The Trials of the Minotaur

Part Two: The Oracle's Mortification (Chapter Thirteen)

Mad Thedeo, as he was now known throughout the land, began his final day upon the earth as he had every day since the god had arrived at the temple he had built for him. He stepped out from his chambers onto the dais that overlooked all of Alari from atop the palace's great tower. The temple of the god loomed above him, the shadow it cast at first light falling upon the dais where he now knelt and offered his morning invocations to the beast who could see through the mists of time and existence. As he chanted, his servants anointing him with incense from braziers, he heard the first cries on the streets below. He paid them no mind, finishing his prayers and going within to eat his breakfast.

By the time his meal was done, the sound of the crowds outside had grown to such a volume that he returned to the dais to see what was happening. Looking at the streets below, he could see mob forming at the palace gates. Noticing him above them, the crowd reached a frenzied pitch in their cries, throwing rocks and other projectiles at the guards on duty, demanding that the gates be opened. Thedeo turned to his servants to ask him to summon his remaining counselors, only to hear a roar as the gates swung open.

For a moment he stood disbelieving as the crowd charged into the palace. Some of his own soldiers were among the first to cross the sacred threshold they had sworn to protect, and he saw that the guards were not offering any resistance to the intruders. At last, as the marauders began to ransack the grounds and a few forced their way into the palace tower, he regained his senses and turned to order his servants to gather his jewels and gold, so that they might flee the city. But they were gone and he was alone.

He wandered in a daze through his chamber and beyond, finding the rooms – normally filled with servants, counselors and courtiers all awaiting his appearance – empty. The dim sounds of the mob and its depredations reached his ears, but he paid them no mind. Nor did he go to any of the secret passages, which had been built expressly to allow the king to flee an insurrection.

“How did I fail you?” he said aloud, but no answer was forthcoming.

Thinking then that he should go before the god and ask why he had been forsaken, he started toward the gates. Before long he encountered the mob, but he paid them no mind, wandering through their carnage, thinking only of getting to the god so that he might receive his guidance. For their part, the crowd was startled by his appearance; he looked like a man who had aged twenty years in a day and had a stare so vacant that some whispered his soul had already fled, leaving only his flesh before them. This lasted until one of his soldiers stepped forward and struck Thedeo in the face, knocking him to ground. The mob as a whole followed, swallowing up the king's form, beating him and tearing at his flesh until there was nothing remaining that resembled a man.

After the looterscompleted their destruction of the palace, leaving the place in flames with no one remaining to quench the fire, they turned to the temple that their mad king had built for what they now knew to be a false god. They rushed toward the forbidding spire, calling for the beast to be brought before them so that it too could be punished for all they had suffered. As they approached, the doors to the temple were thrown open and the penitents emerged to echo their chants, to the delight of the crowd. The god’s followers stepped aside, allowing the mob to enter the main hall where the daily worship was held.

There they saw the god, his arms and legs chained and his back streaked with blood. A woman whipped him to the rhythm of his Chosen’s prayers while another penitent wafted incense around them. The beast moaned and shuddered terribly with each blow, its dead eyes streaming with tears. In spite of his fearsome size, the beast seemed unable to rise, and he made no struggle against the chains that bound him. A few in the crowd saw why and began to whisper, for the beast had been lanced with a sword through his ribs. A pool of blood gradually began to spread around the floor where the beast was sprawled.

Velthar the Sufferer finished his prayers and turned to the crowd as the woman ceased her whipping.

“Know that the god is not false,” he said, ignoring the angry murmurs that rose among those assembled. “Know that he is true and good. This test of our faith that he has set before us has been heavy indeed, but we have passed it, throwing off the shackles of the mad king so that we may fall under the kingdom of the god.”

A tense silence followed, those from Alari glancing at one another, all of them unhappy with what they were hearing but still unable to bring themselves to turn against a god. What if they were proven wrong and this all had been a test of faith, one in which they were found wanting?

“I too, like you, doubted. I lost faith. But the god did not abandon me and he has not abandoned you. Nor has he abandoned this city that has embraced him. Thedeo was a false believer; he sought only to protect his kingdom and his riches. The god has shown us that nothing shall come of such vanity.

“This terrible beast was the mark of our faithlessness. The god has left this form. But he has shown me, he will return again. From the wombs of one of these penitents here a new god shall emerge to rule the new kingdom we have created here this day. I have seen it.”

He began to pray, as did the other penitents, their cries rising up from all around the room. Slowly, one by one, those in the mob joined the chants and songs as the woman began to whip the beast again, the rhythm of the blows leading the prayers to a crescendo. With that complete, Velthar raised his hands to quiet the crowd.

“This beast will now be taken from this sacred place, taken from this sacred city and returned to the wilds from whence he came. When that is done the city shall be reborn.”

Cheers went up from the assembled. Velthar and the woman released the chains that bound the beast’s feet and hands, replacing them with a large collar and chain about his neck. With Velthar pulling at the chain and the woman behind urging him on with her whip, the Minotaur was led through the streets of Alari, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. Too weak to stand, he crawled on his hands and knees like a common animal. The crowd followed behind, cheering each blow that struck from the whip, singing songs of the new days to come.

The gates to the city were opened for the first time in weeks as the procession reached the city wall and the Minotaur was led out. There Velthar released him, taking off the collar and chain. He crawled away, having no sense of where he was going. For a time he seemed to be on a road, but then he left it and the sounds of the crowd and city grew distant and at last disappeared. There he stopped and lay on the cold ground, the sun gone from the sky, and waited for sleep to come.

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This is the twenty first 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.