Chapter 4

After traveling by car for an hour or more, the car pulled up to a fancy mansion on a hill. "Welcome to your new home, Jareth." Ellenor purred as the car came to a stop at the main gate. "Do you like it?"

Jareth shrugged. "I've seen bigger." He wasn't too worried any more. Before he had nearly given up. He was certain he was going to die a long slow and painful death from iron poisoning. Then he learned he was to suffer a worse fate, being someone's pet. But now he had hope. He knew his clever Sarah would find him and remove the damn collar around his neck. Until then he would play Ellenor's little game.

Ellenor exited the car with the help of an elf dressed as a butler. Jareth noticed a similar collar on his neck as the one he was forced to wear. He exited the car and followed Ellenor and the elf. Inside the mansion they were greeted by a line of servants, all wearing collars. "Welcome home Mistress." They said together.

"Thank you boys." She grinned. "Michael, this our newest member, Jareth. Take him to a room and get him cleaned up and into some fresh clothes. And see that his injuries are healed." She shook her head, "The damned fool tried to kill him by restraining him with Iron." She started to walk away, handing the leash to a tall fae with dark hair. "Oh and send half of the agreed price to Abigail. If she wants full payment she needs to learn to not damage the merchandise." Michael nodded and led Jareth upstairs.

Michael showed Jareth to a large bedroom on the second floor. "This will be your room. There's a bath across the hall and your uniforms will be brought after we get your measurements."

"You can drop the act. I'm not going to be here long. I'm going to get this dam collar off and return to my Kingdom." Jareth stated as he sat on the clean bed with his dirty clothes and dirt covered body."

"Your injuries will be healed once you've bathed. Your sheets however will remain until next laundry day, which is in a week." Michael said with a look of disgust. "There are clean linens in the closet by the bath. I shall return in a moment with suitable clothing for you."

"You know when my champion arrives to get me out of here, I can get you and the others out as well." Jareth called to him causing him to stop at the door. "No one deserves to be here and be that witch's slave."

Michael bowed to him and continued out of the room. Jareth sighed and stared at the ceiling and pondered how long it would take Sarah to find him. He grinned wickedly as he thought of what he would do to Miss Ellenor once he was free.

Michael made his way back down stairs and headed to the study. Knocking softly, he entered once she gave permission. Closing the door behind him, he turned and bowed to Ellenor. "Miss, we may have a problem. It seems your new pet has a Champion."

Sarah gathered as many of the goblins as she could as they hurried out of the house, into the forest beyond. Before the house completely vanished from sight, Sarah used her powers to shield the evidence of the denizens and Jareth, just leaving Abigail's and the woman's presence there, as well as her own. She could handle Aboveground law enforcement but preferred to shield her friends.

While she conjured a mirror and sent the goblins through it, prepared to meet about a mile away from the new residence, she looked over where the Warriors three stood some distance away, talking amongst themselves.

"What's on your mind?" She asked once she was done, dissolving the mirror into nothing. They frowned and she arched an eyebrow, waiting patiently.

"What if...we can't get him back? Would you...could you...take his place?"

Sarah blinked, having not expected that question. What if she couldn't save him. The sudden thought of losing Jareth made her heart ache. She had hated seeing him in that cage and being led off like a pet infuriated her, but when he had seen her and smiled... Sarah's heart had been all a flutter like it had been when she danced with him in the ballroom. "Let's not think like that just yet, alright?" She turned her back to them and sighed. "If it comes to that...I won't leave you guys unprotected, if that's what has you worried." She turned to face them and tried to put on a strong face. She wasn't sure what bothered her more, the thought of never seeing Jareth again, or suddenly being the Goblin Queen forever.

They seemed to relax then and nodded and all three piled in the car with Sarah, heading out of town.

Jareth felt much better after a hot bath. The new clothes weren't something he would normally wear, but he decided he should look his best when Sarah arrived to collect him. "If I must be someone's pet, I'd prefer it to be Sarah." He thought as he sighed. He had returned to his temporary room and a healer had seen to his wounds. He was now back to 100%, well almost. The stupid collar was blocking most of his magic. He could summon crystals, do minor things like change his clothes or style his hair, but transporting himself more than 10 feet seemed to be impossible.

Taking his medallion in his hand it felt warmer than usual. He wondered if it was the Labyrinth trying to comfort him or if it had something to do with Sarah.

The drive to the new residence was done in complete silence. It was a welcome reprieve for Sarah, who's head had been spinning ever since the others asked if she would fill Jareth's shoes if he was somehow removed, killed, or unable to return to protect the Labyrinth in the Underground. Just thinking about leaving her family, Toby, her life - it all made her chest ache uncomfortably but she knew, deep down, if she had to, she would.

The drive allowed her to think back on her adventures in Jareth's kingdom and it reminded her, as if she'd somehow almost forgotten, that while she had to focus on reaching her brother - those forgotten hours in his realm had been some of the most exciting in her life.

Rubbing a hand across her chest, she thought of Jareth, regretting she'd never gotten over her wariness of him to call on him and seek out a truce of sorts. Once this was all over, she would do just that. Especially since, if she was completely honest with herself, she had always had a crush on him. More than once he had been the subject of a very steamy dream. She just hoped he didn't hold a grudge against her for winning her brother back.

Looking in the rear view mirror, she smiled faintly as she watched the others pillaging over a map in the back seat, whispering amongst themselves. One of them held a compact mirror from her purse and seemed to be talking into it, no doubt organizing how the goblin army would return and scout out the next phase of the mission.

"How's it going back there?" She asked, watching as their heads raise.

"Fairly good, My Lady. One of the goblins is seeking out the Wise Man to see if he might know how to nullify the collar's effects. Otherwise..." Didymus frowned faintly.

"Otherwise we have to take him out to get to her," Sarah spoke for him. Didymus just simply nodded. Sarah frowned, thinking back to their encounter.

"He was definitely protecting her, not necessarily himself. Is there a way to take him down? Or incapacitate him? Just long enough to either get the collar or..."

Suddenly, it clicked. "What if..." she sat up straighter, "What if we don't go after her at all. What if we go after HIM with everything we've got and...can we change the runes somehow? Make an A become a B or something? You know...rewrite the magic...make it work to our advantage."

Didymus grinned. "What a marvelous idea, My Lady."

She smiled as he peered into the compact and started discussing her idea amongst those he could see in the mirror.

As they neared the city block the large estate was on, Sarah couldn't help but whistle faintly at the size of the houses and lots. Whomever had Jareth had money, which made her slightly nervous. Money meant security and extra eyes and while she wouldn't tell the denizens since they were depending on her, she was beginning to doubt her skills and if she could succeed in pulling Jareth out of this predicament.

"Any update on the spell idea?" She asked as she slowed, searching for the address Abigail had given them.

"Well, we don't know exactly what the collar says, so we're just guessing, but...this is what we think you might be able to do."

Hoggle leaned forward and passed over a piece of notebook paper from her purse with symbols written on it. She might as well have been reading Greek and swallowed nervously but plastered a bright smile back at the trio, doing her best to seem confident. Didymus and Ludo seemed to buy it but Hoggle looked unconvinced.

"So," she said, folding it up and putting the paper in her front pocket, "down to business. I think first thing's first, we need to summon the best goblins to scout out the grounds. Who do you recommend?"

Hoggle thought a moment. "Well, the King has three scouts he sends for things. We could gets them."

"Sounds like a plan." Sarah parked the car down the street and grabbed her binoculars from the trunk. Climbing as far as she could up a nearby tree, she scanned the property. The house at the address they were given sat on a large hill a good ways from the road. There was a large locked iron gate at the end of the driveway, and 10 ft. tall iron walls surrounding the property. With her binoculars, she was able to see security cameras, guards patrolling, and she wasn't positive, but she could have sworn she saw a large scaly tale sticking out of the pool in the back.

Climbing down, she sighed. "This won't be easy."

After being left alone for an hour, Jareth peered out into the hallway. There was no one around and he found it curious. Certainly she wouldn't go to so much trouble to get him and then let him walk out the front door.

"Hello?" He called as he walked down the hall. No one answered and he shrugged and headed down the stairs. He found several goblins that he recognized cleaning silver and polishing the candlesticks. "Jinx? Frack?"

"Kingy?" Frack asked as he looked up.

"Kingy, you here to saves us?" Jinx asked with a hopeful expression.

"No, afraid not little one." Jareth sighed at her crushed expression. He knelt in front of her and whispered, "Fear not, our champion is coming."

"The champion?!" Frack's eyes lit up.

"Yes, I've seen her with my own eyes." Jareth added.

"I wouldn't count on your champion coming to your rescue." Ellenor said from the doorway. "Especially if she was that girl at Abigail's house. She dead by now."

"We'll see." Jareth smirked.

"You'll see when she doesn't show up." Ellenor shrugged. "Why don't you follow me and I'll give you a tour of your new home and introduce you to everyone."

Jareth stood up and put his hands in his pockets. "I've got nothing better to do."

"What? No great escape plan?"

"Well even if I make it outside there's no way I'm getting past the iron fence. Plus your collar is blocking most of my magic."

She chuckled and started walking and Jareth followed. She showed him the whole mansion and he was stunned to see all the beings in her collection. There were goblins, Fae, elves, gnomes, dwarves, and even a firery. Jareth was curious how she was able to gather so many beings and where she got her magic collars. Seeing all of them cleaning and bowing to her made his blood boil. She would pay for this. Both Ellenor and Abigail were going to pay dearly along with anyone else working with them.

The three goblin scouts Hoggle promised appeared within minutes and Sarah smiled faintly, studying them. For goblins, they seemed rather smart and were staring at her with an awestruck expression on their faces.

"Hello, guys. So I hear you're the best of the best when it comes to the King's spies."

"We are. We're the ones that usually scout out the babes wished away to us as well as other kingdoms." The tallest one replied, splaying the sharp claws on the end of his fingers. "I'm the best at picking locks. I'm Sylvite. This is Ames and Fredia."

Sarah knelt down, her ears catching at what they mentioned. "Other kingdoms? Other kingdoms in the Underground you mean?"

"Oh, yes. We have elves and dwarves and all kinds. The labyrinth is just how to get in. Jareth guards it, keeps us safe. Why?"

Sarah looked over her shoulder, seeing Didymus return. "Go to these kingdoms. Urge their Kings and Queens to come. I have a feeling from what I spied that it's not just Jareth that's in there. Phrase it in a way they can't refuse."

Didymus saluted Sarah and jumped through a mirror that Sarah summoned. She looked back at the three goblins with a small smile.

"Ok, so here's the plan..."