The usual disclaimer... I don't own the characters, places, or words. I just arranged them.


"It's not fair!" Jareth snarled. By all the known rules of magic, Sarah should have been detectable. She was, after all, only permitted in the Underground through his power. Nor could she return to the Aboveground without his permission. Yet, once again, the impossible had happened. Sarah seemed to defy him at every angle.

He took a step forward, allowing himself to fade from his present location. He appeared on the island amidst the Unquenchable Fire searching for clues.

He found nothing.

No traces of Sarah or how she escaped.

"It must have been that fool," Jareth realised, referring to Sir Didymus. "I will find that scamp and punish him for his insolence."

Having someone to blame had a calming effect on the goblin king. Rather than fretting, his mind set about calculating the best way to deal with the erratic knight.

Returning to the castle, Jareth summoned his calvary. "Sarah disappeared," He announced.

The goblin gasped and squawked in disbelief.

"She must be found. Immediately," Jareth commanded.

"Alright troops, you heard the king," one goblin commander called out.

"No, I didn't," cried one of the goblins in the back.

"Neither did I," another joined in.

"The girl-who-is-to-be-queen escaped from the king," one of the other goblins informed those in the back.

"What's a girl?" one of the goblins asked.

"When do we eat?" another goblin replied.

"Go!" Jareth howled in his most fearsome tone.

"Charge!" the goblins shouted, though most did not know what or where they were going. They filed out of the castle, pounding away in different directions.

Jareth grabbed the shoulders of one of the goblins. "Sir?" The goblin turned.

"Find Sir Didymus. He may be behind the disappearance," Jareth confided to the goblin.

"Yessir," the goblin removed his horned helmet and bowed. Replacing his helmet on his head, the goblin turned to leave but stopped mid stride. He faced Jareth again, "Your highness, if I may ask..." The goblin paused until Jareth nodded permission to speak. "How did the girl escape your magic?"

A long moment passed as Jareth struggled to admit his ignorance. "I don't know," he finally managed to spit the words out.

"Do you really think Sir Didymus has the ability to evade your magic?" The goblin queried.

"No," Jareth responded instinctively. The hastiness of his reply struck him as odd. Of course, the foolish knight would not know how to hide Sarah from his magic. There was no way Sir Didymus could have smuggled Sarah to the Aboveground either. "If it is not him," Jareth vocalised his thoughts, "then something worse has taken her."

The goblin shuddered. "What will happen to us if she is found out?"

The look on Jareth's face could not have been clearer. Trouble awaited the Labyrinth if someone else had discovered Sarah.

"Every effort will be made to find the future queen," the goblin assured the king.

Jareth nodded and the soldier dismissed himself. Though Jareth would never admit it, he respected Captain Flit's loyalty and determination. There was no one else he would have entrusted with the task of finding Sarah. Except, of course, himself.


Ant kicked a pebble out of his path as he strode downtrodden towards the castle. He was a failure and though he knew he had to report to the king, he was searching for every opportunity to delay the confrontation.

There was a great commotion coming from the castle, but Ant did not look up. There was always some form of calamity happening in the goblin city. He continued his trek towards the castle. Other goblins rushed over and around his diminutive frame, most not even noticing him.

Several of the goblins were chanting their orders (as a rule, goblins repeated things not only because it helped them not forget, but also because it meant poisonous words could be let out). Ant ignored their cacophonic calls, fully absorbed in his own misery. A goblin boot came down on Ant, but the abnormally strong goblin managed to stay erect beneath the larger being's step.

"My foot!" The larger goblin called as Ant's pointed helmet dug into his boot.

Ant ignored it all.

Though he wished to be similarly ignored, his passing did not go unnoticed. He spotted Ant's diminutive form treading towards the castle. "Ant," he called out.

Finally, Ant stirred from his hazy dismay. He looked up to the captain but said nothing.

"You know of the future queen right?" Captain Flit called.

"Stupid Girl? I know her," Ant sighed.

"She has gone missing," Captain Flit announced.

Ant paused. "What?" He asked.

"I don't know the specifics," the captain recounted. "But, she is gone and she must be retrieved."

A crooked smile betrayed Ant's pleasure at the announcement. Stupid Girl was honouring her promise!

If the captain noticed Ant's glee, he ignored it. "Do you know anything that can help us find her?"

"Why find her? She trouble."

"The kingdom is going to be in trouble if she escapes. We have to find her."

Ant's smile changed from one of malice to one of hope. He saw his redemption. It was as though the bright light in the sky of the Aboveground was shining into his future. He could retrieve Stupid Girl and the king would forget about his other failures. "I find her," Ant grinned.

"Great," Captain Flit encouraged. "Tell me what you-"

The captain did not even get to finish his sentence for Ant had disappeared. Unlike most goblins, Ant had been bestowed with transporting capabilities by Jareth. It was one of the privileges that Ant had feared Jareth would revoke upon realising Ant's betrayal and then later failure to move the Labyrinth book.

The first place Ant checked was Sarah's chambers in Jareth's quarters. Though he doubted she would be hiding there, he figured he might find some clue. He turned up the bed, riffled through the closet, and even scanned the floor. But there was nothing to be found. She had not been back there since Jareth's battle with Nerissa.

The second place Ant went to was the kitchens. Cuisine professions were considered the domain of intelligent goblins since the demand for good food was always a goblin priority. (Nevertheless, good goblin food would never be considered satisfactory fare for any other race). To the cooks he queried if Sarah had required any food recently in an attempt to discern her location.

"Human food? Haven't made it since you asked for it," one of the cooks replied.

"Heard there was a commotion this morning though," another goblin cook added.

"Naw, that happened last night. Remember?" A baker chided.

"Last night was not a commotion; it was a battle. There was a commotion this morning," the cook replied.

"What happen?" Ant interrupted impatiently.

The baker shrugged, but the cook was happy to elaborate. "Some creature came riding in saying it was going to slay the king."

"What creature?"

"It wasn't a goblin."

"It was that thing that lives in the bog," another goblin supplied.

"Think has something to do with the girl?" Ant asked.

Again, the baker shrugged, but this time he was joined by the cook.

Ant did not wait to finish the conversation. He fixated his mind on that realm of torment and transported himself to the bog.

Stubbornness alone prevented him from hurling at the scent of the fetid water. As he had in Sarah's room, Ant began to explore the area, taking note of footprints and other useful tracking information. The benefit of being only a couple inches off the ground was that Ant saw things from a completely different perspective than most of his larger counterparts.

A heavy set of footprints seemed to be freshly made. Ant followed them, hoping they would lead to the bog creature who had challenged the king. The footprints led towards the heart of the bog. If Ant had thought the scent was bad on the fringes, it was unbearable the further in he got. He was quite certain the scent was palpable; he could probably reach out and grasp it in his hand – that was how thick it was.

Nevertheless, he was closing in on the creator of the footprints. He heard the creature call out in a thunderous voice. Ant quickened his rapid pace, hurtling forward.

Over quaking bridges and through muddy sludge, Ant traversed to reach the creature who could help him find Sarah. He came at last to a bank of the bog where the footprints ended. Ant clamoured up a nearby tree to see where the trail continued. Somehow, the creature had crossed the bog and as the trees were the only way Ant could see, he emulated the crossing. The branches were many, but thin. More than a few creaked as the diminutive goblin passed along them. He heard a snap as the one he was walking across broke under his weight. Thankfully, the branch Ant held with his hands managed under the additional weight of the falling goblin. Ant slung his legs up over the branch and hoisted himself up, grabbing a parallel branch for further support. He shimmied along to the very end of this tree's branches and then dropped himself into a hanging position. The tree was not quite expansive enough to pass over the bog waters. He'd have to throw himself towards the bank and hope he rolled forward, not back. Using his legs to gather some thrust, Ant rocked back and forth. With a silent prayer, Ant released his hands from the branch and flew forward. He spun his body into a roll and hit the ground. He tumbled forward and came to rest in a familiar footprint. The little goblin brushed himself off and pretended he hadn't been frightened whatsoever, then continued the path of the footprints.

It wasn't long until Ant found the creature he was stalking. The creature was large and fearsome, but Ant knew only fear of the goblin king so he marched forward.

"Luuuuudddddooooo," the creature called.

Ant was certain he measured not taller than the creature's foot.

"Luuudddooo," the thing moaned again.

Its voice was like thunder to the small goblin. But Ant took a deep breath and then burst towards the giant. "Stop there!" He called as he ran in front of the creature.

The monster looked down at Ant and tilted its head in confusion.

"You listen to Ant and you not get harmed," Ant threatened.

"Friend?" The creature asked.

"I asking the questions," Ant insisted. "Are you the creature who attack King?"

"Ludo no fight."

"Chicken feathers!" Ant swore. "Is there another creature who live here?"

"Brother Ludo, who dost though speaketh to?" Another voice interrupted Ant's inquisition.

Ant spun around to see the approaching Sir Didymus and Ambrosius. The knight looked downcast as he returned to his home in the bog.

"Small goblin," Ludo replied, pointing to Ant.

"A goblin? Here? In my home? I seest no such thing," Sir Didymus replied. He sniffed the air intently, "Nor do I smell one."

"There," Again, Ludo pointed to where Ant stood.

"You have been mistaken brother Ludo; there is nothing here but Ambrosius and me. But why art thou here brother?"

"Find you," Ludo explained.

"I have been to the castle," Didymus informed his friend. "I battled the king, but he has bested me. I was given no choice but to retreat, though I would gladly die an honourable death, for the Lady Sarah is captured by the goblin king! I could not die until she has been rescued from the isle in the Unquenchable Fire."

Once again, Ant disappeared without notice, not bothering to hear the rest of Sir Didymus' story.

Though he was glad to be rid of the scent of the bog, he felt the heat of the Unquenchable Fire too keenly. He stayed near the center of the island as best as possible, searching for a clue.

Clearly, Sarah had been here earlier, for her footprints were discernible. (Aside from Jareth, no other being in the Labyrinth had feet proportioned like a human's). Yet, her soles were not the only ones that had touched down on the island recently. Ant wandered into the prints of the other boots and felt along them. As he suspected, he found something not native to the island – the fragment of a crushed leaf. Whoever wore those boots had left small traces of their previous location behind in their footprints. Small bits of mud and leaf fragments flaked from the boots as they had dried in the heat of the island. Ant raised the leaf fragment to his mouth and bit into it.

"Blech," he spat it out as soon as it touched his tongue. "Elves," he cringed.

So it was that tiny Ant, who stood less than three inches tall, found where Sarah had been taken when the king himself could not discern her location.

"Elves," Ant muttered again. Though he had never met one before, Ant knew he hated them. Perhaps even more than he hated Sarah. The tall, thin elves were antipodes to the short stocky goblins and it was no secret that between all the creatures that lived beneath the ground goblins and elves bore each other the greatest animosity. Ant had no desire to go to such a place, but then again neither would the king. Because of his stealthy prowess, Ant might be able to sneak in and steal the girl back so that all the praise for rescuing her would go to him. On the other hand, he might make things worse. So Ant was faced with a quandary: "Tell king or find Stupid Girl myself?"