Beta reader for this chapter is The Art Of Suicide
X
The garden had been beautiful last night, but during the day in the light of the sky it was breath taking. All the colors were so much more vibrant and more of the flowers were in bloom. Everything looked and felt just so much more alive in the sun than it had in the pale light of the moon.
Since Jareth had given her permission last night to go out into the garden whenever she wished she had ventured out here as soon as Clora and Ishapell had finished dressing her. She had wanted to bring Toby along too, but Jareth had already laid claim to him for the day, insisting that he had been neglecting spending any real time with his son despite the fact that he saw him every day and held him sometimes from supper to bed time. Sarah had agreed though and so it had just been the three of them out in the garden.
The breeze was a tad cold and Sarah wrapped her shawl around her a little tighter as she walked along the stone paths. She tried to be as causal as possible as she went along, pretending to be looking at the plants rather than for a way out of here. Despite everything Jareth had said to her the night before, she just couldn't believe that he really did love her. He viewed her and maybe even loved her in the same way one would a pet, as something to own and cherish but be a constant superior to and lord over. She was just one of his many subjects really, except he carried a sort of obsession for her.
He understood nothing about her and was fascinated by that, like a child holding a butterfly. If she didn't get away soon he would crush her wings and she would die.
"Sarah, can't we go in yet?!" Clora whined for the fiftieth time, "We've been out here all morning and it's cold."
Sarah looked over her shoulder at Clora, the female was dressed in one of her usual body-hugging dresses that left both her arms and shoulders bare. She hadn't brought any kind of wrap out with her though. "You were the one who wanted to come outside so badly yesterday," Sarah reminded her.
"I didn't know we'd be taking a ten mile hike though! This is so boring," Clora whined.
Sarah liked the girl, but she was a bit on the spoiled side, not liking anything that she deemed too boring. She had been okay out here for the first hour or so till she had lost interest and started whining and suggesting other things they could do that might be more fun inside. Sarah might have obliged her enough to head in if she weren't busy looking for her way out. They had been out in the garden for the better part of the afternoon though and she hadn't even seen any walls. She wished she could leave the path to look, but she didn't want them to get suspicious of her.
If Ishapell was disliking her time spent out here she was saying nothing about it, simply following along behind the two and glancing over at the plants now and then. She had little need of a shawl since her stuffy dresses covered all of her skin.
"Just a little while longer, you two," Sarah shrugged. "But if you want to go back inside you can and I'll be there in a minute," she suggested, hoping that maybe they would leave her be so she could look more thoroughly.
Clora let out a defeated sigh and trudged along after Sarah down the path, obviously not about to go inside without her. Ishapell followed right behind.
"We could at least do something to make this fun then," Clora spoke up as Sarah pressed on down the narrow path. "What if we played a game?"
Sarah laughed at the red-head's incessant need for amusement. "A game?"
"Yes a game, we could play I spy, or maybe even follow the leader or something."
"Something tells me if we made you the leader you would lead us straight back to the castle," Sarah laughed.
"Well you never know till we play do you?" Clora asked with a big grin on her face. "My feet are killing me!"
Sarah heard that. She stopped and looked around her as if making sure they weren't being watched before stopping in the middle of the trail. She turned around to face Jareth's puzzled cousins. "Are your feet hurting too Ishapell?"
The blonde female raised a confused brow at Sarah's sudden question towards her. Sarah had gone without saying anything directly to the female for the better part of the last three days. "Um, yes your majesty."
"Why?" Clora asked, wondering why Sarah was acting so strangely all of a sudden.
Sarah smiled mischievously and lifted up the hem of her skirts so the two could see her feet. Very slowly and deliberately she lifted one of her feet out of her shoe. The two female's eyes widened as they watched like she had just performed a magic trick or something. They looked back up to meet her eyes. "I won't tell if you won't," Sarah invited with a sly smile.
"Such is not proper!" Ishapell insisted in disbelief.
"Feels good though," Clora sighed, she lifted up her own skirts to show she had already taken Sarah's lead and shifted out of her own shoes, which lay on the ground in front of her feet. She returned Sarah's grin.
Ishapell gave an all but defeated sigh next to her more brazen cousin.
Clora smiled up at the tall blonde, "Oh come on Ishapell, no one is going to find out. It's just us here and Sarah and I won't tell if you take yours off too."
Ishapell didn't move at all, continuing to just stare down at the path in front of her, debating. Finally she let out a sigh and took a step to the side, becoming about two inches shorter in the one easy pivot. She pulled back her skirts and scooped her shoes up into her hands without a word; not even as much as a relieved sigh.
Clora and Sarah grinned at each other.
X
"Nobody knew, what kind of magic spell to use. Slime or snails, or puppy dog tails, thunder or lighting and baby said…" Jareth bounced his son playfully on his hip, pivoting quickly about the room in time with his song to the absolute delight of his son. Little Jareth squealed with laughter as Jareth turned this way and that, moving documents he had been looking into from his desk back to his private library that was connected to his study as he did so.
He was spending the day with his son, but he still needed to get work done, so he was simply trying to keep Little Jareth amused as he did his boring routine. Truthfully it was lifting his spirits about having to do the work as well. Every once in a while Mavid would look up at Jareth and his lip would curl up into a smile before he went back to his own work. "You're certainly in a good mood today," he observed.
Jareth did another spin that caused his babe to scream in delight before taking a seat in his chair once more, moving Little Jareth to the edge of his knee to bounce him. "Dance magic dance -and why shouldn't I be? I am spending the day with my son -jump magic jump!"
Mavid grinned at that, "Not to mention last night with the queen, huh?"
Jareth grinned too despite himself. "That's none of your business whatsoever. I do, however, think I might have actually made some ground with her. I think it could be a good while before she disobeys me again." He turned back to Little Jareth and continued to sing to him softly.
Mavid lifted a piece of paper up from the desk, a low whistle escaping his lips as he looked at it.
Jareth reached out for it, "What is it?"
"Mail," was all Mavid said before handing it over.
Jareth brought the letter up and looked it over, his eyes darting down to the bottom first and he cursed when he saw who it was from. "Hell! Why is she writing to me?!"
"Take a look at it, it's a resume, not a letter." Mavid held up another piece of paper. "This one that came with it is a letter… of recommendation."
Jareth looked down at the letter already in his hands sent to him from Rally, saying that she had received word from his father that he was in need of her assistance and she would be happy to help him with the education of his new queen if he could respect her terms of service, primarily payment and allowing her to subject Sarah to her methods without his interference or opinions. "What the hell? What ever happened to my father telling me he would leave it up to me for now whether or not to seek her services?"
Mavid passed the second letter to him. "Read this one."
Jareth looked down at his father's block letters on the mostly white piece of parchment.
Son,
Last night after returning home to Red Hallow I was made aware by yet another rumor
that your new bride had actually struck you purposefully and the rumor (or at least,
I fully assume it is a rumor since she can still walk on her own) claims that all
she received in reprimand was a single slap to the face. These rumors will stop, you will find out who is spreading them!
I contacted Rally for you.
Invite her to your castle for the instruction of your wife immediately, or I will.
King Hamold of Goodwell.
Jareth scowled over the letter. "You call this a letter of recommendation?" he spat at Mavid. Little Jareth started to fuss on his knee from the lack of attention paid to him and Jareth absent-mindedly went back to bouncing him.
Mavid shrugged, "Very strong recommendation."
Little Jareth continued to wail so he picked up his son and got back up from the chair, humming softly as he moved about the room a little, pausing only to speak to Mavid further. "I'm not going to just let my father come in and walk all over my kingdom like this, or my marriage! Damn it to hell."
"Hell!" Little Jareth echoed, causing Mavid to burst out laughing and Jareth had to bite back yet another curse. He turned his son around in his arms and held him at arm's length facing him. He smiled at his son slightly despite his words when he spoke. "Just how long will it be before you stop turning my world upside down you precious thing?"
Little Jareth just smiled back and laughed a little, as though he found it all just endlessly amusing. With a sigh Jareth brought him back to sit against his hip. "I suppose I'll have to watch what I say around him now, I forgot that he's already repeating words."
Mavid simply smirked and looked back down at the letters in front of him. "I take it we will not be sending her an invitation to come out here and tutor Sarah then?"
"Not yet no, I don't care for what I hear of her tutoring methods. She may be the most accomplished instructor among the Fae, but I don't want to subject Sarah to someone so… unyielding. Did you know that when she was tutoring Gyle and Kissa's daughter on the basics of dining etiquette she would heat up the silverware so that if the poor girl chose to eat with the wrong utensil she would burn her hands? That crotchety old bag gets off on such sadism I just know it."
Mavid chuckled under his breath, "Pretty cleaver though, if you ignore the circumstances of course. Sarah does only have about a week to learn everything she will need though."
Jareth signed and pivoted around the room again, as much for himself as for his son. "I am aware. Hold off on that for now and see about contacting a few more possibilities, males if you must."
Mavid shrugged and pushed the letters aside for now. "If you insist."
Jareth went to the window and looked out over his labyrinth, holding his son up and smiling when Little Jareth simply took in the view rather than fussing or squirming at all, his blue eyes looking out over the goblin city and beyond. "This will all be yours one day," Jareth murmured, "Till then it will be up to me and your new mum to watch over it for you."
X
Sarah felt downcast to say the least as she followed Ishapell and Clora back towards her room through the halls, their shoes clicking on the stone as they all walked. After taking off their shoes they had continued to walk around the garden for another half hour before Ishapell had mentioned they needed to head back to avoid being late for supper. She insisted that Sarah wash up a little since she had been rummaging around in the plants. Sarah had only been doing so so it would look like she was interested in them and not in finding a way out. Trying to find the way out though had led to her simply searching for a wall. She had still seen none, like they didn't even exist!
"Clora smiled sweetly at Sarah as she opened her door for her. "Ishapell and I will need to wash up too before supper, do you want us to come back to escort you to the dining hall or did you want to meet us there?"
Sarah thought it over. "I guess I'll just meet you all there, I won't take long."
The two females nodded and Clora offered her a final smile before heading back down the hall to seek out their own washrooms.
Sarah went inside Jareth's room and slipped into the bathroom, washing her hands and wrists quickly. She then made her way through the room and over to the balcony, pushing back the giant glass doors and stepping out to look down upon the view offered from this point on the castle. She couldn't see the garden at all, so it was probably on a different side of the castle.
She looked out at the labyrinth, with so many walls to shape it, full of dead ends and false hopes. It was a wonderful and awful trap.
She though about what Jareth had said to her the other night in the garden, about walls and how not all of them are made of stone. That was true enough, even in what she could see of the labyrinth the walls seemed to be made up of anything really, stones, rocks, shrubs, statues, water runways, pipes… the list was endless.
She had suspected that maybe some of the plants in the garden were supposed to act as walls, like the thorn tree had to keep travelers off of Jareth's private path, and that was why she had poked through some of them, searching for more hidden paths. She wanted to try again since she had only been able to do so much with Clora and Ishapell there. She needed to leave the trail next time for a better look. Maybe she would skip supper, tell Jareth she wasn't feeling well and then while they were all eating she would sneak out to look.
She couldn't see it being that easy though. Besides, even if she did find anything she couldn't leave, not without Toby. With a final look out onto the vast labyrinth, she headed back inside and down to the dining hall. She would get her chance; after all, time was all she had down here in the Underground.
X
He was going to kill her! After all that had happened last night she was already disobeying him, damn her! He glared at his cousin as she continued to tell him about how Sarah had not only removed her own shoes in the garden, but encouraged both his cousins to do so as well despite that they knew it was improper. She had caught him in the hall on his way to the dining room and told him everything after he had sent Mavid on ahead with Little Jareth.
"Where is she now?" he snapped, his blood already simmering as several punishments already started racing through his mind.
"We left her in your room to wash up, your highness," she explained, bowing her head to him.
"Go on to supper, tell the rest not to wait for us," he barked at her, moving past her before she could bow her head and say 'Yes your majesty'. He never saw the slight smile that played around his cousin's lips as he stalked down the hall.
Jareth hurried down the halls to his room, intent on finding out just what the hell Sarah had been thinking. Was he going to have to nail her shoes to her feet before she kept them on?! Yes it had been only in the company of females while they were alone, but that was not the point. He didn't understand why this was such a big argument between them. She knew she wasn't supposed to remove her shoes unless in the privacy of their room and yet she had done it anyway, and encouraged his two cousins to do so as well!
He stopped short when up ahead of him Sarah rounded the corner, obviously on her way to the dining hall. She also stopped short when she saw him, her eyes widening when she saw his angry expression. For a moment it looked like she just might turn around and run from him. She stayed her ground though, showing she had at least a drop of sense in her head. If he would have had to chase her on top of everything else he would have been beyond livid. "Take off your shoe, Sarah." he snapped, his voice echoing slightly in the hall.
Her eyes bugged and she knew he knew what she had done. "W-what?"
His voice was cold and even as he stepped closer to her. "Take off your shoe and keep your foot off the ground, I want to see it."
Her eyebrows knitted in complete confusion but she complied, lifting up her skirts and Jareth watched as she slid her foot out of her shoe, letting it dangle in the air. Jareth knelt before her and took her ankle roughly in his hand, scowling when he saw that her white stockings were now practically black under her feet, proving what he had been told. "Stupid girl," he cussed as he roughly dropped Sarah's foot.
She stepped back from him then, fear on her face. "H-how did you know-
"Do you think I am stupid Sarah!? That I don't know what my own wife is up to even when she is not right in front of me? My kingdom has more eyes and ears in it than it does walls and they all report to me."
"Ishapell!" Sarah cursed, "Jareth I didn't mean any harm by it, I simply took them off because I wanted to keep exploring the garden and my feet were starting to hurt!"
"You are speaking half-truths Sarah and that is the same as lying," Jareth's eyes flashed with his anger. "I don't appreciate lies, you encouraged your serving ladies to take off their shoes as well."
"They were hurting too! It was just in the garden!"
"That is not the point and you know it, I told you before that it isn't allowed. You have no idea what is left behind in these halls any more than you do out in that garden, what if you stepped on something and got hurt? There are some things out there that are poisonous if you cut yourself on them." Gods forbid if she hurt herself, didn't she understand it was for her own protection?
Sarah actually had the decency to look sheepish about her foolishness and wrung her hands in front of her, refusing to meet Jareth's eyes now. "Am I in trouble?" she asked in a quiet voice that she no doubt hoped would get her by without punishment.
"Yes," Jareth confirmed and she tensed noticeably as if bracing herself for a slap. For the love of… he had only ever hit her once! And that was after she had hit him, yes he had maybe shoved her and manhandled her a bit, but that was different. "Go back to your room this instant and don't come out for the rest of the night."
Sarah's head shot up at that in surprise. "What?"
"You disobeyed me, now you will not have supper tonight," he clarified.
Sarah seemed stunned for a second, staring at him with an odd expression on her face. At last though she nodded her head and turned back around to head to their room. Jareth wondered if maybe he shouldn't walk her back and lock the door behind her after the odd look she had given him when he told her that. She hadn't really put up much of a fight about her punishment and that also irked at his better judgment.
You're being paranoid, he chastised himself, if she is actually starting to mind you when you punish her than don't knock a good thing. Jareth turned and headed back down the hall to the dining room at long last.
X
Sarah was trying not to either hurry or smile as she made her way down the hall and back towards the platform that led to the tower, she bi-passed it though and headed straight for the stairs that she knew now would lead her to the garden door. This was her chance to look around, the very one she was looking for and she would be a fool to waste it. Maybe Jareth had had a point about the shoes, she had seen enough broken glass on the floors alone from the goblins to give his words merit. She would keep them on, she could suffer through the pain in order to possibly find even a wall around the garden. If she could find the wall, after all, she could find the escape.
She would search and be back in her room before Jareth ever caught on that she had disobeyed him.
Sarah hurried along and reached the door to the garden, still undarkened by shadows. She opened it up easily and hurried out onto the path that was overgrown with wildlife. The garden honestly couldn't be very big, she had seen it through none of the windows she looked out of so far. She hurried along, stifling her scream when she spooked another pair of plant-birds out of their pose. She continued on quickly, her feet already stinging but she ignored them. She would only have so much time before the others were done eating. She was nothing if not an opportunist and this was like a sign from above. She had been disputing going to supper after all, and now she wasn't allowed there.
Sarah continued down the path, the sky already starting to darken above her. She hurried along till the path came to a turn rather than continuing straight ahead. She stopped there and took in her choices, if she kept to the path she wouldn't find anything new, but if she went straight here there was a lot of plants she would have to battle her way through for who knew how long. Sarah decided to chance it anyway, pushing her way into and through the hedge, only to wince when she heard the sound of tearing fabric as he dress caught. She would just have to deal with that later. Hopefully Jareth wouldn't notice it.
She misjudged just how much of a fight the large bush in front of her would put up to keep her from crashing through it, screaming in surprise when it practically jumped out of her way and she fell down onto the ground where it had just been a second before. She cursed again and pulled herself to her feet, looking down at her soiled dress in despair. A tear she could easily lie about, but being covered in dirt… Jareth would kill her. She would just have to make sure when she got back to dispose of the evidence was all. She would get this dress off her before Jareth saw it even if she had to rip it to shreds in the process.
Sarah re-gathered her bull-headed resolve and moved on, finding it much easier to go along now, the plants behind the shrub were badly overgrown but easy enough to get by, especially the ones that seemed capable of moving out of her way. It was slow going but she didn't fall down or rip her dress on anything else. Sarah came up against another shrub before long and wanting to go forward rather than taking several turns and never finding the way out, she found a small gap near the bottom and crawled through, the only thing harder to deal with than the corset being the huge skirt that she had to pull through after her. There was a great deal more tearing of the dress and she was sweating by the time she got herself all the way through, but she made it none the less.
Sarah looked around to see what she would have to push through now, expecting lots more plants to hinder her once more. Her heart sank when she saw she was sitting (not amongst hordes of plant-life) on one of the flat stones that created a trail against the ground. How had she gotten back on the marked trail!
Sarah looked up and practically screamed when she saw the door to the castle straight ahead of her. Hadn't she been walking away from it?! She hadn't turned at all and somehow had ended up right back where she had started. "What a horrible place this is!" she screeched. "It's not fair!"
This was just what she would expect from Jareth's awful labyrinth really, where nothing made sense and one could never find their way to anything. She wouldn't be beaten so easily! She had hardly even tried really. Sarah resiliently sprang to her feet and hurried further down the path, deciding that this time she would enter at a different spot and go a different way. Sarah came to a spot before long that seemed a little more promising, the plants were spaced out more and they all looked flimsy enough that she would be able to get through them a lot easier than the shrubs. Sarah stepped off the path into them, only to shriek again when one of the plants wrapped tightly around her ankle and she almost fell forward into the plants that reached up for her like hands waiting to catch her. Through miracles unseen she kept her balance and didn't dare move as her second ankle was seized and the other tall plants slid against her skirts and hips like they meant to grab her there too. They weren't tall enough though and could only move about fruitlessly as if waiting for their chance. Sarah shuddered to think what would have happened if she had fallen. She kept her hands high up at her chest after one taller plant made to try to wrap around her wrist.
What was she supposed to do!? If she moved she would trip but she couldn't stay here. "Stop it!" she shouted in anger at the plants, like that would convince them to back off.
"Don' fall forward," came a little voice from somewhere behind her on the path.
As much as she wanted to Sarah couldn't chance turning around to see who was speaking to her. "Help me," she implored whoever the owner of the voice was.
"Ya got yerself into a quite a sticky mess," the high voice chuckled, laughing at her, "You'll be alright though, yer hardly very far into the snare grass, just let yourself fall backwards onto the path."
Easier said than done. Sarah didn't want to fall back and end up cracking her head open on the concrete, and no matter how she fell she knew it would hurt. She looked down at the blades of grass wiggling around her. What choice did she have though? She would find out. "What happens if I fall forward?"
"The snare grass will cover ya up completely and hold ya there till long after you've suffocated, but this is still young grass so ya would possibly survive for another couple 'ours at least."
Sarah bulked at that sort of information. Why the hell would Jareth have something like this planted in his garden?! Because he's a sadistic bastard, she reminded herself. Falling forward wasn't an option then. Sarah braced herself and twisted around as much as she could, making a lunge for the path as the grass tripped her up and grabbed for her as she fell. Sarah hit the ground hard on her elbows but bit through the pain as she grabbed the path stones and pulled herself out of the grass slowly, the blades hanging onto her like their lives depended on it. At long last she was able to pull herself completely free of their hold. She turned and watched the grass all stand up straight again and stop moving, innocent as could be.
Sarah looked around for her helper but saw no one. "Hello?" she asked, wondering who had been speaking to her just now.
"Ello."
Sarah looked down and at first thought her mind was playing tricks on her, seeing the same blue worm that she had encountered at the beginning of the labyrinth staring up at her. "Oh, hello!" she said, happy just to see an familiar and friendly face for the first time since returning to the Labyrinth. "Thanks, that was very helpful of you."
"Was hoping I would get to see ya again," the worm greeted her pleasantly, not moving at all from his spot next to her on the stones. "I saw ya out here earlier but ya was with some others."
Sarah couldn't help but feel a little surprised, still just marveling in seeing the worm again and so unrepentantly. "Yes, I was with two females, Jareth's cousins."
"Well I was hoping to get to ya when ya was alone. They didn't give me a chance earlier."
"When I was alone? What for?" Sarah asked, turning so she could see the worm more fully.
"I was told to come and get ya."
She felt utterly confused. "Come and get me? I don't understand what you mean."
"I was told by the Underground Women that ya was in need of help getting out of this labyrinth, funny thing since last I spoke to ya ya was trying to get in."
Sarah's eyes buldged and she swore for a minute she must have heard him wrong. "You know the way out?"
The worm nodded his head. "I know my way through the entire labyrinth inside and out, up and down. I have lived in it's walls me whole life, just like my father did. And his father did, and his father before that, and his cousin before that, and his cousin's aunt before that, and…
Sarah held her hand up to get him to stop, "Okay, I get it, I do. So you can get me out of the labyrinth and out of this garden?"
The worm nodded again. "Well of course I can, wouldn't be much help to ya if I couldn't now would I?"
Sarah fought against the smile threatening to split her head in half. She was going to get out of here after all! She found her smile dissipating, however when all his words sunk in. "Wait a minute, who are the Underground Women? Why do they want to help me?"
"Why they's the ones who helped the last queen escape to the Aboveground, they care for the children that are stolen from there, as well as the changelings from here. The old queen asked them to help her get back you and her son."
Karen!
Sarah fought her instincts to start jumping up and down and screaming with happiness. She was going to get away from Jareth! She would use the same path Karen had taken to get away from him and then she would be free of him forever! "Oh thank you so much!" she gasped, practically overcome with her relief. She was going home!
"Where is the babe?" the worm asked.
Sarah slowly looked back over her shoulder down the path. "He's in the castle."
"We'll have to have him too before we can go."
Her heart fell and landed in the pit of her stomach. "I won't be able to get him tonight," she admitted, thinking that chances were good he was seated on Jareth's lap at the table as they spoke. They were probably all finishing the meal as she sat on the path discussing her escape with the worm.
The worm shook his head back and forth. "That's a shame, we'll have to wait till you can get him out here alone, sometime when the Goblin King wont notice you're gone right away."
"I don't know when that will be," Sarah sighed. Even if she was able to find a time like that, Tallia would still be a hurdle, not to mention Clora and Ishapell who would follow her everywhere. She needed a plan.
"Tell you what, I'll go back and speak with the Underground Women, see if they can't help you out a little more. Would you be able to meet me back here tomorrow night?"
Sarah thought about it. Tomorrow she would be followed by Clora and Ishapell till supper, and after which Jareth usually spent time with her. "I think I might be able to after supper…"
"I'll wait for you here then. For now though you best be getting back inside, who knows how long before they find you are out here."
Sarah hurried to her feet. "They can't! I'd be in worlds of trouble." She gave the worm one last nod of deep gratitude before turning and hurrying back down the path towards the castle. "Thank you so much!"
X
Jareth kissed Toby goodnight before placing the already sleeping babe down in his crib, he had been tuckered out and had fallen asleep only halfway through supper. Between that and Sarah missing Jareth hadn't felt like dragging out the meal, eating with some haste before getting up and excusing himself to go put his son to bed.
Toby slept soundly against his pillow, his little chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Jareth was aware of the nurse maid standing somewhere behind him. "Tomorrow we are starting him on solids," Jareth informed her, not bother to glance back.
"Yes your majesty," she agreed tonelessly.
Jareth moved past her and out into the hall, stopping short when he was almost run into by a smaller form. A half second later he realized that he had just almost been run into by Sarah, who was running down the hall towards their room?!
She stopped in her tracks and fear instantly washed over her face along with surprise, she obviously hadn't expected to see him any more than he had expected to see her.
"Sarah?" he asked, wondering if his eyes were maybe deceiving him. He had told her she was to stay in their room for the rest of the night. Why was she in the hall? Jareth looked at her more closely. Why was she covered in dirt?
His fists were trembling before he even knew he was angry. Sarah paled in front of him like all her blood had just left her body and she took a timid step away from him. Jareth could hardly see straight through his anger and his blood pounded in his head, giving him an instant and monstrous headache that did nothing but drive on his anger as he tried to get his head wrapped around what he was seeing.
He had told her she was not allowed to have supper and that she was to go back to their room and stay there for the rest of the night as punishment for disobeying one of his orders. Yet now here she was, standing in the hall on her way to their room with a look of complete guilt and terror on her face and dirt all over her torn up dress. There was more dirt on her hands and arms, a smudge of it on her cheek and her hands and elbows looked red and a little scraped up.
Jareth felt a tremor of fury run down his spine and then suddenly he wasn't shaking anymore.
In fact, he felt very calm… dangerously calm as he surveyed Sarah, who now had started to tremble before him in her fright. "Oh Sarah," he tsked in mocking pity for her, his voice cold enough to almost hide the malevolence he was feeling towards her, "When will you ever learn?"
He reached out and grabbed her arm with amazing speed, clamping down on it with almost all his strength and Sarah screamed at the pain she felt as he dragged her down the hall with him, opening up the door to his room and flinging her inside ahead of him before slamming the door closed and locking it behind them.