Not
in Kansas
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Disclaimer:
See first chapter.
Author's
Note: Sorry for the long delay. A-Level exams are awful. I'd like to thank everyone
who reviewed the last chapter. I have an exam left so the next chapter might be
a while in coming. I shouldn't have written this one but I couldn't help it. I
had no idea that writing was addictive.
Sarah looked around her as she fell to the floor. "I'm not in
Kansas anymore huh?" she asked herself as she sprawled ungracefully to the
ground. She was in a large room, paved with a material which seemed to be
marble. The marble had streaks of gold and red running through it. The room was
illuminated by a globe, which hovered close to the ceiling. Jareth landed with
a bump beside her, frowning. Apparently he had messed up the teleport. "I
thought you could do this stuff" Sarah snapped as she got up. "I can" Jareth
replied irritably "but there seems to be an element of Chaos about you which
messes up magic." A snort came from above them and Sarah looked up.
Standing there was an extremely lovely woman. She had masses of
long white hair, which tumbled to her waist. A delicate crown of gold rested on
her head. Her eyes were large and cat-like, an extremely unusual shade of amber
highlighted by her black eyebrows and lashes. Her lips were full and red,
although they were not perfectly shaped and her skin was a dark tan which
looked golden. She wore a cream colored, abbreviated robe-like garment which
came to her knees. It was open and underneath it she wore a white shirt. Her
leggings were white with gold stripes running up the seams. A tight chocker
made of a chain of silver and one of gold entwined suspended an amber colored
gem in the cleft of her collarbone.
"Really, Jareth," she said in a musical
voice "That was most clumsy of you." Sarah noted with amusement that the Goblin
King stiffened defensively. "And it's not quite fair to blame your ineptitude
on Sarah". The amber eyes turned towards her and the woman smiled. "Don't
worry, Sarah, he probably isn't going to be one of your teachers."
"I'd like to see you do better, Eleraine. You have not mastered the basic teleport spell," Jareth retorted after
a short pause. By the frown on his face Sarah judged that this Eleraine was not
a good friend of his. "True," the woman conceded majestically, "But it's not my job to leave the underground to
recruit Paladins."
"Sarah, allow me to introduce my elder
sister Eleraine, Queen of the underground, by virtue of her marriage to his
Majesty King Damrued the third," the Goblin King said formally, turning to
Sarah, "She'll help you get settled in. Now if you'll excuse me ladies, I do have a kingdom to run."
"Not in the middle of the night you don't," Eleraine muttered
under her breath as Jareth disappeared in a flash of glitter. "Honestly,
brother of mine, the way you run from things you can't handle…"
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Eleraine paced the halls pensively, walking towards her bedroom.
She had just gotten Sarah settled for the night. The child was sleepy and
further explanations could wait for the morning. Eleraine entered her room and
mechanically moved to the dressing table, sat down in front of it and began
brushing her long, white hair. She closed her eyes, attempting to relieve some
of the stress she felt. The girl was an exact replica of Vanessa and had
brought back some unpleasant memories.
She closed her eyes as she drew her brush through her hair.
Suddenly the brush was taken from her hand. Startled, she turned on the stool
and tilted her head upward to meet her husband's twinkling brown eyes. "Tired
much, Love?" he questioned as he drew the brush through her hair gently. She
looked at him in the mirror. He was tall, with blond hair and brown eyes, and
his thin lips were usually curled in a slight smile, as if the world was, for
him, a happy place.
"You have no idea," Eleraine sighed, "Let me tell you about my
day. While you were off hunting
dragons and generally being irresponsible I
was running your kingdom, dealing
with Tyranel, Ghalreigh and Isobel, all of who want to take the new Paladin to
instruct. They argued about it until I told them that I'd decided to leave that
decision to you."
"Well," Damrued said, smiling smugly, "when that happens I always
tell them that if they bug me about it anymore I definitely won't give them the new paladin."
"I wish I had thought of that," Eleraine said wistfully, "The day
would have been a lot easier."
"Is Sarah like Vanessa?" Damrued asked.
"In appearance, yes," Eleraine said, "but in character, perhaps
not. At least I hope she's not." After her hair had been brushed she asked
abruptly, "Rued, did we raise Jareth to think he could run from his problems?"
Damrued looked at her enquiringly. "Why the sudden worry about Jareth, El?"
"I feel guilty," Eleraine said, "I know
he's shut himself up in that isolated kingdom of his since Vanessa left, but I
didn't make much of an effort to draw him out either."
"Your memory is playing tricks on you, El," Damrued said matter of
factly. "As I recall you made every effort to help him. We both did. He just wouldn't
talk to us."
"It's been a long time since he's taken an interest in anything
except his kingdom," Eleraine remarked.
Damrued looked at his wife. She resembled her brother only a
little although the white hair was a dead giveaway. "Hmm…" he said musingly,
"It's not strictly accurate to say that he doesn't take interest in anything,
he has been taking an interest in this new potential paladin recently. As I
recall he was quite insistent that she be brought here."
Eleraine grimaced. "I'd rather he wasn't interested in her. It
only proves that he's still obsessed with Vanessa."
"Regardless of the reason, he is interested in the child. Maybe she
could be used to draw him out……" Damrued said, speculating out loud. Eleraine
snorted, "That might work, Love, except for the fact that he obviously doesn't
want to be near her. He brought her here and vanished after unceremoniously
dumping her on me." They prepared for bed in silence.
Queen Eleraine was kissed awake by her
husband the next morning and greeted with the words, "El, about your brother, I
have a plan………"
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