Chapter 9

Jareth was fuming now as he marched down the dark, winding, stone corridors of his immense castle. He walked straight into a goblin carrying a tray of food as he went round a particularly tight corner. The goblin dropped everything onto the floor and cowered against the wall as Jareth yelled at the top of his voice and kicked the tray as hard as he could, sending it flying down the hallway. His next port of call was the throne room, he flung the doors open so fiercely that he practically knocked out a goblin standing just behind them.

"Get out!" He yelled to the several dozen goblins in the room as he marched up to his throne. "Get out all of you!" He shouted again just as loud as before.

The goblins nearly jumped out of their skin at the ferocity of the kings voice, one poor goblin who had been sitting on a windowsill nearly fell out the window from fright. The goblins were soon nearly tripping over themselves, and each other, in an attempt to get out of the room before the King started letting out his frustration on them.

Jareth slumped down on the throne, sighing deeply. He had done what he had set out to do, he had told Sarah everything. Her reaction wasn't exactly as he had imagined it though. He assumed she would shout and swear at him until her voice was hoarse, he would leave her to cool down and eventually she would except, if not grudgingly, what was going to happen. Anger he could handle, anger he knew all about, but fear, that's what she was feeling now, fear. She was terrified and it hurt him so badly, hurt him to his very soul. He had told her he wasn't a monster, but how could he now convince her he was no monster when he wasn't sure he believed it himself. It's not like a have much choice he thought to himself, trying to rationalize the whole thing. But choice or no choice, this kind of thing would defiantly grant my soul eternal torment after death and I would deserve it to.

Jareth's train of thought was interrupted by a timid knocking at the throne room door, he was somewhat relieved when Valandil walked in.

"I suppose you've heard about my outburst then?" Jareth asked, looking slightly embarrassed.

"The whole castle has heard of it by now, I think everyone will be trying to steer clear of you for the next few hours." Valandil said, smiling weakly.

"I told her Valandil, I told her everything, I did what I set out to do." Jareth said quickly.

"I take it from the tone of your voice it didn't go quite as you planned." Valandil said as he approached the throne.

"I never expected it to go well, I don't really know what I expected, maybe I thought she might attack me or something, oh how I wish she had done that instead." Jareth sighed, clasping his head in his hands.

"How did she take it then?" Valandil asked cautiously.

Jareth looked up. "She is terrified Valandil. She realizes she has no choice, but not in the same way I do. She assumes we will be consummating this marriage whether she agrees or not." He said shaking his head. "I tried to make her understand, I tried. Why won't she except it like I do, why is she so stubborn?"

"She is scared sire. So much has happened to her in the last day or two. Every time she comes to term with one thing, something else is thrown at her. You are the king, you have to deal with difficult situations every day, she is still young, she hasn't had to face anything like this before. Give her time, she'll come round." Valandil explained.

"Will she?" Jareth questioned the elf as he got up from his throne and began pacing round the room. "I told her I wasn't a monster, I am beginning to doubt that statement myself."

"You are certainly not a monster. You are only doing what anyone else in your position would do." Valandil said, his gaze following the king round the room.

Jareth stopped. "I suppose I am Valandil." He said. "I suppose I am."

Valandil smiled. "Oh and speaking of monsters, I'm afraid to say that your dear brothers have just sent word that they will be visiting later on today." He said as he held out a piece of paper he had been clutching in his hand, Jareth had only just noticed it.

Jareth took the paper from the elf and read it. "It seems they want to congratulate me on my engagement and meet my future wife." He said sighing as he crumpled the paper in his hand. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

ooo

Sarah stared at the door for a moment after Jareth had left. She then turned round and walked slowly over to her bed, posture slouched and feet dragging all the way. When she reached the bed she slumped down on it, lying back and covering her face with her hands. She lay there for a few minutes thinking about everything that had just happened. Not just in the last few minutes, but in the last few days. Yes she was glad that Jareth had saved her from the clutches of Dr Campbell, she gave an involuntary shudder as she thought about the Dr, but was it any better here? Stuck in a castle full of goblins with a man who's temper would snap at the slightest thing, being forced to marry him and worse…. She gulped at the last bit and got up from the bed walking over to the small wash table.

The table had a jug of water, a bowl, soap and a wash cloth on it. She pourred some of the water in the bowl and was presently surprised to find it was still nicely warm as she dipped the wash cloth in it. She rung the cloth out then rubbed her face and neck with it. After she had completed that she picked up a nearby towel and dried herself. Sarah then walked over to the large mirror, her eyes were slightly red from crying, but other than that she didn't look too bad. She then walked over to the door, opening it carefully and stepping out into the stone corridor. Sarah then began to walk, she didn't know where she was walking to, she was just walking for the sake of walking, walking to clear her head.

ooo

Moments after Jareth finished reading the letter there was a snapping noise as two men materialized in the middle of the throne room.

"My dear brother." One of the men said as he walked over to Jareth, his arms outstretched.

"Hello Julius." Jareth said. "So you've heard of my planned wedding then."

The first man had reached Jareth and he pulled him into a quick embrace, he then held the Goblin king out at arms length, looking him up and down. Jareth's arms remained at his sides. "Our little brother getting married, not an event to be missed." He said.

The second man then spoke. "Yes, but he didn't even think to inform his own brothers, his own flesh and blood."

"Yes well we're here now Rubis." Julius said.

"Yes yes." Rubis said, a grin breaking across his face as he approached his brothers. "We wouldn't miss this for the world, and tell me Jareth, when do we get to meet your wife to be, there are many rumors flying about concerning this girl you are to marry."

"What sort of rumors?" Jareth said, his fists clenched.

"Oh you know." Rubis said, shrugging his shoulders.

Jareth knew exactly what he was doing. "No I don't know Rubis. What have you been hearing?"

Rubis turned around, a smirk on his face, then he noticed Valandil was still in the room. "Leave us elf." He said as he approached the throne.

Valandil didn't move, instead he just looked over at his King.

Jareth sighed. "Thank you Valandil, that will be all." He said giving the elf an apologetic look.

"What have you been hearing?" Jareth repeated in a slightly annoyed tone as he watched his brother eye up his throne greedily.

"Honestly Jareth, elves and goblins, is that the best you can do?" Rubis said as he inspected the throne from every angle. "In my castle I have beautiful maids and sophisticated man servants. But it's the maids I like the best, most pleasing to the eye they are."

"Yes but they do more than just please your eyes don't they?" Jareth said. "How many young maids have you gotten rid of because they have some how become impregnated while working for you?"

Rubis smirked again and then sat down on the throne, eyeing up the rest of the room.

Jareth realized he was getting no where, so turned back to Julius. "So Julius." He said as he crossed his arms. "What are these rumors you've been hearing?"

Julius smirked, much like his brother had done but he didn't seem to have the same kind of sadistic glint that Rubis achieved so effortlessly. "Well we know she is the girl that defeated your labyrinth not so many years ago, that you took her to the underground from earth only a few days ago and that every time you go near each other some kind of shouting match ensues." He said, counting each thing off on his fingers.

Jareth was quite impressed with the accuracy of the information, but he tried not to let on that he was.

"You have good sources." He said, trying to sound neutral.

"But that isn't the juiciest part." Rubis said as he hopped down from the throne and walked back over to his brothers. "We've heard that this girl doesn't seem too impressed with idea of marrying you." He said. "And even less impressed with the idea of any bedroom activities, so to speak, after the wedding."

Jareth's face reddened slightly at this, but he tried not to show his mounting anger as he spoke. "Where to you hear such lies?" He said, trying to remain calm.

Rubis and Julius both smirked again, then Rubis spoke. "Come now Jareth, we all know what I've just said is one hundred percent true."

Jareth knew there was no fooling his brothers. "I'm only doing what I have to do." He said as he approached his throne, just as Rubis had done moments before.

Julius and Rubis followed their brother over to the throne. "You have to protect your kingdom." Julius said.

Jareth turned to face them. "You know about that too."

"Yes dear brother, we know all about that." Rubis said as he placed his hand on the goblin king's shoulder, guiding him over to his throne.

ooo

Sarah had been wandering around the dimly lit hallways for about half an hour and she hadn't met anyone the whole time. She was debating whether or not to return to her room as she walked down another hallway, it looked exactly like all the others she had walked down today and she wondered if she would ever be able to find her way back to her room. She was about to turn round when she heard voices, certainly not goblin voices, so she decided to investigate.

She went round the next corner which opened out into a wide hallway, Sarah had a strange feeling she had been here before, not on her travels today, but before then. She wandered up to the set of large doors where the voices seemed to be coming from, the doors were slightly ajar. As she got closer she realized why she recognized this place, the doors lead to the throne room, she had passed through here on her quest to retrieve Toby from the clutches of the Goblin King. She could hear the voices clearly now, one of them was defiantly Jareth's, the other two she didn't recognize. When she reached the doors she stopped, standing close to them and peered in.

She saw that Jareth was sitting on his throne, running his hands through his mane of golden hair. There was a man on either side of Jareth, Sarah didn't recognize. They were similarly dressed like him, tight pants, boots, loose shirt, gloves and each of the men were wearing cloaks, unlike Jareth. Both of them had their long hair tied back, it looked pretty wild like Jareth's except they seemed to have tamed it better than he had. The one on the right had dark brown hair and the one to the left had a hair colour similar to Jareth's, slightly darker maybe. Sarah pulled her face away from the gap between the doors and listened intently to what was being said in the room beyond.

ooo

"Well it seems you have gotten yourself into a slight pickle brother." Rubis said.

Jareth looked up at him. "Don't worry, it'll be fine." He said, not very convincingly though.

"Indeed." Rubis said as he stepped away from the throne and began pacing back and forth in front of it. "Discipline is the problem here Jareth." Rubis said.

"Yes discipline." Julius echoed as he cracked his knuckles.

"And respect. She needs to learn respect for you as her King and future husband." Rubis continued.

"Respect I agree with." Jareth said. "I have been trying the whole respect thing out on her, she is getting better. But she's used to how things work on earth, its different here, it's a big step for her, it will take time."

"But time you do not have." Rubis said as he pulled out something from inside his cloak

Sarah meanwhile was listening to every word. Everything had gone quiet now, but that silence was broken by a cracking noise. Sarah decided she could risk peering into the room again to see what was going on.

She saw the dark haired man was now standing in front of the throne holding something that looked like a whip.

Rubis cracked the whip again, Sarah's fears were confirmed.

"A few rounds with this and she'll be singing a different tune." Rubis said as he cracked the whip again.

Jareth looked at him in disgust, Julius on the other hand looked at him in awe. "Sarah is not a dog or a horse you know." Jareth said, his arms folded across his chest. "She doesn't need disciplined in that manor."

"It works well you know, I have used it often myself." Rubis said, looking rather proud of himself.

"Well Rubis I am not a sadistic twerp like you, so I think I'll stick to my own methods thank you very much." Jareth said as he clapped his hands together twice, stood up and began walking towards the main door. Moments later a goblin entered the throne room by a side door. Jareth turned to face the Goblin. "Take my brothers to their rooms." He told the Goblin.

Sarah on the other hand had only just realized Jareth was approaching the main door, she could hear the clicking of his boots on the stone grow louder. She decided she didn't want to face Jareth's displeasure for eavesdropping on their conversation so she quickly scarpered.

Jareth reached he throne room doors and pulled them open.

"I'm only trying to help." Rubis shouted after him.

Jareth turned round. "I don't want your help." He said just before he disappeared out the door and off down the hallway.

Rubis placed the whip back in his cloak and turned to Julius. "He may not want our help, but that doesn't mean we're not going to give him any." He said quietly to his brother. "That girl will not be the downfall of this kingdom."

The two brothers then walked towards the doors as Jareth had done moments before and were lead off to their rooms by the waiting goblin.