Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth.
The Land That Is Not
Chapter Four
Memory of Toby's words throbbed like a sting of a wasp, a dull ache that brought to life all she had suppressed. Sarah stared at her hands she had curled together on her lap while fidgeting her fingers and blaming herself for her thoughtless words. Once, she had asked for him to be taken away, a fact which neither could ever forget. The unspoken truth hung between them like a question lingering on the edge of her mind: If Toby had not been her half-brother, would Sarah have done what she did then - called the goblins? The truth was, it was she, Sarah, who had been the spoiled child, asking for things she didn't or couldn't understand. Labyrinth had taught her its lesson. She had grown and changed. But the experience had changed Toby too, and it wasn't right. Sarah had paid the price; but the price shouldn't have concerned Toby.
Sarah shook her head, hearing the familiar voice of the TV anchor speaking up. Sighing, she reached for the remote to prevent it from informing her about problems of the world. She had her own share of them already.
Glancing at the wall above the TV, Sarah noticed the time on the metal clock. While she was brooding the dusk had crept into her apartment. The shadows snarled in the corners hungrily like the roaring engines of the cars out on the streets. A sound of a siren cut in the air, its voice howling strangely clear and strong in the room. Sarah placed her hands on her side, feeling the soft texture of the handmade cloth against her palm, and, absentmindedly, caressed the outlines of the embellishment, feeling the uneven surface against her fingertips. As if touching the bird brought her the necessary strength, Sarah stood up and glanced at the image, narrowing her eyes. The cloth appeared different. Unable to banish the itching feeling that the bird had shifted, she fixed her sight on the hawk. She gasped frightened. The bird's eyes were colorless, as if the bird had suddenly turned blind!
Startled, she stepped backwards, and her breath caught up in her throat. Sarah tensed, and the hair on her neck stood up. Shivers ran down her spine, her pulse racing with a frantic beat as she looked around. The whole apartment reeked of wrongness - an ominous dark silence she knew from her memory suffocated her.
"Toby!"
Sarah sprinted to the door of her bedroom, and, with shaky hands, knocked on the door. "Toby, are you alright?"
Her only answer was a loaded silence. Heartbeats throbbing in her ears, Sarah turned the handle slowly. She pushed the squeaking door ajar and slipped into the dark room.
"Toby, please, say something!" Sarah whispered, the cold fingers of the autumn air caressing her face. "Are you here?"
Her fingers trembled as she groped for a switcher. Click. Click. Stubbornly, the darkness prevailed; she could barely make out the outlines of the furniture. Ghostly whispers passed over her ears and her skin, and Sarah saw curtains fluttering on the other side of the room. The wispy drapes and the night together with the city lights formed an odd shifting collage of light and dark on the floor, like tentacles of a shadowy web that slithered next to her feet. Sarah dashed to the window and pushing the curtains aside, she leaned out of the window. Her gaze scattered about until she perceived a faraway dot against the red pathway of the night sky and dark silhouettes of the skyscrapers - a bird, soaring through the air before disappearing from her sight.
"No!" Sarah cried.
Pressing the sill so strongly the blood fled her hands, leaving her knuckles white, she stared out at where the bird had been, before pulling back inside. Sarah forced her eyes shut, gasping for air, feeling the panic scraping her mind with its piercing claws. Unable to hold back, she started pacing her bedroom, walking through the shadows entwined in her steps.
"That swine!" she muttered, fuming, and stopped. "That two-faced bastard! He shouldn't be able to do that! I won him! I solved the Labyrinth!"
Chewing her lip, she stole a glance at the open window, remembering her odd customer.
"He must have worked for him!" Her anger sparkled to life as, grounding her teeth, she recalled Mister Hoopoe and his peculiar little family. "Go back?" she snorted, Procne's word stirring up in her mind. "So, he wants to have a little rematch?" Sarah pulled herself to her full height, turning towards her vanity. Through the glass, darkly, her image stared back at her, and a faint amazement gushed through her mind. Despite all these years, she still didn't know what made the mirror so unique. Sarah blinked. Oblivious to her tightly fisted hands she yanked in a tug of air.
"Hoggle, I need you!"
She bit her lip, covering her mouth and breathing through her hands, fearful that Hoggle would leave her call unanswered. As Sarah discerned a murky reflection of the dwarf appearing next to her, she nearly fell over with relief. The familiar sight of Hoggle's figure banished her anxiety and worry momentarily. He hadn't changed that much in appearance - maybe his furrows had grown steeper, the lumps on his face grown in size. Hoggle still wore the same red leather vest and tattered puff-sleeved shirt. The jewels on his belt jingled merrily as he stepped forward, meeting her eyes through the vanity's glass.
"Well, that took some time, Sarah." He frowned at her. For a moment, Sarah feared he was still mad at her, but then his expression cracked, Hoggle stepped forward and smiled. "It's nice to see ye."
"Hoggle!" Sarah cried, unable to hold herself back any longer. Seeing him broke the dams, setting all her fears running loose. With tears pricking in her eyes, she fell down on her knees and wrapped her arms around Hoggle. He tensed at her unexpected reaction, nearly collapsing underneath her weight as she buried her face in his neck, sniffling. "Toby! He stole Toby!"
For a moment he didn't move. "Now. Now. Calm down," Hoggle patted her gently, the calluses of his hands scraping against her hair. "What's happened?"
"He did it! The Goblin King!" she snapped, letting him go and sitting down cross-legged. "I'm certain of it! The whole setup reeks of him and his handy works."
His placed his coarse hands atop her palm and looked at her worriedly. "Sarah. Tell. What has happened?"
"Hoggle, I don't know!" Sarah yelled frustrated. "At first, Toby's here. And then he's not! He just disappeared! It must be Jar - the Goblin King!" She covered her eyes, forcing herself to calm her panic. "We had a fight," Sarah confessed. "It was really stupid. I was stupid and said some nasty things to him, making him all upset. He ran away into my room, and when I got up to apologize, no one replied. The lights didn't go on, the window had been opened, and," she told her eyes gleaming with hidden tears, "the coverlet I got from my customer's sister-in-law changed. He must have bespelled it."
"Changed? What coverlet?" Hoggle's nose wrinkled. "I don't know about his abilities that well, but cloths?"
"I'll show you!" Quickly, she rose to her feet.
As they left her dark bedroom behind, Sarah briefly explained about the recurring signs of Labyrinth, her meeting with Tereus Hoopoe, Procne's mute sister, and how the bird motif had transformed after her and Toby's fight. They stopped in front of her couch, and he stared at the blanket curiously, scratching his head.
"Yep. There's something different in it," he admitted finally, sniffing the textile. "It doesn't smell harmful though. More like a protective charm, I'd say." He frowned. "Definitely, it's no human work, but I'm not familiar with hawks. The King prefers owls as far I know."
"I'm quite aware of that. Thank you very much!" Sarah snapped. "He must have known that I know, and exploited that as a weakness. I would have never accepted it if it had been an owl!" She slumped on the couch, sighing. "What does he want from me, Hoggle? Revenge?"
Hoggle hesitated, shaking his head. "I don't know, Sarah. He doesn't interact with me but to tell if he wants something done with his Labyrinth, or there's a runner coming forth. I haven't seen him for nearly a month now."
"Does he know that you can visit me like this?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Ye've asked that already."
"You still don't know." She took a deep breath. "What should I do, Hoggle? If he's kidnapped Toby, I have to return! I have to save him!"
"Ye know, ye can't use the gateway," Hoggle said after a prolonged silence.
Desperately, she rubbed her temple, feeling a pounding headache making its appearance. "But what can I do? Call goblins to take me to Underground?"
"That's not a good idea…" Hoggle told, shivering. "What I've learned, he still bears grudge against ye."
Sarah snorted. "How is it so that I'm not surprised? He always struck me as a sore loser."
"'This but a guess…" Hoggle repeated. "I don't know for sure. I'm, after all, only a lowly gardener, but," he stepped closer and whispered in Sarah's ear, "good old Didymus told the King banished all his court goblins to Bog after they asked him if ye would organize another party for them."
"That's terrible!" Sarah covered her mouth, vividly remembering the disgusting stink of the Bog of Eternal Stench, and her eyes momentarily sparkling from hidden amusement. "He must have regretted his decision afterwards. I bet the goblins smelled rather - infernal?"
Hoggle sighed, "No, they are still living over there, having their own community while they drive poor Didymus mad," his lips twitched. "The goblins have no sense of courtesy to ask his permission to use the bridge."
Sarah couldn't prevent an amused chuckle, "So, that's why he's been complaining about rustic and lawless goblins." She sobered. "He exiled the goblins only for that?"
"Yup," Hoggle confirmed, "banished them totally, but, frankly, I don't think they even care."
"So, going through Labyrinth would be extremely difficult." Sarah mulled over the information, creasing her brows, even more convinced the Goblin King was to be blamed for Toby's disappearance. "And I don't have anything to bargain with! Hoggle, please, help me! Is there any other way to return?"
He stared unseeingly through her while tapping his mouth. "Yes," he confessed at last. "But it's dangerous. We both might get in trouble, and you might never be able to return to your world."
Her heart clutched painfully in her chest at his grim tone. "That's a risk I'm willing to take if it's really the only way to save Toby."
Hoggle's voice faltered, and he avoided looking at Sarah. "I've heard of a spirit that takes mortal souls to other side of the veil. He's also rumored to be able to travel between dreams and reality."
She licked his lips. "He could take me to Underground?"
His gaze returned to her, shrugging his shoulders. "That's possible. I think so." He crumpled his mouth, "But ye need to cast a spell if ye're to call him."
"So," Sarah asked eagerly, "what do I need to do?"
He looked definitely sheepish as he answered, "I don't know…"
"What?"
"But I know the Wise Man has a Book of Spells, which also includes the summoning charm," he hurried at her outraged expression. "I can travel back, look for him and ask him to give me the charm. The problem is, no one really knows where the Wise Man lives. It might take some time, and," he shivered, "were the King to find out, he'd banished me straight from Labyrinth. Not to Bog, but to border lands. To Black Widow's Mountain."
"I remember you telling me of the waste land. I don't want to cause you trouble." She looked at him worriedly. "You shouldn't sacrifice yourself. I'll come up with something else."
"Sarah, ye're my friend," Hoggle interrupted her gently. "Ye've been my friend even when others despised me. Ye taught me about sacrifices, loyalty and bravery. And ye know I care about Toby. If he's in trouble - if ye're seriously wanting to come back… I'll do anything to help ye."
Ashamed, she looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry about the words I said last time," Sarah muttered. "You're a true friend. I couldn't wish for a better one."
"Forget about it, Sarah," Hoggle touched her hand. "I ain't mad at ye, and we have more important things to think about."
"But still, I wanted to say that I'm sorry."
"And I forgive ye. Sarah. Let bygones be bygones, " Hoggle answered, giving her a gentle pat. "I better go now. Why waste time?" He smiled at her encouragingly. "Call me after an hour, and, if I don't reply, every half an hour therefore. I come as soon I have the spell."
"You seriously think the Wise Man gives it voluntarily?" Sarah asked skeptically, remembering the creepy little man to whom she gave her ring.
"I heard the King upset his mind somehow. Ye just have to ask him the right questions." He smiled. "Besides, I know he's rather smitten by ye, and he'll help ye, just to annoy Jareth."
Immediately after Hoggle's departure, Sarah started pacing once again around her flat, glancing at the clock and cursing the minutes that seemed to remain stuck in place. To pass time, she changed her clothes while searching for something that would help her back into Labyrinth. She gave up as she realized she hardly paid any attention to the items she had laid on her bed. After an hour, she called for Hoggle, but he didn't reply. She tried to eat, but the food was tasteless, and she had no appetite. Half an hour later, she called Hoggle again, yet he remained away. After the third call, when he still didn't reply, panic started to resurface. She thought about calling for goblins, reminiscing the lines she should speak aloud, sitting on her bed and staring at her vanity.
She realized she no longer saw her image. The apartment was packed with darkness. Startled, Sarah stumbled through her room to the switcher willing it to work this time. The bright electric light stung in her eyes, and she blinked her eyes, trying to adjust to change of illumination. After her sight returned, her gaze hooked on the book that lay on the floor.
Sarah's face fell. Sarah barely found strength to pick the book up. For a while, she kept it closed in her hands before walking to her vanity and placing it on it, carefully, without opening the book.
She stared at her image, noticing the tired rims beneath her eyes and her worrisome stare. She leaned her elbows on the table, resting her head on her hands.
"Hoggle, I need you…" Sarah didn't find strength to look at her reflection as she called for Hoggle for the fourth time, afraid he still wouldn't answer.
Unexpectedly, she felt someone touching her shoulder.
"I'm here, Sarah," Hoggle said softly. "Don't worry," he continued as she looked up, "everything's going to be alright. Look what I have with me." He waved a yellow parchment he held in his hands victoriously and lowered on the table. "See - I've brought you a gift."
Sarah snatched up the paper, rolling it open, and looked at Hoggle. "This is it?" she asked suspiciously, turning on her chair to meet his gaze.
He flinched. "That's what the Wise Man told me to write down, as far as I understood him…" He scowled and mused. "He kept on dozing off, and I had to explain him all over again why I was there. It was complicated and way too confusing. Ye need to do two spells instead of one, which is why it took so long time, and even then…" Hoggle hesitated, "He said something about a payment, but dozed off in mid-sentence. I couldn't wake him up anymore." Hoggle winced. "I swear that some day I'll strangle his idiotic hat and pluck out all its two feathers. That cursed, dim-witted turkey offered me no assistance whatsoever. I fear the description might lack some information. I just hope it's adequate enough…"
"I hope so too," Sarah muttered absentmindedly, her eyes skimming through the words as she thought about the senile old man and his animated boater with a head of a talkative bird. "I admit I'm not very convinced, Hoggle," she muttered. "Even the hat would be a better wizard." She waved the parchment in her hands, "You're certain this will work, Hoggle?"
He almost smiled while swaying his stub of a finger at her, "Haven't ye yet realized that not everything's as it seems? I heard he used to be a famous magician when living in Aboveground," he sighed, "but time hasn't treated him well."
"Yes," she agreed, her shoulders sagging. "You're right. Besides, and even more importantly, I don't have another choice but this - or whisking myself away." She flinched.
"Ye remember what I told ye," Hoggle warned her.
"If this works," she tapped the parchment, flaring her nostrils, "He will be the sorry one!" Despite her impudent words, Sarah's heart raced at the very thought of meeting the haughty Goblin King.
Hoggle only sighed, shaking his head. "Ye be careful, won't ye?" Hoggle confirmed and scratched his head. "For the death of me, I still can't seem to recall Wise Man's words. Before him nodding off, he was explaining about a fee, something he told you should be aware of."
Sarah glanced at the paper. "We just have to survive with this. And hope it's enough."
"Ye're right. But still, be mindful, won't ye, Sarah?"
She almost smiled. "Always, Hoggle. I promise."
"Yes," Hoggle sighed. "Anyways, I've written ye instructions how to get through Labyrinth. I'll contact Didymus during this time."
"I see." She nodded, glancing at the paper. "So, I guess we'll be seeing each other soon."
"Yes, Sarah," Hoggle muttered darkly, giving her a light tap on the knee. "Just be careful. I'll be waiting for you."
Her heart fluttering, Sarah watched him fading away before turned her attention back to the instructions.
"Okay, so, what should I have?" she murmured, going through her list. She narrowed her eyes, reading out loud. "Before Performing The Rite Ye Shall Cast A Circle, A Sacred Space That Separates Yer World From The Other And Protects Ye From The Beings That Might Wish To Harm Ye." It sounded reasonable, Sarah thought while trailing her finger over the jagged letters Hoggle had written down.
"A broom, a sword and a bell…" She grunted - she didn't own a broom and, most definitely not a sword. Well maybe a duster would do the trick? And with imagination a sharp knife could act as if a sword. She had also stuffed somewhere an elf's cap with a jingle bell. It should be enough. She returned her attention to the list.
"And incense?" She bit her lip, glancing at her side, remembering Lisa giving her a packet of those some years ago. Candles and spices she had, but a ram, a tortoise or a hawk? Sarah groaned annoyed, cursing Hoggle for not writing down the reason for the animals. Based on the instructions she needed at least one of those for the latter spell. Sarah jerked up her head, remembering then the green coverlet she had received. She returned her attention to the ingredients. Nothing said the animals should be genuine. Sarah hesitated only a moment.
She dutifully followed the instructions Hoggle had brought to her, wiping the area clean with her duster and brushing off the imaginary negative energies that might reside in her hallway, visualizing a wide circle just in front of her doorway. She spread the herbs over the floor and hung some of them above the doorframe. After that, she lit up the candles and incense, watching the smoke circling lazily upwards, instantly feeling it starting to sting in her eyes. She frowned. Honestly, Sarah never quite grasped how Lisa could use those disgusting things. She shook her head, glancing at the time, before stepping inside the circle.
"As I draw this magic circle, lets no evil or ill will cross its mark." She rung the jingle bell, its tinkling echoing in the silent hallway, and stopped at the side she suspected to be east, speaking out, "Guardians of the East, Powers of Air, I thank you for joining in my circle. I ask for your blessing as you arrive: May there be peace between us, now and forever. Blessed be." She performed an awkward bow, before following an invisible circular path, holding the knife in upward position and jingling the bells, their cheery chiming casting the surrounding dark away.
She stopped at the other side of the circle, speaking out the same phrase as before, this time directing words for the South and Fire. Sarah proceeded with the rite, dealing all four points of compass and the elements, feeling completely ridiculous while galloping around her hallway, holding a red elf's cap in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other. After Sarah spoke out the last words, calling for the North to step up forward, she suddenly felt something shifting - the shadows seemed to bulge, the air swayed around the imaginary path she had tried to visualize following. A cold breeze caressed her cheek, and she swore she almost heard a murmuring sound.
Fearfully, Sarah looked around in the small hallway, yet seeing nothing. Banishing her anxiety, she straightened her neck and closed her eyes, taking deep calming breaths one after another, memorizing the lines she had read. Only when she felt ready to finish the rite did Sarah looked up at the closed front door. Her heart quivered in her chest, the rational part of her brain chimed in that she was being childish and naïve, condemning her effort to utter failure. She bit her lip and, crinkling her eyes, returned Toby to her mind. She took a deep breath and spoke aloud,
Deep in shadow, hidden from sight,
wandering by, like a thief in the night.
Slipping through cracks in reality's wall,
flying alone through the chaos' hall.
Alone in the world, far from the time;
Undying fire of the far-seeing eye
looks deep in the human child's soul;
yet deeper still is the place I must go.
Hawk on wings, silent in flight,
hunter unseen, hidden by night.
Veiled in dusk, beyond mortal sight,
ascend beyond the gods' lofty height.
Wings of air carry me free:
in the Underground I wish to be
and leave behind the ones I knew,
fellow travelers there are but few.
None may go where goblins hold court,
but there my mind seems to cavort.
Alone and silent I scream in the dark,
while visions and sunbursts tear me apart.
Realities flow with plastic speed,
Angels and Demons me do feed.
As both the worlds and time collide,
on Hawk's wings, into Underground I ride.
Listening to echo of her words fading away, she sent a silent prayer that her summoning would work. The darkness swirled in her eyes. The soft glow the candles cast around the circle faded, the stench of the incense grew stronger, and Sarah felt her skin begin to get goosebumps.
"Ah, so you are the summoner. What a treat! I haven't been called since the Crimean War, if I rightly remember. And even then, I rather think, the caller was an old and ugly man. I have to say that you are a definite improvement from him - even from behind."
Slowly, Sarah turned around, mindful that she didn't cross the circle and blinked her eyes at the sight of the radiant creature, a man, watching her. He stood in her small entrance hall, inspecting her with a satisfied smirk playing over his face. Tiny wings of gold projected from his fair-haired locks, in which they had been fastened symmetrically on both sides, and he carried a golden staff in his arms with white ribbons tied around the head of the staff. Sarah's mouth fell down at the view of his bare skin, lean chest and muscular arms; and blush crept over her cheeks as she quickly tried to find a safe place to set her eyes on. Except for glimmering gold-colored sandals on his feet and a white cloak draped over his left shoulder, which hems hardly reached his groins, leaving very little to imagination, the man appeared totally naked.
"A long time has elapsed, since I last enjoyed from the carnal joys, and I have to say, you, my lovely mortal, are not a bad choice." The man smiled gleefully, taking a step forward, and Sarah gulped down the lump in her throat, almost stepping out of the circle.
"No! Stay back!" She gasped, finding her voice, when the man reached out, his lean well-groomed fingers stretching out to grasp on her. "Don't touch me!"