Here we are! I swore to myself I would post this before I left on Monday for California. Sorry if this is really boring, but I want to alternate between what Sarah is doing and what Jareth is doing, no matter how boring it becomes.
Jareth was standing around a table with four other kings; his allies on this side of the pass. His allies on the other side were already attacking the High Kingdom and awaiting them to catch up. They were quite a group: Elf, Giant, Imp and Centaur.
On the table was a crystal map of the entire Underground: every mountain, valley and kingdom done with perfect accuracy. Even the streams ran with crystal water. Small colored flags represented every five thousand soldiers; the colors represented which king they belonged to.
"I say we wait until we secure the pass," the Elf King said. "There isn't much we can do until we know where we stand." The Fae Elf King looked just as any king should. Strong, proud and powerful, he controlled is subjects with a strong hand. His long blonde hair was perfectly tame, braided and out of the way, unlike Jareth's hopeless mess. Anyone would have noticed the resemblance between Jareth and the Elf King. They were, in fact, brothers. However, since the Elf King was thousands of years older than Jareth and was already married by the time Jareth came along, the brothers held little in common besides their looks and their dislike of their parents, the High King and Queen.
"In that case, help me keep the Fairy King in my lands," the Imp King replied. He was a short creature with pointed ears, an emaciated-looking body and rather large feet.
"Why is he in your lands?" the Elf King asked.
"Um…we insulted his son?"
"Which one?" Jareth asked, bored.
"Winfield," the Imp King replied.
"WHAT?" The Giant King cried, shaking the room. "Winfield is the most skilled new general in the entire Underground!"
"How old is he?" the Elf King asked.
"Only a few centuries," Jareth said. Thinking of Winfield led him to thoughts of Charlotte which led him to thoughts of—stop it, he told himself. Don't get off track. You have a war to fight.
"Either way, the Fairy King and his two eldest sons are fighting with me and let's keep it that way. Wifey and the three younger sons won't stand a chance. Most likely they'll surrender, give up their claim to the pass and we are free to attack the High King," the Imp King said loudly.
"Anyone know what the Fairy Kingdom's weakness is?" the Giant King asked. "Could help."
Everybody in the room looked at Jareth. Jareth thought for a minute. "Nothing besides her children off the top of my head," he said.
"I heard Charlotte got herself a lady-in-waiting," the Imp King said.
"How did you hear that?" Centaur King asked.
"I have my sources," the Imp King replied cryptically.
"Who is she?" Jareth asked.
"Some blonde Fae named Clair," the Imp King shrugged.
"Clair?" Jareth asked. She had died, hadn't she?
"Yep. Quite a beauty, from what I've heard. Blonde hair, green eyes, perfect figure, but no one seems to know where she came from."
Jareth let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. It wasn't her. She'd had dark hair and blue eyes.
"Could Clair be her weakness?" the Centaur King asked.
"Nah, from what I gather, Clair seems like what Charlotte was to-"
Jareth gave the Imp king a nasty look before he could say the name; the name that had been taboo for thousands of years.
"Is there really nothing we can do as of now?" the Giant King asked.
"A week and a half from now my general will have taken over the Fairy Kingdom. Then we'll be so busy we won't have time to think. Enjoy the week off," Jareth replied, a little more harsh than he would have liked.
The Imp, Giant and Centaur kings nodded and vanished, smiling a little. The Elf King turned to Jareth.
"Jareth, a troubling rumor is flying through the underground," he said.
"What is it Miguel?" Jareth asked.
"They say you fell in love with the mortal girl who defeated the labyrinth," Miguel replied.
"What of it?" Jareth's heart was suddenly racing. Sarah. She was save in the human world, wasn't she? The only reason he wasn't obsessing over her right now was because they were in the middle of a war.
"In the hands of the enemy, this information could be very valuable. Think of everything she knows about your kingdom. She ran the labyrinth in 11 hours for goodness sake! What makes you think they won't go after her."
"She's in the human world. What makes you think they would be able to find her?"
"Can you show me who she is at least. I could at least send someone to keep an eye on her," Miguel said. Jareth knew that was true. Elves blended in well with humans. Not as well as Fae, but besides their pointed ears, smaller features and tiny feet, they could blend in quite well.
"Alright, here she is." Jareth produced a crystal with what was supposed to be an image of Sarah inside. Instead, white fog cloluded the crystal, making it impossible to see anything. Both men looked into the crystal, startled. Jareth tried to force the crystal to show him Sarah. Instead, the crystal shattered. Flaming letters appeared from out of the fog.
She is alive. She is Safe. Promise
Jareth and Miguel looked at each other, the equivilant of Oh shit written on their faces.
Tee hee. That was fun! Anyway, hope you enjoy it. If there's anything you really want to see happen, let me know in the comments! I would be more than happy to try and put it in.