IMO, I have never written for a fandom more skeptical or critical than Labyrinth fandom. It's seriously kind of intimidating (concrit in comments is fab, don't get me wrong, I'm just not used to it). But I'm still having fun so forward this moves. I'm going to assume the Underground works on a 30 hour day (I'm pulling this from how people who spend too much time underground actually do end up on a 30 hour cycle). Also I'm not strictly going for a true retelling, I'm just having a little fun with the premise.
Disclaimer: see part 1
What she had thought to be sunset, which would have made sense, turned out to be sunrise as the orange sun looked to be higher in the sky than when she had observed it in the castle. From the distance they had arrived at, the castle looked like a child's toy. The world had stopped spinning after their magically assisted journey to the start of the labyrinth, and Sarah successfully resisted the urge to be sick from motion and nerves.
"Well, Sarah, do you still insist on this folly?" Her name curled out of his mouth softly.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I do." He looked so grand and offended in his pristine white clothes and cloak of feathers. "Should I die to one of your supposed obstacles, what name should I curse?"
While clearly incensed, he did snort in amusement at her comment. "Goblin King is sufficient for now."
He didn't look much like any goblin she had ever imagined. A nurse had told her stories once and in them the goblins had been small and wrinkled, like tiny ancient men with skin the color of moss and grass. Warty and old would have served him right, this kidnapper.
"You have thirteen hours, or until sunset in this realm if it pleases you to mark your time, at the end of which the Underground will be the only earthly realm you'll know."
"How will I know when I've won?"
He smiled, baring teeth she would have sworn were sharper than they should have been, and Sarah unthinkingly gritted her teeth right back at him in a scowl. "At the center of the Labyrinth is my castle. At the center of my castle is the throne room. Come find me there and I will take you back to your quaint garden."
Talking with him would only waste her time further, but Sarah felt compelled to keep him with her just a moment more. As perverse as it was, he was the only thing she knew in the realm she had been brought to, and other than words and the threat of intimacy he hadn't actually done anything material to her. The dangerous unknown was much scarier than a handsome scowling man, whatever his race and regardless of her anger towards him.
The air was warm, much warmer than the April weather she had left and beads of sweat were already forming. This was a supremely ridiculous situation, and Sarah realized swiftly that it meant she needed to be equally ridiculous to find a solution before her journey was over too quickly.
"Before you leave me to my fate, Goblin King, would you do me the favor of loosening my stays?"
It seemed impossible to have scandalized an amoral magical being, but Sarah was quite sure she might have because she had to repeat herself rather forcefully. The core of her being told her this was absolutely necessary, but something uncannily like Karen's voice shrieked outrage at the back of her mind.
"I said, would you loosen my stays? Between my sickness of the breath, and this impossibly heavy spring clothing, I shall not be able to walk at a pace that would even give me the most remote of chances. Loosen my stays and leave me be so I may disgrace myself alone!"
Mouth drawn thin, he snapped his fingers (a feat she was rather impressed with considering the white gloves he wore) and at once everything loosened behind her.
"Thirteen hours." He reminded her in a conversational tone before, with a narrowing of his eyes, he went blurry and disappeared from her sight entirely. Sarah blinked hard just to make sure it hadn't been a bit of grit in her eyes.
Once he was actually gone Sarah's breath left her in a rush. The urge to cry was very strong, and she clamped down on it. Sitting here and crying would not get her any closer to the castle and she had to take this impossible task seriously or else be stuck in this equally impossible world where daylight lasted 13 hours and who knew what roamed a maze that might even be the size of London.
Letting her stomacher fall to the dirt with a shock of guilt, Sarah quickly divested herself of her other items of clothing. Left with chemise, stockings, and her kirtle which covered as much of her as her dress had, she felt as if she were standing exposed out in the open just the same. Every night before bed Sarah relished removing her bodice and taking deeper breaths into her chest, and it was strange to feel so unrestrained in the light of day. She could walk for miles like this, and that was the point. It was one thing to be shameless in a world of fairies and God only knew what else, but when she won (thinking 'if' was too defeatist) she would need to be redressed or face actual disgrace so she gathered everything up as well as she could under her arm and began to walk. The long dress trailed in the dust behind her, but she filed that away under 'his fault' so when she saw the Goblin King again she'd be prepared with a shield of anger against his wiles.
The great gate that had been sitting open closed behind her unaided, but the uncanniness of this place wasn't going to phase her. Sarah took her first steps boldly.
"I'm not in the mood, Elden, say your peace and run back to court."
"Well, what crawled in your bed to die last night, Your Majesty?" Wiping away the glamour that had made him very nearly invisible, a bright smile topped with auburn hair appeared in the doorway of the study that Jareth had found himself brooding in. Eventually the rest of him appeared as well, but only when he had taken a seat on a bench near to the high backed chair Jareth was stiffly sitting in.
Elden could wait until the end of the world, if it took Jareth that long to begin talking, but he didn't have but a few minutes before the other man spoke.
"How long have we known one another, Elden?"
It didn't seem like a trick, so he answered honestly. "The better part of four centuries I imagine."
"And in that time, as I have been serving as monarch of this particular kingdom, has there been an adult given over to me rather than a child?"
Elden was quickly realizing that he was not here to answer any real questions but to act as a sounding board for Jareth's displeasure. The High King in his shining wisdom had only sent Elden with a message of the movement of court to the Summer Palace earlier than usual along with an invitation to join them (which Jareth almost universally ignored). He did not know the intimate workings of the Goblin Kingdom, he simply knew it was all very complicated. Honestly, they had a much better time drinking and hunting together when Jareth was feeling jolly enough to visit his parents—coming to this dreary portion of the Underground was never to his liking.
With a flick of his wrist, the wine glass that had been across the way on a low table appeared in Jareth's hand. Elden was surprised that Jareth was using magic for something so petty. Truly the man must be distracted.
"Not once! Not even my father spoke of such things, other than go on about the glory days before Christianity swept through and the mortals began to forget the old ways…" Elden still had to sit through some of those stories, when the king waxed nostalgic, but his excellent smile and good listening habits served him everywhere. "In time a child will be formed by the magic around him, he'll change in the only way magic knows how to change anything… but the goblins and the gnomes and the other sprites are well suited to the mentality of a child and the flexibility of his belief…"
So an adult got wished away to Jareth's domain? How curious! Elden knew this piece of information would provide him with all kinds of favor in the coming days if the end of this proved a diverting story for the courtiers. A grown mortal in the Underground, wished here not simply lost, was too juicy not to share with at least a few shining ladies who might see him as a little more than the second son of a minor noble. Jareth wasn't usually bothered by mortals of any type, part of the nature of the job here in the slightly distasteful Goblin Kingdom, and Elden had a rare flash of insight.
"She's pretty isn't she? Dark hair? Snapping eyes?"
Jareth's absent thoughts focused sharply and Elden could feel the tips of his hair burn as the prince of the realm decided if spontaneous combustion was a fitting end to their acquaintance. While Elden knew he wouldn't really do it, Jareth's strengths lying in illusion rather than raw force, there was a trill of fear while Elden wondered just how strong their friendship really was when the Goblin King was in a mood.
Downing the rest of the goblet's contents, Elden felt the weight of the king's focus leave him and other than the burned hair smell he knew that he was in the clear. Later on, he would regret speaking up at all, but how was he to know how accurately his arrow had flown to the heart of Jareth's problem?
"I can't in good conscience leave her to navigate the Labyrinth alone."
"But you said she was the one taken so shouldn't it be her champion and not—?"
"Don't think too hard on it, just be content to know that she's in the Labyrinth at this moment and not leaving until the 13 hours have passed and she is either dead," He paused for thought there a moment. "Or bound by the magic."
Or free. But the idea that the human would complete the Labyrinth was almost too funny for words. "So if you mean to keep her safe, but you're not allowed to interfere with her trip in any great measure, then how in the world can you expect to… " Realization dawned on him and Elden's smile faltered. "Oh no, you just can't! I thought we were friends!"
"Then as your friend I advise you to take good care to steer her away from the more deadly portions of the Labyrinth, as you'll find it rather inconvenient to face me later should she die." The spell Jareth was working was a bit more powerful than the glamour that Elden had entered under to avoid the inconvenient ceremony that visiting a king always entailed. The feeling of it was not just diversion but transformation, and luckily it would last no longer than the day. The world grew to twice its size before he could even lament his fate. Gnarled hands replaced his elegantly ones, and his favorite maroon outfit became tan peasant's garb. This was too much to bear, even from a friend!
His voice cracked unusually as Elden finally felt his bones settle in his new form. "I fully expect you to put in a good word with Dulcinea for me this summer. This is really too much!"
"You wanted to know all the gossip, Elden, and now you shall have it firsthand." The twisted smile Jareth gave him prompted nothing but a sigh from the squat form he was trapped in for the day. With nothing to obsess over other than unruly creatures and a living maze, Jareth was more of a zookeeper here than a king. He truly needed to accept the invitation to the Summer Palace this year and get some quality time with his own people before he ended up more eccentric.
"It just had to be a dwarf, didn't it?"
"I think you'll find the experience highly educational."
These shoes were not meant for long walks anywhere, let alone outside, and Sarah was certainly feeling that right now. Even though the sun seemed to not have budged from its position in the sky, her feet proclaimed it might as well have been hours. How she longed for something to drink, her ale at breakfast seemingly distant. The dress she carried also seemed to have become heavier, and she wished she could blame it on magic when she knew it was because her arms were unused to this kind of labor.
"A pox on you Goblin King!" She said it out loud just to say something out loud. The sound of a voice was comforting, but the echo in the small courtyard she found herself just made it all the lonelier. Where were these terrible obstacles she would have to face? Other than silence and sore feet she wasn't feeling like this place was all that fantastical.
Silence had been in short supply for Sarah between managing staff, directing cooking, practicing music, and Toby in general. Karen was ever present for all these activities, picking and observing but sometimes providing helpful guidance as well. As Sarah had gotten older the comments had gotten sharper, as well as more pointed about how it was time she had her own household to run. Compared to Karen, silence was a blessing.
Sitting on a raised stone from what looked like a toppled over portion of the wall (though she had turned to find it filled in moments later), Sarah rubbed her foot and continued to curse this strange set of circumstances she had been placed into. When the crash came, it seemed almost deafening to her sensitive ears. The crashing was followed with what was probably cursing, but in no language she could discern (a curse in any language seemed to have the same force and tenor) but it didn't seem to be getting closer.
Curious, but wary, Sarah grabbed a chunk of rock with a point on it and moved slowly towards the sounds while at the same time wondering why she would do something so risky when sensibility would dictate she move away from it. There was no chance she could run, so stealth was imperative, but she wanted this strange place to show her what it was made of and allow her to test her own mettle. If the Goblin King was going to throw obstacles at her, then she wanted to show she was up to the challenge.
"Infernal weeds!"
With a cry Sarah noted thick vines wrapped around the struggling form of a small man. He held a trowel that was proving no match for the vines dragging him slowly across the patch of turf towards a bulb about his size. The bulb opened as he neared it, showing teeth on every petal and a yellow interior more mouth-like than anything a plant should possess. It was a vision Sarah wished she could banish from her memory, but once she got over her disgust she grabbed more nearby rocks and began to throw them in the gaping maw.
"Quickly! I can distract it!" Her aim was not always dead on, but there were enough rocks and her throws were forceful enough that the rocks were clearly building up. Tendrils uncurled from the man so that they could pick at the rocks in its mouth and eventually he struggled out of their grasp and ran in her direction with a peculiar limping gait.
A vine that had snuck around behind her grabbed her by the ankle and Sarah took a hard fall onto the ground as it tripped her, hearing her kirtle rip with the impact. Being much larger than the dwarf, the plant was having a harder time dragging her, so when the trowel came down on the vine and severed it, the vine withdrew entirely. At this distance they appeared to be safe, the plant having lost interest in everything but the rocks. Staying seated on the ground, Sarah looked into the wrinkled face of the dwarf who was catching his breath. The twitching vine around her ankle was spreading disgusting looking ooze on the hem of her kirtle and the rip at her knee was dotted with red blood. It had made it through the chemise too, it seemed.
"Are you unharmed, sir?"
"I've seen better days, but I still have all my limbs no thanks to—" He cut off abruptly and gave her a pointed look; something shifted in his attitude. "I suppose I owes you thanks."
"You're lucky I heard you. I haven't seen beast nor man since I started this journey." She didn't mention the Goblin King. Technically he was neither beast nor man.
The dwarf stood and dusted himself off. "Owing a human anything doesn't sit right with me." His tone told her everything about how much he valued humans, and it sounded like she rated right up there with weeds. "What's it you want? Jewels? Magical tools? Eternal bad breath for your foes? I'm a busy, uh, dwarf. Tell me so's I can be on my way."
"There's only one thing I want right now, and I'm afraid you'll have to endure my company a little longer to make it happen." His short legs would not allow him to walk too fast, so they should be able to keep pace together nicely. A guide was exactly what she needed! Even if he only knew a part of the maze, it would be a great help. Suddenly the world seemed a lot less hopeless than it had when she was resting on the rock alone mere minutes ago and she allowed a true smile to light her face for the first time down here.
"I don't know if I likes the sound of that…" he murmured.
"Since you're going to guide me through the maze I can't be calling you 'dwarf.' I'm Sarah, what might I call you?"
His mouth screwed up in a scowl, his eyes canny and bright in his ancient face. If she didn't know better she'd say something was wrong about this, but she wasn't in any position to be choosy about where and how help might happen. Even duplicitous or slightly unwilling help would be better than her random wanderings.
"I suppose Hoggle would be as good as anything else, but if ya think I can guide you through this place you're mad already!" He ground out the name and she didn't hear it so well.
"Hobble?"
"Hoggle!" A glob of spittle flew from his mouth and landed on her hand in his enthusiasm. She furtively rubbed her hand against her hip to get rid of it and wondered if, indeed, this dwarf helping her was better than nothing.