Hello all

Sorry, this one has been finished for weeks, I think my dear beta has been shanghaied by pirates or is very busy, so I'm posting it RAW (since we can always edit retroactively if she decides to become a landlubber again). To make up for the delay I'm posting another chapter tomorrow xxx

Okay, so nothingnothingtralala has not been waylaid by pirates: she has been kidnapped by goblins (we should have known!)

They were very polite and sent the edits she had worked tirelessly on through last night; so this is now updated with her usual pizazz magic. Much love to her for finding the time in her busy schedule! I'll still keep my promise of a second chapter today because... well... I promised didn't I?

Sarah forgot any antagonism she felt towards the fountain as she sank her feet deep into its waters. She was intent on being close to her friend again, even a stone Hoggle was a friendly face to look upon, and as she waded out to the pedestal of stone figures, look she did.

It took her no time at all to ascertain that the stone Hoggle did not belong amongst his statue brethren.

Where the fountain ornaments were sun bleached and weathered, Hoggle looked new, and on closer inspection, Sarah realised he was not a part of the fountain at all, but simply placed there amongst the statues. His stone was cast of a darker vein, and where she could see the fine chiselled lines within the expert craftsmanship of the other statues, Hoggle was perfect. Every wrinkle on his brow, every hair on his head, sculpted so perfectly it was as if he were not sculpted at all… as if…. as if…

No.

Sarah was breathing heavily before she realised it, her eyes burning into Hoggle's flinty gaze, his expression so familiar and endearing. With a shaking hand she reached out to touch the statue… and recoiled.

It was warm.

Not the warmth of the sun on stone, but the warmth of something living, breathing, the warmth of something alive.

This was no statue of Hoggle, this was Hoggle.

Sarah felt something seize up within her chest.

Hoggle.

It was as if the moment she thought it and the moment it became true were one. Whether it was because her luck had led her to him or by some cruel joke of the Goblin King's, her friend Hoggle was now trapped here in stone, as if he were nothing more than a lawn ornament. The longer she looked the more certain she became, and the harder it was to keep looking.

Her breath caught in her throat as she turned away. This was why he had not come when she had called out to him, he had not been able to hear or respond to her. Suddenly, Sarah was very afraid for all of her friends. Was this some sort of punishment laid out by the Goblin King? What was it he had said about her friends when she had asked?

Nothing… he said nothing about them, simply told me he was not all seeing and all knowing…

She shivered. She had accepted his statement as a suggestion that he did not know how they fared, but it was just as easily a brush off for what he might know… and could perhaps be responsible for. Sarah gritted her teeth as she felt her eyes sting... No more crying, she couldn't bear it. Now she must add Hoggle's name to her internal list: save the children, save Hoggle, save herself. She cast her eye over her fossilized friend again and felt guilty; he wasn't just some task to be completed, none of them were. She had pulled away so quickly when she had sensed him trapped in the stone. What if he were still awake inside there, what if he had felt her touch and watched her pull away in disgust? No matter what form he took this was Hoggle, her friend; kind and brave and cowardly as well, an oxymoron she could well appreciate, standing here before him.

Her first visit to the Labyrinth had been clear cut, good and evil, right and wrong. Now everything was so mixed up. Was she the hero, the anti-hero? Was the Goblin King the villain or was he just a Goblin King? Was he just behaving the way a Goblin King should, and if so could she decide his actions were wrong simply because they warred against her own moral compass? Her own conscience was hardly clear. She reached out delicately and placed her hand softly on Hoggle's cheek.

"Hello old friend, it's been awhile. I've missed you without even realising I was missing you; it's the first time in years I've looked for you and it was because I needed your help, I wonder just how long you've been stuck like this needing mine?" Thoughtfully Sarah leaned down and wrapped her arms around Hoggle's waist. She had a sudden mad thought to take him with her regardless of his state. It was a short lived attempt; he was heavy, far too heavy for her to carry. "Looks like you've put on some weight while I was away!" Her forced laugh caught in her throat and she cleared it loudly. "I guess you're not coming with me on this adventure my friend, but don't worry, I'll make sure we go on the next one together." It was false bravado and it tired her; the arms wrapped around her friend suddenly felt weak and limp, yet it was hard to pull away from the warm yet cold embrace of the stone. She stood again jerkily, mechanically, forcing herself to take that first step backwards, the only step. She felt herself stumble over something unexpected and begin to fall, too quickly to even panic as she hit the water and went under for a brief second. It was deeper than she had anticipated, and she came up spluttering and coughing, more from shock than water in her mouth. The source of her unbalance was nowhere to be found, and for a moment she sat dazed, looking up at the pedestal of dwarves filling the fountain below them.

Behind them the sun was setting.

Her heart sank. Sunset. The horizon was still murky with clouds, but fading sunlight coloured them orange and pink with its dying vibrancy. The death of the day, her first day, how could that be possible? She had three days; how long had it been already, how could the first day already be ending?

The Goblin King.

It could only be him. It was by no means the first time he had stolen hours from her; she had been a fool. It had been no act of kindness, no gift that he had shown her how her last wish had played out in the water; it had been a tool to steal time. Just how long had she been standing there staring into the fountain? She had practically asked for the proof herself and stood mesmerised before it. He was playing a game with her and she didn't know any of the rules.

Perhaps there were no rules.

Somewhere inside of her was a small voice telling her she should just give up, and she was afraid of it, because it was growing louder. She was tired and sore, heartsick and aggrieved. The one thing she did not feel right now was lucky, and it wasn't the relief she had always thought it would be. If it wasn't for the children she might have just surrendered herself to despair, or maybe not, even as she wallowed the fiercer, more stubborn portion of her lashed out at the very idea of letting the Goblin King win. Relinquishing her freedom was one thing, but sacrificing those children was another. He had tricked her, he had taken them and she would take them back.

She forced herself up, shaking and sodden, and trudged to the lip of the fountain to carefully step out onto the broken cement path. She looked back at Hoggle, her mouth set in a grim line: "I'll come back for you." The waters of the fountain settled as soon as she left them, and she spared it a passing glance out of irritation... not that she should be shocked that a water feature would trip her in the Labyrinth, but it was hardly called for.

'You're welcome,' read the neat scrawl in the stone base, and for some reason it almost seemed indignant. Sarah felt her mouth tighten a little; she wasn't going to give an inanimate object the pleasure of knowing it had piqued her. Just as she was turning angrily from the insulting script, she caught sight of her reflection in the water again for a moment, and she whipped her head around, tearing herself from the image. A heavy shudder ran up her spine and she closed her eyes tightly. That wasn't her; someone else had been looking back at her from the water. Her throat felt swollen as she tried to swallow. She was too afraid to look again, and began to move away from the fountain with her eyes on her feet. "Please take care of my friend," she croaked as she made her escape. A stone Hoggle seemed to be just as robust as a real Hoggle, there was nothing she could do for him. She had to push forward.

Sarah followed her feet, moving out of instinct rather than design. She tried not to think about wanting any one thing, the children, her friends, the Goblin King's name - she just cleared her head and walked. Direction pulled at her regardless, and she threaded herself between gnarled, twisted trees and stumpy shrubs. Everything seemed stunted and unwell, darker than the Labyrinth she remembered, and she wondered if her first visit had been coloured by a child's eyes or overly beautified by memory. Her clothes dried quicker than she had expected, especially since the sun was steadily disappearing and her surroundings were washed by twilight. It was only when she stopped to squint in the half gloom that she realised something remarkable, her hands didn't hurt. For the first time in days the pain was gone completely, the dull, hot ache from the scalding had completely disappeared. For a moment she almost forgot to breathe she was so taken aback.

'You're welcome.'

The fountain hadn't been mocking her at all; it had healed her. She had been so intent on the wrongs done to her, and by her, that she had forgotten one intrinsic thing: the good of the Labyrinth. She had met as much good in the Labyrinth as she had mischief, and sometimes found they were one and the same. She had spent so much time worrying over the intentions of the fountain that it had eventually forced her to accept its help. It wasn't the only positive effect from her immersion. Her feet were no longer sore and her fatigue was completely gone; she felt refreshed and full of energy. She laughed out loud and was shocked by the sound, laughing anew at her own reaction. It felt absurd and wonderful all at once. Hadn't she met some of her best friends here? Weren't they also a part of the Labyrinth? Was it the cynical adult in her which made her so untrusting? It wasn't wrong to rely her experience per se, but this was not the human world, hadn't she herself told the Goblin King that this was a brighter place?

As if summoned by her very thoughts, a bright glow appeared in the corner of her vision. Sarah turned to follow it, internally thanking her remaining luck just in case it was responsible for the phenomena. The sun had almost entirely slipped below the tree line now and it was hard to find her way in the dark, unfamiliar landscape. All too soon it had completely disappeared from sight, and no moon rose to replace it.

When the light was suddenly obscured, she halted, feeling her heart wrench. Her panic intensified when she realised the shadowy figure blocking it from view was the Goblin King.

"Sarah, Sarah… what a lovely name you have," he chanted in the dark.

"Come to assault me in the dark now have you?" she grumbled. Finally she had felt like she was making some headway, only to be interrupted.

"Are you lost without a guiding light Sarah?" he asked.

"I'm doing just fine thank you," she replied tartly.

"No need to thank me, any pleasure of yours is a pleasure of mine, even the dark."

Sarah rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure if that was a euphemism for turning off the lights in the bedroom or just harmless Goblin King banter.

Not so harmless… never harmless…

"What do you want?" she asked sharply.

"Why to win, obviously. Sarah mine, do be mine, tell me your answer do," sang the Goblin King.

"What?"

"Exactly," said the Goblin King. "What, what… what is you answer? Tell me Sarah, what is it... what is my name?"

She froze. She had forgotten, well, not forgotten exactly; she had just been focused on finding his name that she hadn't considered how to answer his question without it. Her mind was blank. It was the end of the first day, after all.

"…Is it… Dave?" she asked, suddenly remembering the name of her last boyfriend.

The Goblin King scrunched up his nose. "No Sarah, it is not."

"Robert, Toby, Merlin?"

"No… aren't you running out of acquaintances rather fast?"

She was, but that was no concern of his. The wheels in her head had finally started turning again.

"Alexander, Fred, Jack, Jeremy, Douglas, Benjamin?"

"No," sighed the Goblin King."

"Ferdinand, Christopher, Neil, Lesley, Andrew, Hamish?"

"No, no, no. All wrong."

Sarah stopped. There would be no end to this; she might guess forever and doubtless they would all be wrong. His name was probably as grandiose as he was; she was approaching this from the wrong angle, tomorrow she would do better.

"That's enough," she said.

"Giving up already?" he chuckled in the darkness.

"Recouping my strength, you'd would like to wear me out with this game in the dark. I'd be better served by keeping my energy reserves up to find your name tomorrow."

"Having all night to wear you out does sound rather delightful," The Goblin King hissed in her ear. "Perhaps you're right though, two days until you become mine, I don't want you becoming haggard in the interim. Sleep well precious."

Then he was gone again, or she hoped he was. It was hard to tell what was there in the sinking blackness. The light had returned, and Sarah turned towards it again, determined.

At first she thought the flickering light was a fire, but as she drew closer she realised it was a small lantern, hung at eye height and dancing merrily. As she stepped into the warm pool of light it cast, she found that she was eager to be as close to the source as possible. A voice in the dark nearly made her heart stop.

"Young girl."

Sarah felt her heart fluttering frantically as she spun to locate the owner of the voice. For a sudden dizzying moment, she recalled her room at 'The Sloan,' and the invisible Goblin King. Her stomach wrenched. Breathing shakily she counted in her head to ten, forwards and backwards, a habit from childhood. Hadn't she just been waxing lyrical about the good of the Labyrinth? Funny how a bit of darkness brought out everybody's worst fears. As her eyes adjusted to both the darkness and the patchy light, she saw why the lantern seemed to sway without a breeze to buffer it. The handle of the lantern hung around the crooked neck of a bird, but head and neck was all the bird consisted of; body down it seemed to melt into the head of the ancient man it was perched atop. She could see little more than their outlines even with the lantern so close, and couldn't decide whether the old man was the bird's roost, or the bird was the man's hat. She recognised the duo however, and felt relief at finding herself in company, and harmless company at that.

"Wiseman," she greeted him, "what are you doing here?"

"An odd thing for the odd thing to ask," snorted the bird, "here being where we belong, what being the question you should be asked."

Sarah blinked in surprise, she had completely forgotten that the bird…hat…thing could talk, how could she have forgotten that?

"Quiet," wheezed the Wiseman, "mind your manners or I'll wring your neck."

Sarah grinned. "It's good that I've found you, I wonder if you can help me?" Too late Sarah remembered the last piece of advice she'd gotten from the Wiseman, it had been less than helpful.

"You want to get to the castle do you?" he asked.

"Errr no… I mean I did once, but not anymore." Suddenly Sarah found herself at something of a loss for what exactly she did want to ask. What if one question were all she would get? Her quick tongue solved the issue for her. "What is the Goblin King's name?" she blurted out unexpectedly, cursing herself internally. Bad enough that she had been making thoughtless wishes, had she learned nothing from herself in the past few days? It wasn't an awful question, but if this was a one question deal then she might have found something more valuable to ask if she'd given herself the chance to think it over.

"Hmmm yes…. The king is it… hmmmm."

"Like he could remember. Even if he knew it once his memory is terrible," squawked the bird.

"Quiet," grunted the wise man, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Yes… king, I think I did know it once, but they're slippery things to hold onto you know."

"Names?" asked Sarah, seriously doubting his name.

"Fae names," said the bird.

The Wiseman turned to glare at him, a pointless exercise as the hat followed the angle of his head. "Yes, fae names; because of their power they're made to be slippery."

Sarah frowned. "What do you mean? What power?"

"Hmmmphf," grumbled the old man, wiggling his eyebrows, "yes, very powerful."

Sarah waited for more, in vain. He had nodded off.

"What power is he talking about?" she asked the bird.

"Power, power, all power. To have a fae's name is to have one enthralled, enslaved, yours to command," it screeched.

Sarah took a deep breath; she could vaguely remember reading something along those lines after her first visit to the Labyrinth. The fae couldn't lie, and to know the true name of a fae was to have power over it... were both of these things true? It wasn't just that guessing the Goblin King's name would grant her freedom then, it would grant her anything she wanted; it was the key to all things. It was a revelation. There was no need to seek out the children or worry about her friends: all she needed was a name. Her exaltation was short lived, however. Was this really the right thing to do? Doubt plagued her; subjugate the Goblin King? Even as the means to an end it seemed…wrong. Was she too emotionally influenced by him to see the necessity of the evil, or was it just evil? It didn't bear thinking about. She didn't have a name as leverage to worry over, she didn't have anything, and one day had already passed. Sarah examined the sleeping old man again and turned her attention back to the bird.

"I don't understand what he meant by names being slippery, is that why I can't remember the Goblin King's name? I definitely knew it once."

"Made to be forgotten," agreed the bird. "Can't have everybody remembering them and using them willy nilly. If you don't keep in the practice of them then they slip away."

"But I can remember some names," argued Sarah, "I can remember my friends, and I can remember Wiseman."

The Wiseman grunted loudly after hearing his name and blinked awake groggily.

"Hey, you remember a title: Goblin King, Wiseman. That's not a name, even I don't know his name and I live on his head! As for friends, did you remember them all right away? How many times did you say their names? How often did you think of them? Enough to keep in practice I'd say."

He was right, Sarah realised. At first even she had botched Hoggle's name until it had become familiar. He was part of the fairy world; a fae creature, all of the creatures of the Labyrinth were: the same rules would apply. Suddenly the fact that the Goblin King had constantly mispronounced 'Hoggle' took on a whole new meaning, he hadn't been teasing him, he simply hadn't been able to remember. Furthermore, Hoggle never seemed to call the Goblin King by his title but always by his name, as if constantly reminding himself of it. It wouldn't surprise Sarah to find that he might never have had the courage to use the name for himself, but it was a weapon in his arsenal should he ever need it. She smiled inwardly at her cowardly friends daring.

"Your friends…" muttered the Wiseman, blundering into their conversation, half asleep again already. "Yes… they're around here somewhere".

The flickering light was making her feel drowsy and she started awake at his comment. "My friends are? Who, where?" The Wiseman was nodding heavily into his beard and Sarah shook him hard. Her hands came away slimy and she wrinkled her nose as she wiped them on the remnants of her once fine dress.

"Mmmmphf," muttered the ancient old man. "That door there will lead you to one of them," he grunted, gesturing vaguely somewhere behind him. Sarah looked up hopefully to see the faint outline of a wall beyond where they were sitting in the circle of light. It was too dark to make out a door, or anything beyond the general shape of a solid mass in the background, but Sarah didn't want to delay.

"I see," she nodded, noticing that the Wiseman had already fallen asleep, "I don't suppose…"

"I'm sure you do," snarked the bird.

"Okay fine," huffed Sarah, "maybe I do. I just wonder if I could possibly borrow the lantern?"

"Will you be giving it back?" the bird asked.

"Well… no… I'm not sure actually."

"That's hardly borrowing now is it?"

Sarah's shoulders slumped. "No, I suppose it isn't," she agreed.

"Psssh - greedy, all humans are you know... Go on and take it then, it won't get you far."

Sarah thought to ask what he meant but, worried that he might change his mind; quickly slipped the lantern from his neck instead. Her hands brushed a brittle surface rather than the feathers she had expected, and she paused for a moment with a question on her lips. Thinking better of it, she held the lantern out in front of her and made her way to the wall-like shape, hidden in the shadows. A door which would lead to either Ludo or Sir Didymus, and surely - as a fae - the Wiseman couldn't lie to her about that? Not that the theory of fae truth had been proven just yet. She only had the Goblin King's word to go on and that was a tenuous assurance at best.

Although the light from the lantern was certainly better than no light at all, Sarah thought it might be a very close thing. As she watched the circle of safety around her dim she worried: was it running out of fuel? The spark within was certainly ebbing, and as she finally met the base of the wall it was all but an embers glow. Running her hand along the smooth brick finish, she brought the lantern up as close to the wall as she could, searching for any hint of a doorway or passage. The glow dimmed further but she had nothing to feed the flame. Perhaps this was what the bird had meant when he had the lantern wouldn't get her far? She couldn't expect to stumble across oil to fill it… but then again she was still a little bit lucky, maybe she could expect exactly that? Grinning to herself she tried to ignore the encroaching blackness pressing in around her and focused on her task.

She found it quickly.

Her hands felt the polished wood long before she could make out the grain in the dark. She squinted in the low light of the lantern, which was now all but imaginary. She could almost make out a face, and a knocker... familiarity soared in her. She could remember this door! There was a gargoyle guarding it and he held the knocker in his mouth, he had presented her with a riddle. She searched to the left and the right for his companion door, the gargoyle with the handle ring through his ears. She remembered that they had been a pair. Failing to find any trace of a second door she wondered if the doors could have moved. They had certainly been quite close to one another when she had first beheld them. She reached up to confirm that this was the correct gargoyle face and froze as her hand met fur. Fur was wrong, fur was definitely wrong. Gargoyles didn't have fur, did they? Swallowing deeply, Sarah lifted the dull glimmer of the lantern up to the face and strained her eyes into the remaining shadows, as if she could make it out in the dark through sheer force of will.

She wished her own will were not so strong.

Her hands were shaking so badly as she took a step backwards that it was all she could do to not drop the lantern.

Ludo.

Sweet Ludo, with his big, sad eyes and gentle presence. The knocker ring was threaded between the fangs of his lower jaw.

'That door there will lead you to one of them.'

It wasn't a lie.

She had seen him like that once before, on her last visit to the Labyrinth when he had playfully placed the knocker in his mouth. He'd had a body then, of course, but now there was nothing left but a face, glazed eyes staring at something beyond her comprehension. She couldn't remember returning to the Wiseman and the bird. It hardly registered that the lantern light returned gradually as she closed in on them. She felt empty, she didn't want to feel anything. Sarah slumped at the feet of the slumbering ancient, her legs would carry her no further.

"I told you it wouldn't get you far," called the bird.

Sarah nodded dumbly, it hardly mattered, there was no way she could ever use that door.

"He's dead," she whispered.

"Eh, what?" asked the bird.

Sarah muttered nonsensically to herself. Her mind refused to accept what she had seen. It couldn't be true.

Nonononononononono.

She would go mad, the Goblin King was trying to drive her mad.

"You look a fright. I'd think being reunited with a friend would have made you happy," said the bird.

"Happy?" she said bitterly. A hollow feeling choked her, closing up her throat. "Yes, I'm so happy I feel like I'm going to throw up," she croaked.

The Goblin King would pay for this. Sarah swallowed the rising gorge in her throat and tried to focus on her fury. She must do… something… revenge? Something to do with his name?

"He's responsible… the Goblin King is responsible for this," she sobbed, her face crumpling into a mask of misery. How could it hurt more, how was that even possible?

"Yes," agreed the bird.

"No," groaned the Wiseman.

"Hey, are you awake or aren't you?" croaked the bird, bending its neck to try and survey him.

"Both," snuffled the old man.

"What?" asked Sarah, "How can you both answer differently? Either he did this or he didn't."

"Both," repeated the old man, "it's both."

Sarah sighed. "Why must you speak in riddles? My friends are trapped… or dead. I can't stand this anymore! Why is he doing this? Is it to punish me, is this all because they helped me to beat the Labyrinth?"

"Yes and no," he wheezed, "that may be the cause and the effect, but it's not pain that's intentionally wrought."

"I don't understand!" Shouted Sarah. She dearly wanted to. If this could be put to rights, if it could all not be the Goblin King's doing somehow… she wanted that with all her heart.

"It's the Labyrinth," said the Wiseman, waiting to see if he had Sarah's attention. "They are one and the same you know, not by choice, of course, but that's another story. The Goblin King is a reflection of the Labyrinth and so as he changes so too does the Labyrinth, subconsciously. Just as you have grown and changed so too must all Goblin Kings. Only in so far as any fae can, of course. We, all of us, are a part of the Labyrinth, all of us are connected, so as it changes so too must we. It is not intentional harm. As you hurt you express your pain, his pain is reflected by the Labyrinth."

"But my friends are…" Sarah let the thought trail off, she felt like speaking it would make their situations permanent. "You and your hat are not changed at all!" she cried, going with another tactic. "Perhaps the Labyrinth does seem a little darker than I remember, but the rest is just ridiculous. Why should the Goblin King be tied to his Labyrinth, and why would he suffer?"

"Nothing stays the same forever, human. Once a child and now a woman, how long is that in your world and how long is that here?"
Sarah couldn't answer that. Would it be more time here or less? Was the flow of time here always the same? If she judged it based on her run in the Labyrinth then that must mean more time had passed here, much more time.

"We are not the same; you have not looked closely enough and the firelight is kind to us. That is a good thing for you I think, we are not as you remember, despite the fact that you will not shed the memory from your eyes. Day casts us very differently, as you would treat us, I suspect," intoned the old man.

"How can I be sure that anything any of you are telling me is true?" frowned Sarah. "This would mean that the Labyrinth is a darker place because the Goblin King is a darker person, which I can accept. But to say that the Goblin King is hurt, he is an inflicter, what pain can possibly touch him?"

The Wiseman simply shrugged. "The fae cannot lie."

Sarah tried to open her mind to the concept. If she was right then this was revenge, he had sought her out, gained her confidence and betrayed her. So he held a grudge against her, which must mean surely she had hurt him at some point? It could only be her run in the Labyrinth… was his pride hurt by defeat or… could it be the method of his defeat which had hurt him?

'You have no power over me.'

She had taken power from him, she had not only beaten him but she had disabled him. Was that why his agony infected the Labyrinth, staining his mind and his home?

Sarah lay down close to the lantern. It was possible for something to be both the truth and a lie; both the Wiseman and the bird had answered her question differently, but if they were to be believed there was truth in both answers. If the Goblin King shaped the Labyrinth unintentionally, then surely he was just as plagued to see how it suffered, and wouldn't that be an endless spiral of sadness begetting more sadness? But how could Sarah change that; find his name and command him to cheer up? Hardly. As Sarah's thoughts carried her into a light doze she felt the sharp edge of something poke into her thigh. She looked groggily down to see a collection coffer being prodded towards her from the shadows.

"Contributions are welcome," harassed the bird cheekily, and Sarah raised a bleary eye to watch him.

"Not a chance," she yawned. "In fact, I want a refund on the last piece of advice I paid for. The way forward is sometimes the way back, what was that all about?"

"Pssh, a gem," muttered the bird, "have you considered that it might be wisdom before its time?"

"Whatever," mumbled Sarah sleepily, "it's hardly a map to the Goblin castle is it?" She had made up her mind to sleep and nothing was going to stop her now. There wasn't much to do in the dark with a short distance lantern, besides. She was determined to see the bird and the Wiseman in the light of day and prove them wrong. No matter how they appeared, she swore to herself, she would treat them no differently. She shivered a little at the memory of the sticky feeling on her hand when she had shaken the Wiseman. She must be brave.

When morning came however she was disappointed, they were nowhere to be found. Bird and man, even the lantern was gone. Further investigation showed that even the Ludo door was now missing, but she knew she hadn't imagined it. Left behind like a calling card was the collection box, cracked open wide enough for her to see something catch the light. Delicately, nervous fingers explored the gap and she was rewarded when she pulled the tiny gold band from the box. There was a small, bright ruby set into the ring, so very familiar and precious that it pulled at her heart. It had been her mother's ring until she had passed it on to Sarah... she had never expected to see it again. The Labyrinth had granted her a refund.

Obsessive360: That is an excellent question, look at me positively bursting at the seams with spoilers! Nope, you're getting nothing from me (yet), but that IS an excellent question ;D

LingeringSentiments: Bruno, who saw that coming? Hopefully no one since even I decided on it quite late... but I guess reading back he was the nicest of the lot.

nothingnothingtralala: Come back I MISS YOU! If you are currently sailing the high seas I hope in between swabbing the decks and learning sea shanties you are planning the next chapter of your own fic!

AletaWolff: Yes he was, but wouldn't you like one of these for your front garden? He'd look nice near my petunias (except I do not have petunias because I am a vicious plant murderer.)

Jetredgirl: Thankies :)

Wudulfin: They are both playing a dangerous game, that's what makes the tension between them so delicious!

Kaytori: Hmm my last excuse would be to say that his description that she would be okay hasn't played out yet, it can still come true ;D
My original thought for 'mind and body' was along the lines of loving him physically and mentally... against her will ( to the best of his knowledge anyway since we know Sarah's internal monologue). So yes, he would control her, she would be his slave, but I'd envision it playing out similarly to the peach dream where she'd believe whatever he wanted and would play her part under his manipulation.

Atlejo3: Yes dowsing! I was actually thinking of scrying while I was writing it - it's just Jareth's power on a larger and more watery scale (and rather friendly to boot.) Sorry you had to wait for this one, the next one will be out tomorrow and I like it better than this chapter *preens* but then I find any chapter without a Goblin King is a lonely chapter.

Luna: Thanks for the compliment and OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY! I hope that on the up side you can continue to enjoy the story since it certainly isn't finished - I estimate the ending will be happening around the end of May, now that I can return to my regular updates. So if you are concerned about losing heart with delays (which I totally understand, nothing like a story going flat with time or rereading) that might be a good time to come back and have a look :)