Blind Faith
by: Ismira Daugene
Author's Notes: Hey everyone! So this story is actually a little over four years in the making. I started writing it for NaNoWriMo back in 2014, and by the end of the month I had more than 50,000 words, but the story was nowhere near done! So I continued it for the next NaNo writing event... and the next... and the next. This story is now over 105,000 words and almost(?) done. I've been going back and editing the early chapters so that I can start posting it. I'm hoping to post one chapter a week until I'm actually finished writing/editing the later chapters. Once that happens I'll up the amount of chapters posted a week.
So anyway, I really hope you like this story. It's been my baby for the last four plus years, but I think I'm ready to share it with you.
Chapter 1: Deal
The Goblin King twirled and thrust the saber towards his enemy. Panting in exertion, the agile younger fae jumped out of the way just in time. Both ethereal beings stared hard at each other. Blood stained the ground around them from the battle. Everything was on the line and neither side would admit defeat at this point. There were only two choices: win or die.
Jareth the Goblin King tried to settle his racing heart and block out the screams of his subjects as they were slashed and stabbed. Bronwyn, the fae behind the invasion of the Goblin Kingdom, stood in a similar pose regaining some strength. "About time you gave up, isn't it?" Bronwyn called over to Jareth.
Jareth glared at the younger fae. "My kingdom will not be ruled by an impudent, inbred, hedge-pig."
Bronwyn's eyes shrunk to narrow slits and he let out a fierce battle cry as he charged the Goblin King. Jareth struggled to raise his sword in time to block the blow; he'd lost his shield long ago. Bronwyn's shortsword skated along Jareth's saber. The blow pushed Jareth back enough that he lost his balance and fell into the churned mud. Bronwyn paused for a moment, a manic grin crossing his face. A low laugh filled the space between them as he set the tip of his sword against Jareth's throat. "Cousin, I shall give you the honor of a quick death, only if you crawl forward and kiss my boots."
Jareth glared up at the fae, blinking the rain from his eyes. His hand tightened on the saber still in his hand, intending to slash up with it and knock Bronwyn's sword away. The younger dark-haired fae noticed before he could do anything though, and stomped down on Jareth's wrist with a booted foot. The Goblin King let out a strangled yell of pain and his saber was kicked away. Bronwyn didn't stop there; he also stomped down on Jareth's torso. The blond fae to lost his breath and curled in upon himself, sure that there must be several broken ribs.
Through his rough breathing, Jareth could hear the screams of his goblins as they were slaughtered by Bronwyn's fae army. While goblins were ferocious, they were only really effective in groups. Singled out, they were easily taken down, and Bronwyn knew this. His fae army was superior in size to anything Jareth could have even begun to assemble, had he known what his cousin was planning, and it was quite obvious that Bronwyn had been planning this assault. He'd known which passages to take in the labyrinth to get to the castle in as short an amount of time as possible, and he'd also known about the protective spells and how to circumvent them. Had Hoggle, whose cottage was on the outskirts of the labyrinth, not warned him, they would've been caught completely by surprise. The little warning they did have had only ensured that they hadn't been killed in their beds. His goblins were being efficiently cut down and he himself was grounded.
Ignoring the rain falling onto his face and the pain surging through his torso, Jareth turned to glare up at his cousin. The sword tip was still positioned near his throat, so he had little choice but to crawl forward and lower his head towards the arrogant fae's boot. However at that moment he pulled a short dagger from his belt and sliced it through his cousin's Achilles tendon. Bronwyn roared with pain and dropped to one knee, level with his cousin's now smirking face. "You may defeat me, but you will never rule the labyrinth. She'll never answer to you."
At this pronouncement, Bronwyn glared at his cousin before roaring again in anger. With his anger, the ground started to tremble and Jareth looked around with wide eyes. There were very few fae who could control the elements and he'd never known Bronwyn to have that level of self-discipline. However the ground was indeed shaking in response to his cousin's rage, and was now starting to crack as well. Jareth stumbled away from a crack near his boot. "Bronwyn, stop!" he commanded.
Bronwyn did no such thing, and instead intensified the spell. The goblins and fae around them stopped their fighting and scurried for cover. The cracks were becoming deeper and wider. "BRONWYN!"
The dark fae refused to listen, and Jareth moved to physically break his concentration, but Bronwyn noticed the movement and focused the spell around the blond fae. A roaring chasm extended toward Jareth and the Goblin King struggled to escape it, knowing that it was moving too fast. He almost made it to solid ground when a piece of earth dropped from beneath his boot causing him to fall. The ground around him continued to crack and break away, leaving nothing stable to grab onto. Jareth felt himself falling backwards and was about to perform a levitation spell when his skull collided with a piece of rock. Pain flared through his head briefly before he lost consciousness and continued plummeting to what would surely be his death.
Sarah watched as he approached, his face confident even though she was so close to winning. His white feather cloak seemed to float on the non-existent breeze and his iridescent white garments enhanced his lean physique. She allowed her eyes to rove over his body as he came closer. "Give me the child," she said in a near whisper her eyes coming to rest on his mismatched eyes.
He halted for a moment, searching her face before continuing his slow saunter towards her. "Sarah beware," he said in a low voice. "I have been generous up till now, but I can be cruel."
He moved even closer and started to circle her, but she refused to be intimidated. In fact, she was quite bemused at what he'd just said. "Generous?" she remarked. "What have you done that's generous?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head.
"Everything!" he bit out, continuing to circle her. "Everything that you wanted, I have done. You asked that the child be taken; I took him. You cowered before me; I was frightening." His temper was starting to show in the way his boots hit the stone floor and his jerky movements. Sarah merely continued to follow him with her eyes as he circled. "I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you!" He finished as he came to a standstill in front of her. "I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations of me… Isn't that generous?" the question sounded neither mocking nor sarcastic, but earnest.
Sarah was about to respond, the lines she'd practiced in the park ready on the tip of her tongue, but at that moment Jareth dissolved as though he were a hologram that had been turned off. She stared at the spot where he'd been in confusion. "Greetings youngling," a voice echoed through the broken room.
Sarah turned around in confusion trying to figure out where it was coming from. "Who are you?!" she called out. "Where's Toby?!"
"Calm yourself child," the voice, which couldn't be identified as either male or female, soothed. "We need your help, Sarah."
"Who are you!" she demanded.
"We don't have a name. However you know us as The Labyrinth."
Sarah felt her knees weaken and it was all she could do to remain standing as she realized that this was no longer a dream… and yet it was. "What could you possibly need my help with?"
"The Caretaker has been injured and we are unable to assist him."
"So you what… Want me to take care of him? Why should I help you?"
"Because you are the only one who can. The magic of the Caretaker runs through you as well."
"What are you talking about? I have no magic!" The voice remained silent at her outburst. "I don't!"
"Will you help us?"
"Who is the Caretaker?"
"Will you help us? We will repay you."
"How?"
"With what your heart most desires."
"Gah!" Sarah exclaimed, spinning on her heel only to realize that she didn't have anywhere to stomp off to. This was a dream… and she was stuck in the broken Escher room. And yet the Labyrinth was talking to her. She didn't know who this Caretaker person was, but she was fairly certain that she didn't have any magic. How was she supposed to help the Caretaker? Well… she did have her medical training.
After she'd returned from her journey through the Labyrinth, she'd started seriously looking at her options. After high school, she went to college and trained to be a paramedic. However her college loans were more than she could handle, so she'd gone into the National Guard which had promised to pay off her loans. As a result, she'd become a paramedic for the army and had just returned from a fourteen-month stay in Kuwait last week. She'd only returned to her apartment last night after visiting some friends in another state. If someone really was hurt, how could she turn them away? Guilt swooped through her at the thought of breaking the physician's oath to do no harm and her mind was made up. "I'll do it," she whispered. "I'll help you."
"Our thanks…" the voice said gratefully fading into silence.
o
Sarah Williams sat bolt upright in her bed. She could remember every part of the dream she'd just had and it unnerved her to her core. First it had been a familiar dream, one she'd had before… her final confrontation with the Goblin King. Then it had changed, warped into something completely different and somehow she'd wound up agreeing to help some injured Caretaker because apparently she was the only one who could.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, she swung her legs off her double wide bed and moved toward the bathroom to get a drink of water. But on her way past the archway into the living room, she heard a groan and shuffling sound. Doing what would've been a comical double take had she not been concerned, Sarah poked her head back into the living room searching for the source of the noise. "Hello?" she called out, mentally preparing herself for confrontation. Even though she hadn't been on the front lines, she'd still been taught basic self defense as part of her army training.
Another groan met her ears, and she poked her head over the back of the couch to see a tall lean form lying on it. Sarah gasped and fumbled for the lightswitch. Fluorescent light gradually filled the room and Sarah nervously moved back toward the couch. Her jaw dropped at the sight of what met her eyes, and though she just wanted to take a moment to stare and wonder at how the hell the Goblin King had managed to get into her apartment, her medical training kicked in rapidly at the sight of so much blood gushing from his head. "Oh my god," she muttered as she rushed into the bathroom and quickly grabbed up some towels, antiseptic, latex gloves, and bandages. She then ran into the kitchen for a bowl of cool water. "Hang on Goblin King," she whispered to him as she knelt beside the couch, pulling the gloves on as she went.
He appeared to be in a lot of pain, considering the tender way he was protecting his torso and breathing shallowly. She suspected there might be some broken ribs, however his head wound was worrying her much more at the moment. He could easily die if she didn't stop the bleeding, so she pressed a towel gently against the back of his head, putting pressure on it in an attempt to make it clot faster. She grimaced as he whimpered. It appeared he may have a fractured skull. He needed a doctor. She may know more than the average person about medicine, but she also knew that the skill needed to prevent him from dying was beyond her.
However when she picked up the phone on the side table to dial 9-1-1, it was only to discover there was no dial tone. "Damn it!" she cursed, fishing her cell phone out of her pocket. She didn't have any more luck with the mobile device either, because the moment she tried to dial the numbers it sparked and started to smoke. "What the- ?" she dropped the fried cell phone.
Suddenly she remembered what the Labyrinth had said in her dream. Because you are the only one who can. The magic of the Caretaker runs through you as well. But what the hell did that mean? Sarah was certain that if she had magic, she would have noticed before now. However, it seemed her only option at the moment seeing as something wouldn't allow her to call for help. She focused once more on the unconscious man in front of her.
The blood had slowed to a trickle, which was good, but she was still worried about internal bleeding on the brain. "How do I do this?" she asked aloud, not expecting an answer. And she didn't receive one. Growling in frustration, she did the only thing she could think of and placed her hands over the wound on the back of the king's head and concentrated on closing the wound. She felt stupid, but she pictured the wound closing, the skin whole and unblemished once more. To her surprise, she felt a tingling sensation in her palms and when she removed her hands, the wound was closed. There was still a massive amount of blood on her towels and soaked into the fae's fair hair, but he wasn't bleeding anymore.
Turning her hands to look at her palms, Sarah couldn't find anything different with them, but obviously something was. There was more to be done though… simply closing the wound was not enough. Feeling with gently probing fingertips, Sarah pressed against the back of the Goblin King's skull until he whimpered again. Holding her hand over the back of his head once more, she focused on healing the bone as well as stopping any internal bleeding. This time the tingling feeling lasted much longer and when it stopped, Sarah felt completely drained, as though she'd just finished with one of her cardio workouts and then gone for a five mile run. Satisfied with what she'd done so far, she moved on to cleaning up the blood with a towel and some cool water.
When she was finished, she dumped the water in the kitchen sink and returned to the fae lying on her couch. She needed to get the armor off of him. However it was scratched and soaked in blood. It looked like he'd been in a fierce battle… and lost. Sighing with exhaustion, she went about the task of loosening the straps of the hard leather armor and gently lifting it from his body. A whimper of pain drew her attention. He was cradling his wrist and still had a protective hold over his torso. That's right… she thought he'd had broken ribs, and now it looked like his wrist was injured as well.
Sighing, she gently took hold of his wrist and felt along the smooth skin there. It appeared that the carpals were in order, but he was still obviously in pain, most likely a sprain then. He would need a splint for it, but she didn't worry too much about that at the moment and instead turned to his torso. Without his armor, the only things on him were a leather jerkin and what used to be a white doublet. Trying to not pay attention to the fact that she was undressing the Goblin King, Sarah's nimble fingers undid the buttons holding both items of clothing closed before sliding her hands along his sides, searching for breaks. After a few minutes of silent searching, she found herself to be correct. The sixth, seventh, and eighth ribs were broken along his right side. They would need to be healed yet tonight if she was to prevent bone fragments from puncturing his lungs or anything else.
Once more, she laid both hands on him, now gloveless. His skin was cold and smooth underneath her palms, but she ignored it and concentrated on making his ribs whole again. The tingling feeling filled her palms once more. It took about as long as it had to heal his skull; however this time when she was finished, exhaustion overtook her and she slumped sideways onto the floor. Her breaths were shallow and dark bags lined the underside of her eyes. Silence filled the apartment again as both of its residents healed while they slept.