Chapter 5: Riddles and Lies

Author's Note: Ah, another chapter. And thus, we continue our progress around the Labyrinth.

I do not think there will be any wedding dress mentions in this chapter. :later: Actually, now I've finished the chapter, there is wedding dress mention- I took the liberty of drawing up a proper warning to this effect for ladylillith and other readers. See below.

Warning to ladylillith: Wedding dress imagery in this chapter. Don't say I didn't warn you!

In the dungeons of the Goblin Castle, a young man sat with his back up against the wall, arms crossed in front of him, glaring at the goblins who stood guarding the door to his cell with a look of such menace that it made them squirm uncomfortably, and they were visibly glad when they were relieved of duty.

Mordred had only been in the Underground for a few scant hours, but already he hated goblins with a ferocity that would have made Mab proud. He also hated the dungeon, the castle as a whole, and the Goblin King, whom he had spoken to- or, more accurately, shouted at- earlier. He also hated lots of other things that were unconnected with the Underground- cats, flowers and the colour pink being some of them- but that was immaterial at this point in time.

To tell the truth, Mordred didn't really know why he was here. Jareth had mentioned something about Auntie Mab when he'd spoken to him earlier, but Mordred had been too busy being angry to pay attention. He'd also mentioned something about Arthur being a prisoner as well- Mordred gritted his teeth at the very thought of the father that he hated so much. If he was here too, Mordred could only hope that they were kept very far away from each other.

Mordred hoped that his Auntie Mab was in the Underground. She would get him out of there, and make sure that the Goblin King suffered for what he'd done- something Mordred hoped to witness. Then he could get back to work dispatching Arthur.

---

As Mordred waited not-so-patiently for Mab to come and get him out of the Goblin Castle, Mab was making her way through the Labyrinth with Merlin and Frik. They'd started out by trying to head in the rough direction of the Goblin Castle, but then they'd realised that every time they looked, the castle seemed to have moved to another direction. So, for the last few hours, Merlin and Mab had been following Frik through the Labyrinth, who was working from something he'd once heard about mazes- that if you kept your right hand on the wall at all times, it would eventually lead you to the centre.

Mab trailed behind the other two. Up ahead, Merlin and Frik were engaged in conversation about something that, from what Mab could hear, was fairly unimportant. She had no desire to join the conversation, and doubted that she would have been welcomed to do so anyway. So she walked silently behind them, lost in her own thoughts and fears.

Mab was now wholly at the mercy of somebody else. In the mortal realm she'd been one of the Elemental Rulers- the four most powerful beings within the mortal realm, and in the Land of Magic, she had been Queen, wielding the total power and control that Jareth wielded here. She'd always been the one in control, and she'd liked it that way. Yes, she'd battled with Merlin, and that had ultimately ended in her defeat, but that had been a battle, and this wasn't. Having to solve this absurd challenge of Jareth's was tiring, humiliating and grating on her nerves, but, as attractive an option as simply giving up now was, Mab knew she would never do that. That would be like admitting that Jareth was more powerful than she was, not to mention it would mean becoming his wife.

Mab had given up trying to forget what was at stake when she had started to tire. The utter revulsion she felt at the prospect of losing and becoming Queen of the Underground gave her a good deal of drive and determination, much in the same way that pride and anger had kept her going during her time travelling through the Void.

"Queen of the Underground?" she thought derisively, "That's laughable- I wouldn't be a queen in anything but name. Jareth wouldn't give anyone else equal right to rule his precious kingdom, especially me. It would give me too much power, especially as I'm more powerful than him anyway. He just wants to own me because he knows how humiliating it would be for me." She knew that sounded arrogant and self-important, but the words were true. Jareth had become bitter and twisted –correction, more bitter and twisted- since his Labyrinth had been solved the first time. She suspected more had happened between Jareth and the girl than simply her beating the Labyrinth. He had always had a rather twisted sense of fun, a taste for trickery and illusion, and been selfish and possessive, but now all these qualities had increased tenfold, and any redeeming features he may have once possessed were long gone. Mab had no doubt that the opportunity to make the powerful former Queen of Magic pay for all the times she had rejected him and shown herself to be more powerful than he was, was an opportunity too tempting for the new and not-so-improved Jareth to pass up. Ending up forever trapped in the Underground, a prisoner in all but name, forever at Jareth's beck and call, to be used and discarded at his whim as part of his mad schemes, and Mab shuddered to think what else it would mean. Yes, Jareth would certainly see that as suitably entertaining. He would use her, and humiliate her, until she broke apart completely. He would slowly destroy her, and he would enjoy it, and when there was nothing left of her to destroy- or nothing that mattered anyway, she doubted he would kill her- he wouldn't care, except insofar as he would have to find a new form of entertainment, and then he would laugh and boast about it, about how the high and mighty Queen Mab had finally got her just rewards. She would be nothing, except a body that would soon fade away again once her spirit had been broken, and one of Jareth's victories. And who would mourn her? Mordred? Possibly, if he lived long enough to see it- he aged at twice the normal mortal speed, and thus his life would be short. Jareth wouldn't bother keeping him alive very long. Merlin? The thought was fairly laughable. Frik? Hardly- he might be too afraid of her to insult her now, but Mab wasn't stupid enough to think it meant he liked her. She doubted he ever had. Certainly she'd never, or at least very rarely, liked him. There was no-one else she could think of. What a very depressing thought.

That was why Mab would beat the Labyrinth at all costs. She had to, there couldn't be any other outcome. She wouldn't let there be.

Thinking about Merlin and Frik made her look up at them. They stood to lose a lot, too. Jareth might not take the same delight in tormenting them that he would with Mab, but still, their lives would be far from comfortable, in fact, bearable was the best they could hope for, and that was a long shot. She wondered how they would cope with it, if they had even realised just what they would lose if they failed. It would have been easy for Mab to say that she hoped they would lose, and that Merlin would suffer for what he'd done to her, but the fact was, they were working together- if Merlin lost, she lost, and she definitely didn't want that.

Just as that moment, a flash of light caught her eye, and she looked to her right to see several of Jareth's crystal balls hovering nearby. Just ahead, Merlin and Frik appeared to have noticed them, too, and were staring at them uneasily.

"What are they doing?" asked Merlin uncertainly, reaching out to touch one.

"Don't touch it!" Frik shrieked shrilly. Merlin drew back as if he had been scalded.

"Why?" he asked. Frik gave him a look of impatience.

"Master Merlin, do you honestly think it's a good idea to just poke at something that has come from a known enemy? Do you mortals have any common sense at all?"

"So what do you suggest we do?" said Merlin. Frik stared at him for a moment, then stared at the suspiciously hovering crystals. After a moment he looked back to Merlin and shrugged. Both of them turned to face Mab questioningly. If the circumstances hadn't been quite so dire, Mab would have been gloating over the fact that they needed her help, and refusing to give it. As it was, she knew speed was of the essence.

"Ignore them," she instructed. Merlin and Frik looked at them doubtfully.

"Are you sure?" Merlin asked. "What if they do something?"

"They're not at the moment," Mab pointed out, "We have to keep moving. Go!" she snapped a minute later when Merlin and Frik still stood staring at them. They moved on, Frik darting nervous glances at the crystals, which were following them, and beginning to float closer.

As they walked, the crystals began to become annoying, floating closer and closer to them, and dancing around in front of their faces. Mab swatted at one in annoyance. As she touched it, she could hear Jareth's voice faintly, as though he was talking to her from the other side of the wall.

"In nine hours and twenty three minutes, you'll be mine…" Merlin and Frik also heard the voice, and turned rapidly around in a circle, looking in every direction, thinking that Jareth had appeared in the Labyrinth with them.

"I'm starting to genuinely hate this Jareth," said Merlin angrily.

"Just starting?" Mab asked shortly, swatting away three more crystal balls and starting to walk forward again.

It didn't seem to matter how many she swatted away, more and more kept appearing. Jareth's laughter appeared to be growing louder, but Merlin and Frik no longer seemed to be able to hear it, or perhaps they just weren't paying attention to it anymore.

Mab looked into one of the crystals in front of her face, more out of curiosity than anything else. For a moment she could only see herself reflected as she was now, in her long black robes and purple skirt, her hair long and flowing. As she stared, the image seemed to change subtly, her hair braided back and her robes growing paler. Her hand went to her hair and she stared down at her robes, but they both seemed their normal style and colour. She looked back to the crystal, and saw that the style of her robes also seemed to be changing, until her image in the crystal was wearing a long dress, with long sleeves and a flowing skirt, in the shade of white that usually only occurs naturally in freshly fallen snow. A wedding dress, Mab realised.

"Very funny, Jareth," she thought, without a trace of amusement. As though thinking his name had triggered it, the image in the crystal widened, to show Jareth standing next to her, smirking. Mab glanced behind her to check that Jareth wasn't really there. Reassured that it was just an image, she looked back. Jareth had his arm round the waist of her image, and he appeared to be staring out of the crystal, his eyes boring unnervingly into Mab's, as though he could see her there –which, Mab realised after a moment- he probably could. Keeping his eyes locked with hers, Jareth pulled her image closer to him, and, still staring tauntingly and unblinkingly at Mab, brought his lips down to hers and kissed her.

Furious and repulsed, Mab snatched the crystal out of the air, and, without stopping, threw it against a nearby wall hard enough to shatter it. Merlin and Frik stopped mid conversation and turned around to stare at her. At their curious glances, Mab, not wanting to explain her sudden outburst of temper, glared threateningly at them until they turned around and resumed their conversation.

She clenched her fists in fury, knowing full well that Jareth had wanted to anger her, and he had succeeded. She wouldn't let the loathsome creature have that satisfaction again. She would finish this Labyrinth, and when she confronted Jareth at the end, she would be as cold and cruel as she knew how, and she would make him pay. A lot.

---

A few minutes later, they encountered a problem. Frik, still following his right hand, rounded a corner only to find that it had led him to a dead end, that he was sure he had seen before.

"Ah…," he said tentatively.

"Your method doesn't appear to be working, Frik," Merlin pointed out. Frik looked insulted at the suggestion that he might have actually got something wrong. Cowardly and lazy he may be- Frik freely admitted that- but he was also intelligent, with a vast knowledge that came from years of reading, snooping and playing lackey to the Queen of Magic.

"No, no, Master Merlin. The method is faultless- you simply keep following your right hand…" Frik trailed off, deep in thought, "…or was it left?..."

"Frik…" Mab snarled warningly. The kind of warning that meant, "If you've been leading us round the wrong way for the last two hours, you're going to be spending the rest of your thirteen hours scraping your remains off the floor."

"Um…I'm sure it was right," Frik whispered in a voice so frightened that it turned into a squeak partway through. Mab glared at him, and he recognised the look in her eyes right before she sent him flying backwards into a wall, in a manner reminiscent of old times.

"Owwww," he groaned. Mab advanced on him again.

"If you have been leading us the wrong way, this will be the least of your worries, Frik!" she informed him angrily.

"Mab…" Merlin warned, trying to stop her without arousing her volatile temper. "Calm down. You're not helping." Mab turned round to Merlin, her eyes flashing.

"Calm, Merlin? Need I remind you what happens if we fail this challenge? And this fool may well have been leading us in the wrong direction for the last two hours. I'd say that considering the circumstances I'm remarkably calm," she hissed dangerously, in a voice that implied she was about to become less than remarkably calm.

"Yes, I'm sure you are," said Merlin reasonably, hoping to prevent Mab from getting any angrier. "But hurting Frik is still not helpful to anyone, you included."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Mab raged. Evidently, Merlin had failed. "You lost that right years ago."

"I never had that right in the first place," Merlin pointed out, before realising it was not a wise thing to provoke her even more. Mab glared at him, but before she could send him flying against the wall, a voice spoke up.

"Och, are you gonnae try the doors soon or sit there all day fighting?" The voice sounded impatient, as well as having a pronounced Scottish accent. Mab and Merlin turned to see that what had been a dead end had suddenly become a wall with two doors in it, a sentry standing outside each one. Both sentries held a large shield in front of their bodies- one was red, one was blue- and a head protruded over the top and bottom of each shield. The heads slightly resembled dogs, but severely strange looking ones.

"Wasn't this a dead end a moment ago?" Merlin asked unsurely.

"No, that's the dead end behind you," informed the blue sentry, the one on the left. Merlin turned back the way they had come, to see that it was correct- a large wall blocked their path. He turned back to face the doors.

"The only way out of here," said the red sentry, "Is through one of these doors."

"One of them leads to the castle," said the other. Frik smiled with relief.

"That's good," he said.

"The other door leads to…" the sentry continued. The two then spoke together, as one, "… certain death." Frik's smile dropped like a lead balloon.

"That's not as good," he said, unnecessarily.

"Well?" demanded Mab, "Which is which?" There was a pause.

"We can't tell you," admitted the blue sentry. "You have to ask us."

"Only one of us, mind," instructed the red sentry.

"And remember," His counterpart continued, "One of us always tells the truth…"

"And one of us always lies," the red sentry finished. Then he added, "I tell the truth, he always lies."

"I do not!" the blue sentry cried, looking indignant, "I tell the truth!"

"Oh, what a lie!" the red sentry laughed back.

"Enough!" Mab exploded, interrupting the argument which she had been watching impatiently. "Be quiet!" The sentries were cowed into silence. Frik suddenly jumped up, looking breathlessly excited.

"I know this!" he said, "This is a simple riddle." Mab looked sceptical.

"And you knew how to get through the maze, Frik?" she asked sarcastically. Frik had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Well, yes… but I know this! Trust me," he pleaded. Mab just stared at him, and Frik realised that she perhaps wasn't the best person to try and reason with, particularly in this situation.

"Try it, Frik." Merlin suggested. Frik walked up to the door on the left.

"Alright," he began nervously, "Would he…" he pointed to the other sentry, "… tell me that this door leads to the castle?" The blue sentry pondered this for a moment, then ducked beneath the shield to consult with his lower head. He poked his head back up and peered at Frik.

"Yes," he replied.

"Ah!" said Frik triumphantly, "Then I know it must be the other door."

The blue sentry looked confused. "What if he's telling the truth?"

"Then you would be lying," pointed out Frik, "So you would lie to me about what he said, so I know this door is the wrong one." The sentry didn't appear to comprehend.

"But what if he's lying?"

"Then he would tell us the wrong door, anyway," said Mab, who was beginning to catch on, "And you're telling us what he would say. So, even if you're telling us the truth, it's still the wrong door."

"Um…" the red sentry said uncertainly, still confused. Frik walked up to the other door and opened it, gesturing for Merlin and Mab to go in first. Mab rolled her eyes, the new, happy, confident and smug Frik was getting on her nerves already. She walked forward through the door, Merlin close behind her.

"I still don't understand it," one of the sentries grumbled, "They didn't explain it any better than the other girl…"

Frik was about to go through the door after Merlin, but stopped and turned to try and explain the riddle again. Mab rolled her eyes.

"Frik!" she demanded, "Hurry…" She didn't manage to finish the sentence, because at that moment, the stone slab beneath her and Merlin seemed to vanish, and with a cry, the two of them plummeted downwards.

Author's Note: I'm starting to pity Jareth, simply because I'm making him so mean and evil! Seriously, it's got to the point where every time I watch Labyrinth I'm apologising to the Jareth in the film. Actually, he said there's no problem, as long as I can send him Jennifer Connelly. I think we may have to negotiate a little bit…

Anyway, back in reality, I would like very much to have lots of reviews for this chapter. Pleeease! puts on best pleading face Feedback is the food that keeps an author going.