An After Dark Fairy Tale
Chapter 5
What had she done? Sarah couldn't take on a being like Nox without Jareth's help. She started to panic and curse the Goblin King's name. He had spoken of love and marriage. Sarah had hardly believed it but he also talked about making her his queen. Her head had been turned, she couldn't deny it. However, it turned out his words had no meaning as, once again, he'd run out on her.
The Goblin King did warn her he wasn't her hero, but that didn't stop a part of her wishing he would be. Sarah could so easily have let him whisk her away from the den of depravity she had found herself in. But who would have saved the others? As hopeless as it was, Sarah knew she had to try. It is what her younger self would have done, and she wanted to be that brave again.
But her courage was sorely tested when she glanced around at the hellish clientèle that populated the club. At the edge of the stage, there was a creature with the body of a man and the head of a snake. It flicked its tongue lasciviously in the direction of the topless dancers making Sarah shudder with horror. Everywhere she looked there was fur, feathers, horns and fangs. It was like a William Blake or Hieronymus Bosch painting come to life.
Sarah had to focus her mind on an escape plan. If she could raise the alarm, a police raid would give her a chance to get the girls free, even if the Midnight Prince could somehow manage to talk his way out of trouble. To her surprise, the curtained entrance area to the club looked to be unguarded. Sarah walked towards it as casually as possible to avoid arousing suspicion so she could check it out. As she reached out to pull back the velvet curtain, Nox swept through it, startling her to a halt.
"Where's the Goblin King?" he gruffly questioned.
"He, um, he had to go and attend to some urgent Labyrinth business," Sarah lied.
The Midnight Prince narrowed his eyes in scrutiny and hooked one of his fingers under her dress strap. "Jareth does have a weakness for shiny things," he smirked. His hand travelled lower and Sarah shuddered with revulsion. "The Goblin King's prowess with the ladies is the stuff of legend. He's a real fuck 'em and leave 'em type. You must have something pretty special under that dress for him to come back for seconds." Nox stilled his hand at her waist, bunching the soft fabric up in his fist.
Sarah sensed he knew exactly what had happened between her and the Goblin King.
"Go change back into your work clothes," Nox ordered, releasing her dismissively from his grasp with such force that she stumbled backwards on her heels.
Sarah picked herself up, brushing off her embarrassment, and scurried away to the maze of backstage corridors. Her mind was so occupied with trying to formulate some kind of action plan, she failed to notice she was being watched. Eventually, the sound of wheezy breathing and a tapping noise, like sharp claws scampering across hard flooring, caught her attention. Sarah swung around, her heart pounding, but she couldn't see anyone following her. The overhead strip lighting started to buzz and flicker as she reached the dressing room door at the end of the corridor. Sarah gripped the handle and jiggled it, only to find it was locked. A high pitched screeching sound rang out, echoing off the walls. It got louder as if the thing making the noise was closing in on her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as a hulking, black entity materialised at the other end of the passageway. It was crouched low, poised, and ready to attack.
"What the hell?" Sarah cried out in horror.
The creature appeared to be a man-sized bat with blazing red eyes and sharp talons on its wings. It had fangs and clawed feet that looked like they could rip human flesh apart with ease. Panic gripped her and Sarah kicked and pounded at the locked dressing room door with increasing desperation. There was nowhere for her to run and the way back was blocked by the creature. It fixed her with its burning gaze and prepared to swoop.
"No!" Sarah screamed, squeezing her eyes shut.
She was breathing heavily and her heart thundered in her chest. All of a sudden, there was a strange sensation in her arms, like a static electricity shock, and it travelled through to her fingertips. Sarah looked down at her hands as the tingling grew more intense and watched in amazement as a crystal ball appeared in her palm. Amidst her shock and fear, she grappled to keep hold of it as it rolled around. There was no time for her to process the situation as the bat creature made its move.
"Get the fuck away from me," she screeched, preparing to throw the orb at it.
But, before she could act, there was an explosion of fire and her would-be-attacker was reduced to a pile of ashes.
Jareth appeared behind the creature's smouldering remains. "Are you hurt, Sarah?"
Her mouth opened and she tried to form coherent words, momentarily overwhelmed, as she gazed in wonder at the crystal ball in her hands. "Look," she eventually managed to gasp.
The Goblin King's eyes widened in surprise and he stepped over the ashes of the vanquished beast to make a closer inspection. "Where did you get it?" he inquired, warily observing the glass orb resting on her palm.
"Where do you get yours from?" Sarah asked as she turned her attention to his gloved hands. "I mean, you do that twisty-turny thing with your wrist, and then there they are." She returned her gaze to the crystal ball. "I'm not even sure how I made it appear."
Jareth was aghast. "You mean you conjured it? Give it to me," he demanded.
Sarah frowned and reluctantly handed the orb over to him. He held it up to the flickering strip light and spun it on his fingertips as he would one of his own. It emitted a brief flash of light before it evaporated.
"The magic was weak, and it wouldn't have killed the Olitiau, but it wasn't at all bad for a first attempt." Jareth looked impressed.
"Olitiau?" Sarah questioned.
The Goblin King pointed to the pile of smouldering ashes. "That." His lip curled in anger. "The Midnight Prince obviously intended for this Olitiau to kill you. It would have ripped you into pieces and drunk your blood."
Sarah shuddered in horror and she didn't resist when Jareth pulled her into his arms. "I thought you'd abandoned me again," she accused. "You said you wouldn't help me."
"Forgive me, precious," he begged. "I can be dreadfully dramatic at times. But I would never let anything or anyone harm you."
Jareth moved to kiss her but she evaded him. He still had a long way to go before he was redeemed in her eyes.
It might have been wiser to err on the side of caution, but the adrenaline coursing through her made Sarah want to push on with her plans. "If you truly want to make amends, you'll help me get the other girls out of this awful place," she challenged.
Jareth glared at her and she feared he was about to perform another vanishing act. But he didn't disappear, he began to pace back and forth instead
"Nox does need to be taught a lesson," he said, his ire at the Midnight Prince evident. "But my idea of retribution might not be the same as yours," he warned.
"I don't care what you do to him, I just want to get those poor girls out of his grasp." Sarah's skin crawled with revulsion as she thought of the monstrosities in the club pawing at them.
Her thoughts turned back to magic. She relaxed and then tensed her arms in an attempt to evoke the static electricity feeling again. There was a slight tingling but nothing happened.
"How come I made a crystal ball appear, anyway?" Sarah asked, narrowing her eyes at Jareth. "What did you do to me?"
The Goblin King gave her a slightly sheepish glance. "Remember those 'certain powers' I granted you when you were fifteen?" he inquired.
Sarah nodded and then frowned in confusion. "But that's crazy. I've never been able to perform magic before," she retorted.
"That's not so," Jareth corrected her. "You did when you ran my Labyrinth. It was only on a small scale, but the potential for greater magic was inside you. When you stopped believing the powers faded and lay dormant — until last night." Jareth's eyebrows waggled suggestively in reference to their intimacy.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "It only took a wave of your wand, huh?" She could hardly believe what was happening to her. The magical ability was inside her the whole time and she never knew it.
The Goblin King laughed. "I think it was a little bit more than that, Sarah. I don't give out magic powers to just anyone, you know." He gave her a flirtatious smile.
Jareth could be very charming when he wanted to be and she wasn't immune by any means. When he leaned in for a kiss, she didn't rebuff him.
"Well, ain't this a pretty picture."
Nox appeared at the other end of the corridor. He was grinning like a loon until he saw the remains of the vanquished Olitiau.
"Aw, man, Badru was a good customer of mine," he lamented.
The Midnight Prince maintained his distance from them but it didn't stop Jareth from slipping a protective arm around Sarah's waist.
"An unfortunate business," the Goblin King said before making his displeasure clear. "I'm sure you went to great pains to inform Badru that my precious one was off the menu. Sadly, it appears your warning slipped his mind when he tried to eat her."
Nox gave a nonchalant shrug. "He made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"I told you Sarah was off-limits to anyone but me," Jareth hissed. "You gave me your word and you broke it."
The Midnight Prince shrugged again, evidently untroubled by his actions or the threat of any consequences for them. "I told you I ain't running a charity here. Girls come and go. I could have got you another one just like that," he said snapping his fingers together.
"You knew I wanted this one," Jareth reiterated. "I had important business to attend to in my kingdom but I returned as promised."
It was taking a great deal of effort for him to restrain himself, Sarah could tell by the tension in his arms. His grip on her waist grew tighter by the second.
"Can it really be that the great Goblin King, the notorious lady-killer himself, has finally fallen in love? And with a mortal, no less," Nox taunted, mocking them both. "Well now, ain't that sweet?"
Sarah could hold back no longer. "You can go fuck yourself!"
The Midnight Prince stepped forward, intent on doing her harm. However, upon noting Jareth's arm wrapped protectively around her, he paused.
"He has Ebony for that job," the Goblin King said, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on his foe. "It is a shame your father took such a dim view of your choice of lover and cast you out. Mind you, the fact your lover is also your sister does complicate matters somewhat."
"Eww," Sarah exclaimed in disgust.
The Midnight Prince was done playing. "You do know Miss Sugar Tits signed herself away to me, body and soul, right?" he snarled.
Jareth flashed his sharp teeth. "Sarah is mine," he growled.
"Hang on just a doggone minute, I don't belong to either of you," she protested, freeing herself from the Goblin King's grasp.
"You signed my contract," Nox countered.
Sarah blazed with fury. "You drugged me, you sneaky bastard!" She felt the static electricity feeling building again and flowing through her whole body. Anger seemed to make it stronger and she tried to channel it into her fingertips.
The Midnight Prince grinned, menacingly. He swiftly reached behind his back and pulled a gun on them. It was a long barrelled colt python revolver with a wooden handle. He held it steady, alternating his aim between his two targets.
Jareth made a move to manifest a crystal. Nox gave a chastising shake of his head as he levelled the gun at him.
"You know, there's a cute human slang term for guns like these — big iron. That's what they call 'em. You wanna guess what kinda bullets I got, huh? I had to have 'em custom made, but it was worth it." Nox took obvious enjoyment in making the Goblin King squirm.
Jareth waved his hand dismissively at the weapon, maintaining his bravado in the face of danger. "I think you've been away from the Fae realm for too long. Your magic must be drained to practically nothing if you have to resort to such a crude mortal device."
The Midnight Prince's lips twisted into a sinister grin. "When in Rome, right?"
Sarah moved as close to Jareth as she could get. She knew what a gun could do to a human and she hoped the Fae had other means of defence. It worried her that he appeared as unnerved as she was.
"What is it that you want?" The Goblin King inquired. "Don't tell me all this is over something as vulgar as money."
Nox tapped his finger on the trigger of the gun. "I was gonna let you take her, you know, for old time's sake. All you had to do was not be a royal asshole and she could have been yours. But you killed a valued client and you pissed me off."
"If you kill me, the Fae Council of Justice will hunt you down and execute you," Jareth warned.
Sarah felt her panic rising as it appeared they were both in equal danger of being shot to death. In a hushed voice, she entreated the Goblin King, "You can mess with time, surely you can stop a bullet."
Nox heard her. "But these are iron bullets, my pretty."
Sarah frowned in confusion.
Nox indicated towards the gun barrel. "You wanna kill a fae, you need something made outta iron," he explained.
Jareth kept silent, his eyes weighing up their options. Sarah had an idea. The static electricity charge was still buzzing through her. It was a big risk to take, but if she could manifest a crystal to distract Nox, it might give Jareth an opportunity to disarm him.
"Look, if you give up your claim on the girl and go back to your goblins, no one has to die." The Midnight Prince spoke with a smug swagger. "Give her to me and get the hell out of here for good," he demanded.
Jareth remained resolute "Never."
Sarah knew the time to act was upon her. She willed the static energy to travel to her fingertips and she sighed in relief as a glass orb began to form.
"What the...?" Nox exclaimed as he watched in disbelief.
Sarah took the crystal ball and launched it in his direction with all the malicious intent she could muster, which wasn't difficult — given her hatred for him. "Have a nightmare of your own, you twisted bastard!" she snarled.
Her weak magic was no match for the Midnight Prince, but it was enough to throw him off balance. His finger squeezed down on the trigger of the revolver as he fell, sending his aim off course. The gun fired with a loud bang and the bullet ricocheted off the wall behind its targets. Jareth covered Sarah's body with his own in an attempt to shield her from harm. He clasped her hand in his, preparing to transport them back to his kingdom.
"Make the wish," Jareth pleaded. "I can't take you otherwise."
Nox scrambled to his feet and prepared to take aim again.
There was no time to argue, Sarah was going to have to do as Jareth said. As she turned back to him to make the wish, she let out a shriek of horror upon seeing a blood stain spreading out over the right arm of his white shirt. "Oh, my God," Sarah gasped, fearing the worst.
"Say the right words," Jareth commanded, ignoring her fussing over him.
Sarah could tell his body was weakening by the second. He probably wouldn't have the necessary strength needed to transport them if she delayed any longer. "I wish the Goblin King would take me home right now," she cried.
A breeze whipped up and there was the muffled sound of gunfire as their surroundings changed around them. Sarah had expected to see Jareth's castle appear or the Labyrinth. But instead, she found herself facing the drab walls of her own tiny apartment.
It was what she had wished for, she supposed. "Home sweet home," she muttered under her breath.
Sarah turned to Jareth to find his complexion was ashen. He slumped against her barely able to muster the strength to stay on his feet.
"Need to lie down," he rasped, his breathing laboured.
Sarah supported him as they walked the short distance to her small bedroom. She lowered him gently onto her narrow bed. The arm of his shirt was wet with blood and she was frantic with fear. "How can I help you?"
Her hands hovered with uncertainty over his injury. Sarah completed a first aid course in college. But her memory of the specifics was hazy, and it was for humans not fae.
The Goblin King's breathing was shallow and his lips were turning blue.
"Jareth, can you hear me?" Sarah was terrified he was about to die and contemplated calling for an ambulance. She softly brushed her lips over his. "Please, don't leave me," she begged. "Maybe I should get you to a hospital."
He gripped her with his uninjured hand. "No, they won't know how to help me," he said between laboured breaths.
The sleeve of his shirt was roomy and Sarah began to carefully roll it up so she could get a better look at the wound. To her relief, it appeared as if the bullet had only grazed Jareth's skin. But maybe that was enough to kill him, she didn't know. If iron really was that lethal to the Fae, a scratch with something made from it might be all it took.
Jareth's eyes fluttered open and he tried to focus his uneven gaze on her face. "Put some honey on it, or witch hazel. Use no human medicines," he instructed, his voice reduced to a whisper. "Need to sleep," he murmured and he went out like a light.
Sarah held onto his hand, concerned at how cold it was. She eased her duvet out from under him and covered him up. Her worn throw blanket was next to the bed and she put it over the duvet for extra warmth. It was hardly fit for a king but as long as it kept him from freezing to death, that was the most important thing.
"Need to get honey," Sarah muttered to herself, knowing full well she didn't have any.
She placed a tender kiss on Jareth's forehead and looked around for her purse so she could run out to the store. It was nowhere to be found. Then she remembered she had it with her when she first went to the nightclub in search of a job. The Midnight Prince must have taken it when he drugged her. Sarah started panicking again — Nox had her wallet and the keys to her apartment, not that the Fae required anything as mundane as keys to enter a building. She needed to find somewhere safe for them to hide, if such a place existed.
"What the hell am I supposed to do?" she wailed at the unconscious Goblin King.
In the midst of all the mayhem, Sarah had quite forgotten it was the middle of the night and she was still wearing the evening gown Jareth had conjured up for her. If it wasn't for the bloodstains on it, she might have been able to persuade herself it was all a bad dream. But the reality of the predicament she was in could not be ignored.
Sarah glanced over at the sleeping Goblin King. Even if there was some place she could take him, she could never move him on her own. The magic she had was probably too weak to transport them anywhere. It seemed bizarre for her to even be contemplating such an act. Her world had been turned upside down and everything was in flux. But trying to make some sense of the craziness that was now her life would have to wait.
Sarah remembered her mother had a weekend getaway place she rarely used. She decided there was no harm in trying to transport them there. Her words would need to be precise this time, she reminded herself as she clasped Jareth's limp hand in hers.
"I wish we were in my mother's house in the Hamptons," she said.
Nothing happened.
Sarah hoped it was simply a case of not doing it right, rather than because she lacked the ability. She resolved to try again. She took a deep breath and clenched her eyes shut, trying to picture the place she was aiming for as best she could. It was a while since she'd been there, but she had some happy memories of school summer vacations spent in that house.
The sound of heavy footsteps outside her apartment door drove home the need for urgent action. It was probably only one of her neighbours coming back from a late shift, but she couldn't take the risk of being wrong. Sarah climbed under the bedcovers with Jareth and hugged him tightly to her, minding his injured arm. She made the wish again and held her breath in anticipation.
Olitiau - it is a mythological small man-sized bat creature, reputed to exist in Central Africa.
For anyone that would like a bit more explanation of the whole Fae and iron thing - Folklore tales tell of cold iron (some think this means cold-forged iron, where the metal is worked and shaped using heavy machinery at low temperatures. Or it could just be iron that is cold temperature wise. Some say its a reference to the iron suits of armour worn in legends where Fairies and other supernatural beings were defeated in battles) as being deadly, or at least it acts as a repellent for the Fae. Horseshoes made of iron used to be hung above doorways and near babies cradles to keep Faeries away. I've never read of human blood being deadly to the fae in any folklore tales, although it contains iron. Indeed, some people think Faeries were the origin of the vampire myths as some fae were said to drink human blood and eat human flesh. I know a little bit about biology and that the human body contains 3-4 grams of iron, with men having slightly more than women. I'm assuming that because many folklore tales tell of humans and Fae reproducing, our blood can't be toxic to them or we wouldn't be able to make babies with them. If any of it were actually real, that is!