Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, thanks a lot for reminding me. Really appreciate that.
CHAPTER TWELVE: War
Sarah stared out the window of her large bedroom, lost in thought. Jareth had practically shoved her into her bedroom; it made her a little uncomfortable to realize that he was that protective of her. She was even more uneasy when she realized that she was afraid for him as well.
She had been up in her room for about four hours, listening to the commotion downstairs. Sarah couldn't hear all of it, but the basic gist was that Jareth was trying to get as many goblins on his side for the upcoming war as possible. Sarah wondered how many would follow him; he certainly hadn't made any enemies in the last few weeks that she had seen. If anything, he had gained more allies with his more easygoing attitude.
The noise had long since died down; now the only sounds were the occasional goblin rushing past her room to prepare for the battle ahead. A goblin had come in to give Sarah her lunch a little while after she was barricaded in her room, reappearing every so often to inquire as to whether she needed anything. Sarah bit back the urge to request a therapist for her muddled thoughts.
As she stood staring out the window, waiting to see what would happen, she heard a knock at the door. Turning to face it, she saw it open and a goblin peek around it. Seeing Sarah, the goblin opened the door the rest of the way, revealing Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and Ambrosious all standing behind her. Hoggle immediately went to her, hugging her tightly as though she could disappear any second if he wasn't careful.
"M'lady," Didymus said, by way of greeting. Even he looked sorrowful. He looked much better; his bruises had faded to yellow and he was walking unassisted now.
"Begging your pardon for the interruption, miss," the goblin said, "but the king said that they were to be brought up to your room instead of being shown their own."
"Thank you," Sarah said as the goblin turned to exit. She shut the door and led her friends inside, sitting on the bed and looking at Hoggle.
"What's happening?" Sarah asked. Hoggle sighed.
"Near as I can tell, we're having a war. Heard talk of it at the market yesterday, and then Jareth came to get me and said that I was to come stay with you. We got Ludo an' Didymus and came straight here. People in the streets are a mess, runnin' about and carrying weapons all over the place. It's enough t' make a guy crazy."
"Why is there a war on in the first place?" Hoggle hesitated.
Sarah scowled. "Hoggle, I deserve to know. Now tell me." Hoggle knew better than to argue with her.
"There—ahem," Hoggle cleared his throat nervously. "There's a group of goblins who—who don't agree with what Jareth is doing. They decided to rebel."
"Wait—what do you mean, what Jareth is doing? What's he doing to make the goblins angry?"
Hoggle sighed again. Time to be straightforward. "They don't like the fact that you're here. Goblin kings and mortals aren't supposed to feel for each other the way Jareth feels about you. They're afraid of a human influence in the Underground. Humans and goblins have a long history, although humans don't even realize that goblins even exist anymore. We used to coexist, you know," he informed a wide-eyed Sarah, "before the humans tried to take over completely. You lot have always been a greedy bunch." At the look on Sarah's face, Hoggle hastily continued. "Er . . . anyway, these goblins have been rounding up an army for awhile. I think they knew that this war was coming. Jareth isn't easily swayed."
Something about all of this still confused Sarah. "But if they hate me so much, why are they going after Jareth instead of me?"
"Jareth won't let them. Why do you think you're locked in here?"
Sarah thought for a moment; it made sense. The thought that Jareth had gone through this much trouble to protect her freaked her out a little bit; no one had ever done anything like that before. Astonished though she was, she couldn't help but feel a little warmer toward Jareth. Wow. He does care about me, after all. Guilt settled in her stomach. She should have been nicer.
"So what's going to happen next?" Sarah asked.
Hoggle shrugged. "Jareth's been gatherin' followers, same as the rebels. He's got a good number in his army by now. I guess they're gonna go to war pretty soon. Just when we got the goblin city put back together," he sighed, staring out the window.
"The last rebel war had been bad enough," Didymus added.
"I heard people downstairs earlier; are they still there?"
"Jareth sent them all home so they can get ready for the battle. As I understand it, they're all off to meet the rebels in a few hours."
Sarah sat back once more to absorb this information. In a few hours time she would see a real war for the first time. And the war was all because of her. Sensing her inner turmoil, Ambrosious jumped up on the bed and settled his head in her lap, making Sarah smile slightly.
"These goblins who are following Jareth don't have a problem with the fact that he's consorting with a human?"
Hoggle shrugged again. "I guess the fact that he's been unnaturally pleasant the last few weeks must have helped. And they like you. Plus, there have always been beings in the Underground to follow him; we won the last rebel war, didn' we?"
Sarah paused for a moment. "So, in other words, we're sitting ducks."
"Yup."
Sarah sighed, exasperated. She went to the window next to where Hoggle was standing, staring out at the beautiful city. She peered down and noticed that there were indeed goblins and dwarves and all sorts of other creatures and beings running about, scurrying like ants to find weapons or their friends. She noticed several people she had been acquainted with over the last several weeks: many of the servants; a few people who had spoken to her just to say hello as they walked out of the throne room, having had a meeting with the king; even the cook had abandoned his duties for the time being to prepare for the upcoming battle. It was very odd, to see all of the people she spent her days with act so outside themselves.
"Then I guess we wait," Sarah said softly, turning back to her large, comforting bed and sitting down, curling her knees under her and wrapping her arms around herself.
Jareth walked up the winding marble stairs to Sarah's bedroom, sighing slightly. Rounding up an army was no easy feat, and it wasn't exactly something that he had planned on doing twice within such a short space of time. He was exhausted.
The 'rally", for lack of a better term, had gone fairly smoothly; he had gathered people that had helped in the previous wars, as well as those who he thought might help him now. Most people he went to sided with him, although there had been several who had already been bought by the rebels. His place as king still had quite a bit of power to it; he had managed to scare many into siding with him, with the promise that they would be rewarded afterward. Many joined him without coercion.
The news that he was in love with a human had spread rather quickly as well, and he had addressed it in the speech he made as he was attempting to gather people on his side. Nothing overly dramatic, simply a statement that he thought tied his feelings on the subject in quite nicely.
Many goblins had agreed with him, and immediately told the king that they would be on his side. Some still needed a bit of persuasion. But none of them had left.
Approaching Sarah's bedroom now, he knocked at the door, softly in case she was asleep. Almost immediately the door cracked open a bit, opening all the way once Sarah saw who had knocked. Jareth took in her tired yet fearful expression, truly sorry that he had caused her to be afraid. He glanced around the room, noticing that the dog and the knight were asleep near her bed, and the large monster was near the door. The dwarf, of course, had not fallen asleep, no doubt forcing himself to stay away for Sarah's sake. He walked into the room the rest of the way, shutting the door securely behind him.
"Are you all right?" he asked Sarah, making sure to look into her eyes as she answered. She nodded, of course, although it wasn't necessary for Jareth to try to determine whether or not she was lying to him; it was obvious, and anyone would have given the same answer if they had been put in a similar situation.
"What's going on?" Sarah asked, forcing her voice not to shake.
"We go to battle in the morning."
Sarah hesitated. "Hoggle told me why this war is happening." Jareth glared at the dwarf.
"Well, she had a right to know," Hoggle retorted stubbornly, ignoring the fact that that had been the excuse Sarah had given Hoggle in order to get him to tell her in the first place.
Sarah sighed exasperatedly. "Why- Jareth, just give up! I'm not worth all this trouble."
Jareth found himself getting very angry. She wasn't worth it? She had no idea how far from the truth that was. He opened his mouth a few times, shutting it as he tried to find the words to explain exactly how he felt about that. It was hard to explain the extent of his feelings to her, especially since he was pretty sure he would just make himself sound like a ponce.
"Let me make that decision," he finally replied, thoroughly agitated. "Anyway, I just wanted to check and make sure you were well. I probably won't be around for awhile; if you need anything, there are a few servants and another cook still here who can grant any requests you may have."
Jareth turned and opened the door, walking most of the way out before poking his head back in.
"Under no circumstances are you to leave this room. Understood?"
Sarah glared at the king for a moment, debating whether or not to simply tell him to piss off and stop acting like he owned her, before deciding that this was probably another one of those situations in which she should listen instead of argue. She nodded once. The goblin king nodded in reply, striding out the door as Sarah flopped onto her bed in frustration once again.
