A/N: Hello, I'm Julie and I have been reading a lot of Labyrinth fics lately (I thought that there wouldn't be any and then I realized that there were like… A LOT) and I was really surprised to find that there are HARDLY ANY AU (alternate universe) stories. SOOO… I decided that I would write one! Mwahahaha… I need to buy non-caffeinated tea… ON WITH THE STORY… and if there is any historical inaccuracies… please give me a break, I learned about this shit in seventh grade like… seven years ago.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth, BUT I DO OWN THE PLOT! THAT'S JUST AS GOOD! Right?

Summary: In medieval England, Sarah Williams' village is controlled by the evil Lord Jareth. He takes egregious taxes on the citizens and prevents himself from being attacked and overthrown by building a large hedge maze around his manor. And now, he is looking for a wife to provide him with an heir.

Chapter One

Sarah

Sarah straightened and raised her arms above her head, wincing at the cracking noise her back made as she stretched. She shouldn't be this sore already; it was only half way through the workday. She stared up at the sun that was currently blazing down on the field that she was currently working in. That she had started working on when she was twelve, four years ago. And she would continue working there for the rest of her life, except of course for nine months here or there where she would be popping out children for a husband. She should be getting married soon now, most girls her age, fifteen, already were.

She looked across the field at her father, Robert, who was already finished with his second row and started to work again. She couldn't let herself fall to far behind, as her stepmother, Karen wasn't working for a few more months while her newborn baby grew up a bit more. Sarah sighed at the thought of Karen's son, Toby. He wasn't a bad kid, per say, but he took all of her father's attention, and he made trying to build a relationship with Karen all but impossible.

Sarah's own mother had died a few years previously under tragic circumstances. Well, Sarah thought that they were tragic. Everyone else said that her mother was unreasonable about the whole ordeal. A shadow fell over her row in the fields as the sun moved behind the large Manor that dominated the landscape of her village. Behind that massive hedge maze that was built around it, Lord Jareth was most likely trying to think of another reason to raise taxes. Lord Jareth was a tyrant and if he hadn't built that labyrinth around his manor, he would have been overthrown years ago. As it was, he would be replaced soon anyway, as he was unmarried and heirless. That was where her mother had gotten into trouble. Her mother, Linda, had been the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, and naturally when Jareth realized that he needed an heir, he wanted only the best to give it to him. He didn't seem to mind that the woman he wanted was already married with a young daughter. Her mother had minded however, and she had refused him.

That hadn't gone down to well with Jareth, who was used to getting everything that he wanted, whenever he wanted. However, he pretended to understand, and told her that he would allow her to return to her family if she navigated her way through his massive maze within a time constraint of thirteen hours. However, the maze must have been more dangerous than anyone knew, as a day later her mother's body was returned for them to bury.

She looked angrily up at the Manor before returning to work, thanking the heavens that Jareth would soon be replaced, as he had no heir to replace him when he got too old to take care of the village.

_:-*-:_

Jareth

Lord Jareth reclined back on his thrown, pondering two things. First he pondered, as ever, on a way he could plausibly tax his citizens more. Second, he pondered "the heir problem". It was unavoidable, he needed one, and soon. He thought he had solved it when he decided to marry the beautiful Linda Williams, but that situation had ended rather… problematically, to say the least. He needed an heir, and although he didn't want to be married, he would have to or risk his father removing him and giving the kingdom to his younger brother.

There was only one thing to do, pick a bride and have her give him a child. Then he could arrange an "accident" for the girl and be free of the constraints of marriage.

"Hoggle!" he called, and the fat, old, pockmarked man came waddling into the throne room as fast as he could.

"Yes my Lord Jareth?" he asked in a sickeningly subservient manner.

"Hobble," Jareth said, purposefully getting his chief of security's name incorrect. "I require you to go and gather all young women of marrying age in the square, and I want it done this evening. If one is sick… well, tell her and her family that she will have plenty of time to recover after I'm through." He turned his attention to a glass ball that he kept on hand, rolling it over and over in his fingers. "If it isn't to complex for your tiny mind to handle, try to put the prettier ones toward the front, would you?" Both Jareth and Hoggle knew that that was not a suggestion, it was an order.

"Yes sir, of course sir" Hoggle said, backing quickly out of the thrown room, wondering how he would get all of the young women in the kingdom in the square by that evening.