As they worked, the pixies spoke in hushed tones about their purpose. To them, every mark, every alteration, was part of a grander design.
"Why don't we just block her path entirely?" Bumbleknot asked as they reset another stone. "Wouldn't that stop her faster?"
Fispip shook his head. "No, no. The point isn't to stop her. The point is to make her question everything. The Labyrinth isn't about answers, little one… it's about doubt."
Grizzlewump added, "Each Runner who comes here thinks they can conquer it. They believe their wits and will are enough. We show them the truth: that the Labyrinth is alive. It shifts and changes, and so must they."
Bumbleknot nodded, though she didn't entirely understand. Still, the older pixies spoke with such certainty, and she loved the game too much to argue.
As the Runner reached the dead end they had so carefully arranged, the pixies gathered beneath her, watching through cracks in the stone. She froze, staring at the wall in disbelief, then spun to retrace her steps. Her sharp intake of breath echoed through the tunnel when she saw the altered arrows.
Fispip snickered. "Look at her face! She's lost already."
"Patience," Grizzlewump murmured. "The best confusion takes time to bloom."
The Runner knelt, touching the altered mark. Her muttering was soft, but the pixies heard it clearly. "Someone has been changing my marks." She threw the tube of lipstick in exasperation. "What a horrible place this is! It's not fair!"
Tiny's voice cut across the silence of the Labyrinth. "That's right," he said. "it's not fair."
Simon watched as the Runner jumped and whipped around. She gave him a wide-eyed look. He knew what she saw, two guards standing before two identical doors holding enormous shields in front of them, one red and one blue.
Sometimes, the Labyrinth would glamor them as giants. Simon liked it when the Labyrinth did that. This time, however, the Goblins were glamored as some sort of furry creature with armor. Clinging to the inside of the shield and out of sight of the Runner, were two more Goblins, also glamored to look like furry creatures with armor. They peeked their heads out from the bottom of the shields. It amused Simon to watch as the girl tried to twist herself so she was facing the bottom Goblins properly. He got the impression she did this out of a sense of politeness.
Simon laughed uproariously when the Runner murmured to herself that they were standing at what had been a dead end moments ago. He saw the look of horror on her face when he pointed out that the dead end was in fact behind her. At any rate, she was going to have to choose one of the doors to go through.
"One of them leads to the castle," said Greeg, who was hanging upside down from the blue shield. "And the other one leads to certain death."
The look of horror that was already on the girl's face became even more pronounced. "Which is which?"
Tiny, hanging from the bottom of Simon's shield, brought her attention back up to himself and Bluto. After exchanging a glance with his comrade, Simon told her, "You can only ask one of us."
Bluto interjected at this point, "It's in the rules. And… I should warn you. One of us always tells the truth and one of us always lies." Bluto looked over at Simon, then continued. "He always lies."
Simon said, "I do not. I always tell the truth!"
"Oh, what a lie," said Bluto.
He watched the Runner's expression as she thought about the riddle. He could see her working it out in her head. He had to fight to keep the smile off his face. So many of the Runners were boring or even mean. But this one was fun. He saw the gleam in her eyes... she thought she had a solution.
She looked over at Simon and said, "All right, answer yes or no. Would he," she said pointing at Bluto, "tell me that this door," she pointed at the door behind Simon, "leads to the castle?"
He ducked behind his shield conferring quickly with Tiny. The truth was, neither one of them could really remember which door went which way. Simon figured they had a 50/50 chance of getting it right. Simon popped his head back up from the shield, his eyes wide and uncertain. "uh... yes."
The girl got a grin on her face from ear to ear. She was quite cute when she smiled. It made her green eyes sparkle. "Then the other door leads to the castle, and this door leads to certain death."
"How do you know?" Simon asked. "He could be telling you the truth."
"But then you wouldn't be," the girl replied. "So if you tell me he said yes, I know the answer was no."
He looked over at Bluto. At this point, he didn't really know what the solution was to the Riddle anyway. The Labyrinth would decide what was going to be behind these doors, not the guards. Depending on the Runner, it could be the way forward or it could be something horrific. Simon recalled the basilisk that had been waiting on the other side of the door for that Runner a couple years ago. Evil guy. He deserved to get eaten.
He continued with the banter, secretly charmed by how confident she seemed. This one was a nice one, and Simon didn't really know how she came to be here or why she was a Runner. He did know that he wished her well.
As she stepped through the door behind him, her smile got even wider. "This is a piece of cake."
Simon cringed. Sure enough, the ground opened up right under the girl's feet and with a piercing scream she dropped down into the shaft.
Reebo watched as Sarah plunged down the pit that had opened up beneath her. Observing the Run through the crystal, along with the rest of the Goblins in the throne room, he'd cringed right along with the door guards when he'd heard her flippant remark. Therefore, it was no surprise when the Labyrinth decided to give her a little lesson in arrogance.
The 'helping hands' that lined the passage were some sort of tactile illusion perpetrated by the Labyrinth. Reebo himself wasn't sure exactly what they were, but they seemed to show a measure of sentience. They halted Sarah's plunge below, holding her midway between the surface she'd just fallen through and the bottom of the pit.
He'd cringed again when they'd given her the choice to go back up or continue down. She chose down. Not that he could blame her, really… everything in the Labyrinth was twisted in such a way that 'down' probably made sense.
"She's in the oubliette," Kingy murmured as they all stared into the crystal. The Ughlánas burst into laughter. Still murmuring to himself, Jareth seemed to marvel at the fact that she hadn't given up yet.
Reebo shook his head, "She'll never give up."
Kingy raised an eyebrow, "Won't she?" he said in a low voice. "The Dwarf is about to lead her back to the beginning. She'll soon give up when she realizes she has to start all over again."
Strange… Kingy's laughter at that thought was just as hollow as the look in his eyes.
Author's Notes:
You might recall back in 'Imitation Game', that the Labyrinth told Sarah that it wanted to teach Jareth a lesson in humility. It didn't mention that it was teaching Sarah the same lesson.
