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Shattered	By : TarnishedArmour Category: G through L > Labyrinth Views: 7714 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Based upon the work of Jim Henson; specifically Labyrinth, copyright 1986 by Jim Henson & associated parties. I do not own or have legal rights to Labyrinth, etc., or make any profit from them. *Individual disclaimers for other works in

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Sarah had passed out while Yancey carried her across the village to a small house inhabited by two middle-aged women. The short, plump one, Marta, fussed at Yancey and gave dire warnings about what she would do when she got her hands on Fender again. The taller, skinny one, Giely, quickly and efficiently prepared a bed for Sarah by the hearth. Her comments were more to the point, and several of them focused on the scrapes scuffs and bruises that graced the slender legs and arms of the girl.
"Out!" Marta snapped when Yancey tried to explain. "You have done quite enough! Get! Go on! Shoo!"
Shaking his head and knowing that these two women, the resident magicworkers and healers, would do as they pleased from this point on, he didn't bother to give Marta the instructions from Elder Shan. He didn't need to.
"Sister," Marta said to Giely, "I'll fix a bowl of broth for her. Do you think she can manage bread and toasted white cheese?"
"I think she may take it," Giely replied, frowning. The girl was too thin. "Whether she'll keep it or not, we've only one way to learn."
Lips pinched tight, Marta walked over to the area of their small house that was used for cooking. She took her time fixing a tray for the girl, adding a pitcher of cool water and several healing salves and tisanes to the tray. Giely had bathed the girl's face with the water kept by their fire, and the girl seemed to be waking up.
"Come on, child," Giely murmured, calling to Sarah. "Wake up. We've dinner for you, sweet water to drink. The fire is warm, you're safe now."
Sarah woke up slowly, hearing a soft voice calling to her over and over again. Her eyelashes fluttered and she mumbled, "Karen? Is Toby okay? I had the strangest dream…" When she opened her eyes, she looked around. "Not a dream, then," she sighed.
"Not a dream, child," Marta said, bringing the tray over to the hearth. "Here. You must be starved."
Sarah looked at the tray and slowly reached for a piece of bread. She moved slowly because she couldn't move quickly. As she ate, she listened to Marta and Giely, the women had introduced themselves quickly, and learned she was on Granite Mountain, which had none of that stone on it at all. The women spoke, and Sarah ate. The broth was delicious, the cheese smooth and mild, and the bread had just a hint of honey in it. She washed down the meal with water, cool, sweet, blessed water.
"Thank you," Sarah said as she put the empty cup on the tray. "I appreciate your kindness."
Marta and Giely looked at one another.
"Child," Giely asked gently, "do you not remember why you are here?"
"I helped Elfric come home," she said, "but then I was accused of…horrible things. I don't know why." She looked up at the women with hopeful eyes.
"All will be determined on that part tomorrow, but for now," Marta looked critically at the girl. "Now, how does a bath sound?"
"Like heaven," Sarah breathed. She tried to stand. "Where is the bathhouse?"
"Just stay there, dearest. We've some magic about us. You lie still and give us a moment. Close your eyes," Marta said. She had been modest. These two women were considered as village healers and magicworkers, some of the weakest magic users in the kingdom. In reality, they were sorceresses, assigned by the Lord Magician of the Realm to safeguard this village. They were here in case of invasion, treachery, or other forms of attack by enemies of the Labyrinthine Realm. These mines were essential to the wellbeing and commerce of the realm, and outsiders were not well received.
Pulling out their focus stones, moonstone for Marta and garnet for Giely, they concentrated and worked their magic. A steaming bath appeared before the hearth. Sarah floated into the air, her clothing was gently displaced from her body, and she was lowered into the water with a gentleness that belied her state as a prisoner.
Neither woman had to help Sarah bathe, even though she took a long time doing so. When she finished and climbed from the tub on her own, Marta had returned to the kitchen and Giely, having left a large, fluffy towel for her, was at work sewing a new apron. Looking about her, Sarah found her clothes were clean and a nightshirt had been placed beside them. She slid the nightshirt over her head and heard Marta talking to her from across the room.
"There, now. Just go ahead and go to sleep for the night. We'll take care of those bumps and bruises tomorrow." Warmth radiated from the woman, and Sarah felt truly welcome here.
"Thank you, Marta. I appreciate everything you and Giely have done for me this evening," she replied sweetly. "Good night."
"Good night, child," came the response.
Sarah was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Marta and Giely watched her sleep for several moments, then spoke softly to one another in the second language of magic.
"Shall we inform the King of this little fracas?" Martha asked.
"We must. She has begun the first two walls. The third, if it remains as it has been for the past runners, will require his intervention with those idiots." Giely noted Marta's look of reproach. "Elder Shan excepted."
"Very well," Marta sighed. "You send this message, Sister. I don't think he's forgiven me yet for the last one I informed him about."
Giely snorted. "You called his choice of runner a ninny who wouldn't know her own ass if it walked up and slapped her. You could tell by the way he looked at her that he liked her, wanted her. And he has wanted a Queen for so long."
"Yes, well. It would be so much easier if we weren't his sisters," Marta replied. "Besides, I think he likes you better."
"Don't be daft. You're the one who makes his favourite tris-ton desserts. He'd forgive you much more if you just made him several of those before informing him of your mistakes."
"My mistakes! Mine!" Marta walked back to the kitchen in a huff. "Oh, just wait until I see the Lady of the Mountains again!"
"Oh, ya, ya, ya. All talk, no action. Wasn't that the complaint your third husband had about you?" Giely snipped back, sitting at her desk in the far corner and reaching for her crystal.
"Well, your second husband didn't say that about me at all," Marta replied sweetly. "He did say that you were difficult, though."
"And you always have been easy." Giely snickered suddenly, pausing in her spell for the crystal. "But Jareth!"
"Oh, I can remember his explanation, too! 'A cookie now has nothing to do with a cookie five minutes ago!'" Marta was laughing heartily. "It was the same thing he said as a child when he wanted more sweets!"
"Just more proof, sister dear, that men are really big boys with different ideas for toys," Giely laughed as she invoked the crystal, then carefully schooled herself to send the message to the King, her brother, that his runner was safe in their hands, but the villagers would probably try to hang her before the month was up.
In the morning, Sarah dressed and ate a meal similar to what she had the night before. Broth, bread, cheese, and water were supplemented by some fruits that reminded her of strawberries and grapes from home. She let Giely check her wounds, but was given only a light herbal tea that, according to the women, would help her body heal naturally, without scarring. She didn't ask and they didn't offer to explain, but the tea was augmented by their magic.
Sarah waited for someone to call for her or come get her. She had never dreamed that Fender and Rengo, along with two of the village elders who had accused Sarah of spying, sabotage, murder, and various other things, had spent the night stirring up trouble with the townsmen. When Elfric heard some of the things they were saying, he tried to correct them, but he was hushed.
"These aren't things you understand, baby," one of the elders told him.
"I'm not a baby!" he said, stamping his foot. "And Sarah isn't bad! She helped me remember how to get home and she gave me the food she had and she got water for us! She isn't bad!"
"Tsk-tsk," came the reply. The elder then turned back to the people she was speaking to, ignoring the boy's cries of Sarah's innocence.
It was after noon before someone came to get Sarah. She spent the morning helping around the house, measuring herbs and putting them in the places Marta instructed or rolling bandages for Giely. When the man came, she walked to the door, thanking the women for their kindness again.
Sarah was surprised when, just outside of the house, her arms were roughly grabbed and her wrists bound together again with rough rope. There were three men and three women to take her to the village hall, the building she'd been in the night before. That they believed so many people were needed to escort her to one building not three hundred yards away was mystifying.
Inside the village hall, Sarah encountered faces that made the False Alarms seem warm and kind. Elfric squirmed out of his mother's hands and ran up to her, throwing his arms around her. He was sobbing and babbling about being sorry that he couldn't make them listen. Sarah shushed him and told him that everything would be sorted out, to go sit with his mother. Then she kissed his forehead and watched as the woman, spite in her eyes, swept up her son and stalked back to her place.
Sarah stood and faced the elders.
"What is your name, girl?" asked the first elder, the same woman who had accused her of murder the night before.
"Sarah Joy," she replied, leaving off her surname. She had learned from Mab and Jareth that surnames were not used for those without rank, and those who held rank used a different system of names than she was familiar with.
"Well, what are you doing in these mountains, Sarah Joy?" the woman asked. She wanted to accuse and shout, but Elder Shan had given the rest of the elders such warnings about that behaviour that they didn't dare begin that way. When the girl turned insolent, and she would, then it was up to each to deal with her as they would.
"I run the labyrinth, ma'am," Sarah said, politely as she could.
"You? Run the King's labyrinth? To what purpose?" sneered the woman.
"To become his Queen." Her calm, confident statement fell into the room like a boulder from the top of the mountain.
Murmurs swelled around her, but Sarah was calm. She was not certain of what would happen to her, but she was calm.
"You did not come to spy on our village, report back to your foreign masters, or otherwise disrupt the work of the miners?" asked the old man, now watching the girl for any indication of lies.
"No, sir," she said. "I didn't even know there was a village here."
"Yet you found one of the missing children and got him most of the way here. It does not look good," the man warned.
"I do not know how it looks to you, sir, but it is true." Sarah would not bend, but neither would she cower. On a scale of scariness, from dead worms to Jareth, these people were maybe up to really little spiders. She had seen and experienced much scarier not a week before. Knowledge gave her confidence. Confidence gave her poise.
"So you say you are just a traveller, a runner, who happened upon a lost child and happened to see his sister was dead and happened to take direction from a mere boy to find water and the way to the village?" The old woman was scoffing at her.
"I do," she said. Tension had been building within the crowd since she walked in. She had not been oblivious to it, but her focus was the panel of elders before her. The people could cause difficulties, true, but these men and women were the ones who would determine her fate.
The hall erupted with shouts. Several believed her, others wanted more confirmation, still others wanted her killed immediately. The chaos reigned for several long moments, and showed no sign of easing. When shoving between villagers began, it was time for someone to change the face of things. Elder Shan was the person responsible for the proceedings of the village gatherings, and so he took action. He was not happy with the way events had gone.
"I am getting too old for this," Elder Shan sighed as he pulled out a crystal from his desk. He closed his eyes and spoke into the sphere, his voice resonating with the authority of his position.
"Justice! My king, the village on Granite Mountain calls to you," Elder Shan intoned, ignoring the chaos. The sphere began to glow and floated up to the rafters, the light becoming stronger and stronger.
The villagers quieted, realizing that Elder Shan had called upon the justice of the King. Now there was going to be a real trial, and many of the people, including several who had been calling for blood moments before, were nervous. It had been over six hundred years since any of their people had called for justice. They weren't quite sure what would happen. Every child learned the process, the theory, but none there had lived through a trial.
"Speak the accusations," Elder Shan stated calmly to those who were willing to accuse the girl of anything. Six different people, including the two most unbending elders, did just that. Treachery, kidnapping, murder, spying, and lying before the panel of elders were listed as her major crimes, with a few lesser ones included just for spite.
"Speak, girl, for yourself," Elder Shan told her after the accusations were given.
"I am Sarah Joy," she said, now nervous, but only because she had no idea what was going on. "I did not do any of these things."
She said nothing else.
The crystal flared once, momentarily blinding everyone, then disappeared.
Elder Shan sighed. "Take her back to the healers. We will receive an answer soon enough."
The villagers dispersed quietly, thinking about what had been said over the past day. Yancey alone escorted Sarah back to Marta and Giely, cautioning her to stay with one of the women at all times. Sarah said she would, and went inside her comfortable, cheerful prison.
Three days passed, yet no answer came from outside of the city. Sarah received several visitors while she was in the cabin. While she was polite, she refused to speak about any of the charges against her. She did not defend herself or speak ill of those who were accusing her of so many things. She made no complaint about the situation or her treatment, focusing instead on making herself useful to the sisters tasked with keeping her under control. On the third day, she was getting restless. It was time for her to go on, not stay here, waiting on an answer from someone, somewhere.
"Here are the bandages," she told Giely, producing several neatly rolled bundles of varying sizes. "I rolled them after I stitched up the edges." Sarah looked around. "Is there anything else you need?"
Giely looked over the work, pleased with the effort and conscientiousness of her work. "No, dear. Marta is getting ready to start supper, though," Giely added. "Perhaps she could use some help. I know you could use the cooking lessons." The little smile Giely gave her reminded Sarah of the disastrous dinner she had attempted to cook the night before. Sarah now understood that cooking over a hearthfire was nothing like cooking on an electric range.
"If she doesn't throw me out for daring to enter her domain," Sarah replied. "Not that I'd blame her." The sisters had worked hard to restore the kitchen to its former order, expending no little magic in the process. Sarah still had no idea how powerful the sisters were.
"She may bar you from entering the kitchen, but there's plenty of counter for you to help prepare the meal," Giely chuckled and made a shooing motion. "Go on, now. And be careful of the tris-ton. The fumes can be intoxicating."
Sarah nodded and walked to the kitchen. Tris-ton was a delicious root vegetable that had the texture of a potato, which made it ideal for baking in many ways, and the taste of a decadent chocolate, which made it a favourite dessert ingredient throughout the realm. The fumes, however could induce a drunkenness unparalleled by mere alcohol. Sarah had inadvertently experienced this the day before, giving the sisters a great deal of information about herself and her relationship with their brother.
Over the past few days, she had learned about many of the plants and animals on Granite Mountain. The village was in unforgiving land, so many things were imported through a way-station far down the mountain, but Sarah needed to learn these things. She longed to contact Jareth, ask him for more information about his kingdom, what the walls were for this section of the labyrinth, if she would get to touch him again soon, but she had the sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't tell her. Every time she got used to something, like the whimsical entry into the labyrinth's Outer Lands, they changed. Now, after constant attention from Jareth and more sexual activity than she had ever dreamed of, she was chaste, celibate, and ignored. She could handle ignored--he did have a kingdom to run, after all. It was the chaste and celibate bits that she was finding most unpleasant. But she endured. She made herself useful, giving her time and energy to a group of people who seemed to want her blood, but refusing to give in to the childish urges to complain or make remarks about them. It helped with the unassuaged wanting.
Again and again as temptations loomed, she remembered the carvings on the stones. Endurance and charity. Somehow, this was a lesson for her to learn, but she hadn't quite grasped it yet. Something in this whole experience she would need as Queen, but she couldn't figure out what.
After everything she had endured, she had no doubts that she would become Queen to Jareth's King. She just didn't understand the nature of the labyrinth or the difficulty of what she was doing yet, and there was no way to force such realizations. Only time and more experience would give her the answers she sought.
She went to see Marta and worked on peeling and chopping vegetables for a hearty stew. It was only noon, but the stew would bubble all day high over the fire, slowly cooking until it was perfect. Marta would not permit anything else from her kitchen. As Sarah raked the last vegetables into the pot, a woman came running up from far side of the house, away from the village.
"Cave in!" she yelled. "Marta, Giely, we need you. Shan says to bring the girl!"
"How many?" Marta snapped, reaching for her medical kit. Giely moved quickly to gather her things, leaving Sarah standing there, unable to move without getting in the way.
"Sixty," panted the woman. "Sixty in the mine-I don't know how many are alive. Hurry!" With that, she took off for the village, heading for the bell on the central post. As Sarah followed Giely and Marta out the door, she heard the wild clanging. Everyone stopped what they were doing and went running down to the mines. The few that stayed were unable to make the climb, so they remained with the smallest children, those Elfric's age and younger. Even those children had duties, though, preparing beds in the hall for the injured, readying easy baskets of food for those who had gone to dig out the workers, laying out burial shrouds for those who did not survive.
"What will I be doing?" Sarah asked as she hurried next to the women. They were passed by the swiftest runners before they were halfway there.
"You can help dig out, first. Then you'll be working with us when the wounded come. We've much to prepare before they start bringing out the wounded, and you'll be in the way." Marta paused and saw Elder Shan near the mouth of the mine, where he worked every day. "Go to Elder Shan. Take this," Marta handed her a moonstone ring from her hand. "Tell him I told you to do whatever he said."
Sarah nodded and raced away. This was the first major disaster she had ever been a part of, and she didn't want to disappoint the sisters or Elder Shan.
"Marta sent me," she said, skidding to a halt. "What do you need me to do?"
"Here," he said, handing her a lighted crystal, calling out to Yancey. Unlike Jareth's spheres, this was a large, obelisk shaped stone. "Take this. You'll hold this light for Yancey and spell him when he tells you to. Yancey, you take rests frequently. Sarah is to take your place in the digging when you do. And if anyone says anything, send them to me. I'll take care of it." Elder Shan turned away and shouted to someone else about getting more lights for the workers.
"Come on," Yancey said. "Ever been in a mine?" he asked.
"No," Sarah said. "I'll watch you before I touch anything."
"Good. There are a few things you need to know, though. See these?" he pointed to groves cut into the wall. "They're for rapid movement of rock or product." He did not name what was mined. "Keep away from them, because we're going to be sending rock to the surface quickly. These slipways only need one person to move huge weights of rock. On the ground," he continued, "there will be puddles and muddy areas. If you fall, get up and get out of the way. No one is going to be gentle with you."
"I understand," she said. "Where do you want me to hold this?" she asked, indicating the crystal.
"We'll see when we get to our section. I've worked the deep mines, so you'll be with me, no matter what. There's no part of this mine I don't know." He gave her a grim look as he walked. "Be grateful."
Sarah nodded, eyes wide.
"Now, here are the support joists…" Yancey continued explaining the aspects of the mine she needed to know for general safety and stopped at a crossway. "Oh, hell," he whispered.
Sarah stopped, staring at the chaos in front of her. Men and women were digging at the pile of stone, calling back and forth. The first loads of rock were being placed in the carts on the slipway, filled with small rocks and earth. The pile was immense.
"Come on," Yancey said, dragging her to a side shaft. "This is a huge cave-in. Greely! Rengo! Tabor! Elisa! With me!" He turned back to Sarah. "We'll be working a cut-through shaft, making sure that it's free. The kind of rock this is, well, the entire roof of the section could have gone, or it could be patches or just at the front of the mine. There's no way to tell."
"Magic couldn't help?" Sarah asked, surprised.
Yancey stopped in his tracks. "You don't know a damn thing about this place, do you?"
"No," Sarah said, staring at him. "What is it?"
"What we mine can't be touched by magic." The others caught up with them then, and the team Yancey had called to him was not pleased about his revelations to the outsider.
"Yancey!" hissed Rengo. "What are you doing?"
"We mine Flamestar gems. They're incredibly susceptible to magic, and if handled incorrectly…let's just say they live up to their name." Grim-voiced, Yancey continued. "This cave-in was most likely caused by an improperly cut or handled stone."
Sarah said nothing, but a deep-seated fear of what they were facing took root. "And if there were other gems that were damaged by the cave-in?"
"Don't even think it," Yancey snapped. "The walls may be listening." He started walking, outlining his plan to the miners he had called in. Sarah was a bit surprised to see that one of them was a woman, but she was more worried about the miners who were trapped and the shafts.
Silently, Sarah followed, holding the obelisk carefully. She watched as the light from the crystal grew stronger, is if it were…
"What about this crystal?" she blurted. "Is it magical?"
Greely snorted and shook his head. "No, stupid, it's the nature of that crystal to absorb sunlight and release it."
Sarah blinked. "Was that a yes or a no?" she demanded.
"It was a no," Yancey growled. "Not now, Gree. We've got other things to deal with."
Snapping his jaw shut, Greely strode forward down the shaft.
Several minutes more of walking led them to the cross-cut. Yancey called Sarah to walk with him, letting the others fan out in a standard check-pattern. Sarah and Yancey would walk all the way to the next shaft. Two others would stay in the cross-cut, about halfway through it. The last two would wait on the other side, either to run for help or begin preparing for digging.
Sarah kept careful pace with Yancey, hoping she wouldn't end up being in his way. They walked through the narrow cut and emerged on the other side in dust-filled air. Sarah lifted the crystal high for Yancey to see. A moment later, she heard him begin cursing venomously.
"It's patched!" he called back to the others. He strode over to the supports and examined them closely, Sarah following with the light. "Joists are good." He studied the low ceiling. "Ceiling here is solid. Send for a team to come through to this patch, leave a large crew on the front. I want a bucket-line from the second patch to the slipways. Twenty more light-stones with pedestals. Rope and one of the bone-setters. Get the most experienced crew that can be spared." Yancey added grimly. "This is going to be a bitch of a dig."
Sarah listened and waited for instructions. Yancey did not disappoint. "Over to the left, there should be a large pedestal. Put the obelisk on it and come with me back to the other side. My gear is a little farther down that side-shaft. There's spares, too, for apprentices. You just got promoted from prisoner to apprentice miner." He gave her a hard look. "You up for this, Princess?" he asked.
"Honestly, I don't know." Sarah's chin went up. "But I'm ready to find out."
"Good enough. Let's get you suited up. You'll need to take off that silk. Keep the jerkin. Boots are good," he continued studying her. "Scrawny little thing," he added. Sarah gave him a nasty look. "Well, for a miner you are," he clarified. "Most miners are built like Elisa."
Elisa could not be considered petite by any standards. She had broad, strong shoulders, muscular arms, and, even though she had a figure, it was not comprised of the lush curves that Sarah had seen elsewhere in the kingdom. The miner looked, Sarah thought, much like the Amazon illustration in one of her favourite Greek mythology texts.
"I see your point," Sarah said. They were walking out of the cross-cut and turned down the side shaft. Yancey pulled out a smaller light crystal and used it to point the way.
"When we get to the gear, go ahead and take off the shirt. We'll use strips of it for your mask." Sarah closed her eyes and nodded, biting her tongue to keep from objecting. A few minutes down the shaft, they stopped and Yancy started pulling gear from the wall, piling some neatly and putting other pieces on his harness and belt. Sarah stripped out of her jerkin and slid off the shirt. Yancey turned around and saw her before she could slip the jerkin back on. "Wait!" he said, stepping closer to her. He had seen a flash of black over her heart.
"Where did you get that tattoo?" he asked, his voice suddenly strained.
"Jareth gave it to me," Sarah replied, wondering why he sounded so strange. "He said it marked me as his, no matter if I completed my run or not."
"We," Yancey said, "are going to have a long talk after we get these men out of the shaft. Hope that we get everything sorted out before that call for justice is answered."
Sarah just nodded and put her jerkin on, suddenly more confused than ever. What was it about that mark that made everyone so tense? So she was Jareth's. Wasn't everything here?
Shaking her head to clear it of the questions bouncing in her skull, Sarah put on the gear Yancey handed her and loaded her arms with more. Her strength had returned, thanks to Marta and Giely, but the gear was heavy and she was not the most athletic person around. Sucking up her pride and clamping down hard on her desire to complain, Sarah prepared for long, hard days of physical labour.
***
Karen had called again. Jareth answered the call, enjoying a long conversation with Karen one weekend while Robert had taken Toby to visit his parents. Karen had had a recital to oversee, and the impromptu trip was a blessing for her. It had only been two days since the last time she called him. Dependence upon the man of her dreams--literally--was not something that made Karen relax. She didn't know what she wanted from Jareth, and if she did, she wasn't willing to admit it yet.
Jareth received the call the day after the males were gone, which happened to be the day of the recital. This time, they were in Karen's kitchen, drinking coffee and enjoying a late night, end-of-recital celebration.
"You seem glad the dancing is over," Jareth remarked.
"I am. Much as I love dancing, these recitals are a pain. Some parents aren't happy unless their baby is the star of the show, no matter that baby has no rhythm, bodysense, or depth perception." Karen took a sip of coffee and changed the subject. "But I wanted to hear about Sarah. How is she doing?"
"Right now," he replied, smiling at the change of subject and the faint note of longing in Karen's voice, "she is helping dig some miners out of a cave-in. They just got started on the digging, so they'll be occupied for some time yet."
"That sounds horrible!" Karen exclaimed. "Do you know…"
"No." Jareth did not explain. His tone made Karen change the focus of her thoughts.
"You offered her the chance to chase her dream. Do you love her?" Karen asked, her voice quiet.
"Does it matter?" Jareth countered, studying his companion.
"Yes," Karen replied.
"Your husband is merely a housemate, your son oblivious, your stepdaughter in mortal peril, and you say love is important? Karen, really," he chided.
Shaking her head, Karen tried to explain. "If you love her, if she knows that you do, you will give her strength."
"Her strength lies within herself. My emotional attachment to her is moot." A matter of fact statement about a very sensitive topic.
"And yet you would have her for your Queen? Be father to her children? Without love, Jareth, it's…hell." Karen was equally matter of fact, but a bit dismayed by his seeming disregard for Sarah.
"Ah." Karen's concerns became clear. "I love her, but that is not the reason I want her as my Queen. She could be my consort for all of that. Children, sex, love, desire-they have little to do with each other, except perhaps a little cause and effect with the first two." Jareth's tone was light, but not unkind. He spoke to Karen as he would someone who refused to understand a simple arithmetic problem.
Karen looked down at her mug and ran her fingers along the handle and around the rim. After a long silence, she spoke. "Jareth, I don't want to pry," she said, speaking slowly, "but after…the last time I saw you… Does Sarah know this? Have you…" She stopped, not knowing how to ask and not wanting to pry.
Jareth gave her a sympathetic smile. "Had sex? Yes. She is a lovely girl." There was just enough darkness in his voice that Karen grew wary.
Karen's eyes narrowed. There was something in that tone she didn't like. "Have you hurt her?"
"Yes." Jareth was completely unapologetic. He saw the storm gathering in Karen's eyes and held up a hand. "Karen, she is my subject now. When she chose to run my labyrinth, she became mine. Period. Not yours, not her father's, not a part of this world. She. Is. Mine." He waited until Karen nodded before he continued. "I want her to survive, to be my Queen. To do this, she needs to understand what I require. Some lessons are more easily learned than others."
Karen snorted. "That sounds like an excuse, Jareth, and believe me, I've heard them all."
"I promise you, she enjoyed it." Jareth took another sip of coffee.
"Bastard!" Karen hissed, the anger she kept under careful control beginning to stir.
"She wanted to be worthy of being my Queen," Jareth reminded her. "That is not an easy position to achieve."
"And yet you inherited your kingdom," Karen snapped, countering his argument.
"Is that what you think?" Jareth asked, his voice quiet.
"That's how it works, isn't it? The king is dead, long live the king? Crown princes, the like?" Karen expected the kingdom of her childhood fantasies to be like any monarchy in Europe.
"No, that is not how it works," Jareth said, leaning back in his chair. "My father was the king, this is true, and my mother was queen. I was born to them, their youngest child, and, like my brothers and sisters, I was born of the race of kings. Six of my siblings had changed to the races that suited them best by the time I was born. The others remained of the race of kings, though their paths took them in different directions. There are no princes or princesses in my home. Three of my siblings are knights, two are magicworkers, high level magicians." Jareth paused. "When my father learned he was dying, the labyrinth was open to all desired to become King. Of those who ran the labyrinth, I am the only one who withstood the Tests. Some died. Some were broken and faded rather than continue living. Others opted out and returned to their lives, irrevocably changed by their experiences. I alone survived. It took me thirteen of what you would call years to succeed." He looked down at the table. "I almost didn't."
"Jareth, I had no idea," Karen said, compassion radiating from her. She reached out and covered his hand with hers.
Jareth simply smiled briefly and continued speaking.
"To be my Queen, Sarah must endure a similar trial. There are differences, since I was already a Knight of the Realm and had fought wars, gone questing, and the like. I was some…seven hundred of your years, fully adult with an adult's experience and knowledge. Sarah learns my realm as she runs the labyrinth. To that end, there will be many things she endures, and, yes, I have hurt her." Jareth looked back up at Karen, who listened, enraptured and horrified at what he said. "She must be completely flexible, but always fully aware of her self and who she is. From one extreme to another, she will be tossed. In the end, she will be broken." Jareth stood and looked out the kitchen window. "If she withstands that, if she can accept the ultimate truth, she will drink of the Queen's cup and take her place by my side. If she cannot, she will be shattered, but she will be my consort, and I will wait for another to run the labyrinth and become my Queen." He paused, murmuring almost to himself, as if he had forgotten about Karen. "Absolute knowledge of self, for King and Queen, before we are bound to the kingdom itself. It is a heavy, brutal price to pay for power, but it is also the reason that the labyrinth remains the most powerful, the sole land that has never been conquered. Lands have been lost by weak Kings and Queens, but the heart of the labyrinth has never been touched. That is why my realm is called the Labyrinthine Realm. That is why I am the most feared among the realms, yet none openly move against me.
"My Queen must be my match; power will rest in her hands that is second only to mine--and the only power greater than mine. With my Queen, I can return the lands lost over time to the realm. She will be the strongest of my army, the very spirit of the realm. Without her, I can maintain my kingdom as it is, but it will not be a vibrant land. It will not die without her, but without her, it cannot grow." Jareth paused again. "When she first ran the labyrinth for Toby, Sarah was young, but there was something in her that my kingdom responded to even then. This time, she has done things I did not know she could, and done them quickly. The Rites of Spring Returning were more powerful that I have felt in my entire life because of her. She has done what took me over three years to do, for there were aspects of myself I did not want to embrace. Comparatively, her pain was minimal. The Tests are designed to break down illusions held so dear, show us who and what we truly are." Memories of agony shot through him. His tormentor had not been concerned with him as he had been with Sarah. Then again, the blood-rite sept cared for little beyond their own mysteries. "She accepted those things she feared with grace, even though the Tests focused on her desires and her ability to accept them. Now she endures the second set of Tests, which will focus on her body and heart." He stopped, closed his eyes. So much of this she did not need to know. He had not realized how much he needed to speak of this to someone, and Karen was not of his realm. She would never understand.
"I have said too much, Karen. You must say nothing of this to anyone, ever. Especially Sarah. She will learn this and more when she has completed her run. Swear your silence, in my name."
At the silence behind him, Jareth turned. He saw Karen sitting at the table, tears running down her face. He waited for her to speak.
"Jareth, I will say nothing of this to anyone, except you, when you allow it," Karen rasped. She wanted to say more, but the words wouldn't come. She wanted to do something to make that look leave his eyes, if only for a little while. She hated to see anyone suffer. "Just… Can she do it, Jareth?" she asked, her voice choked with tears. Her eyes promised more than she knew, even through the tears.
Jareth closed his eyes and spoke his heart, pure longing filling his words. "I hope so, Karen. She would be an incredible Queen."
***
Sarah ached. Her back screamed in agony, her legs were shaking, her hands were raw and bleeding, and her arms were numb. She kept digging, piling rock after rock in the spillway container, side-by-side with Yancey. Time had no meaning to her now. Lift, turn, drop, turn, lift, turn, drop, turn… Her life was lived in lifts and turns. There was nothing else.
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Shattered