Disclaimer: I do not own Jareth, or the Labyrinth

Disclaimer: I do not own Jareth, or the Labyrinth.

Dan stepped through the doorway and looked around. He was standing in the middle of a great stone ruin, surrounded by fallen boulders. Lene stepped through after him, then Susan darted around him. "Susan-wait!" he said.

"I want to explore!" she shouted back at him.

Dan sighed and ran after her. She darted rapidly around the rocks; Dan, ten years older and nearly a hundred pounds heavier, had trouble keeping up.

He rounded a big boulder and stopped suddenly. Susan was standing there in the rocks, staring at something. "Dan-look," she said, kneeling before something gleaming and red.

He looked. The red thing was about his size, and sprawled out on the ground. It seemed to be alive. He could see its scales, rather snakelike, but bigger and redder. But it wasn't a snake; it had about six legs, and an elaborate head. In fact, it was a-

-dragon.

A very injured dragon, in fact. One of its forelegs was thrown back, against the rocks, and he could see a deep, bloody gash along the leg. "Help her!" Susan demanded.

"I don't know" Dan said nervously. The dragon had had thirty talons that he could see-and probably sharp teeth, too. Dan knew better than to touch an injured animal; the dragon looked more dangerous.

"She won't hurt you, she told me so. Please, please help her!"

Dan gritted his teeth and pulled off his shirt, then started ripping it up. "Look for some water, and some wood," he said. "I need to sterilize this. And it wouldn't hurt to wash the wound, either."

Susan nodded and darted off, then returned with a wooden bucket filled with water. "I can't find any wood. Can you still use this?"

"It should be boiled," said Lene, walking up behind them. "That will sterilize it."

"What is that thing?" Natalie added.

"A dragon," said Dan, putting his shirt in the water. "I suppose-I hope-that this will be better than nothing."

"Dan, step back!" Susan yelled.

Startled, he leaped to his feet and jumped away from the bucket. A burst of reddish fire blasted past him, hitting the bucket and warming it until the water inside began to bubble. Dan stepped forwards and looked at the pot, waiting for it to cool. Then he fished a piece of his shirt out of the bucket.

"Tell her to hold still. This is going to hurt." He began to clean the wound with the piece of shirt, then folded a larger piece into a pad and bound it over the wound. Finished, he stood up. "Now what do we do?" he asked.

Lene stepped forwards and studied the dragon. "I don't think we can carry her, and still make it on time."

Susan scratched the dragon's head. "But we can't leave her here!" she said.

The dragon shuddered and pulled herself to her feet. Holding the injured foot aloft, she blew on it. Dan could see the bandage heating and drying. The dragon started walking. She spread her wings and pulled herself into the air.

"She says she can manage on her own," Susan said, "but that she can't take care of her egg." She bent down and began pulling rocks up. She pulled a round, white thing about the size of a chicken egg out of the rocks. "She wants me to take care of her egg!"

Lene nodded and turned to the dragon. "Forgive me, lady," she said formally. "We have to be going now, for we have to reach the castle at the center of the Labyrinth soon."

The dragon hissed. Susan started walking, tucking the dragon's egg inside her shirt. "Come on, everybody!" she said. "She says this is the best way!"

Natalie, Lene, and Dan walked after her.