The Night of Alexandria.

-Part XVII: The Swift Strike that Soak Sparta with Blood-

Leukos of Pydna, the Macedonian captain of the Companions, rode in front of his two thousand cavalrymen in almost complete silence. He had been sent by his general and lord, prince Herakles of Macedon, to perform a task that would be crucial in the intensifying struggle. For this mission, he had been supplied with two thousand Companion Cavalry - among the finest heavy cavalry forces available to any nation anywhere. Proud descendants of the noble Companions of Alexander the Great; those who served as the conqueror's hammer of war: they were trained and armed to the teeth, expected to charge-fight-kill, perform them swiftly, and come out victorious in every situation. This day, they came for an ultimate prize; the only city in the entire Hellas that was never subdued by Macedon before, Sparta.

Indeed, the whole undertaking was undoubtedly blessed by the Gods, for it must be only through fortune and the wills of the Gods that allows him to reach Lacedaemonia virtually undetected. After Leukos departed from the prince Herakles at the crossing in Thessaly, he headed straight towards Demetrias, the major port founded by the legendary Antigonid king Demetrius Poliorcetes. There, he managed to procure a number of swift transport ships from the Macedonian fleet stationed there. And, following his prince's orders to the word, he sailed swiftly towards Sparta, successfully avoiding any contact along the way, and took the shore when he reached Lacedaemonia, the land of the Spartans.

Soon enough, the scouts he sent returned to him with the news that he sought: Sparta was only over the next valley. Why - Leukos went through all this way for the moment: to attack the unwary city! Then, as he looked back towards his mighty troops and their determined gazes, he smiled. Leukos of Macedon now remembered a parting saying given to him by the prince Herakles before they departed: "Pray to Ares when fight Athens, and pray to Athena when fights Sparta."

He did exactly as he was told, and told his troops to do so. Why - the determined gazes of the Companions changed into amused smiles as they followed his instructions. The coming battle would decide the validity of this claim!

Then, they marched off - swiftly and secretly so.

When Leukos reached the top of the hill, and saw, to his two eyes, the Spartan city he was searching, he smiled again. Still hidden from detection, even though he was very close to the city already, Leukos observed that the city had virtually no defences at all. The palisades that were reported were only rumors, and Sparta, in her unsurpassed arrogance, remained unwalled; all the men of war, Spartans and allies alike, were far away; the citizens remained ignorant of the approaching threat. Within minutes, Leukos decided that the moment had come.

The horn of war was sounded, and a voice rang above the valley of Spartans:

"CHAAARRRGGGEEEE!!!"

And the battle began.

The cavalrymen of the Antigonids charged downhill towards the shocked city. Their spears were raised into attack position even as their mighty horses' hoofs crushed the grasses beneath their feet. Leukos in front of them all, the Macedonian warriors headed for the streets. Within seconds, the first targets came to sight, and the spears tasted Spartan blood. The women and young children screamed with shock, unable to protect their city; the old and the young men who did not went with their king Kleomenes into campaign in foreign lands tried to pick up their weapons and protect Sparta, but to no avail. Even the spears of the Macedonian riders were longer than theirs, and the bloodthirsty warrior relentlessly pursued the people within the city, killing and burning as they went.

Sparta was not a complex city, and soon the Macedonians began a systematic mission of destruction. The Companion cavalry was well-suited for the purpose: swift, ruthless, determined, skilled, and professional; nothing would stand in their way and nothing would delay them.

Soon enough, the blood of Spartans began to soak the streets red.

The great hall of Sparta in which all men were to met and feast and decide the fate of their city was soon breached. Leukos himself broke in the gates with the might of his horse. It was a great slaughter - the Macedonians riding all over the streets hunting and killing all those who were living. Houses were broken in and burned swiftly and ruthlessly so, people were murdered the very moment they were found, and the cavalrymen of Macedon refused to end the slaughter even after they took control of the entire city. Their goal was clear: they sought no subjugation.

Seeing how the Macedonians managed to reach and pillage every part of their city, and quickly understood Macedon's goal, the young men of Sparta, who gathered together in several dark corners of the streets, charged out of their hiding places with desperation. Though the counter-attack surprised the Companions of Macedon, it was not long before these young men routed, their spirits broke, pursued around the streets of their own homes like stray dogs, and killed, one by one.

Yet, these men of war, bloody in their pursuits, with their blood-soaked spears and swords, were not simple bandits. No treasures were taken: they distracted and weighted. Not a single rape happened, unusual though it was for such an attack of such scale. These men were elites: they knew what they came for, and nothing that distracts them would came in the way. Indeed, they took pride in their soon-to-be new fame as the destroyers of Sparta.

It was a long, bloody day for all. But when it ended, Sparta was no more. The Antigonids had succeeded in what Pyrrhus of Epirus, and many others before, failed. The city was not only brought to heels, but was burned; the blood-soaked bodies of her people filled the streets; the smoke filled the sky; the valley of Lacedaemonia became utterly a scourged land where no living population could be found. The smell of blood reached, as was lamented later on, as far as Olympus.

All this happened in a day.

Yet, even as Leukos' men emptied the city of its lives, he himself prepared for a future plan. He observed from a bloodied window of a Spartan house the coming sunset. Helios' red light mourned the day's slaughter, and the black ruins of Sparta were glittered with red light. The streets, though, could not shine; they had been soaked too much with human blood, and the smells of the dead were torturous. Thus, by the time Helios had left the sky, Leukos sounded the horn again and called his men together once more.

"We cannot stay here, among the corpses of those whom we kill. Though there is a plan to carry, we will move to another valley, where escape would be easier and the destruction less obvious. Come, men. Move!"

The Companions swiftly followed his orders, leaving the ruins behind. Soon, they were encamped in a forest only a valley away from the destroyed city. One by one, they fell asleep, exhausted by the day's slaughter. Soon enough, as silence settled in and the night grew dark, only one man was left awake, and he looked above him into the black emptiness, hoping, perhaps, for a glittering night sky from the Gods.

There were no stars that night.