The Most Unlikely Foe

Six
Head And Shoulders Above The Rest

"This is much easier. I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner." Pippin called down to Boromir, upon whose shoulders he was sitting.

"Yes well I'm sure it's made things much easier for you young Hobbit as not only do you not have someone sitting on your shoulders but you no longer have to do any walking." Boromir grumbled back.

"Come now Boromir, it's not like they're a heavy burden." Aragorn said, smiling up at Merry who was seated on his shoulders. "Besides if you really want to you can always swap Pippin over for Gimli."

They all laughed except for Boromir who muttered something under his breath, which no one really quite got the gist of.

"We'll need to take a left up here Aragorn."

From their vantage point on the men's shoulders the Hobbits could see well ahead of them and so were navigating the hedge maze swiftly and with ease. Both Pippin and Merry could already see the hedge maze's exit and now it was just a matter of directing everyone there.

Jareth watched their progression in a crystal from within his bedchambers. He growled low in his throat at how quickly they were evidently going to get out of the hedge maze. He had hoped that it would at least slow them up a little but apparently that wasn't going to be the case.

Bringing long fingers up to thoughtfully stroke his chin he worried the hedge maze would not bide him enough time alone with the Elven Prince to execute his latest plan of seduction.

"Very well I shall have to leave a surprise waiting for them at the end of the hedge maze. That should slow them down enough for me to seduce the Elf. He cannot resist me forever, especially with what I have planned for him."

With a wave of his hand Jareth had his surprise set up for the Fellowship at the end of the hedge maze. He then stood and smoothed down his outfit, making sure his tight breeches clung to everywhere they should and that his shirt hung open enough to show a generous amount of his smooth pale chest.

Once he was satisfied that even he would have trouble resisting himself he picked his riding crop up off the end of his bed and strode elegantly to the door. As he shut it behind him he held his hand, palm up, in front of him and a large silver platter brimming with all matter of foods, from grapes to slices of meat and bread rolls appeared upon it. Balancing it carefully he made his way through the winding halls of his castle and down the stairs to his throne room, which was still locked up tight so that his prisoner could not escape.

"Now that's a little drastic don't you think Legolas?" Jareth mused as he entered the throne room to find Legolas hanging halfway out of an arched window.

"No." Legolas objected as he gazed down at the ground below him. It was a long way down but at the moment seemed the better option.

Jareth sighed heavily. Why did the Elf insist upon fighting him? Never had he had so little trouble from those running the Labyrinth and so much trouble from the one who had been wished away.

Placing the silver tray full of food on his throne he crossed the room to the window Legolas was perched in.

"Come down from there. It really would be such a waste to have your beautiful figure splattered all across my courtyard."

Legolas turned to face the Goblin King, who was holding a gloved hand out to him. Wearily Legolas took it and allowed Jareth to steady him as he leapt back down from the window and into the throne room. He really wasn't quite ready to contemplate suicide when his friends were still running the Labyrinth.

Once he was firmly back on his feet he pulled his hand back from a smiling Goblin King and watched him wearily as he crossed back to his throne to retrieve the silver tray he had placed there.

Jareth continued his trek across the room until he halted at the foot of the steps that led up and out of his throne room, effectively blocking any escape Legolas might have been hopeful of.

Legolas cursed inwardly as he'd been hoping to use that now open door as an escape, all he would have had to do was distract the Goblin King for a few moments and then dash up the stairs. However any hope of escaping by that route was now cruelly taken from him as Jareth lounged on the bottom few steps, stretching his legs out before him and propping himself up on his elbows.

"Come, sit with me and we shall have something to eat." White fangs glinted as Jareth smirked up at Legolas, who still stood at the other side of the room.

Jareth waited patiently for the Elf to move but he still seemed unsure as to what he wanted to do. He shifted from one foot to the other and couldn't seem to keep his eyes fixed on any one particular thing.

"Unlike you dear Elf, I will not bite." Jareth said with a grin as he patted the stone stair beside him, beckoning for Legolas to come sit with him.

"How do I know you haven't poisoned the food like you did the wine?"

"My liquor was not poisoned. I can hardly be blamed for you not being able to handle the strong liquor we make here in the Underground, though I must commend you on your ability to drink more than any mortal I have ever seen."

"I am not mortal."

"Of course you are not, no mortal could be as ancient as you and yet appear so refreshingly youthful. But if you want proof I have not poisoned the food…"

Jareth pinch a dark grape from a bunch spilling over the edge of the platter and pressed it between his lips. His jaw moved slowly up and down before he swallowed, the muscles in his neck pushing the small amount of food down his throat seemed to oddly fascinate Legolas and he blushed slightly as he realised Jareth had caught him staring at him.

"Hungry?" He held the tray out to the Elf who finally let his stomach win over his good sense.

He slowly made his way across the room to the reclining Goblin King and sat beside him on the stairs. Jareth lifted the sliver platter up to the Elf's hungry eyes and he took a bread roll from it as well as a bunch of green grapes.

Jareth tilted his head to the side as he watched the Elf attack the roll with the vigour of one who has not eaten well in awhile. He continued to pick at the dark grapes on the platter, which he had placed to the side so the there was nothing between him and the Elf but a small expanse of step.

Legolas tore into the bread but kept his eyes trained on Jareth, watching carefully for any change in the Goblin King's disposition. Once he'd finished the bread he began to carefully pluck the perfect green grapes from the stalk he held in his hand and pop them one by one into his mouth.

Jareth couldn't help but run his tongue over his lips as he watched the tantalizing sight of the Elf pushing the grapes past his lips. He shifted slightly closer to him and rotated his body so that he was resting his weight upon his right hip, now fully facing the Elf sitting beside him.

Legolas didn't seem to notice the change in Jareth's position as his focus was now on the delicious grapes in his hand. He unconsciously relaxed a little and stretched his legs out, much to Jareth's pleasure.

Suddenly Legolas found his grapes had been stolen from his hand and he looked indignantly at Jareth, who had stolen them and was now dangling them before Legolas' eyes.

Legolas was rather upset by the loss of the grapes as he'd been rather enjoying them and he truly was famished, seeing as they had to be conservative about their food while they had been travelling.

Jareth lent into him and pressed a gloved hand firmly at he centre of his chest, forcing the Elf to lie back against the stairs. Legolas swallowed hard and tried to sit up but Jareth's hand kept him pinned down. The Goblin King then dangled the grapes just above the Elf's mouth, brushing them gently over his petal soft lips. Jareth smiled widely as Legolas flicked his tongue out to try and taste the sweet grapes.

Chuckling quietly Jareth took his hand off the Elf's chest and plucked a grape from the bunch in his hand and pressed it up to Legolas' lips. Legolas would not meet the Goblin King's gaze but Jareth smirked in approval as Legolas parted his lips slightly so that he could push the grape into his mouth.

Jareth gasped softly as Legolas took his finger into his mouth along with the grape and ran his tongue over the digit. The Goblin King was a little taken aback by the Elf's sudden boldness but was certainly not going to question nor object to it. His eyes focused on the soft lips closed about his slender finger and the feel of Legolas' tongue sliding over it.

He pulled his hand back, slipping his finger from the Elf's mouth and traced the same digit along Legolas' jaw line. Legolas attempted to sit up again but Jareth pressed him firmly back down before deciding that now was probably a good a time as any to test the value of Aragorn's word.

He placed a hand on either side of the Elf's shoulders and lent down slightly to the right till his lips brushed against the shell of his ear. His tongue flicked out experimentally over the tip of Legolas' ear and to his great approval the Elf gasped and arched his body up against his.

The Goblin King sighed softly as he felt the Elf's chest press up against his own. Truly Aragorn was a man of his word, the tip of the Elves ears were far more sensitive then Jareth had ever thought.

Hoping to increase Legolas' participation in their current activity Jareth closed his mouth over the ear's pointed tip and proceeded to flick his tongue over it. Legolas had certainly not been expecting this and moaned loudly as he fisted his hands against the stone steps beneath him.

Even after that he was most defiantly not prepared to have Jareth's lips come crashing down against his own next, and pulled back slightly from the bruising kiss. Tentatively Jareth slipped his tongue between Legolas' slightly parted lips as he pinched the Elf's ear tip between thumb and forefinger, enticing another gasp from him.

When the male beneath him didn't close his teeth upon the tongue invading his mouth Jareth probed further and was pleased to find Legolas' tongue tentatively moving up against his own. Jareth forcefully dominated the demanding kiss as his tongue swooped around the Elf's mouth.

Wanting to speed things along Jareth repositioned himself over the Elf and supported his weight on his hands as he continued to kiss him. He was about to manoeuvre a knee between Legolas' legs to encourage him to open them when he felt a knee slip between his own. Jareth smirked against the Elf's lips as he felt the knee between his legs rub up even higher.

The next thing he knew he was doubled over, searing pain racing through his groin, and Legolas had wriggled out from under him and fled up the stairs. Jareth tried to stand to chase after him but crashed to his knees on the stairs clutching at his crotch and groaning in pain.

"Stupid Elf! You cannot escape out that way!" He yelled after him but Legolas was long gone up the stairs.

"A right and then go straight till you come to a T-junction and then take a left and then the next opening on your right is the exit!" Merry yelled excitedly.

"Well done Hobbits." Aragorn called up to them. "If it weren't for you we'd still be wandering around in this hedge maze."

Now that they knew the end was within their sights the three who were still on foot doubled their pace and were soon running through the maze, following the Hobbits directions.

"We're here!" Pippin called out as they burst from the hedge maze's exit.

However they stopped dead in their tracks as they noticed a familiar tall blond figure sitting, facing them, upon a sandstone bench.

"Legolas?" Boromir asked uncertainly.

As the Elf smiled back at them the two men put the Hobbit's down and all five rushed over to greet their friend.