Labyrinth Fan Fiction ❯ To Defeat the Rotting Labyrinth ❯ Disheveled ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Sarah brainstormed for at least an hour, not sure about where to go or how. She finally called out, “Hoggle! Hoggle, I need your help!” She stomped her foot when he didn't respond immediately, but sat down in place to wait. Another half an hour later, Hoggle finally appeared with a short pop! Sarah jumped.

He leaned heavily on his cane this time. “He's in a snit. He doesn't know about this, I know he doesn't, but you called me when I was there, and he was suspicious... What's wrong?”

“Brownies stole my map,” she said dully, uncaring about Jareth's apparent problem.

Hoggle blinked at her slowly. “Brownies?” he said questioningly. “They weren't his, or he would already know... Who would've...”

She shrugged. “Maybe the same person who took Sylvie,” she suggested.

“Who?”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Never mind,” she grumbled, and got to her feet. “I still need to get to the center. Which way do I go?” He looked around and observed their surroundings, and hummed. “Hmm?” she echoed. “Hmm? What does hmm mean?”

He looked up at her and blinked. “I'm not entirely sure where you are, or -” he stopped in the middle of his sentence and stared past Sarah. “What is that?” He pointed past her.

Ludo was hovering behind Sarah, deciding whether or not Hoggle meant him harm. Sarah glanced back and glared at Hoggle. “It's Ludo, for Pete sake!” she hissed. “How do I get to the castle?”

Unsure, Hoggle turned around. He hemmed, hawed, grunted, sighed, and thought before he finally said, “I don't know, Sarah.”

Frustrated, Sarah huffed. “Can you get me another map?” she asked hopefully.

“No,” he replied. “The person who made that map hasn't been seen or heard from in several hundred years. I could get you another map, but it wouldn't be half as helpful as that one. It was bewitched to show every change that the Labyrinth made over time. Every other map is just the version of the Labyrinth that someone saw at the time, horribly inaccurate. Your best bet would be to try and get through it on your own. You did it last time.”

She yelled out in anger, and kicked the nearest, dead tree. It fell over with a whine and a ground-shaking thud. She turned on Hoggle and shouted, “Last time, I had you to help me, and then that bastard threw us both into the Bog of Eternal Stench, where we found Didymus, who knew the way! Without those things, I'm screwed! Besides, you said it's changed. There's no way that I can do this without help, Hoggle!” She kicked another tree, and it, too, fell to the ground with a whine and a ground-shaking thud, and another great snap as it broke over the trunk of its brother. She stared at the two, and suddenly felt badly for her actions.

Ludo and Hoggle were both staring at her with unsure, sad eyes. She stalked away from them, out of their hearing range, and sat down hard on the creek. Hoggle told Ludo to look after her, and then disappeared again. Ludo went back to his shack, leaving Sarah alone with the water.

“What am I supposed to do?” she whispered, and sighed. She picked up a stick and trailed it along the dead leaves and dirt, and made some ripples in the water as she stabbed at the creek. She wiped her sleeve against her eyes. It was just a maze. She had done countless mazes in coloring books, but in coloring books, you could look ahead and see if you were headed for a dead end before making a decision. Now, she had no way of finding that out. “This is hopeless,” she muttered. She couldn't even get back to the beginning or wish herself home now. She buried her head in her knees. Her shoulders shook.

Some leaves crunched near her. She lifted her head and looked one way, and then the other. A voice from behind her called, “It appears that you're lost, my dear.”

She scrambled to her feet, mistaking the voice for Jareth's. She fell up against one of the trees, and stared at the strange woman. She certainly looked a lot like Jareth. She had his mismatched eyes, lithe form, and fetish for leather. Sarah stayed against the tree as the woman tossed her silver hair and laughed in the same way that he laughed – condescending and beautiful. Her face was attractive in a feline sense of the word. Sarah decided shortly that this woman must have been related to Jareth.

“Who are you?” Sarah asked, her voice sounding a lot less brave and arrogant than she would've liked.

The woman snickered again, flourishing her cape behind her as she moved to walk a few steps to her left. “No one of consequence,” she replied. “A friend, if you so like the sentiment, or a stranger willing to help, if you'd prefer that instead.” She flicked the cape away from her as she sat down, and conjured a fire before her. “Hungry?” she asked.

Sarah shook her head, and stayed against her tree. The woman leveled a gaze on her that felt exactly like Jareth's. She began to think that maybe he was in disguise as a woman, or maybe cursed to be one. “I'm not going to hurt you, Sarah,” she said. The way she said her name was different than the way that Jareth did. Jareth said her name with a particular rhythm and cadence, a lilt to it that this woman didn't have. Sarah began to relax. “Tea?” she offered, holding up a tea kettle.

Carefully, she sat down across the fire. She admitted that it felt wonderful against her cold skin, making her realize just how freezing she had been. She wanted to go and get her back pack again and pull out her other jacket, but she didn't want to move either. The woman had Jareth's same charisma and magnetism. She accepted a cup of tea and could only hope that it wouldn't be poisoned like the peach that she had accepted so long ago.

The woman introduced herself as Lady Abernathy, and then paused, unsure of her words. “The Goblin King is my son,” she began. Sarah stared in wonder. She knew there was something fishy about the woman. “Before you begin to assume that he or myself are evil, let me talk to you, explain some.” Sarah nodded, agreeing that she could at least try to understand and listen.

“He is one of fourteen children, and is the oldest. He's always loved children. He enjoyed caring for his younger siblings. When he came of age, I convinced his stepfather to put him in charge of the lost and unwanted. He was overjoyed, and took pride in his job. He took in the unwanted children, giving them their dreams, -”

Sarah interjected, “Making them into goblins.”

Lady Abernathy shook her head. “No, allowing them to be what their imaginations wanted them to be,” she corrected. “Every goblin was once a child, that much is true, but not every child has wanted to be a goblin either. The children that wanted to become goblins, he allowed to become goblins, but others that wished for more things that he couldn't necessarily give them, he let sleep and dream of what they truly wanted, allowing their imaginations to rule their worlds. Most of them still dream and are happier than they would be in actual reality.” She smiled, and added, “That's what the peach was for.”

Thoughtfully, Sarah drank another gulp of her tea, and mulled over the taste. It was oaky and foreign, with just the right amount of sweetness for its flavor, just warm enough not to burn, but to still taste good and make her shiver as it slid down her throat. She then asked, “If he's so kind, why was he so cruel to me when I was battling the Labyrinth last time?”

She smiled ruefully. “He is very passionate about what he does, Sarah. Every child that is wished away has the choice to dream and be happy, or become a goblin and be happy. He won't give them back unless he can be assured that they will be happy with the one that wished them away, only if that individual makes enough of a change to convince him while running the Labyrinth, only if they can work hard enough to prove to him that they're worthy of having the child returned. He was being cruel because he wanted to see what you would go through to save your little brother. You passed the test. You're worthy of congratulations, Sarah, not many do.” She reclined against a tree.

The girl frowned. It made perfect sense. It was like a punishment, a test to be sure that the person wouldn't mistreat them again. “What about the end of my run?” she murmured. “My dream with the peach when I was in the ballroom, when he asked me to love him, fear him, do as he says, and he would be my slave.” She leveled a look of skepticism on Abernathy.

Mismatched eyes blinked at Sarah, not entirely sure how to answer. And then she sighed. “He fell in love with you, Sarah,” she said simply. She looked away from her, and drank at her tea. “Unfortunately, he's used to dealing with children. With children, all you have to do is offer them their dreams, and they will do anything you say. You weren't a child, even at fourteen years old, Sarah. You refused his offer and took back your brother instead, and he was devastated. He came to me and wanted to know how he could win your heart. I'm sorry to say that I'm responsible for the dreams you suffered through for all of those months, but he eventually relented. He's never stopped watching you, waiting for the proper moment to strike. When you married that man in your world, it was as if the light behind his eyes had gone out.

“I didn't know what to do with him, so I left him alone. He cared for the children as he was supposed to, for a time, and then he slowly stopped. We waited, left him alone. The Labyrinth slowly began to decay and become as it is now, rotten and horrible. The Labyrinth is directly intact with his heart, his soul, his very being. The Labyrinth's state is very concerning. Time goes differently everywhere, and by the time I noticed how his Labyrinth was decaying, and by the time I got here, it was maybe a month ago. I've been trying to get through this accursed thing ever since. I'm not sure how, but he's muted my magic as well. I doubt he's even aware of it.” She peered up at Sarah over her cup of tea. “Does this make sense to you, Sarah?” she asked.

Sarah thought about it. “I'm not entirely sure how he fell in love with me, or how he could be so assured that I'm the same person after ten years, but... I suppose it does make sense.” She looked at Lady Abernathy. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Get to the center. Recover his heart, revive the Labyrinth. Give him a chance. While you weren't a child enough to refuse to save your brother, you were still a child enough to view him as evil, regardless of his intentions, which were unknown at the time.” Lady Abernathy smiled at her. “Perhaps just seeing your face would help him.”

She sighed. “So I have to get to the center without a map or any help?”

“I could at least provide some companionship,” she offered. “I don't know my way through here any more than you do.” She shrugged. “I have some magic left.”

Sarah shook her head. “Hoggle said that any magic done to, for, or by me would let him know that I'm here,” she said.

She grinned. “That as it may be, Sarah, I can hide any magic that I do. He won't know. It's why he doesn't know that we're having tea at the moment.”

Quietly, Sarah nodded her head. “Alright.”

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Abernathy: a chaotic situation or freak accident.

My firstborn daughter will totally be named that. :)