The African Quest

Prologue

I T IS CARTHALON, citizen of Qart Hadasht, who stands before you, great Council of the Hundred and Four, to bear witness to a strange and terrifying event. It has taken me a very long time to gain the honor of this audience, and I pray I am not too late.

My story, a tale rife with perfidy and betrayal, but courage and loyalty, too, takes place at a time of the greatest peril to our city, when, despite the heroic efforts of our generals, our enemy was able to mobilize sixty ships and 14,000 men, and slipping through our blockade of Sicily, sailed for our shores. Until that moment, the Greeks were a nuisance, the cause of endless skirmishes in our territories in Sicily, destabilizing the sea trade that has proven to be the foundation of our power and prosperity. Now, though, they threaten the very walls of the city.

This much of my report is well known to you, how Agathocles, after landing on the shores of the Beautiful Promontory, burned his ships so we could not take them. Then he began his bloody and inexorable march toward Qart Hadasht, ravaging our gardens and orchards, stealing our livestock and slaves, and enticing our allies and subjects, the Libyans, who perhaps smelled a change in the fortunes of our city and therefore an opportunity for themselves, to betray us. Not since the founding of our great city has defeat come so close to our gates.

Many among us thought that our gods had forsaken us. Others, however, warned that it was we who had forsaken our gods. It is true that there were new gods in Qart Hadasht, the Sicilian goddesses Demeter and Kore among them. Had we brought our enemy"™s gods right to the heart of our city, built a temple to the divine powers who would destroy us?

The way to salvation was clear, a return to the molk sacrifice, long gone uncelebrated, to our own god, the great god of sun and fire. Hundreds of mothers and fathers, perhaps some of you among them, and certainly many of our generals, stood dry-eyed as their first-born sons and daughters were offered to the flames of Baal Hammon.

It was during these terrifying times that my story begins, when I put to sea for the first time on a small merchantman, ably captained by one Hasdrubal, he who has Baal"™s help, and a crew of about twenty men, some, like me, inexperienced and naive, others seasoned hands. Among them, I fear, were those who hid their real intentions behind a mask of patriotism and who would stop at nothing to advance their treacherous cause. I am aware that my youth speaks against me, that you, my elders and superiors, will greet what I say with skepticism and even perhaps, disbelief. But I swear by Baal Hammon, Tanit, and Melqart, the god who protects sailors, that the account of events I am about to give you is true.