Dealing with Goblins
Disclaimer: All Publicly Recognizable Characters, Settings, Ideas, etc. are the property of Jim Henson and Co. The Original Characters and Plot are the Property of the Author. The Author is in no way Associated with the Owners, Creators, or Producers of Jim Henson and Co. No Copyright Infringement is intended.
Chapter 03
Sarah looked around at her new surroundings which where much like her old ones, only not as pretty. There weren't as many worms, and the worms that were there were all a dull orange-y yellow. She sighed and started walking. The further she walked, the darker the tunnel became, and she finally pulled out her flashlight. She jumped at a scraping noise further ahead. Gathering her courage, she started walking slowly and quietly towards the sound. The sound stopped as Sarah got close.
"Who's there?" came a nasally voice.
Sarah continued to walk towards the voice.
"My name's Sarah. What's yours?" she asked as her light shone onto a creature she had never seen before. It was female with shoulder length hair, and leathery, brownish-green skin. And it was tall. Though it was sitting nowm Sarah could tell it would reach about eight feet should it decide to stand. The…thing - Sarah had no idea what it was - wore grimy brown pants and a red shirt that looked more like brown due to all the dirt and grime on it.
"I's Finn."
"Are you hurt?" asked Sarah, seeing the creature's ankle was twisted awkwardly.
"I's hurt, can't walk. You kill me?" it hissed.
Sarah shook her head. "No, I'm not gonna kill you. I'll help you, if you want."
Finn eyed her critically, then shrugged and held out a hand. Sarah took hold and, with a bit of struggling and grunting against gravity, managed to hoist the creature to its feet. The woman leaned on Sarah, but fortunately had one fully functioning foot to put her weight on.
"How far are we from your home?" asked Sarah.
"Half hour, usually. More now."
"Then we'd best get started," said Sarah, wondering vaguely what lesson the Labyrinth was trying to teach. She shrugged the thought aside and asked, "When we get to your home could you give me directions to the Castle in the Goblin City?"
The woman nodded. "Sure, sure, I tell you where to go."
Finn was right: it took them about one hour to reach her home. The trip, fortunately, was pleasant, even fun. Finn was a bit hard of hearing and even standing right next to the woman Sarah found herself raising her voice. But Finn was an excellent travelling companion with a few good stories. And she was willing to discuss her Monarch.
"The King's been king since before I's was born. Goblins try rebellion on occasion only cause they're bored. Sometimes the King will humour them and fight other, times he'll just give 'em what they want."
"He just gives them what they want?" asked Sarah, perplexed. That didn't sound like the Goblin King.
"Aye, well, most of the time they're rebelling for more turnips or apples. Tha King's got no problem givin' 'em food."
"Ah," replied Sarah quietly.
The teenager was grateful to have a guide, injured though she was. The tunnels and alternate paths were numerous and Sarah knew she'd have been lost without Finn. Eventually, the pair managed to reach the elder…creature's home: a set of small caverns. Finn told Sarah the way to the kitchen and once the woman was seated at a table, she sighed contently and pointed to another room.
"Crutches in there, get them for me, I tell you how to get to castle."
Sarah nodded and went through the door. She heard an odd creaking noise below her, and no sooner did she realise the location of the sound, than she fell. She cried out before the water she fell into covered her face and poured into her open mouth. She felt her throat burn from the cold water. Sarah flayed her arms and felt stone on all sides. Applying pressure, she pushed herself up and expelled the liquid from her with several coughs.
"Finn! Finn! Can you hear me?"
Sarah glanced below her to see her flashlight. It was well over four stories down, and the water was freezing. She breathed deep and shouted again, but there was nothing. Well, Finn was hard of hearing and the opening looked so far, maybe Finn couldn't hear? Sarah removed her pack, manoeuvred the straps so it was strapped to her front and not her back then pressed her back against the wall. She then applied pressure to the wall opposite her with her feet. Maybe she could crawl up. She managed two steps, then she slid down. The walls were covered in moss. She tried a further two times with the same results. To save energy, she maintained her position of pressing her back and feet to the walls so she wouldn't have to tread water, and raised herself out as much as she could.
The flash light wasn't giving her much light due to how far down it was, but she was grateful the water was so clear, allowing her any light. As bad as the situation was, it would be far worse in total darkness.
Sarah didn't know how much time passed as she waited for Finn to come. Sure, Jareth had said no help other than directions, but surely he wouldn't begrudge Finn tossing her a rope? If he did, Sarah could forfeit her victory, rather than have Finn tossed in the bog. Chancing that he would be fair was better than giving up. At the very least her pride could handle that. Eventually, well after Sarah was certain her lips, if visible, would be blue, she heard Finn call down.
"You dead yet?"
'Okay not what I was hoping to hear.'
"Finn, what are you talking about? Could you toss me a rope?"
"When you drowned, I fish you out! You'll be tasty then!" cackled Finn.
Sarah suddenly felt warmer as her heart rate increased with a rush of adrenalin.
"Finn, what's going on!"
"Finn hungry, food taste good when drowned. You drown soon, then Finn eat!"
'Okay I need to get out of here. Or I could forfeit.' She shook her head. 'Jareth said this is a test. There's always a way out. There was a way with the Cleaners, there was a way out of the oubliette and there was a way out of the bog. Granted the last two were because I had friends, but the fact remains. The Labyrinth isn't trying to kill me, only test me. And Jareth's probably watching. He won't let me die. Though he did say he may not be able to help me here.'
Sarah shook her head again. This was a test. There was always a way out, she would find it, and soon. She had to. She couldn't feel her little toes anymore, and she was pretty sure that was a bad sign.
Decision made, she looked at her flashlight still shining below her. If she swam down, and there was no source of air nearby, she would never get back up in time to breathe, especially with her clothes and pack weighing her down. Well, her shoes with all the rubber on the soles wouldn't, but still, they and her jeans would make moving difficult. She'd have to lose them. She could keep her shirt and underwear but the rest would have to go.
She began to remove her shoes and pants, keeping her pack on: the weight would help her reach to bottom quicker. Taking a deep breath, Sarah started her descent.
Once Sarah managed to grasp her flashlight, she shrugged off her pack and looked around. She almost smiled when she saw another cave, and swam towards it.
Her lungs were starting to tighten and burn. If she didn't get to air soon, she knew she'd die. Sarah managed to make it a few feet past the entrance, and glanced up to see nothing but rock. Suddenly, a strong current from another tunnel to her left sent her whirling uncontrollably through the underwater caverns.
Sarah's throat was burning; the pain in her chest intensifying. She wondered briefly if this was really worth avoiding being Jareth's servant. She decided it wasn't. It was, however, worth avoiding his smug and condescending face. She was his equal and she was going to beat this.
She hoped.
She kept a death grip on her flashlight as the water carried her, bringing her arms up to her head as her fragile body was banged against the rocks. After hitting her back particularly hard, she opened her mouth to cry out only to have water enter her lungs. As the world started to darken, she felt the water push her up a stone hill.
She was out! She forced herself to get onto her knees, and took a few haggard breaths, and started coughing up water. She tried to remember a time when she had been in more pain. She felt like her heart was trying to escape her chest; that a construction crew was trying to put a highway through her skull, and every breath she took felt like someone was force-feeding her hot coals.
She crawled forwards a few feet before collapsing and rolling onto her back. The cold was secondary to the pain caused by her near drowning, but eventually, when the pain had lessened, she rolled over and crawled until she was completely out of the water. It helped that the current was still pushing her in the right direction. The stone had a thin layer of sand covering it, and there were a number of pale yellow glow worms. It was like an underground beach.
Once completely out of the water, she lay down on her side. She knew she could have water in her lungs still, and that lying on her back would allow the water to spread, possibly drowning her.
She felt her eyes close, and prayed she wouldn't roll onto her stomach or back, because she couldn't stay awake any longer.
Sarah didn't know when she awoke, but her time couldn't be up because Jareth wasn't around gloating. She might not know much about the man, but she knew he'd come to wallow in his victory as soon as her time was up. She forced herself to her feet, and started walking towards four openings in the cavern wall. Sighing, she closed her eyes, and spun in place, then started walking towards the one she was facing.
She hadn't been walking long when she started to hear giggling, only it wasn't the mischievous, childlike giggling of the goblins. No, this was malicious, and made Sarah feel like spiders were crawling along her skull. She hugged herself, shivering. She knew her lips were blue and that she needed to get warm, so she quickened her pace. The whispers continued and she could make out odd words.
"Helpless… No friends… Only won with help… Alone… Can't win alone… Pathetic... Human… No magic… Gullible… Child… Trusting… Skin tears! Weak! Helpless! Magicless! Pathetic, gullible child! Human! Defenceless! Needs friends! Has none!"
Sarah covered her ears, and quickened her pace. The voices were really hurting, not just the doubts they voiced, but it felt as if someone was dragging iron nails across her skull. She could make out movement on the wall and ceiling. Fortunately, she was now in a large cavern, so there was distance between her and the speakers.
"No claws, no teeth…" chuckled the voices. "Skin flimsy, easy to cut, blood close. No protection…"
Sarah wondered if she had enough strength to run. Though the voices had stopped shouting, they were more threatening. And she could make out eyes. Some red, some orange, some were black yet still managed to shine in the darkness.
She felt the ground shake and tremble, and she almost lost her balance. She turned and shifted her weight as she did. To her shock, the ground was crumbling. Large chucks of earth she had previously walked on were disappearing.
Sarah decided that she did, in fact, have enough strength left to run, and run fast.
'I swear, I will never ever again complain to Mrs. Emery about running laps! I will do all the homework she assigns, and more if I can just get through this.'
Sarah grimaced as she ran, throat lined with what felt like sandpaper. Aside from that, her biggest problem currently was her lack of footwear. She could feel several small stones burying themselves deeper into her foot with every step she took. She just hoped she didn't end up slipping on her own blood which was starting to become a problem. She was on an incline, running down, and the blood coating her feet was not helping her keep her footing.
Fortunately, however, the slope turned to stairs. It was frightening: running down and down further into the abyss as the earth behind her continued to crumble and fall. It didn't help that the stairway became narrower and narrower. He light from the glow worms faded. The eyes continued to stare at her, she knew they were still speaking, but there was too much blood pounding in her ears for her to hear. She barely noticed the teeth just below the eyes as the creatures grinned sadistic, Cheshire cat smiles.
'Sharp teeth,' thought Sarah briefly, before focusing on the steps. One false move and she'd tumble down into nothingness, after breaking her neck on the stairs.
That was when she saw it. Niagara Falls. Well, to be fair, the waterfall was nowhere near as big as the Canadian tourist trap, but only because the wall of the cavern wasn't very high. Even if the stairs did allow Sarah to alter her path, she'd have nowhere to go. She was heading straight for the waterfall, and couldn't stop the crumpling stairs behind her. She had too much momentum.
She was too busy looking at the falls, she didn't notice the stairs ended.
"Fudge!" screamed Sarah. She had taken to saying desserts over swear words due to Toby. She didn't want to think about what would happen if the boy's first word was 'fuck.'
She tumbled down the slope, which thankfully evened out, and she came to a stop. Her head hurt, and felt sticky. She reached up and immediately recognized the liquid she felt as blood.
The voices continued, but her head was too fuzzy to comprehend them. She looked around using her flashlight, and concluded she had nowhere to go. There were no paths to take unless one considered jumping of the ledge. She didn't like that option. She tried to stand, only to slip on the wet stone. Whether from blood or water, she wasn't sure.
"Damn it!" she screeched. "I give up…Jareth? Jareth, I give up! Ow!" 'Note to self: yelling hurts head.'
"…Jareth?"
Sarah sat and waited, but the Goblin King didn't come. She tried calling several times, she even wished, but there was nothing. The voices continued to laugh, mocking her helplessness.
Eventually, Sarah stood and trudged towards the waterfall. The churning water would break her fall. If she landed feet-first, she might survive...or she might not, but it was better than freezing or starving to death. She wondered why she wasn't crying. She was going to die. The chances of surviving…her light didn't even reach the bottom.
She jumped off the ledge.
She survived, landing in the water having ridden the falls to cushion the blow. She didn't bother trying to swim, it would have been wasted energy. The water tossed and churned her body until she hit something her mind registered it as a metal ladder. She grabbed hold. The current was weak now, and she climbed up. At least, she thought she was going up: she couldn't be sure at the moment.
She gulped in air as soon as her head broke the surface, thankful that her flashlight came with a wrist band and hadn't been lost. She pointed it up to see stone. She climbed up anyway, hoping it was just a covering. She couldn't feel her feet anymore, something she was grateful for: the fall couldn't have left them unscathed there was a good chance something was broken. She pushed at the stone blocking her path and…it gave way.
The relief Sarah felt gave her the encouragement needed for her to push on. She smiled as sunlight began to pour in. She still had to close her eyes at the pain the sudden onslaught of light caused, but her smile never faltered. She crawled out of the hole and into the light to see she was about a foot away from the Castle's drawbridge. The Goblin King stood on the other side, and he held out his hand.
"Sarah, all you have to do is cross."
Sarah tried to stand, only to stumble and fall to her knees. Goblins rushed forward. "I'm coming Sarah!" yelled Hoggle.
"Stay back all of you! Anyone who helps her will be suspended by their toes in the Bog for a week!" He turned his head to look down at Sarah, and sneered, "Come, Sarah, get up, or crawl. Admittedly, I would prefer the latter. Or are you too weak to even crawl twenty feet?" His leer widened. "Little girl, however shall you manage being my personal slave for two weeks if you can't even manage this?"
Sarah glared, and forced herself to her feet. She began walking. Her legs were like lead, her steps were small, but she was managing to keep her balance at least.
Hoggle stared in horror at his friend. Her lips were blue, her skin bruised and cut, she wore so little, and her feet left bloody footprints.
Sarah focused on Jareth's eyes. Both a pale blue, but mad-looking with the uneven pupils. Both harsh. He still held out his hand, waiting for her to take it.
Sarah noticed a slight twitch in his brow, and wondered if she was taking too long for his liking. She decided she didn't care. She stumbled a few feet short of the end but managed to regain her footing, and finally Jareth's hand was in reach.
She batted it aside.
"I don't need your help."
Jareth's face lit up with the first genuine smile she'd ever seen on him.
'He should smile more often. Then again, he is less scary. The goblins might get out of control.'
The next thing Sarah knew, an arm was around her back and another at her knees knocking out her feet from under her.
"You win. I knew you could."
The pair disappeared in a shower of glitter.
oo0oo
Jareth gently placed Sarah down feet-first. The teen barely had time to register the warm water around her legs before Jareth's arms circled her waist and dragged her down.
"Jareth!"
"I do love it when you say my name, Precious. Could you make it a little more sultry though?"
Sarah tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but she may as well have tried to bend steel. Regardless of the inefficiency of her efforts, she doubled them when her t-shirt disappeared.
"Sarah, please calm down. I want to tend to your back. Once I'm satisfied, I'll give you back your shirt. Shh," he whispered calmly in her ear.
She knew he wasn't wearing a shirt. She looked down, and saw that he was at least wearing pants. The fact calmed her somewhat. She settled down: she was too tired and sore to fight anyway, and her limbs weren't exactly happy with her efforts at the moment.
"There now, Precious." He started running his hands over her back, and Sarah started to relax at the cool, gentle touch that was soothing away her pain. Trying to distract herself, she looked around the opulent bathroom. The floor was made of polished hardwood, the walls black marble. There was a large shower on the opposite wall, a fireplace to her left, and two sinks on her right. Next to the sink was a door. Sarah assumed it lead to Jareth's bedroom.
She tried not to think about his bed.
'Think about the Junk Lady, think about the Junk Lady, think about the Junk Lady,' chanted Jareth. Tending to Sarah's back was torture, especially since her neck was so close. His face would fit perfectly, he could just imagine trailing kis— 'Think about the Junk Lady!'
"There, all done," Jareth hissed painfully a few minutes later. He leaned forward so his mouth was next to her ear. "I admit it is nice to have you half-nude in my arms, in my bath trembling. Now if only it was in ecstasy instead of from cold."
Sarah tried to jump out of the tub, but Jareth held her down.
"Now, now, Precious. We still have the front."
"My front is fine," squeaked Sarah.
"Your limbs then."
"I want my shirt back."
"Very well," Jareth snapped his fingers and rose out of the tub.
Sarah looked down to see she was wearing a blue poet's shirt.
"What happened to my tee?"
"I'd rather have you in my clothes. Your 'tee' doesn't do you justice, and the thing was a rag even before your journey."
"Did you just insult my clothes?"
"Let's start on you right arm, shall we?" said Jareth, realising he was on paper-thin ice. He gently reached out and grabbed hold of Sarah's arm, and turned off the flashlight neither had noticed the thing was still on. He removed it's strap from her wrist, placing it on the floor before slowly rolling up the sleeve and revelling in her nearness.
"How much time did I have left?"
"Four and a half hours. You beat your previous time. Congratulations, I believe that's a record actually..." He paused as if in thought. "Yes, the previous record was nine hours and three minutes. You beat it by twenty eight minutes."
"Yay me. I never want to run that thing again."
"I warned you about the short-cut, Sarah."
"I though I'd be able to quit."
Jareth sighed. "You should have had that option. How does your arm feel?" he asked before she could question him further.
"Fine now, thanks."
"My pleasure," purred the Goblin King, reaching for her right leg and raising it out of the water. "Relax, Sarah," he ordered, waving his free hand. The water began to rise and heat up. Sarah sighed contentedly and leaned back. She closed her eyes, and let Jareth work. She didn't open them again until she felt a pressure in her left palm. Jareth was kissing her hand. He smiled.
"All done, Precious."
"Right," said Sarah, pulling her tingly hand away from the ethereal being. "Can I have my clothes and some privacy?"
"You do remember the location of you clothes, do you not?"
"Can't you magic them back?"
"Yes, but seeing as you must be hungry, you will be joining me for dinner, and you will be wearing fitting attire. Your clothes will be returned to you before you leave."
He held out his hand, and a crystal formed. He tossed it, and it landed a few feet from the fireplace. A chair with a green dress draped over it appeared, with a pair of matching slippers on the floor.
"Jareth?"
"Yes?"
"Privacy."
Looking rather put out, the Goblin King bowed his head and disappeared.
oo0oo
Sarah let out a yawn after she finished dressing. The dress was simple, but beautiful. It reminded her of her costume, only this was real and made of silk. She walked towards the door, and gaped at what she saw.
To say it looked like a tornado had been through here wouldn't do the damage justice. There was a chunk of wall missing from the wall opposite her, the bed was cleaved in half, the dresser was made up of pieces of wood and splinters. Most of the clothes were torn or shredded. As Sarah stepped through and looked around, she saw that chunks of the stone wall had been melted or had claw marks. She looked out onto the balcony on her right and saw a large patch of the gardens below that were brown and dead.
'What happened here?' she wondered.
"Jareth!"
"Yes, Precious? Oh yes, well, the Labyrinth and I had a disagreement."
Sarah rounded on where he had appeared behind her.
"A disagreement. This is what happens when you and the Labyrinth disagree? I sure as hell hope you two never fight! What did you argue about?"
"You."
"Me?"
"Yes. You called, I wanted to go to you, the Labyrinth wouldn't let me. It wanted to teach you, and was rather insistent. The destruction is a result of that."
"And the garden?"
Jareth shrugged. "The Labyrinth had to take its energy to use against me from somewhere. I suspect there are several such places in the Labyrinth. Don't worry, she'll recover in a few days."
'So the Labyrinth's a she. I knew the thing was sentient, the walls felt alive, but why? Why put me through that?'
Sarah's shoulders slumped, and she looked at Jareth with wide eyes. "That's why you didn't come?"
Jareth nodded. "The lessons this time were harsh, Sarah. The Labyrinth believed you too trusting."
"Finn…"
Jareth nodded.
"But why the water? Why the jump off a ledge?"
"We will discuss this over dinner," he held out a hand. "Come, Sarah."
As soon as she took the monarch's hand, the room dissipated and she was standing before a dining table about ten feet in length.
"This room is reserved for intimate meals with friends," said Jareth as he led her to a chair and pulled it out for her.
"Thank you," muttered Sarah quietly, suddenly nervous.
"My pleasure," replied Jareth, taking his own seat.
A goblin hurried in, placing a plate before Sarah, then Jareth. Sarah wondered at been served before the king and didn't move to eat until Jareth had taken his second forkful.
"So about the waterfall…why didn't the Labyrinth want you to come?"
"It wanted you to realise you could do it on your own. One of life's harsher lessons: the people we love won't always be there for us, and we sometimes have to manage on our own. While I cannot promise to always physically be there for you, Sarah, I assure you it won't be through lack of trying. The same, I assume, goes for your…'friends'. The knight, the rock caller and Hogbreath."
"Hoggle."
"Whatever."
"So, the Labyrinth wasn't mad at me for giving up?"
Jareth snorted. "It would have been mad if you hadn't. You took a very big risk, Sarah. Taking that sort of chance, being willing to risk putting your family through the grief of losing you to avoid been a servant for an extra seven days, or just to win a bet, is, I assure you, not an admiral quality."
Sarah nodded. "Glad to hear it. So...fruit and vegetables aside, what else do goblins tend to revolt for?"
AN: Wow that's a fairly long one, I worked really hard on this guys. Reviews would mean a lot and give much needed encouragement to continue. Well I'll continue either way but faster with incentive to work on it.