Truth and Sparta (12 page)

She also knew
that she didn’t have much time—each day she was here only increased
the chance of someone telling the wrong person what she was up to.
She needed to get her father to Attica, and her brother too—if that
included persuading Della to join them, all the better. She had
already broached the idea with Della and she would continue the
conversation. From the looks of the land when she travelled back
southwards, there were more than a few farms that needed care.

Chara walked
into the village the next day, she was going to have a second
discussion with Della and hopefully Della’s whole family. Even if
Della was uncertain, her family might be more welcoming of a better
future for their daughter.

“
Are you Chara?” an approaching woman asked accompanied by a
young man that Chara assumed was the woman’s son.

“
Yes,” Chara told the Helot woman she didn’t know.

“
I hear that you are settling in Attica,” the woman said. Chara
frowned; it was not good that perfect strangers knew of her
activities, it increased the risk significantly. Chara didn’t
respond in any discernible way. “You have to take my son. I plead
with you, take my son with you.”

“
I...” Chara started not knowing what to say. The boy looked
around 15 and he looked scared out of his wits.

“
The Spartans are taking our young men and they’re not coming
back.”

This was
something Chara hadn’t heard before—then again she had been caught
up in her own troubles of late. It was a disturbing development if
it was true.

“
You have to take him,” the woman continued. Chara could see
the sheer desperation in the woman’s face. She started to get down
on her knees to beg, but Chara stopped her. First of all, she never
wanted to see anyone doing that; second, it would look extremely
suspicious to anyone who saw it.

“
I am not leaving just at this moment,” Chara said hurriedly.
“I will think it over. I hadn’t anticipated taking
others...”

“
Please, I beg you.”

“
I will talk it over with my father,” Chara said. “Where can I
find you?” The woman gave her directions to her farm which was
quite far away from the village—giving Chara a further spike of
concern at how far the news of her activities had travelled.
Another young man would not be a bad thing—one more set of hands
for the farm. Chara smiled at the woman. “I am sure we can work
something out, but I must go now. I will find you as I am about to
leave.” The woman clasped her hand in gratitude. Chara left as soon
as she could. It felt disturbing to be party to such desperation,
particularly as she knew exactly how this woman felt.

The days
passed and Chara started feeling desperate to leave. She felt
nervous tension gripping her insides as things were not resolving
themselves as quickly as she’d hoped. Della was interested in
joining them, but it was a big decision for her to leave everything
behind for an unknown future.

Chara’s father
seemed ready to go with her even though he still tended to his
fields every day as if nothing unusual was about to happen. Doros
was still absent most of the time. His reticence was making her
angry; he was putting them all at risk by dragging his feet. She
decided that she could only wait a little while longer; if he
wasn’t going to come, he needed to tell her definitively. Staying
longer was just unnecessary levels of risk.

She still
desperately wanted Doros to come because there was no future here
for him, and whatever activities he was involved with—she knew it
would lead to grief. He finally returned and Chara confronted him
before he got in through the door.

“
We can’t wait much longer, we have to leave. The chances of
discovery are heightening every day. What is keeping
you?”

“
I just have things to do,” he said with annoyance.

“
So you are not coming?” she pushed.

He stared at
her for a while. “I didn’t say that.”

Chara felt
relief because for the first time, he had actually said that he was
considering going.

“
Then let’s leave tomorrow. We will take Della with us and just
go. There is nothing holding us here and everything to leave for.
We need to go now.”

“
Then go, you don’t need me to hold your hand. There are still
some things I have to do, things I have promised…“

“
Promised to who?”

“
It doesn’t matter,” he said with exasperation. Chara hated his
attitude, but that was not the important thing to focus on right
now.

“
You go on with father; I will come when I am
ready.”

“
It will be noticed that we have up and left.”

“
I will deal with it.”

She knew she
wouldn’t get any more from him. It was a victory all things
considered. He was adamant on doing the things that occupied him so
intently and kept him away from the farm where he was needed. She
was pretty sure they were things she didn’t want to know about;
they were likely plotting something. She put her palms to her
forehead, wishing he would just stop. But if he insisted, then they
were better off not being here. If he carried on like this—without
consulting them—then they might as well be safe in Attica.

She walked out
to the fields and told her father than they were leaving in the
morning. She had to prepare what was ready of their vegetable crop
and to put the chickens in baskets ready for travel; they would
take them and the dog with them on the cart. If they were stopped,
it would look like they were going to market. They could take very
little else with them as it would look odd travelling with the
contents of their house—meagre as they were.

She checked in
on Della in the afternoon to inform her of their imminent
departure—Della would either be there or not. Della was out in the
fields so Chara decided she would walk out to get the boy she had
promised to take. She knew where the farm was and it would take her
a couple of hours to get there, but a promise was a promise.

She still had
a lump of cold tension in her chest that wouldn’t shift. She hoped
it would start easing when they were finally travelling, but she
doubted it—likely it would start letting up when she got past
Megara and out of Spartan territory. It wouldn’t be long now, she
just had to finish this last task.

She walked
down the road that ran near the farm she sought, turning as she
heard a noise behind her and was confronted with four Spartans on
horseback. She froze where she was. She hadn’t even seen them
coming and they were riding at high speed. She would have hidden if
she had known they were coming, but she didn’t have the time
now.

They rode
straight past her, but she could see one of them looking her over
with disinterest as they went passed. She’d never seen any of them
before and wondered what they were doing out here. She thought back
on what the desperate woman had said about them taking Helot men
and shuddered. She couldn’t wait to leave this place. She did
understand where Doros came from, this was their land and it had
been long before the Spartans came here, but even with their
numbers they could not take on the highly militarized oppressors.
Now that she had come to realize that there were other places to
live—better places—staying just seemed foolhardy.

“
He will be there in the morning,” the woman confirmed talking
about her son. “He will leave well before dawn and be there when
you are ready to leave. Thank you, thank you,” she said kissing
Chara’s hand. Chara hated to see this level of desperation in a
Helot mother, where she had to grasp onto a potential future she
had only heard of in passing.

“
I will make sure he is cared for,” Chara tried to reassure the
woman. “It will be hard work, but it will be rewarding in the end.”
She tried to sound confident and she truly did believe it. She
wouldn’t perhaps state her belief as bluntly if she didn’t think
this wretched woman needed to hear it.

Chara noted a
number of younger children inside the small cottage—too young to be
away from their mothers. Chara gave the woman a nod and left
wishing she could do more for her. That poor woman appeared to be a
widow with quite a few young children. Widows weren’t normally
considered by anyone and they weren’t subjected to the perils faced
by the Helot male population.

Chara could
see Della when she reached the village; her friend carried a
serious expression signifying that all wasn’t well. Chara feared
that Della had decided not to join them.

“
The Spartan has returned,” Della said quietly as Chara came
near.

“
Which Spartan?” Chara said with confusion considering she’d
run into four already. She felt dread creep up her insides. Surely
it couldn’t be Nicias; the timing would be atrociously
bad.

“
Your Spartan,” Della confirmed. Chara exhaled a sigh of shock
and disappointment, while at the same time bristling at him being
referred to as hers. He couldn’t possibly have chosen a worse time
to come back. “He has sent one of his servants out to your house.
What does that mean?”

“
He expects me to come to him,” Chara replied.

Chara saw a
look of concern on Della’s face. “I am so sorry.”

Chara nodded
absently as she tried to think through what had to be done. The
gods were not working in her favor, she was so close to being gone
and he shows up at the last minute. It meant that they couldn’t go
in the morning. Nicias would notice her departure much sooner than
she needed, and that meant they would potentially be tracked down
before they cleared Spartan territory. They would have to put it
off until he left. Chara cursed her bad luck, but there was nothing
for it. She had to make things seem perfectly normal until he was
gone again. There could be no suspicions that there was anything
out of the ordinary.

Chara exhaled
the breath she’d been holding as she got to the gate of the wall
surrounding the Menares villa. She hoped the exhalation would clear
the tension that was now so sharp it made her muscles ache. It had
only built and built in the time she’d been back here. She had to
get through this for however long Nicias was here, then they would
be free to sneak away.

She was
becoming familiar with the faces of the Menares’ servants, but
there wasn’t much interaction required. Once let in, she made her
way to the room he occupied when he was here.

He was there
waiting for her when she walked inside. He’d lain back across the
bed—waiting she presumed. It was the first time he was there when
she arrived. He got up and smiled when he saw her. Chara felt a
frown cross her brow, but she dismissed it immediately. He seemed
happy to see her and she had trouble making it correspond with her
own emotions.

He came to
her, leant over and kissed her. She’d forgotten the taste of his
kisses, musky and earthy—pure male. Against her own better
judgement, she felt herself relax a little bit even though she knew
it was wrong to feel any degree of comfort in his touch or
presence. But it was an involuntary reaction—an absurd and perverse
one.

The kiss was
deep and demanding until he pulled back. He put his hands up to the
side of her face, pushing her hair back. He seemed to be surveying
her features, memorizing them.

“
You are beautiful. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“
No,” she replied honestly. He’d called her pretty before, but
no one had ever called her beautiful.

“
I have been many places and seen many women, but there is
something very special about you.”

Chara didn’t
know how to react to the statement or what to say in return. These
were sentiments that in the scheme of things were unimportant and
superfluous, but there was a part of her that soaked up such
utterings. She looked into his blue eyes, to see if he was toying
with her, but she saw nothing there. She tried to clear her mind,
she had to be cold and analytical; she couldn’t listen to stupid
sentiments, not now when it was imperative that she keep her wits
around her.

“
How long are you staying?”

“
Just two days,” he said. “Stay with me.”

Again she felt
tongue tied. She knew he was asking her to stay with him past the
morning. She smiled in response. He always seemed to push the
limits of her comfort. She really wanted to ask him why he would
want that, but she was too scared to hear the answer. She just
wasn’t sure what his intentions were, but the things he’d said last
time they’d been together seemed to indicate that he wanted more
than just someone to knead his frustrations into.

“
So what have you been doing with yourself since I saw you
last?”

Chara cleared
her throat. “Working. I am a Helot, our lives aren’t that
exciting.” She tried to make it sound light.

“
Did you miss me?” he said teasingly and ran his finger gently
down the bridge of her nose and stepped away from her. She watched
him as he walked over to the table and poured two cups of wine. He
looked back at her, his golden blond curls falling down around his
face. She still couldn’t figure out if he was teasing, because
there was part of him that seemed earnest for an answer. She felt a
bit like she was at a cross roads and she didn’t know which path
was right.

Don’t stir
problems, she told herself firmly.