At this moment, in the piles of rock is an axle and a wheel, with ropes as thick as a wrist wrapped around it. On the other end of the rope is tied to the waist of a big brawny man with his naked upper body covered with an air-filled lamb intestine.
Even though the Thurians were raised and lived on the Crati River, their entire body trembles when they genuinely stand at the edge of this roaring river, while the Legatus and his men could only watch with mouth open, but you could not even hear a sound from it. In front of them is the Crati River, and their only little light is the setting sun, which made them see the surging water splashing up several metres high waves and the soul-stirring whirlpool on the river…
If ordinary people were to see and hear these, they would have long been scared that they would not have been able to stand up. However, before they become a citizen of Theonia, he and his companions were all sailors, and had lived on the sea all year round and were used to fighting in the strong wind and waves. Therefore, he firmly believed that by relying on his ability and experience, he would successfully complete their mission and fight for a bright future for himself and his family!
Frightened by the surging river, the lambs were led out trembling and unable to even make noises.
Drakos then cut off the lamb's head with a dagger, place the head squarely on the reef, and smeared the lamb’s blood on the face of each warrior, and everyone prayed piously to the river god – Akheloios.
Then, the brawny man stood up and saluted Drakos. He then stood up by the river and looked at the left side of the opposite bank in front of him, which would be his destination. Subconsciously, he touched the rope to make sure that it was firmly tied. After taking a deep breath, he roared then dive swiftly into the water like a mermaid, and the waves immediately covered his body…
The dark river rushed forward and made it difficult to find his trail, and only the creaking of the axle could be heard…
Drakos' eyes followed the rope extending into the river as his state of mind became tenser and tenser…
Before this, after surveying the terrain around the Bruttii mountains, Davos proposed that the best breakthrough in this war was in Besidice. When he told his plan, Philesius and the legatus became stunned as it was too risky to swim a hundred metres of rough waves while carrying 6 kilograms of weight(the weight of the rope and the force of the river) and not be found by the enemy sentry!
Davos, however, came up with strong evidence. Marticoris of the Institute of Mathematics ran specifically to the entry point and lowered down a trunk several times and found that the river would eventually push the tree trunk near the shoal on the opposite bank. He had also calculated the flow speed and the direction of the river here and thought that a person should be able to reach the other bank.
Davos had also asked one of Androlis' companion(which is actually Antrapolis) on his mission to Bruttii to tell his discovery that the people of Besidice had built defensive camps and sentry towers in front of the river trail to the south and on the road leading to Consentia to the north, except for the absence of a post in front of the river bank. Maybe it is because Besidice is just ahead, or perhaps this roaring, unnavigable stretch of the river gave the people of Besidice confidence.
As a strategoi, getting into a long and hard drawn-out battle with the enemy is unwanted, but this is likely to happen in this war with Brutti. In the end, the strategoi of Theonia agreed to Davos' risky plan.
In a blink, the 100-metre rope reached the limit stretching the rope straightly, and a huge force pulled the axle and wheel. If not for a few of the soldiers pulling it with all their strength, the axle and wheel would have been drawn into the river.
Drakos was disappointed, as the first soldier to go into the water must have failed. Otherwise, the rope would not have been so stretched. Still, he signalled the soldiers to continue holding on a little longer, hoping that the soldier would be able to untie the ropes from his body. With the buoyancy of the lamb's intestine and the addition of more than a dozen boats in the middle reaches of the Crati River waiting with their nets open, there was a good chance he would be rescued.
However, the rope continued to be stretched, and the soldiers kept having a tug-of-war with the river until exhaustion.
Drakos, in the end, could only make a quick decision. He pulled out his sword and prepared to cut the rope. With a loud bang, the wheel and axle flew up and would have seriously injured Drakos if he had not dodged quickly.
The rope, together with the axle, plunged into the river without a splash.
The men on the shore stood still as grief and fear began to envelop everyone.
Drakos quickly snapped back to his senses; as the Legatus of the second legion, he was the heart of the legion, so he must not panic.
He immediately signalled the soldiers to quickly climb up the slope and carry a new axle and wheel and ropes down.
For such a sturdy 100-metre rope, all of Thurii's ship workshops worked on them overnight for several days just to produce three sets of such ropes. That means that the second legion only has three chances at most.
“Who will go next?!” Drakos looked at the two remaining soldiers who had been selected.
In front of the frightening force of nature, coupled with the previous tragedy, the two good swimmers flinched, and, after looking at each other, they bowed their heads under the expectant gaze of Drakos.
A wave of anger flared up in Drakos' mind, and when he was about to curse-
“Let me go!” At that moment, a man walked up to him.
Drakos took a good look at him and saw that it was the man recommended by the newly formed Theonian navy. He was said to be the fastest swimmer in the Navy, only to be put on standby because he was not sturdy enough. Davos and the others thought that it would be difficult for him to swim the 100-metre raging rapids with his weight. But at this critical juncture, his courage to face difficulties lifted Drakos' spirit.
Without saying more, Drakos personally dressed him in a shawl made of lamb intestine and tied the ropes, then he solemnly said, “Hades will protect you!” The failure of the last soldier caused Drakos to subconsciously cast away the river god Akheloios and replace him with his most trusted Hades.
“Rest assured, I, Seklian, am the one who wants to leave my name in the Hall of Valor!” The sailor said confidently, strode to the most advanced reef. The afterglow of the setting sun casting what little warm light there on his slender, well-proportioned, streamlined body.
As he plunges into the water, Drakos' heart was once again stuck on his throat. How could he not be nervous?! If they failed again, those two cowards would probably be even more afraid to go up! Without swimming to the opposite shoal, the troops would not be able to reach the other side safely, let alone capture the city of Besidice. If the predetermined battle plan couldn't succeed, then they have to implement the second plan…this means that the extra time, energy and rations consumed will make the war against Bruttii even more difficult!
“Legatus…it's…over!”
There was no need for the soldiers to shout with anxiety as Drakos had seen the axle stop turning.
‘Failed again?’ Drakos' heart sank, but he was unwilling to give up, so he shouted, “Hold onto the rope!”
He shouted as he stepped forward to help. The rough rope was pulled back and forth across their palm leaving bloodstain…but Drakos felt the force not as great as before, so his spirits lifted, “Brothers, hold on! Hold on!…”
He rouses the spirit of the soldiers around him while the pulling force of the rope gradually weakened, and eventually, it slackened.
‘Success?!’ Drakos looked at the blurry opposite bank in disbelief. He felt as if his whole strength had been sapped. He sat down on the rock as the soldiers around him cheered.
The rope tightened bit by bit again…stop…move…stop…move…
They didn't know how long it took, but just when Drakos felt that the time that had passed was long. Finally, the rope tightened again, and there came three faint vibrations, and after a while, three more…
Drakos confirmed the signal. He held back his excitement and shouted to the soldiers, “Move! Tie it to the tree! Hurry up! Hurry up!”
In the evening, a long rope spanned across the Crati River, connecting the two banks.
A soldier of the second legion with his feet coiled around the rope, hands clenched and moved forward by alternating them. His whole body hanged upside down in the air, and the lowest part of his body is only two metres from the river, with the spray of the river soaking his whole body. What's more terrible is that the roaring of the river is like a dragon whispering in his ears, coupled with the shaking of the rope…
Although the soldiers trained specially for this day, the reality requires them to have greater courage. It was clear that this soldier had enough guts and his rope climbing skills were quite fast, so they arranged for him to be the first to cross the “rope bridge”. In addition, in order to cross quickly and ensure safety on the ropes while climbing, the soldiers did not wear helmets, armours, shin guard and copper shields. Instead, they only had a spear and a small wooden shield strapped tightly to their backs, and, of course, another rope was tied to the first soldier crossing the river.
When he finally got to the big tree on the other side of the river, he saw Seklian waiting under the tree, his chest dripping with blood, clearly wounded.
It turned out that the strong river carried him across the reef and hit him on the rocks, which almost made him faint. But his desire to survive caused him to endure the pain of being stabbed by the sharp edge of the rock on his chest. And just as his arms hugged the rock tightly, Drakos and his men pulled the rope with all their strength, giving him a chance to breathe. Then with all his strength, he struggled to climb up the reef, taking one careful step at a time to move up to the river bank…
With the joint effort of Seklian and the soldier, they connected the second rope. Then the soldiers of the first brigade of the second legion began crossing the river in turn.
Even though there are two rope bridges, the soldiers’ speed is still very slow because only when the current soldier reaches the opposite bank could the next soldier start. After all, hanging two or more people on the same rope at the same time would be a great burden on both the rope, which had taken a great deal of effort to connect the two sides and the tree, which was the backbone of the rope bridge. And Drakos did not dare to take the risk.
Note: Seklian had appeared before at the end of the first Crotone-Theonia War. He was the captain of the patrol boat when Lysias went to Thurii to negotiate peace.
