Chapter Thirteen: Golden Visions

The boy had fallen asleep shortly after coming from his world to the Underground. It had been far too much for his small, delicate body to handle. Jareth feared that the ripping sensation would be something that would plague the child's dreams for years to come. However, he had taken it quite well. He had looked at Jareth and fainted away.

Jareth had no idea what had possessed the child's mind to call upon the Goblin King to take him away. Perhaps, the child had simply thought that it was all made up. However, he didn't act that way. He was very much like his sister and Jareth feared that he would have another determined kid on his hands. He would make the boy sleep as long as possible. He needed the rest.

Jareth silently wondered to himself if Toby actually remembered the Underground and the goblins that he had seen the last time that he was here, six long years ago. Toby hadn't wished himself into the Labyrinth that time. That had entirely been Sarah's doing. Of course, that had been a different Sarah. She had been a child and upset with her dull life. Jareth was sure that Sarah was still very much disappointed with her life, but didn't want to admit it to herself.

Toby stirred in his sleep and let out a pathetic whimper. Jareth glanced about the room and then waved his hands over the boy's sleeping body. It was not time yet to awaken. The spell was using a lot of very precious magic, but Jareth knew that the boy needed more time, not to mention, that Jareth was not quite ready to speak to him.

"The boy asked to be taken, so I did as he said. This is not my fault," Jareth stated to himself as he walked from the room.

However, inside he knew that Sarah would still consider it Jareth's doing. Bringing Toby to the Labyrinth had been the furthest thing from Jareth's mind. He didn't want to waste magic on such a small boy. Even if the boy was Sarah's brother, what good could it do? She had already headed out on the quest. Having the boy only complicated things. However, Jareth could not suddenly turn down a boy's request to be taken. The fates had decided that Jareth would take unwanted children, so he had no choice.

He closed the door silently behind himself and bolted it shut. There were only three brave goblins left in his castle. Those three were left to guard the prisoners. Once Ludo had broken his ropes and nearly escaped, but Jareth had managed to use one of his few crystals left to subdue the beast. There wasn't much time left. Soon the two would escape and then his plan would be ruined.

Jareth walked slowly to his crystal room. There was much thinking to do. The doors opened before him and closed after he had made his way through the arched doorway. He fell to the chair in exhaustion and looked skeptically towards the oval mirror. He doubted that it would obey him, but there was no harm in trying.

Jareth waved a gloved hand before its reflective surface and waited, anxiously, to see if the mirror would be agreeable. It flashed a brilliant white color and then dropped to a mild blue. The mirror lost its reflection and changed to a picture of a Sarah. She was standing in the forest with a strange animal. A look of terror was upon both of them.

"What is wrong with them?" Jareth asked, concern slipping into his voice.

The mirror did not reply. It simply showed the image of Sarah and her animal friend. She had had a knack for befriending the inhabitants of the Underground. Jareth's heart dropped as he noticed the two take off in the other direction. A sudden noise was emitted from the mirror. It sounded like heavy footsteps and trees crashing. Then the mirror turned white once again.

"No, no! Show me what has happened and what the creature is that dares to chase them!" Jareth demanded.

The mirror would not comply. It remained white for a few more moments and then turned a fantastic purple color. In the purple was a woman's face. She was young and beautiful, but she was not Sarah. Jareth felt his anger surfacing once again. The mirror had showed him his old companion. Why was it determined to taunt him?

The young girl only looked at him with her yearning eyes. She had wanted so much, more than Jareth could ever give her. She had offered him everything, including her love, but he had scoffed at that and turned her away. The mirror was determined to reopen old wounds and infest them with guilt. Jareth wasn't about to put up with it. Her sad eyes watched him as he rose from the chair.

"I will not tolerate this! I have forgotten you! Can't you understand and leave me with my remaining days in peace? Have you returned to seek revenge? I feel that you only need to look at my kingdom to understand the amount of suffering I have gone through so far. I am dying! Is that not enough revenge for you?" Jareth snarled.

He drew his hand back and smashed the mirror. It exploded in a bright flash of light and the pieces flew throughout the room. They tinkled upon the ground like rain. Jareth did not attempt to shield himself from the razor sharp shrapnel. His anger was fuming uncontrollably and the fine cuts over his arm and face brought him no pain. Jareth looked at his sliced arm absently. It had been a long time since he had seen his own blood. Jareth smiled. Perhaps, he would die from loss of blood.

His anger suddenly faded and left him feeling spent. He collapsed to the chair after a few staggered steps. His power was weakening quicker than he had anticipated. Sarah would have less time. He wished that he had decided to send someone else on the quest. By the time that Sarah was back, he would no longer be able to send her and her brother home.

Jareth glanced at the ground. His blood had pooled about the chair and was attempting to stain the crystallized surface. He rose to his feet and was met with and intense wave of vertigo. The whole room spun out of focus and then swirled back in for a moment. Jareth staggered towards the door that seemed to be leaping further and further away from him. He lunged forward and struck his injured arm upon the glass door. A streak of crimson blood was left on its pure surface.

He swung it open with more force than was required. It slammed against the wall and a fine mass of cracks found their way in the center of the glass and crystal. Jareth ignored the damage and continued down the hall. He needed help. The world turned black and then snapped back the next instant. Reality was slipping through his fingers.

"Oh my...," Jareth never managed to finish his statement.

His heart beat skipped several times and then raced. A deep pain welled within his chest and then moved up his entire body. Jareth placed his hand on his heart as he fell against the closest wall. Brilliant white dots shone in his vision. He was going to die, after all. Jareth smiled and slowly slid down the wall. His suffering was coming to an end. He would not be forced to watch his kingdom die.

The white dots before his eyes turned black and slowly spread to cover his entire field of vision. Jareth closed his eyes and waited for death to take him. However, the destroyer stayed away and allowed Jareth to simply slip into unconsciousness.

There was an intense white, that he remembered. There was also pain in his arm. Someone was applying a cold substance to his injury. The liquid stung fiercely, but there was no way to voice his complaints.

"Shh," the voice whispered tenderly.

He could remember gold had interwoven with the intense white. The gold was what had struck him the most, but he didn't know where it had come from. It was a woman who was healing him. Her voice revealed that fact.

"Sarah?" Jareth's voice asked happily.

A face came slightly to focus. It was rimmed with gold. He saw deep eyes that were stained red with tears that had been shed eternally. There was pain, sadness and love in them. He still thought it was Sarah, even though the two looked nothing alike. Jareth managed to move his weak hand and grab her arm. The face seemed almost to transform into that of Sarah's. This only convinced Jareth that she was the one standing beside him.

"Sarah, I must tell you something that I have held hidden for six years," he strained.

His vision was still very blurred. The woman wrapped a bandage over his wound and then stood up. She was shorter than Sarah. He realized that. However, his mind would not believe that it wasn't her. Her face faded back into a strange one, but it was vaguely familiar. Where had he seen it before? Where had he seen her before?

"Please, no," the voice muttered.

His head swam with dizziness once again. He would have to speak quickly before he drifted out of reality. Jareth attempted to touch her hand, but she was too far away. The fragrance of roses and honeysuckle drifted through Jareth's senses. This was all it took to confirm the fact that it was not Sarah with him. Jareth fought against the darkness that was trying to capture him once again. He finally understood who was by his side.

"Why have you returned?" Jareth asked.

The woman only shook her head. She backed away from Jareth into a harsh light. Jareth squinted and tried to see where she was going, but he couldn't. She faded away slowly. The gold was the last to disappear from his vision. He wanted to grab her and tell her that she could stay with him. They could have a friendship. However, she was gone again.

"Katriana," he stated gently.

Her name felt like a smooth liquid flowing from his lips. He savored it again in his mind and then relaxed. It felt good to remember her name. It hadn't been right to forget. Then a startling thought came to Jareth, moments before he drifted back to sleep. Wasn't she dead?

Her name remained in his thoughts as he fell into a deep sleep.

Toby snapped his eyes open wide. A scream remained poised on the tip of his tongue for a moment, but he managed to supress it. He glanced around himself with frightful eyes. No one was in the room. He let out a long sigh and quickly climbed out of the bed.

He had known that he had made a big mistake the second all the light dropped from Sarah's room. He could vaguely remember some tall man with blonde hair grab his arm and pull him through the mirror. The rest of his memories were hidden beneath a haze. Toby scratched his head thoughtfully, but still couldn't recall the rest of his lost memory. It was just as well. It had probably been a terrifying experience.

Toby decided to make the best of his situation. After all, he had been brought to the magical Underground by the Goblin King. He would have many stories to tell his friends when he returned home. Toby couldn't wait to see their shocked faces. However, they had a tendency to stay away from Toby. They probably wouldn't even believe him anyway.

"I wonder where he is?" Toby asked.

He walked slowly towards the door and touched the doorknob tentatively. Toby pressed one small ear to the wooden surface and listened closely for any sounds. However, there was only silence beyond the door. It was strange. Toby had remembered the stories very well. There had always been great commotion and excitement in the castle. He could also remember that there were masses of goblins! Toby couldn't wait to see one of the funny creatures.

Toby pushed at the door, but it was securely locked. He pushed again and felt the old bolt strain against the pressure. It would break soon, Toby was sure of it. Toby knocked it one more time and heard the snap as the lock fell from the door. He smiled at himself for breaking out of the room. He was strong after all. Toby repressed an urge to saunter around. There were more important things to do than boast to an empty room.

He flung open the door and glanced around the hallway. His excitement died away instantly. The hall was bare. There wasn't a single goblin outside his room either. It was all very depressing. Toby wondered if the book had maybe just misrepresented the castle. Perhaps all the goblins lived in the city.

Toby ran to a nearby window and looked anxiously towards the city. The only thing to greet him was more disappointment. The grounds were empty. There was no smoke coming from the chimneys on the ramshackle houses. There wasn't even an animal crawling around through the city. He looked out as far as he could see, but the only thing to greet him was the Labyrinth.

"I'm getting ripped off," Toby moaned.

He drudged down the hallways. There was nothing better to do. Even his host had disappeared. Jareth was nowhere to be seen. He thought that it was rude for the Goblin King to just go away after he had decided to take Toby with him.

Toby stopped outside an open glass and crystal door. By the look of it, something very bad had happened. The glass was nearly shattered in the center of the door and there was a dark streak of blood on the other side. Toby realized, in horror, that there was blood against the wall, further down the hall. Someone had been injured and it didn't look like they had been doing so well, either.

Toby took in a deep gulp of air and reminded himself that he was a brave prince. He stepped through the awaiting door and glanced around. There was glass scattered all across the ground and a small pool of blood beneath a once-lovely chair. The chair was stained as well. Toby's feet crunched over the glass as he walked further into the room. It had been an utterly amazing room. It was surrounded by a magic feel and scent, like Sarah's room only stronger.

Toby looked over to the crystal shelves and the ancient books that lined the far wall. He trotted over to them and pulled one after another from the shelf. Perhaps his book was among them. Once every book was on the ground Toby sat near them and opened one carefully. It felt old and brittle. He was worried about the pages turning into dust from the touch of his hands. However, the paper was surprisingly strong.

"Oh, this is boring!" Toby exclaimed.

He snapped a book shut. There had only been long and difficult words in the books. He would take a whole hour to complete one page and only understand a small part of it. Toby looked at the books and glanced back towards the shelves. He let out a sigh and decided to put them away later. He had other things to inspect.

Toby carefully made his way over the broken glass once again. He looked around the room as he walked out. The rest was fairly plain. He stepped over the blood, afraid of getting one single drop on himself. His mother had warned him to never get near anyone else's blood. It was bad!

Toby's gaze fell on a canvas that lay in the corner of the room. His attention was roused by the mysterious thing. He walked over to it with less caution. The glass hadn't managed to spray as much in the corner.

He touched the wooden frame. It was a painting. Toby could tell by the type of paper that was used. His mother simply adored painting. She had once decided to paint a picture of Toby. It had been a bad mistake. Toby was a firm believer that when asked to stand still, anyone would get the positively worst itch ever. She finally managed to get the outline of him done, but still needed to fill in the rest of his body. That was when his bladder had decided to add its needs as well. He squirmed and squeezed his legs, but it didn't work. His mother got to finish her painting and clean up a nice new wet spot. Toby never posed for another painting.

He turned the mural over and gasped. It was the most beautiful painting he had ever seen. It looked totally intricate and perfect. Whomever had done it was a truly magnificent artist. However, the details and fine conception of the model was not what caught Toby's eye. It was the model herself. She had long brown hair curled and cascading around her shoulders. Her deep brown eyes gazed out at him with determination. She wore a lovely gown and looked just like a princess. However, she wasn't. The woman in the painting was Sarah.

"What's Sarah doing in the Goblin King's castle?"