CHAPTER XI
Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly. It was only six month since Jareth had been poisoned, but it felt a lot longer. The queen wondered how it was possible that time, which had run away from her on the road, was so stubbornly crawling as she was struggling to rule the goblin kingdom.
"Why the night would anybody want to be ruler? To the point where they'd start a war to win a kingdom?" she demanded from nobody specific.
"This is the worst job I have ever had, and if I honestly believed I'd have to do it for the rest of my life, I'd start eying an early death. Longingly." Sarah groaned as she looked at the sheaves of paper that lay before her on the desk. "Where is the fun in being king?"
The ministers and councilors in the room did their best to hide their grins.
Sindri didn't bother. "Jareth rather liked it, you know. Not everybody is as impatient as you, Sarah, and there are people who actually enjoy running a demesne."
"Control freaks, the lot of them, I say," Sarah grumbled.
Sindri just laughed. "And this from the queen who has every single one of her ministers and councilors shadowed by two goblins at any time," she chided Sarah without rancor.
Sarah looked up from her papers and eyed the councilors in the room wearily. "The goblins are not reporting to me what their wards do, you know that, right? I don't give a damn in what bed any of my councilors sleep, or with whom," and though she looked at Sindri with laughing eyes, she did not pursue the topic any further.
"This is a case of sheer self-preservation, as I can't afford to loose any of you. I am about drowning in all this work, even with all your help, but if the man without a name starts to pick off even one of you, I can just pack it in."
She looked grim. "And anyways, you'll have to admit it worked. Since Jareth was attacked, only seven people were killed in the city. And whether my actions have anything to do with this or not, I am going to claim the glory for it. Considering that I also get blamed when anything goes wrong." She picked up the title page of yet another stack of paper that lady Siobhán, the clerk of the privy council, had added to the various other materials crowding her desk.
She read the title aloud. "General Livestock Husbandry Program for the Homesteads in the New Territories of the Ascension of the Goblin Queen."
Sarah put down the paper disbelievingly and looked at the clerk of the privy with a long-suffering expression . "Are you really trying to tell me that the goblin king read all this crap and told you what to do in each case, lady Siobhán?"
It had taken a few weeks until the clerk of the privy council had grown accustomed to the goblin queen's direct manner and utter lack of tact, but the lady Siobhán had long since revised her original doubts about the queen's abilities. As the lady Sarah had stated very clearly from the onset, she had no idea of governance when she took over the administration. Yet with the help of the chancellor the queen had set up a heavy schedule for herself to spend time with the ministers and clerks, and what she needed to understand first. It seemed that she had done nothing but learn since then, and much faster than anyone considered possible. And while Sarah relied heavily on the expertise and good sense of her ministers, she had acquired a solid grasp of what was going on and had begun to give her own input and directions. Lady Siobhán thought that the queen was shaping up to be a ruler that complemented the king well. She understood and mastered well enough the basics of ruling now, but her interests ran along completely different lines than the king's. The goblin king would face a whole slew of new issues to deal with, and keep financing, when he came back, like schools that the queen had begun to set up, and the new guilds whose founding she had instigated. Not to mention her inexplicable interest in controlling what the tanners, the dyers, the smiths, and other craftsmen did with their waste.
Aloud however, Lady Siobhán only said mildly: "The king usually read the summary at the beginning of the report, and only if something caught his attention would we discuss it in detail. However, I do believe we need to discuss the issue of taxation for the next year, lady Sarah. The two harvests this year have been more than plentiful, and it has been a windfall for all farmers and landholders."
Sarah sighed and threw herself into another necessary discussion of mind-numbing tedium, but she was glad when the morning's meeting was finally over and the ministers took their leave, and only Sindri stayed behind.
"Larak and food," Sindri said with one look at Sarah's face and sent Eek to get Ikiaq.
"I never thought I'd see the day when I hear you discuss the relative merits of staggered taxes versus lump payments. It is truly amazing, Sarah, you are doing better than quite some rulers that have been at it for many great years."
"Let me tell you, Sindri, not only did I never imagine I'd discuss taxation either, I fervently hope I will never again after this is over," Sarah said glumly. "And I bet you that those kings who actually don't have as good a handle on ruling than I do have a lot more fun. I am jealous of them. "
"You knew it was not going to be easy, Sarah. But nobody in the underground will ever dare to naysay the human goblin queen again, you are proving them all wrong. I don't know how you managed to pick everything up as quickly as you do, but everyone is impressed. Even Tiernan has shut up and just does as you say now."
Sarah could not help laughing. "Well, Tiernan hasn't given in completely yet, he still tries to sneak off, I think it's become a competition between him and his guards in the city. They are winning more often these days."
She yawned. "And to be honest, Sindri, it's not that I pick all this new stuff up as easily as you seem to think. I just make the time for it. Literally."
Sindri looked at her quizzically for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Time magic?"
"Well, when do you think I find the time to read all those thick reports that everybody hands to me with the urgent appeal to give my opinion by the next day? After I have finished everything I need to do every day, which, by the way, takes up more time than I would ever have thought possible, I take yet another exiting report on public sewers, or bridge tolls, or trade contracts, and I move myself outside time until I have finished and understood it. Let me tell you, Sindri, my respect for Jareth has never been higher. I can't wait until I can hand over this whole stuff to him again. Throw it at him, rather." Her voice was wry.
Sindri laughed. "I don't think he spends but a fraction of your hours at it. After so many great years I doubt much surprises him still, nor does it take as much time. You're still new at this, and it will get better."
"That's easy for you to say, Sindri. I know you and Porr are working as hard as anyone else, but at least you both have some ... distractions when you are done at the end of the day." Sarah looked at her adviser with a wide grin.
"There are countless men at court who would like nothing more than to offer you all the distractions you can handle, goblin queen, so what are you complaining about? Tiernan comes to mind. I am sure he is more than willing, and I bet he can kiss very well, too."
Sindri quickly subdued the cheeky grin on her face and graced Sarah with a very proper and decorous smile. "The chancellor and I discuss matters of national importance after hours, and as everyone is so busy with their own work, we take the only time there is, in the evenings."
Sarah laughed out loud. "That's pretty much what I thought you did alright, discuss matters of national importance. That must be why my chancellor has such a blissed-out grin on his face whenever his thoughts wander these days. I think you two must be hoarding all the good topics, as nothing that makes it to my desk could bring on such a look." Sindri laughed. "You do realize that I have never been to a dwarf wedding? I do hope you'll invite me, Sindri, I have heard they are much more raucous than would be expected in so proper a kindred."
"I certainly hope that you and Jareth will tie the union, and drink copiously to our health, but don't hold your breath, Sarah, it's not going to happen anytime soon." Sarah's eyebrows went up questioningly.
"We are talking about Porr, remember? While I doubt it is going to take him quite as long to ask me to marry him as it took him to first kiss me, I don't think I am expecting anything to happen in the foreseeable future."
"Surely you're joking, Sindri? The man cannot be such an idiot that he'd risk letting you get away before he had a chance to bind you to him for good?"
Sindri seemed more amused than exasperated. "He knows I love him, as he loves me. He will scrape up the courage to ask soon enough. I don't care about ceremonies, and if I want to start a family before he has managed to ask me, I will tell him."
She grinned. "Actually, if all I wanted is to get married immediately, I would simply mention children in his presence. He'd ask me posthaste then."
Sarah looked at her curiously. "Since you brought up the topic, you can just as well answer my questions now, as I don't know whom else to ask. There are many bound couples at court, and all over the kingdom. The labyrinth says this means they have chosen to stay with each other and raise a family together." Sindri listened attentively. "Well, if I understand correctly, bindings are forever, and that's a bloody long time. And why do they do that, as I know that fidelity is not part of the deal? Half of the married ladies here at court have shared Jareth's bed, if not more, and I can see no jealousy anywhere among the men. Aren't the men afraid they'd be raising a cuckoo? I mean, most married men and women her seem to be considering marital vows as something of a joke."
Sindri began to laugh. "To begin with, Sarah, I'd advise you not to ask such questions of any other dwarves, huldra or haltija. Or shedim. We are a bit more constrained than humans and fae. Not that anyone would say it to your faces, but as far as we are concerned, where fidelity is concerned, there is little difference between rabbits and fae or humans." Sarah was rather amused.
"Yet fidelity is not what the marriage oath is about. The oath of binding to a life mate is not taken easily or on impulse. We share our beds with others before we bind ourselves, but this has nothing to do with the binding. We marry someone we care for, someone we love and trust, someone who shares our ideas and dreams, who will build a life and a family with us. All kindreds are such, even fae. The person you marry will be the mother or father of your child if you are blessed. They will be part of your life forever." Sarah was not as surprised as she had been when first realized the value of children and companionship in the underground.
Sindri continued. "For many kindreds the person we bind ourselves to is the only person we will ever share our bed and our bodies with again. This is our nature, and we just find it strange that for other kindreds the desire for another still exists, for it is not our way. This is not so for fae or humans, and for a few other kindreds. Yet even for the fae, the oath of binding is more than a promise but powerful magic. In the binding, two people give their hope for a future into another's hands. A bound couple will only ever have children with each other, it is the way of the binding. Understand, it is not a bond undertaken lightly, for all in the underground crave children. It matters more than the desires of the body and the heat of the embrace, the love of someone who will be there for us and the hope for the future that our children are."
Sindri looked at Sarah's surprised face. "All bound couples in all demesnes know that their children are theirs, for the magic allows nothing else. They know that their oathbound mate is their lover and their friend who chose them knowingly and with open eyes. Life is long in the underground, and if fae and humans seem to be drawn to others even when they are bound, these are but passing pleasures and joys, shared with others of like mind. Even fae and humans understand this," and she smirked at Sarah. "But dwarf or fae, your mate will ever hold your trust and ward your back, and even if you do not desire them as you did once, their love and yours is at the root of your life, so much more important than the rabbiting."
"You just could not help that last remark, could you, Sindri?"
Sindri laughed out loud. "Well, I am obviously of the opinion that we are much superior by not jumping into as many beds as we can." She turned serious, however, before she went on.
"But really, all that means very little, Sarah. Binding is about love and family and future, not just desire. I think that is why we think so little of humans."
The dwarf lady looked at her queen with a touch of apology in her eyes. "Humans are blessed with children, yet they do not understand the gift they are given. So many of the little ones that Jareth brings over are in miserable shape. I have seen babies that were little more than skeletons, their eyes sunken and their little bellies bloated with hunger. I have seen small children with broken bones and bruises all over, and who could possibly do this to a helpless little thing? I have seen young girls so terrified that they began to shake when a man as much as looked at them."
Sarah looked at her hands, unsure what to say, as she agreed with all that Sindri said. "I have no explanation or excuse, Sindri. Please understand, though, that the children that Jareth and I take are from all the human history, in all the Above. This might not seem all that long if you are immortal, yet it is countless generations for mortals. I have brought many children to the underground now, and there a many places and periods in the Above where people hold their children as precious as any parents do in the Underground. Many of the half-dead children were wished away by mothers who were in even worse shape and desperately hoped for anything better for their children." She gave Sindri a wry smile. "Humans breed like rabbits, and it is hard to imagine for any in the underground, but too many children can destroy you as much as too few."
When Ikiaq came in with food and hot larak, the discussion ended abruptly as the women dug into the food hungrily, and when a bit later Porr arrived, the war council began over lunch.
As Porr picked up a meat sandwich, Sarah looked at it with momentary envy. When he caught her look, the chancellor seductively wiggled the sandwich before her face. "I promise you, lady Sarah, the cow that went into the making of this slab of meat never talked to anyone. It's probably been dunking its tail into countless pails of milk before it was slaughtered, and it was about as sentient as a carrot."
He bit into the bread with relish. "This is the best meat I have ever eaten, really. You should try it, lady Sarah."
"It is amazing how Jareth's friends have the same sadistic streak he does," Sarah said sourly and grabbed a fish sandwich.
"I have had cows and pigs talk to me, and even if most of them are just dumb animals, the memory rather turned me off meat. And if you don't stop waving your sandwich before my nose, lord Porr, I will fill your dreams with sweet-talking animals until you're not able to eat anything but carrots ever again."
Porr hid his grin. "When will lord Tiernan be back?"
Ikiaq looked up from her mug of larak. "We heard strange rumors from the fens, and he went to find out more. Well, the rumors were right. There are dead oathbound in the fens. He sent word he'd be back in a few weeks, it has gone bad there."
Ikiaq's face was shadowed. It seemed that whenever the situation got better in one part of the country, it took a turn for the worse somewhere else.
Sindri had better news. "But on the positive side, I have just had word from Toby, and he has managed to acquire nearly all of the ingredients for the antidote. It seems Matagamon has been instrumental in helping him with some of the strangest things - a naga's eyeteeth, and a feather from the tail of the Roc. It is nice to know that they have made their choice," Sindri looked at Sarah innocently, she had predicted that in the end the Matagan fae would not dare to back the man without a name, but Sarah had thought them narrow-minded and dumb enough to do it anyway. "All the best dwarf healers are in the healer halls in Joensuu, and they will prepare the antidote as soon as they have everything. Toby will bring it here when they are done."
"So we need mostly a few more ingredients of lesser importance? And of course a whisker from the Uncegila. Well, who to better gain it than the man who defeated the Leviathan? Ningyo is the Sao Llyr's sister-son, and he has upheld his ties to the sea. I cannot foresee any difficulties. Having the goblin king owing a life debt to the sea is worth much." Sarah closed her eyes as in supplication. "I can't wait until Jareth is back. I am exhausted from living up to the court's expectations of me, and I miss the road so. I finally want to be able to say my mind again. If I never talk to another diplomat again it will be too late."
Porr gave her a commiserating grin. "Talking of diplomats, lady Sarah," and he handed her a thick sheaf of documents bearing the seal of the Archon. Makgadikigadi had decided that this was an excellent time to re-negotiate some of their trade contracts, and while Sarah was incensed that they were so blatantly trying to take advantage of her inexperience, she rather admired the sheer nerve. With a groan she took the tied papers and threw them to Nehorai, who picked them up mid-flight with practiced ease.
Porr shook his head. "You really need to read them, lady Sarah," he admonished her. "You are far better at diplomatic negotiations than you had ever admitted to, but you do need to read the papers."
Sarah gave him an appraising look before she finally spoke. "I hate to destroy your illusions, my lord Porr, but you have never heard a single one of my words in any of the diplomatic meetings I attended. Consider yourself lucky. Had any of the envoys heard what I really had to say, it might have damaged the goblin kingdom's relations with our neighbors a lot more than you would like."
She winked at Nehorai. "Luckily for you, my shadow has brains, social skills, and tact. And since he is under a spell of silence, nobody can hear a word he says to me."
As her councilors looked at her with dawning understanding, Sarah smiled serenely at them. "I have been able to master just about everything that you asked me to learn, lord Porr, but I think it is impossible to teach me the kind of measured judgment, or polite conversation, necessary for success in diplomatic negotiations. Nehorai, on the other hand, was made for this kind of work. He reads the contracts and the background reports, he evaluates them a lot less emotionally than I would, and he carefully considers what would be best for the goblin kingdom without daydreaming of eviscerating the bastards. In short, he is all you need. You might have noticed how very ... well-considered and ... thoroughly thought-out my words are with the legates from other demesnes. And let's not even mention the ... time-lag between their questions and Nehorai's words first leaving his mouth, and then mine."
Porr was speechless, but Ikiaq and Sindri broke into laughter. "I am glad to hear you are not accomplished in every respect, Sarah," Sindri managed to get out.
"I had been wondering if you were possessed or something, you were so spookily controlled when you dealt with the ambassadors, it seemed your opinionated nature had somehow vanished." She smiled at Nehorai. "I am so glad to hear you cheated, my queen. And you are right, Nehorai has been doing brilliantly. He seems to have a natural gift for this - even Jareth looses his temper at times, but Nehorai seems to be doing him one better."
And their discussion turned to other topics. Yet from then on Porr would search out Nehorai and put into his hands the information for diplomatic meetings, and when he talked about issues with another demesnes or background on some visiting nobles, he would always direct his words to the queen's shadow, or seek Nehorai out to give him some additional information.
Yet despite the auspicious beginnings to gathering the ingredients of the antidote, to Sarah's utter dismay another seven months passed before it could finally be brewed. Unfortunately for her, one of the ingredients was a seed of the titan arum, and it took months to find a specimen that had flowered and seeded, even in the hot forests of Makgadikigadi.
But whether the goblin queen truly appreciated it or not, her year ruling the kingdom in the goblin city had given her a place in the hearts and minds of her people far beyond the loyalty she commanded simply because she was chosen.
She had gained the respect of the officials of the court and the administration, who had not thought it possible that a mere human, even if she was the goblin queen, could successfully reign. Sarah's unceasing labor, her hard-earned proficiency and her willingness to accept guidance and help had won her the admiration of the lords and ladies on whose advice she had relied, without letting herself being led.
The court was charmed by a queen who was wildly human yet powerful and wild, sometimes eerily reminiscent of the king. And if her amused disregard of rules and traditions did ruffle some feathers, her undisguised curiosity and fascination in all people she met made up for it.
And the people in the city took to the goblin queen when the sudden deaths in the city dwindled, and the new schools and guild halls had her people's tongues wagging. While they reserved final judgment on these new-fangled concepts, they were still delighted by their queen's labors to better life for her people. And it helped that the citizens of the goblin kingdom had a high appreciation for entertainment, and with the queen now presiding at court day, seats in old market in town had become ever more scarce. Sarah had found that the best preparation for court day was to go into the market as Eir and gossip with people about the cases to be brought before the queen. There was not much that gossip did not understand about the history and possible motives for any case, and Sarah relied on it to get her through her cases. The betting tables did brisk business as before, although it had taken the huldra a while to be able to gauge the queen well enough to make profits from their bets. The goblin queen could be as nasty as the king, but she got riled by different things, yet the general consensus was that for one as young as she, the queen had excellent insight into how people would lie in court.
And Sarah's every waking hour was filled with un-ending duties, and while she found the burden easing with time, she craved silence and freedom more than she admitted to anyone. So when Toby finally arrived in the castle with the flasks of antidote before the Lughnasadh celebrations, just over a year since Jareth had been poisoned, Sarah was ready to kiss his feet and call him savior.
Given a choice, Sarah would have probably preferred to be as far away from Jareth as possible when he was administered the antidote, but unfortunately she had to be there to draw him back into time. She was embarrassed to admit it even to herself, but sometimes at night, when everything had seemed too overwhelming and all she had wanted to do is run away, she had quietly gone into Jareth's room and slept in his bed, his blankets wrapped tightly around her and her head buried in his pillows, and she woke up comforted and ready to face another day. Well, what was done was done, and she was certainly not going to tell him about it.
Sarah had donned her most severe dress, pointedly ignoring Nehorai's teasing, for Nehorai was the only one who knew about her night visits to the goblin king's rooms and had drawn his own conclusions from it. She had no plans to get into touching distance of Jareth, and she was most certainly not going to think about the kiss. When Sarah thought how impeccably the goblin king had comported himself in utter agony, she felt that it might be best to have as few witnesses around as possible when the antidote started to take effect. You just never knew what choice words might come to him when she brought him back. She had planned to get it over with as quickly and with only a healer to help, but she found that she was facing formidable opposition she could not completely overcome.
So now she stood in Jareth's bedroom, Nehorai and Sed quietly beside her, with the healer Hina'ea, Ikiaq, and Sindri. She had put her foot down and strictly forbade the men to join them, though both Tiernan and Porr had been most vocal in their objections, and even Toby had pleaded most convincingly, but to no avail. The queen had finally laid down the law, declaring that men had no place where life was given, and that had shut them up but good. Sarah felt like an utter hypocrite, as she knew she played on a perception common in the underground which considered birth to be woman's work exclusively. It was not an opinion she shared, but she was not averse to using it to her advantage. She was determined to limit the amount of people at Jareth's return to the living to as few people as possible.
So from the deepest recesses of the mind of the labyrinth Sarah brought back into existence the crystal she had hidden Jareth in. She grew and finally dissolved the sphere of light over the bed, gently laying down his prone half-naked body. She forced herself not to ogle him and handed a flask of antidote to the castellaine.
"Just pour the stuff down his throat, Ikiaq, explanations can wait until later," she admonished. "He is in agony, and the faster the antidote gets into him the better."
Sindri grinned at Sarah. "Healer Hina'ea, don't you agree with me that this is much too disorienting and abrupt?" she asked sweetly.
"I really think you should kiss him as you bring him back into time, Sarah, I am sure it would help him tremendously. And then you can give him the antidote. Now wouldn't that be considerate?"
Ikiaq and Hina'ea did not bother to hide their laughter. Sarah looked at them with murder in her face, her face scarlet. The last thing she needed was to be reminded of the kiss. It presented itself unbidden in her dreams a lot more often than she cared to remember, but she preferred not to think about it in her waking moments. It had been the normal reaction of a human to a fae, and that was all there was to it.
Ikiaq scolded Sindri laughingly. "Really, Sindri, we are talking about the goblin queen and the goblin king. When was the last time they admitted to being considerate? They only do that when nobody watches. So perhaps we should leave them completely alone."
"Just in case you forgot, Ikiaq, that is exactly what I had wanted in the first place. But you and Sindri just would not relent until you could be here as well," Sarah forced out between clenched teeth.
"Why don't you get on with it?" and to her relief Ikiaq turned to Jareth and uncorked the antidote.
Sarah went deep into her mindlink with the labyrinth and gathered the magic to her, and with a twist of her hand, just so, she punctured the bubble of timelessness that enclosed Jareth, and he fell back into time. As he lay on the bed with wild eyes, Ikiaq resolutely put the flask to his lips and drained the muddy liquid into his mouth. The potion ran down his throat and left him sputtering and coughing, but Sarah saw with relief that he swallowed it all. Ikiaq spoke to him in the calming voice of a mother comforting a hurting child, telling him that he had just taken the antidote, and the pain would end soon, and her calming voice and touch stilled the confused man. Sarah was debating with herself if she should take the sensible, cowardly way out and just run away, but her pride would not let her, and so she staid where she was, trying to blend with the wall hangings as best she could.
Hina'ea took Ikiaq's place at Jareth's side and assayed his body with her healing magic, careful not to brush against him. Sarah felt much better when she realized that she was not the only one mindful about getting close to the goblin king. Although it seemed wiping a snot-nosed child's face imparted immunity, for Ikiaq never hesitated touching him, and he touched her with equal ease, but everyone else was exquisitely careful not to ever get in physical contact with Jareth. When she thought of it, she realized it was the same with her - the only person who ever touched her, or whom she touched, was Nehorai, and her goblins.
Within a short time color crept back into Jareth's face and his tense features began to relax, which unfortunately allowed him to pay attention to his surroundings again. Looking around, his eyes fell on Sarah trying for invisibility against the wall, and a salacious smile stole on his face.
"Really, my dearest Sarah, this dress does nothing for you. A potato sack would look as good. I much preferred you in this charming bit of nothing you wore just a moment ago. It suited you much better, and it left so little to the imagination." He obviously enjoyed the dark blush that seemed to permanently settle on Sarah's face.
"As I imagine you have surmised, goblin king, it was hardly a moment ago," she said in her most freezing tone, knowing full well that it would not stop him.
"Perhaps you also remember what else I said? I told you that I would kill you if you ever tried to die on me again? Keep in mind I was in a good mood then, as I had just learned about the antidote. I am not in a good mood now, goblin king. And killing you would be too easy. If you ever flake out on me like this again, night help me, I'll castrate you. That should keep you in business, and it would cut down on the distractions." Sarah glared at him, her temper rising when she saw his delighted amusement.
"I have been doing my best to pretend I make a decent queen for a solid bloody year, so now you have exactly four days, until after the Lughnasadh ball, to recover. Me and Nehorai will be leaving the city for the road the day after," she finished in a growl.
"A whole year?" For a moment Jareth seemed truly startled, but he recovered quickly.
"I am sure you did an admirable job, my dearest Sarah," he went on unperturbed, sitting up and stretching like a cat while Sarah stared determinedly at her hands.
"But perhaps you should have taken a little longer before you took me out of time, as I certainly do not recall any pain at all just before you stopped time. You make an excellent pain killer, my queen." His smile went through her to the tip of her toes.
"Everything considered, it was an excellent idea of me to teach you time magic. I am disappointed, though, I would have thought you could procure the antidote faster."
Sarah was already taking a deep breath when she realized that he was consciously goading her, and with all her strength she suppressed the words that lay on the tip of her tongue and smiled at him forcedly.
"Ruling has done you no end of good, Sarah," Jareth said approvingly. "I doubt you would have been able to stop yourself from blurting out your words a short year ago."
Sarah felt it was time to leave the premises before she forgot about her lofty achievements of the past months and looked at him scathingly. "It is obvious that you are as good as new, goblin king, more the pity," she told him as pointedly as possible.
"I believe I'll tell the good news to everyone outside." Jareth looked slightly alarmed, and with a relish Sarah continued. "I believe they can't wait to bring you up to date on all that happened, goblin king. I am sure you'll have a relaxing day."
And with a poisonous smile Sarah left the king's bedroom.
Sarah had underestimated Jareth's ability to recover. The day after he had taken the antidote she went to the library to read some recent report and found him sitting in one of the chairs, engrossed in some paperwork and surrounded by a sizable crowd of goblins. For a miracle the goblins were actually quiet, they had missed their king enough to even put up with his unreasonable demands for silence to be close to him. As the door opened he looked up, and a smile softened his focused features. Sarah thought he looked none the worse for the poisoning, obviously there was more to immortality than just not aging.
"I hope you don't mind if I join you, goblin king?" she asked as she threw her reports on a desk before she sat down in a deep chair. "Interesting reading?" she inquired with a nod to the papers on the desk before Jareth.
"Quite so, Sarah, and most informative. Lady Siobhán has prepared a write-up of all that happened while I was frozen in a moment of unending bliss," he grinned at her unabashedly, "and it makes the most fascinating reading."
A morning spent in three meetings had sapped Sarah's contrary spirit, and she just looked at him exasperated. "Perhaps I should have been poisoned," she said with a wry grin. "It sounds as if you had a much better time than I did."
"You might not have had a good time, my queen, but you performed the duties of the ruler of the goblin kingdom without fail, and from what I am reading, you put everyone who might have doubts about your abilities to shame." He smiled at her with frank admiration.
"Not that I ever doubted your starling qualities, Sarah. Although I do find myself surprised that we still have diplomatic relations with anybody. And they seem to be very good actually. There are depths to you I have not yet plumbed."
Sarah laughed. "Well, you better get up to speed as quickly as you can, goblin king. As I am sure you realize from your light reading, I am more than ready to run screaming from the city and anybody asking me for another decision on," and she lifted the front page of the papers before her to read the title, "River tolls for bridges and locks." She looked up with a grimace. "And they want a decision tomorrow. So forgive me, but I need to read up on this report, goblin king."
She leaned back in her chair and tucked her feet under. With a quick gesture Jareth conjured two steaming mugs of larak on the table, and Sarah gratefully took one before she delved into the report. They spent the next two hours reading their papers, and occasionally Sarah would ask him to clarify an issue in the report she did not understand, and he would ask for an explanation of an item in lady Siobhán's report, and they worked in companionable silence.
Before Sarah left for her next meeting, Jareth turned to her. "The day after the Lughnasadh ball is court day, Sarah. I will join the dais, but it is the goblin queen's last court session for a while, am I correct? You will have to sit in judgment over Bergljot."
Sarah looked at him aghast. "But ... I thought you would be the judge. I don't know enough to be able to judge someone accused of attempted murder of the king! Who is going to defend her? Night's sake, goblin king, how can I be a fair judge? I have only dealt with the usual petty cases in the last year, how can I judge this?"
"She tried to kill me, Sarah. I imagine as far as prejudice is concerned, I would make a rather biased judge. You need to find the truth as best you can. Talk to Sindri, she might be of some assistance - I do not believe anybody knows quite as much as she does of past assassinations, treason, and their punishment. History is full of such stories."
He grinned maliciously. "You can always sentence Bergljot to death, and nobody, including myself, would consider it an unfair or wrong judgment."
With a groan Sarah picked her reports from the desk. "And here I thought I might actually enjoy the Lughnasadh celebrations. Now I'll be worried all night."
"Don't fret, my dearest Sarah, I shall do my best to distract you," Jareth laughed.
"But before you leave, tell me, where is Tobias? I have seen him but a few minutes yesterday, and now he seems to have vanished. I need him to go on a mission after the celebrations, and ..."
"No you don't, goblin king," Sarah interrupted him. "Toby and Heulwen will handfast in Tailltean marriage at the ball, so he is rather busy."
She grinned. "You should see the Carmarthen Fianna trying to impress on him the utter honor of having one of theirs as much as look at him. And don't even think about sending him away for a while - I relied much on him in the last year, and he did not get to spend as much with Heulwen as he would have liked to. He is the one who collected most of the ingredients for the antidote, and he has been traveling long and far for them. The boy deserves some time with his new wife after the celebrations, so leave him be."
Jareth looked at her with surprise and delight on his face. "This must have developed quickly. A year ago he had not even managed to confess his feelings to her, and now they already want to handfast?"
He shook his head in mock pity. "Ah, the exuberance and rashness of youth. Not to mention the ignorance."
"You know, I told them the same thing, why hurry so much? I refrained from asking if they had a bloody idea what they were doing, I figured it was the wrong thing to say out loud. I only mentioned to Heulwen that there are many fish in the sea, and she asked me not to compare her beloved to an animal." Sarah and Jareth looked at each other and broke into laughter.
"Well, a year and a day is not a long time," Jareth said thoughtfully. "However, Tobias is steadfast and constant, and Heulwen is a very sensible young woman."
He looked at Sarah with a smile. "You might have to be here in the goblin city for the next Lughnasadh as well, Sarah, as those two might well confirm their promise."
Sarah turned to the door. "As long as I am not subjected to reports on taxes and tariffs, I believe I am up to it. And now I have to run - as well you know, goblin king, it does not do to let lady Siobhán waiting."
And with these words the goblin queen left the library.
To her surprise Sarah was able to enjoy the Lughnasadh ball after all. It was hard not to, what with Jareth being at his most solicitous and charming and Toby and Heulwen being beyond themselves with joy and sharing their feelings generously. Sarah saw with gladness that Porr seemed to be over the extreme discretion he had displayed for much too long and was positively hovering over Sindri, who took very nicely to his obvious rapt attention and familiarity. When the queen danced with the goblin king, he began to inquire in depth about this development, which he had obviously missed completely, and she was glad to oblige as it allowed her to concentrate on something else but his nearness. Her evening passed in dance and flirtation, and if she had too much firewine to drink, she told herself that it did not give you headaches or any of the other side effects that overindulgence of wine made of grapes would cause.
The old market hall was as crowded as possible, several times as many people squashed in than the fire regulations in the Above would have considered acceptable, as everyone wanted to hear the goblin queen's justice for the would-be assassin Bergljot as much as confirm that the goblin king was healthy and hale again as ever.
On the dais Sarah looked menacing and enchanting in equal parts in the goblin queen's formal robes, a dark dream in black embroidered skirt panels over tight black pants in knee-high dragon boots, her grey spider-silk shirt cut low over her breasts to show her braided necklace and the medallion, a stunning dragon leather armor covering her waist and ribs, reaching up high on her back, graceful sprays of the deadly spines spiking away from the armor. Her weapons belt hung low on her waist with her cobalt side-sword on the left and a dagger on the right. Her hand was clenched on the pommel of the sword. She was deep in conversation with Jareth who was equally alluring in the finery of the goblin king. Their watchers admired the harsh and fierce fae beauty of the goblin king and the very human allure and passion of the goblin queen, and they looked like none else in the underground.
To some degree Sarah was glad that she was too wired to truly appreciate his heart-stopping beauty, she was not sure that she could have kept up her side of a coherent conversation when he did his best to be his most seductive and alluring.
"Is there anyone in the crowd you absolutely need to get into your bed right now, goblin king?" she snapped at him. "Turn down the glamour, or you'll start a riot among the womenfolk out there."
"Do I detect a note of yearning in your voice, my sweet Sarah?" Damn, nothing seemed to ever shut that man up.
"I understand that you need to make it very clear that your alive and well, goblin king, but you are giving me a headache just from standing next to you. I think it's testosterone poisoning."
"It is always advisable, Sarah, to make sure that the recipient of your insults actually understands what you are insinuating," and Jareth leaned closer to Sarah. "Who knows what testosterone is? This was a waste of an excellent opportunity for insult."
Sarah shot him a amused look, but before she had a chance to answer, the bell rang out to declare the court adjourned for the day.
On the dais, Sarah and Jareth turned in unison towards the people in the hall, and the voices in the hall died down quickly. Sarah felt her blood rush through her ears and completely missed Jareth's speech to his subjects as she tried to force herself to calm down before she had to pass judgment on someone she actually knew and liked. The next few minutes passed in a daze, and much too soon Sarah found herself alone, facing her people as Jareth retreated to a chair at the edge of the dais.
She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and with a graceful turn of her arm a crystal appeared in her hand and floated to the space before her at the edge of the dais, where it began to grow, became insubstantial and dissolved, and the dwarf cook Bergljot stood in front of the queen. The accused woman was clean and properly dressed, but she looked pale and drawn, her shoulders hanging low and her arms wrapped tightly around her body. When she realized that she stood before the queen, she looked up like a startled animal, and her eyes unconsciously searched out the goblin king, but she quickly looked to the ground when she met his curious gaze.
"I am sorry he's alive," Bergljot said defiantly without looking up, "and he wouldn't be had I been smart enough to poison you as well. I am sorry I didn't think of it."
An angry murmur rose in the hall.
"So you admit that you poisoned the goblin king, lady Bergljot?" Sarah asked mildly, her voice and that of the accused carrying easily to all corners of the hall.
"I did, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I am only sorry I failed," the pale woman said nastily and looked at the goblin queen with a distorted face.
Angry shouts rose from the crowd. "Hang the bitch" was one of the nicer epithets directed at Bergljot.
Sarah turned to the crowd with a smile and addressed them gently. "As I am sure you all understand, this is a serious case. If you are interested in actually observing the proceedings, you are welcome to stay. However, this is neither a kangaroo court nor a lynch mob."
Her voice did not change, but a sudden hush fell over the agitated audience. "Should any of you feel it necessary to interrupt me again, or hurl insults at the accused, I will give you the opportunity to ponder the wisdom of your behavior. In a wet and cold oubliette. I have the perfect one in mind already. And don't you worry about starving there, you can always catch and eat one of the rats infesting the place. I am sure I'll remember to get you out again before you are quite dead."
She gave her spell-bound listeners a blinding smile. Jareth relaxed in his chair, and none of the entertainment he felt showed on his face. His queen certainly had a distinctive style.
Sarah turned back nonchalantly to Bergljot who looked at her strangely. "So, you poisoned the goblin king with the intention to kill him, and you do not regret it. Did I understand you correctly, lady Bergljot?"
"You heard me right the first time, you human whore."
The hum in the hall from the breath and murmur of a crowd got louder, but nobody said anything. Jareth's eyes narrowed, but Sarah did not seem fazed at all.
"You have been known to your friends and coworkers for well over ten years, lady Bergljot, and everyone knew you as kind, gentle and meek. You never use objectionable language, you are hardworking and lending help to anyone who might need it. You were described as a good friend in need, trustworthy, honest and reliable." Sarah walked up to the accused woman and looked her over carefully.
"More the fools, they are. I hate them, slaves to the fae, and I hate the fae. I wished I had managed to kill the bastard." Bergljot spat out her words, steadfast refusing to look into Sarah's face.
Sarah began pacing the dais from one end to the other while she talked as if to herself, seemingly ignoring all else.
"Dragon-arum is a terrible poison. The victims die shrieking silently, their voice cords torn from screaming in mortal agony for longer than anyone can bear, their minds long gone from pain by the time death finally frees them from their torment. Often their death is not the result of the eventual stopping of the heart from pain but by their own hands, driven mad by pain they swallow their tongues, or tear out their throat or eyes with their own fingernails."
Sarah stopped for a moment before Bergljot and looked at her with her head aslant before she went back to pacing. "The pain becomes well neigh unbearable after four to five hours, but in general people only die twelve hours or more later."
Her listeners in the hall looked sickened. "The poor victims who receive the antidote more than twelve hours after they were poisoned recover, in a fashion. Their bodies may live, but who they had been is irrevocably destroyed, the madness of pain wiping out all they've ever been."
Bergljot looked as pale as everyone else in the hall. "Fae murdered my family. They deserve to die in pain," and she kept looking to the ground determinedly.
"You better execute me, goblin queen. If you don't, I might beat you to it after all. And don't you think I won't try again."
Tiernan's agitated voice rang out. "Lady Sarah, this is unbearable. The woman admits to treason and murder, be done ..."
Sarah whirled around to Tiernan who stood next to Jareth, and a look at her face, distorted in a rictus of fury, froze the words in his mouth.
"One more word, lord Tiernan, and I swear you will spend the next year in a filthy hole knee-deep in your own shit, and I will take your voice from you for a great year, since you are obviously too arrogant and half-witted to listen to your queen's orders. Night help me, keep your bloody mouth shut or I'll sew it close for you. Do you understand me?" Her voice was low and vicious, and the threat in it cut the air like a knife.
Tiernan looked at her, his face white and shocked, and seemed frozen by the unadulterated threat in Sarah's voice, and he nodded mutely.
Jareth smiled at Sarah with a proud, cruel smile, his queen was not to be trifled with. He had always known that Sarah could be hard as flint and cruel as the grave, fine and necessary qualities in the queen of the goblin kingdom. It was time everyone else realized as well.
Sarah turned back to the shaking dwarf woman on the dais and spoke to her in a perfectly quiet and controlled voice, not a trace of anger showing in her voice or demeanor.
"So you are telling me you are filled with rage against all fae, since they killed your family, right? You come to the goblin kingdom, and live here peacefully for ten years, and suddenly your rage boils over and you try to kill the man who has offered you sanctuary and who has given a new home and help to countless people like you. Likely story." Sarah smiled sweetly at the woman and then turned to Jareth.
"The day before you were poisoned you had dinner with several courtiers from Matagamon and the ambassador Féilim Ó Súilleabháin from Ardar Iforas. Bergljot prepared the desserts. Now, the Matagan fae aren't exactly known for their belief in equality of the kindreds, or their kindness. And for politeness sake, let's not even go into ambassador Ó Súilleabháin's reputation." Sarah smiled maliciously at the nobles from Ardar Iforas at the back of the dais. "And yet, all live."
She looked at Bergljot with a speculating look. "You do not dine alone very often, goblin king. Yet she waited for one of those nights. The dishes that contained the poison were specially made for you, in exactly the right amount to make sure that there would be no leftovers. She took no risk that anyone would eat of the poison but you alone, goblin king. When you were poisoned and I finally remembered where I had heard about Dragon-arum, and went to look for her, I found her in her room, well locked. She has but little magic, but she used it all to put a basic silence spell on her room. When I broke in, she was in much worse shape than you were, goblin king, she must have taken the poison well before you did. She was shrieking mindlessly in unspeakable pain. Who would choose to die like this?"
The crowd in the market hall listened in rapt attention. This was not an ordinary court day for sure.
"You did not try to kill the goblin king from hatred, lady Bergljot," Sarah looked at the small dwarf woman who had turned ever paler at her words. "Why did you poison him?"
"I don't care what stupid stories you tell yourself, human. I hate all fae, and I wanted to kill the king, and if I ever get a chance I will do it." Bergljot's hands gripped her arms until her skin turned white, and her face had a desperate cast. "You better kill me while you can."
Sarah looked at her pleadingly and bit her lip before she spoke again. "Lady Bergljot, I do not believe that you poisoned the goblin king of your own free will."
The hum in the hall got louder. "If I could spare you this, I would fulfill your wish and let you find refuge in death, but I cannot. You may well have knowledge that we need, and we must know all we can about our enemies, however reluctant I am to force you to speak."
The dwarf woman stood up straight and looked directly in the queen's eyes for the first time, and there was nothing pitiful about her now. "I do not care what you do to me, goblin queen. You may put me to torture, but I have said all that I will."
Sarah closed her eyes and her shoulders sagged, but with a determined face she straightened again. "Lady Bergljot, you suffered more pain by your own hand than I could ever inflict on you. Why would I torture your body?"
Before the woman had quite taken in her words, Sarah conjured a indigo colored crystal in her hand and threw it at the dwarf woman. It hit Bergljot and splintered into a fine fog of blue glitter that settled on her body and faded to the palest hint of blue.
Sarah stood before the accused her legs apart, like a fighter preparing for an attack, and her eyes went unfocused and her voice dark as she moved deep into the mind link to the labyrinth.
"Forgive me, Lady Bergljot, I have no choice. You will tell me the truth. I have put you under a spell of compulsion, and you will keep your secrets no longer."
A hiss went through the room as the people in the hall inhaled in sudden shock. A spell of compulsion was dark magic indeed, and the only reason fae law did not call it a crime punishable by death is that it was near impossible to cast, and truly impossible to hold for any useful application, as it required more power than either fae or any other kindred possessed. In the underground it had only ever been used by those seduced by heart magic, when they had accumulated so much power from others that they could force people to do their bidding. A compulsion spell would force the person it was aimed at to do anything the caster asked, however abhorrent, however against their deepest beliefs, a prisoner in their own mind, watching themselves do whatever they were asked to but unable to resist in any way. When a mage crazed with heart magic was able to do this, they were powerful enough to control many minds, yet there had only ever been a few individuals strong enough to do so. Nobody had known that the goblin queen was so powerful.
Sarah's voice rang through the old Market hall, dark and rough with the power of the labyrinth, her body still, her face empty, her self deeply enmeshed with the labyrinth and its power.
"Be still, lady Bergljot, and do not fight the compulsion. Tell me how it came to be that you poisoned the goblin king, and start at the point where you believe it began. Tell me the whole story, and leave nothing out you think we need to understand."
Without a moments hesitation the dwarf woman began to talk, her face at ease, her tense body relaxed.
"I was a cook for lord Caoimhín Ó hAimeirgin, a kind and generous man as I have ever met, and I lived in his house in Tahat with my husband Ólafur for many years. Then Lleu went mad, and it was bad to be a dwarf in Tahat. But lord Caoimhín was kind and protected us. Despite our fears it was a time of joy, for I gave birth to twin daughters, Jódís and Unnur. Then they began to accuse the dwarves of treason, and with lord Caoimhín's help we tried to escape. We were caught before we even left Tahat. Ólafur and several other men were slaughtered as they guarded the escape of the women and children from Lleu's patrols. I went back to lord Caoimhín with Jódís and Unnur, for were could I go? My daughters were only five years old. He hid us, protected us, he was a good man. Two years we lived in hiding in his house. But then Lleu took a liking to lord Caoimhín's collection of beautiful things, and within a week my lord died screaming, from Dragon-arum, as everyone died who had something the king wanted, be it a pretty wife, or a graceful son, or a lovely garden."
"This is an insufferable insult to my king, and I will not ... " the ambassador Féilim Ó Súilleabháin from Ardar Iforas shouted angrily from the group of courtiers behind the queen, and without turning Sarah clenched her hand to a fist before her body, and his voice died in a strangled wheeze as his hands went to his throat, tearing open his shirt at the collar in a desperate attempt to loosen the invisible stranglehold on his throat.
Sarah's rough voice was leaden and cold as death, and her power pressed on all in the hall.
"This is the absolute last warning anybody will get. The next person who opens their mouth during the interrogation will live a life of absolute honesty. No lies, no dissimulation, a life of truth. Forever. After they are released from an oubliette, whenever I might remember them. If I can be bothered." She turned slowly to ambassador Féilim Ó Súilleabháin and opened her hand, releasing the magic hold on him and allowing him to force a breath in.
"The woman cannot speak but the truth, and she only confirms what all secretly knew: your king is a madman and murderer. I can make you speak the truth as well, Féilim Ó Súilleabháin. Tell me, how long will you live, ambassador, if you can never lie again?"
She looked at the courtiers with a distant face, then turned back.
"There will be no more warning after this. Shut up or pay the price." The crowded room was silent enough to hear a needle drop. "Go on, lady Bergljot."
"They brought us to the castle, into a room in the basement, but not a cell. The window was high up and small, but there were beds, and it was clean and they brought us food."
The woman stopped for a moment, and her face looked terrified and despairing.
"And then king Lleu and Aylmer came to see us, with several guards, fae, human, and ork. And the king looked at my daughters and laughed, and he told Aylmer it was a good plan. Then he left. And then Aylmer's face changed, and it looked like a mask until the end, and all I am sure of is that he is fae. I believe he is the man without a name. And with a word of power he bound me, and I could not move. He said I was to kill the goblin king with poison, he had a flask of Dragon-arum and he put it on the table. I said yes, of course, for I thought we might get away, and I would have agreed to anything to get Jódís and Unnur free from there. He said he did not believe me, and he put a spell of compulsion on me, my lady, as did you. And I told him that I wanted to save my daughters more than anything, more than my life, but I did not want to kill the goblin king."
Bergljot went quiet for a moment, her face grey and sick.
"He said I needed to understand he was serious, and true to his word. He asked me which of my daughters should live, and if I did not choose right now he would kill them both. I could not speak from terror, and he grabbed Unnur and put a knife at her throat, and I don't know why, I did not want to, for I loved my daughters equally, but his knife was cutting into Unnur's skin, and I shrieked 'Jódís'. And he bound Jódís with a word of power next to me and he did not let Unnur go."
Tears ran unnoticed down Bergljot's face, and the pain and horror on her face was mirrored on countless faces in the crowd.
"Unnur was only seven years old. They tortured her in ways I have never thought possible, they raped her, all of them, and my daughter screamed for me to help her until she could scream no more, and it took I know not how many hours until she finally died, and Jódís and I watched it all."
Had Sarah not been deep in the link with the labyrinth, she might have been sick, but not everyone in the hall was so lucky.
"The man without a name then put a spell on Jódís, and she fell over, like dead. He said do I want her to live, and I said I'll do anything you want me to, anything at all, if Jódís lives and is safe. I meant every word of it. He told me what to do, how to get to the goblin kingdom, what to say to the council when they talked to me. He said the goblin king was a weak worthless creature, too dumb to treat those like me as they deserved, and I was sure to be allowed to remain in the city. And he would send word to me when it was time to give the poison to the king."
Bergljot looked at the queen with half-mad eyes.
"He said that Jódís would be brought to the goblin kingdom, safe and untouched, as soon as I had done his bidding. I did not believe him. But even such as him have to abide by their blood running to the earth, and he swore a blood-oath that my daughter would sleep untouched until the day I poisoned the goblin king, and be delivered to the safety of the goblin kingdom. He said that if I betrayed him and told anyone, or did not do as I said, Jódís would die a death much worse than Unnur. He swore she would suffer pain more terrible and protracted than Unnur, and he would give her to the falin so she'd never see the other side of night."
The slight woman took a shivering breath.
"A sennight before I put poison in the goblin king's food I woke up and he stood in my room. He said it was time, and he left a flask of Dragon-arum in my room. He told me that my daughter would be brought to safety as soon as he learned that the king was sick."
The woman hugged her body in despair.
"The goblin kingdom has become a better home than I ever had in Ardar Iforas, and I did not want to kill the king. But I had no choice. I could not let my daughter die like this. I would do anything to spare her this fate."
She looked at the goblin queen with bleak despair written all over her face.
"I always will do anything that man asks me to until I know my daughter is safe. You cannot trust me, lady Sarah. I wish no harm to lord Jareth or you, and none here have ever treated me with anything but kindness, but if the man without a name ever asks me to do something, I will do it unless I know that Jódís is safe."
And Bergljot stood before the goblin queen, and hopeless tears ran over her wretched face.
Sarah began to stir, moving out of the deep connection with the labyrinth and looked at the crying woman. She seemed on the verge of speaking, but she bit her tongue and with a complex gesture in the air she broke the spell and for a moment the dwarf cook stood bathed in indigo light. "Forgive me, lady Bergljot, I needed to know the truth."
The goblin queen looked ashen, but her voice was strong and clear.
"I will now give my judgment against the lady Bergljot, who stands accused of trying to murder the goblin king."
The tension was palpable in the market hall, as the accused woman's story had moved and horrified her listeners.
"You have lived over a decade in the goblin kingdom, lady Bergljot, and you have been a good friend of many oathbound. While I do not believe that you have learned anything the man without a name can use to his advantage, I cannot be sure, and neither could he. And as you pointed out, lady, you cannot be trusted for as long as your daughter's whereabouts are unknown, for you would do anything if you suspected, or perhaps just hoped, it might help your daughter."
Sarah's face was white and tense.
"You acted under duress when you poisoned the king, and I do not consider you an assassin but a victim. There are not many who would have acted differently from you, and luckily I don't know any of them."
Many heads in the crowd were nodding at the queen's words.
"However, you remain a threat to the goblin kingdom. We cannot let you leave our demesne, for fear that you know something that could be used against us, but neither can we keep you here, as you are too much of a danger, even against your will. Yet my duty is to my people and my demesne, even if you should pay the price, and unfairly so. So I will leave the choice of your fate to you, lady Bergljot."
Sarah was proud that her voice did not waver.
"These are your choices, my lady Bergljot. You may choose death, and I promise you that it will be swift and without pain, and you will be buried with honor. I swear to you that we will search for your daughter Jódís, and when we find her she will be treated with naught but love and consideration."
Sarah halted for a moment and collected her thoughts.
"But as you said, even the man without a name is bound by a blood-oath, and he swore your daughter be delivered to safety in the goblin kingdom as soon as you had given the king the poison." She smiled at Bergljot.
"So your daughter is somewhere in the kingdom, lady, and you can find her, if you choose the only way you will ever be free again. For this is your other choice. I will bind you to the land forever, lady Bergljot, and you will live you life as a free woman within its borders until the day of your death. But you will never be able to leave the goblin kingdom again, and you will ever be part and parcel of the land itself, your presence known to me and to the goblin king equally. You will not be able to hide from our eyes and you will never be able to shield knowledge from us."
Sarah looked at the woman before her. "Will you choose a useless death, or will you live to search for your daughter, lady Bergljot?"
An unbelieving, wavering smile grew on Bergljot's face as she half-turned to the goblin king. "But I tried to kill you, majesty, and I inflicted terrible pain on you."
Jareth stood up and moved next to Sarah, and bowed to Bergljot. "I live, lady, and like the queen I cannot find that I condemn you for what you did. Intent matters, sometimes more than the deed itself. You did not wish for my death, you did not plan it. You were but the dagger used to cut short a life - we do not destroy the blade for the deed of the assassin. Live, lady Bergljot, and find your daughter. And when you have found her, and you have found peace, come back to the goblin city."
Bergljot's face was disbelieving as she fell to her knees before the goblin king and the goblin queen. "I know I cannot save my Jódís if the man without a name has been lying to me. But I trust you, my lieges. I shall be glad if you can make sure I can never do again what I never wanted to do in the first place."
She bowed her head and ripped a fingernail over her arm, tearing the skin, and her blood dripped to the ground as she spoke the oath of allegiance.
Both Jareth and Sarah moved into the mindlink, their minds close to each other within the labyrinth, never touching but intimately conscious of each other's presence, and they picked up the trail of the new blood tie of Bergljot to the labyrinth. Among all the threads of life in the labyrinth they found her, and they braided the tiny filament of her soul into the very core of existence of the labyrinth, until there was no telling where one began and the other ended.
Sarah swayed slightly as they moved out of the mind link, and she held on to Jareth's arm and to his strength with a desperate grip. The spell of compulsion drew not only on power but also on the spirit of the caster, and Sarah felt as if she had not slept for a year. Bergljot looked at them with joy and wonder in her eyes, some of her pain soothed in the binding to the labyrinth. Jareth smiled at her, then turned to the back of the dais, the goblin queen on his arm turning gracefully with him.
His voice was cutting and cold, his eyes glittering with malice and darkness.
"We have learned all we need about Ardar Iforas and what it stands for. Those of our visitors from Lleu's demesne who have no personal responsibility for misdeeds may stay in the goblin kingdom, and swear a blood oath to the queen and me. You have until sunrise tomorrow to do so. I declare herem all of you who will not swear obeisance by that time, and it will be my pleasure to hunt you down and kill you personally if you are still in the goblin kingdom."
The loathing and anger in his voice left no doubt of his sincerity. It was not only ambassador Ó Súilleabháin but a uncomfortably large part of the nobles of Ardar Iforas who left the market hall in a hurry, their heads low and their eyes refusing to meet the disgust and fury in the faces of all whom they passed.
Jareth turned his head to Sarah who still held on to him like dear life, and he did not think she would be able to keep herself on her feet much longer. He turned to the queen's shadow who stood faithfully behind her.
"Nehorai, please make sure that Ikiaq looks after Bergljot, I would like to speak to the woman in the castle as soon as possible. Then come to the queen's rooms as quickly as you can."
He didn't wait for Nehorai's bow and turned to Sarah mockingly. "Ah now, Sarah, do not ruin such a perfect performance by fainting."
Without waiting for an answer he scooped up in his arms and transported both of them into his rooms in the castle.
Sarah was too exhausted to put up a fight, and she had to admit, if only to herself, that it was ... nice to be held like that, but of course she spoke up anyway. "This definitely doesn't look like my room, goblin king. Wrong tower." She wiggled experimentally in his arms, which only made his hold tighter.
He looked down at her with a grin on his face. "I would advise you not to move against me quite so much, Sarah. Pleasant as it is, I doubt you want to give me any ideas, now do you? If I am wrong, by all means, continue."
Sarah just hoped that the heat in her face was not a violent blush, and she made sure not to move a muscle as she replied hotly. "Damn it, goblin king, let me down. I am sure I can make it to my rooms."
"I doubt it, for you look ready to fall over, Sarah. Ikiaq would never forgive me if you were wrong and actually fainted on the stairs. Otherwise I would follow your demands, of course. After all, your word is my command."
He carried her easily through hallways and staircases, and Sarah thought it was rather pleasant to feel light as a feather. Nobody in the above had ever even tried to do carry her like this since she was a child, for at six foot she was no lightweight. She thought the best she could have hoped for in a human man would to be hoisted over the shoulder like a sack of flour, which was not even remotely as attractive. It seemed the fae's superior strength could come in handy occasionally.
She decided that for once she would plead weakness and leaned her head against Jareth's shoulder, her right hand clutching his lapel. As unobtrusively as possible she inhaled his scent, and she shivered when his hair tickled her forehead. With a slight start she realized that she did not wear her formal robes any longer but a soft chemise, but she was too exhausted to really care. The next thing she felt was being gently lowered onto her bed and she woke fully with a start, her grip tightening on the Jareth's lapel. As she looked up in momentary confusion, she felt his strong heartbeat under her hand and saw his head, rather too close to hers, and who knew what might have happened had he been able to keep his mouth shut, as impossible for him as it ever was for her.
"I am happy to see that you are loath to let go of me, Sarah. Is this an invitation, my dear?" he purred so silkily it woke her up, all the way down to her toes.
Nothing could have brought her back to her senses more effectively. She let go of his coat with a squeak.
Jareth stood up with a wicked smile on his face. "I missed my chance, Sarah, did I not? I should have kissed you awake from slumber, and you would have been mine forever. Or was that a different story?"
Sarah smiled at him, glad for the reprieve. "I don't think you qualify as Prince Charming, goblin king. I believe he was as virginal and innocent as the princess, and I figure neither of us can lay claim to either adjective."
Jareth nodded in amused agreement. "Thank the night you are right, my dear. I have left behind these words longer than I can remember, and I have not missed them once in all the years."
Jareth turned to Eek, who was standing unobtrusively at the door and called him over. "Keep an eye on the queen, Eek, and do not let anyone but Nehorai and Ikiaq into the rooms while she is asleep. Nehorai will be here shortly, and more goblins will guard the tower. Until all from Ardar Iforas who have blood on their hands are gone, nobody may see her. Anyway, she will be asleep."
Sarah looked at him testily. "You do realize I am right here, all awake, don't you?"
He scrutinized her reflectively. "But not for long, my dearest Sarah. You are exhausted."
His face was serious, and for once there was no trace of levity in his voice. "You are all any demesne could wish for in a ruler, my lady. The labyrinth chose more wisely than I understood at the time. You are powerful and ruthless, Sarah, and your judgment is just and cold-blooded. I have ruled the goblin kingdom for longer than you can imagine, and you did as well today as I could have, and maybe better."
He smiled at her. Sarah was more flattered than she had thought possible. Jareth was arrogant, overbearing, and he was a sarcastic bastard, but he had never lied to her. She thought, somewhat uncharitably, that it was probably beneath him.
"You will have to teach me the spell of compulsion, Sarah, as I have never known anyone use it before whom I'd be willing to ask, even if they were alive. Where did you find it?"
"It is something Sindri said about forcing the truth out of people that go me thinking, and I started reading all I could find on it in your library. It wasn't a lot, but the labyrinth and I kept trying out all possibilities we could think of, and we got it right, finally."
Sarah looked at him a bit sheepishly. "You should thank Nehorai, you know? We kept subjecting him to all our fledgling attempts on the spell of compulsion we could conceive off, and I doubt it was pleasant for him. Scratch that, I KNOW it was awful. I doubt I would have put up with it, but Nehorai let me go on and on. Now I know all the dark and dirty secrets of his misspent youth, all the secret crushes on some pretty girl or other who did not deign to ever notice him, and all the bad words he used outside of the elders hearing. "
Sarah grinned and yawned massively. "You have the most amazing grimoires, goblin king. You should try to read them one of these days."
Then she looked at him, and her eyes clouded." Although I do not believe I ever want to use the spell of compulsion again. It is like rape, Jareth," and her face was grim and without humor.
"I could feel her terror all the time, and her despair of being made to do what she did not want. It is a dark spell, and if this is how the man without a name gathers his magic, he is beyond salvation. And yet ... you heard what she said, he put a spell of compulsion on her, as did I. What is the difference between us, then?"
Sarah was turning her face away from Jareth, but he leaned down and his hand took hold of her jaw as he forced her to face him.
"You are the queen, Sarah, and you did what you had to. You did not ask her anything but what we needed to know, and if you hurt Bergljot, she has brought this pain on herself, by her own actions. Your spell set her free, Sarah, not tortured her. You did not act from cruelty and viciousness, and Bergljot knows that. My lady, sometimes we must do what we hate, as you have learned to your pain. Find comfort that you do not revel in it, and you are as merciful as you can be. There is nothing a ruler can do but try to be just, Sarah. You have done the labyrinth and me proud, my sweet," and he kissed her lightly, gently on the lips, and stood up quickly before Sarah had a chance to gather her scattered wits about her, and she stared at him like a wild-eyed doe.
"Sleep now," and with his graceful gesture she felt sleep beckon her irresistibly, and before she could say anything she felt her eyes close, and she gave herself over to the abandon of sleep.
Some four hundred erstwhile subjects of Lleu from Ardar Iforas from all over the goblin kingdom swore the bloodoath to the goblin king and the goblin queen, and fifty of them had been at court. Yet more than eighty of the nobles from Ardar Iforas had fled the goblin kingdom after the court session, and they had all managed to escaped unscathed but for three of them who had fallen prey to white Babdh in the borderlands. It was the only time that Jareth looked at the carnage without pity in his heart when he circled the bloody ground in his owl shape.
The goblin queen's interrogation of Bergljot and the goblin king's subsequent declaring herem all from Ardar Iforas with blood on their hands had wide-ranging consequences in the underground. Lleu and the fae of Ardar Iforas found themselves isolated as all demesnes followed the goblin kingdom's example and dismissed those that would not swear a blood oath releasing them from Lleu, for however self-serving and blinded the fae might be, they were none of them accepting of behavior as vile and unforgivable as Lleu had proven capable of.
Sarah and Nehorai did not leave the goblin city for another week, although Nehorai had to tell her point blank that he would tie her to her bed if necessary, but he was not going out on the road with someone still as weak as she. This worked a lot better than the goblin king's attempts at curtailing the queen's departure, as Sarah was perfectly willing to do the opposite from what he desired. Yet after Nehorai's threats Sarah rested another sennight, and despite all pretenses she enjoyed her days in the city.
As the days passed in the goblin city, Sarah was glad to realize that the goblin king had returned to the easygoing friendship they had developed before he had been poisoned. He finally seemed to understand that she needed the freedom of the road as much as he needed the demands of ruling, although that did not stop him from trying to postpone her departure. Yet when finally the queen declared she would be leaving the next morning, he accepted her final decision gracefully. He knew he could not delay her any longer, for the road called out to her. And when he gave the goblin queen a long list of things she needed to be on the lookout for as she traveled the kingdom, she looked at him cheerfully and forgot his words as soon as he had uttered them. And at sunrise Sarah and Nehorai left her quarters through the door that led to the small house in the lower city, and Eir and Ankimo yoked Lazarus to the caravan, and their journey began again.
Between the settlements, Sarah and Nehorai traveled the roads in their wagon without disguise. Early on Sarah had learned accidentally that she saw countryside differently through Sarah's eyes than through Eir's, and Nehorai had corroborated her observation. It seemed a Hundun's sensory experience left a lot to be desired, and Nehorai preferred to see reality through his own eyes. However, whenever they came towards the villages and farmsteads, they shape-changed into Eir and Ankimo, as they did when Sarah's warning spell alerted them on the road that kindred was near. They only used sign-language when others were around as well, for the spell of silence had so become part of Sarah's magic that she did not even realize she constantly kept it up any more. And they traveled the breadth of the goblin kingdom, and Sarah and Nehorai finally wended to the western reaches and saw the wonders of Ikh Bogd Uul; they made their way through the fens and shared their night fires with hags, the quicksand alive with sand snakes; they traded for finely made tools in Joensuu in the Simien mountains; and the months passed quickly. Sarah was glad to see that life for her people had become easier than it had been, as the warrior mages from Annwyn and Danu had hunted down many of the strange beasts that wreaked havoc on her people and the roads in the borderlands were safer than they had been, but wherever she went, still she heard stories of oathbound found dead for no reason, and the labyrinth told her that their life force had been stolen.
It was a moon to Lughnasadh when they finally reached Sevenoaks, a village at the banks of the Haliakmon, two or three days from the Plains of Ashes. The bells on Lazarus' harness tinkled merrily as Three and Shuck ran ahead to the village. About three hundred people lived in Sevenoaks, mostly fae, though some of their mates were human, several Puka families and even five ork families. More than fifty children lived in the village, an occurrence that had become much more common since the goblin king and the goblin queen had begun giving the wished-away children only to those who supported the goblin kingdom, and this was the cause of much joy for many families. By the time the caravan stopped at the commons in the middle of the village, shaded from the afternoon sun by the seven oaks that gave the village its name, it seemed as if half of the children had found their way onto the wagon and on the laps and shoulders of both Eir and Ankimo. The Hundun was an especial favorite with the youngsters who were fascinated with him and were touching and admiring the riotous feathers that covered Ankimo's featureless head, and he suffered the children's curiosity with great forbearance, for he loved children and never tired of their antics.
When Eir and Ankimo climbed off the wagon, they were heartily welcomed by the village elders, it had been months since the dwarf trader and her Hundun companion had last visited Sevenoaks, and the healer's visit had been anticipated. Some of the younger folks had already unhitched Lazarus and led him to the corral on the commons to graze with the other horses and asses. They pulled the wagon towards the large granary to keep it dry, and safe from hungry animals for the night. As Eir and Ankimo turned to follow some of the women about to take them to the communal baths, they heard a man's voice cry out their names.
"Eir, Ankimo, what are you doing here?" and the surprise on Eir's face changed to joy as she turned and saw Toby come up to them with a broad grin on his face, the direwolf at his side. It goes without saying that Cuchulain reached her first and was all over her before she had the time to protect herself from the wet tongue he dragged enthusiastically over her face before he pushed his snout into her skirt pockets. By this time Three and Shuck joined the mad welcome dance and Eir found herself crowded by a direwolf and two dogs all yipping and sniffing at each other while trying their best to make sure they would get some attention from her. When she had finally calmed down the excited animals with pets and treats, she saw Toby and Ankimo busily signing away at each other, and Toby seemed to be acting as interpreter for some of the elders. He interrupted the conversation, however, when he saw Eir walking up and with an utter lack of respect he picked up the old dwarf trader and kissed her hello. Eir embraced the young fae warmly before he set her down again.
"I could ask you the same thing, Toby, and with more justification. A trader obviously ends up in settlements all over the goblin kingdom, but why would one of the king's war councilors be here? Sevenoaks does not exactly seem to be a first-strike target for an invasion."
Toby explained. "I am here on a mission from the king. I do the same thing I have done all the while - I travel from border settlement to border settlement to organize our people. Nobody will attack the goblin kingdom, so I do not have to worry about defense, although it would cut any war rather short. However, I am learning more and more about the truly astonishing ways how you can decimate an enemy when you fight outside of the goblin kingdom, and I make sure our people learn about all of them, should we need to call on them. And I help organize the teaching, so everyone can learn how to fight if they want to. Several of the men and women here are excellent archers, and their skills would be most helpful should we ever need to fight."
He sounded enthusiastic and eager, and Sarah hoped that he never needed to find out firsthand the price of war, the terror of bloodshed and violence. She herself only knew war from reading and the TV, but she had shared the Labyrinth's terrifying memories of loss and pain, and she had experienced the death of too many of her people from violence since the attacks on the oathbound had begun, and she had seen too many victims of Babdh in the borderlands. The goblin queen hoped with all her heart that there would never be a need to go to battle, for she did not believe in the nobility of battle, only the necessity of it if there was no other way.
Out loud, however, she said nothing, for Toby did what needed to be done. "So you are telling me that you already left behind your Tailltean wife? Heulwen of Carmarthen, is it? What did she have to say about you absconding a few short months after the hand-fasting?"
Toby answered readily, and the smile on his face proved him as smitten as any wife could hope for. "Jareth was not so cruel as to ask me to leave her so soon. Instead he ordered her to accompany me on this mission. She has a sharp eye for fighting talent, and she is a better teacher than I'll ever be. I actually believe this excursion was even more successful than the ones I took in the past with Tiernan." He winked at her. "And it was a lot more fun. However, a sennight ago we split up, for I still had to come to Sevenoaks, but Heulwen wanted to get back to the goblin city to spend time with her friends before they leave. The Carmarthen fian will be stationed at the border to Matagamon. Since the Matagan fae have decided to throw in their lot with us, white Babdh has begun to haunt the roads between the demesnes, and she is slaughtering travelers. At this point, only large caravans travel to and from the goblin kingdom any longer, and Jareth feels the mage warriors from Annwyn may be able to hunt down Babdh." He looked at Eir questioningly. "Where are you going from here, Eir?"
"Ankimo and I want to go back to the goblin city, we have been away for over a year now, and I think it would be nice to spend the winter in our own house. We were planning to spend a sennight, perhaps two, here in Sevenoaks. The monthly market day is the day after tomorrow, and we should be able to sell much of our goods and buy what we need. And when people go home after market day, they will spread word that the sick can come to a healer here, so we should have plenty of work for a while," she said happily. "I have never been to the Plains of Ashes, so we will stop there for a day or two before we go on to the goblin city, but we should be back there before Lughnasadh ."
"I was planning to go home for Lughnasadh myself, I should be done in this area in a sennight or two. What do you say, Eir, do you think Ankimo and you could put up with my company for the trip back to the city?" Toby looked at her questioningly, and Sarah was not surprised that Heulwen had fallen for him so easily, for who could resist his innocence and honesty?
"We would be glad to have you, Toby, especially if you are a decent cook. Ankimo and I are good enough to keep us alive, but neither of us can produce food that we actually want to eat."
Toby laughed. "It's a deal then, Eir. You will not regret it, I was not bad before I traveled with Heulwen, but now I can safely say I am an excellent cook."
One of the elders came up to them and smiled at the young fae. "I am sure further conversation can wait until Eir and Ankimo have had a bath, Lord Tobias." He turned to Eir. "You must be tired and hungry after a day on the road, and I would be honored if you and your companion would stay in my house during your visit, Eir. The young lord has a room in my house as well. We are all curious to hear your stories, so we thought we'd meet in the tavern after you have cleaned up and changed. I know that Marten has excellent food - he has been preparing for market day for a few days now."
Toby blushed and stammered an apology, but Eir laughingly waved it off, and she bid the young man goodbye until dinner.
When they left Sevenoaks ten days later, everyone was well content. Eir and Ankimo had traded most of the goods they had brought for the market, and they had been able to buy more bolts of the fine cambric and the embroidered linen the area was famous for than they had expected.
They were sure to make a tidy profit when they sold the cloth in the goblin city, although Nehorai-who-was-Ankimo really did not give a damn. He had been the children's favorite playmate in all the time they had been there, and for him time had flown by in joy and innocent companionship.
After market day Sarah had kept exceedingly busy with a never-ending stream of patients, both kindred and animal, but to her contentment it was the usual complaints, and none were mauled by monsters or attacked by things that should not be. She had been able to offer help in most of the cases she was consulted, and if even her skill and power could not save some patients, she was comforted by the knowledge that she had given solace to those who suffered from time and age, and she had long learned to accept that even magic could not halt death.
When they left Sevenoaks, everyone in the village had ceased to address the young fae lord as 'Lord Tobias' but called him Toby, although none felt less respect. As always the young man had managed, quite unknowingly, to make friends with most anyone he interacted with, as his unjudgmental and honest fascination with all he met won over even the sourest and most unforgiving of dispositions.
Sarah recalled one conversation she had overheard when a crotchety old puka lord tried to dress him down. "Don't you get tired of your puppy ways, young man? You're a bit too old to be so innocent, so why d'you persist in pretending everyone is a nice chap?"
Toby had blushed like a much younger man, but he answered the old puka courteously and without hesitation.
"That's what the goblin kings tells me as well, I am too silly and too trusting, like a puppy, lord Eochaid. Yet I have not fared badly living my life as I do, so why would I change? I know well that in all kindreds there are those who would use me and who would lie without hesitation, but among all the many people I have met in my life, those have been exceedingly rare."
He smiled shyly at the old man. "I know that my ways grate on people's nerves sometimes, but I do not push, lord Eochaid. I do not force myself on any who have made it clear they think me useless. Of course it bothers me, as I think they are wrong, but they have the right to their opinion."
The old man looked at him with a half-smile. "You risk much, boy, assuming everyone wishes you well. Someone like me will probably not end up trying to kill you, Toby, but I might laugh at you behind your back and talk about you with disdain."
Toby looked at him with a smile in his eyes. "I am home, my lord Eochaid. I have never been as open in foreign demesnes, but here we are in the goblin kingdom. You are oathbound as am I, so I know that even if you don't like me, you are sworn to the labyrinth and you would not murder me just because you don't like me. I know you are someone I can trust when it truly matters, even if you think I am silly and useless. And you know, even my friends have laughed at me behind my back sometimes, and sometimes I even deserved it, so why would I mind? I know I am not the kind of person to inspire awe like the king does. Most people are what I think them to be, and I am right far more often than I am wrong in judging people, lord Eochaid. I truly believe that most everyone I meet knows something I would be well advised to learn."
He hesitated for a moment, but then went on doggedly. "I have just reached my majority, lord Eochaid, and what do I know of life compared to one as you? One of the lads told me you were one of the king's councilors when he negotiated with Ardar Iforas after the border clashes. Then, you risked not only your reputation but your very life on an idea that proved true, though you could not have known."
He looked at the old man with admiration writ large on his face. "How could I not want to talk to your, Lord Eochaid? I don't really care if you are nice. You are courageous, brilliant, and you have had a full and honorable life. I could not possibly take offense that someone like you does not think highly of me, for why would you? I still will feel proud that you deigned it worth to talk to me at all."
The old puka spent the rest of the night talking to the rapt young fae, and Sarah knew that Toby had made himself another friend without truly understanding why. She could see that the old man had melted completely after these utterly innocent words, for how could anyone resist absolute honesty? Toby did not lie or obfuscate, as he had somehow never learned how, but his willingness to believe made those he offered his trust to more honest and willing to trust him. Sarah thought that Toby was an object lesson in how to win friends and influence people, for his was not an act but absolute honesty. She wished she had his trust in people, for strangely enough he was disappointed less often than she was, as the vast majority of people ended up doing what they could to earn his approval. Toby brought out the best in people without ever expecting them to be good, for his innocence and trust were hard to disappoint by anyone than the most jaded.
Yet once they traveled towards the Plains of Ashes, she found it increasingly difficult to have Toby share their caravan. It was nothing to do with his presence, which was a accommodating as always, nor his cooking skills, which proved as superior as he had promised. But she and Nehorai found themselves bound to their shape-changed forms as dwarf and Hundun, and both of them longed to experience the Plains of Ashes in their own shape. As they got closer to the plains, she ended up discussing matters with Nehorai after she had sent Toby to hunt for dinner.
"Toby is a friend, Sarah, whether you are the goblin queen or the dwarf trader. He would be surprised, but if you distrust him, you could just as well distrust me. He can keep a secret, Sarah, and he has been as courteous and kind to your shadow Nehorai as he ever was to Ankimo. And let me tell you, Sarah, I don't much care to visit the Plains of Ashes as Ankimo - I mean, what's the point?"
So Toby sat between Eir and Ankimo on the driver's seat the next day, and very nervous he was, for he was innocent, but he was not stupid, and he could feel that something was up.
"Now, Toby, I must know if you can keep a secret. I have to tell you something that needs to be kept between us," Eir asked as forcibly as she could, all the while trying to not scare Toby into promising something he did not want to.
"You are my friend, Eir, and I have no doubt that you would not ask me anything dishonorable. But forgive me, your request strikes me as exactly the thing Jareth would warn me against. It even sounds like something YOU would advise me to think over. I can keep a promise, but I am oathbound. I am not implying that you would ever ask me to hide anything that could endanger the goblin kingdom, but how can I promise anything without being sure?" He looked at Eir with an apologetic face.
"I would never do anything to endanger the labyrinth," Sarah said rather shocked, completely forgetting that Eir would not know about the labyrinth since she was not oathbound as far as anyone knew.
"How do you know about the labyrinth?" Toby's voice was suddenly sharp and wary, and his hand had slipped his dagger.
Nehorai-who-was-Ankimo laughed, unheard by Toby.
"Well done, Sarah. I don't think you have a choice any more. He's not a councilor for nothing. Unless you want to lie to him outrageously now and then have to face Jareth about an hour after we reach the goblin city, you better come clean."
"Night, I am not going to turn into the man without a name all of a sudden, Toby. You can take your hand off your dagger," Sarah said sourly. Nehorai was right, she had talked herself into a corner.
"All I need is for you to keep you mouth shut to the goblin king about who Eir is. And trust me, that's not treason, considering." And she winked at the suspicious and tense young fae and changed from the dwarf trader to her human form.
Toby's mouth fell open as he looked at the goblin queen next to him on the coachman's seat, and a gargle escaped his mouth when he turned to Ankimo and saw a shedim sitting next to him on the other side.
"But ... but... how can .. what is... are you really ..." he stuttered disbelievingly, and when he felt the confirming mind-touch of the labyrinth, he buried his head in his hands. It took a while for him to gather his wits enough to face Sarah again.
"Of course I will keep your secret, lady Sarah," he said with as much dignity as he could muster.
He looked at Nehorai and managed to force a smile onto his face. "But why did you disguise yourself, lady Sarah? And why tell me now?"
"Come on, Toby, you know better than to ask such a silly question. A human woman and a shedim traveling the goblin country would have been bound to raise some suspicions, don't you think? And now, that the goblin queen is known, how else could I ever travel and just be a trader and a healer?" Sarah was in a much better mood, now that she felt certain that their secret would remain one.
"But an old dwarf trader and a Hundun, who would suspect that we were anything but what we seemed? I like being just another nobody, like everyone else, and people treat me like one of them, they come to me with their ailments and their gossip, and I don't even have to pretend that I have manners and tact. Truth be told, I think Eir is who I am on the inside. I miss my Sarah-body sometimes, but I could not live my life as I want to unless I shape-shifted." She smiled at the young fae who seemed to be slowly calming down.
"By the way, Toby, Nehorai is under a spell of silence, so you don't have to worry about his voice. He can hear everything anyone says, and he talks to me, but only I can hear him. So he will talk to you in sign-language, as he always has." She looked at the shedim affectionately.
"The shedim are my friends, they welcomed me to the goblin kingdom after the binding, and they have accepted me generously and without guile. Nehorai has been the first friend I found here. He saved my butt more often than I like to admit, and never bitches about my temper or my manners. How can I not love him?"
Toby turned to Nehorai and looked him over very carefully, and a slow smile grew on his face. "I never would have thought that I'd ever sit next to a shedim. I don't know why, I always assumed that they would look terrifying in the flesh."
He grinned suddenly. "Night, I think I am at least two heads taller than you, Nehorai."
Nehorai returned Toby's grin with his own and sign-talked to the young fae. "It seems I don't need to be tall to terrify a fae warrior. You looked plenty fearful just a moment ago, and I just sat there. Understand, Toby, shedim are not monstrous, and we are sworn to the labyrinth, as are you."
Toby hesitated for a moment, then answered with his characteristic honesty. "The Audreys are bloodsworn. Yet none would ever think the Audreys anything but monstrous, oathbound or not."
He put his hand on Nehorai's arm. "Children are frightened by stories of your kindred as they grow up. There are only stories of terror and fear about you, Nehorai, and nobody has ever met a shedim, and learned better."
He gave the shedima bright smile. "And to think that I won't be able to tell anyone that one of my friends is shedim. You know, I rather like being able to see your face now, Nehorai. The queen's shadow was ever such a forbidding creature, and Ankimo never had a face that could express anything. But while your face is certainly different, I can actually see some of what you think, as if you were any other kindred."
Sarah was astounded. She could not really imagine that anyone else would have taken the revelations of the last few minutes as well as Toby had. His youth, his enthusiasm, his friendship with Ankimo, and his absolute acceptance of the labyrinth and all it encompassed must have a lot to do with it, but she doubted Nehorai would find acceptance as easily in any other eyes. She was glad, however, for she could see her oldest friend bask in the young fae's attention, as he had never known friendship as himself but among his own kindred and Sarah.
"And Toby, you cannot tell Jareth anything about this," Sarah impressed on him once again.
"I promise, lady Sarah, I will not. But don't you think it would be safer to share your disguise with him?" A look into the goblin queen's face convinced him that this idea did not find favor with her.
"The labyrinth keeps me safe enough, Toby. You know as well as I do that the goblin king is a meddling and overbearing man. I like living my life as I want to. He is constitutionally unable to leave well enough alone, and I shudder to think what he would do with this information. Try his best to stop me, likely." Sarah's mouth was set in a determined line.
Toby thought that in these matters the differences between his lieges were incremental at best, but he knew better that to say it aloud. Neither of them would have believed it. As he turned his head to hide his expression, he caught Nehorai's wink and they both had to fight the sudden urge to laugh.
Their journey became much more enjoyable for all of them afterwards. Free from their disguises, Sarah and Nehorai were able to enjoy the countryside, and Toby's relaxed, accepting ways fit in easily with their own companionship. The young fae had some initial problems how to address Sarah, for while he had always been courteous and respectful to the dwarf trader, he had bantered with Eir and treated her like an equal. To his chagrin he found it impossible to change this when the goblin queen treated him exactly the same way as Eir ever had, and Sarah was glad when he finally gave in and went on as before.
"At least now I can understand why Cuchulain has been so accepting of Eir from the first, Lady Sarah," he said dryly after the direwolf and her dogs once again tried to sit on top of her at the night fire.
Sarah pushed the animals off her lap until they finally came to lie with their bodies pressed against hers. "Animals always seem to instinctively come to me. Now, I would not want to run into any of the terrors that have been stalking my people in the last years, as I doubt they are from the goblin kingdom and they probably would just look at me as another dinner on two feet, but all that belong seem to recognize me."
As soon as she had moved the animals, however, a crowd of goblins descended on her, and she relaxed under the familiar burden of goblins sitting on her shoulders, on her lap, playing with her hair, opening her shoe laces and pulling her dress while she unconsciously started to pet and groom them. The goblins began chattering away at her as they always did, telling her what they had encountered, and one of them mentioned that he had seen a pod of Heqet sunning themselves at the banks of the Haliakmon, deep in the Plains of Ashes. Both Toby and Nehorai stilled for a moment and then besieged the little goblin with urgent questions about where that had been.
Sarah listened on, surprised at their insistence, and finally she could restrain her curiosity no longer.
"The Heqet can be found on the banks of many places, you know. I have seen them at the Naryn, and at Leaping Waters. They are great story tellers, nearly as riotous as the goblins, but I can't for the life of me see why you two should be so desperate to find them. A pod of gossipy frogs doesn't seem the kind of thing a shedim or a fae would die to meet."
Her friends looked at her with wide-eyed astonishment. "You have talked to Heqet, lady Sarah?"
"I just said so, didn't I? What is so special about them that you can't wait to find them?"
"They are a most reclusive kindred, Sarah, and most of us have but heard of them in stories." Nehorai went quiet for a moment.
"You know, we have but few children in the underground, rarely ever more than two, but often only one child, and many couples are barren. Yet the Heqet have powerful fertility magic like none other has, Sarah, and any who has an amulet from them is assured of children, and there have been those who had many."
Sarah saw a fierce hunger flash over the faces of both Nehorai and Toby, a reminder of the powerful love and desire all kindred in the underground had for children.
"Well, we will be going into the Plains of Ashes tomorrow, so I am sure Nawk here will gladly lead us to the pod, won't you, little one?"
She tickled the little goblin's stomach, and he fell to the ground giggling, utterly overjoyed that the queen was paying attention to him, and wanted him to do something for her.
"Nawk lead lady to Heqet when she want, always, always," he babbled happily, and Sarah fed him a piece of bread and pulled his little body close, and a while later he and Eek began begging Sarah to sing for them. While she was singing old ballads for the spellbound goblins, Toby began to pepper Nehorai with questions about the shedim as he made the most of the unexpected opportunity he had been given to find out about a reclusive kindred nobody knew much about.
"So the Shedim are cursed forever with the madness their voices cause?" Sarah overheard Toby ask at some point, and she finished her song to listen to the conversation.
Nehorai answered him with heavy gestures and a low voice. "We have been cursed since the beginning of time, Toby, and the only release we were ever promised in an ancient prophecy is an even worse curse."
Sarah closed her eyes at the pain that only she could hear in her friend's words.
"There is no hope and no freedom for the Shedim."
He looked at Sarah. She returned his look, and with tears in her voice she recited the curse out loud for Toby to hear.
"The Shedims' voice will be heard when friend sacrifices friend, and heartblood runs red to the ground. And the price for their voices will be their freedom, and they will be bound until the end of time."
She held out her hand to Nehorai, who took it in his and held it tight for a moment before he released her and turned back to gesture to Toby.
"The Shedim have been hunted and despised in the underground since we first walked among the kindreds, and all we ever had is ourselves. Love and friendship are the most important ties among my people, and the idea of betraying a friend is unimaginable. My people have died for each other, to protect those they loved at any cost, but no shedim has ever killed another. We are not planning to start, for nothing at all is worth murder." He smiled sadly at Toby.
"The prophecy is a cruel joke anyway, for what is it worth to be heard when you are imprisoned forever? We are not searching for release, Toby, we have accepted our fate. My people have found sanctuary in the mists, and it is a life better than any we had before."
Toby bid them goodnight not long after, but Sarah and Nehorai sat next to each other at the fire for a long time, with goblins crowded on and around them as always, and they spoke to each other about nothing important, and they found comfort and joy in each other's company as always.
The day promised to be beautiful when they set out to explore the Plains of Ashes the next morning, the sky a deep turquoise, with no clouds to mar its perfection. They untied Lazarus, who needed no tether, and led him to a field of sweet grass before they set out, and Sarah cast a spell of concealment to make sure that none would raid their caravan in their absence. For a moment she debated with herself if they should bring the dogs along, but when Shuck ran off suddenly to chase some invisible squirrel, she decided that she did not feel like searching for him as he did the same in an endless sea of grass. While Three was an clever and easygoing companion, Shuck was too impulsive, und not really smart enough, to be trusted for long outside one's view in tricky territory, and Sarah did not even want to consider what he might be up to in the Plains of Ashes. He did not want to, but he tended to get lost and it had cost her hours before to find him again. So she placed a spell on them that convinced them that their mistress was asleep in the caravan, and they promptly laid down for a nap in under the caravan themselves, and Sarah knew they would happily laze away the day, as neither of them ever strayed far or long from where she was if they could help it. Cuchulain looked at the departing group and at the dogs sleeping under the caravan and joined the sleepy group in the shade. Only two-legs would be dumb enough to walk in the heat when they could doze in the shadow.
Sarah was surprised how obvious the change-over was as they crossed the small side-stream that branched off the Haliakmon, delineating the border to the Plains of Ashes. The pale-gold grass grew on the plains as far as the eye could see, undulating in citrine splendor over small hillocks and shallow valleys until the pale shimmer merged with the horizon. The grass was at least five foot tall, yet it was not like grass at all but shimmered in an unearthly glow like nothing Sarah had ever seen before. The long blades were at least a hand's width at the bottom, all color long bleached out of them, and each frond was shimmering as if was cut from palest citrine. At the top of each frond was a spike of seeds that grew in perfect symmetry around the top of the blade, each seed fat and redgold as the moon when it rose on the horizon. When Sarah tried to casually break off a blade to take a closer look, she found she could not.
Toby's voice broke through her surprise. "This grass cannot be destroyed by anything but foxfire, lady Sarah. You can cut at the blades with your sword, be it cobalt or iron, and they will not budge. The grass on the Plains of Ashes grows young and green as emerald early in the cycle, but now it has reached the end, and the seeds are waiting for the fire to ripen into the next cycle."
Sarah was about to ask him what started the fire when a sudden rustle on some fronds caught her attention, and to her delight she saw a small animal with pale-blue fur, the size of her hand, clamber up to the seed pod. It wasn't anything she'd ever seen before, and Toby began to describe to her and Nehorai the kind of creatures that made their home in the plains as they walked enchanted through the endless expanse, and hours passed unnoticed.
"What do they do when the fire comes?" Sarah asked curiously.
"All that lives here either has wings to fly away, or hides out the conflagration in the depth of the earth, for they all live in burrows deep in the ground. Not all of them will survive to see the next cycle, but most will."
Just then the blades opened to the banks of the Haliakmon, and its sapphire waters sparkled in the sunlight, river dolphins breaking through the surface as they made their way upstream, and a soft breeze cooled down the hot midday sun burning on the wanderers' heads.
Without hesitation the three decided that this was an excellent spot to rest and eat, and they settled on the sun-warmed bank and companionably shared their provisions, and as always they were soon surrounded by a passel of goblins. When they were rested, Sarah called the little goblin Nawk to her, and he began to eagerly tell her that the pod of Heqet was sunning itself only a little further upriver, and if the lady just came with him, he would lead them right to them.
Toby and Nehorai had packed up the remains of the lunch in a moment, and they set off upstream, Nawk proudly on Sarah's shoulder. After some thirty minutes Sarah could see a pod of twenty, perhaps thirty Heqet sunning themselves on the wide water lily leaves growing at the riverbank. They were hard to miss, as each of them was about eight inches long, and near as wide, their huge heads making up near half of their entire length, and each Heqet needed a leaf of its own. Their bodies were covered with fine round warts, and small triangular eye horns grew up over the back of each prominent eyelid. Their backs were irregularly striped in pale brown and green markings, while their throats were dark as night. They made an impressive racket. Sarah called out to them in greeting, and as they recognized the goblin queen, the pod stayed were they were and let their visitors come up to them.
"Well met, lady Anippe, lord Jafari," Sarah bowed politely to the pod as they came up to the Heqet.
"I hope you are as well as I am," and with a squealing voice two of the Heqet returned the queen's greetings. Neither Nehorai nor Toby could see any difference between them and the other Heqet.
"Let me introduce my friends to you," Sarah sat down on the bank before the lily leaves and gestured towards Nehorai.
"Nehorai here is under a spell of silence, so you will not hear his voice, but he is my companion and my friend, oathbound, and he would never inflict pain on anyone."
"I did not know Shedim walked outside the mists," the Heqet whom Sarah had called lady Anippe squealed. All Heqet looked Nehorai over curiously, clearly not frightened, as the presence of the goblin queen vouched for his trustworthiness. Nehorai bowed deeply before the Heqet and greeted them politely in sign-language.
"Nehorai is greeting you and expressing his pleasure at being able to meet such honored kindred as you," Toby translated his signs and bowed deeply as well.
"I never dreamed I would meet Heqet myself, my lord Jafari, lady Anippe, and I am honored beyond words," and Toby smiled at them wide-eyed.
"This young man is lord Tobias O hEachtianna, a councilor at the goblin king's court, and a good friend of mine," Sarah introduced Toby to the pod.
A staccato wail in greeting went up in unison from the pod, but the unison sound broke up after a moment into a cacophony of individual voices that drew them all into a conversation in a short time. Toby sat down next to Nehorai and translated for him. Sarah talked animatedly to lady Anippe and lord Jafari, but after a while she politely excused herself since she was minded to explore the plains and its creatures alone for a while. She got up quietly and looked amusedly at Nehorai and Toby, who were deep in conversation with several or the Heqet.
Sarah walked aimlessly through the deep grass, marveling how the sun reflected off their crystalline sheen. She managed to lure several of the creatures inhabiting the Plains of Ashes to her, admiring their strange beauty while the animals seemed to forget about their inbred enmity in the presence of the goblin queen, and predator and prey were both content to be admired and fed scraps from the queen's hand, without acknowledgement of each other. Suddenly Sarah looked up and cocked her head - what was that? She strained her ears, and there it was again, closer this time. It sounded like nothing she had heard before, a melody created from tinkling bells and distant children's laughter, the very essence of exultation. Unnoticed, the animals she had fed vanished quickly in the grass. As Sarah stood listening, she saw a flash of red from the corner of her eye, and turned her head to a bird jubilantly diving from the sky in the distance. The bird dove into the rustling grass and flew up again, cavorting joyfully over the shimmering expanse. As it drew nearer, Sarah knew it was the most beautiful bird she had ever seen. It was much bigger than she had ever thought a bird could be, with a wingspan of at least six yard, perhaps more, its slender, long-necked body not quite a yard long. When it was less than a stone-throw away, Sarah saw it fully in all its splendor, and it took her breath away. The long, curved beak was the color of a rose, it's soulful amber eyes large and liquid, the head and neck feathers shaded in palest yellow, and the plumage of its graceful wings shimmered in a thousand shades of gold. The bird's resplendent tail was comprised of long, exquisite feathers in vermillion and gold, edged in pure light. Sarah stood transfixed as the bird danced in the air around her, circling around her spellbound form in ecstasy and singing its joy in the still air for she knew not how long. When she reached out, the bird flew so close that her hands touched its feathers, and they were shivering with magic. The bird called out a merry greeting to the goblin queen, and with powerful beats of its wing it gained height quickly and flew away from Sarah, towards the heart of the Plains of Ashes.
After this Sarah felt that she had seen all she could take in for a day, and she turned to walk back to the Haliakmon. On the way she saw something shimmer on the ground, and she picked up a flight-feather the bird had lost, rose-gold and edged in vermillion. She admired the feather, and then she remembered that Eek had given her a gold-and-vermillion tail-feather once, long ago when she still had been in the above. She would put them together, Sarah decided, and she stuck the feather to the inside of her overdress to protect it from dust.
When she came up to her friends, she first heard their laughter. Like the goblins, the Heqet were gossips and excellent if raucous storytellers, and most of their stories were not fit for polite company. When Sarah sat down between Toby and Nehorai, she caught the tail-end of some juicy story about a water nymph and a selkie in the Leaping Waters, and she wished she had heard all of it.
However, before she could ask, lady Anippe addressed her. "Nehorai has told us of a dreamsong that recreates the cycle of life in the space of a song. We would be in your debt if you would sing the song for us, majesty, as unfortunately we cannot ask him."
Sarah looked at Nehorai. "How about it then, Nehorai? You know I am not firm enough in the shedim dreamsongs without someone backing me up."
The shedim grinned at her and scooped up a handful of earth from the ground, and Sarah did the same. And while none but Sarah could hear his voice, she relied on him to guide her through the Ode to Earth and Water. Sarah sang with Nehorai as the Shedim had taught her, and wild magic shimmered around them. The earth in the hands of the singers began to move, and green sprouts began to poke out from the dark soil as the song of power washed over it. In the span of the song grass and herbs grew up from the earth, and they flowered and seeded, and died with the song.
The Heqet had sat as spellbound as Toby. "It is the greatest misfortune to the goblin kingdom, and the whole underground, that we cannot hear the Shedims' songs from their own lips," Anippe said as quietly as a Heqet could.
"We will remember the Shedim dreamsong forever, lord Nehorai, and your stories will live with my kindred. We are grateful that the queen has honored us and introduced us to you. Tell your kindred that they have friends among the peoples of the goblin kingdom."
Nehorai's eyes were glittering, for this was a great und unexpected gift indeed, and he bowed deeply to the Heqet.
The lord Jafari sat on the lily leaf closest to the river bank, and he jumped on the ground and waddled up to the Shedim. He coughed up a pale green stone with strange symbols carved into it and spit it out onto the ground before Nehorai. Then he turned to Toby.
"We have been pleased to meet you, Toby," and Sarah thought amusedly that it had taken less than two hours for the Heqet to drop the formal 'Lord Tobias', a new record, "and we look forward to seeing you again. I am sure we will have many stories to share, and we thank you for your company."
Then all Heqet turned to the goblin queen and bowed as deep as their squat bodies allowed, and Sarah bowed back to them.
"As always it has been a pleasure to meet you, lady Sarah, and we thank you for your company today, and for the new friends you introduced us to." And with these words the Heqet jumped into the cool waters of the Haliakmon and swam off.
When Sarah turned back to her friends, she saw Nehorai hold the green stone in his hand and stroke it reverently. He smiled sadly at the amulet and took Toby's hand in his, and put the stone gently into the young fae's palm.
Toby looked at him stunned. "Are you mad, Nehorai? They gave this amulet to you, as a token of their friendship. It is not mine to take, and I don't want it," he said as he tried to give it back.
Nehorai held his hand up for a moment and began signing. "I do not need the amulet, Toby. I had a son, Shai, and I never wanted any other. He was all Chanina and I had ever hoped for. But Shai and Chanina are dead. We Shedim mate for life, and I will not have another wife or child."
He smiled at the young fae who looked at Nehorai with tears in his eyes. "The Heqet look at my people with favor now. I do not want more."
He gave Toby a shove. "However, you and Heulwen could really do your part in reducing the demand on Sarah's and Jareth's child delivery services. Why waste such a precious amulet on me? I mean, even if I wanted to make use of it, I never have the opportunity. The goblin queen relies on my presence, and while I love her dearly, she just lacks in just about anything I find attractive in a woman."
He winked at Sarah, who glanced at Toby and then noisily proceeded to tear into her friend, berating him for his lack of taste and whatever she could come up with on the spur of the moment until Toby had managed to get a hold of himself.
The young fae cleared his throat and smiled at Nehorai. "Thank you, Nehorai. This is a priceless gift, and one I don't deserve. Yet I will accept your generosity gladly, and if both of you will allow me, I will tell Heulwen about who gave us such a precious gift," and he quickly embraced the surprised shedim, who returned his embrace gladly.
Sarah looked at them happily. "Heulwen is a most sensible young woman, trustworthy, honest, and she is true to her word. Ask her to keep quiet about Nehorai's identity, and then you are welcome to share the story with her."
She held out the hand to Toby. "Give me that amulet for a moment, will you?"
The young fae gave it to her without hesitation.
"I have no use for such a thing, it be as wasted on me as on Nehorai, but I think this stone would be rather difficult to carry around and be sure not to loose."
Sarah turned the stone in her fingers, then she gathered her magic and concentrated hard. The amulet in her hand began to shimmer as a finely ornamented mounting of white gold began to braid itself around the stone, securing it firmly, and it attached itself to a long, finely plaited necklace that materialized on her palm.
Sarah looked at her handiwork rather self-satisfied before she handed it to Toby. "The necklace will shorten itself around your neck to fit perfectly, and only you yourself can take it off. You may give it to Heulwen, and it will be the same for her."
Toby put the necklace over his head, and as it hit his chest it began to shrink until the stone lay snuggly in the hollow of his neck. Before he had a chance to say anything, Sarah turned away and began to walk back into the sea of grass.
She called to them over her shoulder. "If you would like to make it back before nightfall, we should get going, so come on, both of you."
They were an hour on their way when Toby suddenly stopped. "It is eerie, don't you feel it? It seems there is nothing here but us," he said. "Nothing moves on the ground, nothing flies in the air, where are the animals?"
Sarah looked around for a moment. "I know I called a lot of them to me when I walked in the grass earlier, but they ran away when the bird came, and I never thought of them again."
Toby had visibly paled at her words, and he looked at her urgently. "What bird, lady Sarah? Can you describe it?"
Sarah looked at him confusedly, then she picked the feather from the inside of her overdress and handed it to Toby. "A beautiful red-golden bird like I have never seen before, near half as tall in body as I, and singing the most joyful melody."
Toby looked at her with his eyes nearly bugging out, his skin as grey as ash. "Oh night, the Phoenix has come home," and in his urgency he grabbed Sarah hard by the arm. "You can shape-change into a bird, my lady, and so can Nehorai, right?"
Sarah and Nehorai looked at him with rising dread. "I can change, but I don't think Nehorai ever did. What is wrong, Toby?"
The young fae looked at her with disbelief on his face, and the fear in his voice cut into them. "Oh my queen, don't you know? In the heart of the Plains of Ashes is the Phoenix' death pyre, and it's been nearly a great year since the last cycle began. You saw the Phoenix fly to its roost, to immolate itself to be reborn. It will burn itself on the pyre, and it will set the Plains of Ashes on fire to begin the new cycle. We need to get out of here immediately, lady Sarah, or we will die. No magic in all the worlds can protect us from foxfire, my queen, not even the labyrinth."
Sarah whirled to Nehorai, who looked at her with horrified eyes.
"You need to leave now, Sarah. I have never changed to anything but Ankimo, and that won't help us at all. Shape-changing is not easy, and I cannot learn it in a minute. If you love me, Sarah, you will go NOW, there is no time to loose." Nehorai held her by the arms and shook her.
Sarah turned to Toby and ordered curtly: "Change to your bird-form, Toby, and fly up. Call to us when you see a flame, I will see what I can do."
The young fae looked at her with terrified eyes, but he turned into a sparrowhawk as told and flew as fast and high as he could.
Nehorai was near tears as he begged her to leave him, but Sarah didn't pay any attention.
"I had no bloody clue about shape-changing either when the labyrinth turned me to Eir, so shut up, Nehorai. I know you can't change, but I am pretty sure I can change you. Now be quiet, I need to concentrate."
And she gathered her magic and pushed the increasing panic in the labyrinth's mind away from her, and she cast a spell on Nehorai as best she could under pressure. His outline became uncertain and began to blur, and for a moment his shape vanished in a haze of light and movement, but then he rematerialized in his own body.
YOU ARE OUTSIDE MY REACH, CHOSEN, MY MAGIC EXTENDS NOT BEYOND MY BODY. SHAPE-CHANGE YOURSELF AND COME HOME TO ME NOW.
No. I will not just let Nehorai die. Can you think of anything that would let me tap into your power? I will not need much of it, I very nearly could change him myself.
I KNOW NOT.
Sarah felt the labyrinth's despair through her mindlink.
LET YOUR BLOOD SEEP INTO THE GROUND, I MAY BE ABLE TO REACH YOU THROUGH BLOOD MAGIC.
Sarah shouted at Nehorai to shut up and let her think, and with magic cut her arm, and her blood dripped to the ground. Sarah called on the labyrinth's magic with all her strength, and finally she could touch its power, if weakly only, a small stream very far away, just a shadow of the labyrinth's full magic, but she drew from it with all her strength to augment her own power, and Nehorai dissolved in movement and feathers. A moment later Sarah looked despairingly on a small, black-capped bird sitting on the ground before her, looking utterly befuddled.
"Night, that's not going to help. I doubt a chickadee can outfly foxfire. How will this help us?"
She bent down and gently picked up the tiny bird. She suddenly grinned, if grimly, at the shaking little thing.
"On the other hand, you weigh practically nothing, Nehorai. So listen carefully. I will change to my gull shape, and I want you to jump between my wings at the shoulder and hold on for dear life. Do you understand me?"
The little chickadee frantically nodded, and as soon as she had set the tiny bird onto the ground, Sarah changed to a sea gull. She could feel the chickadee's light body settle between her wings, and she felt his sharp claws tighten around the feathers of her neck as he huddled as close as possible to her body, his head buried in the feathers of her neck, his beak touching her skin. Sarah took off as smoothly as she could, and she was slowly climbing higher when she heard the sparrowhawk's urgent ke-ke-ke shriek in her ears. For a moment she turned her body to the heart of the Plains of Ashes, and in the distance she saw a blinding white fire with a red and golden shape writhing in its heart, and green foxfire began to spread over the Plains of Ashes. She turned and fled as hard and fast as she could, away from the Phoenix' pyre, conscious of the sparrowhawk close to her. Sarah could feel the shaking body of the chickadee pressed against her as he held on desperately while the powerful beating of her wings threatened to dislodge him.
Sarah rose higher and higher into the air, and when she looked down she saw the eerie greenish glow spread slowly over the grass below, and it moved as fast as she and Toby did. The sight filled her with unexplainable dread, and Sarah flew faster and stronger than she ever had before.
Suddenly she felt the slight weight on her back shift, and the pain of a few feathers on her neck being torn out as the wind ripped Nehorai from her back, sending him tumbling from the sky. With a screech the gull turned with a near impossible twist of her body and frantically searched the sky below her with her sharp eyes, ready to turn back and fall closer to the ground if necessary.
Yet at that moment the sparrowhawk cut right before her, and as she looked at him she saw that he safely held a chickadee between his powerful claws, and while the tiny bird look ruffled and wide-eyed, it was held safely and gently. Sarah cawed at Toby and they both turned back towards the goblin kingdom and flew with all their strength. The ominous green glow had covered all of the plains by now, and from the behind Sarah could feel warm air. She turned her head for a moment, and her breath froze in her chest when she saw the glow behind turn from green to red, and further back the plains seemed consumed by a white fire that burned like the end of times.
The air turned increasingly choppy and restless, small eddies of hot air bubbling up and Sarah and Toby were not able to glide the thermals under their wings any longer, but had to beat their wings constantly to keep themselves in the air, and as their bird-shapes were not build for this, they exhausted themselves quickly. Sarah flew closely ahead of Toby to allow him to stay in her wind shadow, but the heat on her stomach and back became stronger and stronger until she thought it could not be much longer until they'd spontaneously combust midair.
YOU ARE SAFE CHOSEN.
The air suddenly stilled and cooled, and she felt herself glide easily on a thermal and the labyrinth's relieved welcome echoed through her mind. A quick look behind her assured her that Toby was right behind her, and Sarah pulled her wings to her body and fell like a stone from the sky, catching herself close to the ground, and she landed easily. She turned herself back into her human shape and stood on wobbly legs for a moment. When she heard the ke-ke-ke of the sparrowhawk, she looked up to see him hover in the air before her, and he dropped the chickadee into her cupped hands before he landed and shape-shifted. Sarah sat down heavily and looked at the shaking bird in her hands. She did not think she had the energy to change him back, but to her unending gratitude it was not necessary, as the magic of the labyrinth touched his small shape as she set him on the ground between her and Toby, and changed him back to his shedim form. For a moment the three exhausted friends looked at each other with faces empty of all emotion, then they held on tightly to each other, and tears ran down their cheeks, washing pale lines into the soot on their faces.
"How was I to know about the Phoenix? I've never seen it, and nobody ever said anything that connected it to the Plains of Ashes. I didn't even ever think about the name," Sarah said tiredly as they all walked back towards the caravan.
"Nehorai did not know about it either, and he's been around a lot longer than I."
Behind them the Plains of Ashes burned a brilliant white, edged in red as far as the eye could see, yet the conflagration stopped right were the goblin kingdom began, and even the smoke that covered the evening sun did not spill over.
"I don't think Nehorai has seen much outside the mists unless he was with you, lady Sarah. And you are the goblin queen, so I just assumed you knew." Toby sounded any bit as exhausted as she felt, and his voice held no accusation.
"Story of my life," Sarah was too glad to be alive to even pretend anger.
"If it's outside the goblin kingdom, there's a good chance I don't know about it, Toby. Even within I may very well not, but at least the likelihood of dying because of my ignorance is a lot lower when the labyrinth's magic can fully reach me. Do try to keep this in mind, will you?"
Nehorai sounded as weary as they did. "I don't care who should have known or done what, I will be eternally grateful to both of you. I was quite sure I'd just seen my last day, and I would have but for both of you."
He grinned. "I admit, I had rather hoped for something a little more impressive than a chickadee. Yet I doubt I would have been able to fly in the first place, and I certainly would never have outflown the foxfire. And I don't think you could have carried a bigger bird on your back, Sarah, nor could Toby have held anything much heavier."
As they talked they slowly came up to the meadow where the caravan stood, and from the distance Three and Shuck came running up. Sarah walked to the back of the caravan, climbed in stiffly and banged around inside, then returned with a large flask of water and wooden cups. Nehorai and Toby eagerly grabbed them and Sarah filled them to the rim. She drained her own quickly and yawned at the men.
"I don't care what you two want to do, but I am not hungry, and I don't care that I am filthy and stink of smoke. As far as I am concerned, the sun has set and I'll go to sleep now."
Toby grinned at her, his teeth shining white in his sooty face. "I don't know that you can say the sun has set, lady Sarah, it's only vanished behind the wall of smoke from the Plains of Ashes. Close enough for me, though, I rather agree with your general sentiment. Will you throw down my blankets? I think I'll sleep under the caravan, it's a warm night," and Toby caught his bundle easily as Sarah threw it to him from the caravan.
She held out her hand to Nehorai, who looked at the climb into the back with an unhappy face.
"I can pull you up, or you can join Toby under the cart. But make up your mind, I don't think I can fight sleep much longer."
Nehorai put his foot on the back of the caravan and held out his hand to Sarah, and with a hard pull she dragged him up into the caravan.
Within minutes all movement in the wagon had ceased, and Cuchulain and the dogs had draped themselves around Toby, asleep in his blankets already, and nothing but the animals' sleepy whimpers could be heard in the dusk.
Sarah woke as the sun rose over the horizon, and she climbed out of the caravan slowly, stretching carefully. She grimaced. She could not remember the last time her back muscles had been so sore, she felt as if she could barely lift her arms. Ah well, wings, arms, what did she expect after yesterday's exercise? With a word of power she started a fire in the fire pit before the wagon and hung a pot of water over it. As she grabbed her wash bag and some fresh clothes in the wagon, Nehorai sat up and yawned.
"I can only hope that I look better than you do this lovely morning, Nehorai. You are a fright, like something the cat dragged in."
The shedim laughed at her. "I hate to disappoint you, Sarah, but you are enough to give a child nightmares yourself. Can you get some fresh clothes for me as well?"
As Sarah collected more clothes for all of them to change into, Nehorai climbed out of the caravan and woke Toby with a light kick, and when the young fae yawned at him, he began to signal.
"We are going to the river to wash up, and you better join us, Toby. I don't think Sarah will feed you unless you look presentable."
When they finally sat down around the fire an hour later, they had taken a long bath in the Haliakmon and scrubbed all soot and smoke off skin, hair and feathers, and getting into clean clothes had rarely felt better. Now, with a cup of larak in the hand to wash down a heaped plate of eggs, bread and fruit, they did not talk much at first.
"You know, lady Sarah, there are cleaning spells that we could have used yesterday," Toby said as he poured himself a second cup of larak.
"I did not have the energy to throw water on my face," was Sarah's answer. "What makes you think I could have put together a spell? Anyway, that's not a spell anyone has ever taught me. And I am far more interested in spells that can help with sore muscles, as I am not sure that anything Hina'ea taught me is really applicable for that."
Toby grinned and cast a healing spell for both himself and Sarah. As the pain left her back and shoulders, she groaned with relief, and like Toby she stretched like a cat.
"How about you, Nehorai?"
"I didn't fly, Sarah, so no sore muscles plague me."
"Why the night were you so tired then yesterday? You passed as soon as your head hit the pillow."
Nehorai laughed. "Fear is much more exhausting than you can imagine. At least you and Toby were busy flying. All I did was look behind me at the fire and imagine how it would roast me."
He turned to Toby with gesticulating hands. "It did not look like any foxfire I had ever seen before. At the beginning the plains were burning green as foxfire does, and I have also heard of red foxfire which followed the green flames. But that white fire that consumed everything reminded me of the mists, for it had the color of the cauldrons of creation."
Toby seemed unsure. "Please understand that I was not yet born when the last cycle began, so I have no personal knowledge of the fire that consumes the Plains of Ashes. But it was explained to me that when the Phoenix alights on its pyre, the killing flames start the green foxfire to spread over the plains, and as the bird dies, the red foxfire follows. The foxfire cannot consume the grass yet it burns away all dross and impurity, and prepares the seeds for the final ripening. As from the ashes in the pyre the Phoenix gets reborn in ecstasy and pain, the white fire of its re-birth spreads over the Plains of Ashes and burns everything but the seed to ash, consuming all in its way. It is said that nothing can escape its destruction."
Toby contemplated Nehorai's words. "I have never been in the mists, but they say that all creation begins in there, from wild magic. It might explain why nothing can withstand the white fire of the Phoenix' rebirth, for he is a creature of wild magic, and it would make sense that the white fire is wild magic unbound."
"I will ask around when we get to the goblin city, I am sure someone can answer this," Sarah mused thoughtfully.
"I am sure that Jareth knows," Toby said eagerly, but Sarah was having none of it.
"No Toby, you will not ask Jareth! Remember what we had agreed to before I told you who I am? There is no need to tell the goblin king that you were here with us when the Plains of Ashes burned down. Actually, there is no need to mention this episode at all."
Toby was not convinced. "But what will you tell Jareth?"
"Nothing. Why would I tell him about this? It has nothing to do with him."
"Even I could feel the labyrinth's panic, lady Sarah, so he knows that something went amiss."
Sarah swore from the bottom of her heart.
"Why won't you tell him, lady Sarah? You did nothing wrong, and it would explain what happened."
"Listening to you, Toby, one might assume that the goblin king is a reasonable man." She looked at him sourly.
"He keeps trying to run my life, and you have no idea how tiresome that can get. Quickly. Unfortunately the goblin king is of the firm conviction that the goblin queen should be ensconced in the goblin city, sitting as pretty as she can. He is not a fan of free-range queens."
She smiled maliciously. "At least he won't dare to spy on me ever again, he won't risk the consequences. However, he is a manipulative bastard, and much as I hate to admit it, he is bloody smart. The more he learns about me, the better he gets at playing me. I have long found that the best course of action when dealing with Jareth is not to offer anything without being asked, and never admit to anything until I can't deny it any longer. The less he knows the better."
She grinned at her friends. "I am not planning to change plans when this one seems to be working."
Nehorai looked at her with some exasperation. "Give the man a little credit, Sarah. He is worried about you, and to judge from today's little adventure, he has some reason to be. You are gone for months at a time, and the labyrinth keeps absolutely quiet about where you might be or how you are doing, because you ask it to. You could just tell him occasionally, and he might get off your back."
Sarah glared at him, her face set in a stubborn cast that told him his words were pointless. "Or he might not. I cannot risk that. And my whereabouts are none of his business anyway. Yes, yesterday was unfortunate, but there is nothing either I, or Jareth, or anyone could have done to avoid it. Unless of course you put me in a nice tower and make sure I won't leave it ever again."
She looked at Toby and Nehorai challengingly. "Life is inherently dangerous. Yes, I could get hurt on the roads, I might be killed, for I would not be the first goblin queen who had an accident, or was attacked. Yet if I even said that to Jareth, he'd do his best to make sure it won't happen. I don't care to spend my every waking moment in the city trying to fend off his attempts at stopping me from leaving again, nor on the road worrying about what he might be up to in order to 'protect' me. It is my life, and I don't take risks unless I absolutely have to. Living the life that the goblin king feels is right for me, I might as well be a potted plant."
Her friends did not meet her eyes. Sarah might be overstating her case, but not enough to make it possible to disregard her reasoning. The goblin king did have a strongly protective streak, and it seemed to come out rather pronouncedly where Sarah was concerned. They had to admit that Sarah just might be right to guard her independence, even if she overshot to an extreme of secrecy.
The weather was warm and beautiful as they made their way towards the goblin city in the next days. Sarah, Nehorai and Toby had joyfully cultivated the friendship growing between them, and the days on the road passed quickly and companionably, and their evenings around the fire passed with much storytelling and laughter.
A few days before they reached the goblin city they made their camp in one of the sanctuaries, and after they had eaten dinner, Nehorai leaned back comfortably against one of the sanctuary trees and smiled at Sarah.
"Sing us some of the songs from the above, Sarah. I would love to hear the one about the faerie queen and the knight, the one your mother taught you."
"You are a hopeless romantic, Nehorai. I doubt that you'd ever ask me for songs from the above had I been a fan of hard rock. Thank the night that I know songs that actually stand a chance to find favor in the eyes of my friends."
With a laugh Sarah got up from the fire and went to the wagon. When she came back a few moments later, she carried a well-oiled instrument case and reverently took out a beautiful lute. The short neck was of shimmering blackwood inlaid with ivory, the top the color of old cherry wood with three impossibly intricate carved roses, and the deep back had a subtle stripe pattern of pale woods. She sat at the fire and while she was tuning the strings, the whole clearing began to slowly fill with noisy goblins. Yet as soon as Sarah began to play, they went as quiet as they could as Sarah raised her voice.
"I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
To travel to Carterhaugh for young Tam Lin is there
None that go by Carterhaugh but they leave him a pledge
Either their mantles of green or else their maidenhead ... "
Toby listened as spellbound as Nehorai when Sarah sang the old ballad. When she finished, he smiled at her with glistening eyes.
"My mother used to sing that song to me when I was small," he said quietly.
"She had a lovely voice, a bright soprano, if not as rich as yours, lady Sarah. She loved this music and sang it to us all the time. Do you know 'The Deserter'?"
Sarah looked at him questioningly. "The one about the lad 'a-walking down Radcliffe highway' and deserting the army twice?" When Toby nodded, she began to play her lute and sang the song.
When she had finished, she turned to him again. "I thought these were traditional songs from the Above. Nehorai had never heard any of them before, and neither had my goblins."
Toby answered easily. "Not my mother here, the one in the Above. I was not born to my family in the Underground."
Sarah was surprised. "I never knew that, Toby, you always seemed the very personification of a fae to me. So you were wished away?"
Toby laughed. "Yes, and no, lady Sarah. My sister wished me away when I was but a babe, but she ran the labyrinth for my return and brought me back home. She told me tales of the Underground, and as you can imagine, a young boy would well remember this kind of story. When I found myself in need years later, I remembered some of what she had told me, and I cried for the goblin king to take me away."
He went quiet for a moment, memories like dark shadows flitting over his face. "Then Jareth showed up, like a nightmare, but he was the nightmare of the man who took me. Jareth took me as I had asked, but there was none to win me back this time, so he gave me a new family, a new life in the Underground."
As Toby was talking, the dogs pushed up to Sarah, whimpering, and licked her face, and when he looked he saw that tears were running down her face.
Both he and Nehorai looked at her in alarm. Nehorai put his hand on Sarah's shoulders and spoke to her in unheard words, and Toby looked at her in distress.
"Forgive me, lady Sarah, I did not mean to disturb you ...", but Sarah dragged her sleeve over her eyes and sniffed determinedly while she calmed the dogs down until they laid down pressed close to their mistress.
"There is nothing to apologize for, you said nothing wrong, Toby." A muscle in her jaw tightened when she spoke his name.
"Do you remember what I told you when we first met, Toby? We all have memories that sometimes may cause us a moment of anguish. Your words just reminded me of my own brother. When my little brother went missing, my mam Karen and my da were ... I just wished ..." and her voice trailed off when Toby clasped her arm and asked sharply.
"Karen? Why do you call your mother Karen?"
Sarah took in his pale face, and her heart skipped a beat as she looked at him intently. She choose her words carefully. "Karen Williams was not my birth mother, she was my father's second wife. She was my little brother Tobias' mother. I wished Toby away when he was a babe, but I won him back."
Nehorai looked from Sarah to Toby and a smile spread slowly over his face.
"Yet when Toby was nine, he did not come home from school one day, and we never found a trace of him again."
Sarah voice died on the last words, and she looked at the young man who stared at her disbelievingly, bright tears running down his face.
"Sarah?" the young fae's voice held nothing of her little brother's voice that she remembered, and his features were all fae, heartbreakingly beautiful and inhuman. "Is it really you, Sarah?"
"Oh Toby, ... we thought you were dead," and her voice broke on her words. Then she jumped up and her lute slipped unobserved off her lap, saved from a fall by Nehorai's quick hands. Sarah threw herself into Toby's embrace, and she held on to the reality of his body with all her strength. Cuchulain, Shuck and Three became quite overexcited by the strong emotions swirling about and barked incessantly, jumping around Sarah and Toby who were oblivious to anything but each other, and it was generally a most undignified reunion.
When they finally let go of each other, Nehorai sat smiling broadly at the fire, and he had brought a bottle of firewine and three cups from the caravan.
"It is very rare for any who came from the Above to find blood ties in the underground," he sign-spoke to Toby, and the joy in his voice only added to Sarah's pleasure.
"Let us drink to things loved and lost, and found again." They all drank deeply from their cups, and when Sarah looked at her brother and her friend, she could not imagine being happier.
"You know, Sarah, when I first saw Eir's dogs, I thought how much Three reminded me of Merlin and that I never had seen his like in the underground before, but I thought nothing more of it," Toby said later, when the animals had calmed down completely and slept at their feet.
"I always had English sheep dogs after Merlin, and I actually was idiotic enough to call them all Merlin. As you can tell, this naming convention did not really work out for me. I took my animals along when the labyrinth brought me home. They are the only family I had left, or so I thought." Sarah was glad to see that he seemed sad to hear it, but not unduly so.
"Do not think me callow, Sarah, but it has been very long that I came here, and I love my parents in the underground. Humans are so short-lived, and I have long known that my birth parents must have mourned me, lived their lives, and died. I never thought I would ever meet anyone from my past again, and I have long made my peace with it." He looked at her with slightly guilty eyes.
"I don't think you're callow, Toby. Mam and Da would have been overjoyed to know you live, Toby, and they would be happy to know you have a family you love. There is no reason to feel bad."
They sat at the fire for many hours that night, and the bottle of firewine that Nehorai had brought was not the last one they drank. Nehorai had thought to leave them alone early on, but Sarah would have none of it. She smiled at her friend and her brother and told them that her family ties were of love, human and shedim and fae, and if Nehorai thought of getting out of it, he'd better think again, for she had no intention of letting him escape. They sky was already turning grey when they finally stumbled to their blankets, and they never managed to leave the sanctuary the next morning. When they finally came to at midday, they wisely decided to postpone the final bit of travel to the goblin city to another day, when they felt better, and spend the rest of the day in hung-over leisure and conversation before they went back onto the road the next morning.
They split up two days before their destination, much against Toby's vocal objections, but Sarah would not be dissuaded. "Nehorai and I have to shapechange to Eir and Ankimo again, the roads are filling up as we get closer to the city, and it will just raise questions if you travel with us."
Toby could not understand why this would be a problem.
"Night's sake, Toby, think. I suspect you'll want to share the happy news about meeting your sister with Heulwen, and I imagine Ikiaq and Jareth, do you not? Jareth is more curious than a cat, and a lot smarter. He'll want to know when we met and how we found out that we are siblings, and he'll ask how come we split up again? So unless you have a better idea, this is our story: we met on the road before Sevenoaks, after you parted with Heulwen, and traveled together for two or three days before we parted ways because you needed to go on to Sevenoaks, and we were headed to the goblin city. How we found out about each other is how we found out, there is no need to change anything."
She smiled at him. "Do not mention Eir at all, just say you left Sevenoaks a sennight later than you actually did, and you were never even close to the Plains of Ashes. If Jareth as much suspects that you have been there, he'll get the story out of you. You stand no chance against him, little brother." Toby grinned crookedly, but he had to admit that she was right. "You don't know what Nehorai or I were planning to do, but I promised you I'd be at the Lughnasadh ball to stand by your side when you married Heulwen."
Sarah thought the story over and figured it was good enough.
"One thing to remember, Toby. Don't go into any details about our time together but keep it short, just talk about us, what we talked, how you like Nehorai, that kind of stuff, then you don't have to lie. You're useless at it anyway. Stay away from all embellishments and just talk about how happy you are. If you feel as I do, Toby, you should be gushing embarrassingly enough to nip any further inquiries in the bud."
"I do not want to lie to Heulwen, Sarah," he looked at her pleadingly.
Sarah looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I should certainly hope so, Toby. Lying to your wife is not the way to live your life, and she'll skin you if she catches you. But Heulwen is honorable and trustworthy - do you think I would ever let you tell her about Nehorai if I did not trust her? And if she can know about Nehorai, I do not care what you tell her about me. She knows that what you tell her is between man and wife, and she is no gossip. I will be glad to have her as my sister-in-law."
She winked at him. "And I'll help her skin you if you give my secret away to Jareth, so no pressure, Toby."
Finally he agreed to Sarah's plan, however reluctantly, even though he had no better idea, and he turned to a sparrowhawk. He held on tight to Sarah's leather-clad hand.
"We will see you in a few days time in the goblin city. Fly strong, brother. And tell Heulwen that I make a better sister-in-law than sword fighter."
And with a final goodbye she threw him in the air, and with a shrill ke-ke-ke the little hawk flew towards the goblin city.
After Toby had come back to the goblin city, the town had been abuzz with gossip about him, for everyone knew and liked the young fae. Toby's home was the goblin city, and all knew his face and had a story about him, for he was one of them. The Underground knew all there was about magic and strange coincidences, and all approved of this story. Could there be a more perfect symmetry? Toby had been wished away to the goblin king by his sister when he was but a babe, yet she won him back. Passionate and strong she was, if not always wise. Yet later she lost him for good to the goblin king, who now saved the lad from a terrible death. And then, against all odds, the lady Sarah unknowingly met her brother again, after she herself had been chosen as the goblin queen. This was a yarn that the underground would talk about many great years, for wild magic was evident in each impossible twist of the story, and it was a fitting tribute to the labyrinth where wild magic reigned.
As if to celebrate the occasion, this year's Lughnasadh celebrations were more spectacular than usual. The goblin queen had not been seen in the town or the cathe celebration itself, nearly a sennight after Toby had arrived, but once she showed up in stle until the day of the palace strange things began happening in the goblin city. The carefully folded and dressed corn dollies from the sheaves that were always prominently displayed in the harvest offerings in the city squares began to come to life and dance merry jigs around the fruit and sheaves of grain, and the dishes on the tables shared among all to celebrate the harvest seemed to increase until the tables groaned under the weight of food. As was noticed only later that night, the mead and wine in the kegs for the celebration around town seemed to have gained considerably in strength, and the celebrations turned far more raucous than they usually did, hard as it might be to imagine. And to everyone's delight after the due amount of time a lot more children were born than usual. Everyone agreed that the goblin queen and the labyrinth had blessed the celebrations in gratitude for finding the lady's brother.
Eir and Ankimo had arrived in their house in the goblin city only two days after they had parted from Toby, but Sarah figured that the less time she spend with the goblin king the less questions he could ask, and so they kept themselves busy around town and settled down comfortably in their house and did not bother to drop their disguises but went about their business as they usually did. Eir even worked the day before the ball in the goblin king's kitchens to bake cakes and breads for the celebration. Sarah spent a luxurious afternoon in her bath, and she and Nehorai were all ready and dressed before they opened the in Eir's house in the lower city that led to the queen's rooms in the castle. They grinned at each other, and with a sigh Nehorai donned his robes before they grabbed their small bundles and entered the queen's quarters in the castle though the door that only opened to Sarah and Nehorai.
Sarah looked very regal and very human in the autumn-colored robes she wore for the Lughnasadh ball. She had not the ethereal, haunting beauty of fae, whose autumn finery showed off their delicate and refined splendor, but seemed to be cast from the earth itself. The wheat wreath in her hair shimmered pale gold against her unruly chocolate-brown curls, the freckles on her nose and cheeks set off the light tan of her skin, and the finely braided and worked necklace with the amulet on her low décolleté seemed to be blooming in tiny shimmering blossoms and leaves. The exquisitely embroidered and close-fitting dress with swathes of finest silk in fiery harvest colors billowing into a skirt from her waist made her look like a plentiful earth sprite, much more than fae ever could, and wild magic sparkled in her hair. The goblin queen bewitched and tantalized, and many a man and woman at the ball looked at her with desire.
Sarah had arrived at the doors to the ballroom in the company of her ever-present shadow at the same time as the goblin king did, and she accepted his graceful bow and not quite-so-graceful if most appreciative grin with a wide smile and a wink.
"Nice get-up, goblin king," she told him after she had given him a good look-over. "I would not have thought that any man could pull off a copper-colored coat, but you actually make it look good. And, you had the sense not to go for matching pants."
"I have no desire to look like a carrot, my dear. A man should be daring with his coat, not his pants."
Sarah laughed at him. "I am pretty sure this was a completely harmless remark, yet you managed to make it sound off-color. How do you do that?"
"Practice and experience, Sarah," was the prompt reply, "but let me tell you that all indecent remarks that jumped into my mind at the sight of you were completely unpracticed and new. You are bewitching, my sweet Sarah." He offered his arm to the queen with a flourish.
They entered the ballroom together, animated, radiant, and in the middle of an argument. Gossip about them passed through the city quickly, as always, and with each meeting of the king and the queen the odds at the betting tables in the old market halls kept getting better that they would eventually get hitched, and by now nobody was taking bets any more as the was no money to be made any longer. For a miracle the majority of punters were firmly backing the outcome that would bring them the least return on investment, at least monetary. However, most felt that the goblin king had finally found his match, and it served him right. The only major point of contention was whether it would take them a year or a great year.
Yet once they were inside the ballroom, Sarah made her escape as quickly as she could, for she had no desire to being questioned by the goblin king if she could help it. It was helpful that Toby was talking to his fae parents and Heulwen, and so Sarah had an excellent excuse. She did not need to think of avoiding Jareth for hours to come, as she was too busy. Sarah had not met lord Ailill O hEachtianna and his lady Caoilfhionn before, and she thought that Toby was either very lucky, or the goblin king was much more caring than she had given him credit for.
A most gracious goblin queen began to court them, but that attempt did not survive Toby's and Heulwen's teasing and bantering, and in no time at all she was her usual self and acted and talked most unregally. Toby's parents were rarely at court and did not much care for it, and they were seduced and enchanted by Sarah's ways. They felt that their son was very lucky with both his sister and his betrothed.
Sarah would not recall clearly all events of the evening, but she remembered standing at her brother's side as his witness as he swore the marriage oath to Heulwen. She was embarrassed to realize that she was as sentimental as her mother Karen, as she was crying at her brother's wedding as much as their mother ever would have. Her only consolation was that Eirlys, Heulwen's witness, was as weepy as she was. Young Wyn, who doted on Eirlys, had a hard time to suppress the smirk on his face, and when Sarah caught a tear-fogged glance at the goblin king, she realized that this was an expression mirrored by him. Men!
The goblin queen managed to stay out of the king's way for a long time afterwards, yet at some point in the festivities she found herself unexpectedly in the goblin king's arms in a waltz, and he drew her into the middle of the dance floor before she had a chance to plead fatigue. Despite his expert leading and her usual strong reaction to him, Sarah was tense and suspicious. This had been an interception too smooth and inevitable to be accidental.
"Would you care to tell me what happened two sennight ago, Sarah?" Jareth's voice was deceptively light and polite, but Sarah could hear the determination under the velvet, and she wondered how she was going to wiggle out of that one. Two sennight ago she had nearly managed to get herself incinerated in the Plains of Ashes, and she had not planned to share her adventure with anyone.
"Happened? What are you talking about, goblin king?" Sarah looked at him with her usual "it-is-none-of your-business-what-I-am-doing" expression on her face, but Jareth was not minded to let her away with it this time.
"It was quite dramatic, my dear, really, I am sure you would have been impressed. In a heartbeat, a beautiful summers' day turned from warm and sunny to an impossible hailstorm coming out of a sky suddenly covered in thick clouds of the deadliest color I have ever seen. I hear it was like this all over the goblin kingdom. For a few minutes every oathbound just stood there, shaken by utter terror." His face was milder than she had ever seen it. This could not be good.
"Let me tell you, Sarah, we could all have done without the hailstones, as none of us were able to protect ourselves from the pelting, frozen as we were in dread. I was a bit concerned if I was having one of these heart attacks you have described to Hina'ea."
He examined her thoroughly, as one might observe a strange and not necessarily pleasant animal never seen before.
"I was with some Matagan nobles in the hedge maze, and they were quite shaken. I was rather surprised of the sudden developments myself, but I obviously could not let them know. Luckily I have many great years experience at diplomatic negotiations, so I was able to lie a blue streak to keep them under the impression that I knew exactly what was going on."
He smiled at her ferally. "How about making an honest man of me, my lady?"
Sarah decided that attack was the only chance she had in the way of defense. "How come I get the blame for what you can't explain, goblin king? You have been at this for a lot longer than me, so how the night should I know what happened? I was caught unawares just like everyone else. Why don't you ask the labyrinth?"
"I did, of course. It would not tell me. Strangely it has only begun doing that since you came to the kingdom, my dear."
Sarah was more relieved than she let on. She had managed to get the labyrinth to agree to keep this latest mishap to themselves, but she had not realized that it had been a very public mishap indeed.
His smile turned even more predatory, if that was possible, "As I am sure you ... experienced yourself, the labyrinth send out an urgent call through the mindlink to all oathbound to lend their magic. I do not believe there has ever been such a concentration of magic in the Underground, as everyone shared with the labyrinth what they had. And funnily enough, it did not seem to use any of it. It was only reaching, pushing, offering, and it was desperate. Now, how about telling me what for? What have you been up to lately, my dearest Sarah?"
Sarah looked at him as wide-eyed and innocent as she could, and he did not buy it for a moment. He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Funnily enough, fourteen days ago the Phoenix was reborn on the Plains of Ashes. Did you know about that?"
"Who hasn't? Such a pity, had I known I would have gone there. I have never seen the Phoenix before, and I have no idea where I could find it."
"Really." How he managed to concentrate polite disbelief in one word, Sarah would never know. "Did you know, Sarah, that the Plains of Ashes are not part of the goblin kingdom?" Jareth inquired with a calculating look on his face.
Sarah looked at him with surprise clear on her face. Careful now, don't overdo it, girl, she admonished herself. "Actually, no, I did not know this, goblin king. I have heard the Plains talked about often, and I have always assumed from context that they are part of the goblin kingdom. But now that you mention it, I have never heard it said out loud." Sarah was glad that she wasn't even lying, she really had not known.
"No, the labyrinth does not extend over the side-arm of the Haliakmon that marks the beginning of the Plains of Ashes. But the Phoenix has ever been a friend of the labyrinth, and never have our enemies gained entry through the plains. It seems something happens to them if they try, and they are never heard of again. But our goblins roam freely there, so you might have heard stories from them, leading you to believe what is not so."
Sarah looked at him with polite interest on her face. As far as Jareth was concerned, that was a dead giveaway. Sarah was never polite to him if she could help it, and he shuddered to think what she had been up to. Nothing good, as usual, he told himself grimly. She somehow must have gotten herself stranded in the Plains of Ashes when the Phoenix set them on fire. He could not imagine what had happened exactly, and he doubted he would learn from her, but it would seem that the labyrinth had been quite afraid to find itself out of a queen, and it did not scare easily. The insufferable woman could not help herself, it seemed she needed to insert herself into the middle of all kinds of dangerous situations, and she was quite unable to understand that she could not be allowed to endanger herself. The labyrinth could not deal with that.
He smiled at her with narrowed eyes. "Please, Sarah, whatever you have not been doing, be kind and do not do it again, if you can help it. I was dealing with the aftermath of this inexplicable occurrence for several days, and it was most tiresome."
Sarah was glad that he seemed to have decided to drop the topic, and while she strongly suspected that he had a pretty good idea of what had been going on, she did not feel any urgency to confirm his suspicions. Let him stew in his own juices. It was easier to outwit him when he was solidly wound up, and she needed any advantage she could get. Sarah decided not to give him the time to change his mind, and when the dance finally ended she most graciously begged his leave to dance with her brother.
Jareth watched the queen walk towards young Tobias, and he involuntary smiled at the young man's joyful smile when he saw Sarah come up to him. He was glad, both for his queen and for his young friend. A pleasant side effect would be, so he suspected, that the newfound relation might very well incline the queen to spend more time in the goblin city. Although it riled him to no end, he could not recall Sarah's run through the labyrinth, and he had had Toby describe to him in detail whatever he could remember from Sarah's stories. However, there had been too many human girls running for too many bratty wards for one of them to stand out. It was a pity. He thought that maybe he would be able to jog his memory if Sarah told him the details, but he suspected that the chances of that were relatively low. Or non-existent.
It did not matter. The queen would be in the city through the winter, and even longer if he could help it. He would come up with some excellent projects that required her undivided attention, and he figured that he could waylay her a good while. He grinned. She had an inexplicable interest in what the tradesmen did with their waste, and while he could not fathom why, he figured if he let her free reign in that one, it should keep her busy for well over a year. He was looking forward to it.
The next weeks passed in a flurry of activities. While Sarah and Nehorai kept up their work in the poorer quarters of the town as Eir and Ankimo, they still had enough time to enjoy life at court. The company of Toby and Heulwen was delightful for both of them. Toby had given Heulwen the Heqet amulet, which she wore proudly in the hollow of her neck, much to the obvious envy of many courtiers. The goblins told Sarah of conversations they had spied on, as many had tried to buy the amulet from the fian for what seemed to Sarah ridiculous sums, only to find their offers politely refused. Nobody was slighted by this, for a fertility charm that actually worked was a priceless possession.
Toby had told his wife how he had come into the possession of the amulet, and who had given it to them. To her delight Sarah found that Heulwen had lost no time to go to Nehorai and thank him with all her honesty and deep-felt gratitude. Heulwen told Nehorai that she knew it was him who had given them the amulet, and she apologized for the heedless prejudices that she had held before she had found out about who and what the Shedim truly were. Words are cheap, but Heulwen proved to be more than just sound and noise, for she made Toby teach her sign-language and began to search out Nehorai. If her intentions might have been but gratitude and kindness at the outset, unexpectedly for both a strong friendship began to grow between the two of them, for kind Heulwen found a kindred spirit in gentle Nehorai, and so the queen's shadow found friendship and acceptance for who he was in yet another not of his kind, and he was happy.
And as Sarah and Nehorai did every year, they went to the mists to celebrate Samhain with the Shedim, and to share into the songs of power, and when Nehorai told his brethren that the Heqet now were talking of the Shedim as friends among themselves, the celebration was even more joyful than usual. Yet when it was time to leave again, both of them were glad, for they had found belonging in the world, and they were looking forward to winter in the goblin city.
The cold and dark winter months passed quickly, and Sarah was busy with her work both as Eir and the goblin queen. She found that ruling was a lot easier if you shared the burden with someone else, especially as she got to pick what she wanted to deal with, and left the rest in the capable and experienced hands of the goblin king. She also found that coming to a compromise on a decision they had divergent opinions on could take a lot of screaming, mostly on her side, and relentless sarcasm on his, and it was a lesson neither of them took to easily or gracefully. Yet they found that their interests and abilities mostly complemented each other and allowed them more time to concentrate on what was important to them, so they learned to deal with the regrettable cost of compromise, and neither would have admitted that they quite enjoyed sparring with each other.
Then spring came to the goblin city, and before Sarah had occasion to consider leaving the town, she found herself embroiled in another argument with the goblin king.
As Eir had left for the market from her house in the lower city, she was shuddering in the cool morning wind, and since the wind passed through the tanners' quarter before reaching her house, it assaulted her nostrils with the reek of putrefaction and decay. This brought to the goblin queen's attention once again the necessity to change the way waste was dealt with in the goblin city, which was not at all. A curious mixture of magic and pipes delivered clean water to the dwellings and businesses in the goblin city, and huge underground sewers collected the waste water and trash and washed it into the Haliakmon, to be carried to the sea eventually. This is what had always been done, and nobody saw a reason to change it.
Until now. And so Sarah explained to Jareth in excruciating detail the dangers of letting waste build up in the rivers and lakes, and why and how something needed to be done about it. Jareth was both revolted and concerned, and he silently agreed with his queen that this was not a situation that could be allowed to go on unchanged. While he understood, as Sarah did not, that the underground's resources were indeed indefinite, as both the land and the sea had no end and kept growing like a living thing as needed, this did not mean that accumulating filth and destruction was a good idea. If he understood Sarah's explanations correctly, this might even have ill effects on all living things that none would not be able to observe at all, but just be suffering from at a later time, with none the wiser about its origins.
So he smiled at his queen with his most insufferable face. "I am sure this is a terrible problem, my dear," and the tone of his voice strongly implied the opposite. "I will be looking into it as soon as I can, so don't concern yourself about it any more."
And without missing a beat he turned the conversation to a different topic, and when Sarah tried to change it back she found him most unaccommodating. She was seething not so quietly, but she had heard that voice before, and she knew he would simply ignore her words as if nothing she said mattered at all. She should have known that this ignorant prick was not going to take her concerns seriously, and if she wanted something done about the matter, she would have to do it herself.
And so Sarah spend the rest of the year and until summer of the next in the goblin city, working tirelessly on cleaning up the effluents that used to be discarded carelessly, and she flattered, cajoled, bribed and occasionally threatened the guilds and the speakers of the different parts of town, and slowly, in small steps, and with an imaginative use of magic and technology, a workable system took shape. While the people of the goblin city did not directly notice any improvements of the water, as theirs' was always fresh, the selkies were full of praise, and they began to make their home in a new village downstream of the goblin city. And in a show of appreciation, as ostentatious as could be and driving home the point even to the most stubborn of her subjects, the Sao Llyr sent a stunning necklace of perfect, huge black pearls as a gift of gratitude to the queen.
And to guarantee the queen's single-minded determination, Jareth did his best to keep her enthusiasm up with a smattering of disparaging remarks and deep sighs, and it worked very nicely as far as he was concerned.
As Lughnasadh neared again, Sarah looked out over the sun-baked city from the ramparts of the castle and smiled contently.
"Are you congratulating yourself, Sarah?" Jareth's familiar voice came from behind her.
"Since nobody else is, what's wrong with that?" she answered him cheerfully, smiling at him over her shoulder. He was an ignorant sod about certain topics, but she enjoyed his company when they were not dealing with topics he was too obtuse to understand. Well, she didn't even mind arguing with him in the vain attempt to enlighten him. "People in the city might not have realized how much better the water is, but I have received some grudging admission that the air is a lot better-smelling, and cleaner, than it used to be. I imagine this is as much thanks as I am going to get, but our subjects are an ornery lot, so I consider my campaign a roaring success."
Jareth laughed. "Ah, my dearest Sarah, I came to beg your forgiveness." Sarah turned around and looked at the goblin king with surprise clear on her face.
"I admit, Sarah, I did not take your concerns about the waste very seriously, but the selkies' appreciation did change my mind. I imagine it is necessary to live in water long enough to understand the value of its cleanliness." He smiled at her with all the gratitude he felt for her endeavors and hard labor. The goblin king had been amazed at the changes that Sarah's work had wrought in the air as well as in the water, and swimming in the Haliakmon did no longer seem a pastime best left to careless and oblivious children. Not that he would ever tell her, but the king was glad that his queen hailed from a world without magic and with much hardship, for it had shaped her and her perception in ways that none borne to the Underground could ever match.
"I will freely admit I was wrong in not considering your suggestions with all the sobriety they warranted. You were right, my dearest, and I erred in my judgment."
"Can I have that in writing?" Sarah could not help herself as she smiled up to his face with a very pleased expression.
"There are limits to my gratitude, dearest lady," he smiled at her with a wicked grin and lifted her hand to his lips.
Sarah realized it was high time she got the hell out of Dodge, as the desire that ran through her whenever Jareth touched her seemed to edge her closer and closer the inevitable day when she forgot prudence and just threw herself into his arms, and she suspected that would be a very bad idea. He was an impossibly possessive man, and he did not even have any claim on her at all, so she shuddered to think what he might be up to if he ever felt he had one.
When she touched on the topic later with Nehorai, she let herself be swayed by his entreaties to spend another winter in the goblin city, as he pleaded his old bones would suffer grievously from the cold of the road. Sarah knew very well that his objections were a pretense, for it was not only the goblin queen that had long resumed her fighting lessons, but Heulwen and Toby had taken to teach the queen's shadow sword fighting as well, and Sarah knew that her friend relished in the companionship of people who knew all of him and cared deeply still.
Yet they were not to spend another peaceful winter in the goblin city. Rumors began to circulate in the streets about oathbound taken and kept prisoners, and within short weeks tentative reports came to the goblin city that an army was gathering at the borders of Khôràsan, which had never in all of time turned against the goblin kingdom but had kept the peace and been on excellent terms with the goblin king. Khôràsan, like the goblin kingdom, had been a haven for countless refuges from Ardar Iforas which loomed on their western borders, and the reigning council of the commonwealth had never waged war against anyone in all their history, as they were a peaceful people and not interested in quarrels not their own.
And one morning, as Sarah sat next to Jareth on their chairs during the weekly reception, ambassador Olkunut Mangqut Enkhjargal from Khôràsan came up to the front of the dais and bowed politely to the sovereigns of the goblin kingdom.
"I have received word from the council that an army is massing on our border to the goblin kingdom, your majesties. While most of the people in the army are not from Khôràsan, we have reports of our own being among the troops. We do not know what happened, and we have sent emissaries to the army, yet none of them ever returned. This is a threat to the goblin kingdom from our soil, majesties, but it is not coming from us. We do not know what happened, nor how to control it. We cannot talk to any in this strange army, as those we send seem to get absorbed into it. The Commonwealth of Khôràsan is at your utter disposition, majesties, for we do not harbor any enmity to the goblin kingdom, and we will stand by you for whatever befalls you due to actions of our own, however unintended. Majesties, the heart magic of the man without a name is taking hold of the people of the Underground as has happened before, and to our shame we have ignored it much too long. Command us, majesties, for the army of the Commonwealth is at your command."
Jareth and Sarah shared a quick look and conversed in their mindvoices, discussing the matters at hand in no-time, and finally Jareth addressed the Khôràsan ambassador.
"Ambassador Enkhjargal, we are grateful for the information the Commonwealth has decide to share with us. We have to ask you for some time to allow us to ascertain all you told us through independent sources, but let me tell you, from both the queen and me, that in our mind there is no doubt about the honesty of your words, and we do not hold Khôràsan responsible for deeds not their own. We will meet you in the afternoon for a private audience to discuss our further course of action." Jareth and Sarah rose from their chairs. "Please excuse our departure, my lords, my ladies, I am sure you understand our need for discussions of this sensitive matter. We will meet next week again, circumstances allowing," the goblin king finished ominously, and the king and queen left the room to the deep obeisance of all.
In the next days all the stories that had been gossiped through the streets and confirmed by the ambassador of the Commonwealth of Khôràsan were confirmed, and the rulers of the goblin kingdom were called to the border by the blood of their oathbound's blood spilled on the ground just outside of the goblin kingdom.
The march was uneventful, although Sarah did enjoyed it as much as she might have. When they had left the city, the king's stables supplied them with horses, even though none of the great horses would be brought into battle. One look at the animals, and Nehorai told her in no uncertain terms that nothing this side of the night would get him on the back of a horse, and his people had always been excellent walkers, thank you very much.
Nerromiktok presented the king and the queen with the finest great horses for the journey, and her face was as appalled as Jareth's when the goblin queen told them with a mischievous face that she could not ride, and had actually never intended to learn. However, humans were too weak to walk as tirelessly and long-gaited as Shedim did, so she did not have much of a choice. This sentiment was repeated unknowingly by Nerromiktok, as she told Sarah bluntly that she would enjoy walking even less, and asked her to wait. She led away the beautiful mare that had been Sarah's intended mount and came back with a serene and gentle looking gelding, a old great horse.
"Siremun is the sweetest and most soft-footed of all our horses, lady Sarah," she told the queen. "He can be trusted with children, and he understands a rider's limitations. He will not bite nor try to throw you off, lady, all you need to do is stay put."
Wisely Jareth decided to keep his mouth shut until they had finally departed, although this laudable restraint did not last very long outside the goblin city.
"You look like a sack of flour balancing most precariously, my dearest Sarah," he told her with laughter dancing in his eyes.
Sarah was minded to give him a piece of her mind, but her desperate struggle to stay on the back of the trotting gelding took up all of her energy. She tried her best to copy the smooth rising up and down in rhythm with the horse that seemed to come natural to the other riders, but night, it was tiring. However, she quickly found that there was no alternative unless she did not care about being jolted painfully.
"I am on the back of this animal and I have only come off once in the last hour," she said with as much dignity as she could muster. "I have never ridden before, so I believe I am doing quite fantastically."
Jareth's heartless laughter was not encouraging. "That is probably a matter of opinion. Poor Siremun looks downright embarrassed, as well he might. Fantastic is simply not the word either he or I would use."
"I'd love to see you in a manual shift car, goblin king. Bet you wouldn't be quite so uppity then," Sarah said grimly, but she hung on to the saddle in black determination and swore to herself she would learn how to do it right if it killed her.
When they took a midday break, Sarah crouched on her horse and wondered how she'd ever get down. She somehow managed to get one leg over Siremon's head, so she sat sideways on his back. She looked down with dread. It was bloody high above ground. As Jareth lifted her off the horse, she was much too grateful to snap at him, and she was even more grateful for his presence as her legs immediately buckled as he set her down.
"Any excuse will do to fall into my arms, am I right, my dearest?" He looked at her teasingly when he picked her up and carried her to the meadow where the they had stopped for a rest. He sat her down on a soft blanket and swallowed his laughter when she threw herself backwards and groaned as she carefully stretched her legs.
"Where is an easy chair when you need it?" she asked the sky when she had pushed herself into a sitting position again. She gratefully took a mug of steaming larak that Jareth gave her.
"And where is our army, goblin king? I rather doubt we could win any battle with these forces." She looked around curiously, as there were less than five hundred of them when they had left the goblin city.
"One of the nicer aspects of a goblin army in the goblin kingdom is that they are where you want them, when you want them, and you have to neither march them there nor provision them," Jareth told her while he was basking in the midday sun, his lean body relaxed next to her on the blanket.
"And for our other forces, they will either join us on the journey to the border or go to our camp there directly, whichever is easier for them." He smiled languidly at the queen.
"Many of the warrior-mages from Annwyn and Danu have been established in various parts of the goblin kingdom, and they are all of them coming to the borderland to aid us, my lady. And as you know, so will the bloodsworn we called."
Sarah nodded. Before they had left the goblin city, the king and the queen had sent out a call to the oathbound in the goblin kingdom through the labyrinth, summoning those of their own with skills in fighting to join the army on its way to the border.
A haltija storeman walked up, carrying two bowls of stew, and he handed them to the queen and the king with a smile. As Sarah engaged him in a chat about how and when the storemen ever found the time to get the food for the army ready as needed, quartermaster Ljótur came up to the king to discuss the arrangements for the journey, for the quartermaster's unit depended heavily on the magic of the labyrinth to get their supplies where and when they needed. The stew was delicious and Sarah was ravenous, but much too soon for her liking the break was over and it was time to go on.
Sarah got to her feet with some difficulties and like a drunken sailor she stumbled over to Siremon. While she wore pants without seams at the inside of the legs, she was rather sure that her skin was rubbed raw from the ride nevertheless. She looked up miserably at the horse and decided that tomorrow would be an excellent day to resume her riding lessons. She felt confident that Siremon would approve as well. So she turned to Jareth who had come up behind her, too close as always, ready to lift her into the saddle.
"I think I'll postpone the next lesson for a bit, goblin king," she grinned at him as she turned into her birdshape in a heartbeat, white feathers aflutter as she beat her strong wings to gain the air.
And so, as the army marched on through the hours of the afternoon, the goblin queen shadowed them from the air, gliding on the thermals with abandon, and when she tired she would dive down to the convoy. Sarah was sure that Jareth was trying too much to impress her to not most courteously offer her a perch, and she found that she was right. So she would spend a pleasant hour or so on his arm, and if she was too heavy, he never let on but kept talking to her in the most agreeable fashion.
And so it went for the rest of the trip, Sarah would spend her mornings on the back of Siremon, and the riding lessons got easier over the days but still remained painfully challenging. Sarah came to like Siremon a lot, for he seemed utterly unaffected by her ignorance, and she found that the goblin king, Tiernan, and any number of companions riding with them were most generous and helpful with their advice. After a few days she could actually imagine that she might be able to enjoy riding at some point, as soon as she had developed calluses on her thighs. Yet every afternoon she turned to her seagull shape and flew high in the air, and when she tired of flying she would perch on the goblin king's arm and engage in heated arguments with him in their mindvoices.
When she asked him after a day or two, with a guilty conscience, if it would not be easier on him if he added a perch to the saddle, he just laughed.
"If you find it difficult to stay on the back of a trotting horse even with your legs tight around its chest, what makes you think you would do any better with your bird's feet? You would rattle your brains out, Sarah."
And so the days passed, and more fighters joined their ranks every day. Sarah might have enjoyed the journey unreservedly had it not been for the sad fact that just about every muscle in her body ached abominably every evening, legs, stomach, back and shoulders in equal measure. The healing spell Toby had taught her helped, but every day she engaged in more strenuous exercise that set of another round of pain. Finally she changed back into her human shape one evening without any aches or soreness, as her body had adapted to the hard exercise. However, she had just a short time to enjoy this state of affairs, as they were reaching the borderlands by midday two days later.
Three weeks after they had left the goblin city the army reached the border. Every day during the journey more of their subjects had joined the army from the countryside, and when they reached the camp waiting for them, Sarah was amazed to see that at least once as many people were camped out already as had traveled with them.
The marquees of the goblin king and the goblin queen were in the center of the camp, well guarded by ferocious-looking goblins with a frightening collection of weapons, and the magic of the labyrinth sparkled along the thick canvas and poles. Sarah and Nehorai retired to the queen's tent as soon as she had cleaned and fed Siremon, a duty she had taken on without thinking about it, for she felt it was the rider's obligation to look after their mount. She had shared this morsel of wisdom with Jareth, pointedly, but he just laughed and told her that everyone was welcome to their beliefs, which did not mean he had to share their delusions. Yet whatever quiet and rest Sarah had hoped for in her quarters, she found that the heart-rendering screams that carried over the valley from the enemy's camp made the very idea of concentration impossible.
Sarah stormed out of her tent, her shadow Nehorai but half a step behind. "What the night is this? What are these are screams? What is going on?"
She ran right into lord Ningyo, whose tent was next to hers, and he caught her quickly in strong hands.
"This is a ruse, majesty. They are trying to force us to act rashly. They torture the hostages, and they hope their screams will make us act without planning and following their script."
Ningyo looked at his queen with furious eyes. "Lady Sarah, you must ignore it. If we do as we want, we will loose all the hostages and many more. This is the doing of the man without a name," and the words in his mouth were a curse.
"It is a trap, my lady, they enemy wants to make us act in anger. Lady Sarah, you must calm down," and the passion in his voice and the strength of his will quieted his queen.
She looked up at him with anger and pain in her face. "They are hurting mine only to make us act without thought? Without care of what they are doing?"
Ningyo looked at the queen, his mouth set in a line. "Lady Sarah, I am late for a meeting with the king. We will find how to deal with this."
Ningyo's lady 'Lo lani had followed him out of their tent. She touched him gently on the shoulder and gestured him on. "I will talk to the queen. Go ahead, love."
And as Ningyo hurried on to the goblin king's tent, Sarah smiled at the odei lady. "Please, lady 'Lo lani, join me in my tent. I am sure lord Ningyo has talked with you about what is going on here, and I am in dire need of more information." And so 'Lo lani and Sarah sat on low chairs in the queen's tent, drinking hot larak and doing their best to ignore the screams that cut through the air.
'Lo lani told the queen all she knew, all she had heard at court and in her conversations with her lover in the last weeks. At length she finished her larak.
"In the last months most oathbound who were outside of the goblin kingdom went missing. Not killed, mind you, for the labyrinth would have known this, they just were gone. It was only the last weeks that this came to our attention, as people did not come back from trade routes as expected, and gossip started spreading. I think you know that, lady Sarah. After all, it is why we are here."
'Lo lani smiled with an effort. "You know that the labyrinth's magic does not extend over its borders, lady Sarah?"
Sarah nodded, after the Plains of Ashes she was not likely to forget that lesson.
"It is not only the labyrinth. The king is a powerful mage in his own right, but there is a barrier to his magic at the border. He cannot break through to help our people, but it may well be that the man without a name is planning to use his magic against us. And as you can tell, they are torturing our own to move us to act rashly. I do not know what the king and the generals are planning, as I don't understand much of strategy, but I hope that they know what they are doing."
Sarah had heard much of this before, but she had not clearly understood all the consequences, and she did not like what she heard. 'Lo lani saw the queen's eyes go dark and her face turn distant.
The other side of the valley is not far away at all, an archer with a longbow could send an arrow all the way to our imprisoned people. You shared your power with me when I was very much further away from your borders in the Plains.
The answer was immediate and final.
NO. I WILL NOT LET YOU PASS OVER THE BORDER, CHOSEN. NEVER. AND KNOW THAT I CAN STOP YOU. NOTHING YOU SAY WILL CHANGE THIS.
Sarah knew the tone, and with a sigh she gave up on her as-yet unformed plan, as experience had taught her that nothing she could possibly say or do would change the labyrinth's decision. But then she looked up at 'Lo lani with narrowed eyes.
"I need to talk to one of the odei soldiers, lady 'Lo lani. I might have a way to help our people, but I believe I need an odein."
'Lo lani swallowed with a pale face, then she smiled at the queen. "Tell me, lady Sarah. I will do whatever is necessary."
Sarah looked at her surprised and somewhat shocked. "Oh no, lady 'Lo lani, I could not possibly ask you ..."
Before she could finish, the odei interrupted her. "You were going to do it yourself, my lady, were you not? I saw it in your face. And the labyrinth will not let you, because it is too dangerous, am I right? I am odei, lady, and I am bloodsworn to the labyrinth and to you, my liege. Will you tell me I cannot do what you were going to because I am a woman?"
Sarah did not know what to say, as that was pretty much what had come to her mind first. "Ningyo will kill me if I send you out, 'Lo lani," she pleaded. "You are not a soldier, and my plan might cost your life, as I cannot know whether it works."
"None in the goblin kingdom but the goblins in the army are soldiers," 'Lo lani looked at the queen without reproach. "Any other odein you could ask would be as much at risk, lady Sarah. I do not plan to die if I can help it. I have taken part in other campaigns, and I am still alive. My decisions are mine, not Ningyo's or yours. I came here with my lieges to fight for my people as best as I can. I am no good with a sword, but I doubt that is what you need."
Sarah looked at the slight odei with a sinking heart. 'Lo lani was right, but that did not make it any easier. "Once you pass over the border, 'Lo lani, we cannot help you any more. If my assumptions are wrong, you will likely die in the hands of our enemies, and you will die screaming."
The odei looked at the queen quietly and finally spoke with great dignity. "It is war, lady Sarah. My love to Ningyo is an abomination at all other courts, yet here we are honored and accepted. My home is the goblin kingdom and all it stands for. I do not want to sound pretentious, but I am willing to die for it." A smile broke on her face. "I also know that you are a devious and brilliant woman, and you would not have risked going over the border unless you thought your plan would likely work."
Sarah looked into the odei's determined face and grimly ceded. She took the dagger from her belt and handed the knife to 'Lo lani. "Shed your blood on the ground, my lady 'Lo lani. We need you as deeply tied to the labyrinth as possible."
An hour later the goblin queen stood in the valley at the edge of the goblin kingdom, barefoot, her skirts hitched up over her knees, and her eyes stared sightlessly into the distance. Her shadow stood before her, his eyes searching the sky and ready for an attack, and she was tightly surrounded by goblins who kept all and sundry away from her, and her person was shielded by the magic of the labyrinth who was not minded to take any risks with its queen. Blood ran down Sarah's leg to the ground from a cut on her calve, and she was deep in the mindlink to the labyrinth, calling to all oathbound to lend their power, as Jareth had said the labyrinth had done only weeks before. Sarah could feel the power grow, and she was amazed when she realized how much magic the oathbound themselves willingly shared with their liege. With her own magic and all the power at her disposition she searched for a call, her heart and mind straining for the slightest touch from the mind of an oathbound, while she cast spells and incantations at the army facing them. The ground on the other side of the small brook that demarcated the border shook slightly and came to rest again, and the air shivered under the onslaught of magic, but the attack dissipated without causing any damage, which did not cut short her further attempts.
The queen's call to the oathbound did not remain unnoticed. As she stood motionless in the evening sun, a group of people left the camp and walked up to the figure at the border. As they drew nearer, the goblins stepped forward and held back all but the goblin king, and despite Tiernan's and Porr's arguments they were not allowed to come near the queen. Jareth walked up to Sarah with long steps and stood next to her, looking interestedly at her vain attempts at inflicting damage on the enemy, and with a grin he moved into his mindlink to the labyrinth.
Do you not think, my dearest Sarah, that I have tried this before? It worked as little as your attempts.
His mindvoice was much closer than his physical voice could ever be, and she felt each shading of amusement, exasperation and laughter.
Keep up the attack, goblin king, and make it look really impressive so I can use all the power as I actually intend to. Do not let up, whatever happens, and make it look as if both of us are working together in the attack, if you value the life of our oathbound.
Sarah's mindvoice was urgent and called for his cooperation with desperate need, and though Jareth did not know what she intended, he wasted no time inquiring. The smile frozen on his face, the king cut his skin with a quick slash and his blood ran into the ground alongside the queen. He threw all his power and his experience in staging the flashiest, most impressive attack he could, all the while using as little magic as possible, feeding the goblin queen all he did not need.
For a few minutes nothing seemed to happen but fiery shadows in the wind over the brook, and the border charged up with magic. Breathing became hard as the air turned hot and oily on the tongue, and where the blood of the king and the queen touched the earth, the ground began to ripen with magic. Then Sarah suddenly felt the faintest call of blood, and without even noticing she took the goblin king's hand into hers.
Can you hear them call out? Hold on to the blood of our oathbound, Jareth, and don't let go. Keep up the attack as a distraction, as I need to build a link of power to draw from so they may shield themselves from their captors.
While Sarah spoke, they both felt the tug of blood again. Sarah was weak with relief as she recognized the mindtouch of 'Lo lani, and then one after another the hostages called out to the labyrinth with their own blood running into the ground in the enclosure they were held in. As Jareth redoubled his efforts at the impressive smokescreen he created with minimal power, Sarah followed the path of the labyrinth. From the experience of its prior attempt to reach with its magic beyond its borders, the labyrinth had found a way to extend its power beyond itself, searching for the blood of its oathbound. Sarah gathered her magic and cast a complex spell that followed the tendrils of magic that the labyrinth reached to the blood of its oathbound in the earth, and with exquisite care she strengthened the tendril and began to cast whatever protections she knew around it. Then Jareth dropped all pretense at attack and with all his power and age-old-control he drew on the magic and joined with Sarah to protect the connection of the labyrinth to the oathbound in the camp of the enemy. Within a few minutes they had fortified a solid connection to the bloodsworn, and while it was not powerful enough to give the hostages the ability to break out, they could draw on enough magic to create a shielding strong enough to withstand any attempts to break it. At last the goblin king and the goblin queen were convinced that nothing would be able to break the link and drew out of the mindlink.
It was eerily quiet in the valley, and to her overwhelming joy Sarah heard only echoes of silence from the area where the oathbound where held captive. "They are safe," she breathed, close to tears. "At least for the moment."
She turned to Jareth with a relieved smile. "You better figure out how to get them back, goblin king. I doubt I have anything to offer for that."
Jareth smiled blindingly at Sarah and gave her a most formal bow. Then he lifted her hand, still in his, to his lips. "This is a fine piece of magic, Sarah, and you have bought us precious time to think and plan without terror eating away at us." He gently ran his finger along her cheek, and Sarah stood very still while heat was rising in her face.
"I especially like how you were able to get the labyrinth's power to reach beyond its borders. This has only happened once before, strangely enough only lately when the Phoenix burned down the Plains of Ashes with none the wiser."
For a moment Sarah was exceedingly glad that her face was red already, then Jareth laughed at her.
"Whatever it is you did not do in the Plains of Ashes when you were not there, my dear, I am very glad it left such an indelible impression on you. It is always good to learn new things we did not know we could do. You, my dear, are a fount of unexpected information."
He gallantly offered her his arm. "I am not sure if Ningyo will quite share my enthusiasm once he finds out that his lady 'Lo lani is in the enemies' camp, but I believe we will learn in a moment."
He blithely ignored Sarah's guilty face as they walked back towards the camp. Yet in unspoken consent neither Jareth nor Sarah mentioned what had actually transpired to anyone but Ningyo when they were alone later. They agreed that it might be a good idea after all to keep the enemy in confusion if the shielding of the hostages had anything to do with them or not.
Yet Lord Ningyo deserved to hear the whole truth, and when Sarah had told him he bowed with a barely perceptible hesitation to the goblin queen. Sarah was glad that he understood at all, for she was not sure if she could have been so forgiving in his shoes. Only an odei could reach the hostages without being noticed, blowing into their middle as a gust of wind before changing back to a physical shape. 'Lo lani was bound by her blood as deeply as possible to the labyrinth, able to direct the others and call for succor, and Sarah and the labyrinth had taken all precautions they could think of, all the while knowing that there was no guarantee that the plan would work. While Ningyo understood, he could not help being fearful for his beloved, and wishing it had not been her to do the deed. Yet Ningyo was a soldier, and he understood the necessities of war, even if he did not like them.
The king and queen of the goblin kingdom and their guards, several councilors and leaders of their army stood on the hill overlooking the plains and evaluated the scene. The armies had set camp on opposite sides of the valley, and even to Sarah's untrained eyes it was immediately obvious that the goblin kingdom's army was far outnumbered.
Jareth explained rather grimly in answer to her questioning glance. "The goblin army is over three thousand strong, which is much bigger than any of the other demesnes. Yet our soldiers are goblins, Sarah, so we need not be concerned with provisioning them, nor with the difficulties of organizing and communicating with them. On our march here another two thousand or so of our people have joined us."
Sarah nodded in understanding. Many more of their oathbound than she had expected had joined them after they had called to those with skills in fighting to join the army. They had made a point of specifying that only those who could be spared from the harvest were welcome. Tiernan had disagreed and tried to change their minds, yet as Jareth had pointed out, what was the point of winning a battle if your people died of hunger in the months after?
"Ours should be the biggest army that the underground has ever seen." Jareth looked intently into a scrying crystal he had conjured in his hand.
"Yet there are more than ten thousand in their camp, Sarah. How can the land sustain any army like this in harvest time? How are they fed, armed, and who takes care of the fields?"
He threw another crystal to Sarah, who caught it easily and looked into it in concentration. "Many of them look like farmers, no weapons but daggers, scythes and cudgels. Such as those would never have left their land, Sarah. Can you see how many women are among their numbers? Yet less than one of ten of the oathbound who joined us are women, for most women have no interest in spending their time on becoming proficient in the arts of war. I doubt that this is different in other demesnes. We are not facing a normal army."
Sarah looked at him in alarm and swore. "They are not here by choice, nor are they truly prepared for war," she said with rising horror.
"They never choose to fight us, nor what they were doing to the prisoners, do they, goblin king? They were called here by the will of the man without a name, were they not?"
Jareth nodded his head tensely. "The man without a name has no care for anyone, Sarah, and it is his will that animates those who are waiting for battle. He does not care if they live or die. Neither today nor next month."
"But there are many among them that seem well armed and mounted on horses," Sarah's face was tense with concentration. "I can see the banners from Ardar Iforas, but there seem to be more armed fighters, other than fae, and a fair amount of horses. They must have been called from many demesnes." She looked up from the crystal with dread on her face. "Seasoned fighters, well armed. Not only farmers."
Jareth scowled at the camp. "I do not understand the purpose of all this, for what does our enemy have to gain? We could easily slaughter the farmers if we wanted to, and our people will fight with a determination that those poor souls, drawn into a battle not of their choosing, cannot feel. The man without a name can gain no foothold in the goblin kingdom even if they won the battle, so why show his power like this?"
Tiernan looked at him, surprise in his face. "Why should we care? We were worried about our losses, Jareth, but what do we have to fear from this rabble? We can actually try to get your subjects back without many losses. We have seasoned fighters as well."
Jareth looked at his brother coldly. "Most of the people we face are not soldiers, and I doubt they know how to fight, even if they were here by choice. I do not care to slaughter innocents, even to help my own," he said sharply.
"You cannot believe this is not some kind of trap, Tiernan. Who knows what might befall us as we cross over."
Tiernan said nothing and looked over Sarah's shoulder into the crystal. "I would have thought that your crystals show the enemy's camp closer up?"
"So would I," Jareth said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "But try as I might, I cannot break through the barrier with my magic for any useful end. Which is another reason I hesitate to send the army to fight, for I cannot use my magic beyond the goblin kingdom, and I suspect our enemy can. He has hoarded more magic than anyone beholden to heart magic has before him, and his powers are immense if he can block my powers at the border."
"But you said that this is the all of the enemy's army, Jareth," and Tiernan sounded suddenly doubtful.
"I thought you knew through your magic, for I have tried to send out some of our fae soldiers after they changed to their bird shape, but something stopped them from flying. How then do we trust that our enemies are not more numerous than we see, and laying a trap for us?"
Sarah answered his question quietly. "Nobody is doing reconnaissance over the battlefield, lord Tiernan, and nobody will. I can guarantee that no enemy has been observing us from the air since we left the goblin city. Yet I have information about the movements of the army we are facing, and I know for a fact that while there may be the occasional individuals still joining the army, there is no bigger group anywhere in two days vicinity."
Before they had left the goblin city, Sarah had carefully built the spell that kept the skies empty of all shape-changers and had called to the floaters to come to the border. Even Jareth had admitted that the sky sheep might be useful, although he could not stop himself from admonishing her to inform them to keep their silence. Sarah did not feel it necessary to go into any detail, but she had seen the ground through the eyes of the floaters milling in the skies, and while the man without a name might be able to force his hapless victims to do his bidding, he seemingly could not make them to act independently and with planning, as they had just congregated at this place, without thought of hidden troops or surprises.
Tiernan looked at her with doubt in his eyes. "How big would a group be before you can see them, lady Sarah? And are you sure they cannot scout us? Forgive me, lady Sarah, I have never heard of such magic."
Sarah looked at him impatiently. "That probably means you will have to believe my words, right?"
Her eyes turned distant for a minute, and she swayed slightly on her feet. "If a group is less than five, perhaps six people I probably will not notice them, but we do not really need to worry about some stragglers joining the main army, lord Tiernan. And yes, I am sure that nobody can scout us."
Before she could go on further, lord Ningyo addressed both her and the king. "How many hostages are in their power, my lieges?"
Sarah and Jareth shared a quick look, and moved deep into the mind link to the labyrinth.
"More than four hundred and seventy, men, women and children who had been in several of the other demesnes," the goblin king said with fury on his face. "They are of all kindreds, dwarf, odei, and fae. Their captors cared only that they were oathbound."
Sarah added with equal heat: "They were caught unawares, tied up and brought here to be locked up, and they have been treated badly. But they are alive, and they are save for the time being until we can free them."
The lord Ningyo was a seasoned soldier, and he did not like what he heard. "The man without a name is using them as a lure, a trap. He knew you would lead an army here to free your own," and he smiled at his lieges, for too many rulers in the underground cared little about those without power, "but just as Babdh knew never to attack the oathbound within the goblin kingdom, so he knows that he cannot win a fight within our borders."
He looked disturbed by the inevitable conclusion. "You are right, my lord Jareth, he wishes to force us to battle outside the goblin kingdom. I don't know what trap he has laid, but this does not bode well. However, it would see that he has underestimated your power, my lieges."
Jareth began to fall into a spirited discussion with the other men at Ningyo's words, as all of them had lived through other campaigns before. Sarah understood she had nothing to offer to the discussion, for what did she know or care about war? She could fight well enough to defend herself against an attacker for a time, yet she knew herself to be unable to hold her own against a seasoned fighter. She knew nothing of strategy and tactics and had less interest. She also suspected she would be no good at it if she tried, since her impatience and short temper did not seem to lend itself to a successful war leader. Sarah had been to strategy meetings before, and she knew she was in for some endless hours of waiting.
She ground her teeth in frustration when she felt Nehorai's hand on her shoulder and heard his familiar voice. "So, we are not fighters. There's nothing surprising about that, Sarah, but we're quite good at other things, are we not? The labyrinth already has one ruler who knows of war, this is not what you were bound for. And we need to stay well behind the fighting anyway, for you must observe the valley through the floaters view and be the goblin king's eyes." She smiled at Nehorai's hooded figure, how did he always know the right words to pull her out of her self-pity?
"Tell me, Sarah," he went on, slowly putting his thoughts into words, "you said the man without a name is much more powerful than any fae has ever been, but not as powerful as the labyrinth?"
"Yes, and while I don't quite understand how Jareth did it, or really care, he judges that while our enemy has more power than any other fae has ever controlled before, he is not now nor ever can be as powerful as the labyrinth. But the problem is that he can use his magic more effectively than Jareth or I can, as he is not hindered by any concerns for other people or whatever damage he may inflict. For example, even through the magic shield mostly blocks the labyrinth's power here at the border, still, with all the force of the labyrinth and our bloodsworn, I could probably tear apart the earth under our enemies to kill them. But they hold our people hostage, and they themselves are little more than hostages themselves. So our powers are limited by our scruples, and unfortunately for us the man without a name has none."
Nehorai fell silent for a moment. "Sarah, have you ever blocked anyone's power?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I will show you, Sarah. Most kindreds find it impossible to master, but we shedim do it all the time, and easily - it is how we survived before we found sanctuary in the mists. We were able to stop those who hunted us from using their magic against us. And since you first learned magic from us, and you always took to our lessons without difficulties once you knew what was required, it may be easy for you. Now, pay careful attention to what I am saying, and please, make sure that the labyrinth listens, too. I'm trying to help us, and I'd hate to be killed by my friends."
Sarah laughed and pulled the labyrinth's attention into their mindlink. And Nehorai carefully described the way to block an opponent's power and he described it just so, and while he was an excellent teacher, Sarah could not visualize what he meant by "re-directing the power". When she asked for clarification, he started using various similes to describe the concept, which did not help any.
"Night, you sound just like Jareth when you go on like this, " she said in exasperation. Her eyes lit up. "I nearly understand what you mean, but I just can't picture it well enough to do it , Nehorai," she complained. "Ikiaq has touched my mind before and showed me how to gather magic. Can you do that?"
And when Nehorai touched her mind to show her, Sarah found the experience both as effective and unpleasant as it had been the first time. She was still busy shaking her head to get the strange, tickly sensation out of her head when she heard Nehorai's teasing words. "You were right not to allow the goblin king to touch you mind, Sarah. I don't think you'd be leaving his doubtlessly very physical presence for a long time if he got a glimpse of what is going on in your head. "
Sarah glared at him and growled indignantly. "Have you been snooping around in my thoughts? I'll pluck and tar you, you bloody bird," and she stood with her hands on her hips and pushed her face as close to her shadow as she could.
"Where's the need for snooping, Sarah?" Nehorai was not in any way put out by Sarah's indignation. "These thoughts are right on the surface when you are within screaming distance of the goblin king," and Sarah could tell from the bright tone in his voice that he barely could keep his laughter under control, "I think I mentally stood between you and Jareth when I got into your head."
Sarah decided that pronounced haughtiness was her only way out. "Pah, admit it, Nehorai, you're just jealous. I'll have you know, a dirty mind is a joy forever. And since I am not quite dumb enough to act on those most unfortunate thoughts you have been intercepting, where's the harm?" She smiled at her friend with intent. "And any further remarks from certain people will be met with utter displeasure from their sovereign. Just thought I'd warn you."
For a kindness Nehorai refrained from saying any more, and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. Under Nehorai's guidance she practiced blocking his magic, and when she had managed that, as easily as he said their own children did, they decided it was time to see if she could use the labyrinth's power to do the same to the magic barrier in the valley.
They were so absorbed into their project that they were completely oblivious to the inquiries from their companions until finally Jareth shook Sarah's shoulder when the men had finished their conversations over hours later.
"What the night are you doing, Sarah?"
Sarah jumped at the unexpected touch to see the men looking curiously at her and her guard and spoke excitedly. "I figured there's nothing I have to add to your battle plans, but between Nehorai and I we came up with an idea," and she smiled at Nehorai before she turned back to the men.
"I think I can block the power of the man without a name, so at least we will not be attacked unawares and defenseless as our forces move forward beyond the border. I doubt that you will have use of your own magic, goblin king, but neither will our enemy be able to use his against us."
Jareth smiled at her, forbearance clear on his face, an expression mirrored by the others. "Sarah, very few have ever mastered this," but before he could go on Sarah interrupted him curtly.
"Just because fae have a problem with this does not mean the goblin queen does. Very few people have ever mastered a spell of compulsion, or am I mistaken?" Sarah was tired of being treated like a wayward child who cold not be trusted with responsibility. She leaned back against Nehorai to brace herself and gathered all her magic before she spoke again, a distant expression on her face. "Bear with me, goblin king. Try to use your magic on me, as I have blocked it. What are you going to do about it?"
Jareth looked at her with a patient expression in his face that only steeled her determination.
"You asked for it, Sarah," and he gathered his magic to shake off her attempt at keeping him from using his magic. At least that was the plan. He could feel his own power as well as the power of the labyrinth at his disposal, yet he could not bend it to his will, and it remained stubbornly unresponsive to his command. His ire raised, he tried again, a different way, and yet another again, and when all approaches failed, he decided to attack Sarah herself, but he could not gather enough power to do so.
Finally he gave up, and it cost him dearly to do so. "You win, my lady. I had not thought it possible, yet you did block my magic. How?" He could not keep a sour note of righteous indignation out of his voice, which displeased him to no end.
A light sheen of sweat on her face, Sarah looked at him with undisguised triumph. "My powers are as great as yours, goblin king, and it's none of your business how I did it."
The other men stared at them. "You actually blocked his powers, lady Sarah?" Porr voice was the very description of disbelief, and Tiernan and the other men stared at her with wide eyes.
"Why the night is everybody so bloody surprised that I can do this? I am the goblin queen, you know, and you all have seen me use magic before. Did you expect me to be just a more-or-less decorative piece of arm candy?"
Jareth had quickly recovered from his fit of pique, why did he keep underestimating Sarah? She was his equal, and she had always been able to surprise him.
"Humans certainly have a way with words, Sarah, as you would make an admirable piece of ... arm candy. But it is easy to underestimate you, my lady, as blocking magic is among the most difficult things, and few ever master it. Where did you learn such a thing? "
Sarah barely managed to keep a straight face as she heard Nehorai's voice from behind her back under the spell of silence.
"Of course he would say that, most fae can never learn. Among shedim it is not considered difficult at all, and you learned it as fast as any of our children. Come on, Sarah, ask him if he can do it."
Sarah decided to ignore Nehorai's words for the moment, sorely tempted though she was. "Don't you think, goblin king, that I have been making my home in the goblin kingdom for enough years to have learned a thing or two without your guidance?" She smiled sweetly and insincerely at Jareth.
"Shouldn't we rather concentrate on how we can use this?"
When the discussion on the hilltop went over the strategy again, Sarah for a blessing found that for once she had something to offer to the planning.
When they finally went down to the camp at sundown, Sarah bid good-night to the men. She knew her part in tomorrow's battle plan, and she understood that the king and the generals would be spending several more hours discussing strategy. Her part in the planning was done, and Sarah would pass the evening in the company of her brother. And since Toby and Heulwen were married, her brother would fight with her friends in the Carmarthen fian, and she went to share their fire.
When Sarah and Nehorai walked back to the tent hours later, Sarah shivered from the tension that hung in the air all over the camp. Toby and Nehorai had conducted an extended discussion in sign language, while Eirlys, Heulwen, and Sarah formed an impromptu-choir to entertain their friends with dirty ballads. The laughter around the fire had been a bit too loud, and their carelessness a bit too forced. They all rejoiced in the company of their friends, for they knew that it might be the last time that they were all of them together. And when Sarah tightly embraced her brother, her sister-in-law and her friends before she left, they all knew that they might not meet again, and the unspoken fear and love was in everyone's eyes and hearts.
And so, when they had reached the goblin queen's tent, Sarah told Nehorai to go ahead, she would come in a little while, and she stood in front of her tent undecidedly before she finally, near unwillingly, turned her steps to the goblin king's tent. Sed, standing guard before the king's tent, grinned at her and opened the door curtains with a flourish. When Sarah walked in, she found Jareth sitting in a chair, the flickering light of a lantern throwing dancing shadows over his set face.
"I did not expect to see you again before the battle, Sarah," and his delighted smile immediately raised her hackles.
"Just tell me if you'd rather I leave immediately, goblin king. I'd hate to inconvenience you." Sarah cursed herself silently. Why did she always get angry with him no matter what he said, why did she always feel so defensive?
"Forgive me, that was uncalled for, goblin king. I did not mean to be so rude." She smiled at him apologetically. "I am fearful about tomorrow, and it makes me even more short-tempered than usual. I was wondering if there has been any change in the plans?" Sarah was quite sure that Eek would have informed her of any changes, but as she barely knew why she was here, she had asked the first thing that came into her mind. Before Jareth had a chance to answer she went on hurriedly. "You do realize it is stupid for you to go into battle, don't you? It is a good idea to let the goblin soldiers deal with the farmers, they will not know enough of fighting to actually hurt any of our goblins but by sheerest bad luck, and I think Porr was right when he said the goblins can probably knock most of them out without killing them. Yet Lleu and the fae nobles of Ardar Iforas are a different story. You told me yourself that Lleu is a renowned fighter, and I don't believe he needed much prompting from the man without a name to attack the goblin kingdom. He probably volunteered."
Jareth had poured two glasses of firewine and offered one to Sarah. "Sit down, Sarah, just watching you pace is making me dizzy." Sarah took the glass and sat down in the chair opposite him.
Jareth looked at her quietly and told her the truth without whitewashing the issues. "Most of the army we face are peasants, and our soldiers should be well able to subdue them, even heavily outnumbered, as our goblins know what they do."
His face was set and harsh. "Yet there are still at least three thousand soldiers who do know how to use a sword, and they will be much harder to fight. And as you said, among them are Lleu and the fae nobles from Ardar Iforas. Even if their will is subjugated by the man without a name, their skills are not. And I agree with you, they may well be here by their own will after all. Lleu is herem to all now, what does he have to loose? They have disgraced themselves in the Underground, and none will have anything to do with the fae from Ardar Iforas, now or ever. They hate us for this, and they place the blame for their predicament on our names. They will fight hard, and well. The fian and the fae from Danu fight with the people of the goblin kingdom, and I am ever grateful for them, for they have been trained in the art of war much more vigorously than our own subjects. We need every fighter we have on our side."
Jareth took a sip from his glass, deep in thought. "There are too many people for battle in the valley, and this will be a problem, if more for us than for our opponents. We will be hemmed in and in each others way, and this is dangerous in combat. I doubt that the man without a name cares how many of his pawns die, he has gathered enough to sacrifice two of them for each of our soldiers."
He looked up into Sarah's eyes. "Our people are willing to die in this battle we called them to, so how could I not fight with them? I know that this is not what the humans in the Above do, but it is the way of the Underground. And your ability to block our enemy's magic has saved us from whatever trap he planned to spring on us, so the odds are much more even than before. I believe that whatever the man without a name had been intending to do to us at the border, you have made it impossible. He will not be able to use his magic against us."
His grin was wild and unrestrained. "This is not the first battle I have been in, my queen, and I doubt it will be the last. You may not believe it, Sarah, but I am an excellent fighter, and I am considered a creditable general."
Sarah looked up at him, her face pale and worried. "I sincerely hope you are right, goblin king. Just remember, if you don't come back, I will kill you myself. I have just been through ruling the bloody kingdom for well neigh a year, and it was not an experience I care to ever repeat. Ruling is your job, and don't you forget it." Sarah finished her glass in a quick gulp and got up quickly. The smile on her face was as determined as it was pitiful.
"I promise you, I will keep our people safe from the enemy's reach, and nobody will use magic against you and ours when you cross over the border of the goblin kingdom. I guess the rest is up to you, goblin king."
She walked up to the king and leaned down, her lips touching his in a gossamer kiss, then she turned quickly and walked to the entrance before Jareth even had a chance to get up. As Sed held open the curtain for her, Sarah turned around a last time.
"Fight well, Jareth, and keep safe," she said softly before she left the tent.
The goblin king looked after her with a smile.
Nehorai was half asleep on his cot already when Sarah entered her tent. "What are you doing here?" came his sleepy voice.
"What kind of question is that? Trying to get some sleep before the battle."
"I did not expect you back tonight, that's all," was the quiet answer from her friend.
Sarah looked over to the figure wrapped in blankets in disbelief. "What the night do you think of me?"
"I thought you were smart," he said drowsily. "People die in battle, even good fighters, even those who have had much experience." After a few moments of silence his voice came again. "Aren't you going back, Sarah?"
Sarah had taken off her boots and overdress and threw herself on her cot. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Nehorai. Good night."
"You two are much too stubborn for your own good," Nehorai sighed resignedly. "Good night, Sarah."
The camp began to stir at dawn and people began to get ready for battle. The day promised to be a beautiful autumn day, brisk, cold, and beautiful, the sky a sapphire blue without a cloud to mar its clarity. Sarah dressed in warm men's clothes, tightly-woven pants and a thick linen shirt under a leather jacket and a dagger at her belt, and Nehorai wore warm clothes under his cloak, but in unspoken agreement they did not share the fires for breakfast, for Sarah had said all her goodbyes the night before, and she did not think she could bear to go through it again. The goblin queen's small party set out to the hill overlooking the valley, one of her fae guards leading the way while two others guarded the rear. Eek was ambling along in Sarah's wake, and like all goblins this day he was armed, a sharp dagger in his belt and a nasty short axe in his hands as he doggedly made his way by his queen's side, his usually peaceful face sharp and dangerous. On the way Sarah leaned heavily on Nehorai as she began to pass the visuals of the battlefield from the floaters in the skies to the goblin king. When they had reached the hilltop, the guards took up positions while Sarah, Nehorai and Eek made themselves comfortable on the knoll on a thick blanket Sarah conjured. They would be here for as long as the battle lasted, and Sarah thought grimly they were going to be miserable observing the killing from a distance, but there was no reason that they could not at least be comfortable.
Then the battle began, and the day proved immeasurably worse than Sarah had ever been able to imagine.
At the core of her mind she felt the shield around the oathbound in the enemies' camp, a more precarious and demanding thing of magic than she cared to admit even to herself. The oathbound's shielding and the protections she and Jareth had woven around the connection to the labyrinth kept being battered by the pounding of the countless minds that bore down on it, even with the tendrils of magic from the labyrinth to shore up the bloodsworns' power. But Sarah found the strengthening of the link's protections to be the easiest task of her day.
Above she had grown up in the ignorant safety of a powerful country that had not experienced war within its borders for far longer than her life, and violence and death was something she'd only seen on a screen, happening to strangers in faraway places whose names she could not pronounce. Nothing in her old life, nor in her travels in the goblin kingdom, much more peaceful than she had thought them at the time, had prepared her for the reality of war. Sarah was heartsick of death and pain within a short hour, and yet the blows to her mind had barely begun.
In her innocent daydreams she had secretly imagined that the goblin queen would save the day, using her unparalleled powers to catch the man without a name when she blocked his magic, and end the fight before it had truly started. In reality she found that she just about could block his control of his power with all of her strength, and it left her increasingly drained, but she could not follow it to its source.
And all the time the battle beat on her mind relentlessly, and as it commenced, the loss of her oathbound began to batter on her, each death tearing into her like a knife as she was as closely linked to the labyrinth during the battle as she had ever been. Sarah learned in the most violent way how closely bound to the labyrinth the bloodsworn truly were, as each life cut short tore on her sanity like a scream, and yet she was helpless to aid her own in their struggle.
The goblin queen might not have been able to hold up had not her shadow and her goblin been at her side the whole time, and the steadfast love in their touch gave her the strength to hold on when she might have despaired otherwise.
And so the morning passed slowly, and Sarah's blind eyes were red with unnoticed tears running down her face, and her despair grew, and it seemed to her that the day would never be ending, and the deaths would never stop.
On the battlefield in the valley the fighting was fierce and brutal. On a hilltop that had grown up over night at the border stood the archers, their quivers full with arrows, protected from retribution by the magic of the labyrinth. As the battle started, they rained death onto the enemies from the sky, and for minutes a cloud of arrows darkened the sky as volley after volley of the deadly shafts hit the mindlessly advancing enemies. The archers tried to aim as best they could on those that were fully armed or on horseback, but inevitably many of those hit by the arrows were but hapless farmers.
Then the bigger part of the goblin army crossed the border, and they avoided engaging the well-armed opponents unless they could do so quickly and without loosing time, but targeted the folks that were obviously not soldiers. The goblins were efficient and ruthless, and a quick slash at the legs, or the back of the knee followed by a violent hit over the head with the pommel or the flat side of a sword took out those they encountered while killing as few of them as possible. Goblins being well neigh indestructible, they suffered no losses from these encounters as none of the hapless farmers had either the arms nor the experience to kill them.
The goblin king led the attack with the fae from Danu and Annwyn, with a thousand of the well-trained goblin soldiers and those of the oathbound who could wield a sword, and once they had crossed the border and met with those of their enemies who were armed and dangerous, the frontline broke into countless individual fights. Within an hour or less none of the fighters was on horseback still, as the beasts had been killed under their riders, and fighting was down to hand-to-hand combat.
As they had planned, the goblin king, the experienced fighters from the goblin court and the warrior mages from Annwyn and Danu took on the well-armed fighters from Ardar-Iforas, and the fighting was bloody and drawn-out. The nobles from Ardar-Iforas fought with hate and vengeance in their heart, and they did not expect to live but only wanted to take as many of the bloodsworn with them as they could.
When Jareth finally met Lleu on the battlefield, the fighting had raged for hours already, and both were covered in blood from the endless killing, and their arms were tired. They were both superior fighters with a longsword, and for a long time it seemed that none of them could win an advantage over the other. Suddenly Lleu lunged at Jareth, who had stumbled over a body on the ground, and the goblin king parried the blade at the last second, catching it with his crossguard. As the fighters found themselves face to face for a moment, Jareth released one hand from the grip, and faster than the eye could follow, he pulled a needle-sharp, thin dagger from his belt and stabbed Lleu under the ribs in an upwards motion, the thin blade passing through the rings of Lleu's chainmaille and piercing his heart. Lleu king of Ardar Iforas died without a sound, and his body slid to the ground.
Yet Jareth had no time to revel in his victory, for he had barely pulled the dagger out when he had to parry another blade in the hands of a fighter who had made it by his goblin guards, and the fighting went on.
And no further than fifty yards away the Carmarthen fian fought, and Toby thought that his friends were as good as he had ever seen, and he grinned wildly. They were tired like everyone else, yet all thought but the next parry, the next lunge had left their minds, and they battled with determination and skill. For a split moment Toby looked at Heulwen who fought with Eirlys at her side a few steps ahead of him, and the two women seemed to be dancing in perfect harmony.
Then Eirlys was jostled back by the man who attacked her, and as she tried to catch herself she bumped into Heulwen, who lost her own footing as she slipped on the bloody ground. In this moment's confusion Heulwen's opponent saw his chance and thrust his sword with all his strength into her middle, and although she tried to parry, her stance was not strong enough to block the blade. The young woman went down without a sound, and without ever knowing how he had fought his way to his fallen wife, Toby found himself next to her body.
Eirlys had dispatched both her and Heulwen's attacker, and the other Fianna had drawn together to shield their sword-sister from further attack. Toby fell to his knees next to his wife, but even before he searched for her pulse at her throat, he knew by her sightless open eyes that she was dead. Yet he did not have the time to grieve, and with a scream he jumped up, and he and the Fianna went back to the fight.
Sarah was so deep in the binding with the labyrinth, so entwined in the battle, that she never realized that the latest deaths that tore the blood-ties to the labyrinth were those of her fae guards. Two of them were dead with arrows through their throats before they could sound an alarm. The last one was struggling for a moment before a deep slash through his throat cut his life short, but not before he had a chance to shout out a warning.
Sarah was slow to react when Eek's shrill scream pierced the air. She shook off the daze that had held her for hours and stumbled to her feet.
Nehorai stood with his back to Sarah and desperately, improbably, fought off two attackers. Eek cut the Achilles tendon of one of the swordsmen coming at Nehorai with a vicious stroke. As she looked on still barely comprehending, Eek jumped on the back of the falling fae attacker and finished the job with a violent thrash at the attacker's neck.
Sarah heard a whooshing sound behind her and threw herself to the ground, more from unconscious instinct and the lessons of her murder training than anything else. A dagger missed her body by but a few hand-spans. She turned frantically on the grass and without thinking she grabbed her own dagger, and threw it in the direction of the noise. Less than a yard away the tall figure of a fae soldier loomed over the goblin queen, his raised cobalt sword frozen at the apex of a deadly arc. He stared at the handle of the dagger sticking out from belly with mute surprise.
Sarah scrambled backwards from the swaying figure to her feet as fast as she could. In a split second Eek was swinging at the man with brutal efficiency and speed, and before her eyes the attacker fell to his knees and keeled forward on his face, an axe embedded in his skull.
Sarah frantically turned around to Nehorai and saw him slowly pull out his sword from the fallen body of the third would-be-assassin.
The silence on the hilltop was broken only by their harsh breaths, and nothing in the vicinity stirred. The whole attack had happened with blinding speed, too fast for Sarah to consciously give alarm, but the labyrinth had been quickly alerted by the queen's goblin as much as by Sarah's violent start. While the attackers on the hilltop were dead, the labyrinth would not endanger its chosen again, and its magic mercilessly scoured the area at the border. It caught five more groups of people not bloodbound to the goblin kingdom moving stealthily towards the hilltop, none of them larger than three people, well disguised and melting into the landscape. None of them lived, for the labyrinth cared not for knowledge. They would have killed its chosen. None but oathbound would be allowed in the queen's vicinity now, for the labyrinth would not risk both its king and queen.
Sarah kneeled before Eek and hugged him tight. Now that the danger was over he was back to his usual silly-looking self, but Sarah had seen her goblin fight for her, and she would never again make the mistake of underestimating him. He had been as fierce and vicious as any goblin she had ever seen, and she was proud of him.
She got up with a smile and walked over towards Nehorai, about to say something, when she realized that he was standing with his arms pressed to his body, and a black stain spread on his cloak. Whatever had been on her tongue died unspoken as she ran to him in sudden fear.
"Nehorai, what is wrong?" She stood in front of him and with shaking hands she gently took off the cloak that covered his slight frame, and he did not resist. He let her pull the cloak over his arms, but then again his hands clutched his stomach. The grey feathers on his clawed hands slowly turning red as dark blood was slowly seeping out from the gaping wound in his belly where this attacker had driven in his sword, as Nehorai was defending Sarah as best he could.
The goblin queen looked at him, her face white and horrified, and she drew her magic to her with feverish urgency when Nehorai put his hand on her arm to ward off her power.
"Don't, Sarah," and his voice was distorted with pain.
"Are you completely crazy, Nehorai? Your are very badly hurt, my friend, so shut up and let me heal you. And now sit down, so it is more comfortable for you." With panicked hands she pulled him down on a wide cot she conjured with barely a thought, urgently but gently still, and Nehorai sat down.
He let go of the terrible wound in his belly and held her hands in his blood-covered grip. "No, Sarah, you will not heal me," he said quietly, pain writ large on his face, but his determination did not flag. His breath came in a hiss, and yet he smiled. "We shedim always thought it was a curse, that a terrible betrayal would set us free, only to bind us worse. We never knew it could be a gift of love, and true freedom."
Sarah stared at him, and with understanding came horror. "You can't be serious, Nehorai. You don't know that this is what was meant, it can't be. Please, you cannot leave me, love," and her voice broke as she stared at him with dread and fear on her colorless face.
Nehorai smiled at her. "The shedims' voice will be heard when friend sacrifices friend, and heartblood runs red to the ground. And the price for their voices will be their freedom, and they will be bound until the end of time."
He spoke with an effort. "Of all shedim I am the first and the only to have made friends with other kindreds, Sarah, and I have seen sights that my people have never beheld. Yet our children long for a place in the world, too, Sarah. But they are locked into the mists or face death. Now we can give their future to them. If you love me, Sarah, you must let me go."
He looked at her imploringly. "The sacrifice is mine as much as yours, Sarah, for I will give up all our tomorrows for the children to find their place in the world."
He held on tightly to her hands. "You need to bind us all to the labyrinth as you did with Bergljot, Sarah. This is what the prophecy meant," and the urgency in his voice cut through Sarah's desperate tears.
"I would be binding the shedim to the goblin kingdom forever, Nehorai, and they can never leave it until the end of time. Is that truly what you want for your people? Please, let me help you, Nehorai, we can try to find a way to help the shedim somehow, I swear it to you, just let me heal you, we'll find a way together." Sarah was crying like a child, her face red and hopeless.
"We are prisoners already, Sarah, and you know it. Only in the mists are my people safe, and we have not left them since Jareth offered us sanctuary. My death will give them all of the kingdom, and the companionship of the other kindreds. I have been happy in my years with you when I had thought my live was over, after the man without a name murdered my family. Don't make me beg, Sarah. I don't want to leave you, but I must."
He got up, pain contorting his face, and embraced Sarah's shaking body gently, and his blood stained her shirt as she held on to him as tightly as she dared.
"I have not sung the song of joy since Chanina and Shai were murdered, but don't you think it would be very fitting for when we break the curse?"
Sarah cried uncontrollably, but she nodded her head and nearly managed to smile at him through her tears. Nehorai stood up straight, one hand pressing on his belly and the other one clutching Sarah's hand, and as his heartblood ran red to the ground, he began to sing the song of joy that had not passed over his lips since it had died in his heart with the death of his family. She held on tightly, desperately to Nehorai's hand, and completely went into the mind link with the labyrinth, little of herself left in her body.
And with all the magic of the labyrinth she searched through the bright strands of existence and gathered those that were shedim in the tapestry of life in the labyrinth, and she slowly, patiently began to weave their shimmering tresses into the very warp and weft of the labyrinth, until there was no telling where one began and the other ended. In the mists all shedim felt the gentle touch of the goblin queen on their souls, and they laid down their work, and their eyes went blind as the labyrinth drew their minds into the presence of what would both free and bind them forever.
And through it all Nehorai's pain-wracked voice rang out in the song of joy, clear and strong over the valley, and one by one the voices of the shedim joined him in the union of a song of power, and their voices were raised in the absolute repudiation of despair, the triumph of hope and the trust in a better tomorrow. And for the first time since the beginning of time the voices of the shedim were heard by the kindreds of the underground in all their purity and passion, and as the song carried over the battlefield, the fighting died down, and a hush fell over all in the valley. Those who had been compelled to battle by the will of the man without a name stood in deep absorption, unmoving and their faces turned to the sky, and their eyes closed against the midday sun. As the song of joy broke down the compulsion, tears began to run down their faces as they dropped their weapons, peasants and soldiers alike.
And on the hill top Sarah was pulled back into her body, and she felt Nehorai stumble and caught his light body in the falling. She collapsed on the ground cradling his body in her arms, and Eek gave what assistance he could. And while the shedim offered the song of joy to the Underground, Sarah held her dying friend in her arms, and what they told each other in these last minutes of his life neither Sarah nor Eek would ever talk about again.
When finally the voices of the shedim fell silent, Sarah kneeled in the bloody dirt cradling Nehorai's dead body close to hers, her shirt and hands stained with his blood, her face and hair streaked red. She sat there, swaying back and forth, her hand convulsively smoothing the feathers of Nehorai's face and head and talking to his dead form in a voice too low to hear, and her eyes were bright and dry. Eek wrapped Nehorai's cloak around her shrunken form and sat next to his queen to warm her, and while she did not seem to notice him, sometimes her hand would touch him and hold on to his warmth, and he was content. The labyrinth quietly created a sphere of protection around its chosen and called upon its goblins to guard the queen.
Down in the valley the goblin king and his generals had their hands full for several hours.
While the battle had been mostly over when the song of joy had dissolved the compulsion of their opponents, those of the nobles from Ardar Iforas who fought from hatred and fury and not compulsion would not lay down their swords, but they were outnumbered and quickly overcome or killed. Yet the goblin king and the leaders of his army still needed to coordinate the care of the wounded and the freed hostages, and Jareth found to his chagrin that he even needed to organize the provisioning and accommodation for his erstwhile enemies, for as they had suspected, the men and women they had faced in battle had been torn from their land without preparation or warning, and were in dire need of succor. So it was mid-afternoon before the king and his advisors managed to meet to try to get an idea of what had happened.
Despite being in the thick of fighting, Tiernan had managed to get through the battle with nary a scratch. "Didn't you say your magic was blocked beyond the border of the goblin kingdom, Jareth? You could have saved us quite some losses had you actually used this release spell earlier."
Porr answered with some heat before Jareth had a chance to say a word. "Jareth was in the middle of a fight with a fae noble from Ardar Iforas when the song of power began, so it wasn't him. He would not hold back on his magic for tactical reasons while his own are dying, lord Tiernan, the goblin kingdom does not do like the other demesnes. I suspect that lady Sarah must have had something to do with this."
The goblin king was filthy and covered in gore and blood, as he had come off his horse in battle, but he was an experienced fighter and had walked away without a serious wound. "I believe you are right, Porr. I do not know how it is possible, but these were the voices of the shedim that broke the compulsion." The faces around him twisted in disbelief. "The lady Sarah has spent years with the shedim, and it would seem that she has found a power among them that has escaped the underground." Jareth's teeth shone white from his grinning face. "Let us go and see what the lady has to say."
So in high spirits they set out to talk to the queen, and Jareth transported them the short distance from the valley to the tip of the hill. Yet the men's face turned grey as they caught sight of the queen, covered in dried blood, kneeling on the ground with the dead body of a shedim in her lap and her body rocking mindlessly. Fast as quicksilver Jareth moved over to Sarah and crouched in front of the empty-eyed woman in a heartbeat, and he took in her half-mad eyes and the despair that rendered her face ugly. Eek held on to his queen with desperate care. "Is not Sarra's blood on her clothes, her body not be hurt," he said simply, and Jareth gave him a nod.
Sarah looked at him in a moment of recognition, and she smiled at him for a split second. "You live."
"And so does Toby, Sarah," he told her urgently, and it seemed she might say something else, but the moment passed and her eyes grew distant again. Disinterestedly she turned back her attention from him to Nehorai's body in her arms, and again did she begin to sway as she pulled the cooling body close to hers.
Jareth stood up, his face set in grim lines, and he moved into his mindlink with the labyrinth to learn what had happened.
Why did you not tell me?
THERE IS NOTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE, CHOSEN. YOU DID WHAT YOU NEEDED TO DO.
I might have been able to help her.
NO. YOU CANNOT HELP HER, CHOSEN, AS I CANNOT.
She loves you, she is bound to you. How can you not comfort her?
SHE KNOWS I AM HERE. YET LOVE FROM THE LIVING WILL NOT COMFORT HER. HAD SHE DIED, I WOULD LOVE YOU STILL, BUT YOU COULD NOT TAKE AWAY THE PAIN. THERE IS NO COMFORT UNTIL SHE CAN FEEL LIFE IN HERSELF AGAIN.
The goblin king turned to his advisors. "Set up camp," he ordered curtly and turned back to Sarah's small figure crouched in the dirt. With a series of complex gestures he set up further protections around the queen, and the air around her turned warm and balmy and the ground she knelt on was warm and soft, cushioning her prone body.
Ningyo looked at the broken woman with pity. "Nehorai died defending her, did he not?"
"How did you know it is Nehorai?" It came out as a snarl.
Ningyo looked at his king and answered gently. "The lady Sarah was never without her shadow or her goblin, yet now there is only Eek and the queen, and Nehorai's bloody cloak lies over her shoulder. Whom else would the lady Sarah mourn but Nehorai? Who attacked them?"
"The man without a name had sent out men to kill her." Jareth's face turned cold and terrifying. "Yet the queen is as hard to kill as I am. He will regret ever attacking us and the goblin kingdom."
Sarah spend the night on the hilltop cradling the body of the friend she had loved, and she was oblivious to all else. The goblin king held restless guard over the queen and the camp, and the deaths of battle weighed heavily on him. All over the camp were others like Sarah who mourned the loss of friends and lovers in battle, and pain hung thick over the fires. In the valley, like Sarah held Nehorai, Toby held Heulwen's dead body in his arms, his eyes dry because there were no tears left in him, and his heart was frozen and inconsolable. The Carmarthen Fianna stood guard over the body of their friend, and their pain burned bright in them.
When the sun rose the next morning and lit the sky over the quiet men and women in the valley and the hills, throwing its light over the tired and hurting people crouched around the fires, a small flock of ravens circled slowly over the hill and landed near the goblin king's tent, turning into a group of shedim before the eyes of the onlookers. Before any of the terror-stricken observers could do or say anything, however, a young shedim woman addressed the goblin king in a lovely soprano voice that carried well beyond the fire to reach all who crowded the valley.
"The queen's shadow, Nehorai of the Shedim, died to break the curse on our kindred, majesty, and the queen bound us to the goblin kingdom until the end of days. Our voices will never again turn a mind to madness, and we are at your command. We came to beg you to allow us to help in the war, my king." The terrified faces of the listeners slowly relaxed as understanding stole into their minds and they took in the full meaning of the woman's words, and a whisper and a story quickly moved from fire to fire.
Jareth's heart constricted in pity. So Sarah had been forced to let her friend die, able to help him yet not, and he wished with all his heart she had never been forced to make such a choice.
His voice gave away none of his thoughts. "I am glad you and your brethren have come to join us, lady Urit. The goblin queen grieves for Nehorai whom she loved, and with her grieve many in my army who have lost someone close to their heart. I would ask you to convince the queen to join you in the lament for the dead to send those who died for the goblin kingdom to the night as they deserve."
And Jareth touched the minds of the oathbound and he told them to lay out their dead. He led the shedim where Sarah huddled and lifted the protections around the queen. Jareth stepped back as they walked up to his queen and surrounded her with light voices and lighter touches, and he saw them cry for Nehorai and Sarah, but Sarah's face remained unmoving and without tears.
All over the valley people stood and carefully eased onto the ground the dead bodies of their beloved, unmoving and quiet, as if they were asleep. And if they were oathbound or those that had been forced to fight against the goblin kingdom, they all carefully arranged the clothes of their dead and kissed their mouths, and put their final gifts into the hands of those they loved. And like too many others, golden Heulwen lay pale and cold on the earth, the blood and filth lovingly washed off her face and hands, her corn-colored hair carefully brushed, and a clean tunic covered her death wound. The Heqet charm on her throat stood out as a stark reminder of what would never be. Her friends pulled Toby from his wife's dead body, and they stood bowed and cried for her.
Jareth never knew how the shedim managed to talk the queen into a semblance of coherence, but at length she rose from the ground, stiff and remote, but she gently laid out the still body of Nehorai on the ground and smoothed the feathers on his face and kissed him a last time before she rose. Jareth joined the small group on the knell, and he stood close behind Sarah, both of them straight and unbowed in the sunrise.
And as the morning sun poured its red-gold light over the dead laid out in the valley and on the hill, the goblin king, the goblin queen and the shedim lifted their voices in the lament for the dead. With all the power of the labyrinth and the magic inherent in the shedim song of power, the lament washed over the lifeless bodies, friend and foe alike, until they shimmered and began to loose definition at the edges, slowly dissolving into pale light that finally died, leaving behind nothing but memory. And the people of the goblin kingdom were not the only ones who shed tears at the passing of those who died, for their erstwhile opponents cried with them, and their tears were as true.