Well unfortuately I didn't manage to publish last Sunday. Here's the next chapter though. My computer was having some difficulty uploading to Fanfiction, which is why I'm publishing today instead of yesterday. I should manage to put another chapter up for you all sometime today though. Oh and I got bored with/ran out of ideas for chapters beginning with 'In Which' so they won't appear with as much frequency as before.

Chapter 11: The Next Step

Despite the additional weight of the kid on his shoulder, Croesus moved fast. He jogged along through the woods with Lydia and I struggling to stay with him as Fort Hadrian collapsed in flames behind us. We ran for about a half an hour before I was too worn out to go on.

"Gods..." I gasped for breath, "Croesus take...a break for a second. I'm way...too out of shape. We should be far enough...away from the fort by now, and those...Algea didn't look like they were going to be staging...a pursuit any time soon."

Croesus looked warily at me, and then back the way he came. "We should keep moving. You don't want to underestimate them, Sander. The Algea are vicious, determined, and worst of all, immortal. We may have dispersed their respective essences for the time being, but they'll gather enough strength to reform eventually."

"And...will that...be in the next five minutes?" I asked, still panting.

Croesus's face soured slightly, but after a pause he shook his head.

"Great." I said, regaining composure. "Then I can have those five to rest."

Croesus shrugged and set the Roman kid on the ground, then set to pacing as I collapsed with my back against a tree. Lydia sat cross legged on the ground next to the kid and patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"You said that the Algea will need time to reform." I said to Croesus as he walked anxiously back and forth. "But I thought it was only the monsters that reformed from Tartarus."

Croesus nodded and clasped his hands behind his back as he paced. "It is." he said quietly. "The Algea, along with the other spirits, daemons, gods, and titans, are immortal, and cannot be killed. But they can be weakened, often to the degree that they no longer have the strength to command a defined shape and exercise their power. When this happens, their essences disperse, mostly to areas where there sphere of influence is strong. For instance, if Hephaestus was wounded severely enough, he would no longer be able to take any form, but his consciousness would flee to take shelter in, say, the forge of a mortal or some such. Perhaps a factory or something."

He paused the way a teacher would at the crucial point in a lecture. "I think it's safe to say that lighting the Algea on fire and bringing buildings down on two of them while hitting the third in the mouth with an arrow is sufficient to disperse their essence. For how long, I can't say. Could be a day, maybe a month, or even a few years. Immortals always reform faster than monsters, so likely we will still be alive, perhaps even still on this quest when the Algea do reform, and they'll come after us immediately. In the long run our little escapade at the fort probably served only to make them angry."

I raised an eyebrow at him as he finished. "Well that's depressing." I said frankly. "So we're going to spend the rest of our lives fending off attacks from the Algea?"

Croesus shrugged. "It's a possibility." he said, "But unlikely. There's a pretty good chance that an Olympian would be willing to intervene on our behalf. Either of mine or Lydia's godly parent would probably do so. The daemons pretty much do their own thing and only serve the gods in name, but none of them would dare cross the Olympian Council by disobeying a direct command from one of the members. The weakest of the gods could make the existence of the Algea ten times worse than the Algea could make any of ours."

"Well that's good then." I said sarcastically. "Always nice to know your friends' parents can protect you."

Croesus chuckled halfheartedly. "Take help from where you can, Sander. Even if it's a former enemy offering."

I shrugged and leaned back against the tree. "So what's the plan? What's our next step?"

Croesus stopped pacing and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "We find Erik at the Grave of Numa." he said simply.

"Croesus." Lydia said, "The Grave of Numa is lost. There's no way we could find it, even if we had years to spend searching, which, I'm sure I need not remind you, we do not. If we don't find Erik as soon as possible, the camps will be at war within the year."

Croesus sighed and slumped down into a sitting position. "I know." he said with frustration, "But it's the only thing even remotely close to a lead that we have. We know that's where Erik is, we just need to..." he trailed off and his eyes widened. "Anius." he said softly. "We could talk to Anius."

Lydia nearly shot to her feet. "Oh no." she said. "Not him. Anyone but him."

Croesus stood up too. "There isn't anybody but him. He's my half-brother, and a seer, so even if he can't help us find the Grave, at least we could get some information on whether or not a war is really coming. We need his help, Lydia."

I looked from one to the other. "So..." I asked slowly, "Who is this guy exactly?"

Croesus sighed and sat down on the ground again, and Lydia followed suit. "He's a son of Apollo." Croesus said as if that made everything clear. I gestured for him to continue. "Once the King of Delos, Apollo gave Anius the gift of prophecy when he was young. The Greeks stayed with him for a time on the way to Troy, and he correctly prophesied that the war wouldn't be won until its tenth year. After the sacking of Troy, Aeneas, along with his father and the rest of the Trojan refugees with him, stayed with Anius and requisitioned supplies. In reward for the equal treatment he showed to both sides in the conflict, Apollo made him immortal."

I nodded. "He sounds like a good guy. What problem do you have with him?" I asked Lydia. She shivered slightly and shifted position, but didn't answer. I looked at Croesus, who shrugged at me.

"It's her place to tell you, not mine." he said simply.

I stared at him for a moment, but he met my gaze evenly. "Okay whatever." I said finally. "So where do we find this guy?"

"Columbus." Croesus said. "We have something of a trip ahead of us."

Not too much action in this chapter, but it was necessary to set up following events. Hope you all liked it, and please review!