Chapter 4
A chill wind blew in the Underground that night, reflecting its king's dour mood, or so it seemed to Ludo. He was glad to have his thick, shaggy coat that night. Didymus huddled against him for warmth, forming a sandwich between the monster and his own 'steed', Ambrosious.
Ludo was the only one awake. He didn't need to sleep as often as did Sir Didymus, and had appointed himself the night guard. He would guard their sleep from the evil phantasms that showed themselves with every dream dreamt in the Underground. He had given himself a headache trying to figure out what they were, but he understood enough to know that the dreams had made them. He also knew how dangerous they were; the previous night, he had had to defend the three of them against themselves. Evil twins; he shuddered, blowing a puff of foggy breath into the night air.
The shaggy red monster found his thoughts wandering towards their dwarf friend, Hoggle. He had seemed like a first class grouch, but Ludo knew better. Jareth had essentially molded the little man's personality, like he had so many others. The monster scowled. All he knew about Jareth was that he was 'bad', and he knew deep down that Hoggle was 'good'.
Poor Sarah, he thought. What was Jareth going to do to her when he finally got to her?
Sarah…
* * *
Jareth sat square in the middle of his large feather bed, his chin resting on his gloved knuckles as he gazed into a crystal at the sleeping Sarah. She had left the book on the kitchen table, though whether she had truly forgotten it was debatable. The Goblin King drew his knees up and banished the crystal, curling his bare toes on the silken coverlet as he heaved a great sigh of weariness.
How can she still defy me? How?
The last time they had spoken face to face, he had literally begged her to stay with him, but she just plowed on ahead and said The Words that cast him out of her life and house…and did something else.
He would not beg again. Sarah would come to him, or her friends would be killed by their own subconscious visions, simple as that. But then he wondered, was this truly the way to obtain her?
No. If they died, she would have no reason to go to him. So, he would just remove the danger factor from the phantasms; they would no longer have sufficient substance to cause physical harm to a body. They would still serve their purpose; the fear element would still be there. Meanwhile, he would let Sarah and Hoggle be. Hoggle was certainly no threat! And Sarah would need her sleep for what was coming…but what would that be?
Jareth sighed again, and headed for his lavish bathing chambers. No goblins were permitted beyond the thresh hold of his bedroom, so that part of his castle was infinitely cleaner than the rest of it.
He drew his own bath from halfway across the room, removed his clothing, and shuffled unselfconsciously over to the tub. He growled through his teeth as he sat down; the water was too hot, but he didn't feel like fixing it. He would get used to it in a short time, and then it would probably not feel hot enough. Jareth leaned back, folded his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes. Damned conscience…
He felt a twinge of guilt for what he was doing, but how else would he possess Sarah? At first, he had only been curious and mildly fascinated, but that was enough to hold a bored king's attention. As time had passed and he watched her make her way through his Labyrinth, solving puzzle after puzzle and coming out unscathed and undaunted, he had felt his heart turning over and becoming hot. And it was not just the goblin-made curried lamb he had had for lunch. He wanted this woman. Woman…he didn't think of her as a girl. No one her age had ever solved the Labyrinth before, and this was enough to make him want her for himself; he admired her determination. He would work on her stubbornness later. But he would not abolish it; that was part of her charm. And in time, she would round out a bit and make a fine lover for him. He wanted to be her first…experience, and he wanted her to be his.
His cupid's bow lips curved up in a smile, and he reached for the drink that had just appeared at his right hand. He sipped, grimaced; something had been wrong with his magic for some time (months, in fact), and he had just conjured up a glass of chocolate-laced tomato juice. "Damn…"
* * *
Hoggle opened his eyes late the next morning, and did a mental double take. The nightmares had not come that night. In fact, he didn't remember having dreamt at all. That in itself wasn't unusual; normally he didn't dream, or he didn't remember. But he hadn't had a nightmare!
The second thing he noticed was that Sarah was watching him.
"Morning." She said in an undertone, "How'd you sleep?"
"All right." Hoggle replied, still half-asleep, "No dreams at all."
"Good." Sarah smiled, sitting up and running a hand through her sleep-tangled hair. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and groaned softly. "Oh, boy…couch arm gave me a sore neck."
Hoggle grinned in commiseration, "S'okay, floor gave me a sore back. Not that I'm complaining, though." He said hastily, thinking she might take it the wrong way. "I prefer that to sleeping on the ground. Um…Sarah, where's yer privy?" he avoided her eyes and blushed, evidently remembering the time when she had caught him relieving himself by the little pond near the Labyrinth's gate. Sarah told him where to go, and he left in a bit of a hurry.
Sarah could hear her stepmother making breakfast in the kitchen, and her father talking to her in a low voice about something or other. She knew what Toby was probably doing; in her mind's eye, she could see him sitting in his high chair with his finger in his mouth, drawing it down at the corner, while he waited for Dinah to give him his breakfast. He did that often, and it was quite funny to watch. He had taken to chewing on his fingers and just about everything that would fit in his mouth about a month before the Labyrinth 'incident', when he had first started teething.
Sarah met Hoggle in the hallway, and led him to the kitchen where he was greeted with a nod from Sarah's father and a disapproving look from her stepmother. Toby was, just as Sarah had predicted, chewing on his fingers.
"Morning, Sarah." Said her father, "And…Hoggle, isn't it?"
"Yup." The dwarf nodded, pleased that someone had remembered his name without having to be corrected.
"That's an interesting name," Dinah commented as Sarah and Hoggle seated themselves, "how did you come by it?"
"Well, my parents, I guess." Hoggle replied, a bit puzzled, "It's a dwarven name. I don't know what it means."
"A what kind of name?" asked Dinah, puzzled in her own turn.
"I ain't a human, so I don't have a human name." He explained. "Dwarves is a bit diff'rent."
"Oh…yes, I'm sure you are…" she blinked as if to give lie to her statement; she didn't sound sure. She went back to the eggs and bacon, a bewildered expression on her face. Sarah nudged Hoggle and rolled her eyes, and he couldn't hold back a snicker. Dinah looked over again, but she had just missed it; her stepdaughter and the dwarf were both wearing identical poker faces. Peter looked up and shrugged stupidly, all innocence.
All right, Petey-me-boy, I'll find out later, her look told him; but her eyes weren't angry. The night before, Dinah had thought Sarah's closeness with Hoggle to be inappropriate, but that was fading. He obviously wasn't the dirty-old-man she had been afraid he might be, and they both seemed to equally need a friend. Sarah had been hugging him because he had been upset; that was all. Nothing dirty about that. He obviously wasn't the same sort of…dwarf…that he had been in the book. He was just a person, a normal person, despite his looks. They were just sharing a joke, the way any two friends would. It was clear that neither of them had romantic tendencies for the other. Come on, Dinah, get your mind OUT of the gutter, and get back to making breakfast. Just a mother's worries for her daughter…but she had to keep telling herself that Sarah wasn't her daughter by blood. She forgot sometimes…
Toby began to whimper, his fingers still in his mouth, and a runnel of drool dangling pendulously from his chin. Sarah went to the freezer, and got him his teething ring. He began to chew in earnest, his face a mask of concentration.
Dinah served breakfast for the five of them, giving Toby his cereal first, and tossed Merlin a dog biscuit.
* * *
Jareth watched Sarah and her family and friend eat with the rapt expression of a child at his first circus. He was unaware of the crystal he had cupped in his palm; he forgot where he was and what he had been planning to do. He could only stare silently at Sarah, Sarah and her happy family, and envy her happiness.
