Getting Interesting

Left alone in the garden, Joxer tried his best to control the shaking fear that was running

through him. He had just been face to face with a beautiful, albeit, extremely crazed young

woman. "Jareth," she had growled before disappearing before his eyes. That was the name of

the king of this place if Joxer remembered correctly. He could only guess that she knew him

in some way. She definitely had his glare and pale skin. She had a slender frame, long legs

and beautifully rounded....Joxer smacked himself on the forehead. No, don't even think about

it. She might want to kill him and he was thinking about herlike that. Stupid, he chided

himself. He wasn't even sure if she was coming back and he quickly decided that if she did,

he did not want to be around. With that thought in his mind, he began to wander around the

massive garden that he found himself in. It was lush and green and filled flowers unlike any

he had seen before. The fountain in the center of the clearing huge. It glinted in the

sunlight and looked like polished ivory. In the center of the fountain stood a large statue

of two people entwined in an embrace. Joxer couldn't help but stare at it, it was beautiful.

He was so caught up in the beauty of the garden that he failed to notice that Livia had

reappeared a few feet behind him. She was watching him as he looked down at the water in

the fountain.

"You had better be careful," she mused as Joxer was jarred out of his thoughts and turned to

face her.

"That fountain is enchanted. If you look at it for any length of time you will be caught in

it's spell and be doomed to look into it forever."

"Really," asked Joxer. Livia motioned behind him and he turned and for the first time noticed

the plethora of white marble statues of people scattered about the garden. Each had expressions

of happiness and all were looking downward.

"Those are people who I did not stopped from staring into the fountain." Livia said.

"Why did you stop me then," asked Joxer. He was answered with a feral grin from Livia. He

recognized that grin from Jareth. "Are you Jareth's sister?"

Livia walked briskly toward him. "My you are quick," she purred considering that she told him

when he first entered the garden. Joxer began to walk backwards to get away from her, but Livia

kept advancing. Joxer's heart fell to his stomach when he felt his legs brush the edge of the

fountain. He was trapped and Livia still advanced. Joxer closed his eyes and

found himself in a passionate kiss with Livia. Any coherent thought that Joxer had had up to

that point instantly vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gabrielle paced the room. She wasn't ready yet to leave, she wanted to get her bearings and

figure out how she was going to get out of the castle. In anger she had shredded the dress

she had worn and dug through the wardrobe that stood up against the wall. "Figures," she

hissed. Only dresses, nothing that she could comfortably engage combat. She walked over

to another table and started to rummage through the drawers. Her face brightened we her

hands emerged with a white poet's shirt. She tossed it on the nearby bed and opened the

drawer underneath the one that had contained the shirt. She smiled once more when she held

up a pair of black breeches. She tossed the pants with the shirt and opened another closet

next to a very large room with a very large porcelain tub. In the bottom of the closet she

obtained a pair of black boots.

A few minutes later, Gabrielle stepped out of the room and into the hallway. She looked around

before stepping out fully. The hallway was empty, the only

sound came from outside. The chatter and activity of the Goblin city penetrated the walls.

Gabrielle, alert and waiting for an attack stepped lightly down the left hall.

She was beginning to think that the castle was unoccupied except for Jareth and

Bartlby when she turned a corner and came upon a large throne room. Her eyes widened as she

saw countless goblins of varying sizes running around and causing a great deal of commotion.

She noticed that the throne in the front of the room was unoccupied. This fact did not sit

easy with her. Where was Jareth? Where was Bartlby?

"Despite the fact that you shun the traditional royal garb, you still look quite stunning,"

came a male voice. Gabrielle spun around to be face to face with Bartlby. He had an amused

expression on his face.

Gabrielle gritted her teeth. "Give me a reason to not kill you." she hissed.

"Because it would not be ladylike-", Bartlby's response was cut short with Gabrielle's hand.

Bartlby reached to stop her. His expression wasn't one of anger or irritation, in fact, it was

one of sorrow.

"Please, Gabrielle, why must you be so hostile to me? I have given you gifts, my patience, I

have not asked you to do anything that you did not wish-"

"And you have taken away my friends and my freedom," she finished tersely.

"I only wanted to spend some time with you and to let you get to know me better. I had hoped

that in time you would not see me as an enemy."

"How can I not see you as an enemy?" she replied. "Your brother has taken my friend's child,

forced us to run his labyrinth in some sick, twisted game, lied to us, and you kidnap me because

you are lonely."

Bartlby's face fell once more. He could not bring himself to look her in the eye. "I hope that

you will join me for dinner tonight. Feel free to walk about the grounds, they truly are lovely.

I will leave you in peace now." With this he turned and quickly walked away. Gabrielle watched

him go and mentally began the battle of not letting herself feel pity for this lonely prince.