The First Casualty — David L. Seidman

Hercules possessed a strength the world had never seen, a strength surpassed only by the power of his heart. He journeyed the Earth, battling the minions of his wicked stepmother, Hera, the all-powerful Queen of the Gods. Wherever there was evil, wherever an innocent would suffer, there would be Hercules, the greatest hero of all time.

Mercantilius and Pastoralis are two towns on the verge of all-out war. When Hercules wanders into their little disagreement, he's shocked to learn that he's already been there. And he's betrayed them all!

There is only one possibility--someone is posing as Hercules. The real son of Zeus has a feeling that same someone is playing the citizens of Mercantilius and Pastoralis against each other--for a much more sinister purpose. Someone with superhuman powers of trickery and deception. A certain cloven-hoofed god with a bad attitude...