When Sarah awoke she found herself curled up neatly like a cat at the foot of a rather large four poster bed. She stretched slowly out, taking in her surroundings. Obviously what magic Jareth had left was enough to restore the Labyrinth to its original splendour, as the room they were in was very definitely a part of the castle. The bed, whilst big was cosy and warm, and took up a good part of the room. At first Sarah thought the bed was empty, but as she got up she noticed a slight movement coming from under the blanket. This was his bedroom then. It wasn't what she had expected. The room was light and airy, with one big window on the far wall. She had expected him to have a large bedroom, filled with extravagant fabrics and furniture. She turned her attention to the beds occupant.
Jareth was barely visible under the covers as he was terribly thin, so much so that when Sarah pulled the covers away from him, she could see his bones protruding from his body in a way that was grotesque. Sarah was vividly reminded of the pictures of concentration camp prisoners from the second world war. She pulled the covers back up and softly stroked his cheek.
"Sarah?" Hoggle appeared in the doorway with a mug in his hand. "I thought you might like this"
She looked at him blankly, and slowly took the mug from his hand. "Will he live?" She asked softly.
"Perhaps. It's really too early to tell."
"But the magic is back. The Labyrinth has been restored." Sarah said, stroking Jareth's hair gently.
"You haven't looked outside yet have you?" Hoggle asked. "Go and look outside Sarah."
She moved to the window. The Labyrinth itself was still in ruins, both the inner grass labyrinth and the outer brick labyrinth were in shambles. The outer wall was still in tact thankfully, and Sarah could see where Sir Didymus's bridge used to be. There were no signs of all the creatures that used to live there.
"Hoggle, where are all the goblins?"
"Most of them fled to outside the wall, when he left. There wasn't much past the ruins of the Escher room to keep them here, and they were forced to leave. Dead stupid they are anyway, they've barely been able to survive outside the wall. There's only about a hundred left altogether."
"So all the magic has been able to restore is the castle?"
"Frankly I didn't even think he would manage to recreate his bedroom." Hoggle shrugged. "He is a lot stronger than I took him for."
"What happened to being afraid of him?" Sarah asked.
"Nah, I have never really been afraid of him. That was just an act. Jareth likes all his victims to have a bit of help, that's all. Still, I helped you far more than is reasonable. As a result, his anger with me was no act at all. I expect that's why he drugged you."
"Victims." Sarah stated flatly. "That bastard." And a surge of old anger flowed through her. "How many, Hoggle? How many before me?"
Hoggle looked at her closely. "There were none like you before Sarah. Most of them were foolish children, who meant exactly what they had said and only came searching out of fear or intrigue. None of them came close to succeeding. Even with help. None of them ever had any idea of the Labyrinth, before they came here. They just wished people away. So as punishment he took them."
"What about the book? Didn't they have the book?" Sarah asked.
"No, the book was special. It was only for you. See he saw you one day playing in the woods and fell in love with you then, and he wanted a way make you come to the labyrinth. So he wrote the book and planted it in your room for you to find. He knew you would never wish Toby away without the idea being in your head first. I think he knew that you were the one to win, I mean he told you how to beat him didn't he?"
"But why didn't he just take me away? Why such an elaborate plan that could only end with me hating him, and destroying his home?"
"The magic doesn't work like that Sarah, he can't just take you away. It has it's limits. He can visit your world as much as he likes, although only for short periods of time⦠but he can't take people willy nilly. Its too hard. And besides, you would have hated him anyway."
Sarah sighed softly. "I don't hate him. I never did. I can't explain why either, I just don't understand why he couldn't just leave me there."
"But how was he ever going to see you again, if he left you there. Once you force your way into the Underground, it becomes increasingly difficult to return to your world for long periods of time. He can't return permanently. Why did you think he remained an owl for over a year, despite what it was doing to him? He can't sustain human form in that world for more than a few minutes at a time."
"What are you saying Hoggle? That he's human?"
Hoggle gestured for her to follow him out of the room. Sarah put down her mug (which she had not touched) and followed him down the long corridor. Hoggle led her into a small sitting room.
'I thought it best not to talk about this in front of him, I don't know if he can hear or not but I sure know that he wouldn't want me to tell you this. He's practically forgotten it himself by now. Still I reckon you should be told, since you both came from that world, an you may be able to help him get better an all.' Hoggle said.
'So he is human?' Sarah said. 'How did he get here?'
'How does anyone get anywhere?' said Hoggle. 'He forced his way in. It seemed as though he found some sort of a portal in your world that was giving of an energy or something.. Anyway he just kept pushing on it till it gave way, and he ended up here. Of course here wasn't really anywhere at the time. Just a drab forest.'
'So how did he become magical, does it just happen the longer you stay here? And how did he become king of the goblins?' Sarah found herself suddenly aware that she knew nothing of this world, and while she was curious, she was also growing increasingly worried about how she was going to get home, and when.
'Oh it doesn't just happen to anyone. Look at me, I'm barely magical at all.' Hoggle said. 'It just so happens that this drab forest he landed in, happened to have two very important things in it.'
'Such as?'
'A whole lot of goblins, too stupid an ugly for words, and a whole bunch of magic crystals. And me of course.' Hoggle added loftily.
'Magic crystals? Like the one he offered me? That's where he gets it from?' Sarah suddenly saw herself reaching out for the crystal ball he had offered her. She shuddered. 'Thank god I didn't know they were the source of such power then, I may have chosen differently.'
'Why do you think he offered it to you? Once you touch one the magic starts to seep into you, and eventually you can store it inside you, so you don't need the crystals anymore. It's why he always wears gloves, doesn't want his magic to seep out see? Of course now he can't ever go home again, back to your home I mean. Once you have the magic inside of you, you can't exist permanently outside this world. That's why he was hoping you'd take one. It would have kept you here, without him trying to force you or anything.'
Sarah thought back to something Hoggle had said earlier. 'So in the forest, you were there too? You met him before he was magical?'
'Oh yeah I met him.' Hoggle said grimacing. 'A right bully he was too. In no time at all he had decided to turn this place into his new home, since he wasn't sure how to get back to your world an all. He bullied me into telling him everything I knew about the Underground, and he forced me into searching through the forest with him, looking for a good place to set up his home. That's how we stumbled on to the crystal's, and when Jareth found out they were magical, well.. there was just no turning back for him. He used the magic to form the Labyrinth an the castle, and then bullied the goblins into obeying him an calling him king. Of course that was probably the best thing for the goblins seeing as they are downright stupid. He got them organised and gave them a proper home and stuff. They weren't going to get that on their own, that's for sure.'
'Why wouldn't he want you to tell me this?' Sarah asked. Her head was swimming with images and feelings, and it was making her feel somewhat dizzy.
'He doesn't like feeling or being human. He likes to think he's something else. And there's no way that he would want you to know that he was once from your world. That would put you on the same playing field. He can't stand showing weakness.' Hoggle said.
Sarah stood up abruptly and stormed back down the corridor to Jareth's room.
'Look at him Hoggle.' She snapped. 'I would say he is showing weakness now. He can't even get up. He isn't even awake.'
'Shhh. Keep your voice down. He may be showing weakness now, but I guarantee you he's still dangerous. An he still has a lot of magic left in him.' Hoggle said in a hushed worried voice.
'So now what?' Sarah asked. 'What am I supposed to do?'
'You're supposed to help him get better Sarah.' Hoggle said.
'But I don't know how.' She whispered.
Hoggle looked closely at her. 'Oh I think you do. You'll figure it out.' And with that he turned and left the bedroom pulling the door closed behind him.
