Underneath the Crystal Moon
a/n: I do not own Labyrinth. This chapter starts a week after the last one. And PixieDust05 – thanks so much for your reviews! I usually email all my reviewers every chance I get, but your email is not on your profile so I cannot. The pen name WickedGame is after the song you more than likely were speaking of by Chris Isaak. One of my favorite songs, it plays on my blog. My blog is on myspace, and the link to my profile there is in my profile. If you wanna know more about my reason for choosing it then gimme an email! Okay, done rambling. Onto chapter 11, and folks, we are hitting the home stretch here. Maybe 2 or 3 more chapters after this one, then the epilogue.
Part Three: Eamon
Chapter 11
It was a week later that Prince Damien rode into the courtyard of the Ice Palace. Dante whinnied and reared just a little before Damien dismounted. A guard detail approached him, twenty men in all.
"Captain Corcer at your service, Your Highness. At Her Majesty's request, we ask that you hand over all weapons immediately," it was not a request, but an order. Damien sighed, but obeyed nonetheless. It was not a matter worth fighting over.
The guards flanked him on either side as he made his way to the throne room. As he entered he spied Queen Carla and Princess Celinda sitting on the raised dais at the head of the room. They looked different. Carla looked older, and even more stoic. Celinda looked melancholy, and her sweet, talkative nature was nowhere to be seen. Damien quickly kneeled on the seal embedded in the floor, not daring to approach further.
"Rise, Prince Damien," Carla bade him.
Damien did as he was told, "Did Your Majesty receive word I would be coming?"
"Yes. Our understanding is that you wish to know where your brother rode, in order to try and figure out what happened, is that correct?" Carla asked him.
"It is our belief that something happened out there that changed my brother. I am here to investigate, nothing more," Damien explained.
"Your brother," Carla almost spat out the term, "Rode due east. He was gone approximately three hours. He could have circled around at any point, but I believe he rode out deep into the forest. I have kindly thought to prepare a room for you, and you will find furs for both you and your horse in that room. I suggest you retire there for the rest of the day, and set out in the morning," Queen Carla said.
"I take it I will be dining in my room also?" Damien asked, a little harshly. He had never done anything to her, and he did not understand her animosity towards him. He could understand her being mad at his brother, or even his father, but he did not have anything to do with this unfortunate affair.
"You may take it to be so," Queen Carla affirmed his assumption.
"Then, by your leave Your Majesty, I will ask to go to my room," Damien said coldly.
"Captain? Please show His Highness to his room," Queen Carla ordered the captain who had brought Damien into the palace. Captain Corcer bowed, and Damien followed him out of the throne room.
The next morning, Damien and Dante departed the castle and rode east. The only real dangerous thing about the Ice Lands was the ice. It could deceive. You never knew when you were over water or over land. And the snow drifts could be a real nuisance. But Damien could see the forest far in the distance. He estimated it at about two leagues away. Assuming Eamon had been trotting his horse in no hurry; that would seem about right. He would more than likely be exploring the forest for the majority of the day. He would need to head back before dark so that he did not freeze to death. He urged his horse into an urgent canter, and rode east.
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Damien finally stopped his horse about an hour or so later in front of the silvering forest. The trees were turned silver with frost, and the icicles hung thickly. Snow was piled up against the trees, and there was not a leaf in sight.
"Well, Damien, let's find out exactly what happened," Damien said to himself, his voice sounding foreign in this place.
He rode on, walking his horse as he criss-crossed through the forest, looking for something, anything, that would help solve the mystery.
The sun was starting to get a little too low for Damien's taste when he finally found it: a spot where a statue lay in ruins. Made of marble, it looked like. The area crackled with magic similar to his own, and also a magic he had never felt before.
"This statue is the key," Damien muttered. He conjured a large crystal, and placed all the pieces of the statue inside of it with his magic. He enchanted the crystal to float behind him until they reached the palace. He hopped back on Dante and took off, eager to piece together the puzzle.
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It was late when he pulled in, and the sun had almost gone all the way down. He slid off his horse, and the crystal floated next to him. Captain Corcer came out to meet him. He looked at the crystal a little incredulously.
"Captain, is there a room where I can work on reconstructing this statue?" Damien asked the stunned captain.
"Well, if you are of a mind, we can place a large table in the library. It will be quiet, and you will have reference materials at your disposal," Corcer pointed out.
"Lead the way," Damien said as he handed Dante's reins to a stablehand.
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The next morning Damien sat in a squashy armchair and looked at the statue standing in front of him. He took in the long hair with bells at the ends. He studied in the exotic mask. He was amazed by the talons at the hands and feet. He still did not know what to make of it.
"Who are you?" Damien asked. Just then the door opened, and Carla walked in. Damien stood and bowed to her. She walked silently over to the statue, resplendent in a silver gown with long bell sleeves. Her pale hair hung loose down her back as she ran a finger over the cracks in the statue.
"Where did you find this?" Carla asked, a little awed.
"In the forest where Eamon rode to. He was there, his magic was present in the air. But there was another magic there, one I have never felt before," Damien told her.
"You wouldn't have. It is otherwordly magic. This is Erebus," Carla told Damien.
"Erebus?"
"Sit down," Carla gestured back to the squashy chair, "This may take a while. This story begins where almost all stories begin, a long time ago. My ancestor of some ten thousand plus years, Queen Coventina, was not the brightest of queens. She liked to dabble in magic she knew nothing of. Once day she miscast a summoning magic, and that was when Erebus showed up. It is said that he came from a placed called Hades, although I have no clue what this land is, or where it is. Well, Erebus caused a panic. He had no conscience, no sense of right and wrong. He would kill someone for looking at him the wrong way, and never feel like he did anything wrong. He had no feelings except his primal urges. Once he killed Queen Conventina, a group of powerful Fae, including the High Lord from back then, hired a sculpter by the name of Caradoc to sculpt the likeness of Erebus as quickly as he could. This statue is the selfsame one. The Fae circled it, and cast a powerful spell to make it what one calls a reliquary. It would house Erebus' spirit indefinitely. All he needed to do was to touch it. They all became groveling fools and went to Erebus, claiming they had come to worship him so much that they had sculpted his likeness, and oh, wouldn't he love to see the sculpture and give it his blessing. Erebus acted on his primal feeling of pride and vanity and agreed. Once he touched the statue he was sucked into it," Carla paused, not knowing how to go on.
"But not everything lasts forever. The magic must have grown weak over the eons to have Erebus strong enough to break out of it. But how?" Damien asked.
"I do not know. Only Erebus knows. I actually came in here to tell you I have had word from your family. The person going by Eamon is Erebus. Eamon is not in the Underground. No one knows where the real Eamon is. They imprisoned the doppelganger after he tried to attack Princess Phoenix. They ask you to return to the Goblin City posthaste," Carla told Damien with a sigh.
"I'm truly sorry about what happened to your daughter," Damien said as he started to walk out of the room, "I am going to rest until tomorrow, and then I will take my leave"
"Thank you Damien," Carla told him. He knew that would be the closest thing to an apology he would get from the Ice Queen. He nodded and walked out.
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Eamon held Rhiannon close as the lake water lapped over them. It was dark outside, but the water was still warm from the sun that day. They were treading in water that was about ten feet deep.
"I do not think I have ever seen a prettier sight than you, in the water, naked, in the moonlight," Eamon told Rhiannon. She laughed as he smoothed her hair away from her face.
"You say that about every time I am naked, which by the way, seems to be most of the time lately," Rhiannon chided her beloved.
"Can't keep my hands off of you," Eamon teased her as he pinched her butt. Rhiannon yelped.
"Well, at this rate we will be lucky if I do not get pregnant," Rhiannon reminded him.
Eamon had not thought of that. Rhiannon watched his face pale.
"I do not think I am pregnant Eamon, don't worry," Rhiannon assured him, rolling her eyes.
Eamon felt a little ashamed of his reaction. He hugged Rhiannon tight in the water.
"I love you. I'm going to miss you so much when I am gone," Eamon whispered in her ear.
"I thought we agreed to not talk about that?" Rhiannon asked him. She did not like to be reminded of the bitter fact that he would be leaving in two weeks.
"Change of subject. Do you think they have ever figured out what happened to me?" Eamon asked Rhiannon.
"If they are smart they have," Rhiannon told him as she started to swim for shore. Eamon followed, and they both stepped naked, onto the small private beach that Rhiannon owned. They toweled off and grabbed their flashlights to make their way back up the trail to the cabin.
"Hey, in a week we can go back to civilization!" Rhiannon said cheerfully as they walked up the trail.
"Back to pizza!" Eamon said cheerfully. He missed pizza.
"When we get back I will make sure you learn how to make pizza, that way you can go back and tell your cooks how to make it," Rhiannon told him.
"Now that would be a feat in of itself. Telling a goblin how to make anything, that's tricky business," Eamon told her.
"What are the goblins like?" Rhiannon asked him.
"They are okay. They vary in size, but I have never seen one over three feet tall. They have big ears, and they have a small amount of hair that sticks out everywhere. They are not too intelligent, but they have their moments. Resilient too, or else my father would not be able to kick them everywhere," Eamon laughed out loud.
"What's the most awesome Goblin King like?" Rhiannon asked, stepping over a troublesome log.
"A rock star," Eamon said sarcastically.
Rhiannon stopped in her tracks, "A rock star?"
"Everyone is always enthralled by him. He is like a legend, although not as much as my mother. She's infamous. See my hair? His is more…flamboyant. It sticks out more, and has streaks of different colors. He has markings on his eyes that look like eyeshadow, but they really match the markings on his owl form. He looks a little colder than I do. He is a man of words, but most Fae would say his tongue is sharper than any sword," Eamon told her, and they continued to walk.
"Would they like me?" Rhiannon asked him. The question had been burning in her brain for a while now.
"Oh, honey. My mom would love you. My Dad would be intrigued. He always was intrigued by mortals," Eamon told her.
They walked in silence until they reached the cabin.
As Rhiannon fell asleep that night she had these repeating thoughts in her head:
Please let it be enough. Please let it work. I can't lose him.