There wasn’t much sleeping to be had that night as Praxis rested next to the caravan. The stars were out with all their wonders but his head was far from clear unlike the sky above him. The easy thing to admit was that he was sleepless because he was on guard for more brigands but even he knew that was a lie.

The real reason he was losing sleep was because of the warning that Astara’s father gave him right before bed.

“Stay away from my daughter, foreigner,” said her father, glaring at him as his mouth moved. “By tomorrow morning, I want you away from my family. Do not make me ask you this twice.”

For the first time in ages, Praxis was speechless. It was like her father could see right through to his soul, seeing his longing for Astara and knowing that it could never be.

Was he that transparent in his intentions?

Either way, Praxis didn’t stick around to find out. Though he enjoyed the time spent with her, he wasn’t about to put that warning to the test. Before morning’s light, Praxis gathered his things and took one last look at the sleeping Astara.

She looked so beautiful from this angle. It was as if she was created to be Aphrodite’s main discipline with her luscious and flowing dark hair and smooth features. There wasn’t a more beautiful woman in all of Greece.

Which was why he had to put the distance between them when he could. A second longer, and Praxis doubted whether he would have been able to leave at all.

At least he was able to leave the caravan without much notice. Several of the men were still on guard after the events of the day before, and they waved him off as he made his way back to the main road to Corinth.

The last part of the journey took the shortest amount of time. It was only a two hour’s walk before he came upon the city of Corinth, looking out on shimmering city as the morning sun illuminated everything.

Corinth was one of the largest cities in all of Greece. In Praxis’ time, that meant nearly fourteen thousand people called the city home, a number that was almost always growing. It occupied one of the most strategic positions in all of Greece, overseeing the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow strip of land that connected the Peloponnese with the rest of Greece.

As if its position couldn’t be more dominant, there was one other landmark that stood out prominently from the city’s skyline. That was the Acrocorinth, the ancient acropolis made entirely of rock that jutted out from the plain and made the city one incredible fortress.

The city was a defender’s dream. Though others were tempted to see that as a blessing for the city, Praxis saw it to be more of a curse than anything else. Corinth relied on dominant position and her allies in terms of national defense, not her soldiers.

For that reason alone, Corinthian soldiers were amongst the worst in Greece. Ill-trained and undisciplined, they were best used when they were least needed.

Perhaps it was for the best that they were Spartan allies after all?

As Praxis entered the city, the sights and sounds of Corinth overwhelmed him. He could smell freshly-baked bread not far from the city’s gate, letting the smell consume and put hunger in his stomach. He passed through the central market, hearing merchants from every corner of Greece pitch their wares.

“Athenian pottery for sale! Decorated with the likeness of the warrior goddess herself!”

“Come get your Thessalian horses! The best bred horses for the best bred men of Greece!”

“Only two copper coins can see this chiton belong to you! What about you, my good-looking friend? Care for a new chiton to replace your current one?”

Praxis declined the offer politely and continued moving, skirting around the market to the other side of the city. He made a mental note to avoid the place in the coming days, figuring it was likely that he might run into Astara’s family near the market. For now though, he continued deeper into the city.

As it turned out, it wasn’t too hard to find a place to stay. He found a small inn that was run by an ancient couple that Praxis highly suspected were around in the ages of heroes and demigods. They were extremely kind though and set him up with a small room that had a bed and wash basin and not much else.

For only two weeks, it would do. Especially seeing as he didn’t have much in business to attend to in that time.

The first order of business was getting something to eat, which he did by going back to the city wall and getting some of that bread he smelled earlier. It was here that he had a chance encounter with a very entertaining pimp.

“You there, my friend,” said the pimp, pointing directly at Praxis and grinning. “You just came from the road to Argos? You must be exhausted, my young friend. Why not take some of your coin and let one of my girls soothe your troubles away, eh?”

Praxis had to smile at the man’s salesmanship but his mind was still full of Astara and he had no room for anything resembling whoring for the moment.

“Another time,” said Praxis, continuing his walk.

The pimp wasn’t exactly done yet. “I shall hope so, young Ares! Corinth is known as the city with the most beautiful women in all of Greece. You won’t be disappointed when you step in my house, I can promise you that!

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Praxis, pushing past and shaking his head lightly. The last thing he needed was another woman on the mind, even if she was a whore.

For some reason, he just couldn’t shake the sight of Astara by the fire, the flame dancing in her eyes.

After putting some distance between himself and the pimp, Praxis decided now was the time to see if he could find the famous merchant that usually visited Argos. When he came to the city twice a year, the merchant almost always had good pieces at fair prices. Praxis had purchased his sword from him last year, and he was very pleased with how well it performed.

And now he could use another cuirass, and he hoped the merchant had just the one he was looking for.

Praxis found his shop with little trouble, being in a seedier part of the city that didn’t attract the best clientele. The shop was unassuming from the outside but it was once he was inside that the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

Something wasn’t right. Where were all the people?

The shop was deadly quiet, and Praxis had to fight the urge to unsheathe his sword.

“Hello?” he called. “Anyone here?”

To his surprise, a face popped up from behind the counter, but it wasn’t the face of the merchant. Praxis suspected it was one of his helpers but the man had a foul look about him. Praxis kept his guard up.

“Ah, yes, a patron!” said the man, looking down at his feet and then back at Praxis. “What can I get you, fine sir?”

Something about his mannerisms seemed completely off. Praxis moved forward carefully.

“I’m looking for the merchant that runs this shop,” said Praxis. “I need a new cuirass and I want to see what he has to offer.”

The man behind the counter made a startled face. “A new cuirass? For yourself? But of course! We have all we need to help you! Oh, Thoas, will you come out here?”

Yet another man came out from the backroom, and this one looked just as odd-looking as the first. He was portlier than his colleague, but he had the same pair of untrustworthy eyes that put Praxis on edge.

“Oh, you called?” asked the one called Thoas as he eyed Praxis warily. “Do you need something?”

“Yes, our kindly patron here would like to look for a new cuirass. Would you be so kind as to show him what we have?”

“A cuirass?” asked Thoas before nodding his head slowly. “Oh yes, we have a ton of those. Simply follow me this way!”

Something still wasn’t quite right, especially by the way the first man seemed to be guarding the front counter. Praxis didn’t take his eye from him as he followed the other man around the shop, but it became quickly apparent that he didn’t know where he could even find a cuirass in the entire shop.

Finally, Praxis had enough.

“Something isn’t right here,” said Praxis, approaching the counter. “Where is the merchant that runs this shop? I wish to speak with him right away.”

The man behind the counter narrowed his eyes. “He’s busy right now. Can’t come to the desk if you know what I mean.”

“Make him not busy then,” challenged Praxis.

It was then that he heard the noise. It wasn’t loud but it was muffled more than anything, the sound of someone who couldn’t quite breathe.

And it had come from under the counter.

The man behind locked eyes with Praxis, silently daring him not to inspect it any further.

It was too bad for him that Praxis was already moving. Pushing up on the counter, he saw the thing behind it that the other man was trying so hard to conceal from him.

Or rather, the person behind it.

Praxis had found the merchant, and he was laying in a pool of his own blood.

That discovery illuminated everything that seemed off about the other two “helpers.”

“Thieves,” growled Praxis as he grabbed his sword. “You’re robbing him!”

The two thieves moved quickly. The one called Thoas dashed at Praxis, producing a small knife and thrusting around like a man possessed. His movements were wild and jerky, and the limited space in the shop made dispatching him more difficult than it otherwise would be.

It was the man behind the counter that was the more accomplished fighter. He charged a Praxis, finding him flat-footed and unbalanced, and sent both men crashing onto the street, disturbing several Corinthians in the process.

Praxis had to give it to the thief. He was certainly wily enough to stay away from Praxis’ sword. He also didn’t seem to care whose way he got into in the process, knocking down a group of several women before he charged Praxis once more.

It was during the charge that Praxis saw his opening. He took a step back and lunged at the man, using his sword with utmost precision and snipping the line across the man’s stomach.

All of his fight went out of him at that moment and he fell to the ground, never to rise again.

It was as Praxis was sheathing his sword that he found about thirty Corinthians watching him with emotions that ranged from amusement (for a small minority) to anger (for most of them).

So much for making a quiet entry into the city.

It was as he turned to look at the shop that he heard a challenge that he couldn’t walk away from.

*****

Agemon of Corinth was not having a good day.

It all started this morning, when he found his woman in the arms of another man. She never expected his visit but he never expected to have been consorting with a whore. With a quick swish of his blade, he rid the world of her lover and cast her out forever, but it left a stinging wound in his chest that wouldn’t be easy to fix.

The affair was one thing but another more grievous offense was the breaking of his most trusted spear during training that morning. The shaft had cracked almost completely into two pieces, rendering it useless, and making it necessary to acquire a replacement.

It was a terrible way to start the day for Corinth’s best warrior, but his foul mood was made no better by the street fight he’d just witnessed in front of his merchant’s shop. Two men went at each other like beasts but by the looks of both of them, neither were from Corinth.

And this foolishness on the part of these foreigners was just the cherry on top of an already poor day for Agemon.

Unsheathing his sword, Agemon bellowed at the surviving foreigner. “You picked the wrong city to fuck around in today, foreigner!”