Labyrinth

Labyrinth

Half man/half bull, he was the most famous mutant of them all.

Asterion’s existence had come about when the Queen had mated with a beautiful white bull on the island of Crete. Regarded as a freak of nature, he was contained by the queen’s husband, King Minos, in a series of elaborate and confusing chambers constructed somewhere beneath the royal palace. The mutant’s prison became known as The Labyrinth.

***

On returning to their clifftop eyrie, the eagles deposited a sheep as a reward to Minna, the young dragon, for guarding their eggs. She’d earned their trust by regularly delivering tasty morsels to their remote clifftop nest. Impressed by their glorious plumage, yet baffled by their high-pitched cries, Minna nevertheless enjoyed the protection afforded by their hideout. She spent hours watching the creamy blotched eggs, longing for the day when the fledglings hatched. It would be good practise for when she laid eggs of her own. Remembering how her parents had been struck by the arrows of ignorant men while the sun was at its height, she consoled herself that at least they had died together. As far as she knew, she was the last of her kind.

Unless she could find a suitable mate.

Like her parents, Minna had been gifted with a cloak of invisibility which faded if worn for too long in the sun. Donning it now, she left her eagle friends and flew over the White Mountains, so named in the summer for their limestone slopes, and in the winter for their snow-capped peaks. Dipping her feet in the shallows of Serenity Pool, she thought of the suffering mutant. Falsely maligned as a beast and disdainfully referred to as the Minotaur, all she wanted was to rescue him from his dreadful maze now she was one of the few who knew a way out.

Minna was angered by false accounts of Asterion (the mutant’s real name) demanding to be fed youths regularly shipped in from the Greek mainland, to satisfy his voracious appetite. Only by smothering her rage was she able to prevent the tell-tale wisps of smoke that rose up from her nostrils and became visible to humans, whilst flying across the sky. It was galling to think Asterion’s diet only consisted of vegetables, and he was in fact a vegan. Half-human himself, at the bequest of his mother, he’d resisted all attempts to be fed human flesh. He’d told Minna he’d suspected his stepfather, King Minos, had privately ordered the young people’s destruction as a way of vexing Poseidon. It wouldn’t be the first time the king had angered the sea god with a display of arrogance.

Minna imagined Asterion joining her on one of the rocky outcrops that sprang up like huge marble stones from the sea. She’d once tried to describe them, but having lived in the dark for so long, he seemed bewildered. He’d never been to the sea, never known the turquoise charm of its waters, never witnessed the way it touched the sky turning it into a purple blue. But how would he view all this if released? While for Minna, the endless crash of white surf upon golden sand was a source of enchantment, such brilliance might prove dazzling. She intended to rescue him, but it wouldn’t be easy. How long would she be able to bear the weight of him on her back if he were to escape his dreadful prison?

She immediately cursed herself for defeatist thinking. Of course she could carry him. Love would find a way.

But all that was in the future. Presently, spotting a group of palms that broke the rugged landscape, she scooped up the dates, and continued valiantly on her journey to Knossos, home of King Minos and the terrifying Labyrinth.

***

 Flying through cloudless blue, the heat was starting to pick up. Minna hoped to reach the magnificent palace in Knossos before overheating and revealing her true nature to the world. By which she meant the human world. Animals already had their eyes opened and either gave her a wide berth or were grateful for her protection. Oh, there was so many things unknown to humans. Only a few had true discernment and saw beyond the surface. So often they made melodramas out of nothing and waged wars that could have been avoided. Yet, they also had lovable, even heroic qualities.

But for now, with mind and body soaring, she cast aside the dangers and under love’s sweet umbrella, flew on.

 **

Continuing her flight, Minna recalled the first time she’d heard the mutant’s melancholic, deep-throated roar. Stirring passions she hadn’t known existed, the sound had made her reckless when she should have been circumspect. Minna, knowing her cloak of invisibility could only last if she was able to withdraw from the sun’s rays and spend a few hours recovering, had ignored the spread of smoke shimmering in the sky.

Fortunately for the dragon, the people below had been preoccupied with their own business. There had only been an old woman dressed in a black cloak lingering near the palace walls. Her eyes were peeled heavenward, but that didn’t count.

Minna pondered on the proclamation issued by King Minos a month earlier. In it, he’d promised any man who could prove he’d killed a dragon would be rewarded with half his wealth and the hand of his beautiful daughter, Ariadne, in marriage. Minna recollected her parent’s wistful talk of ancient times when dragons had been loved and revered by humankind.

The young dragon shivered in spite of the heat. How had it all gone so wrong?

***

Now drawing close to the Cretan shore, a pod of dolphins sliced through the water, silvery backs leaping playfully. Moving in unison, they clicked and called out to one another in high-pitched notes, singing of shipwrecks and sailors lost at sea. Minna longed to join them for they were lovable animals, but time was running out.

Slowly descending, Minna saw light reflected from the palace’s open-plan white stone floors. They were held in place by pillars of opaque red. Now skimming the rooftops, Minna thought wantonly of the creature waiting for her in the underground chambers. The chattering of birds had ceased, and the air was strangely quiet. The bellowing from a creature that was half human, half bull, confined in the caves below, had alarmed them.

***

Minna’s discovery of the Minotaur’s real character had been the high point on a voyage fuelled by curiosity. On her first visit to the palace, she’d encountered the treasury and spied hoards of gold coins piled on a table. When the accountant had briefly left off counting, Minna had seized her chance. Following on from this small success, it was only natural to want to unearth the great secret of the maze, especially on hearing it was nigh on impossible to penetrate, let alone find a way out of. It only made Minna want to try all the more.

On her second visit, Minna found a vent, long disused, and covered in a mass of weeds, that led to the Labyrinth. After entangling the weeds, it had been easy to prize open the bars and enter the underground tunnels without detection. By the third visit, Minna had no trouble locating the creature housed within.

***

In a bid to impress his lovely dragon, the Minotaur had cleaned up one of his chambers. He loved Minna for many reasons. Not least, was the fact she seemed to be the only being who didn’t mind that his birth was the result of the King’s wife’s union with a bull. It was distressing to think that for many, his very existence was an abomination. When Poseidon, the vengeful god of the sea, demanded King Minos sacrifice an extraordinary snow-white bull after he had made him king of Crete, Minos sacrificed an inferior bull and kept the best one for himself. As a punishment, Poseidon made the king’s wife Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull. When she became pregnant and gave birth, she tended the mutant herself. Eventually, King Minos ordered Daedalus, his talented architect, against his will, to design a labyrinth to hold the creature. Out of love for his wife, Minos did not want the Minotaur harmed.

***

The Minotaur’s dark eyes shone brightly in the half-light, the curved horns well-formed and majestic. Seated on a roughly hewn bench, his golden-white skin glowed in anticipation. It was easy to see how his mother had fallen hard for his father.

Asterion blinked when he saw Minna. That uniquely shaped mouth with its endearingly restless movements had driven the dragon wild the moment she’d first encountered him. She had never seen his mother so could not know he had something of her smile before she’d been taken from him when he turned from a child/calf into a demanding adolescent. His man’s body with its powerful shoulders, soon emerged. Except with hooves for feet and claws for hands, it wasn’t quite a man’s body. The manliest part he covered with a tunic of linen. Minna remembered the transformation from beast to man, back to beast, from her last visit all too well. Now, quivering in his arms, she gasped as he pressed his mouth to hers.

“I knew you would come,” he said, tail wagging. “I’ve been dying to see you. It feels empty when you’re not around.” His bull nature coming to the fore again, he licked his lips suggestively. “Have you brought the food?”

“I have.” Minna laughed at his eagerness. She would have to teach him to savour the dates rather than swallow them whole.

“I’ve never shared anything before,” he admitted. “It feels amazing.”

After they’d eaten and enjoyed other delights which modesty forbids mentioning, the Minotaur asked Minna how long she was able to stay.

“Only a few hours, I’m afraid. It will be safer to get back before dawn breaks.”

“I miss you already.” His touch made her scales quiver.

“Have your thought any more about escaping? You could hide in the eyrie.” There were no easy answers to such questions, but she asked them anyway.

“Asterion withdrew his hand. “Escaping is a pipe dream, Minna. Unlike you, I have no cloak of invisibility to protect me. Besides which, my presence would endanger you and I couldn’t bear that. We are both outcasts, misunderstood by humans. And yet half of me is a human borne from a noble mother.”

A tear dropped from the large brown eye and landed on Minna’s hand, making her heart break.

“I can’t bear leaving you cooped up like this. It’s not right,” she cried.

“It’s all I’ve ever known since I was an adolescent and judged unfit to be seen.” He looked doleful.

“But I’m sure I could find a way to hide you. If only you’d let me try. You cannot remain like this forever.”

His smile emerged like sun from a dark cloud.

“You’re incorrigible, my darling Minna. I tell you what. If it will make you feel better, we’ll talk more about it when you next visit.” He winked. “Just make sure you bring me more of that delicious fruit. The grapes you brought me the time before haven’t yet fermented. We can drink them then. Will you be satisfied with that?”

Her sigh was a gentle rumble. “I guess I’ll have to be.”

 ***

Minna was guarding the newly hatched chicks when the eagles flew up to the nest accosting her with alarming news.

“It is said the prince Theseus from Athens has entered the palace maze with a sword and intends to slay your monster. He may never escape from the maze, but there’s no time to lose if you want to help him.”

Horrified, Minna looked at the sky. The midday sun had peaked, the worst time for exposure.

Ignoring the risks, Minna flew without stopping. Embroiled in a white haze, she saw nothing of her surroundings. Standing near the site of the Labyrinth, she recognised the old woman from before. One of the few humans able to discern the presence of a dragon, she called out to Minna.

“Do be careful! Theseus, the prince of Athens is searching for the Minotaur in the maze right now. King Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, gave him a red thread to enable him to make his way out of it without getting lost. You better not go in. You don’t know what you might find!”

“Try stopping me,” Minna said, the fire building in her belly.

***

The dragon heard the commotion before she reached Asterion’s chamber. Inside, was a scene of chaos. Asterion lay moaning in a drunken stupor on the floor while Theseus held a sword to his throat.

Snorting in rage, Minna gusted fire from her nostrils. Hearing the the hiss, Theseus turned round fearfully.

“Drop your sword! I’ve come to rescue Asterion,” the dragon bellowed.

Backing away, Theseus left the mutant exposed to the flame. With not a moment to lose, Minna threw her lover onto the floor rolling him until the flames were extinguished

When he recovered, Asterion grabbed the sword and pointed it at the trembling Theseus. “I’m not leaving until I’ve killed him, Minna,” he said.

Thinking fast, the prince raised his hands in supplication.

“Please let me go,” he pleaded. “If you let me leave this place alive, I’ll tell everyone I’ve killed you. Not only will it bring an end to your troubles, but I’ll be regarded as a hero. You can escape later under cover of darkness.”

The dragon, now in a calmer frame of mind, considered his proposal seriously.

“Don’t even think of going back on your word, or I’ll destroy you,” she said eventually.

***

Later that evening, the dragon’s cloak had grown dense enough for herself and the Minotaur to seem invisible. However, when they emerged from the maze, the ground was shaking and the pillars in the palace were starting to crack.

The old woman was still waiting outside the Labyrinth.

“We’re in the midst of an earthquake. Leave now! Before it’s too late!” She commanded Minna.”

The dragon turned to her. “What about you?”

“I’ve had my life. Now, go!”

Unfortunately, in her haste to leave Minna accidentally trampled on a unicorn.

“You clumsy oaf!” The animal screamed. “I curse you! Any eggs you produce will not hatch.”

As the earth shifted again, Minna’s salty tears soaked its mane. “Oh! Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She opened her wings and fanned him. “Let me help you.”

Seeing her distress, the unicorn relented a little. “It’s too late to help me, but maybe you’ve suffered enough already. I can tell you no good will come from your love of gold. It’s your destiny to leave this island and find another in the northern hemisphere where there are forests and rivers. There you must seek out the boy with the golden hair.”

“What do you mean?” Minna asked, but the unicorn had uttered his last breath. He gave a strange whinny and died in front of her.

***

The next day Poseidon’s antics had turned the sky an uncharacteristic grey, but Minna hardly cared. Homeland abandoned, she carried Asterion’s weight on wings borne of love, until reaching the westernmost point where the Aegean becomes at one with the Atlantic, her pain subsided. Some things are meant to be. She could only pray the eagles with their little family had been spared destruction on their rocky perch.

Now, if they were to have any chance of survival, the pair must head for the temperate isle described by the unicorn. They must depart their island of birth for another where new adventures awaited: maybe given time, the new inhabitants would accept them, and their differences would be celebrated, rather than feared. In the meantime, they’d have remain to undetected for long periods. The new isle might be a place of rain and grey skies where the days rarely grow hot, but it was also rumoured to be a paradise of forests furnished with oak, pine and birch, where rivers and springs flowed clear, and lush meadows abounded. Minna would keep searching until she found the golden boy predicted by the unicorn. She was less certain about the rest of his advice. Feeling the quickening of new life within her, she slowed her pace. For the first time, she was thinking with a mother’s mind.

Then, stretching her wings she let the wind carry them. Clutching the gold coins she’d wrapped in a cloth from Minos’s palace, she resumed the flight knowing things could only get better.

🐉 ❤️🐂