Instead of taking himself directly to the High King, Jareth decided to stop in his chambers first to gather himself. It would be nothing short of suicidal to confront his explosive father with his mind so full of Sarah. He leaned his forehead against the intricately carved bedpost and took deep breaths until he could smell something other than her. With a snap of his fingers, he found the dwarf in some chamber of the castle and sent him back to the Labyrinth and Sarah. He chuckled when he imagined Sarah explaining to the dwarf what had just happened, and why. Oh, how he wished he could watch, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. Once Jareth felt completely in control of himself, he let his magic take him to the observation chamber.

The room set aside for the witnessing of Labyrinth trials was a dark, round room with no windows, decorated with plush red curtains that hid the cold stone walls of the castle. In the center was a large round table set low to the ground, sunken in the middle so that the observation crystal could be placed there. There were nine seats arranged around it, presumably for the Council, but Jareth didn't know of any time when the entire council was gathered for a run. Jareth arrived silently in the shadows behind the chairs, watching the scene in front of him. The crystal was a mass of white fog, the result of his gathering the Aermetus around him and Sarah. Nothing was visible but the fog and Jareth smirked at his own cleverness. They wouldn't have been able to see a thing, and while that was probably a good thing, it opened the doors for Tiernus to claim the worst. Currently, Jareth's father was raging at Maireen, Kennan standing resolutely behind him. Niamh was calmly sitting in one of the ornate chairs set around the table, watching the confrontation with a calculating eye. Maireen was growing angrier by the second, but she stood her ground as TIernus stormed over her.

"This run is a sham! That traitorous pig is no doubt flying her over the walls toward the castle as we speak!" Tiernus shouted.

"I have to disagree." Jareth's quietly amused voice sounded behind the king, and Tiernus whipped around to see Jareth stepping forward, his smiling face illuminated by the dull light of the crystal.

"Good, you're here. I can kill you myself," Tiernus growled, stalking toward his son.

Maireen quickly stepped between the two kings and said, "My king, there is no proof that Jareth aided the girl. Goblin King," she turned to Jareth, "explain why the crystal lost its vision."

Jareth waved his hand toward the crystal and everyone in the room turned to see the fog within dissipate, showing Hoggle and Sarah making their way along a Labyrinth wall. The pair looked around curiously at the thinning mist, but shrugged and continued along the wall. "The mist changes from time to time, becoming thick or thin as it pleases. It never lost vision, the Aermetus simply denied a clear picture. Something, I'm sorry to say, I didn't foresee."

"He's got an answer for everything, doesn't he?" Niamh said scathingly to TIernus. Jareth's stare moved to his mother, and only centuries of practice kept the shock off his face.

"Indeed, my love," Tiernus said, his hand landing on Niamh's shoulder and her slender one rose up to cover it.

Kennan cleared his throat. "We saw you arrive in the Labyrinth and talk to the girl and that other creature. How are we to know that you didn't aid her?"

"Exactly," Tiernus said. Maireen just raised her eyebrows at Jareth.

Jareth gave a bored sigh and gestured at the crystal again. "As you can see, the girl is still at the same point in the Labyrinth. I went to torment her, try to convince her to turn back, but she refused."

Niamh snorted. "Oh yes, it certainly looked as if you were tormenting her. All we saw was you touch her face and we could smell the lust from here."

Jareth studied his mother and tried to contain his anger. "If you had been watching from the beginning, you'd have known that the Aermetus was playing on her longing for me. I merely exploited it," he said through clenched teeth.

"Yes, but to what end?" she said, her fingers lacing with Tiernus's over her shoulder. Jareth glanced up to see a sadistic glint in his father's eye, along with pride for his wife. "That girl was a broken mess when you arrived, she hardly needed your hindrance. Now, look." She gestured to the crystal where Sarah and Hoggle had just exited the mist and were now in a maze of hedges. "She's determined and moving with fire."

Jareth opened his mouth to retort, but Tiernus cut him off. "Enough! The queen is right, you have an answer for everything, but what you don't have is proof. The terms of the council's decision specified that should the girl fail, she would be put to death after the abomination is born. You've tampered with her run and according to the old laws," he glared at Maireen, "that means she has failed."

Jareth stalked as close to Tiernus as Maireen would allow and growled, "You say I have no proof that I haven't interfered, but you have no proof that I have. You will not condemn this woman to death because of your own insane prejudice—"

"Such insolence!" Niamh shrieked. "Jareth, you threaten the very safety of this realm with your disloyalty."

Tiernus was taking even more strength from his wife's words and shouted, "That's right! If the Goblin King considers himself beyond the laws of this realm, he is nothing but a threat."

"Shall we discuss loyalty to the realm, mother?" Jareth growled at Niamh. Before he could continue, however, Maireen's calm voice cut through the din.

"That is enough! Let us not forget that we are here to witness a running of the Labyrinth, nothing more."

Tiernus rounded on her. "We've already established that this run is forfeit—"

"We've established nothing!" Jareth shouted, now pressing firmly against Maireen in an effort to get closer to his father. "You are blinded by your own hatred. I have broken no laws and you know it. You will do anything to ensure Sarah's death!"

Niamh stood to speak in her husband's ear, "Oh it's 'Sarah' now, is it? He loves that human more than our kingdoms!"

Her words seemed to enflame Tiernus's anger even more. Jareth was still staring at his mother, his mind furiously trying to understand her motivations, when Tiernus's anger ripped out of him in a furious growl. He slashed his hand through the air and both Jareth and Maireen were thrown off their feet and into the wall behind them. Even muffled by the curtains, Jareth heard Maireen's head smack against the stone. Kennan gave a wordless shout of shock, but made no move to stop his king.

"I've had enough!" Tiernus screamed. "I declare you both guilty of treason against the crown, and treason is punishable by death. Once I've dealt with you, not even your precious maze will be able to protect that filthy whore from me!" He thrust both his hands toward Jareth and Maireen and Jareth could see the murderous glint in his eye and knew that he meant to kill. From his place on the floor, Jareth held out a hand and summoned the most powerful defensive spell he could muster and as his father's magic pulsed against his, Jareth grabbed Maireen's cloak with his free hand and took them to the only place he knew they'd be safe for a time.

""""

Hoggle and Sarah had just emerged into the hedge maze when Hoggle finally got up the courage to ask about what had just happened. When he was first returned to Sarah's side in the Aermetus, Sarah looked flustered, but unharmed. Hoggle couldn't make sense of anything that was happening and, being distrustful by nature, he was only growing more and more nervous at his king's strange behavior. First, he Bogged Hoggle and the others, which wasn't all that surprising at the time. Then, Jareth cut Sarah off from everything Underground, even himself, and Hoggle heard rumors of women coming and going from his chambers almost nightly. Now, he's brought Sarah back to run the Labyrinth again. Only this time he's trying to protect her? Then why set the robot on them? He said he would have to pretend to hurt them… but he was doing one hell of a job, chasing them into the Aermetus. But then why did he release Hoggle and the others from the stench and the imprisonment? Foremost in Hoggle's thoughts was what Jareth wanted with Sarah. Hoggle's face contorted in concentration and finally, he put a shaking hand on Sarah's arm.

"Sarah, he didn't hurt ya, did he?" Hoggle asked, concerned.

To his confusion, a blush stained Sarah's normally pale cheeks. "No, Hoggle, he didn't hurt me," she said slowly.

"Well, what did he want? I don't understand what's goin' on."

Sarah took a deep breath and studied Hoggle's determined, but confused, face. She was just about to answer him when a muted thud to their left caught their attention. Sarah whipped around to see Jareth propped up against one of the hedges, the added weight of another person hanging on his shoulder making him sink back into the leaves. Jareth's white shirt was stained red from the blood flowing from the other person's head. As Jareth tried to shift the other person upright, Sarah saw that it was a woman, dressed in long red robes and barely conscious, the blood seeping through her brown hair.

While Sarah stood gawking, Jareth finally got the woman lowered to the ground. "Hello, Precious." Jareth shot her a wry look before he glanced back down at the woman.

Sarah finally recovered enough to walk up to him. "Jareth? What is this?" Hoggle moved forward, but stayed behind Sarah, his wary eyes on the injured fae.

"Sarah, things are very complicated." Jareth crouched down to place a hand to the woman's bleeding head. His hand glowed yellow for a moment and when he drew back, the bleeding had slowed dramatically and the woman was stirring more, her eyes opening to move from Jareth to Sarah.

"The Fae King's lost his mind," she hissed at Jareth.

"To be honest, my friend, I'm not sure he ever had it."

"Fae King?" Sarah's eyes narrowed. "You mean your father. What is going on?"

Before Jareth could speak up, Maireen interrupted. "Sarah Williams. My name is Maireen, it's a pleasure to meet you." She didn't look like she could stand yet, but Maireen bowed her head and Sarah nodded back, but she wouldn't be distracted.

"Jareth, you tell me what's happening now. Why are you here? Is something wrong?"

Maireen's eyes widened at the tone Sarah was taking with the Goblin King, but Jareth didn't look angry with her. In fact, he looked murderous, but not at Sarah. His black gaze was fixed on the castle in the distance. "I can't believe he would go that far," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. "And the queen… what is she doing?"

"Your mother has been hanging on the king since they arrived to witness the girl's run—"

"What?" Sarah interrupted, her voice sharp.

Jareth's eyes closed and Sarah heard his jaw snap shut. She put her back to Maireen and stood directly in front of Jareth. "'Witness the run'? What does that mean?"

Jareth's eyes opened and he raised a hand to Sarah's face. "Sarah…"

She slapped his hand away and his eyes went hard. "No, Jareth. What did she mean?"

Jareth let out a frustrated huff. "Only that each run of the Labyrinth has to be witnessed by someone other than the Goblin King. It's always been that way, to insure legitimacy."

With her back to Maireen, Sarah didn't see the wide-eyed look of surprise on the fae's face.

Sarah studied Jareth before saying slowly, "Was that how my last run was?"

"Of course," he said without hesitation. "There was simply no reason for you to know then. You told me you trusted me, Sarah. Have you so little faith in me as to believe I would betray that trust?"

Sarah stared hard at him for a few more moments, but finally sighed and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry," she said, meeting his eyes again with an apologetic look. "Old habits, you know."

He lifted one corner of his mouth in a smile and she tiredly smiled back at him. He leaned down to capture her lips in a heated kiss and Sarah's hands came up to encircle his neck. Hoggle felt his throat tighten and he turned away, unable to watch his Sarah kiss that monster. He should have known that's what Jareth wanted with her.

Maireen cleared her throat and, too soon for both their liking, Sarah pulled her lips away from Jareth's. "Your majesty, it would be prudent to keep moving."

Jareth glanced down at Maireen and said, "You're right. I know where we can go, but it's only a matter of time before he finds us. We need to discuss options."

Sarah put a hand on Jareth's cheek to get his attention. "What kind of trouble are you in?"

Jareth gave her a level stare and said, "The kind that means we're all in trouble." Jareth concentrated on the forest and when Sarah next blinked, she and the others were surrounded by trees.

Let me just take a second to send a huuuge thank you to everyone who is reading my story, and an even bigger one to those of you who review. Each one means a lot and helps me be a better writer and storyteller.

We're nearing the end of the story and I don't see there being more than five more chapters or so. And that's probably being generous, so if you haven't reviewed yet, you're missing your chance!