Chapter four

Hoggle looked up, noting the height of the sun over the junkyard. The junkyard had seemed the logical place to start from, just outside the city walls, with useful items that though some may have thrown them away, others found useful.
Abandoned items found their way here from the aboveground, into the waiting clutches of Agnes.
Who was who they were trying to find now.
Agnes was one of the eldest of the goblins, and could actually remember back to before Jareth had taken the throne. Back to the time of Good Governances, when the goblins were wise and ruled themselves.

(Yeah, right…Ask a goblin how may goblins takes to change a lightbulb and the first questions you'll get is 'Wa's a goblin? Sigh…perhaps it was an experiment in anarchy. Give two goblins a length of rope and instantly they will seize opposite ends and pull in different directions.)

A bent, wizened, knarled old creature, with a good dose of senility thrown in, Agnes collected political theories found amongst the rubbish to sell as new (once they'd been cleaned up and given a new spin) to those with no opinions of their own.
The rubbish she carried on her back was just a hobby. Once finding a person in her domain, she would instantly try to convert them to it, finding scattered ruminants of their life's that had long since been discarded and forgotten and piling them on to their back. Really, she thought she was doing them a favor; Far better to be carrying your troubles literally on your back, than carting them inside your head.
She was capable of carrying up to seventy times her own weight in baggage, emotional, physical, or mental. (She confessed to preferring the physical over any other. Emotional and mental baggage were too heavy for what they were-plus it looks pretty impressive to be carrying over your own height in items.)
If anyone knew what they should do it would be her.
Righting a stool that only had two legs, Hoggle sank gratefully down to the seat, resting tired feet, leaning back against one of the piles.
Ludo plonked himself down.
"Thank you my brother!" Jumping down from his position on Ludo's shoulder, Sir Didymus swung down via one horn.
"sure." He grunted.
"We must find Ambrosias!"
"Aw, not that stupid dog!" Hoggle jumped up, and stomped off to sulk at a pile.
"Ambrosias! Ambrosias!" Sir Didymus bellowed. "We must find him. We can not go anywhere without Ambrosias." He explained. "Am-bro-sias!
Well, I was hoping not to use this." He grumbled, pulling a silver whistle from one pocket. "pppppwwwwweeeeeppp!" He blew.
Watching with interest, Ludo gently crooned in key.
Sir Didymus looked crestfallen. "He must be too far away. He cannot hear my call."
Perking his long ears, Ludo mumbled gently; "No hear?"
"Yes, the whistle isn't loud enough. It makes a noise, but also creates a sound we can not hear. This sound calls Ambrosias to me."
"Hrrrounnnn…" Slowly, Ludo winked, one eye at a time. "Ludo make noise-call Ambrosias."
"How, my brother? How do you mimic a sound you cannot hear?"
Reaching down, Ludo picked the whistle from him. "Ludo hear. Rocks too."
Softly he blew a note.
"A fat lot of good that'll do. Whoever heard of a dog answering a whistle," jeered Hoggle, "It was even quieter than him."

The sound rang back, magnified, a least five times louder, deafening.
"How the?!" Hoggle jumped up, staring wildly around.
"Rrrwocks friends." Drawled Ludo, smiling. "Rocks make music. Goblins no hear."
"I ain't no Goblin!"
A yap sounded over one of the mounds, followed closely by a flash of gaily colored cloth and black and white fur.
"Ambrosias! Ambrosias, you are-" Sir Didymus watched as he was bypassed in favor of Hoggle.
"Ah, geroff, you great big mound of fur." Hoggle pushed the dog away. Ambrosias sat for a few seconds, only to jump back up, showering Hoggles face with a wet tongue.
"alright." Didymus softly finished.
Ludo gently laid a huge finger (in comparison to Sir Didymus) on his shoulder.
"Cmon, let me go!"
Clambering over one of the piles, Agnes rounded the mound, staring at the quartet.
"Hrmpf…" she sniffed.
Clanking, she waddled down towards them.
Seeing them turn towards her, she asked: "What are you lot doin here?"
Screeching, Sir Didymus swung his staff. "Halt foul hag, thou retch of the deepest sea gorge, come no further or face your fate!"
"hrrmpf!"
Settling back into an abandoned armchair, with a spring sticking from the arm. "What a way to talk to a lady. Make some tea dearie, I want to hear all the gossip."

It should be noted now, that Agnes (as well as the rest of the goblins) was, will be, and is, a terrible gossip. They love to hear exactly, no matter how exaggerated, what is going on, as soon as it happens. It's said that what new colours the well known fashion obsessed goblins Lish and Nees are wearing can be known throughout the labyrinth before either have stepped outside their bedroom door.
Poking the small fire Didymus had built, Hoggle gloomily listened to the rendition of their fate, from Sir Didymus, with occasional contributions from Ludo.
Quite frankly, he didn't know how he was going to survive this with only Sir Didymus for a conversational partner. The constant "thee's" and "thou's" were starting to get upon his nerves already.
The whistle of the kettle drew him back from his thoughts, reminding him that it wouldn't magically become tea on its own.
Wrapping the tea towel round the handle, Hoggle poured a little water into the pot to warm it, setting the kettle back next to the fire to keep warm as he swirled the pot, before tipping the water out.
Privately, he wondered how exactly Agnes had managed to have a tea set and enough cups and saucers for each of them (including an extra saucer for Ambrosias), as well as a kettle and tea leaves.
But the Goblins here were known for their uncanny ability to sometimes have exactly what you needed, so perhaps it was not so unusual after all.
He filled the pot once more, before measuring in the leaves, replacing the lid and sitting back to let the tea brew.
A sharp jab to his back reminded him that Agnes was still there.
"And where were you while this was happening young man? Hrrm?"
Each word was accompanied by Agnes staff hitting between his shoulder blades.

"Yes, you did not inform us of where you had gone, Sir Hoggle. I am most intrigued as to your whereabouts." Chirruped the tiny knight.
'He would be,' Hoggle darkly thought, giving the fire another sharp stab.
He sat back, resting the stick he'd been using as a poker over his knees.
In the end, he simply said "Sarah called." He shrugged. "Jareth followed. That's when he caught up. Sarah sent us somethings too."
"She did?" They crowded round as Hoggle unwrapped the sack/pillowcase from around his belt.
"Yup. Some human stuff she thought might be interesting."
"Hmpf." Anges gave it a critical once over. "Junk. Not what you really need." She tried to pull herself up from the chair. Flailing, she grabbed hold of Ludos fur, and used it to pull herself up. "You need to find what you need. One thing each."
Then, clanking as she went, she left as quickly as she came.

They'd arranged to meet at the main gates in the high afternoon, when the sun was past it's zenith.
Hoggle glowered. He wanted to be away by now. True, he had no idea where they would go, nor what plan they should follow. But he wanted to be gone.
Faintly, he heard a "tally ho! What?! Ambrosias!" echoing over the walls.
Hoggle rubbed his forehead with his hand, and reached for his pipe. He filled it, lighting it with a spark from a flint.

Puffing away, he contemplated whether life away from the Labyrinth would be that bad.

Okay, okay! I thought this Chapter would be longer than it's turned out to be. I originally planned it to be much longer.
I know I don't type much, but life has been weighing heavy upon my shoulders lately. First work, then Christmas, then University assignments. I have another due in middle of February, and another about the beginning of March. Life is not being fun at the moment, and I'm feeling a little depressed about a few things…time to reach for the Angel Delight.

What I'm really trying to say is I'm not sure when exactly I going to be able to get some more up-but trust me this won't be abandoned! I may disappear for a little while, but I'm going to try to stick to my biweekly posting strategy.

Cheers!

PS-Some infomation was taken from Brian Frouds Goblin Companion-an excellent book for reading on long journeys! Mainly about Agnes. If anyone wants to know what is actually said about her in the book, e-mail me, and I shall post with the next edition!

I still don't own Labyrinth-if I did, I'd keep Sir Didymus with me all the time!