Your Eyes Can Be So Cruel
Chapter 3
What's Said Is Said
"You're him, aren't you? You're the Goblin King."
He bowed.
"Jareth."
I laughed. "You're really bowing, to her." Jareth raised his hand to silence me and stood up straight, his eyes never leaving her.
"I have saved you." He said to Sarah. "I have liberated you from those bonds that distressed and frightened you. You are free now, Sarah."
"Oh, no, I don't want to be free." She replied. "I mean, I do, but I want my little brother back. Please…if it's all the same to you." I laughed again.
Too late, Princess.
"What's said is said." Jareth told her, folding his hands over his cane.
"But I didn't mean it!" This girl really was oblivious. You can't take back a wish and everyone always means it when they wish for something. "Oh, please, where is he?"
"You know very well where he is." Jareth said, teasing her. I could tell he was enjoying his game. "Sarah. Go back to your room. Read your books. Play with your toys and your costumes. That is your real life." I breathed a small sigh of relief. This girl lived and breathed fairy tales. Who knows what would happen if Jareth let her into the labyrinth.
"Forget about the baby." Jareth continued.
"I can't, don't you see that I can't?" Jareth raised his left arm and a glowing crystal appeared in his hand.
"Master." I said quietly, a hint of fear in my voice. "Is she really worth it? You aimed to give a girl her dreams before, and you would have been destroyed had she not fallen into an oubliette…" Jareth hesitated a little. "Would you make that mistake again?" I was only doing this for his own good. Whether he listened to me or not was up to him; but he had been torn up after she had been lost to the labyrinth.
"I've brought you a gift, Sarah." He finally said.
"What is it?" I saw a flash of fear and curiosity run through her eyes. With a teasing smile, Jareth spun the shining crystal around in his fingers.
"It's a crystal, nothing more." He said. "Except that if you look into it…it will show you your dreams." I saw Sarah's hand start to reach for it and my mind flashed to that small red-headed girl who had done exactly the same. That girl was still lost in an oubliette deep inside the labyrinth. Jareth smiled again and withdrew the crystal.
"But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl, one who takes care of a screaming baby." Sarah's eyes were fixed on the dancing, flashing glints of the crystal. "Do you want it?" Sarah's hands remained at her sides, but her eyes never left the crystal.
"Then forget the child."
"Fat chance of that…" I muttered. I looked closely at Sarah. I could tell by her eyes that she was torn. Her every thought was in her eyes. She thought my master's gift was not only seductive, but a gift from someone who understands her, and someone who cared about her imagination. I shook my head in disapproval. My master's labyrinth was no place for a girl like this. Sarah's eyes closed.
"I-I can't." she said. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do for me…but I want my baby brother back. He must be so scared…" Jareth snorted and tossed his blond hair back. I could tell at that point he had lost patience with this girl. The crystal disappeared and he pulled a thin black snake out of thin air.
"Sarah, don't defy me." He threw the snake at her and she shrieked, trying to pull it away from her neck. Instead of a snake, she pulled away a silk scarf, which she dropped and it shattered into ten small goblins. Other goblins crept out of the shadows and all of them, myself included, were snickering, waiting to see what our king would do next.
"You're no match for me, Sarah."
"I could have told you that…" I mumbled.
"Let the child alone. Take my gift. I will not offer it again."
"No." Sarah said. "Thank you all the same, but I can't do what you want. Can't you see that? I must have my brother back."
"You'll never find him." Jareth said smugly, like he was winning his game.
"Ah, then there is a place to look." I saw Jareth's shoulders tense up. He thought he had convinced her not to go looking for him.
"Yes, there is a place." Jareth turned to the side and pointed out the window, almost hitting me in my face in the process. I took a step away from his outstretched arm and glared at him with my copper eyes.
"There." I turned my head to look where he was pointing. Outside the window, on a distant hill in the middle of a labyrinth, was the castle, complete with its massive walls, turrets, spires and domes, a portcullis, and a drawbridge, that had been my home for eighteen years. I could just see myself as a five year old girl, chasing fairies with Hoggle walking behind me. I smiled at the memory.
"Is that…the castle beyond the Goblin City?" I turned my attention back to Jareth and Sarah. The three of us were no longer standing in Sarah's house, we were on a hilltop right outside the labyrinth.
"Turn back, Sarah." Jareth said "Turn back before it's too late."
"I can't." She said simply.
"What a pity." His voice was low and gentle, as if he really meant it. I saw a small smile creep across my master's lips as he leaned next to Sarah's ear.
"It's farther than you think." Sarah jumped at the sound of his voice and it amused me that he could startle her so easily. "And time is shorter. You have thirteen hours in which to complete the labyrinth before your baby brother become on of us, forever." Jareth faded away as he spoke and I was left alone on that hilltop with the only person I despised at the moment. I glared at her and made myself visible.
"It's harder than it looks too." I said. Sarah turned and looked at me.
"Who're you?"
"Elizabeth." I said, giving her a short bow. "Jareth's servant."
"You don't look like a goblin…" Sarah said, eyeing me closely.
"Thanks for stating the obvious. Now you better hurry up, princess, time goes by a lot faster here." She nodded and ran down the hill. I watched her go, hoping she'd trip or something.
"Elizabeth." The voice rang out over the hill.
"Yes?"
"I need to speak with you." I bowed once to the voice, turned back into my raven form, and flew straight over the labyrinth and into the castle.