Respect and Honor (A 300 fanfic)

The Invitation

It was the middle of the night when Pleistarchus heard the sound of a man's cries for help. He runs outside to see a bunch of his men carrying a bloodied man onto a table. Pleistarchus walks up to the man and sees that the skin on his chest was has melted away. Pleistarchus asked the man what happned.

"What happened soldier?"

"I heard news from a messenger that if you wanted to fight against Xerxes and Leonidas we should come here." The soldier said.

"And?"

"A man wearing a Zeus mask emerges from the shadows and slices my chest with his sword that had this black substance on it. Then my chest started to burn."

The man screams in agonizing pain. A Spartan then poured water on his chest and the man screamed even more.

"Did the masked man say anything to you?" Dilios asked as he walked over.

"Yes, he said Sparta shall burn."

Pleistarchus looks over at Dilios and Thermistokles who was on the other side of the courtyard.

"They know we're here." He says.

"What do we do?" Thermistokles asked.

"We fight." Pleistarchus answered.

"You're crazy, how do we fight against an empire with only ten thousand men?"

"We don't have a choice, nobody will accept us into their city if we have a death warrant on our heads." Dilios chimed in.

The unknown man then screams his last scream and his eyes closed forever.

"What do you think that was? "Thermistokles asked.

"I heard of something like that when I was in training camp a few months back. I think the messenger said it was called Hades Fire." Pleiatarchus replied,

Then the silent night was interrupted yet again by the sound of hooves pounding on the ground. The figure stopped at Sparta's gates and waited as Pleistarchus, Dilios and Thermistokles made their way over. Dilios' eyes grew wide with rage as he saw that the unknown horseback rider was Stelios.

"Dilios my old friend, it's a shame that you're still alive." Stelios smiled as Dilios drew his sword. "What? Would you kill a messenger?"

"Our king, you know, before he went mad did it twelve years ago when he kicked the Persian messenger down the pit."

"Oh Dilios and your storytelling."

"Why are you here Stelios?" Pleistarchus asked. "Say what you have to stay and get on your way."

"I came to say that Leonias has invited you to a battle."

"Invited?" Thermistokles asked, his tone confused.

"Oh," Stelios said looking at Pleistarchus. "You got the Athenian war hero that caused Xerxes to come here in the first place by your side, and yes, it's an invitation, and if you don't accept Leonidas will destroy every city, village and kill anyone who's in his path. But don't worry, he'll spare Sparta so everyone would know how cowardly you are." Stelios laughed and turned the horse around and started riding away. "You have three months to decide." He said. "Oh and Stelios, the next time we cross paths you'll be under my blade."

Stelios rode off into the distance, leaving the two Spartans and the Athenian standing in the dust.

"What does he mean that you started this?" Pleistarchus asked Thermistokles.

Thermistokles sighs heavily. "We ambushed the Persians while they were coming ashore and we slaughtered them. I see that on one of the ships the Persian king Darius. I picked up a bow and arrows I had found on the ground and shot, and killed the king."

"And?" Pleistarchus asked.

"And," hHe sighs again. "I had the opportunity to kill Xerxes, but I thought that they're was enough bloodshed that day."

"You let him go?" Dilios asked.

"Yes, this was before the whole God-King business. How was I supposed to know he would come back a monster? A man out for vengence, yeah I would buy that, but my people, your people, everybody's people have died and their deaths are on my hands." Thermistokles wipes a tear from his eye. "Isn't that punnishment enough?"

"He never told us where to meet."Salino said. "I mean if we decide to fight."

"Once the three weeks comes down to an end they'll send someone for us." Pleistarchus replied. "And we're fighting...we're going to give them the fight of their lives."

"I said this before." Thermistokles pleaded. "We need help, we can't fight millions of men with just ten thousand, it's insanity!"

"Then get help!" Pleistarchus yelled. "I didn't ask for this you know. I come home, excited to see my father, my mother, and all I got was a punch to the face when I found out my father has turned mad. It's not fair! Being dragged into a war I never I never wanted to fight."

Thermistokles looks at the young Spartan with sympathy. He walks over and sits next to him. Pleistarchus gets up and looks at the stars. He stands there for a few moments, as if he were frozen in time. He sighs heavily.

"Do you think the Gods are watching?"

"Yes." Thermistokles replied.

"Do you think that to them this is a game, or just as sick joke?"

"I don't know Pleistarchus." Thermistokles said as he sighed. "But if it is, the God's have a sick sense of humor."

Pleistarchus laughed a little to himself. He then picks up wooden toy off the ground and looks at it. Memories from his childhood rush in, and tears are forced out of his eyes.

"I thought Spartans weren't allowed to have emotions." Pleistarchus said, wiping away the tears.

"It just means your human." Dilios said. And I have an idea, get an Athenian to tell our soldiers everything that there's to know about Athens."

"Why?" Thermistokles asked.

"That is where we'll fight." was the Spartan's replied.