The Goblin King's Daughter
By: DemonSaya
Chapter Fourteen
Fachen stood at the front of the large group of fae. He had adopted a sad, grieved demeanor that he didn't actually feel. "I find that I must be the bearer of bad news. Not only has our prince and heir betrayed our kingdom, it appears that his uncle, Lord Alastar has betrayed us all as well. Last evening, when I was speaking to the king regarding the future of this kingdom, he was assassinated by none other than the captain of the guard."
Gasps and whispers, tears, moans of grief echoed out from the crowd. Even mad, these people loved their former king, for he had done as much good as harm to the kingdom. "It is my belief," he continued, "that Alastar was planted here by the Goblin Kingdom, in order to do just what he has done. Our only option is to go to war and drive the blight that is the Goblin King and his lineage out of existence entirely."
Amid the nods of agreement and murmuring, a single voice of descent called from the crowd. "But how?"
There were women crying into the shoulders of furious men, and he smiled darkly. "We will eliminate the Goblin Kingdom from the world. We will attack them and destroy them. I have received word from a trusted official that the wreckage of the Goblin King's palanquin has been discovered. The Goblin King and the Champion were not found in the wreckage. No doubt the traitors will head straight for that kingdom. We will kill two birds with one stone."
Hope on the faces of the people, grim resignation on the faces of the men, who would be going to battle. When it was over, he could take care of the rules he didn't like, and then they could begin taking over the Unseelie courts once more. This time, rather than wasting time and resources on other borderlands, he'd break a hole in the middle and destroy the goblin kingdom...then he would head straight for Oberon.
He chuckled darkly as he left the throne room, fingering the gold circlet he'd claimed for himself. At least he could learn from Bram's mistakes...
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Kieran returned to the waking world slowly and the first thing he noticed was that he was alone. The window was open and light was shining into the room, and Erin wasn't there. He winced as he forced himself into a sitting position and saw clean clothes were laid on a chair within the room. Moving towards them hurt, but he did it. Memories of what had occurred after he and his charge sought refuge in the tree were still fuzzy. He supposed that even though he didn't recognize the room, not waking up in a dungeon should be a good thing.
But where was she?
Pulling the shirt over his head hurt worse than he thought, but he recognized his state of mind and knew he wouldn't stop pushing ahead until he saw Erin was unharmed with his own eyes. Breeches were next. His boots were set beside the chair and he managed to get those on without help before sending out mental feelers, trying to find her through sense.
He left the room, only to be surprised by a goblin which scurried past.
He almost fell against the wall to avoid the thing, wincing as the wound stretched once again. He was dizzy and felt horribly sick, but he was not going to pass out again until he found her. He didn't care if this was part of the Goblin Kingdom or if it was something else.
Several goblins stopped upon seeing him up and walking and ran off almost immediately. Where they were going he didn't know, nor did it matter, because it was towards Erin, so he followed their general direction. The hallways were long, lit mostly by the bright sunlight. Several times he turned corners and found himself facing dead ends that made no sense to him at all.
After several wrong turns, he was getting ready to give up, his stubborn attitude already severely taxed by his exhaustion and the pain from his wound. He leaned against the wall sighing in frustration. Pride was the only thing that kept him from sinking to the ground right there.
"Injured people should know when to stay in bed," came a tart voice down the hall a bit. He blinked, turning in that direction and he saw Sarah Williams, the Labyrinth champion and Erin's mother, coming down the hall towards him.
He sagged faintly, staring at her. "Then we made it...? Erin is safe?"
She moved towards him and pulled his arm around her shoulder. "You've been asleep for three days. The wound in your side was dealt by a poisoned weapon." Her arm was at his waist and he felt himself bristling a bit at being supported by a woman. She gave him a look as if she sensed it. "If your pride is getting in the way of me helping you, I could just drop you and let you fall on your ass. It is my understanding that being horribly embarrassed does worlds for a man's perspective."
"And a woman's," he muttered almost under his breath, but loud enough that she could hear it.
To his surprise, rather than getting cross, she laughed aloud and shook her head. "Sometimes," she admitted. "Although you should behave, since I'm not taking you back to your room." Her face grew serious. "It was bad. Jareth said that the weapons used on you had been coated in iron dust. It wasn't as bad for Erin. She's still mostly mortal and since she's female, her body absorbed it better."
He relaxed a bit. "Where is she?"
Sarah gave him an amused smile, one tinged with something that was almost sadness. "She's in the gardens. She and I were getting our first magic lesson from Jareth."
He looked at her in surprise. "You need lessons?"
She gave a faint, embarrassed shrug. "It's a long story. I'm sure they won't mind if you join us. As long as you sit down and watch, rather than trying to put on a strong front for Erin and wind up busting your ass." She pushed open a door and blindingly bright light hit his face.
He flinched, his eyes squinting as he was led outside. The smell of smoke assaulted his nostrils almost immediately. It smelled like wet wood trying to catch fire. When his eyes focused, he saw that the problem wasn't that the wood was trying to catch fire. It had long since caught fire and two fae were trying to put the flames out.
"Hell's fire, what happened when I was gone," Sarah muttered, shaking her head.
Jareth must have heard her, because he looked up with a faint grin. "Hell's fire is exactly what happened, precious," he answered, and then his eyes moved towards him. Kieran felt himself grow faintly tense from those mismatched eyes staring at him. "I see you were right. Rather than continuing to convalesce, our patient has gotten out of bed."
Kieran looked towards Erin, but she was already running towards them. Her eyes were bright with happiness and he relaxed at the sight. Once she was upon them, she threw her arms around his waist and hugged the air out of him. She was putting pressure against the wound, which hurt, but he wasn't going to ask her to stop.
Sarah drifted away from his side, and Erin helped him sit on the grass before she wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her head on his shoulder. "We were worried about you," she said quietly. "You woke up for a few minutes the first night, but you haven't since then. I thought-" she stopped herself, and gave a bright but wobbly smile. "It doesn't matter," she said, lowering her face so that her hair fell to cover it. He could see that she'd gotten it cut into the style she'd first had two months prior – had it only been two months ago?
He reached up, gently tousling her hair. For a long moment, he simply savored the contact, her closeness doing more than hours of bed rest could. "Go on, little one, finish your lesson. I'll still be here when it's over." He gave her a wicked smile. "Just try not to set me on fire."
She scowled faintly, but gave him a grudging kiss on the cheek, before heading back to where her parents were speaking quietly.
Not for the first time, Kieran noticed how when she was with her mother, she seemed to laugh and smile more. When she'd been at his castle, even when they were in private, she seemed slightly guarded, although her ability to pretend otherwise often led people to think that she was at ease some of the time. He'd noticed it a bit, but she'd been slightly tense around him since the morning she'd woken to find him wrapped around her.
But not here.
It was as if she were able to trust him easier, to not take advantage of her, or perhaps she was trusting her parents from saving her from any advances that might not be wanted. He frowned a bit, lowering his gaze. It didn't matter. He shouldn't even be thinking about making advances until she was more receptive to them.
The practice went on for a while longer, until the woman linked arms with the girl and led her away from Jareth. The fae king watched them wander off with a faint look of longing in his eyes. Then, those mismatched eyes pierced him and he squirmed in discomfort. He was over a century old, but that look in anyone's eyes vaguely reminded him of whenever something had annoyed his mother.
The man sat on the grass beside him, slouching back comfortably on his elbows. "You aren't even going to ask how I knew where you'd be?"
He slanted a glance towards the monarch, his lips pulling down into a faint frown. "I'm too busy counting my fingers, toes and heartbeats and being glad that I'm still alive." Feeling a little awkward, he lowered his head. "Thank you," he offered.
He man pulled out a blade of grass, rolling it between his fingers as he watched Erin and Sarah wander the garden from where he sat. "A raven told me," he continued. He went quiet for a long moment, just looking at him.
"I don't know what you're trying to ask," he said, frowning.
Jareth studied him for a long minute. "It was the same raven who came to deliver the message regarding you protecting my daughter. I didn't really think much of it at the time, however it's been bothering me. Why are ravens living in servitude to you?"
He sighed. "Oh, that," he saw irritation in Jareth's eyes at his response, but he ignored it. "My parents weren't married, but that doesn't mean my mother wasn't a princess. She just wasn't fae, and that made her unable to become the queen according to the unseelie courts. They had a princess already picked out for Bram, the only daughter of a lord who had no sons." He refused to look at the king beside him, instead searching a patch of clovers near him. "My father loved my mother, but he also cared for the princess of his arranged match and to appease the courts, married her, but he kept my mother close, and the Queen did not mind that my father took a lover.
"When my mother came to my father's court as master of the guard, she brought her most faithful servants from her family home. So to answer why ravens are serving me, they've been serving me since I was a child, and they became my servants alone when my mother died." He lifted his face finally, looking at Jareth. "My mother was their princess, after all."
Jareth put a hand to his face. "You're telling me that I killed the princess of the ravens during that war?"
A sad smile turned up his lips. "No. You killed my father's lover and master of the guard. When she left them with her servants, they were all cast out." He started trying to get up, but immediately wished he hadn't. "Damn, this hurts..." he swore, putting a hand to his side.
"Well, the wound was deep and was becoming septic when we found you. If not for the skill of my healer, you could have still died." Jareth looked back towards them and sighed. "Come, let's get you back into bed." A hand rested on his arm and Kieran felt the disorienting sensation of being in two places at once for a moment, before he found himself sitting on his bed, and Jareth sitting in a chair beside it.
He blinked. "Okay, now I'm more dizzy," he muttered.
Jareth, the ripe bastard, laughed as he stood. "Good. Then maybe this time you'll stay in bed." He reached over, setting a hand on his forehead. "Rest a bit. I have a feeling that you'll need it. If Sarah finds her way in here, let her know that I'm in my study." He turned and left the room, leaving Kieran alone to his thoughts.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Jareth sat at his desk, fingering the correspondence which rested upon it.
They had reclaimed Erin days ago, and he had begun greeting each day since with a great deal of trepidation. He should send them back to the Above, get them out of harm's way, because he knew that war was coming to the Goblin Kingdom. He knew as well that every time he tried to force his will upon his beloved Sarah she would question him, would fight against him, even if it was for her own good.
Grimly, he smiled, leaning back in his chair and looking out the window.
Then again, the Above was only safe if his enemies couldn't find her and their child. Really, as long as she was alive, she would be a target for those who had eyes for gaining his kingdom, and they were his only weaknesses.
He laughed at himself, a weak, sad laugh. He could use that excuse, try to keep her with him forever. If he did, she would only come to resent him. No. He was only fooling himself. He could only put this off for so long. When the battle was won, he had to send her back. At that point, the rest wouldn't matter. She would be safe in her world, able to raise their daughter as she saw fit. And before he lost the last of himself, he would speak with Oberon about her receiving protection for services rendered.
Besides, their child would be the next ruler of the goblins. Due to her marriage to Kieran, he could make a deal where she would be allowed to come of age in her own world before being returned to this one, with that boy acting as the ruling monarch in her place.
And if Sarah chose to return with her daughter-
He put his hands in his face. He wouldn't be there. This would be their price. Sarah may eventually return, may try to call upon him in her own world, but he would be lost in the fragments of his mind and to save her life, he would give up every last piece of himself. Sarah would be safe, but he would be gone. There would be nothing of him left to call back, just a husk that bore his face. He doubted he would even recognize her.
It was a price he would willingly pay if it meant her safety.
He heard his door open and waited for the goblin to address him before he would take the time to gather himself and look at them. He needed that moment, and he would take it. He was a king, after all and letting any subject see the misting in his eyes was unacceptable.
"You two are going to drive me nuts," came his daughter's voice and his head snapped up. Erin was standing there, leaning back against the door, a look of frustration on her face. He lowered his face, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Erin, what are you talking about?"
"You and mom."
Slowly, he lowered his hand, looking at the girl. Her face was twisted into that obstinate expression that he recognized from his mother's own face. He smiled faintly, amused. "Dear girl, I fail to see how the business of your mother and I is any concern of yours."
She marched right up to the desk and set her hands down, frowning deeply. "Well then you're blind as a bat and twice as stupid as a goat."
He choked faintly, resisting the urge to laugh. "Erin, this is between your mother and I-"
She snorted. "And me." She straightened, her hands curling into fists. "You don't know what it was like. I've watched her for twelve years; she had to practically kill herself to raise me. She was always alone and I was all she had." She slapped the top of the desk and he saw tears misting in her eyes. "And now that you two are together, you're just going to walk away from each other? Again? So I can go home and watch her work too hard, cry too much, and wish again and again that either of you had just forgotten the past and set aside their pride for a minute?"
Jareth stared up at her, reached up with one hand and gently brushed the tear that had escaped her control from her cheek. After a long moment, he sighed, cupping her cheek. "Darling girl, if it would make your mother happy, I would give her the world. Whichever she wanted. But if I did not allow her to make her own choice, she may come to resent me. And I'd rather be mad with grief at losing her for a third time than see her grow to hate me."
She closed her eyes, biting her lip and looking very much like her twelve years. Jareth saw a child that had spent years being her mother's only source of strength, a child who had not gotten the chance to cry because she didn't want her mother to worry about her. "Then...why won't you ask her what she wants?"
He sighed softly, releasing her. He stood and moved towards the window, looking outside. Sarah was still wandering among the flowers in the garden and he watched her in sadness. "Once upon a time," he spoke softly, still watching the woman below. "Once upon a time there was a proud king. His every whim and wish was carried out and admittedly he grew arrogant and spoiled. Then, on the way back to his kingdom from another he caught sight of a young maid, dressed as a princess, acting out a play in a glen. It is likely that the king fell in love with her as soon as he set eyes upon her." He turned, glancing towards his daughter. He gave her a faint smile at the perplexed look on her face. "He decided he wanted her. He would accept no other. He had no concept of love at the time. She was merely something he coveted, desired. Several times, he went to the kingdom that was her home, would watch her act out her plays in that glen."
He lowered his eyes, leaning against the wall. "Then, one day, the maid called upon him, wishing away a person who she held dear without really wanting it to happen. She was just lashing out and the king knew that, but he took the child, lured the girl into his kingdom, in hopes of finally obtaining her. He cheated, he lied, and he seduced her. He pulled out every trick he knew in order to make her fail, because if she failed...she would be his forever. She would never be able to get away."
Erin fell into a chair with a thump. She was staring at him, confused, but there was the hints of awareness in her eyes, and he knew she was drawing lines between points and heading towards a conclusion. "But she succeeded. She won back the child."
He smiled at her, but he knew it looked sick and sad. "She won back the child. Over the course of her trials, the king had fallen even more in love with the girl, had realized what the feeling really was. However it was too late. He made his offer, an offer to give the girl anything she desired. She didn't hear him. Instead, she took her precious burden and vanished from his life. Forever, or so he thought."
She was silent, watching him, and she lowered her head. "It must have hurt very badly," she said quietly.
"More so the second time," he admitted. "Twice, I have practically begged her to be mine and mine alone. Twice she has turned her back on me. Although, I admit that she had her reasons both times, it is not pride that keeps my tongue captive. It is fear." He laughed, letting his head fall back against the stone wall. "I am terrified that if I make myself vulnerable like that one more time, she will truly kill me."
When she lifted her face, it she had that stubborn face of his beloved Sarah once again. "You coward."
"Perhaps," he allowed. He was silent for a long moment, and then looked at her. "Child, go look in on Kieran. I'm sure that boy's wondering where you went off to."
She stood slowly, and then walked towards him, giving him a short hug around his waist. "If you love each other, why can't you trust each other?" The whispered words startled him, and without another word, Erin released him and left him standing by the window. He heard the door shut behind her and slowly lifted a hand to his face.
Was she right? Were they letting the past color the present?
He sighed softly, rubbing his forehead. It would appear that he needed to speak to Sarah soon. Before she made her decision and was gone.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Sarah sighed softly, stretching her arms over her head. She'd been wandering for a bit, looking for Erin or Jareth, when she passed Kieran's room and heard her daughter's voice, sounding broken by sobs. Concern gripped her and she moved towards the door, but stopped when her daughter's words became clear.
"They are so STUPID!"
Anger was something she'd always expected from her daughter, but she'd never heard her daughter cry. She went still at the doorway, leaning forward so she could peer through the crack. Kieran's back was against the headboard, and Erin sat in his lap, curled up against his chest, shaking as he gently stroked her hair. His focus was entirely on the girl, so he didn't notice her at the doorway.
"You spoke to your father?"
Sarah saw her daughter nod, watched the girl's hands tighten in the young man's shirt. "Stupid... so stupid. They're both being cowards! If they don't take a chance, how are they ever going to be happy? And if mom leaves...if mom leaves..." She became unable to speak, she was just trembling and sobbing.
Kieran sighed, resting his cheek against her daughter's head. "I know. If a human and fae have sex and then get separated, the fae goes insane."
Shock ripped through her and she looked in at them. How could Jareth have not mentioned it-
She knew the answer without thinking about it. He didn't want her to weigh that into her decision.
"It's not fair. It's just not fair. I want mom to be happy...like she was at that ball..." Erin lifted her head, looking at her companion. "I've never seen her that happy. I think that they're the only ones who could really make each other happy. Like soul mates or something..."
"Soul mates, huh?" He smiled sadly at her. "Well, unless one of them wakes up, there's nothing we can do. They both appear to be very stubborn." Erin made a soft sniffling noise and her face was pressed into his shoulder once again.
Sarah leaned against the wall, out of sight and felt tears welling in her own eyes. Was this how everything had to end? Her miserable in the above, dealing with Alex's attitude, apart from the man she loved; Jareth in the Underground, insane from losing her for a third time? She covered her mouth and stifled a sob. Then, she stopped, choked on the exhaled grief.
Why was she crying now of all times?
She straightened, curled her hands into fists and lifted her head, striding away from Kieran's room. She was going to go find that little fairy idiot and she was going to have words with him. If it was the last thing she did.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Erin waited until she heard her mother's footsteps heading away from the room before she sat up and accepted the kerchief that Kieran offered her. He wore an amused, if exasperated, expression on his face. "See. Told you."
"So you did, little one." He ruffled her hair and smiled faintly for a moment before it slid away. "Do you think this will actually work?"
"I don't know," she said, sitting back on her heels. "They're both really stubborn. But short of tying them to chairs in a magic-proof room, I don't know any other way to do this..."
Kieran sighed softly, pulling her head against his chest. "Well, let's give them awhile, then we'll go track down those two idiots." He heard her chuckle softly and smiled. "To be honest, I'm glad you had this idea. I'm nowhere near ready to be a king yet."
She gave him a skeptical look, frowning faintly. "You might not do too bad, you know."
He shook his head, chuckling. "Thank you for the vote of confidence," he said, then pulled her snug against his side, resting his head against her own.
Erin sighed softly and shifted a bit, her arm going over his stomach.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Sarah was coming into his office just as he was getting ready to leave it. Her face was twisted into a stubborn expression and Jareth felt his stomach drop out. Slowly, he moved from around the desk as Sarah's eyes fixed him with a look of furious intensity.
She didn't say anything. She just looked directly into his eyes as she marched across the room. When she was standing in front of him, she grabbed the medallion around his neck and pulled him down until her lips met his. He reacted on instinct more than thought, his hands finding her waist, pulling her forcefully against him as his lips parted. He could taste her pain and it echoed his own.
For a brief instant fear gripped him, edging towards terror. NO, he thought, gripping her tighter, knowing his fingers would bruise her delicate flesh, but fear made him desperate and desperation made him less worried about bruising her than losing her.
Every time she tried to pull back, he captured her lips after giving her only a moment to regain her breath and too fast for her to begin the conversation. After no time at all, she wrenched back, holding him away from her and staring up into his eyes with that defiance lighting her face. Her chest was heaving with her breaths, and he noticed he felt a bit winded as well. "Jareth, we have to talk," she said, her voice breaking as she spoke.
He closed his eyes, feeling her hand gently cup his face. "Sarah," he began unable to look in her eyes as he mentally prepared to set his pride aside and beg her to not say the words he feared would leave her mouth. Before he could continue, however, his door burst open and a crow landed on his carpet, looking up at them for a long moment before there was a puff of darkness and the crow was gone, a man standing in his place.