"What happened? Why did you send me away?" I asked when I finally found the breath to speak. Jareth took my hand, and we began to walk along the beach. "It wasn't safe in the castle," he said quietly. "Had you stayed, you might have died! I…I couldn't let you come to harm." "That….that thing…what was it?" I said, my voice barely a whisper as I remembered the terrifying, shadowy beast. Jareth sighed. "That, I'm afraid, was Elrohir, a creature who I should never have let into my castle. I had brought it out of the mountains to guard the castle, but instead it destroyed everything in its path." Jareth seemed to sense the terror in my eyes, for he said, "I have managed to send it back to the mountain, where it belongs."
I looked down at the sand, dreading the answers to the questions that I was about to ask. I reluctantly pulled my hand from his, and forced myself to look at him. "What of Sarah? When are you to be….." I faltered. My throat felt as though it was being squeezed. "Yes?" said Jareth, turning to look at me. I closed my eyes and forced the words from my throat. "When are you to be wed?" I asked, my voice sounding much more strangled than I had intended. Jareth gave me a questioning glance. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously. "I…I heard the ladies talking…at the masquerade…they said you had proposed…and she….she…" I was sobbing. Jareth gently placed his hands on my shoulders and pulled me into his arms. "No…. no, there must have been some mistake…" he said. "Sarah hates me, she always has. I…I don't love her anymore."
These words came to me like a clap of thunder. For the first time, Jareth seemed unsure of himself. The rain was falling harder now. Slowly I raised my hand and brushed a strand of dripping blonde hair from his face. I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped when Jareth pulled off one of his black leather gloves and gently stroked my cheek. I closed my eyes as he pulled me closer to him, until I could feel his breath tickling my face, and all other thoughts melted from my mind as his lips softly touched mine.
Rain was pouring down on us, running in small rivers through my hair and over my face, but I hardly noticed as Jareth kissed me again and again. I fell against him, and my hands moved from behind his neck, over his strong shoulders and down to his chest. I grabbed his shirt and pulled myself closer to him, when he suddenly cried out and collapsed to the ground, his face twisted in pain. I knelt beside him, and he winced as I gently moved his hands, which were tightly clasped over his chest. I carefully unbuttoned his tight vest, and saw with horror that his shirt underneath was reddened with blood. His battle with Elrohir had not left him unharmed.
Suddenly I remembered something that Anastasia had told me long ago. A serious wound to the chest could be fatal. The thought of Jareth dying was almost too much for me to bear, but then I remembered the rest of what Anastasia had told me. There was a flower that grew in the woodland clearings downriver, with healing properties so powerful that they could bring somebody back from death's door, with the help of an ancient gypsy spell. Jareth now lay motionless in the wet sand, unconscious. I had no time to waste. As carefully as I could, I slid my hands under him, and lifted him with some difficulty. I was thankful that he was so light, as I carried him along the riverbank. I tried desperately to remember what the flower looked like. Anastasia had described it as small and white, but it had been years since I had seen it. Jareth's breathing was becoming more strained as I made my way through the trees in search of a clearing.
Finally, when I thought I could carry him no further, I stumbled into a clearing. Moonlight shone in through a small gap in the trees, and wildflowers grew up to my waist. Relief flooded over me as I realized that they were small and white.
I gently lay Jareth down among the flowers, and thought back to what Anastasia had told me about them. Her voice seemed to echo in my mind; "you must lay the leaves over the wound…." Carefully I unbuttoned his reddened silk shirt, slid it over his shoulders and threw it aside, then plucked as many leaves as I could hold from the surrounding plants. I lay them over the wound on his chest. He shifted slightly as the leaves touched him, but soon lay as still as before.
"You must place the petals all around the leaves…" I grabbed a handful of the delicate, white blossoms and drew a circle around my bandage of leaves. I only prayed that I wasn't too late.
I gently lifted his head and rested it on my lap. The rain was beginning to clear up now, and every now and again, a star could be seen between the clouds. If the spell worked, he would be well by sunrise. Or so Anastasia had told me. Still, I was anxious. Every minute felt like an eternity as I sat there, looking down at him, willing him to open his eyes.
Suddenly I heard soft footsteps coming from somewhere behind the tall, thick carpet of wildflowers. I went rigid, every hair on my scalp prickling as the sound grew closer. The undergrowth before me parted, and a fox wandered up to Jareth, sniffing cautiously. I waved my hand, in an attempt to shoo the fox away, but it didn't seem to notice. "Go away!" I cried. The fox looked at me, alarmed, and ran back into the woods. I looked back at Jareth. He was still motionless. Even his breathing was worryingly slow. It's not too late, there's still an hour before dawn, I thought to myself, but even that wasn't as reassuring as I had hoped. I loved him. I couldn't let him die.
The hour before dawn was the longest hour I had ever known. The spell was supposed to heal, but it seemed to me that his condition had worsened as the night wore on. The stars were already beginning to fade. I held my breath as the first light of dawn touched the sky, and waited for him to move, to speak, to give me some sign that he was still living.
Nothing.
His breathing had grown so faint, I was scarcely sure that I could hear it. I struggled to think whether I had forgotten part of the spell. Place the leaves over the wound, I had done that. Lay the petals around the leaves, I had done that too. But there had been something else; something that Anastasia had said was the most important part of the spell. I tried to remember it, but with each attempt the answer seemed to slip farther from my memory. I had forgotten.
It wrenched my heart to look upon Jareth, so pale and beautiful in the cold early-morning sunlight. I stroked his hair and brushed it out of his face. Slowly I leaned over and gently kissed him, wishing that it wouldn't be the last time. His lips were still warm. Tears stung in my eyes and fell onto his face and neck. Some glistened on the wreath of white blossoms that were meant to save him. "No...no……" I whispered through my tears. "Jareth, I need you….don't leave me….please, don't leave me…." My voice caught in my throat, and I wept.
"E…Evangeline….." I forced my eyes open at the sound of his voice, wondering if I had gone mad. Jareth's eyes were still closed, but I could hear his breathing again.
"Evangeline, why on earth would I ever leave you?" He said, as he rose slowly to his knees. The leaves and blossoms fell away, and I noticed that his wound had vanished, leaving not even the slightest scar. Suddenly the words of Anastasia came back to me; "finally, you must prove to the spirits what the wounded one means to you…" The final part of the spell was fulfilled. "I love you," I whispered as I embraced him, and at that moment my heart soared higher that wings could ever take me.