"Sound the alarm!" Jareth commanded. His eyes were set with determination. "I want every able and willing citizen to be armed to protect their homes!"
"Yes Sire!" Charles ran off to do his duty.
Jareth grabbed Sarah's hand and they ran out of his office. "Julia!"
Julia transported in front of him. She was dressed in a practical uniform for her healer status. "Sire."
"Be ready in the sick bay with Aaron and direct anyone lost to me."
"On it." She ran off.
Goblins ran around in utter chaos. Jareth snapped at them. "All of you! Go to your homes and stay there. Protect yourselves and protect your children."
They nodded and did as told.
Jareth tug Sarah's hand. "We're going to the sick bay. But first:"
He snapped his fingers and Sarah found herself surrounded in glitter. Looking down, she saw that her dress had transformed to an outfit meant for a knight. She had on chainmail on top of a comfortable shirt with brown tights underneath brown boots. She looked at Jareth and saw that he was dressed in armor as well.
They transported to the sick bay. On the bed was a knight whose eyes were rolled into the back of his head as he moaned in pain. He had a large, bloody wound on his side as Julia and Aaron worked on him.
Sarah and Jareth kept a good distance on him so the healers could do their work.
"Was he the one who was at the portal to the Overground?" Sarah asked. There were a lot of the same green marks on him.
"Yes." Jareth said. "Once he is stable, I hope to question him on what happened."
A few minutes passed by and Ronan was stable. He was clearly in pain but he turned towards Jareth with determination to do his duty.
"Sire, he is stable enough for questioning but try to not stress him." Aaron warned the king.
"Thank you." Jareth gave a nod. "Sir Ronan?"
"Sire, something came and attacked me. I couldn't see what it was." He let out a cough.
"What do you mean?" Jareth raised an eyebrow.
"I mean that I could feel the pain but not see the cause. No shadow, no nothing." He winced. "I was just standing at my post then all of a sudden, I could feel pain searing to my arm."
He lifted his arm to show that he had the same, oozing green slashes as Sarah and Toby had. "Funny enough, my armor is unharmed but I have a wound in me still."
"Could be because they're supernatural, for lack of a better word." Sarah offered. "Maybe that's why they can go through clothes."
"Damn." Jareth massaged his temple. "How do we fight a foe we can't see? And what's the news I heard about humans?"
"The part about humans comes from Captain Annette." Ronan let out another cough, this time with blood.
Jareth bowed his head slightly. "I will leave you to heal, soldier. Thank you for your service. May the gods be with you."
"Same to you, Sire."
Sarah followed Jareth as he turned on his heel. She had tried to be quiet most of the time to let Jareth and others do their duties, only asking questions or giving input whenever she thought it would be valuable. She was grateful for everyone for being gracious with her and for Jareth being mindful of her. She knew that as the link to Toby, she was valuable in knowing what was happening but she also suspected that her newfound romance with Jareth had something to do with it too.
"Jareth?" She ran to catch up with him. He was so much taller than her and had such long legs.
"Captain Annette is in charge of the magicians I had sent to monitor the 7 continents." He said to her. "She would know what's happening with humans. We're going to the Orb Room and it's better to walk there than to transport."
Sarah didn't ask why. There wasn't time and she figured that she would just ask him later.
They approached the room. It was a dark room with a glowing ball in the middle. 7 people in robes, all of different species, were surrounding it. An elf in armor stood away from the globe, out of place with the other creatures.
"Captain Annette." Jareth said.
The elf gave a short head bow. She looked small but Sarah could see in her eyes that she was stronger than she looked. She thought about how wonderful it was that Jareth did not discriminate between species or gender. He just chose whoever was the best for the job.
"Sire." The captain said. "Humans are falling all of a sudden by an unseen force, particularly Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia."
"The night side of the earth, right?" Sarah asked.
"Correct, my lady." The captain nodded. "The interesting thing is, no one is dead. They seem to just be fainting. Some seem to be in mental anguish as if they're having nightmares."
"Good, that means we have time to negotiate or figure out whatever the hell is happening without worrying as much about casualties." The king stated. He adjusted his gloves and gave another one of his intense glares.
A whirlwind of thoughts were circling in Sarah's mind. Everything was happening so fast, and the escalation of danger was exponential. She thought about the letter with Ronan's blood in it. She thought about Toby, about her time in the haunted house…
And it hit her.
Wordlessly, she went to one of the windows and yanked the curtains opened. To her horror, her hunch was right.
"Sarah we need those to be closed!" Jareth said. "We need darkness to observe the Aboveground."
Sarah pointed out the window. "Do you guys see that?!"
Jareth and Annette looked at each other then at Sarah. Annette looked outside. "Um, no my lady. I see only the clear sky and the Labyrinth."
"Shit." Sarah looked at Jareth. "I see ghosts all around, trying make their way in."
Jareth's eyes widened in panic. "WHAT?" He made his way to the window. "Sarah, what do you see?"
Sarah tried to calm her racing heart as she described what she was seeing. "There's see through things that I assume are ghosts, just wandering around. There's creepy weird creatures, oh my god why does that thing look like venom from spider man?"
Jareth summoned his scepter. It flew into his hand and he created a crystal. "Citizens of the Goblin Kingdom! Arm yourself and place spells on your homes, the emergency ones for Overgrounders! Inform other kingdoms to secure themselves NOW!"
Jareth was sweating buckets. He faced Sarah. "Shit. What if this was happening Above and no one could see it but you?"
Sarah clapped a hand over her mouth.
Oh god.
"Talk about upping the stakes." She mumbled. "Why weren't the homes secured with a spell before?"
"Because that takes an incredible amount of energy." Annette said. "I pray that the army will be able to secure the homes of those who do not have the ability to use magic."
Jareth put his head in his hands. He hadn't had any sleep in days, literally. And he was feeling close to vomiting from all this crazy shit happening.
"We need to go Above." He said thickly. "We need to survey the humans. Sarah, I hate to ask you-"
"I'm going of course." She said. "You need me to be able to see them."
Jareth nodded. Honestly, he had a mind to lock her up in a tower to keep her safe. He didn't want to risk losing her, he just got her back in his life. "Okay, stick with me then. As there are magical creatures here, I think it is best that the two of us go Above."
"I will keep charge, Sire." Annette gave a nod. "You need to help the humans, may I suggest bringing a healer? One who could fight as well?"
"My sister is good with human anatomy, I will bring her if Aaron doesn't need her." He gave a nod.
They walked to the sick bay. Sarah rapped on his shoulder, her body tensing up from the whole situation. "Jareth, how will I protect myself? I have magic don't I?"
"Shit." He cursed. "Okay, really, really quick crash course. Julia and I will protect you but you can do some rudimentary magic. Let me contact her and we will go Above."
He contacted Julia, and they were going to go to a portal that would drop them off in Thailand, as it was nighttime there and they would be able to use their magic.
"Hold out your hands." He instructed Sarah.
Sarah held her hands out.
"Now clear your head of thoughts. Reach into yourself and think of a shield."
Sarah did as was told. Nothing happened.
Until Jareth began to pellet her with crystals. Lucky for her, they were small.
"Hey!" She yelled.
"Protect yourself!" He told her.
Sarah pulled into her own energy. Jareth saw her eyes glow purple as before. A strong but invisible dome surrounded her as the crystals kept on coming.
"Good." He said. "Now I'll show you how to make fire crystals. How is your aim?"
"Pretty good, I played softball and did karate for a while." Sarah never would've expected that those sports would help her now with fighting creepy monsters from a different realm.
"These are considerably harder as they're offensive rather than defensive." He took her hands in his. "Close your eyes."
He had her feel what a crystal should feel like in her hands, a slightly smaller one that ones he usually made. He coached her through meditation and focusing when noise was all around her.
After a few tries, Sarah made small and large fire crystals. Jareth was impressed. "You learn quite fast."
"I've been told that. It did take me 13 hours to do a whole 180 when it came to my attitude." She looked at him with a smile.
Jareth gave her a soft smile back. In that moment, in the middle of chaos, he was able to appreciate having her by his side. His lips ached for hers to touch his again but he pushed those thoughts off. They would have time for that later, as would everything else.
In a swirl of magic, Julia appeared next to them. She had on armor as well as some medical supplies in her bag. "I'm here, Jareth."
"Perfect. Aaron told me of some developments of some people fainting?" He asked worriedly.
"Yes. We haven't figured out a way to wake them yet but as their conditions seem stable, in deep sleep, they will be fine so Aaron will heal the ones who are in more immediate physical danger."
"It sounds like the sleeping spell on humans." Sarah said. "None of the humans are hurt, weirdly enough. Do you think it's a trap for them to attack us?"
"Possibly." Jareth said. "Which is why we will stick together. As it is nighttime in Thailand at the moment, Julia and I are able to transport back and forth though our magic is weakened so it would be better to be near a physical portal."
Julia watched both of them talking back and forth, a small smile on her face. Finally, her brother was able to meet someone who regarded him as his equal. Not above him, not beneath him, but his equal. She could see that Sarah had respect for herself to not be pushed around but was also smart enough to know her place when it came to letting Jareth rule and be king. The body language Jareth shared with Sarah was beyond attraction. It was respect and adoration for her. And Julia fully approved of her brother with such a woman.
"What are you smiling at?" Jareth nearly barked at his sister. His temper was about to fizz into an explosion from the lack of sleep.
"Nothing." Julia smiled even more, unnerving both the king and his champion. "Come, we should get going. Every second gone is a second that they're getting stronger."
They approached the portal. Jareth stood in the middle, holding his hands out to Julia and Sarah. Both women had on the matching pendant that Jareth had, embedded with magic. Sarah had one of Julia's swords on her hip.
"Let's save the world." Sarah said.
1, 2, 3…
They all went into the portal and appeared in what looked like a fairly rural area. They could see houses sorting along the river bank and rice fields. To Jareth and Julia, it was a lovely sight as the stars were clear and the full moon hanging over the fields, reflected in the river. There were crickets chirping as well. The only thing that was a bit of a nuisance was the fact that it was the rainy season and they were standing right in the mud.
"Ew, my boots." Jareth lifted a foot up and wrinkled his nose at the mud that dirtied his well polished boot.
"You worry too much about appearance and style." Julia shook her head. "You're ridiculous. Sarah, tell him he's ridiculous."
Sarah didn't answer and Julia looked over to the human woman. "Sarah?"
Even in the dark, Jareth and Julia could see Sarah's pale face, blood rushing away. Her green eyes were opened wide and her breaths came out in short pants.
Jareth and Julia took their places behind her, though they couldn't see what was wrong. Jareth put a protective hand on her shoulder. "Sarah?"
The moment they landed, Sarah gasped at seeing the demon in front of her. It was large, about 10 feet tall in height though it's tail could add more than twice that length.
It had the upper body of a man and the lower half of a snake. Grey and dead looking but also not quite dead. Its eyes were a deep, deep red and the twin horns on the head angled backwards. On each hand were two finger like appendages, and they were both claw-like and as long as its arm. The deep red eyes flashed in amusement at her opened mouth, the sneer filling her soul with some kind of unnamable emotion that was akin to fear.
It let out a deep and throaty laugh. "This isn't your world anymore, young queen. It is mine."
It swiped a hand to the ground, sending the mud flying in their direction. The force was strong enough for all three to lose their balance.
Jareth wiped the mud from his eyes, the dirt gathering in his hair while Julia coughed up a good amount of dirt. An invisible force to the two fae swept up Julia in a mini tornado, swirling her away and plopping her on the field.
"JULIA!" Jareth screamed after his sister.
"Stop it!" Sarah cried. "Just stop!"
A fog surrounded her and the demon. He let out a throaty laugh. "You think you can stand against me, human?" The demon's voice was mocking and cutting. "You think that HE will protect you?" He gestured towards Jareth's direction.
Sarah chewed on her bottom lip. Her hands were clenched to her side in fists. Searching deep in her soul, she thought about her anchor, her reason, her purpose and let that fuel her. She spoke with eloquence and grace even in her fear. "You will be defeated. Where is my brother?"
The demon gave a sly smile. He flicked his wrist and in front of her was Toby in that same damned cage as before.
Instinctively, she ran towards the sleeping boy but was propelled backwards. Using her sword, she dragged it on the ground to stabilize herself.
"Let me see him!" Sarah demanded. Unknown to her, her eyes started to glow purple and the sheer determination in her was adding to the magic swirling inside her veins.
The demon saw the power inside of her. He didn't let her see the fear in his eyes, but he did change his tactic as he could see that wiping her out wasn't going to be so easy. "Little queen, join us and you can have your brother. Unharmed and unchanged."
"And why the hell should I trust you?" Sarah tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. "What use do you have for me?"
"We have no use for humans or the Aboveground." His rumbling voice seem to shake the very earth itself. "We want to live, just as you do."
"Live? That's a funny word considering that you're of the undead." Sarah fired at him. Her eyes weren't glowing as brightly but the power was still there.
"What did your king tell you? Did he tell you that his kind shoved us all into our own dimension?" The demon roared. "Why would you trust him? What has he done to promise you that he is to be trusted?"
"He wasn't the one who kidnapped my brother." Sarah held the sword in front of her. "He helped me and risked his own life!"
"Because you are so, so valuable to him." He inched a little closer to Sarah. "You have power. Why would he desire you otherwise? What would he do to you? Hmm?"
Sarah faltered. She couldn't think of a good answer to that for she was also worried about the same thing. Did Jareth have ulterior motives with her? This wasn't just another man in her life. He was a king with powers unknown to her.
"I see you're questioning yourself. Good." The demon used a claw to tip Sarah's face up to see his eyes. "I have underestimated you and your determination."
"Understatement of the year." Sarah glared at him.
"I will cease this chaos to humans. I will send my minions to the Underground instead. How about we alter the deal, queen? You can rule the Underground by yourself. Or with your brother. You can have everything you want. You can have whatever dreams, whatever fantasies you want and live in that world forever."
He let go of her face. "What will it be, Champion and queen? Will you join us? Will you let us take our place as creatures of the magical world?"
Sarah looked to the side. She knew that he meant every word he said. He would not harm humans. He would give her any fantasy, any dream she wanted. She wasn't sure how she knew he was telling the truth, but she did.
The demon smiled broadly at her thinking face. This was too easy. Humans were so simple, so quick to manipulate with their desires and dreams. It was too bad that they weren't magical, only some of them were. If he was able to have the Underground, well, he could take whatever he wanted.
Sarah looked at the demon again. "Why did you take Toby?"
"Because he had faith, he's a changeling just like you." He answered her. She would come to him soon enough, just a few more moments. "He has power just like you do, but you have more of it. Give it to us so we can be free from our world that's not really a world."
"You hurt him." Sarah hissed. "That's unforgivable."
"We had to convince you to join us somehow." His patience was thinning. "But as I said, we underestimated you. Fear and threats were the wrong way to convince you to see us. We have not harmed him to the point where he cannot be made back into the child he was."
Sarah turned and looked at Jareth, who was struggling to revive Julia. The king was sifting through her bag, trying to look for anything to wake her up.
"You see?" The demon had an almost sympathetic voice. "He doesn't even care about you."
Sarah felt stronger by the minute. Oh, that demon. Not knowing that he had lost the moment he told her that he would give her any dream, any fantasy.
She had been made that offer long ago, and had turned it down for something real.
"Answer me this: What would you trust that fae with? What is holding you back from taking my offer?"
Sarah slowly lifted her face to look into his eyes again. The demon, for the first time, was scared of what he saw in her.
Amusement.
"I have been offered my dreams before and rejected it for the same reason: Toby." She took a step closer. "You made a mistake thinking that I will cower before you? You have turned my world upside down, but you didn't do it for me."
She stabbed her sword up in the air. "You asked me what I trust Jareth with. I trust him with more than my life. I trust the king of goblins with the life of my brother and with my own heart!"
A noise of swords being drawn filled the air. Even without turning around, Sarah knew what was happening.
Like a dark, avenging angel, Jareth leapt up with two swords and landed beside her. His hair flowered all around him like the sun's corona, majestic and unearthly. His eyes were set in power.
When Julia was thrown backwards, Jareth tried to grab Sarah but his champion was engulfed in a fog. Try as he might, he couldn't find her.
"DAMN!" He screamed. Not even his pendant was tethering her to him. It seemed that whatever was holding her was too strong.
He ran to Julia instead, checking up on his sister. Just like her patients, she was also knocked out cold.
"Julia? Julie?" He called her by her nickname. "Hey, wake up. Please."
Still no response.
He dug into her bag to find something, anything to get her up. He tried to use his magic to feel for what was wrong but of course, it was no use. He checked over her and saw no markings on her.
Jareth growled and wailed in pain. He was helpless and unable to assist Sarah. He had failed to save Toby and now he was going to lose both Sarah and Julia too.
He held his sister's hand. "Julie, my baby sister, please don't leave me."
Then, in the distance, he heard a voice.
The fog started to clear a little. Jareth's eyes widened at seeing a large, formidable serpentine demon. It was still hard to see with all the fog, but he could make a out a smaller figure.
Sarah.
"I have been offered my dreams before and rejected it for the same reason: Toby." His champion took a step closer. "You made a mistake thinking that I will cower before you? You have turned my world upside down, but you didn't do it for me."
She stabbed her sword up in the air. "You asked me what I trust Jareth with. I trust him with more than my life. I trust the king of goblins with the life of my brother and with my own heart!"
At this, Jareth grabbed his and Julia's sword. He unsheathed them and leapt up into the night sky to land next to Sarah. Even with the mud still caked on his face and body, he looked and felt every bit as the strong king as he always was.
"Then say goodbye to everything and everyone you ever loved!"
Years later, this would be a phenomena that no one would be able to explain. No one would understand how Sarah was able to know how to do what she did. No one would be able to explain why Jareth didn't question it and just went along with what she was doing. But they did.
Sarah lifted her hand above the air then pulled down a purple crystal, swirling with the essence of her magic. At the same time, Jareth also made a crystal but his was swirling blue.
Both of them willed their gloves away and held hands with each other, bare skin on bare skin. The moment the touched, the crystals glowed even brighter. The demon moved backwards, never seeing a power source this strong and so dense in one area before.
Sarah let out a war cry. She fused her crystal with Jareth's. Together, they threw their crystals at the demon, hitting his heart.
The demon wailed and lashed at them but the king and his champion remained unharmed.
Still hand in hand, Jareth and Sarah leapt from the ground to strike him with their swords. A dance, a battle for the ages. Twisting and turning, they moved as if they were synchronized in perfect execution.
At last, Jareth threw one of his swords at Sarah. He linked his two hands together. "Sarah!"
Sarah caught the sword in perfect timing. Seeing his hands linked, she knew what she had to do.
She ran and using his hands as leverage, she jumped into the air and sliced the demon's head off.
"YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER US!"
I am so sorry this took a while, I have a midterm next week and had a large paper to write. I will finish this story, don't worry!
Why Thailand? Because I'm from there and it's the opposite side of America where it's currently daytime in this story lol. I hope this chapter was okay, I don't know I'm not very good with battle scenes I feel and I hope it didn't seem like defeating the demon was too easy since Sarah had to fight with her own inner demons. In my mind, Jareth and Sarah had to learn to trust each other. Their main battle was the haunted house, this was just them finishing it off.
Also, this story evolved way more than I had planned so this chapter and the last was kind of a surprise one. I hope you'll still enjoy it as I finish it off with some more cute Jareth and Sarah scenes! I would love reviews to see what you think of it and I'm sorry I'm not so good at tying things up as I'd like.