Chapter 10: It Hurts like Hell

The sound was coming closer. There was no denying it. The frantic hiss had turned into a rapid and continuous squeal. There was no single direction in which it originated. It was all-encompassing. It was everywhere. They were everywhere.

Sarah felt panic rise in her throat. It was too late to flee. Turning eyes downwards she reached for her bag and held it in front of herself like a small shield. She turned to the dwarf and yelled loudly over the noise, "Get behind me, Hoggle. If you run, they will surely chase you."

Hoggle, filthy, heartless devil he was, offered no resistance in hiding behind the young woman.

"Too right, human. Ya fight 'em off. Bigger'n me. Might as well put yer overgrown body to use!" He huffed, tucking his wide frame behind her.

Sarah looked down with a raised brow and sucked in her cheeks. "I'm beginning to rethink my offer, Hoggle." She warned tightly.

The dwarf gave her an almost apologetic look and shook his head, wisely keeping his mouth closed.

"Have you your spray can?" Sarah asked, hurriedly. The little lights were growing brighter as the swarm approached. It was almost beautiful, the way the warm, soft colors swayed in the wind. They were as lovely as they were lethal.

The dwarf's grizzled voice broke into her panicked thoughts.

"Yeah, I got it. Not that it'll do much good." He grumbled from behind his damp protector.

Before she could utter a response, Sarah saw the first glorious form come into view. The flesh of this new fairy was different than the one that had caused her so much pain. Its skin glowed a soft green instead of pink and though it was not close enough to be sure, Sarah felt almost certain that it was a male. The way it swayed with the breeze seemed much heavier. It did not glide, as her attacker had, but charged at full force.

Sarah gasped and clutched her bag tighter.

"Ready yourself, Hoggle." She warned and looked behind her.

"Ready ya own self." The dwarf glared up at her in disdain.

"Hoggle, I should have heeded your warning. I am sorry." Sarah whispered with a voice filled with regret. Then she turned her gaze back to the advancing hoard. More were coming into focus. Fairies of all colors and sizes approached threateningly. Sarah reached down and grabbed Hoggle's rake from the ground and planted her feet into the red dirt.

The first to reach her was the green fairy.

The small creature shot forward like an arrow. It slashed at her skin, leaving a long shallow scrape along her cheekbone. Sarah pulled back, turning her face away and raising her bag to protect herself. Then it was as if they all attacked at once.

Stings from a thousand pricks shot at her body. Sarah twisted, instinctively guarding the smaller Hoggle against the brunt of the injuries. Her arm beat out wildly, swatting away the fairies with the metal rake. Once or twice she was sure she made contact. The end of the tool would rattle and make a sickening thud, and Sarah would know she hit one.

It was only a matter of seconds before she lost feeling in her arm. The rake shook in her grasp and fell to the ground uselessly. Sarah moaned and felt her limb drop lamely at her side. It did not burn, thankfully, but it also no longer had any feeling.

The attack was relentless. Sarah was completely surrounded. The creatures tore at her skin and bit into her, drawing slick trails of blood along her arms, chest, and cheeks. They yanked at her long, wild curls, ripping them out by the roots.

Sarah swung her bag out, hitting a few attackers with the thick leather.

Then the poison started to take effect. It was not a single injury that began to burn, but all of them at once. The venom was slower acting than before. Perhaps it was due to the anti-venom that still dripped down her skin, Sarah thought to herself, gradually going into shock. Through the blazing haze that was starting to blind her, Sarah reached down and felt for the little man. Her eyes drifted to him and her mouth opened to speak.

No words came out, just a hot gasp.


Hoggle looked up for a moment and paused to stare at the human before him. The weak overgrown thing was wilted and bloody. Her once white shirt was dyed red. Her skin was welted with long strips of raised burns. Not an inch of her was left untouched. Her body sagged as they continued to viciously rip at her skin. She was dying.

Hoggle grunted heavily and shrugged. One less human, he thought sensibly.

Then he looked into her bright blue eyes. There were no tears in the swollen depths, only a look of crippling regret and guilt. She was dying, and she felt sorry for him. A shiver ran up the dwarf's spine and he knew he was going to hate himself for what he was about to do. With a growl and a jerk, he pulled the girl down and shoved her beneath him.

"Stay down!" He grumbled and raised his spray can to the swarm of fairies.

With the flick of his finger, he unlatched the side of his weapon, releasing the fuel into the tube and shooting it out in a carefully timed spray. At the same time, he expertly ignited the nozzle with a squeeze of the trigger. The air became engulfed with hot yellow and orange flames.

The squealing soon switched to screams and hisses. Colorful bodies blazed and shriveled, falling to the dirt in smoking balls. The fairies retreated slightly, just enough for Hoggle to look down at the human. She was still as a corpse. Hoggle frowned at the strange pang in his chest that appeared and just as soon disappeared. He kicked her lightly with the toe of his boot and grunted approvingly when she jerked away.

He returned his attention to the battle before him.

The swarm was returning. Hoggle pulled his trigger again and released another blast of fire at the bravest of the fleet. He smiled cruelly as they crumbled to their deaths.

"Filthy bugs. Like that?" He called, aiming the flames to a group approaching from the side. They seemed determined to get to the girl. Always a punishment for kindness, he thought with a knowing frown.

Hoggle shook his weapon slightly, feeling for signs of it emptying. After a moment it gave a tell-tale rattle. The fuel was almost spent. He knew it wouldn't last long. He had planned on waiting until the girl died and the fairies exhausted themselves to use it and fight off the rest as he went for cover. That plan had not worked out. Hoggle shook himself in disgust. One look into those big blue eyes and he was acting like an eejit human!

The spray can rattled again and then refused to flame. Hoggle looked out around himself and saw that the fairies were regrouping. The ugly lights began to twinkle brighter as they joined up.

He turned away from the hateful hoard and searched for an escape. Beside him, there were just more fairies. Behind him, stood the unyielding wall of the labyrinth. He felt anger and desperation consume him. With a burst of fury, he turned and began to kick the thick trembling rocks.

"Open! Open! Stink-o-Boggs, I'll tear ya down rock by rock!" He slammed his dense body onto the rough stone, only to fall back heavily on the girl below him. Undeterred, he scrambled forward and charged it again.

The fairies had formed anew and went after the frantic dwarf with reinvigorated forces.

He was almost wild now, tearing at the stone with his nails while batting away the poisonous flying demons. Then, to his surprise, he felt a slender hand grasp his ankle. With crazed eyes, he looked down at the human girl that he had already come to think of as dead.

"St-stop." She whispered weakly, letting her hand drop. "It doesn't- doesn't like to be touched."

Hoggle's mouth dropped open and he paused his manic efforts just long enough to stare at the girl who had obviously lost her mind. He watched as she began to slide forward, pulling herself along on the flat of her stomach. Her slender form stretched out. The boot of her right leg dragged behind, burdened by the bag she had used for a shield.

For an instant, Hoggle simply watched her as the fairies proceeded to attack his body. She was almost to the wall. It was useless. He knew it. But there was something in just watching her fight. She didn't acknowledge the creatures as they stung or bit her. Her eyes never left the wall.

Then she was there and Hoggle almost smiled.

"Please." She whispered softly, so low he barely heard her. Then her forehead dropped to the dirt at the base of the labyrinth. To Hoggle, it almost looked like a bow.

The dwarf scoffed and turned away, smacking at the six or seven fairies that were fighting over the flesh of his ears.

"Ya want my ears? Ne'er washed 'em anyway!" He called out with a dark chuckle. His eyes were on the devil bugs. They were mapping out how many he could take before he died.

He didn't see the surface of the wall change. He didn't see it vibrate and wave in ways that defied the science of stone. He didn't see, but he felt it.

The filthy, faithless dwarf felt the ground shudder. He felt a massive gust of wind blow him from behind. He felt the red dirt beat against his face and small rocks crumble to his side.

"What tha-"He asked and turned to look back in wonder.

The labyrinth had opened.

A.N. I do not own Labyrinth

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