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Shattered	By : TarnishedArmour Category: G through L > Labyrinth Views: 7713 -:- 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
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- 27
Jareth mercilessly hammered the points of the case the prosecuting Fisher Lord had glossed over, hoping to get a quick and merciless conviction.
"Tanaka," he scandalized the court by speaking to their king as an equal, which, of course, he was. "Did the healers not address the state of the boy's health? Did they not inform your man, the Fisher Lord, of his magical burnout?" Gasps were heard from the surrounding courtiers. Apparently the prosecutor had neglected to mention that. "Did they speak of how the boy collapsed back into his catatonic state, after assaulting the girl? Did they or the boy's compatriots speak of how he had lain catatonic for three days prior to this? That he was barely able to take food or water, and that had to be administered with great care?"
Tanaka frowned. "No, Jareth, they did not."
The court quivered with this sudden change. The King was speaking directly to a defender, no matter the rank! Incredible!
"Did they say that the girl, despite her pain and shame, stayed with the boy after he had collapsed, frightened she had somehow harmed him with her emerging magic?" That would have been a separate crime, though a very minor one, since it was self-defense. "Did they speak of her kindness in the days since?"
"No," Tanaka frowned at the Fisher Lord. "None of this was known to me." This was all very true. It caused serious problems for Tanaka with his court system, and could cause even more with his Queen.
"Did the merchants speak of his father's good reputation-and his own? Did they speak of his unfailing manners, his propriety on every previous trip to your shores? Did they speak of his youth and his magical potential, still growing apace with him?" This was another important point, and one that the court needed to know. "Did they speak of the spell that caused him to collapse?"
"No. Know you this spell?" Tanaka asked.
"He attempted to, and mostly succeeded in, quelling a growing fire in the warehouse district. Had the fire spread, your merchants would have lost much, as would your tax coffers." That was hitting below the belt, but it was also true. "His magics are close with fire, and so he called made the one fire burn hot enough to choke itself. In doing so, he burned himself." There was a swell of sympathy for the boy. "The watermage tending the warehouses was alone, and he was one of the weaker mages there. Has he been given the opportunity to speak for this boy?"
"No," Tanaka said, his voice growing cold and hard. "None of this was given to Us as evidence." He gave Jareth a hard look. "Yet you did discover this in but a few hours?"
"Answers always await the finding, Tanaka, if one cares to look." Jareth gave the Fisher Lord, now red-faced with impending apoplexy, a scathing look.
"Something I have found true, Jareth." Tanaka paused, then spoke again. "Very well. Continue."
"Given these points, there is much doubt about the veracity of the claims, not of the girl assaulted, but of the Fisher Lord. Let the girl argue her case, if she is so inclined, but leave the petty machinations of a political hack out of the case." Tanaka nearly choked at that one, but managed to lift an eyebrow instead. "Speaking of the Fisher Lord, did not your mother, the late Queen of Grea, demand that castration and death be removed from the rolls of acceptable punishments for a single offense of rape?"
"She did, and I find the call for those very punishments to be deeply disturbing. Those are reserved solely for those incapable or unwilling to cease in their shameful acts." Tanaka eyed the now-squirming Fisher Lord. Something foul was afoot in his kingdom, and he was going to have a massive headache before he was done sorting it all out. "With the information you have supplied, I am inclined to dismiss this case-"
"NO!" cried the Queen, standing abruptly. "I, for the women of Grea, will not allow it! The crime has been committed, however strangely, and the punishment must be in blood!" Queen Hiroko turned on her husband. "It is true that castration is not a viable punishment. The women of Grea, under your mother's guidance, may she rest peacefully with our ancestors, did see this as an unjust punishment for one overcome with depraved lust but once. We accept this still. Execution is only used for the most vile of offenders, and we applaud the vision of Santiwa, great Queen to Inturo Warhammer, your great-grandfather. Her wisdom has prevented many miscarriages of justice." Her dark eyes narrowed on her attentive husband. "But We will never excuse a rape, no matter the extenuating circumstances, without recompense of honour and of blood!"
"My Queen," Tanaka spoke calmly to his wife, "what would you suggest? The boy be whipped while he is without wit? Or that we wait until he is again himself and beat him for a crime he knows not?"
"That will be your choice," Hiroko replied, her voice hard, "but We will have the bloodreckoning, in full. Blood, for the girl is without hope of marriage now. With her virgin blood, he took her pride. Her father will see no offers for her, despite her innocence in this act. She is considered as soiled." It was clear the Queen did not like or approve of this common opinion, but she could not wave her hand and change the hearts of her people. "As is her pain, so shall his be."
"Very well," Tanaka said, bowing to his wife's demand. He could do no less. Should she turn the women of Grea against the men in a full war between the sexes, he had no doubt who would lose. The old joke is true, he mused. Women do rule the world. If not by their hands, then from between their legs. "Jareth, you have argued well, but, as Queen Hiroko has argued, there must be full reckoning, for this crime was committed and the girl is in an undesirable position."
"What is your judgement, Tanaka?" Jareth asked, waiting to hear what he knew would come.
"The merchant will pay for the girl to live, according to her station, independent of any husband. Should she marry, the remainder of that gold will become her dowry." Jareth nodded, as did Istran, the merchant. This was more than fair, given the cost of his son's baffling actions.
"I would give her the option to come to my realm," Jareth said quietly, "that she may begin anew among those who would not judge her for what is not her fault."
"Your offer is kind," Tanaka said. Beside him, Hiroko's eyes narrowed in curiosity and interest. This Jareth was not what she had expected. "Girl, come forward." The girl did so, abasing herself before the king and queen. "Rise, and speak your name to Us."
"Danishi, Majesties," she whispered, pale and shy before the notice of her king. She kept her head bowed, unwilling to gaze at those so powerful, so far beyond her humble station.
"Danishi, did you hear the offer to start anew in the lands belonging to King Jareth?" Hiroko, as was her right and duty, put the question forth to the girl.
"Yes, Majesty. I am honoured to think he would allow such as I in his kingdom." It was polite, but also heartfelt.
Through no fault of her own, Danishi was shamed. No matter that she would likely never see her home again, she was tempted by this offer to be free of the painful, censorious, pitying looks of her father's people. Of these scandalized and prying eyes of the courtiers. Of the greedy look from the Fisher Lord. He had, she knew, spoken to her father about having her learn to be one of the Ladies of the Willow, a courtesan trained to please men. She knew the Fisher Lord had lusted for her, and she had been repulsed by his suggestions. She did not wish to charge the Labyrinthian boy with rape, but she had been given no choice.
"You may decide to join the merchant on his trek home, which is to be in three days time." The Queen knew this, for she had gotten the information from the harbormaster. "That day, you will be required to give your answer to Us, to go or to stay forever here on Grea." It was a formulaic phrase, but the girl took it as said.
"The offer does not end when Istran's ship does sail, Hiroko," Jareth addressed the queen directly. "Should she choose to come to my realm later, she will have passage and welcome." With some effort, though he chose not to show it, he produced a crystal and extended it on his fingertips to the girl. The courtiers gaped. When she made no move to take it, he caused it to float gently to her, hovering for her to take it. She finally did. "Just speak your desire to come to the Labyrinthine Realm into the crystal. You will be heard, and arrangements will be made for your travel."
"T-thank you, King…" she looked up at him panicked, unable to remember his name. She almost dropped to her knees. Acknowledged not only by her queen, but by the foreign king! This was not her wish! She only wanted to marry, to have children, to have a life as an honoured woman of Grea!
"Jareth," he supplied, his voice kind. It was the kindness of his voice that caused her tears. When she sniffed in misery, Jareth stepped over to her and, with his gloved fingertips, dried her tears. "There, now. No need to cry. This is a choice none can take from you, for I've given it only to you." When she nodded, understanding that only she could make the crystal work and that it could not be taken from her, he kissed her forehead softly as he would a child's. The courtiers wept with her, at her pain and fear and at the gentle comfort the foreign king had given her. No few of them forgave his wild looks in favour of his kindness to one shamed girl. She turned back to the queen, and, dismissed, returned to her place behind the Fisher Lord and her father.
Jareth returned to his position by the merchant and his son. He waited for the axe to fall.
"Very well," Tanaka said into the pregnant silence. He could sense the change in the crowd's emotions, and toasted his old friend for a brilliant move. "The gold has been accepted and considered satisfactory. Should Danishi choose to immigrate, the gold shall follow her. The crime was done to her, not to this land. We would not have her stripped of her recompense though she leave these lands. We have come," he said, his words slow and measured, "to the blood reckoning." Tanaka paused for a long time.
"As Our queen has said, the full measure of blood must be spilled for the virgin blood taken by one who had no right or invitation. One hundred lashes for the boy, as he is now, by the hand the girl does choose-hers or another's. Prepare him." The flick of a hand ensured this last part would be done immediately. The guards moved to take the boy's arms, but Jareth stepped forward.
"Tanaka, blood will be spilled, but the boy is not capable of understanding what is done, nor why." It was a stop-gap before the final move.
"Then who shall pay blood-price? His father, who did nothing but raise the boy well, by our standards and your own?" Tanaka knew the answer, but he had to play this just right, else all of the precedents he had set today would be erased.
"As my subject wronged your Queen's, I would take his place, should she be the executor of this sentence." His words were strong, quiet, and bold. Eyes widened around the court. Even the Queen gasped in surprise. Tanaka's eyes, hooded from view, sparkled with admiration. Yes, this would be a new precedent, and one not easily forgotten. Too long had orders been given and the one demanding harsh punishments did not see the results. Today, his court and his queen learned a new definition of justice and of mercy.
"So be it." Tanaka waved away the now uncertain guards. "Bring in the pillars, the whip." Within minutes, the Petitioner's Way had been folded up, out of the way, the sturdy wooden pillars placed before the king's dais, and the long, black whip presented to the queen on a silken pillow. The boy and his father stood next to the girl and hers, whispering softly back and forth.
Jareth shook his head at the guards who offered to bind his hands to the pillars. He removed his coat and shirt, handing them to one of the guards, leaving his necklace in place. The brass, gold, and steel shone brightly against his lean form and pale skin. The queen did not disappoint him. Taking the coiled whip, she stepped carefully down the stairs before her and, head high, kimono daintily held to keep her from tripping, she moved behind Jareth, who faced Tanaka. The court would see the blood, the welts, the torn flesh. Tanaka would not.
Face carefully calm, Hiroko released the coil, holding only the handle of the whip. The braided leather snaked along the floor with a hiss. Jareth placed his hands on the pillars, taking a firm hold. He took a slow breath, looked up at Tanaka, and winked. They knew this scene well.
The first crack of the whip against his skin reminded Jareth of why he hated flexible whips so much. Riding crops, for all their rigidity, were less inclined to wrap and tear skin on the way back to the flogger.
"One," he said, forcing calm into his voice. He was so courteous, he did the counting for the queen. The irony was not lost on the queen or her husband.
Jareth had long held within him a place of peace, within it the sense of unruffled and unabashed self. He went to this place now. This was a gentle caress when compared to what he had endured over the centuries. His voice reflected the calm, the peace he felt in taking the place of his subject. The court wept openly for him. Before him, Tanaka wore the same peaceful expression.
By the time she had finished, tears stung Hiroko's eyes. She understood, now, what her husband had for so long tried to explain to her.
This boy and his father had held out faith in his king, even though they knew it was unlikely a king would respond to a mere merchant. From this faith, from Jareth's fulfilled promise of defense of his subjects, such loyalty as could never be demanded was born.
When the whip fell to the floor the last time, Jareth took a long breath. He released the pillars and turned to the queen. Taking the few steps to where she stood, he walked to her and stopped. With a soft smile, he raised her hand to his lips and, with a shallow bow, kissed it.
Hiroko bowed low to him in reply.
In perfect silence, the courtiers exited the room, leaving the kings and queen with Danishi, her father, Istran, and his son.
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Shattered