10 Defected

Jareth was still camped in the forest. He had been struggling for nearly two weeks now to adapt to the magical environment without the use of his magic skills. He no longer held sway in these times, all the power resided in Etan. What was unusual though, was that Sarah still had some minor skills. Etan did not know that Jareth had given Sarah special powers, and so he had not thought to try to take them away. They were a gift though, and could only be taken away by Sarah herself.

Now Jareth was afraid. If he had any power at all, then it meant that Sarah had given her powers back to him. If she had done that, it could only mean two things: Either Sarah no longer remembered Jareth, thus breaking the contract, or she was dead.

Jareth stared into the crystal he had formed. A blank, sightless ball that mirrored his own worried expression. He flung it away and conjured another. He saw Sarah, her back pressed against a wall, eyes vacant. She ran her fingers over and over through her hair, tugging out knots and smoothing it straight. She looked awful. Her face was dirty, her body emaciated with apparent hunger. He could see her lips moving slightly, mouthing things to herself. She was going out of her mind.

Her expression changed suddenly and she rose and ran to the door. Etan stood there, offering her a plate of warm food. Jareth could faintly here him speak: "You need nourishment." Jareth twitched as she kissed him on the lips then took the food. "You also need to bathe. I will grant you warm water."

"Thank you Etan. You are so kind to me," Jareth looked away as she kissed Etan again. It was enough. He rolled the crystal much smaller and slipped in into his pocket.

The truth was, most of the inhabitants of the labyrinth were dissatisfied. Etan was a cruel ruler who offered them nothing and took everything. To him, they were less superior and did not deserve respect. As he modified the labyrinth, he moved them around to suit his whims. Jareth had been a strict ruler, but also diplomatic. He had given his subjects the respect they deserved and never any less. Those had been peaceful times.

Etan now built a goblin army to attack other kingdoms for their land or wealth. He prepared even now to press into neighboring lands who had once been allies. The goblins are easily manipulated and so do not question their ruler's motives. They are very loyal too, and will fight hard for their king. The question was, and this was what held him; Are the goblins still loyal to Jareth? If they were, they would be easy to persuade to rejoin him and rebel against Etan. The trouble was communication. They certainly wouldn't trust anyone but Jareth himself, and he could hardly walk into the castle grounds and announce his presence. He had been wary, too, of sending an embassy. That could easily go just as wrong. But time was running out, and they had already waited too long.

"Hoggle!" Jareth shouted. The little dwarf scuttled up to his side. He had changed little over the past years, still sporting bushy eyebrows and a wrinkled, oversized face.

"Y-yes, your majesty?"

"You are afraid of me, are you not?"

Hoggle stammered for a bit, brows drawn together in profound confusion. "Yes, I am."

"But you are not pleased with Etan?"

"I aint feeling neither way about him, Sir. He leaves me alone and I leave him alone."

"What if I told you that he held Sarah captive? That he was torturing her and forcing her to love him?"

His expression changed, "Sarah? Tortured?"

"She is the reason I am here at all. He has taken her prisoner, and I must rescue her."

"Well then, why didn't you say so? What can I do?"

Jareth sighed. This was one of the last people he wanted to send as his embassy, but the only one he could be sure would remain loyal - to Sarah, if not to him. Hoggle was a coward and a traitor, but he was sure he would remain intrinsically bound to Sarah.

"I need you to go to the castle and persuade the goblins to join us. It is important that you do not tell them where we are hidden, do you understand? You must persuade them to at least send a group of officers to meet me at the entrance to the labyrinth." Hoggle nodded solemnly. "I trust you can cross the wasteland?"

"Yeah, it's not so bad."

"Then you must be off as soon as possible."

"I'll be going right now then." He started off at a brisk pace, then froze and turned around slowly. "Um, Your Majesty? What happens if I fail?"

"If you fail, then Sarah is doomed." This affected Hoggle like the Bog of Eternal Stench never could, and he immediately set out to cross the enchanted wasteland. Jareth watched him with trepidation, wondering if he might call him back and send someone else instead. But no, this was the only way.

"And, Hoggle," Jareth called through the trees. Hoggle faced him warily. "Don't believe anything she says. She is not herself right now." Hoggle nodded slowly, then again set off once more, picking his steps carefully through the debris.

It was certainly no comfort to Jareth that the fate of Sarah and the Goblin Kingdom rested in the hands of a blundering dwarf who mistrusted him.

..…oOo…..

Hoggle crossed the wasteland with little difficulty. The trick for enchanted creatures was to simply remain determined. Jareth was Fae, a far more complex breed of magic, and consequently the crossing of the wasteland was proportionally more complicated. To cross in a large group would be impossible because each creature moved at their own pace. For a mortal, with no magic at all, crossing the wasteland was a matter of distance. Sarah, when she had found herself stranded in the wasteland, was only released once she had worked the deep magic of self-discovery. She carried the magic that Jareth had bestowed upon her, an intricate bond that was matched accordingly.

By sundown, Hoggle had reached the castle gates. The air was unusually still; the sort of heavy feeling that comes before a thunder storm. Sure enough, the sky was devoid of starlight, the moons masked behind a veil of thick clouds. It made Hoggle uneasy and prone to jumping at the slightest sound.

He reached out and knocked on the gates quickly, then stepped back. Promptly he heard the shuffling sound of wood drawing back sharply and two eyes peered out of a tiny peep-hole at least three meters up the gate. "State your name and business," the goblin commanded in an orderly manner.

"I'm Hoggle, gatekeeper of the labyrinth, here to see the officers of the goblin army."

"Eh? What now?"

"Erm, I need to hold a council with the officers."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I'm on a secret mission. Let me in already." Goblins are very curious creatures, and naturally enjoy secrets very much. The prospect of a covert operation intrigued the guard so fully that all thoughts of loyalty were set aside in order to satisfy the curiosity.

The peep-hole slammed shut with a muffled bang, and then the sound of the massive bolts being drawn back scraped through the air. A tiny goblin atop a very tall creature waited and nodded Hoggle in the gates, which began to shut again of their own accord. "Come along, then. This way," the tiny goblin boomed importantly.

"Keep it down, now. It's a secret."

"Right then, sally forth," Hoggle trotted along behind the clumsy animal that the goblin rode. If Sarah had seen it, she would have described it as a scaly green giraffe with drooping eyes. When the pair reached the officer's station, the goblin slid down one of the long legs of his beast and led the way into the fortress. Hoggle tottered along behind him, swallowing thickly.

"A messenger, Captain," the sentry goblin announced, then retreated to a corner of the room. Four other goblins were lounging around a large wooden table eating sausage and cheese. Three fat chickens roamed about, pecking idly at the dirt floor.

"Well now, speak up," the fattest goblin said.

"Here, here!" another shouted.

Hoggle tried not to fidget and told the officers as much as he knew, that Sarah was held prisoner, and Jareth wanted to fight for his kingdom and her freedom. "It ain't right the way that Etan treats all of us creatures. He hasn't given us one bit of freedom; it's just all about him." He dug his toes into the dirt, feeling the petty speech ringing in his ears.

"I say, you do make some rather nasty accusations," a thin goblin said pompously. "And how are we supposed to believe you? You may very well be a spy sent from Etan himself to test our loyalty."

The fourth goblin piped up, "Where is the proof, hmm?"

Hoggle bounced his sack of trinkets against his leg and heard the dull clanking of plastic beads. What would Sarah do if she were there? "I'll tell you what, if you let me talk to Sarah then I can prove to you that she's a prisoner and Jareth is here, and if I can't then I'll bring you proof from Jareth himself."

The four goblins stared at Hoggle for a bit, then all put their heads together with a hiss of whispers. Hoggle caught the words "musicals" and "silly-putty," then they all sat back up and faced him. "We agree to let you speak with Sarah, but we can only give you an hour. Hipsynut here will take you to her, but you must remain secretive. His Majesty would not like knowing that you've spoken to her.

The sentry, Hipsynut, came forward and gave a brief bow that nearly threw off his armor, and then led him out the door and along a long path around the side of the castle. After a time Hipsynut came to a halt and Hoggle stumbled into him. "Quietly, now," he whispered, leading Hoggle into a castle courtyard and up a spiraling staircase. Within several minutes, Hoggle stood outside a bolted door. Hipsynut carefully slid back the bolt. "If you hear me sneeze fiercely, then you should hide straight away."

"Right," Hoggle said as bravely as he could. Hipsynut pushed open the door and thrust Hoggle inside. He bounced off something and landed on the floor.

"Hoggle?"

"Sarah?" she was kneeling next to Hoggle, her hair slightly wild but youthful. "It's really you?" She was much older than he had expected. Aging was very different in the Underground, where Fae blood extended the normal processes. He had envisioned the rash young girl that he had seen so many years ago, but there before him knelt an adult.

"What are you doing here?" she sounded strained, her voice cracking slightly from the effort to remain quiet.

"Jareth sent me to you," he said, standing up. Sarah remained on the ground, her fingers once more flying through her hair, tugging at the crinkled waves.

"Who?"

"Jareth. He's out there in the forest trying to rescue you."

Sarah stopped her combing motions and rose to her feet. "Jareth is out there?" A look of comprehension slowly dawned on her face. "It's alright though. I don't need rescuing. But that's very sweet of you."

Hoggle stammered, "But, you…what do you mean?"

"I'm staying here. Etan is taking care of me. I don't need Jareth." Hoggle gave her a stern stare. "Really, Hoggle, I'm fine."

Jareth's words came back to him, and he straightened his shoulders. "Now, you don't know what you're saying, Etan's got you under a spell or something."

"No, he wouldn't do that to me. Not anymore. He's so kind to me now," she said softly, a smile breaking across her lips. "Jareth was the one trying to put me under a spell. With his music, you know? He was a rock star."

"What do you mean?"

Sarah tossed her mane of hair impatiently, "In the Aboveground. He sang, you know? And Etan told me all about him, how he wanted to enchant me into loving him. I wished myself away, and now Etan is protecting me." Sarah rose and slipped over to the window. Hoggle stood still, watching her glare out over the forest. "I hardly even knew Jareth back there in the Aboveground. He just appeared one day and turned my life upside down." She turned abruptly and went back to a sofa by the door. "I don't want Jareth's help. Etan takes care of me now."

Hoggle thought for a moment, his brows furrowed together.

"Sarah, I'm still your friend, right?"

Sarah seemed to shake herself awake, focusing on the dwarf. "Of course you are. You'll always be my friend."

…..oOo…..

"Jareth?" a faerie alighted upon his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Jareth twitched abruptly, just noticing the faerie for the first time as it touched him. "I don't like this. There's a feeling in the air that does not bode well."

The sky had clouded over and the static of lightning was in the air, but there was something else, almost a feeling of hopelessness that had settled over the land. He was feeling less comfortable the more he thought about sending Hoggle as an embassy. Hoggle was not a very likeable fellow, nor a very educated one. The biggest advantage was that he would remain loyal to Sarah at the very least. In that he was confident.

Jareth strode over to his tent and the faerie flew away. He closed the flaps behind him and stretched his long, gloved fingers. A crystal rolled to rest on their tips. A faint, swirling image of Sarah appeared, but it was not the Sarah he knew. Something was amiss in her eyes; her eyes that used to hold the very sky were now a stone grey to match the clouds.

He had heard of this in the Aboveground, this Stockholm syndrome, where a captive falls in love with their captor. It is a survival instinct that forces the captive's mind to focus on anything that might spare their life. It could happen in as little as a week, and it had been nearly three now. That coupled with hunger and the magic that laced the very air could not help the situation. She had been brainwashed, as the humans called it. The situation was most definitely grim.

"Your Majesty!" a voice called through the forest. "The officers have arrived!"

Jareth quickly strode out to meet the party, nine officers from the goblin army. He recognized three of them from his time. They all rode two-legged beasts that greatly resembled the taun-tauns of the planet Hoth. As he approached, several of the officers dismounted and moved toward him.

"Jareth," one of the familiar officers approached him formally.

"I'm afraid you're under arrest." The suave voice slipped across the open wasteland like an arrow. Jareth looked past the goblins to see Etan stepping out from behind them, Hoggle standing weakly by his side.