Jareth froze in his tracks on his way to the throne room, the whistle's screech blasting into his ears. The images flashed through his mind, the raging river from the northwestern forest, just barely in the water he could make out a struggling figure, fighting against the current for air with everything she had in her, and slowing more and more. He turned to the nearest goblin hissing at him and threw a blast of magic so powerful at him that it caused the goblin to disintegrate. He faced the ones around him, there wasn't time to be angry at them, time was running out and in a flash he disappeared from the hall.

Sarah's legs and arms were tired and heavy, she stopped struggling as the rapids became less and less opening into a large river instead. She felt another coming on and braced herself for the impact, it stung for a moment and she began kicking towards the surface again, giving whatever was left of herself for air.

She thrashed forward reaching for a rock of sorts to cling to; she missed and was almost instantly pulled away again. Before she hit the next rapid, someone's arm grabbed hers and pulled with incredible strength, she kicked forward and with another pull from the person's arm reached the bank. She lay on her side, gasping for breath while her legs still remained in the water.

The person's arms grasped around her and pulled her entirely out of the water and onto the cold dry shore. Land, cold dry, stable land. Her lungs ached from the ice water, and the stress of survival. She could no longer feel her hands, and she didn't dare try to move her legs. Her whole body felt like a lead weight, her mind weighing the most of all. She opened her eyes to see a very angry Goblin King staring down at her, she wasn't dead yet.

She shut her eyes quickly, hoping to erase the image, she didn't want Jareth mad at her, although she knew he was going to be regardless of when she got back. His hands were balled at his side, and she thought she could see him shaking. Speaking of shaking, Sarah had begun to tremble all over the realization of how wet and frozen she was.

The clothes were soaked all the way through, practically dripping with ice sickles. A Fire crackled behind her suddenly, Jareth must have used a spell amongst her teeth shattering. It was warm and inviting behind her, but she lacked the strength to move. A marathon runner finishing his greatest race around the world would have a better chance of getting to that fire, only a few feet away, than she would. Her heart pounding was the only sound echoing in her ears, followed by the ragged breathing she was left with still.

Jareth's arms came around her, taking her away from the water's edge and sat down with her next to the fire. Needles and pins stung her face and body as blood began to resume flowing. There was a rustle in the bushes across from them and Sarah turned to see Sky with his head hanging low, not even bothering to graze. There was a silence between them as bit by bit Sarah began to have a body temperature once again.

"S-s-s-ssay so-m-m-mthi-i-ing," she chattered out, trying to use her breath to warm her hands. The fire crackled and spat once. The King's arms wrapped more tightly around her.

"What were you thinking?" he hissed, trying to restrain as much of his anger as possible, "Going off with a horse by yourself, with hardly any life skills needed out here? You could have died! Or worse, you could have fun into something that DIDN'T want you dead. Do you understand me?" he spat angrily.

She cringed into him. She knew he was right, it was dangerous and reckless. She had been stupid to try and fight off a beast on her own, going into a part of the land she'd never seen before all alone.

The water had only been a mere accident, although it was doubtful that the angry king behind here would understand it the same way. But was it so wrong to want to try to prove to him that she could make it on her own? That she was strong on her own? She was sick of feeling like a burden to him, she hadn't done anything useful since she'd been back yet. It didn't matter now, this only proved more to the cause that she couldn't.

Her muscles were pricked by a thousand needles, blood hurt when it was being reheated to the correct temperature. Changing from a congealed state back into a liquid. Letting Jareth hear her in pain would only make matters worse, so she bit her lip in silence.

It was biting at him, these feelings of anger. They weren't truly fueled by anger towards her, in truth, he was really only emotionally disturbed because he was worried. He had been frightened out of his mind that he was going to lose her, something she was keen on making him feel of late. He sighed heavily and stood up, balancing Sarah carefully enough to mount Sky.

She felt tears well up in her eyes but bit them back, she was going to be stronger than this, she was going to prove to him that she could be, no matter what it would take. In a matter of seconds Jareth was holding on to her more securely as they took off faster than she had before. That only meant they'd be back at the castle within minutes, and he would still be fuming when he returned. She wrapped herself tighter to him as they flew, afraid of what his wrath meant for her. The entire flight remained silent.

Sarah had passed out from exhaustion just before they landed on the castle grounds. The lights were still on in certain rooms, each goblin knowing their Majesty wasn't going to be merciful in the slightest when he walked in. He walked slowly up path to the door, anger wasn't the word to define him now, it lacked too much of the feeling.

The goblins hurriedly opened the door for him and remained as silent as possible, Jareth walked by at such an even pace, one would think he was going to destroy ever person in the land in a blood bath within a single night. Servants lined the halls each with their head down in guilt. Each turn brought a fresh row that Jareth simply ignored and continued to his chamber.

It was something out of a story, everyone lined up like a processional to a funeral. Heads down, somber mood, and guilt radiating off all who were there, knowing they may have been able to prevent this awful ending. He stopped outside the door and turned to face the nearby goblins, his eyes glowing like the devil himself, merciless and spiteful. One could not describe the kind of terror that shook from his mouth as he yelled to them like he never had before.

"YOU ALL KNEW THIS TOO!"

And the door was shut and locked behind him.

Dangle hobbled slowly across the kitchen tile as she carried the leftover food over to the back door to toss to the beggars. It opened with a loud SCREEECH and she tossed the trash can out with a might thrust. It was hard to bear such guilt, she felt responsible more than anyone. For it was she who had told Sarah of the river, gave her sky, and sent her on her way. Doing all this while distracting the Goblin King so he wouldn't notice his beloved's disappearance.

She wiped her face with her already damp sleeve. What was she thinking, letting Miss Sarah go off on her own? It was partially her fault that she had ended up in such a terrible state. A loud crash distracted her for a moment as a servant had dropped a dish. It was the loudest sound in the castle in hours, since they had returned. Dangle wiped her face again, crying was something she'd never been permitted to do in her life and she wasn't going to start now. Poor Miss Sarah, things can really only get better, right?