Zee could tell that Tippy was feeling sad. Or, more to the point, she was sensing the sadness in someone she cared about.
And she cared about Kingy.
"He hurts a lot," she'd said to Zee once." His heart hurts all the time."
Zee agreed. It was funny, since from the outside, you would think Kingy would have no reason to be sad. But he was. And Zee had a pretty good idea as to why.
He turned to look at the little Goblin walking next to him. Even at such a young age, Tippy had a heart that reached out to others. She didn't speak much, but then… she didn't have to. Just a touch of her hand had the curious effect of soothing a person's feelings. Grogg was one of the Ughlánas that had been assigned to watch over Tippy, when she was still human. Zee recalled the way Grogg characterized her… that she was special. He'd never seen such a kind soul, ever. Curious, Zee had 'popped' in to check her out himself.
Grogg had been right. The little girl Tippy had been was one that shined with a special magic. If Zee didn't know better, he'd have thought she was touched by the goddess Danu. He didn't know why she should have this magic, but she did.
And what was even more strange… Tippy's mother was nice too. Zee had long since stopped wondering at what the Labyrinth was thinking when it picked the wishers, but the fact that Tippy's mother was such a kind lady sort of drew them all up short. Grogg and the rest made it a point to do whatever they could within the rules to protect Tippy and her mother, even going so far as to attack a group of thieves who were intent on breaking into their home.
But then, there were some dangers that even the Ughlánas couldn't prevent.
Zee had known there was trouble, bad trouble. He'd felt the ripple of it through the magic that linked all of the Ughlánas. Some instinct told him that it had to do with Tippy. He transported there, taking in the scene of destruction, barely noting that Kingy was already there.
Tippy was hurt. Dying. Grogg lay near Tippy's mother, his hand on her shoulder. He was covered in debris, but Zee could see his aura fading out. He was dead. Kingy couldn't see him… likely didn't know he was there.
His heart howling in grief for his friend, he moved to Tippy, taking her hand gently. "It's gonna be okay, Tootsie," Zee said softly. "I got ya."
Tippy's mom smiled at him… she knew. Knew that Tippy would be okay if they took her now.
The whole thing hit Kingy pretty hard, so much so that he hung a memory crystal in his special garden, one that had an image of Tippy's mom. He became even more sad when he'd found out later that Grogg had died in the incident… and that the only reason Tippy survived at all was because Grogg threw himself on top of her right before the explosion.
They had great magic, the Ughlánas. Almost instantaneous Healing. But there were some wounds that even they couldn't recover from.
Using the last of his strength, Grogg had crawled to Tippy's mom, told her to make the wish. Thankfully, she did.
It was against the rules to do such a thing, but Zee couldn't blame him. In all honesty, he would have simply taken Tippy to Melina, wish or no wish, if Grogg hadn't done what he did.
Tippy had relayed all of this to Zee in small portions. This in itself was unusual, as the Labyrinth had a habit of scrubbing the memories of those who were transformed. For some reason, Tippy retained her memories.
Which was probably why she was so fascinated with Sarah. Tippy's mom had black hair and green eyes, and while maybe not as pretty as Sarah was, she had similar facial features. When she'd seen Sarah in the throne room crystal, she'd gasped. At first, Zee was a bit concerned that she would fixate on Sarah and mistake her for her lost mother. But Tippy seemed to understand that they were not the same person.
"She hurts… like Kingy does," was all she would say about it.
They were on their way back from the dining hall, after grabbing a quick bite to eat. Tippy wanted to watch the rest of Sarah's Run. Upon entering the throne room, Zee noticed quite a crowd of Ughlánas sitting around the crystal ball, watching Sarah.
She'd just come upon the rockcaller, strung up by his limbs and hanging off the ground. A few Ughlánas were dancing around him, holding sticks with 'nippers' clinging to the ends of them. The nippers had wicked, sharp teeth, and large yellowish eyes. Pretty creepy, all told. The Goblins were 'poking' the rockcaller with the sticks, looking for all the world like they were torturing him.
"Don't let them hurt him," whispered Tippy.
"Oh, they won't, Tootsie," he replied, patting her on the head. "They won't bite him. They'll tickle him. He's not really trapped, he can hop down at any time."
Tippy frowned, "Then, why?"
"It's a game. See, we're trying to get Sarah to go in the wrong direction. A big hairy beast is pretty scary, so we figured he'd get her to run away."
Tippy giggled a bit. "Ludo's not scary," she said with a grin.
"Well, I know that. And you know that. But Sarah… she doesn't know that."
"Sarah…" said Tippy in a whisper. It occurred to Zee that this was the first time Tippy had heard the Runner's name.
"Yes, her name is Sarah. And she's nice. I… sort of hope she wins."
They watched as the rockcaller's cries summoned some stones which rolled at Sarah's feet. She picked one up, aiming carefully and threw it at one of the Goblins. It struck the side of his metal helmet, rotating it so that the opening for his face was now at the back of his head. With an impish smile, she picked up another rock and did the same to the next Goblin.
"See?" Zee said quietly. "She's trying to save him. And she's not even trying to hurt anyone while doing it."
The Goblins were chased off, Zee could hear their giggles as they ran out of the courtyard. Sarah was too busy examining Ludo's bonds to notice that the Goblins had been both amused and impressed at her intervention.
Ludo was impressed too. A simple creature, he'd been found wandering outside of the Labyrinth as a baby, many years ago. Clearly an orphan, he had been informally adopted by the regular denizens of the Labyrinth and had looked forward to a chance to interact with a Runner. This was Ludo's first Run, and already Zee could tell that it wasn't exactly going as he'd thought it would. Sarah clearly wasn't afraid of him, had even treated him kindly and spoke softly. It was no wonder that Ludo would react to it as he did.
With a bear hug.
Considering that Ludo was about ten feet tall, huge, sporting long black horns and a body covered with russet fur, it would be natural to run in terror from him. Sarah clearly could see the gentleness in his eyes, the sweetness of his expression. In some ways, Ludo was a lot like Tippy, a soothing presence. And Sarah picked up on that.
As expected, she asked him if he knew the way to the castle. He was one of the few residents of the Labyrinth who actuallydidn'tknow the way, which was probably a good thing. Zee didn't put it past him to have told her, if he'd had the knowledge.
He heard a ripple of giggles going through the crowd of Goblins as the wall behind Sarah morphed, changing to a pair of doors with ornate brass door knockers. He glanced back down at Tippy, who watched with almost bated breath.
"You stay here and watch, Tootsie. I'm gonna go talk to Sir Didymus."
Tippy nodded absently, her eyes never leaving Sarah. Zee turned and made his way out of the throne room, chuckling to himself.
Good thing Sarah's gonna be our Queen, he thought. That way, Tippy doesn't have to lose her too…
Argle and Fargle had quickly put their bronze-painted faces into the holes of the door, shifting a bit to attach the rings of the knockers where they belonged. Argle put his in his ears, while Fargle put his in his mouth. They stared forward, unmoving, as the girl approached them.
"Which shall we choose out of these two ugly characters?" she asked.
Fargle almost laughed aloud. To cover it, Argle quickly replied. "It's very rude to stare!"
To his surprise, the girl apologized, and from what he could tell, it was sincere. He and Fargle bantered a bit back and forth, Argle claiming deafness from the ring in his ears and Fargle's words indecipherable due to the ring in his mouth.
The girl walked over to Fargle, pulling the ring out. After a few comical moments of Fargle flexing his lips in relief, he eventually told her to knock on one of the doors. She turned toward the rockcaller, who had placed the bronze ring in his own mouth. The sight was enough to send both Goblins into hysterics, but they'd managed to resist the urge. With a soft laugh, the girl removed the ring from the rockcaller's mouth, turning to Fargle with it in her hands.
As expected, Fargle refused to allow the ring back in his mouth, resisting the girl's pleas. She watched him for a moment, then a gleam of mischief shined out from her gaze. Reaching forward, she pinched Fargle's nostrils shut.
After a few moments, Fargle opened his mouth to take a breath. Instantly, the girl had inserted the ring back in his mouth. Argle saw the look of amusement and admiration that Fargle shot to him at that point.
Clever girl, he thought to himself as she used the knocker. She crossed through the open door, the rockcaller following hesitantly behind her.
Tippy watched through the crystal as Sarah went through the door. She glanced over at the throne, to see Kingy sitting there watching too. He had the baby in his lap, and every once in a while, he would murmur something to the child. The baby seemed to like him.
Tippy could understand why. Kingy was nice, under all the sadness. He'd made sure to cuddle her a lot after she'd lost her mama. Funny thing was, she realized that by cuddling her, his own sadness seemed to go away a little.
And he was sad now. He looked at the baby with a longing in his eyes.
He wants babies of his own, Tippy thought. So he won't be lonely no more.
Tippy turned to look back at Sarah in the crystal. She was lonely too. And the longer Tippy watched her, the clearer it became. A line… a thread… coming from Sarah's heart and linking to the King's. She didn't know how she knew it, but she did… Sarah and Kingy should be together. So they wouldn't be lonely anymore.
As Sarah walked through the spooky, misty forest, Ludo seemed to get a little scared. All of the Goblins watched with fascination as she comforted him, taking his hand to lead him through. Even Kingy couldn't tear his eyes away for a time, before he'd handed the baby off to Korgle and vanished.
Sarah and Ludo came upon a clearing in the forest, separating briefly. In that moment, the Labyrinth opened up underneath Ludo, and he dropped down silently below the forest floor. Sarah turned, noting that he was gone and calling out his name. The fear in her voice was getting stronger with every call.
Then, she did something different. Something none of the Goblins would have anticipated.
She called out to Hoggle.
"Hoggle, help!'
Without a thought, without even a whisper of hesitation, Hoggle turned in the direction of Sarah's voice. "I'm coming, Sarah!" He stopped short, his heart leaping into his throat.
There, standing before him, was the Goblin King.
Author's Notes:
Ughlánas are hard to kill, no doubt, but it can be done. And it made sense that they would take their duty to watch over a potential wished-away so seriously that they'd give their lives for them. At the same time, they are limited by the rules of the Labyrinth. Direct interference is forbidden, the wishers must make their own choices. But… sometimes the Ughlánas find loopholes in the rules.