Disclaimer: See the prologue.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to all who
have reviewed me! You made my my day: Melissa D., Dawn, Lady Jara, nbakia,
Shi Sensou, Wigg and Kitty! Kudos to you! I corrected some major copying
mistakes in the prologue, sorry everyone who noticed. Please continue to
review! Thanks!
Chapter Three: "At last I've found
you."
Moving
more swiftly than was humanly possible, the Goblin King stepped behind
Beth again and wrapped his arm over her face, covering her mouth with a
gloved hand. "Now precious, is that any way to treat your poor neighbors
when they're studying hard for a Chemistry exam?" He chuckled. "Let's go
someplace a little less, shall we say, conspicuous, hmm?"
Blackness
closed over Beth's eyes and she felt a strange tingling sensation. When
the haze lifted, she was standing under a huge tree in Radcliffe Yard,
a graduate cluster of houses and a park that was good ten-minute walk from
her dorm. It was deathly quiet. The few lights of the surrounding houses
seemed far away, dimmed by the fog she stood in. Beth turned around in
circles, confused and in shock. Who was that? She could almost make
out a shape in the shadows...
Beth
was sure she had seen a person in the bushes, but just as quickly, the
shape was gone, fading against the darkened leaves. What the hell was going
on? She was dreaming, hallucinating, but surely that spirit, voice or man
hadn't been real...
As if
in response to her thoughts, the figure stepped out of nowhere. One minute
it seemed a part of a tree, was the tree, and the next the cloaked spirit
was as real and as tangible as anyone else, walking slowly and deliberately
towards her with ease, as if it had all the time in the world. And for
a moment the fog cleared a little, allowing the moonlight to illuminate
the person in an ethereal aura of otherworldly splendor. As it threw back
its hood with one gloved hand, allowing the air to sparkle with thousands
of tiny flashes of light and filling the space between them with an infinite
chorus of miniature bells, Beth finally had a decent glimpse of her pursuer.
Long
strands of shimmering, gold tresses fell in protesting rivulets to the
breadth of his shoulders, scattered and incandescent. His skin, tan only
in comparison with his hair, was smooth, unmarred by age or time, and brushed
with a youthful color that knew the secrets of tantric delights. His dress
rested somewhere between the modern Neo-Gothic style and the extravagance
of the Renaissance period; the loose silk shirt she had brushed up against
complemented the pants and leather boots he wore. He was dressed entirely
in black, with ornamentation.
Despite
these curiosities, it was his eyes that captured Beth: immersed in depths
none would know, the cool, shifting hues spoke of ice and wind meeting
in a primitive dance, caging the smoldering fire that raged somewhere within.
His stance gave him a regal countenance that demanded attention; every
sinuous movement of his lithe body engaged his audience. But the luminous
eyes alone promised rhapsody, the delights of never-ending dreams. He was
perfection unrealized.
Beth
blinked. He was the exact image of the man in her book, perhaps younger
in real life, but no less intimidating.
"Well?"
he asked, not a little amused at her bewildered state.
"Who-what
are you?" Beth felt her throat constricting.
He smiled.
"I would have thought you'd have had me all figured out by now, my dear."
She blushed at his referral to her stares. "I, of course, am the Goblin
King, Ruler of the Labyrinth and the Kingdom of the Underworld. But you
may call me Jareth."
Beth
regained some of her courage. "Very well, Jareth." She took a deep breath.
"What the hell am I doing out here, speaking to someone who doesn't
exist, ten blocks from my room at 11pm at night?"
Jareth
laughed. "You know, I believe students used to recite Shakespeare in this
garden." He slowly advanced on Beth, and she didn't even know she was retreating
until she fell, quite startled, onto a stone bench in the shade of the
grove. The Goblin King's words wove a magical spell as her enraptured her,
if only for a moment, in the power of his speech, pacing with a smirk on
his face:
"A speedier
course than ling'ring languishment
Must
we pursue, and I have found the path.
My lords,
a solemn hunting is in hand;
There
will the lovely Roman ladies troop.
The
forest walks are wide and spacious,
And
many unfrequented plots there are..."
"Stop."
Beth shivered. "That play was always so vulgar." She turned away. "Especially
the comparison of Lavinia and Lucrece. It turned my stomach."
"Lavinia
was too proud of her victory," he cooed in her ear. "Some crimes cannot
be avoided. But then," Jareth sighed, "time and Shakespeare make fools
of us all."
He was
obscenely close for a stranger. Beth shied away, but he grabbed her wrist
forcefully. "Let me go!" Beth cried. "I don't know who you are, but you
need some serious counseling. You're hurting me!"
"Not
so fast, my ever-so pugnacious one," the Goblin King reprimanded. "You
see, I believe you have something that belongs to me."
Beth
blinked in confusion. What is he talking about?
"Something
close to my heart, an artifact more dear to me than you will know," he
continued, inspecting the fingers of her right hand. "Ah! Here it is."
He lifted the green plastic trinket off her finger and held it up. "The
very same."
"My
birthday party favor?" Beth was astonished. She stood up. "Why is that
so important to you?"
Jareth
closed his fingers slowly around the glowing piece of jewelry, gave a mysterious
smile, and turned to grasp her left hand in one instantaneous gesture.
"Actually, I lied," he whispered into her hair. "I'm pretty sure it will
be of greater concern to you."
Beth
looked down as he dropped his hands and let out a small cry. Sitting on
her ring finger was not the cheap imitation play jewelry she had known
forever, but a beautiful emerald ring, set in pure gold and reflecting
the moonlight as glass, its symmetrical depths untouched.
Startled
and scared, Beth desperately attempted to wrench the present free from
her hand in vain. It was no use; the ring seemed absolutely immobile, fitting
as if it had always been there in the first place.
"What
have you done!" she screamed, still yanking on the damnable object with
her hands, jumping around in a panic, the futility of the gesture dawning
on her as she hopped around in a dance of frustration, glaring at the Goblin
King. "It won't come off!"
Jareth
had the mantle of victory sitting firmly on his shoulders, and he was grinning
triumphantly, enjoying every moment of it. "I wouldn't bother trying to
remove it, if I were you. The laws of the Faeries, once invoked, are irreversible,
I'm afraid."
Beth
stood very still. "What do you mean?" A pause. "You're a Fairy?"
Jareth
practically snorted. "I'm a Fey," he correcting her condescendingly. "What
did you expect- a human?"
"Don't
you remember, lovely Beth?" She watched, terrified, as he grew more impatient
by the moment, his slightly British accent sounding in rich, lyrical tones,
mocking her. "You wanted something you couldn't have. Many things. I satisfied
you for a day, and promised you much, much more. Perhaps you will recall
it with a little elucidation."
As Beth's
features slowly acquired a new state of growing horror, Jareth withdrew
juggling balls from his pocket. Sounds of laughing children, haunted voices,
drifted across the garden, floating down to reach Beth's ears. She could
smell summer, see the flowers and the house again, knowing that someone
was watching her from beyond the edge of the forest...
She
gulped and tried to say something, but the only sounds she could emit were
little gasps of shock. The Goblin King continued with his show, performing
tricks that she had seen only once before: he was animating puppets
that appeared out of mid-air, transforming into a person she had barely
met but knew nevertheless, lost somewhere deep inside of herself from so
long ago...
"You-"
she managed to whisper, shaking as he conjured for her, smirking at her
distress, enjoying her fear. "You were the clown at Amy's birthday party!
The one that gave me the ring..." Beth trailed off.
"Good
girl," he replied, tossing the illusion away. "You're finally catching
up. I've often wondered what you felt when you won your little game, the
game that someone else should have beaten you at. I sincerely hope that
you don't think you actually surpassed your peers one time in a million
without help?" he grinned, satisfied at the indignant expression in her
eyes. "Oh, dear."
"You
sick, cruel-"
"Now,
now, mortal one, I think the obscenities might wake the neighbors."
"Shut
up."
He raised
an eyebrow. "Feisty this evening, aren't we?" His tone changed abruptly.
"And what happened next, Beth? What did I say to you when you won?" Jareth
stepped quickly towards her, violently grabbing her arms in a vice-like
grip, his eyes burning into hers, dark as hell. "Do you remember the exact,
precise words I spoke? Shall I refresh your memory?"
"I don't
know!" She screamed. "They meant nothing to me!" She was sobbing. "Please
don't-"
He shook
her, his words filled malice. "Nothing, eh? I bet they'll mean something
to you now! I held up your precious ring and asked you whether you would
give me something in return for it." He mocked her, spitting the words
out. "And you, jumping up and down in that frilly white dress with your
hair dangling down to your knees, said, "Oh, yes!" He imitated her in a
high-pitched voice. "Then I gave my price."
They
were inches away from each other, Beth turning her face away from his viciousness
and the words she never wanted to hear uttered again. Jareth grabbed her
chin, tilting up her sight and making her look at him. "I asked if I could
keep you! And do you know what your reply was, dear, sweet Beth?" Jareth
grinned malignantly, eyes triumphant and imperious as they gleamed at her
in the darkness. "You said YES!"
Beth
slumped down as he released her, sitting on the grass, her body convulsing
in desperate sobs. Jareth just stood there, silently watching. After a
while, the sobs turned into hiccups, and she finally looked up. "Pleaseā¦"
she implored, her face streaked with tears. But he was as cold as stone,
his face remorseless and devoid of any pity.
"I didn't
mean it."
"It
doesn't matter. What's said is said."
"But
I was just a little girl!"
"Ha!"
He hauled her roughly to her feet. "Look at me." She obeyed. "I have known,
witnessed horrible things beyond your scope of comprehension. I have seen
the worst nightmares imaginable come true and nearly kill everything I
have ever felt. And I have seen thousands of you, your kind, who are born,
and grow, and live, and die." He studied her, the hard lines on his face
set. "You are not innocent. Because I know you."
Beth
shivered, trying to back away from him, her voice deadpan. "What do you
plan on doing with me?"
The
Goblin King brightened as he smiled at her again. "Why dearest, I thought
you would have guessed. His eyes looked her over, pleased with what they
saw. "You are to be my queen. My wife. Don't you like your engagement ring?"
Beth
felt like she was going to be sick.
His
eyes were limpid pools of desire, sweeping up to her face as she stood
there, weeping. "I have searched for you, your dreams beyond ages, beyond
time. And I would wait forever again to have you."
She
did not reply, but instead looked frightened beyond words.
"Tell
you what," Jareth grinned, reveling in the moment as the implications hit
home. "I'll give you a sporting chance. You play a game, as part of a bargain.
I'll give you thirteen days to solve the puzzle in the library. Each day
you find a clue and answer the question. You get more than half right and
answer them all, and I'll let you go. Forever."
Beth
still wasn't moving. He leaned over to her, catching her waist and drawing
her to him. "What's the matter?" Jareth whispered hungrily in her ear.
"Don't want to win your freedom?"
Beth
recoiled and jumped away. Something in her had changed, and she met his
gaze levelly. "Of course I do."
"Good.
It starts tomorrow. That token around your neck, the one from that meddling
forest pixie of a fairy, Pan. No, don't look at me like that. It will help
you. And Beth," he said, starting to fade again and mingle with the shadows,
"one more thing."
"Yes?"
He smiled
darkly. "It's a big library. Don't get lost and make me have to come and
rescue you, or I'll lose my temper." She shuddered. "Each night you fail,
you'll be seeing me again early..."
She
was alone. Stumbling to the bench, Beth groped for air, for solid ground.
She fell to the earth, heaving in dry fits until the nausea was gone. Somewhere
in the mists, she knew he was still watching and heard the quiet words
that echoed in the stillness of the night-
"At
last I've found you..."