AN: HI everyone. Thanks again for the wonderful reviews and e-mails. Enjoy the next chapter.

As always, eternal gratitude to my beta, Scattered Logic.

Chapter 4: Unforeseen Changes…

Sarah rolled over and reached for the blankets of her bed. What she got instead was a handful of damp leaves. Her eyes shot open and she nearly cried out when she saw tall trees surrounding her. Her eyes fell upon The Goblin King's form just a few yards away. She had thought it was all a dream, but as her eyes gazed over his lithe form, his back to her as he stared off into the woods, she knew that this was no dream.

The Goblin King gazed off into the trees. He heard the rustling of leaves behind him and knew that Sarah had awakened. He turned slowly to face her.

Sarah was sitting up with her knees drawn to her chin. She looked lost and confused, the expression on her face was most likely similar to the one he'd had on his own face when he had awakened. He had awakened very early and had not slept much that night. Not with the howling of some sort of canine filling his ears and the fact that his eyes had refused to leave Sarah's form. He'd laughed at the absurdity of the situation. She was his enemy and he had been watching over her.

"Hoping this was all a dream?" His voice boomed out over the quietude of the forest. Sarah gazed up at him and was surprised to see that for a moment his facial expression had softened. There was no hint of arrogance or control. She realized that he had hoped that it had all been a dream too. She watched as his usual insolence crept back into the features of his face.

Sarah turned away from him. She had just woken up, the sun had not risen yet and she was too tired to deal with him right now. Just then her stomach gave a loud grumbling and The Goblin King smirked.

"Hungry are we?"

Sarah covered her stomach with her hands. "And you aren't? I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday."

"I'm not as hungry as you, but then again, I did have a midnight snack." With a grin he nodded toward a very small carcass that was thrown over the log of a fallen tree. The meat had been picked clean and bones and intestines were all that remained.

"Eww! You ate a mouse raw! That's disgusting!"

The Goblin King laughed. "Not disgusting to a bird of prey. It felt so good to fly again."

"Fly?" Sarah asked in confusion.

With a devious grin, he changed form and turned into a barn owl right before Sarah's eyes. She watched in awe as he beat his wings and flew up to the trees. Suddenly he shrieked, the sound emanating from his throat not a hoot but something similar to a war cry. Sarah jumped back as he swooped down and grabbed something in his talons. He fought with it in mid-air and then dropped his find in front of Sarah. She leapt back, her eyes wide.

The Goblin King landed, but not at all gracefully. He transformed back into humanoid form a good 6 feet above the ground and landed with a thud. Leaves and sticks flew into the air as his body impacted with the ground. "I must work on those landings."

"What is this?" Sarah had backed up against a tree.

"Breakfast," The Goblin King told her. "You said that you were hungry."

"You expect me to eat that? A mouse? A raw mouse? You are disgusting!"

"If I had my magic, we could build a fire and cook it for you." He grinned, his voice full of amusement.

"You are gross! I'm NOT eating that! Take it away!

The Goblin King shrugged. "As you wish." Once again he changed into an owl. He glided down and snatched the mouse into his talons. He landed in a nearby tree and Sarah covered her ears as she heard him munch on the poor little rodent.

Disgusted and aggravated beyond belief, Sarah walked away. The sun was rising to the east and as the woods brightened she was pleasantly surprised to find a small brook not too far off. Grossed out by what the Goblin King had done to her, she desperately wanted to be clean. As her hands sank into the water, she pulled them back out quickly. The water was ice cold!

"The water not to your liking?"

Startled by the sudden voice, Sarah fell back and slipped on the rock where she was perched. She slid toward the icy water but stopped inches from actually plunging in when strong hands grasped her shoulders and stopped her decent.

The Goblin King opened his mouth to make a snide remark but it never came. A loud explosion echoed through the forest.

Sarah scrambled up the rock and collapsed onto the ground. The Goblin King looked bewildered. "What was that?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Just a gunshot. Someone must be hunting." A smile appeared on her face. "Which means that we must be close to civilization. This way!" She started off in the direction of the gunshot.

A few moments later several more gunshots filled the air and Sarah halted in her tracks. The gunshots sounded far away, but close enough that should she and The Goblin King go snooping, they could be shot, maybe even killed. "On second thought, maybe we should go this way instead." She started walking in the opposite direction of the gunshots. The Goblin King followed wordlessly, though he stopped once they reached their small makeshift camp.

"Goblin King, let's go! We don't need for one of us to get shot!"

"It's not wise to leave evidence that we've been here." He gestured to the pile of rocks, leaves and sticks that Sarah had created to start a fire.

"Forget it! Hunters don't care about that! They care about animal tracks."

The gunshots continued and Sarah began to walk away. The shots were more frequent and they sounded closer. Her heart began to pound in her chest. "Are you coming or not?"

The Goblin King glanced back wearily in the direction of the shots and then followed Sarah.

* * *

They walked for two hours until The Goblin King sat down on a large flat rock.

"What do you think you're doing, Goblin King?" Sarah asked him, hands on her hips. Far off in the distance she could still hear gunshots and the frequent sounds of civilization did not relax her. She felt anxious and frightened even though she would not show that to the Goblin King.

"I'm resting, my feet hurt. And furthermore, my name is Jareth."

"What?"

"My name," he told her with annoyance.

'What about it?"

"I have one just as you do and I'd prefer that you use it."

Sarah gave him a blank look.

"It's Jareth," he pushed.

Sarah blinked. "Oh. I knew that." She shrugged.

Jareth shook his head. "I'm sure that you did," he let out sarcastically. He gave a pained expression and then reached down to rub his feet through the leather of his boots.

Sarah gave him a somewhat sympathetic look. "Your feet are bothering you. Is that why you stopped?"

He nodded and continued massaging his feet. "I would not have gone for the fashionable look yesterday if I had known that I would be walking so much." He gestured at the heels on his boots and Sarah chuckled.

"Well, that will teach you for choosing fashion over function." She glanced down at her sneakers and sighed with relief for deciding to wear them instead of her usual brown loafers.

Jareth surprised Sarah as he let out a soft low chuckle. "I dare say that I have learned my lesson."

Sarah shook her head and moved away. She could feel her stomach getting ready to growl and while she and Jareth, as he wanted to be called, seemed to have stopped the bickering, she wanted to avoid giving him a reason to tease her. She found a bush with bright red berries and decided to sample a few. They were bitter to the taste and were horrible. She quickly spat them out.

"You're hungry."

Sarah jumped and then spun around to face Jareth. "Stop that! Stop sneaking up on me like that!" Her eyebrows lowered over her eyes and she glared at him.

He ignored her reactions. "You're hungry."

"Yes, I'm hungry but I'll live." She reached for more of the berries wondering if she ate more if she would grow accustomed to the taste. As her fingers closed around the red berries, more gunshots were heard followed by a very large explosion. Sarah's head jerked up and Jareth seemed to be alert beside her. He wasn't moving. He stood tall and straight and the way he stood, his eyes fixed forward, his glance intense, reminded Sarah of an animal alert and ready for danger.

"That sounded really close. Maybe they are building houses in these woods and are clearing the land." Sarah left the berries and started toward where the explosion sounded like it came from.

"We should leave." Jareth told her.

"No! I don't want to be stuck in these woods any longer! I want to go home and since you don't have any magic to bring me home, not like I would trust you anyway, I'm going to find some help."

"Sarah, don't!" One of his gloved hands snaked out and grabbed hold of her wrist. "Something seems wrong," he told her.

She pulled away harshly. 'Let me go!"

Jareth watched as she wrenched herself away from him and then tore off through the woods. He let out a deep breath and quickly followed her.

As she ran, Sarah noticed that more and more blue sky appeared the farther that she traveled. Slowly the woods cleared and in the distance she could see a field. The gunshots were very loud now and she could smell the acridity of the gunpowder. It burned at her nostrils and she covered her mouth and nose with one hand. Her eyes widened as she saw what was going on in the field.

Jareth stopped beside her. He was holding his side and he was out of breath.

"Jareth, look! A re-enactment! They're doing a re-enactment of a battle! We must have ended up in a tourist spot!" She glanced around the outer edges of the field in search of spectators and was surprised to find none. But she did see houses far off in the distance. Civilization! She could call for help.

"Sarah, we should leave. Now," Jareth warned her.

"What are you so worried about?" she asked him.

Jareth couldn't believe it. She was smiling as if she had discovered something wonderful. "Have you opened your eyes to see what is going on out there?" His mismatched eyes bored into her eyes. She seemed excited and Jareth wanted to shake her out of it. Grabbing her shoulders, he spun her to face the field. "Take a good look out there!"

Sarah protested his rough touch but she stopped as her eyes finally told her brain what was really going on. She became too stunned to move. This was no re-enactment that was spread out before her.

Men in red coats and strange feathered hats on horseback were shouting orders. Hundreds of men in red coats on foot carried muskets with bayonets on the end of them. Smoke from the guns drifted up and blocked out the sun. Sarah watched in horror as men who looked to be farmers charged through the brush on the other side of the field and prepared to fire on the redcoats.

….Redcoats…Why did that seem significant?

Off in the distance, Sarah saw a rider on horseback. She saw houses and realized that there was an entire town further along a dirt road. She could just make out what the rider was yelling over the sound of the guns. His words were a last minute warning to anyone who had not already fled.

"The British are coming! The British are coming!"

Sarah suddenly made the horrible connection. Redcoats…British… She gasped. This was no re-enactment. This was the start of a war…

She watched as several redcoats fell to the ground as bullets struck them in a leg, an arm, the chest or the head. As they fell to the ground, replacements came up behind them and on order they fired on the farmers who skillfully avoided the brunt of the attack by hiding behind bushes, stone walls and the foundation of a large wooden bridge.

Sarah was so shocked that she couldn't move. Terror ran through her, freezing her limbs in place. She had never seen anyone shot before and now she witnessed about 15 men go down. The sounds of the guns, the screams of agony and the cheering of victors made her sick to her stomach and shattered her previous view of the world in a matter of seconds. She could hardly breath as she watched the battle continue.

Jareth was saying something to her, but his words were far away and hazy in her mind. All she could do was stare straight ahead and watch as men fell into pools of their own blood.

She felt Jareth pull her hand and she numbly followed him. Blindly, she ran with him as he picked up his pace and tore off deep into the relative safety of the woods. Behind them the shower of gunfire continued like raging thunder.

They ran for almost 10 minutes before Sarah pulled her hand out of Jareth's and stopped. He skidded to a stop and looked at her with a questioning glance.

"You are an idiot!" she cried out, her fists balled at her sides.

Jareth's brows rose. "I beg your pardon? I just helped you escape before you became part of the fallen! You are the idiot for standing there watching those men kill each other!"

Sarah stomped her foot in anger, showing the first real emotion since Jareth had pulled her away from the battle scene. "Do you have any idea what you have done?"

"I possibly saved your life, although I don't know what compelled me to do such a thing! You are as ungrateful of my generosity as ever!" He roared at her. Why had he even bothered!

"Do you have any idea where you have brought us?" she asked with fire burning in her eyes.

He shook his head. He still didn't understand her anger.

"You've somehow brought us back in time to the Revolutionary War!" She cried out.

"And that is significant, how?" Jareth put his hands on his hips.

"Oh!" She turned away from him. "You're impossible! You brought us back in time! You dropped us into right into a horrible war that lasted 8 years! You brought us back to a time of no plumbing, no electricity, no America!"

"Sarah, I don't know the history of your world so you're speaking another language to me and furthermore, I did not do this."

"Yes, you did! Yes, you did!" She chanted.

"No, my magic did."

"Same thing!" she cried out.

Jareth watched her curiously as she exploded at him. Lowering his voice, he calmly responded, "You must believe me when I tell you that bringing us here was not my intention. What would I have to gain by lying to you?"

"I don't know, but I can't believe anything you say!" she shouted. She moved closer to him, her face mere inches from his. A challenge.

Jareth realized that she obviously was not afraid of him. A pity, because she should be. Another realization entered his mind briefly while he was nose to nose with her. Sarah was quite beautiful when she was angry. He quickly banished the thought.

Next, he did something that surprised both he and Sarah. He let the conversation drop. He was tired and he didn't want to argue. Nothing he could say would please her anyway. "We should continue walking and try to set up another camp for the night. If we are going to survive, we will need to find food and shelter."

"I don't need you to tell me what I should and should not be doing!" She spun on her heel and left his side.

Jareth watched as she walked away in anger. He didn't understand the anger at first, but as he heard the gunshots in the distance, he understood very quickly. She was hiding her emotions from him. She was using her anger as a convenient mask to hide what she truly felt.

She had most likely never seen a battle before. Maybe she had never seen anyone die. Death and war could be devastating to someone who had never witnessed the horrors. He had no idea how the battle had really effected her. She could be scared and fearful or angry.

Jareth had seen battles before and he knew they were to be avoided at all costs. While they were a horrific sight, he had grown used to them and could easily block the terrible images out of his mind.

He watched as Sarah sat on a rock and gathered small pebbles, throwing them at a nearby tree. She seemed to get some small satisfaction at hurling the pebbles with all her might and watching them bounce off the tree to scatter in different directions. Jareth sat down on a blanket of soft, white pine needles, his feet aching and watched her.

It was hours later that Sarah decided to pay attention to Jareth. He was making a lot of noise and she turned to watch him. He was carrying an armful of small rocks and was gathering sticks at the same time. Curiously, she watched as he arranged the rocks into a circle as she had the night before. He put the sticks in the middle and placed leaves around the sticks. He knelt down on one knee and, mimicking her actions from the other night, attempted to rub two sticks together. But he grew frustrated quickly when nothing happened right away.

Slowly, Sarah advanced toward him. Kneeling on the other side of the rocks, she held out her open hand to him. "Let me show you how to do it."

Gently, Jareth placed the sticks into her open palm and raised his brows in mock arrogance. He'd let her try and would enjoy watching her fail.

Using a rock, Sarah shaved off one part of the stick and then set it on the ground beside the leaves. Using the other stick, she began to rub it in between her hands while the bottom sat upon the stick in the leaves. Viciously, she rubbed the sticks, trying to create friction.

"You know, this would be much easier if you had magic," she told him sarcastically.

"Yes, well, as you know I don't have any and I must do what mortals do." He made a face and sat on the ground, one knee bent up toward his face.

Sarah continued to rub the sticks together. "How is that you can turn into an owl, if you don't have any magic?" she asked quietly without looking at him.

The question surprised him, but he answered it. "I do not need magic to transform into my heart beast."

"Heart beast?"

"Yes. All of my kind has a heart beast. A creature we identify with and can transform into from birth until death. We do not need magic to transform, although magic helps the transformation at times. With me, it assists my landings."

Sarah snickered remembering his less than graceful landing and was about to comment when she saw a tiny fleck of orange at the bottom of the stick. She quickly blew on it and watched with glee as the fleck became larger and slowly engulfed the leaves that surrounded it.

"I never thought I would be so happy to see fire."

Jareth noticed that her voice lacked the enthusiasm that it should have carried. Looking carefully over the girl, he could see how tired she was. There were dark circles beneath her usually bright eyes, and her position was slouched. She was certainly hungry as well and yet she did not complain. Jareth tilted his head and gazed at her thoughtfully. Sarah had matured, even if he didn't want to admit it.

She fed the fire as it continued to spread and gazed halfheartedly into the flames. She and Jareth sat in silence.

Jareth licked his lips. The silence felt heavy and awkward and he suddenly wished to end it. Sarah seemed very deep in thought. Jareth toyed with a nearby stick. "Something is on your mind…" His words were soft, nothing like his harsh angry voice that Sarah was getting accustomed to hearing.

Sarah shifted uneasily and did not look at him. There was a lot on her mind. Far too much to speak about, far too much to even acknowledge. She felt numb, afraid, angry, lost, confused. The emotions went on and on.

She snorted and cracked a sad grin. "I don't think that many teenagers who were born in the 20th century can claim that they heard the shot heard around the world or that they saw the start of the war that freed their country in the late 18th century." She bit her lip and Jareth watched as tears clouded her eyes.

The soft words that fell from his lips surprised himself and Sarah. "Are you all right?" She looked as if she might break down and the thought of that occurring bothered him.

Sarah squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them, the frightened and confused look along with the tears that had been there momentarily were gone. They were replaced by icy anger.

"I'm going to sleep." She stood and walked away abruptly. Jareth watched as she moved away from the fire and curled up against a tree on the outskirts of their 'camp'.

"You're going to catch cold." He told her.

"I'll be fine!" she snapped and she turned away from him, curling into a protective ball.

Jareth snorted at her reaction and pulled his jacket closer around him. It was already growing very cold. Fine, let her sleep away from the warmth of the fire. See if he cared. He rolled over and attempted to sleep.

It was much later that Jareth heard something odd. Once again sleep seemed to elude him and he lifted his head to investigate. He glanced around trying to find the source of the sound. His gaze fell upon Sarah and he watched her with curiosity. His eyes widened as he saw the chaotic rise and fall of her body and he realized instantly that she was crying. Her sobs were soft, but heart wrenching.

Jareth moved slowly so that she would not hear him and got to his feet. He quietly crept toward her, using the blanket of darkness as his cover. He stood behind the tree she had chosen as her place of rest and leaned his back against it. He held his breath and listened to her sob. The sound broke through his icy exterior and sliced viciously at his heart.

He peered around the tree to see that Sarah was lying on her stomach, her face was buried into her arm. Her body shook with each sob. Concern filled Jareth as he watched her.

He had never seen a woman cry in such a manner before. Usually they cried to get what they wanted, or to try and avoid cruelty in a situation of unfairness, but Sarah had not done that. She had waited until she thought he was asleep to shed her tears. Jareth suddenly felt guilty for watching her. She had not wanted him to see this private moment. That was the reason for her sudden anger earlier and for her decision to sleep so far away from him and the warmth of the fire. Jareth stepped away as confusion washed over him. He couldn't bear to watch her.

He felt helpless as he sat down by the fire and watched her from a distance. But what could he do? She would not want any comfort from him and why would he ever want to offer her any? She was his enemy!

But somehow she didn't feel like his enemy any longer. His enemy did not cry. She was ruthless and cruel, immature, spoiled and unfeeling. She wasn't strong and sometimes fearless. She didn't show maturity or compassion for the loss of life. She certainly didn't break down alone and away from prying eyes.

He thought that he would enjoy seeking revenge and that he would enjoy watching her suffer. He thought he would enjoy seeing her as vulnerable and in pain as he had been, but nothing could be farther from the truth. He didn't wish that fate upon her, not any longer. These new revelations bothered and confused The Goblin King.

With a heavy sigh, he lay down and rolled to his side so that he didn't have to watch her cry. He knew that sleep would not come easily for him tonight. Things had most definitely…changed.