Chapter Six: Your Naked Eyes

There was a long, heavy silence in the small room.

'So, if Sarah isn't with you,' Toby asked eventually, 'where is she?'

'That is a question that I can't really answer at the moment,' Jareth answered slowly.

Toby sensed a reluctance in Jareth's answer, and got the impression that it had not been an easy admission for him to make. Knowing the answers was something that Jareth was accustomed to.

'But you said that you saw her in your crystal – you must know where she is!' Toby pressed on remorselessly. Somewhere in the back of his mind came the thought that it was ridiculous that he was sitting in his own bedroom, talking to a complete stranger, who ruled some mythical kingdom, about magic and crystals and Sarah. There was no reason why he should trust Jareth, let alone believe anything he said. And yet at the same time, it felt completely natural. Despite any residual warnings that Toby may have felt, some instinct told him that he should trust this man.

'I saw her briefly,' Jareth confirmed. 'I fear for her safety.'

Toby swallowed hard. 'Fear? W-why? What's happening? Where's my sister?'

'Toby, I cannot answer those questions so easily…'

'You don't get to walk in here, tell me Sarah's in trouble somewhere and then stop talking!' Toby snapped back at him, his eyes blazing.

Jareth observed the boy for some moments, a faint smile appearing around his lips. 'So like your sister,' he murmured softly. 'I'm not trying to hide anything from you, Toby,' he continued in a louder tone. 'I have come partly because you called to me and partly because I need your help. I cannot find Sarah on my own. But with the help of others I believe that we will be able to bring her back from where she is.'

There was a slight hesitation as he spoke the final words, and an imperceptible shudder ran through him. He suppressed it. At the moment he would not allow himself to think of the worst. Jareth turned his attention back to Toby. 'There is much that you do not know, Toby. Much that you do not understand. But I need your help – Sarah needs your help. But I cannot explain it to you here,' he waved his hand around the room airily. 'I need you to return with me.'

'You mean, to your kingdom?' Toby asked, his voice suddenly hoarse with excitement.

'Yes. You must return to the Labyrinth.'

For a second, Toby's mind reeled. The Labyrinth! All those strange dreams that had haunted him all his life might, finally, become reality!

'But what about my parents?' he blurted out, the memory of their argument still fresh in his mind. 'They'll go berserk, and-'

'Your parents will be taken care of,' Jareth interposed smoothly. He conjured a crystal, which sat, gleaming dimly on his gloved hand. 'They will remember that Sarah took you to the beach for a few days – they will be content and untroubled. You do want to go to the Underground, don't you, Toby? After all, you did wish to see Goblins again!'

Toby started slightly at Jareth's last words, but then told himself that he should have known that Jareth would know all of his secret thoughts and dreams.

'All right, I'll go with you. For Sarah's sake,' he added hastily.

Jareth blew softly on the crystal, which floated across the room and out of Toby's door.

'Well then, Toby. How do you like my Labyrinth?'

Toby gasped slightly as he looked about. It had all been so smooth that he hadn't even noticed the change in their location. One moment they had been in his bedroom, but now Toby found himself standing on a hillside, overlooking a massive maze that spread over undulating hills. Even from this distance, he could tell that the place glistened with magic.

'That's amazing!' he breathed reverently.

'You truly like it?' There was a note of genuine pleasure in Jareth's tone.

'Yeah!' Toby grinned back at him.

Jareth returned the smile almost shyly, evidently gratified by Toby's appreciation of the Labyrinth.

'Can we go down there now? Can we go through it?' Toby demanded eagerly, peering into the distance to see where it ended. If it ended.

'Time is short,' Jareth replied. 'I wanted you to see it, but we must go to the castle.'

Toby followed the direction that Jareth was pointing. The castle – large and imposing – stood at the heart of the Labyrinth. And then he wasn't looking at the castle; he was standing inside of it.

'You really live here?' he asked, staring up at the high, vaulted ceiling above his head.

'Yes, I really do,' Jareth replied, as though surprised that anyone could doubt this.

'Cool!'

Jareth glanced down at the boy and then suddenly turned on his heel. 'Come!' he ordered over his shoulder. 'There is much I need to explain.'

They hurried through the meandering passageways, Jareth taking long, easy strides and Toby trotting along beside him, trying to keep up. For all that Toby was worried about his sister, he wished that they would walk a little more slowly, so that he could at least see more of the castle. His head was snapping from side to side, his eyes peering down long hallways and into shadowy corners. A sudden commotion ahead of them caught his attention and Toby came to a dead stop. There was a mass of strange creatures ahead of them, most of them about half Toby's height, although some were a little bigger. He saw strange, gnarled faces and wild hair.

'Are they…?' he whispered up to Jareth.

'Goblins? Yes. Attractive, aren't they?'

There was a resounding crash as Jareth spoke and he winced, closing his eyes.

Toby watched them, fascinated. They were balancing on each other's shoulders, the topmost one wielding something that looked vaguely like a feather duster (although, being Goblins, it could just as easily have been a live chicken). The Goblin waved it determinedly in the direction of a large chandelier and Toby realised that they were attempting to clean it.

'Um,' he started uncertainly. 'Um, wouldn't it be easier if they just, y'know, like, lowered it down first ?'

Jareth looked down at him hopelessly.

'You don't know much about Goblins, do you?'

There was another crash as the pile of Goblins collapsed once again and they lay sprawled on the floor. One of their helmets bounced along the floor towards Jareth's feet. He kicked it back and it hit its owner squarely between the eyes. Toby opened his mouth to object to this, but Jareth was already stalking down another passage and Toby had to run to catch up with him. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that the determined cleaners were already forming their living tower again, seemingly unscathed by their repeated falls.

Toby was certain the castle was even larger on the inside then it was on the outside – where had all of these miles of corridors come from? They rounded yet another corner, passed through a doorway, and Toby suddenly flattened himself against the wall. The doorway they had walked through led to a staircase, which led down another corridor. But there was also a staircase directly over his head, and a doorway in what should have been the floor. Toby felt light-headed and struggled to remind himself to breath. They had not been dreams – he really had been in the painting. He had climbed all over these stairways before. The vague memories he had always carried became a little clearer. He had been climbing all over the staircases, and then a crystal… Yes! That was where the crystal had come from. Jareth had given it to him. He felt the King's gaze on him, and raised his eyes questioningly.

'I gave you the crystal,' Jareth said softly, 'as a reminder. And as a way of reaching me, should you ever need to.'

Toby nodded silently. A thousand questions formed in his mind, but somehow he knew that this was not the right time to ask them. He turned back to the incredible maze of staircases and doorways – he started to feel a mounting excitement. Without another thought, he took a step down the corridor. He was stepping into space; there was no ground beneath his foot. He should have been falling. Part of the world was crazily upside down, but then his foot landed on something solid and he was still standing upright. He heard footsteps and turned to find Jareth walking down a flight of stairs that had him at a 90-degree angle to where Toby was standing. But as the situation became increasingly bizarre, it felt even more normal to Toby. He could not have said how long he spent in there, investigating every corridor and doorway, but always with the impression that Jareth was watching over him. Until, eventually, Jareth guided him through a doorway and they were back in a more normal section of the castle.

'That was… Oh my God! Amazing! I always thought it was just a picture!'

'It was,' Jareth replied. 'I created that for your sister, from the picture she had in her room, but after she left I decided to keep it. I was just eternally grateful that she wasn't a Dali fan. This place looks bad enough without burning giraffes cluttering it up!'

Toby frowned in bewilderment. 'Wha-?' But they were off again.

Every now and then, they were by passed more Goblins and each time Toby stared at the creatures. Some of them stared back, occasionally sticking their tongues out at him, but most of them simply ignored him. When it seemed to Toby that they had been walking for what was far too long already and he was starting to think that they were destined to be walking around the corridors for evermore, Jareth came to a halt. Flinging open a large panelled door he swept into the room.

'Make yourself at home,' he instructed Toby.

The room looked like an old-fashioned study. The walls were lined with shelves, each filled with heavy, leather-bound books, and row upon row of glimmering crystals. Thick carpets lay upon the floor and there was a large fireplace – flames merrily sprang into life as Jareth waved his hand at it. Toby sank into the depths of a squashy leather armchair and waited. There was a faint humming in the air, which Toby realised must come from the crystals; he craned his neck toward them, but was unable to see what lay in their swirling depths. Jareth was staring thoughtfully into the fire; his face alternately illuminated and then plunged into shadow.

'The history of all this goes back far longer than you can imagine, Toby,' he said suddenly, turning to face the boy. 'The Underground is an ancient kingdom. It is a seat of great power – a storehouse of knowledge. And dreams.' His face softened slightly as he uttered the last words – the face of someone who understood the importance of dreaming, even though he didn't always understand the dreams themselves. 'Those of us who have ruled over the Underground have always been in possession of enormous power, but it does not necessarily follow that one person is in possession of all of the power at any one time. It can be … divided … amongst others.' His fingers toyed absent-mindedly with the amulet around his neck. Toby remained silent, his brain absorbing what Jareth was telling him, and at the same time trying to work out how it involved Sarah.

'There have, naturally, always been forces that have attempted to take this power, either by attacking the Labyrinth itself, or its ruler directly. This, however, has not happened for many hundreds of years. We have been fortunate, and complacent… Yes, too complacent,' his voice dropped so that he was almost talking to himself. 'And that is my fault. But I never wanted to see another war – perhaps I took the wrong path to averting it…' He sighed heavily and then looked at Toby again. 'I fear that the time has come when we are under threat from an enemy force. One method of gaining control over the Labyrinth and the Underground is to take the power from its ruler.'

'But you said that the ruler doesn't always have all of the power,' Toby said, a suspicion slowly growing in his mind.

Jareth flinched slightly. 'That is correct. Long ago I gave Sarah certain powers – she does not even know that she possesses them-'

'You mean you turned her into some sort of witch?' Toby asked incredulously.

Jareth laughed slightly. 'No, Toby, I don't mean that at all. I merely mean that part of the life and the energy of the Labyrinth are bound up in Sarah – it is difficult to explain … But if someone else were to gain her power, then they would have some control over the Labyrinth itself. The whole of the Underground would be in danger.'

Toby's face had gone very white; his hands gripped the arms of the chair tightly. 'So, someone has Sarah, and they're going to take this, this power from her? They'll kill her!'

'No, Toby,' Jareth said quickly. 'The only way that he can get it is for Sarah to give it willingly, and with joy in her heart at the giving of it. He dare not hurt her,' Jareth's eyes narrowed, the stare suddenly icy. 'He dare not.'

'He? You know who it is?' Toby demanded eagerly, jumping out of the chair.

'Yes. It is an ancient enemy, one who is the very opposite of everything we are. He swallows up light and life. He is blackness and despair – I suppose what mortals would call a nightmare. He has many faces and many names, but the one that is the oldest – the one that I know him by – is Khazad.'

Toby shuddered involuntarily as he heard the name – something about it grating on his ears.

'But then you must know where she is,' he said, a note of pleading entering his voice. 'If you know all of this…'

Jareth shook his head. 'The people in your realm have a very limited concept of space: you think that any location has to be solid and something that you can mark on a map. It isn't. Space is far more fluid and changeable than that. Khazad's realm could be balanced on a pinhead, or it could expand to fill an entire galaxy. And so it could be anywhere.'

Toby felt his heart sink.

'There is hope. We will find her.' He rested a hand on Toby's shoulder, and Toby could almost swear that he felt strength flowing into him from that touch.

'But how?' Toby asked quietly. 'If you don't know where… And there's nothing I can-'

'Toby,' Jareth's voice was sharp. 'I have already told you that we can accomplish nothing separately. But you and I together will find her. Us, and one other.'

'Who?' Toby asked, curious.

'Someone who-' Jareth suddenly broke off and let out a gasp. He closed his eyes, his body tensing as though he was in pain.

'What's wrong?' Toby cried; he touched Jareth lightly on the arm.

'I-I don't know,' Jareth replied. 'I have to go. Stay here!' he ordered brusquely and vanished from the room, leaving Toby standing, open mouthed, on the hearth.

ooOoo

The warm breeze stirred the curtains of her room. She stood at the window, staring out over the vista of twinkling lights that lay spread out beneath her. All day an indefinable sensation had been nagging at her – the fabric of something had altered slightly somewhere. She had consulted the crystals and what they had shown her had only confused and worried her even more. The one thing that she was certain of was that she was in the wrong place. She opened the window a little wider and leaned out. It was some time since she had done this last, but there was no reason to suppose that she would have forgotten how, or that anything about it would have changed. Taking a deep breath, she launched herself into the air. The moonlight picked out the snowy feathers of an owl fluttering against the night sky.

ooOoo

For some moments, Toby remained standing by the fire. He had lost track of all time, he didn't know where he was and he was with someone who had the odd habit of disappearing and reappearing at will. But Toby was not that easily intimidated, and after a while – when it became clear that Jareth was not about to materialize in front of him – Toby decided that the easiest way of dealing with everything that Jareth had told him was simply to accept it. However, once he had accepted it, all the questions that had been forming in the back of his mind came springing to the fore. And most of them were to do with Sarah. He started to wander around the room. The crystals were, indeed, all humming slightly. Each one contained swirling, glowing mists of all different colours, and occasionally Toby could make out a shadowy figure in their depths. At some point in the past, both he and Sarah must have been in the Underground – but when? And how? Jareth seemed to know so much about both of them – and he had Jareth's eyes.

Unless that was just a coincidence.

Toby dismissed that though at once: even at the age of ten, he knew that it was highly unlikely for something like that to be a fluke. So Jareth must have done it – but once again the question why. Sarah would be able to tell him, if she were here. Toby sighed. It all came back to Sarah. Toby longed to see her. The low humming in the room increased and Toby realised that there was a loud buzzing right next to his ear. He turned around and gasped. A crystal was floating near him; it seemed to have been following him around the room for the last fewmoments. Tentatively, Toby stretched out a hand and grasped it. It rolled into his hand and lay in his palm. Toby raised it up to eye level, and saw the mists within it part to reveal a scene. As he looked, the frozen image began to expand, so that it was hovering before his eyes in the air. It was the park near his house, and a girl was standing in the middle of it. She was wearing a long, white dress and she had flowers in her dark hair. An owl was perched nearby, watching her.

'Sarah!' Toby gasped aloud.

As he said her name, the figures began to move. Toby watched, mesmerised.

To be continued...