Poul Anderson - The Dancer from Atlantis

Reid tried not to glower at him. They sat alone in an off-side room of the temple, to which the American had drawn the Athenian after the latter’s long private interview with Lydra. Diores’ smile continued bland; he lounged back at ease on the stone bench. “Just what are they doing?” Reid asked.

“Well, Uldin’s breaking horses and training men for his cavalry. Or aims to. it’s slow, scarcely begun, among other reasons because he’s got only the one-saddle—hasn’t found a leatherworker who can make ‘em right, he says. Oleg ... tun ... shipbuilding, like I hear tell you are. I’ll be mighty interested to see what you’ve started.”

“I’m afraid that’s forbidden,” Reid answered. “State secret.”

It wasn’t, but he meant to contact the governor and have the declaration made immediately. Why give the enemy a break? And Theseus was the enemy, who would pull down Erissa’s sunny cosmos unless somehow history could be amended.

No, not even that. Wouldn’t the legends and the archeology be the same, three or four thousand years hence, if Minoan Crete lived a little longer? Not much longer; the lifetime of a girl; was that unreasonable to ask of the gods?

“Why are, you here?” he demanded. “And” a picked crew?’ They were no ordinary sailors, he’d heard, but warriors of the royal household, who kept to themselves and scarcely spoke to the Atlanteans.

“As to that last,” Diores drawled, “you don’t get common seamen who’ll travel in winter. Too risky?’ As if to bear him out, wind hooted and rain plashed beyond the richly tapestried walls. “Oleg says he can build a year-round ship, but meanwhile we use what we’ve got, right?”

“You haven’t told me what brought you!’

“Can’t, either. Sorry, mate. I carry a confidential message. You’ll quite likely see me here a few times more. I will say this. Your oracle ordered Athens and Knossos should pull closer together. Fine. But how? What kind of alliance and divvy-up? Why should the Minos want to raise us from vassalage? What trouble could the envy of others cause? That sort of question. It’s got to be explored; and statecraft don’t work when it’s put right out in public view; and seeing as how Theseus has a friend in the Ariadne, wouldn’t you agree she’s the logical person to begin talking with? Let’s say they’re feeling each other out.”

Diores snickered. “She’s not too long in the tooth for a man to feel,” he went on. “About that, I hear you’re running around with a right tasty morsel yourself”

Reid bridled. “Erissa’s a bull-dancer.”

“Same’s your lady love of the same name used to be, hm? Makes me think there’s something special here somewhere. By the way, you haven’t, asked me about her.”

Reid wondered: Was I afraid to? Aloud: “Well?”

“She’s not doing badly either. Moped a lot at first, but lately—Remember Peneleos?” Diores nudged Reid and winked. “Het been giving her what she needs. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No,” Reid said faintly.

Old Erissa had been through many hands. It was the maiden whom he hoped to save.

“No,” Lydra said, “I will not tell you what passes between Theseus and me. You’re presumptuous to ask.”

“But he’s part of the danger!” Reid protested.

She looked down at him from her elevated throne. Behind her lean body and stern countenance, the Griffin Judge awaited the dead. “How do you know?”

“B-b-by my foreknowledge.”

“What then of the oracle commanding alliance?” Her tone cracked like a blow across his ears. “Or did you lie about that?”

Lamps flickered in a cold space that besides they two held only shadows. But guards waited beyond the door. They were unarmed; no weapons might be brought to the sacred isle. However, four strong men could quickly make a prisoner of Duncan Reid.

“Criminals go to the quarries on Crete,” Lydra said. “They do not live long. Nor do they wish to.”

“I did not—my lady, I—I asked for this audience before Diores leaves b-b-because I suspect him and his master—”

“On what grounds? Aegeus rebelled but is now a dotard. Theseus slew his Cretan-raised cousins but then turned into a dutiful prince. He will become the same kind of king.”

“I listened—to what they, the Achaeans, what they were saying—”

“Oh, yes. They grumble, they bluster, no doubt a few of them plot, but to what end? Theseus can be expected to keep a rein on them, the more so if he may hope to win a higher place in the Thalassocracy for himself and his realm.” Lydia stabbed a finger at Reid. “Are you trying to sow discord, outlander? Whom do you serve?”

He thought: I have to tell her the truth, whatever the risk. Therels no choice left.

“My lady,” he said slowly, “I never lied to you, but I did hold back certain matters. Please remember, I’m a complete stranger here. I had to find out what the situation is, the rights and wrongs, the ins and outs. Including whether you would believe the whole story. I don’t yet know that. But will you listen?”

She nodded.

“The mason I can prophesy,” he said, “is that I come from the future.”

“The what?” She frowned, trying to understand. The Keftiu language didn’t lend itself well to such a concept.

But she caught the idea faster than he had hoped. And apart from signing herself and kissing her talisman, she was curiously little shaken. He wondered if she, living in a world of myth and mystery, looked on this as only another miracle.

“Yes,” she murmured, “that explains a great deal?’

And later: “Knossos will indeed fall? The Thalassocracy will be less than a legend?’ She turned about and stared long at the portrait of the Judge. “Well,” she said low, “all things are mortal?’

Reid went on, describing what he could of the basic problem. His chief omission was the fact that the two Erissas were identical. He feared the possible consequences to the girl. It seemed merely needful to be vague about the date from which the woman came. The name was not uncommon and Lydra was being given a monstrous lot else to think about. He also skipped the tradition that she, traitress to the Minos, would herself be betrayed. It looked too insulting, thus too dangerous.

“What you tell me,” ahe said, flat-voiced, “is that the gods, decree Theseus shall overthrow the sea empire.”

“No, my lady. The single thing I’m certain of is that the volcano will wipe out Atlantis within months, the. Cretans will be conquered, and a story will tell how a Theseus killed a monster in Knossos. The facts need not bang together very closely. The tale could be quite false. I know already it’s wrong in several ways at least. No one Minotaur ever existed, half human and half brute, just a series of sacrificial bulls. The youths and maidens from Athens are not slain but well treated. Ariadne is not the kingh daughter. The Labyrinth is not a maze imprisoning the Minotaur, simply the chief palace of your priest-king, the House of the Double Ax. I could go on. But you must understand my meaning. Why should the Thalassocracy not survive the foundering of this island, perhaps for many generations?”

“If its holy of holies is destroyed by divine will, then the wrath of the gods is upon the people of the Minos,” Lydra said quietly.

“They could lose heart on that account,” Reid agreed. “But I swear, my lady, the causes will be as natural as ... as a rock happening to fall on a man’s head.”

“Is that man not fated to die by that rock?”

Reid warned himself: You’re dealing with an alien world-view. Don’t stop to argue.

He said, “We can’t be sure what’s ordained for Crete. Asterion wills men to strive bravely to the end. Evacuating your folk to safety can be our way of striving.”