PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE CHANGED MY PENNAME FROM IRISH TUMBLEWEED TO DEVABBI. I have my own, specific reasons for doing so, including the fact that I'm known as Devabbi on just about every other site that I have an account with and would like to be unanimously known as one name (like shinga, rozefire, elvire, humon) around the Internet. I'm still the same person, nobody's stolen my story, I promise.

under00z, fatesfortune, notwritten, Katie, psychogizmo, thundara, aysuh, ginabella59, kichiko, coffeekris, eternallotus - THANK YOU! :)

Especially notwritten. Your reviews are always so sweet, they make me smile, you always sound so sincere n' concerned. Gracias! (Psychogizmo, Aysuh, and ginabella59 too for the repeated reviews!)

New chapter!

The castle gates were still and silent, and the damp sun of the Labyrinth was setting. All of the goblins' normal chatter was not to be heard. It made Sarah slightly uneasy, and she made sure that Abernathy followed close behind her. She tried to get the woman to be quiet, but there was very little hope for it. She came up with an idea before she pushed open the gate and asked her, "Abernathy, do you need to breathe to survive?"

Abernathy blinked at her and shook her head. "Nah," she replied, "I can hold my breath for a long time."

"Well, hold it until you simply can't anymore. Okay?" Sarah smiled as Abernathy's cheeks puffed out dutifully, and continued on. Sarah pushed the gate open as quietly as she could, and Abernathy followed her inside as stealthily as they could manage. She headed down the first street, trying to blend in. There weren't many goblins on the desolate streets. The lamps were all doused, save for a few. Most of the houses were boarded up, and the painted shops were closed early. It was eerily quiet, for a Goblin City. Abernathy gasped for breath, stopping for a moment. Sarah whirled around to shush her, but was immediately silenced.

There was a pack of dogs stalking maybe twenty yards behind them. Each one was about the size of Ludo. It suddenly explained why there were no goblins on the streets. She backed up, slowly, and grabbed Abernathy by the elbow to lead her backward as well. She kept an eye on the goblins, and Abernathy kept glancing backwards to let her know if there was any dangers. They communicated silently with glances and nods, the international language of females.

The dogs advanced on them slowly, coming only a few inches closer with every step, but the distance was shortly closed between them. They spat and snarled viciously, growling in warning and in excitement, their tails standing up straight. Sarah was careful not to make any sudden movements, and Abernathy was intuitive enough to do the same. She slowly removed her sword from the sheath at her hip, holding it in front of them threateningly. One of the dogs moved forward more than the others, the obvious pack leader. Its colorations were different. Most of the dogs were brown or black, but this one was a fiery red.

Sarah stopped in her tracks. "Nathan you little bastard," she snapped.

With a puff of smoke and a whip-like crack, Nathan the Goblin Prince stood before them rather than a dog. He waved a hand at the other dogs, and they moved around Abernathy and Sarah in a circle. "Clever trick, Sarah," he sneered, "but you can't keep me away for long. Your presence is magnetic. All in the Labyrinth feel it." He began to walk towards her. Abernathy moved in front of her. He stopped and gave her a calculating look. "And just who are you?" he demanded.

"Jareth's mother," she replied flatly. "If you're the prince, this puts me as your grandmother, and I'm about to tan your hide, little boy, if you don't let Sarah go to him. Now."

Nathan laughed. "Such large words for such a small woman... I see the resemblance between yourself and your son." He paced twice in front of them, not moving closer or further away, just a simple left-to-right pace, as if he were sizing her up. "You're still disoriented from that peach, aren't you?" he said, a sly smile making its way to his face.

Abernathy's face hardened, and she drew another blade from a sheath along her spine that Sarah had never seen before. "I've got two blades – one for each of you," she replied to her double-visioned view of Nathan.

"Abernathy," Sarah began uneasily, holding her club tightly in one hand. "Maybe we should..."

A trumpet sounded from down one of the streets, and Nathan groaned. "That insufferable nuisance!" he snapped, and ran down the nearest alleyway. The dogs, howling, followed him. From around the corner, a procession of sheepdogs and their riders came trotting up the street. Sarah straightened to recognize Didymus, though he was significantly younger than she remembered him. The white mustache was reddish-brown and he stood straighter on his trusty steed.

"Move along!" he bellowed in a baritone voice. "Move along! Curfew is in effect! Move along!"

Abernathy cursed under her breath and grabbed Sarah by the elbow, dragging her into an alleyway before they were spotted and before Sarah could shout his name. Sarah protested. "What are you doing?" she demanded. "Didymus will help me!"

She shook her head, and continued to walk briskly down the alleyway, trying doors to boarded-up homes for somewhere to hide. "No, he won't, because Didymus is dead. He died years ago, Sarah. He was a close adviser to Jareth's father, we were notified immediately of his death. That is Didymus' son, Copernicus. He's a downright bastard, and he's been the steward to Jareth's throne for quite some time. He's probably been training Nathan. He's a tyrant – he's induced a curfew in order to try and stop the Labyrinth's rotting, but he's an idiot because Jareth is doing it, not the goblins. They're miserable because of him, and – damn it!" She kicked another door. The patrol had lit torches and was coming their way. "Open!" she hissed at the door. It clicked, and she opened it, and slipped inside. "We can try to sneak in once the patrol has lightened up." She sat heavily in a chair far too small for her, and folded her hands over her stomach.

Sarah stood just inside the closed door, and held her backpack to her chest. She took a deep, deciding breath, and put her bag down on the table in the small kitchen. She lit a few candles and dug out some food. She threw one of the snack bars at Abernathy, and sat down with some bread for herself. She drank down the last of her water, and looked to Abernathy. She had gulped down the snack bar, and tilted her head back to sleep. Sarah frowned, guessing that meant that she was supposed to stay awake. She put her head on her hand, and rummaged through her bag. She didn't find anything entertaining, so she settled for wondering what she was going to say to Jareth when she finally found him.

"Jareth, darling, won't you wake up and revive your kingdom before it no longer exists?"

"Feather-head, you're way past your beauty sleep."

"Jareth, you dunderhead! Wake up and look at what you've done!"

"Look, Jareth – this is thy negligence!"

"Hey, you on the other side... Let him go. Because for him I'll cross over, and then you'll be sorry."

She put the back of her hand to her forehead. "Now I'm just getting stupid," she murmured and yawned. She folded her arms over the table and laid her head along them.

Something made a sound in a nearby home, and Sarah jumped and gazed around the room. She got up and peeked through a crack in the boards. The sun was just beginning to show up over the horizon. Dawn. She nudged Abernathy eagerly, and the woman jumped. "Come on," she said softly. "It's dawn, I bet we could make it in before anyone notices us."

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Abernathy nodded and got to her feet. "Did you get any sleep?" she asked. Sarah shrugged. She actually wasn't sure. It had been a long time since they'd gone into the house, she knew that much, but she couldn't remember actually sleeping or dreaming. She imagined she had.

She and Abernathy snuck out of the back door of the house and moved towards the castle. They stayed in the shadows and the alleyways on the way, never entirely too sure of who or what might be on the streets. They finally reached the castle gates, but they seemed impregnable. Abernathy put her hands on her hips and gazed up at the black stone walls. "Fantastic," she murmured. "Don't suppose you have any rope on you?" Sarah shook her head.

Abernathy popped her knuckles, and laid her hands on the wall. "Make me a ladder," she whispered to the bricks. The wall shook and a few of the bricks, each about a foot apart, slid out of their places enough to make a small foothold. Abernathy giggled at her work, and climbed up and over the wall. Sarah followed her quickly. Abernathy quickly touched the wall behind her after climbing over, and the bricks were sucked back into the wall. They were in the royal gardens now.

Sarah scratched her arm. It wasn't far now, but she had to weave her way through the gardens. The gates had been closed for a long while, meaning that there were no guards or beasts to worry about. She moved forward before Abernathy did, heading straight for the big, black front doors. "Monochrome is so melodramatic," she sneered jokingly at Abernathy, who laughed out loud.

A rumble sounded from behind them, and Sarah groaned. "Come on!" she protested. "Give me a break."

"Run!" Abernathy commanded. Sarah turned towards the rumble to see a reptilian head begin to come out of the ground.

Sarah screamed, and took off at a dead run towards the castle doors. They were locked, of course, but she just yelled at them, "Open!" and they did so. They slammed shut behind her and left her in darkness. She whimpered slightly, and fished out her flashlight and lighter. She knew there were torches along the walls. Nobody had been by to light them recently, she guessed. She found a few along one wall and began to light them, one by one, as she passed them, allowing for a little more light each time. She found a staircase and began to wind her way up, saying softly to herself, "The princess is always in the highest room of the tallest tower," and giggling.

She passed through a few familiar rooms, but stopped as she heard a soft voice singing to her left. She hooked around the next corner and listened again.