Within the Underground, Sarah and Toby materialized on the hill overlooking the Labyrinth, and instantly found themselves knee-deep in snow. Right away, they were assaulted by an unexpected chill in the air. Unable to hold back a shiver from the bitter weather, Sarah looked around in shock. Everything around them was covered with snow and ice.
"What happened?" Sarah voiced her shock at the terrible weather around them. It was at that moment that a particularly frigid wind blew by, making everything seem even colder than it already was. With a small whimper, Toby hunched up, trying to keep warm while shivering against the snow. Filled with concern for her younger brother, Sarah bent down and gathered him up in her arms.
"Sarah, it's too cold," Toby moaned, still shivering.
"I know, Toby. I'm cold, too," Sarah replied. "Well, we can't stay here. We need to find some place to get warm." Keeping Toby tucked firmly against her in an attempt to shield him from the cold, Sarah started to shuffle off.
"Cu…Chu?" Sarah stopped in her tracks at hearing the familiar sound.
"Theseus?" Sarah turned towards the voice. Sure enough, Theseus the gremlin was standing behind her, his yellow fur heavily caked with snow. However, his large black eyes widened with happiness upon seeing Sarah.
"Cu-CHU!" Theseus cried, scampering over to rub against Sarah's legs in greeting.
"It's good to see you, too, Theseus," Sarah laughed, smiling down at the gremlin. "Where are the others?"
Theseus smiled happily and started heading off down the hill with Sarah following close behind. Very soon, Theseus had led Sarah to a small wooden cottage located in what had once been the gardens outside the gate to the Labyrinth. Beneath the crack under the door, Sarah could make out the flickering light that usually came from a blazing fire. Knowing that fire meant warmth, Sarah carefully lowered Toby to the ground so she could knock on the door. She only had to wait for a few seconds before it opened, allowing her to be welcomed by the sight of Hoggle standing inside the cottage.
"Sarah!" Hoggle cried in joy. "You've came back!"
"It's good to see you, too, Hoggle," Sarah smiled at her friend as he stepped aside to usher everyone into the cottage. Looking around, Sarah caught sight of some of her other friends, Ludo, Prometheus, and Sir Didymus, gathered around a fire that was burning in the stone hearth. All three of them greeted Sarah warmly upon seeing her, with Ludo budging over to allow room for her and Toby by the fire. Theseus, not waiting for an invitation, had already curled up in front of the fire like a pet cat.
As Sarah sat down, she took notice of a female fox she recognized as Lady Berdine, whom she had met very briefly on her last visit, sitting next to Sir Didymus. Lady Berdine was cradling something in her arms, and when Sarah took a second to get a better look at the bundle, she saw that it was a baby fox, fast asleep.
"Lady Sarah," Sir Didymus beamed upon noticing Sarah looking at the baby fox, "may I present to you Reynard."
"In other words," Prometheus spoke up, "Didymus and Berdine's newborn son."
"Oh, congratulations!" Sarah cried, grinning at the two foxes.
"Thank you, Lady Sarah," Lady Berdine nodded. "I just wish he hadn't been born in such a dangerous time."
The moment she said this, Sarah remembered the harsh weather outside the hut.
"Hey, guys, what happened here?" she asked her friends. "I know I've only been here a few times, but everything's covered in snow. That can't be normal weather, can it? I mean, it's summer back in our world."
"I'm afraid it is bad, Sarah," Hoggle confirmed, offering her and Toby bowls of a thick chowder. "The seasons in the Underground have always mirrored the ones in your world. But I think it's better if you wait until Stac…I mean, Queen Stacey arrives. She's with Daedalus right now, reinforcing the enchantments protecting this hut. As the Goblin Queen, she naturally knows more than the rest of us."
"I've told you before, Hoggle. I always tell you everything as soon as I learn it. I have no secrets, my friend. Especially not from you." As if on cue, Stacey had appeared in the doorway of the hut, with Daedalus the saw-whet owl perched on her shoulder. She was currently fixing the dwarf with a gentle but tired smile. "
Once again, Sarah felt a smile stretch across her face upon seeing another old friend. Stacey looked exactly as she remembered, with the exception of her hair. While it had been left as its natural blonde, silver highlights had been applied to the golden tresses.
"So, Queen Stacey?" Sarah asked, a teasing tone in her voice."
"Well…yeah," Stacey shrugged, looking a bit self-conscious. "You kinda missed the coronation. Sorry about that. I would have sent you an invitation, but there are no cross-dimensional post offices. And besides, we figured you had enough to think about with college classes."
Suddenly checking herself, Sarah started to bow respectively, but Stacey held up a hand to stop her.
"No, Sarah," Stacey smiled in partial amusement. "There's no need for the formalities. I come here to the Border Garden all the time just to get away from it. As I'm constantly reminding Hoggle, bowing and calling me things like 'Highness', and 'Majesty'; that's not necessary. You're my friends. I'd much rather all of you to continue calling me Stacey. That's who I was first, and that's who I'll be forever."
"Okay," Sarah agreed, stopping in mid-bow to respect Stacey's wishes. Instead, she greeted her with a friendly hug. "It's really good to see you, Stacey. I've missed you."
"I missed you, too, Sarah," Stacey agreed as the hug ended. "And in response to your questions, it began six months ago. That's when the snow first began to fall. For a while, no one worried too much about it. After all, it was around that time when snow usually fell in the Underground, so it was seen as perfectly normal. But there was no change in the weather, even when it was the usual time for spring to arrive. The sun stopped shinning altogether, and the snow on the ground never melted. It was as if we were stuck in an endless winter. To make matters worse, two weeks after we began to suspect something was wrong, denizens of the Labyrinth started disappearing without a trace, almost as if they were simply erased from existence. Unless I'm mistaken, we're probably the only ones left by now. Everyone else is gone, including the entire goblin army and Prometheus' friends. Even Ambrosius has gone missing."
"No," Sarah gasped in shock, looking around the cottage. Was Stacey right? Was the small handful of beings in the hut all that was left? "That can't be true."
"I'm afraid it is, Sarah," Daedalus spoke up. "I myself saw it happen once. I was off hunting mice in the Labyrinth, and happened to meet up with the Wise Man who lives outside the hedge maze. One moment he was there, and I looked away for just a moment. When I glanced back, he'd vanished completely. And I know the Wise Man couldn't just run and hide somewhere in that small amount of time that I looked away. His advanced age prevents him from moving anywhere fast enough."
"Can we help?" Toby suddenly asked, speaking for the first time since arriving in the Underground.
"I don't know, Toby," Stacey bowed her head, sounding completely defeated and hopeless. "I don't even know what we're up against. Not bad work, huh? I'm Goblin Queen for less than a year, and I can't even stop something like this from happening."
"It's not your fault, Quee... sorry, Stacey," Hoggle stepped in, placing a comforting hand on her arm. "No one could have prevented it, and you're doin' what you can. After all, you were the one who cast the protective spells over this cottage, to keep the rest of us from disappearin' as well."
"Sir Hoggle is right, my liege," Sir Didymus agreed. "And ye have even been working at bringing all the scrolls from yon castle's archives, to try and find some information on what has been happening." As he spoke, Sir Didymus gestured to the corner of the cottage, where a large pile of scrolls resided.
Before Stacey could respond to her friends' supportive words, the door creaked open, letting in a frigid breeze as a female dwarf in a simple olive green dress entered the cottage. Without any hesitation, she stepped over to Hoggle and hugged him tightly.
"Hello, Hoggle," she gushed.
"Uh, hello to you too, Primrose," Hoggle replied, patting her back. "But what were you doing out there, anyway? You know that you might disappear as well if you leave the cottage."
"Aw, were you worried about me?" Primrose smiled, squeezing Hoggle's arm affectionately. "I was only trying to help by seeing if there was anyone else left besides us."
"Sarah, Toby, this is Primrose, a newcomer to these parts," Stacey introduced briskly. "She appeared at the gates of the Labyrinth sometime after your last visit to the Underground, Sarah, and she's been living here ever since." Noticing something in Stacey's tone, Sarah chanced a look at the Goblin Queen to see she was eyeing the two dwarfs in badly masked irritation. Daedalus must have noticed it too, for he chose that moment to speak.
"Primrose, come join us and have some chowder," he invited. "There are still plenty of scrolls we haven't gotten around to examining. Once all of us have been fed, I think we should all try to pitch in as we search them. Hopefully, with all ten of us working together, we'll be able to find something much quicker. And the sooner we know exactly what's going on, we'll be able to come up with a way to stop it."