Page 27 of Axios
I was on my way to see my mother and sister.
No training occurred that day. The older men were busy discussing the issues of the war with Corinth, and I’d heard small details from the lips of passing soldiers. Antalcidas’ peace proposal was not accepted by Tiribazus. Athens and Thebes had been in outcry over his suggestion that Sparta would abandon support for the Greek cities, and they should be declared independent.
Politics of war was lost to me, and I did not comprehend the vast majority of it. But what Ididgrasp, I knew it wasn’t good.
“What do you suppose will happen?” I asked Eryx as we headed for my mother’s home.
He didn’t have a family, but he’d been welcomed into mine years ago. My mother favored him, as did my sister, so anytime I was able to visit, he came too. Because of theagoge, we couldn’t visit often and weren’t allowed to stay long when we did.
“Sparta will do just as she always has. Fight and conquer,” he answered. “We may lose a battle, but we always win the war, for no army is greater.”
“Perhaps.”
The stone was cold beneath my feet, and an involuntary shudder passed through me.
Winter was nearly upon us, and although my body was used to withstanding the chill, I still dreaded the change. I preferred warmth, blue skies, and birds singing in the mornings.
In winter, everything fell silent. All signs of life were taken over by opaque skies and an iciness that entered the bones and didn’t leave until spring.
“Perhaps?” Eryx hit my shoulder with his. “Do you doubt Sparta, my friend?”
He’d said it in a light tone, but his curiosity was apparent in his words.
“I do not doubt the discipline of our men nor the strength they possess,” I told him. “But we are not gods, Ery, no matter how great we are. When we are cut, we bleed, and if that cut is deep enough, we fall. All men have weaknesses… even the ones who believe they do not. Death is inevitable.”
His lips pressed into a line as we continued the journey to the edge of the city. I was uncertain if he thought my words foolish or if he pondered their truth, but regardless, he remained silent.
Memories from my childhood came back to me as we approached my mother’s house. It was simple and of basic design, made of sun-dried mud bricks painted white to reflect the unrelenting heat of summer days, but it had been the only home I’d known for the first seven years of my life.
My sister had chased me in the small courtyard, one that looked the same even though several years had passed. I had laughed as she’d caught me, wrapping her arms around my torso and lifting me off the ground before tickling my sides. She’d been bigger than me in those days, when I’d been small and not yet toughened by theagoge.
“Dear brother!” Leanna ran out of the front door and was in my arms moments later. She smelled of flowers, even though the season was causing most of them to wilt and fade away. But she liked to keep them around as long as she could. “How I’ve missed you.”
Her long, dark hair blew softly in the gentle breeze and flowed outward as she pulled back from our embrace to smile at me. Such displays of affection were uncommon in our society, but she had always been a free spirit and did as she pleased.
“And I you,” I responded, unable to fight my own smile. Training may have beaten many things from me, but happiness at seeing those I cared for was not amongst them.
“Leanna,” Eryx greeted her with a nod.
He stood at my side, a little taller than me and even more so than her. Golden hair fell across his brow, and my gaze trailed down his impeccably straight nose and to his flawless lips. Lips I’d tasted and wanted to taste again.
“Still so formal, sweet Eryx?” she asked before hugging him, but not as tightly as she’d done to me. It only lasted a moment before she stepped away.
“As always,” he answered.
Eryx might not be the cold-hearted beast the men wanted us to be, but he didn’t show his gentle side to anyone apart from me. To the rest of the world, he was stern and lacked compassion. He was disciplined and unwavering in his ability to strike a man down. The perfect makings of a soldier—a leader.
But to me… he was my home.
We followed her into the house where my mother was busy placing dishes of dried figs and beechnuts on the round, wooden table. My mouth watered at the sight of the beechnuts. Not because I enjoyed their taste, but rather because I detested it. Bitter things they were and highly unpleasant. Most people enjoyed them with sweetened wine or other fruits.
Unlike Leanna, my mother didn’t embrace me. She approached and touched both of my shoulders in a kind manner, but did not move closer.
“Thank you for visiting, my boy,” she said with no expression before looking toward Eryx and greeting him the same. “How are you faring in training?”
Her face visibly brightened upon seeing him, and I tried not to let it wound me. He was the son she always wanted, the one she would’ve preferred having. The man I could never be. She never said those words aloud, of course, but I saw it in the way she observed him with a mother’s pride.
“We are well,” I answered, masking my hurt. “Felix has informed us that we may not stay long.”
