Jareth's Return

Jareth(18)

The singing was what lead them to her. Ludo questioned wether or not they could be sure it was her, but Jareth would know that voice anywhere.

The little boy in her lap looked familiar, but Jareth couldn't place where he'd seen him.The boy was partially asleep, clutching a rather nasty looking injury on his arm. Theodora stopped her soft singing when she heard them. Standing, she shifted the child, and leaned into Jareth's hug.

"Now that I know you are alright, I only have one thing to ask you, woman. Why the hell would you run off like that? What could possibly be so important that you run off into a foreign land that you know nothing about?"

No two words had ever made his blood colder. "The Necromancer."

"What?"

"She was here, Jay, behind that pillar. Or, at least, what was that pillar. Hang on, I'll fix it." Jareth was only mildly shocked to see the pillar slowly reassemble itself. Ludo looked almost beside himself.

"Guards, sweep the area, see if she lingers." The twenty or so guards that had answered the summons spread like wildfire to look through the surrounding bit of maze.

"She's gone. I can feel it. The dead-space is gone. That was how I found her in the first place. When she's here, it's like there's a spot of nothingness, wherever she is. I don't feel it anymore."

"You're sure? Completely sure? I don't want-" He was interrupted by her affirmation. "Fine. Now, explain what has happened here. What's wrong with the boy's arm?"

After hearing about the events of the evening - which Jareth found to have been unusually calm, to say the least - he grew angry at Dori's ideas of what happened to the boy - to Alexander.

"I think she found him playing in the Labyrinth and captured him. His arm, the black mark? It looks like she infected it somehow, like it's dying. Spreading too, now that I look at it. The spot wasn't that big before." Jareth examined the arm of the now sleeping child - how he slept through all the commotion of and after their arrival was a mystery to him - and before his eyes, the mark grew. It was reaching towards the small elbow as if it was a flower reaching for the sun.

"We need to get him to the Healers' Hall of the castle, now. Ludo, you're in charge of alerting the War Council of the meeting tomorrow. I want you in my Council Room no later than eleven in the morning. Understood?"

"Yes, sire."

"Good." With that, he Shifted the two humans to the castle.

Once in the Hall, Jareth spoke to the Head Healer, Xander, to explain the situation.

"So, you haven't any idea as to what's actually wrong with him?"

"No, neither I, nor Theodora knows. We should wake the child, and ask for his account."

"I think that would be best, Majesty." The two walked over to Theodora, who say on the bed with Alexander in her lap, still asleep and still clutching his blackened arm. "We need to speak with the child so that I may properly heal him. Can you wake him, my Lady?"

"Hey, Alex, I need you wake up. Come on buddy, we've got some questions." The boy jolted awake and started to panic, not recognizing his surroundings. "No, hey, calm down, it's okay. You're fine." After a few moments, he calmed down enough to listen.

"Alright young man, now, can you tell us what happened today?" Jareth knelt down by the two humans and looked the boy in the eye. "In as much detail as possible."

He thought for a minute. "I finished my chores and I was exploring. I'd never gone that far into the maze before. Nanna never lets me go far, but today I did. It was really cool." His eyes gleamed for a moment before dimming. "There was a lady there, and she said she wanted to show me somethin'. When I got closer, she grabbed my arm real tight. It hurt. Her's was already bleedin' from a big cut. She let the blood fall on my arm and it disappeared into my skin. The black mark, black like her blood was, appeared and burned like when you get too close to the fire. It still burns on more of my arm, though." He looked at the offending appendage. "Will Nanna be mad at me?"