Free Truth and Sparta by Camille Oster Page B

securing the
future soldiers Sparta desperately needed. Citizens would be
better, but the half castes were accepted in their stead. Taking
the child off the mothers wasn’t a pleasant task, but it was vital
lest they form attachment to the weak Helot side of their nature.
Good soldiers had to be raised with the knowledge that the state
was of supreme importance. Nicias hoped the child was not female as
it would be an even more unpleasant task. But it was his duty and
he must take care of it—shirking it would mean dire consequences.
The Assembly would look very negatively of such things as it was
seen as detrimental to the state and hence traitorous—men had been
exiled for it.
    Nicias began
the ride home after informing his superiors that he had to take an
absence to sort out a pressing matter at home. He was given four
days to do so. It didn’t give him much time, so he had to hurry.
He’d saddled one of the horses and departed at once.
     
    He arrived
home in the morning, the land quiet and peaceful as he rode through
the village shortly after dusk. Spring seems to have found the
valley, with growth having started after the long winter. Nothing
had changed here—it never did.
    He joined his
father in the courtyard as he sat in the sun warming. Nicias didn’t
need any heat, the ride this morning after a brief sleep along the
way had warmed him sufficiently. His sluggish movements told him he
could use a few more hours sleep though, but he wanted to take care
of the unpleasant business before he had to spend too much time
thinking about it. This was the exact reason he had not readily
engaged with Helot girls before. Whores were fine, you spent the
night and then left, and there were never consequences to be dealt
with. But as he got older, the nameless, faceless whores were not
enough; he’d wanted more and this was the consequences for having
that.
    There was a
chance the child wasn’t his, but he knew instinctively that it was.
He’d made his claim on her known and anyone who touched her would
be insulting him directly. He also felt that she was not the kind
of girl who would be giving her favors away to others.
    “ Have you seen the child?” he asked his father.
    “ No.”
    “ What must I do?” he asked. He wasn’t entirely sure how to go
about this. He knew the children were taken to Sparta and the state
cared for them from there.
    “ Sinon will deliver the child,” the older man said indicating
to the waiting servant and Nicias nodded. He departed the house,
ordering a fresh horse from the stable. He hoped the girl would not
fight him; he hoped she understood the necessity of
this.
     
    Chara’s body
had recovered slowly. She didn’t have the strength she’d had
before, but she was becoming stronger every day. She missed her
baby like a physical ache—an ache she was learning to deal with it.
She started working the fields with her father again. She looked up
at a noise and spotted Nicias at the edge of the field. She had
expected him, but she was still shocked to see him. It had been
many months since she had seen him last and he looked no
different.
    “ Do you want me to speak to him?” her father asked. She
considered it for a moment.
    “ No, I will do it.” She wasn’t entirely sure why she couldn’t
let her father do it, maybe she felt that her father might remind
him of her mother presence in their house. Her mother’s absence
going unnoticed was the key to the whole plan and she couldn’t risk
anything reminding him of her.
    She walked
over to the edge of the field where he was mounted on a large gray
horse she’d seen before, her heart beating quicken as she
approached him. She had prepared for this moment for weeks. He
looked so large and intimidating sitting high above her and she was
small compared to him even when he was on the ground. He did look a
little more drawn than the last time she had seen him, perhaps the
troubles the Spartans had been experiencing over the last year