would have been a dead giveaway, even if he was now fat and old.
He watched as she grew into a woman and as she held onto her fantasies when no one else was looking. She justified often the pretending that she would do at the age of 20 years old when she thought no one would see her. She still called his name and professed the cruelty of Sarah against him. He listened as Liz also called her a foolish girl to be giving up such a prospect of a man. She vowed to always love him, but he broke inside a little when she also said that it wasn't real and it would never happen.
Since those days, and the fateful day that Virginia found her and their father in the park and came to the kingdoms, he had grown more and more attracted to her. He thought it was her fae beauty at first, but none of the fae ladies had ever sparked his attention before. Then he tried to reason it on her being a woman alone with him and his manly temptations, but he found himself thinking more of her as a personality and a queen for his kingdom than just a bed fellow.
Queen. He thought of it again. He wanted her to be queen. Isn't it why he was contemplating testing their love in the Labyrinth? One false move, or a love that isn't strong enough and they both die. If she didn't love him, she could die; and the thought of her death was too much to bear. Yes, he realized that he loved her. "Tomorrow," he thought, "is settled. I will tell her how much I love her."
Soon, they both fell into a deep sleep that took them into dreams of love and laughter with one another. Yes, even the Goblin King slept that night. Neither of them realized how connected they were. They dreamt the same dream and hadn't a clue. They dreamt a dream of dancing, laughing, and kissing one another. To be there and watch them sleeping is to see them lying on the ground, Liz on her pallet and Jareth a few feet away on the cold hard ground, with arcs of Ether flying all around. A unifying process of the heart and mind had begun that even the great Jareth hadn't learned of, but someone else was watching too. He sent scouts back to the old woman to get tips on how to beat them with this new development. So, he decided to wait until his scout returned, and when he did, he would strike.
Come morning light, the two sleeping fae stirred from the ground and cleared their campsite. Jareth turned toward Liz and took her by the hand. It was a knowing look in her eye that told him that no words were needed. She didn't know where he was taking her, but from their conversation last night, she knew that this "walk", wherever it was, was going to be both important and changing.
Without a sound or a word, they were instantly transported to a grand ballroom. He didn't want to show her everything, but he knew that she had been dreaming of dancing with him, as he had been dreaming of the same with her.
"This is your castle isn't it?" She asked with dreamy eyes turned up towards him. The excitement in her voice nearly broke it.
"Yes." He took a minute to take in her facial expressions as she wondered at the gorgeously decorated room. It was draped in beautiful purple drapes and vibrant tapestries hung on the wall. The floors were a white marble with purple veins and purple tiles of almost a negative to the rest of the flooring. From the ceiling hung five chandeliers. Four of them were smaller and hung towards the corners of the immensely high ceiling of the room, while the center one, which was the largest, hung lower and threatened to consume the space in which it hung. It was contrary to his personality, but he had created it just for her. Originally the room was used for the goblins to have a place to run amok and not break things, but now that he was hoping to have a Queen at his side, he'd wanted to create a place that she could entertain guests and be happy. At long last, he turned her around and held out his right hand to her with his left behind his back. "May I have this dance, Elizabeth?"
"Yes," she replied, as her voice became even more shaky. She tried to hide the emotions stirring deep inside. Just the way that he had said her name was enough to make her want to swoon, but she knew she couldn't, not in front of him. She immediately recognized that with all of the blacks and browns, he probably wouldn't have ever chosen these colors and grandeur for himself. No, he had created this room's splendor in her favorite colors. That means it was decorated just for her. How could she refuse him? She wouldn't have anyway, but how could she refuse, even if she had wanted to?
Liz gave him her hand. He took her by the waist and placed her right hand on his left shoulder. Together they swooped around the dance floor with only his voice as the music. It wasn't until she began to sing with him, after some time of dancing, that he was completely succumb to the emotions within himself. If he wasn't resolved to love her before, he was certainly ready to do so now. No voice like that should have ever been hidden. He wondered how she managed to keep him from ever hearing her sing.
She could tell by the look on his face that he was in shock. He was grinning ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat and had picked up the pace of dancing ever so slightly. She immediately blushed and nearly pulled away from him. She was so embarrassed. She hid her face in his shoulder. Jareth stopped dancing and looked at her with interest.
"Why did you stop?"
"I've never sung in front of people before, I didn't think it sounded good, but I was having so much fun that I couldn't help myself," she said.
"Never stop singing," he said. "It was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. You may well rival me in music." His voice was somber and soft. He hoped that she heard his sincerity that came from the bottom of his heart.
She did. She looked up at him with knowing eyes and smiled. She could feel tears of joy begin to prickle at her eyes, but she blinked them back.
"How ever did you manage to hide such a talent from me?"
She laughed a little and said, "I don't know. I guess since I sing in the shower all the time…," her voice trailed off and she blushed again.
That explains a lot. He would never deign to impugn a woman's honor by intruding on her bathing practices. When he would see her enter the bathroom, he would leave and come back an hour or two later. That always gave her time to dress and ready herself for bed.
The two stood there looking at each other. They were so close that their chests nearly were touching. She was holding onto him by the shoulders and he had both of his hands now on her waist, but he raised one of them to touch her face. Slowly he began to lower his mouth to her lips, but as he did, one of the goblins came tumbling into the ballroom claiming that he had important news.
Insufferable creatures he thought, exasperated. If I get my hands on him…. He didn't finish the thought. He just stood there glaring at the little stumpy goblin with the oversized helmet and little brown shoes in front of him.
"Uuuuuuuuh, Your Highness, …" said the goblin.
Jareth said nothing. He intensified his gaze upon the creature. When it saw reason and left the room, Jareth wasted no time. He quickly grabbed Liz into a tight hold and whisked them away to the kingdoms they had previously been in. Now back at the campsite, they might have some privacy.
For a minute this was true, but then it was over.
"Well, well, well," said Brody, "Look who's finally returned. It's the little lady and her magical body guard!"
He leaned over to the men and whispered to them, "You know what to do. Don't let them fight side by side. Keep 'em separated."
They nodded in affirmation and leapt upon the two with vigor and rage. One of the largest, wielding a heavy hammer, ran right for Jareth and Liz and jumped over the camp fire. In defense they rolled forward to the ground and away from each other. Brody's eyes lit up with delight, it was a success!
It wasn't just Brody's revenge he was fighting for, but it was all he could think about. The theft of his magical bow and the girl that got away from him aggravated him for sure. But it was the fae that was standing next to her, and her obvious lover of some sort, that set his heart on vengeance and his eyes seeing red. He lunged forward with his eyes only on one man. The fae.
He raced toward Jareth with ferocity and power. He was confident that if he could only scratch him somewhere, then he had the fight. Jareth moved around him with fluidity and ease. He barely had to break a sweat. It was hard not to keep the proud smirk from his lips as he fought, and the more he smirked at Brody, the more angrily Brody fought.
"Jareth, Be careful! Their blades are poisoned with some kind of fae poison!"
They both turned to look over at where the shout came from. Jareth heeded the warning with careful intention, but when he looked back at Brody, it was he who was smiling the largest.
Brody knew for sure that he had them now. He fought harder, prouder, and more virulently against the Fae. He wouldn't lose to this man a second time. He was more alert than ever. With his men out numbering the woman and with all of his focus on Jareth, it wouldn't be long before they had the fight won and the both of them dead.
Their blades clashed and clanged with the sound of battle. Swing after swing and blow by blow they met blade for blade. Not once could Brody land a blow to Jareth's skin. Suddenly he looked around and noticed that the brute of a man with the hammer was unconscious on the ground and the three other men that followed him into battle were missing, with their swords in the fire.
Jareth took advantage of the distraction and landed a punch directly to his face. That knocked him down to the ground and left him dazed but not unconscious. Brody listened carefully to the conversation while he gained his wits about himself.
"They had some kind of poison. I was scratched, but I was able to push out the poison and heal the cut. I'll be ok."
"Where did you send the men?" Jareth asked.
She laughed a little, "The Bog." She paused a moment and said, "You can do with them what you want, but the new guard dog you placed there has them under lock and key with Ludo and Sir Didymus."
Jareth smiled at her, and gave her a look of satisfaction. Then, in one swift movement, he took Liz by the arm and thrust her behind him. It was almost too late. He had seen Brody get up from the ground and run towards them, sword in hand. Brody had the sword in a backwards grip and he lunged forward. Jareth looked down in shock and Liz shouted Jareth's name.
Jareth was determined to best that spineless twit for good this time, though he knew that Liz would be disappointed if he'd killed him. He thought that he could at least have some fun in the meantime.
He danced around the bandit with ease and grace, moving like liquid gossamer around his opponent. It was almost too easy. He had to stop himself from outright smiling with pleasure. It gave him great satisfaction to be defending the woman he loves from the same bandit that tried to steal her honor, especially since he couldn't stop her first attacker from doing the same.
He heard the warning about the poison escape Liz's lips and he acknowledged with sincerity. If it was the poison that he thought it was, it would steal the life from a fae in a matter of hours. He would have to be careful, there could be no mistakes. His smirk left and his focus sharpened.
Round and round they went, battling for what seemed like ages, but then the bandit made a mistake. He looked over at the fight next to them and realized there were no opponents. That was when Jareth made his move. He reached back and punched the bandit in his face as hard as he could without killing him. It was just enough to knock him back onto the ground into a dazed stupor.
Liz had done well, although she had given him some headaches in the Bog of Eternal Stench to deal with later. He was impressed, though, that she was able to make such quick decisions with mercy and grace in the heat of battle. He thought for a minute that she would make a great queen. That's when he saw the bandit get up, and just in the nick of time he was able to shove Liz behind himself.
"Ugh!" He exclaimed at the pain of the sword.
She was outnumbered four to one. It should have counted more like six to one because the brute was like fighting three extra men. On instinct, she sent a shock wave in the brute's direction and he went flying into the tree nearest him. He hit his head and it knocked him out cold.
The remaining three men fought with fear and trembling as she easily maneuvered her way in and out of the flailing of swords. One of them caught her arm. She winced at the pain of the cut and immediately felt a little light headed. She used her abilities to push all of the poison out of the cut before it soaked into her blood stream and healed the wound in mid combat.
She shouted a warning out to Jareth before she parried the next attack. One, two, then three, she disarmed all of the men and threw their weapons into the fire.
"I won't kill you, it's not my style, but I can't say the same for him when he gets his hands on you." She said it as she summoned a crystal ball into her hand.
She threw the ball down at their feet and they were instantly transmitted to the Bog of Eternal Stench. She looked around the scene for a minute surveying the damage and the fight. It was time to rest. She needed to catch her breath.
She hadn't seen how, but Jareth had knocked out the bandit leader and she walked over to him to tell him more about the poison and how she had banished the bandits to the Bog. Jareth was looking at her with a gleam in his eyes, when suddenly, he took her by the arm and jerked her behind him. She looked up from around his shoulder to see the bandit leader thrusting towards them with his sword. Jareth was too late.
The sword went completely through Jareth and partially into her. When the bandit withdrew his weapon, Jareth crumpled to the ground in a heap.
"Jareth!" Liz screamed as she looked up at the bandit. "NOOOOOOOO!"
Brody backed away from the couple slowly with fear and trembling in his whole body. He dropped his poisoned sword and stumbled to the ground. At the sound of her scream, the ground shook and the sky rumbled. There was a hot burning fire in her eyes that threatened to consume him from ten feet away. For the first time in his life, he regretted what he had done and who he had messed with.
