Sarah dressed eagerly for the morning and began rummaging around in the closet for a sack of some sort she could fill with provisions she would be needing. Nothing seemed readily available to her dissatisfaction. She was wearing one of Jareth's smaller poet shirts that fit her nicely, with a black corset laced over. Dangle had been kind enough to even sew for her a black pair of breeches and boots, she almost looked like a female Jareth had her facial features looked different. As she hastened to pull her hair back into a low ponytail Dangle came into the room.
"Mornin' Miss Sarah, I has a pack for you all set up," she said handing over a leather shoulder bag for her to wear.
"It's got food for a couple days, an enchanted map that shows where you are all the time, medical bandages and some basic herbs, and a special whistle," she reached in and pulled out a deep scarlet red dog looking whistle.
"This whistle," she pointed it at Sarah in exasperation, "is for emergencies only! If ya blow it hid Majesty will know immediately where ya are and everyting will bees called off, understands me?" she asked with a jerk of her head. Sarah nodded.
"Good, now, let's get er' move on while his Majesty is busy in is' office," Dangle's voice sounded very hushed now and she pulled Sarah much more quickly down the halls, knowing Sarah could see where she was going now. Up and down random stairs once again followed by a couple hundred turns that should lead to nowhere.
"Hurry Miss Sarah, getting' you out of this ere castle is gonna be the hardest part," Dangle said as she was now huffing with breath at the pace she'd set out on. A few more turns took us down into what appeared was a stable of some sort. The smell of tack leather and hay met Sarah's nose in a comfortable greeting.
"I trust yous done some ridin Sarah, so I'mma be really careful and give you the fastest horse his Majesty owns," she said and walked over to a very grand looking stall, "I'mma let you ride Skylark." At the sound of his name a beautiful dapple head was peeking over the stall door with gorgeous purple eyes. To Sarah however, he appeared to have green eyes and that worried her at first. As she leaned over to pet his head she felt the air rush out of her lungs. There, on the back of this beautiful stallion were two unbelievable white wings. They opened and closed anxiously as Skylark saw Dangle gathering his tack.
"He has wings!" she exclaimed a bit startled. Dangle smiled at her and led Sky out of the stall to begin tacking him up.
"Yesir he can fly, he can do more than that. He can understand ya' when you speaks to him, it's incredibly useful," she was pulling the bitless bridle over Sky's head. Sarah stood in front of the magnificent horse, looking into his striking eyes.
"Hello Sky, my name's Sarah," he whinnied and nuzzled his nose against her as if to say, Yes I know who you are.
"I'm going on a quest to the Northwestern River, and I need your help to get me there without Jareth noticing, you think you can do that with me?" she asked earnestly hoping that this horse would befriend her. He whinnied and nodded his head into the air then walked forward, aiming his back at Sarah, he was ready to go.
"Be careful Miss Sarah!" Dangle called once as she mounted and was beginning to trot off down a back path that would take them to the edge of the Goblin City in less than an hour.
"Don't forget about the whistle! Should ya' need help!" Dangle called once more, and before Sarah could reply Skylark burst forward into a gallop.
Sarah was filled with an exhilaration incomparable to any other in the world as Sky almost flew over the ground, she was certain her had at points with the way his wings flapped occasionally. Sarah and Sky rode together as if they had been made for each other, and she was anxious to test it in the skies.
"Not until we're out of sight from the Castle can we take flight," she had told him before they left, "Jareth can't know anything about where we are at anytime!"
Sky kept his elongated stride at an easy gallop hardly breathing harder than if he had been walking, it was so smooth and easy to ride with him, Sarah urged him on a little faster in the forest, sliding between trees at almost blurring speeds. This was going to be an incredible journey.
Jareth sighed again for the umpteenth time that day and reached out for the next document the goblin had come in with. Every second he seemed to be bothered by something, goblins having an argument, suddenly there are "important" issues to attend to, "crises" on the verge of breaking out. He rubbed his head as he thought, nothing had been routine so far and it was starting to affect him. Thinking of a crisis suddenly he reached out for the Map which displayed the Northwestern Forest to check on how the border he'd set was holding up, barely visible, but the line was still holding strong. How long could he keep it under control before all chaos broke loose?
Summoning one of his crystals he was about to look around his kingdom when Dangle burst in.
"SIRE! THE KITCHEN'S ON FIRE!" she yelled and immediately rushed down the hall. Jareth darted from where he was and followed right behind her, smelling the smoke as he neared it. He blast opened the door, not taking care to see if any goblins were behind it, and immediately shouted a clearing spell. In an instant Dangle was standing there next to what appeared a very annoyed King, who was staring at the goblin chef holding a burnt turkey. The cook gave a sheepish smile and apologized for disrupting the King over such a small issue. Jareth's jaw was set in a tight line and he left without another word.
Dangle fidgeted nervously around the kitchen as he walked away.
"Es' Majesty's in a sour mood now. I hopes Miss Sarah and Skylark are making good time," she sort of hopped over to the door, "I don't think we can keeps em' busy fur much longer," she muttered and ran off to find more chores the King could attend to.
"This is ridiculous," he muttered as he returned to his study to attend to what appeared was an entirely new stack of work the goblins had brought him.
"Why today? You've never had this many complaints in a single day ever! And now suddenly I can't get a single routine thing done!" he shouted and threw a crystal out the open window, exploding with a satisfying shatter. Jareth's breathing was a bit tense and he looked up when a soft knock came on the door.
"What is it!" he shouted, hoping the impertinent fool would go away if he knew what was good for him. It opened and a small fox looking creature stepped into the room. His Majesty immediately recognized the animal before him to be none other than the famed Sir Didymus. Jareth forced himself to relax in front of him. It wouldn't be fair to take his anger out on his loyal Colonel who had done nothing but protect his borders with the finest of Fae warriors he had.
"Ah, your Majesty," he said with a formal bow, "I came to bring you the latest report of the Southeastern regiment, I must admit it is going a bit rough in patches but we are managing well," he explained and handed forth the documents containing the day by day read out of what was going on.
Jareth's hand stayed on his eyes. This was beyond insane. In one single day he'd been asked to do things that could have been spread throughout the week, and now of all times, a regiment report comes in and he has to uphold part of his oath and go over the entire thing with the commanding officer, which thankfully was Sir Didymus who was here with him.
"Let us begin this endeavor shall we?" he said with a disturbingly fake smile on his face that made Sir Didymus shudder in fear.
"If you'd prefer your Majesty I could always bring the report in tomorrow, you did seem a little busy today," he offered politely.
Jareth shook his head.
"No, we'll work on it now. Come. Sit," his smiled spreading to the rest of his face was so disturbing Sir Didymus had to swallow to gain the courage to walk over next to him. And so began the unknown amount of time in order to finish the incredibly detailed report.
Sky had slowed to walk as they were outside the Goblin city and about to enter one of the passing villages. Sarah pulled her cape's hood up to avoid as much recognition as possible. It was highly improbable for someone to recognize her as Sarah, but she didn't think it would be overly hard to discover she was a human inside of a Goblin Kingdom. Neither did she look like a Fae, so trying to get by unwanted guests needed to be avoided as much as possible. The dusty road was warm from the evening sun shining down on the path, vendors had pulled their carts off into the shade but were still calling as loud as ever to every passerby traveling on the main road. Fish vendors, book carts, even jewelry that had been "hand-made" by the gypsies of the area. Sparkles shimmering in the sunlight caught Sarah's eye and she leaned down to peer over the vendor's stash. Only one in particular seemed to stand out to her. It was a small necklace with a crystal dangling in the middle. But what was special about it, was that inside the crystal was a white Barn Owl who's eyes seemed to watch her every move.
"One of my best works, I must say," the merchant said from behind his cart.
"Designed it after his Majesty himself, likes the look of it do ya?" he asked and held it up for her to see more clearly.
"I do actually, much for it?" she asked and rummaged through the sack Dangle had given her for some money.
The vendor looked at her, glanced at Sky only once and smiled back.
"For you My Lady, no charge. Consider it a gift to his Majesty's pride," he whispered and handed the necklace up to her. Sarah's face drained of color, she had been recognized, but the man winked at her with a friendly smile. He seemed to know she was headed somewhere, and decided it wasn't his place to ask what a girl like her was outside the castle walls for.
Sky passed through ignoring all the clashing sounds and flurry of movement going on around him.
Sarah leaned forward in the saddle up by Sky's ear.
"We should move outside of the village, the map shows it's faster to travel straight through the woods anyway. A little bit outside and flying should cut our time in half, sound ok?" she said carefully to his acute hearing. He snorted an agreement of some sort and began winding through the traveling sales people much faster than he had before. They made it through the madness together and Sarah took a deep breath once they were clear of the market.
"Easy to get lost in a bizarre mess like that," she laughed and picked up the soft leather reins in her fingers. Sky didn't truly need a bridle, he responded so easily to his rider's position and feeling, it was more for the rider's convenience. His ear twitched to acknowledge that he had heard her and he picked up his pace, easing into a light canter.
A clear straightaway lie directly before him. Sarah smiled and squeezed her legs together, excited for what was about to happen. Sky's legs moved faster and his wings started to flap, slowly at first but quickly gaining speed, they were moving so fast Sarah couldn't see her surroundings any longer. Up and down, up and down, his wings beat harder and harder, faster and faster, and, in one giant flap, they lifted off the ground.
Sarah couldn't believe the feeling coursing through her, it was better than anything she'd ever felt. So weightless and easy, so at peace yet so adrenaline rushing. Sky's ears lay down to avoid wind deafening him, and banked left to begin following the path the forest lined. His wings beat at a steady even pace and the ground beneath them was disappearing faster and faster, they would be at the start of the river by nightfall.
...well it was kinda shorter than the last. Not by much.
Heheheheh, next chapter has some "fun". Does anyone notice I'm a little addicted to causing drama? :D
Note: I don't do that WITH ALL my stories XD...just some of them. :3