Chapter 31. First days in the wilderness

Gwendolyn was silent as she led the girls into the mists. She stayed within an arms reach of them as she moved forward. Sarah had settled Joey into the baby sling she wore. Within moments he was fast asleep and she was able to concentrate on walking behind the silent guide. Magda had hoisted the back pack with the supplies they packed for Joey's comfort.

The mists began to part, ever so slightly, and Sarah heard the sounds of the ocean. She looked at Gwendolyn as the guide paused to allow them to get a firm footing. They stood now on a hillside over looking the ocean. "We begin the first part of this journey," Gwendolyn led them to what looked like a little lean-to shed thing. Hanging on pegs were cloaks that mirrored the guides. "These will help protect you where we are going." She draped one of the cloaks over Sarah, and looked at Magda. "Leave your pack on your back, and cover yourself with the cloak." She nodded approvingly as the costume designer did as she was bid. "This first step was easy; the rest will not be so."

Sarah looked up and in a somewhat dazed state whispered. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered…"

Magda looked at her sharply; "That sounds familiar."

Gwendolyn removed from the pegs that had held the cloaks two pouches. "You must take these as well."

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Creatures with dark souls appeared on the steps of the brownstone, unseen by the eyes of the mundane that walked up and down the street at a leisurely pace. Silent as the grave they move though the cracks and into the building. Like snakes they slithered up the walls and over the stairs. Shrieking as they found the abode evacuated, they began to over turn things and tear at the belongings of the woman they'd been sent to destroy.

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Jareth found Puck in the park, near the arch. "Did the guild arrive in timely fashion?"

Puck nodded, "The women and the child," he paused not wanting to speak too much, not knowing if anyone else would be listening in. "The journey begins."

"And Linda?" Jareth asked softly.

"She abandoned and withdrew from the dwelling as soon as mother and child were gone." Puck was cold even though the night air was warm. "As you've ordered there are watchers protecting her and the actor."

Jareth looked about at the people who seemed to take little notice of the pair talking beneath the arch. "Good, then all is set…" He motioned the Hobgoblin to walk with him. "I've complete faith in the guide, she will protect and educate."

"Why Magda?" Puck asked suddenly in a harsh tone. "Why did you choose her as companion to the runner?" He visibly was not pleased with his King.

Jareth halted his steps, "I didn't choose her… Sarah did, and your Magda choose to accompany her… I had nothing to do with it." He denied.

"Why do I find so little comfort in your… denial?" Puck questioned coarsely.

The Goblin King smirked indulgently. "Good Puck, you have dallied long enough with the maid."

"Dallied?" he spat out. "I do not dally!"

"Then you are serious about this mortal;" Questioned the man tugging at the leather gloves that covered powerful hands.

A flood of emotions passed over the features of the Hobgoblin. "Yes, I suppose I am."

"Ah," Jareth placed one hand on the shoulder of the henchman and creature of the fabric of magic. "Then consider this a favor, for if you wish her to live among us… she must go through this trial by fire…. And once she is on the other side, you and she will always have a home within my Kingdom."

"I had thought to live with her here…" confessed the other.

"Impossible," Jareth stated removing his hand. "You know you can not live here, not for any length of time… months at best… and you know you have to return to the Fairy Lands to renew your strength… surely you don't wish to leave her behind… to age and be without." His handsome face had gone stony. His features warned that he could not be moved in this.

"It's not fair." Puck sulked as he walked again with the King.

"No, but that's the way it is." Jareth said thinking of someone else that had used the exact same words." He patted the Hobgoblin's back. "Come Puck, we've work to do."

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Lady Allison slipped away from the Queen's Court unseen, or at least she had thought she had. She made her way down to a murky little swamp that was all but forgotten by most of the inhabitants of Avalon. She called softly into the winds, "Come to me, and tell me that you've succeeded." Dark creatures, from some best forgotten nightmare appeared, cowering at her feet. They sniveled and made excuses. Allison dug nails into her palms, "I don't believe this! She is but a mortal, nothing of consequence! And you… you my little ids were to destroy her and that godforsaken misbegotten spawn of hers. You have failed me." She raised her hands and the creatures of the id screamed in pain as she destroyed them instead. Once again she was alone, she looked about her, confidant that she had dispatched her minions unseen. Settling her cloak and smoothing creases out of her skirts she turned and moved toward the palace and the Queen's Court once more.

Oberon looked at Papa, "I'd say Sarah one, Allison none."

Papa nodded, and added. "I'd say Sarah best watch her step that one is out for blood."

"This is Jareth's game…" Oberon sighed, "I fear you and I are just observers."

"Hams always like a good audience." Papa snickered.

Oberon paused, blinked and gasped. "Are you suggesting my son is a ham?"

"If the shoe fits…"

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Gwendolyn, taking the lead, moved ahead on the path. She moved slowly, gracefully and like one who had made this journey before. Once she looked over her shoulder, making sure of the pace the other two were keeping. She gauged her steps to make the journey easier for the woman carrying the sleeping child close to her heart. Sarah was growing tired, and Gwendolyn knew it, the guild found a place to take a break. "Our path will change soon," she warned the pair. "We enter the mists again, and travel though the veils."

"Just who are you Gwendolyn? Where do you come from?" Magda questioned as she sat upon a rock; her dark eyes peering at the guild from under the hood of her cloak.

Gwendolyn clasped her hands and looked at the inquisitor with set features. "I doubt who I am and where I am from would be of any use to you, Ashkenazi."

"Humor me," the Goth girl commanded.

Inclining her head slightly the guide pushed back her hood. "I am a member of a society that goes back to the days before Christianity in the British Isles. We are called the Sisterhood of the Standing Stones." She spoke quietly the powerful words. "We are mist-walkers, and guides for those who embark on a soul journey."

"Soul journey? I thought we were on an exodus…." Magda stood up. "Who sent you?"

"The one who sent me is of no importance," Gwendolyn said unmoved by the bravado of the companion. "Exodus is not precisely the right term, but one of the aspects of the journey is to keep moving and be safe." She looked at Sarah, "I've taken a vow to protect you and the child." Sarah looked at her with doubtful eyes. "This journey is for your benefit, my Lady."

"Lady?"

The guide nodded, "I promise all will be made clear as we go." She looked over her shoulder. "It grows dangerous for us to tarry here any longer. Come, Lady Sarah, Lady Magda, we must make haste…" She helped Sarah to her feet. "I know of a safe harbor for us to sup and sleep, but we must leave now."

"I'm ready." Sarah said.

"I'm not," Magda pulled her cloak tighter about her. "But let's go before I find a reason to object."

Gwendolyn moved forward on the path, took a slight job and mists appeared. "We enter, and when we come out the other side, we will be in the between… that place between the worlds… and a sanctuary."

Magda heard the din behind them, "Ok ladies, let's shuffle off to Buffalo."

Moments later Dark creatures of the Id found the spot empty.

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Jareth lounged in his throne, Puck paced. "I don't understand how you can be so calm!"

Jareth mused, "I have complete faith in the guild…"

"There is Id out there," Puck complained. "No one said anything about them having to be on the constant run from Id!"

Turning the crystal in his hand one way, he tossed it toward Puck. When the Hobgoblin caught it, it was no longer a clear glass sphere, but a ripe juicy peach. "Eat something; take your mind off your woes."

Glaring at the mystical fruit the other groaned. "I've heard all about you and peaches."

The Goblin King snickered snidely. "I'm sure you have, oh Puck you should see your face."

"Our women are in danger!" Puck snapped.

"Only if Sarah passes though danger and hardships will she learn." The King explained softly. "And she has yet to begin the real hardships of the journey. They have gone to a place the Id are not welcome, and they will rest to prepare for the next part of the journey. Meanwhile," He lowered his feet to the floor, leaving his throne. "We've our own tasks to complete."

"Such as?" The petulant Hobgoblin asked harshly.

"Preparing a home for you and the Lady Magda," the King said softly. "I assumed you wish her to be your life mate."

Puck nodded, "I do," he admitted.

Jareth motioned the other to follow him. "I've set aside a nice bit of room for you. A cottage on the edge of my wood, I know how you love woods…" He pointed out a window. "There, what do you think?"

"I think Magda is going to skin me alive." Puck confessed sadly. "She's never going to forgive me for taking her choice out of her hands."

"She'll forgive…. In time;" The King said with assurance. "But she's going to give you hell at first."

"And Lady Sarah; will she be forgiving?" Puck ventured the question that had been on his mind.

Jareth shrugged. "It matters not," his voice was dry. "Sarah can rail at me until the end of days and it will not change the facts. I am the Goblin King and she has given birth to my son, the Midsummer's Seedling."

"You're taking lot for granted, aren't you?"

Jareth shrugged, a quirk of a smile playing at the corner of his lips. "She is mine…she always was… I was but waiting for her to… grow a bit…"

"They have a name for you in her world," Puck said as he stepped away from the window.

"And what would that be?" Jareth asked leaning on the window frame, looking out over his beautiful and dangerous Labyrinth. How it reminded him of his Sarah.

"Predator," Puck called back.

Jareth's head rolled back ever so slightly as he began to laugh cruelly.

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Sarah sat on the bench in the common room, feeding Joey quietly and speaking to him the words all mothers spoke to a nursing child. Magda sat drinking from a horn cup the cool spring waters Gwendolyn had poured for her. "You are both doing well;" Praised the guide.

Magda looked about the shelter they had taken refuge in, it was indeed a safe haven filled with the feelings of peace. "How old is this place?"

"It is not recorded in time…." Gwendolyn sighed. "Time is of little meaning where we are bound."

"Little meaning?" Magda asked.

It was not Gwendolyn that answered, but Sarah. "We are bound for the Ethereal Plane."

Cocking a brow up, Magda sniffed. "Well why didn't someone say that in the first place?"

Gwendolyn provided a meal for the mortal women, and sat quietly watching them eat. Magda blinked, "Don't you eat?" The guide shook her head, and the Goth girl frowned, "I suppose you aren't mortal."

"Not precisely," agreed the guide.

Sarah looked at her, "But you're not immortal either.

"No," agreed the guide again. "I'm not immortal."

"What are you?" Magda asked.

"Let us say I'm a creature caught in the vortex of change." Gwendolyn stated with a measure of pride.

Magda looked at Sarah, "I think it's time you told me just how this all started. I'm on the journey of a lifetime… and I think I deserve to know how it started."

"I wished my brother away." Sarah said simply.

Magda blinked. "You what?"

"I was fifteen, and pissed at the world… I was rebelling at what I felt was an injustice. I was staying home babysitting, and unknowingly said the right words to have the goblins come and take my brother away…" Sarah remembered the dark night, the storm and the appearance of Jareth. It still took her breath away when she thought of him as he had appeared that night.

"But I've seen your brother."

"I won him back," Sarah explained as she cradled the baby and cooed at him.

"Hold it!" Magda patted the flat of her hand on the table before them. "That's impossible! I know a few things about wishes and goblins… and… no one ever gets a wished away child back."

"No one but the Lady Sarah," Corrected the guide with a wistful smile.

Sarah smiled back. "It's a long story, Magda."

Getting comfortable, Magda crossed her arms akimbo and setting her face, commanded, "I'm not going anywhere, so hit me with your best shot."

A quirky little smile played on the lips of the girl with green eyes and dark hair. "Alright, you asked for it…. Once upon a time…"

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Lady Allison stood beside the Id at the shelter. "Where did they go from here?" she demanded.

"We lost them in the mists." One brave creature ventured.

"Lost them, that's impossible." The Fae woman snarled.

Another Id slithered at her feet. "They are in a place we can not go."

"Impossible," she repeated. "You are free to journey everywhere."

Every last Id now slithered about her feet, some were frantic. "Not the between," they protested. "It is hallowed ground and sanctuary."

Lady Allison's lovely face held a hideousness as she looked at the place she felt the last vestiges of Sarah's energy. "They can not stay there," she commanded her forces. "You will watch for them, and when they have left the hallowed grounds you will hunt them down! Cut down the woman and her spawn."

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Mismatched eyes like storms at sea had been watching in the crystal he'd been using to keep tabs on Lady Allison. He snickered. "Oh Lady, you've no idea of who you're messing with." He mused as he lifted the now misshapen form of the other crystal, with its fractures and missing pieces. In its heart he could still clearly see his Sarah, telling their story to Magda while his son nursed greedily at her breast. "How easy it is for Fae to underestimate you, my dear… a mistake I'll never make again." He promised aloud. Goblins hanging over his throne looked down into the heart of the orb he held and began to murmur and make musical sounds. The lullaby was picked up by other Goblins who were milling about the throne room. Soon every Goblin in the room were swaying and making music. Jareth lounged back and joined in the song, knowing somewhere a tiny part Fae would hear the sounds and be comforted.

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Sarah finished the tale, and looked at Magda, waiting for a reaction. She didn't have long to wait. Magda picked up her hand and shook her head in strong jerking motions. "Wait, you're telling me, you ran this Labyrinth thing, and got back your kid brother…." Sarah nodded, and Magda growled sharply. "Well then how is it you didn't recognize Jay when you first met him?" She felt she had found something that was wrong in Sarah's story.

"I would have," Sarah agreed readily. "Had I seen his face! But the first time I actually saw Jay King he was wearing that mask you created for him."

"Shit! That means he used me to trap you!" Magda protested.

"You and Dido," Sarah agreed. "Remember that nifty little hand bra?"

Magda let out a long groan. "What a bastard, I'll bet it was his idea!"

"No doubt," Sarah nodded. "It's his kind of twisted humor."

"Ok," Magda stood up. "That does not explain your…" she made graphic gestures; "Little sex show on stage."

"I've given that one some thought as well," Sarah said shifting her weight. "When Robin Hayden placed that pansy on my eye… it was wet… I just thought the prop guys were getting carried away with the storyline… now I'm not so sure."

"Love lies idle?" Asked Magda then cleared her throat. "Oh that's cheating."

"That's Jareth." Sarah said knowingly.

Gwendolyn kept still, but listened to the conversation.

"Ok, so tell me this, Sarah Williams, why? Why is the Goblin King doing all this?"

Sarah looked down at her son. "I can think of several reasons… One he does not lose well…. Two, he does not give up… three…I hurt his pride…. Four… he insists that I lost…"

Magda sputtered and the water she'd just taken a sip of spewed. "He what?"

"He says I didn't win."

"Hold it," Magda growled, "I know a thing or two about these things… I didn't just paint my nails black yesterday you know!" She stood up and paced. "Tell me the story again… and don't leave anything out, not one tiny detail."

Sarah mused, "I've gone over it in my mind over and over… and He's wrong… I won. I made it to the Castle beyond the Goblin City."

Magda sat down beside her; "I hate to say this, because I know you want to believe you won… but how many times have you heard of a mortal winning when up against a Fae? We're not talking Giants and beanstalks here… we're talking High Court Fae… and a Royal at that… so there has to be something… you're overlooking for your own reasons… Sarah, you figured out he used Love lies Idle….. did he also use the antidote?"

Sarah tried to think back, "I don't know," She admitted. "But that has nothing to do with me winning back Toby."

"Go over the facts again…" Magda suggested softly. "Point by point."

Sarah shrugged, "I wished Toby away… they showed up… Jareth and the Goblins… he offered me my dreams… and got pissed when I turned them down… I demanded Toby back and stepped through the window…." She paused, thought and went on. "I met Hoggle, got bit by a Fairy, and entered the gates…"

"Hold it, you got what? Magda sputtered again.

"Bit by a fairy," Sarah raised her hand and showed her the tiny white scare that had been left. She continued the short list, "I met the talking worm, found the opening, met the ruse…solved it, and fell into the oubliette, Hoggle let me out, we talked to the false alarms ran into Jareth, insulted him, lost time, got chased by the cleaners…" looking at Magda she shook her head; " Don't ask," she took a deep breath. "I stole Hoggle's jewels, met the old man with the talking hat, Hoggle deserted me, I met Ludo, got chased by the fireies, Hoggle rescued me, we nearly fell into the bog of stench…" again she shook her head, and Magda glowered. "We met Sir Didymus, crossed the bridge, I ate the tainted peach that Hoggle gave me…"

"Tainted peach?" Magda grabbed her arm; "How much of this peach did you eat?"

Sarah closed her eyes, "I took a bite, told Hoggle it tasted strange… everything began to dance about…"

"Sarah, did you swallow?" Magda demanded, when Sarah didn't answer, the Goth girl growled. "He didn't miss a trick!" She motioned Sarah to continue.

"I then dreamed I was in a bubble in a beautiful gown floating away…." Sarah's tone and body language changed. She muttered something under her breath, continued louder. "Broke the wall with a chair, and awoke in the Junkyard where some old woman tried to tempt me with junk from my childhood…"

Magda glared at Sarah, "Go back, what happened before you broke the wall… the wall of what?"

"A ballroom."

"A ballroom?" Magda prodded; "Just a ballroom?"

"Crystal," the hesitant reply came.

Placing a hand over her eyes, the Goth girl laughed a mirthless laugh, "A Crystal ballroom… what happened there?"

"Nothing," Sarah said suddenly defensively. The other glared at her through her fingers, and Sarah conceded. "Alright, I danced with the Goblin King, are you happy?"

"He just danced with you?"

"No…." She hemmed and hawed and finally blurted out. "He sang to me while we danced. And if the clock had not sounded off… I'd have forgotten all about Toby…"

"What clock?"

"The one at the entrance to the ball room," Sarah snapped.

Gwendolyn kept still listening and recording all that was said in her mind.

Magda snapped as well, "Sarah, are you purposely trying to be obtuse?" she stood up and looked at the babe in her arms. "You're telling me all this and then you say you won? You made it through the Labyrinth?" Sarah nodded positively. "Well, listen up pal o mine, you shouldn't have…" She laughed again. "I don't know how you did it, or who was helping you or even why…but baby you lost at least three times so far." She shook her head, "I don't get it, you're a smart cookie! You should have this figured out!"

"The only think I've got figured out is that Jareth didn't like losing to a little girl." Sarah yawned.

"Little girl?" Magda snapped her fingers. "How old, how old were you Sarah?"

Gwendolyn watched, and listened.

"Fifteen… just."

Magda did some mental math and slapped her forehead. "You were too old to turn to a Goblin!"

"What do you mean I was too old to turn?" Sarah argued.

"I hate to be indelicate, but when did you start?" Magda asked.

"Start?"

Nodding the Goth girl smirked. "Start," she waited and seeing she was still unclear added. "Getting your monthly bill?"

"The summer I turned fourteen…"

"Right, so you were one year too old to turn." Magda crowed. "However you were also too young to keep…"

"Keep? Why would he want to keep me?"

Magda laughed, "You said it yourself, that business about what no one knew."

"He sent me how to age so he could…." Sarah gasped, "Oh that snake!"

"Well planed out." Magda yawned now. "We'll figure out how to get even come morning… I'm too tired to think now." She curled up on a cot that was in the corner of the room.

Sarah looked at the baby asleep in the sling, "I'm tired too… morning is soon enough to figure out how to pay back his nibs…" she yawned and got on the other cot, fixed the pillows to sleep in a seated position, cuddled her son and was soon breathing deeply.

Gwendolyn waited, when she was sure the women were both deep asleep she moved to stand between them. "Ladies," she murmured softly. "I do regret that I must prevent you from interfering with what is ordained." She took something from her pocket and sprinkled it over the pair. "Forget this evening's conversation."

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Sarah wondered in the fog, but each path led to one place, him. He stood glaring at her. "Give me the child!" He demanded. "Give me the child."

"No." she held Joey closer.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered…." Jareth intoned.

"No!" she shouted.

"To take back the child you have stolen from me…." He finished the speech.

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Sarah awoke with a start, and wept.