Back again... are you ready for the last chapters of the story... and yet another cliffhanger? :)
-Kaytori: Yes, the outside of the Labyrinth has great story potential, but Jareth as King can never leave the Labyrinth. Sarah can, though, so I'm considering Outside scenarios for the possible sequel. ;)
"Try to focus on locating Hoggle. Imagine him in your mind, his appearance and his voice – and then send your thoughts out towards the Labyrinth and see if you are drawn to any particular direction."
Sarah concentrated again and tried to follow the directions from Jareth one more time, but after a few minutes, she opened her eyes again and shook her head.
"Nope. Nothing. I don't feel a thing."
"Good," he nodded while making a note in his leather-bound book. "Then we can rule out the tracking magic – you don't have that either, at least not yet."
Jareth was casually draped over his throne with the book in his lap, while Sarah was standing next to him in the throne room that was pleasingly empty of any of the goblins. By mutual agreement they were systematically going through each and every magic known to him in order to test the limits of her magic abilitites. He had been right – somehow the burst of energy between them had enhanced her magic, though she still had less than him. One of the few additional skills they had discovered she had, was the power to make crystals. Solid ones that smashed with a satisfying crash, soap bubble crystals that floated on the wind and empty ones that could be filled with visions and dreams of her choice. But none that could teleport or transform others. There seemed to be no specific pattern in which skills were possible and which were not – though Jareth had suggested that some of them might work for her later as the years passed, when she had more experience with magic in general.
They had slowly fallen into a comfortable routine and spent most of their days together, and when they were not testing for new skills or training her known ones, they walked around the palace or sat in the garden and talked for hours. About the Labyrinth, the Castle and what to do about Cederick – but also about themselves. Sarah was curious about Jareth's life in Old Britain before he became King, and he was equally interested in what had really happened in the world above during the centuries where he had been in the Underground. Furthermore, she had more time on her hands than ever before – she only needed to sleep a few hours every night, there was no school and no household chores, so every waking moment was hers to use exactly as she liked.
Sarah had suspected she would end up in the Underground ever since the day she discovered she couldn't eat human food anymore, and now that the drama had passed and she had a reasonable understanding of what was actually going on and how the Labyrinth worked, it felt more like what she had imagined or at least hoped for during those years. The two of them working together – almost becoming friends and in some ways, it was more than she had ever dared to believe possible. For the first time since then, she felt content and almost… happy.
Jareth on the other hand was restless. He still went on his daily flights patrolling the Labyrinth, but when he came home, his mood was often grave or even angry. Cederick was clearly also upset after Sarah's escape and wanted to provoke Jareth by using his love of the Labyrinth and its creatures against him. Almost every day, Jareth heard stories of Labyrinth residents missing or evidence of gruesome incidents. On these days it would take hours before he calmed down, and he would drive himself harder, trying to come up with a plan that could cast Cederick out of the Labyrinth.
Jareth had not touched her at all since that day, and she appreciated the consideration – but then again, she had mixed feelings as well. More and more often she found herself admiring his strength, his lean pale body and his sharp intelligence, and sometimes he met her eyes and kept the gaze long enough to make her blush and turn away. She was curious to know if the electricity between them had only been due to the magic exchange or if it would still be there if they ever were to kiss again. She knew the first step had to be hers now, but she was afraid of upsetting the delicate balance they had finally found.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" A large goblin came running into the throne room and interrupted their training. "The Bird has been seen. We see the Bird!"
Jareth jumped to his feet with a curse and rushed outside the castle gates with Sarah following close by. Her sharp eyes could clearly see the black raven circling above the castle, although it looked very high up and was only a small speck against the cloudy sky. All the goblins had been told to be on the lookout for the raven, and already warning bells were ringing in the streets, the sound almost drowned by the high-pitched wails of frightened goblins running back and forth. Mothers were dragging their children off the pavement and rushing them inside the houses, and a few of the larger goblins were jamming on mismatched pieces of armour.
"If the Raven is there, maybe Cederick is with him." Jareth scanned the skies with piercing eyes and clenched fists, but Sarah couldn't see anything else, and apparently neither could he, for a minute later he turned to her and shook his head.
"I don't know… what is it doing there?" he said with furrowed brows. "It must know it has been seen by now."
As if on cue, the black bird swooped abruptly around and started to head away, and he swore again, frustrated.
"Go inside, Sarah," he said and stepped away from her. "Lock the doors and bar them, it might be a trap, so I need you to be safe. I have a bird to catch!"
He transformed, but instead of the familiar owl, Sarah watched in amazement and awe as the black dragon suddenly appeared beside her, dwarfing her in size. She reached out tentatively to touch the glistening scales, but it snorted and bent down its head to nudge her in the direction of the castle doors.
"Yes, I'll go," she said and took a step back. "Stay safe, Jareth."
As the dragon took flight and the wind from its wings almost knocked her off her feet, she turned and headed back in, carefully locking the door as he had asked and struggling to bolt it.
"Here, I'll help ye, me girl." Hoggle appeared beside her and together they managed to push the thick wooden beam through the metal locks to secure the way in.
"What's all the commotion about?" he asked afterwards and glared at the door with distaste. Sarah hugged herself to calm down and told him what they had seen.
"Well, I hope he catches that evil bird," he huffed and shook his head. "The Labyrinth is not itself anymore."
"I'll go up and check that the balcony in Jareth's room is secure," Sarah said, suddenly remembering where the bird had appeared last time. "Let's meet in my room afterwards – we should have a good view of the Labyrinth from there."
She rushed up the stairs, not waiting for Hoggle with his shorter legs to follow, and easily followed the winding corridors in the direct route to Jareth's room. The castle was eerily silent after all the commotion outside. When she reached the room, she gave a sigh of relief at the sight of the big double doors to the terrace being firmly shut, and but for good order's sake, she also bolted them to make sure no one would enter that way.
Looking at the sky beyond the balcony, there was no sign of Jareth either in the overcast sky. He and the raven must have flown in the opposite direction, for otherwise the dragon would surely have been visible, even at this distance. She smiled at the thought of the dragon – that was a really cool shape. Someday, maybe she could do a dragon as well. It would be red, she decided, a bright metallic red with golden highlights like Tolkien had described Smaug in The Hobbit. Jareth had given her a notebook and encouraged her to write down the various shapes she wanted to try, and she had already pages filled with drawings and sketches of animals, fairytale creatures and various normal human forms. Good thing they had centuries ahead of them – she was going to need them to master all those forms.
As Sarah was about to leave the room, she noticed the tall mirror again – the one that was supposed to be magic – and she paused in thought. Maybe she had become magical enough to use it this time? Jareth did not know that she knew about the mirror or had attempted to use it, so it hadn't come up in the past few days during all the testing. She went to stand in front of it and took a deep breath, focusing her thoughts and concentrating hard.
"Mirror, I wish to see Jareth," she said, and then gasped as the mirror flickered slightly and she glimpsed a blurry winged shape in it. As she lost focus, the mirror became blank again, but the knowledge that she could make it work this time encouraged her to try again.
This time, the picture was clearer, and she could make out the dragon shape closing in on a raven, which was frantically flapping its wings and looking back every other moment. She smiled grimly, remembering her own flight not long ago from the very same raven, and watched in silence for a moment, until the dragon at last swooped down and caught the raven neatly with its claws and slowly descended to the ground. She nodded in relief, but then broke the connection, not wanting to see in details what Jareth was going to do with the raven. If he was going to question it, she wouldn't be able to hear what they said anyway, and if he was going to do something more… gruesome, she wasn't bloodthirsty enough to want to see it up close anyway.
She left Jareth's room and walked down the stairs towards her own. Hoggle had not arrived yet when she reached it, despite the extra time she had spent with the mirror, and she suspected he had made a bypass to the kitchen to make tea. That was his standard solution to any distressing situation, and even when she didn't really need it, she drank it with him anyway to keep him company. The long hours she was spending training with Jareth annoyed the dwarf greatly, and she tried to find time for him every day as well.
Everything in her room looked normal, but there was a funny smell in the air and Sarah hesitated just inside and let her gaze sweep around for anything unusual. She couldn't see anything, but it smelled… wrong. Suddenly, strong hands grabbed her from behind and before she had time to react, a large gleaming knife was held at her throat, while another arm held her firmly against a bony chest.
"Hello, pet," Cederick hissed in her ear.