Chapter 2

Report to the King of Sparta. B.C 481

"We must conclude that there was more then one Persian ship in our waters. When one met with disaster in the storm, the other picked up survivors and as much wreckage as it could. The shield is the only piece of wreckage that signifies Persian identity.

There can be no doubt that it was a spying mission or an attempt to land agents of Persia on our soil or the soil of a neighbouring state.

We cannot ignore the possibility that a neighbour may actually be aiding Persia or be part of an alliance aimed at destroying Sparta.

An invasion fleet may be forming somewhere in Ionia, perhaps a dispersed mobilization to avoid detection. We however feel that as in the past, Persia will opt for the easier route of the Hellespont and move southwards.

We recommend an imitate mobilisation of all Spartans from age 11 upwards".

The Spartan king Leonidas heard the report in silence, His eyes closed as he analysed the information and raced forwards with plans.

"Order the mobilization," He said almost as soon as the report finished

"Send more spies to Ionia and increase naval patrols"

"Scribe! Write the following message to all the cities of Greece".

"Persia awakes.Unite or die".

The war council were silent.

"Sparta in an alliance with Athens?" Philip a seasoned warrior said "Unthinkable!"

The king smiled sardonically "If we do not unite, Persia will pick us off one by one. A Persian wolf attacking a flock of stupid Greek lambs"

"Never! Sparta will never fall to Persia or Athens either!" Philip roared

"Never indeed Philip but let other Greeks feel the strain of war too. I would rather we defeated Persia and kept them out of Greece then surrendered more land... and lambs to them. Persia has an army the size of which we can only guess. She is hungry for revenge for territory, for gold."

Leonidas stood up and walked slowly over to the map of Greece painted on a cowhide hanging on the wall of the council room.

"So it has finally started. Xerxes is moving," He said softly to himself.

Then turning to face the assembled warriors and advisors he added, "I think we will need every man capable of holding a spear and sword in the coming war. I believe the day of War with Xerxes is closer then anyone thinks.

We must mobilize every man... including the Helots."

A gasp and shouted protests. Was he mad? Arm the helots? Train them?

Philip spoke "Arm the slaves and expect them to be slaves again when Persia is defeated? Leonidas, are you in your senses? We keep them under our boot, rape them, and torture them. Kill them and humiliate them in countless ways every moment they live and you think they will be loyal to us and die for Sparta; die for we who enslave them?

The first sight of a Persian donkey's dust and they will turn on us. No Leonidas, You are wrong. I say kill every helot male over7 years of age. Then at least we will not be stabbed in the back."

"Kill Helots?" Leonidas said with a half smile and a gentle shake of his head" Do Xerxes a favour by slaughtering a pool of would-be infantry. That is your insanity Philip that is the type of pointless, mindless waste we Greeks can no longer afford. The hour has come to rise as one or perish under a Persian tide.

He looked at the assembled men and raising his voice said with conviction "Will you not see that the Xerxes has the wealth of an Empire that stretches from Ionia to Egypt to Indusia; Millions of men to call upon to fight us; the wealth of the world at his finger tips; what will you send against him?"

He walked to his throne and sat down with a sigh.

Looking each man, in turn, squarely in the eye, he said firmly "The Helots will fight because this is the land they call home. They will fight to save their women from being raped by Persia's mongrel army. They will fight to please the GODS on Olympus. They will fight because they will die if they do not fight.

They will fight for their freedom."

"Freedom? You would turn an army of slaves lose unchecked on Laconia!" Philip said with a snort of derision.

"I said they would fight for their freedom, I have no intention of granting them freedom. Only the chance to be free." Leonidas said clearly. "Men will die for dreams as easily as they die for gold"

Then in a hard cold tone, he added, "The Krypteria will be busy this season".

Everyone understood his meaning. After victory, a Spartan would never accept the possibility of defeat, the loyal Helot infantry would be slaughtered by the Krypteria.

Second report to The King of Sparta BC 481

Spies in Ionia report the construction of ships at a rapid pace at many ports. They report the movement of soldiers deep in the Empire. Rumour but too widespread to be ignored.

Foodstuffs, arms, and transport animals are being confiscated.

Unfortunately, we are no longer able to report on any intrigues and plots that must surely be forming in the Imperial family and the ruling class.

Many Satraps (governors) have been ordered to surrender sons and daughters to the keeping of the Emperor's bodyguard. These hostages are being taken to ensure loyalty while the Emperor is away.

Our contact at the Imperial Palace is missing. We suspect he has been captured.

War is coming.

Third report to the King of Sparta. BC 480

The Persian Emperor, Xerxes is moving with a large army numbering 100,000 men to wards the Aegean coast. Merchants report roads choked with troops and transport of all kinds. Our spy in the Imperial Palace at Susa has been blinded, beheaded, and crucified.

The news of this has spread throughout the Empire.

Final report To the King of Sparta. BC 480

Many spies have been caught and executed by the Empire. We are no longer able to monitor the situation with any clarity. The fact that Xerxes has expended so much effort in tracking down and killing our spies and sympathisers leads us to conclude that he is ready to attack.

We feel an invasion by sea of so large a force (one million) is not possible. We conclude that a small diversionary force may land to draw forces, possibly southwards, as the main force crosses the Hellespont by boat.

Such an undertaking will be time consuming and we can expect heavy Persian naval cover to protect their transports. We advise against risking our fleet against such a heavy Persian naval build up in the narrow waters of the Hellespont.

We suggest a withdrawal to the Isthmus and a war of attrition. All land north of our line must be rendered useless to the enemy. We advise that all Greek states north of this line, burn all unharvested crops and level all settlements. Move all livestock south of our line of defence.

We feel confident of our naval ability to resist any seaborne force but doubt the wisdom of open battle on land with so large an enemy force.

The best that we can expect is a series of delaying actions, skirmishes, and raids on Persian supply lines. It may sap Xerxes' resources and we cannot rule out the hope of a rebellion in Egypt or Syria diverting his attention.

Our loss of spies makes it impossible for us to report on the likelihood of such an uprising.

It is our belief that the risk of too long a campaign so far from the Imperial capital will force Xerxes to seek a negotiated peace but only after, he has been bled of men and ships in a long drawn out war.

We believe that war is weeks if not days away.

Sparta will prevail!

Plutarch with Alexander and the army.

"Just look at that!" Plutarch exclaimed, watching a unit of recently trained and armed helot infantry pass by him and Alexander on their way northwards.

"I cannot believe my eyes! Helots with spears matching openly on a Spartan road" He shook his head and looked at Alexander sadly.

"The Council ordered it darling," Alexander said with a smile "They do look nice in there short kilts. I can see that they have your attention" He nodded at the erection Plutarch's own kilt was unable to cover.

"By The gods!" Plutarch laughed, adjusting his kilt as best he could "There are some very good looking boys in that unit".

"Well, they need your full training... like I did, you horny old goat" Alexander said reaching his hand out and pinching Plutarch's arse.

"Oh yes" Plutarch said mischievously "Spear work, help with thrust, and withdraw techniques... , very important you know" He added winking

They both laughed.

Two horsemen with Krypteria insignia went by following the Helot unit.

The Helots were not trusted.

Plutarch and the other instructors at Alexander's old Agoge had been drafted to train the Helot slaves willing to fight the Persians.

Many had volunteered. It had made Alexander nervous to see so many slaves willing to go through basic training.

The Helots were fit and agile. They were also fast learners, and turned into excellent light infantry.

The younger Spartan warriors like him began to understand how the forefathers of these slaves had come close to defeating their ancestors. They were natural warriors and Alexander hoped the council knew what it was doing.

Alexander Plutarch and Lycurgus were sitting around the campfire of their club mess. There were other warriors there, all members of the same communal mess.

"Philip wanted to kill everyone one of them over 7 years of age". Jason, a neighbour of Lycurgus said as they discussed the helot mobilization. No one seemed happy about it.

"Philip always liked being extreme" Another old warrior commented", He isn't called "Butcher Phil" for nothing"

"Well" Plutarch said scratching his muscular chest and burping said, "That would have been a waste of good material. They shaped up to become as good as any pretty boy Athenian milksop. Let Xerxes kill them for us. They are expendable. Maybe they will take a few Persians with them to Hades as they die".

"Yes" Lycurgus chimed in "Better to have any slave capable of military service with us in the north then behind us at home... doing Zeus alone knows what!"

Alexander listened carefully to the calm discussion. Yes, it made sense with every adult male Spartan at the Isthmus or further north to secure the rear. Only old men, women and children will remain. Spartan and Helot. It made sense as a temporary measure but surely, the helots will resist re-enslavement.

"I wonder what will happen when it' all over" Jason said

"Oh that is easy" Aegis a Krypteria officer said"; those who are not killed in battle will be killed on the way home. The smart ones first and then after the harvest the rest. One by one until they are back lending their asses to us and gratefully sucking our Spartan dicks clean of the stink of their sisters cunts"

It gave them all a moment's pause. They sat thinking about that statement. None doubted the wisdom of the plan but the idea of killing so many in the annual war was awesome.

The talk turned to the political situation.

Aegis said, "The other Greek states are shitting themselves with fear"

"Will they unite and fight?" Alexander asked

"Yes. As long as they see some profit in it," Jason added "Pimps and trinket sellers, most of them. It still makes my skin crawl to think of a whoreson Athenian beside me in battle. I would rather he was facing me and tasting my sword in his guts"

"Oh they will fight... for now" Plutarch said, "They were terrified by what Leonidas told them. A million Persians marching down from the Hellespont, raping and looting as they go. You could smell the fear and the shit running down their legs"

"They stopped them at Marathon," A young cadet said. Instantly regretting saying it

The cold eyes of a dozen or so warriors looked at the cadet with contempt.

" They were lucky, The Persians were stupid and tired after mopping up resistance in Ionia" Jason said "They still begged us to aid them... we should have and then taken there treasuries as payment. Athens and the other merchant city-states only value the gold bars they hoard not honour and bravery.

"Well," Aegis added, "They are mobilising and they have agreed to a truce for now. Personally, I cannot stomach an alliance with Athens but the council has done it. Let us hope that those snobbish Athenian maidens like our Spartan cock-swords sheathed in their cunts. We might as well fuck the Athenians that is all they are good for."

"Plutarch would rather have a sweet Athenian boy's arse" Lycurgus joked.

The camp erupted into laughter as Plutarch made mooneyes, sighed heavily, and said "A soft fat Athenian ass with a tight hole... heavenly!"

The Spartans were moving out. The army still unsure of where they would be asked to dig in.

"The Isthmus of Corinth" Jason said with conviction. "Let Xerxes come to us... burning everything in his path. It will teach those northern trinket sellers a good lesson".

"Leonidas wants to meet them near the Hellespont at Thermopylae," Aegis stated. "The king has a vision of a great united Greece and he wants to stop Xerxes, long enough to get all Greece behind him".

"Thermopylae?" Lycurgus said, "Yes a good place to hold up an army. Narrow strip of land with mountains on one side and sea on the other, yes. A phalanx of Hoplites could blunt the Persian advance and the narrowness of the front would make it difficult to bring superior numbers to bear."

"Oh I remember Thermopylae," Plutarch said with a wicked smile.

"I am sure you do" Jason said with a short laugh. "But how you manage to remember every fuck you've had beats me"

"Yes, The shepherd boy" Lycurgus said remembering the incident well from their youth; it was there that he had realised that Plutarch was far more obsessed with adolescent boys then women.

"Oh what a sweet ass that boy had and such a loving look in his eyes as I sucked him to orgasm," Plutarch said wistfully his mind lovingly recalling the debauchery he had enjoyed on the goat trail above Thermopylae

"That is where old Butcher Phil went nuts, remember?" Jason said shaking with laughter.

"Well, it didn't bother that sweet young boy and me, we just kept on enjoying ourselves as he stamped about shouting abuse at me and pulling his hair" Plutarch said "Something not right about Philip. He has no liking for boys".

"He just thinks the proper place for Spartan seed is the fertile womb of a Spartan wife. He has a point you know. We have to have more children" Lycurgus said", I regret not siring more sons, but the land dictates family size".

The older married warriors nodded. Land was the only wealth they had. They could not trade or farm, the slaves and freemen did those things. Sons meant dividing estates and daughters meant dowries of land. Large families could wipe a family out in land terms.

Lycurgus looked thoughtful and said, "Those goat trails through the mountains, they could be dangerous. The Persians could out flank an army that way."

The men were standing around a rough map Lycurgus had drawn with a stick in the dirt. He stabbed the stick at the image of mountains he had drawn.

"Or they could land a force by sea just south of Thermopylae and outflank us that way" Jason added. Pointing his toe at the coastline on Lycugus' rough map.

"The Persians cannot know about the goat trails. Only locals would know about them. As for seaborne assault, I am sure the fleet will be watching. Persians are not very fond of the naval warfare and tactics."

"Local Greeks... that is my worry... they are all gold hungry up north "Aegis commented.

"Then it should be the Isthmus of Corinth" Jason said firmly. "That is where I would make my stand if I were King"

"What about the vision of Leonidas of a United Greece?" Plutarch asked

"Fuck that! Sparta must look to defend herself first. Unity is a dream". Jason said with a look of disgust.

Aegis looked around the group of men and staring down at the map said softly but still heard by all those there "The king will march to Thermopylae... I am convinced of it. I think he knows that is his destiny".

Aegis was right.

Corinth on the way to Thermopylae

Alexander was as horrified as Jason was when the order came to advance northwards from the Isthmus of Corinth.

Jason was horrified because he felt the isthmus the best place to engage Xerxes' army. Many in the Spartan army and those drawn from the other states of the Peloponnesus agreed with him. It would secure their homelands and leave the untrustworthy northerners allied with Athens at Persia's mercy.

Alexander's concerns were more selfish.

He had been busy improving international relations with the wife of a local merchant. Naturally, the negotiations were conducted with secrecy and enjoyment in the lady's bedchamber.

It was there, as he lay naked beside the equally naked and sweaty Helen, that he heard the first rumour of the Oracle.

"He claims that Sparta will be defeated and Athens burnt down. He claims that he sees that the blood of Royal Sparta will flow and only the shedding of royal blood will save Sparta," Helen said reclining beside Alexander and feeding him, grapes as she rested on one elbow.

Alexander as a Greek put great faith in the Oracle. Athens burnt was not a bad thing but a Spartan king dead that was hard to accept.

Leonidas was marching to his destiny, Aegis had said. Perhaps he knew the Oracles prophesy and intended to sacrifice his life to save Sparta.

For a minute, Alexander mulled the information over in his mind. His hand carelessly stroking the soft inner thigh of Helen as she continued to feed him grapes...

"Alexander, my love" Helen said putting the grapes down and kissing his lips softly

"You will be careful in battle. I know you Spartans value bravery and death before dishonour but still, be careful my sweet"

Alexander toyed with a pointed rose red nipple of a breast and sighed.

"My dear sweet very hot Corinthian pussy cat, I will do my duty and if the Gods will I die, then I ask that I slay many Persians first" He kissed her passionately and reached a hand between her legs to tease her now familiar entrance.

It was plucked clean of all pubic hair, wet, and sticky with juice. His fingers found her hole and as they probed into her wet hot interior, she moaned heavily and grabbed his erect cock in her soft hands.

He moved her into a sixty-nine position, feasted on her pussy as she groaned in pleasure, and masturbated his shaft.

"Use your mouth darling' He said reaching for his prick and teasing her open mouth with the pre-cum smeared head.

Helen sucked on his cock as if her life depended on it. Slurping and moaning as she licked sucked and played with his cock.

Alexander brought Helen to orgasm with expert use of his tongue and fingers.

He pushed his index finger up to its first knuckle into her anus.

"Yes! Ooooooh Yes" Helen sobbed", Put it there, I love it in my ass"

They positioned themselves with Alexander kneeling behind her as she wiggled her soft lightly tanned ass, in front of his cock.

Alexander sucked her butt hole, applying generous amounts of spit to it and using his cum coated fingers to plunge into her hole and oil it up.

He entered her without too much difficulty. She was a married woman and her husband must make use of this alternative route during her bleeding days. Alexander also knew that maidens eager to retain their hymens often allowed lovers to indulge themselves in sodomy before marriage.

No risk of pregnancy and a hymen intact for any future husband.

He moved in and out of her back passage with measured strokes. Slowly gaining pace until in a rush of pleasure he filled her rectum with a large helping of sperm.

Later as he walked back to camp outside Corinth, he felt satisfied. Helen had been a good way to spend what might be his last days in this life.

He had taken his mother many times before leaving home and had been surprised to hear from her lips that she was pregnant.

Her husband, Lycurgus had stoically accepted the news with a grunt of resignation.

"I better fuck you a few times so the slaves don't talk" had been his only comment.

Since the only males on the farm were Lycurgus, Alexander and the Helot slaves, the paternity of the child may have been doubted. So Alexander confessed to his father the whole sordid truth although he made it sound as if he had raped Diana, not seduced her.

"Think I am a deaf, dumb, and blind moron?" Lycugus had said, "I know very well that if anyone was raped, it was you my son. Your mother certainly seemed to enjoy whatever you did to her. It is good that a son and heir may be born while we are away. Puts my mind at ease a little; if we fall, the family goes on even if my son is really my grandson..."

The camp was in up roar as he neared it.

"Have you heard?" Lycurgus asked, his eyes wide with surprise" Xerxes bridged the Hellespont! Can you imagine it? He actually built a bridge of boats across the Hellespont!"

"Great Zeus!" Alexander exclaimed "What a brilliant move. He must have cut his movement time by days"

"What a genius!" Aegis exclaimed as the whole camp hurriedly assembled for a forced march northwards." I think Xerxes must have some Spartan blood in him. Imagine, a bridge made up of boats and an army moving across it like they were on the parade ground of Susa."

"They are in panic up north" Jason said "totally shitting themselves with fear. They say the ground shakes with the vibration of the Persian army marching southwards."

"The king?" Alexander asked his father

"Leonidas is at Thermopylae getting ready. The speed of Xerxes caught everyone off guard. The fleet did not even try to attack the boat bridge. Too many Persian warships "