And so the quest for persons of magical talent commenced. Jareth retired to his chambers after initiating the search, obsessively fixated to the alien crystal. Most Goblins at court believed the trinket was a wicked evil sent by the devils of cleanliness to entice Good King Jareth (court, despite bearing the force of the great majority of Jareth's spells of fury, still somehow managed to retain rather...romanticised...notions of his character) into welcoming the scourge of Wizardry back into the bosom of the kingdom.
Despite a general air of superstition, the search was initiated by the newly promoted Vice Chancellor Scuttle, whose initiation had been a popular event in the Goblinian social calender, with his entire clan (known colloquially as the 'banged up Bill' clan) present to witness the ceremonial kick from the riding boot and the 'mud in the face' tradition that dated back to the time of the incontinent Badger – a truly ancient tradition.
The first technique used was large (many were mistaken for wallpaper) posters, and at first this proved to be largely ineffectual, mainly due to the fact that the (very few, largely insane) magicians who had inhabited the city, had long since been sentenced to death by Bog, or if extremely fortunate (and wealthy) exiled to the neighbouring realms. And none since had been plain idiotic enough to come within visual range of the Goblin Kingdom. The campaign wasn't assisted by the fact that 'Magician' had been spelt 'Maprattchann,' and it was probably for this reason, that even when Scuttle was shaken by Jareth for long enough (it was said that Scuttle spent around two hours with his neck in the glorious gloved grip of the exalted one) and proceeded to plaster posters on the walls of the mud-huts of the inhabitants of the outer-reaches of the neighbouring dwarf kingdom, there was still no response to the plea (excepting the incident when Scuttle was used as the target for a game of darts in the local Dwarf tavern, another story for another time.)
And it was at this point that Jareth decided to take matters into his own hands. Leaving the tattered reigns of control of the city to the almost totally incompetent Prime Minister Tomkins. His reaction to power was initially extreme nervousness (excessive pacing, muttering etc. etc.) and after that seven hours banging his head against a granite wall, in the out-dated Goblinian belief that this ridded the spirit of evil and enterpenurial thinking, replacing it with simple minded obedience (an impossibility as it has since been proven that enterpenurial thought is a scientific impossibility in Goblins.)
Jareth rode for seven days and seven nights to reach the kingdom of his cousin Sophia, she had gotten married, the previous winter, to a stable-boy who had been attending to her favourite Black Stallion, Rufus. Rufus had been the best man (despite extended protests from the Holy Council of the Kingdom.) Jareth himself had been unable to attend due to a broken foot after the case of initiating a particularly...well-built Goblin minister. He still had the crystal safely cushioned in a pouch inside his saddle bag, the warm spherical shape of it against his legs reassured him of it's presence. For the crystal was very dear to him now, dearer than any object ever had been.
Upon reaching the kingdom, there was much neighing and cantering from the four-legged members of the community. Sophia's intricate network of gossips had informed her of the King's coming, and she had ensured he had a characteristically horsey welcome.
"You don't do things my halves do you dear cousin?" Jareth asked his cousin, surveying the sight of uniform rows of horses, each wrapped in a horse rug bearing his image. The hills beyond were obscured by the chestnut sheen of horses neighing and occasionally bucking their riders – much to Sophia's amusement, despite the riders often sustaining extremely serious bodily harm.
"Well one is royal Jareth, so why not go for the whole horse bag?" She laughed with an innate peal that his ears had long since learned how to block from recognition "well, you must meet Terence, he's in the stable, sorry I mean throne room! I am silly, aren't ?." She cackled once again for good measure as a distant Jareth took her arm and both entered her palace through doors carved with excessive equestrian imagery.
Terence proved to be amiable enough, although totally ignorant and passive, he also said Ohh Arr at frequent intervals. Luckily (and most important of all) he seemed to lack enough brain cells to pose any threat to government, in fact he wouldn't of been out of place among the inhabitants of the Goblin city, his stupidity was that extreme. So after their initial meeting, Jareth totally disregarded his presence, ignoring him to discuss arrangements with Sophia over how to snare a Wizard.
"How about a competition Jareth?" Suggested Sophia, clapping her hands excitedly, whinnying madly at the prospect, "I haven't had a competition, bazaar or carnival in decades! Oh it will be so much fun, there can be jesters, clowns, fire-eaters..." She began to get slightly carried away...
"Let's not forget the magicians shall we?" Jareth had began to get impatient, and not only with the present conversation. His growing frustration was exhibited through the rhythmic drumming of his fingers against the arm of his chair. He had seen the girl again the night before. His heart had leapt with the elation of the sight of her. She was slightly older now, and she looked to be in high spirits, she was joyfully running to keep pace with a four legged creature than appeared to be entirely consumed by hair. She threw sticks at it, and exhibited great joy whenever the creatures brought back one of the sticks, despite the slobber and the bite-marks. For the first and last time in his extremely lengthy lifespan- Jareth wished to be that creature more than he wanted anything else in the world.
And so the next day, the posters were distributed – real posters this time, posters that managed a passable spelling of 'magician,' here is an example of one of the most widely distributed advertisements:
MAGEECANS!!!
Do you wish to get a lot OF MOANEY!!!!!
Do you weesh to be under the service of a KINNG!!!!!!!
Then come: to the SPECAL, HIPER, AMIZING WISARDVRY COMPETITION!
Next Half Moon in the City Square!
The word soon spread, and persons of varying degrees of magical talent soon began flocking to the city, for more than anything else in the world, magicians valued money in the highest regard, despite the spelling. This was all much to the annoyance of Sophia however, who felt they were compromising the living standards of the cities horse-population.
Jareth settled that night into a happy contented sleep. The next day, he would find the magician who would take him aboveground. The magician who would take him to see Sarah.
REVIEWERS
notwritten - I am glad you're enjoying it, I hope you like this chapter!
DanikaLareyna – Thank-you very much for continuing to review the story, and your right about the legs comments, I really need a beta, they'd point out those kind of continuity errors to me (the scourge of continuity is like an ever looming shadow for me ;).) Do you know how I'd go about getting one? If anyone wants to be my beta, just send me your e-mail, I'd be very grateful! I'm glad you like the story, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Thesta - Here's the update, I'm glad your enjoying it, I've tried to make it just about as different from all the generic J+S fics out there as I could - I find it fun to write about the Goblins themselves!
Please review, all reviews are greatly appreciated!