For a third time, Sarah found herself tending Jareth's wounds. It was, she thought, getting to be a habit. She finished cleaning the cuts on his arm, and wished she had something to bind them with, since two of them were quite deep. The bruising from his fall she could do nothing about, although fortunately he didn't seem to have broken anything.

The two of them were sitting on the edge of an ornamental fountain, the centrepiece of which was an exquisite statue of a leaping dolphin, emerging from the crest of a stone wave; the detail so lifelike she almost expected it to finish its leap and dive back into the clear water of the basin.

'Jehanna's work,' Jareth had said when she asked. His hand had stretched out to touch the worn stone. 'She missed the sea.'

So do you, don't you? She thought then, seeing the look on his face. Not the pain she'd seen when Jehanna's name had been mentioned in the past, but a faraway expression of regret, of loss.

So many unanswered questions.

Maybe, when this was over, there would be time to find some answers.

For the present, they were in a small walled courtyard. The fountain was the centrepiece, but around the walls were statues in the same lifelike style – although after taking a close look at one of the groups, Sarah had blushed and not investigated too closely.

The blight that tainted the rest of the Labyrinth seemed, for the time being at least, to have passed by this little enclave. The trailing night blooming flowers that covered the ancient brick were fresh and untouched, their sweet scent filled the night air and had the effect of clearing the mind and promoting a sense of peace.

Maybe a little too much. She yawned, and Jareth, without warning, picked her up and carried her to one of the benches that lined the courtyard.

'I don't – ' she began. He shushed her and laid her down.

'You've been awake since yesterday morning. We can afford an hour or two. Rest.'

She tried protesting, but it did no good. His hand stroking her hair gently was sending her to sleep, even as she struggled against it. A spell… she thought.

'That's not fair…' she managed to say, before sleep claimed her.

Jareth's hand rested lightly on her dark hair. 'No, it isn't.' He bent down and kissed her lightly. He turned his attention to the figure skulking in the shadows. 'Hoggle, if you're going to glare at me all night, at least do it where I can see you.'

The dwarf shuffled out into the faint light cast by the flickering blue-flamed torches that lined the courtyard. 'You didn't ought to do that,' he said.

'What? Make her sleep? She needs to rest. Besides, since when do I have to justify myself to you?'

'Since you need my help getting back to your own castle,' said Hoggle. 'Besides, she's my friend. I don't want to see her getting hurt.'

'She isn't – not by me. And as for friendship – you didn't display much of that a few hours ago, now did you?' Jareth hid a small smile of satisfaction as the dwarf hung his head in shame. A small victory.

Over an easy target.

He conjured a small crystal and tossed it to the dwarf. 'Make yourself useful - take this and see if any of my goblins are still outside. I might still need them, if something hasn't snacked on them.'

Hoggle caught the crystal but looked rebellious. 'Why should I?'

Jareth gave the dwarf his mildest smile, and watched him flinch. 'Do you really want to try my patience, Higgle?'

'Oh! it's Hoggle!' Hoggle stamped his foot, but did as he was told.

Far too easy…

Once Hoggle was out of sight and earshot, he leaned back on the bench wearily, his uninjured arm around Sarah. She looked exhausted.

The dwarf was right, I should never have got you involved in this… His hand stroked her cheek, and he smiled as she leaned into his touch, even in sleep.

Memory stirred, a voice carried down through the centuries…

***

'I love him!' Jehanna cried. She stood in front of him, defiantly, long silvery hair falling like a waterfall over the shoulders of a sea-green gown.

'Love! What do you know of love? You're little more than a child!' He scoffed. Why couldn't she see that he had her best interests in mind?

'More than you do!' she threw the accusation in his face, and followed up her advantage. 'My beautiful brother, you could take your pick from any of them - and you do. They're like moths to a flame - each of them thinks they can get close, but they all burn, don't they?'

'Jenna, be warned -' He never raised his voice to her, but he came close, as her words cut him.

'You think I planned this? You don't plan love, Jareth; it's not one of your little games. What will it take to make you see that?'

'Three hundred years and an attempt on my life by a madman,' Jareth whispered to the ghostly memory of a woman long dead. 'And you were right about him as well, Jenna.' He turned his attention back to the living.

***

Sarah was standing in the throne room of the castle, only this time Devin was at her side.

'You look terrible,' she said. He gave a rueful smile.

'I can assure you, it feels worse than it looks. But trust me, if I get the chance, Calion is going to feel far worse.' He stared around the room. 'Can you feel it?'

'Feel what?'

'Iorweth's holding it by a thread. The Labyrinth is responding to Jareth's presence, and your own. Look.' He led her over to a large window in a side passage that overlooked the city. 'Look closely.'

Sarah tried to follow the direction of his gaze, but saw only the Labyrinth, spread over the valley beneath them.

'Look with better eyes,' Devin whispered.

She concentrated, and saw what he meant. 'It's clearing!' The dark taint was losing its coherence, patterns and trails now disrupted the progress it had made through the maze. Certain areas, especially, she noted, the forest, were still darkened almost to the point of obscurity.

'It's resisting,' Devin corrected. He staggered, and she reached a hand out to steady him.

It passed through his dream form.

'Don't worry. It's just that I can't keep this up for long in this state.' He straightened. 'Jareth's only going to get one chance to tip the balance in his favour, you know. You have to tell him. Warn him…'

'About what?'

'If he doesn't get it right, Iorweth, even under this strain, is strong enough to kill him if he misses. And Sarah – '

'Yes?'

'Whatever you do, don't let him leave you alone.'

She was about to ask more, when the room and Devin faded from sight, and she was opening her eyes in the darkened garden, Jareth's lips on her brow.

'It's time,' he said simply, helping her sit up. Behind him, Hoggle stood, looking nervous, with Fleck, Mags, Zuse and more surprisingly a bedraggled looking Whisper.

Overhead, the sky was lightening as the sun began to rise.

***

'You got it?'

'I got it.'

Two goblins backed out of the tunnel, choking on the dust.

'We're through!' the smaller of the two called out, waving the scorpion sting on the end of its tail. One of the waiting crowd shushed it. 'Sorry,' it mumbled.

'What we waiting for?' another asked. 'Beer!'

The goblins surged towards the tunnel entrance, which was hidden quite nicely between what had been the armoury, and one of the (now sadly defunct) taverns.

'What about the king?' a large lumbering goblin with a moonshaped face and impossibly long ears mumbled. 'He don't like us raiding the cellars…' The raiding party stopped in its tracks.

'Awww,' said another. 'We just won't tell 'im, right boys?' The goblins all nodded. En masse, they restarted their surge.

***

'You know,' Sarah said with a sniff. 'There's an awful smell up ahead.'

She didn't remember this part of the Labyrinth. Tiny narrow brick walled walkways covered in blighted ivy and creepers, broken flagstones underfoot and the occasional gleam of bone sticking out from under leaf drifts.

'It leads to the Dump, eventually,' Jareth said. 'Although it's rarely used.' He coughed then as a gust of wind carried the scent to him. 'I've got a horrible feeling about this…'

They rounded the next corner, and both Hoggle and Sarah were brought up sharply, by Jareth grabbing them and pulling them back. Creeping slowly towards them along the floor was a dark, brackish slime, with a stench that Sarah remembered all too well.

'Back. Now!' Jareth ordered. Ahead of the slow creep, they ran back, goblins in tow, to the last turning.

'But the Bog's over there, isn't it?' Sarah asked, pointing. Hoggle was trying not to throw up in a corner, cheered on by the goblins.

'He drained the Bog of Eternal Stench into the Labyrinth!' Jareth was furious. 'Idiot. This whole section will have to be completely destroyed.'

'If we survive,' Sarah muttered darkly.

Jareth ignored the comment. 'Well we can't go that way. Any bright ideas, Hogbrain?' Mags sidled up to him and tapped his knee. 'What?'

'Can't go round - go over!' she pointed up the wall. Zuse was swarming up the brickwork using Fleck's tail as a rope, Whisper following. Sarah looked sceptically at the crumbling brick work.

'It might hold their weight, but what about us?'

'It should hold,' Jareth said, looking equally dubious. 'He picked Mags up and placed her on top of the nearest wall. 'I'm more worried by the fact that one of them had the idea.'

Hoggle sniggered, Sarah looked puzzled. 'Why?'

'Because,' Jareth said, 'goblins and good ideas have a tendency to be a disastrous combination.'

'Cynic,' Sarah whispered as he lifted her onto the wall.

'Long experience,' he replied. 'Hoggle!' Jareth beckoned to the dwarf. 'Now you.'

'Hoggle backed away. 'I don't trust you.' Sarah rolled her eyes, Jareth sighed heavily.

'Hoggle, if I was going to toss you over the wall, I'd have done it by now. Sarah - you talk to him!'

Careful not to fall, Sarah reached down a hand. 'Hoggle, please? Won't you trust him?'

'No. And you shouldn't neither. He ain't changed none - you think he's going to be so likeable if he gets back on the throne? Bah - you don't want to be taken in because he's feeling sorry for hisself at the moment, or you feel sorry for him.'

'Hoggle,' Jareth said with a tight smile. 'While I'm fascinated by this critique of my personality and motives, there is a time and a place - and this is neither. So either you let me push you up the wall now, or I will leave you here.'

Hoggle glared rebelliously at him for a moment, then sighed, and allowed himself to be helped onto the wall. Jareth, with a little help from Sarah, followed.

'This way, ' I believe,' he said, and started off along the narrow wall, goblins scampering behind him. Less sure footed, Sarah took it a little more steadily, Hoggle trailing a long way behind.

Jareth slowed to let her catch up after a minute or two. 'He's wrong,' he said suddenly. Sarah, concentrating on keeping her footing, took a while before answering.

'I know,' she said. Her foot slipped, and she almost fell, caught at the last moment by Jareth. Looking down, she noticed that he'd caught her with his injured arm, and the wounds were bleeding again.

'It's nothing,' he said, seeing the direction of her gaze.

'Liar,' Sarah replied softly. That had to be hurting… She looked back then to see Hoggle, still struggling to catch up, and resolutely not catching her eye. Sarah sighed. One more thing to sort out after all of this was over.

She followed Jareth along the line of the wall, and tried hard not to think too much about the future.

Which, like the castle, was getting closer all the time.

***

Calion opened the door to the cell and walked in. Devin waited until he was within reach before getting to his feet in an untelegraphed, fluid move worthy of Jareth himself, forcing the already twitchy wolf-lord to jump out of range. With an elegant flourish, Devin bowed.

'Welcome to my humble abode. Sorry I can't offer you anything for breakfast, my lord - unless rats are to your taste?' He rattled his chains for additional effect.

'Still defiant?' Calion snarled. 'We shall see.' He grabbed Devin by the hair and pulled his face close to his own.

'Oh, sorry, is it torture again today?' Devin asked with studied insolence. 'Damn, what a bore. Couldn't you find something a little more entertaining?' Where the bloody hell were Jareth and Sarah? he wondered. They should have been here by now, surely?

'If you're waiting for a rescue, you're out of luck. Iorweth's managed to force them into taking one of the older sections of the Labyrinth. I'm afraid they'll be delayed.' Despite the relish he gave to the words, Devin sensed that Calion wasn't pleased with the situation.

'Which means you probably won't be able to get your hands on Sarah before she arrives here with Jareth, at a guess.' Devin smiled as patronisingly as he could with his lip feeling twice its usual size. 'Such a pity…'

Calion's ruined face filled his vision as the Fae drew him closer. 'Well now, I'll have to make do with you, won't I?' Calion's mind reached for Devin's -

-and the Sidhe screamed, as the Dreamweaver caught it in his own. Devin lost a lock of hair has Calion slipped to the floor unconscious. Devin didn't bother to catch him. Dropping quickly to the Calion's side, he propped him against the wall, so that to an observer looking through the grill in the cell door, it would look as if it was Calion at work on Devin, instead of the other way around.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled slowly and placed himself into the weaving he'd crafted last night.

Buying time, with a little pay back, and with a little luck, he might be able to befuddle the idiot enough to trick him into releasing the manacles into the bargain.

But first…

Devin smiled grimly, as he moved into the dreamstate where his victim awaited. There was nothing that said he couldn't give Calion a taste of his own particular talent.

In the dream, he stared down at Calion, who cowered in the corner of a cell, chained with iron manacles. 'You know,' he said conversationally, kneeling at his side. 'I couldn't think of anything better to do today either.'

***

'Jump'

Jareth had managed the leap quite nimbly, even considering the pain he was in. Sarah stared at the gap between them. It's only a few feet, you can do it, she told herself.

The ground lay over fifty feet beneath them, the result of the recent upheavals in the valley. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, realised that was probably a stupid thing to do, opened them again and jumped.

She fell slightly short, and landed teetering on the edge, to be caught by Jareth's hand, and Fleck's tail wrapped around her ankle. 'Thanks' she said to both as Jareth pulled her away from the edge.

'Hoggle!' Jareth called. On the other side of the gap, Hoggle looked even more unhappy than usual.

'I'll never make it across there.'

Sarah exchanged a look with Jareth, who shrugged. 'He's right, actually, I don't think he will.'

'Can't you do something?'

He started fiddling with a glove, but she caught his hand in hers. 'Knock it off, you always do that when you want to avoid the question. We can't just leave him there!'

'We're close to the castle now, I daren't risk weakening myself further. He'll be all right until we get back. If we don't, it's academic anyway.' She just continued to hold his gaze, until he sighed. 'Oh very well. Hoggle, walk forward. And keep walking.'

'But…'

'Just do it. If you won't trust me, at least bear in mind that if I let you fall, I'll never hear the end of it from Sarah,' he snapped. And as the dwarf obediently took a step towards the edge, Jareth began to sing.

There was magic in music, she'd read once. Especially amongst the Faeborn. And she'd heard him sing before - his voice was strong, beautiful, but slightly husky. It had a way, she thought, of cutting straight through to her soul. The words were in a language she didn't recognise - lyrical and lilting.

As if in response, she felt a breeze brush gently over her face, and in the gap between where they were standing and the wall, she saw the air shimmer and solidify. Looking as if he thought he was going to fall headfirst into the gap, Hoggle waddled across as fast as he could, and Sarah helped him onto their side. As his feet touched the ground, Jareth's voice tailed away, and the shimmering air disappeared between one breath and the next, with a sound like a soft sigh.

'Couldn't you have done that for us?' Sarah asked as they left the fault.

'I could. I'd been hoping I wouldn't have to.' Jareth shook his head. 'It's not even as if he's going to be much use to us.'

'Never mind that!' Sarah pointed. 'Look!' In front of them, only about a hundred yards away, were the outer walls of the city.

***

'My Lord!' A dark-skinned hobgoblin bowed in front of the throne where Iorweth lounged.

'Yes?'

'The Goblin King, and the girl. They're almost at the city walls. You want I send a patrol?'

Iorweth smiled. 'No. Where are they?'

'The west wall,' the creature replied, after a moments thought and a quick check on it's directions.

'Take a patrol into the city, if they get that far, meet them inside the gates.' With a gesture, he dismissed the hob, and settled back down in the throne, shifting uncomfortably. 'Really, you'd think it could have been upholstered.' He sighed. After he'd finished with Jareth, he'd seriously think about what to do with the Labyrinth and its castle. Demolishing it completely might have had an appeal, but he'd found that there were certain advantages to this peculiar little kingdom after all. For those who were willing to take advantage of them.

'The west wall?' he laughed to himself. Well well. Jareth was in for a nasty surprise. At times like this, he wished he had his victims' expertise with the viewing crystals that were left in his private chambers. But still, one couldn't have everything.

Calion, he remembered, had had a little luck with using the damn things. He called a hob over. 'Bring me Calion,' he told it. 'He'll probably be torturing the Dreamer.'

***

'It looks too easy,' Jareth muttered. In front of them, only a series of tumbledown buildings stood between them and the city walls. Actually, Sarah thought, they looked more like tombs…

'They are,' Jareth told her when she asked. 'These are the sepulchres of the goblin kings. The real ones, that is.'

'Before that war?' Sarah asked. Hoggle harrumphed.

'Huh. Ya told her about the history then?'

'A little,' Jareth said quietly, staring at the landscape.

'Hah. Didn't think you'd tell her everything.'

'Will you shut up? I'm trying to see.' Jareth conjured a crystal and stared into its depths. 'Nothing,' he said eventually, causing it to dissolve into a shower of glitter. 'I'm still being warded.'

A sudden screech made them all look up. Sarah moved closer to Jareth on instinct, Hoggle cowered.

'Fleck!' Sarah cried out. The little goblin had gone exploring on his own it seemed - he was being held up by his tail by a large, shaggy furred but skeletally thin creature that had the longest arms she'd ever seen. It was almost goblin like, she thought, but not quite.

The creature spun the shrieking Fleck around its head and let go, sending the little goblin spinning over their heads, to slam straight into the wall of one of the tombs, sliding down it to land in a heap of tail at its foot, twitching slightly.

'Spriggans! Hoggle moaned. More of the creatures were coming out of hiding now, surrounding them. Mags hissed at one that came too close and it threw back its head and howled, causing the tombs to shake. The goblins drew closer to their king, trembling. Jareth picked up Fleck and handed it to Sarah, who cradled the whimpering goblin gently.

There were now six spriggans surrounding them. At her side, Sarah heard Jareth swear under his breath (presumably in goblin, since Zuse looked at him in horror and stuffed her pigtails into her ears.)

'What do they do?' Sarah asked.

'Tear things apart, usually,' said Hoggle. 'Old buildings usually, but people will do…'

One of the creatures howled again and reaching for the nearest tomb with those impossibly long arms began pulling the stonework apart with long fingers, throwing the brickwork at them. Two of the others followed suit, and Sarah was ducking the missiles, almost forgetting the others. One reached for her, grabbing her hair, and she screamed, pulling free only with an effort. It gibbered at her and moved closer.

'Do something!' she heard Hoggle shout. Whisper squealed as a spriggan made a grab for it, coming away with a handful of hair. It jumped onto Hoggle, and Sarah saw the Jareth had gathered up Zuse and Mags. They were sitting on his shoulders, clinging on for dear life. Jareth had three crystals in his hands.

'Run straight ahead!' Sarah heard him call. 'Don't whatever you do look back.' Grabbing Hoggle with a free hand, Sarah sprinted for the city walls, and dimly heard Jareth behind her. A spriggan jumped out at her and she screamed again as long clawed fingers raked her shoulder.

'Get off me!' she yelled.

As in the forest, she felt the same push of concentration, a force of will behind her words. The creature backed off, shaking its head. Not stopping, Sarah ran on.

And behind her, she felt the ground shake - once, twice, three times. On the third, she lost her footing and sprawled onto the ground, almost flattening Fleck. Jareth's hands picked her up.

'That won't hold them back for long, come on!'

And they were running headlong for the city wall, in what felt like the longest hundred yards of her life.

She leaned against the wall when they reached it, desperately trying to get her breath back. Hoggle was groaning beside her.

'Hurry up, they're coming!' she heard him shout.

'I know that. I can't find the door… ' Jareth snapped. 'It should be - '

Sarah heard Mags squeak in terror, and looked back to see three spriggans racing towards them with a loping, ground eating gait.

'…here!' Jareth said triumphantly. A section of the wall slid back. 'Come on!'

Needing no urging, Sarah and Hoggle followed him through. Jareth found the mechanism to close the door just as the spriggans reached the wall, and Sarah heard a muffled thump as they hit the wall, and howls of frustration.

Followed by sounds of tearing from the other side.

'Do they give up?' she asked. Jareth shook his head. He looked so exhausted, she realised, looking at him. Paler than normal, and drawn.

'No. They don't give up. It might take them some time to get through though, so I suggest we leave.' He offered Sarah his hand. 'Welcome,' he said quietly, 'To the goblin city. Remind me someday to show you around when you're not being chased by something…'

In spite of everything, his dry comment raised a small laugh. He smiled down at her and drew her closer. Sarah let Fleck drop to the floor and let Jareth hold her for a moment, before looking around.

They were standing in a tiny dark alleyway, formed by a gap between a row of ramshackle houses and the city wall. The cracked paving underfoot was littered with refuse. Jareth conjured a small glowing orb for them to see by, startling a small black cat which shot across their path, startling Sarah.

'If I'm not mistaken, ' Jareth said, 'that's Karbob Lane over there. Which should lead us to the Market Square. Shall we?'

Sarah brushed aside yet another set of wet clothes hanging on a washing line strung across the lane. 'It's too quiet, I've got a bad feeling about this.'

'Tain't natural,' Hoggle agreed, looking nervously around. Only a few yards in front of them, they could see the square, with the ornamental fountain at it's centre - still missing a spigot or two, Sarah could see even from here. Well I wasn't the one blowing the place up... Were those stone goblins doing what she thought they - Ohyes. She tried to find something else to look at - and almost walked into Jareth's back.

'Stay back,' he warned her. 'I don't like this.'

'An ambush?' she asked. He shook his head.

'It's far too quiet - where are the goblins?'

'We're almost at the castle with an army between us and Iorweth, and you're worried about the goblins?' Sarah hissed.

'If you'd been around them for as long as I have, so would you be…' he snapped back. 'I've not seen any except these four with us since we entered the city…'

'Except those?' Hoggle asked, pointing upwards towards the walls of the castle, which reared up ahead of them.

Sarah looked, and gagged. 'Oh god…' Even Jareth looked shocked.

Arranged on top of the castle walls was a long row of goblin heads. Most of them of the larger variety, as far as she could see, and the dingy grey of the walls was now streaked with dark rusty stains along its length.

'There must be over a hundred of them…' she whispered, burying her face in Jareth's shoulder. His arm went around her automatically and his grip tightened.

'For this, I will kill him…' she heard him mutter coldly. 'That's the entire Guard.'

'So's that,' said Hoggle suddenly. Marching out from several side streets, with a menacing purpose that made the memory Sarah had of their goblin counterparts seem ridiculous by comparison, were several ranks of Hobgoblins, armoured and armed - the front ranks with large blunderbusses and those behind with axes, as far as Sarah could see.

Jareth pushed Sarah back out of sight behind a rickety house. 'We'll never get through them,' he whispered. 'Let's just hope they're only looking for us, and not on our trail.'

'What now?' she asked quietly, listening to the ominous tread of the hobgoblins.

'We go around. I think I remember a way around to the other side of the Square.'

'I hope you're right'

'So do I,' Jareth replied shortly. 'One of those spikes on the city walls is probably reserved for my head, and I prefer to keep it on my shoulders, if you don't mind.' He led them back down the alley.

***

The hobgoblin patrols had spread out all over the city, or so it felt. They'd been dodging groups of them for over half an hour when they finally found the city's inhabitants. Jareth stared down at the gaping hole that took up most of a back alley between a rather run down (even by goblin standards) tavern, and what was left of the armoury.

A large group of goblins was huddled on the edge of the hole, peering into it with interest.

'And just what, pray, are you all doing here?' Jareth asked, grabbing the nearest goblin by the ear.

'They's under the wall, yer majesty!' It squeaked breathlessly.

'I see. And the purpose of this would be?'

'Well, the beer ran out, and this wall grew up, and since the brewery's in the castle, we thought…'

'Thought? That would be a first,' Jareth snorted.

Sarcasm, however, was wasted on goblins. A sizeable group of which were now gathered around their monarch, chattering nineteen to the dozen, and occasionally poking Sarah and sniggering. She put up with it for about three minutes before slapping them away.

'Quiet!' Jareth snapped eventually. 'You - you and you,' he pointed to three of the larger, and to Sarah's untrained eye more intelligent looking goblins, 'Take as many as you can round up and get rid of those hobgoblins. I don't care how you do it, I want them out of my city.'

'But they got the armoury!' one of them pointed out.

'Makes a change,' Hoggle muttered, 'the goblins usually manage to blow it up themselves every time they make a new batch of black powder…'

Jareth ignored him. 'Improvise,' he told the goblin. One or two of the group suddenly got a gleam in their eyes. Jareth turned to Sarah. 'And I just know I'm going to regret saying that,' he whispered conspiratorially in her ear as he walked past her. 'You!'

'Me?' mumbled a grey-moustached goblin.

'This new wall. Take me there, now. The rest of you - what are you waiting for? Move!' The last order was one of the few times Sarah had heard him raise his voice. With startled jumps, the goblins rushed to obey.

Jareth turned to Sarah. 'You should stay here. Hoggle might be able to get you out if -' She touched a finger to his lips.

'Devin said you shouldn't leave me alone. And I'm not leaving you.'

'I have to face him alone,' Jareth told her.

'Because that is how it is done…' Sarah whispered.

'What?'

'Nothing.' She shook her head. 'You can't. And you know it. Even if I'm not much help, I can watch your back. Besides, you said you needed to break the gameplan he's set for you. He's counting on you going in alone - it might make the difference.'

He regarded her with a neutral gaze for a heartbeat. 'I can't keep you safe in there,' he said quietly.

'I know.' Her resolve didn't waver. 'But I can't sit here and wait, it would kill me.' It is doing…

Those oddly mismatched eyes searched hers again. Without breaking from that searching gaze, he reached out to take her hand, and raised it to his lips, kissing it lightly. 'When this is over, be warned, I do not intend to let you go so easily this time.' Under the almost bantering tone she heard something else, for a moment. A promise?

She met and held his gaze with ease. 'What made you think I'd fight it?'

Memory, again: Hoggle's voice… 'Even if you do get to the centre of the Labyrinth, you'll never get out again…'

This time, she thought, I don't want to…If we survive…

'Come,' Jareth said, interrupting her reverie. 'It's time.'