The Goblin King's Daughter
By: DemonSaya
Chapter Four
Sarah watched Jareth move around the large, spiked ball that was suspended by a complicated mechanism and shivered. "What the hell is up with this forest? This is the third booby trap we've seen."
Jareth sighed and shrugged. "The rouges of my kingdom don't live in the city. They live in the forests or the mountains, and they protect their territory fiercely. Whoever ran afoul of this one was being surprisingly careless. Especially since they avoided all the ones before this."
Sarah shivered and moved towards it as well. "Jareth, I think that's blood."
"It is," he agreed, running his fingers over the still damp spike. "It's on the ground as well, and still damp." He shook his head. "Young fool..."
Sarah swallowed hard, hoping that she wasn't looking at her daughter's blood. "Erin," she whispered, closing her eyes and averting her face from the trap.
"It's not hers," the Goblin King spoke with a confidence that surprised her and she looked at him again, finding his eyes upon her. He gave her a comforting smile before continuing. "This is the blood of a male fae royal. Even if it's mixed."
She stared at him, dumbstruck. "You can tell?"
"Anyone can tell. It's the scent that we develop after puberty. Males and females, royal or commoner. It's not too bad if it's still within the body, but it can get a little...confusing if there's a lot from various sources on the ground," Jareth frowned, glancing away. "Battlefields are especially difficult. That is typically why only one fae leads a troop of non-fae soldiers into battle. Trolls, goblins, gnomes and the like." She must have looked surprised because he chuckled at her. "How do you think I've been tracking them? His scent is quite strong in the air."
"And a mortal? Can you smell a mortal as well?" She wrung her hands out nervously.
His eyes sharpened upon her. They ran from her head to her toes and back, ending at her eyes where he stared for a long moment. "It's best if I don't answer such a question right now. It will lead to others and I'm ill equipped to deal with that at this time." He sighed, averting his gaze. "Regardless, the scent of a fae will drown out the scent of a mortal, so they're easier to track with his own scent, rather than hers would be." He gave her a funny look, almost cold, as if waiting for...something.
She nodded slightly and took a deep breath. "We should move on."
He seemed to agree. "We need to get at least one mile away from here before we stop for the evening. We've been on our feet for almost twenty hours with very few breaks. I'm sure you're tired." His eyes softened. "Perhaps we may have a civil conversation about the paths our lives have taken."
She swallowed hard, forcing a brave smile on her face. He extended his hand as an escort would to a fine lady, rather than a king to a simple mortal woman, and she set her hand upon his own, hoping he didn't notice how her own trembled with her nerves. His fingers closed around her own and she lifted her face to look at him as he began to turn away. His lips had a melancholy smile upon them before he was where she could no longer see him and he tugged her deeper into the forest.
They continued on, and Sarah found the adrenaline that had been pushing her thus far was beginning to wear off. Her steps were staggering, and she found herself holding harder onto the gloved hand that offered strength and security. She wasn't aware of how long they walked when she felt the man stop, and suddenly she was lifted off the ground and her shivering stopped almost immediately. She wanted to object, but she wasn't sure why. The fact of the matter was he hadn't abandoned her. If anything, she'd abandoned him. Maybe that was why she was so hostile towards him. She didn't really want him to forgive her.
She didn't want him to forgive her for hurting him twice in a decade.
There was also the fact that Erin was his daughter and she'd never called upon him, never gave him the slightest hint. Even since they'd been brought back together by a strange twist in her fate, she'd not told him the girl they were looking for was his child. Sooner, rather than later, she'd have to.
For now, however, she accepted the comfort of the arms which held her and turned her face into his neck, a shuddering breath leaving her.
He seemed to still a bit, and yet he walked in silence for awhile before he spoke. "You're not fighting me," he said softly.
She opened an eye, peering up at his mouth, which was pulling into the faintest smile. "Would you prefer I did?"
His lips were suddenly out of her line of sight, and pressed softly against her forehead. "No, darling, I much prefer how things are at present. Perhaps not all of it, but this situation is quite pleasant."
Understatement of the year, highness, she thought, closing her eyes and letting one of her arms come up to embrace his shoulders. He held her as if she were precious to him, as if she were something delicate and fragile. Something that he wanted to protect.
She liked that. A lot.
Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of another time, when she'd met the man on equal footing, in other dreams, where she'd fallen for the cunning, flirtatious monarch. Dreams where she'd felt his touch and his kisses as though they were more than just dreams. A dream where he'd held her and lay with her, loved her like a lover only once.
She was awoken by the feeling of being lain upon some soft moss-covered ground, and she would have sat up, but gloved hands held her down gently. She allowed him to cover her with his cloak, which smelled heavily of his spicy scent and was still warm from his heat. "Jareth," she breathed, settling back into her dreams.
He didn't respond, but she felt his hand smooth her hair away from her face before he left her side. It frightened her a bit, and her eyes snapped open, making sure he didn't suddenly vanish. She was exhausted, having not slept well the evening before, but she couldn't find sleep now that he was no longer close. So she watched as he moved around, gathering wood for a fire, as well as picking up a few things that he found near ground level. When he returned, he started another fire with a snap of his fingers, and then sat a foot away from her, pulling the things from the pouch at his hip. She was surprised to find them to be mushrooms.
"They're edible, and non-hallucinogenic. There are likely peach trees nearby, but this part of the forest is dangerous, and there are things which would take advantage of an exhausted woman." She found the reassurance endearing and she watched as he pulled his bag before him, digging through until he withdrew a few things that looked like dried meat.
She was silent, simply observing him as he prepared dinner for them. When he handed her a stick with mushroom and meat staggered upon it, she accepted it and nibbled it silently. It was a little bland, but not bad, and she was hungry again. She hadn't even noticed in her worry for her daughter and her uneasiness around the Goblin King.
He stayed about a foot away from her, staring into the fire as he ate his own food, a melancholy look on his regal face.
She wasn't certain what made her do it, but she sat up, wrapping the cloak around her more tightly.
His eyes focused upon her, and he blinked. "Sarah, you should rest, lay back-"
She didn't stop until she was at his side, and she lay her head upon his shoulder, staring into the fire as well. "Shut up, Jareth," she said softly. The man at her side sat rigid with surprise, before he relaxed, and his arm slipped around her shoulders, holding her at his side. She continued to eat until she felt that it was too much effort to lift the food to her mouth, and she passed the rest to him.
"There is no cause for you to be this tired, precious," he said softly against her hair.
"Woke up an hour before Erin was taken," her voice was slurred in her exhaustion, and she snuggled into his side. "Was awhile longer before I called you; I had to get dressed. Was awhile longer still before you got there. Haven't slept in," her speech was interrupted by a yawn. "Probably twenty four hours or so. It's been awhile since I walked so much on so little sleep..."
"Has it?"
"About nineteen years," she admitted, lifting her eyes to look at him. There was that pain on his face again, and he started to turn away from her. She caught his face with her hand, preventing him from turning his face. "You haven't changed," she whispered softly. "Still so perfect, and I've gotten so old..."
He held her hand to his face, his eyes closing. "That is what I should say," he murmured softly, turning his face and kissing her palm.
It was a familiar motion, one he'd done many times in her dreams and it brought tears to her eyes. She may have been crazy, but she could have sworn she saw his own eyes misting as well. She would probably blame it on her exhausted state, but she leaned forward, brushing her lips tenderly against his high cheekbone and when she pulled back and looked at him, there was a heart-breaking hope in his mismatched eyes.
She really was cruel. He was right. All this time, she'd never believed him, but when this was over she would leave him and-
She didn't have a chance to finish the thought, because he must have felt that her affectionate move gave him permission to shower her with his own. His hand caught the back of her hair and his lips found her own, gentle, coaxing, pleading. It was beautiful and made her heart twist in her chest, even as the hand that had rested on his cheek slipped back into his hair.
He wasn't pushing her, heaven knew as weak as she was it would be easy to push her back among the mossy ground and have his way with her, but he instead continued kissing her as if she were the only thing he needed and food and air were secondary. It was growing physically and emotionally painful to continue kissing him and he moaned softly, a pained and desperate sound and she thought that maybe he this was hurting him as well. She returned her hand to his face and broke the kiss, looking up at him, suddenly aware that she'd been crying.
His eyes opened and looked down at her, then grew concerned. "Sarah," he whispered, his voice breaking slightly.
She took a shuddering breath, burrowing her face into his shoulder once more. He seemed uncertain for a moment what he should do, but finally his arms came to rest against her back, holding her gently.
Something cherished, something loved.
She closed her eyes, taking the little comfort she could have. "I'm sorry," she whispered, but she wasn't certain what she was apologizing for. Her hands were shaking, and she slipped the other one to his back, grasping his shirt tightly. His embrace tightened, implying that he'd heard her.
"I...as well," he said softly, and she felt him press his lips against her hair.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Erin frowned darkly at the canopy of leaves that hung over her. Her kidnapper was snoozing only feet away from her, still with that damn noose around his wrist and connected to her ankle. She was exhausted and she didn't know how she'd managed to stay awake past when he fell asleep, but she was grateful she'd done it.
Sitting upright, and glancing towards her captor, she began clawing at the noose around her ankle, finding that the skin was red and chaffed. Her feet were filthy, and there were small cuts and blisters all over them. She felt disgusting, as the day had been rather hot, and she'd sweat rather badly. She wanted a bath, but before that, there was something else she had to accomplish.
She had to get the hell away from her kidnapper and try to figure out how she was going to get to her mother before he caught up to her.
Once she was free of the tether, she stood very quietly, frowning as the cloak slipped off of her. It would be practical to keep it, however she glanced towards the man who lay on the ground – a man who had saved her life twice – and noticed that he was shivering. The firelight danced on his hair and she couldn't help but notice again that he was extremely attractive.
It wasn't fair. Here she stood, a twelve year old girl, confronted with a man who was another level above even handsome, and she was gawky, awkward and unseemly. She didn't like feeling inferior to anyone, especially not to this man who had stolen her away from her mother.
Still, he'd saved her.
She leaned over him, draping the cloak over his sleeping form. She kept crouched there for a long moment, looking down at him. "Sorry, Kieran. But I can't just stick around here and leave my life in the winds. My fate is my own." She hesitated for a moment, and then smiled, leaning down and kissing his cheek. "You really are nice. I wish that there were more guys like you back home sans the kidnapping of course."
Then she stood and quietly trudged in another direction from the way he'd been leading them. The moon above her must be full, because the forest appeared to be extremely well lit. It was eerily silent, but she tried to take comfort in it. There was only the faintest rustle of leaves of the trees around her. It occurred to her that the forest must be extremely old, because the trees were hugely tall, and the trunks were so wide, she couldn't even wrap her arms part way around them.
Her feet led her through the forest, and she continued to glance nervously behind herself, until the firelight that her kidnapper slept beside had died out. When that happened, she was surprised at the sharp pang of loneliness, and she pulled the crystal that had shown her mother before from her bag. She looked down at it and saw her mother lay sleeping, her face tight from exhaustion, even as she rested. Her mother's face was pillowed against the thigh of a man who had wild blond hair that stuck off in all directions. He was dressed much as Kieran had been a billowing shirt, leather jerkin, tight breeches. His hands had on gloves.
Suddenly, as if he felt the scrutiny, his face lifted and she gasped in shock, dropping the crystal. Those eyes. They were her own eyes. Her mother had somehow contacted her father, and they were looking for her together! Excitement raced through her and she found herself trying to move faster, still having no idea where she should be trying to go, but wanting to get there as quickly as possible.
She wasn't certain how long she'd run before her foot landed in something wet and there was nothing solid beneath it. Bog, her mind identified, and she tried to swim upward, but she had no idea which way up was, and she opened her eyes, looking around desperately trying to figure out where she was.
Large, black eyes looked at her out of a pale, feminine face. The skin was almost green, and the hair that flowed around the creature that Erin saw was pale yellow, and looked so soft. Erin felt suddenly peaceful, even as the creature wrapped it's hand around her wrist and began drawing her deeper.
Her feeling of peace and serenity was shattered by a thunderous sound from above, and the creature turned suddenly frightful, its full mouth opening wider than should be possible, revealing rows of deadly sharp teeth. Erin opened her mouth to scream, and it filled with disgusting water just as a hand grabbed her free one and she felt herself being drug away from the creature who was gnashing its teeth in anger and throwing a silent temper tantrum.
She broke the surface and choked on the air, gasping and retching at the taste in her mouth. She heard what her brain recognized as swearing, but she was still disoriented, and soaking and freezing. She shivered fiercely and bent over, vomiting on the ground. She was cold, terrified, and slowly her dazed brain began sorting out what the swearing was.
"You little fucking idiot! What the hell did you think you were doing? I thought you understood how dangerous these woods were!" The swearing continued, but there were hands brushing over her now, hands that were warm and comforting somehow. Slowly, she focused on the owner of the voice and found temperamental gold eyes looking down at her.
She coughed up the last of the bog water and felt hopelessness and fear finally strangling her. She'd kept strong for so long, put on a brave face and kept her chin up. But she was far away from her home and her mother. Tears filled her eyes and began pouring down her face, but she didn't sob once. She kept her face down as the man continued to swear at her for being an idiot. Was there no way to get away? Was she stuck, stranded until her mother came to get her?
"Just where did you think you were going," Kieran asked finally, and she felt his gloved hand beneath her chin.
Angry, she slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me! This is all your fault! Why couldn't you just leave us alone? We didn't do anything to any of you, we never hurt anyone, we never called upon any of you! Just leave us alone!"
The young man went strangely silent and she lifted her tear-stained face defiantly to look at him. He looked uncomfortable, maybe even upset. When his eyes returned to her, she saw conflict in them, and he moved towards her, scooping her into his arms. His warmth seeped through her soaked clothes almost immediately and she squeezed her eyes shut. Tears continued to fall down her face and all she could do was turn her face into his shoulders and cry.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Kieran felt her shaking as he carried her back to the warmth of the fire. He would have been lying to say that he'd not felt the faintest panic when he'd woken and found the tether had been pulled from her ankle and left on the ground. Her scent fading had been what had pulled him from his sleep and he'd immediately run in the direction of the fading scent.
For a human, she moved fast, because she'd made it almost a mile and a half away from the camp before her unfortunate – or in his case, fortunate – fall in the bog. There had been the faintest glow beneath the water that he'd recognized as the green hue of a naiad, one of the less benevolent creatures of the Underground and realized his charge was in serious trouble. He'd gone in, holding on to the ground beside the bog with one hand, searching for the nearest available limb to grab with the other.
He'd found her hand seconds later and then drug her to the surface. He'd begun yelling at her long before she'd broken the surface, long before he'd realized how badly she'd frightened him. Then, she'd curled in on herself, her trembling growing worse as she knelt on the ground in front of him, her face hidden from sight. Her slapping his hand away had come as a bit of a surprise, as she'd been acting rather personable, if a little melancholy all day. He expected the blame, even embraced it.
She wouldn't be capable of walking back and he'd known it, so he'd lifted her against his chest, feeling a little surprised as she'd burrowed into him, her arms going around his neck as she continued crying. She was soaking wet and it still got cold at night here. However, the fire was roaring rather well and he set her before it, finding a few more sticks to toss in, making it roar just a bit more. Once she was sat upon the ground, she huddled in on herself immediately.
Kieran could already see the sky was lightening to a faded gray color and he pulled out some sausages, cooking them in the fire once again. The girl didn't speak, didn't look into the fire. She just sat there and shivered. He dug through his bag, pulling out a small cake that he'd been saving for himself and set it on her knees. "Eat something," he said softly.
"I don't want it," she muttered, her voice still dark and angry.
"Erin, you need to eat."
She lifted her hand and knocked it off her lap and he watched it fall to the moss beside her. He lifted it, dusting the dirt off, grinding his teeth together in anger and frustration. "What the hell are you being so pissy about?"
She was quiet for a long time before she spoke. "I just want to go home," she said quietly.
He lowered his head, sighing softly. His cloak had been left to lie on the ground and he scooped it up, wrapping it around her shoulders. "I know," he said quietly. He didn't look at her as she lifted her face and looked at him in seeming surprise. "It's not right, it's not fair and if I could have gotten around it, I wouldn't have done it." Finally, he lifted his face and looked at her. "In my family, I have no social standing. I'm the son of a king and a commoner who was not the queen- the son of a mistress. I'm a prince because of my father, but I'm not good enough to be the heir because of my mother."
Erin's wide, mismatched eyes were looking at him, through him. He lowered his gaze and looked at the fire again. "Unfortunately, there's no one else. I had five brothers by my father's wife, and they were each in line before I was. During the war with the goblin kingdom, they were all killed." He hesitated, glancing towards her again. "They still don't think I'm good enough. The queen died in childbirth a year ago, and the infant died not long after that, from some sort of sickness. Still, I'm only good enough for the things that other fae won't dirty themselves with. Assassinating kings and kidnapping mortals," he made sure that his loathing was thick in his voice.
"So you kidnapped me because your daddy doesn't love you?"
He snarled, lifting his gaze and looking at her in anger. Her eyes were just as angry, however and he found himself surprised by the depth of fury in them. "I kidnapped you because you were a better option than your mother and if I'd gone back empty handed I would have been executed," he said, keeping his voice cold.
Her eyes widened and she sucked in her breath.
He felt hot with anger; however, he was suddenly aware that he was shivering. The dampness of his clothes was getting to him, despite the heat of the fire, and the wounded arm was causing a great deal of pain still. He broke the fairy cake in half, thrusting part of it towards her once more, refusing to look at her. "Eat it."
He felt her hands come up accepting the cake and he quickly ate his half, hoping it would spike his body temperature. After he'd demolished his, he glanced towards where Erin was sitting and he saw that she was still hunched in on herself, holding the fairy cake in her hands, looking at it – or maybe looking through it at something she couldn't see. He was surprised at the amount of guilt he felt.
She was right, really. This was no fault of hers or her mother's even. He'd hurt two people who had done nothing to him, simply because he felt they would be a weakness of the goblin king. Hell, even the goblin king had done nothing to him. The reason he'd done the things he'd always done was because his father asked him and he desperately wanted his father's approval. And for what? So that he'd get to inherit the throne of a second rate country and the hate for the neighboring kingdom?
"Erin," he tried to keep his voice even and calm, but he heard his own personal resentment ringing in it. He didn't look at her as he spoke. "Eat the cake."
She looked at him, and he knew it because he saw the movement out of the corner of his eyes. After another long moment, she lifted the cake and nibbled on the edge of it. She didn't eat much before she handed the rest back to him. "I'd like to save the rest. Just in case I start craving something sweet again," she said softly.
He lifted his face and saw there was the faintest hint of regret in her eyes. "Alright," he said quietly, taking the rest of the cake from her and returning it to its cloth wrapping and then into the pouch.
"That thing that grabbed me in the water," she continued speaking quietly. "What was it?"
He was too tired for conversation, however, it was too late to return to sleep. Soon they'd have to be on their way. "It's a naiad, sort of a water sprite, but not the nice kind. It will lure innocents into the water and drown them, and if you do die of drowning by one of those beasts, you turn into one." He felt a tiny hand touch his and he looked towards her.
"So you saved me again. That's three times now. I'm running out of ways to pay you back," she spoke with a voice laced with irony and he looked towards her in surprise. She looked towards him as well and he saw a wry smile on her lips. The first he'd seen since she'd mentioned that horrid sounding invention called a birthing tape. Why would anyone want to watch their own infant self being born?
He looked at her and a reluctant smile was pulled to his own lips. "Only a weirdo like you would be worried about paying back her kidnapper," he said quietly, ruffling her pale, damp hair.
She laughed, her eyes closing and her shoulders shaking. "Fair's fair. You kidnapped me, but you're also protecting me. I don't know if that's just so I'll make it to our destination alive or what, but I'm still breathing. It would have been a lot easier if you'd just let the naiad take me." She paused for a second, looking back at the fire. "I guess what I'm trying to say is 'thank you'."
He looked at her profile, surprised at her straight-forward attitude. He was silent, just watching her, for a long time before he finally answered her with, "you're welcome."
After a few more minutes, he banked the fire and stood, getting ready to leave, when he glanced towards Erin and found that had pillowed her cheek on her knee and fallen asleep. He sighed heavily and dropped down beside her, grabbing her wrists and pulling her arms around his neck. He heard her mumbled sigh and she wrapped her arms tighter, her cheek resting between his shoulders. "Trusting little idiot," he said softly. "Thanking your kidnapper when he's really taking you to your death."
He forced his mind from that path and stood, carrying Erin Williams closer towards her doom.
AN: Next chapter, the rating is going to go up, just letting everyone know now.