Lost Souls

by John Van Stry

  "Ah, Councilman Dunburr," I said loudly interrupting him as I entered, "Did you call me back after all these years solely because you finally figured out yet another insult to pile upon my shoulders?"

  I turned and bowed respectfully to the room, apparently the full Council was in attendance, all forty of them. Most of the positions were hereditary, heads of the twenty-three families that had originally settled the valley. The rest were representatives from some of the more important guilds and other groups that had since come into being. There were two Shreans on the Council as well. One of those two positions was even from the original twenty-three; we’d been allied with the Elves a long time, a thousand years and more according to the lore tellers.

  "Councilors," I continued, "if this is the case, then I guess I shall bid you all good day and grab the next ship leaving Elshavel, having now heard the good Councilor's barb." I bowed once more and turned to head out the door.

  "A moment, Jareth." A voice called out.

  I stopped and turned. It was the king, presiding over the Council. He hadn't been here the last time. I suspected he had refused to be involved. I hadn't seen him then or since and he definitely looked a lot worse for the years. Not a good sign, eight years is nothing to an elf.

  "Yes, Your Majesty?"

  "You were not summoned here solely to be insulted, there are other reasons."

  I nodded, "I see, Your Majesty. In that case perhaps Councilman Dunburr would be so kind as to offer an apology?"

  "What? I'll never ..." The Councilman began.

  "Well in that case, I guess I have no business here." I sighed, playing it up. Living with Humans who engaged in this kind of behavior seemingly by instinct had taught me a thing or two. "Sorry, Your Majesty, but I can tell when I'm not wanted."

  "Councilman Dunburr," the king began turning to his kinsman. "You will apologize to Citizen Jareth, who is our guest. Or I will move to have you censored and then removed from this body, understood?"

  I looked at the king surprised, and then at the Councilor who blanched. Dunburr was from a founding family, and a relative of the king’s, but even Elves had limits to their patience and Dunburr had obviously just hit it. This little power play had suddenly become interesting.

  "Citizen Jareth, I apologize for my harsh statement."

  "Thank you." I replied flatly and walked to the center of the room.

  "Now, I have come a great distance, as you all no doubt know. What you don't know is that I also gave up a rather large stake of gold, and a position that was rather hard won to be here.

  "So would the Council, the very same Council," I looked around again, there were a handful of new faces. "Well, almost the very same, that exiled me," I noticed quite a few winces as I stressed that word, "after years of loyal, selfless, dedicated, and dangerous service to crown, city, and people, would this Council please tell me just why I've been invited here this day?"

  Councilman Trevor, the Speaker for the council broke the silence that filled the room after I finished talking.

  "Jareth, we can all understand your anger ...."

  I cut him off with a wave of my hand, "I sincerely doubt that, Councilman, but my anger died years ago, many years ago." I sighed once more.

  "You see?" Dunburr began again. "This was a mistake, he's not interested."

  "I am simply the product of what this most august body has done to me, Councilor Dunburr." I smiled. "But if you don't tell me what it is, you will never know if I'm interested, now will you?"

  "How do we even know you can do the job?" Councilor Alistra asked. He had also been part of the exile vote.

  "I always did the job before, whatever it was, why should now be any different?"

  "Yes, but you've been gone a long, long time. How do we know that your skills are still the same? How do we even know that we can trust you?"

  "Being forced to live by your wits in a strange and foreign world, without any of the things you need to survive in that world, divorced of all you know and love, cut off from clan and friend, is not the kind of thing to make a person weak, councilor! As for trusting me,” I shrugged, “I came didn't I?

  "Now enough of this, or I shall leave. Tell me why I'm here," I frowned. I really wanted to know what was going on, but this was getting annoying. Diplomacy was never a strong suit for me after all.

  "Very well." The Speaker began. "Your Majesty?"

  The king nodded and tuned to me. "How much do you recall about Zaranfeld's lands to the west?"

  I blinked at him. "Zaranfeld? Why everything. After all I killed him."

  The king coughed and the councilors all fidgeted in their seats. "Well, it seems that perhaps you may have been mistaken."

  That stopped me a moment. I blinked and looked at the king ignoring the others. "Your Majesty, when I kill a man, when I kill anything; it most certainly stays dead. I would have died myself rather than fail you in any task, paid any price regardless of the cost in my own flesh, before I would have deceived you, Milord. Zaranfeld is no more."

  I noticed Dunburr smirk and Alista muttered something under his breath. I noticed that many of the rest who had voted for my exile didn't seem to share the humor of those two however. Power had shifted in the Council apparently; I suspected the departure of Elantisfey had something to do with that. I was surprised to see that he in fact was no longer sitting here. He was not one I would ever have expected to give up his seat. At least not willingly, his love of power and politics was an all-consuming passion.

  "Yes, councilor Alista?" I asked.

  "Oh nothing, Citizen Jareth, just thinking on how you might want to reconsider that last statement."

  "Oh? Well, maybe then this council would like to reconsider its previous decision regarding me first?"

  "Gentlemen!" The King interjected harshly, "We are here to discuss getting my daughter back! I don't give a damn about what happened eight years ago!"

  I looked back to the king, shocked. "Lelani?"

  "She and Lord Elantisfey disappeared over four months ago with a number of my men on a trip to Wassellia Bay, to visit the temple there."

  I wanted to ask what she was doing with Elantisfey, but that could wait until later. "Why me?"

  "Because you know more about Zaranfeld than anyone else."

  It didn't sound like reason enough.

  "So will you take this assignment, Citizen Jareth?" The King asked.

  I turned to look at the Speaker. "Speaker Trevor, is this an official request of the Council?"

  "Yes, it is."

  "And what shall be my reward?"

  The council chambers got rather quiet all the sudden.

  "Citizen's do not usually ask for rewards for doing their civic duty, Jareth!" Alista spoke up.

  "Well eight years in exile, a citizen of nowhere, changes a person, Councilor. I'm not even back one day and you want me to forget all of that and risk my life, after you all turned your backs on me?"

  "It's your duty as a citizen, Citizen Jareth, you want to live here, you have to do this!"

  "This goes far beyond civic duty, Alista," I growled back at him. "And as you and your friends made sure, I am no longer a member of the guard. So, if I'm going to do this in the name of the Council, I suggest you think long and hard on how to best apologize for all those little slights you offered me on that trip to the docks eight years ago."

  I nodded to the king and the speaker, "As I understand the law, the Council now having officially invited me back, and addressing me as Citizen, I am restored and no longer an exile. Is that correct, Speaker Trevor?"

  "Yes, Citizen, that is correct."

  "Fine. I bid you all good day. You know where to find me."

  Turning on my heel, I left.

  The noise that followed me out the doors was loud, but music to my ears all the same. I had definitely picked up some bad habits living with Humans.

  "And just what in the hell are you doing?"

  I smiled and looked up at a rather angry Elf si
tting on horseback. "Nice to see you too, Your Majesty. Going to offer me a ride or make me walk all the way up to the Castle?"

  "Jareth, do not try my patience! I thought you were my friend!"

  I frowned, "Didn't Clint talk to you? I said I'd do it, whatever it was."

  "Then what was that back there?" he demanded.

  "I'm making them squirm. Call it my revenge. I'm doing this for you and the queen. Not the Council. I'll do this in your name, her name, or even just my own damn name. But not in theirs! They can all rot, the lot of them, for all that I care!"

  It was his turn to frown, "I had hoped you would be happy to be home, Jareth."

  "I am, Sire, really. Though from the sound of it the circumstances aren't what I would have wanted."

  He turned to one of his guards, "Give him your horse."

  A few moments later, I was astride a horse next to him and he continued as we rode up to the castle.

  "Because the Council exiled you, we had to have them issue the summons," he continued.

  I nodded, "I understand. So the queen was okay with this?"

  "It was her request."

  "What?!" I exclaimed in shock. The queen had been one of the two leading the expulsion. Or then again, had she? That conversation back on the river returned to my mind and I had to wonder what she had known.

  "She had one of her dreams, a prophecy, an Oracle. She's ill, Jareth, someone has done something. A spell, one many years in the making, a poison too minute to find. Lelani's being taken seems too well-timed."

  "How bad is she?"

  "She's dying." He sighed sadly. "This is an attack well planned, if she dies without Lelani here, the succession will be in doubt, and who knows what will come to pass."

  I nodded quietly. Things were indeed weighing hard on the king. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I changed the subject.

  "Why do you suspect Zaranfeld?"

  "We have reports that someone has moved into his keep. Someone powerful enough to block our own wizards from scrying. They've risen up many of his old allies, taken over his old haunts, and from what we've been able to tell now; they have been building since shortly after you left."

  "Could be anyone ...."

  "And there have been reports, reports of a tall dark figure, descriptions that could match only one man, and evidence of his rather," the king spat, "distasteful habits."

  "Curious. Very curious."

  "Yes, very. You are sure that you killed the right man?" He asked and looked at me hard.

  "Sire, I know you're upset because of your daughter, and your wife. And understand that I love you like a brother. But," I growled and turned to look him in the eye, "doubt me one more time about this and guards or no I'll show you that I can still kick your ass all over the castle grounds."

  "You know it's considered impolite to threaten one's liege!" he warned.

  I shrugged, "So I picked up some bad habits living with the Humans, you never doubted me before, Sire, so please don't start now."

  He smiled wanly and waved back the guards who hadn't liked my words much either. "I missed your arguments, you know. Not too many people stand up to me anymore."

  I nodded, "Well, wait until I've had a chance to talk to the queen. I may not be here much longer for you to really enjoy the experience."

  He winced at that. "Take it easy on her, Jareth, Lelani's kidnapping combined with her health ..." he shook his head sighing again.

  I started to wonder then, it was obviously worse than I had thought.

  We didn't say anything further until we reached the castle, dismounting and heading right in. I found it strange that I seemed to be barging in to every place I went since I came back. I couldn't decide if it was just the situation or if I'd developed more bad habits than I had realized. Normally there was never any rush where Elves were involved, as they measured their lives and their time in thousands of years, things were always done in a slow and relaxed manner. The king then showed me into the queen's room and I strode to the foot of the bed, stopping as I looked down at her.

  The king had been right of course, she looked very frail and weak lying so very still. Only her eyes still showed any power, and even that seemed less than I had remembered it.

  "So, you came," she said softly.

  "Was there ever any doubt?" I said sharply.

  She smiled weakly, "None at all."

  "If you had trusted me, probably none of this would ever have happened!" I didn't raise my voice, but I let her hear my anger, "I am still mad about what you did to me."

  "Jareth, Lelani was infatuated with you; I couldn't have you taking advantage of her. So I felt a few years apart would break her of it."

  "Who told you that I was courting her?"

  "The guards who caught you with her in the boat that day of course."

  I nodded, "Anyone else?"

  "Well, Elantisfey said that he had been aware of your interest for some time, but had held his tongue feeling it was none of his concern. Why are you asking this?"

  "Your highness, it was not Lelani whom I was ‘caught’ in the boat with."

  Her eyes started to almost burn "Who was it?"

  "Alini. Elantisfey's daughter. We were in love and were going to marry once she had completed her apprenticeship to your court magician. We had been keeping our affair a secret because of her father’s views on me."

  "Alini." She said it slowly, a statement, not a question.

  "Yes, Alini. I wonder now about just how those guards knew we were there. She was the love of my life, but I've not seen anything or heard anything of her since that day."

  "You suspect Elantisfey, don't you?"

  "Yes, I do."

  "He's my half-brother you know. I cannot believe he would do this to me, his own blood."

  "Well someone has, and now that Lelani is gone it looks like they've played their hand at last. Doesn't it?" I replied quietly. Part of me was still mad, but I couldn't help but to restrain myself, looking at the condition of the queen. She knew now she'd been duped. Possibly by Elantisfey. She wasn't stupid; there was no need to rub it in as much as part of me wanted to. Elven family politics could be brutal, because of the magic and the power that flowed through their veins, they could not just turn on one another without disastrous consequences for both parties involved. Kin slaying could curse the slayer in ways quite horrible, but there was always a way if you looked hard enough, which is why the stories of elven courts were often long and convoluted. If Elantisfey was behind this, he had probably been planning it for a hundred years, maybe longer.

  "Yes, it does." She finally responded with an almost painful sigh, the look in the queen’s eyes made it clear she was thinking the same things I was. I turned my gaze down to look at my feet. I didn’t want to see such pain.

  "So what do you want me to do? And why me?"

  She paused a moment and thought about that. "I picked you because I had a dream which told me to. I will give you no further reason than that." She took a breath and continued on much quieter, "I want you to take care of this for me in the manner you think best. I will ask no more of you than that."

  I looked back up at her, "I will do as you ask, my queen. I will see that your daughter is brought home safe."

  "I never doubted you wouldn't" she smiled.

  "I'm not interested in your daughter that way, Your Highness; she honestly was never more than a good friend. My interests then laid elsewhere."

  The queen paused a moment in thought then replied slowly, "Yes, I see that now. I was foolish and let the council of others, who had their own desires, misguide me. I should have talked to you myself."

  I nodded and took her apology at face value, it was more than I had ever expected to get. It was also getting increasingly hard to stay mad under the circumstances, looking at her lying there. She most certainly was dying. "Thank you."

  "You may go now, I'm tired."

  I nodded again and bowed, taking my leave.

  The ki
ng and one of his ministers accompanied me back to the castle’s common area as I thought of my next step.

  "I have a writ for you, good within the city for whatever you may want or need." The king started, nodding to his minister who passed it over. "And a second one that shows you are on the crown's business should you need it once outside the valley."

  I nodded and took that one as well. "Tell Clint to look me up in the morning, I may need to borrow him from you for a while."

  The king nodded and then handed me a small scroll himself.

  "What's this?"

  "A blanket pardon, signed by both the queen and myself. If things should turn political after she dies, we both wanted to be sure that you were taken care of."

  I smiled for a moment, and then frowned, "Is it certain then?"

  "Nothing is ever certain, dear friend, but it seems that in this there is very little that anyone can do."

  I nodded and turned, taking the king’s offered arm in a clasp. "It is nice to see you again, Sire, I wish the circumstances were better of course. I will do my best as always."

  He smiled, "Good hunting, Jareth. May you find that which you seek."

  He turned then and walked back towards the queen’s rooms leaving me there thinking about where to start.

  Elsewhere

  She hated riding out to inspect the mercenaries and other forces, but since her master had moved into the final stages of the plan, he was rarely able to do this task himself anymore, and so she had to do it for him. Up until the last battle, it was mostly an annoying chore when she had to go. She’d have to distribute a few bribes, argue over some minor point of a contract, and possibly even settle a dispute here and there.