Ambrosias sat down suddenly, dramatically unseating Serboa from the saddle. Instead of shouting like Sarah had expected him to, considering his hurt leg, he said, "I understand completely, Ambrosias, really."
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"It's almost dark out, we're all exhausted, and we need some rest," he replied.
"No, we have to keep going," she said. "Ambrosias, please get up."
Ambrosias whined and didn't move, only looked at her with sad eyes over his shoulder.
Jareth put a hand on her shoulder, "Stopping every once in a while won't hinder us -"
"Do you really think Jocelyn will think about her prisoners? Will they get food, sleep and water to keep them alive, or will she let them rot? I can't -"
"This is the first time you're talking nonsense," he interrupted. "Even if we get there after days of nonstop travelling, we're not going to have the energy to go up against her! Sarah, listen to me-" she'd turned her head away in frustration and Jareth now took hold of her chin, turning her head to face him. "We aren't immortal. We'll do what we can to save them, but we can't do that by depriving ourselves of our basic necessities."
"I went thirteen hours in this Labyrinth with only one bite of a peach that -"
"Exactly, so it didn't take a few days… although technically I shortened it so it was eleven hours -"
"That was still unfair -"
"I still wonder what your basis for comparison was."
Sarah couldn't help but laugh, turning away from Jareth as he smirked knowingly. Then she sighed, "How are we going to find a place to stay, anyways? We're kind of stuck in this tunnel, and I doubt we'd want to stay here -" Serboa's ears suddenly perked forward and backward, his eyes wide again. "What's wrong?" she asked, knowing it probably wasn't going to be good news. It wasn't.
He scrambled onto Ambrosias' back screeching, "The cleaners!"
Sarah and Jareth looked back over their shoulder from the direction they'd come, hearing the sound of clunking and wheels rolling. The metal machine, attracting spiderwebs, hurtled right towards them. They began running. Sarah started to wonder if running was going to be a thing with this excavation through the Labyrinth. Then, running seemed to happen in a lot of action films she'd watched.
She looked around in hope of seeing a loose wall that they could push in like with her last adventure, and worried as they just continued having to run - especially after just admitting that they were tired.
It was when light seemed to show up before them, that they got a burst of energy and rushed forward through the opening in the tunnel, tumbling to the side as the machine rattled forward. The strange thing about it this time was that it wasn't controlled by goblins - or even trolls - just moved of its own accord away, away, gone.
"Jocelyn's magic… ugh…." Jareth muttered as he caught his breath.
"Does that mean she just helped us?" Serboa asked.
"Or she just wants us to challenge her all the sooner," Jareth replied. "She's not quite known for having patience."
"Neither are you," Sarah said. He waved a hand that told her he wanted her to shut up, but she just giggled and looked at their surroundings in awe. It was a wide expanse of lush, green grass with flowers scattered all around. Though it was dark, Sarah could still see the beauty and smell the soft fragrance of the many different flowers. "Look… we're in a meadow and -"
"Trespassers!" something shouted.
They all looked around in bewilderment for the source of the shout. It was when Serboa said, "Oh, Bjorg, it's just you," that Sarah and Jareth looked down at the little dwarf who pointed his spear at each of them in turn, pausing upon noticing Serboa, and then Jareth.
"Jareth," he gave a quick and sudden bow. "Jocelyn's taken over your Labyrinth!" he shouted. He was shorter than Hoggle, with large eyes and the wrinkles of a middle-aged man… and so loyal to Jareth. "She thought she could just come in and take me away, but I said 'No missee!' and used my protective magic to keep her away. Somehow, she's still able to push in those blasted cleaners, destroying my flower gardens!"
Jareth smiled, "Nice to see you too, Bjorg. At least your magic is still working… we need somewhere to stay for a while."
Bjorg became excited, "Stay with me! I have plenty of rooms - as well as extra changes of clothes for you and the lady…. Neither of you look so good."
Jareth and Sarah looked down at their clothes, surprised to see how mangled they'd gotten. They weren't injured in any way, at least, but any more tumbles and they could have been scraped and scratched.
Bjorg looked at Serboa, "Hm… I've got a solution that will fix that leg right up!" He turned to everyone and started walking in a certain direction, beckoning them all to follow them. "Come, my home is just over here."
It was bigger than the houses in the Goblin City, a size that made sense as a mansion for a creature as small as Bjorg but somehow with doors wide enough for each of them to fit in. Even Autumn was able to walk in through the front door, though it was a bit of a squeeze, and roam around the wide expanse of space within. Small on the outside, and yet big on the inside.
Bjorg opened the door to a room the size of an actual ballroom, and they all watched in amusement as Autumn bounced in and excitedly ran all over the place. She would really enjoy the meadow in the morning, Sarah had no doubt about it.
"There is a room just upstairs for you," Bjorg told Sarah. "Second floor, you turn right, and it's just down the hall. Would you like a bath to be drawn for you?"
"Oh… sure, that be lovely, thank you," she replied, still feeling shocked at their luck in finding Bjorg.
"I'll get one of my goblin servants to do it - don't look so shocked, Jareth left me quite well off in this mansion!" he said, bustling off to do as he'd promised.
"He must be a very important dwarf if you've been this nice to him," Sarah said to Jareth as a goblin came shooting past them to rush up the staircase.
"I'll explain later," Jareth replied. "You should get going."
Bjorg came back into the room, "Yes, baths don't stay warm for very long! Besides, while I clean up Serboa's wound, I have something I need to have a quick talk with Jareth about. Hurry along!"
"Well, it also takes a while for baths to be drawn -" Sarah started to say.
"Not here it doesn't. And you don't have to worry about anything, stay here as long as you like! Nothing can get any of you as long as you're here!... Also, as soon as you take your bath, it'll be wise to go straight to sleep. You look exhausted!"
Sarah sighed and turned to go up the staircase, "All right."
"Sarah," Jareth said, causing her to turn and look at him. "Good night. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night," she replied, turning again to make her way up the stairs.
Following the directions Bjorg gave her, she opened the door to find a very sophisticated looking room. A canopy bed with red sheets and blankets stood off to one side, the carpeted floor she walked on was plush and soft (she found after taking off her shoes and socks), and the bath had been drawn - a screen stood in front, covering it. The goblin who drew it for her stood off to the side of the screen and bowed to her.
"Pajamas are on the bed, and a towel is right next to the bath tub. If you'll step behind this screen and throw your clothes off to the side, I'll take them, madam."
"Thanks," she said, feeling awkward as she stepped behind the screen and took off her shirt, throwing it over the screen. Searching through her jeans pockets, she took out the ring Jareth had given her and put it on top of her towel which had been placed on a side table. She threw the rest of her clothes over the screen and lowered herself into the bath, marvelling at the comforting warmth of the water.
"Will that be all, madam?" the goblin asked from the other side of the screen.
"Yes, thank you."
She looked at the side table and picked up the ring to look at it closely. Leaning back in the tub, she wondered what it would truly mean to put the ring on. Jareth hadn't said anything about it since he first noticed that she hadn't put it on, though she suddenly felt as though he had been trying hard to restrain himself from asking her to put it on. As if it would do something more than bind her to him for the rest of her life.
She was about to put it over on ring finger just then… but paused and shook her head. Uncertain with herself as to what held her back, she put the ring back on top of the towel and began to clean herself up with the soaps also placed on the side table.