CHAPTER TWO

To Tempt the Wolf

"Into the woods, no telling when,

Be ready for the journey.

Into the woods, but not too fast,

Or what you wish, you lose at last.

Into the woods, but mind the past.

Into the woods, but mind the future.

Into the woods, but not to stray,

Or tempt the wolf, or steal from the giant—

The way is dark,

The light is dim,

But now there's you, me, her, and him.

The chances look small,

The choices look grim,

But everything you learn there

Will help when you return there."

-"Finale: Children Will Listen" from Stephen Sondheim's musical "Into the Woods"

A few months later, just before Sarah's 19th birthday, her baby brother was born. Her parents named him Aubrey.

Sarah could hardly sleep after Aubrey was born. How could she? She had tried to keep away from the child for the first few weeks, hoping to keep the madness of the Goblin King's curse at bay. She relented, however, when her father had scolded her and told her how silly she was being. However much her father tried to convince her otherwise, Sarah saw the heartrending looks her parents gave her when they watched her rocking Aubrey to sleep or playing with him or just holding him. They knew that she would eventually give their youngest child away to the Goblin King, and that there was nothing that anyone could do to stop it, not even Sarah. Sarah tried to ignore how she was never allowed to be alone with the babe, how someone was always watching her, making sure that she was not overcome with the supernatural desire to offer her brother up to the Goblin King. Sarah's lack of sleep grew worse and worse, she was paranoid that if she succumbed to sleep, she would wake up to find Aubrey gone.

It was early fall, and the leaves in the orchard were changing colors, revealing a brilliant plumage of yellows, oranges and reds. Beyond the wall of the keep, the trees of the forest were changing too, and somehow, the colors they displayed seemed somehow more brilliant and breath taking than the colors of trees that were not a part of the forest. Magic…

Sarah was strolling through the orchard one afternoon, picking up pretty leaves as she went along, collecting only the most brilliant to weave together to form a chain to hang above little Aubrey's crib.

She hummed a little made-up song as she went along, selecting only the prettiest leaves to bring home to weave together for the chain. She had not been paying much attention where she was wandering, and she strayed closer to the forest than her father had permitted her to go in the past.

Something caught her eye from within the wood, and she turned, looking intently. Whatever it had been had disappeared, if it had been anything at all. The woods often played tricks on her, as they often did to many a traveler and wanderer. It was said that the woods were haunted, or that they had even a sort of consciousness of their own, a result of a spell laid on them by some extraordinarily magical being. This, in addition to the sort of magical beings who inhabited the forest, made it infamous to the townsfolk for leagues around. There had been attempts in the past to cut down trees of the forest, both for timber and also to try to force back it is unwelcome entity, but any attempts to change or stay the forest's growth was met with hostility.

She should not be near the forest, let alone walk into it. Her father would be furious if he found out, but Sarah was sure that no one had seen her leave the keep, never the mind approach the forest. Her secret would remain hers. And besides, Sarah had a funny feeling that she could not place. It felt as though some unseen force was drawing her in, enticing her to come closer, to enter the woods. Sarah shivered.

Her hand went unconsciously to the amulet at her throat. Sarah had made sure to wear the amulet every day, and even so at night. Whenever she was with Aubrey, however, she surreptitiously tied the white ribbon around his tiny wrist, bestowing to him whatever power of protection it held. Perhaps she needed to find another iron amulet like hers to give to Aubrey. Maybe that would protect him from the Goblin King.

Just as Sarah was contemplating the probability of her finding Baba Tshilaba ever again, a great white owl soared above her head, making Sarah squeak with terror and duck her head. On silent silver wings, the owl flew by, alighting on a tree branch high above Sarah.

It appraised Sarah with dark beady eyes, before hooting once and flying off again. Sarah watched the owl disappear through the brightly colored canopy of leaves, a little entranced that she had seen such a creature up close, and in the daytime, no less.

Suddenly, a twig snapped, sending Sarah's heart into overdrive, thumping out a wild staccato that threatened to dislodge the organ from her chest. Sarah turned wildly around, trying to see what had made the noise. Another twig snapped, and Sarah ceased to breathe.

Sarah suddenly snapped out of her reverie, remembering what infamous being was lord of these woods, whom she presumed would love nothing more than to meet Sarah in his territory, to inflict upon her the madness that would make her bring Aubrey to him. She turned abruptly and quickly fled the wood. She should not have gone in there, what was she thinking? Was he there? Was that who was approaching? How could she have been so stupid?

Sarah did not stop running until she had achieved the relative safety of the apple grove once more, her heart still beating madly, her breath coming in short, halting gasps. She had lost most of the leaves that she had collected before she had strayed into the woods, so Sarah tried to calm herself by gathering leaves once more. She was a little less meticulous about which leaves she chose this time, due to her little excursion to the wood, and due to the sun which had begun to set, making the trees cast long shadows across the leafy ground. Once Sarah was sure that she had collected enough leaves and had calmed down enough, she walked back home, her gait perhaps a little faster than she had when left.

One month passed, and then another, and another, slipping by as easily as could be, without so much as a whisper from the Goblin King. He was constantly on the minds of the Guillemins, and the village folk as well, for that matter. Sarah was always on the receiving end of stares whenever she ventured into the village. Most of the time, the looks they gave her were pitying, for they knew the curse as well as any Guillemin, and they knew that it would not be her fault when she did steal away her baby brother. Others, however, were not so forgiving. Though they stayed in the village, they blamed the Guillemin family for the sins of their ancestor; afraid of the anger that she had awakened in the Goblin King would spread, infecting the rest of the villagers with the consequences of his wrath.

Little Aubrey grew from a wrinkly little creature, in to a very healthy, rosy-cheeked baby. Sarah had tried to keep herself from loving her dear little brother, but she could not help it. She loved him with all her heart. She adored the way his little face broke into a smile when Sarah appeared, the way his little hand wrapped around her finger, the way he slept peacefully in her arms. Sarah had not quite realized just how lonely the first 20 years of her life was until Aubrey had been born.

Sarah cursed the Goblin King. Surely being rejected by a mere mortal would not warrant such an insidious curse? After hundreds of years, the Goblin King had apparently not learned the mercy of forgiveness. Had the Guillemin family not been punished enough? Was it not time to end it? To call it square? Surely the Goblin King's hurt pride had been assuaged by now with the acquisition of many Guillemin children and the destruction of so many families. Sarah had no doubt that the Goblin King knew exactly the toll his decree had had on the lives of those who had given him their siblings.

What kind of human could inflict so much cruelty without so much as batting his eye?

Sarah mentally chided herself for her mistake. The Goblin King was not a human, he was fae. That made him all the more dangerous, and all the more malicious and pitiless. This waiting was driving Sarah insane. Every time she let her guard down and managed to forget about the curse, something suddenly reminded her of it or of the Goblin King, and she stared to worry all over again. She would never be able to think of anything save for the Goblin King for as long as she lived. If only there was some way she could reason with him or persuade him otherwise…

Sarah knew this would be futile, for she was almost positive that many elder Guillemin children before her had attempted to change their fate, to plead desperately with the Goblin King without any success. At least it was some consolation that they had managed to not infuriate the Goblin King any further with their useless pleas and baseless threats.

She remembered Baba Tshilaba's words from last winter:

"In your life, you shall be put through a great hardship, quite soon, as a matter of fact. But alas, it will not be the one that you dread so much. If this is for better or for worse, I cannot say. It will hurt you more than what you fear so vehemently. You shall be tested as no one has ever been tested before, and whether or not you emerge victorious shall be determined by the strength of your own heart."

She had thought over the old woman's prophecy many times since that wintry afternoon, trying to decipher her cryptic words without much success. What did it mean, that the thing she feared was not the thing that was going to happen? She obviously feared the implications of the curse, and she feared living with her actions once the Goblin King came for Aubrey. What greater hardship could she be put through than this?

Damn the Goblin King! If and when she finally met him, she was going to try her damnedest to break this curse, no matter what he threatened to do to her. She was sick and tired of her family being punished for one woman's mistake. It was completely and utterly unfair.

Did she not have a say in her own fate?

AN: Another day, another chapter! Thank you for all of the lovely reviews! Bit of a shorter chapter, but do not worry my dear readers! Tuesday's chapter tips the scale at a bit over 4100 words, and next Friday's chapter is nearly 7000. Also on Tuesday, fandom's favorite magnificent bastard decides that it is time to visit his favorite beleaguered human family!

I wrote this (well, most of it) in a very short time, and thus there are plot holes, pacing problems, and grammatical problems aplenty. I did my best to clean it up a bit before posting, but things inevitably fell through the cracks. Forgive me! I wanted to share my NaNoWriMo adventure with the lovely Labyrinth community, and I needed to move on from this story!

Disclaimer: Labyrinth and its characters do not belong to me. Quotes from the movie belong to Henson, Froud, and Lucas. Quotes from the book belong to A.C.H. Smith.