H23

Three days of marching from Phaestos brought us to the main road leading north from Larissa into Pieria in Macedonia Proper. Larissa surrendered without fighting us, as the bulk of their forces had gone north with Demetrios or had been with Antigonos at Phaestos. Once Alexander V had declared he would no longer be Demetrios' puppet, the city had been left with a scant few defenders. What remained were some one thousand professional bodyguards of the young son of Thorax, the former Macedonian governor of Larissa who had ridden north with Demetrios. These few bodyguards had been augmented with one thousand town watchmen and one thousand levied militia, but the Tagus of the city had realized there was no hope in resisting us and threw open the gates.

I began organizing detachments to spread out to take control of the remainder of Thessaly but was pleasantly surprised to find that Bolgios of the Treverii and his three thousand Gallic Mercenaries were entering the city a few hours into the process. They were the advanced guard of the Aetolian League Army who would arrive by evening. That night, we arranged for fifteen thousand men under a mixed Aetolian-Epirote command to remain in Larissa over the winter and solidify our control over Thessaly. In the meantime, some thirty-two thousand troops would march north into Macedonia to chase after Demetrios and Antigonos. Hopefully, Alexander could hold out until we arrived.

Organizing this took two more days and we finally marched north again on the fifteenth of November, almost but not quite dangerously late for a mountain crossing through the passes into Macedonia. The snows were starting to get bad, but thankfully we managed to make the crossing before the third week of November had reached its halfway point and the passes through the mountains became deadly. I've never given so much thanks to a climactic event before, but I was constantly thanking the Classical Warm Period for being a thing during the whole crossing.

By the eighteenth of November, we had passed through the Mountains and had taken the surrenders of the cities of Phila, Heraklion, and Lebethra after promising lenient treatment and that we would return them to Macedon once Alexander V no longer had to worry about Demetrios Poliorketes trying to pull his strings and rule the kingdom from the shadows. By the Nineteenth, we arrived at the City of Dion.

It was here, that when I made my promises, I was confronted for the first time, not by an official or strategos, but by a Priest. The old man wore a sleeved chiton of carmine dyed sea silk and had a piercing gaze that spoke of a skeptic's judgment of humanity. He bore the sigil of the Temple of Zeus upon his breast, pinned with a golden broach that held his Tyrian Purple dyed himation in place.

"Pyrrhus King, you say such honeyed words, but too often, honey may mask the taste of Hemlock." Began the old priest.

"They are truth, I would not wish to kill my cousin to seize Macedon for my own, however distantly related we may be. He is still my blood." I responded.

"You may not kill your blood, but how can we be certain you are here to help the last true heir of Alexandros Megas? Would it not be so much simpler for you to allow Demetrios to kill him, then kill Demetrios in turn so that you might take the throne for yourself? Or possibly slip into Demetrios' place and make the Young King dance to the tune of your lyre?" Pressed the Old Priest.

"Well, for one thing, I am a terrible lyre player." I joked, trying to win over the crowd of watchmen, nobles, and functionaries that had met my army at the gate with Pyrrhus' legendary charisma. It seemed to be working on most of them as I got smiles and a few chuckles. Not on the priest, though.

"Playing the fool will not avail you of my sympathies, King of Epirus. I have served the Gods for too long for that to work." Responded the Priest, flatly.

"Speaking of the Gods. If it is they who you take council with and not us mere mortals, then I would be glad to make a sacrifice and pledge an oath to uphold my promises in the sight of Zeus." I offered.

The old priest inclined his head and said, "Very well. Zeus Horkios will decide if you are sincere or not."

An hour later, I led a goat and a slave carrying a chest of silver drachmae up the winding slopes of the Acropolis of Dion to the Temple of Zeus. Here, a painted marble statue of Zeus stood looking out over the altar, different yet so similar to the one at the Temple in Olympia. Golden ritual censors and candle holders abounded, along with intricately tiled frescoes and silken cushions for various priests and functionaries to kneel on as they went about their devotions. As I was led to the marble altar at the base of the statue of Zeus, I could see the wealth of the temple here. It certainly fits the religious center of Macedon.

The priest gave praise to Zeus and bade him watch over these proceedings in his guise as Zeus Horkios, Keeper of Oaths, before lighting a ritual censor. The smell of sandalwood filled the chamber as the chest of drachmae was taken away to the temple's treasury. The goat was tied down on the altar by a pair of young acolytes as the Priest produced a bronze dagger inlaid with gold and silver. With one quick move, he cut the goat's throat as the blood collected in a bowl beneath the altar

Once enough had been collected, the priest daubed my face in blood and said, "Swear an oath in the sight of Zeus Horkios that you will keep your promise of lean treatment. That you will aid Alexander V in reclaiming his birthright and not seek to use him as Demetrios did. Swear it by the River Styx in the sight of Zeus Horkios, and know that should you be proven a liar, you will be declared a breaker of sacred oaths by every Temple of Zeus in Greece and after death, will be thrown to the deepest pits of Tartarus. Do you so swear?"

"I do so swear, by the River Styx in the sight of Zeus Horkios, that I will fulfill the promises made today." I intoned.

"The deed is done, let us now see what the auguries portend!" Declared the Priest as he cut open the stomach. He poked around for a few moments before nodding.

"The Haruspexy is good. The portents point to Zeus being satisfied. You may bring your army into the City, Pyrrhus King." Intoned the Priest.

I returned to my camp and did so. It was here in Dion that we made winter quarters, the final week of November having begun shortly after our taking of the City. We also learned what was going on in the rest of Macedon as we wintered. Neither Demetrios nor Alexander had been idle in the time it had taken me to arrive in Macedon. Demetrios however was still in a superior position.

It seemed that my cousin's advisors had told him that he needed to shore up his position some before winter or Demetrios arrived to force him to cease campaigning with either weather or siege. He had managed to secure much of the area around Lake Loudiaka, gaining the allegiance of the cities west of the lake between the mountains and the River Haliacmon. He was currently training a further five thousand levied troops from those cities at his winter quarters in Pella.

Unfortunately, Demetrios still had solid control over the rest of the Kingdom and had sent Antigonos to collect men from every city in Northeastern Macedonia to reinforce his army. Antigonos had gone on a whirlwind tour that was still ongoing but had thus far produced a further ten thousand recruits for Demetrios that he was training in his winter quarters at Morrylos between the Axios and Echedoros Rivers.

As December dawned and the new year approached, it was looking like spring would bring renewed conflict and potentially the climactic battle for not just control of Thessaly, but the fate of Macedonia itself. Whether Alexander would win with my help or Demetrios would crush all opposition and remain supreme, the issue would be decided once the snow melted.

And I was damned sure going to ensure that my side won. . .

XXXX

AN: So here's the end of 293 on the Macedonian and Thessalian Front. Both Alexander and Demetrios have levied more men to fight, and plan to train them during the winter for renewed fighting in the spring. Unfortunately, Pyrrhus doesn't have the same luxury, being cut off from home by multiple mountain ranges whose passes are now clogged with winter snow.

As to Dion, it was for a long time the burial place of the Argead Kings, before Phillip II moved the location that Macedonian Kings were to be entombed at to Vergina. It still is the main religious center of Macedon. Makes sense given its proximity to Mount Olympus.

Zeus Horkios was also frequently invoked to make oaths in ancient Greece. The temples of Zeus Horkios have long had a system in place to ensure wealthy and powerful oathbreakers have a hard time. It's mostly how they fund their operations, given how they allowed said wealthy and powerful oathbreakers to be forgiven by making votive offerings of coin, new temples, votive statues, and whatnot. It's actually a pretty sweet racket they have going.

Anyway, next up, you'll get to see an interlude featuring goings on elsewhere, including the Samnite War.

Stay tuned. . .