Sarah sat with her chin in her hands looking out of the bay window in the living room. It was a gray day outside, the type that made her want to go for a walk. A cold breeze was blowing, ruffling the red leaves that were scattered about the street. She grabbed her black hoodie from the stairs and slipped on her now rather worn moccasins.
"I'm going for a walk!" she shouted up the stairs for the benefit of her stepmother, then slipped out the door with the quiet expectation of a fall afternoon.
Within ten minutes she was crossing the stone bridge that had always made her think of castles and fairytales. As she reached the top, she paused to watch the water and think. Ever since she was a little girl and had come to the park with her mother, they had played this game. Once they reached the top of the bridge, they would look into the water and decide what character they would be in the park that day. Sarah peered over the stone wall, conscious of the old men feeding ducks that were now staring at her. In the water she searched for inspiration; a princess, a swashbuckling pirate, a mysterious gypsy woman. The wind died down and her image stilled. Today something was different. All she could see was herself in the pond, arms tight to her sides, hands jammed in her denim pockets for warmth.
All at once she was reminded of a time three years ago when she had rushed to the park with her character in mind. She had dashed over the bridge as the maiden princess from Labyrinth. Sarah smiled and strode across the bridge, bringing herself into that familiar character. She stepped onto the rippling grass and began to murmur a monologue.
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way to the castle beyond the goblin city. For my will…" she trailed off. Something was wrong. "Beyond the goblin city…" she pondered the unsavory misplaced line on her lips. Of course! "To take back the child that you have stolen." It seemed such an unlikely line to miss. It was, after all, the reason the maiden princess had fought her way through the labyrinth.
All in a rush, Sarah realized something very grave. "No, no it's not possible. I couldn't have…" She had remembered the time when she had last spoken these words. Spoken them to the Goblin King. "Had I really…" She shook her head. "It's true. I had forgotten. I'd forgotten why I was there," she muttered as she passed by a pair of wizened old men on a bench. "He had no power over me. But still. I knew I needed to get Toby back, but that wasn't important anymore. It was my own battle. A battle for my own power. Huh." The revelation struck her as odd. The whole adventure, though poignant and spurred by Toby, had somehow ended in her own battle. Her selfless journey to save her brother had turned out to be selfish after all. With this thought Sarah stopped abruptly, stared at the lake blurrily, then turned on the spot and began to walk home.
Sarah blundered back in a stupor. How could that have happened? How could she not have realized it until then? It cheapened everything. And then Jareth- The Goblin King. She had to stop referring to him as Jareth. The Goblin King had seemed so devastated. It was more than defeat, it was loss. Loss of something he had so desired. She hadn't given his final look much thought, nor his final words. Suddenly all she could think about was how it had all ended. How he had been so upset. She had always assumed it was from defeat. But now a pang of doubt echoed through her mind.
She had already gone halfway up the stairs at home before she realized her stepmother was talking to her.
"-He should be in bed by eight, he has school tomorrow. The water's boiling, spaghetti's on the counter next to it."
"Yes," Sarah mumbled dreamily. Karen was going out with her Dad that night. Ironic.
Sarah pondered about her revelations as she prepared the dinner she and Toby were to share that night. They ate, Toby jabbering about some friends of his who were rather imaginative. Sarah tuned most of it out, still absorbed in her thoughts. She took Toby up to bed, tucked him in, and did the dishes. By the time she had settled down on her own bed, her only conclusion was that she was not selfish in wanting her own growth from the adventure and that she had never completely forgotten Toby.
"There. See? You're not important anyway, Goblin King."
But that still didn't explain Jareth. She lay on her bed a few minutes more, then rose and wandered down to the living room to sit in the bay window where she had been earlier. "I don't even know why I was afraid of you." She propped herself on a pillow and took to gazing out at the moon peeking through the thinner clouds. "Sheesh, it's been a while since I thought about all this."
"It has been quite some time, Sarah," came a voice from behind her. Sarah jumped so much that she slipped onto the ground with a crash.
"-the hell- Ah…." Sarah stuttered herself into a dumb silence, then managed to back against the bay window seat until she was quite sure she was cornered, eyes wide. She stared up at the king from her spot on the floor. "It's you," she said, feeling more than a little silly.
"Yes, my precious thing. It's me. And it's time to go," he was wearing the same flowing garb he had worn the last time he had appeared in her house. She found it amusing in a way, though she was far too startled by his presence to admit it to herself.
"Go where? What?"
Jareth smirked and put his hand on his hip. "Now don't tell me you've forgotten, Sarah." She stared at him blankly for a time, then he whipped out a crystal and began rolling it about in the manner of someone impatiently bored. "We're going back to my castle." She continued to stare blankly. "You know, the one at the center of the Labyrinth. It's rather hard to miss."
"Why?"
"Why? Because it's in the center of a labyrinth and it is quite large, silly girl. Whatever do you mean?" Sarah dimly noted the sarcasm in his tone as he teased her. He stepped closer, causing her to stand abruptly and awkwardly in her defense. She sucked in her breath as he stopped in front of her, stilling the crystal on the tripod of his fingers. Sarah glanced into the crystal and saw the image of herself wandering around like Ophelia, the old men shaking their heads as she walked past, muttering. Jareth suppressed his amused smile. "You let me back in control, my dear."
All at once he waved his cape and she found herself standing in the throne room of the castle, more confused and lost than ever before.
Sarah felt her back against the chilled stone as she stepped away from the king. Without giving her a passing glance, he spun in a circle, snatching up a fishtailed cane. All at once his clothes seemed to swirl into leggings of deep slate and what Sarah had to describe as a poet's shirt. He now faced Sarah, cane touching the floor purposefully, his head tilted to one side in the manner of a curious animal.
"Welcome back, dear Sarah."
"I still don't understand, why have you come back?" Her fingers danced over the stone behind her back, attempting give herself a bearing.
Jareth watched her with his ever amused expression. "It's not so much a matter of me coming back, Sarah, as it is a matter of you coming back." He stood for a moment more simply watching her think, then he turned to stride to his throne. He dropped sideways across the arms of the chair, continuing to watch Sarah with interest.
Sarah lowered her gaze hotly to the floor and attempted to work out what Jareth was saying. What the Goblin King was saying. "But I didn't wish anyone away. I didn't say the words."
"No," he idly tapped at his boot with his cane, bringing his gaze off of her to stare off at nothing. Every now and then he glanced at Sarah, as if checking her expression.
Blood surged into Sarah's face as she continued to stare at the floor. "But then what did I do?" Sarah looked up at Jareth finally, to find he was smirking and refusing to look at her. "You are being so unfair!" She cried, hoping to at least prod him into chiding her naiveté.
"Really," he stated rather than asked. "I rather think it's kinder to assume you can figure out how you came to be here. It's quite simple."
Sarah scowled and slumped down the wall. "And what did you mean, 'I'm back in control'?" His expression remained painfully repressed into a smirk. "I have to go home and take care of Toby."
"Ah, Toby. I trust he is well," Jareth murmured lightly. Sarah squared her jaw. "Do not worry, dear Sarah, Toby will be fine. You could try to leave, but I do think you will find the labyrinth much more challenging now that I have learned its weaknesses. You won't find any creatures like Horton or Ludo or Sir Didymus anymore."
Sarah gave him a calculating look. "It's Hoggle. And I'm sure I could handle it. It can't be that difficult."
"You fall prey to your old follies," he murmured again. "Have you ever considered what is beyond the labyrinth, outside the walls, in the other kingdoms and other lands? To what would you run were you to escape my labyrinth?" Sarah stared. "I fear that you would find a less kindly host of creatures beyond the kingdom's borders."
"You'd take me back home. I wouldn't go wandering into other kingdoms."
"Oh, would I?" he finally turned toward her and sized her up. This scared Sarah more than anything so far, but she tried not to let on.
"Then what am I to do?" Sarah sighed, tossing her hair and crossing her arms defiantly.
"I suggest remaining here."
A beat passed. "Here? In your castle?" Jareth met her incredulous gaze and nodded slightly. "And how can I win my freedom?"
"It has everything to do with why you are here. Which brings us back to your first and most pressing question, which is: why are you here? I suppose I should humor you and tell you the reason. Simply," he bounced one leg off the arm of his throne to rest it on the floor. "The last time you left the labyrinth, you told me I had no power over you. You had found your own strength and wouldn't let me rule you." Sarah stilled as his meaning fell over her in a wave.
"And now you have power over me again."
"Entirely your choice, my dear. You allowed me into your mind, and so I have taken the liberty of bringing you back to my kingdom."
Sarah jumped to her feet triumphantly. "You have no power over me!"
Jareth laughed as Sarah's cheeks flamed again. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple anymore. As you know, words can mean so much and yet they can mean so little. What you say is not necessarily what is true. I do have power over you, and until you can convince yourself otherwise, I believe I am the one in control." He rose slowly, eyes fixed on hers. Sarah stood her ground as he advanced on her. He came quite close, close enough for the clove tinged scent to wrap her body in unnatural stillness. She paused, waiting for him to speak, to break the sound of silence. Her eyes were alive with the pangs of nerves, face shining white like the moon. "Yes, I daresay I do have power over you."
In a whirl of motion, they were outside the gates of the castle. "I will allow you to run about in my labyrinth, since you seem so determined to prove you can handle it."
"To what end? Will you let me go?
"Perhaps if you manage to persuade me. I do believe I will be seeing you shortly though," he murmured, grinning as he faded away, his aura seeming to float into the very sky itself. Darkness was fast approaching, the golden sunset tones fading to the lavender of the coming night.
It had all been so fast and spontaneous, but she knew what she had to do. In the labyrinth, she made her own choices. It was where she had discovered her inner power so why not let it be the way to leave? He would be so upset to have lost her again.
Sarah set off walking through the junk surrounding the castle. She walked for nearly an hour. By then, complete darkness had set in and gentle cool breezes flipped her hair lightly. The light of the moon cast strange ethereal shadows framed in silver glow. They jumped and scattered over the junk, leading her in a blind path away from the castle. She had never known quite how big the junk pile was since she had been carried there in a crystal, but she was now coming to realize that it stretched on almost to the horizon. From the castle, the junk pile was somehow not there. She assumed that it was a trick of the labyrinth that hid it form view, the same magic that changed the walls and turned the paths.
After a long time, she had no watch to tell how long, she sank down on a half-broken rocking chair and stretched her legs. The castle windows glowed faintly in the distance and the wall around the labyrinth seemed no closer. Something subtle nagged at her stomach; the promise of hunger pains to come. Her feet ached, legs cramped, and vision began to swim as she frantically cast her head about.
It was no good. She couldn't kid herself any longer. "I haven't moved anywhere!" She hated herself for realizing it, but she was wishing Jareth would appear and drag her back to the castle. And she was so tired.
She stared ahead at a large mound of junk and tried to pick out the objects it was composed of, likely broken fragments of furniture and rubbish, though there was no smell of rot or decay. She soon recognized the mound to be of stuffed bears and children's books, all appeared to have been worn with care. Her face contracted as she bent to study the games at her feet: Candyland, Snail Pace Race, A deck of funny fish cards. She jumped up to her feet and whirled around, actually paying attention to the junk around her. It was all children's things. She began to wander across the expanse, studying the items as she passed. Here some dress-up clothes, there a model plane with a broken wing.
She stopped abruptly, gazing at a shining object in the middle of a shallow pit of junk. It caught the light of the moon, glistening amidst the dirty things around it. Sarah took a step toward the pit and a stuffed gray bear tumbled down to knock the object to one side. The plaintive refrains of a music box slowly chimed, winding back down to silence almost as soon as it began. Sarah dashed down into the pit and lifted the object. It was a music box with a dancer in the center of a pavilion. The music box from her childhood. As she turned it round, a few more notes were sleepily coaxed from it's center. Sarah wound the key and listened as the familiar song sang out from her past.
She stooped again and grasped the bear gently, holding it to her chest as she had done as a child. "Lancelot," she murmured. And then the light hit it, the red book that she had long since packed away. It was sitting on top of her old nightstand. She touched the leather cover, tracing the gold embossed letters with her fingertips. "It's not junk. Not this," and she lay the music box and bear gently on the table and stepped back, a gleam of memory in her eyes, reflecting the silver glow of the moonlight. The wind changed suddenly and blew fast and strong into Sarah's face. Even as she closed her eyes against the gale, she saw the junk pile disintegrating and blowing away. When the force stopped, she lowered her hand and found herself face to face with a tall shrubbery wall.
With profound footfalls Sarah echoed onto the stone floor of the passages and began to navigate through the winding labyrinth and toward the enchanted forest, junk pile completely gone. The deep indigo shadows cushioned her in a dark doubt of her direction, but gave her a sort of icy comfort. Despite the mysterious tendencies of the maze, she was not afraid. Even Jareth's warnings of a more challenging labyrinth did not worry her, she only felt a stoic need to continue her journey.
She walked round and round the passages for hours, until exhaustion finally crept upon her. As she reached a wide open courtyard, she collapsed against a stone fountain and made a pillow of her hoodie, her fingers brushing across the deep and fine ruts of an engraving as she drifted from consciousness.
Sarah woke only a few hours later as the pink hues of dawn stretched across the sky visible in the small courtyard by the forest. She crackled as she sat up and looked around. She felt damp and cold, and her belly now seemed to crumble inward without food. She rose to her feet in a trance, twisting her limbs and neck about to snapple like bubble wrap. The stone fountain under which she had slept was now gurgling softly like a morning dove, and Sarah was not disappointed when she cupped the clear liquid and ventured a drink. It was cool and crisp and woke her more than anything else.
As she leaned against the edge to regain her bearings, she noticed the engravings on which she had slept. Fine double lines etched out the sideways form of three mermaids and a sort of graceful and curvy script beneath them. Sarah stared at this for a while, walking around the edges of it until she could see the picture properly. They were all three seated on a large rock, combing their hair and grooming their fins, as though superficially serious.
Sarah turned her attention back to the writing. It scrawled and twisted like something treacherous, bending in and out and linking to form words that seemed so familiar, and yet she couldn't remember from where. The longer she stared, the more passionately she felt connected to the script. If she looked a little longer, perhaps she might understand it. And it was so lovely, so graceful, she needn't worry about anything else.
It was not clear how much time had passed, but Sarah jolted with a start as something landed on the writing.
"Rrraaaak! Nope, nope don't do it. Don't, nope. Rrrraaak!" Sarah's concentration broke as she examined the large birdlike dog in front of her. He had a mane of shaggy feathers and drooping ears of a mustard brown fur. His body was like that of a golden retriever, but completely covered in opalescent green feathers the size and shape of dinner plates. Shimmering red and black wings protruded from his back, arching gracefully in the bright, hot sunlight. It was no longer dewy morning, but the wasted feeling of hot mid-morning.
"What do you mean?"
"Rrrrrak it's bad it's spell it's dangerous, rrraaak!" It then made a snuffling noise and shook it's head. "The words are bad, the words are sorcery. Bad, bad sorcery," it shook it's head again.
Sarah glanced down at the words beneath the dog-bird's talons and felt the same hypnotic spell wash over her. She broke her gaze immediately. "Thank you," she said, stepping forward toward the creature.
"Snarly Wards," it snuffled. "Snarly. You?"
Sarah faltered. "Erm, my name is Sarah."
"Snarly. Snarly Wards," the creature reared on it's legs and pawed at the air with its bird feet.
"Nice to meet you, Snarly. Say, you don't know the way out of the labyrinth, do you? I'm tying to get outside the walls." Snarly lowered it's legs and shook its ears about slowly in a resigned manner. "Well, you don't suppose you can help me? Can you fly up there and tell me which way to go?"
"Snarly," it snorted, "Snarly fly. Snarly go get air up high," it flew upward with a great burst that seemed unlikely from a creature so awkward in appearance. It spiraled up toward the sun, paused, then darted off in a pattern. Sarah ran after it, following its shadow along the ground below. All at once she was standing outside the forest.
"Snarly Wards, no fly. Air gone," it chortled as it landed along the treeline. "Air up high, trees eat air up," another snuffling snort followed this. "Snarly say go straight, no stop, no eat, no think; Snarly say."
"Thanks Snarly. I won't." She started walking toward the forest when Snarly jumped in front of her, bearing it's sharp teeth.
"Snarly say no think. No. No! Rrraaak!" He bristled like an angry cat and arched up.
"I won't, but I have to keep going," she tried to slip around the beast, but it lunged at her, nipping the hem of her pants.
"Thinking!"
Sarah brushed the hair out of her face. "Well, then where do you expect me to go?"
Snarly cocked his head and snapped his beak. "Mreeee… you follow me. Follow, follow. No think!"
"I won't," Sarah said warily, following as the creature lumbered back into the maze. He led her along a different route, all the while muttering and squawking to himself.
After a short while, he paused. "Wait here, and no think," and then he jumped into the air and flew away so fast that she couldn't see where he went.
"Snarly! Come back! Where are you going?" After a few minutes had passed, Sarah slumped down to the ground and leaned against a shady brick wall. "I wonder where he could have gone."
A deep rumble in the earth made her jump up in fright. Another deep rumble. A small pool of water on one wall shivered as though the ground were shaking. "What's going on?" Sarah whirled around, trying to see what was causing the ground to tremble so.
A tiny white mouse poked it's nose around the corner of the wall opposite her. Sarah stared. It sniffed the air and took a tentative step toward her. The ground shook. It took another. Soon Sarah realized that the deep rumble was emanating from the little mouse. She flattened her hand against the wall behind her and shrunk from it, heart pounding. The closer the mouse got, the more larger it became. Soon it was the size of a dog, a horse, a car. And the larger it grew, the more hideous it became. And the more it changed, the more Sarah became afraid. She imagined how big it would have to be to make the rumbling that shook the ground and she cringed in horror as it towered over her, now with fangs dripping blood and it's greasy, matted fur reeking of death.
Sarah jumped up as fast as she could and ran. Behind her the mouse crashed through walls and plants, gaining on her with ever step. She rounded a corner, and stumbled against a stone wall there. "Please, help me. Let me go," she muttered deliriously. "Please," she gasped. With a sudden conviction, the floor opened beneath her and she tumbled down a long stone chute, rather like when she had been thrust into the bog of eternal stench. Instead of being assaulted with horrible smells, however, she soon found herself in the pitch black of an oubliette. Above her, the rumbling subsided and faded into the distance.
She could get out again. The coolness of the underground tunnel revived her conviction. All she needed was a ladder. She felt blindly along one wall until she reached the corner, followed that wall to another corner, feeling all the while for some sort of change in the wall to indicate a passage or ladder. But she quite quickly found there was no passage. She was in a small cell not much bigger than her own bedroom at home. She was trapped.
And oubliettes were where people were put to forget about them. "Oh no you don't, you're trying to make me apologize and beg for forgiveness. It won't happen," Sarah called to the darkness. She thought she felt an echoing laughter surround her. "I'll just wait here. You'll see." Though just what he would see she was unsure of.
She lay about in the oubliette for hours, dozing and thinking about the situation. Finally made to rise and stretch her legs and discovered that the chamber had shrunk to the perimeter of a coffin. In a panic, she screamed, her voice echoing around the room until she felt it muffled on something behind her. She quieted as she felt his breath by her cheek.
"There now, Sarah. That wasn't so bad, was it?" He was only inches from her ear, speaking softly onto the back of her neck. She turned to face him with some difficulty.
"Jareth, I want to go home! Send me home right now!" She pounded on his chest, claustrophobia sending her to tears.
"I don't think I can do that, Sarah. You haven't stopped thinking of me," he said softly, grasping her furious arms and forcing her to calm.
"Of course I haven't! What else am I supposed to think of when you are keeping me prisoner?"
"I daresay you imprisoned yourself. The more diverse thoughts you had, the larger the labyrinth was. Now there is only room for you and me here."
"Jareth, let me go," her voice shrunk to a dangerously low cry. "Please let me go home."
"I don't think that is really what you want, is it?" Sarah didn't speak. "Tell me, Sarah, what do you see when I turn the crystal for you?" She felt the wall behind her push her closer to Jareth as her mind sensed what the crystal would reveal. The closeness made her shiver. She heard his cape rustle. "Do you see riches? Or fame? What of your costumes and toys, Sarah? Where have they gone in that incredible mind of yours?" Jareth stepped ever so slightly closer as the walls closed in more.
A dim light grew between them as Jareth conjured a crystal. In the glow, Sarah could see his face, smirking down at her. In the crystal, her own frightened eyes. Slowly, he began to twist it and turn it on his expert fingers. And then the crystal was gone, and those fingers were deftly around her waist and neck. Her throat closed as a shiver rippled through her body. The clove tinged air between them was vanishing. The walls pressed tighter as his arms wrapped closer, closer. And then she leaned into him, lips brushing lips, and the chamber exploded outward as a rush of thoughts and ideas swarmed her body, gently spilling over them and binding them together in the midst of the ever expanding cavern of thought and wonder.