9 Samael

Sarah could barely see where they were going, but Devon seemed to have no problem weaving in and out of the trees at high speed, until, that is, he stopped suddenly sending both Sarah and Didymus over his head onto the ground. As Sarah stood up and brushed herself off, wincing at the bruises she'd no doubt gained from being thrown from a Jaguar at full speed onto a hard mud floor, she looked at Devon with more than a little annoyance on her face. The frown soon dissolved into a smile as she saw him grooming himself with little care at the indignity he had just caused his former riders. Typical cat.

"Well." Said Sir Didymus standing up thoroughly aggravated by the whole experience. "He may be faster than Ambrosius, but his stops leave something to be desired. I apologise profusely my lady, you deserve a better steed than I can provide you with, how can I make it up to you?"

"My dear Sir Didymus you have nothing to apologise for, to be honest I quite enjoyed that little trip, but I think you're right, he must learn how to stop better. Nevertheless, I appreciate the ride."

At that moment a most astonishing sight met her eyes. One of the mergoblins she'd seen earlier in the town she now knew to be Caracea, was swimming towards her… through the air. The top of his body was that distinctive brown colour of goblins, but was without clothes. His ears were positioned towards the top of his head and resembled cats ears with their triangular shape, and both had hair growing from the tips of them. His body was unremarkable except for three warts positioned in the shape of a triangle on his chest. What was remarkable however was the fact that instead of legs he had a smooth, shiny, seahorse tail, and he was using that to swim through the air just like a seahorse would through water. For a while all Sarah could do was stare at him open mouthed. Luckily for her he was too intent on swimming towards Sir Didymus to notice her rude gaze.

When he finally reached them he seemed to be out of breath and it took him a few minutes before he could actually speak. Once he had regained his breath he began to speak.

"Sir Didymus, forgive me, I am a dunce, I am forgetful, a fool, worse than a fool, I am an idiot, I am so sorry, I…"

"Yes, yes, well spit it out"

"I received this letter a few hours ago for you but with having to collect supplies for paint, re-tile the floors of all the houses on block 3, paint the walls of the main keep and…"

"My dear boy if you do not stop dithering and give me that letter right now I shall extract it from your hand and beat you over the head with it."

"Yes, sorry, sorry, erm, here, I'm sorry for the delay, please apologise to Jareth for me Sir Didymus."

"Jareth…" Sarah whispered, the name sending a bolt of pain through her heart. Years of repressed feelings suddenly caught up on her. She didn't realise until this moment just how much she'd missed him, how much she still did miss him. For a second she wished she'd turned left back at the turning with Worm, she'd be with him now if she had. But no, she wasn't ready for that, she wasn't ready for the answers she searched for. For now, all she wanted was her friends, the rest could wait.

"Why Samael, you imbecile, the King will be furious at this delay, now give that here that I may read it." And taking the letter from Samael he began to read it aloud.

"'Dear Sir Didymus, I have grave news concerning Sarah. She has recently been attacked, the men inflicted many extremely severe injuries on her and so for her own safety I have brought her here, to the Labyrinth. However, I feel she will not be too pleased to see me, our last parting was not on the kindest terms and I fear she will not approve of my meddling in her affairs. Therefore I send you this letter in hope that you will be able to meet her at the gates to the Labyrinth and help her through the trials that lay ahead, whether she chooses to explore the Labyrinth once more, or come directly to me. I have sent similar letters to Ludo and Hoggle so you shall all be able to provide Sarah with the help she needs. I will explain everything when next we meet, please take care of Sarah until then. Yours sincerely, Jareth.' Well I must say, that is a surprise, and so explains why I was not aware of your arrival." Didymus finished, glaring at Samael as he did so.

"But it does not explain why Ludo and Hoggle were not there, if they both got letters, why are they not here?"

"Fear not fair maiden, I am sure there is an explanation for these events, you must simply trust they shall make themselves known to you in their own time."

"I suppose you're right. But why didn't Jareth just talk to you through a crystal, it would have made sure you got it on time to be able to meet me."

"That is all down to Caracea, crystals are still crystals whether they be magical or no, and of course they float, so due to Caracea's position beneath the waves, it is impossible for crystals to float through the water to it."

"Then how did you get the letter?" Sarah asked Samael.

"Well my lady, erm, well I was above the waves in the forest, I was, collecting bark and leaves and berries and flowers from which I could make pigments to paint the houses in Caracea, that was it, I remember now. And I suddenly sees this, what did you call them, crystal, yes, crystal, just floating towards me like. So I reaches out and takes a hold of it, you see, and it suddenly becomes a letter and it's addressed to sir Didymus. So I thinks, well I'd better take it straight to him, with it being from the King and all. So I head back under the waves, but then as soon as I get to Caracea, Amsaca wants the flowers for her house, and of course Soranta wanted the leaves and bark for hers and then Barno wants to know why I didn't get enough for him, and well, I gets distracted having to go collect more, then help with the painting and the tiling and the like. But then I remembers cos I see Devon here racing by with Sir Didymus and you on his back, so I swims after them as fast as I can, but he's too fast, I can only follow him through the path he makes, but eventually I finds you, and here you go, I give it to Sir Didymus."

Sarah couldn't help but giggle at this long speech and the conviction with which it was said. In fact it amused her enough for her to forgive him for the lateness of the delivery, and even prompted her to invite him to join her on her journey at which point he briefly forgot to keep his tail moving and fell to the ground in shock, making her giggles erupt into laughter only to be silenced by the disapproving look on Sir Didymus' face as he watched Samael extract himself from the ground, but she couldn't repress them completely, and soon she was chuckling again. It felt so good to be laughing, to be truly happy. It seemed so long since she had felt like this, the only time she was happy was when she was with Toby, and that seemed so far away, another time, another world.

"Why dear lady, I would be honoured, I mean, this is amazing, thank you so much, I don't know what to say…"

"Say that and no more Samael, lest the lady will think you a blithering idiot. Now my dear, shall we continue on our journey through the labyrinth?" interrupted Sir Didymus.

"Yes I think we should, there's nothing else to do here."

And with that they continued onwards through the forest, each hoping the other knew the way, all except for Devon who trailed behind with a sly look on his face, sly even for a cat.