Jareth insisted on keeping the casket closed during the funeral; after she passed, Sarah's body returned to its true nature, and Jareth wanted the people of the kingdom to remember her she way she had been during her time in the city. Jareth had remained totally calm and collected during the entire process. From the time Saffina officially declared Sarah dead, to the moment her casket was lowered down into the ground.
Sarah had the largest headstone in the city cemetery, it was white marble with the words, "The Goblin Queen, Sarah; A loving wife, an exceptional mother to the end". It had been decorated with masses of flowers from grieving citizens of the city, all who mourned more deeply for their queen more so than Jareth seemed to for is wife. But the time to mourn had passed, and now the news was beginning to make its way from the Goblin City and across the realm.
Epsy sat contently in her favorite booth at her favorite tavern, drinking alone since Elle had insisted on staying in to work on her latest project-a truth serum, as requested by a wife in the village who believed her husband had been unfaithful. Elle was becoming incredibly popular in the town as the go-to witch when you needed literally anything. Elle turned away no job no matter how big or small-from truth serums to hair growth potions-and she was exceptional in every venture she set out to accomplish.
"News from the Goblin City!" A goblin suddenly rushed into the tavern, sweating profusely as if it had ran all the way from the Labyrinth. "Two days ago, The Goblin Queen Sarah, died." The tavern suddenly exploded with a symphony of gasp as the shock struck the patrons.
"How?" Someone managed to shout out over the crowd.
"Her baby was dying, and killing her along with it," The goblin began to explain, "She refused to abort the baby in order to survive." Another round of shocked gasps seemed to strike.
As Epsy listened she remained silent as a sudden realization came across her, "That was Saffina's prophecy, she was supposed to save Sarah…but…she failed?" The thought seemed so unlikely, yet here this goblin was assuring these people that Sarah was indeed dead. Epsy's following reaction was to tell Elle, until she remembered how pointless bringing her this news would be-after all, Elle wouldn't know who she was talking about. But now what did this mean for Epsy's plan? Could she still reunite Jareth and Elle even now as he was surely mourning the death of his wife?
As she pondered that, the news continued to reach out across the realm; creating a shock wave of grief and disbelief among all who heard of the tragedy, all except for King Thomes. He replayed the words of his messenger in his head, "The queen is dead and Jareth is so stricken with grief over the death of his wife and child that he doesn't even speak." This news was far from heartbreaking for him. In fact, it was absolutely delightful.
` He opened the door to his basement, revealing on the other side the masses of previously deceased centaurs, all now alive and well. It had taken Thomes years to revive them all, and even longer to restore them to their proper glory after having been corpses for such an extremely prolonged period of time. But now, now they were ready. Not only were they ready, but the time to attack could not have been any more ideal. With Jareth otherwise occupied with his grieving, there was no way he would have the strength to stop Thomes' attack now.
"I've waited too many years for this," He spoke softly to the centaurs who all then turned their attention to him. They weren't the same mentally as they were before. They had no true thoughts of their own, they were merely reanimated bodies that obeyed Thomes. "Billip!" He shouted the name and all the centaurs then parted to create a single clear aisle between two large masses. Billip then made his way up that aisle to approach Thomes, his expression blank and body moving in an almost mechanical fashion as he bowed simply to Thomes. "Have your soldiers prepared to move out at dawn," Thomes instructed.
"Yes," Billip responded with a flat tone as he raised back up and turned to face the rest of the centaurs.
Thomes then moved to stand by Billip's side, looking out across the resurrected centaurs before him, "You have all been training for this movement for years now, returning your bodies back to the strength you had before your untimely deaths, and now it's time for you to take down the man that sought to send you to your graves. Tomorrow you march for the Labyrinth, tomorrow you attack the Goblin City. You will not fail, you will take city, you will kill Jareth, and the kingdom will be yours." The centaurs seemed unmotivated by Thomes' oh so inspirational speech, but he knew they would follow through none the less. He smiled to himself as he turned away from them, knowing by this time tomorrow the Goblin City would fall and he would finally have his revenge on Rowna.
They marched in silence, not a single word spoken between them as they moved towards the Labyrinth. The sounds of their marching hooves stomping on the ground beneath them was thunderous. Each one was heavily armed and dressed in exquisite armor. Their expressions were completely void of any signs of emotion; if it wasn't for the obvious fact that they were moving, they could have passed for dead. As they approached the outer walls of the Labyrinth it was clear they meant to attack, and it was known that they would be succeed.
Elle awoke in a cold sweat, struggling to catch her breath as she began to cough. "A dream?" She thought to herself as she rolled out of her bed; literally rolling and falling onto the ground. "No," She whispered to herself as she stood to her feet.
"Elle, are you alright?" Epsy's voice called out to Elle right before she walked in to Elle's room, "I was on my way home from the tavern and I heard you screaming." Epsy explained as Elle untangled herself from her bedspread.
"I must have been screaming in my sleep." Elle insisted as she tossed her bedspread back onto her mattress before turning to face Epsy.
"Elle," Epsy gasped as they made eye contact, "Your eyes…?"
"What about them?" Elle asked curiously as she turned to a looking glass hanging on her wall, taking in the sights of her completely blackened hues just before they faded back to her natural shaded blue toned hues. "What the hell?"
"Elle did you….did you have a vision?" Epsy asked, shocked at the mere concept.
Elle let the thought sink in, fully accepting what she had already assumed; that was definitely no dream. "The centaurs…they're alive." Elle began to explain.
"You…remember the centaurs?" Epsy was shocked that Elle's memories of the centaurs hadn't also been repressed-her memories of Jareth must have been much more painful for her.
"But…they weren't really alive…they were…reanimated."
"What? Impossible!" Epsy insisted. "There's no such thing as a reanimation spell."
"I'm telling you, they were." Elle argued. "They were marching to the Labyrinth, they're going to attack the Goblin City."
Epsy let it sink in as she recalled the news of Sarah's death, "There's no way Jareth can defend the city, not now..."
"Jareth, the Goblin King?" Elle asked curiously, her expression seeming truly lost as she had no idea who Jareth was. "But, isn't he one of the most powerful men in the realm?"
"He is," Epsy spoke, knowing it would be pointless to attempt to explain the full extent of everything to Elle in that moment. "But, he's in no condition to go up against the centaurs now, they'll defeat him." A thought then crossed Epsy's mind, and she looked at Elle intently as she began to pondered the actuality of her completely random but potentiality plausible idea. "Elle," Epsy then reached to grab a hold of Elle's hands, gripping them tightly in her hold, "You have to stop them."
"What?" Elle yanked her hands away from Epsy, "Are you insane? You want me to go up against an army of centaurs after what they did to me?"
"When they hurt you, you were powerless. But now you're one of the most powerful witches in this realm. You could very well be the only person who can stop them!" Epsy insisted.
"You're wrong," Elle argued.
"Elle, you have to try. If you don't, and they succeed, they will murder everyone. Every innocent man, woman, child, and goblin within the walls of that city will die. But you can save them, all you have to do is break the reanimation spell that's keeping them functioning."
"How can I possibly break a spell I've never studied before?"
"I have seen you do much more with much less information. You created your own damn magic without even trying!"
"But that was an accident-"
"Exactly! So just think of what you can accomplish if you actually try!"
Elle ceased to argue for a moment, remaining quite as she fully considered what Epsy was trying so hard to get her to realize. Still, she doubted she alone could possibly be successful against an army of centaurs and a spell that she had never even heard of before…yet, she began to think of what Epsy had said, of all who would die should the centaurs succeed. That thought on its own was enough for Elle to at least try. "They march on the Labyrinth at dawn," Elle spoke with a whisper, as if she couldn't even believe what she was about to say, "So we better start getting ready."
