A/N: Congratulations to: xBowiex, Hrosanna, CynthiaW, and Lorelei evans for guessing this chapter's animal!
Sarah dropped the bright, writhing mass as it almost immediately became too heavy to hold.
"Hm, right on time!" Mya chirped as she watched Jareth's rapidly expanding body.
Please, let him turn into something useful! Sarah silently prayed as the glare soon faded revealing a giant, fuzzy lump.
Slowly, the lump unfurled and Sarah, Hoggle and Sir Didymus gaped in wonder as a beautiful white lion stood on its paws.
Their smug relief was short lived however, once Mya started cackling.
"Ooooh, big, scary lion, huh?" She cried with mock-trepidation. "Well, I'm ready for you this time, Jareth. I've got a little friend for you to meet."
With a sinister grin, Mya stretched out her hand and sprinkled glitter onto the dirt.
"You can thank your little human friend over there for this idea. You see Jareth, I was raiding your library earlier, when I came across a book on Aboveground mythology. When I read the chapter about Labyrinths, I just couldn't stop laughing! Humans have such wild imaginations!"
The glitter on the ground began to glow and ripple like the reflection of the moon on a lake. Sarah could feel heat radiating from it. Hoggle ducked behind her legs as something punched through the puddle and started to climb out. Her mouth fell open in horror and she and Hoggle backed away as the thing rose to its full nine-foot height.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Mya cooed, flittering around the creature like a mother hen. "The book said it's called a Minotaur and that humans actually believe they live inside Labyrinths! Isn't that funny?"
The Minotaur snorted angrily, making its gold nose-ring bounce. It had a head like a buffalo, with thick curving black horns. Its torso was broad and sculpted. Gorilla-like arms hung heavy and strong at its sides.
"Anyway," Mya continued in that irritatingly high voice, "play nice and try not to make a big mess. Ta-ta!"
Once the fairy vanished, the Minotaur let out a terrifying bellow and charged at the group with the speed and ferocity of a rhinoceros.
"Arf! Arf! Arf!" Sir Didymus barked, holding his staff at the ready. "I shall lay your waste upon the-"
"RUN!" Sarah screamed, seizing the knight by the arm and fleeing through the Junk Yard with Hoggle by her side. She flinched at the sound of thundering hooves bursting straight through a scrap heap behind them.
Abruptly, Hoggle tripped over a discarded toaster leaving his two friends only enough time to fall to their knees in a feeble attempt to shield him. Sarah's eyes squeezed shut as she braced for impact.
A feral roar ripped through the air and her eyes flew open. Looking behind her, she saw that Jareth had pounced on the Minotaur's back and was clawing at it savagely.
Groaning in pain, the Minotaur stumbled around in circles, flailing its arms wildly as it tried to pry the jungle cat from its skin.
"Unhand me, my lady!" Sir Didymus demanded, squirming in Sarah's grasp. "I must assist his majesty!"
Ignoring the knight, she dragged him and the dwarf behind a nearby abandoned car as her mind frantically raced to come up with a plan.
"Sarah?" Hoggle grunted. "What do we do?"
"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" She snapped.
The Minotaur finally managed to get a grip on Jareth and furiously hurled the Goblin King into a glass cabinet.
"JARETH!" Sarah shrieked in terror.
Hearing her, the Minotaur turned to attack once again, but Jareth leapt to his feet and tackled the brute before it had the chance. The pair tumbled away from the car snarling and growling.
Sarah's head whipped around, searching for something they could use to defeat the Minotaur when something shiny caught her eye.
The car itself was a rusty old Buick V6. The doors were missing and the windshield was busted, but the key was in the ignition! Tentatively, Sarah reached across the passenger seat and turned the key. The engine purred to life. Scanning the area, she saw a huge stack of large furniture sitting a few yards away, directly across from the car.
"Guys!" She exclaimed, pulling her friends around to the other side of the Buick. "I've got an idea!"
"Hoggle, help me move that cinderblock into the car!" She ordered, pointing to the object only a few feet away.
"What on earth for?"
"JUST DO IT!"
Once the brick was nestled securely on the car's gas pedal, Sarah gasped when the Minotaur howled and slammed a bleeding Jareth to the ground. Before the Goblin King could retaliate, the Minotaur gored the lion with its horns and tossed him into a small hill of tin cans.
"Oh my God!" Sarah's voice was a weak croak. "He's not getting up. He's not getting up!"
I wish Ludo was here!
"My lady, I must insist that you-"
"Sir Didymus," Sarah pleaded, facing the knight firmly, "listen to me. I need you to lead the Minotaur in front of all that furniture, over there. Just lead it, Sir Didymus. Do not fight it!"
"But, my lady," her friend protested, "I am no coward. It is my duty to battle-"
"I don't have time to argue!" She hissed. "I swear if you fight the Minotaur, I'll never speak to you again!"
The fox-knight gulped and bowed quickly.
"Very well, my lady. Your wish is my command."
"Find a place to hide." Sarah said to Hoggle as Didymus scampered away.
"Right you are!" The dwarf nodded, hurrying off a little too eagerly.
"Ho-ho!" Sir Didymus yelled at the Minotaur's back. "I say, you there, old fellow!"
The monster spun around instantly, nostrils flaring.
"Yes, you! Your mother was a milk cow!"
The Minotaur dove for the knight, missing him by only a few precious inches as the fox dashed off in the direction of the Buick.
The second the Minotaur stepped in the car's path, Sarah sharply put the car in drive and rolled out of the way as the Buick shot forward and crashed the Minotaur into the mountain of furniture behind it. Dressers, bedframes, broken chairs, dining tables, cracked toilets, bathtubs and lumpy sofas rained down upon the Minotaur burying it and the car. Only the it's hand could be seen through the debris.
"Is it over?" Hoggle asked nervously, peeping around the corner of a nearby junk pile as the dust settled. "Is it dead?"
Sir Didymus approached the wreckage and sniffed the beast's limp fist with disdain.
"Unquestionably." The knight declared, giving the knuckles a sharp whack with his staff.
"Jareth? Jareth?!"
At the sound of Sarah's cry, Sir Didymus and Hoggle turned to see their friend kneeling over the Goblin King's immobile form, gently but urgently shaking his massive shoulders.
"Jareth, come on!" She whimpered. "Come on! Please, you've gotta get up! Come on, wake up! Wake up, Jareth, please!"
She started pushing on him harder.
"Please, please, please!"
"Sarah!" Hoggle called as he and the knight approached the increasingly hysterical girl. "Take it easy!"
"Hoggle, look at him!" She wailed as Jareth remained unresponsive. "He's covered in blood!"
"I know, Sarah." The dwarf said, grabbing her hand and pressing it in between Jareth's front legs, carefully avoiding the numerous gashes. "See? He's still breathin' just fine. He's just unconscious."
As Sarah concentrated on the feeling of Jareth's chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm, her panic gradually vanished and something warm filled her heart to the brim. Something frightening, but exciting. Unfamiliar, yet comforting. It was as if nothing else in the entire world mattered, except that Jareth was alive and somehow, deep down, she knew she didn't ever want that feeling to end.
"Help him, Hoggle." She whispered, staring into her best friend's eyes beseechingly. "Please. Please, save him."
Hoggle blinked at the girl, astonished at her desperation. It was as if her own life depended on her request.
"Of course I will, Sarah. I promise you, he'll be alright."
"Sir Didymus?" Sarah asked quietly after a few long minutes of silence as she watched Hoggle dress Jareth's injuries from the other side of the clearing. "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Of course, my lady." The knight said, pleasantly. "Is everything alright?"
"Oh yeah." The teenager chuckled dryly. "Just…wonderful. I wanted to ask you about the Labyrinth."
"Yes, my lady?"
"What is the Labyrinth, anyway? Why are there runners? What's the point of this place?"
Didymus sighed resolutely before answering.
"The Underground does not exist for the convenience of humans, my lady. We goblins exist in, what your kind would call, an alternate dimension of sorts. The Labyrinth is simply our home. We live and die here. However, sometimes, the barrier between our world and yours is crossed by a wayward soul that makes a special wish."
"But people make wishes all the time, where I come from."
"Ah, but you see, fair maiden, certain conditions must be met for someone to cross over into our realm. For starters, they must invoke our interference correctly."
"You mean, by saying the…right words?"
"Precisely! They must also have faith in the words; that is why our usual visitors are young children. Very rarely does it happen by chance. Often, the wisher has the aid of a talisman."
"A talisman?"
"Yes, a magical item that possesses clues as to the proper way to summon the goblins. They are ancient artifacts that have been passed down through generations. Their power always keeps them in pristine condition. It commonly appears as a picture, a piece of music, or even a book."
Sarah blinked in amazement.
"My mom bought me this little red book from a thrift store when I was six. It was a play script called The Labyrinth. Everything I know about goblins and this place came from it. So…all this time, it was actually a talisman?"
"Indeed, my lady. When someone sends an object or a person to the Underground, the Labyrinth can present itself as a test of character for the one who made the wish, if they choose to accept the challenge, of course."
Sarah bit her lip, remembering how Jareth had tried to convince her to forget all about Toby after she'd wished him away.
"If they decide to solve the Labyrinth," the knight went on, "there are certain trials that they must overcome. Trials that will serve them well in their future life. They must learn to be brave, to trust, to be selfless, to use their wits, to be kind, to forgive, to show respect, to resist temptation, to show honor and most importantly, to never give up. Many fail miserably in these endeavors, but there are still some that triumph and return to the Aboveground, ready to face the world, armed with the adult lessons they've successfully learned."
"I am only sorry that you have had to apply your maturity so soon, my lady." He said regretfully, gesturing around them.
Sarah shrugged and twiddled her thumbs.
"Sir Didymus, there's one more thing." She spoke again after a short pause. "When I went to rescue Toby, right before I reached him, the room sort of broke apart and Jareth…well…he offered me my dreams and said that…if I let him rule me, I could have everything that I wanted."
The goblin gazed up at her in surprise.
"That's very strange, my lady. The game should have ended the moment you came to your brother's side. What else did my lord say?"
"Well," she mumbled, blushing slightly, "he said that if I feared him, l-loved him and did as he said, he would be my slave."
Sir Didymus's eyes lit up with wonder.
"How very peculiar."
"Is…it that not…normal?"
"I'm afraid I have never heard of the king making such an offer before. You say he offered you your dreams, as well?"
"Yeah, twice." She explained, feeling a tad giddy at her friend's reply. "Once right after he took Toby, then again in that room. What do you think that means?"
Sir Didymus coughed uncomfortably.
"I cannot say for sure, my lady. Remember, I am just as ignorant of his majesties ways as everyone else, but, if I had to venture a guess, I would say…it means that he must-"
A throat cleared making both the girl and the knight jump in alarm.
"Hey," Hoggle greeted, wiping his red-tinted hands on his pants, "I'm finished, but we're gonna have to stay here a while. Jareth's not well enough to travel."
"Hoggle, we can't just sit here." Sarah argued, thankful that Jareth was out of danger, but anxious to put an end to this nightmare. "We don't have time. Isn't there anything we can do?"
The dwarf shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Sarah, but he's too big to carry and we'll run the risk of opening his wounds again if we try. The best thing to do is to...let the hour pass."
"What?!" Sarah shouted.
"If we let him change into another animal, the magic will automatically heal him properly and we can all go on then." The dwarf hastily assured her.
Sarah ran her fingers through her hair.
"Okay." She muttered calmly, walking away. "I'll go sit with him. Why don't you two look around and see if you can find some more supplies we can use?"
As Sarah approached the sleeping figure, that odd feeling thrummed in her chest again. Sitting beside him, she softly stroked his flaxen mane. In response, Jareth made a deep rumbling sound and shifted his head into her lap. Emotionally overcome, she couldn't help but smile at the Goblin King and hold him until the light returned.
A/N: This chapter was pretty fun to write! Tell what you guys think in the review as well as what animal you think Jareth will be in the next chapter! Winner gets a sneak peek!
Also guys, Liam-r-Collins has posted another picture for The Girl and the Goblin King on deviantart! Click the link in my profile if you want to see what Sarah's bedroom looks like! Make sure to leave him a comment!