Chapter 10
Jareth stood before the twelve black cloaks with an immense feeling of foreboding settled deep within the pit of his stomach. Whichever way this went he was now absolutely certain that it would not be as easy as the initial path would suggest, the council were up to something, and he didn't know what he could do about it. After analysing the decisions of the councils in the past century Jareth was starting to see a pattern, the decisions they made wouldn't ever be classed as idiotic or wrong, but they always seemed to choose the way which wouldn't be the best for peace. They had done it so subtly for so long that it was only as he faced the loss and ruination of his kingdom that he realised what was going on. They were like domino pieces being set up in this one big picture, and when everything was in place, all it would need was one push. But what were they doing? What was the ultimate aim? He couldn't be sure. The council still had to abide by the jury vote, so Jareth in theory could still reclaim kingship, but then he would have to be walking on eggshells, watching the shadows. Alternatively if he lost the crown he would be able to move beneath the radar, he wouldn't be being watched… He would have to see what fate the stars handed him.
He wasn't alone in this feeling of foreboding apparently as he realised that there was a vibration coming through the floor from Erunaye who was trembling in fear. Jareth could understand the anxiety, pawn pieces were very easy to kill and replace without notice.
The deep voice that seemed to represent doomsday then began to speak. "Jareth, after careful discussion and close analysis of your argument on the rights to kingship, and taking the Jury's votes into account we have decided…" Jareth closed his eyes in preparation for what was to come, he was about to lose his crown. Instead of defeat his ears were met with the sound of murmuring and argument and as Jareth opened his eyes and turned around he took in the site which was Primrose stood there in her true form with five goblins at her heels.
Jareth stared in shock and fear as the only thought he could come up with is This is a dream, PLEASE let it be a dream, Oh stars if you grant me anything today please grant me this one wish that there aren't goblins in the council chamber.
Their arrival had caused an eruption among the Jury members; no council meeting had ever been interrupted in such a way and by goblins of all things, no-one knew how to react, should they be thrown out? Primrose had brought them in, hadn't she swore allegiance to the council?
"Primrose." The monotonous voice of the council spoke out. "What is the meaning of this?" Even though the council voices were enchanted to sound completely monotonous you could sense the anger that was coming from the semi-circle.
The smirk Primrose wore was one of triumph, the air around her shimmered and her hair had literally become liquid silver. Her skin had paled to white snow and she took strides up the aisle so long that the goblins literally had to run to keep up with her. When she spoke her voice took on an unnaturally high quality and everything around her oozed authority. If she had called the Jury members to rally to her they would have.
"Dear members of the council." Her voice dripped with contempt. "I am abiding by code 34 Chapter 23 of the book of the law which states that any member of the kingdom of which the defending King is from may appear before the court to testify how good the old King was and decide whether the new king would be better suited for the role." This sentence was met with silence. "Furthermore in a situation such as this the anonymous vote is overruled and the Jury launch a new vote in full view of the council. It was a law put in place by the old council so that any person as part of a kingdom could have a say, but it has been forgotten over the years. However I am sure the council and several members of the Jury are all aware of this rule." At this there were nods of agreement throughout the Fae sitting on the benches. "Now may the first goblin come to make his speech at the triangle centre; please address the Jury." No-one dared move, no-one dared contradict her, she was abiding by council law so there was no reason to arrest her, all the council could do was stand back and watch with increasing fury.
Jareth and Erunaye stared opened mouth unabashedly as the first goblin, one he knew from the carpentry industry hesitantly moved forward to take the circle and defend Jareth. The little goblin with a rat like face and plump body plodded to the centre of the triangle sand slumped down to face the Jury. Jareth cursed himself for not having taught his goblins a little court etiquette; in his defence he had never thought there would be a need to. After nervously tugging the tattered scarf around his neck the goblin began.
"Kingy, has always been very mean and very ruthless king. Many harsh punishments." Jareth resisted the urge to put his head in his hands. Whose side were they on? "But because kingy is ruthless goblins obey. Less crime, less chaos, more fun, more laughter. He knows everyone by looking at them, and I now can make wooden carvings. Get to sell them." The goblin said this with a big smile and Jareth was in danger of becoming sentimental at this moment; a goblin had just defended him in the high court. This was the weirdest day of his life.
The next one to come up was Hoggle much to his surprise, but as he passed Hoggle whispered "For Sarah, not for you." Then subsequently took his position in the centre of the triangle.
"Now Jareth aint the most compassionate king we've had, neither is he the most fun, but he's a good king. And this weasel over here wouldn't last three seconds in the goblin kingdom, they'd eat him!" Erunaye seemed ready to faint he was so scared. "And yeah a girl got through the labyrinth, and I helped her. She was my friend." Jareth tensed, waiting for the courts reaction, to be friends with a human girl? Most Fae would see that as being friends with a rat, not socially acceptable or agreeable, but they seemed more intent on hearing what Hoggle had to say. "I was scared of Jareth, and even left her a few times because of it, but she got through the labyrinth because she had something none of the others had. Courage, and smarts, it would have only taken somebody like her to get through the labyrinth, someone who had the right to win." At this Hoggle removed himself from the centre and took his place by the other goblins. He had always been blunt and straight to the point.
The three other goblins came up and said their piece one by one, they had obviously been chosen for how well they could behave and how brave they were as they would have to talk to the jury. One thing Jareth couldn't understand though; was what Primrose was doing. Why was she helping them?
When the last Goblin had returned to his position by Primrose, everyone turned to look at the council waiting for what they would do.
They were stuck and everyone knew it. Primrose had obeyed according to the Law to turn it completely to a Jury vote, without their input, they couldn't overrule the Jury because there would be an uproar but Primrose had just undermined their authority. It didn't matter if they had been going to decide in Jareth's favour, because now it had been taken out of their hands.
Eventually the council spoke. "In accordance with Code 34 members of the Jury please rise." Everyone rose. "Those of you who wish for the Old King Jareth to remain in the Goblin Kingdom with the same title raise your hand." Every Jury members hand rose.
"It is decided, Jareth, you will remain Goblin King until the next council meeting where you may be challenged again." It was a loaded statement. "Erunaye, you will return home until the next council meeting where you may try again for the Kingship." The boy almost seemed to sag in relief when he realised he was going home. What was that Fae doing here? The both of them bowed, exited the triangle and began to walk up the aisle. Before Jareth stepped through the portal he turned back and bowed his head to Primrose, he couldn't deny that he owed her one. He also motioned for the Goblins to follow him through; a celebration would be in order when they got home. To his kingdom.
The council chamber was empty except for Primrose and the twelve council members in those hooded cloaks she so hated. In truth something had snapped in Primrose, something that had been very tender and very thin and under a lot of strain had snapped. Her family came from a history of serving the council; they had all had servant hearts and lived to work for the council. But she had hated it. She hated being ordered around by Fae more ignorant than herself, she hated being the councils lackey and mop; her position had used to be respected and sort after, now it was reviled and ridiculed. That was because the council had lost the respect, their decisions were no longer the right ones, but who could change the council? The election was so secret and no normal Fae even knew when a change over occurred, but Primrose felt that it was time to change. The system was starting to fail. The final straw had been what had been asked of her twenty-five years ago, the wound hadn't become any less fresh; every time she remembered that day she cried. She hated the council with every fibre of her being.
"Primrose, would you care to explain your act of treason to us today?"
"Act of treason? I was abiding by the Old law written by your elders, how can such a thing be an act of treason?"
"You directly went against the council's wishes; that was one of the Old laws, yes, but we wanted it written out from history, it has no place in the new world."
"So the voices of the creatures of each kingdom have no right to be heard? That chapter was put in place to prevent council corruption at times such as these."
"Be careful with your tongue servant."
"No! I will not be an obedient lap dog to a corrupt system."
"Perhaps we should pay a visit to your mistake? That would make you more obedient."
"I will not let any of you go within 5miles of her, and I will use any force necessary."
Silence emanated throughout the whole chamber and Primrose's guard instantaneously went up, magic was being used, this was turning into a fight. And although it was true that no normal Fae could use magic in the building, council members and Fae linked with the council had complete freedom from this rule.
Primrose drew her own magic to her, letting it flow through her muscles and her silver hair as it began to shine white hot with pure energy. One Vs. twelve. Not great odds. Then the fight began.
When Jareth had gotten back there had been kingdom wide rejoicing. The goblins had related the tale of how they had wanted to keep Jareth on the throne and one of the goblins who had read up on the old law (Coincidentally a book stolen from his library) had read up on chapter 23, so they had gone in search of Primrose. As it turned out one of his more inquisitive goblins who had been running around the human world had seen Primrose change into glamour and go to a human. As a result they had waited at that humans' house for her to appear and then asked for her help as it was required by law to do so. Overall this had taken a month of planning and blind luck to come into fruition, and Jareth couldn't help but feel indebted to his goblins, when a crisis had come they had stood together to help him stay on the throne. He had honoured the five goblins (or four and Hoggle depending on how you looked at it) each with a house in the most beautiful area of the city and had declared a kingdom wide holiday where no-one was allowed to be sober and all the drink came from the castle. Tonight everything was on Jareth.
Music emanated from every part of the kingdom, and there was dancing. Even Kuna, his oldest friend had arrived for the party upon hearing his victory over the council.
Kuna was as tall as Jareth was, but with a stockier build and chopped black hair, he almost looked like a biker, in fact, dress him in leathers and he would be.
However Kuna's preferred outfit of choice was the most fantastic red shirt Jareth had ever seen plus black leggings fitting with his hair. Overall he looked like someone from strictly come dancing.
Jareth had been tempted to invite Sarah, but in the end decided against it, he wanted to spend time with Kuna to catch up and with his subjects which he hadn't done in too long.
The merriment lasted for well over 24hours human time and by the end only Jareth and Kuna were able to stand (and that was barely), so they stumbled back through the castle breaking nearly every door they came across while attempting to open it delicately and laughing about old times while hanging on to each other for support. Eventually they made it to Jareth's room and collapsed on his bed in fits of raucous laughter.
Taking a deep breath Kuna turned to Jareth. "Which human have you been sharing a bed with you dirty old Fae?" Jareth gave Kuna a sly smile and replied "Sarah if you must know, and I'm old in mind, not body." At this Jareth raised his eyebrows silently indicating to just how good he was in the bedroom, however he noticed that Kuna's eyes had narrowed.
"Not Sarah, Sarah? The one who got through the labyrinth, rejected you, made you look like an idiot, who you're connected to by magic even if she hasn't realised it and who you've been obsessing over for nine years now? That Sarah?" Jareth was insulted.
"I've not been obsessing over her for nine years! She's just a human, and I intend to punish her for the insult that she dealt me, I'm just having a bit of fun along the way." At this Kuna groaned and pulled himself off the bed.
"It's revenge every time with you isn't it? What insult has she dealt you?"
"She refused my hand and then went off with a rat of a human before I'd come back for her. That's the insult she dealt me!"
Kuna stared at Jareth in absolute disbelief as Jareth's true stubbornness, stupidity and childishness became incredibly apparent before him.
"You're punishing her, basically, because she didn't wait for you. That's it?"
"What do you mean that's it? She didn't wait for me. I was the most important thing to ever happen to her, I showed her this world, offered her everything and she denied it! Then to top it all she gives herself to a human scumbag! I have every right to seek revenge!" Jareth had growled out these words in absolute confidence but he was noticeably uncomfortable under Kuna's judging gaze.
"Jareth, she may have said the words which got her out of the kingdom, but that was to save her brother!"
"And how is her brother more important than I am?"
Holding in yet another groan of exasperation Kuna compensated by letting a touch of annoyance enter his voice. "Jareth if yours and Sarah's position were reversed and you were trying to save me, what would you have chosen?" And finally, finally, Jareth understood. Determined not to be completely made a fool of still continued the argument.
"She still left and never called for me again. She just completely forgot about it because it was easier for her, and on top of that she gave herself to a human!" This time Kuna did groan.
"For the love of stars Jareth! You dropped her back in the human world with no contact, no magic, and no evidence of any of it ever having happened. You even stopped the friends she had made here getting in touch with her. To have nothing to base it on in a disbelieving world is a lot to ask for even the most faithful of people in the human world!"
Jareth went to counter him but Kuna cut him off and carried on with his berating rant. "And as for her giving herself to a human, how long had she been in the human world with no closure? About ten to fifteen years? You do realise that's about fifteen per cent of a human's life span don't you? Would you honestly take a vow of celibacy for over fifteen per cent of your life on a dream which may not be real or come true?"
Jareth's fixed stare on the floor was all the answer he needed.
"Get a clue Jareth." And with that Kuna left the grand chamber to find a guest room of his own for the night.
Sorry this took so long to get up, life got in the way, it will probably be another week before the next but I hope that the wait was worth it. Please comment and review!