The Journey to Ancient Greece - Chapter 10

. . . continued from Chapter 9

(or start at the beginning)

Just before the crack of dawn Kyla awoke craving a drink of water. No one else in the house was awake yet. She looked at Zammie who was sleeping soundly next to her.  She shook his shoulder and whispered, “Zammie.” He didn’t wake up so she shook him again. “Zammie."
          This time he groaned a little. “What?” he asked.

          “I’m thirsty.”

          “Get some water.”

          “Where?”

          “The creek.”

          Kyla looked out the window at the dark sky outside.

          “Outside?” she asked.

          “Of course. It’s safe. Just go. And bring me some too,” said Zammie.

          “Will you go with me?”

          “Don’t be a baby,” said Zammie.

          This made her mad. “I’m not a baby,” she said. Freshly determined, Kyla quietly got up and went outside. It took her a moment to remember where the brook was located. She was wearing a light blue peplos garment made of linen that belonged to Leela. The peplos was fastened around her shoulders with a pin that Leela had referred to as a “fibula”. It hung down to Kyla’s ankles, and although the garment was large enough to nearly wrap around her twice it had been very comfortable to sleep in. Kyla thought it was like walking around in a dress made of thin sheets.

“I’m not a baby,” she told herself again.

          She walked barefoot through the meadows that lead to the brook. The dew-covered grass felt both soft and cold beneath her feet. The chirping of crickets was an eerie sound to a girl who grew up accustomed to the city sounds of suburban Long Beach, California.  The sun would be rising in the east soon. The deep blue tint in the night sky was slowly beginning to lighten. Kyla found the brook, dipped her hands into the cool water, and brought a handful to her mouth. The water had a clean and slightly sweet taste to it. It was even better than the filtered water her mom gave her back home. She drank plenty more until she heard the sounds of voices coming from the other side of a large hill.

          Kyla looked back at the village but no one was awake or moving about yet. She knew she should return to the house, but her curiosity got the better of her. She crossed the brook by stepping with her small feet on a series of stones that were poking out of the water. She then walked up the grassy hill until she reached the top. On the other side she saw a series of large Athenian trireme ships being boarded by Greek soldiers. The fronts of the triremes curled up sort of like the letter “J” while the rear of each boat floated more closely to the water. Kyla thought they looked like giant fishhooks floating in the bay with billowing, white sails overtop of them. 

There must have been hundreds of soldiers on the beach. They were organized into straight lines, and each man waited patiently to board his ship. There were several large torches providing light for the soldiers. It was an impressive image to Kyla.

          “Wow,” she said to herself.

          “The symmetry of military formation can be a powerful sight,” said a deep voice behind her.

          Kyla swirled around with a gasp.

          “Or were you marveling at the boats?” asked a large man with brown hair and a thick beard. He was wearing a bronze chest plate overtop of a scarlet cloak. A large sword hung from the leather belt at his waist.

          Kyla couldn’t speak. She just stared at him. The rising sun in the east reflected off his armor.

          “Sorry if I frightened you,” he said. “We were just leaving.”

          “Who are you?” asked Kyla.

          “General Themistocles, at your service, my Lady,” he said with a bow.

          “My name is Kyla. Kyla Reynoso.”

          “A pleasure to meet you, Miss Kyla.”

“You’re a general?” asked Kyla.

          “Yes, ma’am.”

          “Are you fighting here?”

          “Not at all, well, not militarily at least. I have been meeting with the leaders in this area trying to convince them that more support must be given to our navy.”

          “Why?” asked Kyla.

          “Why? Because he who rules the seas rules the world. I may be from Athens, but you here in the Peloponnesus are just as Greek as I. Well…close enough anyway. We should work together to defend our lands. And the building of a strong navy backed by many trireme ships like the ones you see out there is the best way to do that.”

          “Who is attacking you?” asked Kyla.

          “The Empire of Persia, of course. Doesn’t common news travel out this far anymore?” Themistocles appeared disheartened at Kyla’s question. “The Empire of Persia led by a powerful and intelligent man named Xerxes the Great.”

Battle of Marathon, First Persian Invasion

          “If he’s intelligent why do you fight him? I thought intelligent was a good thing.”

          “Yes, usually it is. But when one man invades another man’s home without permission, then all other standards tend to melt away,” said Themistocles. “You wouldn’t be happy if another person broke into your house and tried to claim it as their own, would you?”

          “No, sir,” said Kyla.

          “That’s why all the Greek city-states must band together and strengthen our navy to better defend our homes.”

          “That makes sense,” said Kyla.

          “Good. Well, I think I’ve bothered you enough, young lady. If you’ll excuse me I need to be returning to the boats. Have a good day.”

          “Wait, Mister General?” asked Kyla.

          “Yes?”

          “I have another question.”

          “Let’s hear it.”

          “What advice would you give to someone who had good ideas, but who kept being ignored by their older cousin when they wanted to speak?”

          “Hmm…ignored by their elders,” Themistocles pondered for a moment. “Dealing with elders can be a tricky thing. I would say when one believes they are right about something, but no one will give them the chance to prove it; then the next best thing to be is patient. Eventually, when the other ideas have failed, the opportunity will arise where your input will be required and at that moment you can prove yourself. And if your ideas are shown to be superior then you will be asked for your input again. But until that moment arrives, however, you cannot lose faith in yourself. You must still continue to work hard to improve your own understanding of whatever task you take on. Does that make sense?”

          “Yes, sir,” said Kyla.

          “Good. I hope we meet again someday, Miss Kyla. Until then,” Themistocles bowed again, turned and walked down the hill towards the beach.  Kyla watched him board one of the boats before it disembarked and began to sail towards the east and the rising sun.

          The sun!

She realized now she had been gone for a while.  Kyla ran back down the other side of the hill towards the village hoping that no one would have missed her yet.

          Kyla ran back into the village to find Zammie, Argo, and Vinnie carrying fishing supplies and clay pots of water out of Vinnie’s house and towards the boats.

          “Where have you been, Kyla?” asked Zammie.

          “You won’t believe it, Zammie!” she said. “I saw these big boats out in the water and I met a general!”

          “A general?” said Zammie.

          “Yeah, his said his name was Th…Themo…so…clus…”

          “General Themosoclus, Kyla?” said Zammie. Kyla could tell he didn’t believe a word she was saying.

          “Yes! We were talking up on that hill!”

          “Sure, Kyla. Go back to the house and get the other fishing net. Vinnie says we may need to catch some fish during our trip.”

          “You don’t believe me?” Kyla asked.

          “Go get the net,” repeated Zammie. He continued on towards the boat where Vinnie and Argo were already loading up.

          “Thank you, Miss Leela, for washing our clothes” Kyla said moments later as she stepped out of Vinnie’s house. She was wearing her original white tunic again and carrying a bundled fishing net.

          “Your welcome, Kyla,” said Leela. “Good luck on your trip home.”

          “Thank you!” Kyla ran from the house with her arms full. She arrived on the beach just as Vinnie and the two boys were carrying the boat into the water.

          “Here’s your net, Vinnie,” said Kyla.

          “Excellent! Go ahead and get into the boat, Kyla.”

          Kyla ran into the shallow water where the boat was floating and climbed inside. Vinnie and the two boys continued to push the boat deeper into the surf until the water was up to their waists.

          “You two get in now,” said Vinnie.

          Zammie and Argo climbed inside the boat.  Vinnie pushed the boat out a little bit further before climbing in himself.  He handed paddles to the two boys and the three of them began to paddle away from shore. As the distance between them and the shore grew larger, they began to paddle their boat towards the eastern horizon. Not far off in the distance they could see the last of the Athenian triremes quickly sailing away.

          “See, Zammie?” said Kyla. “Those are the generals’ boats!”

          “Wow,” said Zammie. “Those are triremes, right Vinnie?”

          “That they are,” said Vinnie.

          “Athenian triremes,” said Argo. “I recognize them anywhere. Those are the ships of General Themistocles.”

          “Themistocles!” said Kyla. “That’s who I met!”

          “You met General Themistocles?” asked an excited Zammie. “Why didn’t you come get me?”

          “Because we were talking, and he was a very nice man,” said Kyla. She was glowing with pride.

          “Wow, I can’t believe you met Themistocles,” said Zammie. “What did he say? What was he like?”

          “Patience, Zammie,” said Kyla, “we have plenty of time to talk about it and I’ll tell you all the details.”

          Vinnie began to laugh at the interplay of the two cousins.

The Battle of Salamis

Later that year, after learning of King Leonidas’ defeat at the Battle of Thermopylae, the Greek navy, under the command of General Themistocles, decided to withdraw to the island of Salamis. This opening allowed the Persians to quickly overrun the Greek island of Boeotia and then to capture the evacuated city of Athens. However, seeking a decisive victory over the Persian fleet, the Greek navy attacked and defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in late 480 B.C. General Themistocles’ strategy of using a strong navy had proven itself useful. Fearing to be trapped in Greece, Xerxes withdrew with much of his army back into Central Asia where he lost most of his men to starvation and disease. The following year saw a Greek army finally defeat the Persians at the Battle of Plataea, which ended the Persian invasion.

On this particular late summer morning none of this had happened yet, of course, but Zammie knew it would happen soon, and he was impressed with the thought that his little cousin had actually met one the war’s most famous generals. 

To be continued in Chapter 11 . . . 

TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 4

KILLING FOR COUNTRY  

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TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 1

THE JOURNEY TO ANCIENT GREECE 

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TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 2

A RIDE ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

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TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 3

WITNESS TO THE FIRST THANKSGIVING 

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