Out on the waters, the hiss and race of battle had slowed almost to nothing. Even with the moon, no one could row full speed at another ship to ram, at least until they were certain the dark shape was not one of their own. Neither could they truly rest, for fear of enemies leaping onto their exposed decks, murdering them while they slept. It was not a truce for the hours of the night. Screams and distant clashes could be heard, with sudden angry yells or calls in the tongues of Greeks or Persians. There was fear out on the deep waters. More times than not, it was easier to decline battle simply by backing oars and disappearing in the dark.

Many ships had dropped anchor close to Salamis, to lose themselves against the black landscape. Men snored on those, with just a few left on watch. The crowds still huddled like gulls across the dunes. They slept, some of them, exhausted by their vigil.

On the shore by the port of Piraeus, with Athens a dim coal, Xerxes could not rest. His Immortals waited on the quays and sloping sand, staring across the strait. The rest of his army slept in peace, after days of hard marching and breaking walls.

Xerxes clasped both hands behind his back, rocking back and forth on his heels, unconsciously resembling his father. He had seen too many of his galleys sunk to feel any satisfaction. Fewer than a hundred remained by Salamis, the losses of men and wealth almost unimaginable. The Greeks had proved a terrible adversary at sea, as if they had salt water in their veins. He shook his head in the darkness, unseen, as if to fend off evil. He could not number the thousands who had drowned or been cut down that day, men who had taken up arms in his name. Their loyalty filled him with pride. He only wished his father could have lived to see their sacrifice. Xerxes had learned a great deal – that a fleet was far more than just a means to carry men and horses. A fleet could fight like a school of fish, darting and spearing and pulling back.

The Greeks had tactics and strategies he had never seen before. None of his captains had. Strange flag signals that worked almost like a field of battle, calling ships in, even sending them away to some far quarter. Xerxes gestured suddenly, his hand cutting the air as his mind picked and worried at humiliations. He groaned aloud. He was not his father! There would be no sleep for him that night. He would not find peace.