Here we go, another chapter and it's longer than the last one. Just a quick thank you out to my readers and especially to my reviewers yodeladyhoo, FireShifter, ScarlethasPheonixpower, sweetbabby33, notwritten and spunkypumpkin. Oh, and I've broken my own rule, I've used a flash back in this chapter (I hate using them, I think it breaks up a storyline too much) but I couldn't have it said out loud and I need people to understand certain things without trying going into a long exposition speech. Flashback is written in bold italics.
Chapter Six: Trade
Sarah was surprised to find that she had reached the cave by mid afternoon of her fourth day, travelling by night had certainly helped her to move a little faster. Her only thought had been reaching Toby and now that she was at the entrance of the cave, she was not sure if she wanted to call the great creature outside, or go in and meet it. She drew a deep, bracing breath and stepped into the cave, gasping as the cool air raced over her too hot skin. With a glance back at the harsh sunlight that shone through the opening of the cave, she made her way through the short tunnel to the dragons lair and stopped, surveying the glittering gold and jewels in the strange orange light. She did not know why the dragon wanted another gem, but she had done as she was asked and now she was only concerned with getting Toby out and back to his home.
She took a step further in and heard a hiss from the pool, the dragon's head rested on the edge, unnoticed amongst the overwhelming wealth around it. It's golden eyes were slits and they glowed in the half light. Immediately she saw the threat and she halted, trying not to tremble under the unwavering gaze.
"Little thief," it seemed to whisper the words and all at once she thought she could hear admiration and disgust in its tone. "Have you brought that which you owe me?"
"Let me see my brother," she demanded instead, amazed when she was able to say it without shaking, her head held high and her eyes hard. The dragon laughed and nodded to an empty space on one side of the room. Something, or someone was huddled there and she moved to go to them.
"The jewel..."
"Once I know he's alive." She snapped, not really bothering to remember that this was not the wisest thing to do. Skidding over the piles of coins she made her way to her brother. He stared at the wall, his eyes blank, sweat on his forehead. "Toby?" She whispered, setting a hand on his shoulder. The boy did not move and she allowed herself a moment of worry until she saw his chest moving up and down. She looked him over, not able to see any blood and for a moment she dared to hope that the dragon had not mistreated him too much, despite the fact that he was as dehydrated as her, and that he had lost weight. Then her eyes fell on his leg, and the odd angle that it was at. "You broke his leg," she whispered and heard the coins rustle as the dragon came closer, water dripping from its scales and plinking softly on the gold.
"He tried to escape," she could almost have seen it shrug. "My payment." Sarah kept her eyes on Toby as she rooted through her bag, trying to figure out how she was going to get the sick boy out of the cave. She looked at the opening opposite the one through which she had entered and the dragon seemed to follow her gaze, then it's jaw dropped in a grin and she shuddered. "That path is not open to you, Little Thief, you will have to find another way home. Perhaps the Goblin King will assist you." It laughed at the tears that came to her eyes and turned it's hard gaze to her, jaw snapping shut and the laughter stopping abruptly. "The jewel," it hissed and Sarah knew that she had run out of time, she could no longer prevent the inevitable and reluctantly she reached back into her bag and pulled out the beautiful jewel, still wrapped in the cloth that it had once rested on in the tiny chest. The dragon reached out a clawed foot and took the jewel from her, greed in it's eyes. Sarah did not move, did not take her eyes off it as it moved away, taking the jewel and placing it inside a skull near the Tintagel entrance to the cave, the skull which had once held the coins between it's teeth, now the jewel rested in the eye socket, next to another, an emerald that had been placed there since her last visit and she could not miss the symbolism behind it.
"What do you have against Jareth?" She asked and the dragon spared her another glance, this time it seemed condescending and she drew back, her leg touching her brother's prone form and the boy moaned in pain and fear. Her attention was drawn back to him and she did not see the dragon shake it's head and disappear back into the pool. Sarah knew that she had to move him, she needed to get Toby out of the cave and to a place where she could care for him and plan her next move. Going back to Jareth was out of the question, she doubted that he would give her the chance to explain before he killed her, she did not expect him to be forgiving. With a grunt she lifted Toby in her arms, no mean feat in her condition and for a woman who was several inches shorter than the burden she now willingly bore, then she staggered across the piles of jewel and coins, nearly losing her balance and her brother on a number of occasions before she exited the cave and lay Toby gently in the sand as she took the opportunity to look him over in the light of day.
"Give it back, Sarah," she looked up.
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Jareth flew frantically, silent wings seemed to claw at the chill night air as he searched below him, eyes skimming over the rapidly moving ground as he tried to spot Sarah, knowing that he had to find her before she reached the dragon's cave. He pushed himself harder than he had believed was possible, cursing his human weakness as the dying land leached him of yet more magic, feeling his desperation grow as he worried more and more that he would not reach her. Sarah had been gone for three days, but who knew what time she had left the night she had stolen the jewel and he knew from experience that if she was determined enough she could already be there. It was his worst fear because he knew that where Sarah was concerned, a race against time made her push harder than she should be able to withstand.
By the time he had reached the cave the sun was high in the sky and the desert below him shimmered in the heat, even as his sensitive ears caught the sound of the nearby sea, and more than once he had swooped, thinking that he had seen the dark haired woman who had betrayed him. She was in front of the cave, kneeling beside something in the sand and she did not look up from whatever it was that was sprawled in front of her. He stepped away from the approaching seawater, not wanting to risk the same fate as had met his mother, and looked at the thing in the sand. It was Toby, he realised, the boy looked half dead and he had to force himself to squash the pity the sight before him evoked, replacing it with his anger, taking a step closer to Sarah.
"Give it back, Sarah," he saw her flinch at the sound of his voice with a measure of satisfaction as she turned wide, exhausted, eyes up to look at him.
"Give what back, Jareth?" She asked with feigned innocence, her voice as weary as her eyes, her hands not leaving Toby until Jareth pulled her to her feet with more force than was really necessary.
"You know what!" His control began to slip and he could feel his anger burning in his eyes as he glared at her, finding more pleasure in the fear he saw in her eyes than he had thought was possible. She looked up at him and knew that the time for pretence and protested innocence was over.
"I don't have it," she said quickly and pulled herself away, afraid that he would hurt her, and looking away so that he could not see her guilt. Jareth knew that he did not have to ask what she had done with it, he knew where it was and he was in no condition to fight a dragon after his frantic flight to the cave, with his magic so diminished and even if he had a sword nearby, he doubted that his exhausted muscles could lift it, let alone use it.
"Go in there and get it back!" He snapped, careful not to shout and alert the dragon to the debate. For a blessed moment, she looked like she wanted to obey him, she had even pulled her bag off her shoulder and set it at her feet before her eyes fell on her brother.
At the sound of Jareth's order, Sarah's first instinct was to obey him, she wanted to obey him with all of her heart if it meant that he would forgive her and ease the guilt that was threatening to eat her alive. She slipped the bag from her shoulder and set it at her feet, better able to move silently without it. Then her eyes fell on her brother, what if she was caught? What if the dragon killed her? Who would make sure that Toby got better?
"No," his head whipped round and he stared at her, as though he could hardly believe what she was saying. "No, Toby gets better, or I don't get the jewel."
"You are in no position to be making demands, Sarah!"
"Then go and get it yourself! Because until I know that Toby is going to be ok, I'm not going anywhere near that cave!" She crossed her arms over her chest and stared defiantly up at him. "Good luck with finding it on your own, there's hundreds of blue jewels in there," her mind drifted back to the skull with the blue jewel and the green and she felt doubt crawl up into her heart. She squashed it. "I'm the only one who knows exactly where it put it. I'm the only one who can guarantee that she can find the right one." Jareth looked at her, his mismatched eyes hard and if looks could kill, Sarah knew that she would be a tiny smear on the landscape. She lifted her chin, drawing on the same pool of defiance she used when dealing with the dragon.
Jareth could quite cheerfully have wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed the life out of her, but deep down, he knew that she was right. The dragon's hoard would be huge, for it want such a prize as Thetis' jewel, and he did not have a hope of finding it without discovery. Once again he cursed his almost human weakness and for just a second he contemplated pushing Sarah into the cave by force. Then Toby moaned and Jareth felt something wet at his ankles. He looked down and saw with horror that the tide was coming in and he had been caught in it. Memories of the way that his mother had died flooded his mind.
The tall, beautiful woman stood by the sea, at the gateway to the mortal realms, the gateway to the home of Arthur, now empty and at once revered and feared, the place where food was brought to them as an offering of the mortals who were so afraid of them. Her hair was platinum blonde, plastered to her skull in the driving rain, her sodden dress, once pale blue but now dark with the volume of water it held, flapped wetly about her ankles in the gale around her. Jareth, a mere one hundred and fifty years old, stood at the top of the beach, shrouded in a dark cloak, the hood pulled up over his own hair as he watched his mother await the goddess and her wrath, because, once again, they had failed to bring her that which she was entitled, the stone which was hers to claim. His mother's bravery in the face of the water which could as easily kill them as give life to the dying land around them, stunned Jareth as he looked on, watching as the goddess walked from the water with unmatchable grace. In the dark light of the day he was unsure about the colour of her dress, water running freely down her body as she approached the Goblin Queen, guardian of the throne and wife of the now deceased King Hithes.
"Queen Illen," Thetis voice was cold and clearly audible, even over the screaming wind as she stood unmoving in the shallows, unaffected by the driving rain.
"Goddess," Illen bowed her head and Jareth felt a twinge in his gut, the flash of premonition as the water of the sea began to lap at his mother's boots. She did not move, did not acknowledge the danger that the water posed her as she paid her respects to the eternal being who held the entire future of the Goblin Kingdom in her hand. Thetis narrowed her eyes and stared at the Queen.
"You do not have it." It was not a question, the statement did not need an answer. "Why, then have you come here?"
"To show my respect for you and to beg you to give this realm a chance at survival." Thetis did not look impressed.
"You know that answer to that, Illen, until you return to me that which is mine, water will be your enemy, and now, your death." Illen finally noticed the water that was now swilling about her ankles, able to see the tiny sea nymphs in the water, feeling them grab at her dress and begin to pull, dragging her under and into the deep waters of the ocean, never to be seen again.
Just the thought of the way that his mother had died made Jareth move a little further up the beach, away from the water as Sarah struggled to lift her brother from the freezing water. The boy cried out as she jogged his broken leg and Jareth was shocked to see the angle it hung at. He carefully stepped back into the water and took the boy from Sarah, the muscles in his arms and back screaming at the sudden additional weight. The look Sarah shot him was at once shocked and completely grateful. He ignored her, convincing himself that he had not done this for her and that his actions were purely for the benefit of the boy.
Yet now he had taken the boy into his arms, Toby suddenly became his responsibility. He could feel all of the boy's pain and fear and it worried him. In fact, it worried him enough to convince him to acquiesce to Sarah's request that she go after the stone once Toby was in a better condition, his worry over the child he would have once named his heir overriding, for that moment, his fears for his kingdom. Still, he decided to test her resolve as he hurried from the water that was gradually getting deeper, not noticing that she saw the action or that she had frowned in confusion over his apparent fear of water.
"Retrieve the jewel, Sarah." He ordered and was not surprised to look over his shoulder and see a scowl.
"Not until Toby is better, Goblin King!" She snapped and looked at the water that was making it's way into the mouth of the cave. "Besides, the tide would cut me off from you." He nodded, not smiling, not wanting to talk to her and chose to look down on the innocent child in his arms, he could not allow him to continue suffering because Sarah had made a bad decision, Toby had been a gift into his dark and lonely world, the child who had brought Sarah to his attention, not that he would hold that against him, the boy who would have been his heir, an unfortunate heir to a dead realm. He would not let him suffer, even though he doubted the consequences of this course of action would be any better than his last decision where the Williams family were concerned.
"Very well," he hissed the reply through clenched teeth and he saw Sarah's face again light up in gratitude before he marched away with the child still in his aching arms, the throbbing pain beating in time with the pain in his heart, all of the things he wanted to say to her, the words he wanted to scream to the heavens, all held in check by the vulnerable body in his arms.
The next four days would be hard on all three.
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They travelled all of the first day and well into the night, it was nearly dawn by the time they stopped in an abandoned farmhouse. Jareth had laid Toby gently on the only bed, smoothing the boys blonde hair from his forehead and looking down at him fondly before going to the other side of the room and settling himself in the corner. He closed his eyes, almost daring Sarah to comment. His back and shoulders were on fire, his mouth and throat dry and his eyes burnt from lack of sleep. This would make his fourth sleepless night and all he wanted to do was rest. At the same time, that meant trusting that Sarah would not try to take her brother and run, though he could not see the point in her doing that. She needed his help to make Toby well and return home, she would not get far before she realised this and came running back. He hated this, this human weakness, the fear of pushing himself too far when only a couple of decades ago he had been able to do anything he had wanted with his magic. This was the way it had been for his father in the last years of his life, the stress of trying to keep the kingdom alive as his magic began to fail him had taken its toll. Now it was to be Jareth's turn, and if he did not find a way to get the jewel back, he might not last the next hundred years. He let himself drift into sleep as he thought, let Sarah tend to her brother and when he woke again, it was night.
The second and third day followed the same pattern, with the trio travelling at night and during the early morning, able to make better time in the cool air, resting when the sun was high and the heat was almost debilitating in its extreme. Jareth continued to carry Toby in his arms, careful of the splint on his newly set leg and he was grateful that the boy slept most of the time, remembering his screams as they had set the bone with gritted teeth, and when Toby was awake, his eyes were clouded with fear and pain, dull and listless.
"Sarah," the child called for his sister and Jareth's gentle eyes went flinty at the mere thought of the woman who had betrayed him. She hurried forward, her eyes exhausted as she looked down at her brother, taking one of his hands in hers, her own hand brushing against Jareth as she did so and she sent a worried look at the Goblin King. His only reaction was a look of cold revulsion and she had to force herself to shake off the hurt at his reaction to her, because she knew that he had every right to think of her in that way, it was how she saw herself. For three days and nights Jareth had not spoken to her, responding to her attempts at conversation by looking away from her, ignoring her, he barely acknowledged her existence and that frightened her more than the idea of his flying into a rage, screaming at her and threatening her because she could understand that. This silent anger, simmering just beneath the surface, visible in the set of his shoulders, his rage boiling behind his mismatched eyes, still captivating even with the bitterness that had taken root there. His anger seemed to have given him the strength to carry Toby, refusing both her help and her offer of water with contempt and distaste. After her fifth attempt she had stopped offering.
"Sarah, where are we?" Toby drew her attention back to the present and she looked over to the rising sun, the great orange orb appearing slowly from behind the walls of the Labyrinth, the city and castle in the centre silhouetted against it. At any other time she would have called it beautiful. Now it was a reminder of the course of action she had chosen to take.
"We're in the Underground, in the Goblin Kingdom."
"Where the Labyrinth is?" He asked, blue eyes clouded with doubt now and Sarah looked up at Jareth as they continued to move closer to the Labyrinth. If he was surprised that Toby knew of his lands, he did not show it.
"Yes," she looked away again
"I thought it was just a story," he tried to sound sceptical and only succeeded in causing a coughing fit.
"I think the fact that the Goblin King is carrying you should convince you."He gave her a weak smile before turning to look up at Jareth.
The King kept his gaze forward, not wanting the boy to see his anger and hostility towards Sarah. It was not his fault that Sarah had made a mistake, not the boys fault that she had forced his hand into helping him. He struggled to gain control of his rage and only when he was satisfied that it did not show did he look back at Toby, allowing him to study the face of the one who would have once been his king.
"You look like I imagined you to, Sarah described you really well," there was a measure of awe in his voice and it sent a thrill of happiness through Jareth, the idea that a child could sense the power he had once held. He looked up again and Toby fell silent, seeming to sense the chill atmosphere that had nothing to do with the cold air around them and for the first time since he had been rescued, he wondered what Sarah had had to do to get the jewel.
Silence reigned as they continued to walk, Jareth could feel the now familiar burn in his shoulders and arms and he welcomed it. Thinking about the pain gave him something else to think on other than the fact that Thetis would arrive in eight days and he was still no closer to finding a solution to his problem. Sarah had placed him between a rock and a hard place, she knew where the stone was, if she played her cards right, she could be in and out within a few moments, he would have to hunt for the jewel, he was in no position to deal with the dragon. He forced his thoughts back to the pain in his arms, feeling it migrate from his shoulders and down his back as the gates to the Labyrinth came into view.
"Finally," he breathed, his first words in three days and saw Sarah shudder as the gate opened and he lead the way through, turning right, then left and immediately left again. A straight path opened in front of them and after only an hour, they were at the gate to the castle where Ilyi awaited them, seeing everything and taking charge of the situation.
Toby was taken from Jareth's numb arms and rushed away by several goblins, Sarah was escorted to the chambers that had been hers only a few days before and Jareth was lead to his own by his healer, her pale hands touching his face and shoulders, examining him as they walked, her concern hidden by a mask of indifference.
"The boy..." she cut him off.
"Will be attended to as soon as I have seen to you and to Miss Williams." She flicked a strand of auburn hair from her face.
"I only need to rest, and Sarah can also wait until her brother has been dealt with. He is her first concern and his speedy recovery seems to be our only hope." The exhaustion and humanity in his face made Ilyi take a step away, this was the first time he had really opened up to her, it frightened her a little and she hastened to obey his orders, curtseying as she left to tend to the mortal boy, one whom she had no doubt was once again the unwitting cause of the friction between her king and Sarah.
So I'm posting this quickly before I go to work, which is a little dangerous in itself but what the hey. R&R, I know this isn't the confrontation, it didn't seem like the place and this sort of flowed out of my fingers at an alarming speed. By the time I realised that Jareth hadn't said or done anything really angry, they were back at the castle. On the plaus side, I now have more ammo against Sarah when she finally does find out about the curse, I'm having way too much fun! Next chapter will be by this time next week, until then, I look forward to your reviews.
Artemis
