*s
AN: Let me know what you think. Early on it'll sound like I'm trying to
make Sarah into a bit of a Bridget Jones-y character, but I'm not, it's all
for a reason so read on, si vous plait. I hugely feel like I'm stealing
from other authors with the whole High Prince thing, and I apologize to
anyone who has used similar twists in their own stories before me. Other
then that, it's a romance. How original can it be? I don't know, but I'll
try. Let me know how I'm doing.
*
Strangely Devine Chapter One: Tales of an Adventurous Cardigan
*
Sarah jerked her hand back from the stove, swearing colourfully and stamping her foot in an attempt to work out some anger at her foolishness. Honestly, you'd think a twenty-two year old woman could cook breakfast with out it being a death-defying act. Obviously, she thought wryly, not.
Her roommate, Emily looked up from the large fashion magazine she was reading and raised an incredibly crafted eyebrow. Emily was Sarah's own personal hero. She was short and Asian with spiky black hair and was, in Sarah's opinion, the epitome of cool. She had the clothes, hair and ideas to match. "All right?" she asked wearily.
Sarah nodded distractingly and promptly spilled the milky egg batter she'd very nearly prepared for the French toast. "Erm." she said, staring as unbeaten yolk slid down the linoleum sided cupboard door.
Emily made an exasperated sound and stood up to help her friend. "Honestly, Sarah, you need a nurse maid. You can't cook and can barely dress yourself"
Sarah looked down at her choice of clothing for the day. Jeans, a green tank top that she'd worn yesterday and slept in and a blue cardigan. She looked like a cross between an old lady with too many cats and a drugged celebrity out for milk. It was how she always dressed lately unless Emily forced her into something glamorous and sluttish.
Emily wore an outfit of her own design, being that she was a designer. It didn't matter what she wore it always looked good. Sarah felt a bit tortured for a moment and then looked back at her culinary mishap with a sigh.
"Can egg be bad for the counter?"
Emily looked surprised, for as much as she knew about fashion and art, she certainly knew nothing of the kitchen or, for that matter, eggs. "I dunno" she said thoughtfully "Isn't there some disease you can get?"
"Herpes?" Sarah suggested with a wry smile.
Emily rolled her eyes "Not that one"
"Eh." said Sarah, tucking a long strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Perhaps we should just clean it up"
Once they'd cleaned the mess up both girls decided that left over lasagne would do for a nutritious breakfast instead of French toast and settled down in front of the television. Emily fixed her friend with an amused look. "Taking another stab at a job today?" she asked.
Sarah mumbled something incoherent and stuffed more cold lasagne into her mouth. She had developed a horrible habit of eating anything in her path when she got depressed. Talking about her lack of a job or income was depressing. There was, of course, only so much once could do with a Masters in Art History. Unfortunately it was either teaching or a one in a thousand chance that a museum needed your help.
So Sarah's first year out of Cornell, she prepared to take on the world as her ex boyfriend went on to Med-school upstate, her ex best friend got a job on Wall street and officially had no time for anything except work, her other ex best friend joined Green Peace while her old college roommate moved to LA to start Film School. She didn't feel like taking on the world anymore. She felt like staying in bed and being unemployed.
Suddenly the delicate bubble that was Sarah's group of decidedly mismatched but none the less wonderful friends began to burst. College had ended. She had no job. Her only friends were the unemployed half of her old clique.
There was obviously Emily, her roommate, too cool for her own good. If it hadn't been for Emily, Sarah would probably be living at the YWCA, as broke as she was. Emily's country club going parents didn't exactly appriciate their daughters artistic abilities, but none-the-less paid for an extravagant flat in the city. Sarah was now in her eighth month of officially permanent squatter status.
Then there was Fiona, once a sorority girl and Journalism major, now a junkie who passed out in very inconvenient places. Fiona and Sarah had once been close, now it was rather painful to go have lunch with her old friend. She was nearly always high and asking for money.
Finally there was Griffon and Timothy, a pair of brothers only a year apart. Griffon was a struggling pianist who was devastatingly handsome and devastatingly gay. Timothy was a history teacher at a very expensive and elite school in Manhattan. Both had partners of their preferred sex and were planning on settling down.
"Hello?" asked Emily. "Are you even going to bother?"
"There are no jobs, Em" Sarah said, her voice sounding patronized. "I don't know, can't I sleep a bit longer and then get a job?"
Emily rolled her eyes "Look, obviously I'm not one to lecture about getting a job" she said "And I'd never kick you out or anything, it's just I'm worried about you Sarah. You mope around in a cardigan and only go out when I force you. You've not had a date since Oliver's gone up north."
"I don't need a boyfriend" Sarah said tersely.
"You don't even date" Emily said flatly "It can't be healthy."
"I just don't feel like it" Sarah whined and put her head on Emily's shoulder "I can't help it, I'm depressed and I want to sit in a dark room and feel sorry for my self"
Emily sighed "Why? Because you chose the wrong major and spent four years of your life working towards a goal that wasn't anything more then an illusion"
Sarah blinked "More or less"
"I didn't mean that." Said Emily and then stood up, "Come on, you're not eating leftovers in a cardigan for the rest of your life"
"Oh, please" Sarah whined "That sounds lovely"
Emily gave her a stern look "What happened to the Sarah who drank more wine coolers then Timothy? What happened to the Sarah who stayed up all night at a party even though she had a midterm the next day? What happened to the Sarah that swore she's been transported to another world when she was fifteen? What happened to the Sarah that blew six months worth of tips on a Chanel jacket, and who would never wear a cardigan.."
Emily looked on the verge of tears over the bit about the Chanel jacket. It was in the back of her closet. Sitting there, waiting stealthily for Sarah to grow from a size two to a size six so she couldn't fit into anymore. It was Emily's idea of tragedy.
Sarah made a whining "I don't know" sound.
Emily shook her head "Right" she said forcefully "Go take a shower, we're burning the cardigan and we're not letting you sit around all day eating lasagne"
Sarah narrowed her eyes "You wouldn't"
"Bathe yourself!" Emily shouted, pointing at the door to the bathroom.
*
The High Court of Calais was the sort of place that could make one feel small and rather dirty. What with it's high shiny ceilings and glittering white marble floors. Light shined in from windows that didn't exist upon the Royal Family and members of the nobility. Every person in attendance was beautiful, whether it was the fair elves, with a silver-ish cast to their flaxen hair, or the darkly gorgeous Nosferatu. With their beetle black eyes glittering behind heavy lashes they watched their treaty be prepared.
At this moment the attention was focused on the High King and Queen of all the Underground. The Queen in her misty blue dress nodded her approval now and again but made little other comment as her husband spoke to a tall, heavily muscled troll.
"I am sure" the king mused in a gravely imperial voice "That you have only your peoples best intentions, King Dane, when you sign this treaty. We would like the wishes of your people to be very clearly expressed so that no more. unfortunate circumstances may befall the inhabitants of the Troll kingdom" He nodded, and the King of the Trolls began to speak and list the requests of his people.
The Dark Nosferatu shifted in their seats. They were the other half of people involved in this treaty. For too long, the two boarding kingdoms fought, it was only in the past month that peace talks like these had come about. It was horrendously slow though, and every member of the Royal court needed to be in attendance for the peace talks to occur. This, coupled with centuries of ill will between Trolls and Nosferatu made the talks longer then one would expect.
To the King's left stood a man with long silvery hair that flowed over his black robes. His grey eyes darted around, watching every movement in the room. When the talks finally ended for the day and the Trolls retreated the man gave a loud impatient sigh.
"Your majesty, if I may be so bold, I think that Troll is taking advantage of your good nature"
The King looked solidly at his advisor. "You may be so bold" he said and opened his mouth to say more when his wife answered for him.
"What good nature could King Dane be exploiting, dear master Dolan? I was not aware my husband possessed a good nature." she smiled icily and the King ignored her.
Dolan spoke. "Aye, my lord, you are a firm ruler, no doubt, but it is compared with the rulers of the trolls from which I get your good nature."
"Anything would have good nature compared to a troll," muttered a statuesque blonde woman sitting in a lower throne to the Queen's left. Her chin was held high like her mother the Queen's, her eyes were the same icy blue and her porcelain features looked like they had been carved out of ice.
Her husband spoke next, he too was fair like his wife but slightly taller then all other members of the royal family. The pointed tips of his ears belied the fact that he was an elf, and his voice held an underlying tone of sarcasm and boredom as he spoke. "Aislinn my love, surely you do not harbour ill will towards the trolls? Perhaps it is good will that we need examine, and not the trolls"
"For what is good will?" Aislinn said loftily and her mother nodded demurely at the comment. "But what one makes of it, and I think."
A sharp voice cut her off "I think you'd all better stop contemplating good will, you're growing increasing more dull. After three hundred years I wouldn't think it possible but you've proven me wrong." This came from Jareth, who sat next to the King's advisor. He had a sour look on his pretty face and was slouched in his throne in such a way you wouldn't think he was a member of the royal family. However, when he sighed and his face relaxed from that of one who had just tasted something bitter, it was easy to see he belonged with these other beautifully fair people.
"Shut up, Jareth" snapped Aislinn
He shot her an amused look "Why ever would I do that, dear sister? To see you enraged is one of the many joys of my life."
"You have no life" she said contemptuously
"Aislinn" said the King sharply, and she stilled herself, focusing on a single point on the floor.
There was a long silence in which Jareth drummed his fingers on the purple velvet armrest of his throne. He obviously did not find being High Prince to all of the Underground very simulating.
"Well" said Dolan after a while, he pulled his black hood up over his shimmering hair and stood. "I will be in my chambers, working on the peace spell"
"Might I accompany you, master Dolan?" asked Aislinn's husband. He stood fluidly, not waiting for an answer.
"Of course, Egeus" said Dolan simpering. He bowed to the King and Queen and strode out of the room with Egeus close behind.
*
Once she had taken a shower and dried her hair Sarah snuck back into the kitchen too see if Emily really had thrown out the rest of the lasagne. To her utter dismay it was gone from the fridge.
Her sweater was really gone as well. Outraged, she put on a comfortable pair of dark jeans and a black boat neck tee shirt that Emily had picked up from J Crew for in a wild attempt to assert some style on her roommate. Sarah examined her appearance in the mirror and was shocked to see she wasn't splurging out of size two jeans yet. Didn't Fiona always say that calories consumed during PMS, a post break up period or general misery didn't count?
She returned to the kitchen and began rummaging around in the fridge for something to eat. There was spaghetti sauce, broccoli, and ice cream-- Praise Allah.
Sighing, Sarah took out the tub of double chocolate, double brownie, double cookie dough and a spoon and flopped down on the couch. She flicked on the television, All My Children was just coming on and she had to know what was up with Erica.
Emily came out of her boudoir as she heard the tell tale chords of All My Children's opening song. She took in Sarah, dressed sloppily but clean, and ladling ice cream into her mouth unabashed.
"Sarah" she said solemnly.
Sarah sighed and set the tub of ice cream down on the table in front of her and resigned to watching her soap operas.
Satisfied that this was as good as she would get, Emily announced that she was going to the grocery store.
"Don't forget ice cream" said Sarah, not looking away from the TV. The evil doctor snuck up on the unsuspecting young intern, but what about Erica? Emily shook her head and left the flat, knowing full well that when she returned Sarah would have gone through an entire gallon of the stuff, and would most likely need to pick up some more. Oh well, this miserable rut Sarah had gotten into couldn't last forever. Could it?
*
Dolan and Egeus walked along the flagstone corridor.
"Why did you want to come again?" Dolan asked
The Prince of Elves grinned, but being the most delicate and effeminate of creatures it was more of a sly smile. "Just wanted to escape, you know" he nodded
"Uh, huh" Dolan opened the door to his chambers and let them in. It was filled with glowing smoking jars holding eye of newt or tongue of snake. A cauldron sat bubbling over a fire and Dolan walked over to it and whispered something in Latin. Egeus watched, transfixed as the cauldron billowed pink smoke.
"What's that?" he asked
"Eh? Oh, peace spell. For the treaty" Dolan shrugged "Very difficult, but we've had so many treaties and agreements over the years that it's second nature"
Egeus raised his eyebrows "What if you do it wrong?" he asked, "Would it ruin the treaty and cause chaos between the Nosferatu and Trolls?"
Dolan sent him a dirty look "First off" he said bitterly "I am nearly three thousand years old, I do not botch many things anymore. Secondly, it would not cause chaos, this spell is simply an added bonus to the treaties. It adds to the deal"
Egeus cocked his head to the side "How so?" he asked, curious
"Things are needed to happen in order for peace to be obtained" Dolan explained, "This spell causes those things to happen."
"So" said Egeus "Whatever the High King has done for the Trolls and Nosferatu will happen regardless and this spell."
"Gives each side something to help them obtain peace" Dolan nodded "Right"
Egeus sighed "I don't see why you don't just give them the proper tools instead of magiking them over"
At this comment Dolan sent him a dark look "If we knew all that needed to happen to keep peace we would certainly do so" he said "But for unseen things, things that could happen in a hundred years time, for all we know." he returned to the cauldron and tossed a handful of eyes in. "This is necessary," he waved his hand over the cauldron and muttered another Latin word.
"There" he said, giving a satisfied nod. "Done"
Egeus started to say something again when there was a very loud explosion.
*
Sarah quickly grabbed the ice cream once Emily had left and started eating again. It was giving her a brain freeze but it didn't matter. She just needed to do something with her hands and was considering taking up smoking; at least it wasn't so caloric.
A very strange tingling sensation ran down her arm just then. Sarah froze with the spoon half way to her mouth. It was as if electricity had just crackled along her very soul. She paused and set the tub down on the table to inspect her arm.
It was a very familiar feeling but it was gone as soon as it came. She brushed her knuckles down the pale skin of her arm and frowned. Where did she know that feeling from?
A feeling of dread overwhelmed her then, she forgot to breath. She knew it from him, from the goblin king. From the Underworld and the Labyrinth. Oh god, she thought that had been all behind her. She was normal and told her Labyrinth stories only when she was very drunk at parties to equally drunk peers. It hadn't really happened, she convinced herself. It had been a dream, a very real dream.
Was he summoning her? Was she being wished away? Did she have to go back through the Labyrinth? The questions came fast and she felt herself breathing heavily. She looked around franticly for something, anything that would keep her here.
Then the tingling feeling was back, it raced down her arms, legs and spine and encased her. She felt like she was drowning and for a moment her conscious world became quite black.
Sarah tried to focus on one thing but as soon as the world has been shut and closed on her it was suddenly spiralling wildly out of control and she was falling into a bottomless pit.
But then she struck something hard. She lay still for a moment, trying to remember how to breathe as she sat up in a sitting position. The tingling feelings subsided quickly and she looked around. Two men, one very tall and pale, the other wearing an outfit similar to the Grimm Reaper stood there in front of her with wide eyes.
"I." she looked around again, none of it looked familiar. She felt panic hit her, there were no labyrinth walls, no goblins, not even a goblin king. Only an unfamiliar room with two strange men staring at her.
One of them took a tentative step forward and touched her shoulder. She jerked back reflexively and then gasped, "Where am I?" she continued to look around desperately.
The man that touched her had long silver hair and soft grey eyes in his ragged face. He touched her shoulder again and said "You are at the Palace of the High King and Queen" he said
"High King and Queen of the Goblins?" she asked sharply, her voice shaking.
The other man spoke now, his tone confused "There is no high King and Queen of the Goblins. only Jareth."
"Jareth" she mumbled, putting a hand to her forehead as she sat back on her heels. "What am I doing here?" she asked at last
"I don't know" said the man "You are to help us bring about peace perhaps?"
Sarah was feeling dizzy, her head started to spin at the realization that was no longer in her own world. She tried to stay conscious but it proved to be too hard a task.
"Girl," said the man kneeling next to her. "I am Dolan, look at me, come on, girl"
She struggled to look at him, unsure why she trusted his haggard voice. Her green eyes met with his slate ones for a long moment and she struggled not to pass out.
"You're a human" he said "You're from the above world, you don't know how you got to be in the underground but you've been here before" the man, Dolan, blinked and he looked up at the taller man "She knows the high Prince" he said, just as the girl groaned and slumped sideways in a dead faint.
*
AN: This is the first Labyrinth Fic I've done, so any comments or constructive criticism would be great. I am desperately needing a Beta Reader, so drop me an e mail if you're interested, or just review and leave your address. Generally, I know very little about fantasy, and this is my first stab at it.
Remember to Review.
*
Strangely Devine Chapter One: Tales of an Adventurous Cardigan
*
Sarah jerked her hand back from the stove, swearing colourfully and stamping her foot in an attempt to work out some anger at her foolishness. Honestly, you'd think a twenty-two year old woman could cook breakfast with out it being a death-defying act. Obviously, she thought wryly, not.
Her roommate, Emily looked up from the large fashion magazine she was reading and raised an incredibly crafted eyebrow. Emily was Sarah's own personal hero. She was short and Asian with spiky black hair and was, in Sarah's opinion, the epitome of cool. She had the clothes, hair and ideas to match. "All right?" she asked wearily.
Sarah nodded distractingly and promptly spilled the milky egg batter she'd very nearly prepared for the French toast. "Erm." she said, staring as unbeaten yolk slid down the linoleum sided cupboard door.
Emily made an exasperated sound and stood up to help her friend. "Honestly, Sarah, you need a nurse maid. You can't cook and can barely dress yourself"
Sarah looked down at her choice of clothing for the day. Jeans, a green tank top that she'd worn yesterday and slept in and a blue cardigan. She looked like a cross between an old lady with too many cats and a drugged celebrity out for milk. It was how she always dressed lately unless Emily forced her into something glamorous and sluttish.
Emily wore an outfit of her own design, being that she was a designer. It didn't matter what she wore it always looked good. Sarah felt a bit tortured for a moment and then looked back at her culinary mishap with a sigh.
"Can egg be bad for the counter?"
Emily looked surprised, for as much as she knew about fashion and art, she certainly knew nothing of the kitchen or, for that matter, eggs. "I dunno" she said thoughtfully "Isn't there some disease you can get?"
"Herpes?" Sarah suggested with a wry smile.
Emily rolled her eyes "Not that one"
"Eh." said Sarah, tucking a long strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Perhaps we should just clean it up"
Once they'd cleaned the mess up both girls decided that left over lasagne would do for a nutritious breakfast instead of French toast and settled down in front of the television. Emily fixed her friend with an amused look. "Taking another stab at a job today?" she asked.
Sarah mumbled something incoherent and stuffed more cold lasagne into her mouth. She had developed a horrible habit of eating anything in her path when she got depressed. Talking about her lack of a job or income was depressing. There was, of course, only so much once could do with a Masters in Art History. Unfortunately it was either teaching or a one in a thousand chance that a museum needed your help.
So Sarah's first year out of Cornell, she prepared to take on the world as her ex boyfriend went on to Med-school upstate, her ex best friend got a job on Wall street and officially had no time for anything except work, her other ex best friend joined Green Peace while her old college roommate moved to LA to start Film School. She didn't feel like taking on the world anymore. She felt like staying in bed and being unemployed.
Suddenly the delicate bubble that was Sarah's group of decidedly mismatched but none the less wonderful friends began to burst. College had ended. She had no job. Her only friends were the unemployed half of her old clique.
There was obviously Emily, her roommate, too cool for her own good. If it hadn't been for Emily, Sarah would probably be living at the YWCA, as broke as she was. Emily's country club going parents didn't exactly appriciate their daughters artistic abilities, but none-the-less paid for an extravagant flat in the city. Sarah was now in her eighth month of officially permanent squatter status.
Then there was Fiona, once a sorority girl and Journalism major, now a junkie who passed out in very inconvenient places. Fiona and Sarah had once been close, now it was rather painful to go have lunch with her old friend. She was nearly always high and asking for money.
Finally there was Griffon and Timothy, a pair of brothers only a year apart. Griffon was a struggling pianist who was devastatingly handsome and devastatingly gay. Timothy was a history teacher at a very expensive and elite school in Manhattan. Both had partners of their preferred sex and were planning on settling down.
"Hello?" asked Emily. "Are you even going to bother?"
"There are no jobs, Em" Sarah said, her voice sounding patronized. "I don't know, can't I sleep a bit longer and then get a job?"
Emily rolled her eyes "Look, obviously I'm not one to lecture about getting a job" she said "And I'd never kick you out or anything, it's just I'm worried about you Sarah. You mope around in a cardigan and only go out when I force you. You've not had a date since Oliver's gone up north."
"I don't need a boyfriend" Sarah said tersely.
"You don't even date" Emily said flatly "It can't be healthy."
"I just don't feel like it" Sarah whined and put her head on Emily's shoulder "I can't help it, I'm depressed and I want to sit in a dark room and feel sorry for my self"
Emily sighed "Why? Because you chose the wrong major and spent four years of your life working towards a goal that wasn't anything more then an illusion"
Sarah blinked "More or less"
"I didn't mean that." Said Emily and then stood up, "Come on, you're not eating leftovers in a cardigan for the rest of your life"
"Oh, please" Sarah whined "That sounds lovely"
Emily gave her a stern look "What happened to the Sarah who drank more wine coolers then Timothy? What happened to the Sarah who stayed up all night at a party even though she had a midterm the next day? What happened to the Sarah that swore she's been transported to another world when she was fifteen? What happened to the Sarah that blew six months worth of tips on a Chanel jacket, and who would never wear a cardigan.."
Emily looked on the verge of tears over the bit about the Chanel jacket. It was in the back of her closet. Sitting there, waiting stealthily for Sarah to grow from a size two to a size six so she couldn't fit into anymore. It was Emily's idea of tragedy.
Sarah made a whining "I don't know" sound.
Emily shook her head "Right" she said forcefully "Go take a shower, we're burning the cardigan and we're not letting you sit around all day eating lasagne"
Sarah narrowed her eyes "You wouldn't"
"Bathe yourself!" Emily shouted, pointing at the door to the bathroom.
*
The High Court of Calais was the sort of place that could make one feel small and rather dirty. What with it's high shiny ceilings and glittering white marble floors. Light shined in from windows that didn't exist upon the Royal Family and members of the nobility. Every person in attendance was beautiful, whether it was the fair elves, with a silver-ish cast to their flaxen hair, or the darkly gorgeous Nosferatu. With their beetle black eyes glittering behind heavy lashes they watched their treaty be prepared.
At this moment the attention was focused on the High King and Queen of all the Underground. The Queen in her misty blue dress nodded her approval now and again but made little other comment as her husband spoke to a tall, heavily muscled troll.
"I am sure" the king mused in a gravely imperial voice "That you have only your peoples best intentions, King Dane, when you sign this treaty. We would like the wishes of your people to be very clearly expressed so that no more. unfortunate circumstances may befall the inhabitants of the Troll kingdom" He nodded, and the King of the Trolls began to speak and list the requests of his people.
The Dark Nosferatu shifted in their seats. They were the other half of people involved in this treaty. For too long, the two boarding kingdoms fought, it was only in the past month that peace talks like these had come about. It was horrendously slow though, and every member of the Royal court needed to be in attendance for the peace talks to occur. This, coupled with centuries of ill will between Trolls and Nosferatu made the talks longer then one would expect.
To the King's left stood a man with long silvery hair that flowed over his black robes. His grey eyes darted around, watching every movement in the room. When the talks finally ended for the day and the Trolls retreated the man gave a loud impatient sigh.
"Your majesty, if I may be so bold, I think that Troll is taking advantage of your good nature"
The King looked solidly at his advisor. "You may be so bold" he said and opened his mouth to say more when his wife answered for him.
"What good nature could King Dane be exploiting, dear master Dolan? I was not aware my husband possessed a good nature." she smiled icily and the King ignored her.
Dolan spoke. "Aye, my lord, you are a firm ruler, no doubt, but it is compared with the rulers of the trolls from which I get your good nature."
"Anything would have good nature compared to a troll," muttered a statuesque blonde woman sitting in a lower throne to the Queen's left. Her chin was held high like her mother the Queen's, her eyes were the same icy blue and her porcelain features looked like they had been carved out of ice.
Her husband spoke next, he too was fair like his wife but slightly taller then all other members of the royal family. The pointed tips of his ears belied the fact that he was an elf, and his voice held an underlying tone of sarcasm and boredom as he spoke. "Aislinn my love, surely you do not harbour ill will towards the trolls? Perhaps it is good will that we need examine, and not the trolls"
"For what is good will?" Aislinn said loftily and her mother nodded demurely at the comment. "But what one makes of it, and I think."
A sharp voice cut her off "I think you'd all better stop contemplating good will, you're growing increasing more dull. After three hundred years I wouldn't think it possible but you've proven me wrong." This came from Jareth, who sat next to the King's advisor. He had a sour look on his pretty face and was slouched in his throne in such a way you wouldn't think he was a member of the royal family. However, when he sighed and his face relaxed from that of one who had just tasted something bitter, it was easy to see he belonged with these other beautifully fair people.
"Shut up, Jareth" snapped Aislinn
He shot her an amused look "Why ever would I do that, dear sister? To see you enraged is one of the many joys of my life."
"You have no life" she said contemptuously
"Aislinn" said the King sharply, and she stilled herself, focusing on a single point on the floor.
There was a long silence in which Jareth drummed his fingers on the purple velvet armrest of his throne. He obviously did not find being High Prince to all of the Underground very simulating.
"Well" said Dolan after a while, he pulled his black hood up over his shimmering hair and stood. "I will be in my chambers, working on the peace spell"
"Might I accompany you, master Dolan?" asked Aislinn's husband. He stood fluidly, not waiting for an answer.
"Of course, Egeus" said Dolan simpering. He bowed to the King and Queen and strode out of the room with Egeus close behind.
*
Once she had taken a shower and dried her hair Sarah snuck back into the kitchen too see if Emily really had thrown out the rest of the lasagne. To her utter dismay it was gone from the fridge.
Her sweater was really gone as well. Outraged, she put on a comfortable pair of dark jeans and a black boat neck tee shirt that Emily had picked up from J Crew for in a wild attempt to assert some style on her roommate. Sarah examined her appearance in the mirror and was shocked to see she wasn't splurging out of size two jeans yet. Didn't Fiona always say that calories consumed during PMS, a post break up period or general misery didn't count?
She returned to the kitchen and began rummaging around in the fridge for something to eat. There was spaghetti sauce, broccoli, and ice cream-- Praise Allah.
Sighing, Sarah took out the tub of double chocolate, double brownie, double cookie dough and a spoon and flopped down on the couch. She flicked on the television, All My Children was just coming on and she had to know what was up with Erica.
Emily came out of her boudoir as she heard the tell tale chords of All My Children's opening song. She took in Sarah, dressed sloppily but clean, and ladling ice cream into her mouth unabashed.
"Sarah" she said solemnly.
Sarah sighed and set the tub of ice cream down on the table in front of her and resigned to watching her soap operas.
Satisfied that this was as good as she would get, Emily announced that she was going to the grocery store.
"Don't forget ice cream" said Sarah, not looking away from the TV. The evil doctor snuck up on the unsuspecting young intern, but what about Erica? Emily shook her head and left the flat, knowing full well that when she returned Sarah would have gone through an entire gallon of the stuff, and would most likely need to pick up some more. Oh well, this miserable rut Sarah had gotten into couldn't last forever. Could it?
*
Dolan and Egeus walked along the flagstone corridor.
"Why did you want to come again?" Dolan asked
The Prince of Elves grinned, but being the most delicate and effeminate of creatures it was more of a sly smile. "Just wanted to escape, you know" he nodded
"Uh, huh" Dolan opened the door to his chambers and let them in. It was filled with glowing smoking jars holding eye of newt or tongue of snake. A cauldron sat bubbling over a fire and Dolan walked over to it and whispered something in Latin. Egeus watched, transfixed as the cauldron billowed pink smoke.
"What's that?" he asked
"Eh? Oh, peace spell. For the treaty" Dolan shrugged "Very difficult, but we've had so many treaties and agreements over the years that it's second nature"
Egeus raised his eyebrows "What if you do it wrong?" he asked, "Would it ruin the treaty and cause chaos between the Nosferatu and Trolls?"
Dolan sent him a dirty look "First off" he said bitterly "I am nearly three thousand years old, I do not botch many things anymore. Secondly, it would not cause chaos, this spell is simply an added bonus to the treaties. It adds to the deal"
Egeus cocked his head to the side "How so?" he asked, curious
"Things are needed to happen in order for peace to be obtained" Dolan explained, "This spell causes those things to happen."
"So" said Egeus "Whatever the High King has done for the Trolls and Nosferatu will happen regardless and this spell."
"Gives each side something to help them obtain peace" Dolan nodded "Right"
Egeus sighed "I don't see why you don't just give them the proper tools instead of magiking them over"
At this comment Dolan sent him a dark look "If we knew all that needed to happen to keep peace we would certainly do so" he said "But for unseen things, things that could happen in a hundred years time, for all we know." he returned to the cauldron and tossed a handful of eyes in. "This is necessary," he waved his hand over the cauldron and muttered another Latin word.
"There" he said, giving a satisfied nod. "Done"
Egeus started to say something again when there was a very loud explosion.
*
Sarah quickly grabbed the ice cream once Emily had left and started eating again. It was giving her a brain freeze but it didn't matter. She just needed to do something with her hands and was considering taking up smoking; at least it wasn't so caloric.
A very strange tingling sensation ran down her arm just then. Sarah froze with the spoon half way to her mouth. It was as if electricity had just crackled along her very soul. She paused and set the tub down on the table to inspect her arm.
It was a very familiar feeling but it was gone as soon as it came. She brushed her knuckles down the pale skin of her arm and frowned. Where did she know that feeling from?
A feeling of dread overwhelmed her then, she forgot to breath. She knew it from him, from the goblin king. From the Underworld and the Labyrinth. Oh god, she thought that had been all behind her. She was normal and told her Labyrinth stories only when she was very drunk at parties to equally drunk peers. It hadn't really happened, she convinced herself. It had been a dream, a very real dream.
Was he summoning her? Was she being wished away? Did she have to go back through the Labyrinth? The questions came fast and she felt herself breathing heavily. She looked around franticly for something, anything that would keep her here.
Then the tingling feeling was back, it raced down her arms, legs and spine and encased her. She felt like she was drowning and for a moment her conscious world became quite black.
Sarah tried to focus on one thing but as soon as the world has been shut and closed on her it was suddenly spiralling wildly out of control and she was falling into a bottomless pit.
But then she struck something hard. She lay still for a moment, trying to remember how to breathe as she sat up in a sitting position. The tingling feelings subsided quickly and she looked around. Two men, one very tall and pale, the other wearing an outfit similar to the Grimm Reaper stood there in front of her with wide eyes.
"I." she looked around again, none of it looked familiar. She felt panic hit her, there were no labyrinth walls, no goblins, not even a goblin king. Only an unfamiliar room with two strange men staring at her.
One of them took a tentative step forward and touched her shoulder. She jerked back reflexively and then gasped, "Where am I?" she continued to look around desperately.
The man that touched her had long silver hair and soft grey eyes in his ragged face. He touched her shoulder again and said "You are at the Palace of the High King and Queen" he said
"High King and Queen of the Goblins?" she asked sharply, her voice shaking.
The other man spoke now, his tone confused "There is no high King and Queen of the Goblins. only Jareth."
"Jareth" she mumbled, putting a hand to her forehead as she sat back on her heels. "What am I doing here?" she asked at last
"I don't know" said the man "You are to help us bring about peace perhaps?"
Sarah was feeling dizzy, her head started to spin at the realization that was no longer in her own world. She tried to stay conscious but it proved to be too hard a task.
"Girl," said the man kneeling next to her. "I am Dolan, look at me, come on, girl"
She struggled to look at him, unsure why she trusted his haggard voice. Her green eyes met with his slate ones for a long moment and she struggled not to pass out.
"You're a human" he said "You're from the above world, you don't know how you got to be in the underground but you've been here before" the man, Dolan, blinked and he looked up at the taller man "She knows the high Prince" he said, just as the girl groaned and slumped sideways in a dead faint.
*
AN: This is the first Labyrinth Fic I've done, so any comments or constructive criticism would be great. I am desperately needing a Beta Reader, so drop me an e mail if you're interested, or just review and leave your address. Generally, I know very little about fantasy, and this is my first stab at it.
Remember to Review.