Hey ya'll! Another chapter and a REALLY long one at that but I hope you like!
Mistress Queen
Ch.10-Sarah and the Goddesses
Do as the goddesses did.
-Ovid
I learned something very interesting on my way back from the garden. Telling Jareth that I was fine escorting myself back to his castle, I (of course) headed to the oubliette where I had first learned of my crazy fate instead. I needed to find Agrea. I needed to think about what was told to me and what Jareth's words really meant. There's nothing I won't deny to if you won't deny me. If interpreted falsely, the effects could change my destiny forever. Within minutes upon entering the oubliette, Agrea appeared immediately.
"Problem princess? But of course there's a problem! I could sense it." She said already knowing the reason for my early visit.
"It's Jareth."
"How is his majesty?" she asked nonchalantly.
"He seems strangely well." I said, "Do you know what he brought to me? Unicorns from the Land of the Light."
"From the Land of the Light?" she gasped, "I told you he's under your thumb."
"And he gave me this," I pulled out the key to the beautiful garden that we had spent the better part of the day in.
"And you didn't believe in seduction! Ha!"
"Agrea, I'm confused. You see, when Jareth and I went out riding today he told me a few things. Agrea, I need to know something and I need to know if the words spilt from the king's lips where true. The fall of my kingdom, this war, was it started because of me?"
"Is that what Jareth told you?" She asked now taking a seat on a rock.
"He told me he needed an equal," I sighed, "I was rebellious, and he wanted me by his side. Has he watched me in those damn crystals before this pointless catastrophe Agrea!"
"This was not pointless. Your being here is not pointless, there is a purpose for everything."
"God!" I screamed in frustration, "if he wanted me why didn't he just make arrangements with my father! Why destroy everything my family worked so hard for!"
"Would you have come willingly? Think about it." Agrea says surprise calm given my tantrum.
"No," I sit back down, "I suppose I wouldn't. I just-I just can't make sense of all this."
"It's hard isn't it?" Agrea sooths, "Of course it is, this a big position, and I imagine you must think your playing with fire but-"
I cut her off, "but I am that same fire. I'm fierce. Yes I know, I know. He watched me from a crystal all this time," my voice drifts off as I recall my first night laying with the king and how he explained the crystals functions, "So the crystals truly do show one's dream? Agrea I wish I knew myself better."
"But you do. And you understand your situation, you just haven't figured out how to make sense of it all." Agrea smiles, flying to a darkened wall, "Come, I want to show you something." Her blue light instantly illuminates the walls with the paintings of the goddesses.
I roll my eyes but reluctantly get up and follow the Fairy Queen of Fate, "Agrea, I know, I know, the paintings of the goddesses."
"But do you really know?" she fires back, "There's meaning behind these paintings princess. They tell a story and at times stories can change one's life or the path one is following. Perhaps they will change your life in perception?"
I run my fingers over the soft ageing paint that covers the cold stone of the oubliette, "What's their story?"
"Well" she buzzes up to the first painting, "they called this goddess Athena the 'Goddess of Wisdom'. She was warrior, one of the 'Three Virgin Goddesses'; very strong and extremely intelligent. Greek armies, armies of strong men asked for her strength and protection in battle. This one," she flies up to another painting of a beautiful figure, "is my favorite. She was Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty and prostitutes. After the sky god's semen fell on Mother Ocean, she arose miraculously from the foam and her birth united the powers of heaven and hearth. Her beauty was thought to be incomparable, and eternal; wherever she stepped, it was said, that flowers sprang up in her path, so she was, in a sense, a regenerator of life. She too was rebellious in nature"
Of course she was. As I have learned during my time in the Labyrinth, well behaved women rarely make history. "Wow. Eternal beauty." I gasp, "Well, what about these over here?"
"The one to your left was Inanna and the one to your right is Artemis." She explained, "Inanna totally defied her Sumerian sexism and is known, to mortal mythology of course, as the 'ultimate femme fatale'. She incarnated raw erotic desire, beyond societal laws and human control and when it finally came time to marry the fertility god Dumuzi, she insisted on no women's work such as weaving, or childbearing and an equal place at the table. Now Artemis was the Greek goddess of hunt and an awesome female. She was said to have fifty hounds and a quiver full of painless silver arrows. When it came to hunting she was known to kill any mortal man who watched her bathe. Although Artemis was stunningly beautiful, she was very cold and she swore never to marry. But she did have one lover, Amethyst, and only one; a hunter named Orion."
"These paintings, these goddesses or whatever they are insanely amazing and their stories even more so." I smile. My attention was drawn to a painting of two women side by side posing as though they are somehow related, "And these goddesses? Who are they?"
"Oh," Agrea laughs, "what a story. Alright, they are a mother and daughter actually."
"Really?"
"Yes, the mother is Demeter the 'Maiden of Spring' and her daughter is Persephone. Persephone was special; just like Aphrodite, where ever she walked flowers grew, and she was her mother's pride and joy. They were both very close and Demeter was extremely protective. But one day, while picking flowers in a felid Hades the 'God of the Dead and the Underworld' who lusted after the young goddess, kidnapped her and took her as a bride."
"Sounds strangely familiar." I say distastefully referring to my own situation.
"Meanwhile Demeter," Agrea went on, "went frantic, stopped creating spring, and searched the heavens and earth for her daughter. When she found Persephone, it was too late to take her back to earth because she had eaten a seed that made her stay in the Underworld eternally. Finally Demeter went to Zeus, the "King of the Gods" and asked for his help. Zeus stated that Persephone could return with her mother but only for half the year. The other half was to be spent with Hades; the Greeks believed that during this time Demeter cast winter over earth because she was without her daughter, and when Persephone was with her mother, this was known as spring."
"Did Hades truly love Persephone?" I ask.
"Well lusted I'm sure but,"
"There's a difference Agrea," I say, "did he love her?"
"I don't know some say he did; he tried to make her comfortable in the Underworld. After all they were so different," Agrea laughed, "Can you imagine a daughter of the Spring Goddess with a God death?"
"Yes," I say from somewhere far away, "that's Jareth and I."
"Amethyst," Agrea starts, "Persephone became a queen, and so will you. These goddesses embodied fertility."
"That was why sexual desire gained praise and power." I walk to the paintings again, "Erotic power in woman was accepted because from it came life and regeneration. They must have done a lot of good even if only in myth."
"They were strong Amethyst, and so are you." Agrea tells me, "You have already put this lost art, this strength into practice. Your almost queen."
"Almost," I say, "That is what scares me." There's a loud crash and instantly Agrea and I stand up, startled that the owner of a horrible noise is not Jareth-but that easily irritated, little creature, Hoggle.
"It's you again." Hoggle grumbles, "What are you doing in the oubliette. What'd you get lost again? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time Jareth caught you in here?"
"I never learn my lessons." I told Hoggle coolly getting a smile from Agrea out of the corner of my eye. Then I remember what Hoggle had told me before about the young human girl who had beat Jareth at his own game, "Hoggle! It is Hoggle right?"
"Yea what'd ya want?" Hoggle asks looking over his shoulder.
"I want to hear more about the human girl who beat the Labyrinth." I say eagerly; perhaps knowing about her story would help me with my own.
"Human girl?" Agrea asks placing emphasize on the girl's status.
"Yes human." I nod.
"Oh no! I've worked hard in my attempts to be ignored and unbothered by the Goblin King and even you'll not ruin that for me! Helping girls like you, brings innocent creatures like myself trouble." Hoggle refuses, "Now leave me alone before I run off and tell Jareth you're down here!"
"Go for it and I'll tell him you lead me down here, although I don't think it matters for he can't trust the both of us." I challenge.
"I'm not even sure he can place trust on even you Amethyst." Agrea laughs.
"Good," I tell her, "I like it that way. Now tell me about the girl, what was her name again?"
"Sarah," Hoggle huffs reluctantly taking a seat on the rock beside Agrea, "she came to the Labyrinth the way they all do, by wishing her baby brother away.
"How original." Agrea yawns.
"Jareth," Hoggle went on, "did everything in his power to stop Sarah from getting to his castle to retrieve Toby."
"But she didn't stop?" I asked.
"No she didn't," Hoggle smiled, "no matter how many obstacles Jareth threw at her, she never gave up."
"Seems as though Jareth is a magnet for women who challenge his word." Agrea raises her eye brows with a smile.
"Was he attracted to Sarah?" I ask suddenly.
"I don't know," Hoggle said, "maybe, yes, I think he was. It was strange how he showed affection though."
"Do you ever see her anymore?" Agrea asks him.
"If she ever needs me yes," Hoggle says, "If she needs me she calls."
"I want to meet her," I suddenly stand up; "take me to her."
"I can't!" Hoggle yells.
"Well why not!" Agrea shouts back.
"Because that's not how things work down here!"
"Who cares how things work!" I shout, "I order you to take me to this Sarah right now!"
"Your not queen yet!" Hoggle fires back a cold blow, "You can't tell me what to do."
"And at this rate I never will be!" I scream, "Think about it Hoggle, you have the chance to better your kingdom by helping me."
"What kingdom?" Hoggle spits looking about the dirty oubliette.
"My point exactly! What your king needs, is a new way of looking at things, and I'm just the girl to make him see that," I smile, "now please, take me to Sarah." This is not a question; it's an order.
"Ugh! Fine, but if we're caught…" Hoggle grumbles.
"Oh, we won't get caught." Agrea says.
"We haven't gotten caught yet." I giggle.
Stepping out from the door in the oubliette that serves as a passageway through (surprisingly) a mirror, in no time, I find myself alone in a darkened, wallpapered, bedroom. Boxes are everywhere, as if the owner or occupant is leaving on a long journey, and in the middle of the room there is a bed with a peaceful, slumbering figure of grace.
"So this is how humans live." I gasp in awe. Strange how the simplest things can stimulate one's mind. In truth I had never been to Earth, or aboveground, or whatever this place was, and even though I had seen humans at a safe distance, this was a new experience to me.
"Shh!" Hoggle hushed, "If you break anything…"
"Clam down Hoggle, there's nothing to break for everything's packed away." I whisper.
"Boy does this place look different last time I was here." Hoggle whispers glancing about the nearly empty room.
"When was the last time you were here?" Agrea asks.
"I don't know, years?" Hoggle says, "I don't remember it's been that long."
"Whose there!" by this point the slumbering figure-who I presume to be Sarah-is up and awake and fierce with fear.
"Are you Sarah?" I ask the girl.
"That depends on who wants to know." The girl whispers reaching for a bat. I like her already. Having the advantage of the element of unknown fear on my side, I figured I would tell her who I was after I had some fun scaring her. It has somehow always amused me how these mortals let their imaginations get carried away with them, especially in the late night's hours.
"Turn on your lights and find out." I smile in the darkness.
Sarah's reaction to her "visitors" washes over the bedroom as quickly as the light from her lamp. It is as though the girl wishes to scream in horror but when setting eyes on Hoggle, her emotion changes to surprise and then happiness. Humans are so weird…
"Hoggle! Oh Hoggle, is that really you!" she squeals jumping off the bed, and attacking him with a hug.
"It's uh, really me Sarah." Hoggle replies in a gasp due to the amount of air that is presently being squeezed out of him, "What's going on with all the boxes?"
"The boxes? Oh! The boxes…" Sarah bites her lower lip and glances about the room completely ignoring Agrea's and my presence.
"Yea," Hoggle notes, "last time I was here, your room was filled with posters and toys and a lot of colorful stuff."
"Yes," Sarah agrees, "it was…how can I put it? The very picture of girlhood. Hoggle I, I grew up I suppose. In fact I'm leaving this place in a few days."
"Leaving!" Hoggle asks with wide eyes, "where!"
"Collage." Sarah replies simply with a smile of pride, "Oh! Can you believe it! I mean there's a huge part of me that wishes to say here always but I almost can't wait to go! Hoggle," she continues, seeing that the Labyrinth creature has taken some grief to this happy news, "if I stay here then how am I suppose to grow. I've done a lot since I last saw you, but sometimes a lot isn't enough. If I stay here, I'll be no different then how I was like before going into the Labyrinth."
"What's so good about this collage anyways?" Hoggle frowns, arms folded.
Sarah smiles, seeming to know her friend's irritable nature, "I knew you'd be happy for me. Besides, its like you said, if I should ever need you I'll call…and I will from time to time. But enough about me, how have you been? And what about Sir Didymus and Ludo? Are they here too?"
"Who?" I ask Hoggle.
"Just some others who helped Sarah beat the Labyrinth." Hoggle replies.
"Who are you?" Sarah asks in awe, now noticing that there are others besides Hoggle in room.
"So she didn't beat the Labyrinth and Jareth by herself!" I ask confused and completely ignoring her.
"Oh yes she did." Hoggle explains.
"Yes I did," Sarah says just as confused at my presence as I am of hers, "He never had power over me and-wait! Before I go on who are you?"
"So," I smile, "you're the little human girl who beat the big Goblin King? In that case, my name is Amethyst, princess of the Land of the Light, and believe me I have needed to speak with you for so long."
"Land of the Land?" Sarah furrows her eyebrows, "Since when-"
"It's a long story," I roll my eyes taking a seat on the bed, "it will unravel itself in due time but before I tell my tale you must first tell me yours."
"I don't understand," the girl says, "Why? Is something wrong in the Labyrinth?"
"Yes, well no not really, I mean yes! I mean, I don't know what I mean!" I pout.
"Well I'm confused and I can't possibly be of anyone's help unless I know what the tragedy is first." Sarah explains as though talking to a child. I hate it when people do that to me; I always have, even when I was a child.
"Okay," I relent, "I see you have a copy of the Labyrinth." I say referring to an old red book laying on an unpacked bookshelf, "before you made your journey to the Underground, you knew such a place was in a book but did you think it truly existed? And be perfectly honest."
"I," Sarah pauses just for a minuet but then goes on, "Yes, I suppose I did in my heart. I was fifteen and during that time in my life I felt that no one understood me so I began to really get into fantasy. I use to read scores and scores of fairy tales and about mystical creatures, but I've never read anything about a Land of the Light."
"No," I grin, "I suppose it wouldn't be recorded in any human text, my ancestors probably preferred it to be that way. I have it on very good sources," I make good empathizes on this as a glare at Hoggle, "that you found your way into the Underground because you wished away your baby brother?"
"Oh," Sarah grins, "how could I forget that? Yes that's true. I'm sure this was immature on my part but at the time that was to be expected I guess. I didn't really think it could happen but it sure as hell did."
"Well, you came into the Underground only discovering half of it. The Labyrinth and all the land Jareth rules is-was at one time only part of the Underground. The half-the completely different and more enlightened part-was my home, the Land of the Light. Jareth and his goblins declared war on my kingdom when my father refused some weird land laws and proposal."
"Wow, a lot can go on in three years. This defiantly changes things." Sarah says.
"You have no idea." I tell her, "Anyways, as you can imagine our cultures clashed horribly. Jareth ruled over vile disgusting creatures while my family ruled over a beautiful land that was pure and untouched and full of hope. This civil war lasted for years until it finally came to a close with the fall of my kingdom and the decline of a royal family. As is costumed, Jareth took me, princess of the fallen kingdom, as a prize."
"Prize?"
"I give my self to him every night, if it pleases him." At this I looked away from her.
"But you're of royal blood." Sarah says trying to make sense of it all.
"Which is why I was thinking, my position despite all that I've lost is not that of a slave, but that of a queen. I deserve better, you understand." I told her, "Jareth doesn't even have the slightest clue I'm here."
"So-so what your saying," Sarah asked wide-eyed, "is that you're going to corrupt Jareth's throne? That's brilliant!" It was obvious this news held a high approval with the human-girl and for that I was glad. Everyone who I spoke to about my plans seemed to side with me anyways-be it the plan itself or my seduction, and what it was taking to reach my goal as a whole.
"Yes it is, isn't it?" I smile, "But I cannot accomplish this major goal completely by myself. I need your help."
"Me?" Sarah furrowed her eyebrows, "what do you what me to do? I am not going back into the Labyrinth. I fought my ass off to escape Jareth's world and I will not be apart of it ever again."
"This is the reasoning for my late visit. I feel that you, the civil war, me, and Jareth somehow connect to each other." I explained to her, "I'm not asking you to return to the Labyrinth, wouldn't even dream of it. But you beat Jareth and I had to talk to you about how you beat him."
"How I beat him?" Sarah smiled, "It's been years since I've been back down into the underground, it's been so long that for a while I guess I convinced myself it was all just some crazy dream. But I guess its not-it never was. Maybe a fantasy…"
"Yes the Goblin King certainly has a habit of casting fantasies." I roll my eyes, thoughts still occupied on my shameless dream of Jareth.
"But don't you see?" Sarah asked, "I created him, and while he forced his way into my mind and I came willingly, he had no power over me. It was my world as well as his."
"But I didn't create Jareth or his world," I bit my lower lip in thought.
"But your still apart of it princess." Agrea suddenly looked up. She was right. Half of the Underground was once the Land of the Light; the Underground was as much of my home as it was his. It was also then that Sarah's words made sense to me.
"Yes," I agree, coming to a revelation, "I may not have created the Goblin King, but, I still have power over him. He does not create my fantasies, he simply finds a way to awaken them in me in some twisted way. Which means, when he enters my dreams, he's on my playing field. Jareth isn't pitiable through, because he comes willingly, just as I accept him willingly." His words rang in my head over and over again. There's nothing I won't deny you, if you won't deny me. These words of his were an agreement in a way; an offer for the throne. All there was left for a rebellious princess to do in a situation such as this, was to take the devilish king up on a tempting offer. How much fun this would be!
"We've won!" I suddenly stand up in realization, "We're not even in the race anymore; we finally have our revolution!"
"What are you talking about?" Agrea frowns, "A revolution hasn't even begun Amethyst; your not even queen yet." No, I wasn't, but after tonight all that would change. This was the end of the beginning.
"But don't you see? It's all so clear now Agrea!" I sequel excitedly, "I really do have him under my thumb." When I walk toward Sarah's long mirror from which I had originally enter through, Agrea and Hoggle both ask where I'm off to in such a rush and I ignore them.
"I thank you for your assistance Sarah," I say instead of answering them, "you've been more help then you can ever imagine."
Sarah smirks as if understanding where I've been, where I'm coming from and where I'll be. "What tricks have you up your sleeve?" I simply smile back at her, for we get each other perfectly.
"Where is Jareth at this time?" I ask Hoggle.
"Don't know," Hoggle shrugs, "probably in his throne room."
Excellent. What chaos I was about to unleash would be better executed in the throne room anyways. After all, I wanted this night to have a lasting effect on my king, and that is where Jareth practiced most of his governing or ruling or whatever it was that he did all day. This would prove a point. A cynical grin plays across my lips as bid my friends a due.
"I wish to return to the castle by myself." I explain, "The king and I have a few negations to discuss."
COPYRIGHT: 2006
BY: MaybeBaby17
A/N: Stay tuned! That next chapter's gonna be a hot one, I promise!