Chapter Thirteen: Rise Up All the Way

Sarah had spent a great deal of time getting ready that morning: over half an hour dressing and then almost as much time again trying to make it appear that she had not gone to too much trouble. Breakfast was taken out on the terrace; Sarah admired the view as she ate and wondered if there was such a thing as bad weather in the Underground: it was yet another perfect day of clear blue skies and balmy sunshine.

She also took the opportunity to observe her companions. Now that she saw Delaine and Jareth together properly for the first time, she realised how strong the resemblance was between them - and wondered how she could not have noticed it the first time she met the blonde novelist. Delaine's lips were fuller, but she had the same firm, sensitive mouth as her brother and the same jutting cheekbones. Toby could have been the child of either one of them, she thought. Or their younger sibling. That idea was, somehow, not quite as unnerving as it had once been. He had been kitted out in what looked like new jeans and T-shirt and looked fairly clean and presentable. Sarah had no doubt that it wouldn't last long.

Breakfast, as far as Toby was concerned, was the time to pepper Jareth with questions and the Goblin King had been bombarded from the moment they sat down. Jareth made a great show of eye rolling annoyance but, Sarah couldn't help noticing, he neither patronised nor belittled the boy and answered each and every question with, for him, patience. By the time they had finished eating and the little group was heading for the steps that led down into the gardens, Toby had arrived at the matter of flying.

'You can really turn yourself into an owl?'

'Yes.'

'That's so cool! What's it like?'

'Feathery.'

Toby pouted. 'That's not much of an answer.'

'It wasn't much of a question.'

'Can you make me fly?'

Jareth came to a halt at the bottom of the steps. 'Is that what you want?'

The boy's eyes gleamed. 'Yes!'

'Toby-' Sarah began warningly, but it was already too late.

Jareth grasped hold of Toby's wrist and with an effortless, almost languid movement threw him up into the air. Sarah let out an involuntary cry and started forward, but Delaine's hand held her back. Jareth was still holding him, at arm's length, by the wrist, the boy's body horizontal and his eyes wide.

'Had enough?' Jareth asked casually.

'No!' was the inevitable reply.

Sarah watched in part fascination, part horror as the King whirled Toby through the air, swooping him higher and lower - but he never took his eyes off the child. Toby was alternately shrieking with delight and yelling instructions, which Jareth seemed only too happy to comply with. Sarah felt herself begin to relax and found herself almost laughing at the faintly ridiculous sight of her brother being waved around like a pennant at a baseball game.

Toby himself felt neither ridiculous nor frightened - only exhilarated. The world was spinning past in a crazy blur of colour and rushing air and he laughed with pure pleasure. It would have been wonderful to be able to do this unaided, but a small part of him was grateful for Jareth's controlling hold on his arm. He felt that same strength flowing into him, as he always did whenever Jareth touched him. When his feet finally touched solid ground again his legs stubbornly refused to go in the same direction as the rest of him, as though he had just stepped off a very fast carousel.

'That was amazing!' he breathed, gazing up at Jareth. 'Do it again!'

The Goblin King's face was alive with laughter and he turned his ever-changing eyes - now blazing with affection and mischief - on the boy. He tilted his head to one side. 'That sounded suspiciously like an order.'

'Please do it again?'

Jareth laughed. 'Not right now, Toby. I think it's only fair to offer Sarah a flying lesson, don't you?'

For a moment Toby was torn between pestering Jareth until he gave in and sharing the experience with Sarah. The decision was effectively made for him when Delaine said, 'I'm going across to the lake - I need to speak to the Merman Chief. Wouldn't you like to come with me?'

Toby's jaw dropped. 'Sure I would! Uh, is that okay?'

Jareth looked questioningly at Sarah. She shrugged. 'I suppose so, just be careful.'

'Don't worry. I'll take good care of him,' Delaine told her reassuringly.

Toby was having a few last words with Jareth (which consisted mainly of threats of what would befall him at the King's hands if he went anywhere or did anything without Delaine's permission), but Sarah noticed that he kept shooting sideways glances at Delaine, the tips of his ears growing slightly pinker each time.

Sarah smiled indulgently. 'I think my brother has fallen in love.'

Delaine's eyes sparkled. 'Mine too.' She called briskly to Toby before Sarah could say another word and the boy hurried over, the two wandering off companionably.

Sarah retreated back to the shade and safety of the terrace. Jareth remained still, watching until his sister and Toby were out of sight. Sarah leant against the balustrade and watched him: the sunshine brought out the warm honeyed tones of his skin and hair; he looked as though he had been dipped in gold. Then his eyes turned to find hers and Sarah felt her heart constrict. He mounted the steps slowly and as he advanced Sarah couldn't help but thinking that this was how a mouse felt when captured by a large and very beautiful cat.

'So, how about it, Sarah?'

It took her a moment to realise what he was referring to and then raised her chin with more defiance than she actually felt. 'If you think you're going to throw me around like a kite on the end of a string, then you've got another thing coming.'

His lips curled into a smile. 'And so have you.'

In the time it took her to blink everything changed; where Jareth had stood there was now a snowy white owl. Her brain took several moments to process the fact that the owl appeared to be the same size as her.

'Or rather, you are the same size as the owl,' Jareth's voice spoke quietly in her mind.

The world and everything in it had suddenly grown much larger and was visible only at a truly bizarre angle. She turned her head from side to side and then looked down to where her feet used to be.

'What have you...' She was not aware of speaking the words, but she could hear her own voice.

Where her feet had been were long talons, her legs covered by feathers. She spread out her arms and felt the wholly alien sensation of air rushing through dense feathers.

'I'm a bird.'

'Oh, well done,' his voice was still annoyingly mocking. 'You are quick on the uptake today, aren't you?'

She swore at him mentally and was mortified to hear his low laughter in answer.

'Oh dear. That's really no way to respond to a gift.'

Sarah managed to keep her thoughts more or less under control before she allowed herself to respond. 'Okay - so what's the big idea, huh?'

The reply was a burst of images and sounds, as though she had been given an aerial view of the entire Underground at high-speed.

'Wouldn't you like to see that, Sarah?' There was a pause and then another laugh. 'What did you think I was going to do? Put you in a gilded cage for the rest of your life?'

Until that moment, she had not thought it possible for an owl to look smug. Torn between curiosity of what actual flight would feel like and the childish desire not to let Jareth have his own way, Sarah finally admitted, 'I don't know how to fly.'

'You have wings. Use them.'

'That's incredibly helpful.'

His wings opened and she felt the air rush against her as he soared into the air, wheeling around her head before alighting next to her. 'It takes a leap of faith. But you've done that before. I would imagine that this would be more pleasurable than throwing yourself down a pit with no knowledge of what is at the bottom.'

Sarah peered down from the balustrade she was perched on - the ground seemed terribly far away. She spread her wings and beat them experimentally, amazed at the power that nearly lifted her off her feet. Sarah screwed her eyes closed and jumped, upwards and forwards, beating her wings frantically. Her body jerked erratically and she was certain that she was about to crash but, somehow, she remained airborne.

'Not so fast. Let the air support you.'

'Easy ... for you ... to ... say!'

With an effort she forced her wings to slow and with an even greater effort opened her eyes. The shock was so great she almost tumbled to earth. The Labyrinth stretched beneath her, passing at an incredible rate. From this vantage it seemed larger than ever and she was momentarily distracted from the wholly unfamiliar sensation of flapping wings. Not so unfamiliar... It was starting to feel normal, natural even, as though the memories of countless other such flights were dancing on the fringes of her consciousness. She became more aware of the feeling of the air rushing past her and through her, the fact that her hearing and sight was far more acute. Sarah slowed her wings and found, to her delight, that the air current did indeed support her and instead of clawing at the air she could afford to only propel herself forward when she needed to. She felt an incredible sense of pride and achievement and then, curiously, an echo of it, as though she were watching herself from a distance and applauding her accomplishment.

'Well, Sarah, how do you like my Labyrinth?'

She gazed down at it, appreciating its complex mixture of formal arrangement and wild beauty.

'A whole lot more than I did the first time around.'

Beyond the walls of the Labyrinth she could see the hill where Jareth had issued his challenge to her - it was still a fairly desolate place but not all of the land beyond the Labyrinth was like that - she could see sparkling water and green enclosures. Small dark shapes - Goblins - were everywhere and she caught the occasional glimpse of red flame that betrayed the presence of a Firey. At the back of her mind other images lurked, images of the Labyrinth in its younger days; they were only snapshots, gone before she could grasp them fully.

Through it all, she was aware of Jareth's presence and admired the assured, almost lazy beat of wings and tried to match her rhythm to his. Their changes of direction occurred, at first, when Sarah would hear the spoken command; after a while such instruction was not needed, she knew where he wanted them to turn. As they swooped through the air, diving low and then rising on another current, Sarah was reminded of a ride on a roller coaster - and what a strange contraption to want to strap yourself into. She realised that the last thought had not been her own, and with that came the knowledge that the elusive feelings and images she had been experiencing were Jareth's own thoughts and memories.

He led her down into woodland, weaving in and out of the trees so that she could feel the leaves brushing her wings and then they soared upwards, higher than ever before and on the horizon, in all directions, was a shimmering silver-purple haze.

'What is that?'

'The boundary of the Underground. Beyond it lie countless other realms and worlds. Not all are friendly.'

Her wings were beginning to feel heavy and despite her longing for this never to end, she was grateful when she saw the castle growing ever nearer. Sarah had fallen behind him and she followed him over the terrace and up a wall that seemed to go on forever until they both fluttered through a large window set into the stone. Sarah's feet hit the ground and she stumbled, righting herself against the wide sill. Her body felt large and cumbersome, her arms useless. They stood on either side of the window embrasure, a shaft of hazy sunshine falling between them. Sarah leant against the stone wall, trying to get her breath back under control. 'If I could do that myself, I think I'd be a bird all of the time! How can you bear to walk everywhere?'

He laughed, looking almost boyish, his eyes dancing with that wild, mischievous joy that, she was coming to realise, was one of his defining characteristics. Still buzzing with the euphoria of their flight, and the intimacy of having their thoughts entwined so fresh in her mind, Sarah found herself marvelling that she had ever been so young and so naïve as to be fooled into believing that this man was her enemy. He was certainly not harmless - but neither was he the embodiment of evil that she had thought for so long.

'I'm glad that you enjoyed one of the positive aspects of immortality,' he commented.

She tossed the hair out of her eyes. 'Well, it makes a change from the usual dinner and a movie combo, I'll give you that.' He looked faintly puzzled, but a playful smile still hovered around his lips. Sarah laughed. 'You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?'

He shook his head. 'Care to enlighten me?'

He may not have understood the words, but he certainly seemed to understand the feeling behind them. He took a half-step towards her and when she didn't recoil he moved closer.

He could take her right then, she thought. He could take hold of her and she would not be able to resist him. She moved away from her solid piece of wall and for a moment felt as though as she were suspended in mid-air; then she felt the warmth from his advancing body, drawing her in.

The door burst open and a small wave of Goblins swept in, Delaine and Toby in their midst. Jareth retreated, his eyes fixed on hers. Sarah expected him to bellow an order for them to get out, to leave them alone. Instead, he turned to greet his sister and Sarah felt a great surge of disappointment; she pressed herself back against the wall, more disoriented now than at any point in this extraordinary day. A moment before she had experienced a wave of desire greater than anything she had known before and she was certain that he had felt it too. Now he was apparently fascinated by Toby's high-pitched, excitable babbling.

Jareth held enormous affection for a great many beings, but Delaine was one of the few whom he truly loved. At the moment, however, he felt like killing her. Or, at the very least, dangling her over the Bog for a few hundred years. He kept his eyes resolutely away from Sarah. He had not mistaken the look on her face, of that he was sure. He had waited long enough to see it. She had been caught up in the excitement of the moment - but how would she feel when that was past? As great as the temptation was to take advantage of her present mood, he could not bear the thought of her despising him - or herself - for it afterwards. If she truly wanted him, then her decision must be made consciously and without reservations. Perhaps it was better this way, he thought. He could not be certain that the danger posed by Khazad was over and until that time, it was probably safer if there was a little distance between himself and Sarah. Afterwards, perhaps, they would have a better opportunity. If that meant being patient for a little longer, that is what he would do: Jareth had become very good at being patient.

Toby, on the other hand, was not good at patience: spying Sarah still lurking by the window, he flew at her and dragged her into the middle of the room, talking all the while. He smelt distinctly fishy and Sarah held him at arm's length.

'What did you do, jump headfirst into the lake?'

He looked affronted. 'Of course not.' Toby lowered his eyes under his sister's sceptical stare. 'Okay, maybe I would've, but Delaine had hold of the back of my shirt. But look what the Mermen gave me!' He delved into his pockets and came up with a handful of glowing gems in colours of deep amethyst and emerald. 'Aren't they pretty? The Mermaids wear them in their hair. They didn't really look like how I'd imagine,' he added thoughtfully.

'Not beautiful sirens of the sea?'

He frowned. 'They are beautiful,' he said slowly. 'But, like, really wild and strange and...' He shrugged. 'I dunno, it's kinda hard to explain. And when they sing it's like you're in a dream, even though you're really awake. Anyway, I thought maybe you'd like these...'

Sarah accepted his malodorous offering of gems. 'Are you sure you don't want to keep them?'

'Nah, I got another pocket full.'

She laughed, knowing she should have realised that Toby wouldn't part with a gift from creatures of legend quite so easily. The stones gleamed and Sarah held them in the light, watching how the colours shifted and sparkled.

'They're seaweed crystals.' Sarah looked up and found Delaine standing near her. 'If you let them soak in some cold water overnight the smell goes away. Well, more or less.'

'Thanks for the tip. And thanks for looking after Toby.'

Delaine smiled. 'It was my pleasure. He's a sweet boy.'

Sarah looked over to where Toby was being taught some sort of dance by the Goblins. 'He could be worse, I suppose.'

'Did he ever throw your favourite doll down an oubliette?'

'Er... I'll have to go with "No" on that one.'

Delaine's eyes sparkled in a way that made her look more than ever like her brother. 'In his defence, Jareth did go down and retrieve it. And broke his arm in the process,' she added meditatively. 'He hasn't really changed much since then.'

Sarah couldn't help but laugh at that. Delaine floated back across the room, her filmy robes billowing as she walked. The atmosphere in the throne room was starting to resemble a party: Hoggle and Sir Didymus had arrived and were deep in conversation with Ambrosius. Jareth, much to her astonishment, was talking to Ludo; or, rather, Ludo appeared to be talking to him, with Jareth nodding thoughtfully every so often. Sarah wandered through the crowd and paused briefly to watch Delaine and Toby organise another chess game. She worked her way towards Hoggle and the pair of them watched as the Goblins vied with each other over whose would prove to be the better team.

'Hoggle, has Jareth ever... Has he ever talked to you about me?'

The Dwarf grunted. 'Can't say he has, 'cos he hasn't.'

'Great,' she thought irritably, no closer to working out exactly what she should do next.

ooOoo

Sarah wasn't certain how they had ended up in the tower. At some point everyone who wasn't a Goblin had moved from the throne room to what was the castle's conservatory. She remembered vaguely mounting the spiral staircase that led up to it, but couldn't quite remember how she had got to that point. Yet another of Jareth's caprices, she supposed. The tower was one of the highest pinnacles and the only thing that seemed to hold it together was enchantment. It looked as though someone had constructed the vaults and supporting pillars, but forgotten to put in the walls; the ceiling itself was either non-existent, or enchanted to resemble the sky above. Plants were twined everywhere, their sweet, heavy scent perfuming the warm night air and tiny fireflies glowed from the depths of the densest shrubbery. Tables had been arranged around the space, each laden with food and drink that replenished itself as soon as a platter or pitcher was empty.

She had finally had to tell Toby of her adventure that day and he had immediately turned envious and imploring eyes upon Jareth. He was undeterred by Jareth's avowal that as Toby was only ten, he would only be able to turn him into barely a fledgling and, therefore, would be unable to fly. Sarah was quite certain that Toby would not rest until he had worked out a way around this problem, and equally certain that Jareth was up to the challenge of thwarting his schemes.

Jareth. He had barely spoken a word to her since... Since that almost kiss. She was a little ashamed to think of how disappointed she had been. The rest of the gathering appeared to be in very high spirits and Sarah did her best to join in with their gaiety. It was, she thought, possibly the best performance of her life. All she wanted to do was go back to her room - preferably her own room, in her own home - and wallow in her self pity. And so it continued, until the party broke up and everyone drifted away and she realised that the only two people left were herself and Jareth. The tables melted into nothingness and the only light came from the stars overhead, the sliver of a moon and the fireflies.

Earlier he had looked as though he had been cast in gold; now, in the moonlight, he looked like a being of pure silver. A tendril from a creeper had twined itself around her waist, effectively pinning her to the wall; she swatted it away irritably and it withdrew, with what sounded like a faint squawk of protest. Sarah stepped into a pool of light and he immediately turned to her.

'Jareth, I...' She faced him resolutely, shoulders square and chin raised. 'I think that it's probably best if Toby and I go home.'

No hint of emotion flickered across his face. 'Yes, I do see. I suppose that you would prefer sooner rather than later?'

Sarah blinked, trying to read his expression and finding no clue as to what he was thinking. 'I suppose so.'

He nodded. 'Well, it's a straight forward matter. When you have decided when you wish to return I will have you and Toby home within a few moments.' He gestured towards the stairwell, as though making ready to escort her back down.

'That's it? You're not going to say to say anything more? You're not going to try and keep me here?'

'You are not a prisoner, Sarah,' he replied, a note of weariness in his voice. Despite everything, he was finding himself in the role of villain once again. 'You are free to leave whenever you want.'

Her eyes hardened. 'You know, every time I think I'm starting to understand you, you change. Again. And I can't keep up, Jareth. What is it you want from me?'

He hesitated. 'What I want isn't important right now, Sarah.'

'Tell me anyway. Give me a clue at least. You owe me that much, for God's sake!'

'Now is not the time.' His voice had that note of arrogant command; the tone of a King used to getting his own way.

Her fingers had balled into fists at her sides; she uncurled them and let out a steadying breath. 'Right. Toby and I will be ready to go in the morning.' She started towards the staircase.

'Sarah...'

She paused, turning her head.

'Your friends will always be here for you. And so will I; all you have to do is call to me.' He held out his hand to lead her down.

'I can find my own way back.' She swept past him, her heels ringing sharply as she descended the stairs. Jareth remained motionless, his face pale and closed-off.

Delaine emerged from the shadows, shaking her head. 'Idiot.'

He cast her a malevolent look. 'What was that you said about being supportive?'

'Hah!'

To be continued...