A/N: Hello all, this is more of a filler chapter than anything else. I've been a bit busy, you see. But no fear I will have another chapter up soon enough. Happy reading!
Chapter 13:
Hoggle kept his hands on the sticks ahead of him. He hoped that Didymus' plan would work to lead off Bran in a whole different direction. They had been walking through the forests for a good two hours trying to set up a fake trail should Bran come back. He also hoped that the old human shoes that he had collected would also work to their advantage.
"Why again did you have these shoes, brother Hoggle?" Didymus asked from his stance on the pair of shoes and sticks he was using as stilts.
"We dwarves collect many things in our life times," Hoggle said and made some more impressions, "You don't know half of the human items I have hidden away."
"They are quite a strange species," Didymus nodded and took a longer stride before he immediately stopped and his left ear twitched, "Do you hear that?"
"What?" Hoggle frowned and looked at Ambrosius who sniffed at the air and cowered a little to the side of Ludo.
Didymus also sniffed the air, "That is strange. I do not smell coming danger."
"I wouldn't trust just your smell, Didymus," Hoggle groaned and looked at Ludo who seemed a little off center about the noises around him.
"Ludo scared…" Ludo moaned and picked up Ambrosius as if the sheepdog was a stuffed animal. He looked behind them where the noise was starting to pick up, but couldn't see anything.
"It is nothing to fear, brother Ludo," Didymus jumped from his stilts and threw them to the side and into the brush, "It is just the wind."
"Oh, just the wind, you say?" a voice called from the darkness surrounding the brush, "I am much more dangerous than a wisp of wind."
"This is not going to be good," Hoggle frowned and dropped the sticks and shoes that he had in his hands.
Out of the darkness Bran materialized and held the two shoes that Didymus had just thrown into the bushes. He looked at the pair of shoes and then threw them to the side, "That, I must say, was the most pitiful attempt to throw me off course."
"You are here instead of where they are, aren't you?" Hoggle asked and stepped toward the towering fae.
"Indeed, I am," he smirked, "But I think that it is time that I remedy that."
"And how are you going to go about doin' that?" Hoggle looked at Bran in the eyes, "They may be back in the Aboveground by now. We ain't going to tell you wheres they went."
"Oh? Aren't you though?" Bran put his hands on Hoggle's temples where the dwarf froze to his spot.
"Sir Hoggle!" Didymus jumped forward and Bran swiped at him with his hand and threw the poor knight into the closest tree. The little knight slide down the tree and to the ground.
Ambrosius struggled out from Ludo's arms and to his master's side. Ambrosius licked Didymus' face and whimpered a little as his master groaned. Ludo cried for his brother and Bran felt the earth move as the rock caller was doing just that. He had to work fast before the rocks came to him with a vengeance.
"Tell me where they are heading, dwarf," Bran closed his eyes to concentrate. He filtered through the life story of the dwarf and focused on the girl. Sarah had to be in his mind somewhere. Then he saw it, one of the last sights of the girl and the king heading toward the northern entrance. Bran smirked and jumped just in time to avoid a rock while Hoggle was tossed off to the side. Bran laughed, "Thank you for the information. That's twice you have betrayed her, dwarf."
"You scum!" Hoggle regained the use of his limbs and shouted at Bran who was now standing quite comfortably on a branch, "I ain't betrayed her! You took that from me!"
"The northern entrance, over two hours ago…" Bran thought out loud to himself, "Where would that put them in the labyrinth?"
"Far from you!" Hoggle pointed his finger at the man, "Even if you knew where they were, you wouldn't be able to make it through the labyrinth in time to meet them."
"You would be right if I were human," Bran smirked again and transformed into a black crow. His voice rang out without even opening the beak of the large crow, "I hope you said your goodbyes to your king. The next time you see him, he will be in shambles."
"No!" Hoggle grabbed a small rock and threw it at the crow as it lifted from the branch and into the sky.
"We have to get to them," Hoggle looked at Ludo and then to the fallen Didymus, "Didymus?"
"I am injured, but not dead, Sir Hoggle," Didymus groaned and struggled to get on his feet, "It looks like I will be needing my steed for the remainder of our quest."
"That's what he is there for," Hoggle said as Ludo helped Didymus settle onto Ambrosius' back, "How do we get to them before he does?"
"I am afraid we cannot," Didymus shook his head, "But I know of some pathways that we can take to meet up with Lady Sarah and His Majesty if they have to luck to escape the fiend."
"Then I suggest we use them," Hoggle walked next to him as he tried to mend what looked like a sprained knee on the little knight, "I hope they can run fast enough."
"I had found those doors so quickly last time, hadn't I?" Sarah asked herself as she turned yet another corner in search of the doors.
"According to my own awakening memories…," Jareth started as he worked with hand to try and make a small crystal. He had made one earlier, but it popped immediately like a bubble. He frowned and then threw a sly chuckle and smirk her way, "…it took you a good hour to find the doors."
"I see," Sarah stopped and looked at Jareth in the eyes, "Now was that you or your labyrinth that kept me distracted?"
"As far as I can remember, you were the one distracting me, precious," he purred and leaned on the wall next to her. He leaned over her much like he had in the tunnel when she was still a teenager right before he threw the cleaners at her. She noticed the subtle changes in Jareth's appearance and confident attitude, she also noticed that he seemed to be more seductive. Maybe it was a fae gene kicking in, but he looked just as good as he did five years ago. And God help her, she still wanted to kiss him. Although, judging by the look in his eyes, he wanted her to as well.
"Good to know," Sarah smiled and started to lean toward him before she looked over his shoulder, "There they are!"
As she moved around him he almost stumbled forward without her figure there to support him. He turned and followed her with a slight frown on his face. He was so close to a kiss.
"There you two are," Sarah smiled as she approached the four riddlers.
"As if it isn't the one who 'solved' our last riddle," the top red head said and all four heads began to laugh.
"Solved it I did, I just have to look where I was going," Sarah folded her arms in front of her.
"And about that riddle," Jareth stepped up behind her and put a hand on her hip as he leaned a little toward the two headed guards, "Did you think that you could have asked her a more difficult riddle?"
"But it was one of the most difficult of those you posed to us, your majesty," the bottom blue headed guard said.
"You still could stumped her better than you had," Jareth waved his hand at the two guards and looked away as if disinterested.
"We need to get through, please," Sarah said with a smile and reached for the right door.
"No riddle this time?" the blue heads frowned.
"I am afraid that I already know which door to take," Sarah smiled at the guard with a sympathetic glance. Then paused and looked back at Jareth, "Unless you had switched the doors since my last visit."
"I have not. It looks like your memory is improving, my dear," Jareth said as he followed her through the door. Sarah stopped and Jareth almost ran into her, "Sarah?"
Suddenly the trap door ahead of them opened and Sarah looked back at Jareth over her shoulder, "Improving, my ass. It is pretty close to being complete."
"As I can see with the way that Jareth has changed," a voice boomed in their minds. Sarah and Jareth turned in time to see a large crow turn back into Bran. He leaned against the column and looked at the two of them, "It looks like you are coming back, your majesty."
"And when I am fully myself, you will face the full extent of the Goblin King's wrath," Jareth growled and made sure to put himself between Bran and Sarah.
Bran laughed a little to himself, "And you are going to do all of this in your pajamas?"
Jareth looked at his clothing and then back up in time to see Bran throw some kind of energy at him. It hit him in the left shoulder and pushed both him and Sarah back toward the opening to the oubliette.
Sarah looked down into the darkness and then back at Jareth. He didn't look good. Jareth formed a crystal and threw it at Bran to blind him, but she knew that took a lot out of him.
"I think the choice at the moment is to jump or face him," Sarah whispered to him as he watched Bran stumble a little in the bright light.
"I am gaining back my magic little by little, but not enough for a duel one on one."
"Jump it is," Sarah grabbed his hand and they both leaped into the oubliette.
Jareth threw something at the trap door above them which made it close. The guards shifted back into place in front of the doors. But there was something a little different… the colors had switched sides. So had the doors.
Bran yelled and broke through the blinding light at last. There in the fading light stood two doors both closed and two guards in the way. Bran walked straight up to one of the doors and looked down at the guard.
"Quickly, is this the door that will lead me to the Goblin King?" Bran pointed to the door behind the blue guard.
"Surely is," the blue guard smiled and Bran walked through the door. The door quickly closed behind him and the two guards grinned as they heard his frustrated yell. Soon after they saw a large black crow escape his fate from the top of the maze.
"Fae are never any fun," the red guard pouted.
"Tell me about it," the blue one added and they both laughed, "Didn't even ask for a riddle."