Author's Note

Thank you for the reviews and follows, hopefully you enjoy this chapter too! Perhaps there will be a glimpse of his royal majesty in here somewhere...

Chapter Three: Choosing the Path

Sarah found herself in a long corridor, old stone walls stretching out endlessly in either direction, the occasional piece of stone rubble or weed growing up between the cracks in the ground disturbing the path. She frowned, trying to see which way might be best, but she could not see any difference between them, if there were any twists or turns in the paths, she couldn't see them. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, she would have to make this decision on instinct. Left or right?

She opened her eyes and turned right, then started walking onwards. And kept walking onwards. And continued walking onwards. After a while she stopped and looked around. The walls just seemed to be the same, going on and on forever. She had yet to find a single twist or turn, and the ground stayed level and neither climbed or declined. Sarah let out a bewildered sigh and rested her hands on her hips.

"This is not quite the kind of challenge I expected to face." She said to herself, because it felt nice to have someone to talk to.

She frowned at the wall and nibbled on her lip as she tried to think the problem through. This long corridor could not just go on and on forever, she had seen the whole Labyrinth from the top of the hill and there had been much more to it than this, but she did not think she could face just walking on in a straight line for who knew how long, so she would have to find some way to a new path. Perhaps there was some kind of trick, like in the movies where they pushed a brick in the wall and a secret door opened.

Nodding to herself, Sarah turned to the wall and reached out to push a random brick inwards, only to fall forwards when her hand met empty air. She stumbled and managed to catch herself before she fell on her face. Standing up straight, she looked around in bewilderment, finding herself in a new passageway alongside the first one. She realised that part of the wall must have been a kind of optical illusion and remembered reading a book that had featured diagrams explaining those kind of illusions before. She only wished she had thought of that sooner.

Smiling as she noticed this new passageway appeared to have visible turns, Sarah started to walk again, mostly deciding on instinct which direction to go whenever she reached a forked path or crossroads. However, after a while she began to notice that certain parts of the walls or ground looked familiar, and realised she could be going around in circles. Deciding to be more careful, she got out her pencil case from her bag and unwrapped a small piece of charcoal she had placed in there, and then began to draw arrows and crosses on the stone tiles or bricks to mark where she had been and which direction she had taken.

It was not long before she encountered another problem, as she once again began to notice familiar details but could not see any of the markings she had made. This was explained when she turned a corner to see a small creature rubbing out one of her marks and then crawling back under a stone tile with a wicked cackle.

She gasped and rushed over to the tile, stomping on it and huffing out a breath in annoyance. Once again she placed her hands on her hips and looked around, at a loss for what to do next.

"This Labyrinth has a rather wicked sense of humour." She muttered to herself.

But there must be some way forward, otherwise she would surely be bumping into all the other people who had ever entered the Labyrinth looking for a way through.

Well, she had tried using her instincts, and she had tried being methodical. Sarah supposed all she had left now was creativity and stubborn determination.

She sat for a few moments to rest, have a snack and have a drink, then she stood and started walking again, keeping an eye out for anything different that she was certain she had not seen before.

The sun was dipping lower in the sky as she found an arch in a wall and stepped through it to find a beautiful flower garden. She felt breathless for a moment as she looked out at a sea of pastel coloured petals. There was barley an inch of the walled garden that was not taken up by a flower, they carpeted the ground and climbed up the walls, there were roses and tulips and kinds that Sarah had never seen before and suspected probably did not even grow on the other side of the Faux Sea.

She stepped forward and carefully walked through the flowers, not wanting to damage any of them. She was surrounded by wonderful floral scents that brought a soft smile to her face, and she moved her fingertips over the petals as she walked, feeling the softness of them underneath her skin. She had never been surrounded by such beauty and colour in all her life.

Carefully getting down on her knees amongst the flowers, Sarah looked around in awe. She slowly slipped her bag from her back, still breathing in the amazing scent of the plants around her, and then laid down on her back. She saw the soft orange glow of the sunset sky above her and smiled, despite feeling the exhaustion of the long day slowly beginning to overcome her body.

There was a calmness within her now, and as her eyes fluttered closed, she knew somehow that everything would be alright. She could stay here and sleep, for what ever could harm her in such a pretty place?

There was dancing. Perhaps she was dreaming. She did not really know where she was or when everything was taking place. Perhaps it did not matter. There was a wonderful floral scent in the air and she felt she could dance forever. She could forget her name, her purpose, and that would be alright, as long as she could dance. There were other people, dancing, clothes of light, pastel coloured fabric floating around them as they moved, they all seemed to blend together, moving past her in a soft blur. She was not worried, she did not have a care in the world.

She held the soft fabric of her skirts in her hands, lifting and moving them with her as she twirled. She was dressed in white, and she could feel that hair was undone and that the soft curls were swaying with her movements. There were gold markings climbing up her arms, vines slowly etching themselves along her skin. They did not worry her, she thought they were pretty.

Someone gently pulled her into a dance and she joined them, smiling. She was not wearing gloves but this person was, she could feel the softness of them on her hands, then her arms as they moved upwards, pulling her closer until her head was against their chest. She sighed softly and closed her eyes as they placed one hand on her back and used the other to hold one of hers. She had never danced formally before, but here it was easy and she moved smoothly in time with her partner, the music soft and light in the background, like a sweet lullaby.

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up into the face of her partner.

Immediately, she knew he must be an angel. She had never seen someone so beautiful, so heavenly. There was certainly a soft glow about him. His hair looked as soft as a bird's feathers, and she reached up with one hand, touching it to confirm that it was. He gave her an indulgent smile, his lips a sweet pink and she moved her hand to touch them too, gently moving her fingertips over the soft skin. His gaze was knowing as he looked upon her with his bright blue eyes, one pupil larger than usual. She wondered if he found her as fascinating as she found him. She wondered if he would kiss her. She thought she might like that.

She leaned in closer, her fingers trailing along his strong jaw as she watched his warm smile.

Sarah!

The voice echoed around the room, or her mind, she was not sure. She blinked and looked around in confusion, searching for the source. Was that her name? Was somebody looking for her? How could they be?

Sarah!

"Toby." The name fell from her lips in a whisper and she looked up at her dance partner again. He was smiling a little less, but his gaze was understanding.

She turned and gently left his arms, although she was reluctant to do so, but she knew she should follow her little brother's voice. She rushed through the room as she heard him call for her, then cried out in pain as she felt something tighten around her arms. She looked down and saw the golden vine markings on her arms glowing, then she was falling to the floor, crying out again as the pain increased.

Suddenly she was opening her eyes, even though she could not remember closing them, and looking up at the sky of early morning sunrise above her. Her breath came out in gasps and the air felt cool around her as she looked down at herself, finding that vines really had captured her arms, and were now climbing up her legs too. She cried out, this time in fear, and struggled to be free of the bindings. The flowers seemed to loom over her, more sinister than when she had first found them, but in a burst of adrenaline she managed to pull free, ripping the vines and reaching quickly for her backpack. A sudden overwhelming feeling of sorrow overcame her, sadness at having to harm the beautiful plants, but even as tears streamed down her cheeks, she stood on shaky legs and ran from the garden, not looking back to see the flowers reaching for her. She kept rushing forward, out through an archway and down a new path, and she was still running on and on, until the ground suddenly disappeared out from under her and she went tumbling down a hill.