It had been a hard day followed by a hard night, but eventually it ended.

A pinprick of light heralded the dawn that morning, though few were around to see it. Sarah didn't see it, she was deeply asleep, the terrors of the Goblin King and Queen for now forgotten while she was lost in slumber. Beth didn't see the sun rise either, she had cried herself to sleep hours ago. David however did, he watched it rise above the horizon until it became so bright that he couldn't bear to look at it any longer. During his nightly patrol he had been watching the sky for hours deep in thought.

There was much to do that day.

Beth had made an announcement first thing that morning; the camp had to be made secure. The beast, while being large could climb, so all the branches in the trees surrounding the encampment which could possibly support it's weight had to be cut down, lest it managed to make it's way up into the living area. The thought of the massacre which would occur made everybody's blood run cold and everybody was doing there bit to help out.

Sarah had been paired to work with David and she didn't think that it was by chance, despite his gruffness he seemed to be growing fonder of the younger girl. Sarah reminded him of a little sister that he had left behind in the aboveground. She was carrying the branches that he chopped down to a large pile in the centre of the clearing which was supposed to be a bonfire. However the two men who were trying to light it were having difficulties due to the previous night's rain.

"Ow! Stop it!" Sarah's laugh was contagious and David joined in as he continued to flick small nuts, which resembled tiny purple acorns, at Sarah from his vantage point up in the tree.

"If you don't stop it David, so help me I'll…."

"You'll do what?" He scoffed good naturedly as he plucked another nut and threw it at her gently, making it bounce off the top of her head. He laughed until Sarah grabbed a handful of acorns from the forest floor and hurled them back at him. He roared with laughter, while Sarah giggled on the ground six feet below him.

Then he stopped.

The easy grin dropped off his face and his expression darkened as he threw another branch to the ground. Sarah turned around to see what he was looking at, half expecting the Goblin King to be standing behind her as she couldn't think of anything else which would have such a severe impact on David's mood. She didn't realise that she had been holding her breath until she released it, relaxed. It was only Beth. She was walking across the clearing, deep in conversation with Abigail, who had spent the night looking after Alice, who was still incapable of speech after finding her friend's body.

Beth, much to Sarah's surprise, was dressed up. Instead of her usual functional uniform, of dirty jeans and raggy tops, she was wearing a clean, simple though very pretty pale blue linen dress, the wide sleeves of which were billowing in the wind.

She was going to see the Goblin King.

Sarah was worried. She didn't know the details of the trade between Beth and the Goblin King, and although she hadn't known the girl long she knew that she would give her life if it meant that the others were kept safe. What if she never came back? If this trade involved Beth giving herself to the Goblin King he could turn her into, well god only knows what. After all Sarah hadn't even seen half of the creatures residing in the Labyrinth. Judging by the look on David's face, he probably wasn't the best person to ask about Beth, however Sarah was determined to know if she was going to be alright, and Sarah really didn't have anybody else to turn to. However when she saw the hurt and anger in David's face as he watched Beth walk away, Sarah's courage failed. She would ask him later when the bonfire had been lit and he'd had a rest and something to eat. And hopefully he'd be in a better mood.

She eventually cornered him just after sundown, by which time Sarah's anxiety had increased tenfold. It wasn't like Beth to miss curfew, infact it was completely out of character for the older girl.

"David?" Sarah asked tentatively.

He was lost in his own dream-world and didn't hear her speak.

"David!" She called again, waving her hand in front of his eyes.

He looked up with a mock glare.

"What's up?" he asked her, staring off into the distance after seeing the agitated look on her face.

Sarah really really didn't want to ask David about Beth, or the Goblin King. At every point during the day when either of them had been mentioned in passing conversation, his face had turned so dark and she could have sworn that his left eye almost began to twitch. She screwed up her courage to the sticking place and prepared to face the lion.

"I'm worried about Beth. She isn't back yet."

"She won't be back tonight" he said quietly, almost without emotion. He was a lot calmer than she expected. "Beth will remain in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City tonight."

"I'm worried about you too" Sarah coaxed, trying to get him to open up a little more.

"Don't be" he replied gruffly.

"I can't help it. David I'm so scared" tears were threatening to fall but she blinked them away, "first Mary, then you and Beth! You look as though you haven't slept, and I know for a fact that you've barely eaten all day."

"You been watching me?" he grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes and she didn't return his smile. "Sarah, I'm fine" he insisted, preparing to walk away.

But she stopped him. "Why did you break up with Beth?" she demanded, though not unkindly.

"I really don't want to talk about this."

"Because it doesn't seem to have made either of you happy" she continued.

"Beth chose her bed, and she can ruddy well lie in it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked feeling frustrated as she watched David's back retreat down the walkway.

"Just let it go Sarah!" he called as he disappeared into the darkness.

She sat there for a while, mulling things over in the darkness, but she couldn't make sense of what was going on. There was a hole in the middle of the puzzle and nobody seemed willing to fill her in.

Sarah didn't like being on patrol, nobody did really. Watching incase some nightmarish monster attacked was nobody's idea of fun. Normally those on patrol would gather in groups and spend the time chatting and playing cards, occasionally wandering the dark platforms. But due to recent events the group tonight was sombre, and nobody really knew what to talk about. Sarah didn't really want to join in their awkward conversations, it was simply too depressing.

It was very still out. Almost too still. It was the calm after the storm Sarah mused. Everything was so messed up and nobody seemed to know how to fix it. Mary was dead, and the beast could be upon them at any moment, Beth and David were in pieces, and nobody knew what to do to make it all better.

Sarah shivered; she'd been sitting outside too long. It was when she stood up that she heard the noise. Like a twig or a branch snapping. She looked down, hoping to see Beth returning, but there was nothing in the darkness below her. But she did catch some movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked closer she could see nothing. She ran to find the others, even if it was just her imagination playing tricks on her, they all needed to be on guard, just on the off chance that it wasn't all in her mind. She turned a corner, to pass an empty hut and nearly went flying off the edge of the walkway. When she tripped over his legs, David, who was sitting alone on the platform, grabbed the waistband of her jeans as she fell. Instead of hurtling down onto the forest floor she slammed against the wooden platform, bruising her shins and grazing her arms, which was preferable to falling to her death, though it still hurt like hell.

"You okay?" he asked cautiously.

Sarah nodded as she stood up, wincing as she moved her sore limbs. She would feel worse in the morning.

"What's the rush?" said David as she brushed herself off slowly.

"I heard a noise below, and I thought I saw something down there."

"I don't know" she felt really stupid, like a child being spooked by goblins, though goblins were real, if you knew where to look. "Whatever it was, it was large."

"It was probably just a deer or something" he reassured her, stroking her arm gently "wait here, I'll go warn the others, just incase."

After he had gone Sarah hugged herself trying to keep warm. The night felt colder now, and darker, as if somebody had put out all the stars. It was a horrible oppressive feeling. She looked down at the forest floor, though there was nothing down there for her to see.

She heard another twig snap.

There was definitely something down there. As she peered into the dark she could hear her heart pounding wildly in her chest, so loud that she was convinced that whatever was down there could probably hear it too. She heard the wind whisper her name and the hairs upon her neck stood up. She stood there, frozen in terror as she listened more closely, until she heard it again.

"Sar-wah."

"Ludo" she whispered to herself softly. There wasn't a monster down there, well there was but it was "Ludo!" she called joyously.

She heard his answering cry "Sar-wah! Sar-wah friend."

"Ludo, Ludo where are you?" she couldn't see anything below on the forest floor.

"Ludo lost. Ludo scared."

As always his speech was slow and simple, like a three year old and despite herself Sarah smiled, though nobody could see it. Sarah's heart went out to the poor creature. He must have wandered so far away from his home to find her. She wondered where Hoggle and Sir Didymus were, whether they were scouring the labyrinth looking for her, or whether they had simply gone home.

His voice snapped her back from her thoughts "Where's Sar-wah?"

"I'm up here, in the trees!" She hurried along the platform towards the ladders and stopped as she heard a low gurgling sound. The kind of sound that made your blood freeze in your veins. A sound that she'd heard on her way to the encampment all those weeks ago.

The beast was down there.

"Sar-wah, Ludo scared."

"I'm coming Ludo, don't worry."

She was about to start lowering down the ladder, so her friend could climb up when David reappeared.

"You were right, the beast has been spotted. Joseph saw him earlier by the…" he trailed off when he saw the rolled up ladder in her arms. "What are you doing?" he accused her angrily.

"My friend is down there!"

"What friend?" he asked, confused.

"One that helped me in the labyrinth, his name is Ludo. I can't leave him down there to be eaten by the beast."

She didn't see his face pale in the darkness. "Sarah you can't let him up here!"

"Look, I know he looks like a monster but…"

"He is a monster!" David interrupted insistently.

"I can't just leave him down there to be eaten by the beast."

He spoke to her gently "There's only him down there" he almost begged.

"Her majesty's pet"

"He's my dearest darling, his name is Ludo"

David and the Goblin Queen's voice echoed in her mind

"Oh God" Sarah sank to the floor, dropping the ladder on the platform beside her. It all made complete sense, how could she have been so blind. She looked down at the forest floor, which was now partially lit by torchlight. She could see him standing, waiting for her in the middle of the clearing. However he looked different. Physically he was exactly the same, with his clumpy orange fur and enormous bulk. But he was moving differently, it was more fluid, not as slow as he had previously been. And behind his eyes there was a dark intelligence. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he was enjoying it.

"He's the beast isn't he?"

David nodded, "I would have told you about him sooner, if I'd known that he knew you."

"What about the other's, they're called Hoggle and Sir Didymus.?"

"Well, I don't really know either of them particularly well personally, but what I've heard is with Hoggle; what you see is pretty much what you get. He's a mean, nasty cowardly little dwarf. In the employ of the King and Queen, though he doesn't have any loyalty towards either of them. He gets manipulated by them both."

"And Sir Didymus?" she questioned anxiously.

"He's pretty much the genuine article. As you've probably noticed his life revolves around chivalry and knighthood. Helping a fair maiden on her quest would be right up his ally. If you can get him away from that bridge."

Sarah sank and rested her head on her knees, she hated this place it was just one awful thing after another. She sat like that for several minutes, David's comforting warmth beside her. They sat like that quietly for what seemed like hours. Until eventually a new day dawned above them. The horrors of yet another night were over.

She heard footsteps approaching. She looked up to see Beth standing over her, still wearing the blue dress Sarah had seen her wearing the day before.

"Is everything ok?" Beth asked a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Everything's fine!" David snapped at her, then immediately looked guilty "I see you got back in one piece" he said, slightly brusquely, by way of an apology.

"I just got back a few minutes ago" she smiled uncertainly and it didn't quite reach her eyes. She looked sad and tired.

"I just found out that the beast aided Sarah, on the Queens command, during her time in the labyrinth."

"I just never realised that they could be the same creature. He was so slow and sweet. I never even considered him capable of hurting a fly" said Sarah.

"He's a master of manipulation" comforted Beth, sitting down and wrapping an arm around the younger girl."

"And he's very clever" added David "He could fool anybody. And the Goblin Queen encourages his viciousness."

"I doubt that King Jareth discourages him" stated Beth dryly.

"What no longer anxious to sing his praises Beth?" he spat, much to Sarah's confusion "I thought he was our saviour."

"That's not fair" Beth whispered, drawing her arms around herself defensively. Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes."

Sarah was feeling distinctly uncomfortable now, being stuck between the two arguing, literally, and having absolutely no idea to what the pair was referring to. And she wasn't too sure that she really wanted to either.

"You're right it's not" he retorted as he got up and strolled off as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Both women knew it was just an act.

"He's been doing that a lot lately" Beth sighed to Sarah.

"What?"

"Storming off. Not that I blame him. Things have been a little strained between me and David lately…" she trailed off.

"You broke up" blurted out Sarah before she thought about it, and realised how uncaring it sounded.

"Yeah" admitted Beth "I guess we did. I didn't realise that you knew though."

"Everybody knows" Sarah told her apologetically, and with a slight bit more tact than her previous statement. The entire encampment had been buzzing about David and Beth all day.

"I guess it wasn't really a private affair" she conceded. Though it was a bit of an understatement considering that they had fought in front of the entire encampment.

"Beth, if you don't mind me asking, why did you and David break up?" Sarah asked cautiously.

"I don't mind you asking" she paused with a sigh, "It's not that I'm unwilling to tell you, but I really don't want to talk about it. Not tonight, or this morning now, at any rate. Ask me again sometime ok?"

"Ok."

"You look tired honey, and it's been a hard day, so don't be too long in going to bed."

"I have to stay up. I'm on patrol" Sarah informed her with a slight feeling of pride, she liked to help the group and it was rare that she got the opportunity to do anything useful.

"Well take care, I'm going to get some rest" she walked off in the opposite direction to which David had gone.

Sarah watched her go. It was such a pity that Beth and David hadn't been able to work out. They had seemed so in love. Sarah shook her head, what did she know about love? She had thought her parents had been madly in love and look how that had turned out….

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who were madly in love. And the world was a magical place, where nothing could hurt them. The colours were brighter, the air fresher and the grass greener all because they had each other.

This, however is not reality. So one day the girl did something that really hurt the boy. She didn't want to and hurting him hurt her more than she could bear. But like with many things in life she had no choice. And she kept on doing it and doing it and doing it.

And each time she did it chipped at the love they felt for each other, until little cracks started to appear. Until one day after many moons had passed in the sky above them their love shattered.

Their love was still their, in pieces. And neither of them knew how to put it back together, or how to fix it. And it hurt, it hurt both of them so much that they could hardly breath. But they could still not fix it.

Love does not conquer all.

Please feel free to leave comments on my new forum (available through the authors page!)