10. The Army of Darkness
No one in Goblin City had a clue of danger that approached slowly, but surely - they were occupied with witnessing some other battle in Jareth's castle, quieter and so far without casualties, but nonetheless very evident one.
The battle of wills between Jareth and Sarah was increasing. His majesty tried to get her show some respect, at least in front of goblins, but the more he tried to bend her to his will, the more she resisted. Goblins had quickly learned to avoid the rooms where these two crossed paths, because then such verbal exchange issued, no one wished to get into crossfire and get some of that upon their heads in ricochet.
In entire castle, only few beings found these quarrels amusing - fireys (who didn't take anything seriously anyway), and Agnes who delivered all these news to her master with glee. Hoggle and Sir Didymus - quite the opposite - were rather concerned about their arguing. Sarah's anger was no joking matter, they knew that much already, and despite what she had told the dwarf, it looked like she was indecisive if she wanted to throw herself into Jareth's arms or throw him out the window.
In meantime, Lucan listened the regular news about the tense situation within the Goblin king's castle.
"It seems that all I have to do is sit and wait until these two finish each other off." He laughed. "But I've waited long enough. You may return to...wherever you're doing there."
The junklady, cackling herself, vanished from the mirror just when Salmon hurried in the throne room to deliver his master what he had asked for. "Your majesty," he bowed low, scrambling up the first couple of steps to give Lucan the casket and the figurine which he grabbed out of earmin's paws with dark, greedy gleam in his eyes. "I brought what you..."
"At last!" Lucan breathed, eyeing the casket from all sides, not even paying attention to Salmon. "My army has been locked away in slumber for too long. Now they shall be in my command again! You," he finally barked at earmin, kicking him off the throne steps, "get out of here and make sure none of your peers so much as come near this room! Now, leave me alone! Move! And shut the door!"
Rubbing his aching ribs, Salmon did not even bothered to verbally acknowledge the king's order, instead leaving the room and pushed the heavy door close, panting and groaning in effort it took to even move them. As he turned to leave the hallway, Nathan appeared out of nowhere, blocking his path.
"What's this?" The goblin rested hands on his hips, glaring at Salmon. "Why ya shut the door?"
The question was well-based. Lucan never let the door to be closed, always requiring for them to be wide open to see whoever was coming before they would reach the throne hall. If he wanted them to be shut, it meant he was up to something that was not meant for anyone's eyes.
"The king wants to be alone." Salmon shrugged. "He said something about his army being in his command again."
"Wha... bloody hell... that can't be!" Nathan murmured, then rushed at the door and pressed ear against it to hear what's going on inside. Salmon hesitated, but then followed goblin's example, for once not even being reprimanded by him.
Lucan gazed down at the small casket Salmon had brought him, trailing fingertip over the lid almost lovingly, but his lips curved in dark, menacing smile. It's been so long since he had unleashed his creations, and now it was time to bring them back again. Let the Goblin kingdom refresh their memory of old days.
He conjured and tossed on ground two crystals one after another. The orbs rolled across the floor, crossing each other's path, a black flame burst out in their crosspoint, following the crystal track, spreading further, forming a blazing insignia of Yorg king - an eye, three spirals stretching from it, forming the upturned triangle. Lucan took the figurine and held it on palm, whispering few words in ancient Fae language. The figurine began to float in the air, over the fiery symbol, until landed in the center of the eye.
The whispering voices echoed from the walls as the flames changed color to bloody red, filling the room with eerie dread, but Lucan relished the sound, closing eyes and for a while just stood there, listening as if in trance. After a few moments, he did snapped out of it, and opened the casket, filled with dark, glowing powder. He raised the casket to his lips and gently blew at it, the powder swirling in the air and sprinkling over the flames.
The fire shot upwards, starting to twist and bend, gaining vague shapes. Lucan extended his free arm toward the flames and began to chant in the same ancient language. The whispers grew louder, the fiery shapes twitched more vigorously, turning into more solid form, and slowly one by one the yorgs stood before their master.
These were creatures that would make even sworn atheists to cross themselves. In height towering over Lucan, their red, sinister eyes glowed like raging fire. Their armor was made of bones, both human and goblin, but it was just for the appearance, their skin was too thick to be penetrated by any regular weapons. Black fur covered their faces, the yellow fangs hung over their lips. Each of them wore the king's insignia on their helmets and swords, each sharp enough to slice any living creature on half with an ease of knife cutting the butter.
Despite surpassing Lucan in size, yorgs fell on one knee before their master all as one.
"My king," one of them spoke in low voice that sounded almost like a growl. "Our lives belong to you. Give your command, and it shall be done."
"Raise!" Lucan vaguely nodded, and yorgs obeyed instantly. "Heed my order - go to the Goblin city and destroy everyone who shall stand in your way! Find the mortal girl who resides in the castle. Find her and bring her to me! Alive! Not a hair shall fall from her head!"
"Yes, master!" Yorgs bowed, and one by one vanished from the throne room, until Lucan was the only one standing. The flames slowly died out, and the silence fell once again.
Lucan broke into mad laughter. He should've done this long ago. There was not a single goblin who could resist this army, and even Jareth's powers were limited against them. And once he would lose the girl, his chances to keep his throne will reduce to nothing, if yorgs won't finish him before that. Oh, perhaps he should have went along with his army just to see it with his own eyes... but it would not set well with the High King, and Lucan wanted to use the plausible deniability. He could always play innocent and claim that he had nothing to do with his army invading the Goblin kingdom.
Lucan did not even suspected that someone had eavesdropped it all.
Nathan and Salmon, for once on same page about something, slowly retreated from the door, both too shocked to utter a word in fear that the king might hear even their breathing, and with anxious glances over shoulder, both scurried away to the lower floor where they could speak in normal voices.
"This is the end!" The earmin squeaked. "We're as good as done."
"Not we, ye fool," Nathan hissed, "but goblins are done. And if these gets inside Jareth's castle, count the Goblin King out too."
"I wish to not speak ill about the king, but he... he's mad! Completely lost his mind!"
"Will ye shut up?" Nathan hissed again. "If ye cherish yer life, just shut up!"
"What do you know about yorgs?" Salmon whined. "Don't you understand this is our doom? They're gonna destroy everyone. Everyone, but the king! And what for? Because of some girl?"
"I know somethin' about that girly." Nathan grumbled. "Ye were not around when that old hag, Agnes, spoke to the king? She's one of Runners. Five years ago she summoned Goblin king, wished her brother away. Jareth gave her thirteen hours to run through Labyrinth and get to the castle. And she did! She beat the Goblin king, gots her brother back, and became the Champion of the Labyrinth! She ain't no ordinary girl."
Earmin listened, his mouth gaping, and stared at the goblin as if seeing him for the very first time. A few moments later, he blinked.
"But... our king never could beat the Goblin king in the Trial." He murmured, puzzled. "Didn't Jareth tried to enchant her? That girl?"
"'Course he did, and he did good." The goblin replied. "But she overcame every enchantment, dealt with every trap. The king might not feel happy to have her here. I risk to say she might remain loyal to the Goblin king, despite their former adversary. After all, she's in Jareth's castle, not here, and that counts for something."
"Yes... if only she was on our side." Salmon sighed. "But now we got yorgs marching around."
Nathan did not answered to that. What was there to say, after all? Seeing that the conversation has run dry, Salmon shuffled away, sneaking his tiny chamber and buried himself in the furthest corner to think. He was overwhelmed by very contradictory feelings.
Was it worth to risk, desert the servitude and seek shelter in Goblin kingdom? Earmins were nothing in this castle, only slaves. Servants to be ordered around and punished as the king pleased. And what would happen to the mortal girl, if yorgs would bring her here? Would she become a slave too as himself? How long would her will hold out before Lucan breaks her? He knew very well the king's reputation and how he had treated mortals in the past - Lucan had bragged about it many times.
But Salmon felt neither brave nor strong enough to face the yorgs, or - even worse - Lucan himself. It would be madness to even try... was it even possible to tell how this all would end?
With each passing day, Jareth grew more sullen - by Sarah's words, like sour milk. And it had a good reason. Since no one spend much time outside the castle, and for sure did not wandered into the Labyrinth, Jareth kept observing the outer walls in the crystal, noticing that grawes still were lurking around, with each day only growing in numbers.
That was not good. They obviously kept an eye on Labyrinth gates to make sure no one slipped past them. Such activity was unnerving, and Jareth's instincts warned him that Lucan planned something nasty - as if there could be other way - and they had to be ready to see some activities from his side.
Finally, Jareth summoned Sir Didymus who rushed into the throne room two minutes after the summoning had been passed on, ready for all kind of battle activity.
"Sir Didymus, you are valiant and loyal warrior," Jareth began in sweetly innocent tone. "I have a feeling that you harbor a hidden desire to match your strength with someone in battle, don't you?"
"Your majesty, I'm ready to serve thee!" The knight straightened up from tips of ears to the longest fur strand on his tail.
"I have one very important task just for you." Jareth kept on riling up Sir Didymus who already was near bursting in energy. "It is essential for security of the entire kingdom." He paused, eyeing the knight, who almost stood on his toes. "You'll go to the entrance of Labyrinth and guard the gates - with fireys. The area is swarming with grawes, and I need you to clear their rows out a bit."
"With... with fireys?" The knight's hopes to prove his heroism popped like soap bubble. "They're no noble warriors, just a bunch of ruddy..."
"They have no match in battle against grawes!" Jareth gathered last crumbs of patience to not yell, not having any desire to listen his orders being questioned and doubted.
Sir Didymus apparently did noticed the clouds of dread slowly gathering above his head, and he did not argued any longer, but as he turned to leave, Jareth clearly heard the mumbling about fireys being complete idiots, useless bunch of clowns and so on. But before he could open mouth to yell at departing knight, Sir Didymus swiftly spun around and stepped back toward the king.
"What else is not clear?" He grunted through clenched teeth, ready to pluck this warrior down to last patch of fur before the knight would utter a word.
"Your majesty, what about the fog? It can't harm fireys, obviously, but what about me?"
The question was reasonable, and a bit calmer, Jareth conjured the crystal and tossed it at the knight. Sir Didymus barely had time to blink as the orb in flight transformed into small pendant, hung in leather cord, falling into his paw.
"Put this on, and the fog shall not harm you." Jareth said. "Anything else?"
"No, Your majesty! My deepest thanks to yous." Sir Didymus bowed and left the throne room, shouting for Ambrosius to follow.
Jareth suspected that the knight would go straight to his friends and complain, so he decided to entertain himself for a bit. One little motion of hand, little spark of magic, and he became invisible to walk wherever he pleased without noticed. He followed Sir Didymus all the way to the kitchen, but what he saw there, stopped the king on his tracks with deep frown on his face. Well, well, looks like some lady here got thick skin to ignore my orders, he thought.
About Sir Didymus, he hadn't been mistaken.
Hoggle could not stop laughing, learning just what mission Sir Didymus received from the king. Even Sarah sourly smiled, imagining how the knight will command this gang which main trait of character and favorite activity was jerky tear-off and tossing of their own extremities. Only Ludo showed little emotions, as usual. The friends sat and watched how Sir Didymus paced around back and forth, sulky as never before.
"Me got no words!" Hoggle shook in laughter. "Almighty warrior, the bravest of brave Sir Didymus, and his heroically twitching headless army!" The dwarf actually fell off the chair, roaring in laughter.
"Sir Didymus, you should be very careful." Sarah joked. "I wouldn't want you to come back like headless horseman, holding your own head under arm!"
"This. Is. NOT. Funny!" The knight hollered.
Poor Sir Didymus took this mission as heavy personal insult. No longer able to bear his friends' amusement, he jumped on Ambrosius back and rode out of kitchen, followed by Sarah's worried look.
"You don't think he took offense, do you?" She asked Hoggle, the concern evident on her voice - which irked Jareth who stood just a few feet away. So she's worried about Sir Didymus' feelings, but about mine she doesn't lose a wink of sleep?
"Who, Sir Didymus? Nah, he won't." Hoggle had finally got his breath back and got up from the floor, dusting his pants. "He might be sulky for a while, big deal. He doesn't stay mad for long."
"I hope so." Sarah said, picking the apple from fruit plate and examined it carefully before took a bite.
"Why ye look at that apple like that?" Hoggle frowned, not missing a thing.
"How I'm s'pos'ed to 'now wha' inside?" The girl answered with her mouth full, then swallowed the bite. "Need to be careful with Underground fruits, and it's your words, not mine. Or should I remind you the last time? And you can find some...interesting things in this castle's kitchen."
Saying that, she gave a pointed look at Hoggle, who, much to Jareth's surprise, for some reason looked down, and he could no longer resist the desire to become visible again, if only to poke Sarah. Even though he tried to avoid her, in such accidental meeting occasions he could not keep his mouth in check.
"Speaking of kitchen," Jareth spoke, in a blink of an eye seemingly materializing out of nowhere, ignoring the sudden gasp from Hoggle who fell from the chair for the second time, "didn't I warned you to lock you in dungeons if you'll dare to poke your nose here one more time?" By saying that, he gracefully sat in nearby chair that cracked a little under his weight.
Sarah took another bite and did not even bothered to stand up. The only thing that did indicated she heard him was a slight turn of her head to look at the voice owner, and smile played on her lips, seeing his supposedly threatening pose, arms crossed on chest, stormy gaze and as usually, disobedient tousled hair.
"S'ry y'ur m'jesty," Sarah once again tried to speak while her mouth was occupied with apple. "B't 'm not in'ere'ted in y'ur pfohifitions."
Jareth frowned even more, tilted head and put hand at his ear. "Pardon, I did not catch that?"
"Sorry again, I said I'm not interested in your prohibitions." Sarah swallowed the bite and repeated. "That's for one thing. Second, I was hungry. Or perhaps you'd be willing to deliver the food to my room personally, since you're so keen to keep me out of sight and behind the locked door? I think I can do that in my room as well as in dungeons, but I don't fancy idea about starving."
For unnumbered time Jareth lost the speech because of this girl, while Hoggle and Ludo quickly looked at each other and used the chance to vanish from the area. This was surely not their battle, and seeing Sarah's 'calm before the storm' expression, they silently expressed their deepest sympathies to the king.
"By the Underground, who do you think you are?" Jareth coughed, perplexed for such boldness. "You've no rights to speak to me like that!"
"Ha, really? And what are you planning to do about that?" Sarah defiantly raised eyebrow, bringing the apple to her mouth and deliberately slowly, teasingly sunk her teeth in, licking the apple juice from her lips in a manner that was nothing short of seductive, then picked another apple from the plate and tossed it to Jareth.
The Goblin king swiftly caught the fruit, unable to tear his eyes off her lips, and he felt uneasy stirring in his pants. The muscle in his jaw twitched, seeing that she was still staring at him, gauging his reaction. The minx... she was doing this on purpose. He could think of many ways how to silence her and show who is the boss here, and each of them involved her being in very close proximity, preferably in his firm embrace, and... He shook his head to clear his mind before his resolve would break and thoughts would be turned into actions.
"Tell you what, eat this." Sarah continued as if nothing happened, the smile not for a second vanishing from her lips. "I heard it's good remedy for creases, caused by constant frowning."
"I don't see what's so funny here." Jareth found himself growing restless and irritated from her continuous smiling.
"Of course, you don't." Her smile turned into amused grin. "Next time before you sit, especially with such royal flourish, why don't you take a look if there's nothing beneath your arse. You're sitting on eggs... at this point scrambled eggs already." With that, Sarah stood up, walked past the king, giving him a wink and pat on a shoulder, but looked back one more time in doorway. "By the way, you look exceptionally good today. I like your hairstyle, quite... stylish. And - don't forget to clean your royal pants."
Considering that last night Jareth hadn't slept at all which caused his hair to look even worse than normally, Sarah's remark was well-aimed blow under belt. He hoped the part about eggs was just a cruel joke, but he jumped up from seat anyway to check while there was no one else in kitchen...
Oh dear! It hadn't been chair to crack when he sat down, but indeed a plate with few eggs, probably placed there by one of smaller size goblins who sometimes did used chairs to put things on them, instead of table. How did he missed it? But Sarah was gone before Jareth could say anything.
He weighed the apple in hand. Sarah was like unpredictable force of nature. At first she made living fire instead of lunch, then destroyed entire box of books - although it was already set for being used as kindling, the books beyond repair and it had been easier for Jareth to create the duplicates, but still... and he still had no idea how did she managed to throw across the whole room the heavy floor candelabrum which required at least ten goblins to move it... and now she dared to suggest Jareth himself to play her personal caretaker?
With short hesitation and careful examination of the apple - as Sarah herself said, who knows what's inside - Jareth bit into it and teleported himself away from kitchen before anyone sees him with unbefitting-to-king splash on his backside.
As the sun was slowly sliding to set behind the horizon, at least judging by the dimming light, things were still peaceful at the Labyrinth's gate. Sir Didymus had gathered his firey 'army' together in one group, and marched back and forth by the gate until he grew dizzy. Fireys made the bonfire and shortened the time until the next sunrise by telling stories and every once in a while tossing their limbs around. Ambrosius had fallen asleep nearby and his paws twitched in sleep much like firey limbs in awakened state.
Sir Didymus snorted derisively, giving sour look to his warriors. It would've been more use of solid bunch of goblins instead of these clowns. Wishing to rest his feet for a while, he made his way over to the fire, sat down and rested against his steed.
"Hey, Didymus!" Ashes called from the other side. "Now it's your turn to tell a story!"
"What kind of story thee want to hear?" The knight grumbled.
"Any kind, just fun one!"
"Hmm, very well, let's see..." Sir Didymus was not much of a storyteller, at least not of a stories that would interest fireys. But after some bit of thought, he began. "Once upon a time, lived a fair young maiden. And somewhere, deep in the Underground, lived a lonely Goblin king who fell in love with the maiden. But she never knew about it, until one stormy night, the maiden accidentally said the right words that summoned the king to take her little baby brother away."
Sir Didymus fell silent for a short moment. He noticed that all fireys had shut their mouths and listened his story with utmost attention which was unusual for these creatures. After staring in flames for a while, the knight went on.
"The Goblin king wished they had met differently, but the maiden's wish kept him in role of villain, and when she declined his offer of her dreams and refused to forget about the child, the king brought her to his kingdom, giving her almost impossible task - to find the way through his labyrinth to his castle, if she truly wish to get her brother back. He watched her every step through his realm, tried to enchant her and persuade her to stay, but she eventually overcame all the hardships and dangers in her way - with help from friends she gained through the journey. One last time the king pleaded her to accept his love and stay with him, offering her everything she could dream about, but the maiden's will was as strong as his, and her kingdom as great. The Goblin king had no power over her, and she returned home safely with her brother. The end."
"This story sounds familiar." Ashes scratched his head. "But it was interesting anyway."
Sir Didymus only bowed his head, accepting the doubtful quality praise, and kept watching the fire, silently laughing at himself. These dumb clowns did not figured out he just told them the story of Sarah's first journey through the Labyrinth - in veeeery shortened version - even though they took part in it themselves.
Of course, these heathen pumpkins would not recognize a joke if it would poke them in the eye.
The knight had no desire to spend the night like fairytale-telling grandmother, so he stood up and slowly strode away, not too far, though, keeping the gate within sight. He wished for at least one sensible being with brain to spend the time with to make the night shorter, but since it was not possible, he decided to stride by the Labyrinth walls to survey if grawes were not lurking around, while fireys kept on entertaining themselves, not paying their commander any attention, maybe not even noticing he was gone. Fireys were capable of defeating grawes with their flames, but as guards they were completely useless which had been proved in life not once before.
Sir Didymus walked on, his ears pricked to hear every smallest noise unless it came from fireys. Something made him uneasy, without any visible reason, but his guts churned unpleasantly. The darkness had set, preventing him from seeing anything much around. Here the bonfire did not illuminated a thing, and Sir Didymus might as well be wearing blindfold on both eyes, but his nose picked a strange smell.
He stepped closer to the nearby bush. Silence. But that stench... as if someone had either contemplated their life in deep solitary, hidden in bushes, or taken a bath in Bog of Eternal Stench - and that spoke of something, because the knight was known to not be bothered by Bog smell which repulsed every other living being. But... the castle inhabitants did not wandered outside of Labyrinth, and fireys had been within his sight, so...
Sir Didymus cursed and kicked the bush, but in next second was forced to jump backwards like scalded by boiling hot water, when something made a screech sound in bush, and near identical sounds echoed from all nearby area.
The knight raced back to the Labyrinth gate where fireys continued to toss their heads around in calm peace. "Put the heads back on their owners!" Sir Didymus hollered in a distance. "These creeps are here!" Reaching the bonfire, he caught one of firey's heads that was flying toward him, screwed it back on owner's shoulders and shouted the order. "Take defensive position, everyone!"
"Who's here?"
"Ready for what?"
"Who everyone?"
"What position?" The questions came one after another.
"By the Underground, stupid clowns! Grawes! Grawes are here!" Sir Didymus barely finished yelling when first bald creature already appeared few yards away.
Now even fireys realized what's happening, and in few seconds the whole area blazed in their created fire strikes. Sir Didymus treated the dumbest - and slowest - grawes with soft touches of his staff, and finally Lucan's minions were forced to retreat.
The battle was short, but they could not relax. It was only the beginning, the first failed attempt which surely will be followed by more. Sir Didymus could not get rid of restless gnawing in his guts, a bad feeling creeping in his mind. He sat back down at fire, but kept his ears and eyes open, giving strict order to fireys to hold back from their games for now and stay alert, reminding them that this was only the beginning.