Duty and Honour (a 300 fan fiction)

Hope and Despair

In 480 BC, the Spartan king Leonidas I set out with his 300 warriors to confront the Persian superiority at Thermopylae. They were able to skilfully exploit the favourable geographical position that this bottleneck offered them, to their advantage. The battle-hardened might of the Spartans was almost insurmountable, but they were betrayed by a hunchback named Ephialtes. He showed the Persians an ancient goat path that led them behind the Spartan lines. Leonidas and the brave 300 were surrounded. Leonidas knew that this would be his last battle. He sent one of his warriors back to Sparta to deliver the news.

Ever since Dilios set off with the 300, Filomela has gone outside the city every day to see if she might see them come back. Every day she has gone in vain, but it has somehow become a tradition that when Dilios leaves with the army, she goes outside the city every day to hope for his return. It's been almost a month now since the brave 300 left, and still no return is in sight. Today, too, she makes her way outside the city gates, the twins are at home with the maid.

As she moves purposefully through the streets of Sparta, she is stopped by a familiar voice: "Filomela!" She gets jolted out of her thoughts. Initially confused, she looks around the small square she is in. Until her gaze lingers on a woman standing not too far from her, next to a pillar. "My queen", she greets Gorgo with a smile as she approaches her. "How are you, my dear friend?", she asks, also smiling. Filomela's mood changes abruptly, and a look of worry spreads across her face. "You're worried?" She just nods after the queen's statement. "I know there's a very high chance that they won't come back. But I don't want to give up hope", she replies softly. "I know I feel the same way. The small hope remains. Both our husbands are good warriors and true sons of Sparta, the odds are in their favour. Besides, each of them would do anything for the other. They will return!", says Gorgo with confidence. "I hope you are right", she says and turns her gaze to the sky. "Do you still go outside the city every day?" Again she just nods. "It calms me down and gives me time to breathe, if I just sat at home all day the worry would eventually drive me mad", she wouldn't need to explain herself in front of Gorgo, because secretly she knows that the queen is plagued by exactly the same worries. She just nods in understanding. "I don't understand how the other women can stay so calm and composed. Yesterday I met Stelios's wife, she has absolutely no worries or anything like that.", "Because most of them don't love their husbands, they just married them out of duty. You and I are different. I love my king, and you too are still in love with your Dilios as much as you were 16 years ago", Gorgo tries to explain to Filomela. At this statement, she blushes slightly and lowers her head. It's true what she says. "But still, it's only human to worry, isn't it?", she replies quietly. Gorgo nods in agreement.

The sun is already starting to set, so Filo turns to Gorgo and says: "I should probably get going before it gets dark. It was nice talking to you again. If you want, you are welcome to come and visit again. We see each other far too seldom." She smiles before turning away. "Wait!", Gorgo calls after her as she was about to leave. "Can I come with you?", "Of course", she says quickly. Before continuing on her way, now together with the Queen of Sparta. Filo is glad that her and Gorgo get along so well, they met through their husbands, since Dilios and the king are good friends, they also saw each other often and after a while they also became good friends. They walk in silence, both of them busy with their own thoughts and neither of them feeling the need to share their thoughts with the other. 

Arriving outside the town, Filomela goes to her usual spot, to the stone where she used to meet Dilios. She sits down and lets her gaze wander over the fields. Gorgo sits down next to her without a word. They sit in silence for a few minutes until the queen interrupts the silence: "I will go back now, my son needs me. You shouldn't stay here too long either, Filo. It's getting cold already.", "I thank you, Gorgo. Good night!" 

Filomela remains seated for a while and to her astonishment she sees a man approaching in the semi-darkness. She squints her eyes to see better. She recognizes a silhouette that resembles her husband's stature. "That can't be...", she whispers to herself. The figure comes closer, and slowly she can make out more. She sees sparkling eyes and reddish-blond hair shimmering in the moonlight. "Dilios...", Relief comes over her, her knees begin to tremble, and her eyes start to well up with tears.

She walks slowly towards the warrior. "My darling!", says the warrior exhaustedly, whom she is now sure is Dilios. She sprints the last few metres towards him and embraces him stormily. Almost exhausted, he drops his shield and spear to the ground and wraps her tightly in his arms. She slowly detaches herself from him and looks at his face with tears of joy in her eyes. He wears an eye patch over his left eye and all in all looks quite battered. "My love...", she gently strokes her hand over his face, which is covered in sadness "...what happened?" She watches a single tear roll down his cheek. "The 300, are dead. Our king, my friend Leonidas..." Another tear rolls down his cheek, and she knows immediately what he is trying to tell her. Tears of sadness escape her too now. "He sent me back to deliver the news." More tears leave her husband's eye, and the fabric of the eye patch becomes damp. The King is dead.

Now the Persians had defeated the only force that opposed them. But all was not lost, for it was the Athenians who continued to defend Greece. Their leader Themistocles also asked the Spartans for help, but the queen did not want to make any more sacrifices to Themistocles' quest for a united Greece. But when the Athenians were cornered by the Persians at Salamis, the Spartans, led by Queen Gorgo and the new army commander Dilios, came to their aid and beat back the Persians. A year later, in 479 BC, 30,000 Greeks led by 10,000 Spartans, led by Dilios, faced the overwhelming Persian force at Plataiai. The united Greeks defeated the Persian land army, and Dilios returned home to see his children grow up. They became as successful as their father and as wise as their mother.