R aces …

 

»Bromford?« Kylie is whispering. »Are you in there?«

»Why are you whispering, mum?« Nigel is asking by her side.

»We are inside a creepy hedge labyrinth, can't you see son? It's getting dark and darker in here as the living walls are growing high and higher. And I think I saw something moving quickly around that bend straight ahead.«

»Creatures of night, brought to light!«

»Did you hear that?« Kylie is turning and looking around quick and hectically.

»No, you demon-sheep, I will not call you Mr. Tumbleweed!«

»Bromford?« now Nigel is also whispering. »I can hear him. He must be close but I cannot see him.«

»It is all your fault, Kylie  Kingslayer.«

That is a dark voice speaking and coming directly from laurel leaves around them.

Mother and son are looking at each other, their lips forming the word.

Kingslayer?

»Kylie, remember when you spoke these words,

I can bear it no longer!

Goblin King! Goblin King!

Wherever you may be

take this Bromford of mine far away from me!

And these weren't even the right words.«

»Sounds kind of familiar«, Kylie wonders.

»Why did you say such a thing?« Nigel asks.

»I didn't.«

»Come to meet Jareth, the King of the Goblins, who is living in the castle beyond the Goblin City beyond the labyrinth«, the voice from the laurel leaves is trying to lure them deeper into the maze.

You have thirteen hours to solve the labyrinth - before your Bromford friend becomes one of us goblins for ever. Down in the underground.«

»Oh, come on«, Nigel complains. »What kind of quest is this again? And do the brenches and leaves in the hedge-wall in front of us really form a pointing arrow and the words

THIS WAY?«

»OK, if there is no other way«, Kylie gives in sighing deeply, »let's go, son.«

And after a while she adds,

»And just in case we really have to meet and face the Goblin King at the end of our journey, you have to learn these words and spell,

Give me the Bromford.

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered

I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City

to take back the friend you have stolen.

For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great.

You have no power over me.«

Somewhere in a distance a laughter can be heard that sounds like the baaing of a sheep.

***

Bored of the life in the City of Gold
He'd left and let nobody know.
Gone were the towers he had known from a child,
Alone with the dream of a life
He travelled the wide open road,
The blinkered arcade,
In search of another to share in his life.
Nowhere.
Everyone looked so strange to him.

They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence.
Am I wrong to believe in a City of Gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried

And wept as they led him away to a cage
Beast that can talk, read the sign.
The creatures they pushed and they prodded his frame
And questioned his story again.
But soon they grew bored of their prey
Beast that can talk?
More like a freak or publicity stunt.
Oh
No.

They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence.
Am I wrong to believe in a City of Gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried

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Today is Thursday, the 20th of July 2023.

Labyrinth of Hedges