Chapter 15: Mistress and Servant

He fidgeted.

Alex glared at him, she wanted to be angry at Luc for failing her, but just couldn't. She knew that Luc dearly wanted his friend back, she could see it. His robes shifted slowly between inky black and a sickly, smoky blue-black color. His pale, sickly face studied the floor, mousey hair forgotten, dark circles under his handsome eyes. He would kill himself just to help Jareth.

"You have done all that you can, Luc. Go to bed, get some sleep. We won't go after that Lich by ourselves. We need to gather the members of Haven, and you will help lead us." Mathis said calmly.

"Where are you even going to look for this Lich?" asked Luc miserably.

Alex sighed, "We'll start by finding Elena."

"How will that help?"

She smiled grimly, "If we fight her and win, she'll run. When she runs, we will follow. When we follow, we will find the Lich."

"Don't you realize that that would lead us right where they want us?" Luc asked.

"Do you have a better idea?"

The young mage hung his head and sighed, "No."

Mathis broke in before Luc could make any promises he couldn't keep, "We'll go and start getting Haven ready. In three days time you will meet us at Elena's hut in the Aboveground. Be ready for anything. That means get some sleep, Luc."

"Of course… Mathis?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry that I've… well…"

"Hated me all these years for what I did to Jareth?" supplied the older mage.

Luc nodded.

"Worry not," Mathis chuckled, "I have hated myself for that very reason. All I needed to forgive you was your willingness to help me with this situation. You are a good man, and a strong mage, surely a boon to our cause."

Luc smiled at him and nodded, "Then off with you, go get ready, let me sleep. I promise that I will not let you down."

"Very good." Mathis said as he took Alex's hand and shifted them back to the door in Karesh. As they reached the Haven building, Alex began to hum the Seer's Song. It gave her peace. She was getting nervous. In but a few days time she would be fighting a vampire. Luc had told them how to fight a vampire: hit it with anything and everything you have until it turns to smoke and drifts away. Then follow the smoke to its coffin a stab a wooden stake through its heart. Easy, right?

"Death will claim your heart and life, and love will bind him tight to thee, the kiss you wish shall come with peace, three times ask your hand must he.

"The Dead One knows just what you fear, he will take your peace from you, but know your heart and life is near, he will fight the Dead One too"

"Death will claim your heart and life…" Alex murmured, echoing the memory floating in her head.

"Jareth has… hmm, 'died' for you." Mathis suggested.

"Love will bind him tight to thee?"

"A bond stronger than the one you had?" he shrugged, "And the next part is obvious: You shall get the kiss you've been waiting for, but after all of this is over."

"And the next part?"

"Hmm… I really don't know."

"The Dead One knows just what you fear, he will take your peace from you, but know your heart and life is near, he will fight the Dead One too" she repeated.

"The Lich is the 'Dead One' and he knows the fears of your heart. He took Jareth from you, your peace, perhaps? But Jareth will be near and will fight the Lich as well."

Alex frowned, "I guess it makes sense like that…"

"Is that what the Seer told you?"

"Part of it."

Mathis nodded and turned to walk away. He stopped and turned back, a sad expression on his face, "This will not end well for everyone, you know."

"Some will die."

"You have no guilt?"

"My anger outweighs my shame."

"What of when this is over?"

"I will morn for those who gave their lives for us. I will give them the honor they deserve."

"Do you honestly believe that Jareth will live 'til the end of this?"

"I'm not sure what I believe right now, but I will fight this Lich, and I will see him destroyed."

"What will you do then?"

"Find a way to get Lilly back."

"And if that is not possible?"

"I'll live out my life here, in this nexus realm."

"Why here?"

"Because there is nothing for me in the Aboveground anymore. I'm too much like the fey to live there, now. But I'm not fey enough to live where I please in the Underground. This realm suits me fine."

Mathis sighed and left Alex to her musings. She was a good girl, had her heart in the right place, but… He sighed again. She was so much like Jareth: she would die for revenge. How were they going to fight the Lich? As he walked into the Haven building, he was aware of many eyes watching him. The entire Haven was watching him; not many, but a formidable force, nonetheless.

They seemed to be asking him what to do, so he said, "We destroy the one who has caused trouble and nightmares for far too long. We have been spurred into action against the Lich. Alex has an idea of how to find him. All who are unwilling to fight the undead, and perhaps die may stay behind. All of those willing to die for Alex and Jareth, and all of the Underground… time to get ready."

Over a hundred sets of determined eyes gleamed back at him. Warriors, they were, hardened by a life of exile, and shaken out of apathy by the capture of their leader's son. This would be a glorious battle from which many of them would never return, and they knew it.

The next three days were spent preparing. Alex oversaw the equipment, she had a fine eye for the weapons that they would need. She, along with the blacksmith, set to fixing swords and daggers, polishing bows and fletching arrows. Mages with Mathis practiced their arcane arts, now focused on offensive spells rather than passive. Salid turned out to be an admirable swordsman and led many through a crash course. Archers honed their skills, hitting targets from an unbelievable distance away.

Even the women of the Haven would fight. Many were enchantresses, conjuring charms and illusions to baffle foes. Some were archers, their keen eyes spotting targets that many men missed. Still others were spell-swords: warriors that fought with swords of dancing flame, or crackling lightning. Alex was given a pair of swords that reminded her of the Japanese samurai of the Aboveground and Salid taught her how to use them. She wasn't a master, but she could hold her own. Progress was astounding.

At the end of the third day, all was ready. The hundred or so fey warriors, dressed in armor befitting their skills, marched out of the gate of their nexus realm, into Karesh and through a gate that Mathis constructed to the forest clearing of the Aboveground. It was night, and no moon hung in the clear velvet sky. Alex stood by the lily that had been her friend, swords in her hands, and waited.

"Well, well, well…" rasped Elena's voice. "Look what we have here. An army of rebels! How droll."

"Show yourself, witch." hissed Alex, and Mathis shifted uneasily. Luc slowly appeared on Alex's other side, hands held as if ready to fling water off of his fingertips at a moments notice.

"Why should I, with so many warriors about?"

"Because only three of us shall fight you."

"Three against one? Tut, tut! Hardly fair, you know."

"Three mortals against an invincible vampress?" scoffed Mathis. "Alex, I think she is afraid."

"Afraid! Me! Never!" she shrieked and appeared before them in a flash of dark light. Her dress was black, seemingly non-corporeal, like a shadow that she had plucked from the ground. "Fools, idiots! Never shall you doubt my power again!"

Luc smiled as his flicked his hands at her, drops of a silvery liquid hitting her in the face and causing her to shriek in agony. Alex attacked with a furious flurry that Saild had taught her and Mathis threw a fireball at her when Alex dropped to one knee. They had planned this so carefully, they could not afford to lose the element of surprise, not yet.

Alex jumped back up as she heard Luc and Mathis droning a spell in unison. She knew that their hands worked in complex forms, fingers twining the spell as much as the ancient words and thoughts. She saw her swords begin to glow with the light of the moon, though no moon could be seen in the sky, and blue-white fire erupted upon Elena's skin when the enchanted swords caught her.

It was a brilliant dance. Alex spun and thrust, wove and parried as if she had been born with swords in her hands. Luc and Mathis flung simple spells at Elena whenever she was out of the furious child's reach. Eventually the vampire could take no more. Though her wounds rapidly healed, her eyelids drooped and her stance was less and less sure. She waved her hands, casting a spell, but none of the three could stop it.

A dark bubble appeared in the ground and rose to the size of a man. When it disappeared, they saw a sight which chilled their blood. Elena had called her servant. Jareth was dressed all in black, death-white skin seemed stretched tight across his face. Black hair, though still in its choppy mane, seemed so unreal, and his once blue eyes burned with a hellish fire. He opened his mouth to speak, sorrow etched on his fair features, and Alex saw long, sharp fangs that flashed a brilliant white.

"Alex…" he whispered, and her heart melted. He was so sad, so lost, so sorry.

"Enough, fool, you are mine. They tried to kill me, destroy them. Destroy them all, my pet." Elena cooed at him.

He shook his head, fighting her commands, but to no avail. His shoulders slumped as he held out a slender hand and summoned a blade made of shadows and sorrow. He looked at them and whispered, "Kill me." before charging them with a savage furry.

Alex fought valiantly, fending off his attacks as if she were a master swordswoman. Luc and Mathis tried to cage him with their spells, but he shrugged each one off. He was neither living nor dead. He was a wraith, now, trapped between the two states, and he was powerless to disobey his mistress. Elena laughed with glee as he knocked both of Alex's swords out of her hands and pinned her to the ground.

"Hold!" she screamed, "Give her that kiss that she has kept missing."

Jareth screamed in rage, he knew what she meant. So did Alex. His hands shook as he held her shoulders, "Why don't you fight, Alex? Fight me! Kill me! I beg you!"

Tears streamed down her face, "I can't. You're too strong."

"No." He clenched his teeth, "I'll not do this to you. I won't."

Alex could see the pain that he was going through by disobeying Elena's order. He was killing himself, just to keep from killing her. With a final primal scream he stood, letting Alex up, and turned to face Elena. "I will not kill her. I love her, and that bond is one that you can never break. I would die to take her life; there would be no point to live. If you want her dead, you'll have to kill me first."

Alex glanced at Luc as she stood: the young mage was in awe. Mathis smiled through his tears as he watched his son. Elena was outraged, and speechless. Alex picked up a sharp branch that she saw near Jareth's feet and waited. Elena stalked over to her servant, red eyes flashing.

"Destroy her, fool. She has placed you under a spell. She never loved you. She was using you. The only reason that that fool child could ever want you is because of your power, she cares nothing for who you are."

Jareth's resolve weakened as the woman purred those poisonous words to him. Until, of course, Alex shoved the branch through her heart. Two pairs of red eyes widened in shock as Alex uttered a single word, "Bitch."

The undead woman shrieked and Jareth crumpled to the ground, echoing her agony. Her shadowy form melted into dust as her voice became the moan of the wind. Alex cradled Jareth's still head in her arms, black hair tickling against her tear covered and sweaty face. His eyes were closed, and his face held a sorrowful form of peace, before he, too, melted away into shadow.

Alex was left hugging herself, tears flowing freely from her emerald eyes. The Seer had been wrong, Jareth was dead. Elena had taken him from her. She had had no choice, though. Alex had had to kill the vampire. She had… She sobbed as she felt someone hold her in his arms. That peaceful lullaby vibrating in his chest as she clung to him, a smell of sorrow hung in the air as he cried.

"All is not over, yet, Alex." He finally said.

She pulled away from Mathis and let him wipe away her tears, "No. It is not."

"Are you ready to find the Lich?"

She sheathed her swords, "Let's go find that bastard and give him what's been coming to him." Green eyes flashed with pain and anger as Mathis' sorrowful face watched her.

"It has been an honor to know you." he whispered. "Die well."

She said nothing, no words were needed. Grief had consumed her. Her parents, her siblings, her dearest friend, and now Jareth. All were dead. She had no reason to go on, except to destroy the one who had caused this. She felt herself filling with rage, felt the power that it could give her, and smiled grimly. She would make him pay.