Another chapter... YAY lol. Thanks for the reviews :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Labyrinth. Only the unrecognized characters and storyline are mine.
Chapter Four
The goblins were all running around the room, laughing and cavorting as they chased several chickens around the Great Hall. A flash of light gave them pause and the room fell silent as their king glared angrily at them.
"Do something useful for a change and fetch the healer!" He barked loudly as he turned and strode from the room with limp form in his arms. The goblins turned to look at each other in confusion. The king had never before come back from a flight and requesting a healer. Much less carrying anything but a young babe. Almost immediately, they forgot his order and began chasing the chickens again. "FETCH THE HEALER NOW!" His voice rang through out the castle and the goblins ran in fear to find the healer.
Jareth went straight to a guest chamber and laid the girl down on the bed that dominated the room. He stared down at her for a moment, his lips curled in disgust before turning to leave. Intuition told him that it was not likely that the girl could be saved, but he would try at least. Thinking back to the moment when he had picked her up, he realized that she was the reason he had been called to that strange land. The driving force that had urged him into flight that night had vanished when he picked her up. His hand reached out to the doorknob when the door suddenly flew open.
"Oh my! I apologize your Majesty, I was unaware that you were at the door." The healer stepped into the room.
"Never mind. The girl is there, see what you can do with her." Jareth gestured towards the bed. Moving over to the bed, the healer looked down at the girl and gasped in horror.
"What happened to her?" He gasped as he spun to look at the king.
Jareth pulled the bell cord near the door then walked back over to the bed. Looking down at her again he grimaced. "I only know that she was accused of being a witch and was to be killed. From the looks of her, she has been kept in dire conditions before she escaped."
"Dire conditions? This child has been tortured!" The healer reached out and lifted a lock of grimy hair. "She needs to be cleaned before I can attend her."
"I have already sent for a maid." A knock sounded on the door and they turned towards it. An elderly woman with short white hair, dressed in a simple brown dress, slipped in and curtsied.
"You have need of me, your Majesty?"
"Yes Matilda. Clean this girl up so that Kelgar can heal her." Jareth grimaced as the odor hit him again.
"Yes Sire." Matilda went through a side door in the room and emerged a few minutes later with a basin of water. She shooed the men out and began cleaning the girl. The old woman had seen much in her lifetime, but the condition of this girl was horrible. Every few minutes, she had to fetch clean water. By the time she was done, the filthy girl was gone. In her place was a pale skinned woman with once vibrant hair the color of flames. She threw the rags that she'd removed from the girl into the fireplace and forced herself not to get sick. The girl was covered with cuts and bruises, her body emaciated. The area around the wound in her leg was swollen and red with a foul smelling fluid seeping from it. Shaking her head she went to the door and called the healer back in.
Jareth and Kelgar followed the maid back into the room. Kelgar gasped in horror as he stared at the girl's wounds. Jareth stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes glazed over in cold fury as his hands clenched with the need to repay whomever had treated the girl so badly.
"She needs a full bathing, but I can't give her one in this condition. I've done the best I can for now." Matilda whispered sadly.
"Thank you Matilda. If you would be so kind, I could use your assistance in healing her." Kelgar bent over her leg to examine the leg wound. The old woman simply nodded. He set his bag down on the table beside the bed and searched through it. After a few minutes, he handed a vial to Matilda and instructed her to pour it down the girls throat, along with a bowl of salve to be spread over the cuts and bruises.
While Matilda attended to those, Kelgar set to work on the leg wound. He winced as he lanced the wound open and brown fluid began pouring from it. They worked silently over the girls body, ignoring the king's rabid pacing across the room.
"There is nothing more that can be done for her. From the looks of her, she's been beaten and starved for a while now, as well as repeatedly raped." Kelgar told them quietly when they had done all they could for her. "She'll need to be watched constantly until she wakes. Until that time, she'll need broths and healing potions fed to her."
"Will she recover?" Jareth stopped pacing and stepped closer to the bed. Matilda and Kelgar had dressed her in a pale blue gown and tucked clean blankets around her.
"She should, though it all depends on her."
"If your Majesty will allow it, I'll stay with the child." Matilda smoothed her hand over the now clean red hair and gazed sadly down at the her.
"Her name is Serina." Jareth turned to leave then stopped. "You may watch over her Matilda. If there is anything that either of you needs, send for Kelgar immediately."
"Thank you Sire." Matilda curtsied. Jareth nodded once before leaving the room. He was still furious at the girl's condition and realized now that the villager who begged him to save her knew more than he had told. Calling up a crystal, he tried to locate the man only to see nothing but blackness. Knowing that the man had no way of blocking his sight, Jareth realized the man was now dead and wondered why.