Chapter Three – Vakkijnor Festival
The Goblin City was pregnant with excitement about the upcoming festival, The Vakkijnor Festival. Vakkijnor being the Underground term for the Valkyries, the choosers of the slain. The Goblin City was becoming decorated in paper lanterns, flags, and streamers. Travelers and tradesmen started pouring into the city the day before the festival. They brought with them exotic foods and fabrics, ales and wines, and an entire batch of fresh gourds from the kingdom at Cnoc Meadha.
Aside from all of the visitors and tradesmen, a vast assortment of warriors appeared. Many gathered at the local inns and campgrounds. As space was taken up, they were subjected to the stables with their horses, but everyone's spirits remained high.
As dusk settled the night before the festival, the goblin army started their rounds of patrol just as the king had promised. The Goblin City was in a fury of singing, dancing, and drinking. The knights, however, rested. The elders were invited to the castle while the others simply tried to sleep and prepare themselves for the festival.
King Jareth waited while all of the elders appeared in his throne room. Pheon'a and Zill were almost dragging themselves along having just gotten off their shift. As soon as everyone appeared, Jareth smiled and stood before his throne.
"My dear knights" Jareth said. "I have invited you all here for one simple reason. Please follow me."
"My heads' about to come off" Pheon'a whined.
"Sir Pheon'a" Jareth said as he led the knights down a narrow curving staircase. "Keep your head until you see what I have in store for you."
After going down deeper and deeper into the bowels of the castle, the group finally ended up in a steamy underground cave. Giant lanterns with a rainbow variety of colored oils lit the cave. The steam came from the large pools of water that, in turn, heated the entire castle.
"Welcome to my private hot springs" Jareth said. "I've had my servants bring down ice, fresh water, and two kegs of ruach."
"Ruach?" Zill asked.
"Berry wine from the mountains" Jareth said. Zill made a slight motion with his head to signal his response. "You all may disrobe and place your things behind those stalagmites. They will be kept dry there."
Jareth removed his clothes and climbed into the pool before anyone even budged. The others slowly followed. Soon, the only sounds were of fair conversations and of the water slapping against the rocks.
Close to the thirteenth hour, they were all happily buzzed from the imported ruach.
The next morning, Sir Aulus and Sir Alexa found themselves as the judges with headaches while sitting on the raised platform overlooking Somai Field. Somai Field, named after Sir Somai (read the Prologue), was one of the many training fields and it was being used for the festival.
The first day of the festival was to be a daylong event of one-on-one battles and contests in the defensive arts. Aulus and Alexa waited while the lieutenants positioned the hay bale targets and guided the people of the Labyrinth into the bleachers that lined the field.
Horns played songs until Aulus and Alexa stood, revealing their readiness. The festival started with archery and led into fencing, freestyle martial arts, and finally the one-on-one combats. Close to 3:00pm Aulus and Alexa switched their stations with Sir Pheon'a and Sir Don Carlos, who continued to watch and judge.
The judging was harsh. During the group fencing demonstration, a slip or miscalculated move would be an almost instant disqualification. By the end of the day, only seventy, out of one hundred fifty, remained.
The second day of the festival was the focus of brains and magic. Sir Jessie, Sir Hugo, and Sir Zill watched over the first half of the day's matches. A series of logic, science, math, history, and literature problems had been specially crafted for the tournament. By the end of their shift, all seventy knights remained and were highly praised.
The second shift, manned by Sir Pheon'a and Sir Jessie, which was started after an hour break, was the focus of magic. The seventy applicants were divided into two groups: those who knew magic and those who did not. Those who did were to demonstrate their greatest abilities with magic. Those who did not know magic were given two hours in which instruction and practice of magic could take place, and then they were to demonstrate their new abilities.
After the spectacular magic event, only fifty-one knights remained. Before the tournament ended for the night though, Sir Pheon'a and Sir Jessie made it clear that only forty people would be accepted and that the rest, if they felt up to it, could become squires until another tournament was set up.
As the crowd dispersed, a small goblin made his way up to the knight's platform.
"Excuse me" The goblin said holding out a letter. "For Sir Pepsi."
"That's Jessie" Jessie growled. The goblin hunched his shoulders, looked side to side, and then ran off into the crowd. "Stupid goblin." Jessie tore open the letter and read the letter. Her eyebrow twitched.
"I'll see ya later, Jess" Pheon'a said. Jessie gave Pheon'a a leering look as the Fiery knight bounced away. Jessie looked at the letter in her hands and crumbled it as she made a fist.
"God damn it!" Jessie screamed. The handful of people who were still leaving Somai Field stared at her as she stormed towards the stables. The crowd was almost out of Somai Field when they caught Jessie racing towards the castle on her black horse.
Jessie leapt off of Aftiel at the castle doors and threw the reigns at one of the guards. She stormed into the castle with the aura of a hurricane. Expecting to find the king in the throne room, she headed there first. The room was empty and clean. A goblin servant entered the room with an armload of fabrics.
"Where's the king?" Jessie growled.
"Would you like me to let him know you're here?" The goblin asked. Jessie picked the small goblin up by his shirt, spilling the fabrics across the floor.
"Tell me where he is or I will personally throw you into the Bog of Eternal Stench" Jessie said through clenched teeth. If she had been full blooded Ama'sovai her eyes would have been glowing red like coals.
"Jessie!" Jareth bellowed from behind her. Jessie dropped the goblin and turned to face the king. The goblin picked up the fabric bolts and ran off. "Why didn't you have yourself announced?"
Jessie walked up to Jareth until she was only inches from him. The letter was still in her fist. She raised it up. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Are you questioning my authority?" Jareth growled.
"I refuse to take this ludicrous mission" Jessie said. Anger flared in the king's mismatched eyes. In a swift gesture he had her by the collar, which incidentally was her shirt, armor, and cape. He dragged her through the hallways of his castle as if she weighed no more then a feather. "Let me go!"
"Certainly" Jareth said opening a thick wooden door. He shoved her in and candidly followed her, locking the door behind him. Jessie, who looked exactly how she felt, tired and angry, paced the room as a large cat might; Jareth matched her pacing.
Neither one of them talked until Jessie went over to the fireplace; with a flick of the wrist, she chucked the letter into the fire. She turned to Jareth and straightened out her armor.
"I will not take that mission" Jessie said.
"It won't take you long" Jareth said.
"Three months is longer then I can take" Jessie replied.
"It needs to be done" Jareth said with an irritated voice.
"Then send your goblins to do it!" Jessie said vehemently. She took a step towards Jareth and gestured wildly with her hands. "I am not your personal knight!"
"I am the king!" Jareth yelled back fiercely. "I have rule over everyone in my kingdom and that includes you!" Jessie allowed her lip to twitch. "You will go on this mission of mine. You will meet up with everyone I want you to. You will do this the day after the Vakkijnor Festival."
"I have knights to train" Jessie said.
"Sir Mirya Rayn is perfectly capable of such a feat" Jareth growled.
"I am not ready for three more months of nothing but work" Jessie retorted.
"Three months is nothing" Jareth said. He moved over to a small side table that held glasses and a decanter of peach wine. He poured himself a glass.
"It's nothing when you spend your free time drinking peach wine and imported ruach" Jessie replied. Jareth spun around fast enough that it almost didn't register. The glass of wine shattered against the fireplace having just skimmed past Jessie's head.
"How dare you!" Jareth snarled.
"You promised to give me time off!" Jessie quipped furiously. Jareth formed several crystals and allowed them to float around him.
"I'm rebuking that" Jareth said. As his temper grew, the faster the crystals spun around him. Jessie narrowed her eyes trying to figure out what he meant to do. "You will go on this mission, you will leave tomorrow, and I will send two of my men with you." The crystals flew towards her. Jessie had to jump and duck, slipping, to avoid being hit by the glass orbs. Jareth was standing over her by the time the last crystal smashed into a suit of armor. "Am I understood?"
"Crystal clear" Jessie said. She stood up from the floor, ignoring the king's offered hand, and pulled her cape around her. She stepped away from the king and walked towards the door.
"Get a good nights rest" Jareth called after her. The door lock clicked open and Jessie made sure to slam it shut with all the affection she could muster. Storming out, just as she stormed in, she found the guard at the front door still holding Aftiel's reins.
"Idiot" Jessie muttered. She fiddled with her belt and felt the metal emblem of the Knights of the Labyrinth fall into her hands. She held it out to the goblin while taking Aftiel's reins. "Count to one hundred, then give that to the king. You got that?"
"Yep" The goblin said. Jessie mounted Aftiel. "One, seven, forty-six, two—"
"You're counting wrong stupid!" The soldier on the other side of the door said. "It's one, nine, fourteen, sixty—"
"I know how to count" The goblin with the emblem said.
"Just give that to the king" Jessie said before racing away on her horse. Jessie had no intention of going on Jareth's ridiculous mission of diplomacy to the kingdom of the Modsognir dwarves. After the first two hundred years of Jareth's reign, they wanted nothing to do with the Labyrinth and were known to kill any knight or soldier from the Labyrinth.
Jessie stopped by the stables to grab two sacks of feed, a five-pound bag of hay, and a few brushes for Aftiel. She went straight to her cottage after that, grabbing only a small amount of things. She was on her way out of the Goblin City taking Siccare Path, the narrowest way out of the Labyrinth. She was heading north, straight for the Desert of Thirteen Madmen.
By the time the moon was directly overhead Jessie and Aftiel had set up camp five dunes into the desert. They were close enough to the Labyrinth that it was still in sight, but they were now out of the borders of the kingdom. Aftiel munched on the hay while Jessie sat in the sand smoking her pipe, which was filled with the potent fairyweed.
"Fifty-seven, four, ninety-nine, one hundred!" The two goblins happily said together. The goblin with the metal emblem held it up. "I have to go give this to the king. I'll be back."
The goblin soldier waddled into the throne room and stopped when a goblin servant came into the throne room.
"Can I help you?" The servant asked.
"I's is supposed to give this to the king" The goblin soldier said holding up the emblem. "I think it's important."
"Is it metal?" The servant asked.
"Yeah and shiny, too!" The soldier said.
"It must be important then" The servant replied. The servant gestured for the soldier to follow. They walked all through the castle until they came to a set of heavy double doors. The servant knocked and waited. It took several minutes before the door was opened. The king stood before them in his royal pajamas and overly long, flowing robe.
"What is it?" Jareth said grumpily.
"We found a piece of metal" The servant said. "We think it's important."
"Just like how that metal pot you found was 'important'?" Jareth asked. The goblin guard held out the metal emblem. The shape and type of metal caught Jareth's attention. He snatched it from the goblin and almost instantly frowned. "Where did you find this?"
"A girl gave it to me" The guard said proudly.
"What girl?" Jareth asked. The guard made a few faces and scratched his head before shrugging. "Have someone go to The Court and have Sir Mirya Rayn here at once." The two goblins stood there. "I said do it!"
The goblins scampered away. Jareth's jaw was tense and he ran his thumb over the round piece of metal. It was Jessie's. It used to be anyway. Handing over your emblem was the same thing as a cop turning in his badge and gun. It meant resignation.
Jareth pocketed the emblem and went to his throne room.
It only took fifteen minutes before Sir Mirya Rayn was in the throne room. Everyone else was ordered out.
"I appreciate your coming" Jareth said. "Sorry about the hour."
"No problem, your majesty" Mirya replied. Her appearance suggested that she had dressed in the dark.
"There is a problem" Jareth said. Jareth placed his chin in his right hand and with his other hand pulled out the emblem. He rubbed his thumb over the emblem before leaning forward to hold it out to Mirya. "I believe that's yours now."
Mirya stared at the emblem and held it back out to the king. "I don't accept it." Jareth took it. "She must have dropped it or something."
"She gave it to one of my guards" Jareth said. "I wanted to know if she consulted with you before she had left."
"She did not" Mirya said.
"If you don't want this, then should I have it sent to the Council Hall?" Jareth asked.
"No" Mirya replied. Mirya looked around. "Is there some place a little more private where we can talk?"
"Yes" Jareth said. He formed a crystal that grew large enough to contain the two of them. A white light illuminated the crystal and then suddenly the light was gone. Jareth and Mirya stood on the roof of a low turret. "Is this alright?"
"Yes" Mirya said. Jareth leaned against the stone siding. "I can't believe she left. I know she was starting to loose it, but I thought she'd hold it together until the festival was over."
"I had suspended her vacation by three months" Jareth said solemnly.
"That would explain things" Mirya said. The two just watched as the city below was still wild with the festival spirit. "Hang on to the emblem until we find her."
"You plan on giving it back to her?" Jareth asked disbelieving the elf before him.
"I have never served under such a great leader as her. I wouldn't dare take her place until I have her blessing or until she, herself, gives it to me" Mirya stated.
"The others will notice her absence soon" Jareth replied. "What will you tell them?"
Mirya narrowed her eyes as she thought about it. "I will tell them that she was order to take her vacation now."
"Oh really?" Jareth said. "Ordered by whom?"
"By you, sire" Mirya replied. "That is, as long as it is fine by you."
"You're asking me to lie to the entire Council of Knights and to the entire populous of Goblin City just to assure her rank as elder?" Jareth asked. Lying directly to the Council would mean termination and revocation of knighthood. Mirya nodded. "Your loyalty is commendable, Sir Mirya Rayn." Jareth looked down at the city as his troops tried to subdue a small bar fight. "I will go along with your plan."
"Thank you, your majesty" Mirya said.
"The plan will be that I sent her away for vacation" Jareth said.
"What if they ask where she went?" Mirya asked.
"She'd want it to be kept a secret" Jareth said. "And, that's what we'll tell them." Jareth held up the emblem. "I will hang onto this. Don't tell anyone about it."
"I won't" Mirya replied.
"If anyone asks why she was sent away, tell them that she was indeed 'loosing it'. The others will accept that, won't they?" Jareth asked. Mirya simply nodded. "Good. I will find her, Sir Mirya."
"What about tomorrow?" Mirya asked. "You will need to talk to the Council about this."
"I have something in mind" Jareth replied. He put the emblem into his pocket and turned to Mirya. He formed another crystal and in a blink they were both back in the throne room. "Get some rest. I'll handle things tomorrow."
"Yes, sire" Mirya said. She bowed slightly. "Good night."
"Good night" Jareth said.
The next day, the third and last day of the Vakkijnors Festival, the knights were in an uproar over Jessie's unscripted departure. The third day being a very important day, all of the elders were to sit and watch the battles, retire to the Council Hall until they made a decision, and choose the top forty warriors. Mirya stepped in to take Jessie's place assuring the others that the king had called for her very late last night to explain things.
As the horns blew and the citizens settled down in the large bleachers, the knights pulled themselves together. The warriors, who would be battling, were given armor and heavy duty practice weapons. Each warrior, when their time came for battle, would take whatever they wanted as long as they could carry and use both without putting one down. So a two handed sword and a staff would be impractical, whereas a whip and a rapier could be useful together.
The judging of the battles was very similar to a fencing match. Two judges watched each warrior. If a tag were made, the maestro of the match would declare if he agreed with the judges. If the judges called what they thought was a tag but really wasn't, the maestro could have the match continue.
Each warrior faced all the rest, one on one. Ten battles were going at a time leaving the crowd raging with energy at the spectacle before them. The warrior who lost three times in a row was subjected to sitting under a covered bench, something that looked similar to a baseball dugout, to avoid the splatter of food, animals, and feces from the crowd. Even though each battle lasted a couple of minutes, it took hours before everyone had battled each other.
Jessie awoke with the sun illuminating her entire tent. She groaned and put her sunglasses on. She dressed and made sure her cloak was closed around her. Despite the growing heat, Jessie dawned a long blood red scarf that kept the sun off most of her face. Before she opened the tent, she put on her large brimmed hat.
She stepped out and immediately noticed the change. The dune had changed its shape and she could no longer see the Labyrinth. Looking around, there was one other thing that was incredibly wrong.
"Aftiel!" Jessie bellowed. The desert was a dangerous place to be. It was said to have swallowed entire caravans. Shaitans, evil malicious djinn, wandered the desert. Jessie picked up everything she could carry and climbed the top of the dune. "Aftiel!"
The black stallion was nowhere in sight. When she looked back where her camp had been, it was gone. Jessie took off in the direction she had wanted to go from the camp. She wanted to cross five dunes and see the stone wall of the Labyrinth or the trees of the Fiery Forest or something.
"Shit" Jessie finally said after three dunes. She was dripping with sweat from the heat. She took out her canteen and took a swig of water. It was only half full now. Aftiel had been carrying the food and water.
The lack of shade was enough to make anyone feel like fruit being set out to dry.
By late afternoon, the forty knights had been selected. The city fell into its last night of celebration by dusk with the latest knights joining in the fun. The king, who had spent his day trying to locate Jessie through his crystals, had come up short and ordered the elders to his castle.
When they all arrived, Jareth moved them all into his study.
"I'm pleased you all showed up" Jareth said. He was gazing into a beach ball size crystal that gently floated above a golden pedestal. "I need to talk to you all about Sir Jessie's recent departure."
"We heard she went mad" Sir Alexa said.
"She was angry, but she's not a loon" Jareth said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the edge of his desk. "I sent her away for a much needed vacation."
"Where did she go?" Sir Aulus asked.
"She asked me not to share that" Jareth replied.
"Why does she get a vacation?" Sir Hugo fumed. The small faery walked over to the couch, with a poof of glitter he grew to five and a half feet, and sat down. "We work just as hard as she does."
"Her breaking point was reached" Jareth replied. "It's that simple." Sir Mirya Rayn leaned against the fireplace. Jareth nodded to her. "As you know, Sir Mirya Rayn will take Jessie's place until she comes back."
"When will that be?" Sir Aulus asked.
"Soon" Jareth said. "She won't be gone for more then two weeks."
"Why weren't we notified about this?" Sir Don Carlos, a dark elf, asked. "Is there something to be hidden from us?"
"Certainly not" Jareth assured them. "I just didn't want to disrupt the festival. Speaking of which, how did it turn out? Did you receive all the warriors you needed?"
"Our results were satisfactory" Sir Zill Raa replied. "We even have a group that will stay for training."
"Yes, from what I hear, there are even applicants for the medical and magic schools" Sir Pheon'a reported.
"That's wonderful" Jareth said. Jareth stood up straight and walked over to a window. "You're all dismissed. I only wanted you to know what happened to Sir Jessie."
The knights departed except for Sir Mirya. She cleared her throat to let the king know she was still there.
"Yes?" Jareth asked.
"Have you found her?" Mirya asked. Jareth's head gave an involuntarily jerk.
"No" Jareth said. "Where ever she is, she is not in my Labyrinth."
"How should we look for her without the others finding out?" Mirya asked.
"I have ways" Jareth replied. He shook his wrist towards the door. "Leave me. Go relax for the rest of the night. You need it as much as any other knight."
"Yes sire" Mirya said quickly leaving. Jareth took a deep breath and turned towards his large floating crystal. He had searched all day for Jessie. An idea came to him and he waved his hands over the crystal. He smiled when he saw the black stallion in the crystal. Aftiel was hysterically trying to get into the Labyrinth. The horse reared up and slammed its hooves against the door, then turned and kicked the door with its rear legs.
"Aftiel" Jareth whispered. He waved his hand again and the horse was transported to The Court. Jareth returned the crystal view back to the northern entrance to the Labyrinth. No one could be seen. Jareth hung his head. "Let her be safe."
By the time night rolled around, the desert had cooled and Jessie could see the trees of the Fiery Forest in the far distance. The desert winds picked up until a small sand storm had started. Jessie trudged along.
The dune Jessie was crossing moved. The ridge of sand before her grew to great heights in a matter of seconds, stopping her in her tracks. Sharp laughter echoed around her until a womanly form emerged from the sand.
"Who are you?" Jessie asked. The woman hissed and seemed to sink into the sand. "I'm just a traveler. I mean no harm." Bursts of sand erupted in a circle around Jessie. "What do you want?"
"What are you doing in our desert?" A voice hissed.
"I'm just trying to get to those trees" Jessie said. "Nothing more."
"You had the horse" The voice stated. "You may cross if we can have the horse."
"He ran off" Jessie said. "But, I wouldn't give him to you if he was here."
A loud half-hiss, half-scream rang off of the dunes. Jessie took the chance to run up to the top of the dune. Wind and sand swirled around her until an invisible force tripped her. The invisible hand dragged her back down to the bottom of the dune.
Out of instinct, Jessie hissed and bared her fangs. The wind stopped again.
"She is not fae" A voice said.
"She is Ama'sovai" Another voice said.
"We are in service to the Ama'sovai" The first voice said.
"Then let me pass to the forest" Jessie said. The invisible forces knocked her onto her stomach and drug her by her feet until she was near the forest. The sand had rubbed away a few layers of her skin on her cheeks and had forced her nose to bleed.
When the force stopped, Jessie grunted and picked herself up to her hands and knees. She wiped at her nose just before the force picked her up.
"Never enter our desert again" The voice ordered. The invisible force, the Shaitans, threw her towards the forest.
Jessie fell through the trees and the brush until she collided with the hard forest floor. Bruised would be understating the sustained damage. She tried to crawl, but her body, now broken, hurt too much. In the midst of her pain she gave the loudest cry she could muster.