The Chronicle of the Golden Orb: Chapter 3-Chapter 4.
There is no Chapter 3!
Chapter 4
Magic was still strong in the world and it was not long before the Orb’s legend was heard in the world once more. History places it in the possession of the great king Minos, a distant relative to the tragic Midas.
Minos was the king of Crete, a rich mercantile society that traded among the islands and grew rich and powerful by raising cattle and exporting oil and finely wrought goods. Minos had tangled with the will of the gods on previous occasions and knew that their gifts are never what they seem, and so was wary when the Golden Orb found its way into his possession, for he had heard some of its history. The knowledge of how to turn objects to gold using the Orb was lost as it was passed from individual to individual, but Minos wisely surmised that other secrets might lie within its sphere. When he had the master builder Daedalus design the Labyrinth to house the shame of his wife's monstrous progeny, he had the Orb placed at the very center of the maze.
Daedalus was a man of great knowledge and cunning. He knew that any maze could be defeated if one simply knew the charting principle used in its construction. So Daedalus based the design of the Labyrinth upon his own genius mind complete with tunnels and corridors, twists and turns designed to baffle the best prepared explorer. Those condemned to the labyrinth’s depths were faced with paths that stopped suddenly or changed through the use of hydraulics and hidden mechanisms and impossible angles were produced by means of optical illusions and strange magnetism. Daedalus foresaw all possible attempts at finding one’s way through the maze, and he declared that only one who could follow the path of his own thoughts would ever win through to the center.
At that time, the city of Athens was compelled to send fourteen of its best and brightest noble youths to Crete as an annual tribute after their defeat in war. Among these youths was a young man known as Theseus, the once prodigal son of king Aegeus. Theseus, already an experienced hero, desired to free his people from the noxious burden of the tribute to Crete. He vowed to his father that he and all that set sail with him would return. As a sign of his success he would switch the black sails of the doomed boat with white sails. Aegeus, still guilty at heart for his attempt to poison Theseus and eager to show that he was no longer under the villainous control of his former love interest Medea, allowed Theseus to take the journey.
Once in Crete, the youths were displayed before the royal family. Ariadne, daughter of king Minos, became enflamed with passion for handsome Theseus, for he was a youth fine in form and possessing a noble bearing. Of the Athenian hostages brought before her, seven maids and seven young men, he alone stood unafraid, his head held high with the light of a conquering spirit shining in his eyes.
"Ah me," said the princess. "What shall I do? My heart has been stolen by a glance from that noble youth."
So princess Ariadne set out to the tower where Daedalus was kept imprisoned so that he might not reveal the secret of the Labyrinth. All were barred from speaking with Daedalus by order of the king. But the captain of the guard loved Ariadne and could refuse her nothing. So she came to the apartment that Daedalus and his son Icarus shared.
"Tell me, weaver of mysteries, oh master builder. How might a man pass through the corridors of your Labyrinth unharmed?"
"What shall you give me, oh daughter of the ungrateful king? Will you give me my freedom if I tell you this thing? This one thing I have been charged never to reveal. Know you not why I have been locked up here? Alone with my son and a single window to view the outside world?"
"I know, oh King of craftsmen," Ariadne said. "Yet I ask again, how might a man break free of the terrible twists of your Labyrinth? I cannot give you your freedom. It is not within my power, but ask of me any other thing."
"Aye, sweet princess, I will tell you how to find your way through the Labyrinth, if you will simply increase the comfort of my imprisonment." Daedalus smiled. "These cots are too hard for my back. Could you not bring us feather mattresses? And the light from the window blinds me in the morning. Could you bring us curtains with a rope to tie them shut? And at night when I cannot sleep, I wish to see so that I might write. Could you not bring me wax candles to light my dark room?"
"This is a simple thing, oh master of the maze. And it will be quickly done. Now tell me how one might find one’s way through your Labyrinth."
"There is a ball of golden thread in your father's personal chamber. It is the finest gold I have ever seen and it is rumored to possess a tragic history. You will know it when you come across it for it resembles nothing so much as a ball of golden hair. If a man were to tie one end of that string to the ring in the door that locks the Labyrinth and place the ball on the ground, it will unravel itself and lead him where he must go. For it is drawn to the object that your father bade me place at the center of the Labyrinth."
"Thank you! Oh, thank you," Ariadne said with tears of joy in her eyes.
"Wait! One must be brave and strong or else fall victim to the creature that makes the Labyrinth its home. I beg you, princess, do not enter the Labyrinth yourself."
"Have no fear, Master Daedalus. It is not I who must face the marvel of your construction and the monster within. But I have overstayed my time and now must go."
With that the princess left and told the captain of the guard what Daedalus needed for his comfort. Then while her father was at dinner she sped off to his chamber to find the ball of golden thread.
The next night, the hostages from Athens were to be sent into the maze, one by one, to meet their doom. First they were bathed and adorned in the finest robes they had brought with them. Then a final meal was served to them. Lastly they were separated and each was spoken to in turn by an oracle, so that those who were willing to act as messengers and carry news to the recent dead. Ariadne came to Theseus while he was away from all the others.
"If you would be free, young hero, promise to take me with you and make me your wife."
"If you aid me, I swear it." Theseus replied although unable to see the source of the beautiful voice.
"I have lost my heart to you, noble youth. Take this ball of fine golden thread and tie it to the inner door when you are locked within the Labyrinth. It will lead you where you need to go." As she said this she stepped into the light and handed Theseus the ball.
“I am glad of my oath now, sweet maid. For truly you are the most beautiful woman I have yet seen on my travels.”
When the time came Theseus volunteered to enter the maze first; once inside he did as he was bid and tied the end of the magical ball of golden thread to the door and placed the ball on the ground. It remained still for a moment and then began to roll as if down a steep incline. Even when moving up an angle it still rolled quickly, similar to the way iron is drawn to a lodestone. The ball of thread led him through the Labyrinth’s many levels, up and down around the trap doors and other lethal impediments put in the way of the hostages, sacrifices, and political prisoners sent here to their doom. He passed many signs of battle and death, scraps of clothing and broken weapons until finally the thread unwound itself all the way down to its end. He passed many false paths as he walked, doors leading to chambers with false floors and alcoves that led to steps going nowhere at all.
"Truly," Theseus remarked to himself, "the ball contained much more thread than I would have thought. For I have followed the twisting path faithfully for mile upon dark mile."
Theseus now found himself in a chamber as tall as it was wide and perfectly round but for the indentation made by the door. In the center on a pedestal stood a heavy iron claw, its surfaces worked with curious carvings and runes. The claw was darkest black and between its seven curved gripping fingers a golden glow seeped.
Not quite what I expected, Theseus thought. Suddenly an oversized horned head slammed into him from the side and threw him across the room into the curved stone wall.
The Minotaur, with eyes aflame, stomped forward, his wide nostrils blowing plumes of dust in the dirty air. A mass of muscle upon muscle, covered only by matted hair, the Minotaur might still appear almost human if not for the great horned head that its cursed conception had bought. He possessed a hideous visage only a mother could love, if only she hadn't died when he was ripped from her womb.
The Minotaur had experienced nothing save hate and fear all its life and, for the last five years, since the completion of the Labyrinth, had fed on naught but the flesh of the prisoners and the mushrooms that grew in the piles of its waste.
Theseus moaned as he picked himself up from the pile of bones heaped against the wall. His hand fell across a cracked leg bone made jagged at one end by the Minotaur's attempts at sucking marrow from it months before.
"It is not a sword, but it serves," Theseus said. "You surprised me and got one free hit. Now it's my turn."
The Minotaur snorted, lowered its head, and charged the source of its rage. Theseus leapt to one side and circled around, keeping the pillar between him and the enraged man-bull. The two combatants engaged in a dance of death. First Theseus drew blood, sinking the bone into his opponent's thigh. Then the Minotaur caught Theseus a glancing blow with one of its sharp horns. Theseus began to tire, running first this way and then that, keeping out of the reach of the monster's terrible goring horns. The Minotaur too showed signs of weariness, yet its superior size and unnatural weaponry gave it the advantage in this mortal conflict.
Theseus and the Minotaur circled the pillar in the center of the room. A glint of something gold at the entrance to the chamber caught Theseus's eye as he made the circuit once more. It was the golden thread that had let him here, its unraveled end reached right up to the pillar. He had a sudden flash of insight and when next he came to the entrance he quickly ran from the room, knowing that the Minotaur would follow. He ran out into the Labyrinth and followed the golden thread about a hundred meters before turning aside into an alcove right before a straight section of the maze. The Minotaur had been close on his heels until this point, but the turn directly before had hidden him from the Minotaur's sight just long enough for Theseus to duck to the side. When the Minotaur came to the open section it charged full tilt down the length of the hall, it only stopped when it reached the end, for there it had lost the scent of its quarry. Turning, it chanced to glimpse the corner of Theseus's garment as he went running back down the way that he had come.
Theseus ran faster than he had ever run before and returned to the circular chamber with the sound of pursuit close behind him. Hesitating not a moment, he picked up the end of the golden thread and tied it to the base of the pillar. He then positioned himself directly opposite the door where the thread was stretched tightest against the corner of the archway, ready with the pointed bone to accept the beast’s charge. The Minotaur, lungs pumping foul breath and its hairy body exuding great drops of sweat, charged into the room and tripped over the strong golden thread. The monster fell, arms and legs sprawling, right onto the point of the bone Theseus held braced against his chest. The bone splintered as it pierced the creature's muscular chest and numerous fragments impaled its heart and lungs. The beast collapsed on top of Theseus and drove him to the ground with its heaving weight.
Theseus's ribs were cracked but he was still alive, more than could be said for the sad man-thing pressing down on him with its reeking bulk. Painfully he pushed the monster off of him and crawled towards the pillar.
At his touch, the seven-fingered claw sprang open, revealing a glowing Golden Orb. When Theseus picked it up, the pain in his chest fled, and his energy was renewed as if he had awakened from a deep sleep. The points of the claw were sharper than razor blades, so Theseus picked it up and used it to relieve the Minotaur of its heavy horned head.
He untied the string from the pillar and rewound it into a ball as he followed it back to the entrance of the maze. In a sling made from some scraps of robes he found, he carried the monster's head, and in a pouch at his waist he carried the golden ball. As he went he called out to the companions that had entered the maze after him. Luckily the few that had ventured deeper into the maze had followed the golden thread and rejoiced when Theseus came upon them. Together they carried the weight of the Minotaur’s head until they reached the entrance, where the remaining hostages huddled together for warmth.
Princess Ariadne awaited him on the other side of the door. While the other hostages readied the ship Theseus and Ariadne together returned the ball of thread to its hiding place and put the Minotaur's head on a spike in the center courtyard. With the Minotaur dead, Athens could stop its bloody tribute.
As they sailed away to Athens, Ariadne looked up and she saw two huge, winged birds flying away from the tower of Daedalus, but the sun shone in her eyes and she lost the man-sized birds to the sky.
They sailed for three days and nights before stopping on a deserted isle known as Naxos. The island was covered in wild grapevines and the crew set out to replenish supplies. Ariadne and Theseus stopped under the shade of a tree and rested while the ship's crew collected grapes and fresh water from the island. They fell asleep in each other's arms, but when he awoke Theseus was alone and the pouch that had carried the Golden Orb was empty. Strangely, the wild grapevines had also disappeared, and if it were not for the bunches of grapes already in the ship’s hold, the men would have thought it had been only an illusion.
The captain of the ship proclaimed the island cursed and would not stay a moment longer. Reluctantly Theseus acquiesced to his wishes and they set sail for home. That night Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, came to him in a dream and explained that the love of Ariadne was not meant for him but was instead meant for Bacchus, the god of wine. Preoccupied with thoughts about the injustice of the gods Theseus forgot to change the sails of the ship from black to white as he had vowed to his father. Aegeus, looking out to sea from a high cliff, saw the returning ship with its black sails hoisted high. In a fit of despair he jumped to his death.
Thus Theseus became ruler of Athens in his father’s stead and he ruled well and true for many years. Athens rose to a position of power in the world, and a time of learning and advancement occurred. For all time the achievements of the philosophers of Athens will be spoken of in humble tones for they were among the first to truly question the will of the gods upon the lives of men, and the legacy of knowledge that they built would not be significantly increased until the time of Rome.