Davos had long stopped playing tricks during the ceremony in front of the Temple of Hades, like when the temple was first completed. Instead, he followed the traditional ceremony, slaughtered lambs, offered blood and food, and sang Hades’ ode. And this time, the ode of Hades is not the previous one, but the one written by Lysias. Davos had read it before and felt that it was well written, which means that the culture of Theonia started to develop.
Since mortals are equal before the gods, the people who participated in the ceremony are in order of those who arrive first stands in front.
Megaris stood on the periphery of the square, close to the temple, so when the flow of people surged to the temple, he would walk towards the soldiers, maintaining order. The soldiers formed a sizeable defensive circle surrounding the whole Temple of Hades, with several teams of guards patrolling to keep order and prevent accidents.
More than 20 metres in front of Megaris is Davos. Currently, he was singing the ode together with a group of priests behind him.
Megaris gulped unconsciously, put down his right hand and touched the hard object near the outside of his thigh.
After Davos finished singing the ode, the bronze bell rang, “Bang!…”
Then they hear Davos’ spirited shout, “Now let’s start praying to the great Hades!”
With that, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. The people followed as they prayed silently, with some even kneeling on the ground, and even the soldiers began praying in their hearts.
Megaris then saw a group of guards passed by him from the inner circle.
‘Now’s the moment!’ With his eyes open, his powerful right leg stomped on the ground as his whole body charged like a cheetah. He passed through the lower gap between the guards, flashed behind them, placed his right hand into his chiton, and pulled the dagger out.
Among the mercenaries in Campania, Megaris is known for his speed, and the distance of more than 20 metres is only a moment for him. At this time, excitement and tension surged all over his body as he stared at Davos, even though the wind was blowing in his eyes.
‘I’m close! Very close!!’
He then saw Davos raised his head, neither appearing nervous nor scared and just smiled slightly at him, causing Megaris to feel a “thump” in his heart.
Behind Davos, the two priests who were bowing their heads rushed out in an instant with a small leather shield in their hands. Soon, the leather shield smashed at Megaris with force.
Because of his inertia, he was unable to dodge. He then felt that his right hand seemed to be struck by a boulder with his bones cracking, and the dagger flew out of his hand.
Followed by another shield that closed in on his head, immediately fainting him.
“Is he dead?” Asked Davos.
“He just fainted, milord.” Answered Martius, who was disguised as a priest.
“Good.” As soon as Davos said these words, some of the people began shouting, “Assassins! There are assassins! They want to assassinate Lord Davos!”
“Murder! There are assassins trying to kill us!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Only then, the people who reacted finally saw the assassin that had fallen in front of Davos. Then they heard someone repeatedly shouting, “Murder! There are assassins!…” Immediately, the people began rioting.
‘Not good, someone is making trouble!’ Davos’ mind immediately sounded an alarm. There are tens of thousands of people in this ceremony, so the consequences would be unimaginable once there is a panic or stampede. ‘Isn’t this what happened to Mithridates’ troops!?’
Out of desperation, Davos walked forward and came to the rear of the soldiers and began shouting, “Citizens of Theonia, soldiers of the legion, I command you to remain calm! Maintain the order! Protect the people!”
Martius and the soldiers followed suit and began shouting.
Hearing the orders of the grand legatus, the citizens of Theonia began to obey and consciously stood up to calm down the people around them. Soon, the chaos gradually calms down.
At this time, a woman was pushed forward and fell into the defensive circle with a scream.
Davos showed concern and was about to come forward and help.
While the soldier next to her immediately helped her up. But as soon as he lifted her, what he saw was a twisted and murderous face. She then pushed the unsuspecting soldier, quickly pulled out the dagger hidden in her body and stabbed fiercely towards Davos.
Davos, who was very close to her, could not dodge in time, as he could only watch the bluish dagger thrust towards his chest. But in an instant, Martius, who was behind him, suddenly pushed Davos away with his left hand, and at the same time, his right hand quickly tried to grab the dagger. However, the dagger pierced his palm.
Martius then roared and hit the woman in the face with his left fist.
The woman screamed and was knocked back several steps and fell to the ground, convulsing and vomiting blood.
“Holy father, are you okay?!”
“Lord Davos! Milord!….”
Pleisinas and the other priests and the crowds all screamed as they all rushed to Davos with concern.
“All of you stay where you are!” Davos stood up quickly and shouted, “Maintain the order! I am fine!”
As he spoke, the guards rushed over and protected him in the centre.
“Go and check on your captain!” Davos pushed aside the soldiers and hurried towards Martius.
“Milord, I am fine.” Martius whispered after ripping his ceremonial robe from his body and using it to wrap his right hand.
Davos took a look at his right hand, which had dyed the white linen in red. Afterwards, he patted him on the shoulder but didn’t say anything. Instead, he noted this life-saving grace in his heart.
He then walked towards the woman.
At this moment, the woman’s face was extremely gruesome.
Davos stared at her blankly with his fingers slightly trembles as this was the first time he really felt that death was so close to him after coming into this world for so long.
‘Damn it! Damn…’ Just when he felt that he could no longer control the rapidly growing anger in his heart, he could hear the shouting of the soldiers behind him, “Captain, what’s wrong with you?!”
Davos then turned his head and saw Matius feebly fell to the ground.
‘The dagger is poisoned!’ A thought flashed through Davos’ mind.
More than ten years later, Ansitanos wrote in his 《Histories of Magna Graecia》: The Festival of Hades, which was supposed to be a lively event for the Theonians was interrupted by this assassination attempt, which left the captain of Davos’ guard unconscious from his injuries. Hundreds of Theonians were also injured, and more than dozens had died due to the panic during the assassination. But more importantly, the attempted assassination of the Theonian archon – Davos, shocked the whole Theonia Union and the whole city-state of South Italia. At the same time, it also had a far-reaching impact on the political situation of Theonia, South Italia and even the entire western Mediterranean, which the people behind this assassination did not expect…
The historian can easily laugh at the historical event afterwards. But on that day, immediately after the assassination, Thurii put the whole city on lockdown and even imposed a curfew. Many who were staying in their homes and inns were uneasy as rumours about “Davos has been assassinated” spread. This caused panic among the Theonians, who have always regarded Davos as their biggest dependence on the Union’s safety.
And the archon, whom everyone has been worrying about, has now returned home. In the face of the concerns of Cheiristoya, Agnes and the children, who came after hearing the news, Davos could barely assure them. Afterwards, Davos immediately called Aristias angrily, “You and your men are stupid! You unexpectedly allowed an assassin to lurk around me so boldly and didn’t even notice it! If Martius was not to wake up, many of your men must pay for it!”
Aristias gave no excuses. ‘I was indeed deceived by the enemy this time. Unexpectedly, Megaris was just a cover while the real assassin was a weak woman. Fortunately…lord Davos was not hurt!’ Cold sweat drenched Aristias’ back as he thought of that.
After Davos finished venting his anger, his mood calmed down slightly, and he said sternly, “Aristias, I don’t care what methods you use, you must dig out these ‘thorns’ hiding in Theonia and those that are hostile to Theonia in the shortest time! I will also allow the patrols under Matonis to cooperate with you.”
Aristias clenched his fist and said, “Rest assured, milord! I will never let you down again!”
“I don’t want to see Theonia’s statesmen or strategoi and the officials of the union assassinated or get into an accident, especially when Theonia is about to take action!”
Rather than making Aristias pressured, Davos’ warning made him excited, ‘The union wants to take action?! To whom?!’
As soon as Aristias left, Kunogelata and Matonis arrived together. Kunogelata had a quirk since his defeat in the Battle of Thurii against the Lucanian Tribal Alliance that year – he is unwilling to stay alone with those military people. However, this time, the situation is urgent.
When Matonis entered the living room, he was relieved to see that Davos was indeed safe, just like what the others said, so he shouted, “Milord, the assassin has confessed.”
“So fast?!” Davos was a bit surprised.
Matonis grinned but remembered that the atmosphere was wrong, so he had to hold himself back, “When the assassin woke up, he confessed without waiting for us to torture him. His only request was for a few meals at Cheiristoya’s Restaurant before he dies.”
This request was indeed a bit amusing. But Davos was not in the mood to laugh, so he asked with seriousness, “What did he say?”
Matonis said angrily, “He said he was a Campanian mercenary and had been fighting for Syracuse for several years and that this time, it was Syracuse’s strategos – Macias, who sent him to assassinate you…”
