Chapter 11
I stood by the side of the man of my dreams, his hand clinging to mine, clenching it like it was a life line while he addressed his father. Jareth was clearly none to happy with his fathers appearance, he was gripping my hand fiercely and all I could do to comfort him at the moment was caress his knuckles. He seemed to calm with my ministrations but still remained tense. He spoke to this man and the room seemed to still. Everyone in the room was listening, that you could tell but no one would look at them out of "respect". Jareth turned to me and said "Sarah my love this the High King Oberon king of the Fae and ruler of this realm also coincidently my father." he gestured to the woman beside the High King and said "This is Tatiana the High Queen and ruler of the Fae and of this realm also my mother." Jareth turned to gesture towards me and said with a huge boyish grin "This beautiful woman is my precious Sarah, she is conqueror of my labyrinth, my future bride and keeper of my heart." he placed a small kiss on my hand and I blushed. After retracting my hand I dropped into a curtsy and spoke with all the grace I could muster in my frazzled state "It's a pleasure to meet you your highnesses." Jareth's father addressed me with a bright smile "Their is no such need for formality my future daughter. I see you bring my son great happiness and I welcome you into the family." he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug and only released me after Jareth's grunt of discomfort.
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My father may be the High King but he has no manners. It was highly inappropriate to show affection to MY Sarah and kinda offensive. "Sorry Son but I needed to welcome my new daughter home. "She is a lovely girl and I am glad she makes you happy." said my father right before he wrapped me in a sincere hug and went back to stand at the back of the room. I turned to address the other Kings and Queens. My whole body went tense but I relaxed when I felt a small warm hand resting on my shoulder. I turned to grasp Sarah's hand before speaking. "My fellow kings and queens I have asked you all to come to my castle so I could deliver some wonderful news. As custom of a royal union I have invited you all into my home to make the announcement that in three months time I am going to be getting married. You all are here so I may extend the invitation to you and your kingdoms. Without further pause this is my beautiful bride to be Sarah Williams of the Aboveground, champion and lady of the Labyrinth." I held out her hand with the ring on it and all eyes fell to me as I placed a kiss on her hand then all eyes were on the place where my lips were connected to her hand and a chorus of gasps was heard around the room and all eyes were on Sarah. I stood and placed my arm around her waist while grinning ear to ear because I was so happy. Sarah began leaning against my side heavily. I turned to her and whispered in her ear "Are you alright my precious thing?" I received no answer only a small smile that was not reassuring. Sarah had gone very pale and became unsteady but what concerned me the most was the fire in her eyes was dimming fast as I watched her eyes change color from green to very light brown. Wait her eyes were changing color! That was new, I will mention it to her later. Sarah was clinging to me as she became even more oped her up and carried her over to my throne and sat her down so I could look at her. "Sarah are you alright?" she looked up at me and patted my shoulder trying to put some reassurance with her words "I think so, maybe a glass of water would help. I'll just go with Jade and get one." I had conjured a crystal that turned to a glass of water before she could even finish her sentence. She drank her water and said "I'm feeling a little better. Now you have things to accomplish so stop worrying about me. I fine, okay? I love you and I appreciate your concern but you have things to do and I'll be here when you get back I promise." she reached up and placed a hand against my cheek and was caressing the lines of worry that I'm sure were there. I leaned into her touch and said "Okay but only if your sure and Jade must stay with you. I love you too and I won't be long." I leaned in and kissed her only to be interrupted by impatient shuffling of feet and over dramatic fake coughs. I turned back to my guests and said "I think I've had enough excitement now it's time to get down to business. I am glad you all came on such short notice but I am afraid that I must leave you to do some work, you are all free to return to your kingdoms." with that I made my way to the double doors at the side of the room to go down the hall to the war room.
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(Drake's POV)
I waited until the only people left in the room were the allied kings and queens of Jareth, Sarah and the High King and High Queen. I turned to the company left and said "Jareth has requested that us Kings join him in the war room and insisted that it was urgent. So it maybe better for the Queens to stay out here and get better aquatinted with Sarah." with that I turned and walked down the corridor to the war room with the other kings following me. When I reached the war room Jareth was already sitting at the head of the long oval shaped cherry wood table in the center of the room with his hands in front of his face with his features set in a look of seriousness. I went and sat to the right of my brother and soon all of the other kings followed in and sat in their respective places around the table with Jareth and father sitting at the opposite ends. Once all the kings were seated and quiet he snapped out of his daze and began. "I have gathered you all as my allies to inform you that the prospect of war has been placed upon my kingdom. The Fae council has stated that if Sarah and my self are not wed and parents within a years time they will initiate war with my kingdom. You can speak for the council father are these the only terms?" all eyes went to the High King waiting for a answer. "Yes my son these are the only terms that they have brought forth. I would also like to say that I voted against this and I was over ruled. I am sorry." All eyes went back to Jareth waiting for him to respond. "Thank you for trying father. Normally a union between a Fae and a mortal would not be a problem but Sarah has said that her family is one of the few mortal families that has problems with fertility such as Fae do. Our wedding will pose no problem, she has already agreed and the date has been set, it is the second part of the demand that poses a problem. I am going to have a healer examine her and see if anything can be done, hopefully it can. I warn you just in case something can not be done or we run out of time." Everyone around the table looked a sympathetic but prepared. "Son, you given your heart to a mortal. Do you know what will happen if she is to become ill or Gods forbid worse?" All eyes went wide and stared in waiting towards my brother. "Yes father I have given her my heart and yes I know what would happen. I am arranging a meeting with the council for her to become Fae but I have arranged for my kingdom to fall into the hands of Drake should something happen." Jareth gestured towards me and all including father looked like they approved. "Now as Jareth's second kingdom in command I need to ask, is there anyone who would not support Jareth should he be forced into war?" all around the table were still and even though father could not directly help we all knew he would help how ever he could. "Good" Jareth said. He was just about to dismiss us when Jade bursted through the doors looking very upset and panicked and Jade never panicked. She looked around the room until she found Jareth. Her voice sounded strained as if she were about to break down "Jareth you need to come to the throne room as quick as possible!" all eyes were now on Jade. Jareth ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders and said "What has happened Jade?" She looked even more panicked since he didn't leave immediately. "It's Sarah no one knows what's wrong. She was fine and walking across the room to ask one of the goblins to get all of us some tea when she collapsed and no one has been able to wake her up since." With that Jareth ran from the room so fast that you would have though him on fire.
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(Jareth's POV)
I ran from the war room as fast as I had ever run in my life. I had a feeling of dread deep in my gut. Even the prospect of Sarah being hurt was enough to send me into a panick. How had Jade kept what little composure she had left? Even in the little time they had spent together I could tell they felt like sisters already. I was ready to loose my composure and I hadn't even gotten there yet, Jade never panicked and if she came running into the war room where we were having a meeting that she knew well about and with what little composure she had it must be bad. I reached the heavy solid wood doors that seemed to open before I even got there. I was prepared for something bad but what I saw made my heart sink and I lost what little composure I had left. All I could manage to do was run across the room and scream "Sarah!" The love of my life was laying on the floor passed out and having a seizure.