After Leija successfully woke Turnok from unconsciousness, the small group continued through the Labyrinth. The goblin was obliged to stay at the very back; whether this was due to dread of another assault, or simply because of his bruised ribcage and throbbing head, it was a wise decision nonetheless. Leija stayed with him to watch for any telltale signs of a concussion, and Hoggle, as usual, stayed with Leija. This put Sarah in the rather uncomfortable position of being a buffer between the obviously aggravated Goblin King and his abused Captain of the Guard. Silence reigned over the next half an hour. Finally, Sarah spoke up.
"You feeling okay?"
Jareth blinked. He was nothing short of astonished at her concern, and it showed. She would have preferred if he hadn't acted so surprised, though.
"Yes, I'm fine. Why?" He asked.
The girl jabbed her thumb at Turnok.
"That was a bit over the top, even for you. What did he say?"
"Nothing that is worth repeating," Jareth replied, malice ringing in his tone.
"You could try to be a little nicer to him, you know," Sarah sighed, "Or at least less violent. He's an idiot, but he'd follow you to the grave."
The Goblin King was fairly sure she wouldn't feel the same if she knew what he had said, but stayed quiet. As they walked, Sarah saw that the Fae's normally elegant stride had developed a slight limp. The make-shift bandage over his wounds was stained with blood.
"You're still bleeding?" She asked worriedly, "Mine stopped a while ago. You sure you're okay?"
"Getting bitten by a hell hound is not the same as skinning your knee, my dear Sarah," He said dryly, "The deeper the wound, the longer it bleeds."
The girl shot a worried look at his leg. Nearly the entire bandage was crimson.
"Yeah, but that's an awful lot of blood. Why don't you just use some of the Insignia Ring's magic to heal it?"
"I cannot afford to waste any more," Jareth admitted hesitantly, "It will mend soon enough."
Sarah wasn't so sure, but understood. Between transporting them into the Underground, and protecting them, she was sure he had used up quite a bit of the magic. He needed to conserve what he could. If he ran out completely, then…
The girl couldn't bring herself to think about it. She silently wondered when she had started caring so much about him.
Maybe he has some sort of charm on him, she thought, The more time you spend around him, the less infuriating he seems. That would explain how all the goblins can stand to be around him.
"Why?" he asked quietly.
Sarah whirled around. Jareth avoided meeting her eye, but continued in a low voice.
"You had already escaped the Well…why did you venture back in? You could have been cast back into your nightmare."
"Well, I-I…" the girl stammered. Now she was stuck. How could she lie her way out of this one? And if she told the truth, any way she phrased it he would turn into flattery, and his handsome blond head would swell up like a balloon. But there was no other plausible reason. Bracing herself, the girl finished,
"…I was worried about you."
Jareth stared at her wide-eyed. After a moment, his cheeks flushed, and he looked away.
"…you have my gratitude."
Sarah faltered.
"I-I…uh…y-your welcome?"
And with that, he quickly strode ahead of her, leaving her to try and sort out what exactly had happened.
Barely a few minutes had passed when the group rounded the corner, and saw the Goblin City in the distance. All breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, it's still there," Sarah announced.
"No smoke or fire, either," Leija added cheerfully.
"Good, the city still stands," Jareth said, relaxing a little, "And my castle as well. But if Edorin has done any redecorating, I will have to show him my displeasure."
With a renewed determination, the Goblin King escorted them across the bare courtyard and took a sharp right, which ended in a staircase. Setting their sights on the castle, they began to descend.
Considering everything we've gone through, we made pretty good time, Sarah thought to herself as she walked down the stairs, We'll even end up getting there before nightfall!
However, the girl's attention soon focused on another matter. The set of stairs was taking an unusually long time to descend, considering it was a fairly short flight. In fact, she realized, she didn't seem to be moving down them at all. She was still walking, but the bottom wasn't getting any closer at all. Looking over, she saw that all her companions were having the same problem.
"What's going on?" Sarah asked aloud, "Is this another Labyrinth trap or something?"
"It can't be," Jareth replied, his brow furrowing, "Nowhere is there a trick staircase. Unless…"
He stopped, and glanced behind. With a start, Sarah saw that they were still only three steps from the top.
"…he added his own traps?!" Jareth roared, clenching his fists, "Why that bloody arrogant git! How dare he tamper with my Labyrinth! The impudence! When my fingers find his throat…!"
"It'll be fine" Sarah soothed, glancing back up the stairs, "We'll just go back. The Labyrinth is always changing, right? So we'll just wait until another route opens up."
But when they returned up the stairs, the girl's hopes quickly disintegrated. Now, instead of the two doorways that had been there when they had entered, only an old brick wall stood.
"The doors!" Turnok cried, pressing against the bricks, "We're trapped!"
"Oooooh, real observant, aren't you?" a thick-accented voice said sarcastically.
Sarah turned around. Sitting on one of the stone benches, and partially hidden by a wall, was a heavily bundled old man wearing an utterly ridiculous bird hat. The old man was fast asleep; it was the bird hat itself that had made the snide comment. The girl instantly recognized them as the ones that had helped her before, although, in all honesty, she didn't see how she couldn't recognize them. A talking hat was pretty hard to forget.
"Do you know how to get past that staircase?" Sarah asked.
"Ha!" The living accessory replied, "How would I know? I'm just a hat! He's the brains of this operation!"
It motioned to the snoring old man beneath it, and shook its head, adding, "And isn't that sad?"
"Well, does he know how to get past it?" She pressed.
"Maybe. But you'd have to make it worth our while, senõrita" said the bird hat mischievously, shaking the contribution box.
Sarah bit her lip. Last time, she had gotten lucky, and worn enough jewelry to bribe her way through. But this time, since she had been woken up in the middle of the night, and hadn't even had time to actually get dressed, she had nothing to offer. She glanced hopefully at Hoggle.
"Don't look at me!" The dwarf said defensively, "I've taken ta keepin' my jewels back at my hut! An even if I had 'em with me, I wouldn't give him nothin'!"
"I'm afraid I don't have anything, either," Leija said sheepishly, double checking her empty pockets.
All eyes turned to the Goblin King, or, more precisely, the silver and gold pendant around his neck. Ordinarily, Jareth would have threatened the creature into submission, but being both tired and in a hurry, he grudgingly pulled the pendant from his throat and dropped it into the box.
"Gracias, senõr!" The bird hat chirped happily, before turning its attention to its slumbering owner, "Ey! Rise and shine, sleeping beauty! Wakey wakey! We have customers!"
The old man snorted, and slowly opened an eye halfway.
"Hmmmmm?"
"Customers!" It said.
"Customers?" The man asked, blinking.
"Customers!" The bird hat repeated, "Aye, aye, aye, are you going deaf too?"
"Quiet you confounded thing!" The old man boomed, now mostly awake, looking to the small group before him. Knowing she only had so long before he fell back asleep, Sarah spoke up.
"Sir? Do you know how to get down the staircase?"
"Staircase?" The old man said slowly, "Yes, yes, the staircase. Ah-ah-ah-hem! Well now…hhhrrrruuuuff…the staircase…is an obstacle."
"Brilliant," Jareth hissed under his breath, "Worth every penny, wasn't it?"
"Hush," Sarah whispered back, as the old man yawned and continued,
"Most obstacles…are conquered step by step…but sometimes…they require…a leap…of…faith…"
Having finished his proclamation, his eyelids drooped, and within seconds, the old man was once again fast asleep.
"That was it?!" Turnok burst out, facing the man's headpiece angrily, "He didn't tell us anything!"
"Sorry! No refunds!" The bird hat replied, chortling, "Better luck next time!"
This did not sit well with the Goblin King. In one seamless movement, he snatched the contribution box and emptied its contents into his hand, not only reclaiming his pendant, but a few gold coins as well.
"Ey! What do you think you're doing?!" The bird hat screeched, twisting its long neck in agitation, "You can't do that! That's stealing!"
"No," Jareth replied, carelessly tossing the empty container back at it, "I'm a king. That's taxation."
Sarah stifled a giggle at the bird hat's slack-jawed expression, and followed the blond Fae back to the stairwell to contemplate a solution.
"What do you suppose he meant?" Leija asked in confusion.
"He didn't mean nothin'!" Hoggle said, kicking a stone moodily, "A bit of philosophical rubbish, that's all that was."
However, Sarah was not so convinced. The girl had thought the same thing the first time he had given her advice, and it turned out to not only true, but quite helpful.
"Most obstacles are conquered step by step, but sometimes they require a leap of faith," she murmured to herself, looking down the stairs, "A leap of faith…wait a minute!"
She spun around.
"A leap of faith! The stairs have a spell on them to make them impassable, right? But what if we jumped over them?"
"We'd…we'd leap right over the spell!" Leija gasped.
Turnok was less enthusiastic.
"Don't be ridiculous! It'll never work!" The goblin disagreed loudly, crossing his arms, "We would never be able to clear the whole flight!"
Jareth, however, had different ideas. Up until then, he had been resting against the wall beside the staircase. The vicious wound that the Troll Lord had given him was much more painful than he had been letting on, and that pain had taken its toll on his thin patience. So, instead of letting them argue, he decided to put Sarah's theory to the test. Without so much as a word of warning, the Goblin King reached down, plucked his subordinate off the ground by his cape, and lobbed the goblin into the air. Moments later, the screaming Turnok crashed back down to earth at the bottom of the staircase.
"It…worked?" Hoggle said, raising his eyebrows.
"Obviously," Jareth replied. He pretended to ignore the disapproving glare from Sarah, and reached down towards the dwarf.
"Hogwart, you're next."
He backed up a few steps, putting out his hands protectively.
"No need fer that! I can manage myself!"
Not wanting to give Jareth a chance to kick him down the stairs, Hoggle wasted no time in jumping the staircase. He made it, but "accidentally" landed squarely on the aforementioned goblin. Leija, being the smallest, had to use a running leap, but managed to avoid Turnok altogether. The blond Fae turned to Sarah, waving his hand with a florish.
"As always, ladies first."
Oh great, she thought miserably, stepping up to the edge, I get to go first. Of all the times to be a gentleman…!
Her apprehension wasn't due to a fear of heights; it was a fear of coordination. It wouldn't be the first time she had tripped and fallen down a staircase. And because of the spell, if she tripped, she might end up tumbling down the stairs indefinitely, or at least until the Goblin King stopped laughing long enough to help her. These thoughts did little to soothe her anxiety.
Oh God, she prayed, crouching at the ready, If you love me at all, even the teeniest little bit, you'll help me not look like an absolute doofus in front of HIM!
Apparently, God was more merciful than she had given him credit for, because not only did she not trip, she landed gracefully on her feet. Not to be outdone, Jareth leapt the stairs from his standing position. However, upon landing, his badly injured leg had to absorb half of the shock. He grimaced, biting his lip to keep from crying out. A hand grabbed his wrist.
To his astonishment, Jareth found that the hand belonged to Sarah. She gave him an apologetic smile, and gently squeezed, silently comforting his pain. Then, she let go, and the moment passed. But it was only when Turnok said his name, several minutes later, did he come out of his daze, and once again resume the lead, albeit with the faintest trace of a blush. Being so close to the Goblin City seemed to renew everyone's spirits.
That is, until they came upon the trolls.
Oooooh! A cliffhanger! Don't you just love those? ^_^ Ah, but this is just a teensy one, really. Wait until two chapters from now…BWAHAHAHAHA! *cackles evilly, then continues, as if nothing happened* As always, I'll try to crank out the next chapter as soon as possible. THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF THIS FANFIC, AND ALL YOUR LOVELY REVIEWS! Some days, your reviews are the only thing keeping the creative juices flowing! *Jareth clears his throat, cleaning his chainsaw* Well…almost the only thing…