Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (4)

Chapter four,
Surprise


Finding the castle from where Ray was, was not hard at all. It was just a strait shot forward. But Ray hesitated. What if someone saw her and told the King? Would he send out his armieslike he did with Sarah? No he wouldn't. Why would he need to. Just because it happened to Sarah doesn't mean it'll happen me me... she thought. And with that, she began her careful walk to the castle.

Ray was about halfway to the castle when a little goblin came across her path. "Girl!" it yelled. Goblins could be seen in all the windows now. They ran and yelled and Ray saw the castle gates closing.

Ray ran for the closing doors of the castle. They were closing to fast! Ray picked up her pace and almost lost her bag to the closing doors, but she was inside now. "Now which way.." Ray turned right, the Way Sarah had gone. She came into an empty throne room. "Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed in the empty space. "I can't have taken so long that he forgot about me!" Ray exclaimed, exhausted.

Ray walked over to the only chair in the room, the throne, and fell into it. It was comfy. "I guess he's got something more important to tend to right now. I can wait." she said, her eyes becoming heavy. As Ray sat in the throne, she giggled. "I won." And without wanting to, Ray fell asleep.

Ray awoke to the feeling of someone staring at her. She opened her eyes and jumped back. The Goblin King stood there with his arms crossed. "You're in my throne." he said. Ray quickly got up and made a slight bow to the King. "Sorry." she said, rubbing the sleep form her eyes. "I didn't dare sleep in the Labyrinth, and when I got here, no one was in sight. I didn't mean to fall asleep in your throne..." she said, looking up at him now. Oh I do hope he lets me off the hook. Ray prayed.

The Goblin King looked down on her from his throne, obviously pondering what to do about Ray's sleeping here. She waited silently. Finally, he broke the silence. "How did you like my Labyrinth?" he asked, completely off the topic of the throne. Ray had to suppress a sigh of relief. "I liked it very much, but it was, by far, not a piece of cake." Ray said, it had been a hard journey. The Goblin King chuckled at this. "Well then, you may stay here in the Goblin City, but if I ever catch you sleeping on my throne again, you're going right back where you came from." he said. Ray's face brightened. "Thank you, your majesty!" she said, bowing.

It hit Ray then that she had no place to stay. Maybe I'll find someone who would be willing to let me work for a room and food. she thought, biting her lip as she walked out of the throne chamber. "Ray," the Goblin King called form behind her, like she had forgotten something. Ray turned around to look at him. "Yes?"
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"I really don't know."
The King sighed and held his head in his hand. "At least you answer truthfully." he mumbled, looking back up to her. "Bornia!" he called. A small goblin women came out of the hallway Ray had used to get into the throne room earlier. "Yes, sire?" she asked with a small bow. Ray noticed that her eyes never met those of the King. "Take Ray here and give her a room and something to eat as well. " He looked into a crystal orb that suddenly was in his hand and said, "And get her a dress for the ball. You may go now." he said, meeting Ray's eyes for just a moment beforeBornia pulled at the hem of Ray's red summer dress. "Come now dear, you can't be going to the ball in that. And you are much to pale for any normal person. You need some food in that body of yours." and with that Ray was dragged out of the chamber and into the Goblin city.

Bornia's house was larger than most of the houses in the city, and it seemed to built in a more stable fashion. Bornia showed Ray in and set her down at a table that was much to small for Ray, but just the right height for Bornia.

As Bornia busied herself with some sort of good-smelling dish, Ray took the time to familiarize herself with how Bornia looked. If she ever got lost, finding someone she knew would probably be the best thing Ray could do. Bornia was quite small, about three feet tall with a plume of red hair pinned into a messy bun on the top of her head. Her face was old and she had dull green eyes. Ray noted that she wore simple house-wife clothes.

"Soups finished. There darling, now eat up, the ball is tomorrow night and we need to get your dress done by morning!" Bornia said, placing a bowl of thick orange-colored soup in front of Ray. Despite it's odd color, the soup smelled quite nice and Ray was reminded of her hunger. She sipped at a small spoon full and then almostgulped the rest of it down. Ray couldn't quite put her finger on what the taste of the soup was, but it was really good! "Miss Bornia?" Ray called. "Yes dear?" Bornia appeared form around the corner. "Where do I put this?" Ray asked, holding up her bowl and spoon. Bornia smiled, "Let me get that dear. Now we need to get going! Go and wait for me outside, I'll be there in just a moment." she said, taking the the bowl and spoon and heading her what Ray presumed was the kitchen.

It was a warm evening, and Ray admired the sunset as she waited for Bornia. The door creaked open and Bornia came out with a bag full of something slung over her shoulder. "Lets get going then." she said and began walking.

Despite her size, Ray had to walk fast to keep up with Bornia. The goblin city was buzzing with pre-bedtime preparations and with night time work. Ray smiled. It was better then what Sarah had said. That might have been the fact that Sarah didn't stop to take in the scenery, but she could have detailed it just a tad bit more.

Ray had no idea where Bornia was going, but she was sure not to loose sight of her while she was at that amazingly fast pace for someone so small. As they walked, Ray thought about what the Goblin King had done. Ray had expected him to just say "Okay you can stay, you're on your own now." or something. His tellingBornia to let Ray stay with her was very generous, and Ray was thankful to them both. But a dress for the ball? He invited her to a ball?! That was one of the last things Ray thought would ever happen to her here. But here she was, following Bornia to get ready for the ball. "Well, at least I get to go at all." she said to herself with a smile.

They walked for about another five minutes before Bornia walked into a large building. It was too dark outside for Ray to read. "Ray, darling, come inside." Bornia called when ray stopped to try to see the sign. "Oh, sorry." Ray said, ducking down so she didn't hit her head on the frame. Four other small goblin women, who looked very much likeBornia, except their hair were varying shades of brown. "Ray, these are Alopa, Capeka, Gutaki, and Zari. We'll be making your dress tonight. If you would come up here on this stool please." Bornia said. Ray smiled to each of them and stood up on the little stool. "Thank you in advance for doing this." Ray said looking in the full-length mirror that stood in front of her.

The five little goblin women spread out, two of them, Ray thought they were Zari and Alopa, turn on some lights, Bornia quickly took off Ray's clothes, except her underwear, and Capeka and Gutaki fetched materials. Ray felt a little odd at first, being near completely naked with complete strangers, but was comforted by the fact they were all women.

Zari came out with a beautiful and simple midnight-crimson red ball gown and slipped it over Ray's head. Ray looked at herself in the mirror. She had never worn anything this fancy before and by the look of things, it was going to get fancier.

"Is there anyway I can help?" Ray asked as the five little women busies themselves around her. Gutaki, who was on a stood cutting off the spaghetti straps on Ray's gown shook her head. "No darling. We got it. Plus, this is fun for us! We haven't had a dress order in such a long time." she said with a smile. "Zari," Gutaki said, looking down to Zari who was measuring how much fabric on the bottom to cut off so that Ray wouldn't trip. "Yes, Guaki?" Zari said, looking up. Ray noticed her eyes were an amber color. "Do you have any puff sleeves left over? I think the puff sleeve off-shoulder look would be quite nice."Gutaki said. Zari nodded and hobbled off.

Zari came back a couple minutes later with a pair of leg-of-mutton sleeves. The puff was almost the same color as the gown and the tight sleeve was a cream color that matched Ray's hair. The amber-eyes goblin handed them up toGutaki who slipped them onto Ray's arms. "Perfect!" she said, getting of her stool to look Ray up and down. "Now we just need to get some of the cream color to the rest of her dress." she said.Bornia and Alopa came to look with Gutaki. Zari was already off looking for something and Capeka had gone with her. Ray smiled, she looked wonderful already.

The three goblins present went back to what they had been doing and Ray moved her upper-half around a bit when Gutaki was done pinned the sleeves in place. The tight part of the sleeve hooked over her middle finger instead of just stopping at the wrist and Ray thought that was pretty cool.

Zari and Capke came back with two spools of cream-colored ribbon. There wasn't much ribbon on either spool so Ray understood why they had brought back two.Alopa took the spool with the most ribbon from Capeka and pulled it all out. She then pulled it around the front of Ray's chest, just under her bust and looked over in the mirror. Bornia stood there thinking. "I know," she said and the five goblins again went to work.

When the dress was finally done, sewn up and everything, Ray couldn't believe what the five goblin women had done for her. "Well, give it try,"Zari said, gesturing for Ray to walk around. Carefully Ray lifted up the gown a bit and stepped down from the stool. The leg-of-mutton sleeves hung off her shoulders and she felt very proper. Ray let the dress fall down it just barely hit the floor in the front, giving Ray room to walk, but in the back it dragged just the slightest bit. The cream ribbon went under her bust and then crossed over once i the front, from there itcriss -crossed in diamonds down the back of her dress, small at the top and growing as the reached the bottom, sort of like a corset. Her neck line was indented in just a tad bit so that there was a small triangle of skin almost reaching her cleavage. "Girls," she said, looking down to the goblins. "This is the most fabulous dress I have seen, much less worn . Thank you." Ray thanked them as she carefully knelt down to hug them. "Aw, thanks you deary."Capeka said with a smile. "I'm glad you like it," Alopa said. Bornia smiled. "Good. All is well. It's a wonderful dress darling, I'm sure you'll many a glances at the ball tonight." she said. Ray cocked her head to one side. "Tonight?" she repeated. The five ladies laughed. "Why yes, darling. It's dawn."Zari said, opened the window to reveal a beautiful sunrise. "Oh." Ray said, she hadn't noticed the time fly. "Well, come now. Lets get you washed and rested."Bornia said patting Ray on the head.

It didn't take long to get the gown off, for that all six of them were grateful. Ray and Bornia waved good-bye and headed back to Bornia's house. Ray stopped a second to see what the name of their shop was. "Five little gowns." she said, That will be easy to remember. and then she ran to catch back up with Bornia.

That walked home was just as fast as the walk to the shop was and Ray was quite tired by the time they got home. Seeing that Ray would fall asleep in the bathtub,Bornia showed her up to the largest room in the house which fit Ray just right. With a quick thank you, ray took off her shoes and dress and fell asleep.

Ray awoke to the feeling of Bornia rubbing soft circles on her back. "Huh?" Ray mumbled, rolling over to look at Bornia. "Evening, darling." Bornia said with a smile. "It's time to get up. You need to wash up and then we need to go see the girls to get our outfits together. Alrighty?" she asked. Ray slowly sat up in bed and nodded her head. "M'kay." she said, rubbing her eyes. "Good. I've already drawn your bath and everything you need is in there." Bornia said, showing Ray to the bathroom. It was just across the hall. "Thanks, Bornia." Ray said. "No trouble Ray. Now don't take too long." Bornia said, closing the door.

Ray slipped into the warm water and sighed. It only just occurred to her that she hadn't bathed in two days. "Well at least I have somewhere to bath at all." she said, looking at the different soaps. She assumed the ones in the bottles was for hair and the bars of soap for her body. Ray looked into the bottles to see if she could tell thedifference between shampoo and conditioner, if they even had conditioner. But they did have conditioner, it was in the smaller bottle, like usual. Ray pour a little shampoo into her hand and began to wash her hair.

It didn't take Ray very long too finish up, for the water was getting cold fast and she didn't want to get stuck in cold water. She grabbed a towel, dried off, and was about o put her old clothes back on when she saw a large cream-colored dress on the toilet seat.
"Here is something clean to wear for now,
~Borina"
It read. Ray smiled and slipped the dress on over her underwear, which gladly, were quite clean still. The dress stopped just above her knees was a halter top. Ray looked down at herself, it looked nice. With that she let the water out, hung the towel up and walked out.

Ray walked down the stairs to find Bornia waiting in the dining room. "Thanks for the dress." Ray said to Bornia. The goblin women smiled. "It belonged to a cousin of mine, but she grew out of it. But lets go, we still have much to do before the ball!" and then they were out the door.

They reached the shop just as the sky was beginning to get dark. "We're here!" Bornia called. Zari was the first to appear. "Oh good, come, Ray, lets get your dress on." she said ushering Ray over to the stool again.

Ray had her dress on and was now sitting in a small chair with Alopa carefully winding her hair through with thin dark-red ribbon. When she was done, Capeka came out and expertly put makeup on Ray's face. Zari found a pair of earrings that matched Ray's dress. They had a strand of cream ribbon dangling down about and inch and a half while a strand of red ribbon clipped up on the top of her outer ear. "Now all you need is a necklace..."Zari said. She snapped her fingers and took a red silk choker out of her pocket along with a cream silk circle. She clipped the choker on and carefully slipped her cream silk over Ray's head. "Perfect." she said, happy with her work.

Ray then convinced the five goblins to let her help them get ready for the ball. She put their makeup on, did their hair and gave them positive feedback on their dresses. Just as Ray finishedCapeka's hair, there was a knock on the door. Bornia answered it. "The carriage is here, lets go." she said with a smile. Ray breathed in and stepped outside.

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