Chapter 11 - Chantal To The Rescue

Chapter Eleven: Chantal To The Rescue



Not long after Chantal left the faery garden, the path led out of the hedge maze into a partly forested area. The path was quiet, too quiet. She had been walking for a while and had no more run-ins with those vicious monsters, or any creatures for that matter. Chantal didn't even hear any birds or insects.

Chantal sighed, she was a bit bored, but she wasn't tired. She actually had lots of energy.

'Probably because of the water from the healing spring,' she thought.

Serek had fallen asleep on her shoulder, tail always wrapped around her neck. He might seem to be a useless little creature to Jareth, but Chantal thought differently. If it hadn't been for him, she probably would never have found that faery garden and would have been attacked by those creatures.

Chantal smiled. "Poor little guy!"

Serek suddenly perked his head up, listening.

"What is it boy?" Chantal asked. From now on, she told herself she would pay more attention to the little purple dragon.

"Chirp!" he said looking in the distance ahead of them.

Chantal stopped and shaded her eyes.

"Please don't let it be those creatures," she hoped. As she looked closely she saw it. A bird was standing in the middle of the road. Actually it was the same bird that she had run into from her first adventure in the Underground.

Chantal groaned but walked on. "Not this thing again!"

As she approached it, she could hear it talking, but she couldn't understand a word. It seemed to be talking gibberish. Chantal quickened her pace and walked but it.

"Hello and Goodbye, bird." she said. Serek chirped a small greeting as well.

"They're all laughing at you," the bird squawked as it started to follow Chantal.

Chantal spun around and glared at the bird.

"They're all laughing at you. They're all laughing at you," the bird said over and over again.

"Who is laughing?" Chantal asked.

"They're all laughing at you!" the bird repeated.

Chantal stared at the bird. For some reason what the bird was telling her sounded familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen or heard it before. The more she thought about it the more it puzzled her.

"It will come back to me," she told herself and walked away from the odd creature. The bird followed, though rambling something different.

"A faery flower to cure poison," it now squawked.

"Poison from what?" Chantal asked still walking away. Serek watched the bird as it ran around Chantal and stood in front of her, causing Chantal to stop.

"A faery flower to cure poison."

"Yeah you said that already. Poison from what?"

"The bite of a tentacle tree," it squawked jumping from foot to foot.

"Trees with tentacles? That sounds like a tree from Xanth." Chantal said. She hadn't read any of Peirs Anthony's Xanth books in years, but she clearly remembered the man eating tangle trees. Though the ones in the Underground sounded different, because of the poison factor.

Chantal walked past the bird, expecting it to continue following her. She didn't hear it rambling behind her, so she turned around.

"Aren't you com...?" she trailed off. The bird was no longer there, or anywhere in sight. "Weird!"

She shrugged it off and continued on her way. Serek unwrapped his tail from Chantal's neck and launched from her shoulder.

"Good idea!" she told him. "You be a lookout scout!"

Serek chirped happily and glided off ahead of Chantal.


O O O O O O O O O



His arm ached.

Blood had seeped through the makeshift bandages Stephanie had created out of his shirt sleeves. She wasn't that heavy but he had been carrying her on his back for the past two hours now. He now and then had rested a moment before continuing.

He had been deciphering what poison was coursing through her veins so he could find the antidote. The symptoms was similiar to insect's venom but he had no luck with the antidote; he assumed it was the other toxin.

Only twice did the girl upon his back gasped, and a few times he felt a cool line pass over her skin. He had shivered occasionally. He lifted her up because she was slipping.

Jareth looked up as he sensed a presence close by. A winged shadow appeared a few feet in front of him.

"About bloody time!" he mumbled. He then heard behind the opposite wall, Serek squeak and Chantal's voice.

"What is it Serek? Did you find Steph?" another chirp was the reply. Chantal's running footsteps was heard and soon Chantal appeared around the corner ahead of him, followed by the dragon.

Chantal's grin disappeared when she saw Jareth carrying her friend on his back. She rushed over with a worried expression on her face.

"Steph!" Chantal cried out, running up to them. Jareth stopped and laid Stephanie down gently.

"What happened?"

Chantal turned to Jareth and saw the red mark on his jaw. "And what happened to you?"

"Don't worry about me. It is Stephanie we must attend to."

"Well, tell me what happened."

"She was bitten by a Utahn, a tentacle tree. Its bite is poisonous," he told her worriedly.

Stephanie was even paler and the poison in her veins was spreading faster now. A blue line ran from her neck and up her chin to the corner of her lips.

Chantal turned to Jareth. "Did you say a tree with tentacles?"

Jareth nodded.

"That is what that bird was rambling on about," Chantal said as she pulled the flower from her hair.

"Bird?"

"Yeah! Ran into it last time I was here. Most of the time it seems to just be rambling, but this time I think it was telling me something," she told him. She looked down at the flower in her hands. It was all wilted. "Damn!"

She handed the flower to Jareth. "Hold this. Carefully!"

She reached into her bag and pulled forth the water bottle with the healing water in it. Uncapping the bottle, she took back the flower from Jareth and place the stem gently inside.

"What are you doing?" Jareth asked impatiently. 'This girl has gone mad,' he thought.

"Trying something. Watch, it's starting to work."

The flower was starting to return to its natural splendor. The petals returned to their vibrant pale orange color and its sweet fragrance could be smelled.

Jareth's eyes grew wide in amazement. "How did you do that?"

"What? Have you never seen water from a healing spring before?" she said with a smile.

"Healing spring? Where?"

"I can't say. I promised not to tell. That was the deal I made so that I was able to take some of the water with me," she told him. She turned back to the flower, not letting him ask her anymore questions.

Chantal took the flower out of the water and recapped the bottle.

"Aren't you going to use the water on Stephanie?"

Chantal shook her head as she plucked the flower of its petals. Taking one of the petals she placed it into Stephanie's mouth. The unconscious girl closed her mouth and started to suck on the petal.

"Good! Let's hope this works," Chantal said watching her friend carefully.

Slowly the poison started to retreat and fade away. Colour started to return to Stephanie's pale face. Chantal looked up at Jareth and saw a relieved expression appear on his normally calm face.

Stephanie groaned and her eyes fluttered open. She slowly sat up and tried to get to her feet but both Jareth and Chantal pushed her back down.

"Not yet Steph. The poison isn't all gone," Chantal told her, giving her another flower petal. "Put this in your mouth and just suck on it."

Stephanie took the petal and placed it in her mouth.

"Tastes like peaches," Stephanie mumbled as she closed her eyes and leaned back on Jareth, still weak.

Jareth smiled.

Chantal looked at Jareth. "Can you now tell me what happened to you?"

"I punched him," Stephanie told her in a quiet voice.

"Whoa! Steph!" Chantal said shocked, then she began to laugh. "Damn and I missed that." She did a fake pout.

Jareth gave her a look and groaned, causing Chantal to laugh even harder. "This I have to hear!"

Chantal smiled at Jareth, then she looked down at his arm. The wrap was starting to come off and blood was flowing freely. Chantal took her water bottle and handed it to Jareth.

Jareth just looked at it.

"Well take it!" Chantal told him.

"Why?"

"Duh! You are bleeding all over the place for one, and second, it's water from that healing spring."

Jareth grabbed the bottle from Chantal's hand. He opened it and took a big gulp of the water. A moment later his skin began to tingle and the cut on his arm began to fade away.

"Incredible!" he said looking down at his arm. The cut was all gone now. Only sign there had been a wound was the blood and the wrap that was falling off his arm. "You have to tell me where that spring is."

Chantal shook her head. "Can't."

Stephanie tried to get up again. Blue lines still remained on her skin, paler now.

"We should really continue to the castle." she said, she made it to her feet before her legs gave out from under her. Jareth caught her by her waist, a hand on her forehead, which was inches above the ground. Stephanie blinked at the stone ground.

Chantal moved closer to her friend and helped Jareth set her back on the ground. "You are still too weak to get up and walk yet. I would give you some water but I don't think it would help since the poison is still in your system," Chantal told her.

"Well we can't afford to wait for me to heal." Stephanie said getting up again, Jareth did the same. She felt a bit dizzy and was now holding onto Jareth's shirt collar, looking up at her friend.

Chantal and Jareth exchanged a look, but didn't say anything.

"We can't just sit here and wait, if we do, it'll be too late. And who knows what will happen." Stephanie told them.

"You are right, but like Chantal said, you are too weak to walk," Jareth told her seriously.

Stephanie frowned. Time was getting short, and they needed to get to the castle soon if they were going to help Jareth get his throne back. She didn't want to be the one holding them back.

"Well Jareth can always carry you." Chantal told her friend.

Jareth and Stephanie exchanged looks, then the Goblin King let out a loud groan.

"What? You carried her already," Chantal declared.

"Yes, but that was different. She was unconscious," Jareth said with another groan.

Chantal rolled her eyes. "Stubborn!"

"All right! Fine, I'll carry her," Jareth said giving in, realizing he wasn't going to win.

"Whoo hoo!!" Stephanie exclaimed.

Jareth crouched down, his back facing Stephanie. Chantal then helped Jareth get her friend up onto his back. Stephanie wrapped her arms around the Goblin King's shoulders as Jareth tucked his arms under her knees to keep her from sliding off.

"Are we ready to go now?" Jareth asked as he shifted Stephanie on his back so that her weight was evenly distributed. 'It's a good thing she is a small girl,' Jareth thought to himself.

"I'm ready," Chantal replied.

"Me too!!" Stephanie said with a small, tired giggle.

Serek chirped and wrapped his tail around Chantal's neck.

"We're not too far from your castle Jareth." Stephanie pointed towards the castle, lines faintly remained on her hand. The sleeves of Jareth's coat moved slightly up her arm.

"What are we waiting for?" Chantal asked suddenly. "Let's get going!"

Serek chirped in agreement.

"Right!!" Stephanie said resting her chin on the Goblin King's shoulder. Her skin felt warmer now, not as cold as hours before, when the poison was coursing through her veins. Also his coat helped a bit by keeping her warm.

The group finally together again, continued towards their destination.

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