Chapter 17

Trapped

Jareth had celebrated the end of the Goblin Coffee Revolt with Sarah in the roman bathtub. They had taken a bottle of the finest merlot into the bath with them, and Jareth had lit several candles for the right ambience, as he called it.

"Let's celebrate, babe", he had suggested. "We are back open for business. I can already see all the imports flooding in, perfect."

He smiled mischievously.

Sarah had not objected as she felt hugely relieved herself. Peace was back in her little Labyrinth Kingdom, and she didn't have to worry about Jareth being hauled off to the Underground dungeon for being a bootlegger. She had no doubt the High Goblin Council would have done so if they had been given the opportunity.

Now with Krum being on the council in the position as secretary she fully expected things to improve steadily. And Nestor seemed like as square kind of goblin as well. He didn't mind telling you the truth, whether it hurt or not. Sarah liked that in a person, it showed they were genuine and could be trusted.

Jareth was giddy about his little bathtub celebration and he had prepared for it all day. He had even organized some original, made in Belgium, Godiva chocolate.

"Do you know that chocolate is an aphrodisiac?" He slyly asked Sarah as they were sitting in the nice warm water with bubbles all around them.

"Well, then you better quit eating it." Sarah replied with a smirk and took his chocolate away. "You have absolutely no issues with being in the mood. No more lovemaking drugs for you."

She laughed as he tried to wrestle the chocolate away from her.

"Oh you cruel little thing, you", he protested with a smirk and managed to get his chocolate back after a short struggle. Sarah had to giggle the entire time and they behaved like teenagers again.

Maybe it was the wine, the hot water, or even the chocolate, but Sarah felt especially giddy tonight and very much in the mood for making love. She blamed it on a combination of all the above.

"How did you get the chocolate?" Sarah inquired as she took another piece.

"I went up to the Surface World for a really fast trip and organized some in Brussel. Just for us, for tonight." He moved in closer to her and kissed her gently on her lips. Sarah wrapped her arms around him and kissed him right back.

"I like where this is going", Jareth whispered. "I guess it is working."

"What is working?" Sarah asked as her hands caressed his submerged body.

"The aphrodisiac", Jareth replied and kissed her neck.

"Oh, it's definitely working", she answered with a smile as she let him take the lead. "Fais moi l'amour", she breathed into his ear, but Jareth was already way ahead of her request.

By the time they had finished their celebration, Sarah's head was spinning from all the wine and chocolate. Jareth was in heaven as he had managed to get two rounds in. Both slept exceptionally well that night.


Three days later they were in the northern forest for their yearly winter solstice hunt. Arman, Aden and Bethan had joined them again in their group and it felt like a reunion. The weather was much better this year and there was less snow and it was not as bitter cold either.

The hunters had fully accepted Sarah now as one of them, and for the next three full days she was not their queen but a fellow hunter. Sarah fully enjoyed it. She was proud of the brown stripe she wore on her face, as it showed she had made a kill the year before.

This year they were not out for fae stag but for goblin razorbacks. It was a huge pig with twelve inch long tusks, thick bristly brown fur, and the size of a rhinoceros. In winter it turned white for camouflage, like the fae stags did.

Sarah had never seen one or even heard of one. She never really had worried too much where the meat came from she consumed on a daily basis. She knew there were plenty of goblin, elven, and fae farmers who raised livestock for consumption, and she had always assumed that's where it all originated from. Farm raised, not so much wild.

"Just wait till you had goblin razorback chops. Those are the best. No comparison to the farm raised smaller pigs." Jareth had dreamily explained to her the difference of the two as he obviously was a big connoisseur of the wild boar.

The hunters, including Jareth, had assembled around the campfire in the evening for bonding and food, like last year. But, unlike last year, this year Sarah had joined them. Jareth had waved her over and she sat next to him partaking in the story telling and rough housing.

Jareth threw her a proud look every so often, and she smiled back at him with loving eyes. She loved the way he looked when he was in his hunting outfit or in his battle regalia. He looked strong, powerful, and intimidating, unlike the boyish Jareth from the roman bathtub or Emerald Pool Cave whom she loved dearly as well.

"I guess a different Jareth for different occasions", she came to the conclusion and chuckled.

"Arman was telling a story from when he had been on a hunt for the first time and they had gone after Einhorns, some sort of an evil unicorn. Sarah was fascinated, but the other hunters razzed him and laughed.

"Don't believe everything these guys are saying", Jareth laughed, they have a tendency to stretch the truth a bit. No Einhorns have been seen in over five hundred years."

"Kind of like fishermen who catch a two pound bass and claim it was ten pounds?" Sarah asked with a grin.

"Very much like that", Jareth nodded, "yes, very much like that."

They all got up again before daylight the next day to travel to the forest where the pigs were located. This year, there were no flushers. This year, Sarah was a driver. No crawling on her belly on this hunt. She, Bethan, and Aden were to drive the pigs out of the thicket and into the waiting arms of Jareth and Arman who had set net traps.

It was much easier to walk with the snow cover only six inch deep instead of over a foot. Again Bethan had tied Sarah to his belt so she would not get lost in the dark and wander off the trail. They all had done these hunts for decades, but for Sarah it was only her second year. And whether they treated her as the queen on these hunts or not, she still was, and they could not afford losing the Kingdom's queen.

Jareth would not have appreciated this either. He kept looking back to make sure she was still with them and doing alright. He was relieved to see the rope between her and Bethan, and he made a mental note to give him a promotion once the hunt was over.

They had finally reached the top of the hill and overlooked a small ravine of thick brush. Jareth gave several silent hand commands again, which everyone understood except for Sarah.

"He's got to teach me these signals for next year." Sarah thought to herself. "I'm not going to have Bethan translate them for me all the time."

They settled in at the ridge and waited for the sun to rise. Down below they could hear the grunts of the pigs wallowing in a mud hole they had dug into the snow. It sounded like there were quite a few in this pack. Sarah tried to stay calm and took several deep breath.

Jareth nodded encouragingly at her and squeezed her hand.

"It's going to be ok, just follow Bethan's and Aden's lead and you'll be safe." He smiled and moved off with Arman into the thick brush, barely making a noise.

The sun came up behind their backs as intended and illuminated the small ravine. The pigs were blinded to their arrival and gave them the opportunity to slowly crawl through the thick brush to get close enough to the pack. Every once in a while they had to stop as a boar raised its head and sniffed the air. Luckily the air was completely still and they could not pick up their scent.

When they were within fifty feet Aden gave the signal. All three of them rushed out and made as much noise as possible, spreading their arms and waving their bows.

The pack became startled and turned to escape from the threat in front of them. Bethan, Aden, and Sarah ran after them with as much noise as they could make and drove them quickly towards Jareth and Arman.

Sarah had been on the very far left side to prevent any stragglers to try to turn and break through. She kept yelling to drive them ahead of her. She came to a big rock cliff that towered over her and she had to watch her footing but kept going.

From the noise ahead she could tell several pigs had been trapped in the nettings and Jareth and Arman had made a few kills. Sarah looked over to Bethan on her right and he looked at her and grinned.

"We got 'em", he yelled and waved his bow. Sarah yelled back, and then she heard it. A very low rumble at first that sounded like a far off thunder coming closer and closer. She stopped and looked around. Bethan had also stopped.

Their eyes met as he began to run towards her as fast as he possibly could. Just as the rumbling noise started to overwhelm Sarah's ears she looked up. A massive wave of snow came rolling at them with lightning speed. Jareth, Arman and Aden looked up in horror.

Bethan jumped at Sarah and knocked her against the cliff wall into a small crevice. He shielded her tightly with his body pressed against hers as the wall of snow tumbled over the edge of the cliff and rained down on them.

Jareth ran screaming towards the cliff as the snow came tumbling down on top of Bethan and Sarah and obscured them from his view. When he finally reached the spot he had last seen them, a huge mass of snow blocked half the rock wall and there was no sign of either one of them. Jareth collapsed on the spot and cried out. He started digging like a mad man with his hands and Arman and Aden had to pull him back as more snow was about to collapse onto them.

They drug Jareth away from the spot with only seconds to spare before another avalanche came crashing down. Jareth was on his knees screaming. It had been the first time he had lost control over his feelings in front of his guards, in front of anyone, besides Sarah.

Neither Arman nor Aden cared at this point, as they too were horrified. Their beloved queen and their close comrade were buried under tons of snow and there didn't seem to be any way to dig them out fast enough to save them.

"Get help", Jareth whispered, "quickly". He started to dig with his hands again and could not be stopped this time. Arman and Aden rushed off with lightening elven speed to the outskirts of the forest so they could send a crystal ball back to the base in Elvenwood and sound the alarm.


When the snow mass came collapsing down on them Bethan pushed hard against Sarah to shield her from the avalanche. Sarah cried out in panic and her last thought belonged to Jareth. She put her hands over her head as the snow buried them and everything turned dark.

After what seemed an eternity, everything became eerily still. There was no sound besides the heavy breathing of her and Bethan.

"Are you ok your highness?" Bethan asked quietly.

"Yes, for now". Sarah responded breathing heavy with an oncoming anxiety attack.

A small area had been left open due to the jagged rocks sticking out so they had a little room to move. Bethan tried to look through the darkness, but even his excellent elven eyes could not make out anything. He slowly walked along the cliff wall and felt with his hands.

After a few minutes of searching he found it. A small opening in the rock wall, leading inside what appeared to be a larger cave.

"Follow me", he told Sarah and had her hold onto his belt. "Do not let go", he emphasized as they slowly made their way through the narrow crevice.

After a few harrowing minutes with Sarah thinking they would get stuck between the big boulders of rock, they made it through the narrow passage and into an opening. Sarah didn't dare letting go of Bethan's belt and hung on tight. She felt utterly helpless and once again was close to having her panic attack.

"Just keep breathing deeply, you're ok", she kept telling herself over and over and Bethan seemed to search for something in his clothing. Finally he found what he was looking for. His fire starting kit with a few handful of flammable material. It wouldn't last long but at least they might be able to see where they were and what was around them.

Bethan lit it and the cave became dimly illuminated by the small flame. They were in a, what seemed rather small, opening with another corridor leading further into the mountain. Dry bushes and small dead trees were jutting out of the rock wall by the entrance and old wood lay strewn on the floor.

"Quickly, let's pick up as much dry brush and wood as we can to build this fire and keep the flame going."

Sarah didn't need to be told twice and fell to her knees to scoop up as much brush and dry grasses as she could. They stacked it up in an organized pile and Bethan lit the fire just in time as his little flame went out.

"That was close", he breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's see where we are and what we have available."

Sarah was amazed at how calm he was despite his very young age of only two hundred years. She almost chuckled when she thought of her own age. In this world that made her practically a toddler, yet she looked older than him.

Bethan found a suitable branch and wrapped some dry grasses around it. He had some tar in his fire starting kit and smeared it on his homemade torch and began to look around after he lit it on fire.

"I'll be back in a few minutes", he declared and walked off into the narrow longer pathway at the back of the small cave.

Sarah in the meantime made sure to collect as much wood and brush as she could. They needed to keep this fire going, not just for light, but also for warmth, as it was rather cold and damp. While Sarah kept the fire stoked, Bethan explored the pathway and she hoped he would not run into any trouble.

After a few minutes he returned and nodded, extinguishing his torch so he would not waste the tar.

"This leads into a much larger cave. It has a pool in it that is currently frozen, but that's about it. Unless we keep following it further down into it, we won't know what's down there, or if we find an exit."

He sat next to Sarah by the fire and warmed his hands as he gave her a worried look.

"You know we are not in a good situation here", he stated quietly.

Sarah nodded silently and took a deep breath as she looked around hoping to see something that might look like an escape, but she found nothing.

"I guess we have to make a decision. Stay and hope Jareth and the others dig us out, or go deeper and hope to find an exit." Sarah said holding her hands over the fire. Bethan sat in silence starring into the fire.

Sarah remembered that Bethan was a soldier, and he needed solid solutions and orders. She had to take the role of his commander, and in a sense, she was, being his queen. It was up to her to make the decisions, and to make them precise. She had to give him her royal orders.

"We'll stay here for the night and get some rest. Tomorrow, if we can't get out of the original exit, we go deeper and see if we can find another way out of here", Sarah finally declared in a confidential tone and Bethan nodded in agreement.


Arman and Aden had made it to the outskirts of the northern forest and had sent the crystal balls back to their base in Elvenwood.

It did not take long for the commander at the base to gather a team of twenty strong goblin soldiers and a dozen fae guardsmen. They loaded all the necessary digging equipment into a big sled, including some explosives the goblins thought might could come in handy.

At first the fae guards didn't want to take any, but then decided it wouldn't hurt. They hurried on their way with each guardsmen holding on to a couple goblins for transport and the equipment.

Teleporting took much longer with everything they had to teleport, but finally they arrived at the outskirts. The recue party met up with Arman and Aden and made their way to the cliff wall where Jareth was waiting for them.

Jareth had not stopped digging with his hands as he desperately tried to free Sarah. He was in a trance, his mind racing, about his beloved Sarah being buried under tons of snow. He couldn't stop and kept digging harder, his hands starting to bleed from the ice and rocks.

He was close to exhaustion when the rescue party arrived. Arman quickly took over and Aden led Jareth to a sled and sat him down.

At first Jareth refused and insisted he had to keep digging, but Aden managed to finally make him realize that everything was being done for Sarah and Bethan that could be done.

Jareth put his head into his hands and sighed with closed eyes. He could not let himself be seen weak, and he had to appear strong and unfazed, especially in front of the goblins.

He gathered himself together with the last ounce of strength he had left in him and took command in his usual powerful manner. Internally, he was dying of his pain for Sarah.