Return to the Labyrinth
"Where are we?" Valkyrie asked; she'd never seen a place like this before- there was something in the air which affected her in a strange way. Her elemental magic felt extra especially strong here.
"Somewhere I can safely say that you've never been before." Only replied, her lips curled, momentarily, up in a smirk. "This is the Underground- more specifically; not an hour away from the eastern edge of the Goblin Kingdom"
Valkyrie and Tanith looked at each other.
"Goblin Kingdom?" Valkyrie mouthed
Tanith shrugged.
"Coming ladies?" Only was a few meters away by this time. "I thought we were on a time limit here?"
As promised it was just short of an hour later when Only came to a stop- a singular smile curled her lips at one corner. She was looking out across a humongous maze with a castle at the centre.
"The Labyrinth…" she murmured, as if in a world of her own- her American accent became more pronounced. "It doesn't look that far…"
"Only?" Tanith frowned, concerned by her friend's behaviour. "Are you ok?"
Only started, she looked up at her over the top of her sunglasses, revealing a pair of murky green eyes. "Sorry… I was remembering the first time I was here"
"What happened?" Valkyrie asked.
"Later kid" Only waved her question away. "Time is short; and a-wasting- now, come on"
Only took off striding down the hill on which they stood, towards the wall of the labyrinth
The Goblin King started, almost jolted out of his chair by the strength of the presence that
had just entered his domain. There was someone in the Labyrinth. Would that he could summon a crystal to look in on the intruder, but since a certain mortal wench had broken his powers… all he could do was wait until young Jareth- sorry Toby- reached the castle- then she'd be his.
Only hadn't known what to expect when she returned to the Underground but it certainly wasn't this- the Labyrinth had appeared far more chaotic than it had been when she'd beaten it as a fifteen year old. Her thoughts wondered to her dear old friends; would Hoggle be at his fairy spraying duties at the gates of the Labyrinth? Would dear brave little Didymus and his craven steed Ambrosias be standing guard over the Bog of Stench? Would Ludo be with them or had he wondered off on his own again?
Part of her wished that she had allowed herself to keep contact with them.
'Keep it together Sarah, you can reminisce later' she scolded herself.
She placed her hand on the wall of the Labyrinth and the gate was revealed. Only gasped.
"How did you do that?" Tanith demanded
"Even if I knew" Only retorted, more sharply than she meant to. "I wouldn't tell you, the Goblin King would have my guts for garters if he knew I was giving out secrets that have been kept for thousands of years"
'Holy crap; where did that come from?' she wondered
"Shall we press on?"
A/N: these first three chapters are written by MyraValhallah, whom first published this back in 11-06-10
