AN: Hello everyone! I was pleasantly surprised and quite overjoyed at all of the reviews that you left me! Thank you all so much for giving the new story a try. As usual, I have a lot in store for you! *waves to all of her loyal reviewers from "One"* To Flyaway365, actually what I meant as "new" has yet to come. I believe that I have something new that hasn't been done before, but we'll see. I think you will know what it is after it has been written and posted. *wink* Thanks to everyone again and for those reading and not reviewing, please don't be shy!
Disclaimers: Please see chapter one.
As always, a HUGE thank you to my wonderful beta, Scattered Logic.
Chapter 3: Revenge is a dish best served…cold
Sarah felt the rage build up inside her. "What was the purpose of asking for my help and then dumping us in the middle of the woods?"
The Goblin King ignored her. He seemed to be concentrating.
"Fine! Don't answer me then!" She spun around and began to walk away from him.
The Goblin King looked up, his concentration failing as he watched Sarah move away from him. "Where do you think you are going?"
She stopped and turned, gesturing to their surroundings. "We're in the middle of the woods and judging by the sun's position in the sky, it will be dark in a few hours. I'm still dripping wet and cold from my walk home in the rain, so before I catch my death, I'm going to find a road so I can locate a phone and call for help to get the hell out of here!"
"You can't be certain that we are in your world. Neither of us can." He told her.
Sarah was so flustered that she didn't realize that he had just admitted to her that he didn't know where they were. "Can't I though?" She pointed to a plant. "That's a fern, that is an oak tree, that log is from a fallen white pine and see that over there?" She pointed to an object in the distance. "That's a rock! We're in my world."
The Goblin King's eyes narrowed. "Don't insult my intelligence, Sarah."
"Intelligence? You have that?" She made an expression as if she was shocked. "You sure could have fooled me. Now, I'm leaving. I'll be damned if I'm going to spend the night with you in the woods. You find your own way home since you caused this!"
"How dare you! We wouldn't be in this situation right now had you not wished the babe to me 3 years ago. If you had accepted my offer and had not said the words, my kingdom would not be in ruin at the moment."
His attempt to make her feel guilty didn't work.
"Yeah, well, 'what's said is said', remember? It's too bad that your Kingdom is in ruin. I agreed to help you repair the damage and this is how that offer of help is repaid? You bring us to the middle of nowhere? You didn't even have the decency to use your magic to dry me off!" She gestured to herself. Her clothes were still sopping wet and she was trying very hard not to shiver and show him how cold she was.
"I can bring us back on course as soon as I produce a sphere." He tilted his head and put his hands together as he prepared to create a sphere.
Sarah backed away. "No. I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm not allowing you to use any more magic on me! You like to deal out drugged peaches, and machines that come after you with knives and other sharp objects. I'll find my own way out of here, thank you very much." She turned away from him and began to walk away.
The Goblin King watched as she stalked away in the opposite direction. He let her go. As soon as he produced a sphere, he would track her down and return to the Labyrinth with her. Then revenge would be his for the taking, but only AFTER she had helped rebuild his kingdom.
He tried 4 times to produce a sphere, but nothing appeared at his fingertips. It was as if the night he had returned from the Aboveworld was happening all over again.
His magic was gone, except this time he did not have the comfort of his own land to help him deal with such a devastating loss. Losing his magic made him feel empty and very uncertain, things he was very unaccustomed to feeling.
He had misjudged the amount of magic that had slowly returned to him over the past 3 years and now he would pay for that miscalculation. He was lost, most likely in the Aboveground, which could be a hard, unforgiving place to a creature of magic. And he was stranded in the woods with the arrogant mortal who had already caused him so much anguish.
He kicked a nearby branch in frustration and then paced while he thought things over.
* * *
Sarah walked for hours. The sun continued to lower in the sky and soon it would be dark. Everything looked the same in these woods. Tall oak trees looming over her, an occasional white pine reaching for the sky, a group of rocks scattered here or there. She was growing tired and her growling stomach was constantly reminding her that she had not eaten since lunch at school.
"This is what I get for trusting someone," she spat out bitterly. If she had not put any trust in The Goblin King, she would be at home right now, showered and in bed instead of wandering around a woods, hugging herself as she walked to try to keep warm. She had finally dried off but the later it grew, the colder it seemed to become. Dry or not, she was still freezing.
Judging by how green the trees were and the cool temperature, she guessed that it was mid spring. The same as it had been at home. Spring nights could be very cold, especially for someone dressed only in jeans, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. She tried not to think about spending the night curled up on the ground trying to keep warm.
She picked up her pace and then stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide as she looked ahead. There was a large tree in front of her that looked vaguely familiar. She shook her head, and reminded herself that all the trees looked familiar in this place.
She shook her head again as she stepped closer, but this time in denial. "No…please, no. That has to be a different tree." She moved closer and choked back a sob as she ran one hand over the large knot in the shape of a lion's head with a mane that she had admired hours ago. Warily, she fell to her knees at the base of the tree. It was the same exact tree. She had been walking in one giant circle for the past few hours. She was back where she had started. Burying her face into her hands she began to sob.
After having a good cry, Sarah felt slightly better. She attempted to go in search of some sign of civilization once again, but the further she walked the more she believed that her chances of finding any were very slim.
The sun set very quickly and with no moonlight to help guide her way, Sarah had no idea of where she was going. She shivered and slowed her steps. The sounds of the night were frightening and being alone had caused her to become jumpy.
A noise halted her steps and she quieted her breathing. Something was walking through the woods; she could hear the crunch of leaves. Trembling, she drew her arms around herself and prayed that whatever it was, that it would walk away and let her remain unnoticed.
The sound seemed to fade and she started walking again and bumped into something solid. She fell back onto her bottom with a cry and heard an amused male chuckle.
"You really should look where you are going."
Sarah quickly got to her feet. "Very funny! You scared the life out of me! You can't do that to people! Sneaking up on them like that in the dark."
"I do whatever I please."
Sarah huffed and started walking away from him.
"There's no point in trying to find your way in the dark. It would be better to make some sort of camp for the night and then start out again in the morning." He told her.
"Make camp with you? I don't think so!"
"Well, fine then, stumble around through the woods alone in the dark. Do you think that makes any difference to me?" An eyebrow arched elegantly over his blue eye and his glance was positively insolent.
"I wouldn't have to stumble around in the dark if you had not brought us here in the first place!" Sarah cried out at him.
The Goblin King's voice became icy. "Do you believe that I meant to do this? Do you believe that I enjoy being trapped in the mortal world?" He stepped closer to her, his eyes flashing anger, but Sarah held her ground.
"What do you mean 'trapped'?"
"I have no magic!" He exploded. "We are stranded here until it feels like returning." He told her angrily.
Sarah's eyes widened. "I..I don't understand."
"No, and that's the problem. You never understood anything." He began to pace around her like a big cat eyeing it's prey before the attack. "It took me 3 years just to be able to return to you and ask for your help. Trying to transport us both back to the Labyrinth took too much power. If I had known the consequences of my actions would have stranded me with no magic in the mortal world with you as my only companion, I would have dealt with the decay of the Labyrinth on my own!" His brows had lowered over his mismatched eyes and he was absolutely seething. What good was revenge if he couldn't even enjoy it? He was cold, tired and aching. These were not good conditions for revenge.
"Well, this is just great! Perfect! I'd much rather get my teeth drilled than to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with you!"
An icy breeze swept through the woods and The Goblin King's expression of anger changed to one of discomfort as he shivered. Sarah noticed immediately and something dawned on her. If he had no magic then he was vulnerable to the elements and to who knew what else. It also meant that he could not protect himself or her should something decide that it wanted to hurt or eat them. And it meant that he could not return her to her home.
Sarah bit her lip and forced the frightening revelations away. Realizing that she was cold herself, she blindly found her way to a stone wall and began to remove small rocks.
"What are you doing?" He asked her.
She dropped the rocks that she had collected on the ground. "I'm going to make a fire and instead of standing there with a dumb expression on your face, you could lend a hand."
"If I had my magic, I could have a fire made in moments." He told her.
"Yeah, well, because you don't have your magic, guess what? You have to do things like we mortals do. No magical crystal balls, just physical labor." Sarah dropped to one knee and began to arrange the rocks into a small circle. She felt his eyes on her and she gazed up at him. "Instead of gawking at me, why don't you make yourself useful and gather dried branches and leaves and put them in the center of the rocks." Sarah was pleasantly surprised when he didn't say a word and went in search of timber.
He returned a short while later with branches and leaves. Sarah set herself to the task of trying to start a fire. She tried banging rocks together but that didn't seem to work. Sitting back, she tried to rub sticks together, but she was so cold that she couldn't do it properly. Her trembling hands couldn't seem to get the job done. Angrily, she threw the sticks into the pile of leaves and wood and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well, I guess we don't get a fire tonight. Why doesn't that surprise me? I mean this day has been the day from hell anyway. Why should the fact that I am stranded in some woods in the cold and dark with my enemy, surprise me?" She glared angrily at The Goblin King who had sat himself on the ground, his back against a tree, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was shivering, his arms drawn around him to keep himself warm.
"If I had my magic-"
'Yeah, well, you don't have it! And that's the problem isn't it? Magic was the cause of all of this!" Sarah stalked away from him and threw herself down onto the ground, curling herself into a ball.
The Goblin King watched her curiously before turning away. Let the girl sulk. As if he felt any better about this situation. He was cold, tired and hungry. His feet ached from walking so much in heeled boots and as he sat on the cold ground, he could feel the damp and cold of the night seep into his bones. He lowered his head to his chest and, with a final glance at Sarah, he attempted to sleep.
* * *
AN2: Interested in seeing what the woods looks like? Go here! http://www.geocities.com/jareth_sarah/uc/unexpected.html