Truth and Sparta (8 page)

Chara had a
plan, but it still seemed completely unrealistic and unattainable.
She was not the first woman to try to hide a child from the
Spartans and it seldom worked. They took note of babies turning up
in nearby villages so she had a place where her baby would be out
of their reach. She would be putting her family in real danger
doing this, but she had to try. She had searched every part of her
plan, trying to find faults in it.

She wanted to
speak to Doros, but he wasn’t interesting in listening to her and
she wasn’t sure he could ever see past how the baby came to be. She
also wasn’t entirely sure if he was interested in helping her—his
anger seemed to consume him. The only person she could talk to
about this was her mother.

Chara waited
until her mother returned home to start preparing their evening
meal.

“
Panos has a cousin in Athens,” she said not knowing how to
start such a conversation. She decided to just come out with it.
“If we hide this baby in Athens, it will be out of the reach of the
Spartans.”

“
They will take their vengeance out of us,” her mother said
with sadness.

“
Not if they don’t know.”

“
They are not stupid, my girl. They will know what’s happened
the moment you are not there when they come for the
child.”

“
But what if I am there when they come? If I am here going
about my business, and the child doesn’t turn up, they will lose
interest.”

“
They will notice the moment the child returns.”

Chara
considered her mother. She wasn’t entirely sure her mother would
accept her plan, but she needed help from her family if she were to
have any success in pulling this off.

“
I met a Messenian, he-“

“
You cannot trust Messenians, they are only interested in
winning this war at any cost and they don’t care about us,” her
mother cut her off.

“
I know, but he said the Athenians needed people in Attica to
work the land. They suffered greatly at the hands of the Spartans
and with the plague. They need people desperately.”

“
You would live in Attica?” her mother asked looking up from
stew she was stirring.

“
I would live anywhere if I could be with my child.”

“
But what interested would they have in you and a child in
Attica?”

“
They would if I took Doros with me.” Chara watched as her
mother returned her attention to the stew, considering her
words.

“
Doros absence would be noticed immediately,” her mother said.
“They would kill you for lying to them.”

“
But your absence might not be noticed,” Chara said carefully.
The Spartans rarely cared about older women, dismissing them as
inconsequential. It had its benefits at time and it generally made
her mother safer when the Spartans sought to implement their
policies.

“
But what if it is?”

“
Then we suffer. I know it is fraught with risk, but I must
save this baby.” Chara watched her mother’s eyes soften. “Then
maybe Doros could have a future he can tolerate as well.” If she
did this right, she could perhaps avoid Doros all the trouble he
was inviting to himself and to them as well. “We could all
go.”

“
We cannot go, we are too old to leave. Everything we know is
here.”

“
We could have a new life in Attica, a new farm—with
freedom.”

“
I think Doros’ madness has spread to you.”

“
I will not let them kill this child,” Chara stated.

“
So you think I should take the child to Athens?” her mother
said. “It is a highly risky journey for a new born.”

“
What choice do I have?”

“
You are right,” her mother sighed, “but it may be the end of
us all attempting such a foolhardy plan. Your father will never
approve.”

Chara felt her
heart sink. Her plan looked like it was falling apart around her,
placing her back in the situation where she would either have to
let her baby suffer, or her family. If she could take all the
suffering in their stead, she would in a heartbeat, but the world
never gave such options.

“
I will take the baby,” her mother said after a while. Chara
thought she’d heard wrong at first, then pulled her mother into a
hugged made awkward by her large belly.

“
How do we tell father?” Chara asked pushing down the tears she
felt well up with her mother’s support and
understanding.

“
I think it is best that we tell him after it’s done.” Chara
had never seen her mother defy her father before. Chara knew her
mother had strength, she’d seen glimpses of it from time to time,
but she had never seen it assert itself like this. “It shouldn’t be
impossible to get to Megara, but to get to Athens might be more
difficult. If all else fails, I can walk.” Chara felt terrible
about the task she had just put on her mother, but equally she knew
it was her only chance to save this baby.

In truth,
Chara knew very little about Attica. She knew it was the fertile
area that served Athens. She didn’t know if there would be much
opportunity for her there, particularly as a husbandless woman with
a child. She would be much more attractive if Doros came with
her—young men would be highly desired. She would have to convince
him somehow. She would have to wait to broach the subject with him
as he would likely blow up and ruin the plan, and she was not ready
to risk her baby on his reaction. His reaction—whatever it were to
be—could happen when the baby was away and safe. She would then
convince him to join her when she was ready to leave and join the
baby. Perhaps she would end up saving him from the destructive path
he was headed down.

The baby came
on a cold spring day. The birthing started early in the morning,
but the pains were so faint that Chara didn’t realize at first that
the baby was ready.

“
It’s ready to come. The baby has moved down. I will get
Thala,” her mother said. Chara swallowed her nervousness as her
mother left, but she’d been reassured her that they would be back
well in time and that there was no cause for worry. Chara had no
choice but to trust her word.

In fact,
nothing happened while her mother was gone. She arrived back with
Thala, who helped with birthings in the area. Chara couldn’t
believe it was time; it seemed like such a surreal thing.
Excitement and nervousness occupied her for the birth to come, but
also because they needed to initiate their plan after this and it
was scary, as was everything that was happening at the moment. The
likelihood of something going wrong was high. Women died in
childbirth and so did the baby. Chara knew that today could be her
last day on this earth—only the gods knew her fate.

The pain grew
to the point where Chara didn’t think she could bear it anymore; it
seemed to go on endlessly and Thala kept saying it wasn’t time yet.
Chara was starting to wonder if it would ever end.

It was dark by
the time the baby came. Chara ignored her exhaustion and stared
into the small face of her daughter. Happiness suffused every part
of her as she held the little bundle that had been placed at her
breast. It was a girl and she was beautiful. Her tiny little mouth
mewled slightly as she adjusted to her introduction to the world.
She had the smallest little fingers Chara had ever seen. Chara
named her Elphia, which meant hope, because that is what she
represented and that is what she gave. They would need the support
of the gods to help them through this endeavor and this little girl
in her arms what the purpose for all Chara did. This child had
given her a course in life and she now had someone to live for.

Elphia fed and
then they both slept, exhaustion claiming them both after a very
difficult day. Chara slept dreamlessly, which might have been just
as well because worry was starting to infringe on every part of
her.

Chara woke up
some time later. It was night time, but someone had left a lamp
burning for them. Elphia started to cry with hunger, sounding weak
as a little kitten. Chara fed her and she couldn’t stop staring at
the lovely little creature in her arms. She had blond hair that
felt like as fine as a bird’s feathers and large eyes. It was too
dark to see the color of her eyes, but it didn’t matter, Chara
loved them anyway. She could see resonance of Nicias’ brow on the
tiny girl, but she didn’t want thoughts of him to intrude on this
time, so she dismissed any more such thoughts.

They would
have to part tomorrow. It felt like an impossible task, but one she
had to endure. Her worry for the child only grew; she worried that
her mother wouldn’t find enough to feed her along the way. Children
could survive on goats’ milk, but not all thrived. She hoped the
little girl was strong—she would need to be. She was to have a
tumultuous start to her life, but it could not be avoided.

Chara fed the
girl through the night as the little girl would need as much
strength as Chara could give. The morning and their time to part
came all too quickly. Chara’s mother came into the small room that
Chara was nursing in.

“
We must go soon,” she confirmed.

“
I’m not sure I can part with her,” Chara said honestly,
knowing she didn’t have any choice.

“
I know this is hard, but it must be done.” Chara nodded, she
knew it was true, but it just felt so incredibly wrong to part from
her child. “We must be gone before the Spartan comes,” her mother
continued. “I have told your father of our plan. He is not happy,
but he will not stand in the way—he knows he would live the rest of
his life without forgiveness if he does. We must hurry
now.”

Chara’s body
protested as she moved to rise from the bed, she was sore and her
heart was aching, but she forced herself up and to get ready for
their departure. She prepared as much milk as she could into a
bladder.

“
There will be women along the way who will help,” her mother
tried to assure her. Chara knew that women were often willing to
assist orphaned babies and Chara prayed to the gods that women were
in charitable moods along this journey. She suppressed every tear
in front of her mother, but her worry was great. Her mother tried
to comfort her and fear kept her wits together.

“
It will be all right, you will see,” her mother said stroking
her back. “You will come when you can and you will be together
again in safety.” Chara absorbed the words of encouragement and
hoped she was right. At the moment, their plans seemed absolutely
crazy, but Chara’s mother stood by it even when Chara felt her
resolve crumble. “This must be done,” her mother reiterated and
Chara tried to bolster her own strength.

Chara walked
with the baby and her mother until they reached one of the main
roads, where carts were traveling throughout the Spartan territory.
It took them an hour to get there and Chara’s body protested every
step. A cart stopped for them, agreeing to let them ride north.
Chara hugged them both tightly and then watched as the cart started
to carry them away. She couldn’t hold back the tears that had been
threatening all morning.

“
This must be done,” she repeated her mother’s words over and
over on the walk back to the cottage. This wasn’t technically an
unhappy event; they were a future together—a happy and healthy
future, maybe even a prosperous one if the gods were kind. Chara
knew this would be the most difficult part of the plan, but it was
absolutely essential. If she didn’t stay behind, the rest of her
family would suffer. A bittersweet sorrow now would have great
rewards and the thought reassured her. There were so many things
that could go wrong, but she would visit the shrine every day to
pray for assistance.

Nicias
accepted his orders—he was being redeployed. He’d had to stand by
and watch as the Athenians took the prisoners from Pylos. They had
a truce that had allowed them to take food across the island to the
prisoners and they had done so every day. The prisoners had asked
for instruction from the Assembly and had been given none, which
lead to their eventual surrender. The blow had been hard to their
deflated morale, as well as to their faith in the strength of
Sparta and the elders who made decisions for them. The elders had
proved that they had no answers and now they stood here watching
while their countrymen were being taken away on ships. The Spartan
navy lay decimated and could do nothing to stop it. There was no
way to describe the situation other than bleak.

Nicias, along
with the others, started the trek to the eastern coast, where the
Athenians were making themselves into a nuisance. There were
soldiers who wanted to march on Athens, to take the losses of the
prisoners and to make the Athenians pay in blood for this—ransack
the whole city and kill the men, fuck the women and then sell any
survivors into slavery. All of Greece would rejoice if Athens was
burnt to the ground.

Spartans had
never surrendered and the unconscionable had just happened. Winter
refused to relent its grip on the land, compounding their
misery—the warm summer days seemed far away. He suspected the
summer coming would not be easy either as defeat has placed them in
a poor position and the Athenians would likely press their
advantage. It wouldn’t seem so bad if the Assembly didn’t seem
divided and hamstrung, and unable to make a coherent decision.