Chapter Two: Ravishing Eliana
Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth at all. Sadface. :(
Author's Note: Just to let you all know, I did not pick the title of this chapter whatsoever. It was totally Eliana's idea.
Eliana's Note: Oh you know you love it. ;)
"Fuck," Ellie breathed out as she drank in her new surroundings. After being uncomfortably man-handled by a bunch of slimy little creatures in the dark, she had found herself being dragged down a long, cold hallway and then thrown into a bedroom. She'd heard a lock click into place once the door had been closed. With nothing else to do, she began looking around the room that she was in.
The walls were made of gray stone and were clothed in tapestries that displayed elaborate designs that almost seemed to be moving. Ellie shivered and turned her attention to the rest of the room. There was a large window etched into the wall opposite the door that appeared to have no glass pane. Along the wall with the window was a mahogany dresser and a matching wardrobe. Hanging above the dresser was a mirror in the shape of an oval, which was set in a shining golden frame with its own design of tiny faces set in it. There was a large rug on the floor that had a series of swirls and geometric shapes printed upon it. A large bed had been placed in the center of the room with its headboard pressed against one of the walls. It had tall mahogany posts at each corner that held up a blood red canopy. Matching curtains were tied back to the posts and would shield the bed from the rest of the room if set free.
Another shiver shook Ellie's body; her pajamas were not affording her much protection against the draftiness of the room. She crossed over to the dresser, hoping to find at least some pants to put on. Opening the top drawer she immediately spotted a red velvet robe. She pulled it out and wrapped it around herself, delighting in the feeling of the fabric flow over her skin.
"What is she doing?"
"What is she wearing?"
Ellie's eyes were drawn to the mirror, specifically the wooden frame.
"Did you...did you just...talk?" she asked the tiny faces.
"Well, how do you like that? Pretending that she didn't hear us. The nerve!" one of the faces growled.
"And all we wanted to do was help." Another pouted.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm most certainly not going to help this diva. Let her dress like a slob. I don't care." With that, all the faces shut their eyes.
"But...I...what?" Ellie felt dizzy as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.
"Already managed to insult your vanity mirror, Eliana?" a familiar voice asked. "This does not bode well for the rest of your stay in the Underground."
Ellie looked over to her left and saw the Goblin King standing beside her. Now that they were in the light she could clearly see the blond color of his hair, how his dark eyes were actually mismatched, and how tight his black clothing was...especially his pants.
"What is their problem?" She looked back at the mirror.
"Ladies," Jareth spoke to the mirror, "how lovely you look today."
The faces giggled and opened their eyes. "Thank you, Your Majesty," they said in unison.
"May I ask what it is that Eliana has done to offend you?"
One of them turned her glaring eyes to the red head. "She won't listen to us."
"Oh, now why wouldn't she? You have excellent taste." Jareth looked over at Ellie with a raised eyebrow.
"All I wanted was something warm to put on." Ellie pointed to her robe. "It's freaking cold in here! I wasn't expecting to be the subject of the next episode of What Not To Wear. I'm sorry if I insulted you, I didn't mean to. I'm sure you have great fashion sense...for a mirror."
"What do you think, Ladies?" Jareth crossed his arms. "Do you accept her apology?"
There was a brief pause as the faces looked Ellie up and down. "Yes."
"You're too kind." Ellie smiled tightly.
"Well, I do believe that this whole event could have been avoided if you'd merely closed the window."
"What?" She looked over at the window. "But there's no pane. It's just a hole in the wall."
The Goblin King lifted his hand and flicked his wrist. Almost immediately an elaborately designed glass pane built itself up over the window. "There is now."
Ellie's eyes widened. "God, that's awesome." She looked over at Jareth. "All those times that we were told how magic and fairy tales weren't real...you prove them wrong."
Jareth smiled proudly, all but preening himself.
"How do I know I'm not dreaming all of this?" Ellie asked, looking around doubtfully. "I mean, I make a wish and suddenly I'm standing in a castle, locked in a room with a gorgeous man in tight pants...this seems pretty familiar. Sure, you're not Orlando Bloom or James Marsden..."
"I suppose that you will simply have to trust that all this is real."
Ellie pursed her lips. "Well, what are you going to do now? Is this the part where you..." she flipped her hair and struck a dramatic pose "...ravish me?"
The Goblin King smirked. "I assure you, your virtue is safe here."
"This is definitely not a dream then." She dropped her pose. "At least, not one of mine. What'd you bring me here for?"
"You wished to be brought here."
"So...you're like a genie? Do I get three wishes or something?" Ellie crossed over to the bed and sat down on it. Jareth followed but remained standing.
"Sarah truly didn't inform you about the inner workings of this world, did she?" He appeared to be annoyed by her question.
"Nope." Ellie shook her head. "I only skimmed through the manual. Sorry. I didn't even know she'd been here before, I thought she'd just been an obsessed little child."
"Interesting," Jareth said, a distant look in his eyes.
Ellie waited for him to continue. When he didn't she asked, "So how did you two meet?"
Jareth continued to look thoughtful. "She wished her brother away to me."
"You just take people who get wished away—or wish themselves away, in my case—with a couple of magic words?"
"Essentially, yes. People don't often do the wishing for themselves but when they do I am required to oblige."
"But you don't just grant any wish. It has to specifically be a wish to be taken away by the goblins and said in a certain way. Right?" Ellie felt that she was finally understanding what had happened.
"Correct." Jareth nodded.
"And what do you do with the people once you've taken them?"
"It depends on the situation. If the person has been wished away, I allow the wisher to run my Labyrinth and attempt to save them."
"What happens if they don't make it through the Labyrinth?"
"So many questions," Jareth chuckled. "Wouldn't you prefer to see the rest of my castle?"
"Just one more," Ellie held up her index finger. "I wished myself away, so does that mean no one is coming to save me?"
"Would it trouble you if no one was?" Jareth crossed his arms.
"I...I don't know." Ellie furrowed her brow.
Jareth laughed at her expression. "I'll leave you to change into more appropriate attire and return within the hour to take you on a tour of the castle." With that, he vanished in a cloud of glitter.
Ellie let herself fall backward onto the bed.
What am I supposed to do now?
…
Sarah kicked at the ground in frustration. It had been at least an hour and she had yet to find the entrance to the Labyrinth. Instead of the desert-like climate she had experienced during her first time in the Underground, she was now in the middle of a forest with a river running through it. She dropped to her knees in front of the river and stared down into the water.
"Three days," she whispered to her reflection. The Goblin King had told her that this time she had three days to complete the Labyrinth. This both relieved and worried her; relief that she had more time, but worry because there must have been a reason behind the time extension. What had the King added to the Labyrinth that would cause her to need more time?
It will probably take me at least two days to find the damn entrance, Sarah thought angrily. A loud splash made Sarah jump. Suddenly, breaking up her reflection was the face of a fish with big blue eyes.
"Hello," Sarah greeted the fish.
The fish continued to stare at her.
"I'm looking for the entrance to the Labyrinth. Could you help me?"
More staring, with a slight twitch of the left eye. Sarah sighed, deciding that the fish would be of no help. She began to stand up when the sound of someone singing reached her ears. She heard the fish squeak and watched it disappear beneath the water. Shortly after, a small row boat came floating down. Inside the boat was a skeleton of a man with ghostly pale skin. He was wearing a straw hat and overalls. Over the side of the boat was the line of a fishing pole that he was holding onto.
"La la la la. La la. La di da!" the man sang out. The notes followed no particular melody and sounded very flat.
"Hello there!" Sarah called to the man.
The man sat up quickly, nearly tipping the boat. He looked at Sarah and narrowed his sunken eyes. "Who're you?" he demanded, his speaking voice much deeper and more raspy than his singing voice.
"I'm Sarah Williams," Sarah said politely. She followed the boat as it continued to drift down the river. "I'm trying to-"
"The Labyrinth Champion?" The man narrowed his eyes even further until they were nothing but small slits in his head.
"Yes!" she said, excited that he knew who she was.
"What're you doin' back here?" he asked. "Shouldn't ya be at home doing...whatever it is that Champions do?"
"Well, you see, my friend wished herself away to the Goblin King and-"
The man let out a laugh that was comparable to a cough. "Why would she do somethin' as stupid as that?"
"I-"
"Huh? Speak up! If ya mumble you'll never get nothin' from no one. Wanna know why? Because no one'll understand ya! That's why!" He muttered something to himself. Sarah was struggling to keep up with the boat now that the ground was covered with fallen tree branches and raised roots.
"Ya got the fare?" the man asked suddenly.
"What fare?" Sarah jumped over a small bush.
"Ach! She don't even know what the fare is! The fare to get yerself a ride to the Labyrinth. That fare."
"Um, I have..." She looked down at her bare wrists and then felt around her throat. "I have this necklace!" The necklace was gold with a small heart-shaped locket dangling from the end. There wasn't anything inside the locket, but her grandparents had given it to her as a graduation gift. Thankfully she'd forgotten to remove it before she went to bed.
"Bring it 'ere." The man held out his hand.
Sarah carefully ran to the very edge of the riverbank but the boat was still too far away. She looked up at the man but he continued to stare at her expectantly. The boat kept moving downstream. Slowly she stepped into the cold water...and screamed.
Things that felt like hands were grabbing at her legs. She struggled toward the boat, thrashing about, until she tripped and was entirely submerged in the water. The hands now had access to her arms and hair. She kicked and tried to stay afloat but they kept pulling her down. A pair of hands from above yanked her up and over the edge of the boat.
"What the feck did ya do that fer? Everyone knows not to go climbin' into the river!" the man exclaimed angrily. "The people from below'll git ya and make ya one o' them. And trust me, that's worse than bein' made one o' the Goblin King's lot."
"Y-you didn't-t st-stop the bo-oat." Sarah's body shook and caused her to stutter. Though whether the shaking was from fear or from the cold she wasn't quite sure.
"Ya didn't ask me to, ya ninny!" the man shot back. "Now, what do ya got fer me?"
With shaking hands Sarah removed the necklace from around her neck and placed it into the boney hand of the man. He carefully inspected the metal, testing it between his teeth before placing it in the pocket of his overalls.
"Alright, you're all set." The man nodded. He reached out like he was going to grab one of the oars of the boat but instead grabbed back onto his fishing pole. He made himself comfortable and then began croaking out notes the way he had before.
Sarah sighed and brought her knees up to her chest. This was going to be a long boat ride.