Ok, here's some more Jareth... :-)

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Jareth quickly led Sarah, Fenella and Fanny around a few corners in the thorn hedge maze, until they came to the very doors Sarah had been looking for. It was two steel doors encrusted with jewels, one green and one blue, almost like Jareth's eyes, and again there seemed to be no riddle for them.

"The blue will lead to the other side, which is Raft maze I suppose you came from." Jareth talked very fast. "The other one is inactive without the mists, but I will summon them and create a passage to the Goblin City. Run through as fast as you can – I'm not sure how long the passage will hold."

He conjured a crystal ball and held it high in the air with both hands, as he closed his eyes and concentrated. Suddenly it gleamed brightly, filling the area with light and the whole maze around them began to wither and change, first slowly, then faster and faster.

"Sarah, come on!" Fenella had opened the green door, and through it the Goblin City was clearly visible. Fenny darted through and her sister followed, leaving the door open for Sarah, but suddenly she saw the thorn maze hedges sprouting from the ground in straight line, moving towards Jareth from behind and only seconds from reaching him. He didn't notice, as his eyes were still closed and his focus in controlling the mists, and there was no way he could avoid being impaled on the thorns heading straight for him. Without thinking, Sarah turned away from the door and threw herself at him, knocking him to the side, and as they tumbled to the ground, the hedge growth sprouted only inches from them and continued on, before it rammed into the wall and separated them from the doors. Jareth's light had gone out, and the darkness was even more blinding than before. Sarah realized she was almost sitting on top of Jareth and quickly rolled off him, and he looked at her and then at the huge thorns right beside them with realization in his eyes. As he got up and helped her up as well, he scanned the area with a quick glance, until his eyes came to rest on the wall itself.

"This way!" he decided and still holding her hand pulled her towards the wall. Before she even realized what he was going to do, he had lifted her into the air and let go, and she soared upwards, defying gravity, until she landed with a thud on the thirteen feet high wall. The wall was about three feet think and made of bricks and stones, and the top of it was a plane surface. On one side the maze withered and twisted in response to the wild mists, and on the other side, the fog lay heavily over the lake that she could see a faint outline of. Jareth in owl form landed in front of her and became Jareth again, and he grabbed her hand and started running on the path formed by the wall. Sarah clung to him and followed, as eager to get away as he was. She hoped the wall would slow down the progress of the mists, but still feared it might crumble beneath them at any time under the pressure.

Sarah did not know how long they had been running, but thankfully the smell of the Bog was fading, so she knew they were getting further away. The wall split in two, and Jareth turned right and away from the thorn hedge maze, so they were now running between the raft maze and another one, which Sarah couldn't quite make out because it was so dark around them. They continued on and on, until finally, she had to give up.

"Please," she gasped and fell to her knees, letting go of his hand. "I can't run anymore."

"Sarah, we must get further away," he pleaded, but she shook her head and heaved for breath, completely exhausted. Suddenly she was scooped up in his arms, and he started running again, this time carrying her with him as if she weighed next to nothing. She flung her arms around his neck and was pressed against his chest, held tight in his unyielding arms and she could hear his heart beat slowly and steadily, calming her along with the intense heat radiating from him. She relaxed against him and buried her face at his shoulder, tears burning in her eyes, both from shame that she had had to give up, but mostly from relief that he had come to save them – that he had found them just before it could have turned really bad. Fanny and Fenella had to be back in the City and would be safe, and here with Jareth, she would be safe, too.

Much later, Jareth slowed his pace and gently set her down. "This should be far enough for tonight," he said and transformed into the owl, leaving her alone on the wall, and disappearing down into the maze. A moment later he called her name from below, and as she looked down, she could see his tall figure outlined in the moonlight, reaching up for her.

"Jump, Sarah," he commanded in a voice that allowed no questions, and she closed her eyes and obeyed. Her heart stopped in fear as she fell through the air, but he caught her easily before she hit the ground.

"Where as we?" she asked, as she could see nothing but trees and jungle-like growth all around her in the darkness. There wasn't even a path here.

"We're in the old part of the Labyrinth forest," he said and led her from the wall to a large tree nearby that was all hollow inside. "We'll stay here for the night – you need the rest and it will be much easier to get back, once we can see where we are going."

He took off his cape and spread it out on the ground inside the tree, trying to make it as comfortable as possible, and then sat down and gestured for her to join him.

"Can't you just… transport us back with your magic?" she asked hesitantly as she sat down opposite him and leaned against the inside of the tree trunk. A single beam of moonlight shone into the make-shift shelter, giving them just enough light to see each other faintly.

"It only works when the magic mists are present and stable," he sighed. "Even in your world Above the traces of mist are strong enough for the goblins and me to use, but this region is completely dead. We have to get to an untouched region, before I can just transport us back."

"But your owl magic works?"

He laughed softly. "That is a Fae trait, not Labyrinth or mist magic. Unfortunately, I can't transform you, so it doesn't help us much right now."

Sarah and the King sat in silence for a moment, and as she took in his ragged appearance and overwhelming presence in the small space, she suddenly realized she was no longer afraid of him or angry with him anymore. The king she had come to know in the past few days might be arrogant and used to getting his way, but he had also proved to be caring and strong and courageous. He had shown nothing but affection for the goblins and creatures in his Kingdom, he had not slept for two days as far as she knew, because he had been fighting to mend what was wrong with the Labyrinth, and he had come to help her and the twins, even though it was obvious that he had put himself in danger to do so.

"I'm so grateful that you came for us," she said gently and he turned his head and met her eyes. "Thank you, Jareth." The last word was almost a whisper, and his eyes widened at the sound of his name being spoken by her at last.

"You're welcome," he murmured. "It was my own fault anyway, I should have given the goblins orders to stay in the city far sooner. Thank you for saving little Fenella – the Raft maze will surely be invaded by the Bog during the night, and she would not have made it, had you not gotten her out to a clear maze, where I could find you."

At the thought of how bad it could have turned out for all of them, Sarah felt the tears coming again, and this time she couldn't fight it anymore, but started sobbing openly, hiding her face in her hands. He was at her side immediately and drew her close, so she could cry into his shoulder, and she clung to him, not caring about what he thought of her anymore. All the frustrations of the past few days were released in her tears, and he held her patiently, while the sobs tore through her body.

At last, her sobs ebbed out, but she felt so wickedly safe and comfortable in his embrace, that she couldn't bear to end it. She sat very still and feigned to be asleep, leaning against him with closed eyes and feeling his shoulder wet from her tears. He made no move to get away, but leaned back against the tree trunk and shifted her a bit to make them both more comfortable. His ungloved hand played with her hair, which was still wet from the swim in the lake, and then she felt him remove the frayed ribbon and gently undo the braid, combing out the tangles in the process. The feeling of his caring hand and delicate touch of her hair was unexpectedly sensual in all its innocence and made her shiver inside with delight, although she tried very hard not to show it

"Fenella and Fanny came to me more than a century ago," Jareth began quietly, while he worked on her hair, and she wasn't sure whether he knew she was awake or not, as he kept talking. "Their story is sad, but unfortunately very common. They must have been around nine or ten years old and had been molested, beaten and starved by their stepfather for years. Fenella had finally gathered the courage to tell their priest what was happening, but the man did not kept his vow of silence, but confronted the stepfather with it. Furious with them for telling, their stepfather beat them savagely and wished for the goblins to take them, and when I appeared to him, he had no desire to get them back. Fanny was barely alive in the fifteen hours before the Labyrinth mists transformed and healed them and removed all their memories. It's not their real names, either - I give all the goblins new names to help erase their past."

He smoothed out each lock of hair by itself and placed them carefully on her shoulders, spreading them out to dry.

"You know, Sarah," he said and she could hear he was amused, "you're even worse at faking sleep than the twins."