More you say? Here it is…. More! MayRaven
Down in the Underground, a land serene, a silver moon rose to the heavens. Beneath it's ghostly light dark creatures moved and supernatural forces rumbled through the ruins of the once magnificent Labyrinth. Fallen walls seemed to rise and repair themselves until level upon level the entity of stone and mortar grew, spirally inward toward the Goblin City, encasing the castle of the once all-powerful Goblin King. All the while, a witch danced around a blazing bon-fire chanting in a language as ancient as the Labyrinth itself. A figure of unearthly beauty wove her incantation into the cold night air summoning a force beyond any ever in her possession.
Sarah and Jareth made their return to the Goblin City, or so they would have if a newly erected barrier wall hadn't stopped them dead in their tracks. It took both a moment to realise the true gravity of what they were seeing. Jareth took a few steps back to examine the structure and get an idea of how far it extended in either direction.
"I don't believe it," Jareth breathed awe struck. "The Labyrinth is standing."
Sarah glared at the wall and then at Jareth. "How can it be? You've been with me all this time. And isn't this wall much further outward than before?" she asked stepping back to Jareth's vantage point. "I mean we shouldn't see ruins for another mile at least."
"I dare say you're right in your thinking, Sarah," said Jareth with a tilt of his head toward her. The young woman smiled grimly.
"So, what does this mean?"
Jareth sighed and kicked at a nearby rock. "It means we cannot make it back to the Goblin City without entering the Labyrinth. And if we do that it will take ages to get anywhere. This wall is evidence that things are changing in there and I'd say not for the better. We'd best go around and try to find that unseemly little dwarf another way."
"Going around could also take forever!" pouted Sarah. "Damn! It must be that Hope person. She must be the one rising to power."
Sarah pulled out the magic compass and asked for it to show her the way to the goblin city. Sadly, the needle pointed directly at the barrier wall. Sarah grumbled and asked for a door. The needle spun again and pointed a few yards down the wall on her left. Sarah followed and found a hidden hole under a spiny vine growing through the stone. She laughed triumphantly and climbed through. Jareth rolled his eyes knowing he had no choice but to climb in after her.
Once on the other side of the Labyrinth's outer wall Sarah continued to cheat asking for a door leading to the next level into the great maze. Sarah was on a roll and didn't seem to notice Jareth trailing behind mumbling to himself about how she was bound to get them both killed.
"It's actually easier than a piece of cake!" she delighted, tossing the compass up in the air and catching it. "I should have had one of these last time!" she called back to Jareth who shook his head, always keeping a few paces behind. He was keeping watch all around them, waiting for their doom to catch them.
"Things don't even look that different. Actually they seem smaller," she mused.
It took only a couple of hours to reach the interchangeable section of the Labyrinth. However, with the help of the compass they never got lost and no turn was dead end. Sarah became more and more full of herself as she continued asking for directions and finding her way easily through the Labyrinth.
Sarah was so confident she ran ahead like a child, almost skipping, until suddenly she dropped flat to the stones. She'd tripped on a lifted rotating cobblestone, moved by a tiny disgruntled man. He swore and cursed at her even after she lay face first on the ground.
Jareth ran over to her trying desperately not to laugh. Sarah's nose bled and her palms were scraped. Wiping a tear of pain away with a dirty hand she realised that the compass was gone. Frantically she searched all around them. Jareth wanted her to keep still to see if she was physically sound, but Sarah trashed around like a mad woman.
"Sarah leave it!" he urged. "We'll find it just let me look at your injuries."
She wanted to cry. She wanted to hurt Jareth. Sarah had to find the compass. She just had to!
"We don't need it, Sarah. I can get us through," said Jareth in an attempt to calm the desperate girl.
Then she saw it! The tiny mean man had it and he was pulling it under his stone waving a fist at the two of them. Sarah leapt for him, but it was too late. She screamed as though in agony.
"NO! I NEED THAT COMPASS!" she cried. "I feel so lost without it! What will I do without it?"
It was then that Jareth remembered that magical objects often had this effect on mortals. If they possessed, or used them for too long they became helpless to them, almost obsessive. That was why Sarah had been so giddy and carefree. Jareth silently chided himself for not taking notice sooner.
"Let it go," he soothed. "You don't need it. It was using you, feeding on your need to know your way."
Jareth pulled Sarah to him. As if in a trance, Sarah sat shaking in his arms while he cradled her. It was as though she were all alone and lost in darkness. Jareth wiped away the tears and blood from her face. "Don't give up on me," he said whispering in her ear. "I do believe in you."
Toby didn't know how long he'd been in the Underground and now that he was with her it didn't matter. He would remain here in this small cottage forever if he could only be near her.
Hope had given the boy news of his sister. He was told how Sarah had been seduced by the Goblin King and was under his spell. Toby's eyes narrowed as his mind worked to find a way of exacting the perfect revenge on the villain who'd haunted his nightmares all these years and now possessed his beloved sister.
TBC
