Page 113 of Axios

He closed the distance between us and pulled me to his chest, gently grabbing my chin and turning my face to his. “You are weary from travel. Once you eat and rest, you will feel better.”

Exhaling, I stared into his green eyes, seeking the comfort in them. His alert mind would have caught any perceivable danger. If he believed the situation to be fine, then I had to believe the same.

“I suppose you are right,” I spoke, resting my forehead against his cheek.

“You two!” Theon exclaimed, running toward us with a huge smile. “Come see what Haden is doing. He is balancing shields on that thick head of his and seeing how many he can do before they fall.”

Eryx smoothed his hand down my side as he stepped out of our embrace and looked to our shorter friend. “Well, it would be but a shame to miss that,” he spoke with a heavy amount of sarcasm in his voice. “Truly.”

“Let us go watch, you too serious man,” I said with a laugh and pushed against his shoulder. “We can mock him later when he makes a fool of himself.”

“Now,thatis an excellent plan,” Eryx spoke, raising a brow at me before turning back to Theon. “Lead the way.”

My unease was forgotten then, and when it tried to resurface later on that evening, I dismissed it as nothing more than the slight apprehension that came with being in a new territory.

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Chapter Thirty

Battle of Tegyra

Two days later, we were told we’d be raiding an area north of Orchomenus. I bit my tongue to keep from voicing disagreement. I saw no need for such an action, but it was not my place to question the decision of the commanders.

Only twomoraiwere chosen to go, my group amongst them. We gathered our provisions at dawn, only taking the bare essentials of our armor and weapons since we would not be away for long, and then left the city to travel north to Locris.

The raid lasted the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon, and then we began walking south back toward Orchomenus.

That was when everything went wrong.

On our way back, we collided with a Theban force at Tegyra, a narrow site of land north of Lake Kopais. Our men halted in step and we raised our shields in defense.

The Thebans appeared just as shocked by the run in as we were—and some visibly panicked and took several steps back—but they did not retreat.

A flurry of questions circled through my head.

Why are they here? Is this a trap?

With my adrenaline soaring, I quickly scanned their ranks and tried to get an estimate of how many soldiers they had on their side. They had a hoplite force, plus a smaller cavalry one. By the looks of it, we greatly outnumbered them by at least double the men, and it would be unwise for them to attack. Their defeat would be imminent.

Neither army moved.

I focused on the Theban commander, a man called Pelopidas. He did not stare at our overwhelming force with fear. No, he looked at us as if we were nothing but a small obstacle in his way.

Then… I looked closer at the hoplites in his army. Sparta had fought against them before during past campaigns in Boeotia. The Sacred Band. And the memory I had tried to recall from days before finally entered my mind.

“I saw Spartans fighting Thebans, and within the enemy lines there was a unit of three hundred men. They fought fiercely, protecting the men at their sides as if they cared deeply for them.”

The story Nikias had told me long ago, before there was even a conflict with Thebes. A story he never finished.

“Eryx will never defy his orders and he will hold all Spartan principles close until he draws his final breath,”he had said.“But he listens to you. If you ask it of him, he will obey.”

Everything aligned in my head at once. Perhaps that was the encounter Nikias had tried warning me about, one where Eryx would… what… die? Unless I asked him to flee? He would never surrender in battle, and I wouldn’t either, but the thought of him being killed caused me to throw all duty aside.

He was all that mattered in my life, and what kind of life would it be without him in it?

My stomach churned as the blood washed from my face, and I turned to him, seeing his golden hair sticking out from the bottom of his helmet. Seeing every detail about him as if it were the last time—fearing it was the end.

“Eryx!”