I don't own the following… Labyrinth by Jim Henson
Books:
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Monkey and the White Bone Demon- Adapted by Zhang Xiu Shi from a novel by Wu Cheng En
Druids by Morgan Llywelyn
Most of the credit goes to Labyrinth, everything else has been an inspiration and additional information.
Rated T for language and suggestive themes
Genre: Adventure and many more.
Author's Note: This has been a working progress since August 2006. Most of the kinks have been ironed out and it's nearly finished… finally.
Part One: Deception
Once, in many ages past there was a thriving civilization beyond a veil of mist. This land was separated from the human world by virtue of the mist and a lapse in time. They called it Avalon.
OXO
Chapter 1: The Golden Scroll
The night it all began was the night when Sarah Williams, ripped from the world she knew, was betrayed by her last family member.
The hall in the government building was deserted except for a middle-aged man with his seventeen year old daughter. Sarah Williams was having her last few moments as a free, single woman saying goodbye to her father, Robert Williams. It was not a happy affair.
"I can't believe you! You told me we were coming here because you were getting honored," Sarah stated in a whispered rage, "not to marry me off to repay your dept! You lied to me!"
He tried to calm her, but there was a bite to his voice. "Sarah, sweetie please-."
"Don't touch me! And don't sweetie me either! You cannot force me to marry against my will! You have nothing now! No more wives, they both left you, and no children. The last is walking away right now! After all these years the truth finally comes out!" She turned away, planning to walk out of this building and hail a taxi but he grabbed her arm with bruising strength. His eyes black with fury.
"Yes! The truth might be coming out but your only seventeen years old! I'm still your guardian for the next year! And don't worry. With your future husband you don't need vows."
"You're a monster!" Sarah screamed her rage not caring anymore who heard.
"I don't care what you say, you little bitch! You have been a thorn in my side ever since your mother up and died on me!" he opened the door and pushed her in.
She couldn't comprehend how everything went wrong so fast. Standing in front of her was a man who looked the same age as her father wearing a plain navy blue suit and a woman wearing a black skirt suit standing by a large desk, the Justice of the Peace. She felt tears well in her eyes and slip silently down her face as she realized her fate. Her father was between her and the door, leaving no way to run. There were three other men in the room whom she slowly started to recognize. She began to panic.
The man on the right for her father was called Antonio Straccitella, the head of the Italian Mafia in London.
Her stomach clenched and she broke out in a cold sweat. Her father was in trouble with the Italian Mafia! Her father owed the Italian Mafia money! The man standing in front of her suddenly registered in her foggy brain. Marco Musciasco, the right hand man and the cut throat for Antonio. He was a brutal man and had been married three times before and each of his so called wives ended up dead with some mysterious illnesses, and later the bodies were cremated before any investigations could be held. The third man was the younger brother of Marco. His name slipped her memory just now.
She knew without a doubt that she would be added to the list of wives before long. She was wrong. Her father was not a monster for selling his own daughter to this man for a dept. He was the devil incarnate.
I'm gonna die and I'm only seventeen. I wish I were anywhere but here. Anywhere! Doesn't that mean anything? Don't I mean anything to my father? My father! He would give his daughter's freedom- then her life- away for a dept?
An old, half-forgotten memory surfaced in her mind: A stormy night and a screaming baby. Toby. The name echoed in the passages of her head sending waves of guilt through her.
Six months ago Karen vanished with Toby with no word from them until one day a lawyer came to the house with divorce papers. In court she had won custody of Toby and was now living with her sister in some small village or whatnot. Toby. She missed her little brother dearly but was grateful that he got away with a parent who honestly loves him. Karen also tried to gain custody of Sarah but because she isn't her natural parent and Robert still wanted her, he had won. Sarah cursed him for even trying, discovering today why he had "wanted" her.
Flashback- ten minutes previous…
"Sarah, a few months ago I got into some trouble with these people. I owe them quite a lot of money. It was gambling." He looked sincere that Sarah decided to stay and hear him out and not just run there and then when a bad feeling started to grow in the pit of her stomach.
"Gambling? You don't gamble."
"You never knew, no one did. I was… discreet." He turned away for half a moment. "Well I spent more money then we have, they would have killed me! But this man saw… well he saw a potential opportunity. He helped me out and paid the dept in full! I have never seen so much money in my life. Anyway he gave me three months to pay him off."
"How much money?" She asked with an ever-growing dread.
"250,000..."
Shit! "There is no way you could make that much in Three years, let alone three months!"
"I sold some things, like the boat and the car and, well… a few… other things" he played with his cuffs, "but your right, I only came up with a portion of the amount."
She gulped, "and the other portion?"
"Sarah, this man is just and kind, all he wants is a wife."
"You- you're going to marry me off?" She stuttered as realization dawned.
Ends flashback…
She surveyed the room once more, thinking of how all the men in this one little room were more evil and cruel then the long dead possessor of her fantasies ever was, for he had only done as she had asked him to. She smiled in self-defeat, was it only two years ago that she was so selfish and naive? With one last thought for her long-gone childhood and make believe, she cast his image as she had imagined before her minds eyes, feeling slightly foolish for doing so, and she spoke for the first time, to this room full of soulless people.
"If I had the choice I would wish to be somewhere else! I do wish I were somewhere else, even with my arch foe the Goblin King!" She laughed hysterically. If he ever existed I would be in so much trouble!
As if her last thought started the pattern, all the lights went out, even the exit sign. All the illumination came from the shuttered window, casting an eerie stream of broken light. They merged and flowed with each other as the men, stumbling and cursing, tried to find the lights. Once it was found they flipped the switch. Everything was the same from when the lights went out. There were still four men in the room and a Justice of the Peace.
Yes, everything was just the same.
Except….?
Except there was no Sarah.
No Sarah and no way to pay a dept…
On the floor where she was standing there was a golden scroll with a small clear golden hued tie and handsome red writing, written in a language unknown to man.