For You
Part Three
Sarah spent the next three days sleeping, making short expeditions around Jareth's room, and thinking. Her thoughts battled back and forth between her father, Toby, and Jareth. Always back to Jareth. Strangely enough, she felt kind of bad about their argument.
"Why should I feel bad?" She asked herself. "He's the enemy!"
"He also saved my life." She said, shivering in the flowing nightgown she had found herself in when she first woke up. Just exactly how she had gotten into it, Sarah preferred not to think about. She actually half-wanted Jareth to show up, just so she could send some well chosen words his way. Where was that monster anyways?
That monster was brooding in his throne room, watching her in his crystals, and wondering what she was thinking. He saw how drained she was, knew Sarah would have to be in his kingdom for a while, and he smiled at the thought as she stumbled weakly around his room.
"She can't stay in there forever." He muttered. "She's got to be starving."
The very same thought occurred to Sarah, as she felt her stomach rumble. She warily eyed the door that lead outside, from across the room. She hadn't dared to open it yet, somewhat afraid of what she might find on the other side.
"I guess I can't stay in here forever." She sighed, and made her agonizingly slow way to the door. Suddenly it was flung open, and the Goblin King stood menacingly in the doorway, blocking her way.
"Hungry, are we?" He mocked. "You haven't eaten in four days, you know."
"I –" Sarah started to say, before feeling the strength in her legs go out from under her. Jareth was at her side in an instant, and caught her gently by the arm. Sarah stared at him quizzically, but he was already leading her down the hallway. She found herself being helped into a chair at a long table, in a dining room with large, open windows, and lots of sunlight streaming in.
With a flick of Jareth's wrist, food appeared, and he sat down at the other end of the table nonchalantly, waiting for her reaction. Sarah eyed the food and smiled slightly.
"What?" Jareth demanded.
"This is chicken noodle soup." Said Sarah, smiling hesitantly and pointing at the bowl in front of her.
"What of it?"
"Nothing, I just, I never expected you to eat anything so normal." Sarah said, looking Jareth straight in the eye for the first time that day.
"I expect there's a lot you don't know about me." Jareth replied, somewhat relieved that Sarah seemed more comfortable around him. But then he noticed she still wasn't eating. "What is it now?" He sighed.
"If there's one thing I've learned, it's to not eat anything from you." Sarah responded, not angrily, but nervously.
"Sarah." Jareth answered calmly. "Sarah, look at me." Sarah's eyes, which had previously been intently studying the tabletop, hesitantly rose to meet his. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have let you die in your apartment." Sarah flinched at the memory. "You're safe here."
How can I believe anything you say?
Let me put it this way: what choice have you got?
The rest of the meal passed without comment, and when Sarah seemed done toying with her food, Jareth helped her up.
"Would you like a tour of the castle?" He asked suddenly, and Sarah was startled at how congenial he sounded. She was ready to say no, that the only thing she wanted from him was a way home, but somehow her mouth started moving without her consent.
"Okay."
He lead her patiently through the corridors, only commenting on which room they happened to be in. The next few days passed this way, and by the time Sarah had been Underground for a week she walked around at normal speed, though she still wasn't well enough to travel home.
Last night Jareth had taken Sarah to a room she had not seen before. Hung on the door was an ornate wooden plaque, bearing the elegantly carved word: Sarah.
"I got a little tired of you sleeping in my bed." Jareth remarked snidely, and swung the door open for her.
Inside Sarah found a large four-poster bed, made of light colored wood and covered in silky, baby blue sheets. Similarly colored gauzy curtains hung at the windows, and there were even a few picked flowers around her room.
"Thank you." Sarah said, but Jareth had already disappeared.
Now she was walking next to Jareth, feeling a little foolish in a long and flowing green dress reminiscent of Renaissance times.
"Perhaps you'd like to venture outside the castle?" Jareth questioned, his face stiff and cold looking.
"Outside?" Sarah asked, trying to mask her hesitation as curiosity. "As in, out in the Labyrinth?"
"Unless of course you're afraid." Jareth quipped.
"I'm not afraid!" Sarah cried indignantly, and followed him out through the gates of the Goblin City, and into a rocky part of the maze Sarah hadn't been through in her previous journey.
"I wonder if my friends are around here anywhere?" Sarah murmured to herself as she trailed after Jareth.
"I wouldn't count on it." The Goblin King answered sharply.
"Why not? Did you do something to them?" Sarah ran up behind him and grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to turn and face her. "If you hurt them, I'll, I'll…"
"Relax. I haven't seen that traitorous group of misfits since you left." That wasn't much comfort.
"And I suppose you didn't stop them from answering my calls either?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Last year, I called and they didn't come. I know you were behind it, why else would they ignore me?"
"How should I know?" Jareth shouted. His voice rang up and down the twists and turns of the maze they were now very deep within. "Honestly, I never knew why you like the scoundrels in the first place."
"They were my friends!" Sarah yelled back.
"Some friends! Ludo was a sheepdog with the i.q of a rock, Didymus would chew off his own tail if he thought it was challenging him, and Hoggle, Hoggle was working for me half the time! He's a side-changing Benedict Arnold, only looking out for himself!"
"LIAR! You're nothing but a filthy, lying, bastard!" Jareth's hand suddenly flew back, and Sarah flinched and quickly backed away.
"Sarah," Jareth started, advancing towards her.
"Stay away!" Sarah ordered, and she turned and flew down one of the Labyrinth's many passages. "I'll find my own way out!" She called back.
"Damn." Jareth muttered, before turning into an owl and flying away.
***
Sarah was lost. She had been wandering around for hours, it felt like. Every turn was a dead end, and she was sure she had passed that statue twice already. Damn him. She thought sullenly. Sarah hadn't seen a single person, human or otherwise, in the entire Labyrinth. That had to be Jareth's doing. She had thrown herself down on the ground to think for a minute, when suddenly a creature whipped around the corner.
Hunched over, and covered in a black cloak, it hurried pass Sarah without even seeing her.
"Hello?" Sarah leapt up and followed it. "I'm trying to get back to the castle. Can you help me?" The figure paused to look at Sarah, then kept running. A hood obscured it's face, Sarah didn't know if it was a dwarf or a goblin or what.
"Hey! Come back here!" She shouted. "I need your help!" The thing ran faster, and Sarah chased it. But when she turned a corner, it was gone. Vanished. Into a dead end. "What in the-?" Was all Sarah could think to say. Sighing and turning, Sarah found herself faced with a passage covered with mirrors.
"A mirror maze inside a Labyrinth. Cute." Sarah muttered, as she slammed into a mirror she had been trying to walk through. She put her hands out in front of her so she could feel her way through, sleepwalker style.
The maze seemed relatively easy, and soon Sarah found herself passing the last mirror. At the end of the maze, there was a large enclosed room, with at least a dozen doors leading out, all against one wall. Some doors had rusting locks on them, others were barricaded with boards. One particularly ominous looking door was surrounded by barbed wire and even fire. One door was unguarded and safe looking. A phrase was carved in the wall above the twelve doors.
One door leads to freedom, others to torture you
can't dream, make your choice before time runs out, things aren't always as
they seem.
That was when Sarah realized that the wall opposite the doors, the one she happened to be leaning against, was slowly moving forward.
"I'm going to be crushed!" Sarah gasped. "Jareth!" She cried.
"I seem to recall you saying that you could find the way out yourself." His voice echoed around the chamber, but Sarah couldn't see him anywhere. "Although I would say that –" he stopped suddenly. "What are you doing in there?" He cried, as if he just realized where she was.
"Being crushed!" She yelled back to him, wherever he was.
"How did you get into the Chamber of the Doors?"
"I don't know, I just solved the mirror maze and ended up here. Help me!" Sarah shrieked, as the wall hit her squarely in the back, forcing her forward, and closer to the doors.
"I can't." Jareth said, and if Sarah wasn't so distracted she would of heard the worry in his voice.
"What do you mean, you can't? It's your damn Labyrinth!"
"I know, but the Chamber blocks all magic. I can't get in."
"What am I supposed to do then?"
"Sarah, you have to calm down so you can pick a door."
"How the hell am I supposed to know which door to pick?" She was sounding hysterical now. If she didn't calm down, then he wouldn't be able to help her.
"Sarah, please, calm down! Read the inscription."
"One door leads to freedom, others to torture you can't dream, make your choice before time runs out, things aren't always as they seem. That's no help!" Sarah and the opposing wall were only a few feet from the doors.
"Think about it. Normally, if you want to be safe, what door would you pick?"
"The safest looking one." Sarah said, without thinking. Realizing what she said, she started running to the unguarded door.
"Sarah NO!" Jareth barked, and she froze, reaching for the handle. "Things aren't what they seem!"
"So then, this is a bad door?" If she didn't hurry, she wouldn't have room to open a door. "Then the good door would be…" She trailed off, and ran back down to the worst looking door she saw. "I can't go through that!" She exclaimed.
"Sarah, hurry!" Jareth shouted, sounding almost desperate.
Taking a deep breath, Sarah rushed through the flames in front of the door and grabbed its jagged handle, only feeling the moving wall slam against her heels. She burst through the door, and came out into the hedge maze and slammed right into Jareth.
"About time." He said mildly as she collapsed against him. He wasn't prepared for her to burst into tears.
She sobbed hysterically into his chest, and felt his arms envelop her. "Shhh." He said softly, though startled. "You're safe Sarah." He whispered.