"Very clever," Luka complimented, "Sending my former lover to talk sense into me. I should have expected it."
"You did not expect it?" Jareth didn't move from his comfortable place at the table and sipped at his glass of viraag. "Why ever not?"
"I thought you would keep your ward as far away from me as possible," Luka explained, "Dishonour being such a disagreeable state for someone about to become your brother."
"He told you, I see."
"He told me a lot. He also told me you blinded him."
Jareth didn't react. He just waited, very patiently, for Luka to finish.
Not that the fae was allowing his feelings to get the better of his senses either. His voice was steady and he gave no sign of wanting to kill either himself or Jareth to escape the latter's presence. "Of course, he said it was his fault and that he had said certain unforgivable things to you to merit such a retaliation. I chose not to try to show him the truth."
"The truth is subjective," Jareth dismissed, "The truth is that Toby is completely right… as far as he is concerned." Luka still needed a villain. The Goblin King did not mind providing it. "The question is what am I to do with you?"
The guards were waiting within in the pretty sitting room, on edge because the both of them had knew Luka since he was a young child and the both of them were experiencing a distinctive dilemma. Why had the Goblin King- having already shown signs of severe nastiness as far as Luka was concerned- brought the prisoner out to a sitting room to share breakfast with him? Moreover, why had he supplied the proper cutlery and bits that could make potentially damaging weapons? It was asking for trouble even if they did remember teaching Luka how to ride his first koern.
"Eat, Luka. I am sure the food they serve prisoners is awful," Jareth remarked, swallowing his mouthful and noticing how hungry his guest was. "Did they feed you at all?"
"You gave no orders to feed us," Luka said bluntly, "In point of fact, you told them to keep us alive but to make us uncomfortable. We were kept in absolute darkness, with no heat source, and no food or drink."
Jareth winced. "I should have guarded against that. You," he turned to the nearest guard, "See to it personally that every prisoner is tended as well as one of our own citizens might be. See that they have plenty to eat and drink. Provide them with enough light and warmth. Make sure their bedding is acceptable and changed every day. All of those who are injured are to have good medical attention and plenty of care. And then see that whatever Lord Gildred has done to them is treated as well. Anything else? Yes, they will all remain separated from any other living influence."
Luka saw it for what it was- more of a torment than a courteous treatment. Jareth wasn't being nice; he was giving the prisoners everything they needed to keep them healthy, just so he knew they would be in prime condition to suffer through whatever it was the future had in store for them. For the six assassins, it would mean visits from their own Lord- never a good thing for Gildred's legend was as an unforgiving master that did not take kindly to those who opposed him. For Luka, it could mean anything at all.
"All of you can go," Jareth ended, dismissing his guards outright.
They left, albeit reluctantly, and only because they were clearly ordered to do so.
"Tell me, Luka. What do you think I should do with you?"
The fae licked the sugar off his spoon in contemplative silence. "The law calls for an execution. The method of killing me is left to the discretion of the Goblin King. However, I would say that you should let me go, a free being with the favour of the Goblin King to protect his innocence."
"You want me to set you free."
"And clear my name, of course."
"Do you think I can do that?"
"Ask me your questions and I shall confess. I will give you the names of every mutineer that strove for your downfall and the downfall of the Outlands King as a bonus. I will stay away from Toby and I will leave this cursed place for a country over the Sea where I can do you no harm."
Jareth picked up his glass and sipped again, openly amused as he shook his head. "You know I will do no such thing as declare you innocent," he remarked, "Why should I? You led a battalion of assassins into my Castle with the express purpose of killing Lord Gildred and I. If that were not treason enough, you would have also killed the Council members, leaving the country without any government at all. I do not know how Gildred feels about his lieutenants being in danger, but I have a tiny spark of responsibility in my soul that tells me I should be very angry with you for being such a pest."
Luka flushed but he hadn't exactly hoped to be set free. As he had told Toby that afternoon in the forest, his part was to stay hidden away while Madigh led the assassins in battle. Then, when victory was assured and the Council and Jareth was either dead or injured- hopefully dead- Luka could step forward a few weeks later and help the faltering government back to shape. Along the way he could bring his own contacts into place and by the time anyone noticed that his story did not tally, he would have been firmly ensconced in the New Council. Hopefully, with the new King being a sullen child that he could lead easily. But then one afternoon had changed his mind. Toby had known. Luka knew Toby would not sit by and stay out of it. Toby had told him that under no circumstances would he see the Goblin King harmed in any way, even if he did agree that he was a bastard and a cancer. After that, the entire plan had deflated and Luka just could not be bothered.
"I can give you details," the fae sighed, "For that alone I should have some assurance."
Jareth considered it. "I have no desire to know the details," he informed his captive, "I think the entire thing was given far too much attention in the first place. You only performed because you thought you had an audience. Your audience will be taken away. You will not do it again."
Luka was startled. Audience indeed! As though he were a petulant youth who had defiantly refused to back down from a challenge. "But it will show you to be proactive, to be protecting your people," he exclaimed, "Why would you not want to know?
"My people will think what they like. Ultimately I am still King. They do not dare challenge my authority, especially since you have tried and failed. Hence, I have no interest in you beyond getting rid of you."
"Kill me, then." Luka picked up the knife in a temper and placed it to his wrist.
Jareth raised a cool, dark brow and cupped his chin in his hands. "I was going to release you instead," he admitted.
The knife stopped. "What?"
The smirk was slow in beginning, but once it made its presence felt there could be no doubt that Jareth had some scheme up his sleeve. "I do not want you. Toby is done with you and to be fair, all you do is corrupt my ward. Your elder brother would rather change his name than greet you as family. I could keep you here indefinitely but you simply take up space. So you may go."
"Go? Where am I to go?"
"There is land out there," Jareth commented, examining his nails, "Land which neither the Underground nor the Outlands have claimed. Wild territory that is said to be the haunt of those who can find no place in any civilized society. Those gangs might welcome you. Your mind is very like theirs."
"Am I… but surely…"
"I suggest that now the guards are gone, it will be a good time to grab that knife and make your escape. Gildred was right- you have declared yourself an outlaw. But as you fought him as well, you are a true outlaw as none have been for a long time. Be happy. You seem to be creating a legend around your name." Jareth chuckled quietly to himself, hands in his lap and his legs stretched out under the table. He didn't move from his comfortable position.
Luka looked at the knife still hovering over his wrist, looked at the smirking face across from him and was at a loss to think of his options. There were only two- stay, or go. But with Jareth, those could mean so many consequences. The Goblin King could be testing him, looking for a way to trap him even more than he already had. Luka didn't trust him but he wanted his freedom badly enough to consider that Jareth might be offering something more.
Jareth sighed and lowered his voice to a pleasant drawl- "Help," he said blandly, "Guards, guards. The prisoner is escaping. Help; help. What am I to do? A helpless king threatened by a knife. Guards. Oh, where are my guards?"
Luka was even more befuddled but the time to think had passed. He had to act now if he was to act at all. Picking up the knife, he rose from his place and Jareth tossed his black cloak unexpectedly at him with an almost kindly smile.
"Do not forget this," the Goblin King broke in, "Your sword is behind the couch and there is a pack beside the sword to keep you in food for several days. Go. Hurry. Guards, guards. He is escaping."
Luka looked at the knife, thought of how much he hated the Goblin King and the wild idea took him that he could really finish this, that Jareth had forgotten he was still capable of biting the hand that was trying to feed him for some unknown reason. So he took two steps closer and those eyes darkened and the room suddenly spun and fell away.
"I would not do that if I were you," Jareth warned softly.
Luka backed away in a panic and looked to where the pack and the sword came clattering down at his feet. The room had fragmented and the very walls themselves were floating away in a flurry of chaos-induced wind. Jareth's voice was everywhere, echoing like thunder as he repeated his expressionless call to the guards like a bored mantra. Over and over. Making his alibi while Luka was to escape. But those eyes… no one could mistake the ruthless murder in those eyes.
The window yawned like a chasm beside them both, black and stormy. It looked nothing like an escape route. But Luka took his pack and stuck the knife in his sword belt and took one last deep breath before he ran for it. Jumping lightly to the sill and then out. He fell. He felt himself fall. The window had been on the fourth floor. By rights he should break his back if not his head. But in an eternity and in no time at all- he could still hear the frenzied ticking of the clock from the sitting room- he landed on the grass and rolled instinctively into a ball to protect his bones. Rising swiftly from his soft landing and making for cover before he had had time to think, let alone plan.
He turned, looked back at the Castle, looking up to window and thought of Toby. But the affection was not worth a life, even when it had been at its peak. For Toby as much as for himself. Luka had quite loved him, but the fae was not the kind to keep any kind of sustained love. And this one was over. It had been… comfortable, and easy, but it was over.
He could almost hear Jareth's voice tell him that he was to stay away from Toby if he didn't want to have his flesh shredded painfully from his bones. He fled, sparing only a glance at the koern he slipped away to avoid.
Jareth looked out of the window and caught that flash of black. But those hooded cloaks really were amazing. Perhaps it was the training more than the cloaks, but those trained in Gildred's army were almost impossible to see in the darkness when they wore them. He smiled when he saw who had turned up on his doorstep.
Elban had heard all about the attack, of course, considering the whole country was talking about it. If the talk had not been enough, he had ridden early into the Goblin City and been assaulted by the sound of wailing mourners and the sight of public shrines set up outside the family homes of those that had not survived it. The healer had passed him in the street, looking tired and run off his feet. Beran had hailed him and offered to get him quicker to wherever it was he wanted to go. Being the softhearted dwarf that he was, Elban had not expected less. Being the single-minded forest sprite that Elban was, Beran had not expected Elban to go with them.
So it was that the first person into the door of the sitting room was the blurry green and white whirlwind that threw itself into the Goblin King's arms.
"As you can see," Jareth pointed out, "I am absolutely unharmed." He disentangled himself for good measure. With certain people, he didn't like to establish a relationship on touch; it was too much of a temptation when certain other situations arose.
Elban let him go but collapsed into a chair and fanned his heated face with his hand. "I was so worried," he panted, "We heard about the attack and one of the dwarves in the City mentioned something about the Lady Pandora. Is she alright?"
"Elban, hush. Quiet, now. She is fine." The forest sprite had certainly worked himself into a state. He was almost choking on his own breath. "Not a word! Just breathe. When you get your breath back, there is water here for you. Then you may ask me anything. But I can set your mind at rest- no one is hurt that you know. A lot of soldiers and most of the attackers, but no one else. Which reminds me!"
He unbent and went to the door, summoning the guards in a loud shout.
About four guards came running at full tilt, expecting someone to have been murdered.
"The prisoner escaped," Jareth said baldly, "Put out a notice that Luka is extremely dangerous and has a weapon. No one is to approach him. In my opinion he is mentally unbalanced and violent. Take guards to the City and station them around the Castle in case he tries to attack for some crazed reason."
"But, Sire! How did he…"
"He picked up the breadknife and jumped out the window," Jareth supplied helpfully.
"Then we should…"
"No," he snapped firmly, "We should do what I tell us to do."
The guards saluted and left. Jareth calculated that it would take an hour for Gibil to find out and run to tell Toby, after which, Toby would immediately be suspicious and come to find him. So he had an hour to think about the excuse that he would provide Toby. It was enough. And Elban would not… he turned around to find his best friend glaring balefully at him from over the lip of the glass of water.
"Something wrong?"
"You let him go," Elban accused, "You stupid fool! You let him go!"
"Me?" Jareth was openly horrified. "Are you accusing me of plotting to let a traitor to my people and a murderer walk free? Next you will accuse me of managing the attack myself. Really, Elban, you have too little faith in me."
"Drop the act, Jareth. I know you. Sit helplessly by while some little fae brandishes a knife? Crazed or not, you would not have let him walk out that door unless you wanted him to. You could have dropped him dead without more than a wish! What were you thinking?"
"I always think, Elban. It is, alas, a vice." Jareth sat down and delicately tapped his right temple. "I try not to think at all but then I begin to crave it again a few moments later."
"Jareth…"
"What would you have me say, Elban? I was hardly going to execute him. I can punish people, I can outlaw them, and I can torture them. But kill them in cold blood without personal provocation? I see no reason for such a wanton waste of life. The attack was a terrible thing to happen. The families have my sympathies and my thanks for what their loved ones gave their lives to protect. If they were to kill him, I would have no trial for murder for them."
Elban tilted his head. He liked to think that he knew Jareth better than anyone else. It was fair to say that no one knew him at all. Jareth was honest, but only after his own fashion, which made it hard to predict whether he was telling the truth or just his version of it. It made no sense to him that Jareth couldn't kill Luka. He knew several instances where he had feared Jareth would kill just for the sake of destroying something. The Goblin King had never taken kindly to people thwarting his easy existence and threatening his power. The general consensus was that he would kill anyone who tried it. Which made it impossible to understand this turn of events.
"I do not believe you," he settled on, "There is another reason. Simply because I know you have no compunctions with death or killing. You would justify it satisfactorily to yourself. And you would do it personally."
"I have no other explanation."
"Not true."
"You will have to think hard for a motive, then. I cannot supply you with fairytales."
"Jareth, the truth. Tell me the truth. I will not say a word. I will not ask again. Just tell me the reason you let Luka go after everything he did to you."
"Me?" Jareth sat down and looked very humoured by the thought. "He did nothing to me. He hurt everyone else but myself. It is no skin off my nose if he were to flee the country. Besides, with no outlaws, how are we to frighten the children into behaving?" He laughed to himself and finished off his glass of viraag quite happily. He poured himself a little more and drank that too, brushing his hands off as he finished his breakfast.
Elban was having an idea. They didn't often come, these flashes of insight. And this one had vanished before he could properly think it. But there was a reason that Jareth had let him go and it was not because it was a sudden fancy of his to see the other fae get loose. He was making no attempt to have him recaptured so it was nothing to do with prolonged torture and hunting him down. And why?
The Goblin King changed the subject. For the next hour or so, he went over the adoption papers that he had already drafted in his study. The document was long, but like most documents in the Underground it was straightforward and lacking in clever subtlety. Lawyers were not encouraged to split hairs over the meaning of certain words. Another person always witnessed the document and all parties involved signed it. Apart from that, it was just a matter of writing.
True enough, however, it was an hour before Toby knocked agitatedly on the door and demanded the explanation to such a shocking rumour. "How could he escape?" he shouted, "Why did you bring him here and put him in arm's reach of a knife? For pity's sake, are you insane? He could have killed you!"
Both males were over a hundred years old, and while they were aware of the usual custom in the Underground for not reading too much into things, it was very telling that the only reason Toby was upset was because he feared the danger to his guardian.
Elban suppressed a smile. He'd always had his suspicions about that. And true to his suspicions, Jareth hadn't a clue. From the look on his face he was more puzzled and resigned to Toby's possessive fussing. Elban thought it was sweet. And about time, too! After which a thought erupted- the two were about to become brothers. He choked on the bread in his throat and had to be patted on the back.
Toby softened his voice and apologized briefly for intruding on a private meeting. "Hello, Elban," he added belatedly, "Forgive all the yelling but I had a grievance to take up with His Majesty."
"Toby, I hardly thought he would use this symbol of goodwill to make his escape. Besides, he is the son of my predecessor. I could not, in all conscience, see him treated badly."
"Ha!" Toby didn't believe a word for it. Unlike Elban, however, he didn't have any other ideas why.
Elban did. He suddenly remembered the motive he had thought of and it was beginning to make a lot of sense. "Well, perhaps he did not want to hurt him," he said unexpectedly. Two sets of blank eyes looked at him. "When Luka was brandishing a knife, I mean," the forest sprite tried again, "Jareth's power can be unpredictable. He did not want to hurt him and so he hesitated. Luka used the moment to escape."
Toby looked at Jareth in frustrated enquiry. "I know I asked you not to hurt him, but giving him the chance to slit your throat was not what I meant."
The Goblin King blinked innocently at him and let him think what he wanted.
Eventually, Toby went away again, muttering about 'damned fae who had a death wish in the Wishing Lands'. Jareth sat down again with a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. "I have to leave. I have other work to do. Yava will have you taken to your room where you can freshen up. Any servant can lead you to the Lady Pandora's suite where she will regale you with the exciting tales of Jervohl's engagement and Madigh's unfortunate episode with a crossbow- in that order. Have dinner with me tonight? Just the two of us. Leave Beran to eat with the others."
Once again, Jareth was leaning on Elban for company. He only did that when there was something troubling him. That made Elban worry. "You did it for Toby, didn't you?" he asked, stopping him from leaving by holding up a hand, "He said he asked you for it."
"He asked me not to torture him."
"I cannot explain it. But the only motives that fit is either that Luka somehow convinced you to let him go or you did it for Toby. I have no idea why you would do it for Toby, but I think you did."
"Nonsense," Jareth laughed, leaving the room, "Of all the theories!"
Elban sat quietly in the room for a moment and thought about it. That look on Jareth's face: self-destructive again. He recognized it when he saw it. It meant that Jareth was doing something to cover something more important. And then Toby had turned his back and that other look had fallen into the mismatched eyes. The same look, Elban considered, that Jareth had used when he had started watching Sarah. Unconscious care and concern, unconscious preoccupation with everything surrounding the two of them.
And Toby! That telling fury! It was as obvious as Elban had ever seen it. And yet the last letter he had received from Pandora had said the two were only just starting to get along. She had hoped they would make better brothers than they had friends, hoped they could tolerate each other long enough to see the good that both possessed. From what Elban saw, they saw far too much good in each other and more than that besides!
Which left him facing a dilemma. How was he supposed to sign adoption papers if he thought they were in love with each other? Not that he considered it had grown to something as strong as love. Caring, yes. Possibly it might even end with just an attraction and that caring. They would remember it as something that had almost been the best thing. There was no means by which they could certainly make a life together. But Elban always considered that such things were worth trying. Toby was only alive because Jareth had loved Sarah. And whatever anyone else said, they were entitled as individuals to live their lives as they wanted. It didn't matter if Toby was Sarah's half-brother! Or whether Jareth had seduced the girl! Elban knew for a fact that he hadn't. He'd been slapped before he got close enough and had never tried again.
'If she wants me, she has to call. She will not listen until she is ready. I do not want her to be with me until she is ready. I can wait. She deserves the best and she shall have it.'
She had died.
Now Elban didn't consider that Toby would kill himself over love. The man wasn't like that. He didn't want love to change his life or his world. He wanted love to make things better, to fit into everything else. Jareth was not the obvious choice but it might work. If Toby didn't mind the constant changing and constant scheming, that went without saying. The mortal would have to shut his eyes and jump in with both feet, trusting the fae to look for the both of them. But then again, Toby was the stable force that Jareth seemed to need. Not as strong as Elban would have liked, but he would grow stronger as he grew used to the hold he had on his lover.
And they were lovers. There was no doubt of that. Elban knew how Jareth looked at his bedmates, and he knew how Jareth looked at his lovers. Toby was a lover and the two shared… something.
Elban had four days in which to meddle inquisitively in their business before this adoption put a permanent end to it.
Jareth wasn't the only one capable of scheming.
