Chapter 9: Losing Your Head Over A Girl
There was no entrance into the labyrinth. Sarah ran her hands up and down the stone and could feel no variation on its surface. The sleek, glistening rock quivered under her fingertips. An irrational thought entered her mind…perhaps…it did not like being touched. She pulled her fingers back and whispered under her breath, "Pardon me," all the while shaking her head at her own folly.
Sarah ran a hand through her unbound hair and looked down the length of the wall. It was unending and impossibly tall. It had ceased trembling, but still pulsed with the slow imitation of breath. Sarah sighed as she examined it from a respectful distance.
"Ya'll never get in." A voice behind her grumbled. Sarah turned at the gruff tone in surprise.
The man, though not really so, that stood before her simply crossed his arms and grinned.
He was small and stout, coming only to her shoulder. His dark and filthy clothes fell across wide shoulders and hung in heaps about his short frame. The features of his weathered face were exaggerated. Wider than necessary eyes bulged over an extended hooked nose. Plump lips pulled tight over shockingly white teeth as he smiled up at her in a slightly predatory manner.
Sarah stepped back from his unsettling expression and pulled her bag to her chest. "Excuse me?" She asked, rather guarded.
"You." The creature pointed at her. "Ya'll never get in there. Thing's enchanted, girl. Never gonna open up for some overgrown nothing.'" He growled and turned away.
Sarah stood silent for a moment watching him wobble off. She placed a hand on her hip and called after the dwarf. "What do you know about this labyrinth?"
The creature simply ignored her words and continued on. With deliberate rudeness he began to hum, swinging his arms at his sides. The man crouched down heavily behind a rock and began to sift through some belongings he had hidden there. From her vantage point above him, she could clearly make out multiple metal objects being pulled from a bulky bag. The instruments resembled garden tools. Sarah recognized a rake-like metallic fork, a hose, and a spray can.
"Are you a gardener?" She inquired.
The creature lifted his head with a huff and grumbled. "I'm Hoggle."
Sarah stepped closer and held her hand out to the creature, palm facing down. "Hello, Mr. Hoggle. I am very pleased to meet you. I am Sarah."
The creature was staring at Sarah with wide eyes. He seemed to be waiting for his name to register with her. Sarah saw anger spread across his face and took a step back.
"Hoggle. Hoggle!" He shouted. When Sarah merely shook her head in confusion, he stood and stared at her. "Idiot, imbecile, eejit girl! Not knowin' me!" His face became heated and red. His small form began to shake and he clutched his hands into fists. He moved toward her as if to charge then paused abruptly.
The creature Hoggle took a long sniff of the air with his gnarled nose. He snorted loudly and spat at the ground. "Ahhhh…uggg…human. Stink o' bogg! Filthy beggars. Here for more riches? More wishes? Never enough, ain't it?"
His rant was stopped short by Sarah's sharp intake of breath and the words that followed. "Wishes? My only wish is to find the entrance to this maze." Sarah gave the dwarf a confused look and shook her head. She turned away from the mad creature and began to walk along the wall.
Hoggle returned to his bag with a dismissive wave of his hand and a mumble. The sounds of his work clanked and clonked behind Sarah as she focused on finding the entrance. The problem was as impossible as before and was only made worse by the knowledge that she was failing in front of someone who would take enjoyment from it.
The noise of the metal ended and Sarah felt the creature approach. She refused to look his way as he moved closer, dragging his tools behind him. She stepped to the side, careful to keep her eyes in front of her.
Then she saw it.
At first, it was the slightest of twinkles, a glimmer of light reflecting off the labyrinth walls. Then it became more focused. Sarah blinked twice and tiptoed a little closer. She inhaled in delight and pressed her free hand to her chest. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. The tiny woman floating in the air on wings as delicate as spider webs. The light seemed to dance around her small form and shimmer on her soft pink flesh. Sarah smiled, bewitched by her loveliness. Her fingers reached forward of their own accord and wiggled a small hello.
"How sweet!" She sighed as the little woman flew forward and smiled back.
So enchanted was she, that Sarah did not see Hoggle approach nor did she hear the threatening clang of the metal spray can in his hands. Shock hit her with a hateful punch as the winged woman, just when she was almost close enough to touch, began to twitch and writhe in pain. Sarah gasped in horror as flames spread across the fairy's wings and engulfed her body.
Following the path of the blaze, her gaze landed on the horrid Hoggle. He stood firmly at her side holding his tool. It was no ordinary spray can. Instead of water or pesticides, it sprayed flames out of its nozzle.
"Hoggle, no!" Sarah cried, rushing forward to help the poor fairy. Hoggle grunted in distaste but ceased his fiery attack. The tiny fairy landed on the ground in a puff of smoke.
Sarah fell beside her and scooped up her injured form. Her skin was scolding and blistered the palms of Sarah's hands.
"Don't go touchin' that, human. It'll kill ya." Hoggle warned, though he did not appear overly worried. Sarah looked up from the sizzling being in her hands and shot a cold, tearful look his way.
"Kill me? She was lovely. How could you?" Her voice was tight and choked with emotion as she pulled the fairy to her chest. The burning in her hand seemed to worsen slightly.
"They're lovely all right. Right until they kill ya!" He spoke over his shoulder as he bent to pick up a hose from the ground. "Better to hand it here, while ya still can."
Sarah shook her head and pulled her hand closer to her chest. She dropped her medical bag to the ground and knelt to rummage through it for the salve she used to treat burns in the children. She would use it on the fairy woman, then on her own hand which seemed to be injured as well.
It was then her chest began to heat. The warmth spread from her hand and expanded across her chest almost instantly. The blistering pain was almost blinding. Sarah gasped as she looked down at the woman in her palm. The fairy's small hand reached to touch the top of Sarah's breast through the folds of her white buttoned shirt. Sarah struggled to understand what was happening as the sizzling, torrid ache expanded over her breast and up her throat. When her eyes finally focused for a second on the woman, Sarah physically jolted in fear.
The small body was no longer singed or scorched. It was once again a perfect pink glimmer. The lovely wings fluttered as though testing themselves and the small face looked up at Sarah. It was the expression on the fairy's face that made Sarah respond.
Through the sparkling light and the distorting pain of flames blazing across her flesh, Sarah saw the fairy smile. It was not a smile of friendship or gratitude, but one altogether different. It spread too wide, across teeth that were too sharp. It did not reach the eyes. In the little woman's face was the horrifying expression of triumph. Then the pointy teeth moved forward and bit down on Sarah's tender flesh, just below the collarbone, drawing tiny droplets of blood.
Sarah gasped and opened her hand. The fairy instantly flew up and away from the frightened woman.
Sarah looked away, not watching her ascent. Her body felt encased in flames. Her thoughts fled. She gazed down at the exposed rounding of her breast but saw no blisters or redness. The pain was within, under the skin. It was where no salve could reach.
She could hear Hoggle next to her speaking but could not make out the words. They were a fog. Everything was. The world seemed to burn with her, melting away into nothing but pain.
When the water hit her body she screamed. It was less from pain than from the extreme difference in temperature. One moment her body was on fire, the next it was drowning in freezing cold depths. It sloshed over her flesh and she felt the tender place under her skin sizzle and hiss. Was it her blood? She couldn't think properly.
Hoggle's voice began to filter in now that the whooshing of the blaze was passing.
"Told ya'. Humans! Stupid, senseless scum." He was moving closer to her and Sarah felt a slight kick to her now soaked boot. "Told ya', dinna I? Fairy magic will kill ya."
Sarah turned to cough slightly, relieving her lungs of excess water. Her body was returning to normal. She looked up at Hoggle from the ground and frowned. She didn't recall falling.
"Thank you." She choked out softly.
"Don't want no thanks. Ya cost me a fairy! Gonna take me…"
Sarah frowned as he paused his words and looked over his shoulder to the distance. His wide eyes squinted slightly and he took a heavy breath. "Stink o' boggs, ya done it now!" He glared at Sarah and reached a hand down to her.
Sarah lifted her hand in confusion and stared in the direction the little man had a moment before. She saw nothing. "What have I done?"
"They're comin' now."
"What?" She asked again, though she already felt she knew the answer.
"Those fairies, human. A big ol' swarm of em." He grasped her hand and pulled her up into a seated position. He stared at her with cold eyes and shook his head. "Don't have enough anti-venom to protect myself now."
Sarah bit her lip and looked down at her soaked and clinging blouse. "I…I thought it was water."
Hoggle laughed harshly and dropped her hand. "Water won't do nothin' against fairy poison, human. Bout as useless as you."
Sarah fixed her sights on the place behind him and squinted out to see the danger he claimed was coming.
There was nothing there.
But they quickly came into view. Sarah's heart began to thud and she scrambled achingly to her feet. Her beautifully made boots squeaked under her as she locked her legs.
The rapid sweeping of wings created a hissing sound in the air. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of shimmering lights in the empty sky.
And they were all heading her way.
A.N. I do not own Labyrinth
Hello, readers! So Hoggle meets Sarah. Isn't he charming? What are your thoughts on this handsome fella, or the swarm of oncoming fairies? Let me know, you filthy human beggers!
I would like to thank my awesome reviewers, One with the Wind, MyraVallhallah, LittleMissLizzibell (cute!) Whack-a-beetle, SarahlouiseDodge, Ivy Tearen, and all my delightful guest reviewers! There is a special place in writer's paradise for you!
As always, thank you for reading, reviewing, following and/or favoriting! – S.