Chapter 2

Deep in the heart of the Labyrinth, it looked like there had been a war. Unconscious goblin bodies were strewn every which way, with many familiar faces amongst them. In the center of it all lay a tattered looking Jareth, holding what seemed to be a moss covered, pulsing heart. He was barely awake and partially covered in owl feathers.

Although he tried, he still could not piece together what had happened, except that something had begun to drain the Labyrinth of all her magic. When he went to investigate, the images blurred in his mind, refusing to become clear. The attempt strained the magic of the entire kingdom as the Labyrinth tried to right herself.

As Jareth had entered the cavern of her Heart, he'd called forth all of the Labyrinth's guardians to protect it. He'd reached the Heart itself and then… then…

Jareth groaned in frustration, tightening his grasp around the Heart of the Labyrinth in his hand, he tried once more to figure out what was happening. Despite his best efforts, the images blurred yet again. He screamed out in pain, feeling more bird than man the longer he held the pulsing heart.

Jareth felt himself losing consciousness. A silent whisper of a wish went up, a heartfelt call for the only Champion that had bested the Labyrinth and her King. Then he blacked out.

The ground shook beneath him, covering him in a fine layer of dust and stirring the feathers that he had started to sprout as he lost control. He lay like one dead until the decay that was starting to set in throughout the Labyrinth undermined a stone bench, sending it crashing to the ground. He awoke with a start, only to fall back to the ground with a groan.

Jareth was weak, and that feeling disgusted him. He drifted in and out of consciousness, unable to move. He didn't know who or what had tried to steal the Heart, only that it had almost succeeded. Clutching it firmly against his chest, he tried again to summon his owl form, only to fail once more.

"Sarah," he whispered. He felt his grip on wakefulness slipping and fought the sensation. He feared that if he lost consciousness now, whatever was after the Heart would succeed. "Hurry."

Unfortunately, blackness loomed, and he passed out.

A pair of unfamiliar black boots walked up and plucked the heart out from between Jareth's fingers.

"Finally," the voice hissed with pleasure.

Sarah and the Missus went as fast as they dared, having to dodge pieces of tree roots and logs along the way. It just couldn't be a simple straight run, of course. There were still obstacles blocking their path as they hurried through the stone corridors. She may not have a clue as to what happened, but Sarah did know that the closer they seemed to get to the center of the Labyrinth, the darker it got. It felt as if a giant cloud that was looming and growing, pulsating over the very center of the Labyrinth was getting thicker. And yet, the air was eerily still, like the calm before a storm.

The clouds roiled and Sarah started running as fast as she could, nearly tumbling the little pink worm off her shoulder as she did so. She grabbed her just in time and held her in her hands, trying to race against...something, she didn't know what. All she knew was that there was a sudden sense of urgency to her quest that had not been there before.

"Hurry! Somethings happened!" The worm shouted and she nodded, doing her best.

Sadly, it was too late, and the ground shook violently, throwing Sarah off her feet. She screamed, falling down a fissure that opened up in front of her. By sheer luck, she managed to hang onto the ledge with one hand, panting.

Many pairs of hands formed in the fissure around Sarah. They whispered among themselves, frightened. Their movements were erratic as they reached out and grabbed her. The hands touching her here, there, and everywhere.

Their grip firmed just in time. Sarah's fingers cramped and her grip on the ledge slipped. She yelped as she let herself falling, only to be caught by the many hands that had been touching her while she hung helplessly against the wall.

The whispering turned into a cacophony of voices as the Helping Hands all tried to speak at once. Sarah had to ask, calmly but firmly, that they speak one at a time. They didn't seem to hear her at first, so she asked again, raising her voice this time.

"Please! One at a time, please. I can't understand you when you all talk at once and we don't have time for this! I need to get to the King!" Although her words were polite, her voice was sharp and edged with anxiety.

The voices fell silent for a moment. Then the hands formed a face at her eye level and began to speak. These hands were obviously aged, with arthritic looking joints and fragile, papery skin. "Something has happened to the King, and the Labyrinth. Would you go up… or sideways?"

Sarah blinked. They did not offer to take her down as they did last time. She craned her neck, trying to see what was below her. Her eyes met only darkness. There was no hint of a bottom to the crevasse. She shuddered and quickly looked away, understanding why the Hands had not offered to take her down. Instead, Sarah looked around, taking stock of the other directions the Hands had offered to take her, pursing her lips as she thought about it.

Finally she said, "I suppose… that I'll go sideways since it's such a mess up there." She glanced up at the surface as she spoke, noting the debris that was still trickling into the the fissure full of Helping Hands.

"She chose sideways!" The Elder Hands proclaimed. The echoes rippled through the massive crack in the earth as the other hands gleefully reported her choice to others, like a game of whisper down the lane. Soon the chorus of voices swelled into a crescendo.

"She chose sideways!" the singsong voices giggled.

For a moment, Sarah wondered, much as she had the last time she had fallen into the clutches of the Helping hands, if she had made the best choice. As they maneuvered her into position she shrugged mentally. She had set out to find Jareth and her friends, and she was determined to succeed, come what may. If that meant traveling by means of he Helping Hands, then she would do it.

The hands began passing her down the length of the fissure. Sarah stared up at the edges that were practically flying by and realized that she was going much faster than she could have gone herself. That revelation allowed her to relax.

It felt a bit like crowd surfing, actually. Sarah marveled at how much better the experience was this time. As long as you didn't mind being manhandled and could deal with the occasional hand grabbing you in an inappropriate place, this wasn't actually a bad way to travel.

The abrupt end of her ride via Helping Hands was not so pleasant, however. They all but flung her into a winding cavern. She bounced painfully on her hip before rolling with the momentum, making sure to hold the Missus carefully.

"You ok?" She asked the little worm, looking her over to make sure that she was uninjured.

"Yep," the Missus squeaked, sounding a little breathless.

Sarah stood and dusted herself off, trying to make heads or tails of her new surroundings as she did so. She recognized several figures that could only be false alarms, although she had no way of knowing whether those were the exact same ones she had encountered on her last run or not.

Not far away from her was something new. Sarah didn't know whether she had simply missed it on her last run, or if the Labyrinth had hidden it from her and Hoggle as they made their way through the tunnels. Slashing through the solid wall of the tunnel was the entrance to a new cavern.

Deciding that she should go that way, Sarah turned to thank the Helping Hands, only to cry out in horror as she watched the Fissure crumble. The Helping Hands melted away to nothing and she was left staring at a jagged, dark hole where they had once been. She covered her mouth to stop the cries of shock and grief that seemed to well up from her very heart and jumped back from the now menacing fissure.

She heard a soft moan of dismay from the worm, and the noise of her companion brought her back to her senses. There was still a puzzle to solve. Sarah straightened her back and turned toward the entrance to the new tunnel.