Author's note: (sigh) Jareth isn't mine. Kirash and Emma are. I know that there has been little to no dialogue up until now, but I had to get Kirash's solitary adventures out of the way first. Don't worry, there is lots more dialogue after this chapter! PLEASE review, I would love to read your opinions! :D
The Fall of the King
Four
The air stirred slightly as Kirash commanded the magic holding him to the Runner's shadow to release him. He remained in shadow form, watching as the Runner paused, nervous. He reared up as a massive shadow and her blue eyes widened in fear. She turned and immediately ran in the opposite direction. Kirash smirked as he watched her go. That was a feeling he could get used to, a feeling he knew that Jareth had once enjoyed. This filled him with anger. How was it that he could enjoy something that Jareth had? Jareth was a fool who was softening over time. Any idiot with a brain could see that.
Kirash waited until he was sure that no creature would disturb him before zipping through the Labyrinth's passageways. As a shadow, he could move much more quickly than in his human form. He slithered back to the beginning of the Labyrinth and formed his shadow-self into a pair of hands that wrought a small, black jewel from the magical particles within himself. Kirash loved this particular spell. Rather than weakening his power, he was depositing controllable pockets of himself throughout the Labyrinth so that when the time came, he could control multiple sections of the Labyrinth at once, and use them to defeat the Goblin King. He was merely making himself larger, spreading his influence over many areas. Kirash secured the black jewel deep within a nearby hedge, and then he sped off to a stony maze area that was littered with sculptures of Jareth, no doubt to confuse and belittle the Runners, especially the female ones. Kirash wanted to roll his eyes. He had no idea what the females saw in Jareth; with his ridiculously teased blonde mop, awful tight pants, and horrid leather boots and gloves, Kirash found Jareth to be repulsive.
Kirash formed another jewel and floated over to a statue of Jareth holding a crystal. Smirking, he forced it within the stone crystal. For good measure, he hid another one in the Stone-Jareth's ridiculous hair. Next, he glided sinuously towards the Magical Forest, and hid several jewels within the trees and the thirteen-hour clocks that Jareth had placed everywhere to remind the Runner of how time always slips away. He could feel his body tingling in anticipation, hyperaware of how close he was to owning the power of the Labyrinth.
Kirash avoided the Bog of Eternal Stench. It had barely any magical particles within it, with the exception of a charm Jareth had placed upon it to extend and magnify its repulsive odour. Kirash had been sent to the Bog enough in his early days working for the goblins of the Labyrinth. He shuddered at the memory. Of course, Jareth and his minions had always sent Kirash to the bog to fish out prisoners or Runners. He had no desire to see that mucky hole again. Fortunately, he'd had enough power at that point to protect himself from accidentally falling in or getting Bog on his shoes. He briefly wondered if the new Runner would be stupid enough to get herself mired in it.
Chuckling at the entertaining notion, Kirash darted around the rest of the Labyrinth, placing more jewels in hidden places as he flew, pausing to convert a few of its creatures into raw power that he quickly took in. The adrenaline rush was becoming an addicting sensation. And the creatures all seemed to be so terrified. They screamed for mercy, but Kirash laughed at them as they became swirling masses of magical particles of different shapes, sizes and colours.
He had come upon a pack of Fireys, joking around and throwing each other's heads in a clearing within the Magical Forest. When Kirash had commanded their magical particles to break up, the Fireys became tiny, compact blobs of brilliant purple energy that was extremely hard to absorb, but gave a real shock to Kirash's system once he had managed it. The Fireys had been rightfully horrified, but it was their cries of pain that really intrigued Kirash. He really hadn't thought that ceasing to exist could cause so much pain, because technically he wasn't killing them. He was just breaking them down into their original magical elements.
Fairies morphed into massive, diamond-like systems of scintillating black particles. The goblins he found were most interesting. Each goblin he broke down turned into something different. Some of them simply turned into glittering versions of their grubby former selves. Others broke down into a single magical particle that looked suspiciously similar to one of Jareth's many crystals. Yet others became massive swirling, shapeless entities that were surprisingly easy to capture.
The best part of all of this trouble Kirash was causing was that not one of the witnesses could tell Jareth that it was Kirash who was at the heart of the problems. All they could say was that there was a large, black shadow racing through the Labyrinth, eating up creatures as it went. And because Kirash was not a Runner, the obstacles were of no challenge to him, and he couldn't get lost, because he wasn't racing against a timeline to defeat the Goblin King.
As he finished depositing his jewels throughout the Labyrinth, a nastily brilliant idea flared to life within Kirash's mind. He could cause yet more damage to the Labyrinth if the Runner was physically harmed during her Run. Though the Labyrinth was geared to challenge and frighten each Runner into appreciating the gifts they had, it was not built to cause true harm. The Labyrinth would have to halt itself in mid-run while Jareth scrambled to save the Runner's life. And then Kirash would be able to actually enter the Goblin City as a Guest. Not only would that give him greater access to the Labyrinth's power before he actually challenged Jareth, but the Labyrinth itself would be extremely weak, in disarray, because a Runner was injured. The Labyrinth would think itself responsible.
The Labyrinth was not merely a landscape that Jareth controlled completely. It was a magical entity in its own right, sharing a deep connection with its King. But it had the ability to act and think on its own if it chose. Of course, the Labyrinth rarely did such things, only in instances when it feared its Ruler, or believed that its Master was behaving unwisely. That was a complication Kirash would have to eliminate at once. He could not afford to have a rebellious Labyrinth. The solution sounded simple enough, but Kirash knew it would be nowhere near easy. He would have to control the Labyrinth by consuming all of its power, very similar to the method which he had used to obtain each of the Hearts throughout the Underground. Then the Labyrinth would be a slave to his will.
Kirash paused for a moment, and shifted back into his human form. He needed to find out where the Runner was if he was to approach her. He held his staff very gently, and closed his eyes. He focused on the young woman's appearance as he'd remembered it. She was still lost in the stony section full of Jareth statues. Kirash snorted. The only thing he had to worry about with his new plan was running into the poofy-headed Goblin King.
He melted back down into shadows, and slithered towards the Runner. Twenty minutes later, he found her, spinning around in circles, her eyes wide and frantic. He hid behind a particularly large Jareth statue and morphed back into himself. The Runner stopped spinning and ran her hand through her hair.
"Why can't he just make normal rocks?" she was growling through clenched teeth. "No, instead every single statue has to look like the bloody Goblin King!" Kirash fought down a snicker. This female too, was no exception. She was allowing her mind to be fuddled by Jareth too. Kirash paused to wonder again: precisely why was Jareth so distracting to these idiot Aboveground girls? Surely it wasn't his poet shirts and glitter? He snorted in disgust.
Kirash was about to step out from behind his hiding place when he heard a new voice, and immediately shrank back into a shadow, watching silently.
"Are you lost, Emma?" Jareth sneered. Kirash felt his stomach curl in upon itself. There was the Goblin King himself, towering over the Runner. Kirash could see the girl's throat working as she swallowed.
"No," she stammered defiantly. Kirash suppressed his incredulity. Of course she was lost.
"And how are you finding my Labyrinth?" Jareth asked her, backing her into the rocky wall, crowding her. The Runner was ogling him ridiculously, clearly unaware of her inability to look away.
"It's much more dangerous than I expected," she whispered. Jareth leaned towards her, and Kirash wanted to gag.
"Really? What a pity. I thought you'd enjoy yourself, Emma," the Goblin King sneered softly. The girl squirmed, trying to get away from Jareth. Kirash did not understand how the Goblin King could lean in so close. Firstly, there was no need for such physical closeness, and secondly, the girl was not worth it.
"I'd better get going," the Runner mumbled uncomfortably. "Your castle is still quite far away."
"It is, isn't it?" Jareth chuckled. "For you." And then he was gone. The Runner was shaking. Kirash tried to compose his face into a relatively sympathetic expression as he shot back up into his human form. The Runner stood in the same spot, holding her hand over her mouth again, her eyes looking confused. Kirash wanted to sneer at her. She looked to be around eighteen, too old to be confused by glittery Goblin Kings. Couldn't she see how ridiculous Jareth was? He knew she wasn't completely stupid. He stepped out from behind his hiding place at last. The girl gasped, but he held up his hand at once.
"The Goblin King, is he gone?" Kirash asked, forcing his voice to take on a fearful tone, rather than a contemptuous one. The Runner nodded mutely. "Good. Then I can help you."
Alrighty then, there's chapter four for you! And now there is some dialogue! And a new character! And Jareth has finally graced us with his leathery sexiness! And Kirash's opinions on Jareth are his alone, I don't find his poofy hair ridiculous at all! ;P Please review, and thanks for reading.