The next instant he had the revolver, and his free arm was locked about her waist. When a thick-shouldered noble started towards him, swinging a great double-axe, he fired by sheer reflex.
The axeman stopped short, a shocked expression on his face and a hole in his chest. When he fell, the whole throne-room sounded with the hiss of breaths sharply indrawn.
Burke rapped, "I'm leaving. Your princess goes with me. Try to stop me and she dies!"
Out the door, then. Down a corridor.
Ariadne whispered, "Quick, my lord Dionysus! Up this stair, here!"
More halls, more stairways. Big rooms and little.
Finally, a tiny, windowless cubicle opening off a light-well.
Burke turned to Ariadne. "All right, princess. We'll hide here till dark, then get you out of Knossos."
A look of strain came to the girl's face. "My lord, it—it cannot be."