“Wait here,” he said, unsheathing his weapons and approaching the hidden gate. It was sealed tight. He studied the wood but found no markings nor any other traces of tampering. He neither smelled blood or bile or rot either, and he searched for a hint of it in the wind.
“I have returned!” Vedikus called out again, stepping back.
This time a call was returned. “Hold!”
He narrowed his eyes and sheathed one of his weapons, turning to collect Aldora, but she was directly behind him with her dagger in hand. “You will not need that, female.”
The gatewooshedopen.
***
Aldora bent and slippedher weapon back into her boot, rising when a minotaur appeared at the gate. Her throat constricted despite the excitement coursing through her.
Will they accept me? Will they all be like Vedikus?
She did not think she could soften more than one warrior minotaur in her lifetime, let alone five. A morbid hope filled her at the prospect of more humans being brought here. Aldora buried the thought.
Her back stiffened when the minotaur approached.
He was bigger than Vedikus but only in height, with one horn broken at mid-point. It’s midpoint broken off in smooth detail, making the scars of on his face even more pronounced. He was dressed the same as Vedikus, mostly naked but for a thick leather loincloth that covered his front and back, leaving the sides of his powerful thighs exposed. His legs and feet were also those of a bull’s, but whereas Vedikus had a lighter appearance, this one had black fur with shoulder length hair to match upon his head. Part of his face was hidden behind it.
She reached up and gently placed her hand on Vedikus’s arm, her heart settling at the touch.
“A human,” the new minotaur rasped, stilling when his eyes landed on her.
“Her name is Aldora and she is your sister now. My mate.”
The minotaur’s mouth hardened which accentuated the rough markings of his flesh even more.How could someone survive so much pain?She rubbed her wrists.
“How?” Dezetus asked, his tone darkening.
“You demand answers after a long journey. We will speak later once we have settled. Aldora can not handle the cold like we can.”
She glanced between the two minotaurs, noting their rigidity.I’m not surprised.At least she knew what to expect.
“Hail,” she said with as much courage as she could muster.
Dezetus’s frown deepened, and he did not greet her back. “Then settle and rest fast, for we have much to speak about and I have little taste for patience.” He turned and stormed back through the gate.
Vedikus’s snorted and re-sheathed his axe roughly. Aldora captured his free hand and tangled her fingers with his, walking with him through the eerie black gate. Beyond the barrier, she was shocked to find ruins—ruins that were not so different from her own world. The skeletal, gothic buildings were familiar to her. Their history apparent at first glance.
Remnants of Savadon.
Dezetus was nowhere to be seen.
“Where are the others?” she asked as Vedikus led her further in. They stopped short at one of the many buildings built into the rocks.
“Astegur is not here as you know, and unless he has returned before us, only Dezetus, Hinekur, and Thyrius are here standing guard. We are small, but not rash. I will see you inside before a new illness has a chance to take over where the last has been evicted.” He pulled back a leather skin hanging in the entryway with an unusual pattern that she could not place and waited until she passed inside.
Light filtered through a stone opening above the arch of the door but from nowhere else. She stepped, and into what appeared to once be a home, long ago. Aldora wrapped her arms around herself as she made her way through the space. More light brightened her view when a second window was opened.
So human.
Her heart strummed, taking in the cryptic space, and accepting the fact that she felt like she belonged here where Vedikus did not. His horns scrapped the ceiling in agreement.
The only thing that didn’t feel entirely human was the decoration. Every wall in every room was covered in skins of monsters and animals that she had no name for, and some she shuddered to consider asking about. Despite the walls being covered, the only room that felt inhabited was the first. There was a stone oven built into the wall, and a single stool in the corner with whetstones and weapons lining the walls to its sides. In front of the oven was a large pile of furs she assumed was a bed.
Her mouth watered looking at it.
