Thanks for all the reviews - happy you like it! I aim to post at least twice a week, as this story is just burning in my mind at the moment, and the only way to get release is to write it down. Assume you know the feeling? ;-)
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Fenella opened her eyes, when they ran to her shouting her name, and at the sight of them she started sobbing as if she couldn't believe what she saw. Fanny threw herself in her sister's arms and crushed her in a fierce embrace, and for a very long time, they just huddled together and cried of happiness. Sara sat close to them with a lump in her throat and rested against the tree, until they broke apart at last.
"You came?" Fenella whispered. "There was no magic and nowhere to go, and I thought no one would ever find me in this fog, not even the King in his owl form."
"Sarah said we could rescue you," her sister answered earnestly. "I was lost without you and didn't know what to do, but Sarah did!"
"Well, I couldn't just leave you in the middle of the Labyrinth, could I?" Sarah said gently. "After all, you helped me, so it's only fair that I'm helping you."
The island they had reached was just big enough for the three of them to sit and share some of the food, they had brought from the castle. Fenella told them how she had wondered around for hours in the fog trying to find an exit or summon a mist, but as Fanny had also sensed, it seemed as if all magic had left this region. Both twins seemed very unhappy at being without the magic, and Sarah knew that they had to get away as soon as possible. If they kept moving through the Labyrinth, they must get to a part with mist left sooner or later. There were no other rafts away from the island except the one they had used to get there, so they returned by that one and used Sarah's marks to choose a different path at the junction.
Of all the places in the Labyrinth, Sarah knew that this lake and their slow journey across the rafts would be among the last things she ever forgot. The bog was horrible and smelly, yes, but to be here in this dead world, not knowing where they were or when they would find an exit, scared her witless. Anything could be lurking under the water, and at any time a plank could break beneath them and send them all into the cold dark waters. The twins stayed close together and let her do all the decisions as to which path they should choose, but she felt so helpless taking that responsibility. All paths seemed alike to her, and the fact that they hadn't run into any of her markings yet, just showed how huge this lake really was. She even found herself wishing that Jareth was there to help them.
At last, the scenery changed and they could see the faint outline of a tall wall and two doors some thirty feet to their right. Unfortunately, the raft path they were on did not lead that way and as they walked on for a bit, the doors faded in the distance and were replaced by the never-ending fog. Sarah stopped; she just couldn't bear to go any further in this maze.
"We have to get to those doors," she stated and retraced their steps until they were as close as possible to the shore. "We'll just have to swim."
"But goblins can't swim," Fanny said horrified. "We'll drown!"
"No, not if I help you." Sarah took a quick decision and slowly began taking off her clothes, while the goblins stared at her with huge frightened eyes. She folded the skirt, shirt and bodice nicely together and put them inside the bag along with her boots as well, leaving her shivering in her undergarments only. The water was cold and slimy as she stuck a foot into it to test it, but she knew the alternative was worse, so with cold determination, she got down on her knees, trying not the tip the raft too much and slowly lowered herself backwards into the water.
The freezing slimy water made her gasp for breath and it was too deep for her to reach the bottom though she could feel some tangling creepy water plants against her bare feet. She quickly reached up her arms towards the goblins.
"Fanny, come here, I'll keep you safe." The small goblin approached her nervously. "You have to keep absolutely still in my arms and just close your eyes, honey."
She grabbed Fanny around the waist and leaned backwards into the water, pulling the goblin off the raft and cradling her against her chest. Fanny screamed and struggled for a second, but Fenella yelled at her to be still like Sarah had told her, and she calmed down and just trembled violently against Sarah. With quick strokes of her legs and an occasional move of her right arm, Sarah swam on her back towards the shore, holding the goblin tight with her left arm and keeping her as far away from the water as possible. It wasn't that far, and very soon Sarah felt the ground under her feet and stood up, splashing the rest of the way to the shore. Putting down Fanny next to the doors, she immediately went back into the water and swam back to the raft, where Fenella was waiting.
Two trips later, Sarah had ferried both goblins and her clothes safely to the shore, but was almost too tired to get dressed again. She was cold and felt filthy all over, her undergarments were clinging to her and had a green hue from the water, and she didn't want to think about how nasty her wet braided hair must be. With a sigh she removed the last of her clothes, and dried off her body with the hem of her skirt. She couldn't do much about her hair, except press the water out of it the braid, so it didn't drip too much on her shirt as she put the dry clothes back on and was able to lie down and rest. The two goblins huddled against her to warm her and she closed her eyes for a moment to relax.
Jareth was there, dressed in his white owl feathers. It was him warming her, and his mismatched eyes looked sad and pleading. "I want you, Sarah," he whispered against her ear, "don't you see I would do anything for you? Why do you keep shying away from me?" He stroked her cheek and bent down to kiss her, and she buried her hands in his silken hair, forcing his face down towards hers. But then his hair was suddenly only feathers and before their lips could meet, he was transformed into an owl, screeching and fluttering with its wings against her face, until it took off and disappeared. "Jareth!" she called as the ground opened beneath her, and the cold dark waters of the lake closed above her.
Sarah gasped and awoke with a start. What a strange dream. The way she had responded to Jareth in the dream made her cheeks grow hot – what on earth was her subconscious doing to her? She could almost still feel his hair between her fingers and smell him, as if he had been here, but as she looked around, nothing had changed and they were still alone in the dense fog near the edge of the lake. The goblin twins were standing by the two doors and poking at them, and Sarah got on her feet and picked up the bag – they had to move on and get out of here. Both doors looked identical and there didn't seem to be a puzzle or anything to solve.
"The right door doesn't lead anywhere, Lay Sarah," Fenella said. "It won't open and there doesn't seem to be anything behind it."
"Well, that makes our choice easy, doesn't it?" Sarah turned to the left door and slowly opened it, hoping it would lead to somewhere where the mists were still there. All they could see from this side was a narrow corridor with walls of high thorny hedges and above that a clear twilight sky. They must have been in the raft maze for hours, then, since it was almost dark. She let the twins enter first and then followed herself, eager to get away from the eerie lake.
"There's mist here!" Fanny cried happily. "I can feel it! And see, the door is disappearing behind us."
She started running along the corridor and they had to follow her not to lose her from sight. The corridor turned and twisted, and suddenly they were out in the open, standing on a hillside overlooking the rest of the thorn hedge labyrinth, and they all stopped abruptly.
"Oh, my God!" Sarah whispered and the goblins edged closer to her, their eyes wide with fear. "What's happening? What's going on with the Labyrinth?"
Despite the growing darkness they could clearly see that this part of the Labyrinth was severely affected by the disturbances of the past two days. Before them the hedges in the maze were changing and twisting as if a thousand mists were ravaging the place. Doors appeared and disappeared at random in the corridors and the thorn hedges grew to full size in a second and died in seconds, changing the layout of the maze constantly. At the far end they could see a jumbled mass of dead hedges, half covered by slimy bubbling dark ooze, and the faint wind from that direction left no question of what had invaded the maze.
"It's the Bog of Eternal Stench!" Sarah wrinkled her nose in disgust and tried to breathe through her mouth. "I can't believe it!"
"The mists have gone mad!" Fenella said and trembled at the sight. "They seem to be everywhere – I've never seen so much mist in one place"
"It's as if the whole place down there is covered in fairy dust," Fanny added and looked up at Sarah. "It's pretty, but it's not supposed to look like this! I'm scared!"
Sarah was more concerned as to how to get through to the next part of the Labyrinth if they couldn't walk for one minute without the corridors changing. Not only would it be impossible to get through, but it would also be suicide to even, if a hedge suddenly decided to sprout beneath them and impale them on the long sharp thorns.
"Can you control this mist?" she asked Fenella, and the little goblin closed her eyes and tried, looking deeply concentrated for a second, until she looked up at Sarah again and shook her head.
"It doesn't respond. It's flowing downhill down there to the bog. Whatever is pulling at it is stronger than me."
Sarah looked around at their immediate surroundings. The real mess seemed to begin some hundred yards away, while this area was relatively quiet. If they stayed up here, they might be able to stay close to the wall and get on to the next part of the Labyrinth without getting caught in the wild mists.
"Come, let's go this way," she said and walked back into the hedge maze behind them, and the twins followed obediently. In her mind, she tried to visualize where the dangerous area was, where the wall would connect with the lake area, that she didn't want to return to, and where there might be a wall into a more friendly area. They had to run into a doorway sooner or later. She hoped it would be sooner, for the darkness spread rapidly, and the moon didn't provide enough light. As they came back to the wall they found that a path actually ran very close to it and followed this in silence.
"Sarah," Fenella said after a while with apprehension in her voice, "The mists are getting closer here…"
"Yes, and I can smell the Bog is getting closer, too," Sarah agreed and quickened her pace. She knew they were going away from it, so it had to mean that the mists were spreading faster than they were walking. They could not be caught in the mess they had seen below – they would either be torn to pieces by the hedges or even worse, fall into the Bog. Her heart was beating wildly and she was getting really scared, both for herself but also for the goblin twins, whose world was crumbling around them.
"Look!" Fanny's scream was one of joy and hope, and she was looking into the sky and pointing. Sarah couldn't see anything, until suddenly a white owl swooped down from the air and transformed into the Goblin King in an instant. He was dressed in his black attire which by now looked even worse than yesterday. His hair was tangled and carelessly gathered in a ponytail, and one black glove was missing, revealing a slender white hand with a single golden ring. Sarah had never seen a more welcome sight, and she smiled at him in relief as their eyes met. The two goblins were even more direct and threw themselves at his legs, sobbing openly, and he stroked their hair to calm them, before he pried them away.
"You cannot stay here!" was his first words, and he seemed neither angry nor surprised to see them here, only concerned. "The wild mists are minutes away! Come, this way!"