Mitus and Thaleia
A long time ago around 600 BC in Ancient Greece lived Mitus and Thaleia a Spartan man and woman. This was not the unstoppable Spartan empire we think of today, it was early in the country’s history and lawlessness and poverty plagued its lands while many formidable enemies threatened its gates. As is the tradition with Spartan boys Mitus was inducted into military training at age 7. At a time when the country needed a military leader who could push back the invading forces and give the people time to establish a more civilized way of life. It was there at military training school where Mitus met Thaleia. Her father had been killed in battle and had served with honor alongside enough of the men that she and her mother were allowed to serve as tenants to the young soldiers instead of being cast out on the street. 
The first time he saw her he was transfixed, it was during a sparring session, and as he ducked the other boy’s wooden sword and wheeled around he saw her filling up a bucket with water while an old grizzled soldier screamed irately at her. She had long dark brown hair that spiraled down her back, her face was pale and glowed with a beauty born of innocence. But it was her eyes that he noticed most, like two brilliant sapphires that seemed to drain the beauty of everything around them and take it all for themselves. As he stood watching her he had lowered his shield and the other boy, Leonus, took advantage and sent him crashing to the ground with a hard blow to the top of the head. Mitus would not be bested in Thaleia’s eyes though and in a second he was up and tackled Leonus pinning his throat to the ground with his shield and punching him furiously with the hilt of his sword until blood stained the sand. He stood over Leonus and let out a triumphant roar just to make sure she was watching then looked over at the water station. Thaleia was looking, and as their eyes made contact she smiled slightly and Mitus knew then and there he would spend the rest of his life trying to love her.
They would not meet or speak to one another for years but she was always on Mitus’ mind. Every day as he trained he would tell himself that she was watching and that he could never let another best him because then she would see them as more of a man than he and begin to favor them. With this incentive Mitus rose to become quite the remarkable soldier, it didn’t hurt that he was physically gifted himself, standing at 6 feet tell built powerfully but still able to move with the ease and fluidity of a smaller man. His skill with a sword was unparalleled and it was accepted by the other boys in the school that he was the best and therefore their natural leader.
Finally one night when he was about 13 he was training alone on the pallis, perfecting his technique when he heard a commotion coming from the meal area. He walked over to investigate and saw that a group of boys were harassing Thaleia. They had formed a circle around her trapping her and the leader was trying to kiss her while the others looked on laughing. Mitus was upon them like a dog mad with hunger on a scrap of meat, hurling the on-lookers aside with such force their tumbling bodies broke tables and chairs. Then he completed the illusion by sinking his teeth into the leader’s neck, a boy by the name of Perseids. The others scattered but Mitus was not done with Perseids, he beat him with an ungodly fury until his face swelled into one giant bruise, then he threw him into the sand where he lay unconscious until the next morning. Mitus turned and looked at Thaleia she was appalled at the brutality with which he had disposed of Perseids but clearly grateful that he had come to her rescue.
“Did they hurt you?” he asked still panting with fatigue and rage.
“No, no I’m fine” she said with a smile “Thank you”
Mitus’ heart leapt in his chest when she smiled and he realized this was his big chance with her. “My father spoke of your father once” he replied “He said he fought with honor against the Macedonians, and it was a shame that your mother could not bear him a son to take up his sword.” 
She looked at him in surprise.
“I can’t say I agree” he said with a smile which she returned.
From then on they were friends and they would occasionally share a few words when he was resting and she had a leave from her duties in the school. But the life of a Spartan warrior, especially one as promising as Mitus, does not afford time for romance and he still spent the majority of his time training and thinking of her. He resolved that he would go to battle earn his accolades as Sparta’s finest soldier then he would return to her and take her as his wife.
When Mitus was 18, the day came when he and the rest of his class graduated from training school to become Spartans. Mitus was well known to be the best of his class and was made commander of the unit. He met with the war council, a great honor few Spartan’s would ever have the right to receive.
“Mitus, you have shown great promise and your men look up to you as if you were a god” announced the head of the council.
“Thank you councilman” said Mitus kneeling in his full bronze armor.
“Yet the training school cannot prepare you for a real battle, and you must prove your worth on the battlefield”
“My men and I await the challenge eagerly”
“You are to march your men north to battle the Thebians encroaching our northern settlements, defeat them, push them from our lands then you may return to Sparta a hero”
That night there was a huge celebration for the newly crowned Spartans with a feast and lots of wine and dancing. Mitus was the guest of honor at the feast, having just been made commander, and he drank gallons of wine and danced with Thaleia until the ground started to spin. At the end of the night Mitus and Thaleia sat on a cliff overlooking their city.
“We march north to face the Thebians tomorrow morning” he said.
“So soon?” she asked.
He thought that she could not look more beautiful in her festival dress with the moon lighting up her face. “Yes, it’s funny I’ve waited my whole life for this moment and yet right now all I want is to be here with you”
“I wish things were different” she said “I wish you didn’t have to go”
Mitus was silent, part of him wished the same but he could not denounce what he had given his whole life to, nor could he deny that some of him waited anxiously for battle, to put all his training into use to best an enemy in a real battle, and yes he yearned to kill another man.
But he was not in battle yet and that night they made love and he thought himself the king of the world. ‘All I have to do is return alive and she will be mine’ he thought.
When he awoke he had time only for a quick goodbye before he had to rally his men. The day passed by in a sort of blur and next thing he knew he was marching his men out of the city, the thought of Thaleia still fresh on his mind.
The war council had said that his training could not prepare him for real battle, Mitus had not believed them at the time, but after his first encounter with the Thebian forces he saw that they were wise in their words. He had marched his men to the northern settlements but when they arrived there were nothing but burned huts and mutilated bodies strewn everywhere. Mitus and his men were moving through the wreckage when he heard a surprised gasp, he turned and saw Leonus, a man whom he had known since they were boys looking down at a blade in his chest. The Thebians had lain among the dead and surprised Mitus and his men, they suffered many losses that day and he vowed it would not happen again.
True to his word Mitus was never again caught unawares an he led his unit on a long grueling campaign pushing the Thebians further and further north. Just as in his training Mitus thought of each enemy soldier as a threat to his life with Thaleia, and he slaughtered hundreds of them without mercy. For a year they battled the Thebian forces, day after day their shield braced against hundreds of enemy soldiers but it did not break for Mitus was equal parts tactician and swordsmen. Then one day the Thebians up and disappeared and they stood staring at the blood soaked ground. But it was over now and Mitus thought that he had finally done it, become a hero, and now all there was left to do was claim his wife Thaleia. As he and his men journeyed back across the land by which they had come he thought long and hard about whether he could give up his life as a soldier for a life with Thaleia. He thought of her eyes and how they had looked the first time he saw her and decided he could.
Then one day they spotted their mother Sparta on the horizon and they all ran to her gates. Mitus burst into the city amidst the cheers of a quickly growing crowd. As his men met the crowd they exalted with other soldiers or grabbed women and drink. It was utter chaos. Mitus pushed his way through the crowd towards the city center. He climbed the steps of the war council and turned to look out across the crowd, below him throngs of people screamed and rejoiced in his presence. He scanned for Thaleia’s face and eventually spotted it in the back away from the howling mob, his face broke into a smile that quickly disappeared, something was wrong, there was a man dressed in a politicians garb standing beside her. Their eyes made contact and he read her face, the worry and sadness there told him all he needed to know. 
In that moment Mitus lost something of himself, all that he was, all that he had accomplished had been for Thaleia and now he felt as though it had all been for nothing. He ran from the city center to the military school to find somewhere to be alone with his rage. He went to work upon the pallis with his sword still caked in Thebian blood. Within minutes he destroyed the ancient wooden structures that had trained generations of Spartans. He stood among the shards of wood breathing heavily. ‘If I cannot have a life with her then I will have a life of battle’ he resolved. He turned to leave but stopped for a second to look at the water barrel by which he had first seen Thaleia. But the memory angered him and he kicked over the barrel watching the water spill out then disappear into the sand.
Mitus headed back into the city towards the war council, he burst in through the doors and kneeled before the council as they applauded him.
“Mitus you have done well” said the head councilman. “Your victory over the Thebians has driven their forces from our lands and made you a hero”
“Thank you councilman” said Mitus. “But I have not come just to accept your praise but instead to ask to earn it once more. The Thebian army is weak, my men and I killed thousands and they would not have retreated if they did not fear being overrun. Let me return to the north and finish the Thebians for good so that our lands will once again know peace without fear of invasion”
The council talked among itself excitedly and there were cries praising Mitus’ bravery. “These are bold words Mitus” said the head councilman. “But our army is weak, we cannot risk a defeat in our current state.”
“Please councilman!” Mitus cried desperately. “Your people look to me as if I were a god. Let me prove that I have earned such words. Let me restore Sparta to the glory of its olden days, where other nation feared our conquering powers.”
The council again discussed but Mitus’ words had ignited them and they decreed that he should return north to finish the task.
Mitus gave his men the night to rest but informed them that they would leave once more at dawn. Many were dismayed to be returning to battle so soon but they were fiercely loyal to Mitus and would follow him anywhere. Dawn came and once again Mitus marched his men through the gates. ‘At last to be rid of this cursed city’ thought Mitus.
He and his men marched north, beyond Spartan lands, and deep into the heart of Thebian controlled territory. They were met with heavy resistance, many of the men were wounded or exhausted from their last battle and they died in greater numbers. Still Mitus pushed them on, he fought alone now, ahead of the shield wall, cutting a swathe through their enemies leaving countless dead in his wake. With no one to watch his flanks Mitus was wounded many times but he just laughed and thought that no wound inflicted upon his body could match the pain he felt in his heart at losing Thaleia.
Eventually the tale of Mitus and his brave men came to its end. It was down to Mitus and a handful of men against an ever growing horde of enemies. They were encircled then swarmed and finally the shield wall broke. Still a bloody Mitus spun in circles fighting ten men at once. When a blade pierced through his heart he staggered then fell to his knees. He thought of Thaleia and that night long ago on top of the cliff overlooking Sparta. But the picture of Thaleia with her politician standing beside her entered his mind and he screamed with insane rage and dragged himself to his feet one final time.