(AN) Author's Notes: Hey there once again to all my readers and reviewers this is the authoress of the story once again greeting you all. This is going to be the final update for this week on this story because there is an exception from the fact that is now my birthday after chapter nine you will all have to wait sometime on the weekend the next following week for any more updates because right now they're only five chapters left that were completed in advance and right now I and my co-partner are trying to work on producing and getting more chapters completed and ready to be uploaded for weeks to come.
The story is far from over but I don't want to use up all of my reserved chapters in one goal I would like to give new readers time to read over everything and hopefully review every chapter or most of them and give me their feedback. So sit back relax have a bag of chips a soft drink or a cup of tea or coffee enjoy reading this story from wherever you are whether it's on your computer, tablet or mobile device or phone I present to you chapter 9 enjoy!
Disclaimer: All copyright rights to Labyrinth 1986 musical fantasy film directed/created by Jim Henson, Dennis Lee with George Lucas as executive producer. Based on conceptual designs by Brian Froud, the film was written by Terry Jones. I also need to give credit and thanks to my new co-partner ElauraGrave who is helping me get this story off the ground so soon. All original characters AKA (OC's) belong to me © authoress smcandy I don't want to see anyone rip off/steal or take any of my original characters major to minor without my exclusive permission otherwise there will be consequences.
Warning: The reading of this story will go probably up from rated T to rated M later for mature scenes and scenarios and for mature audiences. This story is not meant for adolescents or children under the specific age of 16. To all parents out there who are not monitoring their children what they read or do not have certain child block programs put up on their computer use publicly do not hold me accountable for what they find or read on the internet if they lie about their age. They should not be reading stories or content that are not in their proper age group. Do not seek to point blame at me when I give a warning of what the rating of the story is for the age group of readers. Readers you have been warned I do not want to be flamed or reported by your parents for your actions of reading material that was not meant for your eyes until you are appropriate to age!
Chapter 9: Hardships Unnumbered.
Sarah stretched her arms overhead, trying to stand tall and straight; she had finally experienced the "back-breaking" part of the work she had anticipated. Hoggle patted her gently on the small of her back before wiping sweat from his own brow. The sun was high and had already started making its way across the other side of the sky, letting them know that the day had passed its midday mark.
"You alright?" he checked as they slowly sauntered together back towards the castle.
"Right as rain," Sarah joked. She pulled out the list again and saw several more tasks had been magically crossed off. She smiled, despite the crick in her neck; she was almost done. When she shoved the list back into her apron pocket, she regarded her dirt-encrusted nails; definitely not a good look for a fair maiden. She chuckled to herself.
"Not to be selfish" Hoggle started, "but I'm glad you're here…I never get that courtyard weeded that fast!" he guffawed, jokingly elbowing her in the ribs. Sarah laughed out loud.
"Happy to oblige," she said with a low, mocking curtsey. Pulling tough grass and gnarly, twisting weeds from between cobblestones was a lot more difficult than trimming up a simple topiary; she was quite sure the easier tasks were reserved for the goblins. After a brief pause to stretch, Hoggle led her back into the castle and towards the kitchen with the garden tools piled high in their arms. When Sarah recognized where they were, Hoggle stopped.
"I dare not go farther than this. I don't want to meet up with that rat who calls himself Jareth. It'd only make things harder on you. He doesn't need more leverage than he already has; its best I keep as much distance as I can between me and him."
"Thanks, Hoggle," smiled Sarah warmly. She set her tools on the ground besides her and stooped down to hug her friend. When they pulled apart, they clasped each other's' hands for a moment, reluctant to part. Sarah sucked in a deep breath of air and held it for a moment, mentally prepping herself for the kitchen and Greta. She puffed it out with quick determination and turned from him; she picked up her tools and didn't turn back for a second look.
"The true love of a friend is so much more valuable than…than anything," Sarah thought to herself. Her own personal fairytale was so different than those of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. What need had she for a true love's kiss when she had friendship as strong as this? Especially if that kiss was born of a one-sided love…
If it's one-sided, it couldn't be true love, could it?
When Sarah entered the kitchen, she hadn't taken two steps before Greta approached her and nearly blew by her again.
"The king calls for ya," she said plainly, heading towards the door. Sarah thought she could be fooling herself, but she would've sworn there was a note of concern in the old goblin's voice. Sarah, however, was not concerned; she was ticked off. She stayed planted in place and didn't follow the graying goblin.
"Greta, can't I continue the task at hand: finishing this list?" she asked, waving the little piece of paper in the air. "I'm not done yet, but I'm almost done."
Greta turned back to her. For the first time, Greta smiled; it was a horrible grimace contorted with alarm and agitation. Her teeth were clenched, and she rung her hands nervously.
"I strongly advice you not to try the patience of the king, girl."
"I'm not trying his patience; I'm trying to finish the list he gave me. I'm not going until all my chores—all his chores—are done."
Greta was pleading now. "Please, please, miss, you'll only upset the king. Best not to try him, really."
"No," declared Sarah, crossing her arms. "I'm not going. He appointed me these tasks, and he was the one who said I had to complete them all in thirteen hours. He's going to double the work tomorrow if I don't get them done!"
Before either Greta or Sarah could argue further, a crystal ball rolled into the kitchen. It skittered and clinked across the stone floor, moving towards Sarah. Sarah took a step backwards, but the crystal ball rolled faster and was already circling around her counterclockwise. It floated into the air, turning around her faster, faster, and faster.
At the speed it circled Sarah; all Greta could see was a white blur haloing Sarah's head. The crystal disappeared—taking Sarah with it. All of Sarah's tools hovered there in the air for a moment before clattering down to the ground with a noisy crash. The next thing Sarah knew, she was standing in the throne room.
The goblin king was lounging crookedly in his throne, leaning back lazily and looking off into the distance. His left leg was slung haphazardly over the arm of the throne, as if he the respect he demanded was something he himself could not give to the station he occupied.
The king wore a ruffled, white shirt that billowed through the black vest layered over it. In his gloved hand, he held a scepter like riding crop with small crystal at the end where he his right gloved hand was holding it, which he carelessly tapped against both his black boot and calf clad in gray leggings. Sarah almost wished he was decked in jewels and finery; this outfit was so comfortable. These clothes said he was far too comfortable and undisturbed by the cruelty he exacted.
Meanwhile, his face said he was perturbed, one finger tapping against his lip while the scepter crop click, click, clicked against the heel of his boot.
"How dare he be the one who is annoyed?" Sarah thought. She spoke first. "And what do you want, goblin king?" she asked innocently.
"You can call me Jareth, you know. I do have a name," he said quietly, not turning towards her.
"I'm not finished with the tasks you gave me, goblin king," she said, making sure her disregard for his wish was obvious. "If you delay me from completing them, you know it only doubles my work, right? It's not fair and it's certainly not just. You are the one wasting my valuable time and delaying my progress."
Jareth's head lolled towards her. "Must I remind you once again that I am king of this realm and castle, and when I summon my subjects, or my servants, they obey."
"I'm no subject of yours and I'm no citizen of this kingdom. You are not my king."
"Well, when I summon someone—anyone—they stop what they are doing and put everything on the 'back burner,' one could say. Their work is put on hold, and they answer my call."
Sarah stomped her foot and raised her voice to shouting, "You're doing this on purpose so I don't finish all of those stupid tasks of yours in time!" When she finished her protest, she found once again that she was immobilized. Jareth slipped out of his chair, reminding Sarah of a snake slithering out of its hole, and like a snake subduing its prey, he circled Sarah.
"I'm in a bad mood now, thanks to you and your disobedience," he murmured. "I simply wanted to congratulate you on a job well done, so far. However, my good mood was thrown out the window the moment you decided to ignore my summons." His voice was raised now and cutting like glass through the silence.
"I was only doing what you ordered me to do. You can't possibly expect me to go running around when I'm on the clock. You're defeating the whole purpose of the tasks in the first place if you're going to delay me! I know you're just doing this to make it more difficult while I'm imprisoned here."
Jareth stopped directly in front of her, his hands clasped matter-of-factly behind his back. "Ah, but you're not imprisoned here, are you? You had a choice to stay here as a guest; not as a maid or prisoner."
"You threatened my friends. You threatened their well-being if I did not comply; hence, why I became a scullery maid instead of a 'guest,' as you say." They were bickering now. Anyone who heard them could've mistaken them for siblings locked in a simple disagreement, or an old married couple who were too tired of each other to properly raise their voices to a shout. "After all," continued Sarah, "being a guest here and being imprisoned here hardly differ from one another."
"You know, despite your job-well-done, you were quite chatty with Hog's-Breath," said Jareth, changing the subject.
"His name's Hoggle. And is it so wrong to make conversation while working?"
"No, but I know what the conversation was about." The king's unenthused, uncaring expression changed as the slightest smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. Sarah felt her heart stop, but she quickly recovered.
"You brought me here with…false pretenses. Under false pretenses," she corrected, grasping at defiant arguments backed by the facts he tried to avoid. "And false threats," she added. "Why are you keeping me here?"
Sarah didn't want to say too much; she didn't want to give the king any ideas. She had expected him to pursue her without stopping—not that she was complaining. But, he hadn't tried to wed or bed her. It was odd that he was letting her patter around the castle doing menial tasks—strenuous tasks at times, but menial and not even impactful on daily life in the castle. She didn't want to say anything, but either the worst was yet to come, or something else was afoot. His silence confirmed that she was on the right track and had the right questions—asked and unasked. The king stared back at her, lips pursed.
Sarah continued. "You're talking of my suspicious actions while you're the one who still hasn't even told me whether or not it was you who turned Tom into a toad. Or if you altered my family's memories. No one believed me! How dare you interfere with my life—again! The only reason I came here in the first place was to keep you from bothering me for the rest of my life. I'm growing up now. I'm going to have a life, whether you like it or not, and you have no right to meddle. Why do you care so much who I hang out with, or even who I date?"
"Because!" the king shouted, breaking his silence. "Because I do care. Yes, I turned that boy into a toad. And yes, I sent you home and gave your family false memories. But I returned the boy to his human state. He doesn't remember it and is under the impression he simply became sick, so no harm was done. Yes, it was all my doing—but I had good reason."
Sarah waited for an explanation, but he gave none. Again he remained cryptic and tight-lipped. She sighed. "But whyyy? I was living a normal life until I had to rescue my brother. I was even living a normal life afterwards. Why now?"
Silence.
"Oh, you're a hateful fellow! You're a nasty who knows no boundaries. I'm so sick of you pestering me!"
Without a sound the goblin king appeared in front of Sarah. Sarah tried to will her feet to move and her arms to swing at the foe in front of her, but it was no use.
"I hope my actions have made you aware that a mere mortal boy, especially that mere mortal boy, is not worth of your heart, precious. His intentions were not pure."
"What are you implying?" she asked, though she was pretty sure she understood; she didn't want him to be right. "Wait, never mind; it are not your business either way. I don't need your approval for who I hang out with—or for who I romantically consider. That was my first date. My first one! Ever! And you ruined it just because you're just jealous."
The king's reaction almost made Sarah laugh out loud, and it told her she was right. He gasped, eyes wide and offended, his hand drawn up to his chest in a most undignified manner. Sarah thought he looked like a middle-aged bourgeoisie whose waiter had just said they were out of oysters. Sarah kept a straight face, though she would've loved to laugh at him and his delicate ego.
"Speaking of jealousy," she continued, "Why are you so hateful towards Hoggle? And I have many unanswered questions from my last…visit," she said, choosing her words carefully. "What would've happened had to me when I was under the spell of that enchanted peach? Why do you care so much who I care for? Hoggle saved me from those fireys and deserved those kisses I gave him—more than you deserve any sign of affection, or even love. How dare you punish him for having a moral center, for questioning your tyranny? You had no right, morally speaking and technically speaking based on the rules of the game; I was solving your Labyrinth fair and square. You would use any means, wouldn't you, just to 'win?' You would've done anything to prevent me from rescuing my own family. Whether it's immoral, unfair, sneaky, or underhanded, you will always resort to foul play simply to stay on top. You're, you're…horrid."
The goblin king took a step closer to Sarah, leering over her.
"You're right. I am wicked. I am horrid," he said. "And I did both threaten and bully Hoggle into doing my will. But you can't do anything about it, can you? And it happened, whether you like it or not. It's in the past, already transpired, and you still insist on your moral speeches and sermons. Even if I did stay out of your way and you…succeeded, in rescuing your baby brother, we'd still be here today, so what difference does it make to you?"
"What kind of monarch is someone who rules by threatening their subjects?" Sarah quipped. "Who uses magic and power only to be a tyrant? Who is unjust?" Though the king's eyes burned into her with their unwavering gaze, she saw the muscles in his neck flex as he gulped.
"I know that Hoggle was forced into servitude here. I know he poses some sort of threat to you; release him. I demand that you release him. He wants to go back to his own kingdom, back to his homeland. He misses his family; can't you understand that? What could you possibly need him for that you would threaten him so? Why would you keep him here? You have enough servants, and I'm certainly enough of a replacement, if servitude is all you want for." Sarah was pleading now; she would happily trade places with Hoggle so she could send her friend home.
With a wave of his hand, the goblin king rendered Sarah unable to speak—again.
"Hoggle is an annoying little scab; whatever deal I have with the dwarf is none of your concern, and I do not have to release him or any of my subjects within my kingdom on account of anyone—little mortal girls included—who have a problem with the way things are. I have my reasons for keeping the dwarf here." With another wave of his hand, Sarah was released from his magical hold. She stumbled forward, bumping into him. She withdrew as quickly as she could, her cheeks flushing after the sudden contact with his body. He waved his other hand and her list floated up out of her apron pocket. It hovered there in the air between them, as if it were caught in the palpable tension exuded from both directions. He read it before magically rotating it towards her to reveal additional tasks added to the bottom of the list. He smiled devilishly.
Sarah stomped her foot. "That's not fair! You know they probably won't be finished before the clock strikes thirteen!"
"Then you better get on with it if you hope to get a good night's sleep," Jareth said, gently taking the list in his right hand.
Sarah grabbed the list, but before she could snatch it away from him, his left hand struck like a viper and caught her by the wrist. Sarah tried to pull back, but she was caught. She stared into the king's eyes with defiance as he held her there. They stood there staring at each other, like two immovable forces of nature. They could not concede to one another no more than a mountain could give way to the sea, or the sea to a mountain. After a few moments, he released her, and she spun around to march back towards the kitchen without looking back.
The goblin king disappeared, materializing in a tower far above Labyrinth. He looked down at his kingdom, but his eyes were fixed on the beautiful mortal girl with onyx hair, watching her from afar.
(AN) Author's Notes: The outfit that the Goblin King wore in this chapter when he magically summoned Sarah to him was the same outfit he wore in the musical number Magic Dance.
Sarah does not call Jareth by his first name that would be because she would think they're on equal footing which they are not. As I explained many times before the relationship between Sarah and the Goblin King is nowhere near close to companions or even friends let alone familiarity. Sarah is always to address Jareth as 'Goblin King' or sarcastically in italics by his own royal title 'your majesty' or 'your highness' as all of his goblin subject/servants do. There's no way Sarah's going to be on a first-name basis with the King. It's not going to happen at least not for now.
From what Hoggle told her in chapter 8 Sarah was misinformed/tricked into coming back to the Goblin Kingdom under false pretenses of course anyone can see the Goblin King is not about to surrender to the demands of Sarah won't happen anytime soon that's for sure and as I said before and it's people have noticed in the story there's obviously something bigger and more concerning it hand that is keeping the Goblin King from returning Sarah to her own world and assuring that her friends will not be bothered by him anymore.
And as I stated within the author's notes of chapter 2 it will be explained more clearly as to why Sarah's date that was turned into a told Tom was done by the Goblin King he just stated his reasons as to why he interfered in Sarah's date. It's probably no big surprise there Sara has just pointed out that he's probably jealous of any clothes connection Sarah makes with anyone including anything romantic that does not involve him. I always thought that the King was jealous of Hoggle in the movie especially when the friendship and trust between the both of them grew that's why he imitated belittled and threatened hog with the bog of Eternal stench not long before he forced Hoggle to give Sarah an enchanted Peach he made for her. If you recall the encounter he had with Hoggle before Hoggle gave Sarah the peach some fans might agree with me on the speculation that he might have been jealous. Jealous just because there was friendship and close to us being bonded with Hoggle and Sarah some might think it's romantic but I can't really picture Hoggle and Sarah in a romantic relationship more or less a platonic friendship or something like a sibling friendship to a degree. But none of the last of Goblin King is showing that he doesn't really want to share Sarah with anyone but himself.
My apologies if everyone was expecting this chapter to be longer than usual trust me I'm not happy it how short this chapter is to a degree but it is what it is. So I hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter keep your eyes open next week for what will happen in chapter 10 comes around to being uploaded the plot thickens and things get more interesting from here on out. Take care of everyone see you next time.
TTFN,
smcandy