The A-team to the Rescue in the Labyrinth!
Chapter Six – DeGarp and Merbrup
Hannibal, Face, and Murdock then found themselves under a large tree in the middle of the bog. Max, the goblin, appeared up in the tree tangled in its branches. Jareth had sent him there as well since he was aware of Max hiding among the rocks. The Bog of Eternal Stench was sputtering with slime and mud. Small insects and large ones were buzzing around.
Hannibal plugged his nose and said, "ThDis plWace STiDingKts!" Face said, fanning his nose a few of times and gagging, "That's an understatement! I won't be recommending this vacation spot to anyone; ah-hum, I've smelt better sewers!" Then Murdock stood up and sanguinely said; "Mmmmhmm, just like Mom's home cooking!" "WRilly Burdock?" asked Hannibal, with his nose still plugged. "You're Mom must not cook very well." commented Face. Murdock replied, "Nah, I'm just trying to pretend it's not so bad. It works at the institution; they don't serve the best food there!" "Is it working?" quizzed Hannibal, releasing his nose. "I don't think so," replied Murdock. "This just isn't a place to talk about food, how about getting out of here!" said Face.
"AnDyone haBfe anDy eyeDiYas?" asked Hannibal. Max then climbed out of the tree and said, "Whatever you do, don't get in any of that slime or you'll smell bad forever; it won't ever wash off!"
There were no bridges in the bog. A few years before they arrived, the bog flooded and overflowed. The only bridge washed away and even the rocks Ludo summoned to be stepping stones had moved out of place.
Murdock tried to use his magic wand to get out of the bog as quickly as possible. He tried fifteen times, using different words, then tried one last time; "Hear ye, Hear ye, make a bridge over this bog!" It still didn't work. Then he surmised correctly, "I guess Jareth's the only one allowed to transport in this Labyrinth no matter what magic spell I use."
The four of them looked up and saw a funny looking goblin walking along the banks of the bog with a pail. He was old and walked using a walking stick. He had a large upper body, hunched over a bit, and long thin legs. The old goblin stood at least as twice as tall as Max. He was bald with a very long thin white beard and mustache that reached all the way to the ground. These he threw over his shoulder when collecting herbs so his facial hair wouldn't stink forever!
The goblin said, "Hello, nice to see tourists! Name's DeGarp. I'm collecting an herb that only grows here in the bog. It's a called Snog-bunckle weed. Good for healing sunburns, even moon burns, great for growing new fashionable warts! Would you like to try a sample? A few new warts couldn't hurt, right? It could make you the talk of the town. They make excellent souvenirs and gifts for relatives to take back with you, wherever you're from. I can have a bundle gift wrapped for you!" "No thanks!" they all replied together.
The four asked DeGarp how to get out of the bog. He told them he had a boat but it only held one person. Hannibal suggested, "We could attach a rope to retrieve the boat so we can get across one at a time!" Face commented, "We also need gloves so we won't touch any of the slime on the rope when we retrieve it. The gloves might stink forever, but we won't!"
So DeGarp left and came back with gloves and very long rope. Hannibal went across first, paddling the boat and using the tall walking stick to guide it through slime. The rope was tied to the boat and the four on the bank held onto it, letting the rope out as the boat went across.
When it reached the other bank, Hannibal got out and yelled, "OK, now pull it back!" All four of them pulled on the rope to bring the boat back. However, the boat became stuck in the slimy, bubbling mud that became very thick in parts and changed in consistency as it bubbled.
"We can't pull it back!" yelled Murdock! They tried harder but the rope broke causing the boat to drift out into the bog.
"There goes my boat!" yelled DeGarp! Then he said, "Oh, I forgot about Merbrup! He can help us!" "Who's Merbrup?" asked Murdock.
"Merbrup is a creature in the bog I trained to help me fetch herbs difficult to reach without stepping in the bog. Hear, Merbrup!" he called.
Out jumped a creature that had large frog's eyes, a wide, flat mouth and a seal's body. He also had spikes from head to tail along his backbone and scales like a dragon. The creature could get through the bog very easily. He acted similar to a dog and was apparently named after the sound he made. He was about as big as Max. DeGarp ordered it to fetch the boat.
Merbrup retrieved the boat three more times for each of them to cross the bog and was rewarded with a nice treat, a large juicy pineapple. He swallowed it whole, licked his lips, then burped very loudly. He liked fruit very much.
The rescuers' shoes, however, smelled bad forever from stepping onto the slimy bank to get in and out of the boat. It couldn't be avoided.
After their stay at the bog and a short trek through the woods, Max led the trio to a cave, a short cut through the Labyrinth that led directly to the junk yard just outside the Goblin City!
The cave was full of False Alarms, stone faces that constantly yelled out warnings to warn strangers they were going the wrong way, especially when they were going the right way. The alarms said things like "The way is perilous!", "Beware the path of no return!", and "Prepare your Will before proceeding!"
The four then walked by a False Alarm that said, "Hurry up, fools, get me outa' here!" The False Alarm looked exactly like B.A. and surprised them.
There was an echo in the cave; it was Jareth's voice saying tauntingly; "Time is short. What a pity! He'll make a Tremendous guard! Ha, Ha, Ha! " Jareth also dispatched a goblin brigade to guard the city and castle to stall the A-team perchance they made it to the Goblin City on time.
The four then walked through several passage ways, following several signs pointing that warned; "Danger, keep out!" since Max knew those were the ways to be trusted, the safest. Unknown to the rescuers, however, Jareth had one of his minions change the last sign.
The rescuers reached a cave exit. It was dusk outside. Murdock stepped on a stone on the cave floor that triggered a rotating mechanical device with sharp steel blades and wooden beams with spikes, the Gauntlet of Peril! They all stood back hoping to think of a plan to get past it.
A bat in the cave flew past them and flew right through the moving blades and beams since he lived there and knew the contraption well. Another bat flew by and Max caught it. He tied a rock loosely to its feet and let the bat go. He did this to five more small bats as well. They flew through the device and the rocks got caught in its blades, breaking the gauntlet. It smoked and stopped rotating. Murdock then picked up a rock and smashed the machine a bit, bending some of its blades and breaking a beam so the four of them could squeeze by to exit the cave. They had to walk further than planned to get to the junkyard since they didn't end up at the same exit Max intended due to the misguiding sign.