Title: The Labyrinth: The Way Back
Author: Aviry Nolane, slvrluna47@aol.com
Notes: this one's rather long, sorry about that - I had to get a bit of basic underground history nailed in somewhere :)


Chapter 8 - Homecoming


It was a long night for the Goblin King.

He lay awake the whole of it, lying silent in the tangle of cotton bedding that twisted around his form.

His night was filled with idle thoughts, most of them circling around the state of affairs back in the Underground.

The news of the Fellowship gatherings in Napora did not sit well with him.

The band of disreputable creatures; men, elf, and fae alike had existed since the time of his father's rule. In Elvin lore, it was rumored that they had come together in an effort to stop the splitting of the seven realms into the thirteen-kingdom alliance. They had fought the Seelie council and those who followed suite with potent dark magic that are now only remembered in the songs of traveling bards.

Perhaps it was best that way.

They had firmly contested the splitting of the Dv'nari kingdom, as he recalled, especially that of the Din'l mountain range. If his memory was correct, it was not surprising that the Fellowship would rise up at this time, as the Tjari and the Maesonites were fighting over the same range of mountain that the Fellowship had fought so hard to ensure into the hands of the Haan Elvin.

And he supposed their efforts weren't all in vain, as it was because of their efforts that the three kings were established.

The Three Kings of Arwen had been empowered by the Seelie courts to oversee all records and bookkeeping of the times of the Underground, especially that of the Din'l mountain range, as it seemed to hold some special importance at the time, to ensure that there would never be confusion as to whom the surrounding lands belonged and to transcribe the histories of the complete people. The three kings, Tahavron of the Tjari council, Goriath of the Maesonites, and Facor of the Haan Elvin were known as both the peace and secret keepers of the land.

Now it seemed as though they were diverging against all they had embodied by fighting over the lands they protected.

In the last few months, several disturbing events had turned the tides of courtly gossip to the south in the stead of the Seelie court. Bits and pieces of the rumors had made their way to Jareth's borders and what he had heard troubled him.

One such fragment of information that had reached him was that King Facor, leader of the Haan Elvin and one of the Three Kings of Arwen, had gone missing.

Kings and respected political figures did not just go missing in the Underground.

Jareth turned in his makeshift bed uncomfortably.

Thanks to the disappearance of King Facor, the Tjari and Maesonites were laying blame on each other's shoulders, the peaceful semblance of the three kings falling away into disrepair.

Political civil war was rising around him as Tahavron and Goraith bickered over the ownership of the Din'l mountains now that the Haan Elvin could no longer safeguard them.

He briefly pondered what could be so worth protection in the mountains that would collapse a colossal branch of courtly political functioning, but then remembered the key function of the Din'l mountains.

Natural iron deposits were found there.

He passed this off as the reasoning behind all the panic and turned his thoughts to matters closer to home, as he couldn't begin to care less who finally gained control of the iron, the guard would be the same.

What presently disturbed him was the presence of the Fellowship so near his own kingdom.

They were not particularly known for their decency in the Underground, and after the settlement of the thirteen-kingdom alliance they had roamed the realm pillaging and ravaging the kingdoms and their inhabitants they traveled through for nearly two hundred years, before their leader had been assassinated.

At the hands of Jareth's own father.

This thought shook him, he knew what the implications of the Fellowship's presence so near his borders was meant to say. It was a direct threat on his authority over his father's kingdom.

He drew his hands through his untamed hair and shrugged the thought away. He was a long way from home, not that being there would do him much good, he would first have to secure his place as Lord Protector of the Underground and then inform the thirteen corners of his situation.

It would do him no good to worry ahead of himself. Right now he needed to concentrate on retaining his position, and that meant that he had considerable thinking of a different kind to do.

Thinking of Sarah.

He chuckled to himself in remembrance of earlier that same evening, when Sarah had been so inclined to fight him on everything that he said. She certainly hadn't lost a fraction of her fighting spirit since he had last faced her.

He wasn't sure whether the thought pleased or dismayed him.

He smiled all the same, remembering the brief feel of her mouth on his.

His Sarah wasn't going to be happy.

He checked the digital clock that hung from her wall.

7:45.

He was tired of waiting.

It was time to take Sarah home.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Sarah yawned and murmured quietly to herself.

Why was she so dizzy?

She lolled her head around drowsily. Why on earth was everything spinning? And rather high... and as long as she was on the subject, where the hell were her blankets.

Something was just not right here.

She reached out a hand to steady herself and made contact with... what was that? A ledge of some sort? Her nightstand? Funny, she didn't remember her bedside table being so soft... or warm.

Her eyes opened with an uncertain grogginess. Was she dreaming?

What she awoke to was enough to make her scream.

And she did scream after a moment, after the initial shock of waking up in the Goblin King's arms had subsided.

He smiled down at her as his arms fastened around her, tighter than they had been before. Whether it was because he was about to drop her or he was worried she would soon make a break for it, his expression gave nothing away.

"Jareth!" She demanded, confusion of the moment falling away to be replaced by outrage, "put me down."

He gave no indication he had heard her, and instead seemed to focus on something just behind her left ear. She turned to see what it was that had him so engrossed.

There, an inch from her nose, was the proof of Jareth's newly returned Goblin King status.

A bright crystal. A bright crystal that began to glow with an ethereal white radiance that engulfed her.

Her eyes grew wide. "Oh no..."

She scrambled just a little too late to get away from him.

The world spun away from her in an instant, her only continuance of the moment being the ringing echo of Jareth's laughter around her.