Disclaimer: I own nothing but my characters, and some of the plot. Any events or places that already exist count as the plot that is not mine.

A/N: Well, here is chapter 7.

Chapter 7

Nice Knockers

0o0o0o

Laughing histerically, Jareth sat, thinking about plans. Yerk and Nim stood in front of him, pretending to laugh along.

"..and the Fireys will come out and say, 'Aren't you that famous actress? You sure have the face for it. So beautiful.' That's when Kara is going to fall in the trap! She'll waste so much time! It's perfect!" Jareth stopped laughing as his attention was on a goblin staring out the window.

"Hendle," Jareth yelled at the goblin, "What in bloody hell are you glaring at?"

With a suspisious smirk slabbed on his face, Hendle answered, "Oh...nothing..Just that Hoggle, that little dwarf that was with Kara, is snooping about near the castle."

"What? Get the guards and bring him up here!" Standing up in anger, Jareth awaited for the nosy dwarf's presence.

A few moments passed before Hoggle was thrown on his knees in front of Jareth.

"I..I...I was only ...only .." Hoggle's stuttering didn't help his situation.

Patience no longer resided in Jareth's mood, "What were you doing near my castle? True, you are allowed in the city from time to time if I give you an assignment, but I don't recall ordering you to do anything lately."

"I.." Hoggle stood nervously, "I was going to the market..."

"For what?"

"To buy some fruit for Kara. I don't want her to end up eating any poison berries later on.." Hoggle truthfully wanted to say that he didn't want Kara eating poisoned peaches from Jareth's collection.

Sitting down on the throne, Jareth sneered, "You aren't supposed to be helping her, Hognog..I think I shall put you in my dungeon for awhile.. Just until I see Kara is helped by one of my goblins. They know the Labyrinth better than you, anyways."

"...Your Majesty, you won't hurt her will you? She is my friend after all, and plus, it wouldn't be fair gameplay if you harmed her.." Hoggles words meant nothing to the Goblin King.

Jareth smiled deviously, "Guards, take Hogtrot to the dungeon. Oh, by the way, who said anything about being fair?"

As two muscular goblins came into the throne room, they carried the tantrum-giving Hoggle away. The dwarf's plan was not to get caught...Yet, somehow he knew eyes were watching him the minute he entered the city.

0o0o0o

"Ludo, look over there!" I pointed at two wooden doors, which held one door knocker on each. The knockers resembled faces. Ugly, unattractive faces, but a man's face nonetheless.

As Ludo and I reached the doors, Ludo declared, "Nice knockers.."

My laughter couldn't be helped. All I could think of was a horny teenage guy saying that to a woman. Nice knockers..Oh my goodness. That statement is going to burn in my brain for hours now. Speaking of hours, I wonder how much time I have left to save my sister.

"It's not nice to stare!" The wide-faced knocker spoke, which didn't surprise me. What couldn't speak in this place? Rocks couldn't...could they?

I appologized, "Sorry man, I was thinking."

Mmmuummphmmm.. The second, thin-faced knocker tried to speak, but he had the piece of iron used to actually knock on the door in his mouth. I hadn't noticed before, but the wide-faced knocker had the round iron from one ear to another.

Ludo seemed to know what to do, for he took the iron out of the thin-faced knocker's mouth.

"Not you again! Ludo, how many times are you going to take my mouth piece out and then put it back in? I don't want it back in this time!" The knocker looked at me, "Don't talk to him, he has the knocking piece in his ears and can't hear for nothin'. Before you even ask, just knock on one of these doors and the door will open. Oh, and no, we don't know what's on the other side. You have no idea how many times creatures have wanted to know. It's so annoying hearing 'What's behind you?' over and over again."

I didn't even want to respond. Clearly, this guy was annoyed, and didn't need my quarrels to add onto his. So, I took the piece from Ludo, who was being silly and had it in his mouth, and placed it forcingly into the knocker's mouth. After this, I stuck my tongue out at the knocker.

"You should learn how to talk less," I scolded the thin-faced knocker, "otherwise I would have been nice and used the other door."

Using the knocking-piece, I slammed it onto the door. Slowly, the door creaked open. I took Ludo's hand and we sluggishly strolled into what seemed to be a forest. Dim and dark light beamed through the treetops, warming my body. The air was a summer's day at the beach, and I wished I could stay. Unfortunately, I had to snap back into reality and notice Ludo was becoming nervous. I could tell by the way he was squeezing my hand tighter and tighter by the minute.

I let go of his hand and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Scary...Fall..." Ludo made absolutely no sense to me, but I found it amusing.

Patting his hairy, furry back, I tried to be comforting, "It'll be alright. You shouldn't be scared. I know this place seems frightening, but believe me, the only thing you have to fear is fear itself."

Now would be the suckiest time to admit that I was also a bit scared. My little statement caused Ludo to take a deep breath. Hopefully he was calming down.

Walking forward, I heard a rustle in the bushes, but ignored it. We moved on, Ludo and I, noticing the forest becoming darker and colder. The crunching leaves beneath our feet was only the first bite of the cake. Bats, birds, and unknown creatures dispensed numerous noises, which caused uncontrolable fear in no time. Without no warning at all, I felt Ludo's hand slip from mine. Turning around to see no Ludo gave me a morbid feeling to my stomach. Where'd he go?

"Ludo? Ludo? Ludo!" I was by myself again, and I quickly adapted to it. There was no way I could stop and search every tree branch for a brown beast. Sure, I cared for him, but I was also scared..And staying in my place to wait for Ludo would've been the most ludicrous idea I'd ever come up with. Sorry in advance, Ludo, but I need to move on and save my sister.

The noises in the forest did not suppress. Talk about being terryfied out of my wits! I could have sworn I saw an orange colored creature move amongst some rocks a second ago..

Boy could I use Hoggle right about now..

"Hoggle, where are you?" I screamed at the top of my lungs, but of course no one answered.

Finally, I came to a defoliated area where I could think for a moment.

And then a voice called in a Jamaican voice, "Girl-ay! Relax, stay awhile!"