Chapter 19: Phylactery

It loomed.

The door was huge! How would she open it? She walked up to it studying the black obsidian stone slabs resting before her. Summoning her magic she attempted to force the doors open. Nope, too easy. She pressed her hand against the crack between the two doors and pushed. Nope, still too easy. She banged on one of the doors with the hilt of one sword, and it swung open silently. Huh. Weird.

She walked into the darkness, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Green fires sprung up in large urns down the length of the great hall leading to a large black throne. She turned to look at the man who had stopped her and almost screamed. There, standing in all his eccentric glory, was Jareth. His blue eyes seemed out of focus, but that was just the light. His tawny hair spiked up in his preferred style of disarray, and his smirk never wavered.

"Hello, my love." he whispered, cradling her chin in a slender hand.

"Jareth? How are you… How did you… What did… I don't…"

He smiled at her rambling, "Shush, my love. Let us leave this place, I have stunned the Lich for now, we can run. We can run and hide where no one will ever find us and live our lives in peace."

She started to tremble as he hugged her close to him, breath hot against her neck. "But then the Lich would live."

"If you can call what he has life."

Alex tried to pull away from Jareth, but he held he to him, "No, little one, let us run. Is that not what you want?"

Alex sniffled and hugged Jareth to her, breathing in his smell, "More than anything."

"Then let us go."

"No."

"No?" Jareth's voice suddenly seemed menacing, angry.

"I must do what I came here to do."

"You're not strong enough, love. You will never be strong enough. You are a human, and no match for his power."

"But I still… have to…" Alex trailed off as she stared at those icy eyes… those eyes that weren't quite right.

He frowned at her, "What do you have to do besides love me, little one? That is all you are good for, all you can do. You are not strong enough to do anything else."

"You know," she whispered as she slid out of his grasp, "you really had me going there, for a little while. You really made me believe that I was talking to Jareth. This is his body, you couldn't fake it that well, but this isn't the man I love. Where are you, Lich? Show yourself and let this be done with."

Jareth smiled at her, "Very good, little human. I must admit, I'm impressed. I didn't think you would figure out that fast, but I underestimated you again. Poor Jareth, he was right. You know him very well. It is quite sad that I shall make you kill him."

Alex frowned, but stopped thinking as she saw Jareth lunge at her with a knife drawn from the air. A flurry of swordplay followed: a brilliant dance where neither combatant gained any ground. After the first flurry of activity, Jareth backed off, a strange mix of emotions playing across his face. He seemed to be fighting with himself, he couldn't look at Alex because of his inner battle. He lost that round and attacked Alex again.

This bout of activity was a little longer and fiercer. Again, it ended with Jareth backing away, some inner turmoil ripping at his heart. Again he seemed to lose and came at Alex with even more frantic attacks. When Alex tripped over a loose stone, she could see what was going on. Jareth pinned her to the floor by placing a knee on her chest, pressing the air out of her lungs. Tears ran down his face as he brought his conjured knife to her throat. He was possessed! The darn Lich was compelling to do and say things that he didn't want to.

Alex threw a spell at his face and watched as the knife disappeared. He smiled forlornly at her as he placed his hands on her neck instead, gently at first but he couldn't fight off the spell that compelled him to kill her. She thrashed and kicked, but nothing would get him off of her, and she was losing her strength fast. Finally, she blew him backwards with a spell and clambered to her feet.

Jareth had hit his head when he landed, and was out cold. She bent down to check on him and was rewarded with a moan and a faint cough, he was okay! A pitiable screech filled the room and brought her focus to the empty throne. There, standing on the dais, was the Lich. Tall and pale, he seemed so fragile, so handsome. His fine features were showing anger and disbelief and his slender form shook with rage. Long hair that would have fallen to his waist floated around his head as if he were swimming in water, every so often a strand would drift chaotically into his face, and back out again. Blood red eyes regarded her with contempt and bare feet began to pad their way down the black stairs.

"Impossible! Elena, I understand, you had two mages helping you! Deram as well, he was a fool, and you had two mages helping you. But Jareth? I fought through him!"

"He fought against you." Alex stated.

"You believe that you can defeat me?"

"I do."

"Fool! I offer you one chance: leave now, and you will not have to watch me kill this idiot."

Alex smiled grimly and readied her swords in her hands, "No. We end this. We end this now."

The Lich stared in amazement as Alex walked slowly down the hall toward him. She had no fear, it seemed, and her blades were unwavering, growing in brightness along with her heart. Her emerald eyes-- so much like that accursed Seer's eyes!-- captured the sickly green light of the fires and turned it to life. He smiled, revealing vampire's fangs, and readied his own swords, made of the darkest shadow and the deepest hate.

They met in the middle of the hall, light and dark. Alex glowed with a saintly glory compared to the darkness that the Lich drew around himself as garments. When they began the duel, the Lich felt her power grow. She spun and wove around his attacks, deftly landing nick after nick on his pale skin. He howled every time those blades touched him, saintly weapons made for hunters of virtue and justice. Her blades were that of a true paladin, who fought for the people and herself, not those arrogant and stuck-up fools in shiny armor. Here, the Lich had made a fatal error: he had thought her that shallow.

They spun in their graceful attacks for several long minutes, each one gaining ground only to lose it again. Alex's arms grew weary, her mortal body needed rest. The Lich, however, was neither living nor dead and did not grow weary of the fight so soon. Alex knew she was beginning to falter, her swords being forced further and further apart to block the Lich's attacks of twin blades of shadow. He suddenly pulled his swords toward him and lunged at Alex's belly, all she could do was fall backward and the Lich pinned her to the ground, twin swords burning with ashy fury into her flesh.

Another sword flashed, taking the Lich in the head, and Alex saw Jareth standing over her, eyes ablaze. Fireballs circled him, five in succession jumping at the downed Lich, five more at the ready. His sword, long and thin, blazed with an angry blue light as electricity coursed its length. Alex watched as Jareth fought the Lich, wounds springing up on both of them in abundance, then realized that while Jareth could only sustain so much damage before being destroyed, the Lich was healing!

She cursed and climbed slowly to her feet, blood pouring form the wounds in her stomach. She didn't have much time, the pain alone threatened to overwhelm her. She remembered hearing a story about a Lich one time, how he couldn't be killed no matter who tried, because he kept his soul in something other than his body. She frantically scrabbled around the throne and found a panel in the floor that she could lift. Out of the resulting hole she pulled a large sphere that seemed to pulse with some inner light. She heard Jareth shout out in agony and knew that time was running short. She pounded the thing on the ground, threw it at the throne, smacked it with her sword, all to no avail.

Within moments she heard a faint chuckle sound from behind her, felt her skin prickle with the recognition of a magical spell about to be cast, and in a frenzied fit of desperation, hurled the ball straight at the Lich. His killing curse hit the phylactery and the glowing orb shattered in a brilliant display of magical discharges. She shielded her face with her hands and felt the shards of crystal sink in to her skin and burn with magical darkness as the Lich let out a terrific shriek and disappeared in a small explosion of black dust and shadow.

As the dust settled and she lowered her hands, Alex saw nothing left of the Lich, save some sickly green fire and shards of crystal. She scrabbled up to her feet, dizzy with loss of blood, and made her way over to Jareth. He was barely conscious, his breath rasping in and out in quick bursts. He didn't have long left in this world. She helped him to his feet and together they stumbled a few feet tighter before collapsing, the exertion of their battles and the injuries sustained made it too hard to go on.

"Jareth," Alex began, but stopped as he placed a finger on her lips.

"You did it. The Underground has become a much safer place, thanks to you. And I have seen you, one last time. I have peace, little one."

She smiled at him and rested her head against his chest. His heart beat irregularly, and she could hear his breath rattling in his lungs, but she was also at peace. As he breathed his last, Alex laid him gently on the stone floor, taking his amulet as proof that she had seen him one last time. She got up and walked away, never looking back. The people of the Underground deserved to know what had happened, and she couldn't carry Jareth with her.

That became doubly true when she felt the ground lurch beneath her feet. She realized that the Lich had made this place his own, and now, with his absence, it was returning to normal. She ran. Dodging boulders falling from the ceiling and jutting up from the floor, she wove her way along. As she rounded a corner a rock tripped her up and she spun and fell. Oddly, she seemed to hit the floor a few seconds after she should have.

"Ah, you did it!" said a loud, deep voice above her. Her sight was blurry, she couldn't tell who spoke. "Rest, little human, and have peace. You have given peace to all of the Underground, and assured a measure of peace for the Aboveground. Rest, now, and wake in a familiar place, with familiar faces."

She felt a warm glow around her, her wounds healing, then darkness took her and she knew no more. Nothing except the soft blanket pulled over her by tender hands.