In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:1 – 1:5
I argue thee that love is life. And life hath immortality.
Emily Dickinson
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
"And this is the very spot that Sarah fell on her knees," Glasis said pointing to the stone floor next to him. The throne room was crowded but you could have heard a pin drop as the tour group stared at him and then the floor in fascination.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
The year was 2403. It marked a decade of peace and prosperity for most of the kingdoms throughout the Underground. It was true that the Dwarfs and Hulmes had some border skirmishes but those were settled quickly enough. After all, no one had the stomach for war after what happened to the Ronaans when they tried to take over the Goblin Kingdom. What occurred that day remained unspeakable.
For hundreds of years the Ronaans had been a small warrior race that raided the unguarded outskirts of kingdoms thereby gaining handfuls of recruits into their fold, that is, until they conquered the providence of Sarsaya. Sarsayians were an easy-going race known for their blacksmithing and large stature. While the gentle giants looked intimidating their nature was peaceful and the aggressive Ronaans conquered them easily. Over time the races mixed and through their coupling produced a hybrid generation. Most of these children possessed both the size of the Sarsayians and the ferocity of the Ronaans; in effect a very dangerous new breed of Ronaan conquerors.
All the kingdoms of the Underground knew the legend of the Labyrinth, that it was foraged and willed into existence by God Himself. None had been so foolish as to test the validity its defenses, none until the new generation of Ronaans scoffed at what they considered a fable to protect the Goblin Kingdom. As the young Ronaans plotted their invasion they sent a message to King Hoggle. "Surrender your kingdom or have it taken by force."
The message they received in return was only this, "I have seen the power of God and yous will lose your lives." Enraged by the response the Ronaans quickly rallied their army and by the third day had the Labyrinth surrounded by hundreds of vicious warriors. Beating sword against shield they chanted, "Death to the Goblins" as the sky overhead grew dark with thick menacing clouds. Witnesses say that when the chanting stopped and the invaders started scaling the outer walls one of the dark clouds supernaturally swirled down into the maze.
At first everything was quiet. Suddenly blood-curdling screams pierced the air as Ronaan body parts were flung outside the Labyrinth walls. Severed heads, arms, legs and torsos piled on the now slick ground as the nightmarish cries seemed to continue forever; but that wasn't the end of it. When the screams finally stopped the cloud lifted and swiftly traveled to the Sarsaya providence and encompassed it. Tormented cries began again and when the cloud lifted all of the hybrid generation, all the hellish offspring were dead.
It happened ten years ago but the Underground was still reeling from the bloody events of that day. No, no one had the taste for war after what happened to the Ronaans.
As a result kingdoms flourished as they would during peacetime. Harvests had been bountiful and tradesmen busy making their wares, so this autumn festival season brought even more commerce between kingdoms than in previous years. Cities opened their doors to the foreigner hoping to exchange goods before the long winter set in.
Each kingdom had its bounty. The Dwarfs mined the Astire Mountains and brought precious metals and gems to trade. The Weirs lived on the coastline of the Ubian Sea and were the Underground's largest salt refiner. The Hulmes were known for their metal craftsmanship, specializing in knifes and swords.
The Goblins were known for their ale.
While it was difficult to train Goblins to do any type of work they loved to drink ale and naturally became masters at making it. In the spring it was not unusual to see most of the inhabitants of the Goblin Kingdom sowing their rich farmland with barley or wheat. During harvest all of them would go out into the fields and gleefully gather the stalks knowing the real fun was coming next, the threshing. With their unnatural energy they made superb threshers, they could tirelessly and mindlessly jump up and down for very long periods of time. This unusual method of mashing the pulp resulted in a full-bodied ale of the finest quality that other kingdoms couldn't easily reproduce.
Since the Goblins didn't need too many things to keep them happy the price of the ale was also very reasonable. Just a few chickens or other baubles could be traded for barrels of the golden liquid. Consequently, merchants from all over the land came to the Goblin Kingdom to trade for or purchase a year's worth of ale.
There was one more thing the Goblin Kingdom was famous for that brought large groups of autumn tourists; the Legend of King Jareth and Sarah.
The Wiseman of the Labyrinth supposedly dictated the tale to Glasis, but its truth remained a mystery. The Goblins and Glasis swore to having witnessed many of the events first hand, but then what would the tourist attraction be if they revealed it was just a fabrication, a tall tale. Still the legend coupled with a tour of the Labyrinth and Goblin castle drew more visitors during festival season than any other kingdom in the Underground.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Finished with the tour Glasis waited for the questions that inevitably came. One Weir woman in the back of the group asked, "And then what happened?" Glasis shook his head, "The story ends there, the Wiseman told more." Quiet murmurs were heard throughout the crowd and then from the front a young dwarf girl of around 13 spoke up. "I think they went Aboveground and found each other and lived happily ever after." There was a wave quiet laughter throughout the room as the young girl hugged herself and smiled at her version of a happy ending.
"Har Har Har" an oafish Dwarf loudly laughed next to her. "Little girl, yous don't believe there was ever really a King Jareth or Sarah does ya?" The nesting vulture rose on its legs and squawked at the dwarf in a threatening manner. Keeping one eye on the vulture the dwarf rudely continued, "Why it's only a fairy tale, a story that Hoggle wants told so he can claim to be king the Goblins. I heard tell he ain't even a full dwarf, he's said to have some Leften blood in him." The group twittered at this piece of information. Leftens were a scattered race of liars and thieves, disliked by most kingdoms. Glasis grimaced at the loutish Dwarf, knowing it was probably jealously that drove his remarks. "King Hoggle rules this kingdom with a fair hand, any Goblin will tell you that." The few goblins that were in the room nodded their heads up and down enthuastically in agreement.
The mother of the 13 year old turned her nose up at the brassy Dwarf, "Really sir, must you be so crude in front of children." Taking her daughter's hand she huffed, "Come Tatinia, time to go home." Seeing the crowd was disbursing Glasis quickly took his leave out one of the side doors that led to his laboratory. Since he was the most eloquent speaker in the kingdom he was chosen as tour guide but he very much preferred to work with his quiet chemicals than loud gawking tourists.
Sonya often attended these tours in disguise; she liked to hear her parts of the story, especially about being beautiful. She also gloated that she knew more of what happened after the Wiseman's tale ended, but she would never tell and give away that power...after all, why did these peasants need to know anyway? She saw that the cocky Dwarf was almost out of the throne room so she made her way behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
Feeling a tap on his shoulder the Dwarf turned and saw the Junk Lady hunched by the load on her back smiling toothily at him. Narrowing one eye she asked, "So's ya don't believe in the story eh?" The dwarf laughed at the foolish question, "And I suppose you do." Swinging her pack from side to side she crackled, "Not only do I believes it, I can shows ya proof. Yes, yes proof"
The dwarf wasn't stupid, crossing his arms across his massive chest he narrowed his eyes at her, "And I suppose there is a price to see this proof." The Junk Lady's eyes grew wide, "Oh no, no, no...no price justs a wager, a wager you see." Now that he was more interested the dwarf dropped his arms to his sides and leaning forward a little, "What wager?"
The Junk Lady looked hungrily down at the knife in his belt. Watching her eyes he grabbed his knife and chuckled, "No, nots me knife, its got history it does." She grinned in response," Wells that's a handsome knife that is, that is. But maybe you would wager it againsts this." She reached her grimy hands into the pouch at her waist and pulled out a massive diamond ring. Dwarfs fancied shiny objects, especially those made of diamonds and gold. The dwarf's hands relaxed on his knife as his eyes betrayed interest.
"A wager you say, ....what kind of wager?" The junk lady rasped, "That I can show you proof that the story is real, if I can't yous get the ring, yes yous get the ring" Dwarfs were a crafty lot and this one was no different. He figured she could show him anything and all he had to say that he wasn't convinced and the ring would be his. Let the old hag present all the evidence she wanted, he would deny it authenticity. "I agree, shows me your proof" he grinned.
"Yous and I put our wager on the throne, the throne first." Looking suspiciously around the deserted throne room the Dwarf balked, "Buts someone mights steal em." The Junk Lady smiled and pointed up to the nesting vulture. "He's won't lets em, no he's won't." The Dwarf disliked the vulture but knew it would guard their possessions. Hastily he added his knife to the ring on the throne keeping both eyes on the vulture at all times. As he was backing up the vulture rose and screamed at him almost making him fall backwards in his clumsy retreat.
The Junk Lady snickered, "Follow me, follow me." With the hag leading they slowly made their way to a door behind the throne. When the hunched woman opened it all the Dwarf could see was a narrow torch lit hallway. "At the end, the end you will see", the Junk Lady said leading him past the threshold. As they proceeded down the passage the Dwarf couldn't see easily see past the crone's pack and when he did catch a glimpse he couldn't make out anything at the end except more stone and torches, "Where is it?" The Junk Lady crackled, "Up ahead, you see, up ahead." Looking past her pack he saw a door he would have swore wasn't there a minute ago. "Hm, must have been a trick of the lights." He thought to himself.
"Can't you move any faster Hag?" the Drawf grumped anxious to get out of the claustrophobic hallway. "No, no, I am going, you see, I am going." Sonya said as she shuffled along, "Yes, you will see."
They were almost upon the door when the Junk Lady pressed up against one wall allowing the Dwarf to get past her, "You go, go on." The Dwarf moved up to the door and looked at her, "It's it here?" The hunched figure nodded smiling and pointing, "In there, open it dearie, in there it is."
The Dwarf slowly opened the door and stood in front of a pitch-black space. With a swiftness one would not have thought the hag possessed the crone spun her body swiftly using her pack's momentum at impact with the Dwarf's body to throw him beyond the threshold. Slamming and locking the door behind him she heard him yelling, "Open the door you witch, open it right now." Sonya sneered, "You got that half right dearie."
Sudden light momentarily blinded the dwarf and when his eyes adjusted he found himself in an overgrown forest, an eerily silent forest. Looking back for the door he was yelling at he saw a huge tree trunk instead. Angry at being tricked he bellowed, "I'll find yous hag and when I do I'll make yous pay." Sonya chuckled to herself as she slowly started shuffling back the way she came. When she was halfway down the passage she heard the Dwarf screaming and she knew the Spinner's children had found him. Shaking her head she whispered to the air sardonically, "I sure hope he can sing."
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Author's NoteI could not have finished Choices without all the encouragement I received from you. There are too many reviewers to thank so I won't name you individually, but all I can say is that your words meant more to me than I can express. Thank you with all my heart.
I purposely left Choices open ended, true to the original story. This may disappoint some of you but I think your imagination can write a better ending than my words ever could. Perhaps it will even lead you to write a story of your own that I could enjoy reading. Bless you all. Nugrey
P.S. I don't own the Labyrinth story or characters, I just borrowed elements to create a story for pure entertainment purposes. I don't own Kool Aid either, except for my own use.