Chapter 9 - Paperwork

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Disclaimer - I do not own the Labyrinth. It is not the in thing on the property market.

Lofts are in, Labyrinths are out. I do not own Gormenghast either, it is the property of

Mervyn Peake's estate.

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To take her mind off things, Hilarity decided to read some more. She was surprised at

the amount of paperwork that went with running a Labyrinth. She hated accounting at

the best of times because it never actually ended, there was always yet another detail

to consider. She had managed to swat up on the troll clans and all the other nearby

kingdoms that littered the Labyrinth's border. None of them were very strong as they

were all heavily in debt. A lot of them had borrowed money from the Goblin King

himself.

"So that's how he keeps control." she said out loud to Hannah who was playing with

the crystal and not paying attention "The other kings call for war and Jareth just calls

in his loans. I'm impressed!"

She went back to her studies which she hoped would help her research her book and

the journey she was planning after this ordeal was over. There were some strange

places in this world. There was one place called The Castle Gormenghast that was

large enough to be counted as a country in its own right and most of its inhabitants

had never left the castle gates. That was a must see in her opinion.

She scratched her head. Her hair still hadn't calmed down. It was beginning to hang

down like icicles in some places and defy gravity in others and it was becoming very

annoying.

"You're lucky. You don't have hair yet." said complained to the baby who looked at

her thoughtfully. Maybe if she just sneaked Hannah back home without anyone

noticing...that could work, after all the Goblins didn't have very good memories...no,

Knossos had seen her...he struck Hilarity as the creepy type and would not hesitate to

tell on her. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by the loud chiming of the clock.

Her head swung round. The sword shaped hands were both pointing to thirteen. "Oh!

Bugger!" she cried...

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Emily had only just reached the city gates when she heard the bells chime. Somehow

she knew what they meant. Her time was up.

"I am so, so sorry!" said a voice behind her. It was that girl who had appeared in her

room. She looked exhausted and thoroughly depressed. Her hair was a lot messier

than it been when they first met.

"Well, you tried to help. I understand." said Emily trying to put a brave face on things

even though tears were starting to form in her eyes. Hilarity tried to comfort her.

"Look. I don't have the power to do anything to Hannah." she said "I promise I'll keep

her safe until the king returns."

"Then what?"

"I'll try to get him to reconsider, but there really isn't much I can do." the landscape

began to fade around her and once again, Emily found herself alone in her room.

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"Jareth! Jareth!! YOU BLOODY LITTLE GIT, SHOW YOURSELF!!!" Hilarity

screamed at the crystal. The image of the Goblin King slowly became clearer. He

looked very annoyed at being interrupted at whatever he was doing. Hilarity also

noticed that someone had chained him to the bed.

"Can't you see I'm busy!" he said angrily.

"A girl wished her sister away today! Less than one hour after you left!"

"Did she reach the castle?"

"NO!"

"Then what's the problem? You're doing fine. Keep up the good work. Now piss off!"

"But!"

"Go!" the image in the crystal faded.

Hilarity was so angry she kicked the first thing in sight, which unfortunately was a

Goblin. Fat lot of help that was. Again she began hearing voices from the human

world. Another child was to be taken. No! Not again! Not another one! Why did

people even bother having children if they were just going to wish them away? She

put Hannah to bed and stormed off, not even bothering to change out of her pyjamas.

******

The words had hardly passed Susan's lips when her brother vanished into thin air and

a very tall, very stressed looking young woman with very messy hair crashed though

her door wearing purple silk pyjamas!

"Good God! I didn't think it would actually work!" said the girl.

"Well, tough! It did!" snapped Hilarity. She didn't know why she was behaving this

way. She very rarely raised her voice and always respected other people. Something

was definitely wrong.

"Where's the Goblin King?"

"Let's just say he's a bit tied up at the moment." she replied coolly. That wasn't her

usual type of humour! What was going on?

"Please! Bring my brother back." Susan pleaded. "I didn't mean it!"

"Oh! You didn't mean it! Well that makes it perfectly all right. Come on. Let's sit

down and have some tea and enjoy ourselves because Susan didn't mean it." This was

really weird. Hilarity was hardly ever sarcastic. She considered it the lowest form if

wit, but her mouth carried on talking. "You may as well forget about your brother.

You don't deserve him."

"That's not fair!"

"Oh you're a real expert on fairness I presume. You just sent someone to a different

astral plane because they annoyed you. You sent someone away before they had even

learned to talk and defend themselves." she was really piling on the guilt now and she

wanted to stop but her mouth kept on talking until the girl was reduced to tears. She

actually discouraged her from saving her brother. When she returned to the castle she

felt mentally drained. This place was horrible. Not bothering to check where her

cousin was, she put the sleeping child the Goblins had just stolen next to Hannah's

sleeping form and collapsed into a disturbed sleep. Hating herself for what she'd done.