Playing with Fire
The bright, savage figure that had leaped out in front of Sarah was a Firey. She had encountered them before. They had a grudge against her. She screamed a second time and shrank away from the creature, hands folded across herself. It stared at her with eyes that were blue, with red pupils. Its very long fingers seemed to be perpetually drumming. It danced toward her in a rhythmic dance.
"What's happening?" it demanded, then added. "Pretty Lady."
Sarah looked for an escape, turned only to see two more advancing on her. She felt the sob in her throat.
"Hey!" they said to her, rousingly. "Come on, now."
She looked around at them all in great alarm. "What do you want?"
"What, us?" asked a third. "Why, we're just after havin' ourselves a good time."
They began to leap around, hooting and clapping. "Oh, yeah. What you need is a little mess-around." One of them grabbed her by the hands. "Come, on. You gotta shake it loose a bit."
Sarah knew their idea of 'shaking it loose a bit' included dismembering their own bodies. "Thanks, but I'm just fine the way I am." Sarah was still timidly backing away.
One of them grabbed her round the middle and laughed, "Don't ya want to have a good time, lady?" Its long fingers tickled as it continued to beat out that strange rhythm they all seemed to be drumming.
"No, I want to get to the castle." Sarah pried open the fingers of the hands on her waist. "Let go."
She was shoved into another Firey's grip. "You sure is uptight, lady. Must be all these clothes you got on."
"Yeah," another cried out wildly. "Too many clothes."
"Take em off her!" One shouted. "That'll shake her loose."
"No." Sarah shouted. "I don't want you taking off my clothes."
There was no escaping the Fireys, who had hold of her clothes in their long fingers and were hopping enthusiastically along with her in tow. They were pulling her toward a grassy knoll, where she was shoved down and her shoes pulled off her feet. One Firey pulled at the zipper on her jeans while another held her shoulders down. The rest cavorted in a frenzy of excitement, hooting and screeching. Two of them each grabbed one of her pant legs and pulled the jeans down her hips.
"You'll feel so much better once we free you from these clothes." They told her.
"I don't want to feel free." Sarah protested weakly.
They all burst out laughing. Their heads flew up in the air, and their arms had to detach themselves to catch the heads. Then one looked at her with wild eyes, "But we want to show you a good time. Don't you want to have a good time? And clothes get in the way of our kind of good time."
Sarah's jeans were now pulled down past her knees, "No I don't want to have a good time!"
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Jareth was watching Sarah from the castle. In his crystal, he saw her tormented face looking around for a way to escape. Jareth chuckled to himself, enjoying her embarrassment. He sat in his throne watching, as the three traitors were shackled to the posts positioned with a direct view of the curtained wall. He called over to Hoggle. "Oh Hogheart, you'll be pleased to know the Firey's are with Sarah, so you don't have to worry about her being alone."
"Firey's?" the veins were popping in Hoggles face. "Jareth, you know what they do to women. You can't let them do that to Sarah."
"I can if I want to." Jareth said, as he slide gracefully from the throne. "It just so happens, I don't want them damaging her. So I'll just go free her from their grasp…As soon as they've removed her clothes."
"Your Majesty!" protested Didymus. "That is not the conduct of one who lives by the code!"
Jareth looked at the knight with a surprised expression, "It's not?" then mockingly laughed. "So it's not." He continued to laugh as he vanished.
"Poor Sarah." Moaned Hoggle.
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A pair of Firey's ran off with the jeans once they were off. Sarah watched her jeans disappear into the woods. She moaned knowing she would never find them. The Firey holding down her shoulders snickered and leered, as he looked down at her bare legs. The one who had pulled the zipper down, now straddled her and ran his long fingers down the front of her blouse. "Still gots too much on!" he announced.
Sarah could not believe the creatures she'd found to be so disarming on her first visit, had changed so. "Why are you doing this to me?"
Wild eyes looked into hers, "We just want to show you a good time, Lady. We know how to have a good time." His fingers ran down her front again, slower, more purposefully. "Once we get you out of your clothes we'll show you a real good time."
'They are going to rape me.' Sarah thought.
The front of the poet shirt was ripped open, buttons went flying. Fiery's were leering. The one who ripped the blouse open now ran his long fingers over her brassier. Tapping out a rhythm against her skin as it moved down her abdomen. It was bubbling with glee as it began to bounce over her. The one holding her shoulders began to pick up the rhythm, its long fingers began to snake down toward her breasts. One finger snaked under the fabric covering her breast. It found her nipple and began to roll it to a hardening nub. Suddenly they both stopped, the rhythm stopped. Both the Firey's heads snapped up and they were at full attention. One sniffed the air and the other rose up.
Suddenly both moved away from Sarah, screaming. Sarah sat up, figuring if there was danger to a Firey, it could not be good for her. She knew looking for her jeans was a lost cause. She looked down, she still had her socks on, and her undergarments. Pulling the shirt closed she looked around for the outcropping of rocks that she had climbed up before. This time she walked round the foundation of the rock and stone wall. What ever had spooked the Firey's she did not want to know.
Jareth had stayed invisible while she made her 'getaway'. He sat on the knoll when she was gone. Moments later one of the Firey's came to where he was seated.
"We in trouble, oh king person?"
"No," Jareth sighed. "But I want you to leave Sarah alone."
"We was just gonna show her a good time. That lady ain't had a good time, in a long time." The Firey stated with a sense of remorse.
That got the King's attention. "Say that again.
"She ain't had a good time, in a long time."
Jareth crooked his finger, motioning the Firey to come closer. "How do you know?"
"I can smell it on her." The creature jeered. "She needs her a real, real good time."
Like a conspirator, Jareth snickered. "I agree."