Note: This is primarily a Labyrinth story, but there are characters and settings from the Dresden Files novels - as well as a great deal of its mythology. This takes place after Cold Days, so beware of spoilers in later chapters!
Standard disclaimers apply: I do not own Labyrinth or the Dresden Files, although they both sort of own my heart.
Jareth and Sarah, Much Later (2014)
Two figures wove their way through a tangle of alleys between buildings. One was a tall, dark man in a billowing duster, the other a small, but fierce blonde woman in a tactical jacket. A sensitive sort would know that they both exuded power, though different kinds of power - that it crackled around them like electricity.
The man motioned to his companion to stop at a particularly twisted and strange junction. "This is it," Harry Dresden said. "This is the Chicago entrance to the Labyrinth outside the Goblin City."
"Seriously, Dresden," Karrin Murphy said, "I would think you were putting me on...if I hadn't seen everything I've already seen. But goblins? Really?"
Harry waggled his eyebrows. "Just think - once upon a time you didn't even think werewolves were real."
Murphy rolled her eyes, but her expression quickly turned serious. "Anything involving the Fae is dangerous. Is this safe?"
"It's just a diplomatic mission, Murph," Harry said as he opened a Way into the Nevernever.
"But why haven't you met them before, if they're part of the Winter Court? Are you sure this isn't a trap?"
"Well, no," he admitted as he peered at the oddly orange sky through the shimmering opening. "But I don't think so. Mab and the Goblin King had a falling out a few hundred years ago, and he's only been back in her good graces for a couple of decades. Doesn't want to press his luck by visiting Arctis Tor too often. Plus, he's busy with his own...stuff."
Harry grunted as he and Murphy stepped through to a dusty hillside facing a daunting wall.
Murphy licked her lips. "So how exactly do we get in there?"
"Piece of cake," Dresden grinned. "As long as we follow the worm's directions. And well, failing that, pretty sure we've got diplomatic immunity."
The two travelers soon found themselves inside the castle past the vast maze.
"Sir Knight, Miss Murphy - follow me, if'n ye please," groused the squat dwarf before them.
He led them through a stone corridor to a surprisingly cozy looking study where a regal woman stood waiting, dark hair piled high upon her head. She wore a green silk dress that very nearly matched the color of her eyes, and she smiled kindly at her visitors, which made Murphy suspicious. She'd never encountered a Fae noble who was anything less than terrifying. This woman had an otherworldly beauty, but none of the menace she expected.
Sarah nodded at the dwarf, and said warmly, "Thank you, Hoggle, for escorting our guests. Harry Dresden, Winter Knight, and Karrin Murphy of the Aboveground - welcome to the Goblin Kingdom."
Harry bowed quickly, Murphy a beat behind. "We are honored, your highness."
Hoggle left with a nod to his queen, shutting the door behind him.
"Please make yourselves comfortable," Sarah said as she motioned to a sitting area near the window. She deftly poured tea from the waiting pot with her gloved hands. "My husband will join us soon - he was suddenly called away."
"Nothing serious, I hope," Harry said.
"Oh, no. Just some goblin mischief." Sarah passed a cup to Murphy who eyed it with some suspicion. "It's only tea," she laughed. "Honestly, just tea - no strings attached. Though I can see from your reaction that you have had dealings with our kind before."
Murphy reluctantly accepted the cup. "Thank you."
"I buy this particular kind in your hometown actually," Sarah continued. "I never lost my taste for tea."
Harry's brow furrowed. "You were human."
Sarah handed Harry another cup. "It's not always a permanent state, as I'm sure you well know, Sir Knight."
Harry thought ruefully about the changes he had seen in his apprentice Molly after she became Winter Lady and sighed. "True."
A devilishly handsome man burst through the back entrance of the room. Tall and lithe, he wore a Regency style frock coat and had silver and gold hair swept back from his angular face. His uneven blue eyes narrowed as he shouted, "I swear, I'm going to bog the whole lot of them one day!"
"Darling," Sarah soothed, "Our company has arrived. Sir Knight, Miss Murphy - my husband, Jareth, the Goblin King."
"Your majesty," Harry said as he stood to bow.
Murphy followed suit, but as Jareth came closer, she failed to hold back a bark of laughter. Harry planted a quick elbow in her side, and whispered, "Murphy! Behave."
"But he, I mean look, Dresden, he looks just like…" she trailed off as the Goblin King strode toward them with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"Pleased to meet you, Winter Knight," Jareth said as he dipped his head in acknowledgment. "I do hope your manners are better than those of your companion."
Sarah laughed. "Pay him no mind. I've told Jareth a hundred times that the resemblance is uncanny, but he assures me it's just a coincidence."
"Ah, yes," Jareth breezed, "The 'rock star' again. No relation. We had a rather heated discussion about that once, but I was never Aboveground in 1946, let alone fathering mortals in England."
"I wasn't jealous, darling," the Goblin Queen purred, "I was merely curious. He does bear a striking resemblance to you."
"I suppose one of my brothers could have, ah - well, perhaps not. Never mind all that." He flopped casually across the end of the small sofa next to his wife. "Shall we get to business, Sir Knight?"
"Sure," Harry said. "Though, to be honest, I'm not 100% sure what our business is."
"No?" Jareth asked. "That is perplexing, indeed. For I was led to believe it was quite important."
"I'm not saying it's unimportant," Harry frowned, "I just don't know what it is, exactly."
"What were you told, Sir Knight, when you were sent here?" Sarah asked before her husband could interject.
"Mab just said that I was needed urgently in the Goblin Kingdom, on a diplomatic matter."
"Mab herself?" Sarah asked, warily.
"Yes, though her Frosty Majesty didn't elaborate. She just said that everything would be clear once I got here. And considering her idea of 'diplomacy,' I wasn't sure what I would find."
"You made it seem a little more straightforward than that when you convinced me to come with you," Murphy growled.
"Well, you were pretty suspicious when I suggested it," Harry grinned.
"I came unarmed, Dresden!"
"Mmm," Jareth hummed in irritation. "Mab's taste for intrigue remains unchanged, it seems."
Sarah sighed. "So it seems, my love." Turning to Harry, she continued, "We only received a missive from Arctis Tor telling us to expect the new Winter Knight and a companion to discuss a diplomatic matter, nothing more."
"I've no taste for her game-playing," Jareth said. "But she is bound as all Fae are. She never lies…"
"...But she never tells the whole truth, either," Harry finished.
"It seems it's up to us to discover this 'diplomatic matter' ourselves," Sarah said. "I've never been one to shrink from a challenge."
"Too true," Jareth said with a wolfish grin. Sarah smiled back, only slightly less wolfishly, to Murphy's great suspicion.
"What do you know of us, of the Underground?" Sarah asked.
"Almost nothing," Harry admitted. "I know that the Goblin Kingdom is sort of its own sovereign nation in the Nevernever, but I don't know the particulars, and I had barely heard of the Goblin King and Queen before."
"And you, Miss Murphy? Have you any knowledge of us or the Underground?"
"My friend's kid is obsessed with a web series called 'The Goblin King,'" Murphy said. "But that's about it."
Sarah laughter rang out, mischievous and genuine. "The internet is a wonderful tool for spreading the old superstitions."
"You know about that?" Murphy asked, genuinely shocked.
"I wrote it," Sarah said, her eyes sparkling.
"What's a web series?" Harry asked.
"Ah, yes. Of course, Sir Knight, I had forgotten that as a wizard you cause...problems with computers," Sarah said, fanning her hands out in a gestural explosion.
"It's like a TV show on the internet," Murphy said. "The kids love it. I saw so many King Garetts and Lady Susans trick or treating last Halloween…" Murphy slapped her head as she looked at the magnificent Fae royals in front of her. "How much of it is true?"
"It's dramatized, of course - sanitized in some respects - but," Sarah admitted with a sly grin, "Most of it is true."
"Wow, Murph," Harry laughed. "I didn't know you were a Goblin expert."
Murphy rolled her eyes. "I've only seen a few episodes with the kids."
"Still, I doubt our creative endeavors are the true heart of Mab's intent," Sarah said, serious once more. "If you are truly unfamiliar with our tale, perhaps we should start at the beginning, and see where our interests collide."
Harry nodded his assent.
"As our story actually begins with your story," Sarah turned to her husband, "Perhaps we can begin there, my love."
Jareth smiled strangely and began...