Prologue

The Final Confrontation

The walls crumbled away as Sarah fell through space. Around her a great abyss opened up. Lightly landing on her feet, Sarah looked around, but she didn't see Toby anywhere; was this another one of the Goblin King's tricks? She never felt more alone in this entire labyrinth. Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus weren't going to save her this time; she had to face the Goblin King alone. All around her, walls and stairways hung suspended in mid-air, the sign that the Goblin King's power was waning.

Behind her, Sarah heard a slight rustle. Turning around, she saw the tall slender figure of the Goblin King hidden in the shadow of an archway. Slowly, he stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself. His tall, imposing figure approached Sarah and she fought the urge to look away from him. She barely knew what to say to him. Sarah could form no original words of her own; the only thing that could save Sarah was to mechanically repeat the lines that she had been practicing no more than thirteen hours ago.

"'Give me the child.'" It didn't sound nearly as threatening as she hoped it would. The Goblin King's mismatched eyes condescendingly looked down at her and a slight smirk played on his lips.

"Sarah, beware. I have been generous up 'til now. I can be cruel." He moved in closer to her, like a predator moving in on its prey. A slight cord struck within Sarah momentarily,

"Generous?" The Goblin King's eyes narrowed, "What have you done that's generous?"

"Everything!" The Goblin King's full power up till that moment seemed to be masked from Sarah, but now it hit Sarah like a brick wall. The power seemed to radiate from within the Goblin King when he spoke, it burned in his eyes when he looked at her, and it seemed to seep into her very skin. "Everything that you wanted, I have done. You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you!" The Goblin King paused in front of her and a weary look overshadowed his features, "I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations of me." His voice lowered, "Isn't that generous?" But his words fell on deft ears. Sarah couldn't forget the mistake that she made of wishing Toby away and she had to make it right no matter what the cost.

"'Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child that you have stolen.'" As the lines formed, Sarah walked towards the Goblin King, pushing him closer and closer to the edge of the abyss. Her eyes completely focused on him unblinking. "'For my will is as strong as yours…and my—'"

"Stop!" Sarah froze in her steps at the suddenness of the Goblin King's interruption. She knew that if she stopped, she would fall victim to her own selfish desires and then she would never be able to win Toby back. "Look, Sarah." The Goblin King held out his hand and that same crystal he had shown her when he first appeared to her materialized in his fingertips, "Look at what I'm offering you. Your dreams." Sarah couldn't allow herself to look into the crystal, for if she did, she would be in danger of accepting his offer and forever forsaking everyone, and herself. It didn't matter what Sarah felt, she knew what lines to say; she only needed to find the courage to say them.

Coldly staring at the Goblin King, Sarah marched on to the end, "'…and my kingdom as great.'"

"I ask for so little." A desperate look filled the Goblin Kings eyes, "Just let me rule you and you can have everything you want." Could it be that the Goblin King, the Lord of the Labyrinth was now begging Sarah to stay? But if she took the Goblin King's offer, she would be surrendering to him completely. Sarah had to say the last line. But what line came after?

"…'my kingdom is as great…'… damn. I can never remember that line."

"Just fear me, love me. Do as I say and I will be your slave." The words spoken so beseechingly were tempting enough that for a moment, Sarah did consider taking the crystal from the Goblin King's hands. This was the hardest moment Sarah had to face. All of the challenges through the labyrinth were noting more than preparation for the final trial she now had to face. Sarah couldn't allow herself to reach out to the Goblin King. Deep in her memory she searched for that one liberating line.

"'my kingdom is as great' 'my kingdom is as great'…" There! It finally came to her. Looking up into the eyes of the Goblin King, Sarah softly spoke the line in realization.

"'You have no power over me!'"

At that same moment, the hand on the thirteen hour clock reached its full cycle and a thundering chime roared through the air. The Goblin King's spell was shattered. The last image Sarah saw of the Goblin King was that of bitter disappointment and deep in his eyes, she saw his deep loneliness. The Goblin King threw the crystal high in the air just as the ground beneath him gave way, dropping him into his own magical abyss. The crystal shattered into hundreds of pieces and showered down, disappearing like stars at sunrise.

All around, the broken stair maze dissolved into the hallway of Sarah's house. A cream colored barn owl flew out of the open window and into the night. It was finished. On the wall the clock chimed the midnight hour, only then did Sarah look around and realized that she was finally back in her own home.

"Toby?" Sarah ran up the stairs to her father's and Irene's room calling out frantically for Toby. What if the Goblin King lied to her? What if he kept Toby in the Labyrinth? Flipping on the switch, Sarah walked over to Toby's crib and saw him rubbing his eyes sleepily and falling back into a peaceful sleep. A warm sensation of relief flooded Sarah's heart as she tucked Toby in and gently caressed his soft cheek. On the bed lay Sarah's stuffed bear, Lancelot. It didn't seem right to keep the toy, after all, Sarah had matured so much in the Underground that a stuffed bear seemed childish to her.

Gently tucking the bear next to Toby, Sarah whispered, "Here you are. I'd like Lancelot to belong to you now." Sarah left the babe to sleep. With one last glance at the small figure safe at last, Sarah turned off the light to the bedroom and walked across the hall to her room.

When Sarah entered her room she noticed a small glimmering object on her vanity. It looked to be a shard of glass. Sarah's fingers closed around the small object, no bigger than her thumb, and looked deep into its depths. A swirling mass of colors rose to the surface like an image becoming clear in water. It showed Sarah as an aspiring actress on a stage on Broadway, then the image shifted to reveal her dreams of writing and painting, going to far off places and meeting exotic people. As all these images passed before Sarah's eyes, she couldn't help but question whether she had done the right thing. But of course she had, she couldn't let her brother become a goblin! He was only a baby of barely a year!

The last image that Sarah saw inside of the crystal shard, for indeed it was a shard from the crystal the Goblin King had held before her, was of a room that was brightly lit and fabric danced in the light. Masked twirled and spun around a couple in the middle of the dance floor, both unmasked, both exposed. In the middle of the crystal Sarah danced in the arms of Jareth.