The Labyrinth Sequel

Chapter 8

My friends don't move from my side, and the King stops at the door, staring at them expectantly.

"Come, come now, all of you, out." He commands.

"But I don't wanna go..." Toby whines.

"Ludo stay." Ludo says, flopping down onto the bed and nearly throwing me onto the floor.

"I said out! Or so help me I will bog the lot of you!" Hoggle doesn't needs to be told twice, and he grabs Toby to go with him. Ludo doesn't move from my side on the bed, so it is up to Sir Didymus to drag him from the room.

"Come now Sir Ludo," He tells him, "We must let the Lady rest, and in the mean time we shall stand guard for her room!"

Once they are out the door I lay back and close my eyes as it swings shut. This might be weird for me, sleeping in a castle where I had tried so hard to avoid, but I am just so tired right now, that I could sleep anywhere.

Just as I am drifting off, the bed begins to sink to the left of my head. My eyes shoot open at once, glancing to the side.

The King sits comfortable by my pillow, staring down at me with an entertained expression. I suppose I never did see him leave the room with the others, and he moves so quietly that I never heard him coming over to me.

"I thought you said everyone needed to leave so I could rest." I point out, tempted to close my eyes again.

He meets my gaze and refuses to look away.

"I am not the others, and I saw it fit that the two of us speak without the company of all your 'friends'." He says.

"There's nothing to talk about." I say, breaking eye contact to roll over onto my other side so that my back is facing him.

"Then I suppose you do not wish to know how the castle came to be fixed, how your friends came back from the unknown, and how I became my wonderful self again?" He asks, trying to get a reaction out of me.

"Nope." I say, blowing him off. 

"Come on, I know that you must be curious...." I can feel him leaning over me.

"Not in the least bit." 

"Well, the, maybe I will just have to tell you anyways. After all, it is a fascinating story, and you play a major role in it." He says, leaning back, "You see, after the princesses kiss woke the handsome King from his spell, the King was then able to give his power back to the Labyrinth from which he had stolen. And with that, the Labyrinth was restored to its former glory."

"Very interesting." I say sarcastically.

"Indeed it is, but the story doesn't end there... The King then had more to deal with then just the Labyrinth, because the princess had gone and gotten herself sick, and that needed to be looked after, along with her mischievous brother. So the tired King had to set about finding medicine for the princess, and taking care of the little Toby while his sister slept."

"Cool..."

"Yes, but the princess was very stubborn, and would not thank the King for his help. So the tired King had to go about helping her without so much as a thank you, despite all that he had done for her..."

"Oh would you cut out the dob stories!" I say rolling over to face him, "If anyone should be thanking anyone it should be you. I'm the one who broke the curse and risked my life to do so, so I think if anyone needs to be thanks it is me."

He looks at me, and his smile turns wicked. He leans forward seizing my chin and bringing his lips down onto my forehead. I can only sit in shock as he gives me a soft kiss.

"Thank you very much princess..." He whispers.

I can't help the shiver that passes through my body, and I know he notices when he pulls back and smiles knowingly. Blushing, I turn my back on him. This is so weird, I mean, it was weird when I was 15, but now I am old enough to actually care about being kissed.

"Does that satisfy you?" He chuckles.

"Yes." I say, my face completely red.

"Good, then perhaps you could be kind enough to thank me as well? After all, I did go through a lot of trouble to make sure your brother did not remember anything short of his falling through the floor. That would have been rather traumatic." He says.

I think about it for a moment, and sigh. He has a point. After the spell was broken, he didn't have to help Toby or I, nor did he have any reason to, and yet he healed me and helped fix up Toby so that he won't have to remember anything.

"Thank you." I say, turning over for a moment so that I can look him in the eye.

He smiles a genuine smile, and stands from the bed.

"Well, I suppose now I should let you get some more rest. I will bring you back some food in the next hour, and in that time hopefully I will have enough peace and quiet to bring myself back to normal. Did you know you can't groom yourself as an owl? Such an inconvenience..." He shakes his head as he walks towards the door.

Before he leaves he gives me a quick wink, and shuts the door behind him. I throw the covers back using my arms and stand out of bed on wobbly legs. I notice that I have been dressed in a green dress that dangles around my ankles. I don't even want to think about who it was the got me dressed...

Instead I just walk over to the mirror and focus on fixing my hair. The King will send someone with food soon, and hopefully I will be able to eat it myself...