Lost in the Labyrinth by Patrice Kindl Page B

rocks to die as soon as it was born. But as it happens, it was a boy. Acalle has only been waiting until he was old enough to be handed over to a wet nurse to raise, and now she is returning."
    "Oh!" I said. "I see." I sat down on the bed beside her. "But why couldn't we be told?"
    "Because even the rumor of such a child could someday stir up trouble, that's why. Apparently absolutely
everybody
has known all along that Acalle wasn't dead or gone for good, that she was just off studying with some famous holy woman in the Eastern Isles. No one spoke of it because it was supposed to be some big, secret, religious experience. What only Mother knew was that Acalle was pregnant when she left. But no one"—Ariadne's face was white and set—"no one thought to tell me anything about anything."
    "Oh, Ariadne," I said. "I am sorry."
    "Never mind. I was furious when Mother first told me, but now I'm
glad,
because I'm going to leave here with Theseus."
    "What?" I cried.
    "And why not?" she demanded. "Do you suppose I want to stay here with no husband and an illegitimate child and have Acalle made queen over my head?"
    "But perhaps you are not pregnant after all. You might be mistaken."
    "I am not mistaken! I tell you, I know it!"
    "All right! All right! Perhaps you are right. But you couldn't want to leave Kefti and go to Athens!"
    "I could! I do! At least I would be queen there."
    "If Theseus married you, you mean. But you would not be queen of Athens in the same way that Acalle will be queen of Kefti. They do not honor women there as we do here on Kefti."
    "What do you mean,
if
Theseus married me? Of course he will marry me. He loves me. He says he cannot live without me!"
    "That much is certainly true," I said.
    "Xenodice, how cynical you've become! Let me tell you, it's very unbecoming in a young girl. If you must know, I cannot live without him. And anyway," she added, more prosaically, "he couldn't possibly hope for a better match than Princess Ariadne of the Isle of Kefti."
    "Ye-es," I agreed.
    Ariadne's nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. "Why do you say yes' like that? Do you suggest that I, II am not worthy to wed the future king of
Athens?
How dare you, Xenodice!"
    "Oh, yes, of course." I hurried to appease her. "You would be a very great prize indeed if you wedded with our mother's consent, but as it is—"
    "Theseus considers me a great prize with or without our mother's consent," Ariadne said coldly.
    "Even if—even if your flight leads to warfare between Athens and Kefti?" I asked, trembling before her anger.
    "Yes! Yes! Even then."
    "Oh, my sister, I fear for you!" I said. Knowing it would have been better to remain silent but unable to help myself, I added, "And on top of everything else he is so very unattractive!"
    "He is not! Stop saying that, Xenodice!"
    "But I do not understand! Why would you wish to tie yourself to a slave, and one condemned by our mother to die? It makes no sense."
    She hesitated. I could see that she did not believe me capable of sympathizing but desperately needed to talk about her lover to someone.
    "He is a hero, Xenodice," she said very seriously. "He is the greatest hero of our time."
    "Yes," I agreed, "so he told us."
    "Oh. you are like everyone else! We are too civilized here on Kefti. Our island has been tamed for a thousand years. There is no wilderness here—the Queen's Menagerie holds the only dangerous beasts of prey. What need have we for heroes? Theseus comes from a primitive world, where heroes matter. He is rough and wild because the world he comes from is rough and wild. He wasn't boasting when he called himself a hero—he was just stating a fact."
    "It sounded like boasting," I said. "And that's all the more reason not to leave Kefti for Athens. Who knows what would happen to you there!"
    She smiled a secret smile, hugging herself. "Theseus will protect me," she said. "He will never let any harm come to me. Do you know what he did?" she demanded. "He