Status on it was once the emperor. The wheels bounced over the tough floor at the swiftly cleared paths among the hacked our bodies. He made the rounds of the battlefield and stopped earlier than the hill the place the final web page of the negative clash have been written. back he raised his sword to the sunlight, this time in triumph. Then he known as the commander of the Immortals, Hydarnes. “Find me the physique in their king…” After a couple of minutes the dead physique of Leonidas was once dragged out through the toes. ferocious imperial guards threw it in entrance of the golden chariot. Xerxes checked out the guy mendacity sooner than him. He opened his mouth to claim anything, yet closed it instantaneously. He stood silently for a short time. Then, with a double awl in his hand, he descended to the bloody flooring. He approached Leonidas, bent, grasped his lengthy, muddy hair, raised the pinnacle from the floor and, with a surprising blow from the awl, lower it from the neck. Then he raised his trophy excessive and climbed again on his chariot. The emperor’s charioteer lashed the ornamented horses and the chariot began again in the direction of the Persian hordes. The breeze that all of sudden began to blow from the ocean stirred the bloody hair at the severed head of Leonidas. The guards, the warriors and the topics of the Persian emperor enthusiastically cheered his effective passage. once they reached the purpose the place the Spartan wall had as soon as stood, the emperor stopped without notice. He regarded round him, first east to the ocean after which west, to the excessive vertical cliffs of the mountain. With a surprising stream, he threw Leonidas’ severed head into the fingers of Mardonius. “Put it on a spear and stick it excessive at the cliff” Xerxes ordered, his voice harsh with boastfulness. “So it might see the battlefield the place it was once defeated. So it will probably see our military marching in the direction of Sparta. So it will possibly see our fleet embarking for Athens. So it might probably see Greece swept away through the facility of the King of Kings. ” The Lion and the Scopion 1 within the heavy summer time warmth and not using a breath of air, humidity coated the coast like a humid veil as she sat at the mountainside and checked out Artemisio. immobile. Absorbed. Ten miles of sea to the other coast used to be no longer a lot, even on a suffocating night like this one. Neither have been the handfuls of lighting twinkling within the depths, a few relocating feverishly and others that shone progressively as though reflecting the celestial dome. Nor have been her personal feelings. days after she arrived on the Persian dockyard at Afetes and sea battles after boarding her flagship, the Cassiope, the Greeks had deserted their dockyard at Artemisio and retreated. With them went Themistocles. unhurt. definitely unhurt. She knew that already and it stuffed her with reduction. And with worry for the long run. simply because how may she face him back? In mattress or at sea? by myself or along with his send, the Artemis? She shuddered whilst she considered it. the 1st time they clashed she had obvious her identify written at the Athenian send, above the 2 open eyes that have been painted on its prow, as at the prow of each send, to make it appear like a reside sea monster[18].