XIII

In Limbo’s Arms

Margaret rubbed her eyes as the dawn touched the farthest corners of the Labyrinth. Miracle of miracles, the darkness on the horizon had retreated during the night. Everyone was ecstatic, which only added to the mounting chaos in the kingdom. Brock was nowhere to be found, and that worried the maid to no end, but there was work to be done. Even without any apparent rule the citizens found solace in their daily routine.

Groggily she made her way to the henhouse. Upon opening the door she was not surprised to find that every last nest was empty, but angry nonetheless. Those goblins...they would pay for setting the chickens loose in the throne room. Again.

A loud roar caused Margaret to spin and clutch at the cap on her head. In the distance, just a tiny speck, something was flying their way with alarming speed.

“Oh...my...”

Lyra heard the dragon before she saw it. Damn her stew, it could wait. Still in her slippers, the healer reappeared in the courtyard. Others were running there as well, forsaking their morning chores, and watched as the beast alighted on the stone. But aboard its back were not any souls she had ever laid eyes on.

The woman ripped off her mask and searched the crowd for a friendly face. “Lyra!” she called.

“I do not believe it,” came the startled mumble. “Sarah Williams? But who-”

Whispers in the crowd turned to cries of surprise as the second figure, rather limp in the woman’s arms, rolled his dark head in their direction. A collective exclamation of “Your majesty!” followed before the healer had bustled to the dragon’s side.

“What happened?” she demanded in a low hiss. Grabbing Jareth with one hand and Sarah with the other, all three swirled into her home.

Sarah sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I...he...it’s a long story.” She smiled with fatigue at the healer’s unmoved ‘try me’ stance, and nodded. “From the beginning?”

After confirming Jareth’s relative health, making sure that he was stabilized and functioning, they moved him into his own quarters. Perhaps, Lyra reasoned, a more comfortable setting would put him to rights. He had yet to open his eyes, though occasionally he would shift as if in sleep.

It worried Sarah that her quick thinking had not automatically restored him to former glory. She was fast finding that all her lovely fairytales were embellished, skipping the gruesome horror that was the unknown. What if the dragon had not swooped down from the cave and flown them home? Surely she would have transported them both and wound up in a coma herself. Strange, that her fate should be passed on to Jareth. But she had saved him, he was here in body...

If only his spirit remained clinging to life inside. There was no way to know.

“Frankly,” Lyra huffed while drawing the heavy curtains, “I’m amazed that your plan worked.”

“There was no plan,” Sarah returned half-heartedly. “It...sort of just happened. Honestly...”

The healer watched the girl smooth the sheets around her king in a distracted fashion. “What?”

It was hard to make her voice work. “I was trying my best to say goodbye. There was no magic in the air around him, it felt so stale...and his face...” Carefully she traced the curve of his pale cheek. “I just wanted to give him something to make the passing easier. And that story I read so long ago, about how the Goblin King gave the girl certain powers...” Sarah laughed and shook her head. “Do you know what he said, right before I vanished to Larimon?”

Lyra had preoccupied herself with fluffing the pillows and avoiding Sarah’s gaze. Tough as she was, something this profound would make her all soft around the edges. “Hmm?”

“He called me Goblin Queen, and dressed me in this getup,” she motioned to her dark dress, “probably so that the High Chancellor would be scared into relinquishing the vial.” A look of adoration and humor crossed her features. “It worked.”

Stalling her unnecessary motions, Lyra looked once to the girl and then away. “Well, obviously you bestowed enough power on him to reverse the damage. But the dreams he accepted? I’m still not sure what those had to do with anything.”

“His dreams...” Sarah mumbled. They had surprised her. It was slightly hard to remember all that the crystal had contained, like a fading dream. She assumed she hadn’t really been supposed to see them in the first place. “Well, there was a rough translation for immortality. That, and the magic I granted him, must have mingled. Turned him Fae, like it did me.” One faint wisp remained that she could remember. Something about eternity... Nevermind. It wasn’t important.

Curious, the healer asked, “What was it like? When his wings...”

Repressing a grin at Lyra’s thirst for knowledge, she said, “Just turned to ash and fell away. It was the oddest thing I have ever seen. But you,” came the accusing point and a laugh, “are the true hero here.” A few of her fingers raked through feathered hair that was spread over his pillow.

“I’m no idiot, girl,” the healer snorted. “His majesty would have unleashed Hell all over again if he saw that black.” Tentatively she moved toward the door. “We all know his preference is blond, anyway. Always has been.”

“Vain creature,” Sarah smiled. Noticing Lyra’s retreat, she looked up. “Will you check on the dragon for me? He nearly killed himself, flying all the way home in one night. It makes me feel awful for leaving him in the courtyard.”

“I’ll check,” she agreed.

Left alone with Jareth’s still form, the girl didn’t know what to do with herself. There must be some way to wake him up. Probably, though, it was pure exhaustion. A need for recuperation. Unwilling to leave his side, she slumped over the edge of the bed and fell asleep with her head by his shoulder.

Very slowly rulers trickled down from the Aboveground, ashamed of their cowardice, and resumed authority over the destroyed lands. Sarah had made it very clear to everyone the extent of Larimon’s involvement, and he was punished by means too grisly to recount. It seemed the cleaners had made quite an impression upon him. In his sorry attempt at redemption he spilled the entire bargain between himself and the demon. The other members on the Council, already having foreseen his betrayal, fled to parts unknown. Unfortunately none were captured and incarcerated as Larimon was, but the monarchs declared them banished.

The news of Brock’s death spread throughout not only the Labyrinth, but the remainder of the Underground as well. Everyone paid tribute to the Goblin City’s brave general. For eons to come he would be held in the highest respect, as the only Fae mighty enough to sacrifice his life for the good of the Underground.

Yet every day the kingdom fell a little farther into disrepair. Jareth refused to stir, and Sarah refused to leave his side. Any time now, she told them, he would awaken and the land would have a ruler once again. It was only a matter of hours, surely, before his eyes would open to reveal crystalline mismatched blue.

After a week had passed, Margaret wondered into the darkened Royal Chambers. Delicately she pulled back the curtains, ignoring Sarah’s moans as the sunlight broke in strongly. Not waiting for an invitation, she took a seat next to the poor girl, curled insistently around Jareth. “Sarah?”

No answer.

“Sarah, I know that this is difficult for you. It is for all of us. The king, he...” There was no right way to say it. “His flesh is here. But he cannot look after the kingdom. Without a ruler, or even a temporary replacement, the magic is slowly failing.” Quietly she rested a hand on her arm. “Lyra told me that he named you queen. Is that true?”

Raising up her head slowly, unwashed hair matted around her face, Sarah croaked, “What does it matter?”

“It matters,” Margaret sighed, “because the king had no heir. No wife. He gave you the title of queen, Sarah. You alone can rule.”

Eyes wide, open for longer than she had dared the entire week, she muttered, “Rule? Me? You aren’t serious.”

“Please.” The maid was weary herself. “If not for us, for him. It was obvious that he trusted you with his land. And his people.”

Sarah felt her chest deflate a bit. Seeing Jareth beside her, unmoved for seven days and positioned exactly as they had laid him down, caused something in her to choke. It was true that he had entrusted his power to her. He hadn’t expected to live.

Reluctantly she let Margaret clean and dress her. Sarah couldn’t stand to search through the closet herself and see the haunting things the king had made. It was bad enough that the jeweled eyes of the carved owl and raven had blinked at her for a week. Feeling as if she were wasting away, Sarah stepped out into the castle. More than anything it was unbearable to leave Jareth behind, but she managed with the insistence of the maid.

The place was close to shambles. All around her were goblins and other creatures, barely functioning in the disorder. It pained her to think that Jareth would wake and be forced to repair it all, barely recovered from the journey's trials.

Left and right she sent plans into motion. Cleaning, organizing, communicating with other kingdoms, pushing magic into the Labyrinth. The pendant around her neck, which she never removed, helped more than she would ever know. Little by little the kingdom sprang back to life. Although she was not of the royal bloodline, and not Goblin Queen by any legitimate methods, Jareth’s word was law. Apparently she had just as much right to enact rules and administer as he had. The creatures obeyed the kind lady without question and watched as time helped the lands to flourish once again.

Night after night Sarah retreated to the Royal Chambers. Night after night she would find his body there, waiting, and her essence would twinge with sorrow. He was vibrant as ever, whole completely, with shimmering skin and beautifully angled features. Often she found herself asleep next to him, words of whispered encouragement floating their way into his ear. Sometimes she even sang sweet songs of a path between the stars. Trying to coax him out of this persistent, endless sleep became her main priority when away from the throne. The staff began to talk openly of the pure morbidity... Their queen was in love with a breathing corpse.

That did not deter the numerous suitors that wondered to her doorstep. After the fifth Sarah became so exasperated that she refused to magic them in. If they wanted to see her, they could run the Labyrinth. No matter how stout of heart, they never reached the Castle Beyond the Goblin City within the thirteen hour time limit. She made sure of that.

It was during a meeting with her staff that the girl snapped. In the throne room she watched, cold and unfeeling from the throne, as advisors argued their opinions.

“Obviously the bloodline no longer applies! The Labyrinth lets her rule in this time of desperation.”

“But for a woman to carry the responsibility alone? Preposterous!”

“She should take a king!”

“What good would it do?”

“Form an alliance with another kingdom. Heavens know after the upheaval we could use-”

“Silence!” The gazes of many turned to the standing woman. Her eyes were a raging jade, alive in ways they hadn’t been for quite some time. Around her the goblins looked on expectantly. They had grown rather attached to their queen during her short reign. Even if she did not kick them with the joy Jareth had, Sarah could give an applaudable death stare. “There will be no further talk on the matter. This subject is closed for discussion.”

“But, your highness-”

“Enough!” Before they could stop her, she had disappeared in a frustrated swirl of glitter, leaving behind a perplexed throne room.

Instantly Sarah reappeared in the Royal Chambers. The place had become a gloomy sanctuary of sorts over the weeks, a shroud of sadness and lost hope. She knew that Jareth could not stay here for long, but her soul was tortured to lay him to rest anywhere. A few had requested a special space to be made, where he could lie undisturbed, unburied. Sarah would not hear of it. He was the only thing that gave her enough strength to push into the next day.

“Goblin King,” she said urgently, bunching up her heavy skirts to sit at his side. Addressing him as if to a sleepy child, she mumbled, “You do not know the torment...If only I was in your place, a state of dreams, and you were awake to take care of this bloody kingdom. You would do a much better job of things.” Hesitantly she reached out. Always she was scared to find his face cold, helpless to the fact that he had slipped away while she was absent, but he never did. “Do you know that they want me to marry? I know, I know, you won’t hear of it,” Sarah laughed, imagining his response. Lightly she tugged her dress, a warm blue, into a more comfortable position so that she could rest her head on his chest. The dull beat beneath was steady.

“I’ll never be able to love anyone else,” she confided. “You’ve ruined all other men for me.” It was meant to be a teasing statement, but there was too much truth behind it. “Who else could drive me insane like you, or melt me with one look? Cause a laugh by simply grinning...” The events of that day were catching up to her. Eyes drifting shut, she continued, “I want to stay with you forever...that’s not very long at all. We’ll just have to make it last...”

She dreamed that the body beneath her tensed. Maybe he was having a nightmare? Well, if that was the case, Sarah certainly wanted to soothe him. Gently she glided her hand over his chest. In her dream arms settled over her back. The pulse beneath her ear grew and grew until her head was filled with the noise. It was a nice dream. Waking up would be terror.

“Sarah.”

Oh, how she had wished and wished to hear that... But wishing out loud was dangerous. She never trusted herself with making selfish requests that could be carried on the air. Deep down it was very comforting for that voice to be mumbling in her ear.

“I love you.”

This dream was quite realistic. Were you supposed to be able to feel things in dreams? Isn’t that why you always pinched yourself? In all honesty, the fingers that smoothed her spine were preferable.

“Darling,” someone was laughing, “wake up. After all this time, I would like to see your face when I properly declare my affection for you.”

Sarah could feel herself pulling out of sleep. No, she didn’t want to, couldn’t bear to face the reality of the kingdom. “I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone,” came a soft sob.

Another laugh. Why was there laughing? Did this dream dare mock her pain? In a moment of pure wretched determination, Sarah swore and jerked her head up.

Jareth looked back at her with an eyebrow quirked. “Sarah,” he rumbled, “did you not hear me the first time?” The bewildered girl had started to breathe rather heavily, especially as he sat up and pulled her with him. He took her silence for an answer and lowered his face to her neck. “I love you,” he breathed against her collarbone. Up her throat, over her jaw line, Jareth couldn’t help but repeat the bewitching phrase. “I love you, Sarah Williams.” Hovering over her mouth, so close...

Her listless limbs grabbed him suddenly with a frightened gasp. “Jareth!” The force of the throw was enough to send them back against the pillows. “How?” she screeched. “For weeks and weeks I thought you were...I couldn’t...” A moan interrupted the babble before she laughed hysterically and squashed her mouth against his.

The grief, still so thick in the air, was barely letting Sarah’s mind fully acknowledge the miracle. “You love me,” she gasped between another round of kisses. Jareth did not even have time to answer. “Oh, God, he loves me...” Sitting back suddenly, wrenching herself away from the Goblin King, who had carried on laughing, she yelled, “Why didn’t you tell me before, you bastard?”

“There wasn’t time. And, had you known, you would never have left.”

Enraged, Sarah loomed over him. “What, you mean not save the entire Underground from the dark vein? After you had told me I was the only one who could bind it...of course I would have left!” Even as the words fled her mouth she knew them to be a lie. Jareth only grinned smugly and settled his hands on her waist. “Alright,” Sarah grumbled, “I would have rather been consumed by boiling lava. But why did it take you so damn long to wake up?”

His hands pulled her down where she could feel his heartbeat again. “Don’t you remember the dreams you offered me?” Jareth mumbled against her forehead. Every inch of his skin was aching with relief at her nearness. “You couldn’t have missed it. I only wanted to live, if it meant spending eternity with you.”

Closing her eyes with a pang, Sarah remembered. Eternity. “I want to stay with you forever...”she repeated. “That’s all you ever wanted to hear, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Jareth sighed. “That’s all.”

“But,” the girl worried, “now that I’ve said it-”

“Love,” he laughed. “I told you. Forever. Do you honestly think, after this ordeal, that I would magic away just when we can be together?” His arms tightened. “No. I never said I was leaving.” Where had she heard that before? With a jerk they were sitting up again. “Wait,” the Goblin King frowned. “Weeks? How long have-”

Sarah stopped his lips with a finger. “Too long.”

He smiled wickedly at the gesture. A glance down caused his eyes to darken, and he murmured against her hand, “Goblin Queen, I’ll have you know that dress is my particular favorite.”

“Is it?” she laughed, skimming her hand from his mouth to his neck. With a devilish grin she snapped her fingers and watched as his face turned to one of surprise. Sarah liked the look of unadulterated pleasure he was giving her bare skin. “Too bad.”

They all agreed. It was not healthy for their queen to grieve so heavily, and the undead Goblin King was only worsening matters. Something had to be done about the situation, and fast, before Sarah’s mental state crumbled completely. If she was lost to them...the kingdom would be doomed.

“Now,” Lyra whispered outside the door to the Royal Chambers, “we have to handle the situation carefully. As soon as you have her attention, Margaret, I’ll transport the body to another room.” The maid nodded forlornly in response. “I’ll erect wards so that she won’t be able to enter, at least for a little while. She needs to put it behind her.”

“She loves the Goblin King,” Margaret sighed. “He’ll haunt her, wherever you take him.”

Resolutely Lyra frowned. “No time for second guessing the plan. Ready?” With another sigh the second woman nodded. “Alright. In we go.”

As softly as they could manage the two pushed open the door. Inside the chambers were dark, the wide windows covered with heavy material to shut out the starshine.

“Sarah?” No answer. Lyra strode to a curtain and yanked it back. “Sarah, listen now-”

Margaret shrieked loud enough to alert the whole castle. “Oh my stars!” she wailed before fleeing the room. Speechless, the healer gaped and tore her eyes away from the bed.

“They’re gone...”

They stayed wrapped around each other long after their racing hearts had slowed to a steady pulse. The dark of the Royal Chambers was beautifully quiet. Although, Sarah thought, someone must have left a window open. There was a cool breeze blowing about them.

Jareth couldn’t decide what he liked better...Sarah finally pressed tightly to him, or Sarah wearing nothing but his golden pendant. He settled on a tie. They had found, after the engagement of their mouths, that the pendant acted as a fine prevention to random acts of transportation.

To prove his point, he kissed her swollen lips for the hundredth time.

“I still think,” she smiled up at him once he let her breathe, “that this has more to do with me giving you part of my power.”

“You say you divided it equally between us,” Jareth laughed. “We’ll see, Sarah, after we discover who possesses more of the magic.” Swiftly he rolled so that she was held firmly atop his chest. “Starting with this.” He tapped her nose and the pendant disappeared, reforming around his own neck.

“Sneaky cheat!” she growled. Her hands were already roaming his rib cage in revenge.

From the dark overhead soft light filtered down onto them. Sarah turned to see the moon hanging in the sky, several clouds drifting away from its surface. “I didn’t know we had a skylight.”

The Goblin King frowned before sitting up, pulling her firmly against his side. “We don’t.”

Confused, Sarah looked around at what the moonlight illuminated, and paled. “Jareth,” she hissed, “do you know where we are?”

“I believe,” he smiled, “that particular obelisk is the one I watched you act out your plays from. I am rather fond of this park-”

“We’re Aboveground!”

Laying back onto the soft grass, nearly as nice as his own silken sheets, he said, “It appears that we have far more interesting predicaments to address than kisses, love. Unless you would like to make this a habit-”

“Jareth!”