The Darkened World

Another Unpleasant Landing

Sarah refused to scream as she fell, though it was difficult, she knew it would not help her situation and she would not call for the Goblin King. She was unsure if her pride would be able to take that hit and, in the end, she feared that all she would have left to rely on would be her pride. 

As she fell, Sarah could not help but think of Journey to the Center of the Earth, the fall was taking forever. Normally, she would be thankful for this, but she could do nothing but fall and it was beginning to grate on her nerves. If the Goblin King was trying to get her to make a wish, she would not do as he wanted and he could go shove it. 

She did try to find something to grab onto, though at the speed she was falling all that would do would dislocate her shoulders, but she had to at least try. Her luck still failing her, the walls were either non-existent or to far for her to reach. It was near maddening. 

However, after the landing she would rather have still been falling. 

Being unable to see, Sarah was unable to see the ground rushing to meet her and, if had not had the attention of a Fae King, the impact would have killed her. 

Instead, she crashed through what she assumed was the ground and landed in the Wise Man's courtyard, of course the Wise Man was nowhere to be seen but that was only to be expected. 

Another thing that was only to be expected was have horrible her body felt. If she had thought that the fall into the oubliette hurt, this was much, much worse. Not only did her entire body hurt but it felt as if her very bones were bruised. She was surprised to find that she had not broken anything. 

There was, of course, no sign of where she had burst through the ground, but the startled looks of a few smaller goblins, ten in total, who appeared to be playing some insane form of checkers with their bodies as painted pieces, told her she had appeared out of nowhere. 

"It's the Labyrinth, I thought you lot would be used to these sort of things." Sarah snapped at the little goblins as she rolled onto her back and counted her breathes. When she reached ten, Sarah jumped, more like crawled, to her feet and tried to stay upright. 

All the while, the startled goblins excitedly whispered among themselves. 

"It's the Lady!" "She short. We thought she be tall." "Pretty Lady." "Should we confuse her?" "No! King said to be nice." "But he said it with a grin, I thought we should be not nice." 

"If any of you try to hurt me I will kick you." Sarah declared without knowing that her words were the entirely opposite of what she should have said. The little goblins forgot their game and crowded around her, each trying to push closer. 

"Do!" "Kick me first!" "I wanna be kick first!" "Shove it, King kicked you last time!" "But that was after he kicked you!" The goblins began to argue among themselves and Sarah took the opportunity to flee. An action that her body did not appreciate, but she did not feel like standing there and kicking goblins. 

An idea so Jareth like it frightened her appeared in her mind. If she did not know better, simply because the plan would help her, Sarah would have thought that he placed it there. Sarah froze and looked back at the arguing goblins. 

With a grin that could rival the Goblin King's, Sarah sauntered back over to the goblins and whistled loudly. When it was clear that she had their complete attention, Sarah gave them all her best imitation of the Goblin King's cutting look. It was, to simply say, a look that the goblins knew well and it terrified them.

"Now, the first goblin to properly lead me back to the gates of the Labyrinth, I will kick first." The goblins stared at her and Sarah realized they were waiting for her to say something else, something threatening. She blinked and then her lips broke into a large grin.