The Ten Guardians: Sacrifice©

Chapter Six: Consequences

Sparrow woke to find Jareth standing over him with a somber face. “Get dressed. We are behind schedule,” he said softly.

It was mostly dark outside, with the sun just starting its ascent into the sky. There was a candle burning on the desk that Sparrow assumed Jareth had lit, and the magical fireplace still glowed warmly, fending off the cold. Sparrow slowly rolled into a sitting position as Jareth sat on the side of the bed facing Sparrow and the cot. While placing his feet on the floor, Sparrow noticed every muscle in his body was aching. He emitted a soft moan as he began working his muscles and noticed a small smile play across Jareth’s face.

“Yes, I can imagine you are quite sore. A couple of hours holding that kind of spell open will certainly do that. In a few years, you would have learned how to hold a template of a spell open, which is not nearly as draining.”

Sparrow gave him an inquisitive look.

“It’s kind of like a shadow of the spell. It has its uses.”

Sparrow noticed his use of the past tense when stating he “would” have learned such an ability. He had a moment of indecision about whether or not to say anything, not knowing if he really wanted to hear the answer, but his curiosity won in the end.

“I suppose after last night … things have changed?” Sparrow asked.

“Let’s just say you will either learn much sooner or not at all. Enough talk for now; there is a place reserved for this conversation. Please finish getting dressed.”

Jareth said that last part while pointing to a pile of clothing on the end of Sparrow’s cot. Sparrow was surprised to find that Jareth had taken the time to arrange his clothing for him, and he was surprised again when the clothing arranged was not the clothing he usually wore. Instead of robes and sandals, he found standard brown trousers, a plain long sleeve cream tunic, socks, and a pair of sturdy riding boots. This was the clothing he wore during his riding classes.

Sparrow then realized that Jareth was also wearing riding apparel. He had no idea where they were going for this ritual to find his name, so he let abnormal clothing choices slide.

Moments later, Sparrow finished placing his last article of clothing on, laced up his boots, and turned to Jareth, expecting more instructions. Jareth walked to the door without a word and motioned for him to join him. Opening the door revealed a dimly lit hallway with scattered windows lining the furthest wall. Those windows overlooked a courtyard where Sparrow had often watched the older pupils practice their spells. The sun was barely beginning to shine its light on the world, and low-burning lanterns lighted the hallway.

Holding the door ajar, Jareth waved Sparrow ahead, yet as he began to walk forward, he felt the impulse to turn around and return to his room, so that is exactly what he did. Jareth again had that small smile on his face as he watched Sparrow try again to walk through the door, only to turn around again. This time Jareth laughed out loud.

“You know how you look at spells when you study them? Everyone does so a little differently. Enter dai schen and then look at the door.”

Regardless of Jareth’s previous sense of urgency, he was, first and foremost, a teacher. Not knowing what to expect, Sparrow relaxed his body and sent his mind forward, and the empty doorway began to Shimmer. With a small gasp, he realized he could see white flecks of magic falling off of the upper part of the door frame.

“Is that … magic … falling off of the spell?”  Sparrow asked in amazement.

“It certainly is. This is also something you would have learned in a few years. The magic only has to touch a person’s body; in this case, the spell is designed to keep people in or out of this room. A great spell for prisoners and disobedient students.”

Laughing at his joke, Jareth spoke to the wall as if speaking to someone.

“It’s alright, Jon. You can cancel the field.”

To Sparrow’s surprise, a voice spoke in return.

“You are late. For the hundred thousandth time, my name is pronounced Jonathan, and Sorry ol’ chap, but I will need the password first.”  The voice was a normal man’s voice, if a little sultry, and seemed to come from the lantern in the hallway directly across from the doorway.

“How about we discuss dinner for tomorrow night instead,” Jareth said in a severe tone.

With the sound of flapping wings, a small, blue bird flew from the base of the lantern and perched itself on Sparrow’s head. Out of sheer impulse, Sparrow tried to knock the bird from his head, only to find his arms frozen at his side.

“Jareth dear, we both know my poor small feathered body would hardly provide sustenance for Izreea, the fat cow,” he whispered the last part harshly. “I’m afraid you would starve to death. Besides, I’ll just poison myself beforehand so she chokes on me. I refuse to go down alone!”

“Charming as always, I see. You know she is only trying to help you, Jon,” Jareth replied dryly.

“I truly no longer care. There’s only so much a bird can go through before he throws in his feathers. Now … password!”

“Fine, fine, Jonathan … please,” Jareth said with a sigh and heavy sarcasm at the bird’s name.

“Was that so hard?” the bird asked before flying off Sparrow’s head towards the wall.

The bird made no indication that the approaching wall bothered him, and when he reached it, his body passed through it with a crackle of electricity. Finding he could move his arms again, Sparrow stared at Jareth in stunned amazement before silently walking through the doorway. With a large grin in response, Jareth shut the door and took the lead down the hallway in silence.

“Friend of yours?” Sparrow asked.

“Yes and no, he is my familiar,” Jareth responded.

Sparrow knew a lot about familiars, but Jareth launched into a lecture explaining the creatures as they walked.

“Familiars are beings that present themselves as animals, some as large as a horse and some as small as a mouse, and they are considered a rare find. They are magical yet have limited control over their own magic in the wild. The more secluded they are, the more animal-like they become. In a very real sense, they are a form of a symbiotic parasite with magi. They can serve many purposes for us, such as being guards, managing important spells, and increasing our magical abilities, not to mention their vast knowledge of magic. In return, we give them a sense of balance and the ability to focus their magic.”

“How did you find him?” Sparrow asked.

“As in the case of most familiars, you don’t find them. They find you. They avoid attention like the plague, but in the last attempt to prevent a total loss of self and becoming completely wild, they will seek out magi,” He responded.

“They aren’t really animals, you said?” Sparrow asked

“No, they are typically from another plane of existence and have a strong impulse to find their way back home before they become completely wild. I have theories on how they can do just that, but they are untested. Jon is a special case, though,” Jareth said.

“Why is that?” Sparrow asked.

“We have other matters to discuss for now, but perhaps later we can continue our conversation with Jon, and if he feels you deserve to know, he will tell you himself,” Jareth said.

Sparrow had hardly noticed the journey through the building until they turned a corner and approached a winding staircase. They were in the Elder’s section of the school, where few students were allowed, but it looked the same as everywhere else in the building. There were even the same magical lamps every few feet, starting to dwindle in power as the sun rose through the windows. Before they descended the staircase, Jareth created a large sphere of light above his head. He asked Sparrow to refrain from making his own light and to walk beside him as they continued downward.

They went down three or four floors before they stood before a large gray door made of stone. At first glance, the door looked smooth, cold, and extremely heavy. Upon closer scrutiny, Sparrow observed lines throughout the surface of the door. They had severe corners and looked similar to the runes he had seen on that creature’s weapon through the gateway. They did not glow, though, because they were inactive.

 “I’ve never seen inactive runes before. Are they too old?” Sparrow asked with genuine curiosity.

“Runes do not fade with time. That is the main attribute of them. There is no fading, erosion, or decay, and no spell seals that will eventually weaken. They are used when something requires a purpose, and stability for that purpose. These runes are simply inactive because they are incomplete. Look at the center of the door,” Jareth finished with a gesture towards a location about a foot above Sparrow’s head.

Sparrow looked and could see nothing except the scrawling gray lines on the door, barely detectable to the naked eye. Nothing stood out to him as different. He looked up at his instructor to find a look of earnest patience. He tried again but was again led in a circle. All he could see in the center was the same as anywhere else on the door. With renewed determination, he placed all of his attention on finding this elusive piece of the puzzle. As he was focusing, he slipped into dai schen, and his mind darted towards the door as it became alive with brilliant, jagged white runes, all except in the very center. Right in the center, one pattern was present, but it lacked all color.

Sparrow reached up to touch the lifeless rune, and Jareth’s hand grabbed onto his midway to the door. To Sparrow’s surprise, Jareth did not try to stop his hand. Instead, his fingers wrapped around Sparrow’s pointer finger, and Jareth pressed it against the bottom of the dormant rune.

In silence, Sparrow watched as Jareth guided his finger through tracing the entire rune before branching off over the face of the rune to create a new rune over the old one. Then Jareth held Sparrow’s finger on the rune for a moment without moving, and the dormant rune slowly came to life, brightening in color until it matched the color of the rest of the runes around it. Then Jareth pulled Sparrow’s finger away from the door.

“That means ‘Open,’” Jareth stated, and the moment he spoke the word ‘open,’ the door obeyed of its own accord.

Behind the door was a large room with a small square table for four in the center of the room. To the left of the table was a fireplace with a large hearth easily as tall as Sparrow. The light of the fire flickered off of a large square carpet spread out in front of it. An armchair sat across from the fireplace on the other end of the carpet. The carpet was mostly a deep red color but with staggered black stitching on its edges, designed to appear as if the carpet had been burned, although it was not. In its center was a Black lizard with wings. Its mouth was open with a stream of golden stitching flowing from its mouth.

Jareth shut the door behind them, and they approached the table, which held two trays of food, two glasses, and a pitcher at its center.

“Please, sit down, Sparrow,” Jareth said with a gesture towards the table. “I’m sure you are still hungry. I could hear your stomach talking the entire way here,” Jareth said.

He was indeed correct, so Sparrow took his place at the closest tray and waited for Jareth to sit as well. Coming around to the opposite chair, Jareth poured water from the wooden pitcher and sat.

“I’m not hungry at the moment, Sparrow. Go ahead, though. I’ll eat later.”

With a small shrug, Sparrow removed the lid from his tray to reveal a standard school lunch of bread and cheese with a side of grapes. It looked like an oasis to a man lost in the desert as he was still famished from the night before.

Sparrow tried to eat slowly as he studied the room. He decided that, by all accounts, this was a very comfortable room. His imagination had conjured a dark and dank torture room, yet this was one of the most inviting rooms he had ever been in. As he was looking around, he realized the silence was very heavy in the air. Glancing across from him, he noticed Jareth was staring back at him but not quite at him. He was staring through him. His mind was no longer in his body, Sparrow could feel the lifelessness coming from the shell of his body, yet he still seemed to be breathing.

“Elder Jareth … are you alright?” Sparrow asked quietly.

Silence answered him. Quickly standing up, Sparrow ran around the table and grabbed Jareth by the arm, vainly trying to wake him up. His body was stiff in a sitting position, and no amount of tugging or pulling could move him.

Suddenly Sparrow flew backward as Jareth rushed to his feet, knocking his chair and Sparrow to the ground with a clatter. He was yelling as if he was in mid-argument with someone else saying.

“ … High Elder Rianna, I have a right to be heard! I refuse to -” then, upon realizing his surroundings, he quickly fell silent.

Slowing, Jareth turned to face Sparrow on the floor with a stunned look of disbelief, quickly hidden and replaced with remorse for knocking the boy down. Jareth helped him to his feet, and they sat at the table again. Sparrow halfheartedly continued eating his food, waiting for Jareth to speak.

Several minutes of silence followed. Jareth was lost in thought, yet this time his mind was still in the room. Sparrow did not know what to say as he realized he was caught up in struggles beyond his understanding.  He could only assume that Jareth was somehow communicating with others and was unhappy with the conversation.

Finally, a look of fearsome determination came to rest on Jareth’s face before he finally broke the silence by speaking in a formal tone of voice.

“Sparrow, you have broken the laws of this kingdom and the rules and regulations of this school. The magistrates have met with the High Council, and they have demanded you be brought to justice. There is a rumor you are a spy or saboteur of the Jersal Kingdom across the ocean since you seem to understand their harsh tongue. Other radicals say you are a demon who wishes to destroy the world. We do not act or punish based on rumors alone, but we also don’t ignore them.”

“That being said, whether you know it or not, this city is the furthest southern human settlement. We are the border city, and the magi are here for one task alone, to make sure the Jackals to the south honor the peace agreement and stay to the south. Although not many of them are left, perhaps a few hundred, one of them could destroy an entire army by itself. They are immune to all forms of physical harm and many forms of magic. You opened a portal to the land to the south, roughly a month’s journey from here on horseback. Do you understand, Sparrow? You gave them access to our fortress, bypassing all of our defenses, and it just so happens that when you opened that portal … a jackal was waiting for it.”

Well, that killed my appetite Sparrow thought to himself. Sparrow opened his mouth to speak, frantically wanting to defend himself, but with a raised hand, Jareth continued.

“The council has demanded you provide us with your true name. With your true name, a blood sample, and a strong spell, we can create a weapon specifically designed to … stop you … if necessary. With this power in our hands, you can be brought to justice if required, no matter where you are. Surrendering your true name and a blood sample would ensure you can continue to study at the school since we would then have the power to stop you if you happen to be a spy … or worse.”

“I do not know my name, not even my given name,” Sparrow stated flatly

“Then I suggest we find it,” Jareth replied curtly.

With a defeated sigh and a shake of his head, Sparrow began to pick at his food. “What now, then?” he asked, still looking at his plate, gently rolling a grape in a circle around a crust of bread.

“Under our laws, you have the right to ask any questions of me before we proceed. You have the right to be completely informed as to what will happen.”

He paused for a moment and emphasized his next choice of words.

“What I am saying … is now is your chance to ask me anything you like. The glyphs on the door prevent anyone in this room from telling a lie. That way, we know we have the true name of someone and not an invented one. The runes will also prevent you or me from leaving this room unless the door is destroyed or both of our hands trace the rune to exit. Why are you making that face at me?” He asked.

The moment Jareth had said they couldn’t lie, Sparrow had tried to announce that Jareth was a toad, and of course, the words would not come. He could not even hold onto the thought before it was swept away.

“Never mind,” he replied.

“Fine then, remember that I can still refrain from answering your questions, and in most cases, I will offer basic answers. You may ask when you are ready,” Jareth stated while he folded his arms across his chest.

After a long pause, Sparrow picked up his mug of water and slowly took a drink. He stared at its clear surface for a moment, seeing his reflection. Looking up at Jareth, he asked the first thing that came to mind.

“‘I’m not human, am I?”

With a satisfying look of shock on Jareth’s face, he unfolded his arms and took a drink from his mug before replying, “I’m not sure.”

“What makes you say that? Have you been studying me?” Sparrow asked.

“Nothing like you has ever existed before so far as we know … so yes, we have been studying you,” he replied.

“And?” Sparrow asked.

“Well, you radiate like a sentient being of this realm, so you are not partially here and partially somewhere else like a familiar. You have emotions, feeling pain and regret as humans do, but also have a disconnection from humans, as if those emotions do not apply to those around you. It is as if you naturally feel you are better than … us,” Jareth said.

“So, if I turn out to not be human, nor a familiar, then what else is there?” Sparrow asked.

“The only other type of creatures with your level of intellect are fantastical creatures. Some are usually destructive, like the jackal and the elusive hydra, if not downright evil. Others are usually good, if very reclusive, like the unicorn. The only other type I can think of is neutral creatures such as the elementals and dragons, and they serve their own purposes.”

“Dragons?” Sparrow asked

Rather than explaining, Jareth pointed to the carpet by the fire, specifically at the winged lizard with the flame coming from its mouth.

“We are not sure if there are any left, mind you, but that’s what they looked like, more or less.”

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable with the potential of being a giant fantastical beast, Sparrow decided to try and change the subject.

“Do all of these creatures have names also?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Who gives them the names?”

“We do not know, but we all have such a name, although most people and creatures are without magic, so they never discover it,” Jareth replied.

“What happens if I cannot find my name?”

“Then you will be purged,” he replied gravely.

“What is that?” Sparrow asked, not knowing if he was prepared for the answer.

“Your magical abilities are barred with a tattooed glyph on your forehead. This blocks all forms of magic and is permanent. Most people either lose the core of their personality or stop eating and die from the shock,” he replied.

“What is a glyph?” Sparrow asked

“You know how runes are a written language that flows over things like the door behind you? A glyph is similar, but instead of the words flowing, they are stacked on top of each other. This makes it much harder to tell the purpose of the glyph and even harder to dismantle its magic. Even to some magi, a glyph can appear as nothing but scribbles and scrawls if it is complex enough.”

“Like what you did to the Jackal?” Sparrow asked.

Jareth did not reply to the question, which in this place meant the answer was most likely “yes.” Sparrow wanted to know more, like why the glyph made Jareth so tired, what the purpose of the glyph was, and how it stopped the Jackal, but he could tell he would get no answers from Jareth on the topic.

After a few moments of silence, Sparrow finally said, “So to prevent the punishment of being purged, I have to become a prisoner, yet I will continue to be educated in magic. I suppose I do not have a choice. What do we need to do to find my name? Is it a spell of some kind?” Sparrow asked

“Yes, it involves looking into your core, or soul if you prefer, specifically towards the most central location of your deepest consciousness.”

“Is it dangerous?” Sparrow asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“What is dangerous about it?” Sparrow asked.

“It involves me looking into your mind and guiding you to find your name yourself. To do this, my mind will mostly be in your mind, and there is a risk I can be trapped there,” Jareth replied.

“Have you ever done this before?” Sparrow asked

“Only once,” he said flatly

“Fair enough. Let’s get on with it then,” Sparrow said with resolution in his voice.

Jareth looked surprised that Sparrow was finished with his questions but stood up to walk towards the chair near the fire. Before he could move, however, what felt like a void of senses appeared in the room. It felt like someone had scooped a piece of the room out of the air, and suddenly Jonathan appeared on his shoulder.

“They are coming soon. Everything is arranged as we discussed,” the bird said.

“Thank you, Jonathan. Kiss Izreea for me, just in case,” Jareth said halfheartedly.

With a short nod, Jonathan disappeared, and the sense of void vanished with him. Jareth waved Sparrow to the chair by the fire.

As Sparrow sat down, he noticed the edge of the rug was under his feet, and then it curled upward, creating a soft bench for his feet to rest upon. The chair had a low back that cradled his head perfectly but would be slightly uncomfortable for a full-grown adult to sit in, it was as if it had been made for him, and he felt impressed that everyone who sat in this chair would feel the same way, regardless of their height.

 Jareth’s heavy hands came to rest on his shoulders, and he asked: “Any last questions before we begin, Sparrow?”

“Yes …” after a lengthy pause, Sparrow continued, “Who is Izreea?”

“A dardwain diplomat of royal blood, a trained Night-Stalker, a powerful mage of the healing kentor, and … my wife,” He replied.

Sparrow paused thoughtfully. From the beginning, he had noticed that Jonathan read like a human, besides which he was far too intelligent to be a familiar. He did not follow basic instructions, talked back, and had free will.

“Who is Jonathan, really?”

The pause was so long that Sparrow thought he wouldn’t respond, but eventually, he said, “My younger brother, but that is all I will say about my family. Are you ready to begin?”

Sparrow relaxed on the couch with a small sigh and confirmed he was ready. With a gentle squeeze on his shoulders, Jareth moved his hands to the top of Sparrow’s head. Sparrow’s vision began to dim as his eyelids immediately became heavy. The last image he saw was the black dragon at his feet, staring at him with its golden flames dancing in the firelight.