A/N: I apologize for not getting this out last Monday, but I was busy with work and things, etc., etc. Anyway: Chapter fifteen, The Valley of Illusions! It's spooky. I actually probably shouldn't have written the scary parts at night. ^_^'''
Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth.
Blind
Chapter Fifteen: The Valley of Illusions
The sun had traveled considerably and hung low in the sky. As they walked across the camp, it caught Seth's eye, and he watched it with growing worry. "How long were we in your tent?" He questioned anxiously, afraid of the answer. Helga followed his gaze to the sun and squinted. She hummed and continued walking, with a gesture for him to keep up with her. "An hour, perhaps a little more. Though you need not worry yourself about it."
"'Need not worry?'" He echoed her in disbelief. His face cherried and he pointed with one insistent finger in indignation at the blazing sun. "It's moved across the sky since our journey in the lake, and we've obviously lost a lot of time from sitting in your tent. That woman could be a goblin already because we wasted time on tea and soup! How is there no need to worry?" He towered above her and Helga appraised him seriously.
"There is no 'need to worry'," She replied, "Because the castle is just there." With a gesture, Helga jerked her stick at a dark, looming structure. It was the castle, far beyond the trees. It was still terribly far away-on the other side of the forest, probably-they really could only see half of the tall towers.
"Why didn't we see it before we went into your tent?" Asked Seth. Helga held her stick in both hands, looking patient as she leaned on it. Beyond the wood pile beside her, the downward sloping line of trees traveled on, the goblin castle lying in wait.
"Because I did not wish you to." Helga said it matter-of-factly, her demeanor entirely serious.
Seth turned in surprise to face her. "What? But why?" He demanded, growing angry.
Helga replied in the same tone she used before, shifting from one foot to the other. "Because I knew if you saw the castle before, you would go running off to it instead of resting like you needed to." She gestured with a tilt of the gnarled stick and a flick of her eyes at the tent where Lyra and La were still resting. "They would not have made it after such an ordeal," She pointed next at Seth with raised eyebrows when he opened his mouth to protest. "and neither, my boy, would you." Seth's mouth shut, and he scowled at Helga as she straightened up, resting her stick against her shoulder. "That is why I hid the castle. To make certain you and your friends could recover before you tried to go gallivanting off to finish your run. Young men tend to act before thinking." She leveled a meaningful look at him.
At last she shrugged the staff off of her shoulder and gestured at the firewood pile. "But you won't be gallivanting just now. First you must help me carry firewood back to the tent, then we will speak of how best to get you to the castle."
Once this task was completed, they did just that. Helga first checked them all to be sure they were well fed and dried, then led the trio of travelers out of the tent.
The good witch hobbled off to the edge of the forest, where the castle could be seen through the thick foliage, and tapped her stick on the ground twice. The trees before her turned the dirt with their roots and settled to make stairs. The path was leading down and curving away, and the tree trunks bent in such a way as to make an arched path. As this was happening, she went on. "Beyond is the Valley of Illusions. There you will meet with temptations and nightmares. Remember that these are just illusions, preying on your weaknesses. When you go inside, do not fall prey to them, for you have the power there, not the illusions." Helga's previously serious expression sank into grim warning as she spoke. "Be aware and remember what you see is not real or true. To dispel the illusions, remember that they are not real and tell them so. Your words have power, and will break their spell. Do not panic or become separated, no matter how real the illusions appear. Good luck to you, children." Helga gave them each an encouraging hug, then stepped back from the path. She knew this next part of their journey would be difficult.
"Thank you, for your help." Seth told her, and the others nodded their thanks. Then with a deep breath, Seth set his shoulders determinedly and led them onto the tree root path. Helga watched as they disappeared into the forest, worry creeping into her expression with each step further they went into the forest. Closer to the Valley. Her lips pressed thin, she turned stiffly away and marched to her tent. Now her task was finished, she would report to Jareth.
Returning to her tent, she patted the little table's top reassuringly when it shuffled in concern toward her. She was sure her expression had to be worried. Helga let a smile wash away the worry on her face, and the table settled down. Stepping past it, she went to the back of the tent, and picked up a crystal ball from among a stack of loose sheets of parchment and old books. Helga lifted the orb at eye level, keeping it half an arm's length away to see it properly. She stared hard at it and spoke. "Jareth, I need to speak with you." Nothing initially happened-not anything visible, at least-for, unseen, light static electricity encircled the orb, and filled the air immediately around it. It faded, focusing fully around and then inside the orb.
Jareth's face appeared in the crystal, and concern returned to Helga's features. He looked haggard, his entire countenance was a mix of frustration, sorrow, and anger, the lattermost, most likely aimed at himself. "Helga." He greeted dully. "What is it?"
Helga raised her eyebrows, though her concern for him won over any cross response she might have had, at his mannerless greeting. She ignored it, instead observing him. "From your expression, I'm assuming she found out before you could tell her." Jareth said nothing, confirming it without words, and Helga shook her head, half sympathetic and half imploring. "You must stop doing this-you think you are saving her from pain, but you are only increasing it, and making it harder for her to trust you." Helga stopped when Jareth leaned back into his chair and put his hands over his face, rubbing it tiredly.
"I know, Helga. I'm trying." His voice sounded strange, muffled under his hands. "Thank you for your advice." He added, then brushed his hands over his face as though hoping to wipe away his troubles. Jareth sat up, his eyes filled with determination. "But that matter is for me to worry about. How goes your task with Seth?"
Helga hummed, inclining her head towards the forest outside. "They are on their way to the valley. I have warned them about what they should expect, but I worry about them getting through…" She trailed off meaningfully, and Jareth raised his eyebrows.
"I take it you wish to assist them?" He questioned, and Helga nodded a 'yes'. The king thought a moment, calculating the time it would take with her help. At last he pursed his lips. "That will be fine, so long as you avoid the shortcuts. I should be able to explain myself to Sarah by then." Helga nodded. Sitting up in his chair, his hand reached for the crystal. "Be careful in the valley, Helga."
"I will. Good luck to you, Jareth." Helga replied, and Jareth's image vanished from the crystal in her hand.
Almost as soon as they fell out of sight of Helga, the tree path led them nearly straight down in a zig-zagging path; that at times was overridden with tree roots that took rather enthusiastic advantage of the opportunity to emerge from the dark soil. Seth, Lyra, and La would have to then climb over the roots, Seth helping the girls where he could. At one point he had to lift them down from a particularly tall intertwining mound of roots.
La he easily managed to lift down, but Seth nearly faltered and fell on top of Lyra after taking hold of her waist to help her down. They bumped into each other, falling back against the roots until they were flush together. Seth only just managed to keep them upright, and he froze when he registered their position. Seth's face reddening, he stuttered out an apology and straightened up. La gaped and gave the princess a look so filled with hurt betrayal, that upon seeing it, Lyra quickly took a step away from the young man. Thanking him for his help politely, she patted his head in a sisterly way, then strode regally past him down the path.
Seth stared after her, not entirely sure how to react. La cleared her throat crossly when he continued to stare at the princess, and Seth's face deepened in color. Brushing imaginary dust off of his clothes, he started after the mermaid. "Let's go, La." He said. La kept pace with him, occasionally casting him glances that he did not notice.
The path continued its back and forth motions, until finally it widened and emptied out into a vast valley filled with fog. It looked like a volcanic crater, the way the setting sun illuminated the mist, turning it red like smoke hovering above lava. The tops of pine trees surrounding the valley peeked out of the mist like the spikes on a dragon's back, as though the valley was ringed with the massive beasts. It was a less than reassuring sight, given what they knew about the valley's sinister capabilities. The only thing they could remotely call comforting, was the sight of the goblin king's black stone castle, seeming more distant and stark against the cloudless, red sun-drenched sky.
"It's so very big…" Whispered La's very small voice. Seth turned his gaze to the large eyed rabchilla. Her ears had drooped down onto her back, her tail curled round to rest at her feet. Her feet tried to cover up the fluffy end of it as though to protect it. Seeing this, the teenager's heart softened and he crouched down to be at her level. "Yeah, it is pretty big…" Seth agreed bluntly. La looked up pitifully at him, her ears drooping further. From the other side of La, the mermaid glared at Seth in incredulity. Was he trying to scare the poor creature to death? She seemed to be contemplating what the best way to reprimand him would be, when he continued. "But we'll be together. Me, you, and Lyra. We'll face whatever illusions we meet and beat them. You're strong, La, I know you can do it." Seth praised, smiling at her. "You got this." La's ears perked back up and she returned the smile. The rabchilla nodded with renewed confidence, and Lyra smiled, pleased with Seth's encouragement. Seth stood, and the friends turned toward the valley.
The fog lapped at their path, like ocean waves lapping at a beach. "Stay close." Seth reminded them, then together they stepped into the valley. The fog swallowed them whole, leaving not a trace. Fog enshrouded the friends, and they had taken all of two steps, when the ground beneath them rumbled and pitched. The ground cracked and surged upward, and with shouts of alarm, they were forced apart and sent running in different directions.
La scrambled away from the tumbling rocks behind her. It was as though a mountain had emerged from the ground, and was determined to squash her. The little creature ran on for what felt to her like hours. Every time she tried running back the way she came, the ground would rumble and shift, as though trying to drive her away. It was enough that it kept her moving, searching for her friends. She didn't know how long she had wandered, but exhaustion had begun creeping into her fore and back paws.
Exhausted, La settled down beneath a tree to rest, one ear perked up at all times, should she hear her friends. It was not long before La was dozing, and out of the mist, a familiar voice began calling her. "La! La, where are you?" La's eyes widened.
It was Seth's voice!
She must have wandered back towards him! La straightened up onto her hind legs, ears erect and twitching this way and that. An odd, strangely familiar hopping sound brought her attention to her left, near a large rock. A rabchilla, brown in color, hopped into sight. La's ears drooped down in disappointment. It wasn't Seth. Just another rabchilla. But to her surprise, the stranger rabchilla grinned happily upon seeing her. It hopped closer, stopping a few feet away. "I've been looking for you!"
La's eyes grew enormous, and she stared in shock. "Seth?" The rabchilla nodded positively and his grin widened. "How… How are you a rabchilla?" She questioned.
Rabchilla Seth shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, though his grin was no less happy. "I met the king just now. He offered to turn me into a rabchilla and allow me to live here, and in exchange I get to stop running the Labyrinth for that blind woman!" La was too stunned to speak, but Seth had no probably continuing the conversation for them both. "That means I get to stay here with you!" He moved closer, reaching tenderly for her forepaws. "We can be together, La."
La shook herself out of her stupor, and frowned at this new Seth. "But-you can't! You have to save that woman!"
Seth looked hurt, and his eyebrows came together as he moved closer still. "I don't care about her anymore, La. I want to be with you! Don't you want to be with me?" He questioned, his voice breaking. La hesitated, looking at his outstretched paws.
She could be with him now. Her heart soared, and at the same time her stomach sank with an unsettling feeling within its depths. Her eyes lifted to meet his own and his imploring expression pulled her in. "Well…" She reached for his paws, then stopped as a bad feeling like a shadow fell over her. 'No! This is isn't right!' Something inside of her suddenly warned. 'Seth wouldn't just give up-and he'd never shown interest in me like this before!' La pulled her paws back, and her eyebrows fell. "You're an illusion!" She squeaked in angry accusation, stepping away from him. "You're not real!" She shouted. The rabchilla in front of her froze. A strong, brief wind picked up and hit the illusion. In an instant it turned into grey mist, and blew away. La's shoulders fell and her eyes closed in relief, though a small part of her still ached.
"La!" A voice made La shrink back at first, but when she saw the owner of the voice, she relaxed. "Helga!" She cried. The good witch was indeed there, dispersing fog from around her with her stick in irritation. A lantern hung from the end of it, looking precarious as it swayed from side to side above her, aiding in the dispersal of the mist. Helga's worried expression changed like part of a burden had been lifted away from her shoulders. Once she saw La properly, the witch went down on one knee as La ran to her. "I saw your illusion's defeat. Well done, little one. You were very brave." Helga looked round and gestured with the stick. "Where are Seth and Lyra?"
La shook her head anxiously. "We got separated." The good witch nodded and came to her feet. "Well, we will find them, don't you worry." She pointed ahead of her. "Let's keep moving before another illusion finds us." La readily agreed, and they started off in search of Seth and Lyra.
Lyra ran as fast as her legs could carry her. The soil was unsteady and rising in places, until it had driven her far from the others. She stopped when she realized the ground had ceased moving about, and halted by a tree to catch her breath. Movement nearby caught her gaze, and Lyra went still as she peered through the fog. Something enormous, flat, and reflective lay over a vast space. The faint, gentle lapping of waves reached Lyra's ears, and her eyes widened in recognition.
Hurrying toward the sound, the princess reached the source. It was a lake! Her shoulders eased at the sight. It wasn't her home, but it made her feel a little safer in just seeing it. A splash brought her attention to three figures bobbing in the lake, near the far shore. What light managed to penetrate the fog, played off of several strands of pearls on the central figure. Lyra's brow furrowed in concern. What was her mother doing here? How was she here? Two guards floated in the water at the queen's side, holding coral spears that were half wrapped with seaweed. She could see the wet seaweed glimmering in the dim light. Another splash close to the shore revealed three emerging mermen. One in particular was bound at the wrists and held between the other guards. Lyra gasped in shock and her face paled.
Earlier when she, Seth, and La had left the lake palace, Lyra had glanced back in hopes of glimpsing a particular piece of lake farmland. A piece of farmland that a particular merman tended. A merman named Tyr, whom Lyra loved, and whom loved her in return. He had promised Lyra that someday they would be together, and Lyra had meanwhile been trying to figure out how she could tell her mother. The queen was determined to marry Lyra off to a wealthy nobleman, but it wasn't at all what Lyra wanted. Convincing her mother to allow the match between her and Tyr, would be a miracle.
Her mother's voice sounded across the lake, reaching Lyra despite the distance. "Tyr. As punishment for your crime, you are hereby banished from the lake, and no longer allowed the gift that marks you as one of the merfolk." The queen made a grand gesture, and the two merguards on either side of Tyr swam for the shore, eventually walking up the beach on their transformed legs. Tyr's tail took a little longer to change, and the guards barked at him to hurry up. It seemed to be difficult for him, and Lyra remembered it was because he had rarely-if ever-been outside the lake before.
Lyra stared in horror as they pulled him fully ashore, and stripped away the wrap-like seaweed skirt around his waist. The skirt that allowed the merfolk to have tails and live beneath the lake. Tears of anger and sadness pricked at her eyes as she watched, as though frozen to the lake shore. His newly formed legs already struggling to function, the merman was dropped like a discarded sack of coral on the sand.
The removal of a merfolk's tail was the ultimate punishment, bringing shame and despair to that individual. That feeling of no longer belonging-of having your very identity stripped from you-was such an emotional blow, that few merfolk survived it. Lyra shuddered at the thought. There was a splash, and Lyra's mother and her two guards vanished into the water. The guards who'd taken Tyr ashore, jumped back into the lake, leaving the merman to die. As soon as the group disappeared into the lake, Lyra sprinted over the sand, her exhaustion gone in her desire to aid the man she loved.
Tyr was lying face down, his hands clenching the sand in his fists. He didn't see Lyra as she went down on her knees beside his pale blue lightly muscled body. The princess gently reached out to place her hands on his broad shoulders, but the merman turned over in alarm when she knelt beside him.
He was quite handsome with a strong jaw and aquiline nose and full lips. His short, curly sapphire hair was plastered to his head and still trailing lakewater rivulets down his face. His wide turquoise eyes were unfocused, shocked. The expression was so agonized, that it tore at Lyra's heart to see it.
"Tyr-" She began, but he shook off her hands. Sitting up, Tyr tried to use his new legs to push himself off the ground, to move away from her. He could barely move them. The man's face twisted with panic. "Tyr, be still! You are not yet used to your legs, give yourself a moment to adjust-" Lyra tried to take hold of his arm, but her lover shied away from her touch in sudden anger.
His shocked eyes focused and narrowed in fury as he hissed. "'Adjust'? I am in this situation because of you!" Lyra jerked back in shock. "What are you talking about?!" He shook his head furiously, loathing in his eyes. "You told your mother about us and her guards came to the fields, bringing me here!"
Lyra's eyebrows came together, pain and confusion warring with each other across her beautiful face. "No, Tyr! I would never-!"
Tyr cut her off, hissing. "Liar! This is your fault!" He spat, madness in his eyes as he lurched at her. Shocked, Lyra jumped to her feet, getting clear from him. "Your fault!" He shrieked when he missed her, falling onto his stomach on the sand.
The hate in his eyes made Lyra's heart clench painfully, as though a cold hand had taken hold of it. Something about that look made something click in her mind. Tyr loved her. He would never harm her, even if he were furious-which was an emotion he rarely experienced. The only time Lyra had seen him even remotely angry, was when a handful of teenagers had stolen some food from the fields on his farm. But that was nothing like this. The mermaid princess stared hard at Tyr, realization burning in her eyes. 'He is not real-he is an illusion!' She thought. Fury overtook her shock and fear, and she snarled out her next words.
"YOU ARE NOT REAL!"
Tyr froze, and his maddened eyes turned blank and lifeless, as though he'd been struck dead. For a moment he was there, and then abruptly, his body morphed into pale green sea foam. The body of water collapsed, soaking into the sand at Lyra's feet. Lyra stared down at the darkened sand, tears in her eyes. She knew now it was an illusion-but the pain in her heart was still there. Was this something that could happen? If her mother truly discovered their love? Would Lyra and Tyr have to elope to escape such a fate? He might have to learn to walk on land, if her mother reacted in a way that threatened his well being. Would he live on the surface?-live with her?
"Lyra!" Squeaked a familiar voice, breaking her from her thoughts. Lyra looked round, and was hugged tight around the leg by a white furry blur that turned out to be La. "Oh I'm so glad you're alright! I was so afraid and I didn't know what would happen to you or Seth, and then Helga appeared and now she is going to help us find Seth and show us the way through the valley!" La rambled on so quickly, it was a miracle that the princess understood any of it. She understood, and nodded to what La said. A way out of there sounded perfect to her.
"Good. We should go."
Seth was stumbling down a rocky slope when the turbulent ground became still. He continued down the slope until he came to an area where the ground leveled out. The young man walked on until he found a large rock, and sat down hard on it to rest. Once settled, Seth sighed. 'I hope I can find the girls soon-but it's so hard to see in this place!' He thought, casting his gaze pointlessly through the fog. The only things visible were a grouping of boulders a few feet away.
"W-Who's there?..." Rasped a frightened voice.
Seth jerked around to face the grouping of boulders, when the nearest of them moved. There was someone-or something-cowering among the rocks.
Seth spoke to reassure them. "I'm just passing through. I won't hurt you. My name's Seth." Seth shifted on his rock, tilting his head to the side to try and see the stranger better. "What's your name?"
It grew terribly still, and while Seth waited on an answer, the person by the rocks shuffled around, dragging something thin like a stick across the ground.
The young man's face paled. It was a goblin. But not just any goblin-it was a goblin carrying a walking stick. Seth stared in horror, realizing who it was.
'I knew we spent too long at that witch's camp!' He thought, his stomach dropping. Standing, he accidentally knocked over some rocks by his foot. The blind woman goblin jumped, clutching her cane close. She blinked her eyes wide in fear, but then a wind began blowing at Seth's back. It ruffled his hair and made his clothes flap where they were loose. The nostrils of her warted green nose flared as she breathed it in. Her eyes abruptly narrowed and her teeth bared at him.
"You!" She hissed in rasping fury. "You did this to me!" She must have been able to smell him, he realized, and he took a stumbling step backwards when she lurched to her feet. She clawed at the ground with short, gnarled green fingers, and her long black fingernails grasped dirt and rock like the claws of an enraged bird. "This is all your fault!"
Seth shook his head in terrified denial. "No! This can't be! I can still save you!" He cried. Speaking further turned out to be a mistake; for her head snapped round to look in his direction-looking almost right at him. She scrambled towards him, stumbling over rock and not entirely coming to her feet, resembling a grotesquely deformed spider.
"You took too long, and Jareth turned me into a goblin!" She spat, reaching wildly around for him. "I'll get you, you selfish-!" Seth scrambled back further, climbing on to the rock he'd been resting on.
Seth frowned. Helga had said they still had plenty of time-and she had proven to be trustworthy-but this place was a place of illusions. So did that mean-? He stopped, and stared hard at the goblin. 'A place of illusions.' He realized. She wasn't real. He jumped out of his thoughts when the "blind woman" lurched toward him again.
"I'll-!" She shrieked, but Seth cut her off with a shout.
At the top of his lungs, he exclaimed. "YOU'RE NOT REAL!" There was a breath of silence, and just as her hand touched the rock near his foot, her body turned grey like the rock he stood upon. In a blink, she crumbled until all that was left was a pile of rocks.
Relief flooded the young man. He still had time. He wasn't too late.
Seth was just climbing down from the rock when he saw three familiar figures emerging from the fog. His eyes lit up and a smile full of relief and happiness blossomed across his face. "La! Lyra! I'm so glad you're alright!" He hugged both of them tight after they greeted him, La nearly suffocating him with her hug. He noticed Helga a moment later, and his forehead wrinkled in question. "Helga, what are you doing here?"
The good witch gave the boy a pat on the shoulder and warm smile. "I was worried about you three making it safely through the valley-and it appears I was right worrying. The valley separated you, but now we are all together, it's time we moved on." Helga turned, waving her stick simultaneously so that the lantern on the end burned away some of the fog. "I will lead you through the mists."
Helga led the three young heroes through the fog. Keeping an eye on them, as well as the path beyond. "We'll be on the other side soon; there's a narrow pass ahead between two cliffs we shall have to squeeze through." She looked at the Runner and noted his nod of understanding.
"Let's get going." He said.
Helga gestured forward with her staff, and started off, the young ones close behind. They walked for some time, passing over a stream and a field of wildflowers Helga insisted they go around. When Seth questioned why, she explained with some irritation. "Understand this field is not safe. Often the most beautiful things in this valley, are the most dangerous." Her irritation lessened. Really, she was just cross they had to be near it at all, and wasn't cross with him. With a kinder tone, she elaborated further. "I would rather not be near this place if I can help it, is all. It lures you in and drives you mad with visions of the thing you desire most." Nothing more was said on that subject, and they quickly went around and left the field behind them.
An hour flit by before they saw the pass. In the mist all they could see were towering black, twin walls, with a lighter passage between. It was as narrow as Helga had said, and the group would have to pass through in single file in order to get through.
Helga looked back at the children. Their expressions were trepidatious at best, but Lyra looked the most concerned. When the princess met Helga's gaze, the witch smiled comfortingly. But when she next spoke, it was to all of them. "The path is small between the two cliffs, but it is a short distance to the other side. Look to the sky if you feel you are getting too claustrophobic. I know it looks intimidating, but the castle is only a little further beyond these cliffs." That seemed to reassure them, at least a little bit, and Helga gave them each an encouraging smile. "You needn't be worried."
When the three travelers seemed more reassured, Helga then bade them follow her, and stepped onto the path. She kept them moving at a quick pace, and within an hour, they had reached the other side. The path widened enough that they could all see the exit and the base of a hill just barely visible through the fog. Helga stopped short, and the others nearly ran into her. They peeked round her shoulder and froze as a voice drawled.
"Well, well. What is this I see?"
Helga scowled. There at the exit, leaning against the cliff face leisurely, stood the Goblin King. He looked as haggard as he had in Helga's crystal in the tent. His garb was different, however; darker. A black cloak draped over his thin form and a hood was pulled over his head. His mismatched eyes appeared as black jewels, gleaming in his pale face. He was entirely dressed in black, and Helga felt a great foreboding upon seeing him. Had something happened to Sarah? Had she refused him entirely? The witch knew he had looked bad before out of despair and hopelessness-but this was something else entirely. This was a full turn towards a darker Jareth that Helga did not like at all.
Determined to get answers, she questioned him. "Your Majesty, what are you doing here?"
"My job, certainly." He shrugged his narrow shoulders. "Am I not the goblin king? Am I not the snatcher of children, and the cruel ruler to a kingdom full of disfigured creatures?" He shook his head, and white blonde hair danced over his shoulders. A look of disgust curled his lip into a sneer. "Is that not the story?"
Helga studied him with sharp eyes. This didn't feel right. Jareth had been determined to set things right between himself and Sarah, last Helga had seen him. Her eyes fell to the fog-filled path. They were still in the Valley of Illusions-he had to be an illusion. This Jareth wasn't real, and was taking up precious time required for Seth to finish his run. "You are not real. Now get out of my sight!" She snapped, swinging her stick down hard on the illusion. The stick cut through him like a toothpick cuts through cappuccino foam, and the lantern's light evaporated what mist was left behind the staff.
The illusion Jareth vanished entirely, and Helga gruffly spoke, "Right." cleared her throat, "Keep up, then." and marched off again.
Seth and the others hurried after her, and once they were clear of the passage and the fog, Seth spoke in alarm. "What was that back there?"
Helga didn't immediately answer. Instead she peered studiously at the terrain ahead. They'd come out of the cliffs, and with the cliffs, went the fog. A grassy hill, touched by the last remnants of the setting sun's golden rays, made the dew on it sparkle like stars, a prelude to the coming night. The way was clear now, and they were free of the valley's deceitful touch.
Helga started up the hill, the others following behind. She gave a dry laugh that drove out humor, and her three companions looked at her quizzically. "No, I do not fear what Jareth is. I fear what he could become if he believed and accepted the views that others have of him." The good witch gave Seth a pointed look. "Some think he's cruel and evil and heartless." She inclined her head back at the foggy cliffs. "The Illusion Jareth in the valley was an extreme version of that darker Jareth.
La spoke up in defense of Jareth. "The king is nice! He gave me a carrot and made me feel better after Seth scared me when we first met." Seth's cheeks flushed guiltily when the others looked at him. La hurried to add, "Seth apologized afterwards." Seth's blush faded and he spoke to La. "I am sorry about that." La waved her paw cheerfully. "You apologized and I forgave you; we can forget about it now." Seth's regretful expression changed to relief and he smiled back. They entered the forest, and after some time of walking in silence, Seth ventured to speak again.
The young man lifted a branch out of their way, allowing Lyra and La to pass through. As Helga's turn came to walk under it, he questioned her. "So the king isn't evil?" Helga came up short before the young man and leveled a look at him, a frown on her lips.
"No. He is as La said. Your perception of Jareth is what he wants you to see." She continued under the branch to follow the girls. Seth went after her, lowering the branch carefully behind him. Hurrying to catch up with the witch, he walked at her side, giving her a bemused look. "Why would he do that?"
Helga sighed, shaking her head. "I suspect you shall soon find out." They came out of the trees, overlooking a field where the city and castle were only a few miles away. She lifted her hand to point out the castle, "I hope that perception changes." then Helga gestured for them to follow. "It's not much further now. Come along."
A/N: Well, what did you think? Did it flow alright? I'm feeling quite pleased with it overall. Anyway, thanks for reading!