Goblin 5
Yet another chapter for you people before I disappear yet again to New York. See, aren't I nice? audience coughs Shut up people.
Just read the story. Review if you want. I would love you forever if you did of course!
Chapter 5—One Never Does Know With Magic
This feeling…
It was a feeling…
Of…
Power.
Jareth had power. He held the pendent in his wrinkly brown hands. Did this give it to him? It must have…
At that moment, Xannia the Sun came dancing out. "Have you seen my sister?" her silken voice asked. For a moment, Jareth was too stunned to speak. He pointed to the garden. She smiled and kissed the top of his grisly head.
Idiot, he thought. No chance to be suave. Need to be suave. Hey, I have power, I have ambition, I can do anything!
He looked again at the pendent. Qr'a said was magic…
All doubt disappeared, without so much as a wave goodbye. He was going to become King. He was going to use the magic he had. And he was going to do it for Xannia.
In the middle of his dramatic music playing in his head, he heard voices.
"I told you. Omega is a filthy goblin." Qr'a spat.
"Is that only because he loved you?"
Whaaaaaaaaaat? Omega loved Qr'a?
"No."
"What else? Because he is a rebel? Because he is handsome-"
"Gorgeous." Jareth could hear no sarcasm.
"Or is it because he has a kingdom to rule and you have a tree?"
"No! I am not that shallow!"
"Well then. What is it?"
"It's…Jareth…he seems so unhappy. And the other goblins…they are unhappy…I can taste it in the wind. And they live in such small hovels…Omega has a castle. They are trapped, and he is refusing to see it. He is a megalomaniac who can't see that the magic is coming again. One other shall be King."
"Who?"
"Xannia, you're so stupid sometimes."
"Is it Hoggle?"
"No…his time is past. The most he can hope for now is to be close to the King."
Xannia gasped. "It isn't!"
"It is."
"But you-"
"I know."
"You fool!"
"When have I not been? Love turns us all into fools."
"Love? But he-"
"I know."
"And you-"
"I know."
"You'll go to the gallows for this!"
"And?"
There was a pause.
"Omega still loves you, you know."
"I can tell, by the way he dislocated my arm."
"He didn't mean to."
"Really."
"Yes. You should go talk to him. He loves you."
"But I don't love him."
"Not anymore."
"Once a fire is out, it has no chance of being reborn! A new flame can start, but an old one remains dead! Dead!"
"He won't let you die."
"It is inevitable."
Conversation drifted off to gossip of Morealth. Jareth edged away, careful not to be seen.
How in the world could he make the damn pendent work? Jareth was sitting in the dark, in his shack, staring at the amulet. Were there magic words he was supposed to use? No, Qr'a would have certainly given him that if he needed. He had tried rubbing it like a magic lamp (no genii appeared), he tried yelling, screaming, swearing, hitting, throwing, staring, and gibberish (hey…you never know. Quaverimannisycamore could very well mean 'I call upon all magic to make the stupid thing work!' Actually, it means 'I covet your neighbor's green eel stew')
He gave up. He left the thing (as he chose to call it, so annoyed by it he wouldn't bother saying what it was) on his table, amid papers, scrolls, and books.
Wind came through the shutter Bulbosu had broken. Papers flapped uselessly, not able to fly as they wished, for the three large books Jareth had placed upon them.
Jareth was cold. Shivering, he picked up the Labyrinth. A piece of paper fell out. It was a parchment paper, written in beautiful sapphire ink calligraphy.
Dear Jareth,
Found this letter finally? I wondered how long it would take. Here is a description of what is going to happen.
Jareth, you have been chosen, as I am sure you know, to become the next King. You were the most promising of the goblins.
Now. The magic is coming. The magic was created a long, long time ago. It was created by four gods: Odin, Ra, Zeus, and Jehovah. They were charged with the creation of everything, but as do we all, they began to wane in their efforts. They had been creating for an age, and they couldn't stop, but truth be told, they were bored. So they created one last thing before taking a vacation—dreamers. Remember what I told you of John Amos? How he created the Labyrinth and then it was handed down through dreamer, through dreamer, until it reached one so powerful that it stopped there and she was reincarnated over and over? This girl will be coming shortly, and we need you to be ready for her visit. This visit means everything to the Labyrinth.
Look in the book I gave you. Names were blurry weren't they?
Jareth looked. Before his eyes, the spots he had named King Blurry and the Other One began to twist, like faces in smoke. They spelled King Jareth and Sarah.
They spell your name, don't they?
We, Xannia and I, are going to call on Omega. He refuses to give up power. We have already…all right. I already seceded to him before, believing myself to be in love. Watch carefully Jareth. Love is simply an idea given by idealists to explain why people lose their minds. It doesn't exist.
Anyway. We are going to call on him, and we are going to kill him.
Jareth blanched.
Don't worry—he's done worse. We are going to kill him and put you on the throne. All you have to do is not run away to Canada.
Where was Canada?
Canada is an Aboveground kingdom.
Oh.
Just make sure you are there. You will be asked to choose a queen. Refuse. You will be asked to choose a right-hand man. I recommend Hoggle. Whatever you do, do NOT tell him he was to be King.
Above all: Don't panic.
Love,
Qr'a of the Sun
Jareth read the letter. He was overcome with a feeling in his heart he couldn't name. He picked up the amulet again. It was cold, as was everything else. As he held it, it turned white hot, and he dropped it.
He looked at the amulet. He looked at the hand that dropped it. It wasn't brown, or wrinkly. It wasn't his hand.
Far away, near the castle, a nymph screamed in pain.