Author's Note: As much as I enjoy writing for the sake of writing, there's something delightfully exciting about knowing how many others enjoy my work. Responses to reviews follow the chapter.

Second Author's Note: Amazing…I started this chapter almost a year ago and ran into the most horrible writer's block, then Life caught up with me and dragged me away, and then there was a new computer and I thought this was lost. And then magically one day a few weeks ago, I was hit with inspiration. And here was this chapter, still sitting patiently on my hard drive. Cross your fingers that this time I'll have time to write the rest of the story down before Life interferes again.

Chapter Eight

Sarah.

The tension flowed out of her in a rush, leaving her dizzy. She rose unsteadily to her knees, oblivious to the muck now staining the pale blue satin. Time moved in reverse and she was a young girl again, scared and alone and yet certain of her own power. She turned ever-so-slowly to look at the newcomer. Perhaps time had indeed stopped, because he looked no different than she recalled, from bushy eyebrows to scuffling feet to twinkling baubles.

"…Hoggle?"

At the sound of her voice, reality came crashing back into place, the background murmur of birds and insects and the wind through the trees picked up again, and time resumed its inexorable march forward.

Hoggle grunted. "So yer really back."

Then he turned and disappeared back through the bushes.

Sarah struggled to her feet, absently smoothing the grime from her dress, and hurried after him. Passing through the narrow opening in the shrubbery, she found herself in a perfectly round clearing. Hoggle stumped to a low stool midway around the circle and plunked himself onto it, but Sarah's attention was drawn to the center of the clearing. There was a round pit dug into the middle of the ground and, halfway buried in warm sand, was a large, glittering egg.

"That's…the wyvern egg, isn't it?"

Hoggle grunted again. "Jareth set me to guarding it," he grumbled. "Told me ta hide it somewhere no one would see. Woulda tried harder if I'd of known you were the one comin' looking." He lowered bushy eyebrows at her.

"I wasn't really looking for it," she replied, approaching the pit slowly. "I wasn't looking for anything, I guess." She reached a hand toward the egg, startled at the warmth emanating from it.

"No wonder yer lost!" Hoggle barked a short laugh and Sarah's foot slipped on the edge of the pit. She found herself half sprawled in the sand as Hoggle, cackling quite merrily, hurried over to help her up.

"The Sarah I knew weren't so clumsy," he told her smugly.

Sarah winced again at the horrible mess she'd made of the beautiful dress. She raised her chin stubbornly and retorted, "And the Hoggle I knew didn't work for the king! Any more." She hesitated uncertainly. "At least, I didn't think he did…" Hoggle, who had returned to his stool, squirmed a bit under her intensely curious stare. "Why are you working for Jareth again, Hoggle?"

"Why are you?"

Sarah blinked. "I'm not…I mean, I asked you first!"

Hoggle snorted and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that? Hoggle!" The dwarf squirmed again, something curiously like a blush painting his features.

"I said, he promised ta take me ta see you."

Sarah gaped at him a moment and then impulsively threw her arms around the dwarf's neck. "I missed you too, Hoggle." He harrumphed and patted her back awkwardly.

She smiled as his obvious pleasure and embarrassment, releasing him to turn her attention back to the clearing's main attraction. "So that's the wyvern egg," she murmured, approaching the sandy pit again.

Hoggle grunted. "Don't touch it," he warned. "Jareth put some kinda…spell on it." Sarah glanced at him curiously, wondering how so much scorn could be put into one little name. She seated herself gingerly on the sand, just over an arm's length from the glittering egg. It sparkled hypnotically and Sarah remembered the soft warmth of it on her fingertips.

She snatched her hand back with a faint blush, not realizing she had been mesmerized and reaching for it.

"So…er…why is ya here?" the dwarf asked.

Sarah dragged her eyes away from the egg to shoot him a piercing stare. "You really don't know then?"

Hoggle harrumphed. "The Sarah I know wouldn't be stayin' nicely in the castle. Or wearin' Jareth's necklace! Or…arrrrgh!" He hunched his shoulders and twisted around on the stool until his back was towards her.

Sarah sighed and lifted a hand towards the egg again. Even from several inches above the surface, she could feel the heat radiating off of it. "Maybe…I want to be there."

He snorted.

"Hoggle," she said quietly, "I love him."

He shifted uneasily on the stool. "Y…y'do?" he queried, glancing suspiciously over his shoulder at her. He sounded so like he had years ago, appearing in her mirror that first night, that she laughed out loud. Her fingers danced above the surface of the egg, soaking up the infectious warmth. Hoggle's eyes widened at the sight of her tempting the magic and he rose halfway to his feet.

"Yes, I do," Sarah said dreamily. After fighting the black coldness of the Alryn's mark, this felt like a soothing balm. Hoggle could only gape as Sarah's hand drifted closer to the shining surface, her eyes distant and oblivious to the danger he could see so clearly.

Gulping, Hoggle gathered his courage and took a step forward. "Sarah…"

At that moment, Sarah gave in to the spell and placed her palm flat on the egg. A great crack appeared in the middle of the shell, running neatly under her hand, and Sarah shrieked as the ground dropped out from beneath her. She heard Hoggle curse and yell her name but the sand was swallowing her up, filling her nose and mouth so that she couldn't even breathe, let alone cry for help.

Oddly enough her last thought, as she clutched her prize to her chest, was that Jareth would be terribly unhappy if she damaged the wyvern egg.

Jareth.

He'd known immediately that something had happened, of course. He felt the spell on the egg trigger and traced the pendant's location to the same area. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one able to locate Sarah with a thought…

Soft wings deposited him in the clearing at the same instant as a black-robed figure emerged swiftly from the gap in the shrubbery walls. Both figures froze, eyes narrowing speculatively at each other.

"She's mine, Alryn," Jareth said harshly.

Alryn merely smiled, approaching the hole where the egg had been with an expression of complete serenity. "You're too late, your majesty." The title was proper but the tone was clearly mocking. "She is, quite obviously, mine as well."

The two circled the lip of the pit cautiously, neither willing to allow the other down first, yet equally unwilling take the lead and bare an unprotected back to a rival. A soft mewling came from the depths of the pit, causing both men to frown in concern.

Jareth glanced at Alryn, startled to see the Dryn's worried expression. Alryn grinned at him, baring sharp fangs. "Why does it surprise you that I do not wish what is mine to be damaged before I can have…full use of it?" Jareth bristled, but the Dryn merely turned his back, striding smoothly from the clearing.

"Take care of my sweet Sarah, Jareth," his voice echoed back. "Tomorrow night, at the ball, we shall be glorious together."

Jareth trembled in impotent rage. A feral growl began deep in his throat, but then his eyes fell on Hoggle. The dwarf was trying to tiptoe from the clearing.

"HOGWART!" The king bellowed. Poor Hoggle jumped a foot in the air, too terrified to even correct his name. "You puny little sniveling idiot!" He waved his hand and the dwarf vanished to an oubliette at the far edge of the Labyrinth. Which was, of course, no concern to Hoggle, who could find his way out of any oubliette without much trouble.

Jareth clenched his gloved hands bruisingly against his thighs. He would have much rather pummeled the dwarf; hand waving was so unsatisfying when one was in a rage.

Unfortunately, he had no time for such indulgences. He extended one hand over the pit and, with a gesture, a crystalline bubble appeared and drifted gently down into the darkness. Jareth hesitated only long enough to be certain that the crystal captured its quarry and magically transported it before he took to the skies again, winging towards the high tower that was his bedchambers.

He could only hope that the he would find Sarah (his Sarah, a little voice added) waiting for him, whole and unharmed.

Response to reviews:

Cristina: Ahh I'm so sorry! I hated abandoning my writing for so long. I tried many times to force myself through this chapter but it was no good.

dreagon-fire: Right on some things, wrong on others…and perhaps not in the ways you might expect either. I hope you're still reading. I've enjoyed your comments thus far.

DelusionalReality: Yes, and yes, and yes, and 'soon' isn't ten months, but better late than never right?

And to everyone whose comments involved the words 'cliffhanger' and 'update soon'…I was surprised and delighted by the number of people that were eagerly awaiting new chapters and believe me when I say that it haunted me as each month passed with no sign that Life or writer's block were going to allow me to write more. I hope some of you are still around, because I have not once given up on this story and no matter how long it takes me I will get it finished! Hopefully not too much longer…