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Hoggle shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as he left the Labyrinth and slammed the doors shut. This mortal girl was quite presumptive and assumed way too much for her own good.
Well, he had tried to give her some solid advice, but it had been tossed into the wind. He was sure he would see her again fairly soon. He always did when it came to runners, but this one seemed especially obstreperous.
He stretched out his sore back with a light groan and wandered over to the fountain. He had some urgent business to finish, and it could not wait any longer unless he wanted a wardrobe change. He could already hear Jareth mocking and belittling him for soiling his pants.
Why were mortals always so inconsiderate when making their wishes. Maybe not everyone was ready to accommodate them on a few minutes notice. He huffed and closed his flap, feeling greatly relieved.
“Now where was I?” he grumbled and rubbed his chin. “Blasted mortal girl, I lost me count. Now I have ter start all over again.”
He shouldered his spray can with a disgruntled mien on his overly large face and approached the wall of the Labyrinth. Plenty of fairies had made their comeback during his absence, and he silently cursed the runner once more.
“Was it sixty-three? No, seventy-nine. Oh, wait, no, that’s not right. It had ter be eighty....ah, blasted hell. Here we go....one”, he started to count off after successfully blasting the closest fairy off a small bush.
With deviously gleaming eyes, he followed the unlucky creature’s downwards spiral onto the dry, dusty ground. He skipped into the air with an elicited chuckle.
“Ha, got yer, yer filthy piece of fairy muck. Yer not goin’ ter bother me no longer.”
He kicked the limp fragile body out of his way and continued his deadly path along the wall, spraying, counting, and skipping in celebrations. Soon the fairies made themselves sparse but lingered in the higher rocks of the wall in relative safety and watched from their sanctuaries while he continued in his murderous spree.
He heard their tiny voices throwing insults and curses at him. He just kept spraying their words away as well. Fairies were pests, and he hated pests.
“Ninety-nine”, he jubilated and skipped higher than he had in ages. “One more an’ I’ll have a new record.”
His eyes already beheld a new trembling victim, who had been cornered in a low rock crevice, sitting with a terrified face on a small flower.
“Higgle, I need you.”
“Ah, yer gots ter be kiddin’”, he growled at hearing his king’s ghostly, disembodied voice and slammed his spray can onto the ground with such force the canister burst and splattered fairy poison all over his shoes.
The little fairy quickly took her chance and flittered away, followed by Hoggle’s chagrined eyes and a sneer around his fat lips.
“What yer wants?” he asked with a sour mien on his face and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Keep it up, Hogwarts, and I’ll have you swimming in the bog in no time. I can always find me a different guide for Sarah.”
“No need ter be so ug....persuasive”, he hastily changed his word and uncrossed his arms. “Where do yer wants me?”
Now the king, the rat, he was a pest he would love to spray for once. He dreamed of unloading an entire warehouse of fairy spray canisters on him.
“Meet me in the Wiseman’s Garden close by the four guards. And make it quick. We don’t have much time.”
“I’m on me way”, he sighed resigned, left his spray can where it lay, and sprinted back into the Labyrinth, using the short cuts that opened for him through the walls to meet his king.