"I think you've done far enough," she heard Jareth say to Hoggle. "Now scurry along and go ask the goblins to make some lunch for her."
She heard the door close behind him and knew she was alone again with Jareth, but she could not find the energy to care or get up.
"Sarah, he meant it in the best way possible." Jareth's voice was calm and even. "We've been watching you fade away for years, and I believe he is right – it was a matter of weeks before you would have been lost. You would have died."
"You knew?" she whispered. "But you sounded so surprised, when I told you back Above?"
"I happen to be an excellent actor when necessary, my dear. I have known since the very first month. The dwarf tried to keep you alive on his own, but when I noticed his frequent visits and the goblins complained of missing food, I had a little… friendly chat with him that made me aware of the situation. It is only because of your situation that he was allowed to visit Above so often."
"So you came up with a plan to trick me…"
"He was desperate and pleaded with me – and you know me, Sarah." He gave a strained little laugh. "Always happy to play the villain."
"I still can't believe he would really do that and force me Underground. Force me to call you!"
"Am I really a fate worse than death?" Jareth's voice was hard.
"Depends on what you plan to do with me," Sarah countered tiredly and raised her head to look at him. He was leaning against the throne, whip in hand and his strange eyes met hers with an intensity that made her flush. "I'm here now, Jareth, and all yours. And you have had plenty of time to consider. So what will it be? Do you need another goblin to wait on you? Or a female slave to warm your bed?"
His eyes narrowed, but he didn't break eye contact. Jareth was silent for a long time, before he spoke, and now his voice was more serious than she had ever heard it before. "Let me start by telling you about the Underground, so you'll be able to make sense of it all."
He looked away and started pacing the floor. "I have lived here for centuries alone in this Castle. The Labyrinth itself – no one knows how old it is or how and why it was made – it just is. It size is immense – I can fly for a full day and night day across it and still not get to the farthest end, and only the magical portals and doorways inside it allows the creatures living in it to travel between the Castle, the City and their homes."
"I've heard from Hoggle about the creatures," Sarah offered, "that you, besides the goblins, have all kind of creatures here, some less nice than others…"
"Yes, there are some that constantly have to be reminded of their place," he said with a frown. "Lately one in particular, but that's another story. Some have their own villages in the outskirts of the Labyrinth. Others have emigrated from the Wilderness beyond, a great forest that stretches all the way to the Sea in order to find a more secure life here in the Goblin City. Your big furry friend is one of those, while the dwarf and the little knight are true creatures of the Labyrinth. True creatures mean that they have been created by the Labyrinth and lives to serve it, either as guardians or by maintaining it."
"And then there's me in the centre, the Goblin King, the keeper of all this. Bound by ancient vows to serve them all and serve the human world by taking away their unwanted. I cannot leave the boundaries of the Labyrinth, except to go Aboveground – for me, the borders are impenetrable."
He paused for a moment and met her eyes again. "When I'm called to take a child and it stays with me, the Labyrinth's powers kick in after exactly 13 hours, 13 minutes and 13 seconds. After 13 hours, the child is called to the Fragment Room by the Labyrinth. You know it, Sarah; it was the place where we saw each other for the last time three years ago. Then, after 13 minutes the last piece of floor falls away and if the child hasn't jumped off before, it now falls down gently, floating towards the Labyrinth. Finally after 13 seconds, the child lands safely in the Labyrinth. On the way down the child loses all memories of its former life and is transformed – it is longer a child, but a goblin. Well, most of the time, anyway. The Labyrinth makes it its own, giving it the shape and size that the Labyrinth needs at that moment. Small children are usually turned into goblins. But the Labyrinth also takes older children… and adult humans who have been desperate enough to bargain with me and offer themselves instead of the child… those become Guardians."
Sarah was stunned. "Are you saying that Hoggle have once been human? And Sir Didymus? And all the goblins?"
He nodded. "Very good, Sarah, that's exactly what I'm saying. Except for your friend, the yeti, every single one of the creatures and persons you have met in the Labyrinth has once been human." He stared at her meaningfully, and then suddenly Sarah made the connection.
"YOU were human once…" she whispered, and the Goblin King smiled bitterly and nodded, before resuming his pacing.
"The dwarf and the knight know they have been human once, but do not remember their human lives at all. The dwarf was once a young man who was too scared to return home without his brother. He wished to remain instead, and I granted him that wish. The knight was a valiant young squire, who had wished his master's son away, and when he lost, he chose to remain with the child rather than face the dishonour of abandoning it."
"And you… but you remember?" Sarah was interested in her friends, but much more in the Goblin King and his revelation.
"Yes," he replied. "I do. I was born England in the year 1610. My father was a parson, a man of the Church, and took it very personally that man had been asked by God to populate the Earth. I was the oldest son and by the time I was 21, my mother died in childbirth with her thirteenth child, worn out by my father's constant attention. The child, a frail little girl, lived, and enraged by the news, I invoked the cruellest curse I could think of: "I wish the Goblins would come and take the worthless child away!" I had loved my mother with all my heart and was blinded by grief. The curse was one I had picked up in one of the large tomes of witchcraft that my father had confiscated as evidence from the witch hunts. Unfortunately, just as I spoke the words, the door opened, and my father's colleague – a dedicated witch hunter – entered and heard it. And moments later, the midwife screamed from the bedroom that the child was gone without a trace. My fate was sealed."
Sarah had read about the witch hunts, both in Europe and America, but found it almost unbelievable that she was right now talking to someone who had actually experienced it. She had never before considered the option that Jareth was or had been human. A fairy or elf or Fay, perhaps – many names had been used for the same concept, but those were born magical in every legend she had ever read.
Jareth turned to face her and leaned against the wall, his face drawn as if he didn't want to remember. "I was thrown in jail, scheduled for interrogation and torture the very next day, but I almost felt I deserved it, having invoked such heathen and forbidden magic. When left alone, I was surprised by an ugly middle-aged man in blue robes, who materialised before me and presented himself as Cederick, the Goblin King. He looked annoyed and said he had taken the child as requested, but that my little sister was too weak to live and had died only minutes after. He returned the child to my arms and started to fade away, but I was desperate – well knowing the fate that awaited me, so I begged him to take me away with him, wishing myself to be taken by the Goblin King. And he took me, leaving the child behind to get a Christian burial."
"So… there was another Goblin King?" Sarah found herself spellbound by his low hypnotic voice and unexpected tale. This was definitely not the way she had envisioned this conversation to go.
Jareth nodded and lifted a hand to stroke the half-moon shaped pendant around his neck, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I came here, and it looked more or less like now, except more old, worn-out and dirty. I was alone for a number of hours, just being fed by the goblins and walking around, trying to figure out the castle and its maze-like structure, but after half a day – the 13 hours - the Goblin King showed up and we were suddenly in the Fragment room. He said he had decided to abdicate, that he had been king for more than 200 years and couldn't take it anymore. But the Labyrinth needed a king, so my arrival had been perfect timing. I had no choice and no time to think about it – he forced me to wear a spelled necklace to ensure that when I fell, I did not become a Guardian, but the magical being I am today. And then we went through a second ritual to give me the power over the Labyrinth. After a few days of training, he was suddenly gone, and I was left alone to rule. That was 357 years ago."
Sarah was speechless – this was beyond anything she has imagined. But ending his tale, Jareth set in motion again and walked towards her with gleaming eyes and determined steps, and she got up, backing away from him in fear. He hardly noticed, but kept advancing on her until she felt the wall against her back and he was merely a hands breath away, leaning close to her.
"Are you afraid of me, Sarah?" he whispered with a smirk, and she couldn't deny it, nodding slightly. He leaned even closer, and she could smell spices and feel the unnatural heat radiating from his body, before he suddenly drew back and laughed.
"Do you know what I will do with you, Sarah?" he proclaimed, the serious attitude gone. He looked every inch the Goblin King she remembered, tall, proud and arrogant, and his eyes locked hers in a piercing glace. "I am going to give you the choice that I never had…"