Chapter 25

It took several hours, but finally, an idea for a plan was reached. No trouble was caused, though Firona shot them both dirty looks the whole meeting. Sarah had gratefully removed the knife when they got back to the castle; she didn't like wearing it.

"I really don't think I could handle wearing a dress like that in any kind of battle," Sarah said as they collapsed tiredly onto the bed, Sarah now in her pajamas and Jareth in pajama bottoms, bare chested. She crawled into his arms and yawned. "I would prefer wearing pants and having a weapon around my waist. Like a sword or something."

"Are you planning on fighting many battles?" Jareth asked, amused.

"Well, I hope not," Sarah laughed. "But I just don't feel like this little knife is going do much against, say, a dragon."

"Well, if our plan works, you won't be fighting a dragon, at least not one in its true form," Jareth reminded her.

"Yeah, but if it doesn't work," she said more quietly. "You never know."

"I will not let you remain unprotected, my Sarah," Jareth assured her. "Don't worry. We'll figure something out for you in the morning."

"Thanks," Sarah yawned again.

"Sleep well," Jareth said quietly.

"You too," Sarah whispered.

The plan was in place. The entire Council would come Aboveground and wait at the house. Sarah would accompany Vezzeryn, posing as her father, to the hospital and get to Seth so they could get him out. The two of them would bring Seth back to the house where the Council was waiting to incapacitate him before returning him to the Underground so they could more effectively deal with him.

Jareth was very, very worried. He wanted so badly to be with her the whole time, but he knew that for everything to work, he had to stay at the house and let her go alone with Vezzeryn. He would be waiting just inside the house, the first to see her when she came back.

It wasn't good enough. But it would have to do.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Jareth asked quietly just before they left the castle the next day. "You can still change your mind."

"No," Sarah said fiercely. "I'm going, and we're getting rid of him. He's done enough to me." She was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, having explained to Jareth that showing up in a Renaissance-style dress would certainly attract the attention they so wanted to avoid. He compromised by letting her wear jeans, but having the knife in the pocket of the jeans and performing a complicated concealment spell so that it was not visible. He himself was wearing a sword; unusual for a magical being, but he wanted to take no chances.

"Alright," he said. "Just please…be very careful."

"I will," Sarah assured him, turning to look into his eyes. "Worry about what happens when we get him back; he's going to put up a fight. Be ready for him."

"I will be," Jareth promised. He paused, pulling her to him in an embrace. "I love you, my Sarah," he murmured in her ear. "Please don't let me lose you." He couldn't bear the thought of it.

"I love you, too, my Jareth," Sarah said, teasingly adding the 'my' as he always did to her name. It made him smile, which was her intent. "Come on. Let's go kick Maldonek's butt and get this over with."

"Indeed," Jareth said with an amused grin at her phrasing. He took them to the Hall of the High Council where they were to meet everyone else first.

They arrived to hear raised voices coming from inside the main room. They looked uneasily at one another and stepped inside, seeing Al'denel arguing loudly with Namir while several others looked on. Sarah realized that only Firona and Vezzeryn were missing.

"If she has disappeared, we should not continue with the mission!" Al'denel was saying heatedly. "Without the power of the entire Council, it is dangerous!"

"Perhaps it is for you, elf," Namir sneered, "but I believe we dragons can handle ourselves, thank you very much. We don't need the assistance of a fae woman, nor do we require the assistance of your kind if you don't wish to give it."

"Your arrogance is disgusting, Namir," Al'denel spat. "You may be dragons, but so is Maldonek. It does not matter. You need great power to take him down-"

"Power which we can achieve on our own!" Namir roared, fire spurting out his nose and singeing Al'denel's white robes.

"Namir!" Jareth barked. "Calm yourself!" Al'denel looked livid as he examined his burned robes. Namir growled but said nothing more.

"You'll pay for that, dragon," Al'denel said angrily.

"Do not make things worse, Al'denel," Jareth said sharply. "We do not need to waste our energy fighting one another today. Our world is at stake; if you must go at each other, wait until a trivial time."

"Fine," Al'denel choked out, apparently consumed with rage.

"What has happened? Who is missing?"

"Firona," Glaedya spoke up. "She has not come. Vezzeryn went to get her, but she was not found. He's looking for her now."

"I knew she was up to something," Jareth said, highly annoyed. "This is ridiculous."

"I believe, in light of missing one of our number, we should wait," Al'denel said, having calmed himself slightly.

"So I heard," Jareth said. "Ultimately it will be up to Vezzeryn. However, I do not feel that lacking only one of us should stop us; we have an opportunity here, and we ought to take it. I don't believe the lack of Firona's power will be of much importance."

"Of course it won't," Namir snapped. "That's what I was saying. We could do it on our own."

"Namir, powerful you may be, but regardless it will take great power to return him to our world, particularly in the daytime."

"Fine," Namir said, turning away. "Have it your own way."

"She is not to be found," Vezzeryn said, suddenly coming into the Hall. "We shall carry on without her."

"Vezzeryn, we may want to take time to rethink our plans," Jareth cautioned. "If we do not know where Firona is, we don't know what she might be doing. If she is helping him…"

"Jareth, I know you don't trust her," Vezzeryn said, sounding tired. "But this is her home as well; she would not risk its destruction."

"Whatever you say, Vezzeryn," Jareth said, inclining his head at the dragon. "I still urge everyone to be cautious."

"What could she do to any of us?" Eindar asked, nearly laughing. "Forgive me, Jareth, but she is a fae…"

"Eindar, do not start with me," Jareth said, his voice low and dangerous. "I would be happy to show you the full power of a fae, but now is not the time. We need to focus. If this goes wrong, Maldonek could end up with the chance to destroy our world."

"Then it better not go wrong," Eindar said, looking pointedly at Sarah.

"Don't worry," Sarah said coolly, staring right back at Eindar, refusing to be intimidated. "I've got my part handled."

Jareth felt a fierce pride in her for standing up to the elf that way. She certainly didn't behave like she was "merely" a human. But then, she had always been like that; at fifteen, had she shown any regard whatsoever for the fact that he was a fae? Of course not.

"Let's get going," Vezzeryn said quickly. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."