It's Only Forever

Rescue Attempt

 Sarah turned to Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus. "You sent me a message through a rock, right? That this whole thing was Jocelyn's trap for us?"

They nodded in unison, pointing out a little hole in the wall small enough for the same rock to have fit through perfectly.

"Are there any other rocks in here?"

Hoggle spoke. "After we sent that out, the guards came in to scrounge out every one of the rocks so we couldn't do it again. They noticed it rolling through the hallways — couldn't catch or keep hold of it."

"Oh..." Sarah said in disappointment, attempting to think of something else. Ludo was able to get rocks from far away, she recalled, but it was likely that he couldn't call so many as to knock the door down.

"However," Sir Didymus added smugly, "they didn't get the big rock."

They all — including the goblins — pointed to the rock in the corner of the room. It was bigger even than Sarah. She'd figured it was stupid of them to leave it, but then it might have been too heavy for them. Rather than bother Jocelyn with it, they likely assumed Ludo couldn't move such a large boulder. Big mistake.

"Brilliant," she replied brightly. "Where do the guards usually come in?" She glanced around. There were no openings, but she knew nothing was ever as it seemed. She remembered Hoggle saving her from an oubliette by picking up a piece of wood, putting it against a wall, and opening an exit.

Again, they pointed, now to a wide expanse of space.

"Ludo... make exit?" Ludo asked eagerly.

"Not just yet," Sarah said, standing up to pace thoughtfully. "Okay... where is the armory in the castle?"

"Top floor," a goblin stated proudly.

She looked at the goblin who spoke, with his hand excitedly up in the air. "Can you lead the way up there?" she asked him.

He froze in shock. "Uh — uh sure, sure!"

"Good," she said with a nod. "You, Sir Didymus, Ludo, and... six others — you can choose who — will make your way there. And remember to be discreet."

"What about me, Sarah?" Hoggle asked as the lead goblin waded through the crowd to pick his helpers.

"You told me once that you could pick locks, right? I didn't imagine you saying that?"

He growled, "You don't even remember the context that I said it in! You were having trouble with your piano lessons, so I told you that I know how to pick locks but have a hard time getting it done right —!"

"That's good enough for me. Some talent is better than nothing. Do you have a lock pick to use?"

"In my jewelry bag," he mumbled, folding his arms crossly over his chest.

"Great. So you, me, Serboa, and..." she glanced around before pointing out a small group to her right, "you six... will make our way to the dungeon where Jareth is held. Does anyone here know where that is?"

Two of the goblins nodded.

Sarah pointed to them, "It's a done deal, you're leading us down there... now the rest of you need to decide where you'll be most helpful. I need the rest of you to keep watch in all the nooks and crannies you know about within the castle. Distract the guards, knock them out, capture them, do whatever you can think of to help us out. I promise I'll learn all your names by heart later, because for right now we've got a Labyrinth to take back.

"What you will all be doing after you've got all the guards down is looking for a way out. There has to be secret passageways... otherwise we'll just all go into battle against Jocelyn and her little army of trolls, and whatever else she's got without any time to prepare."