Five Years Later…
Jareth was in his tent, taking a short rest after the previous night's operation. Sleep eluded him… the best he could do was to try and force his muscles into a state of relaxation.
Or at least… half relaxation.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd actually felt at rest. Not since he became King, that was certain. He was always tense, always on alert, even when he was trying to sleep. His senses were so hyper-tuned that it was a rare occasion for him to sleep uninterrupted for more than an hour or so.
It was getting more and more difficult, keeping the people away from the Fae. For the first few years since Randel left, it was simpler. They hid in the wilderness, only occasionally sending the Ughlánas into the settlements to obtain items they needed… items that wouldn't be missed. Buckets. Blankets. Food. Tools. By spreading out their excursions, they were able to obtain quite a lot of equipment that they would need in the future.
Jareth himself made a habit of conjuring items every night, expending a good portion of his power to get things that the Ughlánas wouldn't think of getting. Books. Treatises on farming, blacksmithing, leatherwork, mining. Each night, he ran through the inventory with Kelvara, the elderly Othánas widow who was assisting him with supplies and distribution. Her advice was invaluable in determining which skills and tools their people would need most. Food preservation, certainly. Medicine. Architecture and engineering. Looms and spinning wheels. At her direction, he conjured seeds for planting, salt for preserving, an occasional spice now and then for variety. Then he'd conjure the raw materials they would need. Iron bars (which he knew had been pilfered from some Dwarven stockpile) along with armor, weapons and the like.
He took things from Above as well, knowing the humans couldn't trace him. He suffered some pangs of conscience for this… it was stealing, by any definition, and from people who were not much better off than the Goblins were. But… there really wasn't a choice, and while he had no issue taking things from the Fae, given their history, taking from the humans was another matter entirely. He tried to restrict himself to taking only raw resources as opposed to actual possessions when conjuring from Above. It was still theft of their labor, and he tried to at least compensate them by leaving what coins the Goblins managed to acquire from the Fae in place of what he'd taken. While the currency itself wasn't worth anything to the humans, the metal of the coins was. It didn't soothe his conscience much, but it was at least something.
By only taking a few pieces per location, and always from a different place, the local population of Fae remained relatively oblivious to the presence of the Goblins. Oddly, the Fae themselves aided them in this, however inadvertently. For whatever reason, the nobles of Ardalon didn't want it to become common knowledge that the Goblins had escaped from Eire and were now roaming the countryside of Pritaní. It might have been to keep the locals from panicking, but Jareth suspected it was more a matter of pride. To warn the local Fae would be to admit their failure… something they would want to avoid at all costs. They had been mounting quiet expeditions to search for traces of the Goblins, and they were getting disconcertingly close.
Their cache of supplies was by now quite large, hidden in a cave complex that was warded and shielded. In this cache was everything his people would need to start their new lives. And still… it wasn't enough.
He'd surreptitiously marked a good portion of the livestock in the local area. Sheep, horses, cattle, chickens and geese. Some domestic pigs. Doves. Rabbits. When the time came to evacuate, he would snatch them and take them along. In the cache were the materials to build pens, hutches and cotes to hold these animals, as well as whatever specialized tools and feed which would be required to keep them thriving.
To his delight, the Ughlánas had manifested a knack for farming, well able to squeeze double the production from the gardens and crops the Goblins planted. They also took charge of the small amounts of livestock they had on hand, developing an affinity for the animals that Jareth counted as a blessing directly from Danu. The only thing the Ughlánas asked was that they not be the ones to do the slaughtering… having grown affectionate toward their beastly charges, it was just something they couldn't bring themselves to do. Jareth agreed. He didn't like slaughtering animals any more than they did, and made sure that the animals suffered no pain, but it still tore at him. Nevertheless, the Ughlánas had more than earned this consideration, and he would damn well honor their wishes, no matter what his own personal qualms were.
Along with slaughtering food animals, Jareth found himself doing all sorts of agricultural and domestic activities. Before they'd acquired horses, Jareth and the other male Othánas hitched their own bodies to plows in order to prepare the rocky ground for cultivation. He'd chopped wood, mined ore for arrowheads, tanned leather, made bows and arrows, pitched tents, and dug latrines. He remembered spending most of last week, standing for hours in frigid water with a net, attracting fish with a bit of magic, that the people then preserved in salted barrels. He also remembered the treat they'd all gotten two weeks ago, when Garthan had found a beehive during his foraging, and brought the honey back to the camp, his face and arms covered in stings.
When not contributing to the needs of the main camp, Jareth and Garthan spent their time moving between the other Goblin camps, hunting, fishing, distributing or acquiring needed goods for them, and sometimes evacuating them when a Fae marauding party got too close. He had done just that last night, only returning to the main camp about an hour ago. He lay on his cot, unable to get warm even under the blankets, his muscles trembling with exhaustion. But still, he could not sleep.
Every time he thought to himself that they couldn't go on much longer, he was reminded of the resilience of these people. To them, anything was better than being under the thumb of the Fae, and if it meant standing in a pig sty covered in excrement… well, it was still better.
They didn't know what Jareth and Garthan knew… that the Fae were getting ready to mount a large expedition to Pritaní, with the intention of wiping out the "infestation" of Goblins. Years ago, Garthan had organized a small group of Ughlánas to infiltrate the various noble manors and listen in on the conversations of the Fae. In this way, they had been able to discover their plans more often than not and prepare for them. Last week, the local viceroy had been overheard to say that Ardalon was sending at least a thousand of their soldiers to start systematically searching Pritaní in order to get rid of the Goblins at last. They were due to make landfall in about a month.
Jareth was starting to feel frantic… he'd had no communication from Randel since eight months ago… and he worried that perhaps disaster had struck and his expedition was a failure.
He had just about convinced himself to rise and keep himself busy with a task when he heard the 'pop'. Opening his eyes, he could see Leef, one of the Ughlánas dispatched with Randel. He looked… skinny, like he hadn't been eating enough. He was dirty, and stank rather strongly, which was unusual since Ughlánas were just as fastidious about personal hygiene as the Othánas were, even if their table manners left much to be desired.
He couldn't keep the hopeful smile from his face as Leef gave him a little bow and a grin. "I think we found it, Kingy." He handed Jareth a rock… no, a block. Some kind of carved stone.
Jareth raised his brow, "What is this? That's no rock…"
"We found something… something good. Randy says you've gotta come see."
"All right. Let me tell Garthan and I'll transport. Tell Randel I'm on my way."
With another grin, Leef 'popped' out. Jareth quickly pulled some armor on and exited his tent, wandering around the camp a bit before finding Garthan. He was over by the woodpile splitting firewood, shirtless and covered in sweat. He laid the head of his axe on the ground as he saw Jareth approach.
"We've got word from Randel," said Jareth. "Leef just transported here. Said they found something, and they want me to take a look."
Garthan closed his eyes briefly. Jareth imagined he was whispering a mental prayer of thanks. "You're going now?"
"Yes. I wanted to let you know, so you can handle things for a bit. I don't know how long I'll be gone… at least a day, I expect."
"All right." Garthan embedded the axe on the block and picked up his shirt, putting it back on. "You should take some rations… you don't know if they have any to spare over there."
"Good thinking. Leef looked a little peaked… like they hadn't been eating well." Jareth waved his hand and some ration bags appeared at his feet. He picked them up and slung them over his shoulders.
"Did he tell you what they'd found?"
"No, but…" he showed Garthan the carved block. "Maybe they found an abandoned town or something. I don't know. But it must be worth summoning me out there to look at, so…"
Garthan gave him a sardonic smile, "Wouldn't that be nice… a little abandoned town that we can just move into…"
"Well, I'm trying to dream big. You never know when Danu might be in the mood to grant our wishes," said Jareth, laughing.
"Jareth… be safe."
"And you, my brother."
With that, he closed his eyes, letting the block fix his destination. The blue swirls of magic wrapped around him, and he disappeared.
He materialized on a small hill covered with soft grass. The temperature was a bit warmer than where he'd been in Pritaní… considering it was early Spring. He looked around for Randel, turning to face the East.
That's when he saw it.
A structure… no… a maze. A labyrinth. It was enormous, the outer walls easily twenty feet tall. There was a huge iron gate before him. The walls… they were made of the same stone he held in his hand. As he stood gaping at this… wonder, he felt as if he were being watched, and not by something living. Almost as if the maze itself was watching him. Judging him.
He shook off the strange sensation when he saw Randel appear at the opening of a tent pitched near the gate. Like Leef, he'd lost some weight. His hair was short, his chin unshaven. His armor was dented in places, scuffed and dirty. The other two Othánas with him were in a similar state. While Jareth refrained from saying so… they all were just as fragrant as Leef was. That didn't stop him from enveloping Randel in a bear hug. His relief at seeing him and his group alive and well was overwhelming.
"Sire… have you ever seen such a thing?" Randel asked, smiling.
"No… what… what is it?"
Randel shrugged, "No idea. We came upon it when we were surveying the area. The gate was unlocked. It's… like nothing I'd ever seen before. But… for some reason, we felt… safe… here."
The other Othánas nodded in agreement. The ginger-haired one spoke up, "Not sure why, Sire, but… these last two weeks was probably the first time I slept soundly in the last five years. And… do you feel it? Something watching us?"
Jareth nodded, "I do. What is it?"
"Don't know. But… whatever it is, it doesn't seem hostile. It's almost… welcoming. Like it… wants us to be here."
Randel seemed to agree with that sentiment, judging by his expression. "It's true… I can't shake the feeling that we are… welcome here. By whatever this is."
Jareth turned to the iron gate. "Have you explored this thing much?"
"A bit," Randel answered. "It seems like a standard maze. Just… huge."
"No indication of who or what built the thing?"
"No. No writing, no artwork, no carvings… nothing. Just… stone block walls."
"And no creatures… no animals," said the other dark-haired Othánas. "Well… except for the occasional butterfly or bird, but… nothing else."
Jareth kept staring at the structure for a few long moments before shaking himself, then swinging the ration bags off his shoulders. "I thought you guys could use some food, judging by how skinny Leef was. Why don't you tuck into that, while I take a look around at this… labyrinth."
They didn't need to be told twice, eagerly opening the packs and distributing the rations between themselves and the Ughlánas.
To Randel, he asked "So… what did you find out about this area? I assume you didn't summon me just to look at an ancient maze…"
Randel laughed, "Of course not. First… I should show you where we are on the map." He pulled out a ragged piece of parchment, spreading it out on the ground in front of him. Jareth squatted down to get a closer look. "Here's Eire. Here's Pritaní. We crossed here, then made a series of transports. Every 'x' you see is a transport destination. This last one… that's where we are right now."
Jareth whistled in appreciation, "That's… an immense distance. It would take the Fae centuries before they stumbled on us all the way out here."
"Yes… that was my thought exactly. We found some areas closer to Pritaní, but… all of them had at least one small Fae settlement nearby. I didn't think we'd want to take the chance of them communicating our presence to Ardalon."
"Good thinking," said Jareth.
"To the North, about three hundred miles from here, is the border to a Dwarven kingdom. Thankfully, they didn't perforate us when we trespassed and just 'escorted' us to the boundary of their lands. We flew some scouting missions to the East, South and West. There's a small Fae kingdom to the West, but it's at least five hundred miles away. There are small settlements of Elves here and there, a couple of pixy villages, but… nothing else. No buildings other than this one."
"I noticed there's a river nearby. And the land looks… good for farming."
"It is. Good topsoil, and the river is deep and wide enough to serve as transport as well as irrigation. Also…" Randel waved his hand to indicate the area beyond the maze, "This hill sits on top of a geological feature… a hot spring. We can make use of that."
Jareth kept rotating his head around, looking at the scenery. "Well, it's certainly beautiful… and it looks like there are some heavy forests over to the East, which we can use for wood… I assume there are no Elves there?"
"No… they're in the Northwest."
"We'll need to establish where they are, so we don't trespass into their territory. All we need at this point is a quarry…"
Randel smiled, "That's over there…" he indicated a Southerly direction. "There's limestone, granite, marble… all kinds of goodies in the hills to the South."
Jareth laughed aloud, "What about gold? I don't suppose you've found that, too?"
"No… but we probably will. I'm telling you, Jareth… it's like this land was made for us."
"Except that someone was here first…" Rising to his feet, Jareth walked to the iron gate, about to reach out to open it, when he heard the rumbling sound.
The gates were opening. By themselves.
"Well… that's new," said Randel, looking at the gates wide eyed. "We've been here for two weeks and always had to open it ourselves before…"
"An invitation, obviously." Jareth swallowed hard, then turned to Randel. "If I'm not back by nightfall…"
"We'll come in after you."
Jareth kept his steps slow and careful as he progressed through the maze. The silence was uncanny… not even birdsong penetrated here.
For the most part, he relied on his keen sense of direction to judge how far into the maze he'd gone. It had been at least three hours… he figured that he must be nearing the center at this point. It was impossible to tell, just by looking at the walls. They looked exactly the same… no matter what angle.
As expected, he came upon a clear area, like a small courtyard, with other walled passages leading away from it. The center, no doubt. There was a small stretch of grass and a stone bench near what looked like a fruit tree. As he got closer, he could see that it had lovely, ripe peaches dangling from the branches. How odd. It was Spring… this tree should have blossoms on it, not fruit. His stomach rumbled, and for a moment, his hand twitched, wanting to reach for a peach.
"Nice try. But you'll need to do better than a Fae trick if you want to commune with me."
He couldn't be sure, but he felt a wave of… amusement… washing over him. Amusement that wasn't his. He bypassed the bench and the fruit tree altogether. He had just taken a step into the Northernmost passage when the ground dropped out from underneath him, and he fell into pitch darkness.
Author's Notes:
Yes, it's the notoriously enchanted peach tree.
I wanted to show just how primitive and harsh the Goblins' lives were, when even their King must dig latrines and use his own body to pull a plow. And while yes, he has a phenomenal level of personal energy to draw from when using magic, it is still a finite resource, and one he won't waste on things that he can just as easily do manually. He'd rather do the digging physically and save his power for conjuring what his people need.
It should also be mentioned that conjuring items can be traced by Underground residents… if you find something missing, you have a little time to trace where it went (and sometimes even who stole it), so Jareth has to be very careful about what he conjures. That's why Vesryn taught him to do it in a sneaky way. He does conjure things from Above, but remember… on our Earth it is medieval times, so what he conjures from there isn't all that advanced as compared to today. It also takes more energy to conjure from Above. And while he has no qualms about taking things from the Fae, he doesn't like taking things from the humans, regardless of how necessary it is, so he makes a point of leaving gold and silver coins that they've pilfered from the Fae in place of what he takes from Above. When he teaches Sarah about conjuring, he also teaches her to conjure things that already belong to them, or (as in the case of her Pepsi and pizza) leave currency to pay for it.
Also, at this point, the Ughlánas had not yet gotten the idea that chickens were their reincarnated ancestors. That happened sometime after they'd established the Goblin Kingdom (and might make an amusing side story). In the meantime, I thought it was perfectly logical that they would be skilled at taking care of the livestock but be too emotionally attached to the animals to do any butchering themselves. Jareth's attitude toward their preferences goes a long way to explain why he puts up with chickens in his castle and won't eat them in front of the Ughlánas… after everything they'd done for him and his people, they'd earned that respect and he'd absolutely accommodate their wishes.
The name Pritaní is an ancient name for Britain, and I used it here. The Goblins are spread out in the area of southeastern Scotland/northern England. As you learned in 'Kingdom', the Underground's geography matches that of the Above pretty closely, and the Labyrinth (as well as the Goblin Kingdom) is located in Austria/Croatia. The Dwarven Kingdom that Randel mentions is in western Germany. The Fae kingdom he mentions (Iftanzel) is near Brussels, in Belgium. Although we do not meet them in this story, the Strigoi are (of course) in Romania.
Fun fact… In my story, Sir Didymus comes from the area we know as Normandy, France. He is a native to this world, not descended from immigrants from Above. Ludo is also a native and comes from the mountains to the East of the Goblin Kingdom. Hoggle comes from southern Iftanzel.
