It had been raining for hours when Sarah finally stumbled back into the clearing of the encampment.

She had run deep into the forest, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the monstrous Goblin Queen. She hadn't stuck to the path in her haste and she had become completely lost. The trees in this part of the forest grew much closer together and blocked out almost all of the daylight, giving the forest an eerie and oppressive feeling, as if it were closing in all around her. And it was starting to get darker. She thought it was too early for the sun to be setting, but then again Sarah couldn't seem to work out how the time was moving.

Something cold hit her forehead softly. She reached up and felt moisture there. It was followed by another, then another.

It was starting to rain.

Sarah had always loved storms. The sheer drama of the rolling thunder and the bright lightning had always appealed to her. She liked to curl up at the window watching the lightning strike the ground, while counting until the thunder rumbled to see how far away the storm was. Sarah doubted that trick would work here, where time and distance all depended on the Goblin King's whim. It had been taught to her by her mother when Sarah was very young, one night when she had been woken by the loud noise and gone creeping into her parents room. Her father had been away on business that night and her mother had let her crawl into bed beside her and watch the storm until she had fallen asleep.

Sarah missed her mother terribly. She had been twelve years old when her parents had finally given up and gotten a divorce. Sarah had been devastated, she hadn't understood why her parents had split up, and she still didn't.

"It's just that your mother and I have fallen out of love" her father had tried to explain to her. But this made no sense to a twelve year old child. How could you fall out of love? Wasn't love supposed to be forever?

Until her father had remarried Sarah had always supposed that he and her mother would get back together; this was just a temporary situation. They had fallen out of love; they could just as easily fall back in love.

The day her father married Karen all of her hopes were shattered. It had been a lovely day, and Sarah had been, at Karen's request, maid of honour. She had been allowed to pick her own dress and she had chosen white as her mother had always said that she looked beautiful in white.

The day her father married Karen Sarah realised that things were permanent, there would be no reconciliation. She felt as if she was losing her mother all over again.

The storm was getting worse. Sarah sighed; at least the storm-clouds explained why it was so dark. She really did not want to get stuck in the woods overnight, she'd heard stories of people who had wandered into the woods after the sun had set, never to be heard from again. Though I may not have any choice, she thought to herself grimly. She decided that the only possible logical thing to do was to retrace her steps and hopefully find her way back to the meadow, then eventually back to the encampment.

She shivered slightly and started to walk faster to keep herself warm, she was starting to really feel the rain now. After what felt like about two hours, though in reality she couldn't tell how fast the time was moving she arrived back at the encampment. Time had a nasty habit of slipping away from Sarah and there had been more than one occasion that she had accidentally returned to the encampment after the ladders had been raised for the night, and she hadn't been allowed to go to bed, she'd had to spend the night on the lower levels with the people who were patrolling. Beth, on each occasion, had been predictably furious. And on the last instance she had threatened, quite convincingly that if Sarah could not learn to keep track of the time on her own then she was "bloody well not going out on her own until she managed to learn."

Sarah had no doubt that Beth would keep her word as soon as she had done lecturing Sarah about her irresponsibleness, and Sarah felt slightly apprehensive about returning, she knew she would be in trouble. However when she reached the encampment she wasn't the only one still on the forest floor. Half the encampment was down there, many of them holding torches, looking at the surroundings nervously, and searching the immediate forest.

Sarah was puzzled. It was an unwritten rule that they didn't hold search parties at night. If you got lost in the dark it was you were on your own. This decision had been made even before Beth and David's time, that to risk many lives to save one was fruitless.

Sarah had a bad feeling, deep in the pit of her stomach.

The Goblin King had been walking in the labyrinth for hours.

He was lost in thought. It was a pastime he often indulged in since they had been trapped in this hell-hole so long ago. After all what did he have more of than time? Like most of the times that he walked alone his thoughts were bent on the past, eons ago, before the written word. Normally his mind wandered towards his son, but today his thoughts were fixed firmly on his wife. In her youth her beauty could not be surpassed and like him she hadn't aged a day.

He'd always sworn that he would never take a wife. That he would wander the earth alone, for all eternity, and he had for centuries. And then he had met her. One day, long before man had even discovered the virtue of fire, before they even knew he existed he had met her, and of that meeting nothing is remembered, save by Jareth and Morgana. The moment his eyes rested on her he wanted her. To possess her, body and soul. So he had taken her, only to find that she now possessed him in return.

He had found his mate.

She rivalled him in every aspect, her beauty, her strength, her malice and cruelty. She matched him in every way possible.

And they had bourn a son. Whose hair was as dark as his parents were fair. He had surpassed them both, become greater than them combined and to see him cut down had been a devastating blow. They had ruled the world with him. Yet upon his death his mother had given up, she had been defeated. She had become a shell of what she had once been. The passing centuries had served to restore some of her lost cheer, but she still missed him terribly. And he too still felt the pain of their loss.

He wasn't really that surprised to see her sitting on his throne when he returned to the castle, which was practically deserted, the goblins off building his wife a new garden that afternoon. His wife had always taken liberties and she had never really viewed him as having any authority over her.

"Did you enjoy your walk my love?"

Her question made him glance up, watch her stand as she walked over to him slowly, he answered her question formally, more formally than he had spoken to her in years, while he slowly moved his lips down her neck and across her shoulder.

"Yes, thank you madam I did."

As he glanced at her face, all delicious wickedness, the sides of his mouth upturned into an evil grin, and he slowly ran his fingers up and down her waist, while with his other hand using two fingers under her chin her raised her mouth so that it met hers in a lingering kiss.

When they finally broke away two pairs of mis-matched eyes met and the Jareth chuckled throatily. His wife had obviously been up to something.

"So what manner of mischief have you been up to today?"

As she told him he began to laugh heartily.

When Beth approached her, Sarah for one moment thought that the older girl was going to slap her and she was very surprised when she was pulled into a tight embrace.

"Oh thank God you're safe Sarah! I thought that…" she trailed off as she let Sarah go.

Sarah looked at her properly, Beth looked exhausted. The rain had plastered her curly hair to her face and it hung limply, dripping down her back, though she seemed not to have noticed. But it was the look in her eyes that scared Sarah. She looked so tired inside and her eyes were red from recent crying. And Sarah suddenly realised what was going on.

Something terrible had happened.

"Beth, what's going on?" she was almost scared to ask. "What's the matter? Why is everybody down here in the dark?"

"Sarah" Beth said, then paused, gearing herself up to talk "there's been an attack. On the boarders of the encampment. It was the beast."

"Oh my God" she replied, as the implications of what Beth had said sank in. The beast didn't just attack people it killed them, and it didn't just kill people, it ripped them to shreds. For pleasure.

And now it knew where they lived.

"Sarah it was Mary" Beth told her bluntly, there was no other way to break the news.

She spared Sarah the details, how they had found her in a glade that had been stained red with her blood. How Alice, who had discovered the remains of her best friend couldn't even talk because she was so shaken up. How they had only been able to identify the body due to a bracelet that she always wore.

Beth's voice was shaky "We thought… we thought he'd got you too! Oh, Sarah when you didn't come home I was so scared. And all I could keep thinking was that I should have taken better care of you."

"Beth it's not your job to take care of me."

"Yes it is!" the other girl cut her off "because if I don't then nobody else is going to." Sarah was looking pale, having to take everything in. "Sarah go take five minutes, stay close, there's some things I need to go sort out."

"What are you going to do?" asked Sarah warily.

There was a dark look in Beth's eye when she answered "I'm going to summon the Goblin King."

When Sarah finally joined the others Beth was using a stick to draw a circle in the dirt on the forest floor. David was standing near her and they were exchanging serious words. It had the smell of an old argument.

"Beth don't do this! Can't you see that this is a really bad idea?"

"What choice do we have David? There's no way we can protect ourselves from the beast and we can't simply wait for it to pick us off one by one. So we have to call on King Jareth."

"But you'll know what he'll want in payment."

"And that's a price I'm willing to pay."

"But I'm not! I've stood aside too many times Beth and I'm tired of it! If you go to him I swear it's over between us." He spat on the floor angrily before stalking off up a ladder as Beth turned back to the circle and began to chant.

"Goblin King

Goblin King

Wherever he may be

He who stole a child from me.

Be he far or be he near

I call upon the Goblin King

Right now

Right Here."

Sarah had the common sense to realise that the Goblin King would appear in the circle. However she was expecting some sort of visible magic, a blinding flash of light, or a puss of smoke perhaps. She wasn't expecting that one moment he would be there stepping out the circle nonchalantly while thunder rolled overhead. He was dressed, appropriately, whether he knew it or not, entirely in black, which matched the look in his eyes, which was directed entirely at Beth.

"You called?" his voice was light, but still reminded Sarah of a cobra, dangerous and ready to strike.

"I wished to ask a favour Your Majesty."

"Using my given title Beth? You must be in dire straits. What is it I wonder that has the entire place so worked up? I thought you were all scared of the dark."

"The beast" Beth's voice was incredibly calm, unnaturally so "He attacked one of our own."

"And what precisely do you expect me to do? I could not bring them back even if I cared to."

"I know, but we can't risk it happening again, and he knows where we are."

"I'm still unclear as to where I come into all this" he seemed vaguely amused now, like he was dragging out the conversation for his own entertainment.

"You must have some control over him" Beth said passionately, her voice ringing across the clearing "surely you can prevent him from coming back?"

"Ahh. It's slightly more complicated than that, as you well know my dear." He paused, his eyebrows raised questioningly at Beth. When she didn't answer he finally continued "As you know the beast is my wife's and as such my power over him is" another delicate pause "limited." He seemed to think for a moment "I could restrict his movements during the daytime."

"That would be enough" they would simply have to be more careful at night.

"There will of course be a price."

"Of course" Beth's answer sounded rehearsed, as of this part of the conversation had occurred many times. Her voice was soft, yet firm and the only emotion in it was a hint of resignation.

"Then you will come to me?"

"When?"

"Tomorrow night" it wasn't a request. It was a command. Whatever the Goblin King's price was he would receive it tomorrow.

Beth looked up into the trees and met David's eyes as she spoke "I am ever his highnesses loyal servant to command."

The Goblin King followed her line of sight and when he saw David he smirked like a cat that had just got the cream "Lover's quarrel?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with" Beth snapped back.

"Oh I do wonder what the cause could be."

Beth didn't bother to reply. Instead she started to bark orders for the people who were supposed to be on patrol that night then started herding everybody up to bed. This seemed to give the group a burst of action and they scurried off into the trees, anxious to be away from the cold gaze of the Goblin King who was standing to one side watching them with a bored expression on his face.

As the others dissipated for some reason that she would never understand Sarah hung back, drawn to the Goblin King.

"You shouldn't stay out here alone little girl" he mocked, then his voice grew more serious "there are monsters in the dark." But none as dangerous as the King of the Goblins a voice added in the back of her head. She shook the fear from her mind as she stood before him.

"Turn him back. Please. He's done nothing to you" she sounded much more desperate than she had intended to "please, I'll give you anything you want."

He mercifully interrupted her begging, it was grating on his nerves. "I couldn't turn him back, even if I were vaguely inclined to. And what makes you think you have anything I want?"

She didn't answer. His face turned into a cold smirk, Beth hadn't risen to his bait, and robbed him of his chance for sport, but he could still have fun with this one.

"How is your brother anyway?" he asked casually.

Sarah paled but screwed up her courage. "There's no need to rub salt on the wound Jareth" she addressed him haughtily, omitting his title, a blatant defiance that only made him smirk more.

"Now Sarah" he placated, never losing his grin "you know, rubbing salt on a wound often helps it heal. Stings a bit though" he added thoughtfully. "You feel anger towards me; it replaces all that nasty guilt."

He walked closer to her now and she turned away, unable to meet his eyes any longer as he continued. "Those niggling feelings of doubt." He was right behind her now and she could feel his breath on her skin. "Could I have found a quicker route? Did I waste too much time? Could I have run that little bit faster? Or perhaps…" an idea had suddenly struck him ""Perhaps I never should have wished him away in the first place. Or that I should never have given up and taken the crystal."

"Stop it!" Sarah screamed, reeling on him and shoving him away from her as hard as she could.

He threw back his head and laughed.

"You're so cruel" she whispered, half to herself, this only caused him to laugh harder as he vanished into thin air.

He was still laughing when he reappeared in the castle. When he returned the queen was waiting for him in the throne room, which was now full of goblins, who were sitting around playing cards, drinking ale and generally making a nuisance of themselves. The royal couple simply ignored them. The queen was sitting on his throne again, the beast at her feet and she stroked his fur absentmindedly.

"Enjoy your little jaunt?" she wanted to know what they wanted. She didn't trust them.

"It was pleasant enough."

"What did they want?" apart from for her occasional amusement she tended to avoid all contact with the dirty little humans and she didn't understand why her husband didn't do the same. Their kind had already done them enough damage to last a lifetime.

"He" Jareth said as he nudged the beast with his foot, which earned him a vicious growl, which the queen made up for with a soft pat to his head "is to stay away from the encampment during daylight hours."

"Why?" the Queen's voice was hard, she liked to indulge her pet.

"I've made an agreement."

"With her." It was more of a statement than a question and she didn't need to wait for a reply "I've never understood what you see in those girls."

"They're so brief. Their lives, they only last a moment. One moment they're here, the next they're dead and forgotten." He paused for a minute thoughtfully "It amuses me. The way they are so fragile, you don't even need to try to destroy them."

The Queen laughed. Her husband had had mistresses before and he would have them again. This Beth overestimated her importance. He would tire of her soon.

"Well I suppose darling" she said after a time "you must have some form of hobby."