Page 30 of Taurus's Quest
“Ancient Crete history. Looks like you’re getting Labyrinth info first.”
“Sweet.”
Taurus left his brother and immediately headed down to knock on Circe’s door. He’d barely rapped when she flung it open.
“Oh, hey,” she exclaimed. “I take it you’re here to escort me for dinner.”
“Actually, I brought the first translation.” He waved the tablet. “But we can check it out after we eat.”
“Or we can spend a few minutes looking through it right now.” She snatched it from his hand and whirled, heading for the recliner by the fireplace, only to stop dead.
The cause?
A dining table with two chairs had appeared, along with two domed plates, a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket of ice, a pair of glasses, and candles. Tower was setting a mood.
Circe glanced at him suspiciously over her shoulder. “Did you order this?”
“I’m not a Casanova like Capricorn,” he snorted. “My idea of a dinner date is usually at a bar with fried food.”
Her nose wrinkled. “And yet you manage to stay fit.”
“Killing monsters burns calories,” his deadpan reply.
Her laughter tightened his chest, not in an ‘I’m-going-to-die’ fashion, but rather the kind that set his pulse racing.
“Why don’t we see what Tower’s brought us,” she murmured, sliding into a seat. She placed the tablet on the table and snapped the folded napkin before placing it in her lap.
Taurus sat across from her and did the same before grabbing the bottle and pouring them each a glass.
Removing the dome lid released a savory steam, and his mouth watered at the sight of some chicken souvlaki, the pieces plump and perfectly charred, a Greek salad, with extra feta, he noticed, on hers. Lemon rice finished off the plate.
“Oh, this looks yummy,” she murmured before digging in. After a few bites, she turned on the tablet and poked the screen. “Looks like the book is a history of Crete.”
“Which is an island, right?” He’d never been big on geography.
She nodded. “It’s the largest one in Greece, with the biggest population.”
“And this is where the Labyrinth is supposed to be.”
“Yes, at least according to myth. Speculation has it somewhere in Knossos, assuming it even existed.” She tapped the tablet. “This history text seems to go from when the island was first settled to modern day, but the part we’re interested in would be the time period about four hundred or so BCE.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because my great-uncle has a coin with the maze inscribed on it from that time period.” She absently chewed as she flipped before going, “Aha. Here’s the section we want, and it appears this book follows classic mythology.”
“Can you give me the nutshell version of it since I’m not familiar with it?”
“Basically, the King of Crete hired Daedalus, a famed inventor, to create the Labyrinth to imprison the minotaur that he believed was the result of his wife, ahem, having intimate intercourse with her favorite bull.”
“Please tell me bull is a euphonism for a big dude.”
Her lips twisted. “Afraid not. A curse placed on the king’s wife led her to fall in love with a bull. The minotaur was the result.”
“Why would the king imprison the minotaur instead of killing it?”
She shrugged. “Shame. Jealousy. Who knows why people do depraved, inhumane things.”
“Does the book mention anything about the Labyrinth’s location?”
