AN: I'm baaaack! Fond greetings to you all! Man, it was such a great time in Texas, and the wedding was absolutely wonderful; but I am glad to be back. It's so exciting and special when your very best friend for over ten years gets married. Lots of great memories. Anywho, I'm sure you're all awaiting the conclusion to this epic battle! I separated this into two chapters because it's a bit of a beast, so you get quite a nice long chapter today :). Go on and enjoy it!
Shobgoblynn: Yes, being wordy is something I'm good at ;). I'll keep an eye out for that sort of thing, although I can't promise I'll notice, haha. I don't do much editing on fanfiction...Thanks for point that out though! Glad you like it!
Special thanks to: Yuri Amuyu, PheonixBreaker90, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, She with the hazel eyez, Guest, Kaytori, JennaSoprano, willowrain, CupcakePixie, Marcelisabeth, xBowiex, Rurouni's Bee, Guest, Shobgoblynn, and Heart-fractured21. You guys really have helped make this story a fun, amazing journey!
Chapter Twenty-seven: Everything I've Done I've Done for You
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The cold tendrils wrapping Sarah to the hard seat at the end of the Great Hall lessened ever so slightly: Seraphina's concentration had wavered. It seemed Jareth's tactics were working rather well for subtle signs of fear and doubt bubbled up to the surface in the facades of his enemies. She drew a deep breath to calm her racing heart and shifted. The bottle dug against her lower back and made everything twice as uncomfortable, and she couldn't reach it with the invisible bonds holding her arms down. She didn't even know what it would do or how she would use it, but she instinctively knew that it would be better to have one than to have left them all untouched and in the hands of the Raven Mage.
Where is Seraphina anyway? Did she make herself invisible or is she right behind me so I can't see her?
Sarah felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise a little at the thought. As if the maiden Fay wasn't creepy enough…
"Seraphina!" she cried. Either the Fay would answer or perhaps Jareth would hear and understand that he had two enemies to deal with instead of one. She called the name louder. Again and again.
An unseen gag shoved into her mouth when she opened her lips to scream out Seraphina's name again. She shook her head and tried to make a sound but nothing came out. She frowned and clenched her fists. This was just getting ridiculous. As soon as Jareth showed himself and the real battle began, she really hoped it would distract Seraphina enough to get out of these terrible chains that she couldn't even see.
While Sarah was thinking frantically of ways to help, Fiachna's head swivelled in every direction and his feet moved like patters of raindrops all over the ground as he searched in vain for the Goblin King. He could sense his enemy's presence, but he couldn't pinpoint where precisely because he could feel it everywhere. It planted a miniscule seed of uncertainty deep in his chest…
"Show yourself!" he cried. "I will not chase after you, you great fool!" His golden gaze fell on Sarah, and his frantic behaviour calmed as he moved towards her. "If you do not, I will show this mortal what true pain feels like."
Sarah grit her teeth as the mage approached. "You can do whatever you want to me because neither of us is going to give up!" Her eyes widened. "Wait…I can talk…"
"Of course you can," said Fiachna. "I want him to hear your screams."
He flung out a hand. A cloud of black powder pitched into the air around her. Though she tried as hard as she could not to make a sound, a harsh cry tore out of her throat when the strange substance contacted her skin. Everywhere it touched it burned like fire. As she pressed her lips together to keep from screaming anymore, tears welled in her eyes instead as the pain wracked her entire body. It was so excruciating that she barely noticed the high ceiling split in two and roll back like sliding doors with a slow rumble. A bit of shimmer fell down through the crack at the same time a tall shadow loomed down into the hall.
Fiachna turned to face his foe with a triumphant smile. Jareth stood in all his glory at the edge of the newly opened ceiling. Such a ferocity burned in his eyes that even the mage dropped his grin and took a step back before he regained his composure. But it was too late. Jareth motioned with his hand. Two thick vines whipped out from the high opening where faded light poured in and lashed around Fiachna. They reminded Sarah of vines in the forest in the labyrinth back in the Goblin Kingdom, and she shuddered to think of the dark dangers hidden in that place. Fiachna cried out as they rent him through the air up towards his enemy who menaced like a stifling force of anger and valiant resolution that threatened to consume the evil mage.
As soon as Fiachna hovered over something solid, the vines laced with orange lines of fire then burned to ashes. The white specks floated down into the Great Hall, and Fiachna gained firm footing atop the roof across the gap from Jareth the Goblin King. They stood facing each other over the distance as two great storms on route to meet in the sky, and when they met it would be a fearsome tempest that ripped apart everything around it.
"Every flicker of pain you have inflicted upon Sarah Williams, I will inflict a hundredfold upon you," Jareth breathed into the air. It echoed like a promise etched in time.
"Loving this human girl has made you weak, Jareth!"
"Weakness? You've lived long and yet you still are without wisdom, Fiachna. How is it weakness to have something to fight for? What do you have? Yourself? That is a poor substitute indeed and will assure your downfall by my hand, the hand of one who has something worth fighting for."
His words were punctuated by a gale that swirled up around them. It forced Fiachna back a few steps, but he managed to steady himself and arm himself for battle. Shifting black powder poured out from his fingertips and stretched out like black ribbons into the air around him. Jareth already held two clear crystals in his palms and stood with his legs apart in a ready stance for anything that might come his way.
Fiachna flicked his wrist. Two ribbons of powder cracked like whips straight for Jareth. The Goblin King instantly smashed the two crystals in his hands together in front of him. They combined into a silvery transparent shield spanned ten feet in width and ten feet in height before him. The powder struck the wall and exploded in a shower of sparks and fire.
Sarah watched with her lips parted and her eyes riveted on the spectacle high above her that was both terrifying and breath-taking. They all knew that it would come to this eventually, but to see it actually happening brought the reality crashing down around her. Almost literally: a few chunks of rubble crumbled down to the ground, one or two barely missing the seat she was strapped to.
"Seraphina, let me go!" she yelled. She tried to turn her head. "You can't hold me here forever! We could both get hurt if we stay here."
A cool voice whispered in her ear. "I am protected. You are not. What do I care if you are injured by your own lover? It would be poetic. And do not try to fool me: you would never leave him here to go and hide. You are a meddler."
Sarah pulled at the invisible restraints, but they were as strong as ever. Seraphina had no intention of releasing her. I wish I would've asked him how to defend myself against Fey magic! Without that, I'm worthless…
Jareth's shield wavered as another blow crashed into it. Jareth smirked. The silver transparency suddenly burst outward at the mage. He hardly had time to block it before it overcame him like a tidal wave.
Some of the fighting was done in ways that mortals could not see, for they could not only wield physical forces but mental and emotional ones as well. Jareth could sense and see dreams and desires in others—not to mention other capabilities—and the rest of his kindred had particular skill in similar areas. Fiachna had tried to force a bout of confusion and forgetfulness on his opponent, yet Jareth saw it just in time and pushed it aside without difficulty. They were only using physical battle to try to distract each other from the real battle between mind and will.
Seraphina glided around into Sarah's line of vision with her head uplifted and her gaze set on the two men above. She flicked a cruel smirk at Sarah before focusing all her attention upward and forming a clump of ice in the air over her hand. She shoved it forward. It flew towards the ceiling and disintegrated once it hit the strong wind tugging at the men's mantle's and hair. The wind grew steadily colder and colder, but it did not touch Fiachna. Jareth's breath came out in pale puffs of cloud, and frost began to form at the edges of his collar and sleeves.
With a glare that put Seraphina's ice to shame, he tore his eyes from the mage and looked down at his second foe who had dared to intervene. Unfortunately, she hastened backwards and hid behind one of the large pillars holding up the Great Hall.
"It's Seraphina!" Sarah yelled as loud as she could. "She's—" Her cries were cut off as the unseen gag filled her mouth again. She groaned and stamped her foot. Her level of frustration had increased to the point of wrath. If she ever got free, that woman was going to get a taste of a nice mortal fist in the face.
When the quake happened, Jareth was the only one who expected it.
A massive explosion shook the foundations of the fortress. The ear-splitting boom was followed by a great shuddering of the stones around them and echoes of the resounding din pulsating outward just as the ground itself rippled. After a pause, a terrific crashing and thundering rent the air as the whole centre of the fortress structure caved in and fell upon itself in a quake of collapsing rock.
The Great Hall was closer to the outer edges, so it was the least affected, but it was the only moment Sarah was thankful she had been stuck in a sturdy chair since the explosion still rocked the whole place. Another handful of chunks fell as they broke away from the ceiling. Fiachna almost toppled from the ledge when part of it gave way beneath him, but he stumbled back.
Seraphina had been knocked off her feet. At the same time Sarah witnessed this, she realised that all the unseen bonds that had bound her were gone. She had no time to think or deliberate. She leaped up off the seat and barrelled straight for Seraphina who was getting back on her feet.
Sarah threw a punch as hard as she could. It landed straight on Seraphina's cheek. The momentum sent the Fay woman flying backwards, and her head smacked into the solid column right behind her with a sickening thud. Her eyes rolled as she crumpled to the floor.
Sarah gasped and bent down to check Seraphina. As much as she despised the creature, she couldn't bear it if she had accidentally killed her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found a pulse and noticed the sound of breathing coming from her cold lips. The Sidhe was knocked out.
In all the chaos, she hadn't noticed that Jareth had disappeared from the high ledge as soon as the explosion hit. Fiachna also soon vanished.
"And here I had come to help you."
Sarah bounded to her feet and jerked around to a sight most missed that sent her heart racing with joy. Jareth stood only a few feet away, his body seemingly unharmed and his black mantle a little ragged on the edges. She threw herself into his arms before he could utter another word. He caught her and held her tight for a moment before setting her at arm's length again.
"There is no time. Fiachna is not yet defeated. Get out of here. You are far safer outside of this fortress. It may start collapsing more, and I won't have you in any more danger than necessary. Go, Sarah!"
She opened her mouth to protest leaving him on his own but didn't get the opportunity. Fiachna had arrived. He materialised out of the shadows of the pillars not quite across the hall. Jareth placed himself in front of Sarah, and she was reminded of Midsummer's Eve when they were in a very familiar situation. How would it end this time? Because there was no more hiding or running away.
Jareth vanished. Then he stepped out from behind a column right beside Fiachna, grabbed him, and they both disappeared.
When the two Sidhe ignited a war over the Great Hall, two small dwarfs were in the lower dungeons of the fortress with only a small lantern and a crystalline globe cradled in one of their hands.
Gerdol led the way with the light with Hoggle trailing along close behind with Jareth's crystal carefully gripped in both his hands. He knew that if he accidentally dropped it, Gerdol and he might not make it back to the light of day, and he couldn't bear not being able to say goodbye to his first friend: Sarah Williams. If this was what he had to do to help save her, then this was it. Before he met her years ago, he never would've volunteered to carry out such a dangerous task, but her courage and friendship inspired him. Ever since that first time he did something brave on her behalf in fighting that giant metal goblin, he hadn't quite been the same dwarf. They were friends. And he was going to honour that!
They stopped in a chamber that opened up from a tunnel where a bar with irons stood at the end. The walls were carved from the rock, and a cold draft fluttered through the bars on the door.
"This is it," Gerdol whispered into the dank silence.
Hoggle swallowed hard. This place gave him the creeps. He didn't like it one bit.
The king had given them specific instructions to follow, and the most important one was to wait to drop the crystal until they heard the sound like thunder or stone grinding against stone. On the stairwell they had already heard a loud noise that sounded like some sort of blast somewhere near the front of the fortress, but that wasn't the signal they were waiting for. So they waited in that black chamber without windows where the only thing that disturbed the eerie stillness was the sound of their breathing and the sputtering of the flame in the lantern.
"You think it's time yet?" Hoggle asked. He tapped his foot nervously.
"No."
Another long stretch of quiet.
"What if we missed it?"
"No."
Hoggle puffed out a breath and opened his mouth to say something more to the rather reticent companion, yet that's when they heard it. It sounded as if a large rock wall was moving aside or the ground was opening up; although it also seemed distant through the dense layers of floor and wall between them.
"That's it!" cried Hoggle. "Now!"
Gerdol didn't wait another second and began running back the way they came. Hoggle yelled in frustration since the light was going with him, and he tossed the crystal as far across the room as he could. It smacked to the hard ground and rolled until it tapped against the far wall by the door. Hoggle's mouth dropped open as his heart thumped like horse hooves in a race, then he flailed his arms and darted after Gerdol. They barely made it to the stairwell that led back up to the main levels when it hit.
The explosion numbed their ears and bellowed like some massive beast that burst through the surface of the earth and tore stone from stone as if they were parchment. The dwarfs got thrown from their feet. Hoggle clapped his hands over his ears as he laid on the uncomfortable steps and huddled against the wall, but he didn't see Gerdol for a few minutes in the aftermath: he was in a strange hazy state that gradually faded.
Then he saw him. Hoggle crawled forward and touched Gerdol's hairy black arm that showed through the shredded sleeve of his tunic. A trail of blood dripped from his chest, and dust that still settled in the air of the stairwell had sprinkled him grey.
"Are…are you all right?" asked Hoggle. He knew it was a foolish question when there was blood in sight, but he didn't know what else to say.
Gerdol grunted and shifted. He sat up at last, some bits of rubble scattering off him. He winced, and his face screwed up with pain, but he did not make another sound.
"Not good. Not good at all," Hoggle muttered. "Eh…does it hurt much?"
"Gerdol is fine."
"Oh, I knew this would go all wrong! Shouldn't have had us do it, he shouldn't! I always get it wrong."
"Must move soon. The rock isn't stable."
"Oh. Right. You're very right."
Hoggle helped him to his feet, and they trudged their way up the steps until they reached the ground level where they had entered in as a raven and an owl. Hoggle breathed easier seeing sunlight again, but it sounded as if Gerdol was having the opposite issue with his breathing: it seemed a bit ragged. Gerdol stumbled, so Hoggle reached out to steady him with a firm grip. His brows drew down as he studied his fellow dwarf in the clearer light of day. The blood was dark crimson shining on the dark dwarf's tunic leaking from a deep gash on the right side of his chest, and his right arm didn't look so well either with its scratches and missing sleeve.
"What do we do now?" said Hoggle with a deep sigh.
"This way," Gerdol grunted.
Fiachna blinked and gathered his bearings after Jareth snatched him and transported them somewhere. They were still in the fortress, of course, but it took him a moment to realise where he was and that the Goblin King was nowhere in sight. He could not have gotten far, though, so the mage prepared himself against attack and reached out with his mind to sense his opponent. It was a bit muddled, yet his instinct was correct: Jareth was close.
He crept forward to one end of the broad corridor that he'd landed in. His feet made no sound, and he heard nothing. Step by step he slowly edged to the corner, his pulse rapid and his blood afire for the battle. The thought of his enemy's blood spilt by his hand and the grief he could cause roared in his ears even as he pressed his back against the wall. He inched his head forward to the edge.
His breathing quickened. He peered around with one eye, then jerked his head back.
No one. Nothing around the corner.
Fiachna darted on swift feet down to the other end to take a glance around that corner except that the corridor ended and split two ways. This would be the worst part. He couldn't look both directions at once, and it could take that one instant for his enemy to gain the upper hand and catch him off guard. He growled low in his throat. This was where Seraphina was supposed to help and be the second pair of eyes and hands, but that wench had somehow ended up unconscious on the floor after the explosion that shook the entire fortress. Useless!
He stopped a few feet from the exposed mouth of the hallway and risked closing his eyes for a moment or two to sharpen his senses to search out the Goblin King. While he listened, his task was accomplished for him by his very quarry.
"Looking for me?" A harsh laugh echoed all around. "I am the King of the Goblins, Master of Mischief and maker of the renowned labyrinth! Did you really think you could lay a trap for me? Did you really believe it would work?" Another laugh resounded from a different direction.
"Did you really think you could distract and confuse me?" Fiachna spit out as his eyes flew open. "You have all your tricks, but they can't help you now."
He readied a particularly nasty attack in his hands that would spew out liquid fire and rushed out into the open facing the right. He threw the black powder from his hands. A tall, pale-haired figure darted inside an open doorway right before the liquid fire could touch him. What the mage didn't notice was the crystal ball that rolled down the hall towards him as soon as he had stepped out to be seen. It was too late by the time he saw it gleam in the light from one of the windows.
It sent him flying back. He landed on the stone floor with a painful crash. Dark green vines entwined and grew around his limbs, binding him like cords until they began to rip right through his clothes. He roared and pulled on the dark power that he had long absorbed until it suffused his thoughts and broke the vines off of him.
Jareth stood watching from down the hall. Fiachna sent a haze of fear and doubt to the king. Jareth narrowed his eyes and walked right through it. He stalked towards the mage like a graceful predator closing in on its prey.
Fiachna differed from Jareth in a lot of ways, but one of those was his use of weapons for he had gone so long being weaker in his abilities that he grew accustomed to carrying real weapons on his person. Today was no different. Whatever advantage he could have over his enemy, he had considered it. He drew out a long dagger from his robes and threw it straight and true.
Jareth cried out. The dagger struck him in the ribs. He pulled the long narrow blade out and made it disappear. A trickle of blood flowed from the fresh wound down his stomach and to his leather belt.
"We are beyond the power of mortals, but we still are flesh and blood," spat Fiachna. He rose up from the ground with his black mantle like a shadow following. "First blood is mine."
Jareth's lips curled into a sneer as his gaze scanned the mage. "I think you'll find that that was mine."
The mage looked down and saw that the vines had cut into his arms right through the black cloth of his robes, and a bit of bright blood stood stark against his skin on each arm. His hands curled into fists, and he glared at Jareth from under his dark brows.
"No matter. You may have had the first, but I will have the last."
The Goblin King laughed a scornful laugh just before vanishing. The Raven Mage cursed and followed where he sensed Jareth had gone. He appeared in another room that was abandoned with smaller versions of the pillars in the Great Hall upholding the roof and a smell of ancient air untouched for hundreds of years. He hid behind one of the columns that was barely the width of a man, a handful of black powder in his right hand.
Part of the pillar cracked as a terrible impact hit it directly. Fiachna flinched and pulled his shoulders in closer. Another powerful blow blew a few bits of stone right off the column and a puff of dust into the mage's face. He coughed and spun around the other side to send his own round of ruses in the direction Jareth's had come from.
"You cannot run forever!" Fiachna yelled over the din. "This will end today, and it will end with one of us taking the other's life!"
Since Sarah had been left alone with Seraphina, she wouldn't take any chances. She tore off strips of Seraphina's skirt and bound her as tight as she could at the wrists and ankles even though she knew that they wouldn't do much good if the Sidhe woman awoke. Would she have the courage to knock her out again? The first time had been an accident since Sarah wasn't exactly used to fighting off people trying to kill her. She would do all she could to protect Jareth and herself, but she did not want to take a life if at all possible. It just wasn't her. If she needed to for their defence…She shook away the thought and focused on tying secure knots in the strips of cloth.
"Maybe there's something in that room we were in," she murmured to herself.
There had been a collection of liquids and unknown substances bottled and corked on the table surface where Fiachna made his blue bottles full of powder. She could also remember where it was, and it wasn't too far from the Great Hall. She took one last look at the unconscious Fay before dashing away to the circular chamber.
Once, she had to stop and rethink her decision when the building trembled and a few pieces of rubble tumbled down. The explosion hadn't destroyed these passages yet, so she hoped that chamber remained intact.
When she got to it, her heart dropped. Where it had stood, a great pile of collapsed wall rose up without a single hole or opening. That room was completely blocked. She chewed her lip and pulled out the bottle she'd stashed in her belt to take another look at it. She still had no idea what it could do, but it was the only thing she had now.
"It's Fiachna's manifestation of his ability as a Sidhe. But that could mean anything! Let's see. Think, Sarah! Why would he put it in a container? What's the point? It's transparent glass, so it's obviously not for a disguise. He can use it fine without a bottle just from his hands."
An image of a Molotov cocktail brushed against the back of her mind, and she carefully held the bottle up to the light coming through the windows left in the corridor. The black powdery substance had a subtle shimmer to it, and it dawned on her that the bottle might be for some sort of compression or pressurisation to cause a greater reaction from whatever ploy lay in the sandy element. Were these what caused the fiery explosions that ripped apart the courtyard and main doors?
"And I've had it tucked in my back this whole time!" she scoffed. She glanced around her and decided quickly to go back to the Great Hall. If Jareth was leading the mage in a game of cat and mouse around the fortress grounds, it would be unlikely to find them, so she chose to go back to her temporary prisoner. Strange how their roles had reversed.
Sarah laughed, and her eyes shone with mischief as an idea came rushing to the forefront of her thoughts. "That's it! Oh Seraphina, you have no idea what's about to happen to you…"
She ran to the Great Hall where the Sidhe still lay crumpled. Sarah tucked the bottle back into her belt and knelt by Seraphina's still form. Her pale hair splayed around her head, and the silken fabric of her gown rippled over her body, which didn't conceal much so it made it easy for Sarah to find what she was looking for.
A small vial with clear liquid and a silver stopper glittered in the light as she pulled it from some hidden pocket in Seraphina's dress, the same vial that the Fay had shown off earlier. The vial that held some sort of love tonic—at least that's what Sarah assumed from Seraphina's own admission to using it on Jareth once their plan succeeded.
"Guess what, Phina? Is it all right if I shorten your name? It's a bit of a mouthful saying it all the time, and I'm not calling you 'Sera' because that would be weird and confusing. Anyway, you are going to have quite the surprise when you wake up. I wish you had said how this stuff works, but I'm going to have to make a guess because you are getting a taste of your own magic. Literally and metaphorically."
Sarah lifted Seraphina's head, pried open her lips, and poured the clear liquid into her mouth. She gently placed her head back on the ground. What was she supposed to do? There had to be something more to make it more specific. She tore another strip of cloth from the skirts to make a blindfold that she put around the Fay's eyes just in case it had something to do with sight.
And who did she want to use? Not Jareth since the being already had some warped feelings for him which she didn't want to risk getting twisted even worse. The Raven Mage? He would die today.
"It would serve you right to fall in love with him and watch him die," Sarah murmured to the unconscious woman. She sighed and dropped her head. "But I can't do it. You would have, but I don't want to be like you: hard and cold and without mercy. So who should you adore?"
Another idea struck her. Her lips trembled from curbed laughter bubbling up in her throat.
"Oh yes. I have just the thing for you…"
In hopes that the liquid was triggered by words, Sarah leaned down and whispered a name…
While Sarah dealt with Seraphina, a strange occurrence developed on the other side of the castle fortress.
Jareth and Fiachna strove against each other in a large gallery with forces mostly unseen. Their wills clashed and billowed as they each fought for mastery. A drop of sweat dripped down the mage's temple, and Jareth felt his legs tremble as his blood continued to flow from the knife wound between his ribs. One hand pressed against it, but there was no time to treat it. It did not matter for Jareth's entire concentration centred on Fiachna and overcoming him unto death. Sarah was not safe until this creature was gone. And he had hurt her, the love of his life who had brought such hope into his eternity.
Their struggle got interrupted. Two small, stocky figures burst into the gallery.
Hoggle and Gerdol gaped at the scene.
"Blimey!" exclaimed Hoggle.
"Would you look at that?" said Fiachna with a raised eyebrow and a curl of his lips. "Our little slaves have come back to us. I must say I'm surprised you brought yours and that you didn't kill mine as soon as you got here."
The mage turned his back on the dwarfs to fully face his foe, but it was a move he would regret.
Gerdol stunned them all. His short legs sprinted over the space, he pulled out a knife from his belt, and jumped onto Fiachna's back with a great battle cry that pierced their ears. He drove the knife into the mage's back with a ferocious stab and a terrible rage darkening his face. Fiachna screamed in a hideous jumble of pain and wrath as he reached behind and threw the dwarf from his back. In an instant, he took the knife out of his own flesh and brought it down into the chest of Gerdol.
Hoggle staggered back. Jareth watched with impassive features cast in stone as the mage spun around with bloodlust burning in his gaze and his breath coming out in gasps. He bore the image of a cornered creature, wounded and dangerous in his last hour before death.
"It is time that mortal girl had a visit. She must be lonely in that great big hall," Fiachna hissed through his teeth. He disappeared with a flourish of his cloak. Jareth followed, leaving the dying dwarf on the hard ground and the living watching with clouded eyes in a state of disbelief. It was a terrible, abrupt quiet where death slowly breathed into the room like a cold wind.
Hoggle bent over the fallen figure of Gerdol whose chest barely rose and fell with breath. Gerdol's stern, craggy features softened as a small smile finally touched the barren planes of his face for the first time in a hundred years. He stared up at his fellow dwarf with black eyes glinting.
"Freedom," he whispered, a faint wind passing from his lips. "Free at last."
The words died on his tongue even as one last long gasp of air fell out of his mouth. His eyes closed. His body stilled.
Hoggle bowed his head and touched a fist to his brow in a sign of honour amongst the dwarves. He patted the dead dwarf's chest and stared off unseeing into the distance.
The time had come. The last stand of the Goblin King versus the Raven Mage. Death had taken one already from the dreary, abandoned fortress high in the mountains and waited upon the threshold for he who would follow.
Neither held anything back any longer. It was a fight for their lives. Not an ounce of hesitation or mercy remained, and Sarah Williams stood apart bearing witness to the epic encounter with her own life in the balance.
Fiachna had no time to get to her for Jareth arrived at the same second and rolled a crystal at his feet. It circled around the mage in one complete ring. The shimmering trail it left sent up a faint mist that curled up into the air around Fiachna's face. He covered his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his robe, but he'd already breathed some in, and its effects were immediate. His eyes fought to stay open, and his body swayed as his knees weakened from the sleeping smoke that entered his lungs. However, he fought fiercely against it.
With one swipe of his hand, a ring of fire laced around the circle left by the sleeping smoke and devoured it. With the flames still dancing around his feet, the mage sent a cloud of black silt from his hands at the Goblin King with a frightening roar that burst out of his chest. Jareth seemed to catch it as with an invisible net and turn it aside. It hit the nearest pillar and blew it into oblivion.
A dart of light came at the mage, and he didn't quite block it in time. He growled in pain as it lanced across his chest as he tried to spin aside. He panted and clutched at his chest as blood seeped out. The pain intensified, and he realised that it hadn't been a simple blade but a crystal one touched with a curse that infected his bloodstream with agony.
The ceiling over Fiachna dropped rapidly straight for him. He reacted at once and made a barrier that knocked the gigantic chunk of stone aside. Unfortunately, he sent it flying straight at Sarah.
She jumped aside and rolled on the ground just as the massive hunk sped by and shattered against the far wall behind her. A little debris rained on her, but she didn't even notice. She lifted her head and looked at Jareth who finally turned his gaze on her. It was the very first time she had seen any hint of worry in those sharp features, and it sent a ripple of warmth through her at the very same time an arrow of fear pierced her heart.
Fiachna grinned his feral grin at the discovery of a new tactic. Another piece of the ceiling broke away and headed straight for her. Even as she crouched to get out of its path, it turned to dust at the flick of Jareth's hand. A giant column close to her suddenly collapsed. She ran to the left, and it too was deflected by a quick intervention from the man she loved.
Everything was happening so quickly that there was hardly a moment to breathe. Then Fiachna stopped. The tumult from the stone being ripped apart and crumbling settled. Sarah caught her breath as she stood shaking and watching every move of the two men. The Raven Mage turned to Jareth.
"Did you think that I didn't have anything else? Why would I lure you here without a plan in mind? I am not such a fool." He spread out his arms even though it greatly pained him to do so. "Surrender or I will use my last defence on you and that little mortal of yours. I concocted something rather special just for you, old friend, and it will burn the life out of you."
Sarah's attention wavered towards the seat that she had been bound to earlier, and her chest tightened. A glimmer had caught her eye in the shadows behind the chair carved of stone: the same seat that Jareth had been driven back towards and stood so little distance from. It all tumbled down around her at once, and she gasped for breath as the realisation threatened to drown her in despair. Those bottles that Fiachna had filled with the essence of his power sat at the base of that strange throne, and he would trigger them if Jareth didn't surrender. Jareth would certainly die for he had no warning, no idea what had been planned.
Sarah studied his face: the aristocratic nose, the set line of his mouth, the sculpted cheeks, and the luminous blue eyes that could be both fire and ice. Then she considered the man behind the face: the spark of mischief behind his gaze, the ancient years with knowledge and wisdom written in his voice, the impatience of a Fay, the majestic bearing of a king, a hungry curiosity kindled by intrigue, a smooth charm that dripped from his artless confidence, and the sincere depths of love that hid in the deepest places of his heart that he had shared with her. Her. A mortal woman from the Aboveground. He was magnificent. He was with faults, of course, but he wouldn't have been so perfect for her without them. He'd given himself to her in so many ways that she took so long to see, and now that she had done the same, it was about to be taken from them.
But there was one last way that she could give herself for him.
Sarah knew what she had to do.
As the mage and the king faced off in silence wrought with visceral tension, a simple, brave young woman stepped out. She went forward and stood near Fiachna. With trembling hands she pulled the blue bottle of black silt out of her belt and held it behind her back.
She held the attention of her very own Goblin King for a few moments of precious time where it was only them and the rest of the Underground drifted away. "Jareth, get out of here. He's telling the truth. I saw him making something before you came, and if you don't go we will all die here. Get back. Get back!" She swallowed hard and blinked away the tears that welled up in her eyes.
"Sarah," he spoke in his commanding tone with a raised hand, "do not do anything rash. Get away from him."
"And let you die? I don't think so. Not today." She whipped out the bottle and aimed it for the ground between them.
The mage's face blanched, and his eyes widened. This had not been part of his plan.
"You know I won't hesitate," she said directly to him with a severity in her voice that even he wavered at. There was no doubt she would if it meant saving the Goblin King.
"No doubt," he murmured. He swallowed hard as his eyes flicked back to his old enemy. "Make your choice, Jareth. One of you will die. Would you sacrifice your love to kill your enemy? Or will you give up your own life? Make your choice! Or I will make it for you!"
Jareth stood as a man turned to stone. It was the longest two minutes of Sarah's lifetime.
"Sarah Williams," said Jareth in a voice now softened and intimate. His eyes spoke deafeningly of his affection for her and of a grief pooling quickly behind. It made her exceedingly afraid. "I have never loved anyone as I love you. I will always love you more than my own existence. Do not forget it. And I made a vow to myself, a vow that if I had to give my life to save you, I would. I am going to make sure that you are safe."
A blinding light. A horrific uproar. A sensation of being moved through time and space.
Everything stilled. There was complete silence.
Sarah gasped for breath. Her eyes flew open.
And stared up at the ceiling of her apartment bedroom.
NOTE: Yes, I'm quite aware you all either want to kill me, hug me, or both. Probably more of the first. But I did promise a happy ending, so stop your worrying! ;) Just wait and see, dearies. Wait and see...
Oh and if you watch Doctor Who, I'm putting in a shameless plug for a video I made for the Doctor and Rose (LOVE those two: such a wonderful story). It's on Youtube and here's the link (just delete the spaces): www youtube com/ watch? v=7i_ JDAO81Hg. Please share, pin, or just go and enjoy! That would be awesome!