- chapter.13.whisper.of.a.thrill -
Jareth was pacing from one end of the ballroom to the other over and over, his boot heels clacking as he walked, then hissing when he turned. He'd been aware of Sarah coming back in from the garden--he'd set up a very thin magickal web across the doorway to give him a warning when she reentered the castle.
He'd finished the last few preparations only a few minutes before he'd begun his restless pacing. He could feel how much rested on the night before him. Sarah had been friendly with him for the last day, and he hated to ruin that.
She's been kind to you ever since the encounter with the Aljunnu, he told himself, sighing as he glanced over the ballroom impatiently once again. Ever since you saved her life.
They had become... friends. He hesitated to think of them that way--it seemed almost too good to be true--but he knew that he was not misnaming their relationship. Sarah had cared enough to wait for him when faced with an Aljunnu, had listened to his ramblings in the garden without reprimanding him, and had accepted an invitation to a ball when she could have said she preferred staying in her room, or visiting one of the friends she'd made her first evening in the Labyrinth--when she'd been hunting for her brother.
Jareth could admit to himself that he'd made a mistake. Trying to win Sarah's affections in a show of power had only made her see him as an enemy to overcome, like a Princess in some faery story facing off against a corrupt wizard uncle.
Could she have come to love me, he wondered, tugging briefly at some spider-webby lacing around his wrists, if I had come to her as a suitor? A young man who approached her in the park, after one of her recitations? Could she have accepted me, eventually, as the powerful Goblin King if I was first her friend? He frowned, sharply tilted brows drawing down like thunderheads over the clear colors of his eyes. It doesn't matter if it could have been changed. I made my choice, and I would not change that... would not change what fledgling friendship we have. She is too dear to me... and, perhaps given time, she will come to hold me just as dear.
From across the ballroom, he heard the sound of the huge doors beginning to swing open. The multitude of lank, short, disgusting goblins instantly transformed into a shimmering parade of masked men and women, and a band struck up a haunting dance melody.
I said a ball without enchantments to you, my dear, Jareth thought, smiling in anticipation, his heart picking up speed. I said nothing about enchanting the ball itself.
Sarah felt her heart flutter weakly in her chest as the huge gold-and-ivory decorated double doors to the ballroom slowly slid open before her, seeming to open without the help of any people that she could see. She felt like a small, drab little sparrow before them, and then like a roughed, water-logged mouse as she saw the ball before her, behind the doors.
There were masked dancers dressed in every color of the rainbow, and some colors she'd only seen in Jareth's garden. The ballroom itself--easily two stories tall, and four times as big as her house back on Earth--shimmered with walls made of hundreds of multi-paned mirrors, reflecting the dancers back in shining flickers of color. Sarah felt as if she'd wandered into a kaleidoscope.
"You made it." The voice was soft, and Sarah became aware of the warmth radiating from Jareth's body just next to her. She turned her head, and smiled weakly up at him.
"Only just," she said, and gave a wild laugh, adding, "My coach and four got a little lost on the way."
"Is it too much?" Jareth asked, gesturing.
"No, it seems vaguely familiar," Sarah said, casting him a sharp glance. "And this queasy, confused feeling seems familiar to this setting as well."
"I can remove the dancers, if you want," Jareth said, raising a hand to gesture them away.
"Not yet," Sarah said quickly, reaching up to catch his sleeve in her slim fingers. "For just a little while, it might be nice to dance with others around us."
Jareth smiled slowly, and raised his hands slightly. Sarah stepped into his embrace, his hand settling gently on her waist as her own rested upon his shoulder, their free hands catching one another lightly. They began to sway, then slowly moved into the dance.
How kind of him, Sarah thought absently, to strike up a dance I actually recognize.
Sarah had studied Medieval dance briefly for a year or two, when she discovered that Medieval times had dances all their own, dances much more beautiful than the ridiculous bump and grind she'd seen at the two school sponsored dances she'd attended. She had actually become quite good at a few dances before she'd stopped taking lessons at the local Period Dance studio, preferring to spend less time with other people.
Sarah became less aware of her own thoughts as she watched Jareth's proud face. He had been beautiful to her before on several occasions, but none had struck her as strongly as it did while she was circling in and out of his arms, going through the motions of the dance. She found herself hard pressed to take her eyes off of him, even when the dance called for it, and was actually grateful when the song ended, and a soft melody with no particular dance assigned to it began to drift over the ballroom. She returned to his arms again, gazing up into his eyes.
I could stay here all night, Sarah thought languidly.
Jareth and Sarah spoke very little as they danced, preferring to simply watch one another. They'd spent the last four days in a flurry of words--kind and unkind--and for the moment, they preferred the silence to be broken only by music and the sound of laughter and meaningless chatter from the dancers around them.
Sarah didn't know how long they'd been dancing when she suddenly stumbled against someone. She knew she wasn't enchanted--at least, not by anything more magickal than Jareth's mismatched eyes--but she hadn't noticed how many songs had passed, or how long they'd been dancing. Her legs didn't hurt, and she didn't feel fatigued at all.
"Apologies," the man she'd bumped into muttered before vanishing into the crowd quickly.
Sarah grinned up at Jareth faintly, and said softly, "I guess even enchantments have clumsy oafs in them."
Jareth widened his bright eyes in feigned innocence, protesting softly. "What enchantment do you mean, Sarah?"
Sarah laughed up at him, jabbing him gently in his side with one fingertip. "The ballroom, of course. You said you wouldn't enchant me, but you made no mention of the ballroom... or the dancers."
Jareth smiled slowly, brows lifting. "You know me too well."
"I appreciate it," Sarah murmured, lifting her hands again to resume their interrupted dance. "I find I enjoy dancing with you much more when I have a choice in the matter."
"I am sorry I tried to enchant you before," Jareth said softly, his hand tightening slightly on her waist. "I thought it would... impress you."
"Impress me?" Sarah asked, then laughed. "And you said you've watched mw for eleven years? Did you have on black-out goggles or something? Imagine... impressing me by sending me whacky."
Jareth laughed with her then, his face lighting up beautifully. Sarah's own laugh caught in her throat as she stared at him, thinking weakly, If he doesn't stop doing that, I may not be able to make myself go when the time comes.
"Oh, Sarah..." Jareth twirled her, keeping a firm hold of her waist to avoid her stumbling again. "You make me feel... so alive. I can't remember feeling like this before..."
In the background, Sarah heard the song drifting over them change again, and with a shock, she realized she recognized it.
Daddy used to listen to that song when I was little. He loved that song. Some ridiculous oldie by Dan Fogelberg... why on Earth is it being played here in the Underground?
As the music began to rise, Jareth reached up one slim hand--He hasn't got on gloves, Sarah thought wildly. How slim and aristocratic his fingers are. His hand touched her cheek gently, his skin warm and smooth against her face, and he began to sing softly.
"High on this mountain
The clouds down below
I'm feeling so strong and alive
From this rocky perch
I'll continue to search
For the wind and the snow and the sky
Oh, I want a lover and I want some friends
And I want to live in the sun
And I want to do all the things that I never have done..."
Jareth's hand moved up from her cheek, freeing her hair from the loose Grecian ponytail. Sarah felt the strands cascade down her back as she thought weakly, I always thought the song was beautiful when Dan Fogelberg sang it in his clear soprano... but Jareth makes it sound like a rough, loving caress. I had forgotten just how beautiful his voice is...
Jareth's bare fingers tangled in her dark hair as the music rose again, and he continued the song.
"Sunny bright mornings and pale moonlit nights
Keep me from feeling alone
Now I'm learning to fly and this freedom is like
Nothing that I've ever known
Oh, I've seen the bottom and I've been on top
But mostly I've lived in between
And where do you go when you get to the end of your dream?"
Jareth's hand cupped the back of her head gently, his other hand sliding from her waist to the small of her back, pulling her close to him, his voice undulating through her like fine gravel sifted slowly through silk. The warmth of his body against hers made her heart pound as he sang the next verse.
"Off in the Nether Lands I heard the sound
Like the beating of heavenly wings
And deep in my brain I can hear a refrain
Of my soul as she rises and sings
Anthems to glory and anthems to love
And hymns filled with earthly delight
Like the songs that the darkness composes to worship the light..."
There was another verse--Sarah knew it--but the music sighed on without Jareth's voice as he slowly lowered his head, his lips pressing against hers like a weak, fluttering brush of a butterfly's wings. Slowly, he pulled her into the kiss, his lips moving over hers in something more like a caress than a kiss. Sarah realized, at some point, her eyes had shut of their own accord, and she didn't care. For the moment, nothing mattered but the taste of Jareth's mouth against hers, and the spiraling, fiery sensation of his lips embracing her own. It felt as if sparks were exploding from their joined lips, and Sarah felt her pulse thundering.
Then, suddenly, with a snap she realized what she was doing. She jerked away with a gasp, her eyes snapping open. She saw the shock pass over Jareth's face, then she turned and rushed from the ballroom, the last notes of the Dan Fogelberg song drifting over her as she crashed through the double doors.