A/N: I churned this one out
fast, eh? Anyways, as some of you may
have noticed, I've upped the rating from PG-13 to R. Ignoring the fact that I'm now writing something I would be
unable to see in theaters (wow, so now I'm corrupting myself. Interesting.) It simply had to be done. I realized that the direction I'm taking
this story gets kind of, well, we have two mature adults in a relationship, and
some rebels attempting to stage a coup d'etat. Things are about to get messy here people.
Disclaimer: Would you believe
me if I told you I owned Labyrinth? I
didn't think so.
For You
Part
Ten
Sarah paused, anxiously awaiting Jareth's
reaction. For nearly a quarter of an
hour, she had spilled out the entire story, of Hoggle and his conspirators,
from her first encounter with the "cloak and dagger society," as she termed it,
to Hoggle's most recent lie. She looked
up at him with apprehensive eyes, and found a slight smile forming on his lips.
"What?" She
asked, frowning slightly. "What?"
"Sarah," Jareth said reassuringly, "is this what has
been troubling you?" Sarah nodded
dumbly. "You needn't have worried. It is nothing."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I already knew."
"You knew?" Sarah exclaimed. "You knew they
were planning this, this rebellion and you just let them carry on their
merry way?"
"Sarah, rest assured that nothing will come of this."
"But how can you be so sure?"
"Sarah, I am their king. I may not score too high on the popularity polls of late, but
they need me nonetheless. The Labyrinth
cannot survive without me."
Jareth smiled as Sarah left the room. She was tired, she said. He didn't really believe her, but was
somewhat distracted by the sudden bombardment of messenger crystals that kept
slamming into his back before he could wave them away into oblivion.
Once Sarah was safely out of sight, he turned his back
on the doorway and caught the next oncoming crystal as it nearly clipped his
shoulder.
"What could that oaf possibly want now?" Jareth sighed to himself
***
Sarah was not tired. Actually, she felt anything but. Originally, she thought that if she went to Jareth he would calm her
down, rest her fears, and do all those other comforting boy-friend-type
things. On the contrary, however, his
complete dismissal of her concerns made her more convinced that something was
wrong. Jareth knew what he was doing,
right? Then again, sometimes he was an
arrogant prick. Ah, well, Sarah
thought, sometimes you just have to take things into your own hands.
Draping a black, musty cloak around her shoulders and
trying to look short and devious, Sarah pretended to be a conspirating goblin
scampering down to her hideaway as she slipped down on her very first
undercover mission. She couldn't help
humming the theme to Mission Impossible.
Sarah knew her way around the cloak-and-dagger society
pretty well by now. At least, that's
what she thought before taking a good look around once she reached her
destination. When she had come bursting
through the entrance a little less slyly than she had wanted, she expected to
have a hundred goblin faces turned to stare at her. To be surrounded. Demanded she tell them just exactly what she thought she was doing there. Hoggle had probably told them all what she
had said. That she was on the King's
side now. So, blasting through the
door, she expected the worst.
The place was empty.
***
Hoggle tried very hard not to look like he was
attempting to sneak into the castle, as he crept down the hallways that echoed
his every footstep. He was more than a
little excited, after all, he had been specifically chosen for this undercover
mission! He couldn't help humming the
theme to The Goblin Who Loved Me.
After slinking past the throne room, where he was
almost certain his Majesty would be, Hoggle thought he was in the clear.
That's why it was such a surprise to him when he ran
into a tall, imposing Fae standing in the shadows.
***
Sarah blinked, and looked around the cavern again.
Nope. Still
empty.
Hmmm, she
thought to herself, that's strange. Helpful, but strange. Casting away her unnecessary and rather stifling disguise, Sarah set to
exploring. What she needed was some
evidence, something to prove one way or the other just how malignant or benign
this group was. She found lots of what
she classified as average "Jareth-hater" material, punching bags, dart boards,
etc. Spread upon a table she discovered
highly detailed maps of the castle, which she had seen Hoggle looking at
earlier. She pocketed one of Jareth's
crystals, probably filched by one of his so-called loyal goblins. But none of this was new to her, nor
remotely interesting.
What was new to her, and extremely interesting, was a
curtained off room she had not chanced upon before. Inside was an extremely long banquet table, seating at least
fifty. And at the head of this table,
was a throne. No ordinary, makeshift
throne, but an exquisite, sparkling silver and ebony throne. Curious symbols were engraved upon the arms
and legs, and Sarah would have like to have examined them more closely, except
it was at that moment that fifty some goblins and such chose to come careening
into the room.
Sarah's eyes widened in surprise and she barely had
time to dive unseen behind the throne before the creatures assembled themselves
at the table. They were all chattering
at an astounding rate when a sudden hush fell over the crowd, and Sarah could
see a pair of black-booted feet appear in front of the throne, only no more
than a yard in front of where she crouched.
"Lord Abien," gasped a surprised gnome, "you came!"
***
Hoggle was debating between running away as fast as he
could or, well, he couldn't really think of any other option, so basically he
was about to run away, when a kindly voice stopped him.
"Is that you, Hoggle?" Hoggle looked up, surprised.
"King Dantriven?" And so it was. King Dantriven,
lord of the entire Underground, of all things fae.
"Hoggle! It is
so nice to see you again. How is your
father? I see you still bare his
key." The slightly chubby but very tall
fae had a sweet face, one scattered all over with laughter wrinkles. He wore a regal outfit of dark purple, and
though he towered over Hoggle with some ferocity, any human sized being would
think him no more than a Santa Clause in his mid-fifties.
"My father is very good sire. Getting on in years, but as stubborn as
ever. What brings you to m'lord's
castle?"
"Yes, father. What does bring you to my little hell-hole?" Jareth demanded as he sauntered in from around the corner.
***
"Of course I came, you twit." Abien spat, seating himself upon his throne.
"I should think it would be rather dangerous, if
Jareth should catch you –."
"You should think less. Jareth is not an issue at this point. He thinks I am just another bumbling countryman, a friend." Sarah would have seen Abien's lips curl up
into an evil smirk at this last sentiment, had she been watching him from the
front of the room, and not hiding behind his chair.
"Now then." Abien began, as though he had been chitchatting about the weather and
was now ready to get down to business. "I would appreciate it if you could refrain from spouting any more
idiotic comments that happen to spring up in your minds. You are all here to tell me about our
current situation. What do we know of
the terrain, who are our enemies and who are our supporters?"
One trembling dwarf stood, and though Sarah could only
see his feet they were shaking quite hard enough for her to imagine that he
must be having a nervous breakdown.
"We have been memorizing the m-m-maps, sire, as you
d-directed. We have devised several
entrance and exit routes, as well as a p-p-plan b, should s-s-something go
wrong…"
"NOTHING WILL GO WRONG!" Abien roared so loud that Sarah had to clamp her hands over her
mouth to muffle her surprised shriek. He slammed his fist so hard on the throne's arm that the entire chair
shook violently. "Continue." He added sweetly, but it was too late. The dwarf had already fallen to the ground
in a dead faint.
"As far as allies go, m'lord," began a much braver
elf, "we can count on nearly half of Jareth's goblin army, and about one-third
of the local residents. However," he
added quickly, sensing that Abien was getting impatient, "the numbers are
growing every day."
"And our enemies?" Abien stated blankly.
"Well, Jareth, obviously." The elf answered. Perhaps
he had more to say. Perhaps not. At any rate, before he could say or even
think much else, he began to scream in horrifying pain. Sarah couldn't tell what had happened, but
she covered her ears in attempt to drown out the poor thing's suffering. She wanted out of there, and fast.
"Any other imbeciles dare to try?" Abien growled through gritted teeth.
"There is this girl…" Some creature started to say.
"And?"
"And… the King appears to be quite taken with
her. She's been here a few times,
poking around. She'd have to be daft
not to suspect something."
"Lady Sarah." Abien murmured softly, and Sarah was sure she was the only other one who
could hear him.
Suddenly there came a soft rapping on the
door frame, and Abien let out a disgruntled, "Yes?"
"A thousand pardons, sire, but the King has arrived in
the Labyrinth." A quaking voice
answered.
"Well of course Jareth is in the Labyrinth, you
fool! It is his kingdom, or else what would
be the point in over-taking it?"
"Not the King of the Goblins, sire, but the King of
all Fae. King Dantriven." A hush fell over the masses. Abien tapped his foot, apparently thinking
over this unfortunate occurrence.
"All right, everybody out. I said OUT! And lay low
until Dantriven is gone. We cannot deal
with him just yet." There was a mad
rush to the door as all the creatures stampeded their way out of the meeting
room, out of the cavern all together.
"Now what in the blazes is he doing here?" Abien muttered to himself, before Sarah saw
his black boots disappear. Sure enough,
when she peeked out around the chair, the rest of him had disappeared as well. The cloak-and-dagger society was empty
again.
***
I realized I have not been thanking you, my wonderful
reviewers, as much as I should be. So,
I present, a much deserved thank you section.
Silver Space, Danalas, Bunniko, Edmondia, Tael (hang on, where did I say that?), Lauralai, Lady
Guinevere (I'm trying to post faster, but finals are coming *shudder*),
Silver Hawk, Lime (Allow me to ease your mind. Hoggle's not *necessarily* all bad. He has an explanation for the things he does), Yourtruly646,
Cloudburst2000 (Hoggle's neither innocent nor guilty…an explanation's
coming), Sarah Beth, Jarethluvya4lyf, Sabrina, Lauralye (You are my
absolute fave reviewer. You have caught
on to almost everything, so now I'm gonna have to work harder to trick you… you
are right on about Brian, and to be honest, I'd forgotten all about poor Ludo
and Didymus! I'll have to write them in
again soon!), Bura-girl, Firebrand (meaningless aside: I just gave a
monolouge w/ your name in it!), My Lady, Jareth&Sarah4ever, Peach
Dreamer, Peggy, Michiru, Melissa Johnson (you can bet your computer Jareth
had some devious torture in mind for Toby's killer), Lunar Angel Princess
(chp. 8 was my fave too), Netty, Darcy_Jane, Moon Angel, RayearthUmi,
Cassandria, Sky Dragon (just so long as my cliffies bring you back!),
Bunni Girl, Saphire030, Kalika, Xelena-chan (you get a cookie for good
guesses), Corona, Silverstar (I'm trying to work Brian in, but he
doesn't want his past revealed!), MaraG (Brian will be discussed
in…maybe part 12), Dawn, Lattlelady, Elona, A Midsummer Night's Dreamer,
Zhayne, Rainbow (I liked the snow too), Seyia's Odango (ooh, an
alias, hmm? And, I'll ask a dumb
question here: is "Seyia" a character from an undubbed Sailor Moon series? I'm guilty of being an uneducated dub
watcher *sheepish grin*), Raine_Faerie, Friz (why thank you.)