Chapter 7- Enter the Shadow
It was that night that the underground shifted and changed. Shadows crept across the land, bringing terror and mischief into the goblin king's realm. In the Breanon's snug cottage, none of the inhabitants were aware of anything going on beyond their small worlds. Mr. and Mrs. Breanon were sleeping in each others' arms; Dorian and Miriam slept soundly in their respective beds; only Sarah remained awake and in a state of unrest.
Sarah's eyes welled up with tears. It wasn't logical, crying like this; there was no reason for it. In the aboveground, she had been miserable, life tossing her every lemon it had to offer. Now, she was in a warm cottage, proudly earning her keep, with a wonderful family who cared about her. But something still nagged at her heart; kept her soul from rest. Tears streamed down her cheeks, salty rivers of warmth that made Sarah feel ashamed. She was a grown woman; she should not be entertaining fantasies about Goblin Kings.
In the Goblin castle, a dwarf stood in the shadows. He watched his king reclining in his throne, a look of torment upon his face. There was only one other time when Gragar had seen Jareth in this state of distress, and that was over 10 years ago. Such an insignificant thing, a mortal girl, causing all of this turmoil. Jareth stood now, pacing in front of the throne. Gragar was still watching his movements and wondering what the goblin king would decide, when the shadow passed over the castle. A bolt of fear entered Gragar's soul, and he felt like running, as far as his legs would carry him. But experience told him that when the dark shadow passed, you could not run. Jareth felt it too, and had stopped pacing.
"Your majesty," Gragar called softly. Jareth did not look toward the sound, and instead held up a stilling hand. The darkness was slowly filling the room.
Miriam Breanon sat straight up in bed. Someone had been shaking her shoulder.
"Come now, dear," her mother called, "it's the shadows. We must get to the storm cellar." The wind had begun to howl like a demon, making it almost impossible to remain asleep. Sarah had been the first to wake, and knew something was wrong. She saw forms passing through the hall in front of her room, and rose to find Mr. and Mrs. Breanon, frantically herding their children toward the stairs.
"Sarah, come along, it's the shadows." Mrs. Breanon grabbed her arm, and shoved little Meril into it.
"Shadows?" Sarah asked. Panic was beginning to rise in her throat.
"Evil, dear, we must wait it out in the storm cellar. Grab a candle from your room and come along." Sarah carried Meril, and managed to grab a candle in its holder from her bedside table. Almost as an afterthought, she noticed the mirror on the dresser, and grabbed it as well. Then she hurried to follow the Breanons to the cellar.
The dark basement smelled vaguely of mold and soil and rock. It was cold and damp, and not a place you would want to spend any amount of time.
"Now remember, no magic," Mr. Breanon was telling his children. "The shadow feeds upon it." Sarah shivered at the thought. One candle lit the room, throwing the space where Miriam and Dorian huddled together into darkness. For many moments they waited, listening to the wind and weather battering the house. Then, as if mocking them, the candle went out. Mr. Breanon cursed, and Meril began to whimper softly. Mrs. Breanon took him from Sarah, calming him immediately. Sarah clutched the mirror, not really knowing why she had grabbed it. Mr. Breanon now noticed what she had in her fist.
"What is that, Sarah? A mirror?" Sarah nodded, holding it out to him.
"I don't know why I felt that I needed to grab it really, I guess I still think of magic as being something unique and special, and a magic mirror—" she was interrupted by a startled gaze from the master of the house.
"Magic mirror? Where did you get it?" He held out a hand, asking for it. Reluctantly, Sarah handed it to him.
"Yes. I got it from the dresser in my room. I thought it belonged to your family. When I realized that I could see Ja—his majesty in it, I realized that it was enchanted." Mr. Breanon furrowed his brow in thought.
"I've never seen it before," he said.
"Nor I," his wife answered, looking at it curiously. Both started at the surface of the mirror, but could not see the goblin king in its face.
"It hasn't worked since the first time I saw through it," Sarah said, squinting into the surface, only slightly illuminated from light from the tiny basement window. "I think there must be some trick to it." Mrs. Breanon looked at Sarah.
"What were you doing when you first saw through it, dear?" the woman looked intently at her charge.
"I was reading by candlelight," Sarah answered, "Just before bed." Recognition flashed in the Breanons eyes. Mr. Breanon reached on top of a shelf and brought down a flint stone and tinder. As soon as he managed to light the candle, images flashed across the mirror's surface. Sarah heard a gasp from the direction of where Miriam and Dorian were standing. She looked at the mirror, and saw an image that made her blood run cold.
A shadow passed across the face of the mirror, as if a man had walked too close to the recorder of the scene being viewed. In its wake, Sarah could see a number of goblins, strewn across the ground and one another. In the center of the scene, a tall, blonde haired man had fallen, arms crossed in front of him as if to ward off an invisible enemy. Panic rising in her chest, Sarah frantically examined the bodies of the goblins surrounding him. One close to the mirror's image showed a chest moving up and down. So they are breathing, Sarah thought in relief. As she watched, however, the shadow passed by once again. Despite the threat that this obscured figure presented, the fallen king did not move. Dread sent shivers up Sarah's spine. Turning away from the mirror, she took a breath, and then turned to the eldest Breanons.
"I have to try to save him," she stated, unyielding in her determination.
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Hoggle's eyes grew huge, as the cloaked figure held the necklace in front of him. The gem glistened in the artificial sunlight. The man beneath the cloak knew a dwarf's weakness, knew the secret longing that drove them.
"Come now, Hoggle, has Jareth ever treated you with respect? Or your. . . friends?" Hoggle shook his head, no. "See now, you'd be doing us a favor, really. And who better to protect this lovely gem? I've noticed the great care you take with your own jewels." Chest growing larger with pride, Hoggle nodded.
"I takes care of me property, no doubt about that. But I wouldn't want to harm no one. . ." The dark figure was losing patience with the dwarf. He decided to try another tactic.
"What about Sarah? You have feelings for her, don't you?" Hoggle's eyes snapped up from the ground to the space where the figure's face would be.
"Who told you that?" The man grinned to himself. Ah, this was the soft spot.
"Jareth has placed her in danger," he drawled. "She will be lucky to survive at all unless the shadow is stopped. He believes that he loves her, and that she loves him in return, but in reality, he is harming her, and doesn't know enough about love to realize it. The goblin king is heartless, Hoggle. Surely you have realized this?" Hoggle thought back to the torment that he and Ludo and Didymus had faced at his hands as they had tried to help Sarah ten years before. She had kissed him, and he had landed in the bog of eternal stench. He had sent the cleaners, the most dangerous contraptions to meet in a tunnel after him, and had made him give Sarah a poisoned peach. His Machiavellian attitude had almost lost Sarah her brother and lost Hoggle and his friends their lives.
"All right," he agreed, "I'll do it."
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"I'm going with you," Dorian insisted. Sarah turned quickly.
"No, Dorian, your place is here, with your family, protecting them," Sarah said, as she saw the panic in Mrs. Breanon's eyes. "They need you here." She was aware that the boy had taken quite a liking to her, and possibly even had a small crush, but that was no reason to follow her in this suicidal mission.
"They'll be fine, I don't care about how dangerous it is," Dorian continued. "You won't survive without help."
"She likely won't survive with help, Dorian, you're staying here." Mr. Breanon's voice held the unmistakable tone of a parent who has laid down the law. Crossing him was impossible. Dorian sulked next to Miriam, whose eyes had grown large at Sarah's announcement. No one had ever tried to stand up against the shadow before. It wasn't even possible. Even his majesty, with his enormous amount of magic, could not prevent the shadow from stalking his kingdom and feeding upon its life force.
"I'll need to know as much as possible about this shadow," Sarah was saying. She was using all her strength to keep a determined look upon her face. In reality, her brain was telling her to curl up in the corner, give the goblin king up for lost, and whimper that she hadn't meant it.
"No one knows very much," Mrs. Breanon was saying. "Every 200 years, the shadow descends upon the underground. It is an accumulation of evil forces, which take the form of a. . . well, shadow, which melts across the land, striking some people and leaving others."
"Isn't there any way to stop it?" Sarah asked. Mrs. Breanon's description was beginning to scare her.
"There is one way," the woman admitted. "But it comes at a very high cost. There is an emerald, called the stone of immortality. For you to understand about the stone, I must go further back. You see, when the underground was young, there were two lands with two different rulers. Jareth, the Goblin King, you have already met. He was the keeper of the dark side of the labyrinth, and the ugly and tormented creatures that lurked there. The other ruler was called Madriel. Madriel was the keeper of the light, of the beautiful and wonderous things in the labyrinth. The underground was very well defined; Jareth's lands to the east, with his labyrinth and dark castle, and Madriel's lands to the west, with his white marble castle and peaceful gardens. At the center of the labyrinth was a tree, the tree of life. It was much like your mortal apple trees," Mrs. Breanon explained. "Well, at the base of the tree was a sword, which had been planted there in ancient times by the one who discovered the underground. The hilt of the sword carried a large green emerald, as well as a mantra, which read, 'He who keeps the light shall live forever in immortality.' Well, you can imagine the stir this caused. Jareth was outraged that he had gotten such a raw deal. He researched everything he could about the stone and the sword, but could find nothing that would give him an alternative to the limited life he had been given.
"Then, one night, a visitor arrived at his castle. Jareth was approaching his 30th year. This visitor wore a hooded cloak, which hid his face. The figure told Jareth that he understood his plight, and was prepared to make him an offer he could not refuse. The arrogant king agreed, and listened intently to the figure's speech. The cloaked man told the goblin king that in order to gain immortality, he had to remove the stone from the sword, and keep it near him at all times. The sword then had to be destroyed, thrown into a hot fire and melted back into rock. Only then would the underground come into balance. Good and evil would intermingle, and the two monarchs would share the gift of immortality.
"The plan was simple, and Jareth agreed. What he did not know, however, was that the hooded figure was a greedy creature, intent only on his own gain. He wanted the emerald for himself, but had not wanted to risk the wrath of the ancient underground's founder. He had fabricated the story about the gem to trap the goblin king, and hoped that with his demise, he could take over his kingdom. Gorgyn was the name of the cloaked man," Mrs. Breanon paused, collecting her breath and her thoughts. Taking a breath, she continued.
"Jareth went to the tree of life, and pried the emerald from the sword's hilt. As soon as he did so, the sword sunk into the ground, and with the entire underground shaking, a black shadow rose from the earth. The shadow attempted to prey upon the goblin king's magic, but the emerald that he held in his hand protected him. Many people died that day. Such a foolish thing," Mrs. Breanon looked down as she spoke. "After a while, the shadow disappeared again. The remaining residents of the underground cleaned up the bodies after the shadow had lifted, and looked to their king for direction. Some of what the cloaked man had predicted had come true. Jareth had been granted immortality, and good and evil began to mix in the underground. But every 200 years, the evil spirit of the underground's founder haunts us in the shape of a shadow." Sarah had been entranced as Mrs. Breanon had related the tale. But one thing was unclear to her.
"But. . . if he has kept the emerald close to him, why is it that he has now been harmed by the shadow?" She trembled at the thought that the spirit had devoured the magic spirit of the one she loved. Mrs. Breanon nodded, and continued once more.
"Jareth is not completely foolish, as I'm sure you have noticed," she explained. "He knew that the cloaked man had been after the emerald, and was furious with him. A bounty was placed on his head, and on any information as to his whereabouts. He took the emerald to the dwarves in the castle, and had them chip off a piece of it, and engrain it into the amulet he wears upon his neck. The rest of the stone was placed in a cave, guarded by an angry dragon. Despite the dragon and magical precautions, the emerald was, in fact, stolen 100 years ago. It was never recovered. The only protection Jareth now has is from the small piece of the emerald which he wears about his neck." Sarah nodded in understanding. "The danger comes," Mrs. Breanon was nearly out of breath, "If whomever has the large emerald gets their hands on the smaller piece as well. If both pieces are returned to the ground where the immortal sword lies, the shadow will rest, and the underground will return to the state of separate peace and chaos that it once knew."
"Why is this a bad thing?" Sarah asked. "Jareth is immortal now, that wouldn't change, would it?" Mrs. Breanon shook her head.
"Immortality, once granted, cannot be taken back, this is true. But Jareth has been dependent on the power of the emerald for so long, that its removal from him would be instantly fatal. His heart would cease to beat without it. As you said, Sarah, his heart is still cold. Although he has changed much in the past 600 years, the ice around his heart has yet to completely melt. If the goblin king could learn to love on his own terms, without trickery or magic or manipulation, then perhaps the emerald would shatter and we would all be free once more. In truth, when you arrived the first time, Sarah, we had all hoped that Jareth had found his true love at last. But fate has a funny way of twisting us, doesn't it?" She tried to end on an upbeat note.
Sarah felt horrible. All this time, an entire universe had existed, painfully waiting out the death of its inhabitants from an ancient spirit. And the one thing that can save them, the goblin king's love for her, begins to blossom, and what does she do? Throws it all away. Throws away the hopes of many races of people and creatures, and of her closest friends. Throws away the love of an enchanting and magical ruler. She was more determined now than ever. She had a mission to accomplish, and she owed it to her friends and to Jareth to follow it through. Somehow, she would melt the ice around her heart. She would teach him to love her, before the year was out. But first, she had to save his life.
Looking quickly at the faces of the family she had grown to love, Sarah felt tears well up in her eyes.
"I don't expect to return until I've conquered whatever evil this is that preys upon you," she said. "I'm sorry if I can't succeed, but I will do my best." Mrs. Breanon didn't say a word, simply wrapped Sarah in her arms. "Bye, Meril," Sarah whispered, touching the baby's nose. "Thank you, all of you." She took a deep breath, and ascended the staircase toward the unknown.
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Just when you think it's gettin' somewhere, something happens and someone needs to be rescued. Hope you guys like where I'm going with this! Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm so amazingly grateful.
Barbara- yes, he definitely has issues. Hopefully he will like being rescued. Or. . . the rescue attempt.
Maeve427- I'm sorry! *goes to write more*
daydreaming beauty- Thank you so much for the compliments! OK, I will try to put the URL right here. I'm going to split it up a bit so the formatting won't go screwy; ht tp: // www. Astrolog. Org/ labyrnth/ script.txt
Just squish that together and it should work!
Phoebemoon- hopefully this one was quick enough! ;-)
Sayanna The Rover- haha, thank you so much!
draegon-fire- I just KNOW that this chapter is going to infuriate you, because it brings up more questions without answering a lot. I promise that answers to the questions you've asked will be answered in time!
Again, thanks so much for the reviews; they make me think that I should keep writing things!
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