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Chapter 10 - The Castle Doth Lie Yonder

Two friends, Stephanie and Chantal, accidently end up in the Underground, making their way through the Goblin King's Labyrinth in order to get their freedom. Making new friends and meeting strange creatures along they way, as they try and solve the p

Chapter 10 - The Castle Doth Lie Yonder

Chapter 10 - The Castle Doth Lie Yonder
Chapter Ten: The Castle Doth Lie Yonder



The Goblin King stared deeply into a crystal. He leaned back on his throne and grinned. The two girls who had entered into his realm were now trapped within a crystal. They had found themselves wearing gowns, within a ballroom, much like Sarah had, only without the mass of ballroom dancers. Jareth smiled as he saw the girl with the short curly brown hair pick up a chair and swing it to try to smash the crystal wall. The chair hit the wall and shattered into splinters. The girls looked around for another way out. It amazed him that the two girls had gotten this far. The Goblin King laughed as the two girls made their way down a hall and trying all the doors.

"What is so funny your Highness?" a small goblin asked as it came into the throne room.

"These girls. They're never going to give up, even when there doesn't seem to be a way out," Jareth told it as he watched the girls. The girl with the long straight hair had just fallen through a mirror. Stephanie, he believed that was her name.

"What will you do with them Highness?" the goblin asked as it tried to take a look into the crystal.

Jareth looked at the goblin and smiled with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. The goblin peered around its master, looked into the crystal to see the hanging Stephanie being pulled up by her friend. Chantal then looked over the edge and down at the ground. Jareth winked and the crystal started moving. It flew faster and faster away from where it had just been. Suddenly it stopped just outside the Goblin City gates.He watched as Chantal figured out the crystal, jumped from it and the girls returning to their normal sizes.

"Do you want us to scare them away Highness?" The little goblin asked as the girls approached the city gates.

"No. Leave them. I want them to find their way to the castle," Jareth told the goblin as he watched the girls sneak past the sleeping guard. He must really find someone who would stay awake at their post for more than five minutes, he mused.

"Yes Majesty!" the goblin replied as it scurried away.

O O O

"The castle? You mean we moved closer towards the castle? Why would we be moved here?" Chantal asked confused.

Stephanie turned and looked at her friend. "Take a look for yourself." Chantal got to her feet, walked over to Stephanie, and poked her head out. "The Goblin City!" Stephanie said pointing downwards.

"Ack! This can't be good!" Chantal said looking down. "We are high up too! How do we get down now?"

The crystal then started to slowly drift downwards closer to the ground.

"Wow! That was too easy!" Chantal told her friend.

"Yeah, I don't like this."

Three feet from the ground, the crystal stopped and just floated in mid air, as if it was waiting for its passengers to disembark.

"Now what?" Stephanie asked her friend.

"Ummm...we use Serek!"

"Use him how?" Stephanie asked confused.

"Well, if I'm right, once we jump from the crystal, we should be returned to our normal size," Chantal explained.

"If you are right? I'm not risking my life on your guesses," Stephanie told her.

"That's what Serek is for. Just in case I'm wrong. We send him out of the crystal and see if he returns to normal size before we jump."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Do it!"

Chantal looked down at Serek. "Sorry for using you as our guinea pig, but if I'm right..." Chantal trailed off. She then threw Serek out of the mirror.

"Squeeeeee!" The dragon creature screamed. He extended his wings and flew down to the ground, where he looked up at the girls and squawked again.

"I said I was sorry! But look, you are back to your normal size!" Chantal turned to Stephanie. "See! I was right!"

"I see! I see!" Stephanie said and she took a few steps away from the edge. She then started running towards the edge. "Out of my way! I'm outta here!" Below the floating crystal, Serek squawked and jumped out of the way, just as Stephanie changed back and landed on her feet, right where he had been a few seconds before. Stephanie stared into the crystal at Chantal. "Coming yet?"

"Yeah. Move out of the way!"

Chantal lifted up her skirt and jumped over the edge. She fell to the ground and landed on her butt. "Ow! That hurt!" She jumped to her feet and brushed off her pants. "Hey! We are back in our normal clothes," Chantal exclaimed. Stephanie looked down at herself and noticed she still had the owl necklace dangling around her neck. Chantal turned and faced the floating crystal. She glared at it then ripped it out of the air. She held it in her hand and stared at it for a few moments. She then put it in her pack and turned to Stephanie.

"How did you know that once we jump out of the crystal, we would turn back to our normal selves?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, I figured that any other magical item that the source of power was central and while we were inside the crystal, we were controlled by its rules. Therefore once we jumped away from the crystal, we were away from its magic, which no longer had power over us." Chantal explained grinning madly.

"So when did you become a magic expert huh?" Stephanie asked smiling.

"I must have been watching too much Card Captors!" Chantal giggled. Stephanie laughed and turned around and stared at the gates of the Goblin City. She sighed. One more thing left to do before returning home.

"How do we get in there?" Chantal asked staring at the gates.

Stephanie walked over to the gates. She stood in front of a sleeping goblin guard. She waved her hand in front of its face, the goblin didn't flinch. She gestured to Chantal to follow her. They opened the small guard door and crawled through it. Serek scurried after them. Even though the security had doubled since Sarah's or anyone else's visit, it was useless, or so Stephanie thought. The goblin guard snorted in its sleep.

Chantal got up from her knees. "Damn it's quiet," she said aloud.

"Too quiet," Stephanie agreed as they started walking down a main street of the Goblin City. They made their way past several blocks, when up ahead in the middle of the street, the girls spotted a gushing water fountain.

"Ooh? Is that what I think it is?" Chantal asked skeptically. "I wonder if it's clean," she said as she ran towards it.

"It looks like it," Stephanie said peering into the clear water. Chantal cupped her hands, scooping up some water and gulped it down. "Well?" Stephanie asked staring at her friend.

"Well what? Take a sip for yourself. You said you were thirsty,"

Stephanie tasted the water. "It's not bad," she said, wiping her hands on her dark jeans.

"PIKA! PIKA!"

Both girls heads snapped up, they spotted a blurry yellow blob running across the street in front of them. Both girls turned to each other with puzzled look on their faces.

"Is that what I thought it was?" Stephanie said.

"I'm not sure, but I think that was a Pikachu," Chantal replied.

"How did it get to the Underground?"

"I don't know! How did we get to the Underground?" Chantal asked.

"Either by saying the words, which we ruled out, or by a new method: the crystals." Stephanie said with a shrug. "But does it matter? We're here."

"I guess you're right," Chantal said still pondering as they walked towards the castle.

Stephanie stopped dead in her tracks.

"What? What is it?" Chantal asked alarmed.

"Why aren't there any goblins and why hasn't Jareth tried to stop us by now?" Stephanie was looking at the castle with a suspicious look on her face.

"He's up to something..." Chantal said.

"Yeah," Stephanie agreed. "But what?"

Chantal shrugged unsure herself. "Trouble that's what."

The two girls continued uneasily through the Goblin City, towards the castle. Stephanie was still looking at the castle in thought. After a few minutes, Chantal noticed that they haven't gotten any closer to the castle and pointed this out to her friend.

"You're right."

The two girls stopped beside the fountain again. "Unless we're lost, but we shouldn't have, all we had to do was go straight and turn the corner," Chantal said. Suddenly Stephanie ran down the street towards the castle and turned halfway around the corner. Chantal waited. Stephanie then appeared behind her friend.

"Just as I thought!" she exclaimed making her friend jump. "No wonder there's no goblins or anything to stop us," Stephanie grinned. "We're in a loop! Ha! Nice try Jareth!" She said the last phrase mostly to herself.

"I saw this episode of Card Captors," Chantal commented. "Sakura and Li used their swords to get out of it."

"Yeah, but where are we going to find a sword?" Stephanie asked sighing.

"I'm not sure," Chantal said. She turned to the fountain and stared down into the water. "We get so close and we get stuck in a loop. IT'S NOT FAIR!"

"I had no intentions of making this fair," Jareth's voice could be heard. Both girls spun around to see the Goblin King leaning against one of the buildings.

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