Wow a whole year withouth me? Look, here it is the penultamite chapter. I'm proud of this one, drama suspense, a death...but who's? Is it really a death...read to find out my fellow Labyrinth fans!
They walked sided by side in silence, Jareth looked on ahead then back at Sarah checking her vitals – Was she hobbling? No, was she bruised? Yes. He could see her teeth grind with the pain, was it a bad injury - could Sarah be losing blood? Thankfully there wasn't but he was desperate to talk to her, reassure her and hold her in his arms.
"Have you been treated well?" The fae said gruffly
"Apologies Thaddeus but there will be no talking unless told otherwise" Airk feigned remorse and humility, as if he would waste his time on such things! Jareth snapped his head back, fire raging in those sapphire eyes but he kept silent.
He kept walking then had an idea, he knew it was temporary resolution for his enemy was a heathen and knew telepathy, every fae did. It was manners that rebuked the use of that magic, not that people didn't dabble every so often.
"Sarah, hear me...answer my question were you treated well are you hurt. My darling forgive me, I should have posted a guard"
Sarah was startled but looked down at her feet, the corridor was long and gloomy the only light came from triangular torches that adorned the walls. Marble of navy blue and ice white covered the floor. With her feet bare it made her shiver.
"The grynoan's talons have punctured my skin and bruised some ribs, I'm okay. You should have stayed to protect Toby" She replied softly, it was all through her mind of course but her reply was soft and very cautious.
"He has a legion, you have none not at your disposal anyway" Once again the fae king forgot was it was to be human and remembered briefly how brusque he used to be.
"Now, now, now is that anyway to talk to a lover Jareth? It's obvious you wooed women through another's tongue, a minstrel perhaps?" Airk was sardonic, his foot soldiers opened the doors and the captives were blinded by a room of white stone with red specks dotted in white marble.
A window hung from above, separated in the middle with a huge iron lock.
This was a room an entrance for the Grynoan's, somewhere to launch into the sky and cause havoc above and below. At least that was what Jareth hoped but he could remember something else, he couldn't recall what exactly but he felt the strangest sense of dread.
"Rather wasteful to glee over a man's past Airk especially since I don't remember half of it, your approach to vengeance is quite a peculiar one" Jareth mocked, he stepped closer to Sarah as he realised the warlock was changing tact.
Sarah looked around at the grandiose surroundings that did not suit the archetypal villain; it was white for one thing, clean for another and even majestic. She backed away one she noticed too late that the lanky magician was charmed by her interest.
"Not what you were expecting? Would a cauldron in the middle or a cobweb or two be more satisfactory? Not all good is the colour of angel feathers, not all bad is the colour of night. Bad can be purple, red. Good can be any colour like pink..." Airk was smirking sinisterly then suddenly the room came to life, with masked dancers.
Sarah looked down as her ropes disappeared and the shroud was replaced by the familiar pink ball gown. Arrogantly adding insult to injury Airk Tathar donned the embroidered tunic that Jareth wore that special night so very long ago. He even began humming the tune, Jareth was incensed.
"I'd thought I'd try wooing your woman, it doesn't matter if you mind you are after all my prisoner...But she doesn't have to be, yes indeed I have many plans for her" Airk deliberated as he waltzed, Sarah looked away from his gaze. She waltzed with him but Jareth could see her disdain waning, for she was falling into the illusion only this time there was no chair to hold neither the mirror to break with it.
"She is a woman of her own will, she is mine when she says she's mine that does not allow you to make her your pawn for I will die before that happens" Jareth warned him, every word spoken out in a growl. He didn't raise his voice, the rebel King didn't need to
"I may take your offer but you will indulge me Jareth; love-fool, court jester, forsook an entire kingdom for a mortal girl? The general is better suited in that throne room while I weld Morpharia" Airk stopped waltzing, Sarah fell to her knees and narrowly escaping hypnosis, Cormac ran to her side and helped her up.
Jareth suppressed his worry over Sarah and feigned the most mocking laughter he could ever enact but if he had time to think about it the heathen's notion truly was absurd.
"So that's it, you believe you can wield Morpharia, a living thing, the trace of a Goddess, the creator of the labyrinth? You are a marvel of madness Sir!" Jareth was laughing but his eyes were cold, so very cold.
"You broke the rules Jareth, if a mortal child can become King then surely I would fare better, Fae, Goblin, Mortal. Azores Jareth once I have that nothing will stop me" Airk's voice whispered his malice and he swaggered right up to his adversary's face, Jareth didn't flinch.
"I am the seventh heir of the Goblin Kingdom, Polaris is my guide, magic is my gravitas and you will not defeat...me" Jareth launched a crystal into his foe's chest; the power threw him far across the room. The two foes exchanged lightning bolts, gravity pulls and the strongest gales. Sarah huddled into a corner.
Jareth's rage was too easily spent and Airk gained the advantage.
"So I will use love to defeat you Thaddeus, love destroyed you once and it will destroy you again. You underestimate how powerful it was...As did Artemisia.
That name, how did he know that name? Was it a song he sang in a dream, the name of an ancestor, another mortal he bargained with? Grief then pulverised the dethroned King as he remembered in relentless flashes. An alliance forged. A betrothal, a courtship tainted with reluctance on his part, a tragedy, guilt - Such overwhelming guilt.
He gasped for breath as if he were drowning, the room swirled around him, he began to remember her and realised that Sarah's face was an echo of hers. With the exception being brown curled hair for jet black, Artemisia Vanguard was the daughter of a Merovingian Prince. Upon arriving in the underground Prince Patrice quickly became far too fond of the idea of ruling the entire realm...Naturally the natives were not keen on the idea and war broke out. Jareth was only two hundred years old then and Goblin City was still ruled by it's third King, Armand. Jareth was to be an envoy of peace and ended up being affianced instead.
One cruel day almost destroyed the Labyrinth amid the wreck and ruin of civil war...
"Help him!" She pleaded to his bodyguard; Cormac squeezed Sarah's hand before rushing over to Jareth and helped him to his feet. The bereaved rebel King wheezed a protest when he gazed at a face of expectance.
"We chose never to tell you if you left the underground again, you were away for so long that first time, we rejoiced your loss of memory" Cormac morosely explained, Jareth roughly grabbed hold of the soldier's tunic but he said nothing.
"She was the first child to be born in the underground whose parent came from above, the prince himself then married a pagan. She is an ancestor of my King" Cormac continued, Airk scoffed at the pace of the conversation and kneeled next to Sarah. Jareth tried to move but fell down again.
"So droll a narrative, so tedious a story-telling – one of the greatest tragedies and it meets with such cold disinterest...Pitiful Thaddeus, truly" Scorned the heathen.
Jareth had barely any air in his lungs and crawled over to Sarah, she whispered her confusion to him, he simply nestled his head against her and tears started to fall.
"Tell her Jareth, tell her of the one that came before, tell her why abandoning you here and now is a wise decision" Airk coiled in his chair gleeful in his vengeance.
Jareth, what's going on – this Sia who was she?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling in panic.
As your prisoner I have but one request, allow me privacy, I demand it...NOW!" Jareth roared after inhaling a deep breath he jumped to his feet.
"You rid me of my fun Thaddeus? Pity, still I have much more than truth-telling for you" Airk shrugged with a glint in his eye and ushered his men to take away the captives to their cells. Jareth made Sarah sit on the stone bunk.
He kneeled in front of her, mouth pursed and quivering, eyes red with tears. Taking Sarah's hand he kissed it hard while his eyes stared right into her soul then began to recollect pieces of his worst nightmare come true.
"The shock of remembering has given me more memories of a world with adoration and song and music. For a hundred years I served Lumiere and my life was simple. The magic I knew then was nothing more than conjuring" He sniffled.
"Tathar mentioned a tragedy, what happened to you Jareth?" Sarah cooed softly, her lover refused to answer; she cupped his face and reiterated.
"...What happened?"
The underground was divided back then, made worse by the arrogant prince so as it was at the time he offered me marriage of alliance with his daughter Sia"
Jareth was sobbing now, combing tensed fingers through his long hair he continued but he took deep breaths as he went.
"Being young I wasn't interested but courtship was forced upon us both. We went out riding in Doinari one day, Someone set loose a chimera on us, Sia was attacked, she never recovered" Jareth was crying hard now and didn't notice the blank expression on Sarah's face.
"Where is my brother?"
"What?"
"Where is my brother Jareth, you took him from me give him back, I never meant the wish" Sarah fiercely shook her head, the Goblin King realised that the oubliette cell had made her forget almost everything, Jareth threw her into his arms.
"No, no my love, my Queen, we have come too far to forget now" He said adamantly, he kissed her passionately clasping her hand in his. Purposely entwining their memories together knowing she would find herself eventually.
"Too far to...forget now" Sarah obeyed in a dazed but she faintly smiled at him, the fae nodded in satisfaction before giving in to passion again. Wrapping his arms around her so tightly, to protect her and keep the moment before it was stole by an uncertain future.
A deafening roar that should up the whole castle broke the kiss, Jareth gasped and held Sarah close.
"By the Gods it couldn't be, it's been a millennia, it just couldn't be" The door opened and in leered a nervous guard. Jareth could smell the acrid odour and for a moment his heart stopped beating
She pushed Sarah into a corner, eyes desperate and so sad.
"No matter what happens, I love you I would end my days as age-ravaged ill human as long as you were at my side I wouldn't fear it. If you can get out, get out ask Morpharia to take you back home and she will it will take all her powers but she will" Jareth explained, Sarah nodded amnesia not fully discarded yet.
Jareth kissed her again before leading her cautiously out of the cell, a gnawing in his stomach meant he knew what was ahead.
"Is your memory still evading you Thaddeus? I'm prepared to indulge you just this once. I'll let you wander down memory lane" Airk called out from the other end of the great hall, a large shadow flooded the room. Jareth had not rooted out the cause yet. He was too busy guiding Sarah as she trailed directly behind him.
"No need, I believe the endeavour to be fruitless you see I have lived a thousand mortal lives, impossible to recollect all" Jareth replied warily as he clasped his love's trembling fingers from behind his back.
"Your refusal is late Fae king, I'm afraid I cannot return him now" The heathen grimaced, raising his staff towards the great window.
Sarah saw it before Jareth did, his left ear suffered from their close proximity to each other, she tug and scrapped at his tunic paralysed with fear. Jareth gasped in terror then pushed Sarah against the wall and pinned her there. It all flooded back to him, every single second of that tragic day; the forest burning, the screaming, Artemisia dying in his arms it all became crystal clear. For Five hundred years he hoped it was dead but standing on the pane of glass was Chimera.
Sarah had never seen anything like it, it was a lion but possessed no majesty it was alive but then again not. It's eyes were burgundy red, his mane was matted and bright gold, his body was the deepest brown, even bordering on the colour of charcoal. The couple then heard the strangest noise, a braying then a hissing sound. As a goat's head watched over them with it's head tilted. The snake flicked it's fork tongue as it came from behind.
Jareth was choking on the fear that stalked his nightmares for centuries; he once dreamt that instead of Artemisia the beast had trapped Sarah. He would awake quickly after seeing her surrounded in a circle of flame, Jareth wondered for the first time if it was foresight.
"Morpharia, please, please don't let this be, not again, not to Sarah, please, please, please" He whispered, stray tears fell down his cheeks.
Meanwhile the battle for Goblin City was fierce and seemingly relentless as the war parties of Charlemagne Glynn Brannon and even Anais fought hard to gain each level of the town and it's castle. As promised Aziz never left Toby's side, both duelled with goblin gnome and soldier – amid the fighting Toby had no sense of direction he simply slashed and parried as hard as and fast as he could. Aziz recognised the grand staircase that led up to the old throne room and looked around for an easy way further upwards but he caught sight of Krissen coolly dispatching the enemy as he ventured closer to the boy.
Everything stopped as the general lopped his dagger around the Azores pendant, the blade stretched along Toby's neck, he froze so did the battalion.
"No man of war would allow the cowardice of using a child as leverage, let him go Krissen" The pagan Kin growled firmly, Dax stood in solidarity with the King, both pointing their swords at their foe.
"This is no ordinary child, this is no ordinary pendant and my Lord there is no sense of pride...in war" Krissen made a grab for Azores, Aziz skilfully sliced the thread without hurting the boy.
The blade landed in Krissen's hand, cutting his palm. He stabbed Aziz in revenge it was not a mortal wound but was deep enough. The pagan King fell and his comrades battled for his honour, the group were not counting on extra troops charging in, distracting them away from the general.
Toby grabbed the pendant that now lay on the floor and crept up to Aziz who was slouching against a pillar.
"Don't let Krissen use that pendant, the underground will surely be lost then there's nothing anyone can do. He has no comprehension of the power it wields" He sighed breathlessly, Toby was shaking.
"Neither do I" He sobbed; Aziz simply smirked and stroked the boy's head.
"...You will young Tobias, you are the heir of the underground, and I would not have risked my life so readily if you were not. Then again I would have fought for you anyway" He beamed, Toby caught a glimpse of something he had searched for so long; pride...a father's pride.
"I won't leave you like this" Toby whined as he looked fearfully around and swords and shields viciously clashed.
"You must, go and hide in the Escher room, I have the power to recreate half of the stairwell, the rest is up to you now child, go, run" He ordered pushing Toby to his feet. Toby rubbed his runny nose then wrapped Azores up in a rag then hid it in his pocket. He ran up the steps just missing Krissen by inches as he ran he screamed out to his faithful friend.
"I have a dad I wish I knew him more than just work...I would have loved you as my father!" Toby hollered and he clambered up the steps along the hall and towards the great Escher room.
"...And I would have loved you as a son" He wheezed, he was in pain but was content at least for a moment for fulfilling his obligations.
Toby jumped into the gigantic puzzle that was the dozens of staircases, half upward, half downward. Chunks of sandstone were still floating about from the other side of the room. Toby ran up and down many stairwells before hiding under an arch. He saw the general from down below.
"Tobias I'm disappointed, you have so many believing you will inherit all of this and yet you skulk in the shadows. Should a king really do such things, to cower and run away and live to cower another day?" His voice echoed around the room, Toby could feel the instability of the stairs beneath his feet. He hated to be mocked but he was afraid all of it was true.
"Jareth...Hurry" Toby lamented quietly as he clutched the pendant and squatted down in the corner; he looked all around him and hugged himself. Here he was a twelve year old boy afraid and alone hiding from a foe that was completely superior to him. If he found him the war was lost, all Toby could do was hide...and wait.
Jareth heard murmurings of anxiety but had nor the time nor the inclination to seek it out, for he was in enough trouble. The chimera roared and smashed the glass with it's front paws, shielding his love from the flying fragments he pulled Sarah down on the cold marble floor.
"Sarah listen to me, there is no time for doubting now I don't know if Morpharia can guide us here. Whatever power you feel you have to use it to protect yourself. Duplication, mirroring, the biggest iron shield you can think of...Understand?" Jareth ordered, his eyes ablaze with determination, his words couldn't get out quick enough. He began pulling away from her, Sarah started to cry.
"Wait what are you doing? You're not serious about facing off that by yourself are you? She was sobbing and yet Jareth noted anger in her voice. He pursed his lips then took away a lock of hair from her face.
"Five centuries ago my cowardice cost a princess her life, a civil war raged for fifty years because of it. It will haunt me no longer" Jareth stepped up to the plate and became the ruler he once was too afraid to be, he kissed Sarah hard. Passion and desperation joined as one as the lovers knew this could be a kiss goodbye.
Sarah combed her fingers through his hair and cupped his neck. Jareth pulled away from her and crawled quickly away. The chimera pounced inches away from him and breathed out his accursed flame then roared. Jareth instinctively curled up into a ball but felt no pain or the surging heat of being burned by fire. Looking back he saw a wall of nitro glycerine, protecting him from the beast's deadly breath. Turning back he smiled at Sarah and she smiled back.
"I love you" Jareth panted as the adrenalin kicked in
"I...love you too" Sarah replied softly, for one beautiful moment the whole world stopped, had she really said it?
Jareth was euphoric yet was angered that such a moment was tainted in grave danger; he gave Sarah a beautiful smile. For the first time he was at peace. Love made Jareth a giant now and if he was truly going to die now he would die fighting!
Jareth skimmed and sidled the monster like an acrobat and he thought of what he had to do to slay he beast. He kept watching for Sarah's spot as she lay cocooned in ice like a fossil. The world was blurred and tinted in brown from Sarah's point of view but she heard every yell, every swipe of the sword, she was terrified.
How about a little game my dear? You had my memories and now I will borrow yours, the guessing game will help" Jareth's mind called to Sarah's, she answered him unsurprisingly with some venom.
"What, are you crazy? You're gonna get us killed!" She seethed, her lover did not answer back instead there was more exertive grunting and Jareth went to great pains to stay alive.
"Captain Ahab..." Jareth said out of the blue
Silence
"AHAB, SARAH!" Jareth bellowed
"...Hunter!" Snapped Sarah
Jareth managed to cut a deep crevice along the beast's underbelly
"So the hunter's weapon of choice is…?" Jareth yelled impatiently
"A H...harpoon" Sarah replied as the penny dropped, immediately she thought up a harpoon, the fae king raced to fetch it then threw it, it skewered through the head of the goat.
"Three can play that game Goblin King...scorpions" Snarled the heathen as he joined in the mind game, they came it droves, in all sizes, pincers and claws clicking against the hard marble. Jareth fire-balled some with his crystals but there were far too many.
"Mongoose Sarah, dream up mongoose!" Jareth bellowed as he stomped on the dozens of scorpions and they tried to climb on his clothes.
And so this strange battle of wills was carried on, Jareth can both monster and magic to slay, completely frustrated by the absurd amount of adversity against him he took all his strength and jumped on the back on the chimera.
"King Arthur, Sarah!" He waited and they both said it, Jareth laughed triumphantly as it appeared in his hand.
Excalibur
Jareth beheaded the snake and fell onto the floor right at Airk's feet – the two then proceeded to sword fight furiously, kicking, punching and screaming at each other.
Jareth was too late to notice the beast stumble towards Sarah; he was in pain as was roaring his fire out everywhere. Jareth's heart stopped as the flame burned wildly against the fossil where it melted, Sarah only screamed once.
Amid the fragments of stone, Jareth could see a limp hand, he screamed out in grief and the blindest of any fury he had ever felt before. He parried and slashed before knocking the heathen out unconscious.
Turning to the beast he took a crystal and turned it into a vessel containing dark black granules.
His fist clenched so hard he was endanger of cracking the crystal.
"Hey...Chimera" Jareth warned as he jostled the ball in his hand, the beast breathed in, his mouth showing the blackest gums with teeth sharper and longer than any real lion.
"...Guy Fawkes" With that Jareth threw the crystal into it's mouth, the mouth of sulphur and flame, Chimera exploded in a huge fireball that emanated from it's gut. Over it's lifetime it had taken knights, luck dragons, horses, it's last meal... was a tiny morsel of gunpowder.
Jareth was stunned by the blast and it threw him against the bolted iron door, it hadn't occurred to him to run, Sarah was dead, he wanted to die too.
When he came to he stumbled to his feet only to be confronted by the residential harpy, he looked upon his love then opened his arms up, seemingly offering himself. The harpy was about to fly in and take him when it was ripped in the side by a flying dagger, Cormac had finally smashed his way through the cell.
Jareth was too dazed in shock and grief to realise Airk had come to and was running at him with a sword. Cormac threw his blade and in a moment Airk Tathar's power over Colm was over.
Jareth took sloppy baby steps then slumped down next to the charred rocks that protected Sarah. He sifted through it all and carried out his love that lay so very still. Her body was blackened, the char covering her all the way up to her neck. Jareth howled in agony and he held her close to him, stroking her hair, both bodies vibrating with his deep sobs. He rocked her back and forth, taking long breaths in between.
"Your Majesty, we must return for the child, he is our last hope" Cormac pleaded as he kneeled beside him.
"Correction, he is yours, mine died here" Jareth wept a broken man, clasping her face as the tears fell like a monsoon.
"He cannot be crowned without your presence, you must go back" Cormac persisted sternly
"Foolish boy, without the dream keeper to unite Morpharia and Toby as one, the underground falls anyway!" Jareth raged then meekly tolled doomsday.
"Impossible midsummer is tomorrow we still had time, we have failed?" Cormac spluttered
"No Cormac, I have failed" Jareth concluded, he gently carried Sarah's body out into the open air, out into the balcony. He looked in the distance at the green fertile land beyond Colm's boundary.
The great forests of Doinari, the sprawling elysian fields, the bustling towns of Charlemagne, Glynn Brannon, Anais, Lissien, all those who dwelled along the river banks. The labyrinth, the goblins, the fae all of it would be gone in a matter of hours. The Earth beneath the keep began to crack open, soon it would be a ravine, an abyss swallowing everything. Jareth buckled to his knees. He screamed and damned the sky above him until he couldn't scream anymore.
Bending down he gently kissed her blue lips, scrunched up her hair in his fists, he blinked away the tears and nodded to himself.
"Fates, Morpharia hear me, I propose an exchange I wilfully barter my life for the life of this woman, my death, her life. Hear me, what say you?" He yelled at the heavens, he faintly heard Cormac making protests but they were drowned out by Morpharia's
"Jareth you sacrifice yourself freely? Morpharia spoke sadly, the question was repeated but this time, three voices spoke simultaneously. The fates had heard his plea.
"I do" Jareth said sternly, all the sky turned from amber to powder blue, the wind blew coldly around them, Jareth was not afraid.
"Beware Goblin King, bargaining with one's soul will not be taken lightly" The fates warned, Jareth looked down and pressed his face against the deathly cold of Sarah's.
"I know but my soul was never mine to barter, it was hers...It was always hers". He wept
A silence, nothing was heard but the gale force wind.
"...Very well" The sky returned to amber and with that acceptance came the noise of Sarah's first gasp for air. Jareth felt her breathing in and out as he held her close.
"J-Jareth"
"Yes my love, it's over, Chimera and Airk are dead" He cooed
"What did you do?" Sarah murmured, Jareth bit his bottom lip then kissed her, tears still streaming down his face before adding softly.
"...Only what I had to"
Jareth took Sarah out of G'mork Keep and into the plains; he hammered crystal after crystal into the ground before a spring of water shot out from the dead earth. Jareth saw the idina ring sparkle brighter than ever. He realised that the fates made her part fae so she could be rejuvenated with the water.
All the burns, scars and bruises washed away as Jareth rubbed her face and arms, her beauty was restored, Jareth beamed with happiness.
There was a rumble in the distance and Jareth heard an echo in time, the heir was in danger.
"…Cormac!"
The soldier nodded and blew a horn, a gryphon and phoenix swooped over the rocks and settled down on the plain next to their masters.
"Toby...?" Sarah asked
"Well nobody else has caused the same amount of trouble, Goblin City my winged friends, fly like the wind!" Jareth commanded as he took the reins and held Sarah close to him. Celebrating her resurrection would be fool-hardy for the sacrifice he was bound to make was now at hand. Kissing Sarah on her left temple happy in her ignorance of what he did to bring her back, the trio headed for the battle that would make or break the underground.
How will it end? Tears or triumph? Stay tuned...
