Nicholas Checker - The Saga of Marathon

Table of Contents

Pheidippides stood upon the knoll summit in the very spot where he had first sighted the Persian galleys pulling away from the shores of Marathon. Now, garbed only in a sleeveless white tunic of light muslin and green britches that came down just below his knees, the leather marching sandals on his feet, he stared out at the foggy waters. Through the glistening early afternoon haze, he made out the silhouetted shapes of enemy galleys reforming for a southward course.

He shivered despite the rising afternoon humidity and heat as he envisioned the absolute horror of those very warships beaching at the port of Phaleron, only a short march from Athens. He thought of the many inhabitants of that grand city as the massive Persian army descended on them. And he knew, in his heart, it was unlikely the Athenian army would have time to mobilize here in the wake of so violent a struggle and hasten homeward in time. The young foot courier trembled in the knowledge that he alone was the one hope for Athens to muster a standing force that might yet hold Darius savage hordes at bay till Milteades and his militia arrived to mete out Greek justice once more.

Perhaps.

Praise for THE SAGA OF MARATHON

Nicholas Checkers The Saga of Marathon combines all the best elements of the Pheidippides story with overtones of modern political drama. His youthful hero has mom and dad issues, troubling friends, and no shortage of self-doubt. Yet hes compelled to complete his quest by a deep commitment to the Athenian ideals, under threat from a totalitarian outsider. The hills are long and hard, and the stumbles many, but Pheidippides refuses to give up. The first marathoner is born, and democracy survives.

~Amby Burfoot, Winner, 1968 Boston Marathon

Longtime editor of Runners World Magazine

The Saga

of

Marathon

by

Nicholas Checker

Historical Fable

This is a work of fiction, based on the history and mythology of Ancient Greece. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, terrain or locales, is entirely coincidental.

The Saga of Marathon

COPYRIGHT 2020 by Nicholas Checker

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: info@thewildrosepress.com

Cover Art by Jennifer Greeff

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Mainstream Historical Edition, 2020

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-5092-3180-5

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-3181-2

Historical Fable

based on the authors stage play Run to Elysia

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

To family members, my parents especially,

and friends who have long encouraged

my writing pursuits;

to everyone ever involved with

my musical stage version of this story, Run to Elysia

the premise from which I adapted my novel;

to the memory of

the angelic Samantha Deglin (an original cast member)

who runs forever in the Fields of Elysia;

to the late John J. Kelley,

in whom the spirit of Pheidippides dwelled

and still does;

and to everyone who still believes

that a promise is sacred.

Acknowledgments

In acknowledgment, I would like to thank Rick Spencer for the beautiful music and lyrics he composed for Run to Elysia; cast member Valerie Azlynn for the gift of the Greek Treasure Chest that inspired me to keep writing about Ancient Greece; my two test readers and dear friends, Steve Loyd and Tim Valliere, for always believing and always helping, and to Steves familyCheryl, Katie, and Matt; Eileen Morehouse and Jack Morehouse for a lifetime of support in my arts endeavors; my older sister Verna for her contribution to this work; the memory of my two other older sisters, Carole and Rene; my twin nephews, Harold and Bobby Joyce, for believing; Mitch Cote, Carin Estey, Noah Todd, and Erin Sousa Stanley for helping resurrect this tale; the late Billie Johnson (publisher of former Oak Tree Press) for bringing my first two novels, Druids and Scratch, into publication; Amby Burfoot for urging me to put my Saga of Marathon project ahead of all the others; Jeanne & Steve Sigel of the Garde Arts Center; Lee Howard and Rick Koster of The Day newspaper; Bank Square Books; Kato McNickle, Michael Bradford, Linda MacCluggage, Peter Marcus, David Tetzlaff, Nancy Hoffman; screenwriters Peter and Jason Filardi; and Nan Swanson - Historical Editor, Jennifer Greeff - Cover Artist, Dianne Rich - Copy Editor, and the entire company of The Wild Rose Press, Inc. (especially co-founders Rhonda Penders and RJ Morris) for believing in my work.

Chapter One

A Courier YearnsA Tyrant Plots

The slender teenage boy sucked in another breath and pressed on over the narrow marshland path, imagining he was en route to Athens for a good deal more than delivering a sack of herbs to the citys healers. He imagined he was on an important trek from perhaps the Oracle at Delphi, or from Athens rival Greek city-state, Spartanot merely returning on a three-mile run from the tiny village of Penthes where marsh herbs grew abundantly. The boy glanced warily at the trailside brush, his mind picturing dangerous bandits or beasts of prey lurking there, not simply harmless rodents and birds. He imagined so much morethat he was one of the elite runners on a mission of import to the citys leaders, perhaps even to the High Archon himself. But he wasnt. He was Pheidippides, a poor, simple foot courier, hired to run errands from Athens to its local villages and back. Nothing more. He ran on.

****

In faraway Persiaout of sight and mind of young Pheidippides running his mundane deliveriesthe undisputed power of early fifth century BC, Great King Darius, had plotted a course that would intersect not only with the young lads routine treksbut with a culture that would soon be forever changed. Darius, a ruler more like a god to those of his own lands and beyond, seethed and plotted coldly: for it was Greece, a land known as the Hellespont, and its squabbling city-states lying at the center of his scheme.

Persia had long held dominion over a fair number of vassal Greek colonies, those along its own coast on the Ionian Sea. The colonies had been subservientuntil rebellion had germinated quietly. And, far away on the Hellespont mainland along the Aegean Sea, Athens aloneamong all the other bickering city-states of Greecehad helped foster that rebellion brewing against Persias mighty Lord Darius. Stately Athens, the hub of culture, arts, and science throughout the Hellespont, had offered its support to the tiny colony of Ionia in casting off the yoke of Persian rule. Not even the crme of mainland Greeces military might, Sparta, had offered help to the Ionians. Nor had a single other Greek city-state. Only a distant kindred folk, the Eretrians from the tiny northern isle of Euboia, had set sail with the Athenians to free fellow Greeks in Ionia.

This rebellion had thus set in motion a chain of events that would one day shake the very core of both civilizations. It had all begun several years earlier.