Hey, I'M BACK!
First off I want to apologize for the very very long wait. I may sound like a broken record, but I am very sorry and I hope it'll never happen again. Thank you for all the reviews and messages of trying to get me back, it was very up lifting to see that even after months of not writing people still hadn't forgotten my story. I really can't express into words how much it means to me. Thank you.
And special thanks to UltimatePhangirlZoe, Saskiamq, and Angelic Aramina. Thanks for caring about the story enough to message me about it.
So this chapter is super duper long! I guess it makes up for the long break in between. Hopefully it isn't boring and hope to get the next chapter out soon!
~Mpenguin
Chapter 8
Ravie had no idea as to how long she sat there, staring at the deformity that was now her hand, but she simply could not believe what was before her eyes.
What use to be a grimy and stubby claw, a slender hand took it place. The sharp long black nails had transformed into short rounded pink tinted ones and her hard rough grayish bumpy skin had turned smooth, creamy, and white.
Nervously looking down, she had to clamp that foreign object onto her strange feeling mouth as she saw that it wasn't just her hand. Her legs now were long and slim, her toes small and round, her figure petite. In fact, the only thing that Ravie found remotely familiar was her parchment colored dress, but even that had changed. It had changed sizes to fit about her much larger form.
Standing up on shaking legs, Ravie leaned heavily on the desk as she looked with wide eyes at her reflection in the window. Instead of her little black poof, long flowing raven hair came from her head, falling smoothly onto narrow shoulders. Pushing the dark waterfall back, Ravie saw that, instead of long pointed ears, short little round ones were there; instead of a large beakish nose, a small stub of a nose remain. She was at the point of completely breaking down when her gaze went to stare at itself in the windowm and that was the moment when the bubbling chaos inside her completely died down.
Her eyes. Her very own emerald green eyes still stared back at her.
Suddenly, it didn't seem that bad. It didn't feel horrible that the small tiny goblin was gone and a much different looking young woman was staring back. She couldn't exactly say why, couldn't exactly explain, but Ravie suddenly felt, for the very first time, that those eyes truly belonged to her.
They finally fit.
Shaking her head to clear it from thinking such strange thoughts, Ravie turned around, tired of looking at the strange reflection. Leaning on the mahogany desk, she stood there for quite some time in a mindless and numb state. It was only when the clock chimed one that her mind stared coming back to its senses. It was also when she remembered:
The Goblin King.
Shit! She thought, springing up in alarm and looking wide eyed at the clock. Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no! What is he going to do when he sees me like this? Oh he's gonna get so mad! Oh he's gonna kick me! Or worse! Throw me into the Bog of Eternal Stench! Or maybe even worse than that! Oh no! What am I gonna do?
No matter how hard she tried, though, her stupid brain went on like a reel without tape, no plan floating into her mind whatsoever- just sheer panic. No plan, that is, expect for this one.
Get out! Leave! Run away!
That train of thought, once in her mind, screamed loudly enough to give Ravie an awful pounding in her head. Ravie hated the idea of running away; She thought it was a coward's way out. At the moment, however, her principles and her mind seem to clash because her panic drived mind didn't think it was a bad idea at all. Actually, it thought it to be a genius idea and push and bullied Ravie into finally breaking down and accepting it.
As she quickly found out, however, it also came with kinks.
Where in the sake of all that is odd and strange in the Goblin Kingdom would she go? She surely couldn't go home, Ravie wasn't that stupid. Mimion wouldn't in a hundred thousand years believe that she was her best friend Ravie; not to mention the fact that goblin aren't very good at keep secret away from their king. She couldn't hide in the castle. It would be in way to close proximity to the Goblin King and she was sure to get caught. And the Labyrinth?
The Labyrinth? Ravie's brain halted at that idea. It seemed logical for anyone who didn't live in the Underground that Ravie should go and hide in a gigantic twisting maze of which even its inhabitants didn't know which what was where.
Ravie, however, knew better.
The Labyrinth was the Goblin King's domain, meaning that there wasn't one single thing that happen in it that he wasn't aware of. It was rumored that the Labyrinth, along with the Goblin Castle, was somehow magically bonded with the Goblin King so that, whenever it felt that something had happened that its master was not aware of, it would try to catch it and show it to him. Ravie had always laughed at that tale, wondering who would ever have come up with the thought that the kingdom would act like a loyal puppy to the king. Now, though, with her nerves running on high, Ravie was probably willing to believe anything.
But, what other choice do I have? Ravie thought gloomily as she gazed nervously at the door. There was no other opinion, no other way. At the very least it would buy her a little more time to think. Or give her the false optimism that it would.
Take a deep steadying breath, Ravie reluctantly left the desk and slowly walked towards the door. Cracking it open just a smidge, she placed her eye on the gap and saw that the hall was empty, as usual. Taking that as a good sign, Ravie was just about ready to open the door when suddenly, something whizzed by with a loud bang. Quickly shutting the tiny opening, Ravie whipped around and leaned heavily against the door, taking deep steadying breathes.
She didn't know why she did it, in fact, she felt like a complete idiot doing so, but Ravie found herself suddenly saying:
"Hey, um, Goblin Castle? Labyrinth? I, um, don't know if you can actually hear me but..." Squeezing her eyes shut, she quickly finished, "could you please let me go to the Labyrinth safely? I'm not an enemy, I swear! I just...I just... I wanna know what's going on... please don't tell the Goblin King."
Ravie didn't know what she expected, maybe a ping or a chime or some sort of sound. Nothing, of course came, and so Ravie, feeling slightly foolish, then decided to turn around and give opening the door another go.
This time everything was absolutely still. Taking another deep breath, Ravie opened the door, completely this time, and slid herself into the hallway.
Ravie had run along the grounds of the castle for as long as she could remember, played in the forests of the Labyrinth since the beginning of her life, but Ravie absolutely knew nothing about directions. She could not have guided you to the gardens, or the dining room, she could probably just barely get you to the kitchens, but she could not tell you how to get you to any of the secret passage ways even if her life depended on it.
Which, unfortunately for Ravie, her life sort of did depend on it at the moment.
Shutting the door softly behind her, Ravie's eyes blinked blankly at the two corridors- one laid straight ahead of her while the other to the right. She stared at the one in front, turned her head to the right, only to turned her head back front and then proceeded to turn it to the right again. She did this for quite some time, with each turn being quicker than the last and her panic doubling with each turn until, finally, it reached the point that Ravie was about to burst into tears.
But before the first sob could escape from Ravie's throat, a voice suddenly come from up ahead.
"Can't you walk faster?" Marcus's voice rung out with his snappish tone.
"Sorry, Marcus, my feet are just a bit shorter than yours..." Another voice timidly followed, this one belonging to a goblin named Gippy.
Upon hearing them, Ravie thought her choice was pretty darn clear. She quickly raced to the right. She ran along that strip of corridor for quite some time, barely taking in the small narrow windows that only just lit up her path with moonlight or that nothing hung on the stone walls except for gated lanterns which glowed with bluish light. The only thing that Ravie had her mind set on was the road in front of her.
Not everything can always run so smoothly, though, and this corridor eventual split into two.
Skidding to a halt, Ravie stood there, in the fork of the two halls, panting as she tried to choose which way to go next.
It did not take long, however.
Just then voices once again came into earshot, bouncing down the right corridor this time. As flabbergasted as Ravie was with the fact that this was the second time in a huge castle that goblins were about to come across her, Ravie didn't put any time to think about the matter. She didn't even stick around to figure out who's voice it was as she quickly jetted down the left hall.
It went on like that for while, this extremely strange circumstance. It seemed that, whenever Ravie raced down the hall there was nobody, but the moment that she came to a division, voices would suddenly appear in one of the halls, making her decision very easy. It even occur if there was more than two turns: more than one set of voices would come from two of the passageways, eliminating all but one.
Normally Ravie would have considered all of this to be some sort of trap, but for right now, she couldn't care less as she flew through the Goblin Castle. At least she was heading somewhere.
Suddenly, she wasn't heading anywhere at all.
In a great burst of air, Ravie suddenly found herself falling. Down and down she went, somehow not screaming, and she quickly landed with a soft bump.
Trying to calm her speeding heart, Ravie looked around and, with pleasant surprise saw that she was out in the Castle Gardens. Strangely enough, Ravie had actually never been to, much less seen, the Gardens- only heard tales about it from Mimion and Fifo. Though they never described it as attentively or as fully as she would have like, the few words that they did say had painted a very different picture in her mind than from the one Ravie currently beheld.
It seemed to be absolutely ordinary, nothing special at all. There was no eye popping colors as Ravie had dreamed or any funny looking plants as Ravie had imagine. In fact, it all just looked like grass. Tall grass which stood like black rods in the dark midnight and Ravie couldn't help but feel disappointed. Getting up from her landing cushion, she then jumped and gasped with fright as she suddenly heard a voice grunt:
"Hey! Would yah mind?"
Whipping around, Ravie saw with surprise that there, exactly where she had just been sitting, was a grumpy looking flower. Because it was dark outside, it was difficult to tell what color the flower was but she seem to be a gorgeous deep royal blue. She had grey speckles about her inside and two black ones, which with great annoyance blinked up at Ravie. The flower had a rather long stigma shaped a tad like a bird's beak and she also seemed to wear a strange large long pointed green sleeping cap, which sat loosely on top of her head.
"Hey! Are yah dumb? Do yah not hear me talk'in to yah?" The flower grumbled once again.
"Oh, sorry!" Ravie said, returning to her senses, "What was it that you were saying?"
"I said," The flower drawled, "That yah bett'ah watch where yah're land'in! There's sleep'in plants about!"
"Oh! I'm really sorry." Ravie said.
With a scoff, the flower grumbled something that sounded a lot like, "Silly girl, looks like she's never seen a talk'in flower before" before pulling the green cap right over herself. The flower had then completely disappeared, leaving only a grassy stalk in her wake.
Staring at the plant with wonder, Ravie smiled in disbelief.
Then she suddenly found herself being pushed forwards.
Halting herself from falling, Ravie whipped around to look at what crashed into her, but nobody was there. Angry muttering then cut into the starry silence of night and Ravie, very slowly, peeked over a large bush and her green eyes met a pair of blue.
The silence hung heavy as both set of eyes stared at each other, both having a loss of what to say. Then, as if someone had hit a reboot button on both of them at the same time, they both sprung into action.
Ravie lunged herself at Hoggle the dwarf the same time that he tried to get up and run off.
It wasn't any surprise of who ended up being the victor.
Pinning the dwarf to the ground, Ravie quickly clamped her hand over Hoggle's mouth as he began to yell out "Help! Help!"
Still wresting to keep her strong hold on him, Ravie hissed into his ear, "Would you shut up! Please! If you hold still I won't hurt you!"
That got his attention for he suddenly stopped his futile attempts and, through his heavy pants, grunted, "What-who-who are you? What are you doing here? Let go of me! Let me go!"
"I will," Ravie said slowly, "only if you promise not to run away."
"Fine. Fine! Just let me go!"
"You didn't say you promised!"
"I promise! You happy? Now let me go!
Releasing her tight grip on the dwarf, Ravie got up and offered a hand.
Hoggle, though, refused, and got up by himself all the meanwhile grumbling phrases like, "Just my luck", "Of course I get attacked", and "Ow, does this girl have iron hands or something?"
One second Hoggle had been brushing the dirt off him, the next he was making a mad dash towards the other end of the garden. Ravie, however, was completely prepared. She quickly chased after him and, with the help of her new long legs, it wasn't long until she had him trapped once more with her tight hold.
"Hoggle, you promised!" Ravie said with a disappointed voice, though she had completely foresaw this coming.
"Fine, I lied! Is that so bad! And-wait a moment- how do you know my name?"
Ravie staggered. The truth was she knew it because all Goblins knew it- Hoggle the dwarf was one of their favorite 'playmates'. Ravie, of course, couldn't tell him that without saying that she was a Goblin and well, why would she do that?
Before a good lie came to Ravie's mind, however, a voice suddenly yelled out, "Jareth! Jareth! Don't you dare walk away from me. I had thought, or at least I had hoped, that you had at least a little decency! "
Ravie's eyes widen and she gasped as suddenly the Goblin King voice said, "Well, mother, I did learn all my decency from you."
Upon hearing his King's voice, Hoggle began to struggle even harder to break free from Ravie's grip. Fearful of the racket he was making, Ravie quickly pulled him behind a tree. But before she could even open her mouth to begin to beg for him not to say a word, something strange happened. The ground beneath them complete and entirely vanished, and both Ravie and Hoggle fell into the abyss.
Sliding down with nothing but darkness surrounding her, both her and Hoggle screamed as they were pulled this way and that. So sharp were the wrenching turns, that Ravie's head had begun to pound; it must have been the same with Hoggle for he had stopped yelling and began to moan instead. About the time that Ravie had begun to wonder if the tunnel ever stopped, a great swoosh of air suddenly flooded all around her and Ravie flew out of the tunnel, landing painfully onto her back.
Groaning as she slowly pulled herself up, Ravie tried her best to ignore the pain in both her head and back as she looked at her surroundings.
A jolt of recognition hit her, causing her to exclaimed, "The Bog!"
Sure enough, there it was. The Bog of Eternal stench with all its muck and grime glory, oozing its horrid smelling sludge everywhere.
It's incredible that the stench hadn't hit me until now, Ravie thought disgustedly, covering her nose from the smell which was so strong and so awful it caused her nostrils to burn.
Taking a look behind, Ravie smiled, seeing the castle in the distance and, without a thought, Ravie said, "Thanks."
A soft happy humming noise rang in her ear, gently fading away, and Ravie smiled, even though it left her feeling very alone.
"Who are you!" Hoggle suddenly exclaimed, making Ravie jump, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm, um, suppose to be here." Ravie lied, cringing at how pathetic it was.
"Huh? Suppose to be here?" Hoggle said, eyeing her disbelievingly, "I ain't ever heard of a human that supposes to be here. Nope, never. Well except runners of course."
"Runners?" Ravie said, the strange term grabbing her attention.
"Yeah, runners. You know, those humans who run the Labyrinth? You ain't one of those, are ya?"
"Oh, no. Of course not. But I do know what it is your talking about." Ravie lied.
"You do, do you?"
"Yes, I was just testing you."
"Testing...me?" Hoggle said with confusion, and suddenly, without any warning, he went off, "Is this one of Jareth's pranks? I ain't got time or inclinations for this! You can tell him...tell him...tell him, um.."
The dwarf's anger suddenly faltered and to Ravie he appeared to even cower a bit. That's when she remembered. Mimion and Fifo told Ravie about Hoggle a long time ago and one of the main things they stress was that he was absolutely terrified of Jareth. That's why so many goblins played tricks on him, because he was too afraid to do anything about it.
Taking this all into account, Ravie, very slyly, said, "Tell the Goblin King what? That you failed the test? Or that you're fed up with his royal highness? Or maybe, that you think you can do a better job than him?"
His face dropped to a look of absolute horror as he then exclaimed, "No, no, no! I don't mean anything like that! It's just...it's just..."
"Just that you're not doing a very good job with your test so far." Ravie said, "I suggest you do better on the second round."
"Yes, yes of course!" Hoggle said, "Please, uh, please give a good report to Jareth for me."
After a moment of fake consideration, Ravie said, "Well, because I like you, Hoggle, I guess I will. But next time, you might not be so lucky, so be careful."
The dwarf's face swiftly fell with relief at the response and started sprouted all sorts of sentences of gratitude. Ravie, however, paid very little attention; she was trying to figure out a way to get out.
Her eyes landed on a slim path that wove its way around the bog and so, taking a deep breath (and regretting it immediately afterwards), Ravie began her trek out of the bog, trying to be extremely careful not to slip in.
It would seem that she wouldn't make the journey alone.
"Why is Jareth testing me?" Hoggle's suddenly said behind her as Ravie was attempting to edge around a tree.
"Um, can't tell you. Goblin King's orders."
Ravie then let out a yelp as she nearly fell backwards but she quickly clung to the tree. Jeez, things were so much easier as a goblin... Ravie thought glumly as she then placed her foot on a rock and began on her way again.
Finally, Ravie's foot landed on the more familiar feel of cobblestone and, looking up ahead, she let out a sigh of relief as she saw the most beautiful thing in the world- a bridge that would lead her the heck away from this horrible smell. Hoggle must have been thinking the same thing for, as soon as he stepped on the cobblestone path, he suddenly rushed passed her. But before he could step foot on the bridge, a ball of orange and red suddenly flew out of nowhere, crying out:
"Stop! Stop I say!"
Ravie let out an inner moan as soon as she recognized who it was. Of course! How could I have forgotten! The infamous fox knight, Sir Didymus. Ravie thought bitterly, How could I have forgotten about the knight that so many of the Guard Goblins poke fun at? I mean, how many times have I heard Fifo and Mimion tell those ridiculous stories about him? And Fifo actually makes jokes about him. Fifo never jokes!
"Ooohhh, let me pass!" Hoggle shouted.
But the knight simply piped "Without my permission, none may pass! It is my sworn duty!"
Sworn duty? Since when did the Goblin King have any sworn knights? Ravie thought, repressing a giggle at the thought of Jareth doing a knighting ceremony. Hoggle, however, did not seem to find any humor.
"Bawh! Come on! You have to let me pass! I can't stand this stench!"
"Stench?" Didymus asked, sniffing the air in wonder, "Of what speak of thou?"
Both Ravie and Hoggle stared at Didymus in disbelief.
"This smell!" Ravie cried out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it truly was.
"I smell nothing."
"Oh, you're joking!" Hoggle snapped.
"But I live by my sense of smell! " Didymus said, and, taking another deep breath, continued, "The air is sweet, and fragrant. And none may pass without my permission! "
Hoggle wrench open his mouth, but before he could say anything, Sir Didymus suddenly exclaimed, "My lady! What has happened to you feet?"
At first, Ravie thought that he must have went completely insane: there was no lady around anywhere, especially not in this stench. It was when she notice that Sir Didymus was staring intensely at her feet and that Hoggle was doing the same that Ravie realized that she was the lady and that something was wrong with her feet. Looking down, she saw that her feet had turned a hue of flushed pink and tiny little slices were scattered about, causing little droplets of blood to appear.
After staring at them for a moment, Ravie answered with the first thing that came to mind, "Um, I don't have any shoes…"
"Oh, is that my Lady's quest?" Sir Didymus asked kindly, "Her reason to cross the bridge is to find her shoes?"
"Yes." Ravie said, ignoring the funny look that Hoggle gave her.
"Ah, a worthy quest." Sir Didymus said, nodding his head in approval.
"So may I- we- now cross?"
"I'm sorry, my lady, but none may cross without my permission. That is my duty and so I must do it." Sir Didymus replied, his ears and tail drooping low.
"I understand." Ravie answered with a sigh, when suddenly it hit her, "So, may we have it?"
"What?"
"Your permission?"
"I-" Didymus faltered as he thought it over. Hoggle and Ravie leaned forward eagerly as he pondered and pondered until finally, looking up at Ravie, meekly answered, "Yes?"
"Oh, thank you!" Ravie grinned, giving him a swift kiss on his head. Blushing, he moved aside, allowing them to pass. Hoggle first dashed across the bridge, Ravie soon followed. When she had reached the other side, however, Sir Didymus's voice called out:
"My lady! Are you in need of assistance? On your quest?"
Turning around, Ravie shouted back, "Thank you kind sir, but I think I'll be able to do this on my own."
"Very well! But if you do need any help, I would be honored to supply it!" He said.
Grinning, Ravie waved farewell and started her way out of the Bog.
Funny, I know he is a fool, Ravie thought with a small smile as she trudged along, but I can't help but like him. I do hope I run into him again.
"So on a quest, are ya?"
Ravie jumped at the voice and whirled around to find Hoggle glaring up at her, his arms crossed.
Ravie was lost for words, but it would seem as if Hoggle had plenty, "Well, I guess the test was a lie, ain't it? So what are you doing here? Huh? Whatcha doing in the Labyrinth? You ain't no runner; I would know if you were a runner. Maybe yer trying to get a baby back? Or maybe yer trying to steal some of Jareth's secrets, hm? You a witch?"
"No!" Ravie said, her mind failing to come up with an acceptable answer, "I'm just- I'm just-"
Suddenly, a low rumbling began to surround the both of them. Confused, they looked at each other, expecting the other to know what was going on. Neither of them knew the answer, however, but both would soon find out. A bunch of goblins suddenly appeared from out of the bushes, ignoring both Hoggle and Ravie as they ran off with cries of "Oh no! Monster mad!" and "Run away!". Then, in a sudden roar, a giant boulder came out from the same bushes causing both Hoggle and Ravie to scream and run away in opposite directions.
Raive paid very little attention to where she was going, as she leapt over obstacle in her way. Now was her time to get away, and she was not going to waste it. As the adrenaline began to slip away, Ravie began to vaguely notice that everything around her seemed to be getting bigger.
Wondering what was going on, Ravie began to slow down when, during mid-jump, the log beneath her suddenly became humongous and Ravie ended up tripping and falling face first into the ground below.
Pulling herself up, Ravie looked down at her hands and noticed that they were no longer long, slender, smooth and a milky pale. Now they were short, rough, brownish grey and looked as if they were made from elephant skin.
She didn't need a window this time to know that Ravie was now a goblin again.