Morning found Sarah huddled against the wall with her head on her knees, sleepily she lifted her head and winced at the crik in her neck. She opened her eyes, the wane daylight that filtered through the hole didn't illuminate much but it was enough to recognize her surroundings, her heart plummeted.
So it hadn't been a nightmare, she really was back in the Labyrinth, in an Oubliette, a prisoner of some crazy Fae.
She stood, her joints painfully protesting the night crouched on a cold stone floor. She stretched to try to ease the soreness and get the blood moving.
The edges of her prison were indistinct in the shadows, Sarah decided to inspect them, slowly walking the perimeter, feeling with her hands and feet for any indication of an opening or possible way out. Her bare foot struck something solid and she bit back a curse, in the faint light she could barely make out an ancient rustic wooden table and bench.
A few more steps and she once again struck her foot but this time on something that clattered. Kneeling to inspect her find she drew back in horror, it was a skull, apparently human, the rest of the skeleton shrouded in shreds of rotting fabric. She shuddered and retraced her steps to slump down on the bench. A dark idea struck her, Hoggle had said that an Oubliette was a place to put people to forget about them. Was she destined to become a new grisly decoration?
She was roused from her grim ruminations by a shuffling sound above her. Shadows moved over the hole, and something was dropped in. Sarah waited until the the shuffling faded away before cautiously approaching the fallen object.
It was a small burlap sack. Emptying it she found a small loaf of coarse bread, a hunk of stinky cheese and a leather bottle.
She uncorked the bottle, sniffing it warily and immediately regretting it. It wasn't bog water but it didn't smell much better, and her eyes burned at the sench of strong, dubious alcohol.
Quickly replacing the cork she stuffed the bottle back in the sack. The rest of the food seemed innocuous but she remembered when she had got back from her run she had read everything she could get her hands on about the goblins and their world. While much of the information was unhelpful, even conflicting, one thing had stood out.
Do not ingest faerie food or drink, lest you be trapped in their realm forever.
But she had tasted faerie fruit once and had returned home. Is that why her captor claimed she should have lost?
Despite her stomach rumbling she began to return the other items to the sack as well, she hoped to be out of his mess before food and water became an issue. Just in case though, she tied the sack to the course belt of the ragged dress
She returned to the shadows, finding the table she warily avoided the skeleton as continued her search along the wall. When she once again encountered the table she sighed in frustration and walked back to the hole of oubliette.
A small patch of blue sky was visible, she tried to gauge the height of the opening. Returning to the shadows she found the table, it was heavy but with effort she dragged and pushed it until it was under the hole. Out of breath she climbed up and stood on it, it creaked but held. She stretched to reach as high as she could but she still couldn't grab the edge.
As she shifted her weight to get down the bench creaked again. She got down an inspected it, the nails were old and rusty. She leaned a foot against a leg and pulled on the widest plank, it groaned but it barely budged. She got back on top and, levered all of her weight against it, rocking back and forth. With a final groan the plank came off in her hands, almost sending her flying backwards.
Hurriedly she ran to the wall with her prize, she held it in place and hesitantly let go. She heaved a sigh of relief when it stayed stuck. The resulting 'door' was rather narrow but she gave it a shot and opened it to the left.
The smell that struck her senses caused a wave of nausea to rise in her middle. She slammed the makeshift door shut.
Waiting a second for her stomach to settle she opened the 'door' again, this time to the right. Through it she could see a view of hedges and stone.
She removed the bag from her belt and threw it through the opening before following herself, it was a tight fit. Her head barely fit through and she had to turn sideways to squeeze the rest of her through the narrow opening but with some wiggling she made it through.
On the other side the opening was a couple of feet from the ground and she tumbled down. Scrambling to her feet she looked back, she had exited from the open mouth of a large stone face half hidden in shrubbery.
Given her past experience with stone faces she braced herself for a booming declaration of doom.
When after a moment none were forthcoming she waved awkwardly. "Um...hello?"
The statue promptly shut its mouth, pursing its lips. It pointed its eyes meaningfully to its right before scrunching them shut.
Sighing she mumbled to herself. "I guess that's my lot."
Looking at the indicated path she wondered if she should trust the clue, after all, the stone faces that she had met before had all been false alarms.
But then again, she didn't know where she was going. She had only a vague plan, find her friends to make sure that they were okay and then find a way to get back home.
Shrugging she picked up the sack and set her feet to her left.
Author's note
Thank you to Guest 2021 and Labyrinth Lover3 for the reviews.