Vengeful Nightmares

Vengeful Nightmares

Chapter 11

It had been five days since Sarah and Hoggle had literally stumbled upon Ludo's hometown, which was simply called Town Monster. The monsters had named it themselves, thinking that the obvious was best. It was much like any small town, save for the fact that the buildings were huge in order to accommodate their large inhabitants.

Hoggle's fever had finally gone away, and his arm was beginning to heal. He was still a little weak, but Jarjuk had deemed him fit enough to leave the warmth of the house. Sarah had already had free run of the town, so on the fifth day he went with her to explore.

Poor Hoggle had never seen so many huge creatures in one place. The only monsters he called 'friend' were Ludo, Mina, and Jarjuk, and they were relatively quiet. The 'townspeople', however, were quite vocal. Every time one of them bellowed right behind him to a friend across the street, he would cringe and accidentally bump into Sarah with several embarrassed apologies. The third time that happened, Sarah asked him, "You okay? Do you want to go back?"

He shook his head, but she could see that he did. They were pretty far from Jarjuk's house, so Sarah did the next best thing. She asked him, "What kind of currency do they use here?"

"What kind of what?" Hoggle squinted in confusion.

"What do they use to pay for things?" she clarified.

"Oh…anythin' that can pass for interestin'. Why?"

"Feel like some lunch?" she asked.

Hoggle shook his head, but at that moment his stomach gave such a loud grumble of complaint that a passing monster stopped in his tracks to look, and went away snickering. Hoggle glanced down, and then up with an abashed half-smile. "Oops." he shrugged, blushing.

Sarah stifled a smile, and gave his shoulder a gentle swat with the back of her hand. "Come on." She led him to a tavern she had found the previous day, one that specialized in venison stew. Sarah knew that Hoggle had a weakness for it, and she felt that he could use a treat. She got them a table near the back, where Hoggle would be out of the usual customer traffic, and dug into her left pocket. She found a few lint-covered pennies, a nickel, three quarters, and a fifty cent piece, and after consulting with Hoggle, she decided that one of the quarters would be best. It was big and shiny enough to be interesting, and she would still have two more to use later.

Hoggle was studying the coins with the interest of a collector. "Ain't never seen coins like these before." He remarked, turning the fifty cent piece over and over.

"You want to have one?" Sarah asked.

"Mmm…nah, you needs these to buy supplies." He shook his head, reluctantly sliding the coins back across the table. Sarah pushed the fifty cent piece back across to him as she pocketed the others.

"Here. I've got more in my other pocket."

"Thanks." Hoggle put the coin in his vest pocket, and began to tap the table leg with the toe of his boot; the monsters were still making him nervous. Sarah watched him out of the corner of her eye while the table jolted slightly every second or so, and frowned when he began to tap his fingers.

"Will you calm down?" she asked him finally. He put his hands in his lap, and crossed his ankles.

"Sorry." he turned beet red, and chewed on his lower lip.

"They really scare you this much?" she said more gently. Hoggle shook his head.

"I don't know. I'm jes' not used to seein' so many. I mean, I thought Ludo was huge! There's some here even bigger'n he is!"

"I don't think there's anything to worry about. I mean, if they were going to hurt us they would have done it by now."

"Uh-huh. Don' mind me. I just been on edge, lately." He shrugged, looking away.

"I know. Try to relax, hmm?"

Hoggle nodded, and began to kick the table leg again. Sarah sighed; he probably didn't even realize that he had started doing it once more. He did stop, however, when a female monster with black fur approached them, clipboard in hand.

"Hi! What have?" she asked, holding a stylus at the ready. Hoggle looked over at Sarah; he didn't know what they had, and he found his mouth strangely dry.

"I think we'll both have the special." She told the monster, who made a symbol on the clipboard, and motioned for another monster to bring them mugs of water. After she had left, and they had their drinks, Hoggle raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's the special?"

"Venison stew." She replied, taking a long drink; their walk had made her thirsty.

"Cor…they knows how to make that?"

"Apparently." Sarah smiled, setting her mug down so she could look at the blue book with the silver letters Jareth had given her. Hoggle's face fell when he saw it, and he began to trace the grain of the wooden table with a forefinger.

"There's a map." Sarah said, half to herself.

"Huh?" Hoggle stopped in mid-trace.

"Look, right here." Sarah handed him the book, and he looked at it as if it would bite him. He carefully took it from her, and forced himself to look. His heart was pounding so hard that it was making his breath waver.

"It's a map of almost the entire Underground." Hoggle muttered, scratching the side of his face. "The Labyrinth, the Dwarven Kingdom, the Fairy Fens…oh, there's a line from Town Monster straight through the Dwarven Kingdom to the city of the fae. That red ink is fresh…see?" he held up a finger to show Sarah. There was a big red smudge on his index finger, but the ink on the pages hadn't smeared at all. It was only where it was supposed to be. "Like it was just put down. But how…"

Sarah blinked, and gave her head a shake. I was just wondering where I was supposed to go, and…

"Sarah!" Hoggle hissed forcefully, tapping her cheek with his palm. She opened her eyes, and found herself sprawled out on the floor. Hoggle hovered anxiously over her, at a loss for what to do. "Thank God!" He got to his feet, and brought her drink down to her. "Five minutes, I swear…" He shooed away the solicitous crowd of monsters that had gathered, and made Sarah take a drink.

"I…how long was I out?" she asked, sitting up.

"Five minutes, or I'm a rabbit. What happened? Are ya sick?"

"No…" she let Hoggle help her up, and sat back down on the bench. The monster waitress asked if she was all right, and she said yes.

"What happened?" asked Hoggle, when the monsters had gone back to their own business. "I never seen you look like that."

"I…I don't know. I was wondering where I was supposed to go next, and…next thing you know the book's in my hands, and you're pointing out a line that—I swear to you—wasn't there when I handed it to you. Then, I just got tired and…" she shrugged.

"You think…you think you put that there?" Hoggle asked.

"I don't know. I just felt like something was leaving me, and…" she broke off, as if remembering something. The cape closed over you when I wished for you to be warm…Jarjuk came when I was worried about your fever…you finally stopped crying when I was afraid you'd make yourself throw up…did I really do it? How could I do it without knowing… She shook her head. "I don't know."

Their food came, and they ate in silence. Sarah, who had never tasted venison before, found it to her liking. It was stronger than beef, but far leaner. She could see why Hoggle liked it. She glanced up, and did a double-take. She had just caught Hoggle watching her carefully, as if he expected her to keel over again. "Do I have a spot on my nose?" she asked.

"No. You sure yer all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine, don't worry. I just got dizzy, that's all."

"It was more than that, Sarah." Hoggle said seriously. "I think yer learnin' how to use yer magic, and you just used too much at one time. Maybe, if you're a beginner, you can't use it too much."

"But how can I be doing magic if I don't know it at the time?" she spread her hands incredulously.

Hoggle just shook his head, and went back to his meal.

"How's the stew, Hoggle?" she asked finally.

"Best I've had in a dog's age. What do you think?"

She shrugged, and nodded. "I've never had it before, so I'm no authority. I can see why you like it, though. It's pretty good."

"Heh, yeah." Hoggle smiled. "They may be big old buggers, but they can cook, I'll give em' that."

They finished their meals, and Sarah left the quarter on the table before going out. Sarah paused a moment to get her bearings, but before she could decide where to go next, Hoggle asked, "You think we can go back now? It's gettin' dark."

She knew what he meant. He didn't want to be caught outside when the monsters began to dream. They had seen many an ethereal specter roaming the streets at night, and already the adult monsters were heading indoors. Monster children would be sleeping soon, and sometimes children had the worst nightmares of all.

They hitched a ride on the back of a lumber wagon, and it had already been snowing for twenty minutes before they knocked on Jarjuk's door. The monster ushered them in, and pushed warm mugs of broth into their numb hands.

"Fah…" Hoggle shook his head to dislodge the snow that had collected behind his ears. "Cold out there."

Didymus, who was stretched out by the fire and using Ambrosious as a pillow, breathed a contented sigh. "Aye, 'tis so. Just listen to that wind!"

Little Bree stirred sleepily, opened one eye, and caught sight of Sarah. He began to wriggle excitedly, and hold out his arms for his new friend.

"Hey, sweetie." Sarah picked him up. "Did you have a nice nap? You did! Isn't that nice!"

"Oh please, Sarah, you'll give 'im cavities!" Hoggle groaned, sitting next to Didymus by the fire. The door opened once more and Ludo came in, looking uncommonly like the abominable snowman. Sarah reflected that he really did look like a yeti.

"Hey, Ludo." She said, putting Bree down. "Where've you been?"

"Hrrmmm. See. See bad." He mumbled, shuffling over to talk to Jarjuk in the harsh grunts and groans of the monster language. Sarah shared a puzzled three-way glance with Hoggle and Didymus. Ludo had barely stopped to acknowledge them. Ludo and Jarjuk conversed anxiously, with several agitated hand gestures as Ludo told him what he had seen. At one point, Mina scooped up her baby and made a high-pitched chittering sound that brought the two males up short. She let out a stream of gorilla-like noises, and looked over at Sarah. Ludo shook his head emphatically, and Mina relaxed somewhat. Whatever she had suspected Sarah of doing had been negated, and she accepted and believed it without question.

"What's going on?" Sarah whispered to Hoggle.

"How should I know?" Hoggle whispered back, never taking his eyes off Ludo. It seemed like forever before Ludo turned to Sarah and began to speak in his broken English.

"Dreams come. Follow Ludo. No bother monsters…just Ludo. Ludo lose them…they no come. They look, but no find. Ludo hide."

"My brother! 'Tis the very same where 'ere we go. The dreams are drawn away from the dreamers if we be in sight!" piped Didymus.

Ludo shook his head firmly. "Not same. Dreams no touch. Like smoke. Dreams talk, say Sarah bad. Dreams bad! Sarah good!" he scowled heavily, clenching his fists.

Hoggle stood up, and scowled back. "They ain't like smoke, I tell ya! One of 'em cut me, an' I got the marks ta prove it."

Ludo seemed daunted, and kept insisting, "Sarah good! Sarah no bad! Sarah good."

The dwarf sighed, and waved Ludo back. "Yeah, yeah, we know. Sit down."

The monster did just that, flopping down on his backside and making the house shake. Hoggle picked himself up from the floor where he had fallen, dusted himself off, and frowned in thought. "So, what'll we do now?"

Sarah put a hand on the dwarf's shoulder as he sat down next to her, and sighed. "I don't know what to do about the dreams, but I do know that I should leave tomorrow. The sooner I get to the bottom of this, the better off we'll all be."

"You mean, the sooner we get to the bottom of this." Hoggle corrected her.

"About that…maybe you should stay here."

Hoggle shook his head decisively. "Forget it. You're not goin' without me."

"You're just getting over being sick, Hoggle. You want a relapse?"

"No, but you don't know the Underground. And, you'll be passing through my hometown sooner or later. They don't like strangers."

"As I recall, neither did you." she pointed out as Ludo and Didymus watched the exchange.

"That was diff'rent, and you know it." He said, bringing her up short as effectively as if he had slapped her. Try as she might, she couldn't find a good argument. Finally, she nodded.

Didymus cleared his throat politely, and they both jumped; they had forgotten that Didymus and Ludo were still standing there. "Surely, thou hast not forgotten about us, sweet lady. We, too, shall accompany thee. If Sir Hoggle should take ill once more, we will be there to help. Besides which, a virgin maid, all alone on the roads where the highwaymen dwell…think of it. It's not nice." He pointed out, not at all aware of Sarah's or Hoggle's embarrassment.

"Did you have to say 'virgin'?" Sarah muttered under her breath.

"My lady?" the fox tilted his head to hear better.

"Never mind." She sighed, sipping her broth.

"Hast thou a map?" inquired Didymus. Sarah showed him the book, and he nodded. "'Tis sound. As accurate a map as you could want. Shall we travel the route marked in red?"

"Unless you have a better way to get there." Sarah replied, not at all sure she wanted to trust the map.

"I wish I did." Muttered Hoggle.

"Why?" asked Didymus, cocking his head.

Hoggle squirmed in his seat, and shrugged, "Well, we'll be passin' right through the Dwarven Kingdom. I—never mind."

"Nay, speak." Didymus prodded.

"I said never mind!"

"We could go around it." Sarah suggested, hoping to avoid a fight.

"It's too late for such foolishness." Came Jareth's voice. Mina held her little Bree so tightly that he gave a hoarse squawk of discomfort.

"You will go on the route you've marked for yourself, do you hear me?" his voice increased in volume and intensity, and the fear in it made Sarah shiver. "There's trouble, do you hear? I've lost control of the dreams, Sarah. When I took their substance away, I realized that they were conscious. They are alive, Sarah. And they are very angry. I can't stop them, I simply cannot! You must…" and just like that, the words stopped coming.

"Goblin…king…" Mina whispered.

* * *

"You must go to the…" Jareth sighed. She can't hear me. Either she's blocking me out, or I'm just losing it.

Jareth sat down on his bed, and turned a cardboard box over in his hands to read the label. It was a type of medication from the human world, something called 'Alka Seltzer'. It was supposedly for upset stomachs, and Jareth was skeptical. If his magic wouldn't help him, and the many potions he had reserved in his bedroom did little more than coat his tongue for an hour, he doubted that the humans could come up with something better. Still…

Jareth opened the box, and removed one of the foil packets. "A glass of water…" he poured himself some water from the pitcher by his bed, and cautiously dropped the white tablets into the glass. "Well, it bubbles like a potion does…I wonder…" he shrugged, and tipped the frothing drink down his throat. It was worse than drinking battery acid. He dumped the rest of the mixture into the pitcher, and stretched out on his bed.

It's all wrong…oh, my Sarah, you are not meant to hate me so. You asked for me to take your brother away, I know, but I wouldn't have kept him. I knew that when you faced me for the last time. I would have given him back if you had just accepted me, just as I gave him back when you did not. I just wanted you! Why do I care for you so much, my Sarah? What is it about you that makes me want to throw myself from the parapets when you show me hatred? You loved me once, I know. You wouldn't have called on me else…No, you just loved the idea of me. You thought I wasn't real. You wished Toby away because you thought it was safe to do so…because you thought I didn't exist. I was a fool! I don't like Hoggle, but…now I'm not sure I really wanted him dead in the first place. I…

Jareth had a sudden revelation, one that shook the very foundations of his being.

I was jealous of that damned dwarf! I wanted your love, not he. He got your friendship, and I couldn't even have that! No, he doesn't have your heart, but he has something that I cannot! Because of what I have done to him, I can't even be your friend. Oh, Sarah…My Sarah!

For the first time since he was a tiny fae boy, the Goblin King burst into tears.