Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing that is remotely recognizable. I know. I'm just as disappointed as you are.
Well hello there! I'm sorry for the inexcusable delay in updates, but as I'm sure you're all aware, life can be so unpredictable sometimes. For instance, I had originally planned to have this chapter up on Tuesday to celebrate my birthday, but alas, it was not to be... :D However, to make up for the agonizing wait, I kept my promise and made this chapter the longest of any of my other ones in order to make up for the last chapter's shortness! YAY! On that happy note, I regretfully must inform you that I feel like this story is coming to a close. *sheds tear* So although THIS chapter is not the stunning conclusion, I'm thinking that it could possibly be next chapter. Just remember: all good things must come to an end, therefore this couldn't possibly go on forever ;) For those of you who feel saddened by this news, don't worry, because I have a BRAND NEW story that I will be debuting at the same time as my epic conclusion-so be on the look out!
Onto shoutouts! Über-mega shoutouts go to my lovely and rather fantastic reviewers: Kami74, fanaticallyFictitious, The Queen of Water, black-heart-green-eyes, Guest, fanficreader1053, another guest, Georgina, Joesette, Exodrac, Princess of the Fae, fare-thee-well, Honoria Granger, Buggus264, BourneLegacy13, and XxXdawnXxX! All of your kid and concerned words left me with a ridiculously large smile, sooo...FRESHLY-BAKED-MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH-BASKETS-OF-BROWNIES for you all! Enjoy my sweet-toothed friends ;D
Mucho Grande shoutouts also go to my beloved followers and favoriters: Death's Silent Approach, F. 78, RapunzelFitsherbert, Navidasti, Silvermastermind, and Animegal1809! Because of your devotion, I humbly bequeath unto you a single, magnificent pastry creation. Otherwise known as the golden brownie. I hope it fills your lives with happiness ;D
And last but certainly not least, I would like to give a big shoutout to all of you who took time out of your busy schedule to read my story! My specialty brownie mix will be available to yotoast the end of the chapter. Don't forget to just add water ;)
Chapter 13: Running out of Time
Sarah felt like she was falling in slow motion. She wondered whether when plunging towards certain death, could everyone see their surroundings so clearly? She could see every smudge on the castle bricks with pristine clarity. Chicken feathers were oddly placed among the crevices, and an errant thought ran through her mind about the launching of chickens...
Even in the pale moonlight, all of the Goblin buildings seemed to be illuminated by some otherworldly light. Turning in midair so that she was staring at her former room window, tendrils of her hair flew up and wildly whipped her face as she continued to plummet. As she closed her eyes, a small crystalline tear slid down her face.
Sarah thought about Toby, and all of the lazy afternoons spent eating string cheese, all of the bedtime stories, and all of the smiles and laughter they had shared. She had never even said goodbye, and in some distant part of her brain wondered whether her family was missing her yet.
Coming increasingly closer towards the cold, stone ground, Sarah drew a deep breath as she mentally tried to calm herself.
'At least I got to see Jareth one last time...' was her final thought before making impact.
Gradually, Sarah's eyes fluttered open, and her hands pushed against tufty orange hair.
"Sawah fall..." came rumbling from beneath Sarah's.
Head rising and falling rhythmically as Ludo breathed, her eyes questioningly searched the space surrounding her. Eyes landing upon two more familiar faces, Sarah burst into tears of joy and astonishment.
"My lady, why dost thou weep? We art here to perform a most daring rescue, and it seemeth that had we arrived a moment later, we would have been too late. Verily, I can only thank the stars that my brother was lumbering directly underneath your timely descent. " Sir Didymus's voice penetrated her shock and Sarah cracked a watery smile at the courageous knight.
Softly, a gnarled, old hand placed itself gently on her shoulder, and Sarah turned.
"I's told you once that it only gets worse from here on in. Do you believe me now?" Hoggle said in a gruff but kind tone.
"Hoggle!" Sarah cried and threw herself into a tight hug with her closest friend. Looking around at all of their familiar faces Sarah was truly happy. "I came back to save you...so how did you guys escape the fierys?"
Hoggle grunted. "Hmph, well we's been tossed in an oubliette...so a few broom closets later, we's found the trick to be escapin'.
Sir Didymus sniffed in distaste. "Aye my lady, and not all closets were filled with brooms, if you get my gist...too many of those ebony chickens for my taste.." He mumbled.
Realizing that she was still partially seated on Ludo, Sarah shakingly stood up and offered a hand to her plushy friend. Once Ludo grasped her palm and heaved himself to a stand, he took his large hand and wiped Sarah's glistening cheeks.
"Sawah sad?" He asked confusedly.
"No Ludo, I'm happy. Happy that I finally found you all."
Sir Didymus cleared his throat and stared at Sarah with a puzzled expression on his face. "Yes, just how did you come to be falling from the highest tower fair maiden?"
Sarah could feel anxiety hover in her stomach as she recounted how the fiery scaled the castle and then flung her out the window. "...and then it seemed like I had been falling for an eternity before I landed on Ludo." She finished breathlessly.
Hoggle shuffled in irritation. "When I see that no good, evil, annoying King of ours, I's going to give him a piece of my mind! What he was thinkin' leavin you alls by yourself, I'll nev-"
"-Jareth!" Sarah interrupted worryingly. "He never came back.." she glanced at her friends fearfully. "Do any of you know where he would be?"
Hoggle rolled his large eyes. "If the rat's anywhere, he'd be in that orchard of his, probably tending to those poisoned peaches."
As Hoggle was speaking, pattering footsteps could be heard coming from around the castle corner. At first, their small group thought it was goblins, but it wasn't until they saw the luminescent red glow on the cold pavement, that they began to panic. Falling silent, Sarah and her friends could hear snarling voices speaking in loud tones.
"That lady never plays by the rules!" One said to the other.
" Not for long...the boss wants her head, and then everything will be okay again. He said that when we find the lady, the forest will fix itself." The other barked out.
Hearing their voices grow louder, Sarah felt slightly nauseous. They had to find Jareth and fast. Crouching down she whispered, "We need to find Jareth now! He's the only one who can solve this mess..." turning her jade eyes towards Hoggle, she asked desperately, "Will you take me to the orchard?"
His wide eyes glued on the castle corner, slowly he registered her request and nodded. "Hurry, follow me!" was spoken as he quickly limped towards the orchard's secret opening.
Confident that they had lost the trailing fierys, Sarah stopped her brisk run and placed her palms on her knees. "Hoggle...how...much..farther?" she questioned breathlessly. They had to have been running for at least thirty minutes before they had reached the edge of the forest, and now they were sticking close to the edge so that nothing unsavory would be able to creep up on them.
Finally getting the chance to truly recover from both her fall, and their mad dash towards the orchard, Sarah was now beginning to worry at the lack of a headache. Surely, they had been too far apart for too long, and a sickening feeling was spreading in her stomach.
The small dwarf was doubled over trying to catch his breath as he attempted to answer. In fact, all but Sir Didymus seemed to be severely winded from the long sprint.
" Not..much..but...the Labyrinth..keeps..changing.."
"Verily, onward! At this pace, how can we be expected to reach our majesty in time?" The energetic fox interjected with determination.
"Ludo tired..."
Sarah grinned wryly at the differences between her friends and was about to make a snarky remark, when a distant clanging sound broke her train of thought. Keeping still, Sarah glanced at her friends worriedly. Mouthing the word "Hide!", they swiftly scattered.
Relief washed through Sarah as the source of the obnoxious clanging was discovered. A horde of goblins "prepared" for battle came rushing through the densely populated forest. Small green and brown goblins of all different shapes and sizes were armed in what looked like the royal kitchen's cutlery, among other things. One was sporting a porcelain mixing bowl as a makeshift helmet, while others were brandishing wooden spoons and spatulas above their heads in a crazed fashion.
Stepping out from her hiding spot, Sarah jumped in front of the angry mob of goblins with her palms up and her arms outstretched. The ones leading their little band skidded to a stop before smashing into the Labyrinth's champion. Watching as they came swiftly to a halt, Sarah assessed the situation and addressed the minuscule goblin in charge.
"What is all of this about? What's going on?"
The small goblin leading the charge was none other than the one that had barged into her room. Only now, he was wearing a kitchen strainer on his head that made his tufty olive-green hair stick out wildly in some places.
"Lady Sarah, we have come to help King! Red monsters drag king away from us, and I thought that we would help you fight for him back! Will you help us?"
Sarah's insides clenched and she felt all of the blood drain from her face. The Wild Gang had gotten a hold of Jareth. Who knew what they would do to him, especially since they believed he was the cause for all of the forest's deterioration...steeling her emerald gaze, she knew that she had made her decision.
"Take us to them, we WILL fight."
Minutes later they had penetrated the peach orchard and were silently sliding from behind one tree to another. A tiny reddish-brown goblin that went by Gixle tugged on Sarah's faded pant leg. His knobby index finger pointed out a flickering light deeper into the orchard. All of the goblins and the three of her friends looked to her for approval. Nodding her head once, she gave the signal to surround the glowing fire.
Silently closing in on the brightly lit area was no small task. Many times, Sarah had to close her eyes for fear that a rattling fork or spoon from the goblin's supplies would go noticed by the fierys. Thankfully, luck was on their side, and all of them made a tight circle around the small enclosure.
Just as she was about to give the signal to charge, her attention snapped to two of the stray fierys dragging a body closer to the source of light. As Jareth's form came into view, Sarah stopped breathing. Why wasn't he moving? Breath caught in her throat, she could only watch as he was dragged towards the figure closest to the fire.
"Hey boss man, we found him chillin' on a rooftop. What should we do with him?"
The figure closest to the fire let out a rasping voice as he quivered angrily. His moveable head swiveled around to look at the Goblin King's still body. Deranged eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the leader whispered in dangerously low tones to his subordinates.
"Get him away from me. What use is a dead Goblin King." He said with a sneer.
A collective gasp ran through the hidden goblin ranks as the news of their dead king spread. Sir Didymus glanced up towards Sarah sorrowfully.
"Oh my lady..."
Sarah stood frozen to the spot. She didn't feel anything. Where she was, she was beyond pain. Gixle tapped her leg. Looking down, she saw the loyal goblin had tears in his eyes."
"Lady Sarah, what do we do now?" He asked trembling with sadness.
As if in a trance, Sarah turned back towards the fire and began to walk. As she stepped out from the mass of trees she mumbled one word.
"Attack."
Chaos like nothing the Labyrinth had seen before ensued. Mere moments after the half-muttered word left her mouth, goblins rushed from every part of the surrounding circle brandishing their weapons. All around her the goblins showed their fierce loyalty to the King as they fought together. Ludo's large tail knocked the legs out from under a few of the fierys and nearby, Hoggle sprayed a fiery in the face with his fairy killer. Gixle was nowhere to be seen, but Sarah surmised that he was no doubt helping dismantle a fiery with the rest of the goblin horde.
Seemingly oblivious to the tumultuous environment around her, Sarah kept walking towards the one person that she had ever truly loved. Blissfully ignorant of the dismembering of limbs, her gaze locked on the prone Goblin King. Coming to the spot where he lay forgotten in the ruckus, Sarah collapsed to her knees. Running her hand over the left side of his chest, it wasn't until she felt the loss of a heartbeat that she allowed her face to crumple. Angry tears streaked down her face and onto his chest as she let her barriers down.
'This wasn't how it was supposed to happen!' she thought to herself. He couldn't die, not now that she knew that she loved him! Cursing the lack of time they had had together, Sarah beat on his chest with her fist, before gathering his upper body into her arms. For what felt like an eternity, she sat there with him cradled in her arms weeping.
NO! This can't be the end! Her mind screamed. Imagining her world without Jareth in it was impossible for her mind to wrap around. Sucking in her quivering breaths, Sarah tried to think of something...anything that could change the hand date had so cruelly dealt.
Snapping her head up, a spark of hope kindled in her eyes. Words from long ago raced through her head, words that she had long forgotten. Why shouldn't it work? Her inner voice reasoned. For after all, the King of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain powers...
Well that certainly was exciting! As always, I love to hear all of your opinions, thoughts, and feelings about my chapters, so please please please PLEASE review to let me know what you all thought! Trust me, it only gets better from here on in ;D