"Your Majesty Minos, the boys and girls sent as tribute from Athens this year have arrived. They're waiting outside."
The captain of the guards knelt with his head bowed, respectfully reporting everything to the king of Crete.
"Good. Bring them in!" Minos gave the order, and everything proceeded smoothly.
That was how it should have gone. As always, this sacrifice should have been completed without a hitch.
But—
"Thaumas, do you think the king will believe we're boys?" Theseus asked nervously.
Well, if that wasn't proof he'd changed. The old Theseus would never have asked a question like that.
Of course Theseus knew the answer. He just wanted someone to talk to, to ease his nerves.
Thaumas answered him patiently anyway:
"Who cares whether we qualify as boys? They want people—people they can feed to a monster.
"And even if they only want boys, what's stopping us from saying we are? We're a little more grown-up. It's no big deal."
In truth, Thaumas could have entered the Labyrinth directly, followed wisdom's guidance to the Minotaur, and killed him with a single shot.
But he had chosen to go through these "unnecessary" steps because he wanted to change Theseus more deeply.
He wanted Theseus to become a better man, one who would not doubt his own sense of justice as he once had and meet a tragic end.
He would turn Theseus into the man he wanted him to be! And deal with the king of Athens while he was at it.
And so,
the fourteen boys and girls entered the palace together.
"Your Majesty Minos, here they are!" The captain brought them before the king for his personal inspection.
"Good."
Minos nodded.
Minos
was the son of Zeus and Europa.
According to legend, Zeus, king of the gods, had taken