Chapter 3
A soft voice was whispering off and on in Sarah's ear, distant at first but slowly becoming clearer as she woke from her sleep. The gentle breeze of someone's breath tickled her senses and brought her around completely as she realized she was lying on top of Jareth.
"Sarah?" Jareth called once more in a faint tone, his hand draped lightly over her back where it had settled after their kiss.
Sarah gradually sat upright, a subtle fatigue hitting her as she steadied herself and said breathlessly, "What happened?"
"I borrowed some of your energy, I hope you don't mind." Jareth's eyes were soft and gentle as he stared at her drowsily.
A fierce blush warmed her cheeks as she realized what he'd done, touching her cheek and uttering a dazed, "Oh…"
"You have no shame or manners, king, stealing kisses without permission." Didymus growled loathsomely from his perch on Jareth's throne where he'd taken to watching over them just case he tried something while Sarah was out cold.
Jareth merely smirked as he slid his hand down to his side and muttered, "Better than being dead."
"Are you going to be okay?" Sarah asked, looking at the bandage that was soaking through slowly.
"For now…but I was dying long before this happened." Jareth sighed, closing his eyes to conserve his energy.
"Dying? Are you ill?" Sarah asked curiously.
"Not exactly…I can't explain it but it happened long before you ever lived. I guess it's finally caught up to me."
"Can no one in this great land heal you?"
"One can…but…" Jareth's voice trailed off and he moaned, clutching at his side.
"Tell me where I can find this person! I'll bring them back here so they can help you!" Sarah pleaded.
"I'm afraid it's not that easy, my lady." Didymus spoke up.
"Why?" Sarah looked up at him, feeling slightly frustrated by the roadblocks.
"I cannot say for it is a secret that only those who are free of any curses can explain. You'll find there aren't many left in this land that aren't cursed these days…" Didymus said grimly.
"You mean…Jareth is under a curse? That's why he's dying?"
Didymus didn't respond but the grief in his eyes told her it was so.
"And you?"
The same silence was returned.
"That's terrible! Surely there must be something I can do to help!" Sarah said desperately, "I can't just let you all die! How many others are under this curse? Can you tell me?"
"Many…and yet only one…" Jareth muttered sleepily.
"I don't understand." Sarah said, "What does that mean? Many yet only one?"
"If you wish to help us you must figure it out on your own, my lady. I fear we have told you as much as we can…" Didymus replied.
Silence fell over the room for several minutes before Jareth whispered, "Sarah, how did you get here?"
"You mean to the labyrinth? I was summoned by…by a classmate." Sarah replied quietly, the memory of Abby's wrath not being recalled fondly.
"That's not possible, you're far too old to be wished away. Besides, my minions are long gone, consumed by the darkness…who retrieved you?" Jareth turned his gaze on her curiously.
"That's what brought me here…I think. The room went dark and I had this sensation of falling for a minute before I began to swim towards the light. Then I found a beautiful stained glass window and walked through it into this world." Sarah explained plainly.
"A window, you say…I wonder…" Jareth seemed to be pondering something deeply before saying, "What was on this window? A kingdom, perhaps?"
"No, it was of the labyrinth…only it was newer and quite lovely."
"The window into his heart…" Didymus suddenly spoke, reminding them that he still occupied the room.
"What?" Sarah stared at him in confusion.
"Sarah, you must hurry, I don't have much time left." Jareth spoke softly, "Take the dog with you, he will help guide you through the maze so you don't get lost again."
"I'll have you know I'm a fox, not a dog. Ambrosius is a dog." Didymus snarled down at Jareth as he hopped down from the throne and trotted past him.
"I won't let you die, Jareth, I promise I'll do everything I can to save you. Please lay still and rest until I get back." Sarah said, redressing his wound before she left so he would be fit to be alone for a while. Glancing back one last time, Sarah loathed the idea of leaving him in such poor condition but mustered the will to go out and seek help, for his sake. As she left the goblin city with Didymus at her side, she said inquisitively, "Didymus, you said you were under a curse too. Why is it that you aren't dying as well?"
"It does not effect me the way it does him." Didymus replied simply, taking in the surroundings as they walked through the trash heaps again.
"Do you suppose the others with this curse are the same? Unaffected by it?" Sarah asked curiously, trying to get as much information about it as she could.
"Perhaps, I cannot say."
"I see…so were you all cursed at the same time? Did someone put a curse on this land as a whole?"
"In a way…"
"I'm so confused, I wish you could tell me." Sarah sighed.
"I wish I could as well, my lady." Didymus sighed as well.
As they trudged on through the disaster of a front yard, Sarah stopped to stare curiously at something nearby.
"Did you see that?" Sarah asked curiously.
"See what? Is it a foe? I shall slay it!" Didymus said eagerly.
"No, I don't think we're in any danger…" Sarah began to move toward the place she'd seen movement and to her surprise, it was some form of creature buried beneath a pile of trash.
It looked up at her as she approached and said, "Oi, you again? I thought you'd left this place for good! Back to destroy more of my home, are yea?"
"Oh no, I was just looking for someone." Sarah replied, unsure of whether she really knew who this was or not, "Say, could you help me?"
"Depends, have yea lost something?" The shriveled old hag replied cautiously.
"Well…I don't think so…could you tell me anything about the goblin king's curse?"
"Curse, yea say? Nope, don't know nothing about no curse but he left something out here a while ago. Let me see if I can find it, yes, here it is…" the hag reached into a random pile nearby and pulled out an old tattered book, gingerly dusting it off before handing it to Sarah.
"What is it?" Sarah asked, looking it over.
"Not really sure but maybe that'll help yea find what yer looking for, it might."
"I suppose it may…thank you." Sarah said before returning to Didymus, continuing to look at the book questioningly.
"What it is, my lady?" Didymus asked as she began to flip through the book.
"I'm not sure, she said it belonged to Jareth a long time ago." Sarah said mildly as she skimmed the pages until she realized what it was, "Didymus, it's a journal! Maybe it'll have some clues as to what happened to him!"
"Splendid!" Didymus said cheerfully.
Searching for anything of significance, Sarah stopped midway through the book and read aloud, "Today father introduced me to a family from a foreign land, we're suppose to make peace with them but I don't like them very much. Their daughter keeps looking at me funny, I think she must like me. Who's to blame her, I am fair and attractive." Scoffing, she mumbled, "I see vanity isn't something new to his demeanor."
"How long ago was this? As long as I have lived, no other human has inhabited this land but the goblin king." Didymus inquired.
"I'm not sure, there isn't a date. Let me flip ahead and see what happened with that peace treaty…" Sarah skipped a couple pages ahead and read, "Father forced me to accompany the foreign girl to the annual masquerade ball, I hate her so much. I wish I didn't have to be nice to her, she's horribly repulsive and queer. If it weren't bad enough that we had to go together, she had to wear the ugliest dress I've ever seen. I ditched her after the first dance and left with some friends, father wasn't too pleased with me when I returned without her."
"What a wretched young man he was! Leaving a lady unattended for some foul play with fellow ruffians…" Didymus growled.
Sarah decided to skip to the end of the journal to see if there were any clues closer to the present, "I'm to wed the foreign girl tomorrow, I threatened to run away but father returned my threat with a year's imprisonment for defying his commands. I don't understand why I have to sacrifice myself for this worthless kingdom, I never asked to be its future king, I just want a normal life. I'm going to tell her that I refuse to marry her, I would rather rot in a cell than be married to such a hideous person. Father will get over it eventually…I hope." Sarah stared at the page for a moment before slowly closing the book.
"Now you see him for who he truly is." Didymus said piously, a great disgust on his face.
"We're all different people when we're young, I too was selfish and arrogant when I was younger, perhaps he was the same." Sarah replied quietly.
"Except he has not changed."
"Something has changed. He spoke of other kingdoms and his father wishing him to become king but he obviously didn't want to, why is he king now? What changed his mind?"
"I do not know, my lady. Perhaps we should ask him?" Didymus suggested.
"No, we need more clues first, let's explore the forest some more and see if there's anyone there who can help us." Sarah said, tucking the book in the back of her jeans before wading through the sea of trash and making a beeline for the tree line. They wandered the forest for what felt like hours before finding an extinguished fire pit.
Didymus knelt to place his hand over the ashes before saying, "It's still warm, they couldn't have been gone long."
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" Sarah called out in all directions, hoping the maker of the fire might return. No signs of response were heard over the low rustle of the breeze. Ambrosius began to sniff around the ground in hopes of catching a scent, focusing around the edges of the fire. Finally, he caught a scent and followed it off into the trees, leading the duo on an adventure through bushes and under logs. He eventually came to a stop at the edge of a riverbed that was nearly dry, a small trickle of water weaving through the cracks in its journey down into an adjacent valley that seemed to break through the maze for miles. Looking forlorn, Ambrosius let out a whimper that told them he'd lost the scent.
"It looks like the trail ends here, our trek was in vain." Didymus said dismally.
"Maybe not…look over there." Sarah crossed the river to a tree with a broken branch, gingerly examining it to find it had broken recently, "If we follow these signs, we'll be able to find whoever we're following!"
"Excellent hunting skills, my lady! The game is afoot!" Didymus and Ambrosius worked together to sniff out more clues as to the whereabouts of their prey, following footprints and broken twigs until finally they came upon a door in the labyrinth wall. Ambrosius let out a low growl as Sarah examined the door and found it to be locked.
"I wonder who lives here…shall we knock?" Sarah turned to her companions and they looked warily at the door.
"It's unwise to advance upon the unknown on its own grounds." Didymus warned her.
"At this point I'm more worried about finding answers than being cautious." Sarah replied, giving the door a light rap before stepping back to wait.
All was silent for a moment before a husky voice echoed through the door, "Go away!"
"Please, sir, we need your help!" Sarah called to him.
"I don't help anyone! Look somewhere else!" He replied harshly.
"I say…is that you, Sir Hoggle?" Didymus spoke curiously.
There was another moment of silence before he replied, "Who's askin'?"
"It is I, Sir Didymus of the bog! Surely you have not forgotten our adventure together not 6 years ago!" Didymus said cheerfully.
"6 years?" Sarah blinked curiously. Toby wasn't even born 6 years ago, was he speaking of another time before that?
"How do I know that's really you?" The voice was still cautious but sounded like he was opening up to them.
"I have Lady Sarah with me, she has returned to help us!"
"Sarah?"
"Yes, I'm here! Will you please come out now?" Sarah hoped if she played along, she might be able to find more clues and get more help from this mysterious person.
As if he were mulling it over in his head, Hoggle eventually unlocked the door and peeked his head out to see if they were really who they claimed to be. In surprise, he threw open the door and exclaimed, "Sarah! You're…well, I expected ya to be older."
"Older? Why?" She frowned and crossed her arms indignantly.
"Time passes twice as fast in our world than it does in yours." Didymus explained.
"So…what, a full day for me is more like 2 for you?" Sarah was just as surprised, and even more confused.
"Somethin' like that. So what brings ya back?" Hoggle asked, hitching up his loose pants.
"I'm not really sure why I'm here but I have to save Jareth! He's dying and-" Sarah tried to explain the situation when Hoggle scoffed, "Save him? He tried to trap ya here! He's a good for nothin', selfish, vain…he's not listenin', is he?"
"He's under a curse and I think you are too, everything here is and I need to find out why so I can save the Labyrinth and everyone in it!"
"Curse? I was cursed the second I was born in this godforsaken place! I'm just glad I didn't have to live in the bog of eternal stench my whole life." Hoggle said.
"I resemble that remark." Didymus scowled at him.
"What happened to your parents? Don't you have any family here?" Sarah asked Hoggle curiously.
"Family? Well…" He thought for a minute, "I don't remember."
"What about you, Didymus?"
"My family has guarded the bridge over the bog for thousands of years!" Didymus said proudly.
"Who guarded it before you?"
"It was…well, that is to say…um…" He too looked puzzled, "I'm not sure."
"Well someone must have taught you what to do when you were a child…or pup…or whatever." Sarah said rationally.
"I don't honestly remember much of my childhood…'twas a long time ago, my lady."
"Come to think of it, I don't remember my childhood either." Hoggle added.
"Doesn't anyone find it strange that they can't remember having any family or past? Maybe this has something to do with the curse." Sarah concluded.
"Perhaps it does! Brilliant deduction, my lady!" Didymus chimed.
"But that still doesn't explain what happened to your parents…" Sarah sighed, "Maybe it's time we headed back to the castle to check on Jareth and ask him about this."
"Why would ya want to save him, Sarah? He's done nothin' to deserve to live." Hoggle grumbled as they set out through the forest.
"Because…he may be the only one who can send me home. I can't live here forever, my family would worry about me." Sarah said, looking around at the scenery as they passed the valley again.
"It must be nice to have family…someone to miss ya." Hoggle mused idly.
"I guess so…I wonder what happened to Jareth's family." Sarah said sadly.
They continued on through the forest until they came back to a tall mountain obstructing their path. There was no sign of plant life on its rocky slopes and the peak was too high up to see from the base as they gazed at it.
"Did we go the wrong way?" Didymus asked, looking at the mountain in bewilderment.
"I don't think so…but we did wander through the forest a lot, maybe we did get lost." Sarah sighed.
"I guess we'll have to climb up it to figure out where to go." Hoggle said.
"That's a good idea, let's go." Sarah agreed and they set out to climb the mountain.
As they scaled it and rose above the tree line, they glanced around to see if they could see the castle from there. Off in the distance it glimmered dully in the setting sunlight; it was further than they thought it should be.
"Wow, we walked pretty far, I didn't think it'd been that long." Sarah whistled as she shielded her eyes to see.
"We best hurry, the goblin king may not survive much longer without care." Didymus noted as he too saw how far they had to walk back.
As they began to descend the slope, the mountain gave a terrible shake as an eerie cry echoed on the air. The group looked around nervously as the ground continued to tremble more violently and the howls grew louder. Further up the mountain, they saw a cascade of rocks falling toward them and gaining speed rapidly.
"It's a rockslide, take cover!" Hoggle yelled. They tried to hurry to cover but found there was no place to hide, they were trapped.
