AN: I'm so sorry that this took so long to post. I've been very sick and I didn't trust my editing skills for a while. But anyway, here's the next chapter. I'll try to get the next chapter up sometime next week. Well, thanks for sticking with me and on with the story! Hope you enjoy, and please make a sick girl feel better by reviewing!
The forceful wind carried Sarah and Maxim down the corridor. Sarah screamed again as she felt something wrap around her waist. But before she could register what had done that, she saw Maxim fly past her. She stretched out her hands to him and caught one of his flailing arms. It felt as if their world had been turned on edge and they had been falling, but now that they were stationary, Sarah had time to catch her breath and think. She looked down at her waist and saw that a Lichen had wrapped itself around her. Surprised by its kindness, Sarah did not hear Hoggle's voice at first.
"Sarah, hold on! I'm gonna gets you help." Hoggle called to her from the doors of the Labyrinth. Sarah did not reply, but looked down at Maxim as he held onto her hand and tried to grab purchase of something else to steady himself from the wind.
"Don't worry, Maxim! I've got you!" Sarah yelled to him. He looked up briefly at her and smiled as best as he could.
"I feel safe within your hands." Maxim yelled up to her. Sarah's grip on his hand slipped momentarily, but he quickly caught on with his other hand. She could see that he tried to act brave, but the worry which crossed his features scared her.
"Sarah!" Hoggle yelled to her. "Are you still close?"
"Yeah, Hoggle. We didn't get blown too far!" Sarah yelled back, judging how far the wind had really taken them. She looked down the corridor, squinting her eyes against the wind, and she could see the outline of Hoggle's shadow. They had not traveled that far from the doors, after all.
"I'm gonna throws a rope to you!" Hoggle yelled, and promptly acted out his words. He threw a rope into the Labyrinth and the wind brought its length to Sarah's side.
"Maxim, you grab it first!" Sarah yelled, feeling that she could not hold him much longer.
"And you, a lady? Never!" Maxim exclaimed.
"Oh, just shut up and grab it or I'll drop you!" Sarah yelled. Maxim reluctantly, but quickly, followed her instructions. He let go of her hands and struggled up the rope past her.
Within a minute, Maxim was at the doors to the Labyrinth and Hoggle helped pull him out. When Maxim left the corridor, the wind stopped as abruptly as it had started. The Lichen let go of Sarah's waist and she fell to the ground with an "umph." She ran a hand through her hair and pulled out stray leaves while looking around the now calm passage.
"Sarah, are you okay?" Hoggle asked from the doors. Sarah looked herself over and knew that she was not hurt, just rattled.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Wait, I'll be right there." Sarah said, and stood up on wobbly legs. She walked back to the doors and saw Maxim and Hoggle waiting for her. They did not seemed surprised at what had just happened, and she wanted answers. "What just happened?"
"A strong wind picked us up off our feet and carried us down the corridor." Maxim replied bluntly, looking past her into the open doors of the Labyrinth. Sarah did not like his reply and turned to Hoggle.
"I was 'specting something like that." Hoggle said, shaking his head. Annoyed with the lack of clarity in both answers, Sarah threw up her hands.
"Oh, you were, were you? Well, it's nice that you let me know. Will one of you mind telling me what the hell this is all about? That never happened to me before." Sarah said in an overly exasperated manner.
"Well, it didn't exactly happen to you, did it? It happened to me." Maxim said calmly, still looking at the corridor that he had just escaped.
"Yeah, you're right." Sarah said. "Now, if you don't mind, why did it happen to you?"
"That is of no concern right now. Our priority is to figure out how to get past the wind." Maxim said, ignoring her agitated expression. Sarah looked down at the rope Hoggle had dropped by his feet and came up with a simple solution.
"I know what we can do." Sarah stated, working over the plan in her head. She did not even notice that her mind was working like it used too, like when she was first challenged with the Labyrinth.
"Really?" Maxim asked, finally looking at her. There was excitement both in his voice and expression. "What is your course of action?"
"I'll tell you after you tell me why that happened." Sarah said, smiling as Maxim's expression fell. "Why does the wind start up when you step into the Labyrinth, and not me?"
"That is a long an complicated story, My Lady." Maxim said, not willing to go any further.
"Well, you have all the time in the world since I'm not going to help you get to the Goblin King's castle until you explain." Sarah said, folding her arms across her chest to add finality to her point.
"Fine, I will answer your question as simply as possible. And maybe later I will tell you the rest." Maxim said, and then mimicked her by folding his arms too. "Is that satisfactory to you?"
"Yeah, that'll be fine." Sarah said, nodding her head. Her anger deflated as she uncrossed her arms, but with the last of her resolve she added, "Now explain."
Maxim turned Sarah around so that she could see the castle hiding behind the Labyrinth and he pointed to it. "That castle is mine, and so is all this land. Is that enough of an explanation for now?"
"What?" Sarah asked with a sudden intake of breath. She looked into Maxim's eyes, thinking that he was joking. "How can that be?"
"Your so called Goblin King is not the ordained ruler here, and I have come back to reclaim what is rightfully mine. The Labyrinth was not here when I ruled, and therefore, I can only assume that it was built to keep me out." Maxim explained quickly, and then turned to meet Sarah's eyes. "If you would like to know more, you must help me through the Labyrinth."
"Oh...Okay." Sarah said, caught off guard by his reasons. Thoughts raced through her mind, solidifying her impressions of Jareth being an evil ruler. But why was she so quick to judge Jareth and trust this man? She did not want to answer that at the moment, and after a short pause, Sarah shook her head and said, "Well, I guess we better start. Hoggle, give me that rope."
Hoggle obliged her. She took one end and handed it to Maxim, giving him his instructions. "It's obvious that the right corridor is the right way to the castle since the wind was trying to blow us away from it, and it's also the way I got to the castle during my first run of the Labyrinth. So, I'll going down it and find the first opening. Once I get there, I'll brace myself and call to you. When the wind starts to blow again, you'll just climb up the rope to me. Work for you?"
Maxim looked at her for a brief second and then nodded his head. Her plan was so simplistic, but it seemed plausible enough to work. "If you believe this will work, then I must trust you."
"Okay, good." Sarah said, and then thought of something else. She turned to Hoggle and said, "Hey, Hoggle, why don't you come along with me to help? I can probably hold the rope for Maxim by myself, but it would be safer for him if we were both holding it."
Hoggle looked at Sarah and then to Maxim. He shuffled his feet and then slowly nodded his head. "Course. I'd do anything for you, Sarah."
"Good, now come on." Sarah said, heading back into the Labyrinth with Hoggle by her side. She ran her hand down the outside wall as they walked, looking for an opening. It did not take long for her to find one. Without concerning herself if this was the right opening, she stepped into it. Maxim had been right, their first priority was to get him out of this corridor, everything else would have to wait. They would concern themselves with the small details when they came up. So she braced herself inside the opening and held the rope taunt. Seeing that Hoggle was set, Sarah yelled out to Maxim, "Okay, we're ready when you are!"
She knew as soon as he set foot inside the corridor because the roar started up again. Debris was being picked up and rushed past their opening as they felt Maxim's weight tug on the rope. Sarah grip on the rope slip a bit, but Hoggle helped hold on, and they waited as Maxim made his way to them.
After a while, Sarah wanted to look out of their opening to check on Maxim's progress, but couldn't risk being picked up by the wind. And what seemed like an eternity later, Maxim's hand reached into the opening. Sarah dropped the rope to grab him, and Hoggle quickly followed suit. Together, they made and easy job of helping pull Maxim into the opening. The wind died down as soon as Maxim was fully in the opening, and for a while, all three sat on the ground to catch their breath.
"Do you think we...should find...the opening across from...the worm?" Sarah asked in gasps of air, not thinking that she was the only one that knew of the kind worm. But Hoggle understood her words.
"Why bother?" Hoggle asked as he got to his feet. "The point is to find an opening, not the right one."
"What?" Sarah asked, standing up with the help of Maxim's gentle touch. "I don't get you."
"He means that this isn't really a maze. It's more of an obstacle course, the first obstacle is being able to find one of these hidden openings. And for me, there was the added wind." Maxim said with a slight smile. "But with your intelligence, we've made it past that and now we must travel on to the next challenge."
"Oh, well, as I remember, we come to a stone maze next." Sarah said, looking down both ways of the opening they were standing in.
"It is not the maze that will concern us, but the challenge that lies within it." Maxim said, letting Sarah choose for them to take the right-hand path. "Do you remember what the next challenge was that you came across?"
"Well, I remember getting completely turned around in the stone maze and then...then there were these two doors that I had to pick from." Sarah said, trying to remember her experience with better clarity. "One lied and one told the truth."
"Well, then that it what our next goal is." Maxim said and started to walk down the right path. "Onward to our next obstacle!"