Chapter 3

There was a hush among the group, all struggling to keep silent as the monstrous beast paced on the wall nearby. A myriad of red eyes looking in every direction, an open mouth dripping saliva and blood, feathers fluttering in the breeze from their fallen comrades. The beast let out a hauntingly manic human laugh as it leapt away to a new part of the maze.

The chickens let out a cluck of relief as they were spared for now. Timidly clucking among themselves about what to do. This creature had been first spotted leaving the King's' palace, and it had been merciless in it's slaughter of their numbers. It seemed the Goblin King had finally gone and decided to put an end to their coup and cull their numbers. The small group of three chickens made to rush to the next illusion point, trying to make their way to the head rooster.

Alucard changed his form once out of sight into a black rooster, his feathers glossy black, his comb deep red and his tail feathers a matching deep red. He phased through the wall, stalking behind the fleeing group. He shouldn't be having this much fun hunting chickens. As he followed behind them he noticed that they seemed to be 'talking' to each other. Odd...did the chicken here have different properties than the ones in his world? The chickens stopped at a dry fountain, looking around worriedly and Alucard ducked out of sight, still watching them carefully.

The chickens clucked an all clear, hopping in the fountain and then Alucard could hear stone moving before the clack of sharp claws on stone before the stone grated against each other again. No more noise came from the fountain, and Alucard moved to exam what happened. As he poked his head over, his red eyes found it empty, sets of chicken tracks in the dust of the fountain but no chickens. He spotted the scrape marks of where something had slid over the other stones. Oh this was too much fun. Intelligent farm animals. What other wonders awaited him? He phased through the stone he presumed they moved, finding a small passageway that was just barely large enough for him strut through in his rooster form. He started to follow the hallway, his sharp teeth lining the inside of the beak edge. After an amount of time he could hear a dull clucking sound, and he could smell a large amount of poultry.

The passageway opened up to an earthen amphitheater like area, hens all in the upper portions of the seating, while roosters crowded the bottom, sounding at each other in serious tones. A massive rooster entered from a larger passageway, his feathers pure white, and bright green streaming feathers on his tail. The other chickens went silent as the rooster made his way towards the center of the floor, giving attention to their apparent leader.

"Bak...bak...bak….ba-bak. Ba-bak-ba-bakkaaak. Ba baka ba bk-ba." Alucard had no idea what this bird was saying, but it seemed that it made sense to the roosters bobbing their heads in agreement, the hens seemed to be squawking a bit more in distress. The roosters turned to look at the hens, clucking at them in rebuke, the hens flapping their wings in displeasure and clucking even more. A rooster got too close to an irate hen, she pecking him heartily with her beak, sending the rooster scurrying while trying to sound off. A literal hen-pecking. Today was fun. The large rooster crowed and it sent the room back into silence, the hens still very miffed. The larger rooster started to scratch and peck at the ground, clucking every once in a while while staring at different chicken, talking and then scratching again. As the rooster stood back, it became clear that there was a large battle plan just scratched out on the earthen floor.

The chickens debated some more before nodding and clucking in agreement, the hens filing out as the roosters followed down through other tunnels. The white rooster waited till all the other chickens had left and then started hopping up the wall to leave through the opening in the ceiling. Alucard followed the chicken, finding himself near the palace again. He looked around, finding goblins roaming around cleaning up the chicken he had slaughtered already. Alucard continued to follow the white rooster, seeing him peck at goblins that got too close to him. The rooster walked right up to the palace doors, but instead of waiting for the doors to open, the chicken slipped in through a side window. Alucard followed behind, missing his fingers as he stretched out his wings. The chicken walked right into the Throne room, and Alucard couldn't help but laugh as the rooster crowed to announce itself in the room. Jareth came into the room in a huff, glaring at the massive chicken in his room.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. I told your kind to stop running a muck in my kingdom. All I demand is obedience and fresh eggs for breakfast, and you and yours get all uppity about how many eggs my court is eating. If you've come to apologize it's too late. I will accept nothing more than surrender if you want the hunter called off."

"Bak bak babakka bba-ka." The rooster bobbed his head from left to right as he clucked.

"That language is absolutely unacceptable in my palace." Jareth dismissed, taking his seat to be dismissive of the rooster.

"Kaba bak bakk bakaka."

"War? You think your kind can possibly hope to win a war against me?"

"Bak bak-koooka koooka kooo."

"Oh don't crow at me. You're kind hasn't been able to shift into your true forms for centuries. A cockatrice is no more dangerous than a reading worm at this point. You had better surrender soon, who knows how many more of your kind he is turning into...blasted what do the mortals say...ah, yes...chicken nuggets." It was at this point that the rooster got very flustered, wings spread wide open and aggravated clucking that was getting lower than before.

"So that's what is going on here." Alucard spoke as he walked from the shadows, maintaining his chicken form purely for the fun of it now. "You needed a dragon slayer to hunt them. Let me guess, their females can't keep laying eggs for your kitchen?"

"It's not the Hens' eggs I am after." Jareth slapped his riding crop against the nearby cowering goblin. "I want Rooster eggs for my meals, and the roosters refuse to cooperate. The hens have been doing their part. Now go on and kill this blasted bird so his flock will fall in line and you can be on your way."

"I think you forget your place Fey. I was contracted to hunt the chickens, not to fight a war for you. My job at this point is done. Now keep up your end of the bargain. A costume and I will be on my way." Alucard finally adjusted into his human form, dusting off the extra feathers from his coat. Jareth was elegantly frustrated, tossing his hair back in showy display before he relented, summoning a crystal and tossing it at Alucard's feet, glamour magic outfitting the vampire as promised. "If you find yourself in a war, I may have some free time to spare in playing this game. But for now, farewell." Alucard bowed as he exited the room, ascending the stairs of a castle tower till he reached the door leading back to the mortal realm. Among the stones sat a door that was extremely out of place in the fantasy world, the door to a phone booth stood there, and Alucard opened it, shutting it behind him. He picked up the phone and pressed 020, and listened as the operator asked where in the city he was looking to go. Giving his desired address he waited as music played while he was connected.

"Welcome to London, have a nice night in the mortal realm." The line went dead and Alucard hung up, turning around and walking out of the booth. A startled mortal looking at him exiting the box when no one had been inside it before. Alucard ignored the human, simply walking in his grand costume down the street towards his destination.

Chapter end.