The Labyrinth: Another Tale
VI
"Cold in the dust this perished heart may lie,
But that which warmed it once shall never die!
That spark unburied in its mortal frame,
With living light, eternal, and the same."
--Thomas Campbell
~*~
Jareth sat, reclining, in his throne, watching his goblins tease Anatasia and Celadry. By now, the two girls had gotten used to their presence, and they would tease them back. But still...they were terrified of him.
Nothing like their older sister, Jareth thought to himself. Now, she actually had the nerve to stand up to him. Sarah and these two girls were like all the others, cowering and shivering before him.
He leaned back and continued to watch their antics, an amused smile on his face.
Until a goblin came up to him.
----sire,sheishere;sheisatthecity'sgates----
"Oh, come, come now!" Jareth replied. "She still has eight hours left! No one has ever been able to solve the Labyrinth in just five hours."
----shehas---- the goblin replied, shrugging.
Jareth's eyes narrowed and he summoned one of his crystal balls. He stared into it, and slowly his eyes began to widen. The goblin had been telling the truth.
"Hide the children!" he roared, jumping out of his throne. "Delay her! Stop her from reaching the castle!"
And, with that, the goblins scurried away, desperate to obey his orders.
-*-*-*--
Bryanna walked through the Goblin City, searching for traps. But no one tried to stop her as she made her way deeper and deeper into the city. And this made Bryanna even more suspicious.
Finally, without warning, the goblins attacked. Bryanna had been read for this, though. She raised up her arms and yelled, "I command you to freeze!"
And the goblins froze. But just because she had frozen them, didn't mean that the couldn't talk. And talk they did, yelling insults at her as she passed them. Bryanna ignored this, and continued on her way to the castle.
After several minutes of walking, she and Heart finally made it to the castle. And then they began their search, room by room, looking for Bryanna's two younger sisters.
They were about to pass a set of huge doors, gilded with gold, after searching the throne room. But something made Bryanna stop. Heart looked up at her, a questioning look of her small draconic face.
"They're in there," Bryanna whispered. The two companions walked closer, and the golden doors opened automatically for them.
"Bryanna!" a haunting echo came from within.
Hearing this, Bryanna stepped deeper into the room and gasped. The room wasn't a room at all. It was a forest. And her sisters were somewhere in there....
"Let's split up. Maybe then we can find Anatasia and Celadry more easily," Bryanna told the little dragon, looking down. Heart chirped in response and jumped out of Bryanna's arms, heading off in a direction.
Bryanna watched the baby dragon go, smiling fondly. The she, too, set off in another direction. And was confronted by Jareth.
"My, my, my....Hello again, little Fae."
Bryanna ignored him and continued her search.
Where could he have possibly hidden them? she asked herself. Then, a part of a rhyme came to her:
**Wandering warrior; from far, far away,
you've traveled long, but now you've come to play.**
Bryanna frowned in concentration. What does this mean?? Wait.....what do people play? Games! This is a game!
"But exactly what type of game?" she asked herself thoughtfully. Wait! I know! Hide-and-seek! And in hide-and-seek, people hide in the most oblivious places! And that means.....at the center!
With that, she headed off towards the center of the forest, knowing that was where Jareth had hidden her sisters.
Jareth watched Bryanna walk off to the center, smiling in amusement. The shadows from the trees painted his face in both light and dark shades, unknowingly showing his two natures.
Looks like she figured it out, he thought. And she'll be leaving soon.
For some reason, this made Jareth's heart ache.
* * *
After only about five minutes, Bryanna made her way to the center of the forest, which was made up of a meadow. In the meadow there was a huge stone formation that looked identical to Stonehenge, except newly built. And in the middle of that, Anatasia and Celadry sat, holding each other tightly.
"Anatasia! Celadry!" Bryanna called as she started to run towards her two younger sisters.
Hearing their names, the two girls looked up. Their faces broke into smiles of happiness when they saw their older sister run towards them.
And the Jareth materialized in front of the two girls, stopping their sister's run.
"You've won," he said, his eyes full of bitterness and sadness. "All you have to do now is say the words. 'You have no power over me'."
Bryanna looked at him thoughtfully and stepped closer. "It hurts, doesn't it?" she asked.
"What does?" Jareth replied, answering a question with a question. He looked down, away from her searching gray eyes.
Bryanna stepped even closer and put a warm hand over his heart. "This," she replied. "Having your love rejected, always. No one loving you, even after you've professed your own love to them. Jareth.....I'm not going to say the words. I won't hurt you again. I won't make you feel this pain again."
And, once she said that, the inscription suddenly made sense.
**Wandering warrior; from far, far away,
you've traveled long, but now you've come to play.**
The whole entire Labyrinth was a game--a game of solving a maze, figuring out riddles, finding illusions, and playing a desperate game of hide-and-seek.
**Feed the fire,
and protect the flame,
this we ask in Pyro's name.**
Jareth's love is only a flame, and he needs someone to protect it, to feed it with their own love.
**What seems to be, is not always true,
listen to what we say to you.**
The Labyrinth is full of illusions, and things aren't always what they appear to be.
**The danger is near,
but do not fear;
for there is love lurking in shadows.**
There are dangerous things in the Labyrinth, but beyond it all.......there is love.
**You turn around, and you see me;
I turn around, and I see you;
but am I really what I seem to be?**
We.......we are the same. We are both different than what we appear to be....
And with this final revelation, Bryanna looked at the Goblin King and quietly said: "I love you."
Jareth looked at Bryanna in shock, then he quickly looked away. "You cannot possibly love a monster such as I," he replied.
"I can, and I do!" she exclaimed, glaring at Jareth darkly.
Jareth looked up, startled by her vehemence. When he saw her exotic fairy eyes glaring at him because he wouldn't believe her, he began to rethink his conclusions. She couldn't possibly love me......could she? When he saw that she wasn't about to take back her words, Jareth began to laugh, happiness making his laughter light and joyous.
He picked her up, swinging her around. Putting her down after a little while, he said, "I love you, too." And then he kissed her deeply.
When they pulled apart, Bryanna looked over to her sisters, and saw that they were staring at her in open shock. Giving Jareth a quick kiss, she walked over to them. Bryanna knelt down, so that they were eye-to-eye.
"I'm staying. Here, in the Underground. I belong here; this is my home. Both of you belong Aboveground--that is your home. Good-bye," she said and softly kissed their foreheads. Slowly, they faded away, returning Aboveground.
Bryanna stood up, and turned around. Grinning at the sight before her, she started to walk towards Jareth, Heart held snugly in his arms.
I found Daddy! Heart chirped at her.
"Shall we go tell your parents the good news?" Jareth asked, one arm around her waist.
"Yes, lets," Bryanna replied, smiling up at him.
And, with that, they faded away; heading towards the Fae realm.
