The Labyrinth Sequel

Chapter 10

Maybe it is the pleading look he is giving me, or the fact that all of the goblins are already working on a dress for me to wear, but I find myself unable to say no. He smiles brightly and then runs off deeper into the castle to relay the news to the others.

With him gone I hike up my skirt and head off towards the throne room to find Toby. When I get to the throne room, he is standing on the small throne, throwing rocks at the goblins.

"Toby stop that!" I cry, running to the Goblin's rescue, "Put those rocks down right now and leave them alone."

"But they said that the King does this all the time..." He whines as I pull him down.

"Well you aren't the King, and you aren't allowed to act like him either. Now, leave the goblins alone." I take his hand and lead him out of the room.

From behind us the goblins all sigh in relief now that their captor is gone. They are used to dealing with Jareth, but Toby is a whole new world of awful in their books. Oh well, nothing I can do about it without sending him home.

"Your hands feel weird, Sarah." Toby says, squeezing the hand that he is holding on to.

"That's because the medicine the King gave me made it so I can't use them right now." I say, giving my limp hand a shake.

"That wasn't very nice."

"He was just trying to help, Toby. And besides, it isn't going to last very much longer, and then you and I can go back home." I assure him.

"I wish mommy and daddy could come and live here. It is much more fun here then it is at home." He sulks.

"Yeah, but they can't, so we have to go home soon."

"Do you think the King will ever let us come back and play?"

I am about to joke with him, say that if he was really nice he might kidnap him again, but then I realize that it doesn't matter. Jareth is going to erase his memory before sending him back, so he isn't going to remember all the fun he had while here. It's kind of sad to think about.

"I'm sure he will let you come back here to play whenever you want." I say with a smile.

He smiles brightly and nods happily. We end up back in the library, only because I have nowhere else for us to go. We could have gone back to my room, but I don't really know where it is, and it doesn't quite feel like mine anymore.

Plus, I don't want to run the risk of getting lost in this maze in the castle and run into Jareth. He wasn't in a very good mood when he left last time, and I still don't know what I should say to him when I see him. Maybe I should start by apologizing, but if we want to make anything better we are going to need to sit down and have a long talk.

It isn't a talk I am looking forward to. Something tells me he is going to do everything he can to get out of it.

In the library we end up just sitting at one of the tables and I take the time to put my head down. Toby busies himself with a book he can't read while I try to get my rest.

It might be only an hour later when the library door opens and a few goblins come in looking for us.

"Oh, there you are!" One cries.

"We have been looking for you everywhere!" Another says.

"Party starting soon! You need to get ready!" A few of them grab my arms and begin to drag me towards the door. A few others scoop up Toby and run ahead of us, ducking down a hallway where they lock themselves in a room.

They pull me into another room, I think the room I was in this morning, and shut the door behind me.

"Okay, you change now." They say with a smile.

"Aren't you going to leave the room?" I ask, eyeing them.

"No, we have to stand guard to make sure that no one comes in while you are changing." 

"Aren't you supposed to guard it from the outside?"

They look at each other, and then, unsure, whisper to each other for a moment. When they look back at me they seem unsure still.

"But what if someone is already here?"

"You are already here."

"That's right! We are here!" One cries.

"We shouldn't be here!" The other cries in horror.

Then in a confused scramble the rush for the door, fighting each other to get out as quickly as possible. When the door shuts behind them, there is the muffled sound of their heavy breath on the other side. But other than that, I am left in the silence to myself.

Finally alone, I look over to the bed and notice a long green gown laid out on the bed. It is larger than the one I am wearing, and has a significant amount more frill to it. But despite the frill, it doesn't look at all tacky. In fact, it looks elegant and refined, like something from Victorian times.

I hold it up against myself to see how it looks, and instantly I feel like twirling. Checking one last time to make sure I am for sure alone in the room, I begin to get undressed.

Slipping the silky material over my body, I wonder how it is that people were always able to wear things like this from day to day. It is heavy, and makes walking really difficult. But when I look at myself in the mirror, I get a pretty good idea why they liked them.

The bodice hugs my body in all the right places, and the frilly skirt makes me feel like a princess. The way the Goblins designed the sleeves, long and tight against my arms, makes the whole dress seem more fit for a Queen than a princess.

Who knew Goblins could be so talented?

When I return to the door to let the other Goblins in who were standing guard, they stare up at me in awe.

"What do you guys think?" I ask, twirling around a bit for them to see.

"Queen, pretty..." One of them says.

"I'm not the Queen, I'm only wearing this dress for the party. After that I am going to get my hands fixed and go home. Now, can one of you please help me with the zipper? My hands still aren't working enough to do it up."

They scramble around me and one jumps on the others head so that they can reach up enough to pull the zipper up to my neck. When they are done they hop down and hurry back into the doorway. 

"So when does the party start?" I ask them, observing my dress a little more.

"The feast starts soon, so we have to go there now. After feast comes dancing ball. And after dancing ball comes party!" One says.

"How did you get everything together so quickly?" 

"Oh, that was easy," The first Goblin says, "We are always ready to party. And there is always a lot of food in the castle so the feast was prepared quickly. We were just waiting on the King to give the go ahead to getting things ready."

"And we had to finish Sarah's dress!" The second Globing reminds him.

"And we had to make sure that the King was okay with us inviting Sarah and Toby to the party." The first one says.

"And the King was really okay with us both coming?" 

"King said Toby had to come or you wouldn't come." 

"And Sarah has to come!"

"Hurry, hurry, feast starting soon!" Both Goblins grab onto my limp hands and drag me out the door into the hallway.

In the hallway there are other Goblins all heading in the same direction as us. Some of them are dressed for the occasion, but most are dressed in old rags. It makes me feel incredibly out of place in my fancy dress, but it was what I was told to wear so I try not to worry.

"Here we are!" The goblins say, pointing at the large wooden doors that everyone is filing through at the end of the hall.

The goblins at my side leave me to rush through the doors into the room, and I stare at the hoard of goblins going in. Slowly, I make my way through the crowd into the room.

I am a guest here at the castle I guess, and I was invited to the party by the King. And everyone knows, the King hates to be kept waiting...