"When Words Get In The Way"
Part Four of the 'Words' Saga
**
Part 3
"If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed."
It was a lovely afternoon, clouded over with pearl gray clouds, with a faint smell of rain on the gentle breeze. Sarah drank in the scent, watching the distant mountains grow darker as the clouds built. It might just storm tonight.
"Sarah! There you are," Hetta's gravelly voice cut off her musings and brought her sharply back to the present. "The whole castle's being turned about lookin' for you. King's about to get mad, I think."
"Why?" She asked, adding *heavens forbid the King should ever get mad* in her most sardonic mental voice.
"The huri-ha'an is here."
"The what?"
"The huri-ha'an. They're a clairy-voy-ant type of creatures," her tongue stumbled over the long word. "It's custom for one to come in an' make a prophecy whenever somethin' big is happenin' at the castle. You know, a weddin', a funeral, a birth." She gestured to Sarah's still somewhat flat abdomen. "They didn't come fer th' wedding 'cause only a few of 'em survived the Nightmares, and those were all too young or too old to do any good prophecyin'."
"Ah. Why didn't Jareth mention any of this to me?" she asked peevishly.
Hetta gave her a speculative look. "Jareth doesn't like the huri-ha'an too much. I wasn't around then, but story has it he was a little 'un when he ran into a full grown huri-ha'an doin' a prophecy for some creature or other, and it gave 'im one to boot."
"What did it say?"
"Them's never very clear when makin' predictions an' such, but apparently it told 'im somethin' like a mortal would bring 'im to his knees."
"And that didn't sit well with his pride." Sarah grinned.
"No, it didn't. Now don't ye go teasin' 'im about that," Hetta shook a gnarled finger at her. "Ye've got enough problems without havin' another row with yer husband."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah demanded, but at that moment, they came upon the throne room doors, and Hetta led her through.
Inside, Hoggle was supervising the goblins as they marched out. Hetta ambled over to stand by him, watching as the creatures grumbled and bumped their way through the doors. Jareth was leaning casually against his throne, and he offered her a slightly annoyed expression as she made her way through the throng to his side.
"Where have you been?"
"In the gardens," she responded.
"None of the goblins I sent found you there."
"Then you shouldn't have sent goblins." Before she could go on, she suddenly caught sight of the creature standing nervously against the throne room wall, and her eyes widened.
It was only about three feet high, and painfully narrow. It's skin was pale to the point of being translucent in some places, and it wore only as simple pale green robe that covered little of it's long arms and legs. The only thing that looked remotely dangerous about the fragile thing was the long, nubile, whip-like tail. The eyes, though, were what really caught her attention. Its eyes took up most of its head, large, purple eyes with no lids or pupils...it looked like an extraterrestrial, she realized. Like one of those things people who had been 'abducted' saw.
"A huri-ha'an," Jareth told her. "They sometimes like to roam the Aboveground, searching for a home that was destroyed eons ago. I believe they occasionally try to ask the mortals there if they've seen it, but I don't think the mortals ever understand what they are asking."
"It looks so young," she breathed, transfixed by those glistening eyes. The purple was starting to swirl as it looked at her, with hints of black mixing slowly into the whirlpools.
"The young tend to see farther than the old." was his cryptic response.
"It looks frightened, too."
"Possibly. I am not known for my love of the huri-ha'an."
"Welcome, good prophet," Sarah inclined her head graciously to the willowy creature, carefully hiding any doubts she may have about her guest's intuitive abilities. The little thing swayed on narrow feet, and then extended it's hands in some kind of complicated greeting. It's eyes stopped swirling black and purple, and instead turned white, almost luminous.
Jareth laid a hand on Sarah's lower back, and loomed quietly over her shoulder. She didn't look at his face, but Sarah was pretty sure he was casting an intimidating image for the thin psychic.
She was apparently right, because a shudder raked the fragile frame, and it took a few steps back. Mentally rolling her eyes, Sarah took a step away from her husband, and knelt down on the floor, putting her face on the same level as the clairvoyant. It's large, moon eyes filmed over blue and then cleared white again - *did it just blink?* She smiled with her lips only, in case baring teeth was considered threatening to these creatures.
Sensing her encouragement, the huri-ha'an straightened it's lithe body, wrapped it's long arms around it's upper body and it's whip-like tail around it's legs, as if cocooning itself. Then the huge eyes misted over again, only this time with a heavy green fog, and it bowed it's head.
Sarah rose and backed away quietly, so as not to disturb the luminous creature.
For a long minute, all was silent in the room. After another long minute, Hoggle shifted his weight slightly and scrunched his long nose a few times, trying to ignore the sudden urge to scratch it. After the third long minute, he debated asking quietly if maybe they should go have a long lunch and come back afterwards to see if the creature was done hibernating. He resisted that urge, too, until at least well into the fourth long minute. But before he could get his mouth all the way open, Hetta somehow managed to grind her heel into his toe without even making a noise. Hoggle snapped his mouth shut again and this time concentrated on ignoring his sore foot and the overwhelming urge to scratch his nose.
Odd, how badly his nose did itch. It was steadily growing worse with each passing long minute.
His only satisfaction was seeing Hetta's nose twitching wildly along with his. And the other goblins in the room...and Sarah's, too, now that he noticed it. *It's all this standing still,* he thought, *Happens every time, just when you can't itch, you gotta.* Only Jareth seemed totally unaffected by the circulating itchy-nose syndrome.
And then, thankfully, just before Hoggle thought he would either sneeze or die, the willowy psychic let out a long screech, and threw it's arms and tail wildly off. Its large green-fogged eyes gave way to swirling white and blue, and it dropped to its thin knees, shivering. Sarah was at its side instantly, reaching out to comfort it, but something about the way it stared at her in utter horror stopped her.
The thought came into her head suddenly, quietly, as if it were one of her own thoughts. From the way Hoggle and Hetta jumped, they heard it too. Jareth, used to this, merely frowned. "What trouble?" he asked quietly.
"What is this beast?" Jareth stepped closer, pulling Sarah to her feet and sweeping her behind him in one fluid motion. He towered over the shivering creature, waiting.
the last few words were tainted with deep sorrow rather than the frantic fear everything else had been ridden with.
Then, before anyone could question it further, the creature collapsed in a shimmering bundle at Jareth's feet. He frowned down at it, but his eyes were unfocused, as if he were staring at something underneath the body. For a breathless moment, Sarah thought he was going to kick the fragile creature, crush it beneath his boot. Then he turned on his heel and strode away, smoothly wrapping an arm around Sarah's waist and pulling her away with him before she could protest.
"You may go," he told Hoggle and Hetta as he swept past them.
"What about the huri-ha'an?" Sarah demanded as soon as she found her voice again.
"Its people are already on their way to collect it." He informed her curtly, still towing her along down the halls.
"Will it be okay?"
"Of course. They always fall into fits and collapse afterwards. It's part of the Seeing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Sarah, quite. I've seen these many times before. They're rather dramatic creatures."
"What did all that mean? Beasts and killing and lies. All I really got out of it was the poor thing was frightened."
"I am not an expert in huri-ha'an prophecy," Jareth told her, opening the doors to their chambers and ushering her in.
"Oh? You mean you admit you don't know everything?" she interrupted lightly, unable to resist this golden opportunity despite the gravity of the situation.
He snorted vaguely, returning to where he had left off. "I know enough, however, to surmise that some kind of beast is out after your blood, or your life energy, in order to summon its sister. It will apparently lie a great deal to the both of us-"
"-and the little one will cry for it's mother." She slid a hand over her abdomen. "That part I understood."
Jareth was silent for a moment. "What truly worries me," he confided, "is that the huri-ha'an didn't seem to think I would be able to detect the lies the beast told me."
"So it's more powerful than even you?"
"Not likely," he retorted sharply. "Not in this Labyrinth. But it must be a terribly cunning beast to do it. Magic is not always required in order to fool the senses."
"So, in a nutshell, we now know that I am in danger from a beast we won't be able to recognize, that could strike at any time." She said flatly.
"No, the creature will have to be in direct contact with us at some point, in order to lie to us. Several times, actually, since the creature implied many lies."
"Well," Sarah said briskly. "That was an interesting evening. I think I'll just go to bed now."
**
Part Four of the 'Words' Saga
**
Part 3
"If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed."
It was a lovely afternoon, clouded over with pearl gray clouds, with a faint smell of rain on the gentle breeze. Sarah drank in the scent, watching the distant mountains grow darker as the clouds built. It might just storm tonight.
"Sarah! There you are," Hetta's gravelly voice cut off her musings and brought her sharply back to the present. "The whole castle's being turned about lookin' for you. King's about to get mad, I think."
"Why?" She asked, adding *heavens forbid the King should ever get mad* in her most sardonic mental voice.
"The huri-ha'an is here."
"The what?"
"The huri-ha'an. They're a clairy-voy-ant type of creatures," her tongue stumbled over the long word. "It's custom for one to come in an' make a prophecy whenever somethin' big is happenin' at the castle. You know, a weddin', a funeral, a birth." She gestured to Sarah's still somewhat flat abdomen. "They didn't come fer th' wedding 'cause only a few of 'em survived the Nightmares, and those were all too young or too old to do any good prophecyin'."
"Ah. Why didn't Jareth mention any of this to me?" she asked peevishly.
Hetta gave her a speculative look. "Jareth doesn't like the huri-ha'an too much. I wasn't around then, but story has it he was a little 'un when he ran into a full grown huri-ha'an doin' a prophecy for some creature or other, and it gave 'im one to boot."
"What did it say?"
"Them's never very clear when makin' predictions an' such, but apparently it told 'im somethin' like a mortal would bring 'im to his knees."
"And that didn't sit well with his pride." Sarah grinned.
"No, it didn't. Now don't ye go teasin' 'im about that," Hetta shook a gnarled finger at her. "Ye've got enough problems without havin' another row with yer husband."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah demanded, but at that moment, they came upon the throne room doors, and Hetta led her through.
Inside, Hoggle was supervising the goblins as they marched out. Hetta ambled over to stand by him, watching as the creatures grumbled and bumped their way through the doors. Jareth was leaning casually against his throne, and he offered her a slightly annoyed expression as she made her way through the throng to his side.
"Where have you been?"
"In the gardens," she responded.
"None of the goblins I sent found you there."
"Then you shouldn't have sent goblins." Before she could go on, she suddenly caught sight of the creature standing nervously against the throne room wall, and her eyes widened.
It was only about three feet high, and painfully narrow. It's skin was pale to the point of being translucent in some places, and it wore only as simple pale green robe that covered little of it's long arms and legs. The only thing that looked remotely dangerous about the fragile thing was the long, nubile, whip-like tail. The eyes, though, were what really caught her attention. Its eyes took up most of its head, large, purple eyes with no lids or pupils...it looked like an extraterrestrial, she realized. Like one of those things people who had been 'abducted' saw.
"A huri-ha'an," Jareth told her. "They sometimes like to roam the Aboveground, searching for a home that was destroyed eons ago. I believe they occasionally try to ask the mortals there if they've seen it, but I don't think the mortals ever understand what they are asking."
"It looks so young," she breathed, transfixed by those glistening eyes. The purple was starting to swirl as it looked at her, with hints of black mixing slowly into the whirlpools.
"The young tend to see farther than the old." was his cryptic response.
"It looks frightened, too."
"Possibly. I am not known for my love of the huri-ha'an."
"Welcome, good prophet," Sarah inclined her head graciously to the willowy creature, carefully hiding any doubts she may have about her guest's intuitive abilities. The little thing swayed on narrow feet, and then extended it's hands in some kind of complicated greeting. It's eyes stopped swirling black and purple, and instead turned white, almost luminous.
Jareth laid a hand on Sarah's lower back, and loomed quietly over her shoulder. She didn't look at his face, but Sarah was pretty sure he was casting an intimidating image for the thin psychic.
She was apparently right, because a shudder raked the fragile frame, and it took a few steps back. Mentally rolling her eyes, Sarah took a step away from her husband, and knelt down on the floor, putting her face on the same level as the clairvoyant. It's large, moon eyes filmed over blue and then cleared white again - *did it just blink?* She smiled with her lips only, in case baring teeth was considered threatening to these creatures.
Sensing her encouragement, the huri-ha'an straightened it's lithe body, wrapped it's long arms around it's upper body and it's whip-like tail around it's legs, as if cocooning itself. Then the huge eyes misted over again, only this time with a heavy green fog, and it bowed it's head.
Sarah rose and backed away quietly, so as not to disturb the luminous creature.
For a long minute, all was silent in the room. After another long minute, Hoggle shifted his weight slightly and scrunched his long nose a few times, trying to ignore the sudden urge to scratch it. After the third long minute, he debated asking quietly if maybe they should go have a long lunch and come back afterwards to see if the creature was done hibernating. He resisted that urge, too, until at least well into the fourth long minute. But before he could get his mouth all the way open, Hetta somehow managed to grind her heel into his toe without even making a noise. Hoggle snapped his mouth shut again and this time concentrated on ignoring his sore foot and the overwhelming urge to scratch his nose.
Odd, how badly his nose did itch. It was steadily growing worse with each passing long minute.
His only satisfaction was seeing Hetta's nose twitching wildly along with his. And the other goblins in the room...and Sarah's, too, now that he noticed it. *It's all this standing still,* he thought, *Happens every time, just when you can't itch, you gotta.* Only Jareth seemed totally unaffected by the circulating itchy-nose syndrome.
And then, thankfully, just before Hoggle thought he would either sneeze or die, the willowy psychic let out a long screech, and threw it's arms and tail wildly off. Its large green-fogged eyes gave way to swirling white and blue, and it dropped to its thin knees, shivering. Sarah was at its side instantly, reaching out to comfort it, but something about the way it stared at her in utter horror stopped her.
The thought came into her head suddenly, quietly, as if it were one of her own thoughts. From the way Hoggle and Hetta jumped, they heard it too. Jareth, used to this, merely frowned. "What trouble?" he asked quietly.
"What is this beast?" Jareth stepped closer, pulling Sarah to her feet and sweeping her behind him in one fluid motion. He towered over the shivering creature, waiting.
the last few words were tainted with deep sorrow rather than the frantic fear everything else had been ridden with.
Then, before anyone could question it further, the creature collapsed in a shimmering bundle at Jareth's feet. He frowned down at it, but his eyes were unfocused, as if he were staring at something underneath the body. For a breathless moment, Sarah thought he was going to kick the fragile creature, crush it beneath his boot. Then he turned on his heel and strode away, smoothly wrapping an arm around Sarah's waist and pulling her away with him before she could protest.
"You may go," he told Hoggle and Hetta as he swept past them.
"What about the huri-ha'an?" Sarah demanded as soon as she found her voice again.
"Its people are already on their way to collect it." He informed her curtly, still towing her along down the halls.
"Will it be okay?"
"Of course. They always fall into fits and collapse afterwards. It's part of the Seeing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Sarah, quite. I've seen these many times before. They're rather dramatic creatures."
"What did all that mean? Beasts and killing and lies. All I really got out of it was the poor thing was frightened."
"I am not an expert in huri-ha'an prophecy," Jareth told her, opening the doors to their chambers and ushering her in.
"Oh? You mean you admit you don't know everything?" she interrupted lightly, unable to resist this golden opportunity despite the gravity of the situation.
He snorted vaguely, returning to where he had left off. "I know enough, however, to surmise that some kind of beast is out after your blood, or your life energy, in order to summon its sister. It will apparently lie a great deal to the both of us-"
"-and the little one will cry for it's mother." She slid a hand over her abdomen. "That part I understood."
Jareth was silent for a moment. "What truly worries me," he confided, "is that the huri-ha'an didn't seem to think I would be able to detect the lies the beast told me."
"So it's more powerful than even you?"
"Not likely," he retorted sharply. "Not in this Labyrinth. But it must be a terribly cunning beast to do it. Magic is not always required in order to fool the senses."
"So, in a nutshell, we now know that I am in danger from a beast we won't be able to recognize, that could strike at any time." She said flatly.
"No, the creature will have to be in direct contact with us at some point, in order to lie to us. Several times, actually, since the creature implied many lies."
"Well," Sarah said briskly. "That was an interesting evening. I think I'll just go to bed now."
**
