"Ow!" Sarah cried, jumping back in shock. She quickly ducked behind the well as a few more stones came whizzing by.
"You you you!" a high-pitched voice called out. "Get away from well!"
Sarah narrowed her eyes. This had better be the right well, because it seemed like she was going to have to go through a lot of trouble to get the stupid water. She grabbed a nearby, conveniently placed stone and left the shelter of the rock long enough to hurl it in the general direction the other stones had come from.
"Owwwie!" came the shrill cry. Sarah smirked; apparently she had better aim than her foes even when she couldn't see them. That was more like the goblins she had encountered during her first trip here!
Sarah picked up another stone and dodged out again, only to see two well-armed goblins rushing towards her, brandishing pikes. Not bothering to take aim, she tossed the stone at them and retreated behind the well. Great, now they were charging her - weapon, she needed a weapon...
Her gaze raked upward, and she forcefully yanked the bucket from its rope. The goblins were rounding the side of the well where she was hiding, and she hurriedly stood. Lashing out at them with the bucket, she disarmed one and the rest of her swing knocked off the helmet of the other. Dodging their jabs aimed at her, she retreated a few steps and lashed out again. With less impressive results this time, she nevertheless stopped their advance and gained some breathing room.
The two goblins stared at her, and one of them turned to the other and began issuing incomprehensible orders. Sarah took the opportunity to pick up the fallen pike and hurl it towards the helmet-less goblin. Although her throw was badly aimed and didn't have much strength behind it, it caught the goblin by surprise, who shrieked and threw down his own pike to clutch at his head. The other goblin gave one glance at her, another at his companion, and decided discretion was the better part of valor. It fled, with the first goblin not far behind.
Sarah sighed, and tried not to reflect on the irony of beating up on two goblins in order to help a third. But they seemed mean, and her goblin seemed like a victim. She picked up the bucket from where she had dropped it, and fumbled with the rope a bit until she had tied it back on. She lowered the bucket down into the well until she heard it splash, and then carefully drew it back up. The bucket was about half-way full, so she untied it again and set off back down the street.
Gideon was still hovering where she had left it, over the body of the goblin. Sarah ran the last few steps, sloshing some of the contents of her bucket over the side. She bent down to the goblin, whose eyes were closed. It almost appeared to have stopped breathing. Praying silently, Sarah cupped a bit of the water in one hand and awkwardly attempted to get some down the goblin's throat. It went all over its mail at first, but a few tries later, she actually managed to get some down the goblin's throat.
The results were immediate and startling. The goblin's eyes flew open and it sat up right away. Sarah jumped up and took a few steps back, eying the creature warily.
The goblin was beaming at her. "Talie is - thanks for yer help, milady."
Sarah gaped a bit at the goblin's assumption of her title, but she was more curious about the effects of the water. "That was... amazing. The water was magical?"
The goblin nodded and stood up. "Yes, milady. Talie owe ye now." She managed to curtsy gracefully in her goblin armaments.
Sarah merely nodded back, surprised that there would be female goblins. But of course there would be, stupid, she told herself, how else did you think they reproduced? "The water cures everything, just like that?" she said aloud.
Talie nodded, still smiling. "It work fer ye too, milady," she said, motioning towards Sarah's scratched face.
Hardly daring to hope it would be so easy, Sarah took a drink from the bucket for herself. The change was instant - her scratches healed, the pain in her arm went away, her body seemed to feel less cold, and even her feet felt less sore. "That's amazing!" she exclaimed. "Who enchanted it to be like that?"
"His Majesty supplies it fer goblins. Was his idea and everything, or so Talie hear." Talie gave Sarah a wry grin, which was impressive from her low vantage point. "Goblins hurt theirselves all the time."
Sarah was too busy trying to assimilate the idea that Jareth cared that much about his goblins to reply. Eventually, Talie sighed and stared at the ground. "Talie go now, milady, others not know where Talie at."
"Wait!" cried Sarah, as the goblin turned around. "Can you at least..." she trailed off, feeling silly for what she was about to ask, but the goblin was looking at her expectantly. "At least confirm that that is Jareth's castle?" she finished, and pointed towards the castle nearby.
Talie frowned, her wrinkles standing out from her forehead even more. "'Course it be His Majesty's castle, milady, but it no place for the likes of yerself.
"Unless..." The goblin trailed off, giving Sarah a wide-eyed stare. "Milady is the one what has solved the Labyrinth, ain't ye?" She backed away from Sarah in awe. "Talie hear all about milady, how amazing ye be and-"
Sarah cut her off, embarrassed in the extreme. "Right, yes, I am here for the second time, but not by any choice of my own. Anyway, I guess I have to get to that castle, assuming that rule hasn't changed."
Talie lowered her eyes to the ground. "Milady, Talie owe ye. Can Talie come with ye? Please?"
"Come with me?" asked Sarah, frowning. She was only going up the road to the castle.
"It such honor, milady, big honor. Talie hear so much about ye! And can help, really-"
"OK, OK," said Sarah hurriedly, more to prevent having to hear her own praises sung than anything else. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know how much time I have left, would you?"
Talie shook her head.
Sarah shrugged. "Well, that's only to be expected. I'm sure I've wasted too much time already... let's get going."
Sarah brushed herself off and set off up the street with Gideon and Talie in tow, who still sounded like she was mumbling Sarah's praises in the background. Soon the cold wind which had been blowing about them intensified, and Sarah drew the black robes around her body more tightly. She had felt better after drinking the water, but now was growing colder by the minute. She hoped they'd reach the castle soon.
Jareth had been contemplating the crystal tracking Sarah's movements - he wasn't sure exactly what to think about her unexpected compassion for Talie - when he was interrupted by the arrival of Drake, who was no more welcome this time than he had been the last.
"What do you want now?" was Jareth's unfriendly greeting.
"Jareth, your Labyrinth is now attacking your neighboring lands. You absolutely cannot ignore this problem anymore," Drake replied in what he hoped was a reasonable, convincing tone of voice.
"I know it is," Jareth replied, irritated. Must Drake always speak to him like he was a child? Just because he was the damned Ruler of the bloody Underground didn't make him some amazing expert on everything. "I've spoken to it," he ground out between his teeth, "and I have everything under control."
Drake just stared at him, his mien all too serious. Jareth held his gaze stonily. "Jareth, there are some who have died," stressed Drake.
Jareth's expression grew even stonier. "A few animals and creatures that were stupid enough to get close to the old man. I can't be responsible for-"
Drake cut him off, even though he knew from long experience that Jareth despised being interrupted. "You're responsible for this entire mess, Jareth! I don't care how badly you want to ruin your own kingdom, but I cannot allow you to put your neighbors into danger - you know they have no defense against the fierce magic of the Labyrinth..."
Jareth's lips thinned. "I told you, Drake. Everything is under control."
"But it's not," insisted Drake. "I just spoke to the girl, she is extremely vulnerable in this situation. Her very life may be at stake and you sit in here, playing at being a King-"
"Playing?" repeated Jareth in a dangerous tone of voice. "I am not playing here. I know lives are at stake, and if you think I do not care for the creatures of my kingdom, you're wrong. And I am entitled take umbrage at your accusations of the situation being beyond my control. I know what I'm doing," he added fiercely.
Drake sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "But, Jareth, you don't really seem to care. Why can't you just send the girl home and be done with this whole mess?"
"Because I don't need to!" exploded Jareth. "Why are you always questioning me? For the last time, I-"
But suddenly he broke off, alerted to a major shift in the magical currents of the Labyrinth. A shift centered on - oh no -
Jareth leapt up and grabbed his crystal. There was Sarah, talking with the goblin that had foolishly elected to join her, and she had... healed herself? With water from the Labyrinth's well? "Oh fates above, she did not," he breathed, forgetting his anger at the other man for the moment.
Drake raised an eyebrow. "You have everything under control, do you?"
Jareth looked back up at him and nodded tightly. "I've got to go," he said, and disappeared without waiting for formal dismissal. It was beyond all acceptable protocol, but Jareth was way past caring about that. Drake sighed, hoping against hope that Sarah would be all right, and vanished in his turn to help the neighbors control the ever-expanding boundaries of the Labyrinth.
"Sarah." Jareth's voice reached her before his body did, and Sarah nearly jumped out of her skin. What was with that man and his abrupt arrivals and departures?
He materialized in front of her, and continued to speak to her. "Follow me. This way, immediately." To her astonishment, he grabbed her hand firmly and started off in the opposite direction from which she had been heading - away from the castle.
Bewildered, Sarah had to trot to keep pace with him. "What on earth-!" she protested, her mind still spinning from his sudden appearance.
"There's no time to explain. Hurry," he replied shortly.
Caught off guard, she took his advice by default and matched his stride. The last time she'd seen him, he had apologized to her - and then been angry that she had accepted the apology so gracelessly. Given those circumstances, she couldn't fathom why he would suddenly come to her again, and on such a seemingly urgent errand. And wasn't he supposed to be dealing with the encroaching boundaries of the Labyrinth, like Ludo - Drake - had mentioned?
It took them but minutes to reach their destination, a bare field covered with dead grass and some stones on the edge of the city. Jareth checked his pace so abruptly that Sarah lost her balance and would have fallen but for his grip on her hand. Sarah turned to him and was about to demand an explanation, but was stopped by the look of intense concentration on his face. He looked very strained all of a sudden, his skin pale and taut over his cheekbones.
Sarah stayed silent even as she felt something shift in the air around her. But when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, her companion Gideon fall onto the ground and lay there like a regular inanimate book, she whirled on Jareth. "What have you done?" she asked, appalled.
He ignored her, lifting his free hand to massage at his temple as though he were suffering from a massive headache. Suddenly aware that she was holding Jareth's hand, her face flamed as she quickly yanked her hand free. She took a few steps away from him and stood there stiffly, feeling extremely uncomfortable and out of place. She cast a glance at Talie looking for a distraction, but the goblin was sitting down with her head between her knees, looking miserable herself. Sarah wrote her discomfort off just as being in the presence of the King.
At long last, Jareth deigned to look at Sarah. "Did you learn nothing from the last time you tried to ingest something here?" he asked, his voice too tightly controlled to be mocking.
Her mouth fell open in surprise and she looked around wildly for any signs of a ballroom. Seeing none, she cast her thoughts back to what she had eaten here... or rather, had drank. "But the water healed me!"
"Sarah," he said with the voice of one whose patience is about to give out, "Ingesting something gives it power over you. Even if the original intent was to heal, that may not be enough to save you from present malignant intent."
She blinked a few times, trying to find something in his words to be angry over. After a few seconds, finding nothing but shame for being so naive, she dropped her eyes to the ground. "What are you going to do with me now?" she asked quietly, hoping it would be as relatively painless as last time.
"Do with you?" asked Jareth, sounding surprised. "Nothing. It is not I you have to fear, but the Labyrinth. It is... slightly upset at your presence here."
"Oh!" Sarah blurted. "Ludo said it was out of your control and attacking your neighbors!"
Jareth quirked an eyebrow at the way she referred to the Ruler of the Underground, an amused gesture lacking his usual malice. "Ludo?" It was accompanied by what was almost a friendly chuckle.
There was a pause, in which Sarah wished the ground would swallow her - anything to get away from that smirk of his.
"His name is Drake, Sarah, and the fact that both he and the Labyrinth seem rather fond of you won't prevent them from trying to do their jobs. In the Labyrinth's case, it is to send you home, back to where it thinks you belong. Instead of-"
"So you did lure me here against the rules," breathed Sarah, chancing to glance at his face again. His eyes flashed anger at her, and she took another step away from him in rediscovered fear.
However, he seemed to be able to control his anger swiftly this time. All he said in reply was a bland, almost bored observation: "You have the most annoying habit of interrupting me."
Sarah mumbled an apology. She did keep doing that a lot, and it was perhaps not the wisest thing to do since it antagonized him so. She chanced a glance at him - his eyes were narrowed and he seemed disinclined to continue their conversation himself. Casting her mind around to find something to say to break the ensuing uncomfortable silence, she finally settled on a question she figured he would know the answer to.
"So, um," she said, clearing her throat. She could tell he didn't shift to look at her, but she continued anyway. "How is it Ludo - Drake - whatever - can read my mind? I mean, you can't." And then hastily added, "Can you?"
"Of course not," he said in a clipped tone. "Drake is exceptionally skilled at it, even for our kind, and his position enhanced his powers considerably. Over the years, I've learned to block him out," here his tone became slightly more sardonic, "but a mortal like you would need substantial aid to achieve the same results."
Sarah bit down on her lip hard to keep from answering. To know Jareth couldn't read her mind was a comfort, and it wasn't as though she was afraid of what Ludo might find inside her head, but still! Could he possibly manage to be any more insulting?
Sarah fumed silently, and after a few moments of silence, Jareth spoke again. "As you are most likely wondering what we're doing here, I suppose I should explain."
"That would be nice," muttered Sarah sarcastically, still smarting over his insult to her mortality. It wasn't like it was something she could help, or something to be ashamed of. The man was just impossible!
Jareth chose to ignore her and continued. "You gave the Labyrinth a large degree of control of your body when you ingested its water, and without me to guide it, I am not sure that the results would have acceptable. It may have simply settled for sending you home, and though that journey would be less than pleasant, it is among the least painful of the possible eventualities."
Sarah eyed him askance, unsure what to think. If he really was fighting with his own Labyrinth, he was probably just trying to see that she wasn't sent home against his will. Sarah couldn't really credit the theory that the Labyrinth would harm her, despite the death of Merlin and the warnings of Ludo. There had to be a simpler explanation for all of this - like that Jareth was just still out to get her. Yeah, that had to be it...
"In order to prevent it from taking action, I took you to this clearing, from which all magic has been removed."
Sarah gasped - that was the last explanation she had been expecting. "That's why Gideon collapsed!"
Jareth nodded. "And that is why Talie and I are ill at ease here. We are not entirely creatures of magic, but magic is part of our being."
Sarah frowned. He presented more of an enigma to her with every sentence he uttered - insulting one minute, practically solicitous the next. And she realized with a start that the last thing she had expected was for him to know the name of one of his goblins. Sarah began to feel that she just may be in over her head, after all. "Why couldn't you just put me in a non-magical section without risking my friends, too? Or yourself," she added belatedly, wondering why he would put himself through such discomfort on her account.
Jareth looked at her silently, his face unreadable. Eventually he replied, in a different, softer tone. "If you were by yourself in a section of the land without magic, you would never escape. The Labyrinth, being satisfied that you were gone, would not seek you, and for my part, I would not be able to reverse the process."
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Not escape? Can't I just, well, walk back into the magic section?"
Jareth smiled, an inadvertently handsome smile which made her heart flutter involuntarily. It almost made him look friendly. "Try it," he suggested.
Sarah looked at him uncertainly, her instincts telling her not to trust him despite the openness of his expression. She glanced at Talie again, who was still hunched on the ground, and then shrugged. What did she have to lose? She turned back in the direction they came, heading towards the Goblin City, and only made it a few feet before her leg banged into solid air. She took a step back automatically, but twisted her ankle and fell heavily, skinning the elbow she flung out to support herself. She found herself slumped against an invisible barrier.
Her breath hitching, she stared at the thin air, trying to detect any sort of difference, but with no success. Slowly, by leaning on the solid air and ignoring her throbbing ankle - and how did she manage to injure herself again just minutes after healing? - she got to her feet and faced Jareth again, her head hanging. "I see," she said quietly, too embarrassed to ask any questions.
"The absence of magic has erected a powerful barrier here," Jareth explained without her prompting. "That is the nature of the Labyrinth - a gateway between the Underground and other magic-less worlds. Soon it will condescend to notice us, as is its function, and we will be able to travel back to the city. Which it would not do were you here alone."
Trying to conceal her limp, Sarah took a few steps to where he was standing. Although she still didn't meet his gaze, she spoke to him. "How long do we have to wait? I mean, hours, weeks, months?"
"Mere minutes, I suspect. It can't ignore me for very long," he said, with more confidence than he felt. He had acted on the spur of the moment, not seeing any other options if he wanted to keep Sarah in one piece. Much as he was loath to admit it, the Labyrinth was perhaps becoming a bit unruly. Happily for him, he was saved too much contemplation on that topic by another question coming from Sarah.
"What is your relationship with the Labyrinth anyway?" she asked, half suspiciously, half curiously. The King acted like it was a separate entity with a will of its own, which didn't make much sense in Sarah's mind, but even if it was, Jareth was its King, wasn't he? What was he doing fighting with it?
"I am the King of the Goblins, Sarah, not the King of the Labyrinth. It is its own being, and I do not control it, but it allows me and my goblins to live here and act as caretakers. The Labyrinth is a wild thing, ancient and untamed... in consequence, it is a harsh place and few who have the choice elect to remain here." For a moment, Sarah thought she detected a hint of wistfulness - perhaps loneliness - in his tone, but she looked at his face and saw only a cold demeanor lacking expression.
He continued speaking, and his tone became mocking, and a bit cruel. "Such as do remain are not worth much." He looked directly at Sarah, and caught by surprise, she met his gaze. He tossed his head arrogantly, but adopted a more relaxed posture - almost smug - before uttering his next sentence. "For instance, your precious collection of 'friends' here."
Sarah's mouth fell open, but before she could reply, Talie spoke up for the first time in the King's presence. "Milady did not ask for Talie, Talie ask to join milady," she said, and Sarah glanced at her to see her still on the ground, but looking up at Jareth now. "Majesty is angry at Talie?"
Jareth, in truth, had made the comment more to provoke Sarah than out of any malice towards her friends - well, he was still sore over Hoggle's part in it all, and didn't appreciate Drake's meddling, but Talie couldn't be expected to know better. In fact, she was probably more of a hindrance to Sarah's quest than a help. He hid an indulgent smile, and nudged Talie with the tip of his boot, almost playfully. "Angry enough to throw Talie in the bog, perhaps - oh wait," he added, glancing sideways at Sarah. "It's feed Talie to Mortenna now, isn't it?"
Sarah couldn't help laughing; however incongruous his humor to the situation, and however unfunny the idea of that cat-woman eating Talie, the idea of an inside joke between her and Jareth was irresistibly hilarious. And she had not failed to notice the smile he had tried to hide. Could it be that he was a nice person, sometimes?
Soon enough, however, Sarah sobered and thought back to his last comment. "What did happen to my friends, anyway? How come I haven't run into them?"
Jareth turned his attention from the goblin and answered her. "'Ludo' you've seen. Hoggle chose to leave after what happened. Didymus is still guarding the bog." Eying Sarah somewhat carefully, he added, "You understand, this was no punishment, for he enjoys the task."
Sarah's lips curled upward into a reluctant smile. "His sense of smell needs some work," she agreed. A sincere laugh came from Jareth at that, surprising Sarah once again with how handsome he could be, when not looming over her or threatening terrible things. His laughter was infectious and she shared in it, glad for the chance to relax and release some emotion after keeping it pent-up.
Almost forgetting that he was her enemy, the evil Goblin King, almost forgetting the hell he had put her through over the past hours, Sarah wasn't even surprised when, as their laughter subsided, he took a step forward, close enough to touch her. He hesitated just next to her for a short second, and Sarah could smell him, almost thought that she could feel him. That mere second was all the time she needed for her newfound friendly thoughts towards him to turn into something slightly more... amorous. She'd been this close to him before - heck, she'd even danced with him - but then she hadn't been fully aware of just how badly she wanted him. And oh, she'd dreamed of this moment, deny it as she did the instant she woke up.
The gap between them closed and his lips barely brushed with her own, his mismatched eyes locked on hers. Her breath hitched tight in her chest, but then before anything had even happened, he jerked in a motion almost like retreat. She'd never have taken him for the shy type, but suddenly realizing he needed some form of encouragement, she moved forward in a jerky imitation of a dance. Their bodies were touching each other in all the right places - oh, she could tell he wanted her - and Sarah dared to lean in and kiss him.
She but vaguely registered the soft feel of his wild hair, the way his hands felt on the small of her back, and the cool smoothness of his skin, because then his mouth opened on hers and all she could think of was how she never, never wanted this to end. It was heaven, and something swelled in Sarah's chest until she felt as though she might burst. To be sure, kissing Jade was nice enough... and she may have even dreamed of kissing Jareth like this... but nothing - absolutely nothing - could measure up to the real thing.
Then, without warning, she felt Jareth stiffen - and not in an encouraging way. Sarah had no time to react before he pulled away, his eyes suddenly distant.
Head spinning wildly, Sarah brought her hands up to her cheeks and contemplated throwing up as the full import of the last few minutes came crashing down on her. Had she just been kissing - passionately kissing! - this bizarre, fairy-tale creature? She didn't even know what he was, for heaven's sake, much less what he wanted out of her! Oh god, she had practically thrown herself at him...
Her painful musings were interrupted by the sound of his voice. "We can leave now, the Labyrinth has opened a gateway."
Still breathing heavily, Sarah only glared at him. He had interrupted an amazing kiss because he wanted to return to his precious Labyrinth? Good lord, he had probably only been using her, as a nice way to pass the time... She was mortified and terribly angry with both him and with herself.
Jareth was standing there stiffly. He steadily held her furious gaze for a short time, without revealing anything in his expression, before turning and making his way back towards the Goblin City. Still favoring her ankle, Sarah followed, none too closely. Once they re-entered the Labyrinth proper, Jareth looked back at her. He looked like he was about to say something, but evidently changed his mind and settled on giving her a reasonably polite nod before vanishing.
Sarah continued glaring at the spot he had vacated, trying to blink back the tears that sprung up. What the hell was he playing at?
Jareth arrived in his throne room and sat down, hard, scattering goblins as he went. He grabbed a large wooden cup of ale from the nearest goblin and downed it in a few smooth gulps. He tilted his head back to rest against the wood and closed his eyes painfully. He had no idea what had just happened - had Sarah kissed him? Kissed him? The thought gave him a huge headache and an uncomfortable nervous feeling in his stomach all at once. Was she playing games with him - maybe trying to play him at his own game? He had only meant to intimidate her - maybe - he couldn't explain why he had been drawn to her like that - and she had reacted completely unexpectedly. Or - could it be - fates above, the mortal couldn't have feelings for him, could she? He dismissed the idea immediately. She either intended to play him, or she had some unresolved lust issues. A slight smirk appeared on his face at that thought.
However, he couldn't deny that the episode had affected him in strange, unusual ways. Why had he lied to her about Hoggle? Did he actually fear her possible condemnation of him?
And then there was the problem of the Labyrinth. He could feel it, a throbbing presence in his head, quite apart from his headache. After he'd isolated himself and Sarah from its reach, and it had subsequently opened a gateway for them, the presence - which he had always been aware of in the back of his head, to one extent or another - had returned with a vengeance. It was now a powerful, pulsing entity, and growing worse by the minute. Jareth wondered if his head would explode when the pressure grew too great to withstand, or if he'd simply turn into a large, pulsing, non-sentient entity. He massaged his forehead with one hand and began to wonder if Drake wasn't right, after all. He'd never been unable to control the Labyrinth before, in all his hundreds of years of ruling it, but now, well, the presence in his head was distinctly angry. With him, he supposed. And it had opened the gateway remarkably soon after Sarah had kissed him... he wondered even if it was jealous. He knew it liked the girl, as far as a Labyrinth could like anything. That was almost a funny thought - or would be, if there weren't a chance it was true. The Labyrinth was too unpredictable to risk it being true.
In any case, he couldn't stop himself from thinking that the kiss had definitely been something worthy of envy. It was hard not to relive it over and over again in his mind - the feel of her lips on his, her hand on his cheek, the way her tongue...
His train of thought was interrupted by a disruption in the room. He opened his eyes to see his friend standing there with narrowed eyes and a challenging expression. He immediately closed them again. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
"Jareth," Drake began in a serious tone, "If it was anyone else behind this mess, I would've already relieved them of, at the very least, their kingdom."
Well, maybe not quite out of mind then. Jareth sighed and opened his eyes again. "I know, Drake," he said in a weary tone. "I can no longer argue with you about this." The admission tasted sour in his mouth, ruining what was left of the kiss.
Drake raised an eyebrow, having been unprepared for that response, and waited for him to continue. Jareth gave him a twisted smile and stood up, ignoring the pain in his head brought on by the abrupt movement. He walked over to where Drake was standing, by a window overlooking the city. "It's never tried to fight me like this before. I'll go talk to it again, and if I don't come back..." he trailed off, looking grim. "You know what to do." Drake blinked, surprised at the admission, but wasted no time on useless questions. He nodded.
Jareth calmly gave his cup to a goblin nearby and returned the nod with more confidence than he felt.
"I intend to-" he broke off as the presence in his head suddenly intensified. He gripped his head in his hands, trying to ward it off - but it felt like a volcano erupting inside. It was taking over - he stumbled, and a concerned crown of goblins gathered around. He tried to wave them off through the haze of pain, but managed only a few weak movements. Thickly, he ground out a few words to Drake: "Just get her out of here," and then gave in to the mounting pressure.
He lost consciousness and collapsed.
