The Trials of the Minotaur

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

Word was sent two years later that the temple had been built and the Minotaur set out for Alari, guided by Velthar the Sufferer and a few of his chosen penitents. His renown had only grown in the past years as word had spread that Thedeo, the greatest of the barbarian kings, was constructing a temple for him. Entire villages turned out to watch the god and his disciples pass by. Those they encountered on the highway, even armies on the march, halted and stepped aside to allow his passage. There were chants and songs and offerings made, and each night the lords of whatever town they happened to find themselves in would squabble over who was to host the caravan of the god.

In each town dozens of seekers would approach the penitents, asking for a moment with the god to share their dreams or ask what their future held. The Minotaur would see them all, answering in his vague and inscrutable way. The supplicants would leave, some weeping, others ecstatic, all overwhelmed by the experience. Many would join the penitents in song and prayer or silent vigil outside the estate where the god was staying, some even asking to join the beast on his journey to Alari.

Among those who asked to join the penitents in service to the god was a young woman named Galrice. She was the daughter of an important local merchant in the town the caravan had come to, known throughout the area, much to the chagrin of her father, for her habit of speaking in foreign tongues. When her father had attempted to marry her to a cousin from another town, with an eye on having this man take over his enterprises, she had refused, saying she had been chosen to serve a god and resisting all attempts to force her to accept the will of her family. That the Minotaur should arrive in their midst not long after only served to settle in Galrice’s mind the rightness of her belief.

When she approached Velthar, asking to join with him in service to the god, he refused her, saying that it was not a woman’s place, for they were corrupt vessels and the god required purity.

“I have the same faith you do,” she told him in reply. “Should not the god decide if I am worthy?”

Velthar conceded that this was proper, and when the Minotaur was finished with the supplicants he stepped within the covered sedan chair that Thedeo had provided for the god’s journey. The Minotaur did not need to ask who had come before him; he recognized the scent of the first of his faithful by now.

“There is a woman who wishes to join us on our journey,” Velthar said. “She wishes to speak with you of it.”

The fire of the Sufferer’s belief had frightened the Minotaur at first, and still disturbed him at times, but it had been useful in convincing others. The other penitents who had joined them on this journey all deferred to him as the first to be touched by the god, and he had proved himself not without cunning and skill at organizing this enterprise. Should he ever come to doubt the god, he would be extremely dangerous. For now, his heart allowed no dissent.

“And this disturbs you,” he said to his disciple at last.

“It troubles me,” Velthar said carefully.

“The penitents of Hizen are both men and women, and I am no greater a power than their sibyls. Do you know of their ways?”

“It is said that the men and women join together in union to better serve the sibyl.”

“I am no greater a seer than they. To say otherwise is blasphemy.”

“Yes,” Velthar said, though there was doubt in his voice. When the Minotaur did not offer anything further, Velthar bowed and said, “I shall bring her to you so that she may be touched by the god.”

When the woman appeared at the manor gate that night, she was ushered to the wing the lord had set aside for his honored guest. Velthar waited outside the god’s door, and when she bowed before him and had kissed his feet he knocked and ushered her into the darkness within. She stepped forward carefully, unsure of her footing, as the door shut behind her. The beast’s presence was marked by his breathing and the stench of animal that clung to him. She moved toward him, stopping when she felt certain that she was near enough for him to touch her.

“I have come before you to ask for the honor of serving you as a penitent,” she said, her voice and her legs trembling. She bowed deeply before him, her head pressed against the floor and her eyes closed.

“Why do you ask for such a reward?”

“I have dreamed it.”

“Many have dreams.”

“Not such as I have,” she said, and when he did not respond: “I have dreamed of serving you in the temple in Alari. I dreamed of this day before it came. The words that the Sufferer spoke to me I dreamed and he spoke them as I had envisioned. And I dreamed that I would receive the touch of the god.”

When he said nothing in reply she stood and removed her dress, setting it aside, and awaited the god’s touch. As she did so, she thought she heard the god move or cough as if in surprise. After a moment, in which she trembled and thought she would go faint, the god moved, standing from the couch where he had lain, his presence now looming above her. Her teeth chattered and she closed her eyes as she chanted an invocation to the beast. For a long time he seemed not to move, standing close enough that she felt his breath upon her hair and then, at last, the god touched her.

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This is the twelfth  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.