I hope you all have been enjoying the story so far. It's going to get a bit more active from here on out. Please leave reviews and comments, as they keep me inspired to keep on writing. Thank you so much Dianne2020 and MelbaLouise for your support.


Chapter 25

Invasion

Ceres and Mara had run for two days straight at full speed to reach the outskirts of the Northern forest. They were both close to collapse, especially Mara, when they reached the end of the woods, and they barely had the strength left to teleport out. Both looked back to the woods one more time before they dematerialized, hoping their masters were still alive.

Faron nearly got the shock of his life when two faewolf materialized in his office at the Elvenwood military base.

"Ceres, Mara, what are you doing here? Where are Jareth and Sarah?"

He jumped up from behind his desk, but before he could say another word Ceres put a crystal ball on his desk and Mara followed suit. Faron quickly took them and read the messages as his face turned white.

"Quickly, we must alert the troops", Faron shouted and clapped his hands. A bright ball appeared and floated outside his office, growing larger and larger and engulfing the entire base in a bright shining light with a high pitch hum. The alarm had been sounded.

The inhabitants from neighboring Elvenwood saw the light and immediately took the required actions. They knew its meaning. At once, their lookouts released crystal balls of their own, and within minutes the entire Labyrinth Kingdom was on high alert. And not a minute too soon.

Marjorie had only enough time to bring her merchandise in and lock the shop when she heard the elven horns blew the attack call. Her goblin employee had filled her in very quickly on what was going on and Marjorie had not liked any of it. She was worried about Mark and hoped he would be ok in his brewery.

"Oh my god, Sarah and Jareth, the boys", her mind flooded with images of all sorts of possible outcomes. She had dropped the boys off with Aria and Aviana for the day so she could work in the shop for a few hours and then get them for the evening.

She decided to make her way to the castle as quickly as she could even though she was not able to teleport. She was a long distance runner and she could make those five miles easily. She gave her employee last minute instructions and took off, running down the road towards the castle as the crystal balls started to explode behind her over the Labyrinth and Elvenwood.

Aria and Aviana were taking the boys out for a nice little swim in the castle garden's little pond when they saw the bright crystal balls explode in the sky followed by a high pitch tone. Both immediately grabbed a prince and teleported into the castle.

"We must get down to the bunker room, it's the safest place to be", Aria declared and lead the way.

"Wait", Aviana shouted and grabbed a few crystal balls and a big sword that hung on the wall and took it with them.

"They might come in handy", she breathed and Aria nodded in agreement as they walked down the steep steps towards the bunker room.

Halfway down Hoggle and Krum met up with them. When Hoggle saw the nannies with the princes he told them to stay with Krum and lock themselves into the bunker room. He was going to Dwarf Town to check on Krimble and possibly bring her back to the castle as well.

Kaden and Bethan, who happened to be at the castle for a report to Hoggle on his Einhorn search, immediately took control of command at the castle with Jareth being gone. Bethan blew his elven horn and Kaden gave orders to pull up all the bridges as soon as the citizens of Goblin City had safely evacuated inside the castle grounds.

It didn't take long for the first ones to arrive, and one by one the caravan of evacuating goblin citizens grew longer. Most goblins carried all sorts of weapons with them: clubs, hammers, explosives, pitchforks, even fireworks and sparklers.

It took half the day to let them all in before Kaden could give the signal to draw up the bridges. By then, hordes of goblorks had already amassed inside Goblin City and were on their way towards the castle grounds. It was only a matter of time before the battle for the castle would begin.

And still, no queen or king in sight. Kaden grew nervous, but him and Bethan put up a good front and led their troops into the defense of the castle.

Faron had send all his available troops into the Labyrinth to repel the goblork hordes and they had made good progress. But as soon as they eliminated one battalion, another seemed to appear out of nowhere. Goblorks could not teleport nor could they walk through solid objects, so Faron and Arman knew there had to be a secret pathway inside the Labyrinth somewhere. Finding it was going to be a challenge.

Aden had taken an entire battalion of nearly one thousand goblin soldiers into Elvenwood to defend the town, as over a thousand goblorks seemed to descend on it. He hoped his battalion was enough as the battle unfolded. The goblorks descended onto Elvenwood like a band of angry looters and arsonists. They broke into stores, smashed windows, and set buildings on fire. Soon, half the town was up in flames and Aden had to redirect some of his troops to fight the fires from going out of control.

Marjorie's store seemed to be fine as it was on the other end of the business district and the goblorks had not been able to make their way towards that end with Aden's goblin army standing in the way. Her goblin employee was still cowered behind the checkout desk, but now he had a few crystal balls and Molotov cocktails in his hands. He was not going to go down quietly.

Faron in the meantime was at a loss why his troops inside the Labyrinth could not contain the goblorks.

"Where the hell are they coming from? We closed all the usual entrances and exits. We sealed up every single oubliettes there is. We even shifted walls around and erected an aerial force shield so they can't catapult or fly over the walls." He banged his fist on the desk with Arman pacing wildly up and down.

"Have you heard from Jareth?" he inquired and Arman only shook his head.

"If they are deep inside the Southern forest they won't be back until tomorrow, maybe tonight the earliest." Arman replied with a heavy sigh. "And may the gods help them if they materialize into the middle of a battle."

Again Faron banged his fists on his desk and growled.

"Find out where these god forsaken goblorks are coming from. We must locate these hidden pathways they are using", he hissed and Arman left immediately after a quick salute.

Faron sat back down behind his desk and send off a crystal to Chayrone. He only hoped she had evacuated to the castle by now. After sending his crystal he grabbed his sword and bow and headed out to join the battle.

Chayrone had indeed heard the warning of the horn and seen the crystal ball in the sky. She had taken down her bow, sword, and dagger and made her way immediately up to the castle.

It hadn't taken her long with her elven speed, but by the time she had arrived at the royal quarters nobody was left there. She figured they probably had gone to the bunker room. Aviana knew to go there in case of an emergency and so did Aria. Chayrone followed them down the stairs.


The goblorks in the Southern forest had gotten up early that morning and prepared for the battle. It was the day of the invasion and they were pumped up. Finally they had the upper hand. The invasion and attack would come as a complete surprise.

Ever since Oda had forwarded intelligence from the base they had waited for that moment, and when Oda had managed to get her hands on some very delicate information about some ancient secretive pathways between the goblork and the Underground dimensions, they had drooled at the chance to finally defeat the Underground World and make it their own.

"Today we will be successful and finally defeat the Underground. King Jareth will be dethroned before the day is over, and I, Keroon son of Gohl, will be new king of the entire Underground World and the Goblork Dimension. King Jareth will be sorry for having killed my father. I shall take away his kingdom, I shall take away his sons, I shall take away his queen, and then, after I have stripped him off everything, I shall take away his life."

Keroon's evil laugh reverberated through the forest like an evil wave expanding across the region in all directions. Lower creatures fled into the underbrush and birds rose high into the sky with fright.

"No, I shall not take away his life", Keroon corrected himself. "I shall let him live inside an oubliette for eternity and show him crystal balls of his precious Sarah, of his beloved sons, of his fallen kingdom, every day. Every day for eternity he will cry for what he has lost, oh what a tasty revenge that will be."

The goblorks cheered, and one by one stepped into an invisible portal that led directly into the Labyrinth, Elvenwood, and Goblin City. Over ten thousand goblorks waited for their turn to step through the portal, and by the time the day was over, more than ten thousand had.

Keroon had brought every single goblork from his dimension into the Underground World. He knew this was most likely his last attempt to take over this world and this time he would not fail.


The mock attack inside the Labyrinth kept valuable elven and fae troops busy while they materialized right outside the gates of Elvenwood and Goblin City unopposed.

Faron send another five thousand troops under Arman's leadership to Goblin City. Thanks to Jareth' message, which had made him aware of the hidden pathways, Faron didn't waste too many troops inside the Labyrinth, but he had to keep the goblorks busy to make them think they fell for the ruse. He still had to use valuable troops in places he didn't need them.

Faron called a quick meeting with his battalion leaders and set on a plan to find out where the pathways were located. They knew now that there were three, one inside the Labyrinth, one outside of Elvenwood, and one in Goblin City. He could only hope there was not one leading straight into the castle.


Marjorie was still jogging down the main road from Elvenwood to the castle when a troop of goblorks came marching up the road and made her jump into the tall grass of a ditch for cover. As she lay there, she could see them walking by and a wave of horror went through her.

She had never seen a goblork, but Sarah had told her all about her captivity in the oubliette by Gohl and had described them in detail. How horrible this must have been for Sarah, and she finally understood why Sarah was so terrified of them.

The goblorks had come from Goblin City and were on their way to the castle. Marjorie knew she was not able to get there jogging down the roads. She decided to head for the castle by cutting through the fields. Hopefully the goblorks stuck to the roads and hadn't ventured into the farmlands yet.

As soon as the troop of goblorks had marched by and the coast was clear, Marjorie took off again, sprinting as fast as she could across the field of barley. The barley reminded her of Mark and she truly hoped he would be all right. The brewery and Underground Club were well hidden below, and it would take the goblorks some time to find it, if they would find it at all.

As Marjorie cut through the field she could see goblins flying overhead with explosives in their hands.

"I guess we do have some sort of an air force", she thought to herself and kept running, listening to the sounds of loud booms coming from the direction the goblork patrol had traveled only a few minutes earlier.

Krum had safely guarded Aria, Aviana and the boys down to the bunker room. It was a small well build room that had plenty of food and water supplies and even some weapons stored in a corner for a last stand. The door was made out of solid iron, and it took all of them together to open it, it was so heavy.

Krum quickly led everyone inside and locked the door behind them. He immediately lit a couple of light crystals so they could take a look around the room. There were a few cots in a corner with pillows and blankets and buckets for personal business. It was sufficient but primitive. There were no luxuries, only survival supplies of utmost importance. Aria and Aviana put Jay and Jeremy down on a blanket in the far corner of the room and sat down on some stuffed hay sacks.

"Well, at least we're safe for now. Only thing is we won't know what is going on up there", Krum looked at the ceiling with a worried face while Aviana sobbed quietly. She was worried for Kaden, whom she knew was leading the battle that surely raged on the castle's grounds by now.

Jay and Jeremy had been quiet the entire time, as if they knew something bad was happening.

"Mommy", Jay called out and held up his little arms with Jeremy following suit.

"I want daddy", he said and looked wide eyed at Aria who at this point could not help but to sob. Nobody knew where mommy and daddy were, or if they would ever return again.


Mark looked worriedly at his goblin workers when the elven horn blew the alarm.

"What is that?" he asked with a lump in his throat. He had a bad foreboding about this. His goblin employees began to run around and scream.

"Quickly, we must seal the entrance", one of the goblins yelled and pulled Mark towards the entrance of The Underground Club. With some assistance from his goblin worker he managed to seal he door and staircase and make them invisible.

"Goblorks", the goblin whispered and hushed everyone to be quiet. They heard the footsteps of the goblorks above them in the bakery, rummaging through the store and turning the place upside down judging from the commotion.

As everyone sat quietly Mark contemplated on his next move and his situation. He was worried about Marjorie and the thought of her being out there alone with goblorks tore him apart on the inside. It was too late to go and get her, and he had to trust that she would be safe, somehow, somewhere.

After several hours of sitting and brooding over the situation Mark finally stood up and motioned his employees to follow him quietly. He led them to the back of the brewery into a short hallway and removed a large picture from the wall. A small room was exposed.

"I thought you all might want to play some Surface World style wargames with me." His arm motioned across the hidden crevice and the eyes of his goblin workers opened wide, and then a huge devious grin spread across their faces.

"That'll do, that'll do indeed", they hissed in agreement.


The invasion of the Underground World was in full swing. Goblorks had taken half of Elvenwood, the northern part close by the base, as well as most of Goblin City. They had toppled Sarah's and Jareth's statues on the main square and strung them up by their necks in front of the council building where Kelan and the Elder Council had barricaded themselves along with a few members of the High Goblin Council. They were well armed with crystal balls and some conventional weapons, and were not about to give up without a fight.

Kelan poured over the ancient scrolls in search for the hidden pathways. There had to be a map, he was sure off its existence. He had known about the pathways, but he had been under the assumption they had been destroyed millennia ago in previous wars. Apparently he had been mistaken, and he was furious with himself over this mistake that could cost the kingdom its existence.

"Tear this place apart if you have to, but find me those maps", he yelled at everyone, and so for the next hours all the present council members tore the library apart in search for the map.

By midnight the goblorks were in front of the castle gates. Kaden and Bethan had shored up the defenses and most of the evacuated goblins were on top of the walls with their explosives and fireworks, ready to defend the castle and with it the kingdom and their beloved queen and king.

Faron had managed to teleport three thousand fae and elven troops inside the castle and the odds were good to hold off the offense.

The attacks at the Labyrinth had stopped and Keroon had thrown all available goblorks towards the castle and Goblin City. If Goblin City and the castle fell, the war was won.

Nearly ten thousand goblorks were assembled around the castle and throughout Goblin City. They had brought with them huge trebuchets and even a few wood trolls to operate them. Kaden and Bethan didn't like the looks of those and ordered their archers to notch arrows and fire at the goblorks tending to the weapons and the wood trolls.

"Take those damn trolls out", Kaden had yelled from the top of his walls and had given his archers the signal to fire. Several of the wood trolls fell but were immediately replaced by others.

"Fire at will", Bethan shouted and arrows zipped through the night sky bringing down hundreds of goblorks, but they kept coming. The first few boulders were slung at the castle by the trolls and hit their marks. Hundreds of arrows answered the attack and a fleet of crystal balls exploded overhead blinding them temporarily.

Keroon was working on his magic blocking spell and finally managed to cast it, albeit only temporarily for now. Keroon figured his invasion would be done by then and he would be victorious.

For the next twenty four hours no magic was possible anywhere in the kingdom. No teleporting, no crystal balls, no gravity defying or otherwise magic defenses. It had all come down to the best and most destructive conventional weapons.

"Here we go", Faron muttered from the battle field outside the base in Elvenwood. "May the best non magic fighter win" as he decapitated a goblork with a well-placed swing of his sword.