Chapter 7

About half and hour later, a goblin ran into the dining room, trembling from head to foot. "Your Majesty," he whimpered.

Jareth rolled his eyes. "Yes," he said tersely, "what is it?"

"The girl, sire – I couldn’t stop her, I tried! She threw me down the stairs!"

"What are you talking about?" Jareth demanded impatiently.

"The Lady Edana -- she’s in the Labyrinth, milord," the goblin said, shaking even more.

Jareth stood up with a shout of rage, the chair crashing to the floor from his sudden movement. He paced briefly, further incensed by the goblin, which was now cowering under the table. Suddenly he stopped. "To Hell with her," he muttered, eyes flashing dangerously. "She has made her decision – if the perils of the Labyrinth are preferable to the Goblin King’s company, then may she be eternally lost there. She is to receive no aid," he thundered in the general direction of the still-hiding goblin. "Make sure that is perfectly understood by all of my subjects." He turned with a flourish and went quickly to the library, his steps heavy. He was hoping to elude the feelings of concern that he was starting to feel for Edana, alone in the Labyrinth at night.

He pushed the thoughts aside, making himself angry with her all over again by replaying the one-sided argument in his mind. What nerve she had, acting like that. She should be honored that he was willing to admit that, at the moment, she was his second choice for a wife. Well, not anymore she isn’t, he corrected himself.

Despite his best efforts not to think about Edana, she occupied his thoughts in one way or another for the next few hours. Finally in exasperation he gave up and summoned a crystal. It showed her cautiously travelling down a trail that he recognized. It led to one of the oubliettes. She spun around at every sound, and was breathing hard. Quite obviously, she was terrified. Good, Jareth thought, that should bring her down a notch or two.

* * * * * * *

Edana was regretting her rash decision to run headlong into the Labyrinth, at least this late at night. Jareth apparently didn’t care either way about her anyway, and now whatever kept making strange noises in the brush around her would probably kill her before morning. It occurred to her that she would no longer have to worry about it then, but was not comforted. "Where are you when I need you, you aggravating man?" she said out loud.

* * * * * * *

Jareth smiled. That’s right, start appreciating me and maybe – just perhaps – I’ll make a stunning rescue for you. Then again... He watched her progress for a while, feeling much better now that he was back in control. She had reached a huge rock pile now, and climbed to the top of it where she curled up tightly and fell asleep. It could hardly be comfortable, but at least it was safer than remaining on the ground in such unfamiliar territory, he reflected. She must not have paused to take a coat, or any food for that matter, since Jareth could see that she did not have either item with her. She was still wearing the messaline dress, he imagined she was wishing she had a coat. Assuming she was safe for the time being, he turned his thoughts to Sarah. For some reason, the more he thought about how to get Sarah to his castle, the more he ended up thinking about Edana instead. After a while, he gave up and decided to get some sleep.

* * * * * * *

Edana was awakened by the sunrise in the morning, though she had barely slept all night. She was still worried about the local wildlife, and the cold, damp rocks had left her painfully stiff. The high cairn gave her a bit of a vantage point, she found as she looked around her. Eventually she decided on a path on the opposite side than she had climbed up on, and hurried down the rocks to follow it. She had no idea where she was going, only that she wanted to leave the Goblin City and its king far behind her. She had been incredibly stupid to think that he had anything besides his own best interests in mind; moreso to think that anything of the romantic persuasion could occur between them. She was not usually so poor a judge of character, but she had truly outdone herself this time.

By early afternoon, she had lost the trail she was following. There was no indication whatsoever of which way to go, and none of the walls of the Labyrinth could be seen. In the distance, perhaps a mile away over the unmarked ground, stood a forest. Edana headed towards it, hoping to find shelter there so that she could figure out what to do now. When she reached it, she immediately wished she had gone another way.

The forest smelled sharply of decay, but as there was no where else to go except back to the castle, she pressed onward. It was dark here, little of the sunlight came through the canopy, and the air felt very damp and oppressive. The trees were huge, but twisted and misshapen, hung thickly with moss and cobwebs. Their trunks and leaves were not the healthy colors of normal trees, but darker, slimy and rotten looking. There were no birds, or other animals as far as Edana could see, except insects that bit painfully and left raised red welts on her arms and face. She was glad for the protection of the long skirt.

Soon she did not care which branch she took every time the path diverged, she just hoped one would lead her out of the forest. She was falling deeper and deeper into feelings of despair and fear. Once she tripped, and came face to face with a rotting skull at the side of the path. Moss had grown over it, nearly obscuring it, but the gaping mouth and eye holes were unmistakable. It was locked forever in a position that suggested screaming. Edana stood up quickly, gasping for breath, and looked around her for attackers. Visibility was low in the forest, but she was fairly certain no one was there. She hurried on from the spot, trying not to recognize any more human bones in the surrounding soil everywhere she looked.

Hours later, Edana stood panting and about ready to give up at yet another fork in the overgrown path in the forest. Behind her there was a roar, and she turned to see a hideous creature lurking behind her. She screamed, and it smiled evilly, exposing crooked and yellowed teeth in the cavernous mouth. The beast was huge, taller than she by a few inches at least, and twice as broad. It’s skin was lumpy and sagging, the sickly color of the soil, with patches of hair distributed randomly all over it. The clothing it wore was rotting through; more precisely the creature itself exuded an odour of death and decay. It lurched towards Edana on legs of unequal length, a sound like laughter emanating from its throat. She turned and fled, her weariness forgotten, down the right hand path.

Was that a cave, to the side of the trail and beyond that stagnant pond? The opening was obscured, and she dashed towards it hoping to hide there. The huge monster chasing her was gaining; it was astounding how fast it could run on those discordant limbs. She turned to see how close it was, backing towards the cave opening, and found the hungry creature directly behind her. Reaching back, she felt the covering at the mouth of the cave. She stole a glance, and screamed again, almost sick with revulsion. Bones had been strung together in a macabre resemblance to a beaded curtain, many with flesh still attached. Edana realized that this must be the creature’s home, and stepped quickly away from it.

She was sure the creature was going to get her eventually, now that she had been an idiot and led herself right to its door, and was about to give up hope. Something caught her eye as she danced out of the way of the creature’s ferociously nailed fingers. It was a skeleton, pinned to a tree by a rusting sword. Desperately, she ignored the nauseous feeling she had at the thought and grabbed the sword hilt, yanking it free. The skeleton fell to the ground with a clatter as Edana brandished the weapon at her hideous attacker.

* * * * * * *

Jareth was livid when he finally got a chance to check up on her progress. She should never have been able to enter the Bane of the Underground, as it had come to be known. The place seeped evil and misfortune, and few had ever been known to emerge untainted from it. Few had been known to emerge from it at all. As if that was not enough, Edana was now battling a troll. He had thought that he had exterminated all of them, but apparently his minions had missed at least one.

The trolls were a blight upon the underground. Long ago the Bane had been filled with them, until he had sent his troops to destroy them all. The earth in the forest was littered with bits and pieces of unfortunate travellers who had met their grisly end to the trolls within for centuries before he had become king and decided to rid himself of the menace they made to all the creatures of the Underground.

Jareth was relieved to see that at least Edana had found a weapon to defend herself with. And she was nearly at the edge of the forest. He fumed over the knowledge that he could do nothing at this point to help her. Magic could not be used in the Bane, as the evil of the place would turn it back against the wielder tenfold. He watched the scene unfold, willing her to defeat the troll, knowing he could not forgive himself should she be killed there.