Respect and Honor (A 300 fanfic)

Battle of the Three Armies: Part Two

Pleistarchus and the others rush into the tent and see the God-King Xerxes sitting on his throne. The God-King's eyes widened with surprise as he stood up, not knowing what to do. He called for his guards and as they came in, Thermistokles and Dilios slaughtered them.

"You-" He coughed nervously. "You must be the Iroans."

"What gave it away?" Bahadur asked from standing behind the group.

"I heard about you." Xerxes said pointing to Bahadur. "How you joined our side and then went to the other. I have just one question..." He paused. "Why?"

Bahadur takes off his mask revealing his face. "Because I wanted to kill my father myself."

Xerxes let's out a hearty laugh. The laugh echoes the room which makes Bahadur draw his bow.

"What are you waiting for?" Thermistokles asked.

"The order from my council."

Pleistarchus looks over at Dilios who gave a slight nod. "Do it." Pleistarchus ordered.

Bahadur grabs an arrow and draws it. He aims it at the God-King, and as he was about to release, an arrow pierces him in the back.

Bahadur falls lifeless to the ground as Pleistarchus turns around to see Stelios standing at the tents entrance along with Leonidas.

"That was a nice trick you pulled." Leonidas pulled. "But your plan failed."

"How so?" Pleistarchus asked with amusement.

"You failed to kill the God-King."

Pleistarchus laughed. "Again how so?"

Pleistarchus pulled a dagger from his holster and tomahawked Xerxes in the chest. The God-King fell to the ground clutching his chest. Pleistarchus then walked over to the fallen God-King with his sword in his hand and removed his head from his shoulders.

"You think that'll stop me!" Leonidas yelled.

"No, but how about we call back our armies and let the outcome of the war be up to the gods."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Leonidas asked.

"Choose your best fighters and have them fight against mine, whoever wins takes the throne of King of Greece."

"I'm not going to put my throne in the hands of anyone who is not me."

"Then fight with them, I'll be fighting with mine."

The two kings gathered their men and had brought them to the nearest city and had them sit in a coliseum along with the city residents to have them watch the fight. While the anticipation was rising, a young man dressed in lavish robes stands on a podium.

"Ladies and gentleman!" Yelled the man. "Each side have their best fighters and will set out to fight each other to the death. Whichever team is left standing is crowned emperor of the world...LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!"

The two sides gather on each side of the coliseum and as they are preparing to fight, a dagger flies from the Spartan side and pierces the neck of one of the Iroan soldiers. Pleistarchus goes into a frenzy and charges to the Spartan side. His blade met with the neck of an unsuspecting solider and Pleistarchus watched as the two sides charged at each other.

Pleistarchus looked around to find Leonidas and sees him on the far side of the arena effortlessly slicing down soldier after soldier. Pleistarchus makes a mad dash to his father but was knocked to the ground by Stelios.

"You should've joined us Pleistarchus," he said as he raised his blade. "Instead you will die a traitor like the rest of your men."

Stelios was about to swing down when he fingers were crushed by an unsuspecting Iroan shield.

"Don't call us traitors you hypocrite!" Dilios yelled.

Stelios picked up his sword in his good hand and looked Dilios right in the eye.

"What did I tell you Dilios?" Stelios asked. "I told you that if I saw you again I would kill you."

Dilios took on his fighting stance.

"Go and kill Leonidas. I got this."

Pleistarchus picked up his sword and shield and ran off to kill the king of their enemy.

"Are you ready to die Dilios?" Stelios asked.

"If I'm ready to die then you're a Spartan," Dilios said.

They both charged at each other with such ferocity. The sound their blades made when they struck each other was enough to make any man deaf. Stelios managed to disarm Dilios' shield, but Dilios came back with a swing that sliced Stelios' arm. As Stelios tried to recover, Dilios took his dagger from his hilt and jabbed it into Stelios' neck. Stelios fell dead to the ground and Dilios dropped his weapons and walked out of the arena.

Pleistarchus cut down many Spartan soldiers as he made his way to Leonidas. Pleistarchus threw a dagger into the stomach of a soldier that was many feet away and as he fell to his knees, Pleistarchus used the man as a step stool and jumped off of his back. He raised his blade high and swung down on Leonidas, but his sword was met with his Leonidas's.

"Why not just join me!" Leonidas yelled. "We could have ruled the world as father and son!"

"Respect and honor was the lesson my father taught me before he died fighting Xerxes."

Leonidas screamed in fury as he charged at his son. Leonidas' anger made him careless which gave Pleistarchus the opportunity to disarm Leonidas and slice the back of his leg. As Leonidas fell to the ground Pleistarchus, in a murderous rage, swung his sword and decapitated the former king of Sparta...his father.

When the Spartan soldiers caught wind that their king has died they all laid down their weapons and surrendered. Pleistarchus walked off of the battlefield and ignored the screaming applause he got from the people watching the battle. When he got to the barracks of the arena he saw Dilios sitting alone in the dark with a glass of wine in his hand.

"You're alive, so I guess it's over."

Pleistarchus sighed a heavy sigh and put his face in his hands.

"Yes, it is."

"So what do we do now?" Dilios asked.

"We rebuild Sparta and Athens and make them flourish again," was Pleistarchus' reply.

"What about the traitors?"

"We execute them," Pleistarchus said.

"Execute a whole army?" Dilios asked.

"Most of Leonidas' army was made up of slaves. We free them and execute Spartans that betrayed us and killed innocent people."

"Ok," Dilios said as he finished his wine. "You know nothing will be the same after this."

   "Everything changes Dilios," Pleistarchus said as he poured himself a glass of wine. "Nothing stays the same forever, and when things do change..." he stopped and thought of the fond memories he had with his mother and father before the war. "And when things do change, it won't always be for the better...but that's what we're here for Dilios, to make sure the changes that are being made will be for the better."