Chapter 26

The cheerful fire in the fireplace of Jareth's study belied the mood in the room. Wine sat untouched on the table and a chess set lay discarded on the floor. Its marble pieces scattered carelessly in favour of a platter of fruit and meat, a wine jug and three goblets. Sarah and Heymir sat on the couch and Jareth paced in angry circles around the room, too restless to stay seated as the discussion was frustrating and tense.

"There is no way that stupid Elf found a way to manipulate Soulmate bonds on his own!" Jareth roared in frustration. "That knowledge has been lost for thousands of years!"

"Obviously he had help," Heymir replied calmly to his irritated son, "His brother or father perhaps."

"King Eomer wouldn't make it that obvious would he?" Sarah asked thinking about the way the Elvin King's face had twisted when he looked at Jareth.

"Every king in the Underground would give anything to have Jareth dethroned and themselves sitting on the High Throne. It is the way of kings."

"What about the Faerie Queen? Would she know the magic?" Sarah asked thinking about Jezebel still in the dungeons.

"I think the Faerie Champion is innocent." Jareth said from behind his desk. He paused and walked to the couches. Sitting he grabbed a goblet of wine and sipped it in thought. "In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't torture her."

"She could still be involved. Satire said he tried to poison you and kill Sarah but he didn't say which time he tried to kill her." Heymir said leaning back and thinking. "Jezebel could still be responsible for the first attack."

"I doubt she would have been stupid enough to give the attacker her personal weapon."

"You thought Satire was stupid too. Look how that turned out." Sarah said softly and Jareth glared at her and brought his goblet slamming back onto the table in warning but said nothing.

"Sarah has a point, Jareth. Jezebel may be innocent but she may not be. We need to examine that situation more closely. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that there are two different kingdoms making a play for the throne at the same time. On the country it would make the best sense to attack when someone else is, as it provides a scapegoat, win or lose."

"You cannot say without proof that King Eomer is trying to kill you. He could say that Satire was behaving on his own and not in the interests of the Elvin Kingdom. It was obvious by the madness he displayed, that he wasn't operating according to plan anymore. An open battle for your throne has put King Eomer's name onto the list of suspects and I doubt he would have wanted that." Sarah said thoughtfully and took a grape off the platter. "He will do everything now to separate himself from the conduct of his son."

King Heymir looked at her in surprise and Jareth gave his father a knowing look that Sarah missed.

"Shall we gauge his guilt by the number of gifts he sends me?" Jareth's mouth twisted in amusement he was far from feeling.

"Can we keep Satire here and get information from him or can his father demand him back as a citizen of the Elvin Kingdom and take him away?"

"The crime was committed against the High King so the High King has jurisdiction. King Eomer cannot take Satire away." Heymir send her another interested glance.

"He is well guarded then? And his person searched before he was put away on his own?"

"He is and was, but what are you getting at, Sarah?" Jareth asked moving forward in his seat, interested in what his queen had to say.

"I wouldn't put it past Eomer to send assassins to kill his son and keep the secret safe before we can question him. Or Satire having poison on his person to kill himself should the need arise. I think he is too fond of himself to kill himself but you never know what people will do if cornered."

"Your advice is sound, Sarah." Jareth flicked his wrist and summoned a crystal. A person Sarah didn't recognise appeared in the depths of the crystal.

"Ethis, make sure the Elvish Prince is closely guarded by trusted guards and does no harm to himself. We will be down directly." The figure bowed and vanished. Jareth dismissed the crystal and stood.

"We should question him now before anything happens."

"I will come too." Sarah said getting to her feet but Heymir stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"I must insist you return to your room, Sarah. Your bond with Satire is still strong and I'm afraid that being close to him will only compromise you and could cause you harm."

Sarah opened her mouth to argue but Jareth took her hand and drew her to him. "I agree with my father, Sarah. Should anything happen to him your proximity could increase the amount of pain you will feel if anything happens."

"How will you torture him then?"

"We can't, not without hurting you."

"Do it! I can stand the pain." Sarah said looking Jareth straight in the eye. "Do what you must so that you and the kingdom are safe. I will be fine."

"I will not willingly cause you pain, Sarah. You can't stand this torture." Jareth took her shoulders and stared at her.

"You will do whatever is necessary!" Sarah said forcefully. "Satire will believe you will not hurt him in fear of hurting me. Do not let him think that. Make him fear his fate. Let him sweat in the knowledge that you will hurt him to get what you want. Let the wait loosen his tongue and when you go to torture him for real you may get better results."

"Stay in your room with Goldirose. Do not leave and do not let anyone in!"

"I will wait for your news, Jareth. Goodnight King Heymir." Sarah curtsied to the former High King and left Jareth's study.

"Have you rethought your opinion yet?" Jareth asked Heymir as they both looked after to retreating figure.

"I will admit she is a lot more rational when talking about the kingdom then when she is talking about you. But we still need to understand why she could use magic in the arena and no one else could."

"Is it not possible the ancient magic didn't recognise her magic because she is human?"

"The magic in her is fae as it came from your sister."

"But was she not half human too? Her magic may have been tainted with enough humanity to make the old magicks not recognise it as magic."

"That is something we need to look into. Let us go see Satire."

They vanished out of the study.

00000

Sarah moved quickly back to her room determined not to be waylaid especially if Jareth was going to torture Satire. She wanted to be in a deep trance before anything happened. She reached her room unchallenged and closed the door firmly behind her. Goldirose flittered in through the window with a smile on her lovely little face.

"Milady! Yous are back soon. Can I get yous anything?"

"No thank you, Goldirose. I don't want to be disturbed until the High King comes to the door."

"Yes, Milady." She said and flew out of the window again leaving Sarah in silence. Sarah went to the corner of the room and sat with her legs crossed comfortably. She started to breath deeply, drawing deep breaths in through her nose and into her lungs filling them completely. She did this for sometime and the rhythm slowly drew her inward into a place that was quiet and weightless.

0000

Jareth and Heymir landed in the dark. The smell was horrific, it was like a slap in face. Jareth's face twisted and he drew his scented handkerchief to his nose to banish the smell of waste.

Heymir summoned a ball of light and instantly the oubliette was filled with it but the elf chained to the wall seemed to stay in darkness. Satire D'Longa was chained with his hands above his head without give, his body stood stretched uncomfortably tight, devoid of his amour but still encased in fine linen. His head lolled in the space between his arms his hair swinging freely around his shoulders, matted with blood and sand. His eyes glittered from behind his hair, unblinking and furious.

"Good. You are conscious." Jareth said carelessly and stepped closer to Satire.

"I will tell you nothing!" Satire spat and smiled cruelly, "Well, not nothing, I will tell you how Sarah played the whore and moaned when she rubbed up against me, welcoming my touch."

"Shut it." Jareth's voice was low with anger and warning, but Satire was passed caring.

"Her firm breasts rubbing against my chest, her lips opening for my tongue to caress hers."

"I said stop!" Jareth's control broke a little and Satire's head jerked backward and hit the wall with a hard smack. Satire hissed with pain and laughed letting his head fall forwards again.

"I touched her, you know? She let me glide my hands all over her succulent body and she arched and moaned for me to take her like a wanton whore."

"Satire, it is good to see that you remember so much. Shall we see what other relevant things you remember?" Heymir said smoothly coming along side his son before Jareth could lose it again.

"What are you going to do? You can't hurt me. Not without hurting your future queen." Satire laughed again his head tilting sideways, "You might say I have diplomatic immunity, after all I have been all the way into Sarah's kingdom."

Jareth stepped forward and grabbed Satire's hair using it to lift his face. "I am extraditing you. Enjoy." He punched Satire in the stomach with the same magic he had used on Sarah and Satire screamed as the foreign substance squirmed inside his body.

Jareth had not let the magic hurt Sarah; he just made it unpleasant and sickening. Satire wasn't Sarah. Jareth let the magic run rampant and where it wished. Satire couldn't breathe through his constant screaming.

"Can you get the information from his head with this spell?" Heymir asked casually as Satire jerked his head backwards and hit the wall over and over again.

"No unfortunately. I just want to see if I can sever the soul mate bond between Sarah and Satire."

"You better recall it. Satire is going to kill himself if he keeps striking his head like that."

Jareth flipped his fingers and the magic began pouring out of Satire's face. His ears, nose, mouth and eyes ran with the stuff and when it was all out Satire dropped forward again as far as the chains would let him and breathed in raggedly.

Jareth pulled the substance in to a crystal and watched the contents silently.

"Well I know how he blocked the bonds and made the other soul bond but I can't sever it. It has to be done the ancient way. I have to marry Sarah and it will snap on its own.

"How did he block the bonds?" Heymir asked motioning for the silent torturer Ethis to come forward and examine Satire's head. Ethis untied a potion from his belt and poured a few drops onto Satire's head and there was a sizzling sound as the torn flesh melted closed. Satire was quiet and Ethis checked his pulse.

"Unconscious." The big man said and Heymir nodded his dismissal.

"I will tell you and Sarah together. I wary of the smell."

They disappeared from the oubliette and reappeared just inside the doors to Sarah's room.

The room was empty.

"I thought I told her to stay here." Jareth said confused and his face fell in to worried lines and checked the bathroom and bedroom for her. They were empty too.

"Jareth! Over here!" Heymir called and Jareth ran over to where his father crouched over something on the floor.

"It is Sarah's Garden Faerie maid." Jareth said sadly, carefully he checked the little faeries broken body for signs of life and found none. She was cold to touch and no light shone from her wings.

"Check your bond."

"Already tried, it's blocked again. Sarah's gone." Jareth said angrily. Why did life seem to heap more and more on?

Jareth flicked his fingers and spoke a command into the crystal. "Send guards to watch over Satire, we must make sure nothing happens to him." It popped and Jareth turned back to her father. "You think the elves are behind this?"

"An eye for an eye, Jareth. You have his son, it only makes sense he would take Sarah."

"His actions are stupid and treasonous, but to do anything else would look like weakness."

"Eomer is also very petty."

"How in all the Underground did he manage to take Sarah? She is the Champion of the Labyrinth, not to mention her store of magic that activates randomly."

"Magic, trickery there are a myriad of things he could have used to entice Sarah away or even take her by force. She is not invincible, she is just human."

a/n: So massive writers block occured and I need two someones to help me through it. Thanks Hana and Elise! It really helped and now I have a direction. Thank you to everyone who has stayed with the story and messaged me and pushed me to continue writing!

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

God Bless.

Cassee