The Princess and the Goblin King

Chapter 2

How Willow found his way to the Labyrinth is a long and superfluous tale. Suffice to say it involved trial and error spellcasting and infinite patience. What happened next was the interesting part.

"Allo," said a little orange worm perched on a ledge in the Labyrinth.

"Huh? Oh, hello there," Willow said politely.

"Care for some tea?" the worm asked.

"Sorry, I have to get to the castle. Do you know which way it is?"

"You want to go to the castle?" The worm said in its countryside English accent. "Why would you want to go there?"

"I'm trying to find a baby," Willow said.

The worm stared at him as if trying to make sense of utter flimflam. "Well if that's what you want, it's that way," he said, and stretched out his neck.

"Thank you," Willow called as he pressed on.

"Up or down?" Asked a bunch of hands forming themselves into a face.

"Well, I don't think a king would spend much time in the dungeons… up, please."

"He chose up!" The hands called among themselves. They lifted Willow back up through the trap door he'd fallen through.

The castle door was nowhere to be seen when Willow reached the top. He was standing in the middle of a round room ringed with dozens of goblin-sized doors. Luckily for Willow, he was also the size of a goblin. He picked a door and walked through it.

At least he thought he did. As soon as he stepped over the threshold, he found himself right back where he started, about to step through the same door.

"Well, that's not it," Willow said. He tried the opposite door.

That one led to a bottomless chasm. Why would you even put a bottomless chasm in your castle? Willow wondered as he carefully shut the door.

The third door just led to a chain of smaller doors, ending with a door smaller than Willow's finger. The fourth door was just painted on the wall.

Willow hesitantly opened yet another door and immediately fell through it. He slammed into what appeared to be vertical ground and looked up to see a door hanging sideways in midair. He got up and looked around to find himself back in the Labyrinth surrounded by topiaries.

This is going to be a long day.

The next thing Willow found was a goblin city, or the start of one. Goblins were milling about every which way carrying materials and raising walls. Other goblins were squabbling over rocks and shooting each other out of cannons, but at least they didn't seem to mind Willow.

"Excuse me, do you know the way to the castle?" Willow asked a goblin who was walking by carrying a bunch of chickens on a plate.

"You're new around here, ain't ya?" She said pleasantly. "We'll need to add in another house for you."

"Oh, no, thank you," Willow said. "I just need to get to the castle."

"You're not staying around? Pity, I could get used to your face," she said, and she winked. "If you must be on your way, take the next two lefts, go straight past a right, take a right at the next fork, go around the giant rabbit topiary- hey! Watch where you aim that!"

She ran off and began scolding two smaller goblins, who were throwing bricks at each other.

Take the next left, straight past a right… what was next? Willow thought. I'd better just move on.

There were the flamboyant red things who were very insistent that Willow play some silly game with them. He felt a little mean, but he just did not have time for that, so he tossed some party sparkers at them. They scattered at first, but within moments they were back.

"Ay, make some more fizzy lightning! We like that game!" their leader asked.

"It's all yours," Willow said. He handed them the handful of sparkers he had in his pocket. When he left them they were merrily throwing them at each other and tossing their heads in water when they caught fire.

"Thanks, funny goblin! Come back and play more sometime!" the leader called after him.

There was the pack of fairies who buzzed around him and kept biting at him until he finally snatched one and threw it against the wall. It sat there shaking its fist at him and chirping while the others fussed about, giving him time to escape.

There was the giant mechanical goblin that guarded the entrance to the castle.

"State your business," it demanded.

Willow figured that "I'm here to take one of the babies your king stole" was not the right answer, so he decided it was time to improvise.

"Uh… royal rat-catcher," he said, hoping there were rats in the Labyrinth.

"Very well- wait, if you're a rat-catcher, where are your traps?" the pilot called down.

"I sent them ahead," Willow said with a perfectly straight face.

"Well all right, go on in," said the guard.

Thank goodness for terrible security, Willow thought as he walked in.

Finally, there were the stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. Stairs that led into themselves. Stairs that curved in on themselves so they never ended. Stairs that kept going up even though you kept going past the stairs where you started. All in all, it was even worse than the first Labyrinth Willow had had to solve, and he was getting pretty tired of it.

Then he saw Elora.

She was crawling around happy as anything on one of the staircases. Of course, it was hard to tell which one, since half the time when she reached a platform she was on a different staircase.

"Elora!" Willow cried. He ran toward her and predictably found himself farther away the closer he got. Elora proceeded to give him a heart attack by climbing upside-down on one of the staircases.

"Elora, will you stop that?!" Willow shouted. "Just sit still!"

Elora did not.

All the while as Willow was beginning to doubt his sanity and was starting to feel seriously sick to his stomach, a tall man with very long hair was lurking around and moving among the staircases. By now, nothing surprised Willow, but he was pretty sure the stranger had something to do with all of this.

"All right, what is going on and would you please give me back my baby?" Willow asked.

"You're the one who sent her away," the stranger said impishly. "All I did was grant your wish." He went back to defying gravity and prowling the stairs.

"That is it!" Willow shouted. He took a running start and leapt for Elora.

The entire room immediately shattered into pieces and melted around him. Willow slowly fell through them until he landed on a barren plain. Elora was sitting there like nothing had happened, so he scooped her up and faced the stranger, who was looking at him expectantly.

Now what do I do? Willow thought. I have Elora, but how do I get out of here? And what do I do with him?

He took out his wand and stared at it.

Finn, I hope you're right about me, he thought. And then the words came to him.

"Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen," he began. The stranger folded his arms and stepped back.

"For my will is as strong as yours, my kingdom as great,"

The stranger frowned and started forward again. He started to say something.

Willow held Elora tight and held out his wand.

"You have no power over me."

Everything dissolved. The palace and the Labyrinth swirled into nothingness. The stranger glared in shock and fury until Willow couldn't see him anymore.

Then Willow was back at the castle, still holding Elora.

"Finn? Madmartigan?" Willow called. He poked around the halls until he ran across Finn in a library.

"Willow? You're back? So soon…" she said when she saw him.

"How long has it been?" Willow asked.

"Only a few hours. We thought you'd be longer. Madmartigan and Sorsha are tending to the wounded. Oh, you have Elora!"

"Yes, it's a long story," Willow said. "I suppose I should get her to bed. She's had a long day."

He started to leave so he could find a suitable place for a baby to sleep. Then he paused.

"Finn?" He asked.

"Yes, Willow?" She replied.

"Maybe you should take this for a little bit," he said. He handed her his wand.