The great gentle beast stood before May as she had just released him from his trap. The orange creature had called her his friend and for whatever reason May found comfort in his words.
"That's right, I'm May. And I take it that you're Ludo, right?" Her sweet words were accompanied by her stroking his fur.
"May, Friend." Ludo growled out. He looked at her noticing her wounds. "Friend hurt? Friend hurt!" he yelled in panic. May surprised by his outcry attempted to calm him down.
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt, really." Her lie gave him reassurance while giving May the feeling of guilt.
May started to walk again and Ludo followed closely behind. They were walking for a while but stopped as she heard the sound of running water.
"He's changing the story again…" May muttered as the two approached a large fountain, that seemed to come out of nowhere. The fountain was circular and had engravings of different kinds of goblins along the rim. In the center was a life-sized stature of Jareth, King of the Goblins. At the bottom of his feet water splashed out and would drop about seven feet into the deep fountain. May stuck her hand into the water and drank a small amount, it tasted clean. She splashed her face and scrubbed away the blood and dirt. Soon her face was clean again nothing but a thin line of eyeliner remained. She smiled at Ludo and he returned the smile. The beast then climbed into the fountain and splashed May on his way in.
"Hey…" she said playfully while the beast swam around. "That's not a bad idea." She unbuckled the four latches in the front of her corset revealing her pale stomach and black pushup bra. She set the heavy piece of cloth next to the fountain. She then quickly unlaced her boots and shimmied out of her tight jeans. The girl then dove into the deep water. The water itself must have had some kind of curse on it, for all of her scars and bruises healed as it touched her. Her hair untangled and her feet weren't as sore.
May made her way so that she stood under the falling water, the Goblin King statue looked as though it was staring at her. She looked over to the happy Ludo who splashed around carelessly, then back at the statue. They clay eye's gave her a shiver up her spine.
"Come on Ludo, we don't have much time to spare." The wet beast flopped out of the fountain which caused the wall to crumble. May along with the water within the large container came flooding out at a fast past. She sat beside the beast who was shaking off the excess water on his fur. She looked over at her clothes, that were now soaked.
"Well isn't that great…" She said while standing up. Ludo looked over at her with an apologetic look. "It's okay Ludo, I'll just… Hmmm…" She looked back over at the smug King's statue. "Great." She mumbled sarcastically.
May picked up the wet denim and tore it, so that they were now shorts. She pulled them on with some difficulty. She then proceeded to put on the gold ring that was in her pocket. She picked up the heavy dripping boots and sighed. Ludo walked over to her not exactly knowing what she was doing.
"Well I guess there's no way a…" her voice was cut off by the sound of whistling. The two friends gazed in the direction of the sound. The walls of labyrinth that surrounded the fountain were now made of hedges, though when May and Ludo first came here it was made of brick.
The song rang through, it sounded familiar. Soon May found herself singing along, it was the same song that she had sang to the children earlier. The whistling stopped, but May continued for an extra bar. The two peered around the corner to see three goblins hanging laundry on a clothes line. They looked at May and Ludo with great fascination. The feathered one was the first to speak, his voice was small and sweet and sounded like a young child.
"Hello."
May smiled and returned his pleasantry. The roundish one waddled over and rubbed his hand against Ludo's fur.
"What is he?" her heavy lisp made it hard to understand her.
"He's my friend." May said not knowing exsactly what kind of creature Ludo was. Ludo grinned and echoed the word "friend."
The last one continued to do his work, his long fingers made folding look easy. The featherd one looked at his friends then at May,
"She looks like Jareth." He whispered. All the goblins now stopped what they were doing and stared at her.
"It's true she does look like him." The lisped one waddled over to May.
"I look nothing like him." May said in protest.
"She acts more like Max to me." The silent goblin now spoke up. "And she looks more like Sarah."
"Who's Max?" May asked crossing her arms over her exposed body.
"He's our brother, or at least he was…" the long fingered goblin sighed.
"What are you talking about, Renn?" the feathered one said.
"We're your only siblings." The round one chimed in.
"No, we had an older brother. He tried to save us, but he couldn't get to the castle in time…" May's eyes grew larger.
"Crap, I don't have much time left!" May looked at the clothes line to see a men's dress shirt. She placed her hand on it.
"Hey! That's the King's!" the lisped one yelled. May took it and put it on, it was a little long but it wasn't too bad.
"We could get in big trouble if you take that!" the feathered one was on the verge of tears.
"Just tell the King that a girl named May took it. If he has a problem then I will deal with it."
