CHAPTER 7

The ships were launched and we were back out at sea. I could not help but admire Themistocles' resilience. To come back from that inferno on the sea was...astounding to say the least.

I gave the men their orders and they set to work, readying the ship and the others for a full on frontal attack. I would make splinters from their ships and light them, using the fire to warm my blood soaked hands.

As angry as I was, there was a feeling deep inside of me, one that not been stirred up in all my life. Themistocles had turned me down and that had hurt me. I believed that nothing could hurt me and then I came up against him. He was strong, brave and noble, all good qualities if you are looking for an advisor but this was not what I saw in him that attracted me. No, it was his fierceness with a sword, how he clenched his teeth when cutting down one of my men. He was brutal and violent and with my help, he could have become a legend not just in Greece and Perisa but all over. I could tell that he held back when he was fighting alongside his men but with me, he had unleashed something primal and even though this side of him excited me, I also wanted to tame it. To make it my own. No longer would he wear that ridiculous blue cape and silver helmet. I would have had him in black and gold. I imagined him in an arena, fighting opponent after opponent without ever getting tired and then when that was done with and he had proved his worth to the people, he would come back to me, lay with me and wake with me to start it all over again.

We would conquer towns and cities. We would divide lands and take whatever was left from the carnage. He would stand by my side as we watched kings and queens burn and beg for mercy and we would show none.

"Commander."

I turned to look at one of the men who had called me.

"What is the course of action?" He asked.

"Kill them all. Spare no one. Destroy all their ships. Turn the Agean red with Greek blood."

Themistocles was ready, I could see him talking to the men on his ship. He would come for me today. He would risk it all just to take my life and I would welcome the challenge.

My armour was nothing short of impressive and what made it so, was the golden spiked spine on my back, almost like a dragon. Two swords rested at my sides and I ached to use them. To spill some enemies blood of my own.

The Greek Athenian stared at me across the water and in his eyes I saw a promise, a promise that he would end this today.

The ship turned and headed for the middle of mine. The Greek soldiers braced themselves for the impact and my men held steady. As soon as the ships hit each other and it settled like that, both armies ran at each other, cutting down anything in their path. I played my part as well, jumping onto Themistocles' ship and slaughtering whoever stepped up to me.

One ran at me and I slashed his throat before moving onto the next one. This one raised his sword to me and cut his hand off. He screamed as I slammed the second sword I carried, into his heart. Onto the next one and he tried to take me suprise, jumping out from behind. I spun and cleaved his head in two. The deck became slippery with blood but most of the men from both sides, were holding their stand well. I noticed my men had been slain more than the Greeks and I moved onto another ship to cut their numbers even further. I turned around as the sound of hooves on wood attracted my attention. Themistocles rode across the boken vessels on horseback, anger in his eyes as he rode the horse hard, dodging flames and cutting down Persians as he went.

He was heading for me. I waited patiently, watching my men take down more Greeks. He got to me finally and I slashed at the horses' legs, seeing it go down and Themistocles rolling onto the deck painfully.

He soon recovered and was up, killing Persians two at a time and quickly, without remorse. When the last of them was slain, he turned his attention to me and one corner of my lips turned up in a half hearted smirk.

He removed his helmet and pointed his sword at me.

"You offer a life without consequence or responsibility."

"Are you accepting my offer?"

He shook his head. "My answer is still no."

I ran at him them, clashing swords and trying to get in a hit where I could. But he was a good fighter, just as I had seen. He did not make things easy for me and I respected that. It meant that he did not underestimate me like so many before him had. They see a woman and they assume I can do no more than sew or cook. The truth is I can do neither but when a sword is placed in my hand, it becomes a different matter entirely.

He lashed out at me and I knocked him back. I bent low and cut his leg, a small line of blood to show I had caused some amount of damage.

He roared and used his fist to smack me in the jaw. My head snapped to the side and I ran my tongue along my lip, tasting blood, my blood.

When I looked back at him, he looked almost unsure.

Instead I grinned.

"If you fucked like you fight, we could have had something together."

Then we were fighting again. Swords clashed and he pushed me back but I used the blades' close proximity to create sparks that stung his eyes as I drew the blades across one another. I kicked out and he stumbled back and we were both unsure how it happened but then were were standing and his sword was across my throat as mine was pointed at his. We just stared at each other, the roar of the fighting all around us a distant memory.

The sound of the sea sloshing against the boat but there was something else. Another noise. I looked up and saw a fleet of ships. They were not reinforcements of mine. No, they were Spartan ships. Themistocles took this distraction as an open opportunity and pushed me back with a sharp kick. I fell to the floor and my sword clattered onto the deck from my hand.

I glared up at him as I stayed in a crouching position.

"You are outnumbered, Artemisia. Surrender or meet your death."

"Surrender to you? Never."

He had his sword pointed at me and I glanced at mine, just in reach but I had to be quick. I could get it, I know I could.

"You have already lost. Your men are all but dead, your ships broken and now the Spartans have joined the fight. You have nothing left." He told me.

"Xerxes has killed the King of Sparta and I killed your King. I have something to be proud of."

He shook his head and stepped in my way as I made a move towards my sword.

"It would be a poor choice to force my hand."

I looked up at him.

"You could have been so much more Themistocles, you still can be."

He did not agree.

"I wish to live a life with freedom, not chained. It does not even matter that the chain would be attached to you."

That was all I needed. I lunged for the sword, yelling out at him as I did.

He blocked every attack and as I raised my arm, he grabbed it and plunged his sword into my stomach.

The pain was instant and I gasped as I realized what he had done. I had been beaten. He saw the pain in my eyes and pulled me further onto the sword. I held onto his shoulder as I tried to remain standing. The sword went all the way through me, protruding from my back. He looked at me and I saw no glee in his eyes. I saw a pang of guilt but I had refused his offer. I had not surrendered and if I could do it all again, I still would not have surrendered. That is not my way.

EPILOGUE

He pulled the sword free and I fell to my knees in front of him, almost as though I was bowing down to him but that, even in death, would never be. I would never kneel to any man, especially him.

The only thing I could think of was that I had been beaten by the best.

Not a God but a man. A man with determination and something to fight for.

I turned my head slightly as the Spartan ships neared and then I looked back up at him.

My lips tried to work and my voice came out a whisper.

"Things might have been different...had you not been my enemy."

Then I collapsed and the blood flowed. A Greek woman with a Persian heart defeated by an Athenian general. At least I had been defeated by the best.

THE END