Trial By Fire
Chapter IV
By Sailor Northstar
Disclaimer: Ah hell! You guys know the drill. The only thing I own is the story and my characters. Everything else belongs to somebody other than me. And guess what? I'm not to be held liable because you went out of your minds wandering what Galadrea and Indros are going to do next! *Insane cackling* On with the story!
A hideous stench assaulted her delicate sense of smell. Quickly clapping her hand over her nose and mouth, Galadrea looked around. Behind her, she heard the slamming of a door. Turning around, her dagger at the ready, she found no trace of the gray door. This most certainly was not Jareth's castle, however.
"Damn! It WAS to obvious after all. With that ego of his, he probably had chosen gold to represent himself," she muttered. Big mistake! As soon as she had opened her mouth, the stink had entered. Galadrea spent the next few minutes tossing up her last meal, plus the meal before it. Finally, Galadrea pulled herself together. Thank goodness for human constitution! If I was a pureblood, I'd still be tossing chunks she thought gratefully as she started down what looked to be a path. Ripping off a piece of her robe, she wrapped it around her nose and mouth. At least it muffled the smell somewhat...
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but which her inner time sense had told her could only have been a half-hour at the most, of carefully dodging the nastily sputtering wet spots, Galadrea soon found herself before the remains of a bridge. It looked as if someone had recently tried to repair it, but had then given it up for a lost cause. Curious, Galadrea stepped closer to examine the rubble. However, as she was examining the bridge, someone else was examining her...
"Oops. Looks like you chose...poorely, my dear," the Goblin King said, snickering slightly. From behind him came an indignant gargle. Turning from the scrying crystal, he addressed the origin of the noise. "Did you say something, Indros?" he asked mockingly. All that he was rewarded with was a glare.
"Oh, I forgot. I gagged you. Would you like to see your sister? She's quite stuck at the moment, you know. I don't think she'll make it in time to save you. So much for depending on your family, hmm?" Jareth taunted. Carefully, the king held out the crystal so that the young man could see all that was transpiring. When Indros looked up, he began to make almost intelligible sounds, which left no room for misunderstanding.
"I say," whispered one of the goblins, "is that even physically possible?" They watched as their king reached out and tightened the gag on the prisoner.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Jareth said, chuckling as he turned his gaze back to the crystal.
Galadrea suddenly straigtened. Someone's watching me! she thought, her hair on the back of her neck standing up. Hmmm, I bet it's his royal bastardness. Let's see what I can do about that, eh? she thought, a small grin tugging at her mouth. Reaching into the front of her robe, Galadrea brought out a small, tightly sealed pouch. Opening it carefully, she removed a small, minute pinch of low-grade powdered diamond. Shutting the pouch, she replaced it back into the hidden pocket in her robes.
As she held out her hand, she began to mutter a series of words, unintelligable to those not trained in magic. As she reached the climax of the spell, she tossed the diamond dust into the air, and as it floated on the breeze, the spell went into action. The difference was immediately felt. Breathing a sigh of relief, Galadrea turned back to the problem of the bridge. After all, it wouldn't be good for Jareth to see what she was afraid she'd have to do...
I really hate having to waste a major Flight spell on a little obstacle like this, though...
The King of the Goblins was furious to say the least. Indros felt a surge of pride at the thought that his sister was powerful enough to block the magical sight of the ruler of the labyrinth. It was all he could do to not choke on the gag as his amusement hightened when Jareth violently threw the scrying crystal into the floor. Gala, you sure know how to push people's limits, don't you? Indros thought, then he began to take mental notes. Some of Jareth's curses were very graphic, and were mostly ones that Indros didn't know...
For the first time since arriving in the Labyrinth, Galadrea was at peace. The cool rushing of the wind as she magically glided over the treetops was quite refreshing, and cleared the last traces of the bog from her nostrils. After about ten minutes, she felt the force begin to weaken, and reluctantly landed. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. And I'm much closer to the castle now, too, she though, as she touched down onto a barren plain. Far across it, in the distance, she could see the hill with the goblin city and the castle beyond it.
As far as she could detect, her non-detection spell was still functioning. She was sure that if the Goblin King was really trying, he would be able to see through it. But I doubt it. He's just arrogant enough that he'll be stark raving mad that I thwarted his sight, and he won't be able to concetrate for a while in order to break through. By my estimation, and from what I've seen of him, I should have about another hour of peace and quiet.
Pausing a moment, Galadrea gathered her thoughts on the spells she had left. "Hmmm. One changeself, clairvoyance, darkness, detect thoughts, two fireball, and one locate creature. Not much, but better than nothing. I'll just have to be very quiet when I go in," she muttered aloud. Groaning, Galadrea began her hike across the wasteland.
Three hours later, a very hot, very thirsty, and very tired mage stood before the gates to the goblin city. Surprisingly, she still felt her spell in action. Hmmm, the Royal Ass must have been more angry than I thought. And what a cute ass it is too! came the naughty little voice of her subconciousness. Closing her eyes, Galadrea mentally took the little voice, and violently stuffed it back into the hole it had crawled out of. Quiet you! I need to concentrate. We can drool AFTER we rescue Indros.
Hiding behind a junk pile, Galadrea began to weave the first of her remaining spells. A minute later, a short goblin walked up to the guards and demanded entrance.
"Eh, what do yoos want?" the guard grumbled, having been woken up from a very nice dream that involved lots of food and beer.
"I gots to get in. I's meeting a few of the guys for drinks," Galadrea replied, lowering her voice and growling a bit. The result was a hoarse-sounding medium-sized goblin. The other guard looked over.
"Aws, lets him ins, Gris, I wans ta go backs to sleep!"
Grumbling about what a sucky job gate duty was, Gris let the disguised Gala through the gates. As the doors closed behind her, she let the spell drop. What a pigsty! she mentally exclaimed, looking upon a city of tumble-down building that made the slums of Waterdeep look majestic by comparison. Glancing around, she pulled the hood of her cloak up around her face and slipped into a dark alleyway.
Dodging piles of garbage and streams of sewage, Galadrea concentrated on making her way to the Goblin King's castle. Suddenly, the alleyway she was in ended. A group of goblins piled out of a run-down tavern (which was the only comparison that Galadrea could make to the rickety, wattle-and-daub shack). Unfortunately, the drunked creatures noticed her.
"HUMAN!" they all began to screech, drawing attention from all sides. Goblins hung out of windows, wondering what all the fuss was about. Others that looked like rodents peeked up out of decaying barrels and piles of garbage. All were staring at her, however.
"Oh shit!" Galadrea muttered, and took off straight into the drunken group. Startled, they fell over themselves and before they could even whine, she was past them. All around her cries of alarm were being raised. It was then she felt the return of something watching her. Took him long enough! she mentally grimaced, not entirely pleased. Splashing through puddles of sewage, Galadrea ran for her life. Behind her, a patrol of goblins had taken pursuit, screaming insanities at the foolish human that had dared enter their city. Just as she began to outpace them, though, a metal-clad creature appeared out of another side-street to block her way.
"READY! AIM! FIRE!" was all the warning that Galadrea had. Diving forward, she barely dodged the metal projectile that went through the space her head had just been. Luckily, she saw the thing take down a good many of her pursuers. Scrabbling to her feet, she ran forward and lept over the metal weapon. Coming down on top of it, she leapt again, which overturned the creature and slowed down even more of her enemies.
Finally, after another hour of playing hide-and-seek with Jareth's forces, Galadrea made it to the castle. She only had one fireball spell left, having exhausted the others in order to avoid notice and figure out her way through the ramshackle city. Racing as best she could up the stairs, dodging arrows and nasty metal projectiles, she finally reached the top. The main entrance was deserted and Galadrea was proud of herself. She had been so much trouble that Jareth had sent his entire force after her! Turning to her pursuers, she called forth the power for her last spell.
"Inflamous pyro aerosphus!" she shouted, releasing a flaming ball of death which managed to fry a good many of the guards. The others ran back down, not wanting to feel the force of perhaps another fiery death. Turning back to the gates, she pushed hard to find them easily opened. The Castle stood open to her. Now all she had to do was find Jareth and reclaim her brother.
Not bad! I still have half-an-hour to spare, too! "JARETH! GIVE ME BACK INDROS OR DIE!!"
Let's go get that rat that calls itself Jareth!
Uh, you go on ahead. I'll be back in Nancy's room looking at the nice swords!