A/N: As per request I'm trying to make my chapters longer. Sorry there's no Jareth in this one. I promise he'll get plenty of lines in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah or the Labyrinth.
At least I'm not known as the Junk Lady, Sarah sneered to herself, then sighed. Why can't I come up with these witty comebacks on the spot? Sarah pondered this bleakly to herself as she stomped her way to the local park. It was a three mile walk, but Sarah was not quite feeling cruel enough to subject other people to being in an enclosed space with her. At least now I look clean at least. It's not immediately obvious that I am the one who reeks so badly.
Walking on the sidewalk was bad enough though. She winced when a woman walked by with a stroller and the baby abruptly started wailing. About a mile from the park a man passed her by with a small dog. The animal whined, giving her a wide berth and hurrying along as fast as his tubby legs could take him.
That's right, scram, you little mutt. Sarah was not in a very charitable mood at all. She was in even less of a good mood when she realized that the ornamental hanging flowers outside of a restaurant were all wilting as she passed by. Her unhappiness and embarrassment fueled her to hurry on to the park.
She gave a sigh of relief once she reached the open spaces of the park. The bridge she sought was a small wooden affair hidden by a copse of oak trees. It crossed a stream that ran diagonally through one corner of the park. Sarah looked around carefully to make sure there was no one about before she scrambled down one of the banks and under the bridge. It was cool, dark, and mossy underneath, and yes, there was the hole into the rocky bank of the stream, hidden by brambles. Sarah plucked her flashlight out of her back pocket and flicked it on, holding it in one hand. She got down on her hands and knees and proceeded to crawl through the passageway. It took about twenty minutes of crawling through the cool stone tunnel steadily downwards before she would reach her destination.
It's a good thing that I'm not scared of tight spaces, she thought to herself. Of course, the first time she had attempted this passage she had been terrified. Only the little goblin butt she had glimpsed dashing around the corners ahead of her had provided sufficient motivation to continue.
Right turn, left turn—then a drop. Sarah clambered about ten feet down a rocky face before emerging in a larger cavern. She shut her flashlight off at this point, since there was always some light in this area. She had made it to a section of the Under-Labyrinth corridors. She made her way to a ladder along one of the walls of the cavern and started climbing carefully. For about ten minutes she climbed until she reached a wooden trap door which she pushed up and open. This was the part of the journey that was always uncertain. This trapdoor had never twice taken her to the same place in the Labyrinth. She usually came up not far from one of her friends, which was convenient, but sometimes she showed up in less convenient places. For example, once she had emerged from the top of an old stump in one of the forest regions of the great maze, straight into a cloud of biting fairies, some of which had gotten tangled in her hair. Fortunately Hoggle had been close enough to hear her hollering and had swiftly come to her rescue.
She braced the trapdoor on her head and looked around cautiously, only emerging to the level of her eyes. She appeared to be in some sort of cellar with stone walls, one of which seemed to be lined with large wooden casks. Looks safe enough. She hauled herself up and into the room.
Sarah looked around with disinterest before crossing to a stone staircase which led up to the only other exit of the room—a heavy wooden door. She ascended the stairs and paused before the solid door. Blast. Where's the handle? She tried pushing. The door did not budge. She kicked at it.
"Hey!" cried a voice from the other side, muffled by the wood of the door. "Who goes there?"
"I'm Sarah," she called. "Who are you?"
"Door guardian of His Majesties Private Wine Cellar," came the reply in an important sounding voice.
Sarah looked back at the enormous casks speculatively. I guess the Goblin King must be a big drinker.
"Nice to meet you. Can you open the door please?"
"I'm sorry—I am charged to allow no one to enter without the King's permission."
Sarah kept her patience. She had had to face this kind of conversation more times than she could count on both hands. "But I don't want to enter—I want to exit."
The voice hesitated. "Erm—my orders were to let no one enter. I've never encountered anyone wanting to get through from the other side that didn't already have permission to pass. Conceivably, my orders could be taken to mean not let anyone enter the other way either." The voice turned thoughtful towards the end.
Sarah sighed. "Enter what? The castle? The cellar is a part of the castle, so technically letting me pass is not the same thing as letting me enter the castle, since I am already inside. Besides," she added hurriedly. "You really should consider the meaning behind your orders. If I were forced to stay here longer I might have to tamper with some of His Majesty's stores, and I don't think he'd be very happy about that. Am I wrong?"
The door was silent for a while before grumbling, "Alright, fine. But I still don't like it…" The heavy door swung open into the corridor and Sarah was met with a cranky-looking brass face embedded in the wood.
"So you're the famous Champion of the Labyrinth, hm?" The door face sized her up with beady brass eyes. "I had pictured you as being taller. And I didn't think you would smell so badly," he sniffed.
Sarah glowered at the door before flashing a rude hand gesture at it and stalking determinedly down the stone hallway.
Stupid doors.