Chapter 7 – Somewhere in the World
Sarah spent the afternoon with Hoggle and Ludo in the cave, sitting around a fire, while Hoggle told her of the Labyrinth and the events that happened after she left. He told her of the king's destructive behavior, and of the strange, dangerous creatures that wandered the countryside. While Ludo could not contribute to the conversation, his sad, expressive face was able to convey something that added more to Hoggle's tales, and Sarah felt she was beginning to grasp an understanding of Jareth's cruelty.
As they reminisced, a plan started to form in her mind. She needed to get home, and she wasn't going to get there, sitting in a cave. She needed to go out and find a way, to make a way back. But she knew that Hoggle and Ludo would follow her, try to help her, and she didn't want to put them in any further danger.
Sarah questioned Hoggle casually, how to find his cottage again, and where the goblin city lay in relation to Ludo's cave. He gave her a shrewd look, and she wondered if he had guessed her intentions.
Hoggle was not keen to share his knowledge of the Labyrinth with Sarah, but she pointed out that if they got separated, which was highly possible, she needed to know as much as she could to survive.
Grunting, he took a piece of wood from the fire, and drew a crude map on the floor. He placed a large black stone in the centre, to represent the goblin city.
And the castle, was left unspoken.
He drew a large circle around the stone, which represented something he called the place of broken dreams. "We found ya there, once. Very dangerous. Never the same twice. A person could become lost there forever."
While he placed more piles of rocks, Sarah tried to plot a course in her head carefully. It didn't look far, sketched out in dirt, but she knew it had taken them a better part of the morning to travel from the little cottage to the cave.
"O' course," Hoggle's voice had interrupted her thoughts, "the desert is usually o're here, and ya don't want to go into that."
"What do you mean, usually?" she asked.
"Ain't always in the same place," Hoggle responded, confused by the question. "It moves around, y'know. Whaddya think I mean?"
"I see," she bit her lip and considered the little heaps of stone on the floor.
Asking for directions wasn't proving as helpful as she had hoped, but, Sarah considered, perhaps she was still asking the wrong questions, even after all this time. She changed tactics, and asked if there was anything to look for, or avoid, to guide her path.
Hoggle nodded. He shared some insights with her, that would ensure she wouldn't accidentally go towards the goblin city, if she found herself alone. As it turned out, the Labyrinth was full of markers, small things that a visitor would easily overlook, but for the creatures who called this place home, they were landmarks. The way a stack of wood was piled, or a pile of rocks. Marks on the walls that seemed random, but had been placed with great care.
Hoggle spoke of several rivers in the forest, and cautioned her about the wildest one, a river that ran quick and cold over a bed of black stone. That one, he warned her, should be avoided at all cost. That one led straight to the castle. If they were separated, she was not to follow that river downstream under any circumstances.
By Sarah's calculations, as long as she stayed in the forest, or at the outermost edges, she could avoid the goblin city. And then what? Well, she was still working on that part.
Satisfied that she had at rudimentary understanding of the land's geography, the conversation turned to other topics.
Hoggle asked about her life, after she had rescued Toby.
Sarah struggled to explain it in a way they would understand. Growing up, law school, and a career were not terms so easily translated in this place, but she tried.
And I date! She wanted to say. I try to date. But none of them interest me enough, none of them are handsome enough, not powerful enough. None of them have a face hard enough to cut through you. She took a deep breath. Dwelling on that never did any good.
What about you, she wanted to know. What's a typical day in the Labyrinth?
Hoggle, as it turned out, led a very simple life, when he wasn't ordered to lead wanderers astray. He tended to his garden and his bees. He bartered produce and honey for the things he couldn't grow. He didn't have the patience to deal with livestock, and only ate the meat he trapped himself. He rose at sun-up to chop firewood, did chores, and in general, tried to stay out of sight.
What about friends?
Well there's Ludo, but he's not much for conversation anymore.
And what about Didymus?
Hoggle didn't see him very much. After the bridge in the swamp that led to the castle had crumbled, there was no use to leaving a sentry to guard it, so the small knight was called to the castle on the king's orders. Hoggle didn't know much about that, but he got letters from Didymus periodically. The small knight complained (as delicately as he could) about how difficult it was to look after human babes.
Sarah startled with guilt. She seldom thought about what happened in the Labyrinth, outside her own experience. She never considered that the goblin king was still acquiring unwanted children, and the very idea of it floored her. How could she sit here and fantasize about that man, that thing, who was a predator? He stole children, and caused everlasting heartache and loss to families in her world. How many lives were ruined by him? She felt disgusted with herself.
After their meal, Ludo retreated to a small hut in the back of the cave, and returned with some bedding for his guests to make pallets around the fire. Sarah bundled her coat up to use as a pillow, and stretched out her long legs. She laced her hands behind her bed, and watched the glow worms as they trailed patterns of light across the ceiling. It was cozy in the cave. As long as she didn't think about what happened in this strange land, it was...nice.
She felt relaxed, which was pretty good, given the current circumstances.
Sarah thought about her friends here fondly. Hoggle seemed so small now, smaller than before. Or was it that Sarah had grown taller? Ludo's imposing frame that had filled her once with fear, was now something she wanted to protect. As they had talked, Sarah realized with crystal clarity that she couldn't depend on their help, not ever again. She couldn't ask it, and couldn't accept it, even if it was offered freely. The cost to them would be too high.
The first time she came to the Labyrinth, she had been in a selfish stage of transition. Not a child, but not an adult. Innocent enough to expect help and assume it was her due. She had thought nothing of asking these small creatures to betray their king to help her.
But now, she had grown up, and she saw her friends as they truly were; small, simple creatures, not soldiers or saviors. They needed protection, not her. She would not give their capricious ruler an excuse to punish them again for her sake.
As the fire died down, she made up her mind to leave before dawn, alone. She forced herself to be patient, and waited until she heard gentle snores before she carefully got up and headed to the exit, one of Hoggle's packs of food in hand.
She picked her way quietly through the tunnel of the cave, not daring to bring a torch. From what she remembered of their entry to Ludo's home, the tunnel was fairly straight, so she crept along with one hand pressed to the wall, trusting touch to guide her to the exit. Eventually she found the pink sky of the Labyrinth spread out before her, still twinkling with stars.
She paused to take in the view, and wait for the sun to rise before she went any further. Unlike her first visit to the Labyrinth, where every second was measured, this time she could explore at her leisure. Her brother's life didn't hang in the balance. A twinge of guilt hit her.
It was a strange place, a dangerous place, but it was also filled with wonder. With every step she took, an awareness of her surroundings crept into her heart, and Sarah found herself smiling. This was a wild place, and some parts of it were awful, but there were also things that were heart-wrenching in their beauty.
Once the sky had lightened enough to see the terrain ahead, Sarah walked purposely away from the cave, from her friends. She didn't look back, and didn't see the thick thorn branches that sprang up silently behind her, blocking the cave entrance.
She wasn't entirely sure of her plan, only that she needed to be alone and away from those she held dear. The Labyrinth was huge, and it was possible she could avoid the goblin king, for a time. Maybe forever.
Forever. The thought drifted through her mind.
But surely she wasn't trapped here forever? There must be way back home. The thought of never escaping, never seeing her family again, it filled her with nausea. She blinked back tears.
Stop that, she chided herself. Crying won't help.
Hopefully, with time, tenacity, and a little luck, Sarah would find a way out of this twisted nightmare, before he found her. Head held high, she marched towards the forest.
Adjusting the pack on her back, Sarah considered everything she had learned about the land's layout. She edged her way around a large bone stuck in the undergrowth, and stopped to push her hair out of her eyes. The forest had sounded like the safest place to hide, but it wasn't without its dangers. But she couldn't just stay in one spot, not if she hoped to find something to guide her way home.
How much time had passed since she left home? She wondered if anyone was looking for her.
There was much to think about as she wandered.
After she had escaped the Labyrinth with Toby, things had started to go wrong. At first it had seemed like bad luck. A series of random chances with unfavorable outcomes, which plagued her throughout her life. Scarcely a month would pass between one unfortunate incident and the next.
It started with small things. Finding a tear in her nice shirt, or when the VRC ate her favourite movie. Tripping down the stairs and breaking half her toes. Being blamed when the petty cash at her part-time job disappeared, and the surveillance camera had shorted out during the time Sarah needed to exonerate herself.
And then things began to get worse. A horrible fight with her oldest friend over a ridiculous misunderstanding, cruel words that could never be taken back. Taking her driver's licence exam, and getting T-boned by another car. Merlin, always obedient, dashed out in front of a car one day. Grandma went to the hospital for routine surgery, and never left. Dead at the age of 72 from hospital-acquired pneumonia. Tom, her first boyfriend, vanished after class one day and never came home.
People began to whisper. Nobody has that much bad luck. Maybe she flirts with danger, some whispered. Maybe she does all of it to herself. She's sick, whispered others. Maybe it's all lies. She's bad luck.
Aside from her parents and her brother, Sarah had nothing. No close friends. No lover. Only endless days, that blurred with their sameness. Well - she had dreams. Even if she refused to acknowledge them, they were there. Always waiting. But Sarah refused to think about her dreams.
Stopping to navigate a small stream barring her path through the forest, Sarah pondered that.
Why don't I?
She considered this for awhile, before finding an answer that felt right.
Because... if I dream of him, that makes not having him harder to bear. He can't be real. And if he was real, if he really exists, he can't love me. He said he did, but he just wanted to own me. That's not love.
How do you know?
Oh, please. It's obvious! Fear me – love me – do as I say? That's not love! Prince Charming is supposed to be sweet and gentle, giving presents, singing sonnets. Not demanding fealty from your heart. Not acting like you're a possession. He didn't love me. He wanted to feed his ego.
Thinking about the goblin king's words made a warmth spread through her face. She sighed slightly, thinking of the look in his eyes as he offered her a life of dreams once, and the disappointment when she refused. She wondered if he still thought of her, like she thought of him.
Although it must have been disappointing to be beaten by a teenager, she thought to herself with a small measure of satisfaction. She bet he thought of that moment quite often.
Sarah reached a clearing covered in large silver leaves which sparkled in the sunlight. The ground was littered with bones. She shifted nervously. This looked like a feeding ground. She ran a hand over the nearest bone, wondering. It was covered in tiny nicks and gouges. A leaf was stuck to it, rustling in the breeze.
She reached a hand toward it cautiously, intrigued by its translucent silver shape. Maybe she'd take one back, a souvenir of this crazy trip. Something to tell stories about when she got home. It surely wouldn't cause any harm... She looked around the clearing warily, but saw no one. Her fingertip stroked the edge of the leaf, but instead of the papery texture she expected, it was warm, thrumming under her hand. She bent closer to examine it.
The leaf stirred, and stretched. It moved aside, to reveal the dainty face of a fairy, yawning in slumber, diminutive fangs flashing.
Sarah froze.
The rustling sound filled the air again, as she looked around once more. Understanding dawned. This was not a pile of fallen leaves. This was a hoard of carnivorous fairies, and their bite was sharp. She eyed the bone piles, swallowing nervously. A single fairy had a nasty bite, what could a flock of them do? Were these bones this all that remained of the fairies' prey?
There was a loud rustle to the right. Sarah held her breath as she backed up slowly. From the corner of her eye, she saw a ripple of silver. The fairies were waking.
Oh shit.
It was too late. The rustling grew louder, and sharp cries filled the air. She felt the wind move her hair as something dove close to her face, and...
"Ow!"
Something had bitten her. Sarah zipped her coat quickly, and threw her hands up to protect her face. She charged through the woods, trying to escape the tiny predators. They whined and dove, scoring her hands and getting tangled in her hair. She screamed in pain, trying to dislodge them, but it was like trying to shake off a swarm of wasps; intelligent, voracious wasps.
The sound of their wings and their screams filled her ears, and Sarah ran blindly. Too late she felt the ground shift beneath her feet, and she plunged into cold water. She gasped for air, and sucked down a mouthful of icy water. Her clothes were heavy, and the current was strong.
She fought her way to the surface, but the fairies hovered above, snapping at her. The ones caught in her hair scratched wildly, and she swatted at them, until they stilled. She sucked in another breath, and ducked back under the surface. It was freezing.
She threw herself into the current, hoping it would carry her far enough away that the fairies would not follow.
Eventually, a bend in the river allowed her to stagger to shore, and she looked around frightfully. The fairies were gone, save the ones tangled in her hair. She ripped them out viciously, and one of them fluttered weakly. She stomped on them all for good measure. Their small bodies made wet, squelching sounds as they died.
She stripped off her jacket, and held it up for inspection. The leather was deeply gouged and scratched, but it had absorbed most of the damage. Her hands weren't so lucky. They were covered in dozens of tiny wounds. She prodded her face and winced. A few had gotten through.
She spread her clothing on the large rocks to dry, and sat to catch her breath. Her pack of food was waterlogged, but some things were still good, so she ate while she pondered her next move. After her meal, she washed her hands in the water. Looking down in to the water, she paused.
Hoggle had warned her about the cold river, one that ran fast over a bed of black stones. Downstream was the castle. She leaned over the river's edge, looking down. The riverbed was definitely dark. That couldn't be good.
She couldn't go back upstream. The fairies might still be there. Which left one option, so she struck out from the eastern bank, going back into the woods.
The sun had set. Sarah's journey through the woods halted once she noticed that the birdsong and the little noises of the forest creatures had ended abruptly. It was eerily quiet. She shivered in her damp clothes. Nervous, she looked around, but saw nothing. She took a few more steps and then, her momentum was arrested by a strange sight.
The air in front of her rippled. There was something, a dark round shape, pushing through the air towards her. Time slowed to a crawl. It drew nearer, and nearer. Whatever it was, it was small, too small to harm her. Curiosity overrode the urge to run.
She stared at it, wondering. It was like watching deep waters as something rose to the surface. A memory floated up, unbidden.
"I don't want to go!" Sarah screamed. "Mom promised to come back this summer, I can't go!"
"Honey," Dad frowned. "We've been over this. Irene and I planned something really special, something the whole family will like," he said. "You're too young to stay home alone. It's a really beautiful place, you'll love Canada."
A tantrum.
Grudgingly loading her suitcase into the old station wagon.
That stupid baby (half-brother, half of WHAT?) wailing in the car.
Exchanging the contents of her piggy bank for Canadian notes. "I give you twenty dollars and I get MORE back? Cool!"
Sitting in the backseat with headphones on.
A pack of Skittles.
Waving at big rig trucks.
"We're at the border, ready? You're an international traveler now!" - "Why are there so many churches?" - "Maybe that's why they're so nice." - "Ro-bert" Step-mother would make the name into two parts when his jokes fell flat. ("Raw-bert" it sounded like. Bert and Ernie served rare, with potatoes, dripping with – ) "Where are we going?" - "Wouldn't you like to know?" - "Dad!" - "Ok, you got me; we're going to have a whale of a time!" - "Ro-bert."
Finally! The ferry. A tiny island. Bald eagles perched on the sign post. A whale watching boat. Bobbing up and down on the cold Atlantic, standing on the observation deck. Peering into the gloom, wanting to be the first one to see, to feel – there! Something rising, rising, rising. Breaking through the surface. "Holy SHIT." – "Language, young lady!" - "But it's bigger than the boat, it could tip us right over! It could eat us!" - "They eat plankton, honey." – "They're beautiful." - "Look, more over there! Sarah, do you see it? Sarah? Sarah?"
"Sar-ah...," the wind whispered. Sound returned as the wind sighed through the pines, and rain water dripped down a cliff face. It jolted her back to reality. Awareness coiled through her, but her limbs felt sodden, the air felt thick.
The shape pushed through the viscous sky, solidifying slowly, and it was joined by seven companions. They started to push towards her in earnest. Her eyes widened.
Eight dark points, the size of... fingertips – she realized, belatedly. Gloved hands. They pushed through the sky, grabbing ahold of the dark and pulling it apart as one would recalcitrant doors. They sundered the night, and in the space of the breach; darkness poured out, shadow and starlight swirled and she caught a glimpse of something otherworldly, something that set her heart afire, before the figure – goblin king, her blood whispered - stepped through the portal, closing the rift with a sweep of his hands. Jareth stalked forward.
"Well, well," he drawled, "what have we here? A young girl."
Sarah stood rooted to the ground. The wind had turned to a cold gale. As she gazed on him, she remembered the small, ruined body of the owl at the side of the highway, the blood she had tried to scrub away, and a wave of relief swept through her, until she heard his next words.
"Although perhaps," he looked her up and down quickly, "not so young anymore."
Her relief drained in an instant. His words were hard, brittle, penetrating the fog of her mind like a hailstorm. Hoggle's warning echoed in her ears. Sarah dropped her eyes to think, and suddenly that seductive voice from her dreams whispered into her ear. As his breath caressed her cheek, her urge to bide the danger was finally overridden by self-preservation. She made to turn away before he caught her elbow in an unyielding grip.
"Leaving without saying goodbye, Sarah? Tut."
Carefully, slowly, she turned to face him, and found herself staring directly into those baleful eyes; one perilous as the sea, the other implacable as stone.
Stone. Stone – Ludo used to call the rocks. Until he -
Anger restored her equilibrium as she jerked backward. "Let me go."
His chuckle reverberated through her bones. "As you like," he said mildly.
The clouds parted, and a shaft of moonlight struck his face as he stood for her inspection. Not preening, not exactly. Watchful. Run, that stance goaded. Make me chase you. Gilt hair fell past his collar bone, framing keen bones covered in taut, pale skin. A face honed by indeterminate years but unmarred by age.
Still the same, her mind whispered. So beautiful. The fanciful cosmetics were gone, he needed no paint to enhance his splendor. That stern mouth was set in the way she remembered so well.
What would it take to soften that countenance?
A slithering motion caught her eye. Cautiously, she looked past him. Darkness loomed, and as she watched in wonder, his shadow rippled, and lifted, and twined round him sinuously, to form a cloak. She was not sure what lay beneath it.
"Wicked girl," he murmured.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I? You are in my kingdom, dearest, " he said.
"Not by choice," she muttered.
"It makes no difference," he said. "Here you are. I always knew you would dream your way back to me. And yet now that you are here, I wonder if you have a care for my expectations, this time."
She recoiled from the menace in his nonchalant admission. He radiated power, and something else, something that was present in their previous encounter, when she was too new to understand it, and now it caused her hips to shift unconsciously.
He noticed, and for the first time, his smile touched his eyes.
Suddenly he was directly in front of her. She blinked.
"Sarah," he whispered. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."
With the instinct of the rabbit, she held very still. The part of her that liked to turn the lamps on when it was dark outside, that small part of her wondered, inanely, if she was very quiet, perhaps he would would lose interest and go away.
"Hardly, Sarah. Not before I retrieve my property from you."
"Your...property?" She blinked from the heat of his simmering gaze, sparking with deadly intent.
"Yes. You could say that, Sarah."
Suddenly she felt warm. Was I cold? It was so hard to think. She twisted her hands together, wrenching them painful. "I know what you did to Ludo," she said.
"Do you, now?" he smiled.
"You stole his voice!"
"How little you know of kings, Sarah. Everything in this kingdom is mine. From air to sea, and all creatures here. Your precious Ludo was caught trying to steal from me. The rope that bound him was meant to be a hangman's noose. Until you interfered."
"What did he steal from you?" she asked.
"It's of no consequence to you," he said. "The price exacted was mine to claim."
"You're disgusting," she said, stepping forward aggressively. Her fear forgotten, she put her hands on her hips and raised her eyes in challenge.
"What's this?" he hissed, his voice sharp as a knife. He gripped her chin in a firm hand. "What is this?" he demanded, running his thumb over her split lip, and her bruised cheek, with tenderness. He released her abruptly, and took a step back, examining her thoroughly. His sharp eyes swept past the small bite marks, and narrowed in on the fingerprints on her throat, and he growled in anger when he saw the torn button on her pants. "Who laid hands on you, girl?"
Sarah froze. Everything she had pushed out of her mind from the last forty-eight hours came rushing back like a tidal wave, and it was going to drown her. She blinked back tears. He couldn't make her talk about it. He had no right.
"No one," she snapped.
"Not one of mine, surely," he muttered to himself. "They wouldn't dare."
Sarah remained silent, her vision focused on the trees in the distance, willing herself not to cry.
"Tell me, precious thing," he cajoled. "Who dared to harm you?"
"No one," she said, voice raised in anger.
Jareth stared at her, frowning. Annoyed. He was willing to be her knight errant, and she refused? He gripped her shoulders tightly.
Author's note:
Finally! Our delightful goblin king has met his prey. It took me over a year to write his grand entrance, so I hope you enjoy!
