The Dream

Sarah was dreaming.

In this dream her mother, as beautiful, if perhaps not more so then Sarah remembered, knelt beside a small girl. Sarah watched, confused. Then she realized the small girl was her at age nine or so. Sarah's mother, Madeline, held the child's small hand and pressed something between the girl's fingers.

"Now Sarah, I want you to keep this okay?"

Little Sarah opened her hand and within it was a beautiful ring. It was gold with half of a ruby heart on it.

"I get to keep this?" young Sarah asked unbelievingly.

Madeline nodded, "Yes, it's all yours, take good care of it dear."

Young Sarah slipped the ring onto her middle finger where it fit perfectly. She threw her arms around her mother's neck.

Sarah watched this exchange with a feeling of the purest bittersweet sadness. She moved closer to the pair, who appeared frozen in an embrace.

Oh Mom. Sarah thought and knelt down beside the two figures and put her arms around them. Sarah felt the form's of her dream people begin to change, and she opened looked up. She no longer held her mother and the younger version of herself, but instead her arms were thrown around the neck of someone she hadn't seen for a long time.

The Goblin King stared down into her eyes, the same half smile Sarah remembered so well curved along his mouth. She tried to pull away, but his arms held her fast. Finally, he released her, and Sarah began to fall, as if down a long cavern, as he stood over the edge laughing as she was swallowed by the darkness.

Sarah awoke with a jerk, nearly falling off of her bed. Catching her breath, Sarah looked around her room as if craving reassurance that all she saw was real.

"What was that all about?" she whispered, lying back down. Sarah hadn't even thought about the Labyrinth for awhile now, let along its King. Still, she mused, it had almost three years since it happened and there was no harm in dreaming. But the vision of The Goblin King's eyes remained with her as she got up and began preparing for a new day.

What bothered Sarah most about the dream was the ring. For some reason, Sarah hadn't remembered her mother giving it to her. But after last night it was as if the whole memory had returned. What had happened to the ring anyway?

"I gave it to the wiseman." She remembered taking the ring of and placing it in the "donation" box. "How could I have forgotten that Mom gave it to me?"

She sat down at her desk and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Gone were dolls that had once littered her desk, all of the trinkets and books she had once treasured. After her adventure, Sarah had felt no need for them at all, and they had been carefully placed in boxes in the garage.

She was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in." Sarah turned and watched her father walk in.

"Morning sweetheart. How's the birthday girl?" He walked over to Sarah and kissed her cheek.

"Alright."

"C'mon…" he poked her shoulder, "What do you mean 'alright'?"

Sarah shrugged, she hated it when her dad tried to be her best friend, it felt so…fake. "No, I'm fine, really. Besides, it's just another birthday."

"You're not eighteen everyday you know." Jack Williams seemed to be leading up to something.

"So what's going on Dad?"

Jack was silent for a few moments and he coughed into his hand, "Honey, before…" he paused as if to rethink, "When your mother passed on, she gave me something to give you. A gift."

"A gift?" That sounded familiar "…Wait, why are you giving this to me just now?"

"Well that's the thing. She made me promise to give this to you on your eighteenth birthday. It's a miracle I haven't lost the thing." He pulled out a small box and handed it to Sarah.

She took the box tentatively, and gently pulled of the lid. Inside was a ring. The other half of the one Sarah had gotten when she was nine.

"Dad, do you know why she wanted you to wait?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know sweetheart, I never got to ask...." Jack peered closer at his daughter's face, "Are you alright?"

Sarah nodded, "Yeah, I just want to be…alone for awhile." She slipped the ring onto her right hand ring finger, where it fit perfectly. She didn't notice when her father got up and began to quietly walk out of the room.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"She also left this for you." He handed her an envelope with 'Sarah' written upon it in her mother's flowing script.

After her father had closed the door, Sarah carefully opened the envelope. It was a simple birthday card with gold letters on the front that read, 'To My Daughter, on Her Eighteenth Birthday." Sarah fought back the lump in her throat as she opened the card.

Dear Sarah,

I want you to know how proud I am of you. I hope you aren't crying when you read this, I'm crying enough for the both of us as it is. Well, you're eighteen now, and ready for grown-up responsibilities, I hope (just a joke). Anyway, I have given you this ring in hope that you will be able to meet the challenges that are ahead. Wear both of the rings that I've given you together. You may be surprised at what happens. Don't worry about me, darling, wherever I am I will always be with you. Happy birthday.

Love

Mom

Sarah put the card down. Funny, she didn't really feel like crying. Instead she felt more of a blind panic. How could she possibly get the other half of the ring back? There seemed to be only one alternative, and it terrified her. But what was most important, her mother's final gift to her or not facing her own fear?

"Well I learned last time that life wasn't fair, and sometimes you have to do things, even if you don't want to." With that thought in mind, Sarah turned back towards the mirror.

"Hoggle, where are you?" Sarah waited for what seemed like an eternity and nothing had happened. Where was he?

"Hoggle, can you hear me?"

Finally, Sarah saw a form take shape in her mirror. Hoggle stood beside her in the reflection, although Sarah couldn't see the dwarf if she had looked that way. Hoggle looked as she had always remembered him, except more grumpy.

"Well what do you want?" he asked in a churlish tone.

Sarah recoiled from the anger in his voice, "Hoggle, what's the matter?"

"Well," he was talking to himself, "She don't call us for over a year and she asks, 'what's the matter'?"

"Oh Hoggle, I'm sorry. I've just been so busy. Can you forgive me?"

Hoggle glanced at her sideways, "Well, I guess I's done worse to you. So okay."

"Thank you. I need to ask you to do me a favor."

"What is it?" Hoggle seemed to finally notice the strained look on his friend's face.

"I need you to get me back into the labyrinth."

Hoggle did a double take "You want me to do what? Oh no, I'm not going back in there. Hoggle doesn't do that anymore. I'm too old! I'm sick!" he began to hack loudly.

"Hoggle please, it's really important" she waited until he quieted down then quickly told him about her mother's gift and how she had given one of the rings to the wiseman by accident. "So will you please help me? It's the last thing my mother ever left me Hoggle."

"It's that important, eh?"

"More important than anything to me."

Hoggle's face took on a defeated look. "Well I can't promise nothin' but I'll try."

"Oh, thank you Hoggle, you're my hero!"

Hoggle's face lit up and he took a deep breath, his chest expanding noticeably, "Well then. First of all I need to get over there!"

Sarah felt an odd vibration in her room and Hoggle was standing beside her.

"Hoggle!" she bent down and hugged him.

"Well now…" he tried to break free, "Hold on…Don't get all mushy!" he broke away from her embrace but his scowl seemed to be hiding a grin. "First thing's we got's tu do is hold hands." He held out his gnarled hands and Sarah put hers inside of them. "Now I ain't never done this with another person before, so hang on!"

Sarah felt as though her whole body was becoming too small to hold her. She gritted her teeth as the pressure became more intense. She felt Hoggle's hands tighten around hers, and she clenched her eyes shut. And when it felt as if she would not be able to withstand any more, the whole world went black.

Sarah awoke with a headache and the brightness of the sun on her eyelids was no help. She shielded her face and opened her eyes. Sitting up, Sarah saw Hoggle standing a few feet away from her. She was about to say something when she noticed where they were.

The iron gates of the Labyrinth loomed before her, and Sarah immediately regretted her decision to return. Was she crazy? How was she going to beat this thing again? It looked even more formidable then when she first had arrived. She stood and touched her palm against the cool metal.

"Hoggle, I think I might have changed my mind." There was no response. "Hoggle?" No reponse. Turning, Sarah was only half surprised to find Hoggle not there. Sarah leaned against the stone wall. "What was I thinking?" she said to herself as the gates to the Labyrinth opened beside her.