Memoirs of an Immortal (The Immortal Series) (3 page)

I remember smiling at his words. How could I not? I hardly knew him, but being in his presence, having my hand held by him, felt like home. I reached with my other hand and cupped our hands together.

“I don’t need anything, I’m happy now.” I breathed.

The pieces that tried so hard to fit before had disappeared and the world around me had finally made sense again. I wanted to set his mind at ease, to make him understand that I didn’t think it was a mistake. That I was sad now and with time I would move passed it. He turned and brushed my hair away from my face.

“Are you happy?” He looked at me as though he was not so sure of my declaration. I nodded. “Good because I will never give you back.”

The harbour was quiet when we had finally reached it. It appeared that all the local fishermen had already left for the day. The three large ships seem to have taken over the port. There were a few hundred men that idled by waiting, but when Leonidas was noticed all the men cried out for their king. He acknowledged them with a slight nod and then ushered me to the main ship where the two men that were with us were waiting. As Leonidas and I got on board he began giving instructions.

I couldn’t help myself as I looked around at the men on the ship all of which were similar in build. All of them were large muscular bodies, making their presence intimidating. I noticed that as I looked at them they would slightly lower the heads. I laughed to myself here I was on a ship full of men who would not dare touch me and I couldn’t help, but start to appraise the situation.

My father’s voice echoed in my mind ‘
You must judge your opponents’ in weight, strength. You must choose a fighting style that would best suit your attacker
’ I laughed at how well he had trained me to have my instincts on alert.

With all these warriors around I could not help, but do that. I had played every possibly scenario and if anything were to happen I would be ready. I guess Leonidas knew by looking at me. From the corner of my eye I noticed he had stopped conversing with his men and began to walk over to where I was standing.

“I would not expect anything less from the daughter of the great Nikephoros.” He reached over and right when he was about to touch me I took his hand and flung him over. His eyes were wide and I knew I might have overstepped. I let out a large breath readying myself for my punishment.

“You should never come up from behind me. That was one of the best techniques my father ever taught me.” I offered. Our eyes met and I didn’t know what he meant as he looked at me. The ice blue in his eyes froze me where I stood.

As I relaxed my stance and helped him up, I heard a large bellowing. The whole ship began to laugh. Leonidas himself laughed. He proceeded to take me to the front of the ship and introduced me.

“This is the daughter of Nikephoros, the great hero of Troy. The oracle had said that she would be a gift from the gods to our people and to me. She is your queen, Psykhe.” He said proudly.

A great roar was heard from all three ships. I was happy to be with him, but scared to death too. I was never taught to be a lady let alone a queen. How would I be a gift? How would I be as a queen? All I ever could offer my king would be the skills passed down to me by my father and mother.

The two men that were with us had now left and went off to captain the other ships. Leonidas asked one of his men to take me down to his room, so I could rest, while he was going to stay up and lead the way home.

As I entered his room, I could see a large bed covered in linens. It was not made for a woman, but I made due. The room was simple enough nothing to announce it was a king’s room.

I slowly walked over to the bed, knowing that it was his made it all the more nerve racking. I could feel my heart start to race. I sat myself down, reaching for the sheets feeling their texture against my fingers. At that moment everything started to sink in. Was this seriously happening? Anxiety grew and I lay down to calm my thoughts, but before I knew it I had fallen asleep.

I must have been asleep for a while because when I woke up Leonidas was sitting in the chair beside me.

“Finally, I thought you were going to sleep forever.” He said softly.

I was groggy to say the least and my stomach made the loudest sound I had ever heard it make. I was so embarrassed that I hid my face from him. He laughed at me.

“I assume you’re hungry?” He asked. To which I didn’t answer.

He then proceeded to try to wrestle the sheets away from my face. We began to play fight. He finally got the sheets away, but he still wrestled with me. I could sense that we were relaxing in each other’s company and it was nice feeling, but we weren’t about to lose to one another. So the fighting continued. We both were out of breath and staring at each other, but the same icy blue eyes appeared as before.

I don’t know what had come over me, but I leaned forward. I wanted him to kiss me. As though he understood my mind, he lowered himself. His hands began to leisurely caress my hair and he gradually moved towards my lips. In an instant, I felt his lips tenderly against mine. A quiet wave began inside me. He slowly moved his mouth and licked the inside of my lips. I almost gasped at how that made me feel, but he pulled away. I wanted him to continue. I needed another kiss.

“Not now.” He said in a tortured voice. He let go of my hair and hovered over my face as though regretting his thought.

“No.” He whispered as he closed his eyes. He stood up from the bed and stalked out.

I was left alone in his bed, still feeling the warmth of his body against me. I had never felt rejection before. His words stung. I couldn’t quite grasp what he was thinking. All I could feel was this sense of embarrassment that I had exposed myself to him, that perhaps my need for him was greater than his need for me. I rolled myself up in a ball and huddled in the corner of the bed. I stayed there for awhile until I decided to go up.

I felt stifled in his bedroom, I needed fresh air. As I walked up, I could hear the men talking and laughing. When I finally appeared, everyone stopped and just stared at me for a moment, then went back to what they were doing. I was looking around for Leonidas, when I finally saw him. He was busy speaking to a few of his men.

“How is it possible that we reached here so soon? We left Kydonia only yesterday morning?” I could hear them saying.

I walked up to the ship’s edge and saw land. It was far, but I could see it. I overlooked the ocean around us, as I breathed in the salt sea air. I could see dolphins jumping out of the water next to our ship.

The two other boats were flanking us from behind. As I stood there taking in the sun and the smells of the sea, a man’s voice began to talk to me. I looked around, but saw no one. I thought it was Leonidas at first, but he was still with his men.

“Over here Psykhe.” He whispered.

I finally looked down and the sea had come together to make a face. It was a face of an older breaded man.

“It’s finally nice to meet you.” He said confidently.

I took a step forward, wanting to see if maybe I was just hallucinating this. I reached to touch the face that had come up from the ocean, but it disappeared as a wave crashing down on the ship. I hadn’t noticed, but Leonidas was beside me, holding me by the waist.

“What are you doing? You almost fell into the sea!” He bit out. I didn’t know what to think.

“Are you ok?” He asked.

“Yes” I replied. “I guess I was down in the room for too long. I’ll just sit down and breathe in some fresh air.” I brushed it off that I was tired, but I couldn’t help but have this nagging feeling.

After a few minutes my mind got the better of me and I walked up to the side of the ship again. I waited and finally I heard him again.

“It won’t be too long, young one.” The beard man spoke the waves crashing around his face.

“You are very beautiful. It’s such a shame you are his.” I looked down and I was about to speak. “Do not say a word. They will think that you have gone crazy. I fulfilled the request to bring you home quickly and safely. That there, is the town of Gytheo, you will be in Sparta soon.” The face then winked and smiled.

“Good bye for now.” The waves crashed again against the ship and the face was gone.

Moments later Leonidas stood beside me and pointed to the land.

“I know.” I said “That is Gytheo and very soon we’ll be in Sparta.” Leonidas looked at me with curiosity.

“How did you know?” He asked.

“I’m guessing by your reaction I’m right.” I smirked.

Little did I know, this was only the beginning of my strange encounters. I didn’t know it at the time, the new life that was awaiting me.

Sparta

We arrived on shore and I got off the ship and began to wonder around. I remember that the sun was beating down, making the day hot and dry even the cicadas weren’t singing.

The harbour was full of people more than I ever seen before. All these new sounds excited me. I watched intently as everyone looked like they were in a hurry. From the harbour, you could see the town of Gytheo. It sprawled up the mountain. Hundreds of homes lined up the slope. It was a wondrous sight. As trees lined the mountain side making it seem like the homes were nestled into the mountain itself.

The hot dry heat made the town look hazy, like it came from a dream. I was so taken in by everything, that I hadn’t noticed when a fairly large man, had walked into me. I looked over to apologize, when I realized he wasn’t quite ready for one. His stance was threatening and my instincts started to kick in. I stayed calm remembering my father’s words, as they echoed through my mind.

‘
It is always better to wait for the first move, even if your opponent hits you. No one can ever say anything afterwards. Self defence is the ultimate excuse for a good fight.
’

“Move, out of the way!” He grunted. Before I could do anything he grabbed my arm and threw me. I landed on my feet and slid across the ground. The large brute turned his head and watched as I calmly walked over to him and stared right at him.

“You shouldn’t have touched me.” I said with a smile on my face.

He laughed loudly and he then slapped me with the back of his hand. I could feel the sting of his slap.

My eyes narrowed and with an even larger smirk, I kicked a box next to me. A large piece of wood landed at my feet. I picked it up.

“Now it’s my turn!” I cried out.

With quick feet, I launched myself into the air and whacked him hard. The wood cracked in two and blood started to gush from his head. He threw his head back and began to yell that I was his meal of the day.

We were about to start a good fight, when I guess the commotion had caused Leonidas to appear. He threw himself in front of me and the brute knelt down. Leonidas reached and whacked him hard, causing the wound I had inflicted on him, to bleed even more.

“This is your queen! You are to never touch her again. Do I need to make myself understood Dienekes?” Leonidas growled.

I sneaked my head from behind Leonidas. I looked down at a man nearly twice the size of Leonidas, with his dark skin and his totally un-kept beard. His body glistened with his sweat. I thought for sure he would want my head.

“She’s small, but feisty. Could you not find a better queen? She is beautiful, but by the dogs, I’ve seen better.” He laughed and said.

I waited for Leonidas to say something anything, but all he did was glare at him. Dienekes must have seen my face and winked at me.

“If what they say is true, you are your father’s daughter.” He chuckled.

“Come!” Leonidas commanded, without looking at me.

It hadn’t occurred to me that he would be angry. I was defending myself. I was trying to put together my argument, when I walked right into him. Leonidas had stopped and I looked up at him. He took my face into his hands and began to examining me. Before I could say a single word, Leonidas lost it on me.

“You deliberately let him hit you! Do you wish death that much? Have you any idea what battles means? They are not simple stories your father regaled you with! It is life or it is death, there are no other choices!” He roared.

It was the first time, but not that last the Leonidas would be mad at me, but it would be the first time I felt ashamed. I wanted to tell him that I had been in battles. Yes granted, only the ones that had come for my father, but they did seek to kill, but he would not hear me. Before I could muster up one more word he was gone.

I felt my face grow red from disgracing him. The feelings of shame washed over me, as though everyone heard his words and were judging me.

“You did fine.” I was startled by a hand that began patting me on the head. It was Dienekes. “He just does not take these things lightly. Let him cool down. I’ll try to convince him, maybe allow you to have some Spartan training. I’ll offer myself as your teacher. I think you will be an interesting student.”

From that moment on Dienekes became my family. A big brother, when I need guidance. My saviour when I was wrong and a friend when I needed a confidant. For me, no truer person has ever existed in my life.

“Could you stop patting my head?” I snapped.

“Oh you see! Too feisty for me!” He laughed as he teased me.

“You know I was going to win?” I said confidently. He gave me a long look.

“I do not think so, my queen.” He refuted. He nudged his head and I looked at that direction. Leonidas was waiting for me. “I will see you soon, my queen.”

I walked up to Leonidas staring right at him, but he wouldn’t even look at my direction.