Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in the movie, Labyrinth, even though I do in my dreams. But that's another story in itself.
Chapter 12
Sarah confused stepped forward to address Jacob when Jareth pulled her behind him by the arm. She looked at him and saw the same expressionless mask she remembered from her youth.
"Tut. Tut. Cousin. You mustn't treat the new Queen that way. However, I can see why you would want to keep her for yourself." Jacob sneered stepping closer.
"My actions are no concern of yours. I suggest that you step aside and let us through or I will …"
"You'll what, exactly? Jareth, you are in no position to be making demands. As I recall, this little scene reminds me of a time when we were young lads playing together on the Sand Dunes of Yonka. You had me surrounded with all your friends. The miscreants. Where are they now?" he snickered. "It is quite ironic how things turn out. My father will be High King and I will have the Goblin Castle, the Labyrinth and its ruler as well."
Jareth was so focused on his cousin and his acidic words that he did not notice the Fae men surrounding them. To his right were two men carrying a large black cloth. Sarah, whose hand was on Jareth's elbow, began to tighten her grip in hopes of getting his attention. But before he even felt her grip the men attacked releasing the object that was concealed by the cloth. An iron chain. Jareth pushed Sarah away just as it wrapped itself around his neck causing him to fall to the floor. As he went down the rest of the army attacked. Sarah raised her hands, concentrating fully on last night's lesson, pulling all her strength and spirit into keeping them all safe. The tingling went all throughout her body to her arms and fingertips. A small purple sphere of energy appeared before her crackling and surging with power. Everyone in that hallway stopped as it began to grow. It was so large it surrounded her friends with its protective shield.
"My. My. Sarah. You are full of surprises aren't you?" Jacob's voice was laced with sarcasm.
She called over her shoulder to her friends, "I don't think I can keep this up for too long so prepare yourselves. Hoggle, Didymus remove Jareth's chains. We'll need him to fight."
Jacob not removing his glare from Sarah's face, "I doubt you've learned enough in one day to stop me." He moved forward to pierce the shield with his hand but quickly pulled his hand away as white sparks caused by the contact appeared. He turned to coldly glare at the new Queen.
She did not trust herself to speak to Jacob and keep her concentration on the barrier. When she saw Jareth pick himself up and dusk off his pants she felt confidence begin to rise within her.
He looked at her surprised that his "little Sarah" was holding back about a dozen Fae men all by herself. He quickly needed to snap himself out of this train of thought and take reign of the situation.
"Alright, everyone ready? OK Sarah let them in." Jareth waved his hand and produced three crystal spheres. Sielke and Rastrin held their swords and Didymus growled with his small sword in his hand. Ludo had an angry sneer. And Hoggle, who was standing right beside Sarah, had picked up a fallen stone. "Sarah" he whispered, "it's OK. We'll take care of this now." She lowered her hands.
The moment she did Jareth stepped forward menacingly and threw one of the crystals directly in front of Jacob, who quickly caught it as it exploded in his hand in a cloud of glitter and smoke. He began to laugh but then realized that his hand had begun to turn to stone. His expression radically changed as he turned to his cousin just in time to see two other crystals coming his way.
Jareth turned to see how the others were faring. Rastrin and Sielke were doing great. There were at least five men down at their feet and still had two more at the tips of their swords. Ludo had one held up by his ankle before dropping him on his head. Hoggle and Didymus had teamed up and were confusing two more causing them to bump heads and knock each other out. Off in the corner was his Sarah fighting off two Fae and actually holding her own. She had produced a sword in one hand and was using it as if she were born with it. In the other hand she held a small purple orb, which seemed to be her way of casting her magic; she hurled the circle of energy at the second Fae hitting him in the chest before he fell to his knees paralyzed. He was impressed by her immensely. In the short amount of time she had returned to his life she had surprised and confirmed that his great affection for her was not misplaced. He produced a few more crystals and flung them at her aggressor. He quickly turned to stone.
Sarah looked up at Jareth. Relief lit her face but just as suddenly her relief turned to dread. Before Jareth could react Jacob wrapped the iron chain around his waist and he went down. With a small wave of Jacob's hand Sarah, the Sylphs and the three friends were engulfed in darkness as they fell unconscious.
When Sarah came to she was in the throne room surrounded by her friends. Jareth and the Sylphs were all in chains but the rest of them were scattered around the room. All was cloudy but she could just make out Jareth's form and she began crawling to him when a deep masculine voice stopped her in her tracks,
"How interesting." Sarah looked up at the throne to find a dark haired Fae with even darker eyes atop it. He had such an evil beauty about him she knew that this wasÆRNAY.
"the young mortal queen seems to have some affection for my nephew." Turning to Jacob, who was standing next to his father on the dais.
"Father, the stories seem to be true about the Labyrinth's champion. She DOES have powers."
"How very interesting. Well, after she serves her purpose we will have to make her an advisor."
Sarah was getting angrier by the second at being discussed as if she were not in the room stood with her back straight.
"I will never form an alliance with the likes of you. And do address me properly. QUEEN Sarah."
ÆRNAY looked at Jacob, who smirked and signaled to a Fae behind them. Sarah felt strong arms around her waist and arms pinning them to her side.
She angrily shouted, "Unhand me, bastard!"
"I'm pleased Jacob. You have chosen a woman with fire and spirit to be your consort."
Sarah looked up as did Jareth, though in a weakened state.
"She will be amusing to say the least." ÆRNAY signaled to the Fae holding her. "Bring her here!"
She was frightened but determined not to reveal this emotion to the likes of them. She stiffened and looked directly into his eyes with scorn and utter disgust.
ÆRNAY raised his hand to touch her cheek. She cringed at the contact but did not blink for it would be a sign of weakness.
"She is not pure, my son. I can not accept her as my daughter."
"But Father, she is the one I choose. From the moment I saw her in that pathetic excuse for a magic shop Aboveground I knew she would be mine."
A weakened voice belonging to the Goblin King cut through the bickering,
"Gentlemen, you forget yourselves. You are speaking about the Labyrinth's Queen, not some Fae peasant."
"Same difference. She's mortal and by the time we are finished there will be one ruler. Me."
Jareth, although weak, tried to stand to his full height but could not. He had managed to stand but was weighed down by the heavy chains.
"That will never occur while there is still life left in my father's body or in mine."
"Well then, it won't be long. My brother was always a trusting fool." ÆRNAY stood and walked toward the Goblin King.
Feeling his eyes boring into the back of her head, Sarah turned to the dais to look at Jacob. She watched as he inched closer to her motioning to the Fae holding her captive to release her. He leaned down to her ear, "Regardless of what Father says, You will be mine." Before stepping back to his post. She snapped her eyes back to the scene unfolding at the foot of the dais.
Feeling the anger begin to boil up inside her, she was ready to strike when a melodic voice whispered in her ear.
It was Paralda, 'Is everything alright? I sense great distress'
Trying not to give away the fact that she was conversing with anyone she tried to fix a blank expression on her face.
'Paralda, all has gone wrong. We are in the throne room and Jareth and the warriors have been chained in iron. We need help. I'm not sure that I can protect us all. I'm afraid. Tell me what to do."
'I will transport you all to my castle, however, you MUST release Jareth and the others from the iron. My magic will not have an affect on them with them on.'
'I don't see how I can. Jacob is right next to me and ÆRNAY is right in front of Jareth'
'Where are the others?'
'They are all scattered around the room.'
'Sarah, get word to your friends to remove the chains from the others in 10 minutes. I will bring you here safely, but it must be precise . We have but one chance.'
"How do I do that?'
'In the same manner you are speaking to me. Sarah! Hurry!'
'OK'
She began concentrating on Hoggle. He was watching the scene between Jareth and ÆRNAY.
'Hoggle, it's Sarah. Look at me if you can hear me and nod'
Slowly but surely her dwarf friend turned to her and nodded. She proceeded to tell him the plan.
"I will tell the others to look to you for a signal. Hoggle, my friend, yours is the most important job of all. You must release Jareth from his chains' again he nodded not looking directly at her.
"Didymus, it's Sarah, please do not say a word.' She then proceeded to tell him the plan and instructed him to release Sielke. And repeated the process with Ludo about releasing Rastrin.
The minutes seemed endless, there were only two minutes left when she realized that ÆRNAY had not taken his eyes from Jareth. She knew she would need to distract both Jacob and ÆRNAY if this plan was to work. She heard ÆRNAY growl, "I will enjoy watching you die and telling your father on his deathbed how I did it in excruciating detail."
Sarah raised both her hands and concentrated. A small purple orb of energy and magic glittered before her and began to grow. Getting ready to hurl it at ÆRNAY she heard Jacob warn his father who turned and raise his hand before him, lifting Sarah from the ground. Surprised by the sudden shift in gravity she lost her grip on the orb and watched as it fell to the dingy stone floor where it popped like a bubble. She saw from the corner of her eye that Hoggle had taken the opportunity to put their plan into action. She turned to ÆRNAY so that he wouldn't realize that she was sending a message to the Goblin King.
'Jareth. Paralda is sending for you.' She felt him gasp internally at the realization that she had caused a distraction to save him and scream,
'No Sarah. You foo…..' she heard as he began to fade.
"You are a spirited one. I think I may need a consort myself." ÆRNAY smirked walking right in front of her and bringing Sarah's face closer to his own, "I will enjoy breaking your spirit, little one."
"Father! Where have the others gone?"
ÆRNAY pulled his gaze away from Sarah and looked around. He released his magical grip on her causing her to fall to the ground with a thud.
"Blast that Paralda. I should have known he'd do something of this nature when I saw those winged pests with her. But no bother we still have the one we need to complete the plan. Son, send the guards to go collect our dear Paralda. We need to settle this mess before it gets out of hand."
The others arrived in Paralda's throne room. Jareth was the only confused one. Seeing Paralda on his winged throne he walked toward him."
"Send me back. Sarah needs my help."
A stunned Paralda looked for Sarah. With a heavy sigh,
"I can not. The moment I pulled all of you out of there. A protection shield went around the whole Goblin Castle."
"That's right. I placed that protection device myself. Fine. Then I will go there on foot if I have to. I will NOT leave Sarah alone in that castle with those two. There is no telling what they will do to her."
"I'm goin' with ya," Hoggle piped in.
"It will be an honor to return the favor that Milady had bestowed upon me. I will also accept this mission." Didymus stepped forward.
"Save…Sawah…Friend" came from Ludo.
"I know something must be done but there is simply nothing we can do right now. We must wait to strategize or we will not have a chance of rescuing her. You will all go to your rooms and rest up. Rastrin and Sielke please go to the Healer and see about the antidote for the poison that the iron has caused. The Goblin King and I will need some privacy."
The two warriors bowed and left the room.
Briegal and Konile appeared a few moments later to escort the others to their guest rooms.
The dwarf, the large beastthe fox along with the two youngsylphs walked down the hallway toward the invisible crystal, staircases.
Hoggle was fuming.
"Who does Paralda think he is? Sarah is our friend. We needs to do something"
Konile hearing the mumblings of the dwarf looked to her brother who was already looking in her direction. She knew right away they were both thinking the same exact thing. He leaned down and lowered his voice, "What has happened to Queen Sarah? We are her friends too."
Hoggle explained all that had occurred. Konile bend down and whispered, "We must discuss this further outside the castle. Paralda will hear us within these walls. Come on."
Jareth was looking intently into a crystal ball of his own creation repeating, "Show me the girl" only to get dark smoke.
Paralda was sitting on his winged throne witnessing something that he thought impossible.
"You have given up your heart completely to her, haven't you?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I am concerned for her simply because she is our salvation."
"Remember who you are talking to old friend. I seem to remember a certain Goblin King running into this very room not 12 years ago talking of love and a certain girl. Now I don't seem to remember. Could that have been….You?"
Pacing in front of the dais Jareth looked up directly at his friend, "It is my fault she is in this predicament. I made sure she would find that small read book as a child so that I could get my clutches on her. I was obsessed with her. If something were to happen to her all would be lost. And I will be to blame for the destruction of our world. Not to mention the fact that I refuse to live in a world where we can not be."
"You already do. You know as well as I do that you can not be united. Besides, you are not entirely to blame or have you forgotten? There is another. Although, I am happy to see you have finally admitted to finding love. I must admit, I am a little disappointed as I have too felt her tug at my heart. But your connection can not be denied. I suppose."
Jareth watched Paralda's expression of sadness.
"I am sorry but as the mortals say, 'I saw her first'. "
Paralda smiled at his old friend's comment.
"Yes, but right now we must figure out how to save our Lady love."
ÆRNAY was sitting on the Goblin King's throne with a suspended Sarah a few feetin front of him.
Jacob, who was right beside Sarah , "Father? What did you mean YOU may need a consort? I told you I wanted Sarah. Besides, you said you didn't want her for me. Why would you want her for yourself?"
"I said I didn't want her for a daughter. But I will accept her as a wife. I like experienced woman" a malicious smile spread across his face. "You may have the other one"
"I don't want her. I want Sarah!"
ÆRNAY gave his son a dangerous look that seemed to put an end to their bickering.
Turning to Sarah, "Now my dear, I wanted to discuss what must be done in order for us to rule over all…"
"What makes you think for one moment that I am willing to help?" Sarah interrupted.
"My dear, you have no choice. I knew after you entered the Labyrinththis time that the stories of your determination were true. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you figured out a way to release your friends. So, I decided to up the stakes a little."
"How so? You have nothing that I want."
"Oh no?" he waved his wrist and produced a glass sheet so shiny she could see her reflection in it.
"Have a look at your nothing" he said as he set her down on the ground.
The reflection began to ripple when a picture came into view. A young red haired girl was tied and bound to what looked like a bed.
Sheer terror crept into her very bones. It was Myra.
Stunned Sarah looked directly into ÆRNAY's eyes and then at Jacob
"How could you?"
A rage so strong ripped through her and she began to shake, "Let her go she has nothing to do with this." A tear rolled down her cheek.
ÆRNAY grabbed her by the jaw forcing her to look into his eyes.
"I think we can arrange something. You get me Jareth's amulet and I will give you this…this worthless mortal who seems to mean so much to you."
He released his grip on her causing her to fall to the floor.
Outside the mountain Castle Konile, Briegal, Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo were talking about how to help Sarah.
"I will run into yonder castle and challenge that cad to a duel. I will battle to save the virtue of thy fair maiden." Didymus yelled while waving his small sword about.
"SSSHHHH!" the remainder of the group implored.
Hoggle turned to the twins and Ludo," No one knows the tunnels underneath the Labyrinth as I do. I can leads us all directly to the Castle."
Konile sighed, "That's great Hoggle but what will we do once we are inside? There is no telling where Queen Sarah will be and we are a conspicuous bunch."
"Leave that to me. But we needs to get going. We are wasting time while my Sarah is being tortured."
"Those cads I will make sure that they will pay for this treachery!" Didymus again began to swing his sword.
Hoggle grunted, "Oh, come on"
Konile stopped her brother, " Shouldn't we tell Paralda or King Jareth about this plan?"
"By the time they finish in the throne room. We'll be back with the Queen. They'll be thanking us." He smirked. "They may even make us warriors!"
"You better be right." Konile answered.
End of Act I
A/N: I hope you have enjoyed my first act which I consider to be the "information" chapters. There will be a lot of adventure, romance, betrayal, and of course angst, angst, angst because I love it so. All will be revealed in due time. And please do not worry there will be tons and tons of Jareth. His disappearance will be quite short compared to the first 11 chapters that I am glad you stuck through.
People please do not be pissed about my month long hiatus from this story. But comparatively it is a relatively short amount of time.
XOXOXOXOX to you all who continue to review and push me to finish with my typing (I hate it!)
SynD
Solea: I read your story. I love it nicely written. Will leave a review soon. Don't let them talk you out of the "darkness". It gives your story a really great feel.
Angelwingz202: Hey thanks for not abandoning me. That little bit about Jareth is for you girl.
Moonjava: You are always the first to review. Love ya!
Amethystlainey: Thanks. You know why.
To all of you out there who do not write reviews but are reading. Thank you for taking time out of your lives to read my story. :0)