Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Wings: A Labyrinth Fic ❯ Chapter 8

Part 8

It was all rather sudden. One moment Jareth was walking beside her, the next he had fallen to his knees. She dropped beside him and put her arms around his shoulders, but all she could do was help him lean against a large tree in a thick pile of dead leaves.

"Thought you said you'd just get tired," she sighed.

He didn't respond, didn't even look at her.

Sarah merely sighed again. Lying was probably just his second nature, couldn't help himself. She glanced around the empty forest and sat down beside him. "How long'll this last?"

He shrugged, then winced as the motion pulled at his torn skin. "A few hours...a few days. Hard to tell."

I don't think we'll have that long, she thought. "How far is it from the sphinx to your gloom dragon?"

"A few hours walk," he breathed, and he closed his eyes. "Maybe. Maybe closer. The trees start...looking the same..."

Sarah put her hand to his forehead and winced. "Well, you certainly aren't going anywhere soon. Looks like I'm gonna have to meet the sphinx alone."

"No," he cried, grabbing her hand. "You are not going anywhere alone. One of those little pests might find you--"

"They might find me anyway," she argued, "sitting here with the Goblin King with what's probably the last faerie glowing like a little lighthouse. We don't have time to argue about this. Where is she?"

He stared into her eyes for several seconds, weighing his choices back and forth until he let go of her hand. "Follow the crystal. It will take you to her."

Sarah nodded and stood. "Anything I should know before I go?"

"Don't act weak around her," he said. "But don't be disrespectful either. Don't try to tell any lies, she'll see right through that. Tell her you need to get to the gloom dragon to get a scale."

"A scale?" she asked. "Like to weigh something?"

"No, a dragon's scale."

"Just one?"

He gave a rueful laugh. "Believe me, one is enough. Once you have it, try to find your way back here."

"All right." She straightened her shirt and looked down the path. "I'll leave the faerie with you."

"Take her with you, you'll need her."

She stared at him. "I'm not going to leave you alone in the dark."

"You said it yourself, that faerie's a lighthouse," he pointed out. "If you leave her here, we'll probably have another winged attacker. Besides, you'll need to see where you're going."

Sarah bit her lip. "But..."

"I'll be fine," he insisted. "Trust me. Now go on before the sun comes back up."

"All right. I promise I'll come back."

She picked up the lantern and turned to go, but he called her back before she'd taken too many steps.

"Sarah."

"Yes?" she asked, looking back.

He hesitated a moment. "Be careful."

She smiled and nodded. "I will be."

*

Forty-five minutes later, footsore and sick of listening to the faerie's angry chatter, Sarah stopped when the bubble came to rest at the mouth of a large cave. There was no rumbling or roaring or even flames shooting out occasionally, though she'd half expected the flames. She looked into the darkness until she decided she couldn't afford to be cautious, and stepped inside.

And promptly fell straight down, screaming all the way.

She had no way to tell how far she'd fallen, but she landed on something big and soft that "whumph'ed" when she hit. Inside the lantern, the faerie hit the bottom, bounced against the lantern's top, and hit the bottom again. Sarah groaned and pushed herself up on all fours.

Right in front of her eyes, two glowing lights popped up. "Hm. I'd not thought anything living remained in the forest."

Sarah stiffened and swallowed once. "Um, hi. I'm sorry I dropped in on you, but um...are you the sphinx?"

A low chuckle rumbled through the soft surface, and Sarah then realized that she was indeed on top of whomever she was speaking to.

"Sarah? Not the whelp that trumped the king at his own game?"

She gave a lopsided grin. "Yes, that's me."

"And dropped in my lap."

Sarah did not like the way that sounded and promptly sat back, folding her arms as if speaking with a creature that could eat her was an everyday occurrence. "I need to know where to find the gloom dragon. I have to get a scale from him."

"You?" the sphinx laughed. "Carry a scale? You'll be flattened under the weight."

"I can carry one," Sarah snapped. "Now I need the directions, before Arin finds out where we are."

The lights blinked. "You think I'm afraid of that little minx?"

Sarah smiled sweetly, much the same as she did when Jareth was trying to pull something. It was becoming second nature. "I don't see you flying out to take 'that little minx' on."

The sphinx growled, and a blaze of light struck up along the walls as thousands of fireflies reacted to her tone. Sarah shielded her eyes until they adjusted, and she finally could see where she was sitting. The sphinx was indeed huge, filling up the cave she had apparently been sleeping in before, and she lay on her back with her feline legs and tail in the air. Two yellow feathery wings lay flat on the floor under her, but Sarah mostly noticed the female face staring at her, two glowing eyes set against pale skin and black hair.

Sarah put her hand down, and she glanced aside when the surface wiggled. To her surprise, she sat in the center of a large female breast.

"No wonder the landing was soft," she mumbled to herself.

The sphinx chuckled. "There was a reason the men of Athens found me so imposing. You really want to find the gloom dragon, then you must answer a riddle."

"Oh. Okay." Sarah inwardly smiled. It'll probably be that one about the stages of man. No prob. Everyone knows that one.

"I have a hundred legs but cannot stand, a long neck but no head, and I eat the maid's life."

Sarah's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Don't tell me you expected to hear that old four legs, two legs, three legs riddle?" the sphinx laughed, showing sharp teeth behind her human lips. "I'm not stupid. Everyone knows that one."

Oh shit. Jareth didn't say anything about a riddle. Sarah chewed her bottom lip nervously. Okay, think. Think. They word those damn things so you don't get a good picture of what it is. Okay...a hundred legs, a long neck...it didn't mention anything else. She pictured a hundred short stubby legs grouped together under a single long neck, then altered her mental image to just a hundred sticks under one really big one.

"Give up?" the sphinx asked, licking her lips.

"Not yet!" Sarah snapped. "I know exactly what giving up means."

"They tell that damn Oedipus story too much," she grumbled.

"Lots of twigs...grouped together around a big one..." Sarah smiled suddenly. "Oh, that's a stupid riddle to ask a woman."

The sphinx winced.

"It's a broom," Sarah giggled. "Eats the maid's life, I get it now. Sweeping is backbreaking work, I'll admit it."

One glowing eye quirked halfway. "That was an easy one anyway. You'll find the dragon guarding the fountain of jewels. Go straight out my cave, turn right at the rock shaped like a dancer, and down the stairs you'll find. Now go away."

Sarah would've teased the sphinx about the riddle if she hadn't worried about being eaten. Instead she decided being polite was the best thing, seeing as how even the faerie had been scared silent. "Um, could you tell me the way out?"

"Turn around."

She did as she was told and found a ladder-type set of grooves cut into the cave wall. Worrying she'd be bitten in the back, Sarah wasted no time in scrambling up the wall, sliding the lantern on her arm for easier transport.

"Hang on, Jareth," she whispered. "I'm halfway there."