Traitor's Luck
Chapter II
By Northstar
Another fair day had dawned over the valley, and after the nasty rainstorm last night, it was much appreciated. It was festival time, the two weeks out of every year when trade caravans and wandering bards and minstrels came into the valley, bringing their wonderful tales of far-off places and adventures, and singing the epic ballads of love and chivalry.
Normally, Indros would have been one of the first to drop by the marketplace and meet the merchants, asking for news of his sister. However, today he had something else planned- something that the archmages of the tower would never have approved of, much less allowed. Today was the day that Indros, with the help of his lady friend, Natela Vandree, would attempt a powerful gate spell in order to visit his sister.
"Before we go through with this, love," rose Natela's sweet voice, "are you sure that your sister is in the Underground?"
Continuing his study of the enchanted circle, he absently answered back, "Yes, I'm sure. After she was banished from the tower for releasing the Goblin King, and then taking his side, there is no place she could be. It's highly unlikely she stayed on Toril, since with her banishment, word would have gotten out that no-one would take her on." Busily checking the runes formed with powdered silver, the young half-elf let his words die out as he corrected a small, but important mistake.
"Well, put like that, I would have to agree. When I fled Menzoberranzan, there was no-place left for me in the Night Below," Natela confirmed. "I would have been put to death as a spy had I tried to flee to another Drow city, and would surely have perished in the deadly wildlands. The surface was my only refuge."
"Now isn't that interesting," came a smooth voice that made Natela start, and Indros whirl around in astonishment. Swift as thought, the deadly dark elf began the words that would summon a crushing force and destroy the intruder like a bug. However, Indros quickly stepped between the two, his face a mixture of astonishment and confusion.
"Jareth!" Indros gasped, able to do nothing but stare at his old captor. The King of the Goblins just stood there, an amused, cold, and mocking smile on his face. He light tugged on his gloves, waiting for Indros to come out of his stupor. The silence dragged on.
"Indros, this fop is the male your sister left Toril for?!" came the invoker's voice, scorn and laughter ringing through the room. Immediately, Jareth's smile dropped, and he approached the drow menacingly.
Before they could destroy each other, Indros grabbed the king's silk-clad arm, holding him back. "What in the name of the Abyss of you doing here?" he asked, his usually melodic voice going deeper into a threatening growl.
Cold, mismatched eyes stared into Indros's clear blue elven ones, and with a smooth gesture, tugged his arm free from the half-elf's grip. "I had come to fetch you. Your sister misses her brother, and asked that I allow you to visit. I am now seriously reconsidering my offer."
"You are not needed," came Natela's smug voice. "Indros and I have prepared a spell that will take us right to Galadrea, so you have no power over our coming and going." Natela's voice was laced with contempt, for after all, this WAS a male after all, who was probably older than most elves, yet had given up his unlimimted powers for magic. How could she have any respect for a creature like this?
"Well, well, so little Indros 'the fiend from hell' Solardin has grown some teeth, and is now protected by a Drow, hmmm? My, maybe I should just go back to the castle and let you little fools attempt your spell. It should be extremely entertaining to see you fail," Jareth taunted, a thin smile just barely allowing the two mages a glimpse of his tiny fangs.
"And what makes you think we would fail?" Indros asked, once again maneuvering himself between his lover and the goblin king. I swear these two are going to kill each other if they are in the same room for much longer, he thought in worry. Natela was extremely powerful, but so was Jareth, and who knew what powers he had obtained since having Galadrea for a tutor. The sheer amount of potential destruction was enough to make Indros break out into a cold sweat.
Nonchalantly, the king of the goblins stepped back, wrapping his black, glittering cape around himself. "The palace is protected by so many wards and guards you wouldn't be able to even open a window from the outside without my express permission, or that of your sister's. Now, do you want to end up who-knows-where with your transport spell, or do you wish me to take you there safely?"
When Jareth put it that way, Indros realized he had no choice. Nodding, he held out his hand for Natela's, not noticing the slightly self-satisfied smirk on her face.
Back at the castle, Galadrea busily checked, double-checked, and triple-checked all of the preparations for Jareth's little celebration. The goblins were all away, Gala having sent them out into the Labyrinth so they wouldn't mess her preparations up.
Holding up the hem of her robe, she quickly made her way to the kitchen, where an invisible servant she had summoned was dutifully cooking an excellent banquet. Normally, the goblin cook would have done so, but Gala had basically kicked the small creatures out of the castle for the duration of Indros's visit.
"Let's see," she murmured, removing a scroll from her sash. "Banquet food, check. Castle cleanup, check. Invitations sent out to apprentices, check. Invitations to the neighboring kingdoms, check." As she paced down the hall, she used a quill pen to check off each item on the list. The dignitaries should start arriving in about four hours. I hope Jareth's back by then. It wouldn't do for the host to miss his own party, she thought, sighing in exhaustion as she collapsed in a carved, high-back chair.
Jareth was celebrating the one thousandth year of his reign, and had demanded that it be a gala event. Which meant, of course, that his advisor got stuck with all the details. Normally, Galadrea was like Jareth, and had no use for the idiots that ruled the other kingdoms. "None of them could even sneeze without putting the idea before their royal advisors and arguing over it for a good century," she muttered. About the only bright spot of the event would be that her brother and her and Jareth's apprentices would be present.
A smile of contentment curved her lips as she thought back on the past seven years. Upon her arrival, she had spent an entire year with Jareth in intense study of magic. After that, requests had come from various denizens of the underground for training in the Aboveground magical arts. Jareth had been against the process at first, until Galadrea had explained that having such contacts and spies loyal to them in the other kingdoms would be of great potential use. A lover of intrigue, Jareth had seized upon the idea with a ferocity that scared her. It would be just like him to contemplate taking over the other soveriegn states.
Shaking her head free of the old memories, she made herself get up and headed to the throne room. As she swept through the arched doorway, she saw the king and her brother fade into view. Galadrea was quite startled to see a third figure, which wasn't surprising considering that the third person was a Drow.
"Hmph. A 3rd year priestess of Lloth could transport better than that!" Natela informed the entire throne room, her clear voice echoing up through the rafters. Almost immediately, Galadrea had to stifle a laugh.
"Oh really, my dear black elf? Well, how would you like to be transported into the Bog of Eternal Stench?" Jareth replied, his voice calm, yet with hints of steel running through it. Galadrea watched in amusement in the shadows for a minute as Indros tried to keep the two separated. When the dark elf started to weave her delicate finger through the beginnings of a spell, Gala decided that things had gone far enough.
"Indros!" she shouted with sincere glee, as she jogged over to the trio of mages.
"Gala?!" her brother exclaimed, delight and wonder showing in his mellow voice. Indros met his sister halfway, and in delight picked her up in a bear hug, twirling them both around.
Grinning like a maniac, Galadrea freed herself. "Look at you, little brother! Well, not so little now, I guess! Has it really been seven years?" she asked in astonishment. For, Indros had GROWN. He was now taller than his older sister by half-a-head, and his golden hair was cropped extremely short. My, how people change, Gala silently wondered to herself. At the sound of a delicate cough, she turned to greet the dark elf.
"Oh, Gala, this is my fiancee, Natela Vandree!" Indros said, holding out a hand to the beautiful drow. Natela glided forward and held out her hand in comradeship.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Galadrea. Your brother has told me so much about you," she said in greeting. Galadrea stood there in shock, then remembered her manners.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Natela," Galadrea murmured. "You will pardon my manners, but I've been busy preparing for the celebration this evening, so I'm a little worn out."
Shooting Gala a nasty look that said You owe me one!, Jareth stalked past the group and towards the entrance to the room. "If you three don't mind," he said, his voice literally dripping with incincerity, "I am going to see if the preparations are up to my standards!" And with that he was gone. The three looked at each other, and for a minute, no one spoke.
"Good gods, you two! What did you do to set him off?" Galadrea finally burst out. Indros groaned, and Natela simply smiled.
"I called him a fop, which was only the truth," the drow female stated matter-of-factly. "Of course, I was being polite. Honestly, Gala, I don't see how you put up with that male, I mean, the ego is totally out of proportion!"
For some reason, the drow wizardess's tone set Galadrea's mental hairs to bristling. Galadrea looked closely at the woman, her dark, blue eyes searching the bottomless black one, searching for something that she wasn't sure existed. Though the woman seemed all right at first, even likable, there was something about her that struck Gala as being wrong.
"Hey, sis. If you don't mind, why don't you show us to our rooms, eh?" Indros asked, utterly missing the tension between the two women. Looking up at Indros, Gala nodded, and her smile and good mood returned.
"You're right! The two of you will probably want to freshen up before the event tonight. How about I come get the two of you in an hour and give you a tour of the castle?" she offered, wanting to spend more time with the female that seemed to have caught her little brother's heart in a web of steel.
"That would be lovely, Gala," Natela said, a lovley, charming smile on her face. With a grin, Galadrea led the two off to the rooms she had prepared. Lagging a little behind, in appearance allowing the brother and sister to catch up on old times, neither noticed Natela's slight frown.
Though Gala had hidden it as well as any drow matron mother, Natela was sure that the half-elf witch suspected something. I'll just have to do something about that...
"...and this is the laboratory Jareth and I had built," Galadrea proclaimed with pride as the trio entered a well-stocked mage's workroom.
Indros let out a low whistle in appreciation. Everything a mage would ever need in spell research or potion and magical item creation was supplied in great measure. A case of spell scrolls detailing arcane formulae completely lined one whole section of the east wall. The rest of the wall was dedicated to a humongous shelf of spell books and magical research tomes the equal of any archmagus's library. A rolling ladder stretched up to the 18 shelf, and allowed easy access to any of the tomes that the owners or their apprentices would need.
There was even a mahogany shelf full of nothing but various wands and magical rings. Turning around in amazement, Natela had to silently agree with Indros.
"By Eilistrae, Gala! How have the two of you managed to accumulate all of this in a mere seven years? It would take any three mages a lifetime to accumalate this many tomes and artifacts!"
Galadrea smiled a little smugly. "Oh, about half of this is not on Aboveground magic, my dear Natela. Quite a few of these tomes and artifacts were found here, in the Underground. Mine and Jareth's apprentices have scoured the majority of the kingdoms here in search of such artifacts. The others were aquired on Aboveground business," she elaborated in a bored voice, making it sound as if it was nothing, and that all mages of any worth should have the same.
The comment rankled Natela deeply, though she didn't let it show. "I am impressed, sis!" Indros exclaimed, turning a proud grin on his sister. "Our-I mean, MY father, said that odds are you would end up a failure, a worthless slave to the king. I told him he was wrong, that if anyone could prosper, it would be you!" After saying that, his face fell.
"And speaking of OUR father, Galadrea, he was killed by a blue dragon two years ago," Indros said in a hushed voice. He examined his sister's face intently, yet he saw not one hint of emotion at that bit of information. What did you expect? They hated each other! he chided himself, yet still, he had hoped that his sister would show a little emotion other than cold hatred and contempt.
Her eyes were like dark shards of ice in that moment, then she replied, "I am truly sorry for your loss, Indros. I assume the two of you were close?" Cold, polite inquiry was all that Galadrea was going to give the memory of the arrogant old archmage.
With a sigh, Indros dropped the subject. "Of course," he murmured. Just then, a thirteen-hour clock began to chime the fifth hour. The mood was broken, and it seemed to Natela as if a dark cloud had suddenly lifted from the room.
"Ah, it's five!" Gala exclaimed. "The guests should be arriving soon, so I will leave the two of you so that I can get ready. I trust you will be able to find your way to the banquet hall?" she asked, suddenly preoccupied. As the two nodded their affirmatives, Galadrea hurried off.
Now, all I have to do is find Jareth and calm him down before the event.
The small figure hurriedly stepped out of the way as Galadrea rushed past. He planned on being at the banquet too, in disguise as a servant. Shifting restlessly from foot to foot, the creature awaited his contact.
"You go on, Indros, and I'll catch up! I want to look around the study a little more," came that eerie, chiming voice. As the brother strode past, he never even noticed the shadowy figure. Hmph. I wonder if that is what the baby looked like when it was growed up? the figure thought to itself. The squat figure stood up as straight as he could when the lady left the study.
"Is everything in order?" she said, turning a piercing, glowing red gaze upon the small figure.
"Er, yes, it is, Miss Vandree," the figure answered. "The time, is it still scheduled tonight at the banquet?" he asked, hoping that there were no last minute changes. Being in the palace was unnerving him, and it wasn't too safe either.
Ever since he stood up with Sarah against Jareth all those years ago, he had walked on thin ice with the Goblin King. Now, finally, it was payback, if he didn't get killed first.
"Yes," Natela hissed. "The time to strike will be at the banquet. You will know when to fire the wand. Just make sure you don't miss, or we are all dead!"
Nodding his head, the cloaked being kept silent. Natela Vandree, high priestess and mage of the Goddess of Chaos, Lloth, continued on her way. After she had passed, the creature shuddered. That one was unnerving to be around.
"Eh, don't you worry none, milady, I'll see to it that I don't miss that bastard, or my name's not Hoggle!" he muttered, before retreating. There were still some personal safeguards he needed to set up. He would be a fool to blindly trust the drow. That was one thing he had learned well...trust no one.
"...and see to it that the food is brought out with no difficulty, or I'll tip you headfirst into the Bog of Eternal Stench, understand?" the King threatened the servers. With scared nods of their heads, the serving goblins acknowledged their King's commands.
"Jareth? Can I speak with you?" Galadrea asked in a serious tone as she entered the Goblin King's opulantly luxurious study. Looking up from the miriad of official documents that covered his oaken desk, the handsome king nodded.
"Of course, pretty one. By the way, I really don't like that drow bitch your brother seems so fond of," he chided, a mocking, sarcastic tone in his voice. Keeping a grin from her face, Galadrea could not help being amused at Natela's treatment of Jareth.
"Reminds you a bit to much of youself, hmm?" Galadrea gently joked, a grim smile on her face. "Actually, she is what I needed to see you about. I don't trust her!" There, it was out. That nasty feeling that had been plaguing Galadrea had finally been given form. Jareth frowned thoughtfully, for what Galadrea had proclaimed was no light matter. Though years had passedd since her exile from the Tower of Illumination, Gala had still remained on the path of the diviner. As such, she had a wealth of knowledge at her command, and was capable of finding any information about just practically anything.
It was also a known fact that Galadrea had the best judgement of other mages that Jareth had ever seen. If Gala was uneasy, then there was something to be uneasy about. "Do you know specifically what it is?" he asked in a deadly serious voice. If there was threat posed by Natela, it would have to be dealt with immediately.
With a nod of her head, Galadrea accepted the unspoken compliment to her information-finding abilities. "Though the feeling is nebulous, if has the tone of a deadly threat. Natela must be taken care of, but the problem is Indros. He's infatuated with her," she finished in disgust. While she had no specific prejudices against the drow race other than what she knew about them, she felt that at least Indros would have known better than to give another being his heart so easily.
"He'll get over it, sooner or later," Jareth replied coldly, standing up and sweeping towards the study door. "I did..."
Galadrea raised an elegant eyebrow as she strode beside her king. "I take it you've been through this before?" she asked, softly. The response she got stunned her.
With a fierce growl, Jareth spun and seized Gala by the collar of her robes. Forcing her against the wall, the Goblin King stared into her midnight-blue eyes. "Do not ever, EVER, go there Solardin!" he whispered in a sibilant voice. Then, it was over. Jareth released Galadrea, who slumped against the stone wall, a delicate hand covering her throat as Jareth stepped back, his face impassive.
As she recovered herself, Galadrea found speech almost impossible. She had never, and she meant never, seen Jareth so ready to kill, murder bright in his mismatched eyes. For the first time since she had met Jareth, Gala wondered if the man was completely sane. The tone of bells began to chime, and Jareth's eyes narrowed.
"It seems we will have to solve the problem of Natela at a later date, my dear," Jareth said, forcing himself to calm down. Gala's words had hit a deep wound that he thought had been closed up for almost a century. Her casual question had proven that the wound hadn't even healed properly, instead festering beyond where he couldn't see it. "Our guests are arriving, and I don't want any hint of trouble brought up around them. They would jump at the chance to inconvenience me in any way," he elaborated in a mocking tone.
"Ah, the proverbial piranas have arrive," Gala barely joked, still unsettled by Jareth's sudden rage, and even more nervous at his returned coldness. The king held out one gloved, fine-boned hand.
"My lady?" he asked, "shall we go greet our guests?" Whatever the trouble was, Jareth fervently hoped that it wouldn't come tonight. As befitting an affair of state, there were no weapons and no magic allowed.
"My King, I think it would be the height of rudeness to keep them waiting," Gala replied, putting her hand in his. With a sigh, she hoped that Indros would forgive her in time.
The two were interrupted by a goblin messenger. "Yer majesty, the guests have arrived." The servitor backed away as the arched doors slowly opened to reveal a brightly lit room. For some reason, Jareth thought the servitor looked familiar, then dismissed the creature entirely.
Together, the two mages entered the banquet hall, ready to face whatever would come.
He hoped.