Author's Notes: Here we go, a chapter that's short and sweet. I do love writing about Sir Didymus, he's so much fun. Oh, here we're also beginning to see Sarah come into her own a little more. I think it's about time, don't you?

Chapter Sixteen: The Witch of Winter

The cottage was dark and silent. Frost formed endless spiral patterns on the window panes, but Sarah did not feel the cold now. Her arms and shoulders ached, but she beat the door with the flat of her hand once more.

"You lied to me," she said angrily. "All this time..."

He hadn't said exactly that he didn't rescue her, Sarah realized. She'd been distracted by his cruelty, the elegant malice of his remarks. Jareth had dimissed her queries so easily, laughed it off as a childish fancy of hers. Maybe I didn't ask the right questions. She circled the cottage, finally picking up a stone and weighing it in her hand before hurling it at the front window. It bounced harmlessly off the glass without leaving so much as a mark. The cottage remained as dark as before and the opaque windows gave it a closed, shuttered look. Sarah thought of the Goblin King gazing at her with hooded eyes, and something inside her gave a painful wrench.

"You could've died, and I never would have known. Why didn't you tell me?"

There was no reason for him to lie. And yet, Sarah was certain he had, the events she'd seen in the water were all too real. Coupled with her own scattered memories, she knew he had sought to keep the truth from her. Sarah remembered now his forced laughter, the evasive answers and verbal sleight-of-hand. Oh, he had nearly succeeded in keeping her ignorant. But ignorant of what? Sarah's head reeled.

She'd cursed him, endangered his kingdom and everything he held dear. How he must despise me. The very idea made the pit of her stomach churn. But he'd risked his life for her own, sheltered her, even tried to convince her to return home to safety. It didn't make sense. Unless...

Sarah dared not complete the thought.

She wrapped her arms around herself, but it didn't ward off the invasive cold. "Why are you doing this?"

You are not of this world. There is no need for you to meet its dark end.

Leave me...

The leaves rustled behind her, and Sarah turned. With the sheen of the moonlight on her night-colored coat, Rumor stood waiting. The mare lowered her head to Sarah's hand and nibbled her palm comfortingly. I know, her dark eyes seemed to say. Rumor shook herself and gazed at Sarah with sad expectancy.

It was time to go.

It took only a few minutes to chop through the debris and haul out a half-frozen Sir Didymus. The little knight was soaked to the skin, the plume on his hat a bedraggled mess, his staff broken in two and his boots full of water. But far from being subdued, he spoke non-stop through chattering teeth.

"Apologies, old friend... never meant to give you a fright..."

"Yes, yes." Hoggle shushed him with embarrassment. Didymus' icy grip on his ankle had felt like some demon from the underground, ready to drag him to the center of the earth. "I was just startled, that's all."

The goblins carrying Sir Didymus snickered until Hoggle shot them a fierce glare.

"Get him inside quickly, before he freezes to death." he snapped.

"Do not fear for me..." Sir Didymus said wheezingly, waving his water-logged hat. "Never felt better..."

Hoggle watched them bundle the little knight off to the castle before bending down to inspect the oubliette. His lantern couldn't quite illuminate the bottom, but the he could hear the dripping of water fall very far down before it hit bottom. Hoggle shuddered. The ground was freezing quickly, and it was hardly warmer down in the hole. If it hadn't stopped raining and if Sir Didymus hadn't been able to claw his way up, they might never have found him at all. Hoggle wrapped his short wool cloak tighter around him. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

As he walked back to the castle, he saw that the branches of the trees were encased in ice, glittering like jewels in the light. It was a pretty sight, but a cold one. Hoggle shook his head. From blistering heat to a world buried in ice within days... it wasn't natural.

But many things had been happening lately that weren't natural.

Rumor nickered and arched her neck proudly, scenting the breeze. The mare was restless for a run, longing to lean into the wind with a rider on her back. The moon was high and the skies were clear. Sarah could ride all night and be far from the Silverwood by morning, well on the way back to the castle beyond the goblin city. All the pain and nightmares could be left behind her, swept away like cobwebs by the cold, clean air. There was nothing for her here.

Turn back, Sarah... Before it's too late.

For just a moment she faltered, ready to saddle Rumor and be gone. Then Sarah shook her head as if she'd just awoken from a dream.

"I can't do it. I can't leave now."

But the thought still tempted her. Home. She had not dared to give it much thought since she first found herself in the Labyrinth again, afraid to acknowledge the pangs of homesickness lest they overcome her entirely. But Sarah felt them now, powerful as an undertow, dragging at her limbs until she would go down. No. I can't always be running away from my problems. And I can't go home. Not yet. Sarah buried her face in the mare's mane for a minute before giving her a gentle push. Rumor nudged her affectionately before melting away into the night. She understood.

Sarah turned to face the house again. She had to try. She called his name, laying her hand softly on the cottage wall and its tangle of ivy. It seemed to shudder beneath her touch. Or perhaps it was only the wind.

"You and I." she said quietly. "We're always at odds somehow. I beat your game, but I didn't win, did I? Nobody won."

Sarah drew back her hand. The ivy was now kissed with frost, the edges of the leaves brittle to the touch.

"Once I hated you." She looked for a sign, any sign that he still heard her. "I don't feel that way anymore. I... I don't know what you are to me. But you can't end it like this. We have things to settle. You and I."

Silence.

"You don't have to do this." she said louder. "I am not your enemy."

Silence, but the wind had begun to pick up and a chill breeze stole down the length of her arm. Sarah clenched her hands into fists. Jareth might not want to face her, but he would have to. The cut on her palm had re-opened and her fingers were slick with blood. It felt like liquid fire on her skin and looked almost black in the moonlight. She raised them before her and a curious sensation rippled through her body. And then she knew what to do.

"You will not shut me out," she said fiercely. "You won't."

Sarah slammed both hands against the door, feeling it shudder under the impact. It seemed to her that her fingers were ablaze, even though she could see nothing. The little cottage trembled, the wood creaking and groaning as if something large inside were trying to get out. She only had to command, it would obey. Say your right words...

Sarah smiled grimly, ignoring the sudden wind that whipped her hair into her eyes.

"Open."

With a mug of hot rhum in one hand and the other clutching the blankets wrapped around him, Sir Didymus sat before the roaring kitchen fires, perched on his wobbly stool with all the presence of a king. His hat had been hung up near the fire to dry, and he was already regaling a group of goblins with his harrowing adventures when Hoggle caught up with them.

"...and there I was, tumbling head over tail into the dark chasm, which had opened beneath me like a gaping maw..."

The dwarf rolled his eyes, but took a seat at the back of the room and even accepted a mug of rhum, which he sipped cautiously. Let Didymus tell his tale, Hoggle thought. He's earned the right. Hoggle was secretly relieved that no worse harm had been done. Besides being an indispensable assistant to the throne, he was the closest thing to a best friend Hoggle had ever had. Not that the dwarf would ever admit it out loud, of course.

"...icy waters closing over my head, with more rain pouring in from all sides until I..."

No doubt there was some slight exaggeration, but Didymus wasn't far off. At his size, one small flood could've carried him for the better part of a mile if he didn't drown first. Jareth's oubliettes were all over the Labyrinth, and some were worse than others. Hoggle knew this from first-hand experience.

And to be fair, it wasn't that Didymus was immodest. On the contrary, the little knight never truly bragged. He simply assumed his own actions were no more heroic than what anyone else would do in his place.

"...but never did I despair! As my strength flagged, I thought I heard my lady's voice..."

Hoggle snapped to attention. "Wait a second," he interrupted, "Sarah spoke to you? What did she say?"

"I could not say, your Acting-Majesty." Sir Didymus didn't look the slightest bit put out to have his tale interrupted, although several goblins grumbled quietly. "I thought she called my name, but perhaps in my fervent struggle I only imagined it. I had not the mirror to call her, nor could I see her face... But I would swear on my word as a knight and a gentleman that my lady was watching."

It didn't satisfy Hoggle entirely, but that was all Didymus could say. And maybe Sarah was watching. That thought didn't make him feel much better. The little man sighed and pushed his cup away. He'd made a right mess of things, he had. Ludo was dead, the Labyrinth in shambles, and now... The back of Hoggle's neck prickled with cold, despite the warmth of the kitchens. He'd never been what you would call an optimist, but precious little about the recent turn of events would inspire cheer in anyone but Sir Didymus. If Sarah was watching...

Come home, Sarah. Forget about the Goblin King. We need you here.

Sir Didymus wrapped up his tale, circumspectly avoiding any mention of Hoggle's unflattering reaction to having his ankle grabbed in the dark.

"But why were you out there in the first place?" one goblin wanted to know.

"Ah." Didymus sat back on his stool and drained his rhum in a single swallow. He tapped the side of his nose and winked.

Or was it just a blink? Hoggle never could tell with that eyepatch.

"Crown business." Sir Didymus said mysteriously, holding out his cup for a refill.

Hoggle snorted, and tried to banish his gloomy thoughts. Crown business, indeed. That guy will say anything for a good story.

"Open!"

She did not need to say it a third time. The heat grew more intense, like holding her hands over a roaring fire, the flames licking her fingers. Her palms still flat against its surface, Sarah could feel the door rattle on its hinges, almost as if it wanted to escape her touch. But it could not. Words do have power here, she thought with elation. And in some small way, so do I. Sarah did not doubt any longer. The cottage might serve its king, but it would not-- could not-- disobey her.

For a brief moment, Sarah could feel every single splinter of wood straining outward beneath her hand. Deep inside her mind, something brushed against her consciousness, a feather-light caress like a bird in flight.

Don't defy me, Sarah...

But not even Jareth could command her any longer. That knowledge surged through her veins like wildfire, she had never felt more alive or more powerful. The door would open, because she willed it. The Labyrinth would live, because she would not let it die.

Sarah pushed even harder. Open to me... Let me in. With a final groan, the door shuddered and burst into splinters and glittering ash, a dazzling bright light that hurt her eyes...

And then everything was gone and spiraling into darkness, with stars in all their cosmic glory streaking past her trailing tails of white fire.

A/N: Please, nobody take the chapter title too literally. Sarah is not really a witch. I posted a lengthier discussion of the issue on 11/15/05 on my livejournal, but that's all I'll say here. Also, any replies to previous comments will be located there, too.

Comments/reviews welcome.