After Sarah had forced down as much food as she could for her husband, she left him to go back to tending the wounded. She was surprised to find Carnice and Kara still working. She knew that Carnice was full Fae, so she was more than capable of working for this length of time, but Sarah worried about Kara. However when she insisted that her friend get some rest she was told that Kara had eaten a full meal and grabbed three hours sleep before she had awakened and come back. None of the women wanted to rest, they ate and slept only when they became too tired for work, returning as soon as they'd recovered enough to begin again.
The hours passed swiftly, until a Goblin informed her that her presence was required outside the castle. By this time all the injured had been moved inside, although the throne room and a meeting room were still filled with those who hadn't yet been seen. Many of those who had been tended to had been moved into the infinite number of new guest rooms. So it was outside the castle that Jareth had decided to gather his subjects.
Sarah could not help but gasp when she exited the castle. The Goblin city was gone, in its place a vast open area. But it was not the absence of the Goblin city that made her gasp, it had no doubt been magically transported to another part of the labyrinth to allow for the gathering, it was the people that shocked Sarah. Never in all her wildest hopes had she envisioned that the subjects of the Underground existed in such vast numbers. She could not see the end of the crowd, could not possibly fathom the number of Fae that stood in front of her, and she realised that the people gathered nearest the steps of the castle where Jareth stood, were all in fact Fae. Way in the distance she could see gatherings of Goblins and Animalanis, but all those near the front were Fae. She understood this, understood that these were the ones who needed to hear what Jareth was going to say, so they had to be closest to him. Yet the looks on the Fae faces shattered her hope, she saw indifference, boredom, even slight anger at being summoned like peasants. These people would not fight, they had no reason to. Yet as she stood beside her future husband, she could see his determination clearly. Clasping her hand in his, he began to address the assembled crowd.
"My noble Fae. You gather here today on the steps of the castle of a Kingdom at war. You hear a King, preparing to lead his troops into battle. You see women tending the wounded of a battle recently fought and barely won. And yet you stand here waiting for a wedding. A wedding that cannot happen until this war is over, until the enemy is defeated. You stand bored, anticipating the festivities the union with bring with it, longing for the fighting to end so that you can continue with your lives after the wedding is concluded. And so I stand here to tell you that this will not happen."
There was a brief silence at his words, a slight shock went through the Fae at the fierceness in which Jareth spoke the last few words.
"There will be no wedding. You will not go back to your lives because you will not have lives to go back to. The battle just fought was fought hard, many were lost, countless more injured, the Elementals are exhausted and unable to fight, and the Faeries have still not returned. On top of this we received news that Gerard has enlisted the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth to aid him in the next battle."
A ripple of whispers spread through the crowd, fear beginning to touch those previously unaffected by the war.
"Our numbers are severely reduced, theirs are severely enhanced. I stand before you as your King telling you that I cannot win this war, and yet still, I see the defiance in your faces, still you will not fight. And so I ask you this. Should we lose this war, what will you have then? Gerard will take the Labyrinth, and without a High King, the whole of the Underground shall soon follow. No longer will you be the Noble Fae, you shall be reduced to slaves, tortured and imprisoned, forced to do his bidding. He'll strip your magic for his own, destroy the lands in which you live, take your homes, your food, kill your family and everybody you care about. Evil shall reign through the land and all you ever loved will be lost. Weddings will seem a thing of the past, happiness shall have no home here. Your lives will be misery and pain, and countless of you shall die in the purge of Gerard's invasion. I ask you to join this war now, not for the Labyrinth, not for the Goblins, not even for me. I ask you to join this war for yourselves, for your families, for your homes. For your lives. This may not have been your war in the beginning, but it is now. I am High King of the Underground, and if I fall, so do all four of its glorious Kingdoms. Would you see your lands fall into chaos and ruin for your pride? Trea will not fight, but will you let his decision condemn you to hell? These are your lands, more so than they will ever be his. There is no escape from this war, should you leave the Underground the magic in you will fade, your spirit will shrink, no Fae can survive for long outside the borders of this land. So I stand here before you, not just as your King, but as a fellow subject of the Underground, and I ask you this: Will you die needlessly, will you watch Gerard's army sweep over this land destroying everything in his path? Or will you call on that raw power of the Fae and stand against Gerard's hordes? Will you find that pride within yourself, that love for these lands, and defend your very lives against the plague that threatens all? Will you fight for the Underground?!"
His voice had been rising in volume throughout the speech, and the last six words were a shout so fierce it pierced the hearts of all those listening. Sarah felt pride for her husband surge through her as she saw all those assembled before her slowly lose their arrogant looks, the fear begin to overtake them, then finally, almost as one, they threw their arms in the air and let forth an almighty cheer. Jareth had done it, despite all Trea's efforts, Jareth had united his subjects to the defence of his lands, of their lands. Though the war would be far from easy, there was a chance now.
Sarah smiled with renewed hope, but when she looked at Jareth, she found no trace of a smile in him. He was facing the destruction of all the lands he called home, and once again she was reminded that this was all her fault, had she never come to the Underground none of this would have happened. The Goblin King would still be the Goblin King, the Underground would be safe, Toby would be safe…
"And you would be dead," Jareth had seen the sorrow in her eyes and guessed its source correctly. "Hundreds would still be enslaved in the Caves, Toby would have been left without a sister and the Goblin Kingdom would never have had a Queen, for its King could never love another." Jareth turned her to face him as he spoke, lifting her chin gently with his hand so she looked into his eyes. "For all the bad things that have happened, for all that's still to come, I will never regret bringing you here Sarah, neither will any of those you've saved. Look at Kara when you go back inside, look into her eyes and her heart. Should she die tomorrow, she would not regret your coming here, could not regret the happiness you've given her, happiness she never hoped to feel again. You have done many great things Sarah, and we will get Toby back, we will win this war." Gently he kissed her before holding her to himself. "I will not lose you Sarah. I will not."