When Sarah woke up she felt better. At some point in the night she had drifted off into a fitful, unrestful sleep. She awoke, but lay drifting in her own thoughts. It had been a horrible dream, Toby being turned in to a goblin. As her thoughts drifted towards her little brother the corners of her mouth twitched up in a smile, he really wasn't that bad, she decided. And from now on she was going to be nicer to her stepmother, after all Karen did try her hardest to be nice. She opened her eyes and bit back a scream.

It was completely dark.

Panic rose within her as she realised that it hadn't been a dream. She really had wished her brother away to the goblins and they really had come and taken him, then the Goblin King had been there, and she'd had to run the labyrinth to win him back, she had reached the Castle beyond the Goblin City and she'd run into the room that had so many stair cases and Toby had been there, and he was climbing stairs that were impossible, and she couldn't reach him, so she'd jumped. Then the Goblin King had been there, and she could remember their conversation clear as crystal.

"Give me the child."

"Sarah, beware! I have been generous up until now but I can be cruel."

"Generous? What have you done that was generous?"

"Everything! I have done everything that you wanted! You asked the child be taken and I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you! Isn't that generous?"

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours."

"Stop! Wait! Look what I am offering you – your dreams." That had been the moment that he had offered her the crystal for the second time, it was the same one that had been offered in her parent's bedroom at the beginning when he was trying to placate her with gifts, to stop her from trying to win back her brother.

"And my kingdom as great."

"I ask for so little, just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."

She couldn't remember the line, and unlike her make believe at home she didn't have her book to look it up in. Feeling trapped she had taken the crystal.

The crystal.

She remembered it now and she took it out of her pocket, where she had stowed it during her short period of time in the throne room. She held the smooth glass up, peering into it's depths; however it was too dark to see, so she returned it to her pocket.

Suddenly she remembered the line and it made her feel sick. "You have no power over me" she muttered to herself dully before sinking her head to her knees in despair "oh Toby, what have I done?"

Although she didn't know it, Sarah had now been in the oubliette for around ten hours, making her entire stay in the underground about thirteen hours. There was no water and she was starting to feel sick from dehydration, her head was spinning and aching, her throat was sore and parched and her mouth felt uncomfortably dry and fuzzy. She unfortunately realised that she could only manage another day, perhaps two at the most without some water, and she was praying that the Goblin King hadn't forgotten about her.

"If she's not in this one we're going home!" she heard an irritated voice shouting somewhere beneath her.

Beneath her? That made no sense; she was becoming delirious from her thirst she decided as silence descended again over the oubliette. She lay back down, deciding that she would try and get a few more hours sleep as she was still feeling awfully tired. However, just as she had convinced herself that it was simply her over active imagination she heard footsteps and the sound of small pebbles being lost, then an answering call.

"You said that about the last four. Hurry up!" a second pair of footsteps could be heard, and then directly below the centre of the oubliette they stopped. Sarah peered into the darkness but could see nothing.

"Well I mean it this time!"

"You said that about the last two" the voices had now stopped shouting and were engaged in a normal conversation. "So where's the door?"

There was an answering click, followed by a crash barely a few meters away from Sarah as they opened a trapdoor. The room was suddenly bathed in light. Sarah shielded her sensitive eyes for a few moments, allowing them to become slowly adjusted to the light. When she reopened them there were two figures standing in front of her, on closer inspection they seemed to be a normal man and woman. The woman was quite tall with curly honey-blonde hair which was secured with a dark coloured headscarf, she was practically dressed in a pair of tattered jeans which seemed to have been repaired many times as they were covered in patches and darns, on the top she had a peasants style red tunic which was secured by a rough brown leather belt.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively, approaching Sarah as if she were a wild animal that was likely to bolt at any moment. After all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours Sarah was just unable to cope with any more and she just stared at the woman dumbstruck. "Umm do you speak English?" the woman tried again smiling. There was something comforting about her friendly tone and Sarah nodded mutely.

"I'm Beth" she introduced herself "and this is David" she gestured to her companion who was dressed in similar attire, he was unshaven with messy dark hair and there was an impatient gleam in his cobalt blue eyes.

"And do you have a name then?" he asked her gruffly.

"Sarah" she whispered "my name's Sarah."

"Well then Sarah" he stepped towards her, offering her his hand "how about we get ourselves out of this goddamn pit?"

Sarah smiled at him tentatively as he took another step towards her slowly. As he did so Sarah felt a sudden strong breeze drift across her face and down the back of her neck, she assumed it was coming from the grate where she had been thrown in. There was a loud crash as the trapdoor slammed shut.

"Oh crap!" he muttered as he dove to his knees and started looking for the door that they had come in through. He ran his fingers thorough the dirt on the floor, hunting desperately for the ridges, or a crack or any sign of where the trap-door lay below him, however he found none, the floor was solid rock, as if a doorway had never existed. It could only be opened from the other side.

His companion, Beth, was standing in the corner watching him crawl around in the dirt with what could only be described as a vaguely amused look on her face. "If you think for one moment I'm going to be washing those trousers now mate you've got another thing coming."

"I'm glad you find all this so damn funny" he spat, the last threads of his patience with her snapping.

"It's not a big deal, the trapdoor's shut, that's all. Calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down! We are trapped in a god-forsaken oubliette and no-one knows where we are."

"Ummm" started Sarah, piping up for the first time "how are we going to get out of here?"

"Don't you worry kitten" Beth replied softly "we'll have you out of here in a jiffy."

"And how do you propose to do that? Sit around and wait for King Jareth to come and let us out?" David snapped.

Seeing the distressed look on Sarah's face at the mention of her captor Beth immediately changed the subject, sliding down the wall inelegantly she sat down next to Sarah and spoke in a conspiratorially low voice. "David" she whispered "knows how to get inside every oubliette in the labyrinth, all two-hundred and forty-five of them."

"Forty-eight" he interrupted "there's two-hundred and forty-eight."

"All two-hundred and forty-eight" she amended before continuing. "However, he knows his way out of" she paused for dramatic effect "four."

"Five" he argued, and she simply ignored him.

"Does that mean that we're stuck in here then?" Sarah asked her croaky voice barely more than a whisper, worry lines creasing her pale and tired face. She had to get out of here and find Toby, then get home before her parents went mad with worry.

"God no!" Beth laughed "I do know my way out of most of the oubliettes, including this one you'll be pleased to know."

David shot her an incredibly dirty look "Well, open it up and let's go!" he told her impatiently.

Beth rolled her eyes and knelt down by the skeleton, scanning the wall carefully. She stayed there for some time, until she found what she was looking for. There was a small stone sticking out of the wall slightly, barely more than a pebble, small enough that you could only really see it if you knew that it was there in the first place. Sarah would have had no hope searching for it in the dark. She turned it sharply counter clockwise, then back clockwise, then the other way again. Then a section of stones in the wall behind her moved up with a slow grating noise to reveal a tiny doorway, barely three feet by three feet.

"After you" she gestured to David, who shot her another dirty look before crouching down and crawling off into the darkness. "Now you Sarah" she instructed and Sarah did as she was told, following David and the small amount of light that was coming from his lantern. She could hear Beth crawling behind her, though the tunnel was too narrow for her to turn around and look. Unbidden, the image of Beth turning into a bony wraith, like the skeleton from inside the oubliette came to Sarah's mind, though she quickly shook it off as she approached a dim light signifying the end of the tunnel, it joined a much larger one, like the one Sarah and Hoggle had encountered the Goblin King the day before. It seemed like another lifetime ago to her now.

As Beth stood up she glanced around nervously, Sarah turned her attention to David who was doing the same, "Best get moving" he told them, "the cleaners were hanging about earlier and we don't want to run into them." Beth nodded her agreement and the trio set off, at what Sarah considered a gruelling pace. They had been walking for just over two hours when David suddenly stopped.

"Can you hear that?"

"The cleaners?" asked Beth worriedly.

He put his ear to the wall and listened carefully for a few moments. "I think that they're in the next tunnel over."

"We're not risking it" Beth told him firmly "It's dangerous up top admittedly, but if the cleaners are doing a sweep they'll be in this tunnel eventually, and I don't want to get trapped in a tunnel somewhere."

Secretly Sarah was relieved to be leaving the dark murky tunnels behind them; she wanted to get out into the open. Thankfully, the ladder to climb out of this section of the underground labyrinth wasn't even half as high, but it still left her panting and exhausted when she finally reached the top. The three of them clambered out of a small hole that had been left uncovered in the corner of a small square, surrounded by lush green hedges. Sarah squinted in the bright, to her eyes which had been in darkness for half a day, sunlight, and breathed a huge sigh of relief from being out in it again. Like the day before the sky was overcast and troubled.

"So where have we come out then?" Beth asked David, watching Sarah drink desperately out of a small fountain.

"Somewhere in the hedges, right side of the castle though" he replied peering off into the distance.

"That's good; we'll be back in just under an hour or so."

"Provided we don't run into trouble along the way" he took his middle finger and ring finger and pressed them to his palm using his thumb. Beth mirrored his action.

"What are you doing?" asked Sarah, who was beginning to feel slightly more confident now that she was out in the daylight.

"Just a silly superstition, we all do it" Beth smiled "it's to ward off evil."

"Like what?"

"Like when you don't want something evil to happen to you, such as running into trouble on your way home. Like touch wood" she suggested at Sarah's puzzled frown.

"Where are we going?" Sarah wondered suddenly, she was following them on good faith, anything had been better than the terrible darkness and thirst of the oubliette, but now she was outside she felt less inclined to follow them blindly.

"A safe-house" Beth replied, she had been expecting these questions for a while, she had been surprised, given how far Sarah had gotten through the labyrinth, that the girl had come with them so docilely. The labyrinth took a fair amount of tenacity and pluck to succeed. But now Sarah was regaining her feet.

"How do I know it's safe?" Sarah replied coolly. "I mean I barely know you, you've told me nothing about you!"

Beth looked around quickly "You can trust us, I promise. We're just like you, the wishers."

Comprehension dawned on Sarah slowly "You wished children away?" She asked, her pretty features creased into a deep frown.

Beth nodded "And I will tell you everything, you want to know I promise. But not here, it's not safe Sarah; we need to get back as soon as possible."

Sarah paused; weighing up her options, on the one hand Beth and David had rescued her from the oubliette, and seemed to want to take her someplace safe, with other people who had wished away children. And if they turned out to be agents of the Goblin King the worst that they could do was deliver her back to him and throw her in another oubliette. On the other hand she could not trust them and remain here, venturing out on her own, with no supplies, basically on the other hand she had nothing. She was tired and hungry and wouldn't get far on her own. Anyway, she argued with herself, if they were working with the Goblin King why would they have rescued her from the oubliette in the first place?

She decided to take a risk and trust them.

"Okay then" she spoke determinedly, feeling strengthened by the water "Lets go."

They set off at a fairly brisk pace as the couple; Beth in particular, seemed to be anxious about trekking large distances of the labyrinth out in the open. They had been walking just over an hour when she stopped in her tracks suddenly "Did you hear that?" she whispered, fear all over her face, as she nodded towards a large section of the crumbling wall that they had been walking parallel to for the last five minutes or so. They were still in the stationary, upper segment of the labyrinth but had recently entered an older section, compromising of brick walls, quite like those on the outer walls, rather than the hedges that dominated the upper half.

Sarah shook her head, she hadn't heard anything, but then again she hadn't really been listening. Perhaps Beth was simply being paranoid Sarah mused, after all she did seem awfully jumpy, but then, suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a strange noise coming from the other side of the wall. There was a scraping sound, like too-long nails being dragged roughly along a stone wall, she could hear bits of mortar and small, loose pieces of brick dropping to the ground, it was accompanied by a low gurgling sound that made the hairs on her neck stand on end and her blood run cold.

"What is that?" Sarah asked, almost half to herself, as she wasn't really sure that she wanted to know what kind of creature could make such a noise, and cause such a fearful reaction in all three of them.

The other two were both scanning the pathways wildly, waiting to see which direction the threat was coming from "There's no time to explain" David told her, looking over her shoulder, while Beth watched the other direction "we have to run as soon as we know where it is." Sarah just nodded, her heart beginning to pound with fear. Unknown to her, adrenalin was starting to coarse through her system, causing her to breath deeply, inhaling more oxygen preparing her muscles to allow her to run for her life. A snapping of a twig, slightly to the south indicated the thing's position. The trio turned and looked at each other before bolting as fast as they could in the opposite direction. Sarah was no champion athlete, but she kept up with the other two admirably, when she stumbled on the uneven ground David grabbed her, half dragging her to keep her on her feet. She didn't look back. She didn't want to see the nightmare creature that had them all so terrified.

Eventually they slowed, much to Sarah's relief, she was exhausted, breathing heavily as her lungs burned and her muscles screamed. She held herself up, bracing her arms against her thighs as she hunched over, inhaling precious oxygen as hard as she could. A few minutes later, her breathing had calmed and she was able to pant out "What was that thing?"

Beth, who was hunched over in a similar state to Sarah shook her head, at present she was in no fit state to reply, so it was David who eventually spoke, his voice punctuated by ragged breaths as he inhaled deeply, "That… was the beast."

"The beast?" Sarah asked, a cold feeling in her stomach from the choice of names, she wanted to know more about it, but at the same time part of her didn't want to hear more, so she could pretend, like with childhood monsters that it simply didn't exist.

"A nightmare creature, a monster, feeds on humans when it can, anything else the rest of the time. We were lucky to have the chance to get away. It's fast, it's strong and it's really really smart, and it enjoys the kill. Of all the foul and loathsome creatures that abide in the labyrinth it's the worst, if you ever see it or hear it, you run as fast as you possibly can because it's the only chance you will have." He paused for a moment "Her majesty's pet" he spat out.

Her majesty.

Realisation kicked in, her majesty, the woman from the throne room.

The Goblin Queen.

As Beth started to recover they all set off walking again and very soon reached their destination, the crumbling wall section of the labyrinth had ended some distance ago and they were now walking through a large airy forest, Sarah was pretty sure, though she didn't know for certain, that this wasn't the same stretch of woodland that bordered the Bog of Eternal Stench, as the two places didn't even look remotely similar. The woods before had a haunted, misty quality, as if the branches would reach out and grab you as you walked past, but this forest was very different, it felt safe. Sarah had seen pictures of the giant redwood trees that grew in California; however she had never had the opportunity to see one for herself, if she had, she would have had something to compare these trees to. They were enormous, very wide and so impossibly high that Sarah couldn't see the tops where they met the bright blue sky. At the base there was a large, intricate network of roots, which Sarah knew, the moment that she set eyes on them that she would be tripping over endlessly.

As they walked deeper into the woods they came across a small path, it wasn't very wide and they had to walk down it single file, but it was there, leading the way all the same. They followed the path until they came to a small clearing which was flooded with sunlight. In the midst of this open space were a set of ruins, although Sarah's untrained eye couldn't tell what they used to be. It had in fact, once upon a time, been a monastery, where monks from the new religion had fled to worship in sanctuary, until they were eventually discovered and driven out just shy of seven-hundred years ago. The Goblin King had then taken all of the wealth, and most of the stone to invest in some of his personal projects, and it was rumoured that he had used much of it to build a room full of stairs in the castle, though nobody had ever been able to confirm it's existence so far. All that was left of what had once been a beautiful collection of buildings was a few crumbling walls, some with massive archways indicating where fabulous stained-glass windows once resided. There were slabs of slate on the floor showing the previous positions of smaller buildings. The central feature of the ruins was the great hall, the four walls and the door were still in tact, however the roof had been missing for many centuries. This hall alone gave an indication of the former glory of the new religion, which had all but died out in these days of trouble within the underground.

In the trees above the ruins Sarah noticed a collection of little huts and shacks that had been built among the branches, connected by an intricate set of rope ladders and drawbridges. The labyrinth was a dangerous place, and the residents of the forest felt much safer above the ground, where they couldn't be caught unawares by the monsters which resided here.

As Sarah looked around her surroundings in awe Beth spoke to her with a warm smile on her face.

"Welcome home."

Willow Halloway – Sarah doesn't really warrant pity I agree, but I do kinda feel for her in the way that she didn't really mean to wish him away, and she desperately tried to get him back but forgot the words, that's the factor that made her take the crystal – a complete lack of other options, but admittedly she was stupid!

Dawn- I kinda got sick of fics where it's like "oh I'd never turn a child into a goblin I'm oh so nice, which is why my labyrinth is so easy – here have a sandwich" ect I wanted to try something different with a not so nice Jareth

Solea - I'm so not happy with you for predicting where I was gonna put my trap door – that was really mean of u - xxx

Amy- Ur reviews always make me smile so keep em up! Jareth's "I will be your slave behaviour" will be addressed in the next few chapters – this is the more the way I see him from the movie, which is completely different to how I portrayed him in my last fic (he was a lovely guy in that – and in this – well he did just turn her little brother into a goblin)