The Trials of the Minotaur

Part One: The Blind Minotaur (Chapter Six)

The Minotaur awoke that night to the clamor of shouting men rushing towards him. There were two swords at his throat and another at his heart by the time he managed to rouse himself and shake the sleep from his eyes. He stared at them stupidly, as if unsure of their purpose, while someone from the doorway ordered him clapped in irons.

While this was done the same man said, “I have a signed imperial order for your arrest. You are to appear before a judge at once to determine your fate.”

Next his eyes were bound and a sword pressed into his back, staying there as he stumbled to his feet. The officer called the men to order and they proceeded through the house. The sounds of it being ransacked by the remainder of the guard penetrated his stupor and roused his anger. A woman began to scream as they crossed the courtyard to the mansion’s entrance, which meant the guard had found the concubine’s quarters. He trembled with a growing rage and tested the strength of the chains linking his two hands.

“Don’t bother thinking about it,” the captain said to him, sounding near enough to reach, “I have archers on the walkways. You’ll be dead before you even get your hands around my neck.”

“Still time enough to kill you,” the Minotaur replied, his voice still rasping with sleep.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Now, well, consider that we’re doing you a favor. It’s not like you would survive the contest.”

“No one has ever come near defeating me.” The Minotaur could almost see the other shrugging in reply.

As they walked up the steps out of the courtyard to the entrance of his estate, he felt what could only be blood, warm on his bare hoof. The realization chilled him, for this was a different game than the one he thought was being played. If they were killing the slaves, including the women, then all his property was forfeit. Up to that moment he had assumed that Jyal Iospyd had bought off a judge with the hopes of having him forfeit the contest, but it was clear that someone else had perpetrated this conspiracy and his very life was now in the balance.

He was marched through the empty streets, shivering a bit from the late evening chill. They led him on a dizzying route, not halting until the sun began to rise, its heat seeping a bit into his bones. He was taken into what he thought was one of the imperial prisons, though he couldn’t be sure. They left him in a foul-smelling place, the floor damp and the walls covered with some kind of rotting growth.

As he began to contemplate a means of escape, the door burst open and dozens of feet marched in, taking up positions around him. A tendril of fear crept through his stomach and tickled at his throat. There was a sharp word from the captain and the soldiers proceeded to beat him with the flat of their blades. This time he did try to resist, but they managed to knock him off his feet before he could break free of the irons, and once on the ground the flurry of their blows would not allow him to rise.

At some point, in the midst of it all, he drifted from consciousness, a small mercy. Sometime later they slapped him awake and removed his blindfold. The room was lit by two torches, both near him, so that he was bathed in light while the soldiers who stood around him were in shadows. A judge stood before him, within the circle of light, looking him over as though he were an uninteresting specimen, a mere criminal to be processed.

He read from a scroll in a drab monotone, at odds with his aristocratic bearing, declaring that an investigation had occurred and the Minotaur had been found guilty of various offenses against the empire. Among these were treason, conspiracy to harm the imperial person, heresy and consorting with patricians.

“I am in the registry,” he said.

The judge paused in his recitation and raised his eyes from the scroll. “Patricians do not compete in the pantheon. And there is no record of your name on the rolls.”

“Regardless,” the Minotaur said, summoning all the pride he could to his voice, “I am on the rolls. My mother is Surys Dethcallen Barthil, daughter of Barthil Dethcallan Vulgih.”

The judge parsed amongst the scrolls in his hand, an act, the Minotaur realized immediately, for his benefit. The words he was about to say had been determined long before this meeting.

“Surys Dethcallen Barthil, daughter of Barthil Dethcallan Vulgih, did have a son, and that son is on the registry. No name was given it.”

“That was because of Barthil Vulgih. He has refused to give me my name, even after I came of age and pledged myself to the Dethcalla.”

“He has been interviewed by this office and denies that you are his daughter’s son. His daughter is with the sibyls on the Isle of Hizen and no longer concerns herself with the affairs of this world.” The judge smiled before continuing, “And no other witnesses remain from the day the child was entered on the rolls.”

The Minotaur felt his mouth go dry and the air leave his lungs. “I was raised at the Guthril estate of the Dethcalla. Thurir Drahil and many others can vouch for who I am.”

“Sadly, the Guthril estate was overrun by barbarians some weeks ago. It appears no one survived the calamity. There is no one to confirm your tale.”

The Minotaur wanted to weep hearing that, but he held his tears in check. He would not give Barthil Vulgih that.

The judge had returned to his scroll and his recitation: “The penalty for your crimes is death. However, in light of your popularity and your service to the pantheon, I have decided to grant mercy in this case. You shall be blinded and exiled from all imperial territories. You have one day to leave the imperial city and a fortnight to leave the territories. Should you be found within those borders after the allotted time you will be put to death.”

Having read the scroll, the judge turned and left the room before the Minotaur could even summon a response. He watched helplessly as two new figures emerged from the shadows.

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This is the sixth chapter of the Trials of the Minotaur. I will post a chapter a week (there are over 30), but if you enjoy what you're reading and don't want to wait, you can buy this book at Amazon, Kobo, and Smashwords. Thanks for reading.