A/N: I'd like to thank all of you who are reading this and especially for those of you who leave reviews. You all are so amazing! You make this so much fun :). You may notice I haven't responded to most of your reviews this time, but that's because there wasn't much I could say since I'm keeping my lips sealed for now...But I appreciate each and every response! And I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm just so excited for these last few segments of the story! The closing act and the grand finale ;). I thought all the action would be one chapter, but as I wrote, I realised that it's going to be two for sure. We've all waited for this confrontation and final fight between the king and the mage, I think it deserves a bit more than one crammed chapter.
I'm off to Texas for a while here soon for my best friends wedding (YAY!) so the next installment might not be up until 3 weeks from now. Sorry about that! But I'm part of the wedding and will be there for a bit. I'm just so excited to go see my bestie get married to the love of her life!
All right, go find out what happens :)
Marcelisabeth: He kind of did, but in a small way. Just curiosity and baseness really. Other emotions have squashed it, haha. I kind of address Sarah's surprise at Seraphina's presence in this chapter actually! Hope it makes sense. Hahaha! I didn't realise how close their names were either! Weeiird...
Thanks to: The Queen of Water, Kaytori, She with the hazel eyez, black-heart-green-eyes, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, willowrain, PheonixBreaker90, HonoriaGranger, Metal1loves, JennaSoprano, hotforteacher3, ButterflyOnTheWall, Kinzichi, Boybandelflover, avulgarism, and 2 Guests.
Chapter Twenty-six: But I'll Be There for You
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Sarah gaped at Seraphina with escalating resentment. The longer she stared into those pale, icy eyes, the more she began to see exactly what these associates had planned. The only way Fiachna could've gotten into the Goblin Kingdom without going through the labyrinth was if he had help, and the only way of sure defeat over Jareth needed the same solution.
"You're helping him?" Sarah cried with an incredulous sharpness to her voice that almost echoed in the circular chamber Fiachna had brought her to.
Seraphina glided across the room without a sound from her slippered feet on the large grey stones. Her scrutiny no longer troubled Sarah as it did when they first met at the Midsummer's Eve celebration only a few days ago. Sarah's back stiffened, but she held her ground and did not look away from the scheming creature. This appearance confirmed that she was the one who tried to take Sarah away from Jareth that same night they met out by the lake when cold, invisible bonds drug her through the air and tore her away from her Goblin King. Not that there had been much speculation or doubt…
They had suspected her involvement with the Midsummer's Eve fiasco, but to see her here taking that next step into Fiachna's schemes greatly troubled Sarah. She thought her capable of some mischief, but her being here meant a great deal more than that.
"When it suits me," Seraphina said in a casual tone that conflicted with the rigid tension along her shoulders and her jaw. "And I find that in this present situation that it suits me. Rather well actually."
Her gaze skimmed over Sarah's slender figure clothed in form-fitting black breeches, deep plum shirtsleeves that were not billowy but closely tailored, a black bodice with intricate silver embroidery along the ribs, and dark grey boots laced up to her calves.
"Hm. He's even dressing his doll up to his taste."
Fiachna broke his silent observation of the two wildly disparate women. "As I said, humans sometimes make wonderful playthings. You really think he sees you as more than that? I suppose he has made a promise of 'forever' or some ridiculous tale?"
Sarah tore her eyes away from Seraphina to look at the mage.
"I cannot believe you fell for it! We do not stay with mortals forever, girl. He is spinning lies around you. Did he tell you there was a way to overcome your mortality?" He scoffed. "There is no such thing. It was a lie. No human has ever become like us."
Sarah was not an idiot. At least, she didn't think so…Why on earth would poor Mary know about the possibility if it was just a lie Jareth had made up? Of course, she had said it was only rumour that had caught her ear, but Jareth had let her go once so it wouldn't make sense for him to lie about it. Fiachna wasn't exactly the most truthful creature. Or Seraphina for that matter.
She laughed. Fiachna frowned, and Seraphina lifted one thin eyebrow.
"Would you stop trying to be so typical?" Sarah said once her laughter calmed down. "I know what you're trying to do, and it actually makes you both look like idiots. Did you really think I would believe anything you say? Not after that whole 'Bran' stunt you pulled! And the fact that you're trying to get vengeance on Jareth and using me to do it. Just shut up."
There were a few moments of stunned silence. Then Fiachna pursed his lips and moved forward as if to strike her again. Seraphina stepped into his path.
"Not yet," she said. "Are you such a fool? She is toying with you just as you tried to her. So weak…"
His golden eyes narrowed. "Weak? You are the one who flaunts your weakness for all to see." He leaned close till they were inches away, his hot breath stirring the loose strands of silvery hair. "The Goblin King is your weakness. You will do anything to possess him, and it makes you look the fool."
The air crackled with unveiled hostility like an exposed nerve being tugged and prodded.
Sarah watched the exchange with lips parted in amazement for her enemies had basically revealed the breach in their alliance that could easily be exploited. They were both extremely intelligent creatures, but if she played the right cards, maybe they could be pitted against each other instead of staying united against Jareth—or her: it was difficult to tell who Seraphina wanted to hurt most. One thing that didn't immediately make sense was why the female Sidhe chose to help Fiachna who desired to destroy Jareth if she wanted to be with the Goblin King.
Maybe destroying Jareth doesn't mean actually killing him, thought Sarah while her two captors stared death and torment at each other. Fiachna's words from in the dungeon struck her like a bullet to her gut: "Or I will just kill you when he gets here so the worst damage is done." If that was the plan, Seraphina would lose what she assumed to be the greatest obstacle between her and her prize and Fiachna would gain his revenge, and both would get what they want. Sarah's stomach twisted.
"Let us not be rude to our guest," Seraphina hissed. She spun around with her back to the mage and turned her ire on Sarah. "She might think us uncouth. Or perhaps she is accustomed to it from her world amongst her own race. Such ignorant, selfish creatures they are."
"And neither of you are selfish, of course," Sarah mocked in a soft voice as if to herself. "Maybe you aren't so different from us humans after all."
Where Fiachna was quick to anger, Seraphina had a level head—most likely due to hundreds of years learning to spar with words and wits rather than physical force. Her tongue was sharp and honed for penetrating to the bone of her opponent.
"So you are so wise and knowledgeable of our world now that you have dwelt here for such a long time. Oh, what has it been? A few months? A year?" Seraphina's voice cut like broken glass. "Do not presume to think you understand. You have lived the time of a mere babe and have no comprehension of the centuries and the millennia that pass us by."
"I don't need to," said Sarah with her gaze confident and her voice steady. "It didn't take long to see that the emotions and motivations of the Tuatha de Danaan aren't any different than that of humans. You may live a lot longer, but the hearts are the same, and that is what matters in the end. I've seen black hearts like both of yours in my world, the people who only care about their own happiness and are willing to trample it in others' lives just to get what they want. That's not really happiness. It's empty when you get there."
Seraphina took two pronounced strides into Sarah's personal space with her long pale skirts swishing along the floor and ran a long, thin finger down her cheek. A trail of iciness followed, so bitingly cold it stung and throbbed and made Sarah flinch away.
"I'm going to enjoy taking your life. All that false bravery and trembling hope gone to waste. Pity…"
"Yes, pity. Now that I see the both of you, I'm not as angry I was. I do pity you though."
For a moment Sarah thought Seraphina's placid calm would break like a chisel to ice, but the blaze in her eyes and the tightness of her lips faded after a few deep breaths. She sneered and left Sarah standing alone in the middle of the circular chamber. Fiachna had gone to one of the cluttered surfaces where black powder fell from his fingertips into a blue glass bottle. His elbow knocked into two others that rattled on the wooden surface, and she wondered what they were for: no doubt for some mischief when Jareth arrived.
He will arrive, won't he?
Even though Seraphina had turned her back to the being she considered far beneath her, Sarah sought to gain her attention again as one question burned on her tongue more than any other—and she had plenty of questions, as usual.
"Why?" Her voice echoed up into the spiked roof and broke the uneasy stillness. "Why would you go to the very enemy of the man you want to be with? That's a betrayal he would never forget. Of all the people to help your cause, why him?"
Fiachna's lips curled up as he leaned against the table and gave his full attention to his temporary partner as though daring her to answer truthfully. Seraphina tossed her hair over her shoulder and picked up a strange figurine that was an odd mixture of a serpent and a bird made out of some white stone flecked with gold.
"You view things so narrowly," she said. "If we work together, we both get what we want. It is simple, even for your puny mind."
"Simple isn't always right," said Sarah with a voice Jareth had quickly grown accustomed to even after their first ordeal in the labyrinth. It was firm and unyielding. "You're willing to hurt him to win him. Did you ever think that it wouldn't work?" She took a few steps closer until she stood in a small square of dim light from one of the small windows. "What makes you so sure this will get you what you want? I don't understand."
"Of course you do not." Seraphina slid her hand into a concealed pocket within the folds of her skirts and pulled out a small vial glimmering with clear liquid. "Your mind is limited to the confines of your race and your world, but with our capabilities here in the Underground, there are a number of possibilities. When he is weak, this will be my greatest assistance to gaining what I've desired for so long."
Fiachna's arms fell to his sides, and he cut a hand through the air. "Silence! Are you such a fool as to reveal everything to this wretched creature?"
"What does it matter? She will be dead."
The Raven Mage left his work at the table with the black powder to speak in closer confines with the other Fay. Sarah backed away from them with cautious steps. While they conversed in low tones that they masked with magic so she could not understand, she glanced over her shoulder before she nearly bumped into the workspace Fiachna had just vacated. Her heart pounding and her ears ringing, she reached behind her and grasped one of the bottles full of strange black substance. She didn't know if it was like black powder in her world—gun powder—but it had to be some sort of weapon that could be useful. She shoved it in the back of her pants along the waist and pulled the bodice over. It probably looked ridiculous, but at this point she was willing to attempt anything.
Suddenly Fiachna leaped back from Seraphina, hurried to one of the windows, and threw it open. A raven came in in a rush of feathers and wings and squawking. It made another series of peculiar noises something like squawks and grunts from its perch on Fiachna's shoulder. When it quieted, the mage closed his eyes and spread open his arms.
"At last. The Goblin King has arrived."
The Goblin King had indeed arrived. And not alone.
As a tawny owl, he alighted upon the bough of a barren tree with silvery bark and a long spindly bole. The raven and the brown owl in his company settled in branches nearby but with a great deal less grace and ease. The brown owl nearly missed the branch altogether and smacked its face into another, but the raven clamped its talons onto a thin perch and shuddered. A few black feathers floated to the ground.
The hideout of the Raven Mage was precisely where Gerdol the Dwarf had said.
In the grasp of a short range of mountains with only one or two peaks dusted with snow and a great expanse of barren slate flanks, a small fortress mainly constructed of a couple prominent towers attached to a basic square structure built of solid stone sat nestled in their shadow. The rough-hewn stones were so near the shade of slate grey of the mountainsides that most eyes would pass over without seeing it, but they had a guide who knew where to search.
Jareth did not miss the ravens that sat like solid obsidian sentinels on the corners of the wall surrounding the miniature fortress that once appeared to be a hold up in the mountains long ages ago. Some rested in other patches of desolate trees closer to the building. Their beady black eyes also did not miss him and the other birds with him. One burst up in a flare of wings into the air and down into the reaches of the fortress walls: no doubt to do his duty as sentry and report to his master.
"Go ahead," Jareth murmured. "Let him know that I come."
It did not bother him for he had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve…
As soon as Fiachna realised where he was again and saw the two women watching him, he hurried across the chamber to the table with the glass containers filled with black powder. He slipped them inside the folds of his cloak and pointed a finger at Seraphina.
"Take her to the Great Hall as we planned."
"Me? I am not to be seen, you great fool."
"And you will not be," he sneered with a curl of his lip. "Take her and conceal yourself there. Now! There is no more time. He is coming."
"Then go and delay him," Seraphina declared with a lifting of her chin. She glided over to Sarah, and a familiar cold sensation wrapped around her arms, tightening like hard hands on her limbs until she winced. "You will do as you are instructed or things will go much worse for you and your precious king."
"I thought he was your precious king?" Sarah mocked.
The icy bonds tightened, and one formed around her throat like the night of Midsummer's Eve.
"He will be once you are gone."
"If you plan on killing me, then why should I do anything you say? It's pointless."
Seraphina leaned in close. "Because there are plenty of things to cause pain that will not kill you. Don't you wish to see your glorious saviour? Then move!"
Sarah really had no choice since the invisible bonds tugged her along at a harsh pace that seemed of little effort to the Fay woman who stared ahead with dogged purpose and a light kindled in her gaze from the commencement of her plans. Or Fiachna's plans. Sarah didn't know who was really in charge with those two. Sometimes it seemed Fiachna definitely was the one controlling the situation, but then a subtle gleam of intelligence and mockery in Seraphina's countenance made Sarah doubt her first assumption.
Who really is in control is Lust, Sarah thought as she was dragged out into the corridor swagged with dark gold drapery along the top of the walls and otherwise bare. Even with boots on her feet she could feel the chill of the dark grey stones seeping through, and a faint draft wafted through the halls of the old fortress. Lust for vengeance and power and lust for a man highly coveted. She probably wants him for his power too. I guess humans aren't the only ones who get twisted by their vices. I think these guys get a little insane with them though…
After clattering down a case of stairs that curved downward and through a pair of giant doors that looked as solid and impenetrable as the rock walls surrounding them, Seraphina brought Sarah into what she assumed was the Great Hall. It wasn't as impressive as the vast chambers of the Adamant Palace, but it wasn't too different from the halls of the castle of the Goblin King. In her world she would compare the Adamant Palace and Fiachna's lair to visiting Buckingham Palace and then the ruins of an old castle. This place had the air of abandonment that sat like thick dust on a table and hung musty in the far corners.
The Great Hall was rather spacious with its high ceiling about thirty feet high and its length at least one hundred feet long if not more—Sarah didn't consider herself good at guessing distance. Pillars of stone held up the ceiling on either side, and a row of tall, thin windows lined only the right wall. There was a dais with a seat carved into the rock, but it didn't appear very much a throne with its short back and unadorned surface: not even a cushion or touch of colour. The whole room looked extremely medieval to her eyes.
"Sit there," Seraphina commanded.
Sarah looked into her eyes and did not take a step.
"If you do not willingly do what I say, I will force you." She lifted her hand, and Sarah's unseen restraints jerked her toward the empty seat. "You see? You might as well do as I command."
Sarah glowered at the Fay and walked to the dais. She examined the chair. "Is this some kind of trap? What happens when I sit on it?"
Seraphina almost rolled her eyes and settled with placing a hand on her hip and arching a brow. "Nothing. There would be no point in tricks at this point. The time will come, but you are not the one we're trying to ensnare."
Sarah sat down with a soft thump and did not lean back so the bottle stuffed under her vest and into the waist of her pants wouldn't be crushed or make any noise clanking against the stone. Neither of her captors had noticed the odd bulge in the announcement of their great enemy.
Jareth. He did come. Everything will be all right.
Seven years ago, she had felt fear as soon as a strange owl had burst through the window and turned into an imposing being, inhuman and slightly menacing. In the labyrinth, she felt fear of failure. Fear for the fate of Toby. And at the end, fear of giving in when she knew the right thing to do. Now fear arose in her breast for the very man who had once frightened her. Fiachna was not a creature of mercy or leniency, and she suddenly was afraid for Jareth and what might be done to him when the two old enemies came face to face for the third and final time.
It wasn't fair that Fiachna brought a second ally and set two Fey against one. She ground her jaw and glared at Seraphina who approached. Could she be the second ally for Jareth? But what could she do to help?
"When he comes, I will be behind you out of sight and the Raven Mage will intercept him at the door, so do not even consider trying any foolish tricks. You are no match for any of us."
Well, we'll see about that, she thought.
"Finally, the creature goes silent!" Seraphina cried in false amazement. "How wonderful."
"Why waste my words on someone like you? I'll just wait till Jareth trounces you both."
"So ignorant. One Sidhe against two? The odds certainly are not in his favour."
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud boom. Sarah leaped up from the seat. Seraphina waved a hand, and the icy ropes entwined around her stomach and chest and yanked her against the back of the chair. There they secured her so she could not move. The Fay woman moved behind the stone seat and behind Sarah so that she could no longer see her. Another loud thundering shook the fortress.
"What's going on?" Sarah asked. Her panic made her heartbeat flutter and quicken. "What are they doing?"
"Do not worry, little mortal, the real fight hasn't begun. Fiachna intends it for in here where you can watch."
As if her words had summoned the event, the doors flew open and the Raven Mage himself entered like a king returning home. He even had a majestic facade with his long black and gold robes that were tailored to his muscular figure, and his ebony hair was neatly swept away from his face. His golden eyes were shining with crazed ecstasy that sent a shudder down Sarah's spine. The doors slammed closed behind him, and he stopped in the middle of the Great Hall.
His dramatic entrance was a bit ruined by the sound of laughter that wasn't his.
Sarah's chest swelled with hope and joy at the familiar voice that echoed through the hall like a reverberating song.
A whisper came from the left, and Fiachna whirled towards it.
"The Raven Mage: the would-be lord." The voice suddenly came from the right. "He lays traps for the very Master of Mischief as a fool tries to snare a lion with a rope. Do you hear it Fiachna? The sound of your rope breaking…"
As the voice of the Goblin King faded, a low rumble vibrated beneath their feet and the doors burst open with a great noise like the crash of an ocean wave against the rocks. No one appeared. They could see out into an entry hall and then into the outer courtyard where the gates to the fortress were. The gates hung open. Sarah wondered if that had been the loud booming from earlier.
Fiachna pulled himself out of his shocked silence and licked his lips. "Your tricks do not frighten me!"
"No, but my capability does."
A swirl of wind whistled through the gates, and the Goblin King stood robed in his black leather mantle in the courtyard. Sarah would have been frightened of the image he presented if she didn't know him, but the sight of him sent a shaft of joy lancing through her heart. Her hands tightened on the edges of the seat.
"You cannot enter here without a price being paid," said Fiachna. He raised his hands. "Look! I have the prize you came for. She's still alive and unharmed, but if you try to reclaim her I cannot promise she will remain so. What will you do? Will you risk her life just to get her back? Or will you walk away and forget she ever was?"
The distance between them was great enough that Sarah had to squint to see where Jareth's gaze fell, but she knew in that moment that his haunting eyes stayed on her as a man who sees victory on the horizon of the battle. She smiled and nodded once. The both understood, understood that giving up wasn't an option. If he was willing to risk his life to rescue her, she was willing for hers to be risked in the attempt for she wouldn't hesitate to do the same for him.
"I will pay the price no matter what it costs," the Goblin King declared in a voice that echoed throughout the entire fortress. "Sarah Williams belongs to me."
"Then so be it," Fiachna replied. He actually sounded cheerful.
His hands clenched into fists. The ground under Jareth's feet shook and erupted. Bits of broken stone flew up into the air and froze even as a billow of dust filled the courtyard. When it cleared, there was no sign of the Goblin King. Fiachna's eyes darted around searching for any trace of his enemy, but there wasn't one.
Without a sound or a movement, there he was again, standing closer this time at the doors in the entryway to the fortress. The mage reacted a few seconds later. The doorway collapsed in a thundering crash with one wave of his hand with a few wisps of black powder shooting up from the floor. He moved forward and stopped at the doors to the Great Hall, but his face clouded with frustration after he realised that the heavy stone hadn't fallen on anyone yet again.
"Where are you?" he cried. "Do not be a coward!"
"Here."
"Here!"
"Over here…"
Multiple whispers from all directions struck at Fiachna's ears, and he yelled in rage. "It was never him! Only an illusion. Where is he?"
Hoggle and Gerdol were still birds while the confrontation began within the fortress. They each held a crystal ball in their talons as they flew down the side of the wall, up and over it, and to a slotted window near one of the back towers. Gerdol as a raven slipped inside, but Hoggle as the owl had a little trouble squeezing through without dropping the crystal.
The clear spheres were rather important and couldn't be dropped until the right moment for Jareth hadn't come to Fiachna's lair without a plan of his own. Immediately after landing in the treetops at their destination, the king had imparted their duties to them quickly and commandingly so that they would not forget and then gave them each a crystal formed from his own hand. The one Gerdol carried was to be broken once they were inside so they would be changed back into their dwarf forms, and the second that Hoggle carried was part of the larger scheme that would take them into the deepest places of the fortress.
Gerdol let his small globe crash onto the floor as soon as they were in a dim room cluttered with old trunks and boxes. It smashed and rose up like a silver smoke around them. They both felt their feathers shrink, their beaks shorten, and their bodies grow outward until they were themselves again. Hoggle chortled and felt his arms and legs in relief. He never wanted to be a bird again! Well, maybe. The flying hadn't been so bad.
"Follow," said Gerdol in his guttural tones. "Be quick."
"I still don't know if I trust you," Hoggle muttered. "Don't know why Jareth did."
"He knows," the dark dwarf murmured with his head lowered to his chest. "He knows what's inside. Gerdol wants to be free."
"That's all very well, but it don't mean I trust you. You'd better lead me to the right place or else Jareth will skin you alive. And me…Sarah! We've got to help Sarah." Hoggle swallowed the lump in his throat as he thought about his very first friend who was now in such danger. He would help save her even if it cost him.
Hoggle followed Gerdol with soft footsteps down a maze of corridors and stairs until they reached one case in particular that led down into darkness. Gerdol pulled out a box of matches and fumbled around on the wall till he grabbed a small lantern that had been left there. With the halo of light guiding them, they hurried down into the deep dungeons and dark tunnels of the Raven Mage's fortress.
NOTE: Getting intense, yeah? Let me know what you all think! And what will happen when the real fight begins?
GUESS WHAT? I'm about to get over 300 reviews! That's the most I've gotten for a story on here! Thanks everyone :)