Once Forgotten
A dark figure was lurking in the shadows in a familiar castle Sarah had once seen in her past. The light of the full moon cascaded into the darkness. The moonlight laid on the eyes of the stranger. The eyes were a light blue with a devilish look to them. A crystal ball was moving from side to side past the stranger’s face. Sarah noticed a hand in a black leather glove was moving this clear crystal ball. Then all of a sudden the small crystal ball exploded and shattered into tiny little pieces. They flew towards Sarah…
With a jerk, Sarah woke up from her nightmare. This dream has been haunting the poor girl for a few years now, but she doesn't have a clue why or how she thought of it. She knew for a fact that she had seen those devilish eyes before, but she didn’t know where. Sarah turned her head and looked at her clock that was glowing in the morning sun; it said 7:30 AM. Sarah climbed out of her warm, comfy bed and got ready to go to school.
Sarah is a bright and talented 18-year-old girl. She loved the art of drama. She loved it so much that she joined the Drama Club at her local high school. She had really long brown hair that reached her lower back and wonderful blue eyes that you can gaze into for hours on end.
The day was cold and blustery outside. It was just a typical November morning. Sarah pulled on her warm winter jacket and tied a scarf around her neck so she wouldn’t freeze to death, then she went out in the piercing cold wind.
Sarah walked by her lonesome self to school just bundled up, minding her own business. After walking for about 15 minutes she arrived at the school. She went to her locker, unbundled herself, grabbed her school supplies, and headed to her classes. While trying to focus on her work, her mind kept on drifting to her nightmare that occurred that night. Those eyes where burned into her mind and that crystal ball gliding back and forth also stung into her memory. Sarah distinctly remembered someone she met doing that years ago, like maybe two or three years. This dream was really bothering Sarah. It seemed like she had encountered this situation before, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
After daydreaming a while, her teacher snapped her back into reality with a dumb question. She apologized and continued with her work, then drifting back into her daydream.
At lunch Sarah hung around with her drama buddies, discussing the new play they’d soon be doing. There was going to be an audition for the parts. She was determined to get the role of the leading lady. She had the potential for the role, how couldn’t she get it?
Later after school Sarah went to the auditorium for auditions. A bundle of people where there; about ten girls, including Sarah, were trying for the role of the leading lady. This made her more determined to get the part. She waited a few hours till she got to audition. Sarah took the script and acted a part that the judges gave her to read. When she was done they told her that the people who got the parts would be posted up on the bulletin board by the main entrance next week. Sarah left the auditorium, went to her locker, grabbed her belongings, and started to walk home.
Sarah arrived home about 6:30 PM. Her father, stepmother, and four-year old baby brother were in the kitchen starting to eat dinner. She threw her bag and coat on the couch and sat at the kitchen table. She quietly dished out her food and sat there. Her parents were having a little conversation of how their day went. Sarah wasn’t paying any attention to them; she basically tuned them out. She was using her fork to play and rearrange her food. She was still figuring out her dream. She couldn’t shake it off her mind. Suddenly her father interrupted her thoughts.
“Are you all right, Sarah?”
Sarah lied with a shrug of her shoulders, “Oh yeah, sure Dad. I’m just a little bit tired, that’s all.”
Sarah’s father suggested, “Well, maybe you should go to bed. You have been working very hard lately with schoolwork and all.”
Sarah nodded her head, pushed her plate away, and started up to her bedroom.
When she got up there, she plopped onto her canopy bed. Her one wall was like a house where she could keep her teddy bears in; but one teddy wasn’t there, Lancelot. He was with Toby, Sarah’s four-year old brother. Her room was full of fairy tale stories, little figurines of characters in book and movies, and some pictures of her in her plays she did. Sarah’s dresser mirror had pictures of her deceased mother around it, but lying on her dresser top was her book The Labyrinth. She had once played the girl in the play in her first year in high school. Sarah picked up the book, sat on her bed, and rehearsed a line from it.
“Through dangers untold and hardships are unnumbered. I have fought my way here to the castle, beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child you have stole from me. My will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great,” she paused for a moment, trying to remember the next line, “you have no power over me.”
After she finished, a mental picture of a man appeared in her mind. He had long blond hair, a little feathery on the top of his head. The man wore a white shirt that ruffled at the front, a black leather jacket with a high collar, black leather gloves that covered his hands, his pants were tight with a blue-blue tinge; he also wore black leather boots that almost reached his knees. Dangling from his neck was a chain with a horned amulet hanging on it, and his eyes were the same thing in her dream. They almost looked like he was deep in thought or he was focused on something. Sarah had met this stranger before, maybe in a play she did. Either way, this imaged is burnt into her memory. Now this was also bothering her. That’s all she needs is to have a brain overload because she was thinking about her dreams/stranger that she must have met before.
Sarah decided to retire for the night. She changed into her pyjamas, slipped into her covers, and fell into a deep slumber.
The room was pitch black, only the moonlight slipped into the medieval like castle through the glassless window. Sarah walked towards the window and looked out of it. She could see houses that were lit up from the inside, the moon was full and bright, and the stars looked like bright, silvery diamonds in the sky.
A deep voice from behind startled Sarah, “Hello, Sarah.”
His tone of voice sounded like they have met before. Sarah quickly turned around and saw the stranger hiding in the dark corner of the room. Only the moonlight showed his mouth and chin. She noticed he was wearing all black so it’ll be harder to see him.
The man spoke up again, “What? No ‘hello’?”
Sarah’s voice quivered, “Who-who are you?”
The man seemed surprised, “Don’t you remember me, Sarah?”
He was about to step out into the moonlight, then Sarah woke up.
Her alarm clock was beeping. Sarah drowsily got out of bed and turned off her clock. She sleepily walked to her dresser, sat in her chair, picked up her brush, and started to brush her long hair. Sarah stared into her mirror, wondering who that strange man, who seem to know her, that was in her dream she just awoke from.
At school her mind wandered off again. When she was supposed to be working, instead she was sketching of what she had seen of the man. After she was done sketching Sarah studied the drawing very carefully. It reminded her of the man she must have met that she got a vivid picture of, but didn’t know who he was. All afternoon she studied this drawing. Suddenly, the name of the man struck her; Jareth.
Later that night, Sarah was tossing and turning in bed. When she was about to fall asleep, something was tapping on the window in her bedroom. At first she was reluctant to get out of bed and see what it was, but she managed to drag herself out of bed. Sarah peered out the window and all she saw was the tree. Then all of a sudden, a white owl flew into the window. Sarah fell to the floor with a shriek. Then the window burst open and the owl flew in. The small snowy white owl transformed into the man that was in Sarah’s dream. He just stood there, leaning against the window seal. The man wore the exact same thing of how Sarah pictured him.
He stood there with his enchanted Cheshire cat smile and his profound eyes and then he spoke, “Hello again, Sarah. It’s been a while.”
Sarah laid there, dumbfounded and whispered to herself, “Jareth, the Goblin King,” she looked away from him and stared at the floor. Sarah searched through her memory and she found some tid-bit, of how they met before. Her mind back flashed.
She wished, as she thought the whole story was fictional, that the Goblin King would take away her little brother; who was only one or two years old at the time. He came in as an owl and his goblin minions took her baby brother. Sarah pleaded to get her little brother, but Jareth said she had to go through his labyrinth kingdom; she only had 13 hours to get him back or Toby would become a goblin. Through her journey she made friends from this place; Hoggle (a short, old man), Sir Didymus (a little fox like man who had a sheep dog as a horse), and Ludo (a big hairy beast that kind of looks like Big Foot with horns and he can call rocks and they came to him). Sarah had to go through the never ending lane, then the maze that shifted/changed, Oubliette, the talking rocks that tried to scare her away, went through the door with talking door knockers that led into a forest with Fireys (fuzzy red creatures that detach their limbs), through The Bog of Eternal Stench, in the Goblin City they had to fight the Goblin Army, and the castle. Inside the castle the whole place was rearranged. Stairs and doors were in every position. But with Sarah and gravity, she couldn’t go on all of the stairs to get her baby brother, but Jareth gave Toby powers so he could climb through out the Labyrinth with out worrying about gravity. She defeated Jareth by saying, “Through dangers untold and hardships are unnumbered…”
After reminiscing she asked Jareth, “Why are you here?”
Jareth walked towards Sarah, answering her question; “I came back to get what is righteously mine.”
Sarah was rather confused at this moment, “What do you mean ‘what righteously’ yours?”
He was standing right in front of her, staring right at Sarah. She moved back against the wall, trying not to get to close to Jareth. He slowly moved forward, a step at a time, “What I mean is, I’m taking you back with me to my castle.”
Sarah stood up and glared at the Goblin King and she raised her voice, “I will not go with you!”
A crystal ball appeared in his right hand. Jareth moved the ball from hand to hand. He looked down at Sara, with a grin on his face he, told her, “I’m sure you’ll see my way.”
Jareth then threw the crystal ball at Sarah and it exploded into tiny dust particles above her head. Sarah’s eyes began to feel heavy and she started to feel weak. Just soon after, she fainted into his arms. He picked her up and they vanished.
Sarah woke up with a start. She sat up and noticed she wasn’t at home anymore in her comfy bed. She didn’t dream about meeting Jareth; he must have taken her to his castle beyond the Goblin City when she fainted because of that dust. Sarah looked around, she noticed the room was all made from stone. On the floor had throne rugs and torches where on the wall to help light up the room. The sun seeped through the window that was in her room. It had no glass panes. The roof was fairly high and it had a rounded peak, like this was the tower of the castle. Across from the window that faced the Goblin City was a door that seemed like a was from the time of the Round Table.
Sarah slipped out of her four-post bed and walked to the door. She opened the creaky door and popped her head out. When she stepped outside she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Sarah quickly ran back into her room and shut the door. She rushed to the window, pretending she’s been looking outside the whole time she was up. Someone knocked on the door and came in. Sarah turned around and saw a servant with a pile of clothes that looks familiar to her. The servant told Sarah, “The master told me to give these to you,” she laid the clothes on the bed, “and you have to go down to the dinning room for breakfast.
Sarah turned around and faced the servant, “Thank you,” then she walked to her bed and examined her clothes, “where’s the dinning room?”
With a smile the servant replied, “Just go down the hall, turn right, and go down the stairs,” the lady took Sarah’s hand and took her outside the room to point which way, “when you go down the last flight of stairs walk ahead till there is a room on the right hand side. It has a long table and it’s huge!”
Sarah flashed a smile at the little servant, who was only half her size, and thanked her, “Thank you very much, Miss.”
The servant was still smiling; she nodded her head, and left Sarah. Sarah went back inside her room and got dressed. Her shirt was a nice white blouse with a vest attached to it; she had some blue jeans, and some leather shoes. Sarah studied herself in the Nabisco floor mirror. This was the same outfit she wore when she first arrived in the Labyrinth. But she thought she threw the clothes away.
Sarah left her room and followed the directions from the servant. Wall torches and throne rugs filled hallways. The stairs were made out of a tan color stone.
When Sarah arrived at the dinning room all of the food was set out on a semi-long table. There were pancakes, waffles, bacon, and all sorts of eggs, hash browns, and what ever you can imagine. There were several high back chairs and candles lit the table. Sarah awed at the whole room. It was enchanted and exquisite. The room was really bright with sunlight that came from the stain glass windows all around the room. And on the ceiling had a chandelier made from real diamonds.
At the other end of the room Jareth came through a door and took a seat at the enormous table, “Good morning, Sarah. Have a pleasant sleep?”
Sarah glared at Jareth who was sitting at the other end of the table, “Why am I here?”
Jareth smiled, “I said I was going to take what righteously mine. So I brought you here.”
Sarah walked towards Jareth, “ I don’t understand. How come, somehow, I’m all of a sudden your ‘property’?”
Jareth told Sarah, “You owe me. You wouldn’t became so famous in your acting if it wasn’t because of me.”
She asked, “How did you help me?”
Jareth added, “I’ve been with you ever since we last met face to face. With my powers I helped you to be creative and successful. You been wanting to be famous actress, so I just guided you through your journey,” he shifted in his chair, “I’d said before that I would come back for you.”
Sarah was stupefied; she didn’t know what to say. She just stared at Jareth, she didn’t/wouldn’t believe what he just said. Sarah’s heart felt a sharp pain of disappoint and disgust. Tears swelled up in Sarah’s eyes. She felt very hurt that it wasn’t herself who made she to be what she is today, it was Jareth who made her that. She darted out of the room and to the big wooden doors that led outside. Sarah pushed the doors open ran into the garden outside.
She stopped running when she got to a little grassy patch with a little stream. She found a rather large rock and sat on it. Sarah collapsed her hands over her face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her eyes were swollen and red. When she was hunched over she felt something crawling up her leg. She looked down and saw a beady eyed, blue fuzzy little worm. It had a little red scarf around its so-called neck.
The little blue inchworm started to talk, “'Allo.”
This was so deja vue to Sarah. She finally spoke up, “Hello. Have we met before?”
The worm thought to himself for a moment, then his eyes lit up, “Oh yes, yes we have. I met you when you were going down that lane last time. I showed you there was a little passageway that seemed invisible to you.”
Sarah soaked all that in, “Oh yes I remember. How come your way over here?”
The tiny worm crawled up into the palm of her had, “Well, it was getting rather boring over there, so the misses and I moved over here,” he pointed his tail end to where he lived, “we live over at the old tree log over there.”
Sarah looked up to see where he lived.
He added, “Would you like to come and meet the misses?”
Sarah hesitated, “No, I better not. I’m going to explore the kingdom. Maybe another time, ok?”
The blue worm nodded his little head, “Alright then. Umm… do you mind to take me over to my house?”
Sarah nodded her head and cupped the worm in her hands. She walked over to the log and sat him in front of it.
He thanked her, “Thank you very much, Milady.”
Sarah acknowledged the gesture and headed out into the city.
Word got around that Sarah came back; everyone was very curious. When they saw her in the streets they stopped and stared at her, wondering why she was there?
Sarah was exploring the old city. Many houses where made from adobe, straw, wood, etc. The whole place struck her memory. She remembered where she was fleeing into the city when the goblin army was trying to stop Sarah from getting to the castle. Ludo, Sir Didymus, Hoggle, and Sarah finally made it to the castle with the help of Ludo. He howled for the rocks and a rockslide came. They rolled into cannons, ran over troops, and did whatever to stop the army from getting Sarah to the castle, where Jareth had Toby.
When she was strolling along she was interrupted in her daydream when Sarah ran into a little old man.
The little man raised his voice, “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”
When Sarah looked down on him, he had a collection of jewels attached to his belt. The man wore a little cap to cover his head of white hair, a white baggy shirt with a brown leather vest over it, and brown trousers.
Sarah spoke in a whisper, “Hoggle.”
Hoggle replied, “Yes that’s me. What do you want?”
Sarah jumped back into reality, “I’m sorry, Hoggle,” she paused because she didn’t know if she should ask, “do you remember me?”
Hoggle studied Sarah very carefully, then his eyes lit up like the worms did, “Oh my gosh! Is it really my dear Sarah?”
Sarah laughed, “Yes it’s really me!”
Hoggle questioned, “How come you’re here?”
Sarah’s face fell grim, “I’m not sure, Hoggle. You see, Jareth brought me back because I’m ‘righteously’ his. But I don’t see how I’m all the sudden his property,” she took a breath, “I don’t even know how long I’m going to be here.”
Hoggle didn’t say a word, but he knew in his heart he felt sorry for her but happy he got to see her once again.
Sarah changed the subject, “So…how have you’ve been? Have you talked to the others lately? How and where are they?”
Hoggle replied, “Hold on! A question at a time! Well, I have been fairly healthy lately. A couple of months ago I finished my sentence in the Bog of Eternal Stench.” Hoggle continued answering Sarah’s questions, “After you left, Ludo and Didymus fled to the mountains to escape from Jareth’s grasp. I get a carrier pigeon from then once in a while, so I know they’re doing fine.”
Sarah apologized, “Sorry I got you into any trouble, Hoggle. I know how much you despise the Bog of Eternal Stench and all but-”
He interrupted her, “Don’t worry about it! I knew my consequences when I helped you. So I pushed it aside and helped you because you’re my friend.”
Sarah smiled, “Thank you. I really need a friend like you now at this point.”
Sarah took Hoggle’s wrist and saw he still had the bracelet she gave to him years ago. She couldn’t believe he still had it, Sarah though it would have been broken since it’s only plastic beads and elastic.
Sarah was astonished, “You still have the bracelet!”
Hoggle looked at his wrist, “Oh yes. I kept it in very good hands. It’s a lovely memoir.”
The whole day Sarah wandered around with Hoggle. She tried not to ask him if she knew how to leave this place because at the back of her mind she knew Jareth was watching her through his crystal ball like a hawk. Sarah knew if Hoggle knew and he would tell her and Jareth would so something horrific to her friend.
The sun was setting behind the castle when Hoggle went home. He promised Sarah that he’ll take her to Ludo and Sir Didymus sometime soon and maybe they could get her out of this place she does not belong in. Now Sarah stood in the street all alone. She started to walk back to the castle when Jareth appeared leaning against a wall.
Jareth greeted Sarah, “Hello, Sarah. Did you have a good day here in my kingdom?”
Sarah spoke smugly, “Yes I did. I met an old friend.”
Jareth inquired, “Oh yes, Hoggle wasn’t it? I remember the old geezer now. He helped you find your way to the centre of the Labyrinth, along with the other two.”
Sarah quickly walked passed him, “Yeah. And I’ll get out of here again with their help.”
Jareth appeared right in front of her, “I highly doubt it.”
Sarah questioned, “Why do you doubt me?”
He replied, “Because I have something that’s yours and you’ll never want to leave?”
Sarah asked in confusion, “What do you have that’s mine?”
The town changed into the centre part of the castle where Toby was when he was taken. The room was circular and at the back there was Jareth’s throne. In the centre of the room it was sunken in. The room was made of dark stone blocks. Sarah stood in the centre of the room and Jareth was by his throne, facing her.
Jareth replied, “This is yours.” he moved to the side and a small girl with long dirty blond hair that laid down so nicely and blue eyes that were like the ocean. She had on a long white dress with tiny white dress shoes on.
Jareth added, “This is our daughter, Aelise.”
Sarah stared at the little girl in shock and disbelief of what he had just said, “How is she ours?”
Jareth crouched behind Aelise and laid his hand on her shoulders, “Aelise, could you please go up to your room so your mother and I could talk,” she looked over at Sarah then back to Jareth, “I’ll explain later sweetheart.”
Aelise nodded her head and then literally, disappeared.
Sarah asked again, “How is she ours?”
Jareth strolled over to Sarah, “Well, when you were about 14 and gave birth to this little girl, I took her and cased a spell on everyone who knew about her so they would forget. You see I watched you all your life, sort of like a guardian angel, you could say.”
Sarah collapsed and fell on to the hard stone floor. She sat there kneeling. She could feel the tears burning her eyes to come out, but Sarah held them back, and her color was fleeing from her face.
Sarah spoke in a quivering voices, “Wh-why would you do s-such a thing?”
Jareth knelt in front of Sarah and lifted her chin up with the tips of his forefinger and middle fingers so she could look at him in the eyes. He spoke so gentle and pure to her, “Because you were way too young. You wished someone could take the child away. I heard your plea and granted your wish,” Jareth paused, “if you still had Aelise you couldn’t have reach your goals and live your life as a child. So I took her under my wing.”
Sarah couldn’t hold in her tears any longer, so she just let them go. Jareth helped Sarah in his comforting arms that covered her with his black cape. She laid her head against his broad chest and wept. Sarah couldn’t believe what he just told her. Inside her heart, she was crying for sorrow and happiness. The happiness what that she had a daughter, her own flesh and blood; and the sorrow for that she never knew of her dear Aelise, even when she first came to the Labyrinth.
She forced herself to speak through her sobs, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jareth held Sarah and whispered, “You weren’t mentally or physically ready. If I told you when we first met, you wouldn’t have believed me. You would of thought I was tricking you from getting Toby; who was a good playmate for Aelise.”
She pulled away, turned her head, and wiped away her tear stained cheeks. She turned her head to look at Jareth and asked, “Tell me about Aelise.”
Jareth stood up and reached out his hand as a gesture to help Sarah up. She grabbed his hand and stood up, of course, with his help. He held Sarah’s hand and pulled her along as he walked out of the room.
After he was done searching for words he told Sarah about their daughter, “Aelise is now four years old. She sometimes seems she’s six though. Aelise is very mature for her age, just like you were.”
He smiled and then continued, “I’m teaching her how to control the gifts she has; telekinesis, telepathy, and many other thing. Aelise sort of inherited these by living with me all the years together and having nothing to keep her from using her brain that many cannot do. She can also do many of the things I can. She’s very bright and creative. Aelise is currently learning her school work such as mathematics, reading, writing, and science.”
Jareth peered over to Sarah and smiled, “She’s so much like you.”
Sarah blushed at the gesture.
Soon after they were upstairs in front of a wooden door.
Jareth looked at Sarah and spoke, “This is her room. We should tell her everything so you and Aelise can get aquatinted.”
Sarah nodded her head and took a deep breath of courage before they entered Aelise’s room.
Aelise was staring out her window, holding onto a doll when they walked into the room. She turned to look at them. She hopped off her chair and ran towards Jareth, giving him a hug with a squealed, “Daddy!”
Jareth smiled and embraced the little girl in his open arms, “hello sweetie,” he detached himself from her and then continued, “Daddy has to tell my sweet little girl something.”
Aelise nodded her head and asked, “What is it, Daddy? Please do tell me!”
Jareth grinned at the girl while pulling Sarah to his side, trying to find the right words and the right way to tell her, “Aelise, this lady beside me is your mother.”
Aelise asked, “Is she really my mommy? She looks way prettier than in the crystal balls you showed, Daddy.”
Jareth laughed, “Yes this is really your mother.”
Aelise grabbed Sarah’s hand then hugged her, “She’s more wonderful and beautiful that I ever imagined!”
Sarah felt her face redden. She was very happy that her daughter took this really well.
Jareth interrupted, “Well, Aelise. I have to do some things before supper, so I’ll just leave you and your mother to chat,” he kissed the child’s forehead, “see you at supper.”
Aelise dragged Sarah to her bed when Jareth left the room. The little girl showed her mother her special gifts. Aelise moved the water pitcher to the windowsill, spoke to Sarah with her mind, ESP, and she disappeared and moved to another spot. Sarah was astonished! She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her four-year-old daughter could do so many things.
Sarah and Aelise walked hand in hand down to the dining room. The chandelier was glowing bright, along with the candles on the table. This time the table seemed a little smaller than at breakfast time, it was at least half its size! Aelise sat Sarah across from Jareth while she sat in the middle. Again the table was full of food that could feed the whole Goblin City! There was roast beef to ham potatoes to yams, peas to corn on a cob, everything was there, including pizza! Even with all of this delicious food, Sarah couldn’t get the urge to eat something. With all that has happen knowing about her daughter and being back here, was just stressful!
Aelise asked, “Mommy, how come you aren’t eating?”
Sarah sighed, “I’m sorry. I’m just not hungry.”
Aelise understood what Sarah meant and she continued to eat her dinner.
Sarah pushed her plate back, “I have a headache so I’ll just go up to my room and rest; it’s been a busy day.”
Jareth nodded his head and then she went up to her bedroom.
By the time she reached her floor, Sarah was out of breath. She figured Jareth should really put in some elevators or escalators in the castle. She staggered into her room and fell on her bed in relief. Sarah sat up in her bed and stared out her window. The moon was full and bright. It lit up the whole kingdom in a pale blue light. You can see every house and the people walking about. The sky was clear, the stars were illuminating along with the moon. The site was so beautiful that it was breath taking. Sarah pulled herself out of bed and sat on the windowsill to gaze out at the wonderful site. It was so peaceful and relaxing. The warm breeze blew gently on her face. It carried the smell of pine and wood burning from the houses below; it was a rather a natural smell. For just a moment she didn’t long for her home. This started to make her wonder if Sarah should really leave Aelise with Jareth and have no contact with her. Sarah didn’t want to abandon her only daughter like some parents did where she came from; she just wanted to be an influence and help raise her.
Sarah made a list of pros and cons of staying here. With her pros she came up with that she’ll be with her daughter and help raise her with Jareth, it’ll be a new and different experience of a lifetime, see Aelise grow up into a lovely young lady, and she could see her old friends again. Sarah’s cons were that she’d miss her friends, family, acting, and the world she grew up in. This was a really tough decision for Sarah, the toughest one she will ever have to do. She knew Jareth would send her back and wouldn’t have to do anything with him again since he loved her, but abandoning Aelise and go on with her life would break her and the little girl’s heart. She was so happy and joyful that she got her meet her mother for the first time ever! A pile of questions rushed through Sarah’s mind: Who’ll make sure there are no monsters under her bed? Who’ll walk her through the steps of life? What would she be like without a mother?
A knock on the door broke Sarah’s train of thought. Sarah yelled for the person to come in. Sarah looked to see who it was and there standing in the doorway was Aelise.
Aelise whispered, “Goodnight, Mommy. Umm…could you please come and tuck me in with Daddy?”
Sarah answered with a smile, “Sure I will!”
Sarah met Aelise at the doorway and she took the girl’s tiny hand. They walked up a flight of stairs and to Aelise’s room. They went inside and Aelise jumped into bed. Sarah looked around and didn’t see Jareth anywhere, so Sarah waited a second wondering where he was.
Aelise answered Sarah’s question by reading her mind, “He said he’ll be here in a couple of minutes. Daddy is still working on some things.”
Sarah nodded her head and went to tuck Aelise into her canopy bed. When she was finished Sarah sat at the end of the bed and stared at the little girl, tucked her in the nice warm bed. Suddenly a shadow covered a portion of Aelise’s face and then Sarah turned her head to see whom it is was. Jareth was standing right behind her.
Aelise shrieked with joy, “Daddy! You made it!”
Jareth laughed, “Of course I did. I wouldn’t miss tucking in my sweet little angel, now would I?” he studied Aelise in bed and then he smiled. “But it looks like I was beat to it,”
Aelise giggled, “Yeah, Mommy beat you!”
Jareth asked, “Did she sing you a lullaby yet?”
Aelise shook her head.
Jareth sat at the other side of Sarah. He cleared his throat and then he started to sing a song. The tune caught Sarah’s ear. It was very familiar to her. It reminded her of a masquerade ball. She could see a young girl in a lovely white dress with bead and lace dancing with a young man in a dark color suit, his cape had a high collar, and he wore a nice white dress shirt under it. It hit her; she was the girl who was dancing with Jareth. This happened when Sarah ate that peach with the poison that made her forgets things, and then she was at the ball.
Jareth sang, a lullaby to Aelise.
Soon after she realized the song she started to hum to it. Sarah saw Aelise’s eyes grow heavier like there were weights pulling them down, but with all her might she tried to keep them open. A few moments singing she fell asleep. Both, at separate times, kissed Aelise on the forehead. Then they quietly left the room without disturbing the girl who was in a world of dreams.
Once they were far enough to speak, Jareth thanked Sarah, “Thanks for being there when I was late.”
Sarah added, “Well…you shouldn’t thank me. Aelise came and got me.”
Jareth laughed! Then he took Sarah’s arm in his and escorted her to the room on the next level below.
They arrived at her door in silence. Jareth unhooked their arms and then he placed her hand in his. He lifted it up to his lips and then caressed it, “Good night, Sarah. Have a restful sleep.”
Sarah felt her face turn a light pink, “Good night to you too, Jareth.”
She slipped her hand away and stepped into her room. Sarah laid in her bed for several hours with her heart beating rapidly. She just couldn’t sleep, so she decided to get out of bed and just watch the morning sunrise. This gave her a lot of time to think over many things. She was just about at the point to make up her mind if she’s going to stay. Sarah was leaning towards to stay at the castle with Aelise and Jareth. She had nothing really happening at home; her stepmother was a total witch, she never did anything with her family, life stunk there, and she could always visit them if she wanted to. She would feel more relaxed here, than feeling like walking on eggshells at her home. Staying at the castle seemed more appealing with every minute that went by.
At 6:00 AM, the sun just started to peak out. The sky and clouds were many shades of pinks, purples, and blues. The starts and moon were fading away like birds flying off into the distance. Little by little, the sun touched the city below. The city people were coming out of their houses and starting their daily routines like feeding the animals, opening up their market store, cleaning up their houses, and such.
Sarah detached herself from the window and got dressed. She quietly went down the flight of stairs and outside in the garden where the blue fuzzy inchworm and his misses lived in an old log. On top of the log there was the inchworm.
Sarah spoke up, “Hello, sir.”
He looked up at Sarah, “Good morning, Milady. And how are you on this fine morning?”
She sat on the soft, green grass beside the log, “I’m pretty good. How are you and the misses doing?”
The worm replied, “Oh, the misses and I are rather healthy, thank you. Did you come to have a pleasant cup of morning tea with us?”
Sarah spoke, “I just wanted to visit, if it’s not any inconvenience?”
He gave her a nice, warm smile, “Alright. I’ll just call the misses,” he crawled to the door hollered for his wife, “Susie, come out and meet my old friend!”
A little purple fuzzy inchworm with an apron on, crawled out the door and up by the blue worm.
The blue worm introduced Sarah to his misses, “Susie, this is my friend, Sarah. She came to the castle a while ago to retrieve her baby brother.”
The purple worm smiled, “How do you do, Sara. So you and Fredrick met before.”
Sarah agreed, “Yes, he was an enormous help. If he never told me about the invisible passage ways, I would have never got out of that lane and rescued my stepbrother.”
Susie asked, “Would you like a nice cup of tea?”
Sarah replied, “Yes please, if it wouldn’t be any bother to you.”
Susie insisted, “No, it’s no trouble at all. I’ll be back with your tea.” She added, “Do you take anything in it?”
Sarah told her, “Just a little cream and sugar, please.”
Susie nodded her head and went inside to make the tea.
A few minutes later she came out with three tiny teacups. There probably had only a few drops of tea in them. Susie handed Sarah the tiny cup. She grabbed it with her forefinger and thumb.
For the next while they chatted about life, the weather, and finally the decision Sarah should make. The worms both agreed that Sarah should stay and look after Princess Aelise.
Fredrick added, “You know if you stay, you’ll be the queen on the Labyrinth, and also the wife of Jareth.”
Sarah sighed, “Yes I took that in consideration. Like I wouldn’t mind it at all; I just want to be with my Aelise.”
Sarah added, “Do you have the time?”
Fredrick looked up at the sun, “It’s about 11:30.”
Sarah gasped, “Oh my! They must be worried about me. I have to go. Thank you very much for everything!” and then she ran off.
She slammed open the doors in the entrance of the castle. Sarah was out of breath and doubled up. She made her way as fast as she could to the dinning hall, where Jareth and Aelise were eating.
Jareth looked up at Sarah, “Good morning, Sarah. Where were you hiding early this morning? I was going to take you and Aelise horseback riding into the country side.”
Sarah panted, “I…I was visiting…some friends…I couldn’t get to sleep so…I went outside at late dawn…and visited them.”
Suddenly the world started spinning and Sarah’s vision was growing darker. Her knees started to buckle so she grabbed the back of a chair.
Aelise asked, “Are you alright, Mommy?”
Sarah lied, “I’m just fine. I’m just out of breath.
Jareth knew something was wrong so he got out of his chair and made his way to Sarah.
Jareth demanded, “Aelise, go get someone to help your mother! AND HURRY!”
Aelise obeyed her father and rushed off to get someone.
Pretty soon Sarah started to get short of breath and her vision was getting worse. Her knees gave out and Sarah fell with a thud on the cold stone floor and fainted. She hit her head on the floor and her head started to bleed. Jareth rushed over to Sarah, knelt beside her, and cradled her in his arms. Jareth’s first reaction was to find a pulse on Sarah. He found a faint pulse in Sarah’s neck. He knew she didn’t have much time left. The tears in his eyes started to sting and they trickled down his smooth cheek.
Jareth whispered in her hear, “Please Sarah, hold on.”
He picked her up in his strong arms and started carrying Sarah to her room. Aelise ran into the room with the servant, who Sarah met the first day she arrived.
Jareth instructed, “Grandwella, go get her bed ready, have a cool rag with water by the bed, and have some soup and a glass of water ready too!”
Grandwella curtsied, “Yes Milord,” and then she hurried off,
Jareth continued to carry Sarah up to her bedroom, with Aelise following right behind him. When they got in her room, Jareth gently laid Sarah in her bed. Everything was all ready and on her nightstands. He took the rag and padded it on her forehead.
Aelise asked her father in a worried voice, “What’s wrong with Mommy?”
Jareth continued to take care of Sarah, “You mother is suffering from malnutrition. She’ll be ok once she’ll get some food in her stomach.”
Aelise asked again, “What is malnutrition?”
Jareth grabbed Aelise and sat her on his lap, “It’s when you don’t eat or drink enough for a period of time and then you get sick.”
Jareth didn’t want to add that Sarah could also die from it because he didn’t want to make Aelise even more worried. He knew if he didn’t get anything into Sarah, they could lose her.
Before Aelise left she leaned over and gave Sarah a kiss on the cheek and ran out the bedroom. Jareth held out his hand and a crystal ball appeared. The ball turned into an IV, it was even attached to Sarah. He continued pad Sarah’s head with the cool cloth.
Jareth sat there for hours taking care of Sarah. Aelise and some servants would pop in and out seeing how Sarah was doing; but she was still out cold. The sun had fallen and the stars and moon have came out. Jareth fell asleep on the chair, holding on to Sarah’s hand. Her grip started to tighten around his hand, this awoke Jareth with a start. He looked down at Sara and she was looking right at him.
Sarah asked with a weak smile, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
Jareth cleared his throat, “Well, I couldn’t leave you alone. You needed a constant watch.”
Sarah laughed, “Was I that bad?”
Jareth spoke in a whisper, “It was bad enough that we almost lost you.”
Sarah sat up, “Oh. Now I feel bad for my stupidity for not eating at all.”
Jareth added, “And drinking,” he stood up, “I better get you something to eat.”
Sarah tried to persuade him not to, “You don’t have to. I can eat tomorrow.”
Jareth opened the door, “And let you get sick again. I don’t think so. I’ll be right back.”
Once he left, Sarah got out of bed, took out the IV needle from her hand, and gazed out the window. Clouds fill the northern side of the sky. The night sky was dark and there were no lights down in the city. Smoke lingered in the air from the little houses.
Sarah thought to herself, “I’m going to find Hoggle tomorrow and he’s going to take me to Ludo and Sir Didymus.”
The door opened with a creak, and there was Jareth carrying a tray with soup and a glass of milk.
Jareth stated, “Shouldn’t you be in bed resting?”
Sarah started to fidget, “I couldn’t stand staying in that bed. I’m feeling stiff and sore, so I thought I would look out on the city.”
Jareth looked at Sarah’s hand, “I see you took out the IV.”
Sarah insisted, “I figured I didn’t need it anymore so I took it out.”
He placed the tray on the desk, “Well I’ll let you go to bed now. I need to catch up on my sleep.”
Sarah called for him before he left, “Jareth!”
He looked back at her, “Yes?”
Sarah wanted to ask if she should stay but then chickened out, “Thanks.”
Jareth sensed she had something to say but he didn’t pry, “You’re welcome, Sarah. Good night,” then he left the room.
Sarah sat in her desk, slowly eating her food. She wanted to ask so many things of Jareth, but she didn’t know when it would be an appropriate time or if she should even ask. Sarah couldn’t eat any more so she left her scraps and headed for bed.
The next morning, Aelise was jumping on her mother’s bed wake Sarah up.
Aelise greeted excitedly, “Morning, Mommy! Hurry and eat! We’re all going horseback riding! So hurry!”
Sarah wiped the sleep from her eyes and spoke groggily, “What time is it?”
Aelise replied, “It’s 6:30! Hurry, get up!”
Sarah sighed when Aelise pulled her out of her bed.
Sarah assured Aelise, “You go down there and eat. I’ll be down in a bit”
Aelise agreed and hurried down stairs.
Sarah got dressed into some jeans and a light shirt. She put on some hiking boots and rushed down stairs.
She sat down on her chair at the table and dished up on some toast and jam, eggs, and bacon.
Jareth inquired, “I take it your appetite is back to tip-top shape. So for sure you’ll be able to ride.”
Sarah swallowed her food that was in her mouth, “Oh yeah. I feel better than ever.”
Jareth laughed, “Good. You’re going to need all your strength you have. We’re going to ride through the valley behind the castle and up to the mountains.”
Aelise added, “It’s going to be so fun!”
Sarah finished her food and they went off to the stables.
When they stepped into the stabled, Sarah got a rush of the smell of horses and straw. Inside was all made of wood. There were many horses that had their own spacious stall; they even had their names on the stall door. The place must have been at least 500 meters long. Sarah followed Jareth and Aelise down the lane that and by many kinds of horses that were every size, color, and shape. Jareth stopped by a stall with the name “Vapour” written on it.
Jareth told Sarah, “This is your horse, Sarah.”
She looked into the stable and there was a beautiful black appaloosa with white speckles all over its back end, a white sock on its front left leg, and the tip of it’s tail had a little white on it, so it looked like it dipped its tail in white paint. And to add, it was all saddled up.
Sarah was shocked because of its beauty and then gasped, “It’s a magnificent horse!”
Jareth added, “Well he is the best horse of the land; strong, well mannered, and it’s coloring is like no other.”
Sarah started to stroke the horse’s neck, “Oh I love him!”
Jareth replied, “I thought you would.”
Jareth opened up the gate and brought the horse out. Sarah grabbed its reins.
He asked, “Could you take Vapour out where we came in? We’ll be there in a bit.”
Sarah led Vapour outside to nibble the grass. Jareth appeared with his chestnut colored Arabian that had a little white star on its forehead. Then Aelise followed with a buckskin palomino that had one sock on it right, back leg.
Sarah asked, “Oh aren’t they lovely! What are their names?”
Aelise started, “My horse’s name is Pandora. She’s very sweet.”
Jareth added, “This is Aeries. I figured it was a very strong name for him.”
Sarah soaked in the names, “I think each name suite them fine. They’re very cool!”
Jareth helped Aelise up on her horse, Pandora, and then he went over to help Sarah up.
Sarah confessed, “I’ve never ridden a horse before.”
Aelise comforted her worried mother, “Don’t worry, Mommy. It’s easy.”
Jareth jumped up onto Aeries, “Just put your feet in the stirrups, kick his side to go, move the reigns the way you want to turn, and give them a little tug to stop or slow down.”
Sarah tried to remember all of the information. When Jareth and Aelise started on their way, Sarah gave Vapour a little kick on his ribs and he started to follow. The three rode out through the back of the castle and in a small luscious valley full of grass and animals. There was a little stream that made its way from the mountains and to the city. It was a wonderful day; there were no clouds in the sky, it was warm with a tiny cool breeze, and the sun was shinning brightly. They rode side by side through the small mountain valley, with Aelise in the middle and Sarah and Jareth on the outsides. On Jareth’s horse, it packs a bag full of snack items like water and some sandwiches, just in case they get hungry on their day journey.
When the sun was high in the sky and it was getting hotter, they arrived at the foot of the mountains. Everything was shady and a little cooler from the pine trees. There was a broken path leading up the mountain.
Jareth broke the ice, “We’re going to go to Aelise’s and my favourite spot.”
Aelise smiled with excitement, “YAY! You’re going to love it, Mommy. It had a lovely view of the castle and the valley.”
Sarah laughed, “It sounds very lovely.”
Jareth interrupted, “It’ll be a white till we get there…about the time when the sun starts to set.”
Sarah groaned, “I take it it’ll be a while. Maybe we should have a rest before we go on any further.”
Jareth turned around looking at Sarah, who was itching to get off, “Ok, we’ll rest for a few minutes.”
Sarah sighed with relief when she slid off Vapour. She sat on a rotten log and stretched out her legs. Jareth tossed Sarah the canteen of water. She quickly drank some water. From the corner of her eye she saw a little foxy thing run by. She jerked her head to see if she could catch another glimpse, but it saw nothing. Sarah figured it was her imagination playing with her.
They climbed back on to their horses and continued on their journey to Jareth’s and Aelise’s favourite spot. Sarah kept on thinking about that figure she saw when she was drinking the water. She hoped it was Sir Didymus, but she doubt it since Jareth was with her. Oh how she longed to see her friends again. She already saw Hoggle and Fredrick, but all she needed to see was the other two. And maybe they’ll help her make the decision to stay or go back home.
Finally near dusk, they made it to the spot. Jareth covered Sarah’s eyes before she got to see it. Aelise led her by hand and Jareth still had his hands over Sarah’s eyes. When he removed his hands she saw a breath taking view. She was on a rocky ledge over looking the valley and the castle. The sun was just starting to set so the sky was in many pastel colors. A part of the valley was covered in the shadow of the mountain and the castle stood out by the light hitting it. And in the valley you could see the stream winding through it.
Sarah gasped, “Oh my gosh! This is beautiful!”
Jareth inquired, “I take it you like it.”
Sarah corrected him, “Like it? I love it!”
All of them sat together around a fire and talked about many things and eating the food Jareth packed. The sun had set and everything was dark. The only thing that lit up the surroundings was the fire that the three were sitting around. Jareth decided to stay the night since it was too dark to go back to the castle. With a few of his crystal balls they had some sleeping bags to sleep in for the night. All of them snuggled in their individual sleeping bags, several feet from the fire, and they humbly fell into a deep slumber.
The sun rose and Sarah woke up before anybody else. She crawled out of her warm sleeping bag and out into the cold dewy morning air. She wrapped her arms around her self and peered off into the distance. Sarah could see smoke coming from the houses over at the city. She sat down near the edge of the cliff and stared at the scenery.
After a few minutes, Jareth rose and started to make a fire. He never said “good morning” or anything, just like Sarah was invisible. Then she stood up and walked over to the path they came from the day before.
Jareth asked, “Where are you going?”
Sarah replied, “I’m just going for a walk. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Jareth kept his eyes on the fire and waved his hand like he was confirming her request.
Sarah followed the path up the mountain. The moss, grass, and trees were all wet from the morning dew. Sarah followed the path for a while, till she decided to sit in an old, rotten log so she could take a breather. She swears she walked a kilometre or more. When she was taking her rest she heard some rustling in the bushes behind her. Sarah quickly turned around to see what it was, but the rustling stopped. She sat their puzzled for a moment and then she decided to look in the bush. Just before she looked in it, a little fox-like beast jumped out.
The fox beast yelled, “Back! Back, I say!”
Of course, Sarah backed away because it was pointing a spear at her. Its clothes were all tattered and it wore an eye patch over its eye. Its fur was all natted with the colors of a rusty red, a creamy white, and midnight black. Sarah thought this beast looked like someone she seen before; such as Sir Didymus. She pictured it about two years ago with everything Didymus had. What she thought about it, it strangely resembled him.
Sarah questioned, “Are you Sir Didymus?”
The beast rambled in a snarl, “Yes, what do you want? Why did you attack me? You better be careful, with just a whistle my big friend will come and help defeat you.”
Sarah spoke in a questionable voice, “Don’t you remember me?”
He snarled once again, “No, should I?”
Sarah was amazed he didn’t remember, “I’m Sarah. You and Ludo…”
Sir Didymus cut her off, “How do you know Ludo?”
Sarah replied, “If you didn’t cut me off I would have told you.” She took a deep breath, “Ludo and you helped me get through the Labyrinth about a couple years back. You helped me rescue my brother from the Goblin King, Jareth.”
Sir Didymus’ face lightened up. He finally recognized Sarah.
He awed in amazement, “I can’t believe it’s really you, Sarah. I thought you would never come back.”
Sarah sighed, “Well, I was actually made to come here. Jareth brought me here and introduced my daughter to me.”
Sir Didymus spoke in a low tone, “Ah, yes your daughter, Princess Aelise.”
She asked, “You knew about her?”
He replied, “Everyone knows about the princess.”
Sarah questioned, “How come I never knew? How come you never told me?”
He shot back, “I thought you knew. I thought it was a little strange that you never took her when your baby brother was here.”
Sarah raised her voice, “Well I never knew. But still, why didn’t you tell me?”
Sir Didymus replied, “I don’t know, Milady.”
Sarah dropped to the ground and held her knees tight to her chest. She whispered to herself, “Why me? How come I never knew about my own daughter.”
A beastly hand held Sarah’s shoulder. It had long claws, greyish color of skin, and reddish-brown fur. She followed the hand with her eyes to see who, or what, it was. It was her monstrous, old friend Ludo. He was like 7 feet tall, hairy, and huge! He looked very vicious, but he wouldn’t hurt a flea.
Sarah exclaimed, “Ludo!”
Ludo hugged Sarah, “Sarah, I missed you!”
Sarah stated, “You still remember me? I can’t believe it! No one else did till I had to tell them.”
He nodded his fairly large head, “Yes I remember Sarah.”
A voice called from the distance, “Sarah! Where are you? We have to go!”
Sarah gasped, “Oh no! I just forgot; I’m sorry, but I have to go. I promise I will come back later.”
She gave one last hug to Sir Didymus and Ludo and then rushed back to camp.
Just down by the camp, Jareth and Aelise were waiting for Sarah. Jareth ran up to Sarah, grabbed her shoulders, and rambled on “Where were you? You could have got lost! You knew I wanted to leave before it gets hot.”
Sarah released herself from Jareth’s grip on her shoulder then stormed to her horse, “Why are you flippin’ on me?! I told you I’ll be back in a bit, “ she added, “by the way, how could I get lost, I just had to follow a path.”
Jareth argued his point in a harsh low tone when he grabbed her arm before she climbed on Vapour, “That’s not the point and you know it! If you would of gotten hurt we wouldn’t know where you were or even know if you were dead,” he stared Sarah right in the eye, “there are things, creatures you don’t know about, that would kill you for breakfast in a heart beat.”
Sarah demanded, “Let go of me, Jareth! You’re hurting me!”
Jareth released his grasp around her arm and then looked away. He walked over to Aeries and got on him. Sarah climbed on to her horse’s back and waited for Jareth to lead them back home to the castle just beyond the Goblin City. Then Jareth started the caravan, followed by Aelise and her horse Pandora, and then slowly Sarah followed. There was no conversation at all. It was like no one was allowed to talk at all; they were silent to the eerie point. You could tell there was a lot of tension between Jareth and Sarah.
At nightfall they arrived at the castle, cold and tired. The servants took and tended to the horses while the three headed for bed. After Sarah and Jareth tucked in Aelise, Sarah quickly went to her bed, but before she reached her door, Jareth called after her, “Sarah!”
Sarah rapidly went to into her room and slammed the door in Jareth’s face. She flopped down on her bed, face down on her pillows.
Jareth yelled from outside the door, “Sarah, let me in!”
Sarah exclaimed, “Leave me alone!”
Jareth yelled once again, “We need to talk.”
Sarah sat up and held the pillow closely to her chest, “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to talk! So leave me alone!”
Jareth demanded, “Let me in, or I’ll come in myself.”
Sarah yelled, “Leave me be! We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Jareth slammed his clenched fist against the solid oak door, “This can’t wait! I’m coming in.”
He walked right through the door just as if it was a liquid substance. Jareth stood in front of the door, looking over at Sarah. His eyes seemed sad, but worried for some reason she couldn’t figure out; they were glazed with tears. His head was tilted down, looking at the stone floor. His facial expression wasn’t his usual “glad to see you,” but it was the “I have some bad new” or “we really need to talk” glare. Jareth started to fidget around, still looking down at the floor.
Jareth finally found the words he was searching for, then he broke the ice, “Um…Sarah, I have something to ask you that I should of asked when I brought you here,” he paused, “I don’t know how to ask you this. Would you please stay here with Aelise and I? You could be the queen of this kingdom, and again the mother of Aelise. Just please consider all of the possibilities staying here.”
Sarah stuttered, “I-I don’t know.”
Jareth added, “You don’t have to make up your mind this instant, but I need to know by midnight tomorrow because you’ll vanish from here. You’ll never remember anything and you’ll never see hide or hair of Aelise and I. You’ve stayed here this long was part of the spell when I brought you here. The only way you can stay is just basically wanting to stay and be with Aelise.”
Sarah asked cautiously, “If I did want to stay, could I visit my world here and there; whenever I please?”
Jareth thought if over for a second, “Yeah, I’ll see if I can like arrange that. The only thing is you can’t visit too often, just because of purposes.”
Sarah nodded her head in agreement, “Alright. I’ll give you my answer tomorrow, when I have thought this all through.”
Jareth turned around and headed to the door. Just before he left he added, “I would just like to let you know that Aelise has taken a liking to you. She’s always talking about you. I’ll hate to tell her that you’re leaving and she’ll never see you again. It’d break the poor girl’s heart.”
Then he left the room, leaving Sarah feeling so guilty that if she decides to leave this place Aelise would be heart broken. She stayed seated on her bed for most of the night, thinking about whether or not she should stay. She only had so much time, with such a big and life changing decision. Sarah really wanted to stay with Aelise and look after her like a real mother, but she had so much going for her at real home. Finally Sarah drifted off while trying to think of a decision.
The morning sun shone into the dusty, old room. The birds were singing and the roosters were cooing. There were no clouds in the clear blue sky. The air was full of enjoyment and excitement. Sarah woke up slowly, soaking in her pleasant surroundings. She got out of bed and headed to the nearest bathroom. Luckily there was some hot and cold running water and a huge antic bathtub. She couldn’t wait to wash up, she felt grungy, like she never had a bath in a month. She got her water ready and climbed into the tub. Sarah soaked for a good period of time so she could relax and let her mind wander. Now she knew she wanted to stay, but before she would tell Jareth she was going to ask some old friends to see their ideas about it. The worms said it was a good idea, now she needed to get a hold of Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo. She could figure out how to contact them, so she guessed she would ask around at the village to see where Hoggle lived and the other two she’ll go back to the forest. Since she only had till midnight that night, she'll have to move quickly!
Sarah finished up in the bathroom and hurried down stairs to have a real quick breakfast. She buttered some toast with jam and had a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Before Sarah reached the door, Aelise called for her. Sarah turned around and saw her standing on the stairs.
Aelise asked, “Where you going, Mommy?”
Sarah casually lied, “I’m just going out into the kingdom and just look around.”
Aelise read Sarah’s mind, “No you aren’t. You going to find some people you should see.”
Sarah hesitated, “N-No. I really am just going out to the city.”
Aelise stated, “Mom, I can read minds, remember.”
Sarah confessed, “I-I’m just going to see some friends. Just to say hi and other stuff.”
Aelise harmlessly asked, “Can I come?”
Sarah cringed, “No you better not come. I just need some “me” time.”
Aelise whined, “But, Mommy, you have been alone for a while.”
Aelise gave Sarah the puppy dog eyes, “Please!”
Sarah gave up the argument, “Oh, ok. C’mon, lets get the horses and go.”
Aelise happily skipped up to her mother and they both walked out the door and down to the stables. They took out their horses and went down into the village to ask around where Hoggle lives. Sarah asked every person she saw but no one seemed to know were he lived. Just before she gave up, she asked one more person who worked at a produce market. It was an old man who was all hunched over and wearing clothes that looked like they would fall off him. The old man kindly answered Sarah question of where Hoggle lived. He said that he lived in an old shack near the Bog of Eternal Stench that was just a good half-hour ride out of the city. She thanked him and then both Aelise and Sarah rode off toward where Hoggle lived.
The trip seemed very long and dull. They barely talked to each other and to add they had no clue how far Hoggle’s house was from the city. The sun was at its highest peak, and dark, scary clouds were coming toward them. Sarah predicted that these cloud would carry winds, rain, thunder, and lightning.
Sarah stated, “We better ride faster. I figure a storm will come and we might get stuck in it if we don’t get there in time.”
Aelise agreed, “Yeah I see that. Let’s go then.”
They gave their horses a little nudge and then they were on steady run. After a few minutes Sarah spotted some smoke behind a hill and then appeared a small, old, rickety cabin. An old, short man stood outside gathering some wood. She knew it was her dear friend Hoggle. She strained her horse Vapour to gallop faster. Finally, she arrived at his cabin. Sarah got off her horse and then helped her daughter off hers. When Hoggle saw that Sarah and Aelise came he dropped his pile of logs and open-mouthed awed at them.
Hoggle started to stutter when he asked Sarah, “Ho-how did you find me?”
Sarah hugged Hoggle, “I asked the old man at the produce market. I came ‘cause I needed to asked you something.”
Hoggle looked up at Sarah and then he noticed Aelise right beside her, then he fell to the ground, bowing down at Aelise.
Aelise spoke smugly, “Get up. There’s no need for that.”
Hoggle quickly got up to his feet and made no eye contact with the small girl. He hand gestured for the two to go inside the house while he picked up the wood that he dropped, so they followed the gesture. Sarah had to bend down a bit to get through the door and when she sat down on a chair, her knees where up to her chest; she could barely put her legs under the kitchen table.
When Hoggle came in and settle down Sarah asked, “Uh, Hoggle. I found out the reason why I was brought back here, but I need your help with my decision that I have to make before midnight tonight.”
Sarah looked over at Aelise and gave her the look to go off somewhere. Aelise got the hint and moved away. Then Sarah continued of what she was saying to Hoggle, “Jareth brought me here because,” she paused to think of how she wanted to word this, “he wants me to be Aelise’s mother.”
Hoggle nodded his head that he got what she was saying, “I see. What does your heart want to do?”
Sarah started to cry, “I don’t know. This morning I wanted to stay, but now I don’t know what to do. I’m so confused.”
He comforted her, “Don’t worry, Sarah. Everything will work out.”
Sarah sobbed, “I know it will, but what if I make the wrong choice and I’ll regret it for the rest of my life? I couldn’t handle that.”
Hoggle spoke in a wise tone, “Just follow your heart. It won’t lie to you.”
Sarah cried harder, “I don’t know what my heart wants. It wants to go back home, but on the other hand, it wants to stay here with Aelise and Jareth. I need your help with this.”
Hoggle asked, “What do you need my help with? I just can’t tell you to stay or go back home. You’re the one who has to live with this. I’m just a bystander in your life. You’ll have to do this on your own.”
Sarah pleaded, “Can’t you at least give me your opinion of which way I should go?”
Hoggle shook his head sadly, “I wish I could, but I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Sarah stood up and slammed her fist on the table, “Fine! If you’re not going to help me, I’ll find help some where else!”
She grabbed Aelise’s hand and left the cabin to go see Sir Didymus and Ludo. They rode on their horses on a full gallop toward the valley. Hoggle watched helplessly in the blustery wind while they rode off. He was full of sadness since he couldn’t help Sarah. He knew if he gave his idea it’ll change everything and then she might regret it again and be angry with him for telling her his opinion.
Rain started to pour from the clouds above. It sung into Sarah’s and Aelise’s skin when they rode hard and fast on their loyal steeds. They were past the city when lightning and thunder started. They were almost at the forest when lightning struck right in front of them. The horses got frightened and reared up, pawing their hooves up at the sky. Aelise and Sarah fell off and Pandora and Vapour took off back to the castle. Sarah got up onto her feet and moved out of the mud puddle she and Aelise fell into. She yelled at her daughter to run into the forest ahead, but Aelise never stood up. She laid there helplessly in the mud; she didn’t move at all. Sarah dashed over to Aelise and tried to wake her up, but she did nothing. Sarah knew she shouldn’t pick up her daughter because she might have neck or spinal injury, but if she didn’t want Aelise to be struck by lightning either. So she picked up Aelise in her arms and ran as fast as she could towards the forest for shelter. Aelise felt limp and Sarah’s arms, she thought that she could be dead. Sarah tried to think happy thoughts like she’s just out cold and she’ll wake up soon or this was a dream and Sarah would wake up.
When Sarah was pretty deep in the forest she stopped under a huge pine tree and then she sat down with Aelise still lying in her arms. She held her close to her body to keep each other warm. They were both soaked to the bone and covered in mud. Sarah started to cry. She knew she should of went back to the castle and just told Jareth that she decided to stay, but now since she doesn’t have a horse and it was getting closer to midnight they wouldn’t get home in time. She just needed a miracle to get back alive and well. Tears and rain streamed down Sarah’s face. The storm seemed like it wasn’t going to lift at all.
Then all of a sudden lightning struck a tree and it was falling towards the two. Sarah picked up Aelise and scrambled to get out of the way. Then it fell knocked Sarah over and Aelise went flying ahead. The top of the tree fell on Sarah’s lower half of her body. She couldn’t pull herself out from under it; the tree was too heavy. Aelise laid helplessly a couple of feet ahead of Sarah. Sarah tried to get out from under the tree, but suddenly she noticed she couldn’t feel her legs. The tree broke them. Now it was hopeless to get home. She laid on her chest, sobbing because of the pain.
Mean while, Jareth was pacing back and forth in his quarters in the west wing, just a level above Aelise’s room. He was worried of where Sarah and Aelise were. They were gone for many hours now, and no one told him where they were; and to add the storm was getting worse. The crystal balls showed nothing of where they were and he had no clue why. They have always worked before, but this time. He was growing worried and angrier every minute. He was starting to believe something wrong has happened. He sent out his army to search for them earlier, but they reported they couldn’t find hide or hair of them. The rain had washed away their tracks and it was impossible to find them. Jareth couldn’t wait any longer so he decided to go look for them him self. He threw on his cloak and went to search for the girls. He told his servants if they come back, wait for him in the entrance hall and they could not leave it until he came back. Jareth quickly ran to the stables and get Aeries. Then they both went out into the storm to search for Aelise and Sarah.
Back in the forest, Sarah laid there under the huge pine tree. She suddenly felt the tree’s weight grow lighter on her small body and then it was gone. She turned her head backwards and she saw Ludo and Sir Didymus behind her. Ludo used his strength and moved the tree. Then he picked up Aelise and put her on the carriage that a sheep dog name Ambrosius pulled behind it. Then Ludo picked up Sarah and then they walked down the mountain forest. They were taking Sarah and Aelise home.
When the reached the muddy valley the storm had ceased. The sun was almost about to set and a full arched rainbow painted it self across the sky. It was a lovely site to see. They were making really good time because it only took about twenty minutes to get out of the forest and into the middle of the valley. They were just about home.
Sarah asked in a scratchy voice, “Ludo and Didymus, do you think I should stay in the Labyrinth?”
Ludo looked down on Sarah, who was in his giant and hairy, wet arms, “Yes Sarah should stay.”
Sir Didymus added, “Yes I think you should stay, Milady. You’ll do a lot of good.”
Sarah asked, “Like?”
Sir Didymus answered, “You can help out with Aelise and rule the kingdom with Jareth.”
Ludo nodded his head in an agreement.
They all fell silent again until they reached the castle. Sarah’s two friends grew leery that they had to go into the castle and get Sarah and Aelise in. Since Sarah’s legs were broken and Aelise was still unconscious in the carriage, they couldn’t go in them selves. Sir Didymus opened the big, wooden castle doors and Ludo and Ambrosius carried the two girls in. Grandwella rushed over to the four and delivered the message that Jareth gave her, but Jareth appeared behind the group. He was soaked from the rain and his hair was sopping. Ludo and Sir Didymus jumped when the saw him, then Ludo dropped Sarah. They both bowed down in his presence. Sarah sat up on the cold floor staring over at Jareth. He hurried over to Aelise, who was still in the carriage. Ambrosius growled at Jareth when he was holding Aelise.
Jareth yelled and kicked the dog, “SHUT UP!”
Sarah cringed from the blow the dog got and its ear-piercing yelp. Sir Didymus got up from his knees and rushed over to his hurting sheep dog. Jareth picked up the tiny girl, who seemed there was no life in her. He put his cheek near her mouth to see if he can feel her breathing. He felt her breathing rather shallow for a girl her age. He started to carry Aelise in his arms up the staircase to her room. The he turned around and announced, “No one is to leave this room till I come back!” Sir Didymus and Ludo nodded their heads yes, but Sarah just glared at Jareth. After, he proceeded to go up the stairs. Sarah watched him go up the stairs while she still sat on the cold, stone floor.
Once he was gone, Sarah stated, “How dare he say we can’t move from here! And what gives him the right to kick poor Ambrosius?”
The two said nothing. They knew if they disobeyed him they’ll be in more serious trouble than they are already were. Sarah drug herself to the poor sheep dog that was lying down. She petted Ambrosius’ hairy head. He seemed to look a lot like her dog, Merlin, who was at home. He would be probably waiting for Sarah to come back and play with him. Then she started to think about what her parents are doing since she’s missing. They’re most likely worried sick and they have search parties looking for her. Sarah wished she could somehow tell them she’s all right and not to worry.
Sarah looked at the clock in the wall; it said 9:45 PM. She had two hours and fifteen minutes to tell Jareth she wanted to stay. Sarah started to pull herself with her arms towards the stairs. She had to tell Jareth.
Ludo walked towards Sarah to help her up the stairs. Sarah argued, “No Ludo, I got to do this myself. You just stay here because I don’t want you in any trouble. I’ll be the one who will and I don’t want to bring any one down with me.”
Ludo argued back, “But Sarah needs help to go up the big stairs.”
Sarah kept on pull herself up the stairs, “No I don’t. See? I’m doing just fine. You just stay with Didymus and keep him company, ok?”
Ludo hesitated to try to help but then he stopped and went back to see Didymus and Ambrosius. Sarah continued to slowly pull herself up the stone stairs up to Aelise’s room. Her arms were already getting tired from pulling herself up them and her legs started to hurt real badly. To make things a little brighter, Sarah thought her arms were getting a great work out.
When she was at the level below Aelise’s, her arms couldn’t pull her any more. She started to slip and slide down the rough stairs. Sarah used all her might to get up to the last level. Once she got to the floor she collapsed. She laid on her back looking at the ceiling. She breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. Suddenly she heard some footsteps. They echoed through out the whole hallway. Sarah turned her head down the hallway and she saw Jareth walking towards her. He asked in a harsh voice, “I thought I told you to stay down there?”
Sarah made herself sit up to reply, “I needed to tell you something before my time runs out.”
Jareth demanded, “Well, what is it?”
Sarah looked up at Jareth who was standing right above her, “I just wanted to say, I want to stay here.”
He stared at her, “Why do you want to? You almost killed Aelise!”
Sarah tried to stand up but she yelped in pain and she fell back down to the floor, “I’m sorry of what happened to Aelise, but I told her to stay home, but she convinced me to take her! I love her. She’s like my own flesh and blood, Jareth. Why do you think I want to stay here?”
Jareth yelled, “How do I know why you want to stay. So far you caused enough pain and trouble that you should just leave!”
Sarah argued her point, “I’m not leaving, Jareth. No matter what has happened. I want to be there for Aelise. She’s my daughter and I have all the right to stay!”
Jareth added, “Well you aren’t doing a very motherly job right now. You should have kept her safe and this wouldn’t have happened to her. You should be there, by her side caring for her, instead of me all the time.”
Sarah snapped back, “Well I can’t help it. I have to look after myself now. If you haven’t noticed, both my legs are broken! I can’t even sit on a chair and care for her.”
Jareth eyes changed from anger to sympathy for just a split second. Sarah was right, he didn’t even noticed that her legs were broken.
Sarah added to her story, “Do you even know what happened to us? Aelise and I were ridding to the forest at the mountains in the storm. I wanted to know if my friends thought it would be good for me to stay. I went through all the trouble to just ask that. Then the lightning struck right in front of us. The horses got frightened and knocked us off. They ran back to the castle and we were left stranded. Aelise hit her head when she fell and knocked herself out. I carried her to the forest for some shelter. When I found a pine tree to hide under, lightning struck a tree and it was falling towards us. I carried her away but the tree hit me and she fell out of my arms away from it. I couldn’t get out from under it and it broke my legs. Then Ludo and Didymus came and moved the tree and took us home.”
Sarah looked at Jareth who was giving all his all abiding attention to her, “You didn’t even give the others or me enough time to explain everything. You just threw the handle! If I were you, I wouldn’t punish Ludo and Sir Didymus because they saved our lives in stake for theirs. I would give them a great and honoured award for their heroic bravery that they did.”
Jareth leaned against the wall looking away from Sarah. He was dumbfounded. He didn’t have anything to say to what Sarah explained to him. He had his hand holding his chin and then he nodded his head. Jareth finally spoke up in an understanding tone, “Yes you’re right, Sarah; about everything. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry, but I did have my reasons. And I will give your friends an award for their bravery.”
Sarah asked, “What were your reasons?”
Jareth looked at Sarah who was still sitting on the floor, “You guys left with out telling no one. You were gone for so long and then the storm had hit. I was worried about you two. My crystal balls didn’t show me where you were so I thought the worst. I sent out search parties and they brought back no information about where you were. Then you horses came back with out no one on them so I figured you were seriously hurt.”
Jareth crouched down by Sarah and continued, “Then I went out my self to find you, but I didn’t. I was just about to give up when I saw you in Ludo’s arms when you were going in the castle. I quickly ran to catch up, and then I saw Aelise in that carriage. I got angry and I just let it out when I came in.”
Sarah felt the pain that he went through. She felt horrible not telling any one, but she also thought she would be back earlier than planned, too! She put her hand on his, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell anybody, but it was the spur of the moment. I’m sorry for everything, and I wish I could just take everything back.”
Jareth looked at Sarah and placed his other hand on hers, “It wasn’t all your fault. It was partially mine since I didn’t give you enough time to think over your decision.”
Sarah added, “Well I had a lot of time actually. I was thinking if I should ask you if I should stay when I was brought her earlier. I was leaning towards staying, but I wasn’t completely sure.”
Jareth nodded his head to say that he understood. Then he popped up and asked, “Well do you want me to take you to your room so we could fix up your legs?”
Sarah hesitated because she didn’t know if Aelise should be left alone so long but the Jareth added, “Don’t worry about Aelise. She’ll be alright.”
Sarah nodded her head yes and then he picked her up and took her to her room. They arrived in the dark room. With the snap of his fingers the candles and torches were lit. He placed Sarah on her four-post bed. He held his right hand out and then a crystal ball appeared and then it transformed into some bandages. With all his might, he ripped Sarah’s pants up above her knees. He moved the excess material away so he could wrap the leg. With two other crystal balls he made braces for her legs. Before Jareth did the wrapping he snapped Sarah’s leg bones back into position so they’ll heal properly. Sarah gave a loud shriek of pain. Then with his mystical powers, he held her legs where they were broken and miraculously he mended them back, but Sarah felt that something wrong was in her left leg.
Jareth spoke in a nonchalant tone, “Your left leg seemed it didn’t want to mend right, so I’m going to make a home made cast so it’ll heal properly.”
Jareth then picked up one of the braces and put it on Sarah’s left leg. After he used the bandages and wrapped her broken leg firmly. When he was wrapping he added, “It’ll be a while till you’re leg will heal; about six weeks or more. But it’ll be sore for a while and it’ll still be hard to walk on.”
Sarah asked, “How long will it be till it has healed completely?”
Jareth replied, “It might take a year or more till it is as good as new, but I can’t guarantee it.”
Sarah felt disappointed knowing that her leg might never be as it was before her accident. When Jareth was finished he told her to keep off her leg till she gets all her strength back, and then he’ll giver her crutches, but no sooner. He bid her goodnight and then left the room. Sarah laid awake in her bed for a long time. She wanted to go over to the window and look at the city. Sarah tried to get out of bed but her leg told her by pain she couldn’t. She screamed with pain when she moved. She’d give anything to have some painkillers so he didn’t have to stand the torment. She wondered if she was being punished for what she had done. A long time of lying there in pain, Sarah fell asleep.
Sarah dreamt of being home and in her bed. Her leg wasn’t broken and everything was the same as she left it. She walked down into the kitchen and her father, stepmother, and Toby were eating breakfast at the table. They greeted her with smiles and a warm greeting. They were pleased she was home. Then suddenly the scenery changed and she was in the forest. Aelise, Jareth, and Sarah were all there having a picnic. It was sun shone through the tall pine trees and it was warm. Out of no where, a storm came. It was poring with huge raindrops and thunder and lightning made them selves be heard and seen. A lightning bolt struck a tree and it started to fall. Everything was in slow motion. Aelise was playing under the falling tree. Sarah yelled for Aelise to run away, but her voice failed her. Aelise looked at Jareth and Sarah and just smiled. Sarah started to run towards Aelise but the tree fell on her. Aelise’s body laid lifeless under the tree. She was dead! Sarah fell to her knees by the girl and cried in screams. She asked God why He took Aelise’s life. Then in the background Jareth was cursing at Sarah because she never got Aelise out of the way. Jareth walked over to Sarah and she jumped to her feet. He yelled at her saying it was all her fault she’s dead. Jareth’s hand raised to get ready to hit Sarah. His hand made a shadow over her terrified face. Sarah tried to protect her face with her hands but Jareth’s hand beat her to the catch. He smacked Sarah on the side of her face and she fell to the mossy, forest floor. She started to see stars of all colors. Sarah held the side of her face, which was struck by Jareth’s hand. When she recovered her site, she saw blood on her hand; it came from her cut cheek. When she looked up Jareth was standing above her with an evil smile on his face. A quick second she was kicked in the stomach. Sarah screamed with pain. She laid there curled up in a ball.
Sarah awoke from her dream, breathing heavily and there was sweat dripping down her face. She was so glad it was only a horrible nightmare. She then sat up in her bed, looking back on the dream. It was just so freaky that in this dream Jareth was beating her. She wondered what if Aelise did die when the tree fell on Sarah, if Jareth really would do something as horrible as in her dream. But she knew he wouldn’t do something like that to her because he has a good nature about himself. The worse thing she could recollect him doing was when she was getting Toby. She had 13 hour to get him before he turned into a goblin. Sarah then met Jareth and she said something like, “It’s a piece of cake,” and so Jareth moved the time ahead four hours so she’ll have less time to retrieve Toby. You could say his bad side is good. It’s playful, you could say.
Since it was still dark, Sarah tried to go back to sleep. She lay awake there for a few hour, trying to shake off that dream from her memory. Eventually she fell asleep.
The following morning, Sarah had breakfast in bed since Jareth thought she wasn’t able enough to go down to the dining room. Grandwella, the small servant, brought her food up. It was a hardy breakfast. Everything was piled sky high and Sarah swears it had all of the four main food groups. Just looking at that food started to get her sick.
While Sarah was confined in her room, Jareth came and visited. He reported that Aelise was conscious and she was doing way better. She was making progress. She also got the same orders to stay in her room from her father. He added that if Aelise was well enough later, he’d bring her to see Sarah. It was a relief for Sarah to hear the good news on her daughter that she was all right.
Sarah tried to convince Jareth to let her get out of bed, but he would not budge! He insisted that she stayed in bed till she regains all of her strength, then he’ll consider letting her wander around on her lame leg. All Sarah could do is give up on the fight and do what she was basically ordered to do. Jareth announced that he had some business to do, then he left.
After he left the room was oddly quiet. She struggled to sit up on the edge of her bed, being careful not to bump her leg. Her leg was still throbbing with pain, and to add, it felt rather awkward because of the gauze and braces on it. Sarah hobbled out of her bed and over to her window so she could feel the splendid summer breeze blowing on her pale and tired face and the warmth of the sun shinning on her bruised cheeks. She knew she shouldn’t disobey Jareth, but she couldn’t stand to lying in bed feeling like a vegetable! Anyway, she loved looking out her window so she just couldn’t resist any more.
When she was looking down in the city, the streets were crowded with the goblin people. It seemed like all of the creatures of the kingdom to the city to do their shopping and what not. The guards were patrolling the place on their miniature dinosaurs, keeping the peace. Everyone looked like they were in a rush for some strange reason, like the world was going to end or something. Many of them were gathered around the small street and farmers’ markets getting their groceries that they needed. She also noticed some of the servants from the castle were shopping too. Then something caught Sarah’s eye. There were a few children, around four to six years old, asking from money or food and scavenging through the garbage bins. She felt so sorry for them. She wanted to help them, but she just couldn’t for many reasons.
Sarah decided that she had seen enough for now, so she got up from her seat and just hobbled around the room. She felt like a total retard because she was walking around with a limp. She also noticed that were arms were very sore from all the stairs she climbed with them the night before. Sarah could barely lift her arms parallel to the floor.
After a couple of minutes just walking around, he leg started to hurt. She laid back down in her four-poster and propped her leg on a pillow so it wouldn’t hurt as bad.
She laid there in pain for nearly a half an hour. She was cursing herself for getting out of bed in the first place. She was almost in tears because of the pain was so severe. She strained her leg too much walking around and now she regrets it.
This endless pain lasted for the whole day. She tried to put ice on it but that didn’t put a dent in the pain. All Sarah could do was live with it!
Later that night, after supper, Jareth and Aelise came to visit. Sarah was so pleased that Aelise was fine. Aelise just had a couple of scratched on her face and a few bruises here and there. She looked way better than Sarah thought.
Aelise greeted Sarah with a warm smile and a big hug, “Hi, Mommy! How are you feeling?”
Sarah embraced the child in her arms, “I’m better, Aelise. How about you, how are you doing?”
Aelise smiled again, “Oh, I’m a just fine and dandy, thanks. So what was your day like? Was it as boring as mine?”
Sarah laughed at the comment, “Yeah I think my day was as boring as yours. I just laid here looking up at that lovely ceiling up there.”
Sarah added sarcastically, “Hey, did you know there are about 636 blocks for the walls in this room?”
Aelise just laughed at her. She sat down on the bed and stared at Sarah with her loving eyes. Jareth just stood there watching the two. He sort of felt a little left out because it seemed like he wasn’t even acknowledged that he was there. He finally got tired of standing there so he took the chair from the desk and flopped down on it. He gave out an exhausted sigh. The other two jerked their head over to see what Jareth was sighing about.
Sarah asked just to make conversation, “ So, what did you do today, Jareth?”
Jareth stretched out his legs and leaned back in the chair, “Nothing too much actually. Did some work here and there, appointed your friends to their new jobs. You know, the usual.”
Sarah stated, “Well, it didn’t sound like nothing did it, Aelise?”
Aelise giggled, “Nope! Sure didn’t, Mommy.”
Jareth just rolled his eyes at the two girls, “Oh aren’t you the humorous ones.”
Sarah voice was in a smart-alick tone, “That we are. So what jobs did you give my friends?”
Jareth put his hand on the back of his head. Now he looked rather relaxed; “Well, I made them go-fors. Like you ask them to get something and they rush to go get it.”
Sarah debated, “You know they need better jobs like that! They disserve it!” she paused to see what else she could think of, “Since, you know, without them Aelise and I would still be out there, maybe even dead.”
Jareth leaned forward, all hunched over and then he sighed, “Fine. I’ll change their jobs to be guards.” Jareth sat there in thought, “Well those two are pretty intimidating, especially that big beast, Plod.”
Sarah corrected, “Ludo. His name is Ludo.”
Jareth was still in thought, “Oh yes, yes. Ludo.”
Aelise leaned back on her mother. Sarah put her arms around the tiny girl. She could tell that the girl was getting tired. She was less energetic and talkative. The parents both decided that it was Aelise’s bed time. Jareth picked her up, whom now fast asleep, in his arms and took her off to bed. Before he left he bid good night to Sarah and kissed her on the forehead, then left the room.
The days started to become weeks, and soon the weeks became months. Sarah was walking about on her ex-broken leg. She traded her pair of crutches for a cane, since her leg was still a little tender and sore from her accident a while back. Now it was getting colder each day. You could tell autumn was around. The trees were starting to look dead and the leaves were in all sorts of colors of reds, oranges, yellows, and some greens. The pine trees were sticking out like sore thumbs, too! The wind was also getting a cold Jack Frost bite. Winter was on its way!
One day Aelise and Sarah were hanging out with Fredrick, Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus. They enjoying their last nice day before winter would arrive. The sun was out, there was no cold wind, and, of course, the leaves were dropping like flies. The whole kingdom was enjoyable! The whole group was just behind the castle in a clearing. They packed a little lunch for the afternoon. Unfortunately, Jareth couldn’t make it since his job as the “Goblin King” was needed. He had to go to a distant kingdom for a wedding ceremony for his friend. Jareth was being the best man. So Sarah and Aelise had the whole castle all to themselves. You could imagine what those two could be doing.
Before Jareth left for his journey, that was a couple days away by horseback, he promoted Sir Didymus and Ludo from normal castle guards to commanding officers. So this lunch was also just a little party for the lucky two.
Later that afternoon when everyone went home, Aelise and Sarah walked down by the river that was east of the castle. Aelise informed her mother that this river was called “Rivera Secreato;” it translated to “river of secrets.” This was river was named in the ancient language from many centuries ago when it was our time of the “Round Table;” the Camelot century. So you could say it was a yore ago. Sarah found this just fascinated! Her daughter told her many thing of her kingdom’s history. There was once a terrible war that happened in about 500 BC, when King Kalebeth ruled. A neighbouring country basically decided to try to take this land, but when Kalebeth caught word, he swore that he would let no one take is kingdom that he put so much work into. Many people were lost, but it ended up that they won the whole battle. Aelise pointed out on a hill that the old castle was there. This surprised Sarah because she always thought that this castle was the only one built. But the other one was attacked in the 1000’s and it was burnt and demolished. So the peasants and the goblin army rebuilt a new castle (the one that’s standing today). Sarah figured the castle was about 1001 years old. She could have guessed that since it was showing age. She was also amazed with the little history lesson she got from her daughter, who would be soon five years old in a few weeks. Aelise added that her father had only ruled the kingdom for 20 years. He was given the throne when his father, King Paulop, died; Jareth was 14 years old at the time. Through the years he got help from his mother, who died when he was 22, and from the advisers. Now at age 34 he still ruled, and with great success too! Sarah was dumbfounded at the information she was just told. She had no idea that Jareth received the throne at such a young age. She couldn’t imagine a young teenage boy taken on such a big responsibility. Sarah thought of Aelise taking the throne at a young age. She though it was completely stupid! But when that person dies, you guess you have to face the music.
The sun started to set when Aelise and Sarah headed back to the castle. They were getting a little hungry since they hadn’t eaten since the afternoon.
When they stepped into the castle, the servants all rushed towards them in frenzy. They were rambling something about the master (Jareth), being late, and not knowing where they were.
Sarah’s voice was in a don’t-care tone, “Don’t worry about it. We’re here safe. See, no broken bones or scratches.”
The one servant spoke up, “But the master specifically told us to look after you and the princess and make sure you wouldn’t get into any trouble.”
Sarah started to dodge through the servants, “We didn’t get into any trouble, so just cool it you guys.”
Sarah asked out of curiosity, “When is Jareth coming home, anyway?”
The servant replied, “He said he’ll be due back in a few days. Master said he’ll send word if he’ll be staying longer, since wedding ceremonies do go on for a week or more.”
Sarah nodded her head and walked into the dining room. Aelise followed her. They ate a rather huge diner, or some people would call it a feast because of all of the food. Sarah ate till she was almost sick. When she looked of what was left over, there was enough to feed an entire army. Sarah made a memo to herself that make sure that she tells the cooks not make as much. Since there was so much food left, Sarah had an idea! She was going give the leftovers to the homeless people, especially the younger ones that she saw begging for money and food. She got the servants to wrap the food and put it in some bags or something so she can take them to the homeless people.
When they were all finished, Sarah and Aelise too the bags and buckets full of that evening’s dinner and went out into the city. They went into the dark cold night in Main Street. In the dark allies there were homeless people sleeping with all of their belongings by their side. Their clothes, face, and hair were covered in dirt and their clothes were all tattered and ripped. Sarah cautiously walked in the allies and delivered the food. The people were confused at first, but then they gratefully took the food that Sarah and Aelise gave them. They would bow their heads and repeatedly saying thank you. When Sarah and Aelise were in another ally, they met the children who were begging for food. They were scared at first, so Sarah had to convince that it was ok to take the food. She was giving them what was left, and that was about 2 buckets full. The children shyly took the food and thanked them a lot. Sarah felt very content with herself, since she helped many people. She can, or could, make a difference for these people.
A couple days later, a letter came from Jareth. It read:
Dear Sarah and Aelise,
How are things doing at the castle? I hope everything is going smoothly. Please tell me the castle is still in once piece!
The wedding was great! I had a good time. I’m leaving today, so I’ll be due home in a couple days, or less, if nothing goes wrong. See you when I get home.
Jareth
Sarah told the good news to Aelise, who was still in bed at the time. She was just ecstatic! She couldn’t wait to till Jareth came home and tell him what us girls did while he was gone. Sarah even found herself excited to see him. She thought the castle seemed so empty without him. She thought he’d be pleased that the castle was still in once piece. She snickered just at the thought. The whole castle in ruins because of a teenager and a little girl.
Sarah thought that this day she would just lay back and rest. She was going to out into the castle garden and just laze about; looking at the many autumn colors and watch the birds fly south.
When she was out there, she started to wonder what their winters would be like. Would it be like a Canadian winter or they’d just have a little snow and it wouldn’t be as cold. She figured that with the weather now that it was going to be cold. What led her to this conclusion was that it was getting colder day by day and the frost was thick in the morning. Sarah was glad that last month, before autumn came, that she got a window pain in her window in her bedroom. She hated that idea that in the winter she might not get to look out her window since it’ll be covered in frost and snow. Well, she figured that’d bring all the anticipation for spring to come. But now she would have to live through the winter.
Sarah was starting to think of her old home when she was outside. She was starting to get home sick a bit. She missed her friends, father, Toby, and even her stepmother! She though this would be a good time to visit her family back at home. But now she’d have to wait till Jareth comes home and ask him if he could send her home for a bit. She hoped he’d let her.
When she was sitting under a huge tree, she heard some footsteps in the leaves. First she thought it was just the wind, but then she kept on hearing it. Sarah’s heart started to race. She didn’t have a clue of who, or what, it could be. She finally got the guts to turn and look to see who it was. She turned her head slowly at the noise and saw Jareth walking towards her. He was bearing a gift. It was in a small box all wrapped up in a pretty ribbon and bow, with a single long stem, white rose on it. Sarah was clueless. She couldn’t think of a reason of why he would buy a gift for her.
Jareth sat down beside Sarah and handed her the box. He cleared her throat, "This is for you. I got it at the city I was at. I thought you might like it.”
Sarah stared at Jareth, wondering why he would do such a thing.
Jareth asked, “Well, aren’t you going to open it?”
Sarah slowly opened up the small package. She put the rose on her lap and continued to open it. She lifted up the box lid carefully. When she removed the it, a small necklace laid there. It had a pendant of a small rose on the gold chain. On the side of the gold rose, there was a tiny crystal. It looked like a tiny water droplet that was from the rain or the morning dew.
Sarah gasped, “Oh my! This-this is gorgeous!”
She sat there looking at the gift. Jareth took it from her hand and put it around her neck.
Sarah refused, “You shouldn’t have, Jareth. I can’t take this. It must have been very expensive. And I don’t disserve it.”
Jareth insisted, “Prices don’t matter to me. And you do disserve this because you gave up your life back at your home just to stay with Aelise.” he added, “Besides, I thought it would a nice gift.”
Sarah sensed something was up. She hadn’t known him to do such things. Why wouldn’t he do this a few months back, anyway? Sarah had to know!
She asked, “Ok, I love this necklace. But I know something is up, so what is it?”
Jareth snickered to himself, “Ok, you saw right through me, even though that stuff I did say was true. I said to one of my friends that I got married secretively. They’re coming over next week and so I need you to act as my wife, just for when they’re here.”
Sarah demanded, “Why did you say a stupid thing like that for?”
Jareth rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, “Because I didn’t want to say that I was a single father with a daughter. Doesn’t that seem a little funny to you?”
Sarah said flatly, “No. Lots a people in my world are single parents. So I don’t see why you lied to your friends.”
Jareth stood up and paced back and forth in front of Sarah, “Because there’re barely any single parents here. I didn’t wants anyone’s pity!”
Jareth pleaded, “Just please, do me this one favour. I’ll do anything!”
Sarah asked suspiciously, “Anything huh?”
Jareth nodded his head.
Sarah stated, “Alright, I’ll do it! But…” she had a perfect plan to visit her family and assure them that she’s alright, “you have to send me back home for a week, every month.”
Sarah added to her proposition, “And I’ll get to pick the week. You understand?”
Jareth hesitated, “Err…. Umm….”
Sarah convinced, “Oh C’mon! Your favour has way higher stakes than mine! I actually have to act like royalty and be your ‘wife.’”
Jareth shook Sarah’s hand, “Fine! It’s a deal! You got your way now.”
Jareth added, “Now you have to do my part of the deal. We’ll start training tomorrow. You’ll have to learn everything by next week. You think you can do it?”
Sarah said sarcastically, “Can I do it? Of course I can! I the queen of acting! Why wouldn’t I do it?”
Jareth laughed. They both left the garden and back into the castle where Aelise was waiting.
When they both arrived in the castle, Aelise was no where in site. They checked her room, the dinning room, and in the castle grounds, but she was no where. Jareth and Sarah were starting to get worried. They were thinking of some horrible things that could of happen to her.
Jareth convinced Sarah to get some rest, since it was one in the morning. She was reluctant at first but she thought she should listen to him for this once and get some rest.
While she was walking up the stairs to her room, she was blaming herself for the disappearance of her only daughter, and child. She figured if she just had Aelise out with her, she wouldn’t be gone somewhere.
Sarah turned the handle of her door leading to her room, she saw her little girl sitting on her bed. Sarah cautiously walked up to Aelise and put her arm around the girl’s shoulder.
Sarah whispered, “Where were you, Aelise?”
Aelise turned her head to her mother and tears streamed down her face. Sarah changed her question, “What’s the matter, Sweetie?”
Aelise tried to stifle her sobbing, “I-I heard Daddy ta-talking to someone in the hall-hallway. He-he said something like someone is com-coming for the wed-wedding. I do-don’t want a new mom-mommy!”
Sarah then realized what she was just talking about. Aelise must have over heard her and Jareth talking when they came in when they were saying about Sarah pretending to be Jareth’s wife.
Sarah reassured the weeping girl, “Oh! Your dad isn’t going to get a new mother for you. When he was at that kingdom he said something really stupid to his friends. He said he is married and he lopped and told no one. So he asked me to be his pretend wife, just when your dad’s friends are here though.”
Aelise asked, “Why don’t you be his wife forever, than just when those people are here?”
Sarah’s tone was in a loving voice, “I’m sorry, Aelise. But your dad and I...well... we just don’t click, you could say. It might happen some day, but not now.”
Aelise seemed a little disappointed, but Sarah thought she understood.
Sarah took the girl and gave Aelise a big hug, “Come on, Aelise. Lets go find your dad and tell him I found you.”
Aelise nodded her head and followed Sarah to find Jareth. They checked in the dinning room, his room, and outside, but he wasn’t anywhere. Aelise had an idea of where he might be. She drugged her mother somewhere Sarah has never wondered in. Aelise drug Sarah down the hallway, beside the stairs. It was dark and a little damp. She then stopped at the dead end. Aelise pushed a block and it pushed in; it opened a secret passageway. The door opened at the wall beside it. It slowly slid open and it lead into a room. Sarah wondered why she never knew about this place.
They walked into the room. It was dimly lit with torches on the walls. It was well carpeted and under the torches there were rows of shelved full of books of all shapes and sizes. There was a desk in the corner covered in papers and books. And there behind the desk sitting, on a chair, was Jareth sleeping with his head down on the desk. His arms were up beside him, covering his face. Sarah walked up to the desk and Jareth had wrote something, but it was yet unfinished. It read:
Dear Samuel and Rinoa,
Everything is perfect for you two to come. Sarah and I are pleased that you decided to come. I apologize again for not bringing my wife, but she was busy with the castle duties, Aelise, and preparing for the ball so we could celebrate our 1st Anniversary…
Sarah was quite puzzled. She didn’t recollect Jareth saying anything about a ball and a First Anniversary. She had to know what he was planning. Sarah shook Jareth vigorously. He woke up with a start.
He rubbed his eyes and asked in a groggy voice, “What? Huh? What are you doing here?”
Sarah kept her cool, “No time for that.” She showed him the paper that she read, “What is this all about?”
Jareth took the paper and then skimmed it. He looked up at Sarah with a confused look.
Sarah asked, “What is this about a ball and a first anniversary?”
Jareth didn’t answer at first, “Oh, well…I…I told my friend that you were planning a ball for our first anniversary. I didn’t think I would need to add that since I thought you wouldn’t mind.”
Sarah spoke harshly, “This wasn’t part of our deal, Jareth, and you know it! You shouldn’t have spoke for me.” She walked away, “I don’t even have a clue what or how to do things at a ball. Like I don’t know how you dance, act, and what else you do. It would have been nice if you mentioned this little detail.”
Jareth apologized, “I’m sorry I never told you, but it never struck my memory.”
Sarah yelled, “‘struck your memory!’ That’s an under estimate! Did you ever think that I might not be able to live up to the expectations of your friend? We have only a week left and I have no clue what to do or how to dress, never the less how to act. Gees, Jareth, you make me so angry sometimes.”
He walked over to Sarah and looked her in the eyes, “I’m terribly sorry, Sarah. But I need you to do this. You don’t have to do it for me. You could…could do it for Aelise or yourself; prove to yourself you can do better than what my friend, or even I, think.”
Sarah crossed her arms looked away, trying to hold in the tears from streaming down her face, “Well, since I said I would do this, I guess I have to do all of it.”
Jareth patted her on the back, “Good decision, Sarah.”
Sarah smiled and joked; “You owe me big time now.”
Jareth laughed, “Yeah I guess I do.”
Sarah turned her gaze from the corner and looked over at Aelise who was still standing there in silence. Sarah forgot all about her. She saw Jareth and her mother fighting the whole time. This made Sarah feel so bad. She, herself, hated listening to her parents fight, so she knew how Aelise felt. Sarah gave Aelise an apologetic look. Jareth followed Sarah’s gaze and he saw Aelise standing there in the room too. He rushed over to Aelise, picked her up, and swung her around in a circle in his arms. He put her back down on the floor and planted kiss on her cheek.
Jareth asked, “Where you? We were looking all over for you.”
Aelise explained, “I was hiding out in Mommy’s room for a while, but I was wondering through out the castle.”
Jareth questioned, “Why were you hiding from us?”
Aelise replied, “I wasn’t hiding from Mommy, I was hiding from you. I was furious at you!”
Jareth asked, “But why?”
Aelise exclaimed, “Because, I heard you saying something that I was getting a new mother. I didn’t want a new one, since I already have the greatest one around.”
Jareth comforted the girl; “I wasn’t replacing-“
Aelise interrupted, “I know, Daddy. Mommy explained it to me when she found me in her room.”
Jareth looked up at Sarah and back at Aelise and smiled. He hugged Aelise once more and whispered something in her ear, but Sarah couldn’t make it out. Aelise giggled at whatever it was.
Jareth stated, “Well, we should all go to bed. It’s been a busy day for all of us.”
Aelise and Sarah nodded their heads in unison and went up to their beds.
Through out the whole week, Jareth and Aelise were teaching Sarah how to act as royalty. The showed her how to use the multiple utensils, how to sit, dress, act, etc. Jareth took Sarah for a big shopping spree in a near by city that had more of a selection than Jareth’s city. Of course, for the ball they were using the elegant dress she wore before. But she had to get some more dresses that weren’t so extravagant, just some to wear around the castle so she wouldn’t wear slacks and a blouse. They also had to get some accessories, such as earrings, necklaces, shoes, and what not.
The whole day, at the city of Alberack, Sarah and Jareth went through every store. Sarah tried on everything, and what she and Jareth like he would buy it. Near the end of the day, the horse drawn carriage they took was full of parcels, packages, bags, and boxes full of clothing, jewellery, and shoes. When they arrived home, about ten servants from the castle, carried the boxes and parcels in. They wouldn’t allow Sarah to carry a package since she was almost royalty, a guest of Jareth’s. She felt useless and she hated it. They wouldn’t even allow her to carry a small bag.
The servants carried all of the things up to Sarah’s room, and put them away where they were suppose to go. She watched very carefully where they put the assortments away so she could find them later.
When they all left her room, she retired for the night.
Finally, the day arrived when Jareth’s friends, Samuel and Rinoa, came. They arrived in fashion. They came in a four horse drawn carriage that was black and rimmed in gold. The four horses were the color of midnight. They wore black leather harnesses. When they trotted along, their heads were held up high like they were proud, they moved as graceful as cat, and look as mysterious as a unicorn. And when the horses’ hooves hit the brick road, it sounded like thunder.
Sarah, Jareth and Aelise waited for them at the door. Each and every one looks like royalty. Sarah wore a long lilac colored dress that flowed down to the ground. It had long sleeves that went down her arm and a corner was tired to her middle finger. Through her dress it sparkled like the sun reflecting on the ocean. Her hair was pulled up and curled in ringlets. A small part of her long bangs was curled and it hanged down her cheekbone. She also had a tiara placed on her head, too! Sarah wore the rose necklace that Jareth bought her a week earlier. Her high-heeled shoes matched her dress, also. She literally felt like Cinderella in the fairy tail.
Jareth wore a black coat that wore over his white dress shirt. He had long black pants and his high-legged boots. He, of coarse, wore his pendant chain that dangled from his neck. Also he had a long blackish-blue cape that sparkles as well as Sarah’s dress, and it was high-collared that tied in the front. Jareth’s hair was the same style that he had forever.
Aelise dressed like a young lady. She was a beautiful as her mother. Aelise had a long pale-blue dress on that reach just above her ankles. She had little white gloves that covered her hands. On her right wrist, she had a tiny crystal beaded bracelet that Sarah let her wear. Her hair was also pulled up like Sarah’s too and she also had a tiara that was smaller than her mother’s did. Aelise wore little white shoes that buckled in the front and a tiny bit of make-up.
The servants rolled out a long, red carpet that led from the castle doors to the parked carriage. The doorman opened the door for the guests. One servant stood beside the opening waited from them to step out. First a dark hair, golden brown color skinned lady popped her head out. She grabbed the servant’s hand and stepped out onto the red carpet. Then a strapping, young, brown hair man stepped out onto the carpet beside the mistress. Sarah figured it was Lady Rinoa and Lord Samuel of Canza.
Lady Rinoa’s dress was a maroon color. It flowed elegantly down to the carpet that almost matched the color of the dress. It had some ruffles at the bottom of her dress and around her bare shoulders. She had a shawl that was the exact color as her dress. It had diamonds sewn all over her outfit. At the back it was really long. When she walked, the material drug behind her. Her shoes where black that had strings of ribbon wrapped around her foot and it tied at her ankle. Around her neck there was a necklace that was pure ruby and gold. She also wore a tiara that was studded in red rubies, that was around her nicely groomed hair. It was sort of pulled up. It was piled up at the top of her head, but from the middle her long hair flowed out. You could tell it was naturally curly. Her eyes were a dark brown that was brought out by her make-up. She had a very pretty smile. She almost looked like a candidate for Miss America.
Lord Samuel looked basically just like Jareth. It was almost like they planned to look alike. But his hair was nicely slicked down and he didn’t wear the high-legged boots; he wore shiny, black dress shoes. But his cape was a silky, and black that was trimmed in red in the inside. Lord Samuel reminded Sarah of Count Dracula, but not as pale looking.
Jareth, Aelise, and Sarah humbly walked up to their newly arrived guest. First, Jareth bowed, then Aelise curtsied, but Sarah stood their stunned. She was so nervous, like she was taking her SAT’s. Jareth looked at Sarah and was giver her a look to do something. She came back to her senses and curtsied gracefully. Jareth exhaled heavily like he was relived that she done something right. Lord Samuel and Lady Rinoa returned the gestures.
Jareth shook Samuel’s hand, “Hello, Sam! Welcome to my humble abbot.”
Samuel replied, “Thank you for having us, Jareth.”
Samuel looked over at Sarah and stated in astonishment, “This must be…”
Jareth added, “Sarah, my wife.”
Samuel laughed, “Yes, Sarah,” he took her hand in his and kissed it, “How do you do? I’m Samuel and this is my lovely wife, Rinoa. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Jareth talked very highly of you. Actually, to tell you the truth he talked non-stop about you.”
Sarah smiled shyly and flashed a look at Jared and he smiled and shrugged his shoulders; “How do you do, Lord Samuel and Lady Rinoa. I’m happy to meet you too.”
Samuel corrected Sarah, “Please, call me Sam. ‘Lord Samuel’ sound way too formal for me.”
Sarah laughed, “Alright, Sam.”
Jareth introduced Aelise to Sam and Rinoa, “And this young lady beside Sarah, is our daughter, Aelise.”
Rinoa gasped, “Isn’t she adorable, Sam?”
Samuel smiled, “Indeed she is. You can see a lot of resemblance.”
Jareth stated,” Yes, she has my eyes and hair. But she has her mother’s determination, attitude, and stubbornness.”
Everyone laughed at the comment.
Sarah told Jareth, “Uh, honey,” she smiled nervously, “maybe we should show our guests to their room where they’ll be staying.”
Jareth agreed, “Good idea, Sarah. It is kind of getting cold just standing out her too, so,” he looked over at the married couple, “just follow us you two and we’ll show you to your room.”
Jareth led the way into the castle and to the guestroom upstairs, on Sarah’s floor. They were placed about five doors down the hallway from her room. Jareth then opened up the door to Samuel and Rinoa’s bedroom. It looks the same as Sarah’s, except everything was on the opposite side.
Jareth announced, “This is where you’ll be staying. If you need anything, my servants will be happy to help you and we’re just upstairs a couple flights. Your baggage will be here in a couple of minutes.”
Sarah gave a surprised look at Jareth when he said ‘they’ll’ be upstairs if they needed anything.
Sarah added and hinted towards Jareth that they needed to talk, “We’ll leave you now to rest, since you traveled such a long journey to come here. Have a good night Lord Sa-,” Sarah corrected herself, “Sam and Rinoa.”
Sarah then grabbed Jareth’s arm and quickly pulled him some ways, till the other two went into their room. She drug Jareth into her room and shut the door.
Sarah panicked, “What were you thinking?”
Jareth asked, “Thinking what?”
Sarah mimicked him, “‘If you need anything, come up to our room upstairs.’ You never said anything about us staying in the same room!”
Jareth stayed calm, “True, I never said that, but we aren’t staying in a room together. You’ll sleep here, of course, and I’ll go to my room. Easy as that!”
Sarah questioned, “What happens if they see me coming in here when I need to get something?”
Jareth’s face fell, “Well, I guess we do have a little predicament then.”
Sarah agreed, “Yeah, I guess we do.”
Jareth thought for a moment. All of a sudden he had a plan, “If they’re, or even one of them, are on this floor, just detour to my room. When they leave, go to yours. If that doesn’t work, you could always bunk with Aelise.”
Sarah nodded her head, “Yeah, I guess that can work.”
Jareth decided to leave, but before he left he reminded Sarah, “Um…you haven’t forgot about the ball tomorrow?”
Sarah sighed stressfully, “No I haven’t Jareth. Don’t worry.”
He smiled and left. When Sarah went to sit on her bed, Jareth popped back in and startled Sarah.
Sarah said harshly, “Have you ever heard of knocking?”
Jareth was embarrassed, “I’m sorry, but I would like to say that you did a pretty good job tonight.”
Sarah thanked him, then he left the room permanently. Sarah made sure of that since she locked the door behind him.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She thought that she looked wonderful, but it wasn’t her. She felt fake, and a fraud. Sarah hoped she didn’t look as fake as she thought. Sarah then slipped into a long nightgown and sneaked into the bathroom across the hallway. She locked the door when she got in and turned the lamp on dimly. She quickly washed all the make-up off and took out her hair. Sarah combed her long hair. It was still holding the curls that the servants did before Samuel and Rinoa arrived.
When she put on her robe and finished in the bathroom, Sarah quickly opened the door. When she walked out, she ran into Samuel.
Sarah was embarrassed and scared all at the same time.
She apologized, “I’m so sorry, Lord Samuel. I was very clumsy. I wasn’t watching where I was-”
Samuel interrupted her and smiled, “That’s alright Sarah. Don’t worry about it.”
Sarah smiled nervously.
Samuel asked, “How come you’re down here anyway?”
Sarah hesitated, “I um…was…” they stood there in silence for a second, “ I was using this once because Jareth was using the other one upstairs. Yeah, he was using the other one.”
She thought she sounded so stupid. Sarah had a feeling he won’t believe her.
Sam inquired, “You got to hate that!”
Sarah quickly added, “Well, I better go now. Sorry again. Good night.”
She walked down the hallway, past her room, and turned the corner to go upstairs. Samuel followed Sarah with his gaze. When her footsteps faded, he went into the bathroom.
Slowly Sarah crept back down the stair and to the hallway. When she was just turning, the bathroom door opened. Sarah dashed into the closest room so she wouldn’t bee seen. The room was dark and dusty. It was full boxes and old furniture. It seemed like this was a storage room. When she was looking around, she bumped into a dusty old box. Sarah look to see what she bumped into. She looked at the box and she wiped off some of the dust not intentionally It so far said “Jar…” so she wiped off the rest of the dust to see what was written on it. It read “Jareth.” She curiously opened up the ratty old box. When she opened it, dust and moths flew up into the air. Sarah waved the air with her hand to keep the moths and dust from going up in his face. Astonishingly she found photo albums and letters. Her one conscious said, “Better not go through Jareth personal belongings,” but the other said, “You should look at them. He put them away in a box, in an abandoned room, so why not look?”
Sarah listened to the bad side and took the box in her arms. She picked up the heavy box and carried it to the door. She silently opened up the door and peeked out so see if anyone was coming. The coast was clear, so she dashed into her bedroom. Sarah locked the door behind her when she arrived in her room. She plopped the dusty box on her bed and pulled out the contents in it. She pulled out a black, leather photo album and a bundle of letters, plus a little, locked, chest. Sarah slowly went looked through the average size photo album. It was all black and white pictures of Jareth growing up. She saw him as a baby, his toddler years, when he was a teen, ruling the kingdom, and even seeing his parents and a strange boy that was standing in the family photo beside Jareth. She stared at the picture wondering who this strange boy was. Was he a brother? A friend? Sarah had no clue what so ever.
Before going a long in the album, she marked the page by putting a little piece of paper in it. When she was near the end, she saw one color picture. It had Jareth in it, holding a baby. It must have been Aelise. And standing behind Jareth was a strange man. He strangely resembled Jareth a lot, like they were twins or something. He had the same eyes, smile, and body figure; but the only thing that you could tell them apart was their hair color. Of course, Jareth has blond hair, but this man’s was dark brown. Sarah stared long and hard at this picture. She would flip back and forth between the two pictures that had this man and boy. She could tell it was the same guy since they looked a like. Sarah decided to stop wondering about the two pictures and continue curiosity looking through the other contents. Sarah untied the sting around the little bundle of letters and read some of them. A man named Gavin sent all of the letters to Jareth. She pulled out a piece of brown, crinkled paper that this Gavin had sent. He wrote:
March 5, 1977
To my dear brother Jareth,
Hello, my brother! How are you? I’m all right. I’m still traveling all over the country to clear my mind. I miss you immensely! I wish you wouldn’t be so harsh on me. I didn’t mean to do what I did. It was purely accident. I’m terribly sorry. Why can’t you forgive me, instead of banishing me for six years? You know I didn’t mean to try to kill you. I was green with jealously! I was temporarily out of my mind. Please write me back!
Love, your sorry brother,
Gavin
Sarah was speechless. She didn’t know what to think of this. Jareth’s own brother was jealous of him because he was the king and he wasn’t. Sarah only thought this happened in movies or books, but this really happened. At the looks of it, it looked like Jareth banished Gavin for a while and then he would be allowed back in the kingdom. Sarah wished she knew what Jareth wrote back and said, or even if he even did. Sarah continued to read the next letter.
January 24, 1988
Dear Jareth,
Thank you for finally writing me back and allowing me to come back home. I missed you a lot. I have changed over these 15 years since we’ve seen each other. But, dear brother, I must ask you something. Why didn’t you allow me back in the kingdom nine years ago? Was it because you didn’t trust me? What was it? Please tell me.
Any ways, I’ll be due home in a week or so, just to tell you. Can’t wait to see my twin brother again. Love you lots!
Your brother,
Gavin
Sarah read each letter that was in the bundle. Gavin was basically pleading Jareth to let him come back. But eventually through the letters he quit and just accepted Jareth wasn’t going to forgive him so easily. But this letter she just read, Jareth actually responded back and told Gavin he could return. Sarah looked at the date and noticed it was the year when Jareth stole Aelise from her. This could have been a reason why he let Gavin come home, but maybe there was no resemblance between time period.
Sarah put all of the puzzle-like-pieces together in her mind and figured out Jareth was a twin, almost identical but the hair color threw it off. His twin, Gavin, tried to kill Jareth since he was the king. Gavin must of thought this was simply unfair, since they were twins, and thought it was all favouritism; and that could have been the case. So Jareth banished Gavin for a long time.
Now what puzzled Sarah was, why she hasn’t met or heard of Gavin. Maybe Aelise doesn’t even remember him. It was a complicated issue for Sarah. She didn’t even know Jareth had a sibling, let alone a twin! Why would he keep it a secret?
Sarah head was starting to hurt from analyzing the photos and letters. She decided she was going to check out the chest tomorrow. Then it dawned on her; she couldn’t take a peek at it the next day since she had company to entertain, and a ball to attend. She would have no time to look at the small chest; she might have time before bed, but it could be late before she gets back to her room.
She wiped all of these thoughts from her mind, packed all of the objects back in the box, and slid it under her bed to hide it. She crawled into bed and fell asleep, trying not to think of what she just found out.
Sarah awoke from her deep slumber by the warm sun shinning through her frost window. She peacefully climbed out of bed and changed into a sensible dress for the day. She wore the blue, velvet dress that touched the ground and it had short sleeves. She put on her slipper-like shoes and quickly pulled her hair up into a loose bun. When she was about to leave the room, the door knocked. Sarah was startled at first since she thought it could have been Sam or Rinoa, but then she clued in. She knew Sam and Rinoa didn’t know her quarters were there, so she figured it was Jareth, Aelise, or one of the servants. She opened the door ajar to see who it was. It was Jareth. She let him in.
When she turned around to look at him, he was standing in the sunlight. He looked quite presentable. He was nicely groomed and cleaned. He wore his new outfit he bought earlier last week; a black lather jacket, black pants, and his long cape.
Jareth asked, “Why aren’t you down there yet? They’re wondering where you are.”
Sarah apologized, “I’m sorry, but I slept in. I was up a little late so…you get my drift? And I do have a request for this room, get me a clock. It’s hard to tell the time in here.”
Jareth took her hand, “Ok, but please don’t do this again.”
Jareth looked over to her bed and saw something peeking out from under it. She followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at; the box. Sarah moved in front of his stare.
Jareth questioned, “What’s that?”
Sarah pretended that she didn’t know, “What’s what?”
He pointed under the bed, “That box? What is it?”
Sarah quickly looked and stated, “Oh, that box. It’s nothing, nothing at all. I just have some of my belongings packed in it.”
Jareth stated, “Oh, ok. Well, we better head down to the main hall now.”
When he was leaving the room, Sarah sighed with relief. She thought that was a close call, so he pushed the box under her bed a little bit more so no one could see it.
Jareth called from the hallway, “You coming, Sarah?”
Sarah yelled back, “Yeah, I’m coming!”
She ran out of her room and met up with Jareth. To put on a show that they were a couple, they walked down to the main room arm in arm. Sarah put on her ‘wife’ act, along with Jareth acting as the husband.
Everyone in the castle was decorating the place for the ball that was held later that night. Ribbons were hung up, flowers were everywhere, and the candles were on every table. A man on a ladder was lighting the chandelier. When they were making their way to the dinning room, she saw a clock that read 1:45 AM. She was amazed she slept in that long!
Sarah mumbled to Jareth, “Why didn’t you come and wake me up sooner. I had no clue it was so late.”
Jareth mumbled back, “Sorry, I forgot. I’m not use to wake up people, especially when someone is usually up earlier than me.”
Sarah giggled, “Well, this someone was up too late so she slept in.”
They walked into the room when Sam and Rinoa greeted them. Sam started to razz Sarah for not coming down sooner. She guessed that he never knew she slept in. When they were mingling Aelise skipped into the room announcing she was going outside to play with Ludo and Sir Didymus.
When Aelise left the room Rinoa asked curiously, “Who is Ludo and Sir Didymus?”
Jareth explained, “They’re just some friends of Sarah’s and my loyal guards. They saved my wife’s and daughter’s lives last summer.”
Rinoa nodded her head.
Jareth suggested that they should go outside for luncheon in the sun porch since it was so nice out; it was a sign of spring was coming soon. Once they stepped into the room, it was warm and bright. The sun melted the snow off the sunroof so the sun shone into the room and you could see the crystal blue sky above their heads. The four sat around a patio table and waited for the servants to bring in the food and drinks. Sarah stared off to the side to see the vegetation slowly revealing them selves outside. Then Ludo came charging through the garden with Aelise on his shoulders and Sir Didymus, was riding on Ambrosius.
Rinoa asked in a worried voice, “Who was that?”
Sarah replied, “Oh, that was only Ludo, Sir Didymus and his dog Ambrosius, and Aelise was in Ludo’s arms.”
Rinoa exclaimed, “I never knew they were so…so…beast like.”
Jareth added, “Well, they look ferocious so they scare many of the people, especially Ludo, that big hair beast that was carrying Aelise. “
Samuel asked, “Is it safe for Aelise to hang around them? Aren’t you afraid they’ll do something to her?”
Sarah answered his question, “Yes I trust them with her. They’re my friends. I know they won’t do anything to harm Aelise.”
Grandwella brought the food and another younger servant brought the wine and the wineglasses. They placed the food and glasses in front of everybody, and the young servant poured the ruby red wine into the glasses. Before they left, they curtsied and then left the room.
Samuel raised his glass to proposed a toast, “Here’s to you and Sarah for being together, and to our lovely friendship.”
Rinoa, Sarah, and Jareth raised their glasses in unison.
Jareth exclaimed, “I’ll drink to that! Cheers!” and then he taped his glass with everyone, and they followed his move.
They all took a sip of their wine and started to eat their luncheon. When Sarah was eating, she thought Aelise should have luncheon too. She excused herself and went to go find her daughter. It wouldn’t be too hard because all she did was that she would have to spot Ludo and she would be with him. She walked outside and followed the huge footprints that belonged to Ludo and the tiny dog prints that were from Ambrosius. She found the end of the tracks and the owners to them. The three were playing together in the snow. It was very cute. They were throwing snowballs at each other and hiding from the ice-cold balls that were being pelted them. She watched them for a few minutes until they realized that Sarah was watching them.
Sir Didymus greeted her, “Good afternoon, Sarah. What brings you here?”
Sarah replied, “Hey Didymus, Ludo. I just came here to retrieve my daughter for lunch. C’mon Aelise, time to eat.”
Aelise let out a small whine, “But Mother, we are in a middle of a game!”
Sarah ordered, “You can play with them after lunch. Now come on, they’re waiting!”
Aelise moped over to Sarah and they left back to where Jareth and their guests were.
When they arrived in the sun porch, Jareth, Sam, and Rinoa were gossiping about something. The three turned their attention at Aelise and Sarah as they walked in. Rinoa and Samuel greeted Aelise with a friendly “hello” and Jareth gave her a warm hug and a peck on the cheek. Once they were all settled, Grandwella brought Aelise a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches (her favourite), a tall glass of milk, and a small bowl of Caesar salad.
They ate their food slowly. When they finished Grandwella and the young servant picked up the dirty dishes and took them to the kitchen. Aelise asked to be excused from the table, so Sarah excused her. She knew Aelise wanted to go back and play with Ludo and Sir Didymus, rather than listen to a bunch of adults gab.
Samuel asked, “So what’s planned for tonight at the ball?”
Sarah looked at Jareth with a panicked look. Jareth got the hint to say something since she had no clue.
Jareth replied, “Sarah and I planned a big banquet for our evening dinner, and a spectacular dance.”
Rinoa wondered, “How many people are invited?”
Jareth paused before he answered so he could think of about how many invitations were sent out, “Umm…I think about 200 guests, maybe. I’m not completely sure.”
Rinoa changed the topic, “Sarah, how long have you and Jareth been married for?”
Sarah became a little nervous since she didn’t know anything of what Jareth had previously told her. She started to hesitate, “Uh…um…a…year.”
Rinoa stated, “Really? I thought Jareth said you two were married for four years,” she added, “five today.”
Sarah felt completely stupid! She just wanted the chair to swallow her up whole. She couldn’t believe that Jareth didn’t mention how long they were ‘married’ for. She decided to just make something up, “Oh! Has it been that long?”
Sarah smiled nervously, “It just seemed like yesterday we were married and on our honeymoon.” She leaned over on Jareth to spice it up a bit, “Do you remember, honey? Our trip to Sainckra? It was so fun!”
She winked at Jareth and he figured he had to just go along with it, so he put his arm around her; “Yes it was, since I was with the woman of my dreams!”
When she looked over at Rinoa, who look like she wasn’t buying it; but maybe she was and maybe she wasn’t, Sarah couldn’t really tell. She thought Rinoa was a very mysterious lady. You could never tell what Rinoa was thinking, nor if she was joking or being serious!
Samuel questioned, “Any ways,” he leaned back and relaxed in his chair, “how did you and Sarah meet up?”
Sarah hinted, “You can tell this, Hun.”
Jareth took a deep breath and said the first thing that popped in his mind; “Well you know, when I first saw Sarah, it was love at first site.”
Samuel stated, “We all know that, Jare! But where did you two meet up?”
Jareth lied, “Well, I met her at Alberack when we were both shopping at the same market. She was wearing a beautiful summer dress and her hair was all nicely pulled back. She looked like an angel that had fallen from Heaven.”
Jareth added, “I ‘accidentally’ bumped into her and we just started to talk. I took Sarah out for a late lunch and we just been together ever since. I have to say though, when I saw her, I thought she was the girl for me.”
Rinoa sighed, “How romantic!”
Later that night, Sarah was up at her room getting ready for the big ball. She was so nervous that she just wanted the night to be over already. The younger servant, by the name of Tamica, came in and did Sarah’s long brown hair and fixed up her dress. Sarah had the beauteous dress on that she wore with her first dance with Jareth when she had that temporarily amnesia. Her hair was neatly pulled up on the top of her hair in a ponytail. The hair that was up in the ponytail flowed so nicely down her back. Tamica curled Sarah’s hair and added little crystal jewels all through it. It looked quite fair.
At quarter to six Jareth greeted Sarah at the stair well and accompanied her to the dinner room.
The room was full of many people of every size, color, and shape. There had to be two or more tables to seat everyone for the big banquet. The room was bright as the sun because of all wall torches and the chandeliers above their heads were lit. The tables had lovely white, satin table clothes with the best china placed on them. The room seemed to dance with all of the excitement and decorations through the whole room. It was gorgeous!
As Sarah and Jareth walked into the room, it seemed everything had stopped at that moment. The guests stared at them with their all-abiding attention. Sarah started to get butterflies in her stomach because everyone was watching them very carefully. She started to bite on her lower lip and fidget with her fingers. Jareth nudged her with his elbow to try to make her stop. Sarah glared at him and he just looked down on her and smiled. She couldn’t help but smile back. Suddenly her stomach wasn’t full of butterflies anymore. His genuine way with his smile made her relax. Jareth sat Sarah at the end of the centre table beside his chair, and then he sat down beside her. This gave the cue for everyone else to take his or her seat and start the banquet. Samuel and Rinoa took their place on the left side of Sarah, where the main guests sit and Aelise was placed on Jareth’s side.
Samuel stood up and raised his glass for a toast. He spoke loud enough so everyone in the room could hear him, “Welcome ladies and gentlemen, friends and family. We are here today to celebrate my dear friends’ fifth wedding anniversary.” He looked at Jareth and Sarah with a broad smile, “I would like to make a toast to the Goblin King, Jareth, and his lovely and beautiful wife, Sarah. I hope that there will be many years to come for this couple to be together.”
A man at the back of the room yelled, “Here, here!”
Rinoa, Jareth, and Sarah raised their glasses and then took a sip of the champagne in their crystal, wineglasses.
Many servants burst of the kitchen door and brought in trays full of food. They set the platters in front to guests seated at the tables. They also bought more bottles of champagne for each table, and also a dessert to go after their main course.
Before everyone started to dig in, Jareth stood up to make an announcement, “Thank you all for coming for this special occasion, and thank you to Lord Samuel of Canza for that lovely toast he did. Now, after this fine meal we’ll be soon having, we’ll get the ball started. I hope everyone will have an enjoyable time tonight. Now lets start the banquet, shall we?”
When Jareth took his place back in his chair, people started to eat. Sarah then got nervous again. When she saw all of the utensils her mind went blank.
Jareth leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Work from the outside-in.”
What Jareth just said he remembered what to do. She picked up her salad fork and stabbed it into her garden salad, and continued to work her way to the main course, roast beef.
The banquet finished about 8:30 PM. The guests were lead to the ballroom while Jareth and Sarah stayed back. Jareth asked Samuel and Rinoa to take Aelise to the room while Jareth had to speak to Sarah.
Once they left, Jareth lowered his tone of voice; “Do you remember the steps to dance?”
Sarah shrugged her shoulders, “Yeah, sort of.”
Jareth asked, but he also in requesting tone, “Do you want to go over it?”
Sarah agreed, “Yes we better.”
Jareth grabbed her right hand in his left and put his right hand and on her back while she placed her left hand his shoulder. His touch sent jolts of electricity through her. He then lead her around telling her what to do, like what foot to step with, they way he’s turning, and what not. Jareth made her stare him right in his eyes so she wouldn’t look down and look like she had no idea what to do. She felt neurotic looking into his eyes. She felt like she was back at the ballroom dancing with Jareth the first time. She almost had a fluttery feeling being with him. She danced so smoothly with him this time than any other time they have danced.
After they rehearsed a bit, since they would have to do the first dance, they strolled over to the extravagant ballroom.
When Sarah walked in, extravagant couldn’t even explain it. The whole room took your breath away when you first glance at it. A huge diamond chandelier was hanging from the centre point of ceiling; it was beaming with light. The room was filled with bright colors to make the room seem so cheerful, instead of a dungeon like room that all dark and dismal. Huge white drapes filled the ceiling and wall candles filled the walls with light. The windows were stained glass that had pictures of angels, cherubs, and any other celestial spirits. It would look phenomenal when the sun would shine through it. Around the dance floor, which was in the centre, was a carpeted area with tabled and chairs to sit at. The dance floor its self was made of pure white marble with little swirls of black in it. At the back of the room, there was an ordure table full of cakes, squares, and drinks. You could tell the whole room was dancing with excitement.
The band started up by playing one of Chopin’s pieces, and to add they weren’t doing a bad job either. Jareth pulled Sarah on the dance floor to start the whole ball. At the centre of the dance floor, Sarah and Jareth started to dance. She was tense at first since she was trying to remember the steps, but after a few minutes she was beginning to relax. They kept a commendable stare on each other. They seemed like they were in their own little world. While they danced, the people around them watched the couple dance so light-footed around the floor. It was like they were dancing on air. When the song ended, Sarah and Jareth stopped and still stared at each other. Their stare finally broke off when Samuel came up to them, then they snapped back to reality.
Samuel asked, “Jareth do you mind if I take your dancing partner for this one dance?”
Jareth had no trouble with it so Sam took Sarah for the next song and Rinoa danced with Jareth. Sarah thought this was a little strange since Samuel hadn’t danced with his newly wife yet. Sarah tried not to make too much eye contact with him; it would be too weird for her. She would kind of look off to the side trying to find Jareth or just see what the other people were doing.
Samuel asked in a worried tone, “Are you alright, Sarah?”
Sarah brought her attention back on Sam, “What?”
Samuel asked once again, “Are you alright? You aren’t yourself.”
Sarah wanted to say that she wasn’t herself either, since she was acting like a totally different person with him and his wife around. She’s not usually the prissy girl that always wears a dress, modest, and so well mannered. She lied, “My mind is just somewhere else.”
Sam stated, “Well it seems like you aren’t enjoying yourself.”
He was right about that because she was trying to remember everything to act like a queen and not trying to enjoy this whole experience that she got to have the grace to do. Also, she didn’t want to keep her attention on him because she figured that Rinoa might get jealous of her.
Samuel suggested, “Maybe you should just forget whatever you’re thinking of and just have fun.”
Sarah laughed at the suggestion. She only wished she could forget everything, but then she would blow her and Jareth’s cover.
When the band had finished playing the song, Sam bowed and Sarah returned that by a curtsy. She then walked over to a nearby table to sit down and rest her tired feet. She swore those two songs, put together, were twenty minutes long. She tried to hide herself behind people so Jareth or Samuel wouldn’t ask her to dance or something. She wanted to be alone, since she hadn’t been all day. But her hiding place wasn’t good enough for Aelise. She spotted her mother sitting at the table, hiding her face with her hands. Aelise insisted that Sarah would dance with her; she even gave Sarah the puppy-dog face. That look broke the ice from keeping from Sarah dancing. When they stepped out onto the dance floor, Sarah saw Jareth dancing with a girl he must of he knew. She could tell because they were in deep conversation. She had a stroke of jelously when she saw him dancing with that girl.
Aelise grabbed her mother’s hands and they danced like how any mother would with her daughter. Then Aelise caught eye of some children so she ran off to play with them. Sarah was abandoned on the dance floor till this man with dark hair and facial expressions like Jareth came up to Sarah and asked her to dance. She was reluctant at first, but she just couldn’t say no since it was mean do that.
The man asked but it was like a statement, “Your Jareth’s wife, I take it.”
Sarah said in a sarcastic tone, “Yes, how did you know?”
The man laughed, “So you’re the witty type, huh? I think Jareth picked the perfect girl for him.”
Sarah murmured, “You don’t know the half of it.”
Sarah studied this strange man that knew her for some reason. He strangely resembled Jareth’s brother in the picture she saw in that photo album. He actually looked just like him, except his hair was a little shorter. Actually, it looked like he just got it cut.
Sarah asked, “Are you a relative of Jareth’s, or something?”
The man smiled, “Why yes I am. I’m his-“
Jareth walked over to the man and interrupted him, “May I talk to you for a second?”
The man shrugged his shoulders and followed Jareth to the dark hallway that separated the ballroom from the main entrance. Sarah spied on Jareth and the strange man from the edge of the dance floor. She looked off to the side pretending she wasn’t paying any attention to the men. She listened with her one ear closest to the to the conversation. When she glanced over she heard Jareth demand in a harsh tone, “What are you doing here?”
The man replied in a calm voice, “I’m here like everyone else,” he used his fingers to quote, “to celebrate your ‘anniversary’ with your so called wife, Sarah.”
Jareth pinned him up against the corridor wall and raised his voice in a sharp tone, “How do you know ‘bout that, Gavin?”
Sarah gasped! The man was Jareth’s twin brother. She knew Gavin looked awfully like his twin. She wondered why he would be here and just show up like this? She knew by Jareth’s reaction that he wasn’t invited to this gathering. The she caught word of what Gavin said to Jareth’s question.
Gavin laughed with a bit of mockery in it, “Man, don’t flip! Don’t worry, bro., I wouldn’t tell anyone that you and Sarah aren’t even actually married, especially for five years.”
Jareth’s fist raised up in the air, ready to strike his brother. Sarah dashed toward Jareth and grabbed his arm before he was able to hurt Gavin.
Sarah yelled, “Don’t, Jareth!”
Sarah pulled Jareth away from Gavin with all her might. She stood between them so neither Jareth nor Gavin could throw the first punch at each other without going through her.
She demanded, “What the heck do you two think you’re doing?”
Gavin accused Jareth, “Jareth started it!”
Sarah spoke in a furious tone, “I don’t care whose fault it is! This is not the time, nor place, for your brotherly squabble!” Sarah kept looking back at the twins, “So you stop it now and leave this until later, or take it outside. No one wants to see this, especially on this specific night!”
Jareth glared at Gavin and at Sarah with a thousand daggers, and then he stormed out of the room.
Gavin exhaled with relief, “Man that was close!” He looked at Sarah, “Thanks for saving my neck. I had a feeling he was going to pound the dickens out of me for a minute.”
Sarah understood what he meant, “Yeah I know what you mean. He likes to throw his little baby fits here and there. I can’t believed he picked this night out of all of them though.”
Gavin leaned back on the cold, stone wall, looking down the hallway that Jareth went down, “Well that’s Jareth for you.” He then looked at Sarah with a confused look, “How did you know we were brothers? I knew that he never told any one. He hid every piece of evidence of me that was left in this castle so no one else would know about me and so he could forget too!”
Sarah started to bite her lower lip. She wasn’t sure she should tell him she found the box when she was in that room or if she should lie and say that Jareth told her. Sarah decided to go with her gut feeling and tell Gavin the truth since he disserved it.
Sarah replied shyly looking slightly at the floor, “I…uh…well I found a box with picture and letters. There were letters from you and a few pictures in the photo album.”
She slowly looked up from the floor to look at Gavin. He looked dumb struck! Sarah started to feel guilt-ridden for snooping in Jareth’s belongings that he didn’t want anyone to see.
She added, “I also read the letter and figured some things out about you and Jareth.”
Gavin asked in a worried voice, “What did you find out?”
She then started to fidget, “That you tried to,” she cleared her throat to cover up the next word, “kill Jareth. And that he banished you for your crime.”
Gavin leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling, “Aww man. Now that cat’s out of the bag!”
Sarah apologized, “I’m sorry, Gavin! I didn’t mean to find out, I swear. I just found the box and my curiosity got the better of me.” She sighed, “I just wanted to find out more about Jareth.”
Gavin nodded his head, “I understand. It wasn’t your fault you found out like this. He should have told you.”
Sarah asked, “Does Aelise know about you? Have you ever seen her?”
Gavin shook his head, “No she doesn’t know; and yes I seen her, only when she was a baby though. I saw her after he brought her here. But no, she doesn’t have a clue about me. I think Jareth wants to keep it like that.”
Sarah disagreed, “No he’s not going to keep it like that, not as long as I’m around! She has every right to know that she has an uncle.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, you’re right, but I have doubts about it.” He changed the subject, “Well I better go and get some sleep.”
Sarah saw him walk towards the doors that lead outside, she called after him, “Where are you sleeping at?”
Gavin stopped and turned to look at Sarah, “Outside in my carriage.”
Sarah insisted, “Why don’t you use one of the rooms. There’re tons to spare.”
Gavin smiled at her, “Thank you, Sarah.”
She took him to a room to stay at till everything is back on track for him. When she finished showing him, she went back to the ballroom.
Everyone was still dancing strong. It was later that night, after midnight, till everyone left home. When the last guest left, she lazily walked up to her room and went to sleep. Once she hit her bed, she literally died. She was so tired that once she laid her head on the pillow, she zonked out.
The next few days were tense between Gavin and Jareth, and Sarah and Jareth. He was hopping mad that Sarah invites Gavin to stay as long as he wanted to and that Gavin was even there. He was sort of giving them the silent treatment, but he was being courteous when Samuel and Rinoa were around. Once they left, he gave his Gavin and Sarah the cold shoulder. Anything they would say, Jareth would snarl back. It was not hostile in that castle.
After talking to herself in the mirror, Sarah got the guts to ask Jareth if she could visit her family. She thought this was a great idea since it would get her away from Jareth before she’d go nuts. She needed to interact with her old world again. When she asked he instantly granted her, her wish. He gave her a necklace with a small crystal ball on it.
He instructed, “When you want to leave back home just say ‘ekat em emoh.’ This incantation will take you back to your home. When you decide to come back just chant ‘nruter em ot eht thnirybal eltsac.’ That will take you back here.” He went back to his work, “Now go, so I can finish these papers for tomorrow!”
Sarah quickly left the room after Jareth dismissed her.
She went back up to her room so she could pack some things before she would go. Aelise came and asked where Sarah was going. She just told her daughter that she going on a short vacation to see her parents. Sarah assured Aelise’s worries by saying she’ll be back soon, and she meant it too! She then kissed the poor child and went back to her packing. Without saying a word Aelise left her mom to her duties. While she was packing she was reciting the incantations in her head so she wouldn’t screw them up and something completely wrong wouldn’t happen.
Just before she left, she went to say goodbye to everyone and told him or her that she would be back, but she didn’t know exactly when since the time was different between the two worlds. Gavin promised Sarah that he would behave himself and won’t get in Jareth face while she was gone and Aelise said she’d look out for her Uncle Gavin. But she never found Jareth before she left. Sarah asked if Aelise could pass the message she gave Gavin and that she won’t be long, hopefully. She was a little hurt because Jareth didn’t even wish her well before she would go home. She would of thought he would say a decent goodbye. She felt the tears burning her eyes when she was making her way up to her room to say the incantation so she wouldn’t be disturbed. The tears rolled down her cheeks one-by-one. She wiped them quickly from her face before anyone could see them. She opened up her door slowly. Sarah felt like this would be her last time there, but she knew it wasn’t. It was just the emotions in the atmosphere making her feel that. Once she opened the door, she saw Jareth sitting on her bed looking out the window. She was startled to see him there. He looks his attention from whatever he was looking out the window.
Sarah asked, “What are you doing in here?”
Jareth replied in a depressed tone, “I’m here to tell you goodbye.”
Sarah could tell by the sorrow look in his eyes that there was something else he wanted to say. Sarah wanted to con him to tell her, but she thought she’d let him tell her on his own free will.
Sarah nodded her head, “Well goodbye then.”
She looked at Jareth, who was looking at the floor with his glazed covered eyes. She saw a tear fall from his cheek.
Sarah walked over to him and put her arm around her shoulder, “You know, I won’t stay there forever. I promise I’ll come back. Don’t worry.”
Jareth wiped the tear from his cheek before he looked up at Sarah. He looked into her deep blue eyes and spoke in a soft voice, “I know that. But,” he sighed, “I’m sorry for being such a jerk. I know it was childish and all, but having my brother just appear was frustrating.”
He was about to tell the story how Jareth banished Gavin, but Sarah interrupted him by saying she already found out (but not how). She thought for a long moment, to see if she should invite Jareth. They have been getting along really well (except the little dispute they just had). She figured he needed a vacation since it was frustrating having to rule a whole kingdom. He was getting stressed out!
Sarah curiously asked, “Jareth, do you want to accompany me to my home?”
With that little question, his eyes lightened up, they weren’t as gloomy looking as they were before. It was like that was the best thing that happened to him all day.
Sarah asked, “Well? How about it?”
Jareth nodded his head, “Sure, I’ll come along with you.”
Sarah smiled, “Alright. Get whatever you need and be back here in 15. I’ll go tell Aelise and Gavin that they have to look after the castle till we come back.”
With that, they went their own ways. Sarah went to go find her daughter and Gavin. After five minutes she found the two sitting on the swinging chair on the huge willow in the garden. Gavin was telling Aelise a story while she sat on his lap, lying back on his chest. She cleared her throat to get their attention. When she did, Sarah apologized for interrupting them and told them they would have look after the castle till her and Jareth came back from their little trip. When Gavin heard that, he had a sly smile on his face. She knew what he was thinking so she told him to keep his thoughts to himself. She explained that Jareth needs a vacation from the weight of the crown that was on his shoulder and she thought it was just a nice gesture to invite him, after all he did for her that past week. She also said it would be an exciting trip for him.
She left it at that and made her way back up to her room, where Jareth should be waiting.
Sarah was right, Jareth was waiting for her in her room. She asked if he was ready and he stated he was. She held the tiny crystal ball in her hand while she recited the incantation. In a snap, they were gone.
All of a sudden, they were in her room. Everything was in the same place the she left it. She started to wonder what day it was since the Labyrinth was ahead in time than her world. Jareth studied the room carefully, looking around in awe.
Sarah motioned, “We’re home. Well, my home any way. Let’s go down stairs and see everyone.”
Jareth dropped his bag and followed Sarah down the carpeted stairs. Before they reached the main level, she told him to stay put till she said it’s ok. When she popped her head around the corner, she saw her stepmother pacing back and forth in the living room and her father was sitting nervously on the edge of his chair by the phone. Toby was playing in his play area like he never knew Sarah was even gone. Her stepmother and father looked like they never got any sleep for a week. Her stepmother’s eyes were all red, puffy. Her father’s, on the other hand, looked bloodshot and he had dark
circles around his eyes.
She heard her stepmother say something, “Where is she? She’s been gone a week, David! Where could she be?”
Sarah’s father replied in a sorrowful tone, “I don’t know Janet. I just don’t know.”
The phone rang. Sarah’s father picked up the phone like a frog’s tongue flying out of its mouth to catch the fly.
He quickly said, “Hello? Oh good evening officer. Have you heard anything yet?”
David rubbed his forehead and face and said in a disappointing tone, “Oh, thank you sir. Please keep looking…Yes we’ll tell you if she shows up. Thanks.” Then he hung up the phone.
Janet asked, “Did they find her?”
David replied disappointingly, “No they never. They said they’ll keep looking.”
Janet plopped herself down beside her husband. Tears started to stream down her face and her voice started to quiver. Her husband placed his arm around his grieving wife and held her in his arms. She wept in his strong arms, wishing Sarah was there. David kissed his wife on the top her head, trying not to cry so he could seem he’s the strong one. Sarah watched her parent in guilt. She never meant to stay so long in the Labyrinth and make her parents go in hysterics looking for her. She never even thought how they would react. She went back up the stairs and took Jareth back in her room. He heard everything. Sarah could see the guilt run through his body. He imagined Aelise gone for a week without knowing where she went. He sort of had that feeling, wondering where his baby girl was, but he just couldn’t imagine all the pain and suffering he put Sarah’s family through. It was selfish that he made Sarah stay in his kingdom. He should have made her go home and just tell her parents she was ok and she could came back after, or something. Jareth sat on Sarah’s bed thinking of what he has done.
Sarah paced back and forth in her room. She couldn’t just show up coming down the stairs from her room. She figured it would be better that she and Jareth went out her window, go down drainpipe on the side of the house, and go in by the front door. Then at least it would look like she was just coming home from where ever she was. But then she would be grounded for life so she planned that she left a note in her room that she was looking for her own place somewhere else and she’s just stayed with her friend (and this would be Jareth in this situation). Sarah thought that this plan was better so she scribbled down on a piece of paper to tell her family where she was. This would be the fake note she left and her parents just couldn’t find it.
When Jareth asked what she was doing, she explained her plan. He thought it was almost believable so he agreed to go along with it. They both climbed out her window and Sarah went down the drainpipe. While she did that, Jareth walked down the side of the house. Sarah looked at him, then rolled her eyes, and shook her head. He smiled cleverly. He didn’t want to go down the hard way, so he just made it easier for him. When he reached the ground, he gave Sarah a hand getting down. They then walked over to the front door, making sure her parents didn’t see her. When they reached there, Merlin, Sarah’s sheep dog, was lying down by the door. At one glance of Sarah he bounced over to her, barking happily. She crouched down in front of her ecstatic dog and petted and kissed him. Then when Merlin looked at Jareth, he started to growl. Sarah figured he remembered Jareth by their last encounter. Sarah hushed the poor dog and said that Jareth’s a friend now. That hushed the big, hairy dog for a moment, but there were the few odd growls.
The barking got her parents’ attention and they rushed out to see what Merlin was barking about. When they opened the door, they saw Sarah crouched down, petting her dog and a strange man that they had no idea who it was. They stood there in shock, but then Janet ran up to Sarah and hugged her; David joined in on the hug too! Tears streamed down her parents’ face while they mauled her. They were saying how much they missed her and were so happy she was all right. Jareth just sat on the railing of the porch as he watched as Sarah’s family reunited with her. He sat there with his arms crossed in front of him and leaning on the pillar. When Janet and David detached them selves from their daughter, Sarah introduced Jareth to her family. She said that he convinced her to come home and tell them about what she did and brought her home. This made this a warm welcome for him since her parents thought he was a god for bringing home their only daughter. They shook Jareth’s hand and gave him warm greeting. When they finished greeting Jareth, they demanded why Sarah never told them where she went or even called and said she was ok. She lied that she left a note up on her bed room dresser for them. They basically told her she was a liar so she had to take them up stairs to her room to prove it. She handed them the note and they read it. It was silent for a moment and then David said that he was sorry for blaming her for not leaving a note. She was happy he bought the whole thing.
Sarah mentioned that Jareth needed a place to crash till he could go home. David humbly offered the guestroom down the hallway. Jareth took his bag and took it to the room.
While he was gone, Janet asked where she went. Sarah just said she found a place and she was going to stay there. She also said it was all furnished. Sarah hated to lie to her stepmother, but she just could never find out about the Labyrinth. Janet would just go berserk about the whole place and what has happened. She wouldn’t allow it! So Sarah tried to keep it under wraps. Janet bided good night to Sarah and left the room. David came in after and said good night too!
Sarah sat at her bureau mirror and studied her reflection. The girl in the reflection didn’t look like the girl who used to peer into it every day. This girl looked older and mature than the other one. It wasn’t the one who dressed up for the heck of it either. This girl was the new and improved Sarah. The new Sarah had matured over her stay at the Labyrinth castle with Aelise and Jareth. She wasn’t living in a fairy tale with a wicket stepmother, a father that didn’t care about here, and a baby brother who got all of the attention. She was awakened from the dream by her wake up call that showed her she’s a mother and that she had to change her ways for the little one. Also she made some hard decisions while she was there that showed that she was growing up, acting responsible, and taking responsibly.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She saw Jareth appear in the doorway when she was looking into her mirror.
Jareth asked, “Did I disturb you?”
Sarah shook her head, “No, it’s ok. Come in.”
Jareth walked in and planted him self on the bed. He stared at Sarah through her mirror.
Sarah turned to look at Jareth, “Thank you, Jareth, for going along with my story. With out your help I wouldn’t be able to convince my parents and be grounded for life.”
Jareth smiled, “No problem. You helped me, so I have to return the favour.”
Sarah corrected him, “You favour for me was to let me go home for a bit.”
Jareth laughed, “True, but I thought I just should help you since you helped me with a lot since you stayed with Aelise and me.”
He walked over to the door and told Sarah, “I better get to bed now. See you tomorrow morning.”
Sarah wished him good night and he left her room. She thought it was a good idea too since she would have to wake up earlier than usual and face the music with her parents. Also, she had to give Jareth a taste of her world before they would leave in a few days. Sarah started to wonder how many days had passed at the Labyrinth and if the castle was still in one piece. She chuckled at the thought of coming to home to a pile of rubble. Before she went to bed, she brushed her long, silky, brown hair, got on her pyjamas, and crawled in her warm, soft bed. When she was trying to drift off, she felt like she never left home and that it was all a dream, but she knew it wasn’t.
The next few days were very eventful. First of all, Janet and David gave Sarah a long speech of how she should of told them in person than just run off and how worried sick they were, while Jareth was in the back yard playing with Merlin. Sarah just basically sat back and blocked it all out, adding her two bits here and there. When that ended she took Jareth out on the town. She took him out for supper at a pizza place and she then took him to a club. What he wore for the club, he fitted right in. He wore his traditional leather outfit and his knee high boots. Sarah was quite pleased that he was having as much fun as he was. She even got him to bop to the music! Also she took him to a museum to show some of the things he uses that were qualified “antique” in Sarah’s world. She also took him to the local zoo and an amusement park. They were having a blast just spending some time together.
When they decided they should go, Sarah told her parents that she would visit as much as she could. This departure with her parents brought tears to their eyes since Sarah was leaving again. Before they left, she hugged and kissed her parents goodbye and then Jareth and Sarah went out the front door. When they got out there they dashed over to the bushes so no one would see them disappear out of thin air. Sarah held the tiny, crystal ball and said the incantation ‘nruter em ot eht thnirybal eltsac,’ then they vanished in a puff of smoke. In a few seconds they were back in the castle in her room.
Sarah sighed, “We’re home.”
Jareth studied the room, “And it looks like it’s in one piece too. Now, lets go announce that we’re back.”
He grabbed her hand and drug her down to main floor. The whole place smelled of freshly cut flowers and the smell of home made food. The sun was beaming in through the windows and you could hear the birds sing their spring songs. Sarah had a feeling that it was spring already at the Labyrinth. She started to wonder how long they were gone.
When they were making their way outside to find Gavin and Aelise, the servants greeted Sarah and Jareth with a friendly welcome back. They would bow, nod their head, or curtsy when they would walk by. Sarah felt almost embarrassed when they would do that. She didn’t think she needed to be treated so royalty, she was just a normal person who grew up in a small town outside a big city.
When Sarah and Jareth were outside, Sarah started to squint from the sunlight. The sun was bright as ever, the snow was completely gone, flowers were bursting in bloom, and the grass was fresh and an emerald green color. It was radiant! It was a lovely spring day to be outside. At the huge willow tree, Gavin was sleeping on the swinging chair. He had a book keeping its page on his chest and he was slightly snoring. Sarah giggled at the sight and Jareth tried to stifle his laugh. He walked over to his sleeping brother and pushed the chair vigorously with his foot. The swinging chair rocked from the push and then Gavin woke up with a fright.
Gavin exclaimed, “What? Huh? Is there an earthquake?” then he noticed he was on the swing and that Jareth was standing right in front of him. “Oh! Hey bro! Welcome back!”
Jareth replied, still laughing at Gavin’s reaction to his wake up call, “Thanks, Gavin. It’s nice to be back. So where’s your little niece?”
Gavin rubbed the sleep from his eyes, “Oh! Aelise? Um…she’s looking after that dog, Ambrosius, for that little fox like creature.”
Sarah turned her head to see if she could spot Aelise or the big sheep dog anywhere. At the far corner of the garden, she saw a big, white, fluffy thing lying down. Sarah pointed to Jareth, “There they are, Jareth.”
Sarah, Jareth, and Gavin walked over to the big mass of fluff. Ambrosius heard them coming so he lifted up his head to see where they were. He was acting like a pillow for Aelise, who was taking a catnap on him. Sarah wished she had a camera since this was a perfect “Kodak moment.” She knelt down beside Ambrosius and Aelise and stroked her daughters long, flowing hair. The girl slightly stirred and then woke up, staring at her mother. When Aelise saw her, her eyes light up with joy. Aelise’s smile was as bright as the sun on a summer’s day.
Aelise hugged Sarah, “Mommy, your home!”
Sarah held Aelise in her arms, “Yes, I’m home!”
Aelise asked, “What took you so long? I missed you and Daddy.”
Sarah laughed, “I was only gone a few days at my world. How long were we gone over here?”
Aelise thought for a moment, “You were gone just over two weeks.”
Sarah choked, “What? We were gone that long?!”
Aelise nodded her head. Sarah was shocked that Jareth and her were gone so long! She picked up the child and placed her in her lap.
Sarah said in a comforting voice, “Well, I’m here now, so no worries.”
Aelise smiled again and wrapped her arms around Sarah’s chest.
They went back to the castle so they could tell Gavin and Aelise all that they did. Sarah and Jareth told the two their vacation in the library. The library was filled with books that went up to the ceiling. There was a rather large fireplace on the east wall. In the front and the sides of it there, were three soft, red velvet couches that looked very comfy to just relax on. There was a tall ladder that rolled along the bookshelves all across the book-filled room. In the corners there would be end table that were places by some padded, green colored chairs. The floor was carpeted, but the part that the ladder rolled on.
Everyone, but Gavin, placed them selves on the couch in front of the fireplace. Gavin laid on one of the couches by the others. Sarah started the whole thing off by telling them everything when they arrives at her house (but the part their plan in the beginning). While Sarah would be telling the story, Jareth would add his two bits to make it a bit more exciting. And of course, Aelise would interrupt them to ask questions (like any little child would do).
As Sarah was just about to wrap it up, Grandwella walked in and asked for Jareth to follow her. He got up off the couch and followed her out of the library. She closed the huge oak doors behind her when they left.
Gavin said as he was flipping through a book, “Must be important if Grandwella took him out of the room.”
Sarah agreed, “Yes, it must be.” She sat there thinking for a second, “I wonder what it’s all about?”
Gavin shrugged his shoulders and picked up another book, “He’ll tells us if it was important for us to know.”
When Sarah was about to speak, the door opened and Jareth came walking in.
He said in a rushed tone, “I have to go on a trip for a while. My army and I need to help Samuel and Rinoa at their kingdom because they’re being attacked.”
Sarah gasped, “Oh no! How long will you be gone?”
Jareth replied, “I don’t know for sure. I’ll send a letter once and week and tell you where I am and when I might be due home.”
Aelise rushed over to her father and grabbed his waist. She pleaded, “Please, Daddy, don’t go!”
Jareth bent over and picked up Aelise, “I have to go, Dear. It’s by request and they’re my friends, so I have to help them.”
Tears started to roll down Aelise’s cheeks, “Bu-but you just got home!”
Jareth wiped the tears from her face with his sleeve, “I know, Aelise, but I have to. I promise I’ll come back safe and sound.”
Aelise sobbed, “You can’t promise that!”
Jareth eyes started to tear up too, “All I can do is try. Be strong, Aelise. I need you to do that for me, ok?”
Aelise nodded and then placed her head on Jareth’s shoulder, “I’ll try, Daddy.”
Jareth held her close to her and kissed the sobbing girl.
Gavin interrupted the emotional moment, “Come, Aelise. We should get ready for dinner.”
Reluctantly, Aelise went in Gavin’s arms and was taken out of the room.
Jareth flopped down onto the couch and but his head between his knees. The room was quiet and Sarah was still in the room, sitting beside Jareth. She put a comforting arm around his shoulder and just stared at him.
Jareth lifted his head, with his cheeks a bit moist from his tears and joked, “I hate good-byes.”
Sarah said in a monotonousness voice, “Don’t we all?”
Jareth stared deep into Sarah’s eyes. She just couldn’t get her self to look away from him.
Sarah asked, “When do you have to leave?”
Jareth broke the stare and looked up at the floor, “Tonight.”
Sarah questioned, “Why so soon?”
Jareth explained that when Samuel and Rinoa got back to Canza, an army of Gremlins and Fireys attacked them. They raged war against Samuel’s kingdom, demanding they wanted his land. The Gremlins and the Fireys were too strong for the Canzain army, so they need help from Jareth. He added that since Samuel helped him in a war or two so, he thought he should help, and that they were friends too. Sarah understood why he should go since it was fair, but she couldn’t get why he told Aelise. He should have said he had to leave for a while and he’d keep in touch with them.
Sarah hugged him goodbye and mentioned he should get ready to leave. Sarah then left him sitting on the couch while she went off. Her heart started to hurt from the thought of Jareth leaving and risking his life for a worthless war. She couldn’t bare him coming home in a casket or not coming home at all. If this would happen to him, she wouldn’t know how to tell Aelise. She would be upset for eternity! Sarah started to realize what she was saying; she loved Jareth. She was worried for his self-being and she would always get this fluttery feeling when they were together. There weren’t any other options for her feelings towards Jareth. Sarah started thinking of reasons why she loved him so. He took Toby away from her a few years back, he made her stay in the oubliette while she was trying to find her way to the centre of the Labyrinth and rescue him from turning into a goblin on the thirteenth hour. Also, Jareth made her life a living hell while she was there. And he took Aelise from Sarah when she first had her; she never even knew him and he took her! Before she knew that the Goblin King existed, she just though he was a fairy tale from a book, that she loved so dearly, so she had no clue that the whole thing was true. And now he was going to leave her and Aelise, risking his life for a silly battle. But then she started to think of all the sweet things he had done for her. Jareth let her stay at the castle to be with Aelise, bought her all kinds of clothing before Samuel and Rinoa visited. He bought her a long stem rose and the rose necklace to say thank you and, and to generously ask if she could help him out. Also, he let her go home for a few days. Even though Jareth had annoyed her, she still found a way to look all through his faults and love him for everything good he had done.
Sarah walked out to the stables while everyone else was off somewhere. She strolled down the stone lane and carefully looked at each individual horse. While she looked at them, a few of the servants bustled by her, taking out Jareth’s horse and a bunch of others. She turned and watched them lead the horses out to the corral. One man carried some of Aeries’, Jareth’s horse, ridings armour and took it over and placed it on one of the posts of the corral. Sarah noticed they were getting the horses ready for the long battle that was ahead of them. Soon after, goblins of every age, size, and shape crowded around the fence in their battling armour and leather sacks thrown around their shoulder. They waited patiently until they were assigned a horse and where they will be assigned to be designated.
The sun was getting mighty close to sun set when Sarah realized she should head back to the castle and bid a sorrowful fair well to Jareth and wish him good luck. This was going to be hard on her, and everyone else, because he could be gone for years. They could never hear from him, come home in a casket, or not even know where he’s at. But Sarah tried to think positive that he’d come back safe and sound. But the negative thoughts flooded her mind when she was trying to be optimistic.
She reached the castle doors, but when she was about to open then, the doors flew open and Aelise ran through the them, crying loudly. Then Gavin rushed by and bumped into Sarah while he ran after the wailing child. When she looked inside Sarah saw Jareth couched over him self on the sofa. He shuddered a bit and then noticed someone was in the room. He looked up and saw her standing there, staring at him. He then looked away so she couldn’t see his face. Sarah walked over to him, sat down beside him, and leaned her head on Jareth’s shoulder. She asked what was the matter, but he said nothing. Then she re-asked the question and waited for a reply. He finally spoke up and he said nothing was the matter. She then looked at him harshly and then the ice broke.
Jareth took a deep breath, “Aelise is angry with me, and she now hates me for leaving. I really don’t want to leave, but I have to. You see, I’m just really depressed.”
Sarah nodded her head, understanding what he was saying, “Don’t worry, Jareth she’ll get over it. It’ll just take time for her to adjust.” She then looked at him in a questionable look, “Do you really have to go?”
Jareth shook his head yes, “Yeah I do. It’s like one of those burdens of the crown that I have to obey. I have to help my fellow allies.”
Jareth then stood up and started to walk over to the door, “Well, I better be leaving now.” He looked back to Sarah and spoke in a sad voice, “Goodbye, Sarah. I’ll miss you. Please take care of Aelise for me. And if something happen, break it gently to her. And in my desk in my study room, there is a list of things. Read it to everyone if I don’t return.”
Sarah stood up; tears streaming down her face like a waterfall. She nodded her head in reply because she knew if she spoke, her voice would fail her.
When he was about to leave the room, Sarah called, “ Jareth! Wait!”
Jareth stopped and turned around. She ran over to Jareth and wrapped her arms around him. She whispered, “I love you, Jareth. Please be careful.”
Jareth held Sarah in his arms. He kissed Sarah and said in a quiet tone, “I will. Bye Sarah.” Then he let go of Sarah and walked over to Aeries, who was waiting out front, with a servant holding his reigns. Jareth tied his sack on the back of his horse, and climbed on it, and sat himself on the saddle.
Aelise ran over to Sarah, with Gavin following. She picked up Aelise in her arms and they watched as Jareth lead his army off to Canza. Aelise put her arms around her mother’s neck and buried her head in her shoulder. Sarah followed Jareth with her eyes until he was out of site. Even after he was long gone, she and Aelise stayed outside and were surrounded my silence. Gavin left the two after Jareth was shortly gone. But Sarah just stared off to the distance where Jareth left. A few tears trickled how her cheek and dropped off like a thousand brick on to the ground. Aelise soon fell asleep in. After a while when moon light was getting dimmer and the night air was becoming cooler, Sarah carried Aelise up to her room, and tucked the sleeping girl in her comforting bed.
Sarah walked down the stairs and to the library like a zombie. Her eyes her cold and blank, her facial expression was bare, her eyes and face were red from crying, and wiping her eyes, and her hair looked like the wind was blowing through it all day. She felt like her heart was ripped from her body and thrown and stomped on the ground. So you could say she was heart broken from Jareth leaving her. He didn’t even say the words she was hoping before he left, which made her feel even worse. She thought to herself that he didn’t love her the way she did.
She arrived at the library, her stomach was churning from the absence of Jareth. The fire was burning brightly and warmly in the darkness of the late night. She sat herself on the couch, that was in front of the fireplace, and wrapped her body in the warm, fuzzy blanket. She curled up on red, velvet couch and stared into the blazing, yellowish-orange fire. The flame seemed to dance around wickedly. She imagined of little objects, people, or animals in the flame while she sat alone in the dark. From the huge window, the moonlight seeped and illuminated parts of the book-filled room. It made dark shadows all over the room, making them looks like witches, goblins, hand reaching out, and what ever her imagination thought of. Soon, the doors that lead out of the room creaked and startled Sarah. She quickly sat up and looked over at the shadowed covered doors. She saw a dark, built figure hiding in the shadows.
Sarah raised her voice, “Who’s there? Come out so I can see you.”
The figure stepped out from the shadows and stood in the light from the fire.
Sarah sighed with relief, “Oh, it’s only you, Gavin.”
Gavin snickered, “Yeah it’s only me. Who did you think it was, the boogey man?”
Sarah added, “I’m not sure. I couldn’t tell you really in this place. Don’t know what to expect.”
He nodded his head, “True, very true. So what are you doing here, sitting alone in the dark?”
Sarah turned to the fire, “I was just thinking and getting away from everything. I find it relaxing just sitting the dark with a fire burning in the night.”
Gavin sat himself beside Sarah, “You were thinking about Jareth weren’t you?”
Sarah sheepishly nodded her head. She felt embarrassed confessing that to Gavin.
Gavin popped up and asked, “You love him don’t you?”
Again Sarah nodded her head yes. He was making Sarah feel very uncomfortable talking about this subject. She didn’t want anyone to know about this, and she found it a little rude telling Gavin all of this since he is Jareth’s brother. She then moved to the side of the chair and looked back at the fire. Then Gavin put his arm around Sarah’s shoulders, “Don’t worry, Sarah, he’ll be back. I know it.”
Sarah smiled timidly at Gavin. She was happy that he tried to reassure her thoughts about Jareth leaving, but deep inside she couldn’t shake off that feeling.
Mean while, Jareth was still riding in the dark, leading his army over to the battle. The moon was high and the sky was clear. The stars shone so bright like diamonds in the sunlight. The Milky Way wove it way through the stars like a white ribbon. Jareth was following the North Star so he could find his way to Canza in the darkness of the spring night. Soon, the soldiers were falling behind so Jareth decided to make camp along the mystical forest that they were at the out skirts of. Jareth got off his sweating horse and took off its battling armour, saddle, and then tied Aeries’ reigns to a tree so the horse wouldn’t wander off. After tending his horse he found a nice tree to lean against. Jareth propped himself by it, and then tired to fall into a deep slumber. His mind kept on drifting off to what Sarah said to him earlier, that she loved him. When he thought back to what his reply was, he almost kicked himself. He should have said something else other than bye. Jareth should of told Sarah his feelings about her, but being the stupid one he was, he didn’t even apply the thought to the whole thing. Then he started to feel bad for leaving Sarah, Gavin, and Aelise in such a short notice, but he couldn’t really help it. He thought of Aelise crying herself to sleep and being so upset that her father had left her and that there might be a chance he might not come back. But he stopped his mind from thinking that because he had to think positive about this whole situation; Jareth would come home safely and see his baby girl again and the girl of his dreams (in this case it would be Sarah.)
He couldn’t sleep, he decided to write Aelise and Sarah a letter. He went into his saddlebag and got out some paper and a pen. At first he was lost of words, but then he decided to write Sarah and tell her how he felt. He knew it wouldn’t be as good as telling her in person, but this was better than nothing. He wrote that he loved her very much since the first day he laid eyes on her. He mentioned that he had loved no one since then. He tried to promise that he would come back and see her again. He also said to give a kiss and a hug to Aelise for him and tell her that everything will be ok and that he loved her very much. When he was finished he waited for the ink to dry and then he folded it up and slid it into the envelope. In the morning Jareth was going to get one of his men to send the letter back to the castle so Sarah could get it as soon as possible. He would send it now, but he figured it was too late for that and the man would be really tired.
Once when the sun’s light shone over the hills, Jareth got one of his men to ride as quickly back to the castle and give the letter to Sarah, and Sarah only. Then he would have to come back after Sarah had written back. After her order the man, Jareth got his horse prepared and continued their journey.
The young man made his horse run in a full speed so they could get back to the castle as soon as they could. He would only stop for a few minutes to let his horse have a short rest and a drink from a pond or a running stream, and then he would start heading back to the castle.
The sun was about to set when the messenger arrived at the castle with the letter for Sarah. He stormed into the castle, demanding where “Lady Sarah” was. Grandwella told him that Sarah was in the library. So he hurried over to there. He slammed open the doors, startling Sarah.
He wheezed from looking for Sarah, “Lady Sarah?”
Sarah gave a puzzled look since she has never been addressed as a “Lady” before; “Yes, this is she.”
The man was still panting from lost of breath. He handed Sarah the envelope that contained the letter from Sarah, “The King wanted me to give you this, and I am to stay here until you reply back to it.”
Sarah seemed a little confused when he handed the letter to her. She quickly opened up the envelope and read the letter. While she was reading it to herself, it brought tears to her eyes. She was so happy that Jareth felt the same way as she did. She quickly found a pen and a piece of paper and quickly wrote back a reply saying she was so happy and all. But then she asked if there was any way to see if he would be all right, like watching him in a crystal ball or something. She folded up the letter and quickly slipped it another envelope. She then gave it to the man and he was off.
Once he left the room, Sarah fell back on the couch. She was relieved from what Jareth said in the letter. The excitement from it ran through her whole body. She got that tingly feeling that you get after you have your first kiss. She then popped up and ran to pass the message to Aelise that Jareth wanted her to do.
She found Aelise up in her room, studying. Just before Sarah knocked on the door Aelise yelled, “Come in, Mother.”
She used one of her powers and sensed that Sarah was coming up to see her. Sarah still thought this was strange since she wasn’t use to Aelise’s powers. So Sarah just walked in and went over to Aelise who had her nose stuck in one of her schoolbooks her dad gave her to study from. Sarah kissed and gave Aelise a hug.
Aelise looked up at her and asked, “I do appreciate that, but what was that for?”
Sarah flopped her arm over Aelise’s shoulder, “That’s what I’m suppose to do from your father. And also I’m suppose to pass on that he loves you very much and he thinks about you every minute of the day.”
Aelise looked over at the window and it burst open, “I miss him, Mommy.”
Sarah sighed, “Yeah I do too.”
Sarah left the child to her studies and went out to the stables so she could go out and ride Vapour. She strolled over to the stables and retrieved all of the riding materials for Vapour. Sarah then saddled Vapour up and hopped on her. When she was riding out of the stable Gavin walked over to her.
Gavin asked nonchalantly, “So where you riding off to?”
Sarah shrugged her shoulders and looked down at Gavin, “I don’t know. I’m just going to ride around, see what I can find. Maybe I just might visit an old friend.”
Gavin replied, “Oh. All right, then. I guess I’ll just leave you be then.”
Sarah noticed he was a little disappointed in his tone of voice so she asked, “Do you want to come along?”
Gavin replied happily, “Sure, if you don’t mind.”
Sarah smirked, “If I did mind, why would I be asking?”
Gavin laughed and then Sarah gave him her arms so he could climb up on Vapour. She gave her horse a little kick when Gavin was comfortably seated and then they went off to the Goblin City. She made Vapour walk at a slow place so they could enjoy the lovely spring day they were having. They went right through the city and over to a grand lake that Gavin directed her to go to. It was so breath taking that words just couldn’t describe it. The water was the color of a sapphire that’s glistening in the sun. Colossal evergreens surrounded the lake like they were protecting it from an evil force that could ruin its beauty. The sun shone so brightly on the crystal blue water that it made a reflection so blinding. Around the water there were pebbles and rocks that were really smooth from the waves rolling over them.
When Gavin jumped off the horse when it halted and then helped Sarah down from the horse. She politely thanked him and walked over to the water’s edge. When she looked down in her reflection, the water was crystal clear. Slowly the water rippled from the gentle, warm breeze that was blowing from the north. The breeze carried a sweet smell of pine, wild flowers, and the sent of fresh water. It was really a relaxing smell. Sarah kicked off her shoes and rolled up her pant legs. She gingerly stepped into the cool lake water and wadded in. She felt way better wadding in the water because she was hot from riding in the sun most of the afternoon. Gavin sat in the coolness of the shade of a nearby tree, and rested his eyes. Sarah got an idea to make Gavin a little livelier. She cupped a bit of water in her hand and sneakily walked over to Gavin and poured the water on his face. He jumped from the shock of the cold water that was dumped on his face. He saw Sarah laughing hysterically by the water. He laughed a bit, and then he got up and ran over to her. He picked her up and walked into the water. He didn’t care that he was getting his pants and boots wet, he just wanted to have a bit of playful revenge on Sarah. He wadded just above his knees. Sarah gave him the look, “You wouldn’t dare.”
He smiled, “Wanna make a bet?”
Suddenly his grip around her was gone and she fell into the water. She scrambled to get up but the water that was soaked up in her clothes was pulling her down because of its weight. She finally got out of the water and when she looked up, Gavin was laughing hysterically at Sarah. Sarah smiled and the shook her head at him. She nonchalantly walked over to Gavin and then quickly hugged him. Of course, being wet when she hugged him, he clothes got wet, too!. She sarcastically thanked him for the lovely bath he gave her, even though she had one earlier in the day.
Then a painful flash of pictures in her mind stuck her. Sarah fell to the ground holding her throbbing head that was flashing all of these horrible pictures. She saw an explosion in house and someone was inside it. She recognized it as Hoggle’s house that was over at the Bog of Eternal Stench. Gavin rushed over to her to see what was the matter. When the pictures quit flashing, the pain was gone and she felt shaken and scared. She felt as if she was the person in the burning house. She shook her head to clear some of the visions. She got up and walked over to Vapour who was grazing in the shade. She rushed and got her horse saddled up. Sarah asked Gavin how far the Bog of Eternal Stench was, and he said it was about a 15-minute ride, if the horse was running it’s full speed.
She jumped on Vapour and motioned for Gavin to hurry up and get on. She gave him a helping hand and pulled him up onto the horse. She kicked the horse’s ribs with her heels and Vapour reared up onto her hind legs and bolted forward. Sarah told Gavin that something wrong was happening at her friend’s house. She told him the horrible pictures she saw so she had to hurry.
She pulled on the reigns to stop the horse when she reached the main road. There was at a fork in the road. Sarah was searching through her mind which way she went when she went to visit Hoggle a while back. She stared blankly at the two roads. It suddenly struck her like a bolt of lightning. Her head throbbed with pain again; she got a vision of what road she took. When it vanished again, she obeyed the vision and went the ways it wanted to her to go. Just before she went onto the road, Gavin suggested he got off and meet her there so he wouldn’t slow down the horse with his weight. She tried to make him stay on, saying she’d need him, but he rejected it. He assured her that she wouldn’t need his help. Gavin slid off the horse and slapped its rear end. The horse jumped and then galloped down the road. When Sarah looked back, he was slowly vanishing in the distance. She then brought her attention back in front of her and kept her wits about the whole situation.
After making Vapour run at full torque, they finally made it. When she saw the house it looked completely normal. Just before she got at the yard, she heard a big bang and fire coming from inside the house. The horse reared from the big bang and threw Sarah off. She looked up and her horse was running off into the distance. She got up with pain running through her fingers and up to her shoulder. She looked down her skin was slit and she saw a bit of bone sticking out. It frightened her for a second, but then she forgot about it and ran towards the burning house. She didn’t care if her arm was broken; she was not going to let it stop her from helping Hoggle get out of the burning house. When she was getting closer the fire was thundering and there was another bang beside the house. Debris flew towards her and she covered with her arm and kept on running towards the house. She broke through the door and charged into the smoke filled building. The heat from the fire was over whelming and the smoke was literally choking Sarah. She pulled her shirt up to her nose so she could filter the air. Her eyes were stinging from the smoke so it made it hard for Sarah to see since she was squinting.
She found Hoggle lying down on the floor under his table. She drug him out with her good arm and made her way with him to the door. But a beam collapsed and fell in front of the doorway. Sarah looked desperately around for another way to get out. It was useless; all the windows were surrounded by fire. She wouldn’t have the strength with her one arm to lift him out a window. She started to feel faint so she rushed and drug Hoggle back under that table.
When she thought all hope was lost, she saw a trap door right beside her that lead to a cellar. She weakly opened the door and pulled Hoggle towards it. She held him tightly by his shirt and pulled him into the cellar. She closed the door behind her and continued going down the ladder. Sarah laid him down once she got to the bottom. It was awfully dark so she went back up the ladder to get a stick that was on fire so she could use it as a torch when she would be down there.
She looked around in the cellar with the light of the fire. The place strangely resembled the Oubliette, a door on the ceiling and no other way out. It was damp a cold down there. Sarah could hear water slowly dripping from the rock/dirt ceiling above her. She drug Hoggle over in a corner with her; she just sat there with him in her arms.
Gavin arrived after the fire had destroyed the house and brought it to the ground. He looked wildly for any site of Sarah’s presence, but found nothing, all he saw Vapour grazing in a nearby field. He called for Sarah hoping she was all right. Gavin dashed over to the remains of the old house and went through the rubbish of ash and partial scorned wood. After searching for Sarah for many long minutes, he was starting to doubt she was even still alive. But, he kept on calling for her, but still there was no answer from the young lady.
The banging and someone yelling disturbed Sarah’s deep sleep. She jumped and called back to the voice. She yelled for help, hoping the stranger would hear her.
Gavin heard a faint voice calling from some where he couldn’t quite track. He called back, “Sarah is that you?”
Sarah realized who it was so she called back, “Yes, Gavin,” she climbed up the ladder and tried to push up the trap door, “ I’m down here. Help us!”
Gavin was puzzled, “Down where? Where are you, Sarah?”
She slammed the door with her fist, “Right here! The trap door won’t open. Something must be on it.”
He followed the thumping of her fist against the wood of the trap door. She was right, an enormous piece of beam had fallen on the door. He tried to move it himself, but it was too heavy. Then he got a terrific idea. He told Sarah he’d be back and he ran off to get Vapour. He lead the horse to the beam, got some rope out of the saddlebag, and tired one end on the beam and the other on the horse. When he positioned the horse he slapped its rear and it jolted forward, pulling the beam with her. Vapour pulled with all her strength; you could see all her muscles straining to move the beam and the sweat dripping from her body. Finally it was moved far enough so the trap door could be lifted. Gavin opened it and Sarah came up. He caught a glimpse of Sarah’s broken arm. He took her arm gently, “What happened?”
She winced and moved her arm out of his hands and kept close to her body, “I fell off the horse when the house exploded when I arrived here.”
Gavin urged her to come with him, “We have to go and get it mended back together.”
Sarah refused, “No, don’t fuss about me. Go down in there and help Hoggle.
He added, “But…”
She interrupted, “No buts! Do what I say and help Hoggle. I’ll be fine!”
He hesitated at first but did what Sarah ordered him to do. He climbed down into the hole and retrieved Hoggle. The dwarf still seemed lifeless when Gavin carried him back up. He took Hoggle and laid him on his back. He checked for a pulse, but he couldn’t find one. Before her jump to conclusions, Gavin placed his ear by Hoggle’s mouth and watch for breathing. Thank God! Gavin felt Hoggle’s breath on his cheek. He told the wonderful news to Sarah, and she literally jumped for joy. She was just about in tears because she was so pleased that he dear friend was ok.
Gavin picked him back up and walked over to Vapour, “We better head back and get you tow fixed up.”
Sarah agreed and followed Gavin to her horse. She climbed up on Vapour's back and Gavin passed Hoggle to her. He took the reigns and led the way home in silence.
Once they stepped into the castle, Gavin ordered for a physician to come a take a look at Sarah’s open fractured arm and to look after Hoggle. The physician was a small dwarf man who was only about three and a half feet tall. He carried a leather bag full of his medical supplies. He wore really thick glasses that made his eyes magnify ten times. He was balding on the top of his head and he had along white beard.
The physician moved the bone and inserted pins so it could keep still so it could heal properly. After he was done fixing her arm, he made a cast for it and ordered her not to use her arm at all until further notice. She agreed and her went to attend to Hoggle, who was lying down in one of the spare rooms on the second floor.
Sarah decided she should go up and wash her self before she would go see Aelise. So she hurried up to her bathroom and had quick, but a relaxing bath. When she was finished, she got changed into a clean, sensible dress and braided her hair back so it would be out of her face. She hurried up to Aelise’s room to go see her darling daughter.
When she opened the door and looked inside, she saw Aelise sound asleep on her bed with all of her covers surrounding her, along with a few of her stuffed animals. Sarah smiled at the thought of how cute Aelise looked when she sleeps. She closed the door silently and left Aelise to sleep.
She strolled down the stairs and headed to the library. Once she arrived there, she flopped down on the couch and grabbed the book she was reading on the little table beside the couch. Sarah’s eyes started to feel heavy and she started to doze off. Soon she was fast asleep.
Suddenly she was riding her horse through a gorge, across a river, and through the plains. She felt the wind blowing through her long hair when she was on her galloping horse. She felt scared and worried for something terrible happened. She had a gut feeling that something was terribly wrong somewhere, so she was going the way her heart told her to go. Then the whole placed changed and Sarah was in a trench full of waist high water. She was in army clothing and was basically swimming to get from one place to another. She was searching for someone who was in despair. She asked many soldiers where this person was, and they had no clue. Before she was going to give up on this little adventure she was having, Sarah asked one more soldier. He said that this person was up out of the trench, on the flat surface. She cautiously climbed out of the trench and continued on her mission to find this person she was urgently looking for.
Sarah could hear gun shots from the distance, so she kept her self low to the ground. When she looked up she saw a man lying flat on the ground by a dead horse. She couldn’t see his face so she crawled over to him. She reached him, finally, and turned the man over. It was Gavin! He was still alive, barely though. He realized it was Sarah, and he told her he tried to help Jareth but he couldn’t. Sarah urged him to tell her more, but all that came out was blood, but Gavin managed to say, “They took him,” and then he quite breathing and his body was motionless. She frantically asked who took Jareth, but Gavin was gone.
Sarah woke up from her nightmare. She looked around and noticed she was back at home, safe and sound. She sighed with great relief that it was all a horrible nightmare, and everything is ok. When she sat there in her bed, she started thinking about those visions she had the day before and that maybe her dream was telling her something. She just sat there wondering if her dream could actually come true. Just in case, she was going to keep her wits about her.
Later that day when she was outside playing outside with Aelise, Hoggle came outside when the doctor ordered him to stay in bed for several days. Knowing Hoggle, Sarah knew he wouldn’t have listened to the doctor since Hoggle is very suborn.
Sarah asked when she was playing a clapping song with Aelise, “Aren’t you suppose to be bed ridden until further notice?”
Hoggle scoffed, “Tuh! I am just fine. I don’t need to be told by a quack to stay in bed.”
Sarah sighed in disappointment, “Usually doctors know best, Hoggle. So you should get back up to your room and stay there; or at least stay in the castle until he says you can leave.”
Aelise popped up and whined in a sweet way, “Please, Hoggle. I don’t want you to get sick.”
Hoggle couldn’t resist the little girl, since she was so sweet, so he walked back up to the castle and through the doors. Once he left, Sarah and Aelise went back to playing a clapping song.
At dinner time, Sarah, Aelise, Sir Didymus, Ludo, and Hoggle all sat around the table waiting for Gavin to come and eat. Later that afternoon, he told Sarah he had to go do something and he wouldn’t be back until dinner time; so they all tried to wait patiently for him.
After waiting for a half and hour for Gavin to come home, they started to enjoy their cold evening dinner. Sarah heard a few grumbles from the men, but she tried to ignore them.
Sarah heard a door slam and foot steps coming towards the dining hall. She turned to see whom it was that would be coming through the doors. Of course, it was Gavin. His boots were covered in mud and he was soaking wet. She tried to stifle her laughter but it was useless. Sarah laughed uncontrollably at the site at Gavin. He looked her dog Merlin when he’s soaking wet and his coat full of mud. Gavin sort of glared at Sarah and sat down.
When Sarah had her laughter controlled, she asked calmly (still trying to hold in her burst of laughter) “What he were you doing to get all wet and dirty?”
Gavin replied with some attitude, “I was helping a local farmer get his cart unstuck from a swamp, thank you very much.”
Sarah snickered when she was eating. Finally she couldn’t stand looking at Gavin because every time she did, she would laugh; so she left the room and walked about until she regained control over herself. When she decided she was all right, she went back into the dining hall. One look at him, she started to laugh, so she left again. Gavin threw his napkin on the table and left to clean up. When he was leaving, Sarah ran over to him and apologized for being so rude. After she told him why she was laughing at him, he laughed along with her.
While Sarah was in bed, trying to fall asleep, she heard some male voices out in the hallway. She recognized the one as Gavin, but the other unknown. Their conversation got her curiosity going was when she heard the stranger talking to Gavin. She got out of bed and quietly opened the door a crack so she could hear what they were saying. Gavin was complaining of what was so important to get him out of bed.
The stranger softly said, “Your brother, Jareth, was taken capture by the Fireys and the Gremlins two days ago!”
Gavin yelled, “WHAT?!?”
The stranger shushed Gavin, “SSSSHHHHH, Sir. You don’t want to wake any body; especially Lady Sarah and Princess Aelise.”
Sarah gasped. He dream had come true! Jareth was a prisoner of the Gremlins and the Fireys. Sarah listened to the conversation once again.
Gavin brought his tone back down, “I can’t believe this happened. I must go back with you and rescue Jareth!”
The stranger ordered, “You must stay here and look after the kingdom and the girls. We’re trying to get him back as we speak.”
Gavin growled, “I don’t care if you guys are trying to get him back now, I just want to get him back. He is my brother and I must help him!”
Sarah thought back to her dream. If Gavin went to rescue Jareth, he would die. So she had to beat Gavin to the catch. She knew Gavin would just go, with or without permission, so she had to move fast. Before she left from the door, Sarah heard footsteps running up the stairs. She thought that must be Gavin so she had to get ready quick! She got dressed into some slacks and a long sleeve shirt. She just pulled her hair back in a ponytail and packed a bunch of socks and other items in her bag. She sneaked down stairs to the kitchen and wrapped up some bread in a handkerchief and filled a canteen full of water. She was just about outside when she saw Gavin dash down the stairs to the door. She quickly hid beside a chair and waited for him to go out. When the coast was clear, she went outside. She ran to the stables to get Vapour. When she was at the road, she saw dust in the air, meaning Gavin had already left. She hastily saddled up her horse and followed Gavin. Sarah made Vapour run as fast as she could, but she was no match for the horse Gavin was riding. In other words, she was left in the dust.
After many long hours of trying to follow him, she could tell her horse was getting exhausted from running so much. When the trail of dust started to get thicker, she knew she was getting close to Gavin. She made her horse slow down to a leisurely walk. The dust started to clear up and she saw a dark figure leaning up against a big rock and a horse-shaped figure grazing near by. So Sarah got off her horse and hid by a near by bush.
She had everything all planned out. She was going to make herself know to Gavin later the next day when they would be too far away for her to go back to the castle, therefore she would have to stay with him. She camped out behind the bush until Gavin would leave the next day, and then she would follow him, until it was the right time to tell Gavin she was coming with him.
The next morning, the weather was warm and beautiful. The sun was just peaking over the hills when Gavin pulled out. Sarah groggily woke up, jumped back on her horse, and followed Gavin.
She was a little famished when the sun was rising up to its highest peak of the day. Her mouth was as dry as the Sahara Desert and her stomach was as empty as the Grand Canyon. She wouldn’t be able to stop for a rest to settle her growling stomach and her dry mouth because if she did, she would for sure loose Gavin and wouldn’t be able to catch up. The sun started to beat down on Sarah. She could feel the sun burning her skin. She wished that there was some kind of sun block so she wouldn’t burn to a crisp. Even though she tried to cover most of her skin from the sun, she couldn’t cover it all. She was sweating like a pig because of all of the clothes she was wearing.
Finally she was catching up to Gavin. He was making his horse trot so it could rest a bit, instead of exhausting it from running at full speed so much. Sarah thought now would be a good to let him know she was coming with him. Just to catch up to him, she kicked her horse to make it run up to him and let him hear another horse’s hooves pound the ground.
Gavin heard Sarah’s horse coming. He turned his horse around to see who it was. When he noticed it were Sarah, his facial expression was between astonished and anger.
Sarah yelled, “Gavin! Wait up!”
Gavin yelled back, “Go home, Sarah. This is too dangerous for you to come along.”
Sarah pleaded, “Please! Let me come. I want to help!”
Gavin shook his head, “No! Go back and look after Aelise.”
Sarah begged because her plan wasn’t going the way she was hoping, “Gavin, please I beg you, let me come along! I know something about what’s going to happen, so don’t go alone!”
Gavin stopped his horse and looked back at Sarah, “What’s going to happen? Anything to Jareth?”
Sarah shook her head no, “I can’t tell you that,” she saw the disappointment in his eyes, “but something will happen to you if you go by yourself.”
Gavin was shocked, “What’s going to happen to me?”
Sarah rode her horse closer to Gavin. She said in a sorrowful voice, “You…” she paused so she could tell him in not such a blunt way, “you with die trying to get to Jareth.”
Gavin looked like he was just slapped in the face when she said those words.
She added, “I had a dream, a vision you could call it, that I was searching for you. When I found you, you were in the heat of the war. You were laying on the ground shot, or something to that affect. You told me Jareth was captured by the enemies, and then you just,” she bit her lip nervously, “died in my arms. Then I woke up, and that’s all I know.”
Gavin was shocked once again; “You get visions? That’s why you were not your self when we were at the lake. You had a vision that Hoggle’s house was going to burn down. And now you had one where I die?”
Sarah nodded her head. Gavin hit his head like he didn’t believe her.
Gavin turned to Sarah and asked, “So, you’re telling me not to go, or not to go alone?”
Sarah replied, “I’m just telling you what happened in my dream. It is up to you if you want to believe it and let me come, or not go at all and just let me go.”
Gavin rejected the last comment, “Oh no, you’re not going by your self. You’ll come along with me.”
She nodded her head “Alright then. Let’s get a move on!”
After that conversation, they left together to help save Jareth.
It took another day before the reached the “war zone.” They have both planned to get Jareth back. The Fireys and the Gremlins would capture Sarah and she would most likely be taken to where Jareth was held captive, hopefully. Then Gavin would follow Sarah, when she would be taken away. From there, they’re just going to wing it.
Sarah rode over to the enemy lines, hoping that they would see her and try to capture her. Mean while, Gavin was hiding and watching her with a close eye, and hidden enough so he wouldn't be seen. She was pretending she was going to invade the enemy camp, which was several hundred feet away, then for sure they would try to capture her.
She crept close to the camp, but when she stepped on a stick, it snapped and alarmed the enemies that someone was there. They all grabbed their weapons and attacked Sarah. Over 15 guards were surrounding her in a circle, pointing their spears and guns at her. She was terrified inside of her, but she tried to keep strong on the outside. Sarah pleaded that she would surrender if they wouldn’t hurt her. After she said that, a few of the Fireys and a Gremlin shackled her wrists and ankle and gagged her by putting this metal helmet like thing over her head. It only had eye and mouth holes. This gagging mask was really tight against her face, so it would be very difficult to talk at all. She shrieked a couple times, trying to get Gavin to hear her.
Gavin watched the whole thing from the bush, feeling just horrified. He couldn’t believe he’s making Sarah go through all of this crap just to help Jareth. Deep inside, Gavin wanted to jump out and help her, but he knew if he did, he would jeopardize Sarah’s life and the whole plan of getting Jareth out and back home. A couple tears trickled down his cheeks while he watched helplessly when the guards drug her away.
When they were out of site, Gavin sneaked over by the camp and listened to some conversations that were held in a near by tent.
A raspy voice said, “Get a cart and take the human girl to the slave camp. She can help the prisoners out with digging trenches for us. Make sure you keep her gagged and shackled. We don’t want her to give us away now, do we?”
Another voice that sounded snaky, obediently said, “Yessss-sssssirrr. Do you want me too take her now?”
SLAP!
The first voice yelled, “What do you think fool? No I just want to keep her here for my own pleasure. Of course, I want her gone now! Now get out of my site, you’re making my stomach churn.”
The other voice left the tent.
Gavin sat there for a bit, peaking out to here and there to see if he could see Sarah anywhere. He finally spotted her. She was being drug by a fireys and taken to a wooden cart that was like a cage, it also had a few people in here. Sarah still had the metal mask around her head and her clothes were covered in mud and straw, and a tad bit torn. She looked miserable. Gavin could hear her mumbling to herself, so he figured she was probably cursing him. The fireys opened up the cage door and shoved Sarah in it. She fell face first since her hands where tied behind her back with shackles on her wrists and a chain tied them together. A couple of the other slaves helped to her feet. When she looked up, she spotted Gavin peeking out behind a tent. She tired to yell at him, but it didn’t work. A firey and a gremlin sat at the front and whipped the horses and took the slaves to a camp somewhere. Gavin inconspicuous got on his horse and followed the cart. He made sure he kept his distance.
The room was dark and the only source of light was from the window that was 10 feet above Jareth. The window only let in a couple hours of sunlight, and it only lighten the cell enough so you could just make out objects; even though there was just a bed in there. But the sun was setting and the room was dark once again. Jareth just sat there on his bed, looking down at the floor. His hair was filthy with dirt and straw, his face was covered in mud, his clothes were ripped and torn. He had a neck shackle with a chain that connected his wrist and leg shackles, and another chain on his neck was connected to the wall. He was starving. He hadn’t ate for a few days now because the enemies were starving him until he confessed about Samuel’s plans, but Jareth wouldn’t or won’t tell them. He rather die than tell the enemies anything. And if he did die, they wouldn’t get a hold of their plans. Even though his stomach was constantly grumbling and moaning he was not going to back down.
Jareth heard the cell door open and the leader of the fireys and gremlins, Schnauts, was standing in the doorway, with two guards behind him.
He walked in and asked but sort of demanded, “So, are you going to tell me the plans or do I have to drag it out of you?”
Jareth growled, “I’ll never tell you, you filthy beast!”
Schnauts chuckled, “Oh I have my ways to get what I want. And how I get it would be more horrible than what I’m doing to you now.”
Jareth didn’t feel at least bit frightened by that. He’d live through it and would never tell them. Finally he said, “Do what ever you want to me. I’ll never tell!”
Schnauts snapped his fingers and the two guards behind him walked in and pinned Jareth down to the floor. One of them attached a little metal box onto the shackle around his neck and once that was securely on they got off him and went back behind Schnauts.
Schnauts explained, “The little metal box, that my two associates just attached to your neck shackle, is a little device that will shock you when I put this little button on this remote control. Just picture this, you’re refusing telling me the plans so I push this button and it shocks you with a huge electric jolt. Then you will tell me because you don’t want to feel any more pain. Get the picture?”
He then placed his thumb on the button, “Here, lets try this out.” his thumb pushed down on it and sent huge shocks of electricity to Jareth. He tried to hold in his screams of pain so Schnauts wouldn’t have the pleasure of what he was doing to the Goblin King.
Schnauts took his thumb off the button, and then Jareth fell to the floor, trembling from all of the pain running through his body. He just laid on the floor, not even making eye contact with the enemy. Jareth finally regained enough strength to stand up. He was still breathing heavily, but he managed to glare at Schnauts like he was stabbing him with a thousand knives.
Schnauts said, “I’ll be back later. Think about if you’re going to tell me or not. Just remember this device can produce enough electricity to kill you.”
Jareth spat in his face.
Schnauts mumbled as he wiped off the mucus from his face, “You’ll regret for doing that, Jareth.”
Jareth shot back, “You’ll regret for capturing me and starting this whole war with Canza when you kingdom crumbles to the rocky pits where you belong!”
Gavin followed the cart of prisoners to a flat, bare land where there were very few trees and small, dirty streams running through it. And out in the horizon, there was a cave with a few guards guarding the entrance.
He hid behind a huge boulder wile the fiery and the goblin hauled the prisoners to a trench with the other so they can do more slave work to dig trenches around the premises of the cave. Gavin watched where the filthy scumbags were taking Sarah. She was the only slave who was taken to the cave. They must of known she’s close to Jareth or they would treat her like any other prisoner of war.
He tied up his horse to a nearby tree and cautiously followed the gremlin and Sarah to the rock cave. They went into the cave while Gavin was slowly making his way a little bit closer to it. He wanted to go in, but if he did he’d get caught too and then their whole plan would be in ruins, then Jareth would never be rescued. In his mind, Gavin tried to come up with a plan to see if even Jareth was there, therefore he’d have to make contact with Sara, somehow.
Sarah was drugged into the dark, cold cave to be held prisoner. When they put her in a cell, she overheard the two guards saying that she’d be the tool to get the Goblin King to talk. They knew that she’s very close to Jareth, so they would use her to get him to talk. She imagined that they would threaten her life to get him to do whatever the wanted him to do.
The cave was getting darker, meaning that the sun was setting. It was even getting a bit colder. Sarah huddled in the corner of the cell, trying to keep herself warm. Soon she heard the cell door open. She saw someone in a dark cloak standing in the doorway. Sarah tried to hide herself in the shadow in the corner so the strange person wouldn’t see her; she wasn’t sure if they were friend or foe.
She heard a deep voice ask, “Sarah? You there?”
It was Gavin!
Sarah shrieked and then got up and hugged him, “Gavin! Thank God you’re here.”
She then punched him in the arm, “Don’t ever do this to me again!!”
Gavin winced, “OUCH! Sorry, but you agreed to this whole idea too, you know.”
She gestured around the room, “I never thought I’d get this kind of treatment.”
He shrugged, “Me either. But look, you toughed it out.”
Gavin smiled so childishly at Sarah. She couldn’t help but smile back. It wasn’t completely his fault that she got into this, but he at least should have done this dirty work she was in.
Sarah said enthusiastically, “Well, you sprang me out of the coop. So let’s make like a banana and split!”
Gavin looked confused then shook his head, “Riiiiiiiiiiight…Anyway, you can’t go just yet.”
When she heard that her hopes had plummeted of leaving this God-awful place, “Why not?”
He pulled her back by her elbow and into the cell, “’Cause you need to find out where Jareth is. The whole point of you in here is to find out some info.”
She sighed, “Well, does it look like I had the time?”
Gavin said, “True. So have you heard anything yet?”
She rolled her eyes and thought she should tell him what she heard, “Yeah I have. I overheard some guards saying that they’re going to use me to get Jareth to talk. I’m not sure what they want from him though.”
Gavin was about to say something, but he heard someone coming, so he knew he had to go.
He whispered, “I have to go now, Sarah. They’re coming.”
Sarah gave him a sad look that showed him that she didn’t want him to leave her all alone.
He gently ran the back of his fingers down her cheek, “I’ll be back in a few days, ok? Keep an ear out for any useful information for us.”
Sarah nodded her head with a tear trickling down her cold, but smooth cheek. Gavin pulled his hood over his head and fled from the scene. She watched helplessly as he silently closed the door and left her behind. She dropped to the floor and wept quietly to herself. Sarah did not want to be alone! The cell she was put in was cold, dark, lonely, and not to mention frightening! On the ceiling hung a family of black vampire bats. Sarah was utterly afraid of the little flying rodents. Ever since she was a small girl, she was terrified of them because at her grandmother’s house some brown bats flew in her hair and got caught in it. Just thinking of that made her squirm and shiver. Since them, she has been petrified of them!
The door opened once again. She looked up and a gremlin was coming in. Sarah coward away from it.
It mumbled, “I can’t believe I have to creature all the ways to get the stupid Goblin King to tell Schnauts the plans.”
Then he took a burlap bag and shoved it over Sarah’s head. It took hold of her chain and pulled her out of the cell. She tired to pull back and break free, but the gremlin was too strong for her and just kept leading her somewhere out of the cave.
Sarah smelled the burlap bag and the freshness of the dew hanging in the air on the warm summer’s night. She was then thrown into a wagon before she really got the chance to notice anything else. Suddenly the wagon was on the move again to somewhere that was mysterious to her.
The water dripping on Jareth’s head woke him from his sleep. He wiped it away with his hand and then sat up, then his chain jerked him back because he didn’t have any more slack. You could say he was at the end of his leash. He drugged himself back a pit and got enough slack on the chain to stand up. Once he did get up, Schnauts came in unaspectically.
Jareth snapped at him, “Go ways! I won’t tell you a thing!”
Schnauts strolled over to him and said evilly, “Oh I think you will once I tell you who I have.”
Jareth asked quizzically while raising an eyebrow, “Whom do you have?”
Schnauts replied, “Someone that you have very close to your heart.”
He pulled the girl from out behind him.
Jareth yelled, “Sarah!”
She yelled back, “Jareth! You’re ok!”
He glared at Schnauts, “Let her go! She doesn’t need to get involved in this. This is our problem, not hers so she doesn’t need to be here.”
Schnauts said, “Oh au contraire. She would be the only reason to get you to talk, especially if her life was on the line.”
“I won’t tell a thing!”
Schnauts pouted, “Aww…fine then.”
He pulled out a dagger, pulled Sarah closer to him, and placed it right by her neck; “You really want to see your precious flower die right here and know her life had ended, all because of you?”
Jareth stared at Sarah. He saw the frighten look in her face but she was trying to be brave for him. He broke the stare and looked down. He shook his head no.
Schnauts removed the dagger by her neck, “I thought you’d see my way.”
He pushed Sarah aside as far as her chain could go. When she could go no further, the chain jerked her back, almost giving Sarah whiplash. He then walked over to Jareth and demanded that he would tell him what Samuel’s plans were.
Before Jareth got the chance to answer, Sarah was screaming in pain. He rushed to her but his chain could only go so far, and unfortunately his chain wasn’t long enough. She was having another vision. She thought to herself what perfect timing; Jareth couldn’t tell these plans he’s kept so secret, because they were all crowding around her and ignoring him.
She was having pictures flashing through her head of Gavin intruding a conference with Schnauts and Jareth. Gavin did something to make Schnauts, so he tried to kill the king’s twin. Jareth jumped toward his brother and…
The vision stopped abortively. What was going to happen to Gavin? When is this going to take place? Did Jareth save him? All sorts of these questions stormed through Sarah’s mind. She had a feeling that one of the twins was going to die trying to save one another.
Jareth interrupted Sarah’s thoughts, “Sarah, are you alright? What happened?”
She cleared her mind and mouthed “visions.”
He thought she was going crazy, but he looked at her one more time and he knew she wasn’t kidding.
He channelled through her thoughts and asked her through their minds, “Is it true that you have the gift of visions; ESP.”
She wondered how he was doing that, then he said, “I can hear your thoughts. Don’t worry about now. When did you start getting these visions?”
Sarah said back in her head, “Right after you left.”
Jareth asked, “What did you see in this one?”
She thought about what she saw. She watched him, as his eyes grew wider with horror he was seeing.
Schnauts got one guard to take Sarah away and lock her up in a nearby cell. She fought back and screamed. She wanted to stay with Jareth because she knew that if she left him alone; he or Gavin could loose their life, bust she didn’t know when.
Sarah struggled to stay, but the guard was again too powerful for her. It pulled her by the chain and took her to a cell somewhere across from Jareth’s. When it put her in it, he took off the leg shackles and didn’t even attach the chain that was on her neck shackle to the wall. The guard then left her alone in the dark again. Only a little bit of light from the torches outside lit up the cell. She sat down on the floor and went through the vision. She made up her mind that Jareth and Gavin were going to die, and the only way she could help is that she has to try to be there and somehow throw off the whole vision.
Jareth went in Sarah’s mind again, “It won’t work, Sarah.”
Sarah said out loud in a bitter tone, “How do you know? You’re not certain!”
“You can’t change it. It our fate.”
She whined, “But…I can’t just let you or him die. You both are special to me, especially you.”
Jareth begged, “Please, Sarah, don’t do this. Don’t put yourself through all this pain. No good would come for it.”
Sarah cried harder than she had ever done before in the Labyrinth. She looked up from the now wet floor, and saw a startling image of Jareth right before her eyes. He was translucent and his expression was very depressing. She immediately jumped back as she saw him.
Jareth answered her question (this time it was out loud), “It’s an illusion. I though it would help to comfort and easier to talk to you. But the bad thing is, it can’t touch you; sort of like a ghost.”
Sarah wiped away her tears, “It’s very nice of you to do this for me, bit it won’t change the fact that someone would die.”
He said, “I know it won’t, but you have to realize that it’s our fate. You can’t change it. It’ll happen now or later, Sarah and you are just going to try postponing it.”
She said coolly through her clenched teeth, “I don’t care if it’s ‘fate.’ I am- No. I’m will change what’s going to happen, even if I have to sacrifice myself.”
Jareth got the hint that she was getting frustrated with him, so the illusion of him vanished and he left her thought alone. Everything he was saying was true, though. It was Gavin and his’ fate and nothing could change it. It was a terrible and depressing subject think about, but Jareth knew he was going to die sometime and he wasn’t afraid to either. Maybe his number finally had came up and the “big guy” wants to see him now. Jareth shrugged off the whole topic and thought it was a whole mystery, kind of like his labyrinth.
The sun was up once again; Gavin was on the road to find Sarah and Jareth. He heard that the “human girl of Jareth’s” was taken to Schnauts’ castle to see Jareth and get him to talk. Gavin wasn’t quite sure where this place was, but he had an idea of where it might be. He noticed some horse and wagon tracks near the cave and leading out of camp. He climbed upon his horse and followed the tracks. He was certain they would take him to Sarah and Jareth.
Later in the smothering afternoon, Gavin reached the castle where his friend and brother were held captive. The whole castle, which looked liked it was going to crumble at any moment, was surrounded by hundreds of guards. He thought no wonder they weren’t winning because most of the enemies where stationed here. Gavin had a feeling he can’t get into the castle with all of them there, so he would need some help from Lord Samuel. And maybe, just maybe, Samuel could defeat Schnauts and kill two birds with one stone. He headed the direction to where his fellow ally, and his army were stationed.
Sarah was still upset about what Jareth was trying to get through her head, but she refused to hear his reasons. She didn’t want to face the fact that there was a big chance of them both surviving. She would be ultimately crushed if either of them died.
She leapt out of her skin when she heard the door open to the dungeon cells and the footsteps coming down the stone stairs. Schnauts appeared before Sarah’s cell. She looked at him straight in the eyes and he had a look that he was going to do something terrible! He opened up the door, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her out of the cell. He pulled her in front of Jareth’s cell and drew out his dagger again and held Sarah close to him.
Schnauts said, “You better tell me now, Jareth, or your pretty girlfriend will die right before you.”
Jareth jumped towards Schnauts but the bars kept him away, “Leave her alone!”
Schnauts asked, “Do we really have to go through this again? All you have to do is just tell me what Lord Samuel’s plans are. It’s just that simple.”
Jareth tried to break through the bars and try to reach Sarah, but Schnauts held her too far away from his reach. He pleaded, “Schnauts, if you let her go free..” his voiced trailed off for a second. He took a deep breath and continued solemnly, “I’ll tell you what Samuel is planning.”
Schnauts cocked an eyebrow and smiled so evilly, “I knew one way or another that’s you’d come around, Jareth.” He removed the dagger away from Sarah and let go of her.
She fled over to Jareth and demanded in a frantic shrill, “What are you doing?!? You can’t do this, Jareth.”
He shook his head gravely, “I have to.” Jareth reached through the bars and gently places his hand on Sarah’s cheek, “I just can’t let him kill you for something that I can prevent. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
He looked up at Schnauts and took a deep breath. Jareth opened his mouth to speak but nothing would come out. He closed his eyes for only a moment, then he hear a sudden shriek and someone fell to the ground. When Jareth opened them again in a panic to see what happened, horror struck through his heart. He watched Sarah on the floor trying to push away the dagger that was heading towards her neck. Schnauts had the dagger in his hand and he was trying to kill Sarah. Jareth yelled for them to stop, then everything seemed to go in slow motion. The dagger was creeping closer to her neck. Jareth can see sweat dripping down her horror stricken face. Jareth frantically tried to get his self of his cell. He shook the door as hard as he could to see if he can loosen anything since they were old dungeon cells. The dagger was creeping closer to Sarah’s throat. Jareth was yelling and ramming against the bars. Each time hit it, they were getting looser. The last time he slammed against it the door broke open, but he was too late; Schnauts had thrust the dagger into Sarah’s slim neck. She choked, her eyes grew wide, and her mouth was gaped open with dark red blood spurting out. She looked over at Jareth’s frightened face, then she was slowly falling into her forever slumber, whispering the words faintly to her love, “I love you.”
Jareth watched as Sarah slipped away from this world. Her own blood was pouring out her mouth, her eyes were open but looked blank and cold, and her body showed no signs of life. First grief build up in Jareth, then it was over come by anger. All of his anger was projected to Schnauts, he killed Sarah! He lurched towards to the man who killed the girl who revolved around Jareth’s world. Jareth pinned him down to the floor and was violently punching Schnauts with his closed fists. Schnauts was able to push Jareth other and slam him against the stone wall. He pulled out the little remote control, pushed the button, and many volts of electricity were running through Jareth’s body. He screamed an agonizing pain running through out his whole body. He fell to the floor and was cursing at Schnauts when the electricity had stopped. And just for that he was zapped again. The Goblin King yelled again from all of the pain that was taking over his body. Suddenly, he was being kicked in the stomach and pushed into another cell. Once he was in it, the door slammed and he was locked up again like a caged lion. Jareth lifted up his head with the last amount of strength he had left and looked Schnauts straight in the eye. Jareth watched him wipe the blood from his lip and walk away, while saying some unpleasant words under his breath. Then his head dropped and he was staring at Sarah, who lay dead on the ground. The dagger wasn’t in her neck any more. Schnauts must have pulled it out before he left.
Tears welled up in his eyes and he cried out loud. He just lost the only girl he had ever loved just because he never told Schnauts some stupid plans of attack Lord Samuel had in mind. Guilt had taken it’s coarse; Jareth was blaming himself for what happened to Sarah. He crawled closer to the bars so he could be closer to her. He loved her so much and he wished he could turn back time and never have brought her here. If he hadn’t brought Sarah back to the Labyrinth, she wouldn’t be lying dead on a dirt floor is a dreary dungeon. He would do anything to bring her back to him, anything; even if it cost his life. It was unfortunate that his powers are so limited from his kingdom and that he can resurrect the dead.
Now his heart felt empty with out her. What would he tell Aelise and everyone else of what happened to her? They would be past depressed if they found out. He imagined Aelise would hate him for letting this happen to Sarah; her mother. Now Jareth was beginning to feel sorry for himself.
Gavin made it to Samuel’s camp in two, hard days of riding and pushing his horse to the limit, and only stopping for a few hours of rest. The horse and him were both near exhaustion when they arrived. He wearily slid off the horse and made his way to Samuel’s tent. He was ready to collapse when he reached it.
He barged through the tent flap and gasped, “Samuel...I know where Jareth is. We have to go and get him.” Then he fell to the floor, unconscious. He had nothing to eat or drink for several days, this was causing him to crumble like a brick wall being hit by a huge boulder that was shot by a powerful catapult.
Samuel had his servants take Gavin to his bed and let him rest there. He ordered them to tend to him and prepare some food and a drink for him. They did what they were told and hastily tended to his Majesty’s friend’s twin brother.
Gavin aroused from his dreamless slumber and found himself on a feathery soft bed, covered with several blankets. When he sat up, the world started to spin. He still felt a little weak and faint from his strenuous journey. He sat at the end of the bed holding his head with his hands. Gavin’s head was throbbing and he felt light headed. While he sat there, some one walked in.
A young, male servant was standing there with a tray full with food and a cup of ale. He cautiously walked over to Gavin and placed the tray on a near by table. Before he left he said, “I’ll tell His Majesty that you are awake.”
Gavin raised his one hand and a gesture of thanks, then the servant left the room. Several minutes later Samuel walked him and looked down on Gavin. Gavin looked up at him and nodded his head in a lame formality and said, “Your Majesty.”
Samuel asked, “How are you feeling? You gave us all a fright when you rushed in and suddenly fell cold to the ground.”
Gavin sat up straight and lied to Samuel, “I’m much better now, thank you. But lets skip the part of seeing how I am and get straight to helping my brother, and your friend, out of the dungeon at Schnauts’ castle.”
Samuel laughed, “You were always the one who had to dive head first into things weren’t you? Even if it killed you doing it.”
Gavin said sardonically, “Well someone has to do it, or things would never get done. So c’mon, let’s get to business.”
Samuel asked, “Ok then. So how are we going to rescue your brother? My spies say that the place is covered in guards and there’s no way to get in, but through the main entrance. I’m sure we can’t just walk in like we own the place. It’d be a suicide mission for sure.”
Gavin grinned, “Well I see that your spies aren’t that good. There is a way in; we’re just going to have to disguise ourselves to get there.” He stood up and he stumbled, but he kept himself from falling, then he started to pace from one side of the tent to the other. “You’ll bring part of your army with me, and of course you’ll come, but...” he stopped and though out the plan that was pouring out, “but we have to be inconspicuous and only take a few good men with us when we head into the castle. We’ll steal the armour from a few guards at the castle so we won’t announce we’re there with our look.”
Samuel just sat there listening to Gavin ramble out his plan to get Jareth back, safe and sound. Gavin was saying there is a way to get with out being detected by the guards that were just crawling about it. They would have do some swimming though. According to Gavin, there’s places where water gets into the castle from the moat, but one has a loose bar in it, therefore they could pull that bar out and squeeze through. Sam had no idea how his excited friend knew all this information, or how he was coming up with it, but he was happy that Gavin knew all of it.
Gavin had finally finished with his extraordinary plan and Samuel sarcastically asked, “So if you had this all planned out, why did you need me to help? It sounds like you knew all of this before you got here.”
Gavin chuckled, “Actually, I didn’t have a single clue what to do. Maybe I should starve myself for a few days and be on the brink of death more often to get my master plans.” He then winked at His Majesty.
The both laughed heartily. After they were both in tears from several, long minutes of laughter, Samuel managed to ask while wiping the tears from his eyes, “So when are we heading out?”
Gavin sat down, holding his stomach because it hurt from laughing so much, “As soon as possible. Hopefully tonight, if you can get some of your men ready by then. It’d be better to arrive at the castle at night so we won‘t be spotted as easily, and also for the men who have to sat behind while a few of us go in.”
Sam nodded in agreement, “I get some of men ready and we’ll be off tonight.”
At that Gavin and Samuel went their own ways to get ready to depart that night.
Jareth was in the darkest corner of his cell, sobbing heavily. His heart felt like someone pulled it from his chest and stomped on it. The death of Sarah has caused him so much grief; his heart was in so much pain. He felt all alone in the world now, and he was ready to give up on it. But the only thing that was stopping him from killing himself was his anger to get his vengeance for Sarah; he was going to kill Schnauts, even if it just might take his in the meantime.
A few days have passed as he watched the motionless body that was in front of his cell. Her once rosy face that had so much compassion and so much care, was now a pale-blue color, cold, and stone faced. Jareth asked himself so many times, why her? Why take such an innocent life that still had so much to live for? This was a major earth shattering event in his life, and he did not approve of it. He would do anything to turn back time and save Sarah’s life. Maybe he would of been smarter and not have tried to go after Schnauts alone and never got caught in the first place. Jareth was again blaming himself for this tragedy. He was starting the “what if’s”. He blamed himself more and more each minute that passed. Jareth was a wreck. He wasn’t even thinking straight. All he was thinking of was ways to get revenge or his fond memories of Sarah. He realized of how much he took her for granted, and now that she was gone he wished he did more things with her, never yelled at her for the tiniest things, and said the things of how he felt for her. But it’s all too late now, she’s gone and there’s nothing he can do to change that. Jareth slammed his fist on the ground and it hit something sharp and hard. He lifted up his fist to his face and saw a dark substance dripping from the side of his hand. He took his other hand and felt the substance, sniffed it, and then tasted it. It was his own blood. Suddenly a idea struck Jareth’s head! He felt for the sharp object with his uninjured hand and finally found it. He moved into the light to see what it was; his guess was right. It was a knife. Now he was going to get his revenge!
Samuel and Gavin arrived at the castle three days after they left. They couldn’t get to the castle any earlier because for one thing, they wanted to get there at night, and also Samuel had some foot soldiers so they could only go so fast. Just before Gavin and Samuel were ready to leave to get inside the castle, Sam took two soldiers them. The middle-aged one was named Silph. He was quite robust, tall, and looked like a fighting machine. His dark brown hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail at the back of his head, his eyes were a forest green that looked like he wasn’t afraid of anything, and his face showed that he had been through many battles with the amount of scares on it. You knew automatically that you didn’t want to get on his bad side, or you might be in some trouble.
The other was just a small lad, about early twenties, named Landorion. He built was small, and he wasn’t as nearly as tall as Silph. His dirty blonde hair was shaggy and it fell in front of his eyes. When he brushed his hair from his face, his eyes were grey but a twinkle to them. His face was young and seemed childish, but had a sly look to it; almost like he was concocting a brilliant plan. His featured showed Gavin that he was a spy of some sort and that he was very hard to detect and good at whatever he did. He’d be great to get them into the castle, while the other can take care of any other any inconveniences that stand in there way.
Sam explained that these two men where his best. As Gavin suspected, Landorion was a spy for Samuel and he could get into any place. He was quick at picking lock and he was as silent as a lion ready to pounce on its prey. But Silph was a true warrior at heart. He had been through many battles with Samuel and he was the best of the best. His swordsmanship was cunning, and again, one of the best that Samuel had. He would be the best man to fight off the guards that’ll block their way. Gavin approved with both men and then they were on their way into the castle.
They went by foot and Landorion was in the lead to make sure the coast was clear. Samuel, Gavin, and Silph stayed back and waited for Landorion’s signal to proceed. But when they were approaching the castle, he called Silph over and he went to the small, weasely man. Gavin and Samuel both exchanged quizzical glances and looked off where Landorion and Silph disappeared off to.
A few minutes later they came back and were carrying amour from the goblins and fireys.
Samuel asked, “How did you get-,” he stopped and changed his question. “No never mind. Dumb question. Where did you dispose the bodies?”
The two both had Cheshire cat smiles on their face. Then Silph said with a heavy accent, “We jus’ pushed ‘em inta the river, don’t ya know your Majesty.”
Sam nodded in approval, “Ok. But next time you decide to bash some heads in, let me know.”
Landorion winked and his smiles beamed like he was a small child in a candy store, “Ok sure. We’ll do just that.”
Samuel rolled his eyes helplessly and started down towards the castle. Gavin chuckled at the two men and the followed Samuel.
He walked beside Samuel and stated with a bit of a laught in his voice, “I see we got a joker on our hands, huh?
Samuel looked over at Gavin with a grin, “That we do. He’s so impossible! He’s attitude is just like a child, like it’s all a game to him.” He sighed. “Oh well. What can you do? At least his attitude doesn’t always get the best of him, especially when he working.”
Gavin agreed and then put on the amour.
For the rest of the way down Landorion followed Gavin’s orders to get them to the entrance that they were going to sneak through and get inside. The silently crept down on the west side of the castle where the water went into the castle. Everything was so far so good by the time the reached their destination. No goblins or fireys had noticed them since they were wearing the amour to disguise themselves, so they pretty much looked normal to their enemies’ eyes. But when they looked at the moat that surrounded the dark and dismal castle, it was infested with some kind of water creatures with razor sharp fangs. When Silph threw in a stick into the murky and dangerous water, the creatures attacked it like a swarm of hungry piranhas.
Silph looked questionably at his leaders and asked, “Ummm....are you sure we have to submerge into the water to get in?”
Gavin sighed and nodded his head. He had to think of some way to distract the creatures long enough so they could get into the castle. He looked around to see if anything could help him out. He noticed the opening wasn’t completely submerged in the water and there was a grassy area that surrounded the place that was about two feet in width. The moat wasn’t too terrible wide, maybe 50 meters, so it wouldn’t take long to cross it. Gavin figured they could swim across, take the bar out with out having to drive in to do it, and get in without the creatures noticing. Now again, the only problem was to distract the nasty carnivors. He stood there for a few minutes pondering. Finally an idea struck him. He remembered Silph and Landorion dumping the presumed dead bodies into the river when they got the amour, so they could kill a few guards and dump them into the moat, and hopefully they creatures would swarm around them. He thought a few less guards out of the way was a whole lot merrier and also it’ll buy them some time. Gavin then told his plan to his companions and Landorion and Silph liked the whole idea. They went off and did a sneak attack and a few guards, and then pushed them into the moat. As suspected, the creatures went to the bodies and the four swam across the other side as quickly as possible. It was so far successful. They made it across safely with even some time to spare. Then Silph used his strength and yanked out the loose bar and then quickly, one by one, slipped through the opening. Silph had a bit more difficulty since he was bigger built than the rest, but he managed to squeeze through. He put the loose bar back to it’s original spot and then climbed out of the water and caught up with the rest.
They were downstairs where prisoners were brought in and taken to a cell. The place was dark as the deepest part of the ocean. There were only a few torches that lit the walls. The whole room was disgustingly filthy. There was a smell of decaying corpses floating in the air that was strong enough to churn your stomach. Gavin tried to keep himself from gagging from the horrible stench that filled the air around him.
Samuel took a torch off the wall and proceeded to look around the room to find any clues of where they should head to. The site of the room was very disturbing. skeletons of humans were occupying the room. Some were still in shackles and chains, others were in piles in corners. Rats also lived among them, feeding and using the bones for their homes. The whole thing was rather disturbing. The site of this made him more determined to find a way out of there.
After stumbling over many bones and rats, he found a set of stair that lead up. He whistled to his friends and they ran over to him. He could tell they were all upset about their surroundings, even the brave Silph was about to vomit his innards out. He lead them up the dark stairwell, stepping over rats and getting away from the skeletons that infested the last room.
Landorion said, “Well, I hope we don’t have to go back that way to get out. The whole place was making my gut retch.”
Silph agreed, “Yea, same hare. That a place down there was not vary pleasant, don’t ya know.”
Gavin added, “Well, we left that place now, so lets not worry anymore. It’ll cloud up your brain if you think about it too much and then you won’t use your full amount of brain capacity you have that you’ll need tonight. But don’t worry, we won’t be taking that way out since our cover will be blown once we find Jareth.”
They walked some ways up the stairs and it lead to another chamber, but this once wasn’t as bad as the first one. The smell wasn’t as strong and there weren’t as many rats and bones lying about.
Gavin looked around the room and figured the two floors were used to hold prisoners when they didn’t have any room in their dungeons. He shuddered at the whole though of being locked down in a basement with no food or water, and letting the rats eat away at your flesh when you were dieing.
Samuel saw a bar door that lead out, but it was locked. He motioned to Landorion to pick the lock, and the young lad jumped at the chance and pulled out some of his tools. He took two pieces of wire he had and stuck them into the lock. You could see he was in deep thought when he was breaking them free. They heard clicking and scratches on metal when he was picking the lock, and suddenly there was a clang and the door was opened. Landorion smiled broadly, bowed deeply, and let the three walk through.
Samuel commanded, “Stand straight, Landorion! Don’t get all big headed on us now. You can gloat after we’re done this whole escapade.”
He smiled childishly and obeyed his Majesty. He then followed them up the stairs and they were approaching the end of the stair well. Once they were getting closer Gavin put his index finger up to his lips to tell them to keep quiet and not to make any loud noises. He heard some guards around the opening, so they had to keep quiet. They waited there for a bit, listening to the conversation. One guard was saying that Schnauts had killed the girl and he figured that he would kill the Goblin King now since he’ll never speak of Lord Samuel’s plans.
Gavin shot a look at Samuel and mouth “plans?” He nodded his head and mouthed that he was going to do a sneak attack on Schnauts’ army and get rid of them once and for all. Gavin was stunned that Sam had never mentioned it before. He dismissed that from his mind a went back to listening.
The other voice was saying it was such a pity that the girl had to die. If she didn’t attack Schnauts, she might be alive that day.
Gavin wondered if the girl they were speaking about in great detail was Sarah. She was taken to the castle to get Jareth to say something, but she was never sure what it was about. He imagined Sarah lying dead on a floor; her body cold and lack of color. He shook his head to clear the thought. He knew he couldn’t think that way. It mustn’t be true. Sarah can’t die.
Samuel suddenly gave the signal for Landorion and Silph to take down the two guards and dispose them. They smiled at each other like they were two kids in a candy store and went to have some fun. First Landorion got the two guards’ attention while Silph snuck behind them. With a quick bang, Silph smashed their heads together and the dropped to the floor.
Landorion gave his friend and thumbs up, “Good work, my dear friend. Amazing it never got messy,” Then he winked at Samuel and Gavin.
Silph asked while he was throwing one of the unconscious men over his shoulder, “Could ya gimme some help here, Landorion. It’d be quicker if ya help me get rid of these stupid blokes.”
The small man smiled and grabbed the other guard’s arms and drug him to a dark corner. He then he patted his hands together like he was getting dirk off them, “Well, no one should so them here. So lets get going. We probably only have so much time. You know how these little rescue missions go; you only got so much time before something happens to the victim or the rescuers.”
Sam agreed and they proceeded to find Jareth. Gavin had a feeling that Jareth was in the dungeon where there was a lot of security around it. That was concerning him because he wasn’t sure what he’ll be up against.
Schnauts was pacing back and forth in his bed chambers yelling at his head guard. He was frustrated with Jareth that he hasn’t said anything about the plans. Then he thought back and thought it was so sad that he killed the girl, but he dismissed that thought right away. It was her fault was dead and decaying in the dungeon, not his. He’s ignescent plan wasn’t to kill her, but she left him no choice. She threatened his life by trying to kill him with the small knife she had. But having his sensitive hearing, he heard her sneaking up on him and knocked her down. The knife went flying from her hand and it landed somewhere. After he did murder her, he had a few quick glances to see where it went, but never saw it.
There was a knock at the door and the guard went to answer it. Schnauts just heard some whispers and his head guard nodded his head and shut the door.
The guard hesitantly said, “Ahem...Your Highness, I was just informed that we have several guards missing.” He saw the furry in Schnauts’ eyes and quickly added, “But they did find two, Sir. They said two men attacked them and two other men stood back. He said one of them looked strangely like the Goblin King and the other resembled Lord Samuel. But he wasn’t quite sure what the weasely, small man and the warrior where.”
Schnauts voice rose like a lions roar, “WHAT?!?!?! How did you let this happen? How did they get in?”
The guard backed up into the dark corner, trying to hide from his master’s vicious anger. His voice quivered as he spoke, “I honestly don’t know. Every entrance is blocked with my best guards. They couldn’t have got in without being detected.”
Schnauts’ eyes were full of anger and he had the look like he was going to kill something. His guard fell to his knees and pleaded for forgiveness. Then Schnauts walked over to the frightened man and pulled out his dagger (the same one that killed Sarah). The man’s eyes widened at the site of the razor sharp dagger. By the time he struggled to get up and head to the door, Schnauts grabbed him by the scalp and slit his throat. Blood oozed from the guards neck and onto the stone floor. Schnauts apologized with no meaning or sympathy at all and let the body drop. He then yelled for another guard to come in. Once one did arrive, their eyes filled with horror and disgust. Schnauts could tell that the soldier was going to vomit everywhere, but he didn’t care so he ordered the sick man to drag the body out and properly dispose it. Once he left he called for a few more guards to clean up the mess while he left to speak with his other soldiers.
A bell rang as Samuel, Gavin, Landorion, and Silph were approaching the dungeon. They weren’t too terribly far from where the bell sounded and all of the soldiers turned their attention towards Schnauts in his tower. They hid in the dark, but tried to be inconspicuous.
He bellowed, “My friends! We have some unwanted guests among us. There are to believed to be four of them and they are from Lord Samuel’s army! I am told they are by some colleagues of ours who have seen them sneaking about. They are Lord Samuel himself, a man that looks like Jareth the Goblin King, and two other men. One is a big, well built man that could possibly a warrior, and the other is small and lanky-”
The four men looked at each other and decided they should hurry up ad leave. If they stayed too much longer they would be caught. They silently made their way to the doors that lead them down to the dungeon that Gavin has suspected Jareth might be. But they had to act as if they were guards too or people would get suspicious and it was getting even more dangerous to be in there. They had to move fast because time was running out and they could not stay much longer with out being noticed.
The crowed separated once Schnauts finished his speech. The guards were everywhere and the four tried to act as normal as possible. They couldn’t quite go and find Jareth or that would make them looks suspicious to others around them. Samuel’s plan was to spilt up for a half hour and meet back up by the dungeon door. This whole split up idea was so they wouldn’t be so obvious. And if anybody had seen or heard anything they had to tell the rest once they were back together or find one by one and tell them. Everyone agreed to the idea and they went on their own ways.
Gavin stayed around the opening to the dungeon. He didn’t want to be too far away from the entrance, just in case something with happen that would affect their mission.
He stayed in a dark corner, watching the entrance like a hawk. No one had gone through those doors, until Schnauts came. Gavin watched very carefully and slowly made his way to the door. Schnauts was waiting for one of his guards that was with him to open up the door that lead down into the dungeon. Now Gavin was completely sure that’s where Jareth was held captive.
When he was close enough he heard Schnauts say something about Jareth and seeing if he will talk. Gavin thought this would be the prefect opportunity to go hit two birds with one stone. He can finally get rid of Schnauts once and for all and also he can get Jareth and take him home.
When the guard unlocked the door, Schnauts went in and Gavin followed closely behind. Gavin still stayed hidden in the shadows while he followed his enemy deep down in the dreary dungeon where he believed where Jareth was held captive.
Jareth was waiting in his cell for Schnauts to arrive. He’d been waiting a few days for him to come visit Jareth. He was going to go through with his plan and get his revenge for Sarah. He stared blankly off into the darkness of his cell. Jareth turned his gaze over to Sarah who still remained lying on the floor. His mind went back to the times when she was smiling, laughing, throwing fits, and just living out her life. Who would figure that she would die so young? He kept his gave as the memories when through his mind like a slide show. As he kept staring, his rage was growing and growing. His blood was boiling and he couldn’t wait to slit Schnauts’ throat and watch the dark blood spill from his neck. Jareth wanted him to suffer a slow painful death. He’d cut into the juggler vein in the neck, and he will die slowly from the lack of blood. Jareth would enjoy watching him die, like Schnauts enjoyed killing beloved Sarah.
Jareth heard someone coming down the stairs and he jumped back into reality. He could tell it was his arch enemy the way he tromped down the steps. But he heard someone else that was coming behind Schnauts. Their footsteps were more quieter and they would stop for a second and start up again. Someone was sneaking up behind Schnauts.
Schnauts reached Jareth’s cell and asked, “So how are you tonight, Goblin King?”
Jareth snapped, “How do you think I am? You killed the only girl I had feelings for and you suspect me to tell you the plans now. Well, I’m not! The deal is over. You said Sarah would be kept safe if i agreed to tell you, but you killed her so I don’t care if you’ll kill me too! I’d be much better off being with Sarah again than being stuck here in the dungeon.”
Gavin was waiting in the shadows in the stairwell entrance. He heard everything Jareth said, then he was the body lying on the ground. His eyes grew wide. It was true, Sarah was killed! His eyes welled up with tears, but he held them back. He would not break down now. He’d come too far to throw just away the plan because something had happen. Gavin peeked out from the shadows, and he spotted Jareth in the cell refusing to tell Schnauts anything. Then Jareth spotted Gavin from the corner of his eye. Gavin quickly placed his index finger up to his lips that gestured, “Sssshhhh! Keep quiet!”
Someone tapped Gavin on his shoulder, and he quickly turned around frantically. Landorion placed his hand over Gavin’s mouth to keep him from saying anything.
Landorion explained in a whisper, “I watched you follow Schnauts in here, so I figured you’d might need some help springing your brother.”
Gavin nodded and said, “It’s good you’re here ‘cause I’m going to need your pick-locking skills to get Jareth out.”
Landorion smiled mischievously, “So what’s the plan, boss?”
Gavin explained to his small friend that he was going to do a sneak attack on Schnauts while he would pick the lock and get Jareth out of there. It sounded like an easy and a good plan to Landorion, so he went along with it.
Jareth watched Gavin come out from his hiding place in the shadows and kept closer to him. Then he noticed a smaller man looking out from the shadows. Jareth wasn‘t sure who he was, but he could be stalking Gavin. The man came out from the shadows too and tip-toes closer to the cell.
Suddenly Jareth’s twin pulled his sword, that was fastened around his waist, from its sheath and it made the sounds of metal on metal. The sound rang through the air and Schnauts whipped around and saw Gavin coming towards him. He too pulled out his sword and struck it against Gavin’s sword that was coming right for him. The two were in an all out sword fight while Landorion was picking the lock and explaining to Jareth who he is and what they’re going to do. He picked the lock and quietly swung the door open. Landorion motioned for Jareth to follow him, but he just froze their, looking at the small man and then set on Sarah and on Schnauts. Jareth wasn’t about to forget his revenge for Sarah.
Gavin swung around when his enemy thrust his sword forward at it, and whipped his sword at the same time, that led him to slit Schnauts’ upper arm. He grabbed his bleeding arm with his hand, and gave a look of pure death to Gavin. For a second, Gavin put down his guard and Schnauts kicked his feet from under him, and Gavin fell hard to the stone floor while his sword flew from out his hands and landed several feet from him. Now Schnauts had the upper hand. He held his sword up above his head, and was ready to finish off Gavin. Gavin tried to reach for his sword, but it was way out of his reach.
When Schnauts was about to thrust his sword through Gavin’s heart, Jareth ran for Gavin’s sword, picked it up, and charged at the unsuspected Schnauts. Schnauts had a pained look when Jareth charged at him. He looked down and he saw the sword went right through his abdomen. His mouth was agape and he looked at Jareth, then at Gavin. He finally collapsed to the floor, dead. Gavin quickly scrambled to his feet and looked at his brother surprisingly. He then walked over to him and hug. He was so happy his brother was all right. When Gavin pulled away, he saw Jareth staring at Schnauts’ body with a look of defeat. He had killed Schnauts and got his revenge for Sarah.
“Sarah,” he thought. “My dear, Sarah.” The thought of her brought tears to his eyes. Then he looked at her. She was still laying in the same spot where she fell when Schnauts killed her. That was now a few days ago, he though; it seemed like it any ways. He wasn’t sure what day it was any more. Oh how he wished she was still alive so he could hold her in his arms and tell her how he loved her so much. But now she was gone, and he couldn’t tell her what he thought and felt about her.
Jareth walked over to Sarah’s soulless body and picked her up. He body was stiff and cold and her skin was very blue-grey color. This was his first time he got to hold her, and he wished it didn’t have to be like this. He fought to hold back the tears as he carried her body past his brother and Landorion and up the stairs. The two followed closely behind him, but kept silent.
By the time they reached the door, Silph and Sam were waiting for them. They were over joy when they Jareth, but once their eyes fell onto the dead girl in his arms they were filled with grief. To Silph, it was just a girl who was there dead, in Jareth’s arms, but Samuel knew it was Sarah. When he saw her his heart went out to Jareth, for he knew how much he loved the girl. Still, no one said anything as they silently walked through the city and back to the opening where they came. Gavin went in the cool water first and removed the bar so they could get out. Samuel went next so he could tell his army to attack the castle, and defeat the enemies once and for all. Jareth went next and slowly went in with the body still in his arms. When he was at the other side, Gavin tried to take her, but Jareth wouldn’t let go. He was not going to let go of her, never! When the other two came through they all rushed towards the their horses while arrows were zooming past them. The battle has started and they were right in the middle of it. Arrows, big balls of fire shot from the catapults were flying right by them from both sides. Samuel’s men were closing up on Schnauts’, but they were so out of it because their leader was dead and no one knew who was going to command them.
Silph, Landorion, Jareth, Samuel, and Gavin made it safely and the mounted their horses. Sam was going to stay and lead his army, while Silph and Landorion helped, while the Gavin and Jareth started their several day journey home. Before they departed, Sam took Jareth hand in a hand shake and said sympathetically, “I’m so sorry, Jareth. I knew you loved her, but she would want you to put her at rest and move on with your immortal life and look after Aelise without the burden of holding on to her.” Jareth then released the shake and rode off.
Samuel yelled, “Jareth! Heed my advice. It will do you good in the long run.” He didn’t know if his friend heard him, but at least he told him that he has to let Sarah go.
Before Gavin left Sam told him to keep a watchful eye on Jareth and report anything to him about Jareth. Gavin nodded and left to catch up to his brother.
The journey was long, then never did stop to sleep, just long enough to rest up their horses. Jareth still held Sarah when he was on the horse, and Gavin knew right away he wasn’t going to let go and he wasn’t going to dare try to take her away from him.
The whole trip Jareth just kept his eyes to the road and never said a word. He let his mind wander to what Samuel said to him before he left. He couldn’t believe what his best friend said to him. Jareth just could never move on with his immortal life without the love of his life. She was the only reason why he kept living when he was in the dungeon for so long, and now he left empty and torn apart from everyone. No one knows what he’s going through, no one! He doesn’t even know why he’s still here, he would rather be dead, then at least he could be with Sarah.
Finally Gavin inturupted his thoughts, “Jareth? Are you ok? Do you want to talk?”
Jareth glared at his brother, then turned his attention back to the road, “What’s there to talk about? She’s dead, I cannot do anything.”
Gavin suggested, “You could listen to what Samuel told you, and let her go; move on with your life. You knew one way or another she would die, Jareth. She was a mortal; mortals die, unlike you and me.”
Jareth grunted.
“C’mon, Jareth! Grow up! Let Sarah go! You can’t be like this, you have Aelise to look after,” Gavin’s voice grew quieter, “and yourself.”
Jareth shrugged, “So? You try loosing someone you love, then you come back to me and tell me to let her go. It’s not possible, Gavin, it’s not!”
“Sarah was the only girl I loved. I was so happy she came back here to the Labyrinth. She made me happy, happier than any other girl I have even been with. Before I left she told me she loved me. You should of saw that look on her face when she said that, she really meant it. And now I can’t be with her, and it hurts!”
“I know over time I will slowly get over her, but I doubt it. It’ll take eons for me to let her go. I don’t even know if I want to be here any more.”
Gavin said, “Don’t say such things, Jareth! You have Aelise to look after. Imagine your daughter, how she’ll feel if you killed yourself. She’d be inconsolable. She just lost her mother, don’t let her loose you too.”
Jareth didn’t reply back, for he knew what his brother was explaining was true. What would happen to Aelise if she lost both her parents? How would she reacts? Jareth just kept his eyes in front of him and he made his horse trot. He wasn’t the type of guy to admit when he was wrong, but he was confused and hurting so much that he couldn’t think straight.
Gavin followed closely behind him, but didn’t say another word. He knew he must of upset Jareth, but he had to say something. He was watching his brother wasting away and he could really do anything, but tell him the truth. He just wished he knew what was going through his brain.
The sun was just about to set when they arrived back to the Goblin City. When Gavin and Jareth were riding through the streets to get back home to the castle, the village goblins were staring at the body Jareth was still holding with grief; their future queen was dead. Jareth didn’t even bother to acknowledge his people, he still kept his eyes on the directed path back to his home. On the other hand, Gavin was studying the goblins’ faces; he saw sorrow, confusion, awe, and some between happy and sad. The younger goblins, the children, didn’t know what has happened so they weren’t affected, all they knew was their King was riding through the street with a dead corpse girl in his arms. Some of the ladies cried openly when they saw Sarah’s lifeless body and the men comforted them. Gavin then spotted Sarah’s dwarf friend, Hoggle, watching them go through the city. His eyes were brimmed with tears and his nose was running. When Hoggle noticed the prince was watching him, he quickly turned away and left the crowed. Gavin saw with his own eyes the pain that this caused Hoggle, and the whole Goblin City. Sarah must have been an asset to this city somehow.
They all moved to the sides of the streets to make room for the king and the prince so they can hurry and get back to the castle. They knew that Jareth had to make arrangements for Sarah’s funeral and that he would want to get back to the comfort of his castle to be alone.
Aelise spotted her father from her bedroom window when he was entering the castle gates. She hurried out of her room and yelled as she was making her way down to the front doors that her daddy, mommy, and uncle were finally home. The servants, maids, and everyone else in the castle made their way to the doors too, to greet their masters and mistress. Aelise slid to a halting stop and pulled the huge wooden doors with all her might. Once the door were just opened enough for her to squeeze through, she dashed out and ran up to her father that was on the cobble stone in front of the doors, but he was still on his horse. As she got closer and saw the body with the long brown hair that was dangling in her father’s arms, her eyes that was sparkling with excitement, were now filled with grief and tears. She looked up at Jareth, then at Gavin with their sad look in their eyes, and back on the body. She knew right at that second that it was her mother. She looked more closely at the lifeless body to make sure it was Sarah, and she saw her face. Sadness swept through Aelise’s body as she saw her mother’s face. The tears now came like waterfalls flowing over rocks. She stepped back, shaking her head furiously, not believing what she was seeing. She fled from the scene and ran away towards the garden, then she vanished into thin air; she teleported herself to another place away from the truth.
Jareth stared off to space. He wished that Aelise didn’t see Sarah’s body, not like this. He saw the pain that went through his own daughter, once she figured it out, and it made his heart hurt even worse. Gavin rode his horse up beside Jareth’s and put his arm around his brother’s shoulders and said quietly, “She’s just sad, Jareth. I’ll talk to her.”
Jareth shook his head and argued, “No, I have to talk to her. She’s my daughter and it’ll be better if she heard this from me. I have to explain it to her, and it’ll just be better if I did it.”
Gavin nodded his head and got off his horse. The stable boy took his horse as he walked into the castle with his shoulders slumped. Jareth watched his brother walk away, then he got off his horse and carried the body in. Jareth ordered one of his servants to call for the funeral parlour and get someone to take the body and get it ready for the funeral. He wanted the best casket every built for Sarah and the most beautiful flowers in the whole kingdom. Everything had to be perfect as it could be. Right then the servants went on their way to make the arrangements and left the master be alone to say his goodbyes.
He laid the corpse on the couch and knelt down beside it. Jareth smoother her hair and brushed it away from her face with his one hand. Memories filled his mind with her smiling face, her voice, when they first met...everything that he could remembered flashed through his mind.
He spoke aloud to the body, like Sarah was still alive, “Sarah...why did you do such a stupid thing that risked your sweet, innocent life? That will be a question I will never understand or even know. But I love you, and I wished you knew this a long time ago, like when we first encountered each other. I watched you all my life, and I feel in love with you the first minute. You could say I was your guardian angel; I watched over you like you were my own. I kept my promise to your mother, to keep you safe, until now.”
Tears welled up in his eyes as he was speaking, “She too, came to my Labyrinth when she was your age when you came. I took her little sister this time though, she wished that her younger sister was taken away. But at the end, it wasn’t as heart breaking as yours. She did defeat me too, but she didn’t shut me out after when she returned home. She didn’t want me to be with her all the time though, but she did let me know that she still needed me in her life.”
“Several years down the road, after she married your father, and had you, she called for me. Of course, I came to her and she told me that she wanted me to watch over you and keep you safe. She made me promise I would watch you, and I tried to keep my promise as long as I could, but it looks like I did a pretty poor job.”
He smiled, “When you wished for your daughter to be taken away, I didn’t really want to, but I knew it would be for the best, so I did what I did. I never did regret taking Aelise from you. It was like I had a part of you with me everyday, and I loved that.”
“When I first brought you to my Labyrinth, my heart melted a thousand times. My love grew for you every time I saw you, and I knew once I danced with you the first time that you had to be mine. It was destiny, but you were so young still that I could be with you just yet, which tore at my heart. You were also so confused too, you loved me one minute, but he disliked me the next; and how I treated you too. I would be so kind to you, then I would do some thing that made you angry at me. I so hated it when you were angry with me, but I had to do what I did. I’m so sorry, Sarah...”
Jareth started to sob, “I wish you were here with me! I miss you Sarah and I want you back! I can’t live with out you. You are my sun of my day, the stars of my night; with out you I’m empty. I’m not even sure if I can look after Aelise any more since she reminds me of you in so many ways, and it hurts. When she smiles, I see you; when she throws her tantrums, I see you again; I hear your laugh when she laughs.”
He buried his face in Sarah’s chest, “Please, Sarah, I beg of you to come back and make me whole again. I’d do anything to bring you back to me, even if it risks my life in return; just come back to me so I can tell you I love you.”
Jareth sobbed harder that it made him unable to speak and that it caused his head to hurt. As he cried in Sarah’s shirt, he felt a small hand on his shoulder. He slowly lifted his head up and turned his head towards the hand. He saw his daughter standing there with her tear stained cheeks and red eyes. She was also crying. Jareth pulled Aelise into his arms and embraced her, while both of them were weeping.
Between sobs Jareth said, “I’m so sorry, baby.....I’m sorry!”
Aelise held on to her father tighter and said, “It’s ok, Dad-Daddy. I-I miss her t-too!”
They held each other for some time, until they were interrupted when the man from the funeral parlour came so he could take Sarah away. Jareth was reluctant to let him take her, but he knew he had to let her go for now. He had to talk to Aelise, and he had try to regain his strength to move on. The both watched as the body that Sarah’s soul once occupied leave the castle. Jareth was now done crying as he picked up Aelise and told her they had to talk. He took her over to the living room and sat her down on a chair as he kneeled in front of her and took her small hand in his. He was not sure what to say to his five-year-old daughter, or even how he was going to start, but he decided to tell her everything from square one. Jareth told his small daughter that he was captured my Schnauts and his army, what they did to him, and why. He went on explaining on why Sarah left and what she did what she did. The he told her how Sarah died and the reason.
Jareth watched Aelise’s expressions. She was horrified and sad of what her father told her. He decided then that he try to make the subject a little lighter. Jareth said that Aelise’s mother was up in heaven where she wouldn’t hurt any more. He went on saying that she’s watching them every minute. He mentioned Sarah would always be in their hearts and they will never forget her, and she to them.
Jareth finished explaining and waited for Aelise to say something. There was an awkward silence for several minutes, then Aelise finally spoke up, “Daddy...will Mommy ever come back? Will we ever see her again?”
Those questions almost made him break down again, but he managed to reply with out crying, “No, Sugar, she won’t be coming back. But you will see your mother again, but not right now. One day you’ll be leaving this world and will be going up to heaven. I bet she’ll be waiting for you up there with a big smile on her face and a hug waiting just for you.”
Jareth also knew that Aelise was mortal and she would live her life and die; hopefully not as soon as her mother. He’ll out live his daughter and everyone else who was around who were mortals. Many, many years would go by and he will see people die as time goes by and his heart with break each and every time.
Aelise announced, “I’m tired, Daddy. I think I will go up to my room now, and go to sleep.”
Jareth nodded and she left the room. She climbed the many stairs up to her bedroom and took her time as she climbed them. Aelise too, couldn’t believe her mother was gone. She only knew her just less than a year and Sarah was already gone, like a candle blown out.
She got to her room and fell onto her bed. As she laid there looking up at the ceiling, a tiny breath of wind swept through her room. The wind that blew in her face faintly smelt of roses and it said something to Aelise in a whisper. She heard “I love you....I always will.” And then the wind was gone like that. She sat up and looked around to see where the wind would have came from, but the window was closed, along with her door. Aelise thought that was quite strange, but she started to think about it more; the voice and all. She replayed the voice over and over in her head, and each time it reminded her of her mother, Sarah. It sounded just like her. Aelise whispered, “Mommy...” and then curled herself up in a ball on her bed.
Jareth slumped in his the chair Aelise was sitting in earlier. His head laid back against the back of the chair and his arms draped on the soft arms of it. Then a breath of wind came into the room and made the candles flicker. It brought in a smell of freshly cut roses and it said, “I love you, Jareth....forever and always.” He shot up in his chair and immediately recognized the voice; it was Sarah’s. But the wind left quickly as it had entered. He looked around to see if she was there, but when he realized what he heard and was looking for, he thought he was nuts. He told himself he was just hearing things and she was dead, and he had to let her go. Jareth slumped back in the chair and went back into his daze of grief.
Gavin was walking through the garden so he could just let his mind wander. He sat on the swing and thought about everything; Sarah and her death, Jareth and Aelise, the promise he made to Samuel, and whatever. He heard what Jareth said when he was all alone with Sarah’s body when he was walking by the room. He didn’t know anything about what Jareth said, and Gavin was astonished. He did know he knew Sarah’s mother or that he knew Sarah for so long. Gavin cleared his mind from that and went on thinking that if it wasn‘t for Sarah, her would have never been on his twin’s good side again. Before her, there was a lot of friction between the two and somehow she smoothed thing over between them. He was very grateful for what she did, and he will always feel that he’ll be in debt with her.
Gavin gave out a big sigh and remembered the funeral will be held tomorrow. He has no clue how he’s going to survive that and look out for Jareth and Aelise. It’s not going to be a good day he thought. Gavin decided the he should head inside and see how his older brother was doing.
He walked into the living room where he found his twin sleeping in the arm chair. Man! Does he look terrible! Gavin thought to himself. He figured maybe it would be better for Jareth it he were to sleep in his bed tonight, maybe he might sleep better. But he wasn’t completely sure if he should wake him, since he was already asleep any ways, and there was a chance Jareth might not go back to sleep. Gavin thought better and decided to wake his brother. When he crept close and was about to gently shake his brother, Jareth woke up with a start and yelled, “I got it!”
Gavin jumped back immediately, scared out of his wits. His heart was beating rapidly as he watched his brother sit up and looks at Gavin.
Jareth said, “I know how to get Sarah back!”
Gavin shook his head and declared, “Jareth, Sarah is gone! You can’t get her back; it’s not possible!”
Jareth replied cooly, “Yes I can, but I would be taking a big risk if I do this.”
Gavin asked, “Do what?”
Jareth explained, “I can use my magic and bring her back. I just realized that I can, it just might drain all of my strength to do it though, and I might die doing this.”
Gavin exclaimed, “What?!? Are you nuts? You’re willing to risk you life just to bring back another. You can’t do it, it’s not possible! Even Dad said we can’t.”
Jareth countered, “No, he said we weren’t allowed, he never said we couldn’t.”
Gavin argued, “But still, Jareth, it might kill you! What would be the point for you to bring Sarah back if you died doing it? It just doesn’t make sense!”
The Goblin King said, “Well, love makes you do crazy things. You’ll understand it one day.”
Gavin then glared at his brother, “You have no clue if I have ever been in love! You know nothing about me, Jareth, so don’t start thinking that you do!”
Jareth stood up and marched away, “I don’t care what you think! I’m going to do this if you like it or not! It’s my life and I would rather Sarah be with me or live to take my place.”
Gavin just stood there, watching his brother storm away from him. He couldn’t believe the idiocy his twin was going through! Why would Jareth do such a thing, just to get a girl back! She was dead, and no one in the world can change that. Gavin wished Jareth would just let it go and move on. He’ll be tampering with nature’s course with mortals, and no one should change it.
The next morning, Aelise woke up with her dad sitting at the end of the bed, watching her sleep. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and wondered why her dad was there.
Jareth said, “Good morning, Aelise!”
Aelise yawned, “’Morning, Daddy. How come you’re here? Is something the matter?”
Jareth shook his head no, “No, honey. I have great news actually.”
Aelise sat up excitedly, “What? What’s the great news?”
Jareth smiled, “I’m going to get your mother back.”
She looked at him in awe. She wasn’t sure if her dad was serious or that he was crazy. Aelise asked, “How are you going to get Mommy back?”
Jareth took his little girl’s hand and explained, “I’m going to use all my power to give her life again.”
Aelise questioned, “Is that possible?”
Jareth made a crystal ball appear in his hand and tossed it to Aelise, “Anything is possible, dear.”
She looked down at the crystal sphere that was lying on her lap. Her father was going to use these little crystal balls and the other powers he posses to get her mother back. A smiles beamed from her face as she looked back at Jareth. She was so pleased that her father was going to get Sarah back, then they can be one big, happy family again. She picked up the crystal ball with her tiny hands, and then he morphed into a rose. Her smile grew brighter.
Jareth reached over and placed his hand on her cheek and said softly, “You can have your mommy back again, Aelise, and she’ll be here later today. I promise.”
Aelise then hugged her dad.
As Jareth was eating his breakfast down in the dining hall, Gavin walked in and stared in his brother in disbelief. He could tell the king was going to follow through with this idea and Gavin did not like it at all. But he wasn’t going to bring up the subject again because he had a message to deliver to his brother, and he also didn’t want to talk the whole ordeal either.
Gavin cleared his throat to get Jareth’s attention, “Jareth...I got a message from Samuel and he said he coming today. I guess they won the war and he’s coming straight here to see how you’re doing.”
Jareth exclaimed, “Great! Now he can see Sarah again.”
Gavin just shook his head and left. Jareth saw the look Gavin gave him and he didn’t understand why he wasn’t happy for Jareth of what he was about to do.
Jareth left the table and headed down to the funeral parlour down in the city. Aelise watcher him leave the castle when she was playing in the garden with a pang of sadness running through her. She heard what her uncle was ranting all day when he was walking down the hallways by himself. He kept on saying that Jareth was risking his life trying to revive Sarah. Aelise figured it all out of what her Uncle Gavin was worrying about; there was a chance that Jareth would doing it. Aelise decided she was going to follow her father and keep an eye on him.
She kept her distance as she was following him down the street. She wore her cloak and kept her hood covering her face as she was walking down the street nonchalantly. She walked behind Jareth ever turn and every corner he went; she wasn’t going to loose track of him.
When Jareth went into the parlour, Aelise silently made her way to the nearest window in that building. She climbed up on the wood pile that was under the back room window where her father went in to and peered into the window. She saw Jareth talking to an older goblin who was only 4 feet tall and he had a hunch back, grey hair, and spectacles that were on the tip of his nose. Aelise could see that her father and the small, old goblin were deep in conversation. She only caught some words through the glass such as “just a few minutes” and “I need to do this”. Then finally, the little goblin left the room and then the shop. Aelise then went back to the door and quietly slipped into the shop. She stepped into the shadows that swallowed up the walls of the small funeral parlour. Silently she crept to the curtains that acted like doors between the back working room of the small shop. She cautiously moved the curtain so she could see, but that so no one would notice.
Aelise watched her father take his hand and smooth Sarah’s hair on her head as he mumbles some words she could not hear. Silently, as she watched Jareth for several minutes, he noticed that he was getting a pale blue aurora around him and his mumbling was getting louder and she could not understand it because it was in a foreign tongue; and the whole time he never took his hand off her head. Soon, after watching him for several minutes the blue light surrounding Jareth was growing brighter and his voice was growing louder, still speaking in the unknown language that Aelise had never heard of. She felt the horror surging through her body and her eyes still stayed fixed on her father. It was becoming harder for her to see Jareth since the light was extraordinary bright and she could only make the figure out as her father. Soon it was getting too bright for her and she had to close the crack of the curtain and close her eyes. The whole building was illuminating, almost like she was standing right in front of a sun.
Soon the light dimmed down and it was no more. She then heard a thump like something heavy had fell onto the wood panelled floor. Aelise burst threw the curtain and looked gravely. Jareth’s body was the thump sound and he laid sprawled out on the floor. Tears brimmed her eyes once again, and then she looked up at the casket that held her mother in it. Aelise’s eyes stayed fixed on the casket, and she heard no life in it. She dropped her head in grief for as she knew she had no longer had a mother nor a father. She felt all alone and orphaned.
She crouched down on the wood floor and hugged her knees to her chest as she sobbed hard into them. She was in hysterics and she was having troubles breathing since she was heaving so much. Tears had stained her smooth and rosy cheeks, her beautiful blue eyes were now red and swollen, and her hair was a total mess from shaking her head in disbelief.
“No! This can’t happen,” she thought, “they can’t just leave me like this! I need them...”
As she was crying for the loss of her parents, she heard a bang. Her head slowly lifted to see where the noise came from. She struggled to keep silent so she could hear for it again. Aelise waited a few minutes and then she heard it again, and it was coming from within the casket. A smile beamed across the child’s face and she jumped up to her feet and ran to the casket. She tried to peer into it, but she was much too small. She stood on her tip-toes and her eyes were just over the edge so she could look in.
Aelise saw her mother’s hand move from where they were on her chest, and then there was more movement from inside. She squealed with glee as she watch the life run through her mother again once more. And now, she heard a rustle beneath her where Jareth laid. She looked down and watched her father regain his consciousness and she beamed even brighter. Both of her parents were alive and she wasn’t such an orphan any more. She knew though, if her parents did die her Uncle Gavin would of took care of her and helped her rule the kingdom as well, or he would take over for her until she was much more older and understood everything much better. The “people” of the Labyrinth wouldn’t have agreed to be ruled by a 5-year-old girl, so her uncle would have to take over for her.
He groggerly sat up and shook his to clear it. She fell to her knees and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.
She shrilled, “Daddy! You’re alive!” She kisses his cheek and smiled brightly.
He grinned, “Of course I am sweetheart! Did you actually think that would actually kill me?”
She bit her lip nervously and didn’t reply. It was a possibility that it could have happened. Since he was alive though, she pushed those horrible thoughts away and hugged him again. She whispered, “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, Jareth,” a womanly voice came from above them.
Jareth and Aelise both looked up from where the voice came, and they both we filled with happiness. Sarah sat up from the casket and smiled gently at them. Her color had returned, her eyes were twinkling and full of life again, and she looked revived; like she was only sleeping for weeks, not like she was dead and decaying. Jareth felt a wave of gratefulness as he gazed upon his love.
She said, “Umm...could you guys help me out of this death bed of mine?”
He grinned as he stood up beside her with a look of mischief dancing in his eyes, “Are you sure you want to leave that lovely bed of yours?”
Sarah rolled her eyes at him, “Oh yeah! I really want to stay in this coffin and wait to die again. No thanks, Hun.”
His face then turned a green-grey as those words came from her mouth. She saw his terrified look on his face as the color fled from his flesh. She quickly said to calm him down, “Sorry...my black humour got the better of me.” She slapped herself playfully, “Bad me! Don’t start with that!” She grinned, trying to make light of things.
The color was slowly coming back to his face and he shook his head a smiled. He realized how silly he was for thinking she would die again. He knew her only way through her most horrible experience was from her humour.
Jareth embraced Sarah and whispered in her ear, “I love you, Sarah. I’m so sorry for what happened to you.” He then started to sob. “I tried to save you....but I was too late.”
Sarah wrapped her arms around his neck and smoothed the back of his hair at the back of his head with her hand, as she comforted him and cooed softly like he was a child, “It’s ok, Jareth. Sshh....It’s ok. You couldn’t have done anything to prevent what happened.”