Warrior Heroes: The Spartan's March Read online

  Too late.

  “You there!” a man called. “Did you see the slave?”

  Finn looked up to a truly intimidating sight. A young man loomed over him, a look of savage hatred twisting his face into a grotesque mask. His long, dark hair fell about his shoulders and he wore the red tunic of the Spartans. In one hand he carried a long whip, and in the other he held his sword in a tight, angry grip that made the veins in his forearm stand out.

  “Did you see the slave?” the young Spartan shouted. “Tell me now!”

  Finn swallowed and shook his head.

  “If I find you have lied, boy...” the Spartan began. But then a shout went up.

  “We have him, Drakon!”

  Finn was almost relieved, until he saw the pitiful state of Nikodemos as two other young soldiers dragged him, whimpering, across the dust and threw him at Drakon’s feet. Part of Finn wanted to creep away, but somehow he could not tear himself from the scene.

  “Do you imagine that you helots are safe from me just because we are at war with Xerxes?” Drakon addressed the trembling youth.

  Nikodemos shook his head, not daring to look up at his tormentor.

  “With whom is Sparta always at war, slave?” Drakon asked, slowly drawing his sword.

  “With the helots, master,” the youth replied.

  Finn felt his stomach turn. He had a near-perfect memory for everything the Professor had taught him, and it had saved his life many times before. The word that came to the forefront of his thoughts as he saw the young Spartan towering over the slave in the dust was ‘Crypteia.’ Wasn’t it the Crypteia who had massacred Adakios’s family and neighbours?

  This isn’t right, thought Finn. He’s going to kill him.

  “Please, master!” Nikodemos begged. “I have done nothing wrong. I am here to serve the army. I want to do my part.”

  Drakon’s upper lip curled back in a sneer.

  “Do you know how we in the Crypteia serve Sparta?” he snarled, raising his sword over his head. “We do it by killing helots!”

  “No!” Finn blurted out, unable to stop himself. “Surely we need every man alive. Xerxes outnumbers us by thousands!”

  Drakon’s head whipped around and his eyes flashed pure fury at Finn, who instantly regretted his intervention. How was this helping with their mission? All he was doing was getting himself into trouble. It was usually Arthur who messed everything up before they had even started.

  “The boy is right, by Zeus!” a voice boomed out. “This is not the day to kill those who help us fight, Drakon, although the fighting is now over for today. We have held the pass for another twenty-four hours and brought glory on Sparta. It was Spartans who pushed forward beyond the wall today and Spartans who drove the Persians back to the east gates of the pass. But still, we need our men alive! What crime has this helot committed?” The voice belonged to a huge Spartan soldier who brushed past Finn, ignoring him, and advanced on Drakon.

  “Since when did a Spartan need a reason to kill a helot, Aristodamus?” Drakon retorted. As soon as the words had left his lips the colour drained from his face. “Sir, I didn’t mean to question...” he spluttered. His excuses turned to a yelp as the older man’s fist connected with his jaw and he rocked back on his heels. Drakon’s two companions shrank back as the soldier loomed over their fallen friend and growled at him.

  “Your arrogance weakens you, Drakon, and it weakens Sparta. Report to me later for a whipping. First we must all attend the sacrifice to Ares and pray that he brings us victory.” With that Aristodamus strode away. Finn’s eyes followed the big man, and he saw now that he was on the outskirts of a camp. Must be where Arthur is too, Finn thought, and he was about to investigate when he heard Drakon’s snarl. The beaten young Spartan made no attempt to conceal the malice he felt towards Nikodemos.

  “I’ll send you to Hades, pig,” he hissed. “I’ll come hunting for you, and when I’ve finished with you, I’ll come hunting for your family. Now run!”

  Nikodemos darted away without a backward glance, and Finn too made a hasty departure towards the centre of the camp before Drakon could redirect his anger at him.

  After quite a search, Finn caught sight of Arthur sitting next to some Spartan soldiers, and approached them cautiously. He was used to having to rescue his hot-headed brother from whatever crisis he had managed to create on arrival, but this time it appeared that Arthur was not in any trouble at all. In fact, as Finn approached, one of the soldiers slapped Arthur on the back and the rest of the group cheered and laughed. Finn caught something about a bear, and then Arthur glanced up and saw him. At once Arthur made his excuses and got up to join his brother.

  They wandered over to sit in the dust under a small, gnarled tree, and shared their experiences so far.

  “Bears, Persians, Spartans – it’s hard to know who to be most scared of!” said Arthur.

  “Actually, I think it’s the Spartans we should be most worried about,” said Finn. “I know we’re sort of on their side at the moment, but don’t forget it’s them who killed Adakios’s family.” Finn reminded his brother of the sinister Crypteia, and of their habit of killing helots just to show them who was boss.

  “When I was in the battle I could see which soldiers were Spartans and which were helots,” Arthur remarked. “The helots have much more basic armour and helmets. But they were treated the same as the Spartans by the leaders. Not like slaves at all.”

  “Well they’re fighting the same enemy right now I suppose. But I saw how Drakon looked at Nikodemos today. And let’s not forget that the problem for Adakios is saving his family from the Spartans.”

  The brothers’ conversation turned to Adakios and how to find him. Finn suggested that they wait for a while and see whether it just became obvious, but as usual Arthur wanted to take a more direct approach.

  “It will be fine,” said Arthur, brushing aside Finn’s objections. “They think I brought good luck because of what happened with the bear. I can ask a few questions without them wanting to kill me. Anyway, we should stick together. If Drakon wants to take his frustration out on anyone it’ll be you, so standing next to the army’s good luck charm won’t do you any harm!”

  The same thought had been at the back of Finn’s mind. He had no intention of getting caught alone by Drakon, and though he would rather they keep completely out of the way, Finn went along with Arthur’s suggestions.

  The soldiers looked at Arthur with fatherly kindness as he made his enquiries, and nobody paid any attention to Finn. After a few minutes they found a soldier who knew a fighting helot called Adakios, and he directed them towards a barrel-chested man who was sitting on a rock a short way off. The helot glanced up as they approached and both boys recognised him immediately from their first meeting in the Professor’s study.

  “It’s about Nikodemos,” said Finn before Arthur could say anything. “We have a message for you.” Adakios stared hard at Finn, and then rose to his feet.

  “Let’s walk,” he said, and led them through the camp before scrambling a short way up a steep scree slope and settling on another rock. He stared again at Finn. “Tell me,” he said.

  Finn described what had occurred earlier with Drakon and Nikodemos. He took care to emphasise Drakon’s threat to Nikodemos’s family. In his moment of need, Nikodemos had wanted Finn to ask Adakios for help, and Finn was hoping that the two helots were either related or at least from the same village. At first he thought he’d made a mistake. Adakios’s face betrayed no emotion whatsoever as he listened to Finn, and he sat in silence for a long while after Finn had finished talking.

  “You do realise,” Finn began again, “that it’s not just Nikodemos who is in danger, it’s...”

  “It’s every man, woman and child cursed to have been born within reach of Sparta!” Adakios growled. “Nikodemos is my nephew and we live on the same farm. If Drakon plans to find Nikodemos’s family then he’s a threat to me, my wife, my son – everyone! And they promised land for my f
amily in return for my fighting!” He fell silent again, brooding on these grim new circumstances.

  “We should leave tonight,” said Arthur.

  “Shut your mouth, boy!” Adakios hissed. “Say that within earshot of a Spartan and you’ll be dead before your next breath! They don’t take kindly to deserters. And there is no ‘we’... I’ll be going alone.”

  “But we came to you because Nikodemos asked for your help,” said Finn. “And now we need your help too.”

  “When they find you’ve gone they’ll want to know what I said to make you leave,” Arthur chimed in. “Lots of them know I was looking for you.”

  “And Drakon wants me dead too,” said Finn. “Don’t forget he’ll blame me for his whipping...”

  Adakios shook his head and sighed, but the boys could see that he felt he had no choice.

  “Tonight then,” said Adakios. “We’ll wait for the sacrifice to begin. Everyone should be distracted.”

  EXTRACT FROM WARRIOR HEROES BY FINN BLADE

  BECOMING A SPARTAN WARRIOR

  Sparta was the only city-state in Greece to have a professional army. In fact nearly every feature of Spartan society was designed to make its army more effective. To be a true Spartan man was to be a Spartan warrior, and to be a Spartan woman was to marry and give birth to Spartan warriors.

  At birth, babies were examined by an elder. Legend has it that those who showed signs of weakness or defects were thrown off a cliff, as they would not grow into strong warriors or women who could produce them.

  THE AGOGE

  Formal military training began at the age of seven, when boys began a training programme known as the Agoge and stopped living with their parents. The Agoge was designed to create tough warriors who were loyal to Sparta. The process of making them tough involved harsh treatment like limiting them to one new item of clothing per year and deliberately underfeeding them so that they developed the cunning and stealth to be able to steal food. Stealing like this was actively encouraged, but anyone who was caught was severely beaten. The idea was to learn to steal without getting caught.

  THE CRYPTEIA

  At the age of eighteen, boys became reserve soldiers. At the same time the most promising young warriors became part of the Crypteia, a sort of secret police made up of trainee warriors. The sole purpose of the Crypteia was to terrorise the helots (Spartan slaves). This achieved two Spartan goals. Firstly it taught the young warriors to spy, to hunt and to kill. Secondly it kept the helots frightened and less likely to rebel against Sparta.

  CHAPTER 4

  With a little questioning, carefully undertaken to avoid displaying their ignorance, the boys learned that the sacrifice would take place at nightfall. Although fighting had stopped for the day, a contingent of soldiers was left defending the wall in the pass in case the Persians should decide to mount a night attack. The rest of the Spartan army was gathered in camp. Following Adakios’s lead, the boys did their best to avoid eye contact with anyone else, hoping to attract as little attention as possible. From time to time one soldier or another would slap Arthur on the back and make a comment about the bear, but by and large they were left alone.

  The light was just beginning to fade when Adakios touched each boy on the shoulder and motioned with his head. They had agreed that as sunset approached they would make their way to the outskirts of the camp, but just as they began to move there was a shout.

  “Over there – he’s with another boy!”

  With a feeling like snakes writhing in his stomach Finn recognised Drakon’s voice and moments later the cruel youth blocked their path. Standing behind him was Aristodamus, the huge Spartan soldier who had intervened earlier.

  “What were you planning with that helot who ran away, boy?” Drakon shouted.

  He’s trying to save his skin, thought Finn, and it looked like it might be working. The soldier behind Drakon was staring hard at him, and Finn remembered what the Professor had said about Spartans being constantly paranoid about helot rebellions.

  “Master,” Adakios cut in, “these boys are here to serve...” he trailed off as the soldier raised his hand, palm out, to silence him. The huge man had shifted his gaze to Arthur.

  “You, boy,” he said. “It was you who drove the bear from the cave today, wasn’t it?” Arthur nodded and Aristodamus chuckled. “King Leonidas has heard of your bravery and commands you to stand with him as we make our evening sacrifice to Ares. The bear was a good omen!”

  Finn’s blood ran cold when he saw the glare Drakon shot his way, and it did not go unnoticed by Adakios either. Worse still, Arthur was then led away by Aristodamus and there was nothing anyone could do about it. They would have to wait for Arthur to find an opportunity to slip away, only now he would have to escape the attention of King Leonidas himself!

  “Is that King Leonidas?” Finn asked and Adakios nodded. For all the danger they were in, Finn couldn’t suppress a small pang of envy that Arthur was getting to meet the great Spartan leader.

  “Soldiers!” King Leonidas called, and instantly the men fell silent. “Today, by your strength and the will of Ares, Xerxes and his Immortals were resisted!” A loud cheer went up at this.

  “By the courage of this boy here,” the king went on, putting a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, “by the rage of the bear he drove out into the Persian ranks and by the might of every man here, the Persians will not overcome these lands.” The cheering grew louder.

  “And by this sacrifice we pray that Ares fights with us again tomorrow.” The cheering stopped abruptly as a tethered goat was led forward and handed to the priest. Leonidas prowled around inside the circle of fire, his face full of passion, and began a prayer to his god as the priest lifted the goat up onto the altar.

  “Oh great Ares, God of War,” Leonidas’s voice boomed out across the camp. “Chariot-rider, strongest of all, fearsome with the spear, saviour of cities and destroyer of the weak...” The priest began muttering an incantation and preparing the goat for sacrifice, sprinkling wine on the animal’s head and drawing a gold-handled dagger from his cloak. Finn was so transfixed that he only barely registered that Arthur was slipping out of the circle.

  “Rule our hearts again tomorrow, oh great Lord of Armies,” Leonidas continued. “Lead us once more. Put strength in our arms and bellies. Fight with us as we do battle. Lift us up that we may honour you, and crush all fear as surely as you crush Xerxes and the Persian horde.”

  The priest raised his knife aloft for a brief moment before it flashed down and killed the goat in a moment. The crowd remained totally silent as the priest turned the dead goat belly up and sliced it open, revealing the inner organs. One by one he removed them and held them up to inspect in the firelight. Nobody moved. At length the priest gave a signal to King Leonidas, who raised his arms aloft.

  “The omens are good, the gods are with us, and Ares has heard our prayer!” A roar went through the crowd as if the soldiers were already celebrating victory and a sort of frenzy took hold as the men began leaping and dancing.

  Moments later Arthur appeared in front of Finn and Adakios, and without speaking the three of them began to proceed through the camp. Adakios led them to a tent on the outskirts and sat them down outside it. He handed round some goat’s cheese and figs, and a water skin.

  “Not too much,” he instructed. “We have a long night ahead and we will have to move fast!” He looked pale and anxious, the thought of a vengeful Drakon and his comrades in the Crypteia clearly causing him much alarm.

  “Drakon’s no match for you, surely!” Finn wanted to reassure Adakios, but the big man shook his head.

  “Don’t you know what the Crypteia are capable of?” he said hoarsely, handing a dagger to each boy. “And Drakon’s been shamed. When he says he will hunt Nikodemos down he means it. And when he says he’ll go after the family next he means that too. It happened in a village near us when I was a boy. When the Crypteia make you a target, you run away or you die, and I’m not going to let my f
amily die.”

  “So, where will we run to?” asked Finn.

  “Athens,” said Adakios immediately. “Athens and Sparta are fighting together against Xerxes for now, but we all know they are enemies at heart. I’ve heard of other helots who have escaped to Athens. I think they welcome us there just to anger the Spartans. Here, take these.” He passed a bow and a quiver of arrows to each boy, and they settled into a nervous silence. Finn was glad of the bow and arrows though – the bow was his weapon of choice and he was an excellent marksman.

  A soldier carrying a flaming torch and a whip strode by with a younger man following. When they were just a few metres away the youth turned his head to stare right at him, and Finn drew in his breath sharply. It was Drakon. The youth took in the scene, looked long and hard at Adakios as well as the brothers, stared at their weapons, and without making a sound he grinned and drew his finger across his throat.

  “You see,” said Adakios when they were out of earshot. “We have to go now and take whatever head start we can get!” They got to their feet, tucked daggers into belts and slung bows across shoulders, and began to slip away from the Greek camp just as the first crack of a whip hitting flesh reached their ears. They took no pleasure in hearing their enemy’s punishment. It was obvious to all of them that the lashing would serve only to make Drakon hate them even more.

  Silent and alert, they picked their careful way along the rocky path that hugged the shoreline and led away from the camp. Ahead they could see torchlight and Adakios motioned to the boys to follow him off the track. They pressed themselves into gaps between rocks as the torchbearer approached. It was a solitary Spartan soldier and Adakios slipped his dagger from his belt and tensed, then watched as the soldier walked past, oblivious to the three fugitives.