CHAPTER : Bogged Down
AN: ye be warned description of adult incest in this chapter marked again by ### at start and end
. .,. .
" What am I doing? I can't hope to win this, he will find me and once he does I will lose... Jareth will die, and I will have to live with that ... forever... Oh goddess of life what have I done? What ...have ... I ... Done"
Frigid darkness surrounded her, stealing all senses away with its sheer nothingness. There was nothing here but her thoughts.
" And even if I should succeed, then how could I ever think that I could be worthy of a man like him, he is a king. A god in his own realm, and what am I? A girl who can't even go through a Labyrinth that she has already completed once. And even if I should beat the Labyrinth, then why would he ever want me, when he can have any woman he wants."
Self-doubt and uncertainty rode her mercilessly, as she floated in the darkness, filling her mind with debilitating thoughts, forcing her to relive every bad choice she had ever made, reinforcing the feeling of inadequacy, until she wanted to simply crawl into a hole and die, so she couldn't disappoint Jareth anymore.
Who was she to think she could save anyone when she couldn't save her own family, when she couldn't even save herself from wolves that were really nothing more than large dogs... God but she was pathetic. No it would be much better for all if she had never been born.
"I can't do this !": Her mind screamed at the darkness: "I have failed us all."
"No!": Came the softly desperate whisper: "You have not failed, not yet, but you must fight this poisonous doubt, before it traps you here, Fight Sarah! Fight for the love we share, and for the life we hope to have. "
"But why? Why do you love me, a mortal, with nothing to give? Why when you could have any woman you set your eye on?"
Gentle unseen hands cupped her face as invisible lips captured hers kissing her with burning passion, as if trying to draw her soul out.
"I do not want any other woman, I want YOU. I want the other half of my soul. Please Sarah you must shed these doubts if you are to avoid being bogged down by fear... My fear. "
"How can you say that when you took Beinhill to your bed? If you love me then why would you do that ?"
Anguish flooded the dark as the unheard voice whispered : "It matters not, you will not believe me... no one ever has... why should you."
"Tell me Jareth": She screamed as she felt the weight of flesh begin to weigh her down again.
"It was not Beinhill... not before you left.."
"Then who? Why?. I need to know..."
"Why? Why must you know? What does it matter? I betrayed your love... I..."
The voice paused, and for a few seconds Sarah feared that she had pushed him too far, that his fear had made him forsake her rather than face something that terrified them both.
"Do you trust me": He whispered softly.
"Yes": Came her immediate answer: "Yes I trust you, and I trust in us."
"Then I will show you..."
There was a sudden disorientating movement, and then the darkness parted, and the rusty dull light that had barely illuminated her journey thus far flooded in blinding her as it painted a new backdrop.
._._.
Frigid cold like nothing she had ever experienced. Knives of burning ice stabbed into her flesh, ripping her very life from her body. It was agony.
And it was glorious.
She wanted to give up, to let that all-consuming flame devour her, and burn every last trace of her away.
"Yes..."
The word had no sound and yet it was heard nonetheless, and as soon as it left her trembling lips, the fire receded leaving her shivering in the sudden stifling heat. Gasping to fill her aching lungs, Sarah sucked in a deep lung full and instantly found herself retching violently as the vile overpowering stench of the bog assaulted her with as much ferocity as the wolves.
Gagging, she rolled up on her knees, and covered her nose and mouth with her remaining bloody sleeve. Feeling strangely grateful as the thick reek of fresh blood briefly overcame the bogs malicious odour.
Breathing deeply, Sarah sat back on her heels, and took stock of the situation.
She was alone again, but this time she was not in a sheltered clearing. There were no trees on the small knoll where she knelt, and considering that the dry ground was barely big enough to keep her from reeking for eternity she figured that that was actually a good thing.
It also allowed her an uninterrupted view of the bog as it stretched out all around her, with no visible end in sight.
Letting the sleeve drop, Sarah sighed and mumbled: "Well fuck! this stinks... "
Slapping her own forehead, she continued in a light chuckle: "Yeah good one Sarah, that has got to have been the dumbest joke you have made all year. "
Shaking her head as she pulled the soaked sleeve up and gingerly began examining the bites and cuts covering her.
"Oh yeah this is not good. Okay Sarah you just keep talking to yourself, and then I will just take a quick peek at what those big bad wolves did to you okay... okay."
Blood had begun to dry on her arms, masking over the wounds that now burned like battery acid on sunburned skin. Staring at the deep gaping wounds, she sucked in a deep steadying breath, and once again she regretted it almost instantly, as the bog let out a particularly horrendous wind at the same time. Retching again Sarah tried to turn her attention back to examining her arms, but a sense of alarm was suddenly creeping in.
Something was wrong, It was not just the lack of trees, no it was something else, something more.
And it drove Sarah to do something she would have never thought that she would do... She sniffed the bog.
On the surface it smelled just as wretchedly bad as she remembered, and it was all there, the sulphur, the rotted things and oh joy of joys the reek of open cesspool chaser. And just as Sarah was beginning to become convinced that it couldn't get any worse, it hit her like a sledgehammer between the eyes.
It is nearly impossible to describe the smell that fear has to anyone who hasn't experienced it themselves. In truth Sarah wasn't even convinced that fear actually had a smell, but it was the closest that Sarah could come to giving the sickly, sweaty stench that suddenly filled her nose a name.
It was the same smell that had cloaked her father, when nightmares of the jungle drove him from his warm bed and into the liquor cabinet in the middle of the night.
It was the faint perfume that had still lingered on her mother's cold skin when she had finally been allowed to say goodbye.
And finally it had been the scent that had followed Toby as he had crawled into her bed at night, and whispered in a stuttering frightened voice about the creatures with burning blue eyes that watched him from his closet.
It was all that and more. It was primordial, a smell to which you had a visceral response of either fight or flight.
Swallowing convulsively Sarah hugged herself as she turned this way and that, trying to find the source of this fear.
Nothing, the bubbling muck appeared as calm as it had before she had smelled the fear.
But maybe it was her who couldn't see it, maybe she was too inexperienced to know what to look for.
Biting down on her lower lip, Sarah tried to ignore the rising sense of uncertainty that were eating away at her. But it was too late, the poison of doubt was already coursing through her veins, forming a solid foundation for the fear to build upon.
If only she had done better, fought harder, been smarter then maybe she could have been worthy of him, just maybe...
Tears began to form as she stared at the ruin of her own feeble body. It was so thin, so frail.. So mortal. It was nothing like the golden ethereal perfection of Titania, nothing like the kind of woman Jareth should court and wed. Hell even Beinhill was more of the woman that he deserved. Feral and wild like him yet still delicate and beautiful. And how could she have ever hoped, that she a human a..
"No": She screamed as she pounded her fists as deeply into the moist turf as she could: "No I won't be defeated like this, I'm stronger than this. .. I won't fail... I can't. "
Oh god how she wanted to believe the echoing words, she needed to believe as the burning and nearly crippling doubt turned into fear. But she couldn't.
She was and always would be a useless mortal propped up by magic she had stolen. ...
Magic
The word shone in her mind, like a beacon.
Desperate Sarah dove inwards, submerging herself in the faint azure glow, letting the soothing warmth flood her and drive the freezing fear away. The air lost a heaviness that she had not realized that it had and the light seemed suddenly more alive and bright as she drew greedily from the dwindling pool of magic. This was the very essence of Jareth, the strength of his love for her, and his rock steady faith in her ability to get them both out of this, that now permeated her very being, driving the fear away and filling her with confidence.
Letting out a shuddering sigh, Sarah pushed herself up to sit on her heels and look at the bog with eyes, lit by Jareth's magic.
Not much had changed, it was still a utterly dreary and foul place, with horrific sounds erupting every few seconds, as the bog evacuated its nauseating miasmas. Dull rusty dusk light still shrouded everything in either tones of red or deep shadow, and she was still caught on a tiny knoll. The only change was the magic coursing through her veins, giving her a sense of her surroundings that she didn't have mere seconds ago. Stones rested just below the slimy surface, waiting eagerly to be called forth from their putrid burrows, stones she could call.
Groaning as the movement caused new pain to flare, Sarah pushed herself to her feet, and held out a trembling hand.
"Come, I need you now. "
The ground shook and an eerie screeching sound filled the bog as stones burst through the murky sludge. Stone after stone rolled like obedient dogs from the mud to form a solid bridge from the knoll and to what looked to Sarah to be solid ground. Smiling with relief, as she finally set foot on the shore, Sarah turned to the patiently waiting stone: "Thank you friends. "
It was a stone, no one expected a stone to answer, but much to Sarah's surprise that was exactly what the stone she was addressing did. Shuddering like an eager puppy, the stone squeaked in response before giving of a series of sharp cracking sounds that sent the other stones rolling back into the muck. And giving one final pleased squeal, the last stone rolled back into the sludge too, leaving a stunned and dumbstruck Sarah on the shore. Chuckling she shook her head and grinned: "Wow only you have the stones to let the rocks talk back to me."
The easy mirth bled from her as she once more took in her bleak surroundings, sure she was off the knoll, and now that she had access to Jareth's meagre and fast dwindling pool of magic, she had a way to keep the poisonous doubt and crippling fear at bay. But it didn't tell which way she had to go to find her way out of a bog that seemed vast compared to the one she remembered, and the pendant that had led her through the forest of doubt was now nothing but a cold piece of jewelry once more. Pulling her soiled vest tighter around her, she turned tired eyes up towards the perpetual dusk sky and called out: "Okay I'm on firm ground again, which way do I go from here? Hmm nothing? Oh come on Jareth you seriously can't just abandon me here... you've been helping me through all the other parts of this. JARETH. .. JARETH GODDESS DAMN YOU! ANSWER ME!"
Nothing .. Nothing but the disgusting and offensive sounds of the bog's emissions answered her desperate cry. Gritting her teeth, Sarah swallowed a scream of frustration as she grabbed the pendant intending to rip it off and hurl it into the next vent she saw.
"NOOOOOOO... "
"Please do not make me do this... stop, please... Please... you are my mother...Please.."
A thin terrified voice cut through the fumes silencing even the noxious vents, and causing Sarah's grip to tighten painfully on the pendant as naked raw terror rippled through her from the gleaming metal. The path to the voice might as well have been marked by a glowing yellow brick road. The pull was so strong that Sarah was running full out before she even had a chance to register what she was doing. And nothing not thorns nor half buried ruins could make her slow her insane pace. Thorny shrubs tugged at her jeans and clung to her shirt at she heedlessly pushed through them, to get to the owner of the now sobbing voice.
"No" : It sobbed softly: "Please... Don't. ..."
She had no idea how long she had run, or how far. All that filled her was a burning need to reach the owner of the voice, before it was too late.
Pushing through the thick brush Sarah growled a vicious curse as the ground fell away sharply into a deep bowl shaped recess. Thorns dug into her hands as she clung to a thick vine and stared down at the bizarre sight before her.
###
Golden glitter covered the scene, making it seem like something ripped from a horrid dream. Broken pillars covered in glittering ivy created an enclosure some 30 feet across, between them grew thick bushes with crimson thorns as long as her fingers, and leaves of what looked to be obsidian. It was beautiful in a threatening and hostile way, but it was not what froze Sarah to the ground.
Tears stung as she stared at the chillingly familiar four poster bed with its black and gold trappings, and its occupants. A pale young and obviously male body lay chained to the four bed posts with iron shackles. The angle hid the youths face, but Sarah had seen the fully adult version and she harboured no doubts about his identity. Swallowing thickly, she watched in horror as a pale ghostly figure, slithered onto the bed touching and caressing in a way that sickened Sarah to her very core.
Long icy blond hair cascaded over narrow shoulders, obscuring the ethereal beauty of the fey queens body as she lightly teased the sobbing boy into presenting.
Pouting full rose tinted lips parted to taste flesh that should never have been presented to her when Sarah couldn't watch any longer. Sarah's hands lashed out, and raw magic born of her desperation sprang from her fingers, hitting the cruel fey queen squarely in the back, dissolving her in a shower of azure glitter.
###
Pushing the magic out in front of her, Sarah used what precious little she had left to clear a path down the incline and through the obsidian bushes.
The chains made quiet clicking noises as they released their grip on the shivering youth and slunk almost shamefully off into the shadows, by the time that Sarah reached the foot of the huge bed.
The sight of the cowering teenage Jareth, as he struggled to hide himself from her gaze, brought tears of pain to her eyes. His huge mismatched eyes shone with terror and pain while he pulled weakly at sheets that refused to budge. Her instinct told her to help, to pull the bloody sheets clear off the bed, and wrap him up in them as she comforted him. Reaching out to do just that Sarah froze as he whimpered.
"No ... No don't touch me..."
Holding her hands up in a placating gesture, Sarah backed a few steps letting him see in her entire being that she meant him no harm.
"Easy Jareth I won't touch you, I won't. .. I promise. "
"Promise ": He whispered softly: "She promised too.. she promised so many things..."
He was naked, in more ways than one as he gave up on covering his body with the sheets and simply curled up with his arms around his knees, only just peering at her over his knees. Shame and fear, horror and betrayal filled his eyes like dark pools to drown in, and Sarah felt the crushing weight of despair as the knowledge of what she had just witnessed sank home.
Titania, his birth mother, the woman who bore and birthed him had...
Bile erupted from her lips, as she fell to her knees retching violently. It was too much too cruel for her to process, but she had no choice, because there was no way to escape, and there was nothing she could say or do to gloss over the utterly mind-numbing horror of it. And yet she had to say something.
Sitting back Sarah wiped her lips with the back of her hand.
"Well I'm not her, so you don't have to worry. Okay."
"No": He whispered: "No you are Sarah... Sarah... You are Sarah..."
Tears made his eyes glossy as he rocked back and forth gently, staring off into nothing. The tears underlining just how young he was. And he was far too young to have such a haunted look in his eyes. Running a trembling hand through her now thoroughly messed up hair, Sarah sighed and bit the inside of her cheek. The youth in front of her looked young, but there was no doubt about who he was, as huge bicoloured eyes stared blankly into nothingness. This was Jareth, on the cusp of manhood, his lean body still possessed the willowy lankiness of late adolescence. And even now, all huddled up as he was he still possessed a form that would have inspired the ancient sculptures, to create great art.
He was beautiful, and like many late teens completely unaware of the base desire he was igniting in other. And so should he be, he was barely out of adolescence and should by all means have been out of bounds to any normally functioning woman, most of all his own mother.
Tears rolled down his smooth cheeks as he rocked back and forth, and kept mumbling softly to himself.
"I can't stop her, why can't I stop her?": He asked quietly, just before answering his own question in the same breath: "Because you are wicked, that's why... she told you, you tempt her, running around the training yard in just your breeches, and boots. How could she not be tempted... with a body like yours..."
"Jareth ? What are you doing? ": Terror bloomed as Sarah watched his eyes light up with a maniacal light.
Grinning without mirth, he pulled out a wickedly curved blade from thin air: "I will make sure that I do not tempt her anymore.. .. .."
"No": The blade flashed a pale rusty red as Sarah dove for it, but the distance was too great, and her body too weakened by the wounds and wolves poison. Slashing down Jareth barely grunted, as the keen edge sliced into the skin of his chest, splitting it and spilling bright crimson blood onto the already stained sheets, as Sarah scrambled up to him.
Her hand closed around the razor sharp blade yet Sarah barely registered the pain as she stared into the wide bottomless pits of agony that were his eyes.
"Why ": He whispered softly: "Why won't you let me cut out the wickedness? Do you not see that I have to do this... .. if I don't then she will never leave me be. I will just tempt her again.. and.. I .. I can't.. please.. .. .. Sarah don't let her touch me.. please help me I am so scared."
His bloody fingers released the knife as he reached out for her, with need radiating from every inch of his being.
Quickly tossing the knife into the shrubs Sarah wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in close, painting his cold white skin with her own scalding red blood.
"Oh god Jareth I won't let her touch you never again.. never!"
His head rested heavily on her shoulder as he murmured: "You can't promise that. No one can... she has so much power over me, I can not stop her ..."
"Well I can, can't I? I just made her blow up, so I would say that I can keep her from hurting you wouldn't you ?"
"She comes back ": Came the dejected answer: "She is never gone for long... . . .She .. .. needs me."
Swallowing back her nausea, Sarah forced herself to keep from tightening her hold on him, and keep her voice calm: "Well we will just leave then. Come on let's .. oh wait you are naked, hmm okay. "
Looking around, Sarah sighed as she found the clearing exactly as empty as she was expecting to, well one couldn't expect it all to be easy, now could you.
There was of course the sheets, but between the bloody stains, and the wet spots, left by the rape, Sarah didn't really think that it would be a good idea to use those to cover up a traumatized Jareth, and that left her with only one viable choice.
Rubbing his back gently, Sarah spoke into his greasy hair: "Look I gotta let go of you for just a few second okay? I have an idea about some clothes for you, but I need you not to freak out okay, can you try to do that for me?"
A weak nod was all the answer she got, but at least it was accompanied by a loosening of his desperate grip, allowing her to scoot back and stand up.
Smiling wryly Sarah looked down at the ragged remains of what had once been her favourite jeans and shirt. Both were ripped and stained, but they were still serviceable. And the loose peasant shirt was long enough that it hit her mid thigh. Hell she even had a few dresses and skirts that were shorter. Yeah she'd be fine. What was walking around bare legged in a swamp filled with thorns compared to being mauled by huge fucking wolves. Nothing that's what, absolutely nothing.
And yes Sarah knew that it was utterly ridiculous to turn her back to him as she peeled off her jeans, but she still did it.
Stepping out of the stiff pants she shuddered as the cool fog curled around her, chilling her warm skin.
"Here put these on, I know that they are far from clean, but it's the best I've got, go on put them on."
Holding out the jeans, Sarah smiled softly, hoping that, a warm smile could chase just a little of the haunted shadows out of Jareth's eyes, but it was a vain hope that died a quick death as soon as their eyes meet.
Terror shone out at her like the glare of headlights, as he backed slowly away from her.
"No not you too... please no..."
She wanted to scream, as she watched the undiluted fear washed away all semblance of reason, leaving a traumatized child behind. A child who's trust she had to win.
Dropping the jeans on the bed, Sarah held up her hands once more as she too backed up. And putting as much distance between them as the small clearing would allow, Sarah knelt on the soggy ground.
"No it's not like that, they are for you, come on put them on, you'll feel much better, once you're dressed."
"Dressed?"
"Yeah, dressed, look you can have the vest too if you like, I'm not cold..."
"But...": Confusion flooded his eyes, making them huge, and so vulnerable it almost brought tears to hers.: "It's yours..."
"Naah, they're gonna look much better on you, now come on... we have to move."
"Yes ": he whispered almost more to himself than to her: "We must ..."
His hand shook as he reached for the discarded jeans and began pulling them on. It took longer than it should because he kept glancing up at her, every time she moved. But finally, he straightened and buttoned the last button. Letting out a shaky sigh he nodded slightly as he looked her in the eye, and gave a timid smile.
"Thank you Sarah, you were right... I do feel better... now."
Returning the smile, Sarah nodded: "You are very welcome. You think you are ready to move? "
"Yes, I ... yes I am ready. "
The hike up the steep incline, was difficult. Thorns and sharp rocks, would dig into all and any exposed skin, mostly Sarah's legs and Jareth's feet, but to be honest there was nowhere that the thorns hadn't left painful marks, by the time they finally left the thick bramble behind and began to wander through the bog.
It was not that the going was tough cause it really wasn't, it was in fact no more laborious than it had been when she had trekked through it together with Ludo and Hoggle. But what it was, was time consuming, hot and humid. And the fact that traumatized teenage Jareth wasn't big on speaking, which she couldn't really fault him for, made time seem to blend together and loose any real meaning.
So much so that it was standing on the shore of the noxious waters a few hours later, that Sarah suddenly realized three things.
One, she was starving,
Two, the sun, which had not seemed to move since she had gotten here, was now rapidly sinking.
And third and, perhaps most importantly, losing blood in the quantity that she had lost, was a fantastic way of making yourself dizzy to the point of nausea. A nausea, that the stench from the open cesspit that was the bog, didn't help.
It was only when a slender hand, closed around her upper arm, that she realized that she had been swaying dangerously. And wetting her lips, she had to struggle to grasp the meaning of Jareth's stuttered fearful words.
"Sa..Sa.. Sarah? Are you okay? You are very pale..."
Reassure him, screamed a tiny voice in the back of her mind. Tell him that you are fine, go on lie god dammit.
Her lips parted, to tell him the lie, only the roar of blood in her ears, overwhelmed her, turning her legs into overly boiled noodles, and as she flopped gracelessly to her knees, it made her throw up a thick stream of yellow bile.
Her vision narrowed in a disorientating spiral, until all she could see, was the swiftly darkening sky, as cold arms held her against a narrow chest, from which soft words floated. She wanted to answer him, to reassure him, even if it was a lie, but her cold numb lips refused to obey her, and frustration held her lips locked as she sank into darkness.
. . .
She rested on something leafy and soft, as the world slowly began to let her return.
Next impression to breach the darkness around her, was first the faint crackle of a fire, and that fires warmth.
Blinking slowly, Sarah yawned and stretched her cramped sore limbs. The sky above her was dark and lifeless, gone were the dancing stars and swirling galaxies that had illuminated the labyrinth every night while Sarah had first tended to Jareth. Now the sky was just dark.
Turning stiffly towards the golden glow of the fire, Sarah couldn't hold back a sad smile.
Jareth sat on the opposite side of the blazing fire deeply engrossed in doing something, but the fire between them, prevented her from seeing what. Golden light glistened off his ivory skin, and slicked back hair, showing just how young he really was. He was fifteen or sixteen in human years at the very most, and he was already beginning to give hints of the man he would become in a few short years. Even now he held a powerful raw sensuality that even Sarah could see. But seeing was a far cry from acting, and to Sarah it was simply inconceivable that any one would try to seduce, let alone force a child into fulfilling sexual desires. It was cruel and twisted.
Firelight reflected off his eyes, as he raised his gaze and looked straight at her. The fear was still there, but less as he put down whatever it was he was doing and gave a pale smile.
"How are you feeling? "
Pushing up on her elbows, Sarah took a quick inventory of her still painful injuries before answering: "Better, the dizziness is gone, and ... The bites doesn't really burn anymore..."
"Good" : He said as his cautious smile widened: "Then the burproot worked."
Reaching down, Jareth produced two spits with what looked like large chunks of lizard and milky white pieces of... well Sarah didn't know what the hell those white chunks were, and she wasn't really sure whether she wanted to know. Especially when Jareth fixed the two spits over the fire and gave her a timidly proud smile.
"I thought that you might be hungry, when you woke up. So I caught a sneeze waggle and found some milk tubbers. Uhm yeah it really does taste far better than it looks... but if you do not like it I can try to find something else..."
Sarah wanted to kick herself, Hard, for hesitating right at that moment, as the fragile pride evaporated and the fear returned full force.
Schooling her face into a happy grateful mask, Sarah shook her head and tried to salvage what her hesitance had ruined: "No no, don't I'm sure that this will taste great, it's just we are in the bog I just couldn't imagine that anything that lives in these waters could taste good. But I will trust you if you say that it's good."
Nodding slightly, Jareth stared straight into the flames as he thrust his hand into the fire, and turned the spits.
"Jesus Jareth get your hand out of the fire!"
She had jumped to her feet, circled the fire, and pulled Jareth's hand from the fire before he had time to react, and shrink away from her touch. And Sarah was far too concerned about him to notice the terror her firm grip elicited. Turning it this way and that Sarah frowned in confusion at the unmarked skin. He had put it into the flames she was sure of it, yet now his fingers looked utterly unscathed.
"But you stuck it into the fire, you should have at least first degree burns...how are you not burned? "
"I am part Labyrinthian goblin, natural fire cannot harm us..."
Looking up with amazement in her eyes, Sarah repeated: "Fire can't hurt you... but does that mean that you can't feel it?"
"No": Came the soft reply: "We feel it just like anyone else, it just doesn't mark our skin."
"Oh well that's practical..."
"Yes ": Jareth whispered : "It is ..."
Ghosts swirled in his eyes, darkening them until they looked like night darkened windows. Staring at the leaping flames Jareth bit his lip, as he absently rubbed his upper arm, obviously sinking into a painful memory.
"Jareth? ": Giving his hand a light squeeze, Sarah jolted him back to the present: "Who hurt you? Was it ... "
"Yes, she ... At first she only hurt me when I didn't .. ... Obey ... But she tired of the scars... She ... I think that it is a spell ..."
Turning huge terrified eyes on Sarah, Jareth pleaded silently with her to believe him, to understand that it wasn't his choice to do these things.
And when she nodded and confirmed his fears he looked ready to drop, so intense was his relief. "You are right it is a spell... It's. .well it's complicated, but yes it is a spell and it is hunting me.. "
Tears threatened to spill as he whispered: "Then I am not a monster?"
The world spun around her and she had to fight not to pass out, as she shook her head and mumbled: "No... no you are not... a monster...She is... the monster."
Shaking her head, Sarah felt her world shift and turn off kilter, as her entire body became limp and heavy. Slender arms wrapped themselves around her, like warm serpents, holding her up against a cool chest once more.
Words, so many worried words. They filled her head like lead weights, and all she could do was rest her suddenly scalding hot forehead on the smooth shoulder. Heat, like the heat of embers stoked far to hot coursed through her, burning all thoughts and feelings away, all but the all consuming gratitude she felt as the arms shifted her weight, lifting her and carrying her as if she weighed no more than a feather.
The worried words continued to flitter around her like playful butterflies, and like those flighty creatures they stayed just out of reach, constantly taunting her with their dulled colours and ungraspable meaning.
The words faded as the arms left her floating and alone for but the briefest of eternities, before returning to lift her head and press a rough vessel against her chapped and smouldering lips.
Goddess but she felt hot, she felt as if the embers inside her should have caused her to burst into open flames already, consuming not just her, but the haunted terrified youth hovering above her.
"Sarah please.. talk to me what do you need? Sarah please..."
Need the desperate voice asked, what do you need. Blinking slowly, owlishly Sarah tried to gather her scattered thoughts and say whatever she needed to say to wash the fear away from his eyes, but she couldn't. The fever was too strong, and all that she managed to force out was a rough cough as the world fell away.
. . .
"Sarah please Sarah ! No Sarah please wake up, I. .. I do not know what to do. ..."
Kneeling beside her limp body, Jareth didn't want her to open her bright emerald eyes, no he needed her to. He needed it as surely as he needed breath in his lungs and magic in his veins.
Without her, he was alone again, and when he was alone SHE would come. Come to hurt him, to use him and fill him with poison words proclaiming that she had done nothing more than he wanted and deserved. That she was the victim of his wicked lust, and not the other way around.
But, no..he was not the one to blame, he knew that, yet still he cowered in fear at the very thought that anyone might discover what SHE made him do.
Gripping Sarah's limp hand, Jareth pleaded once more: "Please Sarah, don't leave me here alone.."
But again he was denied, as Sarah remained still before him.
Gently running his finger tips over her high perfect cheekbone, Jareth whimpered softly. He had to be strong now, not just for himself, but for her as well, he had to push the monumental weight of fear that threatened to paralyze him back, and fight what he knew would come, and come soon.
Leaning in, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, before releasing her hand and standing up. She was running a fever, and would need water, and food as well if she was to have any chance of fighting the poison coursing through her veins.
She would need... Turning towards the churning bog, Jareth stopped, frozen into place as he watched familiar noxious green mist rise from the muddy sludge. Figures moved in the thick mist as it crept toward him with an agonising lack of speed. They were the size of cats or foxes only he knew that they weren't. They were the silent witnesses who came before her, the ones who's glowing ember eyes would see and by seeing make it real.
Shying back, he quickly sought to hide the still woman from the approaching horror, with the few branches that still had leaves, yet brandished no thorns. It took him mere seconds to hide her, before he turned back to face the relentlessly oncoming mist.
The mist rose, until it reached him, lapping silently at his bare feet like icy water. And then SHE rose from the boiling churning midst of the mist in unveiled in all her pale ivory glory. Pale arms stretched luxuriously above a luscious fall of glowing hair spun of solid moonlight that cascaded over perfect snow-white shoulders.
Rising slowly from the mire, until only her lower body remained hidden by the heavy mist, Titania smiled and held out her arms in a deceptively warm gesture.
"My son, my sweet child, come to me my son, let me hold you..."
Holding out her arms to him, Titania smiled gently as she spoke the honeyed words: "Come Jareth, come .. to mother. .."
Terror erupted at that seemingly innocent gesture nailing Jareth in place as his mind reeled and his lips seemed to be unable to move.
"NO" : His mind cried: "No be gone, do not touch me, your touch disgust me. "
But all that came forth was a pale: "No."
"No": The pale vision cooed: "You tell your mother no! Rude child.. how dare you, Now...COME HERE!"
His body jerked at her barked command, but he stayed rooted to the shore. He had to no matter how strong the urge to heed Titania's command was, he had to stop. Because he, pitiful as he was, was all that stood between Sarah and Titania. And the thought of what Titania would do if she caught a hold of Sarah was enough to banish the muscle locking fear that always gripped him.
"And what is this? ": Titania asked with mock sweetness and blazing eye's: "What has caused this sudden rebellion against the one woman to whom you owe allegiance . . could it be that you believe yourself above obeying your MOTHER! But we know well how to deal with such disobedience. .. do we not... Now..."
Fear, it filled him, to the brink as it had every time that she had come into his room at night or had cornered him in a distant and deserted corner of the glorious gardens surrounding the seelie court. It had forced him to bend to her twisted will. to...
Images and memories filled his mind.
Images that he didn't know he had.
Memories he didn't want.
Images of lust darkened ice blue eyes and parted swollen lips.
Milky white hands roaming over sun kissed skin accompanied by heated moans of passion, that he was never meant to hear.
Hot kisses on a cold neck, that revolted him and made him want to tear his own skin off.
A scream forced itself from his cold lips as Jareth gripped his own head in an effort to stop the memories as they ripped through the spell weave that had contained them for so long.
Bile spewed from his numb lips as he was forced to remember all that had been done to him, every single horrifying act passed before his mind's eye. She had used him in every way possible, not just sexual.
No she had raped his mind as well as his body, using the spell web to bend him to her will. At her command, he had sent warriors to their needless death.
At her command he had condemned innocents to vanish into bottomless oubliettes.
At her command he had hurt those who depended on him, and he had been powerless to stop her, to stop himself.
"No More" : Screamed a voice in his mind: "Fight her Now ! She is weak, the spell is weak and, if you do not fight her here and Now, Sarah will die. She will be trapped and her body will die ...Fight for her too ."
The words of the voice filled him with fire and purpose, it was no longer just his life that was on the line. Meeting her blazing ice blue eyes, with an equal fire in his own, Jareth growled: "No ! You will not touch me, never again will I service, your filthy desires... You have touched me for the last time."
Her laughter spilled instantly into the night's stifling darkness striking home like frozen darts: "Oh sweet child to think that you believe that you have any choice. "
She rose from the water, in a sudden rushing movement, revealing her ebony spiders body to the glistening light of the fire. Shying back Jareth held up a trembling hand as if trying to shield himself from the hideous creature looming over him.
"No child you will obey, it is what you were borne to do, it is why I carried you for seven years!" : Bright sunlight crystals flickered to life in her hands as she advanced steadily on the shivering boy, spilling their bright light on the bloated spider's body and long knife tipped legs which supported it: "You will never know the lengths I went to, to insure that you would become the dutiful son, the obedient child. The spells I wove around your developing soul, and yet despite all my labour you were wilful and contrite. You forced me to act... "
Throwing out the crystals the queen shrieked: "I had no choice... YOU STOLE MY CROWN, your birth brought an end to our divine role... no longer were we gods... "
Golden webs shot forth from the crystals to wrap around Jareth trapping him before he could reach Sarah, binding him securely in place as Titania scurried ever closer.
"No ": He whispered: "No you are wrong. ..., I never..."
"Never what?": She sneered derisively at him: "You never what! Meant to make us less than gods? What does what you meant to do matter, your birth was enough. I tried to prevent that for as long as I could, I tried to kill you before you could destroy it all. But NO Morgaine's spell was too strong, You were too strong... And when you were born our magic became impotent, no longer could we protect those who still believed in us. Our druids and priestesses were cut off and alone, their prayers no longer piercing the veil, their sacrifices unable to reach and nourish us. Only Morgaine still had her powers. But then death comes to us all does it not? Even you, and even ...Sarah."
Her name fell off Titania's lips in a low menacing hiss, that whipped Jareth's head up, and ignited a instant blaze in his chest. No not Sarah, he didn't care whether they hurt him, but he would not allow them to touch Sarah as long as he still drew breath. Straining against the unrelenting strength of the webs, Jareth ground his teeth as he dove inward searching desperately for the kernel of magic that swelled within his chest as rage caused his heart to beat hard and fast. It was tiny, a mere speck of sand compared to the vast ocean he had commanded before this nightmare of pain and betrayal had begun. Speck of sand it might be but it was all he had and he had to make it enough. And so Jareth grabbed it tightly, feeding his white-hot rage into it, adding his emotions to the weak flame, causing it to grow into an uncontrollable conflagration of azure flames strong enough to consume any spell and purge him of her vile influence.
He grinned wide and wolf like, as he finally allowed the flames to rise with him and burst from his very skin, consuming all that touched him.
. ... .
Her body hurt, as if she had been set ablaze, and yet it was nothing but a flea bite compared to the fury that raged inside her chest. Jareth's terror and rage boiled below her skin augmenting the tiny ember that had remained of his power, and turning it into a vast firestorm that consumed all in its path.
Gasping as the magnificence of it seared her mind and heart, Sarah lunged up, screaming as the power of Jareth's emotions burst from his pores ripping the golden web asunder in a burst of blue flame that blinded her.
Flames of brilliant blue, white and silver burst forth from his slight form to dance along every available surface and envelope the entire world until everything had become azure ghosts. It was glory and agony in a tight dance of death and life as the flames consumed and replaced each leaf and branch. The flames leaped around her like playful butterflies, mesmerizing her as they grazed her skin never burning her.
The inferno lasted only a few short eternities, and once it died down it left them in pitch darkness and utter deafening silence.
It was the utter lack of impressions that had panic rising in her throat, if she hadn't been standing, and able to feel the ground beneath her feet Sarah would have thought that she was floating in an ebony ocean.
Reaching out with trembling hands, Sarah tried to feel for any obstacles as she called out to Jareth and took the first tentative step.
To be honest, calling out really wasn't the best of ideas, when she didn't know what manner of creature lurked in the darkness. Or indeed if it was really dark, or she who had gone blind. These thoughts and more raced through her mind, as she took another stumbling step and called out again. But, she concluded calmly, there was little else she could do if she was to find out what had just happened to Jareth.
"Jareth?": Calling out a third time, Sarah stopped and strained her hearing, hoping to hear him, or just anything really. And for the first time since entering this maddening nightmare world, she wasn't disappointed. The light was pale at first almost tentative, as it floated above the kneeling Jareth, barely illuminating him at all. But it seemed to sharpen and warm as Jareth slowly turned to look straight as Sarah: "I burned as much of the web as I could ... but..."
Holding up his hands he looked at her with pleading eyes as he whispered softly: "But it is too strong."
Cold wrought shackles encased both wrists, the skin already beginning to blister and turn red from touching it. Covering her mouth in shock, Sarah took two more steps towards him, before the darkness around her legs solidified trapping her just a few yards from him. Panic threatened to overwhelm her as she pulled at legs that seemed frozen solid. But she couldn't let him see that.
Letting her hands drop, Sarah took a deep calming breath, before saying: "Jareth look at me and listen closely.. Can you access your magic? Can you use it to push back the darkness? "
Uncertainty made his eyes grow huge as he sought inwards, grasping for the will o'wisp ghosts that remained of his magic. He tried his very best but every time he managed to grasp one, they simply vanished.
Turning back, to Sarah Jareth whispered: "I can't... they just.."
"Vanish? Yes they do tend to do that. Annoying little things are they not?"
The soft drawl of the Creature froze them both into place as it glided languidly through the darkness surrounded by its own halo of bright golden light. Straightening a glove it sighed in mock sympathy as it looked first at Jareth and then at Sarah.
"Imagine my consternation when I discovered that I had neglected to secure this little morsel... But I must admit, that I find your use of these scraps.. most ingenuous. And though it is by far too little and far, far too late, I am afraid that I simple can not allow you to risk my queens plan now, it just will not do... And you.."
Rounding on the cowering teenage version of Jareth, the creature smirked menacingly as It reached out and waved a glove clad hand vaguely over the shuddering boy: "You will cease this inane charade and go away again. No more helping our little guest... "
The leather shrouded limb wove through the air in a slow lazy movement, as a glowing silver crystal faded into existence at his fingertips. The crystal rested on Its upturned fingertips for just a fraction of a second before the creature dropped it. Pale colours swirled in the orbs quivering surface as the crystal became light and expanded to swallow up the weakly pleading boy, muffling his desperate cries as it lifted him into the hungrily waiting darkness.
"No! please... No ...He has been through SO much ... please have mercy... please... take me instead ... please..."
"Please ... please... please ": It sneered in a cruel imitation of her desperate cries, as it glided effortlessly closer to her : "So many pleas, please don't hurt me, please don't kill me... No don't touch me there, don't make me do that..."
Snorting derisively the creature continued: "No one ever, embraces anything ... Least of all our dear king. No with him it was always ... No...No you are my mother, this is sick... Why are you doing this, why can't I stop myself... No, no, no... Never once, did he embrace the pleasure that she offered him. Not once... "
Stopping just out of her reach the creature smiled dreamily as it licked it's lips sensually and whispered: "And there was SO much pleasure to be had... oh the joy's I sampled ... But that is over, and it is time to pay the piper."
Staring at the creature, with wide terror filled eyes. Sarah wanted to scream her horror out, she wanted to lash out and punish this disgustingly perfect creature for the cruelty that it and Titania had visited on Jareth. But the Solid darkness had crept up her body, and were now encasing her in an invincible tomb. All she had left were her words and the horror that had turned into anger.
"You coward ": She spat: "You snivelling disgusting paedophile bastard, let me go and I will rip you to pieces without magic, I will make sure that you won't hurt anyone ever again!"
"Ooh will you now ? "
Grinning the creature leaned in almost as if to kiss her, as it sighed: "Oh such fire, and such reckless passion. Yes I can see what drew Jareth to you. Was this how you defied him? Hmm did you show him this gleaming fire too? It is a wonder how he kept from having you right there and then. I would not have been as restrained in my dealings with you, rest assured of that my pretty little heroine. But..."
Straightening the creature ran It's gloved hand down his billowing white frilly shirt and sighed regretfully: "Much as I enjoy having you here, and would love to show you what a real fey fuck feels like. I fear that we must move on to more serious matters. Now since I have been able to capture you I have won."
"No! ": Horror washed through Sarah as those effortless words floated around her head: "No.. But..."
"Oh there is no but about it, I Have Won!. But since Jareth is now a ruined cripple without magic and no kingdom, he is of no use to me.. You on the other hand are. Oh the power that I have drawn from you... it is magnificent, and I must admit to being something of a glutton. I want not just more, I want it all. And I am willing to gamble you for it."
Cutting in Sarah almost barked: "Okay how? What do you want to do? Cause as it stands I just die now, and the power with me, so what do you propose? "
It's face turned into a mask of distaste as It drawled icily: "You agree to run the remaining Labyrinth in thirteen hours, and meet me by the windswept clock hill and I shall give you one chance to save his life. But if you are just one second late I will Kill Jareth and take over YOU."
Nodding Sarah swallowed down the initial wave of fear, she was in the bog, she was almost halfway, and now she had longer than she had originally had to solve the entire labyrinth to solve just half.. It was clearly too good to be true.
"And will you keep hunting me ? "
"That hardly seems sporting now does it, considering that I have already caught you once."
Giving it a withering look that should have killed it, Sarah said: "Okay so you won't hunt me and I now have thirteen hours to get from the bog and to the entrance of the labyrinth? "
"Yes...": It said in the same patient voice that one would use on a dim child.
Ignoring the obvious taunt, Sarah pushed on determined to find the hidden catch in this seemingly magnanimous offer: "So you won't hunt me, and I get thirteen hours to run what remains of the Labyrinth. "
" Yes ": It repeated tiredly.
"Okay then what's the catch ?"
It's smile grew sinister as it drawled slowly: "Oh my sweet girl, it is for me to know and you to discover, far be it for me to ruin the surprise. No you will have to decide and decide now. Chose Sarah ."
Sighing in defeat, Sarah felt her shoulders slump, as she nodded: "Yes I accept, Okay you win ."
"Yes Sarah, I will eventually win, but first you will know true defeat."
It's hand flashed out, and light flashed as the darkness split, leaving Sarah standing alone in a familiar clearing .