Chapter Fourteen

The snow was falling thickly, each time Sarah shrugged her shoulders to get rid of a layer of snow a fresh one had settled. She followed the goblin through the snow, she was practically wading through waist deep snow, part of her just wanted to curl up and sleep. The snow numbed her so that every step was an agonising torture. Don't stop, she told herself, pick up your feet. Left foot up, move forward, left foot down. Right foot up...

She paused mid-stride shivering uncontrollably. Maybe she had been too rash, if she was going to run away in this weather then surely she should have planned it better. More layers, more cloaks. It's too late to go back now. "Is there really a way out?" She asked the goblin as he paused to let her catch up, "or are you just tormenting me?"

"Grub don' tormen' fair lady," he scrunched up his face as he beat his leathery wings together and took flight so that he hovered at her eye-level. "We needs to ge' to the star' the Labyrinth, Grub knows magic to make doors open,"

"How do you know magic?" Sarah asked curiously, following him as he fluttered forwards. "Can you teach me?"

"Only thos tha' par' of the Labyrinth can do magic." Sarah took that to mean she couldn't do magic, something she was thankful for – it meant she wasn't part of the Labyrinth, she was still human. He stopped in the middle of one of the paths and gestured for Sarah to step back. Holding out his hands Grub looked at the snow, his hairy brow creased in concentration. Fire shot from his palm and into the snow melting it instantly and leaving a scorched mark on the stone slab beneath. Dropping to the floor he stomped around listening, a hollow sound caught Sarah's ears and she knelt to help him pick the stone slab up. "Will take 'ime 'o reach the beginning, you cold." He gestured to her shivering form, "we res'. Fire." He jumped down the hole and Sarah followed making sure that the stone slab fell back in place.

"Is this an oubliette?" She asked looking around the small dark room, it was very similar to the one Hoggle had brought her too except this had no doors.

"Labyrinth full of them," Grub echoed Hoggle's words and Sarah smiled sadly. A small fire took form and she planted herself beside it thankful for the sudden rush of warmth.

"Is it safe here?" Grub looked at her and she caught the annoyed look in his face. Of course it wasn't safe. Jareth could be watching her right now, he probably was. It must have been several hours since she'd run from the dining room, so why hadn't he come to take her back? Don't think about that, she scolded herself; you will only drive yourself insane. She curled up beside the fire and closed her eyes, since Jareth could see her no matter where they hid she saw no harm in taking a small nap to restore her energy.

Jareth watched as Sarah drifted off smiling cruelly. He would allow her to see a glimpse of her home, to give her that small hope. Before he snatched it away. He leant back and bit back a laugh.

When Sarah woke up Grub was chewing noisily on a piece of cooked meat, he offered her some and she accepted it with thanks. She tried not to think about what it was as she chewed on it, in the castle she stuck to the meat she knew would be safe – chicken mostly but the occasional bit of pork or beef. But she knew there were other questionable meats available, but she hoped she'd not tried any of them.

"We be close to the en'rance, nigh' is fallin' af'er this we make our way ou'." Sarah nodded and swallowed a mouthful of meat, she wished she had something to wash it down with but knew she couldn't be picky.

"Why are you helping me?" She asked quietly, but Grub merely shrugged. "Please...we both know Jareth is watching us, that he could appear any minute. I saw him ordered a goblin to die just because he tripped me up and laughed," she shuddered at the memory of the scream and green ooze, "but you're helping me escape. Openly defying him..." She stopped herself there unable to think what Jareth would do to Grub when she returned home.

"I jus' wan' help," Grub mumbled wiping his greasy hands on the front of his woolly jacket. Without waiting for Sarah to finish he flew up to the stone slab and began to push it open.

"Thank you...it –"

"Be quiet Sarah!" Grub hissed at her and she looked at him in shock, the way he spoke seemed so much like Jareth it was eerie. She blushed and nodded, following him from the cramped oubliette. The rest of their journey through the Labyrinth was just as treacherous as before their break, but Sarah found she was able to cope more with a semi-full belly, warm clothes and rested. Grub kept flying ahead leaving her to drag herself through the snow, her warm dry clothes barely lasted below the waist but her upper torso thankfully remained well toasted. Every so often she would pause to look back at the castle, to wonder if she was doing the right thing. She couldn't bear to think about what would happen to Grub once she was gone, she knew she was being selfish but what could she do? Stay here and live in misery?

Jareth doesn't love you and never will...a life without love is pointless. She tried to tell herself. He will make me his queen, he will make me harm innocent children. She leant against a wall to catch her breath, a breeze whipped through her and she heard Jareth's voice howling through the air.

"You want me to list all the reasons I love you?"

"You don't," she whispered feeling tears sting her eyes.

"Firstly you're beautiful," Sarah looked up at the castle, she could picture Jareth sitting in his quarters on the tower ledge and looking down at her.

"Stop it!" She hissed.

"Hair as soft as silk all those clichés…but for you they're more then clichés. You're smart, kind, generous, brave…what's not to love?"

"STOP IT!" Sarah screamed falling to her knees and covering her ears with her hands. She felt something pulling at her hands and she began to shriek and beat the creature away. "Leave me alone!" She cried feeling tears crystalise on her face.

"Miss! Miss i's me Grub! Miss!" The goblin dropped to the snow and began to tug on her cloak with urgency. "Ssh! If he don' know ya gon ye' he will if ya don' shuddup!" The small goblin slapped her face and Sarah looked at it in shock. For a moment she had been convinced that it was Jareth standing in front of her, Jareth pulling at her hands and Jareth who had slapped her. She nodded at the goblin, her body numb from fright.

"He knows," she whispered feeling her heart twist.

"Then 'urry up we're almos' there!" She looked around and saw that they were in fact in the twists and turns that the small worm lived in. I hope he's safe and warm, she thought thinking that he had been a tender and kind creature. He had not mocked her, he'd been nothing but helpful.

"But...how did we get here?" The Labyrinth plays tricks...Jareth knows you're almost home. He's trying to trick you. With fresh determination she climbed to her feet and ran with Grub to the gates that would lead her home. Grub could come with me! The thought hit her as she watched out for the hidden turns; she ran her hands along each side of the walls so as not to be tricked again. She let out a cry as something wrapped around her ankle and she fell face first into the snow, she looked at the tracks she had left behind and saw the same branches which had threatened to trip her up the first time she'd been in the Labyrinth. Back then they had been easy to avoid, they'd been visible, but now in the snow...

So many people must have lost their lives here, the realisation was frightening. She had known people would have died here, Jareth laughed about them. But to actually see the harsh reality like this was chilling. Climbing to her feet Sarah walked more carefully, making sure to pick her feet up fully and tread down carefully.

"Sarah, I found i'!" Grub was flapping his wings excitedly, "climb over this wall!" As she grabbed at some weeds on the wall he tugged at the hood of her cloak. Sarah gasped as something bit into her hands and inspected the weeds, they had sharp thorns on them. Ignoring the pain which ripped through her hands Sarah forced herself to keep grabbing the weeds as she climbed upwards. A little pain and blood would be nothing once she was home. When she was astride the wall she sat on the edge and looked around, the gate was just in front of her. Just behind it she could see the hills and dead trees which had been her first sight of the Labyrinth.

"Oh Grub!" She hugged the goblin tightly and jumped down from the wall carefully, ignoring her bloody hands and the threat of fallen branches she ran for the gate. She pulled at one of the great rings but it wouldn't budge. "Please open, please!" She begged it and with one final tug the gate groaned open enough for her and Grub to slip through.

"Be ready," Grub closed his eyes and Sarah nodded. A few feet to her left she felt a warmth and she looked to her side. Her father's garden lay in the centre of a shimmering circle, sunlight flooded the grass beckoning her to lie down on it and let the golden rays soak her skin. It's been so long, she thought about the inviting summers she had spent reading on the front garden. Even the sun in the Labyrinth had no inviting warmth. It was bitterly hot and there was no where tempting to sit and read, or just lounge. Eagerly she walked forwards and held her hand out, but as it should have passed through the shimmering portal it just slipped over the surface. It was as if she were touching glass. She felt a warm sensation at her back, startled she turned around to see her high school, once again bathed in glorious gold. Teenagers poured out of the school and rushed to an array of school buses and the car park to go home. Smiling Sarah picked up her skirts and hurried over, but that portal too was made of glass.

"Grub –" She turned to question the goblin but her breath caught in her throat. Standing in Grub's place was Jareth who was laughing cruelly as the air around her began to heat up unbearably and hundreds of portals showing her various places from her home surrounded her. Shaking her head Sarah dropped to her knees and looked hopelessly at Jareth. "Grub?" She watched in horror as Jareth disappeared before her eyes and was replaced with Grub flapping his wings to stay off the ground.

"Miss! Miss i's me Grub! Miss!" The goblin mocked coldly, only this time he spoke in Jareth's deep voice and not the high pitched squeak of the goblin.

"No!" Sarah cried and felt her world turn to darkness.