Chapter 9.

Solea was going cross-eyed listening to the mindless banter of the Dryad. She wondered quietly to herself it the other ethereal had ever had an original thought. Morea was enjoying being the center of attention, and playing up her relationships with these two sons of the High King.

Cairbre, as unimpressed as Solea moved closer to the Water Sprite. He gazed at her, warming her. "Don't mind the splinter maid." The Bard whispered in her ear. "She is not worthy of your trouble."

"She would not like hearing you say that." Solea warned, she was sure the Dryad was capable of causing a great deal of trouble.

The man looked over his shoulder toward the still grand standing woman. "I'm not of interest to that one. I can do nothing to further her, so I'm of no interest."

"She's a fool." Solea said raising her cup.

Cairbre took the cup from her hands, drank deeply and handed it back. "I am not, I assure you."

The Water Sprite flushed, "An avenue we should explore once our duties to the High King and his sons are finished."

"Finished they will never be, however this antagonism will have a conclusion." He raised a hand, brushed the soft cheek of the water maid.

"You've had a long history with this pair of sons?" Solea asked, enjoying that their conversation was of on interest to any but them alone.

"A very long history, my dear. Sometimes I fear it has been too long." He seemed melancholy in his thoughts. "Not all my history with the High King has be…uplifting."

Solea placed her hand over his, still on her cheek. "Tell me about the night they were born."

Darkness clouded the eyes of the Bard. "To understand, one must go a bit farther back, my lady. It is common knowledge that the High King has strayed from time to time from his wife's bed. Moreover, that she too is not always faithful to the vows taken. Theirs is a union that defies explanation." He sighed. "During a time when he was straying, he was involved with two Fae Princesses. A dark and brooding Princess by name of Lilith, her Father was a lowly Fae Prince, trying to curry favor with the High King. His name was Gilgamesh. When the High King during one of his journeys paid a call upon the prince, he bade his daughter to bed with the High King. She refused. Her father in his deceits gave a drought to the girl, who then became the wanton bedmate of the High King."

Solea frowned, "Poor girl, she must have been devastated. Such a betrayal by one's own father."

"To say the least, she was devastated." Cairbre was thinking back on the news when he had received it that the poor violated girl was with child. "It was little more than a rape in actuality. When the High King learned how the beautiful but mood girl had come to be in his bed, he banished Gilgamesh, dooming him to walk the world of men, without powers to aid him. The girl was taken to the King's Isle to be protected, and to await the birth of her child."

"How sad," Solea listened carefully, wanting to understand the two sons of the High King.

"The other Princess was Alba of Scotia. Who met the High King walking the Highlands. She offered him a sprig of white heather, and walked with him until the sun turned the hills in the mists to burnished gold. That night he wooed her, and bedded her. It was a broken hearted lass who bid him fair-thee-well the next morning when he said his wanderings were calling him away. Her condition was discovered at the same time that Lilith's was, and she was brought to the holy wood."

"This must not have set well with the High King's Queen." Mused the water maid. "I've heard she has a temper."

"At the time she could have cared less, she was in the middle of her own torrid affair." Cairbre snickered merrily, now. "Oh it was quite the time. Him chasing anything in a skirt, and her rolling in the hay with her young stud."

Solea nearly spit her mead, she hit the Bard on the arm, swallowed and admonished. "You're terrible!"

"Aye, I am." He took another sip from her goblet. "But you were not there, it was tragic and funny and unbelievable."

"So the High King had both the women, what cloistered?" Solea, now totally immersed in the Bard's tale, asked.

Cairbre nodded, "He thought he was being very cleaver." There was more than a touch of sarcasm in the Bard's tone. "Foolish man, thought he could cover everything up. However it got out, and the witnesses were called to come to the pool to witness the birth of yet another of the King's offspring."

"How many does he have?" she laughed and it sounded like the ripple of a brook.

"Too many to count as of now!" the Bard with a leering smile complained. "One would think he would tire of the chase but as of yet, he has not."

"Is he off chasing now?" She asked sipping her goblet.

"No, he and the High Queen are keeping a very low profile. It means something or someone is going to be very sorry. And when he hears of this challenge by Quinn." The Bard rubbed his forehead, "Oh I hate to think of his reaction." He sighed. "He's had trouble with those two boys from the moment of their births."

"Where was he when they were born?" Solea got a feeling and it was not good.

"Here, witnessing from a safe distance. His High Queen told him that if he set foot in either birthing room, she'd turn the children into something hideous!"

"And he let her get away with the threat?" Solea shook her head, "That does not sound right."

"It was a good excuse not to see either of the women again." Cairbre admitted with a bit of heat. Still put off by the High King's way of dealing with his indiscretions when he had lost interest. "Some times he's just too Caviler for my liking." His hand sought hers.

"It's nice to know not all the Fae men are so, caviler." She found it hard to speak.

Cairbre saw the heightened color, and the dewiness of her eyes. "We must talk about us, when this is concluded."

She nodded. "Yes, I think we must." She cleared her throat, "You were telling me of the night the boys were born."

"Ah yes, the boys. It was not an easy birth for Lilith. She was a frail creature to begin with. The midwife informed us that the potion used by the girls' halfwit of a father had left her injured internally. That either of them survived was astonishing." Cairbre moved closer not wanting his words to become fodder for gossip. "Lilith was terrified by the entire experience…it broke her…her spirit, and her mind. No one had thought to prepare the girl, tell her what to expect…no one understood that she was unknowing."

Solea felt the pain that the man spoke of, and whispered. "Merciful heavens."

Supple lips thinned, "Not so merciful for poor Lilith. Abla was another story altogether. She was not only prepared for the birth; she celebrated it. She was a much stronger young woman all the way around, but then too she had gone willingly into the arms of the High King. Her entire confinement had been a time of joy." He paused, sipped the wine and took a moment to collect his thoughts. "The time had come, and word came that the birth was impending. What was not known was that it was both births impending. For the first time, the Scrying Pool split in half, showing both births. The High King was in a state of shock. He had not expected both children to come the same night, let alone the same instant!"

"You mean they were born at exactly the same minute?" Solea pondered the likelihood of that ever happening again.

"It was horrific. Lilith screaming and begging to die, Alba singing gaily, and the pool showing it all at the same time. Almost overlapping them into one fused being to behold. Then both boys were born…one dark as night, the other as bright as the sun." Cairbre shook his head, "Had it not been for the few little differences one would have taken them for twins."

"What difference?" The Water Sprit begged him tell.

"Jareth's eyes…they do not match… Quinn's eyes are blue, blue as the dark sea. The hair color, Jareth's is light as the sun, and Quinn's is dark. When they were together as children, they would battle over every thing. If Jareth had a toy, Quinn would battle until he got it away. It was constant battling." Cairbre accepted the goblet handed to him.

"And when Jareth was named King of Labyrinthia?" her voice hushed.

"Quinn felt the kingdom should have gone to him, to recompense his mother for having been forced into the High King's bed. He vowed he would see it carved into little pieces. Leaving his brother with only the castle and the Goblin City, and of course the Labyrinth…. When Jareth tamed the Labyrinth Quinn made a fuss about that!" Cairbre frowned, "And here we go yet again."

"Sounds like sour grapes to me." Solea motioned for more wine.

The Bard nodded. "Indeed." He motioned of a goblet of his own. "Prepare for a long and drawn out program, both boys have their father's fondness for spectacles of grandeur."

"Sounds like something Louis XIV would enjoy." She teased.

Cairbre raised his cup, looked at her over the rim with eye full of mischief. "And who do you think taught him?"

Solea laughed again the sound of a brook dancing over stones. "To the High King!" She raised her goblet to his.

"To the High King." Cairbre agreed.