“How can that be! That can’t be! You swore by the gods!” Bourkos pleaded urgently. “Leader Davos, I beg you! Let your soldiers stay and help Thurii again! Pay… we’ll double the pay! Lack of weapons… there are plenty in the city of Thurii, and I’ll have them shipped to you right now! Lack of men… you saw the battle today; Thurii lost over two thousand dead and wounded—we truly have no one left!” Bourkos wept, nearly falling to his knees.
But Davos’s expression turned cold.
Bourkos hurriedly said, “Let me think… let me think… Ah… Thurii may lack men, but we have plenty of slaves from the copper and stone mines—young, strong men, quite sturdy. I’ll give you as many as you want!”
Davos stroked his chin, thought for a long while, and then said reluctantly, “…Very well… but I have no food to support those slaves.”
“The city of Thurii has enough grain and provisions—I’ll give you as much as you need!” As long as Davos agreed to stay, Bourkos seemed willing to meet almost any demand he made…
That night, the whole of Thurii was busy. The citizens, suppressing their grief for survival, drove hundreds of cargo ships loaded with weapons, food, slaves, and tents (since the Tarentine reinforcements refused to enter the city and preferred to stay in the mercenary camp, tents had to be prepared for them) to the simple dock at the river mouth…
Davos ordered Mesis and his baggage camp men to receive these supplies and had the soldiers rest early to recover their energy…
…
Just as dawn broke, the mercenaries in front of Davos’s camp had already formed up in battle array. Davos inspected their ranks, nodding repeatedly at their high spirits and morale.
“Matonis, are you ready?” Davos couldn’t help asking his old comrade, who was eagerly clenching his fists.
“I can’t wait any longer!” Matonis shouted.
“Soon enough, you’ll have plenty of enemies to fight. Each of our brothers must take down three of the enemy to secure victory. Are you confident about that?” Davos asked with a smile.
“Yes!!!” The surrounding soldiers roared in unison, but Matonis added reluctantly, “Three isn’t enough for me!”
Davos laughed heartily, swung himself onto the warhorse that Asiastes held beside him, rode to the front of the army, and facing the countless pairs of excited, hopeful, burning eyes, shouted, “Brothers, I see hope in your eyes. After today’s battle, I want you to turn that hope into reality! Hades will shield you!”
“Ten thousand victories!”
“Ten thousand victories!!”
“Ten thousand victories!!!”
As the endless cries echoed, Davos said solemnly to Philistos, “I await your good news!”
“Rest assured, Leader. With Hades’ protection, we will succeed!” Philistos replied excitedly.
Watching the mercenary column heading north disappear into the morning mist, Davos took a deep breath. He knew the battle that would decide his fate was about to begin…
“Asiastes, back to camp! Begin our preparations!” he shouted forcefully and excitedly.
“Yes!!” Asiastes’ response was equally forceful.
“Hey, did you hear that? Sounds like an army on the march.” The sentry on the walls of Thurii alerted his companion.
“Could the Lucanians be attacking us?!” The other sentry, also hearing the noise, said in alarm.
“Quick, sound the alarm and notify the citizens!” The sentry rushed toward the watchtower.
But by the time the Thurii citizen soldiers reached the walls, the outside had fallen silent again.
Faced with the fog-shrouded countryside, the cavalry refused to go out and reconnoiter, so they had to wait for the mist to clear…
By midmorning, the sun had climbed halfway and the fog dispersed.
War horns rang out across the Lucanian tribal coalition camp, and the warriors began to prepare for the advance toward the Sybaris Plain.
Just then, a scout burst into the camp: “Enemy coming! Enemy coming!”
Enemy daring to attack our camp? The Lucanian warriors curiously looked toward the camp gate.
Outside the camp appeared two hundred fully armed Greek heavy infantry. Under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes, they unhurriedly stopped a hundred paces from the camp and began hurling round objects inside.
When the objects landed, the warriors saw that they were the heads of the Lucanian warriors who had died in the mercenary camp (fearing increased casualties, the Lucanians had not dared to retrieve their comrades’ bodies from the traps outside Davos’s camp the previous day). The heads had had their ears cut off and eyes gouged out—a pitiful death…
As the warriors’ fury ignited, the Greek soldiers outside the camp lifted their tunics, urinated, and shouted insults.
The Lucanian warriors were inflamed. They broke past their leaders’ resistance, and over a thousand surged out of the camp, charging ferociously at the Greeks.
The Greek soldiers immediately turned and fled. The pursuing Lucanian warriors rounded a ridge and suddenly discovered nearly two thousand Greek soldiers waiting in formation ahead. It was too late to retreat. A volley of javelins felled a row of Lucanians, followed by a powerful charge that shattered their will to fight.
Then the Greek soldiers pursued them. In full view of everyone, the Greeks swiftly struck down each fleeing Lucanian warrior and then stabbed those who fell several more times to ensure their death.
This cruel method of killing and the agonized screams of their kinsmen made the Lucanian warriors and leaders still inside the camp unable to contain their rage. But intimidated by the enemy’s numbers and brutality, they began to seek out the Great Leader of Grumentum, urging him to give battle.
Before Acipirus could respond, Grenatus shouted, “I recognize them! They are those damned mercenaries we fought yesterday!”
Acipirus’s eyes widened. “Are you sure, boy?!”
“I’d never mistake them even if I were beaten to death!” Grenatus said, his face twisted with bitterness.
“Great Leader, let me lead three thousand warriors out to drive them back and avenge the Pyxous tribesmen!” Sevira stepped forward to volunteer.
Grenatus glared at him and also stepped forward to volunteer.
Acipirus declared loudly, “These Greek mercenaries dare to leave their camp to harass us! Very well—let us annihilate them all here again, save us the trouble of attacking their camp!” Acipirus grew more impassioned. “Sound the attack horn at once! Form up outside the camp, and after defeating them, we will advance on the Sybaris Plain!”
The other leaders, equally hot-blooded, shouted their agreement. Only Sedorum, the great leader of Vergae, remained silent.
Acipirus glanced at him and said grimly, “Sedorum, do you have doubts about my decision?”
Sedorum smiled bitterly. “Great Leader, I am absolutely obedient to your commands! It’s just… after last night, the warriors of Vergae are unwilling… they refuse to go to battle anymore…”
“Is that so?!” Acipirus’s eyes widened.
“The warriors say, ‘If we go to battle, the enemy kills us; if we return, our own people kill us. Either way we die, we might as well lie in the camp and let our own people kill us—at least we won’t get so tired.’ No matter how I urged them, they wouldn’t listen!” Sedorum kept his head low, but his words flowed smoothly.
“Acipirus, the Vergae people disobey orders—they must be up to no good! We should arrest them all immediately!” Sicinag jumped out, pointing at Sedorum.
Sedorum’s face paled slightly.
Acipirus interrupted Sicinag: “Enough. Since the Vergae warriors don’t want to fight, let them stay and guard the camp.”
Sedorum breathed a sigh of relief. Sicinag wanted to argue further, but Acipirus waved his hand impatiently. “The brave men of Pyxous also suffered heavy casualties yesterday. They will stay as well, together with the Vergae warriors, to guard the camp. After we drive off the Greeks, you will then transport the cattle, tents, equipment, and all camp supplies to the Sybaris Plain.”
Sicinag stopped his protests. He accepted the order gladly and even stopped his son Grenatus from objecting. But this did nothing to diminish Acipirus’s ill will toward him: originally, after returning to camp last night, Acipirus had intended to let Sedorum execute a few dozen severely wounded Vergae men to settle the matter. But Sicinag had insisted on sacrificing one hundred and fifty Vergae warriors. This had clearly alienated the Vergae.
Looking at Sedorum’s expressionless face, Acipirus knew he would now have to seriously consider the problem of Vergae—but for now, the Sybaris Plain was his primary goal, so he would have to let Pyxous keep an eye on these foreigners.
The war horns continued to sound. The Lucanian warriors poured out of the camp and began to form ranks.
Luring the Enemy