"Will you make the deadline?" "It might not be ready for several weeks." "Let me help you solve the riddle of the Lexicon." "It'll be easier with the ring." "The ring carries an even greater danger." "I'm meeting Athenian emissaries in the temple on Mount Pelion." "I switched a message intended for Minos." "Just the other day, he asked me about his olive tree." "These are lies!" "Save your speeches for your trial." "I carry a demon's curse," "A curse I will pass on to my son." "Where is the Oracle?" "Find her!" "I made up my mind." "You give yourself willingly?" "I do." "Close your eyes." "Feel the warm shores of Tartarus brush against your skin." "Breathe the stone fumes of Elysium." "Listen to the ancient beat of a distant drum, so distant it echoes in another world." "It is the sound of your heart." "Who are you?" "I am the future." "Where do I find you?" "In the heart of God." "Are you free?" "I am eternal." "Let me pass!" "Only an immortal god can die and rise again." "I am not afraid." "You are weak." "And your heart is clean." "Death awaits you." "A month?" "The articulated limbs alone will take eight days each to set and assemble." "You told us that you could deliver the Bronze Bull in three days." "No, I said five days." "It was the king who insisted on three." "Five days, then." "That was just a preliminary assessment." "Now that I've had time to make more accurate calculations," "I'm hoping to have it ready in a month, give or take a week or two." "Hah." "Hoping?" "Two months at most, certainly no more than three." "Why must your designs always be so complicated?" "They're only as complicated as is necessary." "Can you not just simplify it a little?" "Certainly not!" "I'm an architect, not a playwright." "We cannot afford to wait that long." "Our lives, our empire, stand on the brink." "You'll be ready later today." "What?" "If your Bronze Bull fails to breach the gate by sundown, you will watch as my priests pull the entrails from your stomach and fry them in goose fat." "But it won't be ready." "If it's not ready," "I will have them eat your entrails while you watch." "I, um... suppose I could make a few alterations." "What made that mark on your chest?" "The beast reached inside me and held my heart." "And said it was clean?" "Yes." "And so it is." "Too clean for the god of time." "Who?" "Chronos." "Our session has been more productive than I could have ever imagined." "In your trance, you said you were frozen in time, yes?" "Only Chronos can manipulate time." "He is the guardian of the Lexicon, the key to opening the door to Olympus." "How?" "He told you how." "The rose, the scallop shell, the swan, are all agents of Aphrodite, the goddess of love." "You said the swan caught fire?" "And disappeared." "Then that is what you must do." "I don't understand." "The only way to humble the god of time is by defeating his beloved Aphrodite." "In other words... you must kill love." "Even if we started casting the legs today, they would not be ready for five, six days." "W..." "What's ready now?" "Nothing." "Nothing?" "Nothing of any use." "Just the head." ""Goose fat."" "What?" "I'm already getting a stomach ache." "Ahh!" "What in the name of the god of sanity is wrong with me?" "Am I a simpleton or a genius?" "A simpleton or a..." "Genius." "The head is ready, you say?" "Please!" "P-Please!" "Cut the meat from his thigh first." "There'll be less fat there." "Please!" "I'll find you a goat." "Shut it, goatherd!" "You'll make a tastier meal than any goat." "Release him!" "The boy belongs to the goddess Artemis, who stalks these woods with a vengeful heart." "She's brought us meat." "Enough for a month." "I am the Oracle of Gaia, so be warned," "I am protected by Poseidon and Keto and carry the mark of Keres." "Mm." "Let us see this mark." "It's on my heart." "Ah, then we will search for it once we taste your pretty flesh." "Your mother, Rosemary, calls to you." "Rose is my wife." "Yes, and she is heavy with child." "I have not seen her in one year." "The gods are already punishing you, Minoan." "Repent or you will suffer even greater humiliation." "Let me pick at her fingers while you eat her cheeks." "Would you like to try me first?" "Oh!" "What is your name, boy?" "Gregor." "What were you doing in these woods?" "You must know how dangerous they are." "One of my herd ran off." "I went to go chase her and got lost." "Why did you do that?" "Oracle of Gaia." "Where is the son of Aegeus?" "Will you kill me too, Mystic?" "Of course not." "You're protected by Poseidon and Keto and carry the mark of Keres." "As if you care." "Your gods are a colorful diversion but will soon be cast out by the one true god." "Now, where is he?" "Did your "one true god" not tell you?" "Holy Mother..." "I pray you look deep into the ancient universe of the old world, seek out the seed of Father Ouranos, find your immortal sister..." "Are you strong enough to travel?" "What have you found?" "Aphrodite, when she rose from the sea as a swan, landed at Paphos, where a temple now stands." "Eat this." "It will give you strength." "The temple has no priestess, but Aphrodite herself appears rarely." "She will be there today at sundown." "How do you know?" "I've seen her through the sacred Hermetic veil, kneeling at the altar." "Why would Athena give her sister away?" "You obviously know very little about the rivalry of sisters." "Athena, the goddess of wisdom, is often suspicious of her promiscuous sister." "But if I'm to slay her..." "Love, my dear, never dies." "Love is guided by the heart, wisdom by the head." "One day you will see which rules the other." "I already have." "Shh." "This way." "And keep your voice down." "No one must see us leaving the palace." "What's wrong, Majesty?" "Do you love me?" "Of course I do." "Whatever's the matter?" "Would you betray me to my uncle Pallas?" "Stop this." "Just because Lord Pallas recruited me does not mean I'm in his debt." "What does it mean, then?" "My heart can only have one home." "Even though you know now I don't carry the Lexicon?" "Particularly now." "Perhaps we'll be left alone to live as we'd like to live." "I'm..." "I'm sorry, Kimon." "My mind is finding dark places." "Why are you worried about your uncle, anyway?" "He won't survive his trial." "Trial?" "I thought you knew." "Your mother exposed his plot to negotiate with the enemy." "Don't worry." "She didn't implicate you in any way." "I have never... would never defy you, Majesty." "These allegations are completely groundless." "Are you accusing my wife of lying?" "Of course not." "Just that..." "In this particular case, she's in error." "The Queen..." ""in error"?" "Not intentionally, of course." "Perhaps she..." "she merely misread the signs." "How should she have read them?" "For heaven's sakes, where is the queen?" "We're still looking for her, Majesty." "Perhaps if I could just take a small peek at the evidence," "I might be able to shed some light on the confusion." "There is no confusion!" "Priest Xerxes was very clear." "Isn't that right, Xerxes?" "Perhaps you can tell the court what you told me." "Majesty... the city is on its knees." "King Minos looming at our gates." "This is not the time for internal squabbles." "We must unite, present a common, resolute, and impregnable shield." "Shut up!" "And tell everyone about the olive tree." "Um..." "W..." "We..." "Hurry up!" "There was... a fungus infecting from within, and... infecting the roots... uh... making... the entire tree wither." "And whose tree was this?" "Lord Pallas'." "Do you have an olive tree in your garden?" "No, Majesty, but I only meant that..." "Carry on!" "What did he want to do to the tree?" "He, uh... suggested that we..." "Cut it down." "We must hurry." "It's almost noon." "To finish in time, we must fit the crystal now, sir." "I'm going as fast as I can!" "Is the mechanism working?" "We have not tested it yet." "Well, test it now!" "The last thing I need is to get it all the way to the city gates only to find it jams." "Move, men!" "Move!" "Quicker!" "We need to work!" "Athena, noble goddess of justice..." "Give me the strength to pass sentence on my own blood." "Our mother waits for you in the underworld with a warm breast." "Your passage to her will be brief," "I promise, and painless." "Brother... brother." "Please, brother, this is foolish." "As you travel down the River Styx, shield your eyes from the winged demon and reflect upon your evil crimes." "Brother..." "Brother, this is foolish." "I'm no criminal." "Take him down!" "I'm your brother!" "Wait!" "I would like to say a few words in defense of my uncle." "My sentence is already passed." "That message was intended for me." "It has I... your son, who was been negotiating terms of surrender with the enemy, not Pallas." "Why?" "At the time," "I still believed I carried the Lexicon." "Giving myself up to Minos seemed a price worth paying for peace." "But that's treason." "Treason that saves our city from destruction, that keeps our citizens alive... and you on the throne." "Pallas was right." "The olive tree was sick, and its fruit was starting to poison us all." "Every new order from you, our king, has brought us closer to the abyss, so I acted in secret." "But the Lexicon would have fallen into the enemy's hands." "If Medea... the most skilled sorceress this world has ever known, could not extract it from me, how would King Minos fare?" "And to think..." "If I'd succeeded, you'd all be free of him, and still had the Lexicon." "As it is... you will have to sentence me instead." "I can't sentence you." "You are my son!" "Where..." "Where is my queen?" "We have searched the palace from top to bottom, Majesty." "She appears to have vanished." "And... the prince Hero?" "He too seems to have disappeared." "What will I find inside?" "That is something you must discover for yourself, Hero." "Aphrodite." "Reach out..." "You!" "What are you doing here?" "Oh, no, this is bad." "This is very bad." "No, no, wait!" "You can't go out there!" "There's someone waiting for you." "Who?" "A Magi warrior." "Did you bring an army with you?" "And was it you who sent the message?" "What message?" "Why do you want to negotiate terms for surrender?" "I swear, Oracle, if you don't start explaining yourself..." "Were you expecting Minos?" "Did King Aegeus send you here to kill him?" "Have you even met King Aegeus?" "Was he happy to meet his firstborn son?" "No." "No, of course you met him." "Of course you met him, and he's accepted you as his new prince, and this was your ridiculous plan to confront and kill his enemy." "You better have an army waiting outside this door!" "Why is there a Magi warrior waiting for me outside?" "She ambushed me when I was on my way here, so I convinced her to use me as bait, but I didn't know I'd be baiting you." "I thought it would be Lykos and his army, not you." ""She"?" "Does she know I have the ring?" "Yes." "But she didn't know I was meeting you, because I didn't know I was meeting you!" "So how did all of this turn out so wrong?" "Oh, wait..." "Is it the Magi who killed your mother?" "Where is your army?" "I don't have an army." "Just Medea." "Medea!" "The sorceress?" "Out there?" "Quiet." "How were you planning on killing Minos without an army?" "I wasn't planning on killing Minos." "I don't know anything about a message." "Then why did you come?" "I'm supposed to find love in this temple." "It's not what you think." "Oh?" "What do I think?" "Love as in... love." "What other kind is there?" "If you were looking for love, what's the sword for?" "It doesn't matter now." "Why were you looking for love?" "It's none of your business." "Are you sure?" "Maybe it is my business." "Very much my business." "Maybe the gods, or whatever god convinced you to come here, has made it my business." "What are you talking about?" "Love!" "Maybe..." "I'm the love you're looking for." "But then why would you want to kill me?" "No." "I don't want to kill you." "I wanted to kill Aphrodite." "You can't kill Aphrodite!" "She's not a person, you idiot." "None of the gods are." "We carry them inside, like feelings." "So if someone tells you to kill Aphrodite, what they really mean is that you should kill the feeling you have for a person..." "And maybe that person... is me." "You think..." "I love you?" "Yeah." "Why did you come here?" "Uh..." "I told you, to meet Prince Lykos so that I could get into Athens, and..." "No, I mean, why did you come to this very place?" "Well, uh... the message said that I, or rather King Minos, should meet at "the wings that touch the sky,"" "and that's here, the temple of Aphrodite on Mount Ida." "Medea." "Chalciope." "I should have known it was you." "You never could see me coming." "I'm unarmed." "Nonsense." "You carry more weapons than the Dorian army." "They're just invisible." "You're looking well... younger with each passing year." "Have you missed me?" "I think of you often." "What happened to our love?" "We will rediscover it in time, I'm sure." "Time... and love." "We always think one will heal the other, when actually it only makes it wither and die." "You turned your back on me, remember?" "No." "All I remember is your two children lying dead at your feet, and you... with a bloody knife in your hand." "Have you come to make amends?" "Perhaps." "Once you've returned my ring." "I'm surprised you don't have it already." "I thought we should talk first." "Reminisce." "Have you found happiness at last?" "My life is not without its obstacles." "Do you regret the path of promiscuity?" "At least I've known love." "Love?" "Or lust?" "Real love, not the virgin love for a vengeful god." "My virgin love is pure, and it will last eternal while yours withers and dies." "Show me how your pure love cuts me down." "We shared the same womb, wore the same clothes, sang the same songs as children... but we will die in opposite worlds." "Ask forgiveness for your sins, and your mortal soul will be judged less harshly." "A god who would forgive me my sins is not fit to judge me." "Your rope may sting, but if you wish to kill me, you must use your sword." "Hero, no!" "You're no match for her with a sword!" "I've wounded her before." "Had I known who you were then," "I never would have let you go." "Where is the ring of the Magi?" "I'll take you to it if you spare our lives." "You and the Oracle only." "My sister's life is already mine." "If you want your ring, you must let us all live." "Hurry, son of Aegeus, before I lose my patience and kill you all without thinking." "Give me your hand so I can put it on your finger." "After all the suffering this has caused," "I'm glad to return it to you, its rightful home." "Lord..." "My god..." "You have your prize." "I can hear our mother." "Your god awaits you, Cally, my beautiful sister." "You will soon feel his true love." "I love you, Medea." "The ring..." "Apollo, god of light and truth, wash your cool breath over my misfortune..." "Purge my blood and clear the way for sanctity and health." "Xerxes, old friend." "Lord Pallas." "How fortunate." "I was just... on my way to see you." "Really?" "Whatever for?" "I wanted to celebrate your deliverance." "Perhaps then you'll drink a cup of Dionysian wine with me to clear the air." "It's from my most celebrated vine." "I didn't know you had a vine, Lord Pallas." "Oh, yes." "In my garden, beside my olive tree." "Lord Pallas, you..." "You saw how I tried to rally the court in your defense, to persuade the King to bring us together in this, our most vulnerable hour." "You have a choice." "My excellent wine, or my cold blade." "Which is it to be?" "As always, old friend... you have made the wrong choice." "Kimon, stop!" "Prince Lykos, I'm honored." "What are you doing?" "Oh, just settling an old score with an old friend." "They were about to kill me." "Is that true, Kimon?" "Were you about to kill my priest?" "No, Majesty." "What were you going to do with that?" "A little blood-letting, that's all." "To purge Apollo's demons." "I risked my life to save yours, and this is how you repay me?" "I assure you, Majesty," "I was just on my way to see you, to lay tributes at your door." "Why didn't you tell me about this?" "Because he's Pallas's secret creature." "I swear, Xerxes, if you don't keep quiet, I'll..." "What do you mean, "secret creature"?" "Have you never wondered why your mother never interfered in your love?" "My mother?" "Why she never told you about him?" "Why she thinks it's safer to keep quiet and leave you two alone Than to go anywhere near his hornet's nest?" "Don't listen to him, Majesty." "He is a bastard of the court, an unwanted child born to a slave from a moment of royal madness." "An invisible... neither loved nor rejected." "Is that true, Kimon?" "Are you Pallas's secret son?" "No, Lykos." "Not Pallas." "The king's." "We're brothers?" "Yes, he's your younger brother... but you mustn't tell your father, Lykos." "He doesn't know." "We've kept it from him for Kimon's sake." "Aegeus would surely have him killed." "Lykos!" "How many?" "30,000... maybe more." "It seems that King Minos has mobilized all his armies for one decisive assault focused on the city gates." "But, because it appears they would also attack from every other possible direction, we can't move our troops to bolster our defenses there." "Where is my queen?" "We think she evacuated some time ago with Prince Hero." "What?" "No." "No!" "She wouldn't leave me." "Search for her again." "One of Priam's adjutants saw them in the palace gardens," "Majesty, on their way to the secret passage under the city." "Priam's adjutant is lying." "We must have his tongue cut out." "The wall of her apothecary is covered with new signs... which indicate a breakthrough." "What sort of breakthrough?" "Our Priests believe that Queen Medea's last session with the Prince produced the answers she'd been looking for, perhaps even, uh... the location of the sacred doors to Olympus." "There you are." "She's gone to find them and deliver us from this terrible war." "I will join her there... and we will be transformed together." "Lead me to her." "The priests couldn't read the signs, Majesty." "We don't know where they went." "What?" "No." "G-Get out." "Majesty, we need our orders." "Get out." "Get out." "Get out!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "I think I've lost a little weight." "What's that?" "The ox heart sacrificed to Poseidon." "Ah!" "The perks of battle." "While my priests and officers gorge themselves on the finest cuts," "I get to chew on the animal's indigestible organs." "You're the king." "Why don't we feed it to the dogs?" "No one will know." "Poseidon will know." ""Poseidon will know."" "How fares my architect?" "He's nervous, bitter, convinced it won't work now, cursing everybody." "Are you really going to burn his entrails while he watches?" "Yeah." "Of course." "We can't be seen to be rewarding failure." "That would send the wrong message to the troops." "If I have to eat this heart... why don't we send Daedalus the brains?" "Nothing like a good meal to get the wheels turning." "The sadism of the man knows no bounds." "It is time." "Indeed it is." "Will the bronze bull move, at least?" "We think so." ""Think so"?" "We just do not know how far." "Who would you like to pilot it?" "Me." "It will be very dangerous." "No more dangerous than sitting with Minos and watching it fail." "I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid I would lose you." "So you lied." "What would you have done in my position?" "Our love was the most important thing that's ever happened to me." "It changed my life, gave me courage." "So don't let this destroy it." "You are my brother." "I am the same man I was yesterday." "Not to me." "Lord Pallas saved me, gave me a home, taught me to read and write, introduced me to a life without suffering." "No matter how hard I work for him," "I will never be able to repay him..." "But it wasn't until I met you that I started to live." "I don't want to see you again." "If I do, even accidentally..." "I will have you returned to the prison caves." "You are dead to me." "Brother." "She was kneeling at the altar?" "Praying." "Who were you praying to?" "Uh, Aphrodite, to ask her to reach out to her sister, Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, and help me get into her city, Athens." "This is the Oracle of Gaia who you recruited to help solve the riddle of the Lexicon?" "I didn't recruit her." "But now you love her?" "No." "Does he love you?" "No." "Well..." "Maybe." "What sort of Oracle are you?" "I ask again." "Does he love you or not?" "Yes." "And you him?" "No." "Well... maybe." "Yes." "You love me?" "Well, it's..." "It's complicated." "I..." "I thought I hated you when you left me with Minos, but I realized" "I hated being apart from you even more." "Much, much more." "You cannot love me, Oracle." "I am cursed." "I know." "But unfortunately, that only makes my feelings stronger." "More to the point, you also love her." "That's why she was waiting here for you." "I have to kill Oracle?" "There's still time... a sacrifice to assuage Chronos, god of time." "But I don't love her." "Then you won't mind killing her." "This was your test, Hero, and you failed." "I will not kill a defenseless woman." "You killed my sister when she dropped her guard!" "Stop." "This is your moment, Hero." "There won't be another like it." "You stand at the threshold of greatness." "Do now what you came to do, or it might forever pass you by." "What?" "Are you seriously trying to persuade him, the man I love, who loves me, to murder me in cold blood?" "Hurry, Hero." "The gods are watching you." "One strike... and it will be done." "35,000 men, Ariadne." "If Daedalus can indeed break through the city gates, we cannot fail." "This is our moment, Father." "I can feel a great victory waiting for us." "By nightfall, the Athenian will be on his knees." "You like the Athenian, don't you?" "He is chosen by the gods." "Is that the only reason you're drawn to him?" "No man will ever match my love for you, father." "Even one chosen by the gods?" "In my eyes, Father, you already are a god." "Yes, a very old and tired god whose feet hurt." "You will feel rejuvenated once you're sitting on the Athenian throne." "Without you, Ariadne," "I'd be a beggar on the streets of Knossos." "My love..." "Why would you abandon me now?"