Warrior Heroes: The Spartan's March Read online

  CHAPTER 10

  That night did not pass quickly. Finn explained in whispers to a slightly confused Arthur that Sparta always had two kings. So while Leonidas was fighting and dying at Thermopylae, another king remained in Sparta. It sounded as though the king would dispense some kind of military justice the following day. Drakon did not seem to be well liked by any Spartans they had met, but he was still one of their own, and wasn’t it true that the Spartans were always on the lookout for signs of helot disobedience or unrest?

  None of them slept: they simply sat, and waited, and worried as the smell of Adakios’s burning farm buildings reminded them just how much Drakon wanted them dead. They all hoped that Argos, Kassandra and the others had made good their escape, and mercifully none of the Spartans had asked about other inhabitants from the farm. But their own prospects looked grim.

  The soldiers, for their part, took shifts sleeping and guarding their prisoners, and said very little. At dawn they were ordered to their feet, dimly registering the storm clouds that were gathering above them. The soldiers made it very clear that no talking was permitted, and another long trudge began as they followed the river upstream towards Sparta. Other than very brief stops to drink from the river, they kept up a continuous silent march until they reached the outskirts of the city. They marched along wide lanes, between simple white houses with red-tiled roofs, and quickly arrived at a particularly long white wall. Two Spartans stood guarding a double gate in the wall, their bronze armour gleaming even in the gloomy light. The air was heavy beneath the dark clouds. Something was going to burst.

  “Mikanos’s prisoners,” one of the boys’ guards barked. They marched through the gates without breaking step, and on across a wide courtyard towards a low, flat-roofed building with a long row of narrow doorways. Without a word they were pushed through one of the doorways. The door was shut behind them and they found themselves alone, blinking to adjust their eyes to the dim light of a small cell.

  For a long while none of them spoke. Outside they could hear the clipped commands and stamping feet of soldiers being drilled. Inside, they leaned wearily against the walls of the cell and sank into their thoughts.

  “At least your family escaped,” said Arthur eventually.

  “I hope so,” said Adakios, nodding his head slowly. “And I have you to thank for that. But I still don’t understand who you are and why you have done so much for me.”

  This was awkward. Because in around 2,500 years’ time your ghost will send us back in time to fix something that went wrong for your family? Finn wished he could say something like that to one of their warriors, just once.

  “I suppose we were just in the right place at the right time,” he said instead.

  “Like Arthur in the cave, with that bear,” said Adakios quietly. “But how did he get into the cave in the first place?”

  “Look, we can’t explain it,” said Arthur, “but you know we’re here to help you.”

  “What’s going to happen to us now?” said Finn, trying to change the subject.

  Adakios frowned and said nothing. The door opened with a sudden thump and the moment had passed. A guard ordered them to their feet and out of the cell, and they stumbled out once more into the courtyard. They were led to a wall, and then through it into a much bigger compound. This was clearly where the soldiers had been practising their drill. Row upon row of fully armed Spartan soldiers stood at attention, their red-plumed helmets swaying in the breeze and their huge spears thrust up to the sky.

  In total silence, the Spartans faced a podium at one end of the compound. On it stood two men, one of whom was addressing the soldiers.

  “... and it was thus that a mere three hundred of our warriors brought great glory on themselves, and on Sparta, and stood firm against a hundred thousand Persians at Thermopylae, allowing the rest of our armies to retreat.”

  The guards shoved Adakios and the boys around the perimeter of the compound. Something was niggling away at the back of Finn’s mind, until he saw Drakon standing behind the podium and momentarily forgot about everything else. Though he stood freely and unguarded, Drakon looked... frightened!

  “It was Leonidas himself who led the men to their certain deaths,” the speaker on the podium went on. “And so Sparta has sacrificed a king as the oracle demanded. He sent me, Aristodamus, to tell the story of the three hundred.”

  At the mention of Aristodamus Finn jolted. Of course, he thought. I knew I recognised his voice! Just then, Aristodamus turned to the second man, and Finn caught sight of the speaker’s face. There was no doubt – he was the man who had flogged Drakon back at Thermopylae. Maybe, thought Finn, just maybe, there might be a way out of this! Glancing at Arthur and Adakios he could see that they recognised him too. The second man on the podium stepped forward.

  “As Aristodamus has said, Leonidas and those three hundred men have brought great glory on Sparta. I, Leotychidas, will honour their memories as your king, by ensuring that Xerxes and his Persian horde are driven out of these lands forever!”

  So this is the other king of Sparta! thought Finn.

  “Now, word has reached me of a group of deserters from Thermopylae, rounded up by our men last night. Bring them forward!”

  The guards pushed Adakios and the boys to the front of the podium. “Kneel before your king!” someone shouted, and they were forced down. Finn glanced up and caught sight of Aristodamus staring at them in wide-eyed surprise. His eyes narrowed when the king called the ashen-faced Drakon forward.

  “These helots deserted the army at Thermopylae, and you captured them?” King Leotychidas asked.

  “Yes, great King, they are deserters,” said Drakon, looking at the ground.

  “There is no defence against a charge of desertion,” said the king, his voice cold. “But if you have anything to say you may say it.”

  Adakios cleared his throat.

  This had better be good, thought Finn.

  “Great King,” Adakios began, “when the call came I was happy to march against the Persians, and in her wisdom Sparta promised me my freedom in return. No longer would my family or I be helots. This I have dreamed of all my life, so you can understand that I would not choose to desert the army, knowing the price that I would pay when I was caught.”

  “Yet you ran like a rat!” Drakon snarled.

  “You swore you would kill my family!” Adakios retorted. “And with no provocation! But I wonder, did you drive my nephew and me to flight so that you would have your own excuse to leave Thermopylae?”

  Drakon turned to the king, but the fury on his face turned to despair as Aristodamus stepped forward and spoke quietly. Finn could only make out some of Aristodamus’s words, but it was clear that he was telling the king the truth of the story.

  The king stood silent for a while, and the only sound in the compound was the faint rustle of the soldiers’ plumed helmets.

  “Drakon,” he said at length, “you disobeyed Aristodamus, your superior, and drove the helots away. Your insubordination would be severely punishable in any case, but that you then pursued the helots and abandoned the army at Thermopylae makes you a deserter as much as they.” Drakon’s face was stony.

  “And you,” he said, gesturing to Adakios and the boys, “no matter how he threatened you, you should not have deserted, though I can see that yours was not the first fault.” He fell silent again, as Drakon, Adakios, Arthur and Finn all held their breath.

  “I do not believe that either of you fled from Thermopylae out of cowardice, but flee you did, and all because of a feud between you. So we will let the gods settle the matter. Drakon, you will fight the helot here, today, to the death. These two boys have thrown in their lot with him, and they shall share his fate.” He waved a hand towards Arthur and Finn as he said this. “The winner will have two days to leave the kingdom of Sparta. After that he too will be killed. Guards, arm them! Soldiers, form a theatre!”

  Finn looked at Adakios. His eyes burned bright with hope
and determination now that a path had opened up that led him back to his family. Drakon, who had begun to tremble at the mention of exile, had regained his composure. However, the hate in his eyes was like nothing Finn had ever seen.

  The soldiers had re-formed around the perimeter of the compound, four human walls with a large square in the middle, ready for the duel to begin. Drakon and Adakios stared at each other as the guards prepared them. Armour and helmets were strapped in place. Sword belts were wrapped around waists, and each man was presented with a shield and a long spear. By the time they stepped forward into the open square, they were transformed into Spartan warriors.

  They drew lots out of an upturned helmet held by one of the guards to decide who would be first to throw their spear, and Drakon won this little victory. The two men walked to opposite corners of the square, then turned and waited, glaring at one another.

  “Whichever man has angered the gods, let him die and descend to Hades!” cried the king, and the four walls of soldiers echoed his prayer.

  At the word ‘Hades’, Drakon let fly with his spear. It arched across the square and glanced off Adakios’s raised shield. Adakios took careful aim and hurled his own spear in turn. Its flight was closer to horizontal and it thudded into Drakon’s shield, piercing it and drawing a cry of pain from the Spartan as it tore into his flesh. Drakon stumbled back as Adakios sprinted across the square, sword drawn now, roaring himself on. His sword crashed down on Drakon’s helmet and shattered in his hand. A stunned Drakon fell to the floor and Adakios, now weaponless, grabbed the plume of Drakon’s helmet and began dragging him across the dirt, throttling him with the leather chinstrap.

  Drakon’s feet were scrabbling for purchase in the dust as he was dragged along, his hands at his throat, until his chinstrap snapped and the helmet came away in Adakios’s hands. The helot threw it into the ranks of soldiers to one side. Drakon had hauled himself unsteadily to his feet and half-drawn his sword, but with another fierce battle cry Adakios leapt on his enemy and knocked him back down. The sword fell loose and clattered to the ground. Adakios, knees on Drakon’s chest, reached for the sword and in one fluid movement made the fatal slash across Drakon’s neck.

  Triumphant, Adakios raised his face to the heavens just as the storm clouds burst and rain poured down in torrents, mixing with Drakon’s blood in the dust.

  Arthur looked at Finn. “It’s over!” he said. “The Crypteia are no threat to his family any longer.”

  Suddenly the boys both felt too exhausted to stand. They collapsed to the floor as the rain intensified, until they felt as though they were swimming through it. The bronze armour and red plumes of the Spartan warriors began to fade and, as the boys closed their eyes, Sparta slipped away.

  BONUS BITS!

  What’s the point of an introduction?

  Introductions in books often set the scene and give the reader vital background information needed to understand the story. This is certainly the case in the story you have just read!

  Test your knowledge by saying which of the following statements are TRUE and which are FALSE, based on the information given to you in the introduction to this book.

  1. The Hall of Heroes is a museum about warriors throughout history.

  2. Finn and Arthur are brothers.

  3. The Hall of Heroes is a museum about animals throughout history.

  4. The Hall of Heroes is haunted by the ghosts of warriors whose belongings are there.

  5. Arthur and Finn have a great grandfather called Professor Spartan.

  6. Arthur and Finn have a great grandfather called Professor Blade.

  7. Finn wrote down everything the Professor told him in a book called Warrior Heroes.

  8. Arthur wrote down everything the Professor told him in a book called Warrior Heroes.

  INTERESTING WORDS

  (that Finn doesn’t tell you more about!)

  There are lots of words related to the ancient Greek world in this story. Here is a short guide to some of the most important ones!

  ARES

  the Greek (and Roman) god of war

  ATHENS

  the capital of Greece

  GREAVES

  armour worn to protect shins

  HADES

  the Greek (and Roman) god of the underworld and the ruler of the dead

  HELOT

  a member of a class of serfs from ancient Sparta – in between a slave and a citizen

  HIPPODROME

  (in ancient Greece) an oval track for horse races and chariot races

  OLYMPIA

  a place in southern Greece that was the religious centre devoted to the worship of Zeus

  PERSIANS

  natives or inhabitants of Persia (now known as Iran)

  SPARTANS

  citizens of Sparta

  THERMOPYLAE

  a mountain pass near the sea in northern Greece, where several battles took place in ancient times

  XERXES

  the fourth king of Persia

  ZEUS

  the supreme god of the ancient Greeks

  WHAT NEXT?

  If you enjoyed this story, why not find out more information about the Spartans, the Persians or even the battle of Thermopylae? Use books and the internet for your research and then present your work (to your friends or family) using one of the following methods.

  • a computer presentation

  • a poem

  • a poster

  • a short role-play (with help from some friends)

  • a book (why not dye the paper brown and curl the edges to make it look old?)

  Answers to ‘What’s the point of an introduction?’

  1. True

  2. True

  3. False

  4. True

  5. False

  6. True

  7. True

  8. False

  WARRIOR HEROES

  The Pharaoh’s Charioteer

  Benjamin Hulme-Cross

  Join Arthur and Finn on another adventure, as they travel back to ancient Egypt to discover dangerous rivalries and a prince and princess with strong opinions. Can they prevent a kidnapping and stop a war?

  £4.99

  9781472925893

  Look out for more

  time-travelling adventures with Arthur and Finn:

  About the author

  Growing up in London, I spent a lot of time sitting on the Underground, daydreaming and reading books. Historical adventures in far-flung lands were always my favourites, and I used to love visiting castles and ruins.

  After I left home I lived in Japan for a while and learned all about the Samurai. Now I’ve swapped the city for the countryside, and as well as reading books I also write stories and plays for young people.

  The thing I like most about being a writer is playing around with ideas for stories in my head, which is daydreaming really, so not much has changed!

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  BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  This electronic edition published in 2016

  First published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Education

  Copyright © Benjamin Hulme-Cross, 2016

  Illustrations copyright © Angelo Rinaldi, 2016

  Benjamin Hulme-Cross and Angelo Rinaldi have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author and Illustrator of this work.

  Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them.

  This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagi
nation and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

  No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organisation acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN PB: 978-1-4729-2592-3

  ePub: 978-1-4729-2593-0

  ePDF: 978-1-4729-2594-7

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