Chapter 34: Guards

“Leader, Cheirisophus ordered Tolmides to confirm whether the situation is true.” Asistes reported.

Tolmides also saluted.

“Okay.” Davos nodded and agreed, he understood that this was a normal procedure. With the cautiousness of Cheirisophus, he must confirm that Cheiristoya voluntarily asked to come to the camp of Davos, and wasn’t being threatened.

Tolmides, who was known as the first herald of the whole mercenary troops, was obviously much better than Asistes. He calmly faced the beauty and charm of Cheiristoya and ask her the details, and when he got a positive answer, he turned to face Davos and said, “Since Cheiristoya voluntarily came to you, Cheirisophus and several other leaders had said before I came that, ‘Cyrus the Younger has already died, but he will always be a good friend of the Greeks! We must not forget the aid he did to Greece! We must take good care of his concubine, Cheiristoya, who is also our fellow Greek, this is the hospitality of us Greek!’ I hope that leader, Davos, will take good care of Cheiristoya and not let her be taken advantage!”

‘I am afraid that he can’t forget the aid of Cyrus the Younger to Sparta! ’ Davos criticized him in his heart and then asked, “What is the attitude of Timasion towards this matter?”

Tolmides understood what Davos was worried about and did not hesitate to answer, “Leader Timasion has no objection to this!”

“That’s good!” Davos nodded. “Asistes, you take Cheiristoya to Mersis and let him be responsible for her settlement!”

“Yes!” Asistes answered excitedly .

“Thank you, Leader Davos.” Cheiristoya walked out calmly.

“Cheiristoya! You can directly tell me if you have any difficulties!” Davos couldn’t help but shout.

“I will.” a smile flashed acrossed her face.

When they went out, Tolmides smiled at him, “Leader Davos, you deserve to be the ‘God’s Favored’, your speech was not only great, and even the most beautiful woman in the mercenary camp took the initiative to go to you!”

“The first herald of the whole mercenary troops is not only accurate in giving orders, but is also great at giving flattering words!”

The two laughed.

Tolmides looked at the young but clever leader and seriously asked, “When I came in, I noticed that there were no guards outside your quarter.”

Davos did not directly say that it was because he hadn’t had the time to arranged it due to the lack of time, but instead, he modestly asked for advice, “Before today, I was an ordinary soldier, the brothers in the camp trusted me and unanimously elected me as the new leader. If I immediately arranged guards, then it will isolate me from my brothers. Will it make them think that I have changed?”

Tolmied positively said, “Military rules are military rules, it is there in order to ensure victory in battle! Look at how much chaos the death of Clearchus had caused the whole mercenary troops, you should know that the safety of your life is very important to your camp! At the same time, establishing guards will also prevent idle personnel, who doesn’t have anything to do, from frequently entering and leaving your quarter and interfering with your thinking and rest, which is equally important!”

Davos nodded and said, “Thank you for your teaching, I got it!”

Tolmides looked at the modest manner of Davos, and said it with certainty without any contempt, “It’s not easy to be a good leader, but I believe you can do it well!”

“Thank you for your encouragement!” Tolmides’ words dispelled his last concern.

After sending Tolmides away, and when Asistes returned, he immediately said to him, “You go to Antonios and ask him to send the squad of Hielos to be my guard.”

“Understand!” When Asistes turned to leave, he was called back by Davos, “Asi, I had just became a leader. I am not too familiar with military affairs, you should point out the things that I neglected.”

Asistes blinked and politely said, “Then let me say this first. You should appoint 2 more heralds to me, otherwise once the battle starts, the conveying of orders will be delayed.” It is indeed true that it would take too long for one person to convey orders to 14 captains, plus the supply unit and field hospital, and in battle, time is life.

‘I was careless’ Davos hurriedly said, “Yes, you can choose personnel from the whole camp.”

“And horses.”

“Go look for Mersis.”

Asistes rushed out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hielos, you have finally arrived, come in!” Davos happily welcomed him.

“Leader!” Hielos immediately saluted.

“You are all my good brothers, so you can just address me with my name in private.” Davos gave him a warm hug.

“Just like i have said, even if Davos became the leader, he won’t forget us! He is not Menon, he is Davos!” Matonis hit Davos’ chest with his fist.

Davos smiled and said, “Don’t blame me for giving you additional tasks.”

“The guards have better treatment than an ordinary soldiers, so you are the one taking care of us. You can rest assured that with us, there will absolutely be no one that can hurt you!” Matonis patted his chest and made a pledge.

“It’s your duty to protect me, and if I get hurt then Matonis, you will be punished! And as yous punishment, you will only be given half of the food!” In front of his former squadmates, Davos deliberately created a relaxed atmosphere.

“Damn it, you are even more terrible than Menon!” Matonis scratched his head and complained.

Everyone laughed.

“Davos, you can rest assured that I will arrange your guards!” Hielos said it with seriousness.

Davos nodded.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Next, Davos called Marigi and asked him to act as a guide.

Because the death of Clearchus made Marigi felt worried, and at the same time, made him no longer worried about getting discovered due to the Greek mercenaries fighting the Persians. Therefore, he readily agreed to the request of Davos.

Davos was given detailed information about the the terrain ahead and the surrounding barbarians, especially the Carduchians…

Just after sending Marigi away, he found that Matonis was fully armed and was standing at the entrance of his quarter. Davos didn’t disturb him, when he saw that Matonis was staring straight ahead, and as he turned around, he suddenly saw that there was 2 javelins on the back of Matonis and so he stopped.

The proposal to equip the Greek hoplite with javelins could be said to be his failed proposal. At that time, he thought of the Roman heavy infantry in history, he also hope that the Greek hoplite, who could only fight at close combat, could also have a mid-range projectile firepower and attack the fast-moving Persian cavalry. Who knew that when the 2 troops were on good terms for quite a long time, the 2 javelins that they carried became a burden and unfavorable when marching. Therefore, most of the soldiers threw away their javelins, and only the squad of Hielos firmly believed on Davos and still carried it with them, but they cut the javelin into a meter long and was inserted in their back with a strap fixed so that they can easily insert and take it out, and it is also convenient to carry.

Davos thought that it might be useful in future battle.

That night, Davos didn’t slept well. After all, the next day was his first time marching with the troops or maybe his first time leading a battle. It was impossible for him to not be nervous, and so he tossed and turned around until late at night.

The next day, he was woken up by Asistes.

“What time is it now?” Davos asked with a slight guilt.

“The soldiers are currently eating, and it’s still too early to depart.” Asistes said, and brought him breakfast – two pieces of bread, a piece of cheese, a sausage, and a glass of water.

“This is quite plenty, the soldiers are also eating this?” Davos asked while pointing to the breakfast.

“Almost. Because there may be battles today, and so we must eat more to gain strength.”

Davos was relieved.

He ate his meal then after a while, there was a long copper horn sound that was heard throughout the camp. Davos began to wear his armor, and all his other equipment remained the same, except for his helmet that was replaced with a red helmet with a feather on its top.

The soldiers were also dressed neatly, they came out one after another and began to dismantle their tents and sent them to the supply units.

Then they began to line up.

“First Unit! First Unit!…”

“Second unit! The second unit is here!…”

“Brothers of the fourth unit and the fifth unit are coming!…”

The shouts came and gone, and from time to time they were accompanied by horses and cattle, it was the supply unit on a wagon for the animals, and the whole camp was like a noisy market.