The Labyrinth on Bourbon Street 2

The Runaway and the Pyrokinetic

Lapis was standing in the threshold of the castle, her suitcase stuffed with more treasure than she could stand to carry. She wouldn't be leaving without her keep. 

"I would have to advise you against searching for Allie and Sebastian on your way through." Jareth instructed, reclining in his throne. "You'll only waste precious time, precious thing."

"I do believe that is enough counsel, thank you very much." Lapis answered in her most authoritative voice. Though it was really just code for "I will use my time however I want and there's no way you can stop me".

Lapis swallowed her pride and stepped closer to the gradually opening castle doors, Jareth no doubt ogling her as she walked away. 

"Godspeed and good luck to you." Lapis told herself before picking up her feet and launching herself out into the dead of night.

Lapis tried to tell herself that if her aunt could do it, she could try to do it, too. But her aunt had some minor advantages; she was able to see the nose in front of her face, she had more than double the time and she didn't have to inconspicuously sneak out of the Labyrinth with a metric fuck ton of treasure. Well, her first task was to get well away from the castle before Jareth figured out that the best of the treasure was missing.

Her strategy seemed to be pretty straightforward; that was, run straight forward until she came across something that could conceivably be an opening. But if the labyrinth walls looked solid in the daytime, they sure as hell looked solid at night. Lapis could imagine Jareth looking at her from a window from above, just waiting for her to come crawling back.

"Milady!" Lapis heard a voice call out. Voices bounced through the surprisingly acoustic labyrinth from miles away, so she didn't think anything of it. But then it got closer. 

"Milady!" she heard it call out again, this time from a slightly different voice. She turned around and squinted, looking to see who the voice belonged to. 

"Yes?" She called back, having no luck seeing the owner of the voice. She couldn't figure it out until the answer pummeled into her knees, almost making her collapse in her tracks. 

"Milady! We found you!" The voice exclaimed. Lapis looked down at the enthusiastic little goblin boy that was clinging adoringly to her legs. "We've been searching for days!"

Lapis scratched the back of her head. She wasn't queen long enough to leave such a lasting imprint on her subjects. She knew that this jittery little creature couldn't have been more than a child. 

She got down on her knees to get a closer look at her admirer. "And who might you be?" Lapis asked, trying to recreate her most royal demeanor. 

"Allow me to introduce myself, your majesty." The boy took a step back. "I am Eidus, proud to call myself the fire-starter to the queen."

Lapis didn't want to dash the child's hope, but she needed all of the help she could get. "Did you say 'fire-starter'?" she asked, her hope rising with the beat of her heart. 

"Yessim." He answered with a nod of his head. 

What a stroke of luck! Lapis stood back up and looked down at him. She looked over her shoulder, skeptic that anything running up the damp walls could be used as kindling. "Well then," She started, adjusting her posture. "Start me a fire, fire-starter."

"Yes, right away madam!" Eidus eagerly replied. He dropped to his knees, rubbing his hands just a bit above the ground. Lapis payed close attention, curious to see how he could make fire out of nothing. He started to rub his hands together vigorously until a few clouds of ashes started to spout out, followed by a couple of embers. He thought quickly, breaking a stray dead branch off from the brick wall and gently letting the embers singe their way through and erupt into flame, turning the splinter of dry wood into a functional torch. 

"Your majesty..." He presented the torch to her with a bow, lowering himself to one knee. Lapis took the torch in her hand, but she couldn't help but act thoroughly impressed with the goblin boys' talent.

She briefly examined the torch, then looked down at the self-satisfied goblin. "You're a pyrokinetic?" Lapis asked. The little boy nodded proudly.

"I got separated from my brother." Eidus confessed. "He and I were going in the same direction, then we just got split up. And the truth is, madam, I don't do too well on my own. Creatures round here like a pyrokinetic goblin like myself a bit too much."

"There are people out to get you?" Lapis asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Not people, madam." Eidus shook his head. "Tribes'd skin me and sell me for greater than the sum of my parts. Like the Fire Gang, they'd sever limbs to get a goblin like me. I have to watch my back." 

Lapis had read about element-linked goblins that roamed the inner workings of the Labyrinth, but it was rare to see one linked directly to one of the four earth elements. She didn't want to believe in a world that intra-species hunting existed.

"Well, I've got someone on my tail too." Lapis said, trying to sound like she knew how he felt, even though her problem wasn't even remotely close to his. "Jareth gave me six hours to go as far as I can. Can you help me?" 

"I will now escort you back to the palace, where you belong, your majesty." Eidus explained, taking her by the hand and starting to trod off. Lapis anchored herself into the ground and pulled the little stinker back. 

"Hold up there." Lapis picked him up by the hand to look him in the face. She thought that it was high time that she acted a little more assertive. But secretly, she didn't want to leave the child alone. "I'm not going back to the palace, and I certainly don't belong at the palace, capiche?"

"Milady, you're our queen." Eidus chuckled cockily. "Of course you belong at the palace."

"Not tonight." Lapis corrected. "And that is all I will say on the matter, Eidus the royal fire-starter. Now do you want to help me or not?"

Eidus looked conflicted for a second, twiddling his thumbs in place. Lapis looked down at him, her face saying 'if you have to think about it, you have already gotten it wrong'.

"Absolutely, your majesty!" Eidus finally spat out.

"Then show me through this labyrinth, to the beginning!"

"Why, that's not usually what Jareth's ladies say." Eidus chortled to himself. "I can take you to the outside, but unlike going inside, there's plenty of paths you can take."

That's a relief. Lapis thought to herself. Eidus broke a vine off of the walls and lit a torch for himself.

Lapis and Eidus walked through narrowing layers, and the view ahead looked to cave in further and further as the walls met the horizon, almost like a triangle. Aside from the few creaks and cracks in the distance, the labyrinth at night was deadly quiet. No crickets chirped, no cicadas buzzed, and no wolf howled. The night was mute in this land.

"Why you running this thing at this hour anyway, lady?" Eidus asked, hobbling ahead of Lapis as fast as his legs could muster. He got very comfortable with the whole 'don't call me your majesty anymore' situation alarmingly quickly, and started referring to Lapis like he would any other lady. Lapis thought it a step up.

"On behalf of my friends." Lapis answered, now that she knew that she was safe to talk to the boy. "I told Jareth that I would run in their place and if I prevailed, he would let us go."

"Huh." Eidus vocalized, seemingly unfazed at this new knowledge. "If you win your escape, could you do something for me and my brother, too?"

"I don't know if I can, but," Lapis started, still feeling lukewarm at best towards this child. "What is it?"

"Bring my mama home?" He asked. 

"Hey lady!" Eidus called out. "I think I found where ya friends went!"

Lapis dashed around the corner. She saw a toppled stone structure, collapsed, but all four walls were almost still completely intact. She had to take a closer look. She stepped on to the stray bricks and examined them as she stepped around. She saw what Eidus knew could only be the mark of her friends; splotches of bloody red and painful white scratch marks decorated the remains of the building.