Chapter 11

After her hour with Toby was up and Sarah finished scouring the castle for possible means of escape for her and three others – one of which was a six-year-old boy, another would be a convicted escapee of the Castle Dungeons, and yet another would be a semi-flaky Changeling servant – she returned to her room. She was exhausted and, though she found the perfect method of escape, she was having second thoughts about whether she should do it this night – after only having a few hours of sleep in the past two days. She looked out the window and saw that there was still some time left before she'd have to get Toby. Perhaps she could take a quick nap and everything would be just fine.

However, she didn't have time to give in to her exhaustion as, standing near her bedroom door door, was a fretfully pacing Thilly.

"Oh!" Thilly exclaimed, running up to Sarah and demonstrating the degree of strength a Changeling was capable of as she held her in a death-grip hug. "Sarah! I didn't know if you were coming back, or His Majesty would send you away or anything, I was so worried! You shouldn't have just let Mrs. Noriche talk to you like that – we both broke the plate, you should've told her – but none of that matters now, as there's someone here to see you!"

For a horrible moment Sarah thought Toby had ignored her orders to wait for her quietly in his room, but as Thilly pushed her to the door she saw that it wasn't Toby that had come to visit her, but the Dungeon escapee himself.

Hoggle, dressed now in the clothes Sarah had known him to wear five years ago, sat on a spindly wicker chair in the corner of the room, wringing his hands with enough of a degree of concern to take on Thilly the Master Hand Wringer herself. He'd been looking at his hands, at the walls, at his feet, but when he noticed Sarah enter the room he jumped up quickly.

"Hoggle!" Sarah said before rushing down to give the dwarf a hug that she supposed was the equivalent of the one Thilly had given her earlier, because Hoggle started making strangled 'I can't breathe' sounds about five second into it.

She let go quickly and stood up, sending Hoggle stumbling backwards before righting himself again. He made a big show out of Sarah 'rumpling' his clothes, which really did look like the exact outfit he'd worn throughout their travels in the Labyrinth and, seeing how he'd been in a dungeon and they probably collected his clothing before admitting him, they very well could have been.

"I thought after…" Sarah trailed off a bit, not wanting her friends to know what had happened between her and Jareth in the Tower Room. Thinking quickly, she amended, "I was sure that Jareth wouldn't let you out early, but I see he did... Wait… Hoggle, you didn't escape, did you?"

Hoggle smiled at Sarah and shook his head, chuckling softly. "No, no. They let me out, said I was free t' go, s'long as I didn't start anymore trouble…"

Sarah smirked, "Well, then I hope you liked that cell, Hoggle, because with me there's nothing but trouble."

Thilly sprang up from her chair like she'd been pricked by something, moving towards Sarah before abruptly halting in the non-confrontational way that Changelings tended to do.

"Sarah, you're not planning on doing anything illegal, are you? Because I just can't let you do that! After Mrs. Noriche and the plate – you can't risk getting into any more trouble!"

The smile that had been plastered on Sarah's face immediately fell and Sarah could feel her training as an actress kick in. She looked miserably at her feet, careful to keep her face and tone evenly regretful. She knew what she was about to do and say was in many ways worse than the little white lie she'd told to Toby, but she also knew that it was crucial to get Thilly away from her devotion to Jareth and the rules of the Castle. She tried her best to ignore that nagging little voice that kept telling her these tall tales of hers were wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Thilly, I have to tell you something," Sarah started. She looked up to make sure she had Thilly's complete attention before casting her vision downwards again in all the appearance of apologetic truthfulness. "I… I talked to Mrs. Noriche after lunch… We sort of ran into each other and… I'm so sorry, Thilly, but she said that one of the others told her that you broke the plate too, and she got so angry! She said that anyone under her command who couldn't admit to a fault while another was getting the blame didn't deserve to be under her command…"

Thilly looked both sad and confused. She shook her head, her brown doe-like eyes brimming with tears. Guilt tore through Sarah's heart and mind but she kept it at bay, knowing for certain this was what needed to happen. She had to hurt in order to help, right?

"What are you… what are you saying, Sarah?" Thilly squeaked, her voice barely audible and threaded with worry.

"You're fired, Thilly… Mrs. Noriche said you're fired."

The girl fell to the floor, her ratty skirt billowing around her as she stared blankly across the room. "No one in my family has ever been fired from a job," she whispered. "I'm a f… f… failure?"

Sarah sat down quickly, across from her, and reached out to take her shaking hand. "No! No, you're not a failure at all, Thilly! No, you're just… You're just fine, I promise! It's Mrs. Noriche – she overreacts to everything. It's her, Thilly, not you. You're not a failure!"

But Thilly was sobbing and Sarah was holding her to her chest, patting her back and trying to stop the total breakdown the Changeling was going through. She'd figured Thilly would be disappointed, yes, but she hadn't the slightest idea how much a Changeling valued his or her occupation… She really should have thought of something a bit more delicate to entice Thilly away from the Castle, but…

What's done is done, she thought to herself… and, though she tried to think the best of it, her thoughts didn't give her a whole lot of comfort.

Thilly had sobbed and cried and Sarah had tried to comfort her the best she could, but by the time evening struck she was more worried about whether or not Toby had kept to his word. She'd told him to wait until midnight, then ask Mrs. Noriche for a glass of water in order to get her out of the room. He said that she'd get it for him, that all the servants would do anything for him, and Sarah groaned inwardly at the re-conditioning she'd have to go through to break him of his spoiled habits.

"Thilly, we're going," Sarah said abruptly, just as Thilly's tears began to slow. Before the Changeling could either question or rpotest, Sarah stood up and pulled her to a standing position along with her. She kicked Hoggle's chair, where the dwarf had been snoozing for about an hour, and he stood bolt-upright faster than Sarah could blink. "You too, Hoggle. We're getting out of this place. All of us."

"What do you mean, Sarah?" Thilly asked, rubbing her eyes and sniffling. "We can't go anywhere... This is... home."

But Sarah was shaking her head. "No, Thilly... None of us belong here. We're too good for here... We'll stick together, go someplace else, anywhere else but here... We're going."

As she spoke, trying to convince Thilly, Hoggle went right to work gathering food, any warm clothing they might need, and anything that could become useful while traveling. He found a surprising number of things around the cabin, including a worn burlap knapsack that'd been used to hold washrags but could now be used to carry their traveling gear. He knew about Sarah's fancy for adventure and he didn't waste any time in arguing with her about where they would go, what they would do, and anything else... unlike Thilly.

After a few minutes of listening to Thilly's rambling questions, protests, and declarations, Sarah sharply cut in, "We're going, Thillia Thornwhistle Changeling, if I have to tie you up and throw you over my shoulder like a bushel of apples!"

And with that, she pushed Thilly out into the dark, empty corridor and began walking, quickly, towards Toby's room. Hoggle followed silently, his knapsack clutched to his stomach, through archways and down hallways and up stairs and down stairs... Despite the fact that Sarah had gone from Toby's room to her room and despite the fact she should know the way because she made sure to memorize every step she took, it didn't take very long before she did know that she and her friends were now utterly and completely lost.

Sorry, not very thrilling considering how long between updates, but THE ACTION IS STARTING! Yay!