Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1271: Chariot Racing (4)

Immediately after, Procris felt his chariot violently swing outward. A loud crash rang out, and the intense jolt nearly threw him off the vehicle. Fortunately, he kept a tight grip on the reins.

A string of furious curses erupted from the Gaul beside him—their chariots had slammed into each other.

Every competitor wanted to seize the lead going into the turn. They spurred their horses, attempting to overtake from the outside, but the eight chariots were practically crammed together, colliding again and again.

The thrilling scene drew gasps from the audience, further igniting their passion for the race. Their cheers rose in wave after wave.

Unlike in a certain epic movie from his previous life, where chariot axles were fitted with spinning blades to shred opponents' vehicles, the Greek games absolutely forbade such cheating. Competing chariots had to undergo strict inspections before entering the arena, and the Theonian Rugby Games were even more stringent. Malicious behavior, such as whipping an opponent, resulted in immediate ejection. Thus, the collisions between the chariots did not cause a tragic loss of life or destroyed vehicles, though they did bleed away their momentum.

Just as Procris's chariot decelerated from the impact, another quickly overtook them from the outside and surged to the front.

The chariot gleamed with gold. The dark-skinned driver wore equally radiant golden attire, and his four black horses were adorned with magnificent headpieces. The entire rig looked absolutely splendid. This was the driver from Egypt. Unlike Greek drivers, who were usually slaves or freedmen, he was a minor Egyptian noble who drove exclusively for the pharaoh's heir, Tachos. Djeho had sent him to compete partly to curry favor with Daionia, and partly to display Egypt's power and image to Daionia and the other city-states of the Mediterranean Sea.

However, even as the race began, the Egyptian delegation led by Djeho had yet to arrive in Thurii. This disappointed the Egyptian driver slightly, but it did not affect his performance. Although he had fallen behind at the start, he didn't panic. He refrained from accelerating and fighting for the inside track during the turn like the other competitors. Instead, he calmly steered his chariot to the extreme outside. Relying on his superb driving skills, he avoided losing time on the wider route and instead took advantage of the other chariots crowding and bumping into each other to swiftly blast his way to the front.

Seeing this, the Gaul driver grew anxious and whipped his horses to catch up. As a result, he collided with the chariot on his outside once more, provoking another furious string of curses from the Bruttii driver.

According to Procris's coach, "Adding a mare to a chariot team might slightly reduce your top speed, but it guarantees stability. It can also stimulate the stallions to compete with each other during crucial moments, accelerating their pace." Procris had taken this advice, and the results during training were excellent. Eventually, the mare named Ephyra became the stabilizer for the entire team.

Now, the clever young mare seemed to understand her master's intent. She let out a few neighs and surged forward. The three young stallions stayed close to her, pushing hard alongside her. Procris's chariot instantly accelerated, breaking away from the clustered pack. If the horses had deviated even slightly in their run, they likely would have crashed into the increasingly agitated Gaul chariot next to them.

A moment later, the chariots on the track separated into tiers once more. The Egyptian chariot charged at the forefront, with Procris in hot pursuit. The chariots from Gaul, Bruttii, and Thebes were running neck and neck, while Cyrenaica and Western Numidia trailed slightly behind. Everyone chased and jockeyed for position, showcasing their skills and stirring up thick clouds of dust in an intensely fierce spectacle.

The crowd's cheers continued to explode.

Although Daionian engineers had paved the track with a mixture of fine sand and clay, there was no avoiding the flying dust. Driving closely behind the Egyptian chariot, Procris naturally suffered the agony of eating dirt. Peering through the haze, he saw a staff member on the central spine platform use an iron hook to pull down one of the tall silver dolphin Statues. A thought flickered in his mind:

He immediately focused his mind, because right ahead of those dolphins were the stone turning posts.

He saw the Egyptian chariot ahead hugging the central spine line, clearly intending to guard the inside track. He glanced to his side; no other chariots were catching up. Without hesitation, he pulled the reins outward and blew a rapid whistle.

The four fine horses instantly dashed toward the outer track, maintaining their high speed through the turn. Carried by momentum, Procris's chariot violently swung outward once again and tilted to the right, looking like it was about to flip over.

Nearby spectators cried out in alarm.

Yet Procris wasn't panicked. He gripped the reins, kept his legs planted firmly, and expertly controlled his center of gravity. The chariot's left wheel hung in the air, rolling solely on the right wheel for a moment before the left safely touched down again...

The Daionian audience breathed a massive sigh of relief, and then the entire stadium erupted in thunderous applause for Procris's brilliant maneuver.

This was the high-speed cornering technique Procris had spent the last two years perfecting. Successfully pulling it off in a real race sent his confidence soaring. He shouted in excitement, "Great job, Ephyra! Great job, boys!"

The four horses responded with high-pitched neighs. Their galloping hooves struck the ground with even more power, dragging the chariot forward to close the gap.

Seeing Procris already pulling up beside him, the Egyptian driver felt a surge of tension. He immediately cracked his whip and shouted, "Hyah! Hyah!..."

The drivers had all learned their lesson and tried to leave as much space between themselves as possible during the turn, but tragedy struck anyway.

The Macedonian driver, sitting in dead last, was desperate to catch up and maintained a high speed into the turn. However, he lacked Procris's superb driving skills. After scraping against the Western Numidia chariot ahead of him, his chariot flipped over, throwing the driver through the air...

The audience screamed.

Medics immediately sprinted to the scene of the crash, lifting the injured driver onto a stretcher while hauling the chariot to the arena exit. Fortunately, because the Macedonian chariot had been in last place, the cleanup was relatively quick and did not interrupt the progress of the race.

Doctors quickly arrived and carefully examined the driver's injuries. They found that aside from a dislocated arm and a concussion that left him somewhat faint, he had no other external injuries. He was quite lucky.

This was, of course, partly due to the safety measures implemented by the Theonian Rugby Games for chariot racing. The referee panel of the Theonian Rugby Games required drivers to wear helmets with soft cotton lining, as well as thick leather jackets and pants. They even reduced the number of starting gates to prevent crashes caused by overcrowding... But even so, accidents still happened. Chariot racing truly was the most dangerous event in the games.

A disgrace, an absolute disgrace to Macedonia!... In the VIP seats, the Macedonian prince, Phyle, was seething with rage.

The Macedonian envoy beside him offered some consolation. "There is no need to be angry. Although Macedonia is rich in horses, our people prefer to ride them; very few drive chariots. Moreover, we have never participated in any chariot races before. The city-states of the Greek Mainland view Macedonians as barbarians and forbid us from participating in any of the Greek games. We have absolutely no racing experience. We only registered for this event because of Daionia's great hospitality. Facing such a defeat is inevitable."

Phyle clearly could not accept this explanation. His face stern, he retorted, "Since we entered the competition, we should possess the ambition to seize the championship! If we lack experience, we can learn from those who have it and seize every moment to train! Daionia sent the invitation a year ago. What exactly was he doing during this past year? His performance on the field was so utterly inept that it's caused audiences from all these countries to look down on us. How can anyone accept this!"

The Macedonian envoy looked a little embarrassed. His face darkened and he simply ignored Phyle. Keeping his eyes fixed on the track, he thought,

The Macedonian envoy's disdainful attitude made Phyle clench his jaw. Although young, he was relatively well-versed in the ways of the world. He knew exactly why the man dared to act like this. It wasn't just because Phyle himself was insignificant in Macedonia; even his older brother, the King of Macedonia, Perdiccas, had little influence in their homeland. Most of the power was controlled by Ptolemy and a few other ministers. He even suspected that without Daionia's support, that shameless Ptolemy—who publicly proclaimed himself as 'Perdiccas and his siblings' stepfather'—would have usurped the throne long ago. With the royal power waning domestically, to the outside world, Macedonia was viewed by many city-states and nations as a poor and backward country. Compared to the neighboring Thessaly Region of the Kingdom of Daunia, the difference was like night and day.

The main reason Phyle had snuck away to Daionia wasn't to watch the games. Instead, he earnestly wanted to discover the real reason how Daionia had grown from a tiny city-state into such a mighty kingdom in just twenty or thirty short years. Yet Thurii's population was so massive that he was nothing more than a drop in the ocean here, and no one paid him any mind. He was shocked by the prosperity of this megacity, but lacking administrative experience, he couldn't see past that prosperity to grasp the true secret behind it.

It made him feel undeniably depressed at times. Was the Macedonian royal family destined to remain under Daionia's protection forever? Would Macedonia truly never be able to create a miracle like Daionia had?!

...

The race continued fiercely. Two laps, three laps, four laps... The Egyptian and Thurii chariots remained locked in the top two positions. The two drivers clung tightly to each other, never separated by more than a single horse's length. Meanwhile, the third through fifth positions were constantly shifting. Sometimes it was Gaul, sometimes Bruttii, and sometimes Corinth... The drivers chased and jockeyed, making for a spectacular scene that triggered wave after wave of cheers from the audience beyond the track.