Chapter 2: Alone No Longer

After eating some of his rabbit meat and sleeping for the night, Leandros awoke on the third day, proceeding deeper into the maze. He was running out of time. While his rations could now be replenished, Daedalus might not wait more than a few days longer before declaring him dead.

The sound of trickling water soon drew him to another stream, this one flowing from a round opening barely the size of his head that was raised off the tunnel floor. It splashed down into a shallow channel that ran along the length of the passage, Leandros electing to follow it, seeing sunlight bleeding into the tunnel ahead. It ran for a considerable distance, then cascaded down a short staircase that led to a lower level. He stepped down into another hollowed-out cavern filled with grass, the stream feeding into a large pond that was overgrown with blooming water lilies, the croaking of frogs reaching his ears. Atop the hill beneath the apex of the dome was a monopteros – an open structure with a domed roof that was held up by a circle of stout pillars. It was made of white stone, shining brilliantly in the sunlight that flooded in through the shafts above it.

This was a garden – one that he might have expected to find on a palace’s grounds. A fluttering movement caught his eye, and he glanced up to see colorful butterflies flitting through the beams of golden light.

“What is this?” he muttered to himself, walking across the grass to get a closer look. As he inspected the structure, the words of Daedalus echoed in his mind.

“It was our intention that the captive would be able to explore for years and never become restless – that they would be able to live a life approaching that of a surface dweller.”

He had called it a gilded cage, and that description was becoming more accurate the deeper Leandros ventured. Someone had cared enough for this creature to go to incredible lengths to make it comfortable. Who was its mother, and what sway did she hold over Minos? Could a violent beast even appreciate such things?

One of these caverns would be an ideal place to lure the creature. It would give him the visibility and the space that he needed to maneuver. Fighting it in the dark, cramped tunnels was not an attractive prospect. He was sure that, with an appropriate ambush, he could bring the beast down. But how to do that? Maybe if he encountered it in the labyrinth, he could follow the chalk marks back to one of these rooms, leading it by its supposedly sensitive nose.

There was another passage on the far side with a stream that was feeding into the pond, so he followed it, careful to mark the wall with chalk as he went. Gods willing, those that he had left behind him had not been washed away. Soil gave way to stone, and light to darkness, Leandros raising his torch as the flame reflected off the damp walls.

It seemed that the buildings and caverns were as islands in an ocean, separated by these dank warrens. Did the creature have a way to navigate, or did it just wander aimlessly?

As he turned a corner at a junction, pausing to mark his way, he heard a sound. He froze, standing as still as a statue, worried that even the rustling of his cloak or the clattering of his armor might overpower the faint noise. It wasn’t the trickling of water – it sounded like footsteps echoing from far away. Straining his ears, he heard it again, a little louder this time. Something heavy was coming his way down one of the passages ahead of him.

His first instinct was to put out his torch, but it was Promethean flame – he had no way to smother it. The damned thing would lead it right to him. The only option was to toss it aside lest it reveal his position, but if he did so, he would be left completely blind in this darkness. Instead, he turned back, trying to move as quickly as he could without making too much noise. He followed his chalk markings, leading him back towards the cavern with the pond, hoping that the beast’s nose would lead it to him. It was said to be stronger than any mortal man, so challenging it openly would be unwise, but he might have a chance if he could maneuver around it and find an opening with his spear.

It was getting closer – he could hear its footsteps, like a hammer pounding against stone.

The sound of water drew his attention, and he followed it to the stream that he had passed on his way in, a new plan forming. He slung off his cloak, then knelt with it in his hands, pausing to listen for the heavy footfalls again. They were joined by a loud huffing, still distant, but unmistakably that of an animal. It was close – too close for him to make it back to the cavern in time.

Fighting off the adrenaline that was starting to make his hands unsteady, he shoved his wool cloak into the stream, the fabric starting to soak through as it stemmed the flow. When it was completely impregnated with water, several times its original weight now, he wrapped the sopping garment around his torch. He was plunged into darkness, his eyes taking a moment to adjust. The flame was still burning, but with any luck, the creature would pass before it ignited his cloak.

He made it to another four-way crossroads, throwing himself behind a corner, cradling the dripping cloak like a swaddled baby as he slowly leaned out to get a look behind him. It was so damned dark that he could barely have seen his own hand if he had held it in front of his face.

His world was now one of sound, the loud, bestial huffing drawing ever closer as footfalls like the banging of war drums resonated down the corridor. Just as a hound scented its prey, it was sniffing him out, hunting him...

What would he do if it discovered him? He couldn’t fight it in this darkness. He would have to throw open the cloak – try to face off against the thing in the narrow passage. Perhaps he could surprise it as it came around the corner and jab his spear into its throat?

Its footsteps shook the floor now, each thud resonating through his body like a thunderclap. He could hear it breathing, as deep and as powerful as that of a horse or a bull. Just how large was this thing? Daedalus had said that it had been strong enough to overpower a grown man at five years old...

A fear that he hadn’t experienced since his first battle gripped him, freezing his heart in his chest. He wanted to inch further down the passage – to put more distance between himself and the beast – but the slightest sound might alert it to his presence. He didn’t even dare to breathe.

There was a sudden clattering, like a pebble being tossed against stone, echoing down the tunnel from another junction. The footsteps accelerated, the huffing becoming the snorting of an angry bull, the ground shaking as the beast raced down the passageway towards him. A black mass that almost filled the tunnel emerged only a few paces away from him, cloven hooves almost as large as his shield skidding on the wet stone as it changed direction, putting its back to him. In the darkness, he could barely make out anything but hunched shoulders covered in fur and a pair of pointed horns that almost scraped the ceiling. It wasn’t a monster – it was a force of nature. He could feel its sheer mass and gauge its incredible strength just by the way that it took corners.

It barreled down the tunnel opposite him, moving far too quickly for something of that size, heading in the direction of the sound. He could hear clanking metal, too, as though it was wearing armor or chains. Leandros didn’t even exhale the breath that he had been holding until it turned another corner, and the sound of its thudding footfalls grew faint.

He unwrapped his torch and was relieved to see that it had not set his cloak alight – the waterlogged fabric was only singed. How he would get the damned thing dry now, he didn’t know, but that stream might just have saved his life. Leandros readied his spear, drumming up the courage to pursue the creature. It was fortunate that they had crossed paths so soon, and he might not get another chance like this.

He stepped forward, then froze, feeling the blade of a knife pressing into his throat.

“Quiet,” a voice behind him hissed. “The beast will not be distracted for long. Do exactly as I say if you want to live.”

Leandros could do little more than nod his head slowly, the stranger removing the dagger. He turned around to see a man standing before him, his gaunt face lit by the wavering torchlight. He had an unkempt beard, a pair of sunken, dark eyes peering back at Leandros intently. He wasn’t wearing armor, clad instead in simple garments of cloth and leather that had seen better days, his feet completely bare. He had a satchel slung over his shoulder, and there was a belt around his waist made from frayed rope, laden with various leather pouches and tools. There was a spear tied across his back, but he had no other weapons save for the little dagger, and no shield.

“Follow me, and take those off,” he said with a gesture to Leandros’ sandals.

“What?” Leandros asked, looking back at him in confusion. “Why? Who are you? What are you doing down here?”

“It’ll hear them,” he replied, turning to walk back down the passage. Leandros did as he asked, tying his footwear to his belt, then hurried after the stranger. The stone was freezing beneath his bare feet, but the loud slap of his sandals no longer echoed off the walls.

“Are you going to tell me what in Hades is going on here?” Leandros demanded, trying to keep his voice low despite his frustration. “The king told me that everyone who had been sent into the labyrinth had perished. I’ve seen nothing but corpses until now.”

“That fool of a king has no eyes down here,” the man replied. “He would think that.”

“Watch your tongue,” Leandros replied. “Such talk could get you-”

“Get me what?” the stranger scoffed, turning to look back at him. “Thrown into the labyrinth for treason, maybe?”

“Fair point,” Leandros grumbled. “Who are you?”

“My name is Olysseus,” he replied, pausing for a moment to check one of the walls before turning another corner. “Minos sent me down here to slay that thing. I think two months have passed – I stopped counting some weeks ago.”

“You’ve been surviving down here for two months?” Leandros asked in disbelief.

“This place is not what we were told,” the man replied, leading him along another nondescript hallway. He moved with purpose, as though he knew exactly where he was going. “I don’t know how much you’ve seen, but finding food and water is not difficult if you know where to look. Avoiding the auroch is the difficult part.”

“You’ve seen it before? What is it?”

“An abomination,” he replied, his voice dripping with disgust. “I’ve laid eyes on the thing in sunlight – it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s part man, part animal, perhaps the product of some vile union or the curse of a vengeful God – I can’t say. It’s big, strong, and fast. It knows this maze, and its senses are keen. Don’t assume it to be as dull as the animal that it resembles. It’s clever, and it learns quickly. It doesn’t fall for the same trick twice.”

Once again, he stopped by a junction, seeming to briefly check a nearby wall before continuing. Leandros saw something catch his torchlight as he passed – a series of scratches in the stone. They would be hard to notice if one wasn’t looking for them and easy to dismiss as just natural wear, but Olysseus was clearly using them to navigate. Perhaps he was using them in the same way that Leandros had been employing his chalk.

He followed his new companion in silence for a while, the man leading him through many twists and turns before they finally arrived at another of the underground buildings. Bare stone transitioned to tiled floors and support pillars, the glow of burning braziers greeting them. It was never any less jarring to step out of a damp underground passage to find oneself in what could be a home in a wealthy city-state. Olysseus seemed to know the layout, making his way through a couple of side doors and into a secluded chamber that might have been a pantry or a storage room under normal circumstances.

He knelt, hooking his fingers beneath a loose floor tile, the ceramic scraping as he moved it aside to reveal a shallow hole about a foot wide. He pulled out some satchels and a few packages wrapped in cloth, along with some kind of brass lantern.

“I have stashes like this all over the area,” he explained, unwrapping one of the little packages to reveal strips of smoked meat. “You have to keep moving – can’t stay in one place for too long, or it’ll sniff you out.”

“How do you find your way around?” Leandros asked, watching curiously as Olysseus began to pack the satchel that was slung over his shoulder.

“I have a system. I leave scratches, different numbers for different locations.”

“I’ve seen rabbits,” Leandros said. “Is that what you’ve been eating?”

“Rabbits, chickens,” he replied. “Eggs, if you can find a nest. Who are you, anyway? You come down into this pit for the same reason I did?”

“I am Leandros of Kos,” he replied.

“Hero of the battle of Tegea?” Olysseus asked, pausing his work to glance up at him with new appreciation. “I know your name. They say that you fought with the strength of ten men – got God’s blood in you.”

“My great-grandfather had a child with a Naiad – a river spirit,” Leandros confirmed. “I am a few generations removed, but I can trace my lineage back to Zeus.”

“Diluted blood, but a God’s blood nonetheless,” Olysseus muttered as he looked Leandros up and down with new appreciation. “Enough to go toe to hoof with that thing, maybe?”

“Hard to say,” Leandros replied. “I’ve only ever tested my strength against men.”

“Maybe the Gods are finally smiling on me if they’re sending me one of their bastards,” he chuckled. “No offense,” he added, though Leandros didn’t get the impression that he was being sincere. “I suppose you’re here to hunt the creature for honor and glory? You must stack up some labors before they’ll call you a true hero, right?”

“What have you learned about the labyrinth?” Leandros asked, ignoring his rambling. “One of the first things you said to me was that this place isn’t what we were told. I’ve seen the gardens, the temples, the houses. Daedalus told me that they designed the labyrinth to keep the creature from growing restless, but there’s more to it than that. This place was made livable, comfortable, as though someone cared about its welfare.”

“Minos built this place to bury a secret,” Olysseus replied, standing upright again as he slung his newly-filled satchel back over his shoulder. “The labyrinth reeks of guilt,” he added as he led Leandros back out into one of the tiled halls. “He told me that he put the beast in this maze to protect Crete, but it’s clear to me now that he wanted to hide it. The beast is a source of shame for him, which implies that he’s in some way responsible for its creation, but he didn’t just kill it. He couldn’t. Why?”

“Daedalus told me that it was its mother’s mercy that stayed the king’s hand,” Leandros replied.

“Who the fuck cares if some worthless peasant girl births a demon?” Olysseus scoffed. “You’d kill her and the baby and be done with it. No, this has some connection to Minos. Ask yourself – who has the power to tell a king no?”

“A God?” Leandros suggested.

“I’m thinking it’s his wife,” Olysseus replied as he stepped into another of the grand halls. There was a huge pedestal at its center, and atop it sat a bowl-shaped brazier of stone, large enough that it could have been used to cook a boar whole. It burned with a bright flame that lit the entire space, crackling as it licked at the air.

“Pasiphae?” Leandros asked. “You think the queen birthed that creature?”

“Who else would have enough influence over the king to stay his blade – to have this place built instead of just killing the thing? It’s either in some way his fault, or he’s so embarrassed by his wife’s infidelity and what it might do to his reputation that he’d rather build an underground world than risk people knowing about it. Maybe she bedded a God, maybe she fucked a beast of the field, who knows?”

Leandros was skeptical, but Olysseus had been given a lot more time to ponder these questions than he had. He had to admit – it fit with Pasiphae’s cold, distant demeanor. Daedalus had said that the creature had been raised by its mother until the age of five before being sealed away, so perhaps she resented her husband for his decision, and for his recent attempts to slay her offspring. It wasn’t only the fear of the beast terrorizing Crete that had Minos so desperate, but maybe the uncovering of a dark secret that had haunted him for twenty years.

“Give me that,” Olysseus said, gesturing to the torch that Leandros was holding. He complied, and the man tossed it into the burning brazier.

“Hey!” Leandros began, but Olysseus ignored him. Taking the brass lantern, he hooked it on the end of his spear, then dipped it into the fire. There was a small flame burning within it when it reemerged, Olysseus setting it on the pedestal for a moment, returning his spear to the rope holster that he had fashioned across his back. When it was cool enough to touch, he picked it up, demonstrating how the little door on one of its four faces opened and closed.

“Your torch will give you away. Use this instead. When the creature is near, close the door, and you will extinguish its light without choking the flame.”

“It’s Promethean?” Leandros asked, accepting the little lantern. There was a handle on top, just large enough that he could hold it or tie it to his belt.

“All the fire down here is Promethean,” Olysseus scoffed. “Do you think that servants venture down here to tend the flames? We’ll need to get you a dry cloak before you catch your death, too.”

“Why have you been evading the beast?” Leandros asked skeptically. “Have you made any attempts to slay it?”

“Sorry, but we’re not all descendants of demigods with the strength of a legion,” Olysseus scoffed. “Consider that before you call me a coward. The king hired me to solve his problem, and the pay was good, so I agreed. He made it sound like I’d be hunting an animal, not that I’d be facing off against ... whatever that thing is.”

“With the two of us working together, we increase our chances of surviving this,” Leandros said. “You have clearly learned something about the beast’s behavior if you were able to distract it in the way that you did – if you have survived for all this time.”

“Aye, I have,” Olysseus replied.

“Is there anything that might help us best it?”

“Before I share anything, I want to know about you,” he replied as he narrowed his eyes. Leandros had done nothing to warrant the man’s suspicion, but he held his tongue. His time trapped alone in the labyrinth would not have improved his social graces. “What did Minos promise you for the beast’s head?”

“There’s pay, but I didn’t come here for the reward,” Leandros replied. “I came here to save Crete from the creature – to put down the abomination before it can do more harm than it already has.”

“How gallant of you,” Olysseus replied with a sarcastic roll of his eyes. “I’m afraid I can’t fill my belly with honor and fame. Minos put out a decree that anyone who could slay the beast would return home with an auroch’s weight in gold. What did they give you before you came down here? I saw shields and swords like those in the armory.”

“I was given arms and a cloak,” Leandros replied. “Daedalus gave me Promethean flame.”

“You had Promethean flame when you came in here? Old bastard didn’t give me anything,” Olysseus hissed, one corner of his mouth lifting in a sneer. “I guess us commoners don’t deserve the gifts of the Gods. What else? Did they give you anything else that we can use?”

“I was also given chalk, and some rations.”

“I got that, at least. Wait, chalk?” Olysseus’ eyes lit up, and he stepped forward to grab Leandros by the arm, the warrior resisting the urge to pull away. “How long have you been down here? Have you been marking a route back to the gate?”

“This is my third day,” Leandros replied, his frantic companion releasing him. “Yes, I’ve marked my path, though you led me away from it when you brought me here.”

“Then, there’s a good chance that the chalk hasn’t washed away yet,” Olyssesus said as he began to pace restlessly in front of the burning brazier. “I had the same plan for finding my way back, but the damned creature chased me away from the last marker, and I’ve never been able to find it again. It would have washed away by now anyway – this accursed place is so damp. I scratch marks in the walls using a stone now – it lasts longer.”

“There’s a guard posted on the other side of the gate,” Leandros continued, Olysseus turning his head to watch him intently. “If we return in time, we can ring the bell and be released. It took me three days to get here, so it will probably take three days to get back. I fear that we don’t have long before Daedalus presumes me dead and relieves the sentries.”

“Okay, okay,” Olysseus said. He stopped his pacing, sitting down on the edge of the stone pedestal, his unfocused eyes staring at the mosaic on the floor as he became lost in thought for a moment. “We don’t have long – we have to get this done quick. I remember where I found you. I can take you back there, and we can follow your markers to the entrance.”

“Tell me everything that you know about the beast,” Leandros demanded, Olysseus nodding his head slowly as he began to talk.

“When I first encountered the auroch, I barely escaped with my life. I brought a spear like yours,” he said, gesturing to the doru that was clutched in Leandros’ hand. “I crossed its path in one of the tunnels – stabbed the thing right in the shoulder, but its hide is as tough as leather, and its muscles are as hard as stone. The blow barely made it stagger. It snapped my weapon like a twig, then tossed me thirty paces – very nearly killed me right there. I only got away because there was a drainage tunnel nearby that it couldn’t fit inside. I was able to crawl through and emerge some distance away, and it couldn’t catch up with me. It’s been on the warpath ever since – it knows I’m still here. I think it can smell me.”

“Have you observed its behavior?” Leandros asked. “Do you know if there are routes it travels frequently, or if it has some kind of home in this maze where it might be vulnerable?”

“Yeah, I’ve been watching it,” he replied with a sinister grin. “Once you start to learn the layout of this place, it’s not so hard to stay ahead of the creature. I’m small, I’m fast, and I’m sneaky. I know how to distract it and how to go unseen. There are places we can go where it can’t. Well, where I can go,” he added as he glanced up at Leandros pointedly. “All of those big shiny muscles you’re showing off so proudly might be an issue if you have to squeeze through a tight gap. If you want my advice, travel light. All of that fancy armor won’t help you anyway if you take a hit. That thing can crush you like a beetle, shell and all.”

“What was your plan before I arrived?” Leandros pressed, the shaft of his spear clattering against his armor as he leaned it against his shoulder. “Surely you must have devised some means to kill it by now?”

“I’ve been mulling over some ideas,” he replied with a non-committal shrug. “Mostly, I’ve just been keeping out of the beast’s way and trying to find enough food to stay alive. Truth be told, the way that my spear felt going into its shoulder ... I don’t know if a mortal man can kill it. That blow would have felled a raging lion, but it was barely a bee sting to that beast. I know where it sleeps, so I was considering slitting its throat, but I can’t be sure that my knife is even sharp enough to pierce its hide.”

“I am no mortal man,” Leandros announced.

“Good for you,” Olysseus scoffed, apparently unimpressed. “Maybe you want to try stabbing it, then?”

“If you know where it sleeps, lead me there,” Leandros insisted. “All I need is an opportunity – a way to approach it where I can actually maneuver and leverage my agility without being confined by tunnel walls.”

“I could do that,” Olysseus replied, rising to his feet with renewed confidence. “I could lead you to it. Tell me – they say that at the battle of Tegea, you lifted a battering ram intended for six men and smashed down the city’s gates single-handed. Is that true?”

“It is.”

“Well, alright,” he said as he set off back in the direction of his stash. “Sounds like we have no time to waste. Just remember that half of the reward is mine. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be red paste drying on a tunnel wall right now, demigod.”

They waited until nightfall, Olysseus leaving for maybe an hour to check the nearest chamber with sun shafts for confirmation, as there was no other way to tell time in the labyrinth. He was quick, and he really did know his way around the local tunnels. In this maze, one could range for miles and only see a tiny fraction of its true size, so it was no wonder that he hadn’t been able to make his way back to the gate without guidance. There was food here, and he had his stashes, so there had been little reason to go wandering.

When the time came, Olysseus led him out of the building filled with braziers and into the dark tunnels, Leandros doing his best to remain quiet. According to his guide, they had to move as quietly as dormice, or the beast’s sensitive ears might alert it to their presence. They had their lanterns, the little doors open only the barest crack to allow them to find their way.

“There was something I meant to ask you,” Leandros whispered as they paused at a junction, Olysseus checking the wall for scratch marks.

“What? Make it quick – we’re not far off now.”

“Was it you who put that woman to rest in the temple? I came across a long-dead corpse covered with a silk cloak. Someone had been bringing flowers to her grave.”

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Olysseus replied. “I’ve come across some poor bastards who lost their way or were slain by the beast – fucking thing tears them apart like an animal. Never seen any graves, though.”

“You might not be the only person still surviving down here,” he continued as he followed his guide around a bend. They hopped over another trickling stream, Leandros having to steady himself against the nearest wall to save from slipping on the wet stone. “We’ll pass through the area on our way back. Perhaps we should search for them.”

“What do I care about some lost fool wasting their time picking flowers?” Olysseus scoffed. “We haven’t the time to waste – they can starve for all I care.”

“You’d condemn them to perish in these endless halls?” Leandros demanded.

“You’re the fucking hero, not me,” he hissed in reply. He stopped, turning to jab a finger into the molded pectoral muscles of Leandros’ cuirass. “I only care about one thing, which is getting out of here with my head still attached to my body. You kill the bull, and I lead you back to your chalk. That’s the deal.”

Leandros pushed his hand away, resisting the urge to admonish him for his cowardice. It wouldn’t do to quarrel with the only person who could get him out of the labyrinth.

“We’re coming up on the thing’s chamber,” Olysseus said, changing the subject. “In the names of all the Gods, be quiet. You shall only get one chance, and I suggest aiming for something soft – maybe put your spear through its eye.”

The stone gave way to soil, the walls becoming furry with green moss, letting Leandros know that they were approaching another open chamber. There was no sunlight this time, but it had been replaced by a silver glow that must be coming from the full moon. The pair closed the little doors on their lanterns, the moonlight providing enough illumination to see by.

“Here it is,” Olysseus whispered, the silver light silhouetting him as he paused at the entrance. “I hope for both our sakes that you know what you’re doing.”

Leandros joined him at the arched mouth of the chamber, his eyes widening as he glimpsed what lay within. There was another monopteros sitting on a verdant hill that was surrounded by flowers, the moonlight pouring in through the shafts above to give its pristine, white marble a ghostly glow. It had a domed roof that was held up by a circle of ornate pillars, and there was something inside it, though it was too shadowy for him to make out from a distance.

Olysseus gestured to the structure, his knife in hand, his meaning obvious enough. The beast must have made this cavernous hollow its home. As they began to creep closer, Leandros felt the blades of grass between his toes, the moisture in the tunnels misting them with droplets of dew.

More strange details jumped out at him as he climbed the gentle slope. Strung up between some of the pillars of the monopteros were washing lines – lengths of rope with various items of clothing draped over them, some still wet. They were all makeshift and tattered, some of them little more than long lengths of fabric that looked like they had been torn from a cloak. They were too large to be worn by a man.

Off to his left was a campfire that still smoldered, and there was a rack nearby made from lengths of wood that had been bound together with strips of leather. Some looked like branches, while others had clearly been spears before being repurposed. It was being used to smoke meat – several rabbits that had been skinned and cleaned were hanging off it.