ch . 5 . drugged

"A Spartan," he said, "is a warrior of whom Ares is proud.  We are trained from the moment we can walk.  The weak of us die.  We battle each other even for our food as children, and as men, we make the world shudder in fear."

Theseus spoke of his old life, of the way of the warrior.  He spoke of blood sports for amusement, squalor, and pride found underneath all decadence, the pride of one who has become strong:  the pride of a warrior.  He was electrified by memory, and Minos"s son was awed.

"What do you want, Spartan?" he whispered.

Theseus quaked in rage.  His voice trembled as he spoke.

"I want what your people have been denied.  Blood."

Minos's son frowned.

"Then I was a fool to give you a sword."

"You showed me honor, and it is the sole reason you still live!"  He aimed the sword.  "I will take Minos's blood today, not his son's.  I know you Minoans live in decadence.  I am a wolf on a sheep's pasture."

Minos's son's gaze hardened.

"I will serve my country to the last, as a prince."

Theseus knew he might yet have to kill, but he grinned.

"Then, Minotaur, we might assist each other."

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Theseus screamed, and a cheer rose from the audience above the maze.  They could not see him, and they thought him dead.

"So," Theseus said, "how do we escape?"

"Hadn't you thought of that?"

"I had planned to prop your corpse upright with your axe, and reach the top of the wall by standing on your shoulders."  He gave a bark of laughter.  "Don't look so shocked.  I've done worse."

Minos's son, who had revealed he'd never been named, for Minos had killed his mother when he was born, looked thoughtful.

"Much of this maze is simply where the poor among us live," he said.  "My home is separated by a single gate, through which I am brought food each night.  The priest's bring it.  They know my identity and do not fear me."

"Then we can escape through the poor quarters."

"Yes.  By night."

Good, Theseus thought.  They would reach Minos undetected.  No one would expect the Minotaur and a dead Spartan to assassinate an immortal king.

"I must ask a favor," the nameless prince said.

"I will take your father's life," Theseus retorted.

The prince nodded.  "You may kill my father, but I must speak with him first.  And let me kill the priests."  He looked at the wall, as if gazing a far distance.  "It was all their idea.  I see the faces of those I've killed.  It is not only men who have been offered to the Minotaur."

Theseus snorted.

"Poets might sing of the glory of battle," he said, "but a warrior's pride is won by overcoming, not by killing."  His tone became gentle as he said, "We are all haunted."

They awaited nightfall.  The nameless prince was fascinated by Spartan life.  It was the perfect opposite to the Minoan way.  He seemed to have an endless supply of questions, but Theseus silenced him.  He closed his eyes and spoke to his wife, then to Hades, asking him for a warrior"s death.  His answer was always the same:  the hard silence before battle, and he knew that he had to die fighting his hardest to win the favor of Hades.  And Theseus was difficult to kill.

In the heart of night when Knossos was silent, the nameless prince donned the bull helmet.  He was again the Minotaur.

Theseus looked at him quizzically.

"None must see my face," he said, voice muffled by the bull"s head.  "I will become Minos tonight."

Theseus pressed himself close to the wall by the gate while the Minotaur waited.  Soon two priests came.  One nodded to the Minotaur, asked, "Where is the body?"

The Minotaur pointed down one hallway of the maze.  The gate clicked open with an echo.  Theseus rushed forward.  One saw him, and Theseus clasped the nape of his white robe and crushed his neck with his forearms, pressing him against the wall.

"Not a sound, priest," he whispered as the prince slit the other's throat.

The Minotaur handed Theseus the short sword and lifted his labrys.  Theseus stepped back and watched the ruination of the priest's skull.

They crept silently through the city's poor quarters.  It was a maze of variegated marble.  The Minotaur led the way by markings on the walls in an alphabet Theseus couldn't read.  Finally they came to a ramp, and emerged on the open courtyard of central Knossos.

Theseus caught the glint of a guard's axe in the moonlight.  The sky was dark, but there were no shadows.  Theseus crouched, kept his sword in the darkness of the ramp, but the prince made no effort to hide.  Theseus followed, as dumbfounded as the guards who watched the Minotaur stride through the courtyard towards the palace, the dead Spartan shuffling behind, sword ready.  In moments, the prince pushed the palace doors wide.

"Kill!" he thundered.  He smashed the belly of one guard with his labrys.

Theseus burst into the room like a starved wolf, battle lust overcoming all thought.  He slit a guard's throat before they could react.  The fight was brutal, swift.  The Minotaur swung his mighty axe, killing all who came near, and Theseus saw fear naked on the guards" faces.  The Minotaur was a demi-god, and Theseus was a vengeful ghost.  He fought with the ferocity of hate and the efficiency of a Spartan.  He dodged a hacking axe and turned a desperate thrust of a dagger that was in the attacker's other hand.  His blade found the guard's throat and Theseus leapt upon another even as the first's body went limp.  Soon all were dead.  The Minotaur smashed the door to the king's chambers with a kick.