He paced across the throne room impatiently, exceedingly annoyed with his brother, King Minos of Knossos. Minos, at ease on his stone throne, watched his impressive brother with amusement. In contrast to Rhadamanthys' sumptuous, theatrical clothing, Minos wore plain white, a long chiton without decoration of any kind.

"Brother," said Rhadamanthys menacingly, "You are being far too sentimental about this whole thing."

"It is not a matter of sentiment," Minos said mildly. "Daedalus is a very useful person, quite apart from his genius. The people understand him as the intelligence of the kingdom, and they are proud."

"He is absolutely unreliable," Rhadamanthys said.

Minos shrugged. "Perhaps unpredictable."

"That is the point, brother," said Rhadamanthys sourly. "What is to prevent him from giving the secret of the sails to anyone who happens to ask? He has far too much freedom, even if you insist on keeping him alive. He goes wherever he wants."

"As does every citizen of Knossos," Minos reminded him gently. "Do you want me to put him in chains then, brother?"

"Or kill him," Rhadamanthys said. "While he is alive and free, he is a threat to us all."

"I do not regard him as a threat, I regard him as the foundation on which our empire is built. Without him, we would have to compete in trade with every barbarian who can lift a piece of cloth to the wind."

Rhadamanthys snorted. "I live closer to the barbarians than you do, brother. And that is another point I wished to raise at this meeting. I cannot approve of your bringing Athenians to Knossos."

"At some point," Minos said intently, "we must begin to help civilize these savages. We are surrounded on all sides by barbarians that are barely more than animals. If we allow them to remain ignorant and brutal, our trade will die in a hundred years. We must educate them. We must somehow plant the seeds of intelligence. It is in the interests of good trade in the future. You always think in the short term, Rhadamanthys, even when we were children. You never looked to tomorrow."

"Frankly, I don't care about tomorrow. I am interested in today, and today I say that these Athenians are also a threat. You initiate them into the Dance of the Bull, you open the secrets of the Goddess to them. It is too much, Minos, far too much. "

"As to initiation," Minos said, "that is out of my hands. I am only the King. Affairs of the Goddess are in the hands of the Queen. I cannot interfere with her domain any more than she can interfere with my conduct of the trade. Without knowledge of the Goddess, how can anyone be truly human? We would be no more than barbarians like the Athenians."

Rhadamanthys sighed. "You are as stubborn as ever, brother. But I will ask you one more time. Kill Daedalus or confine him. If you do not, you will regret it."

"I will do neither," said Minos. "In any case, he will be well occupied for a time. He tells me he is going to pay court to the Goddess and learn the true nature of Her and of Love."

Rhadamanthys slapped his forehead with his palm. "That is exactly what I mean," he said. "The man has no sense of proportion, no common sense at all. You have no idea what he is going to do next. He is dangerous, Minos."

"It was not common sense, but uncommon sense, that gave us Daedalus' wings," Minos said. "I will not restrict him, Rhadamanthys."

"Then I have failed in what I came to accomplish," Rhadamanthys said sadly.

"Oh, don't dramatize, brother," Minos laughed. "You came for the festival welcoming the Athenians. Enjoy yourself, and stop finding dangers and threats at every turn."

"I find them because they exist," Rhadamanthys said. "In the Cyclades I am threatened by the barbarians every day. You have been so long without threat in Knossos that you have forgotten what it is."

"That is the bounty of the Goddess."

"And luck."

"And good seamanship," Minos smiled. "It all works together." He rose from the stone throne and clasped his brother's richly caped shoulder. "Be of good spirit, Rhadamanthys. Enjoy yourself while you are here. I will meet you at the port for the welcoming celebration."

Minos left the small room, leaving Rhadamanthys sitting and scowling on the small stone bench against one wall.

Daedalus, he thought. Daedalus.

As he had expected, his brother failed to see how serious he was. But the rumors he had heard coming from Athens were enough to make him wake sweating in the early morning. Every barbarian tribe on the mainland was determined to have the secret of Daedalus' wings, and it was only a matter of time before the crazy madman gave it away as freely as he had created it. Minos was blind. The living in Knossos, center of the civilized world, had softened his brain.

Rhadamanthys sighed. He regretted going against his brother. But if Minos would not take some action to protect them, he would have to.

He left the throne room, passing the captain of his royal guard, who stood waiting outside the doorway. He motioned the soldier to join him as he walked down the worn stone stairs from the tiny throne room into the brilliant dawn light slanting across the main courtyard of the palace.

Rhadamanthys' quarters were across the square from the palace's main building, and still in shadow from the rising sun. Off to the south, in the tiny garden adjoining the palace, he could see his two nieces, the golden Ariadne and the dark Phaedra. Ariadne was leaning against a tree while Phaedra sat at her feet. They were so engrossed in their conversation they never looked up. Briefly, Rhadamanthys wondered what girls of that age talked about.

"Demenes," he said, as they approached the center of the square. "Find me an assassin. One with skill."

The captain of the guard nodded.