I look at the sleeping form of my brother. Just a small child, one I dearly love. Tonight it is my task to tuck him into sleep, and though he is already fast in his dreams, I linger to watch him. Oh to be a child. It seems like such a ridiculous thing that I should want. But after my mother died, I was never allowed to be a child. My father has remarried three times, always annulling the marriage or my new step mother dying in childbirth. Finally, with my newest stepmother Lia, my brother was born. Tuck. The sweet angel. My baby brother.
I slowly rise from my stool and kiss Tuck's chubby cheek. Blowing out my candle, I retire to my own bed, feeling comfort in the fact that he is dreaming of something pleasant as I dream. The slow whistle of the wind through the window sooths me into a sweet sleep. Then, a large boom of thunder wakes me.
I jolt up, prepared to sooth Tuck. The large boom surely must have woken him. But I hear nothing from his cradle. I cautiously walk to the rocking bed, fear creeping into my heart at the cursed quiet. A cackle floats in on the wind, one from a story. A wicked witch's cackle. This only adds to my growing anxiety.
Finally I summon enough courage to step next to his bed and draw back his sheet, only to withdraw in horror! Tuck, my sweet baby brother, is gone!
The cackle returns, stronger and harsher. The wind beats against the doors to the balcony and the open window lets it in to torment me. Things move and fly around me, making me delirious in fear. And finally, the wind wins the battle and I pass out.
A soothing and cool hand presses against my forehead to wake me. I moan in protest, content to believe I'm in my bed and nothing has happened to Tuck, but then a voice accompanies the hand.
"Wake Princess." It orders. I stir and find myself staring right into mismatched green eyes. One so dark it's almost black and the other incredibly light. I spring back, as far as I can, only to find myself cornered. The startling man is so close, and I cannot move any further away. He does not seem to be bothered by this, and simply studies me for a moment.
"Who…who are you?" I ask at length.
"My name is Jareth the Forth. I am the Goblin King of the Labyrinth. I have taken your baby brother, as he's been wished away by one of your father's rivals." He explains this calmly and suavely. But my insides turn.
"Goblin King? but then Tuck…"
"Is with my goblins. Soon enough he will adapt to the ways in my underground and become a goblin."
"Oh no! please good sir, please bring him back!"
"I cannot. A wish is a wish."
"But…there must be something I can do!" I plea.
"I believe there is. I did not intend to explain anything to you. I never do interact with humans. But something about you has stirred a strange feeling in me. perhaps pity…or perhaps regret at causing you so much distress. It is clear for me to see how dearly you love your brother Princess."
"I do."
"So I will offer you one chance to retrieve him. in times of my ancestors, the other Jareth's of the Labyrinth, there was a contest. Mortals who wished to receive fame or return their loved ones from my castle after wishing them away were given 13 hours to combat the Labyrinth and reach the castle beyond the goblin city. It is important to note that few of these mortals made it to the city, less to the castle."
"You would allow me the chance to fight for my brother?"
"Yes. But this comes at a price. If you can reach my castle and find your brother in 13 hours, you may both return home. but should you not, I will take you the rest of the way and once in my castle you will make a decision. Which of the two of you will stay in the underground forever, and which shall return home. do we have a deal?"
"Yes." I don't hesitate a moment. If I must stay in the goblin kingdom forever so be it. I will not let Tuck turn into a goblin.
"Very well. I shall transport you to my Labyrinth, but after that you will be on your own. remember Princess, nothing is what it seems underground." He says gravely. I nod. he takes my hand and in the blink of an eye, I'm facing not the Goblin King, but a large vast desert land. Just down a hill is a wall, and beyond it I see a magnificent Labyrinth that stretches on to forever. And just on the horizon I see a shining city, the center of which is a spiraling castle.
"The Labyrinth. Don't worry Tuck, I will defeat it. I will get you home."