When she woke Alia found she ached again, only in different places this time. She could have sworn she had hit them all last time, but was being proven wrong. She wished for some firewood so she could make more of the tea. "Wimp. You'll just have to tough it out today," she told herself.

The sun had risen high enough for her to start by the time she had eaten, so after she had saddled him, she said goodbye to Night, sent him on his way, and started for the lip of the gorge.

The depths remained in shadow but near the lip of the gorge was well enough lit for her to start picking her way down. She discovered a narrow ledge that seemed to work its way down the wall of the gorge in the direction of the bridge. Sidling her way down facing the wall, moving slowly enough that she did not catch the gradually receding line of darkness below her, she slid her feet along the ledge, not wanting to lose contact with it for an instant. Occasionally, she brushed more loose pebbles off the ledge to fall bouncing below.

About fifteen feet below the rim of the gorge, the illusion vanished and she discovered that she saw guessed correctly. The ravine was not as deep as it had looked from above.

As she descended even further, she noticed an offensive odor, that she decided had to be coming from the river, which filled the bottom of the ravine and had an unhealthy look about it, with an unpleasant scum on its surface.

"Tieran, this river, is it labeled on the map?"

"No, there is no name. Why do you ask?"

"Because it stinks. Where does it come from? Where does it go?"

"It passes under the GoblinCity. I am afraid they use it as a sewer. Then it empties into the Bog of Eternal Stench."

"What if I slip? Like I'll be able to sneak up on Jareth smelling like this," Alia complained.

"Oh quit whining," Tieran sent to her, losing patience. "You will not slip. And if you did it would wash off. At this point the smell is not permanent. The magic does that. It must sit in the Bog and absorb magic from the land first."

Slightly chastened, Alia changed the subject. "I'm almost down to the bridge. The gorge isn't nearly as deep as it looked. I've been thinking about this bridge. Why would someone put a bridge in?"

"So the river can be crossed," Tieran sighed, pointing out the obvious.

"Yes, I know that, but why bother with it after going to the trouble of putting the illusion on the gorge to discourage people? Why not just leave it unbridged with the illusion to keep people out? Or if it is not meant to keep people out, why bother with the illusion? And whose lands are these? Is this considered part of the Labyrinth?"

"I believe that these lands are considered part of the Labyrinth, which means Jareth is behind it. He always has a reason for what he does."

"He has the desert, too?"

"Yes."

"Then the genie works for Jareth. I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"Could it be the smell?"

"It's not that kind of feeling."

By this time she had reached the bridge, a small plank one with rails and a slight arch, that looked to be in perfect repair and fairly new. "Well, it looks better than that one Sarah had to cross," Alia thought as she stepped gingerly on it, expecting at any moment for it to collapse or for something to jump out at her and challenge her. She took another step, and another. Soon she had reached halfway across and still nothing had happened. She started to relax, then remembered that in horror movies the monster only strikes once the victim relaxes and lets down her guard.

She made it all the way across without incident and sat down, before she collapsed with relief. She looked at the wall above her for a path leading up and happened to notice the position of the sun. "Is it past noon already? I didn't think it had taken me that long to get down here and cross over."

"What do you mean? It is not even noon yet."

"The sun is on my right as I face the river and south, which means it is in the west. So it's on the wrong side of the sky for it to be morning," Alia patiently explained to the obviously mistaken Tieran.

"Unless you are on the wrong side of the river," he pointed out.

"What do you mean, wrong side? I just crossed it –," Alia exclaimed, mildly outraged.

"Which way is it flowing?" It was Tieran's turn to be condescendingly patient.

"To my right!" Alia declared confidently.

"Now, think. Which way was it flowing before you crossed?"

"To my...right." Alia deflated.

"To the east. This means that unless it has suddenly switched directions and you are now somewhere far east of me, you are back where you started."

"But how? I didn't turn around. I didn't close my eyes. Nothing changed."

"All I know that it is still morning here and it is unlikely that I am the subject of an enchantment. You, however, are very likely to be. Try again. Perhaps if you walk across backward you will succeed."

She tried going across backward, half expecting the bridge to disappear with every step. She watched the river carefully. Nothing changed, yet when she stepped off the bridge, she was on the wrong side again.

"Try turning around and coming back when you reach halfway."

She tried that and was again on the wrong side. She tried crossing with her eyes closed, and crossing all the way but the last step, then turning and going back. Still she was on the wrong shore. She tried running across. She tried thinking about getting to the desert side instead of the cliff side. None of those attempts had any more success.

Alia sat and stared morosely at the bridge.

"Unless you have any more ideas, Tieran, the only other thing I can think of is wading across. I don't care if he does smell me coming at this point. I just want to get to the other shore." She gave a short mirthless laugh. "Now we know why the bridge is here. Jareth is probably sitting there on his throne watching all this through one of his little crystal balls and getting his day's entertainment. I guess the bridge isn't as easy as it...seems..." Alia started to get an idea. "Tieran what if this isn't what it seems again? What if I do cross the river and it only seems like I don't? The old man in the movie with that bird on his head said, 'Sometimes we think we are not getting anywhere, when in fact...we are.' How many times have I crossed this thing?"

"That is an interesting idea. Let me think..."

They came to the consensus that she had attempted to cross the bridge seven times but had only actually crossed it five times. In either case, that meant that if her theory was correct, she was currently on the northern side of the river where she wanted to be.

"This would be even better entertainment than the other way. Making people cross and recross when they don't need to. He's probably busting buttons off his vest laughing. Now, where's the way up?"

She could not see a way up the wall from where she was standing, but having no other choice, she walked over to try to find a way. Once she was standing next to the ravine wall, she could see that steps had been cleverly cut into it and camouflaged so that they blended perfectly with the mottled blue-gray stone of the gorge wall.

Using these steps, she climbed out of the ravine much more simply than she had descended via the ledge. She quickly and easily reached the top and was pleased to find that she had been correct and had indeed crossed the river to the northern side.

Unfortunately, she still had a long way to travel before she reached the cliff and no horse to speed things up. She felt ready for it, though. She had gotten a good night's rest and, despite the delays, it was early enough in the day that she thought she would be able to reach the cliff before sunset.

The walk across the intervening grassy plain passed uneventfully. No sand filled her boots; no genie buzzed in her ear; she climbed no dunes; she just walked through mile after mile of knee high, brilliant blue grass, rippling in the constant wind channeled along the cliff face. The cliff face in the distance graduated from lavender at the base through pink to the yellow gray of the stone she remembered seeing on the buildings and walls of the Labyrinth and castle in the movie.

As Alia walked her mind wandered yet again. She wondered if Jareth would find out what had happened with the genie and punish him for helping her. She hoped not. If he did not she would need to find a way to repay his kindness. He would want her to stop and riddle, she knew, but she would not likely have time on her way back. With any luck, she would be flying, literally.

"Tieran, after all of this, if I don't get a chance to come back here, could you make sure the genie gets more riddles? That's if he's still here and Jareth hasn't done something with him. Send him a book or something at least? I probably won't have time to riddle with him on my way back."

"I will try, if I am able."

"Will I be able to come back here?"

"If you like, I can continue contact with you in your world," he offered.

"All of this is assuming we both get away unscathed, of course."

"Of course."

The cliff loomed larger and larger, higher than it had appeared and than Alia had imagined. Eventually, she came close enough to it that she could no longer see the top of it.

"Tieran, there is no way I will be able to climb this."

"Things are not always what they seem here," Tieran reminded her. "Remember the gorge? That was not nearly as deep as it first seemed. Wait until you reach the cliff to start worrying about climbing it."

"Oh, sure, the castle really sits on a plateau only ten feet high. Even if it isn't a tenth as high as it seems, there is still plenty of room for it to be too tall for me to climb."

Alia finally reached the foot of the cliff at sunset. She found the lower portion of the cliff covered in vines, causing the lavender shading she had seen from a distance. The leaves were a pale silvery white and the whole vine was covered with small purple trumpet-shaped flowers. Thinking that the vines might be useful in providing support for part of her climb, she pulled at one to test how well it had anchored itself to the stone. They grew tougher than they looked and bore her weight.

"Here's some more luck, Tieran. The lower portion of the cliff is covered in vines that seem strong enough to be able to hold me. It's too late to start climbing now, though. It will have to wait until morning."

She had been standing with her hand on the vines while talking to Tieran and when she tried to pull her hand away, she found that small tendrils had quickly wrapped themselves around her fingers. The tendrils did not hold her fingers strongly, but entangled her thoroughly, making them difficult, but not impossible to remove.

She sat and watched the stars come out one by one as she ate. She had not noticed them before. As she thought about it she realized she had not really had time to stargaze. The first night it had rained and the following nights she had either fallen asleep immediately or had been walking, making it difficult for her to focus on the stars above her.

"Still," she thought, "I should have taken time to notice them on a rest break." Now she had time, but only half a sky unoccluded by the cliff to observe. Even in that portion of the sky she could see many more stars than at home. She had forgotten what a difference city lights made on visibility.

"Tieran, what sort of constellations do you have here?"

"Constellations? We have many of them. There is The King and The Queen. The Crown, The Rose, The Lily. There is even a Goblin. What others are there?" he asked himself and paused for a moment, thinking. "It has been a long while since I have looked at them. There is a series of animals: Dog, Dragon, Horse, Griffin, Lion, Snake, Firey,...ah, and a Chicken. The Goblin is near the Chicken, of course. And there is The Owl as well. There are more that I cannot remember now. Different lands have different constellations."

"Can you show me some of them? I can only see the southern sky now."

"The Crown is an easy one to find in the southern sky. It is a bright ring of stars in the southeast. Do you see it?"

"Yes."

He pointed out a few more constellations to her until she started yawning and he caught her at it. "Was that a yawn? You should sleep. Do not forget the pendant. You are too close now to leave that on – he would find you easily."

"I won't. Good night."

"Good night."

.….

The Goblin King looked out a high southern window of his castle. He sat on the sill playing idly with a crystal as he gazed toward the desert and mountains beyond, contemplating the situation and his plan of action. The young woman was drawing closer now – he could feel her, and the dreams were growing stronger.

"What is her reason for coming here? Do these dreams drive her?"

He waved the crystal back and forth, watching the interplay of the moonlight and the crystal, and sighed. "I must play the game properly," he thought as he seized the crystal, arresting its movement, "But I can I wait that long?"

.….

In the morning Alia walked back and forth along the cliff trying to decide whether the starting point of her climb would make a difference. She settled on a likely looking spot – or so she told herself – and began to climb.

"Please, let it not be as high as it looks or let there be a short cut," she thought as she climbed.

She pulled herself from handhold to handhold, sometimes using the vines, sometimes the rock face underneath. Concentrating on what she was doing, a voice out of nowhere startled her.

"'Allo," it said cheerily.

Alia jumped and her hold slipped from the tiny ledge she had found. She flailed at the vines and leaves as she slipped and then fell.

Disclaimers, credits, and trivia:

Labyrinth, etc. belongs to the Jim Henson Company.