CHAPTER 3

—--Day 11

When morning came Sarah, went to the bathroom, fed her pup, and got dressed. Sarah brushed out her hair, braided it loosely, and put on her boot knife and knife from her world. She wrapped up the puppy and put on her cloak. She went downstairs to get breakfast.

As she went downstairs she stopped, she heard talking.

Malik said, "I really like Sar. She is beautiful, not fae beautiful but close. She would be great to make love to before she leaves."

The other male voice, "What about yer fiancēe? Does Sar know yer about ta get married ina couple weeks?"

Malik said, "No, I don't want her to know. Sar can be my last human to enchant with my fae charms for a while." Sarah thought, 'Geez, talk about using me for a fling. This will cure him of using his enchantments on little old me.'

Sar came downstairs and, "Not today I hope. I'll have to disappoint you. What's for breakfast?" It was his cook he was talking to. The cook got up and went into the kitchen.

Malik looked like he was caught like a fly in a car window wiper. He stuttered and said, "S…Sar, h…how are you this morning?"

Sarah rolled her eyes at him and said, "I'm fine. You?"

He said, "I'm great. We have eggs, venison bits, potatoes and toast. Four coppers."

Sarah asked, "And tea?" She was acting like she never heard a thing. He was nervous to know how much she heard.

He said, "Five coppers." She nodded and put the money on the counter. He got her a hot tea. The cook came out with a nice breakfast. Sarah smiled and thanked him. She started eating.

Sarah asked, "Do you have a leather tanner or cobbler in town?"

Malik said, "The cobbler is to the right four doors down on the opposite side of the street." Sarah nodded and smiled at him. He was nervous that his plans were not going to happen. Sarah laughed on the inside. She knew he was unsure.

Sarah said, "I'm not going to be your last human to enchant for a while. Sorry to disappoint you. I will be your friend while I'm here. Just stop being strange around me. I know and have heard."

He said in shock, "You're not mad?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "You're not the only guy who's ever wanted in my underwear. It was a disappointment that you intended to treat me like a guy who doesn't care about more than a fling. Since that will never happen, I still like you as a person." He was stunned. He never had a woman be so blunt and frank with him.

He said, "I don't know what to say."

Sarah said, "Just let it go, Malik. You are a man right down to your bones and men can act like playful randy goats. Doesn't mean every girl will fall at your feet, enchantment or no enchantment. Some of us are just wiser than most."

Malik chuckled and said, "You are one of a kind, Sar."

She smiled and said, "I am, aren't I? They broke the mold after they made me." He chuckled. Sarah waved goodbye when she took her and her pup to the cobbler.

Sarah walked in and started looking around. A little old man came out and asked, "Can I help you young lady?"

Sarah said, "Yes, sir. I am looking for a fur lined pouch I can hang around my neck while I ride my horse or walk around town. It must be thick and warm for a wolf pup to grow and get bigger. Even a fur pouch inside out would do too." She pulled the pup out and showed him.

The old man walked around looking at things and went in the back and came out with two different pieces. He had a fur bag and a rounded leather rope. He turned the pouch inside out and it looked like suede leather on the outside and a soft fur lining.

He said, "I can take off the flap of the bag and attach the rounded rope because your neck can get chaffed from regular belt like straps. Will it be big enough for him to grow?" It was perfect.

She smiled at him and said, "It's perfect, thank you. How long will it take to make it complete?"

He said, "Just a few minutes. Wait here." He went in the back. He had an awl and hammer. He measured the length, so it would hang over her heart. He went back and cut off the leather flap evenly and removed the excess fur from cutting it. He hammered the leather rope to make it pliable to sew to the pouch sides. When he was done, Sarah put the pup in his new fur pouch. She hung it around her neck. She bought a small soft drawstring bag big enough to hold the little bottle and attach it to the strap so the dose doesn't spill while wearing it.

Sarah smiled and said, "It is exactly what I need." It was one gold, three coppers. Sarah paid him and kissed his cheek and waved goodbye.

She went back to the inn and went up to her room and cut off some plastic from her gallon size zip close bags. Just a little from each and used her lighter to melt the plastic and mold it to make a tiny stopper in the tiny feeding bottle tip. She melted plastic around a lacing end and did a build up of the hot plastic to stick it to the little stoppers top. She attached the lacing on the drawstring of the little bag so the stopper wouldn't get lost. The pup cried out in his pouch. She held him and fed him, then made him potty.

Sarah held him up with milk sopped lips and said, "I think I'll call you, Azrael. You're a dark angel pup." Sarah felt a little tired and laid down on the bed and covered both of them up with her two blankets. She napped.

—--

In a couple kingdoms over, Jareth was sitting in his bedroom and thought that he hadn't checked up on Sarah in a long, long time, in like four years. He created a crystal and couldn't see Sarah at all. His crystal was pitch black. He thought that was unusual. He popped it and cast the spell again and nothing. He thought, suddenly shocked, maybe she died. He looked in on Toby and saw him with his mother bored looking shopping. He looked in on her father sitting at a desk working on papers. He tried Sarah again and it was black. He frowned. He thought next time he goes to the Aboveground, he would look into where Sarah is.

Tomorrow he had to leave early to go to the Fairy Kingdom and it would take two days for him to get there for their Flower Festival in Blaáth. He promised Queen Camellia of the Fairy Kingdom that he would joust.

—--Day 13

Sarah was ready to go two days later. She had her wolf pup around her neck and had Nathrach waiting downstairs. She grabbed all her gear and went down and gave Malik her key. She packed up her horse and tied down everything. She thanked Darwin for more milk in the already charmed bottle. She hugged and kissed him goodbye. He wished her good health and safe journeys.

She headed northwest to the city of Blaáth. Sarah stopped from time to time and fed the pup, Azrael. She took bathroom breaks and stopped by a stream to eat lunch and let Nathrach drink and munch on half dead grass.

She got into Blaáth at around dusk. It took her a while to find an inn. She grabbed all her gear and went inside. The inn was full and they told her where two more establishments were. It was because it was The Annual Flower Festival this weekend. She got lucky on the next one and the tavern had a room with a tub, privy and water pump. She paid for two nights. She dropped off all her baggage and locked up and headed to the nearest stable. When she returned to the tavern, she went upstairs and started settling in and fed Azrael. She put on her cloak and gloves and put the pup around her neck. She went down for dinner and wine. She was listening to the local gossip.

One man was telling another that the best part of the Flower Festival was tomorrow, when Queen Camellia of the Fairy Kingdom was to announce the royal participants of the joust at 3pm. His friend said that he had it on good authority that one would be King Jareth of the Goblin Kingdom. Sarah thought, 'Oh shit! He can't see me, but I want to watch him.'

Sarah went up to her room, locked and blocked the door. She made a big warm fire and heated water while she undressed. She took a long hot bath and washed her hair. She put on warm socks, her t-shirt from home and dried her hair in front of the fire. She washed up her traveling clothes and put them up to dry. She braided her hair and cut about six inches off with her knife, as even as possible, because it was past her butt and it needed a cut. She tossed the hair into the fire. She put the screen in front of the fire and climbed in bed pulling Azrael out of his pouch and snuggling up to him. She was toasty warm and fell asleep.

—--Day 14

The next morning Sarah got up and did her morning routine. She was dressed all in black today with leggings, leather pants, tunic, belt and lace up boots. She wore all her knives except the short sword. She took a hundred gold in one of her smaller bags and hung it under her shirt inside her pants. It was tied to her pants belt loop. She knew she was going to have to be aware of pickpockets in the crowds. She put her coin purse around her neck on a lacing that let it hang between her breasts. She put the milk bottle in a medium drawstring bag and hung it on her big belt toward the front of her to keep an eye on it. She put on her cloak and gloves and pulled her hood up so she was deep inside the hood. She went down for breakfast and tea.

Sarah got instructions on where to go to find vendors, jousting, games and food. Sarah went to the games first. It was mostly gambling, shell games, card games. She signed up for the archery tournament at 1pm. She went to the vendors and saw all kinds of trinkets. There was a beautiful pendant with a silver chain. It was a three inch wide spread winged owl. Its eyes were set in blue gemstones. Its feathers were all inlaid abalone shell pieces with a silver moon behind it.

She asked, "How much are you asking for this piece?"

The vendor said, "Ah yes, it be the Goblin King's crest. I be askin' fer, twelve gold." She turned to walk away.

He said, "I be takin' ten fer it?" She turned again.

He pouted and said, "What's yer offer?"

She said, "Five."

He said, "I canna go that low." She turned to walk away and started looking at another vendor's wares next to him. She saw a winding twenty six hour pocket watch that was silver with scroll work and a hinged front closure. You could see the gears and dials moving on a black face.

She asked, "How much for the pocket watch?" She pointed to the one.

The vendor said, "Four gold."

Sarah said, "Will you take three?" The vendor nodded yes. She gave him three gold for it and clipped to her shirt. She asked the time and set it accordingly winding it up. She went to move down further. The vendor with the owl said, "I'll sell you the pendant for six gold." Sarah eyed him and paid him for it. She put the pendant in the drawstring bag with the milk bottle and tied it closed. She nodded her head and walked down further looking at everything. She found two pairs of earrings she put in the milk bag and a gold ring with a dark clear green emerald set in it. The fae who sold it to her said it had powerfully strong luck enchantments on it. She put it on, under her gloves.

Sarah went and got a sausage sandwich with roasted peppers and onions. She sat at a table under a tree out of the way and watched people. She took a couple bites of her sandwich and the pup cried out for a feeding. Sarah got his bottle and started feeding him inside of the pouch. It was too cold to bring him out of it. She thought it would snow soon and she had to find a place to settle down for the winter. She didn't want to go to the Goblin Kingdom for winter, maybe the Unicorn Kingdom would be nice.

After the pup was fed and his bathroom needs were done with leaves, Sarah went to the archery tournament and rented a longbow and arrows. She hit every bullseye to the judges' amazement. She even split an arrow. She won the first prize purse of 50 gold. She went back to her room at the tavern and dropped off her purse to get it off of her body. She shifted more gold from her hidden bag to her purse around her neck. She decided to go out as a woman this time and put on her necklace and a pair of her earrings. She brushed out her hair and tied it back with a thong. She wore her black skirt, green blouse, black leggings and black corset and put her wide black belt over it all to attach her knife, and milk bag. She put her bag of fifty gold under her skirt but attached it to the belt. She filled up the little bottle with milk and put the pouch around her neck. Sarah put her gloves and cloak on, hiding her face but bringing her dark hair forward. She didn't want Jareth to see her.

Sarah locked up and went downstairs and back out to the festival. She went to where the jousting was about to take place.

The Queen of the Fairies said, "Citizens and tourists gather around! Today's jousting is by two King competitors! King Jareth of the Goblin Kingdom, against King Folen of the Unicorn Kingdom!" The crowd cheered. Sarah got a place behind the front row of people by the rails. It was at the bottom of a slope so she could see over them. The Goblin King was in purple and gold and The Unicorn King was in green and silver. They did several jousts and broke lances a few times. Jareth won by dismounting King Folen.

Jareth looked into the crowd and spotted a long dark haired beauty wearing his crest on her neck. He cocked his head to the side curiously. He stared at her and thought how familiar, yet lovely she was. The girl made eye contact and instantly she ducked into the crowd and disappeared.

Jareth blinked a couple times and thought how incredibly beautiful her eyes were almost haunting. Something was niggling in the back of his mind. He thought, 'I must go make sure Folen is ok.' He ignored it and went to see his friend.

Sarah was darting through a crowd and putting distance between her and him. She thought, 'Stupid, stupid, stupid. Shit! Why would you look him in the eye even from a distance? You big dummy!'

Sarah ran back to her room and locked the door, took off her cloak and laid down on the bed. She got up and started a fire to warm up the room. She pulled the blankets back and laid back down on the bed after taking off her pouch. Azrael wiggled out of the pouch and was wobbling towards her. She looked at him and noticed his eyes were starting to open. She got under the covers and cuddled him to keep him warm.

Sarah thought how handsome he was in his armor and colors. She thought of how many times as a kid she imagined kissing him in that ballroom, at least a million times. She wanted him so badly but she wasn't ready for him yet. She thought, 'Besides, he probably hates me and that's why he turned off the portal after I only got to talk to Hoggle once.' She wasn't going to worry about Jareth anymore. She still had so much to see in the Underground. Sarah drifted off into a deep slumber.

Sarah woke up and stretched after an hour nap. She folded her clothes from earlier and put her pouch and cloak on with gloves tucking her hair inside and went downstairs and got dinner and wine. They had lamb stew. It was delicious. She listened to gossip and turned in for the night. She put her hair up on her head and took a hot bath. She washed all her clothes up so they were fresh when she left in the morning. That night she went to sleep thinking of the Goblin King.

—--

Jareth was still thinking about that girl in the crowd. He couldn't shake her from his mind. She had the greenest eyes he ever saw. He wanted a pretty girl like her once and she broke his heart and left him with nothing but disappointment because she was too young. He sighed. Will he ever get over Sarah? That's who the girl looked like! She was like a grown up version of her. Maybe he was just seeing things. He made a crystal appear and looking for Sarah was nothing but blackness. He was worried she may have died and it was starting to eat at him. He went to bed that night with dreams of green eyes when he looked around every corner.