"What?!" Sarah stared at Jareth, her disbelief evident. "But..but..we..I.."She stuttered. "Who?"
"Our other sister." He replied depressively. "Formerly the Red Queen."
"Downal wit the bludy begh hid!" Shouted Hatter, his eyes glazing over as he shook his fist.
Willy sighed, his job was apperently not over yet. "Where do you suppose she is being held?"
"I have no way of knowing. My sister has certain..." He scowled. "..abilities that cause her to be invisible to my usual ways of uncovering information. Around her, my senses are as dull as a mortal-"
"Oh, thank you." Sarah told him sarcastically.
He eyed her with amusement for a moment, then shook his head. "Anyway, for all that I could discern, she is still within the castle, which is why I came to fetch you."
Sarah stared at the half-destroyed walls numbly. "Scrub's gone in there." She glared at him. "She passed right by you, you should have stopped her or warned her or..or..something!" She wailed at him.
"That is to our advantage. She will lead us to where Mirwana is being held." He said calmly.
"How is that possible?" Interrupted Willy.
Jareth smirked. "I may not be able to follow my older sibling directly, but I am able to track Scrub. And she is bound to meet up with the Red Queen sooner or later. " He twirled a crystal around on the tips of his fingers. "Therefore, when she is captured, we will simply follow the images she provides us with."
"You say that as if Scrub is just a tool to get us to the White Queen." Accused Sarah with tears in her eyes. "Jareth...she could die."
Jareth acknowledged this with a nod. "Then let us hope that she does not." With that, he led the other three up to the castle with a grim expression.
{~Meanwhile~}
Scrub, her face still wet, red, and puffy from crying, was miserable. She would have to leave the love of her life behind simply because her friend was afraid. She loved Sarah with all the sisterly compassion she had in her spritely spirit, but that didn't mean that she didn't feel anger towards her for everything that had transpired a few minutes earlier.
She had hidden herself in a niche and was tucked in quite comfortably. That was when she heard the voices, one male and the other female.
"...Stayne, you will obey me. Take my dear,dear sister into the dungeons and have her in shackles." Said the female voice in a cruel, hard tone.
"Yes, my queen." Said the male voice that Scrub assumed was Stayne. He sounded weak and defeated, almost zombie-fied. "I will do as you say, my lovely queen."
"Good." Said the female. "I shall be in her room, then. When you are done, come to me and we shall plot on how best to regain my kingdom!"
'Add an evil laugh to it and you could call her Maleficent.' thought Scrub. She wondered who was talking and who they were talking about. Just then, the voices paused.
"Stayne, is that a young woman hiding in a niche in the wall?" Purred the female.
"Why, yes, I believe it is." Came the slow answer of the Stayne-zombie."
"Oh, then, grab her too. She'll make an excellent servant. Chain her up with my sister. I'm sure the Mirwana will enjoy a nice chat before her execution." Scrub sucked in a breath a tall, shadowy figure came into view and her last thought before she was hefted over it's shoulder was of her beloved.
{~A few minutes afterward~}
Jareth closed his fist around the crystal and squeezed, the resulting shards nearly piercing his leather gloves. "She's taking them to the dungeons." He informed Willy, Sarah and Tarrant.
Tarrant stared at the Goblin King. "No..."