Truth and Sparta (19 page)

The mule
trotted along the road and Chara could see a group of Spartans
ahead. She was too visible to hide so she had to continue toward
them. She felt her mouth dry in worry. It was such a strange thing
to see soldiers who looked just like Nicias in their dress and
manner, but these inspired deep and unbaiting fear while he
produced such different feelings in her.

One of them
took the reins of her mule and forcefully stopped her progress.
“And where are you going, girl?”

“
I am running an errand,” she answered.

“
What kind of errand?” he asked her. He was looking around the
mule and around her person, searching for something. She bent over
and pulled a broken blade from her bag. She’d started carrying it
around as a ready excuse for why she was on the roads.

“
What have you?” another man called.

“
Just a girl,” the Spartan interrogating her said dismissively
in answer to the man who was older and Chara suspected the leader
of the group. He came over and considered her.

“
Why are you fixing a plough blade now when it is not yet time
for tilling?” he demanded.

“
Because it can take time to fix and we need to make enquiries
now, else it may not be ready when we need it,” she said hoping
that he would accept her answer. He took the blade and turned it
over.

“
Where are you from?”

“
Near the Menares estate.”

“
You are far from your estate,” he said.

“
There is no one who can work the blade in our village. They
sent me to find a metal worker in Velleia,” she said referring to
the larger village a few hours ride away. “I am the only one they
could pare to do it.”

He nodded
slowly and handed the blade back. Chara took it from him, almost
dropped it with her nerves. She was sitting on the mule, but they
were still as tall as her. He seemed to consider her for a moment
longer then waved her away.

Chara urged
the mule forward and it seemed just as eager to escape as she was.
Once away from them, she turned and looked back. They were
conferring in a group. She knew they were searching for something,
but she didn’t quite know what. Perhaps they were searching for
her, but if they knew of her, they would have taken her, or maybe
just slain her on the spot. Her body was shaking with the tension
of it and she wanted to cry, but she held herself together.

Nicias seemed
to like taking her away from the house when he had time to. He
would often ride out with her and spend some time in the sun,
without any particular plan. It was a warm day with a cooling
breeze as they rode up to the hills where no one lived. He found
another spot with a view across a valley.

Chara noted
that the soil was poor here and too rocky to cultivate. Even with
years of effort, this land would be unproductive. An idea came to
her for an excuse for travelling. The next time she took a cart to
the coast, she would gather seaweed for the fields to enrich the
soil.

“
Your father has not returned yet?” he asked when they’d taken
their seats. He’d brought bread, wine and honey for them to eat.
Chara had never tasted honey before and it was an intensely sweet
substance that almost overwhelmed her senses. It was like the
sweetest of fruits, but golden.

“
My cousin came to tell me that Father has fallen ill,” she
lied. “I am going to go visit him next week.” She reminded herself
of the necessity of her deception. She hated when reality intruded
on their time together. This whole thing would be much more
difficult for her to reconcile if she could not view them as two
completely separate things.

“
I was hoping to ride out to the place where my estate will be.
I know I have mentioned it to you before. I was hoping it would be
allotted to me by now, but this war continues. I would like to have
my own house, to have a place to keep you. I don’t like you living
in that little hut and I certainly don’t like you living on your
own.”

“
It would be strange to imagine us together, in your house,”
she said honestly. There was a part of her that would dream of such
an impossible future, them living on their own, away from
everything, with no pressures or danger. But she could not see that
life without Elphia. The three of them made the perfect picture.
“But it wouldn’t be a life without children,” she said
carefully.

She watched as
his eyes clouded over. “It is not allowed.” He sat up and faced
away from her. “I fear that your regard may turn again me when the
time comes.”

“
A mother can be nothing but a mother.”

“
You breathe life into me,” he said with intensity, turning
back to her seeking her eyes out. “I know that I should not do
this, that it will ultimately end up hurting you. I just can’t bear
continuing as I was—dead but breathing. Forgive me,” he said. “I
know not how to fix this. Sometimes I look forward to the next
battle; it may be the one that solves this dilemma I have caused.
You would still remember me then.”

“
I will never forget you,” she said placing her hand on his
arm. He looked away again. Chara moved closer so she could place
her arms around him. “This should not be a sacrifice that should be
demanded of you.”

Chara felt the
impossibility of his situation and the cruelty of the policies that
were forced on him. The Spartan state demanded complete loyalty
above all else—including family.

“
My hope is in time that the Assembly will change their
policies,” he said accepting her embrace, but refusing to look in
her eyes. “Things cannot continue as they are. There number of
Spartan children born is lowering every year. Even the men with
wives are not here to fill their bellies. We are paying for this
ever continuing war in ways we cannot afford. The policy must
change. That is my hope.”

“
It is not the only thing that cannot be kept as they are,” she
said but regretted it immediately.

“
What do you mean?” he asked.

Chara grasped
for something to say to justify her statement. “They need men to
manage their estates too. Sparta falls into neglect if there is no
one here to manage its strength.” She could see his eyes watching
her; he seemed to accept her answer and Chara hid her sigh of
relief. The last thing she wanted was more Spartans around to
notice what she was doing, but she needed to say something. She’d
lost sight of herself and said something she shouldn’t have. She
questioned how she could have been so stupid.

She didn’t
want to be in this position, to be here deceiving him. She knew it
was necessary, but she also wanted to fight for this relationship.
“We could leave,” she said quietly after a while, “come back after
things have changed.” She had no intention of coming back but if it
meant she could keep him, keep this, she would—provided her
children could live in safety. If he was right and they had to
change their policy at some point, there was a potential future for
them. It filled her with hope and a sense of foreboding that the
small hope would likely cause her nothing but pain, make her
entertain thoughts she shouldn’t—dangerous thoughts.

“
There would be no going back,” he said. “If you leave Sparta
behind when things are difficult, it will not accept you
back.”

She sat
silently waiting for him to talk further. She felt that she should
not push too far at this point.

“
I am Spartan; I will never be anything else. Whatever it
demands of me, I must give. That is just what I am.”

Chara felt a
stab of pain in her heart. He would never come with her.

“
There is someone causing problems amongst the slaves, we
suspect it is someone of Helot origin, but we don’t know for sure,
perhaps someone who has served with the Messinians. The only
information we have is that he refers to himself as the Lynx. He is
encouraging desertion—as are the Messinians—but this man has been
more effective. Desertion is rife,” the Polemarchos said indicating
to areas on the map where there were areas of high activity. “His
reach is wide. We have uncovered activity here, here and here, but
we understand it has reached much wider. He is specifically
targeting crop producing segments of the Helot society and there
has been a noticed reduction in the intake this year.”

“
I knew there was something,” Nicias’ father confirmed, looking
at the tall man who had come but a half hour earlier.

“
This activity must be stopped and this individual found—and
dealt with,” the Polemarchos continued. Nicias had seen this man
before but didn’t know him well. He was responsible for planning
regarding affairs within the state. “They are all to be searched
and questioned. The elders have given this priority, but you are to
keep your activities quiet; we do not want the Athenians to hear of
this.” Hi serious look conveyed the gravity of the
decree.

Nicias
frowned. He was being commandeered for internal matters, something
he hadn’t experienced before. It did give him an excuse to be home
for longer, which did please him. By the look of the men that had
been gathered in his father’s house, this was something the leaders
did take seriously. All the landowners from the district had been
summoned and were waiting when the Polemarchos arrived with his
men.

“
Find this man,” the man reiterated. “Keep regular
communications. It is important that we keep oversight of all the
learnings.”

He rolled up
his map and nodded to the gathered men before leaving. Nicias
suspected that the Polemarchos’ group would continue into the
neighboring districts and spread the same message. Whoever this
Helot man was, the noose would tighten very quickly.

“
Why do we care about some deserting Helots?” one of the
neighbors asked once the Polemarchos was gone.

“
Because they aren’t harvesting,” Nicias’ father
replied.

“
Then whip them harder until they do.”

“
Except they have a means of objecting and leaving. What are we
supposed to do, put men in the villages to ensure no one leaves?
Oversee the harvest? We don’t have men to waste on such absurd
duties.”

“
We find the man who is encouraging them. We find him, we stop
this.”

“
How are they leaving?”

“
By sea apparently,” one of the men said.

“
From where?”

“
That we don’t know.”

“
I suppose we will start by searching the villages,” Nicias’
father said. “We will do it with the arrival of the men that the
Polemarchos promised. Now let’s eat.”

Nicias
followed the men as they walked to the dining area where food and
wine was laid out for them. Nicias hadn’t realized that the problem
with the Helots were as serious as the elders perceived. They had
always feared organized revolt, but he had never suspected
organized desertion, and he was certain it was not something the
elders had anticipated either. He searched through his memories
trying to see if there was any knowledge he could garner. The only
person he knew was missing was Chara’s father, but he had also seen
how the man tried to protect his daughter, he couldn’t imagine him
leaving her behind, but he would question her about it later.

Nicias saw
their guests out to the courtyard after the meal from where they
would all say farewell. They didn’t actually see each other that
often. It was more likely to see them in the messes in Sparta. Out
here they were too far apart to regularly share meal together.

“
I despise the Helots,” one man said. “Their insipid
whimpering. I think we should kill them all and replace them with
proper slaves.”

“
Slaves always take work,” another said. “One variety or
another, it is the same.”

“
Surely it cannot be a Helot planning all this. It seems too
inspired. Someone must be guiding it, someone we are unaware
off.”

“
You always see conspiracies,” Nicias’ father
accused.

“
Likely they are working with the Messinians—this is their
tactic after all. Cowardly as it is. Cowardly and underhanded. What
glory is there in such actions?”

“
No glory, but it’s effective. Has gotten the leaders in a
stir.”

“
They are keeping it very quiet though.”

“
Will do us no good to have the enemy know that we are having
trouble at home. The Athenians would pounce on it if they
knew.”

Chara met with
the volunteers who wanted to help plan getting the Helot girls out
of Sparta. It was the most dangerous thing they’d done so far and
it needed meticulous planning. None of them had any particular
experience with planning, so they didn’t know exactly how to go
about it. They argued over every detail and were getting nowhere.
Chara had to finally pick a course of action.

A boy rushed
into the hut they were in, barely able to catch his breath.
“Spartans, riding this way,” he stammered out.

“
We all know what we have to do,” Chara said quickly. She
covered over the dirt where they had drawn the map of the city and
how they would travel through it.

“
You need to leave, Chara,” Panos said. “They should not find
you here.”

She nodded.
“Which way are they coming from?”