The next morning I woke up early to see Malcolm off, he had contacted Chiron through scrying and had asked to be picked up and taken to camp Half-Blood. Chiron had of course sent Argus in one of the Delphi Strawberry Service truck to take Malcolm back to the Greek camp, I stayed in the parking lot until the truck had left from sight taking the only person who could remind me of my old life with. I was about to go back up into the tower when a face I recognized waved me over from an old café.
"Nicholas," Bethóc said as I crossed the street and sat down across from her, "I heard about what happened, nice." She said as she sipped some of her drink.
"Uh, thanks, but I really didn't do much, I just sort of sat on my horse and observed what was happening."
Bethóc frowned and began to slowly stir her drink, "don't beat yourself up, in a perfect situation that one scenario is impossible for the team that doesn't have the cavalry to win, Gisco was just impressed you were able to convince the rest of the officers to go along with your plan, and for what it's worth," she added looking around "when he said if it weren't for that Greek you would have won, he wasn't kidding." she said pushing her scone in front of me, "he was the only one to catch the movement in the forests undergrowth."
"Thanks for that and this I guess, wait a moment were you at the battle? You seem to know a lot about it but I didn't see you anyway after the outcome had been read." I said taking a bite from the scone.
"No," she responded almost straight away, "I heard it from Gisco late last night after you and Malcolm had left to go get some sleep."
"Wait, you were there, why didn't you say something"? I asked setting the scone down.
"You were already in the middle of your conversation, it seemed rude to interrupt you three, I just waited until you two had left.
"Oh." I said.
"Right there's another reason I wanted to talk with follow me she said throwing her cardboard cup away. "Come on." she said leading me back to the John Hancock's staff elevator.
As the elevator rose higher and higher away from the mortal levels of the building I noticed that some of the buttons on what I thought was a trench coat, morphed into multiple 30 inch Bowie knives. "Going hunting" I asked, my voice giving way.
she said smiling pulling out a knife "Pure Damascus steel." she said as she ran a finger along the blade. "Forging anything out of it is a lost art, sometime in the seventeen seventies most people forgot how to make it."
"Oh."
"Enough about that though, there is another reason why Gisco asked me to get you. You me and the princes, are going on a little excursion he wants Severa to get some real life experience and you to see the world through a Carthaginian view." Bethóc said as the elevator stopped and its doors opened.
Standing outside, as if waiting for us was the princess already up and dressed in her combat gear, all save her helmet.
"Great, we're all here." Bethóc said smiling, "to the temple of Tanit."
Walking down the main road I thought that I had seen it all, small Mediterranean little cafes, and restaurants, statues to some famous Carthaginians wherever appropriate, including a couple to Nikola Tesla's, one near a craftsman and the other surrounded by a bunch of statues of pigeons, a blacksmith advertising his wares in a small stall both, and what seemed to be a small farmer's market, selling everything from wheat and loaves of bread to freshly caught fish.
"Hopefully from the magical river running down the side of the magical mountain and not lake Michigan." I thought to myself.
Continuing on farther away from the elevator both and closer to the base of the mountain we approached the more militarized portion of the city, the stables off to the left and a fletcher on our right.
"What's that"? I asked as I noticed a giant crossbow looking contraption leaned up against one of the fletchers walls.
"That's a scorpion, we sometimes put them on the battlefield when training our soldiers in precision. We have a couple mounted in key locations in case of a monster or demigod invasion." Bethóc said.
"Demigod, invasion. I've heard Artemis talk about why the Greek and Romans find the Carthaginians dangerous but I want to know how is that even possible? If what she said was true wouldn't their sons and daughters make about the same amount of mistakes, especially the Romans, being way more militarized and disciplined. You would think they would be the ones who start all the wars that give the Carthaginians a bad name." I responded as we passed a barracks, a building Thomas told me was for the training of part time soldiers, sword fodder, he called them.
Bethóc looked away from me, "True, the romans have been blamed, but to a lesser degree. Some of the world's greatest generals in all wars have been descended from the Roman gods, so they're both looked down upon and celebrated by mortals and demigods alike, descendants of Carthaginians were more likely to become politicians, and the people who started the wars in the first place. Napoleon, was a son of Astarte, ever since then all sons and daughters of her understand French, the language of blood and war."
"Isn't french supposed to be the language of romance though"? I asked.
"It was, it was indeed, until the rise of the French republic, and the second Hannibal."
"By that you mean Napoleon, correct"?
Bethóc nodded "Revolutionary France was not a time and place any sane person would go back to, the American revolution, fought between the Greeks and Romans, compared to the french Revolution fought between the Carthaginians and Romans was a backyard brawl. Napoleon and all of the leaders of The Reign of Terror were Carthaginian."
By this time all three of us had begun ascending the mountain, at the very top of it stood a pure marble mausoleum like structure. On either side of the buildings entrance stood rows of statues that depicted the different gods and goddesses.
A little below the main building stood two smaller structures each in the shape of Greek temples. Solid marble columns holding up their roofs,
As we headed off towards the one on the right I noticed subtle differences between them, the one we were headed toward had the hide of an ox draped over the top. As our group of three entered the temple a soft but stern voice echoed through the halls.
"Now, let us get down to business."
Sorry for the short chapter, but this helps to set up the story and the future narrators, this is not the end of Malcolm as I'll write events at camp half-blood through his eyes, and the thoughts of Hera/Juno as her personality depicted in the Aeneid as outright hatred towards Aeneas and his descendants, the Romans.
