The Beast Inside

My parents had gone to the island of Knossos as traders. They never returned. I had heard rumors of King Minos making people "disappear". I sailed to his island kingdom to see what had become of my family.

"Nikko," my grandfather begged. "Don't go!" I loved the old man but knew I must go.

"I'm sorry, grandpapa," I said. "I must go because Athena would curse me for not finding out my mother and father's fate." I bade him goodbye and set sail.

Not long after arriving on Knossos, some local soldiers arrested me. They took me to the guard house.

"Let me go," I said. "I just need to see my parents. We're from Athens I want to find them and bring them home."

There was painful silence as the guards stared at me. "An Athenian," one important looking soldier said. "Come, we will take you where your parents are."

They bound my hands and took me to a door with a large stone in front of it. I knew this couldn't be good. Since I was unarmed, logic dictated that any resistance to grown men with spears was not an option.

My captor opened a scroll and began to read from it. "By decree of King Menos," he read. "This boy of Athens is to be consigned to the Labyrinth if he survives, the Gods deem him pure"

"The Labyrinth?!" I cried. "I thought that place and the Minotaur were just rumors."

Without acknowledging my comment, the soldier forced me through the aperture and rolled the boulder back in place.

It was dark inside. Very few torches lit the maze walls.

I heard a snorting and shuffling noise. Grabbing a torch, I swung it in the direction of the sounds. The Minotaur became visible.

"Stay back!" I said. "Don't eat me!"

The monstrous creature flinched back as I thrust the torch forwards. "Please stop!" The Minotaur said. "Gods I don't know why people keep trying to kill me."

"You speak Greek?" I asked. "How?"

A weary sigh escaped his lips. "My mother, the queen taught me some before my step dad, King Menos, threw me in here," he said. "Since then everyone I meet is just so terrified...I don't mean to hurt them, I'm defending myself."

Athena must have rained down curiosity upon my head. The questions wouldn't stop. "Who's your real father? You don't really eat humans? What do you eat?" I blurted.

"Before I answer all that, lets exchange name I'm Asterius," he said. "And you are?"

I felt embarrassed I never thought a monster would have a name. "I'm Nikko," I said. "So can you answer my questions, Asterius?"

Satisfied, he nodded his taurine head. "Mom had a thing for bulls," he said. "So she got this Daedalus fellow to make her up as a cow so she could, er, 'know' my dad. Thats why I look the way I do."

I couldn't tell for sure but it looked like Asterius was crying. "King Menos couldn't bear to look at me," he said. "So when I was about four, he said I'd begun eating people, then locked me in here. I've been living off locusts and rats ever since."

"That's terrible," I said. "We ought to get you out of here!"

Asterius let out a laugh that sounded more like a moo. "How?" He asked. "that boulder weighs more than both of us."

Then, inspiration arrived as on the wings of Mercury. "Archimedes said if you gave him a long enough lever, you could move the world," I told the Minotaur. "We just need one long enough to roll that stone."

As we looked around, I found two familiar figures appear out of the gloom. "Mom, dad!" I ran and embraced them.

"Did you help them survive?" I asked Asterius.

He shuffled his hooves uncomfortably. "Well I'm not a literal monster," he said. "Your parents are one of the few people who haven't tried to kill me."

I was so happy. With all four of us looking finding vines and old discarded wood was easy. Soon we were able to assemble a rod long enough to budge the boulder.

"Ready?" Asterius asked. "On three. One. Two. Threeee!" We all groaned and strained. Finally the bright light of the sun shone upon our faces.

Unfortunately, Posiedon must've been looking after King Menos. A woman carrying a basket of fish saw us and screamed. "The Minotaur is loose," she said. "Quickly, get the guards here!"

Asterius groaned. "I should've known wits wouldn't solve this," he said. "Come on! I've got to settle things with my step dad."

"We haven't got any weapons," my mom said. "We'll all be killed!"

The Minotaur snorted. "I haven't survived for twenty years in that Maze by accident," he said. "I am a weapon."

It was terrifying and awesome to watch Asterius fight. He used the horns on top of his head to gore soldiers and slammed his elbows into their sides.

We stayed close to him as he fought his way to the palace. Father grabbed a spear and shield from a fallen warrior to defended mother and I.

At last Asterius slammed into King Menos' chambers. The old ruler looked shocked. "Call off your men," Asterius demanded.

The King was wise enough to realize he needed to obey. He gestured to the remaining guards to back off. One of them sounded the retreat note on a horn.

No more soldiers arrived to attack.

"These Athenians have helped me escape your bondage, father," Asterius said. "Let me leave with them and I will do so peacefully. If not, I will fight every last man who comes for me until I am slain."

I don't think King Menos was too keen on loosing more of his military. "So be it," he said. "I will have a messenger send for a boat to take you and these people to Athens. You'll be able to leave as soon as I pen a decree."

It did not take long for the King to do as he promised.

As we walked back to the docks of Knossos, I worried about something. "Dad," I said. "How are we going to make sure Astrius is safe when he gets to our city?"

My father shrugged. "Maybe we can get that blind poet to help," he said. "Homer, might be able to convince people he's a Demi god. You know Zeus takes many mortal lovers."