The Moon Mad King
By Whiteinfinity21
Disclaimer- I don't own the movie the Labyrinth
Chapter One- Year One, Sixth Moon
Has it only been a little under six months since Sarah fell to the Underground and tumbled back into my life? the idling Goblin King absently thought as he watched the antics of the goblins outside while he was eating lunch.
One goblin was pounding two rocks together with an avid expression on its face as if the motion of two rocks crashing together was the most fascinating thing in the universe. The small, wart covered goblin ignored the growing clamor around it, totally absorbed in smashing the two rocks it was holding against each other repeatedly.
Bored, Jareth watched as a trio of young goblins came running into the public garden, chasing a rapidly squawking chicken. The Goblin King sighed, seeing what happened next from a mile away.
The moment the goblin that was bashing his two rocks together caught sight of the distressed fowl, it threw the rocks into the air and joined the younger goblins in pursuit of the chicken. Of course, since the rocks were thrown by a goblin, they landed in the areas that could cause the most possible amount of chaos possible in the immediate surroundings.
The first rock went sailing up high and to the far right, hitting an ornamental tree with the force of a small rocket, not only causing the huge pot that it was planted in to break in half but also causing the tree to topple into the tree next to it. It was only logical that the first tree hitting the second would cause a huge domino effect, and by the time the dust cleared, all fifteen trees that lined the pathway had fallen over, blocking the main route into and out of the public gardens.
The goblins, not being the brightest creatures in the Underground, milled around the fallen trees on both sides in confusion creating a huge traffic jam at the entrance to the public gardens and it was only a few minutes later that the first fight broke out. Soon the entire mob of goblins and other assorted magical creatures were engaged in a free-for-all fist-fight, destroying a good portion of the surrounding garden in the process.
The second rock flying rock caused as much if not more chaos than the first one, if that was possible.
The second rock had the misfortune to hit the one of the apprentice cooks in the middle of the back of the head just as she was closing the door to the castle's chicken coop that was located near the kitchens. And of course out of all the apprentice cooks, the one that had been sent to fetch a few chickens to butcher for the King's dinner that night was the only fire sprite that worked in the castle.
The problem with fire sprites is that they tend to combust when they get startled, caught off guard, upset, ect. The only reason why this fire sprite had been allowed to work in the kitchens was because she had a major talent for cooking and exhibited unusually good self-control over her powers, meaning that it took a lot to set her off. Unfortunately, a rock hitting her in the back of the head fell under the category of "things that caused her to combust". And since she was right outside the chicken coop when the rock came crashing into her head, the subsequent explosion of fire set the hen house on fire.
The terrified squawks of the chickens inside the building caused an awful racket and any goblin within hearing distance came running to the scene, tripping over themselves and each other to either "save the emissaries of the Golden Chicken" or just out of plain curiosity. Within moments, the kitchen courtyard was swarming with goblins and less than three seconds after that, all the chickens exploded out of the burning hen house, scattering in all directions in their frenzied haste to get away from the fire. The effect was instantaneous.
There was a saying in the Underground: release one chicken near any goblin for a good laugh, release a whole bunch of chickens near a pack of goblins only if you have a death wish. It is a well known fact that three things shouldn't be left unguarded next to a goblin: alcohol of any type, explosives and chickens. To do so invites disaster.
In the absolute chaos that erupted by the flight of the chickens from the chicken coop, the fire spread to several nearby buildings and the madly churning crowd of goblins and frightened-out-of-their-wits chickens (not that a chicken is very smart in the first place, nor is the average goblin for that matter) destroyed the rest of the buildings in the kitchen's courtyard that the fire did not. It was obvious to any observer that the King's dinner would be rather late tonight.
The moment both rocks left the warty goblin's oversized, long-fingered hands, the Goblin King shot to his feet, barking orders left and right to the nearby servants. The castle guard, the one that was NOT made up of goblins that is, was summoned to stop the riot that was going on in the public gardens while the closest fire militia, again not made up of goblins, was sent for to put out the fire. The King himself threw several crystals into the kitchen courtyard that exploded over the living ocean of goblins below showering all the creatures below, goblin and chicken alike, with blue, sparkling sleep dust. The clean up of the incidents in both the public gardens and the kitchen courtyard lasted far into the night, leaving a certain monarch that preferred his pants to be form-fitting, very, very irate and grouchy.
By the time Jareth had finished issuing orders to prevent the situation from spilling out into the rest of the city, the goblin that had originally thrown the rocks was neck deep in the middle of the Bog of Eternal Stench.
For the rest of the night and even the next day, everyone, and I mean everyone, servants, goblins, petitioners, craftsmen, merchants, ect., avoided the Goblin King like the plague. No one was surprised by their monarch's behavior following the fire and the riot, such incidents tended to take place at least once every month, so the citizens of the Goblin City were well used to his violent, dark moods by now.
It was for this reason and others that no one had ever challenged Jareth for his position, for if they managed to beat him, the winner would have to put up such stupid things on a daily basis, something that had driven the previous Goblin King stark raving mad. It was also for this reason that Jareth accepted Toby as his heir without any real fight, for the sooner he could dump his crown onto Toby's sandy-blond head, the better.
Such incidents also made Jareth incredibly jealous of Sarah's carefree existence as a Moon Child and long for the day that he could join her for more than the occasional wild night under the big, glowing moon.
Jareth knew that his outlook on life had been forever altered after Sarah had whisked him away from the Underground, not only setting his loins and heart on fire during that time that they had spent in the Lunar Lands, but also waking up his slumbering Moon Child nature.
Jareth sighed, watching the almost-full moon rise over the eastern horizon. Tomorrow night it would be the full moon rising over the Dragon's Spine mountains off in the distance and Jareth was more than ready for his monthly dose of absolute carefree recklessness and abandon that Sarah brought with her every time she showed up with the rising of the full moon.
A soft knocking interrupted Jareth out of his reverie.
"What?" he almost snapped.
"I have your dinner Your Majesty," the voice of his personal body servant spoke through the thick wooden door to his study.
"Leave it in my chambers," Jareth wearily ordered, turning back to the paperwork on his desk.
"I heard from a little worm that you had a rough couple of days," a husky voice whispered into his ear.
Jareth let out a surprised sound that sounded suspiciously like a yelp and whirled around jumping to his feet.
"Who's there?" he demanded to the suddenly empty air.
Quiet laughter filled the air and a soft pair of arms embraced him from behind. The scent of lilac, rosemary and moondust surrounded him.
"Sarah, is there any reason why you have invaded my study this evening?" Jareth asked a bit reproachfully.
"Do I ever need a reason to visit you, my moon owl?" Sarah countered, "besides I thought that you could use a night off to get rid of all that tension that has been building up in you for the past few days."
"Sarah, need I remind you that tomorrow is the full moon, not tonight?" Jareth snapped, "our agreement was that we would only do this on the nights of the full moon, I have a kingdom to run and I don't have the time to be tromping out at any random moment. So unless you are here to visit or help me with the paperwork, I kindly ask you to leave."
"And that is the exact reason why you need a night off tonight," Sarah announced.
Jareth finally turned around to face his errant lover.
"Sarah…" Jareth growled.
"Jareth…" Sarah purred.
"Don't even think abo-!" Jareth started.
He was cut off mid-yell as the pair vanished into the moonlight that was spilling in from the open window of Jareth's personal study.
Silence filled the chamber.
Almost an hour later a soft knocking was heard at the door.
"Your Majesty?" the king's body servant asked, "Your Majesty, are you there, your food has gotten cold."
The servant opened the door.
"Your Majesty…?"
The empty room echoed the servants' words back at him. It was obvious that the King was gone.
"Oh not again," he murmured before he left the room, shutting the door behind him, "looks like I have to go wake up the castle steward and inform him about this, again."
No sign was seen of Sarah nor the Goblin King for the next three days.
I really don't have any real plot outlined for this story. I think it will be more of a collection of events that showcase Jareth's POV as he slowly becomes completely moon mad. The tale will span the years from Sarah's second arrival to the Underground to Toby's coronation as Goblin King and months, if not years may be skipped between chapters.
The next update for the Moon Mad King is a long way off. I still have to finish a story on another account of mine and complete In Her Shoes first. So don't get your hopes up for a fast update, sorry.
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