Page 49 of Axios
I inwardly sighed. “Yes, but they are still men, are they not?”
“I suppose so.” Eryx regarded me curiously. “However, true Spartans far surpass the skills of others for we value quality over quantity. Ten Spartiates are equal to forty other soldiers, perhaps more. Therefore, it is wise to take into consideration non-Spartan units when calculating numbers.”
His statement was valid. A Spartan’s primary occupation was being a warrior. It was all we trained to become since age seven. Other armies consisted of soldiers who made a living in blacksmithing, carpentry, shipwrights, and some were even physicians. They might have learned to swing a sword, but they lacked our discipline and strength.
Still, that did not make them any less of men. And all of them returning home had fought bravely for Sparta and deserved recognition for their efforts.
“Let us go to theagora,” he said, turning his attention away from the army to gaze upon me. “If the king is returned, there is certain to be an announcement.”
Theagorawas bustling with excitement when we arrived, as citizens gathered in the square, anticipating news of the war with Corinth. Many had brothers, husbands, and sons fighting, and I could only imagine their eagerness at receiving answers.
Eryx and I walked through the crowd, and smells of the marketplace hung in the air like a cloud of the most delicious scents, wrapping around my senses and causing my mouth to salivate. Fortunately, training had taught me how to cope with hunger, and I rarely paid mind to it.
My body had grown accustomed to having little nourishment, so although I craved the food, it wasn’t a highly unpleasant feeling.
Merchants sold their goods in stalls, and craftsmen did the same with their wares and trinkets. There were cloth merchants and a few slave-traders. However, unlikeagorasin other cities—such as the one from Athens that men had visited and returned with grand stories to tell—Sparta’s was small and had little extravagance.
Tremblers and criminals were not allowed in the marketplace, and if caught, they were severely punished. Children were not welcomed there, either, for it was said that theagoracorrupted the young.
The temple for the Council of Elders—theGerousia—stood in the distance, but was close enough to see and was the only sign of luxury with its white marble that reached toward the heavens.
The Spartan council consisted of twenty-eight elected officials called elders, as well as the two kings and five ephors—or magistrates. The elders were made up of men aged sixty and older and were elected by the people. They hardly made appearances in the marketplace, believing it to be below them, but on rare occurrences they made formal announcements.
A statue of the god Apollo was straight ahead, standing tall above the flurry of people surrounding it. His eyes saw everything, and I’d often stared at him from afar, pondering if the god actually answered our prayers, or if he was only stone and nothing more. Just a shrine for prayers to fall upon deaf ears.
The acropolis could be seen to the north; the Temple of Athena watching over the city.
We Spartans might not pride ourselves in unnecessary extravagance of buildings and everyday life, but we valued the monuments erected for the gods… even if I was unsure whether I believed in them.
Closest to us was a statue of Leto holding a babe, representing motherhood and the strength of Spartan women.
Eryx stopped to observe the goddess. He’d lost his mother when she brought him into this world, and although he’d never spoken it aloud, I suspected he blamed himself for her death.
Without hesitation, I placed my hand at the small of his back.
His skin was warmed from the hot day, and the closeness of people gathering around us only added to the heat. Neither of us wore our tunics, as we preferred not being weighed down by clothing during the hotter months, so I felt the thin sheen of sweat on his bare skin.
He looked to me. “We should find higher ground so we can see.”
I nodded.
As we walked, I kept hold of his side, not wanting to risk losing him in the crowd. His golden hair made him stand-out, as did his stature, but I also needed the contact. With the return of the king and his army, anxiety stirred within me.
Did they come to tell us ill news? That there was no chance for peace and all men would need to leave at once, including those of us who had not yet reached age twenty?
We found a spot near the edge of the area that had a raised view of the busiest part of theagora. Only once we stopped did I withdraw my hand from him.
“Axios, do not fret,” Eryx said, moving his gaze from the approaching men to me. His face softened before he touched the place between my eyes. “Your brow always crinkles right here when you worry.”
I almost lied and denied my apprehension, but instead held my tongue. Eryx would understand, just as he always had. We kept nothing from each other.
“What if they tell us we must leave? That it is time to go to war?” I asked, feeling my pulse race like the chariots from the Olympic Games.
“Then we will obey,” he said, a somber edge to his voice. It was the tone he often used when discussing our futures as soldiers. “We shall fight if they ask it of us… and die if we must.”
“Do you believe us to be ready?”
He regarded me a moment in silence, and I knew he was considering his words before uttering them. “Our preparation for war began when we were of age seven, Ax. Battle has been our primary focus for as long as I can recall. It is our life and our purpose. If we are not ready now, we will never be.”
