Chapter One: The Labyrinth
As princess and sole heir to the throne of the Elven Kingdom, Arien was very much accustomed to waking to the soft voice of her nanny, in a nice soft bed with a warm comforter and a fluffy feather pillow. It was therefore more than a little alarming for her to wake one morning, chilled, upon a hard, cold floor (stone, by the feel of it), and to the sound of unfamiliar arguing voices. Voices that were arguing about her, she realized with a start – they couldn't seem to decide precisely who or what she was, or how she had come to be there (wherever "there" was).
Cautiously peeking one eye open, the young elf girl (she had just turned ten the week before) found herself staring at an unfamiliar stone wall, which in turn met the cold stone floor she seemed to be laying upon. Sitting up to get a better look at her surroundings, the arguing voices came to an abrupt halt; she was in some sort of ceiling-less stone corridor, at one end of which stood two doors, with two of the strangest creatures she had ever seen before them. They each held a large shield in front of them, and seemed to have a head both above and below... actually, on closer examination, they appeared to be four creatures, but they were paired up, one of each standing right-side up, and the others up-side down, sharing the shields between them. One pair was dressed in red, the other in blue – and they were all staring at her.
"Hello," the young girl tried hesitantly.
The creatures immediately began to whisper amongst themselves in a frenzy of nervous energy. Arien got to her feet, noting with surprise that she was no longer dressed in the nightgown she had gone to bed in, but one of her favorite gowns of light blue silk with silver trim; she was even wearing the matching slippers. A quick feel of her golden locks revealed them to be as free of tangles as if she'd just run a brush through them, and there was no mistaking the feel of her dainty mythril circlet (shining with the light of the stars in the heavens) atop her head. She felt her confidence lift a little at the knowledge that she was more than presentable.
"Could you tell me where I am?" the elven princess asked, stepping a little closer to the creatures who appeared to be serving as guards to their doors.
They consulted amongst themselves for a moment, before the bottom blue guard answered, "You're in the Labyrinth."
Arien felt her stomach drop in sudden fear. "The Labyrinth?" she couldn't help repeating, her voice a little higher than she would have liked. "You mean... in the Goblin Kingdom?" Oh, please no...
Four heads nodded the affirmative, and for a moment she thought they looked almost sympathetic. It didn't really make her feel any better though – she knew well the stories of the unsolvable labyrinth, and all the horrors within it. True, some of the paths one could take were fairly mild, consisting largely of riddles and puzzles, but others... The thought of being trapped there, all alone, left her cold and shaking with fear.
"H- how do I get out?" the now very frightened young girl asked.
"The only way out of here is to try one of these doors," the bottom red guard informed her.
The bottom blue guard then interjected, with all the ease of a well-practiced routine, "One of them leads to the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth, and the other one leads to ("Boom-boom-ba-boom," added his counterpart, for dramatic affect.) certain death."
"Ooooooooh," all four guards expressed with dutiful horror.
"Well... which one is which?" Arien asked nervously, forcing herself to take a deep breath. Like it or not, she was here, so she would just have to do her best to find her way to the castle; hopefully the Goblin King would then be able to send her home.
"We can't tell you," the bottom red guard replied.
"But then how do I know which one to choose?" the little princess almost cried out in despair.
"You have to ask them," the bottom blue guard told her, looking pointedly at his upper counterpart.
The upper red guard was then quick to cut in with, "But you can only ask one of us."
"And I should warn you," the upper blue guard added, "one of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies."
Arien now found herself scowling; a rare expression for her. She hated this riddle – more often than not, both parties were lying, and it didn't matter what you asked them.
"And how do I know you aren't both lying?" she asked, knowing it was a pointless question – if they were lying, they were hardly going to tell her.
"It's in the rules!" the upper blue guard declared, before indicating his red counterpart. "And he always lies."
"I do not! I tell the truth!" Upper Red objected.
"Oh, what a lie!"
"Oh, do be quiet," Arien interrupted, finding herself more irritated that frightened for the moment. "You could just as easily both be lying, in which case why should I even bother asking a question?"
"It's in the rules," Upper Blue rather smugly informed her.
"And these doors are the only way out of here – you have to pick one," Upper Red added.
Arien sighed. "Very well..." Taking a few moments to think, the young princess thought back to all the stories she'd read that used this riddle, and put together the best question she could come up with. Stepping up to the red guards, she said, "Answer yes or no. Would he," she pointed to the blue guard, hoping that he would excuse the rudeness of her pointing, "tell me that this door," now she pointed to Red's door," leads to the castle?"
The red guards consulted with one another, before Upper Red finally answered (more than a little uncertainly), "Yes?"
"Then the other door leads to the castle. Or you're both lying." Arien was leaning towards the latter, personally. "Let me through, please."
The blue guards promptly stepped aside, and she pushed her way through the door... only to find herself suddenly falling, before an uncountable number of hands grabbed onto her and stopped her descent. The young princess was frowning again, not at all pleased to have been proven right about the supposed riddle, though she was grateful to the hands for stopping her fall.
"So, which way do you want to go?" a few of the hands now asked her.
"You can help me back up, thank you," Arien rather imperiously informed them. She was finding that the Labyrinth made her rather irritable; that was a least better than fear, she supposed.
"Up you go, then!" a few more hands rather happily responded (it had been so long since anybody actually chose that way!), and a moment later the young princess found herself being pushed out the other side of the hole, and continued on her way.
The enclosed little corridor that the door had led to (once you got past the hole) ended up opening up to a pretty little courtyard with a stone fountain at its centre, and what looked like a river on the far side. And there, standing by the water's edge... was one of the most beautiful black stallions Arien had ever seen. A tiny gasp of delight escaped her lips as she quickly made her way over to the magnificent creature; Arien loved horses, and it seemed to her that the Labyrinth wouldn't be nearly so bad if she had such a friend with her – not to mention how much more quickly she could make her way through it on horseback! She was just reaching out to stroke the horse's velvety nose when a soft voice stopped her.
"Beware, little princess," a gentle female voice warned from somewhere behind her. "Things are not always what they seem in this place."
That was when Arien noticed the water dripping from the horse's mane, and the seaweed tangled within it. It was a kelpie! Pulling her hand back, the young princess quickly retreated from the nightmarish creature, not stopping until she had placed the fountain between them. The kelpie, for its part, snorted and pawed at the ground in irritation; for a moment, it looked as though it intended to come after her, but the sudden appearance of a beautiful young woman with long silvery-blonde hair and a simple white dress on the fountain's edge gave it pause.
"Away with you," the mysterious woman ordered, shooing the creature back to its river. "Go on, shoo – you won't be taking anyone with you today. The little princess is under my protection now. Go!"
With a final, baleful look at its lost prey, the kelpie finally retreated back into the waters of the river, and the woman now turned her attention to the child she had granted her protection.
"W- who are you?" Arien found herself asking, her close call with the kelpie now bringing her fear back full force.
"My name is Lilaea," the mysterious woman told her softly, her voice soothing. "I am the naiad of this fountain. And what is your name, little one?"
"Arien," the young girl answered softly.
"And you're a princess from the Elven Kingdom, I see," Lilaea added, indicating the mythril circlet upon the young elf's brow. "How ever did you come to be in the Labyrinth?"
In the presence of the older woman, Arien now found that her inner frightened child was making an appearance, and she was suddenly fighting off tears. "I don't know," the little princess admitted tearfully. "I went to bed back home last night, and then I woke up here. I want to go home..."
"Oh, you poor thing," Lilaea sympathized, wrapping the weeping child in her arms and rocking her softly. "Of course you do – this is no place for a child. I shall help you get to the castle, little one; then his Majesty will be able to send you home. Alright?"
Arien nodded her head, already feeling a little better now that she had Lilaea to help her. "Thank you," she said, softly but sincerely, sniffling a little as she struggled to regain control of her tears. "And thank you for saving me from the kelpie."
"You're welcome, my child," the naiad told her, gently removing Arien from her arms in order to straighten up, whereupon she took the child's hand. "Now, we're going to want to take this pathway here."
Wiping away all traces of her tears, Arien looked in surprise at the opening in the hedge wall to her left – she had missed it completely earlier, so distracted had she been by the "horse."
"Ready?" Lilaea asked her with an encouraging smile.
The young elven princess nodded her head, and together, the two made their way into the hedge maze.
Though unfamiliar with the rest of the Labyrinth, Lilaea knew the hedge maze well, and as such was able to steer the child away from its dangers and onto the safer paths. She was even able to keep her away from the Wiseman (the poor little princess hardly needed the additional confusion), though the naiad did give him a very pointed look as they passed him by – Jareth may not have been able to interfere with a regular runner of the Labyrinth (those seeking to get their children back were another matter, though even then he could not help them in any way – the Labyrinth had rules of its own), but someone needed to let him know exactly who his unexpected visitor was. At the very least, he could let her parents know where she was before their panic caused them to do something stupid.
By the time they reached another set of doors at the end of the hedge maze – these with large knockers that looked like faces, rather than strange guards with fake riddles - Arien was feeling like herself again.
"Do you know where these lead?" the little princess asked, looking up at her friend and guardian, whose hand she still held.
"I'm afraid not, my child – but I shall accompany you either way," the naiad assured her with an encouraging smile.
"Hmm..." the young girl murmured, turning her attention back to the doors as she wondered which to choose.
"It's very rude to stare!" the knocker to her left suddenly scolded.
"Oh!" Arien started in surprise at finding that they could talk. "I'm sorry! I was just wondering which door to choose."
"What?" the left knocker then asked, and the young elf realized that the ring of that knocker went through its ears – of course it wouldn't be able to hear her.
"It's no good asking him," the right knocker mumbled. "He's deaf as a post."
"Don't talk with your mouth full," the left knocker then scolded it, for its ring was in its mouth – hence the mumbling.
"Just a moment," Arien interrupted, now turning her attention to the right knocker, and removing the ring from its mouth.
The knocker let out a sigh of appreciation and stretched its mouth. "Oh, it is so good to get that thing out. Thank you!"
"You're welcome," the little princess responded politely. "Now, can you tell me where these doors lead?"
"What?" the left knocker interrupted, but they ignored it.
"I'm afraid not – we're just the knockers, after all," the now-ringless knocker told her.
"Oh... Well, how do I get through?" Arien asked. ("Huh?" the left knocker wanted to know.)
"Knock, and the door will open," the right knocker replied.
"Alright... Do you want your ring back in?" the young girl asked before she forgot.
"Oh, please no!" the right knocker cried a little desperately.
"Fair enough – I'll just leave it here, then," she told him, setting the ring down between the two doors before knocking on the left one and stepping through, with Lilaea right behind her. "Thank you for all your help!"
"Thank you!" the knocker called back before the door closed behind them, suddenly leaving them in total darkness.
Arien tightened her little hand around Lilaea's instinctively.
"Uh oh," the naiad muttered softly – though not softly enough to escape the little princess' notice.
"What?" the young girl asked rather fearfully.
"I think we're in the Forest of Eternal Darkness," Lilaea regretfully informed her, uncertain as to whether or not the child would know exactly what that meant – though her sudden intake of breath suggested she had at least some idea. The Forest of Eternal Darkness was the most dangerous part of the entire Labyrinth, populated by such creatures as wights, cù sìth, and – worst of all - the unseelie dullahan.
Moving closer to her guardian, Arien had to confess, "I'm scared."
"It will be alright, little one – we just have to stick together, and keep moving," the naiad reassured her, even if she didn't fully believe it herself. It was at least a little safer if they kept moving – stay in one place for too long, and the forest's occupants were sure to find them.
Arien nodded, though she knew Lilaea wouldn't be able to see it in the dark, and the two of them began to make their way through the forest as quickly as the darkness would allow. Unfortunately, it still wasn't long before the first of the forest's nightmarish creatures found them.
"Did you hear that?" the little elven princess whispered, clinging desperately to Lilaea's hand at the sound of something moving somewhere to their left. Before the naiad even had a chance to reply, a startled cry escaped Arien's lips as a pair of glowing eyes appeared before them – the cù sìth! "Lilaea..." the poor child whimpered, as the naiad cautiously began to back them away from the frightening creature.
A sudden hissing sound from behind brought them to an abrupt halt – Arien's cry had also drawn a wight to them. "Run!" Lilaea cried, holding tightly to her young charge's hand as the two of them took off into the darkness, blindly racing to get away from the creatures. They stumbled and tripped and pushed their way through the trees, the branches seeming to grab at them as they ran past, cutting into their skin and tearing at their clothes, but they never stopped running – at least, not until they ran into something far worse than that from which they were trying to escape. At the sight of the headless rider before them, a blood-curdling scream of pure terror forced its way through Arien's throat, no doubt earning them the attention of every creature in the forest, but the little princess couldn't help it – there was nothing in all the worlds that she feared more than the dullahan.
Fortunately for the young girl and her guardian, Arien's scream also drew the attention of a brave knight passing by the forest.
"Have no fear, fair maidens!" a voice cried, interrupting the dullahan's advances on its prey. "I shall save thee!"
A small creature, about the size of a regular dog, suddenly came barrelling out of the darkness to trample about the horse's legs. Miraculously, the tactic seemed to succeed in upsetting the dullahan's mount, and a moment later the horse was backing away from them.
"Back! Back, foul villain!" their saviour cried. "Thou shall not lay a hand upon these fair ladies!" In addition to using his faithful steed to disturb the villain's mount, the brave knight repeatedly jabbed at it with his lance to further deter the creature. Once it had sufficiently backed off, he moved to join his damsels in distress. "Follow me, fair maidens! I shall lead thee to safety!" he vowed – even as brave a knight as he knew better than to take on all the inhabitants of the Forest of Eternal Darkness, making a quick escape their best option.
Arien and Lilaea followed without hesitation, and with the knight as their guide, it wasn't long before they'd escaped the terrible forest, and stepped out into the light.
"Thank you, good sir!" Arien breathlessly thanked the gallant knight – who appeared to be a fox, with a large, shaggy dog serving as his noble steed.
"Sir Didymus at your service, my lady," the fox replied with a sweeping bow. "And this is my noble steed, Ambrosious."
"We are in your debt, Sir Didymus," Lilaea added. "I am Lilaea, and this is the elven princess Arien."
"It is an honour to meet you, my ladies," Sir Didymus replied graciously. "Might I see you safely to your destination?"
"We would be most grateful for your assistance, Sir Didymus," Arien assured him. "We are trying to get to the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth."
"A noble quest!" their brave knight declared. "I should be honoured to assist you!"
"Thank you, kind sir," the young princess said in all sincerity. "Would you happen to know the way?"
"The quickest route from here would be through the gardens," Sir Didymus informed them. "Follow me!"
It was only about a twenty minute walk before the three companions (four, counting Ambrosious) found themselves in the most breathtaking of rose gardens, filled with roses of every colour imaginable.
"Oh, it's beautiful," Arien gasped in delight as she took in her surroundings; her companions all murmured their assent, busily taking in the sights just as she was. "Not even the gardens back home are quite so beautiful."
So distracted were they by the overwhelming beauty of their surroundings, they failed to notice the too-sweet scent in the air, or even their growing drowsiness, and it wasn't long before all four of them had drifted off into an enchanted sleep...
Arien was at a grand masquerade ball, with beautifully dressed lords and ladies dancing all around her. Their costumes were breathtaking, though none more so than hers; she was dressed as a butterfly, with a gown and wings of silver and gold. She was older, too – a beautiful young woman now. And she was dancing – dancing and dancing and dancing. All the handsome young men sought to dance with her, so that she was never without a partner; and as they whirled across the dance floor, she thought she could hear snatches of a song someone was singing to her... but no matter how hard she looked, she could not seem to find them.
One of her dance partners – a charming young man from the High Court of the Fae – gave her a single, perfect white rose, its petals dusted with gold. As she admired the rose, however, the young princess pricked her finger on one of the thorns, and with that sudden shock of pain there came a sudden sense that something was wrong – very wrong. As if there was something urgent she needed to be doing, somewhere else she needed to be... But where could she possibly need to be, apart from such a wonderful ball? She was having so much fun...
Looking down at the rose again, she felt it tickle a memory – something to do with roses. A rose garden, perhaps? Yes, that was it! She'd been in a beautiful rose garden! The most beautiful she'd ever seen – there weren't any like that in the Elven Kingdom. So where had it been, then?
Arien dropped the beautiful rose in surprise when it came to her – the Goblin Kingdom! She'd been in the Labyrinth, in the Goblin Kingdom! And she still needed to get to the castle, so that the Goblin King could send her home!
"Wake up!" the young princess yelled at herself desperately. "Arien, you have to wake up!"
Groaning in complaint, Arien slowly blinked her eyes open to find herself lying on the ground in the no-longer-quite-so-beautiful rose garden. Dragging herself up into sitting position (she was still so tired!), the young girl saw that her friends were still asleep, collapsed on the ground around her, and quickly moved to wake them so that they could continue on to the castle.
They passed through the junk yards next, and with little trouble, though Lilaea ended up carrying Arien part of the way, after her little legs gave out on her in exhaustion. She was already back on her feet by the time they reached the Goblin City, however, where they found themselves surprisingly unhindered – the King, knowing who was making their way to his castle, had already spread the word that they were to be left alone. It would have been a political nightmare if anything happened to the young elven princess, after all. And with nothing to hinder them, they quickly found themselves at the entrance to the castle, where the Goblin King was waiting for them – or more specifically, for the young Princess Arien.
"Good afternoon, your Highness," the Goblin King greeted. "And welcome to the Goblin Kingdom. I see that you have already familiarized yourself with my Labyrinth."
"Your Majesty," the little princess responded properly, with a graceful little curtsey. "I am honoured to have the chance to meet you."
"Indeed – and I do believe congratulations are in order. Did you know, little one, that you are only the second to ever defeat my Labyrinth?" Arien shook her head no; she had not realized someone had actually managed it before. It would have been an encouraging thing to know. "You are most certainly the youngest – and you managed it in only eleven hours, at that! Twelve, if you count the first hour that you spent asleep. I am most impressed," the King praised.
"Thank you, your Majesty," Arien replied, with another little curtsey. She was feeling more than a little pleased with herself now.
"I don't suppose you have any idea just how you managed to end up in my Labyrinth?" the King then asked her, fully expecting her to answer in the negative.
"I'm afraid not," the young princess admitted. "I was rather hoping you might."
The Goblin King shook his head. "Unfortunately no; short of the Labyrinth itself pulling you in, I cannot think of any possible explanation for it. But now I think it's time we got you ready to go home, don't you?"
"Oh, yes please," Arien agreed happily. "And would you please see to it that my friends are safely returned to their places within the Labyrinth?"
"Of course, little Princess," the King assured her, and Arien quickly turned back to her friends to say goodbye.
"Thank you both so much for all your help!" the young girl exclaimed, enveloping her new friends in a hug. "I never could have made it through without you."
"It was my honour to be of assistance, my lady!" Sir Didymus declared gallantly.
"We're just glad to have been able to get you here safely, little one," Lilaea assured her, gently tucking a strand of the girl's golden hair behind her little pointed ear.
"I'm going to miss you," Arien admitted a little tearfully.
"As we will you, my child. But you shall never be forgotten – and perhaps we will meet again someday," Lilaea told her, Sir Didymus voicing his agreement.
"Thank you," Arien told the kindly naiad gratefully. "I won't forget you, either."
"Are you ready?" the Goblin King asked his royal guest.
The little princess nodded and, bidding farewell to her friends, allowed the King to lead her into his castle. Once inside, Arien was given something to eat, and the Goblin King used a spell to mend her clothes and heal her cuts and bruises, before sending her home.
xxxxx
If you don't recognize the names of any of the creatures in this chapter, please look them up on wikipedia for a quick description.
Up next: a grown up Arien visits the Faerie High Court!