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soldiers
of the detail continued muttering and speculating among themselves. When the
actual ritual got started, were they going to see another skull or two
stripped
of flesh and dried for Shiva's necklace? Or maybe more were needed, to be
mounted in his new temple, which was outside the Labyrinth but in easy
walking
distance of the palace.
One rumor whispered among the soldiers now said that the priest-experts were
intent on creating a god-face for Shiva's consort, Kali, by in essence
boiling
down parts of human victims. The hearts of ten brave men, and so forth. Each
rumor sounded worse than the one before it, and Alex was sure some of the men
were making them up on the spot, trying to outdo each other in gallows humor.
The nine girls, according to a murmured rumor passed along from the other
side,
were scheduled to be used up in an effort to summon the goddess Kali,
traditionally Shiva's consort. Another claimed that the real purpose of the
whole sacrifice was directed toward finding the Face of Zeus, supposed to be
buried somewhere within the Labyrinth.
Alex had been too long in the army to give credence to any rumor that lacked
supporting evidence.
Now it was time to supervise the administration of the ritual drinks to those
whose lives were now forfeit to Shiva.
When Shiva's priests brought the victims out of their confinement, Alex had
no
trouble recognizing Theseus, and had to admit to himself that Ariadne's
secret
lover looked as if he might almost be worthy of the part. But Alex was
curious:
Of what kingdom was this man a prince? He had never heard anyone name the
place;
and he wasn't about to suggest his own interest by asking.
Watching the priests begin to serve their victims what was widely supposed to
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be
drugged wine and water, he saw how Theseus took the cup into his hands as
readily as any of the others. But no one besides Alex seemed to be watching
the
actual consumption of the wine all that closely. If the tall prince let some
of
it run down his chin in the act of drinking, and more dribble from his mouth
after he'd handed the cup back, no one else was going to know about it.
Presently all eighteen had been served the ritual draught, and the soldiers
began the business of escorting the people of the Tribute to the place where
they were to die.
As the march got under way, following the marked route through the Labyrinth,
Alex wondered if Shiva would be waiting for them up ahead. It seemed likely.
He wondered also if Theseus would recognize him, and decided that was highly
unlikely.
Even if the princess had mentioned Alex to her lover, at one of their secret
meetings, there would have been no point in her describing the soldier who
was
to accompany them on their getaway.
Alex wondered again what had caused the princess and Daedalus to choose this
exact time, the very hour of the sacrifice, for the escape. Not that it was
up
to a mere private soldier to question anything such folk decided; but he had
once tentatively raised the question with Clara.
It might have been troubling her too, for she'd had a kind of answer ready.
"The
Lord Asterion says that the time that seems the worst may sometimes be the
best.
We go when the Lord Shiva will not interfere."
That was too much for Alex to understand. Why would Shiva not interfere, when
everyone knew he would be present at the ritual? He could only hope that the
dreaming bull-man knew what he was doing.
And at the moment when the squad of soldiers, and the eighteen victims they
were
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escorting, reached the cleared site where the sacrifice was to take place,
Shiva
was very much present, reclining nude in a throne-like chair of silk and
leather, on the very stage of the sacrifice.
The scene of the planned sacrifice was the recently constructed small
amphitheater, with concentric semicircles of seats, enough to hold forty or
fifty people, far more than it seemed were going to be needed today. Facing
them, a kind of elaborate altar, built upon a stage.
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