CHAPTER 4

Sarah awoke, bleary eyed and confused, the bright, morning sunlight streaming mercilessly through the nearby open windows. Shielding her face from its rays, she rubbed her face wearily trying in vain to ignore the dull pounding in her head that was growing steadily stronger as she awoke. The rub of cotton sheets were soft against her exposed skin and she'd had loved nothing more than to snuggle back down again and sleep forever but the pain in her mind was beginning to reach breaking point. Sighing, Sarah licked her paper dry lips and brought her hand away from her face, fully expecting to see her messy room before her just like every morning but was greeted with the sight of a room she could never even have dreamed of.

"Oh.."

Slowly, her mind began to work and the memories of the past few days crept slowly back. Instead of her own little single bed, Sarah found she was lying in a large four poster bed, the sheets and curtains coloured blood red with fine golden trim no doubt worth more than her house. To her left was a fireplace like no other - grand and ornate, it was spotless and a gold clock too similar to Jareth's for her liking sat proudly upon the mantel piece.

Sitting upwards, Sarah began to feel goosebumps form on her pale skin and her gaze fell upon the nearby open French doors leading out to a balcony. Curiosity getting the better of her, Sarah swung her legs off the bed and ignoring her painful stomach, dry throat and aching head she began to walk across the cold, stone floor towards the sunlight, anxious to see just exactly where she was in this twisted land. But something else caught her eye. Directly ahead of the end of her bed, against the far wall was a vanity and like the fireplace, it was beyond detailed and perfectly formed but sat silently upon it was a silver tray of the best looking food Sarah had ever seen.

A small mountain of fruit, cheeses and pastries along with a clear jug of juice and white pot of tea sat unmoving and without thinking, Sarah rushed towards it, stuffing whatever she could grab first into her mouth not caring of the taste, just desperate to put food inside her starved stomach. Next came the juice and ignoring the small glass sat waiting next to it Sarah brought the jug to her cracked lips and poured the cool amber liquid on top of the half chewed food in her mouth. Swallowing was painful but also a beautiful feeling – never would she take food and drink for granted again.

Her hand greedily reached out once more to grab another pastry but her brown eyes caught sight of herself in the mirror before she could do so, her reflection stopping her dead in her tracks. A bird's nest of brown hair lay awkwardly around her pale face with dark rings overshadowing her eyes. Her mouth was smeared with crumbs and tinged with orange and suddenly she did not feel quite so hungry anymore. Staring down as the disturbed tray of food, Sarah mentally kicked herself for her stupidity – clearly she had learnt nothing about eating food from this place since the last time she was here.

But you hadn't eaten in days! You needed to eat!

Well, no more…I'm not falling for anything this time around.

So you're going to starve to death?

Sarah's brow furrowed as she battled with her mind, this was something that she would need to think about carefully – no one could live without food. Sighing, Sarah wiped her mouth clear with the back of her hand and stared slowly around the rest of the room, her eyes falling upon the near ceiling high mahogany wardrobe that was to the left of the bed. This room was too grand to comprehend and her still being stuck in the Underground was beginning to frustrate her more and more – she didn't belong here.

Unsure what to do next, Sarah returned to the vanity in an attempt to sort out her appearance, brushing crumbs off her chest as she did so. Yet as her fingers came into contact with pale pink silk, her mind began to work finally putting two and two together. She was no longer wearing the jeans and shirt she had arrived in and instead was sporting some sort of silk nightdress.

But that means-

Sarah shuddered at the thought. Someone had undressed her and she hoped to God it had not been Jareth.

Or that weird guard that didn't speak…

She shook the thought from her head, deciding it was not good to dwell on it – it had happened and nothing could change it. Continuing her exploration, Sarah opened a nearby door revealing a large porcelain bathroom, so strangely beautiful it took Sarah's breath away. The claw footed tub, decorated with luteous coloured leaves climbing steadily up it cried out to her and Sarah's skin prickled at the thought of warm water. It seemed too inviting to ignore…

No! Not until you get your bearings on this place…or at least learn how to lock the door…

The click of the door in the other room roused Sarah from her thoughts and her blood ran cold. Was he here? Wait, was it fear she was feeling? Or still annoyance at his arrogance and demeanour in general? She hoped the latter as once she admitted fear he'd have won and that was something she did not plan on happening. Sucking in a deep breath, Sarah walked slowly from the bathroom, painfully aware of how little she was wearing. But it was not Jareth waiting in the room, but Tolbas with his face just as hard and stare just a steely as before - she could not feel more uncomfortable if she tried. But he said nothing.

"…Can I help you?" Sarah spoke slowly, trying to keep to edge off her voice. He definitely creeped her out.

The scar…it sent a shiver down her spine.

Again he said nothing, simply gazing down at her before motioning towards the oversized wardrobe. He walked towards it briskly, pulling the heavy doors open with ease and pulling out a dark blue, almost gray linen robe and placing it upon the messed up bed sheets. Confused, Sarah stared in silence at his actions not sure what to make of what she was seeing.

"A blue dress?"

Tolbas nodded, his eyes raking over her less than modest form before darting back to the dress lying motionless upon the bedspread. Finally, a switch flipped inside Sarah's head.

"You want me to change? Why?"

But she was greeted with silence once more. Inside she had a million questions and arguments to throw at him, but his silence was more unnerving than anything she'd ever known before. Why wouldn't he speak? Mimicking his silence, Sarah went to walk towards the bed mindful that he was still watching her, but before she could turn to ask him to leave she heard the door click again and she was alone once more.

Huh.

Why was she doing this? Surely it would make more sense for her to stay in her room until she was forced out – she had essentially been kidnapped, there was no need for her to comply with anything.

And look where that got you last time.

Giving up already, Sarah?

"Shut up." She muttered under her breath before rolling her eyes in realisation. "Great, I'm not five minutes in and I'm already going nuts."

She studied the garment before her. It was not fancy nor did it look expensive and was simply V-necked with elbow length sleeves and was floor length. But, as she slipped out of her nightwear and pulling the robe over her head, it was not as scratchy as she thought it may be and actually fit her quite nicely. Heading back towards the vanity, Sarah hastily attacked her chestnut mane with a hairbrush her mind wandering over why she had been told to dress. Was Jareth coming? Or was she going to see Jareth? Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, a strangled "come in" escaping from her throat.

Once more, Tolbas entered the room; his gray eyes fixated on Sarah. Noticing that she was now decent, he motioned with his gloved hand for her to follow him out of the room.

"Wait, where are we going?"

She knew her question was foolish seeing as he had said not one word up until this point, but she tried regardless. But, instead of answering, he simply continued to stare until Sarah could take no more and she admitted defeat, slowly walking past him and out of the room into the dark stone corridor. He approached her quickly, not walking much ahead but enough to keep her in his eye line, something Sarah became very aware of. Her breathing began to become more rapid as her thoughts went back to the last time she saw him. Surely he was not taking her back to the oubliette? Chest rising and falling painfully, Sarah tried in vain to compose herself and not even bothering to take in her surroundings.

Calm down! You don't know what is about to happen is bad! Act your age, Sarah.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Tolbas finally came to a stop outside a small wooden door, nothing like to entrance to the oubliette she had been imprisoned in before. He opened it swiftly, revealing a large near empty room, almost under the cover of darkness thanks to blinds on the other side of the window blocking out the sun. The only light came from a few weak candles in each corner of the room. The smell of dust and grime hit her immediately – clearly this room was filthy. Like before, she felt a familiar push in-between her shoulder blades and she stumbled inside the room, the door closing heavily behind her. She was alone.

"At least it's a step up from the oubliette. " she sighed.

You idiot, you're obviously here for a reason.

Her mind was right, for nearby upon a small wooden table was a bucket of water and a rag alongside it.

He wants me to clean?

"Absolutely not."

The sound of a throat clearing in the darkness caused Sarah to jump clean out of her skin, grabbing the rag and holding it out in front of her, like a weapon ignoring the stupidity of the situation. She called out, sounding braver than she felt.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

And slowly from the shadows emerged a boy no older than sixteen, a crop of messy red hair upon his head and eyes so green they almost seemed unreal. Sarah's breath stuck in her throat at the sight of him – had she found another human? As his appearance strengthened in the light, her jaw fell a little at his height; he was easily over 6 foot, perhaps even 6 foot 2 or 3 but the gangliness of his stance indicated he'd grown a lot in a short time. He reminded her a little of Bobby Jenkins, the shy, awkward boy who lived next door who looked far older than his 13 years thanks to an unexpected growth spurt.

"Sorry…I didn't mean to scare you like that."

Realising she was simply gaping at the poor boy, Sarah shut her mouth and composed herself as he smiled sheepishly at her.

"No, that's okay…I mean, I wasn't expecting anyone else..I'm Sa-"

"Sarah. I know. I'm Cilan."

He spoke matter of factly, the grin still painted on his face. Sarah blinked rapidly, unsure she had heard correctly.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Everyone here knows who you are, Sarah. You're the only person to ever beat the Labyrinth and you left the Underground! Well...now you're back I guess."

Sarah could not help but dislike his sunshine-y demeanour. How could he be so upbeat in a place like this? She muttered darkly in response.

"Not for long I hope."

Cilan seemed to be oblivious to her lack of enthusiasm and carried on chattering away, his face over animated as he spoke. She may have found it endearing if she didn't feel so awful.

"Of course, Jareth was pretty angry that he lost to a human."

Sarah could not help but smile gleefully at the thought.

"He was?"

"Yeah…no one went near him for weeks for fear of him hurting them. He doesn't take well to rejection. There's a first time for everything I suppose!"

A small laugh of triumph escaped her lips, she could almost picture the look of rage on his face after he sent her back. It was just too good. But her thoughts were disturbed as they reverted back to the boy in front of her – who was he?

"So wait... Cilan?" she spoke carefully, hoping she had his name right. "Who are you? Did Jareth take you too?"

He shook his ginger head, his smile fading slightly.

"Probably not the same way as you but something along those lines, yes."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at the silence that followed his response, rolling her eyes when he finally realised he probably should continue.

"Oh right, yeah. Jareth is my uncle."

And once more, Sarah's hopes were shattered like glass. He was not human, she really was alone here. She sighed inwardly but could not help a tinge of intrigue slip into her voice. She had always imagined the Goblin King to be alone, one of a kind so to speak. It seemed strange to her that he may have a family.

"Your...uncle?"

"Yeah, my Father was his brother. But he's gone now."

Sarah swallowed awkwardly, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that."

Letting out a noncommittal noise, he shrugged; a small smile returning to his freckled face.

"That's okay, it's been a while now anyway."

A few seconds passed in an uncomfortable silence before Sarah spoke again. This just didn't make sense to her - Jareth had family, but he treated him like crap?

"Hang on, if Jareth's your uncle… why are you in here? Surely the King's nephew would be out with the King sitting upon a golden throne or something?"

"Nah, Jareth doesn't like me very much."

"He doesn't?"

Cilan shook his head once more, leaning against the nearby wall. He did not look at Sarah as he spoke.

"When my Father and him were younger, Jareth had an irrational fear that my Father was going to usurp him and take the Kingdom. Of course, he had no interest in that but Jareth wasn't convinced so he banished him to the outskirts of the Labyrinth in order to get him as far away from him as possible. "

Sarah did not say anything in response; she was not surprised Jareth was a jealous and paranoid man. It was just two more traits to add to the list of his horrible personality.

"It was there he met my Mother and then they had me."

Cilan smiled sadly at the thought.

"But then she died and it was just Dad and me, which was fine for a while until he disappeared. I just came in one day and the house was empty, no note no nothing."

Poor kid.

"So, you were orphaned?"

"Pretty much I guess. A few days later there was a knock at the door and I was dragged to the castle by Jareth's guards. Apparently old magical law states you cannot abandon your own kin, so due to me having no one to care for me until I was of age he was bound by law to look after me."

Sarah smirked once more at the thought of Jareth not getting his own way, hoping that within her short stay here she would be able to take him down a peg or two in a similar way.

"But I guess-" Cilan continued, "-he's just as paranoid now as he was with my Father as I've been doing goblin work ever since."

Sarah's brow furrowed slightly.

"How long until you are of age?"

Cilan grinned.

"Not much longer."

Damn, that smile is infectious.

Sarah could not help but smile too. This boy had seemingly been to hell and back but was unfazed by it all. Why couldn't she act more like that? But his story had put things into perspective causing a little more of her hope to slowly ebb away. He had been here for a long time, surely he could have found a way to escape by now? Maybe there was no chance for her to either…

Positive thinking, Sarah!

Shaking her head clean of her thoughts, her attention focused back on the bucket of water and dirty rag still in her hand.

"So, what are we cleaning?"

Sarah found time passed quickly whilst she was with Cilan as he did most of the talking and kept the conversation going, regardless of her less than satisfactory responses. She was just grateful for a friendly face and every day for the past week had been the same routine: She awoke to breakfast waiting for her, she'd eat, dress, wait for Tolbas and be escorted to the same room and get set on cleaning it with Cilan - but still no sign of Jareth. This unnerved her a bit. He had gone to all the trouble to bring her here yet did not even speak to her? It was strange. But she did not complain as, for the moment she was contented with her situation – it was easy and enjoyable (even if she felt her fingers would fall off every evening). It wasn't until a few days later when something changed.

After another day of scrubbing an unruly floor, Sarah was escorted back by Tolbas to her room only to find a dress lying alone upon her bedspread along with a note. Frowning, she approached it with caution, slowly fingering the smooth material between her fingers – it was a beautiful dress. Unlike her plain robe, it was a shocking white and floor length, with a halter neck made from thin, golden rope and had a dark green, labyrinth like pattern weaving its way slowly up from the hem, stopping just short of the chest. Placing it back carefully, Sarah picked up the note, heart thudding in her chest knowing all too well who it would be from.

Sarah,

Please put this on and await my arrival.

Jareth

The handwriting was looped and extravagant, nothing less to be expected of him but Sarah had no time to admire it and found the hand that held the note was shaking. What did he mean – put this on and await for his arrival? It had been foolish of Sarah to think that she would not see him, it was his castle after all and it was only a matter of time when she would be confronted with him again. Letting the piece of parchment fall to floor, Sarah weighed up her options. On the one hand, she could do what he wanted and just brace herself for whatever was planned or on the other hand, she could refuse to and see what happens with that.

What's the point in fighting him, you won't win.

Sarah scolded herself under her breath "Stop it."

Sighing, she moved the dress to one side and sat on the edge of the mattress waiting for his inevitable arrival. She would at least put up a fight, no matter how fruitless it would be.

A/N: So it's finally here! I just spent a good four hours in the Library rewriting it :'D My Laptop is still on the fritz and am not sure just how long it will be so chapter 5 may take a while. BUT - 5 and 6 are all planned out and just need to be written, so perhaps not that long! Let me know what you think of this one, and again - thanks so much to those of you reviewing/story alerting/favouriting. It means a lot.