Chapter 24

Jareth's P.O.V

Jareth sat in his throne and absent-mindedly listened to his chief of staff, Greta. Admittedly, she was one of his least annoying Goblins, following his orders without question or mishap and never bothering him without good reason.

Today, however, he was finding her tedious. He was exhausted from his long journey the previous day and had arrived late to find Fenrir waiting in his study.

He thought back over their late night conversation.

He had strode into his study to find Fenrir lurking in the shadows.

"You'd better have an excellent reason for being here Fenrir, I thought I told you to watch Sarah!" He said darkly, conjuring a Crystal and throwing into the fireplace where flames jumped to life.

Fenrir snarled and shuffled away from the warmth and light. Jareth smirked wickedly.

"The mortal sleeps, my King." Fenrir huffed.

"That does not mean she won't wake and sneak off somewhere, she's clever like that." Jareth remarked.

"I would know if she moved from her chambers." Fenrir growled, "Humans are never as quite as they think they."

Jareth sat down behind his desk and watched Fenrir closely.

"Do you have anything to report?"

"The girl spent the day in the Junkfields with the Goblins Sire."

"The Junkfields again?" Jareth muttered, tapping a gloved finger against his chin thoughtfully, "What's her interest in that place?"

"The interests of mortals mean so little to me." Fenrir gruffed

Jareth continued to look thoughtful.

"What does she do whilst she is there?" he asked.

The wolfish beast shrugged.

"She plays a game with those little Cretins."

Jareth raised an eyebrow.

"A game? What kind of game?"

"A hunting game," Fenrir snorted, "she tells them to find objects in the piles of rubbish."

Jareth frowned. "What a peculiar game," he mused, "What kind of things does she make them look for?"

"Toys, books...does it matter?" Fenrir snarled.

"With Sarah it just might. Her behaviour is odd enough to be suspicious, but then again it might be harmless."

"You think she's up to something?" Fenrir huffed.

"Sarah doesn't give up easily, I could force her to remain in the castle, but where's the fun in that? Besides she'd just redouble her efforts to escape me. No, much better to watch her and see what she's up to, that way when I foil her scheme it might make her see how fruitless her endeavours are."

"You wish for me to continue watching her?" Fenrir asked.

"Yes, see if you can find any pattern in the objects she has the Goblins look for. She's got to be searching for something."

Fenrir said nothing but growled quietly.

"Do you have a problem with that Fenrir?" Jareth asked darkly.

"No my King, but there was a problem today?"

"A problem?" Jareth queried.

"The mortal, she cut herself," Fenrir paused and swallowed noisily, "Her blood, it smelt so sweet, i could barley stop myself from attacking her! I don't know if I can control my hunger around her!"

Jareth was across the room in an instance, a gloved hand rapped tightly around Fenrir's throat.

"I don't have to tell you the consequences of you losing control around Sarah. Your Job is to watch her and keep her out of trouble. You harm one hair on her head and you will wish for death before I'm through with you! Is that clear?"

Fenrir nodded and Jareth released him and walked back to his desk.

"I'll place a spell on Sarah that will alert me if her life becomes endangered, that way i know for sure that she is safe."

"Thank you my King." Fenrir bowed low, looking both regal and ungainly at the same time.

"Get some sleep Fenrir, I'll check on Sarah and see that she won't be leaving her room till mourning."

With that he had vanished from his study and appeared in the shadows of Sarah's room. He stayed still for a moment, listening to her breathing, checking that she was indeed asleep. When he satisfied he stepped from the gloom into the moonlight that shone through the windows, and approached her bed.

She looked so peaceful , her dreams not troubled like they had been the night before.

A sleepy snort from the end of the bed had his head turning. There curled up on the end of the bed was a Goblin, Meep if he wasn't very much mistaken. H pursed his lips.

First Hogsbreath had been kissed by Sarah before he had and now another of his Goblins was sleeping in her bed.

Jareth gritted his teeth and moved towards the end of the bed. He paused as Sarah stirred, but relaxed when she did not wake. He looked back at the slumbering Goblin.

Sarah would not be pleased to wake and find him reprimanding Meep. She'd probably be annoyed that he was in her room so late at night, although it really didn't matter, in a few short weeks they'd be sharing a room anyway.

Still he thought it better she not wake. Producing a crystal he crushed it in his fist, and gentle blew the residue of glitter towards the sleeping girl. He smirked as she fell into a deeper sleep.

Turning his smirk turned to a scowl as he conjured and prodded the sleeping Goblin awake.

With a jump Meep scanned the room worriedly, his eyes grew wide with terror when he saw Jareth.

"King!" he squeaked in his high pitched voice.

Jareth winced, he was glad he'd chosen to enchanted Sarah to sleep the night through.

"Just what do you think you a doing in Sarah's bed?" he asked dryly.

Meep looked confused, his saucepan hat tilted at a odd angle.

"Meep is sleepin King." he said innocently.

"So I saw, but why in Sarah's bed and not your usual hovel?" Jareth asked.

"Lady saids Meep coulds."

Jareth rolled his eyes.

"Let me put this simply, so I can be sure of your comprehension. If I catch you or any other of my subjects sleeping on Sarah's bed again, you'll be spending the rest of your nights sleeping in the Bog of Eternal Stench! Is that clear?"

Meep nodded quickly.

Jareth pointed towards the door with his riding crop.

"Out!" He demanded, and the Goblin hastened to obey.

Jareth turned back to watch the sleeping girl. He reached out to tuck a lose strand of hair away from her face and then tenderly stroked her cheek. He smiled as she pressed her cheek into his hand.

"If only you were as amiable with me as you are with my subjects." he pulled his hand away, instantly missing the warmth of her skin. "Not to worry Sarah my dear, that will change soon enough."

He reached out his hand to her again, but this time it hovered above her chest. Jareth closed his eyes and began muttering under his breath. A soft light emanated from his palm and illuminated Sarah briefly before fading. Slowly he lowered his arm.

"That should keep you safe my love." He whispered, bending down and kissing her softly on lips.

He backed away from the bed, his eyes never leaving Sarah. My Sarah he thought possessively.

"Majesty?"

Jareth snapped back to the present as Greta tugged on his boot.

"What is it now?" he asked realising he hadn't heard a word she'd been saying.

"It's Lady Sarah, Majesty." Greta said urgently.

Jareth rolled his eyes and leaned back in his throne, why was he not surprised.

"What's she up to now?" he asked.

"Shes gones downs to them Junkfields agains thats whats." Greta huffed.

So she'd gone there again had she? Their had to be something drawing her there, and he highly doubted it was playing with Goblins.

"I see," Jareth said nonchalantly, "and your telling me this because?"

"Lady shoulds nots play in Junkfields, tis not fits for queens to dos!"

"And what do you expect me to do about?"

"Stop Lady, thems Goblins nothin but troubles." Greta stated angrily.

Jareth shrugged.

"I don't feel inclined to stop her, after all she isn't Queen yet, besides it's good for her to know the land and the Subjects she will shortly be ruling."

Greta raised her short arms in dispare.

"Buts shes only going to Junkfields and talkin ta Goblins. And neither of thems is suitable for a Lady to associate withs! She should go ta Mystic grove or the forgotten grottos, thems much nicer places."

"She has plenty of time to visit those places, besides i'm interested in finding out whats got her so interested in the Junkfields."

Greta harrumphed and folded her arms.

"I don'ts like its."

"You don't have to like it, but I can assure you that once I find out what she's up to she won't be visiting the Junkfields again."

"Ups tos? What could Lady possibles be ups tos in Junkfields?" Greta muttered as she stormed out.

"That's exactly what I intend to find out." Jareth murmured.

- X -

Sarah's P.O.V

Sarah surveyed the scene before her proudly. She had managed to marshal the Goblins into a semblance of order, well as much order as you get with creatures who seldom stay still longer than three seconds and rarely do as there told.

Lots more Goblins had joined them now, she had placed them all in groups in the hopes that with more Goblins searching they'd eventually find the Peach.

Barnaby had became her sort of assistant, making sure none of the Goblins cheated or stole from other groups.

She looked over their latest finds but wasn't surprised when she saw none had found the Peach.

She sighed heavily and rattled off a new list of objects to find and watched dejectedly as they scampered off.

"Lady!Lady!"

Sarah turned to see Meep struggling over a broken chair, his small leg stuck in an old rust spring from the cushion. She rushed over to help him.

"There you are! I was wondering where you've been." She said quickly untangling him from the spring.

"Meep was hiding ins the throne room Lady!"

Sarah frowned.

"Why where you hiding there?"

"Listening to King, likes Lady asked!" Meep whispered importantly.

Sarah lowered her voice.

"Did you find anything out?"

Meep shook his head.

"Buts Greta was there. Greta wants King ta stop Lady from coming here."

"No! If he stops me coming here I'll never find that Peach!" Sarah cried.

"King no stop Lady." Meep said.

"He won't?" Sarah asked surprised.

"King say he want to find out what ya up ta first." Meep explained.

"That's even worse! He mustn't find out what I'm looking for!"

"Lady need to throw King off scent!"

"How do I do that?" she asked.

Meep thought for a long moment.

"Lady stop going ta Junkfields!" he declared.

"That won't work, how else am I going to to find the Peach if I'm not here?"

"Meep look instead!"

"You can't spy on Jareth and look for the Peach Meep, it's impossible."

"Meep look for Peach, Lady distract King."

"And how exactly do I distract the King?"

Meep shrugged.

"It be easy Lady, King like you, King like you a lot."

Sarah thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"I'll do my best."

Meep grinned and then froze, his began twitching madly.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked anxiously.

"King!" Meep squealed, diving into the closest pile of toys.

"King what? What's he doing Meep?"

"He's standing right behind you." An amused voice said.