As the house shook and the, once sunny, skies darkened, Sarah knew they were in trouble. She had barely had time to give her parents the abridged version of her tale before the trouble had begun. She certainly had not had enough time to force them to leave the house and make a run for it. Though, she mused, that would have been foolish. The Goblin King would have been able to find her family no matter where she attempted to hide them away at. Furthermore, at least she had wards and charms upon the house. It was a some-what protected area, much better than any others she could have found in such a short notice.
Once again, the house rattled and Sarah knew that her wards would not be able to keep out an enraged King, at least not for long. She had hoped that the wards, though simple, would have been able to draw on his power. Sarah should have known that her little magic would never be a match for his. She would never be able to best him in a duel of magic. Power and will she could kick his ass in any day, but magic was nearly foreign to her.
The little she knew focused on protection, not attacking, and it had been a slapjack study. Sarah had searched through old manuscripts, studied ancient mythologies, and poured her time, heart, and soul into finding a way to protect those she loved. Obviously, though her studies had not completely failed, they had also not been successful.
Karen and her father had been skeptical in believing her tale, she had not blamed them, and when they had believed it they had been enraged. Again, Sarah could not blame them. She had, after all, wished her little brother away to a stranger and all for a measly wish. That was equivalent of trying to selling him on Craig's list. Sarah had not even attempted to argue the fact that she had gotten him back, safely. Though that was mostly due to the fact that she was frightened of losing him again and not being able to save him. She had not even tried to stop Karen from yelling and shouting at her, not even as Sarah focused on keeping the house from falling in due to all the magic being thrown at it.
Mostly, they believed her because a storm seemed to surround their house, only their house, and it had nothing to do with freak weather. It had, in the end, been what forced her parents to believe her story was the truth and nothing but, except a few things over looked, the truth.
The storm and glowing wards forced Karen and her father to swallow the truth and get a piece of iron, Sarah kept a well stocked collection. She had learned, early on, that it was best to be prepared for anything and had begun her collection of anit-magical weapons. Though, admittedly, the collection was tiny she still felt, a little, safer with having it.
It was, however, impossible to feel safe when the walls of the house you are sitting in begin to shake and the windows rattle as if someone was pounding against them. Sarah knew she was, hopelessly, outmatched. She knew that her little understanding and independent study of wards and protection charms were pitiful. Sarah also knew that she could not simply give up.
Sure, Karen and her dad were not her favorite people in the world, but she loved them. Besides, the Goblin King was threatening them all and that included her little brother. Nobody fucked with her little brother and got away with it.
Toby, as it happened, was attempting to wear a brave face and not appear as frightened as he truly was. His valiant efforts, however, were failing miserably and Sarah could not help but want to hide him away from all the worlds, magical and not.
However, she could barely keep the wards around her home up and the goblins out. The little bastards were tricky and fast and completely exhausting. Sarah knew that he was using them as a way to exhort her power and it was working. She could not simply stand by as her family was attacked around her and she certainty would not give in without a fight.
She had gotten out of the Goblin King's grasp, not once but twice, and she would not escape just to fall back into it. Granted, the first time she had loads of help and even more luck and the second time...well she was still trying to puzzle that one out. Either way, she had beaten him twice and she would ensure that the third time was the charm.
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Jareth was going to kill her.
No, death would be to easy for the little minx, first he would destroy her perfect little world, than take her, then kill her.
No one, no one had ever dared to defy a Fae king like this since...NEVER.
Even Jareth's loved ones had known better than to be disobedient to him. He had the faint memory of frightening one of his female relations, though he could recall not face nor name, by simply glaring at her. The girl had fled in fright and had avoided him for well over a year.
Everyone, every Fae, goblin, Pooka, banshee, ect. knew that the Goblin King was not one to cross. And, if they did, then they would not be in existence for a much longer amount of time. He was not one to be trifled with, he was not one a being broke a deal with, and yet she had. He should have known she would try something like this, that she of all people would find a way to break out of his kingdom. His mortal had never been one to play by rules, though neither was he. Still, he had reasons to break the rules.
Jareth was from a long line of powerful beings. His lineage was feared, honored, worshiped, and could do no wrong in the eyes of the law because they wrote the law. Yes, he had been the only one of his family, of his race, to ever be exiled, but he had a way to get back to the Fae world! He could return, triumphant, to his home.
He had found his dreamer, the girl that lived in a world of magic that was entirely her own, the girl who still believed, the girl who ate the peach and remembered everything, the girl who would show him the way back. Whether she liked it or not, Sarah was his, she was his salvation and prize. And what had she done?
Beaten him! Not once but twice!
It was almost laughable if the situation was not so serious. The Goblin King had to find a way to get her. He had to discover a way to make her find the path back to his forgotten kingdom and he needed a plan on how to trick her into the Fae world with him. Despite what she had done, he still wanted her by his side.
She had called him a liar and a cheat, had questioned him and befuddled him, she had stood her ground in wake of his anger, and she had broken a bargain with him. However, none of those things amounted to the fact that she had refused him. Nothing stung like the image of her sitting within the tree, he had never stopped watching, and accepting things that had not happened or had already come to be.
The meadow with the tree was a strange place for it was not truly in his kingdom. And yet it was not not in his kingdom. The tree belonged to all realms and could only be accessed when a being not from the world slept and sought the, soon to be, firewood out. Such as if one dreamed of it.
In a way, her body had been sleeping in Hedgewart's pathetic cot, if he could even call such a pitiful thing that, and her soul had been within the meadow. However, once she had found the Pooka's pool, he was uncertain how he had overlooked that little fact, Sarah had, somehow, known how to operate it and had formed a bridge between her world and his. When she focused on where she wished to be and when she had fallen through the pool's surface, her body had slid back into the world she had, at one time, called her own.
The Goblin King continued to send his power against the house like a wave bashing upon the shore. He could feel the tremors and weaknesses in her charms, the Goblin King could feel where his power broke through, and where the goblins appeared. He was insistent, never breaking, never pausing, never ending, and he waited with anticipation for the moment her spells fell. He knew that, in the end, her meager charms, truly laughable, would fall. They would fall and he would be allowed to enter the stage. It would be interesting, to meet the parents who had been responsible for raising such a heart broken and sad teenage girl. The perfect kind of girl who called upon him.
In a way, Jareth truly should thank Sarah's step-mother and father. They had, after all, been the ones who made her babysit. If they had not...well one could not truly say. Would Sarah have been happier? Or would she have found another way to call on him? The Goblin King felt that she would have found some other way into his attention and kingdom. It was, after all, where she belonged. Even if she had refused what he had so generously offered.
No one, immortal or mortal alike, had ever refused him. But, just perhaps, that was what part of her appeal was. She was naive, sharp minded and sharped tongued, clever, had grown to become rather beautiful, and Sarah Williams was nothing if she was not elusive. The entire time she seemed to always be one step ahead of him, always a play ahead of his turn, and she persisted in slipping through his fingers. He could not catch her, though in the end she would be his.
After all, Jareth mused, the third time was the charm and he was determined.