Heart of the Labyrinth

"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.

This wasn't the nest of a monster. It looked like someone had been living here.

Leandros crept closer to the structure at the top of the hill, trudging through the colorful flowers, the moonlight reflecting off his shield as he readied it. He looked around for Olysseus as he approached one of the pillars, but he was hanging back, watching from the relative safety of the arched entrance.

Peering beneath the shadow of the domed roof, Leandros saw that more belongings had been piled inside the structure. There were satchels and bags leaning against some of the pillars, others hanging from their straps on nails that had been driven into the marble to act as pegs. There was a pile of scrap bronze sourced from weapons and armor. He could see beaten shields, cuirasses, helmets, and even the metal blades of spears and swords that had been snapped off their hafts. These must have been taken from fallen warriors. There were clothes, too, and other personal belongings like belts and sandals. It was a treasure trove stolen from all of the beast's victims.

Lying on a pile of clothes and furs in the middle of it all was the creature. His eyes took a moment to pick it out in the darkness, struggling to find familiar shapes, its blend of human and bestial features throwing him off. The thing was enormous, its sheer mass more akin to that of a prize bull than a person. Olysseus had been right to describe it as an auroch. It was lying on its side, its barrel chest rising and falling as it slept, its powerful breaths deep and regular.

The first thing that stood out to him was its head. It was that of a bull - heavily built, with a somewhat elongated snout ending in a pair of large nostrils that flared with each breath. It had pointed ears that were somewhere between those of a human and a cow, and from its skull sprouted a pair of curving horns that looked long enough to impale a grown man. Its hair was a massive, tangled mass of dark dreadlocks and braids that looked long enough to reach the small of its back, separated into rope-like strands by the careful use of string. There were more decorations - he realized. The same colorful twine had been wound around its horns, little beads and trinkets dangling from them in places, more of the makeshift jewelry decorating its forehead and snout. Its ears were pierced with golden bands that were large enough to have been bracelets. The beast was grooming itself, decorating itself. Why?

As his eyes wandered down its strange body, he saw a pair of muscular shoulders larger than his own, its long arms sporting biceps as big as his head. Like its bovine face, its entire body was covered in a very thin coat of black fur that seemed to shine in the moonlight, leaving veins and muscles easily visible beneath. Everywhere he looked, it was pocked with pink scars and healed wounds, a lifetime of battle etched into its very hide.