Free Infinite 01 - Infinite Sacrifice by L.E. Waters

offering of cheese but only grimaces and spins to his left to climb ten more steps to another wheel. Other men are not faring so well; at least two are badly bleeding from wounds that tore around their backs to slice their necks or chests. They stand hesitant at the steps, trying to pick an opportune time to attempt another try, but the leaders are watching them out of the corners of their eyes as they whip the stronger boys piling up their cheeses.
    One of the weaker men makes a move to go behind, but the leader spins around with a crack so loud it sounds like thunder over our heads. The man screams in agony and falls upon the steps. A splatter of blood sprays the crowd when the whip is brought back. The leader spits in his direction, waiting for him to try to get up once again. Leander makes his way to the top step to the last wheel under the priestess’s foot and receives two whips on either side of him before making it back to his pile. With all the cheese snatched, the priestess brings her hands together again, but not before the fallen man receives one last punishing sting. Pride wells up within me as Leander is chosen as the winner and allowed to present the cheeses to his goddess. The rowdy crowd cheers, and I try to make my way toward him in the chaotic crowd as the men wash their blood off in the river.
    “Leander!” I cry, and I catch a quick glimpse from him as he climbs back out on the banks. He looks away, though, and assembles behind his leader who ties up his whip and lashes his chariot forward. The red tiger-striped backs of men disappear over the mountain as they leave their fallen disgrace back upon the steps; no one dares to help him. It will be a miracle if he makes it back to his men that night.

Chapter 4
    It’s amazing what you cling to when you’re given very little. Those moments in the barn and later in the darkness of our bedroom, I made a love story. I made his rare appearance, quick movements, and few words into a fantasy, yet every time was like the first. Since I’m pregnant, we’re officially married, but we will not move in together until he turns thirty, when he’ll be given a household by the military. The bigger my stomach grows, the less he wants to meet me, and after four meetings, he tells me to send notice when the baby arrives.
    My mother had prepared me for this life. Spartan men belong to the state. They’re sent away to school at seven, suffer agoge until twenty, live with their military group until thirty, and from thirty to sixty, they’re at the beck and call of the military. If something comes up and the army needs reinforcements, they’re forced to join until the campaign is over. However, I’m just as content to be in control and with Ophira.
    At about nine months, I have a terrible dream:
    I hold a large melon, the size of a horse head. I drop it, and it splatters into many pieces. A huge pig comes at once to eat the melon, and I try to shoo the pig away. I’m protecting two seeds, but the pig pushes me over, eats the smaller seed, and then jumps off the cliff I’m standing on. I watch as it plummets down into the dark chasm squealing like a baby.
    I wake up crying and think for an instant I wet the bed. I feel my stomach tightening, and I call for Ophira.
    She comes running. “I’ll go get Leander.”
    But I yell to her as she opens the door to my bedroom. “No Ophira! Stay here!”
    “He told me to fetch him at once.” She stands there confused.
    “I don’t want them throwing my baby off a cliff!” I scream out, trying to breathe between pains that are worsening.
    She closes the door, understanding. “We’re going to get in trouble Alcina! Sparta’s the only one who gets to decide who’s fit or not.”
    I try to sit up. “I’ll say I was outside in the fields, and the baby came so fast.”
    Ophira helps me get through hours of labor. She tells me to get on the floor and kneel while she supports me. Kneeling feels much better than the pressure my