Chapter Four
Ikki’s clothes were still damp when they brought her to the terminal where the great elevator Charon was installed. While the Temple was the most important structure in Grand Minos, Charon was the oldest.
They’d tied her mouth before they’d taken her through the city. This had been Tierce’s idea. The gag, he said, was “for your own safety, Ikki. You understand.”
“Oh, I understand,” said Ikki. “You just don’t want to hear the truth. The sky’s blue, and you’re a huge scumbag.”
“And if you say that outside, the guards will hit you again,” said Tierce, as the guards in question looped a piece of cloth over her mouth. “I don’t want that to happen.”
“I bet you don’t,” said Ikki. It came out muffled.
“You needn’t concern yourself with this,” said the captain. “We have this well in hand, Your Grace.”
Tierce’s eyes lingered on Ikki’s bruised cheek.
“No doubt,” he said, “But it will be easier for you to speak with Charon if I am with you. The elevator is meant to obey the royal family. I think the sentinels will be more at ease if I come with you, don’t you think? And anyway, Ikki’s been a very good friend to me. I would like to see her off, if possible.”
“Not good enough to tell the truth,” Ikki choked out through the gag.
Tierce shot her a sad smile. “I’m sorry it came to this, too.”
Atala and Melagus were silent as she was taken from the Temple, although for a moment Ikki thought Atala’s sensors followed her as she stumbled down the steps. Her leg ached. She would have loved to have rubbed some ointments into it, before taking a long bath as she typed up her notes. She would have gotten started figuring out what pieces of the flying machine would still work.
Instead, she watched three soldiers wrap the machine in a cloth and dump it down one of the trash wells.
It took a full unit to bring her to the terminal. Every way Ikki looked, she saw the broad shoulders of guards and the points of their spears. She considered, briefly, trying to escape. There were ways she could have tried it. She could have faked a swoon and rolled out from under them. She could have gone for the knife which one of the guards had shoved into his belt after confiscating it. She could have worked the gag off and shouted for help. Anyone passing by would have to see how wrong all this was. She was just a tinkerer. She was the Architect’s daughter.
But there was no sympathy in the faces of the priests as they walked down the stairs. Their eyes followed the group with a deep, wary contempt. Contempt, Ikki realized with a cold shock, that was aimed at her.
They think I did something wrong! thought Ikki.
“Listen,” she tried to call at them. “You have to listen. There’s a breach. There’s a breach in the tower. Someone’s got to do something about it!”
The words didn’t make it past the gag. The priests looked away from her, as though hearing even her failed attempts at speech would leave them cursed by the gods.
“The gods don’t care, you old farts,” snarled Ikki. “They can’t read your mind.”
That didn’t help either.
The streets of Grand Minos were empty. At first, Ikki assumed it was close to curfew—but the Helios lights had only dimmed a little. It was still just mid-afternoon. The streets should have been busy.
It was Tierce, she realized. He walked ahead of the cadre, with his typical lazy stroll. If he hadn’t given the order, someone on behalf of the House must have sent ahead to the city below: steer clear of the outer roads, an offering is being made. It would have been relayed to the oracle and through the personal Herms that all citizens hung from their doorways. Everyone obeyed citywide messages. It was just good sense.
But it wasn’t just good sense. Ikki caught glimpses of faces through windows and heard doors slam. They’re actually afraid!
The people of the tower were afraid of the House of Minos. They did what they said because they didn’t know what would happen to them if they disobeyed. Ikki thought of all the times Tierce had retrieved materials for her work on her request. She thought of all the times he’d sent guards with her to shop down on the lower levels. She’d always seemed to find real bargains on her trips, but now she wondered if it wasn’t just that Tierce had always called ahead. She thought of all the yearly festivals. She thought of how remarkable it was that so many citizens had volunteered from Poseidos and Hestian and the other lower levels. How they set up the buildings and prepared food for the royal banquets. They did it because they were afraid! They did it because if not, King Minos could say they were liars and criminals, just like he’d said Ikki was!
The anger was back. It burned in the spot where the captain had struck her. People would believe King Minos. She certainly had. Hadn’t she assumed that all the people in the demonstrations were just murderers and thieves? And hadn’t she thought that offerings to the Minotaur were just the lesser evil? The political dissidents. The people who took the wrong side. The people with the wrong ideas.
“I’m not wrong,” whispered Ikki, fiercely, even if it was only incoherent mumblings. “I’m not wrong. I saw what I saw. And you know that, Tierce.”
Tierce had the nerve to smile at her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It won’t be for much longer.”
“I hope you fall down the shaft and die,” said Ikki, but if he understood even a little bit of what she said, he pretended not to.
Even the sentinels which guarded the elevator seemed to fear the House of Minos. Tierce combed a hand through his hair. He offered them one white strand. They scanned it. Their spears shivered, and they stepped aside.
“Welcome Minos, Steward of the Gods,” said one, with none of the charm and warmth of Atala.
“He’s just a clone, you know,” said Ikki through the gag. “None of them are official, because Minos thinks they’re all bad. Tierce is the worst.”
But sentinels weren’t designed to understand concepts like “cheating liars” or “wrongfully accused.”
The inside of the terminal was kept colder than the rest of Grand Minos. Ikki shivered in her damp clothes. She could just make out the rings of the elevator, a huge disc surrounded by silver bars. Inside she could make out the huddled figures of the one or two offerings that had clearly been brought ahead of her. The guards stopped her close to the ramp which led up to the large double doors of the front half of the lift. Two of the guards came forward to replace the set who watched those doors.
“Here we are,” said the captain. He nodded to his subordinates. “You may remove the gag.”
Ikki took in a deep, seething breath. Her lips tingled in the cold air. The captain held out one of his huge, ugly hands.
“Your coat,” he said.
“No,” said Ikki.
“I’ve been asked to remove all signs of contamination from this great city.”
Including you, was the silent addition.
Tierce, with what Ikki was coming to realize was his typical lateness, swept in at this point. “Actually, it’s to my understanding that offerings to the Minotaur are allowed to bring at least one item of their own.”
The captain hesitated.
“Let her keep the coat,” reasoned Tierce. “It will save one of your men the trip to her workshop, anyway.”
“Maybe I want something from my workshop,” said Ikki, thinking of the papers in her desk drawer.
But Tierce had obviously thought of it too, and he was making sure she wouldn’t have an opportunity to take advantage of her situation.
“The contamination will be dealt with either way,” he said.
The captain let Ikki keep her coat. Ikki bundled it close to her chest. Over the guards’ shoulders, she could see the outlines of the other prisoners waiting in the elevator. They stood up as they drew near. They looked like they’d hoped they were about to be let out.
Ikki stopped on the ramp and turned. Tierce, she discovered with surprise, was right behind her. She took a step toward him. The captain bristled, but Tierce raised one of his hands.
“Just a minute,” he said. “This girl was a good companion to me for many years. I would like to say goodbye.”
“Your Grace,” said the captain. “Are you certain that you’d …”
“If there’s any trouble I will call you right back over,” said Tierce, with one of his intractable smiles.
The captain gestured for the security detachment and the escort to move back out toward the front of the terminal. Ikki could just make out Tierce’s eyes following them under his dark glasses.
“Good,” said Tierce, when he was satisfied at the distance. He turned to face Ikki. “I will see about sending the supplies along. Offerings are entitled the basic survival material. Food, sleeping bags, a hot plate. The king will want you headed down as soon as possible, but that doesn’t mean you should go unprepared. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“You’re talking about what’s fair now?”
For the first time, genuine displeasure flickered over the parts of Tierce’s face Ikki could see. He reached up and removed his sunglasses. His odd gold eyes, the ones that weren’t anything like the king’s, looked nearly pained. “Would you have rather they executed you on the spot? Ikki, be reasonable.”
“So, were those papers you got me real or were they fake like everything else about you?” asked Ikki.
“It’s much more complicated than that,” said Tierce. “But I will tell you I don’t know anything about what you saw in the breach. I can’t say anything about what I don’t know.”
“You mean you’ll ignore what you know in order to make King Minos happy. It’s what you were made to do, after all.”
Tierce’s eyes flashed. He jerked forward as though he’d like very much to be angry.
Good, thought Ikki. I hope it hurts. I hope it hurts to hear what a sniveling clone you really are.
But Tierce put a hand on her arm instead.
“Ikki,” he said, “Stop being so simple. When you’re done being angry, think about all of this. You’re good at that. And you’ll most definitely have time.”
Ikki rolled her shoulder out from under his hand. “Don’t talk like I’m the one being kept in the dark!”
Tierce must have guessed she’d move away, because the gate was right behind her. Charon had monitors watching the terminal. The gate opened for her as she stepped back. She tripped on the gap, falling through the open doors. She landed on her sore leg. Pain shot all up her side, but she just glared up at Tierce.
Tierce watched her. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he looked sad.
“You really hate me right now,” he observed.
“I kind of really do,” said Ikki. “So are you going to throw the recording down the well, or what?”
“That’s all right,” said Tierce, not answering. Of course. He nodded, with something like satisfaction. “I was made from King Minos. You should hate every single one of us. Please hate us as hard as you can. It will give you something to think about, in the Labyrinth.”
Ikki decided she didn’t care what would happen to her if she hit him. She launched herself at him, but the elevator knew better than to let her do that. The doors shut as Tierce stepped back, and Ikki’s palms collided with the silver gate instead. “Answer me, Tierce! Answer me! What are you going to do with the recording? You know what I saw was real! You know! So what are you going to do with the proof? Tell me that! Tell me!”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” said Tierce, softly. “Goodbye, Ikki.”