Chap 10 is here! I made a slight change in chapter 6 in Jareth's part. LadySorrow noticed me ofsomething (not in words really) and it gave away a bit to much of the plots here, so I changed it a little. About Kranlar, I told you before that he isn't who he seems to be, and if you do think to know it: please don't write it in the comments. It spoils the fun for the others.
Well LadySorrow. I told you guys that the chap would probably confuse you.Unfortunately I can't give you an explanation for your question...jet. It would give away the entire story, so just read on and find out. You will see what I mean .
and princess of rivendell: tank you again, and also thank you for all the other times you will probably give me a comment. (hé! You gave me 5 of the 21 comments! I'm not compaining though .)
And thanks (and apolosies) to moonjava, who I forgot to mention in chap 9.
Chapter 10. 'Too many things for granted'
Markla sat in the corner of the Throne room. She had played along with the Goblins, pretending the King was kidnapped, but now she just looked over the Labyrinth. She stared out of the window, in hope to catch a glimpse of her King, not paying attention to the panic around her. She jerked up when she heard a familiar voice yell: "Who has kidnapped him? Speak up!" Markla looked around and saw Kranlar standing in the door. The startled Goblin, who Kranlar had asked the question at, answered: "Istosar Samuel". Kranlar looked doubting for a moment, but then left the Throne Room with a cold smile. Markla shivered with fear.
To Markla's knowledge, there were only three people who really knew about Istosar Samuel. The Goblin King, herself, and Istosar Samuel. The other Goblins only knew the tales they had heard. But since Samuel had disappeared, no one knew where he had gone to, neither when he would return. But how come that an ordinary Goblin like Kranlar suddenly did knew that? The secret must have slipped someone's lips. But Markla knew the King wouldn't have said that, nor did she. Maybe Samuel had returned, and told it himself. Markla let out a small yip and looked with wide open eyes to Kranlar, who was at the end of the hallway. The thought of Samuel retuning was terrifying. Markla's mind raced and her heartbeat was suddenly twice as fast. She didn't know what Kranlar was up to, but she did knew that he had to be stopped from getting in contact with Istosar Samuel. With a resolute face she stood up and ran to the study of Jareth. Being the only Goblin Jareth allowed in his room to clean it, Markla knew where Jareth kept his stuff. She took the black quill and ripped a piece of parch from a long scroll. She quickly wrote a note. Then she walked to the window. She whistled a little and a small robin landed on the window. Markla tied the note to his leg and mumbled something in the Robin's ear. Then the small bird flew off and Markla ran quickly to Kranlar's chambers. There she found Kranlar, who was just about to enter his room.
"Sir!" she said in her sweetest and most innocent voice. Kranlar looked around and saw the maiden coming his way.
"Sir! Wait up please!" she said. Panting a little, she stood still in front of Kranlar and looked straight at him.
"What is it?" he said rude to Markla. Markla's heartbeat became even faster. She had been in such a rush that she hadn't thought of a plan to stop him. She stared blankly at Kranlar.
"Speak up servant!" Kranlar yelled. Markla felt a sweat drop rolling over the forehead.
"I…erm…well…" she uttered. Kranlar rolled with his eyes and turned to the door, ready to walk away.
"Ah, Sir!" Markla said suddenly.
"Now what?!" Kranlar yelled nervous. He wanted to go to his room, instead of being bothered by ordinary servants who can't even speak decently.
"Sir, is all about the King being kidnapped true?" Markla suddenly asked. Kranlar again rolled with his eyes.
"Yes," he answered shortly. He wanted to turn around, but Markla had different plans.
"And who has done it?" she asked. "The kidnapping I mean."
"Samuel," Kranlar said annoyed.
"You mean Istosar Samuel?" Markla said, pretending to be dumb.
"Yes. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do," Kranlar said annoyed and he turned around and quickly walked away. Markla's mission though, was to keep him from going to his room. So, she ran after him.
"But sir, that just couldn't have happened right! I mean…"
"Then you don't believe me, your problem!" Kranlar yelled angry. But Markla didn't plan to stop her mission here, and so she began, to Kranlar's annoyance, a long, very long story about the kidnapping of their King.
-
After Sarah's story, Sarah, Hoggle, sir Didymus and Ludo prepared themselves to be again transported by Hoggle. Sarah looked doubting, but realised she didn't have a different choice then either to be transposed, or to run the Labyrinth and getting to late to help Jareth. With a twisted feeling in her stomach, Sarah took Hoggle's shoulders, and suddenly all the four of them disappeared.
-
Jareth had been walked for quite a while now. Though very tired, he didn't bother to stop. His eyes were fixed on the next lane, and the next and the one after that. Jareth sighed. This didn't seen to end. He should have been seeing some one living by now. A faint sort of grumble was suddenly heard. Jareth looked down and noticed it was his stomach gurgling. Jareth could have killed himself for not bringing anything to eat along. He conjured a crystal and turned into a peach. It wasn't much, but it would stop his stomach from making noise for the coming while. Eating it greedy, Jareth moved on to the next lane.
"Hold on," Jareth suddenly mumbled. He had seen this path before. Following the route, he saw more and more familiar things. Jareth roared. He had been walking in circles for about half an hour. The threw the stone of the peach angry on the paved path. The stone bounced a couple of times on the path and then disappeared into a crack in the ground. Jareth let out another roar but stopped suddenly when he felt something against his leg. He looked down and saw a plant growing out of the crack in which the peach's stone just fell. Jareth jumped away from the plant, watching it in amazement. The plant grew and grew, until it was a big trunk. Then a small shoot grew out of the trunk and while pointing to the east, it began to take shape of an arrow. Jareth wondered what was going on. He had been King and Ruler over the Labyrinth for many years, but he had never seen anything like this before. Praising the indicator, Jareth walked into the direction the thing pointed. Following this direction, Jareth suddenly reached an open plain. Around it, there were many passages and there were several holes in the ground from which staircases led. On the opposite side of Jareth was a stone Throne carved like it had been made of gigantic books. And on the throne sat the Wise men, and his hat.
"Well hello! You must be in big trouble coming to us all the time," the hat said.
"Be quite!" the wise man yelled up to the bird hat. Then he looked at the approaching Goblin King. Jareth stood still in front of him.
"I need your help," Jareth said urgent.
"…again," the hat added mumbling. Jareth ignored the hat, and explained his story to the wise man. He told about the letter to Hogwart and his friends, about the sudden kidnapping of Sarah by Kranlar and last of all about the magic roof the guards told him about.
"… and now I can't get out. I have to run the labyrinth to get to the Castle again but I will be too late to help Sarah then," Jareth concluded. The bird hat suddenly began to laugh.
"Hahahahha, good one señor!" the bird hat was now complete in stitches, while Jareth looked astonished to the laughing hat.
"What is so funny about this? Are you laughing about me, captured in my own Labyrinth?" Jareth jelled. He was tired, hungry, and he suddenly felt so alone and being laughed at didn't help him. Jareth had the great urgent to hit the hat, but when he raised his hand, the wise man calmed him down.
"Please young lad, just let him go. He didn't mean that much harm," he said comforting to the King. "Didn't you?" he said angry at the bird. The bird hat nodded and stopped laughing, though he kept giggling for quite a while longer.
"What he mend was, that you can get out, you can fly away," the wise man said to Jareth.
"No old man. I have tried, and I couldn't get out. There is a sort of roof stopping me," Jareth said unbelieving. The wise man smiled.
"You know what's your problem? You take too many things for granted!" the hat laughed in a imitation of Hoggle. The wise man glared at him, though the bird hat didn't pay any notice to him. After a deep sigh, the Wise man looked at the Goblin King again.
"Then think of all the times that you have been here, wondering around and asking questions. You were an owl then as well, and then you flew away," the man said with a twinkle in his eyes. Jareth felt then for the second time that day that he could have killed himself for being so stupid. He mumbled something and frowned. The bird hat bursted out with laughter again,
but Jareth stopped him with a deadly glare.
"Thank you wise man," Jareth thanked the man. Then he changed into the magnificent snow owl, and flew off, leaving a giggling bird hat and some glitter behind him.
