Here it is, another chapter! This one should help explain a few things:)
Thanks to everyone for their comments! Grey Kindle and Ariena-Rose, this one is for you!
Enjoy!
"Wait a darn minute!" Hoggle stood in the King's chambers, his hands on his hips. Jareth looked down at him. "Are ya sayin' what I think yer sayin?"
"If you wouldn't interrupt me then you just might find out, Hoggle!" he snapped.
"Please, go on your Majesty!" Sir Didyums pleaded in a shrill voice.
"Sarah is in grave danger, and I know from what." Jareth looked at the three before him, waiting for them to jump in and ask some stupid question. When they didn't he went on. "She is being held by a Possessor, and I think I know why."
Hoggle and Sir Didymus looked horrified and concerned, but Ludo didn't understand what was so wrong, and said so.
"A Possessor is a demon that takes over whoever and whatever it has to in order to reach it's goal. They are very nasty, very cunning, and very deadly." Jareth explained carefully for the giant to understand.
"Sawah possessed?" he looked terrified at the thought.
"No, she is not, but someone close to her is." Jareth crossed his arms over his chest and started pacing the room in big strides.
"And ye say ye might know why, sire?" the knight asked.
"I have a good guess." he stopped and looked across the room at a blank wall. "It wants to use her to get to the Underground."
"But, sire, that makes no sense! All a Possessor has to do is cross through one of the Gates and it would be here. And what could Lady Sarah possibly have that it could possibly need by way of getting here?"
Jareth sighed heavily. By his stance it looked as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"I need to tell you a story that would make everything clear to you." Jareth motioned all of them to sit down, and they did so on whatever was handy. Ludo sat on the Royal bed, but Jareth didn't take notice. "Long ago, when I was a young ruler, I was threatened by a Possessor called Scorpius. He wanted my kingdom, and did horrible damage to this part of the Underground trying to achieve his goal, damage that has only recently, within the last two hundred years, been repaired. I fought him with all I had, but was only slightly stronger than him. He was hurt too badly to fight back, but I too was injured beyond the ability to finish him. The best I could do was to send him to the Aboveground, stripped of most of his powers, and make it where he couldn't get back by normal means. I didn't think he would survive long in the Aboveground. Possessors feed off of the magical currents of the Underground, and I thought that he would... starve, for lack of a better word, when he was there. I underestimated his strength, he found a way to survive up there, and is now using Sarah to get into the Underground once again."
"But how could she help him?" Hoggle asked.
"He must have known that she was here once before, that she knew of the Labyrinth, else he wouldn't have picked her. I made it so he couldn't wish himself back here, but he is most likely trying to get her to wish him back, as that is the only way here I can't block."
"Why?" Ludo asked. Jareth looked at the gentle giant and sighed. He really was a stupid creature, but there was an endearing quality about him that made Jareth keep his temper in check.
"If I blocked it then there would be no way for the wished away children to get here." he explained patiently.
"Ah, not good thing!" Ludo nodded.
"There is a way that I could capture and hold Scorpius prisoner if she were to wish him here, but I would need time to prepare the spell. I would need to be ready and waiting with it and she would need to know to wish him away. But I can't reach her to tell her what needs to be done, not with that demon around."
"So, that is why you haven't been able to see her!" Eddie came in through the door, wormed his way right into the center of the group. Jareth realized that he should have called Eddie there in the first place, but it hadn't even entered his mind.
"Yes. With the Possessor around I can't see her. He has thrown up a fog to blind my Eyes. And whenever I tried to go to her I would be sent somewhere else. I was lucky I wasn't killed, really." he took a few steps to stand right in front of the odd assortment of creatures. "I gave up trying to see her, gave up trying to go to her. I thought she was blocking me, as she has powers of her own, I never once thought that Scorpius was there causing all of this."
Everyone was stunned into silence. Was the King really admitting that he had been in error?
"And what can we do?" Hoggle asked at last, his eyes filled with worry.
Jareth paced the room again, mind darting back and forth trying to find a way to help Sarah before it was too late. He was sure that Scorpius was desperate to get back to the Underground, else he wouldn't have left traces of a struggle at the place she had sought refuge, and that made him a greater threat. Like all Possessors he was wiling to gamble to reach his goal, and at stake was Sarah's life.
And Jareth was blocked at every turn.
"I honestly don't know what to do." he said at last, much to the shock of everyone in the room. A deathly silence fell over the little group as they all looked at each other. Never had they all felt so lost, so helpless, not knowing what to do to save Sarah.
Hoggle, his eyes filled with tears, went quietly out of the room, and Sir Didymus followed close behind. The two made their way to the throne room and sat around a large keg of ale, though neither of them felt like drinking any of it.
"I should have told Jareth about what was happening to her when I first found out." Hoggle said at last. Sir Didymus looked over at him, the plume on his hat drooping low as if mimicking his mood.
"Of what speaketh thou?" he asked.
Hoggle told him everything he knew about Sarah and what had happened to her. He was glad to tell someone, holding onto it had been getting harder and harder, and he didn't know how much longer he would have been able to hold it in.
"Ye were bound to secrecy by the Lady Sarah, and ye behaved most honorably." the knight said comfortingly. "There is no crime in what thou hast done, feel not angry with thyself."
"I can't help it." Hoggle sniffed. "If I had told someone then she might not be in danger right now. Maybe Jareth would be able to go there and help her if only I had told him!"
Sir Didymus's tail perked up suddenly, and his one eye started glowing. He had been struck with an idea. "The King cannot help Our Lady, he is blocked from going to her aid. But what of us? Can we not go there and render assistance?"
"I don't know." Hoggle tapped his fingers on his knee. "I have tried to reach her, but now all I can see is fog. I was guessing that he has blocked us all now."
"It could be so, but I am an optimist!"
"Thats the understatement of the year!" Hoggle groaned.
"The way I see it is this: Ye could see her in your mirror when Jareth couldn't see her with the Eyes. Yes?"
"Yeah..." he drew out the word slowly.
"Then perhaps it means that he can only block those he knows of that know Lady Sarah!" Sir Didymus said as if it explained everything, and he couldn't hide the note of triumph in his voice. Hoggle just looked at him blankly, so the knight went on quickly and energetically.
"The way I see it, Brother Hoggle, if he knew that she had run the Labyrinth, which is the only reason he has chosen her as his victim, then he would have known that Jareth had gotten to know her. He was then able to block him to keep him from going to help her."
"Yes, and?"
"But, does he know about us?"
"How should I know?" Hoggle was growing frustrated, and hit his forehead with his fist. Why couldn't the knight just explain it simply? He was beginning to see where he was going with his reasoning, at least he thought he was, but it was slow to sink in. Perhaps, he told himself, he should have taken those lessons on magic when he was in school.
"Try the mirror again!" he yanked it out of Hoggle's pocket and thrust it into his hands. The dwarf rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. All he got was blank fog.
"So, if I understood what ya said, and if yer guess is correct, then Scorpius must know about me now, and he has made it where I can't see her."
"Ah ha! You have caught hold of my theory!" Sir Didymus grabbed the mirror and held it up in his little furry hands. "But does he know of me? I haven't seen her in many a year as my duties took me far away, so perhaps he knows not that a Knight of The Goblin King's Realm is a friend to the Lady!"
"But this is all theory. What if ya are wrong? Or what if he knows about ya?"
"Then all I will see is blank fog. We must hope that neither case is true, Hoggle, for if it is then I know not what we shall do."
Hoggle watched the mirror as the knight called Sarah's name, holding his breath. It was a tense few seconds for him, seconds that seemed to last for hours, and the pressure built up to be almost unbearable until he saw blank fog fill the reflective surface. His heart shattered at the sight, there was no hope for Sarah now.
But Sir Didymus yapped out in delight. "I can see her! She is not blocked from my sight!"
Relief crashed down on Hoggle like a tidal wave, and he fell over on his side. He didn't pass out, but his heart was pounding wildly and vision was swimming, so he just remained there while he listened to Sir Didymus's half of the conversation.
"My Lady, ist thou alright?... My Lady, ye are in danger... From the demon! Ye are in great danger from a horrible demon!... There is no time to explain now, The King will be able to tell ye everything later. But for now ye must do as I say! Ye must wish the goblins to come and take the demon away- My lady?" Sir Didymus saw cracks form over the image of Sarah, and then shatter. He shook the mirror and called for Sarah several times. "I have lost contact, it looks as if her mirror has broken. I must try and get to her!"
"Ya are going to her?" Hoggle asked as the knight picked up his sword and pulled his little hat over his head. He had gotten to his feet, but swayed slightly.
"She is in danger, and I vowed to defend her in her time of need."
"But what if ya are blocked now? What then?"
"It will take more than a demon to stop me from reaching her side! Ye must tell The King of where I have gone, perhaps I can hold the demon at bay for long enough for him to prepare the spell."
"But how will ya know when she should wish him away? If ya do it too soon-" he left the rest unsaid.
"My friend, though I am a very successful soldier I know that I didn't survive every battle just because of my great talent with the sword. There was a certain amount of... luck involved." Hoggle couldn't believe he was hearing such a thing from the proud little knight. "I will just have to rely on that luck, and hopefully it will prove to be a lady tonight. And don't ye tell anyone of my great admission! It wouldn't do to let it get out and circle around the Underground."
"Cross my heart!"
Sir Didymus laid his hands on Hoggle's shoulders. "My Brother, this may be our last meeting, for on this day I will very likely lay down my life for Lady Sarah. Weep not for me should anything happen, for I died doing my sworn duty, and when the time comes comfort all who may mourn me with that knowledge."
"Sure, right." Hoggle got all choked up, and the best he could do was to pat the knight on the shoulder. Though the knight was one of the more annoying creatures he had ever met, and was downright hard to understand at times, he loved him as if he really were his brother.
"It has been the greatest honor to know ye, brave Hoggle!" he smiled, and then stood to attention. "Away to the aid of My Lady Sarah!" he stamped his foot on the stone floor, and vanished in a flash of light.
"Bye, Brother." Hoggle waved, not knowing what else to do. Tears welled up in his eyes again, but he forced them away quickly. Who was he kidding? That crazy knight was coming back! It would take more than a demon to kill him!
I'm working on the next chapter and will have it ASAP. I promise fans will not be cheated out of a show of great bravery from Sir Didymus!