"This isn't fair!" Sam yelled and thrashed about in the small space, hoping he would soon feel a door. He gasped slightly and all his movements stopped. Sam knew he was slowly going crazy but was certain that he could hear footsteps around him. He dared himself to call out.
"Who's there?" He asked.
"Me." A deep voice said which only made Sam worry even more. A little spark lit a candle on an old looking iron lamp. He saw a little stumpy hand clutching the handle and exhaled in relief once he saw Haggle's face.
"Oh, it's you." He said and helped himself up. He had a little look around where he was exactly now that he wasn't in such a dark pit. Haggle grumbled.
"Yeah, well, I knew you were about to get lost. Sooner or later. So I thought I'd come and help you." She noticed Sam's silence.
"Oh, you're very welcome." She said. "NOW you start lookin' around. It's an Oubliette. Labyrinth's full of 'em." She explained.
"How would you know?" Sam asked as he took another look around the room.
"Don't try and sound smart. Bet ya don't even know what an Oubliette is." She set the lamp down frustratedly and pointed her finger at Sam in order to make him sound stupid or (in her words) give him a taste of his own medicine.
"Do you?" Haggle smiled.
"Yeah. It's a place to put people to forget about 'em." Sam furrowed his brow and hoped she was joking. She didn't say anything however and picked the lamp back up.
"Anyway, seems to me that you need a way out of the WHOLE Labyrinth. Being a dwarf, you get around the place a lot. So it just so happens that I know a shortcut out of here."
"Are you out of your mind?! I'm not giving up on Hannah. Not now, not ever! I've come too far to just leave her here." He said with disgust. How was giving up even an option anymore? Sam sighed and looked at the ground.
"I-I'm doing OK." He said, trying to have some pride in his actions.
"Of course you are. But this place CAN be dangerous. Trust me." She held his wrist and he didn't make any motion to move it away. He then noticed her concern however and smirked a little.
"Why are you so worried about me all of a sudden?" Haggle's eyes widened.
"Oh, uh... y-you know... nice young boy, a scary black Oubliette..." She turned away from him. Sam grinned a little once he saw that Haggle's witty and feisty side had turned all nervous and awkward. He looked on the belt across Haggle's shoulder and saw that it was covered in trinkets, gadgets, scraps and even bits of jewelry. He felt around his pocket and looked at her.
"You like jewelry, don't you?" Haggle turned around and he kneeled down, knowing that he had her full attention.
"Why?" She asked.
"If you help me find my sister, I'll give you this." He held up a tiny bracelet made out of a green pipe cleaner. Haggle was in blatant awe at the sight of it but still looked away.
"You don't like it?" Sam asked, even though he knew she did.
"It's... uh... so-so."
"Oh. OK." Sam went to put the bracelet back in his pocket when Haggle stopped him.
"Uh.. tell you what: how 'bout you give me that bracelet and THEN I'll help you."
"You were gonna do that anyway!" Sam claimed.
"Yeah, well... think of it as a nice gesture. You know.. on your part obviously." Sam kneeled down.
"No. Look I'll tell you what, if you won't take me to the castle, just take me as far as you can and then I'll do it on my own." Haggle took another look at the bracelet.
"I can't promise nothin' but... I'll take you as far as I can, then you're on your own. Right?"
"Right!" Sam said happily and he handed the little bracelet over to her. Haggle just about managed to fit the bracelet around her knobbly wrist. She leaned against a plank of wood and pulled on a small latch on the front of it, only to have various utensils clatter as they piled around her feet. Sam giggled a little.
"What? I can't be right ALL the time." She shook her head and closed the door. She kicked it and pulled it open from the other side and a bright light shone through. Sam's eyes widened a little in awe and followed her through the tunnel. Haggle tugged on his shirt as she noticed he was already becoming sidetracked on his whereabouts.
"This way." She said.
"Don't go on." An eerie voice next to Sam boomed and, out of shock, he gasped. He looked at the wall and saw a weird face carved in the stone. A few more called out to him and Haggle pulled on his shirt again, telling him to hurry up.
"Pay no attention to 'em, Sam. They're just false alarms what the Queen set up. They're to throw people off the scent. Only for when they're on the right track."
"Oh no, you're not!" Another voice boomed and Haggle groaned.
"Oh shut up!" She said.
"Just doin' my job."
"Well, ya don't have to do it to us!" She spat. Sam giggled a little at Haggle's feistiness towards a wall of all things.
"Beware for-"
"Just forget it!" Haggle put her hand up towards it.
"Please? I haven't said it for such a long time." The wall asked.
"Oh, alright. But DON'T expect a big reaction out of us, though." She sighed. The face in the wall cleared its throat.
"The path you take will lead to certain destruction!" They both looked to the ground where they saw a crystal ball rolling at a natural pace. As if it wanted Sam and Haggle to follow it. It rolled up into a little pan that was in the hand of a Goblin that was dressed in torn rags and a blue cloak.
"What have we here?" Its croaky voice asked. Haggle stepped back into Sam as she became full of fear.
"N-nothing!" The beggar stood up straighter, removed its hat, cloak and rags and revealed itself to be Jaryn.
"Nothing? Nothing? Nothing, tra-la-la?" She shook the hat in Haggle's face and tossed it aside.
"Y-your Majesty!" Haggle kneeled down before her feet. "What a nice surprise."
"If only I could say the same, Hagfish." She grinned.
"It's Hagface." Sam quickly said.
"HAGGLE!" She said.
"Haggle, could it be that you're... helping this boy?" Haggle stepped back into a wall and Sam noticed her nervousness again.
"In w-what sense, your Majesty?" She stammered.
"The sense that you're leading him to my castle."
"No! No! Of course not! I'm still working on our little plan. You know, to take him back to the beginning." Sam's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Just when he felt he was getting somewhere, he learns he's slowly being stabbed in the back by... who he thought was his friend.
"What? Haggle? How could you?" He asked. Haggle was lost for words right now and fiddled with the puffy sleeve on her shirt and Jaryn noticed the little bracelet around her wrist.
"What is that little green thing around your wrist?" Haggle became apprehensive and pulled her sleeve right down but she knew it was foolish to do. Jaryn then looked at Sam who was still in disbelief that he was being betrayed.
"You've always been a sucker for pretty things haven't you?" Jaryn asked and smiled at Haggle.
"He's given you this little trinket and now you're leading him to my castle?"
"N-no! Of course not!"
"Haggle, if I were to find out that you were helping Sam to get to my castle... well, you know what happens to traitors here." Haggle fell to her knees and pleaded as she grasped Jaryn's shirt, only to be kicked back into the wall. She looked over at a doubtful Sam and stepped closer to him.
"You're a very... determined man aren't you, Sam?" She questioned.
"You can't keep Hannah from me forever. I'll get her back home soon. Just watch." He said coldly. Haggle rolled her eyes and groaned as she was almost telling him to shut up.
"I look forward to it. How about... upping the stakes a little? I can't make it too easy. Can I?" She pointed to the same clock from before when began his journey in the Labyrinth began. Jaryn spun her index finger clockwise and the big hand moved along with it, making it a couple of hours later.
"That's not fair!" He cried.
"You say that so often. I'm beginning to wonder what your basis for comparison is." She chuckled. "But... as I said, I can't make it too easy." She brought out another crystal ball and threw it down the tunnel behind her. A loud contraption took its place and started to make its way towards Haggle and Sam. Haggle gasped and ran as fast as her stumpy legs would carry her.
"What is that?" Sam cried.
"The Cleaners! Run!" She yelled as she was already far away from him. Sam followed her and pulled on her arm so she could keep up with him. They came to a set of locked gates and tried pulling on the bars but the gates wouldn't budge.
"Happy now Sam? You've sure got her attention!" She screamed as she tried kicking the gates open. Sam thumped the walls next to him and felt a slight movement within one of them.
"Haggle! Help!" He yelled and Haggle did so, practically throwing herself into the wall so it would cave in. The wall (thankfully) gave and they both fell to the ground. As they both got back up, they both jumped at the sound of a loud clatter. Sam looked around the corner and saw the weird machine drive through the gates, leaving only a few bars of it left. Haggle brushed off any dust off of her clothes and looked around the little room they had let themselves into.
"Ah! This is what we need. A ladder. Come on." She said as she pulled on it a little to check if it was sturdy enough.
"How am I supposed to trust you now that I know you're only trying to take me back to the beginning of the Labyrinth?"
"I'm not! I only said that to throw her off the scent." She called as she was already above Sam's height.
"Haggle how am I supposed to believe anything you tell me?" He asked.
"Well, put it this way: what choice have ya got?" Sam sighed, knowing she was right and climbed up after her.
"Why couldn't you just tell her that you were helping me get to the castle?" He asked.
"Put yourself in my position: I'm a coward. Big time. Jaryn terrifies me." She said, pulling herself further up the ladder.
"That's not really a position."
"Exactly." Sam didn't even bother arguing with her and just concentrated on climbing up the ladder.
"What did she mean, anyway? When she was talking about traitors?" Haggle nearly slipped and Sam had to push her back up by holding her back and holding her until she finally grasped the ladder again.
"If you were just a little bit smart, you wouldn't dare risk what the Queen has in store for traitors."
"What do you mean?"
"The Bog of Eternal Stench." She said with horror in her voice. "If you were to even put one foot in there, you- you'd- AHH!" She screamed as the step below her came loose and dropped to the ground. She clutched on to the ladder with all her might.
"Is it really that bad?" Sam asked.
"If you were to put one foot in there, you'd smell bad for the rest of your life. It NEVER washes off!" She explained and put her hands above her head to move what turned out to be a panel. Haggle peeked out and helped herself down.
"You're on your own now," Haggle said.
"What?!" Sam asked and quickly jumped over the side after Haggle.
"I quit!" She shouted.
"You little cheat!" Sam called her but Haggle kept on walking.
"Oh bite me, Sam. I have no pride so don't TRY to embarrass me." Sam smirked as he saw the part on her belt sticking out which had all of her trinkets and jewels. He clutched them and held them above her head so she couldn't reach.
"Give 'em back!" She yelled and tried to kick Sam but he kept his hand on her head so she couldn't run towards him.
"Well then, which way do you think we should go?" He smirked. Haggle groaned as she realized what he was doing.
"That's not fair!" She yelled.
"No! No, it isn't! But that's the way it is." He smiled as he opened his eyes to this new epiphany.
