Chapter 5: Gods Favored

Chapter 5: Gods Favored

Davos was frightened as he walked along the already crowded camp corridor and nearly tripped several times. Yet, when he lifted the curtain and got inside the tent, he was greeted by four pairs of eyes with odd expressions.

But compared to the noise outside, the tent is quiet.

“Davos, Cyrus the Younger…is dead!” Olivos said in a strange tone, “You manage to guessed it, he is really dead!”

“I already heard what the others said.” Davos sat back on his “bed” and his mood has somewhat calmed down.

Hielos looked at this calm comrade of his; as a fellow villager living in the same village, they are both familiar with each other. However, he gave him a strange feeling at this moment, “Antonios just came over and said, Ariaeus, the adjutant of Cyrus the Young, sent someone to inform us that Cyrus the Younger has died in battle. He is currently gathering the scattered soldiers to join us.”

“Davos, I wanna beat you up for making me unable to sleep well last night. But I didn’t expect you were right!” Matonis scratched his head embarrassingly.

“Next, what should we do?” Giorgris’ words made everyone look at Davos with strange expression again.

Davos was wondering what was going on, when Olivos impatiently said, “Speak up! What oracle did Hades gave you?”

Davos looked at them with surprise. Only then did he understand why they were behaving strangely; they thought that he had received the favour of Hades.

When the news of Cyrus the Younger’s death spread to the ears of Hielos, they were surprised that Davos’ words were true, so they began discussing Davos. After summing up everyone’s views, they were surprised to find that almost everyone thought that their youngest companion, who they had been taking care of, woke up from a coma and behaved and spoke differently from his original behaviour, like a different person(although Davos didn’t speak much last night, the temperament of a modern man is naturally quite different from that of the ancients.)

So they thought that Davos must have been lucky enough to meet Hades and got his help to return to the world of the living. Moreover, the way he woke up is a bit scary; when they found him on the battlefield, he remained unconscious no matter how they call him, then his eyes suddenly opened wide.

So now that everybody was feeling helpless, this comrade of theirs who had received “god’s help” obviously became their only way to save their lives.

And Davos found it amusing getting such an opportunity. Because in this age of ignorance, even though the Greeks were not as superstitious as the Persians about gods, the Greek gods were closely related to every aspect of life. But Davos did not dare to take credit because he only knew that there was such a historical event and he doesn’t know the explicit process.

“What oracle! I just like thinking about the worst that could happen, only in this way I can be prepared in case of danger.”

‘To like thinking for the worst! Do you think we do not know what kind of person you were before? You were a foolish boy who only knew how to fight and brawl! Now that kid actually knows how to think, so if the gods did not favour you, how come your way of speaking changed?! Could it be that Hades told him to keep it a secret?!’ The four people understandingly looked at each other. The stories about gods that their parents told them every day from an early age had influenced them, letting them know about the whims of the gods and the complicated taboos. So for the sake of their safety, they stopped asking questions and expectantly looked at him.

The way their eyes see Davos is similar to that of the impoverished mountain people who hoped that the college student could change the prospect of the village when Davos first became a village official. Like them, he doesn’t know what to do. Davos sighed in his heart. But suddenly, his mind jolted and asked, “Do any of you know Xenophon?¹”

The four shook their heads.

“You mean Xenophon could help us?” Olivos couldn’t help but ask.

Davos smiled and said nothing. He felt it strange that nobody has heard of him, since on the internet, Xenophon had led the retreat and wrote a book, so he ought to be a mercenary leader!

“Where is Xenophon from? Is he part of our troops?” Hielos asked.

“He…probably…he…should be an Athenian.” Davos still knows Xenophon’s birthplace. After all, Xenophon was an ancient western writer, a military strategist, and a disciple of Socrates.²

“When I have time, I’ll go ask people from the other camps.” Hielos earnestly said.

“Hopefully he isn’t under Clearchus! Otherwise, we can’t look for him!” said Giorgris. The relationship between the two leaders, Clearchus and Meno, was so bad that even the mercenaries under them also hated each other.

“It’s just a fight? Just beat them! We Thessalians are not afraid of those bastards!” Matonis said excitedly.

“Who are you going to fight?” The tent was opened and a man got inside – the man is Antonios.

Through the memory of this body, Davos knew that he was their platoon leader. However, the people in the tent continued to sit and lie down; none of them stood up to salute. After all, they are mercenaries, and he had no authority at all except during battles.

“We are telling jokes.” said Hielos.

“There’s a lot of noise outside, and you can still joke around, good! Good!” Antonios said half-jokingly.

He looked at the people in the tent and said to Hielos, “Meno asked me to inform you squad leaders and to console our brothers. Cyrus the Younger had an unforeseen death, but fortunately, his troops are still there, so we still have the upper hand, while the Persians are at a disadvantage, which still hasn’t changed. Tomorrow after meeting up with Cyrus the Younger’s adjutant, Ariaeus, we’ll have at least 30,000 men! At that time, we will defeat the Persian king once more and give us much more benefits! Maybe we will…we will even support a new Persian king!!”

Antonios was satisfied with their surprised expression and was ready to turn around, but got grabbed by Hielos, “Consoling the brothers can be, but you must let them eat their fill! Although everyone ate some raw horse meat from last night, everyone is still hungry! And there is no news from Mersis. So if they couldn’t eat, I can’t guarantee what’s going to happen!”

“Yes! That’s right! If we can’t eat, we will quit!” everyone shouted.

Antonios patted his stomach and embarrassingly said, “I’m also hungry, and my stomach is growling. Now the whole military camp has a food shortage. Besides urging Mersis to think of a solution, Meno himself went to Proxenus³, as I heard that his camp have suffered fewer losses yesterday. But even if we could get some, it won’t be much for everyone, so let’s put up with it for a day!” Antonios finished and rushed out of the tent.

Hielos sighed and said to everyone, “I’ll take a look at the other tent.” He also went outside. Hielos was a squad leader and was in charge of 9 men, and the five other men lived in the adjacent tent.

Earlier, Davos had been entangled with his past and present life, that he hadn’t realized that he hadn’t eaten anything. After listening to everyone’s trouble, Davos’ stomach began to growl.

But he could only imitate the others and wrapped himself in a sheep blanket, and lay on the “bed” in order to reduce physical consumption.

1. Xenophon was a student of Socrates who later joined the “Ten Thousand” to work under Cyrus the Younger.

2. Socrates was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought.

3. Proxenus of Boeotia was a friend of Xenophon.