Chapter 21

“One more question.” Davos looked away from the map, his expression serious as he asked, “On this journey, at what point can we be considered outside the jurisdiction of the Persian royal family?”

Eager to please Davos, Marigi thought for a moment, then drew a circle on his crude map. “Here. Once you pass Mespila[1].”

“Mespila?” Davos studied the drawing on the ground.

“Mespila is the former capital of Assyria, Nineveh! Past it, you will reach the land of the Carduchians,” Marigi emphasized.

Davos nodded. “Are you very familiar with the Carduchians?”

“Not very. I’ve only done business with them, trading grain for their mountain goods.” As Marigi spoke, an angry expression crossed his face. “But they are faithless savages. They often refuse to pay, injure people, and just take things by force!”

After listening carefully, Davos turned to Matonis. “Take him and his family to the baggage train. Have Mersis look after them well, but tell him not to mistreat him or his wife and daughter, and not to work them like slaves.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Marigi dropped to his knees with a thud. “I beg you! I beg you! Let me go! And my wife and daughter! I’ve told you everything! I beg you to spare us…”

“It seems you understand Greek after all. And here you were, pretending you didn’t,” Davos said.

Marigi offered no defense, but simply continued to wail.

“In fact, I am not letting you and your family go for your own good. Did you know that your lord, the King’s brother, Cyrus, is dead?”

Marigi’s crying stopped abruptly. The hands clutching Davos’s legs went limp. “Prince Cyrus… is really dead?” he asked weakly.

“You had already guessed, hadn’t you? Otherwise, why would Tissaphernes have led us here? And it was he who permitted us to plunder your villages, as punishment for Cyrus’s rebellion. A punishment, I believe, that will not be a one-time event. Anyone who was close to him will likely not escape. Am I right?”

Marigi collapsed to the ground, his expression dazed.

Matonis grabbed him and dragged him out.

“That man doesn’t seem like an ordinary merchant,” Hylos said to Davos, watching Marigi being dragged from the tent.

“You’re right,” Davos nodded. A family living in a dilapidated house, yet hiding so much gold, silver, and fine clothing. Judging by his and his wife’s bearing, how could he be an ordinary Persian merchant? And he’s fluent in Greek and knows so much. Perhaps he’s a relative of Cyrus, or one of his administrators, or his personal purveyor. After learning of Cyrus’s rebellion, he must have hidden in this remote village in his lord’s territory to escape disaster. If it weren’t for the village chief’s tip, we would have almost missed such a big fish.

Davos thought with a sense of relief, selectively forgetting how he had tortured the village chief and his family for the information. He said to Hylos, “Captain, I’ll have to trouble you to go and emphasize to Mersis again that no one is to harass his family. He is very useful to us. Since Cyrus is dead, I want to make him truly commit to our side.”

A common soldier was giving an order to his captain, yet no one present found it strange. Davos’s leadership position within the squad had been firmly established.

“Right,” Hylos said, and without hesitation, he quickly left the tent.

“Pigres, thank you very much! You were a great help to me today,” Davos said, turning to a soldier.

“It was my honor to be of service to you,” Pigres replied with a hint of deference.

Davos took out two drachmas and pressed them into his hand.

“This… this…” Pigres made a show of refusing.

Davos said, “Please, take it. I really must thank you for today’s work. Also, I hope you can keep this a secret. Don’t let Menon find out.”

Hearing this, Pigres stopped refusing and tucked the silver coins into his tunic. “Don’t you worry, I don’t like that fellow either! I swear to Hades, I won’t breathe a word.” Pigres made a gesture of sealing his lips, then added excitedly, “Next time you have a job like this, just call on me!”

“You can count on it,” Davos laughed.

After Pigres left the tent, Giorgis immediately asked with concern, “Pigres is Menon’s Persian translator. Is he reliable?”

“I heard Menon speaks Persian, so Pigres has nothing to do and often gets used as a beast of burden by him. Would he be stupid enough to cross us, especially when he can earn money from it?” Olivas interjected. After regaining consciousness and realizing how close he had come to death, he had immediately thanked Davos, but Davos’s cold reaction had made him realize something, and he had been relatively quiet ever since.

But the moment he spoke, a brief silence fell over the tent.

“Davos, how did you know that Persian merchant had buried his money in the courtyard?” Giorgis suddenly asked.

Davos understood that Giorgis was trying to liven up the atmosphere and went along with it. “It was simple. When we captured Marigi, I noticed that besides being worried about his wife and daughter being mistreated by us—” here, Davos glanced at Olivas, “—his eyes kept darting secretly toward that old tree in the courtyard. I went over for a closer look and saw a patch of ground under the tree that was a different color, fresh earth. Of course, that made me suspicious. I barely had to threaten him before the coward confessed everything.”

The men loudly praised Davos’s sharp observation, with Olivas’s voice being the loudest of all.

Davos said to Giorgis, “This money will be very useful to us. Go to the baggage train every day and check on it. Don’t let that fat man take advantage.”

“Right.”

***

After several instances of plundering, the Greek army’s marching column had become even larger and more bloated.

In the following days, just as Marigi had said, the army continued to march along the right bank of the Tigris River. They then crossed the river and arrived at the city of Caina. Here, they once again received ample supplies. However, the Greek soldiers’ suspicion of the Persians grew ever more severe. New rumors constantly spread through the army, leading to an increase in conflicts between the soldiers of the two armies when they made camp.

Finally, upon reaching the Zapatas River[2], a large-scale brawl broke out between the soldiers of the two armies. More than a hundred men from both sides took up arms and fought, resulting in over a dozen casualties. If the commanders had not arrived in time and sent troops to separate them, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

This caused the next day’s march to be canceled, and the soldiers of all contingents were confined to their camps. After marching day after day, Davos and his men were physically and mentally exhausted. They cherished the rare day off, and everyone slept in.

In the baggage train, Mersis seized the opportunity to slaughter some of the plundered livestock and make sausages.

Just as Davos was waking up, Antonios ducked into the tent, his face etched with anxiety. “Davos, Menon, Clearchus, Proxenus, and several other generals are going to the Persian camp to negotiate!”

“What?!” Davos shot up, stunned.

“I heard that after what happened last night, Clearchus immediately went to negotiate with Tissaphernes, hoping to eliminate the mutual suspicion and prevent such hostile acts from happening again. The talks must have gone well, because Clearchus spent the night in the Persian camp. He returned safely this morning and then sent word for the other generals to go with him to the Persian camp for further talks with Tissaphernes. I heard that many soldiers and officers in the other contingents were against them going, but in the end, the generals reached an agreement. They are about to leave now,” Antonios explained, speaking very quickly.

“Why was no one in our camp notified about this?” Hylos asked, surprised.

“Menon didn’t consult with anyone else. He only secretly took the company commanders Capus and Miltocythes with him,” Antonios said with an awkward expression. He knew that after the “collective pressure” incident, most of the officers and soldiers were no longer willing to obey Menon’s orders. And Menon, having lost all prestige, no longer wanted to consult with them, and had instead just taken the two captains who were still willing to listen to him.

Antonios didn’t elaborate, but said, “I only found out because I heard the soldiers in the neighboring contingent of Socrates making a commotion and asked what was going on.”

“Who is going?” Davos asked, his expression grim as he stood up and quickly got dressed.

Antonios’s heart skipped a beat. Davos’s expression confirmed the unease he had been feeling. “The five generals, Clearchus, Proxenus, Menon, Socrates, and Agias and more than a dozen company commanders.”

“Let’s go! Quickly! Take me to them! Any later and it will be too late!” Davos threw on his linen tunic and, frantic with urgency, pulled Antonios out of the tent, with Hylos and the others close behind.