Chapter Ten: Power
"Ho, sir!" A red fox galloped into the berry bush atop a white-and-gray sheepdog. "Resist temptation and do not eat the berry!"
"What?" Jerry dropped the bright orange berry and moved away from the talking animal. "Who are you?"
"I am the gallant Sir Didymus!" The fox announced, bowing while still in his saddle, "and this is Ambrosius, my trusty steed."
The dog barked and wagged his tail.
"Oh." Jeremy took another few steps back, out of the berry bush. "Why shouldn't I eat the berries?"
"These are cursed!" Sir Didymus informed him dramatically, "one taste and thou wilt spend the rest of thine life amongst these bushes, stuffing berries in thine mouth for all of time." He kicked Ambrosius' sides and came out of the berry patch himself. "If thou art hungry, I have food that I would share, if thou can prove thyself of good and honest stock?"
"Uh," Jeremy closed his eyes to help his thinking, "well, Sarah, my step-daughter is the Goblin Queen."
"The very same?" Sir Didymus whispered in shock.
"Yeah," Jeremy nodded his head, looking down at the fox and the dog. "The very same."
"Well then!" Sir Didymus turned his dog around and made for the tree-line. "Come, good sir! For thou art friend. Er, what was thy name again?"
"Jeremy."
"Friend Jeremy! Come, feast with me and my steed!"
Ambrosius barked happily.
As it turned out, 'feasting' meant eating a small pile of fruit that Sir Didymus and Ambrosius had collected earlier in the day. As they ate, Jeremy explained his adventure, how he'd discovered the truth of Sarah's relationship with Jareth and the Labyrinth, and how she had vanished through a loose tile in the hedge maze.
For a while, Sir Didymus was silent, staring at the scattered pits and cores of their meal. "It's all very strange," he finally murmured. "But I suppose it will only make sense once the babe is safely returned home." He stood them and called to Ambrosius, who'd wandered off somewhere. "I will lead thee to the doors of the castle, good Jeremy, for Sarah's sake if not thine own. After that, thou must face the Goblin King thyself, for that is how it is done. Ho, Ambrosius!" He mounted the sheepdog and started off into the forest.
"Thanks, Sir Didymus!" Jeremy got to his feet and followed the brightly colored, brightly dressed animal. "I really appreciate your help."
"I would do anything for Sarah," Sir Didymus explained softly. "There are many who would go so far as to give their lives for her, I daresay. You should have seen the place before she came. The Goblin King may have brought life to it when he discovered his magic, but the Goblin Queen, why, she brought love."
***
Sarah felt a wave of ice shoot through her bones, making her shake instantly from the cold. Her entire body felt numb, her breath frozen in her chest, her heartbeat nearly stopped.
Then it passed and Sarah fell, coughing dreadfully, to her knees. She still felt chilled, but her body felt more awake than it had for days. "What," she asked between coughs, "was that?"
The Lady of Night grinned. "That was a taste of my power. I'm going to let you try it, Sarah." She explained sweetly, "take me somewhere. Anywhere you want to go." On a whim, she added, "take me to your beloved Jareth."
Jareth! Sarah's heart leaped. He'll know what to do about her. She pictured the throne room and the darkness around them whirled for a second before they were standing in front of the empty thrones, in the empty room. "Where is he?" Sarah asked aloud, looking around the room. She reached into her pouch for her crystal, but stopped when she saw the shadows of the throne room moving toward her. "What...?"
The Lady of Night laughed under her breath, biting her lip. She watched with glee as the Goblin Queen was wrapped in shadows, writhing and twisting against them, but unable to escape. The dark shapes crawled across the floor, climbed up her ankles and all around her clothes and body, rooting her to the spot, pinning her arms at her sides, covering her mouth.
"Oh, you silly queen." The Lady of Night chided, gracefully pacing around the trapped Sarah. "What did you think was going to happen, hm? Was your precious king going to save you from the scary wicked witch?" She laughed aloud, the cold harsh melody bouncing off the walls. "Oh, dear. What will I do with you?" She stopped then, standing directly in front of the Goblin Queen, smiling into her rebellious gray eyes. "Oh! How forgetful of me! You were looking for your fiancé, weren't you?" The Lady of Night clapped her hands together in front of Sarah's face. "Well, let's find him, shall we?" When she pulled her hands apart, there was a thin web of black shadow between them.
Sarah watched the Lady of Night sneering on the other side of the web until her eyes focused on the image before her. Barely visible in the strange window was a man with crazy yellow hair, running down a dark tunnel. Behind him came an enormous herd of small black lizard-like creatures with large mouths and long, sharp teeth. He came to a dead-end and stopped, turning to face the creatures.
The Goblin Queen tried to shout to him, but could only make a muffled groaning noise against the shadow-bonds. Jareth pointed a finger into the creatures and a bolt of lightning arced out into their midst. The creatures leaped and ducked, and for a moment, there was a huge hold in the throng, but in the next second it was filled with twice as many creatures as Jareth had blasted away.
"How foolish," the Lady of Night mused, "you can't defeat darkness with light. Do you know why, Sarah?"
The Goblin Queen shook her head, feeling tears in the corners of her eyes. This is all my fault, isn't it? Sarah thought wretchedly. None of this would have happened if I hadn't tried to break Jareth's stupid rules.
"You can't defeat darkness with light," the Lady of Night explained, "because light just creates more shadows." She laughed to herself, watching happily as the creatures reached the Goblin King and swarmed all over him, each one chomping its jaws into him.
Sarah screamed into the shadow-bonds.