Chapter 8: The Labyrinth of Trade

Two days had passed. Ariadne had done her part. Using her magic, she created the Labyrinth of Trade in which the trade negotiators could come and navigate the beautiful garden plant walls that led to the center. It was not a complicated maze for anybody as it was designed for aesthetic purposes. Every flower she could think of lined the plant walls. Pathways made of marble, gemstones, and carvings of the gods lined all around it. It all leads to the apex center that had a marble table that led to the center where the delegates would meet.

After the creation of her beautiful labyrinth, she notified her father that the maze was completed and ready to be used. This was one of the few times she had a chance to impress her father of her abilities. She returned to the palace of Crete to await word of the trade negotiators and what they thought of her work.

Nobody arrived to thank her work.

“Odd,” she thought out loud as she sat on the chair of her room. “I am disappointed that no one but my father complimented my work.”

She lay back on her chair to wait for any word, but none had arrived. She was still mostly distracted from the terror of the Marathonian Bull that was still out there in the territory of Attica. Xenodice, Deucalion, and Phaedra, brothers, and sisters of Ariadne were sent to Attica to go hunt down the bull. This left Ariadne and Catreus to stay and protect the palace of Crete while King Minos would leave to negotiate with the arriving trade negotiators.

“I am troubled after a couple of days that I had not heard of anyone when it came to the trade negotiators. It was as if they arrived and left without saying a word. Perhaps they were so busy that they could not come to the palace?”

Her thoughts still wondered about Theseus. Her mind would calm at the handsomeness of the Prince of Attica. She even had general ideas of their future together.

She picked up her needle and thread as she began to weave a tunic for him. It would consist of the finest cotton that only grew in one area on Earth. She always had the choice to use her magic, but sometimes she liked to use the old needle and thread because it only felt right to do so.

“I think if things go well between us, then Attica and Crete can live in a new era of peace,” she thought out loud.

Catreus walked into the room to look at her weaving and talking to herself. He, like her, was both in their human forms.

“I overheard what you said, sister,” he told her. “You have feelings for Theseus, the Prince of Attica?”

She nodded as she focused on her weaving. She was halfway on her progress. It would still take some considerable to complete it.

He nodded, “I have only heard of some rumors about him, but not much afterward.”

“What have you heard about him?”

“One story was that he killed a robber named Sciron that was attacking random people that traveled by his area. He fought him and shoved him over the cliffside to be devoured by sea creatures in the sea below. Another story was that he killed the Crommyonian Sow.”

She put her weaving down on the table and looked at him. “That would be impossible ... the Crommyonian Sow is supposedly the daughter of a terrible ... terrible creature that we have not identified yet. She would be a deity of the stories of it were true ... no. There is no way a human mortal with mortal weapons could kill something similar to us. That is a false story.”

He finished up “He supposedly killed a criminal named Procrustes the Stretcher. The criminal was known for capturing his victims and using two beds and an ax to kill them. If the stories are true, then he is out there trying to help his people.”

She resumed her knitting. “It means that he does have heroic deeds under him. Even if not all the stories are true, then it means he cares for the people. He believes in justice...”

Her face turned red, and Catreus smiled. He nodded, “Make sure that if you pursue a relationship with him that he knows...”

“I know ... I know ... to let him know that our family are not human mortals. I think he will accept me for who I am. The hearts of men can be pure and gold at times.”

Catreus shook his head. “You get too hopeful at times, Ariadne. You need to learn that the world does not always operate as pure as you might think.”

“Yeah ... my father seemed to prove a little bit of that recently. The Marathonian Bull is also proof of that as well. I think things will be better now once all of that is settled. Have you heard of anything from our brothers and sisters up North?”

He shook his head, “Not much yet. Deucalion, however, might have found some old tracks that might be him, but we have not heard anything else yet.”

“Hmm...”

“Something else troubles you sister, what is it?”

She stopped weaving and looked at him “I had a labyrinth built for father. He wanted to create a place for the trade negotiators from Attica to arrive. He left yesterday to go and talk with the first dispatch of negotiators. He came back last night, but he said very little.”

“Maybe he is still in a rough phase with the Atticans. Maybe things didn’t go the way he wanted in the first set of negotiations. You know how a father can be at times.”

She sighed, “Maybe you are right ... I fear for him. He has never been the same since Androgeus was killed. His loss ... I felt it so much from us. I think it affected him more than any of us.”

“He wanted to raise a mortal son. Nothing special ... nothing incredible. He wanted to raise an ordinary boy. We all loved him even if he wasn’t immortal. I think dad had the right idea of raising him. He would have served as a link between us immortals and the mortals. Sadly that time has passed.”

She chuckled, “You remember when we used to play tag with him. He would run up and grab our tails and yank so hard. I swore I almost felt the pain when he grabbed my tail ... I feel that he was on his way to challenging anything that came in front of him. It could have been the most powerful of deities, and it didn’t matter. I want to live in a world where humans respect us for who we are ... not look at us as monsters. We always had the power, you know, brother?”

He nodded, “I feel like we have this conversation so many times, you know. It always leads to this circle of hope and faith in the mortals. We try to learn of ourselves, and at the same time, they are learning about themselves. Somewhere on Earth, there is something immortal working a mortal being. It will be a matter of time before we intermingle with one another. You never know Ariadne. You will probably have Theseus in your bed in no time, and he will be grabbing your tail.”

She laughed “Yeah ... well ... you know I think I need to take a look at the Labyrinth of Trade. It’s been a couple of days; I want to check up to see how it is fairing.”

“Yeah, you have been trapping yourself in this palace. I think you should get some sunshine.”

She placed her weaving tools on the table. She got up from her chair and stood a fair distance away from him. “You want to come with me and check out my maze?”

“Sure thing, why not?”

He stepped next to her. She closed her eyes as she began focusing her spell. She pictured the entrance of the labyrinth in her head. Light started to emit from her hands. She lifted her arm up and then drove it towards the ground as she said the word “Teleport,” causing both herself and her brother to vanish in the blink of any eye.

Instantly they appeared at the entrance of the labyrinth. They traveled miles in just a second.

“Ugh ... you do that next time Catreus. That is so draining.”

Her brother smiled and nodded as they looked at the entrance.

“Let’s go, brother,” she told him.

“I love this, Ariadne. You got the aesthetics down very well.”

She looked at the plant walls. Sets of white lilies grew on the side of the plant wall as they walked through the maze to the center. Wooden benches lined some of the walls, with light torches for night time walking dotted the sides of the walkway.

As they walked, she led the way to avoid walking into any dead ends. The maze was designed really to guide the individuals to the center of the maze rather than accidentally sending them into a dead end. There were occasional dead ends in the labyrinth, but it was evident that it was a dead-end when you turned and looked in the direction rather than going some distance and noticing that you went the wrong way.

One of the big attractions she did was having trees that overextended some of the walls. There was a different tree at some of the areas you walked through. She even had a small waterfall that dropped down one section of the maze and created a low bridge to walk over that drained to the ocean.

“My favorite of this labyrinth is the waterfall.”

“Sister, I think this is the best labyrinth you ever made so far.”

“Thank you, Catreus.”

They reached a turn, and they arrived in the middle of the maze.

“Here is the apex of the labyrinth brother. I have a grand marble table and eight chairs that the trade negotiate...”

As they reached the center, they beheld a most grotesque scene. In the center of the labyrinth, they saw that the marble table was smashed into two pieces. Some chairs were knocked over. Blood covered the broken pieces of the table. Below them in front of them were skeletons. Over a dozen human remains littered the grass floor beneath their feet.

“Wha ... Oh my... , what happened?” she asked with much dread.

Catreus began investigating the scene. He went and picked up a skull from one of the remains and looked at it closely. He tilted the side.

Catreus noted the skull in front of him. “Bones were picked clean. These are recent remains, about a day old. It is smaller than normal human bones. I would say that these skeletal remains are that of a child between the age of seven to ten years old.”

“By the name of Zeus,” she said almost in a panic. “What happened?”

“I don’t know ... whatever did this ... it was like something ambushed them. All these remains are that of human children. It appears something large ambushed them as they traversed the maze to the center. All that was at the center for them was...”

“Death...” She said. “Death.”

Her face was looking at the ground as day-old blood lined the grassy field. Catreus was checking all the remains.

“Looks like they had little chance or any chance to put up any resistance. Whatever it was ... it made sure no child was alive to tell the tale. Some of the spines are split down the mid...”

“Please, brother ... I can’t keep listening to this. It is too horrible. Too ... horrible.”

Ariadne’s eyes were filled with tears. She went and picked up a skull of once was a child. She took careful note of the entire scene. It was still daylight as they noted the whole scene.

“Catreus, do you think it was the Marathonian Bull that did this?”

He looked carefully at the grass and dirt “The markings on the ground don’t match that of a four-legged creature. This was something running around on two legs, ... our size.”

Ariadne started to get angry. She had a good feeling at who did this, but she didn’t want to accept the truth. “Brother, revert back to our original forms. Whatever could do this could ambush us too. We might be in extreme danger.”

He nodded as they both closed their eyes. Within a short flash of light, “They reverted into minotaurs. She still held the skull in her hand. She held out her hand to summon her Xiphos bronze sword. This one-handed sword had a handle big enough to fit her hand. Compared to her size, the Xiphos was basically that of a woman pulling out a knife. While moderate in size for a human, it was small for her.

Both had the forms of a Minotaur. Her brother being a male minotaur, had more male features than Ariadne. He stood about the same height at about 9 feet. His fur was slightly darker than hers being a brownish colored fur than orange. He had a silver nose ring that pierced into his nostrils. His horns were somewhat longer. His tail, muscles, and face were very similar to hers. His face did show that of human-like male features.

He held out his hand, and in a puff of smoke, a large two-handed maul appeared in one of his hands. They readied against any threat that was coming their way.

Ariadne looked around some more but saw nothing. They looked around some more but still didn’t see anything of consequence.

“It doesn’t make sense ... where are the trade negotiators? There are signs of a massacre, but they wouldn’t be sending children for trade negotiators ... unless ... no. No ... it can’t be. Where is father?”

Casteus scanned the open area again with his hands firmly holding his maul. “I don’t see him. He told me earlier today that he was going out to speak to some representatives from Attica. Why do you ask?”

“Father has been getting more and more agitated with Attica since Androgeus died. He sent me a letter a couple of days ago after he negotiated a cease of hostilities with the Atticans. He wanted me to create a labyrinth so that trade negotiators could be invited to Crete. At first, I thought that he wanted to create something for peace. No ... he couldn’t have done this. It isn’t possible. He would never hold that much anger...”