Back to the Underground!

- Chapter 5 -

High Thrones

"Welcome to my labyrinth, boys."

Toby and Harry gaped at the scene that lay before there eyes. A strange, exotic and beautiful landscape like nothing they had never seen before...Hogwarts once had the same effect on the young wizard but had never filled him with both fear and excitement…willing a strange urge for its challenge. The spread of the labyrinth with its crooked turns, angled dead ends with the backdrop of the Goblin City and a hazy orange sky made it breathtaking.

"It looks like fun…" Harry breathed out in awe. Jareth recalculated his analysis of the fifteen year old.

"Fun?" This one was strange.

"Yeah, I think we'll have loads of fun trying to get through it!" When Harry noticed Jareth's incredulous stare he quickly replied "I've been through a similar labyrinth two years ago."

"Have you now? I wonder if you're talking about the piece of my hedge that I lent to Albus some time ago…" Jareth pondered out load to himself.

Harry turned to face the fae who was straightening the collar of the denim jacket on Toby. Strange. "You know the headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore?" asked Harry catching the Goblin King's attention.

He had been fixing Toby's clothes and whispering encouraging words to the teary-eyed boy who had been sobbing moments ago. This had been his possible heir! Almost a prince! He wasn't going to have his would-have-been-son look so sloppy…be so sad…

"Why, yes, I do. Is it Hogwarts now? I've been calling that school Hoggle for ages now!" Jareth complained lightly. He turned back to the boy who was sniffling and rubbing his eyes on his sleeve. "There, there, young Toby…have faith, she is safe with me, I assure you…I saw my baby, crying hard as babe could cry…what could I do? My baby's love has gone? What could I do?"

Harry smiled as he saw Toby laugh softly at Jareth's little tune.

"There's a good prince." Jareth murmured affectionately. "Now go stand by the-boy-who-fit for a moment." Harry glared at the glittery king as Toby giggled slightly. "Now, here are the rules, gentlemen. You have thirteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth. Your sister is being kept inside my castle at the center of the Goblin City. Please, hurry, you two…or she will have to remain here with me forever." He waved his hand and Harry still wasn't sure how he did it but a clock appeared out of thin air.

"Forever?" Harry asked in amazement.

"Yup, not long at all."

"Only thirteen hours?"

"Exactly, the same amount of time as the other mortals who come here. But I feel I must tell you…only one has ever beaten me before." Jareth gave a rueful smile as he seemed to look past the challenge before the two boys. "If you do not succeed, Toby, you're sister will stay with me, you and your family will have no memory of Sarah…"

"And me?" Harry felt the need to ask. "What do I get if I loose?"

Jareth shook his head. "Nothing, you will be sent back. All Toby here needs is your help, young man." Harry tried to see a flaw in the Goblin King's façade.

"Nothing at all? No repercussions? Nothing?"

Jareth smirked. "Nothing, tra la la?" Harry rolled his eyes at this and set a determined gaze on. The Goblin King studied the firm and assured eyes of the fifteen year old. "Do you accept to be Toby Williams's running partner in my Labyrinth?"

The wizard-in-training looked hard at the labyrinth and its city and then turned a soft gaze at Toby who had controlled his tears although his lip was trembling. He had nothing to loose and how could he just abandon this boy? This Jareth, Goblin King, wasn't so bad if he offered to let him get off easy…but Harry was still determined to help Toby get his sister back in any case.

It was his heroic streak that got in his way of better judgment…he couldn't help himself…and he hoped he wasn't falling into a trap.

"I'll run with Toby." Harry finally said.

The Goblin King tried to hide his pleasure with the wizard lad's decision. He had gotten worried they wouldn't even find a helpful soul to help Toby at his subjects' band Aboveground.

Jareth stepped back from the two boys and suddenly he turned and took flight in the form of a white barn owl. Harry was pretty amazed and confused at that point. He was seer, king and an animagus? This guy was just chalk full of surprises.

"You're time starts now…" Jareth's voice echoed. "Remember…thirteen hours…"

The two boys turned around to face the labyrinth now at the bottom of the hill. Toby tugged on Harry's shirt. "Yeah? You ready then?" Harry asked with a reassuring smile.

Toby smiled with a quick nod, eyes focused ahead, and the two started off down the hill. "Sure… Come on, feet!" the ten year old proclaimed in the same manner he often heard his older sister say when facing a challenge ahead. It made him feel better.

Smiling back at the boy walking beside him, Harry did too.

Sarah watched as the two boys made their way down the hill filled with confidence. They would need it and hoped they had more patience than she did when she had first entered the maze. She wished them luck, kissing the surface of the glass orb that had been left where she had mysteriously appeared. The throne room was empty for now and quiet, the occasional passing goblins talking about chickens coming by every few minutes.

She wasn't even aware that she was curled in the king's chair.

"Sarah…"

The young woman gasped, dropping the crystal as she turned her head in the direction of the Goblin King, leaning casually against the side of the open window. The crystal merely tapped merrily onto the floor and continued to bounce toward Jareth, his eyes focused on her. There was a reminiscent look, his eyes fogged with past memories as he continued to stare.

"He's a wizard you know, quite powerful…" said Sarah as she turned her head to look away from his intense gaze. "You gave Toby an upper hand when you offered him someone to help him."

"That is your opinion." Jareth replied tiredly. It had taken him a little more of a boost to transport Harry to aid Toby…he had not summoned him and had tired him after he had brought the teenager to his kingdom.

Sarah studied his tired eyes, his shoulders which weren't so haughtily lifted and the discreet crease on his forehead. "Why, Goblin King?"

Jareth sighed raggedly and stood from his support against the wall. She couldn't help but stiffen as he took his steps toward her, his eyes still captured by her face. His expression was unreadable. "Am I not generous now, Sarah?" he murmured as he caught the back of the throne with one hand and leaned his face inches from hers. "I could not convince you before. Now what do you think?"

Sarah released the breath she had been holding. "C-Could I please watch Toby and Harry again? I want to see if they'll meet Hoggle." asked Sarah shakily.

She watched uneasily as he lifted his free hand to reach behind her. Was he going to pull her towards him…and…kiss her? She began to blush but with a quick motion of his hand, he hand a crystal pulled out from the air behind her. Why was he staring at her like that?

"Thank you," she managed to squeak as he smiled with a mix of amusement and cruelty. He was having fun making her squirm and Sarah frowned at herself for acting such a nitwit and making herself so vulnerable.

"Could you at least let me sit on my throne then?" the Goblin King inquired as he leaned against the armrest. "I must fetch an order for one of my subjects and can not do so unless they see me on my throne."

Sarah looked confused at his reasoning but nodded and stood.

"I wouldn't mind if you sat in my lap, in any case." Jareth noted to her casually.

Sarah attempted the darkest glare she could muster before sitting on the floor a few feet away from him and gazing into the orb. She saw Toby and Harry walking along the wall trying to find the entrance and frowned again. "Where is Hoggle?" she asked the fae hotly. Panic began to well within her.

"I don't see why you should care about the affairs of my subjects, Sarah." he replied calmly, assuming his leg over armrest position.

"What have you done to him or any of my friends?" Sarah demanded as she stood from her seating position. "If you've hurt a hair on their head, Goblin King, I swear I'll—"

Jareth chuckled at the strangling gestures she was making with her hands. "If you insist on knowing this Hoggy Warty fellow's business, I ask you to be patient, dear Sarah." He tapped his boot against his chair. "How could I even harm a hair on the bald dwarf and possibly not harm a hair on the other hairy flea bags you call friends? The orange one is like a mountain a fur!" Jareth grumbled, both jealous and disgruntled that he was jealous of his subjects.

Sarah was watching the crystal again, silent.

"Do you believe they'll make it, Sarah? Truly?" Jareth asked out of the blue.

The question gave Sarah a stomachache when she dwelled on it. Was that a bad sign? No, she was certain Toby would get through now that she had the aid of Harry Potter! She was just glad that Jareth didn't understand exactly who he had allowed to help her brother. Maybe if he had known the boy's great power while questioning him at Gringotts, he would have chosen a weaker aide.

Or maybe Jareth was being sincerely generous?

She turned her gaze back to the two figures in the orb. Sarah felt herself inhale sharply when she saw that they were still trying to find the entrance…

What happened to Hoggle?

A/N: Oh, dear...where is our friend Hoggle? Erm...review?