Chapter 2
Melissa's head ached. Without opening her eyes she knew something was very, very wrong. First of all, the comforter on her bed was not furry. Second, she heard sounds that she had never heard in the safety of her bedroom. Crickets chirping, and wind blowing through treetops, and other sounds that she could not recognize. Third, she felt a sweet breath on her cheek. Gathering her courage, she opened her eyes.
Merlin nuzzled her cheek with his fuzzy lips and she stared up at his liquid eyes with a blank gaze. What was Merlin doing here? Where was she? What exactly was going on? Melissa turned her head to take in the rest of her surroundings.
Merlin was laying beside her on a thick pile of strange-looking yellowish fur. A tall young man was bent over something in a corner of the tent that stretched above her. She stared at him for long moments, wondering why this stranger was almost familiar. It was like a sense of deja-vu as he turned to see her awake. "So... The little heroine awakens at last. You would think that you were the one who had done all the work."
Melissa blinked. "Who..."
He stood to his full height and strode to stand over her, his well-built form lean and muscled. He wore a thin, tan shirt loose at the sleeves and laced down his chest, with the laces loosened to reveal a smooth expanse of golden skin. His green pants were snug on his powerful-looking legs, and he wore knee-high boots of a strange-looking gray leathery material. His hair was pale, blond but almost white, and worn well past his shoulders. It framed his face in feathery wisps, drawing her attention to eyes the color of a tiger's back. A thin, sharp nose and chiseled features. His thin lips pressed tightly together as she gazed at him, dumbstruck. Had she seen this man before? Was that why he seemed so familiar?
She found her voice suddenly. "Where am I? How did I get here?"
"We brought you here." He was interrupted by the entrance of two other creatures. Melissa stared in fascination at them, blinking.
"Hoggle... No..." Melissa shook her head to clear it, but they were still here. SHE was still here, with Merlin laying at her side.
The troll-like creature lurched to stand beside her, a look of grief on his gnarled face. "You are awake. You look so much like your grandmother...."
Melissa jerked back when he moved to touch her face with a thick stubby finger. He sighed. "I suppose you are confused."
She only nodded. The smallest of the three came forward then, his movements quick. "I am Sir Didymus. This is Hoggle, which you seem to know already, and this is the Sorcerer Raik. We brought you here, fair lady, to help us."
"To- to... Help you? I don't understand...." She put a hand to her aching head, a dazed look crossing her features.
Raik shook his head in disgust. "She will be no help. I warned you, Hoggle. She's only a child, and a simple one at that."
Melissa took offense to that, even feeling as ill as she did. She struggled to her feet, and even though the top of her head only reached the sorcerer's shoulder, she put her hands on her hips and stared him down. "Listen here, you. I am NOT a child. And I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I didn't ask to come here. I only want to be left alone. I don't know how you think I'm supposed to help you. I don't know why you brought me here. I don't even know where HERE is!! So shut your mouth and leave me be!"
The three stared at her in mute astonishment for a long moment, and then Hoggle crowed. "She is like her grandmother!! I knew it!"
Raik's tawny eyes narrowed to mere slits. "And as conceited as her grandmother, I think."
Melissa threw her hands up in the air and turned to Merlin. He wore no halter, no bridle, no saddle. She grabbed a handful of his mane anyhow and pulled until he clambered to his feet. She leapt onto his back and gazed down at the three familiar strangers. "I don't know what you all want, but I'm leaving. I don't belong here." She nudged Merlin and he trotted from the huge tent. She ducked through the entrance and then straightened... To stare around her in mute amazement at the strange scenery. Merlin came to a stop and turned his head to look back at her. She swallowed hard. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."
"I think you're right."
Melissa gasped and looked down at Merlin's soft eyes. "Don't even tell me that you just said that!"
"Said what?" The horse's lips were moving, but she couldn't accept that he was actually talking!
"Oh no... Now I'm in a Mister Ed rerun!" She felt dizzy then. All of this was too overwhelming. Surely she must be dreaming!
Merlin blinked up at her. "I always talk to you, Melissa. I always have. I guess you have just never heard me until now."
Footsteps sounded behind her, and then Hoggle moved to stand beside her, looking out at the scene before them. "You are confused, of course. This is the land of the Labyrinth. Everything is not what it seems here, Melissa. Up is down and down is up and almost anything can happen."
"Like a talking horse?"
"Oh, in the Labyrinth, all creatures can speak. It is the cause of a magic spell cast long ago. So that all creatures can understand each other." There was sarcasm in his tone.
"I've dreamed of you. I've dreamed of this place. I've dreamed of other things, too. Why? Is this another of these dreams?"
Hoggle looked up at her, his fuzzy eyebrows raised. "A dream? I'm afraid not. We brought you here to help us, Melissa. Your grandmother was here, before. Long ago. Time does not pass here as it does for you, and yet... Time still passes. There is much we must talk with you about. Come, please, and eat something with us. Let us explain things to you. If you still decide that we were wrong to bring you here, then we will send you back. My oath on it."
Melissa took yet another deep breath. "Well, what have I got to lose?" She slid from Merlin's back and shook her head at the awesome sight before her.
Far into the distance stretched a huge maze, twining every which way. Directly before her, almost a speck it was so far away, was a towering castle. "The Castle beyond the gates of the goblin city."
Hoggle's shrewd eyes followed her gaze. "Indeed. You have been studying. Well then, that will make it easier to explain things to you. Come, share our meal and listen." He reached out a hand to her. She hesitated only briefly before taking it with her own, and he led her back to the tent where Raik and Sir Didymus were waiting. She heard Merlin's clip-clops behind her. She met the gaze of the sorcerer, and wondered what he was so angry about.
"Is he always this irate?"
Hoggle sighed, but he nodded. "Usually. Life has not been kind to him. Come now, there is a lot to tell."
