Chapter 5 : The moor

Sarah woke up suddenly when a hand shook her shoulder.

"My second piece of advice, if you want to hear it", mocked the king of the Goblins, "is to never to fall asleep in this sort of place without someone to watch over you."

She blushed in shame. He was right, of course, but when Sarah sat up, she glared at her guide. She was tired, thirsty, hungry and injured, all because he had abandoned her. She didn't need a mirror to realize the pitiful spectacle she had to offer. Her arms were covered with cuts from when she destroyed the mirror. Her shirt was now more red than white. And while she was being mistreated by the castle and its inhabitants, he had found time to change. He was now dressed in dark leather which added to the pallor of his face. He must think he had a very romantic look dressed like that, but Sarah was too annoyed to be moved by his false heroic air.

"And where were you during this time? I wouldn't be so tired if I didn't have to get out of these infamous traps all by myself. It's true, I should have known. Our previous meeting made me realize that you were a coward."

He pinched his lips and raised a hand as if to hit her, but stopped halfway.

"Beware, Sarah or..."

"Oh, did I offended your poor little ego? You'll have to recover. Or will you abandon me? It wouldn't make a difference, I thought you had done so already."

He did not reply but leaned over and forced her quite brutally to turn around. She was going to protest but stopped when he began to search her bag then hand her a biscuit box. Sarah gave in to her common sense and began to fill her stomach, but she still glared at him. Fortunately, when she had fallen in the lake, the water had spared the metal box. The cookies had remained dry. The first bite was so good. She soon felt better, although she was still angry. Jareth reached out, and Sarah tried to back away from him, but he stopped her attempt. Refusing to listen to his protests, he undid her head bandage and examined her wound.

"I had to leave you, Sarah," he whispered tenderly. "Even with a guide, it is traditional for the human being who ventures into the Underworld to be abandoned for a time to be tested. Be glad I did it at the start of your adventure. It could have been worse."

"I almost lost myself. My memories and everything", retorted Sarah.

They were things he didn't tell her, she was sure. Jareth was a liar. Nevertheless, she felt less resentful. Jareth noticed this and smiled while he used a silk scarf to made her a new bandage. He had brought up out of nowhere.

"As if a strong young woman like you could forget who she was. I'm not surprised, but I'm curious. What clue helped you to remember?"

She would never answer that, but Sarah couldn't help blushing. Fortunately for her, the Goblin King was too busy wrapping her arm to notice.

"Where have you been all this time?" She asked to divert his attention.
Besides, she was curious.

"Here and there," he replied nonchalantly. "By the way, I found some useful information, including the confirmation of your brother's kidnapers identity. You must be careful. These people are dangerous opponents, even for me."

These words had the effect of an electric shock on Sarah. She wanted to sit up, but Jareth's iron grip prevented her.

"I still have to take care of your other arm. The clock is ticking, but you wouldn't want Toby to see you in this state."

"Don't you dare use Toby against me! You don't have that right after what you wanted to do to him."

"Beloved Sarah, everyone uses him against you, including your parents. If someone mentions him, you come running, ready to fight or to sell yourself. It is almost annoying. Redundant, even. I am surprised that you still manage to entertain me."

Sarah thought she heard jealousy in his voice. She had to fight to contain her laugh. He usually treated her as a child, but his behaviour was so childish sometimes. Did he really think she could appreciate him, after what he had done to her family? If so, that was the greatest mystery of the Underworld.

"I heard you, but I'll not change to please you. Toby is and always be the most important thing to me. Pleasing you? It's at the very bottom of my priority list. Did you manage to see Toby? Is he fine?"

"I have absolutely no idea as I don't know where he is being held. But you'll be interested to know that I'm familiar with his captors. Their tricks and the creatures who serve them betrayed them to me. They are called Those of the Moor, because of their domain.

Sarah thought about her vast knowledge of British, European and even American folklore, but the name didn't mean anything to her, just like she had never met Jareth's in a book before. The titles of Goblin's King and master of the Labyrinth were only mentioned in some obscure myths. Sarah realized how much she had fooled herself. She though literature and folklore would help her, but she was wrong. Jareth really seemed to be her only chance to get Toby back. Jareth, and the lessons she had learned here and in the Labyrinth.

How ironic. For years, Sarah had feared that her brief visit to the goblins would have unconsciously traumatized her brother. Today she was sure of it, and yet she counted on the culprit to help her. One day, she would make him pay and demand that he healed Toby, but not now. It was a battle she would fight once her brother was safe.

"The title doesn't mean anything to me", she confessed. "Do they have another name?"

"Of course, but I don't know it."

"They rule this place, right?" Sarah wondered. "I thought you knew the other sovereigns of the Underworld. Or are you not important enough for that?"

Her mockery earned her a wrathful look.

"You don't know what you're saying, little idiot. You don't know enough to defend yourself here, let alone make fun of it. In these places, names are dangerous to pronounce. Anyone who uses a name can be enslaved by its owner."

"You say my name all the time."

His gaze became distant as he shrugged and stood up.

"I'm already under your spell," he replied fatally. "Saying it a hundred more times won't change anything."

There was such sadness in this confession that Sarah was breathless and her throat tied for a few seconds. For a moment, she almost felt sorry for him, but that feeling quickly disappeared. She straightened up too and adjusted her bag over her shoulders.

"You'll earn nothing by saying such things."

"Who tells you that I am looking for something to gain?"

All their shared history said so, but Sarah said nothing. She doubted a man who thought that promising to become a woman's slave if she belonged to him body and soul was an act of love could be convinced.

She preferred to continue to explore the area in silence. Jareth didn't take offence at her rudeness and followed her, humming a seductive dance tune. Sarah refused to be tempted by this air. She had something else to do.

While Jareth was attending to her wounds a little earlier, Sarah had carefully observed the corridor where they were. She was sure she had been there before. She recognized the carpet on the floor with its faded patterns and its burn near the door. However, when she passed that door, the next room was unknown to her. It was a music room with a silver harp that sat in the centre. Large windows overlooked the same moor and the same suns she saw hours before. But if she had been there, she would have remembered.

"Those from the Moor, if you have to call them that, do they also love labyrinths?"

Jareth's eyes sparkled.

"No. There is only one real Labyrinth in the Underworld, and you know its legitimate master."
"So this is not a labyrinth?"

Jareth's smile widened, but that was his only response. Sarah didn't need more, and she started to think. If it wasn't a maze, it was something else, and there had to be a clue. They tied to slow her down, to make her waste time. Sarah approached the tapestries, but there was no clue on it, and no hidden doors behind. As for the landscape visible through the window, it was always the same. For hours, Sarah had walked three floors of the castle. In every room, she saw the exact same sight. It didn't matter she was on the top or on the lowest floor. And if this castle had a multitude of windows, it had neither doors nor balconies.

"It's not a labyrinth, it's an illusion."

Sure of herself, Sarah advanced towards the window and traversed it easily. There was no resistance, just a shimmer and a sensation of freezing cold. She found herself with both feet on the purple moor, the two pale suns on her right. It was a relief. Even if she was sure she was right, the sight could have been another illusion. She could have stood on the edge of a cliff.

"Well done," Jareth said warmly.

This time she smiled back.

The air was fresh and nice, better from the stale atmosphere of the Labyrinth and the castle. However, Sarah was careful. It was just another form of seduction to make her relax. Seduction, lies and violence were the only things these worlds had to offer. The memory of Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus imposed itself on Sarah, and she was ashamed of this thought. There were also things and people worthy of love in the Underworld when you looked carefully beneath the surface.

"Yes, well done", interrupted a nasal voice.

Behind Sarah and Jareth, there was a cliff from where lianas fell between two cascades of dirty water and far above them, Sarah could distinguish the dead trees from the swamp. She had been standing there all this time. Maybe that was why the Goblin King had been away for so long. It had taken him a while to get into the illusion where Sarah had been caught. In which case, she had harshly judged him.

On one of the vines hung an even uglier being than Jareth's goblins, skinny and covered with pustules. He gave them a wicked smile.

"Yes, well done. Very well done. Too well played, perhaps."

Jareth quickly grabbed the creature and knocked him down before pressing his foot against his chest.

"You obviously have a message to pass, sprite. Do so and spare us your presence."

The sprite curled up under the threatening gaze of the Goblin King and raised his arms in appeasement.

"I promise. My masters congratulate you on your progress and remind you that you have seven hours left to find the child."

Sarah held back a curse. She hadn't realized she lost so much time between her fall into the lake and the mirror room. Jareth released the sprite.

"We heard. Salute your masters from me and go, pernicious creature.

"Be careful," replied the latter with false kindness. "We have the means to make you lose your superb, lord of practically nothing."

Jareth wanted to grab him again, but the goblin had already jumped so high that he was out of reach. Sarah glanced inquisitively at her guide, but his face was closed. He continued to look up for a long time, then turned away from the cliff to Sarah. He bowed to her, which was clearly an invitation to continue their journey without any question. Sarah obeyed to that almost order. She wasn't going to waste a single second trying to force the Goblin King to talk. She would have time for that latter.

"I imagine it's a good sign that they start to send us messages", she commented nevertheless while setting off. "This means that we are starting to get closer to their lair. Since illusion is their field of predilection, I imagine that it's necessary to seek for some illusion hidden in this landscape. Some must hide traps but also, hopefully, their lair."

Once again, Jareth remained silent. Sarah was beginning to fear what it could mean.

Clearly, she had been right to worry. Over the next three hours, Sarah discovered three illusions on her own and accidentally fell into two others. Jareth only followed her half the time. Sarah was alone when she found that even in an illusion, claws, teeth and talons left cruel marks that remained even after her escape. Even when, by chance or intention, the king of the Goblins followed her, he offered neither help nor advice.

"You need to learn to defend yourself alone", he said when she accused him. "You cannot rely solely on me."

"You promised to help me", spat Sarah. "You know what I think? That I'd do just as well without you. After all, you're doing absolutely nothing to help me."

Jareth smile was unreadable. After a moment, he looked away to the horizon. He looked so tired, the sight strangely took Sarah's breath away and forced her to think. Now, she wanted to slap herself. During her visit to the Labyrinth, Toby's liberation was all she could think of. Because of that, she hadn't see Hoggle's silent suffering due to Jareth's blackmail. For several hours, the Goblin's King had adopted a similar behaviour. He closed off. Obviously, his silence was hiding something. Sarah couldn't see what out of ignorance of the rules of this world.

Her firm decision to despise Jareth could also explain Sarah's lack of foresight. Since their reunion, she had listened to his advice but ignored everything else. He had told her again and again that she and Toby were just a way to hurt him, but Sarah had never seriously wondered if he was in danger here. According to him, Toby kidnaping's purpose was to trap her here to prove Those of the Moor's superiority. They hadn't counted on Jareth's decision to come and deal with the problem himself, with or without her. He had taken quite a political risk. As far as Sarah knew, it could even escalate into open warfare between the two kingdoms. The best cue of that risk was that Jareth came here as a human's guide rather than an all-powerful king.

Sarah felt like she was close to the heart of the problem. Since they arrived, Jareth had the time to found some way to defeat his opponents. But the Underworld rules must prevent him from executing it. If he was Sarah's guide, she was his instrument. She could act where he could only observe. They were using each other. She wanted Toby. He wanted to remind everyone of his power without endangering his kingdom.

It suited her perfectly.

It also meant that Sarah best chance to confront Those of the Moor was to rely on her ingenuity. The first thing to do was to learn more about these mysterious characters. Jareth couldn't tell her anything, at least, directly. He may have already given her a few clues, but he was clearly in such a foul mood that he wouldn't say anything to her for the moment. There was one detail, however, that Sarah had noticed. Jareth was unable to resist an opportunity to show her how much he knew more than she did. He also enjoyed when she was clever. If he refused to speak to her, she could manipulate him to make him talk about the strengths and weaknesses of her opponents. His ego, after all, was his weakness.

"There's one thing that I don't understand", she noted, taking care that her tone remained neutral and did not betray anything of her intense curiosity. "You said that names had power here, that they enslave whoever pronounces them. In this case, why aren't you trying to find out Those of the Moor's names?"

"They keep it a secret, silly girl."

"I understood that, thank you very much. However ... your subjects know your name, right? I heard Hoggle say it. Couldn't we just make one of their elves talk?"

Jareth's usual smile returned, much to Sarah's satisfaction.

"We have an interest in our subjects and our victims pronouncing our names. , to put them under our hold. If you had repeated my name after hearing Hoggle pronounce it, your chances of winning would have been even lower."

"You said that pronouncing my name..."

Without warning, Jareth took her in his arms and dived his face into her hair, taking Sarah's breath away again. His smell and his body heath overwhelmed her and made her unable to fight. Fortunately, he let go of her quickly and almost brutally. Her heart was racing. Jareth's hands, still resting on her shoulders, trembled.

"I told you, I have long accepted my defeat. I have no power over you, Sarah, because I see you and I want you as my equal. And if you agreed to pronounce my name as I pronounce yours..."

He paused and ran one of his hands over her forehead. His eyes were almost haggard, and he looked her likes one contemplates a vision in a dream or a statue on its pedestal. Sarah couldn't understand how someone could look at her like that.

"I would be yours", she manages to finish for him, her throat dry.

He blinked as if he was coming out of a dream and gave a painful laugh.

"Don't worry Sarah, I know you're too proud to crawl at my feet like I do with you. To come back to the subject of names, those of my rank hide them. We arrange spells so that our people cannot pronounce it around our enemies. We are not like these inferior beings. If they said yours, they would enslave you, unless you remain convinced that you are our equal and that no one here has power over you."

"I was captured in the castle. They asked for my name, and I gave it to them, but they didn't say it."

"That's because they worry about your power. A good point in your favour. To conclude, if I knew the real name of Those of the Moor, I could try to enslave them. But if mine were pronounced on these lands ... I let you guess what they could do to me."

Sarah turned around, so he didn't see her face. When Jareth had disappeared, the very first time, after leaving the swamp, she was pretty sure she'd called him by his name. It was the only time she ever said his name, on this world or her's. Most of the time, she didn't know if she despised him, hated him, or anything else, but now she hoped that no one had heard her call him by his name.
She opened her mouth, meaning to tell him, to apologize and to plead ignorance. She did nothing. Her regrets were real, as was her concern, but Sarah still needed the Goblin King and his knowledge. She couldn't alienate him now or giving him a reason to withdraw. Sarah was aware she couldn't open her mouth without betraying herself, she resumed her march. The conversation didn't take the turn that she had wished or hoped for.

Lost in her thoughts, she took a minute to realize that she couldn't hear the characteristic noise of Jareth's boots behind her, and she turned to tell him to hurry. He had put a hand on the ground and, his head bowed, listened attentively. Curious and concerned, Sarah joined him and imitated him. She heard nothing.

"I could have sworn there was an illusion moving far away in that direction. It could be the place where they hold your brother that they move because they find that you are moving too fast."

"So let's hurry", Sarah decided, leaping to her feet. "The clock is ticking."

He nodded and get up, painfully. Sarah didn't expect that, but she noticed it now. The Goblin King was paler from hour to hour and favoured his left leg. She was going to ask him what happened, but she had to focus on the threat first. She looked at the horizon, where the sound he heard came from. She had already found an illusion by a strange shift of light on the moor. She could find another one.

Behind her, Jareth uttered a warning cry. Sarah turned around but spotted the shimmer in the air just above her head too late. She had the reflex to freeze, but too late. A clawed paw emerged from the illusion in which it had hidden, and it would have beheaded Sarah without Jareth's intervention. He jumped and made her fall. Sarah rolled to the ground, spattered with blood. She panicked, but still had the reflex to put her left hand on his shoulder to keep the blood from flowing. She needed bandages. She had none, hadn't thought about taking some. The Labyrinth hadn't been like that.

She would die if she didn't focus, Sarah forced herself to get up and widened her eyes. The thing that had attacked her was far more terrifying than anything Sarah had ever encountered, massive, stocky, covered in claws, fangs and horns. It raised its paw again and attacked at lightning speed. Sarah tripped when she tried to avoid it. She couldn't face this thing, and she knew it.
She thought she was going to die, but Jareth stood between her and the monster, his raised cane suddenly changed into a sword. The steel effortlessly sliced through the flesh, and the beast screamed in pain as Jareth laughed. Rolling on the ground to pass under the tail of the creature, he attacked, taking advantage of the creature's surprise to slice its left tendon. He narrowly missed it. The beast, now warned, replied viciously with a violent blow of the tail which stunned Jareth. The Goblin King fell on his back. He shook his head and tried to get up, but his left leg gave way under his weight. He fell on the ground a second time. The creature took advantage of this to crush Jareth's hand with its large paw. Sarah nearly vomited when she heard bones breaking. The king did not scream but turned white and dropped his sword.

A dozen skinny sprites took the opportunity to jump out of the illusion and hit Jareth. But he hadn't loose yet. With his other hand, he grabbed his sword on the ground and pierced three sprites with a single quick gesture. The survivors screamed and scattered before they turned their wicked eyes on Sarah. She froze for the second time. She couldn't fight, was too terrorized to move or try to snatch a weapon from them.

"Don't you dare touch her", Jareth growled, without managing to free himself despite a desperate effort at the cost of a new broken rib.

One of the sprites climbed onto the monster's back. It was the same one they had already encountered.
"Or what, lord of nothing at all?"

"Don't you dare threaten me, worm. I'm no longer playing."

"You're right, the game ends now. You finally bored us all. Also, you can only cheat and broke rules a few times before punishment. Since you didn't understand the first warning, my masters salute you."

The sprite hit the monster's posterior with a shoe shod with a metal point. Responding to the implicit order, the beast raised its tail again and planted the gigantic sting that formed the tip in Jareth's shoulder. This time the Goblin King screamed. He dropped his sword again. The sprites burst out laughing as the monster turned its sting in the wound with pleasure.

Sarah shouted.

"Stop it!"

The sprites and the monster turned their attention to her and showed her their fangs. Sarah refused to be intimidated. She was unable to fight, but it was with her words that she had defeated Jareth. She just had to grab their attention enough time for Jareth to find a second breath.

"Is this how you treat foreign king?"

A concert of laughter answered her. Even the monster made a throaty sound that showed his amusement.
"King, this one is hardly that any more", commented the chief of the sprites. "Everyone knows that control of his kingdom has eluded him for years."

"What?"
"Didn't he tell you? Oh, it's too funny, this rubbish king tried to make you believe that he is powerful? He's nothing, everyone knows that. He's the laughing stock of all the kingdoms. He's a prey now, not a predator. The only question is who will have the joy of killing him and who will take which part of his realm."

The creature spit in Jareth's face. His comrades imitated him while uttering animal cries, regardless of his inarticulate threats and his fiery looks.

"He's nothing. Alone, you have no chance to win. You only got so far because this animal let itself be enslaved by your smiles, didn't you? Laughable, one of the most terrible of our monarchs, reduced to the status of a dog. Too bad for him. The rules forbade him to help you, so it's his fault. If he had drooled less at your feet, he might have come out alive with some crumbs of his dignity."

The monster finally lifted its foot from Jareth's hand when the sprite hit him with his shoe a second time. The Goblin King tried to get up, shaking. He didn't have time. Screaming in rage, the monster stamped on the ground, right next to Jareth. But it was not him he was targeting. The violent blow made the earth tremble, and it swallowed the Goblins King. Sarah didn't hesitate. She ran, slid on the ground to pick up his sword and dived after him.

The earth buried them both.