Almost 10:30. Little more than an hour-and-a-half till midnight and the moment of Knossos' doom. Sometime between now and then, he had to meet the Minotaur. For a moment he held the slim girl in his arms even closer than before. Then, ever so gently, he moved her back away a fraction; lifted her small, satin-smooth chin. "Ariadne...." "Yes, my lord?" "There's a thing I must do now, Ariadne. An important thing, for both of us." A pause. "I need your help to do it." "My help--?" The dark eyes widened. "My lord knows he has only to command. What must I do?" Carefully, Burke picked his words; strove to hold the tension from his voice: "Among the people of this palace, there's one called Daedalus. You know him?" "Daedalus the Smith, you mean?" The jet ringlets danced as the girl laughed. "Of course I know him. He's chief of all my father's craftsmen. What is it you seek of him?" Again, Burke weighed his words. "Some talk, that's all. A chance to ask a few questions." "Talk--at this hour?" Ariadne stared. "I have no choice," Burke shrugged. "To see him by daylight would be as much as my life is worth." "Oh." "Yes." Time for a smile now, Burke decided. His most engaging smile. "You see, there are things the man knows, things his skill's taught him--" Ariadne stiffened in the same instant. "Things Daedalus knows--?" For the first time, her voice held an edge, dark shadows of suspicion. "How could a smith know anything that means so much? What might he say that my lord Dion had not already heard a thousand times?" "What--?" Burke felt his smile go stiff. "Why--why, many things--his skills, his artifices--" He groped and fumbled. "No!" In a flash all Ariadne's humility of manner vanished. She thrust Burke's restraining arm aside, defiance in the gesture. "Do you think me a fool, my lord Dion? Daedalus the Smith holds but one secret that such as you might seek to learn. One only!" Burke stood ever so still. Ariadne spat like a cat. "You seek the secret of the Labyrinth, my lord! You would stalk the Minotaur in his very lair! Waste no breath trying to lull me with denials!" Burke sighed. A weary sigh, heavy with the knowledge of all the things he could not change. And, from Ariadne: "What makes you think you're destined to succeed, where each year fourteen others fail? How dare you hope to live, when the monster that is the Minotaur has slain the mightiest warriors of all Athens?" How, indeed? Of a sudden, Burke wanted no more of such questions. He cut in flat and hard: "Shut up, wench!" The girl stopped as short as if he'd slapped her. Her face paled with anger. Only then, as she stared up at Burke, that too passed, and a mask of sudden fear came to replace the fury. Her naked breasts lifted with a quick, indrawn breath. She fell back an uncertain step ... another ... another.... "My lord--Dionysus--"