A Prophecy Speaks
a/n: I do not own labyrinth.
Chapter 32 –or- An Adventure for Hoggle
Hoggle looked around him right after the bubble popped. He knew this must be the Tree kingdom. There were giant trees everywhere, some as large as castles. He was not familiar with the rocky terrain but he managed.
He spied a dryad nearby and went to talk to her. Hoggle tried to put on his gruffest face. Suddenly the dryad spun around and pointed an arrow at his chest.
"Why aren't you at the castle?", the dryad asked.
"I gots lost. Uh, where's do I go?", he asked the dryad, trying to sound convincing. The dryad sighed and pointed to the South. Hoggle continued to walk, the fake sound of chain mail becoming very annoying.
Xandra's castle was built from the trunk of a huge tree. It spiraled around the tree and had many levels. But he knew what he was looking for – a large group of dwarves standing underneath a balcony. All of Xandra's subjects seemed to be there too. There were nymphs so beautiful they could make you cry, sprites having mischievous fun, and more dryads like the one he had met in the forest, fiddling with their arrows and looking for something to shoot. They all fell silent as Xandra came out and stood at its railing. A large dwarf enveloped in chain mail and wearing a heavy crown came out to join her. His hair was black as night, and was intricately braided. Hoggle just knew that he was Nogrod the Usurper, and that did not mean anything good for Hoggle.
"Subjects!", Nogrod called, "The so-called Queen of the Goblins has sent Her Majesty a letter, asking for her to come to talk about the threat to her kingdom! That mongrel bitch does not know what she is talking about! She is the threat, her unclean soul sullying the purest Fae bloodlines. I will not stand for it! I will not suffer her to live! I will kill all that she loves and all that she holds dear!", Nogrod shouted to the crowd and they began to whoop and holler.
"By the time the dwarves get back to the border of the Dragonlands the Goblin King and his army will be on their way there. While they are being slaughtered by My Lord Nogrod's army, I will march you, my subjects, into the Labyrinth to enslave and subdue, and then I will kill every single noble in that castle, including the mongrel bitch who sullied the once-great Goblin King. She may have magic, but I have more. I am more powerful than she could ever hope to be, and I will kill her. When Overking Nogrod comes marching up to the gates I will have Goblin City tied up in a bow. We will have pure Fae heirs once again, and the Underground will be ours!", Xandra shouted. Her subject cheered.
Hoggle could have not been more disgusted. Sarah was pure Fae, she had been transformed. What was this about? Why had Xandra turned traitor? He was about to leave when he got swept up in a sea of dwarves, and was set to march.
He had marched a ways before he saw no one was watching him. He hobbled over to a bush and pulled out the crystal sphere.
"Hoggle is Hoggle's friend", he whispered, and the world spun.
When it stopped spinning he looked at his familiar surroundings. And then he ran, ran like a bat out of hell to tell his Queen and best friend what he had discovered.
It was dark when he reached the castle. He approached the doors and spoke to the guard in a breathless voice.
"I be needing to speak with Her Majesty, Sarah", he told the guard. The guard nodded and let Hoggle into the castle and led him into the audience chamber.
Hoggle was only there for a few minutes when the nobles came pouring out of a hallway. He immediately bowed, and was surprised when Sarah lifted him up and handed him a glass of water. He chugged it down and felt himself breathe easier.
"That Xandra is a traitor", Hoggle stated. Sarah sat down on her chair, and everyone else took a seat. Everyone else was muttering, only Sarah looked unsurprised.
"What proof do you have that our sister queen is a traitor?", Queen Carys asked gently.
"My word", Sarah stated, "I sent Hoggle, in disguise, to the Tree kingdom to confirm my fears. I had sent a message to Xandra last night, asking her to return here to discuss the threat to her kingdom. I did not receive a message back from her. I became suspicious. Xandra has been coming and going from here ever since I arrived. She went out of her way to be with me constantly, and insured Jareth and I would conceive immediately after we were married. And then, after that was finished, the queen who had been so close to me and Jareth just up and disappeared. It felt wrong, and I got suspicious. Sometime an enemy wears the mask of a friend", Sarah explained.
"Tell us what you found out, sir dwarf", King Danol suggested.
"I ain't no sir I can tell you that Your Majesty. I just did what Her Majesty told me to is all. Sarah here sent me by one of those little bubbles to right outside Willowsbark. I found a dryad and she asked me why I was not at the castle. I told her I got lost…", Hoggle recounted what he had seen and heard while in the Tree kingdom. When he was done face were mottled with anger and some just looked plain sad. Jareth was the first to speak.
"So, she plans on invading when we get too far away to do anything. She wants to kill my wife and unborn children, as well as Carla, Cara, Toby and Aaron. She wants to take over my kingdom and leave it in a bow for Nogrod the Usurper", he said with cold calmness. The room became very cold. Sarah laid a hand on his arm, and it eased.
"Xandra may invade, but she will not win. I know this in my heart of hearts. I will have a quarter of the goblins, my friends, Queen Carla, and I will be here. And I can guarantee, she will not get past me", Sarah said emphatically. Jareth looked at her like she was insane. Didn't she know how powerful Xandra was?
Carys noticed Jareth's confusion and sadness.
"Sarah, did you tell him?", Carys asked her.
"Tell me what?", Jareth asked Sarah. Sarah shook her head.
"Jareth", Carys told him, "Sarah got more than she bargained for when she was turned by the prophecy. If there is a time for the truth that time is now. I have a rare gift. Not as rare as Sarah's ability to communicate with her unborn children, but rare enough. I can feel how much power someone has. I can tell what kind of power. Sarah is more powerful than all of us. Even you. And also," Carys took a deep breath, "Sarah is a Lady of the Flame"
The room was full of noise all of a sudden, and then Sarah's voice rang out.
"I'm a what!", Sarah exclaimed.
"A Lady of the Flame. Those who possess the power of the Flame within themselves. They are very powerful. Almost no one survives a confrontation with a Lady when she has grasped the power. It takes a great amount of emotion to grab it at first, but over time you would learn to control it. But if you are as powerful as Carys says, I doubt you will need it", Danol told her, "And a Lady has not been born here for a very long time"
Jareth had taken on a very pale tone and was sitting silently, fiddling with three crystals in his hand.
"So Xandra's a traitor, Hoggle is a spy, and Sarah is the most powerful Fae in the Underground right now", he said, "Well I'll be a firey's uncle".
Sarah turned to Carys.
"Carys? Have you ever seen Nogrod?", Sarah asked her, a light bulb going off.
"Sarah, even if I had, I would need to touch him in order to tell how powerful he is", Carys told her.
They all agreed to retire for the evening. Sarah instructed the maids that dinners were to be served in their rooms again tonight. Sarah made her way over to Hoggle and lifted him up on a pedestal so she could look him in the eye.
"You did a very dangerous and wonderful thing for me today Hoggle", Sarah told him.
"It was nothin'. I would have done it for you even if you wasn't Queen", Hoggle told her, looking a little bashful.
Sarah held out her hand and a beautiful golden sword appeared. The hilt was inlaid with diamonds and onyx, and the blade had etched words on the blade. Hoggle took a step back and almost fell to the floor.
"This is a ceremonial blade. I do not know if Jareth has one somewhere, but this will be mine. Kneel, Hoggle", Sarah commanded. The dwarf did as he was told. Sarah took the blade and touched it to one shoulder and then the other.
"For services to your Queen and your country I dub thee Sir Hoggle of the Goblin Kingdom. Rise, sir knight", Sarah told him. Hoggle had never been so embarrassed. Sarah kissed him on the cheeks even though she knew he did not like it. Hoggle waddled off into the night, back to his hut.
Sarah took Jareth's arm and vanished the blade.
"That was well done Sarah. I didn't think to do it myself", Jareth told her.
"Well, let's go back to our rooms and you can tell me how many other good ideas I have", Sarah smiled at her husband as they went upstairs.