Had it been a day, or mere hours? In the darkness, time ceased to hold any meaning. Sarah trudged ahead, the flicker of her flame the only light in the unending darkness of the passage before her.
Her feet hurt from walking. It was the one sense that still seemed to function down here, as sight was useless and there was nothing to smell. Well, that and hunger. Her stomach growled. She tried—not for the first time—to distract herself from what would happen when their rations ran out. The water would last longer than their remaining food, but not by much.
She stumbled, nearly taking out an ankle, the path suddenly sloping downward beneath her.
"Watch out," she called out to the Order members behind her, "there's a step here."
Downward had to be a good sign, right? After all, the heart of the Labyrinth was supposedly deep inside the walls. The maze 'neath the maze. It would make sense if their destination was further down. Don't get your hopes up, she chastised. We're only on this path because you trapped us here.
"Who's winning?" Ludo asked warmly, startling Sarah out of her thoughts. She hadn't noticed him walking beside her
"What?" She asked, whipping her head around to look at him.
"In there," he said, gently poking the side of her head with his finger. "Queen Sarah or Uncertain Teenager Sarah? Seems like there's a pretty heated battle raging in there."
"I don't know," she said, turning her attention back to the sloping path ahead of her, "I thought I was starting to get a hang of this Queen thing, but then I put us all in danger."
"Being in charge means making the hard choices, even when you don't know the outcome."
"Everyone's angry with me, Ludo. And they're right to be. If I hadn't been so stupid, opening that lighting jar—"
"We would likely all be dead by now," he said, plainly. "As it stands, not a single life was lost, and we have your quick thinking to thank for that."
"But what if it was the wrong choice?" She asked, "What if I've trapped us all down here—"
"Hey," he said gently, grabbing her hand, "You can't think like that. You made a decision, the only decision you could have made. You can't second guess it now."
"But Saresh and the others—"
"—might not see it right this second, but they'll come around." He said, squeezing her hand. "Everyone's just a bit on edge. It will pass. Trust me."
Sarah considered his words as she continued down the dark passageway, her hand still entwined in Ludo's warm grasp. She wanted to believe him, to have the certainty he seemed to have that she'd made the right decision, but nothing in the Labyrinth was certain.
They continued on in silence, her tumultuous thoughts churning trough her mind, when she suddenly thought she saw something at the end of the tunnel. A flicker of light? An opening? Or a trick of the Labyrinth? She didn't dare to hope.
But as they walked, the light grew brighter. She heard Ludo draw in a breath. He sees it too. Excited whispers broke out behind her, and though she could not make out what they were saying, she knew that, at last, there was a reason to hope. Unable to wait any longer, Sarah began to increase her pace, with Ludo following suit, until eventually the two were in an all out run. Sarah shielded her eyes, the brightness after so much dark nearly blinding her. Finally, as the end of the corridor approached she stopped short, her hand ripping free from Ludo's. From behind, Raelia nearly collided with her.
"Ah! What the—why did you stop?" Raelia said, annoyed.
Sarah turned to face the group behind her, almost relieved not to be staring straight into the bright, blinding light ahead.
"I just think we should proceed with caution." She said, not sure where to start. "This journey hasn't gone exactly as planned, and…well, I don't know what's out there. I don't know if what's beyond this tunnel is back outside or deeper into the labyrinth's walls. I just…want to be sure we're not walking back into danger."
Saresh stepped forward, shielding his eyes.
"Our only option is to go forward, right?" He asked. Without waiting for an answer, he walked past Sarah, into the light.
Sarah turned and followed him, with the rest of the Order close behind. She squinted as she exited the tunnel, gasping at the sight before her as her eyes adjusted to the light. They were standing in a vast forest of pale, white trees, so devoid of color that they appeared to glow. A dirt path stretched before them. Tall grasses and wildflowers, eerily pale in color, covered the ground alongside the path. The thick canopy of white leaves overhead made it impossible to tell if they were still inside the walls of the Labyrinth.
Her eyes fully adjusted now, she realized that the light in this strange grove was a glow similar to that of dusk, not quite daylight, not quite darkness. But after so much endless black, light of any kind had been dazzling to look upon.
"Hang on," Sarah said, shifting into her red-tail hawk form.
She darted between the branches, aiming for the sky beyond. She'd forgotten how good flying felt, her heart aching as she thought of the day Jareth taught her to fly. They'd only been separated a short while, but already she missed him; his mismatched eyes and mischievous smile. Even though he could infuriate her, especially given the paternalistic way he'd tried to keep her from knowing about Morcant, he believed in her unequivocally. During their magic training sessions he'd been demanding, pushing her to her limits, but she had grown markedly stronger under his guidance. With so much self-doubt plaguing her mind, she missed his unwavering confidence, and the way his collected presence anchored her in the face of uncertainty.
Stop thinking about boys! There would be plenty of time for her to deal with her feelings when she returned to the castle. Right now, the mission was the most important thing.
She broke through the canopy and pulled back her speed, circling the tops of the trees. Above, a large stone ceiling covered the chamber. Light streamed in through a small chink in the stone, the narrowness of the passage to the outside creating the strange dim lighting. The walls stretched on impossibly far on all sides. They were still inside the walls of the Labyrinth, at least. She breathed a sight of relief. Circling one last time, she darted back down through the trees, rejoining the group, and shifting back to her human form. She stumbled a bit as her feet touched the ground. She still hadn't mastered the smoothness with which Jareth transitioned to and from his avian form.
"Since when can you turn into a bird?" Saresh asked.
"For a while now," she said. She filled them in on what she had seen, suggesting they press on. The group assented, though Sarah couldn't help but feel their support was given only for lack of viable alternatives.
They trudged onwards. Sarah found herself grateful for the change of scenery, even if the task remained as monotonous as it had been in the tunnel. As they progressed into the forest, however, the trees grew more strange. Their shapes began to appear vaguely human. It was subtle at first, one appeared to have the shape of arms and twin trunks forming legs. Another later on curved inwards in the middle, like a woman in a dress. But the farther in they traveled, the more eerie and humanoid the pale trees appeared. There were knots that looked like gnarled faces, lines in the bark that looked like the folds of clothing, and leaves placed in such a way that they looked like hair. Sarah shuddered.
The light overhead began to dim. Darkness was falling, and still their path stretched before them, not a fork in the road or end in sight. Sarah was hesitant to stop here, with the strange trees looking on overhead, but the group needed rest, herself included. She called a halt to their progress, and the group made camp. Sonya suggested they gather some of the fallen branches to make a fire, but Sarah hesitated.
"I don't know," she said, looking up into the faces of the trees surrounding them, "I'm not so sure they'd like that."
Sonya shrugged wandering back over to Jarvi, where the two chatted quietly. Sarah pulled out her ration for that evening, some hard, dried flatbread made by the goblins. It was filled with nuts and berries, making it quite hearty, if a bit dry. She took only a few bites, saving the rest, the pain in her stomach somewhat lessened, but nowhere near banished. She laid her head against a tree root, allowing sleep to overtake her.
She awoke to the smell of fire. She sat up abruptly, immediately seeing the source of the smell. Jarvi and Sonya sat bent over a fire, roasting something on a stick. Sarah's mouth watered. Whatever it was smelled delicious.
Raelia came walking up to Sarah, grinning, her own skewer of mysterious roasted food in her hand. She handed it out to Sarah.
"I know you said no fire, but Jarvi found some mushrooms that are safe to eat if you cook them properly. Try them."
Sarah took a bite of the warm mushroom, a bit of juice dribbling down her chin. After a day of rationed goblin bread, the mushroom tasted like biting into a steak.
"Theres plenty more, so eat up!" The fae said cheerfully, returning to the fire to claim another skewer of mushrooms.
Sarah ate slowly, trying to savor each bite. Food seemed to greatly improve the spirits of the group, as everyone seemed animated and cheerful this morning. This was definitely a fortunate turn, but they would need to keep looking for a source of water, as that would eventually run out too, and water was harder to go without than food. They weren't out of the woods yet.
Speaking of which, Sarah couldn't help but feel something about the trees had changed. Had there always been so many? Their trunks were densely packed together along the sides of the dirt path. Their branches creaked and groaned, leaves rustling loudly as they swayed. They were so noisy, in fact, that Sarah could hardly hear her companions over the creaking of their branches, though they were gathered only a short distance away.
That's when she realized, there was no breeze. The trees were moving on their own.
Sarah stood up quickly, looking into the faces of the trees, their expressions contorted with what could only be described as horror and rage.
"Jarvi, put the fire out," she said, not taking her eyes off the trees. Every time she turned, more trees had gathered.
"Your Maj—"
"I said put it out!" Sarah said, kicking dirt into the flames.
"What is the matter with you?" Sonya asked defensively, standing at Jarvi's side.
"Look at the trees! Were there this many surrounding us last night? Listen!"
"Sarah, I know this forest is…creepy," Saresh said, "but you're getting a bit worked up over some wind."
"What wind, Saresh? Do any you feel any wind?"
The group sat silent as realization sank in. Jarvi's face paled, and she and Sonya began kicking dirt into the fire, smothering it.
"We need to get moving. The sooner we put this place behind us, the better," Sarah said, pulling her pack onto her shoulders.
"Try not to step on or break anything wooden," Raelia said, her gaze fixated on the dense trees surrounding them, "we don't need to give this forest any more reason to despise us."
The camp broke down quickly in a flurry of activity. One good thing about missing supplies, it was quicker to pack up what you didn't have. Within minutes they continued down the path, the forest growing denser the further they went.
Branches encroached on the path, harmlessly at first, but they grew thicker and harder to avoid. Sarah walked slowly, gingerly trying to avoid disturbing the branches, but it soon became an exercise in futility. The branches clawed at her pack and clothing. Eventually she heard the snapping of a twig. Shit. She walked faster, unable to keep from bending or breaking the sharp branches that scratched at her arms and face. From the sounds of it, her companions also struggled to navigate the dense branches. Meanwhile, the trees had gathered so close together that she could barely see beyond the path in front of her. She looked for any break in the forest, any alternate route, but there was none.
Finally, she saw something behind the trees. It was off the path, but it appeared to be a clearing. Anywhere away from the trees had to be better than this. On impulse, she stepped off the path, calling to the group to follow her. She squeezed between the tree trunks, the branches tugging at her hair and clothes. She felt blood well up from a shallow cut that formed as a branch clawed at her cheek. Finally, she broke through, stepping into the meadow beyond, the group following close behind.
They gathered in the center of the clearing. Every time they turned, more trees gathered around the meadow, but none breached the edge. Something kept them at bay. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, hoping once again she hadn't led them into further peril. The stares of the angry trees said what she was beginning to realize, the path was lost to them now. They could not go back.
Sarah took in her surroundings as Jarvi began to magically heal the group's cuts and scrapes caused by the trees. The meadow was actually a semi-circle, ending in a massive stone wall on the far side. They'd finally reached the edge of the chamber. In the wall was an archway, and a tunnel beyond, which, like the one they'd left the day before, was pitch dark. In front of the tunnel was a small well. It looked ancient, and there was no way to know if the water was good, but Sarah wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to investigate if it meant finding fresh water. As she drew closer to the well, she saw that the rope had rotted and snapped, leaving the bucket trapped in the darkness below. Disappointed, she couldn't help but look over the edge on the off chance that the water was close enough to reach. No such luck. The well was empty as far as she could see, though darkness obscured her from being able to see the bottom. Along the inside of the well, deep grooves had been carved into the stone, forming a ladder that went down beyond Sarah's range of vision.
It's a choice. The well path or the tunnel path. She looked for further clues, finding a small brass plaque standing between the two, the same swirled symbol from Jareth's necklace carved into it, with words below. They read:
Many have heard me,
but no one has seen me,
and I will not speak back until spoken to.
A riddle. The answer, she presumed, would reveal which path to take. At least this felt like the Labyrinth she knew. She called the group over, showing them the inscription.
"Well, we can be pretty sure the answer's not trees," Raelia said wryly, "and even if it were, I wouldn't set foot back in that forest for all the gold of Rumpelstiltskin!"
"I really need to read the Fae version of that story one of these days," Sarah said. They set to thinking. Sonya tossed out "wind", but when the group tried to listen for the sound of wind at each path, they were met with silence. And in any case, Sarah hadn't heard of wind "speaking back".
They milled about, pondering the riddle's answer. Saresh had taken to tossing small pebbles into the well to try and gauge its depth. This proved to be fruitless, however, as the clatter of the stone against the walls of the well echoed until it was impossible to tell when, or if it hit bottom. Sarah listened to the stone echo and echo, the smallest scrape creating a cacophony of sound.
That's it! An Echo. Testing her theory she ran to the mouth of the tunnel.
"Hello!" She yelled. The sound died after escaping her lips, silence answering. Grinning, she ran back to the well.
"Hello!" She yelled again.
"Hello—Hello—Hello—ello—ello—ello—o—o" the well answered back.
"This is it," Sarah said, "what many have heard, but no one has seen, and doesn't speak back until spoken to—its an echo."
"You're sure?" Saresh asked.
Sarah nodded. Saresh sighed, looking at the long, dark climb downwards.
"Then I guess it's back into the darkness we go," he said.
He gave Sarah a hand as she climbed over the edge, placing her foot on the carved stone rung. Taking a last look at the light, she began the long climb down into the dark, her destination unknown.