Brasidas looked out over the city of Amphipolis from his window.
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| Brasidas on a hoplite sheild |
We will no longer have peace. A year ago, we captured Torone
and Scion, two very important cities in the eyes of the Athenians.
They will come for them now that there is no longer peace
between us. I am sure Cleon will be the one to come to fight
and recapture these two cities. I am sure Cleon
will be itching to arrive here to take these cities from Spartan
hands.
A young man sweating and breathing heavily entered the room. He was a messenger and spy for the Spartans. Brasidas looked over his large shoulder at him. The boy paused before walking closer to the general.
"Greetings sir," he breathed. "Cleon has taken Torone and Scione and is headed for Eion as we speak. He has with him thirty ships, about twelve thousand hoplites, and three hundred cavalry."
Brasidas considered this, it was exactly as he had expected. He turned to two of his most trusted soldiers and just below him in command, Clearidas and Demetri .
"Gather three hundred cavalry and two thousand hoplites. Leave a couple troops here as well. We will head up to Cerdylium to look upon the Athenians immediately. Understood?" They both nodded and went off to ready everything. When Cleon and his troops arrived, all of Brasidas' were positioned on Cerdyluim, looking down at Cleon. As thime passed, it seemed as though Cleon was moving his troops upriver. They seemed to be headed for Amphipolis. Brasidas yet again moved his troops back to Amaphipolis.
We have a much larger army than the Athenians, but I must admit
that Cleon's troops are of better quality. How should I go about attacking
the Athenians? We shall, because they are very disorganized, take my best
men, maybe one hundred and fifty of them. We shall surprise attack the Athenians.
Brasidas ordered Clearidas and Demetri to gather the best men in his army to undertake the surprise attack, them and himself included.
******
I had Clearidas take the remaining troops under his command except for my one hundred and fifty well trained men. We separated so that we would be attacking from different sides behind gates in the city. We were moving about so much that the Athenians must have heard something and the left wing of Cleon's army began to move back to the coast. That is when I attacked with my smaller group of men. We charged at the center, quickly collapsing it and began to fight our way to the right wing of the Athenian army. Swords clashed and blood was spilled all over the battle field. You could hear the cries of men when limbs broke away from their bodies with a swipe of your cold and biting blade. Pain and suffering lies on the battlefield along with glory. Clearidas' troops then joined us and began to cut their way through the Athenian soldiers of the right wing. I chopped my way through bodies fighting for the wrong side. Suddenly I came upon a man who's skill matched my own. He came full force at me jabbing with his blade at my chest. I parried his attack and moved forward quickly to try and catch him off guard. We went like this back and forth for a while when finally I lunged trying to plunge the point of my sword into his heart, when a man stabbed me from behind. A red blossom formed where my stomach should be. My limbs froze instantly and a gagging sound emanated from my throat. Blood spilled from my swollen lips and dripped onto the already blood soaked field. I lay there knowing that death was to wrap its numbing embrace about me shortly, but nothing happened for a while. When finally I knew I was to die in at least a minuet, Clearidas rushed to my side and kneeled. A tear rolled down his cheek as he saw my wound that was fatal.
"Did we have a victory?" I choked out between raking coughs. A small smile played on his lips.
"Yes, we did. We have beaten the Athenians once again, and Cleon has died as well." My lips twitched upward in content. Suddenly I was surrounded by a warm blanket of darkness.
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