Labyrinth: Saving the Fallen City

Preparing for War

Rapid slamming came to my door and scared me awake. The intense force hitting my door surprised me that it hadn't fallen in on itself. I pushed out of bed and walked across the cold floor to the door. I opened the door and looked up into Jareth's smirking face. "Did I wake you?" He asked flashing a brilliant smile. I narrowed my eyes and he nodded his head, happy with himself. "Time to train princess" He said stepping out of the way for a servant to rush in with clothing in her hands. "I trust you can take care of dressing without my help?" He looked down at me and I slammed the door in his face. His laughter echoed through the door as I walked over to the servant.

               "Your clothes for war are not full dresses" the servant said as I looked at the pants and a white shirt. I nodded and quickly pulled on the pants. The black pants were a strange material that compressed onto my skin and felt like a wet suit on the inside, but when I touched the outside, it felt like armor. When I had the pants on, I took off my nightgown to reveal my black lace bra that I had been lucky to keep throughout this entire time.

               The servant handed me a white shirt and I threw it over my head. It clung to my body down to where it twisted around my waste. The long sleeves on the shirt hung from my shoulders to reveal my upper arm to above my elbow where gold, two inch long, tight material wrapped around my arm to hold the fabric in place and let the excess material hang. The fae pulled out a small knife moved towards me. I looked at her in question but she ignored me. In one swift movement, the fae cut a strand of the white shirt and long material fell around my legs besides the front. A gold band like the one on my arm wrapped around my waist separating the shirt from the thin material flowing around my legs all except in the front. The surprisingly light fabric swayed in the breeze that swept the room. The shirt had a golden belt like the bands above my elbow that pulled the shirt snug against my waste.

               "Put these on" The small fae said handing me a pair of boots. I sat on my bed to lace them and the fae pulled my hand to sit on the stool by the mirror. I hesitated to sit from the memory of Jareth being there but eventually complied. The fae took my hair and twisted it to the side with a strange twist at the top of my head and another that wrapped around the back of my head. She mixed the twisted piece from the top of my hair into the loose hair. For a ponytail holder, she used the twisted hair that wrapped around the back. She wove the small bit of twisted hair around my hair to form a low, loose ponytail and let it drape over my shoulder. I looked at my appearance then and stared. I imagined I'd look insane, but the hairstyle was the most unique and beautiful I had ever seen. "It's beautiful. How did you learn that?" I asked. The fae smiled at her job. "I practiced with my mother when I was little and started to love doing hair. I've got so many different styles that I created" She said. "I'd love to try them whenever you get a chance" I said smiling at her eye to eye with her when I was sitting. She smiled brightly and nodded furiously. "If you wish!" She said happily. "Of course" I replied with a warm smile.

               "Jareth is waiting. You might want to go before he gets impatient" She said quickly looking at the door. I stood and strode towards the door in the outfit, then opened it slowly. I stepped out to see Jareth with his siblings and Desben and watched them talk for a moment wile observing their outfits. Sina was wearing a long brown shirt with brown pants like mine. Her hair was wavy, flowing over her shoulders not held together like mine. Desben was back in his Warrior choice of apparel. Jareth was dressed how he dressed five years ago with a long off white tunic and his armored jacket. Hedian wore pair of baggy pants and a red tunic with gold stitching.

               They were all discussing something lighthearted when I coughed softly to get their attention. They turned to me and Jareth smirked. I felt naked under their scrutinizing eyes. "Wow. That's the way to dress for war" Hedian said hitting me in the shoulder playfully. "Why don't we go see if we can't start training" Sina said and my stomach grumbled in opposition. "I think we should visit the war tent for information first, and food for Sarah" Hedian replied.