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Chapter Sixteen
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Sal and Scarvy fought back to back with the support of dozens of goblins. While neither man knew much of sword fighting they knew plenty about baseball and used the two-handed broadswords accordingly in blocking, bashing, and slashing maneuvers. As for the goblins, who possessed a naturally high resistance to magic, they repeatedly threw themselves in the way of various spells protecting the men at the behest of The Labyrinth. Not all goblins survived the onslaught. Hoggle and Ludo, as well, fought their best alongside the two mortal men but neither owned a warrior's nature and gradually the tide turned to the advantage of Cashel and his men.
Sal swung his sword at a sharp angle in a short arc blocking the downward stroke of his opponent, a young Fae man with an eager, blood thirsty expression. The edges caught and his enemy's blade skittered down his as Sal shoved him back with a loud curse. These Fae men were strong with incredible stamina and for the hundredth time in the last near hour Sal gave thanks that he was in good condition, even at his age. He wished to spare a glance towards Sarah on the far side of the throne room but keeping his area defended took his complete attention and he could only hope their lines held.
He heard Scarvy shout rousing obscenities behind him giving him confidence that at least his rear guard remained fully protected; he respected the cop immensely in the short time he'd known him and suspected Scarvy would die before failing in any mission set before him, especially one set by their Majesties. Jareth and Sarah had a way of inspiring those whose lives they touched and Sal sensed that Scarvy's life, especially since his near death, was as irrevocably changed as his own, assuming they survived. Sal stepped back, bumped into Scarvy, and quickly glanced over his shoulder catching Scarvy's similar glance.
"Kicking ass?" Sal eagerly asked his voice a bit ragged from the exertion.
"You know it!" Scarvy replied in an equally tired but eager voice before turning his head back concentrating on his own defense. Alia dive bombed Scarvy's adversary, her glistening wings carrying her into the Fae man's face. The man hollered in pain as Alia punched and scratched his eyes resulting in his guard dropping. Scarvy took advantage and thrust his blade deep into his abdomen; the man cried out in a gurgle then collapsed to the floor as Alia flew away to hover over Scarvy's head. The injury, while not fatal to a Fae, would at least put him out of action.
"Thanks, Alia!" Scarvy said loudly preparing for the next fight, careful not to trip over the goblins swarming and leaping at his feet.
"Of course, William!" She answered back in her trilling voice staying near him as he faced another, his blade at the ready. Dozens more of Cashel's men battled with goblins, most with four or five goblins a piece tormenting each man. Shouts, clangs, and numerous harsh curses echoed in the throne room as the battle degenerated to a large, unmitigated brawl which bit by bit tipped to Cashel's favor as his men overpowered Sarah's limited defenders.
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"Surrender the Labyrinth to me and I will be spare your lives." His offer lacked sincerity; Sarah heard the mocking undertones in Cashel's voice as he spoke between thrusts and parries. She pressed her attack forcing Cashel's defense to speed up but Sarah could feel her strength waning, the previous magical and physical drain tapping her already diminished endurance.
"I'd rather die!" She retorted a growl emanating deep in her throat and leapt forward trying to slip passed his defense again but Cashel's sword swept back and caught hers in a riposte; they froze with locked blades each pushing towards the other, the worst position in any sword fight. Sarah released one hand from her broadsword and quickly twisted her wrist conjuring a time freeze spell which she threw onto the floor. She hated resorting to this as it would use a great deal of her remaining power but this needed to end, now.
"If you wish!" He answered with a sneer and an accompanying twist of his wrist caused Sarah's crystal to explode and...Nothing happened. With a gasp and narrowed eyes Sarah watched as Cashel's eyes hardened and he ferociously laughed, head tilted back. He enjoyed this!
"Noticing anything different, Goblin Queen?" He stepped forward applying more pressure to her sword compelling her to stumble backwards due to his greater strength. Their blades disengaged and they faced each other several feet apart.
"What've you done?" Eyes widened, Sarah's voice reached a faintly strident level as her anxiety spiked at the sudden and unexpected loss of her magic against him.
"Just using my resources to my benefit." He stated mockingly with a sneer and curled lip. For the first time in years Sarah experienced real fear for herself and all those under her protection. If Cashel found a way to negate her magic from The Labyrinth using the original spells how could she defeat him?
"They're not
your resources!" She yelled springing at him; her sword raised and brought down in a fast cut which Cashel barely blocked before he squatted. Sarah overbalanced and he caught her, using her own weight and momentum as leverage to flip her head over heels over him where she landed on her back, the hard blow to the floor knocking the wind from her. Losing her grip Sarah's sword slipped from her hand as she lie dazed on the floor, her unprotected head having struck the stone.
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"Sarah!" Hoggle cried seeing her lying on the floor after the intense flip and fall. He tugged Ludo's fur gaining his attention. "Gotta help Sarah!"
"Sawah hurt," Ludo responded and cleared the way for Hoggle by shoving goblins and Fae alike aside by brute strength while Hoggle trailed closely, anxious to reach his friend and Queen.
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Her head throbbed, shooting pains blooming from the impact site to her forehead, but Sarah willed her eyes open knowing she lie exposed to Cashel's attack and saw him step over her so that he stood over her in a straddled position. His gaze of—satisfaction she thought—met hers as he looked down. She jerked bodily reaching for her weapon but the point of Cashel's sword threatened her neck stilling her motion.
"Ah-ah, Your Majesty, no moving if you please." He pressed the sharp metal tip firmly below her chin until it pricked her skin. Jaw clenching and anger rising Sarah bored her eyes to his.
"You bastard...I'll never relinquish The Labyrinth to you!"
"As I thought, it'll be significantly more difficult for me if I kill you but if I must..." With shrugging shoulders and a vicious expression which belied his regretful tone, Cashel inched his blade forward and would've finished slicing through her neck in one quick thrust if a large, orange blur with a deep roar hadn't barreled over them knocking Sarah's enemy away. Cashel's sword fell to the stone floor, its dissonant clatter ringing in Sarah's ears as melodious song, as Cashel was knocked clear to land with a grunt several feet away.
"Ludo!" Sarah said relief evident. She grabbed her sword pushing to a kneeling position and swung her head to Cashel. He remained lying on his side, unmoving.
"Sawah!" Ludo answered helping her stand, his great hand swallowing her smaller one. She watched Cashel sit up shaking his head, one hand pressed against his face, and she lunged towards him before he could regain his weapon, ignoring the pain throbbing in her skull. Cashel raised his other hand, fingers spread wide, and a pulse of energy emerged. The light refracted through the energy's field and Sarah felt the air shift and ripple just before the magic collided with her body. Her attempt to conjure a shield failed as the pulse moved too fast and Sarah was flung backward, her weapon ejected from her hand and her body ending in a limp heap in a crowd of goblins which partially cushioned their Queen's landing. Another pulse and Ludo and Hoggle arched across the room with twin howls which were silenced upon landing hard enough to knock them unconscious. Exhaustion etched Cashel's features as he stood, his magic severely drained by the last two spells but he shook off his fatigue, claimed his sword and quickly strode to Sarah's prostrate, moaning form.
"Now where were we?" He said placing his sword to her neck again and Sarah met his fierce gaze with her own burning one propping herself up by one hand flush on the floor.
'Sarah, two Runners approach the castle entrance!' The Labyrinth pronounced in her head and Sarah grimaced.
'Do something, stop them! I'm nearly done!' She said in her mind unwilling to respond aloud revealing her desperation to Cashel.
'Brace yourself!' And the castle and surrounding grounds quaked violently causing everyone to stumble about, many ending up on their knees or backside. Dust and small fragments rained from the high ceiling pelting all as they covered their heads with arms and shields. The Runners, a man and a woman, both unable to stand cowered on the ground near the castle their eyes on their goal of the castle's main doors.
'Jareth, where the hell are you?' Sarah wondered to herself and as if fate listened Sarah sensed him and Lizzie again suddenly over the din of the quaking throne room. She turned around, for once content to ignore Cashel as he lie flat on his back the confusion clear upon his face, and watched as Jareth, Lizzie, and Eric materialized atop a heap of quivering goblins. Second passed as the three coalesced into physical form and they realized with obvious shock the dire conditions surrounding them.
"Sarah!" Jareth shouted as he found her gaze locked on his position. She wanted to return his cry but lacked the energy to speak, using it instead to cling to the bucking floor of the castle. Lizzie's warning shout followed Jareth's and Sarah turned in time to feel Cashel's armored fist strike her temple and she collapsed to the floor.
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Arriving in the midst of battle, during a strange earthquake no less, startled Jareth but his first thought was locating Sarah and what he saw rose terror in his chest. Cashel stood behind her with his sword held in one hand while the other hand pummeled towards her head. Both he and Lizzie shouted warnings but Sarah delayed and was brought down by the fist of his free hand. Jareth thrust the scrolls at Lizzie as he leapt from his crouched position intent on combating Cashel who loomed over his unprotected Sarah.
"Take these to your mother!" He yelled without facing Lizzie confident she would obey. Lizzie spared a rapid glance to the body of her unmoving father before racing to her mother's side with the Labyrinth spells tightly held to her breast and balancing carefully through the still shaking castle.
"Mom!" She said shaking Sarah's shoulders to rouse her.
Her head barely lifting from the flagstone Sarah looked at her daughter with blurry vision. "Lizzie?" She said sounding groggy.
"The spells...we got them!" Her daughter waved the scrolls in front of her mother's face and Sarah grabbed them with one hand while sitting up in a woozy fashion. Unrolling them she desperately tried to focus her hazy vision on the finely printed, handwritten spells. Gods, her head hurt!
"Thank the gods!" Sarah exclaimed scanning the pages of the archaic language of sorcery through her headache and double vision. How would she ever decipher the spells expediently? Barely could she read them yet translate them as well? They didn't have time!
'Sarah,' The Labyrinth spoke to her mind knowing her distress. '
I can read and understand them for you and can perform the required magic through you if you allow it.' "What?" Sarah said not sure she understood what The Labyrinth offered.
'Allow me to join with you as I did during the Solstice, I will do what needs to be done.' Sarah hesitated, uncertain if she fully trusted the powerful being's suggestion and unsure of the potentially dangerous outcome, but what option had they if Cashel defeated them and his victory loomed near as their forces weakened. And the Runners still posed an increasing threat, if any one of them slipped passed their defense Cashel may be to exploit that weakness...
"Very well," Sarah answered feeling both resigned and determined; she fully opened her mind to The Labyrinth.
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"Cashel!" Hearing his name shouted he looked up from the unconscious Queen in time to see Jareth tackle him. The full body contact brought them both to the floor in a tangle, Cashel's sword spinning from his hand. The two wrestled, Jareth trying unsuccessfully to pin his enemy's hands until Cashel flipped them with a sharp twist of his torso.
"You escaped!" Cashel said incredulously and Jareth witnessed the surprise flashing through his former friend's countenance. Cashel's grip weakened momentarily as he processed Jareth's presence. "
How?"
"You're not the only one with tricks, old friend!" Jareth answered sitting upright to push Cashel backwards off of him, the man rolled from Jareth scrambling to his weapon. "It's over, Cashel, you'll not succeed." Jareth boldly stated while he conjured his sword feeling his magic levels dip low again. He really must be cautious not to over exert himself magically else Cashel might succeed. With no time to rest and the exposure to iron his body burned near an empty tank.
"It's only begun, Jareth." He replied and lunged forward met by Jareth's parry. The men crossed blades and grappled, feet scuffling for purchase then Cashel loosed a hand and punched Jareth through the cross of their weapons. They broke apart, Jareth stumbling backwards with a bloody, crooked nose. They both struggled for balance in the gradually diminishing quake still rocking the castle.
"No...It's not." Jareth said in a muffled, nasally voice. "Your scheme ends today as did Fiana's." Jareth watched Cashel's eyes open wide in fear and Cashel yelled in a frantic tone. "What about Fi? What did you do?" He circled Jareth warily, their swords twitching slightly as they settled into a rhythm, both feinting attacks as they gained a feel for each other's styles after so many years until Jareth spoke again in a cold, business-like tone.
"I did as she asked, as she required. I set her free. See for yourself." A crystal materialized in Jareth's palm and he tossed it to Cashel who caught it with one hand before gazing into the sphere's depths. An animalistic howl bubbled from his throat as he watched the crystal replay Fiana's death by Jareth. Cashel's face paled and the crystal exploded in his crushing hand, the shards sifting through his fingers.
"Give up, Cashel. You'll never take The Labyrinth." Jareth stated in his most regal voice, the statement a command. The red-head's visage scorched with rage and he shouted leaping towards his enemy and Jareth lamented his somewhat foolhardy plan to enrage Cashel hoping to unbalance him as Jareth remained weakened from his ordeal while Cashel's anger strengthened him.
"Never! Fi would never want death least of all by your hands! You lie!" A flurry of attacks, parries, and ripostes blazed between the men as Cashel's wrath forced Jareth back to the thrones' dais. Jareth stumbled, the high raised step behind tripping him, causing him to fall to his back; he barely stopped Cashel's powerful downward stroke with a two-handed gripped block of his own. The transfer of energy between their blades and the sharp impact absorbed by his torso at the fall stunned Jareth. Cashel stepped back, twirled the tip of his sword grabbing Jareth's blade and sweeping open Jareth's defense. A conjured crystal flashed from Jareth's hand flying towards Cashel who easily blocked the attack and forced Jareth's crystal to veer sharply from him to crash into a far wall; Jareth's eyes widen perceptibly in shock at his enemy's unexpected response.
"Your expression betrays you; you've always thought yourself stronger than I. My abilities have surpassed yours,
old friend!" Cashel said with cutting venom as he viciously stomped the blade of Jareth's sword flat against the stone floor with sole of his boot, the odd angle wrenching it from Jareth's grasp. Moving his blade he threatened Jareth's neck keeping him pressed against the floor.
"You were always jealous of me, Cashel, always competing to best me no matter the prize." Jareth responded his calm voice contradicting the concern in his face. He raised his gloved, empty hands up in open surrender level to his chest but refused to say the words. Gods help him, Cashel would have to kill him before he would willingly give up but he prayed that his diversion gained Sarah enough time to put the spells to good use else all was for naught.
"As were you!" Cashel yelled pushing the sharp edge closer to Jareth's neck until the metal sliced his skin and he stood over Jareth in a repeat of his position over Sarah. "Just couldn't lose to me, could you, Jareth? Fiana choose me, loved me, was to marry me and you just couldn't accept that!" He raged, his faced flushed and eyes dilated while his long hair drifted about his head as a holy flame. "You had to beat me one last time didn't you?"
Jareth watched the man towering over him knowing his death loomed if he spoke poorly, all their fates hung on his correct words. "Yes, you're right, Cash. I was arrogant and foolish. I convinced myself that she really loved me even though Fiana already vowed to marry you and I seduced her away." He replied slowly, serenely.
"I knew it! She always loved me first! It was your fault she left me!" The red head spat, his eyes alight with righteous anger. "If you hadn't interfered we'd be
happy, content." Cashel said, his voice breaking on the last words and Jareth felt his own heart clench at his friend's heartbreak. He helped create this, caused this pain then ran from it. He could never tell Cashel that Fiana never loved him, had used him in a decades long game to win Jareth who ironically never loved her as he believed. How could he explain to Cashel that Fiana manipulated them both for her own emotional needs, that she was as much to blame as Jareth for their pain? Seeing him thus he could never cause his former friend more anguish; but if he could somehow convince Cashel to release him and end this coup...
"Cashel..." Jareth began but before he could say more Cashel shook free of his emotions straight back to business, his sword point firm to Jareth's neck.
"So that will make your death all the sweeter, Jareth." He said in a dead voice, his face devoid of any emotion.
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Sarah experience an all consuming sensation of The Labyrinth enveloping her body, mind, and soul as the being at the core of The Labyrinth entered her consciousness and her physical body. Every nerve, every pore, every sense, every thought burned with magic until Sarah thought she might explode from the pleasure/pain. Different from her experience during the Solstice, it was stronger, sharper, more encompassing. Had the magic of the Solstice protected her, buffered her somehow?
'Labyrinth! I...I can't...' She thought but her mind strained unable to complete her thought, her previous headache forgotten as this new feeling engulfed her.
'Sarah...do not fight it...do not fight me. I will not harm you; trust me as I have trusted you.' 'What's happening?'
'I'm joining with your mind so that I may read the spells through your eyes and understand what needs be done. Relax and open your eyes so that I may see the scrolls.' The Labyrinth instructed and Sarah obeyed forcing her lids open. The curled scrolls swam in her vision before settling and focusing. Sarah unrolled the collected vellum again so she/they/it could read the ancient writings and page after page of complex spells were instantly absorbed by the being inside Sarah and she felt the detailed knowledge filtered into her mind as The Labyrinth understood and she understood and she trembled.
"Aaarrrrggghh!" She screamed as the immense knowledge burned her mind and the solution to their problem clarified.
'It can work! My Queen we can make it work!' The Labyrinth eagerly said.
"No, it's too much!" Sarah gasped aloud, the scrolls rattling in her grasp as her hands convulsed.
"What's too much? Mom?" Lizzie asked worried. She sat near her mother watching and waiting as Sarah processed the scrolls in silence. Lizzie knew her mother communed with The Labyrinth and Lizzie guarded her patiently, keeping her safe with goblin assistance. Once free of the iron's influence Lizzie's magic fully restored itself and she kept a strong magical defense up. Her only other concern being her father's continued unmoving body across the room but until the immediate danger passed Lizzie knew his fate remained undecided; she spared furtive glances his direction as she waited for her mother and The Labyrinth to find a solution. Sarah's chilling scream behind her frightened Lizzie and she spun about to see her mother collapsed and convulsing. She endeavored to gain her mother's attention but the seizure-like activity continued and Sarah's ability to communicate, gone. Lizzie grasped Sarah's shoulders shaking her to no avail; Sarah's eyes rolled back and her torso rigored.
"Mom! Oh, gods, Mom!" Lizzie cried out then looked up to find Jareth only to see him lying on his back near the thrones captured by Cashel. "Oh no..." Then an electric sizzle jolted Lizzie's hands where she touched her mother and a burning shot through their Bond and she jumped back releasing Sarah. "Mom?"
'Do not fear, Elizabeth...we will not harm you...' A voice announced in her mind just like The Labyrinth always did when it rarely spoke to her but this voice was unlike The Labyrinth's voice.
"Oh shit..." Lizzie muttered as she stumbled back from her mother's collapsed body. Her body which now glowed with an internal greenish light and steadily lifted from the flagstone, her limbs hanging while her head remained upright then her eyelids snapped open to reveal brilliant, blistering emeralds, no longer normal eyes.
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Mom?" Lizzie asked again her voice meek and more than a little wavering. What. The. Hell?
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Cashel's capture of Jareth did not go unnoticed by Sal or Scarvy who fought nearby; not immediately close enough to effect a rescue as they were surrounded but not so far that they did not witness the exchange. A shared glance and the men began pushing through the morass of fighters to Jareth's defense. Their travel impeded by the combination of Cashel's enduring men, and their own weariness and mounting injuries. Alia zipped along with them never losing site of Scarvy.
"What the
hell is that?" Scarvy blurted freezing in his tracks, his hand seizing Sal's shoulder bringing him to a stop as well and they both zeroed in on a blazing green light on the far side of the room.
"It looks like Sarah!" Sal responded disbelieving his eyes viewing her floating body encompassed in an orb of vivid, green light. "Holy shit." He mumbled his face slack.
"You got that right." Scarvy added as both watched Sarah float higher as the orb expanded bit by bit until Sarah's body subsumed inside the light and only a shadowy outline of her could be seen; and still the orb swelled, its light undiminished.
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Jareth felt the change in Sarah as a deep burning through their Bond; it was unlike anything he'd ever experienced and fear for her overrode any for his own death at Cashel's hands. "Sarah!" Jareth shouted at the intense pain in his chest, his face grimacing both which startled Cashel and aborted his death blow to Jareth. Then Cashel sensed the abrupt rise in power behind him and spun.
"No!" Cashel protested as saw what Jareth reacted to; Sarah's joining with The Labyrinth and their ever increasing sphere of power. "
NO! It's mine!" Jareth felt the power reach critical mass, yelled for everyone within the sound of his voice to protect themselves before he covered his own head. Cashel, however, faced it standing and drew closer still denying the reality before him.
The emerald orb pulsed once, twice then exploded outwards from Sarah in an enormous wave of power faster than anyone could visualize but all felt it. Tangible as it was powerful, the wave swept over all cresting through everyone and everything within the boundaries of the Goblin Kingdom. Anyone standing fell, anything loose detached; the castle groaned, structures within the Goblin City crumbled if too weak to stand and still the wave spread outwards in its every expanding circle of power. A deep, lasting moan thrummed and the very ground surrounding the castle shifted. The earth rose up in concentric circles starting outside the Goblin City walls and like ripples in resting water from a pebble they widened through The Labyrinth proper. And the walls of The Labyrinth fell. Every physical structure created by the sorcerers of old buckled, crumpled, and collapsed into dust until nothing existed of The Labyrinth but natural grown flora and fauna.
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A/N: Thanks Csigh for the great review! Sorry for the wait, it's been a crazy month! Don't worry there's more chaps to follow!
