Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Wings: A Labyrinth Fic ❯ Chapter 6

Sarah heaved a sigh and looked around herself again. They had passed out of the hedge maze for the time being and were now wandering through a range of brown stone walls with streams of clear water along channels cut alongside the walls, fed by impossibly continuous waterfalls. Moonlight reflected off the water and spun on every surface, giving them the illusion of moving through water.

"How much longer do we have to keep walking?" she sighed.

"The labyrinth is quite large," he said. "If I was at full strength I could just take us right there in an instant. Instead..." he kicked at a puddle for emphasis. "We're stuck walking."

"Why aren't you at your full strength?"

Jareth halted and stared at her. "Sarah, just how many questions do you intend to ask?"

"Until you start answering me," she replied. "Most of the time you find some way to avoid the subject."

"How do I avoid the subject?" he griped.

She gave him another of her annoyingly sweet smiles and said in an oh-so obvious tone "just like you're doing right now."

Found out, he narrowed his eyes and would have crossed his arms if one of them hadn't been broken. "I have to be careful," he muttered. "Arin could be listening."

"Then you wouldn't have said you aren't at full strength," Sarah said. Jareth glared at her, and she blinked. "Well, it's only logical."

"Your world is too logical for its own good," he snapped.

"Frustrating, isn't it?" she replied, her smile turning into a smug grin. "Now, how come you're not at full strength?"

He brushed a few loose strands back from his face. "Because I was arrogant. Arin showed up at the castle and demanded that I hand over the labyrinth. I laughed, and then the goblins laughed, and I snapped my fingers to send her to another part of my maze, where I could watch her wander forever. Only she didn't disappear. And the magick I sent at her...she just seemed to soak it up."

"So...every spell, she just sucks it up?"

"More than that." Jareth turned a corner and stepped through another batch of puddles. "Once she started, my magick kept flowing to her. I couldn't stop it. I finally managed to make the floor beneath her crumble away, but...she launched a gate spell at me."

"To send you to my world?" Sarah hopped over the puddles and raised the lantern, revealing only more twists and turns.

"No, to hell. Thank goodness she's a lousy aim. I couldn't stop the spell, but I had enough energy to redirect it and send me to earth. And...I didn't become an owl quite fast enough. I hit your wall and knocked myself out for awhile." He turned another corner.

Sarah frowned when she only saw more water. "Um, Jareth. How do you know where you're going?"

He paused and stared at her. "What?"

She put one hand on her hip, jostling the lantern against her leg and making the faerie inside grumble little curses. "You haven't even stopped to look around once. How can you be so sure without a map?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but he hesitated and gazed into the distance for a moment. "I...don't know. I've never thought about it. I just do." Jareth glanced at the crystal ball floating before him. "I just trust my magick."

Sarah tilted her head curiously, about to ask another question, when something small and dark flashed across her vision. She and Jareth both stepped back and spotted the black blur not too far away, already zooming back down the path at them. They ducked as it flew directly overhead, and this time they both got a good look at it.

Dark red with black streaks, the little thing hovering a few feet away copied their real faerie down to the last detail, save for the more waspish wings and macabre coloring. It shrieked at them, baring white fangs before diving again.

"What is it?" Sarah cried, slamming against the wall and soaking the back of her shirt. "I thought everyone had taken off!"

"It's one of Arin's little monsters," Jareth growled. "But how the hell did she find out...damn, of course! One of my bubbles..."

Inside the lantern, the faerie shook off the water droplets that had seeped inside and tried to hide under the metal top, out of sight. Still flying around, the red waspy thing spotted the light flickering about even though the inside was wet, and it guessed the source of that light. With another scream it flew directly at the lantern, hitting the side and jostling the faerie out of the top. She landed on the bottom, squeaking in pain, and the wasp rammed the lantern again.

Sarah held the lantern at arms length as if holding onto a centipede. "Jareth..."

"Sarah, hold very still," he whispered, kneeling down. He dipped his fingers into a puddle, and to Sarah's amazement, his hand continued deeper than should have been possible until half of his arm had vanished.

While her attention focused on him, however, the wasp managed to knock the lantern out of her hand. Crashing to the ground, the door flew open and the faerie darted into the air, flying as fast as it could. The wasp followed only an inch behind, and once in reach it grabbed the faerie's arm and flung her to the ground. It landed next to her, claws raised, hissing as it readied to slash the cowering creature's throat.

Instead a loud scrape, like metal grinding on stone, echoed between the walls and made all of them look around to find its source. Jareth stood up, a gray sword in one hand, water dripping from the blade.

"Back away," he told his companion, who wasted no time pressing herself against the wall.

Forgetting the faerie, the wasp rose into the air and lunged at Jareth, who tried to slash it in half. It zipped to one side, dodging his sword and slicing its claws into his arm as it flew by. Before it went too far, he turned and swung his blade, cutting off the wings. The red faerie dropped to the ground while the wings splattered like blood against the wall. Undeterred, it crawled as fast as it could towards his boots, intent on doing more damage.

His aim made easy, Jareth dragged the blade across the slick stones and cut the thing in half, whereupon both halves melted much like the wings had done. He breathed out and knelt again, reaching back into the puddle and rinsing his hands off, splashing some water on his injury. Sarah also bent and scooped the huddled faerie up, placing her back inside the lantern. She looked so pathetic curled on the hard surface that Sarah tore a bit of her sleeve off and lay it beside her, smiling when the faerie grabbed it and used it as a blanket.

"Now what?" she asked.

Jareth carried the sword in one hand, ignoring how it continuously dripped water. "We keep moving. We should reach the sphinx before dawn, and then we'll see if she'll help us."

Sarah looked back up at the dark sky and the unfamiliar constellations. "Do you think your sister sent any more of those things after us?"

He paused, saying nothing for several seconds. When he did lift his head, his eyes remained staring at the ground. "It's likely."

"Jareth?" she whispered. "What is it?"

"Each of those little things," he sighed, turning back towards their path and the bubble waiting patiently for them. "Each one must be created out of a sacrifice."

"She has to kill...?" Sarah gave a little gasp.

Jareth nodded. "Her spells all require sacrifices, unless she steals someone else's magick. Like I said before, I hate to think what my cleaner's been used for. I think I'll burn that once I kill Arin."

She followed quietly behind him, hoping all of her friends had escaped, even the goblins and the strange fireys. Biting her lip in thought, she reached into her pocket and plucked out an old tube of lipstick she'd forgotten about before.

I wonder... She looked down at the ground. Maybe if the labyrinth truly was losing strength, it wouldn't be able to turn arrows around anymore. She knelt and wrote an arrow facing the opposite direction, then stepped quickly after Jareth.

"Haywhachoodoinagin--oioioioioioioioioi--yamuthasafraggenaardvar k!"

She turned in surprise and looked back. Her arrow had disappeared. With a slight smile she ran to catch up with Jareth. So that's what happened to them before, she smirked. I guess his sister hasn't chased out every Labyrinth dweller yet.

Ahead of her, Jareth closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. He glanced at the thin slice on his arm, pulling the bits of bloody cloth aside to reveal tiny red welts rising at the very edges of the cut.

"Damn," he muttered.

"What?" Sarah asked. "Did you say something?"

Jareth turned his attention from his wound and pointed ahead. "We're almost out of this part. Then we head into the forest. The sphinx lives at the center."

"Do you think she'll still be there?" Sarah asked.

Jareth nodded. "The gloom dragon would never leave his lair, and the sphinx would never leave him. I'm sure she has her own methods of keeping safe."

Sarah held the lantern up, and the faerie's light reflected back off the water. Not too far ahead lay the first few trees of what appeared to be a dense forest. "Ah...is your sword supposed to drip like that?"

"Hm?" he wondered, and then held his sword up. "Oh, this. Forgot I was holding it." He tossed it against the wall, where it splashed into harmless droplets. The muscles in his arm throbbed vaguely, but he did his best to ignore it.