Having won at Thermopylae and held back the Persian hordes at the Delphic passes, the Spartans only delayed the brutal revenge of the king of kings. Their courage can still hold back the onslaught of barbarians. But as Leonidas repels wave after wave of attacks, he understands: to defeat an unequal struggle, he cannot do without a powerful weapon—whose secret the gods bestowed upon Gysandor. And now Taras is already sailing back to Sparta to create new ballistas there, to replace the ones lost, and to return before it’s too late.
Meanwhile Xerxes, enraged by such prolonged resistance from a mere handful of Greeks, lands a huge force behind their lines. Thousands of Persians, having disembarked, press toward the capital of Attica, seeking revenge for the victory at Marathon. And Xerxes is already close to his goal. Ancient Athens is burning, the Greek world is collapsing. But he still has hope as long as even one Spartan is alive.