Chapter One: Into the Oubliette

"Robert!" Sarah sat up rigid in bed, gray eyes wide.

"Mmf?" Her husband rolled over and thrust an arm across the bed. "Darling?"

"It's Robert." She was standing at her vanity table, cupping a small clear crystal ball in her palm.

"It's just a bad dream, Sarah. Go back to sleep." Jareth pulled at the blankets, attempting to readjust them.

"No, it's not. Look." She stuck the glowing crystal under his nose. "He's tromping through the forest with Didymus!"

"Yes. I see that." The Goblin King raised a pointed eyebrow. "And?"

"And it's the middle of the night!" Sarah yelped, waving at the moonlight leaking through the window around the edges of the curtain.

Jareth shrugged and rolled back over. "He's a boy, Sarah. Boys do things like this."

"He's talking about leaving the Labyrinth, Jareth." Sarah put her hands on her hips and glared at her husband.

"That's nice," he mumbled.

"Jareth!" The Goblin Queen yanked the blankets off her husband. "Have you forgotten?"

"Hey!" Jareth leaped out of bed and grabbed the other end of the blankets. "In case you hadn't noticed, I happen to be trying to sleep. You may have forgotten, dear, but we did just send home a baby with his mother only three hours ago, and we both have to get up at sunrise, which, I believe is only in a few more hours. So, if you don't mind, I would like to go back to bed, and I suggest you do the same!" He yanked on the cloth, but his wife refused to let go. "Oh, come on, Sarah! The boy is twelve! He can handle himself!"

The Goblin Queen responded calmly but firmly, "if Robert leaves the Labyrinth, he'll get sick and die."

Jareth dropped the blankets. "We don't know that."

"I do." Sarah stubbornly went on, gripping the blanket more and more tightly. "I don't know how I know, but I do. I woke up knowing it."

The Goblin King stepped slowly forward and placed his hands on his wife's elbows. "Sarah, you're trembling!"

"My son," her eyes filled with water, "is going to try to leave the Labyrinth," she swallowed hard, "and if he does, he will get sick and die." Her voice cracked on the last word. "One of us," she added in a whisper, "has to do something about it. Please."

"Don't worry, Sarah." Jareth pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, "everything is going to be fine."

***

"I'm going to find the edge," Robert announced to Didymus with a yawn. "I was looking for Hoggle, because he knows the Labyrinth better than anyone besides my dad. If there is an edge, he'd know where it was."

"I see." Sir Didymus answered quietly. "Perhaps if we rested until morning-"

"No!" Robert fought against another yawn. "I will not rest. If I stop now, they'll come and find me."

"Sire, the labyrinth is especially dangerous after nightfall – surely thou knowest this!"

"I'm not afraid!" The Goblin Prince declared as he continued tramping through the grass.

They were almost to the edge of the forest then, and Robert could see the walls of the brick maze ahead, dark in the moonlit night. He jogged past the last of the tall, leafy trees and continued until his boots were tapping against the bricks.

Sir Didymus hurried after Robert, whistling and calling for Ambrosius. Luckily, the big white sheepdog wasn't too far behind and caught up quickly. Fully mounted on his steed, Didymus felt better about venturing into the dark and shadowy maze, but only just a little.

"Are we still looking for Hoggle, then?" Sir Didymus inquired when they had ventured fairly deeply into the brick area of the Labyrinth.

"Kind of," Robert answered thoughtfully. "Hoggle lives at the front gate, right?"

"That is correct."

"Then he has to be around there sometime, or if he isn't then he has to eventually go back there, right?"

"One would assume so, sire."

"Then, all we have to do is get to the front gate, right?"

"Why, yes." Sir Didymus tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, "but that could take an entire day, my prince."

"Not," Robert couldn't stop the smirk that formed on his lips, "if I know a short cut."

"Oh dear," Didymus felt his heart sink down into his stomach. "Short cuts never go well in the Labyrinth," he muttered. "It's a Labyrinth. There aren't supposed to be shortcuts." Ambrosius whimpered.

"Here it is!" Robert bent down and pried a lump of bricks off the ground. "The oubliette!"

"Why does everyone always call it 'THE oubliette'?" Sir Didymus asked as he stared down into the blackness below. "I thought there were a lot of them all over the Labyrinth?"

"Sometimes it seems like there's a lot," Robert answered as he crouched above the hole, "but actually there's only one that moves all over the Labyrinth."

"Aha! I think I may have guessed at thine logic!" Sir Didymus exclaimed.

"Oh yeah?" Robert smiled at his furry friend. "And what do you think my logic is?"

"You expect that this oubliette will move us closer to the entrance of the Labyrinth!"

Robert laughed. "I wish it was that easy! This is just how we get to the shortcut." He swung his legs over the edge of the hole.

"Ah." Sir Didymus glanced from the Goblin Prince to the dark hole, and back to the prince, then back at the hole. "After you, then, sire."

"Right." Robert swallowed, shut his eyes and pushed himself off into the hole.

Didymus listened as the prince thumped on the floor of the oubliette. Then he looked down at Ambrosius, who whimpered loudly.

"Well?" Robert asked as he lit the candle stub. "Are you coming, Sir Didymus?"

"Now, now, Ambrosius." Didymus tried to calm his dog, "it's just a little dark down there, that's all. It's not even that far of a drop." The sheepdog let out a bark and ran in the opposite direction. "Ambrosius!" Didymus shouted. "I'll be right there, Prince Robert!"