Chapter Forty-Three

Sarah was puzzled by Jareth's summons, coming as it did in the early afternoon when she knew he usually had his security briefing. If he had something to discuss with her, he would ordinarily either seek her out or wait until they were alone after dinner. Why he felt the need to summon her to his office so formally was a mystery, and a little concerning. She rapped at the door and opened it slowly when she heard Jareth call "Enter."

As she walked in, she saw that Garthan and Randel were apparently part of this meeting, as they were both seated with Jareth around the tactical table. All three men watched her soberly as she crossed the room.

"Thank you for coming here so quickly, Sarah. Sit, please."

Sarah took the chair between Randel and Garthan, her anxiety level heightened with Jareth's almost wary aura and demeanor.

"I know that I've told you that we have holdings Aboveground in order to facilitate collecting wished aways and for the occasional recreational foray,"

This wasn't the direction she thought the conversation was going to go, but she nodded anyway.

"Well, that wasn't entirely true. There is more to it."

Sarah looked around at the three men, all of them wearing the same guarded expression. Jareth quietly continued, "You know our history. You know that we are hated in the Underground by the Fae and merely tolerated by the other races." Sarah nodded again. "We've endured centuries of abuse, torture, and outright murder. It wasn't all that long ago that the Fae would openly hunt the Ughlánas for sport. I don't have to repeat to you the stories of what they do to Othánas women if they should be so "lucky" as to capture one."

Sarah nodded again, feeling her anxiety level rising higher. Was there another war brewing? What was going on?

"The hatred of the Fae for us is, for all intents and purposes, undying. When my grandfather started our revolt, it was thought that given the problems Fae had in conceiving, we simply needed to wait them out until our numbers dwarfed theirs and any hope of taking us was futile. Unfortunately, this was taking much longer than we had anticipated, which meant that we needed a place of our own… a place we could defend, populate, and eventually live within freely. Thus, we founded this kingdom." Sarah nodded yet again. "I knew that just having a kingdom wouldn't be enough to hold them off forever. We needed some kind of leverage that would keep them off our borders at least until their dwindling numbers no longer posed a threat."

Jareth then looked deeply into Sarah's eyes, with an almost apprehensive expression. "You are aware that the Labyrinth wished to facilitate the taking of unwanted children, which I promised to do. However, with the taking of the children, the risk of the humans organizing and invading the Underground was always lurking in the background. I racked my brain trying to figure out a solution that would prevent war with the Above as well as keep the Underground somewhat pacified and fulfill my promise to the Labyrinth. I eventually came up with that solution."

His discomfort was now rather obvious as he regarded her. "I told you that I expanded the Labyrinth around our central city for an added line of defense and, if necessary, a final refuge. It was, however, far more than that. I've spent centuries imbuing the Labyrinth with both my own magic and the magic of the land around it, increasing its power."

Sarah's mind went back briefly to her flippant "cake" remark to him in the tunnels. No wonder he was angry. She was dimly surprised that he didn't flatten her on the spot for her insolence.

Jareth continued. "With the help of the Labyrinth, I was able to enlist the Ughlánas to go Above and take human children by inventing the rules and telling them it was a new kind of game. I took personal charge of the wishers, erasing the memories of the lost children from anyone Above. This dramatically reduced the risk of war with the humans, which appeased most of the kingdoms of the Underground." He gave Sarah an ironic frown. "It wasn't enough for the Fae, of course. So…" Jareth appeared to steel himself for what he said next. "I offered the Fae a solution to their reproductive problems. With the power of the Labyrinth behind me, I was able to develop a way to change human children to genetic Fae. It's something only I with the Labyrinth can do. Human children would be changed to Fae and adopted out to couples that wanted them. I would carefully screen the couples and reserved the right to refuse anyone who I felt was not a worthy parent. They would stop attacking us and leave us be. It took a lot of time and a lot of delicate negotiations before the Fae agreed. Peace, in return for children."

At this, Jareth stood and walked over to the window, hands clasped behind his back. "Now, you might ask yourself…why would I provide the Fae with the means of continuing their race when our own survival depended on them dying out? The answer is simple…to buy time and build our own strength. If the Fae knew for certain that they were going extinct, they'd make at least one last effort to erase us from existence while they still had the power to undertake the attempt."

"As you know, I wasn't just able to change the children to Fae. I could also change them to Othánas or even Ughlánas, although the Fae didn't know that. For every child we turned over to the Fae, we kept back two others. The strongest, most intelligent, or otherwise gifted children would be adopted by our people." He looked over at Sarah and smiled crookedly. "Remember, I told you once that I intended to keep you for our kingdom when you were a child." He looked back out of the window.

"My plan didn't stop there. Every child that was changed to Fae had their memories erased and new ones created, tailored to the couple that was adopting them. This was ostensibly done so the child would recognize its new parents. While I was implanting the new memories, I was also magically implanting a… compulsion. A compulsion woven right into their bones with the magic that was changing them, to resist the hatred for the Othánas that the Fae would later try to indoctrinate them with. You might call what I do to them a form of brainwashing. I didn't tamper with them beyond implanting the memories and a resistance to hating us. I didn't have the heart to do anything more than that, but I did it nonetheless."

Jareth sighed again. "It seems to have worked. The youngest generation of Fae have little interest in making war with us. The implanted resistance coupled with our rather fierce reputation has put paid to most plans of conquest among their youth. This does not, however, make a difference to the older Fae. They are always trying to figure out a way to take the kingdom and control of the Labyrinth for themselves. For now, they have contented themselves with occasional small-scale wars and minor incursions, which we repel with deliberate brutality."

Sarah sat in stunned shock. The thought of brainwashing children turned her blood cold, and she wondered if it had occurred to Jareth that his erasing all memory of the existence of the wished aways Above counted as brainwashing too.

But then…was there really any other choice? How do you prevent a genocide of the Othánas and Ughlánas without some sort of leverage? She remembered from some of the stories he and her friends told her that most children taken were in terrible circumstances, some so horrifying that they didn't survive even after being wished away. At the very least, the children taken Underground got a second chance at a better life, even if it cost them their memories. She thought of all the people here who had become so dear to her in the last few years… their families… their children. Her own son… who would be counted as Othánas and targeted for extermination with the rest of the population if the elder Fae got their way.

Her gaze hardened, and she said quietly but forcefully, "If that's what it takes to keep our people safe, so be it."

Jareth turned to face her then. He saw the calm acceptance in her eyes and the set of her jaw. She meant it. He nodded to her gratefully. "That said…Sarah, there's a reason why I encouraged you to take control of the Aboveground holdings. To familiarize yourself with them and how to run them. It concerns a contingency plan that we have put in place in case of disaster."

Jareth turned back to face the window and its view of the Labyrinth. "While it is extremely unlikely, should an invasion progress to the point where this kingdom would fall, all Othánas women along with the young, Garthan, Randel with his Army division and the females and young among the Ughlánas will make their way to the Labyrinth. Any other creatures under our protection who are unable to fight or survive would flee there as well. The Labyrinth will then transport them all to the estates Aboveground. This includes you and our children. Once transfer is complete, the Labyrinth and all portals to the Above would then be magically detonated, ensuring that no Fae can ever follow you or capture the Labyrinth. This is of course a last resort which I don't anticipate ever being necessary, but I have lived my life always trying to be ten steps ahead of my enemies."

Jareth came away from the window and sat back down in front of Sarah. "This is why you are considered a reigning monarch in the Goblin Kingdom… you will be the one to lead our people in the event of a catastrophe of that nature."

Sarah gasped in disbelief. "What about you?" she asked.

He looked away from her. "Sarah… it is unlikely that I would survive such an event. You would rule with Randel at your right hand and Garthan at your left until our son is old enough to take up the Goblin crown."

Sarah expelled a harsh sob, looking wildly from Jareth to Garthan to Randel and back again. "Why didn't you tell me about this before? And why are you telling me now?"

Jareth smiled at her with gentle humor. "Sarah, knowing you as I do, I am certain that you would absolutely refuse to leave in such a situation unless you were dragged away." His smile faded. "The only thing that would induce you to flee voluntarily would be if you had a compelling reason to do so. Our son would be that reason. Telling you about this before you became pregnant would have made no difference to you. You would simply refuse to evacuate. That's why I waited to tell you until I was sure you had a reason to cooperate. No, there isn't anything happening that would make such an evacuation even remotely likely, but you needed to be aware that it was an option. Quite simply, it was time for you to know."

Sarah knew he was right. Nothing in either world could keep her from his side except the safety of their children. "Who would have taken up the crown if you had… died… without an heir?"

"Garthan." Sarah looked over at Garthan, who looked as grim as she'd ever seen him. There was no doubt that taking the Goblin crown was the very last thing Garthan would ever want. He would do his duty to Jareth, to his people, to Sarah and to her son with his last breath, if necessary. Randel was nodding in agreement, his normally genial countenance looking just as grim as Garthan's. Sarah knew in her heart that Randel would spend every last drop of his blood in defense of their people and with his final gasp, wish that he had more to give. Could she do any less?

She nodded gravely. "I understand. What I don't understand is why you wouldn't survive." At this, the three Othánas smiled at her with identical, wickedly savage smiles, their fangs flashing in the afternoon sun. It was Garthan who answered her.

"Oh, we have long since figured out how to teleport directly to the heart of the High Court and every other palace in the Underground despite all their warding. An all-out invasion of the Goblin Kingdom, if it goes that badly for us, will result in Jareth and an army of angry male Othánas and Ughlánas popping into the palace of the High Court and razing it to the ground, along with the capitals of any other belligerent kingdoms."

Through her tears, Sarah remembered the smirks Garthan and Jareth had exchanged when describing the warding on Ardalon and smiled a wickedly savage smile of her own.

Garthan continued, "When the dust settled, contact would be reestablished with the evacuated citizens, and with the help of the Ughlánas, they would return Underground to their homes."

"Who else knows about this plan?" Sarah asked.

Jareth spoke up, "Just us three, now with you…us four. Our son will be told when he reaches his majority, as will Anduin. Sarah, the Fae are very aware that we will destroy the Labyrinth and all access to the Above if they press us. So far, this has kept them from coordinating an all-out invasion, and likely will continue to keep them in line. The wars and skirmishes we've fought in the last few centuries were more for concessions than actual conquest. As I said, an invasion on that scale is extremely unlikely. This contingency plan to evacuate the kingdom to the Above if the worst happens is a last resort only and meant to be a comfort that hope would remain for our people."

Sarah couldn't help but marvel at him…at all three of them, really. This level of commitment to all Goblin people, Greater and Lesser, along with the other creatures that lived under their protection… was more than she could ever have fathomed, and one she was proud to share. She looked at all three of them in turn, telling them with her gaze and the set of her countenance that she too would give her all if called upon, and dance a jig while doing it.