Sage mumbled a few words, and Jareth returned to reality.  Stumbling a bit from the switchover, he steadied himself on the shorter elf. 

“I-I couldn’t stop it.  I tried a spell, but—“

Sage laid a hand upon his shoulder.  “Yes, I know, I am sure I know what happened.  Do not worry, Jareth, we’ll find a way.”

“He has her.  I can only begin to guess what he will do with her.”  He glanced to the hole in the wall.  “Clever girl.  But he has it.  He must have found where she hid the shard.”  Jareth grabbed his jacket and started out of the room.

Sage blocked him.  “No, don’t go.”

“I must find her, Sage…  Somehow.”

“You can’t rush off to her rescue without a plan.  Besides…  the majority of the elfin kingdom is surrounding the city.”

“What are they doing at a time like this?”

“Why, declaring war, my good chap.  It seems that Eberon is as untrustworthy as I suspected.”
  “How did they get past the Labyrinth walls?”

“The Spangores flew them in, of course.”

Jareth smirked, without humor. “Oh, of course. Has everyone gone mad?”

“Yes.”  Sage smiled as if the announcement meant no more than a “howdy do.”

The doors flew open, and a group of elves entered, Eberon in the lead.  He looked as pleased as a cat with it’s paw on the rat’s tail, yet twice as fidgety. 

Sage turned to face them calmly.  “Oh, hello, we were expecting you.”

*       *       *

A group of Beasts were blockading the door, doing their best to keep the elvin guards from breaking into the grand conference chamber.  Through the ruckus, the leaders of the seven kingdoms were trying their best to have a discussion.  The seven kingdoms, minus one.

“That bastard!” Benedick shouted while raking a set of razor-sharp claws against the mahogany table, leaving a vicious mark.  “I’d swear that all elves were up to no good, were it not for Sage!”

Leenia, the fairie queen touched the feline’s hand gently and replied, “Now, now Benedick, a wicked ruler does not make for a wicked populace.”

“Little men strong!” one beast shouted from his barricade position.

Delina hopped onto the table.  “Look, we have to come up with a plan, and very quickly.  Has anyone tried to make communications outside of the castle?”

Everyone shook their head, “no.”

“Well I have,” Delina answered, shaking the communications amulet that hung around her neck, “and all communication has been blocked.  There is no way for us to summon our armies.”

All heads dropped as if hope for resolving the madness had been lost.

*       *       *

Jareth bent over as much as his restraints would allow to whisper into Sage’s ear.  “We cannot allow them to take us to the dungeons.”

Sage gave him a sideways grin.  “Who said that we were?”

The elf tried not to use his magic on a regular basis.  His great respect for the land and the powers it provided caused him to take careful stock of how he used those powers.  Sarah knew that Sage had knowledge of magic and its use, for he taught her the ways of the sorceress, including the respect she should possess for the magic she used.  Jareth also was aware of Sage’s knowledge, as was everyone else in the palace.  This often led to the idea that Sage was truly powerless, except in the strength of his cunning.  As his cunning could not help him to escape his current predicament, it was time to put the old spells to use.  The good thing is that Eberon would not expect it, for, after all of the years he had known the lad, the boy still thought he was a helpless old codger with a quick tongue.  The bad thing was that the mock king would now know of his powers, and try to protect himself against them.  So, cunning as Sage was, he had a way to get around this little problem.

He casted, first, a ventriloquism spell. 

Suddenly, involuntarily, Jareth muttered the incomprehensible words of an elfin spell.  He seemed shocked, but did not resist.  He recognized the spell that came from his mouth by the promptings of Sage.  Though he could understand the words, he did not need to – for he could tell exactly what the elf was up to by watching the results.

A little creature with two buoyant legs hopped out of nothingness to stand before Jareth.  He found the fellow charming with his drooping eyes and tendril-like mustache.  It was like a puppy waiting to do a trick.

“Capture them,” he commanded, motioning toward the guards and the elfin king with his head.

The little guy hopped up and down gleefully at his new task, and was suddenly only a blur as he bounced his almost spherical body around the room in a highly calculated ricochet.  Elastic goo trailed behind him and smacked, whopped, and generally subdued the guards holding Jareth and Sage before wrapping around the lot of them, leaving them dangling one by one from springy ropes that stuck to the ceiling.  Upon completion of his work, the creature stopped before Jareth, and slapped his rubbery tongue around his face in a fashion that mimicked panting.  Jareth bent over and pat him on his head. 

“Good boy.  What a fine job!”

Eberon glowed red behind strings of goo.  Only half of his face was visible, but he was clearly unhappy.  “How in the Underground did you do that?  Kaleb told me that you were--”

He stopped, but not fast enough.  Sage stepped in front of him and toyed with a string of rubber hanging next to his face.  It snapped and hit Eberon across his half-visible, slender, sneaky nose.  “Aha, so King Kaleb is this cause of all of our stress, after all?  Now, I knew you couldn’t pull all of this off yourself.”

“Curse you, Sage!  I’d curse your family, too, but you don’t have much of one, anymore, now do you?”

A darkness mostly unfamiliar to Sage took over his face.  “I would not mention such things, Eberon, for they will only serve to heat me to a pitch, something you are not in a position to do right now.”

He lowered his eyes for a moment, and then turned to Jareth, who in turn looked down to the little creature and said, “Well, my friend, your work is done, you can go back to wherever you came from, now.”

The fellow wiggled his two legs around in a motion that made him look as if he were shaking his head, and he let out a couple of argumentative squeaks.

“He’s a Windle Sprite, Jareth.  Comes directly from the fairy lands, just below the Underground.  It’s not everyday that someone is lucky enough to befriend one of these fellows.”

“So, you are telling me that I can keep him?” Jareth asked with a raising of his brow.

“Indeed, I am saying that you should.  As you can see, these little fellows come in handy.”

The sprite hopped into Jareth’s arms, weighing no more than a pound or two.  He licked Jareth across the face, leaving behind a sticky goo that quickly hardened.  Jareth pulled it off easily and turned to Sage.  “Awe, thanks Dad.”

They peered around the doorway, and did not find anyone within the immediate distance, so they snuck out, peering around corners and making their way stealthily to the conference room.  They left behind a furious elf, wiggling with all of his might to escape, but only succeeding in spinning himself about, unwinding, and finally slowing down, googly-eyed from dizziness.

“That was very clever of you,” Jareth whispered as they snuck past one panicked castle dweller after another.

“What, you mean my use of the ventriloquism spell?  Yes, it did, in a sense, kill two birds with one stone.  Not only are they still unaware of my powers, but they think that you still are able to cast spells.  I am sure it will throw all of their perceptions in a tizzy.”

“Yes, maybe they will think we have more of an advantage than we actually do.”  The little windle hopped behind them quietly, dutifully keeping an eye out for enemies.  “They will pay more attention to me, and not as much on you.  Maybe you can infiltrate their defenses somehow.”

Sage pulled a bubble-like monacle from his vest and peered around the corner.  “Yes, all of these things we can consider in a future plan.”  He looked back over his shoulder at the sprite.  “What are you going to name him?”

“Do you think that is really something I should be considering at this moment?”  Jareth almost chuckled at Sage’s ability to mix dire business with trifling matters.  It was not annoying at all, but served to lighten his heavy mood.

“Certainly.  It is an important thing to consider, as you must have a name by which to prompt him into battle.”

“Very logical.”  Jareth pondered it a moment.  “Well, I think it would be fitting to call him Chaos, considering the circumstances under which you called him, and the nature of his abilities.”

“Chaos it is, then.”  Sage pat Chaos on the head before peering around the edge again.  Through the monacle, he saw a close-up view of the distant conference room where a multitude of very angry elves were congregating in an effort to break in.

Turning back to Jareth, Sage said, “I think we have found another use for our new friend.”  He looked down to Jareth’s new faithful companion and said, “Do you have any new tricks up your sleeve, fella?”  Though very much like a small dog, Chaos was obviously intelligent.  The little windle peered around the corner to consider the situation.  Twice, the group of elves backed far away from the door to ram it.  They were increasingly successful in loosening the hinges with each heave.  On the third go, little Chaos zoomed from his position, ran in circles around the retreating elves five times (it took him less than two seconds to do this), and ran back to his masters.  The elves did not have a chance to move; their feet were successfully encased in a goo that had already hardened into a rubber substance.  Jareth took stock of the situation, and noted that the little guy had even gone to the extra effort (magically) of wrapping up the elves holding weapons in such a way that they could not move.

“Very thorough!” Sage shouted gleefully, going to no extra effort to keep his voice down as he walked boldly from his hiding place.  Jareth and Chaos were in his wake.  “I should say that we have clearance to enter?”

Sage stepped up to the cleared door and heard Dalina announce that there was no ways to summon the armies.

“We will have to get outside somehow,” she continued.

Everyone looked toward the door, confused by the fact that there was suddenly no more pounding, only the murmurs of elves outside.

Sage pulled out a key from his vest, turned it in the lock, and entered like an epiphany. 

“No, you don’t want to go outside, my friends!  You are sure to go mad out there!”  He held the key aloft to show how he entered, then put the key and monacle away in his vest.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief to realize that their new guest was more than a welcome one.

Benedick hollered above the sudden din.  “You old coot!  Always got a trick in that vest of yours, eh?  Got one that can get us out of here?”

Jareth entered and closed the door behind him.  When he turned around, he discovered that everyone had become silent and was staring open-jawed at him.  Everyone except for the fairy queen, who was regal no matter the circumstances.

Sage left response up to the former Goblin King.  For the umpteenth time that day, Jareth felt extremely awkward for being who he was.  To calm their nerves, he did something very uncharacteristic.

He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers in a dainty wave.  “Hi there.”

Everyone gasped.  The king of the fieries lost his head.  Literally.  It bounced to the front of the room, fluttered its ears and hovered in front of his face a moment.  “It’s him alright!”   His body came back to his head, and he raised a hand to tug at Jareth’s ears, which prompted a meager swat from him. 

“Stop that!  It hurts.”

“Not gonna cast some boogey woogie spell on me, man?”  The fiery taunted as he pulled Jareth’s goatee.

“No, I’m not, but would you mind boogie woogying your way elsewhere?”

The fiery gave up and walked back to his seat.  “I don’t believe it, man.  Like, is he for real?”

Sage started to explain it, but Jareth interposed.  “No, no, let me do it.”  While Sage locked the door again, Jareth began to explain the circumstances.  “Yes, it is I, Jareth, the former Goblin King.  Thanks to a spell the elves – your former allies – cast on me four years ago, I was cleansed of my evil ways.  I left the kingdom for Sarah to rule, as I was never fit to rule in the first place.  Thanks to Sage, I became aware of the dangers of the crows and of the man who caused their existence -- King Kaleb, my shadow.  I agreed to help Sage to destroy him, and here I am, a little too late.  Yes, my intentions are good, as Sage will vouch for me.  No, I am not the same man who ruled four years ago.  Most importantly, Sarah, Queen of Sunset City, has been kidnapped by Kaleb and must be rescued before we can launch a successful battle against Kaleb.”

“Oh my!” Delina exclaimed.  “What will we do without her counsel?”

Benedick stood up forcefully.  “More important than that… what will he do with her?”

“My sentiments exactly,” Jareth replied.

The gauzy haze that surrounded Leenia pulsated as she spoke.  “Sage… You said earlier that we would go mad if we went outside.  Are the crows there?”

“Yes.”  The elf’s stance became firm, as a military leader preparing for battle, and his voice hard-edged, like a finely crafted elfin sword.  Approaching the table, he brought forth an image of the goings-on inside.  “We learned from Eberon that the crows can only affect those that they come in contact with.  I do believe that he will refrain from sending the crows into the castle, or any castle for that matter, for he, or one of his minions, will end up occupying the castle at some point, as he is here, and must therefore be protected from their magic.  I’m certain that he and Kaleb have already seen to it that the other kingdoms are similarly occupied by these magical crows.  As communications are cut off from within the castle, and it is likely that all of your armies have turned mad, I do not see the purpose in going outside to make contact with them.

“Surely there are some who were wise enough to stay indoors and are unaffected by the birds?” Delina offered.

“That is true.  But they would be too few in number to pose a battle against Kaleb.  And how would we get to them?”

Stroking his whiskers, Benedick responded, “Sage and I are quite familiar with battle, be it a battle of wills, brawn, or wit.  I do believe that we must approach this as a battle of wills and wit, as we are completely devoid of brawn.  We should not attempt battle against Kaleb, because we will only succeed in killing the elves, who are obviously out of their gourds.  What we have to do is destroy the crows, or to disable the spell.  But how do you uncast a spell on thousands of birds?  And, more than that, how do we get to them without being affected.”

Sage lit up.  “Aha!  I have an idea!  But, the key is for each of you to be able to get in touch with the so-called ‘survivors’ of your kingdoms and to take a journey upon each of yourselves.  I can’t think of any spells I could cast to keep the crows away.”

The beast king spoke resolutely.  “Wind… friend!”

“What a genius of a notion!” Benedick exclaimed.  “If the wind traveled with us, we could blow the buggers away!  Goodbye birdies!”  Benedick mimicked their demise with a swoop of his hand.

“Which would mean we would have to travel in a cluster,” Sage added.  “ Then split off at our respective kingdoms.”  He paced back and forth pondering it a bit more.  “And, I have another plan…  One that will allow us to recapture Sarah.  But I will need to speak to Leah.  She can help, assuming that she has not gone mad with the others.”

“How in blazes are we going to get out of here without attracting attention?” Benedick asked.

Suddenly, a wall moved on the east side of the room, sending the shocked entourage of Benedick running to the other side.  Once fully revolved, Sir Didymus, Hoggle, Leah, and Ambrosius could be seen.  “I am here to rescue you good kings and queens of the Underground.  Sir Didymus at your service.”  The fox bowed gracefully, removing his hat in the proper decorum.

“What an able fellow,” Jareth commented quietly.

Sage was all smiles.  “Sir Didymus, how kind of you!  Even a secret passage that I was unaware of, dear fellow!  You have always proven to be the pride of your queen!”

“Thank you, dear sir.  I await your orders.”

“So, Sage, are you going to tell us the central theme of your plan,” Benedick said, “or shall we wait until another horde of elves come banging at out door?”   

“Yes, I most certainly will,” Sage replied.  “The central theme of my plan is…

“Corn.”