"Ludo!" It reminded her of the pink things on sticks that they attacked Ludo with in the movie. It looked like one of those pink creatures on steroids.
Meanwhile, despite this revelation, The Pink Thing on Steroids continued to advance on Alia. It drew her attention with the low rumbling growl it made as it crouched on the far side of the central circle of the design on the floor. Its mouth opened wide in an anticipatory grin as it prepared to spring at her and pounce, thinking it had found easy prey. If it had had a tail it would have been switching it back and forth like an overgrown house cat.
Alia finally got her coordination together and stood up and ran for an opening, any opening, she did not care which at this point. As she did, the Pink Thing on Steroids growled again and leapt for her.
Red light flared brightly behind her, but Alia kept running, wondering why the Pink Thing had not caught her yet. As she reached an opening to a tunnel, she realized she heard nothing behind her. She snuck a quick glance over her shoulder while running and saw nothing.
"It's just hiding somewhere, playing with me," she thought and kept running.
No fungus glowed on the walls of this tunnel, so she had no warning before she tripped over a large chunk of stone lying in her path and landed on a pile of rubble. The fall knocked her breath out of her and stunned her for a moment. She rolled on her back and gasped, trying to suck air back into her lungs and breathe again.
As she lay there panting and gasping, she slowly realized she still did not hear anything following her. She heard no sound but her own pained breathing. She cautiously moved again, slowly, making sure she had not seriously injured herself. She had not broken anything, but her cheek was already tender where it had hit a protruding stone.
She felt around her, exploring the extent of the pile of fallen rocks she had landed on, then crawling carefully up it, to see if she had any chance to make it over it. She hit her head on the ceiling of the tunnel, but didn't find any gaps in the rubble.
"A mouse couldn't climb over this, let alone me. So that's why it quit chasing me. It knew the rock fall blocked this way and I'd have to come back out again." She slid carelessly back down the pile and sat at the foot of it to catch her breath before she crept back to the main chamber.
Standing just within the tunnel, Alia looked around. The Pink Thing had left the chamber.
"He could be hiding in any one of these tunnels, though. Which one should I head for?"
She surveyed the tunnels and saw one off to the side that held promise, smooth and squarely cut, unlike the rough walls of the others. It looked about the size of the main corridor she had left far above and she also thought she could see a faint glow from within it. It seemed like ages ago that she had been walking on that path in the warm light of the crystals.
"That's the one to head for. It'll get me out of here. I can only hope the Pink Thing isn't hiding in there." She steeled herself to make a mad dash across the open floor to get to that corridor.
She ran for the other corridor, looking around her constantly trying to see the Pink Thing as it came for her. It did not appear. Halfway across, she slowed to a walk, puzzled and slow-witted in her exhaustion.
"It should have come out by now. Where is it?"
She came to a complete halt and turned a full circle to look around the chamber. There was no sign of it anywhere.
"Did I imagine it all? Was it some figment of my mind brought on by the darkness? Maybe it's a trick of the tunnels, just like the Labyrinth plays tricks. In any case, I'm not staying here to find out. I'm getting as far away as I can and then collapse."
The new corridor she had found had the same smooth walls and floor, the same hand sconces holding the same crystals giving off the same amber light as the first corridor. She thought this passage must run somewhere below the corridor she had walked in before and could only hope they joined somewhere above.
When she felt she could walk no further, she laid down where she stood, sprawled with one arm over her eyes. She was taking no more chances with side tunnels. "If they find me, they find me. At this point, I don't care. Besides, it's not like I've seen any convenient side rooms with neon vacancy signs."
She took off the pendant, clutched the chain in her hand as she rolled into a tight ball on her side, and fell asleep almost immediately.
She bolts along the fence...presses on through the soft blue sandy dirt...she runs too slowly, but she cannot move any faster, no matter how she tries...she fights around the end of the fence into the crowd...everyone looks for her, but no one finds her...no one sees her...the sand under the grass trips her...she stumbles, falls, lands on the pile of rubble...she must run from the monster...must escape from it...she cannot see it in the darkness...she knows it is faster...it's right behind, about to catch her...she is tiring though and cannot help slowing...it must catch her now...it growls...she runs faster...it chases her, close in the inky blackness...why does it not catch her...she runs and runs...
Alia woke with no idea of how much time had passed. She had no feeling of how long she had been lost or the length of time she had slept. She sat up and stretched. Oddly, she felt better now, even after her fall, than she had for several days. "Or longer than that depending on how long I've been down here," she thought. She slipped the pendant over her head and reached for Tieran with her mind.
"Tieran, how long have I been down here?"
"Alia! Are you all right? What happened to you?" He sounded surprised, anxious, relieved.
"I'm okay now. How long have I been down here?" she repeated.
"Two days and two nights. I have not been able to reach you for over a day."
"That long? How long since I told you I was lost?"
"You contacted me the first night. What happened?" he repeated insistently.
Alia related her experiences, describing the creatures she encountered as well as she could and the cavernous chamber she had found that connected to the correct corridor.
"And the last thing I remember was lying down to sleep. I guess I've been sleeping ever since. I still haven't got a clue about what happened to the Pink Thing," she finished. "Since I lost time wandering around, I should get moving again."
"Yes," Tieran answered distractedly, then with more concentration, "Are you injured? Did it hurt you?"
"No, I'm fine. I was bruised in the fall, but now I feel better than I have in a while. I wonder how far I have to go yet. Quite a way, I imagine," Alia continued matter-of-factly. She was becoming an old hand at the adventure genre. "Next time I think I'll try for something less tiring and deadly," she thought to herself. "Maybe a light comedy or a romance."
It seemed that she was indeed quite a way from the end of the corridor, for she did not reach it until that night. The walk passed blessedly uneventfully, just mile after mile of winding corridor lit by the crystals in the hand sconces.
The corridor ended in an imposing stone door. She pulled on it to open it, fully expecting it to be locked, so it surprised her when it came open for her. She peeped around the edge of the door cautiously, hoping the door did not open to throne room or some other well-trafficked room. She saw only darkness, heard only crickets and smelled earth and flowers. She pulled the door open a little further and saw the moon in the sky above her.
"Looks like the garden to me. Good," she thought as she pushed the door closed again. "I think I'll stay in here for the night. I won't be able to see a thing in the dark and I am sure Jareth would know there was someone at the tree in any case, day or night. I might as well be able to see what I'm doing as well as he can."
Alia woke about an hour before dawn and contacted Tieran. "Do you have any idea where the tree is in the garden?"
"No. A tree is a tree on the map."
"This map isn't all it's cracked up to be."
"If by that you mean it does not show as much as you thought it would, you are correct. It has limitations."
"It's getting light enough to see out there," she told Tieran as she peered around the heavy stone door. "I'd better get going."
She pulled the door open far enough for her to fit through with her gear. The door moved easily and quietly for her again, well-balanced on its hinges. After looking around for possible observers, she moved out onto the stone paved patio in front of the door and pulled the door shut behind her. The tunnel through the cliff exited through the foundations of the castle.
A single bird, calling not far away, broke the eerie silence of the dim misty garden. Gray shrouded shapes filled the garden, concealed in a heavy mist. Alia breathed in the cool morning air, delicious after so long in the tunnels.
"Well, can you tell me where there are trees and how to get there?"
"There is a walled garden directly in front of you, several hundred of your yards away. There are trees in it and it seems a likely place to put a valuable tree."
"Then I'll start there." Alia started down the path directly in front of her. She passed small ponds and formal flower beds. They tempted her to stop and admire them, but she decided against it when she thought of the prehensile vines on the cliff and Dorothy's poppies. "There's no telling what they might do to me."
She hurried down the path, walking quickly and sometimes breaking into a nervous jog. Every so often she would pause to listen to the sounds around her. She thought about walking on the grass instead of the crunching gravel, to silence her footsteps, but changed her mind when she saw the heavy dew upon it. If she walked through that she would leave a trail of footprints anyone could follow.
"And my feet would get wet," she grumbled.
"What did you say?" Tieran asked.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself."
The sun rose, bestowing color on her surroundings and burning off the mist. She could now see that a large lawn lay on one side of the path and naturalized trees, shrubs and flowers on the other. None of the trees she had passed so far bore fruit. Ahead she could see neatly trimmed formal hedges. The path ran by them, but she could see no opening in the hedge.
"Is this the garden you were talking about?" Alia asked as she prepared to leave the path.
"Yes, you should be standing next to the walled enclosure."
Alia walked all the way around the enclosure without finding an entrance. Remembering the camouflage of the tunnel at the base of the cliff, she walked around it again, trailing her hand through the foliage feeling for illusions. She found the concealed entrance on the opposite side of the enclosure from the path and walked through it.
She came out into a square courtyard walled with warm golden stone. In the courtyard, the sun shone down strongly from high in the sky, the mist completely burned off. Climbing plants thick with flowers trailed on the walls and a small tree grew in each corner. In the center of each wall was an arch, one of which she had just entered through. Not gravel, but more of the golden stone paved the paths through the green grass of the courtyard and led in spiraling arcs from each of the arched entrances to a tree growing in the center.
Alia followed her path around the courtyard, listening to the droning of the bees among the flowers as she passed. She recognized roses, honeysuckle and jasmine, but others she could not identify. All had strong fragrances and bloomed profusely. The trees in the corners formed cool shaded retreats from the increasing heat of the sun. She noted none of the smaller trees bore fruit and turned her attention to the great one in the center.
This tree was rooted in a black rock thrusting up through the smooth green grass. She approached under the immense and ancient tree, its branches heavy with fruit.
"This is the peach tree. It has to be," Alia thought in awe as she gazed up through its branches. "Tieran, I found the tree!" As she gazed around her she noticed a small spring welling from the dark rock between the roots of the tree and trickling down to collect in a rock-lined basin in the grass. Next to it sat a stone bench. It looked cool and inviting and a perfect place for peaceful contemplation. She bent to look closer at the pool and almost trailed her fingers in it to take a drink before she remembered the magic of the place.
"Better not. It might change my hand to gold or poison me. I'm too close to do something stupid like that," she thought and turned back to the tree looking for limbs low enough for her to reach easily. She saw some on the far side of the tree from the spring and walked over to them.
"Tieran, what do I do with the peaches once I pick them?"
"Put them in the satchel, of course."
"Oh, of course. I never would have thought of that," she responded with sarcasm. "I thought you might have other plans. There's nothing else I need to do with them?"
"No, they will be safe in the satchel."
Alia found two peaches she could reach and plucked them from the tree. Large and heavy in her hands, their velvety soft skin shaded from a rich golden orange to a deep crimson. She could already smell them as she slipped them into the bag.
"May I help you with anything else? More fruit? Some flowers perhaps?" asked a voice from behind her, dripping with sarcasm.
Alia whirled around to find the Goblin King leaning with his back against the bole of the tree in his characteristic position of nonchalance, arms crossed, one booted foot placed against the trunk. She did not stop to respond or think, but bolted for the nearest arch as he stood away from the tree and stepped forward.
Jareth sighed wearily. "Why do they always make it so difficult?" he asked crossly and jumped lightly down from the obsidian rock. He walked to the arch in no hurry; he knew exactly where she was going.
Alia ran through the archway and found herself in the castle. "At least it looks like the castle. Of course, not ever having seen most of it before there's no telling for sure," she thought to herself. "Tieran, he caught me at it. Can you get me out of here?"
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere in the castle I think. No, make that know," she responded firmly as she hastily backed out of the room full of stairs she had seen in the movie.
"How did you get there?"
"I ran out of the garden and here I was. Now, I'm running through the castle trying to find a way out. I seem to be doing a lot of running lately," she mused. "Maybe I should try out for the cross-country team at school when I get back. Can you get me out of here, please?"
"No, I have tried. You will have to go outside and call for Arten'barad."
"I should have called her before. It'll take her a while to get here. Oh, sh – "she started to swear as she skidded around a corner to come face to ugly face with a regiment of goblins. She doubled back and headed down another hall, then down a flight of stairs. Waiting calmly at the foot of the stairs was the Goblin King with another troop of goblins.
"Get her," he commanded quietly and the goblins ran clamoring forward. Alia turned to run back up the stairs and found her way blocked by more goblins. He had her trapped and she could see no way out.
Disclaimers, credits, and trivia:
Labyrinth, etc. belong to the Jim Henson Company.