Chapter 20: Robbers

By the next day, even more exciting news arrived when Tissaphernes announced that Greek mercenaries could plunder the area for sustenance.

 Everyone cheered and cheered, but only Davos was silent: the looting ah ... is the revenge of the little Cyrus! But do the people here have anything to do with Cyrus the Younger plotting against them? ... No! Just because they live here, they have to be plundered! Tissaphernes was indeed wicked enough! And the Greeks? ...

 By mid-afternoon, Menon mercenaries stormed a village.

 Tranquil village soon screams, cries ring out ...

 Davos saw with his own eyes, usually and his close and loving comrades in arms at this moment most of the transformation into robbers: they stabbed down the Persian men who tried to stop them, kicked over the old man holding them to beg, picked up the Persian women who cried, broke into every house, took away livestock, robbed the gold and silver, carried away the food ... their faces showed a combination of greed and madness hideous expression, make Davos feel so strange. A hideous expression of greed and madness intertwined, so that Davos feels so strange.

 Davos wandered breathlessly through the village like a wandering spirit, and the soldiers who saw him cast astonished glances at him. There were Persians, covered with blood and lying on the ground, pointing at him and cursing him bitterly, and there were hobbled old men hugging him and pleading with him ... He could not understand them, but in his heart he understood what they were cursing? What are they begging for? But he could do nothing.

 He stumbled like the plague, trying to run to no man's land to avoid the angry eyes that made him feel doubly sorry for himself. At the same time, in his mind, he consoled himself with the thought: this is war. This is war! I was forced to ...

 Just then a sudden scream awakened the disoriented man: it was Oliverus' voice!

 Davos had a jolt: Oliverus was in danger, I'm afraid!

 He quickly followed the sound and broke into a house. In the yard a Persian man had fallen in a pool of blood. He had no time to think about it and kicked open the door of the hidden room: Oliverus was naked and fell motionless on the bed. The head of the bed curled up a **** bedside stood a girl of about ten years old, holding a large stone, is trembling ...

 Davos saw this situation, probably can guess what happened: apparently, Olivers fancy the hostess of the posture, first finished off the male host, and then forced the woman to the bed to ravage, is in the heat of the moment, who knows that the hiding daughter ran out, with a stone stone down his ...

 Shameless! He cursed in his heart, but still, out of concern for his comrades, he shouted, "Oliverus, are you alright?!"

 Oliveros did not answer, but awakened the little girl, who turned her head quickly to see another Greek soldier standing in the doorway, and screamed shrilly and harshly as if greatly irritated, "Robbers! Bandits! Smash you to death! Smash you all! ..." and with great effort she threw the stone in her hand at Davos, at the same time lunging at him.

 Davos subconsciously used his left hand round shield to block away the stone, naturally revealing the bayonet held in his right hand.

 The girl ignored the brightly flashing tip of the gun as if it were nothing, and without dodging it, she lunged straight up as if she were crazy.

 Davos couldn't dodge in time, only to feel a sinking of his right hand as the girl's hands just grabbed his face and collapsed on top of him helplessly.

 The woman on the bed let out a desperate cry and lunged at him naked. Davos took a few feeble steps back, allowing the woman to hold the young girl with the bayonet stuck in her chest close to her, the heartbreaking cries, like a sharp knife stabbed into his heart, made him feel the sky spinning, and he was about to faint, but he was being held up by someone.

 "Are you okay?!" Out of nowhere, Davos heard Xellos' voice.

 "I'm fine." He pushed past Xellos and walked slowly out into the yard.

 Xilos had noticed Davos' abnormality before, so he had been following him. At the moment, although he was worried about Davos, he was even more worried about the safety of Oliveros in the house, and he quickly scurried into the house ...

 When he stepped out of the house, he found Davos sitting on the side of the road, leaning against the courtyard wall, his eyes staring at the sky, motionless, not knowing what he was thinking ...

 Xilos wanted to pull him up, but felt it was inappropriate, and after some thought, he simply sat with Davos ...

 I don't know how long it was, but Davos suddenly rose to his feet, hissing loudly and repeatedly in a peculiar voice, with hot tears running down his cheeks from both eyes ...

 After a moment, he calmed down and asked, "What about the woman?"

 "She's crazy." Xellos sighed.

 Davos, after a long silence, said, "She's lost her husband and her daughter, so perhaps madness would be the best relief for her ..."

 "Yeah." Sensing the pity in his words, Xellos added, "Oliverus is fine, just stoned, he woke up a little while ago and is resting in the house."

 Davos didn't say anything, and Xellos couldn't help but shiver in his mind when he saw the cold glint in his eyes.

 "Now, we're going to ask the people of this manor if they have anyone familiar with Persian geography." Davos rose to his feet.

 Xellos hesitated, "We just robbed them, I'm afraid they won't want to tell us."

 "There will be a way to make them talk." Davos said lightly, but it sent a chill through Xilos, the Davos in front of him seemed a little different from the man he was before, and Xilos wasn't sure if the change was for the better or for the worse ...

 By dusk, the mercenaries threw down the wrecked, crying village and returned home full of men. And Davos had found the man he wanted - a Persian merchant. To be able to get him to talk, Davos also had Xylos and the others capture his wife and daughter. Although Tissaphernes had explicitly decreed that it was not permitted to capture any Persian as a slave, the entire Menon barracks treated Davos as if he had not seen what he had done, and even covered up for him.

 Davos managed to bring the man back to the barracks.

 ............... ...

 "Are you saying that our group is traveling all the way to the northwest?" Davos asked as he looked at the Persian merchant named Marij. The interpreter next to him restated Davos' words in Persian.

 This short, slightly chubby Persian who claimed to be just a small businessman carefully glanced at Davos and quickly lowered his head again, gesturing with a tree branch on the grass, "According to what you said before, you are going back to Ionia. Ionia is in the Aegean Sea to the west. You have passed through Babylon, Ordis, and now here ... If you keep going west, not only is it a long way, but there are also the Toros Mountains that are difficult to cross, and you will have to take a detour ..."

 He glanced up at Davos again, and when he saw that he was listening intently, he increased the volume a bit more, "So you are apparently heading northwest along the Tigris River, through the mountains of Dukia, Amelia, and eventually to the Sea of Yoxing (i.e., the Black Sea) to take a ship and return to Aeolia ... "

 "Oh, so that's how it is! Looks like Tissafonis' routing made sense after all." Oliverus shouted in sudden realization.

 Davos noticed that Marigold's whole body visibly shook as he heard this. He immediately glared at Olivers.

 "Shut up!" Martonis scolded in a low voice. Oliverus, who usually loved to fight with Matonis, actually obediently stopped talking.

 Davos stared at the sketch drawn on the ground for a few moments, looking at it carefully and thoughtfully, and then asked, "Where do you think it will be more trouble to march later on our route?"

 Without hesitation, Marigi said, "The Dukia mountains! They are inhabited by the savage and fierce Dukia people, and easily won't let strangers pass through their lands, but-" he glanced at Oliverus, and quickly added, "You have a large party, and with the Persians leading the way, it should be easy to get through. "

 "How do you know we have a large group?" Davos asked immediately.

 "Because ... because before I came in, I saw your barracks one after the other ..." Marij began to shiver as he spoke.

 Davos patted him on the shoulder and smiled, "Don't be afraid, you're a good observer. Tissafonis, do you recognize him?"

 Marigi immediately shook his head, and suddenly he thought of something else and began to nod vigorously again, his voice trembling even more, "I just heard ... that because he once ... denounced our lord Cyrus for plotting against us ... almost caused him to be beheaded ..."

 Davos looked at him and he sheepishly avoided Davos' direct gaze.