Happy you like it, everyone - thanks for the reviews :-)
BlytheSarita: Thank you! I did have a nagging feeling about that word, but the spell check in Word approved it, and it's spelled with a "c" in Danish, too, so it didn't look too bad. But I'll remember.
SnapeMoment: Tell you? Oh no no no, we wouldn't want to give away the plot yet, would we? ;-)
---------------------------------
When Sarah woke the next morning, the sun was shining brightly and she had to shut her eyes tightly against it, as her head was pounding, and she felt the room spinning as soon as she lifted her head from the pillows. She feltdizzy and sick, but too sick to get up, and burying herself deep under the sheets, she quickly fell asleep again.
The next time she woke, she felt much better – still a bit wobbly, but mostly just hungry. Outside the sun was high above and the whole city beneath her window was brimming with activity and goblins running back and forth. Fenella came by with some breakfast – or lunch as she called it, as it was well past noon – but she seemed very nervous and concerned. It seemed that whatever had gone wrong with the Bog was not fixed yet. None of the goblins understood what was happening, except that Jareth had been gone all night and returned some hours ago exhausted and angry, snapping at everyone.
While thinking about yesterday evening and soaking in the bath tub, Sarah studied her hands and ears, trying to feel if there were any signs of her transformation to Fae yet. It didn't seem that way, and she definitely couldn't see any mists yet. As her time frame was limited to six days, or five and a half now that Jareth and his wine had made her miss half of this day, she knew that any action she could take, would have to be soon. Also when considering what Jareth might do to her. After last night she thought him capable of anything, and she couldn't believe she'd been so stupid as to drink the wine without even realising that it had contained alcohol. But then again, the only alcohol she'd ever tasted had been light beer sneaked in at a friend's party at home, and she'd found that horrible. Jareth's blackcurrant wine had actually tasted wonderful.
Escaping by running away was out of the question, she reasoned. So was acting terrible, for if she wasn't careful, he might decide he didn't want her and take Toby instead, and that couldn't be allowed either. However, approaching it logically, it seemed that the rules of the Labyrinth were very important to him, and she wondered whether perhaps there was one of the rules who would help her. If the Labyrinth allowed the Quests for the children that were wished away, maybe it also allowed some kind of challenge she could make in order to win back her freedom without giving up Toby's. Jareth would of course never tell her, and neither would his loyal goblins, but there had to be someway to find out on her own. Maybe a library?
After getting out of the bath, she found that someone had laid out a set of nice clothes for her on her bed. Plain white undergarments, soft calf-skin boots, a long wide skirt, a white poet's shirt and a black velvet bodice. The outfit made her resemble a gypsy, but was very comfortable and fitted perfectly. She brushed her long hair and made a quick French braid down her back, finishing off with a red ribbon that matched the skirt perfectly. The emerald necklace that she had torn off last night after getting to her room, lay discarded on the night table, and she had no intention of wearing it again, at least not unless he demanded it.
Leaving her room, she looked up and down the hallway trying to decide where the library would probably be, when she suddenly heard the familiar voice of an old friend.
"Lady Sarah! Milady, it fills my heart with joy to see Thee once more!"
"Didymus!" Sarah cried and turned around to see the little furry knight that looked just like she remembered him. She fell on her knees and threw her arms around him in a hug. "Oh, it is you – I was afraid something might have happened to you."
"Fear not, Milady," he chirped bravely and tried to be dignified even when hugging her back. "I laugh in the face of danger, and Jareth and I have it all under control!"
"That's good," Sarah smiled, though she had heard differently. "What are you doing here at the castle?"
"Well, the Bog is a tiny bit larger than usual," he admitted, "so my home is not really somewhere I can stay right now. Our noble King offered me a place at the castle, until things go back to normal."
"How about Ludo and Hoggle? Are they ok? Do you know where they are?"
"I fear Sir Ludo has left the Labyrinth a few years ago," the knight told her, as they started walking down the hallway. "Our valiant companion missed his friends back in the Mountain Kingdom and thus decided to leave."
"He just left? And Jareth didn't stop him?"
"No, we are not prisoners here, Milady," Didymus replied proudly. "The goblins are His Majesty's, but all the rest of us are here of our own free will as guardians in the Labyrinth."
"What about Hoggle? Has he left, too?"
"Why, no, Milady. He's here at the castle as well, working as a librarian."
Sarah stopped. "Why, that's perfect! I was just looking for the library! Do you know where it is?"
Ten minutes later, she and Sir Didymus found themselves in a huge library with books from floor to ceiling. The glass stained windows glowed in red, blue and pink, and two large sofas stood in front of a cosy fireplace. At one side there was a long oak desk with piles and piles of books, and a small familiar figure sat on a high chair next to it, deeply absorbed and writing with a feather quill in a large volume.
"Hoggle!" Sarah cried and rushed to him, and he started, almost knocking his bottle of ink off the table. As he jumped off his chair, they met in an embrace, and Sarah could see his eyes fill with tears.
"My best friend!" he said touched. "It's really you! I'd heard ye'd come back, but I just couldn't believe it."
"Well, I can't either," Sarah laughed and stood up. "What are you doing here? In Jareth's castle and in a library?"
"Oh, you know, a bit of this and a bit of that," he admitted, shuffling his feet in embarrassment. "Just minding me own business and cataloguing some books for His Majesty. After… last time… he became obsessed with reading for a while, but got mad that nobody seemed to know what was in here, so he sort of asked me to do an inventory."
At the mentioning of last time, Sarah suddenly felt a stab of conscience. "Hoggle, Sir Didymus, I'm so sorry I haven't called you in a long time. I do care, I just couldn't keep thinking about the Labyrinth and all that at the same time as having a normal life."
"Ahh, we know, Sarah," Hoggle replied and patted her hand, "never ye mind. We knew ye'd come back someday, anyway."
The three friends stayed in the library for hours and chatted about their life and what had happened since they had last seen each other. Both Hoggle and Sir Didymus were distressed to find that Sarah did not wish to stay at all, but promised to help her find out more about the Labyrinth, although the thought of Jareth's wrath made them shiver. Hoggle had not found any book about all the rules of the Labyrinth, and no references to anything but the rules about the children wished away, he said, but he would start searching for them right away. With the parts of the library that he had explored so far, he at least knew where not to look.
Just as they were discussing taking Sarah for a tour of the castle, the door to the library opened with a loud crash and made them all start.
"Hoggle!" Jareth strode in and locked his mismatched eyes on the little dwarf. The Goblin King looked weary and irritated, and there was dust on his normally shining boots and cape. "I need you to find me some books, right now!"
Hoggle jumped from the sofa and ran as fast as he could towards his desk. "Yes, Your Majesty?"
"All you can find about the mists and their past behaviour – I expect them waiting for me within an hour!"
As Hoggle flew towards the shelves, Jareth suddenly noticed Sarah and Didymus and slowly walked towards them, coming to stand by the fire. "I must say, Sarah, that your arrival has been timed to the most inappropriate day – my Labyrinth seems to have gone quite mad today."
"What's the matter with it?" she asked, surprised at his admission. "The goblins seem frightened?"
"Yes, they are. Something has disturbed the mists. Not only is the Bog overflowing, the edges of the Labyrinth has begun to lose the magic in some places and have too much in other places. The goblins don't like it when things change." The tone in his voice clearly revealed that he wasn't too happy about it either.
"Why is this happening?"
"Dear Sarah," Jareth answered impatiently, "if I knew that, I wouldn't be here asking for the dwarf's help, would I?"
He turned to Hoggle again: "One hour! Have it ready!"
The dwarf assured him they would be, and without a second glance at any of them, the Goblin King left the room, his black dusty cape swirling behind him.
"Is there anything we can do to help, Hoggle?" she asked, but the dwarf shook his head, not taking his eyes off the shelves for one moment.
"Just leave me to work," he muttered and drew out a book that he carried to the end of the table. "Can't help. Ye'd just be in the way. I'll search for yer books later, Sarah, I promise."
"Milady, shall I take you back to your room?" Sir Didymus offered, but Sarah shook her head.
"I'd much rather see the castle as we talked about – will you show me everything?"
"Why of course, milady. At your service!" Sir Didymus held the door for her, as they left the library. For the next hour they wandered up and down the stairs in the castle, while he led her on a grand tour of the castle, from the kitchens to the highest tower. They passed the throne room, which still looked as messy as the last time she'd been here, and Sir Didymus explained that this room was practically only used when the goblins were mobilised for war against a Quester. It had a great view of the Labyrinth that Jareth preferred and there were room enough to hold all the goblins in Jareth's little army. Sarah noticed the stairs leading from it to the multidimensional room, but her companion would not let her enter there – it was off-limits to everyone but Jareth, he said.
They ended the tour next to the dining room in a great hall that looked strangely familiar. A huge marble floor stretched from wall to wall and great chandeliers hung from the ceiling, but otherwise the room was empty.
"This is the ball room," Sir Didymus explained, and then Sarah recognized it. It was the one from her dream, the one where she had danced with Jareth in front of all those people, and where he had sung to her, as he held her close. The walls had been blurred by the dream bubble then, but everything else was clearly the same.
She slowly walked to the middle of it and looked around, remembering the dream. It had been so different than from the rest of her adventure. She remembered hissadsong and his strong arms around her and she wondered why he had sent her that dream. Well, she still didn't even know whether it had been a dream or not – it could have been real. After all, she had woken up in a different place than where she fell asleep. He was so confusing, she thought. Cruel in his actions, but yet kind to the goblins, as if they were his children. Forcing her into marriage, but at the same time treating her close to decently and giving her presents, no matter that she didn't want them. And about last night… she wasn't sure if he really deserved the anger she'd thrown in his face. Maybe he hadn't meant to get her drunk - after all he couldn't know that she'd had so little experience with alcohol up until now. In other states and countries young people were allowed to drink much earlier than in hers, and it couldn't be expected from a Goblin King that he should be aware of specific mortal laws and regulations, could it?
"Milady? Is something wrong?" Sir Didymus question made her start and she realized she'd been standing transfixed in the room for a long time.
"Oh, no… it's nothing," she said. They left the ball room, but the feeling of wonder did not leave Sarah.