Today the sky turned black with rage, but this was not caused by the shadow of a million Persian arrows; today this was born of despair. The loss was too much for Leonidas and he glared at the approaching darkness, cursing out loud the one who named himself God King of all the world.
"Xerxes!"
Artemis, the captain, was a raging torrent, overcoming all in his path, mourning bitterly the death of Astinos, his favourite and most perfect son.
“It is my fault,” he cried, slicing into Persian and slave flesh. “I did not protect him.” A rain of blood spattered upwards, drawn back into the angry clouds. “He never knew that I loved him most of all.”
That evening victory was not celebrated and, after the Gods were honoured, Stelios left the Spartan camp for more peaceful grounds, unable to bear sight of Artemis’s broken spirit and Leonidas’s grimness.
No one would ever know how much he had lost today. He would die tomorrow buried deep in silent grief, but tonight he would remember Astinos and pay solitary tribute to a true warrior.
Sliding a hand down his belly he cupped his manhood, kneading it and calling up a memory of his young friend standing before him.
“Teach me everything, Stelios,” the boy had demanded and Stelios, to the best of his ability, had shown him every combat move in his repertoire.
“Teach me everything.” Astinos had then knelt, his cheek resting against warm skin.
Stelios had known that he’d fallen the moment Astinos had placed a gentle kiss on the tip of his phallus. Filling urgently, he’d groaned out his need and Astinos had answered him willingly, opening his mouth and sucking the essence out of him until it spilled free.
Swollen from memory and touch, Stelios worked his hand up and down his shaft, visions of the past so vivid that he could feel Astinos enter him, curling an arm around his waist.
On all fours, Stelios bent his head to the dust and, with spit wet fingers, dragged out an orgasm from somewhere deep inside him, his heart full to bursting. Anointing the ground with salt he collapsed forward, desiccant earth muffling his cries and drying his tears.
No one would ever know of his despair. No one would ever know of his love.
DONE