by Noble Smith
She took his hand and placed it over her womb, smiling mysteriously. Nikias stared deep into her shining eyes … and in that moment he understood.
ALSO BY NOBLE SMITH
Sparks in the Park
Stolen from Gypsies
The Wisdom of the Shire
THE WARRIOR TRILOGY
Sons of Zeus
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NOBLE SMITH is an award-winning playwright who has worked as a video-game writer, a documentary-film executive producer, and the media director of an international human rights foundation. He is also the author of the novella Stolen from Gypsies, the nonfiction book The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life, and the first book in the Warrior Trilogy, Sons of Zeus. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children. Learn more at www.thewarriortrilogy.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
SPARTANS AT THE GATES. Copyright © 2014 by Noble Smith. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Ervin Serrano
Cover photographs:
soldier by Collaboration JS/Arcangel Images;
sky by Peter Gudella;
fortress by Gabriela Insuratelu/Shutterstock.com;
fire by Olga Miltsova/Shutterstock.com
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Smith, Noble Mason, 1968–
Spartans at the gates: novel / Noble Smith.—First edition.
p. cm.
“Thomas Dunne Books.”
ISBN 978-1-250-02558-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-02643-9 (e-book)
1. Soldiers—Fiction. 2. Greece—History—Peloponnesian War, 431–404 B.C.—Fiction. 3. Plataiai (Greece)—Fiction. 4. Athens (Greece)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3569.M537837S66 2014
813'.54—dc23
2014008412
e-ISBN 97811250026439
First Edition: June 2014