I think I broke my once-a-month posting schedule, so I apologize. Enjoy some Sarah and Jareth—and a rousing game of Scrabble. ;) Happy almost East and happy Spring! Thanks for reading!
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Bright midday light streamed through the library doorway into Sarah's bedchamber. Sarah lay sprawled out on her belly, the duvet under her wrinkling itself into forest-green ripples across the bed like a pond. A stack of half-read books sat heaped next to her in tidy pile, and a new book was cracked open in her hand to its first page.
"Sounds like a load of hooey," came Hoggle's voice from behind her. Sarah looked back at Hoggle, who leaned against several propped up pillows, and smiled. He had his own book in hand, Stars: their Guidance and Meaning. "I never was one for reading," he grumbled.
"I know Hoggle, but maybe one of these books has information on getting out of here. I know it's boring being cooped up, but tomorrow we can hang out in the garden or something."
"Ambrosius would love that, my lady," said Didymus, who sat on the floor playing tug-of-war with Ambrosius. A faded pink dishrag, already torn, received a few new tears as the sheepdog-looking beast growled happily through his teeth clamped onto the unfortunate chew-toy. "But a knight's endurance is a bottomless well that never runs dry. A literary foe is no match for one who has fought dragons."
Even if the dragons were only in his mind.
Ludo sat on the floor holding a book upside down. He couldn't read, but Sarah adored how he participated anyway.
"Jareth told me he's coming by later with something that'll help."
Hoggle grumbled.
"King helps Sarrrrrah?" Ludo's voice boomed inquisitively.
"Yes, yes he does. He's not thrilled I'm trying to leave, but he's not preventing me at all." Ludo's head was tilted, a floppy ear held open; he wasn't convinced. "He's helping!" Sarah insisted.
"That's what he's telling you," muttered Hoggle under his breath. Didymus growled and threw Hoggle a narrowed side-eye. Sarah ignored the comment and sighed
"Just another chapter, and then we can break out a game of scrabble."
Didymus patted Ambrosius on the head and rounded the bed to grab a book. Comfortable silence drifted through the room like the scent of freshly baked cookies wafting through the house on Christmas Eve—comfortable and optimistic. The friends had settled into their books cheerfully, but the anticipation of a rousing game of Scrabble made their fingertips twitch and toes wriggle. Mercifully, Sarah called them to a break, and Didymus sprang towards the office where the board game awaited on the once empty bookshelf. He had it set up and ready to go in record time, and it wasn't long before Hoggle and Didymus were neck and neck. The bag of letters was nearly empty, and Didymus' tail began to twitch while Hoggle fidgeted.
"Dear Hoggle, I'm afraid you shan't win this time; the alphabet never lets me down."
"Oh, I don't know about that, Sir Didymus; I've got luck and cleverness on my side."
"Guys…" Sarah said quietly. Her eyes were cast down, her brow creased in the middle.
"My lady, what's wrong?" Her friends leaned in.
"I…I…" she bit her bottom lip and squinted her eyes shut. She heard Hoggle suck in a concerned breath.
"I'm so sorry." A grin spread across her face "Landing on a triple-points space, fifty bonus-points for using all my letters, 'bequest' is going to win me the game."
"What?!" cried Hoggle as Sarah quickly placed her seven-letter word.
"It cannot be!" Didymus exclaimed, eyes wide and whiskers frozen in shock.
Ludo bellowed a powerful laugh, causing the walls to shake. Sarah joined in, laughing so side-splittingly hard she held her stomach. "You should see your faces! Ahahaha!" She tipped over and rolled onto the floor.
"Such a move must be avenged!" cried Didymus, leaping to his feet.
Hoggle joined him, pumping his fist into the air. "Agreed! This can only mean one thing!"
Didymus looked at Hoggle, Hoggle looked at Didymus. They shouted in unison:
"Tickle fight!"
They leapt on the human girl, already curled on the floor.
"No!" cried Sarah, laughing so hard her eyes teared up.
"Avast, fair maiden!"
"We've got you now!"
Ludo hadn't stopped laughing, but decided to join in, scooping up his two little friends. He grabbed each of them by an ankle and dangled them in the air.
"Not fair!" cried Hoggle, swatting at the air.
"I've got you now!" shouted Sarah, hopping up to wiggle her fingers towards two small rib cages.
"No!" cried the dwarf and squirrelly little knight. The sight of them dangling there and swatting at the air was such a sight, Sarah doubled over and laughed even harder. Ludo continued to laugh and set the pair down unceremoniously, which in turn caused them to laugh, and soon all four were on the ground rolling with laughter.
Sarah wiped tears from her eyes as the guffawing subsided.
"I love you guys."
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Boom!
Sarah shrieked.
"I finally have it," Jareth said after plopping a massive brick of a tome on Sarah's office desk. "I hope you know how much summoning and conjuring it took to get my hands on this again. I haven't looked at it in decades."
Sarah rose from the arm chair and approached with caution. The leather cover seemed to glitter much like the outer walls of the Labyrinth. "This is everyone?"
"Everyone. And everything."
"Everything? What things do people wish away?"
"Mostly knitting gone awry and faulty appliances. You can imagine what an annoyance it was when cars were invented…" Sarah let out an amused scoff. She reached out to touch the book but quickly recoiled. It was as thick as her hand was long, wrist to finger. The thing looked like it weighed a ton. Jareth noticed her trepidation and opened it to the middle.
"Ah yes, I remember him. 'William Bull. Sixteenth Century, seven years old.' Little spitfire of a boy. More like Hellfire for his parents. They didn't run for him."
"How horrid!" exclaimed Sarah.
"He was horrid—made a wonderfully fiendish goblin though. And here's Brunhilde Gunarsson. Her father ran for her and got pretty far, too. Ah yes, that old cow Jean. So many. So, so many…" Jareth's voice drifted off into a silence loud with memories. Sarah set her hand on his arm.
"Well, let's start at the beginning I guess."
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"I still can't believe how much laundry gets wished away," said Sarah, stretching her arms towards the sky.
"Out of all the burdensome things in life, laundry is perhaps the most dreadful," Jareth drolled.
They'd started reading together from the very beginning. After about two centuries of useless information, Jareth let Sarah read alone while he sat in the armchair and closed his eyes in contemplation. Truthfully, he didn't remember any of what was printed in those first several centuries. He didn't even know if he had been alive then, let alone the Goblin King. After another four or five centuries, Sarah asked Jareth to switch, and she went and did some yoga in her little library. Eventually they read together again for a while; Jareth gasped.
"What, what is it?!" asked Sarah eagerly.
"That old brother Cillian. I had completely forgotten how he shot me out of the sky with a slingshot."
Sarah's heart sank; she'd been hoping for something helpful. But, she'd shrugged off the disappointment and laughed. "In his defense, you were probably trying to stop him from rescuing someone."
"Yes, well, that's my job. I did manage to get him to the Bog though. Only his heel touched the muck, but I felt we were even." Sarah chuckled.
Jonah Newton. Eighteenth century, two years old. Wisher: Rebecca Newton, sister. Run: yes. Unsuccessful; time expired after the Hedges, before the Forest.
Katerina Petrovich. Nineteenth century, three minutes old. Wisher: Anja Petrovich, mother. Run: no.
The entries continued on like this. Some recorded clever ways the runners had succeeded, like mounting a winged stag and letting the beast run half the way before they fell off. Another had disguised themself as a goblin and joined a patrol; the squadron would've led the runner straight to the castle, had the king not discovered the disguise and made them all turn right when they should've gone straight.
Goblins arrived bearing trays of food and drink. Sarah hadn't seen Jareth summon them, but was grateful for the sustenance; all this reading, much of it dry, was starting to hurt her head. She knew they were getting close to the current Run because—well, not that many pages left, and—modern names like Chad, Bruce, Shirley, and Connie popped up.
Winston Shiptoski. Twentieth Century, four years old. Wisher: Deborah "Debbie" Polasky, half-sister. Run: no. Traded. The entry stopped there.
Sarah almost dropped her toast. "Jareth, Jareth look at this." Jareth, engrossed in his glass of wine, raised an eyebrow at the words. "Yes?"
"Traded. What does it mean, traded?"
"Traded? Deborah…Debbie, Debbie, Deb… Oh! Dibby. Dibs, ya I remember her. She's still with us, probably crawling the walls of the throne room right about now." He went back to his glass.
"Aaaaand…?" prodded Sarah.
"And what?"
"What does it mean she traded?"
"Exactly what it says. She stayed in her half-brother's place."
"I didn't know that was an option."
"Well, you never asked. No one did. Neither did she, she just offered herself up, and the Labyrinth allowed it."
"So, you're saying that it's not always possible, if the Labyrinth doesn't allow?"
"Correct. It's basically allowed, but it can't happen often; what would the power of a wish be if you made a counter offer every time?"
"So, if I find someone or something to trade, I can be free of the wish?"
"I'm…unsure. The wisher should make the trade." His eyes glazed over has he consulted the centuries of knowledge in his head, flipping through old memories like pages in a book. He reached out for the Labyrinth in his mind, and questioned the trade. "Yes, the wisher should make the trade."
"You keep emphasizing 'should.'"
"Well, that's the rule."
"It…could be something," said Sarah, stroking her chin.
"Yes, it could be," said Jareth, monotone.
"Then, let's start there—once we finish up."
"Let's start there," Jareth affirmed. "But, before we do…" Jareth downed the last dregs of his liquid courage, "perhaps tomorrow we could spend the day in a much more pleasant way?"
Sarah arched her brows. "Um, could you be more specific?" She wasn't sure if this was innuendo or not.
"Perhaps we could feed the pigeons or work in the garden. I have gardeners, but it's something to do."
Not what Sarah was expecting, but she was relieved at the answer. "Oh, sure, that actually sounds nice."
She smiled softly at him.
Jareth's heart skipped a beat. His mouth parted slightly as the gentle smile on her lips threatened to undo him where he sat. She mercifully looked back at the book, releasing him from her gaze. He snapped his jaw shut.
"I must attend to…things," Jareth said, rising abruptly. He headed for the exit. "I shall join you for breakfast."
"Oh, I'm getting breakfast with the guys," said Sarah apologetically.
"Well then," said Jareth, turning back to her, "I will collect you after your company's departure."
"That sounds fine," replied Sarah, looking up at him, oblivious to the tension that hung in the air. Oblivious to the king's hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles cracked, to the king's knees trembling in his boots. He couldn't stop staring at her lips.
"Quite right. I bid you goodnight, Sarah Williams." With a flourish of his cape, he removed himself from the room, striding purposefully through the bedroom, hand stretched out towards the door, before he remembered he could teleport. With one step he found himself on the balcony where he had first brought her. He clutched his chest and fell to one knee.
"Stars above, does she not know what she does?" His chest heaved as he panted; with one look she had knocked the very breath from his body. "What I wouldn't give to keep her here, forever…"
He strode to the balcony edge. "Cursed maze, why her? Out of all the human children in the world, why did she have to make a wish? Why did she have to become the Champion? I didn't mean to toy with your magic. I didn't mean to bring her back…and yet, I am glad." The silence hummed around him; the Labyrinth listened. Jareth exclaimed in frustration and began to pace. "The one thing I would have from her is the one thing that would take her away from me—what am I to do?" A light wind began to blow; the Labyrinth shrugged. "It is against my nature not to play tricks; but I mustn't. I mustn't use deceit to keep her here. Would that I could keep her here forever, but she is still human; she would wither away with her tiny human lifespan. And I would be forced to watch."
The king's shoulder's slumped. He pulled a stray feather out of his hair and worried it between his fingers. The wind stopped.
"I truly, truly will try to find a way to return her home safely. But you must understand, I cannot offer her the only solution I know. Not yet. It's too soon. Too soon… Cursed maze, help me."
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The next day, breakfast.
"Waddya mean you're taking the day off?!" asked Hoggle, nearly falling off the ottoman on which he sat.
"I just mean all this reading is tiring, especially when nothing useful turns up." Sarah leaned back in her armchair and took a bite of her toast with jam.
"Almost nothing, my lady," Didymus corrected. "This trading business could be something."
"Ya!" agreed Ludo, downing a giant vat (requested specially for him) of oatmeal.
"You're right, Sir Didymus. But I can't think of anyone I know who would actually want to get turned into a goblin. And I can't think of anything valuable enough to trade…" She leaned forward and tucked into tea, staring off into the air pensively.
"Who cares one way or another! I just don't want to see you and Jareth getting all buddy-buddy and forgetting the whole reason you're here."
"I won't! I'm just going to pass a little time doing something nice with him, that's all."
"Bah! Mark my words, Sarah. Don't lose sight of your goal. Don't lose sight of what you really want."
"I won't, Hoggle. Guys. I really won't." She took another sip of her tea, but Hoggle's last comment echoed around her mind.
Don't lose sight of what you really want.