The wind felt refreshing as Sarah and Sky cut through it, him performing acrobatic tricks ever once in a while when she held on tight enough. She reached her hand out, the sky seeming dark to her still, as she tried to touch the clouds. This was something she'd only ever dreamed about in the human world, and here she was, on a Pegasus, flying through the skies at unknown speed. Thankfully this saddle was built for flight so her legs were practically latched in. Sky unfortunately was beginning his descent because the skies were growing too dark for him to fly through safely, not to mention there are many other predators she'd been warned about that occupy the Underground's skies. It was a bit more difficult to land as Sky had to gallop at the same speed he was flying to touch down before he could slow down. Sarah closed her eyes, too afraid to watch as the came down so quickly she thought she would die. But, he pulled up carefully and touched down without any problems before slowing to a walk.
He shook his head, his breathing a bit harder than before.
"We're almost there, we can take a break here," Sarah said and began unlatching herself from the saddle while Sky walked over to a nearby creek to get a drink. She slid off and reached around in her leather bag for something to eat, she hadn't eaten since breakfast and her stomach wasn't letting her forget that. Finding some bread and fruit she ate, savoring the flavors while Sky grazed lightly nearby. Everything to her eyes was so bright and easy to see, she decided to continue on. Sarah remounted and they set a leisurely walking pace to finish the rest of the way.
The wandered around a few trees, and even walked through a few larger creeks, getting Sarah more wet than she would have liked. Finally, the beginning of the river came into view, glowing even to her negative sight. Sky snorted and pranced sideways, something didn't feel right to him.
"Hey, easy Sky, easy," she said calmingly and dismounted so he could wait for her there, whilst she decided to go right up to the lake herself. It didn't seem so intimidating, though her eyes made everything seem as bright as daylight. The water's edge lapped at the bank keeping a steady rhythm unlike any other.
"This must be it," she said and got down on her knees, reaching for the water and bringing it up so she could drink it.
It felt like silver sliding down her throat, heavy and metallic. She grimaced as she swallowed it, then breathing in and out, opened her eyes.
Jareth rubbed his head again. He had only JUST finished all the paperwork with Sir Didymus and here was another Goblin trying to get him to do work he'd never even heard of before.
"That's it, enough is enough. You've already had me do work that needn't be done for months and I haven't got to do ONE routine sweep of my kingdom let alone eat for heaven's sake!" his voice was full of the built up stress now ready to unleash itself on any victim.
"Get me some food, and get it now! If one more person has me do another unknown task I will cast them into the Bog of Eternal Stench myself! AM I UNDERSTOOD?" he yelled to the cowering goblin before him.
"Y-yes your Majesty," he said quaking.
"Well get moving this instant!" he ordered and threw a crystal at him, barely missing him as he rushed out the door.
He exhaled and angrily smacked his hand down on the wooden desk. The work wasn't really bothering him, it was annoying yes, but not unreasonable. What was bothering him was that despite that Sarah could see now, even if negative, she hadn't seen him once the entire day, she'd hardly even said a word to him at breakfast. Picking up a crystal he was thinking about looking for her, but if she were doing something indecent he wouldn't want to be prying, right?
He set it aside and walked over to the window, looking out over the Labyrinth in the night. Such a wondrous creation, one of the best he'd ever created. It was alive, feeding off his life and emotions, and from what he had noticed lately, Sarah's as well. She had beaten it once before and because of that it responded to her almost more than it did to the Goblin King himself. It switched suddenly and became so intricate in a corner that it would be almost impossible for any runner to have made it through.
'Odd,' he thought, 'I don't feel much different than I have all day, what could Sarah possibly be up to?' he wondered. But at the exact moment his door opened and dinner was served to him in the study.
Sarah ran as fast as her legs could carry her in the almost pitch dark of night, towards where Sky had been standing before. A loud growl erupted from behind her and she tried to run faster. "Sky!" she yelled, hoping he was somewhere in front of her, but his whinny was off to the right, she'd missed him. The beast behind her snarled and lashed his teeth out towards her, her will the only thing keeping her moving forward at the moment.
Trees and rocks, she fumbled across them all, narrowly missing her attacker by only inches every time. She could hear a large creek in front of her, wishing it couldn't swim she jumped into the icy waters and waded as fast as she could up to the other side of the bank. The noise stopped for a moment before she heard another splash and realized he was swimming across to her. She panted but turned around and continued running, praying Sky would find her. Her leg caught on a tree root and she took a nasty fall down a steep ravine. Looking up she could just make out the silhouette or the edge and realized she was stuck until someone could help her, or that thing found her and ate her.
It growled and snapped down at her, pacing along the line of the hole, debating whether or not to go down after her. Sarah used the moment to gather her breath and began using some water in the hole to wash some of the dirt off her face and hands. Her hand stung with pain, fantastic, she'd hurt another bone in her body. Jareth was never going to forgive her after this.
Her head shot up. Jareth, she could use the whistle around her neck to call for help. She didn't want to; she had wanted to prove to him that she could take care of herself sometimes. The beast barked again and leaned i's front paws in, ready to slide. Sarah looked anywhere, trying to find something to fight it off with, an escape route even. She felt around behind her and felt a metal hilt touch her fingers, a sword! She grabbed it and immediately stood facing the beast, she had a chance to live.
The hairy beast slid into the hole with her and bared it's sharp white teeth, hell-bent on killing her. She could barely see the animal but tightened her jaw nonetheless, this was her battle, and she was going to win. It jumped towards her once, which she managed to evade, then swung the blade behind her and sliced what appeared to be its hind leg. It yelped in pain then looked towards her again, its final strike, and jumped to bite her. She fell under its weight but drove the sword through the chest of the animal as she fell. Panicked she rolled out from under the creature and moved away to the far side of the hole wall, shaking. She'd done it, she'd killed the beast without help from anyone.
A glint of pride rushed through her, she stepped forward to grab the sword. She felt around again where she'd found it and felt the sheath for it too. She managed to secure it soundly enough to her waist and began to look for a way out.
"Skylark!" she called out into the night air, he had to be close by now. A few seconds later and she heard familiar hoof beats on the ledge above her.
"Sky! I'm stuck down here! See if you can find a vine or rope to get me out!" she yelled up. He whinnied back to her and she heard him rummaging around in the nearby brush to look for something. She breathed deeply and felt the weariness of what she'd just been through start to sink in. Jareth should be proud of her, after he was done being angry with her that she'd left the castle grounds without him knowing, but she'd beaten her first animal! With a sword! For a human that had to count for something right?
She saw a rope-like object fall into the hole and gripped it with both hands to start pulling herself up. Step by step she was halfway up the wall when she heard a deep growl come from below her.
"Sky pull!" she yelled and tried to scramble up the wall against gravity, feeling the force of the animal's claws right below her feet. Sarah managed to twist around and kick the beast hard in the head before she was pulled vaulting over the edge of the hole. Sky stood there wings tight and ready to fly at a moment's notice. She scrambled to her feet and hopped on, shooting off as far away from that area as they could. She reached down to strap her legs in when Sky rushed into an icy river, and they were being swept away by the current.
She began to slip from the saddle and held onto the bridle with all her might, Sky pulling his head to aim her towards the bank. Trying to fight against it Sarah's strength was rapidly leaving her, the icy water stinging her muscles so they were paralyzed. He flapped his powerful wings thrashing with all his might to get them out of the river, but Sarah's hand slipped and she began to surge towards the jagged rapids.
She was tossed underwater, sputtering when she came out, her arms and legs becoming slower and slower in their fight. Each movement harder than the previous, it seemed like water was the only thing part of this world. She fell over another rapid and tumbled painfully underwater, she fought for air pulling with everything she had up towards the looming surface.
Her head broke once and she gasped for air only momentarily before she was pulled under again. She smacked into a rock and held on for dear life, shivering from the cold, coughing lung fulls of water out into the air, and only seconds away from being pulled away again. Trembling she pulled the whistle to her lips and with her last piece of effort, blew into it with all her might.