Vengeful Nightmares

Chapter 16

Sarah stood uncertainly, swishing her tail as The City of the Fae itself loomed ominously in the distance. Hoggle had called a halt, and was just returning from taking care of some personal business; Sarah felt the need as well, but she stifled it. She could still wait a while.

Hoggle walked up beside her, and nodded in the direction of the city. "Well…there it is. No turnin' back now."

"The cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back…" Sarah sang in her thoughts, quoting a song she had learned in Sunday School.

"Sarah…" the dwarf gave her an odd look, "You ain't gone knackers, have ya?"

She gave a mental laugh, and shook her head. "No. It's a line from a song. Somehow, it just seemed appropriate."

"Appropriate or not, it gave me the chills. Too…" he paused, searching his brain for the word, "final."

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to project that time. I still need some practice." Her ears laid back as she frowned in consternation. "Not very reassuring to know that I can't control it as well as I thought."

Hoggle draped an arm over her shoulders and leaned against her side. "You will. Don't worry 'bout it."

"You just sounded an awful lot like my dad, you know that?" she asked, half-amused and half-comforted.

"Uh, yes, well…" he said briskly, putting his hands behind his back. He knew that she was amused by his shyness, but he didn't know that it had endeared him to her. She thought it touching how he turned red and squirmed whenever he got flustered. He was almost like a gruff old grandfather, a loving father, a teasing brother and a scared little boy all in one body. With those three friends she had met on that first fateful day, four if you counted Ambrosious, she felt a camaraderie she had never before experienced. Now it was just the two of them, she thought sadly.

"Are we going?" Hoggle asked finally.

"Yes."

* * *

Night had overtaken them, but it took Sarah little time to reach the edge of the city. There was no city gate; the fae were confident in their abilities, and had not felt the need to build one.

Sarah stalked low to the ground through the vacant streets, ears laid back and pupils dilated so that only a sliver of yellow-green iris showed. Hoggle's hands gripped the scruff of her neck painfully, but she paid it no mind. She was more interested in getting her bearings and deciding what to do.

An orange tomcat oozed his way around one of the buildings, and both tomcat and she-cougar froze. The tom remained still, save for his pink nostrils, which quivered as he sampled her scent. He arched his back in a stretch, his ear-tips touching briefly as he yawned, and he began to slowly approach her.

"Mierrrrow." He chirruped a greeting, tilting his head to one side. "Mierrrrow." "Who are you?"

Sarah jerked her head back, then lowered it again till her chin was touching the snow. "Who might you be?" she asked, laying back her ears and baring her teeth in a brief but unmistakable threat.

The tom purred. "I asked you first. Why would a lady of the fae deign to carry the likes of that?"

Sarah snarled viciously and made a swatting motion that sent snow crashing into the cat's face. "He's my friend. And I'm no fae!"

The tomcat swiftly made the transition to his first form, and folded his arms. "Sink me, but that wasn't nice." He declared in a foppish drawl, looking down his long nose at her. "But I suppose that is how healthy curiosity is rewarded these days. Very well, then. If you are not a fae, show me what you really are."

Hoggle slowly dismounted, and tried to remain unnoticed. Sarah, sensing the arrogant fae's disbelief, decided to throw it in his face that she was right and he was wrong. It took her a little longer, but she made the successful transformation from cougar to human. Her expression hadn't changed; her eyes practically shot flames at the fae, and her arms folded indignantly across her chest. "Still think I'm a fae?" she asked smugly.

The fae shrugged and said, "Yes. At least, you soon will be…Sarah." He leered obscenely, his eyes not meeting hers, but somewhere below her chin. "So, you're the thorn in old Jarrie's side." He brushed back his orange hair with a slender hand, and sniffed disdainfully.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

He lifted his chin, and placed a hand on his breast. "I suppose I might be your worst nightmare." He allowed this to sink in before turning cat and launching himself at Hoggle's face. The dwarf raised his arms in defense as the claws began to rend and tear fabric and skin. Sarah reached desperately for the cat, but it dissolved into smoke and resolved some distance away in the form of a dwarven female. "Or, maybe, his."

Hoggle slowly took his arms down. The 'woman' dissolved with a pitiful wail that wrenched a short cry from Hoggle. Even after all she had witnessed, Sarah was taken aback by the cruelty of those things, whatever they really were. They were becoming less and less like nightmares and more like a macabre sort of reality.

"Somethin' ain't right…somethin'…" Hoggle held his arms close to his abdomen as if he had a stomach pain. "Somethin' ain't right." He said in a stronger voice. "Where's all the fae, Sarah? Ain't that late…where'd everybody go?"

I don't like it here.

Sarah heard his thought, and nodded. "You're right. That is weird."

"What should we do?" Hoggle mumbled, half to himself.

Sarah reached into her pack, and pulled out the book. The cover, the previously immaculate cover was warped and stained with what looked like mildew; three of the pages fell out, but before touching the snow they turned translucent and disappeared. Hoggle made a small sound of dismay, not because he particularly liked the book, but because of what it might mean. Would they suffer without the valuable information that might have been on those pages? Was there a curse on them now because of that little mishap? Was Jareth dying?

Sarah sank to her knees as the same thoughts occurred to her. Opening the book, she found that her map was gone; it had been one of the pages to fall out. On one of the previously blank pages was a moving picture. She saw Jareth, facedown in a sea of vomit on his bathroom floor. Nightmare creatures surrounded him, bat-winged and leering, naked and horrible, stubby penises bobbing as they tortured him. They couldn't touch him, but what they were saying to him seemed to be enough to sap his strength. Sarah gave a strangled sob, and thrust the book away from her. It landed open at Hoggle's feet, and he stood frozen with shock until he heard Sarah crying. She was leaning forward so that her head was inches from her knees, her hands pressed tightly over her face.

"Ah, lass, don't." he told her, almost in tears himself. He put his arms around her, feeling horribly inadequate; he couldn't gather her in like she could him. Even in her fetal position her head was level with his chest. Oh, damn, whaddo I do? He wondered desperately. "Sarah, please don' cry. It'll be okay, don' cry." At this, much to his dismay, she only cried harder. He was doing his best, damn it! He supposed he wasn't one to talk, but still…what could he do?!

"Let go, I'm gonna be sick!" she sent to him, and he sprang back as she got to her feet and stumbled blindly into an alley. Now, Sarah was squeamish, but Hoggle was worse. He put his hands over his ears and clamped his eyes absolutely shut, feeling a bit nauseated at the mere mention of someone else being sick. The nausea turned to butterflies of guilt when he heard her say in his mind, "It's safe now."

"You'll be okay?" he asked, lowering his hands to his sides. She nodded, and flipped the book shut with her foot. Then she left it lying in the snow and sat down, in cougar form, on the snow.

"We have to find a place to stay, Hoggle. That'll be hard, seeing as how this place seems to be deserted."

"Naw, it ain't deserted! How could it be? Lookit this place! Makes me feel like a flea."

"I didn't say it was deserted, I just said it seemed deserted. And even if we do…find a place, that is…how do we know we can trust our hosts?"

Hoggle had nothing to say to this. Instead, he said, "What'd that thing mean by you becoming a fae? You just have Jareth's powers, right?…Right?" When Sarah just looked away, he took a step back. "No…no…"

"Hoggle…" she said pleadingly. Hoggle was shaking his head in negation, stark terror dawning on his face. "Please…"

Hoggle just backed away, staring at her as if she had betrayed him. "You…you can't do…this…you can't…be…what has he done to you?"

"He didn't know it was happening, Hoggle." She turned human, though 'human' was a gown she was wearing loosely. "Look at me, Hoggle. Do I look any different?"

"Well…no, but…"

"I'm still me. What I am might be changing, but who I am won't change. I told you before that I'd never hurt you. Do you still believe that?"

"I…yeah." He closed his mouth, which had been hanging open like a Venus flytrap.

Sarah sat down with her back against the wall, heedless of the inevitable cold-seat that came with sitting in the snow. This posture was not only to reassure Hoggle; she needed to think. Well, I'm here now. The City of the Fae. Big wow, clap hands, squeal with glee. Now what in hell am I supposed to do? No one told me that. 'Goest thou to the City of the Fae to learneth. And while you're at it, bring me a Big Mac and fries.' Jeez…

"What the Sam Hill's a 'Big Mac'?" Hoggle asked from her right side, causing her to jump. She hadn't seen or heard him sit down.

"Don't know about Burger King, huh?" she said, giving him a sidelong glance.

"New question; what's a 'burger'?" he said, resting his chin on his knees and giving her one of his patented smart-ass Hoggle smirks. "Sounds like somethin' that lives in yer nose."

"No," she said with exaggerated patience, "that's 'booger'."

"No it'snot." He said innocently, just barely managing to keep from laughing at his own joke. Sarah turned, and one brief second of eye contact was all it took. They laughed until their stomachs hurt, and when Sarah sat back and accidentally knocked her head on the brick wall, "Ow!" their laughter soared to new, impossible heights.

Oh, please God, don't let me pee my pants! Sarah prayed fervently, and of course Hoggle heard it and doubled over.

"Sto—stop it, yer—yer—yer killin' me!" he whooped, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Get out of my brain! I only have one head!" she sent.

Hoggle saw Sarah in his minds eye sprouting an extra melon, and of course that only made him worse. When they finally calmed down, Sarah said casually, "So, how do you think we should go about stopping these dreams, Hoggle?"

The dwarf shrugged. "If all else fails, you could always give 'em the ol' raspberry." He said, and thought it would be helpful to demonstrate.

Sarah tittered, and said, "Oh, bravo. What an effort that must've taken. I didn't even have to pull your finger!"

That got them started again, and Hoggle managed to eke out "I di—I—hahaha—didn't really—hahahahaaa!"

"I can see it now," Sarah sent to him, unable to speak, "Someone asks us what we're doing, and we say 'oh, nothing, just fartin' around'!"

Finally they were too tired to laugh anymore. Hoggle couldn't remember ever having laughed like that before. It felt good. Yeah, it felt damn good!

"Thanks." Sarah said after a while.

"Fer what?"

"For trying to help. I just…couldn't believe it." She whispered.

Hoggle didn't have to ask what she meant. He was slightly embarrassed by what he had done, but it had been all he could think of.

"He really is dying, isn't he?" she asked, as if it had finally hit home.

Hoggle thought for a few moments before responding. "Sarah, I don't know about any of it. All I know is that before he could take back what he done he got sick. I…Sarah, I heard you talking wif Shiva 'bout yer dream. I wasn't trying to listen in, or nothin', I just…But if what she said was true, then…Yes. I think he might be." He saw her eyes filling with tears, and said quickly, "I'm sorry. You…you care for him…don't you?"

Sarah gulped convulsively, and nodded. "I didn't know how much until I saw that damn picture. I'm sorry, Hoggle. I know what he did to you. I know he's responsible for all this. I…I don't know. You're my best friend." She looked away. "I love you like family, and I hate what he did…I just can't hate him. Damn it, I want to hate him! But I think I'm…I can't help it."

"I knows you can't, Sarah. I won't kid ya, he's a bad enemy to have, but…"

"But what?"

"Well, I don't knows if I should be bringin' this up, but if he wanted you for yer…uh…" he steeled himself, "for se…for that thing, then he coulda forced ya. But he didn't. That surprised me." He rubbed the back of his neck, an action that Sarah recognized as his 'I'm embarrassed' pose.

"Has he forced anyone before?" she asked.

"You think he'd tell me? I don't think so, but I don't know. What I do know is that when it comes to wimmen he don't seem to know what he's doin'. Oh, he's not as bad as me. You knows I ain't married, and…" another embarrassed pause. He wasn't about to tell Sarah that he was a one hundred and fifty-three year old virgin! The fact was embarrassment enough, thank you very much! "Well, you get the idea. I'm with ya, whatever you decide to do."

"You're not mad?" she asked, knowing that he had every right to at least be upset about it.

"I ain't mad. Don't know what yer Mum and Pop would say…" he trailed off, envisioning that imposing woman of a stepmother when she heard the news…brr! She meant well, but boy, what a shrew! "Are you sure about this? How you feel about 'im?" he asked her, his tone stressing how important it was that she be sure; he couldn't protect her from this mistake, if it even was a mistake, should she choose to make it.

Sarah closed her eyes, and his face appeared in her thoughts. Her heart began to flutter, and her palms became moist. "Yes." She said.

Hoggle took a deep breath, and told her, "Then say it."

She did. "I love him."