Vengeful Nightmares
Chapter 3
Hoggle took a deep breath, let it out, and began, "Well, Sarah called him the Goblin King, and he is, but his reach extends far beyond the Labyrinth. He's a fae, though some calls 'em fairies. They're not, though. They's somethin' entirely diff'rent. They're born with magic in their blood. That's about as much as I know 'bout 'em, but that's what he is." He took a sip of his milk, and continued.
"Well, one thing he does is he turns the babies an' small children that get wished to his castle into goblins, if whoever wished them away don't make it through in time."
Peter nodded quietly, waited for Hoggle to continue, but he didn't. Apparently, that was all he was going to say. "So, what does he want with Sarah?"
"Well, um…I think he's…a bit taken with her." Hoggle kept his eyes firmly trained on the table.
"Okay, once and for all, is he dangerous?" Peter asked the both of them, having finally grown impatient, and both nodded. Hoggle looked up, and the knowing look in his eyes turned Peter's blood to ice water. Hoggle obviously knew a lot about this Jareth fellow, and a lot of what he knew wasn't pleasant.
Hoggle leaned forward, and replied, "As dangerous as he wants to be. You've never had dealings before with a fae, have you?"
"No."
"Well, you don't want to. Not when they're as mad as he is. He can't get to Sarah, and believe me, I'm glad of that, but he's makin' life in the Underground a livin' hell." His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat and repeated, "A livin' hell."
"Sarah tells me he's been giving you nightmares, right?"
Hoggle nodded, going white at the lips. Sarah hoped he wasn't going to pass out.
"The last one I had in the Underground came true and came after me. Damn near killed me." he seemed to be rubbing his arm, but was really pulling back his sleeve. There was a crude bandage on his forearm, and dried blood on the outside of the bandage. "I was lucky. I might not be the next time." He said, pulling his sleeve back down.
"That should really be changed." Peter told him, frowning with concern.
Hoggle shook his head, "Don't matter."
"It might. Supposing that thing that came after you was poisonous."
The dwarf looked up at Mr. Williams. "Then I'd be dead already."
"All right. So, what can we do about all this?"
Hoggle was silent, but Sarah stepped in. "I have something to show you." She left, and came back with the book and the note. "I found these on the windowsill a few minutes ago."
Mr. Williams took the note first, his face darkening with each syllable he read, and tossed it aside with a sneer at this 'Goblin King's' audacity. "This guy's got a lot of balls." He took the book, and flipped through it. "It's blank."
"No, it isn't. The title page…" Sarah looked, and saw the same moving picture, but it was plain that both Hoggle and her father saw nothing. Furthermore, she couldn't turn any pages beyond the title page.
"Sarah, you'll never get anywhere at this rate." Came Jareth's voice, and this time it wasn't in Sarah's head. All three of them could hear it. "You need to reach into the picture before the pages will be open to you."
Peter stood up, looking for the source of the voice. "Is that you, Jareth?"
"What do you mean 'invited'?" Sarah's father snapped. Hoggle was holding onto Sarah's arm in a grip that hurt them both, but she hardly noticed it.
"Well, your dear daughter has cast me out, so to speak, and in order to return I must be invited. She has two things that I want."
"Yes?"
"She'll have to find that out for herself." The voice faded out. Hoggle grunted, made a mad dash for the back door, opened it, and disappeared into the night. In half a moment, they could hear him retching. Sarah hurried after him, mostly because she was worried about what Jareth might do to him if he left the house. Of course, her father hurried after her, and they both found the dwarf heaving into Dinah's forsythia bushes. Sarah nudged her father, and they both turned their backs. She knew Hoggle would be embarrassed, but she just wasn't willing to leave him alone out there, and Peter in turn wasn't willing to leave his daughter. Sarah gritted her teeth; being around sick people, especially when they were vomiting, had always been her main phobia, and it was taking all she had to keep from plugging her ears and running back inside.
Finally, Hoggle finished and straightened his posture a bit. He knew he'd find Sarah and her father standing there, but at the same time he had hoped he wouldn't. He put a bit of snow in his mouth, swallowed it carefully, and took Sarah's hand. She looked down, nudged her father again, and they trooped back inside. Sarah had her arm around the dwarf's shoulders to steady him a bit; he was a little dazed, and he stumbled once on the way. Sarah's father just followed behind, looking sober…and a bit sympathetic. After hearing that disembodied voice, his own stomach was doing flip-flops.
They went into the den, the snacks forgotten. Hoggle couldn't have eaten it anyway, and it was cold in the kitchen. "We really should change that dressing. I'll be back." Peter headed upstairs, and Sarah kept her arm around the dwarf as they sat facing the fire.
"Are you okay, Hoggle?" she asked quietly.
"Do I bloody-well look like it?" he snapped, regretting it almost before it was said. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"
"Don't worry about it. It's no big deal."
"But it is. I shouldn't be snappin' at you. I didn't mean it."
Sarah looked at him, and saw him filling up again. "I know you didn't, Hoggle. Just forget about it, okay?" she whispered, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
The dwarf nodded, furtively wiping his eyes while she politely looked in the other direction.
Sarah's father returned, carrying a first aid kit and a basin of water. "Here, let me see your arm." He told Hoggle, sitting down next to them. The dwarf hesitated, then rolled up his sleeve again, displaying a hairy forearm. Mr. Williams carefully removed the bandage, apologizing when the cloth tore at the ragged edges of the wound, making Hoggle hiss sharply through his teeth. There were three gashes in his flesh, each as long as Sarah's middle finger, and even the untrained eye could see that they probably should have been stitched up. They bled a little, since the seal had just been broken, but they didn't appear to be infected. Peter dipped a wash cloth into the warm water of the basin, and began to gently clean the wounds.
Hoggle put his head in his free hand, closed his eyes, and began to breathe shallowly through his mouth.
"You all right?" asked Sarah.
"Dizzy…" he mumbled.
Mr. Williams grabbed the pillow Hoggle had been using, and put it down behind the dwarf. "Here, lie down. You're not going to be sick again, are you?"
"No." Hoggle said, lying down. Sarah placed her hand on his forehead, mostly to keep him calm.
"Good. Don't look at it, and you'll be fine." Mr. Williams went back to cleaning the cuts. He patted them dry with another wash cloth, used the small tube of antibiotic ointment on them, and got out a gauze pad and a bandage roll. He finished with the dressing, and carefully pulled Hoggle's sleeve back down. "There. That ought to do it. Should I stay with you guys tonight?"
Hoggle shook his head, and Sarah looked up and echoed the gesture. Mr. Williams nodded, said good-night, and turned to leave.
"Uh, Mr. Williams?"
Mr. Williams turned around, smiling slightly. "Call me Peter."
"Um…Thanks."
"You're welcome. 'Night all." He headed for the bedroom he shared with his wife, his face creased with worry as soon as he was out of their line of sight. What was Sarah getting herself into? And, more importantly, how could he prevent it?
"I lied." She smiled back. Then she lifted her chin resolutely as she stared into the fire. "Don't worry, I'll find some way to fix this."
Hoggle shook his head firmly, "Don't you be doing nothin' crazy, Sarah!"
When she didn't answer him, he took her hand and sat up so as to look her in the eye. "I means it, Sarah! I just wished myself here on impulse. I don't want you gettin' involved too deep! Sarah, don't you dare!" He tried to sound angry, but his voice was closer to panic than anger.
Sarah's face softened, and she pressed his hand and nodded. He sighed and dropped his head into his hands, looking like he had just had the scare of his life, never mind the nightmares. Sarah's face reddened with shame, and she put her arms around the dwarf as he recovered. "Go to sleep, Hoggle." She whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, I promise I won't do anything foolish. I promise."
Hoggle drifted off to sleep, or, to be more accurate, plunged into sleep almost at once. Sarah curled up on the sofa behind him, and sighed as she watched the little starbursts on the backs of her eyelids.
It's not fair…
