Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth.

Once Upon A Time

Chapter 5
On the Road Again

"Sarah, ya are alright!" Hoggle cried, relieved at the familiar sight and running to meet her.

Lir echoed Hoggle's words, rushing after him. "Milady Sarah." In his excitement he forgot again that he wasn't supposed to address her with a formal title. "It is a relief to see you well, and…" his words faded at the sight of blood-soaked handkerchief wrapped around her wrist.

"A small memento from our dryad-friends," Sarah flicked her hand at his concern. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Ya don't say…" Hoggle muttered, eyes fixed on the little golden letter he immediately noticed.

Sarah avoided meeting his gaze, her cheeks burning. "Really, it's nothing serious. Just a little scratch." She hid her hand behind her back. "Are you two ok?"

"Fine as a feather!" Lir beamed.

"Says the one who didn't get tossed in a piggy bag 'round for a mile," Hoggle grunted, tugging his shirt down to ensure it fully covered his belly.

"Master dwarf…Hoggle," Lir started, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "We've been through this already. I only wished to ensure we wouldn't be separated."

"Yes, that is what ya said," Hoggle shrugged, deciding not to continue the argument. He knew Sarah wouldn't appreciate it.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you both are well." Sarah smiled, dusting her skirt. "We better get moving in that case. I want to get out of this forest before we meet more of its inhabitants. Who knows what else lies behind these trees."

"I'm with you on that, lady Sarah!" Lir exclaimed. "Let us carry on!" He picked up his lute and turned to follow the road.

Hoggle lingered closer to Sarah.

"Ya saw him, didn't ya?" he asked quietly, keeping his pace with Sarah's, and stole a quick glance at her underneath his bushy eyebrows.

"Yes, he saved me from the dryads." She took a deep breath, expecting a burst of anger.

Instead, Hoggle remained quiet. He kept his gaze on Lir, who was skipping merrily ahead, his lute sack bouncing up and down as he made his way down the road.

"I too saw him," he confessed. "Last night, at the clearing, when the laddie was playing his tune."

Sarah's heart skipped a beat, and she looked down at him. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He scratched his head. "I didn't want to worry ya. I thought it was a mere coincidence…"

"But not anymore?" Sarah inquired.

Hoggle shrugged. "He had a convenient timing, didn't he?" he asked in return.

"Hmm," she acknowledged, attention back on the road and a sudden twinge in her heart. Could Jareth have set dryads after them?

If only she could trust him a bit more. If only he wasn't such a volatile, magical being… She gave a secretive smile at her own thoughts. If only she could forget her own world and make herself believe she belonged to the Underground.

They kept a good pace and cleared the forest before the evening. Unspoken, none desired to spend night at the dryad forest. Even if the tree spirits had left them in peace, they didn't want to risk facing them again.

Only after the tree lines disappeared behind a green hillside, they stopped to rest.

"I don't recall my feet feeling this sore ever before," Sarah moaned while rubbing her calves and leaning against a moss-covered rock. "What I would do for a pair of sneakers and a foot massage," she sighed and gratefully accepted the water flask Hoggle passed to her.

Hoggle didn't have energy to comment. He dropped down on his legs, swept his cap off, revealing wisps of greying hair, and rubbed his temples. Even Lir's usual mood appeared damp as he stretched his shoulders and winced.

"Does your map show any places where to rest, Hoggle?" Sarah asked, thinking ahead. The trail next to them continued twisting and turning, leading away from the forest through the hilly grassland. With a sense of nervousness, she scrutinized the amassing darkening clouds and felt the wind carry a promise of a rain.

"Lemme check," Hoggle muttered and pulled his rucksack closer, fishing a scruffy-eared yellow parchment from its endless belly. His finger followed a route they had been walking, lingering on occasional marks, and then stopped. "I don't see any inns, Sarah. It could've changed over the years. Who know how old this map is. However, there's a village on our route…less than half a day's walk away."

"I guess that's our best bet for now." Sarah flinched as she gingerly stood up and picked up her own bag. "Let's try reach it before we all get soaking wet."

By the time they finally caught a sign of the little village tugged in the arms of a river down in the valley, the sky had turned dangerously dark, the heavy clouds amassing above their heads and waiting for the first opportunity to release the rain they held. Rather than a small town, it looked more like an assembly of wee buildings hunched close together under the protective shadow of a fortress and its grey stone wall.

The gate guard stopped them at the entrance more curious than hostile.

"This is Hoggle of the Labyrinth, Bard Apprentice Lir from Tiago, and I'm Sarah Williams," Sarah decided she should speak for the group. "We are looking for a place to stay overnight."

"Rosie has few spare rooms in her tavern," the man replied carefully. "Go straight and then two houses right from the well. Their place is covered with climbing rose, you can't miss it," he instructed after Hoggle grumblingly paid him the gate toll.

Rosie turned out to be an older woman with bright dark eyes and mahogany hair streaked in silver and pulled on a tight bun. Her two storied log house was encrusted with green climbing roses, their budding flowers filling the air with a faint sweet scent. She opened the door herself at their knock and let inside a big spacious space with long tables and benches and an open hearth at the center of the room. Their party gathered curious looks from a small group hunched over a something that looked like a board game and pair of pints.

Rosie offered them a place to sit near by the fire, apologizing profoundly that she didn't have better rooms available.

"The visiting lords usually stay in the castle," she explained, eyeing Sarah's thick woolen cloak and ornate dress, and called her maid with a steel-like voice to serve dinner to their guests.

"A regular room is perfectly fine, ma'am," Sarah assured, her toes curling in delight for finally being able to rest.

"If you say so, lady," Rosie replied doubtingly. She hesitated, stealing a glance at Hoggle. "Pardon me saying this, but we haven't seen visitors from the Labyrinth for a while."

Both Hoggle and Sarah jolted at the words, and exchanged glanced.

"We're actually looking for our friend," Sarah said eagerly, trying not to expect too much. "His name is Didymus."

The woman's face lighted. "The fox knight!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "He did venture here years ago. The old lord, may gods bless his soul, took a liking to the little fellow and invited him to stay at the castle as his courier."

"He's here!" Sarah was barely able to contain her excitement.

"Alas, not anymore." Rosie shook her head. "After a hunting accident took his lordship's life, Didymus left." She lowered her voice, "Young lordling, they say, wasn't too fond of his father's companion."

"But do you know where he went?" Sarah asked, hopeful.

Rosie shook her head. "I'm sorry m'dear. He was told venture to the east, towards the ogresses' lair…"

Lir listened to the conversation half-heartedly, stitching his sack's torn shoulder strap, but picked up his head when he heard this. "To Mag's place?"

The woman made a hasted cross over her chest. "We don't speak out her name, not so close…"

"She troubles ya?" Hoggle asked, having taken liking to the inn keeper. Everything told she took good care of her house: tables were scrubbed clean, floor mopped, and he especially appreciated the thriving vine. In Hoggle's mind anyone who looked after plants that well couldn't be untrustworthy.

"Nay, not much," Rosie shook her head. "Occasionally we lose a sheep or two, but not more than to an occasional wolf. We try to stay out of her way. And our lordship sends a sentry around the village every night to keep us safe."

She left soon to attend arriving regulars, and Sarah turned to look Lir. "It seems our paths are destined to go together, Lir." She smiled, ignoring Hoggle's frown.

Lir's face brightened. "I'm glad to learn this." He eyed Sarah and Hoggle curiously. "It is not my business, but may I inquiry reason for your friend to leave his home and travel all the way to the Sunrise Land?"

Sarah's lips twisted in a rueful smile. "It is a long story and might bore you, Lir, and I'm not the best storyteller."

"As a bard I live to learn new stories," he reminded her gently. "And in all honestly, the longer they are, the better."

"If you insist," Sarah shrugged her shoulders and twirled a lock of her hair in her fingers. "We are trying to find Sir Didymus who used to be knight of the Labyrinth, assigned to his post by the Goblin King himself." Sarah gave an uncertain glance at Lir. "I'm not sure if you have ever heard of the Goblin King…?"

Lir hesitated and glanced at the dwarf before spoke slowly, "Hoggle told me a bit of him after we got separated. I have heard tales of him and his magical kingdom, but I wasn't sure if he truly existed."

Sarah nodded. "I thought it a fairytale when I was a kid. I read this book – a play, called Labyrinth at least million times…" her face fell a bit and she rubbed her temples. "I knew this was going to be impossible to explain."

Hoggle patted her on the hand. "Just start from the begging..." he advised and flashed a smile. "You know that is how all good stories begin."

"From the beginning?" Sarah returned the smile. "You know that would take the whole evening."

Hoggle shrugged. "What else should we do at this moment?"

"Oh, you're incurable." Sarah shook her head and turned to Lir. "I told that I am a human. I need to add that I'm also from another world. The people in the Labyrinth just refer to it as 'Above'."

"Another world…" Lir murmured while he tapped his nose. "I have heard a story of a doorway between our realm leading to another, a place my people call Terra." He smiled apologetically. "To be honest, it is a tale our clergy might know better as they say it is how my people came to inhabit the Sunrise Lands."

"That is amazing!" Sarah exclaimed. "Terra is the other name we call Earth." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "A doorway? So your people originate from my world?"

Lir smiled, "Our clergy tells that in the old times these realms and the one where you say you come from were connected through ancient magic. The adventurous, or desperate, people seeking new land and escaping hunger dared to explore the world beyond them. However, some cataclysmic event, a war or persecution, took place on Terra. To protect their realms, the might fae kings demanded doors to be shut. That is what we are taught…"

"Hmm…" Sarah pondered this, chewing her lip, and noticed curiously Hoggle's frown as if he didn't like the conversation. Her thoughts were disturbed when the maidservant brought them a bowl of hot beef stew and loaf of warm bread, together with pints of dark foamy ale.

They dived in their foods with starving person's eagerness, all quiet until Sarah let out a small laugh. "See, I'm a bad storyteller. I already forgot that I was explaining why we are looking for our friend Didymus."

She tapped her spoon on the bowl. "It all started years ago, when I was merely 16-years old. My father had remarried and his wife had a young baby."

"Toby," Hoggle muttered quietly.

Sarah nodded. "My brother Toby. I was very jealous and angry. My mother had left my father and me, and I blamed my father." She looked down on the spoon, remembering. "She was a beautiful and successful actress, and at the time I desperately wanted to live with her and see the Broadway lights. Instead of living the high life with my mom, I was stuck to a boring suburb with my father and his new wife, and went to a boring public school. In my sullen protest, I escaped to fantasy worlds, running to parks so I wouldn't need to see my stepmother or my new brother."

"Was she mean to you?" Lir inquired.

"Karen?" Sarah shook her head. "No, not all. I might have treated her like a wicked stepmother of a fairytale, but she never treated me harshly. Then, one evening, my father and Karen asked me to stay home to babysit Toby. Resentful, I found out they had given my favorite toy to him to make him stop crying. I snatched it back, but that made him cry again. Trying to make him stop screaming, I told him story about the Goblin King, and finally frustrated with my brother's endless cries wished that the goblins would take him away."

"Oh no!" Lir gasped.

Sarah sighed. "Yes, and consider my surprise when that happened. Suddenly Toby was gone and a fearsome otherworldly man appeared in his nursery claiming he was the Goblin King and that he had taken my brother away at my request. I pleaded him to bring Toby back, and he allowed me to try to conquer his magical maze to reverse my wish."

"I've heard it is nearly unsolvable," Lir replied, amazed of the story.

Sarah drew a circle on the table with her spoon. "Not unsolvable. Difficult maybe."

Hoggle snorted under his breath, "I reckon ya used to describe it a wee bit differently…"

That earned him a wide grin from Sarah. "I was a brat and bragged at the Goblin King's face how his maze was just a piece of a cake. Not the best strategy, I admit…" She let go of the spoon and grabbed her pint, taking a sip of the beer.

"No, not really," Hoggle agreed. "His majesty likes to think his maze is unsolvable, and takes belittling it as an insult."

Sarah snorted in her pint. "Yes, he can be a total ass at times."

"Sarah…" Hoggle warned and stole a glance around them. Who knew if Jareth was spying on them.

"So what happened? You solved his labyrinth, didn't you?" Lir asked with an eagerness.

"Yes. Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo, all whom I met during my run through the Labyrinth, helped me to reach the center of the labyrinth, and I got my brother back. That was the end of that, I thought."

"Except it wasn't for me and my friends in the Underground," Hoggle chugged down his beer, looking suddenly much older. "His majesty was very cross that we had helped Sarah to win back her brother. As a punishment, he sent me to the deepest oubliette of his labyrinth, and banished Sir Didymus away from his kingdom. As for Ludo…"

Sarah's face grew pale and she let out an angry hiss, banging her pint on the table and spilling some of its content. "I still haven't forgiven him that he turned poor Ludo into a rock. He didn't deserve to be treated like that!"

Hoggle didn't reply anything, lowering his head. They had tried to find Ludo but in vain. Ludo's rock friends, fearful of Jareth, declined to help. Maybe Ludo was happier as a rock, with his friends that had always accepted him? Sarah wished so.

"Anyway, time passed and my brother and I grew older. I made myself believe that it had all been a dream, and forgot the Labyrinth, Hoggle, my friends…but Jareth didn't forget me. After years, he was finally able to lure Toby's daughter into the Labyrinth. When I learned it, I bargained with him to try to solve it for her." Sarah's eyes grew very sad. "It was an error, I realize now. That is what Jareth had wanted all along. He tricked me, and Linda, and Jareth…"

"He was tricked as well…" Hoggle reminded gently.

"I guess he was, in some ways. He…he…" Sarah looked for a word. "He made a spell that backfired and cursed him and his labyrinth. He nearly died himself, but Hoggle," Sarah looked at Hoggle fondly, "helped to save us all: me, him and my niece. However, this time I wasn't able to solve his labyrinth on time. As a part of the bargain, I have to remain in this world."

"I'm so sorry!" Lir exclaimed. "That is most horrible destiny, lady Sarah! Your family must be worried for you."

"They don't remember me. If I tried to return, nobody would recognize me. It's ok. I'm starting to get used to this new life." She smiled ruefully, touching her face. "There are perks for being a love interest of an immortal Goblin King. I'm nearly 60, you know?" she laughed, but the sound was laced with melancholy.

A/N: This story refers to another one of mine that explains how Sarah ends up to Labyrinth. In that story I introduced Toby's daughter Linda, forgetting Linda is also the name of Sarah's mother. When I realized my little lapsus, I was already halfway the story and decided, "What the heck. Who knows. Maybe Karen and Linda became good friends, and Toby liked Linda enough to name his daughter after Sarah's mother." So there is that.