Under the Ruby Trees
By Shimya
Inspired by The Labyrinth, which is copyrighted, and not by me!
Chapter Eleven
"What do you mean, she ran into the Labyrinth?" Jareth pressed as Marielle sat before him in a panic.
"She said it was calling to her. She just ran all the way through the Goblin City, to the edge of the Labyrinth! The doors, they opened all by themselves. And Lord Jareth, I think I've gone mad, but I could swear that she was speaking as if through multiple persons!"
"She said it was calling to her…?" Jareth asked, confused. The Labyrinth had never, in all his days as King, done such a thing. Communication with the Labyrinth was reserved for its King, no one else could possibly hold that ability. However, even he had never experienced this so called "calling". His communication was different- more of a feeling rooted deep within his emotional barriers- the Labyrinth had never had a voice.
"Lord Jareth, I'm worried for her. I fear they may still be Vampyre in the Labyrinth…" Marielle said, feeling guilty for letting her go.
"I need to go and find her…"
Just as he moved from his seat, the doors to his throne room opened, Adriel, King of Fae, waltzing in with haste. "Where is he?"
"Who?" Jareth said, surprised by his visit. He had said he was going to speak with him more on matters of Morrigan, but why did he have to choose now?
"I had reports of Orin heading this way. Do you have him? Is he in your dungeons?"
"Orin has not appeared here, King." Jareth lied, bowing in respects. "If he had, I would have apprehended him myself."
However, Adriel did not fall for the façade. He smiled at Jareth eerily, nearing the younger Fae with suspicion in his eyes. "I implore you to be careful of your words, Jareth. Treason has a high price to pay."
Jareth shot him a look of irritation. "I have no such things to hide from you."
Nodding, Adreil looked at Marielle, who sat quietly to herself. "Be careful- housing humans here could bring upon the plague Morrigan has already unleashed upon her own lands."
"What do you mean?"
Adriel sighed, a look of worry coming over his aged features. "Morrigan has let loose her undead victims on her own country. They are attacking everything, even her own people. She must have kept them locked away, for days, weeks, perhaps even months. They are feeding on anything that moves, traveling through the towns and cities of Vibanae."
"How long ago did this happen?" Truly worried now, Jareth approached his former King. "How long?"
"We got the word the same moment the information of Orin came through. It only happened 2 hours ago but….they may very well hit the home front of the Fairie and the Elves sometime tomorrow night perhaps…"
"That's insane! Are you positive of this?"
Adriel looked at the Goblin King with a look of concern. "Jareth…Morrigan has let loose her demon spawn. The war has started."
"Why?" Orin yelled, slamming his fist upon the desk that Morrigan sat behind. She ignored him, her eyes on the land outside the large bay window behind the desk of her combat room. Such a room hadn't been used in years, war never an option to anyone in the Underground since the Human's reign of the North. The sun was setting upon the Underground and the only light that would shine tonight in Vibanae would be the light from the fires that the villages and cities of her country would be reduced to. Tomorrow, only the ashes would remain- a required sacrifice for her ultimate prize.
"You released them on our people- your people! Why couldn't you have moved them to the border? Why are you letting them feed on our own?"
"They are also our own. So lost in their bloodlust, so overwhelmed by the need to feed…I feel so sorry for my little babies…they know not what they do."
"Morrigan, this is insane!"
"Is it, Orin?" She turned toward him, her chair rotating to face his angry form. "Is it truly insane to sacrifice a few lambs for the greater good of the future I see?"
"A few lambs? Our people are not livestock! Our people are not food!"
"Oh please, don't pretend to have a conscience now. You have stood idly by and watched me make these creatures- you've seen their lives crumble beneath my teeth and not once have you cared- just wait, dear boy. Wait and see what these coming weeks will bring us…"
Orin fought the urge in his body to tear her limb from limb, to just lunge at her right then and there. It would be so easy- to take his sword and plunge it through her- to watch her scream and cry as the life drained from her face.
"How could you have done this to your own country?"
She threw her head back and laughed, being as dramatic as ever, letting her shrieks get to the point of hurting his ears. "I have never cared for this country, Orin! These people, they are perfectly fine with settling for this icy wasteland of a home! We get no springs or summers- just dull winters filled with hardships and a second rate existence! If they knew about this plan a year ago they would have tried everything in their power to avoid it- they don't want confrontation from the other kingdoms because they fear what they can do to us! No more!"
She stood from her chair, leaning over her desk with a heated passion as she continued.
"I will not fear them for they are the weaker species! The elves, the fairie, the fae- they are all beneath us! We are the ultimate race- we are Gods in the eyes of those pathetic fools and there is no reason we shouldn't be treated as such! Look at what I have done- I have created life from something dead! I created these beings! No other creature can possibly match me!"
Orin watched her, taking note of the madness in her eyes as she spoke- Morrigan was certainly letting the power get to her head. She thought she was invincible- immortal in every way, shape and form- she thought she was a God.
"What you say is treason against the true Gods-"
Her laughing ceased as she stood immediately, slamming her hands down in an instant rage. "True Gods? There are no 'True Gods'! There is only us- there is only me! And all the stories of 'True Gods' have always been something that the old peoples have clung onto- where in any of those scrolls does it mention us- the vampyre? No where! But it does mention the others. Where does that leave us, Orin? It's obvious! We are the 'True Gods' and anyone who thinks otherwise will die by my own hands!"
"They will strike you down with their ultimate powers that be, Morrigan, mark me!"
"Do you not believe my words?" She pushed her chair aside, gracefully circling her desk, making her way closer to him. "Do you think I'm mad?"
"I think your letting the power of your minions cloud your judgment…" He said quietly, aware he walking on thin ice. He knew not to trust her movements for what he saw in her eyes was death itself.
"Oh, my sweet Orin…I think you may be right…" She collapsed against him, her arms wrapped around him and her face pressed against his chest as she pretended to cry. "I just so wish for this war to be over- for my prize to be delivered to me without the sacrifices…"
He took a breath, one hand caressing her hair as she wept and the other inkling to grasp his sword as his side. It would be so easy…He would just push her aside in haste and plunge the blade through her middle and proceed to tear her to pieces. Then he would win. Vibanae would be his before she had the chance to completely destroy it! He needed to save his Kingdom or he would ultimately rule over nothing!
And then he decided. Grasping the blade at his side, he pushed Morrigan away from him, bringing the sword up and aiming for her middle. But instead of seeing the life drain from her eyes, he felt a twinge of burning pain in his back and felt his legs give way as he went to his knees before her.
"You really thought I'd let you live long enough to turn on me?" She scoffed, a disgusted look on her face. She took another dagger from her dress, identical to the one she had just stabbed through his spine as he pushed her away, and pressed it against his throat.
"Please….Morrigan, I-" Orin stuttered, his end eminent.
"I know you went to see the Goblin King. I knew you'd try to take my prize form me eventually, but that truly was a surprise. Tell me, did he tell you to kill me?"
"Morrigan…please…" He repeated, his breathing erratic.
She sighed. "You useless wretch." And then she slit his throat, his cries turning into drowning gurgles as his blood flowed from his wound onto the marble floors. She licked the dagger and, with a satisfied look, sat back in her seat, looking back out the bay window as her guards took Orin's body away.
"My sweet Kingdom...My Underground...Mine..."
Sarah stood in shock as she saw her family- no, a memory of her family, before her mother had died. She was young, four or five years old, sitting up in bed, her mother and father standing in the doorway. "Are you okay Sarah?"
"Mom?" Sarah asked, reaching her hand out to her dead mother. How was such a thing possible?
Her young self started to cry, the nightmare she had just woken up from frightening her so. Her mother made her way to her and sat on the small bed, wrapping her arms around her. She could almost smell the scent of her day old perfume…
"It was only a dream, Sarah-it's okay."
"But they're coming to get me."
"No one is coming to get you, love." Her mother smiled warmly, promising safety.
"They were in my closet and under my bed…They pinched me, mommy!"
Her mother looked worried and kissed her forehead. "Everything is okay, Sarah. I promise. Do you want to come and sleep with me?"
Small Sarah nodded as her mother picked her up from her bed and rubbed her back in comfort the way mothers do. But as she left the room, she could hear her father whisper, "Why did you 'wish' her away? Now you've given her nightmares that someone's actually going to take her! I can't believe you put that nonsense into her head…"
The image before her dissolved into nothing, only leaving a bare Labyrinth wall behind.
She took a step forward, and once again, the scene changed. It was a valley, bare and littered with fires and smoke. In the distance she could see people- hundreds of people, making their way up hill toward her. What was going on?
"Help me! Help me please!" A woman yelled, a hand reaching for her. "They're coming! They won't stop!" The woman collapsed in Sarah's arms as she tried to assess what was happening. "Who's coming?"
"The fiends! They are not normal! They are not like the rest of us! They have gone mad!" The woman yelled, frantic as her eyes met Sarah's. They were red, dilated with fear. This woman was a vampyre.
"Where can we go?" Sarah asked, her own fear taking over. She remembered her first confrontation with Marielle when she was a ravaging monster and didn't want to stick around to get caught up in hundreds of them.
"The borders! We must go to the borders and beg for salvation from the Elves or the Fairie! Hurry- they're coming! They're coming!"
But suddenly they weren't just coming anymore; they were there, surrounding the two of them completely. They were animals, fangs bared, eyes frantic with hunger. The fear in Sarah's chest made her heart beat so hard and so fast that she thought it would explode. The woman grabbed onto her, the two of them standing back to back in the center of all the chaos.
"This is the end!" The woman cried. "We're doomed!"
And then they pounced, bodies piling up on them, screams erupting from them both. But before she could feel the pain of teeth ripping into her flesh, she felt that same pinch of pain in her chest just as before when she was trapped under Marielle. And blackness took over her vision…
"Are you lost?"
Sarah blinked, her eyes having been wet from tears she didn't know she let loose. The vision was gone now, it was just her, standing in the Labyrinth, a small little man with a long nose and long white beard waddling past.
"She's probably lost. They're always lost." His hat replied. It looked like a red bird, sitting on his head.
"No…I'm not lost." Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes, getting a strange feeling of nostalgia. She remembered this character. He was the man that turned out being completely unhelpful in her previous endeavors to beat the Labyrinth.
"Perhaps you're looking for something then, hm?" The old man replied, taking a seat on a stone bench.
"They're always looking for something. Whether it's this or that- they never find it!" The hat said back.
Sarah thought a moment. Was she looking for something? She was standing in the Labyrinth, the same place she had tried so hard to avoid and escape. But what if she stopped trying to run for once? What if she just listened?
"I'm not looking for anything. Maybe, just answers…" She said, approaching the man.
"In order to find answers you need to ask the right question." The man said, satisfied with his answer.
"How do I know what question I should be asking if I'm not sure of the answers I need?"
"What are you a child or somethin'? Get outa here with your questions!" The hat yelled. The man, annoyed, hit it with his walking cane in response, "Be quiet!"
After the bird silenced, he cleared his throat. "Well, my dear, what questions are plaguing you?"
"I want to know…why I'm here."
"That's not a question!"
She smiled, remembering the playful tricks of this place. "Why am I here?"
"You're here because you want to be. Is there any other reason why people are where they are?"
"What am I supposed to do?" She pressed, not knowing where her questions would lead her, if anywhere.
"You're supposed to do what you're told to do. You seem to be a good girl, miss. Why don't you do something helpful?"
"Yeah, do something helpful and scram…" The bird mumbled.
"Be quiet!" The man hit it with his cane again.
"Am I supposed to help those people? The people that are like Marielle?" Sarah asked. The man, in turn smiled at her. "Is that what you've been told to do?"
Sarah said nothing, just nodded in understanding as she turned to walk away.
"AHEM!" The bird piped up. "What, no tip?" A cup in the man's hand shook with expectation.
"Uhm.." Sarah looked on her person and didn't find anything she could give. All she had were the buttons that kept her blouse together. "I don't have-"
"Don't trouble yourself." The man said, holding out a closed hand to her. "I believe this belongs to you."
Sarah held out her hand, curious as the man dropped a small ring in her palm. It had been the same ring she had given him years ago to pay for the help he hadn't given her. She smiled and he bowed his head in response. "I think you will make a fine queen."
Feeling a little confused, Sarah turned her heel and walked away in a different direction, as if she knew exactly how to get back to the castle.
"Wait, so now you can just give away all our stuff just because some queen lady asks you some questions?" The bird hat yelled. But the man only replied with a snore, making his hat sigh in response. "I just love being your hat."
After wandering through the now familiar doorways and hidden walls of the Labyrinth, Sarah reached the entryway where she left a probably very worried Marielle. As she pressed her hand to the door to open it, she found herself smiling, feeling at ease, as though she knew her purpose. However, the good mood was shortly lived as she opened the door, a very angry looking Goblin King standing before her as if he knew that she was going to come through the door at that very same moment.
"Where have you been?" His voice bellowed, worry evident under his seemingly heated exterior. "Do you have the slightest idea what's going on?"
She took a step back from him and nodded. "Yes. I know exactly what's going on and I also know what to do about it."
Jareth grabbed her arm, bringing her to him. "No, Sarah, I don't think you know anything."
"The Labyrinth told me what to do." She pressed, not moving in his limp grip.
"The Labyrinth doesn't talk. That's not how it works. How could you be so irresponsible and just run back through those doors after what just happened not a few days ago?"
Instead of arguing back, like she normally would, Sarah smiled at him, making him confused. She removed her arm from his grip and instead, wrapped them both around his neck, bringing her lips to his ear. "Trust me, Goblin King. I know what to do."
"Oh Miss Sarah!" Marielle called, running toward the two. She stopped outside the doors, as if she feared entering. "Please, oh, please don't do that again! You frightened me so much!"
She removed herself from the puzzled King and went to Marielle, taking her hand. "I'm sorry. I don't know what made me so entranced…I won't do it again, I promise." As they began walking back, Jareth stayed behind, looking about the Labyrinth walls. "Do not drag her into my mess…" He whispered to it, "This is not her fight and I will not lose her again because of your agenda…"
He turned his heel and began to walk away before getting the eerie feeling that something was watching him. He turned again to see the old man with the bird hat standing there, leaning on his cane.
"Go, creature. Back to your hovel." He ordered. The old man only smiled at him before dissipating into the Labyrinth walls.
Perplexed, Jareth exited the Labyrinth, the doors closing behind him. His eyes glanced over the walls once more before he heard Sarah calling for him to hurry. "I mean it…" He said before heading back toward his new found happiness that he swore to himself he would not lose.
Forgive me for not updating sooner- aahhh, the woes of a college student! I actually had to write a play: A WHOLE ENTIRE PLAY and I will honestly say it is not the same as writing in a novel form and I suck at it. So, it kind of drained me from my writing…actually, it made me want to burn my laptop and never open another Microsoft word document. Ever.
Reviews appreciated! Good stuff is going to happen soon!
