Do You Want It?
Jareth, King of the Goblins, sat in Sarah's room, watching the sun begin to set, waiting for the girl to return. Llewellyn and Cattie sat close by, talking quietly.
After Sarah had run off, the Felines had gone to check on Quillan, who had "miraculously healed" as children are wont to do, while Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus followed the girl to keep her out of trouble. Leaving his wife to lecture their son, Llewellyn had practically forced a small meal down Jareth's throat. Hoping that Sarah would have come back, the two males had gone to Sarah's bedroom, only to find Cattie waiting for her return.
"Cattie," Jareth said, turning to face the Feline.
"Yes, Your Grace?" Cattie asked, standing.
"I'm going to go look for Sarah. I expect to be informed the minute she returns." Cattie curtseyed her consent. Turning to the darker Feline, Jareth added, "Llewellyn, you may do as you wish."
"Sire," Llewellyn responded, "I think I will stay with my wife. She'll go mad by herself."
"Very well," Jareth said and left to search the Labyrinth, cursing himself for teaching the girl to block Fae magic.
At that very moment, Sarah was walking down a hedge-grown path of the Labyrinth, marveling at how much like the spot Sarah had first met Ludo this area looked.
Turning a corner, Sarah bumped into a small boy, a little smaller than Toby. He had orange-blonde hair with black spots, and his eyes were like liquid gold. The boy looked up at her and smiled. Sarah blinked a couple of times, then bent down to talk to the boy. "I'm a sorry," she said gently.
"Tha's aright," the boy said. "I know who you are," he added.
"And who am I?" Sarah asked, knowing full well the boy would know her. It seemed everyone she met knew her as the Goblin King's Mortal.
"My mommy helps you," the boy said, grinning. "You're Sarah. I'm Quillan, by the way."
"Quillan?" Sarah asked, standing up. "I thought you were sick today."
"I was," Quillan said, stepping forward and grabbing Sarah's hand with both of his, "but we heal fast in the Underground." Pulling backwards on Sarah's hand, he added, "Come on. Mommy and Daddy want to see you, okay?"
Sarah smiled, liking the boy more and more with every second that passed. Maybe it was because the small Feline reminded her so much of Toby. "Your parents didn't send you out to look for me, did they?"
"No," the boy said, releasing Sarah's hand and walking behind to try and push the girl. "I wanted to find you so Mommy wouldn't be so mad at me."
"Quillan," Sarah said, turning around and touching the boy's shoulders, "I'm not ready to go back to the castle."
"Okay," Quillan said, pulling on her hand again. "Then let's go for a walk."
"Let's do that," Sarah said, finally moving to follow the boy. Holding onto his hand, Sarah followed Quillan around a corner and into a forest. "How old are you?" Sarah asked.
"Mommy says that I'm about the same age as your brother," Quillan said, turning so that he walking backwards.
"I'm sure she's alright," Llewellyn told his wife, rubbing her back with one hand. Looking up at Sarah's mirrors, he added, "I'm positive she's alright."
Hearing the change in husband's voice, Cattie followed Llewellyn's eyes. At first, the lighter Feline wasn't sure what had caused he change. Looking over the mirrors her eyes paused when she saw the third cat-shaped mirror. The mirror showed Quillan and Sarah, walking down the hedge-grown path, hand-in-hand. "Should we tell His Majesty?" she asked.
"Let's wait a little while longer. I want to see if anything else happens," Llewellyn answered. Cattie nodded, eyes never leaving the mirror that showed her Lady and her son.
"Quillan," Sarah asked, looking around, "where are we?"
Quillan looked up at her, golden eyes full of fear. "I don't know. I think we're in the bad place."
Sarah bent down and picked up the boy, holding him close for comfort, more hers than his. "What do you mean, 'the bad place'?"
Quillan wrapped his arms around the girl's neck. "The place where the bad things live," he whispered.
Stopping walking for a moment, Sarah looked down at Quillan, perched on her hip, and asked quietly, "What's the bad things?"
Quillan looked beyond the girl and pointed, "They are."
Sarah turned quickly, holding Quillan protectively. The boy held onto Sarah just as tightly, turning his head away from the creatures that were sitting around a fire a few feet away. It took Sarah a few moments to realize just who these creatures were. When she did, she smiled, putting the boy down, and said, "It's okay, Quillan." The boy hid behind her. "It's just the Fire Gang."
One of the red and gold creatures looked up and, seeing Sarah, waved and called, "Hey, Lady."
Sarah waved back and started to walk towards the Fireys. Quillan caught her hand and said, "Sarah! It's the bad things!"
Sarah knelt down, putting a hand on Quillan's shoulder. "I won't let them hurt you, alright?" The boy nodded. "Okay, come on." She picked up the boy and walked over to the most mischievous of her Underground friends.
"Hi, guys," she said. "It's been a while."
"Sit down with us," the Firey nearest to her said, patting the log next to him. The girl sat down on the log, Quillan in her lap.
"Lady," the Firey that had first seen her said, "we heard you had come to stay in the Underground with the King."
"We thought you didn't like him," another Firey said.
"Yeah, so what you doing with him?" the Firey next to her asked.
Sarah proceeded to tell the Fire Gang all about Karen, her father and her decision to come Underground.
"There's another new mirror," Cattie said pointing to the tree shaped object.
"Who are they sitting with?" Llewellyn asked, indicating the red and gold creatures that Sarah and his son were talking with. Both Felines squinted, trying to figure out just what the creatures were.
Realization dawned on the couple at the same time. They turned to face each other slowly, dread showing on both faces. After a moment of silent communication, the Felines ran out the door and across the hall, straight into Jareth's room.
The King stood up quickly from where the chair he sat in, looking through the Labyrinth with a crystal. All three were quiet for a second, the Felines not sure how to tell Jareth what they had seen. "She's returned?" The Goblin King asked, hardly daring to breathe.
Cattie shook her head slowly. Llewellyn said, "She's with Quillan…"
"Then you know about where she is?" Jareth asked, hardly daring to hope.
The Felines exchanged a glance, paling considerably. Cattie's skin tone almost matched her hair color. "She's with the Fire Gang."
A small goblin walking down the hall was startled by a yell coming from his King's room that said, "SHE'S WITH WHO?" A second later, the two Felines that served Jareth and Sarah came crashing through the door and into Sarah's room, followed closely by the King himself, anger radiating from deep inside him.
"People like your step-mother need to lighten up. Especially mortals. They're lives are too short to be so serious," the Firey sitting next to Sarah and Quillan said.
"So this is Toby?" The first Firey said.
"No," Sarah said, smiling down at the boy. "This is my maid's son."
The leader of the Fire Gang, the one who had been sitting next to the girl and the boy, stood up and said, "We like you, Lady. So we're gonna give you something to help ya feel better." He handed her some slips of paper, about the size of postage stamps.
Sarah hesitated before taking the slips from the Firey, much to Quillan's dismay. "Thank you,' Sarah said, unsure what to do with them.
The Fire Gang burst into laughter. "Just lick 'em," one of the Fireys said.
"But not more than one at a time…" another Firey chimed in.
"…Or you'll lose your head," The Fire Gang said in unison.
Quillan stood up, and grabbed Sarah's hand. "We have to go."
"Alright," Sarah said, standing. "I'll see you guys around, and thanks again."
"Bye Lady," the Fire Gang called after her.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sarah asked the boy as they left the forest.
"You have no idea," the boy replied, leading her towards the castle.