Chapter 2:
In the time it took Kiera to blink the salty tears, that the wind had caused, out of her eyes, her surroundings had changed completely. She was now left standing atop a short and sandy hill with the king lingering behind her.
There was no evidence of rain ever touching her, yet she could still feel the cold she had only experienced a moment ago. His body pressing possessively against hers did nothing to warm her either. It was the type of cold that could sit within you for decades and never leave, and she suspected it was because of the magic this place held. It was completely new to her, so it was inevitable that there would be some kind of ramification, right? Right. It had nothing to do with how embarrassing her current position with the king was.
A thick silence lay in the humid air as her eyes scanned over the seemingly unsolvable labyrinth that sat only a couple hundred steps away. It didn't look that far to the castle, but everything was not as it seemed here, after all.
She was growing increasingly uncomfortable, so she whipped around and pushed the man away with a scowl. An almost hurt expression crossed his face, but it turned amused as she put a hand on her hip and frowned even deeper.
"Ready to give up yet?" he purred with a wolf-like grin. That voice sent shivers up and down her already rigid spine. It was currently unclear to her whether they were excited or disgusted shivers, but she chose to forget that thought and focus on the matter at hand. His bitchy attitude.
"Give heed to my words, bub, because I will not be saying it again," she began sternly. "I will never give up. I'm honored that you chose me and shit, but I want to go home." A light wind ran past them silently. "I want to go to the museum again, and I want to be able to write in my notebook whenever I so please. All of those things are miles out of reach now because of a stupid wish I made when I was in extreme discomfort, and it hurts like hell to know that I won't have access to them ever again if I don't solve a puzzle that is unlike any other in the Aboveground. Thank you for the consideration, but I really must be going," she seethed. "I have a labyrinth to run."
With those last words, she gave a deep and mocking bow to the king and walked calmly towards the closest wall. He shook his head with a smirk.
"What a pity indeed" he whispered to the air. Of course, she didn't hear him, but there was no doubt that she would be seeing him again. He was known all over the land for his mastery of disguise and magic, and he would be putting them to good use in the all too near future.
The bottoms of her shoes made small imprints in the sandy ground beneath her feet, and her clothes were already torn in numerous places, but she didn't look back at the king who still stood on the hill watching her. She didn't need to. The piercing gaze of his eyes burned hot on the back of her head like the sahara desert. Deciding to pretend he didn't even exist, she eyed her surroundings.
Small fairy-like creatures pranced through the air with small mischievous grins, and a short man stood to the side spraying them with what looked like poison. Her eyes narrowed, and any hint of a smile that had recently found a resting place on her face, had disappeared.
"Excuse me!" she called snarkily. The dwarf-looking fellow payed no mind to her and continued to spray the creatures without mercy. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she asked with fury evident in her tone. His form finally turned on her and a deep scowl was painted on his face. His stature was even smaller than she originally thought, and the wrinkles that lined his features were almost frightening.
"What do you want?" he asked with a sneer. The way he said 'you' unnerved her.
"I want to know why you're being such an ass!" His face contorted with rage and annoyance. "Better yet, why the hell are you killing these poor creatures?" She bent down to her knees and scooped up one of the small things. "What did they ever do to y-" She was quickly cut off by a searing pain in her hand. "OW!" she screeched in discomfort. Now he was laughing. It was a short and cough-like chuckle that made her want to throw things. "She bit me!" His shoulders were now shaking with delight.
"What did you expect her to do? Grant wishes? God, you're all the same!" Her face sagged with fatigue.
"I expected no such thing, but I certainly didn't think she would chomp on my hand…" Her voice trailed off towards the end with weariness. All the events of the day were beginning to bring her energy level way down. "Anyway, now that I know how freaking evil these little shits are, where is the entrance to this labyrinth?" she asked while running a few fingers through her, ever-knotted, hair. A scowl crawled back onto the rumpled folds of his face.
"Well, at least you're quicker than the others. Its right over," He paused and pointed to a pair of large ornate yet ancient doors. "there."
A grin spread over her again, as she turned and walked closer to the dwarf-thingy.
"Thank you Mr. Dwarf-Man. I'm Kiera, by the way." He huffed unhappily.
"I'm Hoggle."
"Wonderful name that is," she replied smoothly before walking towards the entrance with her hands resting in the pockets of her jeans. The closer she got to commencing her journey, the more she was hit with all smells and things to hear. Leaves ruffling in nearby trees filled her ears with an intense ringing, and she pondered whether or not any birds that were native to her home dwelled here. Never had she ever heard a silence so deafening, and she was caught revelling in it.
Her feet finally passed through the entryway. On either side of her sat long narrow paths that seem to go on forever. The walls were covered in reaching vines, odd looking shrubs with human eyeballs peeking out at her, and gooey substances that would, no doubt, harm her in some way. Despite this, she let her hands drag against the rough surfaces as she walked. Every once in awhile these things would break the skin and draw little bubbles of deep crimson blood, but the pain she received was not going to slow her in any way.
A hard yet eager expression was glued to her face in every way. This place might seem highly unpleasant to a normal person, but she was savoring every second. It's not every day that a girl from Aboveground was swept off her feet and whisked away to a place some people could only visit in their dreams, after all. Or was it? The Goblin King seemed pretty experienced in this sort of endeavor… Maybe he did this often? Once she reached him at the center of the labyrinth, she was determined to ask him.
After walking for what seemed like miles, something she could only categorize as prodigious happened. It started to rain. At first it came down in a hesitant drizzle, but as soon as the first drop touched her face, it was pouring at an incomparable speed and heaviness.
As if in a trance, she stopped walking completely. Her feet refused to budge from their spot on one of the stones that lay under her feet, and for once in her life, she didn't care. The rain was almost so perfect that it was artificial, but her mind told her to ignore it and enjoy this little slice of heaven that whoever was looking out for her had bestowed upon her.
Her arms moved to stand high above her head, and slowly yet surely, her fingers spread as wide as they could and rose upward.
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Jareth sat forward in his throne with an interested expression as the girl continued to waste time dancing in the rain he had conjured. If he had known how easy it was to distract her from the beginning, he would've promised her an oasis where it rained every day.
His gloved hands were gripping the crystal a bit harder now as he noticed the euphoric contortion of her face. All he wanted was for her to look that happy when around him. It was as if she saw him as a monster. He was easily the most beautiful being in this land, and she barely even noticed. Of course, she had called him attractive when first seeing him that night, but it hardly mattered now that she was running the labyrinth for her freedom rather than coming with him like he thought she would.
The goblins that dwelled in the throne room with him were being quieter than usual. They sensed his tense mood, and it seemed as if they were trying to be considerate. The occasional burp or fart completely defecated on these attempts and soured his aura further, but at least Kiera was being somewhat amusing at the moment. She had finally took to grinning like an idiot and spinning awkwardly down the pathways.
She was now in the more difficult part of the labyrinth where the twists and turns were completely visible and confusing as ever, yet her feet continued to lead her in the right direction. If he didn't act soon, she would be lost to him, and he would no longer be able to even look at her. This faintly reminded him of Sarah, but that only brought back painful memories that took him away from his current infatuation with the girl that he was viewing in his crystal.
A small sigh escaped his lips , and he tried to covered it up with a yawn or something of that territory, but the goblins still took note of it. His boredom with being king was becoming more and more apparent every day to the small creatures, and they didn't like it one bit. Jareth may have been more than cruel at some points, but past rulers had been even worse, and they had no desire to return to those days where death games to amuse the monarch were daily events.
One small female creature watched him with careful and guarded eyes. Her skin was wrinkled like the rest, and an almost grey tone donned her features, but she managed to stand out with a full head of mousy dark hair. Jareth's eyes met hers momentarily before raising an eyebrow. It was obvious to him that she had something to say but was to fearful to speak.
He finally stood and approached her, swaggering over with all the confidence in the world.
"Your gaze has gripped my attention. Voice your thoughts now, or don't make your curiosity quite so overwhelming," he commanded with arms poised on his narrow hips. The small woman shivered with unease, but she wound up cleared her throat anyway.
"I was only pondering the thought of sending that Higgle fellow to mislead this one as well," she admitted shyly.
"This one?" he questioned with a disgusted air resonating from him. The ancient looking goblin let herself gulp once before answering.
"I'm sorry for addressing her so improperly, but you never gave us her name." She paused briefly to survey his reaction. His body remained tense and judging, but he didn't stop her, so she continued cautiously. "I'm simply saying that if she has no knowledge of Hogwart other than his, ever so easy to forget, name, then it might be wise to use him to stall her. As far as she knows, he has no connection to you at all, and from what I've seen, she already accepts him as a companion."
Her words lingered a few seconds longer than they should have in his head. He would not lie; he had certainly contemplated sending the dwarf to somehow delay her, but hearing it now from one of his subjects only reinforced the thought. Of course, it hadn't worked all that well with Sarah, but Kiera was no Sarah, and Sarah was no Kiera. They were two complete different beings with different responses to things. He stood straighter in order to display even more dominance, and cleared his throat and sent the small female goblin a wicked smile that was meant to instill greater amounts of fear in her heart.
"I will try out this feeble attempt at advice, but heed my words, my good woman. If this fails and the newest runner still makes it to this castle in her allotted time, I will catapult you head-first into the Bog of Eternal Stench," he clarified with yet another mirthful grin. Jareth then turned away from the lady and strut back to his throne where he waved a hand around dramatically and called for a servant. "Get me the dwarf," he ordered.
A new crystal was conjured to his hand. Through it he could see the girl. She no longer danced and had continued to walk normally again, but her short sleeves were rolled up even higher and she had now opted to remove her shoes. He cringed a bit at the thought of her potentially hurting her feet, but in the end, he wound up throwing the crystal to the side and forcing himself to think of other things.
"You'll give up soon enough."
Hey guys! I wanted to upload this quicker, but I tend to write when I'm inspired and only then, and that keeps me from getting things up quickly. Sadly I couldn't find anyone to proof-read this for me prior to publishing, so there might be some grammatical errors. If you find any, feel free to private message me so that I can fix it for you.
I'm really excited for this, so expect me to stay with it till the end cause I'm determined to finish for once. In the past, I've developed a bad case of writers block whenever I try to write a serious fanfiction. You can find definite proof of that on my other account.
Okay, thats enough of me. I hope you enjoyed it, and please follow and review.
~Sparklytequila