Sarah: Helping the Hands

Sarah walked purposefully between the dark walls of the maze, turning deliberately as if she knew exactly where she was going. Her eyes were locked on the castle, which seemed to float above the walls; she felt strongly if she focused her energy she'd reach it faster. Why, she couldn't say, it was something rather instinctive.

Something made a grating, clattering noise. She jumped, looking around-- thus far, the only goblins she'd seen were the man and his hat. She wondered where her friends were; clearly they were still alive, but where on earth had they gone?

The clattering was growing louder, but Sarah could not tell if it was coming towards her or she moving towards it. She wrapped her arms around herself but took a deep breath-although it had been frightening, nothing had ever harmed her in the Labyrinth...not last time anyway...She closed her eyes for a moment as she walked, wondering what on earth could make such a strange, grating sound.

Suddenly, it seemed that the ground gave way beneath her. With a shriek, Sarah felt herself tumbling. She stuck out her arms, seeking some kind of hold, and her hands closed over what felt like a bundle of twigs.

Not twigs.

Bones.

Sarah screamed. It was like the oubliette she'd fallen in the last time, but now the hands that had grasped her were skeletal, glowing eerily in the dim light. The clattering sound came again, and suddenly Sarah felt fleshless fingers close around he. She screamed again, kicking wildly, terrified, but the hands refused to let go. Several pairs formed a face and began to speak, the bones clacking together, making that now-familiar sound.

"Which way do you want to go?"

Sarah gaped, her scream dying in her throat. They were still alive! And more amazing, it seemed that the hands that touched her were growing skin again-the gray-blue skin she remembered. She honestly couldn't decide what horrified her more-the bony hands, or the fact that some of them were regenerating.

Another face formed, this one half naked bones, half covered with patches of flesh. "Come on, then. Up or down? You can only pick one."

She fumbled. If she said down, they'd simply drop her, but the thought of the bony fingers touching her enough to pull her to the surface made her skin crawl. But she couldn't risk being trapped in an oubliette with no Hoggle to save her--but then, she knew how the door to the oubliette worked...she just couldn't decide.

"She's not going to pick," said another hand-face.

"She's going to stay here," a fourth chided.

"She'll never decide!"

"She's as good as stuck!"

The voices swarmed in Sarah's head. What on earth was she to do? She drew a deep breath. Really, where else could she go? "Down, put me down!"

The hand-faces laughed maniacally as they released their grasp, sending her plummeting to the darkness below. She gulped, her eyes watching the hands flying past. To her amazement, they were now rapidly regenerating--as she touched the ground she realized that all the hands were back to their blue- skinned selves.

"This keeps getting more bizarre," she whispered, gazing around her new, dark prison.