Underneath the Crystal Moon
a/n: I do not own Labyrinth. I am sorry about the fact that this is so late tonight, I am just really busy right now. My sister-in-law's car broke down and I have been shuttling her and my husband around in our tiny car. Also, I will not be updating again until Thursday. I am trying to finish chapter 4 of this, and I have gotten most of chapter 5 written I think. I feel I have kind of lost a lot of my audience after Phoenix's story ended….I hope to gain some of them back soon.
Part Two: Damien
Chapter 2
Damien's stallion, Dante, came to a full stop in front of a gigantic, ancient tree. The castle of the Queen of the Trees was a wooden fortress, embedded in the massive trunk. He dismounted and inhaled the fresh scents that permeated the air around him.
A dryad came to meet him, dressed in naught but a small green tunic, belted at the waist. She was barefoot, and had an arrow drawn back in its bow. She had it aimed for his heart.
"Who are you?" she asked rudely.
"Prince Damien of the Goblin Kingdom, and I am here to see Her Majesty," Damien told the dryad with a dangerous glint in his mismatched eyes, his father's eyes.
The dryad lowered her bow and fingered the arrowhead thoughtfully, "Xen is expecting you," she told him, and made a motion to follow her. He saw a petite figure come out onto the balcony. She was dressed in light green gauze, with a coronet of flowers and leaves on her reddish blonde head. Her hair was curly, and looked as if nothing had ever dried it but the air around her.
"Your Majesty, Prince Damien is here to see you. After you are done with him, can I have him?" the dryad asked, pretending he was not even there. Either that or she did not care he was there.
"Xdrea, hush. King Jareth would be furious if anything happened to one of his children," the Queen of the Trees admonished the dryad, "Don't worry about Xdrea, Your Highness. She gets a bit antsy sometimes"
Damien offered her a curt bow before speaking.
"Perfectly okay, Your Majesty. Where should I take my things?"
"Come inside Damien. Xdrea will show you a room," Queen Xen disappeared from the balcony.
Xdrea made that same motion for him to follow her, and Damien walked silently into the castle. It was warm and cozy. The wood muffled the noises they made as they travelled. They walked up and up until they got to a landing where there was a white door.
"This is your room. I am sure the queen will show you around when she has the time," Xdrea opened the door for him. The room was in good taste. The wood was all blackwood, and was elegantly designed. Most of the fabrics were a combination of green and brown. There was a window that looked west, towards his home. There was a bathroom on the north side, with a large tub. He was relieved that not absolutely everything was made of wood. The bathtub was made of a natural stone, and looked very inviting.
"Go ahead and get comfortable," the dryad said, and then she disappeared around the corner. Damien sat down on the bed and contemplated the Queen of the Trees.
Damien had seen her before, of course. Had met her once. They were technically neighbors, but Damien was away a lot. He remembered he had first met her when she had been staying with them after his father had found her. He had only been a baby then, but she looked the same then as she did now. Dryads were a very long-lived species. They were like humans in almost every aspect, down to most of their anatomy. Their skin tended to be olive-tinged, and their hair was always a shade of red, from light to dark. Their eyes were almost always hazel or brown. Queen Xen had brown eyes.
Damien had been just a baby when he met her for the first time. Their mother had trained them well, even in the womb. His mother had been sitting in the room where Xen had been sleeping. She had been nursing him. When he pulled away she picked him up and went over to the bed to check on Xen.
"Look Damien, this is Xen. She was hurt by some evil dwarves. She's very pretty. You will get to know her when you get older," Sarah told her young son. The baby stared seriously at the dryad lying in the bed. The dryad opened her eyes and looked directly at Damien.
"What a pretty baby," was all the dryad said before she shut her eyes again and went back to sleep.
Damien had seen her again at the party where his Uncle Toby and Princess Cara had gotten engaged. She had been wearing a costume resembling a butterfly. The dress she had worn was done in rich shades of black, brown, and orange. There was no denying she was pretty. Almost all dryads were pretty. They were related to the forest nymphs, and forest nymphs were known to be irresistible. He knew that not a few goblins had fallen prey to some nymph's charms in the Labyrinth before his mother had vaporized them all.
He settled down to wait.
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Queen Xen let out a deep breath she had been holding. He was a tall Fae male. She had seen him before, but she had never really looked at him. And he would be living in her castle for an indeterminate amount of time. King Jareth had offered to let Damien come stay to help her reorganize her kingdom and survey the land. She needed the help too. She had no idea how many subjects there were even left for her to rule.
Xen knew she needed an heir. She needed more than one actually. She needed a male to mate with her. But god, that was the one thing she was terrified of. As a dryad, she should feel no squeamishness, but as a rape victim it was all she feared and more. The insomnia, the nightmares. She feared males. She would have to get over it. And what would any male say about the scars on her body? The one on her right eyebrow was the least of them. She had one on her left arm, three inches long and deep. It had been an infected gash when she had been rescued. One particularly cruel dwarf had taken a knife to the undersides of her small breasts and cut into the skin, following the curve of the breast. She had trembled in fear he would take the whole breast. Lucky for her, those infections had not resulted in any necrosis. And there was another scar on the inside of her right thigh, where a dwarf had threatened her with a special kind of castration if she did not do what he said. What would any man say about these signs, these testimonials that she had been used?
Damien was tall, and imposing. He had those eyes he shared with his father, the mismatched color. His hair was like his mother's, straight and dark. The tips were a white blonde. He wore it back, Xen knew, so she could not tell exactly how long it was. He was muscular, and everything about him screamed dark. She knew he was a man of few words. Sarah had told her that when she had gone to the Goblin Kingdom to see Toby and Cara get engaged.
To be a strong queen she would need to know how to handle being around men like Damien without losing it, and without showing her fear. She would need to act like a queen and not a victim. She swallowed her objections and went to go see the prince down the hall.
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Damien stood when the queen walked into his chambers. She just stepped in, trying to look as confident as possible. She was so small compared to him. He gave her a bow.
"Prince Damien, I am so glad you could come to help me out. It is a little late in the day to begin anything really. I wanted to ask about your family though before I leave you for the evening. How are they?" Xen asked.
"Fine," Damien said. Xen knew he was not talkative, but really!
"How is your mother?"
"Pregnant. Due in about a month or so. Something like that," Damien shrugged.
This is going to take a long time if he keeps being so quiet, "And your father?"
"Good"
Ugh, "And your sister?"
"Which one?"
"Phoenix"
"She's okay, she got engaged to a mortal that was wished away to us. He's an okay guy"
"And Tanwen?"
"Schooling"
"Prince Eamon?"
"Still a goof off"
Xen gave up at that point. A man of few words. A gorgeous man of few words, but a man of few words just the same, "Well, Your Highness, I am going to take my leave. I will send someone to wake you in the morning. We need to get an early start"
"Not necessary"
Xen looked at him surprised, but just nodded and turned to leave. Maybe this was not such a good idea.
Too late for that now, she chided herself.