More inspirational pics . . .
By the time they arrived at Little Bay (the cave-mouth to
the underworld) on the eastern side of Crete, Robert had finally woken up and was now looking
rather red-faced and sheepish. He thanked Herman for stopping him from going overboard but Herman
waved it off and told him that stronger and older men than him had not been able to resist the song
of the Seirine Sisters.
All this, however,
was soon forgotten for the sight that met their eyes now was so unexpected it stopped the children literally in their tracks. The whole
side of the eastern cliff-side was a magnificent building that was chiseled and sculpted into the rock face
itself. Stone steps led up to terraces and beyond these were rooms with balconies. Each were filled
with beautiful plants, flowers and painted clay pots.
At the base of
the stone steps stood a small wooden pier that docked boats similar to Charon’s
boat. To the right of this, four huge stone pillars towered
above them, supporting an overhanging stone roof and in-between these pillars sat two stone
Sphinx’s at least twenty feet tall that looked out to sea.
Inside was just
as impressive, the walls were decorated with beautiful paintings of huge scenic
landscapes, animals, fish and people. The girls looked
around them totally transfixed. The rooms were all lit brightly with a plentitude of torches around
the walls and each furnished with wooden furniture and dressed with colorful fabrics and painted
pottery.
Some rooms were bigger than others. The larger sized ones seemed more communal areas where
people gathered and children played. At the end of the long corridor they stepped into a large hall.
The ceiling, way above their heads, featured carefully cut out slits from the thin rock. Light shone down
from above through brown coloured glass giving the hall a warm hue of golden oranges and reds. One
side of the room was adorned with paintings and great tapestries, whereas the other side of
the room featured shelf upon shelf of the biggest book collection Grace had ever seen. Two sets of
wooden stairs and platforms took the reader up two levels, all packed with books of every kind.
‘Is this heaven?’ Grace whispered.
‘Rumors that Will
had reached Crete, all those years ago, and that he had escaped the dragon’s clutches originally came from the Mer-people. So we knew he
was here somewhere but we did not know where, until recently when one of our hunters stumbled
across the secret beach of Lebena, where the Scylla beast lived, and Will was spotted in her lair.
The high cliffs, to the wooded beach, were too treacherous to climb down, let alone try and lift him back
up to escape. We knew then the only way around
was by sea,’ said Iasonas.