�How much further?� Lina whined.
�I don�t know,� Zelgadis snapped back. This Labyrinth was the strangest place he�d ever encountered. But he thought he could hear something�..
�Shhh,� he interrupted Lina�s latest grumblings to listen intently. The noise didn�t come from the tunnel before them, it came from behind. And it was getting closer.
Caution overruled Zelgadis�s mental reminder of their limited powers, and he tossed a Lighting globe back the way they came as Lina demanded to know what was going on.
The magnesium flare of the Lighting illuminated a frightening sight. Something, some machine, was barreling down the tunnel towards them, filling it entirely. The front of the contraption seemed to be covered in whirling blades.
�RUN!� Zelgadis cried, snatching Lina�s hand. He yanked her up under his arm and sprinted down the tunnel. Ignoring her yells, his eyes darted from side to side.
�Zel, look out!� Lina screamed, pointing ahead. An iron grate blocked the tunnel.
Zelgadis skidded to a stop and turned, setting Lina down.
�What the hell was that?!?� she demanded.
�I don�t know, but if it catches us, it�ll cut us to ribbons!� On either side of the tunnel before the grate were two similar grates. Even his demon sight couldn�t pierce the darkness beyond them, but anything had to be better than staying here. Zelgadis began to pull and pound on one of them. The machine approached ever faster.
�Screw this!� Lina cried. Pushing Zelgadis aside, she cast, �Dil Brand!� The magical blast destroyed the grate, and they leapt into the side tunnel just in time. The mechanical thing continued straight past them, smashing through the grate in the main tunnel and disappearing into the darkness.
Panting from adrenalin, they peered after the thing.
�It wouldn�t have hurt you,� Lina pointed out.
Giving her a glare, Zelgadis retorted, �Oh, and you would have me let you be cut up?�
Lina blinked in surprise. His voice bore unusual vehemence. �Well, I could have stood behind you!�
�Just because I can�t be hurt by normal swords in our world does not mean I can�t be hurt HERE. Better safe than sorry.�
Lina�s response to that foray was interrupted by a breathy voice saying �Ah, but can our fangs pierce you, I wonder?�
�LIGHTING!� cried Lina, and the sudden illumination revealed a terrifying sight.
Instead of a side tunnel, Lina and Zelgadis stood in a large subterranean chamber. The ceiling was covered in thick sticky webbing, and the creators of that web, dozens of them, hung all around them. They were giant spiders, seemingly made of crystal, with fangs longer than Lina�s dagger.
Lina and Zelgadis instinctively tried to duck out of the room, back into the tunnel, but a particularly large spider dropped from above them to block the way.
�Yes, and how will you taste, I wonder?� continued the voice.
Zelgadis drew his sword as Lina began to summon power. She looked around them, and spotted something wonderful on the far wall � a ladder, leading up.
�Zel!� she hissed, indicating the ladder.
Nodding, he muttered back, �Make a break for it at the first opening.� As soon as he said that, the spiders attacked.
With a yell, Zelgadis deflected the long pinchers of one. His sword did knock them aside, but did little damage. �Shit,� he exclaimed, �ASTRAL VINE!� A glance behind him showed him that Lina had resorted to Flare Arrows to keep the spiders back.
Zelgadis continued to fend off the attackers, his enspelled sword causing more damage than before. He ducked and slashed at the legs of one, severing two limbs and causing a few to back off, clicking their pinchers in frustration. Another glance to check on Lina showed him that one spider was about to drop directly on her. Spinning, he frantically cast �BOMD DI WIND!�
The pressurized air blast sent not only the dangling spider, but several others flying. A opening appeared in the circle of crystalline arachnids. Lina crowed, �NOW!� and bolted for the ladder. Zelgadis followed, still keeping the spiders back with wild sweeps of his sword.
As they reached the ladder, with one hand, Zelgadis boosted Lina up. �Climb!� he yelled.
�Zel, come on!� She yelled back, scrambling up. But the spiders were closing in around them.
�Go on!� he replied, chopping off the pincher of one spider that came too close. �I�ll hold them!�
Now almost thirty feet up, Lina paused to look back down. �I said come on!� she cried.
Casting a Flare Arrow at another spider scurrying along the wall towards her, Zelgadis snarled, �I said CLIMB, damn it!�
Glancing above her, Lina saw that the ladder continued into a dark passage, too narrow for the spiders to follow. She spared one last glance at Zelgadis, and started climbing again. Just as she reached the narrowing, she heard Zelgadis chanting. Recognizing the spell, she muttered, �Damn it, Zelgadis!� and doubled her speed.
�VLAVE HOWL!�
* * * * *
The magically induced lava blast roared in Lina�s ears as she scurried up the neverending ladder. She cursed Zelgadis in three dead languages in her mind. The Vlave Howl would fill the enclosed chamber and flow back in on him. A glance down showed only a dim red glow. Suddenly, her senses told her there was an obstruction above. Reaching up, her hand met a stone surface. Bracing herself, she pushed, and it gave way before her, revealing bright sunshine and blue sky. Lina heaved herself up and found herself in a perfectly tended garden, like those around Saillune Palace. She leaned back down the hole.
"Zel!� she called. Her voice echoed down the dark hole. �Zelgadis?� She strained, listening for a response. �Zel? ZELGADIS!�
Nothing.
�Damn you Zel! And you call me reckless! Zel! Answer me!�
Her throat began to tighten, and she was suddenly afraid that her mental prediction about the spell had come true.
�ZELGADIS!� she shrieked down the hole.
* * * * *
Six Glass Spiders dragged a web-covered mass behind them. They emerged from a tunnel into the Labyrinth Forest to find Jareth waiting.
�Well?�
Clicking it�s pinchers, one spider explained, �The girl escaped. The demon-boy is here.�
�And were you able to pierce his skin?�
�Yes, sire. He will forget.�
Jareth smiled cruelly. �Excellent. Leave us. Poison the apple tree near the gate to the Topiary. She�s certain to be hungry.�
As the spiders faded into the woods, Jareth pulled the webbing away from Zelgadis�s unconscious face. The young man was singed, and a pair of small puncture wounds on his shoulder revealed where the spiders had been able to poison him.
�Now, �my son�, once you awake, I�ll have a little job for you.�
* * * * *
Lina wandered the maze of hedges listlessly. Her mind kept replaying her last sight of Zelgadis. She realized that he had never intended on following her. Lina tried to wrap her mind around the idea that he had sacrificed himself for her. If he died here, was he really dead? Or would he wake up back in the inn, and be waiting there when she got back?
She looked up to find herself in a small clearing. In front of her was a wall, in which there were two doors. The doors had gargoyle knockers, but no handles. There seemed to be a forest on the other side, and dimly beyond that, she could see the spires of the castle at the center of the Labyrinth.
Lina was so hungry she could barely think. Her stomach made a loud statement to that effect, but she tried for once to ignore it. Zelgadis sacrificed himself for me, she thought. She felt worse than when Gourry had been kidnapped. Then, she knew he was defenseless against Hellmaster. But Zelgadis was cool and calm, capable and strong. She remembered when Zelgadis fell before Hellmaster, but somehow this was worse. She didn�t know how. Maybe because she didn�t see him die. Maybe because she�d just gotten so used to him surviving everything.
�Well, are you just going to stand there and stare?� snapped one of the doorknockers.
�Huh?� Lina blinked. It wasn�t everyday she was addressed by a door.
�Pick one of us and go on.� The first door muttered. The other doorknocker rolled its eyes.
�Mlwys shuff n grmp,� observed the second.
�Mumble mumble mumble!� whined the first.
Lina noticed that the first knocker had its swinging ring through its ears. The second held its ring in its mouth.
�Does it matter which door I use?� Lina asked. She couldn�t muster the energy to be surprised any more.
�What? Speak up!� said the first.
�Hf dff s�n drr!� mumbled the second. Lina walked up to the second and pulled the ring out of its mouth.
�Oh! Ahhh! Thank you! I said, he�s deaf as a door! Ha ha ha!� The second chuckled.
�Does it matter which door?� Lina repeated.
�Nope!� The second smiled, then intoned, �Knock, and the door will open.�
�Fine.� Lina held up the ring to replace it, but the knocker clamped his lips shut.
�Huh, doesn�t want his ring back, eh?� chuckled the first. �Can�t say I blame him!�
�Open up!� Lina snarled, but the second knocker just pursed its lips tighter. �Fine!� She flung the ring down, and raised her hands. �FIREBALL!�
She stepped over the burning, charred remains of the door and strode into the forest. �Like I have time to argue with fixtures,� she muttered.
* * * * *
�Where am I?�
�In the Labyrinth Forest.�
�Who are you?�
�I am Jareth, the Goblin King and ruler of the Labyrinth.�
�Oh.� He paused. �Who am I?�
�You are my son, and Prince of the Goblins.�
The youth blinked. �Why don�t I remember that?�
Jareth smiled. �You were battling the Glass Spiders and were injured.�
�Oh.� The youth looked down at himself.
�You�re alright now. See for yourself.� Jareth gestured to a nearby pond. The youth staggered over and looked in the water. Startled, he sat back.
�What am I?!?� he asked Jareth.
�A goblin prince,� Jareth replied calmly. �Look again.� When the youth turned, Jareth cast a small glamourie.
As the youth looked, his features, stone-colored and rough, smoothed over to reveal pale skin and soft violet hair. �What�s my name?� he asked as his stared at himself. There�s something wrong, he thought.
�Your name is Zelgadis. Prince Zelgadis. And you have duties, my son.�
Turning back, Prince Zelgadis nodded. �I do, my father?�
With an approving smile, Jareth nodded. �Yes. You are not hurt much, and you will find that you remember more as you go about your normal duties.�
Prince Zelgadis nodded. He tried to remember what he did for his father the King, but nothing came to him. He was battling Glass Spiders? Perhaps he was his father�s enforcer. That seemed reasonable. Shrugging, he rose to his feet, and as he placed his hand on the sword hilt at his side, he felt a little better. �What would you have me do, my father?�
Smiling even wider, Jareth chuckled. �Back to work, is it? Very well.� His expression hardened. �There is a thief in the wood. A girl. Though she is young, she is dangerous, and she would steal something in my possession. Stop her.�
Bowing, because it seemed the right thing to do, Prince Zelgadis said, �Yes, my father. Sire.� Turning, he started into the wood.
As Zelgadis disappeared into the brush, Jareth�s smile became evil. �Knock!� he called, and the hapless goblin appeared at his elbow. �It has worked. Keep an eye on him.�
* * * * *
Lina started and stared around her. Something, or rather, several somethings were following her. Another rustle behind her made her whirl.
�Come out!� she called, kindling a Fireball in her hands.
�YYEEEEAAAAA!!!� shrieked something behind her, and as she whirled back, Lina tossed the fireball. The thing yowled as it got caught by the fireball, and more voices yelled and cackled from the bushes. More creatures piled into the clearing around Lina.
They were not even her height, but they were as flaming red as her hair. �Fire! Firey!� they cried, dancing around her. �More fire! Play! Play!� To her amazement, they started literally removing their heads and tossing them back and forth. �Firey!� they continually cried.
One head came flying at her, flapping its ears like wings, and Lina knocked it aside with a Flare Arrow. That only seemed to delight them more.
�Firey!� �Yes, Firey!� �One of us!� �Fire Queen! Firey Queen!� �No more Jareth!� Lady, you OUR Queen now!� Soon they had gathered close enough that they were pulling on her arms, her hair, and even her legs. It was like having mini-Xelloses all over her.
�Get off! OW! Stop that! DIL BRANDO!� One corner of Lina�s mind noted that they bounced, still laughing, when they hit the ground. She took off running.
* * * * *
�Sire, she didn�t get to the apple tree. The Firegang got to her first.�
�Oh? How did she react?� Jareth asked, prepared to be amused.
�She blew them up. But they declared her their Queen.�
�WHAT?!?� Rising, Jareth waved Knock away. �Send a detachment to discipline them. And transplant the apple tree right in her path.� As Lina�s goblin spy hurried off, Jareth pondered his options again. If he could get Lina to eat the apples, he could place her in a fantasy. Then, he could seduce her himself, but would it be more effective to have Zelgadis seduce her? She might be less apt to throw off the spell if faced with something subconsciously familiar. Something even�.. wanted?
With a thought, Jareth transported himself to the Labyrinth Forest, near to the place Lina had blown up the Firegang. He found Zelgadis there, examining the wreckage.
Looking up at Jareth, Zelgadis said, �She has some sort of powers, father.�
Pleased by Zelgadis�s subservience, Jareth smiled. �Indeed. You must be careful, son.�
�I�m tracking her. It won�t be long now.�
Jareth nodded. From nowhere, he produced a crystal. �When you find her, hold this up. It will�.. bind her.�
Zelgadis nodded, and took the crystal from Jareth. He pocketed it, and headed after Lina.
* * * * *
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