A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys! I appreciate your words so much! Please enjoy this chapter, as always, and leave me a pretty lil review! Thxs bunches! Xoxo E.Ll
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Labyrinth: The Dream Never Ends
By: Eriksleadinglady
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Disclaimer: See all the previous chapters for this information. If you don't know it by now, there must be something wrong with you.
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Chapter 7: It's just us trying to feel that there's some sense in it
Jareth flew over the Labyrinth in his owl form, trying to get to his old friend as quickly as he could. He was going to visit Odeon, the great wizard in the Jackylsvan territory in the Middle Kingdom. The territory, he knew, was under Jouegh's rule, so he would have to be extra careful upon entering; he did not want his brother knowing that he was there and for what purpose.
However, being the arrogant king, Jareth believed himself to be nigh untraceable; even by his brother. So Jareth flew along with his mind on everything else beside his pigheaded brother.
Instead, along his flight, he thought about Sarah and their blooming friendship – if he could call it that. He knew that she probably still hated him for what he did and what not, but he was growing to be more and more comfortable with her presence. She was stubborn and foolhardy, but she was also strong-minded and strong-willed. Her feisty spirit drew him to her and although he didn't want to, he was falling for her. She was a mortal, a large drawback, but if she decided to live down here forever, she would eventually take on some aspects of a Fae life, including immortality. She would fade quicker than most, since she would not be a complete immortal, but she would still live a much longer down here than Aboveground.
Also, Sarah held the audaciousness to stand up to him, which was something that no other wise creatures even thought of doing. If any of his subjects, such as a goblin, stood up to him, he would have them killed. With Sarah, however, she had stood-up to him on multiple occasions, not listening to a word he said, and never did he have it in him to give her the proper punishment. He did, though, love to threaten her to make her believe that he might do something, like throw her into an Oubliette, but he would honestly never do that. Mainly, he just did that to keep his image of being fierce and cruel. Without that image, his subjects would act out on him and never listen, thus resulting in riots and free-living goblins all over the place. That would never do. So, he was forced to be cruel and pugnacious to Sarah and everyone else, whether he liked it or not.
As he continued to fly, he realized just how far he had to go in order to get to the other kingdoms. There were many miles of in between land that was ruled by indigenous tribes, who were unruly, not wanting to be controlled by a king. Therefore, Jareth just left them to rule themselves, and thus far, it had worked pleasantly with no outbursts from any of the tribes; all was at peace.
But, to get anywhere at all, he had to fly such a long way. He could use to spell to get himself there in one piece, true, but that would be very rude to just show up at someone else's home without a warning and no welcome. Also, if he did use magic to get there, he was sure that Jouegh would sense him, and since they were twins, they held a special bond that enables such abilities, which he certainly did not want to happen.
Thus, Jareth continued to bat his wings, flying over the expanses of land with long wing strides.
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Sarah sat in the library, many books lying out in front of her. She wasn't sure which one she wanted to read, since there were so many interesting ones to choose from. Many of them she had never heard of before and contained tales about centaurs, unicorns, and other mystical creatures. Along with these, there were also the books containing the history of the Labyrinth, which Sarah believed would be quite entertaining to read as well, since she knew nothing about the land.
But, at last, she decided on a lighter read: the tale of Genji the Goblin Knight. For a moment she laughed at the title, for she could not picture a tiny, messy goblin dressed in a full knight's armor and running to save the day. She figured that the tale would be a funny story or at least amusing.
Settling herself down in one of the chairs, she began to read the tale. As she read on, Sarah discovered that the tale was quite the opposite of what she had expected. It was a history novel telling the story of a goblin named Genji, who saved the goblin population from a deep famine. He was brave and went to the Goblin King to ask for his help. The Goblin King, being the mischievous being, decided to give the goblins food, but make it very hard for them to get it. He placed it deep within the bog of eternal stench, where no one would dare to enter. All the goblins were disheartened about this, but Genji devised a plan in order to get the food and crops. He made a special suit that would block out all the stenches of the bog, and then he wore the suit, entering the smelly place and retrieving all the food for the goblins. Afterwards, the Goblin King was pleased and decided to let the goblins have their food easily, instead of making them do some task to attain it. From then on, Genji was known as a hero, a gallant knight.
About halfway through the story, however, Sarah fell asleep. She did find the story entertaining, yes, but something about it just made her very sleepy. And so, slumping down her chair, Sarah drifted off into a restless sleep.
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Eventually, Jareth managed to get to the tiny living space of the wizard Odeon. He landed quietly in his Fae form and walked briskly over to the door, giving a slight tapping to alert his friend that he was there. He was surprised, however, that when the door opened, Odeon did not stand there, but his brother, Jouegh did. His face must have been one of complete shock, for Jouegh broke into a wide grin.
"Expecting somebody else?" questioned Jouegh as he began to laugh.
Jareth's face of shock immediately turned into a frown of anger and slight embarrassment. "What, may I ask, are you doing here?" he responded through clenched teeth.
"Answering a question with another question, I see," reprimanded Jouegh. "Ah well, I suppose that was in order, since that old goat had lived here for so long." He paused, cocking his head to the side. "But, I suppose the place is up for rent now, if you would like to take a look. I must say, it is quite spacious, considering the way it appears on the outside." He gestured to the surrounding area, and then spoke in a loud voice. "It may seem to just be a tiny little hut, made of straw and leaves, but, I assure you, on the inside it is like a castle."
Jareth glared at his twin menacingly. "What did that man ever do to you." It was not a question, it was an accusation.
He furrowed his brow. "Always jumping to conclusions -"
"But I am always right," interrupted Jareth.
"And having no sense of manners either," finished Jouegh. Then he hung his head as his hands went out to the sides. "Well, I suppose now you want to put me into an oubliette?"
"Oh no, you are far too dangerous to be forgotten about."
Jouegh grinned tauntingly with his perfectly white teeth. "I am honored that you think of me as such a threat."
"I would be a fool not to."
Jouegh was silent for a moment, contemplating on his next move. "You know, Jareth, I have been wondering for quite some time why you brought that little mortal girl back. She will be your downfall."
Jareth growled in anger. "She is important to the Labyrinth. Her world was not satisfying."
"You do realize what she is capable of, don't you?" asked Jouegh. When he saw nothing spark in Jareth's eyes, realization dawned on his features. "Ah, I see. You have no idea what her purpose is. That is why you came here. Too bad for you that Odeon is no longer around to offer his services." He pulled out an iron sword from his hilt and rubbed his fingers along it. "Iron. What a magnificent tool, don't you agree? The most dangerous of all substances to the folk that live down here."
Jareth still remained standing tall. "You can't kill me; you know this."
"Ah yes, a brother can't kill a brother; that is a pity since I have been aching to do so for such a long time. You have been such a thorn in my side, an inhibitor to my rights as king. But, alas, I need not kill you."
All of a sudden, Jouegh stabbed the sword through Jareth's abdomen.
"I just need to render you and your magic helpless for awhile, that's all," he said as he continued to stab Jareth. First, in the arm, then the leg, continuing to other various places of Jareth's Fae form. Immediately, without a second thought, Jareth knew what his brother was up to. He was trying to produce as much iron damage as he could so that Jareth would be helpless for some time without magic, which would also drain his energy immensely.
However, Jareth, try as he might, could not summon up the power to get his brother off of him. Slowly, he felt his magic begin to disappear and his world was becoming black. The last image he saw before he lost complete consciousness was the smirk on Jouegh's face. Then, the Goblin King toppled to the ground, out cold.
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Sarah was wandering through the forest, searching for something, although she didn't know what. All she knew was that she needed to find it desperately; it was like whatever it was, was calling to her. She pushed her way through more trees and bushes, looking this way and that, but still not seeing anything. She paused in the middle of a clearing, raising her hand to her eyes to search through out the field.
Then she saw it: there was something shining in the distance, like a piece of metal. She furrowed her brow, thinking that this reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite remember what. She had seen this shining before, she knew, on multiple occasions, but where?
Shaking her head, Sarah continued on her way, feeling as though she was being drawn to the shining. She wound her way through some more bushes, and then she found herself at the foot of a giant silver and gold tree. Just as she was about to step closer, the area around her flashed, and then she found herself inside of a room, decorated in gold trim and white walls. After looking around her at her new surroundings, she noticed that there was the tree, the same tree, located in the middle of the room. Surrounding it were many flowers of different sorts, but all were silver and/or gold.
Slowly she inched her way towards the tree, eyeing it carefully.
Suddenly, the area began to shake as the tree rumbled and a face formed in the front. The eyes, at first, were a bloody red, but then they changed to a dark black. Then the mouth, adjourned with sharp rutted teeth, began to speak.
"Through the body, the whispers come.
It travels through the dying one.
Defeating it once, becoming it twice
The mortal will be the device."
Then all was silent, but the tree held the same exact expression on it: completely blank.
Sarah was afraid to speak, frightened that the tree would get angry with her and lash out in rage. She was right in being silent, for then the tree turned it's look directly at Sarah and began to speak once more, continuing with it's riddles and rhymes.
"Be careful of the same, you must be."
Sarah's mouth was agape. "I don't understand," she spoke at last. There was no point in speaking to it if it would never make sense.
"Try to trick you, to get to me."
Sarah continued to not understand. "But who are you?"
"Opening to magic, is all in thee."
Silence.
"Only you are welcome, to come to me."
Sarah repeated the lines in her head, but could make no sense of them. The tree was talking in riddles, and she couldn't understand. Try as she might, everything the tree was saying to her was coming out in a blur.
The tree was still looking at her expectantly, seeming to be waiting for some response, anything. Come one Sarah…. Think. Think
But she couldn't think. Her mind was only drawing blanks and more blanks. She couldn't process anything. Just a few words, that's all it needs
"What must I do?" she finally asked at last. What must I…?Where did that come from?
"Protect."
Then, the face was gone, and the tree was stark still, like it never had any life in it at all.
Sarah awoke in a start, making the book that was in her lap fall in a clutter to the floor. She cursed under her breath as she bent over, picking up the pieces of paper and the rest of the book. Placing it carefully back onto the table, Sarah rested her head in her hands.
The dream had been like so many others of hers that she had had, and yet it was so different. The tree spoke to her, it could actually form words and phrases, although it loved to rhyme. She replayed it over and over in her head, but still she could not understand what the tree was trying to tell her. She only really understood one part: Protect. But protect what? What was there to protect? The tree had said that someone was trying to get to it. But what exactly was it?
She sighed heavily. She needed to talk to Jareth; perhaps he knew what was going on here. But he wouldn't be back for a couple of days. How many more? Two? Shaking her head, Sarah knew that that was too long. The tree had sounded almost urgent, like whatever it was that was coming, was coming soon.
"Come on, Sarah," she whispered under her breath. "Think. Riddles and Rhymes… you grew up on this stuff. Now what does it all mean?"
But try and try as she might, she could piece nothing together. The way the tree had said some of those words made it sound like it was repeating a prophecy of some sort. However, Sarah did not know of any prophecies of the Underground, barely even any of the Aboveground.
Her head then shot up and she looked around her. Of course! She was in Jareth's personal library! Hadn't he said that he was in here earlier? Surely, out of all these books, there must be one about prophecies!
Quickly, Sarah rose to her feet and began looking up and down every shelf, nook, and cranny in the room. Her eyes frantically scanned each title for anything with "prophesy" in it. However, she found nothing with that word in the title, only things about myths and history.
Once more, she sat back down on the chair, continuing to ponder all possible plans of actions that she could take in order to figure this thing out. The only thing, or rather person, that she could think of to help was Jareth, and he was gone! She had no way of contacting him. Unless…
"Jareth!" she called spontaneously. She wondered if he would even answer, since he was obviously busy, but she figured she might as well try. But after waiting a couple of minutes, Jareth still did not show any sign of himself.
"Jareth!" she yelled once more, but he still did not come.
Then Sarah rose to her feet, getting sick of just sitting there useless. Maybe, just maybe, there was someone else around Goblin City, or just in the Labyrinth in general, that could answer some of her questions, since Jareth refused to come. So, with her resolve set in place, she left the library and began her way out to the front doors.
On her way out however, just as she was opening up the door, she heard a voice call from behind her.
"Hello, Sarah."