Chapter 11
Hoggle had been lifted by Ludo to look at the sky, watching for Jareth's signal. He would duck down every time a Gurnock patrol would pass. Meanwhile, the goblins had prepared their armor and their weapons for the greatest battle yet. And they waited. And as they waited, Jack took up a quick hand of poker with a few of the guards as Sarah paced the room. He put down his hand and said,
"Full house. Beat that!" The other players groaned as Jack looked to Sarah and said,
"You're going to wear a hole in the floor darling!"
"How can you be so calm?" she asked as she paced.
"I do this sort of thing for a living remember?" he said. Then Hoggle saw the owl in the sky and jumped down saying,
"That's the signal!" Everyone stood up and headed towards the stairs. Jack put a finger up to his lips as they reached the top. He opened the door, and saw a large hallway with various and rich looking items. Items one might find in a castle. He saw a lone Gurnock guarding a door. Having the rest stay for a moment, he crept up to the turned guard and tapped his shoulder. The creature turned just as Jack's fist connected with his Jaw. Sprawled out on the floor, the creature never saw the army of goblins being lead by a pirate, a young girl, a dwarf, a fox riding a dog and a rock caller.
In the grand dining hall, Marin sat and sipped his wine, before commenting to his Gurnock captain,
"Ten more minutes and the Labyrinth will succumb to the spell completely and be all mine!" As he said this, the ground shook violently knocking things off the wall. When it stopped, a loud knocking could be heard.
"What's that?" asked the Gurnock captain.
"Just the Labyrinth." brushed off Marin sipping his wine. The knocking came again, only to be followed by a loud bang as the door was kicked in. Standing up in surprise, Marin saw Captain Sparrow and Sarah Williams leading a crowd of goblins into the room.
"Honey, I'm home!" called Jack mockingly. Marin waved his arm and shouted,
"Gurnocks! Come to me!" Appearing out of nowhere, the other half of the room was filled with Gurnocks brandishing crooked weapons.
"Attack!" said Marin pointing to the goblins.
"Have at them lads!" yelled Jack to the army behind them. They all passed Jack to run up to the advancing Gurnocks. Swords and shots clashed as the goblins fought and yelled along with the Gurnocks. Jack sliced into a few Gurnocks as Sarah hit them over the heads into unconsciousness. Jack looked and saw Marin running up a set of stairs.
"Come on!" said Jack to Sarah running after him. Then the ground began to shake continuously threatening to knock them off their feet. When they entered the seemingly empty throne room, Jack looked around and said to Sarah,
"Where is he?" Then a blue fireball hit Jack across the room to crash into a wall.
"Jack!" said Sarah rushing forward to help him. But much to her surprise, she floated up into the air near the ceiling. Marin stepped transformed back into his original form from the shadow he had been and said to Captain Sparrow,
"What's the matter Captain? Couldn't get Jezebel to give you the time of day so you decided to steal Jareth's girl?" Jack grunted and struggled to sit up as Marin looked up to Sarah who was trying to get down, her arms fraying about. He continued,
"Can't say I don't blame you. I might try it myself."
"Where's Jezebel?" grunted Jack.
"So you do still care about her? How sweet! Don't worry Captain. She's sleeping. And she'll sleep forever until, huh, true love's kiss wakes her. Don't you hate these fairy tale stereotypes? I know I do. Too bad this fairy tale won't come true!" said Marin as a blue fireball began to glow from his hand. As he aimed for Jack, the white owl swooped in from an open window and ruined his concentration. The wind picked up, having Marin cover his eyes. When he opened them, he saw Jareth, dresses in a white suit and a feathered cape, step out from the entryway beside Jack glaring dangerously.
"Jareth! So glad you could join the party!" joked Marin.
"Your fight is with me Marin." said Jareth.
"Oh? Too bad I don't fight fairly!" said Marin as Jareth began to step towards him.
"STOP!" said Marin preparing to throw a fireball up at Sarah.
"One more step and she dies!" continued Marin through gritted teeth. Seeing a metal shield hanging on the shaking wall, Sarah struggled to reach it. Jareth replied,
"It's over Marin. I'm taking the Labyrinth back as we speak." Marin looked out the window at the Labyrinth. Sure enough, the blue glitter that had begun to sparkle in the Labyrinth, was fading and being replaced by gold. He hissed at Jareth,
"You know, just for that, I think I'll kill her anyway!" He fired just as Sarah grabbed the shield and held it up to protect her. The fireball bounced off the shield and came back at Marin. The shock caused Marin to glow blue and scream in agony.
"Jareth!" yelled Jack tossing the Goblin King his cutlass from his spot on the floor. Jareth caught it and plunged it in Marin's stomach. He gargled and fell onto the floor. The Labyrinth stopped shaking and glowed completely gold in the rising moonlight. Jareth held out a hand to gently float Sarah down. Then he helped Jack up and handed him his cutlass saying,
"Nasty business that."
"The man was in pain. Twas mercy if you ask me." said Jack wiping the blood off his sword with his handkerchief. They heard a low laugh come from Marin's dying body,
"Mercy? That's rich!" Jareth stepped up to him and said,
"Well then I suppose I'll just end your suffering by turning you into what you've always acted like. A mirror trying to copy me." Marin laughed up blood,
"A mirror? How original! But if I may make a request?"
"Go on." said Jareth stiffly.
"Give me enough magic to transport myself to the place of my choosing!"
"Very well. Providing it's not to be embedded into someone's body!" said Jareth.
"Like I would stoop that low!" said Marin as he got paler. Jareth produced a crystal and threw it up into the air. When it came back down, Marin was gone, and a blue sapphire encrusted mirror in the shape of a blue jay laid in his place. Then in a flash of blue light, he was gone.
Jareth turned back to Sarah and stepped up to her saying,
"And what do you think you were doing? You could have gotten hurt!"
"Excuse me! I was defending myself!" she protested.
"Don't you think I would have saved you?"
"Well..." But Jack stepped between them raising his pointer finger saying,
"I hate to ruin this romantic banter, but I've got a bonny lass to wake up from eternal sleep. So if you would be so kind to direct me to her bedroom?"
"Up the stairs, down the corridor and up the stairs at the end." said Jareth. Jack held up his hands like in prayer and nodded his thanks before running off. Watching him go, Jareth said,
"Who'd thought my future brother in law turned out to be a pirate?"
"Who'd thought my future husband would turn out to be a Goblin King?" said Sarah. Jareth looked down at her smiling face and said,
"You mean that?" She said in reply,
"Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered; I have fought my way to the castle, beyond the Goblin City, to take back the heart, that you have stolen!" He pulled her into a deep and tender kiss in response.
A curious thing had happened when the ground stopped shaking. The goblins watched in awe as the Gurnocks glowed a bright gold and their skin peeled back to reveal beautiful Faes of all shaped and colors to step out and stretch as though they had been sleeping. Jack saw this too as he ran down the hallway. Everything seemed to go in slow motion before Jack bounded up the stairs. When he reached the top, he saw the outdoor garden filled with furniture and white snow and frost on each globe. He saw a shivering blue fox next to a frozen rainbow colored scarf on the vanity say,
"Hurr-hur-hurry!" Jack looked to the bed, and saw Jezebel's still body. He stepped up to the bed, his boots crunching in the snow and the dead leaves. He kneeled to the right of the bed and looked down at the still woman. He brushed the cold snow of her face and smiled.
" You are my horizon. You're what I've been searching for." And with that, he kissed her cold lips passionately as all around him, the snow and ice melted away, the leaves disappeared, and the trees and flowers came into full bloom again. When he broke the kiss, Jezebel's eyes fluttered open and saw his dark eyes bearing down into her soul.
"Jack! You came!" she exclaimed touching his face.
"You lied to me!" he said. Her face fell. She sat up a little and said,
"What? Oh Jack! I did! I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me?" He put a finger up to her lips and said,
"Shush! You told me no magic being could take something from a non magic being!" Confusion lit her face.
"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well you don't think I'm going to let you get away with stealing me heart, do you?" he said smiling cheekily at her. She smiled and said,
"Oh Jack, I love you so! I'm so sorry I ran away before!"
"Apology accepted darling. You was just scared is all." he said running his fingers through her hair.
"I wouldn't have been surprised if you didn't come for me!" she said.
"Why say that, Jezebel?"
"I was so cruel to you. And you're a sailor. Why would you want to tie yourself down to one girl?" she asked. He smiled and said,
"Because that's how these fairy tales end. The dashing hero has come in to save the day, and he sweeps the beautiful princess off into the sunset. And they lived happily ever after!" She smiled and said,
"What comes after happily ever after?" He smiled devilishly and climbed in the bed beside her. Flinging his hat to the floor, he snaked a hand behind her back and growled hungrily,
"Why don't we find out Savvy?" He kissed her again, but they were interrupted by a small giggle from the vanity. Opening their eyes, they saw Danny and Isaac watching them. Sighing, Jezebel broke the kiss and waved a hand in their direction. They floated off the vanity and headed towards the open wardrobe with Danny protesting,
"Aw come on Jez! We'll be quiet! JEZEBEL!" She closed the door just as they were tucked inside. Jack looked back down at his grinning girl, quite satisfied with herself. She laid back on the bed completely gazing up at Jack. He never wanted a woman so badly in his life. He growled again,
"Now, where were we?" He leaned down to meet her lips. After a few moments in heaven, they were interrupted once more by a,
"Ah-HEM!" Jack rolled off her to gaze dryly at Jareth, Sarah, Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo glaring at them.
"Didn't you skip a step, Captain?" asked Jareth icily.
"I forgot to undress her first?" offered Jack.
"Over my dead body!" said Jareth as Jezebel sighed and rolled her eyes.