Part 6

Jareth stood upon his window sill and free fell towards the ground. As he fell he began to change form. He shivered as feathers sprouted on his body. They felt good to sprout from his skin; they slightly tickled him as they came into place. Wings formed and Jareth stretched them wide. It felt good to be in this form. Free of gravity, free of worries, he was free to fly. He floated on an updraft for a moment before heading towards the west, the direction Sara had headed. The only downside to taking this form was it was daylight and owls didn't like flying during the day for a reason.

His eyes tried to focus on the ground below, but the image was blurry. He could see tiny little creatures below, but they weren't as easily to tell what they were in daylight. But as he flew he did see something he knew and hated with all his heart. Swooping down his claws extended and he grappled from midair, a fairy.

After the fairy was taken care of he spotted Sara headed towards the only stream in the Labyrinth. It looked like she was taking to a resident Nightmare. This could work in his favor. He landed on a tree branch and watched the show as it was about to unfold below.

Sara started forward towards the unicorn, but as she got close the horse began to change. The horn slowly dissolved, the white color of its mane began to change to a rusty color then an almost pure red, the mane looked alive, and it was moving and swaying. Sara stopped moving forward. The horse looked up and its eyes were burning, and its mouth was full of fangs. Sara almost turned around and headed another direction when the horse spoke.

"Hello Sara." Sara stopped and shuddered. "I.. I was just headed..."Sara started to point in any direction than the one she was in. She knew that things weren't always what they seemed in this place, but she had never come across something as fearsome looking as this before. Ludo was a big creature, but he didn't have the look of a creature that would kill you rather than look at you like this horse did. But not wanting so show fear to the horse she said, "I thought you were a unicorn."

The mare appeared to laugh and replied, "There is no such thing as unicorns."

Sara was intrigued she moved closer to hear what the horse had to say. "What do you mean?"

The horse smiled, knowing she had trapped this little human now. Then she sighed. Unfortunately she couldn't hurt this one. She must be Sara. The horse said "Only pure young maidens see me for a unicorn, and you my dear are not pure."

"I'm what! I am, well I used, I" Sara's words were lost to the next thing the horse said.

"Think about it Sara, who else but a naive child would think of something so phallic? And then have the audacity to put it on the center of our foreheads?" The horse shook its head. "Pure ones tend to project what they want to see and never you mind what is actually in front of them."

"Yes, I was just telling the mare something about that myself. You took my words. I was saying that not you!" A mouth appeared in the stream and was talking; it seemed, to the mare.

Sara looked at the stream and studied the shape. It was a mouth formed out of the water that moved when it spoke. And it was talking again, "I was just saying that was a common mistake for young people, to see something innocent as they are." The mare looked at the stream and said, "You did not. I just told you as much, you are just being difficult."

Sara laughed, "Oh, I get it. This must be a babbling brook."

The mouth sputtered. "I don't babble, I never! How rude!" as the mouth spoke it floated down the stream. The mouth followed the water and continued to mumble about rudeness and talking with someone was not considered babbling. Sara called out "Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you." But the mouth continued to float away. The mare was sitting on the other side of the stream and Sara felt somewhat safe about sitting down on the banks of the other side. "I never knew that about unicorns. It makes a kind of sense though." Sara thought to herself, what's phallic about a horn? She shook her head, "So what are you?"

Sara looked at a plant that was growing near the stream and again noticed the glitter. She touched it and came away with glitter stuck to her hand. "And what is this stuff?"

The mare grinned and replied, "Never you mind what I am. And that stuff if fairy poo."

"Fairy... poo?" Sara shook her hand and then started to wash it off in the stream. The mouth appeared and started to scream with outrage. "AAA! Gross. I'll have that taste in my mouth for a week now." It sputtered and spit water into the air. Again the mouth floated away downstream complaining about the rudeness of young women. Sara called out again, "Sorry!" as she watched the mouth float away.

Sara sat there in silence looking at the stream, not knowing what to say next. She looked up and saw the mare had its head cocked and had one red eye looking at her. "He loves you, you know that don't you?" The mouth had come back but was silent.

"Who are you talking about?" Sara looked down at her folded hands.

"Sara, didn't I just say that you were not a young naive child? You know who I'm talking about. The King." The mare glared at her.

Then the mare did something truly awful. It told Sara the truth. "He has made this kingdom for those who didn't have a home. He has protected those who needed his help. He was done everything you have asked of him. He was made a place for you in his home and his heart."

Sara stood up with a growing scene of panic. She wasn't ready for the truth. She didn't want to hear it.

"No..." She backed away. She began to think of what Jareth had done. He did make her a room; it seemed to be made for her. He did come and take her away from the life she was scared to face, he had helped, and asked for nothing. But he was cruel, he had poor manners. But was that really true? He looked at her in the garden, what was that look? Fondness? Possiveness?

"No..." Sara shook her head and stumbled on a rock, she fell backwards. She scrambled up and started to run. "NO!"

"Why are you running away from the truth Sara? Why do you run from what he could give you?" the mare began to laugh as Sara ran away. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she couldn't stay here.

The mouth frowned in the waters then said to the mare, "Why did you do that? I didn't know that you were for Jareth?" The mare smiled. "I'm a nightmare. I show people there deepest fears that lay buried in their hearts and bring it to the surface. I'm supposed to cause fear and scare people."

High above the owl took flight and followed Sara. The mare had helped him after all. It was now time to move in for the kill.

Sara ran blindly into the Labyrinth. She was still surrounded by trees, but in passing she saw glimpses of the ever changing wall. As she ran it was as if the trees were trying to slow her down. It became denser; twigs were catching on her clothes, ripping her sleeves, scraping her hands. Sara finally slowed down and began to walk, but in her hast to get away she wasn't mindful of where she was going.

She was falling down, down into a hole. There were no helping hands this time, just a fall, down into the darkness, down into the unknown. Sara landed with a thump on her rear. She knew that she had fallen a long way, but she didn't hurt herself to land.

She stood and looked from where she had come. The opening was very far away, and the hole looked so small, that just off in the distance there was just a hint of a light. How far had she fallen?

"Hello?" She knew no one would answer. From the looks of things she had fallen into another oubliette. Suddenly the conversation with the mare didn't matter as much. Sara wiped away tears she didn't know had fell and looked around. She remembered the last time she was in a place like this. Last time there was a door along the wall. Hoggle had appeared and helped her out using that door. If the door was opened one way it lead to a broom closet, but opened the other way it lead out.

It was dark where she was, she could hardly see her hand in front of her face. But she was determined to find a way out. Sara stumbled around till she reached the wall and started to feel her way around the oubliette. Slowly she felt up and down, and started around the room. It was circular, and the walls felt damp, but there was no door.

After she had tried the walls at least twice she stopped. She felt like she going in circles. There didn't appear to be any doors, and crevices, not much of anything at all. Just the hole from where she had fallen far above her head.

Sara put her back against the wall and slowly sat back down. Alone with her thoughts was a bad place to be. There was no running away and nothing here to stop her from thinking about him. Jareth. The Goblin King. The mare has said love. Love. It was almost a cuss word. And most certainly it had to be perverse if it was able to be felt by someone as cruel as Jareth.

But was he cruel? He could be painfully honest with her in what the truth. And that hurt her. It hurt to know the truth. Toby. He could still be alive and well. Living in a fairytale world that most would dream about.

A smiled reached her lips as she thought of her little brother. The time he had started to talk. Sara laughed a little. She remembered the time when they were all around the dinner table and Toby had looked at Sara and said "Ludo." Their parents just thought it was baby babble, but earlier that night Ludo had come to say hello, and the two of them had become fast friends. For weeks afterward he would walk around calling for him. And all the while Karen was following him telling him to say "momma."

And he could be here now, with her. Alive. And that wasn't all that troubled her. It seemed that everything that Sara wanted Jareth had done. Even when it seemed wrong, or unfair, it was what she wanted. Be careful what you wish for right? Wishes could be dangerous; they could break your heart.

Thinking that sitting here in the darkness was doing nothing for her mood; Sara again stood and tried to find an exit. She could see from the hole above that the day was fading and she didn't want to spend the night in this kind of darkness. If it was dark now, image full night, in a strange place.

Touching her way around she still found nothing, but bumped into something with her hip.

"Aaahh" she stifled a scream. That wasn't there before. She stared back the way she had come when she bumped into something on that side as well. She stood very still, for she knew that she wasn't alone anymore.