Duty and Honour (a 300 fan fiction)

The Warrior Tests

The tests take place every year. Every man who wants to become a warrior has to take place in them. These tests are dangerous, and every year some young men don't make it through them. The tests are unforgiving, cruel, and fatal to some.

The week before the tests, Filomela meets Dilios at their usual place. 

She just sits down next to her friend without uttering a single word. Her head hurts due to her restless mind, she is scared, and she is sad. This will maybe be the last time she will see her best friend. This is a final goodbye, but not only because of the possibility of Dilios not making it through the tests. There is something else that weighs down on her conscience. 

Dilios doesn't react to her sitting down next to him, his mind seems far away, he seems distracted and nervous. 

Filomela turns her sight towards the already harvested fields and speaks in a low voice: "It starts next week, right?" Dilios just nods, still distracted by seemingly his own thoughts. "It begins with the Sword test, I have to fight two opponents to the death, it will be either them or me...." he sighs before continuing "After that, they will drop us in the mountains for a week. We have to survive out there in the wilderness. So many young boys have died during this test...the Wilderness test is cruel and relentless." He only whispers the last sentence. A small shiver runs down Filomela's spine, as she notices his nervousness. "I know you can make it Dilios!" she says and tries to sound enthusiastic. "You have to...", she adds, whispering. "I definitely will", he grins towards Filomela "I have a promise to keep, don't I? I will have to return, so I can tell you all about my adventures." Filomela forces a little smile onto her face, but her insides seem to tighten up, she knows that that won't happen. Her future is already set in stone. "Right, Filo?" Dilios asks with hope laced through his words, as he sends a worried look towards her. Filomela avoids his gaze and returns her eyes to the fields. "Will you come and watch the Sword test?", Dilios changes the topic, he noticed Filomela's discomfort and her restraint. The Sword test is a big event and half of Sparta is there to watch it happen. Bets get made and contracts get concluded there, regarding the future of the young fighters. "Sadly, I won't be able to. My father won't let me. But he will be there...you can guess why...", she adds bitterly. "He is looking to make an arrangement, regarding your engagement", Dilios gasps. Filomela only nods. 

It is common practice in Sparta to get engaged at a young age, they do not marry immediately. But the arrangements need to get made as soon as possible. Otherwise, the best suitors will already be taken. Dilios knows that, he also knows that he doesn't want his best friend to marry some stranger. He doesn't like the thought of that. "I fear that, if I am to be engaged, I can't keep our promise any more", Filomela declares with so much sadness in her voice that it almost broke Dilios heart. So this is what all of this is about, it is a farewell, Dilios guesses. "I won't be able to come here any more and see you", a single tear escapes Filomela's eyes as she prepares for this final farewell. "Filomela", Dilios says with a soft quivering voice, he feels as if his heart got ripped out and trampled on. When he looks at Filomela, he realizes that she has grown up a lot, the small inconspicuous girl grew up to be a beautiful young woman, one that he might never see again. Her auburn hair shines in the sun and her greenish-brown eyes glimmer with tears, he notices. He reaches for her freckled face and gently wipes her tears away with his calloused, rough fingers. They both know that this is a maybe forever goodbye, but they don't want to acknowledge it by actually bidding the other farewell.  A sad look was everything she could mutter, as Filomela walked away from her friend. She wishes him nothing but the best for his future, even if it meant they will never see each other again. Her body was leaving, but it felt like her heart and her mind, stayed with Dilios, stayed there on the big stone on the outskirts of the city that she called her home. A part of her will always stay with her best friend, that she is sure of. 

She turns around one last time and tries to memorize Dilios appearance. He grew up, just like her. He has a handsome figure and the sun shimmers on his reddish-blonde hair. She notices a sad gaze in his wonderful blue eyes as he roams them across the fields. More tears run down her pale face as she turns away and mutters "Farewell Dilios, thank you for being my friend." 

The day of the Sword Tests came around way too fast.

Filomela tried to sneak out in order to watch the whole ordeal. But her brother found her out and sent her back home. So all she could do was sit in the house and wait for a message from her brother, who promised to tell her about the Test to keep her from trying to sneak out again. 

The rest of the day consists of her trying to stop her mind to wandering, trying to stop herself from thinking about the possibility of Dilios's failure. 

It was really late, when her father and her brother finally came back. She couldn't ask her brother about the Test in front of her father, because he would for sure scold her for asking about things that are Not of interest to her, so she had to wait for an opportunity to catch him alone. Even after having the chance to ask her brother, he could not tell her if Dilios made it, because he did not memorize the names of the fighters. But he did tell her that many young warriors made it through this year round. 

Tomorrow the remaining will be sat on a wagon and brought out into the mountains that surround Sparta. They will be picked up again in a few weeks, and they are scattered out as to avoid them meeting up and helping each other. Filomela is not able to do anything to help, the only thing she can do is praying that Dilios will make it. 

During the two weeks of the Test, Filos father is working on arranging a marriage with one of the young warriors. One of them has obviously spiked his interest and his family and Filos father thought is wise to arrange a marriage. It will show if he makes it through the Test out in the wild. Filo almost hopes that he does not make it, so she does not have to marry a total stranger. She is 14 years old by now, and it is common to get betrothed young, but Filo does not feel ready to get promised to some young man. It is right that they do not have to marry right after the Tests, it is also common to wait a few years until the man is a full warrior and stable enough to support a family. It is useless though some day she has to marry, it is her duty. Filo rolls her eyes as soon as she thinks about this whole duty nonsense her father keeps spouting, but maybe just maybe he is right. 

In the following days Filo can do nothing but wait, wait for messages, wait for a sign of life from the young warriors just like the rest of Sparta. Filo found out that apparently the future king of Sparta is also in the wilderness this year. 

Sparta's King, Kleomenes I, has been dethroned by the year 490 bc. His Successor should have been his half-brother Leonidas I. But Leonidas almost did not make it onto the throne of his ancestors.