Fred Saberhagen Berserker 00 Earth Descended

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stop
your dis-rup-tion of my school."
"I see." In his mind the plan for the new wings burned, urgent as a fire in
the workshop. "You will not tell Minos, then, that you accuse me of helping
Theseus to cheat?"
"Your val-ue to the King is great, Dae-dal-us. If he is forced to choose
be-tween us I
may pos-sib-ly be sac-rif-iced. Or my school closed. There-fore I take this
step to re-
move you as my ri-val. I see now you are not wor-thy of fine ed-u-ca-tion."
The wings still burning before his eyes, he had let himself be led off through
the
Labyrinth for a hundred paces or so (Stomargos, triumph fading into
puzzlement, his escort once again) before it came to him. "And Theseus? What
of him?"
"I am a witness to the Prince's attempt at cheating," said Stomargos, firmly
and primly. "And the Bull has decided that he now must be expelled."
"That cannot be!" Daedalus was so aghast that the other was shaken for a
moment.
But for a moment only. "Oh, the Bull and I are quite agreed on that. The
Prince is probably receiving his formal notification at this moment."
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And Daedalus spun around and ran, back toward the inner Labyrinth.
"Stay! Stay!" Stomargos shouted, trotting in pursuit. "You are to leave the
precincts of the school at once..." But just then the roaring and the
struggling sounded from within.
Theseus and the Bull were grappling on the central dias, arms locked on each
other's necks, Daedalus saw as he burst on the scene. The tall chair was
overturned, fruit scattered underfoot. In Theseus' broad back the great bronze
cables stood like structural arches glowing from the forge.
The end came even as Daedalus' feet splashed in the moat. He heard the
sickening bony crack and the Bull's hoarse warbling cry at the same instant.
The Prince staggered back to stand there staring down at what his hands had
done. The gray-
white mound of fur, suddenly no more man-like than a dying bear, dropped at
his feet.
Stomargos came in, and splashed over quickly to join the others on the dais.
He pointed, goggled, opened his mouth and began an almost wordless call for
help. He turned and ran, and it was Daedalus who had to stop him with a
desperate watery tackle in the moat.
"Theseus! Help me! Keep this one quiet." And in a moment the Prince of Athens
had taken charge. Stomargos' head was clamped down under water, and soon the
bubbles ceased to rise and make their way to the splash gutter at his side.
The two men still alive climbed out onto the dais. Theseus, still panting with
his exertions against the Bull, seemed with every working of his lungs to grow
a little taller and straighter, like some young tree just freed of a deforming
burden, resuming its natural form. "Does he still breathe, Daedalus?" A nod
toward the fallen Bull.
Daedalus was crouching down, prodding into gray fur, trying to find out. "I am
not sure."
"Well, let him, if he can. It matters to me no longer. My ship and men can be
got ready in an hour or two and I am going home. Or somewhere else, if my
father will not have me in Athens now. But better a pirate's life, even,
than..." His eyes flashed once at the convoluted walls surrounding.
Daedalus started to ask why he thought he would be allowed to leave, but then
understanding came. "And myself:" he asked.
"Ariadne will come with me, I expect."
"Gods of sea and sky!"
"And her sister Phaedra. And you are welcome, friend, though I can promise you
no safe workshop, nor slaves, nor high place at a court."
"I want no place as high as a sun-dried pirate's, which I fear Minos might
make for me here, when he comes home. Now we had better move swiftly, before
this violence is discovered."
"Dae-dal-us." The unexpected voice was a mere thread of sound, stretched and
about to break.
He bent down closer beside its head. "White Bull, how is it with you?"
"As with a man whose neck is broken, Dae-dal-us. Af-ter to-day I teach no
more."
"Would I had learned from you before today, White Bull. And would you had
learned from me."
They walked out together, looking a little shaken no doubt, as was only
natural for two students who had probably just been expelled. Theseus muttered
to passing teachers that the Bull and Stomargos were talking together and did
not wish to be disturbed. They walked without hurrying to Ariadne, and then
one trusted servant was sent to gather Theseus' crew. And another to help
Daedalus look for his son, when he discovered that Icarus was truant yet again
today, not to be found in school.
The wild lands where boys looked for birds and dreams swept up mile after mile
behind and above the House of the Double Axe.
"We can wait no longer for him, Daedalus. My men's lives are all in danger,
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and the
Princesses' too. As soon as the bodies are found, some military man or sea
captain will take it upon himself to stop my sailing, or try to do so."
And Ariadne: "Theseus must get away. My father will not deal too grievously
with you, Daedalus; he depends on you too much."
Phaedra was silent, biting her full lips. Her fingers as if moving on their
own caressed
Theseus' arm, but Ariadne did not see.
Daedalus saw in his mind's eye the sun-dried pirates on the dock; and his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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