Big thanks to my kind reviewers! It was a huge shock to see how many reviewed in a short space of time
Anyway here's chapter two and for Sarah things seem to be going from bad to worse!
Disclaimers: Not mine, don't own it; if I did then I'd be rich!
Walking back to the bookstore that she worked at gave Sarah time to vent her anger.
"How dare he give me a peach, after my previous history with the fruit, I mean the mans been…"
"Fae" her inner voice helpfully added
"Fine the Fae has been absent for the past ten years, ever since I beat his damn maze!"
"Labyrinth"
"Shut up with the smart comments already!" she huffed, and then she realized what she was doing. Not only was she going on a rant about a member of fairytale royalty whose existence could be highly questioned by saner minds, but she was also having an argument with her inner voice, a rather heated argument, a rather heated argument out loud in broad daylight.
"Well sorry that my smart comments are making you jumpy but have you even stopped to think that maybe it wasn't him?"
"Of course it was him!" Sarah shouted casing a few noon-day shoppers to turn and regard her with puzzled stares.
She stuck her hands in the pockets of her dark black jeans and walked at a slightly faster pace.
"It could have been Marisa" her inner voice said in a whisper
"Why would she do that though? She's a friend, I trust her"
"Like you trusted Hoggle and then what did he go and do? Give you a…"
"…Peach yes I know. But that was only because that rat of a king made him do it!"
"What about if he's seduced Marisa and has her under some sort of spell?"
"Whoa wash out your brain, the King of the Goblins seducing Marisa are you kidding, even Casanova would have a hard job there, and anyway why would he choose to interrupt my life by way of peaches? What could he have to gain?
"Maybe it's all part of the bigger picture"
"This bigger picture… what exactly would it be?" said Sarah dreading the answer
Seduction, revenge lots of lovely entanglements that may or may not result in velvet sheets…"
"And stop right there, you seriously need to think about Goblin King Detox, and please stop reading Mills and Boon." Said Sarah with a shake of her head.
Looking up from the sidewalk she saw the bookstore 'GOLIATH"S' a few meters away.
She had acquired the job purely by chance; she was always spending her free time in the second hand bookstore. One day the manager had joked about the fact that she should set up camp there as she spent so much time there already, she being the shy person that she had been at the time hadn't been sure what to say, but then the manager had surprised her and given her a job, that had been five years ago.
Marisa was the manager's niece and the two girls were firm friends from the moment that they clapped eyes on each other. Sarah told Marisa everything about her life, even the deep void of it that was consumed by the Labyrinth, her hopes and fears, and all about her friends there, and Marisa never laughed about how childish she sounded.
Sarah didn't know what made her trust Marisa but she suspected that the girls weird style had something to do with it, that and the fact that she had an uncanny ability to tell what was going on in Sarah's head.
Like now
"Ohh dear, someone needs a coffee, or a cold shower, indulging in goblin king shaped thoughts does that to you!" Marisa said with a knowing nod
"How did you…"
"Your eyes give it all away" she replied with a small grin
"We had any sales?" asked Sarah scrubbing at her cheeks with the heels of her hands, trying to get rid of the blush that had presented itself.
"A few, mostly travel books"
"Right" Sarah took a look at her friend who was running a tattooed hand through her shocking orange hair, stifling a giggle she said
"Did you take my apple when we had our coffee break?"
"No, you had an apple huh?!"
"Yeah water too" Sarah said
"That's nice for you." Marisa had gone back to flicking through her book
"Marisa, have you been seduced or hypnotized or both?" the words came out of her moth before she could stop them and she immediately looked away from her friend
Marisa laughed but didn't look up from her book "Come on Sarah who's going to think about seducing me?"
"Its just when I went to lunch I could have sworn I had an apple and water in my bag, so anyway I sit down and I take a bite out of my apple and its not an apple its peach, and then well you know the whole water into wine thing, what about water into peach juice, did you have anything to do with those strange happenings?"
"No Sarah why would I?" said Marisa still engrossed in her book
"Its just I told you how royally weird he made that dream after the peach, and I told you that I can't even look at that particular fruit without breaking into a cold sweat. If it was meant to be a prank then fess up now and I won't hold it against you"
"Sarah!" said Marisa looking up from her book "I didn't, I wouldn't, I swear… I never…"
"Just tell the truth Marisa!" said Sarah her voice raising a few octaves
"I didn't do it Sarah!" Marisa said putting her book down and looking worried, she had never seen her friend like this.
"Stop Lying to Me Marisa!" said Sarah glaring daggers at her friend
In the Castle beyond the Goblin city the goblin king sat on his throne laughing, He would have cackled but that just wasn't in his nature, he was a king and kings did not cackle.
Things were turning out better than expected.
Sarah Williams was talking to herself, and arguing with her best friend. She would soon be utterly unhinged and unstable to the point of defeat, then and only then would he think about stopping this assault on her.
A few of the goblins sensing their kings change of mood managed a few tentative chortles, when they realized that they had not been punished then they cackled for a few minutes at their cleverness (It is a well known fact that goblins love to cackle) and then they just laughed outright.
The first thing that the king noticed was that his subjects were laughing.
"STOP!" he roared
The silence descended like a lead balloon.
"Who" he began, his voice deceptively calm and low "Gave you permission to laugh?"
The goblins knew that his tone was wrong, their king was a passionate Fae, nothing was ever calm with him, he had, when necessity called for it, a sharp tongue for the more stupid of his subjects and other times he could have the kindest nature with the babes in his care, but he did not do anything without passion. A word however that the goblins would never associate with their king however was calm, and that was the first indication that they had done something really bad.
The assembled goblins looked between one another and some even had the audacity to try and escape their sovereign, but he was too quick for them, with an almost unnoticed flick of his gloved wrist the doors to the room closed with a tremendous thud.
The goblins knew that they really had gone too far this time.
After their initial argument the two women had chosen to drop the subject of the Goblin King, well Marisa hadn't exactly agreed she just needed a little more information on the elusive monarch.
"Sarah I'm making a drink, do you want anything?'
"No thanks Mar, I'll just cash up for the day and we'll close up"
"Aww what, its not even six yet, at least hold off another hour"
Sarah sighed knowing her friend was right, they usually didn't close up till eight but the day she had been having made her think longingly of a hot bath and a night in watching a good film, or even better reading a good book.
Ok an hour more but then I'm going and if you wanna stay on then you can lock up on your own"
"Ok Sarah, and hey I am sorry you know, I didn't really mean to say all those things"
"No don't be stupid, It was my fault immediately suspecting you, I could have just made a slip up with the fruit bowl this morning and put a peach instead of an apple in my bag, I mean after ten years why would he try revenge?"
"Maybe its not revenge, maybe he's just lonely, after all would you enjoy a lifetime of ruling goblins?" asked Marisa putting a mug of something hot in front of her
"Thanks but I didn't want anything to drink"
"You did Sarah, I know you too well"
The rest of that evening passed fine and about twenty minutes before closing time a young girl entered the shop; she looked about thirteen with long wavy auburn hair and a blue sundress, the sundress was flimsy and Sarah wondered how the child could wear it if it was still so cold outside
"Yes can I help you?"
"Ummm I just wondered if I could have a look around" the girl said in a hushed whisper
"Course you can, we're closing in another twenty minutes though, but if you don't find anything we'll be open again tomorrow"
"Oh, ok… thanks" and with that the girl disappeared behind the bookshelves, leaving Sarah shaking her head and wondering if she had indeed been that flighty at the girls age. She came back exactly nineteen minutes later with a small book clasped in her hands; she was holding it as if she wished never to be parted from it.
"Ok kiddo, what book you got?"
The girl would not relinquish her hold on the book.
"It's priced at seven dollars, here's the money"
"What book is it, I might have read it"
"It's just a book lady" the girl replied
She was going to be like this was she… two could play at that game. Taking a sneaky look at the girls hands she managed to see the books cover, it was red.
"I'm gonna take a guess at the cover of the book, is it red?"
The girls eyes went wide and she nodded.
"Kay…."taking a look at the girl she imagined that with those wistful eyes she had to be into fantasy
"A fantasy book, with a knight on a white steed?"
the girl looked as if she wanted to say something.
"Fantasy but not about knights?"
The girl nodded and then said in a hushed whisper "It's about a King"
"Ok, and is he a king of… Dragons, or Elves?"
The girl once again shook her head before saying
"He's a king of Goblins"
at that simple statement, one that most adults would not bat an eyelid at Sarah stood frozen
"A… A goblin King eh? Right, tell me do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"Why?"
"Its not important but trust me, I've read that book, I said 'the words' and I was never the same, I just don't think that you should read that book, I mean we have others, lots of others"
But the young girl was adamant, she wanted this book and no other.
As Sarah rang up the book on the till and gave the girl her change she said something that she hoped she would never have to say again.
"That book, its… complicated, promise me you'll never read it out loud, especially not 'the words'
the young girl just looked at her with a mix of wonder and worry on her face before skipping out of the shop and back to her house, she would enjoy reading this book.
Ok that's chapter two up and done, I wanted tow write a lot more here but it seemed a natural place to stop.
Anyway once again thank you for the wonderful reviews I love em, more soon I promise!!
GEfaF