Chapter 7

Toby laughed all the way down the shaft of hands, tickled by fingers and gently moved down to the darkness of the oubliette. He was dangled and laughed as the last of the hands gently lowered him to the floor. Looking up he could see Hoggle being manhandled by the same hands that had been tender and gentle with him. Stepping out of the way he watched as the dwarf dropped with a crash to the bottom of the oubliette floor. The lid was shut and the room darkened except for a candle that was burning.

"We were expected," Toby observed pointing to the candle.

Grumbling and grousing, Hoggle snapped waspishly, "Of course we were!"

Toby looked at the room, "So this is an oubliette…" he commented as if he knew them intimately. "Sarah told me about them, but I never thought I'd see one."

Dusting himself off as he peeled himself off the floor, Hoggle stared angrily before exploding at the little boy, "Did you have to be so confounded disrespectful to the ruse? They would have let us pass, but no!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "No, you can't just let them get out their prose, no you've got to tell them the answer before they can finish! Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners?"

"But it was a piece of cake;" boasted the little boy, "A blind man could have seen the answer."

Hoggle slapped his face with an open hand, fingers splayed over his features, "You and your sister," he groaned. "So cocky!"

"I know what I'm doing," Toby said saucily.

--

Sarah, still quaking from the passion of Jareth's kiss, stood up and leaned on the wall watching the goblins go about cleaning the throne room. She turned to look out the window, "I wonder where Toby is now," she said aloud.

"He's in an oubliette," a voice said cheerily. "Alleo!"

Sarah looked down to find the worm on the sill of the window, "Hello," she greeted him warmly. "What did you say about Toby?"

"I said he's in an oubliette." The little goblin worm inched forward; "How's about a spot o tea?"

Sarah snickered lightly, "I don't know how to even begin requesting one…"

The worm inched forward, "Ho, Mealy, how's about tea for me and the lady here?"

Mealy, a swarthy little goblin turned and tossed his broom aside, "Tea," he perked up, "Oh that sounds loverly." He dashed off calling out, "Tea time!"

All work stopped and Sarah winced as she heard dishes crashing, "Oh great, now we'll never get them back to work."

"Sure you will lovey," encouraged the worm. "Now tell us all the latest gossip…"

--

Jefferson, still in his wedding apparel, now stood impatiently outside the Ruse Doors. The right sides up guards were eyeing him with suspicion, and the upsides down ones were snickering behind their hands. Being of an analytical mind, Jeff was taking a moment to study the situation, "What is this," he questioned aloud, "Some kind of choice test?" The Ruse guards gasped at his grasp of the concept and stared at each other. Jefferson heaved a heavy sigh and looked at one of the guards, "Before I answer any questions, I have one for you," the guard drew back glaring at the stranger. "Did a little blond boy come this way?" Jefferson held his hand out at the approximate height of Toby.

"Don't tell him," cautioned one of the lower guards, "He don't look right…"

"He's not a runner," warned the other of the upside down guards.

Setting his jaw, his lips became a grim thin line. "Fine then, how does this work?" he motioned to the doors behind the sets of guards.

"One of the doors leads to the castle," The guard on the right told him in a cheerfully sarcastic voice, while the other three heads piped in with a 'Ba ba ba bum…' "And the other one leads to certain death." The guard smiled a wide toothy smile, "Still interested?"

Jefferson closed his eyes, closing out all distractions; he could smell Toby and knew the child had indeed passed this way. "Which is which?" He asked as his eyes opened. Now they had a bit more danger in them.

The upside down guards behind their shields began to quake, "WE can't tell you." Timidly one of them pointed upward, "Only they can."

Jefferson drew in air through his flaring nostrils, "So?" his tone was demanding.

The pair of upright guards stared at him, "You can only ask one of us…." The other who had not spoken nodded in agreement; "It's in the rules… you do understand rules don't you?" His voice came fast and sneering, and at the same time his eyes shifted uneasily as he tried to size up this stranger before him. He tapped a finger on some ciphers on his shield, which were presumably the rules. "And I think I should warn you that one of us always tells the truth and one of us always lies. That's a rule, too." His glance flickered at his partner as he inclined his head sideways. "He always lies."

The partner growled, "That's a lie! I tell the truth!" The pair beneath the shield snickered and gaffed. "Shut up," the accused snapped at the pair only to be rewarded with more snickering.

Jefferson was not amused by the behavior, nor was he distracted by them, he'd come up against worse in his career. The pair at the bottom snickering behind their shields, rather insolently, added to the confusion they thought, "You see," one said coarsely, "even if you ask one of them, you won't know if the answer you get is true or false."

Pulling on his chin, Jefferson remembered a law problem discussed in one of his classes, and the professor telling him to think before reacting. "It's a riddle," he mused. "A riddle in logic…" He began to nod to himself, "Like the riddle of the Sphinx." The guards at the top of the shields glanced at each other and shrugged, while they waited for him to ask one of them the fateful question. "There's one question I can ask and it doesn't matter which one of them I ask." he clicked her tongue, as he reasoned. "What could it be? Think Jefferson; think… logic it out…" Suddenly the young man began to snicker, the sound was not pleasant. His face looked sardonic and cynical and cruel, "Of course," he mused; "Of course."

The pair of heads above the shields stared, "Of course?" one asked.

Jefferson's jaw hardened and his face became a stony mask. "It really does not matter which of you I ask, it's the question that matters." He glared at the pair, "All that matters is the question." He stepped closer, almost threateningly. "Answer yes or no. Would he," and he pointed at the guard to the right, "tell me that this door," he pointed at the door behind the guard being questioned, "leads to the castle?"

The guard not being questioned gasped out, "How did you do that? How could you come up with that?"

"Logic," Jefferson replied not looking anywhere but into the eyes of the guard being questioned. "So you rat faced pipsqueak, what's your answer?"

Jaw quivering, and a bit of drool falling from his lips, the guard answered, "Uh… yes?"

Looking at the door behind the guard, Jefferson nodded, "the other door leads to the castle, this door leads to certain death."

"Are you sure?" the heads beneath the shield questioned. "How do you know, he could be telling you the truth…"

"No, he couldn't…" Jefferson announced. "If he were than you'd be lying and the answer would be the same."

"Wait a minute," questioned the one who had been questioned with a frown. "Is that right?"

"I don't know," replied his counterpart airily. "I wasn't listening, and I never understood it myself." He snickered. "So you want to enter?" he addressed Jefferson with a cockiness.

The man in the tux narrowed his gaze, "Step aside fools," he shoved the pair apart opened the door and looked down at what was a very oblivious trap door. "Amateurish," he said frostily. "I can see that a child would miss this."

"Most of the pass through traffic here are children," the guards sniffed huffily.

Jefferson easily crossed over to the safety of the ground beyond the trap door, "What does that lead to?"

"Oubliette," answered the guard sadly from the bottom of the shield. He turned to his partner and bemoaned, "He's ruining everything!"

Jefferson moved away from the sniveling pairs of guards, he was following an inner instinct. The path was almost overgrown from lack of foot traffic. As he wandered down the path he was aware that Toby's scent was diminishing, that he was getting ahead of the boy. A plot began to develop and take shape in the analytical and systematically methodical mind of the Halfling. He could get the drop on the boy, and have a bargaining chip. He was rather certain that this Goblin King could be manipulated, after all… he lived with and ruled goblins, how powerful or smart could he be?

--

Hoggle snapped once more at the boy before walking over to the bench door that was still hung on the wall as a door, "I've had enough," he bellowed. "Let's just get you to the castle so you can do what you have to do to get back to your own world… who cares if I ever see Sarah again…it's not like she tried to keep contact…" he muttered as he walked out of the oubliette.

"You know," Toby followed the dwarf, "with your attitude I'm surprised Sarah was ever friends with you."

Hoggle spun on the boy, "You know nothing of it!"

"No," Toby admitted freely. "I really don't, so why don't you tell me about it."

Big blue eyes stared at the boy, watery and full of memories, "It don't concern you," he grumbled. "It's between me, your sister, and the King."

"I see," Toby made a face, "how boring."

Hoggle turned, "Let's just get you to the castle." Hoggle could smell the distinct fragrance of the king up ahead. He knew he'd be waiting in the passage where he'd surprised Sarah, and had even flirted with her outrageously. Like he had a right to tease and tantalize the little girl, him the big bad goblin king!

Toby shuffled along, "Hoggle," he asked moving slowly. "Why did the Goblin King call Sarah his Foe?"

Hoggle smiled to himself before turning to answer the child, "Did he?"

"Yes, back in Sarah's bedroom…he said I had delivered to him his foe…" Toby was still feeling guilty, but he also felt something else, something akin to victory over an enemy. "He said he didn't want me to run the Labyrinth…"

Hoggle seemed truly surprised; "He said that, did he?" the boy nodded. "Well, that's damned odd…" Turning the tables, Hoggle asked the child a question, "Why'd you wish her away?"

"I was mad," Toby shoved his hands into his pants pockets, feeling irritable once more at the thought. "She's made all kinds of promises," he lamented. "She was going to not let her marriage interfere in our… our…." He couldn't find a word.

"Relationship," Hoggle supplied the word.

"Yes," Toby nodded, "But she lied to me," he growled.

"I know the feeling," Hoggle agreed. "She's really good at makin' promises, not so great at keepin' em."

Lower lip quivering the boy asked, "What did she promise you?"

"She said she needed us… sometimes…for no reason…" Hoggle's throat had gone dry and the words rasped out. He sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve, "Don't matter, I don't need her… I don't need anyone!"

"I need her," Toby whispered after Hoggle had turned his back, "I still need her…" his anger gave way and his feelings for his sister surfaced. "I love her Hoggle, she's my sister… I can't just let her… oh why did I wish her away?" he moved quickly to catch up with the dwarf.

Hoggle shrugged, "I can't answer that."

"Go no furtherer," a stony voice boomed.

"This is not the way!"

"Soon, it will be too late…"

"False alarms," Hoggle said with a smirk.

"Are they," a voice asked as hands reached out and snatched the boy up off his feet.

Toby seeing who was grabbing him yelped; "Hoggle!" But he and his assailant vanished into a dark swirl of glitter.

Hoggle stood with his mouth open, shocked, for he had not sensed any other presecen save that of the King up ahead. "Your majesty!" he shouted as he ran on stubby legs to where Jareth was waiting for him and the child. "Your majesty!" he collapsed into a ball at the feet of the King. "It wasn't my fault! Honest, I had no idea…"

Jareth looked at the quivering mass of Hoggle, and then looked about for Toby. "Where's the boy?"

"Taken," Hoggle moaned.

"Taken," Jareth repeated, "By who?" He pulled Hoggle up by an ear, "Who would dare take the child from the Labyrinh?"

"One who feels you've stolen what you've no right to," a voice calm and mature answered.

Dropping the mass of trembling dwarf, Jareth turned to face the owner of the voice, "High King," he gasped. "My Lord, what brings you into the Labyrinth?"

"You do," Oberon answered without mirth. "You and your unfinished business," he had materialized out of nowhere. "I had hoped to be timelier, I had thought I could spare you and the boy… but alas, I cannot."

"What are you talking about," Jareth demanded. "Who took Toby? And why?" he sputtered like a maddened dog, barking out his anger. "NO one is allowed to interfere with a runner!"

"Yes, well young Woodbine either is unaware of that, or simply does not care," Oberon observed.

"Woodbine," questioned the Goblin King, "I know that name… don't I?"

"Lord Woodbine, the one who refused my queen's sister as consort," Oberon nodded. "It seems he's living well in the mortal realm… and has taken a mortal wife. It is his son that has taken your… Toby."

"Why," demanded Jareth.

"Does the name Jefferson Davis Daniels mean anything to you," Oberon asked with an elegant brow raise.

Clenching his hands into tight fists, the Goblin King threw back his head and roared.