Helena lay on the narrow bed while facing the wall, floating in a cloud of pain, her abdomen cramping viciously from Xensor's kicks, her ribs stabbing her with every breath. Her back and shoulders hurt from her struggles against his minions. She could only imagine what her face looked like, judging from the shards of pain she felt.

No chamber or servants' quarters for her… not this time. This time, Xensor's minions had thrown her into a bona fide cell, somewhere in the basement of the manor. At least… she was pretty sure her message was received. Maybe. She could only hope that her father followed what she'd sent and didn't fall in with Xensor's plans. There was the possibility that he'd received her message but thought that it was a ruse on Xensor's part. Or Iftanzel's part. At least he knew that she wasn't in Fellmark and would be attacking there. Her mind was running in circles, telling her all the ways she should have sent the message to make it clearer, castigating herself for how disjointed her message really was.

She heard a 'popping' sound behind her. Great… now you're imagining the Ughlánas coming for you, she thought fuzzily. Then her mind came to a sharper awareness, when she'd heard another 'pop'. Then another. Then several more. A small hand touched her shoulder.

She was afraid. Afraid that if she turned… no one would be there. That it was all a trick of her mind. She sobbed softly. Then she heard it… a quiet little trill… Tippy's trill. She felt the hand leave her shoulder and little fingers touch her temple. A tingling sensation started running through her body… Healing magic. She kept her eyes closed, feeling the injuries to her abdomen and ribs fading away, and the pain in her face and shoulders lessening in intensity. When her injuries had resolved enough that she was no longer in such terrible pain, the fingers left her temple and the hand returned to her shoulder. She could hear soft chattering…

She turned, still a little afraid that this was only her imagination. She opened her eyes to see Tippy sitting beside her, her hand on Helena's shoulder. Next to her was Zee… and next to him was Fangle. There were probably thirty Ughlánas packed in her cell, all looking at her with equal levels of concern and rage. Rage at her injuries. Their eyes began to glow with it.

Quietly weeping in gratitude, Helena hugged as many of them as she could reach. They all hugged, patted and kissed her, reassuring her with every touch. She looked over at Zee, to see him examining the collar around her neck.

"Biggle, Worf… this collar. Got three crystals, on her neck. See?" The other two Ughlánas looked where he was pointing and nodded. "On three… each of us grab the collar… our hands between the crystal and Hellie's neck. We pull. It breaks. Maybe… might give us an owwie. Might not." The other two Ughlánas shrugged and put their hands on the edge of the collar where Zee had directed them. "Ready? One… two… three…"

As soon as he said "three", the Ughlánas slipped their hands between the crystals and her neck and pulled the collar away, all in one smooth motion. There was a flash of orange, she could feel heat, but she wasn't burned… the collar fell away.

And she could smell burnt flesh. She looked at the Ughlánas in concern, but they were already shaking their hands, the burns Healing. Zee gave her a jaunty wink.

"What's the plan?" she whispered.

Zee looked around at the other Ughlánas. "Tippy, Crink, Drozz and Wikko. You guys stay here and protect Hellie. Rest of us go take out the guards and look for the wards." He looked back at Helena, "Kingy's coming. He's gonna need them to be looking somewhere else. We're going to play with them until he gets here." The other Ughlánas had vicious smiles on their faces.

Before they could say anything else, they heard the key turning in the lock. In the blink of an eye, the Ughlánas hid themselves in every nook and cranny of the room. The door swung open… it was Perian, with two of Xensor's minions.

He looked her over with utter contempt. "All right, Your Highness… time to fulfill your destiny."

She watched him as his minions stepped forward. He didn't see two of the Ughlánas slip behind him. Suddenly, there was a sinister little laugh floating around the room… joined by another. Then another.

Perian's eyes widened… he knew what that meant. He knew the Ughlánas were there. Before he could part his lips to cry out an alarm, Drozz reached down from the top of the door frame where he was hiding and quickly raked his claws across his neck, opening his carotid artery and pinching his lips closed with his other hand. He dropped to the floor in a heap, Drozz still on top of him, while the other two minions turned around to see what happened.

From there, it was absolute destruction.

The Ughlánas appeared everywhere, darting in and slicing them with their claws or biting them with their teeth. At this point, their anger at Helena's injuries had inspired them to make the minions' demise as painful as possible. Two Ughlánas had attached themselves to the minions' necks, holding their hands over their mouths so their cries could not carry through the manor. The minions writhed, trying to turn and run back through the door, but more Ughlánas had attached themselves to their legs, preventing them from moving. They tried to fire levin-bolts at the little goblins, but no sooner had they launched, the target goblin skittered away. At the same time, Helena's little bodyguards threw themselves on top of her, shielding her from any wild bolts. Within thirty seconds, both minions had been reduced to a steaming pile of meat on the floor.

And all of it was done silently.

"Two squads. Yort.. you go to the west wing. Pleem, you go east. Quiet now," Zee directed. The two squads vanished at his order. "You four," he indicated a group by the door. "You wait outside this cell. Hiding. Bad boss man might come here and try to get Hellie. You give him a nice surprise." They nodded, moving to the room outside her cell. Zee then walked over to her, taking her hand gently. "Your Daddy's outside. Garth too. Randy's got the Army on the South side with your Momma. They're gonna come for you. Safer for you to stay here, not get caught in the magic. We'll protect you. No one's gonna hurt you anymore."

Helena nodded, her eyes welling with tears. Zee kissed her forehead, then turned to the remaining Ughlánas. "You guys, with me. We clear out this section. Signal Kingy."

And almost as fast as the words came from his mouth, Zee and the other Ughlánas he commanded disappeared. The security detail that remained stationed themselves around her cell and outside it. One of them shut the cell door, deftly re-locking it with his claws.

"Hellie… can you get rid of the trash?" asked Tippy. Helena was puzzled for a moment before she realized that Tippy was referring to what was left of the guards and Perian. "I'll try…"

She waved her hand, and the banishment… after an initial sputter, worked. The blood and gore were gone. She only had a few moments to feel pleased about that before she heard the shouts coming from the upper floors. Within the next minute, she could hear answering shouts and screams coming from outside, interspersed with explosions.

The Goblin King was here.

Author's Notes:

In the movie they were bumbling idiots. In my earlier stories, they were loveable little creatures with a penchant for mischief.

But they weren't trying to hurt Sarah during the battle in Goblin City. They've known her since she was a child and loved her. They thought it was great fun and were just playing around. And while hanging out with Sarah (and later Madeline), they were a bunch of fun-loving companions with a habit for harmless trouble. It might have seemed odd that Jareth would trust them with the protection of his future wife and later his future daughter-in-law.

Now you know why.

While the Ughlánas by themselves are formidable opponents on their own, the training they received from Sir Didymus made them utterly terrifying. He turned them from a chaotic force into a unit that is coordinated, sneaky, and absolutely deadly. There's a reason he calls them his 'shock troops'.

Their love for the Othánas (and the Royal Family in particular) means that the bad guys would indeed have to kill every last one of them before they could get to Helena again.

200 Fae vs. 30 Ughlánas… my money is on the Ughlánas.

And a quick note about Tippy healing Helena… while she might have been tempted to Heal her completely, she too operates under the Goblin creed of saving as much of your power for an emergency as you can. She'd spend enough to make sure Helena wasn't in pain (and cover any internal bleeding or injury) but only up to that point. She would keep the rest in reserve just in case it was needed again.