Hi! Sorry it's been so long since I uploaded, school started and i actually had to do stuff and get back in the groove of things, but now I'm back! This chappie's kinda short but fear not! For a super crazy long chapter comes this weekend! Yay! Btw, the rating was changed to T because I realized there was more cussing in this than I thought! My apologies. Enjoy!

Extra brownie points go to Unique Fantasiser for being the ONLY PERSON who left a comment!(that means more people need to review this story)

ermergerd! im such a bad person! i totes mogotes forgot to mention the people who liked this story! Ah! So for my forgetfullness, you get EXTRA Browine points! Thank you trosteule, observingangel, and Kusa for faving and following!

Disclaimer(forgot this too!): I do not own any part or portion of The Labyrinth.

The Castle Beyond the Goblin City

At first I hadn't given much thought to the man, only that he was the closest thing to human I had seen, and therefore had to be intelligent enough to give me some answers. Before he had shown up, several goblins had the courage to approach me and poke and prod me to see what I would do. It wasn't so bad until they started trying to pull on my hair and rip off parts of my clothes for souvenirs.

I guess they felt the kings presence before I saw him because they had run off when I crouched down to the ground to shoo them off-and by shoo I mean thoroughly insult before throwing them across the forest floor if need be.

So to see a human-well, I suppose he's fae since he's the King. And a damn attractive one at that. He was very tall, probably a bit over six feet. His brown hair was tousled about like he had just rolled out of bed and only run his fingers through it. It wasn't too long, but brushed against his shoulders. Originally dark brown in colour, but spending days in the sun had given him golden highlights. He eyebrows were dark and straight, but curved up just slightly and the ends.

And under those dark eyebrows were the bluest eyes I have ever seen. As if a part of the summer sky lived there. If eyes were windows to the soul, his soul must be truly beautiful. A straight nose led down to thin lips framed by a straight angular jaw line.

The more I thought of him, the more I understood what Aunt Sarah had said about Jareth having a certain air about him. As soon as Rylon had shown up, I felt calmer and at ease in his presence.

As we walked through the forest I kept to myself and thought about everything. Mainly, I thought about was how I had gotten here. True, I had wished myself, but the goblins didn't bring me; I came by myself. I mean, Aunt Sarah's book had said that the Goblin King had granted the girl certain powers, but Rylon didn't know me. How could he have given me powers if he didn't know me?

But he wasn't the only Goblin King.

Maybe Jareth had given something to me. But why? He didn't know me. I was the closest thing Sarah had to a daughter, but it just didn't make any sense to me.

Tired from thinking so much, I moved to more light-hearted thoughts. Sarah's stories were true. That meant that poor girl from the story really had wished away her brother. And all those creatures she met here were real.

Mental note: find Ludo, Sir Didymus and Hoggle before I leave. I smiled at the thought. But what happened to Jareth? I wonder if he was still in the Goblin Kingdom. Just because Rylon had become the new king didn't mean he had to leave, did it? Maybe he died. Aunt Sarah said he had just disappeared after being defeated. Gathering my courage, I decided to ask Rylon.

"Uh, Rylon?" I asked timidly, not sure if I was overstepping my boundaries by addressing him so casually.

"Yes?" he glanced over his shoulder at me and I jogged up to match his pace.

"What happened to Jareth?" at first he looked at me and seemed surprised that I asked. Then he looked ahead again and his brow furrowed slightly.

"No one really knows. I only talked with him once before I inherited the land, and once I did he just disappeared."

"Are you in relation to him?" I asked.

"Distantly. My father was his second cousin or something of the sort. Because he had no proper heir and I am the youngest of my family, I became the Goblin King."

"Oh. Is it very hard being a king?" he gave me another look, this time with humor.

"A rather curious thing, aren't you?" I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders. I was fifteen, wasn't this the time to question everything? "Not particularly, no. The goblins are smarter than they look, and are quite self-sufficient. They hunt and gather their own food, and trade amongst themselves. Of course, they're bloody irritating to be around for more than a half hour because they are endlessly bored and so easily entertained." I giggled at his dry humor and he gave me a small smile in return. "And what of you? I don't believe you ever even told me your name. Honestly, you humans have no manners anymore."

"Ha. Try living in New York." I suddenly felt rather homesick, and frowned at the thought that I'll have to stay here until we clear up how I got here exactly. "My name is Alice Cordelia Williams. I have one older brother and a younger sister. I am not queen or princess of anything, nor am I in any relation to royalty."

"How interesting. Well, it appears we've made it home." And he was right.

Somewhere on our stroll through the forest, he had either a tunnel that led straight to the throne room, or he had gradually used magic to get us here. I looked around at the rather bland stone walls. There were no tapestries hung on the walls, save for one above the throne which itself was some type of horn curved around to create the arm of the chair. Velvet drapes cascaded around the padded stone seat of the throne, and several goblins jumped off said chair when they noticed the re-appearance of their King.

"Tyon, go send a message to the Council that the human girl was recovered and is now in my care." A small goblin with big yellow eyes and dark brown skin nodded once and disappeared to complete his task.

"All right." With those two words, every goblin in the throne room, and perhaps in the entire kingdom stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Rylon.

"This is the human girl found in the forest. You are to address her as Lady Alice or Miss. None of you are to bother her or go into her chambers without permission from me. She is a guest in my castle until further notice. Let's give her a warm welcome shall we?" At this the goblins cheered and most crowded around me introducing themselves and asking questions. I laughed and patted some on their heads.

"Now, I suppose the Lady is rather hungry and needs a good meal. Go and prepare dinner." Nearly all the goblins in the room scurried away through all different doors and crevices in the room. I looked over at Rylon and smiled. A silent sort of thank you for making me feel welcome, but more importantly for preparing food. He nodded in return and called for a goblin. "Alice, this is Lyal. She will be your lady in waiting for you time here. She will show you to your chambers, now."

"My chambers?" I was…flattered, but I didn't want him to go to any trouble for me.

"Yes. Unless you would rather sleep in broom closets like the rest of the goblins?"

Never mind. Go to lots of trouble for me.

"So, Lyal, where are those chambers?" I looked up and saw Rylon smile and shake his head as the small goblin grabbed my hand and pulled me forward.

She pulled me up a small winding staircase and down a hallway and ended in front of two intricately carved wooden doors. I ran my hand across the wood to the brass doorknob and opened it.

When I go back home, I'm taking this room with me.

The room was massive and kind of circular shaped. The bed was draped in luxurious fabrics of greens and blues, with accents of silver. The dark wooden four poster bed frame had similar carvings on it as the door, and sheer curtains flowed from each post. To the right of the bed was a set of doors that led out to a balcony that viewed over the Labyrinth. A door to the left of the bed was the bathroom. Complete with a marble tub, sink, tiles, and toilet, it was the best damn bathroom I had ever seen.

The main room also had a writing desk, wardrobe, and vanity of the same dark carved wood as the bed frame. The wardrobe was filled of beautiful dresses made of the richest fabrics and shoes to match. The vanity held a jewelry box of the same stature.

After taking everything in and inspecting the finer details, I toed off my Converse and jumped on the bed. Giggling as I submerged myself in the multitude of pillows, I glanced up to see Lyal's fear stricken face.

"Lyal, what's wrong?" I asked sitting up straight in the bed.

She moved from foot to foot, her face contorted with uncertainty. "King-man never allows the goblins to play in the beds." I suppose she was uncertain how to handle the situation, not wanting to tell me what not to do, but also not wanting to disobey her king.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let's just keep it our little secret, shall we?" I gave her a friendly smile, trying to calm her down.

"Okay Alice-lady!" she seemed happy with my suggestion and moved forward to help me off the bed. "King-man wants you to look change clothes for dinner, okay? You pick dress while I start bath." She dragged me over to the wardrobe and opened it then went on to the bathroom.

I looked through the dresses, first deciding what color dress I wanted then which style. After looking through the small selection of yellow dresses-there were more dresses of darker colors for some reason-I found one I deemed appropriate for dinner. The dress itself was strapless with an empire waist that flowed to the floor with a small train. It was covered in a layer of sheer fabric that with small rows of crystals that criss-crossed across the dress. Below the bust was a green satin fabric band that tied into a bow slightly off-center. I laid the dress out across the bed and went back to look for shoes to match.

"Bath is ready, Alice-lady. I'll pick shoes!" Lyal said from the door of the bathroom.

I nodded and walked into the bathroom and felt a waft of heat from the warm bathwater. Lyal quickly showed me how to work the tub and where all the soaps and shampoos were. She laid out a towel and a robe and left. I gently dipped my hand in the water, testing it before I undressed. After deeming it a suitable temperature, I began to disrobe.

I eased myself down into the warm water, taking a minute to relax and become comfortable. After I had washed my hair and body, I took a few minutes to just sit in the cooling water and rest after today's confusion and stress.

"Alice-lady? I picked out shoes," I gently heard Lyal outside the bathroom door, waking me from my nap.

"Sorry, Lyal, I fell asleep," I quickly hopped out of the now cool water and dried off, pulling on the robe and throwing my hair up in a towel.

"Here I am," I said as I walked out.

"Okay! Come sit while I do make-up and hair." She pulled me over to the vanity and sat me down on the little stool.

I watched as she slowly transformed my plain-Jane face into a beautiful thing. My curly brown hair was pulled back into a loose, stylish up-do. I slipped on the dress to find it fit perfectly and put on the gladiator-style sandals Lyal had picked out for me. I looked myself over in the full-length mirror in the bathroom, admiring the beautiful work Lyal had done.

"Alice-lady? Do you like it?" she asked timidly.

"Lyal, I love it! Oh, you did such a great job," I reached down and gave her a little hug, pulling away when she squirmed at the unfamiliarity of a hug.

"Time for dinner now, I'll show you the way."

once again, sorry for the shortness! And reviews would be much appreciated!