“I thought you’d be taller.” Damien eyed me up and down as he scratched his goatee, a rusted silver ring on his middle finger catching my eye. 

“And I thought you’d be shorter.” Illias ‒ still wearing his hoplite apparel ‒ spoke up before I had the chance to respond myself.

The dwarf grinned at hearing my friend’s retort. “Just the three of us then, eh?”

Damien, Illias and I had been preparing our sailboat ‒ stationed at the port of Salamis ‒ for the past five minutes or so. I had already changed into a loose linen shirt and trousers. My armor rested in the boat’s rear storage container.

“Believe so.” I grunted as I pulled at the ropes around the center mast to keep the sail in its raised position. I tugged a bit too hard as the ropes burned my palms a bit. “Did you have a fourth in mind?”

“Nope.” The dwarf shook his head, his short, spiky hair bouncing side to side with the motion. “Not yet, at least.”

  The sun had just started setting, casting an orange hue onto the water. The harbor town bustled with soldiers and sailors since Themistocles and his fleet decided to rest the night and restock on supplies. Also, most of the people evacuated from Attica were resettled here. Athenian triremes and pentaconters were stored within the large, wooden ship-sheds, but our small boat was tied to the mooring pole of a floating wooden dock. 

“Not yet?” My eyebrows furrowed. “Where are we even going? Themistocles didn’t give me much to go on. At all.”

“Egypt first.” As he sat, he unsheathed one of his two daggers, pulled out a bottle of oil, and poured a teeny amount of the liquid onto the steel. He slotted the bottle back in his pocket, took out a piece of cloth, and wiped it clean before re-sheathing it. “That’s where Artemisia has retreated to.”

“How’d you figure that?” Illias sat down, causing the boat to wobble, and took off his helmet to reveal his tightly shaven brown hair. “Also, is this tiny sailboat gonna be able to get us all the way over there by itself?”

“I know people.” Damien squinted at him. “And Themistocles ‒ politician that he is ‒  arranged for us to board a Phoenician merchant ship ‒ one that isn’t part of Persia’s naval fleet ‒ off the coast of Melos to get us the rest of the way.”

“Ok…” My friend shrugged. “So we heading out now or we gonna rest the night here with the rest of the Athenian contingent?”

“I vote for the latter.” I cleared my throat as I took a seat. “I could use a decent night’s sleep after today’s slaughter.”

A fleet of a dozen triremes sailed a close distance away from the harbor, generating a small wake. Their blood red sails thundered at full capacity, displaying the black lambda insignia on them. 

“Spartans?” I pursed my lips. “What are they doing here? I thought they went back home earlier today.”

“Themistocles asked for some help again.” The dwarf rolled his eyes. “As much as I hate those pompous bastards, I’d rather have them as allies than anything else.”

The wake reached the harbor and rocked our boat a bit, forcing Illias off-balance. 

“Oof.” My friend’s hands shot down to hold himself in place. “That hit us more strongly than I expected.”

“Or you’re just weak.” Damien scoffed.

I couldn’t help a chuckle at that one.

“Did someone piss in your dinner tonight?” Illias threw his hands in the air. “Or are you just naturally testy?”

“So tell me, Theo.” The dwarf ignored him and turned his attention to me. “Can I call ya Theo? Yea? Great. Now, are you capable enough to call the shots on this quest or do I need to do it for ya?”

“Well I don’t know how to even begin with capturing Artemisia.” I looked at Illias and he just shrugged. “And you seem to know exactly where she is and how to approach this ‘quest,’ so I think you should take the lead.”

“Shame.” He clicked his tongue. “From what Themistocles told me ‘bout ya…”

He paused mid-sentence to clean his second dagger as he did his first one.

“I hoped you woulda stepped up.”  He slapped his thigh. “But I guess it’s more work for me, then. Woo-hoo.”

We sat in awkward silence until Damien decided to continue talking.

“Are those them?” He glanced at my feet where my two spears rested. “The ones you can control?”

“Yep.”

“I’ve never seen it in person.” His eyes darted back and forth between mine and the spears.

“Oh, it’s so cool.” Illias blurted out. “Every time he‒”

“Shut up.” Damien held his gaze on me and dismissed my friend with a hand wave.

“It’s nothing special, really.” I extended my arm out and opened my hand. One of the spears bolted up from the ground, and as soon as it came up into my palm, my fingers clasped tightly around it.

“Hot damn.” He smirked. “Nothing special, I’m sure.”

“As much as I’d love to stay up and chat all night with you idiots.” Illias stood up, put his helmet back on, and jumped onto the floating dock next to our boat. “I’m going to go and use my quartering privileges as a soldier and sleep in a real bed.”

“Be back here at dawn.” Damien called after him as he made his way into the town. “I’m not waiting.”

The waves whooshed up on the shore nearby as a breeze caressed my exposed skin.

“I think I’m gonna stay here.” I set my spear back down and sprawled out onto my back to get comfy. “I enjoy the sea.”

“Does he know?” The dwarf’s voice turned stern.

I burst back into an upright position to look at him. “Does he know what?”

“Your parents.”

My eyes instinctively turned away. “No.”

“Then I’ll keep it that way.” He laid down, putting his hands behind his head. “It’s your life. You decide what to do with it.”

“Thank you.” My voice trailed off as I laid back down myself. 

The sun had finished setting, allowing the countless stars to illuminate the sky above us. The embers that trickled off the fires that still burned atop the acropolis blended in with these heavenly bodies as they soared up to them. 

“Just if I could offer some advice.” Damien whispered. “If that kid is as close a friend to you as he seems to be, then don’t let him find out on his own.”

“As of now he just thinks I’m another Athenian.” My body tensed for a moment. “But hopefully it won’t come to that.”

The chatter of people from the harbor town began dying down, letting the soft sounds of the sea fill my ears.

“It will.” He sighed. “It always does.”