Mortal Beloved.
(chapter 4)
Pains of life and love.
DISCLAIMER: AS ALWAYS, I DON'T OWN JIM HENSON'S CHARACTERS, MERELY THE ONES I HAVE MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 2'S DISCLAIMER. PLEASE ASK TO USE THEM.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I love getting feedback in the forms of comments :0) and criticisms :o(
I am the everlasting vending machine, if you feed me, I will produce delicious goodies for you to enjoy! ^_^
Sarah focused, she was standing in the middle of Jareth's palace one minute, then the next she was just outside the castle and bordering on the Goblin city. Sarah knew that going into the Labyrinth during the day was dangerous but at night she couldn't deign to think of what might be out there. Resolutely she marched straight out of the goblin city gates and into the Labyrinth. The night air was permeated with electricity and Sarah couldn't help but feel the anticipation of the maze.
Toran, back at the Castle, stood up from where he had been leaning, and before following Sarah, uttered the words that would cloud Jareth's crystals and give him the time he needed to deceive Sarah.
Laughing with gusto, he kept to the shadows and followed after the girl.
Sarah kept on walking, occasionally waving her hand to illuminate where she was headed.
Sarah knew that she had let her emotions get the better of her and chastised herself for it.
Where was the cool self-possessed girl she used to be, she wondered to herself. Sarah knew that she had given up a lot upon coming here, yet the feeling of defiance growing within her told her that she had not lost her pride, nor would she open herself up for Jareth to trample over again.
She would return to being Sarah Williams, proud, headstrong and defiant. The only one to defeat the Labyrinth and its haughty King.
Despite these resolutions, and she meant them with all her heart, she still felt the raw gash that Jareth had dealt her heart with his reaction to her being fey and his failure to support her. She initially had thought that he would understand, he himself being fey, but then just before she had fled the castle she had come to the damning conclusion that the reason why Jareth responded like he did was because he felt threatened.
Sarah knew that if she thought about it rationally, she could understand. Jareth had been the Goblin King for a long time, one of the most powerful fey's in the underground. The only power that he could wield over her was that of fey heritage, she had bested his Labyrinth and him, she held emotional power over him and his actions. Now she also possessed the feyan powers and Jareth obviously felt that he had lost any control he once had and probably thought that she would leave him, that she no longer needed him. Yet this was as far from the truth as the night is from day.
Stumbling on, Sarah decided that she would not easily be won back, that is if Jareth wanted her back and was prepared to try.
* * *
Toran dipped into Sarah's head and felt the turmoil, the hurt, the emotion that was sign boarding across her thoughts. He pitied this mortal, even if she was Jareth's, That foolish king had obviously hurt the girl, and he wondered why one would deign to hurt such a lovely creature. As Sarah unwittingly drew nearer and nearer to a large bank of cliffs, Toran flicked his wrist and when he walked from the shadows and up behind her, he looked, talked and walked like the form he had taken. Jareth.
"Sarah" he whispered softly in her ear, she whirled around looking for him "Jareth?" she called softly, she didn't really wanted to see him just yet. While she was scanning the area behind her for "him" he appeared in front of her further up the cliff. Working overtime, Toran conjured a deep fog, and with another flick of the wrist, there was a barrage of faces and voices threatening to smother her.
"Jareth doesn't love you Sarah" they taunted cruelly.
"Now that you have given in and accepted him, you will be thrown away like the others" intoned one particularly nasty voice.
"did you honestly think you could hold our king's interest?" hollered another mockingly.
Sarah ran forward away from the voices. "Go away!" she screamed "leave me alone."
"Jareth" appeared, and she ran to him, relieved. "Jareth, please take me away from this place" she pleaded. Jareth pushed away from her none to gently and smirked.
"Sarah, sarah, sarah, did you honestly think that you could get the better of me a second time?" He laughed condescendingly.
Sarah reeled, stunned. This from a man who not more than an hour ago had been wrapt in her arms.
"Revenge is sweet, my dear sweet, stupid Sarah" he continued Thin lips smiling and changeling eyes dancing demonically.
"You no longer have your free will Sarah, and you will reside in the underground for all eternity, forever at my disposal, never ageing" He said the last with relish, and a grin played across his thin lips.
He walked toward her menacingly and she backed away. "Jareth?..Why?" she asked,
Jareth just laughed tauntingly at her. "You, a young girl, beat my Labyrinth and me, you didn't really think that I would let that go unpunished did you?" he mocked.
Sarah turned and ran away from him. And the voices followed her. The world began to spin around her and Sarah closed her eyes against the blur.
"You lose Sarah" chanted the voices.
"You are no longer the victor," they spat contemptibly.
Toran watched in satisfaction as Sarah inched closer to the cliff edge.
Deciding to finish her off himself, Toran once again assumed the role of Jareth and stepped towards her. "I don't love you Sarah…I never did" he smirked coldly, disdain prominent in his face.
To add the final touch, Jareth reached out to touch her, knowing that she would retreat backwards.
As Toran had foreseen, as soon as he motioned to touch her, Sarah stepped back and lost her footing. The edge of the cliff crumbled and Sarah fell backwards over the cliff and onto the ground far below. As her body impacted the hard surface, there was a sickening crunch, which left Toran sure that all of the life had been crushed out of her. He smiled to himself. His work here was done.
* * *
Jareth paced the floor of his throne room and kicked an unfortunate goblin that had gotten in his road, something he hadn't done since he and Sarah had been reunited.
Findlay stood and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was uncomfortable and had no idea what to tell his friend. "I think we need to assume that it was someone else who clouded your crystal Jareth" he said tentatively. Jareth looked up, interested to hear what his friend had to say. He had told Findlay all that had occurred, and he was thankful that his friend had put aside his admonishments of Jareth's behaviour for now.
Hearing no objection from the Goblin King, Findlay continued, "Clouding crystals, is a reasonably advanced ability, which most fey's new to their power do not learn for a couple of weeks" he explained.
Jareth considered this and saw that his friend was right. If it had been Sarah who had clouded the crystal, he should have been able to break through it reasonably quickly, as her newly found powers were not cultivated and she wouldn't have been able to create such a binding spell, without having the knowledge and power to back it up.
Findlay kept his eyes on Jareth. The king's fiery temperament was renowned throughout the underground, and one thing he wasn't known for was his compassion.
Although he has changed significantly since his defeat at Lady Sarah's hand. He reflected silently. Jareth nodded, "I think your right" he said reservedly.
The pair looked once more at each other and a silent thought was sent between them. Findlay nodded and set out a call to all creatures throughout the Labyrinth to search for Lady Sarah.
Jareth cursed himself for not going after her sooner, and knew that by now she was probably deep in the hold of his Labyrinth. Jareth felt helpless without a magic assist, and realised that this must have been how Sarah had felt when he had assigned her the "impossible" task of navigating his Labyrinth to rescue the child.
Jareth suddenly realised that he hadn't really thought about how hard it had been for her. Jareth had only dwelt on the fact that he had been defeated, he had been humiliated, he had hurt and he had lost his chance at love.
Jareth had never once considered Sarah's feelings before now and he realised with sadness that it had taken him alienating her for him to have his little epiphany.
Jareth marched out of the throne room, summoning his guards and headed down into the Labyrinth. He swore on the Bog of eternal stench that if the being that had clouded his crystals damaged a hair on her head then he would be dealt the brunt of The Goblin King's temper and would be lucky to escape with his life.
* * *
"AMBROCIOUS!" squealed the excitable fox. "Get here this instant" he continued. Hoggle looked up from where he had been gathering anything they might need if they happened to find Sarah.
Ludo lumbered through the door and sat heavily on the floor "Wrah!" he growled pitifully.
"Sawah fwend in twuble" he sad sadly.
Hoggle ambled over to the beast and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ludo, we're all worried about Sarah, but the best thing we can do right now is get out there and look for her"
Ludo got to his feet and hugged Hoggle fiercely.
The trio walked out of the castle and followed the long line of subjects who were loyal to Jareth, Holding fire torches. The Goblin King himself was leading the search, yet that didn't surprise Hoggle, he had known ever since that woman child Sarah had first graced the Labyrinth with her presence, that Jareth had been taken by her. After Sarah had conquered the Labyrinth with the help of her friends, Hoggle felt that he had also experienced the pain that the Goblin King was feeling because it was always reflected in the Labyrinth, his home.
"Higgle and co, I want you to take the north east portion of the Labyrinth which is closest to the castle, because you all know her well" Jareth told them quickly as the other search parties dispersed to search their assigned areas.
Hoggle sighed at being called, yet again a derivative of his real name. Some things never change.
* * *
Ragan watched the lights of fire traverse through the Labyrinth and heard cries of "Sarah"
Ragan rubbed his hands together at the thought of something evil happening to Jareth's precious mortal. Ragan knew that he should track down whatever had done that and attempt to forge an alliance with it.
Ragan also knew that the only way he would have a chance at snatching Jareth's throne out from under him, was to form as many alliances as possible. He thought back to the stories of the ages war his father told him when he was a mere boy, of the campaign that successfully conquered the kingdom of the Mortal King. Ragan knew that contrary to the story, this time they would be prepared, there would be no surprise force march from Jareth and his mighty alliance of underground races. Ragan had sent a messenger to discover what had happened to the Lady Sarah, and puffing the slimy creature ran through the door.
"Highness" it stated, bowing down before him.
Amused, Ragan stood regally before this pathetic excuse for a pond creature.
"Arise my loyal subject," he commanded. "Tell me what you have discovered" he finished.
The creature sat down in the chair that was offered to him and spoke to the Borderlord.
"I overheard a conversation that was held between Jareth and Lord Findlay." Began the creature importantly.
"Continue" urged Ragan and the creature obliged.
"From what I could gather, highness, There was an altercation between the Goblin King and his lady, although I was unable to determine what it had been about.
The lady had been upset, and fled into the Labyrinth. It had already been dark by then, and the Goblin King, worried, had looked to his crystal to see where she was, presumably so that he could go after her and bring her back. However, when he looked at the crystal, he was unable to see Lady Sarah, someone had clouded his crystal removing the ability to see Sarah wherever she was throughout the Labyrinth. This worried the king and he now fears foul play" finished the creature, proud with what he had discovered.
Ragan paid the creature a silver and it departed.
Yes…he thought to himself, This could work to my advantage.
* * *
Jareth paced through the Labyrinth with Findlay at his side and knew that he would never forgive himself if anything happened to Sarah while she was supposed to be under his care and protection. Knowing that the last time he had seen her, he had upset her,ate away at him.
Findlay kept the silent vigil beside his friend as he mentally checked on all of the search teams combing the Labyrinth. He knew that it would be impossible to search the entire Labyrinth in one night, and that the search parties would be exhausted by daybreak, needing to stop for food and rest. Yet he also knew that Jareth wouldn't stop, eat or rest until he had found Sarah.
* * *
Sarah felt consciousness slide into her slippery grasp and held on tight. She peeked open one of her eyes and looked at her surroundings. She prayed that Jareth had left and then looked down at her battered body. She was soaked in blood to the extent that it looked like she had bathed in it. She felt a deep hard crush in her chest and knew that she had broken almost each one of her ribs.
There was a deep gash across her face and anywhere that wasn't cut, scratched or broken was bruised black. Sarah gently fingered all of her body and ascertained that she had sustained a broken collar bone, several broken ribs, a broken shoulder, two broken wrists and a sprained ankle. There were several large gashes from which blood flowed feely.
I should be dead. She thought, straining her neck and looking at the height of the cliff she had fallen from.
Suddenly Sarah knew why she was spared, The ground was made up entirely of rocks, apart from a small grassy area where she had landed. She figured that the rocks, Ludo's friends had been kind to her and moved out of the way so that she wouldn't have fallen to death.
"Thank you rocks" she called as she dragged her battered, frail body away from the site of her fall.
* * *
Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus had been searching for hours and gradually they were becoming more and more dispirited. Ludo was tired and wouldn't stop howling mournfully, making the rocks quiver and roll comfortingly in response.
Ludo was so tired he had wanted to ride Ambrocious, but Hoggle had thankfully persuaded him that that was not a good idea.
As Hoggle bent to tie his shoe, he noticed that several small rocks were gathering around their feet. "Hey Ludo, I think your friends are trying to tell us something" piped up Hoggle.
The rocks began to tremble excitedly and began rolling down one of the many turns of the Labyrinth.
Hoggle and the others ran after them in renewed hope. The rocks led them through the Labyrinth and after about ten minutes stopped in a small clearing. In the centre of the clearing was a large tree bearing magnificent smelling, large purple fruit.
But it was what lay underneath the tree that caught and held their attention. It was Sarah, laying there, barely recognisable, her face was marred with her scarlet blood and she was bruised beyond belief. Her gown that was once white was now torn and Muddy, Blood stains covering a large proportion.
"Help me" she rasped faintly.
The three friends were immediately at Sarah's side. Hoggle kneeling beside her, holding her hand, Sir Didymus sitting quietly by her feet wiping at tears that had sprung by the beautiful maiden being desecrated so. Ludo laid Sarah's battered head in his laps and moaned sadly.
"Jareth, we've found her" called Hoggle quietly.
* * *
As soon as Jareth heard the call he quickly located Hoggle and the others. Hoggle met him at the entry to the clearing.
"Forgive me sire, but I don't know that you should go in there, you won't like what you see."
Jareth felt the fear of seven hells strike his heart as he pushed past Hoggle, the sad eyed little dwarf following respectfully behind.
What Jareth saw when he entered the clearing tore at him. There was the unrecognisable body of Sarah, with her head gently placed in Ludo's lap. Jareth felt rage, fear, hate and an incredible desire for revenge course through his blue blood veins.
He fought the desire to kick himself into the bog of eternal stench as he damned himself for what he had caused to happen to her.
He stood back,
"If only I had been more accepting when she told me she was a fey!" he raged.
"Then none of this would have happened!" he stood there a veritable volcano of rage ready to erupt.
He felt a tug at his sleeve and looked down.
"What is it Higgle?" he asked irritably.
"Please majesty, It doesn't matter now, all that matters is that she needs you now and you take care of her" stated the dwarf quietly, afraid that he would end up a head first signpost in the bog, but more afraid for Sarah, so motivated to speak up.
Jareth once again took in the scene. "Yes..Your right" he answered.
He walked over to Ludo and extracted the girl from his arms, smiling reassuringly at the distressed beast.
Opening her eyes, partially, Sarah whimpered. "Jareth?" she asked softly. He looked down on her.
"I'm here, It's going to be ok" he replied.
Sarah's eyes flickered once more but not before Jareth saw the look of fear that had registered there.
(chapter 4)
Pains of life and love.
DISCLAIMER: AS ALWAYS, I DON'T OWN JIM HENSON'S CHARACTERS, MERELY THE ONES I HAVE MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 2'S DISCLAIMER. PLEASE ASK TO USE THEM.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I love getting feedback in the forms of comments :0) and criticisms :o(
I am the everlasting vending machine, if you feed me, I will produce delicious goodies for you to enjoy! ^_^
Sarah focused, she was standing in the middle of Jareth's palace one minute, then the next she was just outside the castle and bordering on the Goblin city. Sarah knew that going into the Labyrinth during the day was dangerous but at night she couldn't deign to think of what might be out there. Resolutely she marched straight out of the goblin city gates and into the Labyrinth. The night air was permeated with electricity and Sarah couldn't help but feel the anticipation of the maze.
Toran, back at the Castle, stood up from where he had been leaning, and before following Sarah, uttered the words that would cloud Jareth's crystals and give him the time he needed to deceive Sarah.
Laughing with gusto, he kept to the shadows and followed after the girl.
Sarah kept on walking, occasionally waving her hand to illuminate where she was headed.
Sarah knew that she had let her emotions get the better of her and chastised herself for it.
Where was the cool self-possessed girl she used to be, she wondered to herself. Sarah knew that she had given up a lot upon coming here, yet the feeling of defiance growing within her told her that she had not lost her pride, nor would she open herself up for Jareth to trample over again.
She would return to being Sarah Williams, proud, headstrong and defiant. The only one to defeat the Labyrinth and its haughty King.
Despite these resolutions, and she meant them with all her heart, she still felt the raw gash that Jareth had dealt her heart with his reaction to her being fey and his failure to support her. She initially had thought that he would understand, he himself being fey, but then just before she had fled the castle she had come to the damning conclusion that the reason why Jareth responded like he did was because he felt threatened.
Sarah knew that if she thought about it rationally, she could understand. Jareth had been the Goblin King for a long time, one of the most powerful fey's in the underground. The only power that he could wield over her was that of fey heritage, she had bested his Labyrinth and him, she held emotional power over him and his actions. Now she also possessed the feyan powers and Jareth obviously felt that he had lost any control he once had and probably thought that she would leave him, that she no longer needed him. Yet this was as far from the truth as the night is from day.
Stumbling on, Sarah decided that she would not easily be won back, that is if Jareth wanted her back and was prepared to try.
* * *
Toran dipped into Sarah's head and felt the turmoil, the hurt, the emotion that was sign boarding across her thoughts. He pitied this mortal, even if she was Jareth's, That foolish king had obviously hurt the girl, and he wondered why one would deign to hurt such a lovely creature. As Sarah unwittingly drew nearer and nearer to a large bank of cliffs, Toran flicked his wrist and when he walked from the shadows and up behind her, he looked, talked and walked like the form he had taken. Jareth.
"Sarah" he whispered softly in her ear, she whirled around looking for him "Jareth?" she called softly, she didn't really wanted to see him just yet. While she was scanning the area behind her for "him" he appeared in front of her further up the cliff. Working overtime, Toran conjured a deep fog, and with another flick of the wrist, there was a barrage of faces and voices threatening to smother her.
"Jareth doesn't love you Sarah" they taunted cruelly.
"Now that you have given in and accepted him, you will be thrown away like the others" intoned one particularly nasty voice.
"did you honestly think you could hold our king's interest?" hollered another mockingly.
Sarah ran forward away from the voices. "Go away!" she screamed "leave me alone."
"Jareth" appeared, and she ran to him, relieved. "Jareth, please take me away from this place" she pleaded. Jareth pushed away from her none to gently and smirked.
"Sarah, sarah, sarah, did you honestly think that you could get the better of me a second time?" He laughed condescendingly.
Sarah reeled, stunned. This from a man who not more than an hour ago had been wrapt in her arms.
"Revenge is sweet, my dear sweet, stupid Sarah" he continued Thin lips smiling and changeling eyes dancing demonically.
"You no longer have your free will Sarah, and you will reside in the underground for all eternity, forever at my disposal, never ageing" He said the last with relish, and a grin played across his thin lips.
He walked toward her menacingly and she backed away. "Jareth?..Why?" she asked,
Jareth just laughed tauntingly at her. "You, a young girl, beat my Labyrinth and me, you didn't really think that I would let that go unpunished did you?" he mocked.
Sarah turned and ran away from him. And the voices followed her. The world began to spin around her and Sarah closed her eyes against the blur.
"You lose Sarah" chanted the voices.
"You are no longer the victor," they spat contemptibly.
Toran watched in satisfaction as Sarah inched closer to the cliff edge.
Deciding to finish her off himself, Toran once again assumed the role of Jareth and stepped towards her. "I don't love you Sarah…I never did" he smirked coldly, disdain prominent in his face.
To add the final touch, Jareth reached out to touch her, knowing that she would retreat backwards.
As Toran had foreseen, as soon as he motioned to touch her, Sarah stepped back and lost her footing. The edge of the cliff crumbled and Sarah fell backwards over the cliff and onto the ground far below. As her body impacted the hard surface, there was a sickening crunch, which left Toran sure that all of the life had been crushed out of her. He smiled to himself. His work here was done.
* * *
Jareth paced the floor of his throne room and kicked an unfortunate goblin that had gotten in his road, something he hadn't done since he and Sarah had been reunited.
Findlay stood and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was uncomfortable and had no idea what to tell his friend. "I think we need to assume that it was someone else who clouded your crystal Jareth" he said tentatively. Jareth looked up, interested to hear what his friend had to say. He had told Findlay all that had occurred, and he was thankful that his friend had put aside his admonishments of Jareth's behaviour for now.
Hearing no objection from the Goblin King, Findlay continued, "Clouding crystals, is a reasonably advanced ability, which most fey's new to their power do not learn for a couple of weeks" he explained.
Jareth considered this and saw that his friend was right. If it had been Sarah who had clouded the crystal, he should have been able to break through it reasonably quickly, as her newly found powers were not cultivated and she wouldn't have been able to create such a binding spell, without having the knowledge and power to back it up.
Findlay kept his eyes on Jareth. The king's fiery temperament was renowned throughout the underground, and one thing he wasn't known for was his compassion.
Although he has changed significantly since his defeat at Lady Sarah's hand. He reflected silently. Jareth nodded, "I think your right" he said reservedly.
The pair looked once more at each other and a silent thought was sent between them. Findlay nodded and set out a call to all creatures throughout the Labyrinth to search for Lady Sarah.
Jareth cursed himself for not going after her sooner, and knew that by now she was probably deep in the hold of his Labyrinth. Jareth felt helpless without a magic assist, and realised that this must have been how Sarah had felt when he had assigned her the "impossible" task of navigating his Labyrinth to rescue the child.
Jareth suddenly realised that he hadn't really thought about how hard it had been for her. Jareth had only dwelt on the fact that he had been defeated, he had been humiliated, he had hurt and he had lost his chance at love.
Jareth had never once considered Sarah's feelings before now and he realised with sadness that it had taken him alienating her for him to have his little epiphany.
Jareth marched out of the throne room, summoning his guards and headed down into the Labyrinth. He swore on the Bog of eternal stench that if the being that had clouded his crystals damaged a hair on her head then he would be dealt the brunt of The Goblin King's temper and would be lucky to escape with his life.
* * *
"AMBROCIOUS!" squealed the excitable fox. "Get here this instant" he continued. Hoggle looked up from where he had been gathering anything they might need if they happened to find Sarah.
Ludo lumbered through the door and sat heavily on the floor "Wrah!" he growled pitifully.
"Sawah fwend in twuble" he sad sadly.
Hoggle ambled over to the beast and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ludo, we're all worried about Sarah, but the best thing we can do right now is get out there and look for her"
Ludo got to his feet and hugged Hoggle fiercely.
The trio walked out of the castle and followed the long line of subjects who were loyal to Jareth, Holding fire torches. The Goblin King himself was leading the search, yet that didn't surprise Hoggle, he had known ever since that woman child Sarah had first graced the Labyrinth with her presence, that Jareth had been taken by her. After Sarah had conquered the Labyrinth with the help of her friends, Hoggle felt that he had also experienced the pain that the Goblin King was feeling because it was always reflected in the Labyrinth, his home.
"Higgle and co, I want you to take the north east portion of the Labyrinth which is closest to the castle, because you all know her well" Jareth told them quickly as the other search parties dispersed to search their assigned areas.
Hoggle sighed at being called, yet again a derivative of his real name. Some things never change.
* * *
Ragan watched the lights of fire traverse through the Labyrinth and heard cries of "Sarah"
Ragan rubbed his hands together at the thought of something evil happening to Jareth's precious mortal. Ragan knew that he should track down whatever had done that and attempt to forge an alliance with it.
Ragan also knew that the only way he would have a chance at snatching Jareth's throne out from under him, was to form as many alliances as possible. He thought back to the stories of the ages war his father told him when he was a mere boy, of the campaign that successfully conquered the kingdom of the Mortal King. Ragan knew that contrary to the story, this time they would be prepared, there would be no surprise force march from Jareth and his mighty alliance of underground races. Ragan had sent a messenger to discover what had happened to the Lady Sarah, and puffing the slimy creature ran through the door.
"Highness" it stated, bowing down before him.
Amused, Ragan stood regally before this pathetic excuse for a pond creature.
"Arise my loyal subject," he commanded. "Tell me what you have discovered" he finished.
The creature sat down in the chair that was offered to him and spoke to the Borderlord.
"I overheard a conversation that was held between Jareth and Lord Findlay." Began the creature importantly.
"Continue" urged Ragan and the creature obliged.
"From what I could gather, highness, There was an altercation between the Goblin King and his lady, although I was unable to determine what it had been about.
The lady had been upset, and fled into the Labyrinth. It had already been dark by then, and the Goblin King, worried, had looked to his crystal to see where she was, presumably so that he could go after her and bring her back. However, when he looked at the crystal, he was unable to see Lady Sarah, someone had clouded his crystal removing the ability to see Sarah wherever she was throughout the Labyrinth. This worried the king and he now fears foul play" finished the creature, proud with what he had discovered.
Ragan paid the creature a silver and it departed.
Yes…he thought to himself, This could work to my advantage.
* * *
Jareth paced through the Labyrinth with Findlay at his side and knew that he would never forgive himself if anything happened to Sarah while she was supposed to be under his care and protection. Knowing that the last time he had seen her, he had upset her,ate away at him.
Findlay kept the silent vigil beside his friend as he mentally checked on all of the search teams combing the Labyrinth. He knew that it would be impossible to search the entire Labyrinth in one night, and that the search parties would be exhausted by daybreak, needing to stop for food and rest. Yet he also knew that Jareth wouldn't stop, eat or rest until he had found Sarah.
* * *
Sarah felt consciousness slide into her slippery grasp and held on tight. She peeked open one of her eyes and looked at her surroundings. She prayed that Jareth had left and then looked down at her battered body. She was soaked in blood to the extent that it looked like she had bathed in it. She felt a deep hard crush in her chest and knew that she had broken almost each one of her ribs.
There was a deep gash across her face and anywhere that wasn't cut, scratched or broken was bruised black. Sarah gently fingered all of her body and ascertained that she had sustained a broken collar bone, several broken ribs, a broken shoulder, two broken wrists and a sprained ankle. There were several large gashes from which blood flowed feely.
I should be dead. She thought, straining her neck and looking at the height of the cliff she had fallen from.
Suddenly Sarah knew why she was spared, The ground was made up entirely of rocks, apart from a small grassy area where she had landed. She figured that the rocks, Ludo's friends had been kind to her and moved out of the way so that she wouldn't have fallen to death.
"Thank you rocks" she called as she dragged her battered, frail body away from the site of her fall.
* * *
Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus had been searching for hours and gradually they were becoming more and more dispirited. Ludo was tired and wouldn't stop howling mournfully, making the rocks quiver and roll comfortingly in response.
Ludo was so tired he had wanted to ride Ambrocious, but Hoggle had thankfully persuaded him that that was not a good idea.
As Hoggle bent to tie his shoe, he noticed that several small rocks were gathering around their feet. "Hey Ludo, I think your friends are trying to tell us something" piped up Hoggle.
The rocks began to tremble excitedly and began rolling down one of the many turns of the Labyrinth.
Hoggle and the others ran after them in renewed hope. The rocks led them through the Labyrinth and after about ten minutes stopped in a small clearing. In the centre of the clearing was a large tree bearing magnificent smelling, large purple fruit.
But it was what lay underneath the tree that caught and held their attention. It was Sarah, laying there, barely recognisable, her face was marred with her scarlet blood and she was bruised beyond belief. Her gown that was once white was now torn and Muddy, Blood stains covering a large proportion.
"Help me" she rasped faintly.
The three friends were immediately at Sarah's side. Hoggle kneeling beside her, holding her hand, Sir Didymus sitting quietly by her feet wiping at tears that had sprung by the beautiful maiden being desecrated so. Ludo laid Sarah's battered head in his laps and moaned sadly.
"Jareth, we've found her" called Hoggle quietly.
* * *
As soon as Jareth heard the call he quickly located Hoggle and the others. Hoggle met him at the entry to the clearing.
"Forgive me sire, but I don't know that you should go in there, you won't like what you see."
Jareth felt the fear of seven hells strike his heart as he pushed past Hoggle, the sad eyed little dwarf following respectfully behind.
What Jareth saw when he entered the clearing tore at him. There was the unrecognisable body of Sarah, with her head gently placed in Ludo's lap. Jareth felt rage, fear, hate and an incredible desire for revenge course through his blue blood veins.
He fought the desire to kick himself into the bog of eternal stench as he damned himself for what he had caused to happen to her.
He stood back,
"If only I had been more accepting when she told me she was a fey!" he raged.
"Then none of this would have happened!" he stood there a veritable volcano of rage ready to erupt.
He felt a tug at his sleeve and looked down.
"What is it Higgle?" he asked irritably.
"Please majesty, It doesn't matter now, all that matters is that she needs you now and you take care of her" stated the dwarf quietly, afraid that he would end up a head first signpost in the bog, but more afraid for Sarah, so motivated to speak up.
Jareth once again took in the scene. "Yes..Your right" he answered.
He walked over to Ludo and extracted the girl from his arms, smiling reassuringly at the distressed beast.
Opening her eyes, partially, Sarah whimpered. "Jareth?" she asked softly. He looked down on her.
"I'm here, It's going to be ok" he replied.
Sarah's eyes flickered once more but not before Jareth saw the look of fear that had registered there.