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“I would guess that all the minotaurs in this area have committed some sin that placed them here.”
The temperature dropped as she sent him a chiding glance. “So this is more a prison than a suburb?”
“Same thing.” He shrugged. “From what I could gather, this outskirt area is the last layer of protection for the minotaurs.”
With a roll of her eyes, she stepped back; then, tilting back her head, she turned in a slow circle. Ryshi didn’t need the sharp chill in the air to tell him that she was using her powers. He could sense it through their mental connection.
“I don’t smell the gargoyle,” she at last said, her voice edged with frustration.
Ryshi felt his own share of irritation. As much as he was enjoying his time with Sofie, he wanted to be back in Chicago. Not only because he needed to return to his hunt, but he hated this place. There was something rancid about it. As if there was a rotting core that he could sense beneath the layers of illusion.
With an effort, he kept his emotions tightly leashed. The sooner they could find the stupid gargoyle, the sooner they could escape the labyrinth.
“There are dungeons protected by magic beneath the colosseum,” he told Sofie. “If he’s being held in one of the cells, we might not be able to detect his presence.”
She sent him a suspicious glance. “How do you know about the dungeons?”
Ryshi grimly refused to allow his memory of being in this town to rise to his mind. He couldn’t allow her to realize why he’d been searching every nook and cranny of this hellhole.
“I thought they might have hidden the exit there,” he smoothly lied.
She didn’t believe him, but once again she didn’t press for the truth. A tiny fear bloomed in the center of his heart. Had she lost interest? Hell, maybe she’d never really had any interest. Maybe he’d imagined her reluctant fascination.
Sofie thankfully broke into his dark thoughts. “Which way is the colosseum?”
“It’s on the other side of town.”
“Of course it is.” She shivered in disgust. “Is there a way to avoid the mess?”
Ryshi turned to lead her toward the nearby woods. “We can skirt along these trees, but we need to be careful. There are guards patrolling the area.”
They entered the shadows of the towering pines, staying close enough to the edge to keep an eye on the town. Not only was Ryshi worried about guards, but there was always the chance some idiot would catch the place on fire and it would spread to the woods. He’d seen evidence the place had been burned to the ground more than once.
They’d walked nearly halfway around the town when Sofie at last broke the silence.
“I don’t know anything about minotaurs,” she admitted. “I know there are a few legends, but I never paid any attention to them.”
Ryshi wouldn’t have known anything about them either. They’d left this world so long ago that few creatures had memories of the mysterious tribes. Or were they herds? In any case, he’d only studied them because he’d heard of a magical item they possessed. An item that he’d desperately needed. The information had been sketchy at best and most of what he’d learned about the minotaurs had only come after he’d entered the labyrinth.
Too late to do any good.
“Obviously, they are reclusive to the point of absurdity,” he said. “Not only did they create the labyrinth to protect themselves from invaders, but until Styx arrived in my cell to tell me that the gargoyle had been kidnapped, I assumed they never left their homeland.”
“What else?”
“They have the strength of an orc and the endurance of a werewolf,” Ryshi promptly answered.
He didn’t want her to underestimate them. They looked slow and stupid, but he’d seen them in battle in the colosseum. They were intimidating fighters who had no sense of fear.
“Do they have magic?”
“They can create illusions. And a few have the ability to move through gateways.”
“Like the fey?”
Ryshi shook his head. Fey creatures, including himself, could open portals that would lead from one place to another. Usually to a place far away. Or even another dimension.
“It isn’t a portal. Or not like any I’ve seen before. They disappear and a second later they reappear a few feet away. It makes it almost impossible to defeat them. As soon as you think you have them cornered, they vanish and reappear standing directly behind you.”
