MORTAL BELOVED
CHAPTER 5.
Torment cruel and unjust.
DISCLAIMER: I THINK THAT EVERYONE IS WELL AWARE THAT I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS BUT THE ONES BROUGHT OUT OF MY OWN IMAGINATION TO PLAY.
I want to say a BIG thank-you to all my special little reviewers.
PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING! FEED ME FEED ME! I need reviews to motivate the juices for the next chapter!
AND IF YOU DON'T REVIEW? *Grins wickedly* I SHALL THROW YOU ALL HEADFIRST INTO THE BOG OF ETERNAL STENCH.
^_^
Well, now that that is out of the road, on with the fic.
Emma.
Jareth teleported into the castle, with Sarah in his arms and immediately took her to his private quarters. Laying her crumpled form down on his bed he knew that he had hoped he would be doing this under better circumstances. Jareth cursed himself for thinking such ridiculous thoughts when the woman he deep down knew he loved was lying there beaten and bloodied, unresponsive. Jareth quickly dispersed in a shower of glitter and quickly returned, with Sarah's friends in tow. "Can we see her?" they begged, and Jareth felt for them yet all the same yet stated in a voice that left no room for argument that they could see her tomorrow and for now they needed to rest, and recuperate.
Hoggle looked as if he were about to say something in response to this, but appearing to think better of it, The dwarf clamped his mouth shut and walked wearily back to their chambers.
Jareth once again returned to his quarters and observed that Sarah had not moved an inch. Watching her silently, he noticed that her chest was bearing moving and her breaths came in short, shallow gasps.
Jareth knew as he placed his hand against her forehead in an attempt to ease her pain, that he could not bear to see her suffer like this. It ate at him from the inside out that a fey, so young and naïve could have something like this befall her. Pacing the room, Jareth produced a crystal and threw it against the far wall of his bedroom. A door appeared and Jareth scooped Sarah into his arms and carried her through it.
Inside was his beautifully decorated bathroom, which he seldom used and had hidden the door to.
Inside was a bath that the crystal had conjured. A deep, claw footed bath that was currently filled with hot water and muscle relieving salts. Jareth gently removed the white dress she had been wearing. He placed the inanimate Sarah, still wearing her underwear, into the waters. Feeling a need to preserve her privacy, He called for Corah and she appeared instantly at his side.
"Corah, would you please bath Sarah's wounds and clean her, she is to weak to do anything for herself right now," he began to depart leaving the two women in privacy, when he turned and added, "be gentle, many of her bones are broken" with that he departed, anxious to talk with Findlay about any new developments he might have on who had done this.
* * *
"Sir" came the clipped authoritive voice of one of Findlay's men. Findlay hurried over to him. "Did you find anything?" he demanded of the fey. The feyan warrior looked down. "No Sir" he stated.
"Ok, take your men and head home, there's nothing more you can do here anyway" sighed Findlay.
"Yes sir" barked the warrior and relief spread across the young man's features.
Findlay knew that Jareth would be here soon, demanding answers, and when Findlay couldn't give them he knew that it would be a free for all with Jareth trying to best his record of number of creatures he had hauled into the bog at any one time.
Remembering the last time Jareth had taken this form of action he shuddered. The little slime balls had deserved it for sure, but there was such as thing as going too far. Like the time when Jareth had been so angry, that he had hung a dozen goblins by their feet over the bog. Findlay knew how much Jareth loved his bog and briefly considered having it drained. Yet he knew that his friend had changed his errant ways with the arrival of the Williams girl and that with any luck, he would never have to witness that side of Jareth again. As if summoned Jareth appeared in his usual cacophony of glitter and sparkles beside him.
"Have you any answers as to who committed this heinous act?" questioned Jareth, anger firmly in check.
"Not yet my friend, but we will find who did this I promise you" replied Findlay.
"Yes," muttered the Goblin King. "We will find him, and then he will wish he had never been born" he continued darkly, disappearing into the night.
* * *
Toran returned to his father's castle closer to morning than evening, and quietly let himself in.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Thundered a voice from the dining hall. Ragan in all his demonic glory was sitting there eating a sandwich, with bags under his eyes and fatigue registering on his face.
Toran hurried over to the man, eager to tell him of his exploits and how he had deceived the Goblin King's woman and literally forced her over a cliff. He gloated as he, opened his mouth to tell Ragan of what he had done. But before he could speak, he was cut off by the older man getting to his feet and stalking toward him menacingly.
"Do you even realise what you have done?" Ragan demanded, voice laced thickly with menace and disdain.
Toran sneered, "Of course Father, I have wounded the Goblin King
Where he is most weak, his woman" replied Toran arrogantly. Ragan felt a mixture of rage and fear for the young fey boil his blood. "FOOL" he thundered. Toran jumped, taken aback by his father's reaction. He knew that he had acted without his consent, and maybe even a bit prematurely, but he was sure that the borderlord would have been pleased with his actions.
Ragan continued, oblivious. "The only person you have wounded is yourself, and me in the process." Ragan's voice dropped to a hiss.
"Do you honestly think that Jareth will let this go? If I was able to find out that you had done it, then what makes you think that Jareth couldn't? At the moment he is undoubtedly questioning his subjects as to what they had seen, and you were seen My son..Mark my words" Ragan finished and sat back down in his chair, anger spent.
True he wanted the throne of the Goblin king, but he also wanted to groom his adoptive son to one day take his place. And if he was going to do that then Toran needed to learn to be cleverer than what he was now, ensure that when he did commit an act of destruction, that there would be no one there to witness it. In time he would learn, even if it had to be the hard way.
* * *
After Jareth had spoken to Findlay, he had thanked his subjects for the effort they had made in the search, and returned back to the castle. He immediately teleported himself to his quarters. He sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands, fatigue overwhelmed him. Yet his resolve did not crumble and he strode over to the door of the bathroom.
Wanting to ensure that he was not interrupting Corah while Sarah was still in the tub he listened, with his heightened senses, to what was going on behind the closed door.
He heard two sounds of breath, one strong and healthy, that he knew to be Corah, and the other weak and shallow.
It was then that he heard the singing. Corah obviously wanted the girl to remain in a soothing dreamlike state, while she cleaned out her wounds.
"Hush now my little one, please don't you cry, lay your head down on my shoulder and sigh, suns gone away, mama will pray, that the silence will keep o'er the while your asleep" Came the soft sweet voice.
Jareth remembered the song well from when Corah would sing it to him as she tucked the then Feyling Jareth into bed and kissed his platinum hair. He smiled at the memory and called gently to Corah. ::Is it ok to come in Corah?:: he asked her softly in mind speech.
Corah gave her assent in mind speech, remembering as she did that when she had first come here, young and afraid, and how at first Jareth had used his ability to scare his new nanny, and how she was always afraid that something had happened to him, never able to find him.
Corah felt Jareth's strong hand on her shoulder. "I have cleaned her wounds master, and I think that you should attempt to heal her as soon as possible." She stated softly. Jareth nodded in assent and scooped Sarah out of the water. He wrapt her in a towel and took her back out into his chambers.
Before leaving Corah turned back, and said in mind speech, ::If you need me..just call::
Jareth nodded and shot her a grateful look.
After Sarah was dry, Jareth gave a flick of his wrist and she was wearing an ivory nightgown.
He laid her down on his large bed, and closed his eyes, focusing.
He laid a cool palm on her forehead and felt the clamminess of her skin. He began to heal her, a golden light passing from him to her. Yet before he could get beyond healing the superficial cuts and welts to her body. He was thrown backwards with enormous force and slammed against the far wall. Rising unsteadily to his feet. Jareth realised that there was only one reason as to why he had not been able to heal her. "Findlay" he roared at the top of his lungs, voice echoing through the many towers and turrets of the castle and down into the Labyrinth below.
* * *
Toran sat, dejected, in his room and watched through a basin of water as Jareth was thrown across the room after attempting to heal his woman. This however, was not what distressed him. It was the sight of the girl, Sarah that made him feel that what he had done was not as brilliant as he had initially thought. Toran realised now that he had been blinded by his hatred for Jareth, wanting to make the Goblin King hurt as he had when he had discovered the fate of his family. Toran had hurt an innocent woman deliberately, for his own purposes. The young fey came to the damning conclusion that he had indeed sunk to Jareth's level and felt disgusted with himself. He knew that he needed to attempt to rectify the situation, yet he felt that forgiveness was one thing he could never truly know.
Deciding against teleporting himself to the Goblin King's domain, he looked at Sarah yet again through the basin and took stock of the extensive damage to her frail bones and body.
Toran had an idea, he knew it was a long shot, but he knew that if he could achieve it, then his conscious would be at least partially put to rest.
* * *
Findlay stood in Jareth's throne room in absolute shock at what he had just heard. He dare not believe it, thinking that there was no way such a thing was possible. Jareth just paced in front of him and Findlay marvelled at how the floor was still intact. Many times Jareth had called for his assistance of guidance, they had ended up in this same position. Him sitting or standing and Jareth pacing furiously.
"Self inflicted?" he repeated incredulously. Jareth turned, the force of his changeling glare falling fully upon his friend.
"That's the only possibility" Jareth stated measuredly.
Findlay could see that his friend was thinking faster than he was explaining and hastened to stop him.
"Jareth, back up and tell me what happened will you, or I will throw you into your precious bog!" Findlay yelled.
Findlay hesitated to yell at his friend because he knew that all this was motivated by his worry for Sarah and that deep down, Jareth was not that bad. Not that he would ever admit it. But he did to snap him out of the rant he was currently entertaining.
Jareth stopped pacing and turned to face Findlay.
He quickly related how after Corah had bathed Sarah, he had attempted to heal her, and how he was only able to heal the superficial wounds and after attempting to go further, had been thrown across the room and slammed into the wall by a huge bolt of energy.
Findlay contemplated what Jareth had just told him.
He spoke up. "Jareth, your right, the only thing I can think of that would cause such a phenomenon to occur in an attempted healing would be if they fey had inflicted the injury upon themselves."
Jareth nodded vaguely.
"How would she have inflicted such horrendous injuries upon herself?" he asked Findlay, yet his friend didn't have any answers for him.
"Injuries are that are self inflicted usually are deliberate aren't they?, Why would Lady Sarah want to harm herself?" he posed the tender questions to Jareth, yet instead of one of The Goblin King's trademark rages, he merely stood there silent.
"Good question" replied the Goblin King thoughtfully. "There is more to this than it seems" he continued. Findlay made his departure intoning that he would come immediately if Jareth needed him again.
* * *
Alanya rode her white stallion through the fields as if pursued by beasts. Her long brown hair, significantly lighter than her daughters, whipping wildly behind her. She had been attending a forum with other peace ministers of the underground when Jareth's messenger had found her and told her of what had become of her daughter.
Within minutes, both rider and steed were within sight of The Goblin city. Alanya dismounted quickly and left her horse to roam, knowing that he would come to her when she whistled.
She hurried through the large castle gates and was greeted by a weary Jareth sitting in his throne room, rotating a crystal within his palm.
"My lord Jareth" she intoned nodding respectfully. He waved it away, "There is no need for such formalities" stated the tired King. He climbed elegantly to his feet and was immediately by her side. "I'm so sorry Alanya, she was meant to be under my care and I have let you both down" he said, head bent, eyes sad.
Alanya took his hand. "Jareth I know you would never intentionally bring harm upon my daughter and so does she" she replied understandingly. Jareth teleported both him and Alanya to his quarters and she immediately ran to her daughter's bedside.
"She is under heavy pain remedies, many of her bones are broken and will need to be looked to by a healer" he stated.
Alanya merely nodded awed at the sight of her strong, beautiful daughter looking so crumpled, and weak.
The older woman felt tears descend her cheeks and she turned to Jareth, "Thank you, for looking after her, she would be lost without you, Jareth" she said tearfully, voice raw with emotion. "But not nearly enough" muttered Jareth his changeling eyes holding a sadness that rarely, if ever resided there.
She arose from where she had been sitting and motioned for Jareth to follow her. He obliged readily, all negative opinions of this woman having dissolved with ease.
Once they were outside in the hall, Alanya led him down a corridor and randomly opened a door. Inside was one of the lavish guest bedrooms similar to the one he had given Sarah. Alanya looked up at the intimidating man, and motioned for him to go inside.
"Jareth, I know you care for my daughter, and that you want to be there for her, but you need to sleep. Even you are not looking at your best," she stated simply.
Jareth began to object "No..I can't.." he started to reply before he was cut off. "Sarah would want you to rest, she will need you when she has awoken, but for now, think of yourself, even if only for her, rest now so that you will have the energy to stay with her tomorrow" she argued, leaving no room for objection. Jareth wanted to exert his authority, yet saw that deep down, she was right. Sarah would need him when she came out of the painless fog the herbs he had administered to her had worn off. He let a faint smile grace his lips. "Yes mother" he replied sardonically and turned into the room, heading over to the bed. "Goodnight Jareth," called Alanya's voice as she made her way down the hall and back to her daughter.
* * *
Sarah felt as though she were swimming in a lovely warm bath. There was no pain and that made Sarah wonder whether her fall had been merely a product of her overactive imagination. She felt the pull of oblivion and the ever constant rising of her consciousness, each waging a battle to claim her.
Sarah gasped as she was yanked out of the waters and felt pain smother her. It was dark, only the flicker of a small, stilted candle illuminating the unfamiliar room in a puddle of murky light.
She sat bolt upright, not sure of where she was, Sarah felt a burning in her chest and a dull throb around her neck and shoulders. She looked around blindly and noticed a slumped form in a chair beside her bed. With damning certainty, she knew that she was in the castle, Jareth's castle. Sarah was dreaming, reliving the events of last night in the black of early morning. The twisted Goblin King had upset her with his lack of understanding, motivating her to take flight and run down into his Labyrinth, where he had taunted her and literally forced her backwards and over that cliff. The figure on the bed stirred and looked up in confusion. "Sarah?" she asked. Sarah smiled, "Mother!" she exclaimed softly. Alanya hugged her daughter gently and whispered into he hair.
"Your going to be just fine".
* * *
Jareth twisted and turned under the nightmare. He could see Sarah, and he knew that it was her dream he was witnessing. He saw a young man, dark, obviously a fey lurking in the shadows. Jareth was disturbed by the negative energy he felt emanating off the fey. He stepped out of the shadows and Jareth saw that the stranger had taken his, his the Goblin King's own form and watched as he walked toward Sarah. Jareth tried to walk, to protect Sarah when he was pulled back and held firmly in place by unseen hands doomed only to watch the events that transpired. He saw the fey conjure the voices that tormented Sarah and watched as he added his own bitter knife of words to the ones she had already received. Jareth saw that she was moving away from the menacing voices and saw that she was dangerously near to the edge of a cliff. The Goblin King watched as the psuedo Jareth stepped forward and said that he didn't love her, that he never had. The impostor reached out to Sarah and she backed away, losing her footing and falling backwards over the cliff. "NOOOO!" Jareth screamed as Sarah's body impacted the harsh earth with a sickening crunch. The stranger returned once more to his original form, smirked and walked away. Jareth woke, screaming. And realised that it was no ordinary nightmare, it was a memory.
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CHAPTER 5.
Torment cruel and unjust.
DISCLAIMER: I THINK THAT EVERYONE IS WELL AWARE THAT I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS BUT THE ONES BROUGHT OUT OF MY OWN IMAGINATION TO PLAY.
I want to say a BIG thank-you to all my special little reviewers.
PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING! FEED ME FEED ME! I need reviews to motivate the juices for the next chapter!
AND IF YOU DON'T REVIEW? *Grins wickedly* I SHALL THROW YOU ALL HEADFIRST INTO THE BOG OF ETERNAL STENCH.
^_^
Well, now that that is out of the road, on with the fic.
Emma.
Jareth teleported into the castle, with Sarah in his arms and immediately took her to his private quarters. Laying her crumpled form down on his bed he knew that he had hoped he would be doing this under better circumstances. Jareth cursed himself for thinking such ridiculous thoughts when the woman he deep down knew he loved was lying there beaten and bloodied, unresponsive. Jareth quickly dispersed in a shower of glitter and quickly returned, with Sarah's friends in tow. "Can we see her?" they begged, and Jareth felt for them yet all the same yet stated in a voice that left no room for argument that they could see her tomorrow and for now they needed to rest, and recuperate.
Hoggle looked as if he were about to say something in response to this, but appearing to think better of it, The dwarf clamped his mouth shut and walked wearily back to their chambers.
Jareth once again returned to his quarters and observed that Sarah had not moved an inch. Watching her silently, he noticed that her chest was bearing moving and her breaths came in short, shallow gasps.
Jareth knew as he placed his hand against her forehead in an attempt to ease her pain, that he could not bear to see her suffer like this. It ate at him from the inside out that a fey, so young and naïve could have something like this befall her. Pacing the room, Jareth produced a crystal and threw it against the far wall of his bedroom. A door appeared and Jareth scooped Sarah into his arms and carried her through it.
Inside was his beautifully decorated bathroom, which he seldom used and had hidden the door to.
Inside was a bath that the crystal had conjured. A deep, claw footed bath that was currently filled with hot water and muscle relieving salts. Jareth gently removed the white dress she had been wearing. He placed the inanimate Sarah, still wearing her underwear, into the waters. Feeling a need to preserve her privacy, He called for Corah and she appeared instantly at his side.
"Corah, would you please bath Sarah's wounds and clean her, she is to weak to do anything for herself right now," he began to depart leaving the two women in privacy, when he turned and added, "be gentle, many of her bones are broken" with that he departed, anxious to talk with Findlay about any new developments he might have on who had done this.
* * *
"Sir" came the clipped authoritive voice of one of Findlay's men. Findlay hurried over to him. "Did you find anything?" he demanded of the fey. The feyan warrior looked down. "No Sir" he stated.
"Ok, take your men and head home, there's nothing more you can do here anyway" sighed Findlay.
"Yes sir" barked the warrior and relief spread across the young man's features.
Findlay knew that Jareth would be here soon, demanding answers, and when Findlay couldn't give them he knew that it would be a free for all with Jareth trying to best his record of number of creatures he had hauled into the bog at any one time.
Remembering the last time Jareth had taken this form of action he shuddered. The little slime balls had deserved it for sure, but there was such as thing as going too far. Like the time when Jareth had been so angry, that he had hung a dozen goblins by their feet over the bog. Findlay knew how much Jareth loved his bog and briefly considered having it drained. Yet he knew that his friend had changed his errant ways with the arrival of the Williams girl and that with any luck, he would never have to witness that side of Jareth again. As if summoned Jareth appeared in his usual cacophony of glitter and sparkles beside him.
"Have you any answers as to who committed this heinous act?" questioned Jareth, anger firmly in check.
"Not yet my friend, but we will find who did this I promise you" replied Findlay.
"Yes," muttered the Goblin King. "We will find him, and then he will wish he had never been born" he continued darkly, disappearing into the night.
* * *
Toran returned to his father's castle closer to morning than evening, and quietly let himself in.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Thundered a voice from the dining hall. Ragan in all his demonic glory was sitting there eating a sandwich, with bags under his eyes and fatigue registering on his face.
Toran hurried over to the man, eager to tell him of his exploits and how he had deceived the Goblin King's woman and literally forced her over a cliff. He gloated as he, opened his mouth to tell Ragan of what he had done. But before he could speak, he was cut off by the older man getting to his feet and stalking toward him menacingly.
"Do you even realise what you have done?" Ragan demanded, voice laced thickly with menace and disdain.
Toran sneered, "Of course Father, I have wounded the Goblin King
Where he is most weak, his woman" replied Toran arrogantly. Ragan felt a mixture of rage and fear for the young fey boil his blood. "FOOL" he thundered. Toran jumped, taken aback by his father's reaction. He knew that he had acted without his consent, and maybe even a bit prematurely, but he was sure that the borderlord would have been pleased with his actions.
Ragan continued, oblivious. "The only person you have wounded is yourself, and me in the process." Ragan's voice dropped to a hiss.
"Do you honestly think that Jareth will let this go? If I was able to find out that you had done it, then what makes you think that Jareth couldn't? At the moment he is undoubtedly questioning his subjects as to what they had seen, and you were seen My son..Mark my words" Ragan finished and sat back down in his chair, anger spent.
True he wanted the throne of the Goblin king, but he also wanted to groom his adoptive son to one day take his place. And if he was going to do that then Toran needed to learn to be cleverer than what he was now, ensure that when he did commit an act of destruction, that there would be no one there to witness it. In time he would learn, even if it had to be the hard way.
* * *
After Jareth had spoken to Findlay, he had thanked his subjects for the effort they had made in the search, and returned back to the castle. He immediately teleported himself to his quarters. He sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands, fatigue overwhelmed him. Yet his resolve did not crumble and he strode over to the door of the bathroom.
Wanting to ensure that he was not interrupting Corah while Sarah was still in the tub he listened, with his heightened senses, to what was going on behind the closed door.
He heard two sounds of breath, one strong and healthy, that he knew to be Corah, and the other weak and shallow.
It was then that he heard the singing. Corah obviously wanted the girl to remain in a soothing dreamlike state, while she cleaned out her wounds.
"Hush now my little one, please don't you cry, lay your head down on my shoulder and sigh, suns gone away, mama will pray, that the silence will keep o'er the while your asleep" Came the soft sweet voice.
Jareth remembered the song well from when Corah would sing it to him as she tucked the then Feyling Jareth into bed and kissed his platinum hair. He smiled at the memory and called gently to Corah. ::Is it ok to come in Corah?:: he asked her softly in mind speech.
Corah gave her assent in mind speech, remembering as she did that when she had first come here, young and afraid, and how at first Jareth had used his ability to scare his new nanny, and how she was always afraid that something had happened to him, never able to find him.
Corah felt Jareth's strong hand on her shoulder. "I have cleaned her wounds master, and I think that you should attempt to heal her as soon as possible." She stated softly. Jareth nodded in assent and scooped Sarah out of the water. He wrapt her in a towel and took her back out into his chambers.
Before leaving Corah turned back, and said in mind speech, ::If you need me..just call::
Jareth nodded and shot her a grateful look.
After Sarah was dry, Jareth gave a flick of his wrist and she was wearing an ivory nightgown.
He laid her down on his large bed, and closed his eyes, focusing.
He laid a cool palm on her forehead and felt the clamminess of her skin. He began to heal her, a golden light passing from him to her. Yet before he could get beyond healing the superficial cuts and welts to her body. He was thrown backwards with enormous force and slammed against the far wall. Rising unsteadily to his feet. Jareth realised that there was only one reason as to why he had not been able to heal her. "Findlay" he roared at the top of his lungs, voice echoing through the many towers and turrets of the castle and down into the Labyrinth below.
* * *
Toran sat, dejected, in his room and watched through a basin of water as Jareth was thrown across the room after attempting to heal his woman. This however, was not what distressed him. It was the sight of the girl, Sarah that made him feel that what he had done was not as brilliant as he had initially thought. Toran realised now that he had been blinded by his hatred for Jareth, wanting to make the Goblin King hurt as he had when he had discovered the fate of his family. Toran had hurt an innocent woman deliberately, for his own purposes. The young fey came to the damning conclusion that he had indeed sunk to Jareth's level and felt disgusted with himself. He knew that he needed to attempt to rectify the situation, yet he felt that forgiveness was one thing he could never truly know.
Deciding against teleporting himself to the Goblin King's domain, he looked at Sarah yet again through the basin and took stock of the extensive damage to her frail bones and body.
Toran had an idea, he knew it was a long shot, but he knew that if he could achieve it, then his conscious would be at least partially put to rest.
* * *
Findlay stood in Jareth's throne room in absolute shock at what he had just heard. He dare not believe it, thinking that there was no way such a thing was possible. Jareth just paced in front of him and Findlay marvelled at how the floor was still intact. Many times Jareth had called for his assistance of guidance, they had ended up in this same position. Him sitting or standing and Jareth pacing furiously.
"Self inflicted?" he repeated incredulously. Jareth turned, the force of his changeling glare falling fully upon his friend.
"That's the only possibility" Jareth stated measuredly.
Findlay could see that his friend was thinking faster than he was explaining and hastened to stop him.
"Jareth, back up and tell me what happened will you, or I will throw you into your precious bog!" Findlay yelled.
Findlay hesitated to yell at his friend because he knew that all this was motivated by his worry for Sarah and that deep down, Jareth was not that bad. Not that he would ever admit it. But he did to snap him out of the rant he was currently entertaining.
Jareth stopped pacing and turned to face Findlay.
He quickly related how after Corah had bathed Sarah, he had attempted to heal her, and how he was only able to heal the superficial wounds and after attempting to go further, had been thrown across the room and slammed into the wall by a huge bolt of energy.
Findlay contemplated what Jareth had just told him.
He spoke up. "Jareth, your right, the only thing I can think of that would cause such a phenomenon to occur in an attempted healing would be if they fey had inflicted the injury upon themselves."
Jareth nodded vaguely.
"How would she have inflicted such horrendous injuries upon herself?" he asked Findlay, yet his friend didn't have any answers for him.
"Injuries are that are self inflicted usually are deliberate aren't they?, Why would Lady Sarah want to harm herself?" he posed the tender questions to Jareth, yet instead of one of The Goblin King's trademark rages, he merely stood there silent.
"Good question" replied the Goblin King thoughtfully. "There is more to this than it seems" he continued. Findlay made his departure intoning that he would come immediately if Jareth needed him again.
* * *
Alanya rode her white stallion through the fields as if pursued by beasts. Her long brown hair, significantly lighter than her daughters, whipping wildly behind her. She had been attending a forum with other peace ministers of the underground when Jareth's messenger had found her and told her of what had become of her daughter.
Within minutes, both rider and steed were within sight of The Goblin city. Alanya dismounted quickly and left her horse to roam, knowing that he would come to her when she whistled.
She hurried through the large castle gates and was greeted by a weary Jareth sitting in his throne room, rotating a crystal within his palm.
"My lord Jareth" she intoned nodding respectfully. He waved it away, "There is no need for such formalities" stated the tired King. He climbed elegantly to his feet and was immediately by her side. "I'm so sorry Alanya, she was meant to be under my care and I have let you both down" he said, head bent, eyes sad.
Alanya took his hand. "Jareth I know you would never intentionally bring harm upon my daughter and so does she" she replied understandingly. Jareth teleported both him and Alanya to his quarters and she immediately ran to her daughter's bedside.
"She is under heavy pain remedies, many of her bones are broken and will need to be looked to by a healer" he stated.
Alanya merely nodded awed at the sight of her strong, beautiful daughter looking so crumpled, and weak.
The older woman felt tears descend her cheeks and she turned to Jareth, "Thank you, for looking after her, she would be lost without you, Jareth" she said tearfully, voice raw with emotion. "But not nearly enough" muttered Jareth his changeling eyes holding a sadness that rarely, if ever resided there.
She arose from where she had been sitting and motioned for Jareth to follow her. He obliged readily, all negative opinions of this woman having dissolved with ease.
Once they were outside in the hall, Alanya led him down a corridor and randomly opened a door. Inside was one of the lavish guest bedrooms similar to the one he had given Sarah. Alanya looked up at the intimidating man, and motioned for him to go inside.
"Jareth, I know you care for my daughter, and that you want to be there for her, but you need to sleep. Even you are not looking at your best," she stated simply.
Jareth began to object "No..I can't.." he started to reply before he was cut off. "Sarah would want you to rest, she will need you when she has awoken, but for now, think of yourself, even if only for her, rest now so that you will have the energy to stay with her tomorrow" she argued, leaving no room for objection. Jareth wanted to exert his authority, yet saw that deep down, she was right. Sarah would need him when she came out of the painless fog the herbs he had administered to her had worn off. He let a faint smile grace his lips. "Yes mother" he replied sardonically and turned into the room, heading over to the bed. "Goodnight Jareth," called Alanya's voice as she made her way down the hall and back to her daughter.
* * *
Sarah felt as though she were swimming in a lovely warm bath. There was no pain and that made Sarah wonder whether her fall had been merely a product of her overactive imagination. She felt the pull of oblivion and the ever constant rising of her consciousness, each waging a battle to claim her.
Sarah gasped as she was yanked out of the waters and felt pain smother her. It was dark, only the flicker of a small, stilted candle illuminating the unfamiliar room in a puddle of murky light.
She sat bolt upright, not sure of where she was, Sarah felt a burning in her chest and a dull throb around her neck and shoulders. She looked around blindly and noticed a slumped form in a chair beside her bed. With damning certainty, she knew that she was in the castle, Jareth's castle. Sarah was dreaming, reliving the events of last night in the black of early morning. The twisted Goblin King had upset her with his lack of understanding, motivating her to take flight and run down into his Labyrinth, where he had taunted her and literally forced her backwards and over that cliff. The figure on the bed stirred and looked up in confusion. "Sarah?" she asked. Sarah smiled, "Mother!" she exclaimed softly. Alanya hugged her daughter gently and whispered into he hair.
"Your going to be just fine".
* * *
Jareth twisted and turned under the nightmare. He could see Sarah, and he knew that it was her dream he was witnessing. He saw a young man, dark, obviously a fey lurking in the shadows. Jareth was disturbed by the negative energy he felt emanating off the fey. He stepped out of the shadows and Jareth saw that the stranger had taken his, his the Goblin King's own form and watched as he walked toward Sarah. Jareth tried to walk, to protect Sarah when he was pulled back and held firmly in place by unseen hands doomed only to watch the events that transpired. He saw the fey conjure the voices that tormented Sarah and watched as he added his own bitter knife of words to the ones she had already received. Jareth saw that she was moving away from the menacing voices and saw that she was dangerously near to the edge of a cliff. The Goblin King watched as the psuedo Jareth stepped forward and said that he didn't love her, that he never had. The impostor reached out to Sarah and she backed away, losing her footing and falling backwards over the cliff. "NOOOO!" Jareth screamed as Sarah's body impacted the harsh earth with a sickening crunch. The stranger returned once more to his original form, smirked and walked away. Jareth woke, screaming. And realised that it was no ordinary nightmare, it was a memory.
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