Chapter 7 – Terms and Conditions

Sarah found herself holding her breath as she waited for one of the three Mediators to speak. Not that she had any intention of agreeing to any result other than one that at least got Toby safely home before Karen and Dad woke, but still, she needed to know if her adrenaline was going to have anywhere to go or if she was just going to have to try and bring herself back down.

"Sarah, you came willingly to the Underground." That was the first man, the one with the least musical voice of the three. She nodded, as it seemed he expected a response from her. But when she opened her mouth to remind them that she'd been tricked into doing so, he raised a gloved hand to silence her. What's with the glove fetish in the Underground, anyway? she had time to think before he spoke again. "Although Garendel acted hastily, his desire for an heir is well known, and the child has been to the Underground once before with no permanent harm."

"Jareth was going to turn him into a goblin!" Sarah shrilled.

"Which would not have harmed him," the first man pointed out. "And it was in the terms of the deal you struck with the Goblin King, was it not?"

As Sarah waffled over a response, the female member of the trio looked over at Toby and waved her hand. He disappeared as a silver glow surrounded him. Before Sarah could ask if he'd been sent home, he reappeared, although once again wearing his pajamas. The toddler blinked, looking around uncertainly, then smiling as he saw his sister. "Sarah!" he crowed, jumping down from the throne and running to her side, arms outstretched.

Sarah knelt down and hugged him tightly, barely noticing that Jareth had released his death-grip on her arms in order to allow her to do so. "How you doing, Rug Rat?" she whispered, looking anxiously into his eyes.

"Where we are, Sarah?" He looked around with a little more interest now that he was with someone he knew and loved. There was no trace of fear in either his voice or his eyes as he gazed around in interest, staring first at Jareth, then at the three Mediators and the Summer King. Garendel stood next to his throne, wearing a carefully blank expression. Toby studied him a moment longer, then looked back at his sister. "Is this Fairyland?" he asked in an awed whisper.

Sarah lifted accusing eyes to Garendel. "He's still under enchantment!"

The woman stiffened, then frowned. "All enchantments have been lifted. We wished to study the boy's natural reactions to his surroundings."

Suddenly Sarah wished Toby had screamed and cried in terror and begged to go home; suddenly his wide-eyed acceptance of the strange surroundings was a trap, and Garendel's smile of triumph confirmed that fear. "No! Send him home! I promise I'll stay and have the baby!"

"That decision has already been made," the other man said coldly. "Prophecy binds you here, no matter how you arrived. It is the child Toby's fate we decide, and it cannot be linked to yours. The Summer King has made a request that the boy become his heir, a request we cannot lightly dismiss."

"Then I offer Challenge." That was Jareth, apparently surprising them all. Including his cousin, to whom he now turned. "Will you accept?"

Garendel nodded, eyeing Jareth suspiciously. "If that is acceptable to the Mediators, then it is acceptable to me."

The woman nodded, not even needing to confer with her male colleagues. "It is. The mediation is concluded. Challenge has been offered and accepted. Name the terms."

Jareth locked eyes with Garendel, not moving a muscle as he spoke. "If I pass the Challenge you set me, the boy will be returned to his home with no memory of his time here."

"And if you fail?" the female Mediator asked.

"Wait, what do you mean, fail? You challenged him!" Sarah interjected, gazing up at Jareth in confusion. "Doesn't he have to do whatever challenge you set him?"

Jareth shook his head, still staring at Garendel with a half-smile of contempt on his lips. "No. Since he already has what he wants, it is I who must fight to get what I want. Garendel must set the task, and I must accept and win, else forfeit my claim. If I fail, then Toby becomes the Summer King's heir and remains in the Underground forever."

Sarah rose to her feet, angry protests storming from her lips, but was silenced by Toby's confused whimper; where strange surroundings hadn't fazed him, his sister's sudden distress did. She lifted him into her arms automatically, turning a beseeching gaze on the three Mediators, but as one they shook their heads; she would find no recourse there. Defeated, she subsided, but vowed privately that Garendel would never get her brother. Not if she had to sacrifice everything to save him.

"Are the terms acceptable?" the female Mediator asked Garendel.

He nodded. "They are. I set the Challenge thus: Jareth has thirteen hours to find this young lad." He nodded at Toby. "I will hide him in the Goblin King's own Labyrinth, but Jareth must find him without recourse to his powers. He must search for him as a mortal."

"I accept-" Jareth started to say, but Sarah interrupted him.

"I want to go with him!" She made sure to meet every eye in the room; the three Mediators, Garendel, Jareth, even Toby, who had no idea what was going on. She wanted them all to recognize her determination to see this through, that she was taking it as seriously as she'd taken anything in her life.

To no avail. Once again, the Mediators shook their heads in unison denial. "You cannot risk your unborn child," the female said. "Children are too precious to us."

"But it's OK for Toby to be in danger?" Sarah challenged, her voice shrill with anger and fear.

"Toby will never be in danger, just as he was never in physical danger whilst under the Goblin King's care during his last sojourn here," was the response. "But the terms of the Challenge could endanger you and the baby you carry. You will not be allowed to participate."

Sarah looked at Jareth with pleading eyes, but he, too shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sarah, but I agree with the Mediators," he said softly. "You carry precious cargo and must remain behind. I promise, I will not fail you."

"You'd better not," Sarah growled, then relented somewhat at the flash of sorrow she saw cross his face before he schooled his features to an expressionless mask. "I know you can do it; if I did it, then even without your powers you have a really good chance."

The female Mediator, meanwhile, had turned her attention to Garendel. "You will wish to alter the configuration of the maze somewhat?"

He nodded, his eyes alight with a demonic glee that gave Sarah the willies. "Of course. I will need but an hour…and my dear cousin's permission, of course." He turned to Jareth expectantly.

The Goblin King gave a curt nod. "I will lower the defenses on the Labyrinth itself for one hour so you may make your changes and bring Toby to your chosen hiding place. After that, it is once again forbidden to you."

"Done." With a flash of glitter, silver and gold, both men disappeared, leaving Sarah and Toby alone with the Mediators.

Sarah kissed Toby on the top of his head as he laughed and clapped at the two kings' dramatic exits. "Do you promise he'll be safe?" she asked the Mediators, determined to have as many guarantees as she could get.

The second man nodded. "No harm shall come to him, whether the Goblin King wins this Challenge or loses," he said. "You have our solemn vow on that. We will remain with you here until the hour of preparation is concluded; when the Summer King returns to fetch your brother, the thirteen decreed hours shall begin and we shall depart until their conclusion."

"Your brother shall be placed into an enchanted sleep," the woman added with some compassion in her voice and eyes that had until now been absent. "He will neither be harmed nor frightened whilst he awaits rescue."

"Thank you," Sarah whispered. She looked around the throne room; seeing some couches that looked moderately comfortable along one wall, she headed over there to sit with Toby. An hour to wait, then thirteen more after that. It's a good thing I'm not a nail biter, she thought ruefully. However, she also wasn't much on waiting, either, and the time was bound to pass more than slowly for her.

For now, she concentrated on Toby. "Did you understand what we were talking about?" she asked her brother gently.

"What's a lab'rinth?" he asked. "Why you mad, Sarah?"

"A labyrinth is a kind of puzzle for people to walk through and find the exit, kind of like a corn maze, remember?" Sarah explained, putting it as simply as she could and encouraged by her brother's eager nod. "But you won't have to worry about it. The man with the yellow hair, Jareth?" Toby nodded. "He has to go through the Labyrinth and find you, then bring you back to me. But you'll be safe and sleeping, and when you wake up, we'll be together again. Then you get to go home and be with Mommy and Daddy like always!" She beamed at him, doing her best to make it sound like an adventure and trying desperately to downplay her own fears.

"OK," he said, sounding doubtful. "But I not tired, Sarah!"

"I know, Rug Rat, it's been way too exciting, hasn't it? Too exciting to sleep here in Fairyland?" He nodded again, and Sarah stroked his head. "Don't worry about it; when it's time to go to sleep, you won't have any problems, I promise."

"C'n I have ice cream when we go home?" She actually managed a laugh at that question; whenever she took Toby for an "adventure" in the park, it always ended with ice cream. At least he was associating this was something as harmless as pretending squirrels were dragons that had to be chased back into their tree-lairs.

"We'll see," she answered, hugging her little brother until he squirmed in her hold and slipped back to the heavily embroidered sofa they were sitting on. The Mediators were speaking quietly amongst themselves in low voices, too far for Sarah to overhear. She wondered if she could find a way to casually move closer in order to eavesdrop, but decided against it. They'd probably shut up as soon as she got within hearing range.

She felt a flash of resentment toward them for not allowing Toby to go home immediately, but was honest enough with herself to realize that the prophecy was the real problem. If not for that, none of them would be in this predicament, and she resented Jareth even more for not telling her about it immediately the night she wished for his presence in her bedroom.

"Stupid Underground rules," she muttered, hoping the flush she felt come over her at the thought of That Night would quickly vanish. She forced herself to return her attention to Toby, who was getting fidgety.

Finding ways to keep him occupied took up the remainder of the first hour's waiting time. When Garendel and Jareth returned in twin flashes of light, she was startled into losing her place in the story she was telling her brother. She jumped to her feet, reaching for Toby's hand. He clambered down as well, gripping her fingers as she waited to hear what would happen next.

"It is time," the female Mediator intoned. She gestured for Toby and Sarah to approach.

Fighting the urge to run in the opposite direction, Sarah did as she was bade, and Toby marched along beside her trustingly. He smiled up at the lady as they reached her side, and she smiled back down at him before dropping into a graceful stoop in order to look closely into his eyes. "You're pretty," he announced, and her smile deepened.

"Thank you, My Lord Toby," she replied, offering her hand. He took it willingly, but not without a glance at Sarah to make sure it was all right.

She nodded, blinking away the sudden tears that sprang to her eyes. "You be good, Toby, and after you wake up, you'll be back home."

"Wif ice cream," he reminded her as he allowed the female Mediator to pick him up. She put her hands to his eyes, gently closing the lids and murmuring softly into his ear. He went limp with a suddenness that frightened Sarah, but Garendel was there to take him in his arms.

"You'd better keep your promises," Sarah warned, hands clenching and unclenching in frustration, a refrain of it isn't fair, it isn't fair chanting its way through her head.

"He will be unharmed," Garendel said, "no matter what the outcome." He vanished in another shower of sparkles, taking Toby with him.

Sarah gave an involuntary cry and stumbled forward a step. She would have fallen if Jareth hadn't appeared at her side and held her up. "He will be safe, Sarah, and I will return him to you at the appointed hour. You have my word."

Within minutes Garendel reappeared, without Toby. "All is ready for you, Cousin," he said with a mocking bow to Jareth. "As soon as you enter the Labyrinth, the time will commence." A large clock numbered in gothic letters, one to thirteen, appeared in mid-air behind the larger throne. "Whenever you're ready."

Jareth's hands tightened on Sarah's arms. "With your leave, my lady," he murmured in her ear.

She shivered at the intimate note in his voice, then sternly reminded herself that this was all his fault and stiffened her spine. "Hurry up and get it over with," she spat, jerking herself free of his hold and marching over to the couch she and Toby had been sharing. She plopped down and folded her arms, glaring at him until he bowed, once to her, once to the Mediators, and once, with a great deal of exaggerated formality, to his cousin. "I would ask you to wish me luck, Garendel, but I know you wish no such thing."

"I'll see you in thirteen hours. After you fail," Garendel smirked, and Jareth disappeared with a scowl on his face.

Shortly after that, the Mediators vanished as well, without a word of farewell, leaving Sarah alone with the Summer King.