Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 108: Conspiracy and Resolve

This time, Adpigis had specifically traveled from Cosentia to report to Aristelas: after the defeat at the Lamato River battle, the impact that those Fifth Army Corps soldiers released by Dionysius had on the Bruttii region, hoping to alert the Senate. Unexpectedly, he ran into this incident. Since he had often herded livestock while a slave, he was an excellent rider, familiar with the terrain of the Cosenza Plateau, and could potentially succeed in delivering the message over a long distance through the night.

At this moment, after understanding the whole story, Aristelas knew how crucial this matter was and did not dare to take it lightly. He immediately decided: “Come, you and I will go see Lord Mariji at once!”

Why was he going to see the commercial officer Mariji, rather than the ephor Sestas, who truly had the power to punish senators who abandoned their posts without permission, or Kynogoratas, who was temporarily in charge of the entire Daonia administrative authority?

That was because Mariji was a trusted subordinate of Lord Davos and was familiar with the intelligence department for which Aristelas was responsible. Aristelas had met Kynogoratas a few times and clearly sensed his aversion to him. As for Sestas, he mainly didn’t know him well and feared wasting time.

After hearing this startling news, Mariji went without any hesitation to see Sestas. Sestas immediately sent people to check the residences of these senators, and indeed, the birds had flown.

Thus, the group immediately went together to Kynogoratas’s residence.

Kynogoratas, after all, was older. Even though it wasn’t yet deep night, he was already fast asleep. When woken up, he was still a bit groggy, but when he heard Sestas say, “Petalus, Bogam, and Kaduruk have left Thurii without permission and secretly headed for the Bruttii region, which might trigger a rebellion!”—his drowsiness was completely scared away.

“Whether their departure was due to urgent matters in their tribes or other reasons, leaving without the Senate’s approval is a violation of the Alliance’s laws!” Kynogoratas spoke euphemistically but could not hide his anxiety: “Immediately dispatch a cavalry unit to rush to the Bruttii region and see if we can catch up to them! If we don’t catch them, then go to Cosentia and notify Heilos to strengthen vigilance and conduct searches. Once discovered, they are to be immediately ‘taken into custody’!”

At this time, there were only 500 cavalry left in the city, but they were citizens, not standing armed forces. At this late hour, they would have to go door to door to wake them up, so Kynogoratas added a reminder: “When assembling the cavalry, try not to make too much noise to avoid causing panic among the people!”

“What if the cavalry catches up with them and they resist?” Sestas asked coldly.

“Better not to injure them. If absolutely necessary, you can wound them, but never—” Kynogoratas had just spoken when Sestas strode out.

“There’s one thing I forgot to mention… In fact, Aristelas has already sent people ahead of Petalus and the others to rush to Cosentia to notify Heilos.” Mariji interjected in time to praise Davos’s intelligence officer for his contribution.

“Oh, is that so?!” This was indeed an unexpected surprise! Kynogoratas hurriedly looked toward Aristelas, who stood in the corner of the living room.

“The situation was urgent at the time, so I made a decision on my own, just wanting the Chief Magistrate of Cosentia, Heilos, to be on alert. My man is on his way to Cosentia. It’s dark and the roads are difficult now; I hope he can make it to Cosentia ahead of them,” Aristelas explained.

Due to his previous bias, Kynogoratas could not bring himself to praise this intelligence chief. He merely nodded, then said to Mariji: “Although it is very late now, we must inform the other senators of tonight’s events so they can be mentally prepared. So, Lord Mariji, trouble you to go and tell them to come to my place.” Kynogoratas was trying to make amends afterward, to avoid being accused of acting arbitrarily, so he could account for it to Davos.

“Alright!” Mariji answered promptly and turned to leave.

Aristelas also followed out, but Kynogoratas stopped him: “You stay.”

Aristelas looked at Kynogoratas with surprise as he walked up to him and asked, “What is your name?”

“Aristelas.”

“Aristelas, you did very well earlier!” Kynogoratas said solemnly. “I know you are Lord Davos’s eyes. The situation in Daonia is not good right now. I hope you can help me out temporarily.”

“As a Daonia citizen, contributing to the Alliance is my duty,” Aristelas declared immediately.

“I want you to send people to monitor the movements of the other Bruttii senators in the Senate. Before Lord Davos returns, if there are any abnormalities, please inform me first. When Davos comes back, I will explain it to him,” Kynogoratas said, gazing at him.

Aristelas hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly nodded and said, “Very well, Lord Kynogoratas. I will report to you daily.”

Leaving Kynogoratas’s residence, Aristelas lightly pumped his fist, a smile appearing on his face: Before, they had to operate stealthily and were disliked by some senators. This time, gaining the recognition of Kynogoratas, an important figure in the Senate, was a big step toward moving the intelligence department into the open.

…

On the road leading to Cosentia, Bogam, Petalus, Kaduruk, and dozens of others held torches and moved quickly.

Beyond the range of the firelight lay the pitch-black wilderness. All that could be heard was the strong mountain wind sweeping over the unobstructed plateau, making a mournful howl like a woman crying…

Petalus pulled his leather robe tighter. On this terrible winter night, he not only felt cold in body but also cold in heart: Although he had made up his mind to break away from the Daonia Alliance, now that he had actually taken action, what would be the fate of him and his tribe? Just like the road ahead that was impossible to see hand in front of face, he had no way to predict…

“Listen! What’s that sound?!” Kaduruk suddenly shouted.

“It’s wolves howling!” Someone distinguished the sound amid the wind and warned loudly: “Watch out for wolves ahead!”

The crowd hastily gathered together, not daring to scatter. Meeting wolves on a dark wilderness night was a troublesome thing.

They moved forward cautiously.

Before long, they saw five or six wolves by the roadside gnawing on something. The men used torches, spears, and short swords to drive away those ferocious wolves with gleaming green eyes and bared fangs. The wolves didn’t go far but lingered around.

“It’s a horse carcass!” The crowd saw what the wolves were eating.

“It must have died not long ago,” Bogam said after hearing his clansmen’s report, his expression turning serious. “It seems someone rode past here not long ago.”

Petalus’s heart skipped a beat, and his face also turned grim: “It’s very likely someone discovered our actions and rode to Cosentia to inform on us!”

“We left so secretly, they couldn’t have known beforehand. And this road is the fastest to Cosentia. Even if they discovered us, they couldn’t have gotten ahead of us. This is just a coincidence. Somebody’s stable must not have been closed tight, letting a horse escape, and it got killed by wolves…” Kaduruk argued.

“But this isn’t a Bruttian horse,” Bogam, who was examining the horse carcass closely, reminded him. “The carcass on the ground is larger than the small-sized Bruttian horse.”

“You know perfectly well that now many tribes on the Cosenza Plateau also keep horses from other places,” Kaduruk countered again.

“Alright, stop arguing. No matter where this horse came from, we must remain vigilant,” Petalus quickly stepped in to mediate. Then he said, “I’ve decided to go first to the branch of my former tribe south of Cosentia (as one of the main instigators of the Bruttii War and chief accomplice of Piallen’s tribe—Petalus’s tribe was broken up after the war: one branch near Cosenza, the other moved to the edge of Clampetia’s territory).”

“I have to go back to Cosentia,” Kaduruk said. He had once opened the city gate, leading the Daonia forces into Cosentia’s inner city, and thus was rewarded by Daonia. His tribe remained intact and was not relocated; among the many small tribes in Cosentia now, it stood alone as the dominant one.

“Be careful yourself,” was all Petalus could say. Without Kaduruk sneaking back to his tribe and bringing enough warriors, it would not help their rebellion at all. That was also why Petalus set aside past prejudices and was willing to join forces with him.

“After you convince your tribes, don’t forget to lead them to Ambarnia as soon as possible for the rendezvous! Only when we gather together will we become strong, making the Daonians afraid to attack easily, and we’ll have enough time to make more choices!” Bogam reminded the two.

Since the Bruttii were incorporated into Daonia, great changes had taken place in the city of Cosentia over the past few years.

The inner city was the administrative district, mainly containing the City Hall, the Council Chamber, the courtrooms, the temples, the plaza, and next to the plaza the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Chief Magistrate’s residence, and the dwellings of officials.

The function of the Council Chamber was primarily for the Chief Magistrate of Cosentia to deliberate with the chiefs of the Bruttii tribes on matters of management in the Bruttii region. From this point of view, while other Greek cities were still preparing local councils, Cosentia had long implemented a similar mechanism. Of course, this was related to the Bruttii region’s tribal-based way of life, and a similar mechanism was also in place in Grumentum of Lucania.

Speaking of the courts within Cosentia city, the Daonian Law stipulated: if a clansman committed a crime, the tribe could punish him according to its tribal laws, but if the clansman was dissatisfied, he could appeal to the Cosentia court, where a judge would retry the case according to the Daonian Citizen Law and ultimately settle it through negotiation with the tribal chief. Since tribes often acted in the interests of the entire tribe or the chief, most offenders refused to accept their judgments and sought help from the Cosentia court. Although this made the judges’ work increasingly busy, and the number of courts increased from the original one to five, their impartiality won increasing recognition from the Bruttii people.