They lay in silence for a long while. Jareth's bed was truly rather comfortable. Sarah was just drifting off again when a gong sounded, humming through the very stones of the castle.

The Goblin King tensed and she sat up in alarm, her ears ringing.

"Tell me that isn't what I think it is?" she gasped as Jareth groggily pushed himself up with a grim expression on his face.

"Oh, it is and you're with me on this, help me into my armour!"

He was in an abrupt mood, but it made him concise and exacting in his orders. Sarah helped him into his full suit of black leather armour. It wasn't the metal she had expected, but an odd laminate of leather, ceramic plate and wood. He slumped down onto the chest of clothes at the end of his bed, panting with the exertion that simple action of dressing took. He pointed at the wardrobe again and Sarah, now quite adept at interpreting the gestures, took down the leather worked helmet and the mask that went with it. He took them and then gave her appearance a grimace.

"You can't go in that. Find something dark and eldritch, I'm sure I have some robes and boots that will fit you. Hurry!"

Sarah ran.

She found a dark blue tunic, then drew out a flared robe that seemed blood red one moment and black the next. She snatched a broad black belt form the hooks that seemed to match the motif on the robe, and with some difficulty hunted through his tight trousers collection to uncover a clearly little used pair of gathered black trousers that covered her feet, and more importantly would get over her hips. She trooped back out after several seconds of intense frustration.

Jareth choked.

"You chose a blood robe?"

"I thought it would look cool? Shouldn't I?" She very regretfully lifted the garment up and turned to replace it.

"Only if you refuse to spill blood in my defence," he said.

Sarah hesitated.

"Is this the equivalent of wearing a sign saying 'fight me'?"

He grinned toothily and seemed enchanted with the idea.

"Jareth," she drew out warningly.

"Oh, it amuses me no end, precious thing. Wear it, do!"

As he seemed so pleased about it, and she could see there was great mischief there, she relented, then remembered why she was out in the first place.

"Can you help me undo these blasted buttons?"

Howl, at least, was sensible about the buttons. Jareth very much enjoyed trailing his fingers all the way down her back. She twitched and fidgeted and huffed giggles and darted out of his grasp several times until it was done.

"You're enjoying this far too much!" she scolded as she clutched at the dress and hurried into his wardrobe to change.

The robe dragged behind her like a train. She left her hair down and snatched the spikiest crown off his hat shelf and jammed it on her head as she stepped out.

Jareth sat with his jaw hanging open.

"You've taken clothing from different centuries, and styles, yet every last one of them is an executioners outfit. Have you killing on your mind, precious thing?"

She plucked at the clothes, they were clearly magical, as the robe fit her perfectly and the trousers and tunic shrank as soon as she drew them on.

"Not quite," she lifted the black trousers and waggled her white sneaker at him.

"We can't have that," he declared and the sneakers became black with the same motif of a flame the robe and belt had. "So?"

Sarah shrugged a little uncomfortably.

"I can't get the idea of people sending assassins after you out of my head," she admitted quietly.

"Oh, Sarah," he whispered and held out his arms to her. She ran over and hugged him fiercely. He ran his gloved hands down her back. "I have more than enough power to outwit any assassin they send through here, and the Labyrinth will answer to any call you make for my protection, do not fear that you have to physically defend me yourself. You're a dreamer, not a fighter."

Sarah pushed away from him with a fierce expression.

"I'll throw my worst nightmares at them if they took you down so badly."

"No, precious thing," he said firmly. "Not until you know what you are doing. You could give an enemy very powerful control over your mind. As it is I know every tiny and terrible fear you own, you may disable them briefly, but in time the curse will backfire against you a hundred fold."

She groaned and sank down beside him.

"Why do I feel I am going to make a hundred mistakes a day for you to clean up?"

"Welcome to being an apprentice. It's how you learn."

"Don't we have to go and claim a wished away?"

"Help me down to the armoury, and choose a mask that will hide your face. There should be a Blood Flame mask near where this one was." He tapped his own.

She snatched it up and he tied it on, then with both hands ran his fingers down her hair. Instead of the tiny sparks of green, yellow and white he had used to tie off her braids, they all became deep red rubies.

"If they've any fae blood they'll be quaking in their boots at the sight of you," he said smugly.

.

The Goblins took one look at her and with the shrieks and frantic yelps of terror cleared the waiting room in under three seconds.

"Jareth," Sarah growled at him. "What does this outfit mean?"

He simply chuckled smugly to himself.

They walked down, upwards and sideways across the Escher room to a corridor that looked out over the Bog. There were closed glass windows over every opening.

He shuffled into a long hall with numerous weapons adorning the walls and in racks by the walls. Sarah stopped at the door but he headed directly to claim a smooth black staff just shorter than he was tall that rested in a rack on the far wall.

"You could outfit an army of elves with all this," she gasped.

"The king's guard, yes," Jareth replied.

"You have a guard?" She had only ever seen the goblins who served as his guard, and to be honest they were more enthusiastic than proficient.

"Once," he said softly.

There was an odd tone to his voice so she dropped the topic.

He walked back towards her, using the staff as a walking stick, but appeared more collected than he had been.

"Let's go and see what has happened Aboveground for them to summon me, shall we?"

He held out his arm for her and she took it.

The transition to the place where they were summoned was odd, she could feel how he drew on the power of the Labyrinth and used the power gained by so many to tread its paths to find the exact one who was to tread it next. It was almost as if there was already a link in place.

.

Sarah gave a dry gasp as Jareth drew her sharply against his side and flared his cloak about them both to protect them from the violent heat. All about them fire roared. A sudden explosion shook the building they were in and Sarah peeked out to see a city lit up in the flash of an exploding bomb, fire running rampant and hundreds of people fleeing through the streets. The floor they were on creaked ominously.

"Please! Please!" A voice croaked huddled in a tin bath under a table, then broke into a spasm of coughing. Jareth ducked down and Sarah had to crouch down beside him. Inside was a dumpy woman with sun damaged skin and a ragged shawl over her long honey brown hair. In the water bath with her she had three children, the youngest perhaps a few days old and the eldest not more than two.

"Goblin King, you came!"

She felt Jareth go almost boneless beside her. Alarmed she grabbed him and he glanced at her, his eyes shimmering with tears. He turned back to the woman, almost fiercely.

"Why did you not call my goblins?" he asked, heartbroken.

"They would burn in this heat, same as us, let there only be one gone, not many."

"Sarah," Jareth whispered. "Take the three children back to the throne room. Try not touch the tub, it is cast iron."

She crawled across and was surprised when the woman kissed each child on the head before handing them to her.

"Give them good strong names and let them grow as fine goblins, m'lady."

Bewildered, but hasty, as the room was growing hotter by the second, Sarah gathered the tiny baby in her arms and settled the other two into her lap. She summoned the image of the throne room and felt the Labyrinth's magic snatch her back. She ended up in the grass before the thrones surrounded by several stunned goblins. She snatched the mask off and they blinked owlishly at her.

"Anyone know what to do with burned children? Someone get a healer! Fast!"

The eldest child began to cry.

Sarah sat rocking them all, as they in chorus all howled their heads off. The healer was a young female goblin, who took one look at the situation and sent off for more helpers, and a bevy of females soon surrounded Sarah. One, a wet nurse who saw to the tiny baby's needs, the others sang and clapped and distracted the younger children, until a gruel could be made up for their supper.

Jareth trooped in just as they were finishing off their plates, leaning on his staff, exhausted. He lightly tossed a crystal in the direction of each, as soon as they touched the child it shattered like a splash of water and they became small goblins as the change rippled through them.

"Name them, Sarah." He declared and sank into his throne, one foot over the side.

"What's a good goblin name?" Sarah hissed at the nearby healer in alarm.

"You choose."

"The eldest boy is Henry, the middle girl is Eliza and the baby boy is Freddy," she stammered out.

"Pygmalion," Jareth said with wry amusement behind her.

"You try thinking of good names on the spot!" she snapped back at him.

"Henry, Eliza and Freddy, as they are a whole family, they shall be granted as a whole family. Summon the head of the Keldwar clan in the southern Drawlands, there are three petitions from their people, and they shall become Keldwar."

At that, the goblins broke out into a wild celebration. The eldest, Henry, bobbed about and clapped his hands just as any excited child would do. The younger two seemed too bewildered at their transformation to do other than cry.

"Sarah."

She glanced back at Jareth and he waved her up towards him. She picked up her mask and hiked up the stairs. She was surprised when he patted the spot on the throne before him. She sat down and leaned back against him. She could feel how he trembled as he slouched there.

"Are you okay? What of the runner?"

"There is no runner, Sarah."

"What?" she gasped and turned to him, he still had that damnable mask on.

"She took the dreams."

"But she'll die!"

"She was already dead, heat and smoke inhalation is a slow acting yet sudden killer. She did what she had to do to save her children. At least this way she is not aware of the fire as it takes her."

She stared at him aghast.

"But you could have saved her?"

"I have a powerful magic, Sarah, but I cannot work against death. I'm sorry."

She watched a tear drip onto the collar of the cape he wore and turned around and gathered him into a fierce hug. He stiffened in surprise then curled around her. There was sudden silence in the room, then several cheeky goblins gave loud wolf whistles and the tempo and party of the celebration only became louder.

"Wake me if anyone approaches the throne," Jareth said and promptly rested his head on her shoulder and passed out.

Sarah shifted so she could more comfortably carry his weight and watched the party below. How Jareth could sleep through this cacophony, she had no idea.

.

An hour later, once the three new goblins were bedded down with the wet nurse in an alcove just off the throne room, Sarah decided to call it a night. With the help of the wooden staff and several goblins leading the way, she helped Jareth back up to his bedroom. This time it was carpeted with a wall to wall gold and white carpet. To her right was an elaborately carved box bed. Jareth gave a huff of a laugh when he saw it and swayed against her. She drew him over to his walk in closet and settled him on the bench within beside the mirror. She tiredly helped him remove his armour.

"What's so amusing?" she asked.

"My magic," he handed her the mask and rubbed his hand over his face. "Magic reacts to your intent, hence you choosing all the clothes you did. You wanted to defend me. This room reacts to my wishes, and I'm clearly feeling very vulnerable if all I want to do is hide inside closed doors and pretend the outside world does not exist."

Sarah knelt down beside him and began unbuckling his grieves.

"You're not often so vulnerable, are you?"

He blinked at her.

"No."

"Is it true that I'm the only one who can harm you?"

"It's something the goblins thought up," he said gruffly. "They didn't like what happened when you left after you beat the Labyrinth."

She allowed him his evasion and helped him with the rest of his armour then helped him into a night shirt.

"Wait here," she told him and pushed the wardrobe almost closed, then turned to the room. She concentrated as hard as she could; picturing every detail, then opened her eyes. She grinned as she found an exact replica of her own bedroom.

She pulled the door open and he stood there with both eyebrows raised.

"You wicked thing," he growled.

She giggled at him and helped him across to her bed. She tucked him in and he flopped face first in the pillow with a soft groan.

"It even smells of you Sarah."

She leaned over and kissed the ear that was all she could find of his face.

"Sweet dreams," she murmured.

The answering snort told her exactly where his mind was.

She pulled out the trundle bed beneath hers and curled up on it.


A/N:

Thank you to all who read here! (Over 200 of you!)
Thanks so much those of you who review - you keep me going!

A character list to remind you midway through the tale:

Sarah Williams – Champion of the Labyrinth [Labyrinth]

Megan – Howl Jenkins' sister [HMC, the book]

Sophie Hatter – Housekeeper for Howl [HMC]

Michael Fisher – apprentice to Howl [HMC, a combo from the movie & the book]

Howl – (aka: Howell Jenkins, among other names) - Wizard of Ingary [HMC]

Calcifer – Howl's fire demon [HMC]

Robert Williams – Sarah's father [Labyrinth]

Karen Williams – Sarah's stepmother [Labyrinth]

Toby (Tobias) Williams – Sarah's younger half brother [Labyrinth]

Jareth – King of the Goblins, fae. [Labyrinth]

Hoggle – Gardener in the Labyrinth, dwarf. [Labyrinth]

Misc Goblins – Labyrinth denizens [Labyrinth]

Sir Didymus & Ambrosius – Terrier knight and his Hound steed [Labyrinth]

Elvish Ambassador – Trade negotiator from the High King [OC]