Chapter: Shiver and the Fireys
The stairs in front of her looked more like a mountainside than an entrance, gripping the blood slicked pendant in her trembling hand, Sarah ground her teeth together, and took the first step.
Heat like liquid fire rippled through her, as she forced her feet to obey her, and carry her towards the carved doors, she had to warn them of Gafael's betrayal of his queen, she had to...
Short shapes poured through the open doors, surrounding her with voices and noise she could not make her mind interoperate.
"Tell.. Jareth? ... Morgaine... Protect, you must... Protect... Jareth."
"Sarah"
His voice sent shivers down her back as a dark shape moved towards her parting the throng without words.
"Sarah... My Queen"
" Jareth...Gafael.. he..."
"Ssch my love I know, and he. . They will be dealt with, I can promise you that. But you need to rest easy now, you are home, and you are safe"
"Jareth... I... I don't..."
The world wavered and grew both frigid and boiling all at once, gasping she reached for him as her knees buckled.
Warm leather clad hands caught her as she stumbled, pulling her against a slender strong chest. Resting her head on his shoulder, Sarah breathed in his warm earthy scent letting it wrap itself around her mind like a soothing balm, as he lifted her into his arms like a bride.
" Ssh Rest my Queen, You have fulfilled your duty, Our realm is once more safe."
No they were not safe , she felt it in her bones, but as the dark abyss called to her all she could focus on were the cold metal in her hand.
"Jareth...Yours..."
Her voice was a whisper and her hand shook as she raised it, revealing the glittering silver sigil, drenched in crimson blood, offering it to her king.
"Let me... its... yours."
Power flared as her bloody hand pressed the sigil against his chest, the chain separating and slithering up and around his throat like a living thing before fusing behind his neck with a minute click.
"There... my. ...King...my...love..."
Darkness washed over her pulling her into an ocean of cold rest.
Sarah rested heavily against him, as he knelt on the unyielding stone. Blood and black venom seeping slowly from the ripped ruin of her shoulder, to soak into his billowing pale white shirt, and the sight filled him with cold fury. The air wavered and rolled with the sheer power pulsing off his skin, as he wrapped his gloved hand over the wound.
It should have been a simple thing to heal her, to simply knit the ripped strands of flesh back together and see her whole before him once more. Yet no matter how deep he dug he could not grab a hold of his own power, only that of the Labyrinth, and that he could only graze, not fully grasp. Frustration build to a roiling boil as Jareth realized that he simply would not be able to heal her, that simple act was for some strange reason beyond him. And her warm blood soaking through the glove, staining his very skin, in a cold sticky coating, that urged him to set his own vanity aside told him as much. She could not wait for him to relearn skills that he should not have lost, she could not wait for him...
Blinking back the stinging wetness in his eyes, Jareth drew in a deep shuddering breath as he gathered the fragile web of power even tighter around him, using it to strengthen muscles and bones still healing and screaming in agony as he rose with her limp form held tight against him.
She was light, but deadweight always felt heavier for some reason. Not that he could dwell on that, because she would live, she was strong, and he was king again...He had to act that way. And that meant that he could not let his sorely tried subjects see the pain constricting his heart, threatening to crush him and his glasslike control. Had he not been a king he would have wrapped himself around her, and wept for the pain he had caused, but he could not. He had to be strong, and that meant knowing when to allow others to take over.
Standing tall Jareth looked over the Labyrinth spread out before him, and the hoards of denizens as they began migrating to the castle. Yes he had so much work to do, and there was one thing he needed to see done before anything else.
Turning to the closest of the golden armoured seelie warriors guarding the castle gates, Jareth gestured for the man to approach.
" Bring the queen to her chamber, and have my healer attend her without delay, her life is in your hands now, see that you do not fail me."
The warrior never as much as flinched as Jareth passed his precious burden over to him, pausing only to press his lips against the crown of her head whispering gently: " I forbid you to leave me... don't defy me Sarah... I need you too much."
Tears burned behind his mismatched eyes, as he turned from Sarah, and gestured for the warrior to leave with his burden, before his tentative resolve broke.
Gesturing to the remaining warriors, Jareth snarled. " Scour the Labyrinth and castle, if Gafael, Morgaine or any other dredge from the court of air and shadow are still lurking about, I want them slain and the carcases strung up for the Firey's to play with. And call my subjects to the great plaza within the hour, I wish to address them all."
Spinning on his heel, Jareth stalked in through the open doors, with his wide shoulders held rigid in anger. This was his realm, his people, and Morgaine's attack would not go unpunished, how dared she attack his queen, his love. The sheer audacity of the act was mind boggling and Morgaine would most definitely live to rue both her venomous words and her malicious actions, once he sunk his claw into the withered hags neck.
Letting out a shaking breath, Jareth forced his hands to relax before his claws ripped through the blood soaked leather, exposing his shame to the world. He couldn't stand the sensation of Sarah's blood cooling against his skin., that at least could be easily remedied even if the injury she had sustained was beyond him. There was little thought as his power flared vanishing the ruined black gloves, and replacing them with pristine gloves in the same charcoal grey as his new unstained poets shirt.
Stopping at a tall window, Jareth leaned against the cool stone, gripping the sill with white knuckled strength, as he forced himself to breath through the sudden flare of pain in his heart.
Sarah was hurt, he had allowed her to be hurt, he was too weak to protect her, or heal her. Too weak to protect his own realm, he had relied on Sarah to save them. And now... Slamming his fist down onto the smooth stone he growled, and pushed up in a sudden violent jerk, scaring a gaggle of small misshapen goblins and sending them screaming in terror down the hallway.
Oh Gaia, what had he allowed them to become? Rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers, Jareth sighed as he resumed his stride towards his private study. The first order of business would have to be the form of his subjects. If war was coming, and right now Jareth could not imagine that it wasn't, then he would need his army, not the "cute and cuddly" abominations running amok in the Labyrinth since the last challenger.
Seven years was too long to let the. ...
Stopping dead in his tracks, Jareth swallowed convulsively as the ramifications of his absence pounded mercilessly on him. Seven years that was how long there had been no one to lay claim to those innocents who were unwanted...
How many had been lost in that time, and what had been their fate? Biting down on his lower lip, Jareth felt his eyes mist over again at the very thought. They were his responsibility and he had failed them, leaving them at best in the care of parents who didn't want them, and at worst to die or suffer as they were abandoned.
All those little lives helpless to change their fates, because he had been too blinded by love to a girl child, to see an obvious trap. Because he was too weak to protect his own heart from breaking. Self-loathing filled his mouth with the bitter acidic taste of bile as his mind punished him with flickering images of dead and abused children reaching out to him, begging for help.
"No! "
His palm pressed against the heavy tapestry, holding himself up, with sheer willpower as his knees grew weak, and the roaring voice in his mind screamed shrilly. " You failed them, You failed them, You failed them..."
" No I didn't, I. ... I. ..yes I failed."
His shoulders slumped in defeat, as he sunk to the floor, groaning with pain as his still shattered knees connected with the hard stone.
He had failed, and those rejected children had paid the terrible price. Hiding his face in his hands, Jareth smothered an anguished keen before it could erupt from his suddenly cold lips...
No! shaking his head desperately, he fought to chase the debilitating voices away, before they shattered his tentative hold on his remaining power.
Anger burned like fire behind his eyes as he pushed himself up on legs where fractures ground together like glass shards, welcoming the deserved pain. This was no time to mourn lives lost through cruelty, not when he had to be strong enough to save those already dependent on him for protection. He had already failed so many, he could not fail again.
Wiping the traitorous tears away with an angry movement, Jareth let out a shaky breath and resumed stalking through his castle.
He still had to give back what had been stolen those seven years ago.
The doors of his private study, were darkcore oak carved with a heavy design of rune knots in the shape of trees and mountains, and embellished with fist sized blue sapphires so dark they appeared black unless light shone directly at them. Pushing the doors open Jareth entered and continued his stride unbroken as he habitually summoned a roaring fire in the round hearth at the centre of the room, with a mere flick of his wrist.
Moving around the large black marble desk, Jareth sank gratefully into the soft oversized chair, and stretched his long legs out in front of him, with a soft sigh, grateful for the thin layer off magic shielding his burns.
The room looked exactly like it had the last time he saw it, but that was hardy a surprise as he and Hoggle were the only ones able to open the doors, and Hoggle had always hated the relatively small and enclosed space.
Holding up his gloved hand Jareth frowned as he created a crystal, letting it roll around his hands as he watched the play of light in its surface.
"Show me Sarah."
The crystal grew foggy for a short moment, and when it cleared, Jareth hissed at the sight within.
Sarah lay on an ornate bed amidst rose and golden pillows and blankets, her eyes closed and pale chest bared, the injure in her shoulder in blatant display, as the ancient treant healer Alderthorn tended to her.
Sweet earth mother, how he wanted to run to her, and wrap his arms around her, begging her to forgive him, for allowing her to be wounded. But he couldn't, not yet, first he had to ensure everyone's safety.
" Show me Shiver"
The crystal clouded over, obscuring the image of Sarah and replacing it with a slightly confusing image, of leathery grey green skin and feathers and. ... was that a lance?
Rubbing his eyes with a exasperated sigh Jareth willed the view to move back a little allowing him to see the wider image.
The knight was entangled in a mass of red, orange, pink and yellow feathers, that heaved and withered as if alive yet it didn't seem to have any heads or hands for that matter.
Chuckling to himself Jareth smiled as he watched the stunted Goblin knight try to extricate himself from the mass of Firey legs that trapped both him and his draegor mount. Cackling laughter filled the ancient clearing like life-giving rain, from somewhere behind his present vantage point. Giving a silent command, Jareth swirled his vantage point looking for the source of the joy filled sound. Nine legless firey's lounged around a massive fire, on the moss covered forest floor, and between them the six red armoured goblins of his elite guard each with their own flagon of what appeared to be apple ale.
The scene was bright and happy, the golden light of late autumn streaming through the branches of the ancient trees with their gnarled twisting branches. And yet the sight off Shiver's frantically flailing legs, filled Jareth with sadness, as the proud and loyal knight struggled to righten himself, and succeeding only in looking utterly ridiculous.
Images of the fierce child that had come to Jareth, some six hundred years ago, flashed through his mind then. Shiver had been five, and a fierce little rat, when he was wished away by an, angel maker who had discovered that wishing the unwanted children away, not only negated the need to sully her hands with innocent blood, but also provided her with what she wanted, one wish at a time. Seventy three children were given to that heinous crone to die, and seventy of them had passed through the veil to come here, safe for all time.
And as for the angel maker... well she had eventually learned to be careful what she wished for...
"Shiver..."
It never ceased to amaze Jareth how the goblins always seemed able to look straight at him when he spoke to them through the crystals, despite the fact that there was nothing to show his vantage point. Watching the fireys legs release the goblin and slink back to their owners like chastised pets, Jareth couldn't keep from smiling at the dignity of the goblin even though he was quite literally one third of the man he use to be.
" King Jareth... M'liege you have returned."
"Yes Shiver, and I shall need my guards to attend me."
Bowing awkwardly Shiver, fought to keep his slightly bulging eyes free of tears: "Yes sire at once... and my liege..."
"Yes Shiver"
" We have missed you."
The words were softly spoken, but filled with sincerity and warmth, and they brought a sad smile to Jareth's lips, he had failed them, yet they still adored him.
" None of that now Shiver! Just get to the castle within an hour, I will meet you in the stables... oh and before I forget."
Closing his eyes Jareth rested his head against the backrest thanking the goddess that those on the receiving end couldn't see him in this weakened state, as he drew on the slowly restoring power in his core, sending it through the crystal to envelope the creatures in the clearing in shimmering winds of faint azure and gold.
It was over in scant seconds, as the winds died down and the clearing came back into view.
Gone were the stunted creatures shaped by an adolescent mind, and in their place stood the true goblins and fireys of the labyrinth.
All of the goblins stood tall, just over six feet, long of limb, they consisted of lean muscles, encased in battle worn armour cast from deep crimson steel.
Even their faces had changed, their chins becoming narrower, their mouths wider, with thin dark lips and filled with sharp teeth not unlike Jareth's. Blinking wide slightly bulging and bright fluorescent green eyes like those of a large cat, Shiver ran his clawed hand over his beaklike nose and into his shock of mud brown hair as tears rolled down cheekbones that swept up sharply as if carved by a blade, to meet the upper ridge of his pointed ears.
"M'Liege... I..."
" Don't! just get your lazy bones up here before I upend the bog on your heads for slacking."
The strain of using magic that was still only just coming back to him after almost seven years, had left Jareth lightheaded, but the joy of seeing his proud subjects restored to their true form was more than enough recompense for the discomfort. Besides doing it on such a small scale had shown him that he had more than enough magic already to revert every denizen of his realm to their own forms.
Letting the crystal hover above the desk, Jareth felt a surge of pride as he watched the flock of fireys dance as they reacquainted themselves with their true forms.
They were taller than the goblins, their humanoid /Avian bodies heavily muscled, beneath the opaque flame feathers of golden, crimson and yellow. It was like watching the flames of a bonfire as the fireys swayed and undulated to music only they could hear, their Eagle like faces visions of bliss as they threw their clawed wings up letting the wind fan their fires high enough for Jareth to hear the crackling roar as if he was standing beside them.
Seven years might not seem such a terribly long time when considering that the fey and all the creatures of veil realms were untouched by time, but it was certainly long enough when trapped in either a living nightmare or a stunted immature form.
Seven years...
Shuddering Jareth tensed as unbidden memories of his nightmare flared to life, stealing his breath in a strangled sob. Drawing his legs to his chest he sat frozen with burning tears flowing down his face as his mind turned against him, trapping him hopelessly in the dark abyss of memories..
._.,._.
Darkness, filled the dank stinking room, but Jareth didn't mind, he preferred the darkness, because that meant, that the fire he was suspended above had died down, and there would be no flames licking up at his back and shattered legs.
Fire did not harm him, but he still felt the searing pain, as the flames bathed his skin with white hot agony.
Keeping his dried out eyes open, was beginning to become an insurmountable challenge, yet he had to, he had to because the spell on the fire pit would send it roaring to life the second his eyes closed, and it would continue to burn for hours, and he could not bear that again.
The sound of clawed feet slapping against the wet stone floor sent Jareth's heart racing with fear, the sudden increase in blood pressure making his hands and bruises throb back to life, flooding him with pain, and yet he kept his dry eyes open.
The door swung against the stone wall with a dull thump, and great Gaia he wanted to blink and make his eyes work again, but the fire...
A blurred form stepped into Jareth's line of sight, and even though he couldn't really see, there was no mistaking the squat milky skinned red cap.
"Grall.."
" So him can speak yet, good. we feareth fire burn voice away with delightful scream.. But no no, Jareth king too strong... good. "
There was a snap of fingers, and Jareth felt himself be lifted by invisible hands, the movement releasing the chains holding his arms, allowing them to drop behind him sending throbbing agony out through him from his dislocated shoulders.
Grinding his teeth together, Jareth stubbornly kept his eyes open, ignoring the pleas of his body, it would not be the first time he had closed his eyes too soon.
Only when he was dropped in a tangled heap, of pulsing agony in front of the cackling red cap, did he let his lids close with a shameful groan.
Sharp claws prodded his side, drawing fresh blood down his freezing ribs, but the slight scraping was nowhere near enough to draw a reaction from the trembling king.
" This no time for rest Jareth king, open those mongrel eyes, or I'll throw yer in the pit with eye gummed shut."
Filthy black claws seized Jareth's chin forcing him to follow them or have his jaw shattered again, as they pulled him roughly upwards, mercifully releasing him the minute he was kneeling on the floor, with his eyes open once more.
" Good now, Jareth king, I have thing to show."
It took Jareth's reeling mind more than a few seconds to recognise the shallow basin placed in front of him for a scrying lens. But when he did, horror flooded him, banishing every trace of fatigue from his mind. This was the basin they routinely used to show him images of Sarah, as she went through her life calmly.
But this time it was not Sarah shown in the mirror like surface.
Staring into the mirror still water, Jareth watched a tiny ghast crawl laboriously from its shallow and forgotten grave somewhere in a thickly forested area. It was no bigger than a large house cat, and the size made Jareth's heart seize up, it had most likely been an unwanted infant, for it to have been buried unmourned in an unmarked grave.
The creature was black like a wraith, but it was flesh not shadow, as it crawled through the underbrush with lightning speed, and blinding agility.
Why were they showing him this? true it pained him to see an innocent he had no chance of taking in but...
The sound of one of those above ground vehicles called cars rolled towards the ghast yet, the source still remained hidden by the dense fog.
Unexplainable fear flared alive in Jareth, stealing his breath away, and suddenly he realised that he was watching an accident unfolding, and he was helpless to stop it as he watched the silver vehicle speeding towards the crouching abomination.
And the understood, with horrifying clarity what it was he was seeing.
And he knew that it was futile, yet he could not stop himself from struggling against his bonds like a wild animal, screaming her named screaming for them to stop to call the ghast back.
The creature moved in a blur of speed, pausing only for the shortest while in the middle of the road, just long enough to make the driver swerve right where the road was closest to the nauseatingly steep and deep precipice.
The tail lights flashed like bloody stars as the car tipped over the edge, and then they were gone swallowed up by the darkness.
It seemed wrong, there should have been some sort of sound as his heart died, a roar of pain or a wail of despair, but instead there was nothing but silence and the whisper of cold wind through wet trees.
The sharp pain in his heart was powerful enough, to numb the pain in his body, it was after all no longer important. Not now, not with Sarah dead.
The whip hissed through the air connecting violently with his back, as the Red cap cackled behind him, yet all that escaped his lips was her name, a sighed prayer.
"Sarah..."
_._. . ._._
"Jareth? Please my son, speak to me, your tears are torture."
That silky elemental summer voice, he knew it, if only he could make his sluggish mind obey him.
Cool hands rested against his jaw, stealing the burn of fever before it could really register.
Blinking owlishly to make his eyes focus, Jareth shuddered as a hand slid from his jaw to his forehead resting there for a brief moment, before vanishing. The contact had been brief but it had been enough for Jareth to use it to pull his pained consciousness back from the realm of nightmares and back into the realm he ruled.
His entire lower body burned and ached as he slowly unfurled his legs, from his curled up position, and it was all he could do to not to let the trembling inside show through his thin veneer of control.
"My queen, Titania... I.. I'm... Please forgive my unseemly appearance, I meant no offence."
Letting out a shaking breath, Jareth reached up with trembling hands to rub at his eyes, trying to clear the memory from his mind.
" Oh my sweet child don't fret, you have been through much, and I would not hold a moments weakness against you, I am after all your mother Jareth. Now tell me what is troubling you.."
" It is nothing my q... mother, I am merely tired, and the attack has me utterly bewildered, Morgaine has always been good to me, fair and loving. For her to... I simple do not understand."
Nodding slightly, Titania settled more comfortably against the desk, her piercing sky blue eyes blazing.
" She is the queen of air and darkness child, you know as well as I that the unseelie can not be trusted... They plot and scheme to no good end. No I am not surprised that Morgaine did what she did, what surprises me is that she did not do it earlier."
" I have never been this weak before..."
A knowing look flowed onto Titania's supremely beautiful face. "Well then, perhaps you think that she had a hand in that too? But enough of these dark thoughts, you are safe and your subjects are awaiting you. Do you have the strength to rise, or shall I help you? "
" No I can manage...I "
Staring up at Titania, Jareth swallowed harshly as the queens words echoed through his mind. Had Morgaine played on his emotions all this time, and had she been involved in his seven year nightmare? The thought seemed too horrible to contemplate, yet Morgaine had sent her consort to kill Sarah, and she herself had tried to kill Jareth...
" Mother "
" yes Jareth what was that?"
The pain in his heart turning to ice, and grim determination, he was the lord of the labyrinth and Morgaine had betrayed the conditions of her own peace, by attacking Jareth and Sarah. If she had been involved in his imprisonment then, she would regret it once he got his hands on her. No one threatened the Labyrinth or Sarah and it did not matter whether he had to lay waste to her entire realm once he was done with wringing the truth from the loathsome goblins of the Nightrealm. He would know the truth of it, and then all those involved would come to understand the law of seven fold.
" Call Lord Oberon, I will have need off your council once I return, but first I must set my realm right."
Pushing himself up from the plush chair Jareth staggered for a second when the world turned to white pain as the bones in his lower body shifted roughly. Biting his cheek, he pushed the nausea down, and used a little more magic to reinforce the invisible layers holding the bones together. He did not have time to be weak, he had a realm to protect, and a woman to woo.