"Toby?"

The mortal stilled the axe and wiped his sleeve across his eyes. "Yeah?"

Jareth wasn't sure that he was looking at what his eyes told him he was. "Are you chopping wood?" he asked, looking thoroughly fascinated by the very idea.

Toby looked down at the axe in his hand and then at the log he was splitting. "Yes," he said slowly, "The Lady asked me to. Why?"

"Oh, nothing." Jareth eyed the log as if it was about to bite him. Or rise up and shake a fist in his face, at any rate. "Why does the Lady want you to chop wood?"

Toby sighed and propped the axe to the side. Evidently Jareth was more shocked than surprised. This meant that there would be questions. So he took the time to heap together what he had already finished as he answered as precisely as he could- "She discovered that the suite you put Gildred into has a fireplace. As she pointed out, it would not be seemly to have an empty fireplace."

"I see. And it never occurred to her to check the wood bin in the cellar?" Jareth commented.

Toby smiled wryly up at him and stilled to relax his shoulders. "She did, actually. The rain got in and the wood was damp."

"Damp? Yes, but we are hardly going to light that fireplace, are we?"

"It would not be seemly," Toby said finally.

The mortal stood up and picked up the axe.

Jareth clicked his tongue as he remembered exactly why he had been hunting for Toby in the first place. "Oh, put that thing down. Or no! Keep it. You can use it, but come with me."

"Eh?"

"Erudite as always, brat. Come along. I do not have all the time in the world."

Toby swung the axe but left it embedded and glared at his guardian. "Why?" he asked mulishly.

"Toby, leave that irrelevant waste of time and follow me."

"No." The axe was yanked out and swung again.

"Oh, for the love of… Here!" Jareth wished and the wood was done. "Now leave the damned thing."

Toby folded his arm and raised an eyebrow. It was meant to remind the Goblin King that he would only meet resistance if he tried to order Toby to do anything. It was meant to make the Goblin King remember the truce that had, up to this point, worked very well. It was also meant to make Jareth see that he was treading on very thin ice right then.

So Jareth being Jareth, he rolled his eyes and did something unexpected. He told the truth- "Please? I need you to keep guard over Jervohl while I run a few checks on my lands looking for a possible assassin that may be in close vicinity to the Castle while keeping a mental eye on Madigh and Merilin."

It was enough. Toby moved instantly and nodded. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"Her room," Jareth supplied, "I took away her powerstone so there should be no trouble. Do not let her out. And tell her why only if she threatens to decapitate you with a nail file. If she gets too much just wish for me."

The Goblin King disappeared and Toby trotted into the Castle, stopping only to ask that a bath of water and a clean shirt be brought up to Ms. Jervohl's room. He hastily collected Hessie as well, hoping that the woman would know how to cope with a furiously upset fae better than he would. He explained only that Jervohl might be in danger and that the Goblin King had given orders that she was to kept safely in her room with the door locked. Hessie nodded, forbore to ask questions and told him severely that it was not done for a male to take a bath and change in a young lady's rooms, but given the circumstances she would make an exception.

Toby thanked her gravely and kept his grin to himself. He had the sneaking suspicion that Jervohl would care less about him cleaning up a little in her room as she would be about being locked in.

True enough, they had to spend a few minutes placating her through the door before she stopped threatening to brain someone with a chair unless they let her out.

Jareth, meanwhile, apparated away, the sooner to find out what was afoot. The less that Gildred knew the better. The outlaw would change direction instantly and Jareth could do without the interference.

Standing on the cliff, he looked around. The Safety Road lay like a cream ribbon in the sun. The outer wall of the Labyrinth ran along one side and the cliff-face ran along the other. There was, in short, no place to hide and watch.

Jareth didn't pace- Elban had often caught up with his meandering steps in the wild and Madigh would be an even better tracker- but crouched where he had landed and thought about it. The Labyrinth would be a good place to hide, but the three would be on the other side of the road. He wouldn't hear a thing from the Labyrinth.

A vision crystal?

No. That would… on the other hand, Luka would not be looking for a crystal so close to the border of his sanctuary. Jareth conjured one up and used it to look around. No one yet. Good. He rolled the crystal in his fingers. It worked, evidently, as it always would. But there were disturbances with working so close to the Outlaw Lands.

The Underground was essentially a land of order; imposing chaos was easy to do. But the Outlaw Lands were of chaos. And raw chaos when handled by a chaos magician in the midst of chaos would… well, create chaos. Besides which, Luka was not as powerless as most people thought. It was the only reason Jareth had tolerated him as long as he had, just to see what it was that had made the younger fae so worthy of so much ability. The Labyrinth must have had some reason to give him that powerstone. And Luka might just use that power to sense him.

So, no magic just yet.

But if the crystal had already been established, Luka might not even note its existence.

Jareth bit his lip and peered over the edge again. Merilin was lying on his side, his head pillowed on his arm in a strangely vulnerable position.

The Goblin King looked down at the crystal. Using the crystal would still leave him out in the open for all to see. So it would be no real use in its usual way but he had another weapon that he could use along with it. He changed. The owl fluttered down, mostly blinded in the sunlight, but still capable of winging its way to a crevice in the cliff-face. The crystal it held in its claws glittered.

Merilin didn't even see it. He was half-asleep, lulled by the stillness and the warmth. It was a good place to escape. No one ever went there, and both rock and Labyrinth kept the wind out and provided shade. The best place to sleep. Or keep an assignation.

And Merilin was doing both.

Two hours later he heard the rustling of the grass and sat up immediately, hand going to his scabbard only to find it gone. Luka smiled down at him, twirling the blade with an astonishing amount of dexterity.

"Tsk," the fae teased, "I like to think you know better than this, dear."

"Welcome, my friend," Merilin yawned, sitting up slowly but showing no fear, "I fell asleep waiting for you. Where is our third acquaintance?"

"Busy," Luka said shortly, "He could not come. Pour me a glass, Merilin; I miss the good wine. Madigh is an oafish boor, poor lamb. He lives in a hovel and eats undercooked food. But he is clever, and he does get the job done."

"I will take your word for it. Now, what can I do for you?"

Luka lifted the glass with one hand and sipped daintily, all the while examining the arched snake carved into the handle of the sword he had captured. He seemed entranced by it. Not an unusual occurrence for someone with a weakness for pretty craftwork. "I need your help, Merilin."

Merilin stilled and watched him, pleasantly ambivalent in expression. He dipped his pointed chin in encouragement and pricked up his pointed ears. But he kept silent, hoping to draw as much information out as he could without revealing or saying more than he had to. He had concerns about being implicated later on. As it was, Jareth might well kill him if he found out about the meeting.

"You are strangely silent, my dear."

"I am waiting breathlessly to hear whatever it is that you would not trust to a letter," the elf said ironically.

Luka laughed at that, throwing back his head and offering both sword and scabbard back to their rightful owner. He shook his brown head and took off the black cloak he wore. "I must say, the outlaws have some quite wonderful skills," he remarked, "These cloaks are vastly underestimated. A little care and they almost seem to melt against a suitable shadow. Now, Merilin- I have a proposition for you."

"I am listening."

"That does not mean much to me, my dear. I need an assurance. After all, you have," Luka's mouth quirked, "Political aspirations. Power behind the throne and all that?"

"My friend, I would need first to be in a particular position behind the Goblin King before I can have his throne."

"Jareth? Oh, no, dear. Never make the mistake of confusing sex and need with him. He could care less, really he could."

The Goblin King was justifiably proud of garnering such a compliment.

"He is a cold bitch, that one, more likely to bite and claw than fall in love. He ruins what he loves the most." Luka's voice was perfectly matter-of-fact and he was playing with the black material in his lap. "He plays other people that way. Simple, really- a female always wants to feel beautiful; a male always wants to feel virile. He panders to that, gives them what they want, and as they lie sated and unthinking in his bed, he plies his silver tongue to extract what he needs. Simple."

Merilin raised an eyebrow. Something sounded very wrong about the way that Luka was speaking. Sitting so close that he could smell the fae, Merilin could swear that he saw a sly humour in the serene lines of that pretty face.

"See all that romantic nonsense with Sarah for reference. He gave her what she wanted, discovered to his horror that he cared about her and then proceeded to torture her for it. And what was his reaction to her last dying wish? He ruined her brother's life as well."

Merilin held up a hand for no good reason that he could think of. He did not want to listen to more. There was something chilling about the way that the fae spoke, something chilling in his calm. "I did not come here for this," he said sharply.

"I think you should stay quiet and listen," Luka murmured, not even bothered by the interruption, "If you are to understand, you have to understand Jareth and the effect he has on people."

"Is that really your reason for wanting him beneath your hold?"

A sharp grin- the first sign of something beyond peace. "No. You know me better, my dear. What I want is power. I developed rather the taste for it with my father. I have no quarrel with Jareth, per say. He is as he is and the secret to him is that you cannot expect otherwise."

"I never have."

"Are you sure?" Luka shifted position and put the cloak aside, stretching languidly in the warmth. "No one but Elban ever cracked the code. He confided, of course, once I assured him that I only had Jareth's best interests at heart. I can be persuasive too, you see." He sounded inordinately proud of himself, like a little boy.

Merilin was getting more anxious than he cared to admit. He found himself fidgeting.

Luka suddenly snapped upright and shook his head. "Be that as it may, Madigh has a scheme. Jervohl is perfectly positioned. We harm her; Jareth will go after Gildred. Gildred is, fortunately, quite hopelessly in love with her. He will blame Jareth and try to get Jervohl away from him. We use her a catalyst to create mayhem. Jareth will be compromised. He is no warrior. He has never fought a battle in his life. If he cannot be taken, he still will not stand a chance against a trained assassin. We kill him or bring him to our bidding. Then we have power of the Underground."

Merilin absorbed this slowly. He didn't know why he was suddenly icy with fear. He had expected something of the sort. But to hear it in words was quite a large bath of cold water falling over his head. And for the first time in his life, he was uncertain around Luka. The wrong thing said and the fae looked as if he would have no issue with silencing him completely.

"You seem speechless, my dear. Have I startled you?"

"No, no. I was thinking. What is it you want me to do?"

"You have an ear with a lot of others. Create tension. Bring civil unrest. Keep Jareth so occupied that he reacts badly."

"Badly? How do you mean? How do you know he will even fall for such an obvious plan?"

"Because that is the secret- he reacts. He has no enigma. The Goblin King, my dear, is just a fraud. He will be confused and he will be upset and he will react just as we want him to. Never fear that."

"You are really sure this will work," Merilin asked, almost gawking in awe.

Luka laughed again and shook his head. "My dear, Madigh has great faith in you." Then the fae got up and went to the cliff-face. He caught the rope he had left hanging and climbed agilely.

Merilin poured himself a glass of the wine and began to drain it in earnest, more shaken than he had ever been.

A hand came from nowhere to sweep the glass from his lips. He yelped as the wine splashed over him and the glass fell to the grass, heart in his mouth as he met a pair of fatally deadly mismatched eyes.

"Up," Jareth ordered quietly. The controlled timbre of his voice was very telling. "Get to your feet. Your mount had better know its way to its dwelling because you are coming with me."

He put a gloved hand on the elf's trembling shoulder and whisked them back to the Castle at the Centre of the Labyrinth. They were in Jervohl's room and pandemonium had already broken out, just as Jareth had guessed it would.

The door was open and goblins were squealing and running back and forth. Hessie was shouting at them, herding them out and trying to keep them from coming back in. Pandora and Eloise were grim-faced and pale, one with bloodied hands.

Jervohl was directing them, tending to the wound in Toby's shoulder.

Jareth left Merilin in the corner with a dire warning- "If he is hurt badly, I will blame you. And you will pay."