CHAPTER SEVEN
To Walk into Mordor
"One does not simply walk into Mordor.
Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs.
There is an evil there that does not sleep.
The great eye is ever watchful.
It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire, ash, and dust.
The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume.
Not with ten thousand men could you do this.
It is folly."
-Boromir, son of Denethor II, from the movie adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."
Sarah did not sleep well that night, even though she kept telling herself that she desperately needed the sleep so that she would be able to face the trials ahead. However, her mind kept buzzing incessantly. It flitted from thought to thought; from her family, to the Labyrinth, to her old life, to her miserable pack, to the Goblin King. She could not stay it's incessant droning and she resigned herself to the fact that she would be unable to sleep for very long.
Sarah eventually rolled out of bed and pulled a blanket from the many that covered her bed and wrapped it around herself. She walked quietly over to the window and looked out over the moon-drenched lands of the Goblin King. She angled her head up and saw the moon shining brightly through the opening in the mountaintop. It was still a bit surreal to Sarah that she was here in the Goblin King's kingdom. She sat down on the window ledge and just stared out at the landscape, letting her thoughts flow organically from one to the next, conceding defeat. Sleep would elude her tonight. She got off of the windowsill and grabbed her pack, retuning to the window, and she commenced to organize her pack and reorganize it, in an attempt to keep her hands as busy as her mind.
It was quite late, or rather, quite early in the morning, when Sarah finally succumbed to sleep.
Sarah was silent as the carriage rolled down the road, watching the trees pass suddenly by the window, their colorful boughs brightening in the pale early morning light.
The Goblin King sat across from her, his arms crossed, his look one of brooding. He did not seem as overjoyed as he should be, nor had he teased her about her practical attire or lack of defiant retorts.
After another hour or two of bumping along in the carriage, they finally reached their destination. Sarah looked out the window, but it looked the same as any other part of the wood by the road, but clearly it was important if they were stopping.
The Goblin King climbed out of the carriage, and Sarah clambered out after him, awkwardly hefting her pack onto her shoulders as she exited the carriage. The Goblin King was standing up by the driver's box, speaking to the surly goblin who sat there, and after a few words, the goblin nodded wordlessly and flicked the reigns, sending the carriage hurtling down the dusty road once more.
Sarah watched the departing carriage with a mixture of curiosity and dread.
"Why…you are not coming with me, are you? I thought that I had to do this by myself?" Sarah's voice betrayed her; it was quivery with more than a bit of nervousness. Why would he come with? Would that not defeat the whole purpose of the trial if he were there to lead me along the whole way?
"I will show you the way to the Labyrinth, but not after you pass through the doors. After that, you shall be all on your own."
"But how will you get back to the castle?"
"Why do you think I want to go back to the castle?" queried the Goblin King, turning to face Sarah, cocking his head inquisitively.
Sarah blanched. So he was intending to somehow interfere with her journey! She knew it. The Goblin King would not let such a delicious opportunity to pester Sarah slip through his fingers so easily. It was not his style. Damn it. Why could he not just let her try by herself?
The Goblin King laughed at the intense play of emotions on Sarah's face as she thought through his words.
"I shall return to the castle with magic, of course. How often you seem to forget that I am fae, and therefore a magical being. Ah, Sarah, you are far too easy to provoke. I do not know how I shall survive the next few days without you. Life will be exceedingly dull, that is for sure." He turned from her and started walking into the dark woods, gesturing for her to follow.
"You had better get used to it," Sarah grumbled, adjusting the straps of the pack and following the Goblin King.
They walked wordlessly for some time, following some invisible path that Sarah could not discern, but that the Goblin King was quite familiar with.
It was not very long until the terrain changed, and Sarah began to huff and puff a bit as they ascended the hill, the straps of the pack digging into her shoulders. Perhaps the Goblin King was right. Maybe she should not have packed so much. At least she would not want for supplies, even if it came at the cost of a sore back and shoulders.
After what seemed like an unbearably long time to Sarah, the ground thankfully leveled out, and the trees thinned a bit as they walked towards what seemed to be a pair of large wooden doors set into a stone wall that was nearly invisible behind a thick blanket of vines and moss.
Sarah's heart sped up, this must be the entrance to the Labyrinth. She was about to begin her journey that would spell out not only her fate, but also the fate of her future descendants. As the reality of this burden settled heavily on Sarah's heart, the Goblin King stopped in front of the doors and turned to Sarah, waiting for her to draw nearer to the doors.
She drew nearer, passing the Goblin King and walking right up in front of the heavy wooden doors.
"How do I get in?" Sarah did not turn around to ask this. She was studying the intricately cut carvings that ornamented the wooden doors.
"I thought that the doors would make obvious," drawled the Goblin King, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Sarah gave the Goblin King an exceptionally dirty look.
"Obviously, Goblin King, but how do I open the doors?" replied Sarah sarcastically, refraining from rolling her eyes at him.
"You must ask the correct question."
Her first test, the first of many in her journey through the Labyrinth, if the mannerisms and mentality of the Goblin King was anything to go by.
"Can you show me how to open the doors, please?" asked Sarah, thinking hard while trying to inject as much sweetness into her tone as she could possibly muster at the moment.
"No," said the Goblin King tersely, crossing his arms. Sarah had the feeling that the Goblin King was enjoying himself immensely.
"Let me guess, it is going to be useless to ask you anything from here on out, is it not?" Fumed Sarah, turning to glare at the Goblin King.
"On the contrary, I shall be most obliging indeed if you ask me the correct questions," said the Goblin King, smiling slightly.
"How do I get into the Labyrinth?" asked Sarah pleadingly, hoping that the answer to this obstacle would not cost her more time than was absolutely necessary.
"Ah," said the Goblin King, pleased, "Now you are learning how to play by the rules of my game. You know, you only have to call, Sarah, and I shall answer."
And with that, the doors swung open heavily, skeleton leaves falling from the crevices around the door as they moved. Sarah spun around at the sudden sound, watching as the doors arced open on their rusted hinges. A pale swirling mist emanated through the opened doors, spilling swiftly on the ground, creeping steadily towards Sarah's feet. Sarah had an uncanny feeling that magic would be in abundance in the Labyrinth, wild and untamed. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. She also belatedly lamented not bringing a bigger knife.
Sarah peered into the shadowy gloom. It looked as though it was just a wall separating one part of the wood from another, but when Sarah looked again, the trees through the door grew in more or less a straight line past either side of the door. The trees had grown so gnarled and intertwined that they formed an impenetrable wall, forcing Sarah to either turn and walk either left or right when she walked through the doors. Sarah glanced a little hesitantly at the Goblin King, unsure if this was the signal that she was to begin her journey through the Labyrinth, or if he had other things to tell her.
"So," said the Goblin King, coming to stand beside Sarah, his fair hair moving restlessly in the early morning breeze, "What do you think of my Labyrinth? Still certain that you are willing to undertake the journey?"
Sarah surveyed the woods around her, thinking about how long they were in the carriage, and mentally tabulating how far they probably were from the castle.
"It is not that far," she said defiantly, looking coolly through the doors of the wall, trying to decide if she would go left or right. One way could possibly spell certain failure. It would not surprise Sarah that the Goblin King would encourage his Labyrinth to grow in such a way that only one path would lead to victory. Psychological torture was certainly the Goblin King's style.
"It's further than you think, Sarah, and time is short," replied the Goblin King, bending down to talk close to her ear.
Sarah flinched away and looked a little doubtfully at the wooded trails through the Labyrinth doors. It was not that she was having second doubts, but Sarah quickly had to reevaluate her preconceived notions of what the Labyrinth would be like.
"You have three days time to solve my Labyrinth, Sarah, and if you do not solve it by sunset on the third day, I shall have won our bargain and you shall me mine to keep forever. Your freedom and the freedom of your future kin hang in the balance.
Do you accept this challenge?" The Goblin King was in full fae monarch form; all traces of mischief and humor wiped clean from his face.
"Yes," said Sarah, determination written plainly on her features.
"Very well," said the Goblin King, "then let the games begin."
"Right," said Sarah, resolutely, turning to face the Labyrinth, "I shall see you in three days time, Goblin King, when I will be storming your castle and winning back my freedom and the freedom of my family. Do not try to worry yourself too much in my absence. You shall get used to it."
"You are quite mistaken, my dear, you shall see me soon enough." The Goblin King's smile was coy. Clearly he was planning some mischief already, though she had not even set one foot into the Labyrinth. It was unfair!
"Wait, what? What do you mean?" squeaked Sarah, flustered by the little bit of information the Goblin King had so suddenly dumped on her.
The Goblin King only laughed at her frantic questions and strode away into the woods, leaving Sarah alone at the entrance to the Labyrinth, yelling yet more questions after him.
Sarah stared at the wood where the Goblin King had disappeared, incredulous, frightened, curious, and irritated.
She turned slowly to face the doors to the Labyrinth. Her future was to be decided here and now. Fate and destiny converged upon this moment. It was the beginning of everything.
Sarah sighed, trying to lighten the heavy mood that had settled over her like a heavy woolen blanket.
"Well, feet," she said, feeling both silly and a bit comforted at talking aloud to herself, "Let us start out on our dance with destiny."
Sarah breathed deeply and walked the few steps through the doors to the Labyrinth and stopped, looking both to the left and to the right. Both ways looked quite similar, neither way indicating that it would be the correct way to go. Sarah closed her eyes for a moment, trying to decide the way to go, and then turned to the right.
Sarah had not taken more than a few dozen steps when the doors to the Labyrinth swung shut with a shuddering boom. Sarah hurried back to the doors and pushed. The doors did not budge an inch. Sarah pushed harder, and realized with a sinking feeling that she was stuck in the Labyrinth with no way out, and no certainty of her solving it, much less solving it in the allotted three days. The thought of her time restrictions spurred Sarah on, and she adjusted her pack and began to walk, her boots making almost no noise as she padded along the leaf-strewn ground.
Sarah walked on and on, meeting no turns or twists in the path, there was only the vine covered stone wall to her left, and the close-knit trees to her right. At about midday, Sarah stopped to take a break, her feet already aching and her stomach growling for food.
Sarah angrily kicked at the stone wall, and swung her pack at the hedge of trees, intending to vent some of her frustration, and instead found herself toppling over through the trees. These trees were in fact not trees at all, but vines and plants, which covered a passage through the unending line of trees. She landed with a grunt on the ground, covered in dirt, dead leaves, and vines. Sarah lay on the ground for a moment, trying to catch her breath and attempting to calm her racing heart. The Goblin King had warned her that things were not as they seemed in the Labyrinth, and here Sarah found a perfect example of his words, a turn in the Labyrinth disguised as a part of the wall.
With a sigh, Sarah scrambled to her feet, brushing off her traveling dress, and attempting to dislodge leaves and twigs from her long braid. She refrained from kicking her pack. It was in some way due to her pack that she was able to find this passageway, as silly as that sounded. Sarah hefted her pack into place and surveyed her environment, mindful that she had just made quite a bit of noise crashing through the brush, and some creatures might be drawn to her out of sheer curiosity. She saw several pathways around her, each leading in a different direction, and all made out of the same close-knit trees. Sarah was wishing that she had thought to bring more candles, as the canopy of leaves above her head was quite thick. If it were this gloomy at midday, she would be walking in the dark in just a few hours time, despite the fact that the sun would still be up in the sky.
Sarah picked a path at random and continued to walk, hoping that she was heading in the right direction. The Goblin King would be expecting her to try to logic her way out of the Labyrinth, and so she decided to do the exact opposite of that, just choosing at random, letting fate decide her path and hopefully lead her to the Goblin King's castle.
It was eerily quiet as Sarah made her way down the twisting and turning paths, the only sound was that of her boots softly padding on the leaf-strewn ground. She would have thought that there would have at least been some birds singing in the treetops, but so far, Sarah had not seen or heard one. It made her incredibly nervous, as if such things were forbidden in the Labyrinth, or as if some other, greater predator had frightened them all away. Sarah fervently hoped for the former, lamenting for the second time in a few hours the small size of her knife. The Goblin King had promised that nothing would hurt her without provocation, and yet, could she really trust him? Did the Goblin King have honor? Did he have any conceivable notion of what human honor was? Perhaps the view of fae honor was far different than that of the type of honor that Sarah was accustomed to. She could only hope that honor was universal for all beings in this world, magical or not. She clutched at the amulet at her throat, belatedly wishing that she had asked the Goblin King to remove his spell from her little protection. He probably would not have done it. It would go against his modus operandi of tormenting and opposing Sarah at each and every turn. Perhaps the spell was only so that Sarah would be unable to use it only against the Goblin King. Sarah fervently wished that this was the case. It would be fantastic to have another tool to use against the magical beings that dwelled in the Labyrinth, though Sarah had yet to see any thus far, especially since her means of defense were few. However, it was early in her journey, as of yet.
At some point in the afternoon, Sarah stopped to rest her feet, sitting on the ground and leaning up against the wall of trees. She dug in her pack and pulled out a ruby red apple and ate it slowly, savoring the sweet fruit as she tried to figure out the direction in which she was traveling in comparison to that where she had started. It was hard to tell. The sun was blocked out by the thick canopy of the labyrinthine trees, which let in threads of sunlight that allowed Sarah to see in a sort of twilight gloom though the sun would be high in the sky at this time of day.
After she had finished her apple, Sarah got to her feet with a groan. They were already sore, and she had hardly begun the journey. As she resumed walking, she wondered what the Goblin King was doing at this moment. Probably reveling prematurely in his success. Ha! She would show him. She imagined the look of surprise and incredulity that would grace the Goblin King's face when she barged through the doors of his throne room in a few days time, victorious and unscathed. Sarah smiled at this daydream, vowing to not lose hope or courage while in the Labyrinth. So much was hanging on this test.
Sarah had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she did not immediately notice something strange that was revealed after she took a turn in the Labyrinth, something that was both curious and altogether bizarre that was in the path ahead of her.
When Sarah first looked at them, she thought that they were leaves that were falling from the treetops, swirling and twirling their way down to decorate the Labyrinth floor. However, the leaves seemed to be borne aloft be a breeze, which was non-existent in the Labyrinth, where the air was quite still. Sarah crept cautiously forward, painfully aware that nothing was as it seemed in the Labyrinth, and that this may be her first example of this when it came to living things.
They were not leaves at all, but creatures that looked vaguely like tiny humanoids with leaf-like wings. Some fluttered carelessly about in the air or sat on the branches of the trees nearby. Their wings matched the colors of the leaves in the canopy above, a spectrum of golds and reds and oranges intermingled with a few browns and greens. They stopped moving when they saw her approach, hovering nervously in the dappled shadow of some of the trees, trying to judge if she was a threat or not. Sarah slowly lifted her hands in what she hoped would be interpreted as a placating, peaceful gesture, trying to move as little as possible. After a few moments of contemplation, the pixies began to fly cautiously towards Sarah, some darting back nervously when they got to be too near to her.
One brave pixie with brilliant red wings resembling oak leaves flew close to Sarah's face, inquisitively examining Sarah as curiously as she was inspecting it.
"Well, hello there," said Sarah quietly, smiling at the small creature, desperately hoping that it was friendly and not malevolent. She was in the Labyrinth. She must be especially on her guard.
It bared its miniscule pointy teeth at her in what Sarah hoped was a good smile, and it called to some of its companions in tiny squeaks and chirping sounds. Many flew over to their companion, equally curious about the strange new mortal before them. They chattered to one another, seeming to come to some sort of agreement, and the pixie with the red oak leaf wings gestured to her, trying to lead her forward, the other pixies swirling past her, gesturing as well. Sarah followed them curiously, smiling a little as a few landed on her shoulders or in the folds of her dress. She felt their tiny hands tug at her braid and reverently touch the white satin ribbon around her throat, incessantly curious. She held a hand up, and a pixie settled in the palm of her hand, squeaking happily up at her.
The pixies led her forward, navigating the twists and the turns of the Labyrinth with an assured confidence. She gloated mentally. The Goblin King had doubted that she would make it through his Labyrinth. Now his own subjects were showing her the right way! She could not wait to share that little bit of information with him when she had won.
Sarah suddenly felt a tugging at the satin ribbon around her throat, and she put a hand up to try to figure out what was going on.
"What are you guys doing?" she asked, though she did not know if they understood her.
All of a sudden, several things happened in a quick succession of events. The ribbon slipped from her throat, the pendant sliding off the ribbon and landing in the dust at her feet. The pixies that had untied the ribbon flew off, cackling while the ribbon danced behind them as they sped off to alight on a tree branch far above Sarah's head.
Sarah bent down and picked up the pendant from the ground, annoyed at their mischief. She did not have time for this!
"Give that back, please. I need that ribbon." Sarah tried to sound stern without letting any hint of anger enter her voice. She did not know what the pixies were trying to accomplish, and she did not want to make them angry. Her vision of her standing triumphantly before the cowering Goblin King faded instantly from her mind, a measure of uncertainty marring her confidence. Things were not always what they seemed in this place. Beware.
They chattered at her, mimicking her tone. The pixies that had decided to land on her all took off, joining the cloud of pixies that had started to swarm around her in bizarre elliptical orbits and uneven loop-de-loops, flying in patterns too complex for the human eye to follow.
They fluttered around her, taunting and teasing her with the ribbon, making sure that it was always out of her reach. Sarah gnashed her teeth angrily, jumping and swatting at the pixies, trying to catch the fiend with her ribbon.
Sarah saw her chance as one brute flew too close and she grabbed the ribbon swiftly as it fluttered by behind the brute, managing to shake the creature off. The pixies swarmed up, buzzing angrily as they circled around her, zipping quickly through the cool air.
Sarah did the only thing that she thought would be applicable in this situation. She turned tail and ran madly in the opposite direction, unfortunately pursed by a hoard of angry pixies.
She felt something sharp pierce her hand, and she looked down, seeing a pixie sink it's sharp teeth into her skin, trying to make her let go of the ribbon. Sarah grabbed the vile thing with her other hand and threw it aside, trying to remember which way she had came before she had been lead astray by the damned pixies. She dashed around corners, slipping on the dead leaves that covered the Labyrinth floor, tree branches lashing out at her face and dragging at her clothes and hair. Sarah moved swiftly, choosing paths at random, turning down a particularly dark one in desperation.
It was a dead end. Sarah swore and turned to swat at the pixies that converged on her, the creatures biting and shrieking shrilly at her. She felt the cold iron amulet prick the skin of her palm, and she remembered that she had scooped it up when it fell on the ground. She prayed that it would be effective against the pixies. She was depending upon the hope that the Goblin King had not removed all of its abilities with his little stunt a few nights ago.
Swatting at the pixies while trying to ignore the sharp sting of their teeth, she grabbed wildly at them, trying to catch one. After a few fruitless tries, she finally succeeded in trapping one in her fist, the pixie's tiny wings crumpled in her hand, its head protruding from the top of her fist. She held the amulet to the creature's throat, and she spoke.
"Leave me alone, or you shall see the extent of my power!" She bit back cries of pain as the pixies continued to bite her, ignoring her words. "So be it! I warned you!"
Angrily, Sarah touched the iron to the pixie's skin and it slumped in her hand in a dead faint with a squeal. Sarah grinned wickedly and tossed the pixie to the side, grabbing another, repeating the process. It only took a few more pixies rendered comatose by the cold iron pendant before the rest of the hoard figured out what was going on. They stopped biting her and retreated a few feet, some pixies swooping down to pick up their fallen comrades, squeaking angrily at her. Sarah glared at them with equal disdain.
"Leave me alone. Now!" She brandished the iron at the pixies and they recoiled, chirping madly at her, seeming as though they might resume their hostilities. They suddenly swarmed off, carrying those who could not fly, berating Sarah shrilly as they retreated. Sarah watched them disappear into the treetops, blending in to the dense foliage. She did not dare to move for several minutes, making sure that they really had left her alone.
Sarah slumped to the ground, her legs finally giving out. Shakily, she threaded the iron amulet back onto the white ribbon, and tied it once more around her throat. She leaned up against a tree, trying to ignore the stinging pain inflicted by the pixies' bites. She cursed her ancestor for bringing the wrath of the fae down upon her family, and she cursed the pixies for provoking her and for leading her astray and for attacking her. Most of all, however, she cursed the Goblin King for interfering in her life, and for giving her this task that she could not refuse. It was unfair. It was in all certainty going to get much, much worse.
It was nearing evening when Sarah decided to put on her cloak and pull her lantern out from her pack, lighting it with her flint so that she no longer had to peer uselessly through the gathering gloom. Sarah had not noticed when she packed her bag last night, but the cloak that she had found was the Goblin King's. The very same one that he had had her use the night he took her from her home. Sarah almost tossed the cloak away in disgust when she had realized this, but instead kept it, practicality winning out over her pride. Besides, by the time she was done running the Labyrinth, the cloak would most likely be mud-splattered and tattered. Hopefully. Serves the Goblin King right for giving her his cloak once more.
Sarah was not watching where she was going, too intent on opening the shutters of the lantern wider, which of course did not want to cooperate. This was when Sarah encountered yet another unpleasant stumbling block in her journey.
Sarah turned a corner and froze as a strange sound met her ears. It sounded like a thick clopping noise and the resonance of something large moving in her direction. There was nowhere to hide, and not enough time to pull out her little knife. Why had she not removed it from her pack earlier? Sarah and the beast stared at one another as they met on the path, each freezing in their steps.
The thing was large, with the body of a bull, with the torso and head of a strange looking man that stood at the juncture of two paths in front of her. There were two great horns that sprouted from the curls that topped the beast's head.
The thing let out a sound like an angry grunt. Sarah's heart was beating so loud and fast that she was certain that the thing could hear it.
Sarah had found a Minotaur of the Labyrinth.