AN
I cant reply to guest reviews so I'll do it here instead.
Dear guest there are around 18 chapters left, depending on whether i split som off them in two as they are very long otherwise.
Chapter 39: Touching Fate
Dull rusty red light flooded the large clearing, making the ever present glitter sparkle and shine like it had when she came here the first time. But back then the clearing had been filled with the sounds of laughter, songs and the warm glow of the Firey's bonfire. Now only the faint memory of life remained as the scattered Firey limbs lay still and unmoving throughout. Wrapping her arms tightly around her, Sarah shuddered as she stood trying to see what could have so utterly destroyed the strange creatures. Creatures who had defied all she knew and understood about being whole as they had danced around the fire, kicking their heads into the air accompanied by loud squeals of laughter and joy.
True, they had terrified her, but in the years that had followed, they had become creatures that she considered friends. Friends with an uncanny ability to always appear when she had needed to laugh and stop wallowing in the solitude of her life.
Kneeling in the crackling layer of dry dead leaves, Sarah reached out tentatively to run her fingers slowly over the shrivelled hand laying curled up in front of her.
"Sweet Goddess what happened to you?"
"Sarah !"
The voice was brittle and weak as it drifted towards her from the dull coloured, and dried up head laying just a few feet away.
"We died... Sarah.. limb by limb as he forgot how to smile and laugh... He forgot how to feel life... the fire died ... and we grew colder and colder until we... "
The cracked beak opened and Sarah stared in horror as it keened loud and pitifully. There was pain in the sound, arid horror and anger. But the one overwhelming emotion that spilled from the broken crumbling creature was hopelessness.
At first the keen was just sound then the ghost of words were heard.
"Help ": It cried: "Help ... him... Help him feel ... rekindle his fire ... save him before reality becomes the mirror of his soul ... Save us ... Save us all ... "
"I want to ..please just tell me how... Tell me cause I don't know what the hell I'm doing. .."
Ash seeped from the dead eyes, in an approximation of tears as the shrivelled thing screamed: "Fire, relight the fire... his fire... we are flames, life, death... it all burns... It all consumes.. Fire, relight it... Ember, you carry the ember... "
Confused Sarah blurted out: "Ember what ember? What are you talking about? Do I look like I'm schlepping a god damn Ember around ? I'm half naked for Christ's sake. "
"Ember ": It repeated stubbornly: "You carry the Ember.. Save us"
"Yeah I heard you the first time... ": Rising slowly from her kneeling position, Sarah groaned as the stiffness of her bruised muscles made itself known. But stiff or not, she still had to figure this out and quickly. The clock was ticking now. The thought of clocks, instantly conjured the image of a black armoured Jareth leaning casually against the clock tree, as he watched her watch the Labyrinth. He had looked so strong and unapproachable, covered as he was in that armour... almost... almost as if he was hiding from her scared of what she would make him feel.
Afraid to feel..
Afraid to face his own feelings about her..
But he had vanquished that fear, and he knew that she returned his feelings, that she loved him unconditionally. And that she would go through fire for him...
Go through fire...
Go through fire for him...
The thought of fire filled her, and drove her to the stone-cold fire pit gathering up the scattered firey limbs as she went. Dumping the pile of dry flesh inside the stone circle, Sarah knelt and arranged them into a pyramid shape, just like the one Jareth had taught her nearly three thousand years ago in a very different world. It was instinct more than anything else that guided her as she grabbed the throbbing sigil and slipped the chain over her head.
"I love you Jareth": She whispered into the warm metal: "I love you and that will never change. I don't care what your mother did to you, or made you do. It was not your fault, none of it, and you don't have to punish yourself anymore. It's okay to laugh and love life when it's not your fault, do you hear me Jareth? I need you all of you, and I need you to allow yourself to live again. Please Jareth don't just survive, thrive. "
The metal in her hand grew warmer and warmer with each word, until it was almost too hot for her to hold. And yet it wasn't enough not yet.
Pressing her lips against the metal Sarah pushed the instant pain away and kissed it. It was just a soft chaste kiss, but into it, she poured all her love and desire, and all the fear that she had that he might still hate her once this was over. She poured it all into the seemingly inanimate metal, and somehow she knew that he felt it because she gave him no choice, as she forced it all through the connection between them. The metal flared in response, and tiny flames danced across its surface following the intricate pattern of the runic knot at its apex. The beauty of it transfixed her for a few split seconds, as she felt the first tentative stirrings of Jareth's inner flame.
Murmuring soft word of love Sarah gently pushed the pendant into the dry pile of limbs letting the tiny flames catch the desiccated skin and feathers. Tiny flames leaped from the metal to dance along the parchment skin multiplying as it covered them in a glorious blazing plumage. The fire grew higher and higher, but instead of consuming the offered appendages it was purging and restoring them, filling them with the embers of life, and giving back that which had been stolen.
Light filled the clearing, giving it a new vibrant glow as Sarah limped through it, gathering up every limb that she could find, dumping them in the ever growing blaze as she went. And soon she dropped the last shrivelled head into the flames.
The heat of the fire washed over her in waves as she sank to the ground with an exhausted grunt. It was good to be warm again, but as with so many other things here in this nightmare, it was a double edged sword, as the fire warmed her, it returned feeling to her cold numb extremities, reawakening a host of flaring pain from her shredded skin and rapidly stiffening muscles. Staring into the billowing flames, Sarah watched the shrunken limbs begin to swell and merge, recreating themselves in the image of what they should truly look like.
It took some time, but suddenly huge firey wings burst from the flames, bearing with them the immense hybrid phoenix body, that Sarah now knew were their natural form.
Crimson and golden flames licked over it creating a breath-taking plumage that swayed and undulated in the heat induced currents. The enormous firey beat it's massive wing/arms once and the sheer power in those extremities made the creature explode from the fire and shoot up towards the dull dead sky, pulling four smaller, but just as bright fireys with it, like a flock of reborn phoenix's.
The sight drew a strangled gasp from Sarah as the brightness of their forms seared her eyes. And yet she still followed their exuberant dance as they swirled and dove in a series of graceful manoeuvres that could only be described as beautiful. It was life and death, it was joy and sorrow and it was anger and contentment. It was every emotion given motion and form, as they danced and drew colour across the sky, bringing it back to life. Stars burst like fireworks in their wake as they painted the sky with their wings and voices.
For a long while all that Sarah saw or heard were the magnificence of the swirling forms, then as if on queue, the five flaming forms flew up, joining to become just one brightly blazing burst of light against the reawakened rust red sky. For a moment it seemed as if the five would stay there simply casting their radiance on the world below. But then the four small forms shot out each following a straight line towards the four corners of the labyrinth, pulling the new living sky after them like billowing scarves as they sped out of sight.
The last Firey spiralled slowly down, like a burning snowflake, singing loud and joyfully. Celebrating it's renewed life and fire.
The landing was a study in liquidity as the huge powerful figure touched ground without a sound and glided through the clearing like a barely controlled firestorm. It.. No He, definitely he stood a good nine feet with clawed wing/hands that Sarah had never seen anything but a bat or a pterodactyl have. Only this creature did not have leather wings, nor did it have feathers. No flames of every red and golden nuance danced and flickered over it apparently massive form, and only when the wind shifted subtly or a flame leaped towards the sky was the truth revealed. The Firey, all Firey's were creatures of pure fire, with no true substance to them, they were passion in all their glorious forms, they were rage and fury, joy and hatred. They burned bright and hot, but only for those who had the courage to embrace them and let their fire cleanse them.
The giant mouth/beak moved and a voice that whispered and roared like a beach bonfire, spoke.
" The fire has returned, but it is fragile. You must keep it alive and fed, feel and have the courage to face it.."
It's massive wings spread, and beaconed Sarah closer with their waves of arid heat. The first step closer was the hardest thing that Sarah had ever done, but the pride that flowed through her as it was followed by more wavering steps and brought her into the bright heat of the awaiting embrace, was like a tsunami that swept her up as the wings closed around her.
"I will ": She murmured as the enormous wings held her cradled in their softer than soft embrace:" I will keep the fire alive for us both... I will teach him to live again."
Nodding the Firey stepped back, and as it did, it held out a hand from where Jareth's pendant dangled as pristine as ever. Sarah's hand moved at it's own accord as she grasped the cool pendant, and froze for a second with the chain linking her to the Firey.
"I can help ": He said: "I can take you as far as the Wiseman, for the hedge maze has grown wild and dangerous. But from there you must strive on alone. "
Nodding gratefully in acceptance Sarah slipped the chain over her head, finding it much heavier than before.
Pressing the cool metal against her chest, Sarah looked up and into the firey's scarlet eyes, the only part of him that seemed solid: "It's heavier now, why is that? "
The look on its face was one of amused condescension, like you would look at a dim child just about to comprehend a life lesson:" It is the weight of his emotions, the heaviness that fills his heart, and chokes his fire. He feels it once more, and because of this time grows short he feels yet is still trapped. And it fills him with a heavy pain, time runs short Sarah ..."
"Yeah, you are right ": Holding the pendant in a white knuckled hand, Sarah felt Jareth's pain through their connection, feeling how it drained him, and that knowledge fortified her : "Okay let's get moving then."
Holding out it's huge wings in an obvious invitation the Firey stepped in closer, once again. Close but not touching as he waited for Sarah to find the courage to move.
Wetting her cracked lips, Sarah let out a soft trembling sigh, before she stepped into the dancing flames.
It was light and warm, safety that wrapped around her like a blanket, and letting herself melt into the heat, Sarah felt tears roll down her cheeks as the wings of the Firey beat down violently, and sent them rocketing into the sky.
Vertigo flooded her as the sudden change of elevation caught up with her, and yet despite the sudden disorienting movement, Sarah couldn't stop laughing with the pure undiluted joy of flight.
The heat of the flames cradled her like a desert wind.
Their touch intangible and warm, yet as real as her own mind, as they wrapped around her and coursed through her skin like water, connecting her with the raw life that carried her.
Below her the forest sped past, as her entire being melted into the flames, painting the world in hue's of gold and red and burning the pain and fatigue away.
Their wings beat strong and fast fanning the flames higher and hotter, as the forest below gave way to crumbling walls and bone strewn paths.
Gone were the mute and deaf door knockers, their door's lay shattered and their pliable copper forms, trampled and squashed, leaking thick metallic blood unto the sandstone below. And gone were the lush hedges of the hedge Maze. Burnt sticks reached for the rusty red sky like accusing fingers , creating a black and grey void where the only colour came from the skinned and bloody carcass's which crawled laboriously through the torched remains of their world, leaving trails of crimson.
There should have been screams of agony and tears of pain, instead there was nothing but utter and complete silence. Broken only by the roar of stoked flames each time their wings beat. This was a dream, Sarah's mind screamed at her, and dreams though scary are not real, and can't hurt you.
"But this is no dream ": Sounded the hushed voice of the firey: "This is the mind of Jareth, our king, he who gives the Labyrinth shape with his thoughts alone. It he returns to the true realm with these images in his mind then we are lost."
"Lost? How so lost?": Fear made her heart race, and their wings beat faster: "How lost?"
Their giant form descended in tight circles towards the ruined plaza below, and her voice all but drowned in the roar of wind fed flames, and for a time she was convinced that the Firey couldn't hear her. But just as her feet made contact with the scorched stone, she heard his voice in a scared whisper: "The flesh is the mirror of the soul... remember this... always."
It was a strange disorientating sensation as Sarah suddenly found herself alone, as the flaming figure sped up and vanished against the newly revived sky. It's voice ringing in a haunting echo .
"Always... Always ... Always.."
Staring up the sky Sarah swallowed down the sudden burst of terror. The flesh is the mirror of the soul. ... she hadn't understood until now, what they had meant, but now as she stood in the crumbling ruin of the plaza where she had first meet the old Wiseman, the meaning was beginning to dawn on her. Even if she managed to save Jareth from this nightmare, it wasn't over, not by a long shot. Because now it was his very own mind that posed the threat to the Labyrinth.
If they survived then she would have to find a way to help Jareth heal the damage done to him, now that the veil had been ripped from his eyes. She would have to help him build a life, of happiness and joy despite the trauma that he had suffered.
She would have to...
"Well well what have we here a young girl... no wait not a girl a woman.. A young woman."
Spinning to face the withered Wiseman, Sarah already had her mouth open ready to ask the old man for help or advice, anything. Only to freeze as she saw him.
The silhouette was the same, but that was just about it.
Bleached bones protruded from his shrunken body, which were barely covered by the rotting rags that had once been his robes. He looked as dead as anything she had encountered in this bloody nightmare, only his glowing crimson eyes and the slow stiff movement of his broken limbs showed that he was "alive". Even his hat seemed leathery and dead, it's every movement making wet creaking sounds, as pus and rotting blood leaked from its ruptured skin, matting what little tufts of feathers remained down. Green ichor dribbled from the corner of its left eye as it slowly levelled its dead stare on her and crackled: "So young... so ... Alive.."
"Yes": Mumbled the wizen Wiseman:" Alive.. Tell me young woman what can I do for you?"
"I..."
Stumped, Sarah stopped mid sentence, and simply stared at the strange duo, what did she want? Why had she come here in the first place, other than, that the Firey had dropped her off here, she had no idea what this strange decaying parody of the kind Wiseman could help her with.
"I ... I don't know, I don't know what you can help me with... I mean you're...": Gesturing at the pair, Sarah sighed and laughed: You're dead... and honestly the real you didn't really do wonders the first time..."
"Maybe not... but this time... I have that which you seek... I have this."
The shrivelled hand moved fast, in an intricate wave, as a cracked and flawed crystal appeared to rest delicately on flaking grey fingertips.
And Sarah stopped dead in her tracks as she stared at the perfectly imperfect orb, instantly realizing the nature of the offered crystal.
His mind, His very essence lay contained inside the pitted crystal, and it was in agony.
Images swirled below its broken surface, each as shattered and destroyed as the crystal that contained them. Yet beautiful in their raw honesty. Her hand rose automatically to grasp the crystal, only to have it snatched out of range as the cruelly curved beak of the vulture like hat scored her knuckles.
Yelping in pain she jumped back nearly stumbling as her aching legs threatened to give up on her. Nursing her stinging fingers gingerly Sarah wet her dry lips with a equally dry tongue and croaked: "Okay I get it it's not free.. So tell my what is your price? "
"Price ": The hat smirked cruelly as it crooked its head and smacked its sharp beak ominously:" Hmm this is worth far more than an old ring wouldn't you say hmm...:
"Yes": the wise man agreed:" I believe ... that this... is... worth... hmmm"
"A lot ": The hat snapped impatiently.
"Hmm yes A lot..": The wiseman repeated with an annoyed glance up:" This cannot be bought like cheap advice with mere trinkets... hmm no... "
"No": The hat squealed, while looking like it was about to bust or fly away with excitement.
"No this is precious. . and unique. ... Perhaps" : It cackled gleefully:" We ought to see whether she is worthy of this gift..."
"Hmmm yes": The Wiseman nodded, slowly eyeing her with a ... hungry look in his ruby eyes:" Yes young Lady what will you pay for a present this precious to you hmm? "
"Anything": The word slipped from her lips before she could stop and think. But what terrified Sarah was the fact that she meant it. For this last and most important piece of the man she loved more than life, she would pay any price, and suffer any pain. But she still shuddered with fear as the Hat leaned as far forward as its awkward perch would allow it and smacked its beak longingly.
"Anything. Well Well.. such big words, and so many delicious possibilities, hmm. What should we choose. . It has been so long since we tasted living flesh."
Swallowing convulsively Sarah licked her lips and forced herself to appear calm despite the panicked thumping in her chest.
" Hmm yes.. Yes maybe a subtle breast? Or perhaps a tender hand hmm to repay for that which you stole? hmm? "
Swallowing again, Sarah fought her desert dry mouth: "You gotta be kidding. ...right? This is a joke right, a really, really crappie one, but ... come on this is a joke. You can't really mean that you want a literal piece of me... "
The Wiseman's cold eyes brightened and turned predatory as he watched the fear of realization take a hold of her. Glee shone out at her as she struggled to fully grasp the implications of what it was that they were demanding in payment.
A part of her of her body, her flesh.
A blood sacrifice, and the ultimate sign of her love for him.
Licking her lips again and again, Sarah felt like the world was turning cold then boiling hot, and then cold again as she fought for control.
Glancing up at the wickedly grinning duo, Sarah felt her heart skip more than just a few beats, they were waiting for an answer, and there was only one answer that she could give. And yet her voice shook as she tried to force the words to leave her lips.
"Alright...I... I... ": But she couldn't, she wanted to scream "yes, yes, yes. take it all, take what you want, just let me have that orb and all that it contains ..."
The words simply wouldn't leave her lips, but judging from look of hungry anticipation that twisted the waiting pair, it seemed as if the message had gotten through anyway. And her suspicion was confirmed when the Hat cooed: "So you agree, a price paid in blood and flesh for the life and mind of the one you love. That is fair yes?"
"Yes... ": She whispered softly: "Yes that's fair."
"Good ": The Wiseman crooned: "Good, but what to chose. There are so many morsels to choose. A hand perhaps, to feel what you feel. . Or perhaps a foot ... Yes what do you think Hat?"
"An eye" : It crowed with wicked glee: "Let's see how she sees the world.. Hmm "
An eye, dread flooded her, freezing her in place as the wizen creatures suddenly moved with predatory grace. Gliding around her, the Wiseman cackled with malicious glee as his dried out finger closed on her shoulders like vices holding her in place from behind. Only now as the curved beak of the Hat descended leisurely towards her face, did Sarah realize three things.
One the Wiseman was surprisingly strong, that he was much taller than her, and finally that this was real, and that she was actually going to lose an eye. Right now.
It was too much, too absurd too horrible, too ... well too much of everything and her mind refused to process what was going on as the beak picked up speed, and plunged into her left eye. At first she didn't really feel much, the shock of what was taking place numbing her to all sensations. It was just cold and strangely empty as the beak retreated with an obscene sucking pop sound that reminded her of the sound that a jam jar makes when the seal is broken. And even then as her sight distorted because the eye was still attached to her through the surprisingly elastic optical nerve, and the eye itself had been pulled almost three inches out, Sarah felt no pain. Just cold, heavy frigid cold that numbed the entire side of her face and made her knees buckle. The world twisted and warped as her eye was pulled even further from its socket, and there was a single moment of disorientation as she saw her own face superimposed over the inverted face of the hat.
And then came the pain.
The sharp edge of the Hats beak ripped through the stubborn nerve, and instantly agony engulfed her world, turning everything utterly black. Spikes of electricity shot through her convulsing her muscles, ripping a tortured wail of animal anguish from her. There was no control as she writhed and thrashed on the hard grime covered tiles, only pain and the cold cruel laughter of the Wiseman as he stood in triumph above her.
"Such life in the colours you see, beautiful... but very naive... ah young woman the colours will fade soon enough..."
Move her mind screamed over the pain, get up the eye is gone, now take what is owed. Get up!
Get up, yes she had to get up, now. Time was slipping.
Rolling to her stomach and pushing herself up into a kneeling position took more effort than anything that Sarah had ever done. Compared to this the physical therapy that she had endured had been a piece of cake. But still she managed.
Pressing her violently shaking hand against the gaping crater in her face, Sarah blinked her remaining eye clearing it of the blood. The price was paid, and now she would claim what her flesh had bought.
"Give me the crystal...Now. "
Her voice only shook a little as she held out her hand in demand and met the Wiseman's cold eyes: "I don't care that you think me naive, or my way of seeing the world as pretty...I have paid the price that you chose, now give me what my flesh has bought Jareth."
A mock deference spread on the smug wrinkled face, as he held out the crystal in a steady skeletal claw: "Certainly my Queen, here the object bought... "
The clawed hand tipped slowly, spilling the pitted crystal into her hand, as the ancient creature bowed and shuffled backwards with a low chuckle: "Take your loot and may the goddess help you both Sarah queen of goblins. May she help you both."
Giving her a last mocking glance, the Wiseman straightened and turning his back on her before he ambled out through a crumbling archway, leaving her alone with her price and her pain.
Cradling the pitted crystal against her heaving chest Sarah sat back and closed her eye as blood and tears stained her cheeks in equal measure, and a wealth of different emotions washed over her.
Anger and pain warred with relief and joy. And none of it made any real sense to Sarah as she sat rocking back and forth, quietly whispering into the pitted surface.
"We are close now, so close, I just have to find the strength ... I have to move, I ... I have to. ...But I just can't ... I.. can't.."
"Hopeless.. it's all hopeless," The little voice screamed inside her head. "you were barely getting anywhere before, and now you have lost an eye. No not lost it GIVEN it away. And for what a broken bauble?. Face it Sarah you have lost, there are nothing you can do to win this time. So why don't you just give up, and curl up to die?"
"No": Wiping angrily at her soaked cheeks, Sarah growled her denial at the insistent internal whisper as she pushed up from the rubble strewn ground, to stand unsteadily on legs that wanted to just collapse. She couldn't give up, she had to push on and finish what she had begun. And that meant moving, something that she desperately didn't want to do but had no way out of. And resigned she forced herself to lift her leaden foot and take the first step of what she hopped to be the last part of the journey.