"Keep the Magic Alive"
Chapter 6
By Aiijuin

Disclaimer: All things "Labyrinth" belong to Henson Companies as well as many other wonderful contributors. I own nothing!
This story is dark, and therefore is markedM+ for Mature content

Chapter 6: The Littlest King

Jaime King was walking through the corridors of the Labyrinth when he jumped in fright. He turned towards the sudden noise that had startled him and it was promptly followed by a voice that sounded vaguely like his father's.

"And, where do you think you're going?" The voice asked.

Jaime walked towards the voice, but didn't answer. He held his hands out in front of him and moved cautiously forward until he could smell the leather of a boot. As he tiptoed a little closer to the source of the smell, he finally felt something smooth and cold with his fingertips. Jaime bent down until he recognized the slope of the shoe and then came to a pointy tip at the end. He motioned his head upwards and asked, "Who are you?"

"I could be your father, boy," the voice answered.

"No…. no, you're not my daddy, Mister," Jaime replied.

The boot shifted position, and Jaime had to back away to be sure he didn't lose his balance. Then, the masculine voice asked amusedly, "You're mother, Sarah, and sister, Sahara think I'm your 'daddy', so why wouldn't you think so too, child?"

"Because, you have a mean voice and my daddy doesn't," Jaime responded.

"Mmm, such a small child and you have already drawn those conclusions. Have you actually taken a good look at me, little one?" The voice asked.

"I can't, Mister," Jaime said candidly.

"Oh? You only need to look in the correct direction to see me," The man said and then snapped his gloved fingers. "I'm over here, boy! Why do you keep looking past my shoulders?"

"I'm not looking at anything. I can't see… I'm blind," Jaime finished with his arms crossed angrily.

"Ah. Are you certain?" The man asked.

Jaime nodded and the man continued, "It amazes me that you have made it so far from my castle in such a short time with such a horrific handicap. You should be helpless without any sight, don't you think? Are you sure that you're really blind, or are we just pretending?"

Jaime frowned, "People who can't see aren't helpless! I can find things faster than my mommy and sisters can, also I can do certain things better-er too."

"Like, what exactly?"

Jaime placed his tiny hands on his hips and raised his chin defiantly, "Well, you just breathed seven times in the last minute. The wind is blowing against the left side of my face, which means that there is an opening in the wall to the left of me. There are about eight crows in a tree nearby, because I can hear them crowing and one of the birdies are cleaning its feathers, 'cause I can hear its beak shuffling inside its wings. It's still early in the morning here, because there is some wetness on the plants and walls, but the ground is dry. Five little people are standing around you right now, because I can hear their breathing too, and their breaths are close to the ground, so I know they are small like me."

"Well, those are goblins, not people, actually…. How old are you, boy?" the voice asked.

"This many," Jaime answered and held up three fingers.

"You speak amazingly at such a tender age. Why, you're only a baby," The voice marveled.

"I'm NOT a baby! And my daddy reads to me all the time and talks to me too. I learned to talk gooder than my sisters did at my age, because my daddy tells me that since I can't see, I have better other senses," Jaime nodded proudly.

"'Gooder'?" The voice asked mockingly. "Well, most of your vocabulary is farther advanced anyway…"

Jaime tilted his head and whispered, "You're the Goblin King, aren't you?"

"And what if I was, boy?" The man asked.

"Are you going to turn me into a goblin?" Jaime asked. "'Cause my sister said the magic words…are you going to do that to me, Mister Goblin King?"

"If your sister, Sahara, can't solve my Labyrinth in less than thirteen hours, then I believe that I will," The Goblin King replied. "Although, I've never had to cater to a blind goblin before… this should be interesting."

"You don't think that my sister will win, do you?" Jaime asked.

The Goblin King bent down towards the toddler and began to observe the boy's mismatched eyes. Then, he waved his hands in front of Jaime's face to see if the boy was lying about his vision. Jaime furrowed his eyebrows and yelled, "Stop that! I hate when people do that!"

"So! You can see!" The Goblin King exclaimed.

Jaime shook his head over-emphatically and shouted, "No! But I can feel the breeze from your hands when you do that, and plus you're wearing funny smelling gloves on them too 'cause they smell the same as your boots!"

"Aww," The Goblin King purred. "Such a sad life for you…. You've never even seen a full moon or the rising of the sun. And to have missed the sight of your mother's unbelievably radiant eyes…. Now, that is such a pity."

"I've seen the moon and sun before," Jaime replied smugly.

The Goblin King blinked and muttered, "How could you have ever seen anything if you can't see at all?"

"I see everything in my dreams, Mister Goblin King," Jaime whispered. "I know that you look like my daddy a little bit, 'cause I've seen you sitting on your big chair in that castle in the middle of your gigantic Labyrinth with an orange sun shining overhead. You have fluffy hair. Can…. Can I…?"

"Can you, what, child?" The Goblin King asked.

"Can I feel it please?" Jaime bit his lip and remembered that his mother and father both told him to never talk to strangers, let alone allowing them to come too close. The toddler couldn't resist the Goblin King for some reason, and was more intrigued and infatuated with him, rather than frightened.

Jaime felt the leather-gloved hands wrap around him and lift him into the air. He was promptly propped against the chest of the Goblin King as the little boy reached out his hands. The king guided them over to his hair and allowed the boy to run his fingers through it. Jaime giggled as he whispered, "…just like daddy's…."

Jaime's curiosity had gotten the better of him and he allowed his hands to run past the hair and to the face. It was soft and smooth, with high cheekbones and…

Jaime gasped, "You're nose is the same as my daddy's too!"

The Goblin King removed the child's hands from his face and placed them on something hard, smooth, and round. Jaime tilted his head, "Is a ball? It feels like it's made of glass."

"Neither, young child," The Goblin King replied. "It's a magic crystal and within it is a dream. I can grant you one wish, if you should like. You can have anything that you want, you only need to say the magic words."

Jaime froze and took a deep breath in. The voice of his parents screamed out in his head telling him never to take anything from strangers. The Goblin King, despite his dreams, was a stranger by every description. Jaime had only physically met him less than five minutes ago, and the king wasn't exactly very nice to him from the start. The toddler worked things out in his mind and the Goblin King prodded, "Well? What do you wish for? …as if I didn't already know…."

Jaime pursed his lips nervously and finally stammered, "My mommy says, 'If wishes were horses, we'd all take a ride'."

The Goblin King's tone changed immediately, he spat, "When someone offers you a free wish, boy, it's best not to insult the granter! Now, what did you wish for?"

Jaime narrowed his eyes and kicked the arm of the Goblin King, which caused him to be dropped. Jaime fell hard and skinned his knee, but his adrenaline was racing and he barely felt it at the moment. He shouted before racing forward towards the wind, "Leave me alone! You're a stranger! I just want my daddy and mommy and sisters! My daddy said that nothing is ever free and you're just trying to trick me!"

Jaime wasn't sure if the Goblin King or his entourage of goblins were following him, but he was trying to concentrate on running as far and fast as his tiny legs could carry him. Despite his hobbling, he was certainly making tracks. However, a few seconds later, the ground dropped out from under him and he fell into an area with slimy, groping hands that were holding him.

He could hear voices all around him as he shouted, "Mommy! Daddy! Help me!"

New voices answered him from all directions, "What are you talking about? We are helping! We're helping hands…"

Jaime was petrified, because there must have been a dozen cold, slippery, gigantic hands holding his limbs and body and he couldn't find the faces that commonly paired with arms and hands. They were holding him too tightly and he cried, "You're hurting me! Please let go!"

"Are you sure?" Another burly voice asked.

Jaime nodded and said, "Yes, please!"

"He said, 'let go'!" Still another voice said regretfully and then there was laughter as Jaime felt all of the hands release him at once and he began to sprial downward.

He screamed loudly, until he once again crashed down unto the ground. He hurt his ankle this time and began to cry. After a few minutes of realizing that nobody heard his cries anyway, he began to explore the area that he had been dropped into. Sadly to his dismay, as he felt his way around, there was no entrance or exit. It was just a small area without any doors or windows. He sat back down on the ground and tucked his knees under his chin and started to weep again.