The goblins howled.
The goblin bonds saught a successor. Any goblin with royal blood was summoned to the goblin lands.
The First Trial
Jareth arrived both last and limping slightly, having run into a few problems as he travelled through the Labyrinth.
Unlike most of the other contenders for the throne he was not a well known figure at court and had only travelled through the Labyrinth once before.
Jareth had never had any intention of becoming well known either. His mother had been half human and according to his family, Jareth still had the taint. Jareth didn't care, actually preferred spending time with humans to time with his goblin family, who he had very little in common with.
His father had met his mother but briefly and Jareth had grown up in the Above, living with his mother amongst their human relatives for many years, before his father passed through the area a second time and noticed his existence.
Jareth had eventually accustomed himself to life with his goblin family, but shared few of their tastes. His father was an important goblin, being the brother of the late King, but he already had 3 purebred children and though he took the cross-breed goblin in, Jareth's existence was kept fairly quiet at court. This had suited Jareth, as the goblin people, as far as Jareth could see, were much like his family; scarily violent and abusive to anyone who showed a hint of weakness.
Unfortunately, this time his human taint had not let him escape. Anyone receiving the summons had to attend court and prove themselves, if they could, as worthy for the throne. Even though Jareth couldn't imagine anything worse than being King of these people. Unfortunately, his father had proved utterly unmovable on the subject, tradition was tradition and even though he agreed Jareth had no chance in hell of succeeding, he must make the journey regardless.
Jareth, for once in his life, could not be hidden away as the slightly embarrassing relative.
He looked up at the castle in dismay; it was just as dark and dreary as he remembered. He sighed heavily before pushing open the door.
It was the first trial, to pass through the Labyrinth in 13 hours and though Jareth had dallied, he'd known that if he failed completely he would be spending the night in the outdoors, for they would not admit him at the castle.
A goblin servant greeted him politely and showed him to his quarters. He'd arrived last, as he'd expected and was thus shown the smallest and coldest room.
"Drinks are being served downstairs when you are ready Sir," the small goblin informed him.
Jareth pulled a face, "fine, I guess I might as well go down."
"You do not wish to freshen up Sir?" the goblin enquired.
Jareth looked uncertain, "do I need to wear something in particular?" the old King, he knew, was a stickler for court etiquette.
The servant looked uncertain, clearly unsure if he should presume to tell a royal what to wear, even a minor, relatively unknown, one.
"Current fashion suggests a starched collar with a necktie to be acceptable and I believe velvet to be particularly popular at the moment Sir," he tried.
Jareth did not, unfortunately, own anything velvet and had no idea how to go about starching a collar, so ended up simply changing into something clean.
He entered the drawing room uneasily, his half-brother and sister were already present he saw. As were both sets of cousins. Cousin Amelia, the late Kings eldest daughter was holding court in the centre of the room, obviously deeply confident she would win the throne. Jareth's older brother Thomas and his sister Katy both seemed particularly enamoured; clearly laying down the foundations of a favoured relationship should she succeed.
Amelia's younger brother Thomas had a knife out and was threatening one of the servants for some reason. Jareth avoided eye contact, wanting no part in whatever was going on. Jareth's other cousins, Rick and Jeffrey, were playing some sort of card game, with one other person who Jareth didn't know, probably another bastard.
With Jareth's arrival, dinner finally announced.
It proceeded to be as horrendous as Jareth had expected.
They'd been joined by some of the goblin council, all of whom seemed to be known to the other contenders. Jareth had ended up sitting at the foot of the table, next to the person he hadn't known. He turned out to be called Gavin and was also a cross-breed, being part troll on his father's side. His new acquaintance made it quite clear that part-troll was still better than part-human and pointedly ignored Jareth through most of the meal.
Gavin seemed offended at being placed lower on the table than any of the other contenders, but Jareth was rather relieved. All the people he hated most were at the other end, including his siblings.
He looked around the table curiously and on his other side, his cousin Rick took pity and named the council members.
"At the top end, on Amelia's left, is Sir Hugh, current Weapons Master. Famous for winning a fight against an adult troll."
Jareth immediately resolved to not go anywhere near him.
"The one next to Thomas, that's the head of the council, Fenrook and the one sat next to Jeffrey, that's Gringott, a banker."
Jareth looked across curiously; the banker seemed by far the least horrific, though why a banker would be present was unknown to him,
"a banker?" he asked.
Rick laughed, "that man has made the goblin nation extremely rich!" He sneered slightly, making it clear that though he liked money, he disapproved of goblins that didn't want to spend their lives fighting.
The conversation turned gruesome pretty quickly and Jareth had lost his appetite by the time the main course was served. His companions were discussing the funniest ways they'd ever killed someone. His new cousin Gavin was winning easily and was also showing a rather disturbing taste for eating his victims. Jareth, never having killed anyone, took no part in the conversation and his sister Katy was very quick to point out why, everyone in the vicinity appropriately sneering.
The Weapons Master glanced around the table; so far everything was proceeding as expected. The only 2 contenders he didn't already know extremely well were seated right at the other end. Gavin and Jareth his memory provided, though he was unsure which was which. Both were cross-breeds he knew, a part-troll and a part-human. He sneered inwardly at the last one. He'd only, as far as Hugh had heard, shown his face at one court appearance in his whole life. Hugh had only been relieved not to have had to deal with him.
He was still unsure who he wanted as the next King, but he knew it wouldn't be Jareth. He wasn't that keen on Gavin either, but from what he'd heard, his fighting abilities were by far superior to everyone in the room, bar himself of course.
The council fully intended to manipulate the trials as much as they could, were planning to vote for a short-list of possible winners tomorrow morning. Amelia was current favourite; though Hugh himself was unsure he truly wished to have her on the throne.
He laughed inwardly as, what he assumed must be Jareth, was ousted by his sister as having never killed anyone. He sneered as he watched the part-goblin push his food around the plate, clearly not enjoying the conversation around him. Hugh was unimpressed.
Jareth left the table still hungry and knew he'd end up losing some much needed weight by the end of this trip. He'd always had a delicate stomach, even though his family tried to cure him of it by being as gruesome as possible. Jareth, instead of being cured, had found he was simply unable to eat in their vicinity.
He gazed around the drawing room unhappily. Even Gavin seemed more at home than he was. It wasn't that Jareth didn't try, he had, but somehow he could never draw up any enthusiasm for pretty much anything his extended family was interested in.
Amelia beckoned him over, clearly wanted to have some fun. He went anyway, with an inward sigh, anything was better than standing alone in the corner like a lemon.
"Jareth, how lovely to see you, I simply must introduce you to the current Weapons Master. Sir Hugh, this is my cousin Jareth, Jareth this is Sir Hugh. He's the only goblin alive who's won single combat against an adult troll you know!" she continued on, listing Hugh's accomplishments with relish.
Jareth smiled politely, through gritted teeth.
Jareth cast around for something to say and came up blank, so simply stayed quiet.
At the total silence, Sir Hugh was forced, by good manners, to come up with conversation, already knowing from the look in Amelia's eye that she wouldn't come to the rescue. She wanted her cousin humiliated he knew and he would be happy to oblige.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Sir," he came up with as a start, meaning it not at all and barely managing to hide the sneer.
To his surprise, Jareth, instead of cowering away from him, sneered back. Sir Hugh was used to being respected by the entirety of the goblin nation, including the royal family. He was feared by everyone around him and rightly so, for he had more than proved himself worthy of his title as Weapons Master.
Jareth seemed to find his deeds less than impressive and was very clearly looking around for escape. Hugh had expected this; he'd just expected Jareth to retreat with fear in his eyes, once he heard of Hugh's great deeds. Not barely-contained disgust.
Amelia didn't notice the difference and considered herself duly entertained by Jareth's attempted retreat. Sir Hugh though found himself curiously unsatisfied. How dare a part-human not be impressed with Him? He was a decorated war hero!
The head of the council, Fenrook, called for silence and proceeded to explain exactly how the trials would work. There were 12 trials left and they would only get harder and harder, leading up to the grand finale; fighting a troll. Now the council wasn't stupid, nobody other than the Weapons Master would be able to beat a troll and they knew it. Instead, all the competitors needed to do was stay upright and conscious for 5 minutes while in the same room as a troll, still an impressive feat, but one unlikely to end in anyone's death.
Jareth jumped slightly, as with Fenrook's explanations over, Sir Hugh pushed past him rudely and proceeded to loudly ask Gavin a series of questions about Gavin's fighting ability. Gavin gave a good account and was in turn suitably impressed by Hugh's own experiences.
Jareth couldn't help but listen, growing less impressed by the minute. He knew it was a bad idea his coming here. He didn't even want to be King, the idea that these people considered eating their victims brains to be a delicacy was just revolting to him.
Hugh was actually quite impressed with Gavin. Here was someone that truly understood fighting and warfare and would fit in with the goblins very well. He began to revise his opinion of crowning a half-blood.
Hugh glanced around discretely; Jareth was still in the vicinity, must have heard everything. He smirked. Jareth must be feeling completely out of his depth now, must have been acknowledging his total lack of credentials to even be present at this gathering.
Hugh turned, done with Gavin for the moment, and caught Jareth's eye. Hugh grinned his nastiest grin and Jareth recoiled from him like he'd expected, but again, it still wasn't in fear. Jareth was looking at him like he was disgusting, like the goblin Weapons Master was completely revolting.
Jareth turned away and made his way over to the banker, ignoring protocol and just introducing himself. Gringott was shocked at the way the conversation went, completely unused to someone admiring him, especially a member of the royal family. Yet Jareth clearly, not only admired him, but was deeply interested in his opinions. Goblins were generally little more than servants to the hobgoblins, tolerated, but judged as lesser in everyday life. Gringott was so successful with his bank that he could not be ignored, but even so, he was generally only tolerated, not admired. So he had no idea how to deal with someone like Jareth.
Sir Hugh was also, for some unknown reason, glaring at him from across the room. Gringott glanced around him, but it was definitely him Hugh was glaring at. He zoned out from the discussion while he worried about his future. Hugh was not known to be a forgiving goblin when someone upset him, though Gringott had not the smallest idea what he could have done.
Hugh had not been so angry in years. Jareth was almost fawning over Gringott. Gringott! A mere goblin and a banker at that! Gringott looked suitably cowed by his glare, but Jareth actually turned slightly, so Hugh would no longer be within sight. Hugh, furious, shrugged off Amelia's claim for his attention, ruder than he had ever been to the girl.
