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Put them in the dungeon," he ordered in a forceful tone.
He laughed inwardly as he faced the group that stood
before him. Hoggle, the grotesque looking dwarf was shivering
so much that the jewelry that hung from his belt began to
rattle. The beast, Ludo, had stepped on the dwarf's foot
numerous times in his confusion, and the fox was yelling valiant
obscenities at the goblins. Never did he dare yell one of
those obscenities to Jareth, though.
The Goblin King's throne room glowed with a dusty reddish
light and cast ominous shadows across his countenance as he
faced Sarah's friends with his back to the window.
"Put them into," he said as he slowly eased
closer to the dwarf's face, "the dankest, darkest, most
loathsome dungeon you can find. I don't let traitors see the
sunlight."
He remained inches from the dwarf's face, and waited
silently until the dwarf shivered so much that he could barely
continue to stand. Once he was satisfied that Hoggle was
thoroughly frightened he retreated calmly and smoothly to
his throne at the back wall.
Everyone, prisoners and goblins included, remained
quiet until Jareth had become comfortable. Jareth eyed them
all thoughtfully before quickly waving his hand towards the
door to the right of his throne.
The goblins acted immediately and began to shove their
new prisoners into that direction.
And then all hell broke loose.
The dwarf began to make a fuss, commanding, "Put
me down! I ain't done nothin'! Put me down!"
The beast suddenly became disagreeable to the idea
of being bound in shackles, and started to flay about wildly,
still confused and acting as a bound animal might. The guards
had a time keeping the beast chained up. He knocked many of
them over with ease, even though his wrists and ankles were
tied together. He went towards Hoggle and Didymus, attempting
to grab them in order to make an escape, but the goblins ganged
up on him and used all of their strength to push the overwhelming
creature over. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, his
agonized cry echoing throughout the entire castle.
The fox was very noisy and sent a lot of idle threats to
many of them. "I say, put me
down or I'll be forced to put Ambrosius
upon you!" Ambrosius, his "trusty
steed" (which was a white shaggy
dog with a saddle), heard his name
mentioned and found someplace to hide.
Sir Didymus didn't notice, for he
was too busy dealing with a small
goblin that had snuck up behind him
and decided to treat his tail to a
nice yank. "Oowch! Don't pull
my tail like that, you ruffian! There
you go! Your foot hurts, doesn't it?
That'll teach you a lesson about pulling
my tail! Aaah! So it's come to that,
has it? Well, here's one for your
memoirs! You'll think twice about
-- Oowwwch! I have a very sensitive
nose! How does it feel when I pinch
your nose, like thiisss!? Haha! Not
very good does it? Ah, so you've decided
to join the battle, my friend?! No
matter, I can take the both of you!"
Finally one goblin got smart and gave
him a nice club on the head with a
big stick, sending Didymus to the
ground with only minor consciousness
left in him. "That's not fair,"
he protested with a great deal of
effort. "You goblins don't know
how to fight man to man."
The dog caused an equal amount of trouble. He whimpered
and whined, running and hiding in every nook and cranny that
he could find. When he was discovered, he hid somewhere else.
The guards were running back and forth. The throne room and
all of the areas around it were in mass confusion. The chaos
continued even after the prisoners were put into their cells.
Jareth did not participate in or concern himself with
the foolishness. He watched with little interest as the noise
continued before him, knowing, whether or not his goblins
could contain them, that they would not escape him. They
were easy game.
A goblin guard eventually returned and bowed before
Jareth. "They are imprisoned, your majesty."
"Finally," Jareth replied absentmindedly.
He closed his eyes and motioned away from himself. "Get
someone in here to clean up this mess."
"Your majesty, it's always this messy--"
Jareth swiveled about with a sudden direction of one
hundred percent of his attention toward the guard. His eyes
narrowed angrily. "Just get someone in here to do it."
He stared at the guard silently for a few moments before continuing.
"I don't want to ever have to repeat myself again. Asking
once should be good enough. Do you understand?"
"Yes, your majesty." the guard bowed again,
and left to comply with the king's orders.
He put his hand to his forehead in an attempt to ward
off a headache. As he did so, he thought better of it and
swiveled his hand about on his wrist. A crystal sphere appeared
within his palm, and slowly, as if undissolving itself from
the center, an image came forth.
He looked into the glass sphere. The scene placed before
him by the sphere's power was as he had hoped it would be.
His plan was working perfectly. It was almost time.
"Isabelle!" his voice rang clearly throughout
the castle.
A small figure rushed into the room and bowed before
him. He noticed the fear and reverence in her eyes and it
made him tingle in his overwhelming fatigue. She was a simple
soul, naive in her ways, but she was the only creature in
the whole wretched kingdom that he had felt no complete boredom
in powering over.
"Yes, sir," she replied timidly.
"Is the room ready for our guest?"
"Yes, sir."
"And the garments I asked to be prepared -- are
they in the closet?"
"Yes, sir. All is as you asked for it to be."
"Wonderful. Tell the guards in the dungeons to
make sure our prisoners are not going to be able to escape.
It is time." His fatigue eased away and was replaced
with a feeling of excitement. The boredom would go, the pain
would cease, and there would be no more questioning himself.
Jareth was ready for Sarah this time. He finally had her...
In her weakest state. |