Except…Theseus squinted to focus.That pig was a sow.“That’s a female pig.”
“Of course.This is the Island of Swordmaidens.”Ariadne raised her eyebrows at him.
“Yes, but that pig is a mother.”Something that was rather obvious, based on the way its body was swollen from feeding piglets.“Which I know for a fact can’t happen without a male pig being around, at least for a little while.”
Ariadne shrugged.“It is still free to come and go as it chooses.”
He wasn’t sure he wanted to know how this giant pig would get on and off the island.
As he kept an eye on the pig, its tail lifted and something golden popped out and dropped to the ground.
He glanced at Ariadne.“The pig poops gold.”
As if this day wasn’t already weird enough.
“It’s a giant pig.Obviously it’s magical.”Ariadne pointed at the pig, though she kept her hand low to avoid the pig seeing them.
Ah, so this was part of the test.The temptation to catch the pig and keep it for himself rather than turn it over to Queen Hippolyta.
Another bellow came from the pig as it plowed down yet another tree.Theseus flinched and ducked lower behind the rock.He didn’t care if this pig pooped gold, diamonds, and rubies.No way was he keeping that creature for himself.
He turned back to the giant sow and studied it again.It was alone, even though it must have piglets young enough to need care.
That was why it was so angry.It was separated from its young.
If he couldn’t rope and drag this gigantic pig back to its piglets, then perhaps he could use one of the piglets to lure it back to its pen, wherever that was.
“Can you show me its pen and piglets?”Theseus eased down into hiding behind the rock, glancing at Ariadne.
“Yes.Follow me.”Ariadne crawled backwards deeper into the brush before she stood.
If she agreed so easily, then finding the pen wasn’t the test, even if figuring out that this sow had piglets seemed to be part of it.
Theseus matched Ariadne’s movements, working to stay quiet to avoid attracting the attention of the enraged pig once again.
Once they were out of sight of the pig—though they could still hear its distant bellows and squeals—Ariadne returned to the path.
The trail sloped upward, leaving the forest as it climbed into a rocky section of the island.Finally, they arrived at the mouth of a canyon surrounded by steep cliffs on all but one side.This final side had a large timber stockade taller than Theseus built across it.A wooden gate was locked with a bar the size of a small tree.
No part of the fence or gate was damaged.It was even still locked.
That meant the pig hadn’t gotten away on its own.It had been purposely released and driven into the forest as part of this test.
Theseus caught Ariadne glancing at him, something in her gaze pointed.Did she want him to read into this situation?It seemed cruel to drive a mother pig away from its young.
He would think about it later.Right now, the priority was reuniting the giant sow with its piglets.
Reaching the gate, he gripped one end of the locking bar.“Could you please lift the other end?”
Ariadne lifted her end of the locking bar without apparent effort as Theseus heaved his end free of its bracket.They lowered the bar to the ground where it wouldn’t be in the way.
Theseus yanked open the large gate and stepped inside the pigpen.
The smell hit him first.Apparently even magical pigs had that same rancid manure stench as regular pigs.A brown slurry spread out in front of him, veined with gold streaks.
Five piglets splashed about in the muck, occasionally squealing and grunting as if they were looking for their mother and were worried that they couldn’t find her.Their brown fur appeared softer than the wiry texture of their mother’s coat, and stripes of lighter fur lined their backs.They might have been cute, if they hadn’t been so big they reached his knees and probably weighed fifty or sixty pounds.
As he stood there, gaping, one of the piglets pooped out a stream of gold.
