Okay first of all let me apologize for taking so long for this chapter. I really am sorry and I refuse to wait so long for the next. But family, sports, and prom all played a huge part in taking so long to get out. *grr*. Anyway here it is, and it's longer than normal. Oh and mush warning, so if you have fillings, you might not want to read this.
~Ravyn~
Disclaimer: I do now own the Labyrinth.
Sarah blinked at Linka and sighed. " You can handle them right?" She demanded, sounding for the moment, like a small child.
Linka turned back with a ghost of a smile. " No. There is more than one, and the thing I tangled with in the garden was only a hatchling. This is larger and there are more. I need help." Linka closed her eyes and sighed.
" Derian had me blocked for some reason, and Jareth does as well. Even if I am blocked, you won't be." Linka insisted, her eyes never leaving the direction of the swaying trees.
" But why?" Sarah questioned her tone petulant. Her face and eyes said quite clearly that she wanted to do anything near asking HIM for help.
"Because of the spells, links, and anything else he has crafted. Part of it because the place he holds you in, the part of his heart. Another is because you have defeated his labyrinth. Then another because of who you have been and are." Linka shrugged. "Everytime you have ever said his name and needed him he has been there."
Sarah groaned. Her own eyes widened when the Loman made their way out of the woods. They stood twenty feet in the air and had three heads. The six arms and eight legs created a large, dominating effect.
Sarah simply screamed.
Linka on the other hand took one look and sighed. Raising a hand a long yellow saber formed in her hand. It resembled a long mace of sorts. The woman turned and gave Sarah a look. " Please?"
Sarah just numbly nodded. " JARETH!" Sarah screamed it at the top of her lungs and dodged another Loman, which had come out of the woods.
Linka threw the lance and it thudded into the chest. The being shattered and then it picked itself up.
Linka raised a brow and smiled. " PRIDITH!" The large silver dragon flew into the clearing. This time when Linka shattered the monster hot fire melted the limbs. This time it did not stand back up.
Sarah on the other hand was doing her best not to get grabbed by one of the things. She had seen what it had done to Linka, and she was not going through that.
Which was probably why the limb had decided to reach up and grab her ankle. Sarah heaved her body and it had done nothing but tighten. Aboveground things did NOT just pop out of the ground and stop a free for all bats out of hell run.
Sarah watched in horror as the Loman got closer and suddenly Ton was there and chewing at her ankle. Demon and Shadow were racing around its legs, snapping at kneecaps. Rip and Raider were taking on the others while Slider guarded Ton's back.
Sarah felt the bindings on her ankle give and she got up with all the intentions of running. Until the ankle gave out, and her body started a one way course with the ground when a strong arm caught her.
Sarah looked up and blinked at the rabid fury that graced his features. His mis matched eyes looked into hers and Sarah felt like she had been hit by lightning. The feeling of safety took over the feelings of fear.
And then it hit her like two ton Mack truck. She had fallen in love with the Goblin King.
"Ton, guard your Lady, I have a few things to take care of." Jareth told the wolf never taking his eyes off Sarah. Her large blue eyes looked like they could swallow the sky.
Sarah felt herself gently lowered to the ground and felt a number of bodies' crowd around her. Jareth stood up like a towering force of nature.
Linka dodged again and felt a smile pulling at her lips. Derian stood behind her and they were taking them out systematically. When suddenly they all spontaneously combusted. Linka scanned the area, her violet eyes narrowed in calm fury.
If there was such a thing.
" What took you so long to get here?" Linka growled rounding on the unsuspecting Jareth. Derian hide a snicker and pulled a straight face when he was rounded on instead.
"Oh and you think you are getting out of a talking to? What in the world made you block me out like that?" Linka frowned at him with a furious gaze that should have turned him to a pile of goo.
"What if Sarah or I had been dying and needed of you assistance?" Linka ranted. Jareth calmly tuned her out and turned back to Sarah.
Gently he picked her up into his arms and frowned at the bruised ankle. " Are you all right Sarah?" The way he said her name made it sound like a endearment or caress, instead of a simple name given in a moment of thought. As if her name could bring down the stars, and capture the moon.
Sarah found herself swallowed into his gaze and barley nodded through the pounding of her ears. Instead of scarring her away as it had done in the past, the look in his eyes made her want to crawl into his chest and stay there.
Jareth must have read something of it in her expression because his eyes became twin flames. " We will talk later." He whispered. His tone was a promise. It frightened and excited her at the same time.
D muzzled Ton and allowed him to lick her shoulder wound clean. The other four wolves began to sniff the area looking for clues.
Sarah, Jareth…Slider said suddenly. Her tone was hot and moved like molten lava through their minds. Sarah turned in Jareth's arms and looked at the angry wolf. This was the first time she had spoken with out prompting.
Silver. Her sent is everywhere. That means she sent them. She has desecrated the pack with this. She is fit only for the vultures to pick off her bones. She deserves the dark paths. Silver said.
Sarah blinked. It was the most the molted wolf had EVER said. Sarah looked at Ton.
They killed her family when she was a child. She will not stop until they all are both destroyed and returned to their maker, or they are locked back into the pocket of discretion.
Sarah looked back at Ton. 'Sounds cheerful.'
Ton looked at her with large eyes. 'It's a place of eternal damnation.'
Sarah nodded and sighed. "We need to head back to the castle to talk. I don't think its safe in the open, especially if Silver is lurking about." She gave Jareth a look. " You said you could not fight them!"
Jareth looked at her for a moment and gave a harsh barking laugh. " I can not fight Heitai Loman, these where Hakia Loman. Same family, different breed."
Derian walked over and smiled at the confused expression on the girl's feature. " The Hakia are larger, stupider, and just as deadly. But they do not take cold iron to kill. The way Linka and I were using is one way. Jareth used the other."
Sarah nodded and felt the area shift around her and they where back in Jareth's castle. Linka sank into a chair and sighed.
" We have got to find better ways to eat. This is getting nuts. What would Silver have to benefit from using Loman's to do her dirty work?"
Scents from the battles only last around an hour. There is no way for them to be able to link the attacks to her without proof. She has everything to gain. If Sarah takes over as her rightful position as Princess, she has control of pack power. That means that she is in charge of the moon weave. Ton said, his ton bitter.
Linka shook her head. " I understand that she wants to be in charge but is it worth risking being subjecting to the Dark Wood? Is it worth loosing the pack? Morgath had to have at least one pack member
Approve the release of the Loman." Her expression was dark.
" If we can prove it was Silver that unlocked the Loman then we can prove her of treason." Derian said, his eye's grave.
Yes. But that will not solve all of our problems. Even if we can prove her of treason then someone else can still demand the trials. Demon said softly.
" The trials?" Jareth demanded his tone more a question than a statement.
She has to prove that she can control the moon paths. If Sarah can control a moon weave then she is the princess. Silver has only been able to control a part, which is more than anyone else who has tried to do has been able. Shadow said with a hard glare at Ton.
Sarah looked at the Monqu, all who were starring hard at Ton, who was looking around like it was nothing. " What am I not being told?' Sarah demanded in a hard tone, sounding a lot like Jareth in King mode.
You are our Princess the rightful ruler of our people. Ton is the Prince of the Packs and son of Moonlight. Rip and Raider said in there mental tones.
Sarah looked at him and a picture sprang in her mind. " You are Keaton's son!" Sarah gasped out. Ton simply looked at her.
I serve you my Princess. His tone was hard.
Sarah sighed. " Well, does anyone else feel like they could not hit water if they fell out of a boat?"
~*~
Sarah sat in the window seat that over looked the Garden. Linka was sitting in a swing, a lovely pale lavender gown flowing around her ankles as the swing moved back and forth.
Derian stood behind her and gave the swing a gentle push every now and then. His expression was full of love and when Linka turned in the swing to tease him; he reached down and stole a kiss.
Sarah felt a small smile tug at her lips as she adjusted her seat on the soft cushions. She would have loved to be in the Gardens but her ankle was wrapped and it had been advised for her not to move too much.
Linka had promised to heal it as soon as she could. She had explained that after using the amount of battle magic that she had, she had a hard time grasping the minor healing magic she possesses. She had given her a measured look and told her flatly that it was normally Anika who healed the wounded.
Sometimes life just bit you in the butt.
"Enjoying the view?"
Then there was Jareth. His presence had from day one infuriated her, captivated her, and filled her with a variety of emotions. It was all rolled up into a satisfying package.
" Depends." Sarah answered, striving for nonchalant, almost pulling it off.
" Really?" Jareth commented his tone dry. Sarah just shot him a look and looked back out of the window, careful to keep her eyes off the kissing couple.
" If we talk are you going to call Ton to bale you out when you get uncomfortable, since you are unable to run?" Jareth questioned his tone something she could not quite place her finger on.
Sarah rolled her eyes. " I am not the only one with the tendencies to run, Jareth."
Jareth raised his brow before laughing. " Shot down before I can even begin," He mused out loud, his mis matched eyes boring into the back of her head.
" And what is it that you wish to talk about?" Sarah said in a simple tone. Her eyes where glued outside now. She knew what he was talking about, she knew he knew that she knew, but there was no way she was starting this.
" You know."
" That is quite besides the point isn't it." Sarah informed him.
Jareth was quite for some time.
" I met Anika when I was barley five hundred years old. The first conversation I ever had with her ended with her hitting myself and Derian with a large amount of mud." Sarah smiled at the image that had Jareth with mud covering him from head to toe.
" I met her a few years older and this time it was words she grilled me over with. I found, much to my surprise, that I was attracted. I didn't know if it was the spunk or the smile. But eventually I got her to tolerate me." Sarah could here the ghost of a smile in his voice. " It probably helped that Linka thought I was kinda cute."
" A few years later I was in the full stage of courting her. I asked her to marry me, and she agreed. One afternoon I got a visitor. Her name was Morgath and she wanted me to marry her daughter. Naturally I refused. I was still a prince but I had enough power and enough promise to be very sought after. She became enraged and placed a curse on me. In the process she destroyed the soul bond between Anika and me." His tone tapered off.
" The curse turned my beautiful home into a hideous maze. Even now it is at only one tenth of its former beauty. The only way to break it was to marry her daughter or have someone defeat my Labyrinth and fall in love with me." She could hear the shuddering of her heart, and allowed a brief moment of doubt to enter her mind.
" I felt Anika die. I also felt my mother do something, but I was so reduced to such a low level of magic that I could not tell what. Anika dying, and never being able to see her again, that almost destroyed me. The only thing that kept me alive was the possibility of destroying Morgath."
" Then a little girl wished her brother away. After that the cycle continued until you came and defeated me. You stole back your brother and fled back into the Aboveground. I hated you at first, for being the one to give me back my humanity, for being the one to stop the curse, and for being the one awaking by dying heart."
" When they told me you where Anika, that my mother had somehow saved you to be reborn. I was so hurt. How could the woman I loved in my past be the woman that I loved now? Somehow I believed it to good to be true."
" I was angry that you acted nothing like her, that you where still Sarah, and no matter what. But hints of your past life our there. But somehow that does not matter." Sarah turned at that, her lashes wet with tears.
" Even if you are the woman who I loved so long ago, I fell in love with Sarah as well. I love the child who defeated my Labyrinth who defied me at every turn far more than I thought possible." Jareth finished, his eyes grave, his stance rigid.
Sarah looked at him, her own gaze desperately searching his face, searching and needing. Seeing the pure and open look, tinted by desperation, pulled the words from her lips more than anything else did.
" I hated you at first. You who had turned my life upside down and took me through hell and back. I wanted to banish your very memory from every though I ever took. And I failed miserably. Toby reminded me of you. My stepmother reminded me of you. My dog even did. Everything did. My friend teased me about some boy I was keeping from them. So I dated around and did my best to forget you." Sarah smiled gently.
" But somehow by mind and heart refused to let me let you go. It hit me once that maybe I did have feelings for you, a friend brought it up, but I laughed it off. I was not until I was back here, when I was back in your world and you where not the evil man I believed you to be. You treated people deferent and you had a kind streak. I think it was your treatment of Linka that actually was the finally push. You treated her like a equal and you treated me as one."
" It scared the shit out of me, how much I have seemed to fall. And it appears that somehow its not going to stop." Sarah looked into his eyes, eyes that where burning an impression on her heart and soul.
" I think, I know, that somewhere, somehow." Sarah clarified, meeting him straight in the eyes, " That I have fallen in love with the Goblin King. I have fallen in love with the king, the man, and the person. I love you Jareth."
He was there in an instant, his lips meeting hers, and the world exploded.
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