Ch25 Friends Return

Inside the castle, once she'd gotten to the end of the corridor she'd walked down, Cara saw another grand corridor ahead of her and at the far end of it, through an open door, she could see the throne, with a vulture squatting above it.
"I'm coming Niki," Cara whispered, walking quickly by a small group of goblins who looked startled.

"What was that?" one asked.

"If it's that faery again I'm out of here," another said running for the front door.

"Wait for me," a third said.

If there were more goblins in the throne room or even if Jareth were there they could not stop her now, nothing could she was so close to getting Niki back. Once she got there she was surprised that the chamber was deserted, in the middle of it was an empty cradle. The clock showed an hour to thirteen. On his perch, the vulture shifted from foot to foot. He opened his beak and made a noise like ghastly laughter.

Cara didn't know where the goblins were but she knew that Jareth had to be in the castle, he had to be here somewhere and so did Niki. The sole exit from the chamber, apart from the way she'd come, was a flight of stairs to one side of the throne. She could not see where it led because the passage turned a corner, but a lovely glowing light was emanating from it.
*That's the only way he could have gone,* she thought taking a deep breath she walked toward it taking care to avoid stepping on the half-gnawed chicken bones, rotting tomatoes, squashed pears, and other garbage that littered the floor. After she cleared the mess she heard foot steps behind her and quickly turned around expecting she might have to fight off some goblins instead she found three familiar faces enter the room.

"Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus!" she cried and ran to them, hugging each of them.

"Missy! We were so worried about you," Hoggle said as he hugged her back.

"My lady, thank goodness we hath found you. I feared the worst when thou disappeared," Sir Didymus said in a very relieved tone.

"Fwiend!" Ludo said scooping Cara up as he hugged her.

"It's so good to see you, all of you. I was worried I'd never see you again," she said smiling happily at them as she gave Ambrosius a pat.

"What happened to you?" Hoggle asked sounding rather worried, "You were gone a long time."

*That's right,* Cara thought remembering what Morgana had said, *If Sarah was here that long ago and that's when I met them then while it's only been a short time to me, to them it's been years since they saw me.* "Well it's complicated but the easiest way I can describe it is the way Morgana…" she started only to be interrupted.

"Morgana!" Hoggle shouted in surprise.

"Ah a strange maiden indeed," Sir Didymus said nodding his head as Ambrosius barked in agreement.

"You were with her? No wonder you disappeared," Hoggle said as if now Cara's disappearance made perfect sense, "You shouldn't have gone with her, she's more trouble then Jareth."

"Is that so?" a new voice said which made Hoggle jump.

Standing at the stairwell was Morgana, who seemed a bit amused by the situation she'd walked into, and Daniel.

"Miss Cara!" Daniel shouted running up to her and hugging her.

Morgana smiled at them, "He was missing you dear and I thought if there was a reunion he should be here too."

She then nodded to Sir Didymus, who gave a bow from his seated position, and looked at Hoggle with a raised eyebrow.

"Your Majesty, what a nice surprise," Hoggle said trying not to show his embarrassment or worry.

"Hello Hogwart," Morgana said sounding as if the insult was intentional, "So I'm more trouble then Jareth huh?"

Hoggle laughed nervously as Morgana eyed him, it didn't last long however as she noticed Ludo.

"Oh what a cutie!" Morgana said hopping over to Ludo, "You remind me of Daniel there."

Daniel and Ludo looked at each other as if just now noticing each other for the first time. Daniel gave a small smile being somewhat concerned about how big Ludo was, which given that he was about the size of Sir Didymus was understandable.

"Don't you think we've wasted enough of her time Morgana?" another voice questioned.

It turned out to be Merlin who was standing near the throne with the look an aggravated babysitter might have.

"She needs to go," he said in an annoyed, matter of fact tone.

"Oh fine," Morgana said sounding like a child that was just told 'no'.

"Can't we help her?" Daniel asked unhappily.

"No," Morgana answered sounding serious for once, "She must do it alone."

"But should our lady need us?" Sir Didymus asked concerned.

"Yes, should she need us…?" Hoggle said obviously worried that this could mean they wouldn't see each other again.

"I'll call," Cara said with a smile, grateful she had met them and that she had such caring friends, "Thank you all for your help. I'll see you after I take care of this," as she spoke she went up to each of them and gave them a large hug. She wasn't sure what was going to happen once she got up those stairs but she knew it had to be done. As she reached the edge of the stairs again she turned back toward the group who now wore sad expressions on their faces as if they never expected to see her come back down those stairs.

"Thank you for being my friends; I'll never forget any of you as long as I live. I love you all," she smiled at them again before she hurried up the stairs, toward the glowing light.

"I hope she'll be alright," Daniel said sounding worried.

"She'll be fine. She's a brave girl," Merlin said trying to lift the group's spirits.

Hoggle nodded, "That she is. I just hope we'll see her again."

Ludo let out a sad sound, Morgana patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said in a comforting voice though still sounding serious, "We'll see her again, she's a good girl and more importantly she's honest. That will serve her well in there," Morgana looked toward the stairs for a moment as she spoke before turning back to the others. "So who wants to go find something to do?" she asked in her normal voice.

"You are not making Jareth's hair pink again or blowing up the kitchen. They just finished rebuilding it," Merlin said in his normal serious tone.

"That was an accident!" Morgana huffed, "How was I supposed to know it'd do that?"

"Well given what you put in I'm not surprised, though how you made a cake do that is beyond me."

"Yes your Majesty let the cooks handle the cooking," Hoggle said trying to defuse the situation.

Morgana glared at Merlin and Hoggle then grabbed Daniel and Ludo's hands and headed out the door.

Merlin sighed as he and the rest of the group followed, still not sure what would happen to Cara but they believed in her and hoped that might help her.

It was a long staircase and turned through several angles. Cara was puffing by the time she reached the top and emerged onto a stone platform; she had to stop quickly since it dropped off rather suddenly. What she saw took all her breath away.