Ethan swore and drove a fist hard into the sand, leaving the imprint of his knuckles. ‘I’ll make him pay,’ he muttered, ‘if it’s the last thing I do.’
Just then, there was the creaking sound of the main gates being opened. Wolfe came strolling into the arena, his expression serious. Lee walked a short distance behind him. They came to a halt a short distance away.
‘Such a shame,’ said Wolfe, looking down at Ellen’s body. ‘She came so close to achieving three perfect leaps. It was a valiant attempt.’
Ethan got to his feet and started to walk towards Wolfe. ‘You scum,’ he growled. ‘You murdered her.’
Wolfe shook his head. ‘Not at all, Mr Wade. Miss McBride agreed to the challenge a year ago. She knew exactly what she was taking on. And I made every effort to impress upon her the dangers of the ritual. But she agreed to try and she was paid handsomely for her efforts. In the end, luck simply wasn’t with her.’
Ethan took a menacing step towards the Scotsman. But as he did so, Alec saw Lee slip a hand into the folds of his tunic.
‘Ethan!’ Alec warned, rushing over and taking the older man’s arm. ‘This isn’t the time.’
But Ethan seemed oblivious to everything but his need to get to Wolfe. ‘You took advantage of her,’ he snarled. ‘You knew she was desperate for money, that she couldn’t afford to refuse you.’
‘She had a choice, Mr Wade, and she made it. Now, I shall see to it that she is laid to rest in my own graveyard, where she will lie beside the other champions who have tried and failed.’
‘The others?’ Ethan shook his head in disbelief. ‘There’ve been others?’
‘Of course. A king demands his tribute every year. King Minos famously took seven boys and seven girls from Athens for his tribute, but I have tried not to be greedy. This year I have taken only seven in total.’
‘Seven?’ asked Alec. ‘But . . . there are only six of us.’
Wolfe smiled. ‘There was another young man,’ he said. ‘A Mr Travis. I brought him here before you and your friends arrived. I rather hoped I had found my young Theseus.’ He shook his head. ‘But he didn’t measure up.’ Wolfe looked at Alec thoughtfully. ‘Having seen you in action today, I think perhaps you might be a better contender for the role.’
‘You sick . . .’ Ethan launched himself forward and instantly there was a loud click from the metal band around his neck. He gave a grunt of surprise and dropped to his knees.
Alec looked over at Lee. ‘No!’ he cried. ‘Please, switch it off. He’ll behave himself.’ He knelt down beside Ethan and put his arms around his friend. He could see that Ethan’s face was darkening and his mouth was open, gasping for breath. ‘Please, forgive him, he . . . he was just angry. We’ll do whatever you say. We both will.’
Wolfe nodded. He made a gesture to Lee and immediately the metal band began to expand again. Ethan snatched a deep breath and stayed where he was, his head bowed.
‘There’s really no need for such unpleasantness,’ said Wolfe. ‘Just do whatever I demand of you and there’s no problem. Now, Lee will escort you back to your quarters. I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear that I’m having you moved to somewhere more comfortable. Those who paid tribute to King Minos were always well treated before they underwent their ordeal.’
‘That’s really big of you,’ croaked Ethan. ‘You’ll excuse us if we don’t applaud?’
‘I understand your bitterness, Mr Wade,’ said Wolfe. ‘But for better or worse, you are in this situation and I can only advise you to make the best of things. Let me make it clear. Any other attempts to attack me and you shall go back to your cell. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, absolutely,’ said Alec. He nudged Ethan and the American nodded his head, but he wouldn’t look at Wolfe.
‘Excellent. Oh, by the way, it would give me great pleasure if you and the others would dine with me and my daughter this evening.’ He smiled. ‘Don’t worry, this time the drinks will not be drugged. I shall send for you when I’m ready.’ With that, he turned away and strolled out of the arena, but Lee remained, watching them like a hawk.
Alec helped Ethan back to his feet. They both turned to look at Ellen, but a couple of Wolfe’s henchmen were already carrying her body towards the gates. Alec glanced at Ethan and saw the look in his eyes – a look that said that Ellen’s death would be avenged.
‘Don’t try anything stupid,’ whispered Alec.
‘I won’t,’ spat Ethan. ‘At least, not yet.’
Lee turned and the two of them followed him out of the arena.
CHAPTER TEN
To Be a King
LEE USHERED THEM in through the main entrance of the palace itself. The place seemed deserted. They strode along corridors hung with tapestries and lined with statues. Eventually, they came to a huge wooden door. Lee produced a key. He unlocked the door, swung it open, then stepped back and waved them inside. As they went in, the door was shut and locked behind them.
They found themselves in a large room. It had been furnished with couches and chairs, but there were no windows. Through an arched opening, Alec could see a tiled bathroom. Sitting around the room, looking sorry for themselves, were Coates, Stephen and the professor, each of them dressed in ancient Greek style. As they entered, Coates got to his feet, an anxious expression on his face.
‘I was getting worried,’ he said. ‘What happened to you?’
Ethan went straight past Coates to a large mosaic table where a pitcher of water and some metal goblets stood. He poured himself a large measure and drank the contents down in one gulp.
‘Bull-leaping happened,’ said Alec forlornly. ‘An ancient Cretan sport. That’s what Miss McBride had been training for.’
‘Bull-leaping?’ cried Coates. ‘What in the name of God is that?’
‘You don’t want to know,’ grunted Ethan, refilling his goblet.
‘And where is Ellen?’ asked Stephen.
‘She’s dead.’ Alec could hardly believe he was saying the words.
‘Dead?’ Stephen looked from Alec to Ethan, incredulous. ‘How?’
‘Killed by a bull for the entertainment of that madman, Wolfe,’ snarled Ethan. ‘I swear to God, if I get my hands around his throat—’
‘You can forget that,’ Alec told him. ‘Not while he has his hands around ours.’ He flicked the iron band around his neck with a finger, making a dull metallic sound. ‘I hate to say it, but we’re completely at his mercy.’
‘Maybe we can change that tomorrow,’ said the professor, and everybody turned to look at him.
‘Why, what happens tomorrow?’ asked Alec.
‘We have to undertake our challenge. Stephen and I have spent today assembling the two Daedalus machines. Wolfe had the equipment taken up to a high tower from where Stephen can launch himself. As you know, our objective is for Stephen to fly half a mile . . .’ He lowered his voice as though afraid of being overheard. ‘But we know from our test flights he can travel much further than that. I think, with luck on his side, he . . . well, he could make it back to Crete.’
Coates looked worried by this news. ‘That’s quite a distance,’ he said. ‘Supposing he can’t make it that far? It’s a long way to swim.’
‘I’m fairly confident I can do it,’ said Stephen. ‘And after what’s happened, I’m more than prepared to try.’
‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ said Ethan. ‘What about these damned necklaces we’re wearing? If Wolfe sees you heading in the wrong direction, he’ll just tell Lee to tighten yours up a few notches. You can’t fly when you can’t breathe.’
‘I’ve considered that,’ said the professor. ‘It’s my opinion that the collars are controlled by radio waves. Lee must wear some kind of apparatus under his tunic that controls them.’
‘Is such a thing possible?’ asked Ethan. ‘Sounds pretty far-fetched to me.’
‘Oh, it’s perfectly possible. Nikola Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat in the Electrical Exhibition of 1898. I believ
e these collars must work on the same principle. Now it seems to me that such a device can only be effective up to a certain distance. Stephen could be out of range in a matter of minutes.’
‘Still sounds kind of risky,’ said Ethan.
‘Yes, but what are the alternatives?’ asked Stephen. ‘I don’t believe for one minute that Wolfe will let us go if we pass his little test. And after what happened to Miss McBride, it’s clear he has no regard for human life. If I could make it to Crete, I could alert the police and be back with help within a few hours.’
‘There’s a fellow called Lieutenant Sideras who’d be very interested to talk to you,’ said Coates. ‘He’s been investigating a series of missing person cases. I think it’s pretty obvious now what happened to them.’
‘The problem is,’ said Alec, ‘if Stephen manages to get away, what’s to stop Wolfe just doing his worst? Stephen could come back with help to find that there’s no trace of us ever having been here.’
Stephen shrugged. ‘That’s a risk we’ll have to take,’ he said.
There was a silence while they all gazed at each other.
‘It sounds desperate,’ said Ethan, after a long pause, ‘but then again, what else have we got?’ He took a look around the room. ‘Even if we found some way to break out of here, there’s the collars to think about.’
‘And if we made it out of the palace there’s the Maenads to consider,’ said Alec. ‘Remember? The Rottweilers?’
Coates nodded grimly. ‘How could we forget?’ he muttered. ‘Whichever way you look at it, it’s pretty hopeless.’
‘Don’t say that, Coates,’ said Alec. ‘We’ve been in worse spots than this before and we’ve always managed to get out in one piece.’
Coates studied Alec for a moment. ‘Master Alec, you are the eternal optimist,’ he said bleakly. ‘And I see very little hope for us in this situation.’ He sighed. ‘I tell you what, I’m in no mood to sit down to dinner with that madman Wolfe.’
‘No, but we’ll have to do it,’ Alec told him. He looked around at the others. ‘If we’re going to stand a chance of beating him, then we need to find out as much about him as we can; and if that means playing along with him, then we’ll have to do it.’ Alec was thinking about the young Aztec emperor, Chicahua, and how making friends with him had given Alec and his companions time to plan their escape.
‘Alec’s right,’ said Ethan gloomily. ‘The food will probably stick in my craw, but Wolfe is a narcissist. He wants more than anything to be taken seriously. If we can convince him that we’re doing that, then maybe . . . just maybe we’ll buy ourselves more time.’
The group passed a couple of miserable hours, sitting around discussing the possibilities of escape, but none of them could come up with a better plan than the one the professor had suggested.
Eventually, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching down the corridor outside. The door was unlocked and opened and there stood Lee, accompanied by a couple of helmeted men, armed with swords.
‘Mr Wolfe waits for you,’ announced Lee, and Alec noticed that, as usual, he had one hand beneath the folds of his tunic, ready to tighten somebody’s collar should it prove necessary. ‘You must come now.’
The captives got obediently to their feet and followed Lee out of the room. The two henchmen hung back and walked behind the group, keeping an eye out for any signs of resistance, but everyone behaved themselves. They walked calmly along the corridors until they came to the room where they had first sat down to dine. Wolfe was already sitting at the head of a long table and Alec saw that Ariadne was seated at the opposite end, her head bowed. Wolfe smiled and indicated the long couches on either side of the table. ‘Gentlemen, so glad you could join us,’ he said. ‘Please, come and make yourselves comfortable.’
They did as they were told. Lee and the two henchmen took their places a short distance away, where they could observe the proceedings and intervene should it become necessary. When his guests were seated, Wolfe indicated one empty place, which nonetheless had been supplied with cutlery and plates. ‘Such a pity about Miss McBride,’ he said, with what sounded like genuine regret. ‘What a valiant attempt she made to rise to my challenge. She came so close to achieving it.’
Alec glanced at Ariadne, but she looked away, unable to meet his gaze. As ever, he got the impression that she was totally dominated by her father, even afraid of him. But then, thought Alec, she had every right to be. He was clearly mad and extremely dangerous.
Wolfe lifted a goblet of wine. ‘I think we should begin by drinking a toast to Miss McBride’s courage,’ he said. ‘Her conduct in the arena today was one of the bravest displays I have ever seen. I have seen men die in that arena with considerably less bravery than she showed.’ He paused and winked. ‘Don’t worry, gentlemen, I can assure you that this time the wine is perfectly harmless.’
Alec glanced at Ethan and saw that he was making a major effort not to lose his temper. But he lifted his goblet with the rest and they all took a sip. Then Wolfe clapped his hands and a couple of women, dressed in ancient Greek attire, came out carrying platters of food. Alec felt far from hungry, but made himself eat a little, realizing that he would have to keep his strength up. As he did so, he began to cast around for a suitable subject for conversation.
‘So . . . Mr Wolfe,’ he ventured. ‘May I enquire when you first became interested in Greek mythology?’
Wolfe smiled. ‘When I was a little boy, my father used to read me the stories at bedtime,’ he said. ‘Even from such a young age, they exerted an enormous influence over me. As soon as I was old enough to read, I began to devour the classics – The Odyssey, The Iliad, tales of powerful heroes and grotesque monsters that fired my youthful imagination. And none more so than the stories that originated from the island of Crete.’
‘Most boys put aside such interests when they grow to be men,’ commented the professor.
Wolfe shrugged his shoulders. ‘I am not like other men,’ he said. ‘Oh, I went out into the world to make my fortune, and I did so in spectacular fashion . . . but always there was that love for what had inspired me as a child.’ He waved a hand at his opulent surroundings. ‘And then, as a young man, my travels brought me to this island and I saw an opportunity here to turn my childhood dreams into reality. But I realized that in order to achieve this, I would need to have riches beyond my wildest dreams.’
‘What a pity you weren’t very particular about how you made your fortune,’ observed Coates cuttingly and Alec flashed him a warning look; but Wolfe seemed oblivious to any insult.
‘What did I care about mere people?’ he asked. ‘So the products my factories made destroyed millions of them. It was no concern of mine. I was working towards a greater good.’
There was a puzzled silence after this.
‘It’s hard for us to see a greater good in what’s happening here,’ said Stephen, choosing his words carefully. ‘Surely all this is only for your own benefit?’
Wolfe shook his head. ‘I have recreated the wonders of a lost world,’ he said. ‘I could have spent my millions on anything I wished, but I chose this. I think that’s a noble enterprise.’
‘And . . . what does your daughter think of it all?’ asked Alec.
‘My daughter?’ Wolfe looked at Ariadne as though he had forgotten she was there. ‘Well, why don’t you tell everyone what you think, Ariadne?’ he suggested.
The girl looked at her father as though afraid to speak her mind.
‘You may speak freely,’ he told her.
‘I . . .’ She lifted her head to look down the table at Alec. ‘I hate it,’ she said. ‘I want to leave this place and live a normal life.’
Silence fell again while everyone considered what she had said.
Then Wolfe laughed, a harsh, mocking sound. ‘You see how she repays me for all my hard work?’ he asked his guests. ‘Children have no interest in their parents’ endeavours. My wife died when Ariadne was only five years old, and I was left
to bring her up to the best of my ability. She went to the best schools, had the finest education that money could buy. I brought her out here two years ago when work on the palace was almost complete and I thought she would be enchanted by this place. But no, she longs for an ordinary life in an ordinary city. She cannot appreciate the wonders of Candia.’
‘The wonders?’ cried Ariadne. ‘Is that what you call them . . . the cruel and terrible things that happen here? Like that beastly game you made me watch today . . . it was horrible. That poor woman . . .’ Her voice dissolved into tears and she buried her face in her hands.
Wolfe sighed. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. My daughter is like her namesake.’ He looked mockingly across the table at Alec. ‘Forever waiting for a young Theseus to come and rescue her. What do you think, Master Devlin? Do you have the skills to find your way to the heart of the labyrinth and slay the minotaur?’
Alec stared at Wolfe in disbelief. ‘You’re not saying that you have a minotaur?’ he gasped.
‘That is for me to know and for you to find out,’ said Wolfe mysteriously.
There was another uncomfortable silence before the professor tried another approach. ‘Mr Wolfe,’ he said, ‘I’m interested in these things around our necks.’
‘The collars of obedience,’ said Wolfe, smiling.
‘Yes. I was wondering how they work.’
‘I bet you were.’ Wolfe took a gulp of red wine. ‘Surely, Professor, you do not think that you’re the first Daedalus to come to my island? There have been other men before you, gifted inventors who were only too willing to sell their ideas. One such man created the collars for me, and I thought it only fitting that when they were ready, he should be the one to demonstrate how they worked.’ He laughed, a deep rasping chuckle that chilled Alec’s blood. ‘But not before he had taught Lee everything there was to know about them.’
Ethan cast a scornful glance across the room at Wolfe’s servant. ‘And he does everything you tell him?’ he asked.
Maze of Death Page 8
