AN: Hay everyone... Please forgive small spelling/ grammar errors...
I'm exhausted but really wanted to get this next section out. I
think I covered most the plot holes I've dug for myself that I wanted
to address in this chapter but give a yell if something is totally
confusing...LOL... Thanks a million times to everyone who has left
me a few words in the review box, bless you all! =)
Disclaimer: Zzzzzz... *thrashes in sleep and mumbles* 'Not mine...'
*********************Sacrifices: Chapter Fifteen****************
Hellin's small fingers carefully smoothed away the imaginary wrinkles
in Sarah's magnificent dress. Make that gown, nothing so ornate could
be called a dress. It was, it was the ballroom only a thousand times
more beautiful, more elegant, more mature. She sighed as she stared
at herself in the still cracked vanity mirror. Her imperfect
reflection stared back from worried hazel eyes.
The gown was a beautiful royal blue, off the shoulder, with long
sleeves that flared at the wrist. The top was modest enough, modest
for Jareth's taste, but fitted her full form closely until it reached
her slender waist where it flared slightly. The color was hardly
uniform... the silk was dyed in a cascade of blues, mostly royal. The
bodice was a sky blue that melted downward, into royal and finally, at
the bottom, a deep, almost midnight, blue. The ends of her sleeves
and hem were tattered, torn strategically to add layers without the
bulk.
Sarah's hair was a simple waterfall of sable. Hellin had braided
small sections and tied them off with silver wire and small gemstones
and it framed her face which was emphasized with silver lip stick and
dark blue eye shadow around her eyes.
"I... I don't know if I can do this Hellin." The Low Sidhe stopped
her fussing for a moment, torn in between indecision to speak, or to
remain silent. Her King had never chastised her for her slips to her
Mistress. Had never threatened with the Bog of Eternal Stench or the
Oubliette.
Hellin didn't know what was worse, being punished, or being ignored
beyond receiving direct orders. Sometimes she almost thought that she
preferred the Goblin King's wrath...
"What can you not do Mistress?" Sarah swallowed, face pale in her
reflection, waxen.
"I... Hellin how can I face them, the Sidhe Court? Imagine a hundred
Jareths, all leering, all judging, all smiling with that damn arrogant
smile... What being could possibly stand up against that?" Hellin
laughed softly, though there was pity in it.
"Let me reassure you Mistress that the Court is not compromised of a
hundred Jareths. King Jareth is unique, both in his power and in that
subtle mixture of charm and menace. You will see things, things that
you have never even dreamed of. You know of Unicorns and Goblins and
Dragons because they periodically enter the world Above. But there
are other races, more reclusive, more content to exist in the
boundaries of the Underground that humanity cannot even dream of,
guess at, describe.
"Besides Mistress, what more can you do then what you've been told?
Stand in front of the Sidhe Court and tell them who you are, subject
of Jareth, King of the Goblins, human turned immortal... Tell them."
Sarah whirled, hazel eyes lightning with fire as she answered, voice
intense but quiet, almost soft, a soft with edges of pain and lacings
of fear...
"And that's, that's what makes me so very afraid Hellin. How would
you feel to be that powerless when your future is being decided? I am
not, I am not happy here Hellin but damn it I chose this prison! I
made my bargain with the proverbial Devil. I sold my soul but I sold
it in good faith! What right has this Council to gainsay me?
"Too belittle my sacrifice? To make it all for nothing?" Hellin
looked away from her Mistress's burning gaze.
"You fear King Jareth will break his word and snatch your daughter
away?" Sarah hissed as her arms came up and she hugged herself, a
fragile shield against the world.
"No Hellin. I do not fear that Jareth, King Jareth will break his
word. I fear that I will break mine. I gave him Melanie twenty years
ago Hellin. He accepted me in her place, a trump card, an achievment
to be proud of. I may have defeated him as a child but the King of
the Goblins owns me now, as a woman grown.
"But without me Hellin? He has no prize, nothing to show for his
tender pride, to salve his wounded dignity. He, he told me he loved
me Hellin." Helin sucked in her breath and rocked back on her heels
to regard the much taller woman with frank blue eyes. Sarah smiled
but it was small, strained. She hadn't even told the Dragon Queen,
Melani, that he had said that, even over their dozens of conversations
of the last two weeks. It had always seemed, wrong, to speak of that
word with the little gold Dragon. With that so mature child who had
named herself after Sarah's own lost daughter.
"Do, do you believe him?" Sarah blinked at the question and didn't
reply for a moment, lost in memories of a dizzying dance and a
heartbreaking song sung out of desperation and a kind of fierce hunger
before Sarah had torn the Goblin King's world in two. Lost in
memories of lively hair and a Goblin King's unexpected, half forgotten
tears. Sarah had never even known that Goblins were capable of crying
before that day two weeks ago, when she had almost died to save a
friendship, a brotherhood, that she would never be a part of.
"Yes." The quiet answer slipped from her without realization but once
it left her quivering lips it took the cloak of truth and wore it
well. Sarah believed in the existence of a certain Goblin King's
love, with all her troubled heart, but she wasn't totally certain that
she believed IN it.
"He... He would never lie." Hellin snorted.
"Any King would lie, to protect his people, even King Jareth." Sarah
sighed in frustration.
"And what could possibly be protected by him lying about loving me?"
Hellin grimaced and went to move away, troubled, unwilling to speak
farther. Sarah's shaking hand clasped the Goblin girl's shoulder and
held her tight. There was silence between them before Hellin finally
replied, unwillingly.
"You, you go before the Sidhe Court today. You don't understand our
world or our ways but you are integrally part of them now Mistress.
There are dangers that you don't know enough about to fear. You, you
are something to King Jareth... Whether he cares for your safety, or
for the fact that you are his, it would be very easy for you to be
lead astray.
"You are a dreamer Mistress Sarah. Few mortals who enter our realm
through belief are anything else. There will be temptation at the
Court, temptation in the guise of creatures, of beings you thought
only existed in dreams, if at all. There will beings who you shall be
the first human to ever set eyes on them.
"But if you think that he loves you Mistress you shall be that much
less likely to go back on your word. To be bedazzled by the Sidhe
Court." Sarah laughed and it held no amusement.
"And why should the King of the Goblin's confession of love bind me
any tighter to him than the promise of a child's future destroyed?"
Hellin echoed Sarah's dark laughter.
"Because, because dreamers have very big hearts Mistress and what
woman, what woman wouldn't want, secretly, to be loved by a man like
Jareth, the Goblin King? What woman, young, old, High, Low... what
woman wouldn't accept him into her arms, if only for a night? Some
might feel guilt, or regret, but none would deny him. Not even you."
'Love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave...'
'You have no power over me...'
'Sarah, Sarah, Sarah...Do you have any idea what I've been through,
what I'd go through, what I'm guaranteed to suffer for you? Do you
have any idea what it's like to be in love with someone who may never
return that love?'
"Have, have you ever known the Goblin King to love?" Hellin
disentangled herself from Sarah's grip and bowed deeply. She
answered, face downcast.
"No Mistress Sarah. To be loved, certainly, but to my knowledge the G
oblin King has never given his heart away. Good luck Mistress. Be
safe and remember, all you have to do is tell them who you are.
"That path may be more difficult for you than the rest of us. The
Room of Fate tells us our future, you must define your own." Hellin
rose and, without another word that could come back and haunt her,
fled once again.
Sarah turned and took a startled step back into her vanity. Jareth
was before her, resplendent, achingly beautiful in a way that was
entirely masculine. Masculine and lithe and graceful like a predator,
a panther. He looked like some kind of demented angel, cast down from
Heaven.
His hair was as fantastic as ever, a mop of silken, feathered, gold,
but his make up was heavier, bringing out the sharpness of his
features and accenting his extradorinary eyes. His full lips were
curled in his customary smirk as he bowed to her. Sarah's breath
caught in her throat.
Jareth was dressed in a silk, flowing, black poet shirt that was open
to half way down his chest. He wore an ornate vest over it, a
charcoal gray that was brightened with silver embroidery. His tights
were a similar gray and were finished with knee high leather boots,
also black. His pendant glinted dully in the bare expanse of his
chest and she started when black gloves touched her cheek. Leather
gloves today...
"So, you're ready..." It wasn't a question and Sarah shivered.
Jareth had been angry almost every time she had seen him since her
return to the Labyrinth, though admittedly that hadn't been often the
last two weeks. Today he was different... still commanding, still
terrifying, but the danger in him was subdued, more subtle, a thing
felt and not seen. This was Jareth as a seducer, as a charmer, as a
politician.
Sarah slipped away from his touch and cursed silently to herself as
her traitorous hair caught itself on his fingers and clung. The smirk
grew as he rubbed the strands, eyes glued to her face. She had almost
forgotten this side of Jareth existed. Had almost forgotten how
alluring he could really be... damn.
"Putting on a nice show for the Sidhe Court, with this whole seducer,
lover act?" The smirk broke and became a genuine smile of amusement
as Jareth reclaimed his hand, gaze still directly on her.
"So you begin to see the games that are played, huh little Sarah? Am
I exuding enough overbearing charm?"
"Do you ever need to truly ask that question?" The smirk returned but
the stare hardened.
"Watch your tongue Sarah." Sarah bowed and steeled herself as she
held out her hand to her King. Jareth accepted it, and his warm hand
slid into hers, clasped it, claimed it, supple black leather against
pale, pale skin. The shield, the distance in his eyes diminished for
a moment and Sarah saw, saw a flicker of uncertainty, of fear, of the
fire that could only come from love, no matter what Hellin said, or
Jareth did. And then the icy walls of self preservation were back,
leaving Sarah more confused than ever, more confused and quite
assuredly alone.
Melani or Drevlyn would not, could not accompany them on this trip.
It would put Melani's reign, and life in jeopardy. Both Dragons would
stay in Jareth's castle. Drevlyn hoped to keep his Queen's birth a
secret awhile longer, until the political waters of the Dragonic Realm
were more calm, calm enough for a new born Queen with a will of iron
to navigate anyway.
"Yes Majesty," she replied finally, softly. Jareth nodded once and
with his free hand conjured forth a magic portal, like the one he and
Drevlyn had come through the day Melani had hatched. Sarah stared at
the swirling vortex for a moment, transfixed, and jumped as Jareth
tried to pull her closer to him.
She looked up, trepidatious, into the Goblin King's neutral face,
trying to sense his intentions. He smiled down at her but even then
the smile was no thing of gentleness. The arrogance, the intensity,
none of it was neglected in this smile, no matter how troubled Jareth's
own eyes were.
"This works a lot better if we step through together Sarah. I am, am
not the master of portals that Drevlyn is. It wouldn't do to have to
present you to the Sidhe Court missing an arm, or something more
vital, hum?" When she said nothing he pulled her close enough that
her back was braced against his broad chest, the top of her head
tucked below his regal chin.
Sarah didn't have time to scream, to resist, to feel more than a pang
of fear at the unknown destination of that swirling portal, before, as
one, she and Jareth, the Goblin King, her Goblin King, stepped through
together. It snapped closed behind them.
I'm exhausted but really wanted to get this next section out. I
think I covered most the plot holes I've dug for myself that I wanted
to address in this chapter but give a yell if something is totally
confusing...LOL... Thanks a million times to everyone who has left
me a few words in the review box, bless you all! =)
Disclaimer: Zzzzzz... *thrashes in sleep and mumbles* 'Not mine...'
*********************Sacrifices: Chapter Fifteen****************
Hellin's small fingers carefully smoothed away the imaginary wrinkles
in Sarah's magnificent dress. Make that gown, nothing so ornate could
be called a dress. It was, it was the ballroom only a thousand times
more beautiful, more elegant, more mature. She sighed as she stared
at herself in the still cracked vanity mirror. Her imperfect
reflection stared back from worried hazel eyes.
The gown was a beautiful royal blue, off the shoulder, with long
sleeves that flared at the wrist. The top was modest enough, modest
for Jareth's taste, but fitted her full form closely until it reached
her slender waist where it flared slightly. The color was hardly
uniform... the silk was dyed in a cascade of blues, mostly royal. The
bodice was a sky blue that melted downward, into royal and finally, at
the bottom, a deep, almost midnight, blue. The ends of her sleeves
and hem were tattered, torn strategically to add layers without the
bulk.
Sarah's hair was a simple waterfall of sable. Hellin had braided
small sections and tied them off with silver wire and small gemstones
and it framed her face which was emphasized with silver lip stick and
dark blue eye shadow around her eyes.
"I... I don't know if I can do this Hellin." The Low Sidhe stopped
her fussing for a moment, torn in between indecision to speak, or to
remain silent. Her King had never chastised her for her slips to her
Mistress. Had never threatened with the Bog of Eternal Stench or the
Oubliette.
Hellin didn't know what was worse, being punished, or being ignored
beyond receiving direct orders. Sometimes she almost thought that she
preferred the Goblin King's wrath...
"What can you not do Mistress?" Sarah swallowed, face pale in her
reflection, waxen.
"I... Hellin how can I face them, the Sidhe Court? Imagine a hundred
Jareths, all leering, all judging, all smiling with that damn arrogant
smile... What being could possibly stand up against that?" Hellin
laughed softly, though there was pity in it.
"Let me reassure you Mistress that the Court is not compromised of a
hundred Jareths. King Jareth is unique, both in his power and in that
subtle mixture of charm and menace. You will see things, things that
you have never even dreamed of. You know of Unicorns and Goblins and
Dragons because they periodically enter the world Above. But there
are other races, more reclusive, more content to exist in the
boundaries of the Underground that humanity cannot even dream of,
guess at, describe.
"Besides Mistress, what more can you do then what you've been told?
Stand in front of the Sidhe Court and tell them who you are, subject
of Jareth, King of the Goblins, human turned immortal... Tell them."
Sarah whirled, hazel eyes lightning with fire as she answered, voice
intense but quiet, almost soft, a soft with edges of pain and lacings
of fear...
"And that's, that's what makes me so very afraid Hellin. How would
you feel to be that powerless when your future is being decided? I am
not, I am not happy here Hellin but damn it I chose this prison! I
made my bargain with the proverbial Devil. I sold my soul but I sold
it in good faith! What right has this Council to gainsay me?
"Too belittle my sacrifice? To make it all for nothing?" Hellin
looked away from her Mistress's burning gaze.
"You fear King Jareth will break his word and snatch your daughter
away?" Sarah hissed as her arms came up and she hugged herself, a
fragile shield against the world.
"No Hellin. I do not fear that Jareth, King Jareth will break his
word. I fear that I will break mine. I gave him Melanie twenty years
ago Hellin. He accepted me in her place, a trump card, an achievment
to be proud of. I may have defeated him as a child but the King of
the Goblins owns me now, as a woman grown.
"But without me Hellin? He has no prize, nothing to show for his
tender pride, to salve his wounded dignity. He, he told me he loved
me Hellin." Helin sucked in her breath and rocked back on her heels
to regard the much taller woman with frank blue eyes. Sarah smiled
but it was small, strained. She hadn't even told the Dragon Queen,
Melani, that he had said that, even over their dozens of conversations
of the last two weeks. It had always seemed, wrong, to speak of that
word with the little gold Dragon. With that so mature child who had
named herself after Sarah's own lost daughter.
"Do, do you believe him?" Sarah blinked at the question and didn't
reply for a moment, lost in memories of a dizzying dance and a
heartbreaking song sung out of desperation and a kind of fierce hunger
before Sarah had torn the Goblin King's world in two. Lost in
memories of lively hair and a Goblin King's unexpected, half forgotten
tears. Sarah had never even known that Goblins were capable of crying
before that day two weeks ago, when she had almost died to save a
friendship, a brotherhood, that she would never be a part of.
"Yes." The quiet answer slipped from her without realization but once
it left her quivering lips it took the cloak of truth and wore it
well. Sarah believed in the existence of a certain Goblin King's
love, with all her troubled heart, but she wasn't totally certain that
she believed IN it.
"He... He would never lie." Hellin snorted.
"Any King would lie, to protect his people, even King Jareth." Sarah
sighed in frustration.
"And what could possibly be protected by him lying about loving me?"
Hellin grimaced and went to move away, troubled, unwilling to speak
farther. Sarah's shaking hand clasped the Goblin girl's shoulder and
held her tight. There was silence between them before Hellin finally
replied, unwillingly.
"You, you go before the Sidhe Court today. You don't understand our
world or our ways but you are integrally part of them now Mistress.
There are dangers that you don't know enough about to fear. You, you
are something to King Jareth... Whether he cares for your safety, or
for the fact that you are his, it would be very easy for you to be
lead astray.
"You are a dreamer Mistress Sarah. Few mortals who enter our realm
through belief are anything else. There will be temptation at the
Court, temptation in the guise of creatures, of beings you thought
only existed in dreams, if at all. There will beings who you shall be
the first human to ever set eyes on them.
"But if you think that he loves you Mistress you shall be that much
less likely to go back on your word. To be bedazzled by the Sidhe
Court." Sarah laughed and it held no amusement.
"And why should the King of the Goblin's confession of love bind me
any tighter to him than the promise of a child's future destroyed?"
Hellin echoed Sarah's dark laughter.
"Because, because dreamers have very big hearts Mistress and what
woman, what woman wouldn't want, secretly, to be loved by a man like
Jareth, the Goblin King? What woman, young, old, High, Low... what
woman wouldn't accept him into her arms, if only for a night? Some
might feel guilt, or regret, but none would deny him. Not even you."
'Love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave...'
'You have no power over me...'
'Sarah, Sarah, Sarah...Do you have any idea what I've been through,
what I'd go through, what I'm guaranteed to suffer for you? Do you
have any idea what it's like to be in love with someone who may never
return that love?'
"Have, have you ever known the Goblin King to love?" Hellin
disentangled herself from Sarah's grip and bowed deeply. She
answered, face downcast.
"No Mistress Sarah. To be loved, certainly, but to my knowledge the G
oblin King has never given his heart away. Good luck Mistress. Be
safe and remember, all you have to do is tell them who you are.
"That path may be more difficult for you than the rest of us. The
Room of Fate tells us our future, you must define your own." Hellin
rose and, without another word that could come back and haunt her,
fled once again.
Sarah turned and took a startled step back into her vanity. Jareth
was before her, resplendent, achingly beautiful in a way that was
entirely masculine. Masculine and lithe and graceful like a predator,
a panther. He looked like some kind of demented angel, cast down from
Heaven.
His hair was as fantastic as ever, a mop of silken, feathered, gold,
but his make up was heavier, bringing out the sharpness of his
features and accenting his extradorinary eyes. His full lips were
curled in his customary smirk as he bowed to her. Sarah's breath
caught in her throat.
Jareth was dressed in a silk, flowing, black poet shirt that was open
to half way down his chest. He wore an ornate vest over it, a
charcoal gray that was brightened with silver embroidery. His tights
were a similar gray and were finished with knee high leather boots,
also black. His pendant glinted dully in the bare expanse of his
chest and she started when black gloves touched her cheek. Leather
gloves today...
"So, you're ready..." It wasn't a question and Sarah shivered.
Jareth had been angry almost every time she had seen him since her
return to the Labyrinth, though admittedly that hadn't been often the
last two weeks. Today he was different... still commanding, still
terrifying, but the danger in him was subdued, more subtle, a thing
felt and not seen. This was Jareth as a seducer, as a charmer, as a
politician.
Sarah slipped away from his touch and cursed silently to herself as
her traitorous hair caught itself on his fingers and clung. The smirk
grew as he rubbed the strands, eyes glued to her face. She had almost
forgotten this side of Jareth existed. Had almost forgotten how
alluring he could really be... damn.
"Putting on a nice show for the Sidhe Court, with this whole seducer,
lover act?" The smirk broke and became a genuine smile of amusement
as Jareth reclaimed his hand, gaze still directly on her.
"So you begin to see the games that are played, huh little Sarah? Am
I exuding enough overbearing charm?"
"Do you ever need to truly ask that question?" The smirk returned but
the stare hardened.
"Watch your tongue Sarah." Sarah bowed and steeled herself as she
held out her hand to her King. Jareth accepted it, and his warm hand
slid into hers, clasped it, claimed it, supple black leather against
pale, pale skin. The shield, the distance in his eyes diminished for
a moment and Sarah saw, saw a flicker of uncertainty, of fear, of the
fire that could only come from love, no matter what Hellin said, or
Jareth did. And then the icy walls of self preservation were back,
leaving Sarah more confused than ever, more confused and quite
assuredly alone.
Melani or Drevlyn would not, could not accompany them on this trip.
It would put Melani's reign, and life in jeopardy. Both Dragons would
stay in Jareth's castle. Drevlyn hoped to keep his Queen's birth a
secret awhile longer, until the political waters of the Dragonic Realm
were more calm, calm enough for a new born Queen with a will of iron
to navigate anyway.
"Yes Majesty," she replied finally, softly. Jareth nodded once and
with his free hand conjured forth a magic portal, like the one he and
Drevlyn had come through the day Melani had hatched. Sarah stared at
the swirling vortex for a moment, transfixed, and jumped as Jareth
tried to pull her closer to him.
She looked up, trepidatious, into the Goblin King's neutral face,
trying to sense his intentions. He smiled down at her but even then
the smile was no thing of gentleness. The arrogance, the intensity,
none of it was neglected in this smile, no matter how troubled Jareth's
own eyes were.
"This works a lot better if we step through together Sarah. I am, am
not the master of portals that Drevlyn is. It wouldn't do to have to
present you to the Sidhe Court missing an arm, or something more
vital, hum?" When she said nothing he pulled her close enough that
her back was braced against his broad chest, the top of her head
tucked below his regal chin.
Sarah didn't have time to scream, to resist, to feel more than a pang
of fear at the unknown destination of that swirling portal, before, as
one, she and Jareth, the Goblin King, her Goblin King, stepped through
together. It snapped closed behind them.