Author's Note: In response to some of your comments, I attempted to do this chapter from Jareth's point of view, but I do believe I'm really better at portraying Sarah. I think somewhere in the middle I drifted back towards Sarah, or some odd mix of the two. Unfortunately, it's a rather dull chapter as Jareth is mainly just explaining to Sarah who and what the Dryn are. Now that it's out of the way, things should get interesting again. If I misquoted the movie anywhere, please do let me know. It's been many months since I last saw it. Thank you to those that reviewed chapter one; I'll respond to your comments at the end of this chapter.

Chapter Two

Jareth.

He reentered the throne room after showing his 'guests' to their rooms to find Sarah gazing out the large window, her back to him. She had not yet noticed his return. He paused momentarily, pushing thoughts of the Dryn from his mind, to watch her. She had a slight frown on her face and a soft breeze caused whisps of her hair to flutter gently. Jareth felt his heart flutter in response. She was so beautiful, his Sarah.

His Sarah.

He slid silently across the room. She started to turn as she finally noticed his presence, but he stopped her by wrapping his arms about her waist, pulling her back tightly against his chest. He pressed a kiss to her neck and relished the way she softly sighed at his touch. She turned her head and met his lips with her own. Jareth's hands traveled over the bodice of her dress and she gasped, pulling away from him.

"Jareth!" Her eyes were wide and luminous in her flushed face.

He favored her with a seductive grin, enjoying the way she trembled in his arms. "So the enchantress thinks she is the Goblin Queen now, does she?"

Sarah's already pink face darkened a few shades. "Well someone has to run things around here!" she retorted, careful to keep the playful tone in her voice.

"Mmhmm," Jareth purred as he led her from the window. "You did an admirable job handling the goblins, I must admit. The Dryn, however..." His voice trailed off as his expression became serious. "Not that there really is a proper way to handle the Dryn," he muttered.

"Jareth." The teasing quality had also fled from Sarah's voice, he noted. He met her intense gaze and read the nervousness there. Good. Better she be prepared for whatever may come. The appearance of the Dryn so close to Sarah's return could only mean trouble. Trouble for her. Trouble for both of them.

Her return still baffled him. He was torn between marrying her on the spot or throwing her into the blackest dungeon. She had to have a reason. Everyone had private reasons for their actions and he could not believe that she would come back, offering to give willingly whatever Jareth chose to take, without some great hidden agenda. He touched fingertips to his forehead, feeling a headache beginning. Now was not the time for personal matters.

With a sigh, he plopped (plopped? the king of the goblins does not 'plop'!) into his throne. "The Dryn are-" He stopped in surprise as Sarah settled herself into his lap, twining her arms about his neck. She smiled innocently and rested her head on his shoulder. He cleared his throat and began again.

"The Dryn are from a very distant land. They are not creatures such as you and I. They are immortal and their life force is sustained by draining energy from other beings. This is most commonly done in a blood-letting, though I have seen…other methods used as well." Sarah chose not to question what those other methods may have been.

"Mating season?" she prompted gently.

He nodded. "Mating season occurs only once every century or so. They mate at other times, of course, but only at this one time are they able to create more of their species. The Dryn do not reproduce in the same what that you and I might," Sarah blushed at the subtle reference, "but instead by draining sufficient energy from their...victims and then feeding it back into them. The cycle ends in the victim becoming Dryn. During normal times, a Dryn is not able to hold enough of a person's life force to change them. No one knows why the species is limited this way, but it is thought to be a result of their long lifespans. Could the Dryn reproduce whenever they pleased, we would easily have been overrun by them long ago."

"So," Sarah said in a quiet voice, remembering Alryn's fanged grin. "They're vampires."

"In many ways, they are. The scholars of your world manage very complete research, considering they have probably never met the creatures they write about."

"But it's not quite the same, is it?" Sarah frowned. "They obviously aren't hurt by the sun and I doubt the Underground has any cross-toting holy men."

Jareth chuckled. "No, the sun doesn't bother them. They do, however, take on similar physical attributes. Pale skin and eyes, hair loss, the fangs...they're almost impossible to kill except by a member of their own race."

Sarah pondered this for a moment, and then asked the question she feared to know the answer to. "So then why are they here? Obviously, it's their mating season, but why did they come here of all places?"

Jareth's arm around her waist tightened reflexively. "For centuries, the Dryn have always been given much leeway in all kingdoms during their mating season. It's an unspoken agreement amongst us all, perhaps our way of making even for the rest of the time when we scorn interacting with them." He sighed again. "I believe your scholars often thought vampires found human blood more attractive than any other kind?"

Sarah nodded, a frightening suspicion forming in the back of her mind.

"The Dryn are similar," Jareth said emotionlessly. "They discovered goblins, having once been human, make the mating experience the most rewarding for both partners. And ultimately, they make the best Dryn. Alryn was once one of my goblins, known then as Al. The ryn appellation following each name is a convention used by all of their race. So the Dryn most commonly choose my kingdom for their mating ground, and at this time I revert all of my subjects to their human forms. They enter a trancelike state, never realizing the true portent of their actions until it's over."

The words struck a chord of memory in Sarah. "The dream," she blurted. "The ballroom inside the crystal...the dancers were all untransformed goblins, weren't they?"

Caught by surprise, Jareth could only stare at her for a moment. Then a sly grin twisted the edge of his lips. "So you do remember that, do you? I was never quite certain."

Sarah's eyes flashed. "Of course I remembered! It was-" She winced suddenly, looking away from him. "It was one of the few things I had to show me that you really cared."

A thick silence fell. Neither of them was willing to discuss the issues of the past yet.

So much trouble... over such a little thing...

Sarah's fingers traced nervous patterns on Jareth's chest and she shifted in his lap as if suddenly uncomfortable being there. He covered her hand with his own, clasping it tightly to still the movements. She obviously didn't realize the effect her touch had on him. Her head came up, eyes seeking his worriedly.

He met her with the full fury of his own gaze and all the emotions that burned in it. Beneath all his arrogance, the Goblin King felt very scared and uncertain right now. He didn't care for it one bit, yet his rage melted away when Sarah looked at him with an expression so full of tenderness. He was unprepared for this beautiful young woman who had turned his world upside-down.

I have turned the world upside-down, and I have done it all for you!

To her credit, Sarah stared back at him with her own steely determination to take in everything that he was silently telling her. She did not draw back from him, as he had half-expected and half-feared she would do. Instead, she leaned forward, wrapping her arms tightly around him, and buried her face against his neck. She was pressed as closely to him as possible, as if her nearness could drain away the pain he felt.

Jareth felt himself responding involuntarily to her embrace, breathing in her scent as his hands stroked her long ebony tresses. Her actions, whatever the reasons, did manage to calm him and he drew strength from her presence.

"Sarah," he said quietly, though not coldly, "what were you doing this morning?"

Her breath caught and she pulled away from him. He had not realized until that moment that she was crying. She touched his face with one hand, tracing the lines and shadows that worry and exhaustion had etched there. "You're not well," she whispered.

He caught her hand again, watching her with a hunted look. First the tears and now the fear in her voice. Tears for him. Fear for him. For all the times of hopelessness and despair, it was too much for him to believe that she cared so much for him. He could feel his face closing to her, shutting her out behind the mask he so often wore.

"Alryn will be wanting to talk with me," he murmured finally. He was still looking at her, but it was as if from a great distance. Her eyes fell in an attempt to hide her own pain. He lifted her gently to her feet as he stood. "Have one of the goblins show you to the library, or perhaps the gardens," he said over his shoulder as he strode from the room, leaving her standing alone by his throne. "You have free reign of the castle now, Goblin Queen."

He knew she would hear how he mocked her with those last words. His Sarah never missed the subtle nuances. His Sarah. Not his Sarah. He resisted the urge to look back over his shoulder at her one last time before the stone hallways whisked him from sight of the throne room.

As he neared the Dryns' rooms, he spied Alryn pacing outside the door. The man was snooping around already, no doubt. Jareth's mouth twisted in a frown of distaste. He, like most of the Underground, found the Dryns' ruthless procedures with their prey revolting. It was rare to find a Dryn that cared about his partner's willingness to lose energy, or worse become Dryn. It was rare to find a Dryn that had any moral qualms about forcing a person to their whims.

It was hard to believe many of them had once been stupid, sniveling goblins of his own kingdom.

He cleared his face as Alryn looked up. "Jareth," he greeted, with a polite nod of his head. His hood was thrown back, revealing his pale, hairless scalp. Alryn was the closest thing the Dryn had to a king, and he made sure none of the other rulers forgot that he was to be considered their equal.

Jareth responded with an equal nod and his customary smirk of a smile. "Alryn. Your rooms are acceptable?"

"Quite accommodating." The Dryn leader dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. "Tell me, who was that charming creature I met in your throne room?" The glint of hunger in his eyes made Jareth's jaw clench. "She's yours, is she not?"

"No," Jareth croaked. He cleared his throat. "No," he repeated more clearly, "not mine." He cursed his reaction, wondering what Alryn would interpret it as. Fool king, have you become so weak? he growled to himself.

The Dryn was studying him with a curious expression. "Good, then you won't mind if we take her." There was no mistaking what he meant by take. The door to the room nearest him swung open and a soft female voice murmured from inside. Alryn raised an eyebrow and stepped towards the door. In the archway, he paused and looked back at Jareth. "She'll lose all that luxurious hair though," he mused, with a shiver of delight. "Such a pity."

The door shut behind him, and Jareth collapsed on the nearby window ledge, trembling with rage and shock.

Such...a pity...

He wanted to scream at the Dryn that no, they couldn't have Sarah. He wanted to scream at Sarah for having the arrogance to rule in his stead and thus reveal her existence to the Dryn. He wanted to scream at the age old agreements that said he had to yield to the Dryn whoever they wanted. He wanted to scream at the horrible wreck his life had been since Sarah entered it.

Dragging a hand over his haggard face, the Goblin King transformed into a snowy white owl and launched himself out the window with a terrible cry of sorrow.

-end-

Response to reviews:

Stephen: I already replied to your e-mail, but thank you for looking up wyverns for me! Much obliged.

PrincessBaby905: Well, I think I answered your question, hopefully in a slightly different way than you expected!

Selina Kyle: Actually, I've never cared much for vampires. I guess that's why they're the bad guys here. I hope you will enjoy though!

JaNi: Wow, thanks! I'm honored that you think so highly of my story. Don't worry, there will be plenty more with the Dryn.

draegon-fire: Yes, I've been trying to show that Jareth was deeply scarred by Sarah's rejection of him (in the movie) and this story is how Sarah tries to heal those wounds. Of course, the Dryn kind of threw my plans through a loop...so now I have several different threads at once here.

Barbara: Thank you, I try to pay a lot of attention to details. I never feel like I have enough! I much appreciate your comment.

C. Selene Belyea: Thanks for the info! I don't know a thing about wyverns, I basically just did a Google image search and it showed me many pictures of large dragons. I'm not surprised to learn that they typically wouldn't lay eggs in the clouds, but for this story I think we shall pretend that they do. After all, which of us can say we've ever SEEN a wyvern (or anything else) and know their nesting habits?

AlisonHarvey: Eeps, I'm afraid I had most of this new chapter written before you commented! Hopefully I didn't reveal too much for you! You raised some good points too, about Sarah taking over. Definitely something I'll be addressing (as I did slightly in this chapter). Basically, Sarah's still on some level the idealistic girl who thinks she can waltz in and take over (heal Jareth's broken heart, run the kingdom, etc.) but she's ultimately going to learn that things are rarely that simple. Thanks muchly for your review!

And anyone not mentioned, thank you for your comments and support. It really is much appreciated and every word of encouragement gives me the inspiration to sit down and write a little more. Thank you!