Broken Wings

by Goblin Cat KC

repost; Sarah finds a white owl with a broken wing lying in her rose bush. COMPLETE

2. Questions Asked

Broken Wings Part 2

Sarah heaved a sigh and looked around herself again. They had passed out of the hedge maze for the time being and were now wandering through a range of brown stone walls with streams of clear water along channels cut alongside the walls, fed by impossibly continuous waterfalls. Moonlight reflected off the water and spun on every surface, giving them the illusion of moving through water.

"How much longer do we have to keep walking?" she sighed.

"The labyrinth is quite large," he said. "If I was at full strength I could just take us right there in an instant. Instead..." he kicked at a puddle for emphasis. "We're stuck walking."

"Why aren't you at your full strength?"

Jareth halted and stared at her. "Sarah, just how many questions do you intend to ask?"

"Until you start answering me," she replied. "Most of the time you find some way to avoid the subject."

"How do I avoid the subject?" he griped.

She gave him another of her annoyingly sweet smiles and said in an oh-so obvious tone "just like you're doing right now."

Found out, he narrowed his eyes and would have crossed his arms if one of them hadn't been broken. "I have to be careful," he muttered. "Arin could be listening."

"Then you wouldn't have said you aren't at full strength," Sarah said. Jareth glared at her, and she blinked. "Well, it's only logical."

"Your world is too logical for its own good," he snapped.

"Frustrating, isn't it?" she replied, her smile turning into a smug grin. "Now, how come you're not at full strength?"

He brushed a few loose strands back from his face. "Because I was arrogant. Arin showed up at the castle and demanded that I hand over the labyrinth. I laughed, and then the goblins laughed, and I snapped my fingers to send her to another part of my maze, where I could watch her wander forever. Only she didn't disappear. And the magick I sent at her...she just seemed to soak it up."

"So...every spell, she just sucks it up?"

"More than that." Jareth turned a corner and stepped through another batch of puddles. "Once she started, my magick kept flowing to her. I couldn't stop it. I finally managed to make the floor beneath her crumble away, but...she launched a gate spell at me."

"To send you to my world?" Sarah hopped over the puddles and raised the lantern, revealing only more twists and turns.

"No, to hell. Thank goodness she's a lousy aim. I couldn't stop the spell, but I had enough energy to redirect it and send me to earth. And...I didn't become an owl quite fast enough. I hit your wall and knocked myself out for awhile." He turned another corner.

Sarah frowned when she only saw more water. "Um, Jareth. How do you know where you're going?"

He paused and stared at her. "What?"

She put one hand on her hip, jostling the lantern against her leg and making the faerie inside grumble little curses. "You haven't even stopped to look around once. How can you be so sure without a map?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but he hesitated and gazed into the distance for a moment. "I...don't know. I've never thought about it. I just do." Jareth glanced at the crystal ball floating before him. "I just trust my magick."

Sarah tilted her head curiously, about to ask another question, when something small and dark flashed across her vision. She and Jareth both stepped back and spotted the black blur not too far away, already zooming back down the path at them. They ducked as it flew directly overhead, and this time they both got a good look at it.

Dark red with black streaks, the little thing hovering a few feet away copied their real faerie down to the last detail, save for the more waspish wings and macabre coloring. It shrieked at them, baring white fangs before diving again.

"What is it?" Sarah cried, slamming against the wall and soaking the back of her shirt. "I thought everyone had taken off!"

"It's one of Arin's little monsters," Jareth growled. "But how the hell did she find out...damn, of course! One of my bubbles..."

Inside the lantern, the faerie shook off the water droplets that had seeped inside and tried to hide under the metal top, out of sight. Still flying around, the red waspy thing spotted the light flickering about even though the inside was wet, and it guessed the source of that light. With another scream it flew directly at the lantern, hitting the side and jostling the faerie out of the top. She landed on the bottom, squeaking in pain, and the wasp rammed the lantern again.

Sarah held the lantern at arms length as if holding onto a centipede. "Jareth..."

"Sarah, hold very still," he whispered, kneeling down. He dipped his fingers into a puddle, and to Sarah's amazement, his hand continued deeper than should have been possible until half of his arm had vanished.

While her attention focused on him, however, the wasp managed to knock the lantern out of her hand. Crashing to the ground, the door flew open and the faerie darted into the air, flying as fast as it could. The wasp followed only an inch behind, and once in reach it grabbed the faerie's arm and flung her to the ground. It landed next to her, claws raised, hissing as it readied to slash the cowering creature's throat.

Instead a loud scrape, like metal grinding on stone, echoed between the walls and made all of them look around to find its source. Jareth stood up, a gray sword in one hand, water dripping from the blade.

"Back away," he told his companion, who wasted no time pressing herself against the wall.

Forgetting the faerie, the wasp rose into the air and lunged at Jareth, who tried to slash it in half. It zipped to one side, dodging his sword and slicing its claws into his arm as it flew by. Before it went too far, he turned and swung his blade, cutting off the wings. The red faerie dropped to the ground while the wings splattered like blood against the wall. Undeterred, it crawled as fast as it could towards his boots, intent on doing more damage.

His aim made easy, Jareth dragged the blade across the slick stones and cut the thing in half, whereupon both halves melted much like the wings had done. He breathed out and knelt again, reaching back into the puddle and rinsing his hands off, splashing some water on his injury. Sarah also bent and scooped the huddled faerie up, placing her back inside the lantern. She looked so pathetic curled on the hard surface that Sarah tore a bit of her sleeve off and lay it beside her, smiling when the faerie grabbed it and used it as a blanket.

"Now what?" she asked.

Jareth carried the sword in one hand, ignoring how it continuously dripped water. "We keep moving. We should reach the sphinx before dawn, and then we'll see if she'll help us."

Sarah looked back up at the dark sky and the unfamiliar constellations. "Do you think your sister sent any more of those things after us?"

He paused, saying nothing for several seconds. When he did lift his head, his eyes remained staring at the ground. "It's likely."

"Jareth?" she whispered. "What is it?"

"Each of those little things," he sighed, turning back towards their path and the bubble waiting patiently for them. "Each one must be created out of a sacrifice."

"She has to kill...?" Sarah gave a little gasp.

Jareth nodded. "Her spells all require sacrifices, unless she steals someone else's magick. Like I said before, I hate to think what my cleaner's been used for. I think I'll burn that once I kill Arin."

She followed quietly behind him, hoping all of her friends had escaped, even the goblins and the strange fireys. Biting her lip in thought, she reached into her pocket and plucked out an old tube of lipstick she'd forgotten about before.

I wonder... She looked down at the ground. Maybe if the labyrinth truly was losing strength, it wouldn't be able to turn arrows around anymore. She knelt and wrote an arrow facing the opposite direction, then stepped quickly after Jareth.

"Haywhachoodoinagin--oioioioioioioioioi--yamuthasafraggenaardvark!"

She turned in surprise and looked back. Her arrow had disappeared. With a slight smile she ran to catch up with Jareth. So that's what happened to them before, she smirked. I guess his sister hasn't chased out every Labyrinth dweller yet.

Ahead of her, Jareth closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. He glanced at the thin slice on his arm, pulling the bits of bloody cloth aside to reveal tiny red welts rising at the very edges of the cut.

"Damn," he muttered.

"What?" Sarah asked. "Did you say something?"

Jareth turned his attention from his wound and pointed ahead. "We're almost out of this part. Then we head into the forest. The sphinx lives at the center."

"Do you think she'll still be there?" Sarah asked.

Jareth nodded. "The gloom dragon would never leave his lair, and the sphinx would never leave him. I'm sure she has her own methods of keeping safe."

Sarah held the lantern up, and the faerie's light reflected back off the water. Not too far ahead lay the first few trees of what appeared to be a dense forest. "Ah...is your sword supposed to drip like that?"

"Hm?" he wondered, and then held his sword up. "Oh, this. Forgot I was holding it." He tossed it against the wall, where it splashed into harmless droplets. The muscles in his arm throbbed vaguely, but he did his best to ignore it.

~*~*~*~

Sarah frowned as they walked through the forest. Apparently Arin hadn't chosen a way to destroy it yet, since it was still mostly intact. True, the absence of birds singing and leaves rustling made the silence absolutely eerie, but at least nothing had been reduced to flaming cinders. Still, Jareth seemed to think it had. His eyes were half closed, his pace had slowed, and his breathing had become more labored. As much as Sarah wanted to think he was merely tired of walking, he seemed too listless to only be out of breath.

"Jareth, are you all right?" she asked, coming up beside him.

"I'm fine," he answered tersely.

"No, you're not," she insisted. She lay her hands on his shoulders, intending to make him stop and look at her, but she pulled back when he winced and shied away. A strange wetness coated her fingers, and when she looked down, her fingers were coated in blood. "Jareth?"

"It's only where that little monster scratched me," he said. "It's nothing serious."

Not paying any attention, she pulled the torn bits of cloth aside to reveal a deep cut and angry red marks spreading outward in all directions. While no longer bleeding, the cut had also not healed. He jerked out of her hold as soon as she'd seen the wound.

"Sarah--"

"No!" she yelled, stamping her foot. "No more 'Sarah, stop asking questions'! No more bullshit, Jareth! That isn't some kind of little paper cut, that looks infected!"

He mumbled something.

"What?"

"It's poison," he sighed in defeat, turning his head away. "Arin's sprites are made out of blood and poison from her own hands."

"Poison?" Sarah whispered. "Will...will it...?"

"It won't kill me," he reassured her. Though I may wish it had. "I'll just be very tired for awhile. Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"You'd better not be lying to me," she warned. A tiny smirk forced its way onto her lips. "I'd hate to have to take you over my knee and belt you."

His eyes widened, and his jaw snapped shut. "You...no one ever dared even try to discipline me or my siblings!"

"It's high time someone did, then," she casually remarked, stepping ahead of him. "Explains a lot, though."

Rendered speechless, if only for a moment, he hastened to catch up to her. "What do you mean, 'explains a lot'? I am no spoiled brat!"

She turned on him, bringing him up short. "No? You toy with people, Jareth. Me, Toby, you even admitted you were playing games with Arin before you found out she was serious. How many other people have you used for your own enjoyment?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about," he all but growled. "I never hurt you."

"Not for lack of trying!" she snapped. "You set the cleaner after me, nearly dumped me in the bog, called up your entire army to kill me and my friends!"

"Damn it, Sarah, I was bored! It was only a game!"

"It was our lives!"

"You wouldn't have stayed otherwise!"

She blinked and stared for several minutes, and he realized he'd said more than he'd meant to. He turned away and kept walking down the path.

"You're lonely," she said softly.

"I am not," he bit back. "I have goblins and fierys and...and everyone else in this Labyrinth."

"And they're such wonderful conversationalists," she rolled her eyes.

He didn't reply.

"Jareth..." she whispered, wondering if she'd gone too far and knowing she was about to step farther. "Do you want to leave the labyrinth?"

He paused, but didn't face her. A few seconds passed. "No," he answered. "I can't live anywhere else but here."

"Why not?" She reached one arm out to touch his shoulder but held herself back.

"The magick," he admitted. "I need it. It's like an addiction, it keeps my heart going...and it needs me. My labyrinth will die without me. I...have to tend to it, heal it if some part breaks, take care of...everyone..."

"Keeps your heart going?" she asked. "For how long?"

"As long as it wants. I can leave occasionally, survive a few weeks in your world, or the second kingdom."

She raised one hand to her mouth, pressing the knuckles to her lips. "Then...you're trapped here."

Jareth faced her with a small smile. "It sounds worse than it really is." With a sigh he looked up at the cloudless blue sky between the tree branches. "We'd better hurry. With any luck we might reach the sphinx before sunset."

"You're changing the subject again," she whispered, but not loud enough for him to hear. Sarah fell into step beside him, glancing at his injury every so often. Finally she couldn't help herself. "Would you at least let me bandage that so nothing else gets in it?"

He looked aside at her without breaking stride. "Bandage it with what?"

Sarah remembered then that she hadn't brought anything with except a few cheap bits of jewelry, but while she thought, her hand brushed against the hem of her shirt. She looked down and smiled. Still a tad damp from the watery part of the maze, it was long enough to suit her purposes and better than nothing.

"Hang on," she muttered, taking a firm hold of her hem and tugging. The fabric ripped along the edge until she had a thick strip of cloth while leaving her shirt serviceable. "Okay, come here."

He stared quietly while she tied the strip over his torn shirt around the gash, fortunately with enough material to wrap it twice before tying snugly. "Ow."

"Sorry," she murmured. Checking to make sure it wouldn't fall off, she nodded with a smile. "There. All done."

Seemingly unimpressed, he still favored her with a rare sincere smile that faded as a twinge of pain shot up his arm. "Let's keep going, then. Several more hours to walk."

She pulled her shirt down an inch or so and continued at his side.

Several hours later, he collapsed.

It was all rather sudden. One moment Jareth was walking beside her, the next he had fallen to his knees. She dropped beside him and put her arms around his shoulders, but all she could do was help him lean against a large tree in a thick pile of dead leaves.

"Thought you said you'd just get tired," she sighed.

He didn't respond, didn't even look at her.

Sarah merely sighed again. Lying was probably just his second nature, couldn't help himself. She glanced around the empty forest and sat down beside him. "How long'll this last?"

He shrugged, then winced as the motion pulled at his torn skin. "A few hours...a few days. Hard to tell."

I don't think we'll have that long, she thought. "How far is it from the sphinx to your gloom dragon?"

"A few hours walk," he breathed, and he closed his eyes. "Maybe. Maybe closer. The trees start...looking the same..."

Sarah put her hand to his forehead and winced. "Well, you certainly aren't going anywhere soon. Looks like I'm gonna have to meet the sphinx alone."

"No," he cried, grabbing her hand. "You are not going anywhere alone. One of those little pests might find you--"

"They might find me anyway," she argued, "sitting here with the Goblin King with what's probably the last faerie glowing like a little lighthouse. We don't have time to argue about this. Where is she?"

He stared into her eyes for several seconds, weighing his choices back and forth until he let go of her hand. "Follow the crystal. It will take you to her."

Sarah nodded and stood. "Anything I should know before I go?"

"Don't act weak around her," he said. "But don't be disrespectful either. Don't try to tell any lies, she'll see right through that. Tell her you need to get to the gloom dragon to get a scale."

"A scale?" she asked. "Like to weigh something?"

"No, a dragon's scale."

"Just one?"

He gave a rueful laugh. "Believe me, one is enough. Once you have it, try to find your way back here."

"All right." She straightened her shirt and looked down the path. "I'll leave the faerie with you."

"Take her with you, you'll need her."

She stared at him. "I'm not going to leave you alone in the dark."

"You said it yourself, that faerie's a lighthouse," he pointed out. "If you leave her here, we'll probably have another winged attacker. Besides, you'll need to see where you're going."

Sarah bit her lip. "But..."

"I'll be fine," he insisted. "Trust me. Now go on before the sun comes back up."

"All right. I promise I'll come back."

She picked up the lantern and turned to go, but he called her back before she'd taken too many steps.

"Sarah."

"Yes?" she asked, looking back.

He hesitated a moment. "Be careful."

She smiled and nodded. "I will be."

~*~*~*~

Forty-five minutes later, footsore and sick of listening to the faerie's angry chatter, Sarah stopped when the bubble came to rest at the mouth of a large cave. There was no rumbling or roaring or even flames shooting out occasionally, though she'd half expected the flames. She looked into the darkness until she decided she couldn't afford to be cautious, and stepped inside.

And promptly fell straight down, screaming all the way.

She had no way to tell how far she'd fallen, but she landed on something big and soft that "whumph'ed" when she hit. Inside the lantern, the faerie hit the bottom, bounced against the lantern's top, and hit the bottom again. Sarah groaned and pushed herself up on all fours.

Right in front of her eyes, two glowing lights popped up. "Hm. I'd not thought anything living remained in the forest."

Sarah stiffened and swallowed once. "Um, hi. I'm sorry I dropped in on you, but um...are you the sphinx?"

A low chuckle rumbled through the soft surface, and Sarah then realized that she was indeed on top of whomever she was speaking to.

"Sarah? Not the whelp that trumped the king at his own game?"

She gave a lopsided grin. "Yes, that's me."

"And dropped in my lap."

Sarah did not like the way that sounded and promptly sat back, folding her arms as if speaking with a creature that could eat her was an everyday occurrence. "I need to know where to find the gloom dragon. I have to get a scale from him."

"You?" the sphinx laughed. "Carry a scale? You'll be flattened under the weight."

"I can carry one," Sarah snapped. "Now I need the directions, before Arin finds out where we are."

The lights blinked. "You think I'm afraid of that little minx?"

Sarah smiled sweetly, much the same as she did when Jareth was trying to pull something. It was becoming second nature. "I don't see you flying out to take 'that little minx' on."

The sphinx growled, and a blaze of light struck up along the walls as thousands of fireflies reacted to her tone. Sarah shielded her eyes until they adjusted, and she finally could see where she was sitting. The sphinx was indeed huge, filling up the cave she had apparently been sleeping in before, and she lay on her back with her feline legs and tail in the air. Two yellow feathery wings lay flat on the floor under her, but Sarah mostly noticed the female face staring at her, two glowing eyes set against pale skin and black hair.

Sarah put her hand down, and she glanced aside when the surface wiggled. To her surprise, she sat in the center of a large female breast.

"No wonder the landing was soft," she mumbled to herself.

The sphinx chuckled. "There was a reason the men of Athens found me so imposing. You really want to find the gloom dragon, then you must answer a riddle."

"Oh. Okay." Sarah inwardly smiled. It'll probably be that one about the stages of man. No prob. Everyone knows that one.

"I have a hundred legs but cannot stand, a long neck but no head, and I eat the maid's life."

Sarah's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Don't tell me you expected to hear that old four legs, two legs, three legs riddle?" the sphinx laughed, showing sharp teeth behind her human lips. "I'm not stupid. Everyone knows that one."

Oh shit. Jareth didn't say anything about a riddle. Sarah chewed her bottom lip nervously. Okay, think. Think. They word those damn things so you don't get a good picture of what it is. Okay...a hundred legs, a long neck...it didn't mention anything else. She pictured a hundred short stubby legs grouped together under a single long neck, then altered her mental image to just a hundred sticks under one really big one.

"Give up?" the sphinx asked, licking her lips.

"Not yet!" Sarah snapped. "I know exactly what giving up means."

"They tell that damn Oedipus story too much," she grumbled.

"Lots of twigs...grouped together around a big one..." Sarah smiled suddenly. "Oh, that's a stupid riddle to ask a woman."

The sphinx winced.

"It's a broom," Sarah giggled. "Eats the maid's life, I get it now. Sweeping is backbreaking work, I'll admit it."

One glowing eye quirked halfway. "That was an easy one anyway. You'll find the dragon guarding the fountain of jewels. Go straight out my cave, turn right at the rock shaped like a dancer, and down the stairs you'll find. Now go away."

Sarah would've teased the sphinx about the riddle if she hadn't worried about being eaten. Instead she decided being polite was the best thing, seeing as how even the faerie had been scared silent. "Um, could you tell me the way out?"

"Turn around."

She did as she was told and found a ladder-type set of grooves cut into the cave wall. Worrying she'd be bitten in the back, Sarah wasted no time in scrambling up the wall, sliding the lantern on her arm for easier transport.

"Hang on, Jareth," she whispered. "I'm halfway there."

~*~*~*~

The rock shape looked more like a lap dancer than the ballet dancer Sarah had envisioned, and the stairs were a steep slope of stone blocks that might have once been steps, but all in all, the sphinx's directions were good. Still, with all the vines she had to sidestep and the rocks slipping underfoot, her sneakers felt more like wooden clogs and her legs felt like mush.

"Just another corner," she said for the fifth time. "Just one more. Just one more."

The faerie squawked and jumped up and down a few times, jostling the lantern.

"Oh, shut up." Sarah rattled the lantern once and made the faerie slip and hit her rear end. "Maybe the dragon'll wanna eat fresh faerie, you ever think about that?"

The faerie hushed and pulled the scrap of cloth over her front.

Sarah opened her mouth to say something else, but high-pitched chimes echoed from around...yes, the next corner. When she came around, she found a huge marble fountain, with lions heads carved along the sides and tall storks standing in the middle beaks upraised and wings held high. Instead of water, though, the birds sprayed stones of every color imaginable, diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, onyx, jade, gold...stones literally littered the ground around the fountain.

Her crystal bubble guide continued forward, somehow avoiding the precious rocks as they showered around it, and hovered in front of what looked like a huge gray stone at least twenty times her size. Sarah frowned and looked around the boulder, wondering if the dragon was hiding behind it. Only when one side of the rock shifted and extended out a little did she realize that was the gloom dragon, asleep right in front of her.

Afraid the bubble might somehow wake the dragon up, she motioned with one hand for it to return. Once again it passed the sprayed stones and stopped in front of her. The dragon yawned, displaying a row of teeth to make any horror movie director proud, rolled on its back, and snapped its jaws shut. Its legs paddled a little, as if chasing something.

I don't wanna do this anymore, she thought. She looked down at the bubble. "Can you show me Jareth?"

The bubble stayed blank.

"Please?"

No response.

"I'll pop you, I swear I will--"

The inside of the bubble stopped reflecting the surrounding forest and showed her a miniature three dimension picture of the goblin king still asleep against the tree. Leaves fell around and on him as the nearby trees began to visibly wither, making the bubble look like some kind of snow globe. Even at this distance, she could see him panting for breath.

"Oh, Jareth..." She looked back up at the dragon. Maybe...maybe it's shed scales on the ground. Maybe I won't have to wake it up. Maybe... "Find a loose scale," she whispered. "The farther from that dragon, the better."

The bubble floated around the area, zipping along the ground and around falling rocks. Both Sarah and the faerie watched it move, occasionally scanning the treetops for any more evil red sprites. The dragon yawned again and rolled back on its side, a wing spreading over itself like a blanket and making it look like a small plateau.

Finally the crystal stopped. Stones crunched against each other as she walked over. Her jaw dropped. "That's a scale?" she gasped. She bent and heaved up what looked like a tablet fit for half of the ten commandments. "It's solid rock." She had to slide the lantern up her arm before she could get a good grip on the flat oblong stone. "All right, let's go."

Taking its place in front, the crystal pointed her back up the stairs. She closed her eyes. "Of course." Maneuvering the stone so that she could carry it on her back, hands holding the bottom, she started up.

Halfway up the stairs, the lantern swung a little too hard and slammed into the stone. The resultant clang reverberated along the rocks, past the fountain, to the gloom dragon. A gray eye opened and spotted the scale thief fighting her way up the crags, the faerie's light like a beacon.

To her credit, Sarah did not freeze or scream or turn to look when she heard the angry roar behind her. She merely grunted, hefting the stone a little higher, and picked up the pace. Sounds, like a huge snake slithering over the ground, came to her, matching her pace. "Show me the dragon," she ordered the crystal.

Instead of a frontal shot, the bubble gave her a side view of the chase. The dragon put one paw in front of the other, laboriously dragging itself along the broken stones and crushing them further. It groaned and pushed with its hind legs to get a little higher. She'd thought the tail might swish like an angry cat's, but it only hung like a limp rag.

"Of course, it's stone," she said with a laugh. "It can't move that fast." It reminded her of a vaudeville chase scene, where the chased and chaser could only take tiny steps. Normally she could have outrun it, but the stone weighed her down so she could only keep a few feet ahead of it.

With her eyes on the bubble, however, she put her foot down on a loose rock, which shifted and tripped her, sending her to the ground. The tablet fell on a patch of soft dirt, intact. She winced and hauled her abused foot up to see if it was sprained.

The dragon's head came up over the edge at that moment and lunged one arm at her. She shrieked and scooted back on the ground, but its claws still caught her right shoe. With one tug it came off, and the dragon brought it up to its eyes. Sarah thought it might eat her shoe, but it only scraped at the sole with one of its claws, dropping a few colored rocks on the ground.

"Huh?" She looked at the bottom of her other shoe. Sure enough, a few pearls and sapphires had stuck in the rubber. Hoping that was it, she yanked them all out and hopped over, holding them out. The dragon put one paw out and caught the gems as she dropped them. With a snort of smoke and a roll of his eyes, the dragon threw her shoe back at her and turned to leave.

"Sorry," she said, stepping into her shoe.

It only flipped its tail at her.

~*~*~*~

After ages of walking, Sarah reached Jareth, still fast asleep against the tree. She dropped to her knees beside him and let the scale land on a thick patch of grass and leaves, leaving the lantern next to it.

"Jareth? Jareth, wake up." She pushed the blonde hair out of his face, wincing when she felt his temperature. "Jareth?"

His eyes fluttered for a moment, then closed again.

"Damn." She looked around at the darkening forest and the stars becoming visible in the sky. A chill had settled in the air and only intensified as the wind picked up. "We can't stay here." She stared at the bubble and frowned. "I'm going to need your help. First you need to make more bubbles so you can carry that tablet."

The crystal actually shuddered in mid-air.

"I know you don't want to, but it's my only choice. Please."

It shuddered again and slowly split in two, and then those two separated into four...she sighed when she saw how long it would take.

"And now I need someplace safe to take Jareth."

The bubbles suddenly started bopping each other, zooming about in a frantic effort to push the other bubbles down and come out on top. Sarah's eyes widened at what she recognized as a fight, until at last one large crystal floated in front of her, the obvious winner. Leaving the others to bring the tablet after them, Sarah pushed the lantern back down her arm and leaned over Jareth. She eased her arms under his back and legs and stood, cradling him.

"You're so light." She looked over him again to make sure there were no pieces missing. "How can you be this light?"

The bubble floated on into the trees, and she looked back a few times to see if the scale was behind her. She could barely decipher its outline through the darkness, but the multiplying bubbles gave off a faint glow that she could spot. Remembering how she'd fallen before, she looked back at the bubble guiding her, keeping an eye on the lantern's light on the ground.

They came to a halt at a rose patch that made Sarah's heart skip a beat. On twisting vines shaped into a dome, roses had folded up for the night amongst nightmarishly long thorns. She tried to look around it, but the briar patch extended far into the distance.

"I guess this is another part of the maze," she whispered. "How do we get in?"

Her crystal guide floated straight into the vines and disappeared.

She gaped for a few seconds before the thought came to her. "Maybe it's like those walls around the labyrinth." Turning her back so the thorns would poke her first and not Jareth, she backed into the section the crystal had disappeared. Instead of the stinging pain brought by walking into rose bushes, they passed harmlessly through the illusion-masked door and into a low enclosure. The bubble paused, then floated back out, presumably to join the rest of the crystals.

Sarah knelt and set Jareth on the ground, yawning while she lay down beside him, nearly tossing the lantern aside before she remembered the faerie was in there. She just placed it an arm's length away. "Finally. Feels like I've been walking all day." She closed her eyes and stretched once before putting an arm around Jareth. "Let's hope we'll be alive to walk all day tomorrow." Half an hour later, the scale floated in and dropped next to the lantern, scaring the faerie awake, and the bubbles scattered.

~*~*~*~

Arin paced back and forth in front of her window, looking up every once in awhile for a dark sprite to return. She rubbed one hand, massaging the muscles sore from cutting through goblin skin, not the thinnest of hides to penetrate. A good deal of dried blood under her fingernails caught her attention, and she cleaned it off in the wash basin near Jareth's...her bed.

"Goblins," she called out after the water had turned red. "Bring me clean water."

None answered. She walked to the door and flung it open, spotting a few goblins that hadn't run down the hall and out of sight quickly enough. "Stupid useless good for nothing goblins..." She grabbed the wash basin and flung it after them, screeching like a wild cat. "Cowards, all of you. Filthy things."

She slammed the door with another scream and leaned back against it, breathing hard. "Damn...low power...pests..." A hollow pounding echoed in her ears, and she stumbled towards the bed, falling face first on the lush blankets. She rolled on her back, grabbing the front of her dress and ripping it open. With her upper chest exposed, she dug her sharp nails into her skin and pulled, breaking her ribs apart with ease. In the center of her chest, next to her real heart, lay a flawless ruby as big as her fist, beating hard enough to shake her whole body. Laid open, white and red streaks of light swirled up and out of the ruby, into the air, spinning in broad spirals and dissipating into blurs and finally nothing. The ruby heart slowed its pace and returned to a soft beat to match her real heart.

"Damn," she whispered, without the strength to even raise her voice. She lay her hand on the cavity in her chest, and the wound sealed again without leaving any marks. When she sat up, no blood stained the blankets.

Arin looked over her tattered dress and giggled. Ah, the high fashion price of great power.

~*~*~*~

Sarah woke up with sunlight poking through the briars and hitting her face. Beside her, Jareth still slept soundlessly, his breathing less labored than it had been the night before. She lay her hand on his forehead, then his cheek, and smiled. The fever was gone. She looked around herself, checking first to make sure the faerie was still asleep under her blanket in her lantern, and then to see that the tablet was still beside them. Satisfied they were alone, she looked back at her companion.

"Your clothes are really starting to suffer," she said.

Jareth opened his eyes for a few seconds, then closed them again.

"And your hair...I wish we could stop off at a river or a waterfall or something. I mean, we could both use a good rinse. Dirt and leaves don't look too hot as hair accessories."

He didn't move.

She plucked a few crumbling leaves out of his hair. "C'mon, you said you'd be fine. Of course, you said you'd only get tired, so maybe you were lying about that, too."

Jareth turned on his side, away from her. "Be quiet...I'm trying to sleep."

Sarah smacked his shoulder and sat up, crossing her legs. "You rotten little...I thought you were unconscious."

"Congratulations...your voice woke the dead."

"'The dead'?" She leaned over him and put her fingers on his neck, checking his pulse. "You weren't dead, were you? Don't tell me I'm talking to a corpse."

He swatted her hand away. "Calm down, I'm fine."

She breathed a sigh of relief, but a moment later she heard his breathing slow again. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him awake. "Don't you fall back to sleep. It's morning, time to get up."

He only buried his face deeper in his folded arms. "Sarah, it should come as no surprise to you that I'm not a morning person."

"Is Arin?"

Silence.

He sighed. "Oh yes. Almost forgot that." He pushed himself upright, his eyes still somewhat closed. "Did we have any winged attackers while I was out?"

"Nope." She sat up straight and heaved the stone scale closer, tipping the lantern over in the process and rousing a high pitched rant from the faerie. "Whups, sorry 'bout that. Jareth, look, I got the scale you wanted."

He glanced at the slab of rock, and his eyes widened. "You actually...managed...did you have to fight him for it? Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head. "No, I just picked it up off the ground. He wouldn't have chased me if the jewels hadn't stuck to my shoes."

"The scale was on the ground?"

"Uh huh. There were a bunch of them scattered all over the place."

Jareth frowned. "Damn. That's not good."

She brought her legs up under herself and leaned forward. "What do you mean?"

He held his hand up and blew a bubble out. Both of them watched it begin to replicate. "For the rocks themselves to come falling apart...and from such a strong dragon...She doesn't need to slash and burn my labyrinth anymore. Her corruption's spreading to the whole land." He shook his head and made a move to stand. He only made it halfway, falling to one knee and panting for breath.

Sarah put her arms around his shoulders and held him still. "Jareth, you're not one hundred percent after that hit. You've got to rest."

"No time," he said. "Arin's already killing the labyrinth. Pretty soon there won't be much of anything left to save."

"And how're we gonna get there? You can't just disappear, and you're not strong enough to walk through the maze."

"No, but I can reach the card dogs." He tried to push his way up again and had to catch himself as he fell.

Sarah shook her head and put his good arm over her shoulders. "Hang on, I got ya." She stood up, bringing him with her. "Why do we have to go there?"

"One of the tunnels leads right to the castle. And at least one of us knows which one."

"You don't have to rub it in."

She helped him out of the briar patch, picking up the faerie as they went. The scale floated just behind them.

"I'm not. I never expected you to get so far as the oubliette." He laughed. "Of course, trying to use reason in the labyrinth...that was funny."

"I should just drop you," she said. "Or throw you over my shoulder."

He stared at her, his jaw dropping slightly. "You couldn't."

"Oh, I could. You're light enough. Keep up the comments and you'll be watching the trip backwards."

He raised one eyebrow. "I just might like the view," he muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind," he said, looking ahead. "We're heading back in, so watch for dark sprites."

"Right," she said. What did he mean by that? Did he mean watching the labyrinth shift behind them? That certainly could be interesting.

~*~*~*~

The endless fountains of water that had previously spilled over the walls and fonts now only trickled or had dried up altogether. The tiles, now dingy and gray, cracked and crumbled as they walked over them. Instead of weeds and overgrowth, dust and rot now covered everything. Even the air inside the labyrinth was different than before.

"But we were only gone one night," she whispered. Her voice echoed down the corridor.

"I doubt anything is in one piece anymore."

They followed after the bubble leading them and started down a new corridor of broken yellow slabs of stone. Large chunks had crumbled off, leaving the paths strewn with jagged rocks and yellow dust. At the first boulder in the way, Jareth and Sarah both scrambled up, but Sarah had to help him down, and even then he nearly collapsed. His boots scraped on the ground and he leaned hard against her.

"Are you sure you can keep going?" she asked.

"We're almost there," he breathed. "Just a little bit further..."

They went over three more boulders and down another mile of corridors, cutting through breaks and cracks, before coming out into a clearing of cobblestones and bricks. Sarah turned around.

"That's odd," she said. "It's not moving behind us."

Jareth didn't answer, and she turned around to see why. Scraps of paper littered the area and blew around in dust devils. She watched them move and noticed three distinct colors, white, red and black. She pressed her knuckles against her mouth.

The card dogs.

Wind howled as it picked up force through the corridors, pushing the dust in with the paper. She helped Jareth lean against a wall and then stooped, drawing an arrow on a nearby brick.

"I don't think anything's going to move it," he said.

"It's worth a try." She stuck the lipstick back in her pocket and shouldered his weight again. "Jareth, when I was here before, were you watching me? The whole time?"

He smiled, only a little. "Most of the time. I had to watch your brother as well."

They walked towards the doors, and when Jareth put his hand out to open one, the rotted wood crumbled and sloughed onto the floor, the metal hinges and knocker clattering on top of the mess.

"Wait a minute," she said. "This is the door I went in before. It's the wrong one."

"They change every few minutes. The bubble says this is the right one." He inhaled and coughed a few times. "Besides, I can smell the air from the castle."

"Hm?" She breathed deep and grimaced. Sour, coppery smells...

They started down the corridor. She turned back once, just before they went too far, and looked at the ground. The arrow hadn't moved.

~*~*~*~

Arin ignored the goblins scattering out of her way and walked out of her room, heading down a long hallway strewn with dust and cobwebs. Windows lined the hall, their sills covered with dried blood and reeking of the decaying corpses beneath them. At the far end of the hall she came to a staircase and started up, placing her hands on the steps as the steep incline forced her to all fours. The steps spiraled for hundreds of feet in total darkness until, at the very top, a dim ray of sunlight lit the last few steps.

"I'd knock the damn thing down if I didn't need it," she said as she stood upright at the top of the castle's largest turret.

The labyrinth lay before her in all directions, a wasteland of broken walls, shattered tiles and burned out hedges. Some spots of growth remained, especially where Jareth's annoying crystal spheres kept replicating. The briar woods and swamp were intact, as were bits and pieces of the maze.

"I have yet to conquer the underground," she said. She stepped up on top of the raised ledge circling the tower and scanned the wreckage for any sign of movement. "And where are you, little brother? Still playing at returning savior?" She frowned as she turned and turned again. "Mm. Where are you?"

She glanced down at the deserted goblin city, then at the front gates, then at the windows on the castle's first floor. She stared at the fountain she knew led to the underground, but the top was secure, the body of the man with a bird on his head still slung over the edge. A few of her dark sprites fluttered around his face, eating and replenishing the blood that continuously dripped from their bodies.

"They can't make it back to the outer wall, not with that scale." She snapped her fingers. "Of course, those damn paper dogs." Arin kicked off a fist-sized chunk of the ledge and jumped, placing her foot on the lump of masonry and then commanding the stone to support her weight. She kept her balance on the rock as it sailed through the air, carrying her over the broken cobblestones and scorched earth and coming to rest in the flurry of confetti before the two archways.

She picked out a bit of paper floating around her head and held it between her fingers, tearing it in half again. The sprites did good work. "Now, little brother, which way did you go?"

Both doors had rotted and fallen apart, but she knew one of them had been caused by the wear of the wind around it. The other had been touched by human hands. "Even now your little maze tries to hide you," she said, folding her arms. "Dead things trying to hide dead things."

She stepped through one and glanced down the long corridor, its two walls tumbled down and vanishing to a point. A break in the wall let her cross to the other corridor, also vanishing at the far end but with a well camouflaged hole in the center of the floor. She leaned over and stared down. Not a flicker of motion, not a breeze or sound.

Arin smiled. She tore a bit of her already tattered dress and bit her finger, wiping the blood off with the torn rag. She dangled the cloth over the hole and let it go, turning on her heel while she walked away.

When she reached the rotted doors again, she turned and whispered one word.

"Ignite."

Jets of flame and light shot up out of the hole, flashing so hot the surrounding walls turned black, and bits of burned flesh floated down to the ground.

tbc...