Chasing the Proverbial Dream
A/N: Yeah, I've been slow at getting this chapter up, and you know what, I'm too lazy to bother explaining myself right now. Anyway, here's chapter six, and the first chapter where I go away from Sarah for the point of view of my OC which you guys might remember a bit about from King's Curse, Kaiaraki. If you don't, Kaiaraki is a little cat-goblin who takes care of Jareth's study, but I say that loosely because Jareth's study was so over crowded with papers that opening and closing the door caused paper-cut flurries. Anyway, hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Six - Blackened Stones
It was numbing to look at the Labyrinth, so familiar, yet completely alien. Actually Sarah had trouble looking at the Labyrinth itself; the giant maze had undergone some sort of crazed distortion. It took up the same amount of space, but looking at it Sarah knew it had grown bigger. To look at it was giving her a headache; it was like looking into a pool of water, except that Sarah didn't know if what she was looking at was under the surface, or a reflection.
Sarah shook her head to push away the distortion; there was something else, something hauntingly familiar about the underground. It was the same spot. Sarah turned around to confirm, it was the same tree she had stood under when the Goblin King had first brought her to the Labyrinth to save her brother. Except the tree was wrong, somehow the branches were full of pain, they moved in strange angles that pulled away and simultaneously reached out. And there, just down the hill Sarah could see the garden where she first met Hoggle.
"If you want to turn back, my lady," Didymus suggested.
Sarah's foot landed against the downward slope, her shoes carrying her down the hill. Stopping Sarah looked around the ruined garden. There were thorns everywhere. The thirsty plants had cracked and drained the pool, strangled the other plants, and then dried out. Sarah's foot hit a branch, the withered vine crumbling at the touch. They were everywhere, with no apparent source, the moved up and down the walls of the Labyrinth, bunching around the tops like a sort of natural barbed wire. They also drew Sarah's eyes to the stones, the walls of the labyrinth were made of black stones.
"Sir Didymus," Sarah said a little weakly, "Is this what you meant, by the black ink that consumed everything."
"Yes, my lady."
"How did you get out?"
"I climbed the thorns, although I doubt they could hold either of us anymore," Sir Didymus approached the black walls, "We'll have to find one of the gates, my lady."
"The gates," Sarah muttered to herself, backing away from the black Labyrinth rather than approaching, she looked at the pool as she shuffled around in the dirt. She tried to visualize the urinating Hoggle, as much as it was not exactly an image she wanted to see, it could be useful. Sarah played over the events in her head, following her mental Hoggle with her eyes, and her feet when it became time. She bent over where she had seen the small fairy dying from the poison Hoggle had been spraying. Sarah followed along the wall, followed where her imaginary Hoggle was spraying. Then finally Sarah turned, this was when Hoggle had pointed and just behind her a door had opened up. Certainly the spires that ran alongside the wall remained unchanged; Sarah could only hope that the black ink had not changed the location of the door.
Sarah shuddered at the idea of touching that strange surface. Thoughts of the black ink that consumed the Labyrinth filled her mind. She could vividly picture the ink coming to life as she touched it, sucking her in, sticking like glue, climbing her skin, dripping into her eyes, her ears, into her mouth… She fought back the shudder, she was terrified of touching it. She'd barely touched the stones within the Labyrinth the last time she was here, really her thoughts at the time had been too fleeting, thinking only of Toby and defeating the labyrinth.
Slowly extending her fingertips towards what she hoped was the door, Sarah held her breath. Her finger made contact with the strange black stones; it was surprisingly soft and warm. It was strangely nostalgic; Sarah couldn't quite place the compulsion that made her whisper, "Let me in please."
A click? The wall moved gently towards her as Sarah pulled away, the door swinging towards her. "Sir Didymus," she called, "I found the door."
-
Oven mitts slipped over her paws. The cat-goblin pulled the tray from the stone oven, taking a deep whiff of the roast that she now held. "Okay Tuffi, I've got the roast out," she called across the kitchen.
The wide open space, counters, across the room another she-goblin was pulling a pot of vegetables away from the heat. "Thank you Kaiaraki, bring it over to the plating area."
"You got it," Kaiaraki replied carrying over the roast, "I've got to hand it to you Tuffi the quality of your food hasn't dropped in the slightest."
"Well I'd only be half the work with a full kitchen staff," Tuffi replied putting down her pot with an indignant thud.
"Well," Kaiaraki hurriedly searched her mind for any sort of silver lining, "at least you don't have to make such large portions."
"I heard there's a resistance being mounted from the underground tunnels… "
"Your point is?
"The point is you should take King Jareth his meal, considering you're the only one he won't barbecue for approaching."
"Much has changed hasn't it?"
"That's an understatement," Tuffi said darkly and started to plate more food.
Kaiaraki lowered her head as she took the plate of food and left the kitchen. It was true, things had changed, the others didn't really understand, they hadn't been there. Kaiaraki had been in the throne room, just helping to keep the goblin hordes calm. Just after a strange incident with rocks having gone rampant attacking the soldiers within the goblin city the walls of the Labyrinth had started closing in. Many goblins had come into the castle for their own protection, all of them, gathered in the throne room. With the king nowhere to be found she had been the voice of reason among them. She shook her head, dispelling the memories as she stepped into the throne room.
"Your Majesty?" she called, walking into the bare room. Empty, barren, Kaiaraki didn't like the feeling she got standing in the cold empty room. She didn't like seeing the floor covered in corpses… It was strange, when the king had come down from his tower it seemed like they were finally going to have something good happen. What actually happened was much, much worse, the king began to slaughter… Kaiaraki shivered as she remembered the blood dripping off that glittery crystal blade. Remorseless, the king had sliced through his subjects as thought they were paper, blood spilled across the floor, splattered against the walls.
Knocking on the study door Kaiaraki tried to turn away from the horrors in her mind's eye. She couldn't understand why she had been spared, the whole room of common people, she was the only one he hadn't sliced down. "Kaiaraki," he had hissed, as he turned to her, stepping over the corpses without so much as blinking, "The head chef, the army general, the head maid and one assistant of her choice may stay in the palace, I suggest you keep the rest out of the castle or in the dungeons if you expect them to live for much longer."
No answer, Kaiaraki poked her head through the door and found the room empty. Only a few stacks of paper remained, the King had spent nearly a year emptying that space, aside from frequent visits into the maze. During that year the black ink spread, oozed, changed the Labyrinth, and a number of its inhabitants.
She checked his bedchamber, also empty, but that was to be expected. The king hardly slept before he changed, even less afterwards. It was strange that he always seemed to remain focussed on his unspoken task. Even when he went to sleep it was never for long and hardly restful.
Kaiaraki approached the next chamber, a guest bedroom next to the king's own. For whatever reason he had kept the room off limits, he'd killed the head maid, and simultaneously promoted her underling when the goblin had cleaned the space. The little black furred cat-goblin was the only one he permitted to enter. Opening the door to the only room that remained brightly coloured after the black ink Kaiaraki could smell the rich scent of peaches. The king, however, could not be found there.
She checked room after room, until she found herself standing at the door to his tower. Kaiaraki was certain that he would not be found there, as far as she knew the king had not entered his tower for the past three years. Even so, his subjects were not looked on kindly when they disturbed him here. Gently Kaiaraki knocked.
"Enter," came the King's husky reply.
Enter? The very thought boggled her mind, the king had never ever ever let someone else into the tower. Kaiaraki tried not to dwell too much on what would prompt the king to allow her into such a personal space. Her paw was shaking as she reached the doorknob, pushing the door open just a few inches. "Are you certain Your Majesty, I don't want to disturb you…"
"Come in Kaiaraki," he ordered sternly, prompting the cat-goblin to scamper inside the door.
"I- I brought your mid-day meal, Your Highness," Kaiaraki stammered, looking at the flyaway black hair of her king as he stared at the window. Silence, Kaiaraki shuffled nervously, looking around the king's tower considering it was the first time she'd ever seen it. The window, just left of the door, the chair in the middle of the room, the model of the labyrinth across from the door, and a display case to the right of the door. The cat-goblin shuffled to get a look into the display case, two crystals sat side by side. "A memory crystal?" she wondered softly, looking into one which appeared to show a scene from her master's childhood. She looked at the other crystal curiously, "That runner?"
Pausing Kaiaraki noticed that the king was muttering, ever so softly, "She wasn't supposed to come back… She shouldn't have come back… Why would she come back?"
"Young master Jareth," Kaiaraki reached her paw towards him, worry across her face.
"Kaiaraki, I need you to do something for me," he said, still staring out the window.
"Anything, Your Majesty…"
"Watch her," he said, holding out a crystal. "Tell me what she's doing, Kaiaraki."
"A-alright," she said accepting the crystal. She looked up at Jareth, wondering why he would need her to work her magic. Then her sights laid upon the target in the crystal, it was the same girl. The runner whose dreams were echoed in the crystal that was in the display case, and she couldn't have been much older than when she'd run. Except the king hadn't accepted a runner in the three years since the black ink which meant that the human world and the Labyrinth would have had to have been in almost perfect sync.
"Well?" Jareth asked impatiently.
"She's in the stone portion of the maze, and she's just found one of the puzzle doors..."