Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 50: Assassination

In front of the Temple of Hades, Davos no longer performed the theatrics he had done during the first temple dedication. Instead, he followed the traditional rites: slaughtering a lamb, offering the blood sacrifice, and then reading the hymn. This time, the Hymn to Hades was not the old one but one written by Lysias. Davos had read it before and found it well-crafted—a sign of Daonia’s cultural progress.

Since all mortals were equal before the gods, the people participating in the ceremony lined up in order of arrival, with those who came earlier standing at the front.

Megalis had positioned himself early at the edge of the square, near the temple. So when the crowd surged toward the temple, he ended up at the front. Ahead of him were citizen soldiers maintaining order, holding hands to form a large defensive circle that enclosed the entire Temple of Hades. Several guard squads patrolled inside the circle to keep order and prevent incidents.

Davos stood about twenty meters ahead of Megalis, chanting the hymn loudly, with a group of acolytes singing behind him.

Megalis swallowed unconsciously, lowered his right hand, and touched the hard object pressed against the outside of his thigh.

Finally, Davos finished the hymn.

“Dong!” The bronze bell rang.

Then Davos shouted with high emotion: “Now let us pray to great Hades!”

With that, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. The people also bowed their heads in silent prayer, some even kneeling. Even the soldiers began to pray in their hearts.

Megalis saw a guard squad just pass in front of him from the inner circle.

Now! He opened his eyes wide, pushed off the ground with his powerful right leg, and like a leopard, ducked low and slipped under the gap between the citizen soldiers’ clasped hands. He darted behind the guards, reached into his chiton, and pulled out a gleaming dagger.

Among the Campanian mercenaries, he was known for his speed. A distance of over twenty meters was nothing to him. In that instant, excitement and tension surged through his body, the wind whistled past his ears, but his eyes remained fixed on Davos ahead.

Close! Very close!

Then Davos looked up—neither nervous nor afraid, only offering a slight smile.

Megalis’s heart skipped a beat.

From behind Davos, two of the acolytes who had been bowing their heads sprang forth, small leather shields raised in their hands. They swung the shields forcefully at Megalis.

Already sprinting at full speed, he couldn’t dodge due to inertia. His right arm felt as if struck by a boulder, bones aching and ready to shatter. The dagger flew from his hand.

Then another shield struck him square on the head. Megalis’s head buzzed loudly, and he immediately blacked out.

“Is he dead?” Davos asked.

“Sir, he’s unconscious,” replied Martius, who was disguised as an acolyte.

“Good.” Davos had barely uttered these two words when someone in the crowd shouted: “Assassin! Assassin! Trying to assassinate Lord Davos!”

“Murder! An assassin wants to kill us!”

…

The crowd, finally reacting, saw the fallen assassin in front of Davos and heard the repeated shouts of “Murder! Assassin!” Panic began to spread.

Damn it, someone’s stirring trouble! Davos’s mind instantly raised an alarm: With tens of thousands of people at this ceremony, if panic led to a stampede, the consequences would be disastrous. Wasn’t that what happened to Mithridates’s troops back then?

Acting quickly, he stepped forward a bit, came to the rear of the soldiers, and shouted: “Citizens of Daonia, soldiers of the Army Corps, I order you to stay calm! Maintain order! Protect the people!”

Martius and the other soldiers behind him joined in the shouting.

The Daonian citizens began to respond to their supreme commander’s command. They stepped forward voluntarily to calm those around them, and the chaos gradually subsided…

Then a woman, jostled by the crowd, screamed and stumbled forward into the defensive circle.

Davos showed concern and moved to help her up.

A nearby citizen soldier took over, but as soon as he lifted her, he saw a twisted, ferocious face. She shoved the unsuspecting soldier away with force, swiftly pulled a hidden dagger from her clothing, and viciously stabbed at Davos.

Davos, standing close, could barely dodge in that moment. He stared in shock as the dagger, glinting with a blue tinge, aimed for his chest. In that split second, Martius, behind him, shoved Davos aside with his left hand while raising his right hand to meet the blade. The dagger pierced straight through his palm.

With a roar, Martius punched the woman hard in the face with his left fist.

The woman screamed, staggering back several steps before falling to the ground, convulsing and spitting blood.

“High Priest, are you all right?!”

“Lord Davos! Sir!…”

Pleisinas, the priests, and the onlookers all cried out anxiously, surging toward Davos.

“Everyone, stay where you are!” Davos quickly stood up and shouted angrily: “Maintain order! I’m fine!”

As he spoke, the guard squad rushed over and surrounded him.

“Go check on your captain!” Davos pushed through the soldier’s circle and hurried toward Martius.

“Sir, I’m fine,” Martius said quietly, having torn off his ceremonial robe to wrap his right hand.

Davos looked at the already blood-soaked white linen with concern, patted him heavily on the shoulder but said nothing. This life-saving debt he would remember.

Then he walked forward and stopped before the woman.

Her facial bones were shattered; her appearance was horrifying.

Davos stared at her blankly, his fingers trembling slightly. In all his time in this world, this was the first time he had truly felt death so close.

Damn it! Damn it! Just as he felt he could no longer control the surging rage inside him, a soldier’s urgent shout came from behind: “Captain, what’s wrong?!”

He turned his head quickly and saw Martius collapse weakly to the ground.

Poison on the dagger! The thought flashed through Davos’s mind.

Years later, Antistanos wrote in his *History of Magna Graecia*: “This Festival of Hades, which should have been a joyous celebration for the Daonian people, was interrupted by this assassination attempt. Davos’s guard captain was wounded and fell unconscious. Several hundred Daonian citizens were injured and over a dozen died in the chaos that followed. More importantly, the failed assassination of Daonian magistrate Davos shocked the entire Daonia Alliance and all the city-states of southern Italy. It also had a profound impact on the political landscape of Daonia, southern Italy, and even the entire Western Mediterranean—far beyond what the instigators had anticipated…”

A historian’s pen can lightly recount the storms of history afterward. But on that day, after the assassination attempt, Thurii immediately sealed the entire city and imposed a curfew. Many citizens staying in homes and inns were restless, for rumors spread that “Davos was killed by the assassins.” To the Daonian people, who regarded Davos as their greatest security, how could they not be terrified?

Meanwhile, the magistrate they worried about had returned home. After briefly dealing with the concern of Cheiristoya, Agnes, and his children, he immediately summoned Aristelas. Davos, who had always treated him kindly, was now furious: “You and your men are utter fools! To let an assassin get so close to me without notice! If Martius doesn’t wake up, many of your men will pay for it!”

Aristelas offered no excuses. This time, their enemy had fooled him—Magalis was just a decoy; the real threat was a seemingly frail woman. Thank the gods… Davos was unharmed! At that thought, cold sweat ran down his back.

After venting his anger, Davos calmed slightly and said sternly: “Aristelas, I don’t care what methods you use, but you must root out all those hidden ‘nails’ within Daonia’s territory who hate us, as quickly as possible. I’ll have Matonis’s patrols cooperate with you!”

Aristelas clenched his fists and replied indignantly: “Sir, rest assured. I will not disappoint you again!”

“I don’t want to see any Daonian senator, general, or public official assassinated or meet with an accident, especially when Daonia takes action in the future!”

Davos’s warning did not make Aristelas feel more pressure; instead, he grew excited: The alliance is about to take action?! Against whom?!

No sooner had Aristelas left than Kynogoratas and Matonis arrived together. Kynogoratas, ever since his defeat in the battle of Thurii against the Lucanian tribal alliance, had developed an odd habit—he disliked being alone with men of military background. But clearly, the situation was urgent.

Matonis entered the reception hall and saw Davos safe and sound as others had said. Relieved, he spoke loudly: “Sir, the assassin has already confessed.”

“So fast?!” Davos was a bit surprised.

Matonis almost grinned but held back, remembering the gravity of the moment. “When the assassin woke up, before we could torture him, he confessed voluntarily. He only made one request—to eat a few meals from Cheiristoya’s Restaurant before he dies.”

The request was rather absurd, but Davos had no mood to laugh. He asked seriously: “What did he reveal?”

Matonis’s face showed anger: “He said he was a Campanian mercenary who had been fighting for Syracuse for years. This time, he was sent by the Syracusan general Masias to assassinate you…”