"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 48
By Aiijuin
*Disclaimer: I don't own anything Jim Henson or Labyrinth. Gröeg was originally designed by Brian Froud and catalogued by Terry Jones in Brian Froud's "The Goblins of the Labyrinth". This fanfiction is rated M for some harsh language and adult situations. Gavin King is Jareth, the Goblin King, for those who have jumped into the middle of the story. Jeremy Eden is from the original Henson script of "Labyrinth" as the man who wrote the "Labyrinth" playbook that Sarah was reading from, in the beginning of the 1986 movie.
Be warned! Although this is a Sarah/Jareth romance story, it is also a profoundly dark fairytale!
**NOTE: Story numbering is behind by 1 chapter, because there is a prelude, which is not considered a chapter. Fanfiction . net automatically assigns numbers to the chapters by default, which I have not control over. Thank you!
Chapter 48: As the Pain Sweeps Through
Lady Sarah had no sooner walked in through the door of her château, when Sir Jeremy Eden tapped her on the shoulder and said remorsefully, "I do apologize for being such a grump before you left last month…"
Sarah looked at him vaguely, and said nothing either way. Jeremy shrugged and turned around to walk away when he heard sobbing. He spun around again, thinking that it was Sarah, but he saw the Marchioness escorting a woman within the entryway.
The woman was dressed in rags and kept repeating over and over, "Io non lo dissi seriamente! Io non lo dissi seriamente!"
As she tried to resist Sarah through the door, Sir Jeremy stammered, "What is she saying?"
Sarah pulled the girl by the arm and answered, "She's saying, 'I didn't mean it'!"
Sir Eden tucked a couple of his wispy blonde hair strands behind his right ear and attempted to help Sarah escort the girl inside. The girl took one look at Jeremy's face and screamed at the top of her lungs, "AAH! Il re di Goblin!"
Before he could react, she pushed him to the ground and sped down the corridors of the château as fast as her feet could carry her. Sarah gave Jeremy a dirty look and followed after the girl. Jeremy blinked and whispered to himself, "She was petrified of me…"
It took the Marchioness three hours to calm the girl, and then she had to use her magic to put the girl to sleep. Sir Jeremy was preparing supper for Sarah and he as the Marchioness entered wearily into the kitchen. She sat down in one of the seats utterly exhausted, when he turned to her and said, "I trust you found what you were searching for in Italy, then?"
He waited for her to answer, but when Sarah didn't he finally turned to her. He looked at her face and exclaimed, "Lady Sarah! Your nose is bleeding! Did the girl lob you in the face?"
Sarah touched her nose and saw the blood. She grabbed a cloth from the pantry and dabbed it until it was clean. Sarah whispered, "…and so it begins at last…"
Jeremy had turned back his attentions to their dinner on the sauté pan and asked, "I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch that. You'll have to speak louder. "
He clunked the pan over the stove flames and then flipped the cooked vegetables unto two china plates. He set one down in front of the Marchioness and then placed the pan in a water container to soak. He grasped his plate and sat at the table next to Sarah. She had her head buried in her hands and didn't even look at her food. Eden tapped Lady Sarah and asked, "I say, are you alright? You look quite pale."
"It's nothing…never mind," Sarah shook her head and then sat up straight in her chair.
She unfolded a cloth napkin unto her lap and took a sip of water from her goblet, while Sir Jeremy filled another set of crystal glasses with a deep burgundy wine. He picked up one glass and began sipping his wine slowly. He asked out of curiosity, "Will the our new guest need supper too?"
"Savietta's fine for now. She just needs sleep after her long journey," Sarah sighed.
"'Savietta', ah... Well, may I inquire about her disposition and our involvement with her unannounced presence at the d'Bourgeise Estate?" Jeremy asked.
"I rescued her from being hanged. I paid the Papal States her ransom, and the girl was eventually released into my care by their decree. The townspeople of Florence were very irate, to be sure… But I believe the girl is honest about her innocence," Sarah replied.
"You've never taken an interest in rescuing falsely accused criminals before, so why take the trouble of traveling so far to rescue one teenage girl from the gallows? What was her crime?" He asked.
Sarah took a sip of her wine and patted her lips with her napkin. She answered, "She was accused of murdering her baby brother."
"Well," Sir Jeremy muttered in disgust. "That's a bit morbid, don't you think?"
"Yes, it is."
"Then, you believed her innocence completely? There are many murder cases that happen everywhere, and her case doesn't sound that uncommon," He continued.
Sarah placed the napkin back on her lap and picked up her fork. She began to nudge her food wistfully as she said, "The girl claims that her brother was taken, not killed. I asked the Papal officials about her family history, and they said she was like any other ordinary girl, except her real mother died shortly after she was born of pneumonia. Apparently her father, who was a sea merchant, had remarried and shortly after, he and his new wife had a son. The girl was watching her brother one night, while her parents attended mass…. When her parents had come home, her baby brother was missing and she was sobbing incoherently on the floor of her brother's nursery."
Being the honorable knight at heart, Jeremy narrowed his eyes and remarked, "The girl was probably jealous of her baby brother since he was to inherit everything when her parents were dead and buried one day…he was a male child, after all…. She must have felt vindictive, so she probably rid herself of the 'inheritance problem' by removing her brother from the picture permanently. Florence, Italy has streets of water, Sarah, and she probably drowned the baby while her parents were away."
"No, I don't think so…" Sarah argued.
"Why not?"
"Her side of the story is most intriguing indeed," Sarah replied.
"And that story is?" Sir Eden asked.
"She says that she accidentally wished her brother away to the Goblin King," Sarah answered and then placed a morsel of food into her mouth.
Jeremy nearly choked on his food, and burst out into laughter. "Oh, Sarah! Don't tell me that you're still going on with that 'Goblin King' nonsense! Don't you think you've carried this joke far enough now?"
Sarah glared at Jeremy, but remained silent throughout the rest of dinner. She poured herself a second glass of wine and carried it away from the table. She had plans on spending the evening alone in her study again and pondering over old journals she had written. Sir Jeremy was often tempted to read her books, but decided against it. Instead, he tended to his duties of caretaking the Labyrinth as Sarah had requested him to do a year and a half ago. He noted that she had been spending a great deal more time being isolated in that room lately. She was working hard on something, he could tell. The English Knight was resigned to clean up the supper dishes after her, and did so with hardly a complaint this evening. He made plans to help the new resident of d'Bourgeise Estate feel more at home in the morning.
He walked up the long staircase leading up to Sarah's private study, and carried a candelabra in his right hand to illuminate the darkness. He knocked at the door, and she bid him to enter. The Marchioness was still dressed in her travel coat.
Jeremy asked, "Will that be all, Lady Sarah?"
"Yes. You may retire for the evening, Sir Jeremy," Sarah looked up from her quill pen, inkbottle, and a blank little red, leather-bound book in which she had recently commissioned to be specifically made for her in Venice.
He was about to leave her for the evening, when…
"Oh, yes! I nearly forgot!" He clapped his hands enthusiastically and turned to face her again.
Sarah raised her eyebrows, but returned to her writing. "Yes?" She asked.
"I've noticed that you still haven't sent out any invitations for your birthday masque that you hold every year at Winter's Solstice, my Dear. Would you like me to prepare the usual list of people and help you get those posted before it's too late? Your birthday is only three months away, and since most of your guests are foreign dignitaries, I figured the earlier we send the letters then the better the turnout," Jeremy quipped enthusiastically.
"There will be no birthday masque this year, Jeremy," Sarah whispered.
"Ah, then maybe next season…Good night, my Lady," Jeremy finished and began to walk away. It was then that Sarah spoke the most haunting words that he would ever hear from her lips…
"There won't be any more masques here… ever."
