The Unknown Gypsy

Chapter 11

The Parents

Madeline released a sigh as she watched Jareth ridding towards camp. She sat on the steps of her wagon, Marc standing next to her with a grim look on his face. The news they had for him was not going to be easy to tell him, but they had no choice. He would demand to know where Sarah was and if they refused to tell him he would take the disappearance of Besnik as if he took her, but that was not the case. True finding the boy gone from his wagon was troubling, he did not have Sarah. By now she was safe at the High Court with Jareth's parents.

"I was hoping the ground would open up and swallow us before he got back." Marc stated as he watched Jareth jump from his saddle as he entered the camp and started for them.

The smile on his face caused the fortuneteller's stomach to tighten in a sickening way, but she pushed past the feeling of throwing up. "Which should we tell him first." She asked keeping her face emotionless.

"We should start with Besnik, then Sarah. He will not like it that his father is now involved."

"True, but how will he take to not knowing where the boy is, or how he left?"

"I still can't figure that out. He was in no shape to do it himself and for someone to help him without anyone seeing them? Something is going on in the Underground and it does not look good for anyone of us."

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"Sarah...my wife, Akaisha and Mika, Jareth's ward." Carlos introduced the young woman and teenage standing in the front hall. "My dears, the young lady Jareth was telling us about, Sarah."

Sarah bobbed her head towards them. Akaisha, was a beautiful woman looking to be no more then early thirties while her husband looked to be in his early forties. Her hair was the same color as Jareth's, a pale blonde, almost a silver and was twisted into a braid. Her eyes were the bright blue of the sky on a clear day; like one of of Jareth's mismatched eyes. Her dress was like the night sky, a midnight blue sprinkled with silver glitter. "Glitter, what was it with all the glitter?"

The girl, though Sarah was sure she was older then herself, looked to be fourteen maybe fifteen. Her hair was white as freshly fallen snow and hung loose down her back, her grayish blue eyes shinning bright with the shimmering silver robes she was wearing. A large golden staff held behind her back. The top was curved into a crescent moon with the brightest emerald Sarah had ever seen in the middle.

"Sarah? The Sarah?" the woman asked staring at her.

"Lady of the Labyrinth..." Mika stated tilting her head to the side, "Name suits you. Never met anyone the place liked as much as you." The girls statement seemed to draw everyone's attention away from Sarah, which she was grateful for.

"Mika? What in the Underground are you talking about?" Carlos asked.

The girl just grinned and started to sway the rod in her hand back and forth.

"I never could understand you. You are going back with Jareth when he comes for Sarah." Carlos stated shaking his head.

"You must remember, dear husband. Mika is bounded to him. She does think like him at times."

Carlos shook his head, "I know, but it still unnerve me at times. My son bound to the Guardian of the Underground!"

"Yes and everyone believed as you do. He was grown up enough to care for such a responsibility, but he proved and still proving everyone wrong. The Underground is still here and still whole."

Sarah watched as the king and queen argued back and forth while Mika was watching her closely. She seemed to have that same stare that Jareth had given her years ago. She looked nothing like him, but she sure seemed to act like him. Even her aura felt the same, only with a slight difference to the spark.

"Oh, my Sarah. We do apologize for being rude." Carlos offered, drawing her attention back to the couple. "As you ca see, Our son is not a subject we agree on often." He held out his arm for her, "Shall we?" Just as the words left his mouth, Mika giggled and did a back flip in the air vanishing with a small pop and a shower of glitter. More damn glitter!

Akaisha sighed, but smiled at Sarah, "Do not mind her. She can be a hand full at times."

Sarah not wanting to be rude and say that she thought she was odd, spoke softly, "She seems real sweet."

The woman chuckled behind her hand, "Oh, honey don't let her fool you." She waved a hand in the air, "Jareth is about the only one she behaves for since getting wished away."

"I thought she was a Fae?" Sarah asked allowing the king and Jareth's father to lead her down a hallway following her.

"Oh, she is, a very odd kind. She is the first and only Fae that has been wished away." The queen lead them to a siting room where a maid was just leaving out a side door after serving a tray of tea. She was settled in a chair and handed a cup before Akaisha continued. "The odd thing is what Fae she is. It caused great alarm to know that the Guardian of the Underground was wished away, though many can't say it was bad thing. She was hurt and in need of a healer when she arrived at the goblin castle oh..."

"Over four hundred years ago. Jareth had just been King of the Goblins for a few decades, Remember?" Carlos helped his wife. "He was shocked to find her, no wisher or anything. The labyrinth had just swept her away plucking her in my son's lap, so to speak of, my dear."

Sarah was surprised, "Oh, my. Did you ever figure it out?" she asked looking between the two.

Akaisha shook her head, "Nope, but we learned a lot more over the years. The hard way of course. Being taking the way she had been caused her to be bound to the Labyrinth and Jareth. She feels what he does and he the same with her, though she doesn't express it as much as he does."

"Is that dangerous?" Sarah asked causing Jareth's parents to look at her surprised.

"We found out how dangerous a few yeas after she became the servant of the Labyrinth. He had been chasing an elf princess for a few months, close to asking her to be his bride if I remember right..." she looked at her husband to confirm her statement. When he shrugged she continued, "Well, something happen, the dwarf kingdom started arguing about the mining camps on the elves land. One slipped in, and killed her."

"Oh my!"

"Yes, her parents were devastated from the news of their only daughter being killed. Jareth though, took it harder and...well," She looked at her husband again with a frown.

He took over for her, seeing it was hard for her, "Mika felt his pain, his anger...She went on a rampage which came close to a massacre, not many Dwarfs are alive because of it. Jareth was able to calm himself enough to go after her and stop her, but the damage had already been done." He sighed, "Jareth had vowed never to allow his emotion to affect Mika that way ever again."

Sarah frowned, "The dwarfs..."

Akaisha shook her head, "The dwarfs were easy to handle, it was the fact that she remembered it, until Jareth blocked her mind. Until he did that, it seemed a dark cloud hovered over the labyrinth. She refused to leave it."

Sarah was shocked. She was overwhelmed with this new information. Jareth had taken that girl under his wing so to speak and now they were bound to each other. That statement she had made about meeting someone the place liked was odd. She wasn't just bound to the man, but to his kingdom as well. A place that was a living thing and according to this odd Fae, liked her. Sarah suddenly started to feel warm and the room grew fuzzy. Last thing she heard was the china cup crashing to the floor and the couple's worried voices.

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I do wish to say sorry, I have been busy and the problem of writer's block. I also know it is a short chapter. I will make the next one longer, I promise. Jareth will be showing up at the castle soon and just wait for father and son to meet once again.