The ornate slab walls of the labyrinth stood tall and proud, mocking her as she wandered up and down the length of the ivy-trailed structure. Milky white faeries flitted around the air, dodging a small figure holding something akin to a bicycle pump. As she watched, it seemed that the pump contained some sort of insecticide (Pesticide? Faericide?). Either way it seemed to have a bad effect on the creatures and they fell, lying in the sand, wings fluttering rapidly as the faeries twitched in a near unconscious state. The small figure holding the pump counted each body that dropped to the ground with a slightly malicious glee before moving on to their next victim.
The dwarf was very much aware that a runner stood nearby but did nothing more than his job, spraying the garden pests before they could bite. He could still remember the last human that attempted to solve his Master's puzzle. He had stood and waited for her to call on him for 8 years before he knew for certain that she had forgotten about him. The memory was painful and Hoggle brushed it away, stubbornly deciding that he would offer no help to any other person; to protect himself from the agony of being forgotten. And so he continued with his job, grumbling that runners were no good and he wouldn't let her use him like Sarah had just to be removed from her head when she got what she came for.
But her presence brought on a sense of guilt. Sarah had not forgotten him by choice, he knew that adulthood made people forget about the magic of their childhood and their fantasies. She had simply grown up, as was expected in her world. Hoggle fought with himself as he was forbidden to talk to the runners anymore, but if he only showed her without speaking then he wouldn't have disobeyed the orders given to him and so he marched over to take the child by the wrist and pull her to the notched wall of the great maze before resuming his duties of pest control.
Mellissa stood and watched the creature walk off without a word, then turned her attention to the bricks that jutted out of the wall, that almost resembled hand and footholds. Seeing no other way to get into the puzzle, she resigned herself to rock climbing; scaling the wall as it tore at the skin of her hands and knees as she struggled against the sheer strength of gravity attempting to pull her back towards the bottom.
Pulling herself up onto the flat edge on the top of the stone wall, she looked down to find that there were no bricks as there were on the other side; her only options being to jump down or to jump across onto the ledge of the next wall. Weighing up the choices made her choose the shortest route which would undoubtedly be to vault from wall to wall like a cat. However, she had a strange feeling she would not be so graceful.
Stepping back to take a run up, Mellissa found that the walls had moved further from each other and the only option was jumping down. Closing her eyes, she stepped off the edge, bending her knees as she collided with the sandy floor; the collision caused her balance to be thrown off centre and, as she straightened up and brushed herself off, a small chuckle was heard from behind her.
The Goblin King stood, or rather leaned, against the wall about three feet away, eyes watching her as they sparkled with amusement. He had removed the coal black cape and replaced it with a black leather waistcoat, a bronze chain looping from the pocket.
"Now, now dear. You couldn't have thought I would let it be that easy, could you? Now that would be no fun at all." His body straightened itself as he began to step closer, looking her over as if inspecting the specimen before him. Her face turned away as it burned from the shame that coursed through her. "No, you shall just have to remain on the ground, little bird. You would not have made the jump anyway and would have failed at my labyrinth all too soon."
With those final words, his image faded and Mellissa was left standing in the passage by herself.
***
The goblins swarmed around Jareth as he monitored the girl through the passages and turns. She was doing well for the time she was given, almost a quarter of the way after only two hours. The king decided that he wouldn't intervene, not yet at least, give the child a fighting chance. No, the trick would come later.
A small hand tugged lightly on the hem of the white shirt. One of the youngest goblins stared up at him in equal parts awe, curiosity and fear. Cassandra had been wished away by her twin brother almost a year ago. She was a pretty thing, and as goblins went that was a compliment indeed, ever the curious one with a healthy amount of respect for others. Jareth scooped her up gently and sat her on his lap, his left leg acting as a support on which she leant. He smiled as he took both her tiny hands in his own.
"Sir? Why is the girl running the Labyrinth? I thought she wished herself away? Unless she's running to find herself..." The inane curiosity made the king smile. The goblin child was smart. He decided to humour her.
"She has a wish to remain in my kingdom, to do this she must prove her strength, both physically and her strength of will, to both myself and my Labyrinth. When she has done so, then, and only then, may she stay." The little girl looked at Jareth, eyes wide with wonderment.
"Do you think she will? Complete the Labyrinth, that is, Sir." With his free hand, he touched the tip of the child's nose.
"Yes, Cassie, I do." Cassandra nodded, understanding. Jareth let her hands fall and, with a twist of his own, a crystal ball appeared from nowhere. Another twist created a small, crystal bloom that he pinned within her hair, pulling it out of her face. He pulled her closer so she could see what his crystals showed as Mellissa continued her quest.
***
Mellissa had stumbled around for three hours now and felt like there was nothing to show for it. Following her feet had led to another dead end. She turned to double back on herself and found another wall less than a foot away from her nose. Looking over her shoulder showed that a passage had opened into two doorways; both guarded by a knightly figure each, one of red and the other of blue.
"Ooh. It's another one. Oi! Wake up!" The red knight kicked it's counterpart into a state of consciousness. "Sorry, he's normally awake when people visit. Now, one of us tells the truth and one of us lies. One door leads to the castle, the other leads to certain death. "
Mellissa stood for a moment and thought. One tells the truth and one only lies. One tells the - 'Oh clever,' she thought, 'Very clever.'
Walking the the red knight, she simply asked.
"Is this the door to certain death?" A nod from the knight told her everything and she walked to the other door, ignoring all the attempts made by the knights to stop her for an explanation. The red knight had said that one of them told the truth and the other lied, that one door was safe but the other wasn't. This meant that he told the truth if this was the only way to get to the castle. So she simply had to ask. Mellissa pushed the door open with a smile and fell straight through the floor.
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A/N: Any guesses about what Jareth is planning for Mellissa later? First person who guesses correctly gets the next chapter dedicated to them!
