Minotaur (26 page)

We sat in my small bedchamber in the maze, discussing our options around the light of my own precious lamp. They had appeared an hour earlier, explaining that they had come in Phaedra’s stead. I had been waiting at the entrance to the secret passage for at least double that time, pacing impatiently. I had a rough idea when it was night outside, but my calculations were often a few hours out.

My own efforts to round up the Athenians had come to nothing. Every time they saw me, they screamed and fled in terror. On a couple of occasions, I’d had an opportunity to corner one or two of them but hadn’t, dreading a repeat of the earlier encounter. Thankfully, when I’d returned to the place below the trapdoor, the body of the one I had punched was gone. I assumed he still lived. The dead youth was still there, lying in a cooling pool of his own blood.

Phaedra was now too carefully watched to chance another venture into the maze. Although disappointed, it was nice to see my younger brothers. The twins had become men during my absence. From recollection, they might have been fifteen or perhaps sixteen at the time.

“I don’t know if you should … ” said Catreus.

“ … come. Perhaps you should stay right here,” continued Deucalion. “They’ll only run again if they see you. Probably can’t … ”

“ … blame them. And we only have two lamps,” finished Catreus.

“Fine,” I muttered. I knew it made sense, but I wanted to help, to fix this debacle. “Make sure you stay away from the trapdoor. If the guards see your light, they’ll know something is wrong. Remember, use the scratches on the walls to guide you.”

In the two days prior to the arrival of the Athenian tributes, I had extended my scratch system. In theory, Catreus and Deucalion could use it to guide them to the secret passage from anywhere in the maze. In practice, I knew they would probably get lost. It worked for me, but I was much more familiar with the maze than anyone else.

It didn’t matter that much though. Even if they got completely lost, hopefully by then they would have the Athenians in tow. Then I could guide everyone out, with Catreus and Deucalion at my side to reassure the prisoners that I wasn’t about to eat them.

“Right … ” said Catreus, standing.

“What are we waiting for?” asked Deucalion, finishing his sentence for him.

I left them to it, having to content myself with sitting patiently in the relative darkness. Of course, I couldn’t sit still. I heard all sorts of commotion within the labyrinth as Catreus and Deucalion attempted to corner the terrified tributes. The gods only know what the labyrinth guards thought was happening below their feet.

Eventually, I could bear it no longer. I reasoned that as long as I stayed outside of the light, no one would be the wiser. I could even help, driving any stragglers toward my half-brothers. I just prayed to Poseidon that I wouldn’t encounter any more heroes.

Fortunately, the survivors were too scared to risk confronting me again. If they caught any glimpse of me, they immediately fled. I did my best, trying to herd them in the direction of my brothers or toward the escape tunnel. I was only partially successful.

Our plan had been relatively simple, and on the face of it, it should have worked. But, what I have discovered over the centuries is that few things go to plan. What should have been over in a matter of hours actually took several days.

Catreus and Deucalion had to return to the outside world on a number of occasions during the operation. They would arouse too much suspicion if they weren’t seen around the palace for all that time. Not only that, but they ran out of food, water, and oil for the lamps and had to return for supplies.

Catreus got lost twice. Deucalion three times. On one occasion, he even dropped his oil lamp and couldn’t relight it. Where possible, I tried to guide them with my voice rather than risk frightening their charges with my presence.

They brought the tributes back to the escape tunnel in ones or twos. It became impossible to try and bring back more than that at a time. Once either of them had one or two Athenians, they would guide them through the escape tunnel and out into the world. The rescued youths often had to wait until it was dark enough to venture outside. I don’t know what my brothers did with them and never got an opportunity to ask. Fortunately, none of the Athenians were of heroic proportions, and all managed to fit through the tunnel.

I tried to remain hidden all that time. It just became too difficult otherwise. I didn’t have a light, and I resented this, but I was much more accustomed to the darkness than any of the others.

It was a simple matter to know how many remained in the labyrinth. Fourteen had arrived, one was dead, so thirteen remained. When Catreus and Deucalion had eventually found twelve, we knew we were close to the finish line. All three of us were exhausted by that point, having had very little sleep during the entire process.

The last youth proved almost impossible to track down. I suspected it was the heroic tribute who had attacked me. The one I had punched. Given that none of the others sported a bruised face, it made sense that it was him.

The three of us eventually cornered him. Catreus and Deucalion tried to reason with him, but he was past that point. The look in his eyes was feral. Once again, he displayed his heroic tendencies, attacking me with great ferocity even though he must have been more exhausted than the three of us, not to mention hungry. We subdued him and carried him kicking and screaming to the escape tunnel. It wasn’t until we actually forced him into the tunnel that he began to calm down.

I wished I’d learnt his name. It is not very often you encounter such bravery, even as foolish and misplaced as his was.

Catreus and Deucalion followed him out but not before both my brothers hugged me.

“It will be your turn … ” said Catreus.

“ … one day. Not too far distant,” said Deucalion.

I thanked them, and then, finally, I was once again alone in the labyrinth. I almost experienced a sense of relief that I had the place to myself once more. I realized that I was becoming comfortable being by myself. That I liked my own company. That I liked being alone.

I retired to my bed of straw. I must have slept for many hours or possibly even days. Eventually, noise intruded into my consciousness. Through my foggy, sleep filled head, the noise finally registered. It was the sound of footsteps and voices.

Once again, the labyrinth had intruders.

Ω

I didn’t dare light my lamp. As silently as possible, I moved toward the sounds. It sounded like several people but it was hard to pinpoint their location due to the echoes that bounced and rebounded off the walls.

Eventually, I realized where the noises were coming from. In the direction of the trapdoor. Cautiously, I made my way toward them. At first, I thought perhaps my brothers and I must have miscounted. One or two of the Athenians were still in the maze. And then I remembered how thorough we were. With all our checking and rechecking, there was no way we could’ve made a mistake. It wasn’t Phaedra either. Couldn’t be Phaedra. If it were her, she would have found me in my bedchamber. She knew where it was almost as well as I did. I ruled out my brothers for the same reason.

And then there was the feeling I got from the labyrinth. I have never spoken of this, and probably will never speak of it again, but I feel this is the right time to mention it. I was the labyrinth’s first and only true prisoner. We were connected. It was part of me, and I was part of it, especially given the length of time I spent within its confines. Somehow, I knew when I was alone within it, just as I knew when there were intruders. Just like now.

If they weren’t the tributes, then there was only one other possibility: guards. Minos’s guards.

As I got closer to the location of the trapdoor, I knew I was right. Despite Phaedra’s certainty that they would never enter the labyrinth, they were here. I knew why they were here too. They were looking for me.

Minos wanted confirmation of my descent into madness and cannibalism. He’d probably had to threaten or bribe the guards, but regardless of how he’d done it, guards were now in my home, and they were unwelcome.

There were four of them, all holding oil lamps that they waved fearfully about the place, expecting the shadows to come alive at any moment. In their free hands, three carried drawn swords. One had a club grasped firmly in both hands. Clearly, they weren’t about to take any chances.

I kept far back in the shadows, knowing the labyrinth well enough to find places where I could observe them easily without being observed in turn.

“Here,” shouted one of the guards excitedly.

The three other guards hastened over to examine what he had found. It was the dead body of the Athenian youth I had killed. I don’t know why they didn’t find him straight away. They must have explored in a different direction first.

“He did for him alright,” said one of the men. “You can see the where the horn went right into his eye. Nasty.”

“What’s that moving?” said one of the others in a voice that had gone high with fear, pointing toward the corpse.

All four guards bent down, bringing their lamps closer to better inspect the body. Unable to restrain my curiosity, I edged toward them.

“Just a rat,” said one of them disgustedly. “A fat one too.”

He bent down and grasped a squealing black shape in one hand.

Even in the uncertain flickering light, I recognized the rat immediately. Only one rat I had encountered in the maze was that fat. Only one rat I had seen had a coat that glistened with good health.

It was Glaucus.

My heart skipped a beat. I felt fear. Fear for my friend. I knew why Glaucus was on the corpse. Sometimes, Glaucus would accompany me on my wanderings about the labyrinth, usually perched on my shoulder. These wanderings would often take hours so occasionally I would take a snack for both of us. With nowhere else to put it, I would tuck scraps of food into the top of my loincloth. Glaucus knew that I kept my food there. He’d been ransacking the corpse looking for treats.

The guard held Glaucus up for the others to see. They laughed as he squirmed desperately, trying to win his freedom. The guard grasped Glaucus in both hands and twisted viciously. I heard a sharp crack, and then Glaucus’s body went limp. The guard tossed him casually to the ground. All four guards laughed again.

The sound of Glaucus’s spine snapping also severed my links to sanity. The bond between my rational intelligent mind and my animal instincts was gone. For a moment, only the beast remained. I truly became the Minotaur.

With a bestial roar that shook the walls, I charged. All tactics forgotten. There was only my rage. It was the only time in my life that I lost complete control, and I am still ashamed of it.

Heedless of their swords, I waded into them. My roar had frozen the guards in terror. For a moment, they were too shaken to move. I picked the one who had killed Glaucus. I grabbed him and slung him over my shoulders, snapping his back much the same way as he had done to Glaucus.

The death provided an incentive for the others. Motivated by survival, they attacked, slashing, swinging, and stabbing at me with their weapons. I didn’t care. Several times, the blades bit home, but I hardly felt them. The wielder of the club aimed for my head, but the blow bounced off my helmet. I didn’t even feel it. It was almost like my body belonged to someone or something else.

I picked up one of the other guards and broke his neck. The third, I punched so hard he was dead before he hit the ground. The fourth, well the fourth did the only thing he could. He ran.

I charged after him but fear had given him wings. A rope, the same rope the guards had once used to lower my food, was still dangling from the trapdoor. The guard reached it and scrambled up it faster than I would’ve believed. The rope was quickly pulled up before I could reach it.

I stood underneath the trapdoor and vented my rage, screaming and roaring. I have no idea how long I stood there. Eventually, some semblance of sanity returned, and I was overwhelmed with sudden fatigue and loss. I returned to where the bodies of the three guards and the poor Athenian youth lay. Gently, reverently, I gathered the tiny dead body of my friend Glaucus to my breast.

I knelt there for a long time, gently rocking back and forth, crooning to Glaucus, telling him over and over again that I was sorry. That I would never forget him. It seems absurd, I know, to be so grief stricken over a rat of all things. You have to remember that Glaucus was my only companion and friend for months while I was trapped in the darkness. I loved him unconditionally.

Cradling his tiny broken body, I returned to my bedchamber. I lay down and curled into a fetal position, tucking his slowly cooling corpse next to mine and closed my eyes, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. It was just like the way we used to huddle together before we had blankets to warm us.

Several days later, that was how Phaedra found me.

Ω

Phaedra told me later that I almost died. She nursed me for two weeks. When she wasn’t able to, she sent my brothers. I don’t remember any of it, wracked as I was with feverish dreams, coated in sweat.

I dreamt of Androgeus lying dead in my arms. My rat Glaucus was there too, drowned in Androgeus’s blood. Kyon, dead on the sacrificial altar. The faces of the Athenian youth, and the guards I had killed haunted me. There were other faces too. It seemed that every man I had killed decided to pay me a visit.

The wounds I had suffered were deep, almost beyond anyone’s ability to heal. Phaedra did her best to sew the worst of them up with catgut, but she confessed later that she despaired and had resigned herself to my inevitable death. I suspect it was only my innate strength and perhaps the favor of Poseidon himself that saved me.

Eventually, I recovered from the fever and woke to find myself alone in the darkness. I fumbled around and managed to light my lamp after several failed attempts. The sudden light stung my eyes, but I finally oriented myself. I realized where I was. I found some food and water that Phaedra had set beside me. My stomach gurgled alarmingly, so I contented myself with the water only.