AN: I do not own Labyrinth or any other fairytale that has inspired this story. Also, I was mistaken, this will NOT be the last chapter, there will be one more short chapter and possibly an epilogue.
Chapter 50
-
The Dragon
-
Sarah was shoved into a small study. "You'll stay here until the maids fetch you." The Duke spat. "You will regain your composure and play the part. If you don't it will be your family who pays for your actions. Consider this carefully, I will not be disrespected!" he finished and slammed the door shut, locking Sarah in. Sarah was exhausted, dirty and Jareth's blood stained her clothes, but she did not notice. Leaning against a desk she wept bitterly, cursing herself for ever returning to this world. She would rather die than marry such an ugly evil man, but her family and friends were at stake, she could not be so selfish. Her nightmares had come true and now she was destined to be the trophy wife to a cruel and power hungry villain.
"How did I not see his true nature?" She asked herself over and over, she hated herself for it. Everything that had passed was her fault, "If I had not been so self absorbed in my own dreams then maybe I would have figured things out in time." she berated herself. Sarah sank into the chair next to the desk, the weight of the situation threatened to drown her. The title of a book that had been left out on the desk caught her attention and distracted her from her dark thoughts. "History of the High Kings." she murmured aloud.
Sarah wiped her tears from her face and reached out for the book, it was ancient,heavy and thick. She opened it up towards the back, the pages were empty. Then she noticed the bookmark. Opening to the marked page she began to read, "The Future High King who bears a curse." she gasped and read on. Sarah was intrigued and mortified as she read about the birth of Jareth and how he was cursed when he was but a babe in his cradle. As she read a scene seemed to form in her mind.
A large room with brilliant white marble floors, a King and Queen sat throned at the end of the room. A long sapphire colored carpet stretched the length of the room, ending at the feet of the King and Queen. Throngs of Fae Nobility were crowded into the room, near the foot of the King and Queen was an ornate cradle, containing a beautiful baby boy. It was a celebration, honoring the birth of the first born, the Crown Prince, the future High King of all Thanvannit. As customary, all the enlightened ones had been invited, the most powerful fae that existed. They were above reproach and rule, they were the mediators and the watchers of the Underground. They would come and bestow their blessings on the child. Something went wrong towards the end of the ceremony, a storm came in quickly and the palace quaked. Uma the enlightened had not been invited to the celebration, while only the true of heart and most wise of fae ever become enlightened, some have been known to become corrupted with their power. Uma was known to be corrupted and never invited to the Fae celebrations and meetings, she was an outcast among her own kind. Uma had once, centuries past been sister to the High Queen and when she found out that she had not been invited to the blessing ceremony of her own dear nephew she had become enraged. The corrupted Uma stormed into the palace uninvited, no one was powerful enough to stop her and she cursed the child before her peers could react. Uma cursed the child to become a guardian of the Labyrinth, He would become the Goblin King on his 10,000th birthday and he would serve the 10,000 year term that all guardians served. While this was disturbing to all that she would make the Crown Prince of Thanvannit serve as the Goblin King, what came next mortified all that were in attendance. Uma then added this to the curse, that the Prince must make one from aboveground realm, who wished away a babe, fall in love with him before his term ended. If he did not do this, then he would be stripped of his powers and turn into a goblin. And before her peers could seize her, Uma disappeared leaving the cursed babe.
The tears were running down Sarah's cheeks thickly now, and she could scarcely breathe. "All I had to do was love him, and I could have saved him." she choked out to herself. "He loved me and I rejected him until it was too late." Sarah wasn't sure why but she felt compelled to read more, Jareth was gone and she wanted to know everything she could about him, no matter how much it hurt. She sat and read for hours, she read about his upbring, about his shock when he found out about his curse on his 9,999th birthday. The book revealed to her that Jareth was not always as cold as she had known him to be, but the hard years of living under a curse without love had hardened his heart. The book told of the many women that accepted his offers but they never truly loved him and the curse was not broken, and then it told of Sarah's own story and how she melted the King's heart and how for the first time the King learned how to love. Yet, he did not learn soon enough how to express his love and the girl was so young and nieve, she could not comprehend what the King was offering her. Then it told of how the King fell under depression when the girl left and rejected him, how he mostly gave up and trying to woo any more women who wished their babes away. For he could never get the one girl who had conquered his Labyrinth and his heart from his mind.
It was then that Sarah shut the book, when it spoke of her return to the Underground Realm. If only Sarah had continued to read she would have seen that more of the story was being written as she sat there. Her mind was numb and her heart was cold, her chance for real love, for true love had been lost. She hated herself for it and she hated the Duke even more.The Duke wasn't after the throne of the Goblin King, with Jareth out of the picture he was next in line to become the High King of Thanvannit. Not only had she lost Jareth but she had doomed the entire Kingdom to be subjects to a cruel tyrant. The door began to open and broke her thoughts of anger and hatred. A few nervous maids entered the room, "My Lady were are to escort you to your chambers to get ready." one of them spoke. Sarah saw pity in their eyes, she also saw fear. The maids were very relieved when Sarah stood and followed them out of the room quietly, Sarah noticed the guards that followed them.
No one spoke to her as they dressed her and made her up for the wedding. Sarah was beyond tears at this point. It was her wedding day, a day that should be one of the happiest moments of her life. Midge and Lily should be here helping her get ready and she should be marrying the man that she loved. Sarah watched with cold detached interested as they dressed her in a gaudy dress of gold and white with more jewels on her neck and head then she would ever wish to wear. Her hair was pulled and twisted up in the latest fae fashion, ugly is what Sarah thought it was. The whole thing was obscene. It was then that she swore that she would find a way to kill the Duke herself even if it meant the end of her own life.
They were to be wed at sunset and the dreadful hour was here. Sarah stiffened as she was escorted to the main hall where the ceremony would take place.
---
Toby sat in his dorm room, preparing himself for bed. He was still a child but he had come to be very disciplined in the short time he had attended this prestigious fae boarding school. He quickly turned around when he felt a presence appear in his room.
"You shouldn't be here!" Toby snapped angrily at the man before him.
"Is that so?" the man asked. "I need to tell you something Master Tobias, I need your assistance."
Toby looked at the man warily but allowed him to kneel down and whisper something in his ear. A fire burned in Toby's eyes after the man had finished telling his tale. "Let's go" Toby said with fiery determination.
---
Sarah paused outside the main doors, she struggled to contain her emotions. Part of her wanted to run,scream, throw a fit, fall down and sob or just plain die. Trumpets sounded in the other room and the doors were slowly swung open. Sarah first noted how horribly gaudy all the decorations in the room were, she didn't take notice of the throngs of people who stood on either side of the aisle way. She did not see the Marquee and Marchioness standing sadly with tears in their eyes as she walked past them. Sarah kept her head held high, her eyes burned with hatred as she stared ahead at the Duke, her soon to be Husband. As she neared the end of the aisle way she saw her parents and lily, surrounded by guards and tears in their eyes. She had to look away quickly or she would have lost it then, "I'm doing this for them, for their safety." She reminded herself.
Sarah froze and drowned out the officiant voice as the ceremony began to take place. It seemed she stood their for a century as he droned on and on. The next words rocked Sarah out of her numb phase. "And do you, Lady Sarah. Promise to love and obey your Duke until death parts you?"
Sarah stood shocked staring at the officiant. Inside she was panicking, the realization that this was actually going to happen hit her like a stone. She felt the Duke squeeze her hand very tightly, she glanced over at her parents and saw the guards with their hands around their arms. "Lady Sarah?" the officiant asked again.
"I..I.." Sarah started to speak but did not finish when their was a loud crashing that sounded to come from the roof of the palace. Their were gasps of shock that rang out through the crowd, everyone was looking up at the ceiling. Screams were heard as part of the roof was ripped off from the palace, people dodged the little bits of debris that fell through. Sarah could hear the Duke barking orders and cursing as people darted this way and that. Most of the guests along with Sarah had their eyes glued to the hole in the ceiling with morbid curiosity. Sarah only wished that whatever was to come through that gaping hole would be her freedom or death, either way it would be salvation.
Sarah covered her mouth to stifle a scream with the large head of a dragon poked its head through the hole in the roof. It was black and when the light hit its scales they glittered red. What was most strange to Sarah was the dragon's eyes, they were brilliantly blue. Sarah felt herself backing up and then she felt arms go around her, she turned and found her Father. "Oh papa!" she cried and hugged him to her. Midge, Robert, Sarah and Lily removed them self a great distance from the dragon and huddled together.
Sarah watched as the Duke cursed and stood where her could get a good aim at the dragon. She watched horrified as the Duke sent up a blaze of fire that smashed into the dragon. The Dragon of course was unharmed by the attack and opened its mouth, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth, it let out a deafening roar that shook the palace. The Dragon then let out a burst of flame directed at the Duke, the Duke was set ablaze in a ball of fire, but like the Dragon he was unharmed. "You can't fight fire with fire." Sarah whispered, in shock and awe at the situation.
Suddenly trumpets and horns were sounding outside of the palace and then they got closer until the noise was reverberating off the walls. The dragon then disappeared as quickly as it arrived. The Duke was still barking orders in a rage and for now Sarah was thankful that he had forgotten about her and their wedding. Whispers and rumors were sweeping through the crowds that had entered the room again. People were saying that the High council had arrived, they were saying that Jareth's father had returned from his travels abroad when he felt the death of his son. They were saying that he had taken up the throne and others were asking if that was possible. Some were saying that the old King was holding the Duke responsible.
It was then that a flood of guards entered the main hall, these guards were dressed much differently than the Dukes. She watched with fascination as they surrounded the Duke. Another man came forth with a scroll, and among them she saw the Healer, Caleb. The crowds were silent and the man with the scroll spoke.
"Lasair, Grand Duke of the Nyemshir. You are being charged with treason." gasps and whispers rang through the crowds. The man continued. "You are charged with conspiring against the Crown Prince, and meddling in the affairs of curses in which you have no part. You are also charged with the murder of the Goblin King, and conspiring to take the throne of the High King. Lastly you are charged with imprisoning and forcing against her will,your superior in station,the Grand Duchess Sarah Williams, Princess of the lost Kingdom of King Falcor and Queen Amalthea." after this the man rolled up his scroll and the guards advanced on the Duke.
Sarah looked at her family in confusion, surely they had their facts confused, she was only a mortal from the aboveground. The Duke was enraged and shocked at this revelation about Sarah. Backing away from the guards he shouted. "I am next in line for the throne! You have no right here, Jareth is dead. By rights I hold authority of the High King. Galdor cannot take the throne, he already abdicated long ago!" the Duke roared in a fury. The Duke tried to use his power to escape but found that they had already cast spells on him, rendering him powerless. Sarah watched happily as the guards seized him and drug him from the palace.
It didn't take her long to notice that everyone was staring at her. The man with the scroll spoke again. "Grand Duchess Sarah, please approach." Sarah looked around awkwardly and then slowly approached the man and Caleb. Caleb was smiling down at her with his kind eyes.
"Sarah, how are you feeling." Caleb whispered as she stopped in front of them. Sarah could only smile weakly in response, overwhelmed with the recent events. Caleb smiled again kindly, "Sarah you are summoned to the court of the High King." Caleb told her.
"But." Sarah began to protest.
"Your family shall be taken care of." Caleb assured her as if he had read her mind. Sarah smiled thankfully and exited the palace with them.
"What about the Dragon?" Sarah asked once outside.
Caleb chuckled. "We sent the Dragon ahead to crash the ceremony in case we arrived to late."
Sarah looked around up at the sky. "Where is it now?"
"He has flown back to the Castle of the High King. You shall meet him there." Caleb informed her.
Sarah smiled and climbed into the carriage, followed by Caleb. "I've never met a Dragon before."
Caleb laughed again. "Yes, I assure you it will be a very surprising visit." he winked as if he knew something that Sarah didn't.
Sarah smiled weakly again and sat back in the carriage. Her clothes were uncomfortable but she managed enough energy to use her magic to change into something more comfortable. "I'm going to meet Jareth's Father." Sarah thought nervously. "He will hate me, he will blame me for his sons death." Sarah sat quite, sad and a bit frightened as she dwelled on the meeting at hand. "If he had me put to death I would not blame him." she thought miserably before falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.
-
-
-
Author's Note: Alright so I didn't bring Jareth back but I did have the Duke arrested! Please put your pitchforks back down until you read the end, soon to come. Also want to let everyone know that I have started a new fanfiction, it is a Labyrinth / Pan's Labyrinth crossover. I have the prologue up now, it's called ' Keeper of Portals' check it out if you want.
Thanks for the many reviews for the last chapter, even if most of you were threatening my life or bawling. haha. I'm evil I know. Sorry, can't help it.
Now I want to take the time to Thank people specifically.
Anij and yodeladyhoo - Not only for reviewing but for giving helpful tips and critique
Notwritten and Silver Rebel for being the first to review
TriGemini for leaving the most reviews and for the reviews always being lengthy and expressive
Notwritten for leaving the 2nd most reviews
Fireshifter and Myra for being extra supportive and nice friends :-)
Extra thanks to these who reviewed the most regularily: Notwritten, TriGemini, AvitarGirl,Yodeladyhoo,Fireshifter, C.E. Hobbit,Avispa,Patienceless, Rhiannon A. Christy, Katchelle87, Mint Tea Rose, Myra of the Flame, Bookworm37, Artemisdesari
Cloud97 for always making me laugh
And Thanks to everyone who has reviews thus far...
Wolf.at.Heart
Silver Rebel
Notwritten
TriGemini
Kalaia
Echo the Insane
AvitarGirl
Anij
InuLvr7
Miss Selah
CelestialPheonix Maiden
Katchelle87
Yodeladyhoo
FireShifter
C.E. Hobbit
Avispa
Solea
Rhiannon A. Christy
janeitesarah
Patienceless
Mint Tea Rose
Dragoon-Yue
Myra of the Flame
Bookworm.Annie
Rebeckah
phedre87
Sintar
LabyLvrPhx
BookWorm37
Artemisdesari
MotherBear
saskia2
FaeriesMidwife
Cloud97
Kagome2323
Seventh Bell Astarael
PandaMilk?
Weirdness Rocks
Vixen519
anj19841983
Hakkai Ottaku
Dark Angel Millenia
xkuroxshinobix
Shards of Light
angelbabe2000
divachick214
Spitfire21
Widcall
RitualKitten
Dragonkatt
mia1024
dreaZALA
NashotahGirl
Jess
h0p3
Starbaby-210
Jeannie4eva
and thanks to those readers who read but dont review. And thanks to everyone who will review in the future.