Yes! The answer to the riddle was "leaves", but even though you could guess, I didn't find it realistic that a tired, weary Sarah would be able to.
Solea: Criticism welcome, that's what make us better writers, so you're most welcome. I know it could be clearer why she's running to the castle, but this fic needs her to get to the castle ;-). I imagine it is to spite Jareth, who challenged her, and because the alternative looked worse - I might elaborate and put in a cold desert or a pitch-dark forest on the borders of the labyrinth to make sure she can't go that way...
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"Lady Sarah?" A finger prodded her gently in the shoulder and she brushed it away sleepily. "Are you awake, Lady Sarah?"
Sarah slowly regained consciousness and instantly wished she hadn't. Every part of her body was sore and aching, and her head felt heavy and stuffed as if she was coming down with the flu. She opened her eyes and then gave a start and sat up quickly at the sight of two small female goblins who had been regarding her intensely just an inch away from her nose.
"Oh, my head," she moaned, and rubbed her temples, brushing her dirty tangled hair away from her face. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Please, Lady Sarah, we have food for you," they chirped in unison, and then giggled, looking at each other. "And water," one of them continued holding out a bag for her.
She looked at them suspiciously. They were about three feet high and looked almost identical, except that one of them had a blue dress on, and the other one a brown. Their hair was brown and plaited, and their skin smooth and goblin grey. While they looked like adult goblins, their smiles and giggles reminded her more of 7-year old children and they looked expectantly at her with their huge yellow-tinged eyes.
"Did your king send you?" she asked, very well remembering a certain peach. She was not going to fall for that one again.
"Oh no," the goblin in the blue dress said, "He doesn't know. But we thought you might be hungry - they say you've been in here for ten hours now!"
"And we get so hungry after just four hours," the other one commented wistfully.
Sarah slowly took the bag and opened it. It contained a loaf of dark bread, some cheese, an apple and a water skin. She felt dizzy and nauseous and didn't really want to eat anything, but she knew her body needed food, so she slowly tore off a piece of the bread and tasted it. It was rather good.
"Thank you," she said and smiled at them. "Who are you?"
"I'm Fanny!" the one in the brown dress cried and did a little dance.
"And I'm Fenella," the other one said calmly. "We are twins and maids at the castle."
"The castle!" Sarah nearly choked on her food. "Then you must know the way to it! Can you show me? I have to go there."
Fanny started to nod and say something, but Fenella cut her off sharply: "No, I'm sorry, His Majesty has forbidden us to guide her to the castle! You know that, Fanny!"
"Oh, I forgot," the little goblin said sadly. "I don't know why, though – he's waited for her for six years and now he leaves her alone in the Labyrinth?"
"Does everyone know?" Sarah exploded and Fanny jumped back in fright. It was bad enough that Jareth was arrogant and overconfident, but did the whole Labyrinth have to be told? "About what happened six years ago and why I'm here?"
"Well, yes," Fenella said and patted her sister's hand. "All goblins love His Majesty and look out for him. And we're everywhere and tell each other everything, so naturally he can't keep a secret very long. Although he did try in your case. It took hours to find out whether you had won or lost the last time."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Sarah said kindly to Fanny, who smiled timidly back. "It just seems so weird that you know all about me, and I didn't know the truth about my encounter with your king until last night."
"It's too bad he didn't take you right away," Fanny said brightly, "then you could have been a goblin, too!"
Sarah looked in chock at the little goblin and almost exclaimed her relief at not being made into a goblin, but bit back the words when she realized how rude they would sound.
"Mmm… He probably wanted his wife to be a bit taller to match himself," she suggested instead. "You're all very small, aren't you?"
"Yes," Fanny said, "that's why we are so good at hiding everywhere. It's so fun being a goblin, …but I suppose being a mortal or Fae is nice, too." The last bit was hastily added, as her sister nudged her in ribs to remind her to be polite.
Sarah chewed thoughtfully at her apple. "Do you know every part of the Labyrinth? What is in it besides the castle and all these corridors?"
"In it?" They looked at her in wonder. "The nasty oubliettes, the nastier Bog, and lots of roads and doors and secret passageways."
"No, I mean… a city or some houses or something. Does anyone live in here?" Sarah was thinking about hiding places in case this journey took more than a day. Her whole body ached and she knew she would need a better place to spend the night. And while the food they had brought her was fine, it would not sustain her for long.
"We do," Fanny said brightly. "We live in the Goblin City by the castle!"
"Yes, but I mean, I had a friend the last time, a dwarf called Hoggle. Would you know where he lives? Or Ludo?" Sarah briefly thought about asking for Sir Didymus as well, but could not imagine staying in the Bog of Stench even for one night.
"We don't talk to them!" Fanny sniffed and they both looked insulted. "They are not goblins! They are just guardians in the Labyrinth and…"
"Oh, look out, Lady Sarah!" Fenella suddenly exclaimed and pulled at her hand. "A mist is coming right at you – get up!"
Sarah bolted up and whirled around, but could see absolutely nothing. But then a doorway appeared in the wall right behind her and the bench she'd been sitting on suddenly turned into a rose bush with long spiky thorns as if by magic.
"What…! How did it do that?" she cried, thinking how lucky it was that Fenella had warned her, or she would have surely been scratched to blood by the nasty thorns.
"It was a mist of magic – didn't you see it?"
"No! What is that?" Sarah looked wildly around her, but didn't see anything except the altered surroundings.
Fanny and Fenella looked at each other in horror and then back at Sarah. "You mean you can't see the mist?" they exclaimed in unison and seemed completely surprised and chocked.
"No, I didn't see anything!"
"Oh, but how will you ever get through the Labyrinth, then?" Fanny cried. "If you can't see it, how can you control it?"
And Fenella added: "It is the Mists of Magic that makes the Labyrinth change constantly. And turns mortal children into goblins. And lets us goblins find our way through the Labyrinth. It must be terrible not to be able to see it!"
"But you can?" Sarah asked confused. "What does it look like?"
"Raindrops!" Fanny said, and Fenella added. "Silver sparkles! And fairy dust!"
Sarah looked around again, but still couldn't see anything. "Is that what you use to get to the castle? How does it work?"
"We just think where we want to go," they replied, "and then the mist appears and shows us the right way to go. The Labyrinth is full of shortcuts to everywhere."
Sarah though about this while finishing the last of the bread and cheese. It was funny enough being pitied by goblins for being only a mortal, when she had just been angry at Jareth for turning them into goblins. Being told that they could wield the Labyrinth's magic and she couldn't just made it even worse.
"Can you show me?" she asked, suddenly thinking about exactly how specific Jareth's orders to them had been. Maybe he had only mentioned the castle and not thought to specify areas close to it.
"I know you can't take me to the castle, but could you show me the way to… uhh, the Rose Garden? It would really be interesting to see how it works, this mist."
"Of course," Fanny agreed happily and closed her eyes in concentration for a second. When she opened them again, she turned around and pointed at an exit that seemed no different from all the rest. "That way!"
Sarah gave the pouch back to Fenella, who seemed to be having conflicting thoughts of whether it was ok what they were doing. But by asking her about the work they were doing at the castle and whether they had seen the room Jareth had promised her, the little goblin was distracted and followed her sister together with Sarah. They walked for a few minutes with Fanny guiding the way, until they arrived at two almost identical steel doors. Above the door was written the following letters: "OTTFFSSEN" and on each of the two doors were a letter: "T" on the one and "O" on the other.
"Come," Fanny said and pointed to the door with the "T". "This way!"
"Why?" Sarah asked and tried to guess the meaning of the riddle. "How do you know that answer is correct?"
"Because the mist is there," Fenella answered and went over to touch the door that instantly opened. "We never try to solve the riddles – they are only for mortals on Quests."
Sarah and the goblin twins passed through the door, and suddenly they stood in a large garden filled with row and rows of huge fragrant roses. The rose beds were framed by nicely cut hedges and in the middle was a big noisy fountain with a statue of four mermaids throwing water. The air was warm and heavy, and everywhere butterflies danced in the air.
"Oh, how beautiful!" Sarah whispered and hesitantly touched a rose. They were in all the colours she could possibly imagine, except pure white. The sweet smell dazzled her and she turned to thank the little goblins, but to her surprise they were not there and there seemed to be no sign of them.
"Fanny? Fenella? Where are you?"
There was no response, and she looked around in concern. Did something scare them away, or had they been called away on duty? Or maybe they had been spooked by what she saw now: The castle which had been so far away, now lay right beside her, just beyond the walls of the Goblin City at the opposite site of the garden!