Chapter Six: Fall For Chains of Silver
Iron chains held his arms over his head by the wrists. His body was limp, head drooping, his feet trailing on the ground. Sarah ran down the steps, almost falling again, and dashed towards him.
"Jareth? Can you hear me?" She took his face in her hands, turning his face towards the light. His eyes were glassy, unfocussed, and his mouth was bloody.
"Sarah... Sarah..." he murmured over and over. He was shirtless and barefoot, painfully thin, and his torso was covered in cuts and bruises.
"I'm here," she said quietly, "just look at me."
"Hmmm?" His eyes slipped into focus. "Sarah? You look terrible."
She laughed, a harsh bark that made him flinch.
"I see you still have excellent manners," she said, rolling her eyes, "you lousy ingrate."
"What are you doing here?" He licked his lips painfully. "Why have you come?"
"You named me as Champion," she replied, "so I came."
Sarah moved across to the wall where ends of the chains were wrapped around large hooks. With effort she unwrapped them, gently feeding them through the loop in the ceiling. Without the chains to hold him up, Jareth collapsed to the ground.
"Come on, you big baby," she said, crouching in front of him, "it's time to get out of here."
The shackles on his wrists weren't locked, and Sarah quickly removed the pins. Jareth immediately looked less pained, his shoulders less tense.
"You could have done that yourself, you know. You have magic powers." She wiggled her fingers in a demonstration of 'magic powers'.
"Cold steel, used for binding."
"Right. I knew that."
"Sarah, you're covered in salt." He had been reached toward her, but drew back his hand with a look of distaste. "If you know about iron, you should know about salt."
"Yep", she rolled her eyes, "I just swallowed half the bloody sea for you. No, don't look smug, we're going to have a long talk once I get you out of here, and you are not going to like it."
Jareth reached out again, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. She pushed his hand away, too slowly, too reluctantly. He looked at her like she was the sun and it made her heart hurt.
She helped him to his feet; he leaned heavily on her despite the salt, wincing with each movement.
"Quit being a baby." She grumbled.
"This is all your fault, you know. If you had only agreed to serve me-"
"Uh-uh, none of that. I don't know what you've done to get yourself here and I don't know why on earth I'm helping you, but if you start with that 'love me, fear me, do as I say' crap, then I'm going home right now." She propped him up against a wall and he brushed the salt water of his arm. "Now, how do we get out of here?"
"This is a prison, moon-heart", he sighed, "we're not supposed to get out of here."
"Well, I didn't come all this way to leave you to rot in a dungeon." Her teeth were beginning to chatter again, despite the flames around the room. "We could both use a hot shower. Separate hot showers."
"Here." He reached out to her, smirking, and placed a hand on her cheek. Delicious warmth spread from his hand through her body, drying her skin and her hair and her clothes. Jareth stumbled back against the wall, shaking his hand and wincing. "That is rather a lot of salt."
"Thank you." Her cheek burned where he had touched her and she felt herself blushing.
"It's been a long time since I was able to do magic." He whispered, tilting his head back and regarding her from under half-closed lids. "My Champion."
"Stop that." She turned so he couldn't see her blush even harder and looked around the room. "I think we're going to have to go back up through the tunnel. Do you think you can walk?"
"I'm quite alright. I don't need your help." He lurched forward, walking like a drunk towards the stairs.
"Make up your mind, you stubborn jerk", she sighed, moving after him and pulling his arm around her shoulders.
"That hurts, you know. The salt."
"Well, I can always put you back in the chains, if you'd prefer", she huffed.
Jareth fell into a brooding silence, which suited Sarah just fine. Her emotions were a confusing maelstrom. She half-dragged him back up the tunnel to the chamber of doors, neither of them saying a word. He half raised his arm to direct her to an entrance, and she pulled him through. Every step was clearly causing him pain; he would occasionally gasp, just softly, or whimper when their steps jolted him too hard.
"You shouldn't have done that spell", she scolded, "you should save your strength."
"Nonsense", he looked down at her, eyes sparkling. "It was a piece of cake."
Sarah groaned and rolled her eyes.
This tunnel was smooth, covered wall to ceiling in glittering black tile. The floor sloped upwards again, and Sarah could smell fresh air.
"I think we're almost there." She forced Jareth to walk faster, even though she knew it hurt him. "I can't have much time left, so move, you great glittery lump."
"I have endured hardships unnumbered for you, and this is how you speak to me." Jareth sniffed.
"Well, we can argue about 'hardships unnumbered' later, let's just get outside."
"Wait." He leaned back against the wall, drawing pained breaths.
"Are you alright? Do you need to take a rest?" she leaned against the wall beside him, trying not to notice her own aching muscles.
"We should talk now. While you are still within reach."
"I'd rather get out of your reach as soon as I can, thank you." She made to push off from the wall but suddenly he was there, hands either side of her head, bare chest hovering above hers.
"Miss Sarah Williams, you have been running away from me for years." His voice was ragged and his eyes bore into hers. "You will give me this."