16

They all stared at the dandy pirate king, all wondering why on earth he was in the room. Jareth moved first, as he was most accustomed to the vampire's presence.

"Leont," he said formally, "We did not expect you here. Is there a purpose to your appearance?"

"There is," Leont said, not formal at all. "But speaking of appearances, yours is lacking. Oh! You must be jealous of the clothing I gave to your darling women friends! Not to worry, I will have the lad sent up here with fresh clothing for you and – what is it, Vorian? – as soon as I can."

"No, really –" Vorian started to say, but then was cut off by Leont's raising of a hand and glaring at him.

"My dear sir," the pirate king said, "Your wardrobe is about as distasteful and in worse shape that those," he motioned to the pile of nightgowns and bathrobes that Evelyn and Trinity had formed, "And I will not have it."

Vorian glanced nervously at Jareth, who shrugged.

Trinity was staring at the pirate king with wonder. How on earth had this sort of man become a king of pirates? And how could he be a vampire as well. She'd studied vampires, and read the infamous Dracula, but had never heard of anything quiet like this dandy pirate king.

Leont noticed her staring and raised a polite eyebrow.

She blushed and looked away, moving to stand behind Jareth. How powerful those violet eyes were!

"My dear Trinity," the vampire said, "If you have any questions of me you are quite free to ask them."

Now everyone turned to look at her, including the Fae she was trying to hide behind. Trinity turned an even deeper shade of red before answering nervously.

"Well," she said, moving closer to her fiancé, "I was just wondering…how did you get to be king of the pirates?"

"Ah, that is an excellent question, my dear," Leont said, smiling warmly, "And you are not the first to ask it. It just so happens that I was walking along one day, minding my own business, when I came upon this man who had a most delightful smell to him. I had not eaten in a few days, so really it was not my fault that he came to a rather – bad – end. The next thing I know, there are all sorts of pirate scoundrels surrounding me – quite rudely interrupting my meal, of course – and telling me that since I defeated their king in battle that I was now the new king of the pirates.

"I do admit, the power to order men around to do as I wish is an asset at times, but really this job is quite tiresome. You see, when you are king of the pirates, no one really listens to what you say unless they know they get some sort of hefty benefit from it. It quite costly to run a horde of vagabonds. But I am a vampire, and one of the strongest beings in this world, and there simply has not come about a being strong enough to defeat me in battle to become the new king. So I am quite stuck here, as you see."

Everyone stared at Leont. He smiled at everyone, closing his eyes. "Ah yes, there are several things I am that I do not want to be. And there are several people who wish that right along with me."

"Like who?" Trinity whispered without thinking. She had a talent for picking up emotions, and there was something else she was sensing under the pirate king's ridiculous behavior.

Leont opened his eyes, but didn't chide her for speaking to him out of turn. Jareth was nervous, knowing that Trinity had broken a code of etiquette among royals. He didn't know if it applied to pirates or not, but he slowly shifted into a more defensive posture in front of his beloved.

However, the vampire only smiled. "Do not fear, Jareth, I will not chide her. She has as much of a right to know as anybody, I dare say. Well, then, Miss Trinity, to answer your question. There is a Fae maid that once loved me, and I loved her in return. She was a great deal like you, now that I think on it. Always sensitive and kind, but sharp as a dagger blade. However, when I became – what I am now, I guess you could say we drifted apart. Or you could say that I left for her safety. I had no wish for her to become what I was; had no wish to harm the woman I loved. It was the right thing."

Trinity saw the pain in the smiling purple eyes, and was sorry she'd said anything. She had a strong urge to wrap her arms around Jareth and hold him close, grateful that he didn't have to leave her.

"At any rate," Leont said finally, "I wished to apologize for Tesla's behavior towards you. I do try to keep him out of my personal affairs, but I'm afraid he is such a strong asset and ally to me that sometimes he feels he can take advantage of that position. It really is awful of him, but what can you expect among pirates, even the moderately decent ones?"

Evelyn resisted the urge to snort. Tesla was moderately decent? What a load.

"I am afraid I have to leave you now," the pirate king said at length, "Because of some pressing matters. However, I will have clothing sent up for you shortly by that charming lad Wilburus. I say, Miss Trinity that really is a charming song you taught him. I will teach it to my crew one of these days and we'll sing it all the time." He bowed out the door and was gone, locking it behind him.

Trinity groaned. "Great," she said, "That's all we need. Pirates who like to sing."

"At least they don't dance," Evelyn said, grinning, "And wear tight, shiny pants."

The smaller woman narrowed her eyes. "Do not even start with that song."

"Well, even if they do start singing 'Pirate's Life For Me' all the time, who's fault is it?"

"Mine. I'm going to shoot myself in the head."

Jareth listened to the exchange with interest. "You taught the boy that song he so ceremoniously awakened us with this morning?" he asked, amused.

"Ugh. Don't remind me."

Evelyn laughed, just as there was another knock at the door. "That's your songbird, now, Trinity."

"You know what –?" the nineteen-year-old threatened.

However, Trinity never had the chance to explain just "what" because the door opened and Wilburus stepped in, carrying a large mound of fabric in his arms.

"Clothes for you, sirs," he said politely. "And another change for the ladies."

"Thank you, Wilburus," Evelyn said cheerfully, "You can just put those on the bed, and we'll sort through them ourselves."

Under Jareth's hard glare, the boy rushed to dump his load on the bed, and gave Trinity one last smile before dashing back out the door, again locking it behind him. There was one outfit for each man, and another dress for each woman. The dresses were similar to the ones they already had on, only different colors. The one Trinity picked out was black and red, and Evelyn's was blue and brown. Then, Trinity found something at the bottom of the pile that made her let out a whoop.

"Yes!" she cried, "He sent me breeches!"

Indeed, the pirate king had sent up two sets of nondescript breeches for the women to wear under their dresses. They would come down to each woman's knee.

Now came the awkward task of four people, two of each gender, changing in the same room. Trinity had no problems so long as she kept her back turned to the men and they kept theirs turned, but Evelyn felt herself turning a fiery red.

"I know you had to do this all the time in theatre," Evelyn said when her friend rolled her eyes, "But it's just…weird."

"You're not even changing clothes all the way!" Trinity said, snorting, "You are only putting practically shorts on under your dress. Imagine what the men feel like right now." Her voice was low, so the said men wouldn't hear.

Evelyn groaned, and just turned a beet red as she pulled the breeches on under her skirt.

"Alright, we're decent," Trinity called when the girls were done. Both of them were looking at the wall, Trinity with hands on hips. "Let us know when you guys are."

Finally, the men told their women they could turn around. Trinity was the bold one and turned around first. She gaped at the appearance before her.

Jareth and Vorian were dressed similarly in long dress coats with lacy cuffs. Vorian's was blue and Jareth's was burgundy. Both of them had white, lacy button-up shirts on underneath waistcoats of slightly darker shades than their outer coats. They had black breeches, and the pirate king had provided them each with a pair of black boots. The whole look was topped off with both men's hair (Jareth's hair, layered to his shoulders, was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and Vorian's, cropped shorter, hung loose and almost into his eyes).

In Trinity's opinion, the goblin king had never looked better.

Evelyn, when she got the courage to turn around, thought the same of Vorian.

But of course neither woman would say what they thought, so the two Fae men looked at each other uncomfortably as the human women stared.

Finally, Trinity was the bold one and walked right up to Jareth, coming quite close to his face. "Wow, goblin king," she said, "The pirate look suits you. You should dress like that more often."

Jareth grinned, and surprised her with a kiss on the nose. "I don't know if the people could handle it."

"They can deal."

Vorian knew he shouldn't feel so nervous and anxious for Evelyn's reaction, but that didn't make much of a difference. He shifted himself into the "at ease" position to keep himself from squirming under the woman's gaze. He was still waiting for her reaction when she finally blushed and looked away.

"You look great, too, Vorian," Trinity said from behind him. She gave Evelyn a raised-eyebrow "look" that Vorian didn't see.

"Yeah," the older woman said finally, "You do." She smiled nervously.

Vorian half-grinned back. "You flatter me," he said quietly.

Evelyn ducked her head, but was saved from speaking by Trinity.

"Okay you guys, did anyone else notice there was something funky going on with Tesla's hand when he was in here, or am I just crazy? Like, it looked like it had –"

"Scales," Vorian finished.

Jareth noticed. "I saw that too," he said, "Why was he favoring it? Do you think the scales hurt?"

"No," Evelyn said, shaking her head. "Wilburus shot him with a flintlock, and saved Vorian's life. That's why he favored it. But it looked like it was doing much better, not like the wound was inflicted yesterday."

"Which it was," Trinity put in.

"How strange," Jareth mused, furrowing his eyebrows. "And his argument with Leont outside…"

"Was even weirder," Evelyn said. "Something about blood and tears to get the kingdom…no crying, Trinity."

Trinity rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I heard. Seems our dandy pirate king is after another kingdom. Did you know this, Jareth?"

"Yes, he mentioned it," the goblin king said bitterly. "Though I don't know how. He knows of the curse that makes the Underground destroy itself of the rightful heir is not on the throne…he must have found some way to undo it, or at least to make himself the rightful heir. It involves my blood, and the tears of the woman I love…" he trailed off, looking at Trinity.

"That's why they wanted me here," she said quietly, her face going a shade paler. Then she shook herself, and drew herself up to her full five-foot-two height. "Alright then. No crying. Got it."

"Right, at least until we can find a way out of here," Vorian said. "But what about those scales? I've never seen anything like that before."

Jareth chewed on his lower lip thoughtfully. He'd seen something like those scales before, he knew it. But he couldn't place it. That irritated him. He knew that it would come to him, sometime late at night. But it would probably not be for a long while. While he didn't know what it was, he didn't mention that he'd seen the scales before. Instead, he looked up into Trinity's eyes. He saw her determination there, and her steadfastness. He wondered what she'd say if she knew the offer Leont had made him.

XxXxX

They spent the night (or they assumed it was night. It was really hard to tell when they were in a cavern and had no access to sunlight) in much the same position as they had the night before. One man slept on each side of the bed on the floor, and the women slept in the actual bed.

They were rather rudely awakened in the morning by Tesla storming into the room, shouting at the top of his lungs at Leont, who was trailing behind.

"I will not stay here any longer!" the captain shouted, causing the four prisoners to jump awake. "I have to get a move on or my crew will mutiny! Do this ceremony, and do it now!"

Leont didn't shout, but his voice was still dangerous as he replied. "They are my prisoners, and I will decide when I wish the ceremony to commence. You will remember your place."

And the pirate king looked truly dangerous. His violet eyes flashed with fury, and the prisoners could see his muscles standing out against his nightclothes. When he spoke, they could see his pointed fangs glinting with their venom coating.

The magical light had returned to the room, lighting it cheerfully. Tesla rounded on the pirate king, as if he was going to attack him. Leont stood a full eight inches above him, though, and he backed down reluctantly.

"The ceremony was to commence today," the pirate king said, in that same low and dangerous voice that radiated pent-up fury, "Just allow our guests to dress themselves, and we will begin, if you are so impatient."

Tesla clenched his fists, and stalked out of the room.

Leont relaxed only minimally, but attempted to smile cheerfully at the four people in the room besides him. "Very well, then," he said quietly, "If you four will get dressed, we'll begin shortly. Just push the door open when you are ready." And he swept out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him, but leaving it unlocked.

"Now's our chance," Trinity said, sitting up straight, "Can we get away –?" She stopped speaking when she saw Jareth shaking his head.

"Impossible," he said, "Leont is among the most powerful beings in this world. I would not attempt an escape with him so close by if I had ten men to hold him off for me."

The black-haired woman gulped, and shivered in her nightgown. Jareth found the black-and-red dress Wilburus had delivered yesterday, and handed it to her.

"Here," he said, "We need to dress ourselves. Vorian, come."

None of them had any room left for awkwardness as they dressed, not facing each other. All of them were utterly terrified. Evelyn put on the blue-and-brown dress she hadn't worn yesterday, and the men dressed in their pirate finery. Trinity pulled her black hair into a braid down her back, tying it with a strip of fabric from the ruined nightgown she had jumped of Tesla's ship with. Evelyn pulled her brown hair into a ponytail.

The women had not been provided with footwear, so they walked barefoot to the door. Trinity clung tightly to Jareth's hand, and he interlaced her fingers with his own. Evelyn even took Vorian's hand when he offered it, and clung to it for dear life. When they reached the door, they found Leont standing outside it waiting on them, along with a few guards. Wordlessly, the pirate king led them through several corridors, until they reached Point de Rouck's central cavern.

Torches as well as magic lighted this cave. In the center of it stood a great platform, made of stone and engraved with pictures of great sea battles and sea monsters. Several dozen passages led out of it, but the room was still circular. On one side, the harbor the Morning Star had berthed in was visible through a large opening in the stone walls. Leont led them towards the platform in the center of the room, finally making them stop about five feet away from it.

"Alright, let's begin," he said cheerfully. "Jareth already knows the essentials, but I want to explain what will be happening here. Simply put, I would like most dearly to take Jareth's power off of his hands, and make myself king of the Underground. But there is a catch. Only the true heir to the throne can rule, or the country destroys itself, am I right? So I had to come up with a way to make myself the true heir to the throne. I found this –" he pulled a small vial, in the shape of Jareth's crescent medallion, out of a fold in his dress coat "– and found that if I mixed your blood, Jareth, and your tears, Trinity, for you are the one he loves, in the vial and wear it around my neck, the Underground will acknowledge me as king."

Jareth and Trinity looked at each other. He saw the boldness and determination in her eyes, and smiled. But would she still have that determination if Leont made her the same offer he had made Jareth?

"So really, it is quite simple, really," the pirate king said, walking over to the prisoners. "I just need, you, Jareth to give me a few drops of your blood. Trinity, my dear, I really do not want to make a woman cry. Is there any way you could possibly…?"

"No," Trinity said in a low voice. "I will not."

Leont was taken aback. "But my dear! Did Jareth not tell you of what I could do for you two if you obliged? Why, Jareth could come back to your world and be human with you! You would be with your family, and your friends, and not have to worry about ruling an entire country! My dear, you have a free spirit! Surely you do not want such responsibilities at your age!"

Trinity looked at Jareth, who looked at the floor and nodded. "He told me that. I wanted to leave the decision to you."

The small woman was torn. Why couldn't he make the decision for her? Sure she wanted to stay with her family! She didn't want to watch them die around her as she lived through millennia. Of course, she didn't have to go back to the human world once she was Fae…but not having to rule a multitude of people, not having royal responsibilities, not being held accountable for everything that went wrong in a country…

Trinity shook her head, and drew herself up to her full height. In that moment, Jareth saw the true queen inside of her, and his heart reached out towards her.

"No," Trinity said, projecting her voice as if she were on stage, "I will stay and rule at Jareth's side as queen of the Underground. You will have no tears from me."

Leont was silent. "Very well, my dear," he said softly. Then he handed the crescent-shaped vial to Tesla.

The captain flew into action. In a split second, he barreled into the goblin king, knocking him aside. But before Jareth hit the ground, Tesla brought him up, holding the goblin king's arms behind his back with one arm, and holding a knife to his neck in the other.

"No!" Trinity cried, her voice cracking. Despairing, she felt her eyes sting with betraying tears, and she desperately tried to blink them back. She tried to run to Jareth, but Leont caught her swiftly around the waist, and held her fast.

"Tesla…" Leont said warningly, but Tesla wasn't paying attention.

Instead, the pirate captain flicked the hand that held his knife against Jareth's neck, and a line of scarlet appeared. Gleefully, Tesla held the vial up to the cut to catch a few drops of the blood. When he had what he wanted, he withdrew and handed the vial to Leont, who still held Trinity. Jareth fell back against the stone platform, stunned. The small woman looked for her friends, but huge pirate guards held them fast. She made herself as small as possible, trying to slip out of Leont's arms. She squeezed her eyes shut, but felt hot tears leak out of her eyes and onto her cheeks. When she felt the vial being held to her face, she really sobbed.

"I truly am sorry," Leont apologized, holding the now-full vial of liquid in one hand and handing a lace handkerchief to Trinity with the other. "I do so hate to see a woman cry. And Tesla, you most certainly did not need to be so violent. That was a very poor display of hospitality."

Leont turned, to try and comfort Trinity, thus, he never saw the scowl on his captain's face, never saw the man clench his fists.

"Oh there, there," Leont shushed Trinity. "Jareth is quite alright. He's not bleeding profusely. Indeed, he's not even bleeding enough to stain his shirt."

"Enough!" Tesla hissed, taking a long bold stride towards Leont. "Give me the vial, Leont. You've been my pawn long enough! Hand it over and I may just spare your rose-colored pathetic life."

Leont's face darkened and he moved away from Trinity, giving Jareth a chance to pull her into his arms and hold her tightly.

"This is why you have been so deplorably cruel to our guests. I have no desire to kill you, therefore I give you leave to depart and never come back," Leont frowned.

"You ignorant fool!" Tesla snarled, stalking towards Leont. "I have no reason to fear you. You are powerless against me."

Jareth pulled Trinity farther away from Leont as the pirate king's purple eyes flashed.

"Evelyn," Vorian whispered, taking the woman's arm. "We need to get out of here."

Leont stepped close enough for his face to be a few mere inches away from Tesla's.

"You will leave," the vampire spoke, his pointed teeth glistening with venom as he spoke. "And you will leave now."

Tesla matched the vampire's glare for several seconds and then threw his head back and laughed.

"Is that a threat? The pompous, pampered, spoiled pirate king actually speaks a threat?"

Tesla laughed again and then stepped back.

"I accept your challenge," he hissed, his eyes glowing completely red.

Smoke suddenly billowed up around Tesla's body, like a furnace. The smoke was black and violent, consuming Tesla entirely in a matter of seconds.

"This isn't good," Trinity trembled in Jareth's arms. "Jareth…"

Vorian gazed into the smoke, shivers crawling up his spine. Being a prince of the water, he had a natural disliking for smoke and fire. There was a scene playing in his mind, a picture of Tesla's hand when the man had attempted to harm Evelyn. There had been scales, glittering red scales, like some type of fish, or maybe…

Every muscle in Vorian's body tensed, and he abruptly grabbed Evelyn and pulled her against him.

"Vorian!" she exclaimed, startled.

He put a finger to her lips and then turned to face Jareth, giving Evelyn no indication that he was going to let go. His eyes met Jareth's, and he was just about to speak when Trinity grabbed the goblin king's collar and said hoarsely, "Jareth. There are eyes in the smoke. Look."

Everyone looked at the smoke and momentarily stared in shock.

There was a pair of enormous, luminous red eyes glaring at them through the smoke.

"Merciful heavens! He's a dragon!" Leont exclaimed. "Flee, everyone! To the ships! Quickly!"

He had no need to give the order. Pirates rushed in panicked frenzy to their ships, completely forgetting about their crewmates. It was every man for himself.

Trinity was terrorized as she and Jareth began to run towards the docks. Tesla was a dragon…no doubt the one that had captured Jareth. The young woman held to Jareth's hand with a death grip, afraid to lose him again, perhaps forever this time. If Tesla caught them, he'd kill them all without a second thought. Except, perhaps, for Evelyn.

Trinity looked back, her long hair slapping across her face, to see Evelyn running steadily behind her, her hand clasped tightly in Vorian's.

Evelyn was looking back, all the while hyperventilating, watching as the smoke subsided. The woman could hardly breathe as she recalled Tesla's threats to her and his attempts to harm her. Now, he was a dragon. He always had been.

"What a nightmare! How awful!" How could I have been so blind?" Evelyn cried, stumbling slightly as she reached the wooden docks. "I'm so…so ignorant! It was there in front of my face the entire time!"

"Evelyn!" Vorian said loudly, turning violently and catching her when she slammed into him. "Look at me!"

Evelyn looked up, and Vorian was terrified by the fear in her eyes.

"You'll be all right. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise," Vorian whispered, cradling her face in his hands.

"We're all going to die!" Evelyn sobbed, tears flowing onto his fingers.

"No," Vorian smiled gently. "Jareth and I won't let that happen. Come. We're almost to the ships. Don't look back," he warned, catching her chin as she turned her face. "Don't look back, beloved."

An enormous dragon stepped out of the smoke as the rest of the cavern's inhabitants focused only on escaping. The beast was immense and magnificent, towering above several of the ships.

Tesla, for indeed it was he, ignored all the panic surrounding him and focused his attention on his prey.

Ah, there they were. It seemed the vampire, the goblin king and his comrades were escaping to the ships.

The dragon roared, its high-pitched voice shaking the spacious cavern, and then shot straight up into the air, wings sweeping powerfully at his sides. He sucked in a deep breath and then released it. Fire spiraled from his mouth, moving like a warped tornado towards the ships.

Like a windswept, parched prairie, the fire engulfed each ship, turning the majestic vessels into floating ashes in only a matter of seconds.

Trinity screamed as Jareth grabbed her and pulled her to the ground, barely saving her from a falling mast and sails, ablaze with flames.

"He destroyed all the ships," Leont coughed, coming to Jareth's side and helping Trinity to her feet. "If we're not out in a matter of minutes, we'll all be reduced to cinder."

"How will killing all of us accomplish anything? You have the vial," Jareth snarled, helping Trinity up the rest of the way and running with her alongside Leont.

"He won't kill us," Vorian shouted from behind, looking up to find that Tesla was nowhere to be seen. "He's surrounding us with flames!"

"Vorian! We need your power! Get the water to help us!" Trinity cried, jumping aside as a burning barrel fell near her.

Part of the flaming piece of wood caught hold of Trinity's skirt, and with a gasp, she grabbed hold of the material and ripped it, casting the flaming fabric away as she did so.

"I haven't the strength," Vorian said sadly. "Watch out!"

A whole ship suddenly rolled onto its side, blocking the escapees from the open ocean.

"Now what?" Evelyn shouted over the flames.

"Jareth?" Vorian asked, letting go of Evelyn and turning to his friend.

"Do yourselves a favor," a sharp voice spoke from a fallen ship. "And surrender."

Everyone turned about, trying to find from whence the voice had come. Another ember fell from a sinking ship, and Evelyn jumped back, her body collapsing against another form. She screamed as a copper-colored glove came across her mouth and a voice whispered, soft and alluring, into her ear.

"A word with you, Miss Evelyn?"

"Evelyn!" Trinity cried out, seeing her friend trapped in Tesla's embrace.

"No," Jareth said, stopping his love from running forward. "He'll kill her, Trinity."

"We have to do something!" Vorian exclaimed, voice quivering with concern. "Tesla, unhand her!"

"What do you want with that young woman?" Leont asked, purple eyes glistening with anger.

"A word. That is all," Tesla smirked, wrapping his arms tightly around Evelyn. "A word may just spare your precious lives."

"You know about pirates, Evelyn!" Trinity called boldly. "He's just trying to trick you!"

"You may speak your words here, Tesla," Leont said coldly.

Tesla half smiled and then spun Evelyn around to face him. She collapsed against him and then struggled to pull her hands away from his. She gave up and looked into his eyes, immediately terrorized by what she saw there. Behind his blood red orbs was a look of complete evil, of whole, unadulterated malice and longing.

"What do you want?" Evelyn gasped as he kept her body tightly against his and lowered his mouth to her ear.

"You have studied and researched pirates. I have a wager to make with you."

"I don't gamble! Especially not with lives!" Evelyn hissed.

"Get me the vial," Tesla smiled smugly against her cheek. "And I shall spare your friends and make you queen of the pirates."

"I refuse. I'm not greedy like you," Evelyn whispered. "I'd rather die than satisfy your wants."

"Think carefully," Tesla lowered his voice, preying on the emotions he had seen in her and moving his mouth to her neck.

Evelyn cried out when his mouth touched her, and she pushed away from him, eyes wide with horror.

"No!" she screamed, tears pouring from her eyes. "I will not!"

She felt dirty, and she shook her head violently as she backed up towards Vorian. Her hand, trembling frightfully, rested on her neck, as though covering a grotesque mark. She didn't feel Vorian's arms come around her, but she flinched and tried to pull away when she felt his breath on her neck as he tried to soothe her.

Tesla turned back into his dragon form, and Jareth, Vorian and the women began running again, Leont staying with them.

"If we can make it out of the cavern, I can hold him back for a bit," Leont shouted, grabbing Trinity's free hand and pulling her along with Jareth. "Just make it out of the cave!"

They all heard a rush of air from above them, and Jareth glanced up to see the dragon hovering above them, taking in another deep breath.

"Into the water!" Vorian shouted, and then jumped off the edge of the dock, pulling Evelyn along with him. Leont, Jareth and Trinity did the same, and within seconds, all five beings were underneath the unstable substance. There was a film of fire above them, but Leont gestured towards a large opening before them, and they all began to swim towards it as quickly as they could.

Leont could hold his breath for quite awhile, and he arrived at the exit of the cave and waited until everyone was past him before he followed them out.

A great grinding noise could suddenly be heard from beneath the water, and Trinity turned back to see a great gate crashing down into the water, blocking the entire mouth of the cavern. She didn't see a small dinghy above them, having escaped out of the cave. Had she seen the passengers on the boat, she would have been amused to find that the pirates-who-don't-do-anything, Wilburus, Sanji, and Pintel had all escaped.

Leont signaled for everyone to submerge, and everyone immediately did so. Once their heads were above the water, the two Fae, vampire, and two women turned to see the entire cave entrance covered by an immense iron gate, which was locked securely into place.

"I knew that would eventually come to good use," Leont said breathlessly. "Look. There appears to be a ship there."

"He's a dragon. Can't he just burn right through that gate?" Vorian asked, catching sight of the dragon behind the gate, flapping its wings and roaring angrily.

"No. It takes a lot of manpower to get that open," Leont smiled. "To the ship, my friends."

"So now, suddenly, we're his friends," Trinity grumbled, swimming alongside Jareth to the ship.

"That is better than the alternative," Jareth said gently.