"You can't be serious!" Sarah screamed over the laughter. "I'm not marrying a goblin! I'm human!"
Jareth stopped laughing and looked at Sarah coldly. "That can be fixed, precious. I don't usually change adults into goblins, but I'll make an exception for you."
Sarah stiffened and fought down her rising panic, until it was replaced by hot anger pulsing through her. She glared at Jareth from beneath her brows, knowing she was behaving just like the teenager she was years ago, but unable to help herself. He just seemed to have that effect on her. He brought out the mule headed stubbornness and sulky disposition she had thought were behind her.
Jareth sighed "I won't turn you into a goblin, Sarah. I won't even make you marry one. No matter what you think, I am not that cruel. However, "the predatory smile was back "I do have a husband for you, one that I don't think you will be very pleased with."
He gestured to the guests in the room, who parted to allow a man to walk towards the throne. He was tall, like a human, with the sharp equine facial features of the Fae. However, unlike Jareth and the other Fae present, he was dressed in tattered, dirty clothing, and his hair had the wildness of poverty, not careful styling. He reached Sarah and stood next to her, before bowing to the Goblin King.
"This is Turlach. He is… a traveller. A seeker of fortune. Recently he has settled in the Labyrinth. He lives in a shack in the garden district." Jareth sneered. "Derek wished for you to get the husband you deserve, and here he is." Sarah stared at the Goblin King, and then at the dishevelled stranger who stared blankly ahead. His eyes were empty and his expression cold, as he stood next to her regarding the king. To Sarah it seemed clear he did not want to marry her any more than she wanted to marry him.
Jareth gestured to the glittering dress. "This dress is my wedding gift to you. After all, it was made for you all those years ago. However, I suppose it might be better for you to not wear it. Where you'll be living, you'll only end up ruining it. Take it as a reminder. You may go with your husband now."
Sarah frowned at him again. "Shouldn't there be something more?"
"Something more, precious?"
"A ceremony, a priest, something!" Sarah spread her arms in an irritated gesture.
"Oh, I do believe you are right." Jareth smirked at her "'By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.' There, I believe that is sufficient to make it official." He nodded at Turlach. "My blessings to you. Now take her out of my sight."
Turlach grabbed Sarah's arm, bowed stiffly to the Goblin King, and began to march out of the throne room. His fingers dug painfully into Sarah's arm and she tried to wriggle free of his grasp. "Let go of my arm! You're hurting me! I can walk by myself you know!" Turlach ignored her, and kept half dragging her with him. "Are you even listening to me?!" Sarah demanded, frustration beginning to grow in her as she continued to wriggle her arm and try to pry his fingers off. She didn't even notice they were outside, or that she had started to cry out of frustration, until he suddenly stopped. For the first time, her new husband turned to look at her and let go of her arm.
"You're crying."
"What?" Sarah stammered, and rubbed her aching arm. First a needle and then fingers digging into it in an iron grip, had left her arm severely bruised and hurting.
Turlach sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. I know you don't want this any more than I do. It's just… whenever I see that smug look of his, I want to smash his face in!"
"Who?" Sarah asked, confused. She suddenly felt completely out to sea and the whole day was taking its toll on her. At no point had she been given a moment to take in what was happening, and everything seemed to be happening faster than it should.
"Jareth. The Goblin King. I don't know what possessed me into settling here, despite the fact that he's the Labyrinth's ruler. I cannot stand the man!"
"Oh." Still overwhelmed by everything that had happened, it seemed to be the only reply Sarah could muster.
"Come on. I live pretty far into the Labyrinth, so we should get going."
"Can't we stop for a while? I need to… I need to take this all in. It's happened so fast…"
"Sorry, we can't. It'll be dark by the time we get there as it is."
"But… I don't even have any shoes." Turlach looked at Sarah's feet, which were indeed entirely bare. She wasn't even wearing any socks, and her feet looked like they had never encountered any hardships in their life. In fact, she looked like she had never encountered any hardships. She looked clean and soft and pretty, more like a lady than the wife of a poor tinkerer living in a shack. He slowly turned red from embarrassment and anger.
"I don't have any money," he admitted. "I can't buy you shoes. Not right now at least."
"I see…" Sarah said. She looked at the cloud of white glittering fabric in her arms. "He could have at least given me shoes with this then."
Turlach turned his eyes to the dress as well and stared at it critically. "Indeed… let me carry the dress for you. At least it'll be easier to walk without lugging that around too."
Sarah squeezed the dress to her chest and hesitated. For some reason the dress was giving her comfort. Reminding her of a very different past. A past when she was carefree and young and the world seemed so simple. He was right though, so eventually she handed the dress to him and they started walking away from the castle. The Goblin city seemed different, just like the castle had seemed different. The houses, which on her earlier visit had been tiny, were now a mix of very small goblin houses, slightly bigger dwarven houses and, to her, normal sized houses. The streets were bustling with all kinds of creatures, both big and small. Here and there she saw Fae men and women gliding among everyone else, startling in their beauty. Many of them were dressed in rich fabrics and fashions, while some wore more modest clothing. A large market place was full of people, inspecting goods laid out on tables underneath colourful awnings. Vendors called to passers-by to advertise their wares, the warm scent of spices hung in the air as the crowds pushed and jostled past. Turlach was striding through the crowds with a confidence that seemed out of place for someone in his position, and Sarah struggled to keep up, slipping on unnamed sticky and slippery liquids on the cobble stones of the market. It might be better to never know what it was she stepped on here. From the looks of some of the things on offer, it could be anything. Several of the vendors honed in on Sarah as she pushed past, trying to attract her attention.
"Heeere's nice beans orrr peas! Only ten pence a'peck for the lurvely lady!"
"Oranges! Git chur oranges! Nice n' fresh!"
Once they reached the edge of the market, the crowds thinned out a little and Sarah let out the breath she had been holding. Surrounded by people an all sides like it was a can of sardines, it had seemed difficult to take a deep breath. Turlach did not even look behind him to see if she was still following, forcing her to do an awkward little sprint to catch up.
"The Goblin city seems much larger than I remember," she commented.
"Does it? It's always been this way. For millennia as far as I know. Maybe you remember wrong?"
Sarah was about to answer but then thought better of it. Arguing seemed to have no point, especially as he seemed so certain of what he was saying. Millenia? The city had been like this for millennia? Then why had it appeared so different 15 years ago?
I have turned the world upside down…
A voice floated through her thoughts. Jareth. That's what he had told her the last time she was here. Is this what he meant? The castle, the city… he had changed them. Made them less imposing, less real. It had all seemed so ridiculous back then… Lost in her own thoughts Sarah hurried after Turlach as they followed the winding streets of the city, all the way to the huge gates in the city wall. Her new husband stopped at the gates.
"Wait here. I'll have a word with the gate guards." With that he hurried off towards the office built into the wall next to the gates, leaving Sarah standing alone. People streamed in and out of the gates, some of them giving Sarah curious looks, but most of them ignoring her and focusing on their own inner worlds. A dwarf hobbled past her, and something in Sarah's mind clicked.
"Hoggle?" The dwarf turned and glared at her.
"Who? I ain't no Hoggle, who you calling a Hoggle?"
"Oh. I'm sorry. I mistook you for someone else." The dwarf gave her another glare and disappeared into the crowd, grumbling under his breath.
How could I have forgotten my friends? Sarah thought. I wonder where they are now. I don't even know where Hoggle or Ludo live… I only know where to find Sir Didymus. I hope Jareth didn't hurt them for helping me back then. She shuffled her bare feet on the cobbles. They were warm and smooth. Baked by the sun and worn out by thousands of passing through here, over and over again. For millennia… if the city had been here that long, then how old was its ruler? Had he always been the ruler or just one in a long line? Were the fay truly immortal like they were in all of the stories? Turlach strode out of the guard office, whistling a jaunty tune, a self-satisfied look on his face. If he is also a Fae, does that mean he's immortal too?
"Let's get going. We've still got a ways to go! The ground is not going to be as easy to walk on once we leave the city, so if I walk too fast just let me know." He grinned at Sarah and strode towards the gates. Somehow, his sudden good mood was very annoying. He just seemed so… pleased with himself. I wonder what he did in there.
They walked in silence through the gates and away from the city. Sarah lost in her thoughts and Turlach still whistling happily and greeting people as they passed. The road was rocky and uneven, just as he had warned her, and Sarah walked on the tiny rocks and pebbles gingerly. This was definitely not something she was used to. It felt like each and every bit of the ground was digging into the soles of her feet.
"Turlach…"
"Yes? What is it?"
"I don't know if I can keep going. All these rocks and pebbles are digging into my feet. They're sharp!"
"We can't stop now. We've still got a ways to go. Besides, it won't get any easier without shoes no matter what we do." He looked at her expectantly as she stood on the road biting her lower lip. Her feet were really beginning to hurt, but he was right. There wasn't really anything they could do. She nodded and kept walking. The land outside the walls of the city was not how she remembered it either. The land outside of the city was not how she remembered it either. There were small houses and fields here, with crops swaying in the wind. Further away she could see the hedges of a part of the maze she did remember. They seemed to have been walking for hours and the hedges were steadily coming closer, when a sharp pain lanced through her foot making her cry out.
"What is it now?" Turlach said and turned to look at her.
Sarah bent her foot towards her and inspected the bottom of it. A sharp shrapnel of rock was lodged to her heel, imbedded quite deep. Blood was pooling around it. Turlach sighed.
"Take a seat on that rock over there and I'll take a look." He said in a resigned voice. Sarah hobbled over to the rock and sat down. Turlach knelt down and took hold of her foot. He prodded the rock carefully and then pulled it out in one swift movement. Blood began to flow out of the hole. He cursed.
"Of course you managed to get the biggest damn thing lodged in your foot." He reached for his tattered shirt and ripped off a piece. "This is dirty but it's the best I can do." He said as he wrapped it around her foot.
"Can you stand up?" he inquired. Sarah got up and cautiously tested her weight on the injured foot. Sharp pain shot up and she could feel blood pooling underneath.
"I don't know. It hurts a lot." She said fighting back tears.
"We have to keep going. We can't stop here."
"I can't walk on this foot. Can't you carry me?" She said imploringly and looked at Turlach. He stared and her and then looked at the pristine dress he was carrying. He was quiet for a while as he thought.
"No."
"No? Why not?" Sarah was shocked by his answer.
Turlach looked at her steadily "Because right now, this dress has more value to me than you do" he said steadily.
"You can either get up and walk or I can leave you here. It's your choice. I don't mean to be cruel to you, I really don't, but sometimes life is just not fair."
Still shocked by his callous answer, his words sliced through her like a knife. Sarah laughed.
"Not fair? Not fair? I wonder what your basis of comparison is!" She yelled, throwing at him the same words used on her many years ago.
"My basis of comparison? This is my basis of comparison." Turlach said spreading his arms to show off his tattered clothing, and then pointed at the city far away in the distance.
"Everyone in that city is better off than I am. I have nothing but the clothes on my back and the run down shack I built from things I could scavenge. So yes! Life is not fair! Some of us never get the chances afforded to others! But you wouldn't know anything about that, precious." He said, spitting the word used by Jareth at her like a curse.
"Now, I'm going to keep walking. Whether you follow me or not is up to you." He turned his back on Sarah and stalked off, leaving her staring after him. For several minutes she could not move, too stunned by his outburst. Finally, the throbbing pain in her foot woke her up, and she realised the sun was setting and she had nowhere to go. She took a careful step forward, wincing at the pain and holding back tears. She looked up and saw Turlach already a rather long distance away. She stiffened her back and took another step. And then another, until she was limping after her new husband in the darkening evening.
