Hi all, here is a Sunday update... and just when you thought the cliffhangers couldn't get worse... they did... :-) Warning - violence and death in this chapter.
"Jareth will kill you, if you harm me!" Sarah gasped and tried to break free, but Cederick just tightened his grip and she felt the knife blade sting slightly, breaking skin just beneath her jaw. A drop of something warm trickled slowly down her neck.
"Oh, oops, already did," the old king snickered cruelly. "Stay still or it will be even worse. I'm not after you this time – never was. But your knight in shining armour should be here soon."
"He'll kill you," Sarah repeated, but kept stiff in his arms, while she tried to frantically figure out how to get away.
"Why do you even want to be king again?" she asked after a moment of silence. "You gave it up; you've had your chance already."
Cederick scoffed. "And look what that weak boy turned it into – the Labyrinth is a mess. Goblins and Guardians that don't know their place. Questers that often survive. I should never have chosen him!"
"He is a great king!" Sarah snapped. "And you are a tyrant!"
He laughed and forced her a bit further into the room. "Why, pet, coming from you that's almost a compliment."
"Jareth caught your bird, you know," she offered, but he just shrugged.
"The boy is too weak to think of killing it. I knew it would be caught, but it has served its purpose and got me into the castle - let's see when Jareth makes it back. It shouldn't be long now."
As if on cue, a large shadow appeared behind the stained glass windows and completely blocked out the light. Then the window shattered with a loud crash into a thousand pieces, raining down on the floor everywhere and Sarah glimpsed the outline of the dragon before it turned into an owl and then finally to Jareth in mid-air. He landed in front of them and loomed tall and powerful over them, clad in his spiked and armoured black Goblin King outfit. Beneath the blue-tinged hair, his face was dangerously and frighteningly calm and he crossed his arms in front of him and stared at Cederick with a haughty and contemptuous look.
"Well, well, well…" he said and sniffed derisively. "Why, old man, have you now resorted to stealing MY property?"
Cederick took a step back and dragged Sarah with him, the knife still firmly under her chin. She tried to catch Jareth's eyes and ask for reassurance and guidance, but he ignored her completely.
"Stealing is such an ugly word, boy," Cederick shook his head. "Let's call it… a friendly exchange. You get this little wench and I get the King's Pendant back."
Jareth threw back his head and laughed mockingly. "A kingdom for a girl? All those years outside the Labyrinth must have addled your brain! Give it up, Ced, and let her go, before I get really angry. You're trespassing in MY castle."
"The castle and the Labyrinth that you're ruining," Cederick spat with thinly veiled anger. "I spent decades teaching the goblins to be obedient and respectful, and from what I have seen these past three years, I will have to start all over again! I had hoped that you were finally contemplating stepping down, but then I discovered you had wasted your only chance of making an heir – just to get a permanent piece of fluff into your bed! I knew I had to deal with you and make you see reason."
"Well, then," Jareth shrugged and looked bored. "Ok, make me see reason. Why is that such a bad thing? Maybe you're just jealous you didn't think of it yourself, eh, old man?"
Cederick growled and tightened his grip on Sarah, and the knife cut a little deeper, drawing another trickle of blood down her neck and making her wince in pain. Jareth's eyes narrowed and he straightened to look even taller and more threatening, and Sarah could sense he was furious beneath the calm façade.
"Why would I want that, you fool?" the old king sneered, apparently oblivious to Jareth's increasing anger. "I could have any girl I wanted in any way I wanted, when I as king. "Ohhh… Goblin King... please let my baby go… I'll do anything!". The last part was pitched in a high tone impersonating a woman's voice. "And they did do anything when I let them believe they would get their kids back."
"You're despicable," Jareth stated coldly, but Cederick just laughed.
"And you're running out of time. Unless you give me the King's Pendant right now, I'm leaving here with this little pet. I think she means more to you than I first realized, and maybe she will do… anything… as well just to stay alive, until you come to your senses and let me be king again." With the knife still firmly in position, Cederick let his other hand move up along Sarah's body and squeezed one of her breasts hard, and she struggled in his arms and tried to stamp on his foot.
"I will not, I'd rather die!" she hissed, but the old king just gripped her harder.
"That is also an option, of course," he agreed maliciously, "though it would be such a waste..."
Sarah could see that Jareth's patience was almost at an end, but also a haunted and pained look in his eyes that belied his control of the situation. She still hadn't come up with an idea for how to get free, and she was convinced that if Jareth had felt sure he could attack without her being harmed, he would have done so minutes ago. While everything inside her screamed at the thought of going with Cederick, she could not allow Jareth to give up the throne to the old man – it would be a terrible future for the Labyrinth.
Jareth slowly moved a hand to his neck and the cord that held the Pendant, but before Sarah could tell him to stop, Cederick suddenly screamed and loosened his grip on her, spinning around and lashing out with the knife at something behind them. She wrenched away from him and jumped to the side, just in time to see him bury the knife in Hoggle's shoulder instead. In a split second she saw the old king's neck and ears start to redden and blister – the back of his clothes had dark wet stains on them, and then the dwarf collapsed instantly, a familiar cast iron teapot – now empty - falling from his hands and hitting the stone floor with a loud ringing sound.
Sarah cried out in grief, but before she could move or act, a massive white lion suddenly landed on top of Cederick and knocked him over with huge clawed paws, drawing blood all the way down his body. Cederick screamed again, but then he was suddenly gone, and in his stead stood an enormous brown bear that towered over the lion and roared, so the floor trembled under her feet. The fur on its breast was tarnished with blood. The lion leaped at the bear's throat without hesitation, and the two rolled around on the floor locked in a deadly struggle.
Sarah rushed to Hoggle's side and knelt beside him, horrified at the growing blood stain on his vest and shirt, but he was still breathing – a rattled, laboured breath.
"Hang on, Hoggle," she begged in a whisper. "It'll be ok, Jareth will make it ok. You really helped." A faint smile traced the dwarf's lips, but his eyes remained closed. When the bear and the lion suddenly rolled inches by them in a deadly struggle, Sarah grabbed Hoggle's arm and dragged him into a corner near the bed, where they could be out of the way, and grasping at the pillows on the bed, she found and pulled down a thin one, pressing it against his wound to stop the blood flow, while she used another one to support his head and make him more comfortable.
As she watched the fighting, it was unclear who was winning, but suddenly the bear was gone and the lion tumbled back, off balanced. A grey horned owl with feathers in disarray dove towards the window, obviously trying to escape, but the lion jumped up at the last moment and knocked it to the floor with an outstretched paw, and the owl landed in disarray in a crumbled heap on the floor. It shuddered and then went still, and the lion turned back into Jareth. He cautiously went to the owl and poked at it with his foot, but it didn't respond and he signed deeply and then turned to Sarah. His clothes were immaculate again, but as she watched, the blood seeped through the cloth both at his shoulders and thighs, and he swayed slightly on his feet. She jumped up and ran to him to support him, but just as she reached him, he gasped and yanked her to the side, and she felt something whisk past her leg. Jareth hissed in pain and feel to his knees, drawing her down with him.
A small brown snake half slithered, half fell off Jareth's leg, where two deep bite marks showed where it had bit him, and Sarah watched in horror as it turned back into Cederick. His body was twisted and broken and one of the eyes completely closed, but he cackled madly and tried to focus the remaining eye on them.
"You… lose, boy," he rasped and tried to raise a hand, but Jareth reached out with his free hand and found a large glass sliver on the floor from the broken window, curling his fingers around it with a menacing scowl on his face. With a grunt, he brought it down on Cederick, and Sarah quickly averted her eyes, while she felt Jareth finish it and then lean heavily on her afterwards.
"Are you hurt?" he whispered in a halting voice, and she shook her head.
"I'm fine… but Hoggle…!" She pushed herself up and ran back to the corner to check on him, and Jareth followed slowly after her.
Hoggle was still and breathing heavily, and his face was ashen. Sarah gently touched his forehead and then looked up at Jareth in fear, as he kneeled down beside her.
"Can you heal him?" she asked, but then paused and raised her hand to Jareth's forehead as well. He didn't look very well himself, he was bleeding from several minor cuts and his movements seemed sluggish and heavy. "Jareth, you're hurt."
"He saved you from that beast." Jareth pushed her gently aside and took off his gloves, before he placed his hands over the bleeding wound on Hoggle's shoulder and closed his eyes in concentration. The wound slowly started to close, but as Hoggle's breathing became easier, Jareth's hands started shaking more and more, until he had to rest them on the dwarf's chest and then he sat down awkwardly, before finally almost falling down on the floor.
"Jareth!" Sarah threw herself down beside him and supported his head, placing it gently in her lap. "What is it – what can I do to help you?"
"Think snake was poisonous…" he said in halting voice and looked her in the eyes. The pupils in his mismatched eyes were unnaturally large. "The other wounds are just superficial, but the bite… I can't feel my leg anymore and it's spreading."
Sarah shook her head in panicked denial. "No – can't you just heal yourself? You can, right?"
He smiled sadly with a little shake of his head and had gone very still beneath her. "At least you are safe," he whispered and raised a shaking hand to caress her chin and temple. "Sarah… I only ever loved you. From the moment I saw you."
"No, Jareth, don't talk like that!" Sarah could clearly hear that he was saying goodbye and she felt tears starting to run down her cheeks, as she gently kissed his forehead, thinking furiously about how she could stop this. "Don't leave me!"
"Don't know if this… will work," Jareth whispered and let his hand fall down to his neck, reaching for the cord that held the King's Pendant. He dragged it over his head, and though she wanted to resist, his eyes begged her to comply as he pushed it towards her. "For the Labyrinth's sake – take care of my Labyrinth, … beloved."
She could not deny him, but cried openly as she bowed her head, so he could get the cord over it. "Don't leave me, Jareth," she pleaded again through tears, "you promised you wouldn't do this!"
"'Power of Labyrinth, freely given," Jareth whispered in a strained chanting voice and clutched the pendant which was now on Sarah's chest. She felt a warm tingle of magic rush through her and saw sparkles surrounding his hands and falling on her. "Pendant of Kingdom in thy hands… from old to… new, supremacy…"
He gasped slightly and faltered, but then gritted his teeth and forced out another few words: "…of goblins, creatures… and lands."
The pendant flared up in bright light for a moment as his hands fell down and he closed his eyes with a pained expression. The tingling feeling inside her slowly receded. He drew a last shuddering breath, and then went still.
"Jareth! No!"