Hey everyone. Sorry for taking so long in posting this but I've been off trying to work on my Hunger series, which I have completed by the wayJ . Hopefully it will be ready for posting later this week. It still has a lot of cleaning up to do to get it ready for your reading enjoyment. But until then I give you another chapter to Things Change. The usual disclaimer goes for this little story of mine. Please read and review =D
Things Change
Chapter 7
Dressed in a simple flowing dress of sky blue, Sarah peeked out the door to her bedroom. To her relief, she saw no one in sight and made her escape of the bedroom unnoticed. She had wondered about that garden, and being as bored as she was, she decided to go and explore. Jareth did say she could roam about the castle and seeing that the garden was a part of the castle grounds, she thought that it was within his perimeters of being within the castle, not that it would have stopped her to begin with.
Making her way through the halls, she made sure to avoid anyone hiding around the corner when she would hear someone's approach. To her relief there were only two instances where she had to hide and it did not take her long to reach the castle gardens. With a deep breath of relief she stepped out into the open air, feeling rejuvenated and almost free. At least she had gotten out of that stuffy castle, she found herself wondering how Jareth put up being stuck in that place all the time.
Weaving her way through the paths within the garden, Sarah made sure to loose herself in the gardens, not in any hurry to go back inside. Slowly making her way through the paths of flowers and greenery she found herself suddenly in a large clearing. The clearing was almost in a shape of a circle, as a stone bench sat at one end facing the large stone fountain within its center. A tall willow tree stood beside the stone bench lending a comforting shade for whoever would sit upon the bench.
Sarah watched as the water poured out from the mouth of a dolphin as it looked as if it was in mid flight jumping out of the water with its back arched. She barely noticed the flowers and roses that bloomed in the bushes that made up the circle of the clearing as she studied the fountain and its beauty.
"Lovely isn't it?" came a cultured male voice from behind startling her, though the accent was recognizable the voice was not.
Turning quickly to the being that interrupted her solace, she backed up slightly, not sure about the man that stood before her. He was very handsome with short black hair, chocolate eyes that seemed to be looking at her in a way she wasn't sure that she was comfortable with, and a very striking smile that put her ill feelings a bit at ease. "Who are you?" she softly asked.
Duncan bowed to the lady before him, "My apologies milady for not first introducing myself. I am Duncan, Lord of Fantasies, but you may call me Duncan."
The smile that he flashed her was a bit contagious as she found herself returning his smile, "Well, Duncan it is nice to meet you. My name is Sarah."
Sauntering up to her, he took her hand in his bowing over her hand as he kissed the back of it. Looking up from his bowed position he grinned devilishly up to her, "Sarah, I will not forget such a lovely name of such a lovely creature."
Oh God, those eyes, he was definitely charming and to add to that, handsome. Not able to stop her cheeks from flushing, she was speechless to make any answer to such a complement. No one had ever spoken to her like that, except that one time Jareth had commented on her looking lovely just before dinner. At the thought of Jareth and dinner, her anger of that night came quickly to memory. It would take a lot for Jareth to make up for what he said to her last night.
So wrapped up within her thoughts, she did not notice as Duncan circled and came up from behind, his warm breath brushing against her ear, "What thoughts trouble you so?"
Sarah tensed she felt him so near turning to face him she faltered slightly before softly replying, "Why do you ask?" He was so near, his face mere inches from her own, that look within his eyes making her feel a bit uneasy.
Duncan looked to her with concern, his hand coming up to move an invisible strand of her hair from her face, touching her smooth white skin softly in doing so. Sarah's eyes widened a bit at the contact as he answered her question, "Just now, that look. Someone hurt you?"
She swallowed instead of saying anything in response stepping back slightly, as she felt suddenly very exposed. How did he know?
He frowned in response, "I see that I am correct. I apologize for my boldness as I do have a tendency at seeing more than I should be allowed."
"No…No don't apologize I…" Sarah faltered yet again not sure what to say. The feelings of last night slamming into her full force. Jareth had opened some old wounds that she had ignored that were there for so long and the events of the past two days. Tears bordered her eyes as she turned away from this stranger who seemed to know her pint up pain. Was she some opened book that everyone could see into? How many had hurt her? The list forming in her mind seemed impossible to count.
Coming up to her he lightly placed his hand on her shoulder handing her a handkerchief with a flourish of his wrist. Sarah took it without a word spoken as she fought the incoming tears that threatened to spill. So involved in trying to dry her eyes, she did not take notice of him steering her towards the bench underneath the large weeping willow tree.
Duncan watched her, his heart going out to her, she was so young and to know such pain. He waited patiently for her to compose herself.
Sniffling a little she whipped away her tears angry at herself for allowing her emotions to rule her, "I'm sorry."
"No apology needed. Feeling better?" he asked. Duncan watched her closely as she wadded up the handkerchief he had given to her and looked at it with perplexity.
Sarah weakly laughed, "Um, I don't suppose you want this back?"
Duncan returned her laugh with a light one of his own, "It's all yours. Don't worry I have plenty where that came from."
Straitening herself on the bench, she tried to lighten the sudden awkward mood, "I don't suppose that you are a friend of the Goblin King?"
His brows rose at the question, his eyes looking to her with amusement, "You could say that we are old friends. I think I've known him all of my life which is a pretty long time."
"Oh," she nodded a part of her not sure why she even asked.
He watched her, a strange feeling welling up inside. Why was this young woman affecting him so when he had only just met her? This was not good, it seemed that his plans were starting to backfire. He was supposed to charm her, not the other way around, "I had no idea that he had a guest staying at his castle," he lied.
Sarah frowned, "I'm not exactly here of my own free will."
Duncan rose one of his dark brows, "Oh, I see! You were wished away then?" he asked, already knowing the answer but she didn't know that he knew.
Sarah stood from the bench, hands on hips as she felt the unfairness of it all, "All I did was throw caution to the wind and drank some alcohol! How was I supposed to know that my best friend would find my book and read the words that got me into this mess?" Sarah continued as she began to pace, feeling a bit better now that she could vent out her frustration, "And you know what? That so called arrogant, conceited, overly dressed, jerk of a Goblin King makes her go to sleep with his damned crystal, leaving me without a way out of this mess!"
Duncan watched with amusement as Sarah's face was turning a adorable shade of red as her voice rose with each insult. She was a fiery spirit, he just hoped that Jareth wouldn't overhear her venting.
Stopping her pacing, she returned to where she was sitting earlier with a huff, "Then there's last night…" she trailed off not really sure if she should be telling Duncan all of this. For some reason she felt as if she could confide in him. Sarah shook her head at the idea, "He's all charming and then he throws the reality of my life in my face forcing me to see how miserable I was. You said that I've been hurt. Boy did you hit the bulls-eye on the target! I've been walked on, talked down too, used, taken for granted, not understood, ignored, treated as if I was worthless. No matter what I did to rectify being treated that way…" she frowned, suddenly feeling drained, "My own family could care less about where I was, what I did, or even if I ever existed."
His heart went out to her, there was so much more to this young woman than meets the eye and he understood how Jareth could have fallen for her. Having been treated like that and still able to hold onto her innocence? She had strength of character few possessed. What would have broken a person and made them bitter and hateful…Duncan frowned, "The world has done you wrong then. Such a lovely lady that you are those that mistreated you must have been fools."
Smiling at his comment Sarah felt better, she had kept her thought's pent-up for so long it was nice to be able to tell someone and have them actually listen to her. "Thank you," she softly commented.
He looked to her with surprise, "For what?"
"For listening. I'm sure you have better things to do than to listen to a teenager rant on about how cruel the world has been to her." Sarah looked to him then as if to study him, "Why are you here anyway?"
An all too familiar cultured voice from the side of them came in reply, "Yes, Duncan! Why indeed?"