AN: Hello again! Well, here's anotherChapter (I almost forgot to post it due to sleep deprivation). Please, read, enjoy, and review. And as always, thanks for sticking with me and my fanfic!
Sarah left the castle as fast as her feet could find the exit. Jareth's crystal shone in her hand, and she wondered about his generosity again. His constant moods swings reminded her of a spoiled little child and that was beginning to wear on her. And to think, she had only been in the Underground for a couple days.
She shook these thoughts out of her head and focused on the task before her. Walking through the goblin city was an uncomfortable experience. Goblins watched her progress without discretion and made the short walk to the city walls seem to last for an eternity.
Once at the city walls, no guard made to stop her, and she simply left. Outside of the city was a vast area reminiscent of a junk yard. Sarah remembered the episode she had experienced here and did not trust the moving piles of garbage in front of her. The magnitude of the area she stood in brought to her mind the futility of her quest. How could she possibly find her friends in the Labyrinth?
"I wish I could find my friends." Sarah said with a sigh. She looked down at the crystal and jumped as it popped out of her hands. This must be some joke of Jareth's.
Sarah ran after the crystal as it rolled through the mounds of garbage, desperate to retrieve it. She did not lose sight of it even in the mist of the debris, and gradually, that debris started to thin out. Shrubs and the random placement of trees sprouting up indicating that Sarah was almost out of the trash city. But she was no closer to the crystal, and her breath was becoming short.
"Slow down, won't you?" Sarah cried, after the crystal. It bounced over exposed roots and up the path that she had once taken. But to Sarah's relief, it did slow to a crawl.
Finally, with a huff of breath, Sarah was able to bend over and pick it up. The crystal resisted being halted, but her grip would not let it escape. Looking inside the crystal, Sarah gasped. There was a clear picture of Sir Didymus and Lodu staring back at her. From what she could see, it looked as if they were in the Bog of Eternal Stench.
After catching her breath, she hesitantly set the crystal back on the ground. It shot off immediately, and Sarah followed its slower walking pace. Was it really taking her to her friends?
This question was answered shortly by an appalling smell. Sarah soon found herself directed to an all too familiar area. The Bog of Eternal Stench grew out before her and she reluctantly followed the crystal up to the edge of the putrid green water. The bridge that had given out from under her four years ago had not been fixed. Instead, it was obvious that the rocks Ludo had summoned for her were now dubbed to be the new bridge.
Sarah leaned over and scooped up the now docile crystal, pocketing it. Then she made her way carefully across the stepping stones to the other side. She looked around, but could not find her friends.
Exasperated by the unwanted outcome of her journey, Sarah turned back to the stepping stones, ready to give up. This is what she got for believing anything that Jareth said. She went to put one foot on the rock before her, and was stopped by a sudden yelling.
"Stop! Stop I say!" came a familiar voice behind her. Sarah spun around and was confronted by Sir Didymus. He continued on, though, unaware at first of who she was. "Without my permission, no one may cross this bridge! I...Sarah?"
"Sir Didymus!" Sarah exclaimed, relieved that he had recognized her. She had feared that he would not remember her face, nor her name. Sarah bent down and embraced her dear friend until his gasped for air.
"My lady, please! I can not stand this much longer." Sir Didymus said, but Sarah could hear the happiness in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Sir Didymus, I'm just so happy to see you again." Sarah said, letting him go so that he could recover.
"As am I." Didymus replied. He eyed her quickly and spotted something different about her. She was not the child he had first met, and he did not like what adulthood had done to her. And with suspicion he asked,"Why did you return to the Labyrinth, My Lady?"
"I...I don't know." Sarah fumbled, shaking her head and looking away from Didymus. "I thought I knew, but now I'm not sure."
"Does this have anything to do with yonder Goblin King?" Didymus asked, hitting the spot exactly. "Did he force you to this?"
"I don't know. I thought that this was right, but how could it be?" Sarah asked, tears coming to her eyes. Didymus saw the state that she was in, and comforted her.
"Say no more, My Lady. What done, is done." Didymus said, returning to her embrace. Sarah heard Jareth's words echoed in his sediments and shivered. "What troubles you now?"
"I left Jareth's castle in search for my friends, and I find out that Jareth is everywhere." Sarah said, nonsensically. Didymus understood her words though. He motioned for her to sit at the bottom of the old bridge.
"Dear Sarah, thou may think that Jareth doth lay everywhere within his Labyrinth, but it is not true." Didymus said, sitting next to her. "He does not lie here."
"How can that be?" Sarah asked, watching her feet. "He owns everything within the Labyrinth."
"Yes, My Lady. But just because he sits in that throne, it does not mean that he can change everything that once was." Didymus said, and seeing Sarah's confusion, continued. "You must have wondered once why I could not smell this bog as you do."
"Of course." Sarah said, aware that she had been doing a good job of blocking most of the smell from her mind. "It's terrible, but I assumed that you got used to it."
"I did no such thing." Didymus said, and then smiled. He looked out over the swampy bog and sighed. "These lands were once a beautiful field filled with the most fragrant of flowers and the most happy of wildlife. The ruin you see before you happened long after I took my oath."
"Didymus, who did you take you oath from?" Sarah asked. This question should have been obvious the first time she had been here, but it did not seem important at the time. But now it did. "You couldn't have taken it from Jareth."
"You are correct, My Lady." Didymus said with a smile. "I took my sacred oath from a man that must not be named. And I continue to uphold that oath to this day. That is why I smell what once was, and not what is."
"So you're saying that you're still protecting the bridge that lay in that field of flowers and not the one in this bog." Sarah repeated, trying to make sense of his reasoning.
"That is one way of thinking of it." Didymus said, nodding with approval.
"And Jareth made this bog?" Sarah asked to put the pieces together.
"Yes he did. This, along with everything else in the Labyrinth is of his creation." Didymus answered with reassurance.
"Why would he do such a thing?" Sarah asked. She was not awaiting an answer, but Didymus obliged her.
"Do what, My Lady? Turn beauty into degradation, or build this Labyrinth?" Didymus asked, ready to reply as best he could.
"Why did he build the Labyrinth?" Sarah asked quickly. She had wanted to know this for some time, but never thought the answer could be so easily obtained.
"Obviously to keep people from conquering yonder Goblin City, as thou once did." Didymus replied. Sarah was disappointed by his obvious answer.
"But why a Labyrinth?" Sarah asked, not particularly to Didymus.
"Now that, My Lady, can not be answered by me." Didymus said. "That question is for one of two people, either the one who created the Labyrinth, or the one whom it keeps out."
"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked with frustration.
"Let us speak no more of it." Didymus said with finality. "Do you not want to see Sir Ludo?"
"Oh, of course! I'd love to see Ludo." Sarah said. She knew that there was more that she needed to know, but she could not turn down a chance to see her large furry friend.
"Then we shall leave at once. Sir Ludo lives just yonder, past the bog's stench. We shall be there in no time." Didymus said with enthusiasm. He turned away from Sarah and called, "Ambrosius, come at once! There is a journey afoot!"