Then, coolly, she said, "They're strangers to me, too, warrior. I only know that when I came in, this one"—a gesture to Burke—"was tearing the clothes from my maid. Then, he swore he'd possess me, also, and would have, had it not been that this other,"—the gesture was to Theseus this time—"fought to save me."
The Cretan's nostrils flared. He spat an order to the guards: "This dog is yours. Slay him!"
Burke's stomach churned. It was all he could do to breathe.
Was this the way his dream must end—here, now, before he'd even learned the secret he'd come after?
Only then, as the blacks started forward, Ariadne spoke again: "No, guards! Don't kill him!" And slowly, calculatingly, dark eyes strangely brooding: "For this man says he's a god, and for such a blasphemer a quick death is too good.
"So, let him live—to face my father, Minos!"
CHAPTER V
The place was called the Shrine of Oracles, Burke gathered. It featured distinctively Minoan pillars—of cypress, and so tapered as to be smaller at the base than at the top.
Also, it stank with a peculiar, acrid odor.