"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 31**
By Aiijuin
*Disclaimer: I don't own anything Jim Henson or Labyrinth. Gröeg was originally designed by Brian Froud and catalogued by Terry Jones in Brian Froud's "The Goblins of the Labyrinth". This fanfiction is rated M for some harsh language and adult situations. Gavin King is Jareth, the Goblin King, for those who have jumped into the middle of the story. The names: Torok, the Troll King and Eunice St. Clair are characters borrowed from the 1986 movie Troll, but are not used in context with the movie inside my fanfiction in any way.
**NOTE: Story Numbering is behind by 1 chapter, because there is a prelude, which is not considered a chapter. Fanfiction . net automatically assigns numbers to the chapters by default, which I have no control over. Thank you! I HAVE CHANGED ALL ' IRENE's TO 'KAREN's for Sarah's Stepmother!
Chapter 31: Leap of Faith
Everyone except Gretel peered far below. Raquel staggered backwards, remembering how much she hated heights from her escape back at the tower. She stroked her long blonde locks nervously. The pregnant, young woman was hoping that no one was going to suggest that she use her hair as a rope. She wasn't even sure her long, blonde locks would reach to the very bottom, although she had never fully unwound them in her life. She fretted as the minutes ticked away. Suddenly, while Gavin and Sarah were discussing their options about the safest route into the Goblin Kingdom, Raquel felt an overwhelming, sharp pain travel down her abdomen and up her spine.
She screamed. Gavin and Sarah looked over, while Hansel attempted to turn his head, but his shouldered sister was blocking his view. Raquel clutched her swollen tummy.
Gavin smirked, "Indigestion again?"
Raquel sucked in the air, but found the pain was so staggering that she was unable to answer. Sarah pushed past Gavin and grasped hold of Raquel's shoulder. Sarah asked rhetorically, "It's the baby, isn't it?"
Sarah had a strong feeling that Raquel was probably going to go into labour at anytime. She recalled back to the days when her stepmother, Karen, was pregnant with Toby. Karen had 'dropped' just days before Toby's birth. Raquel had probably already 'dropped' before Sarah had rescued her, but nonetheless, her 'baby bump' set low near her pelvic area. Sarah also figured it would be just her luck that the baby would come as she was trying to escape from Torok's lands.
Sarah felt a tap at her shoulder, and figured it was Gavin prodding her onward again. She turned with a grimace on her face and said, "Look! I'm doing the best I can here! Can you cut me some slack?"
However it wasn't Gavin who had tapped her, it was Torok.
He was grinning ear to ear, while holding up a large hourglass. The last sands of time at the top were just passing through the narrow neck and into to the lower level. Torok mocked, "What of it, mon Amour? You are mine. Oui?"
Jareth closed his eyes. He couldn't believe that Sarah had defeated him so easily, but couldn't trounce the Troll King. Torok simpered at Gavin and tapped his foot against the stone edge that lined the borders of the Troll Kingdom and the Goblin Kingdom.
Sarah had to think fast, before Raquel, Hansel, and Gretel became Torok's prisoners once again. She looked behind her and stammered quickly, "I wish the Goblins would take us away, right now!"
It worked, although not like Sarah had planned.
Raquel, Hansel, and Gretel vanished immediately, but Gavin and Sarah were left behind to face the Troll King at the precipice. Torok clapped his hands and said, "Marvelous, Miss Sarah! You have saved your friends, but I regret to inform you that my intentions were never against them to begin with. I know of your 'special magic powers' that Jareth gave you long ago, so I devised a counter-spell that prevents you from calling the goblins to directly aid you. After all, I cannot have you cheat and go back to Jareth that easily. I am amazed that you made it to the very end. Had you not stopped, you would have won! It is such a travesty that you didn't listen to your male companion Monsieur King here, otherwise you would now be free of me forever."
Sarah slid her heels along the edge of the cliff. She could feel the land drop out beneath her. She was about to leap backwards with all of her might, when Snow White appeared out of thin air. White grabbed Sarah's hands and pulled her forward. This caused Sarah to drop the troll torch unto the nearby ground by Snow White's feet. Sarah managed to maintain her grip on the silver amulet. Snow White kicked the torch into some adjacent brush, and instantly it caught fire. Frightened of fire, she spun her head around to face the flames.
Grateful for the momentary distraction of the blaze, Jareth readied a potent spell against the Leanan-Sidhe. He knew that it didn't matter if he honored the agreement between he and Torok any longer. Time was up!
However, as he tried to cast his curse against 'White', he found that his power had been disabled for some unknown reason. He would have suspected Torok, but he knew that an immortal of equal strength could not have removed his powers. Besides, Torok didn't even take notice of Jareth anymore. He was too busy watching Snow White clasp Sarah by the face and gaze deep into her eyes.
Unlike Rose Red, Snow White didn't care very much for the taste of mortal blood, and opted instead to feast upon the souls of her victims. She did this by extracting them through the eyes. At the moment, Sarah was her next victim of the 'Life Sucks' spell.
Mmm, just what I was thinking, Sarah pondered to herself upon hearing the spell's name.
Jareth knew that Torok had apparently utilized the last few hours to convince Snow White to rejoin him into bringing about Sarah's final defeat. He must have promised the pure-white Leanan-Sidhe that he would not leave her side while she was draining Sarah's soul!
Gavin kept trying to push past Torok, but the Troll King anticipated Jareth's attempt to aid his 'Sarah'. He restrained the Goblin King, while Snow White drained the life from her. Sarah tried to close her eyes, but White had more physical strength than Miss Williams did at this point. She easily pried Sarah's eyes open to maintain the link.
All looked lost, when something unexpectedly fortunate happened…
Several black ravens flew in silently from the Goblin Kingdom and plucked Snow White's eyes right from her face. She howled loudly as the birds gobbled down her turquoise blue eyeballs and crowed loudly in satiation. 'White' wretched in agony as deep-scarlet blood oozed from her empty eye sockets. Sarah stared blankly as she watched Snow White scream and twist.
The ravens finished their snack and then returned back to the Goblin Kingdom. Snow White staggered forward until she lost her footing at the edge of the deep ravine. With a yelp of horror, the Leanan-Sidhe toppled over the side and came crashing into the Goblin Kingdom with a sickening 'splush'! However, she didn't hit bottom, but was pierced through the chest by one of the stone obelisks far below.
Sarah tried to get up again, when Torok grabbed her by the wrist and threw her back to the ground. He shouted into her face, "Impossible! How do you keep defying the odds? How do you keep defying my traps and greatest minions? How do you keep defying ME?!?"
The fire began to ravage the highest branches and consumed all of the leaves within the center of the Wood. The ashes began to spread from bush to bush and ignited the trees in all directions of Torok's lands. A gigantic, black cloud of smoke rose high into the skies, but against the lightless evening within the Troll Kingdom, it wouldn't be seen until sunrise.
Sarah stood up amidst the insanity, and proudly marched towards Torok as she began to answer his question. She placed the amulet's chain over her head and let it fall to the nape of her neck. It dangled just above her breasts and twinkled brightly in the dimly lit night. She held up her other hand and produced a clear, round, magic crystal that looked exactly like the ones that Jareth often held. With her chin lifted high, she began, "Through dangers untold…."
Gavin turned to face Sarah. He couldn't believe she was going to declare victory over Torok, when she had clearly lost. Sarah continued, "…And hardships unnumbered…"
Torok walked backwards in disbelief that a mortal woman had crumbled his confidence. She didn't relent, "I have fought my way here!"
Torok wanted to hold out his hand to stop her from speaking, but he found he was speechless and his mouth was dry. Sarah finished, "For my will is as strong as yours is, and my kingdom is as great…."
Gavin closed his eyes. Here it comes, he thought.
Sarah held the magic crystal eyelevel to her face, gazed deeply into it, and then back at Torok. She finished, "….and those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
Gavin opened his eyes. That's NOT how it goes! He deliberated.
Sarah shouted into the crystal, "Now, Ludo!"
A fierce roar could be heard coming from all around. Jareth recognized it at once. Ludo, the great furry, minotaur of his Labyrinth was summoning the rocks. The Troll Kingdom quaked and shook as multitudes of large boulders rolled and soared into every tree that was still standing. The stones pummeled the Troll Kingdom from every direction. It was inevitable that the final and largest rock, which was nearly the size of Jareth's palace, flew from high above and smashed directly into the Troll King's Glass Palace far away. The ground shook so hard, that Sarah, Gavin, and Torok had lost their footing and fell to the grass.
Torok gripped the tufts of jet-black hair that hung by his temples. He slumped forward and moaned in despair. For the first time ever, Jareth actually felt sorry for his rival. He knew exactly what the Troll King was going through. Torok looked up at Sarah, as she returned again to her feet. He asked between sobs, "Why? Why would you do such a thing?"
Sarah looked down the bridge of her nose, and replied, "Because Torok, when a girl says 'No', it means 'No'! But you took them from their homes against their wills, ignored their pleas as they cried and begged to stop, mocked them for being naïve, and then used them like prostitutes."
Torok cried, "But I have always treated my ladies very well! I would have made you my favorite, I swear!"
"I'm sure you would have," Sarah said sarcastically. "However, did you ever stop and think about asking a girl out on a date or talking with her in order to get to know her better, instead of placing her under a spell, having unconsented sex with her, and then leaving her literally 'barefoot and pregnant'?"
While Grimm's Wood continued to burn out of control, Fairies, Trolls, and other magical creatures fled from the wildfire and into the neighboring lands. Several of the trolls even jumped from the precipice and into the Goblin Kingdom. They were unharmed, of course.
Jareth ignored the escapees falling into his lands, because his undivided attentions were locked upon Sarah.
Again, I have underestimated her, he thought.
Currently, he abandoned thoughts of capturing her in his Labyrinth again, especially with his power failing on him at the moment. The Goblin King would have contemplated his ordeal longer, except Torok's anguish had suddenly turned to fury. Jareth readied himself in order to physically stop the Troll King from trying something drastic.
Trembling everywhere, Torok dug his fingernails into the dirt and grass, and then spat at Sarah, "It doesn't matter anyway! I have won! You are my prize! AND You are trapped here with me for all eternity!"
She backed up again towards the edge and said, "No. I don't think so."
Torok became like a madman as he started raving, "ARE YOU GOING TO JUMP? STUPID MORTAL WOMAN, DON'T YOU KNOW THAT YOU'LL DIE?!?!"
Sarah glanced at the darkness behind her and then back towards the devastated Troll King. With a solemn nod, she replied, "What does it matter if I'm 'trapped here' with you forever or dead in the Goblin Kingdom? Either way, you still have no power over me."
At that she thrust herself from the edge of the precipice and fell down, down, down…