I own nothing
"Who are you"? I asked backing up against the wall. You may be thinking what are you doing trapping yourself? Shouldn't you be running for the door?
"You should know better than anyone." she said looking at me "I was a queen of Libya, so famed that I caught the eye of Zeus, but then that witch, Hera, killed all of my children and left me a fate worse than death."
I suddenly wished that Mago or Gisco were here, I had no idea who this was I looked over to Bethóc who just shrugged.
"Great." I thought fighting a monster who I have no idea how to. "This should be fun."
As we kept backing up the woman swung her javelin like a club just barely missing me and hit the desk instead which I was able to jump upon and grab a sword. I remember thinking that the hilt was a little scrawny for sword meant for hacking but I didn't really have time to think about it then.
The women then flipped the javelin over the tip now facing us and thrusted catching Bethóc completely off guard as it grazed her side.
Thankful for the distraction I was able to slice the javelin out of the woman's unsuspecting grasp as it fell to the ground I thought it was over when she jumped at me. I raised my sword up for cover but immediately dropped it after I felt a stinging sensation on my back leg allowing the women to grab me.
The women pulled a knife from her pocket and readied to strike when her eyes opened wide. It took me a while to figure out why but then I saw Bethóc's dirk sticking out of her shoulder.
After the initial surprise I was able to shove the women off me and stab her with her own knife however instead of exploding into dust like most monsters do she exploded into tiny worms.
"Augh, worms!" I shouted "why did it have to be worms"?
"Snakes I think would be more accurate." Bethóc said gingerly stepping over the writhing creatures to make her way to the door.
When we made it out of the apartment we were about to head back to New Hippo, or whatever it was called, when the same boy that had led us into the restaurant came running towards us, this time wearing a brass breastplate and greaves.
"Sorry about that there, I am however glad I spotted you."
"Why, so you can drag us back to your master and snake lady"?
"What, no I was being held prisoner by them."
Then suddenly the recognition dawned on me.
He said something about the senate not believing him; he was Roman, wasn't he"?
"No one is supposed to know this, the gods have kept us separate for a reason, but I am living proof that nothing ever goes as planned. How do you know about the Roman camp? My mother was put to death because of what she knew."
"What"? I asked shocked.
"Come on, if we talk about it here we're going to be looked up. My apartment is just a few minutes from here."
Bethóc and I exchanged glances, could we trust this guy now any more than we could before he led us into the trap? What if he was just playing nice to get us back to where the man was, or if the snake lady was already reformed waiting for her lunch.
"Or you could stay here and die without the proper medicine for that snakebite." He said gesturing at me. "Don't worry; I have the supplies to heal it in my apartment."
We walked a while longer through the streets of Chicago until we arrived at his apartment,
"Make yourselves comfortable, I'll be in the kitchen getting the antidote for your snake bite." he said.
I looked down to where I felt the sting earlier, and sure enough there were two fang marks inside of a red circle, a clear snake bite.
"Happened when you were busy with the lady." Bethóc said looking up.
"Good shot by the way, anyway did you happen to see where they put our weapons, I left the sword in the crazy guys apartment."
"I was able to take it off of him when he came in to check on me, he'll be fine, just a large bump on his forehead," our host said returning with a vial of something or other, "can't say the same with the Daemon you put the knife through though."
"Oops, sorry." Bethóc looked down embarrassed.
"It's fine, shell reform eventually. Drink this." he said handing me the vial.
"Is this safe." I asked.
"Well if you want to compare its about as safe as pouring salt in the wound as opposed to acid."
"Are you trying to make me feel better"? I asked.
"Just drink it."
I hesitated, a stranger giving me a vial of liquid saying its medicine and telling me to drink it, than i thought back to his words earlier about me dying instead. Needless to say I drank it.
As soon as I felt the first drop hit my tongue I regretted it. It tasted like gasoline and was searing hot, I doubled over and immediately felt light headed and blacked out.
When I came back around I was laying on the couch when I heard our host say "I'm just glad she dropped the vial before drinking any more of it, usually it would kill mortals."
"I thought you said it was safe." asked Bethóc.
"You seemed well educated in the myths, I thought you were demigods." he said looking away sheepishly.
"You gave her nectar!"
"I am surprised that she survived at all, even the tiniest amount would be more than enough to incinerate a mortal." he said looking over to me. "Ah, it seems our patient has regained consciousness."
"It seems like the nectar did cure you of the snake venom though," he said walking over to me, "we have not been properly introduced, my name is Cadmus named after the original Cadmus," he said extending his hand out to me.
I tried to raise my hand but winced the pain, from either the venom or the cure i don't know which, still was there faint but still there.
"Right," he said pulling his hand back to his side, "tell me though how do you know so much about real mythology without being a demigod, were forbidden from talking about it to anyone who isn't one"?
"And yet that doesn't stop you from talking to us." Bethóc said walking over to the couch.
Cadmus just shrugged "You seemed to know enough about it, but how is what I want to know."
I had to stop myself from answering right away, everyone has heard of the saying beware of Greeks bearing gifts. That was a saying that the Romans had taken to the extreme and one that Carthage had ignored when asking for an alliance against Rome in the Punic wars, and look where it got them.
On the other hand, Cadmus seemed like he had no reason for wanting to help either the Greeks or the Romans and he was named after a Phoenician prince, if he even knew, so I decided to tell him.
"Were not demigods nor followers of the Greek pantheon or culture, I said, "I was raised in New Carthage and Bethóc is from a group of mortals who can see through the mist and have had their families broken by the hunters."
Cadmus narrowed his eyes, "Do you mean Cartagena"? He asked looking at me.
"Uh, no." I said deciding to tell him everything. I carefully watched his eyes during my description looking for any disbelief, unlike most of the other people who I told about New Carthage he didn't start sputtering incoherent nonsense about how that was impossible or why them and other such crap."
"Interesting."
I'll be honest I was expecting him to be speechless or have some sort of question like the others, but no just that one word.
"I would like to visit one day."
"Um, that may be a problem." I said telling him about the revolution.
"However," Bethóc said, "There is a secondary place called New Hippone, that's where we're staying and some others."
"Others, are they all mortals"? Cadmus asked.
"For the most part, however we do have a son Hecate and another of Hermes." at this Cadmus's eyes lit up.
"Ooh, I have a brother."
"You're a son of Hermes"? I asked.
"No lock or alarm system is beyond my skills." he said bowing.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Still, you seem to trust me enough not to go crawling back to New Rome with this info." he said smiling.
"If your father was Hermes, who is Greek, your mother must have been Roman, If she was put to death by them I wouldn't think you would ever go back to them." Bethóc said
"Touche." Cadmus said with a pained smile.
"Plus your name kind of helps." I said not wanting to be left out.
"Cadmus"? He said looking confused for a while. "Ah, right Phoenician Prince, got it."
"We should really get heading back now." I said starting to rise, "Thank you for your," that was as far as i got when Bethóc pushed me down.
"Cadmus and I talked about this, were staying until the morning so we can be sure that it's safe to travel with you."
"She's right, you're in no condition to get up, let alone walk." Cadmus said turning away, "Anyway, it's already six, what do you prefer, Chinese or Thai"?
"Chinese." I said, having never actually had Thai food I decided to stick to the safe path.
"Right." Cadmus said throwing on a trench coat and grabbed a short broad sword.
"You need to kill you order at a Chinese restaurant"? Bethóc asked raising her eyebrows.
"What? No I just carry it for protection." Cadmus said looking at her like she was crazy.
"She's lived a sheltered life, away from fast food essays final exams." I said not even bothering to look at them.
"Ah, right, sorry."
"And it's not like being protected helped you out last time." I added.
"I wasn't expecting two of them, now if you excuse me, I'm going to get carryout." he said closing the door a bit more force than was necessary.
Bethóc pulled up a stool next to the couches head and sat quietly until Cadmus came back with the food.
"Here," he said throwing boxes of white rice and sweet and sour chicken to Bethóc and I. "help yourself to some lemonade or grape juice in the kitchen, I'm going to bed, I've had a long last couple of days." he said throwing his coat on the floor.
"Oh, by the way, he said turning around in the doorway I've retrieved your spear, it's on the counter in the kitchen." he said pointing at me, anyway I'll be in my room if you need me.
That night was one of the most relaxing I've had since my brother had gone on an assignment issued by Himilco a few days back. And his order for Bethóc and I to find anyone with ties back to ancient Carthage and bring them back to New Hippone. So far however all of the people we've found had no connection with Carthage so we were being overworked trying to find some mortals who could at least sea through the mist.
I guess finding Cadmus gave me hope somehow, I mean, if he was named after a Phoenician prince wouldn't it only be logical that the people who raised him knew about us?
Bethóc surprised me with what she said next, it was almost like she was reading my mind.
"His father is god and his mother is dead, how do we go about this now"? She asked sitting down in a recliner chair.
"Bring him back to New Hippone and ask Himilco." I responded closing my eyes.