Chapter 4
The Castle beyond the Goblin City:
To say that the goblins were panicked would be a gross understatement: there was absolute pandemonium in every inch of the castle!
Right after hearing about what happened, the goblins began screaming, yelling, pushing, shoving, bumping into each other, trying to find a hiding place – or a way out of the castle so that they could hide in their homes! The belief that Sarah – the Labyrinth's Mortal Champion, and their dear friend – was lost in the veil was frightening enough. But when they thought of how their King was going to react should he find out…it was too horrible to even think about!
"NO BOG, NO BOG!"
"KINGY BE MAD MAD!"
"WE'S BE 'WORSE-THAN-BOGGED'!"
Despite their own anxieties about the situation, Hoggle and the others tried to get the goblins' attention:
"NOW HANG ON…WAI- JUST A MIN-!"
"CEASE THIS UNSEEMELY BEHAVIOR AT ONCE!"
Suddenly, having had enough of the noise, Ludo gave a loud roar that threatened to shake the castle apart! The goblins (and Ambrosias), being given a new reason to panic, started diving for cover under and behind anything they could find in the throne room: ale kegs, loose bricks, the throne itself, and even forming a dog pile in the pit in the center of the room. Once all was quiet, Ludo stopped roaring and looked around the room to see those who were visible trembling in fear, but otherwise silent.
Hoggle and Didymus, who had covered their ears during the commotion, breathed a sigh of relief that all was…relatively calm again.
"Well done, Brother Ludo," Didymus praised, "Brutal, but effective."
"Alright now!" Hoggle addressed the hidden goblins, "I know it sounds bad; even I'm shaking in my shoes right now. But we ain't gonna help Sarah by losin' our heads!"
"B-But Lady's gone!" one goblin cried. Soon others began crying too, for the friend they feared they would never see again.
"No she ain't!" Hoggle shouted, causing them to stop, "We can still get 'er back, but not unless we calm down!"
He started pacing floor, rubbing his chin as the others looked on. In his heart he was also worried about what happened to Sarah. In all the years he'd lived there had never been a report of anyone getting stuck within the veil. And if there was, it was long before his time. Was there a way to find her? To get to her? There just had to be a way!
"I say, Sir Hoggle," Didymus piped up, "perhaps the Wise One knows what to do?"
Hoggle stopped pacing. "Hmph, that old phogey? I know what kind of help he offers, and it's downright useless!"
"But he has been a resident long before we were. He was even here before the King himself! Surely he must know something…"
Just then, another goblin's voice spoke up, "Um…maybe…maybe we should…just…"
Everyone looked in the direction the voice came from (which was under the throne).
"Well speak up, lad," Didymus said, "Out with it!" The whole room was quiet as the little creature gathered his courage to continue.
"Umm…well…we could just…well…tell the…*gulp*…king…"
"Are yous crazy?!" another goblin yelled, "wes be 'worse-than-bogged' for sure!" All the others agreed loudly with this statement. No one wanted to know what 'worse-than-bogged' was, but they were certain it was very, very bad.
"Honestly, I ain't willin' ta mention it to the rat either," Hoggle responded, "We should be lucky he ain't even here right now!"
Suddenly, Oshus gave a yelp and ran over to Hoggle, waving the letter in the air.
"Oi, I forgot, the King sent this, mate! From the Seelie Court!"
"Why didn't ya say so before, ya big lout?" Hoggle grabbed the letter and proceeded to read it over. Once he finished he could understand why Oshus was so excitable. The contents were completely unbelievable!
"What does it say, Sir Hoggle?" Didymus asked, as Ludo and Ambrosias hovered nearby.
Hoggle cleared his throat as he related the message: "The High King has decreed that, until further notice, all travel between the Underground and the Aboveground is forbidden." He ignored the loud collected gasp as he continued, "Furthermore, all creatures of magic are not allowed to use any and all magic unless it is for extreme emergencies only, and with permission from the Crown.
"This is outrageous!" the old dwarf exclaimed. All around the room, the goblins agreed with him.
"What about the wishies?!"
"How can we answer wishies?!"
"Who will fetch the kiddies?!"
"Yeah, Hoggle; how are we and the King supposed to do our jobs?" Oshus asked.
"Do I look like the High King to you?" Hoggle snapped, "How should I know? The letter doesn't give any reason!"
"Well," Didymus said, "If the High King has decreed it, then there must be a reason. We should ask His Majesty upon his return."
Hearing this, Hoggle suddenly paled before taking another look at the paper in his hands.
"Yeah…about that…umm…"
"What is it?"
"Well, uh, this also says that the rat is…coming back early…" The goblins all started trembling in fear as he said this. One could almost feel the room shake without Ludo's help.
Cautiously, Didymus asked, "How early?"
Hoggle felt sick to his stomach as he read the letter again. How come he had the worst luck out of everyone in the kingdom? All he could do was brace himself for the commotion that would come as he managed to squeak out one word:
"…Tonight…"
An Unknown Land…
Frightened faces…screaming…bright light…
Those were the last things Sarah remembered seeing before losing consciousness.
She could now feel herself start to come to, but was too groggy and confused to try and get up. Her arms, legs, even her eyelids felt like they were weighted down. Sarah could at least tell that she was lying down, but was unable to physically tell what she was laying on.
But as her mind became a little clearer and she began to remember more, she also began to worry. Where was she? Was she in the Underground? Why did the portal go haywire? Did it end up taking her somewhere else?
Deciding to try to move, she wiggled her toes. They moved easily, but felt a little numb.
'Good,' she thought, 'I'm not paralyzed. But then why am I numb?' Sarah started to blink her eyes, guessing from the brightness through her eyelids that it was still daytime. But when she finally opened them, the intense brightness made her close them again.
"Gah, it shouldn't be this bright out!" she grumbled to herself as she rubbed her eyes. As her arm plopped back down she could feel rough sandy stone. 'Guess I landed in the middle of the Goblin City,' Sarah thought. Suddenly, she realized that something wasn't right: it was way too quiet to be the Goblin City. In fact, the silence was deafening!
Now that her arms and legs were working again Sarah slowly sat up, her hands scraping through the sand. Bringing a hand to shield her eyes from the light she tried to open her eyes again. One thought entered her mind when she did: this was definitely not the Goblin City.
The first thing she noticed was that she was sitting within a circle of stones, which were standing tall so that they almost resembled pillars. The ground itself was stone, but also covered with several years' worth of sand. Crawling over to the nearest stone, Sarah could see that it had many spirals carved into it. Standing up and turning around, she was able to get a better look at her surroundings. It appeared to be a small valley, but at first glance Sarah thought it was surrounded by cliffs and rock walls with caves. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the rocks were actually piled on top of each other, creating what appeared to be meager stone houses. What really amazed Sarah was that they were constructed on top of each other! Why, they almost looked like primitive apartment buildings, with the tallest ones being at least three levels high! A wooden ramp climbed up to each floor, providing easy access without the use of stairs (although she did notice a crude-looking ladder nearby). And nearly every rock in the area was carved with spirals. 'They must have some purpose,' she thought to herself.
Sarah counted the curtained openings: eighteen in total. Surely somebody lived here. She took a deep breath, and called out:
"Hello?"
…Silence…
"Is anyone here?...Hoggle?...Didymus?...Ludo?...Merlin?"
Nothing. The deafening silence made Sarah so nervous that she was unwilling to move from the ring of stones. Perhaps something in the back of her mind told her that it would be safer there. A gust of wind blew through the valley, picking up the sand and swirling it around the entire area before settling down again. Wrapping her arms around herself, Sarah realized that no one was going to answer her…
Because there was no one around to answer.
It was a ghost town.
Rumble rumble rumble
The sound of thunder made Sarah look up at the sky. Dark clouds were hovering over the valley and the wind was picking up, a sign that rain was coming.
Not willing to be stuck outside during a storm, Sarah picked up her backpack (luckily she held onto it during her disastrous journey) and headed up the ramp to the second floor buildings. Sure she could've gone in one of the lower-level houses, but didn't want to take the chance that some hungry animal would come wandering by. Finally, she reached an entryway that looked big enough to fit through and went inside.
The inside of the hovel definitely gave the impression that someone used to live here. There were shelves filled with scrolls, bottles, and strange instruments. Quills and small bottles of dried up ink littered a low make-shift table. On the wall opposite the entryway was a modest fireplace with an empty cauldron sitting in it. Sarah guessed that the bulgy thing in the far corner was supposed to be a bed, but the worn-out blanket was covered in dust. Clearly, no one had lived here in years!
CRASH! BANG! Rumble!
Sarah yelped as lightning shot across the sky. Ever since that night, when she foolishly wished Toby away, she had been afraid of storms. And it didn't help that she was now alone in an abandoned village with no way to get home.
Deciding it would be best to light a fire, Sarah looked around the place hoping to find matches and wood. The wood was easy: there was a small pile sitting next to the fireplace. She found some blank scroll paper on one of the shelves and prepared a small pyramid of logs, like her father taught her when they went camping the summer she finished high school. The rain started coming down fast and hard outside. Not finding any matches, she tried to go with the old 'rub-two-twigs-together' method. It was difficult, and took a few tries before she finally got a small flame going.
'I hope whoever did live here doesn't mind me being here,' Sarah thought as she opened her backpack, thankful that she at least remembered to bring a few snacks. All the food she had consisted of one apple, one orange, six granola bars, a water bottle, and a small bag of potato chips; not much, but it would have to do until she could find some civilization in this place. Sarah silently munched on a bar as she thought about what to do next.
'Well, if I'm anywhere near the Labyrinth, Hoggle and the others will probably be looking for me. So maybe it would be better if I stayed here and waited for them.'
Rumble rumble…
'But then, what if I'm not? What if I'm actually too far away? Should I try to find the nearest town? Hoggle did tell me once that there were creatures in the Underground far more dangerous than those in the Labyrinth, and I don't want to end up as something else's dinner. Or worse, I might run into the Goblin King somewhere…'
After a while the sky grew darker as night fell, and Sarah grew tired. The shock of the day's events wore her down. Deciding to at least try and sleep, she shook out the dusty blanket, settled into the old bed, and eventually fell asleep listening to the storm.
