Chapter 11 – A manifestation of your true self
Sarah, meanwhile, had been getting very agitated. Her job as Goblin Queen was relatively easy, the magic in the crystals told her what to do, how to act, what to say. The dizziness and disorientation after transportation had gone now. But instead, a dull pain had started up all along her spine. She felt slightly light-headed and her entire body tingled, almost like pins and needles, but it was everywhere. She was getting worried now. She'd wanted to contact Jareth but at the same time, she didn't want to bother him if he was busy. He'd trusted this task to her, she didn't want to let him down, make him think she wasn't up to the job. To distract herself from her thoughts, she looked into the last remaining crystal to see how Amanda was progressing through the junkyard. It was almost time to call the guards for the final battle. Sarah couldn't help but wonder though, why Amanda was alone. By the time Sarah had reached the castle she had three friends, whilst, although Amanda had met many creatures on her journey, she had made friends with none of them, neither had they decided to accompany her on he journey. Sarah was unsure whether Amanda's was the rare case, or whether her own was. She suspected it was the latter and resolved to ask Jareth when Amanda had finished her tasks.
At that moment the ache in her back turned into an agonizing pain that ran the entire length of her spine. Sarah dropped the crystal in her hand and fell to her knees screaming in agony.
She could barely breathe and her mind was so consumed by her pain she only realised Jareth was present when she felt him let her go and move away from her rapidly. The pain impossibly increased in intensity and her confusion had hardly registered when she felt a final burst of pain as not only did the fabric of her clothes rip, but so did the skin all the way down her back.
The immediate release from the pain drowned out any other thoughts in Sarah's mind, and all she could do was lay there relishing the numbness that now flowed through her body. Slowly her mind began to focus again and she became aware of Jareth calling her name. She opened her eyes to find him knelt in front of her, but instead of the worry she'd expected to see on his face, she found him smiling. Her confusion growing, she pushed herself up onto her knees and as she did felt something brush her legs. As she reached round to brush it off she found something completely unexpected. Instead of brushing away a stray leaf or petal, she found herself touching the softest silk she'd ever felt. As her fingers brushed against it, they slid down the object smoothly, there was no friction at all. Yet instead of it being thin and flimsy, it was a few millimetres thick, and although supple, it was also incredibly strong. Sarah could almost feel the working of the muscles inside as her body react to her touch and instinctively moved the wings out of the way of her hand. With a gasp of shock Sarah realised she now had wings. Just like the Fae statues she'd seen in Hoggle's garden, she was now a human-sized version of the tiny faeries that had bitten her hand on her first visit to the Labyrinth.
At that moment Jareth dropped to one knee, bowing his head and although Sarah could see his lips moving, she couldn't hear what he was saying. Less than a minute later he stood up and reached an arm down to help Sarah to her feet. There was silence for a few seconds before Sarah asked what he'd been doing.
"Giving thanks to the Labyrinth, you may have only been here a week but clearly you've shown your worth already. Your magic has been bestowed upon you and such an act deserves thanks, even from a king." He paused slightly before continuing. "Sarah, you've been granted one of the highest forms in the Underground, you're on a par with Fae, above them even for your magic is superior. You are a true Faerie."
The power of his words struck pure awe into Sarah's heart, through all their talk of magic it had never seemed real that she herself would actually be blessed with it, never mind being a true Faerie.
"But, I haven't done anything. How can I have proved my worth I've only been here a week and I've done nothing!"
Jareth chuckled before replying, "My dear Sarah, don't you see, you don't need to do anything to prove your worth, it's every little thing you do that shows it. The way you care for the children, the way you've composed yourself throughout Amanda's run of the Labyrinth, the way you treat the staff at the castle and all the creatures of the Underground. You're a true Queen, it's evident in your every action, it doesn't take long for quality like that to shine through. But the manifestation of your powers means something else, it marks you as a true Fae, and also as my betrothed and therefore future Queen."
Once again Sarah was flabbergasted. The thought of her as a queen was so alien to her, her mind couldn't comprehend it. She tried thinking about it logically, she was the partner of the Goblin King, it made sense that in time they'd marry and she'd become queen. Yet her mind kept going back to the childhood fantasy of growing up and being a princess, her logical mind simply could not see that as a reality.
Smiling at the look on his beloved's face Jareth continued, "Don't worry Sarah, you'll have a lot of training before it's time for you to take your role as queen. Right now you need to set Amanda's last task."
Sarah shook her head in a physical effort to clear her thoughts, but as she tried to summon the final crystal to tell her how to set the task nothing happened. She saw Jareth shake his head before saying, "No Sarah, not this time, now it's time for you to set the task." With that, he simply disappeared.
Sarah was left stunned by his words, but almost instantly a calm descended. It seemed she was finally getting used to some of the twists and turns the Labyrinth was throwing at her. She decided the first thing she needed to do was check on Amanda. Holding out her hand she focused her mind on summoning, not a crystal this time, but simply a way in which to view Amanda. She felt a burst of energy shoot through her arm and when she opened her eyes, in her palm was a perfect red rose in full bloom, large enough that it almost covered her full palm. Floating a few inches above the rose was a sphere of light and in this she could see the image of Amanda walking through the goblin city. There was none of the hesitation Sarah had shown when she and her companions made their way through it, only a pure determination that she would win back her brother. Smiling to herself Sarah summoned the goblin army to her side, gave them her instructions and sent them off to delay the girl while she made preparations for the final task. Closing her hand both the rose and sphere of light disappeared and with only a moment's concentration, Sarah had transported herself to the castle, just inside the entrance.
She lost no time in getting to work once there. She knew that Jareth had obviously had the Goblins build a room for Amanda's last task, but as he clearly wasn't going to let her use that room, and there was no time for the Goblins to build the room she had envisioned, she simply had to use magic to create it.
Holding out her palm she once again created a rose with the sphere. Closing her eyes this time she envisioned the corridor in which she was standing in her mind. Slowly she began to change the image, placing a door directly in front of her, and then she began to imagine a room behind it, and changed it to fit the task. As she was envisioning all this she focused her power through her arm and into her sphere of light, channelling her magic to make the vision real, and indeed when she finally opened her eyes she saw before her exactly what she'd seen in her mind. Grinning with pride at what she'd achieved she also noticed that unlike the weariness she'd felt after using Jareth's magic, now that she was using her own she felt only elation in it.
Smiling once more she walked through the door in front of her and sat down on the opposite side of the room to wait for Amanda to appear. She didn't have to wait long, soon enough she heard the doors to the castle open and footsteps running inside seconds before the door to the room she now stood in opened. Amanda ran a few steps into the room before stopping dead. The footpath in front of her disappeared sharply and Amanda barely had time to register this before stopping, almost going over the edge in her shock. The room itself had no floor, simply dropping down into a large circular hole to which there seemed to be no bottom. Sarah stood on the slight ledge at the opposite side of the room and next to her stood Jake, looking composed, but his eyes betrayed the fear he felt for his sisters' safety, stood so close to the edge.
Amanda stared at Jake and then Sarah for a few moments, trying to make up her mind as to what to do next. Yet Amanda wasn't one for thinking things through long, and after less than a minute she began to speak.
"Give him to me."
Sarah laughed a little in response before saying. "You make a demand and yet it comes out as a request. What authority do you have over me that I would just hand him over?"
"Stop it! Just stop it ok! I got here, I fought my way through and I won, now just give him to me!"
Once again Sarah laughed before replying. "Fought you have, long and hard, and yet here you stand, Jake on one side, you on the other. Such a pity that you should fight so long only to fall at the end."
"I will not fall!!!"
"So you say and yet you stand no closer to Jake than you did when you first entered this room. Your voice holds conviction but your actions say nothing. Go home Amanda. Just say the words and that future you so longed for will be yours. Jake will be happy here. You will be happy there. All the troubles you've had will go away, your boyfriend will return, your choice of university's will be yours, and no longer will you have the jealous voice of your brother turning your happiness to pure bitterness. You'll be free Amanda, as will he."
As she'd been speaking Sarah had begun to slowly walk towards Amanda, seemingly walking on air. She'd held out her hand and formed the rose and sphere.
"All you have to do is take it Amanda, take it and all this will go away. You have no power here, no magic. You cannot walk on air like I do. How do you expect to win your brother back?"
For a moment Amanda wavered, for the first time since she'd wished her brother away despair began to set in. The situation presented to her was an impossible one, and after all she'd fought through to get here, to fail right at the end sucked the hope from her and left her broken. Almost unthinkingly she reached out her hand for the sphere. But as she did her eyes flicked to her brother, and the spell of Sarah's words broke. A fierceness came into Amanda's eyes, just as Sarah had known it would. Lowering her hand Amanda looked Sarah straight in the eye, and without even glancing down she simply stepped off the ledge. Sarah had a second to register the shock in Amanda's eyes as she began to fall, before she poured power into the sphere, making it expand and fill the room with a blinding white light. Both Amanda and Jake shut their eyes against the light, and when they opened them found themselves back in their kitchen at home.
Sarah never saw their reunion, never saw the pure joy of their having beaten the Labyrinth. Her part in their tale was done. She'd tested Amanda, tried to break her will, but Amanda had challenged her right back, and in the end she'd found the faith in herself that she needed to take that step towards her goal. Sarah's final test had given her, not only her brother back with a newfound respect and appreciation for him, but it had also shown her that she was a strong individual, and that her future was not out of her hands. Sarah allowed herself a small smile, knowing that Amanda's future now held the happiness that comes from finding it yourself before she felt arms encircle her waist. Smiling even more she leaned back into Jareth's arms, comforted by his presence.
"Well done my pet. It seems the Labyrinth was right, you are indeed meant to be a Queen." Spinning her round to face him Jareth place a finger under Sarah's chin, lifting her face a planting a chaste kiss on her lips. "My Queen." With that he transported them both back to their chamber and all thoughts of Sarah's victory as Goblin Queen went out of both their heads.