Author's Note: Hi, this chapter is kind of long, but it explains a lot, and
there's a lot of action. Not so much Jareth and Sarah action, but that'll
be made up for in the next chapter. And thank you once again to all my
reviewers! You are such beautiful people and I really appreciate the
feedback.
Chapter 14: Revelations
The sound of rain falling on the roof was strangely calming to her senses as she lay in the large bed in the room that she had stayed in before. Sarah sat up slowly by using the pillows as a headrest, and then felt her side to see if it still hurt. It did. Her head was pounding, and she put a hand to her forehead in an attempt to rub away the pain. The door to the room creaked as it opened and in walked a little goblin maid. The maid was fat and low to the ground, and her face was green in color with two small black eyes watching Sarah curiously, but also with a look of concern. "Is ye all right me lady?" she asked politely. Sarah looked down and noticed that her attire had been changed to that of a baggy white nightgown that gave her plenty of room to move around in without it rubbing against her sore side. "Where's Jareth?" Sarah asked the little maid standing at the side of her bed. The maid shook her head and a sad expression come over her face. "I'm sorry miss, but he went back to fighting as soon as he made sure ye were all right." Sarah sighed in annoyance that Jareth had gone back out there without her. "Is there any news?" she asked. The maid knew what Sarah meant and replied, "Yes, miss, they have fought the demons back to the Dwarf and Gnome Kingdom, but they haven't been able to get the colors back yet. And an odd occurrence has taken place." Sarah had been listening intently, and when the maid had left off and didn't act like she was going to continue, she said, "Go on." The maid seemed to hesitate, then began to say something, thought better of it and answered; "King Ishtar has gone missing." Sarah leaned back into the pillows behind her with a sigh. If it wasn't one thing it was another. Now, they had to focus their efforts on finding Ishtar as well as fighting off the sprites and demons. Not exactly sure what to do next, the maid bowed and left the room silently. A thought occurred to Sarah, something that she hadn't realized before. She sat up and stood as quickly as she could, which wasn't very considering her condition. The wardrobe across the room provided many styles of clothes, and Sarah chose a practical pair of riding pants, a white blouse, and a black hooded cloak. She changed her clothes in a hurry, not wasting an ounce of time. Once she had finished dressing, she stormed out of the castle unnoticed and to the stables where she knew there would be horses waiting. Choosing the smallest horse in the wooden structure, she saddled it as best she could with her lack of knowledge, and galloped off to find Jareth. Riding there the wind whipped her hair and a look of determination was etched in her features. Her hands gripped the reigns in anxiousness. The thought that had occurred to her in bed came rushing back to her. She hadn't put it together until now. Conway wasn't the enemy. As crazy as that had seemed to her at the time, it was slowly starting to sink in. And the fact that Conway eerily resembled Ishtar was another give away. And when the goblin maid had told her Ishtar had gone missing, all the pieces of the puzzle came into place. But getting Jareth to believe her theory was a different story. She had passed Ishtar's kingdom and the Gnome and Dwarf Kingdom was gradually coming into view just over the horizon. The sun was staring to rise, and the red and orange rays fell on Sarah's face, giving her renewed hope. Only the colors were still missing from the area. Slowing the horse to a gallop, Sarah scanned the area cautiously, looking for any sign of trouble. She admitted to herself that coming there alone was incredibly stupid on her part, but no one knew what she had discovered. A figure coming toward her made her start, and she put herself on guard for threat of oncoming fight. Through the haze of gray, Sarah was able to make out barely that the figure was a man. As he approached the horse, she knew it was Jareth, and she could feel her body relax as he glared at her.
"What are you doing out of bed?" he demanded heatedly. Sarah felt guilty about getting out of bed when she knew it would make him mad, but she did what she had to do. "Jareth, please let me explain," Sarah started. Still glaring at her angrily, Jareth helped her down from the horse. "Explain what?" he asked, "That you were too stubborn for your own good once again?" Sarah placed her hands on her hips in a stance of defiance. "Hey, don't take it out on me. Do you think I asked for this? Look, I know I made you mad by leaving, and I'm sorry, but I thought what I was doing was right at the time." Jareth sighed and looked at her standing there, still pale and weak, and he wanted so much to hold her and make everything go away, but knew that he had to focus on the present situation. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have scolded you like a child," he said. Smiling a little, Sarah held out her hand. Puzzled, Jareth asked, "What?" Exasperated, Sarah replied, "Take it." Together they walked hand in hand through the city looking around for any signs of Ishtar. While walking Sarah explained some of what she had figured out to Jareth. "What if we were wrong about Conway?" she asked. Jareth threw her look as if to say, huh? "Yeah," she agreed, "I know it sounds crazy, but have you noticed how similar Conway and Ishtar are in appearance except for Conway missing an eye and the scar running down his cheek. They both have dark black hair, both are fairly tall, and they both have those eerily large purple eyes, except Conway's are slitted." Jareth thought about it, then he exclaimed excitedly, "By George, you're right. You don't suppose." "Yep," Sarah said, "Conway is Ishtar's son." Meanwhile, Ishtar was being held by the demons and sprites in a large building, one which might have been grand before, but was now just a shell of its former self. He sat sullenly with his head in hands in the middle of the room, trying to keep away from the malicious creatures surrounding him. To an outsider in might have seemed that the demons and sprites were holding him hostage, but that was far from the truth. Ishtar had gone there of his own free will. He had suspected that his son had been alive all along, but never knew where to even begin looking for him. Now he sat, and thought about what might have been had he been the one to raise his son. Then, his brother had came to him and told him that he knew where his son was. And Ishtar, believing his brother, followed him only to be fooled. And he continued to sit, watching and waiting for what was going to happen next. Ishtar's thoughts were interrupted as Jareth burst into the room he was sitting in and got to work throwing crystals at the masses of demons and sprites. There were too many to take out all at once, so while Jareth was destroying them, Sarah had sneaked in the back way and managed to make it to Ishtar and tried to persuade him to come with her. "But, he knows who my son is," whimpered Ishtar hopefully. Sarah had never seen a king so distraught before, she had only seen them haughty and demanding, and she didn't like this new change in Ishtar's demeanor. "Who knows?" she asked kneeling down to talk to him better. "My brother he told me to wait here and he would bring me my son," Ishtar explained. Sarah sighed, she truly felt sorry for him, and she knew what she was tell him next would only make it worse. "Ishtar, your brother, Feldman, how do you think he knows who your son is?" This made Ishtar stop and he looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean," he said, his voice becoming fierce.
"I mean," Sarah continued, "that Feldman knew who your son was all along." Ishtar jumped up and started to yell. "How dare you accuse my own brother of something so treacherous!" he exclaimed in anger. Sarah had stood up by now and was standing a safe distance away from him. She held up her hands in a gesture of understanding. "Just listen, Feldman and your wife." and he cut her off with an icy glare. "I will not stand here and listen to you slandering the name of my family. Don't forget your place Sarah, in this world you are just a human. A human just like my wife was, a small insignificant, worthless being in a world full of wonder," he spat, his face turning red. By this time, Sarah's hands were clenched at her sides and her eyes were blazing in rage. Jareth, from afar, had seen the argument starting to break out between Ishtar and Sarah, and rushed towards them in order to stop any injuries that might be suffered by either party, which was probably more likely to happen in Sarah's case. "Ishtar, if you won't listen to Sarah, then listen to me," Jareth said, stepping in between the two. "Your brother and your wife were conspiring against you. Why do you think your wife suddenly turned against you? You know how Feldman is with women; he can woo them at the drop of the hat. She was convinced that she was in love with him. And because of that he turned her against you in order to take over your kingdom. Don't you see, this is all because of your brother." A clapping sound made all three of them jump and look towards the door where the source of the noise was originating. Feldman stood in the doorway of the building, and started to walk down the steps while still clapping his hands in haughtier. "So, someone has finally figured it out. It's ironic it would be a human to do it, too." The hordes had parted as he stepped down the steps, and gone was the charming man Sarah had met that day in the Old Kingdom. He seemed menacing and calculating in every fashion. "It's sad isn't it," he continued, addressing Jareth and Sarah, while circling them, "that my own brother was so grief stricken over the loss of his son, such a weakness, that he would abandon his own sense of logic and follow me here." Feldman and Ishtar stared at each other, almost as if communicating with their eyes and body language. Ishtar spoke, "When?" he asked. A frown pulled down the corners of Feldman's mouth in confusion. "When what, dear brother?" he said sarcastically. "When did you start having an affair with my wife?" Ishtar asked, all emotion gone from his voice. His stance had become tall and rigid. "I believe it was when Yaelin was around eight, that's when I started seducing her," he answered eyeing his brother. Sarah interjected, "Who's Yaelin?" Feldman smiled wickedly at her and in a mocking tone said, "I thought you had figured out everything all ready my dear. I guess you're not as smart as you think you are. Yaelin is Ishtar's son." Sarah thought about it for a minute, but before she could say what she was thinking, Jareth took the words right out of her mouth. "But, that was before you changed his name to Conway, wasn't it Feldman?" Sarah picked up the rest, "And you and Ishtar's wife held him for ransom while Ishtar was worried sick over him. Then, you plotted to take over his kingdom, and you almost managed it, except you couldn't change the fact that Conway and Ishtar are father and son, and you can't change genetics. You tried though, by giving him the power to metamorphosis into a raven." During the explanations, Feldman's confident façade had slowly dissolved into that of astonishment. "So, you figured out everything did you?" Ishtar's hand was balled into a fist, and it flew back, then forward and smashed into the Feldman's face, breaking his nose. Blood and snot flew as his fist made contact and Feldman staggered back and let out a howl of pain. Holding his hands to his face covering his bloodied nose, Feldman stepped backwards and a great rumbling was heard. The building started to shake and pieces of the building started to fall. To Sarah it seemed like the equivalent of an earthquake, but as she, Ishtar, Jareth all rushed past a now quieted Feldman to the door they saw a great army of trolls approaching from the south, and in front of the masses was a now restored Conway riding on horseback. "But I turned him into a rat," Sarah said quietly in perplexity. Jareth looked at Sarah and saw she was confused about how he was no longer a rat, and he said, "Sarah, he probably turned himself back into human form as soon as he got his hands on the right words to do it." Ishtar had been listening and heard the name Conway and had remembered something Sarah had said about Feldman changing his son's name from Yaelin to Conway. His highly arched eyebrows drew together in question. "You mean, that's my son?" he asked.
Thanks for reading, and please review. I'm not sure how many more chapters there are going to be, probably about 2 or 3 more, then I'm going to wrap this story up until my deranged mind can come up with another one. Until the next chapter.
Chapter 14: Revelations
The sound of rain falling on the roof was strangely calming to her senses as she lay in the large bed in the room that she had stayed in before. Sarah sat up slowly by using the pillows as a headrest, and then felt her side to see if it still hurt. It did. Her head was pounding, and she put a hand to her forehead in an attempt to rub away the pain. The door to the room creaked as it opened and in walked a little goblin maid. The maid was fat and low to the ground, and her face was green in color with two small black eyes watching Sarah curiously, but also with a look of concern. "Is ye all right me lady?" she asked politely. Sarah looked down and noticed that her attire had been changed to that of a baggy white nightgown that gave her plenty of room to move around in without it rubbing against her sore side. "Where's Jareth?" Sarah asked the little maid standing at the side of her bed. The maid shook her head and a sad expression come over her face. "I'm sorry miss, but he went back to fighting as soon as he made sure ye were all right." Sarah sighed in annoyance that Jareth had gone back out there without her. "Is there any news?" she asked. The maid knew what Sarah meant and replied, "Yes, miss, they have fought the demons back to the Dwarf and Gnome Kingdom, but they haven't been able to get the colors back yet. And an odd occurrence has taken place." Sarah had been listening intently, and when the maid had left off and didn't act like she was going to continue, she said, "Go on." The maid seemed to hesitate, then began to say something, thought better of it and answered; "King Ishtar has gone missing." Sarah leaned back into the pillows behind her with a sigh. If it wasn't one thing it was another. Now, they had to focus their efforts on finding Ishtar as well as fighting off the sprites and demons. Not exactly sure what to do next, the maid bowed and left the room silently. A thought occurred to Sarah, something that she hadn't realized before. She sat up and stood as quickly as she could, which wasn't very considering her condition. The wardrobe across the room provided many styles of clothes, and Sarah chose a practical pair of riding pants, a white blouse, and a black hooded cloak. She changed her clothes in a hurry, not wasting an ounce of time. Once she had finished dressing, she stormed out of the castle unnoticed and to the stables where she knew there would be horses waiting. Choosing the smallest horse in the wooden structure, she saddled it as best she could with her lack of knowledge, and galloped off to find Jareth. Riding there the wind whipped her hair and a look of determination was etched in her features. Her hands gripped the reigns in anxiousness. The thought that had occurred to her in bed came rushing back to her. She hadn't put it together until now. Conway wasn't the enemy. As crazy as that had seemed to her at the time, it was slowly starting to sink in. And the fact that Conway eerily resembled Ishtar was another give away. And when the goblin maid had told her Ishtar had gone missing, all the pieces of the puzzle came into place. But getting Jareth to believe her theory was a different story. She had passed Ishtar's kingdom and the Gnome and Dwarf Kingdom was gradually coming into view just over the horizon. The sun was staring to rise, and the red and orange rays fell on Sarah's face, giving her renewed hope. Only the colors were still missing from the area. Slowing the horse to a gallop, Sarah scanned the area cautiously, looking for any sign of trouble. She admitted to herself that coming there alone was incredibly stupid on her part, but no one knew what she had discovered. A figure coming toward her made her start, and she put herself on guard for threat of oncoming fight. Through the haze of gray, Sarah was able to make out barely that the figure was a man. As he approached the horse, she knew it was Jareth, and she could feel her body relax as he glared at her.
"What are you doing out of bed?" he demanded heatedly. Sarah felt guilty about getting out of bed when she knew it would make him mad, but she did what she had to do. "Jareth, please let me explain," Sarah started. Still glaring at her angrily, Jareth helped her down from the horse. "Explain what?" he asked, "That you were too stubborn for your own good once again?" Sarah placed her hands on her hips in a stance of defiance. "Hey, don't take it out on me. Do you think I asked for this? Look, I know I made you mad by leaving, and I'm sorry, but I thought what I was doing was right at the time." Jareth sighed and looked at her standing there, still pale and weak, and he wanted so much to hold her and make everything go away, but knew that he had to focus on the present situation. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have scolded you like a child," he said. Smiling a little, Sarah held out her hand. Puzzled, Jareth asked, "What?" Exasperated, Sarah replied, "Take it." Together they walked hand in hand through the city looking around for any signs of Ishtar. While walking Sarah explained some of what she had figured out to Jareth. "What if we were wrong about Conway?" she asked. Jareth threw her look as if to say, huh? "Yeah," she agreed, "I know it sounds crazy, but have you noticed how similar Conway and Ishtar are in appearance except for Conway missing an eye and the scar running down his cheek. They both have dark black hair, both are fairly tall, and they both have those eerily large purple eyes, except Conway's are slitted." Jareth thought about it, then he exclaimed excitedly, "By George, you're right. You don't suppose." "Yep," Sarah said, "Conway is Ishtar's son." Meanwhile, Ishtar was being held by the demons and sprites in a large building, one which might have been grand before, but was now just a shell of its former self. He sat sullenly with his head in hands in the middle of the room, trying to keep away from the malicious creatures surrounding him. To an outsider in might have seemed that the demons and sprites were holding him hostage, but that was far from the truth. Ishtar had gone there of his own free will. He had suspected that his son had been alive all along, but never knew where to even begin looking for him. Now he sat, and thought about what might have been had he been the one to raise his son. Then, his brother had came to him and told him that he knew where his son was. And Ishtar, believing his brother, followed him only to be fooled. And he continued to sit, watching and waiting for what was going to happen next. Ishtar's thoughts were interrupted as Jareth burst into the room he was sitting in and got to work throwing crystals at the masses of demons and sprites. There were too many to take out all at once, so while Jareth was destroying them, Sarah had sneaked in the back way and managed to make it to Ishtar and tried to persuade him to come with her. "But, he knows who my son is," whimpered Ishtar hopefully. Sarah had never seen a king so distraught before, she had only seen them haughty and demanding, and she didn't like this new change in Ishtar's demeanor. "Who knows?" she asked kneeling down to talk to him better. "My brother he told me to wait here and he would bring me my son," Ishtar explained. Sarah sighed, she truly felt sorry for him, and she knew what she was tell him next would only make it worse. "Ishtar, your brother, Feldman, how do you think he knows who your son is?" This made Ishtar stop and he looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean," he said, his voice becoming fierce.
"I mean," Sarah continued, "that Feldman knew who your son was all along." Ishtar jumped up and started to yell. "How dare you accuse my own brother of something so treacherous!" he exclaimed in anger. Sarah had stood up by now and was standing a safe distance away from him. She held up her hands in a gesture of understanding. "Just listen, Feldman and your wife." and he cut her off with an icy glare. "I will not stand here and listen to you slandering the name of my family. Don't forget your place Sarah, in this world you are just a human. A human just like my wife was, a small insignificant, worthless being in a world full of wonder," he spat, his face turning red. By this time, Sarah's hands were clenched at her sides and her eyes were blazing in rage. Jareth, from afar, had seen the argument starting to break out between Ishtar and Sarah, and rushed towards them in order to stop any injuries that might be suffered by either party, which was probably more likely to happen in Sarah's case. "Ishtar, if you won't listen to Sarah, then listen to me," Jareth said, stepping in between the two. "Your brother and your wife were conspiring against you. Why do you think your wife suddenly turned against you? You know how Feldman is with women; he can woo them at the drop of the hat. She was convinced that she was in love with him. And because of that he turned her against you in order to take over your kingdom. Don't you see, this is all because of your brother." A clapping sound made all three of them jump and look towards the door where the source of the noise was originating. Feldman stood in the doorway of the building, and started to walk down the steps while still clapping his hands in haughtier. "So, someone has finally figured it out. It's ironic it would be a human to do it, too." The hordes had parted as he stepped down the steps, and gone was the charming man Sarah had met that day in the Old Kingdom. He seemed menacing and calculating in every fashion. "It's sad isn't it," he continued, addressing Jareth and Sarah, while circling them, "that my own brother was so grief stricken over the loss of his son, such a weakness, that he would abandon his own sense of logic and follow me here." Feldman and Ishtar stared at each other, almost as if communicating with their eyes and body language. Ishtar spoke, "When?" he asked. A frown pulled down the corners of Feldman's mouth in confusion. "When what, dear brother?" he said sarcastically. "When did you start having an affair with my wife?" Ishtar asked, all emotion gone from his voice. His stance had become tall and rigid. "I believe it was when Yaelin was around eight, that's when I started seducing her," he answered eyeing his brother. Sarah interjected, "Who's Yaelin?" Feldman smiled wickedly at her and in a mocking tone said, "I thought you had figured out everything all ready my dear. I guess you're not as smart as you think you are. Yaelin is Ishtar's son." Sarah thought about it for a minute, but before she could say what she was thinking, Jareth took the words right out of her mouth. "But, that was before you changed his name to Conway, wasn't it Feldman?" Sarah picked up the rest, "And you and Ishtar's wife held him for ransom while Ishtar was worried sick over him. Then, you plotted to take over his kingdom, and you almost managed it, except you couldn't change the fact that Conway and Ishtar are father and son, and you can't change genetics. You tried though, by giving him the power to metamorphosis into a raven." During the explanations, Feldman's confident façade had slowly dissolved into that of astonishment. "So, you figured out everything did you?" Ishtar's hand was balled into a fist, and it flew back, then forward and smashed into the Feldman's face, breaking his nose. Blood and snot flew as his fist made contact and Feldman staggered back and let out a howl of pain. Holding his hands to his face covering his bloodied nose, Feldman stepped backwards and a great rumbling was heard. The building started to shake and pieces of the building started to fall. To Sarah it seemed like the equivalent of an earthquake, but as she, Ishtar, Jareth all rushed past a now quieted Feldman to the door they saw a great army of trolls approaching from the south, and in front of the masses was a now restored Conway riding on horseback. "But I turned him into a rat," Sarah said quietly in perplexity. Jareth looked at Sarah and saw she was confused about how he was no longer a rat, and he said, "Sarah, he probably turned himself back into human form as soon as he got his hands on the right words to do it." Ishtar had been listening and heard the name Conway and had remembered something Sarah had said about Feldman changing his son's name from Yaelin to Conway. His highly arched eyebrows drew together in question. "You mean, that's my son?" he asked.
Thanks for reading, and please review. I'm not sure how many more chapters there are going to be, probably about 2 or 3 more, then I'm going to wrap this story up until my deranged mind can come up with another one. Until the next chapter.