A/N: Still barreling along, still without any promise that this story will
be liked by anyone. I must have some nerve, huh? How dare I store up eight
chapters without any idea as to the general reaction of the public! Oh
well. Once again, Labyrinth is property of Henson. Lyrics are-shock!-"The
Long and Winding Road" by The Beatles. Yeah, I'm a fan of them, too. And I
would've just burst with disappointment if I hadn't eventually used their
lyrics. Oh, the idea that Asherlynn should be Jareth's long-lost sister is
property of my good friend Devonny Stratton-read her stuff, you'll love it!
So...NEwayz, here be the new chapter. Enjoy! And now to business...
:~:*^*:~:
"The long and windy night That the rain washed away Has left a pool of tears Crying for today.
Don't leave me standing here- Let me know the way!"
Chapter Eight: "Finding the Way"
((Quick reminder: we last left Asher at the end of the first day. This is the beginning of the second day to where we last left Amber-in the night of the second day. Okay, I left out a few hours... don't hurt me!))
Asher woke without opening her eyes, still groggy. She was lying in a bed, she knew, but her eyes shot open as she realized it was not her own. Then recent events came back at her in a rush and she gazed around the room that Hoggle had led her to the night before.
It was plain, but comfortably so-the floor was still bare stone, but the bed was soft and warm and there was light streaming through several windows in the room, so Asher was comfortable for the moment. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed, tying on her shoes sleepily. She flopped back onto the bed with the sudden realization that she had no idea where she was supposed to go, or what she was supposed to do.
Asher hopped up and walked to the door. She jiggled the handle-locked. She sighed and placed her back to the door, sliding down it until she was sitting propped up against it. Great-just great; she had escaped the fire to be thrown back into the pan. There was nowhere to go, and no telling where she was. But then she remembered-the windows!
Asher quickly ran over to one, looking out it and hoping for a piece of at least semi-familiar scenery. She was in luck-she could see the plain outlines of the stone walls of the outer edge of the Labyrinth running systematically. A little ways off, she could see a forest, and beyond that a tall hill on top of which stood the Castle. She knew she could escape easily-if only she was in a lower room; this one seemed high up, and she was afraid of heights to begin with. So no escape from that point.
Asher walked dispiritedly back to the door and jiggled the handle again. She sighed and slumped against it, turning the handle. She gave a small shriek as the door swung open and she fell unceremoniously to the ground- she had been trying to pull the door open before, when all she would've had to do was push. Asher blushed, though without reason; the hallway was entirely empty. It was like a ghost town.
She walked with a sense of fear down the hallway, her footsteps echoing off the uniformly similar surfaces of roughly hewn stone wall and floor. There were also windows on the hall, and doors that almost blended into the wall that obviously led to other rooms. Asherlynn wandered around a bit more, and finally decided no progress was going to be made on escaping if she kept wandering aimlessly. So she opened a door, praying there was a stairway leading down and out-instead, she stumbled upon a room lined with bookshelves, with one ornately carven wooden table in the center, set on a foreign-looking rug and surrounded by comfortable-looking upholstered chairs. There was a single book lying on the table.
On a whim, Asher entered the room and gazed at the book- "Labyrinthian Royalty: A Family Tree"-thus it was titled in curling letters that glinted many different shades and colors, these letters set elegantly upon a plain- looking green leather-bound volume about an inch thick. She opened the book and leafed through it for a few moments.
Something on a page caught her eye-she read aloud, "Jareth II, 1985-? A curse was set upon this prince while he was still a boy-that he would never age a day past 16, though his mind and spirit would; though his race, by his mother's blood, is immortal, they do not retain immortal youth, as bestowed upon him by this curse. Blah, blah, blah..." her eyes trailed down the page over the brief life history, but the name below caused her to emit a gentle scream.
She rubbed her eyes disbelievingly, and stared back at the time-worn book, reading again, in a quieter voice, almost trying simply to convince herself, "Asherlynn, 1989-? This princess was banished to the mortal realm upon birth, by her 'father', the reigning king. Her older brother, Prince Jareth II, pleaded the infant was innocent, but the father was wary that the child might rise against him in rebellion, as foretold by a traveling prophet; she was sent to live with a mortal family, and adopted the second name 'Stratton'. In 1993, Jareth II took the throne after his father's untimely death, and searched in vain to find some trace of his long-lost sister. He gave up 7 years later, however, when his workload became too heavy to spend any time making a real effort at anything else. Recently, he has neglected much of his work to resume his search, through tip-offs that Asherlynn 'Stratton' was indeed alive-it is presumed that because of this, the goblin population has dropped by at least 50%. However, most of his advisors have the same thing to say; as she was cut off from all contact with the Underground realm, her fate at this point is quite unknown-and she is, quite presumably, dead."
Asherlynn rubbed her eyes again and reread the passage several times over, each time telling herself it couldn't be real-but then again, could it? She had always felt-different. This explained it all, even Hoggle's odd behavior-he had noticed who she was, and immediately feared punishment for mistreating her.
Asher left the book lying open on the table as she walked briskly from the room. She had a newfound confidence now-she thought that even if she wasn't the Asherlynn of royal blood, she could pose as her easily, giving her an entirely new authority over the citizens of the Labyrinth. She gazed out the window again, though she had to take a double-take; she could distinctly tell that it was sunset as the land was bathed in a brilliant orangish glow-which would have to mean she had spent much longer than she had thought reading and rereading the passage in "Labyrinthian Royalty". She blinked rapidly as she walked on down the steadily darkening hall. Suddenly, lamps glowed magickally to life in tiny, sporadically placed alcoves in the walls. Asherlynn was glad for the extra light as she opened another door. Behind it, she found what she had been looking for-a staircase. She walked on down the stone steps quickly, coming to a landing with a door where the steps continued down. She ignored the door, and kept on down the stairs.
Asher bent over and looked out a window that was placed beside a step, and a bit lower, so that goblins could see. She was closer to the ground now-at a safe height to jump out of a window, if need be-just about at ground level. But she could see now an obstacle that she hadn't before-the tower she was in was surrounded by a lake, and it looked as though the only way across was by raft-she could see a dock where a few were kept.
Now, you may be saying 'Why was this so much of a problem? Just jump in a raft and row, you silly girl!'-but for Asherlynn, it wasn't that simple. Oh yes, brave Princess Asherlynn, the escaping prisoner was not only afraid of heights-she was also afraid of water.
So, back to the story-
Asherlynn stood on the steps, quaking in her boots, as she gazed out at this new and ominous sight. The last time she had been on a raft-actually, on any kind of craft that floated on water-someone who knew what they were doing was driving, and her friends had had to force her into it, besides. Now, when her only hope for escape was to risk her own life by hopping into a raft and attempting to pole it over a lake that stretched for who knows how long-now she was really worried.
Asher looked farther into the landscape, towards the comforting sight of flat land stretching to the stone walls beyond, as she once more began talking to herself, "Well, two options-pole myself out to escape, wait here for Amber, or climb back upstairs and sulk-wait..." she frowned, and went on, "No, that's three options. Which to choose, though, that's the important part...?"
She sat in silence for a moment, and resolved to face her fears as she walked on down the stairs. She laughed gently as she said, "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?"
She jumped and almost fell the rest of the way down the steps as she heard a voice behind her, "That's the spirit."
For another moment, she remained frozen to the spot, and then turned slowly to find herself face-to-face with Hoggle. She wondered what his reaction was going to be and subconsciously placed her arms defensively over her stomach, as if preparing to deflect a blow, "Why are you following me?"
Hoggle raised an eyebrow and asked with a note of condescension in his voice, "Following you? You make me sound like some kind of stalker, woman- no, far from it, I am guarding you. You are my charge until you are either rescued or delivered into Jareth's custody for sentencing."
Asher frowned thoughtfully for a moment, then asked something she had just figured out, "Jareth-he's not the first of that name in his bloodline, is he?"
Hoggle looked at her with the shadow of an amused smile playing lightly on his lips, "No-he is Jareth II. His biological father was the first."
Asher raised an eyebrow now, though this gesture bore no malice, "Biological father? What are you getting at?"
Hoggle continued on, sitting gently on a step that was a few above the one on which Asher was still crouching, "His father was killed by his uncle while he was still a young child, and his uncle took the throne-of course, Jareth II always called King Yagrind-his uncle-father, because he was told to by his mother and many other people close to him when he was younger. Jareth the First had left his wife pregnant with a set of twins-one of them a girl called Asherlynn-before he was killed. The queen loved the babies, but because Yagrind was cautious and jealous, he banished the infant Asherlynn to the mortal realm-some say he was acting on advice given him by a prophet, but I think that is simply poppycock."
Asher emitted a shocked gasp at this new piece fitting into the little puzzle that was forming in her mind-but she asked another question, as one bit in the puzzle didn't quite make sense, "Wait, Hoggle, how do you know so much about the royal family?"
Hoggle grinned, "Why, Asherlynn, I thought with all the reading you've been doing you might've figured it out on your own-I'm your twin brother."
Asher just sat there in shock for a few minutes, "My...br-brother?"
Hoggle nodded once, "Yes, but my birth name is Hollogin. Hoggle is just a nickname-kind of like calling you 'Asher'."
Princess Asherlynn nodded mutely for a few minutes, waiting for it all to sink in. There was an awful lot behind what had once seemed a simple story of unrequited love to her-a lot more than meets the eye behind "Labyrinth", in all actuality.
Hoggle grinned down at her and spoke, tearing her out of her daydreams, "So, do you trust me now, sister?"
Asher blinked out of her daze and looked him straight in the face, "Absolutely. Now, am I supposed to just sit here all night, or are we going to work on escaping?"
Hoggle smiled, "Escaping, of course. What else could we possibly do, sit and rot?"
Asher took him into an enthusiastic hug, and jumped to her feet, taking the steps two at a time. Hoggle merely laughed and hurried after.
:~:*^*:~:
NEXT CHAPTER: OKAY, SO WE'VE CAUGHT UP OUR SPLIT PLOT! NOW, WHAT ABOUT HUMMIN? AND WILL AMBER AND JARETH FIGURE OUT THAT ASHERLYNN IS DIFFERENT THAN THEY THOUGHT? WILL AMBER BE LEAD IN ENDLESS CIRCLES CHASING AFTER THE ESCAPEES FOR DAYS-BETTER YET, WILL THE ESCAPEES ACTUALLY ESCAPE? WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THIS WHIRLWIND OF A STORY? FIND OUT-THE USUAL WAY, DUH; READ THE NEXT CHAPTER! AND PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~thanks~
:~:*^*:~:
"The long and windy night That the rain washed away Has left a pool of tears Crying for today.
Don't leave me standing here- Let me know the way!"
Chapter Eight: "Finding the Way"
((Quick reminder: we last left Asher at the end of the first day. This is the beginning of the second day to where we last left Amber-in the night of the second day. Okay, I left out a few hours... don't hurt me!))
Asher woke without opening her eyes, still groggy. She was lying in a bed, she knew, but her eyes shot open as she realized it was not her own. Then recent events came back at her in a rush and she gazed around the room that Hoggle had led her to the night before.
It was plain, but comfortably so-the floor was still bare stone, but the bed was soft and warm and there was light streaming through several windows in the room, so Asher was comfortable for the moment. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed, tying on her shoes sleepily. She flopped back onto the bed with the sudden realization that she had no idea where she was supposed to go, or what she was supposed to do.
Asher hopped up and walked to the door. She jiggled the handle-locked. She sighed and placed her back to the door, sliding down it until she was sitting propped up against it. Great-just great; she had escaped the fire to be thrown back into the pan. There was nowhere to go, and no telling where she was. But then she remembered-the windows!
Asher quickly ran over to one, looking out it and hoping for a piece of at least semi-familiar scenery. She was in luck-she could see the plain outlines of the stone walls of the outer edge of the Labyrinth running systematically. A little ways off, she could see a forest, and beyond that a tall hill on top of which stood the Castle. She knew she could escape easily-if only she was in a lower room; this one seemed high up, and she was afraid of heights to begin with. So no escape from that point.
Asher walked dispiritedly back to the door and jiggled the handle again. She sighed and slumped against it, turning the handle. She gave a small shriek as the door swung open and she fell unceremoniously to the ground- she had been trying to pull the door open before, when all she would've had to do was push. Asher blushed, though without reason; the hallway was entirely empty. It was like a ghost town.
She walked with a sense of fear down the hallway, her footsteps echoing off the uniformly similar surfaces of roughly hewn stone wall and floor. There were also windows on the hall, and doors that almost blended into the wall that obviously led to other rooms. Asherlynn wandered around a bit more, and finally decided no progress was going to be made on escaping if she kept wandering aimlessly. So she opened a door, praying there was a stairway leading down and out-instead, she stumbled upon a room lined with bookshelves, with one ornately carven wooden table in the center, set on a foreign-looking rug and surrounded by comfortable-looking upholstered chairs. There was a single book lying on the table.
On a whim, Asher entered the room and gazed at the book- "Labyrinthian Royalty: A Family Tree"-thus it was titled in curling letters that glinted many different shades and colors, these letters set elegantly upon a plain- looking green leather-bound volume about an inch thick. She opened the book and leafed through it for a few moments.
Something on a page caught her eye-she read aloud, "Jareth II, 1985-? A curse was set upon this prince while he was still a boy-that he would never age a day past 16, though his mind and spirit would; though his race, by his mother's blood, is immortal, they do not retain immortal youth, as bestowed upon him by this curse. Blah, blah, blah..." her eyes trailed down the page over the brief life history, but the name below caused her to emit a gentle scream.
She rubbed her eyes disbelievingly, and stared back at the time-worn book, reading again, in a quieter voice, almost trying simply to convince herself, "Asherlynn, 1989-? This princess was banished to the mortal realm upon birth, by her 'father', the reigning king. Her older brother, Prince Jareth II, pleaded the infant was innocent, but the father was wary that the child might rise against him in rebellion, as foretold by a traveling prophet; she was sent to live with a mortal family, and adopted the second name 'Stratton'. In 1993, Jareth II took the throne after his father's untimely death, and searched in vain to find some trace of his long-lost sister. He gave up 7 years later, however, when his workload became too heavy to spend any time making a real effort at anything else. Recently, he has neglected much of his work to resume his search, through tip-offs that Asherlynn 'Stratton' was indeed alive-it is presumed that because of this, the goblin population has dropped by at least 50%. However, most of his advisors have the same thing to say; as she was cut off from all contact with the Underground realm, her fate at this point is quite unknown-and she is, quite presumably, dead."
Asherlynn rubbed her eyes again and reread the passage several times over, each time telling herself it couldn't be real-but then again, could it? She had always felt-different. This explained it all, even Hoggle's odd behavior-he had noticed who she was, and immediately feared punishment for mistreating her.
Asher left the book lying open on the table as she walked briskly from the room. She had a newfound confidence now-she thought that even if she wasn't the Asherlynn of royal blood, she could pose as her easily, giving her an entirely new authority over the citizens of the Labyrinth. She gazed out the window again, though she had to take a double-take; she could distinctly tell that it was sunset as the land was bathed in a brilliant orangish glow-which would have to mean she had spent much longer than she had thought reading and rereading the passage in "Labyrinthian Royalty". She blinked rapidly as she walked on down the steadily darkening hall. Suddenly, lamps glowed magickally to life in tiny, sporadically placed alcoves in the walls. Asherlynn was glad for the extra light as she opened another door. Behind it, she found what she had been looking for-a staircase. She walked on down the stone steps quickly, coming to a landing with a door where the steps continued down. She ignored the door, and kept on down the stairs.
Asher bent over and looked out a window that was placed beside a step, and a bit lower, so that goblins could see. She was closer to the ground now-at a safe height to jump out of a window, if need be-just about at ground level. But she could see now an obstacle that she hadn't before-the tower she was in was surrounded by a lake, and it looked as though the only way across was by raft-she could see a dock where a few were kept.
Now, you may be saying 'Why was this so much of a problem? Just jump in a raft and row, you silly girl!'-but for Asherlynn, it wasn't that simple. Oh yes, brave Princess Asherlynn, the escaping prisoner was not only afraid of heights-she was also afraid of water.
So, back to the story-
Asherlynn stood on the steps, quaking in her boots, as she gazed out at this new and ominous sight. The last time she had been on a raft-actually, on any kind of craft that floated on water-someone who knew what they were doing was driving, and her friends had had to force her into it, besides. Now, when her only hope for escape was to risk her own life by hopping into a raft and attempting to pole it over a lake that stretched for who knows how long-now she was really worried.
Asher looked farther into the landscape, towards the comforting sight of flat land stretching to the stone walls beyond, as she once more began talking to herself, "Well, two options-pole myself out to escape, wait here for Amber, or climb back upstairs and sulk-wait..." she frowned, and went on, "No, that's three options. Which to choose, though, that's the important part...?"
She sat in silence for a moment, and resolved to face her fears as she walked on down the stairs. She laughed gently as she said, "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?"
She jumped and almost fell the rest of the way down the steps as she heard a voice behind her, "That's the spirit."
For another moment, she remained frozen to the spot, and then turned slowly to find herself face-to-face with Hoggle. She wondered what his reaction was going to be and subconsciously placed her arms defensively over her stomach, as if preparing to deflect a blow, "Why are you following me?"
Hoggle raised an eyebrow and asked with a note of condescension in his voice, "Following you? You make me sound like some kind of stalker, woman- no, far from it, I am guarding you. You are my charge until you are either rescued or delivered into Jareth's custody for sentencing."
Asher frowned thoughtfully for a moment, then asked something she had just figured out, "Jareth-he's not the first of that name in his bloodline, is he?"
Hoggle looked at her with the shadow of an amused smile playing lightly on his lips, "No-he is Jareth II. His biological father was the first."
Asher raised an eyebrow now, though this gesture bore no malice, "Biological father? What are you getting at?"
Hoggle continued on, sitting gently on a step that was a few above the one on which Asher was still crouching, "His father was killed by his uncle while he was still a young child, and his uncle took the throne-of course, Jareth II always called King Yagrind-his uncle-father, because he was told to by his mother and many other people close to him when he was younger. Jareth the First had left his wife pregnant with a set of twins-one of them a girl called Asherlynn-before he was killed. The queen loved the babies, but because Yagrind was cautious and jealous, he banished the infant Asherlynn to the mortal realm-some say he was acting on advice given him by a prophet, but I think that is simply poppycock."
Asher emitted a shocked gasp at this new piece fitting into the little puzzle that was forming in her mind-but she asked another question, as one bit in the puzzle didn't quite make sense, "Wait, Hoggle, how do you know so much about the royal family?"
Hoggle grinned, "Why, Asherlynn, I thought with all the reading you've been doing you might've figured it out on your own-I'm your twin brother."
Asher just sat there in shock for a few minutes, "My...br-brother?"
Hoggle nodded once, "Yes, but my birth name is Hollogin. Hoggle is just a nickname-kind of like calling you 'Asher'."
Princess Asherlynn nodded mutely for a few minutes, waiting for it all to sink in. There was an awful lot behind what had once seemed a simple story of unrequited love to her-a lot more than meets the eye behind "Labyrinth", in all actuality.
Hoggle grinned down at her and spoke, tearing her out of her daydreams, "So, do you trust me now, sister?"
Asher blinked out of her daze and looked him straight in the face, "Absolutely. Now, am I supposed to just sit here all night, or are we going to work on escaping?"
Hoggle smiled, "Escaping, of course. What else could we possibly do, sit and rot?"
Asher took him into an enthusiastic hug, and jumped to her feet, taking the steps two at a time. Hoggle merely laughed and hurried after.
:~:*^*:~:
NEXT CHAPTER: OKAY, SO WE'VE CAUGHT UP OUR SPLIT PLOT! NOW, WHAT ABOUT HUMMIN? AND WILL AMBER AND JARETH FIGURE OUT THAT ASHERLYNN IS DIFFERENT THAN THEY THOUGHT? WILL AMBER BE LEAD IN ENDLESS CIRCLES CHASING AFTER THE ESCAPEES FOR DAYS-BETTER YET, WILL THE ESCAPEES ACTUALLY ESCAPE? WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THIS WHIRLWIND OF A STORY? FIND OUT-THE USUAL WAY, DUH; READ THE NEXT CHAPTER! AND PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~thanks~