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Sarah was frustrated to say the least. The day had passed in absolute silence. Just as Jareth had said, she hadn't seen one goblin all day but neither had she seen anyone else.
On her second trip through the palace she had thought she heard someone walking just up ahead of her but no matter how fast she ran she couldn't catch up. At each corner she was hoping to see someone but it always sounded as if they were still a good twenty feet away.
"I've spent an hour chasing someone who probably isn't even there." Sarah huffed, finding herself suddenly in what looked to be the kitchens.
She hadn't had to look for food all day because her meals had appeared in her room. After lunch she had begun to wonder if there was kitchen at all or if everything was done with magic.
Surprisingly everything in the kitchens looked spotless. Sarah couldn't imagine that a group of goblins, no matter how well trained, would ever leave a room so clean.
On inspection she found that much of the palace was as spotless as the kitchens and to her relief there were no weird odors or stains anywhere.
Standing on her toes Sarah found that she could just see out under the shutters that covered the windows in the throne room. After a day inside with all the windows closed she was begining to miss the sunlight.
"I told you to stay away from the windows." a cold voice whispered right into her ear.
Startled Sarah jumped and spun to find Jareth smirking at her, "No, you told me not to open any of the windows." she shot back, "You never said anything about looking past the shutters."
Galring at her a bit he said harshly, "Very well if you need everything spelled out for you here it is- any form of the outside is off limits unless you want someone to take control of your mind like they nearly succeeded in doing yesterday."
"Take control?" Sarah raised an eyeborw, "You mean, make me do things?"
"In away yes." Jareth plopped himself down on his throne, "If so many spells hadn't been put on you at once then who ever it is that is after you would have had you on your knees spilling every detail about the Labyrinth. Not that the details worry me much. The Labyrinth is much too smart to let just any one through. The thing that does bother me is what they would have done with your mind when they finished with you?"
Letting all this sink in a strange thought occured to Sarah, "But why did you save me? If you aren't worried about what they would have learned from me, then why not let them have me?"
With a grin Jareth stated, "Because if anyone is to tear you to pieces, mind body and soul then I feel that I should be the one to do it. You are the one, afterall who brought all this trouble down apon me and my kingdom."
His grin didn't scare her or even make her stomack knot up like it use to years ago, "You said I could go home after this was settled." she said calmly.
"So I did." Jareth sighed, "Very well, how about this for a bit of truth? You are the only mortal to have ever beaten me, Sarah. I am intrigued by you just as I am angered just by your mere presense. I want to know how you bettered me. I want to know why you are the only one to have ever made it to the palace and to have made it out alive with the child."
"There is no mystery to it." Sarah sighed, seeing that the only reason Jareth had kept her alive was because he was still sore about losing and he wanted to know he could have beaten her.
"Then tell me how you did it." Jareth smiled a cold dead looking smile.
"I love Toby." Sarah sat on the floor, her back to one of the walls, "Yes, he drove me crazy but if I had known what would have realy happened when I said those words...to see that he was no longer there. It felt as though my heart had been ripped out. It was my selfishness that sent him away and even if it killed me I was going to get him back."
"But why!" Jareth all but yelled, jumping up to pace the room, the cold smile gone from his face.
"What do you mean why?" Sarah asked, bewildered, "I love him. That's simple enough to understand, Jareth. You fight for what you love and if you give up you are letting your loved ones down. Toby couldn't fight for himself so I fought for him. It was my fault he was gone, not his. I wasn't about to let him suffer for my mistake."
Jareth walked right over to where Sarah sat and squatted down to look her in the eye, "But there's something more to it, Sarah. So many before you, proclaiming their love for the child I took away gave up before even finding their way past the first wall. An hour, Sarah." Jareth looked her face over like he was trying to see past the girl that sat before him, "An hour was as long as most people searched."
Surprised and horrified. Sarah just stared at him for a minute, "An hour?' she asked quietly, "Only an hour before giving up their baby to become a Goblin?...That's horrible."
"That's the human race." Jareth said before standing and walking away from her.
"But not everyone is like that!" Sarah stood up and followed Jareth out of the room, "Not everyone is that cruel."
"The one's I've met have been." Jareth said without slowing down or even turning to look at her as she caught up to him on the staircase.
"Well, the one's you've met all wished away their babies. How good can a person be who does that?" she asked and he suddenly stopped and faced her.
"Yes," he smiled, "How good can one be?"
"But I didn't give up!" Sarah felt her face heat up as he stared at her.
His smile vanished, "So you didn't." he turned and in one smooth motion closed himself in a room sarah hadn't noticed they had stopped in front of.
She hated that he did that! He just walked away while she still wanted to argue.
Trying the handle she found that the door was locked.
"Tell me what's going on, Jareth!" Sarah pounded on the door with her fist, "You can't just keep me here and not tell me anything! At least tell me who is trying to get to me!"
No answer.
"Fine!" she yelled at the closed door, "I'll just wait right here untill you're ready to talk." Sarah sat down with a huff, her shoulders against the door, "And if you leave using magic then I'll only yell louder the next time we talk!"
She knew it was a chidish threat and that there was no real reason for him to tell her anything if he didn't want to. She was, at the moment, safe, while his home and lands were under silent attack.
Sarah made herself comfy, expecting Jareth to make it into a contest of wills to see who would last longest. Well, she wasn't about to leave so she hoped he was prepared to stay the rest of the day and night locked inside that room.
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Jareth answered the flare that went up on the northern boarder and nearly screamed at what he found there.
More than a dozen ancient trees were dead and grey.
"It looks to be the work of Shadowyns, sir." one of the goblins said quietly.
"I know what the work of Sadowyns look like." he growled.
Things were just getting more complicated as the minutes passed.
"First Graua and now Shadowyns. Some one is out to get my attention, no doubt." Jareth looked around the area and saw nothing.
Not that he realy expected to see anything lingering that might lead him to where his new enemies had gone.
No, of course not. That would just be too easy. All they had wanted to do was show him just how close they could get.
"But what should we do?" that same goblin asked, flinching as he awaited Jareth's harsh words.
"Get everyone within the Labyrinths boundaries. The Shadowyns have taken magic from the very plantlife as a way to hopefully out power us. I won't have them feeding on my guards aswell." his words weren't harsh at all. In fact from Jareth it was almost a confession of worry for the goblin guards he had set up.
Jareth stood as the goblins around him scurried off to let everyone know that it was no longer safe to be outside the walls.
Thoughts of the darker creatures and darker fae floated through the Goblin king's head as he stood and stared off at the distant tree line that led to some of the more dangerous kingdoms in the underground.
Surely anyone would benefit from having the magic and power of the Labyrinth at their finger tips and many had tried through out the years to claim it as their own. The only problem now was to figure out who it was this time causing him so much grief.
Instead of magicking himself back inside the walls, Jareth chose to walk around the outside of the Labyrinth. Since before he could crawl he had known that this would one day be his. A kingdom full of goblin didn't sound like much but when the rest of the fae kingdoms circled around this one place it made those small creatures invaluable.
Goblins were rather tireless when it came to working and they had even been used centuries back to build some of the greater caverns in the mountains. While not the brightest candles in the bunch, goblins still understood how to do their jobs. If they were taught propperly there wasn't any reason why they couldn't mine for gold or diamonds.
Then there was also the power of the land itself. The Labyrinth hadn't been built for safety reasons or even out of a twisted sense of humor to watch others die within it. Instead the whole structure had risen out of the ground of it's accord. It didn't ask permission to come into being and once it was there it wasn't about to go away just because other kingdoms now feared it.
The Labyrinth and the land it was on, even the palace, were all just as much alive as Jareth himself.
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Sarah tried so hard to stay awake as night fell outside. Jareth hadn't come out yet and she wasn't about to leave without giving him a piece of her mind.
Yawning, Sarah pushed aside the rest of the meal that had appeared at her feet only a few minutes before.
She wasn't sure how it was done but the fact that her meal came to her when she wasn't in her room was a wonderfull thing. She's been afraid she'd be forced to get up when her stomack spoke up rather loudly and announced it was empty.
The soup and bread and jam had been so tasty that she barely took time to breathe as she ate. It'd been a long time since Sarah had ever gotten that hungry.
Leaning back against the door, Sarah let her eyes droop closed. There was no way she was getting up and leaving. Jareth wouldn't be rid of her so easily.
He was so annoying! He just ignored her when it suited him and answered only the questions he wanted to answer.
She was stuck staying in the same place as him, for crying outloud! Was it too much to ask that he explain things?!
But then again that was how he'd been back then too. Always shifting the puzzle pieces around to confuse you even more.
Sarah ignored the sound in the hall in front of her. The only thing she cared about was anything that went on inside the room she'd been guarding all afternoon.
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Jareth had panicked when he couldn't find Sarah in her rooms. Of all the times for her to missing, right after an open threat wasn't the best!
He stormed around the palace, looking in all the places he thought she would find interesting. When the library turned out to be empty he magicked himself back to the hall that would lead him into his rooms. From there he would be able to concentrate better on his crystals and hopefully find the damn girl within a few minutes.
If she had left the palace after all that he had said earlier there was no way he was going to run off to her rescue.
Not that she'd want him to recue her anyways. She seemed to always be on the verge of shouting whenever he was in the same room.
Not that he blamed her. She had a simillar effect on him.
Jareth had taken only one step towards his door when he froze.
There, leaning against the black wood door was Sarah. Her eyes were closed and her knees were pulled up to her chest.
His anger and panic vanished.
He was sure she had no idea but the safest place for her with Shadowyns so close by was right where she was.
The door was older than anyone could even remember and magicked each spring with better and stronger protection spells. While she was touching it's surface, hardly anything would be able to harm her.
Kings after Kings through the centuries had added their own specail touch of magic to keep their room guarded and safe from all threats. No magic could invade that room and once the door was closed only the King could open it.
The enitre room Jareth called his own was protected in a smilliar fashion.
Jareth's own crystals wouldn't have been able to see her. She was too close to that magicked door. He was just lucky he hadn't appeared inside of his rooms. He never would have found her then. Well, not untill she woke up and headed back to her own room.
"Wake up, you." he grabbed her wrist and gave her a small tug, "You should be in bed alseep. Not dozing against the King's door. It looks bad."
"I realy don't give a shit how it looks." Sarah yawned, "You're the one who ran away from me when we talking. I wasn't about to give up and go away."
It seemed over the years she hadn't realy changed at all. She was taller and looked older but that strong willed fire still burned inside her. In a way this was a reasuring thing for Goblin King.
"I see." Jareth took her elbow and steered her down the hall towards her own room, "And just what was it you wanted to say?" he was sure she was going to pull away from him but she instead let him lead her.
"Don't ignore me." she yawned again, "I'm in this as much as you are. If I ask a question it's not because I want to bother you but because I am truely curious."
Her eyes were barely open. Perhaps she forgotten that the days were longer in the Underground. Or perhaps she wasn't quite over the strain all those spells had put on her body.
"Very well. You win." Jareth watched as she smiled sleepily, "From now on I will try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities."
"That's all I need." Sarah nodded and when Jareth opened the door to her room she walked in slowly and curled up in bed fully dressed.
"I"ll see you in the morning." he said, closing the door.
She had surprised him. Half asleep she'd been easier to talk to as opposed to talking to her when she was fully awake. Maybe he would try speaking to her first thing in the morning. That way she would hear more of what he said rather than spending her time finding a reason to be mad at him.
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A/N: Hope you liked it. Please review.