Chapter 7. Fairness
Jareth had left the goblins to their revels and was beginning to once again fall into the morose moods that had been so liable to sink into before Sarah had come to the Labyrinth. He yearned to see her again, but his mind had drifted back to the attack on the borders. What did it mean? They had somehow discovered the girl, and they knew, seemed to know before Jareth did himself that she was a weakness for him. His blind spot, the only softness to be found in his otherwise diamond world. The forces had been repelled for now but more would come, they would always come. His resolve stiffened, Sarah would be the queen of his lands, she would rule by his side and they bring down their wrath upon anyone who dared question it. If she accepted him, let him rule her, she would be safe. She could never return to the world above, she would change and become like him, not a human, but not a goblin, not an elf either something like a fae from the stories of old, where the fairy courts were cruel and deceptive but beautiful and fascinating all at the same time.
She would be beautiful, not beautiful in the way she was now but a better being than all others, she would be perfect. Jareth had frozen over at the thought of her, permanently on his arm, by his side, forever when the castle bells began to chime the hour and he was jerked back to reality. Jareth swept back into the throne room, his black shimmering cloak flying out behind like a starlight sky. He summoned a crystal with a casual wave, he wanted to see her again, just to know where she was, who she was with, what she was thinking. Drawing on his power, he muttered a short spell under his breath, then watched impatiently as the orbs fog began to dissolve giving way to a picture, a pair of wide eyes, a pale face. He watched silently as she solved the riddle of the doors, then fell to pride and slipped down the well of hands and into the dark of the oubliette. "She's in the oubliette" Jareth sighed, concern etched across his pale handsome his face, the goblins laughed raucously, "shut up" he snapped, "She never should have made it this far, she should have given up by now" He could have swept in at her darkest moment, he imagined it briefly, Sarah cold and alone. Trapped in a corner of the Labyrinth she couldn't escape then the look on her face as he appeared, her saviour, he would gently wipe away the tears from her face and carry her back to his castleā¦
"She'll never give up" muttered a goblin, "won't she?" Jareth asked "Once that dwarf takes her back to the beginning she'll soon give up when she realises she has to start all over again" he laughed at his own brilliant plan and was met with a stony silence, "well, laugh?!" once prompted the surrounding goblins burst into laughter. He smiled along with them, but the amusement was tinged also with a hint of jealousy, it burned in his gut but it was absurd just imagine the Goblin King being jealous of a snivelling little dwarf like that? He pushed the thought away but nonetheless continued to watch closely as she sat huddled in a corner of the oubliette. When the dwarf appeared the relief on her face was almost terrible. His heart lurched as it had never done before, all these new emotions and he had no idea how to handle them. Jareth watched her talking to the dwarf, watched the charm of her smile and the play of her lips as she spoke to him.
The dwarf fell under her spell as had the goblin king, unfortunately for him Jareth had never learnt of love and didn't know that love could be shared and grown and had by many people from one person. In his mind Sarah was his and he couldn't stand to see another gaze at her with a sickeningly rapt expression.
Raucous laughter resounded around the room and the Goblin King joined in though it did not quite reach his eyes. He had thought that the Hog dwarf had been a particularly excellent idea of his. Send in the most heinous, mean looking Goblin he had. Let her see how foul this place could really be, and while she just wanted someone to help the ugly little thing would lead her all the way back to the beginning. She couldn't fail to want to give in when she realised how little progress she had made. It would make her weaker and more pliable to his charms.
He watched her sitting in the oubliette and hardened his heart again against the feelings that arose there. To keep his mind off her he sent out scouts to the borders of his realm to check for intruders. He'd already made a slip up with the forest and he still wasn't sure how they had gotten in. The leaders of his armies had reported back that all was well, they had killed off most of the scourge and stuck their heads on pikes for the rest of the world to see as a warning of what would happen to them if they intruded on the Goblin King's land.
Jareth continued to watch as she bumbled about with the dwarf, smiling at the relief on her face, so little she knew, so innocent she was. Yet in the short space of time she had spent with one of his subjects Jareth felt a ripple in the consciousness of the Labyrinth, a stirring, because someone wanted to disobey him. The Labyrinth was a living thing and as such was connected to it's King in the most loyal manner. It was coming from the dwarf, the irritating blobby thing was daring to defy him, The Goblin King and break the rules of the Labyrinth. Fury lashed out of him like a whip, Goblins squealed and dove headlong for cover as he swept away from his crystal gazing and strode out of the throne room, sending creatures, goblins and objects flying in his anger. Magic sizzled from his hands and he leapt out the window, transforming himself into an owl and flying down into the tunnels below the Labyrinth.
He landed through one of the few skylights of the tunnels and heard footsteps approaching around the corner. Jareth speedily changed form once again, this time into an old decrepit goblin, huddled into a corner, with a little tin pot as if he were collecting change. He released a crystal in their direction and waited impatiently, the footsteps grew louder, closer, until she shuffled into view, a look of surprise etched across her face as she took him in, the crystal that had led them to him jumped up into his tin cup, "uh oh" uttered the dwarf, he obviously knew what he was in for.
"Ah, what have we here?" Jareth's voice had taken on a disguise as much as he had, and it came out thin as a reed, rasping. "N...nothing" stuttered the dwarf,
"Nothing? Nothing?" Jareth threw his disguise to the floor and stepped out in all his splendour and glory, "Nothing, tra la laa?" His voice resounded around the cramped room and the two of them cowered before him. Sarah's face was a picture of utter shock but she was curious about him, about what he was like Jareth could tell that much at least. "Your Majesty" the dwarf drawled his voice dripping with flattery "what a nice surprise" Jareth smiled deliberately ignoring Sarah though he could feel her gaze upon him "hello Hedgewart"
"Hogwart" she interrupted,
"Hoggle" muttered the frustrated dwarf. Jareth, distracted momentarily by Sarah's outburst knelt down beside him his voice ice "Hoggle, are you helping this girl?"
"H...helping, in what sense?"
"In the sense that you were leading her towards the castle" his voice was dangerously low now, a shudder of pleasure slipped through him as he felt the dwarf quivering in fear. He back tracked quickly, "I was taking her back to the beginning"
"What?" Sarah's voice filled with genuine hurt, Hoggle was glancing between the two of them not knowing where to look, "I, I told her I would help her, a little trickery on my part, but actually..."
"What is that plastic thing around your wrist?" Jareth had noticed it flashing in the dim light of the cave, it was a human creation, it was Sarah's. "Oh, oh this? Oh my goodness, where did this come from?" He was stuttering now, it was a pitiful sight.
Jareth stood above the dwarf gazing down at the sad creature with no pity in his eyes. Let Sarah see what he really was and that he was not to be trifled with. "If I thought for one second that you were betraying me I would be forced to suspend you head first in the bog of eternal stench." At that the dwarf lost all control and fell sobbing to his knees, pleading with the King, "No you Majesty, not the eternal stench" Jareth kicked him away, "oh yes Hoggle." The he turned away and looked at Sarah, again she made him catch his breath but he wouldn't show it. He hadn't intended to talk to her, shouldn't be going near her but he couldn't help it. He was drawn as a moth to a flame. "And you Sarah, how are you enjoying my Labyrinth?" He was close to her now, close enough to see the tiny specks of green in her dark brown eyes, but she remained frustratingly defiant. "It's a piece of cake"
"Oh really? How about upping the stakes?" He pointed to the Labyrinth clock now suspended in the air by the cavern wall, and cut her time down by three hours, the hands of the clock spinning to his will as the sands of time bent as well. He turned back to her, "that's not fair?!" She looked like a petulant child, Jareth chided her "You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is?" The anger had returned, she wound him up so easily, pushed his buttons and got under his skin. "You say the Labyrinth's a piece of cake? Well lets see how you deal with this little slice" A crystal appeared in his hand, and eyes gleaming he threw it down the tunnel where it expanded and twisted turning into The Cleaner. He laughed, high and cold before disappearing and leaving them to their fate.
