A/N: This chapter contains strong language.
"Your Highness, how am I supposed to lead with this, this pipsqueak nipping at my heels?"
Jareth's thoughts dissolved at the shrillness of Orion's voice, riding up next to him with Hoggle close behind. The two made quite the couple, Jareth thought, especially when the dwarf gave Orion a good jab with his stick.
"With a straight face if you can," Jareth answered. "How do you fare, Hoggle?"
"He's a bit uncooperative, sir, but we manage."
"Toby sends this package to you, Hoggle," Sarah said, riding up to them. Looking back, Jareth saw she delegated her wagon-pulling duty to one of the several armed troops marching behind him. She handed Hoggle a boxed-up snack consisting of fruit and a thick handful of dark bread. Nibbling on it, Hoggle smirked at the general after thanking Sarah.
"I want you to send Toby back," she said, turning her attention to him.
"Sarah, your timing…"
"Please." He couldn't look at her face upon hearing her say that word.
"I can't leave all these people around you for one child."
"But it's dangerous here!" she argued. "I'm sure you didn't mean to bring him, but he can't be here in the middle of this. Dad and Karen are probably worried sick, probably scared out of their minds because they don't know where their son…"
"I don't want to hear it," he interrupted. "It's out of the question."
Her eyes hardened. She turned her horse-creature around to go back to her wagon. He half-expected her to huff out, "that's not fair." The first time he had seen those eyes, it was a moment like this, her not getting her way and deciding to whine about it. She'd amused him on his random travels Aboveground and he often decided he would watch her to see what this imaginative child would conjure up next, always creating stories and retelling old ones to whomever she was with at the time. Always growing, he couldn't help noticing that each time he watched her, she was nearer and nearer to adulthood, and it was the day she came home in her lavender bridesmaid dress after seeing her father remarry, head resting on her vanity weeping as she looked every inch a princess, that he first felt the need to kiss her.
It was after she left the Underground that he stopped watching. Oh, he watched every so often, from far away, pleasantly shocked at how devoted she had become to her brother. But time stripped away the adolescent that defeated him and left instead a woman, a woman who left home to a university and had her meals with a few mediocre males of her species, and he could no longer watch.
"Jareth!"
Jerking his head around, a blanket of chimeras plunged down one of the boundless hills. The far left side of the goblin and Sidhe formation toppled over, the chimeras diving into them. It curdled the blood to hear the neighing of the horse creatures, some of them taken down to the ground.
Toby shoved the food to the sides of the wagon, his arms reeling like a dog burying a bone. All that lay in the wagon besides him and the food was a wool quilt, tucked away in a corner. Twisting it with his little hands, Toby blocked his head with it just in time to stop a chimera from sinking its teeth into his face. Crawling around, Toby wrapped the quilt around the monster's lion neck, dodging the snake head.
"Sarah!"
Running as fast as she could to him, Sarah threw off her jacket and twisted it around the snake head. She ignored the bleating of the goat head in the middle, pulling with all her strength. The tails of the chimera flapped in pain. She tugged even harder, her back against the wood of the wagon.
"Strangle it, Toby!" she screamed.
He tugged on the larger lion head, being dragged down to the floor of the wagon as well.
Sarah gave a final tug and scrambled to help Toby tug. The chimera gave out a spasm, its tongues sticking far out of their mouths. It collapsed.
"We did it!" she shouted, kissing the top of Toby's head.
In that second, something pulled Sarah back, sending her out of the wagon onto the ground. Wincing at the bone-hard dirt hitting her back, two chimeras each gripped a handful of her shirt at the shoulders and dragged her through the fighting formations. Screams and swords thrusting into flesh ran past Sarah's ears.
"Jareth!" she shrieked.
Fighting off one of the three-headed monsters, Jareth heard her and ran for her. Dirt flew up wherever she tried to kick her way free. He reached out to grab her, but with a sudden burst of mist, Sarah and her two assailants disappeared.
A few lingering chimeras not laying in pools of their own blood ran off and out of sight. Jareth immediately rushed to the wagon. Toby stared at the dead chimera inside the wagon with him, a quilt and a jacket still attached to two of its three necks. He lifted him out of the wagon, knowing it would do no good to cover his eyes against the small portion of dead goblins scattered throughout the field.
"We're miles from their kingdom. They must have known we were coming," Pasia said, running up to them. She sported a thick gash on her right shoulder, placing a bloodied arrow back into her quiver. "With any luck this will spread a nice infection to the next thing that tries to stop us. Is the little boy all right?"
"I'm fine," Toby answered, still in Jareth's arms. "Sarah?"
"They have Sarah?" Pasia gasped.
"I was too late," Jareth whispered.
"Orion?"
Jareth scanned the field. He found Orion with Hoggle close by, sword and knife still in hand respectively, both wide-eyed, but alive and standing. He stared out into the hills. First Lysander and now Sarah, he thought. The spineless idiot must have told them about her, settling to be a traitorous prisoner rather than hold his tongue under the torture.
"I can command everyone, Jareth, if you need to go after her."
Turning back to Pasia, he felt the rare feeling of not knowing what to say. Drop his whole military for her? Risk his kingdom for her?
"Take Toby." He handed Toby over to her. "Watch out for him."
"Of course."
"I want to come with you!" Toby said. "I can help."
Pasia and Jareth shared a look. It would be so much easier if one of them had actual children of their own.
"Toby, you can help me," Pasia offered. "Sarah will need us to secure a way out for her. Once Jareth frees her, we'll be the ones to make sure she can get out."
"Keep him away from Faren," Jareth warned.
"Jareth, every time you see a cow, does it make your mouth water?" she challenged. "But keeping him away from Faren is a good idea. He will be safe, trust me." She looked back at some of her soldiers, eyeing Toby. "Food packages are in the wagon for you! This child is not to be touched!"
She turned back to wish Jareth all the luck one could have, but he had already gone.
XXXXX
Sarah awoke to discover her feet shackled to the wall of a medieval prison with an odor that made her nostrils flare. The putrid mix of mold and poorly cleaned fecal matter brought water to her eyes. Empty shackles dangled from the walls with some strewn about the floor for feet like what held her in place. To her left, iron bars distorted her view into a long hallway lit with candles. Closing her eyes with a groan, she reached up with her hand to feel a knot on her head. She tried to dodge that rock along the makeshift path the two chimeras forged for her on her way over here. This must be their kingdom, she thought.
Shit, she thought, the key. She turned her back to the bars separating her from light and freedom and felt for the key. Tucked safely into her camisole under her shirt, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had not seen Orion during the ambush, but it seemed…but he wasn't the one who said something about the key.
"Comfortable, Lady Sarah?"
"You did want to be overheard when you called Orion over to talk."
Lysander opened the door and strolled into the cell.
"I had hoped someone would have heard, glad you did," he said. "Of course, Orion did make it easy mentioning the bronze on his own. And now, I have a few things I want to know from you."
"The attack at the castle was staged?" she asked, hoping for a nice monologue that would stall whatever torture she would undergo.
"I think you know it was." He leaned his face in, inches away from hers. "And now, if you'll hand over the key?"
Sarah closed her eyes, concentrating as best she could on the key being able to disappear. The chimeras couldn't release the Minotaur, not while the key was in her possession.
"What key?"
A broad slap across the face answered her question. Her hand flew to her cheek, almost able to feel the red blotch spreading across her face from the blow.
"I've spent too long spying on your parents to not know about the key. It was not on her when I sent them to the house, so she must have given it to you. Give it to me, Sarah, and you shall live and be sent home."
"Home to my house I've inherited because of you, or back Aboveground?"
"Enough stalling! I can make you talk. Make it easy on yourself and tell me where it is. I can search you if I thought you actually had it. Perhaps you sent it away with your little brother when you sent the king on another errand taking him back."
Sarah said nothing.
"Damn it, Sarah!" He slapped her other cheek, much harder, her head reeling back against the wall. "It's this kind of hubris that made us decide to release the Minotaur in the first place."
"You're not putting the Minotaur in the Labyrinth?"
"I should not have thought such a feeble mind could comprehend out plans. We mean to unleash it in your world. All your tanks and bombs are no match for the evil that created such a thing, and after years and years of isolation, it will be hungry for your species' blood. And then the superior race that should rule an entire world will have control."
She sensed that was all a monologue she was going to get, but it was enough. She stayed silent, smirking.
"Does such a plan sound impossible to you?"
"It's not that," she forced a laugh. "I think you need to realize you need me. I'll tell you where the key is."
"Smart girl."
"But first I have a few demands."
"Insolent girl! What could you possibly feel you can demand?"
"I want the unconditional submission of your ruler. If it wants to rule my world, it has to rule it under Jareth and Pasia's command." She continued in spite of Lysander's startled expression. "And since you're going to keep me here, I want this place to smell like fresh cut flowers instead of shit, a spell or something that guarantees none of you will touch Toby's parents, and a Whopper from Burger King with no onions."
"Tell me where the key is, or the pain shall begin and all you love will die before we allow you the same courtesy."
"Guess you're just fucked then," she said, folding her arms and bracing herself for a blow.
Instead, Lysander's head began to split, the three parts shifting like liquid through his body. Each one grew a snout, two growing hair, and one with coin-like scales clanking out of his skin. Before the transformation could be completed, the sections shifted back to his shoulders and he looked exactly like a goblin again. Still astounded by what she saw, she didn't see his lion claws dig into her chest.
Crying out, she clutched her chest, covering the blood beginning to drip onto the floor. The deep red reminded her of Garnet's robes, even her beautiful name.
"I'll leave you to think it over," Lysander said, exiting through the gate. The slam of it closing deafened her.
It couldn't end this way. Generations of her family protected this key, even building a house around it to keep it away from people with ideas exactly like this. She couldn't be the one to make them all lose now. She just couldn't.
"I wish the goblins would come and take me away," she said with closed eyes, but nothing happened. The blank wall with its shackles still stared back at her, the stifling smell still lingering in the air. Jareth wouldn't be able to hear her. No one would. She let her head rest against the wall, tears welling up at the agony bursting out of her chest. Would he even come after her? Something told her he would.
Being back in his world, back in his presence, had been intoxicating. None of the men she'd dated in college seemed to "do it for her," as her friends would say. They either bored her or she bored them. But being back with him, working with him, was more rewarding than anything she'd experienced in her life. Yes, he wouldn't let her down. He would make sure she wouldn't die of this wound in her chest, take her back into a room especially prepared for her.
Huh, she thought. He had kissed her back, with the greatest fervor she'd ever felt. There had always been a room just for her if he'd felt that way for years. She'd blocked out that part of her adventure, never wanting to play his words back in her mind. Well, she would be able to respond to whatever he had to say this time. If only she could find a way out…
A few former prisoners scratched things into the walls next to her, like the old movies of prisoners in black and white stripes tallying the days, maybe months, they spent in the slammer. She saw in English a familiar name and fingered it. Garnet had been here?
The moment she touched the name, a light shone on the floor from the spot on the wall, like a laser. Sound waves were suddenly visible, vibrating as a voice spoke.
"My dear Sarah, if you are listening to this recording, it means I have failed and you have the key now. I will not undermine your work by mentioning it more. Your listening to this also means you have been captured. Like mother like daughter, I suppose. I am still trying to find a way out, but I want you to know: I have always loved you and watched you. Rest assured, you have all the qualities necessary to guard this key and keep the Aboveground safe. Don't give up, my sweet. It is the hope of one day being able to see you that keeps me looking for a means of escape."
Openly crying, Sarah wiped her eyes as the light faded away. If Garnet found a way out, that means she could get out herself. Think, Sarah, think. I won't let you down, Garnet. I'll find a way out of here.
A/N: Release Me is a 1991 song. A special cyber pat on the back to anyone that can list who sings each of the songs making up the chapters of this story. I also don't own Labyrinth. Now with that out of the way, what is going to happen to poor Sarah?
