From: "alorindanya" <[email protected]>
Date: Tue Aug 6, 2002 12:09 am
Subject: "Linda's Wish" Chapter 5/?


"Linda's Wish" by Alorin Danya

Disclaimer: The mind of the late yet ever brilliant Jim Henson
conjured these characters; I am only barrowing them for a while.

Keep those reviews coming. Thanks for the support.

Chapter 5: A Good Time

Linda was relieved to finally have found a change of scenery. It
seemed like she'd been walking for hours in the paths that were just
walls of stone. Now the maze looked similar, but at least these walls
were of finely trimmed bushes, and instead of strange eye lichen
growing out of every empty space, tall stone obelisks were scattered
randomly along the path. Linda hoped the change meant she was making
some progress and wasn't going in circles completely. That, and if
there were any more earthquakes, she wouldn't have to be as afraid of
falling debris; she was quite certain leaves didn't hurt as much as
flying rocks, and she could just stay clear of the obelisks if she
felt another quake coming. She definitely couldn't retrieve Sarah if
she was trapped or crushed under the stone.

Just thinking of how she was putting herself in danger--was Sarah
worth the risk? All the kid had ever done was whine for her
attention; if she was able to get her back, that wouldn't change.
Sarah would still want to be with her, Robert would expect her to
sacrifice her time...Hadn't Milly said she took her dreams and no one
remembered her son? Linda wondered if she could do the same. No, no,
she couldn't risk Sarah not being forgotten. Milly had taken her
dreams straight off; Linda chose to try to get Sarah back.

Linda laughed out loud as she shook her head at herself, thinking
that once again, she had given something up for Sarah's sake.

"I didn't realize my Labyrinth was so amusing."

Linda spun around to find the Goblin King leaning against the nearest
obelisk.

She frowned at him, "It isn't amusing. I've been going for hours and
gotten no where."

"Yes, your progress has been rather pathetic." Jareth grinned with
satisfaction.

Linda hated this man's constant mockery of her, but she wasn't
appalled by it. In fact, it intrigued her. There was something about
his intimidating presence that made her heart beat faster, something
Robert never did. She didn't know when she'd stood before such beauty
or danger...and it gave her a fleeting idea.

A wicked grin crept onto her lips as she slyly neared the
king, "Couldn't you, maybe, give me some slack? Head me down the
right direction?"

Jareth raised an eyebrow at her bold request and flashed her a sly
smile, "And why should I do that?"

"Because I," Linda said as she stepped into him, "can make it worth
your while."

The mocking grin returned to the king's lips as he eyed her closeness
before flashing his eyes back to hers, "What could you possibly offer
me?"

Linda ran her hands over the cloth on his chest, "You're a man, I'm a
woman..."

The king shoved her away, causing her to fall face first into a
bush, "You'll go through it like everyone else."

Linda laughed at herself for being so foolish, "I should have figured
you were a tough cookie to crack." She pushed herself up off the
ground and brushed herself off, "Well, I'd better get going..."

But the Goblin King had already gone; and Linda found herself
surrounded on all sides by bush.

"This is rich," Linda huffed, then shouted to the air, "You bastard.
What are you afraid of? A good time?"

"We'll show you a good time." Came a scratchy voice from the other
side of the bushes.

Linda yelped as she was bit on her shoulder by something and she
screamed when she saw…whatever it was had long, sharp teeth; and it
wasn't alone. There were four other hairless rodent creatures
clinging to sticks being forced through the bushes to attack her.
Linda yipped every time that one bit her. She was able to knock a
creature off its stick, but that did her no good for as soon as it
hit the ground, it found her foot and started climbing up her leg.
That was pure terror for Linda and she ran full force through the
bushes and kept on going through the leaves until she exited to open
air. With a shriek at seeing the bald creature was still on her leg
she grabbed it and threw it as far as she could. But she couldn't
relax yet. There were five goblin guards, each with a spiky,
oversized helmet headed straight towards her—clinging rodents on
sticks in hand.

Linda looked around for a means of escape, but the only possible
place she could go was through a stone archway behind the goblin
guards. Well, she decided it was either stay and be nipped to death
by rodents or chance a sprint past the guards and hope that with her
larger size she could force her way past them and run faster than
they could follow. Taking a deep breath, she charged them with a
shout, which seemed to have taken them aback for they stopped in
their tracks and merely stared at her as she raced by.

Linda didn't stop until she felt as though she couldn't go any
further. A pain had developed in her side and she leaned against a
stature of what looked like a toy soldier as she held her hands to
her knees, trying to catch her breath. Once composed, Linda figured
she had better see where she had brought herself to, if it could be
anywhere closer to the castle. She nearly moaned when she looked up
and saw only more walls, but this time a combination of stone and
bush.

"This place could make a person claustrophobic." She breathed to the
air before pushing off the statue and walking on again.

There came a strange tinkling noise. The sound was vaguely familiar,
and Linda was curious as to where it was coming from and what it
could be. Her feet followed her ears until she came to what seemed
to be somewhat of a courtyard. There were many large urns on
pedestals and in the center, across from a throne of stone books, was
a sun dial which let Linda know she had nine hours left. She went
over to the throne and sat down, closing her eyes to see if she could
hear where that strange noise was coming from. After being sure it
was coming from somewhere behind and to her left, Linda turned and
glimpsed the castle in the distance. She realized the sound, one she
was familiar with but didn't hear very often, was her daughter's
laughter.