For the next few days, Sarah tried to make the best of her imprisonment, by staying with Hoggle in his cramped cabin. It was small and musty, but it was the only place she could be safe. Every night, wild forest creatures frisked and frolicked about the cabin, including the monkey-like Fireys, who constantly taunted her by yelling that if she ever stepped foot outside the cabin, they would take off her head.

She had to wash her clothes every evening in a nearby lake, as she had brought no other garments with her. One of the few friendly goblins, named Shortstack, had kindly fashioned her a few patchwork jackets and shawls out of old linen materials. They made her look like a vagrant, but she was grateful all the same.

Hoggle let her have the bed, even though it was a few feet too small. In fact, Hoggle was extremely pleasant to Sarah during her stay. Ordinarily, he would spend his days alone, so he found it delightful to finally have a friend to share his time with. He brought her breakfast every morning, though Sarah didn't even recognise what food he had made. It was usually some kind of questionable broth, but she ate it all the same. He did everything to make sure she was comfy, and while he went off each day to fulfil his slave duties, she journeyed off to explore the Labyrinth. But her friends were right. It was nowhere near is complex as it used to be. The courses rarely changed, and the puzzles had already been solved. That was why she found it so easy to get around. Hoggle told her it had been like that since the day she returned home after she rescued Toby. He said is was as if time stopped; as if the entire Labyrinth stood still, waiting for someone to come and unfreeze it.

As she ambled through the cosmic stretch of meandering walls and lush waterways, her thoughts turned to Jareth, whom she hadn't seen since he warned her to stay away. In truth, she hadn't even thought about the plan to overpower him again, or how she was going to escape. Up until now, she had just been enjoying the wonders of the Labyrinth without the burden of rescuing her baby brother constantly on her mind. She knew that someday soon, she'd have to worry about how to get home, which would involve either confronting or begging him - and to be honest, the latter really didn't appeal to her. It was degrading enough the last time, when she had to boldly resist his charms, and so-called presents, in order to save Toby. As much as she loved her brother, the thought did cross her mind to leave him there and spend her remaining days living in the Labyrinth. There was something extremely captivating about the Goblin King that she had a hard time resisting. Of course, she wouldn't let him know that. As far as she was concerned, he was a vile pig of a man who teased and taunted others to cure his boredom. But why couldn't she get him off her mind? And why did she insist upon bombarding Hoggle with questions about the man every single night?

"He said that I was his slave now. Does that mean he's going to ask me to do chores for him, like you do, Hoggle?" she queried, as they sat in his hut eating fruit and berries she had harvested earlier. She found it funny how Hoggle went out to work each day, and she stayed home to pick the berries. It was almost like they were husband and wife. She laughed to herself even more, imagining Hoggle as her husband. What a peculiar sight that would be!

"What?" Hoggle snapped out of his fixation with the juicy apple he had been devouring. "Err…I don't knows. Jareth works in mysterious ways. He may ask you to do stuff fer him, or he may not. But for now, he's banned yer, so don't even think about going anywhere near that castle!"

"But why has banned me? He's not scared of me, is he?"

"No. But he knows that there are a lot of things unsaid between you two. He knows that you'll prob'ly be wantin' to go home soon, so if he totally blanks you out, then that'll make you get twitchy. Yer see, I knows how his head works. He plays mind games with yer. Very scheming, he is."

"Well, he better be aware that I can play games too!" she stated with confidence. "Anyway, how come you know so much about him?"

"Oh, when you've been in the Labyrinth as long as I has, you're bound to pick up a few of his antics."

"How long have you lived in the Labyrinth, Hoggle?"

"Oh, I don't really remember how long. You forgets things when all you do is sweep floors and squirt fairies all day."

"But you must have had a past here? A few stories to tell?"

"Not really" he replied, after hesitating. "Anyways, you don't wanna talk about me. I'm just a dwarf. Nothin' special about me."

"Oh, Hoggle! You'll always be special to me!"

"You mean that?"

"Of course" Sarah chuckled, while Hoggle smiled in secret. It appeared that he was more touched by her words than he liked to let on. There was a comfortable silence between the two for several minutes, before Sarah spoke again. "So how did Jareth come to be Goblin King? Did he inherit the position, or was he born into it?"

"I don't know" Hoggle sighed, rolling his eyes at the unwanted conversation of his disliked master.

"But you must know something! How long has he been a Goblin King for? And what exactly does a Goblin King do? Does he just sit around and wait until the goblins have stolen some innocent girl's brother or sister, and then set her a challenge to come and look for him? Or was that just me? Come on Hoggle, you must tell me something!"

"No I mustn't!" he snapped, surprising Sarah with his rage as he stood up and kicked an empty bowl with his foot. "I've had enough of talking about Jareth!"

"I'm sorry, Hoggle. I didn't mean to upset you. I…I was just curious" she uttered, saddened that she had made him so cross.

"It…It's alright. I'm just grouchy from being tired. That's all" he admitted. Then the pair became silent again. Only this time, it was an awkward silence for the remainder of the night.

On her fourth morning in the Labyrinth, Sarah awakened to the sounds of hummingbirds in the forest. Hoggle was still fast asleep. She knew this, because when he slept, he snored like a wildebeest. Not wanting to wake him, she crept over him and departed the hut. This time she decided to walk to the left, and as she sauntered along the secluded woodland, she admired the forest's charm. It was a jungle of fantasy, with golden leaves and silvery cobwebs that enthralled her imagination. An eerie silence saturated the district as she moseyed along, keeping a lookout for any kind of stimulating activity.

After strolling through the woods for almost an hour, and passing several malevolent fairies, she finally reached the very large tree she had been interested in since she first came to the Labyrinth. It must have been over two metres in diameter, big enough for Sarah to fit inside. Placing her dainty hand on it, she caressed the rough bark. It just felt an ordinary tree, so why did she feel so drawn to it? It was only it's size that made it stand out. Following the length of the tree, up to the sky, she noticed it was much taller than any of the surrounding trees. She couldn't even see the top. She began to walk around it to get a better view, and as she did, she thought she heard someone's voice coming from inside it.

'How did they get inside?' she thought, scanning the bark for some kind of inlet. She pressed her ear against it to listen, but to her astonishment, she fell straight through it, into the trunk, with the hole appearing out of nowhere. Landing with a thud, she yelped. But before she had the chance to regain composure, a gravelly voice startled her.

"Hey! What are you doing trespassing in my secret quarters?" grilled the creature. Sarah stood up from the base of the tree and examined the strange beast. He had brown, rock-like skin, and wore rags for clothing. He had a large pointy nose, heavy eyelids, and only a few wisps of grey hair. He was quite a tall being, and had to crook his back a little just so he could fit under the tree. Sarah could tell he didn't want to be disturbed, but she couldn't help but feel curious about a creature.

"What are you?" she asked, without thinking. After she'd spoken she realise how rude it was to ask someone, no matter how strange, what they were.

"Huh?" the creature grunted, as it turned to face the girl, straining its elderly eyes to examine her closer. "What am I, you say? Well, I'm a troll, of course!"

"A troll?" she replied, inquisitively. "But I thought trolls lived under bridges."

The troll frowned.

"Why would I wanna live under a bridge, where it's all soggy and smelly, hmm?" he queried. It was surprising to hear the troll talk about bad odours, for he had a horrendous stench that almost made Sarah lose her consciousness when he raised his arm a little. "You're one of those girls who reads too many books, ain't ya?" he questioned, to which she smiled.

"You caught me!" she quipped, moving closer to the fiend in the assumption that she had struck some kind of connection with him. "What are you doing there?" she asked, noticing that he was brewing some kind of tonic in a large steaming pot.

"Oh, err...I'm just making me self a drink, that's all. Stop being nosy!" he shouted, slapping her hands away when she tried to dip her fingers into the mixture. Then he stopped stirring and turned to her. "I don't mean to be rude, but were you thinking of going away at anytime, hmm? Girl?"

"Sorry. I'll…I'll leave you to it then. Nice to meet you!" Seeing she was unwanted, she began to make her way out of the tree.

"Wait! Girl!" hollered the troll, as she felt his craggy hand clutch her shoulder. "Drink?" he offered, holding a cup of tonic up to her face. It was brown in colour, and it didn't smell very pleasant.

"Umm, no, It's alright. I'm not thirsty."

"Oh, go on! You'll hurt my feelings if ya don't" he pressured.

Sarah hesitated, but eventually took the beaker from him. He watched with eagerness, as she guzzled down the dirty liquid. It tasted worse than she expected, like dirt mixed with rusty metal. From her distorted expression, he could tell she disliked it, but she managed to show him a smile of appreciation nevertheless.

"Thanks" she proclaimed, as she wiped the juice from her mouth. "Well, I really should get going now. Good…goodbye" she waved.

The troll mumbled something under his breath ,then turned his back to her without even saying goodbye, and with that, she scrambled out of the tree.

But as she re-entered daylight, she began to feel strange. A wave a dizziness swam about her head, and almost caused her to fall. The stillness of the air had been replaced with a strong wind, which also affected her balance. She rested for a while, which seemed to help with the problem, and once she felt more stable, she continued on her trails...

Browsing through the enchanted woodland, she was starting to realise that nothing special really ever happened around these parts. Sure it was beautiful, but she expected a little more motion. The only thing that appeared to change was the weather, but the cold and bitter breeze that kept on coming and going didn't exactly thrill her. Even the troll didn't seem interested in challenging her. Sarah knew that the more she spent time in the forest, the less the fascination of it stayed with her, and that the other areas of the Labyrinth probably contained much more excitement...

Looking further ahead, she could see the main body of the Labyrinth. Even further than that, was the Goblin City, which enclosed the one and only castle - home to Jareth. Yes, he had told her that the area was forbidden, but the thing about Sarah, was that if anyone prohibited her from anything, she'd want it so much more.