Chapter Ten: Just a Little Girl With Grey Eyes

It would have been easy, so easy, to give in to the darkness around her. Every sense was oppressed by it, as though she were drowning in thick black honey. But there was something else that forced her to fight back, to claw her way out of this oblivion. She couldn't tell if her eyes were opened or closed, but then a brilliant light seared across her vision and the pain was almost enough to make her slip back into the black stillness.

Almost, but not quite.

Voices were calling to her and fragments of songs – partly strange, partly familiar – touched the edges of her consciousness. Another effort and the searing pain faded, leaving a dull, aching throb in its place. Unpleasant, but at least bearable. The light was not quite as dazzling now, and she was able to make out a figure hovering over her, calling her name gently.

A face was coming more into focus and a pair of eyes. Beautiful, shifting, mismatched eyes that she knew so well…

And then the terror of her desperate run through the castle came back to her, and the distorted face that had looked at her with so much cold hatred sprang into her memory. 'Get away from me!'

Sarah flailed hopelessly, trying to beat away the apparition. She had pushed herself up on one arm, but could already feel her strength draining out of her. Her voice was hoarse and rasping. 'Don't come near me! Stay away… I thought you were dead… I wish you were dead!'

Jareth stepped away from her, his arms dropping to his sides. 'Delaine…'

He watched as his sister took his place at Sarah's side, gently calming the young woman until she finally lay back on the cool white linen.

Delaine glanced over her shoulder: Jareth stood, pale and stricken, observing them both. Sarah was still terribly weak, and while the drugs worked their way out of her system, she would have little idea of what was going on around her. But the knowledge of this did not stop Delaine from feeling her brother's pain. For two days and two nights he had kept a constant vigil over Sarah's bedside, using the skill and power he had to call her back.

'She needs time, Jareth,' Delaine said softly, one hand still running over Sarah's fevered brow. 'Just a little more time.'

He raised his head slightly, gazing at her wordlessly for a moment. 'I know,' he said and then abruptly left the room.

He closed the door behind him, leaning against it, before becoming aware that Toby was sitting on the floor outside Sarah's room. The boy scrambled to his feet, gazing up anxiously at the older man.

'Is she okay? Can I see her now? Please?'

Jareth had tried to keep Toby away from Sarah: he had allowed one brief visit the night she had arrived, but since then had kept them apart. Sarah had been a risk to herself and everyone around her, but Jareth knew, deep down, that she would never harm Toby. Yet Jareth had had no desire to upset the child by letting him see his sister in the state she had been in. Now, however…

Now, having her brother with her might do some good. Her animosity was saved for Jareth alone. He smiled bitterly to himself – it had never been any other way.

'Yes, go in and see her.'

Toby hesitated for a moment. Even through the heavy oak door and the stone walls, he had heard Sarah's voice raised against the Goblin King. Young as he was, he could see the pain in Jareth's eyes, but had no idea what to say or how to act. Instead, he dropped his gaze and moved to open the door to his sister's room.

Jareth watched as the slender blonde entered and stood, still, as the door was closed silently in his face, before stalking moodily down the corridors of his castle. Any Goblins who happened to be in his way flattened themselves against the walls as he passed them. Their devotion to their King did not extend to actively wishing his wrath to be broken needlessly on their bony heads.

Jareth threw open the doors to the throne room which was, for once, blessedly empty. Almost empty. He barely glanced at the figure leaning against one arm of the throne, but strode across to stare out of a window.

'What can I do, Ambrosius?' he asked eventually.

'Nothing.'

Jareth wheeled around furiously. 'Nothing?'

'Exactly. The only thing you can give her is the one thing she needs: time. And in order to do that, you need … well ... time.'

'That's what Delaine said,' he muttered.

'She shows wisdom.' Ambrosius allowed himself a small, self-congratulatory smile. 'I taught her well.'

'You always spoke in riddles,' Jareth growled, turning again to stare haughtily out of the window.

'How many people do you need to tell you things you already know?'

Silence.

The old man watched him for a moment and then sighed, rousing himself from his position by the throne and crossed the room.

'You take too much on yourself, Jareth. You are not to blame for this.'

'I was supposed to protect her,' the younger man replied, for the first time a hint of vulnerability in his voice. 'I was supposed to watch over her.'

'And you did that,' Ambrosius informed him firmly. 'Admirably. No one could have done more. And you could not have known what was going to happen,' he added, raising his voice over Jareth's objections. 'Khazad is an ancient evil and an insidious one. Even I could not tell that this would happen and, considering the benefit of my foresight, that is a terrible failing to admit to.'

Jareth turned to him, his eyes earnestly raking the old man's face. 'What can I do?'

'Nothing, yet. The borders of the Underground are as secure as they can be for the moment. When Sarah is recovered, then we will have more power at our disposal and while she is here, you can keep her safe.'

The Goblin King considered this and then nodded.

The two men stood, looking out over the Underground and hoping for salvation.

ooOoo

Her second waking was easier and far less painful than the first. The bed was wonderfully comfortable, the light shaded and a cool breeze played over her skin. Sarah was able to push herself up slightly and look at her surroundings. The room was large and beautifully furnished. Lots of white, was the overall impression.

'Hello.'

Sarah started, turning to see a woman sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed. Her blonde hair fell softly around her face and she was smiling slightly.

'I know you…' Sarah said, wonderingly. There was an ill-defined memory, something stirring vaguely… And then it came back to her: the bookstore and Toby's birthday present. 'You're Delaine King. But … but, how? What are you…'

The eyes. The woman had Toby's eyes. Jareth's eyes.

'Who are you?'

Delaine laid a hand on Sarah's arm and she recoiled slightly. 'My name you already know. I am Jareth's sister. I came home to help my brother rescue you. Does that answer everything for the time being?'

'Yes. No, I …' Her head was spinning again. 'I'm still in the Underground? But …' Sarah felt a sense of rising panic. She had been running, running and trying to get away from this place and from him, but now she was still trapped here.

'Perhaps some one else would be better to explain it to you.'

Her voice was so comforting, so musical that Sarah wanted to trust her implicitly. She looked into those extraordinary eyes and then looked to where Delaine was pointing.

A small, blonde figure was curled up on a sofa, fast asleep.

'Toby?'

As if he had heard her, the boy moved, raising his head and a pair of bleary eyes to hers. He stared at her for a moment and then his eyes widened. 'Sarah! You're awake!'

She managed a smile. 'Apparently.'

A small blonde whirlwind landed on the bed next to her and a pair of thin arms went around her neck. 'Are you okay? Does it hurt? I didn't think you were going to wake up and I-'

He was cut off as Sarah held him to her. She was trembling slightly, a combination of relief and residual fear. 'Yes, I'm okay and no, I'm not in pain.' She pulled back and brushed the hair away from his forehead. 'I'm fine. Just thirsty.'

Toby bounced across the bed and picked up a goblet from the nightstand. 'Here.'

Sarah looked at it.

Her brother sat expectantly for a moment and then frowned. 'It's nice. You'll like it. It's peach juice.'

'Peace juice,' she repeated.

'Yeah.' He inspected the contents. 'It's okay, you know. There's nothing wrong with it. See...' He swallowed a large mouthful, grinned at her and then held out the goblet to her.

She took it and peered at it before raising it slowly to her lips. It tasted wonderful, as though she were drinking liquid sunshine. She felt calmer, her head clearer. Sarah replaced the goblet and looked around her. Delaine had slipped out of the room and she was alone with her brother. She took hold of his shoulders and looked earnestly into his face. 'Toby, we're going to get out of here, okay?'

'Huh?'

'There's nothing to worry about, I promise you.'

'I know that. You're safe now. I rescued you. Well, Jareth helped, but it was mainly me. Hey, should I go get him?'

'No!' She shook him slightly. 'Jareth isn't a good person, Toby.'

'Yes he is!'

'No, he isn't!' He squirmed and she tried to recapture him in a firmer grip. 'You can't trust him!'

Toby pulled away from her. 'You don't know him.'

'I don't know him? Toby, you have no idea what he did-'

'Yeah I do! I saw it!'

'You ... you saw it?' Her voice faltered.

Toby stared at the counterpane, picking at a golden thread. 'In a crystal. It was kinda like watching a movie, only like being inside a movie. Anyway, I saw everything. When you asked the Goblins to take me away.'

Sarah felt her stomach contract. He was never supposed to have known about that. Of course, Jareth would have told him all about it. She could imagine the relish with which he would recount every detail, every failure, every wrong turn of her journey. 'Toby... I was so wrong, I know that. I knew it then. I-'

'S'okay, Sarah.' His thin shoulders shrugged.

'Jareth shouldn't have told you.'

'He didn't. He wasn't even there, he was fixing a rup-, a, er, rip? Um, a something in the Underground, which was kinda scary, I guess, 'cos I thought you'd told Kaz-thingy how to get in, but you didn't, so that's cool. Anyway, there was this crystal and I could see you in it and then the whole story started and then Jareth came back and said I shouldn't be angry with you 'cos you were really brave and I said I wasn't. And I'm not.'

Sarah stared at him for a few moments. 'Ok-ay... Toby, I want you tell me everything that happened after I left. Slowly.'

He gave her a long suffering look and sighed. The whole story left Sarah feeling in need of more peach juice. Jareth appearing in Toby's room she could well imagine; the news that she apparently had some unknown powers connecting her to the Underground came as something of a shock; the fact that the man she had spent the last few days with had not actually been Jareth was something that she wanted to believe.

The man who had appeared to Toby sounded so like and yet so unlike the Jareth she remembered that a part of her wasn't completely convinced that where they were now was the real Underground. Toby had talked himself hoarse and had fallen silent. Through the open window came a sweet, fresh sound. Birdsong. She turned her head to listen.

The door opened and Delaine entered again. 'Toby, would you go down to the study?'

He slid off the bed before she could stop him. 'It's okay, Sarah. I'll see you later.'

Delaine smiled down at him as he passed her, but he didn't quite look up at her. 'There are some visitors here for you, Sarah.'

Sarah stiffened and scrutinised the other woman's face. 'What sort of visitors?'

Delaine's amused smile broadened. 'The friendly sort.'

The words had barely left her lips when the small cavalcade entered.

'My Lady!' Sir Didymus bowed so low that his whiskers brushed the floor. 'Thy return fills the hearts of thy loyal friends with the joy of-'

'Oh, give over!'

'Well!' The fox glared. 'I wouldst not expect a Dwarf to-'

'Shut up!' Hoggle approached the bed. 'You all right, Sarah? ''Is Majesty,' he added with only a hint of venom, 'says you been ill. Wouldn't let no-one in 'cept hisself an' 'is sister.'

The uncertainties over where she was and which of the strange worlds she had been in was the true Underground receded. She had no doubt that this was the true Hoggle. His slightly rheumy eyes were filled with concern and on his wrist was the bracelet of plastic baubles she had given him so long ago. The elastic had long since withered and snapped, but the beads had been restrung onto a piece of rather grimy string. Sarah slipped out of the bed and fell to her knees, embracing her old friend. 'It's so good to see you!'

Hoggle patted her head clumsily. Sir Didymus blew his nose loudly.

Sarah looked up at the large furry mound looming over them. 'Hey, Ludo.' She struggled to her feet and staggered, her legs still not as strong as they should be; she was swept up in an embrace that felt like being enveloped in a living blanket and found herself deposited back on the bed. Something wet touched her hand. Ambrosius, his eyes obscured by his scruffy fringe, looked up at her and wagged his tail. She laughed and ruffled his ears.

'I can't believe you're all here - I can't believe I'm here. I thought...' She trailed off and looked at the familiar faces. 'Toby told me some things, about the Underground being in danger - is that true?'

They all shifted uneasily.

'Well, my Lady,' Sir Didymus began, 'danger is not unknown to this realm. Thou rememberest thy own perilous journey and the many obstacles thy wisdom and bravery overcame-'

'Didymus,' she interrupted patiently, 'I meant dangers from outside the Underground.'

There was a longer silence.

'Ain't for us to say,' Hoggle muttered after a while.

Sarah, however, refused to give up so easily. 'Toby told me that there is someone...' she recalled the terrible distorted face that had chased her through the corridors, 'something called Khazad?'

Ludo let out a low, keening cry.

'His Majesty's request, my Lady,' Didymus said, his whiskers quivering, 'was that when thou hadst recovered, he would tell thee all...'

'But-' She broke off, looking at their faces. In the depths of all their eyes she saw the same thing - fear. Somehow, she knew it was not fear of Jareth. Ambrosius had crept onto the bed, his head now resting in her lap. Sarah smiled. 'Why don't you tell me what you've all been doing? It's been so long...'

ooOoo

They had, eventually, left her to rest. Sarah lay staring at the ornate ceiling, but she did not sleep. The attempt to reconcile all that had happened had become a little easier after the time with her friends. Her immediate concern had already been assuaged - Toby was safe and apparently as talkative as ever. Hoggle - the real Hoggle! - and all the others were the same as they ever had been. Her thoughts turned towards Delaine: she had seen very little of the woman who was, apparently, Jareth's sister but Sarah found herself trusting her. The only person she hadn't seen was Jareth himself.

She had spent so long wanting to see him again, even when she would not admit it to herself, and the same old confusion was still there - intensified now by the experiences of the past few days. If the man who had taken her on the night of Toby's birthday was not Jareth, then all she had to fall back on were her memories of ten years ago and she no longer knew if she could trust her own memories or her own judgement.

Sarah threw back the bed clothes and stood up, her head spinning slightly from the sudden movement. The strange, disengaged feeling had gone and she could feel the ground firmly beneath her feet. The large windows looked out over the Labyrinth and in the early evening light, the long shadows added even greater depth to its mysterious beauty. How much of it, she wondered, had been born out of its ruler's active imagination; or had he been shaped by it? Her only chance of ever resolving these questions was to face him again. The thought that Jareth may be avoiding her seemed laughable yet, given his conspicuous absence, it seemed increasingly likely. One thing was certain, Sarah thought determinedly: she was not going to hide from him.

A brief tour of her quarters led to the discovery of an adjoining dressing room and beyond that a bathroom. She yanked open the door of one of the wardrobes and found an array of clean, comfortable looking robes. Their jewel-like colours glowed softly and she spent a moment admiring their fine texture and the delicate embroidery that decorated them. She pulled one over her head and was amazed at how light it felt. A brush lay on the dressing-table and she dutifully passed it through her hair before securing her dark locks with a jewelled clip. Her face was still very pale, she thought. Sarah pinched her cheeks, ignoring the mocking voice in her head that speculated as to why she was concerned over what Jareth would think of her appearance.

Taking a deep breath, Sarah opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. She was greeted by a rushing, pattering sound and then silence. A glance in each direction revealed no other occupants apart from herself.

'Now, would you go left or right?'

Here we go again, she thought wryly and turned to her right. Immediately she heard noises behind her and whipped around, catching a flurry of movement out of the corner of her eye. The corridor behind her was empty. Feeling more annoyed than unsettled, Sarah turned back once more and found a Goblin a her feet, staring up at her. It emitted a strangled squeak and from the clothes it was wearing, Sarah gathered that it was a female.

'Er, hullo.'

It blinked.

'I want to talk to the Goblin King. Can you tell me where he is?'

'The King! The King! She wants to talk to the King!'

The chant was followed by wild giggling and as Sarah glanced over her shoulder, she was just in time to see a dozen or so heads vanish behind tapestries and bits of furniture. She sighed and looked down at the diminutive Goblin. 'Please, can you help me?'

It let out another squeak and scampered down the corridor, occasionally looking back at her. Sarah gathered her skirts and followed it. Twisting passages led to stairways and the sound of high, strange laughter assailed her at every turn. The possibility that she was being led a merry dance seemed increasingly probable - and then her guide came to a stop so abrupt that Sarah almost tripped over it. The corridor was lined with sun-bleached tapestries depicting strange mythical beasts; to her left was a set of ornate french windows that were allowing the late sun and sweet warm air into the castle. Sarah's guide let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a raspberry and scurried down a passageway - she was not particularly sorry to see it go.

As Sarah approached the open doors she could hear the rattle of china and cutlery and the patter of Goblins' leathery feet. She edged closer, moving forwards slowly so that she would be able to see without being seen. Over everything else, she could hear Toby's cheerful chatter.

'...would be okay, I guess. But what about Elves? I mean, if you wished the Elves would come and take you away, what would happen?'

'They would give you pointy ears and make you play the panpipes.' She knew that drawling, slightly sarcastic tone without even seeing him.

'That doesn't sound so bad,' Toby said defiantly.

'Hmm. But when you can't play them correctly - and they are far more difficult to master than you would think, boy - they make you dance on hot coals.' He was reclining nonchalantly in his chair, playing idly with a fork. The setting sun brought out the deeper gold of his hair and, despite his somewhat alarming words, his sculpted features were softened by something that looked like affection.

Toby had folded his arms and was staring at the Goblin King, but a look of uncertainty crossed his face. Delaine watched both of them and shook her head slightly. It was she who noticed Sarah standing in the shadows of the doorway and as Toby glanced at Delaine, as though seeking reassurance that hot coals were not going to play a part in his immediate future, he saw her distraction and followed her gaze.

'Sarah!' He leapt to his feet and Sarah found herself being pulled onto the terrace by a hot sticky little hand.

Jareth stood, drawing his cloak around him as he moved until the stiff collar of feathers stood around his face, the folds falling to his feet like a column. His face gave nothing away, but in his eyes she was sure she could see relief as he looked at her. Even Toby, ever talkative, had fallen silent as the pair faced each other. It was Jareth who finally spoke.

'Walk with me?'

Sarah nodded dumbly and then allowed him to lead her down off the terrace; his guiding hand fell away from her arm and she walked resolutely at his side.

To be continued...