The gate to the Labyrinth moves. It is actually a whole lot harder to get
out of the Labyrinth than it is to get into the Labyrinth. Which is why the
population keeps growing I imagine. Either way, if you think getting to
the center is difficult, getting out is doubly so, in fact finding your way
in that first ring of wall is probably the most difficult yet.
The back of the Labyrinth doors are actually painted to look like just another part of the wall. If you're not watching carefully the outer wall will move past you too, so that you can walk the whole perimeter of the Labyrinth and completely miss it by the first five steps. Even for citizens of the Labyrinth, it's a difficult feat.
In the end I wound up talking to the wall moss to find the way. It turned out to be only a couple feet behind us, you have no idea the level of embarrassment that causes. Finding the dwarf after that was an easy task, asking him was more difficult.
"Hey! You're the de-fairy person right?"
He was short and stout and carrying too many glittery things for anyone outside the Labyrinth. Inside you're safe from thieves, not outside though.
"Yeah, what of it?"
Gruff was right. "Does that spray harm the bushes? I've got some fairies in a tree of mine, what do you use as far as the stuff goes?"
This got his attention. Nothing works like asking for help, although it takes a bite out of your pride. "Wells ya see, I use the natural water from fiery forest since the two hate each other."
"Does it hurt the plants? Fiery forest is a bit.chaotic."
"Yeah, well. Here outside it don't matter as much. If you really worry about it, you can use the stuff I do. It's special I get it free from his majesty himself."
"Wow really? Can I have some?" I asked sweetly. "His majesty's been all out of sorts lately. The Labyrinths been changing, and streams rerouting themselves, crazy as anything. Seems kind of reckless to me, he really needs to get married or something. He's been moping about since.what's her name."
"Sarah?" he asked trying to appear uncaring as he picked up the same bottle for the third time.
"Yeah that girl." I replied stretching out on Kestrel's branch. "Really put him off I guess. Dang how I wish things could get back to normal."
"Yeah, yeah. Me too." He muttered. "Ah here you go."
I watched with amusement as he pulled the same bottle out that he had been shifting around in the head sized bag. I struggled not to grin as I leaned down between the cleft in the two branches to take it from him. "Hey thanks, good luck on your de-fairying."
Kestrel was lumbering away when I heard him mutter. "The king can't marry any but fae though."
We were back in the Labyrinth and everyone sighed with relief once we were past that first narrow hallway. Me because it meant I had gotten away with it, them because the stone hurt their roots. The new issue had arose though, to marry a fae king you had to be fae. I could have hit myself. Actually I did, because it was just such an obvious thing that I shouldn't have missed.
Well duh, otherwise you get crossbreed kids and that means trolls. Most of the darker sides of the fae were products of a cross species coupling. This would never work if she was human and I knew his majesty wouldn't become human himself, because his responsibility to the kingdom. So Sarah would have to become a fae.
That would require a shitload of power.
Power that you-know-who didn't have.
I knew someone who might though. But.
But.
I started down the steps with a torch the instant the clock hit twelve. Twelve, not thirteen was the witching hour. So many people forgot that, but it had always been twelve when magic was at its weakest, most frail, and most breachable. I wasn't going to tempt fate though, by using a magical light in a place that was completely devoid of magic, and devoid of magic for a good reason.
The cold glassy black stone felt like ice under my bare feet. I knew it was light crystal completely stripped of it's magic and loosing it's bright blue glow in the process to leave a hollow black tinted shell. I hoped I didn't have enough magic from the peaches to trigger an alarm, or let him get loose.
Kaeun was kept here. Imprisoned in the dark crystal temple, made specifically for him by the council, and Jareth.
Kaeun was the only fae to kill another fae. A fae lady too, Jareth's betrothed to be specific. They had imprisoned him here to pay for his crime, but they wouldn't kill him to repeat the sacrilege that he had committed. Jareth's betrothed, the Lady Issais was the most powerful in the underground. Kaeun was her playmate as a child, they grew up together. When he found out that she was betrothed to Jareth, he killed her rather than let Jareth have her.
He really brought to light the darker side to fae, but to kill lady Issais whom was rumored to be untouchable. He probably could have destroyed the council if they hadn't acted so swiftly.
My next step met level, the stairs had ended. My torch brought into sharp relief the inside of the chamber. It was like a cylinder with thirteen columns in a ring around the center where a lone column stood. All of it laboriously cut out of drained crystal. No grass or plants grew for a five- mile radius from here. It would take me all night to walk back to the Labyrinth.
It was forbidden to be here.
It was forbidden to see him.
It was forbidden to talk to him.
It was forb-Pear. And Sarah.
"Hello?"
My voice disappeared almost instantly, as if the crystal soaked it up. I was on the verge of declaring his death and running out of there. If it had echoed I probably would have run, the fact that it didn't was a definite sign I should have run. I didn't.
"Hello." I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was just as I thought it would sound, calm and confident, but curious too. Not surprised. That shook me most of all.
"Where are you?" I whispered lifting the torch higher and glancing around. I couldn't see him anywhere, in fact now that I thought about it I didn't know if he was tied to the floor or merely trapped in the room which meant he could be behind me. Hastily I backtracked a couple feet until I was back on the steps.
"In the center column."
I was from the tricking land, I could tell he wasn't lying. Slowly, cautiously I moved forward, ever muscle ready to drop everything and flee at a moment's notice. I noticed then that the center column wasn't smooth. In fact when he had said 'in the center column' he had told the exact truth.
He was embedded halfway into the pillar of black crystal. Crystal flowed over his upper arms and shoulders as well as his ankles and upper thighs. He was seamlessly part of the structure, and there was no way to break drained crystal. I felt sorry for him, but only a little bit.
"Are you surprised?" he asked softly.
I shook my head. "A little but I suppose I should have expected something like this considering what you did."
"Considering what they think I did." He corrected.
I stared at him, he stared back. If that's the way he wants it. I stuffed the torch into a holder meant for a pole torch but it worked.
"I've got a question."
"And you think I have the answer?"
"Yes."
"Well what's the question?"
"How do you change a human into a fae?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"A.friend of mine, is human. They're afraid of dying."
"If you don't tell me the truth I won't help you."
Oh man! If he ever got out he would know it was me then. "A friend of mine, is human."
I took a deep breath, may this never come back to me. "She loves a fae, fae can only marry."
"Another fae." He finished.
"Yes." I confirmed. "Sooo.."
"Well.it requires a lot of power and a specific ritual."
"What are they?" I pressed.
He tried to shrug and found that he couldn't simply waved a hand. "I don't remember."
"WHAT?" I flung my arms into the air. "You don't remember? You're supposed to be the most powerful fae to exist, ever! You were the only one strong enough to even kill the Lady Issais when none of the others could even scratch her!"
"I didn't kill her."
I stopped mid rant. "If you didn't then why are you here?"
"They were afraid of me."
"Obviously, if you killed her and since she was-"
"They feared me because I was powerful enough to, not because I did."
"So then if you didn't why is she dead?"
"Because she was in love."
"With Jareth, and that's why-"
"Because she wasn't in love with Jareth."
I sat down on the floor and then immediately stood as the cold began to seep into my skin. "I don't understand, explain."
"How well do you know the story?"
"As well as the next person."
"Very well. She was in love with another. As you know, she was from a long line of high elves, who are very devout and loyal when it comes to love. Issais was incredibly powerful when she helped make the underground for which all know her, she had a lover then, not me." he added pointedly.
"So why did she get betrothed then?"
"He died while the fae were sealing off the aboveground two thousand years ago. When the fight for the dominance of the council arose and Jareth, helped enormously by strategically crushing the dark empire and forcing them to form separate countries, banishing the evilest of the opposition, the council figured a fitting reward would be a bride seeing how with his kingdom and status no well born lady would want to marry him. Lady Issais had enough leverage to refuse all marriages that her father imposed for the diplomacy of the elves, but she could not refuse.
".the council for rewarding the hero of the war. Jareth."
"Correct. Elvish love is deep, especially that of the high elves. Issais expected to spend the rest of her life mourning her lover but continuing on eventually to become regent when her father decided to retire. To marry again would according to elvish customs dishonor her dead lover. She would rather die than lessen him any."
My breath was caught in my throat.
"And she did." He stated flatly.
"Being her closest friend and companion, she told me of her last wishes and the reason for her death before she gave herself the fatal wound. I waited until she passed and then summoned the guards as she had bid me to. I had a magically imbued parchment that had her written confession on it. Apparently, they couldn't find another problem to wed to a king they despised for being indebted to. They weren't happy Jareth had ended the war, they wanted to, and the fact that a country representing tricks cleverness had to intervene to end it for them. It was a great thorn in their side. However, all the other kings refused to offer up their daughters, Issais had scared them enough that they didn't want her to become a regent, and so would have sent her off. No others posed this threat however, so instead of having Issais suicide."
"They had her murdered." I whispered.
"And who better to pin the blame on than the messenger who was just as powerful and had the same rebellious views."
"But wouldn't the elvish King have taken your side? What about the magical note?"
"Destroyed, he wanted no quarrel with the new council."
"So all this time."
"Scapegoat, is the term I believe."
"Oh.so where can I find how to get enough power and the ritual?"
"Aboveground."
"Aboveground? Why up there?"
"Because that's where Issais died and left her journal."
"I thought you said she took her own life in the underground."
"She did, she made herself a mortal because. . ."
"Fae can only marry fae."
The back of the Labyrinth doors are actually painted to look like just another part of the wall. If you're not watching carefully the outer wall will move past you too, so that you can walk the whole perimeter of the Labyrinth and completely miss it by the first five steps. Even for citizens of the Labyrinth, it's a difficult feat.
In the end I wound up talking to the wall moss to find the way. It turned out to be only a couple feet behind us, you have no idea the level of embarrassment that causes. Finding the dwarf after that was an easy task, asking him was more difficult.
"Hey! You're the de-fairy person right?"
He was short and stout and carrying too many glittery things for anyone outside the Labyrinth. Inside you're safe from thieves, not outside though.
"Yeah, what of it?"
Gruff was right. "Does that spray harm the bushes? I've got some fairies in a tree of mine, what do you use as far as the stuff goes?"
This got his attention. Nothing works like asking for help, although it takes a bite out of your pride. "Wells ya see, I use the natural water from fiery forest since the two hate each other."
"Does it hurt the plants? Fiery forest is a bit.chaotic."
"Yeah, well. Here outside it don't matter as much. If you really worry about it, you can use the stuff I do. It's special I get it free from his majesty himself."
"Wow really? Can I have some?" I asked sweetly. "His majesty's been all out of sorts lately. The Labyrinths been changing, and streams rerouting themselves, crazy as anything. Seems kind of reckless to me, he really needs to get married or something. He's been moping about since.what's her name."
"Sarah?" he asked trying to appear uncaring as he picked up the same bottle for the third time.
"Yeah that girl." I replied stretching out on Kestrel's branch. "Really put him off I guess. Dang how I wish things could get back to normal."
"Yeah, yeah. Me too." He muttered. "Ah here you go."
I watched with amusement as he pulled the same bottle out that he had been shifting around in the head sized bag. I struggled not to grin as I leaned down between the cleft in the two branches to take it from him. "Hey thanks, good luck on your de-fairying."
Kestrel was lumbering away when I heard him mutter. "The king can't marry any but fae though."
We were back in the Labyrinth and everyone sighed with relief once we were past that first narrow hallway. Me because it meant I had gotten away with it, them because the stone hurt their roots. The new issue had arose though, to marry a fae king you had to be fae. I could have hit myself. Actually I did, because it was just such an obvious thing that I shouldn't have missed.
Well duh, otherwise you get crossbreed kids and that means trolls. Most of the darker sides of the fae were products of a cross species coupling. This would never work if she was human and I knew his majesty wouldn't become human himself, because his responsibility to the kingdom. So Sarah would have to become a fae.
That would require a shitload of power.
Power that you-know-who didn't have.
I knew someone who might though. But.
But.
I started down the steps with a torch the instant the clock hit twelve. Twelve, not thirteen was the witching hour. So many people forgot that, but it had always been twelve when magic was at its weakest, most frail, and most breachable. I wasn't going to tempt fate though, by using a magical light in a place that was completely devoid of magic, and devoid of magic for a good reason.
The cold glassy black stone felt like ice under my bare feet. I knew it was light crystal completely stripped of it's magic and loosing it's bright blue glow in the process to leave a hollow black tinted shell. I hoped I didn't have enough magic from the peaches to trigger an alarm, or let him get loose.
Kaeun was kept here. Imprisoned in the dark crystal temple, made specifically for him by the council, and Jareth.
Kaeun was the only fae to kill another fae. A fae lady too, Jareth's betrothed to be specific. They had imprisoned him here to pay for his crime, but they wouldn't kill him to repeat the sacrilege that he had committed. Jareth's betrothed, the Lady Issais was the most powerful in the underground. Kaeun was her playmate as a child, they grew up together. When he found out that she was betrothed to Jareth, he killed her rather than let Jareth have her.
He really brought to light the darker side to fae, but to kill lady Issais whom was rumored to be untouchable. He probably could have destroyed the council if they hadn't acted so swiftly.
My next step met level, the stairs had ended. My torch brought into sharp relief the inside of the chamber. It was like a cylinder with thirteen columns in a ring around the center where a lone column stood. All of it laboriously cut out of drained crystal. No grass or plants grew for a five- mile radius from here. It would take me all night to walk back to the Labyrinth.
It was forbidden to be here.
It was forbidden to see him.
It was forbidden to talk to him.
It was forb-Pear. And Sarah.
"Hello?"
My voice disappeared almost instantly, as if the crystal soaked it up. I was on the verge of declaring his death and running out of there. If it had echoed I probably would have run, the fact that it didn't was a definite sign I should have run. I didn't.
"Hello." I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was just as I thought it would sound, calm and confident, but curious too. Not surprised. That shook me most of all.
"Where are you?" I whispered lifting the torch higher and glancing around. I couldn't see him anywhere, in fact now that I thought about it I didn't know if he was tied to the floor or merely trapped in the room which meant he could be behind me. Hastily I backtracked a couple feet until I was back on the steps.
"In the center column."
I was from the tricking land, I could tell he wasn't lying. Slowly, cautiously I moved forward, ever muscle ready to drop everything and flee at a moment's notice. I noticed then that the center column wasn't smooth. In fact when he had said 'in the center column' he had told the exact truth.
He was embedded halfway into the pillar of black crystal. Crystal flowed over his upper arms and shoulders as well as his ankles and upper thighs. He was seamlessly part of the structure, and there was no way to break drained crystal. I felt sorry for him, but only a little bit.
"Are you surprised?" he asked softly.
I shook my head. "A little but I suppose I should have expected something like this considering what you did."
"Considering what they think I did." He corrected.
I stared at him, he stared back. If that's the way he wants it. I stuffed the torch into a holder meant for a pole torch but it worked.
"I've got a question."
"And you think I have the answer?"
"Yes."
"Well what's the question?"
"How do you change a human into a fae?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"A.friend of mine, is human. They're afraid of dying."
"If you don't tell me the truth I won't help you."
Oh man! If he ever got out he would know it was me then. "A friend of mine, is human."
I took a deep breath, may this never come back to me. "She loves a fae, fae can only marry."
"Another fae." He finished.
"Yes." I confirmed. "Sooo.."
"Well.it requires a lot of power and a specific ritual."
"What are they?" I pressed.
He tried to shrug and found that he couldn't simply waved a hand. "I don't remember."
"WHAT?" I flung my arms into the air. "You don't remember? You're supposed to be the most powerful fae to exist, ever! You were the only one strong enough to even kill the Lady Issais when none of the others could even scratch her!"
"I didn't kill her."
I stopped mid rant. "If you didn't then why are you here?"
"They were afraid of me."
"Obviously, if you killed her and since she was-"
"They feared me because I was powerful enough to, not because I did."
"So then if you didn't why is she dead?"
"Because she was in love."
"With Jareth, and that's why-"
"Because she wasn't in love with Jareth."
I sat down on the floor and then immediately stood as the cold began to seep into my skin. "I don't understand, explain."
"How well do you know the story?"
"As well as the next person."
"Very well. She was in love with another. As you know, she was from a long line of high elves, who are very devout and loyal when it comes to love. Issais was incredibly powerful when she helped make the underground for which all know her, she had a lover then, not me." he added pointedly.
"So why did she get betrothed then?"
"He died while the fae were sealing off the aboveground two thousand years ago. When the fight for the dominance of the council arose and Jareth, helped enormously by strategically crushing the dark empire and forcing them to form separate countries, banishing the evilest of the opposition, the council figured a fitting reward would be a bride seeing how with his kingdom and status no well born lady would want to marry him. Lady Issais had enough leverage to refuse all marriages that her father imposed for the diplomacy of the elves, but she could not refuse.
".the council for rewarding the hero of the war. Jareth."
"Correct. Elvish love is deep, especially that of the high elves. Issais expected to spend the rest of her life mourning her lover but continuing on eventually to become regent when her father decided to retire. To marry again would according to elvish customs dishonor her dead lover. She would rather die than lessen him any."
My breath was caught in my throat.
"And she did." He stated flatly.
"Being her closest friend and companion, she told me of her last wishes and the reason for her death before she gave herself the fatal wound. I waited until she passed and then summoned the guards as she had bid me to. I had a magically imbued parchment that had her written confession on it. Apparently, they couldn't find another problem to wed to a king they despised for being indebted to. They weren't happy Jareth had ended the war, they wanted to, and the fact that a country representing tricks cleverness had to intervene to end it for them. It was a great thorn in their side. However, all the other kings refused to offer up their daughters, Issais had scared them enough that they didn't want her to become a regent, and so would have sent her off. No others posed this threat however, so instead of having Issais suicide."
"They had her murdered." I whispered.
"And who better to pin the blame on than the messenger who was just as powerful and had the same rebellious views."
"But wouldn't the elvish King have taken your side? What about the magical note?"
"Destroyed, he wanted no quarrel with the new council."
"So all this time."
"Scapegoat, is the term I believe."
"Oh.so where can I find how to get enough power and the ritual?"
"Aboveground."
"Aboveground? Why up there?"
"Because that's where Issais died and left her journal."
"I thought you said she took her own life in the underground."
"She did, she made herself a mortal because. . ."
"Fae can only marry fae."