As one of Dionysius' earlier supporters, he had also invited Herolis to move to the island of Ortygia after it became the “Acropolis” of Dionysius. However, Herolis politely declined it several times. His reason was that after his ancestor joined Syracuse's colonisation, they had lived here for generations without moving and had been accustomed to living here. Furthermore, he is a light sleeper and would easily wake up when hearing loud noises, and the sound of the waves in Ortygia at night was too loud for him to adapt.
Although Dionysius no longer insisted, this might be why he became dissatisfied with Herolis.
Herolis' residence wasn't far. From the city hall, they walk on the west side of the square, cross the theatre's street, then walk two hundred metres west, pass through the wealthy district, and they would arrive at his home near the intersection between the civilian and wealthy district.
As Philistus strode forward, the guards meticulously protected him in the middle. These guards are mercenaries who were rejected and even hated by the Syracusan population, so they are very loyal to Dionysius.
After the slave opened the gate and saw it was Philistus knocking, he hurriedly welcomed him in and said, “Master is lying in his bed.”
“Is Herolis' wound serious?” Philistus asked with concern.
“Master was struck hard in the head and bled a lot! The physician just came and said that master needed to rest…oh, that sight was terrible! Those bastards should go to hell! Milord, please catch them!…”
Philistus didn't want to answer the request of a lowly slave, so he just frowned. But the fact that Herolis couldn't do anything due to his serious wound wasn't good news for him.
After entering the main hall of the residence, Philistus was about to go upstairs, but the slave looked at him awkwardly. Then he glanced behind him and said, “Milord, look…”
Philistus wasn't paying any attention as he was lost in his thoughts. Only now did he realise that: Whether it was a Greek commoner or a noble, the upper floor of the main residence was the bedroom of the head of the family and his wives. Hence, outsiders are generally not allowed to set foot, so even though he considered himself a good friend of Herolis and often came here as a guest, he had never been upstairs. However, today is a special case.
Thinking of this, he turned to face the guards following him and said, “Wait here while I go up.”
The guards hesitated, but they still agreed. As they were all Greeks, they naturally knew about the Greek tradition. Moreover, they had come here with Philistus many times before, and there had never been any troubles.
Philistus continued heading upstairs alone, but the slave did not dare stop him. Instead, he quickly called another slave to entertain the 20 guards in the hall while he guided Philistus upstairs.
Of course, Philistus could not go straight into Herolis' bedroom in the event that women were serving Herolis inside, which would make it awkward. As a person of his status, he naturally could not act so recklessly. Thus he just let the slave go inside to inform Herolis first.
After coming out of the bedroom, the slave said respectfully, “Milord, please go inside.”
But just as Philistus passed through the door, he caught a glimpse of two dark shadows on either side of the door from the corner of his eyes, startling him. And before he could react, two arms clamped down on him hard.
He was startled and was about to shout, but a ball of linen immediately slipped into his mouth. Then he was pinned to the ground, his hands tied to his back with a rope, and the only thing he could do was stare at the big bed in front of him.
Then Herolis, who was lying on the bed, sat up. The fact that he could move with such speed means that he wasn't wounded at all. And in fact, there was neither bandage nor a trace of blood on his head.
Philistus now knew that he had been fooled.
Looking at Philistus with a complicated expression, Herolis said deeply, “Philistus, I'm sorry. I can only imprison you temporarily for Syracuse!”
Philistus glare at him angrily. But with his mouth blocked, he could only make a muffled noise.
“Help him sit up.” Herolis gestured.
Then the two men immediately pulled up Philistus and sat him on the wooden chair.
Suddenly, they could hear the sounds of fighting. And Philistus, who was still struggling, immediately calmed down, leaned his head towards the door and listened.
Seeing through his thoughts, Herolis sneered and said, “Don't expect anything from those mercenaries. Since I have decided to detain you, how could I forget Dionysius' dogs? No matter how powerful they are, I have hundreds of warriors waiting for them here! When they entered my house, there were like a mouse trapped in an iron cage!!”
As soon as Herolis said these words, Philistus only snorted.
“It seems you don't believe me. After all, how can there be so many warriors in my residence when Hipparinus tightly monitors me?!” Herolis then smugly said, “Have you forgotten that in order to persuade those nobles in the city to take the lead in sending their families to participate in the second expedition oversea. I specifically asked for your permission yesterday morning, and I remember you happily agreed. But do you know that when I went to their place or invited them to my residence, they all came and go in a carriage, and the carriage could transport not only one person…”
When Philistus heard this, the hope in his eyes dimmed a lot. Then his eyes widened again as he glared at this good friend of his sitting by the bed that he once trusted.
Sensing the emotion in his eyes, Herolis said deeply, “Philistus. I still remember what you triumphantly said to me in the banquet you held, ‘Under Dionysius' rule, Syracuse will be stronger than ever. Not only will no city-state or power dare invade our city-state ever again, but Syracuse will also become the most powerful city-state, earning more honour and wealth for its citizens! And the only thing we need to do is assist Dionysius in reaching and maintaining this great goal!…’ I agreed with your words at that time. Now, I will tell you what I really think-”
Herolis faced him and calmly but solemnly said, “Just like you, I had supported Dionysius when Syracuse faced the Carthaginians' invasion, and the political situation became chaotic. After all, only Dionysius could boost the morale, unite the citizens, repel the Carthaginians, and stabilise Syracuse's volatile political situation. Thus we had fully supported him as the supreme commander of Syracuse! In recent years, he had expanded Syracuse's territory, forced the Carthaginians to a truce, freed the Greek city-states of Sicily from Carthage's threat, and made Syracuse the hegemon of Sicily. And the Greeks trembled when hearing his name, and even Sparta had to change their arrogant attitude and negotiate with us in a friendly manner… I know this is the glory of Syracuse that you have always wished to see, so for this reason, you assisted Dionysius with all your strength!”
Herolis sighed and emphasised, “But what I expect is different from what you expected, and what I saw was very different from what you see!
In my eyes, Dionysius destroyed Naxos and Catania, Syracuse's friendly allies, just because we needed more land, population and slaves!
In my eyes, Dionysius had the strength to expel the Carthaginians out of Sicily at one fell stoke and completely free the island from the Carthaginians' threat. Yet, he negotiated a truce with the Carthaginians just for his throne even though he occupied an absolute advantage!
In my eyes, Dionysius charged many democratic Syracusans with the crime of “traitor”, torturing and killing them because they had opposed Dionysius before. He didn't even spare their families and threw Philoxenus into a stone prison because he told a joke!
In my eyes, the people of Syracuse struggled because of the increasing war tax year after year. And they also need to watch their words and actions with extreme care because of the rampant mercenaries and Hipparinus' surveillance! Besides that, Dionysius expelled the people living on the island of Ortygia for decades, even centuries, and turned the whole island into his palace!”
The more Herolis spoke, the more agitated he became. As grief and anger filled his face, he said, “Dionysius is no longer the hero who wants to save Syracuse, but a demon whose hands are stained with the blood of the Syracusans and Greeks of Sicily to maintain his power! Under his dictatorial rule, Syracuse is no longer the great mother who enriched us and allowed us to exercise our rights freely, but Dionysius’ tool to fulfil his desire! In order to achieve his personal greed, he drove more than 70,000 Syracusans to risk great danger just to invade Magna Graecia, which had never had any ill will towards Syracuse, leaving the bones of tens of thousands of our people in a foreign land! If we do not act, Syracuse, our great city-state, will eventually collapse at the hands of Dionysius! It was I who supported him to the seat of a tyrant, so today, I will do my best to make up for the biggest mistake I made!”
After uttering the words he bottled up in his heart for several years, Herolis finally felt relieved. And with a determined look, he stood up.
Philistus made muffled noise as he stared at him nervously while shaking his head vigorously.
Herolis ignored him and turned his gaze to the man behind him, “Go down and see if those mercenaries are dead!”
But as soon as he uttered those words, his trusted slave hurriedly went up the stairs and said, “Master, most of the guards are dead. Only a few managed to rush out of the encirclement and tried running out of the house!”
Philistus' eyes brightene5d up with hope when he heard this.
Yet he then heard Herolis say, “Good, everything is going according to plan.”
