I own nothing now I really mean it if anyone wants to use any character for anything I would be more than pleased to allow it. You know to spread the word about Carthage.
I have decided that this will be part one in a series. I have also decided that I will branch out from the original story on alternate timelines kind of like Fire Emblem Awakening. I will tell when and where these alternate timline stories originate on the original timline. However I have it all planed out. Alternate timelines will take part in diffrent Percy Jackson books letting the Carthaginians meet the others in the the Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. With the meeting in the Argo and the battle between Camp Jupiter and Camp Half Blood.
If you didn't catch that I have a surprise for you in this chapter.
Gisco and I flopped down on our chairs finally we were moving without killing ourselves again. I was curious about how Gisco had attained the tickets but right now all I wanted to do was get something in my stomach and sleep.
"I think I'll visit the lounge car, do you want anything"?
"No, I can wait until dinner; I signed us up for a six thirty time slot, is that good"?
"Yeah, it's fine" I said closing the door.
Now I was never good on a boat and sadly moving on a train required much of the same skills as maneuvering on a boat.
"Excuse me," I said bumping into a young lady.
"Oh, it's you," came a sophisticated voice, almost the same one that I had heard talking to Artemis in the night.
She defiantly looked out of place wearing a long purple dress. I wondered how she could even move wearing it, especially on a train. Her long black hair tied back with some sort of tiara looking headband. I then realized I was probably staring and started to back away.
"Sorry mam,"
"Hold on, why are you leaving, we have much to discuss in such a short amount of time and you don't have any money. You will not last a day without my help."
"Who are you and why do you know that I'm broke"?
"Easy," she said beckoning me to follow her through the train cars "I was the one who gave your friend your tickets. I was also the one who gave Artemis the bow that your same friend has. And as for your first question I am the goddess of Carthage, Tanit.
"But why are you here"? I asked.
She pointed down a stairway "I am here to buy you food. But if you refer to why I am on the train it is simple. I was intending to speak with my son but you will have to do."
"Your son"? I asked.
"Yes the Greeks aren't the only ones who can sire demigod children; it just takes a mortal host in our cases since we are not fully awake."
"So," I said trying to wrap my mind around this disturbing fact "your Gisco's biological mother or something like that"? I asked grabbing a bag of combos.
"Something like that. But why did you assume it was Gisco"? She asked eyes smoldering with a purple flame. "You truly aren't aware of your own religion, do you think we are just some spirits floating around who created once and now just disappeared. We are all still very much active." She said as she materialized a handful of gold shekels.
I muttered out an apology and asked if the Shekels would work for payment. I immediately wished I hadn't. Her glare intensified as she waved her hand over them and they all turned into twenty dollar bills.
"I hate this culture even more than the Romans, and that's saying something, take them all I need to return somewhere where they don't use plastic Monopoly money." She said disappearing in a flash of light leaving a hologram of her sign shining for a couple of moments. I quickly took the cash and paid for the snacks and departed back for my room.
"How did you steal that" came an amused voice out of my sister's cabin across from ours "I thought you were out of money."
"I thought that to, "added Gisco, "but nice young lady's always give young men shopping money."
I was about to tell him that that nice young lady he was talking about was infinitely older than him and his mom but that would sound weird if it didn't come out of her own mouth. Heck, it sounded weird just now in my head.
I remember talking to different priests about the Carthaginian deities, supposedly only priests were able to fully communicate with gods. I had no idea if Tanit was a special case because she was the patron goddess of every Carthaginian. One thing I was sure about was that even with some similarities between gods, the gods of Olympus and our gods were as different as fish and mangos.
First of all we had been taught that the god that most likely represented Zeus or Jupiter was Ba'al Hadad, lord of the sky and rain. He was also the king of the gods so there was that.
Secondly Tanit was the Patron Goddess of Carthage herself along with her consort Ba'al Hammon was also a goddess of war, mainly against Invading armies. Now if you've finished reading the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books than you'll know how uh temperamental the Greek gods can be, like Zeus or Hades, or some Gods are playful and laid back like Poseidon and Dionysus. Carthaginian gods on the other hand never enjoy wasting time, their business men basically.
This was what really confused me though why would the Patron goddess of Carthage waist her time on some measly train? Surely she had better things to do with her time.
"Hey, they called six thirty time slots are you coming or not"? Gisco's voice broke me out of my trance. The food was great, or as great as anything can be while made on a train. The dining car was full so we had to share our booth with some middle aged man. Now normally I would have been fine with this but sitting next to Gisco I realized how weird this must have looked. Two college aged boys and a fifteen year old girl traveling alone on an Amtrak. I suppose it looked better than if we were going the other way.
After our enjoyable meal of lasagna Gisco headed back to our cabin I quickly followed after paying the tip and followed by Elissa. I sat for a couple minutes then turned my gaze outside, watching the scenery as it flew by, palm trees, tiny little villages, and the occasional fruit stand. What really caught my attention was something more on the godly side of things. I had to rub my eyes, I was sure that my sleep deprivation for about, um, thirteen hours was catching up with me when I saw centaurs in party hats prancing around with paint ball guns and those "we're number one" styrofoam fingers. We quickly passed out of Florida and into Georgia.
Finally I lost count where we were and the car attendant came to make the beds. Now this would be the time that I would normally go down to the bathroom and brush my teeth and change. However, I had nothing. No pajamas and no tooth brush.
"Hey, Gisco what did you do with that bag Artemis gave you"? I asked hopefully.
"I threw it away;" he responded "taking a muddy wet backpack on a public train has to be crossing some line of public transportation. But don't worry I have most everything in my pockets."
"What was in there"? Came Elissa's voice, who exited her cabin to allow the attendant to make her bed.
"Nothing of that much importance it was more of way to keep the…" His eyes widened. "The sword safe. I forgot to take the pen out of the outside pocket!" He yelled.
"You what!" I screamed.
"Great, now that we had one Greek goddess friend we have to go and fail her." Elissa's voice was driving with sarcasm.
"So now what"? He asked
"I don't know" I replied "but check your pockets, maybe you absent mindedly took it out." I said.
He shot his hands into his pockets and a surprised look spread across his face.
"I have it, it's still here." He said pulling the pen out. "But I'm sure I forgot it."
"Well, we can figure that out latter, right now I just want to sleep." Elissa said.
"I also have three toothbrushes a granola bar and an empty packet of fruit snacks." Gisco said.
"Empty." Replied Elissa.
"What, I was hungry."
"More importantly,"I asked, "why on earth did you think it was a good idea to put all three of the tooth brushes in your pockets"?
"Take it or not. I don't care."
After all of that it was almost two when I finally got in the lower bunk. Rolling across the tracks with Gisco snoring on the top bunk. I wounded how he did it. The guy had barely been up there for two minutes and he was already out cold.
I don't know if you've ever experienced anything like the sleep after a brutal day finally being able to lie down and catch your breath. I still couldn't sleep; instead my mind drifted off to wonder about completely random things like, why did onions make people cry or if you were at the North Pole and actually put a pole in the ground there, would it be the North Pole North Pole. Finally the last thing that drifted through my sleep deprived brain was why the room attendant needed to make both beds in Elissa's room.
The next day we finally made it to Richmond.
"Ok, what exactly are we supposed to be doing here? We need to deliver the sword to camp half blood." I asked confused.
"Artemis also said that someone in Richmond could help us with that." Gisco said looking around the train station."
"Yeah, but how are we going to know who this person is"? Asked Elissa.
"Easy," I responded, "we look for a guy fighting an acid breathing dragon."
If only I would have known, that's how we did find him.
"I don't like Richmond we should find him and get out then." Scowled Gisco. "This was Roman territory back during the Civil War." He looked around like he thought that we were going to be ambushed in a train station by dead confederates. Which wouldn't have been the strangest thing to happen to us? We decided to check out the nearest restaurant. You know, purely because a lot of people go there.
"I'll have the Ruben, and a glass of lemonade."
Ok sue us, we were hungry.
While waiting for our dinner I pulled out a map that I had gotten back at the train station.
"We should try some historical landmark, if the person we're looking for is either a half blood or Carthaginian they would most like be here for some sort of quest."
"That or they've been led there by their godly parents, yes." Responded Gisco.
"So, where do we start"? Asked Elissa.
"How about," I said scanning the map for any place that stood out "Petersburg National Battlefield."
"Its twenty seven miles away, we're going to need to take some sort bus or taxi."
Everyone turned to me.
"Oh come on, I don't have enough for everything. We should ask for a ride."
"From who"? Questioned Elissa.
"Hold on," said Gisco "Benedict Arnold was well respected by Athtar, he burned Richmond, so he would still have some sway here."
"Who is Athtar again"? Asked Elissa
"God of politics." he answered looking uncomfortable. As I was saying though he should be able to give us some sort of transportation, does anybody have anything to sacrifice to him?
I dug into my pockets and came up with a gold shekel. One of the dollars had changed.
"I have a shekel." I said placing it on the table.
"Good," he said grabbing it "oh waiter can I have a corn dog to go and then the bill please." He asked our waiter as he passed by.
"Sure thing" the waiter responded.
"What was that about"? Elissa asked.
"Back in the old days Athtar would accept dogs for sacrifices, I don't think the amount of dogs willing to go through with that is high, so I assumed his taste has adapted since then."
After having paid for our meal we quickly found a secluded area in order to keep wandering eyes away from us while we performed an ancient ritual. Gisco started chanting something that I couldn't understand when he laid the offering down.
I couldn't believe how he seemed to just learned being a priest over a night. Your average Carthaginian would be able to tell that he was still an armature by the look of exhaustion that overcame him but nonetheless he was still able.
Finally after the chanting was done the shekel seemed to melt over the hot dog until it looked like a golden hot dog. I know, I'm just Mr. Hyperbole. Then the hot dog expanded, then it grew legs and rose up growing a mane along its neck and hooves on its legs. Finally there was a full fledged horse with golden fur that glistened in the warm sun of the southern state. I was speechless.
"That's it." Gisco said collapsing.
"Whoa" I said catching him. "That took a lot out of you."
"Thanks I'm fine, it was more of the shock of seeing it actually work."
I knew he was lying but I didn't push him.
"So, all three of us will ride on one horse." Elissa said in a sour tone. "The least you could do was at least get a carriage as well then if it wasn't too hard."
"Elissa!"
"Sorry, but still we won't all fit."
"Not to worry!" Came a voice from further down the street. "I've heard your dilemma and I'm here to help." It was with such a strong French accent that I almost didn't comprehend what he said. "Come with me," the man dressed in what I thought had to be a reenactor's outfit said as he led the horse down the road.
"Who are you exactly again"? I asked.
He responded with "I am your friend with a cart."
He led us to an open courtyard where there was indeed a cart. It was really poorly made but I decided not to bring this up.
"In you go." He said helping us in. I finally found a bale of hay to use as a seat with Gisco used as a back rest. Elissa Just decided to plop down in the middle of the cart. The man then hitched the cart to the horse and jumped on the horse expertly.
"So where are you three headed"?
"Petersburg National Battlefield." Gisco replied.
" Ah good ole Petersburg, lovely time it was."
"Wait you were there." Elissa asked shocked.
"Of course," he said turning around and winking at her. "Goodness gracious, it's been too long since I've last driven one of these" he said materializing a whip out of thin air. With it he brought it down on the horse and we took off.
Now I had never actually ridden that much outside of what was required for basic training but I was sure I had never gone this fast. As I looked over the edge of the cart I noticed why I probably had never ridden a horse this fast, on a road we were passing cars. I also really hoped that the mist was covering this so it didn't look like an ancient horse buggy was going faster than a car.
"Who are you really"? I shouted to our driver.
"We used to use elephants for chariots you know," he yelled back, he was either ignoring me or he couldn't hear me I was about to yell again when Gisco pulled me back.
"Hold on I actually want to hear this."
"But then we decided hey let's forget the chariot and just use the elephants. They were quicker that way and it allowed for more intimidation." He yelled pulling up alongside a pickup truck. "Don't worry only. Couple minutes longer." He yelled back.
"And we're here!" He yelled again. Pulling into a parking spot that looked like it was for bus. "I need to do this more often," he smiled cheekily then his smile turned upside down though "but they've stopped using my favorite breeds, I'll have to talk to the boss about. Anyway have a nice stay or whatever." He said eagerly ushering us out of the cart. "Crud I'm late, I promised I'd be on time next time, oh well." And with that he simply vanished.
We stood there a while wondering what on earth had just happened. Finally Elissa asked what we were all wondering.
"What the hey was that all about"?
"I don't know," I answered. Now let's get going, the sooner we find this guy the sooner we can start uniting the scattered tribes to retake New Carthage."
"Yeah!" Elissa shouted a little too energetic. That's when a family stared at us weirdly. Two parents and one daughter about seven. What really caught my attention though was the way she was staring at the bow strapped on Gisco's back.
"Mommy" I heard her ask, "Why does that man have a bow strapped to his back"?
I got nervous, how could she see through the mist I started to think that maybe the mist was losing its power along with Carthage. In that case I thought then there would be no place safe for Carthaginians. But my fees were soon extinguished when the mother looked at us and back at her daughter patting her red hair and said "That isn't a bow silly that's a backpack."
We all breathed a sigh of relief and headed towards the battlefield which was an open field surrounded by dense forests. We spent a while just wandering around the battlefield trying our best to avoid tourist families.
"Something isn't right here." I said nervously looking around to make sure we weren't being followed."
"You right about that," answers my sister. "What were the confederate generals thinking during this battle."
I decided not to honor her statement with an answer. But the more I thought about everything that had happened leading up… Well as we were going to find out my suspicions were spot on.
"Hey, that kid there," Gisco whispered pointing at a young blonde boy of about ten. Why is he out here alone. I don't know where his parents would be."
"Yeah, well, that's probably the same thing everyone is thinking about us, especially Elissa." I responded not really noticing the gravity of the situation.
"No, really I think…"I turned to him, he was never one to be without words and saw where he was looking at and I had to catch my breath. The boy had unsheathed a bronze sword that I immediately recognized as celestial bronze.
He was slowly walking into the woods, with a scared look on his face. I thought about calling out but I decided that would probably just spook him. So instead I motioned for Elissa and Gisco to follow the bow while I skirted around the perimeter making sure the area was secure.
I unsheathed my falcata and crouched down heading to a hill. When I turned back to check on my friends progress I realized I had no vision of them. I turned back around trusting that they would be able to tail a nine year old without my help. I was about to continue on my way when I felt a sting on my left shoulder, I of course blamed it on my not fully recovered injury until a young voice turned me around.
"Drop your knife." Said a quavering voice.
I turned around lowering my falcata to the ground as my gaze was met by that of the ten or nine year olds that I had just seen.
"Drop it." He repeated jabbing his sword harder into my shoulder.
This is when it secured to me. The sword should be passing straight through me right now but I could feel the blade reopening my old shoulder wound. However before he pressed his blade farther into me I decided that I should lay down my sword.
"All right," I said laying down my falcata "I'm putting it down."
He then started spitting out questions "What are you? Why are you here? Who told you about me? Was it my father"?
I responded as quickly as I could to avoid more blade entering my arm.
"I am a human, trying to find someone, if you're the someone I've been told about than Artemis and no."
He did nothing keeping his sword pressed against my shoulder, finally I spoke up.
"Do you think you can put your sword away"?
He looked down and around and finally lowered his sword.
"Fine, you can also tell your friends they can come out."
"Oh that's fine," said Gisco emerging we were just looking at um the flowers over on younger hill. He said pointing.
"Yup."Elissa said nodding.
"You're like me"? The young boy asked.
"Yes," Gisco replied as I bent down to get my sword and strapped it back in its sheath. "Sorry about the whole stalking you thing, but you know, you can't be sure who your friends are and who wants to kill you. Gisco said extending his hand.
"Gisco the fifth or Gisco Anderson." The young boy hesitantly threw down his blade and took Gisco's hand and shook.
"Luke Castellan, pleased to meet you."
