Maria shrugged and followed Alizander into the labyrinth. with the sound of stone grating on stone and a final thundering Thud, Alizander and the strange mortal disappeared from sight.

Near by, a small fairy poked her head out of her hiding place. "How very interesting." She said in a lovely bell-like voice "I'm sure his lordship would be interested in hearing about this."

The tiny woman made an exaggerated hand gesture and disappeared in a small cloud of blue smoke.

888

Byrem stood at one of the many palace windows and surveyed his kingdom with a mixture of pity and contempt. Such a small pathetic country, to call it that was a joke. A few decades ago Byrem had been happy and excited to inherit the throne. If only he had known then what he knew now.

His was one of the smallest and most insignificant of the countries in the underground. No one in the human world ever dreamed of the lowly inhabitants of Akome anymore.

Once it had flourished. Mothers told there children stories of the onyx castle that lay deep in the scarlet forests. Of the wood trolls that roamed by night, Misguiding travelers with the help of the Will-o-the-wisp and other tricksters. Of the Ink panthers and the grate golden colored elks. Now the country was hanging on by a thread.

During his fathers reign the borders had crept closer to the castle, Other kingdoms like the Elf and Ghoul kingdoms were spreading and eating away at the smaller kingdoms like Akome and the labyrinth.

Byrem knew he had to find a way to remind the humans that Akome was still here. But he had no idea how

His reverie was interrupted by the rumbling voice of one of the palace guards.

"The lady Ariminta requests an audience sire, to report important news from the Labyrinth."

Byrem turned to his troll guard. "Oh yes? Important news hmm?"

The guard nodded his head, causing ripples to pass through it's innumerable chins. "That is what she said sire."

Byrem scoffed. "I can't imagine what could possibly be of import in the goblin kingdom. Still, I could use a distraction. Send her in."

The flesh troll bowed and thundered away to fetch the fairy spy.

Byrem walked over to his onyx throne and sat leisurely on it's black satin cushions.

A moment later the small tan fairy in a green flowing dress fluttered into the throne room and bowed before her king.

He nodded to her and she straitened up before him. "Welcome home Ariminta, what have you to say to me?"

"Oh yes, it's nice to see you too my lord." Said the fairy flatly. Byrem smiled. She may be a pest, but he missed her lack of respect some times. It made him feel more like a person and less like a title. Though Ariminta was the only one who was able to get away with it. she was an old friend of his.

"It happens that the goblin king has some very interesting visitors just now."

"A representative of one of the larger countries no doubt." Said Byrem, uninterested.

"Not as such my liege." Said the fairy, a hint of mischief in her voice.

"Well?" he prompted.

"Well… it seems that two humans have found their way into the labyrinth sire."

Byrem's head snapped up. "Humans? In the labyrinth? I thought the goblin king didn't have enough power to bring humans over anymore."

Ever since the young human girl defeated the labyrinth over a decade ago Jareth had lost most of his power. The labyrinth shrunk more and more for a short while until some unknown event in the human world had stabilized it.

If only Akome could be so lucky.

"I'm afraid he found a way sire." Said Ariminta.

"How?" Byrem asked.

"Well sire, he seams to have taken two… well… young ladies."

"Two? How could he have brought over two? How old are they?" He asked, his mind whirring.

"Err, If I had to guess I'd say… oh… sixteen, seventeen human years?"

Byrem laid back in his throne. He could not believe the luck! If one of the kingdoms were able to get their hands on a human, preferably a young one, the kingdom could flourish and grow beyond belief. The underground fed on human dreams and imagination, and with a human in one's power one could even become the ruler of the underground.

That was why the human world had been marked off-limits to fey kind. No fey could go to earth. (with out the permission of particularly imaginative humans, and even then they could never bring anything back.)

But if you could lure a human over, so they came of there own free will, and then convinced them to stay…

Yes, Jareth had tried this trick before.

A young girl with long dark hazel hair and jade eyes, tired of babysitting and the thoughtlessness of her step mother, called on the goblin king for help. Sarah Williams was a girl blessed with a startlingly overactive imagination. And even though deep down she had not meant for anything to happen to her baby brother, the goblin king had all the invitation he needed.

In fact, nothing had happened to her step brother. Although he had been summoned, Jareth could not take anything from earth back with him. But a human mind is easy to trick, especially for a fey. A little magic went a long way and before long Sarah was trapped in the underground. While she was there Jareth found that he rather liked tormenting her and her little dwarf friend Higgle. But such actions were rather inhibiting his larger plans. Now he had to get the girl to stay of her own free will.

He tormented the dwarf into giving her an enchanted peach which gave her visions of dancing with him. He sang her love songs and tried to make her forget about her quest. But Sarah had not been fooled for long. She escaped his embrace and shattered the dream. Pity, so he waited for her to reach the castle. He had to play his cards right for if he could not convince her to stay it would mean loosing more of his power and having the borders creep in on him.

He had been so close. So close. He even managed to make her forget the words that would end her little adventure. But at the last second, just as when she had escaped the ballroom, the light of realization came on in her eyes. "You have no power over me!"

And thus he lost. The human girl slipped right through his fingers. And with her, almost all of his powers. When the other kingdoms heard about the goblin king's little plan and how close it had come to succeeding, they sent spies in to keep an eye on him. The goblin king did not care much for his subjects or his surroundings, and let his goblins do whatever they wanted, provided it did not interfere with whatever he happened to be doing at the time. The elves especially cringed at the thought of Jareth as high king of the underground.

Now Jareth seemed to be up to his old tricks. It had been a long time since the Sarah girl had traversed the labyrinth and most of the spies had become inattentive to there duties. After all, the labyrinth was an incredibly small, insignificant and dull place. after a while, the spies were withdrawn. Other kingdoms figured that the Goblin king had so little power as it was, he would never be able to attempt such an act again. Only Byrem left his spy there. A fact most displeasing to Ariminta. Though he paid little attention to the place, he didn't put it past Jareth to surprise everyone with a new scheme. He would find a way to get what he wanted.

Now that there were humans there however, Byrem took an immediate interest in the place.

"Well well Ariminta! That was a fine bit of work. Go to them, watch them. Come back in two hours and tell me what you see. "

Byrem knew well what would happen if Jareth managed to keep the girls in the labyrinth. Akome and the labyrinth had been rival countries for ever. As far as the history books went back, there had always been enmity between them. Some dispute between the kings eons ago that no one could remember. Yet it seemed the hatred was passed along with the crown to the new generations.

Byrem hated Jareth. He was a scheming, conniving, self-absorbed child!

Jareth hated Byrem. He was a self-righteous, day dreaming idiot! With a country full of creatures so old no one knew there names anymore.

Byrem longed to wipe the insufferable smirk of Jareth's face forever. Just as Jareth longed to destroy Byrem's attitude of superiority.

No, it would not do to let Jareth have even the slightest opportunity.

The fairy bowed and disappeared in her trademark cloud of blue smoke. Byrem stood and walked over to his window again. This time, instead of seeing a pitiful dieing country, he saw possibility.

He waved his hand and a small jade ball formed in his palm. In it a picture of the flesh troll guard appeared. "Guard! Summon Orrick to my throne room at once." The guard had jumped when he heard his kings voice. He bowed, seemingly to the air, and thundered down the corridor.

Byrem vanished the jade ball and stood on the window ledge. Orrick was away in another part of the country he would take a bit of time arriving. Byrem grinned. He started to shrink and sprout white feathers. A few seconds later a white raven shot out of the window and soared high over the scarlet forest. The leaves of the trees shined like rubies.

Sending a spy was all well and good, but Byrem wanted to see the human girls for himself. The raven seemed to dissolve into a wisp of white smoke. seconds later the raven reappeared. However, instead of the scarlet forest below him he found the winding Labyrinth. And in the center he heard the hysterical shrieking of one very upset human girl.

888

A/N

This chappy goes out to LuckRatTail who had the brilliant idea of throwing in a rival king trying to get his hands on Maria and/or Ridel for some reason.

And Ariminta goes out to Soprano Of The Labyrinth and Christopher Iirod, who wanted a fairy character.

Remember! If you want to have a say in what happens in this fic, leave a review with your suggestion.

Love y'all!

Ridel