Hurts Like Hell
Author: Chaos Valkyrie
First Conceptualized: February 20, 2004
Posted Chapter 09: December 23, 2005
Generic Author's Notes:
1. Due to new ffnet standards, all chapters have been updated, most with some minor edits. I'll answer/re-answer reviews between now and next posting in the new area.
2. I have decided on a new update policy. Now that my life is getting back together, I will now post once-a-month on whatever Friday happens to lie between the 15th and 21st. I can't promise an update on every story, but I can promise that if it doesn't post one month, it WILL post the next. This also means that some months, you'll get bonus chapters on some stories.
3. Web page will be up soon with stories that can't be posted here – namely "The Villain's Guide to Evil Stuff" and songfics, etc. I put off the launch to get all this stuff out.
4. By the way, if anyone has Chapter One of "The Chaos Land Tournament" or Lesson 10 of "The Villain's Guide", please let me know. My copies got deleted, and those are the only two I didn't have backed up. You will be rewarded! So please, go to my Author Page for more details…
Thank you for your continued patience, and Happy Holidays!
Chapter Nine: Stepping Stones
Nicole was awoken rather forcefully by a great deal of pain and an appallingly nasty odor. Her eyes shot open, and she groggily rose to a sitting position, blearily checking out her surroundings. The ledge she had been standing on was a good fifteen feet above her, and she surmised that she must have slid down the slope after she had fainted. Her entire side ached, and she was covered head to foot in dust and dirt. Fortunately, her descent had stopped before reaching the Bog.
Nicole's nose wrinkled in disgust as she watched the thick gelatinous gloop churn slowly, releasing its toxic miasma. She rose to her feet, edging away from the Bog and looking back up towards the ledge. She could faintly hear her friends calling to her. That, and seeing the dust just settling on the slope, she guessed she'd only been unconscious for a minute or two.
'As if anyone could sleep with that stench nearby,' she shuddered. But as she began to climb again, she heard another sound…
"Raven!" she exclaimed, suddenly remembering what had brought her here to begin with. She tore off towards the raucous sound of two birds screaming.
Gareth narrowly avoided the white talons of his brother as he dodged through the branches of yet another tree on the edge of the Bog. He cursed to himself breathily, his transformed shape turning it into a harsh squawking cacophony. He backwinged, barely missing another attack.
Gareth had hoped, rather futilely, that his brother would not be so quick on the uptake. Gareth had very little magic of his own. His ability to transform to a raven was the result of genetics – technically a magical act, it was also a simple matter of heredity. The power he had invoked to bring Sarah to the Labyrinth was the Labyrinth's itself. Few people, besides himself and Jareth, knew that the Wilderlands outside the Labyrinth allowed the invocation of aide. Simply put, the magicks of the Labyrinth did not apply outside of it walls. As long as Nicole was outside the Labyrinth, she was not under Jareth's rules and therefore could call forth any champion to aide her quest. Gareth simply made her aware of the rules – or lack thereof.
Needless to say, however, Jareth did not appreciate his brother's interference. Gareth flew through the trees, pausing inside a spruce as the white owl tore at the close-knit branches. Gareth panted for breath, considering his options. Although smaller in this form than his brother, as a raven Gareth had two distinct advantages. Firstly, being smaller made him slightly quicker and gave him the advantage of flight. Jareth was the deadlier bird, his talons capable of dealing greater damage. It was rather ironic that Gareth was the better fighter in human form.
Gareth waited for his brother to entangle himself more fully in the tree before he dodge past the snappy branches on the opposite side. He heard his irate brother scream behind him, and he almost smirked as he flew off into the forest. Now all he needed was a good hiding hole…
There. Near the ground was an opening partially covered by ferns. He dove into the hole, peeking out to see no trace of his brother. Waiting patiently and struggling to regain his breath, he waited until the wide shadow passed overhead. Give it a few minutes, then perhaps he would be safe enough to escape.
Gareth sighed, checking himself for injury. The adrenaline was leaving his system, leaving no absence of aches and pains. His back was bloody from a shallow scratch from the white owl's talons, and his wings were sore from crashing through the trees. However, he was satisfied that his injuries seemed minimal.
He eyed the hovering form of the owl in the sky. Jareth was still circling overhead, waiting for his brother to try an escape. Gareth's eyes narrowed. He hadn't expected his brother to be this angry at his interference.
A grinding noise rumbled in the distance, and Gareth noticed happily that his brother jerked in his flight and took off in the direction of the sound of the disturbance. Gareth hopped out of his refuge, eyeing the sky about him. A sound from the Bog caught his hearing, and he took off into a lumbering flight towards that horrid stench…
Meanwhile, a small bouncy creature was causing mischief in the Goblin City.
Dori cackled as he flew about the barracks in the Goblin Army's fortress at the end of the Gauntlet. Green sparks flew as he summoned his magic to set fires to the bedding. The building oozed poisonous green smoke from the windows, and the few goblins remaining rang the warning bells, calling for help to put out the fires.
With the goblins so fully distracted, Dori paused for a jig of victory. His master would be so pleased with him! He flew to the gates, intent on beginning stage two of his Master's plan.
The stables lay near the gates. While they were mostly empty due to the war, some of the older equipment was also haphazardly stored here. Dori flew through the mess, his eyes gleaming as he caught sight of what he was looking for.
With an evil chuckle, Dori opened the gates that led to the Gauntlet, using his magic position his find at the entrance. A spark of green energy was all that was needed to start the old mechanisms. With a grinding of gears, a whiff of burning oil, the Labyrinth Tank churned into the narrow Gauntlet pass.
Dori grinned, flying off to begin stage three.
"Nicole?" Sarah called, scrambling to hold onto the ledge. She futilely scanned the ground below for her friend while her companions paced the ground below.
"I thought listenin' to that bird was a mistake," Hoggle grumbled.
"Bird bad," Ludo agreed. Sir Didymus shook his head.
"Our noble guide was attacked unfairly! We need to rally forth and aide its battle," he cried, trying to convince Ambrosious to scale the walls. His noble steed staunchly refused.
"Hoggle, what is that!" Sarah called. The sound of bells filled the air, and the group below turned to see the green smoke rising from the horizon.
"Somethin's on fire at the Goblin City!" Hoggle yelled. Sarah eyed the smoke, a feeling of misgiving seeping into her stomach. It intensified as she watched dust rising at a rapid rate from further down the gorge.
"Hoggle, something's coming! Quickly, climb up here!" she called. Sir Didymus, naturally, turned to face the oncoming danger as Hoggle and Ludo struggled to climb the wall before them.
A grinding of steel alerted Sarah, and she gasped as a huge vehicle lumbered into view. Even Sir Didymus seemed to have second thoughts, and Ambrosius climbed the wall without hesitation.
The ground trembled beneath Sarah as she stood riveted by the approaching machine. Much like the cleaners, this tank blocked the entire width of the gorge. Multiple rotating blades whirred to keep any enemies from ducking around or even above the mechanical terror. If one managed to avoid the blades, there was still the matter of being crushed to death by several tons of cold steel. Several tons that were swiftly bearing down on her friends…
Sarah slid down the steep incline, grabbing Hoggle and helping him towards the top. Ambrosius had already cleared the top of the gorge on the other side, and Ludo was not far behind him. Hoggle struggled, but the pair barely managed to reach the crest before the tank rumbled beneath them. Sarah and Hoggle shot over the ledge, tumbling towards the Bog below…
Nicole ran along the edge of the Bog, choking as she called for her feathered friend.
"Raven? Where are you? Raven!" she cried between gagging breathes. She had hoped that she could grow somewhat accustomed to the smell as time wore on; however, the smell of the Bog only seemed to grow worse the longer one was exposed to it.
A rumbling noise in the distance alerted her. She peered through the trees only to see green smoke billowing from somewhere nearby. Filled with irrational fear for her friends, she ran through the trees towards it, barely catching herself at the edge of the Bog. She glanced about, but the Bog completely cut her off from her destination. There was no time to go around, and she began searching for a path across.
There, barely reaching above the cesspool, was a series of stepping stones. She grimaced at the moss covered surfaces – one false step, and she'd smell like Bog forever. The clanging of sirens and vague calls for help spurred her forward, however.
'My friends need me,' she told herself firmly, and after one small paused, she leapt out onto the first stone. The stones were slick, and she carefully jumped from stone to stone as she came ever closer to the opposite side.
And perhaps, just perhaps, she would have made it safely across had it not been for a flash of white in her peripheral vision. Her head jerked around mid leap, watching the owl as it flew straight towards the source of the commotion. She returned her attention to the jump, but it was too late. Having misjudged her landing, her foot slipped on impact, and a scream tore from her throat as she plummeted towards the Bog…
End Notes: Oo, what's going to happen? Will Nicole be stinky forever? Also, you'll be seeing a lot more of Dori coming up as more evil plans are carried out.