Life Without the Sunlight

Chapter Nine


My father used to say there are only two things you should do in the world. One, the things that you want to do. Two, the things that you have to do. If they're the same, so much the better. If they're not, well, hold on to why the thing is necessary.

So, even though I had little love for the Labyrinth and wished more than anything to get home and be with Dad, I held on to the necessity; if I did not succeed, Toby would be eaten by a snake. That would be a bit too much for Dad to handle right then.

"Where is my brother?" I demanded. The goblin outside my door was a hideous creature, its skin disease-green and bubbling with black boils. It jumped in fright and its helmet visor clanged down on its nose, hiding milky eyes.

"I need to talk to the King," the goblin quavered. It went motionless, leaning on its halberd. A long second passed, and another. The goblin flicked up the visor and wailed, "He's not answering!"

"No, no, calm down," I said, waving my hands without touching it. I had the idea that touching its putrid flesh would give me the same condition. "We don't need Jareth. We can find him ourselves. Where do you think Toby is?"

"He's in the King's bedchambers!"

Oh. That would make things awkward. "And where are those?"

"Down the hall."

"All right, show me the way."

"No!" The goblin had a croaky voice that grated at my ears, and the more hysterical it got the higher and more painful its voice became. "The King wouldn't like that at all. Never!"

"Well if the King's not answering you, then he isn't watching us, is he? Then he won't know what we're doing and we won't get in trouble." This could be wrong. Jareth was just as likely spying on us through one of those crystal balls and not approaching for whatever reason. I hoped the goblin wasn't smart enough to think of it.

You could disappear yourself again. The thought came and went in an instant, stamped out by a trauma-driven reflex.

"I – I –" the little goblin puzzled over this and I declared, "Right! Let's go!" and the goblin was compelled to stomp down the corridor and turn the corner. I smiled – more a gritting of the teeth than anything resembling joy – and chased after the clanking creature.

I could not throw the feeling that the corridor was transforming itself. The vague recollection I had of the journey here with Jareth included dust and bland stone and emptiness. Now there were more tapestries depicting fairy tales, both famous and obscure, and the left-hand wall was punched out with archways leading into a quiet inner courtyard, complete with burbling fountain and stone benches. The goblin sent it an uneasy look and hurried on.

We turned right and I still couldn't shake the sense of sudden and complete change in the air. The unlit chandeliers made from finely spun crystal had not existed until I stepped into view. Nor had the unglazed windows looking over the city – which was cleaner and neater than I remembered from my sighting of it on the hill. Everything felt freshly scrubbed and polished. With every step, the flagstones rang out louder and lightened in colour until they were marble shot through with gold and I could not pinpoint the moment when the change was complete.

"We're here," said the goblin. I pulled up short. It stamped the shining halberd on the marble and stood to attention. Its boils were gone and its skin looked healthier, the warm green of sunlight through thin leaves. Its eyes were clearer too. As the milky scum drained away, the irises revealed amber and emerald. It was almost cute.

Before us were a huge set of double doors, embossed in crowns and an odd shape that I recognised as Jareth's heavy necklace. It had the same symbol fixed in the centre as on my ring. With a great deal of trepidation, I cracked open the door and slipped through. The goblin stayed behind.

"Toby," I whispered, "Toby?"

Things shifted in the darkness and I squinted. Again, the room rearranged itself. Then gentle sunshine streamed in through a skylight, taking its time, like twisting the dimmer switch on a lightbulb. It illuminated a large and airy room. Its layout was almost the exact same as my own. The difference lay in the colour scheme – whites and greys and copper and black – and my ring's emblem replaced the roses. At the foot of the bed – if it could be considered to have a foot, being circular – was a beautiful wooden crib, made of thin, expertly whittled wood that twisted and twined so it appeared to be made of live branches, a bush grown into a cradle and stripped of leaves.

I tiptoed forwards and peered into the cot and saw my baby brother clothed in red and white stripes. I sighed in relief and reached down to stroke his cheek. He cooed in his sleep. Seeing him peaceful and unharmed released part of the tangled knot of stress in my chest.

"It's going to be all right, Toby. I'm getting us out of here."

Figuring the King's bedroom to be as safe as any in the castle, I pressed a kiss to Toby's forehead and made my exit. Spending more time than necessary in Jareth's room did not seem wise. The idea of getting caught . . .

I closed the door as quiet as I could and turned on the goblin, who was now as pristine as a goblin could be, ears clean, eyes bright, skin clear. Its armour was almost blinding and on the centre of the breastplate was a circlet of flowers. I frowned at that.

"Who would know how to find the King?" I asked.

The goblin thought and thought and frowned its bushy eyebrows. "Hoggle?"

"The dwarf from the gate?"

The goblin nodded quickly. "We can go to him there."

"Lead the way."

As we passed through the halls of the castle, something tickled at the back of my mind. Something about the gate, or the starting point . . .

"Here we are!" The goblin kicked at a slab of wall and it swung upwards, a reversed drawbridge. I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get through. The moment my feet were clear, the wall slammed back into place. It was the glittering wall of the outermost section of the Labyrinth, stretching in either direction as far as the eye could see. I was back in the starting place, where the reeds and weeds had retreated, and the stones were swept, and the reflecting pool reflected the yellow-green sky without lily pad or algae.

Beyond the portico, a scrubby plain of dead bushes had taken up the space to the horizon. As I stared and blinked, flowers pushed through the dampening soil and created paths between jewel-green trees. It was something out of a fairy tale. I could imagine elves wandering in the cool depths of the woodlands and finding fairy circles in glades. Trickling streams would be followed to a deep, still lake in the centre, where deer and unicorns came to drink. The forest invited us to cross the portico and lose ourselves within.

"Ninety-two!"

Oh, right. Hoggle. That familiar face sculpted of hard leather stared at the goblin and I from the back of Hoggle's vest. My eyes were drawn up. Above him, a ring of roses had grown on the entrance to the Labyrinth; full, beautiful blush pink roses that swayed on the doors, reaching up to the golden sun. They were delicate and weak and I felt the same.

The mermaid was mistaken if she thought my will was strong. I was running on desperation and fear. The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't imagine ever beating the snake; it would eat me whole and I would do nothing more than scream.

A memory pierced through my fear and made it that much worse. The starting place.

The clock would begin again at the starting place.

"Oh no. Hoggle!"

The dwarf jumped and dropped its poisonous spray can. A fairy giggled and fluttered to freedom over our heads. "Oh! What you go and do that for?" he exclaimed.

"What happens when I save Toby?"

"You go home. What'd you think would happen?"

"Oh," I whined, "But I can't. I have to save the Labyrinth."

"Save it? Save it from what?"

"Where's the King? We need his help."

"What for? I don't need to help you." He snatched up the spray and made to hobble off, but the goblin jabbed its halberd at the dwarf's chest. Hoggle stumbled, mouth falling open. "Hey, there's no need for that."

I stalked forwards and bent down to look him in the eye, taking care not to stab myself on the spearpoint. "There is a snake coming to eat us and I've only got thirteen hours to stop it and find my brother and you will help us."

"A snake? What are you talking about?"

"It's from the shadow realm. It wants revenge on me because I'm Speaker, I think, and I think it might eat the Labyrinth to do it."

"Eat the . . ." His eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, you're talking about that Apep, aren't you?"

"You know it?"

"'Course I know it! Who doesn't? You're saying it's here?"

"Yes." The gobbling nearly dropped its weapon. I nudged it out of the way, lest it put out Hoggle's eye by mistake. "It escaped the shadow realm somehow. A door opened or something and it got through."

Hoggle went quiet, sliding the ball of his right boot on the ground. The fairy spray shook in his hands. During the conversation, the thinnest fuzz of black stubble had bloomed on his cheek and some of the pockmarks were fading.

"Hoggle," I said slowly, "What did you do?"

"Nothing . . ."

"Please, Hoggle, tell the truth."

"I just opened a door, is all." His deep, rough voice took on a keening quality, like a child trying to plead its case when it knows it's done wrong. "I've been in that oubliette hundreds of times and nothing's ever happened when I opened the door before."

"What happened?"

"I don't need to tell you nothing. You're not the King."

"Oh yeah?" I stuck out my hand, shoving the ring under his nose. His eyes widened.

"Wha'? How'd you get that?"

"Jareth's mother gave it to me. She said it's my job to protect the Labyrinth and you're going to help me! Now tell me what happened!"

Grumbling, Hoggle explained the door not shutting properly and going through to the coronation room. It felt so long ago that I had been in there myself I could barely remember it, except for the sensation of slithering above the pillars. It sent a shiver down my spine at the thought of the snake hiding up there, waiting to consume.

I hate snakes.

"Oh, what to do, what to do." Toby, Jareth, the snake and less than thirteen hours to do it. Follow the ring, the mermaid said. I held up the ring and it caught the light of the sun. When I swung my hand towards the Labyrinth, it warmed a smidgen. "I suppose . . . Hoggle, can you find Jareth for us? Tell him to meet us at the coronation room."

"And how am I meant to find Jareth?"

"Where is he?"

"Probably the southern region since it changed."

"There you go. Please, Hoggle. The whole of the Labyrinth is in peril."

Hoggle opened his mouth to protest, glanced at the ring, at the roses, and grumbled under his breath. "Fine! Fine, horrible place, this is, never liked it, but it ain't like I can go anywhere else . . ." he kept grumbling as he kicked another piece of wall open and stomped through. The last I saw of him was that distorted leather face, whose mouth appeared to be smiling.

The goblin tapped my elbow. "Is the Labyrinth really in peril?"

"I'm afraid so." I knelt and held out my hand, feeling ridiculous but obligated. "I'm Sarah."

The goblin placed its tiny, chainmail paw in my palm. "Sturgie."

"If you don't mind me asking, are you a boy or a girl?"

"I'm a girl." It sounded more like a girl too, sweeter and easier on the ears.

I smiled as best I could manage and said, "Well, Sturgie, we're going to the coronation room. Think you can get us there?"

"That's easy. It's this way." Sturgie the girl goblin trotted off and shoved open the way into the maze. I lingered, rubbing my face with my hands, trying not to cry.

I don't want to do this. I really don't want to do this.

"This way, Miss Sarah!"

Deep breath. Straighten your shoulders, Sarah. You're a Williams. You can do this.

In we go.


TOWRTA: I like Sturgie. I could have chosen Ludo or Sir Didymus to be Sarah's room guard but it wasn't feasible, you know? So I made up Sturgie. (Poor, poor Sturgie.)

Did you know that Sarah Jessica Parker was considered for the role of Sarah? And Michael Jackson for Jareth? Let's just say it would have been a very different film if that happened. Thank the Lord for David Bowie.

Until next time and thank you everyone who favourites, follows, and reviews this story (especially you, Guest 2019). Honestly, I love and adore each and every one of you. We might be few but it's fun having people along for the ride :D

God Bless!