The Realm of Dragons
Introduction

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Authors Note: ^^^^ It's an owl :D ^^^^

The Goblin King stood at the foot of the bridge that led into the Fire Garden that surrounded his neighboring kingdom's castle. The plants were all the colors of fire: red, orange and yellow, blue and green. Sculptures in the shapes of dragons littered the open areas in the garden: dragons crouched as if ready to pounce, dragons with their mouths open as if breathing fire, dragons in flight, dragons playing, dragons, dragons, dragons. The fluttering of leathery wings drew his eyes towards the sky where dozens of flying serpents darted low, here and there, some pausing to tug experimentally at his hair with their little clawed hands. They were no larger than his hand, yet he knew of others that were taller than the houses in his Goblin City. He was here on business, he reminded himself, drawing his thoughts back to the humbling reason he was here. He would much rather converse with these delightful creatures than swallow his pride and ask assistance from the Dragon Queen.

As soon as he had thought her name the doors to the castle were thrown open and out trekked the royal Fae herself, conversing with a silver kit that perched on her shoulder, his talons gripping her shirt gently, his wings folded so they wouldn't tangle in her shoulder length locks of violet hair. Two pairs of ruby colored eyes flashed to his face as both dragon and his Queen stared at him in a brief moment of surprise.

The Queen was garbed in clothes that looked like rags next to the Goblin King's usual attire. She wore tight breeches of dark gray and boots that reached her knees of the darkest black. Her faded, dark red tunic reached to just above her knees, the sleeves from the elbow down tucked into gloves fashioned out of black dragon scales that flashed with a rainbow of colors when the light hit them just right. There was a black vest over her tunic, embroidered with pairs of fighting dragons along the hems. She eyed him wearily with her ruby red eyes, the claws of her dragon scale gloves tapping almost nervously against her thighs. She mumbled a few words to the kit on her shoulder, which shook out his hide before taking flight, brushing the tip of his tail against her cheek before disappearing amongst his brothers and sisters.

Jareth watched him go, as did his Queen. He knew that these were the smallest of the dragons and were the most likely to inhabit a garden, especially if it met little to no contact with humans. He knew that the Gold Dragons would remain inside the castle walls, or even among the caves in the mountains that surrounded the valley the Dragon City resided in, acting as their Queen's treasurers. The Drake Mountains, tall and wide mountain peaks that surrounded the Fire Queen's Forest, Dragon Castle and Dragon City, were occupied by numerous kinds of dragons and the Forest held even more. The wyverns would be in the fields and openings between the city gates and the Forest and the almighty Hydra would be guarding the only entrance into the Mountains. Just as there were goblins everywhere he turned in his Goblin City, here there were dragons.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company on this day, cousin?" Amaraniel asked of him, tilting her head to the side, an action one would see in a dragon or a bird. A confused gesture, her eyes wide and never blinking. A small, knowing smirk graced her lips and a teasing light jumped into those ruby red eyes of hers. "This isn't about that girl is it? Are you so sore over her defeat that you've come begging for help from me?"

"No," Jareth snapped. He stubbornly looked away from the infuriating woman standing before him. He started counting backwards from ten. "Sarah is back."

Shock parted Amaraniel's pale lips and widened her seemingly glowing eyes. She reared her head back and straightened her shoulders, obviously surprised. She regained her composure however and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning her weight onto her right side. "And you've no way of sending her back this time, have you, cousin?" She sighed and shook her head. "Jareth, Jareth, Jareth…what in the world possessed you to let her back into your kingdom. When she called you could have very easily dumped her here. No harm would have come to her in my lands and she certainly wouldn't have had to run that blasted Labyrinth of yours again."

"She didn't call me," the Goblin King rasped. The Dragon Queen rolled that little tidbit of information around in her brain.

True to the story the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl, but Jareth had never been a creature of love and he didn't know what to do with those unwanted emotions. He had come to her, Amaraniel, seeking help in getting rid of them. She had told him that the only way to remove that part of him was to remove his emotions all together. He had been all too eager to risk that and so she had sent him away, slapping some sense into him and downright ordering him to go and take care of his crumbling kingdom. He had returned not a week later claiming that he had been a fool and had assumed too much in too little of a time. He claimed that the mortal girl meant nothing to him.

Amaraniel knew love when she saw it. She was the Queen of the Dragons, the Queen of creatures whose every action was fueled by a burning passion. He had simply been in denial.

And now, three years after Sarah wounded the Goblin King's pride, heart and kingdom, she was back, and she hadn't even called on him. The Queen could only imagine how that hurt Jareth's slowly healing pride, not to mention his guarded heart. So she did the only thing she could think of doing.

"Bring her to me," she said simply.

"Amar…" Jareth began, pinching the bridge of his nose. Her lips fought to remain straight. She always did enjoy aggravating him. "This isn't just something you can fix with a bloody picnic. She destroyed my KINGDOM!"

"I'm well aware of that Goblin King," Amar said calmly. "But is your kingdom not recovered? Are its inhabitants safe and sound in their little goblin homes? It's not your kingdom that you're trying to protect here, Jareth, it's you. What you don't seem to realize however is that Sarah Williams knows nothing of the pain she's caused you and locking her in some oubliette isn't going to rid her from your life or make things any easier on you. So, you will bring her here."

"Why?" Amar blinked. She had been expecting a raging fit, the stamping of the foot, the throwing of the arms into the air, a huff of annoyance, anything other than rash acceptance.

"Well because I want to meet her of course," she grinned. "And I'm sure the young lady is just dying to get home, and we both know that the only way back is through the Portals. Tell me, cousin Jareth, how is your Portal running these days?" Jareth just grumbled something under his breath. Amar, knowing very well that the goblins had broken his (how they managed that she didn't know) long ago, just grinned. "It's settled. Bring the mortal girl Sarah Williams into my kingdom and directly to me." The Dragon Queen turned away and marched back to the doors of her castle. "Oh, and Jareth," she called. "No feeding her to the dragons."

Author's Note 2: Yes, it's short. Forgive me? It's just the introduction. I'm sure things will lengthen out once the half-written first chapter is finished. You know the drill people; just go ahead and click that button there and leave me a nice little comment. I enjoy them very much :D