Pausanias rode beside Ling Tong, Andrew and Nicomedes, a stout guard of trusted Spartans from both sides riding with them as they travelled to the west of Plataea. Some of those guards were Alpheus, Maron and Dieneces as well as others that were unknown to the Hero and Player from Riverside.
The sun was hot on their skin as they rode across the rugged terrain. They had travelled past the remains of the battlefield from the days before and had passed the mountains that the Greek forces has called home for the last couple of weeks. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, whilst the wind didn't seem to give them a breeze for even a brief respite in the baking heat. Andrew was visibly sweating, whilst Ling Tong was used to the humid lands of the southern China and was more accustomed to the heat, even if it was uncomfortable.
The Spartans around them didn't seem to struggle though, as if the scorching temperatures of late august was just another way to train their bodies that were machines of war in their own right. Nicomedes seemed to be checking around them as they travelled, alert for any potential Persian remnants, whilst Pausanias himself seemed relaxed and enjoying the break from the constant questions coming his way from the other Commanders.
"They said ten days was too much." Pausanias laughed, after Alpheus had commented that the Spartan Hoplite should begin training again the next day. "That is ten days to get our bodies recovered and back in to a prime state for the next battle."
"Do you know much about the City of Thebes and how to assault it?" Ling Tong asked, a slight glimmer of a smile tugged at the side of Pausanias mouth, before quickly disappearing. It was noticeable to a confused Ling Tong, who chose to ignore it for now.
"We know enough, I am hopeful that your Theban Warriors can give us some information when they return." Pausanias replied, before looking around in a wide arc. "Where have your men gone?"
"They have all been dispatched to move our horses and prisoners, as well as the rest of any rewards we may have found ourselves, so that we can take them home." Andrew replied honestly as they moved further and further away from Plataea towards the western coast.
"Is that were Aristodemus is?" Pausanias questioned. Ling Tong had dispatched the Spartan and his unit with Strabo and the Skiritae to take the freed women from the Persian Camp to their ships that had been hidden by Andrew and the Spartan Leonidas.
"He'll return before Thebes." Andrew stated, feeling the conversation wasn't as positive as it usually was.
"Alpheus, what will happen to me after Thebes?" Pausanias asked, changing the conversation, with Nicomedes also looking in his direction.
"The young Pleistarchus will feel jealous of your success and that will be your downfall." Alpheus replied honestly, seemingly knowing his friend better than the others, Alpheus then turned to his brother Maron and gave him a look that Ling Tong didn't understand, but Maron moved his horse slightly to the side of Ling Tong, as if protecting him from unseen people.
"My young cousin is listening to those he shouldn't again it seems. It only my uncle Leonidas hadn't died and had dispatched myself or Nicomedes in his place, life would be much simpler." Pausanias grumbled, whilst Nicomedes shook his head in disagreement.
"Then it would be us dead brother and not our uncle." Nicomedes explained.
"You say that, but it seems that will be my own end soon. Betrayed by mother I believe?" He laughed heartedly as they continued to travel, Nicomedes still looking around as they moved. "Years of giving my life for my city, only to be untrusted and betrayed all the way through? For what, for supposed medism? I hate the Persians more than anyone, why would I choose to align with them."
"It isn't all bad though, you will have three son's with your wife." Alpheus replied, "Your line continues as future Kings of Sparta. Your eldest will be well taught by your brother Nicomedes and will try to be a good King."
"This is all stupid, when did the Warrior who said the Seer's were seeing the tricks of the gods and that the Ephors could bend over for him if they questioned his valour, become a man who tells tales of the future." Nicomedes accused Alpheus, who shrugged his shoulders, having already had this conversation multiple times.
"And my son who becomes King, what happens to him, you say he tries to be a good king?" Pausanias asked as they passed by a certain marker that had been placed by Andrew's men earlier. They were now entering a slightly wooded area as they travelled towards the coast, with thick bushes coming up to them in the distance, with a forest appearing behind them.
"Pleistoanax, under the regency of your brother Nicomedes tries to be a good King, alongside the grandson of Leotychides." Alpheus explained further, before pausing, "But the knowledge is little from that point onwards, I know that he will be banished for eighteen years before returning and finding peace. He isn't a warrior King, but he is a good one."
"A weak one, but that is to be understandable seeing what supposedly happens to his father." Pausanias commented as he pulled his horse back, stopping abruptly on the road that they were taking. Causing everyone to feel a bit confused, whilst Andrew and Ling Tong felt a bit uncomfortable. Only a few steps away from their current position could they enact their plan. Pausanias then smiled and shouted loudly, "Come out!"
There was silence for a few seconds, before a large number of Warriors began to appear from their surroundings. Between the Warriors stood men that Ling Tong recognised, disarmed but treated well by their Spartan Captives.
"There was only twenty of them General." An extremely attractive Spartan Warrior stated, his head was full of long black hair, with oiled tanned muscled skin. Both Andrew and Ling Tong were surprised by the Handsome Warrior, mainly as the man who was captive beside him was their Spartan Leonidas.
"Only Twenty? That is disappointing." Pausanias said, shaking his head as he looked towards Ling Tong and Andrew. "It seems you have been caught in the act?"
"It seems we have." Ling Tong agreed as Pausanias turned to Alpheus and shook his head.
"So what was the plan, capture me in the middle of the peace and take me away from here?" Pausanias asked his old friend, his tone not overly accusing.
"We need good Generals and I didn't want to see my friend go through what he goes through." Alpheus explained, whilst Maron prepared to draw his sword as he stood beside Ling Tong to protect his General. Dieneces did the same, the three Spartans of Riverside preparing to attack the larger numbers that came towards them.
"Callicrates, I hope you haven't harmed any of my brothers." Dieneces threatened the handsome Spartan that had Leonidas beside him.
"How can I harm someone that is supposedly dead?" Callicrates laughed, as around one hundred and sixty Spartans appeared around them.
"Silent both of you." Nicomedes ordered, seemingly having been aware of his brothers Plan.
"I had many Helot's following you, I was aware of your men gathering in this area." Pausanias commented, "You could have just asked me for my own opinion rather than try to take me by force."
"If we knocked you unconscious, by the time you awoke, you would understand that your new life would be much better." Alpheus stated seriously. The Plan had been Andrew's, they would lure Pausanias away from the camp and knock him out, before taking him to one of their ships for him to awake in Riverside and become a General by default. However, whilst Andrew's plan was hopeful, it seemed it was failed from the start.
"My loyalty is to my home, regardless of the future that you speak about. I have three sons to be born and whilst I may not see the future they lead, it is good to know that there is one for them." Pausanias explained calmly, seemingly accepting his own future in his words.
"Your wife is already pregnant with your first born." Andrew stated, interrupting the conversation and catching Pausanias off guard. His calmness suddenly began to change as he looked at Andrew with an angry glance.
"And you know that how?" He questioned, whilst Leonidas from beside Callicrates replied instead.
"We visited home before we joined the battle. Our Spartan Warriors have family and we wanted to reunite as many as we could. We have done the same in Athens for our Athenian warriors." Leonidas explained in response.
"And you met my wife did you?" Pausanias asked, knowing Leonidas as one of his Uncle Leonidas's loyal men.
"And your mother." Andrew replied, causing Dieneces to laugh suddenly, the brave warrior's reaction easing some of the tension.
"Then I feel that your trip to Sparta was a painful one." Pausanias replied honestly, with Nicomedes nodding his head in agreement.
"Put down your Weapons." A shout suddenly interrupted them, the forest around them suddenly coming to life as more Warriors began to appear. Pausanias laughed loudly, a genuine laugh of surprise and excitement, whilst Nicomedes looked on in shock.
"About time!" Ling Tong shouted at the Leader as Centurion Alexander appeared from the woods with around four hundred Hoplite. One flank was led by Centurion Philip and his Thebans, whilst the rest was some of the unit that had joined Alexander to visit Athens and some of his own recruits.
"It seems that we were caught in the act brother." Nicomedes commented as the Spartan under his command turned to face the approaching Hoplite.
"We are all friends here, put your weapons down." Pausanias stated calmly to his own men, freeing the twenty men under Leonidas. He then turned to Ling Tong and shook his head with a smile. "You are young, but it seems you have outsmarted me, so what is the plan, do I get a choice?"
"You do have a choice. As did I before I joined this force. I am just one of many Generals, I am not even a senior one. The world is bigger than you could ever imagine, your talent is wasted here and you have done more for Sparta in defeating the Persians than they could ever repay you and your line." Ling Tong explained passionately, "This isn't the only battlefield we have joined, if I know my Lord well enough, then the other Spartan King Leotychides will return with a new found level of confidence that will push Sparta in to a new era of war."
"My wife, my brother, my mother?" Pausanias asked, a man loyal to his family even to the point of being starved to death by them and the people he had served loyally.
"Your wife is safe and if you decide to join us, then so shall she. The offer also extends to Nicomedes, whose family are also protected." Ling Tong replied, looking to Andrew for confirmation who nodded. Nicomedes was never part of their plan, but the General's brother who was a General in his own right didn't seem to trust the newcomers and had stayed by his side.
"We also have your Mother, but she was not as easily persuaded." Andrew explained honestly, remembering meeting Theano the aging mother of Pausanias and Nicomedes. She had been a difficult woman, accusing them of being demons to torment her, before accusing both her sons of Treachery.
"Can we not leave her behind?" Pausanias asked, before Nicomedes nudged him. Pausanias looked at his brother and exhaled. "Fine, she can also come if we leave."
"So you are coming?" Ling Tong asked, as nearly six hundred Hoplite surrounded them.
"I can't return now, you have already cornered me and my future has already been changed." Pausanias expressed, "But if we are leaving, I am taking some men with me. Callicrates are you coming?"
"Have they taken my mother?" Callicrates asked, before a Spartan beside him laughed.
"Let's hope not!" The Spartan stated, before everyone else broke out in laughter, before turning serious. "I am not sure how I feel about this, but I am loyal to the Agiad house and the sons of Cleombrotus. I am with you, but the men will need to make their own decisions, you are asking us to abandon our home after a war to free her."
"It is not the Spartan way." Another Spartan stated, before looking at those around, a mixture of responses on their faces as Alpheus whispered that he would speak with them.