Chapter 7: Into The Labyrinth
Knowing that he'd never persuade Sarah to leave, Hoggle began to guide her through the Labyrinth towards The Bog of Eternal Stench as he knew that would be where they would find Sir Didymus. Sir Didymus still guarded the bridge that was the only entrance and exit to the bog. Since Sarah's last visit where the old rickety bridge had collapsed, the King had replaced it with a new stone bridge that would only allow those to pass that Sir Didymus gave permission to. The brave fox knight was proud of his role, and the King had honoured him with the official title of 'The Bog Guard' which although may not seem like much to many, it meant a great deal to Sir Didymus.
Where they would find Ludo though Hoggle had no clue. Although Ludo had caused him no harm, he remembered Ludo's loud roaring only too well and Ludo still frightened him. Sarah had before labelled Hoggle a 'coward' and he knew she was right. That was the main reason he had accepted the post of the King's assistant; he knew that if he spent most of his time in the castle, he was much safer than if he continued to wander the Labyrinth by himself. As a lowly Dwarf, defending himself against some parts of the Labyrinth, particularly some of the Fae when they ventured out of their homes, wasn't easy. The castle itself, and the fact he now worked for the King generally made him less of a target. His only hope now was that Sir Didymus would know of Ludo's whereabouts.
So far their journey through the Labyrinth had been rather uneventful. Aside from having to find a few hidden passages and doorways to get out of some locations they had found themselves in, there had been nothing too challenging to overcome. Sarah had been amazed by some of the areas they had been through having seen a mixture of beautiful architecture and also some plain creepy, dark and dingy areas. Hoggle found her enthusiasm entertaining though he couldn't really understand it.
"See I said this would be a piece of cake," Sarah commented though she knew that without Hoggle she may have struggled to find some of the hidden doorways they had used.
"Don't speak too soon," Hoggle warned. "The Labyrinth keeps changing. Finding somewhere is no easy task, that is without coming across any of the other dangers the Labyrinth possesses."
Sarah looked around as she walked through the woods that they had found themselves in. Aside from some gaps in the leaves of the tall trees that surrounded them, which allowed the bright yellow rays of the sun to come through, it was rather dark in the woods. There were many small pathways, some which looked almost impossible to pass. Brambles filled many of the gaps between the trees and so far it had been almost silent.
Suddenly, a nearby bush began to move slightly and the leaves beneath it began to rustle.
"Run!" Yelled Hoggle. He turned one hundred and eighty degrees and darted straight into Sarah's legs, almost knocking her off balance. She was about to turn around too but stopped after spotting a small, grey rabbit hop out from under the bush.
"Hoggle!" She laughed turning him around to face the bush.
Upon seeing the rabbit he simply said, "Oh. A rabbit. That's what I thought." Though his heart was still beating extremely fast.
"Fancy being scared of a tiny little rabbit," mocked Sarah.
"That's easy for you to say," grumbled Hoggle in response. "You haven't seen some of the things that can jump out on you in this Labyrinth. Trust me, the woods is definitely not somewhere you would want to be at night. That's for sure."
"Okay, okay," said Sarah knowing that she had upset Hoggle. "So how much further until we get to the Bog?"
"That's a stupid question," answered Hoggle gruffly. "The Labyrinth changes. You just have to hope you're getting closer and not further away."
"What?" Exclaimed Sarah.
"Well look at it this way," Hoggle began to explain. "Paths in the Labyrinth change. Different things you come across may force you to change direction. It's always a slightly different route every time. You learn to recognise roughly where you need to go once you've been here a long time but even then it's not easy. The Labyrinth is alive. Sometimes it will help you, other times it will force you out."
"Are we headed the right way or not?"
"I think so," commented Hoggle. "You can never be certain. However, I know the Bog is somewhere in the woods so I would hope it's not far."
They continued to walk along one of the many paths for what felt like hours to Sarah. The wood was a maze in itself. Everywhere Sarah looked appeared the same. She often felt like she had gone through the same parts twice though Hoggle assured her that they hadn't. It would be easy to get lost. The lines of towering, dark green trees seemed endless and Sarah was hoping that they would soon reach Sir Didymus as she was beginning to feel hungry.
"Ahh," exclaimed Hoggle breaking Sarah out of her dazed thoughts. Ahead the path split into three directions, all labelled as different locations in the Labyrinth.
"Let's take the one that says 'The Bog of Eternal Stench', Sarah said turning to her left. However, just as she did so the carved writing on the signs disappeared. When it returned the paths were labelled differently to what they had been moments before.
"Well that could be a problem," mumbled Hoggle. He knew that it would now be impossible to know if they were heading the right way once they took a path. They would just have to hope they picked correctly.
"The signs keep changing," Sarah observed in frustration. "The Bog of Eternal Stench, The Village and The Castle. Now what do we do?"
"We pick. And we hope we pick right." Hoggle prayed they would choose the right path. Even if they went wrong and ended up at the castle Hoggle knew there wouldn't be too much danger, unless they came across any dangerous beings in the wood on their way. Most importantly, he knew that the last place they wanted to end up would be The Village. The Village was too unpredictable.
"So which way?"
