Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth or the characters in it, nor do I make any profit from this story in anyway.
Title: In Dreams, I Await Your Hand
Chapter Five:
Once he made it over the tower he could feel himself change. White feathers stretched and became long blond hair. His limbs elongated and his shadow grew from a bird to the form of a tall angry man. His black cape appeared from nowhere and snapped in the strong wind past his muscular shoulders. He walked to the edge of the tower in a purposeful trance.
"I will turn the world upside down for you," he said as if one in a dream.
The goblins that had earlier blown the curvy trumpets trembled before him and then ran out the door to the winding staircase below.
The goblin king looked over the edge and saw from there the labyrinth and its borders. He concentrated and saw, with a special ability only he alone possessed, the network of power beneath the soil of the labyrinth. Magic flowed underground, and he could see its pulse, a faint pink purple color.
"I have served you faithfully," he said to the whole underground. His voice was cold and his eyes blazed as the wind swept his hair from his face. "Now," he said as he extended an arm out and grasped the air, his fingers bunched into a claw shape, as if he held a bundle of cords, "you will serve me." He pulled his fist slowly upward, and the ground trembled. He saw the pulse brighten, a red aura radiated underground beneath the position of his hand, as if it bled.
He stretched out his other arm before him slightly to the left, so that his arms formed a V. That gloved hand also grasped something intangible that corresponded with the energy beneath. The power shocked from within, as it magically entered through his hands into his body like liquid fire.
Slowly, never losing focus, he raised his eyes heavenward as his boots rose from the stone ground. He gritted his teeth at the upward struggle. "More," he gasped, sweating.
While he still held the invisible bunches of power he savagely grasped at more knots of pink that glowed beneath strategic points under the labyrinth. The sheer mass of that power for a moment pulled him back. He quickly corrected the shift in weight and clawed with his other hand at more.
Sweat poured down his face and passed the bunched muscles of his neck.
It was painful. He had never channeled this much magic, the energy was so powerful it burned. The whites of his eyes were suffused with red energy and his mouth, clenched a second ago, opened to gasp painfully one name.
"Sarah…"
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Sir Didymus looked up from his galloping steed and saw that the king had alighted at the top of the tallest tower. He hurried the dragon, wondering at the same instant how he was to get up the tower in time.
A small wooden door at the towers base came into view. In a smooth motion, Sir Didymus swung himself off, grasped, and then pulled at the heavy metal handle. It did not budge.
"Locked," he hissed. He took a step back and slammed his little shoulder at the door, and just when he was going to go at it again, the door swung inward and Hoggle grabbed his arm.
"Oh, get in already!" Hoggle closed the door and they were enveloped in darkness.
"How is it possible you made it here before me?" Sir Didymus asked as he caught his breath.
Hoggle looked through his ring of keys and smiled as he held one up from the many, "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." With that he inserted the key into the door on the inside of the tower and turned; a triumphant click! With a smug look, Hoggle pushed at the door and was hit in the face by a flapping chicken!
"Arrr! Me chickens! Git out, git out! Youz letting me chickens loose!" cried an angry cook.
Hoggle immediately shut the door to the kitchen and fumbled through his keys, embarrassed. "Humph, well I can't be right all the time." For the second time that week Sir Didymus wiped feathers off his hat.
"Hurry Sir Hoggle," the anxious fox whispered.
Hoggle made an, "ahah!" sound and inserted a different key into the lock.
It clicked.
When they opened the door and stepped out they felt bright sunlight hurt their eyes and felt a strong wind whip their clothes. The brave knight's senses were superior to the dwarf's and it enabled him to see that his king burned a fierce purple and red hue
"The king is on fire!" he shouted, barking.
Hoggle who did not have his friend's canine senses did not understand at first, he saw the goblin king suspended in the air as if he struggled to hold something. He did not see any fire.
Suddenly, with wide eyes, he understood.
Sir Didymus barked and ran to and fro, trying to get his king to come back down that he may help douse the flames.
"Fool!" cried Hoggle, as he grabbed Sir Didymus by the shoulders and pulled him back, "Don't stop him now! He has the very veins of the labyrinth in his hands! See how he's flying up, pulling harder? Any distraction could have something slip and he'll be ripped apart!"
Sir Didymus was frantic. "What – what is he doing?"
Hoggle looked up with a solemn expression; his wrinkled brows knitting together as hot moisture blurred his vision. "He's turning back time for her."
"No - your majesty! Think of what you're doing!" the knight barked.
Suddenly there was a loud groan that made the tower shake. Hoggle was knocked off his feet again and Sir Didymus fought to stay upright.
"What on earth is that sound?" screamed Hoggle.
Both friends lunged at and held onto the tower edge, they peered over its dizzying depth and looked on with stricken eyes at the outer wall of the labyrinth. Great oaks were pulled and uplifted, hovering over the red dirt as if ready to fly, walls crumbled, and great portions of land sunk in to fill the land distortions.
"The maze…" whispered Sir Didymus, shocked and amazed, "the maze is breaking."
Hoggle stared up into the blinding sky at Jareth. Hot tears coursed down his wrinkled cheeks but he could not curse the king as he thought he would. To defy everyone and everything for Sarah…it made him angry, but strangely enough, he admired the Goblin King at that moment.
"Save her," he softly encouraged.
Sir Didymus, however, looked on with a heavy heart. For some reason the words came out though at the time it made no sense to him. "Sire, but what of the children?"
Brightness, burst forth where the king was.
Both dwarf and fox yelped.
It was blinding, a second where nothing existed but white light.
When it ended, Sir Didymus and Hoggle lowered their arms from their eyes and saw that the king had vanished.
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a/n: Ow, my head hurts. This had to be the most confusing part. A big thank you to all the wonderful people who sent me reviews and bog threats ;)
I will endeavor to write the story more clearly from this point. I think if I rewrite this chapter my head will pop. Not pretty. So what you see is what you get. Lots love.