Vasiliki sat on her bed, irritably fiddling with a spotless, polished arrow.

Her brother, Daedalos, walked in with her breakfast.

She glanced over at him. “Daedalos?”

“Yes, my Lady?” He kept his gaze on the ground, studiously avoiding her gaze.

She sighed. “Daedalos, no one else is around. Everyone has gone to examine the prisoner. We can speak freely.”

“Your Ladyship might get into trouble if we are caught.”

Vasiliki dismissed the notion with a wave. “Daedalos, I don’t care. It isn’t right that my own brother is kept in subjugation to me. You ought to be treated just like me. You’ve my mother’s blood in your veins too. Instead, you are a slave forced to grovel every time a woman walks past you, high-ranking or otherwise. You are forced to grovel before even the lowest of us. I don’t like it.” Vasiliki crossed her arms, glaring at him.

He smiled. “Vasiliki, my sister, I still marvel that you think this way after living your whole life in a society of women who hate us men and boys.”

“Daedalos, my brother… No one could believe that you were a pack animal as our mother wishes us to believe. Not if they knew you as I do. I might believe it if I saw only the beaten down men who serve the normal villagers. But not when I’ve come to know you.” Vasiliki grinned at him. “One can hardly believe you a servant. Not when you speak as you do!”

“I am the picture of respect, Princess.” Daedalos mimicked his servile tone, which he used whenever addressing anyone else.

Vasiliki laughed.

I love hearing her laugh. I wish she would do it more often. I remember how she laughed the first time I ever met her. She was just ten and I was six. I was so afraid that she would be angry with me for approaching her and speaking to her. I was afraid she might tell our mother. I should’ve known she would never do that just by looking into her eyes. He smiled slightly.

Vasiliki smirked. “Daedalos, all anyone has to do is look into your eyes and they’ll know that is an act.” In fact, they wouldn’t even have to look that far. His posture alone shows it. But perhaps that is only because I know him well and the others do not. Vasiliki mused.

He took on a more serious tone. “That is why I never look any further than my own feet.”

“You know it is the law that you are not allowed to look at any woman or meet their eyes. It is…improper…” Vasiliki made a face. That’s another thing I can’t stand. I should write a book of the things in the world that annoy me. It would be an interesting project and more than likely an interesting read.

“True, but I understand the wisdom of it, as well. If they but knew that I could read and write as well as any woman here and that I still fought, I would be killed instantly.” Daedalos poured her wine.

Vasiliki shrugged. “You speak truth, brother.”

He turned to her, smiling. “Remember how it was when we first met. You were just a few years older than I, and our father…” He hesitated, uncertain.

“I’ve never known any father. Mother never speaks of him, and if I so much as ask her to point out the man who would have filled that role, she scowls and hisses at me like a scalded cat. She hates that her prized daughter would even consider the fact that a man played a role in her existence.” Vasiliki spat. Yet another thing to add to my list of grievances. Will it never end? Will I ever be happy? She sighed, flicking a strand of loose hair out of her face.

Daedalos shrunk from her rage. “I am sorry, Vasiliki. I did not mean to anger you.”

She glanced over at him, frowning. “What? No! Daedalos, you did not anger me. It is merely the injustice of life that has angered me. And such injustice it is!” She touched his arm gently. “Do you know, Mother plans to behead the poor man who appeared in the middle of our courtyard today? The only thing saving him is the fact that Sofia Andromeda spoke for him. Says he’s some sort of prophesied one who will bring us out of this hellish world.”

Daedalos recovered, laughing. “Vasiliki, surely you don’t believe we will escape this place? Our ancestors knew what they were doing. They created this dimension, or whatever this is.” He waved a hand to indicate their whole world, their planet. “And then, they decided to stay. They built the Way to be a path between here and whatever Outside may be. Then they destroyed the technology that would allow us to operate the Way in order to keep anyone from leaving.”

“Well, the stranger came.” Vasiliki huffed. We could escape this place! We have to someday. I can’t spend the rest of my life stuck in a tribe doomed to extinction because of the foolishness of my mother and the rest of the women in the tribe!

“True. That means that the Way is still open Outside. So apparently, only the Inside where we live is closed. Well, I suppose it makes sense. After all, they brought everyone Inside and there was no one left Outside to destroy the mechanisms out there.” Daedalos mused.

Vasiliki shrugged. “Who cares? The point is, we can’t get out unless we can figure out how to fix and operate the Way. Otherwise, we may as well forget about the Outside, and just concentrate on the problems Inside. Namely, the fact that our population is declining. And all because the women hate the men. Because they treat you and the others like slaves, they have doomed themselves.”

“Where do you come up with these things?”

“Daedalos! It’s common sense!”

“Are you sure you haven’t been reading…” He stopped, catching himself.

“Reading what, the Forbidden Tomes?”

“Well, yes! After all, admit it, Vasiliki, you’ve been into them before. Your mother is the only one who is supposed to have access, but we both know you’ve figured out how to get that access. Our security isn’t what it was in the Old Days.”

“How do you know so much about the Old Days when you have no way to access the Forbidden Tomes?” Vasiliki scoffed.

Daedalos smiled. “The men tell stories of what it was like. Everyone had better lives then. Even the men despite the fact that we were still slaves. There was more of something called… Technology…”

Vasiliki laughed, clapping her hands with delight. “Daedalos, you surprise me! You must tell me these stories. Why have you never spoken a word that you knew such stories?”

Daedalos shrugged. “You never asked.”

“A fair point.”

He grinned. “I need to go back to my duties.” Duties! I wish I didn’t have so many. It’s always work and no fun for us men. Daedalos tried not to be resentful of Vasiliki’s position and freedom, but it was hard sometimes. She was so lucky not to be in his position. What would she do if she found herself in that position? But no! I would never let that happen. I’d die before I let anyone hurt my sister.  

She gave him a mischievous smile. “Daedalos, why do you have to go? Why not stay and tell me some of these stories the other men tell you?”

He crossed the clay floor to look out the slit in the wall that served as a window squinting to see through the rain, which had become a downpour. He shook his head. “Your mother is back. I cannot.”

She grimaced. “You’d better be quick then. She’ll head straight here. She said so herself.”

Daedalos rolled his eyes. “Lovely.” He muttered.

His bare feet padded across the cool floor.

Vasiliki grinned at him. “Daedalos, why don’t you just… Use the secret passage?”

He perked up at that. “What secret passage?”

She laughed. “I can’t tell you that there’s a secret passage underneath the floor in my wardrobe because you might tell someone and I also can’t tell you that I might someday wish to use it to escape this awful, god-forsaken place. Too dangerous.”

Daedalos rolled his eyes at her. “For someone who can’t tell me all these things, you sure do let them slip often enough.” He turned to head into the wardrobe, but a voice arrested them both.

“What is he doing in here, Vasiliki? You know that none of the man-beasts are to come within a foot of you unless I give permission.” Queen Kyrene stood in the doorway, glaring at Daedalos.

He hung his head, trying to be the picture of servility. He shuffled to the door, not speaking. He and Vasiliki knew that if he spoke, Queen Kyrene could and probably would have him killed instantly.

Prophetess Sofia Andromeda stood just behind her Queen.

“Go!” Queen Kyrene waved an imperious hand at Daedalos.

He exited quickly keeping his head bowed and his eyes on the ground.

Vasiliki burned with outrage, trembling with little restraint over her terrible anger. Her mouth tasted bitter and her stomach clenched into a knot. She always does this! She chases off everyone, even the girls my own age so that I don’t have any friends. What right does she have? Who does she think she is?

Queen Kyrene walked into the room once he was gone. She pulled a chair up and sat down beside Vasiliki’s bed. Sofia Andromeda stood respectfully behind her Queen.

Queen Kyrene looked at her daughter with barely disguised annoyance. Her hand fondled the hilt of her bone knife as she spoke in a carefully measured voice. “Vasiliki, what was that slave doing in here?”

Vasiliki knew better than to sigh. “He was bringing me my breakfast.” She gestured to her meal.

Queen Kyrene frowned. “If he was giving you breakfast, then why was he over by your wardrobe?”

Vasiliki shrugged. The last thing she would do would be to tell her mother why Daedalos had been near her and her wardrobe. Her mother didn’t know about the secret passage, and if Vasiliki had anything to say about it, she never would.

Sofia Andromeda stood, silently appraising Vasiliki as she dripped all over Vasiliki’s floor, her clothing still wet from the rain outside.

Vasiliki glared right back.

“I asked you a question, Vasiliki. Answer it.”

Vasiliki wracked her mind for something, anything, that could explain Daedalos’s position without getting either of them in trouble or compromising her secret escape route. “He… He was…”

“Don’t you dare lie to me. When you can’t come tell me off the bat, I know you are up to something. What was he doing to you? I’ll have him beaten if he laid even a finger on you!”

Vasiliki didn’t know why, but she couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Mother, with all due respect, Daedalos is my brother! I know he is, don’t you dare deny it! The women all whispered about how you’d had a boy when he was born sixteen years ago. I was four, but I wasn’t stupid! The way we treat our own brothers and fathers is horrible!” She spat.

Queen Kyrene flushed crimson and a vein in her jaw twitched. “Sofia, you may leave us.”

Vasiliki knew she had crossed the line.  

Sofia bowed respectfully and left.

Queen Kyrene sat silent for a few more moments until she was sure that Sofia was gone. Then she spoke. “Vasiliki, I don’t care who that boy is. He’s a slave. I trained you better than this, and this level of rebellion is unacceptable. If it were anyone else, they would be killed for heresy! Now, I don’t want to hear another word about this. If word gets out that the Queen’s own daughter believes that men are better than slaves and animals, you will die. I will kill you myself to keep our society from collapsing. I don’t want you to speak to that boy again unless you must. And you will always have someone else around with you whenever you consort with any of the men or boys.”

Vasiliki hissed. “You have no right!”

“I am your mother and your Queen. I have every right, young lady!”

Vasiliki snatched up her arrows and shoved them into her quiver. She hoisted it onto her tanned shoulders and grabbed her bow. “I’m going hunting.” She snapped.

Queen Kyrene stood. “Vasiliki, you answer me now. Do you understand?”

Vasiliki glared at her mother, standing toe to toe with her. “I don’t care who you are, I will not, I will never agree with you about this. When I am Queen, the men will be treated well. They will be treated as equals as they should be! Until then, I will do everything I can to undermine you. Do you understand me?” Vasiliki raged.

Her mother grabbed her arm, twisting it to make her daughter hold still. “You will not speak to your Queen and mother that way! You will not go hunting. You will stay here.”

Vasiliki wrenched her arm from her mother’s grasp. “Your daughter I am no longer!” She spat.

Queen Kyrene stared at her. “You wouldn’t dare invoke that clause of our law!”

“I would! It is my right to revoke my inheritance and place as your daughter if I feel that I am not suited to the task or if in some way I believe you are incapable of ruling in a way I wish to be associated with.”

Queen Kyrene’s face fell. “Vasiliki, please. Do not do this! Our people need you as their Princess, as their Queen.”

“You want to murder an innocent man. One who, by your own admission, just showed up! Mother, he fell out of the sky, has no idea who or what we are, and certainly doesn’t know what happens to men in this tribe! And yet, somehow, you think it is justified to kill him.”

“It is. Our law required it.”

That stopped Vasiliki short. “Required it? He’s already dead?” She sank back on her bed, shaking her head. “He might have been the one to free us, and you killed him! What were you thinking?”

Queen Kyrene frowned. “I didn’t kill him. No one did. He is lodged in one of the cells.”

Vasiliki grimaced. “What have you decided to do with him, then?”

“He stays on, alive and as a guest.”

Vasiliki had the good sense not to show her ecstasy at that statement. “So, you believe now that he is the prophesied one?”

Queen Kyrene nodded. “I have no other choice. The prophecy seems very clear. It speaks of a visitor falling from the sky, a man, not a woman.” She made a sour face. “It is no wonder that Sofia never spoke of this to us. If she had, we would have proclaimed her mad and had her killed. A man, save us?” She snorted. “But, it is very clear. A man who fell from the sky will free us.”

Vasiliki smiled grimly. “So, what will he do now?”

“Well, that is where you come in. You are going to help him figure out how to free us.”

“What! No!”

“Vasiliki, you will. I command it. Besides, you seem to like the brutes so much anyway. It shouldn’t bother you to do this.”

Vasiliki scowled. “I don’t know him!”

“You don’t know that slave boy, either.” Queen Kyrene snapped.

“He’s my brother. It’s different.” Vasiliki crossed her arms.

“It is no different. This man-beast will need your help to learn our language and to read our texts in order to figure out what the way home is. The way home… To think after all these years, we might finally be freed from this prison!” Queen Kyrene laughed.

Vasiliki did not join in the laughter. “I will not do it.”

Queen Kyrene’s laughter dissipated. “You will because if you do not, I will have you flogged for insubordination.”

Vasiliki glared at her mother. “Fine! If you insist!”

“I do.” Queen Kyrene’s voice was distant and cold, but every part of her body radiated a smug satisfaction.

Vasiliki huffed and stormed out of the room, indicating their conversation was at an end.