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Sarah found herself at the gates of Goblin City. Ludo and Sir Didymus stood over her. She hugged them both, but there was little time for explanations.

‘I must go quickly,’ she told them, ‘Or I’ll lose Toby.’

Hoggle, who had decided to help Sarah no matter what the cost, joined them there. Together, the four friends entered the city. At that moment, Jareth was warned of their approach.

‘Stop her!’ he ordered. ‘Call the guard! She mustn’t get the baby!’

Sarah and her companions met an army of goblins outside the castle walls. At the first, their cause looked helpless. Sir Didymus parried goblin thrusts with his walking stick, while Ludo used his size and strength to block their approach.

Hoggle smashed bits of crockery over their heads. But there were too many goblins and Sarah’s small band was sadly outnumbered.

The four fought their way to a goblin tower and barricaded themselves inside.

Goblins were swarming over it when Sarah suddenly cried out. ‘Call the rocks, Ludo!’

Ludo did. Slowly at first and then more quickly, the rocks rolled into the city.

They chased the goblins up and down crooked streets and around corners. They trapped goblins against walls and inside doorways. By the time Ludo had finished his howling, the goblins had been defeated.

Inside the castle, the friends moved cautiously.

Their footsteps echoed along the stone corridors and damp passageways.

They found Jareth’s throne room, but it was empty. On the far side of the room, a staircase seemed to drift lazily up the wall to nowhere.

Sarah looked at Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus.

‘I must go on alone,’ she told them. ‘That’s how it’s done.’

She took each of their hands in turn. First Sir Didymus who pressed her own hand to his lips. Then Ludo, whose tears fell onto her fingers. Finally Hoggle, who wordlessly lifted her hands to his heart. None of them could speak. They all knew they would never see Sarah again.

Then she climbed the stairway and disappeared from sight.

The clock struck the thirteenth hour just as Sarah found Jareth. He sat on the wall of a room with no up or down, in or out, beginning or ending. the room wound around itself like a coiled serpent.

Toby was there, but Sarah couldn’t reach him. The walls and ceiling kept changing places.

‘Give up Sarah,’ Jareth said, ‘and I will give you anything you desire. Look!’

A spinning crystal ball hung in front of him, and in it were things that Sarah had only dreamed of.

Sarah’s eyes remained fixed on Toby.

Toby sat at the top of a staircase that led into nothingness. Sarah screamed.

‘Give up, Sarah!’ Jareth thundered. ‘Why is the baby so important to you? Why must you have him?’

‘Because I love him!’ Sarah eyes blazed.

Her gaze split Jareth’s heart in two, for Jareth had no strength at all against the power of love. He shrank into himself and uttered a terrible cry.

Then the castle and everything vanished.

Sarah found herself in the hall way of her own home. She rushed upstairs to Toby’s nursery.

‘Toby! Toby! She called. Toby was there, lying in his crib, smiling up at her. she picked him up gently.

‘I love you, Toby,’ she whispered to him, ‘and I always will. I promise.’

Sarah has kept this promise. She keeps it still, Though Toby has long since grown up, and Sarah has children of her own.

THE END

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**All pics scanned by yours truly
**How many clocks did you spot on the way?