CHAPTER 6

Jareth had to go to the city of Barróg on a trade negotiation for materials by Lord Sutton. He requested that he arrive at his home on the mountain. Jareth was to spend four days in his company with his two annoying daughters clinging to him and to his every word. It was tiresome.

—--

Sarah started selling her jewelry again. She found ten jewelers in the city on horseback and sold all of them going back to the room to dump the coins in the necklace every so often. Sarah changed her male clothes and the color of her cloak. Next, she dressed as a woman and sold more the next day and the day after by the fifth day she sold it all. She had out of a total of eleven bags of jewelry, 23,755 in gold and added to her 16,441 in the necklace made it a total of 40,196 gold.

She couldn't believe that she had accumulated so much so quickly by weeding out thieves and bounty hunters that come after her. She wondered how long and how many people were harmed that they robbed. She hoped the people were alright. It seemed to Sarah, these bounty hunters were not much better than the thieves.

—--day 26

On her last day in Barróg, Sarah went to the market and the bakery. She had a full bag of food and was carrying a box of baked goods while walking back to the inn in the early afternoon.

Jareth decided to get out of Lord Sutton's manor and spend some time riding around the city on his own after prying his daughters off his arm and his crotch. The eldest was trying everything to get him to bed her to the point of it becoming disturbing. He had her sneak into his room twice in a night until he sealed the room with an impenetrable barrier. After tonight, he can leave and hurry home in the morning as soon as papers are signed. He was anxious for any news of Sarah.

As he rounded the corner of the building on his horse, His horse reared up, almost trampling a woman in a cloak. The big war horse's hoof came down and struck her in the head knocking her out in the snow. Jareth got off his horse and calmed him down. He then went over to the unconscious woman and there were two little kittens in a pouch she had on that were crying in fear. Jareth did a spell to see her injuries. She had a head contusion and the skin ruptured bleeding profusely. Jareth made a crystal and tried to push it into her and it wouldn't let him. She had a magical block on her. He got up and grabbed a piece of cloth from his saddle bag and pressed it against her head firmly trying to stop the bleeding. He looked at her and she was a very beautiful lady with her dark blonde hair. Jareth wasn't that far from the manor and he made a compress for her head and wrapped it tightly around her. He gathered her kittens, putting them back in the fur lined pouch, held her in his arms and had picked up her bag of food and the box she must have been shopping for. He led his horse by the reins to the manor. The stable boy took his horse and Jareth went inside carrying the girl to his room. The housekeeper saw him and asked what she could do to help. Jareth said that his horse struck her and he needed a healer. The housekeeper ran off to get him. He laid the girl on the bed and checked her cut under the compress. It was still bleeding.

When the healer came, he was able to stop the bleeding with a potion he poured down her throat. It sealed the cut in her skin but there would be bruising. The kittens crawled up under her chin cuddling up to her. Jareth thought she was a caring woman to take care of two tiny kittens in the middle of winter. Sarah started to groan.

Sarah's head was killing her. She opened her eyes in slits to see Jareth sitting next to the bed in a chair. It shocked her. Then she remembered the horse striking her in the head . She thought of her kittens. Sarah felt them under her chin. She wondered if he knew it was her. Sarah gathered her kittens and sat up. She petted the kittens cuddling them. Jareth thought what a kind and gentle fae woman she was.

Sarah tried to speak in a light British accent. She said, "Where am I? What happened?"

Jareth said, "I am so sorry but my horse struck you when I came around the corner at the same time you did. It must have startled him and he reared up. I brought you to Lord Galvin's manor where I was staying and got the healer to help stop the bleeding and seal the cut in your forehead. He said you will have extensive bruising but it will fade eventually. Sarah's head was pounding.

Sarah said, "I must go. I have taken up enough of your time." She thought he could treat strange women better than he treated her.

Jareth said, "No you haven't, you can stay as long as you need."

Sarah asked, "What time is it?"

Jareth said, "It's about three in the afternoon."

Sarah said, "I have to go. I have to feed the kittens and reorganize my things." It was hard because all her body wanted to do was sleep.

Jareth said, "I have your bag of food over here and the fur purse you had your kits in. I will take you back to wherever you are staying?"

Sarah knew she had to play along. She asked, "Who are you?"

Jareth thought about it and said, "I am King Jareth. What's your name?"

Sarah said, "Haras." She hoped he wouldn't figure it out.

Jareth said, "I will take you back to you where you want to go. I injured you and it's the least I can do."

Sarah knew once he dropped her off at the inn she would have to do some night riding and use her transportation bracelet to get away. Jareth put Sarah up on the saddle and held her in his arms to take her to the inn. He thought how natural it felt holding her in his arms on his horse and how her scent was so appealing to him. When they got to the inn. He helped her down and kissed her hand.

Jareth said, "It was lovely to meet you Haras."

Sarah said in her accent, "Thank you, your majesty." She curtseyed. Sarah waved at him and made a bee line straight to her room. She started gathering everything up.

Jareth watched her walk into the inn and thought what a beautiful woman she was. He rode back to the manor thinking about the girl.

Sarah had everything packed up and ready and she got dressed in her black leather outfit. She took everything downstairs to Hunter and gave him the key to the room. She explained that something came up and she had to leave now instead of in the morning. She shook his hand and pressed ten gold in his hand and said, "Please Hunter, if anyone asks about me telling them you had no idea when I left but the room is empty tomorrow morning."

Hunter said, "Are you ok, Haras?"

Sarah said, "Everything is fine, thank you, sweet Hunter. I appreciate it." He smiled and nodded at her. Sarah turned and went to the stable, saddled her horse and packed him up. She rode off quickly out of town. She pressed the bracelet and said northeast. She found herself off the mountain and standing on a well traveled road. Sarah rode on to a town that was supposed to be two days away and was now one. Sarah made camp after a couple hours. There was a spot she found in deep woods before it got too dark by a three sided enclosed area under some pine trees that were high enough to make a fire underneath them without risk of fire. Sarah wished for a days worth of wood and kindling with enough stones to make an embankment around the fire. She set up her tent and started a fire so she could see better.

Sarah got the kittens setup as soon as she put the things in the tent. It was very very cold out and dark. Sarah made her wishes and sat by the fire and reorganized her food stuff. She ate a breakfast cake with a cup of tea. She wished for a bucket of clean water that never runs out, freezes or is dirty. She wished for a secured perimeter that nobody could come inside. Sarah went to bed with her kittens and five blankets.

—--

Jareth could get the girl off of his mind; she was so like his Sarah. He went to bed that night and laid there not thinking, trying to clear his mind. Suddenly he sat straight up in the bed and realized that Haras spells Sarah backwards. He also remembered Sarah saying she would look like someone else in any city and could stand next to him and he wouldn't know it was her. He bolted out of bed threw his clothes on and packed up his things. He was leaving to go see if Sarah was still at that inn.

When Jareth got there, the innkeeper said a man was renting one of the rooms that was named Haras. He took him up there and the room was empty. Jareth asked where he came from before he came here. The innkeeper said he didn't know. Jareth left trying to figure out what direction she would have gone in. There were so many coming off a mountain.

Jareth called his bounty hunters and found two in the area on the north face side of the mountain coming to Barróg from the southwest. He said to keep a lookout for a woman traveling as a man with long dark blonde hair or dark brown hair with blue or green eyes. He said she would have two kittens in a fur pouch and a black cowl hooded cloak traveling alone. He said she may have a bruise on her face. Jareth said if they capture her the only way is to instantly mute her and bind her hands at the same time. He told them there would be a bonus if they catch her tomorrow and call him immediately.

The bounty hunters stepped up their pace and kept watching diligently all night as they camped near the road to Barróg.

—--day 27

In the morning Sarah was in a cuddle with her babies curled into her sleeping hard. They were under the blanket and nestled into her neck. It was early but she was ready to move on to the next town. She scratched the ear of her lazy kittens waking them up. She looked in her mirror and her forehead and bridge of her nose was bruised from all the blood under the skin from being hit by that hoof. Sarah got up and left the kittens in the warm spot with the blankets around them. She put on her cloak and boots to go pee in the woods.

When she got back, she started a fire and put on water to boil. Sarah fed the kittens. After they went to the bathroom she put them in the pouch and packed up everything. They headed down the road to the town of Iontas.

Sarah was plodding along in the afternoon and saw two people headed her way as they passed they both cast a mute spell and binding spells on her. They grabbed her horse and yanked down her hood seeing she had long dark blonde hair.

The first bounty hunter in a gray cloak said, "I'll contact him." He pulled out the crystal and called Jareth. Sarah was panicking. Jareth appeared and gave them a large locked box of gold with a key. He took hold of his horse's reins, Sarah's horse's reins and Sarah to disappear with them. He appeared at the stables and made both of their bags disappear. The stable master took the horses after Jareth pulled Sarah kicking at him. He held her from behind so as not to hurt her kittens in the bag that were crying. Jareth vanished with her to reappear in her room from before with all her belongings in a pile there. He took off her cloak and put her pouch with her kittens on the bed. The Spooky and Smokey peeked out of the pouch. The whole time she glared at him. She wondered what he was going to do to her.

Jareth sat down in a chair by the bed and sighed. He said, "You have led me on a merry chase, Sarah. I must say your deception was clever. I am tired but not angry with you after nineteen days of trying to find you. I have come to realize you are never going to bend to my will. You will not live peacefully coexisting as my wife or lover like I first wanted. I have been foolish trying to bend you into something you obviously aren't." Sarah was waiting for him to drop the pretense.

Jareth looked at her glaring at him. He continued, "I do not know what to do with you. I have obviously damaged any kind of a relationship with you so far. I wanted to just have you as a human enamored with me after I had sex with you willingly or not. It is how my people have done it for centuries dealing with humans. When you changed into a fae, I thought I could still get you to bend to my will if you did not know how to use magic. Every time I underestimated you and you came out on top. I was prepared to punish you for everything, but I can see that is not the way to handle this situation. The only thing I can do that is left to me, is apologize for my actions and my thinking I could never try to change you. You appeared here unexpectedly when that fool Josh wished you away. I thought a gentle approach at first would disarm you from being afraid of me. By asking you to be my paramour after only one day, shows that my overwhelming response to having you near me. I am deeply attracted to you, Sarah. Even when you were a child, I still felt that pull towards you. It confused me. Not until I cleared my mind did it come clear that the clues were right in front of me. Sarah, I don't know what to do. I need you near me. I want to touch you like I'll go crazy if I don't. I waited so long to get you in my world. Now, I have handled everything wrong from the beginning. I need you to tell me what to do at this point because my ways have been wrong to get closer to you. Each time I do more damage." Sarah kittens started to cry.