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Whoa with the comment spam! Em… thanks for the positive feedback though. I almost had a heart attack when I saw 32 comments… :-p

For real though, you guys are great. J I'm glad you're enjoying my story. . . thanks for reading! And Tithe's Child- I really can't blame you for putting Legolas in Jareth's place. . . he is quite the hottie. ;-) Also, sorry for taking so long to post the next installment; it's been busy busy around here lately!

P.S. After finishing this chapter, I'm realizing how completely bitter it's sounding at the end. . . rest assured, the author is simply at a bitter point in life right now (just got dumped… UGH) and as soon as I kick some guys in the head, the writing will reflect some more happiness. ;-)

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A shrieking yell was not what Sarah expected to wake up to the next morning. Startled, she jumped out of bed, took a moment to get her bearings, and rushed out of the room to the stairwell. She could hear what sounded like a very angry little animal attacking something. Didymus, Sarah realized, taking the stairs two at a time to reach her noble meaning friend in time.

Sure enough, Sir Didymus was waving a pointed spear at an almost amused Jareth, who was backing away from the twitching weapon. Ambrosius, her friend's trusty dog—er, steed, was hiding in a corner away from the racket.

"Fear not, fair maiden!" Didymus shouted, glancing back at Sarah. "I shall rescue you from this treacherous situation." He hopped forward and backwards, making the goblin king a bit nervous.

"Sir Didymus!" Sarah finally regained the use of her vocal cords. "It's alright, he's not here to hurt us." Sarah walked over and placed herself between Jareth and the angry animal. Looking confused, Didymus lowered his weapon. Jareth looked thoughtfully at Sarah, touched by the gesture she had made to protect him. To the chagrin of Sarah's old friend, he wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss on the top of her head. Didymus looked skeptically at the king.

"Are you sure he has not enchanted you, milady? You know he has cast spells on you before." Sarah's memory flashed back to a ballroom and the sweet taste of an enchanted peach. She smiled reassuringly at her diminutive protector.

"No, it's alright, everything's okay, now." She felt that everything would, in fact, turn out for the best, even if she couldn't put her finger on why she suddenly felt this way. "Now who feels like breakfast?" she asked. Still looking a bit skeptical, Didymus looked sideways at the goblin king, and then followed Sarah into the kitchen. Jareth glanced outside. The snow was still piled up to the windows; it would be another couple of days before they would be able to venture outside once more. It would be best not to tell Sarah about the quest until then. He would just focus on making her dreams come true until it was time for the next journey. This time, however, instead of a small little girl alone and wandering through a stone nightmare, they would be together, on a dangerous quest to save his kingdom. With a sigh, Jareth joined his companions in the kitchen.

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Two hours later, Sarah sat at the kitchen table across from a very full and happy Sir Didymus and a very distracted goblin king. She examined the look of reverie on his face and wondered what he was thinking about. Clearing the table, she started talking to Didymus about a play she had written about a noble night and the fair lady he was sworn to protect. She stopped short fifteen minutes later when she realized that Jareth was staring at her.

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" she asked, meeting his eyes. Jareth shook himself out of his daze and looked at Sarah.

"What makes you say that there is something I'm keeping from you?" He struggled to replace the mask of indifference. Sarah grinned, not fooled for a moment.

"Come now, goblin king, I know you better than that. You might as well just say it so I can say no and get it over with." She grinned at him, and a half-smile took residence upon his face. Jareth sighed. He was a fool to believe he could ever keep anything from Sarah; she could see right through him.

"There's. . . a mission I have to accomplish before I return to the underground," he said carefully. "I would like to ask you to come with me, but I'm afraid that you will refuse." Their eyes met again, and Sarah wondered if he was serious, or if this were another game.

"What kind of mission?" she asked carefully.

"An important one, actually, to save my kingdom," was the measured reply. "There is a portal to my world that has been discovered, and will soon be invaded if I do not destroy any evidence that it ever existed." He stood, gazing out the window at the piled snow. "I cannot travel so far as an owl; even I have predators in this world, and I have not the least idea how to accomplish this journey alone." Sarah drifted between excitement and severe disappointment. Was this the reason that he had returned to her? Was she only a means to an end, which would be disposed of as soon as the journey was ended? Confusion clouded her eyes, and her voice broke as she replied.
"Where is this portal?"

"It is located on an island named Karelis," he explained, trying to decipher the emotion that was clouding Sarah's eyes. "I do not know where this island is; I was hoping that after the snow subsided and we had gotten to spend some more time together, we could somehow research the information. . ." Sarah had the distinct impression that she was talking to a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. She sighed, and blinked to keep back the tears that seemed to insist on filling her eyelids.

"Alright," she answered. She would help him, but she would have to guard against becoming too attached to him. Her feelings were remnants of a childhood fantasy; nothing more. Jareth was an ambitious man who knew how to get what he wanted, and if he hurt her in the process, she didn't expect that he would bat an eye.