Claw pinned the fiery man against the wall of the alley, a small regiment of three foot high ravens clustered around him. The walkman headphones that had fallen around his neck were blaring a song by David Bowie. His eyes boggled out of his head in confusion as the large bird stared down at him.

"Man, not cool pinning a brother down in the alley," he shot out nervously, his eyebrows flopping around nervously as he took in the mass of ravens behind him. "Look, I don't have any money on me, but you can take my walkman, and this new Nike watch." He brought the watch into the light and illustrated how its shape was slanted at an angle to make it easier to read the time. "See, man, it's gen-u-ine."

"I don't want your watch," Claw spat. "Tell me what you know about the Queen's counterpart."

"What, you don'mean the woman in Los Angeles who started the war?" The man whistled in appreciation. "Woo, boy, she's got some nerve, you know, I'm sure the Queen is gonna get her much worse than Rickman—"
Claw squeezed the man's neck tighter, and he stopped midsentence, swallowing uncomfortably. "You know what I'm talking about," Claw said, arching a feathered brow at him conclusively.

"I dunno," the man rasped in reply. "They say there is another version of the Queen running about, yeah." Claw loosened his grip. "That's what you mean, right?" he asked, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

"Continue..." Claw prodded with an intimidating glare.

"I don' know much," the fiery admitted. "They say she visits people in their sleep, and when they wake, they disappear." He shook his head, yellow-orange feathers popping out from his headband. "I think it's just some gossip, y'know, people tryin' to stir things up a bit."

"You know more than you're telling me," Claw said darkly.

"Naw, man, nothin'. What, you think someone else is tryin' to brew a war with the queen?" He slapped his knee appreciatively. "Woo-doggy, I tell ya, that would be crazy! Too many crazy people 'round here, thinkin' they can pull a fast one on Her Majesty! I'd never dream of doin' such a thing."

Claw finally seemed convinced, but he wasn't happy with the man's testimony. He had been following leads for the past twenty-six hours, and still had yet to turn up the location of Sarah's counterpart.

##

Every spring, the snowcaps of the Shadow Mountains melted and brought torrential waters down the Tilden River, creating new streams that branched out even further west, far away from the Goblin City. Centuries ago Jareth had begun his rule there, and many generations of humans had struck out further and further away, claiming new lands, and trying to make a new home far away from the Goblin King's tyranny. To these humans, who had trekked so far out that they rarely saw creatures other than their own kind, the story of the Goblin King had faded into myth. Distance and time had rendered it a faery story.

Because it was a story, though, few feared the tale any longer, and children sometimes played games of wishing their siblings and playmates away to the Goblin King. When children did in fact disappear, however, it rarely occurred to the parents to attribute the missing children to this mythical king.

In this land far away from the magic of its own world, humans lived in relative peace, with little exposure to the lands within. One specific settlement was the center of their society, and it grew in size with each decade. So large as to bring a strange group of travelers to the town that had not graced the land since ages long gone. The elves, always inquisitive and in search of unique knowledge, walked far to this land and brought their goods for trade.

Sage came with the first elf market to the far-off city of Unwat when he was still very young (by elf standards, at least). He had been the elf king Tanwald's advisor and purveyor of magics for many years, and had become a close companion to the king. His journey with the elf market was unusual, but the king had agreed to let him go despite his natural inclination to keep Sage at his side, because he wanted a party he felt he could trust to be present when the market engaged a new group of humans. As he knew the humans were far on the outskirts of the Underground and had probably had very little engagement from other cultures, he thought it best to have the tactful and diplomatic Sage present during first contact.

Sage spent many days in the city. The inhabitants were kind, doing their best to overcome their fear of the newcomers. Fear gave way to curiosity, and in time the elves were welcome every year to hold their market with the humans.

It was here that Sage had watched a young girl grow up each year, a beautiful and wild redhead by the name of Marlena. Sage had lived a long time but had never fallen in love with a human girl. It had been over forty years since his last bond to an elf woman who was two hundred years his senior. She had passed. They had no children.

It was always difficult for elves who fell in love with humans. It was a custom shunned by their society, because humans were so frail and short-lived. Wars had broken out before over elves falling in love with young girls, or over disputes of property that passed to the elves, who lived so much longer than any of their human relatives and thus never passed the property on to generations of humans within the family. It didn't happen often, as most elves were prone to wise behavior in these situations.

However it happened, time had made the act of inter-species marriage taboo. Sage held back his passions and merely passed the hours of visitation in this town by teaching the young girl magic.

Finally it was too much for Sage to even see her, so he remained in the elfin city every year after the girl's twelfth birthday. She was young and soon forgot him, as the young are prone to do. He did not forget her, but put her to the back of his mind in the way that elves had learned to do from many years of living and losing.

Ten years later, he had been wandering the forest outside of his realm in search of herbs to quell the aging king's migraines. He had climbed a tree to get some blossoms, but decided to take a nap in a soft nook of the branches. Just as he had begun to rest his summer hat over his eyes, he looked down to see a rare beauty wandering the forest in a similar search.

Her red hair was like a flame traveling the floor, crysanthemums in her grip. She was singing a song he knew from the nomad witches he knew who often camped on the outskirts of his city. He had never seen her before.

He became so engrossed in looking at her that he lost his footing and fell in an ungraceful heap to the floor.

She dropped her flowers and rushed to his side, her hair falling around her face as she gazed down upon him.

And he lost all ability to breathe. It was the young girl Marlena, grown. He never would have guessed in a million years that he might have seen her again. He thought he must have hit his head.

"Talk to me, you silly elf man! Are you well?"

He realized she had been talking to him. She did not seem to recall him. "Yes, yes, I am doing just fine, just fine, now."

She took him to her camp and cared for him with magic and herbs. She had traveled far with a tribe of witches, women intent upon seeing the rest of the world, despite the warnings of their fathers and mothers.

The omen was too potent for him to ignore. They married two years later, in the presence of the king. Months after their glorious wedding, the king died, leaving Sage to make the king's son into a man worthy of ruling a kingdom. But Eberon was a headstrong boy with his own ideas, strong bigotries.

It didn't take long for Eberon to find an excuse to exile Marlena. A year before he accused her of performing human witchcraft upon his father in an attempt to throw his kingdom. He framed her by having his food poisoned on a night when she was present at the court's feast, caring little for the death of the young elf who had tested his food that night.

It happened months after Sage and Marlena had brought a baby boy into the world. Vindar. Half elf, half human, and cursed to a life without his mother. He would have never known the great sadness that his father bore during his first few years of life. Sage raised the boy in the wilds with nomad tribes, teaching him joy of life and strength of self in the wild. It was only when Vindar would sneak up behind him in the wood, hiding behind a tree, when he would see his father sobbing beside the flames of the campfire, alone. He did not know why his father cried so, but it was the only time he had seen another elf shed tears.

##

Sage hung near the sleeping figure of Marlena in wait, watching the moon as it cast a soft glow on the curve of her chin. Having so much time to gaze upon his love in quiet, he had come to realize that he had forgotten some of her features. The hair, a vibrant, fiery red had stayed in his mind. But other details had been lost in a gentle blur of time.

Her lips curled into a dreamy smile, causing him to jerk his watchful eyes back to her face. She didn't appear to be awake yet, but was talking in her sleep. "What a great dream," she quietly mused.

Joy leapt in his chest as she sat upright, stretching fitfully and yawning, her eyes still closed. Finally her bright green eyes opened to greet the room, and she swallowed carefully, taking stock of her surroundings.

Then she noticed Sage. A big smile jumped to her face and she lunged toward him, showering him in kisses. "Oh you're here, you're here!"

She pulled back. Sage's olive face washed red in a happy glow as he looked deeply into the eyes of his love, holding her chin in his hand carefully, as if afraid she would break were he to move too suddenly.

"I wish Vindar were here to see this," Sage whispered as he stared into her eyes. They embraced tightly. "I'll not lose you again," he vowed breathlessly into her ear, his big eyes spilling over with tears.

##

Granen rushed into Sarah's tent, his freckles lit up in his excitement. "You won't believe this," he blurted, shaking his head. He grabbed her hand and dragged her from the confines of her quarters.

She rose the flap of the enclosure and stepped out. An army of people were approaching the site from the horizon, some carrying children, some carrying belongings.

"Where did they all come from?" Granen asked breathlessly, as Benedick, John, Vindar, and Hoggle rushed to the scene.

Sarah couldn't believe her eyes. Just as she had started to feel herself fading away, losing hope, the embers blew back into a frenzy in her soul by the site of the coming throng.

"They came from my dreams," she breathed.

At the head of the crowd were Ashley, Brenda, and Ling. The women smiled at her from far off, seeming to know instantly who she was.

"Maybe we'll win this after all," Sarah said, shocked at her own words.

Granen hooked his arm around her and squeezed tightly with renewed hope.

##

The dark shadows gathered around Claw. At their edges, creatures of all kinds gathered, bowing in their pledge of allegiance to the queen. As they bowed, they were engulfed in darkness, eyes glossing over and shining with red light.

Claw stood on a pedestal at their center as they rippled into darkness all around him. When the last one had changed over, he spoke in a booming voice. "Let's get one thing straight. I am your commander."

The figures nodded their understanding, a million red eyes blinking quietly in the darkness. An eerie rustling accompanied their motion.

Claw continued. "You do exactly what I say. I am the mouth of the queen, and I am the only voice you hear."

##

Toby couldn't find them anywhere. He had looked high and low for the gnomes, but they seemed nowhere to be found. He was looking under the pillow in his temporary bedroom, when a small, but very neat, piece of paper floated to the ground where it had been knocked from the cushion.

He picked it up and examined it. On its surface was a very small handwriting that he could not read with his naked eye. Just as he had begun to examine it, he heard a noise in the hallway, and the sound of excited voices.

He walked through the doorway and was greeted by a vision of Gail hugging the somewhat weak Marlena, and Sage beaming at their side.

"Marley!" he shouted gleefully and ran down the hall. Marlena let go of Gail and kneeled to hug the boy.

"Hello, Toby!"

"I'm so glad you are awake! Everyone was really worried about you."

Gail grinned. "I wasn't. I knew you were just taking a long nap. Trying to get out of work." The woman winked at her playfully.

Marlena let go of Toby and gave Sage a quick peck on the cheek. Toby's eyes widened with curiosity. The sound of dog's feet clipping up the steps could be heard as Didymus ran into the room, out of breath, to see what the commotion was.

"Is there trouble?" he blurted at the top of the last step, before he had opportunity to surmise the scene. "Lady Marlena!" he shouted and bowed deeply before her, removing his cap. "It is so good to see that you are well."

She bowed her head toward him. "Thank you, Didymus. I am more than alright."

"Do you know Sage?" Toby asked, curious over their easy affection.

"Yes, I do," she answered. "Sage is my husband. And Vindar is my son."

"WOW!" Toby made a little jump of excitement. "No way!"

Sage squeezed Marlena softly, still amazed at his good fortune. "Marlena and I were married many years ago, but it is a long story… She didn't remember her time in the Underground."

"But I remember everything, now." She glowed.

Gail smiled broadly. "That is the best news I've heard in a long while. Why don't we get some dinner and you can tell us some of the things you remember?"

Sage seemed unsure. "That would be lovely… but don't you need some rest?"

Marlena brushed his concern aside with a wave of her hand. "I have had quite enough of that."

With that, they all descended the stairs to begin a celebratory dinner. Toby declared that he needed to go to the restroom and hung back, waiting for everyone to go out of sight before he snuck into the nearby study.

Quietly he looked through drawers for a magnifying glass. When his search came up empty, he broadened his search to try to find something useful. He finally realized that the lamp on the desk had a magnifying glass built in, and he turned it on, putting the tiny letter underneath to examine it.

It was written in a sloppy, cursive scrawl, but he managed to read it.

"hulo yung chap. yoo may've noticd we've taken flight, so t' speak. dun't fret, we've gun to git Jarth, he's a close frend of ourz. dun't wery, we'll be safe. sav us sum food n spiritz. – Scotty"

Toby scowled and tucked the letter into his pocket. "Crazy gnomes. Always getting into trouble."