Heres the next chapter guys, sorry bout the wait, enjoy! xx

Chapter 8

Jareth led Sarah out into the gardens of the castle and Sarah gasped at the sight of them. They were beautiful, in fact beautiful wasn't a strong enough word to describe them, they were the most amazing thing she had ever seen.

Jareth noticed her face light up and he smiled slightly. "I take it from your change of expression that my gardens are to your liking?" He asked.

Sarah tried to contain her wonderment as she answered. "I've seen better." She said crossing her arms and sighing.

Jareth snorted, letting go of Sarah's arm and walking over to the top of a set of stone steps. The steps led down to a huge, lush green lawn with several gold and silver fountains scattered around it. There were many paths winding in all different directions, past flowerbeds with every colour of flower you could imagine and tall twisting trees with huge leaves. Sarah could also see at least three ponds, or you could call some of them lakes they were so big, as she walked towards Jareth. There were brightly coloured fish jumping from the water and exotic looking birds darting through the sky. Then she spotted something in the distance.

"Is that a…?" She started.

"A deer?" Jareth interrupted. "Yes it is indeed, he is a stag called Bargoy, it means "protector of the weak" in the ancient language."

"Wow." Sarah said to herself. She had never really seen any wild animals up close before, except birds and such things. She had gone to a petting zoo for her birthday when she was about six, but she didn't think stroking a goat, tied to a post while it tried to eat your party dress really counted.

"These are the best gardens in all the kingdom." Jareth said as he raised his hands up and turned back round to face Sarah. "If I do say so myself." He continued, dropping his hands back to his side. "I have at least one specimen of every known plant in this world, for some of them it is the only one left in existence."

"Quite impressive." Sarah said giving him a coy smile.

Jareth smiled back. "Come take a walk with me Sarah." He said holding his hand out for her.

Sarah placed her hand in his and he gripped it tightly, leading her down the stone steps.

They stopped next to one of the huge ponds in the garden, Jareth let go of Sarah's hand and she took a seat on a bench next to the pond, Bargoy was only a few hundred feet away, munching on the grass.

"I've never seen a deer so close before." Sarah told Jareth.

Jareth smiled and then placed four fingers in his mouth, whistling through them.

Sarah watched as the huge deer approached them, he stopped when he reached Jareth, lowering his head slightly as if to bow to the king and then Jareth returned the gesture and then began carefully stroking his nose. They're eyes were almost level when they both stood straight and Jareth was pushing six feet, this deer was truly huge.

Jareth stretched his hand back to Sarah and without turning to her he said "come here my dear," as he continued stroking Bargoy.

Sarah walked slowly up to him and stopped just behind him. Jareth took her hand in his outstretched one and pulled her forward next to him so she was right in front of the deer.

When she didn't do anything Jareth spoke, "you can stroke him you know." He said, sounding slightly impatient.

Sarah hesitated, so Jareth took her hand and placed it gently on Bargoy's nose.

Sarah gasped at first, but his nose was so soft, like velvet, she began stroking it carefully, the deer pushed his head further towards her and she giggled as she felt his tickly breath on her face.

"He has huge antlers." She said to Jareth.

"Yes he does indeed, he is the king of the forest so he needs to have the best." Jareth said and then without warning he lifted Sarah up so her head was level with the mighty beast's.

"Hey!" She said as Jareth picked her off the ground.

Jareth ignored her. "Look into his eyes." He said.

Sarah glanced into the creature's eyes and gasped to see that they were bright emerald green, she hadn't been able to see them clearly at the previous angle. "They're so pretty." She said.

Bargoy snorted impatiently and pushed his head into Sarah's hand.

Jareth put Sarah back down. "I think he likes you." He said as he watched Sarah carefully stroking the deer's nose again, Sarah said nothing.

After a few minutes Sarah turned round to see Jareth sitting where Sarah had been a few moments ago. She walked over to join him, deciding she didn't like the idea of Jareth staring at her from behind.

When she reached him Jareth spoke, "let's continue our walk." He said taking Sarah's hand in his own.

They walked down some more steps past many huge trees, some bigger than Sarah had ever seen in her life. They walked past flower beds full of exotic and wonderful flowers. There were butterflies and other insects everywhere and the air was full of the sound of a hundred beautiful bird songs.

"I've never seen so many different flowers." She said to Jareth as they walked.

"I tell you what." Jareth said. "Pick any flower and you can have it."

Sarah stopped walking and looked up at the goblin King, there was a slight smile playing on his lips.

"What if a pick one that is the only one left in the world?" She asked innocently.

"Well I better you hope you don't." Jareth replied taking a seat on a wooden bench.

Sarah stood motionless, just glancing around at the many different flower beds around her.

"Well hurry up then." Jareth said, growing impatient. "I haven't got all day you know."

Sarah glowered at him slightly and then walked over to the nearest flowerbed, gazing at all the flowers present in it. There were so many, so many different colours and so many different sizes. Some were bigger than her head, some so small she could hardly see them. There were dark and bright colours, some flowers were just one solid colour, some had many different colours and one looked like it had every colour in the rainbow, just looking at it gave her a headache.

She then moved on to the next flowerbed and crouched down, glancing at each plant trying to decide which one to choose. Then she saw it, the one she wanted, it was perfect.

"I've found one I want." She said as she stood up. Sarah watched as Jareth walked casually over to her.

"Which one then?" He asked as he reached her side.

Sarah pointed out the flower she wanted. "That one." She said.

Jareth looked at the flower she had chosen. It was a good choice, one of his favorites also. It was quite a large flower, about the size of a fist, the stem was a deep purple colour with several deep purple leaves, the petals alternated short and stubby and long and slender and there were several layers of them. They started of deep purple colour, like the stem, and they got lighter towards the tip, ending up a light blue colour. The flower also had a wondrous smell and its scent was used in many expensive perfumes in this world. He took a small knife from a pouch attached to his belt and cut the flower off, handing it to Sarah.

"Thank you." She said as she inhaled the scent of the flower.

"You are most welcome. That particular specimen is called Aquerbloucius" Jareth said as he replaced the knife. "It means flower like the ocean."

Sarah looked over to Jareth. "So is this one of those one of a kind flowers then?" She asked.

"Would that make the flower any more beautiful, make it smell any sweeter?" Jareth asked. "I doubt it."

He then sat down on the bench again and Sarah joined him cradling the flower.

"Are you hungry?" He asked. "I am starving." And with that he magically produced a table in front of them and then a tray full of food and drink on top of that. He then took a plate and began piling breads, meat, cheese and fruit onto it.

Sarah watched as he loaded the plate up. "You really are starving." She said, her eyebrows raised.

Jareth smiled and placed the plate in front of Sarah. "No my dear, this is for you, you hardly ate anything last night, we don't want you fading away now do we." He said.

Sarah looked at the plate of food and decided she would attempt to eat it, it looked quite appetizing and Jareth had been nice to her so far today so she got stuck to a nice red apple.

Jareth gathered some food on his own plate and began eating, pausing only briefly to pour Sarah and himself a drink.

Once they had both eaten their fill Jareth vanished the table and the remaining food and plates back to where they had come from.

"Thank you for lunch and the flower." Sarah said, still clutching the flower.

It wasn't as sincere as Jareth had hoped, but it was getting there. "Your welcome." He said. Then he took Sarah's hand once more and stepped up from the bench. "There is one other thing I'd like to ask you, before we leave the garden today."

Sarah looked up at him expectantly.

"Would you like to choose some flowers from the garden for your bouquet?" He asked.

"My bouquet?" Sarah said loudly, letting go of Jareth's hand and taking a step away from him.

Jareth glared at her, "yes for our wedding, or have you forgotten so soon." He said through gritted teeth.

Sarah exploded at these words. "So was that your little plan goblin king, butter me up with beautiful walks in the garden, flowers and food, then pounce on me with more stupid fucking questions about a stupid fucking wedding."

"Watch your mouth." Jareth barked back at Sarah.

"Oh, what you gonna do, send me to my room?" Sarah asked sarcastically

Jareth contemplated doing that very suggestion, but then decided against it. "You will marry me, you have to marry me, whether you like it or not!" He shouted at a fuming Sarah.

Sarah walked past Jareth, towards the path that led back to the castle, she then turned to face Jareth. "In my world people marry for love." She said in a calm voice. "I guess that concept escapes you people down here."

With that she walked briskly back up to the castle, dropping the flower as she left.

Jareth watched the beautiful plant float slowly down to the ground. He rubbed his temples. "What am I going to do with that girl?" He whispered to himself.

ooo

Valandil was dusting, dusting things that didn't even need dusted, but that's what he did, especially when the king was in a weird mood.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with her Valandil." Jareth muttered as he paced up and down the room.

The elf stopped dusting and tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. "Have you told her about the erm…certain conditions, so to speak, of the marriage?" He asked nervously.

Jareth stopped pacing and shook his head. "I was going to tell her earlier, but then she stormed off."

"Well, you still have three days to go, I'm sure you'll find the right time to tell her." Valandil said as he absent mindedly dusted some more.

Jareth sat down in one of the big armchairs in the room. "Oh dear, at this pace I'm going to end up telling her an hour before the deadline, which I don't think would be very appropriate. 'By the way Sarah my dear, must have totally slipped my mind, but in order for this marriage to legal it has to be consummated in the next hour. So if you don't mind just getting your kit off and popping onto that bed over there so we can get down to business, that would be spiffing.'" He said.

Valandil snorted with laughter and then tried to disguise it with cough.

"This is no laughing matter Valandil." Jareth said pointing his finger at the elf but it didn't really have the desired effect since he burst out laughing half way through the sentence.

Soon they were both in fits of laughter, Jareth spoke first as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Well she's had an hour to cool down." He said. "I'll go tell her the whole thing, then she can't say I didn't give her fair warning." And with that Jareth stood up and took with him the flower he had given Sarah earlier, leaving Valandil dusting and giggling away.

ooo

Sarah was sitting on her bed swinging her legs back and forth. She was pretty sure that Jareth was going to storm into the room any minute now and give her some big lecture about respect for him, discipline and all that shit. Moments later, as if by magic the door swung open, and in walked Jareth.

He walked over to Sarah and sat down on the bed next to her, placing the flower on the bed between them.

"You dropped this." He said calmly.

Sarah was surprised at that, surprised he didn't immediately give her a bollocking for not greeting him when he stepped into the room.

"Thanks." She said quietly.

"I have to talk to you Sarah." Jareth continued. "I don't want you to interrupt me until I'm finished, then you can shout and ball or whatever as much as you wish, okay?"

"Fine." Sarah sighed, her arms crossed over her chest.

"As you know the labyrinth will be destroyed and destroy my whole kingdom and everyone in it if we do not marry in two days time." He said.

Sarah nodded her head.

"What you probably don't know is that in order for the marriage to be legally binding, it must be consummated within twenty-four hours of the ceremony." Jareth said quickly.

Sarah opened her mouth as if to speak, but Jareth raised his hand slightly and carried on talking. "Now this is as much a surprise to me as it is to you, yes I am aware of the laws for common marriages in this realm but this is a special case and I did not know it was also subject to the same laws. I was only informed about this last night and I'm afraid there is nothing we can do about it."

"Well you're the king, can't you change the laws?" Sarah asked hopefully.

"Some laws yes, but not this one. It is one of the most ancient laws of my kingdom, of all kingdoms infact. Laws like this are set in stone, they cant just be changed because someone disagrees with them." Jareth explained, noticing the increasingly concerned expression on Sarah's face.

"No." Sarah said plainly and simply.

Jareth stood up. "What do you mean no." He said.

"I don't want to do it." She stuttered.

"I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be." Jareth replied. "We all have to do things we don't want to."

"Not things like this." Sarah said.

Jareth walked towards the door. "You are so selfish." He said to Sarah, his voice raised slightly. "Thousands, hundreds of thousands will die just because you won't do this one thing?"

Sarah stood up and walked over to him and crossed her arms. "Ah so this is what it's gonna be like then." She said. "A guilt trip for me."

Jareth frowned. "If that's the only way to get you to do the right thing, then that's what it's going to have to be." He said, trying to remain calm.

"And what if I still refuse." Sarah asked, testing Jareth's temper.

Jareth didn't answer straight away, he knew she was just trying to wind him up. "I would say refusing would be a most unwise decision." He said carefully, trying not to show his mounting anger.

Sarah looked at him, glanced into his eyes, she could see his true feelings there, his anger, his determination. There was no way he was changing his mind, this is the way it has to be. She felt scared now, she had no choice in the matter, Jareth may have said she did have a choice, but she didn't really.

"Well that's it then." She said not noticing a tear sliding down her cheek, Jareth, however, did.

"Sarah," he said, reaching out a hand to comfort her, but she took a step back shaking her head.

"That's it." She repeated. "You win, I can still refuse if I want but it wont make any difference."

"Sarah," Jareth said again.

"No no its fine." Sarah said before Jareth could say anything else. "I'm used to having people running my life for me, making decisions for me because obviously I can't handle anything like that."

Jareth reached out and gripped Sarah's wrist tightly, trying to think of something to say, something to say to comfort her.

"Don't touch me." Sarah said as she pulled her wrist away from Jareth's grip. "You're strong Jareth." She continued as she rubbed her wrist. "It won't really matter if I put up a fight, you can overcome that, I'll try not to but you never know."

With that Jareth grabbed both Sarah's arms and pulled her close to him, close enough so their bodies touched. "Stop it." He said quietly into her ear. He gripped her arms tighter and shook her slightly as he spoke. "You know there is nothing I can do about this."

Sarah tried to push him away, but he held her tightly. "Let me go." She said as she squirmed in his arms. "Jareth let me go!" She repeated, louder than the first time.

With that second command from Sarah, Jareth let her go, then he walked closer to the door, his hands clasped behind his back.

"You're just a big bully, that's all you are you know." Sarah said as she glared over at Jareth who had now turned to face her again. "You're enjoying this, it's all just a power game to you."

With those last words Jareth marched back over to Sarah. He stopped inches from her face. "You think I'm enjoying this?" He said loudly. "You think I enjoy forcing young girls to marry me against there will, then terrifying them to tears?"

Sarah flinched as he raised his hand, but he only used it to gently wipe away several tears that had fallen down Sarah's cheeks.

He then took a step back, clasping his head in his hands and then without warning he picked up a wooden chair and threw it hard against the wall. Sarah covered her head in fright as it shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Jareth was panting heavily, he looked up at Sarah who was as white as a sheet and then walked back towards the door, opening it, pausing briefly to turn back to Sarah. He pointed a finger at her as he spoke. "I am not the monster you think I am Sarah." He said, and with that he left the room, slamming the door behind him.