They had been walking the dirt path for hours. Unlike the cave there were
visible changes to the route and the scenery was more pleasant but still
Kara was beginning to wonder if there was an end to the forest around them.
"Oh, there is. Don't worry about that," Hunter assured her. The first thing he had said since he had decided to accompany them.
"So...vampires, in the labyrinth. I didn't know that," Kara said uncertainly.
"Well, not originally," Hunter said. "I'm really just visiting. My own land is actually north of Jareth's borders." He looked back at her and smiled.
Susan had eventually gotten tired and crawled into Kara's trouser pocket and promptly fallen asleep. Kara had to admit that she preferred that to listening to Susan muttering the occasional curse at Hunter. The last one had been particularly graphic but even so Kara couldn't quite figure out how the pogo stick fit in and she really didn't want to.
Loosing herself to her own thoughts, Kara had failed to notice that Hunter had stopped dead on the path and as a result she walked straight into his back.
"Hunter..." she began uncertainly.
"I think you had better keep back," he whispered tensely. Ignoring the warning in his voice she took a step to the side and continued to move forward.
"Look, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I've managed so far and..." Her eyes settled on the thing in front of her. It was huge, easily dwarfing her, and its round body was covered with coarse grey hair. Its eyes were small and yellow but it's most prominent feature had to be its extremely large, extremely sharp teeth. They drew her attention away from everything else.
"I think you had better handle this and I'll just keep back," she amended hurriedly as she slowly stepped away from the beast. Whatever force governing their lives at that moment decided not to play fair because it was that moment Susan chose that moment to wake up and poke her head over the top of Kara's pocket.
And start screaming.
Kara flinched. Who thought a mouse would have such a great set of lungs! She thought, right before - oh my God we're going to die now.
The beast roared and lunged for them and Kara watched it come, frozen on the spot by shock and fear. What felt like an eternity later but was in reality only seconds, Hunter's body slammed into hers. The three of them were sent tumbling down the hill through the trees, narrowly avoiding hitting a few by mere inches before they finally came to rest at the bottom, in a small hollow. Thankfully, Kara noted, they hadn't been followed.
Hunter's body was pinning hers beneath him on the ground, their legs tangled together, his chest pressed against hers, pelvic bone pushing against pelvic bone. It wasn't an exactly comfortable position. Hunter shifted, bringing his arms to rest on either side of her head and he used that to leverage himself up, taking some of his weight off her but he didn't get up - not right away like she'd expected him to. This close she noticed for the first time that there were tiny flecks of violet around his pupils.
Was she still breathing? It didn't feel like it.
Suddenly his lips had covered hers, kissing her deeply. At first she was shocked. She should have realised by the tilt of his head, the way he moved to avoid hitting her nose with his but she hadn't. The pressure of his lips on hers was gentle, not asking, not taking...waiting.
Her eyes were closing. This actually felt pleasant. She hadn't been the recipient of many kisses in her short life time but this was the first she actually felt she was enjoying, and wanted more of it. Gradually her lips softened to his, and she felt his tongue skim along her bottom lip.
"Well, well. Isn't this cosy," Jareth's voice rang out mockingly. Her eyes flew open and annoyingly enough she could feel her face getting warm and knew she was blushing. Why? She was an adult. She could kiss whom she wanted to. She'd done nothing wrong! Had she?
Hunter on the other hand didn't seem to be suffering any embarrassing attack of modesty or conscience and took his time about moving. He got slowly to his feet and simply held a hand out to her. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet, still feeling guilty for a reason she couldn't define.
"Well, Prince Hunter, it is a pleasure to see you again." Jareth greeted the other man. He was leaning against one of the trees, part of his face in shadow. "I take it you still find your walks in my forest pleasant?" he asked raising an eyebrow and not quite managing to suppress the smirk that was pulling on his mouth.
Hunter bowed low, "Your highness."
Kara was about to say something but stopped and frowned as Jareth's words caught up with her brain. "Prince!" she exclaimed, almost chocking on the word. She couldn't explain that either. "You're a Prince?"
Hunter glanced over his shoulder at her, as bewildered as she was at her tone. He nodded once and Kara felt dazed. The unexplained reactions were beginning to annoy her as well as frighten her. "You never said," she murmured weakly.
He shrugged. "I didn't think it was important and it didn't exactly come up in the conversation."
Jareth looked from one to the other and began to laugh. "I just thought I'd let you know that you're down to eight hours." He stated pleasantly.
"Eight! Does this place just suck time away! No way has it been five hours! To get this far? But that hardly seems like any progress at all!"
"I'm afraid it has, but the rules don't really apply here," he answered mildly, before vanishing again.
"Damn! I guess we better get back up to the path." Kara said, resigned to a long and possibly pointless trek.
"We can't," Hunter said.
"What do you mean can't?"
Susan wriggled out of her pocket and back up her arm. "Because this place is constantly shifting, it won't be there anymore. It will have changed simply because we left it." She explained.
"That sounds dangerously philosophical," Kara was sullen. "To say we can't go back to the path we left because our leaving it changed it so it isn't our path anymore, not the one we were travelling and knew. Am I supposed to be learning from this?" She scuffed her toe in the dirt.
Hunter chose to ignore the question altogether. "I'm afraid we'll have to go through the forest," He told her instead.
"Oh, there is. Don't worry about that," Hunter assured her. The first thing he had said since he had decided to accompany them.
"So...vampires, in the labyrinth. I didn't know that," Kara said uncertainly.
"Well, not originally," Hunter said. "I'm really just visiting. My own land is actually north of Jareth's borders." He looked back at her and smiled.
Susan had eventually gotten tired and crawled into Kara's trouser pocket and promptly fallen asleep. Kara had to admit that she preferred that to listening to Susan muttering the occasional curse at Hunter. The last one had been particularly graphic but even so Kara couldn't quite figure out how the pogo stick fit in and she really didn't want to.
Loosing herself to her own thoughts, Kara had failed to notice that Hunter had stopped dead on the path and as a result she walked straight into his back.
"Hunter..." she began uncertainly.
"I think you had better keep back," he whispered tensely. Ignoring the warning in his voice she took a step to the side and continued to move forward.
"Look, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I've managed so far and..." Her eyes settled on the thing in front of her. It was huge, easily dwarfing her, and its round body was covered with coarse grey hair. Its eyes were small and yellow but it's most prominent feature had to be its extremely large, extremely sharp teeth. They drew her attention away from everything else.
"I think you had better handle this and I'll just keep back," she amended hurriedly as she slowly stepped away from the beast. Whatever force governing their lives at that moment decided not to play fair because it was that moment Susan chose that moment to wake up and poke her head over the top of Kara's pocket.
And start screaming.
Kara flinched. Who thought a mouse would have such a great set of lungs! She thought, right before - oh my God we're going to die now.
The beast roared and lunged for them and Kara watched it come, frozen on the spot by shock and fear. What felt like an eternity later but was in reality only seconds, Hunter's body slammed into hers. The three of them were sent tumbling down the hill through the trees, narrowly avoiding hitting a few by mere inches before they finally came to rest at the bottom, in a small hollow. Thankfully, Kara noted, they hadn't been followed.
Hunter's body was pinning hers beneath him on the ground, their legs tangled together, his chest pressed against hers, pelvic bone pushing against pelvic bone. It wasn't an exactly comfortable position. Hunter shifted, bringing his arms to rest on either side of her head and he used that to leverage himself up, taking some of his weight off her but he didn't get up - not right away like she'd expected him to. This close she noticed for the first time that there were tiny flecks of violet around his pupils.
Was she still breathing? It didn't feel like it.
Suddenly his lips had covered hers, kissing her deeply. At first she was shocked. She should have realised by the tilt of his head, the way he moved to avoid hitting her nose with his but she hadn't. The pressure of his lips on hers was gentle, not asking, not taking...waiting.
Her eyes were closing. This actually felt pleasant. She hadn't been the recipient of many kisses in her short life time but this was the first she actually felt she was enjoying, and wanted more of it. Gradually her lips softened to his, and she felt his tongue skim along her bottom lip.
"Well, well. Isn't this cosy," Jareth's voice rang out mockingly. Her eyes flew open and annoyingly enough she could feel her face getting warm and knew she was blushing. Why? She was an adult. She could kiss whom she wanted to. She'd done nothing wrong! Had she?
Hunter on the other hand didn't seem to be suffering any embarrassing attack of modesty or conscience and took his time about moving. He got slowly to his feet and simply held a hand out to her. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet, still feeling guilty for a reason she couldn't define.
"Well, Prince Hunter, it is a pleasure to see you again." Jareth greeted the other man. He was leaning against one of the trees, part of his face in shadow. "I take it you still find your walks in my forest pleasant?" he asked raising an eyebrow and not quite managing to suppress the smirk that was pulling on his mouth.
Hunter bowed low, "Your highness."
Kara was about to say something but stopped and frowned as Jareth's words caught up with her brain. "Prince!" she exclaimed, almost chocking on the word. She couldn't explain that either. "You're a Prince?"
Hunter glanced over his shoulder at her, as bewildered as she was at her tone. He nodded once and Kara felt dazed. The unexplained reactions were beginning to annoy her as well as frighten her. "You never said," she murmured weakly.
He shrugged. "I didn't think it was important and it didn't exactly come up in the conversation."
Jareth looked from one to the other and began to laugh. "I just thought I'd let you know that you're down to eight hours." He stated pleasantly.
"Eight! Does this place just suck time away! No way has it been five hours! To get this far? But that hardly seems like any progress at all!"
"I'm afraid it has, but the rules don't really apply here," he answered mildly, before vanishing again.
"Damn! I guess we better get back up to the path." Kara said, resigned to a long and possibly pointless trek.
"We can't," Hunter said.
"What do you mean can't?"
Susan wriggled out of her pocket and back up her arm. "Because this place is constantly shifting, it won't be there anymore. It will have changed simply because we left it." She explained.
"That sounds dangerously philosophical," Kara was sullen. "To say we can't go back to the path we left because our leaving it changed it so it isn't our path anymore, not the one we were travelling and knew. Am I supposed to be learning from this?" She scuffed her toe in the dirt.
Hunter chose to ignore the question altogether. "I'm afraid we'll have to go through the forest," He told her instead.