I really wanted to write in the character I created to fit myself into the story. Enjoy!
A New Friend
Okay so this is right after Sarah saves Ludo in case you get confused. :)
"Raaahahhaw" The beast cried, scaring her half to death. Sarah quickly got over it and sternly replied,
"Now, stop that! Is that any way to treat someone who's trying to help you?"
This seemed to calm him a little bit, as if the suggestion confused him.
"Don't you want me to help you down?" She asked him, and in a low, slightly ragged voice he replied,
"Ludo, down." He looked rough and forlorn.
"Ludo? Is that your name?" She asked. He nodded. "Oh, you seem like such a nice beast. Well I certainly hope you are what you seem to be. Hold on for a sec, how do I get you down?" This was going to be hard, Sarah couldn't reach the knot where he was tied, and the tree was too smooth to climb. She sighed and stood there, thinking, for a minute.
Then, scaring the bejeezus out of her, the rope snapped and Ludo came crashing down. Then a girl's voice came from the tree.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Ludo! I didn't really think that through!" she said. Sarah immediately went over to Ludo, seeing if any damage was done. Then, seeing none, she looked up into the leaves. Sarah saw a small, feminine shadow that seemed to be getting prepared to jump. She quickly moved out of the way, just as she landed in front of her.
She didn't give her a second glance as she checked over Ludo.
"Are you okay? I really hope I didn't hurt you; I just didn't want to cut you loose with those nasty little things down there. Good idea with the rocks." It was then that she remembered that Sarah was there. Turning to her she said, "Thanks. I don't know how long they would have been here, torturing poor Ludo until they got bored." She still looked incredibly worried that they might come back.
"No problem." Sarah said, looking her over. She looked about fourteen, a little shorter than me, and had some seriously long bronze hair. Even in a high ponytail it went down to her lower back. She was wearing a red, soft looking tank top, with a tighter blue tank top underneath, black shorts, and black boots. Her face was kind enough, and very pretty, though it looked unpredictable. And her light blue eyes looked annoyingly familiar, like Sarah had seen it recently, but couldn't place.
"What are you staring at?" she asked, her unpredictable face going defensive.
"I'm sorry, I just thought I've seen your eyes somewhere before." Sarah said quickly, feeling her face heat up. The girl's face turned bitter.
"I'm sure you have."
Confused Sarah decided not to bring it up again. She held out her hand. "I'm Sarah. I'm happy I could help." Just then, Ludo decided to get up.
"Sawah? Sawah fwend?" he said, looking like an adorable two hundred pound puppy.
"That's right Ludo." Sarah responded. Then to the girl, "What's your name?" she seemed pleased to talk about something beside her facial features.
"Mary. It's nice to meet you." She said, taking my hand and shaking it.
"You too, but I have to ask how did you get up in the tree? It doesn't have a very good grip, and none of the limbs are low enough…?" she trailed off in the question. Mary shrugged,
"Oh that? Practice. You get a lot of it in the Labyrinth." Her face was a little bitter again. And then Sarah noticed something about her,
She was human.
Not goblin, not beast, not a dwarf. A human girl, which Sarah had not seen in the entire maze, nor read about in the book. She had to ask.
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help noticing that you're human. I haven't seen any other human's in the entire Labyrinth. Why?" She asked. Something flickered in Mary's eyes, like a painful reminder, and Sarah was a little sorry she asked.
"It's because we're the only human's here." She said shortly, subtly telling me not to push it any farther. Too bad Sarah was a terrible listener.
"How did you get here?" She asked.
"What are you doing here exactly?" she looked incredibly annoyed now. I should have taken the warning Sarah thought. Well, I have only myself to blame. Maybe she could help me.
"Well, I have to figure out this maze, and get to the castle at the center." Mary's eyes got wide and her expression was disbelieving.
"You do? How much time were you given?" she demanded, grabbing my arm. Her grip was actually quite painful despite her size. And her urgency confused Sarah.
"Um, th-thirteen hours, um, ow. Why?" Sarah stuttered, trying to prey her fingers from her wrist. Mary realized what she was doing and immediately let go.
"I'm sorry; I'm just having a terrible sense of déjà vu. Thirteen hours you said? Damn. I guess Rom taught him something. God, why did it have to be this? Damn you Rom…" she trailed off, muttering dark curses against some person named 'Rom'.
"Um, I'm not very sure what you're talking about but, I need to ask. Do you know the way through the Labyrinth?" Sarah said, trying to change the subject. Mary snapped her head up and looked at her very determinedly.
"No, not exactly, but I know most of the twists and turns of this Labyrinth. I can help you find your brother as much as I can." This surprised Sarah most about her. Sarah hadn't told her anything about Toby. Who was this girl?
"How do you…" She started, but Mary finished for me,
"Know that the Goblin King took your brother?" She looked wryly at her. "We have more in common than just being the only two humans in the Labyrinth. Let's walk and I'll tell you about it."
Sarah had no choice but to follow her. But she was curious about where she was going. At first Sarah thought she was just walking toward a wall. Then she realized that there were two doors there. But, it had been a wall not five minutes earlier!
"Hey, when did those get there?" Sarah asked.
Mary turned and answered, "Sarah, if you've gotten this far, I would think that you would know by now. Nothing is what it seems here. Take Ludo for example. He looks like a hairy, bloodthirsty monster, but he couldn't hurt a fairy if it bit him on the nose. This was just a wall, and now it has two doors. Don't question it, and you'll save yourself a big headache."
Not seeing a problem with this logic, Sarah walked up to the doors with Mary.
Chapter 2
The two girls and Ludo walked over to the doors. The one on the left looked kind of like a pug dog with a knocker through its ears, and the one on the right looked like a big-nosed gargoyle with a knocker in its mouth. Sarah looked at them both in wonder.
"Well Ludo, Mary, which one of these ugly characters should we choose?" she asked them. Mary opened her mouth to speak when someone else's voice filled the air.
"It's very rude to stare!" all of our heads snapped to the left, to the pug-faced knocker.
"Oh, I'm sorry I was just choosing which door to..." Sarah started but he interrupted her,
"What?!" she was about to repeat herself when the muffled voice of the other knocker spoke up.
"If noph gooth talkin ta himph. He'ph deph af eh pof." Their heads snapped to the gargoyle-looking one. Then back to the other as he said,
"Don't talk with your mouth full!" then back to the right gargoyle.
"I'ph nod talkin wif meh mof foll!" he would have continued on like that if Sarah had not said,
"Hold on, we can't understand you." Then she took the knocker from his mouth.
"Oh," he said, flexing his lip muscles, "Thank you. It feels so good to have that out of my mouth."
"What were you saying?' Mary asked.
"I said, 'It's no good talking to him. He's deaf as a post.'" The right knocker answered.
"Mumble, mumble, mumble, you're a wonderful conversationalist yourself!"
Skip skip you know what happens they take the right door.
Once Ludo was inside the door shut tightly behind him. His expression became worried as the trio walked trough the forest.
"Ludo scared." He rumbled. Mary looked at him with sympathy.
"Aw, poor Ludo. C'mon big guy, I'll protect you." She said, quickly going behind him and nimbly climbing up his shoulders. Ludo didn't even notice her weight. He looked like he felt better as Sarah took his hand.
"So, Mary, are you going to tell me your story?" Sarah asked, trying to control the feeling of anticipation of hearing a new fairy tale.
"Right. My story. I guess it isn't much different than yours," she began, "I loved to act and sing, and fairy tales were my favorite to act out. I had a little brother, and I loved him, but I wasn't a very patient person. So once when I was babysitting him, I wished that goblins would come and take him away. James. That was his name. James. Anyway, to my surprise the King of Goblins actually did take him away. It wasn't the same King you know. No, this ones name was Rom. Of course I didn't mean to have James taken away; I was just frustrated and tired. It's not really an excuse anyway."
Mary paused for a second, as if mentally berating herself. And this didn't seem like the first time. Then she continued.
"So Rom let me run the Labyrinth. I went through dangers untold," Mary began to recite the lines of the play, "and hardships unnumbered and I fought my way to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child he had stolen. Well, all except for the last part." She sighed bitterly.
"What do you mean?" Sarah asked. She had been entranced. This was so familiar; it was a little bit scary. "What happened?"
Mary looked at her with hopeless eyes. "I didn't make it." She whispered, and then continued, "I got to the front gates as time ran out. Let me tell you that sure disappointed Rom. So, for not living up to his expectations, I was imprisoned in the Labyrinth, never aging, never growing. Only my hair grew, so I never cut it. Fifty years passed. And now it's happened again." She finished. Sarah thought she saw a tear in Mary's eye before she blinked and it was gone.
"But what about James?" Sarah asked. "Did Rom turn him into a goblin?"
Mary looked back up, her face a mask of pain, bitterness, and anger. "Oh, no. Rom had no real intention of making him one of his lowly subjects. I guess he expected me to be grateful for that. But instead, he made James heir to the throne, taught him magic, and made him forget everything of his old life. He only vaguely remembers me, and that's only because I'm now one of his subjects. He even changed his name." she looked at Sarah as she started to put the pieces together.
"No." Sarah said. Now she knew where she had seen those eyes.
"Yes," Mary replied. "My brother is Jereth the Goblin King."
"But, you're his sister, and he should remember. It's not something you forget; you do not just forget your sister! And-and…" Sarah trailed off in a loss of words. "Don't you ever see him, or talk to him or…" Mary sighed again.
"Only a handful of times. The last time we met, I tried to reach James inside of Jereth, but it angered him. He gave me this," she pointed to a place under her jaw, where Sarah now saw an unusual blue scar, about an inch long, in a curious shape of a J. She continued. "I know now, that my baby brother is gone, and I vow, with every cell in my body, that I will not let you share my fate, or your baby brother share James's."
And as she as she spoke those words her and Ludo fell, and Sarah was left alone.
Okay okay. I know that some people will get mad about getting the eyes wrong, but I haven't read the book, so I'm only going by the movie, and in a the movie Jereth had blue eyes. Okay?!
Chapter 3
So, this is a little before Sarah and Ludo are reunited.
Mary let out a little yelp as she and Ludo fell into the ground. Her cry was cut short as she tried not to breathe. They had been transported to the Bog of Eternal Stench.
"Oh, God!" she muffled. "Ludo are you okay?" when they landed she had fallen off his shoulders.
"Smell bad!" he replied. Mary laughed a little bit and patted his shoulder. He was fine. They moved back a step or two; they where dangerously close to the burping and belching bog.
"Damn, what is Jereth doing this time?" Mary muttered to herself. Ludo was busy trying to keep the smell out of his nose.
"Funny you should ask." A smooth and sinister voice answered her rhetorical question. Stiffening, Mary slowly turned around and saw Jereth there, leaning against a tree, gently holding a handkerchief to his nose. Mary glared at him with venom in her eyes.
"What do you want?" she asked. He motioned for her to walk with him. She risked a glance at Ludo and, seeing that he could go a few minutes without her, walked after him. After a minute or so, he turned and faced her. His face was slightly amused at her anger. She let out an annoyed snarl.
"What Jereth?" she spat. She needed to find Sarah and they needed to get through this Labyrinth. And he was wasting her time.
"Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to talk to you about your new friend." His voice subtly telling Mary not to lie to him. He would know, and she would be punished. So she swallowed her fear and impatience and tried to act nonchalant.
"Oh, Sarah? Yeah, um, I met her. What about her?" she was nervous. Would he prevent her from helping Sarah?
"I couldn't help but notice; you said that you would help her. Now, you do realize that if I gave the word, you would be prevented from doing so. Don't you?" this made her angry now. He was her king now, of course, but he couldn't stop her from helping or being associating with whom she wished!
"I'm helping her Jereth. I don't care what you do. I promised." Mary retorted. But instead of looking angry, Jereth looked even more amused. He even chuckled.
"Oh, Mary, I have no intention of stopping you. I actually need you to give her something for me." he pulled a crystal out of thin air.
Mary shook her head furiously. "No. It'll hurt her, or stop her. I won't betray Sarah. Get one of your disgusting little goblins to do it."
"Oh, I did. But just incase he turns out to be a gutless pig, I want a good backup plan." Disgusted, she turned around started to walk away. But then he said something that stopped her in her tracks.
"Remember what Rom said?" she turned slowly, her face shocked. A wicked smile curved onto Jereth's face. He'd hit a nerve. He continued, "I think it was, 'Should you ever find your way back to the castle, you can go back to the Above and resume your life.'"
"So?" she wouldn't look at him.
"Is that why you're helping Sarah? Using her to get out?" He said. Mary kept her head turned away. He kept talking, "Ah, it seems I'm right again."
"Shut up!" She yelled at him. Of course she remembered what Rom had said to her. She hadn't known that Jereth knew. "I still have that chance Jereth. What's your point?" He chuckled again and began to roll the crystal in his hands.
"Rom is no longer King. Therefore, if I wish to, I can break any and all promises he made." Jereth grinned wickedly. Mary froze where she stood, knowing what he was implying. She could barely move her lips.
"What do you want?" he knew he had won. He was savoring the defeat of his most defiant subject.
"Simple really. Just give her this, and you can leave the Labyrinth." Jereth tossed the crystal at her and it turned into a peach as she caught it.
She stared at it. He had offered her the thing he knew she wanted most. Out of this wretched maze. Her freedom for Sarah's. And Toby's. Sarah would stay here forever, Jereth's prisoner. Toby would become the next Goblin King. And Mary would live the rest of her life, finally get old, maybe get married, and even have a child. Oh, she dreamed about holding her own baby like she used to dream about having this adventure. Just one little action and she could have it all.
"Do it Mary, and I will give your freedom." Jereth said, taking her out of her reverie. She looked at him, a new expression on her face. She crushed the peach in her hand.
"Keep it." She spat, and threw the remains of the peach away. Almost at his face.
Jereth glared at her with a look beyond hatred. Then spoke with words so full of command and power that Mary almost cringed back.
"Very well. Mary Roan of the Labyrinth, you will stay here forever and never be free!" and then he disappeared in a cloud of glitter. And Mary, fully realizing what she had given up, fell to her knees and sobbed.
Holy crap, this chapter was in my head for a long, long time! It was super fun to write!
Please review!! 3
Chapter 4
Hardly really counts for a chapter, it's super short. Just showing the extent of Mary's loyalty. ;D
Hoggle started to fall and Sarah reached out for him, falling herself. They probably would've fallen into the Bog if it had not been for Ludo standing right beneath them.
"Ludo!" Sarah cried in delight.
"Sawah!" Ludo said similarly. "Smell bad!"
"Where did Hoggle go?" she said looking around for him. Then they heard a muffled cry.
"Geph off meh! Geph off!" Ludo stood up and started growling. Hoggle started to yell at him, but Sarah stopped them both.
"It's okay Hoggle, this is Ludo. He's a friend too." She finished her sentence by covering her nose with her arm.
"A what?" Hoggle cried.
"Ludo, where is Mary?" Sarah said, looking around.
"Here, I'm right here." Mary said, stumbling out of the trees. She gave Sarah and Hoggle a little 'hello' wave.
"We've got to get out of this stench!" Hoggle said. Sarah and the others nodded.
"Right, let's go. Look over there, there's a bridge!" Sarah said and they all started to walk towards it. Hoggle and Mary bumped sides and she had to grab his belt to keep him from falling into the bog.
"Sorry about…" Mary started but trailed off as she saw something in particular on his belt. It was round and about the size of a peach. She met Hoggle's eyes accusingly. He looked away ashamedly, and ducked his head. Mary grabbed the front of his shirt and stared right into his eyes,
"Don't"
Like I said, short.