The Labyrinth: Another Tale



V



"Fool! All that is, at all,

Lasts ever, past recall;

Earth changes, but they soul and God stand sure;

What entered into thee,

That was, is, and shall be:

Time's wheel runs back or stops;

Potter and clay endure."

--Robert Browning



~*~



Bryanna and Heart walked through the huge Labyrinth, searching for the way to the castle. As they walked closer to the center, the two companions could sense the air growing darker.....filled with evil.

Finally, they came to two doors. And between the two doors, on the wall, there lay an inscription:

Wandering warrior; from far, far away,

you've traveled long, but now you've come to play.

Feed the fire,

and protect the flame,

this we ask in Pyro's name.

What seems to be, is not always true,

listen to what we say to you.

The danger is near,

but do not fear;

for there is love lurking in the shadows.

You turn away, and you see me;

I turn away, and I see you;

but am I really what I seem to be?



Bryanna sighed, annoyed at being confronted with yet another riddle. But, like what she did with the others, she repeated it until the new riddle was committed to her memory.

Once she was sure she had the riddle memorized, she stepped back. Both Bryanna and Heart looked at the two doors, trying to think of which door to pick. But, remembering what had happened at the Labyrinth's entrance, she closed her eyes and let the words come to her.

"Open up, ye mighty door. Show me the pathway to the castle, beyond the Goblin City. I have seen what is unseen, and I see the pathway."

Bryanna opened her eyes. The wall, which had the inscription on it, was gone. Instead, there was a huge black opening that led to a dark and dangerous forest.

She looked down at Heart and smiled. "Well, I guess that something the inscription said was true. But I hate all of these stupid illusions!!"

Heart chirped questionably, and Bryanna smiled down at her. "C'mon, little one. Let's go and find my sisters; then we can go and kick Jareth's butt."

Heart chirped happily and they walked through the door. Soon, they stood in a mist-shrouded dark forest. Heart looked around anxiously as Bryanna walked deeper into the forest. Each time a twig cracked, the small dragon would jump in Bryanna's arms. She would look in the direction of the sound, and her eyes would glow strangely.

After a while, they came to a fork in the road. Both Bryanna and Heart looked back and forth between the two pathways, trying to decide which pathway to take.

Suddenly, without warning, a Sphinx stepped out from the trees. The body was that of a supple lioness, and she had beautiful golden eagle's wings. Her face resembled that of an ancient Egyptian, and her long black hair swirled around her.

"If you can solve my riddle," the Sphinx began, "I will tell you which pathway leads to the castle. The other pathway, however, leads to the Bog of Eternal Stench."

Bryanna nodded her consent, willing to try the riddle.

"What creature crawls on all fours in the morning, walks on two legs at noon, and uses three legs at night?"

Bryanna looked down at Heart, puzzled. What......what kind of creature does this? she thought to herself.

She closed her eyes, thinking fast, knowing that her time was running out. Finally, right before her time was to run out, an old, old memory came to her:

** "My little one, do you want to hear a riddle?" a soft, melodious man's voice asked.

"Yes!" the child replied, looking up at the man with adoration in her big gray eyes. "I wanna hear one!"

"What crawls on all fours in the morning, uses two legs at midday, and three legs at night?"

The little girl giggled. "I dun know!"she said, pushing red-orange hair out of her face.

The man looked down at her, his gem-bright green eyes oddly compelling. "The answer to the riddle is man; who crawls on all fours as a baby, uses two legs as a young man, and walks with a cane in old age."

The little girl giggled again, then crawled into his arms, stroking his midnight black hair, and tracing his strangely pointed ears, so much like her own. "Daddy, you're so silly!" she exclaimed as she kissed his cheek.

Oberon, King of the Fae, smiled down at his only child, Bryanna, Princess of the Tuatha De Danaan. **



Bryanna gasped and opened her eyes. What is happening to me? she thought wildly.

"Your time is up; what is your answer?" the Sphinx asked, interrupting her confused thoughts.

Without thinking, Bryanna blurted out: "The answer to your riddle is man."

The Sphinx hissed in anger and stepped away from the right path. "You may go," she said grudgingly.

Heart and Bryanna quickly exchanged a startled glance; then Bryanna set off down the right pathway, Heart still cradled in her arms.



As the two females walked into the forest, Bryanna became more and more distracted by her wandering thoughts.

What is happening to me? Why is this happening to me? Some of these memories cannot be true.....I cannot possibly have two fathers! Yet.....that man seems so familiar, and he looked so much like me.....And I felt closer to him than I do to my father....

A possibility came to her then, and she gasped, shocked. Could it be that the other man, the man that's been coming to me in my memories, actually is my real father?? With this thought, there came a feeling of rightness; and Bryanna knew it was true.

Does this mean that I'm actually one of the Fae? Bryanna shook her head at this, disgusted at herself for such a thought.

Suddenly, Heart's claws tightened on her arm, hard enough to draw blood. Bryanna gave a hiss of pain, and looked up, jolted out of her thoughts.

And she looked into a pair of gem-bright green eyes.



-*-*-*--



Jareth smirked as he looked into his crystal ball, watching Oberon greet his daughter after so many years. Suddenly, the crystal went dark, and Jareth couldn't see anything at all.

"Looks like Daddy-dearest wants some time alone with his little princess," he murmured, grinning sadistically.

He stretched out further, until he was comfortably draped on his throne.

Well, no matter, Jareth thought to himself, frowning thoughtfully. He's in my realm now, and he must obey my rules. Nothing will keep me from my revenge. Nothing.



After Sarah had rejected him, Jareth had gone further into himself; nursing his pain and hurt and rejection. He longed to make someone hurt as much as he hurt. But for several years, no one had uttered the words, the words that would wish people away to his kingdom. Until now. Now the little Fae princess had uttered those special words, and now he could make someone hurt as much as he.



She will regret defying me, as Sarah did.



-*-*-*--



"D-Daddy?" Bryanna asked, her lower lip trembling as she stared at the young man in front of her.

"Hello again, little one,"he said, smiling gently and holding out his arms.

When Oberon said that, a flood of memories came to Bryanna, and she remembered. Everything.



She was truly a fairy princess, as Aimee had always said. But when she had been born, King Oberon and Queen Titania decided to send her Aboveground, so that way she could be able to understand humans and become friends with them.



Instead of running joyously into her father's arms, as he expected her to, she stepped away from him and glared darkly. "You stopped visiting."

"You stopped believing," he answered. "Your mother and I couldn't visit you as long as you didn't believe in us."

Hearing this, Bryanna ran into his arms, hugging him tightly, as she did when she had been younger. "I'm sorry I stopped believing," she whispered.

"It's alright, my daughter," he replied. "Now listen, and listen well. While I am in the Goblin King's realm, I must obey his rules. He would only let either your mother or I come. Your mother, Titania, let me come to you. After this is all over, you will be able to chose where you want to live, now that you are sixteen. But you can still visit other realms. Remember this, my brave little one: Your magic is strong, though untrained. As strong as the Gobl--" and with that, he disappeared, sent away by the Goblin King.

Bryanna stood in shock, staring at where her father had stood just seconds before.

"Damn you, Jareth!!"