Heir of the Labyrinth

Chapter 11: Quest for the Fireys

Jareth Jr., the only son of the infamous Goblin King, sat on the edge of his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling of his sprawling underground palace. His room was a bizarre blend of enchanted relics, mismatched furniture, and things he'd borrowed (without permission) from the goblins.
If you looked closely, you could spot a goblin's shoe nailed to the wall (for decoration purposes, of course), a giant crystal ball rolling aimlessly in the corner, and an old wizard's hat hanging from his bedpost, which Jareth Jr. used as a sock holder.

But none of this could entertain him today. Jareth Jr. was bored. Bored in the way only a young goblin princeling could be. He'd already made the goblins perform the dance magic dance earlier, played hide and seek with his pet talking mushroom (which wasn't much of a challenge since it couldn't actually move), and rearranged the stars in the sky to spell out his name.

-"Ugh, I'm so bored," he groaned, flopping backward onto his bed, his untamed dark brown hair sticking out in every direction. "Maybe I should make the labyrinth rearrange itself again. That always confuses the goblins." He sighed deeply. Even that didn't sound like fun today.

Then, an idea popped into his head. Fireys. The Fireys were these wild, chaotic creatures that lived out in the far reaches of the Labyrinth. They were famous for two things: their ability to remove their own heads and limbs, and their complete and utter disregard for anything resembling sense. Jareth Jr. remembered seeing them before in the deeper parts of the Labyrinth when he was little and not long ago when he was adventuring with Hoggle. His father had steered clear of them, muttering something about "losing patience for that nonsense," but Jareth Jr. thought they were *hilarious*.

-"I bet those Fireys could shake things up!" he said aloud, grinning. "Plus, if they get too annoying, I can always trap them in a bubble. Or I can just run away? Either way, it's a win-win."

With newfound purpose, Jareth Jr. leapt off his bed, slipped on his best pair of mismatched boots, and grabbed a crystal ball off his nightstand. He casually tossed it into the air. It hovered and shimmered, projecting a faint image of the far side of the Labyrinth—the Fireys' home turf.

-"Perfect," he muttered, tucking the crystal ball into his pocket. "Time to find some fun."

---

It was a hot and disorienting day when Jareth Jr. finally reached the Fireys' domain. The place smelled of burnt toast and old socks—odd, even for the Labyrinth. Rocks jutted out of the ground like jagged teeth, and the air was filled with the constant sound of distant, off-key singing.

-"There's no way these guys can be boring," Jareth Jr. said, smirking as he walked deeper into the rocky terrain. He could hear the Fireys before he saw them, their high-pitched laughter echoing through the air like a thousand tiny goblins laughing at the same bad joke. Finally, he spotted them. A group of bright red, scruffy Fireys were gathered around a campfire, tossing their heads back and forth like juggling balls, while another one was trying to attach his foot to his nose for no apparent reason.

-"Hey there!" Jareth Jr. called out, striding toward them with all the swagger of a future Goblin King who had absolutely no idea what he was getting himself into. "Mind if I join in?"

The Fireys paused and turned to look at him. Their big, wild eyes blinked in unison, clearly sizing him up. One of them, who was trying to balance his own eyeball on his tail, grinned widely.

-"Well, well, well! Look at this, fellas! A new playmate!" the leader, a particularly scraggly Firey with feathers like fur that looked like they'd been caught in a tornado, cackled.

-"I'm Jareth Jr.," he said, flashing a confident grin. "Son of the Goblin King. I heard that you know how to have fun."

The Fireys erupted into a chorus of screechy laughter, and one of them immediately threw his arm at Jareth Jr. as a form of greeting. It hit Jareth square in the chest and fell to the ground, twitching.