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His Champion's Journey	By : Jetredgirl Category: G through L > Labyrinth Views: 4626 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Labyrinth or it's characters in any way shape or form.

Chapter List
- 5
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Sarah woke up alone again, but almost as soon as she was up and rolling up her bed, Jareth was there.
"Good day. How did you sleep?" He asked pleasantly.
"Like a log. Which is fitting I suppose considering." She gestured around them.
He smiled at her joke.
"I'll be back in a minute." She said.
"Go over there, it's clear." He pointed.
She did and was back very shortly. He sat on one of the logs and she sat next to him as he unwrapped the cloth.
"I could not find as much, but we can make do. I have enough food for 5 nights I believe, but we should keep on the look out for edibles today. When we start climbing, there will not be much available." He sorted out the food, in equal amounts.
She picked up a weird looking blue fruit, kind of like a plum it looked like. She was pleasantly surprised how good it was. She ate everything he had brought her hungrily.
"I'm working up an appetite with all this walking. Plus I'll probably lose a few pounds. Not a bad thing I guess." She said.
"You look fine to me as you are." He stated as he ate and passed her the water flask.
She took a long drink and passed it back. "It's always that last 5 pounds. Those are the ones you can never get rid of, you know? Well you probably don't it's an above thing I guess. Women are always worried about shedding that last 5 pounds." She joked again.
Jareth looked her up and down. "I see no extra weight on you, you are beautiful as you are, like I said. Why mortal women feel the need to be unnecessarily thin is beyond me."
Sarah stared at him for a minute, wondering if he realized what he had said. "You...think I'm beautiful?" She asked.
He looked up from his food. "I said you looked fine."
"You said that the first time, then you said I looked beautiful. Do you..." She stopped. "Never mind you were just being nice I know. Like all guys."
"No Sarah. You are right, I said you are beautiful. I mean it. You are. Do not ever worry that you are not good enough for anyone. Even me." He looked down again at his food, looking slightly discomfited.
"Oh. I umm..thanks. Jareth. Thank you." She smiled at him.
He cleared his throat as he stood. "If you are finished, we need to go. Get your things so we can be off." He commanded.
Sarah wiped her hands off with one of her dwindling supply of wet wipes. She attached her bedding to her backpack and slung it on her back the gestured for him to go ahead.
As she followed Jareth she observed him. She had seen he had dark shadows under his eyes and wondered how much he was really sleeping.
A few hours later the ground started sloping up and Sarah's legs were telling her about it.
"Are we climbing a mountain?" She asked Jareth who was stopped in front of her, his sharp eyes looking around them.
He glanced behind. "I should have told you. Yes, we will be hitting steeper slopes shortly. It is not very big, but it will take most of the day to reach the top. We will camp there. If we leave early enough we may reach the river by nightfall tomorrow. We are making good time."
They pushed on, stopping briefly for water and a snack. She went to hand the flask to him when they got going again and he pushed her hand away. "You will need it more than I for the next part. It is the steepest part and humans dehydrate faster."
She tucked the flask in her belt she started walking again. Or rather, hiking, she observed.
An hour or so later, Sarah was sweating profusely as she struggled stay close to Jareth. He was light on his feet and seemed to have little problem navigating the rocky terrain. They were beginning to climb a fairly steep part of the mountain.
Her hands were bruised and dirty, and she felt disgusting. She made Jareth stop while she put her hair up off of her neck with a clip.
"Why aren't you sweating like a pig like me? Figures." She grumbled as she pulled herself up a particularly steep pile of rocks.
As she went to grab the next rock, her foot slipped and she slid down, landing hard on her ass.
"Fuck!" She yelled.
Before she could even yell for him, Jareth was beside her looking concerned. "Are you alright?"
She stood gingerly, rubbing her sore behind. "My ass hurts, but I think I'll live."
She looked up and noticed the corners of his mouth twitching. "Don't you laugh at me Goblin King, that was NOT funny." She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
She had to give him credit, he did try. The twitch became a chuckle, and the chuckle became a hearty laugh. He sat down on a rock and bent forward, his shoulders shaking.
Sarah stared a death stare at him, but she fought a smile watching him truly laugh, not sarcastic or smarmy, but really just let it out.
Eventually she walked over and sat next to him and giggled. They looked at each other and as soon as their eyes met they laughed even more. "Well shit. Only me would come to some fairy tale land and break my ass." She said as their laughter died down.
Sarah was surprised as he did something unexpected. He laid an arm loosely across her shoulders and pulled her close, then kissed her on the forehead. "Thank you, I needed that."
"You will excuse me if I say you're not welcome." She teased.
"Understood. Shall we?" He gestured to the rock face.
Sarah sighed. "I guess. I'm tired. I hope I don't slip again."
"You go ahead of me. We are just going straight up anyway. That way I will be able to catch you. Or push you up."
"Oh. Okay." This was the first time he was letting her lead them. Then again, most of the time she had no idea where they were going.
They started again, Sarah trying not think about Jareth staring at her rear end the rest of the afternoon. Or that if he pushed her he would be basically feeling her up. For some reason it gave her a little thrill thinking of him grabbing her behind. Eesh, she thought. Shouldn't she dislike that idea a bit more?
She tried to let her mind go blank as she climbed.
They reached the top as the sun was setting.
She looked out behind them and looked to the horizon. It was beautiful. The sunset was all blues, pinks and purples, clouds spreading across the sky, the stars starting to twinkle.
"Wow. Jareth it is beautiful here. Where exactly is the underground in relation to earth?"
He had been standing a little behind her not watching the sunset, but watching the colors dance across her face, the look of astonished amazement as she looked out over his world. The combination was a glorious sight.
"Yes, it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." He said softly.
She turned and noticed him watching her and blushed. "Are you going to answer my question?" She asked.
He shook himself out of his thoughts. "Yes. Let us get settled and we will talk over dinner."
The vegetation was much more sparse in the area they chose to settle in for the night. Sarah found a rock to hide behind to have a little privacy. She had been hot and sticky and chose to change into her set of clean clothes, thinking if they reached the river the next evening she could at least wash them out and bathe herself.
She tucked everything into the bottom of her bag and took out the small box with wet wipes and washed her face and hands.
"Uck. I will be so glad to get to the river you keep talking about." She said as she sat down by the small fire Jareth had made.
"As will I." Jareth said as he prepared their usual fare. "From there we will travel down the valley floor for the biggest part of the trip. After we get out of the valley, the lands become increasingly desolate. The outer fringes of the underground are not all that habitable. Only the heartiest live out there." He handed her the food as he finished speaking.
"You live out there." Sarah pointed out as she took the wrapped meat and cheese from him "And The Labyrinth did not look desolate to me."
"My kingdom straddles the divide between your world and mine. It is also kept flourishing by it's own unique magic." He answered, taking a bite of food.
"Oh. So..tell me about it. I mean the underground. Where it is, why it exists." She asked as she began to eat.
He chewed and swallowed the bite he had taken. "We aren't so much under the above. That is just a term that is used. It is more like, we occupy the same space of a different plane of existence. Humans who came and went called it the underground and it stuck. I suppose because it is place that they would come to escape their life. Going Underground. See?" He answered.
"Humans came here? I mean before me, or besides runners, or children. Why do you take children?" Sarah wanted to know everything. All these questions she had always had.
Jareth smiled at her innate curiosity. "We were once closely connected, the underground denizens and the humans. We traveled back and forth with no worries or trouble. We lived side by side, sharing with each other our goods and lives. They often looked to us as gods, or angels. That is where many of your ancient myths come from. Then they wanted our power, and could not get it, so they became jealous, suspicious, vengeful. They began to kill us. Yes we are long lived, but they found ways to kill us. horrible heinous ways. Tying us down and chopping us into tiny pieces then setting us on fire. We are allergic to iron and it can incapacitate us enough that we are unable to fight back. We were not so numerous that we could survive such a purge. So working with all the magic combined we worked and worked until we were able to create strong barriers to keep them out and protect ourselves. The Great War was a terrible thing. So much suffering."
He paused. "Is this too much? You seem disturbed."
Sarah must have had a horrified look on her face. "Yes. No. I'm okay, I am horrified, but go on."
He nodded. "We do not birth children easily. It is the price we pay for living so long. So, a group of mages came up with a plan. They knew humans often did not want their children, or treated them horribly. So they created a legend and placed it in the above in the form of first oral tradition, eventually written down. The Goblin King, The Labyrinth. The test. The children wished away all become one of us and are cherished." He finished.
"How did you become king?" She didn't want to bug him too much, but wanted to know this one last thing for now.
"It is not an easy thing. This trial that I am repeating is really only the last part of a series I had to do then. Most require magic while this does not. The Labyrinth chooses those with potential to rule it. We do not have a choice. I will be The Goblin King until I die even though I had to appoint a regent for the entirety of this trial. My reign may be over far sooner than I had hoped."
"You were forced be The Goblin King?" She never thought that maybe he wasn't completely happy with his job title. He seemed to enjoy it so much the last time.
"It is a honor, but it is a curse. I was groomed to lead because I showed from birth such a raw talent for magic. The old king went into the fade, as I was coming into my full power. There was no other one more qualified. I passed all the tests, I was crowned. Now I rule a city full of idiots and get to be the villain in everyone's fairy stories."
"You like it a little." Sarah teased him.
"There are times, when being the wicked king is enjoyable." He said, smirking at her.
"It just gets tiresome. I am not a bad man, Sarah. Just a man with a job to do. My entire world relies on me. I have no choice. That is why it is problematic when someone wins, and why it is against underground law. It is a sign of weakness. The last thing any underground ruler ever wants is to be seen as is weak, conquerable. "
Sarah felt tremendous sympathy for him, for the first time she saw he was someone put in a circumstance he could not get out of, and that he was honorable enough to never shirk his duties. Until her, apparently.
"Did you let me win?" She asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
He stood and walked to the edge of the clearing, looking out into the dark valley below.
"I do not know. Maybe I did. I know I could have done much more to keep you from winning, but I am not sure what it means that I didn't. Now I face the consequences for letting sentiment rule my decisions. It surely had never happened before, but then again there were no other runners quite like you. Underground law being what it is, it is against the law to grant mortals any sort of magic, yet that is the reward for a runner winning. The power of the wish and the connection to the underground with the title as King's Champion. It is meant to be a deterrent for The Goblin King being lenient on runners."
It was an honest answer. Sarah wasn't sure how to process it. "Oh. Jareth..I...I don't think of you as a villain anymore, not really. So that is my magic? I never even knew I had any."
Facing the forest below he answered. "Everything you have ever truly wanted since your run, you have been given, Sarah. Though not in ways you might expect. Think upon that."
Sarah decided to forgo trying to decipher what exactly that meant for the time being. She was starting to tire and she didn't know if she could truly comprehend all that might entail. It meant going back to that night and considering everything she had done up until that very moment.
"Is there any way all of this could have been prevented?" She asked.
He came back and sat down, not looking at her. He took out the piece of wood he had been carving on and started to work at it again, his mouth tight. "Yes."
Jareth looked reluctant to answer, but she had to know. "Well?"
He looked up, his eyes full of emotion. "Your death. At my hand." He looked back down and continued his carving.
Sarah was shocked. The underground seemed much harsher in that moment than it ever had. "I didn't know...that was..." She couldn't even finish. Astonishment at the weight of his words overtook her power of speech.
"I could never have done such a thing, Sarah. Do not think me wary of killing. I have done so without regret far too many times to speak of. Not you. Never you. I would sooner die first. So here we are then." On his face was an expression of repressed anger. Not at her, but at himself and the impossible situation.
Sarah's heart pounded in her chest. He had done all this, with the attempt to keep her away, to protect her. She wanted to hug him but knew he would not want that. "You should get some sleep, Goblin King. Your Majesty." Her mouth curved into a lopsided smile.
His eyes darted back up to hers. "You do not need to call me that. Believe me I will sleep tonight. Here on the mountain, among my brethren, we are safe. They will let me know if there is danger."
Saah looked around. "Brethren? I don't see any.."
Just then the distinctive hoot of an owl came from a nearby tree. Looking up she saw a pair wide eyes observing them.
"I almost forgot you did that, turned into an owl. They know you then." She said simply.
"They are not of my parliament, but yes they know and recognize me as kin. The owl magic is unique only to my family. It is a great gift. My great great grandfather was the first given the honor. We are a part of them as much as they are a part of us. Every immortal family is chosen by an underground animal to carry it's magic. The owls were stubborn, never giving their gift to anyone, until him. There they found a kindred spirit. I am only the 5th generation to have it and only one individual of every generation will have the gift." He said proudly.
"That is really amazing." Sarah said, in awe.
Jareth inclined his head. "Yes, it is."
"How come you and not Jorwyn?" She wondered.
"He made the choice to abdicate his first born right to it. When we were children, after our parents died, he was always fiercely protective of me. He felt the owl magic would be an added layer of protection for me, I suppose." Jareth shrugged. "He never really said, being Jorwyn he was never one to be so open with his feelings. He believed I would be better suited possibly, being stronger magically."
Sarah unrolled her bed. She yawned the whole time she was doing so, then crawled into her blanket snuggling in. It was getting chillier here than it was in the valley.
She watched as Jareth did the same, tucking whatever he was working on back into his bag before getting settled into his bedroll.
"Sleep well, Jareth. She said before she closed her eyes.
"And to you, precious." Jareth answered, but she was already asleep. He relaxed at the soft sound of the birds communicating above, letting him know they will be watching, and followed suit.
- 5
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- 7
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His Champion's Journey