Tidbit 2

Piece following the dream my main character has.

I sat up quickly in bed, gasping for a breath. My heart beat rapidly and my breaths were just as quick. I crossed my legs and rested my head in my hands. After awhile, my heart beat like usually and I felt like I could finally breathe. I lifted my head up out of my hands and looked around.

Sunlight filled the room, followed by a soft breeze that brushed my hair across my face. I brushed it to the side. I was a bit confused. I couldn't remember how I got here, or even where I was. I didn't even know what my dream had been about. All I knew was that it hadn't happened to me before. Then all the memories started to flood my head. Ok, now I know what it's about. I'm one of the fourteen, and that dream showed my fate. I shivered. Nope, definitely did not like that idea at all. 

I looked around; this was the first time I'd ever actually seen my room. Last night it was too dark, and I was way to tired to see anything. It was huge! The room was even bigger than my entire house, and it was all decorated with finest stuff in the world. On one side of the room was that elaborate door I'd come in through, and directly across it, on the other side of the room, was an arched doorway with flowing purple curtains that floated on top of the breeze. 

Purple seemed to play a major role in the decoration of my room. Gold too, played an essential role. I knew those to be the colours of royalty, and this was the royal palace of Athens, so that would explain the decorations. All the blankets, pillows and couches were covered in various shades of purple, and every piece of furniture was made of gold. 

I climbed out of the giant bed and wrapped myself in the (take a guess as to what colour it was) purple robe, trimmed with gold that lay on one of the couches. I stepped out onto the balcony that was on the other side of the arch. My room happened to be on the second storey of the palace and the balcony overlooked a small, closed in courtyard. The weather happened to be amazingly nice. The sun shone warmly, but the breeze kept the heat down. 

I looked down at the courtyard, letting the breeze brush my hair into my eyes. The courtyard was all green, save for a stone path that wormed its way through to a large marble fountain in the centre. I had to squint to see the figure that stood atop the fountain, and I'm pretty sure it was one of the younger goddesses. If I had to take a guess, I'm say it was Athena; the patron goddess of Athens. She was one of my favourites, and if I had to pick (which wasn't a good idea) I would say she was my favourite. She was young, beautiful and very smart. She was clever and brave, and pretty much everything I wanted to be. 

There was a knock at the door, and I turned around in time to see the three girls from the night before. 
"Glad to see you're awake." The ringleader said a bit too preppy. The other two chimed in with 'I hope you had a good night's sleep' and 'the gods' blessing'.

I mentally rolled my eyes and put on a fake smile as I walked back into the room, towards them. "I'm guessing you're here to help me get ready. That is what you said yesterday, isn't it? Last night seems like a blur, almost like a dream, and I'm afraid I can't remember much." I said.

"You remember correctly." I was starting to get the feeling like the blond ringleader was the only one who actually spoke, and the clones only mimicked her. "Come with us, we are expected for a royal luncheon." 

I followed them out of the room and down several twisting hallways, thinking as I went. I had to admit, I was rather upset at the king. He brings us into the palace, treats us like kings and queens, and then expects that those two days will make up for the life that we are forced to miss. Yeah, ok. Not going to happen. If he was truly a noble and brave king as the tales suggest, then shouldn't he give up his life to save ours? 
At this point, I could visualize my hazel eyes igniting with fire. Soon they would begin to flicker angrily as I thought all my mean thoughts. Oh, that's what would happen. That's what always happened whenever I overcame shock. I would slip into my world of hating everything and everyone, and it would normally end with me lashing out at someone. 

That's what happened when Arieth, a boy whom I was once friends with and now despise, kissed me shortly after my twelfth birthday. Oh, did Artemis ever give me her hatred of men at that moment! One second I was as stiff as stone and then my arm swung out, my fist clenched so tightly my nails left marks on my palms, and I hit him in the face…hard. Arieth fell backward, and now stared up at me with wide, shocked eyes. I glared at him, pivoted on my right foot and walked away.

Several times after he begged for my forgiveness, but I just ignored him till he went away. A few weeks later, he was gone for good. From the various rumours I'd heard, it wasn't entirely my fault. His mother had died of a strange illness, and Arieth's father end up re-marrying and moving to a large villa in the rich part of town. I, however, stayed exactly where I'd lived all my life, and I never saw him again.

I just hopped I wouldn't end up punching the king at dinner. If I did, he may decide to send Minos extra instructions on how to do my further harm (though I can't really think of anything worse than being fed to a mutant monster). Then again, Minos and the king had never really been friends, so perhaps in order to bug the king of Athens, Minos would decide not to feed me to the Minotaur and instead give me as a bride to one of his notoriously handsome sons. I wouldn't mind that, but I was never one to take chances so I'd do my best not to mock or maim the king. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. 

After getting so confused by all the twists and turns, to the point that I almost didn't remember my own name, we walked into a fairly big dining room. Several people we already sitting down, some were chatting to one another but most just looked pale and nervous. I looked behind me, only to find that the three annoyances in my life had disappeared. I shrugged my shoulders and walked over to the table. Luckily, it was quite easy to find my place, since our names had been written on a small piece of paper that lay on top of each table setting. 

I gladly sat down on the chair, and was busy staring off into space when someone sat down in the chair next to me. I looked over, saw who it was and just about died. 

"Thesea!" The now grownup Arieth cried, with a stupid grin on his face.

I grimaced. "Tartarus!" I cursed under my breath. This just kept getting better, not only was I condemned to die, but I would be stuck with him for the last few days of my life. I banged my head down on the table. "I hate this." I muttered.

"Aww, Thesea, you remember me! How long has it been?"

"Obviously, not long enough. So, what are you doing here? I thought your kind were exempted from the curse." I said bitterly. 

Arieth frowned. "My kind? Ha! If so, the king would do anything to stay on that golden throne. Apparently some of 'your kind' were threatening to revolt if some of 'us' weren't given to Minos. So the king agreed and my loving father volunteered."

I sat back in my chair, my mouth open wide. "Oh," was all that came out. My mother had pleaded for the guards to take her instead, and his father volunteered him as a victim. Ouch!

"Yeah, she said it was a way to make myself a hero, but ever since he married his new wife, all he's ever wanted is to be rid of me and everything else belonging to his past. Yup, that's 'Father'." He said, clenching his teeth. His eyes burned with hatred, but underneath that rage I saw sorrow and longing. He wanted his father to love him, he really did, and it hurt him to know that he meant nothing to his father.
I reached over and placed my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." I said.

He looked up at me, rage flashed for but a second across his eyes and then turned to surprise. "You really are, aren't you?" He snorted. "Imagine that, the girl who's hated my guts for years is the only one on Earth that actually care. Interesting…"

I quickly pulled my hand back, realizing who I'd touched. I mentally shivered. I was going to reply with something along lines of 'Maybe if you hadn't decided to kiss me, I wouldn't have hated your guts' or some random garble of me trying to come up with something nice to say, when about two dozen servants walked in carrying large platters of food and drinks. I used the distraction to turn away from Arieth and hopefully as a reason to fully ignore him.

The servants walked around the table, their platters balanced skillfully on one hand, offering us the assorted variety of meals available to us. After my plate was piled high with just about all the food they'd offered me, several other servants came around with jugs of wine. They carefully poured each of our gold cups full to the brim with the crimson wine. 

After they'd finished, out came the musicians to signify the start of the meal. At least that's what I assumed by the way everyone started stuffing themselves after the first cord was struck. I followed suit, wharfing down bite after bite. Eventually I did get thirsty, (which was probably the fault of some super spicy chicken) and reached for my glass of wine. I'd never really liked wine, but it was all the servants served, so I took a sip before all the spices could set my tongue on fire. 

"Zeus' lightning bolts!" I exclaimed, silently under my breath. "That's good wine!" I lifted up the cup, like maybe I'd see some magic flowing out of it, before putting it back to my lips and taking another sip.
Arieth glanced over and smiled. "A bit better than the wine from back home, isn't it?" He said, holding back a laugh. 

"Just a bit." I smiled back unknowingly, before realizing to whom I was smiling at, and turned it back into a frown.

"The secret is that the servants spit into it first." Arieth leaned over and whispered in my ear.

I coughed, and spit out some of the wine as I glanced up at him in shock. He was too busy laughing at me to care. I rolled m eyes and made a pact to feed him to the minotaur first, but for now my plan was just to pretend that he didn't exist.

Arieth nudged me in the side with his elbow. "I'm sorry, Thesea. I didn't mean to ruin your dinner. Forgive me?" I just ignored him, savouring the flavour of the meat I'd just taken a bite of. "C'mon, I know you can hear me." He said, jabbing me once again with his elbow.

I sighed. "All I hear is the nagging noise of a bug that should be squashed. Besides, if I could hear what that bug was saying I'd probably reply with 'You're an idiot, leave me alone'. Got it?" I didn't even bother to look at him. I just stared straight ahead at the mosaic on the wall. Mosaics had to be my favourite type of art. They were so bright and colourful, and seemed so full of life's beauty. So unlike Arieth. 

"You haven't changed much since you were twelve. Only now you use words instead of a fist. Either way, I'm still mortally wounded." He said, acting as if he was really hurt. 

"And to that I say that you're acting like a little kid who just got his feelings hurt. Why don't you just hide in a corner and cry." 

"Aha! See, I'm not just a little nagging pest. You heard my tearful cries of sorrow, and mocked me. Only you would do that." He said grinning. 

I groaned, ready to pound my head into the table again. "Fine!" I said, turning towards him. "I can hear you, happy now? And by the way, you are a pest." 

"Yes, very happy. So, do you forgive me?"

"Ah, no. Not in the slightest. Hey! I've got an idea! How about you go and bug someone else. Oh, that sounds marvelous! You mustn't waste time talking to me. Ummm…let's see." I looked around the around the table. "How 'bout you go over there and chat with her" I said pointing at a girl across the table who looked like she had overdone her makeup and hair. "I'm sure you've got tons of things in common."

He gave me an incredulous look. "Yes, if I loved to brush my hair, stare at myself in the mirror and talk about which piece of jewelry matches each outfit. Oh, goody! Sounds like fun." He said sarcastically. 
"See, you're perfect for each other. You're both self-absorbed, narcissistic personalities. It's like you were made for one another." I told him as I bent over my meal. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw him roll his eyes, and he ended up leaving me alone for the rest of the meal to my wondrous delight.

Author's Note

Here's the second tidbit of my now finished novella "Victim of the Labyrinth". I do not believe in posting full stories online; publishers don't tend to accept them since people can already read it for free online.

Let me know what you think. :)