Thank you for you reviews. This next scene was inspired a lot from the book, but also derived some inspiration for it from the 2006 mini-series of Jane Eyre. The fire scene in that series is very romantic, and the mini-series does a great representation of the book.

Chapter 3

Sarah automatically ran to the bed and began to shake the King's shoulders crying. "Wake up!" Jareth remained asleep. "For God's sake wake up!" She yelled desperately, but the Goblin King only woke up enough to push her hands away and continued to sleep.

Sarah backed away as the heat became too much for her, and she glanced around the room for a way to put out the fire. She spotted a vase of white hydrangeas and she immediately pulled them out, but she saw that the amount of water was not enough to put out even one bed post. Instead Sarah splashed the water on the face of the Goblin King, and he immediately woke up spluttering.

"Flood!" He cried out. His eyes were still halfway closed.

"No!" Sarah shouted. "Fire! Get up!" Jareth opened his eyes fully now and saw the fire. He leaped off the bed and pulled the blankets of and used them to smother the flames. Sarah followed his example and pulled off the extra linens and extinguished the posts lit on her side. Once the fire was out Sarah noticed then her master was only dressed in his pants with no shirt. She quickly averted her eyes and walked over to the window. Her breathing was labored and the smell of smoke bothered her lungs. Sarah opened the window and breathed in the night air.

The King turned away as well when he noticed Sarah's discomfort and pulled on a white shirt he left out. "What happened here?" He questioned, staring at the burnt bed as he waited for Sarah's response.

Sarah took a deep breath before saying. "I don't know sir." She coughed a bit. "I saw a light outside my door, but it was gone when I went out. I kept looking and-." Her coughs interrupted her again.

"Be quiet." Jareth ordered. He grabbed the back of a cushioned chair by the fireplace in his room and brought it to her. "Sit here and calm your breathing." He moved away to pull on his leather boots over his black trousers. "I will search for the culprit."

"But shouldn't I fetch help?"

"No!" He said definitely. "The goblins will be no help in this matter now. I will settle this and you will stay here until I return." Jareth grabbed his robe that was lying on the ottoman in front of his bed. He wrapped it around Sarah's shoulders gently pushed her to sit in the chair. "Do not leave this spot." He said finally before leaving her alone in the dark room.

Sarah glanced briefly around his room, and was surprised to see it was not nearly as lavish as she would have expected. It was rather large, and the fireplace did take up most of the side wall, but apart from that it seemed similar to her room. The king size bed did have an ornate bed frame, it almost scared her when she looked at it because the feet of bed were in the shape of goblins, and the dressers and other wooden furniture matched the style of the frame too. The mocking expressions on the goblins faces made her uncomfortable, and wherever she looked in the room she couldn't help but to see another face grinning wickedly at her.

Sarah decided to keep her eyes on the moon outside the window. It was comforting and she was able to relax her breathing. She stared out at it until Jareth returned to the room, breaking her out of her stupor. He brought back a candle with him and he headed toward the fireplace when he entered the room.

"Everything is settled now. It was as I suspected." The King kneeled by the fire and threw a couple logs in with some old paper that sat by the side of the hearth. "I forgot to ask you Sarah." He began saying. "Did you see anything when you left your room?"

"No…I thought someone was trying to enter my room, but they left before I could see them." The Goblin King began lighting the paper with the candle. "I heard a noise and found a broken candlestick by the stairwell. When I went upstairs I saw the fire in your room. That was all I saw."

The Goblin King remained silent as he watched the fire grow over the logs.

"Sir?" Sarah asked. "Did someone wish you dead?"

"Do not worry about it." He told her. "The issue is settled now." Jareth prodded the fire with an iron poker.

Sarah wanted to ask more about, but she could see that he did not want her asking anymore questions.

The King looked up at her suddenly as though realizing something. "Where is Adele?"

"I left her in my room." She answered quickly. "She was still asleep, and I locked the door behind me when I left." The key was on his dresser by the empty vase now.

"Good." He looked relieved and turned back to the fire. "She may wake up soon, and notice you are gone. You best return to her."

Sarah saw this as a dismissal and she stood up and left his robe on the chair. She fetched the key from the dresser, and it was then that Jareth looked up, surprised to see that she had moved from her place.

"You are leaving me already?"

Sarah was also surprised by his reaction. "You said I should go." She reminded him.

The Goblin King stood fully and stared at her incredulously. "Sarah? You-…You saved me. I may be immortal, but the smoke would still choke me as the fire would still burn me as I slept. Do you expect me to just brush you off as my convenient savior?" He stared at her, reading her facial reactions to his words. "Are we not friends Sarah?"

"No sir!" She said embarrassed. "I am…I'm happy I was awake to be able to help you."

Jareth smiled and held a hand out to her. "Then come here and at least let me shake your hand."

Sarah felt a sense of déjà vu. The way he was looking at her reminded her of his stare when he cast the beguile spell. However she did not sense any influence coming from him, only his sincerity to wish her thanks. This was enough to persuade her to approach him and take his waiting hand.

Jareth's hand held hers gently, and his other hand drifted up to cover the top of her tiny hand. Sarah looked up at him and saw that his smile was gone, and he was looking very intently at her. His eyes were burning; she imagined he was holding up a wall that hid something he did not want her to see. Although he held her hand gently he slowly pulled her closer to him and she was so distracted by his expression that she did step closer.

"It pleases me to be in your debt." Jareth began saying.

Sarah laughed a little and looked down at the ground. "There is no debt, I-." When she met his eyes again and saw that his expression remained unchanged she faltered. "There's no debt, your majesty. I would do what I could to help anyone." She said simply.

The Goblin King chuckled. "And I wanted to be of aid to you the moment I met you. You may think it just a natural sympathy, I an immortal aiding a lowly human. No," He paused, his face became serious again "I knew there and then you would aid me." He began to stroke her hand gently with thumb. "I knew I would not mind being in debt to a human girl."

"You are too kind sir." Sarah tried to pull away from his hold but he held on.

"You wish to leave me?" He sounded annoyed.

"I…" Sarah faltered again. "I'm cold." She said honestly.

Jareth suddenly smirked at her. "You are cold," He released her hand and picked the blanket off the sofa by the fire "and as your servant," He corrected himself "no, as your slave I will not allow you to feel cold again," He wrapped the blanket around her shoulder and pulled her toward him again, the space between them now was hardly an inch apart "my precious Sarah."

Sarah felt her heart suddenly vanish from her chest. His words shocked her so much she forgot how to breathe. Already the Goblin King's generosity overwhelmed her enough to cry over her past life, but this, Sarah did not recognize this sort of kindness.

The warmth in Jareth's eyes faded quickly as she remained silent. "You still wish to leave?" He asked Sarah in a dark tone.

"Adele is all alone sir." She reminded him although she really wanted to escape. Sarah recognized that his thankful mood was switching over to an angry one, and she did not know why.

The Goblin King stared down at her, his mind weighing what she said, but he eventually said "Go." When he released her she turned away quickly and fled from the room, dropping the blanket as she passed through the doorway. In the hallway she felt her breathing return and her heart was beating again, but more rapidly than it had been before. Outside her door she nearly fumbled with the key, however she managed to enter the room silently, and find that Adele was still sleeping.

Sarah sighed quietly and leaned her back on the door. She stared at the hand the Goblin King had held, and wondered what he meant by his words. A memory of Helen came back to her of when Helen warned her of risks of serving under a master of a house. Helen said that men often expected compliance from women, but if they were married men with pure hearts that there was little to fear, but if it was with a bachelor she should always be on her guard from unwanted advances, or from developing feelings that could not be returned. For single men of noble stock only married women of higher rank than a girl like Sarah. Developing an interest was foolish and could easily shatter her fragile heart.

Sarah gripped her right hand, feeling foolish for not being on her guard from the start. She realized she would need to be on her guard now more than ever, she sensed that an unseen trap was already set and waiting for her to slip. Not set by her master, but by her own traitorous heart. Never had she felt so much kindness in her life, and now it threatened to create an undue fondness for her master. Sarah would not allow her heart to run wild with her feelings, she would keep it rational.

Sarah stepped away from the door and returned to the bed. She pulled up the cover lay down gently by Adele. Tomorrow she would prevail over her nervous feelings and face her master as though nothing happened on this night. He will likely treat her the same way, and all would be normal again.

It took another hour before Sarah finally fell asleep and when she awoke in the morning she was alarmed to find that Adele was no longer in the bed with her. Sarah quickly dressed into something presentable and left her room to find Adele, however a goblin was already waiting outside for her.

"Lady!" The goblin cried. "Hurry to throne room! Adele has gone crazy!"

Sarah ran off immediately to find Adele sitting in the King's throne giggling as she watched the goblins running around the room attacking each other.

She did not understand what was going on, but she would find out. "Adele!" Sarah shouted over the ruckus. Adele looked up immediately and alarm spread over her face when she saw Sarah.

"Everyone stop!" Adele yelled at the goblins who stopped moving at once, collapsing onto the ground. "I'm sorry Ms. Sarah!" Adele cried running toward Sarah over the goblins. "But Master said I could!" She insisted.

"Said you could what?" Sarah asked confused by this scene. "Where is the King?"

"He left." Adele answered.

"What?" Sarah was taken aback by this news. "He left?"

"Yes. Oh!" Adele's face lit up as she realized something. "Master told me to give you this." Adele reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Master wrote a note for you!" She handed it to Sarah proudly. "He came for me while you were still sleeping and he did not want to disturb you."

Sarah unfolded it and read Jareth's short letter.

Sarah,

Business in the mortal realm and my own personal affairs will keep me away indefinitely. I have told Adele to practice the beguile spell on the goblins while I am gone, I am certain she will abuse this privilege so do your best to keep her in check. If I return before the end of the month I will be bringing guests with me, so I will expect that Adele's lessons will focus on etiquette before my possible return.

That was all the letter said. Sarah sighed. If that was all he needed to tell her he could have sent a goblin for her and Adele and then tell them that he was leaving.

"Are you alright Ms. Sarah?" Adele asked. Sarah realized her annoyance was slipping through for Adele to observe.

"I am fine Adele, but did your Master specify how many goblins you were allowed to practice your new spell on?"

Adele looked down guiltily. "Yes." She answered glumly.

"And how many was that?"

"Just one at a time." She admitted.

Sarah looked around her. "This is a bit too many then isn't it?"

"But it's so much more fun this way!" Adele pouted. "May I play with them still until breakfast?" She pleaded holding her hands up in a pleading gesture.

Sarah smiled at her and decided to give in this once. "Alright Adele, but don't make them do anything that will hurt themselves, and from now if you do this spell I must be present to observe."

Adele nodded eagerly and turned back to the goblins. "Dance for me!" She commanded and all the goblins hopped up and began twirling for Adele.

Sarah giggled. It was a funny scene, but it did not remove the angry mood she was in. The Goblin King left without giving her a chance to hold her head high and act as though what happened last night had no effect on her. It should not have troubled her, and now that he was gone she would not be able to rid herself of her anxiety.

No. Sarah thought. He was gone, and nothing happened last night. He only thanked her for saving him and was an acceptable thing to do. She was his servant and she would do her job properly while he was gone, and not think of silly things again.

After Adele finished playing with the goblins she freed them of the spell which left them in a lethargic state on the stone floor. Sarah and Adele had breakfast together and then went to Sarah's cottage to play house. Sarah used the small table in her room and a set of old silverware she borrowed so Adele could practice setting the table and learn table manners. Hoggle even stopped by toward the end of the lesson to bring Sarah some tea leaves. When he arrived he apologized for interrupting, but when Sarah said she was finished he relaxed and started talking about the work going on in the castle. Hoggle told them about how a fire accidentally started in the King's chambers. Sarah nearly dropped the pot of tea when he said that but she stopped herself and resumed her work. The King's explanation of the fire was that a candle fell over and that he was fortunate to have woken up in time to stop it.

Sarah felt this meant he did not anyone knowing about her help in stopping the fire. She wondered if he left only to avoid dealing with her the next day. He must have realized that his behavior could have given her the wrong impression, and he left to not encourage her.

Sarah glanced over at Hoggle who was sitting at the table with Adele. She wondered if Hoggle would find it strange if she started asking questions about the mysterious Goblin King. Sarah assumed he would not, but if Adele was here when she asked the little nymph might go and snitch on her when the Goblin King returned from his travels.

"Adele?" The little girl looked up at Sarah. "This room is very dull isn't it? Would you go pick some flowers for me? That way we can have a lovely bouquet on the table while we drink tea."

Adele jumped up. "Yes, Ms. Sarah!" She said eagerly, skipping out the door to the gardens.

Sarah turned back to the pot of tea to hide her smile. She felt very cunning now, and she needed it to extract information from Hoggle. When she looked back she began talking casually to him.

"I was wondering something Hoggle." She began saying.

"What would that be, Miss?" Hoggle asked her.

"I wondered if the Goblin King usually leaves after such brief visits?"

"Can't predict whether the King will stay for long or short times. Lately he stays longer for Adele's sake, but with you here he may return to his old routine."

"That would make sense." Sarah said, starting to give her new theory merit. "He must get called away to the my realm quite a lot."

"Not as often as ye might think, when he does go away for long periods its usually to go visit friends or attend their fancy parties." Hoggle explained. "When Adele came he started going less to such events."

"He must miss his bachelor life then." Sarah guessed.

"Aye! And I would guess the ladies at court miss him just as much." Hoggle chuckled to himself.

Sarah stiffened a bit when she heard Hoggle say ladies. The Goblin King must be a notorious flirt. That would explain why he used such sweet words to thank her, but it did not explain away her sudden hopeless feeling.

"I imagine they are very beautiful women." Sarah said.

"Divine is how Jareth describes em." Hoggle explained. "Amazing how not one of them managed to capture the Goblin King's hand by now, but he be a slippery one."

"They all must want him to settle down with one of them I assume."

"They do, and so do their mothers, and they are far pushier than their daughters would dare to be. I hope Jareth doesn't bring them back with them." Hoggle appeared stressed just imagining the pushy mothers.

The thought of that made Sarah want to laugh. It brightened up her odd mood, and when the kettle began to whistle she was able to really smile. Adele returned when she heard the kettle from outside, and she brought in a large bouquet of what Sarah thought look like lilies, but the edges of the petals were ruffled, and the smell of pollen was softer than the lilies she remembered from back home. It was a happy scene of the three of them, sitting at the table drinking tea and laughing together as Adele explained how she tried to beguile a bee to leave a flower she wanted to pluck. Although Sarah was amused by Adele's story she still felt strange.

She did not realize that the trap she feared was beginning to fall into place.