Chapter 39
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Hope Lost
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Sarah sat at her vanity when she was struck with the brilliant idea to try and use her magic to style her hair. Jareth had been training her and according to him she was coming along well. The King had only been midly surprised when Sarah was able to manipulate crystal magic, although her crystals were different than the Goblin Kings. Her crystal's were slightly opaque and glittered with a lavender hue, it was much too girly for Sarah's tastes but there was little she could do about it. It had been easy for her to conjure the crystals, making them do something was a completely different matter.
Sarah conjured a crystal and concentrated on how she wished her hair to look and then let the crystal leave her hands. She heard the crystal burst and the magic take effect, she was horrified when she opened her eyes. "Purple!" she screamed seeing her hair pulled up into a futuristic looking beehive. To Sarah's dismay Pryia and Gavin walked in on her before she was able to get her hair to go back to normal.
Gavin and Priya burst into histerics when they saw Sarah trying to fix a magic hairstyle gone wrong. "Goodness Sarah. Please remind me to never let you style my hair." she burst into another fit of laughter. Sarah scowled at the two and finally was able to make her hair go back to its lustrious brown.
"What do you two want?" she asked annoyed at their intrusion.
"I've come to deliver your mail." she smirked and handed Sarah a letter from her family.
"Thanks!" she snatched the mail from them, not bothering to watch the two leave. Sarah smiled knowingly after they had left, Gavin and Priya had become attached at the hip. She had a very strong feeling that they were falling for eachother, she decided she would talk to Gavin about it soon. Sarah was happy for them if her suspicions were true, but on the other hand it saddened her to see them together. They seemed to share something that Sarah knew she had never shared with anyone, not even her beloved Duke. With a sigh she began to open her letter.
As Priya had promised, she had convinced the Goblin King to let Sarah and Gavin have correspondance with their family. Sarah was not particularily happy but she was not depressed either. She preoccupied her mind with her magic studies and pushed all thoughts of anyone or anything else out of her mind. Mastering magic was a great challenge, and Sarah promised herself that she would rise to that challenge. Sarah had barely even noticed that she and the King had been getting along splendidly, the only time they had a spat was when she was frustrated over an obstacle in her lessons.
The letter contained all the usual sentiments except this letter they told her of a great singing competition that would be held in the coming spring. Only those who were personally invited by fae royalty were allowed to attended, her family was urging her to ask the Goblin King to let her compeat. Sarah sighed again. 'Oh how I would love to compeat again." she thought wistfully. "It's no use to even ask, he wont let me out of here to compeat." she convinced herself of this and pushed it out of her mind. "Wait what's this?" she furrowed her brows when she noticed that there was a smaller note inside the envelope.
My Darling Sarah,
I emplore you to persuade the Goblin King to allow you to attend the competition that your parent's spoke of.
I will be there waiting for you. My heart aches from your absence, once I again I beg for your forgiveness.
Love,
Lasair
Sarah's hand trembled as she read the note. "He hasn't forgotten about me!" her heart sang happily. The confusion that Sarah had locked out now returned, while she was certain that Lasair did in fact love her. She had begun to question his motives and character, she'd never seen him act hateful to anyone. "But is it all for show? How can so many people dislike him without a reason?" he doubts plagued her again. Sarah let out a noise of frustration, "I don't want to think about it." she snapped at herself. "All I can do is try." she told herself. Inside she knew that she would try and figure out a way to get to the competition, not for her family, not for the Duke but for herself. She looked down at the note once more, she pulled it to her nose and breathed in deeply. It smelt of him and his magic and made her long for his arms around her. Walking to the fire she reluctantly tossed the note in and watched it burn, the last thing she wanted was for Jareth to find that note.
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Jareth glanced at the clock on the wall, it was almost time for Sarah's lesson. A small smile played on his lips and he opened a small box that sat on his desk. Inside the box was a silver necklace with a unicorn pendant. The pendant was made out of the same crystal substance that Jareth wielded. He knew that he and Sarah had been getting along mostly due to the fact that her mind was constantly preoccupied but never the less they were getting along. The King had decided he would bestow Sarah with a small gift. "If she refuses me again." he sighed. "Then at least she will have something to remember me by." Jareth knew that if Sarah married his cousin she would be unhappy for all of eternity, and this thought gave him no pleasure despite how badly he had wanted her to suffer before.
Jareth stood and clutched the little box protectively. Oddly he began quite dizzy. "What in the name..." he muttered as the dizzy spell left him. Shaking the strange feeling off he strode to the door. As he grasped the handle and pushed the door open a fierce pain ripped through his abdomen. Jareth grunted in shock and pain as he struggled to remain on his feet, stumbling out into the hall way. The pain continued to sear through him, he had never experienced the likes before. Despite his high pain tolerance and strong will the Goblin King felt himself falling to the floor, curled up in agony.
Priya was on her way to deliever some important papers to the King when she found him in spasms on the floor. "Jareth! Jareth!" she screamed, not knowing what to do. The pains left Jareth almost as suddenly as they had come, he felt Priya's hands on his shoulder and groaned, relieved that the pain was gone. Something about him felt different, he felt weak. "No not yet, it's too soon." he gasped. His fears were confirmed when he sat himself up and looked at his darling little Priya.
Priya stiffled a scream and instictively pulled away from her King when she caught sight of his face. Tears instantly rolled down her cheeks, "No my dear King, not yet, you were getting so close, so close." she sobbed. Jareth could not console the girl, he could not console himself. The Goblin King would not shed any tears, his pride was still too great. Jareth found himself scoffing at Priya, shoving himself away from her he stormed to his room.
Jareth approached his large mirror aprehensively, then he slowly pulled a cord that lifted the curtain that concealed the reflective surface. Jareth stared at himself in stony silent rage, before letting loose an angry cry that was most inhuman. He slammed his fist down hard on the mirror, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. He then grabbed the frame and hurled it violently across the room. Slumping against his wall he allowed a moment to pity himself, 'Why! Why now.' his mind raged. All hope of working things out with Sarah had vanished. He remembered his words to Hoggle all those years ago. "Do you think she could like a repulsive little scab like you?" Sarah could never love him now.
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Sarah was waiting in the dead garden for her daily lesson, when she heard the most fearsome sound resonating from the Castle. She was instantly sure that the sound came for an enraged Goblin King. Part of her told her to run far away but another part of her told her to see what was going on. Pushing her fear away she made her way back into the castle.
"Sarah? Have you seen Priya?" she heard Gavin call to her.
Sarah joined him quickly. "No, did you hear that awful noise? I wonder what that was all about?"
"I don't think I want to know." Gavin said uneasily.
It took awhile but finally Gavin and Sarah found Priya sitting on the floor sobbing.She sat in front of the doors that she had told Sarah to never enter. "Priya! What is the matter?" Gavin went to her side immeadiately concerned.
"It's the King..." Priya chocked out, humilated for them to see her so weak.
"Did he hurt you?" Gavin's eyes flashed dangerously.
"No!" Priya snapped, angry at the accusation.
"Where is the King?" Sarah asked softly. Priya shook her head as if she did not know.
"You both need to go to your rooms, until you've seen me again." she paused and saw Gavin and Sarah staring at her blankly. "That's an order!" she screamed at them. Gavin and Sarah were so disturbed by Priya's unusual behavior that the did what they were told.
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The Duke laughed until his sides hurt. When he had told Sarah's family of the compitition and snuck in his little note, he had very much doubted that Jareth would actually agree to such a thing. However it made him look good, as if he were really trying to do something. If he did agree, well then all the better for the Duke. He had become exceedingly worried about the progress Jareth was making with Sarah. He had been wracking his brain for ideas to interfere with their relationship, none of them would work. Today he was put at ease, as he spied on Jareth he witnessed the curse taking its toll. Time was running out for Jareth.
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Author's Note: Again thanks for the reviews everyone :D Sorry that this chapter and the last were kinda short. They will get longer again. Poor Jareth, I've been exceedingly cruel to him in this story...You'll get at least one more chapter before I leave for vacation!