Title: Ace of Spades, Part Two (Chapters 3 and 4)
Author: Silverstar Wizard
Disclaimer: I still don't own Labyrinth, and that includes both Jareth and Sarah. I don't own the other guy who comes in. I don't want to ruin the surprise if you're reading this first.
Note: If my transitions seem messy, the mystery person was originally someone else. I was too lazy to change the dialogue. Enjoy! Oh, please REVIEW!
Three
Sarah and Jareth reappeared in a place Sarah had never seen. She stared around her in wonder. She was in the middle of a dirt road, with horses and dirty men and women walking past her. She saw a group of men in long robes talking to one another quietly, while a woman sat on a nearby rock and watched closely. Some chickens squawked by noisily as a knight wearing a long blue robe and carrying a lance came up to them. It was all entirely foreign to Sarah.
"Where are we?" she asked incredulously.
"I said that other girls have been known to wish away young brothers. So where do you think we are?"
Sarah knew that it wasn't anywhere in the world that she knew. But it didn't resemble the
Underground, the only other world she knew of, and anyway, it seemed sort of pointless for inhabitants of the Underground to be wishing their siblings away to their own world.
"It looks like someplace from an older world."
Jareth sighed and massaged his temples with one gloved hand. "What do they teach children in school these days?"
"What? I don't understand."
Jareth's voice came from behind her, with a tone of deepest disgust. "If your teachers were doing their job properly, you would have studied romantic English literature. We, my dear Sarah, have arrived in the world of King Arthur. Or, as you probably know it, Camelot and it's surrounding area."
"But…that's only a story!" Sarah's eyes were wide as she started to recognize elements of one of her favorite books.
Jareth's voice was now bordering on rage. "The Labyrinth was only a story! Or so you thought. Do I feel like a story to you?" He walked towards her, and for a moment Sarah thought he was going to slap her. Indeed, he raised his hand and brought it towards her as if about to hit her. But at the last moment, his hand slowed and instead he slowly stroked her cheek, laughing quietly. All the anger was gone from his voice. He knew his move had confused her.
"Sarah," he continued, hand lifting her chin up so she had to look him in the eye, "all the other worlds are real. Giving them voice gives them life. So as long as people continue to read and talk about this world," he gestured around him, "it will continue to exist – timeless, just like the Labyrinth. This place is very real. Just as real, in fact, as your world."
"I still don't understand."
Jareth thought for a moment how best to explain this. "All the worlds, all the time," he finally said, "exist at the same time. On top of one another, piled up. Every time the world changes dramatically, a new world is created, and the old world continues. But since it no longer exists in time present, if it is ever forgotten about it ceases to exist. And if certain elements of it are forgotten, they disappear."
"But…what happens if someone makes something up? Like if I thought up a dinosaur that had eight legs and a big hairy body?"
"It happened in the past, then. All the past has already happened, and your dinosaur has evolved into what we know as spiders."
Sarah's mind boggled a little. "But I thought you said the worlds co-existed."
"They do, but time still runs in a more or less straight line through them. Think of it this way: there is still a present, past, and future, but they are all happening at the same time."
Sarah was still confused. "I don't get it…"
By this time, however, the knight had reached them and rode quickly to block their path in the road. He reined his horse in and looked down at them sternly.
"There is no market today. What do you want in our town?"
In the instant that Sarah had looked away, Jareth had changed from his normal attire into something that seemed to fit their surroundings more. He now wore knee-high boots, black tights, a royal blue tunic with silver embroidery, and a long blue cloak with a hood. Sarah was still wearing her shirt and jeans, and realized that she must be attracting attention.
"We are not merchants, and we do not come to buy from yours. We require news of Arthur."
The man's face darkened noticeably. "What do you know of him?"
Jareth moved to take the horse's head in his hands. The horse rolled its eyes and didn't appear to enjoy Jareth's presence, but soon settled down and only shuffled its feet every now and again. Jareth looked up as soon as the horse was quiet.
"Only that something has happened to him. I may know how to return him here. But," he looked back down at the horse, "only if you will consent to help."
The horse shuddered violently and turned into a hippogriff, part eagle and part horse. Sarah jumped and grabbed onto Jareth's arm reflexively, dropping it immediately when she realized what she was doing. She took a step back, however: the thing looked dangerous. The knight screamed and threw himself from the bucking animal, falling to the ground at Jareth's feet. Jareth produced a crystal, threw it, and the hippogriff vanished in a whirl of white light and shimmer.
"There is no need for dramatics," he told the knight, who was still on the ground. "Get up, and tell your King we wish to see him. Or your Queen, if your King is not to be found." The knight ran off in a clatter of armor. Jareth emitted a faint disgusted sigh and gestured, sending the horse running after its master.
"That was amazing!" Sarah exclaimed. "I've never seen one of those…things before!"
"I assumed you hadn't. Do you want me to tell you why you are here?" He didn't wait for an answer, but continued before Sarah had had a chance to speak. "As you know, Arthur and Gwenhwyfar were married for a long time, without producing an heir to the British throne. However, unknown to Western historians, a priestess was able to make Gwen conceive late in life. They had a son, called…."
"Oh! James, I hope!"
"James, of course. Gwen, however, soon found that having a small child around the house turned Arthur into a sort of fatherly type. He completely lost his edge. Her temper finally gave, and she wished him away."
"She what!"
"Wished him away to the Labyrinth. I told you that you weren't the first to wish someone away. I think she was the first to wish away a husband."
"But you told me someone had wished their little brother away."
"I didn't feel it was necessary to confuse you to such an extent as telling you that Arthur had been wished away would surely have done." Sarah turned a bewildered pair of eyes up to him. "Oh dear, I have confused you, haven't I? Well, let's see if
f this can't clear it all up…."
Four
"Wait a second, we're back in the Labyrinth! Take me back home right now! A Mystery Trip was not what I had in mind for my evening!" Sarah fought wildly against the surprisingly strong grip that had kept her from get楴杮氠獯
ting lost as Jareth had brought them to the Underground.
"So wild!" exclaimed Jareth mockingly as he released Sarah, who immediately threw herself into a far corner, rubbing her shoulder where he had held her. "Hush now, I think we have a visitor…."
"I will find the end of this…this hell! To think that…damn you, Gwen!" A male voice with an even more pronounced British accent than Jareth's made its way to them across the tops of the hedges. Sarah's eyes were wide with wonder. Just then, the source of the voice emerged from around a corner.
He leapt back in surprise. Then, apparently recalling his manners, made a formal bow in Sarah's direction. He directed his attention to Jareth.
"Your majesty." He bowed again, and Jareth returned the courtesy. "We," he gestured almost unnoticeably towards Sarah, "have not been introduced." He retreated a step and set his mouth in a grim line. However, Sarah could see that Jareth had been right when he said that marriage and fatherhood had changed Arthur. He had laughter lines around his eyes and his entire being seemed more relaxed than Sarah had even imagined as she read the old Arthurian myths.
"Oh yes…of course. Sarah, may I present a recent acquaintance of mine, Arthur Pendragon, more recently of Camelot. Your majesty, this is Sarah. I believe I shall leave you two to get to know one another."
Sarah had never before had the opportunity to hear Jareth exercising his formal vocabulary and mannerisms, and wasn't sure whether she liked the change or not. It was certainly a departure from the goblin-kicking King she had known previously.
"His Majesty maintains an excellent property here. I find it difficult to find my way in it, but until now I have been simply roaming. Married life," he choked a little on those words, "has kept me inside more than I have liked, as of late. I forget how much I enjoy a garden." He clasped his hands behind his back and, lowering his head, walked on. "I apologize if I am something lacking in affability. I find that being without…." He choked again. "Forgive me. Perhaps we should talk of something else. How did you come to meet Jareth?"
Sarah wasn't sure how to answer that, because, if her experience had been any example,
Gwenhwyfar should have been wandering about in the Labyrinth, and Arthur should have been at the castle. But it seemed strange somehow that Jareth would turn someone as imposing as King Arthur into a goblin, and Sarah somehow felt that Gwen didn't want her husband back right away.
"Jareth and I…we met about a year ago. I wished my little brother away. I didn't mean to. I had a book about the Labyrinth, and I "wished" my brother away. When he actually was taken, Jareth challenged me to solve the Labyrinth if I wanted him back. I ended up in the same position you're in now."
"Has it changed, do you find?"
"What? The Labyrinth? No, not really. Some of this looks awfully familiar. Although I can't say for sure. It was changing even when I solved it the last time."
Arthur suddenly whirled on her and grabbed both of her hands. "Miss Sarah, I entreat you to please help me. Help me solve this maze and I will give you anything! Everything! But…."
"But what?" asked Sarah gently.
"Only," he dropped her hands, "if my Gwen will have me back. If she won't, I will return here. Jareth will – must – find a living for me here."
Sarah thought about all the things she had been through on the way to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, and what they might have been like had she been forced to go through them alone. She would never have gotten out of the oubliette, or away from the fireys without Hoggle's help. Even Ludo and Sir Didymus had been helpful, and companions are always welcome when one is traveling.
But she couldn't help this man. She hardly knew him, but she was already awed by his sheer presence. Part of it, she knew, had to do with his being a fictional character. Well, he had been, as far as she was concerned, until about an hour ago. But another part was fascinated by the mystical aura, which seemed to hang around him. Sarah suspected it had something to do with living in such close proximity to Avalon and the sacred places of ancient Britain. He was simply from a different world, and there was no way she could even identify with him enough to be of any use to him in this place.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid I must beg you to release me from any obligation. I simply don't know the Labyrinth well enough. If I got you lost, I could never forgive myself. I'll call Jareth, and he can send you in the right direction before he brings me home."
Arthur's face fell, but he seemed reconciled to the idea of getting through the Labyrinth alone. He looked up resolutely, and called Jareth.
Jareth walked slowly from behind a corner, dressed once again in his usual shirt, tights, vest and boots. Sarah was somehow glad to have the familiar Jareth back again. She walked up to him to ask him to take her home when he put out a hand in front of her. "Stop," he said. "I must have a word with you." He threw a crystal straight up, and when it came down, it engulfed them in a sphere of bright light.