Chapter 16: Fury's Fire

He smiled.

Perfect. Everything was falling into place. That brat had disposed of Elena, Deram was next. Once Deram fell, the Labyrinth would be his. The nexus realm would follow and that annoying Seer would finally fall. With the Seer out of the way, he could truly become immortal. None of this working through others, he would become the fear of the Underground. And once the Underground was his, the Aboveground would follow.

That was his goal, of course. The Aboveground was a united world, and thus more powerful than all of the Underground combined. All he needed was the Labyrinth and the rest would fall into place. Unfortunately, that was proving to be a problem. He had almost had it from Mathis, but he proved stronger than expected. Then there had been Jareth. He had been promising, but his heart was too good to be of any use. Deram, on the other hand, was the perfect tool. However, he had outlived his usefulness.

He would steer that child after Deram. She was furious. Her jealousy and anger had spurred her after Elena, sorrow and loss would be her weapons against Deram. He chuckled as he looked at the still form lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. His black hair was returning to its natural tawny brown and his skin had color in it again. Jareth was strong. He had learned to love. That could be used as well. He could be manipulated like any other being, and love was one of the most powerful things to be used against a being such as Jareth.

Would that girl make it all the way here? Would she be able to find her one true love? Would she die for him? Yes, yes, and… yes. Evil laughter filled the room as he plotted how best to kill her. After, of course, she had seen Jareth alive and well. Yes, that would be best. But now to push her toward Deram. Yes, things were moving along nicely.

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"Where do we go, now? Elena didn't lead us like we thought she would." Luc whispered to Mathis, careful not wake the sleeping Alex.

"Let us try Deram." Mathis answered.

"Deram? Why?"

"Alex had a dream about him recently. He was being commanded by some evil presence, she said. I'm willing to bet that that was the Lich."

Luc nodded, "That does make sense."

"Our only problem will be how to get to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth without Deram knowing. He's sure to have wards set up."

Luc shook his head and laughed, "You obviously don't know Deram very well. Paranoid he may be, but he's a witless wonder. As soon as Alex wakes up, we'll go. Besides, bypassing the wards of the Labyrinth is m specialty. How else do you think I've gotten to Jareth so many times?"

Mathis nodded, "True. But what about the others?"

"We can't take them all."

Mathis shook his head, "No, you're right. I had expected that they would be able to come with us to the end."

"They can hold the fort well enough. All of them can get to the Labyrinth; they'll secure it once we go to wherever the Lich is hiding."

"Very good."

Luc watched Mathis walk away and thought. How had Jareth gone against Elena's wishes? It should have been impossible. Alex had done well with that branch, good quick thinking. He sighed. Jareth… dead? It didn't seem possible. Alex was taking it poorly. Rage filled her emerald eyes and a fire seemed to be burning in her, eating her up. She had found love, her first and only love, only to have him taken from her. He supposed he'd do the same in her situation, but it was hard to watch somebody die this way.

Alex sniffled and sat up, rubbing at her eyes. She looked at Luc, who simply nodded. Grim determination took a hold of her youthful features and she stood up to go get breakfast. Yes, it was very hard to watch somebody die this way.

Finished with his musings, he stood to find Mathis. Alex had gotten there first. She was eating a bowl of something that one of the others had given her and listening to Mathis intently. When Luc approached them, she smiled grimly. Putting down her empty bowl, she waited for whatever he would say.

"Ready?" Mathis finally asked.

"No, but then… I never will be."

"Let's go." Alex said.

Luc sighed, "Can I have an hour or so while I prepare a few spells?"

Alex frowned and seemed about to protest before Mathis said, "Of course, I need to do the same thing. Perhaps Alex can go see Salid about some more practice."

She continued to frown but headed off to find the Swordmaster. Luc watched her go. "I didn't want her to know, but I've been thinking…"

"Yes, she'd scoff you for eternity about that, wouldn't she." Mathis shot back.

"Very funny. What I was going to say…" He sighed before going on, "I think that I can turn Lilly back."

Mathis stared hard at the younger mage, "Oh? Even I have not a clue as to how to do that."

"Well, I didn't say that I knew how to go about doing it, I just said that I thought I could."

"You are a wise man, then, not to have told Alex."

Luc grinned, "I've had Jareth for a friend, if you'll remember. One learns quickly how to speak around eruptive people like him."

Mathis chuckled, "Indeed one does. Why do you think that you can save Lilly?"

Luc sighed, "I just want to. She and I are so much alike, I just feel like it would be cruel of me not to try."

Mathis smiled, "Of course. Should you need my help, you have but to ask. However, I feel you should try this after we have bested the Lich. Else Lilly may have to watch her friend die."

"Of course" Luc replied. He dug his spell book out of his knapsack and flipped through, memorizing mostly offensive spells. He wouldn't practice any, he needed his strength. Deram may be weaker than Jareth, but he was still a force to be reckoned with, especially now that he had control of the Labyrinth. A ruler of a Territory was always granted more power when on their home turf, and Deram would not be an exception.

After an hour of studying his spells, he had prepared a short list in his mind of good tactics against a fey being, prepared the words and symbols in his mind, and steeled himself against another battle. He found Alex sitting stiffly beside Mathis, anxious to deliver her vengeance. Her swords were freshly polished and her eyes sparkled with renewed fury. Mathis seemed to Luc's mage's eyes to have an aura of magic about him, meaning that he had prepared some powerful spells as well. Deram would sustain heavy damage before too much time had passed, but the mages could only do so much, Alex would have to strike the killing blow again.

The two of them stood, and Luc sighed. Here went nothing, they were about to take on the most powerful ruler of a Territory with two mages and a ticked off human teenager. Yippee. Luc waved his hands and a door of silvery light opened in front of them and the trio hurried through. They weren't far from the castle when they stopped and looked about their surroundings. Luc noticed the décor. While Jareth had held the Labyrinth in perpetual dusk, orange light from the sun constantly filling his domain with golden light, Deram held no control at all. Clouds flew where they pleased across a sky that faded from baby blue, to velvet black in the blink of an eye.

They threaded their way through the maze and snuck in a back door of the castle. Goblins posted along the hallways snoozed and snored, and they silently padded along. They arrived at the center of the castle and saw the empty throne room. No chickens, no goblins, and no Goblin King. Alex examined the throne, that hard and uncomfortable that Jareth had complained about once or twice to her.

Sitting down in the throne, Alex had to agree with him: beastly. She flung one leg over an arm of the thing and rested her head against the other, and Luc had to blink a few times to make sure that he was seeing Alex, not Jareth. She cupped her chin in her hand like he would and tapped one of her fingers a few times before carelessly flourishing her other hand. There, in one slender hand, sat a crystal ball. She jumped up and dropped it, watching in fascination as it shattered on the stone floor.

"Impossible!" screamed a voice from behind a door. Luc and Mathis raised their hands, ready to cast their spells at whoever would attack them. "Impossible." whispered Deram as he appeared in front of Alex. She looked up at him with an evil grin, as she held her hand over the shards of crystal. Three people watched in amazement as the crystal ball seemed to heal itself expertly, catch on fire, and jump at Deram.

Mathis and Luc flung their spells at him a split second later. How Deram howled! Alex seemed to glow with hellish fire as she conjured more and more fireballs to fling at the man who had forced all of these events to take place. Rage and sorrow guided her now, she felt an amazing power well up inside her and an answering pillar of fire appeared in the throne room, directed at Deram. Lightning crackled from the two mages flanking her and fire raged across the room. Deram was reduced to ashes well before her fury was spent.

When she finally slumped to the ground and let the fires of her heart die away, Luc and Mathis were right there beside her, each one holding one of her arms, guiding her to the floor. She passed out, having consumed all of the energy she had had, but she could have sworn she heard Jareth say, "Well done, little one."

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Mathis watched her sleep, Luc had gone off to another corner of the room to sleep, he had used a lot of his energy to keep the fire that Alex had conjured away from the three of them. The poor girl. She had been so used to using Jareth's magic, but how had she done this? Jareth was dead, she couldn't use his magic. Had she found her own magic? Had their bond become so strong right before Jareth died that she had become one of the fey?

Jareth himself would have been proud of that display. But Mathis had to wonder if that had truly been the end of Deram. It had been far too easy. And now two of the three fighters were out of energy. If Deram had not been killed because of that, they would soon be a victim of his retribution. Mathis had more spells prepared; he would not let Deram destroy him without a fight.

Alex sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her emerald eyes after her three-hour nap. Luc woke a few minutes later. They were both exhausted, but Alex's eyes held something along with her anger: fear and triumph.

"Alex? What's wrong?" Luc asked.

"Deram isn't dead."

"How do you know?" Mathis asked.

"I can feel him. I've felt him before, when Jareth would watch me, but not talk. And I felt him again later, but didn't know it. He feels like the Lich."

Mathis stiffened, "Elena, Deram… They were servants of the Lich. He's been trying to get the Labyrinth so that he can get to the nexus realm."

"Why?" asked Luc.

"Once he has the nexus realm, he can kill the Seer. Once the Seer's gone, he can take over all of the Underground, and I'm willing to bet anything that the Aboveground would follow." Alex said.

"Very good, little one." whispered a voice.

Alex spun around to see the man she hated. He shook his head, black hair rustling on his handsome head, black eyes glinting with a triumphant glow. His pale skin was stretched tight against his face, and dark circles hung under his eyes. He looked like a college kid wishing he were a vampire. Alex could sense that presence in him, though, that power and insight garnered from his undead master. This was not going to be an easy fight, she was already tired.