Don't own the story or the characters.
Chapter 10 - Travelling the Labyrinth
Sarah had been wandering the Labyrinth for some time and she had learned quite a bit.
The first thing being that fairies did not do nice things like granting wishes. Instead they threw you spiteful glances before taking lumps out of your flesh with their razor sharp teeth. They actually reminded her of some of the girls at school. All sweet and nice on the outside, only to take you to pieces as soon as you weren't paying attention.
The second and most important thing being that things aren't always what they seem.
When Sarah had first entered the Labyrinth she had ran for what seemed like her thirteen hour limit down what to all appearances was just one long corridor.
Labyrinth? There aren't any turns or anything.
So she had ran and ran, surrounded by nothing but crumbling walls with dead tree limbs twisting up and under them.
Feeling frustrated she had stopped running and kicked the walls angrily, her mind still filled with images of the majestic Goblin King. There had been something familiar about him. Something safe and secure...
Stop it! Just stop it Sarah. He took Toby. He is the bad guy.
She slumped onto the leaf littered ground and leaned heavily against the the same wall that moments earlier she had been kicking the life out of. Resting her head in her hands she wearily fought back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
Sarh sighed heavily.
How am I supposed to find the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth when there aren't even any ways to get into the Labyrinth.
She thought back to the view she had had of the maze before she had began to run just after the Goblin King had vanished.
There had definitely been twists and turns and corridors...and there had most definitely been a castle smack bang in the middle. It was huge, so why couldn't she find it now.
"'Ello." a small voice chirped from somewhere near her shoulder.
She spun her head, trying to fond the speaker, but all she could see was a worm. A very cute looking worm that was wearing a little red scarf around its neck and had a very friendly looking smile on its face. But still, it was a WORM.
"Did you just say hello?" she asked quietly.
Yes Sarah you are finally losing it, dad is always saying that all those books of yours would rot your brain and now look were you are. You are in a fictional maze expecting a worm to answer you. You have lost it.
"No I said 'ello, but that's close enough." replied the worm.
Sarah watched as the worms lips moved along with the words and couldn't help but smile to herself. She had always wanted her stories to come to life and for some of the mythical creatures that filled her head to be real and now that she was in a position that it was true all she could think was that she was mad.
Well Sarah, stop over analysing everything and just enjoy it all.
So she had sat and spoke with an inch long worm, she had even been invited in for a cup of tea and to meet his wife. Sarah had held back the urge to laugh at that point, not being able to see how five foot her could fit into a crack in the wall.
She had told him how she needed to solve the Labyrinth but couldn't find her way in. Then the little gentleman worm had directed her to the opposite side of the corridor telling her that it was the entrance. But it just looked like the rest of the wall, with ivy and weeds spouting from the cracks.
He told her to walk towards it, so she did and to her amazement there was an opening, the gap being cleverly concealed by an optical illusion.
And so she had finally entered the Labyrinth and finally there were directions to take other than straight on. She could even see the castle at points and could at one point here Toby crying over the distant.
Sarah weaved her way round the tall hedged that marked out the maze until she came up against a set of talking doors with heads on the bottom hanging upside down and heads on the tops who popped put and spoke to her and each other while she decided which one to go through.
She had chosen what to her logic had seemed the right door but maybe after all it was the wrong one as she fell through a trap door and found herself in tunnel being held by a collection of hands. Hands that talked when they joined together to make faces.
Of course hands can talk, why not? Worms an talk, doors have heads, so of course hands can talk.
They had held her suspended and asked her which way she wanted to go and after choosing down she had found herself in an oubliette.
Sarah had been terrified for the few seconds that she was there at the thought of being stuck forever in a pitch black hole with no one knowing where she was
She had heard movement and immediately rats and all kinds of things had sprung to her already over active imagination.
"Who's there?" she had asked trying to make her voice sound an awful lot more confident than she felt.
"Me." came a rough voice followed by a menacing cackle and a match fizzled in front of her throwing the once dark hole into light. It was pretty nice as far as holes go, the walls were glittering like crystal and it wasn't as small as she had thought it was in the dark.
"Oh it's you." standing before her was the gnome who had been guarding the entrance to the Labyrinth – Hoggle. His gnarled features reminded her of Grumpy out of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. For some reason though she couldn't see any of those characters going around with a bug zapper spraying fairies.
I think Mr Disney could have done with spending a day here. I haven't seen one fluffy bunny since I came. And friendly singing birds are definitely a no-no.
The gnome had been very sharp and stern with her when she had asked for the way in so she was a bit surprised when his voice took on a note of concern and he began to be nice, even helping her out of the oubliette and after accepting her bracelet from her as a bribe he had even agreed to help her as far as he could.
He had raised from the floor what looked like a slab of wood and had placed it against the wall. It was a door. Unlocking it he opened it wide to first reveal a storage closet – pots and pans came flying out of it before he managed to close it again. Placing the key in the other side he opened it again, this time a stream of light came pouring through the door. A corridor.
Sarah couldn't help but smile at this point. Even my imagination isn't that good.
They had gone through it and entered a tunnel and were surrounded by talking heads telling them that they were going the wrong way. Which didn't do much for Sarah's confidence but Hoggle had told her not to pay any attention and that they were false alarms.
They had cleared the talking heads when he had appeared.
The Goblin King.
Sarah's treacherous heart had began to leap in her chest when she saw him standing before them. A smile that she couldn't quite label spread across his face. His tall powerful frame seeming to fill the passage.
What is it about him that is so familiar?
After climbing out of the passages and getting back into the Labyrinth itself Hoggle had decided that he had gone far enough with her and had ran away when a roar and echoed from around the corner.
It had been then that she met Ludo who as far as she could tell must have been the base for the yeti and big foot legends with his large hairy body. He had been hanging upside down while Goblins nipped at him with staffs, until she had thrown stones at them, knocking their helmets and confusing them.
They had travelled a while together until they had ended up in a wooded part of the Labyrinth surrounded by trees and foliage, mist hanging in the air. Sarah had let go of his giant hand for only a moment and when she turned around again he had just vanished.
She had wandered around the eary woodland calling his name only to end up being surrounded by some fire coloured, skinny goblin looking creatures who danced about her crazily lifting their heads of their shoulders and rolling them about. They had found it very strange when her head did not do that when they gave it a good tug. Grabbing their heads of their shoulders she had thrown them in different directions and ran, trying to get away from them she had came up against a wall. A rope had dropped from the top and a familiar voice had told her to grab it.
Hoggle.
She had climbed to the top to see the gnome standing there and had been so happy to see him that she had thrown her arms around him and was just about to plant a kiss on his rough cheek when a trap door had opened below them sending them both sliding down a passage to land on something soft.
Ludo.
She had covered her face and nose trying to block the awe full smell that was suddenly everywhere. They were surrounded by a bubbling black lake. The bubbles bursting noisily and lazily as they rose to the surface.
The Bog of Eternal Stench.
Sarah really wanted to burst out laughing at this point, she had never heard a sillier name in her life, but the smell was so bad she couldn't draw a good enough breath to even giggle.
And so it was at this point that they had picked up Sir Didymus. The terrier looking animal was guarding the bridge at the exit to the bog and had all the characteristics of one of Sarah's knights from any one of her books. Despite being only two foot tall the little gentleman had more honour and courage in him than Sarah had seen in some of her six foot school companions.
So now all four of them were on their way to the goblin city, Sir Didymus leading the way.
"Ludo hungry." mumbled the yeti hanging his head low as he trudged after the little knight.
"I know Ludo I am to but we don't have much further to go now." she told him patting his arm comfortingly from behind.
"Sarah?" Hoggle questioned from behind her and she spun around to see him holding out his arm, something round gripped in his large hand.
"Take this." he mumbled placing the item in her hand.
A peach.
"Are you sure Hoggle? Wouldn't you like it?" she held it back out to him.
"No Sarah, you have it." he told her. There was something funny about his attitude. But she couldn't name the look.
She smiled in thanks and raised the piece of fruit to her lips, taking a bite...
Hey, the next chapter will be the ball. I think this chapter is a bit of a let down but i'm not very good at recounting events that aren't of my own making.
I think that Hoggle is supposed to be a garden gnome or something like that since he doesn't actually seem to fit as a goblin - but not to sure.
Hope you like.