Chapter 2
Jareth finally woke again mid-afternoon. Even now the room was that non-descript shade of nothingness that could herald anywhere from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon.
Almost a year ago.. And he could still remember it all as if it happened just yesterday… He shook his head and tried to put the nightmarish dreams behind him.
Groggily, he pushed back the bedcovers and furs and stood up.
He trudged over to the stand in the corner of the room where the owl was sleeping. Reaching up, he stroked its' back gently with two fingers. The owl gave a soft noise, and opened its large black eyes.
"Good morning, Olwyn," he said to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. She leaned into it, then flew up to his shoulder, head-butting him affectionately on the cheek.
He walked over to the large glass doors of his room and pushed them open. They led out onto a terrace, which overlooked the hedge maze and his private section of gardens. The day was warm and overcast, though neither really noticed. Olwyn hopped down his shoulder to sit near his wrist.
"We failed, again, last time," he said to her, stroking her back. "The woman did not believe in the truth of the book. She wouldn't make the wish."
She looked up at him with her large black eyes. She blinked, once.
"I'm afraid this is our last chance, love.." he whispered. Even in owl form, Olwyn could tell Jareth was much more worried than he was letting on. Though stuck in the shape of an owl, she was thankful that she had at least retained her consciousness, her intelligence.
Holding her out on his arm at chest height, Jareth looked at his feathered wife.
"There's one left. One last book, one last girl, one last baby." Liquid black eyes met his. "We have to secure this child."
Blink.
"No matter the means…"
Olwyn dipped her head slightly. She knew the importance. She'd been spending almost every waking moment that wasn't spent with Jareth watching this girl.
She believed. Olwyn knew she did.
Giving him one last head-butt, she launched herself from his wrist, wings beating furiously. Jareth watched her fly away into the cloudy sky.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Olwyn flew on, watching as the land beneath her changed from the stone and hedge maze she knew so well, to the dusty, weed-choked area beyond the gates of the Labyrinth; the Borderlands. She flew on, further and further, listening to the magic around her, waiting for that moment when she would cross.
It finally came, and she suddenly disappeared from the sky.
. . . . . . . . . . .
