~ Destiny's Dominion ~
by Power Chakram
dee_jay@shaw.ca

Completed 26th November 1999

Disclaimer

Rome ~ The Prologue

Night hung like a cloak of midnight blue over the buildings that sprawled in every direction from his viewpoint. The pinpoints of torch-light and the hazy drift of firewood smoke wreathed the night scape with a myriad of flickering jewels and soft gauze. Alone at his window, Caesar could feel the vibrant life that pulsed through the city of Rome. There was an organic beat that his blood throbbed in rhythm with; Rome was part of him and he knew that beneath the civilized magnificence flowed a river of corrupt viciousness that suited his own temperament perfectly. Rome was him! He was Rome! It was his destiny to rule the City Empire, and through it the World!

He slammed his fist down onto the marble cill in a rare, if private, show of frustration. His plans had been progressing so well. Verchinex had fallen to him and the Gaul's execution should have sealed his grasp on the power that he knew was his by divine right. Pompey could have been relegated to a position of minor irritation, to be dealt with when the opportunity presented itself. It had all been going so well. His plans had been meticulously laid and executed. Every possible factor analysed and prepared for. Except ....

She had shown up.

In retrospect, he should have had her arrested as soon as she appeared. Her past actions provided more than enough justification on the legal requirements, (even if he'd really needed them); she had already been condemned for piracy and she had actively participated in the armed revolt in Britannia. Yet ... she fascinated him. The mixture of sensuality and barely constrained savagery made her so different from any woman he had ever known. The way she had strode into his palace, - As if she had owned the place, - he mused, - without the slightest fear that I would act against her, - had made him curious enough to play her game for a while. It had been a mistake! He hadn't needed a delighted Pompey to tell him that she had played him for a fool.

Looking back over the comedy of events he nearly laughed at himself. He'd been so certain that he was the one in control of the situation. All he knew of the woman had led him to make assumptions that had proven to be almost disastrously wrong. His last face to face meeting with her had been over ten years into the distant past and he had conducted his campaign to combat the woman, a woman barely more than a girl, he had then known. That had been his biggest mistake. In the intervening years, the girl had matured into a confident, sophisticated, very deadly, and highly talented adversary. The woman, she had become, had evolved far from the pirate he had known.

He almost allowed a smile to crease his rather petulant lips, a smile that would never touch his calculating brown eyes. He was aware that he was responsible for what Xena had become, so in a way he was the architect of his own failure on this particular occasion. She had manipulated his emotions and actions to perfection, and had planned just exactly how to push him to achieve her ends. It had been a campaign worthy of praise and, had it not been for the fact that Pompey had witnessed the whole sordid affair, knowing exactly what she had done, then he might well have offered her a private salutation.

As it stood, his main rival was well aware that not only was Verchinex very much alive and once again running rampant in Gaul, but that Crassus, the third member of the Triumvirate, had been executed in the barbarian's place. It was intolerable!

Now there were rumours spreading like wildfire through *his* city. He knew exactly where they originated. It was in Pompey's interest to spread the 'lies'. However, his own people were countering the rumours, with his personal brand of disinformation. For everyone who said that 'Verchinex had escaped and was back with his people,' he had someone replying with, 'It's just another savage who's taken the name to cash in on Verchinex's reputation.' For everyone who declared that 'It was Crassus who had been executed in the arena,' he had someone reminding them that 'Crassus was reported dead in Syria.' Things were balanced but not satisfactory.

He allowed his gaze to linger possessively on the night draped city before turning back to his desk with a purposeful stride. He would not allow the incident to inconvenience him. He'd find a way of taking care of Pompey, there would always be an opportunity to break the man's strength, to humble his arrogant pride, and dispose of him. All it required was patience and the resolve to seize any opportunity that presented itself.

Here in his private apartments, he had begun to draw the strands of his revenge together. A revenge reserved for a far more formidable opponent than Pompey would ever be. He kept his private documents here, rather than his more formal office, that way they were close enough for him to study no matter the hour of the night, for he slept but little in the huge comfortable bed that lay empty and neglected on the far side of the chamber.

His eyes ran over the scroll that lay open on his desk. Verchinex was once more proving to be the centre of resistance to Rome in Gaul. The XIVth Legion was taking losses, a situation that needed to be remedied before they added fuel to Pompey's rumours. In the meantime he'd free up some of the Auxiliaries from Britannia to bolster the XIVth's position. Though something of a more permanent nature need to be arranged before too long.

He stared, unseeing at the scroll, for some time as plans and possibilities juggled in his brain, his fertile intellect working on the problem. He slowly rolled the scroll up and placed it on a pile that lay on the left side of his neatly ordered desk. He drew another from the pile on the right side and broke the seal absentmindedly as he pursued his thoughts. He scanned the opening paragraph without really absorbing the content of the words, until a phrase caught his attention and he returned to the start of the scroll, now reading carefully. His eyes widened in frank disbelief at what was detailed there and, placing the scroll to one side, he reached for another to compare the content.

He tapped his chin speculatively, narrowing his dark, brown eyes as he absorbed the information. He felt an uncomfortable itch somewhere between his shoulder blades as he remembered the "assassination" attempt by Xena. He suppressed a shudder. His over confidence could easily have led to his death. Only her obvious determination to successfully complete her plan had allowed him to live. If she had really intended to kill him that night, then four legionaries would have had as much chance of stopping her as children would. He mentally filed the information away for later use; Xena could now command her emotions when she had a greater goal to aim for.

The open scrolls on the desk, and several of the others, gave details of many of the fights that the Warrior Princess had been involved in. The latest one was a report that stated she had, single-handedly beaten off three hundred of Persia's crack cavalry scouts. Even allowing for exaggeration, the feat was impressive. Even if a mere tenth of the numbers had been involved, one woman beating thirty men was staggering. What gave the tale credence, though, was the many reports of other similar victories.

The debacle in the arena had given him some idea of her fighting skills. In hindsight it was obvious that she had been fighting a defensive action, until she had received some kind of signal - Probably from her irritating blonde friend. - At that point, she had become a different warrior. It was no mean feat of strength to drag down both a horse and it's rider. The timing involved in removing a second rider with the sweep of a pike had been equally impressive. But the ease with which she had roundly beaten one of his best men with that same broken pike was phenomenal.

He'd seen the bloodlust in her eyes, the rage that burned deep within her soul, as she stood above the prone soldier. But she had refused to gratify that same lust, that the crowd had shown with their baying for blood, and when she stood to face him he had seen that her rage was reserved for him alone .. a personal declaration of hatred and contempt said without words in front of thousands of witnesses.

He smiled softly, without humour, to himself. - Life needed danger to add spice to the victories. - He thought briefly of Crassus who had proven too weak to be matched against the Warrior Princess, "I told you Crassus," he whispered to himself, "Divide and Conquer." He leaned back into his chair and allowed the many pieces of the puzzle to fall into place, as his eyes burned with malicious intent, "Her friend *is* the key, and I will use it." He laughed out loud as his plans shaped themselves, "A key that will finish Verchinex once and for all, and leave you a powerless pawn, Xena." he leaned forward and poured himself a cup of wine, "I promise you, Xena, my sweet," he said raising the cup in a private toast, "that you will be sorry that you ever interfered in my plans!"

The day was hot, the sun blazing in a cloudless sky. A sleepy feeling permeated the arid air, so that it was something of a surprise to see two figures moving, however unhurriedly, along the dusty road as the candlemark approached midday. The tall, dark, warrior walked with an innate, lazy grace that spoke loudly of controlled energy. Alongside her strode a much smaller, golden blonde, young woman who smiled easily and seemed ready to enjoy everything that life threw in her direction.

Obviously easy in each other's company, the pair were a stark contrast to each other in so many ways. The smaller woman had a lightness to her features that spoke eloquently of a sunny disposition, and an animation to her movements that was currently being expressed by expansive hand gestures, illustrating some point she had made to her friend. The warrior, however, displayed a dour expression as she listened to her companion's incessant chattering. Apart from the fluid strength of her movement, the most notable things about her were the ice blue of her eyes, that appeared to burn with an inner fire, and the certain awareness that an explosive power lurked close below a placid seeming surface.

"Is he dead?" questioned the blonde woman as she thought about the problem her friend had set her.

"No," came the terse reply.

"Hrrrmphh!" snorted the third member of the group; a golden horse that trailed lazily behind the two women on a loosely held rein.

"That's no help, Argo," proclaimed the blonde with a smile. She glanced at her friend who almost seemed lost in thought. The smile deepened. Even on a peaceful day, with no one to save and no battles to fight, Xena found it impossible to relax. Gabrielle knew that her friend was listening intently to every sound around them; analyzing them to see if they were out of place or a likely source of danger. There was a slight crease to her brow, however, which was a tell-tale sign that something was worrying the warrior. She decided to broach the subject, "What's up?" she asked gently.

"Oh, I don't know," came the prompt reply with something of a mischievous gleam in the eyes. An expression that very few people ever got to see, "Could be the sky, or a bird or the sun. There are just so many possibilities."

The crease disappeared immediately and the light answer was enough to confirm to the bard that her friend had something on her mind, "Ha, ha!" responded the honey blonde, her tone heavy with sarcasm. - Okay, - she thought, - she doesn't want to talk about it yet. Give her some slack and she'll get round to it eventually . -

"You ready to give up?" asked Xena with a slightly smug look settling onto her features.

"Ummm ... How about Cecrops?" she hazarded, without much hope of success.

"Nope." came the laconic reply that gave no clues to tell the bard if she was even close to the right answer.

The name game was one of their favorites for passing the time on the endless leagues between villages, especially when they were in no hurry to reach a destination. Now was such an occasion. It made a change for them to have some time to themselves; it seemed that they had been chasing around, moving from one fight to another with no time to draw breath, since they had returned from Rome. Gabrielle determinedly put those memories, along with many that had happened after, out of her mind; she still had trouble reconciling her actions there with her conscience.

Frowning the bard tried to concentrate on the game, whilst enjoying the brilliance of a wonderful summer's day. They dawdled unhurriedly along the road, that led to the village of Menassos, kicking up swirls of clinging dust that bore mute testimony to the parched dryness of the long summer. Normally the bard in Gabrielle would have used the time to compose new verse, allowing the almost idyllic setting to soothe her into a gentle passage of poetry, which she could scribe out at their evening stop. Today, however, her agile intelligence was fully occupied with solving the mystery identity of the person in their game. It was fun and she felt it was necessary to try and relax Xena so that she could eventually coax out whatever was worrying her warrior friend.

As the time and distance passed, fields began to replace the more forested areas, indicating that their destination was drawing near. Gabriel tried another question in the game, "Did you know him before you met me?"

"Yup," came the oh so informative reply.

Gabrielle looked hard at the warrior, "You know you're so frustrating," she breathed under her breath, "Well, have I met him?"

"Yup," agreed Xena once again and allowed a brief smile to flicker across her lips, "At this rate you're gonna use up all your questions," she told the bard.

"I'll get the answer long before then," retorted the blonde quickly as she started to re-examine all the information she had learned, speaking out loud as she tried to fix a logical sequence to possible events in the established criteria, and so work her way to the answer. The trouble was that Gabrielle had the habit of speaking quite loudly to herself and also used big gestures to emphasise points she was making.

Xena arched an indulgent eyebrow at her friend as she allowed the conversation to wash past her awareness and into a relegated background noise. However much she tried to relax, her senses were always alert to possible dangers. It was part of her nature and in suddenly dangerous situations her reflexes tended to take over without conscious thought on her part. It made her rather unpredictable and appear like an over wound spring, but it had saved her life, and Gabrielle's, too often for her to ever think of trying to subdue it.

Another faint trace of a smile almost made it to the Warrior Princess's features as she watched the bard chew her lip in concentration, working on the problem at hand, "Give up?" she questioned mischievously, knowing that Gabrielle would rather go without lunch than admit defeat. She noted that the blonde's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, and silently amended to herself, - Well maybe! -

The bard scowled at her in that stubborn manner that Xena recognised so well and stated in no uncertain terms, "No way!", almost scandalized to think that anyone, let alone her best friend, would expect her to give in so easily, "I'll work it out," she assured passionately, "just give me some time!"

Xena glanced around with sharp interest as she recognised that slight smoky haze that always seemed to hang over a village, "Yeah well, there's Menassos," she told the bard as they rounded a turn in the road, "and I'm hungry," she admitted as her own stomach chose that moment to protest, "so what say we suspend the game until after we've had some lunch?"

Gabriel tried to judge the distance to the village before saying, "Plenty of time yet, you just don't want me to get the answer."

Xena sighed in mock exasperation as she gave Gabrielle a light, two handed, shove to get her moving down the road once more, "Please yourself," she told her.

"It could be Draco," tried the bard looking closely at her friend trying to judge if she was right, and then before Xena could speak she changed her mind, "No wait a minute, it's Niklios!"

Xena's sardonic look confirmed her failure to guess right before she said, "Wrong on both counts," and dazzled her with a smug smile that really irritated the bard.

Scowling again, Gabrielle suddenly poked her tongue out and went cross-eyed at the big warrior. Xena allowed a spontaneous laugh to escape her, a sound that was so easy and natural, and so very rare, it soon had the bard joining in. "Okay," she said when she got her breath back, "that narrows the field down .. a bit anyway." and she went back to loudly working out who that left for the answer.

- Well she is a bard, - thought Xena irreverently as she watched the smaller woman, - She must like to hear herself talk, and the gestures are a part of the trade. -

The road was beginning to pick up other travelers, local people, farmers and a few merchants heading for the village, or back to their homes. More frequently the pair began to attract startled looks; the tall, darkly menacing warrior, and the small blonde who was lost in a world of her own, speaking random thoughts and wildly animating the conversation with sweeping gestures. Those who foolishly gaped for too long, found themselves the recipients of an icy stare, a look that chilled to the bone and quickly cleared the path for the oddly matched pair and their horse.

Upon reaching the centre of the village, Xena selected a likely looking tavern. She carefully avoided those that looked like they attracted some of the rougher elements in the area, even though she knew Gabrielle raved about the ambience of such establishments, opting for one where the wafting smells of cooking seemed good enough to tempt even her.

Throwing Argo's reigns over the hitching post, she rubbed the mare's neck affectionately and told her softly, "Stay put girl, we'll only be a short while." When she looked up, she spotted Gabrielle some distance further up the dusty street still talking to herself. Xena was unable to keep a sardonic half smile from her face as she sent out a loud, piercing whistle to attract the girl's attention and called, "Hey! The food's this way!"

Gabrielle stopped dead in the street suddenly very aware of the looks that she was getting from the villagers who surrounded her, "Ahh ..." she began with an embarrassed laugh, her thoughts racing furiously, "It's not what you think ..." she tried desperately, "not that I know what you could be thinking really," she struggled wondering what she could give as a convincing explanation of her actions. She tried for the truth, "You see, my friend and I were playing this game." The faces surrounding her looked back blankly and she desperately turned to indicate the place where Xena was standing, only to find her gone. "Well, umm ... she must've got hungry," she smiled reassuringly at the local population as she silently promised herself, - I'll get you for this, Xena. - She shrugged in embarrassment and laughed uneasily again as she started backing down the street to the tavern where Argo stood waiting, "Well, ummmm ..., I've got to be going now." she nervously giggled as she ducked into the tavern, relief filling her to be away from the stares of the villagers.

As she made her way to the booth that Xena had appropriated, her fertile mind was creating several scenarios in which she was able to make the Warrior Princess very sorry for the humiliation she had just put her through. She noted that the booth had a view of both of the tavern doors and that her friend had already purchased the drinks.

"Thanks a lot," growled Gabrielle as she slid onto the bench opposite the warrior. She noticed that slightly distracted frown on Xena's brow again and wondered whether she should venture an opinion on it.

Before Gabrielle could say anything, however, Xena waded in with a distraction, "Hey you're the talker. I was sure you'd find the right words to convince those villagers that you weren't the raving lunatic they thought you were."

"That's not funny, Xena," growled the bard swallowing the bait along with a mouthful of the cider from the flagon before her. "I promise I'll find a way to get you back for that."

One of those superior, smug smiles crept onto the warrior's face as she almost purred, "You're welcome to try ... anytime you feel lucky."

Gabrielle looked at her friend belligerently. It was one thing to make such a promise and quite another to execute it. - It just wasn't that easy to catch Xena with her guard down ... what was she thinking! ... it was downright impossible. - Her usual attempts at getting her own back, normally ended with her getting very wet or suffering some equally unpleasant form of discomfort and humiliation. It really wasn't fair. She sighed and mentally chalked up another debt to be collected at some indefinite time in the future.

As Xena ordered two servings of whatever was the tavern's dish of the day, the bard tried to work out how she was going to tackle whatever was worrying her friend. She was fairly certain of the cause, but getting Xena to talk about it might require a lot of work. She thought about it for a while longer as she drank another, longer, draft of the cider, "S'good," she declared, happy to wash away some of the trail dust from her throat, "If the food's as good I think I might be persuaded to forgive you for helping me to make a fool of myself out there on the street."

Xena smiled sweetly, "You didn't need my help for that, Gabrielle."

"I'll get you for that crack too," grinned the bard getting a raised, quizzical eyebrow in return. "I will too, Xena," she responded sensing the challenge, "One of these days I'm definitely gonna catch you with your guard down."

"Never happen," Xena told her with a feral grin that oozed confidence.

The banter seemed to lighten the atmosphere somewhat, and Gabrielle decided that the time had come to test her theory about what was troubling her friend, "Xena. You know, it's okay and nothing to worry about." The warrior looked at her in incomprehension, "I mean, lots of people have put bounties on you in the past, but it has to be someone really dumb to try and cash in on them, though."

Xena sighed and leaned back on the bench, composing her thoughts as the meal they had ordered was delivered. It was easy to forget that the chattery bard had a shrewd intelligence and a strong sense of insight into her thoughts and feelings and, no matter how she tried to hide things, the bard would often manage to ferret them out. Just as she had on this occasion.

In a way she knew that Gabrielle was right about the outstanding bounties on her head, but in the last three moons they had been hit four times by mercenaries out for the two hundred and fifty thousand dinar prize that he'd offered for her. It was a flattering sum, an amount far in excess of that she had asked for his ransom all those years before, and one sure to tempt even those wary of her reputation.

What was more worrying was that she was certain that Caesar also had designs of Gabrielle. Her conversation, during her private meeting with Pompey, had set alarm bells ringing in her mind at the time and they were once again clanging furiously as she remembered:

- He's sent Brutus out to find your friend, Gabrielle. -

- You mean Crassus. -

- No. It's your friend he wants. He seems to think that she has some sort of power over you. He wants that power. -

She knew it to be the truth and if Caesar was really aware of it then Gabrielle would be in real danger. Perhaps if they talked the whole thing over she could get the bard to go and visit with the Amazons for a while. No one would find it easy to get to the Amazon Queen whilst she was surrounded by all of her people. It was a good idea. The problem would be in getting Gabrielle to agree to it. Her brow twitched a frown as a half memory struck her, - We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, - she told herself, knowing that the Amazons would likely be hostile towards her. The bard looked at her to see how she would respond to what she had said, "Eat your lunch before it gets cold," Xena told her and began to munch on the roast lamb and vegetables on her plate.

Gabrielle looked as if she might say something before thinking better of it and started digging into her own meal, suddenly realizing just how hungry she was. She was delighted to find that the food was as good as the cooking aromas had promised and she even had a second helping before leaning back with a contented smile and declaring, "Gods! it makes a change to get a good meal that I didn't have to cook myself."

"Hey!" protested Xena in mild good humour, "Don't I always get you the best ingredients available?"

"Yeah," agreed the bard patting her pleasantly full stomach happily, "But it's still nice not to have to cook once in a while."

Xena looked at her mischievously, "Wanna swap jobs for a while," she suggested, "Y'know. You hunt, me cook?"

"Ahh, no thanks, Xena," Gabrielle told her hurriedly, "Slow poisoning is not my preferred method of death." she shuddered as she thought about her friend's last attempt to cook dinner.

"Well," drawled Xena in the tone that Gabrielle just knew held a joke that was going to be at her expense, "I don't suppose it would come to that ... we'd most likely starve before that happened .. what with you doing the hunting."

"Funny!" retorted the bard in a tone laden heavily with sarcasm, "really funny". She looked thoughtful for a moment though and then asked, "Do you want to stock up with dried goods before we leave here? Anyway, where are we heading for?"

- Well, - thought Xena, - we're both in a good mood, so now might be the best time to broach this subject. - She looked seriously at the bard before saying, "I wanted to talk to you about that," she began, realizing that Gabrielle was making a mental shopping list of the things that she would like to add to their stocks. "You know, we're not too far from the Amazons, and it might be a good time for you to go for a visit."

Gabrielle totally missed the edge that had crept into the warrior's voice, as well as the emphasis that she had placed on the singular 'You.' She grinned at the thought and enthused, "Yeah! We could go visit with Ephiny for a while. it might be fun for us to get some relaxation in. It's been a while and we have a few fences to mend there as well ...."

She broke off as she saw the look on Xena's face and replayed in her mind exactly what the warrior had said before growling very slowly, "Now wait a minute, Xena," the voice low and urgent, "I go where you go. We're a team, right?"

"Listen, Gabrielle ..." the warrior tried to reason.

"No, Xena!" Gabrielle reiterated in a quiet but thoroughly immovable tone.

Xena carried on anyway, "... I need you to be somewhere safe for a while. At least until I can make some of the more stupid members of the bounty hunting profession realize that chasing after me isn't such a good idea."

"No, Xena. I go with you." the bard repeated with a stubborn determination that could have given stubborn resistance lessons to a mountain.

"Gabrielle ..." tried the warrior again, but the set of the bards jaw and the look in her eye halted her. "Alright, Gabrielle," she gave in for the moment, "But we will talk of this again." she promised.

"The answer will still be no, Xena," her friend assured her, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"I'm not trying to get rid of you," protested the warrior heatedly, "I'm just trying to keep your stubborn neck out of trouble. I don't wanna have to face losing you." that last came out almost as a whisper. It was difficult for the Warrior Princess to admit to any feelings, let alone the deep affection that she had for her friend.

Gabrielle looked at the warrior's earnest expression and tried to decide the best way to respond, "Hey," she began, "I'm not that little girl anymore," she said lightly, "I can take care of my end of business. We'll do fine ... just like we always do." She laid her hand on the warriors arm.

"Yeah," returned Xena, obviously unconvinced, "Well, we'll see."

They finished off their drinks and paid for the meal, complimenting the tavern keeper on his cook. Gabrielle asked him about the best place for them to pick up the supplies they wanted and armed with the relevant information, they headed for the street.

The hot afternoon air hit them hard as they left the relative coolness of the tavern. What people there were on the street moved sluggishly as if the heat of the day had sapped their strength. Most of the people who had been milling around before the pair had their lunch had disappeared and there was a quiet air of tenseness that seemed to thicken in the atmosphere as the warrior and bard stepped into the road.

Senses tingling with the need for caution, Xena pulled to an abrupt halt, grabbing Gabrielle's arm to prevent her from moving forward. Something was definitely not as it should be. Even on a hot day there should be more people out on the street, and those that were there seemed suddenly anxious to be elsewhere.

"Wha...!" gasped the bard as her friends strong fingers dug heavily into her arm.

"Get your staff ready," hissed the warrior quietly, "There's something wrong here. Stay close." she told Gabrielle as she pulled her sword from the scabbard that hung from her back. As Xena walked forward, her movements smoothed out into a lithe, graceful glide, much like a hunting panther. Her whole posture and body language portrayed menace and a readiness for sudden, deadly action.

Shaking her head, the bard took a firmer, fighting, grip on her staff and followed behind her friend, muttering to herself, "I wish I knew how she did that," as she slowly became aware of the abnormalities that had triggered Xena's alarm systems.

The street was now empty of everyone except the two women and their horse. The still air was laden with a tension that could be tasted. Xena, followed by Gabrielle, moved into the centre on the street, giving themselves as much room as possible for the fight that they knew was coming.

Minute sounds from side streets told the Xena that there were warriors waiting in ambush. The harsh scrape of leather and metal armour on brick walls, the softer scuff of boots in the dirt as men moved into their given positions. The Warrior Princess knew that they were surrounded, it was just a question of how many they faced and who was leading them.

The familiar desire for battle, confrontation and danger began to boil in Xena's veins. A burning light blazed in her eyes stoked by the anticipation of conflict. It made her feel whole and alive, and it shone forth like a warning beacon to those who were foolish enough to stand against her. She lived for this. Once, the rest of her life had merely been the way to mark time between the fights she gloried in. Now, the danger was the zest of life that made the rest of her time precious to live.

As if recognizing that they had failed to surprise their intended victims, and almost reluctant to face the fabled fighting prowess of the mighty Warrior Princess, the warriors, who had sought to ambush the two women, began to emerge from their points of cover to surround their intended prey.

Xena stood perfectly motionless. Her stance was confident and all but arrogant in her knowledge that she could best these men. Those approaching her did so with trepidation. Her very icy calmness ate away at their own confidence in their ability to beat her.

As she stood, seemingly nonchalant, Xena was counting the numbers against her and Gabrielle. As far as she could tell, there were about forty warriors in the party. They had faced worse odds and won and the Warrior Princess relished such encounters, enjoying the chance to test her abilities to their limits.

Gabrielle moved warily behind her, watching her partners back. Her whole attitude to such confrontations was totally different from Xena's. She fought as means of self preservation. It was not something she enjoyed, but something she endured. It was the price of being the friend of the Warrior Princess, and she paid it, though with none of the relish savoured by her friend.

Xena bounced on the balls of her feet with the eagerness engendered by expectation. Her eyes watched the approach of three men from behind the ring of warriors, although her finely tuned senses were ready to react to any hostile movement from those around her. - The warriors, - she noted, - look tense and nervous. Not the best way for troops to enter a battle, - she mentally grinned.

The obvious leader of the group was a rather small, lithe man, who looked both capable and confident in his own abilities. He had dark brown hair and a well trimmed beard that gave him an almost debonair look in comparison to his men. "Hello Mavrikios," Xena greeted, an icy edge to her chilly tone. She had recognised the man instantly. He had at one time been a junior lieutenant in her army, but had branched out on his own and had been, she knew, making something of a name for himself as a reliable man for a job, "You're a long way from home," she said conversationally, although her tone did not rise above freezing.

"Xena," smiled the smaller man, looking almost happy to be in the presence of his former commander. He showed no obvious signs of tenseness, his muscularly compact frame seemed to be relaxed and at ease, a sign of quiet confidence. "You're looking good," he ventured a compliment.

Xena raised an imperious eyebrow at him, waiting to hear what he had to say, all the while taking close note of the subtle shifts and movements of the men around her and Gabrielle, and checking to make sure that the bard was staying close to her. She hadn't failed to note that the men trailing their leader were each carrying heavy sets of manacles. She almost smiled at Mavrikios's over-confidence.

Knowing that his warriors were in position, Mavrikios felt no urgent need to hurry matters. If he could achieve his ends without having to battle the Warrior Princess, then so much the better. - Talk, - he decided, - costs nothing. - His head tilted slightly to one side as he said, "We could do this the easy way," his deep, gravelly voice seemed as if it should belong to a much larger man, "You could lay down your weapons and save us all the time and trouble of a fight."

Xena's voice almost purred with silky menace, "And why should I want to do that, Mavrikios?"

"Because it might make the trip we're going to take a little better if my men, and you two ladies are not so damaged as to make it uncomfortable." he replied suavely.

"And where would this trip be to?" Xena asked deceptively lightly, although she already knew what his answer would be.

"Rome," grinned Mavrikios.

"Sorry. I've been there. Can't say I liked it too much. Too big and ... dirty!" returned the Warrior Princess.

"Well," said Mavrikios, with tinges of regret in his voice,"That's a real shame. You see Caesar is really keen on you having another look at some parts of the city that are rarely seen. I hear he wants to give you a tour of the dungeons and torture chambers. In fact he's so keen that you drop in for another visit, that he's willing to pay whoever escorts you to him a 'kings', or should I say, Warrior Princess', ransom in dinars. He'll even pay a big bonus if we can get you both there to him alive." He smiled, showing perfect white teeth, but maintained the hardness in his eyes and voice, "I don't know what you did to annoy the Man, but he is mighty anxious to see you again."

"Life is one long disappointment," Xena told him bluntly, her tone loaded with pure menace and her eyes looked cold enough to burn. "You run along back to 'the Man', puppy, and tell him that Xena's got better things to do with her time."

Mavrikios' smile barely wavered at her insult and his voice dripped with insincerity as he said, "Sorry you feel that way, Xena, but this invitation is not one you can refuse. If anyone is going to collect that bounty, it's going to be me." He'd been darting looks to gauge his men's preparedness and, satisfied that they were ready as they'd ever be, he shouted, "GET THEM!"

A surge of men leapt towards the pair of women, confident that their far superior numbers would be enough to subdue them, even if one was the redoubtable Warrior Princess. Xena met the onrush with a high snapping kick to the head of the first man to reach her that saw him collapse bonelessly to the ground. She spun in a smooth, fluid, motion that put her into place to smash a left fist into a bearded face and the pommel of her sword into the temple of a third. not waiting around for the next wave, or for any of the three she had downed to recover, she back flipped away from the situation, just as four more attackers attempted to converge upon her. A kick into the back of the legs of an incidental soldier, left her with a clear path to Mavrikios who smiled confidently and raised his sword to engage the Warrior Princess.

Gabrielle soon found herself in the thick of the fighting. Mavrikios's men swarmed around her like bees around a honeypot. However, the bard was no easy conquest for anyone. Her time travelling with the Warrior Princess had given her the chance to refine her staff fighting techniques and she employed them to good effect. The first man to reach her got a full blooded jab to the stomach that doubled him over for the roundhouse swing that cracked sharply across his jaw, sending him spinning away from the fight. Showing good reflexes, she quickly adjusted to face her second opponent. With the staff held around it's centre point, Gabrielle swung both ends in lightning fast moves that hit the warrior across the knees and arms, before she adjusted her grip to jab him in the stomach and leave him writhing on the ground, fighting for breath.

With no time for thought, the bard slid back to the central grip and tried the same series of manoeuvres on her next assailant. He, however, was ready for her. As she struck out with the staff, her opponent got a good grasp of it and tried to pull it from her. Thinking quickly, Gabrielle, twisted around under the staff, so that she was back to back with the warrior. She was ready for him when he used his superior strength and weight to pull her over his back so that she faced him once more, but as his hands slipped on the staff, she used timing and strength to smash it up into his face, and then, once free of his restraint, she pummelled him until he dropped to the ground.

She swung around in time to intercept a fourth man who was trying to sneak up behind her. He pulled to a halt, intent on keeping out of range of the staff that seemed to be everywhere. On a sudden inspiration, the bard dropped to her knees, taking a grip on the staff at the very end of the shaft, and swung it hard to crack into the man's ankles, bringing him down with a satisfying thud so that she could crack him across the temple to remove his interest in the proceedings.

Swords clashed as Xena and Mavrikios met. Sparks slid down the weapons as they locked together in a deadly embrace. Xena's senses warned her as a warrior attempted to sneak in on her blind side to help his leader, and she kicked back hard, connecting with the man's left knee and recognized the stark 'crack' as the bone shattered beneath the force of the blow. The Warrior Princess gathered her far from inconsiderable strength and threw Mavrikios back so that she could grab an incoming arm wielding a heavy club. She stopped the blow in mid strike and barely gave the warrior a glance as she spun under his arm and flipped him some distance away from her. She returned to her confrontation with Mavrikios and said with a barely disguised sneer, "Ya gotta try harder than that. If these goons are the best you've got, Gabrielle can take them on her own." She punctuated her sentence with a double handed swing of her sword that Mavrikios barely managed to turn aside.

"Think so?" he retorted, the smile that had been on his face had been replaced by a snarl, "Well the dance isn't over yet." he feinted with a thrust to her chest, turning it at the last moment to a slash at her legs which Xena parried with contemptuous ease.

The smoldering rage that was never far from the surface in the Warrior Princess, flared joyously in her eyes as she allowed the reigns to be loosed on the dark side of her complex nature, allowing her to revel in the arts of battle that were so much a part of what she was. Screaming out her ululating war cry, she leapt high into the air, did a forward roll at the apex of her ascent and landed safely behind Mavrikios taking out a soldier with a swift slash across the belly and a second one with her elbow as she drove it into his windpipe, "Gotta tell you, Mavrikios, the bands beginning to wind down."

The warlord, turned swiftly raising his sword once again to face his foe, "My piper's still playing the tune, Xena," he told her with an arrogant confidence that seemed more than a little misplaced with so many of his men down and injured. He continued, "But you're gonna get to pay him!" as he launched into another series of slashing attacks.

The bard was beginning to feel picked on. Normally, all the bad guys congregated around Xena eager to earn the kudos for bringing the Warrior Princess down. For some reason, however, there seemed far too many who wanted to test her fighting skills. Not that she could blame them exactly. She personally felt that anyone would have to be mad to voluntarily go up against her best friend in a fair fight.

She planted her staff into the ground and used it as a fulcrum to push off and deliver a double heeled kick into her nearest assailant's chest. She landed the manoeuvre cleanly, spun her staff and looked for the next problem waiting to confront her. Two warriors moved before her menacing her with swords. As she swung the staff to confront one the other tried to slip around her guard until she swung the staff in turn to menace him. Deciding that attack was going to be her best way out of the situation, she concentrated on moving forward in a fighting stance only to suddenly find herself hampered by a net that had been cast from behind in a sneaky move to disable her. Before she had time to extract herself from the confinement, something heavy slammed into her skull causing instant darkness to descend.

Mavrikios and Xena exchanged a rapid series of sharp blows while his soldiers milled around the pair of them creating a screen of bodies to confine the fight. Xena had to be constantly aware of her position in relation to those men as Mavrikios pressed his attacks to push the Warrior Princess back into range of the waiting warriors.

Using the momentum from the warlord's shove, Xena back flipped over the encircling men and flashed a wicked grin at him saying, "Not good enough, Mavrikios." She emphasised her contempt by delivering a hard kick to the backside of one of the soldiers propelling him into the arms of his leader. Then punched another man in the face, grabbed his arm and spun to send him hurtling into a group of his fellows, used a stamping kick to the stomach to fold up another and a sword cut to the ribs to disable the next.

Seeing his men dropping like so many flies, and having seen his contingency force dragging Gabrielle off the street, Mavrikios decided that his best option was to order a retreat, "Pull back!" he yelled. - With the bard in hand, Xena will come to me! - He told himself as he waved his forces off.

Xena flourished her sword in a complex display of weapon mastery before sheathing it and aiming a half playful kick at a retreating backside. She grinned to herself, confident there was no one to see her unusual display of delight at the fight. "Good workout," she muttered as she turned to check on her friend ... and bit back a curse as she saw no sign of Gabrielle in the road other than her staff which lay in the dust. "GABRIELLE!!" she yelled, knowing that she wouldn't get an answer. "Damn!" she swore, all signs of good humour gone.

She quickly scanned the area for tracks and read the signs all too clearly of what had happened. They'd taken her down the alleyway between the tavern and a house. Throwing caution to the winds as the need to get her friend back over-rode all other thought, Xena moved quickly hoping to catch the abductors before they managed to regroup with the main body of troops. Her haste, however, led her straight into the trap that had been set for just such an eventuality; an arrow slammed into her left shoulder.

Relegating the pain, from the wound, to be dealt with at another time, and not waiting around for any other surprises, Xena backed out of the tight confines of the alleyway with far more caution than she entered it. Collecting the bards staff from the road, she whistled for Argo who came readily to her mistresses call. She swung herself into the saddle and headed out of Menassos as fast as she was able. She'd get Gabrielle back, but she couldn't do that if she got herself killed or captured through carelessness.

The Warrior princess burst through a cordon of Mavrikios's surprised pickets and galloped down the road as fast as the horse could carry her. She had to find a place where she would be safe to deal with her wound and get herself away from the hunters that she expected to follow hard on her trail.

Gritting her teeth against the pain she was trying not to feel, Xena growled, "Hang on Gabrielle. I'll come and get you."

The first thing that Gabrielle was aware of was a throbbing ache that started somewhere at the back of her head and spread out from there. Keeping her eyes tightly shut against the blinding light of the sun, whose hot rays she could feel on her face, she stifled a groan, and raised her right hand to feel the lump she knew would be on the back of her skull. It was at that point that she worked out something was seriously wrong. Her arm felt leaden and she lacked control! She opened one eye to squint at her right arm and saw the manacles even as her senses registered the feel of metal about her wrists, "Gods," she breathed softly. "I never knew I was that dangerous."

A voice thundered out from close by, causing her to wince from the further pain it induced, "Hey boss!" a man yelled, "She's awake!"

Forcing both of her eyes open, the bard edged herself into a sitting position and gratefully leant against a handy tree, desperately fighting off the nausea that threatened to engulf her fragile sensibilities. A quick look around at the cluster of warriors told her that there was no sign of Xena - Was that good or bad? - she tried to make up her mind. As she struggled with the thought, Mavrikios moved into her line of sight, before bending to examine the tender lump on her head.

"She'll live," he commented, "Give her something to drink, then we'll get moving."

Gabrielle gratefully took the water skin and gulped down some of the tepid, lifeless water that it held, before fixing her eyes on the warlord and saying, "I don't know who you think I am, but I can assure you that I'm a writer, not a fighter." She rattled the chains at him, "Don't you think that these are a little bit excessive? I mean with all your warriors around, I'm hardly likely to be able to run off, now am I?"

"I know exactly who you are, little girl," retorted Mavrikios with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, "You're the irritating blonde that just banged up half a dozen of my men, and whom Caesar will pay me a lot of dinars for once I get you to him." He looked at her in a calculating way, "Now, I'd like to do this as easy as possible, but that's going to be up to you. You cause me any trouble and I guarantee that you'll regret it."

Gabrielle looked at him with more than a hint of pity in her gaze, "Trouble? Listen buster you've got more 'trouble' coming your way than you can shake a stick at!"

The smirk on the warlords face made her want to slap him, as did his awfully articulate answer of, "HA!"

Keeping her temper, and doing her best icy intimidation impersonation, Gabrielle pointed out quietly, "She'll find me you know. She's not going to let you get away with this."

"Xena's got troubles of her own," sneered the warlord, "One of my men put an arrow through her and, although it's not likely to kill her, it'll slow her down for a while, and make it that much easier for me to take her when she shows up again."

"You're not chasing after her?" asked the bard in surprise. The bounty on Xena was big enough to make most men drool at the chance of collecting it and make them forget about the dangers of facing her, especially if she was injured.

"There's no need to chase her round the countryside," he told her smugly, "She'll be coming after you and I'll be waiting for her."

Gabrielle's stomach clenched as she realized that she was bait for a trap. It seemed that Xena had a valid reason to be concerned about her vulnerability - He's smart, - she decided. She tried to dredge up any information she had about this warlord from her aching head as she took another swallow of water. Xena had once, long ago, mentioned that Mavrikios was a good leader of men. He weighed odds carefully and looked after the welfare of his troops. He was also a dangerous man with a blade. She seemed to remember that Xena had said he had an uncertain temper when things started to fall apart on him, and that he was not a man to anger or cross.

She looked up at Mavrikios as he ordered his men to be ready to move,"I've seen her take out a small army when she'd been blinded," she said conversationally, "An arrow wound won't worry her too much ... but it should worry you."

The warlord swung his attention back to the bard, "Oh? Please do enlighten me as to why I should worry?" he growled full of confidence in his abilities and plans.

Gabrielle grinned happily at him, "Because a wound is gonna make her mean, and I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when she gets through with you," she said sweetly.

If her words had worried the man, he didn't show it in his voice or eyes. He just grinned nastily at his captive and rumbled, "Well then, we'd better get moving, hadn't we? I want to meet Xena on ground of my own choosing," he told her as he grabbed her by the chains and hauled her roughly to her feet, making her head swim.

"Hey!" complained the blonde indignantly.

The warlord grinned maliciously, "Get used to it. I'm sure Caesar has far worse in mind once he gets his hands on you two." He tugged her towards where the men were mounting their horses, "Here Gregorias. Keep her safe, or I'll have your head," he barked as he threw the bard up over the front of the warriors saddle, so that she hung face down like a sack of oats. Swinging on to his own mount, Mavrikios ordered his men to move out.

The cave, she had found, was really just a shallow depression in the side of a cliff, but it was shelter of a sort and it gave Xena a clear view if anyone tried to approach her. Sweat beaded her brow as she lowered herself from Argo's saddle and staggered over to where she could lean herself against the support of a large boulder.

The arrow had entered beneath her collarbone and, from the feel of it, the head was pressing against the underside of the bone. She didn't think it had done any major damage, but it needed to come out before the wound became infected. She couldn't risk being incapacitated by a fever; she had to be back on her feet if she was going to rescue Gabrielle.

Carefully, she unclipped her armour so that it slid away and gave her more freedom to work on the problem - So far so good - she told herself mentally, - Now things start to get interesting. -

Clutching the shaft of the arrow, she concentrated her strength to break off the fletchings to leave a shortened stub to work with. The jolting pain that stabbed through her as she did so, told her that the arrow had probably nicked the bone, and with that thought came a wave of nauseating darkness that swept up causing her to black out ....

Consciousness returned with an immediacy as she became aware of a man leaning over her. Movement came without thought and, in less than the blink of an eye, her boot dagger was in her hand and pressed against the stranger's ribs. Even though the motion called up waves of darkness once more, this time she mastered them and forced them back down.

"Easy," came a soft, soothing voice, "easy there. I mean you no harm."

The tone was gentle, comforting and reassuring. Xena recognised it as the tone she'd use to calm a frightened animal, or the type a physician used with a nervous patient. "Who are you?" she demanded, her voice a rough growl from the pain she was enduring. Her eyes blazed as she studied the blonde haired, blue eyed man who filled her line of sight.

He spoke as he continued to inspect the arrow shaft, probing the wound with strong, though seemingly delicate, fingers, "My name is Patroclese, warrior," he told her, still speaking in that soft calming tone, trying to put her at her ease. "I'm a physician ... a wanderer. I heard your horse from down on the road and, since I was lost, I came to see if someone could give me directions ... and found you lying here with an arrow in you." He looked at her and a slight smile played over his features, "I can take the arrow out, although I'd find it more comfortable to work without your knife digging into my ribs."

"Take it out," she told him, blinking the sweat out of her eyes as it trickled down her brow. "The knife stays where it is ... just in case." She looked down at the blood slick half-shaft sticking out from her flesh, "You're gonna have to push it through. I think it's got a barbed head, and it's pressing on the collarbone, probably nicked it on the way in."

"Uh huh," agreed Patroclese, "you seem to know an awful lot about my craft."

"I have many skills," Xena told him flatly.

"If I push that arrow through, and the pain causes your muscles to spasm, I'm likely to end up in a worse condition than you're in now," he told her with a worried glance towards where she held the knife.

"That's the chances you take bein' a good Samaritan," she told him through pain gritted teeth.

"A nice friendly way to put it," replied the physician dryly, swallowing hard.

"Just do it!" hissed the Warrior Princess pressing the dagger tighter to the man's ribs before relaxing it a little.

He nodded his agreement and placed the heel of his hand over the broken shaft. He looked searchingly into her face and asked, "Ready?"

"Do it!" gritted Xena, clenching her teeth against the anticipated pain.

Patroclese shoved hard, feeling the slight resistance from the edge of the bone, before the arrowhead cleared the flesh of his patient's back to stick out covered in crimson gore. Xena groaned, involuntarily with the pain, "Hang in there," he encouraged her as his hand moved around to grip the blood slick arrow and draw it fully from the wound. "It's out," he told her.

The warrior gave a tight smile that never reached her eyes, "As a friend of mine once said, 'That'll wake you up in the morning.'" She moved the dagger away from Patroclese, although she retained it in her hand ready for instant use. She licked her dry lips before gritting out, "Can you get it bandaged? I need to be somewhere else."

He moved to his horse and rummaged in his saddlebags, quickly finding the things that he needed. As he came back to her side he said, "As your physician, I would recommend some time to rest up. You've lost quite a bit of blood and you're right to suspect that the arrowhead chipped the bone. I think we're going to have to stitch those wounds to stop the blood flow too."

He worked as he spoke, cleaning the wound with some alcohol, that caused the dark haired woman to draw in her breath sharply, before inserting three neat stitches into the torn flesh at both the entrance and exit wounds, then smearing a healing salve over them.

"Just patch me up, best you can. I'll take it from there," Xena told him curtly as he slid her leathers and under tunic down to her waist so that he could bandage the wounds securely, oblivious to all thought of modesty. "I'd be grateful for some water if you'd pass the skin before you do that," she requested and drank thirstily when he complied and held the skin to her parched lips, doing his best not to stare at her ripe torso. The tepid water felt like nectar as it slid down her dry throat. She thanked him with a nod of her head and a slight quirk of her lips as he stoppered the skin when she had taken her fill.

Watching him work as he skilfully padded and wrapped her wound, Xena was impressed by the professionalism being shown by the young man. "By the way," she asked him, in a far more friendly tone, as he finished the task, "What do I owe you, besides my thanks?"

"No charge," he told her, "I started treating you without consultation. But," he forestalled the protests he could see about to spring from the warrior's lips, "you could give me some help with those directions and information that I came looking for in the first place."

"Deal," agreed Xena, putting some warmth into her tone for the first time, "What do you want to know?" she asked, carefully testing the shoulder's mobility as Patroclese finished dressing the wound.

"I'm a stranger in these parts ... in Greece, actually," he told her with a twitch of his lips. "I'm looking for a woman, a warrior like yourself. Her name is Xena."

The defensive look sprang back into her eyes and Patroclese found cold metal pressed against his throat as a very sharp blade pressed close, "What do you want with her?" she demanded, her tone as frozen as ice.

Patroclese swallowed hard and became, suddenly, very still, as he saw instant death staring him in the face, "I ...." he licked his lips nervously, "I have a message for her from a friend." He realized that more information was called for and quickly added, "I owed the man a favour and I promised that I'd take his message to the Warrior Princess for him."

"What's this man's name?" demanded Xena pushing the knife a little harder to nick the physicians skin and draw a tiny speck of blood.

"Isumbras of Narbo," squeaked Patroclese quickly, "That's in Narbonensis. He's a merchant," he added suddenly very eager to please.

"That's a long way to come to deliver a message," prodded Xena, although she relaxed some of the pressure on the knife, "Why would you agree to undertake such a difficult and hazardous journey, huh?"

His throat dry and tight from fear, Patroclese swallowed hard again and explained, "I owed Isumbras. He helped finance my studies as a healer and the only thing he's ever asked of me in return was to deliver this message." He saw some of the doubt ease from her eyes and added, "Besides, I always wanted to see more of the world and the chance to meet the legendary Warrior Princess was just too good to pass up."

Xena still looked coldly at him and there was a warning bite in her tone as she demanded, "What's the message?"

"That's private, " tried the physician, sweat beading his fair brow and his blue eyes shifted nervously, "It's for Xena."

A far from friendly smile appeared on the Warrior Princess's face as she said softly, "It won't do anyone any good if the messenger dies before delivering it," she told him grimly.

Patroclese licked his lips, indecision plain on his face, "I ... er ... well, if you put it like that," he stuttered. "He told me to tell her, ummmm," he screwed his face up in concentration to make sure that he got it exactly right, "Remember Artellios. I need you."

"That's it?" questioned the woman, although the healer was pleased to note that she did remove the menacing knife.

"I swear by the gods," promised the physician, relief plain on his face that he was away from the blade. He touched a finger to the spot the knife had nicked and brushed away the blood that had quickly dried there. He saw a look on Xena's face that must have frightened him because he added, "I have no idea what it means. I just agreed to deliver it."

The Warrior Princess looked at him suspiciously for a long moment before sheathing the dagger back in her boot, "Well you've delivered it, " she told him flatly, pushing herself a trifle unsteadily to her feet.

"Y ... You're Xena?" he asked in amazement, "Gods! What are the odds on us meeting like this?" he wondered.

"I was thinking the same thing," agreed Xena suspicion underlying her tone, but her eyes didn't seem quite as cold as they had been. She pulled her clothing back on and refastened the clips to her armour, before gently easing herself back using the boulder to steady herself.

"Gods, but you're an untrusting woman, " Patroclese returned with a nervous half laugh.

Xena gave him the 'look' that could send the cold chill of imminent death through the heart and bones of even the most hardened warlord, and saw the physician take two or three involuntary steps away from her, "It keeps me alive," she told him with scarily quiet menace. A wave of blackness swept up again as she moved her arm too quickly, but she refused to let it take hold, and continued to the healer, "You've delivered your message, and have done your good deed ... I'm grateful for the help, but now I suggest that you go home."

Patroclese nodded his agreement, still having to swallow to get some of the moisture back into his throat, while trying to disguise his nervous fear of this infinitely scary woman, "Yeah, right ... fine," he agreed and was turning away, back to his horse when a movement caught his eye, "Xena, look out!" he cried, diving towards where his horse stood and reaching for the bow that he carried there.

An arrow sped from the screen of trees, straight towards where the warrior was turning to confront the danger. Patroclese just knew that his medicinal efforts had been wasted; there was no way that the Warrior Princess could possibly avoid the shaft that sped towards her.

As he waited for her cry of pain, or for her to drop to the ground, he had to blink in amazement. The warning he had given had triggered the woman's incredible, battle honed, reflexes. With movement faster than the eye could follow, she plucked the arrow out of the air, just as it seemed certain to skewer her throat. All time for thought was instantly gone as a dozen warriors charged from the trees, across the clearing, towards Xena and her companion.

Raising her chilling battlecry, Xena leapt high into the air did a flip and came down in position to tackle her attackers. A heavily planted boot in the stomach met the first man, and a backhand, roundhouse, punch snapped into the jaw of a second. A well placed right elbow to the throat left a third man choking on the ground, and gave her the space to backflip away to draw her sword. But the warriors were quickly upon her and before she was settled, one had clubbed the weapon out of her hands, while a second slammed a staff into her abdomen.

Dropping to the ground, she braced herself with her arms as she swept the feet from beneath the warrior with the staff. A forward roll took her to where her sword had landed and she scooped it up ready to face the next attack. Holding the weapon two handed, she swung with incredible force at the warrior closest to her. He met her blade with his own, but staggered under the impact and failed to recover in time to avoid the straight right punch that plastered his nose across his face.

Xena bounced on the balls of her feet as she prepared to meet the next wave of assailants, only to see the lead man taken out by a well placed arrow through the heart. She spun instinctively, kicking out with a muscular leg, to take out a warrior who was trying to get behind her, then used her momentum to force herself into a low forward flip which enabled her to get in position to be able to sweep her blade across her next opponent's chest. Another arrow buzzed past her to take a threatening warrior in the shoulder, as she fell into a flurry of exchanged blows, finally taking the man out with a reverse sword sweep. And then it was over, with those left alive scuttling for the safety of the trees they had emerged from.

Xena dropped to her haunches taking deep breaths to try and clear away the spots, that were swimming in front of her eyes and the nausea that made her want to vomit. Patroclese was quickly at her side, checking the dressing on her wound and making sure that she hadn't taken another injury. "Thanks," she told him with grudging appreciation.

"Just part of my job," grinned the healer as he adjusted the bandage, "Doesn't look like you've done any more damage, though I can't imagine how you managed to avoid doing so."

"Benefits of a healthy lifestyle," she half mockingly replied. "Thanks again, by the way," she told him in a much more friendly tone than any she used previously, "I'd have chased them off eventually, but your archery certainly speeded things up." She eyed the physician questioningly, "How did a healer learn to use weapons with such skill."

Daring greatly, Patroclese used a question in answer, "I could ask how a warrior learnt quite so much about the healer's art?" He smiled to show it was a rhetorical question, "For myself, I'm not stupid. I knew that being a wandering physician would not be the world's safest occupation, so I took steps to learn how to protect myself."

"Good thinking," agreed Xena as she pushed herself, more than a little unsteadily, back to a standing position, aided by Patroclese who willingly gave her an arm to lean on, although she tried her best to do without his help.

"You really could do with some rest, you know," he told her, "Loss of blood is going to make you weaker for a while, and that could hurt you at a crucial moment."

"I'm fine," she told him, though not unkindly, "I don't have time to rest up at the moment."

He looked at the bodies lying around in the clearing and nodded, saying, "I see what you mean." He hovered behind her as she took a couple of halting steps to where Argo stood waiting patiently, "You know, I'm not in the habit of abandoning my patients before they're fully fit."

"Forget it Patroclese," she told him bluntly, "Where I'm going is no place for a healer," she told him in no uncertain terms. She moved away from him towards Argo, while the young healer checked the bodies of the five men, scattered around them, to see if any still clung to life.

"Are you going to see what Isumbras wants?" he questioned as he moved between the men, finally assuring himself they were all dead before moving across to his own horse.

"Maybe," she told him non-committally, "when I've done what I've gotta do first." She checked Argo's cinch, tightening it a notch. The effort caused her to grunt with pain and sweat beaded on her brow once more.

Patroclese noted the problem, but wisely refrained from commenting on it, "Can you tell me what that message is about?" he asked cautiously, "I've been carrying the thing around with me for a couple of moons now, and it's been driving me crazy wondering about it." He watched the woman mount her horse, before swinging easily into his own saddle.

Xena looked at Patroclese long and hard, and saw an eager young man of good muscular build, blonde haired and blue eyed in a handsome sort of way, with an air of competence about him that shone through in his every movement. He had done her a good turn by removing the arrow from her shoulder, and had stood with her against attackers, "I'll tell you on the way back to the road," she told him with a wry twisted grin.

They heeled the horses into motion and picked their way carefully back towards the road, senses alert in case any of the beaten warriors should be lurking around in the hope of getting a second chance at them. Xena threw a look across at the healer and said, "Isumbras was a merchant, even back when I knew him," she explained. "He supplied me with some of my more unusual needs ... including information." Her eyes seemed to go distant as she allowed the memories to flood back into her mind, "My army was at a little village called, Artellios, and Isumbras provided me with some intelligence that proved vital in keeping me alive." She ducked under a low branch that was in her chosen path before continuing, "He wouldn't take any money for it. He just asked me to remember in case he ever needed anything."

Patroclese nodded his understanding and said, "So you owe Isumbras this big favour, but you're only 'maybe' going to help him. I'd thought better of you, Xena."

"Now look, Patroclese, I know you feel a responsibility to Isumbras, and I know I owe you my gratitude, if not more, for your help back there, but I've got my hands full at the moment and Isumbras will just have to wait until I can get round to him!" she was annoyed that she'd let the healer get to her.

A few minutes later they reached the road, "You'd better head South. You'll find the village of Menassos there and you should be able to get some work there too." she told him.

"Which way are you going?" he asked.

"I'll cut across country. I need to get past some people, and I'd like to do it without having to fight my way through them." she told him.

Xena turned Argo away from the physician, just as a shout erupted behind them. Turning her head she saw some twenty armed men riding up the road towards where the healer sat his horse staring at them, "Patroclese!" she yelled, "This way!" and waited only long enough to ascertain that he followed, before heading the horse into the scant safety of the copse on the far side of the road.

As they broke out of the cover of the trees, and into the more open ground of hilly pasture, Patroclese drew up alongside the Warrior Princess and shouted, "Have you done something to upset someone? Because something seems to have stirred up an awful lot of warriors in these parts."

"Long story," Xena cast back at him, "Keep close to me. Too many people have seen you with me now, so you better tag along until I can find somewhere safe to leave you."

Gabrielle wasn't sure what hurt most: her head, her stomach or her ego! She'd never really cared for horses and her dislike of that particular mode of transportation had been reinforced by a long journey, face down, over an uncomfortable saddle. Her voluble complaints had got her nothing except a gag, and she was beginning to feel that someone, somewhere, really didn't like her.

The whole afternoon had been torturous. The motion of the horse was akin to that of a ship, making her uncomfortably queasy and forcing her to jab at the pressure point in her wrist to keep herself from throwing up, not an advisable action whilst wearing a gag. Laying across the thighs of a brawny young warrior was not exactly comfortable, either. Especially as his hands had wandered, in an exploratory fashion, over her thighs and just under her skirt, before he was roughly warned off by Mavrikios when the bard began to wriggle and curse through her gag.

"Keep your hands off her, Gregorias," the warlord warned menacingly. "The contract is to deliver her whole and unharmed."

"Aw, this won't harm her," grinned her guard, "She might even like it," he laughed.

Mavrikios gave him a cold glare, - That definitely was an imitation of one of Xena's, - the bard noted mentally, - Wonder if he studied her, or if there's a warlord's handbook out there that they learn from. Hey! - she suddenly, irreverently, thought, - I bet there's a warlord school, and I just know who came top of her class when she graduated! - She allowed herself a grin while she listened to Mavrikios as he dressed Gregorias down.

"It might not harm her," snarled the warlord in a deadly tone, "but I guarantee that you won't enjoy it when I have you castrated with a very dull knife! So keep your hands to yourself." He jerked his horses head away as he moved back to the head of the column.

The warning had done it's job, so at least she didn't have to be worried about being assaulted as they travelled, and Mavrikios had pretty much made it clear that she wasn't to be touched by anyone, so her worrying visions of being raped were also allayed ... at least for a while. The rest of the afternoon was eaten up by continuous motion as they moved forward to the planned camp site for that evening.

Things had not noticeably improved with the evening stop. True, she had a place by the fire, but she resented the leg iron that secured her to a stake like some kind of sacrificial lamb. It was also true that she had been given food .. if that's what it could be loosely called .. and water, stale and leathery from a skin, but now she had another problem.

She looked around the crowded campsite and quickly spotted the area that she wanted to visit. Without thinking she started to head towards it, only to stumble when the chain brought her up short, "Oh gods," she swore softly. She bit her lip and tugged tentatively on the chain as her need began to become desperate.

"Going somewhere?" demanded Mavrikios, suddenly appearing at her shoulder.

Gabrielle gave him a level look, and moved uneasily from one foot to another a pained look of worry entering her eye, before saying, "Um, I know that in your own unique way you're trying to look after my safety," she told him with sweet sarcasm as she rattled her manacled wrists at him, "and I know that you've made every effort to see that I don't exhaust myself on this journey," she looked meaningfully at the horses, "but I think you've overlooked something."

"Oh yeah! What could that be?" he retorted, ignorantly secure in the knowledge that he was sure he'd thought of everything.

"I need to use the bathroom," she told him simply. She wasn't totally sure, but she thought she detected a slight reddening around his neck.

"Ah ... right," he conceded with embarrassment, "Metracles!" he snapped out, and one of the older warriors moved promptly to hear what his commander wanted. The man's face was scarred and he limped from what was probably an old wound, but he looked strong and as if he knew how to handle himself, "Take our 'guest' over to the bushes, will you." He handed Metracles the key to the leg iron and continued, "Give her some privacy, but don't lose her." he warned.

- Better than nothing - thought the bard as she practically dragged the mercenary in the desired direction and flew into the bushes embracing the ecstasy of relief.

Metracles stood screened on the other side of the greenery, whistling tunelessly as he stood holding the leg iron that insured the bard could not sneak off. It was taking Gabrielle some time and the warrior began to get impatient with his own needs, "You about done yet?" he demanded.

"With you in a moment," agreed Gabrielle, the glimmer of an idea beginning to take root in her fertile mind.

The guard urged her speedy return from the bushes, and as they returned to the fire, Gabrielle noted, with great interest, that a couple of scuffles had broken out around the camp and she saw more than a few uncleared plates from the evening meal. Metracles rechained her leg iron to the stake and made a quick dash to the bushes before he went back to the dice game he'd been involved with before being hauled out of it. Gabrielle sat with a thoughtful look on her face before deciding to act on the germinating seed that was beginning to grow.

Facing the group of warriors, who were relaxing on the opposite side of the fire from her, she proceeded to turn on all of her considerable charm and initiated the conversation by asking them,"Is the food normally this bad, or was it done specially for me?"

"T'weren't food. T'was but pig swill," one of them replied and many of the others joined in with half-hearted laughs or growling grumbles.

>From the unhappy replies she'd soon learned that the army's cook had been laid low with a fever some days back and the food had been appalling ever since as no one else had any idea how to boil water! Having tasted Xena's cooking, Gabrielle knew that warriors didn't spend much time learning how to prepare food, they relied on a cook for that. However, they were always ready to grumble when their meals were not up to standard, and the bard thought that she could see a way to exploit that.

Skilfully, she set about manipulating the conversation so that she could regale the warriors with the splendours of some of the feasts that she's seen and eaten, and eventually gave descriptions of some of the more humble fare that she had prepared for herself and Xena.

"At King Gregor's palace we had a wonderful feast to celebrate the announcement of his heir, Prince Gabriel, and in Troius, King Lias always served a wonderful delicacy called croesis. Xena just loved those, although to be fair, Xena really appreciates my cooking, in fact she's told me on numerous occasions that she wished she'd known me when her army was looking for a cook," that was a blatant lie, Xena would rather have been hung from a meat hook than even think of the bard as part of her army.

Mention of the Warrior Princess, however, tended to dampen the soldiers good spirits and put them on edge. Seeking away to continue the conversation and plant some more seeds for her plan, Gabrielle dropped the information that she was a bard into the chatter, in case they hadn't been aware. This brought an immediate demand for a story and she was happy to oblige them, launching into the tale of Hercules and his on going battle with Hera, strategically adding wonderful descriptions of glorious, mouth watering food, at every chance she got. The performance began to draw a larger audience and they clamoured for another story as soon as she finished her recital.

Smiling good naturedly, Gabrielle agreed, carefully avoiding full blown stories about her best friend, seeking to introduce her into the narrations once the audience was firmly hooked. Choosing artfully, she plunged into the story of Ulysses. "I sing the song of Ulysses, King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus. This great King was a mighty warrior, renowned for his bravery, wisdom and cunning," she began.

The gifted bard wove a tale of his feats: of his great sea adventures, when Aeolus, the Guardian of the Winds, gave him a bag that contained all the winds that might harm the king's ship, only his curious crew opened the bag releasing the winds and changed a prosperous voyage into a disaster. How the great Ulysses was reluctant to take part in the Trojan war and so tried to make his fellow kings believe he was mad, but was foiled by Palamedes who proved him sane. How the King of Ithaca proved his greatness in the Trojan war and was awarded the armour of Achilles when that great hero was slain. How it was the trickster king's idea to use a hollow horse to gain entrance to the city of Troy, and for the Greeks at last to win the long war.

>From there, Gabrielle told how he had fallen foul of Poseidon's wrath as he tried to travel back to his kingdom and, of course, his meeting with Xena and how she had helped to defeat Poseidon and return the King of Ithaca to his island home in time to rescue his wife, Penelope, from the piratical suitors who were attempting to lay claim to Ithaca at the Sea God's behest.

At the end of that story, the talented bard quickly launched into another Xena tale, telling of her near miraculous, single handed, defeat of the elite Persian scouts, that gave the Athenian army the time it needed to assemble and march to protect their land from the invaders. The bard kept a careful eye on her audience, gauging their reactions, which seemed to become increasingly those of very nervous men as she spun the heroic deeds of Xena into a tapestry of words that brought them to life. It was becoming increasingly plain that these warriors were not at all sure that they wanted to face an angry Warrior Princess!

She was half way through the story of Xena's titanic battle with Ares to prove to the Furies that the God of War was her father, when there was a stir in the crowd as Mavrikios pushed his way through them. "What are you sitting around here for?" he demanded, "You've all got things to attend to. Alexandros, you were supposed to relieve Thomases on guard half a candlemark ago!"

There were loud grumblings as the gathering broke up. The warriors had enjoyed a rare evening of entertainment, even if some of the tales did make them uneasy. Now with the stories finished, conversation naturally drifted back to food and some of the descriptions that Gabrielle had spun of wonderful offerings. The grumbling was loud and heartfelt.

Mavrikios scowled as his men dispersed, before turning to the bard and demanding, "What have you been saying to my men?"

Nothing much," she replied with a bright innocence that really made Mavrikios burn with suspicion, "I just told them a few stories to pass the time ... oh yes, and we talked about the food. What we've just had really wasn't very good you know, and I think your men expect better."

"Have you been stirring up trouble with them," quizzed Mavrikios, who was well aware of the men's feeling about the quality of the meals currently being served, and was distinctly defensive about it, "because if you have, I can always have you permanently gagged!"

"Look, all I did was tell a few stories and compare notes with them about some of the meals we've eaten. It's not my fault if your cook's a professional poisoner!"

"You think you could do better?" he demanded in frustration.

"Without a doubt," grinned the bard, "Even Xena could, and she hates cooking." It was pushing it, but unless Mavrikios had ever tried any of the Warrior Princess's culinary delights he wouldn't know how far she was stretching the truth with that statement.

Mavrikios threw his hands into the air in frustration, "The army's cook is down with a fever and no one else here can cook worth a damn, so get used to it." He glared around the camp at his men, who instantly found other things to occupy their attention.

"You know, unless the food improves, you're going to have a mutiny," Gabrielle pointed out.

"Are you looking for the job?" he asked in disbelief, before his eyes narrowed and he asked her pointedly, "I'd have thought you'd have been cheering my men on to desert. It would give Xena a better chance of rescuing you."

"I like to watch a good fight," she told him seriously. "The odds are about fair right now, Xena doesn't like things too easy. "No, I'm far more concerned with surviving to be rescued and, quite honestly, that looks pretty touch and go at the moment with what I'm being given to eat. Besides, I'm a pretty mean hand with a stew."

"By the gods you're irritating," he snarled at her, "Don't you ever stop talking?' he demanded, frustration evident in his tone.

"Oh I have been known to be quiet on occasion .. particularly after a good filling meal," she stressed pointedly.

"You're up to something," the mercenary leader's mind was working overtime on what the girl could be trying to achieve and suspicion was second nature to his devious mind.

"Of course I am!" agreed Gabrielle wholeheartedly, taking him by surprise.

"I knew it!" snapped Mavrikios triumphantly, although he was far from sure what it was that he was claiming to know. "Just what were you hoping to achieve .. were you spreading dissent? Trying to get the men to mutiny?"

The bard grinned at him, "Something far more satisfying than that," she informed him pleasantly, "Wanna know what?"

The warrior glared at her with frustration, "Alright!" he yelled, drawing the attention of his men, who quickly found something else to occupy them when their leaders angry eyes swept over them.

"The chance to eat a decent meal while I'm stuck here," the bard told him lightly with a teasing smile on her face.

He fixed her with an infuriated stare, "You're offering to cook for us?" he questioned uncertainly.

"That's what I said," agreed the blonde seriously.

"You're willing to cook for the men that are holding you captive?" he persisted.

"Yup. You got it Socrates," she affirmed.

"You want to cook and clean ..."

"Hey! I never said anything about doing the dishes," she broke in firmly.

He ignored her continuing, "... for the men who are taking you to Caesar?"

"Let's just get the terms right here, buddy! I'll cook, but I won't wash! Got it?" she insisted, but Mavrikios was still trying to get his brain around the weird phenomenon of a captive doing the cooking chores willingly.

"You're gonna do the cooking ..."

"Cooking only bub!" she reminded him.

"Okay, okay," he growled, "but you'd do the cooking even though we're going to catch Xena and take her and you to Caesar?"

"That's about the long and short of it," agreed Gabrielle. "Call it self preservation, because as sure as Xena's gonna whip your sorry butt, none of us will survive that long if we keep eating the slops being served up to us right now ... so what bit are you unclear on? Sheesh, doesn't anyone learn good Greek nowadays?"

"Fine," snarled the warlord, ready to take a chance on the bard's cookery, knowing he couldn't stomach much more of the muck they were currently forced to digest.

"One more thing, though," ventured Gabrielle as Mavrikios turned to leave.

"What!" he almost shouted in exasperation.

"It's only fair," began the bard, "that if I'm doing the cooking, I should get to ride in the cook wagon. If I spend a day thrown over a horse's back, I'm not going to be in any condition to cook a meal for your army, now am I?" she told him reasonably.

Mavrikios stood stock still, a look of doubt creeping across his face. He liked the idea of his valuable prisoner being very firmly under the eye of a guard at all times. However, he was a practical man and he knew that something had to be done about the food situation ... and soon. He looked at Gabrielle dubiously. He had the definite feeling of being manipulated into something and he was sure he was not going to like the end results of it. Yet he could see no way that the girl would be able to escape from the cook wagon, especially if he set guards around it and used the leg iron to anchor her firmly in place.

"C'mon, Mavrikios," encouraged the bard, "You know it's a good deal."

He had a really uneasy feeling about all of this, but he just couldn't put his finger on why. Maybe it was just nerves about Xena; where she was and what she was up to. The Warrior Princess was enough to rattle anyone's nerves and, although he didn't show it, Mavrikios was more than a little intimidated by his ex-commander. He'd been a lowly, junior, lieutenant before striking off on his own, and he really doubted that the ruthless, vicious, warlord he had known could be so easily buried and reincarnated as the Warrior Princess of the current stories. Too much prodding, and he was certain that the dark, driven Xena of old would re-emerge. He prayed to the gods that he wasn't going to be the one on the receiving end of that. It was a prospect that did not fill him with joy. But, money was money, and if he could just manage to keep things together, the rewards would be well worth a few sleepless nights.

"Fine," he agreed at last, "Tomorrow you travel in the wagon, and get to cook the evening meal. You better make sure it's a good one after your boasting, because the men won't be too happy if it's not." he warned her.

"Great," enthused Gabrielle before a sour look crossed her face, "No washing dishes though," she insisted.

"Yeah, yeah!" agreed the warlord.

"Oh, I'll make sure it's the most memorable meal they've eaten," she grinned at the suspicious look he gave her. "At least since your regular cook got taken ill," she clarified with a twinkle glittering in her eyes.

Mavrikios stamped off to his tent, waving frustrated hands in the air, even more uneasy about this deal and unable to put his finger on just exactly why. As the warlord disappeared into his tent, Gabrielle pumped her fist in the air, gave a little jig and hissed, "YES!", before realising that it wasn't probably a good idea to advertise her joy in such a public manner. She smirked to herself before stretching out by the fire for the night.

They had been pressed hard. No matter how they had tried to shake off the hunters, Xena and Patroclese found that they were driven relentlessly for the rest of the day. They switched direction, doubled back, laid false trails and tried to use streams to confuse their pursuers, all of which took time and was allowing Mavrikios to get further ahead of them.

Not for the first time, Xena wondered if all the warriors she was encountering belonged to Mavrikios's band, or whether they were in the midst of a swarm of bounty hunters who happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. Towards evening, however, they did manage to break through a screening picket and were even able to pick up Mavrikios's trail before it got too dark to see.

Xena had concluded that it wasn't going to be safe to leave Patroclese anywhere in their present locality. So, much against her normal instincts, she had kept the healer with her. She did have to admit, even if only grudgingly to herself, that Patroclese was far from the liability that she thought he'd be. He had shown some skill with a short sword that he carried on his saddle, as well as his previously shown ability with a bow.

The physician was also proving useful with his healing skills. Her shoulder continued to pain her and had required re-bandaging twice as blood soaked through the cloth where the stitches pulled open. The Warrior Princess was feeling more than a little unsteady from loss of blood, but she was too stubborn to give into the pain from the chipped bone, and the wound, when she knew she had to get to Gabrielle. She was aware that a little rest would work wonders with her body's normally phenomenal healing capabilities, she just needed to get far enough ahead of the pursuit to make it safe for her to take that rest.

Patroclese' silent disapproval was almost thunderous. He'd urged Xena to rest several times, worried about the amount of blood loss she had taken. However, after a stop to change the bandage, and the third time he'd suggested they rest, she'd pinned him up against a tree with his feet four inches off of the ground and told him, "I'll leave you hanging from a branch the next time you mention it again." Patroclese had the scant satisfaction of seeing her stagger a little after she released him, but he'd learnt his lesson and now kept his mouth firmly shut. It didn't, however, stop him from 'voicing' his opinion with pointed looks.

By the tracks, it looked as if Mavrikios was heading for the port city of Acanthus where, no doubt, he intended to catch a ship headed in the direction of Rome. So despite Patroclese's concerns about her welfare, and the one's he'd expressed about losing the trail in the gathering darkness, Xena elected to press on. She had two distinct reasons for doing so. Firstly to keep ahead of the pursuit that dogged them, and secondly, to make up ground on those they were pursuing in turn.

Xena felt an urgency pressing her to catch up with those ahead of her. With all of the dodging and diving that they'd had to do during the day, they were way behind and the Warrior Princess knew that Mavrikios wouldn't be wasting any time. That and the fact that Acanthus was barely four days away from them.

It was late into the evening when exhaustion finally forced Xena to agree to a stop: not so much her own benifit, but for that of the horses. They made a cold camp and munched down some trail bread and cheese before catching a few candlemarks much needed sleep. They were back into their saddles well before sunrise heading south, and trusting to the gods, and Xena's abilities, to be able to pick up Mavrikios's trail.

The short stop had worked wonders for Xena's fitness. Her shoulder was still painful, but the bleeding had stopped and the wound looked clean when Patroclese had redressed it. More importantly, the weakness she had been experiencing due to the loss of blood had vanished. All in all, the healer felt in far worse shape, than his patient seemed to be.

At first light, Xena took time to cast back and forth across the likely area looking for the signs that would tell them they were still on the right trail. It took her about a candlemark, but she found what she was looking for and she informed Patroclese that, not only were they following the correct path, but that they were actually less than a day behind those she sought.

Gabrielle had spent an uncomfortable day chained in the back of the cook wagon. The wagon had no springs and jolted alarmingly over every minor bump in the road. She felt bruised and sore, but the fact that it was a far better way to travel then the previous day's mode of transport was not lost on her. Neither was the chance to explore the wagon's contents under the guise of working out the evening's menu.

She had hoped that Xena would catch up with them before they stopped for the evening, that had been plan 'Alpha'. Plan 'Beta' was a little more exotic and relied totally on her own skills - Although - she thought to herself - it would be useful if Xena happened to turn up at the right time to help -.

A well seasoned stew was the dish of the day, as she had promised Mavrikios. Her inspection of the wagon's stores had provided her with a variety of vegetables, salt pork, spices and the relevant cookware ... and one other very important ingredient that was vital to her planning.

Munching gleefully on trail bread and cheese as she diced vegetables and cut up meat, Gabrielle carefully thought through the actions she would need to take to effect her escape, and thought about Xena's surprise when she managed to find her. - It's going to make a change for Xena not to have to rescue me, - she decided - and it might make her realise that I'm not as helpless as she sometimes thinks! -

The evening meal was greatly appreciated by the men and the bard was repeatedly congratulated upon producing the first decent food that they'd had in seven days. She accepted the compliments and had even told a few more stories while they were eating. She'd prepared plenty of the stew, knowing the warriors were likely going to be very hungry, so there was more than enough for those men who returned for second helpings. She even got a grudging compliment from Mavrikios. Gabrielle smiled to herself, certain that her plan was going to work.

Some two to three candlemarks after the meal was finished and the plates cleared away, the first stirrings of the bards stratagem began to emerge. Men began to make their way into the brush with increasing regularity, many failed to re-emerge, all victims of a violent gripping of the bowels. Groans echoed around the camp, with no one being immune. When she judged it appropriate, the bard loudly demanded her need for the 'bathroom'.

Mavrikios, no less effected than his men, turned an accusing finger at her and snarled, "You've poisoned me and my men!"

Gabrielle, effectively feigning the symptoms of the malady assailing every man in the camp, retorted, "It's not my fault if you've brought rotten rations!" then she added, "And I'm hardly likely to poison myself, am I? It's far more likely, anyway, that this was due to last night's so called meal!"

Mavrikios found it very difficult to dispute that argument, especially as he'd seen the bard dish herself up a healthy portion of the stew and sit and eat it. However, he was unaware of the rather clever sleight of hand the blonde had used to get rid of the food, learnt after she first encountered Xena's cooking and had found herself in need of getting rid of it without hurrting her friend's feelings.

"I need to go now!" Gabrielle told him bluntly, clutching her stomach and doubling herself over.

Mavrikios, struggling with his own problems, threw the leg iron key to one of his men and ordered him to escort the bard to the bushes. The warrior exhibited a thin sheen of perspiration on his brow and had the look of uncertain control in his eyes, that was testament to her unusual culinary skills.

Once safely screened in the bushes, Gabrielle hunkered down and waited. After close to five minutes in sheer agony, the warrior could remain in position no longer. He abandoned his end of the leg iron and his post, in the certain knowledge that the prisoner would not be in any condition to go anywhere in the immediate future, and dived into a bush of his own.

As soon as Gabrielle saw the guard run for the bushes, she gathered in the free chain and set off into the surrounding woods as quickly and quietly as she could. She was certain that Mavrikios and his men wouldn't be in any condition to mount a search for her until at least morning, so she wanted to put as much distance between herself and them as possible. With luck, she might even stumble across Xena.

The further away from the camp she got, the quicker and less furtive were her movements. She was quite happy to sacrifice stealth for speed, besides which, the chains she was still wearing made silent movement all but impossible. Still, she felt that she was making reasonable progress and she endeavoured to employ much of the knowledge that Xena had instilled into her to keep herself on a straight heading back towards where she hoped to find the warrior.

She was stumbling along a fairly deep gully, when she thought she heard a noise that was alien to the environment. Freezing into a motionless crouch, she tried to attune her hearing to the sounds of the forest around her. - I wish I had a tenth of Xena's senses, - she thought for about the millionth time - She'd know what was out there by now ... and where it is. -

Now, hearing nothing but the sounds of a forest shrouded in night, Gabrielle finally decided to take a look over the gully edge. Moving as slowly and quietly as she was able, she inched her way up to the rim to find herself confronted by a pair of boots and the point of a sword that hovered mesmerizingly close to her nose.

Swallowing hard, she followed the sword upwards, until she saw a blonde haired young man with bright blue eyes looking down at her, "Um ...," she began thinking fast, "You're probably wondering what I'm doing running around in a forest, in the middle of the night, in these," she said rattling the chains she was wearing.

The man made no answer, nor did the point of the sword waver. She was about to try another tack when a familiar voice spoke from behind her saying, "Don't sweat it Gabrielle. He's with me." and she nearly collapsed in relief as Xena jumped into the gully to give the bard a quick hug and a check over to make sure she was unharmed.

"Are you all right?" demanded the blonde remembering the arrow wound that Mavrikios had told her Xena had taken.

"I'm fine," responded the Warrior Princess, "My friend over there," she said nodding towards Patroclese, "took care of it." Xena's eyes took in the manacles and the leg irons and quipped, "Who did they think you were? Cerberus, or something?"

Gabrielle's quickly stifled giggle held more than a hint of relief in it, showing her pleasure in being back in friendly company, "I think Mavrikios was trying to discourage me from escaping," she replied.

"I think he blew that one, " the Warrior Princess returned with a totally straight face and a very dry tone. She quickly inspected the shackles before drawing her sword. Gabrielle had no time to think or protest before Xena sheered through the leg iron with one, precise, clean blow. Checking around for something she could use as an anvil, Xena spotted a large rock a few steps away, and pulled the bard after her as she headed for it, "Stretch your hands apart over that rock, " she instructed.

"Now, Xena," Gabrielle began hesitantly as she complied with the order, "remember I need my hands and any attached fingers for writing and ... and ..." she screwed her eyes tightly closed as two quick blows from her friend's sword sliced through the metal cuffs without leaving a scratch on the bard's flesh.

"Wow! that was amazing," spoke Patroclese for the first time in Gabrielle's presence. "Hi, by the way. My name's Patroclese, and you must be Gabrielle."

The bard seemed a little distracted as she replied, "Um, hi," the healer noted that she seemed to be counting her fingers.

"Come on Gabrielle," pressed Xena, springing up out of the gully in an easy bound, "We've got to get moving before Mavrikios catches up to you," she said as she reached down a hand to haul the blonde up beside her with astonishing ease.

Gabrielle blinked a few times, refocused her eyes and then responded, "Oh, don't worry about that. He's going to be a bit busy for a while."

Xena looked at her suspiciously, "Just how did you manage to get away from Mavrikios?" she questioned, "He's not an easy man to best."

"Why, Xena," the bard replied in a supercilious tone, "You're not the only one who can make and act on plans. We don't all need to use brawn when brains will get you the result."

Xena quirked an eyebrow at her and drawled lazily in a no nonsense way, "Gabrielle!"

The bard laughed her light, clear, innocent peel that nearly always made Xena feel better for hearing it, "Oh, Xena, it was so easy!" she giggled, "The food was so terrible in the camp, and the men were near mutiny over it, so I talked Mavrikios into letting me cook supper this evening."

"And?" pressed the Warrior Princess.

"And," grinned Gabrielle with childlike mischief twinkling in her eyes, "the stew I cooked for supper somehow came into contact with quite a large dose of cascara. The last I saw of Mavrikios and his men, they were all prospecting suitable spaces amongst rows of overcrowded bushes."

"That was brilliant!" exclaimed Patroclese impressed by the girls ingenuity. "True genius."

"Of course, I knew that Xena would be out here somewhere," continued Gabrielle smugly, "so it was just a case of keeping going until she found me."

Xena gave her a hard, yet somehow worried look, "Yeah, well, with the amount of warriors around after that bounty, you're just lucky you didn't stumble into them."

"You're kidding, right?" stated Gabrielle, with a half smile.

"No, Gabrielle," Xena told her as she gave a sharp whistle for Argo, "As a matter of fact I'm not."

"But ... but, that's not possible!" declared the bard. "Mavrikios told me that he wasn't going to lose men chasing after you. He knew you'd try and get me back, and even if you didn't he'd get a good price from Caesar for me." She saw the 'look' appear on Xena's face and quietly mouthed, "Oops!"

"Uh huh," grunted the Warrior Princess, as she stepped lightly into Argo's saddle and reached down to pull the bard up behind her, "Well that settles one thing," she said with a note of finality.

"Now, Xena," began Gabrielle adopting a stubborn tone as she settled herself behind her friend.

"No, Gabrielle," the warrior cut her off, "It's getting way too dangerous. You can visit with the Amazons for a moon or two, while I draw the hunters away from here." She waited until she saw Patroclese into his own saddle then started the horse moving.

The bard wasn't going to give in easily, "But, Xena!" she began to protest.

"No buts, Gabrielle," replied the warrior with an unshakable firmness that the blonde recognised as immovable, "I'm gonna have to do an awful lot of quick travelling and hard work to quieten this down. One or two people might need to be taught a lesson, and I won't be able to concentrate on things if I'm worried about you."

"Not Caesar," the bard put in quickly worried that the raven haired woman would seek to end matters with the Roman, risking her life in the process.

"No, not Caesar," agreed Xena, regret evident in her voice.

"Xena, I can help you. You know I'm not a little girl anymore,' she pressed valiantly, but knew that her friend's mind was made up on the point.

"No Gabrielle. In this situation I'm safer if I just have myself to worry about," she could feel the hurt in the blonde's eyes, even if she couldn't see it, "Besides, you're the Amazon Queen. You should spend some time with them now and again," she said softly. Then, laying a hand on the bards leg she added in a quiet voice, "Please, Gabrielle, do this for me."

"Hera's teeth," swore the bard with deep feeling, "I hate it when you resort to dirty tricks!" If Xena had tried to bully her into staying with the Amazon's she would never have agreed to it, but by simply asking .. something Xena rarely did .. Gabrielle felt, morally, that she couldn't refuse her friend.

Xena smiled into the darkness, unseen by either the bard or the healer, "We've got quite a way to go, and I wanna keep well ahead of the pursuit." She looked over to where Patroclese rode beside them, "I've also got to find somewhere safe to leave the healer. He's been helpful and it wouldn't be fair to leave him some place where some toughs can rough him up."

Patroclese spoke up for himself, "I'm capable of looking after myself," he told her indignantly.

"I know you are," assured the Warrior Princess.

"But," continued the healer, "If it's all right with you, I'd like to take the trip to the Amazon's with you. It'll probably be my only chance to get to see them."

Gabrielle was certain that Xena was going to say no to the young man, but she felt that Patroclese deserved something for helping her friend, so she chirped in quickly, "Of course you can come. It'll make a change to have someone to talk to while we travel. You've probably noticed that Xena, doesn't tend to say a lot." she said getting a dig in at her taciturn friend.

Patroclese, wisely forbore to make any comment, while Xena grunted non-committally as she concentrated on guiding them safely towards the path they wanted. Her mind was occupied elsewhere on how to draw off Mavrikios and all of the other hunters in the area. She was fairly certain she'd be able to accomplish it without too much difficulty, once she was unencumbered with worries for others. She should be able to leave the hunters sniffing aimlessly through eastern Greece, whilst she took a quick trip to Narbonensis. Nothing was going to cool off the ardour of the hunt faster than a cold trail.

It was four long days travel to the lands of the Amazons. During that time, Xena pressed her companions hard, intent on keeping ahead of the pursuit. She often left the bard and the healer, while she scouted ahead to make sure the way was clear, or swung behind them to cover tracks and cut false trails. The hunt was still on, but those tracking them never got close enough to challenge them. As they entered the Amazon forest, and read the warning totems, a sense of relief, tinged with uncertainty, came over the Warrior Princess; the chances of being ambushed here were greatly reduced, but the Amazon's held a heavy grudge against her and their memories were long.

She and Gabrielle had had several long and serious discussions about what they would face upon their return to Amazon jurisdiction. The bard had been certain that her position within the Nation would ensure the Warrior Princess went unharmed, "After all," she reminded her best friend while Patroclese had been washing up in a creek at one of their night camps, "it's not as if you did any real damage."

Xena quirked her a mirthless smile as she responded sarcastically, "Oh no .. no real damage. Just broke the Regent's arm, battered her a bit, kidnapped the Queen by dragging her out of the village with the full intention of killing her."

"Stop that," rebuked Gabrielle firmly, giving her friend a concerned look, knowing that she didn't really remember any of it and was just quoting from what the bard had told her about the incident. "Ephiny's a friend, Xena, she owes you far more than could be destroyed by a broken arm .. as for me, well I'm still here and very much alive. If you'd really wanted me dead, I'd be dead."

The bard watched closely as the blue eyes jerked away from hers and Xena concentrated on prodding a stubborn cook fire into life. Moving over to the raven haired woman's side, she hunkered down next to her, laying a gentle hand on her friend's arm, "Xena, you weren't yourself ... the grief, the anger, all of it ... in your right mind you would never have done what you did."

"Gabrielle ... I ... I'm so very sorry," the warrior whispered as she tried desperately to remember what had happened within the Amazon stronghold. Her mind tried to picture the scene as the bard had painted it, but her memories refused to focus and images slid into a nothingness that left her feeling frustrated and deeply ashamed for what she had nearly done to her one true friend.

Slipping her arm around the other woman's shoulders, Gabrielle hugged the tormented warrior and whispered softly, "It's alright, Xena. It's over .. past. We'll find the way to make the Amazon's get over it too."

Allowing herself to be comforted, Xena still couldn't shake the feeling that the Amazon Nation would be far less likely to forgive and forget than the young Queen who had chosen to remain at her side after all she had done to her. It was something that remained foremost in her mind as they pushed steadily towards Nation territory. But however the Amazons might feel about the Warrior Princess, they would welcome their queen back with open arms, - And right now, she needs to be somewhere that's safe from Caesar, - her practical mind argued. - I'll worry about me when I know she's safe! -

As they probed deeper into the forest, Xena's highly tuned senses soon registered the fact that they were no longer alone. However, if she'd been asked how she knew, or how she knew that the watchers were Amazons, she wouldn't have been able to find the right words to explain. A feeling, a sound, a movement, all were part of a whole, along with a myriad of other minor things that came together to give her an answer. Now she knew that they were in the midst of a screen of Amazon warriors.

"Alright," she said coming to a standstill in a small clearing, "Throw down your weapons and raise your arms in the signal I showed you."

Gabrielle grinned at her partner patiently. She knew the ritual, having performed it before, but went along with it anyway for Patroclese's sake, who this was all new to. She threw down her staff and clasped her hands together over her head in the Amazon sign for peace at about the same time the others did.

As the weapons hit the ground, the Amazon's appeared, almost like magic, from their vantage points in the trees that had camouflaged their presence. Patroclese's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the suddenness of their arrival, and then they goggled at the women who surrounded them in their full exotic splendour.

"Hi Solari," greeted the bard happily, recognising the distinctive mask of the head of the Royal Amazon Guards, "how are things going?"

"Gabrielle," greeted the Amazon, the tone warm for her. Then she and the other Amazons levelled their weapons in the Warrior Princess's direction. "Xena," she said grimly, "You should know better than to return here!"

Xena studied the Amazons recognizing latent hostility in their attitudes, "Solari." she greeted coldly with an icy stare, "I'm just escorting Gabrielle to Ephiny. I won't be staying. I have to be somewhere else."

None of the Amazons relaxed and Solari's tone was anything but friendly as she replied,"We'll see. There's a lot of hard feeling against you amongst the sisters at present," she stated stonily, "We'll see what Ephiny and the elders have to say."

Gabrielle began to feel worried for the first time. The atmosphere generated by the Amazons was cold and distinctly unfriendly. They looked tense and ready to spring at Xena at the first wrong movement, "Solari ?" she asked in concern, "What's going on?"

The stolidly, dour, Amazon, glanced in the bards direction, softening her tone slightly as she answered, "Amazons died when she raided the village to get to you. Many of the sisters want justice." She took a deep breath, before continuing, "Therefore in the name of the Amazon Council, I arrest you, Xena of Amphipolis, on charges which include treason and murder."

Gabrielle was stunned. She knew that Solari stood close to Ephiny, was in fact the Queen Regent's head of the Royal Guard, and for all her distinctly aggressive posture, her tone and demeanor were not greatly different from normal, but the attitude of most of the other dozen Amazons was definitely antagonistic. Quietly, the bard said to her, "Is this a call for justice ... or vengeance, Solari?"

Ignoring the comment, Solari eyed Xena warily, "Are you coming along peacefully, or must we fight?" Her question was emphasized by four of the Amazon's drawing bows with the arrows aimed at the Warrior Princess.

Xena looked long and hard at the Amazon before answering, "I'm not here for trouble," she told her with chilling coolness, "So we'll keep this peaceable ... for now."

"Lay down all your weapons, Xena, and take off your armour as well," the Amazon warrior ordered coldly.

"Solari ... "Gabrielle started to intervene, worried about how Xena would react, anxious about just how bad the situation with the Amazons really was.

Her eyes never leaving the Amazon leader's, the Warrior Princess interrupted her friend with the quiet words, "It's alright, Gabrielle. We'll do it Solari's way for now."

The bard watched in uncomfortable silence as she saw Xena arch an Eyebrow and gain Solari's tacit nod of approval as she slowly reached to remove her armour, bracers and greaves, tossing them down in a pile in front of her. Moving carefully, she divested herself of the breast dagger and the two boot daggers she carried, before unhooking the chakram from her waist and handing it over to a reluctant Gabrielle, "Keep it safe for me," she said with a crooked smile.

One of the scouts stepped in and expertly looped some heavy ropes around Xena's wrists, binding her with professional expertise. The Warrior Princess stood motionless for the indignity, accepting that now was not the time to start a fight. She needed to ensure her bard's safety before her own.

Gabrielle, however, was far from silent. "Solari!" she exclaimed, "What do you think you're doing? There's no need to tie her up, she's surrendered her weapons."

"I'm sorry, Gabrielle. But she has to face charges and I can't take any chances .. I have too much respect for her fighting skills to do that." came the flat reply.

As the bard spluttered in indignant disbelief, Patroclese held the reigns of the horses and looked on. He felt totally out of his depth and very uneasy in presence of such hostility where he had expected a different kind of reception. He wondered what he should do, but as the Amazons formed up around the trio any decisions were taken out of his hands, "Me and my wanderlust," he muttered morosely, "I could have been safe and comfortable in some tavern by now."

Gabrielle tried to banish her look of concern over the situation and reassure the healer, "Don't worry," she told him encouragingly, "We'll clear all this up when we see Ephiny." - I hope - she added silently as she took note that all but three of the Amazons were tightly clustered around Xena.

The armour and weapons were quickly gathered and packed to be carried by Argo, with one of the guards taking the reigns from Patroclese and leading the two horses down the barely defined trail. Everyone else in the party followed on, Gabrielle and Patroclese behind the horses, Solari and the bulk of the guards next, arranged around Xena, with two flanking scouts out.

"Who is this Ephiny?" asked the healer intrigued about the name he'd heard mentioned several times.

"She's the Queen Regent of the Amazon's. Kind of the deputy for the real Queen," explained the bard with a half smile, "and a friend."

"That's good, agreed Patroclese edgily, "But wouldn't it be better to have the real Queen on our side too?" he asked, throwing a look back at Xena and the Amazon Warriors who were regarding their prisoner rather like they would a deadly snake.

Gabrielle's smile broadened, "Well, she is as well," she told him.

Patroclese looked at her with frank disbelief, "Oh yeah," he said with a touch of sarcasm in his tone, "Well then, who is she, and why doesn't anyone talk about her?"

The bard looked at him in slight confusion, "I thought you'd heard Xena say," she replied, although when she noted the blank look on his face, her glance became sly and she told him, "Actually, I'm the Amazon Queen."

Patroclese stumbled in mid step and would have fallen if Gabrielle hadn't moved quickly to support him, "You're kidding!" he blurted out.

"Actually she isn't," the dark warrior voice rumbled from behind them, looking to move forward when she saw the healer stumble.

The Amazons had tensed at the sudden movement of their prisoner, hands gripping weapons tightly in the expectation of use, and only relaxed when Xena realised how nervous she was making her guards and dropped back into the dense pocket they had formed around her with a mocking arch of a darkly sardonic brow.

"What's with all the hostility, then?" he demanded, grappling with an awful lot of suddenly new ideas.

"Long story," Xena answered him from behind, ignoring the edginess that the Amazons continued to display.

Patroclese fell in beside Gabrielle again and demanded to know, "What have they got against Xena?"

The bard sighed. It was not really a story that she wanted to go into with such a new acquaintance, but she could sense the healer's concern and understood his need to know, "Not so long ago," she began, " Xena and I had serious falling out." she grimaced at the inadequacy of the words to describe the hatred and torment that had welled up between the two of them, "It was pretty bad," she added, putting a lot of emphasis on the 'bad'. "Both of us ended up hating each other - or so we thought at the time. Anyway, I went to stay with my Amazon sisters, while Xena went somewhere to get through what she felt." Gabrielle collected her thoughts and continued with her narration, aware that most of the Amazons were listening as well, "Well, eventually, Xena decided that she'd feel much better if I was dead, so she rode into the Amazon's village and abducted me, intending to kill me."

"What? She rode into a whole Amazon village on her own and just took you away?" asked the healer incredulously as he stole a look at the Warrior Princess who sauntered along stoicly behind them.

"Yeah." agreed Gabrielle," That's what this problem is about. Xena wasn't exactly in full control of herself at the time, and several of the Amazon's got hurt, but neither of us realized that any had died." she explained.

"Hey," said Patroclese suddenly, grabbing the bards arm, "How come you're still alive, then?" He thought about it for the barest second before clarifying what he meant, "I've seen her fight and if she wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

"Yeah," agreed Gabrielle with heartfelt understanding, as she pulled her arm free, "Well I guess I was lucky, because even though we were both hurting, the love in our friendship was enough to break through all the pain, anguish and hate that we'd managed to build up," her eyes were a little misty as she remembered. "Yeah... I guess I was real lucky." The bard looked over her shoulder and smiled a sad, pain tinged smile at Xena, who returned the look with a faint, tender, smile of encouragement that Gabrielle had grown to recognize and treasure.

They spent the rest of the day toiling through the dense woodlands that protected much of the Amazon Nation's lands. No one spoke much, not even Gabrielle. She was busy trying to work out ways to defuse the situation once they reached Themiscyra, while Xena wasn't known for her verbose conversation and with the Amazon's edgily watching the dark warrior's every move, Patroclese had no one else to talk to.

Evening came and a camp was made. They were still a good half day's journey from the Amazon capital and Solari saw no sense in travelling through the night. Xena was detached and, worryingly, more silent than was usually normal for her, even when Gabrielle sat beside her in open support of her friend. Yet the bard sensed that her partner was grateful for the company and the Amazons looked on, knowing that there was no longer a rift between the Warrior Princess and their Queen.

Patroclese had gotten over his nervousness about the Amazons and was in a deep conversation with a young girl that Gabrielle seemed to remember was called Alexa. The pair were soon lost in trading stories and soft laughter. The rest of the Amazon's didn't make a major show of it, but they were obviously keeping a careful watch on Xena, even though the Warrior Princess had done nothing but comply with them.

Gabrielle watched as Xena twisted her wrists within her bonds to keep the blood circulating. The warrior was staring into the fire and seemed far away from the reality of the campsite. "Hey," said the bard softly, "You okay?"

Xena seemed to return from some distant place before nodding and answering, with "Stiff shoulder," which both of them knew was an evasion of the question.

"Here, let me take a look at it," offered the bard, just wanting the warrior to know she was there for her.

Physically relaxing under Gabrielle's gentle ministrations, Xena switched back her finely honed senses to the area around them. She was aware of the movement of the wild creatures that ran almost silently in brush and through the tree canopy, all normal sounds for where they were. She had remained alert all day, more worried about the slower pace that the larger group travelled at, than her current uncertain situation. She wasn't sure how close the pursuit was, but she hoped being within Amazon territory would discourage the bounty hunters from continuing after them.

For a long period, she had heard nothing out of the ordinary. They had eaten their evening meal and settled down for an uneasy rest for the night. Gabrielle had remained at her side and she had spoken of inconsequential things, her concern at the current situation showing in her incessant talking. Xena didn't mind, in a strange way it was soothing. She almost laughed, - There was a time when her ceaseless chattering nearly drove me insane .. now I find it comforting. - She shook her head wryly at the thought.

Stiffening, her eyes suddenly narrowed as she picked up the sound of someone, or something, moving closer towards the camp - Several someones! - she decided. She concentrated, fining down her senses, narrowing onto the area of concern and blotting out everything that was not relevant to the situation. She was only vaguely aware of the salve that the bard had been rubbing into the almost healed wound, but she responded with a quiet, Thanks," as the blonde replaced the dressing.

"Have we got problems?" asked Gabrielle, recognising the tell tale signs in her friend's attitude.

"Yeah," breathed Xena, as she got slowly to her feet, "Get your staff, and try to keep out of serious trouble ... don't get caught this time, huh?"

"Who me?" whispered the bard incredulously, giving Xena her most wide eyed innocent look.

"Yeah, yeah," muttered the Warrior Princess as she moved towards the fire to add some more wood to the flames, making the embers leap into renewed life and add some light to the clearing. Circling around the camp fire, she hunkered down next to Solari and told her quietly, "We've got visitors out there. They could be after Gabrielle, so keep an eye on her."

Solari looked at her with stoney implacability, acknowledging Xena with a bear movement of her head. She gave a signal that sent two of her scouts into the woods, the Amazons stealthily slipping between the trees like silent shadows.

"Any chance that you'll cut me lose and give me my weapons?" asked the Warrior Princess neutrally.

Solari gave her an unreadable look before replying, "Can we Amazons trust you, Xena?" she replied flatly, "How do I know that this isn't a trick of yours?"

"Forget it." Xena told her, disgust evident in her voice, "Just keep Gabrielle safe," she instructed in a tone like chiselled granite.

She was on edge. She could feel the presence of the intruders, and she knew that the Amazon's were far more concerned with keeping an eye on her, than in getting ready for an attack so deep into their territory. Xena flexed the muscles in her wrists, straining against the ropes, but knowing that they had been tied all too well. it was going to make the coming fight ... interesting, to say the least.

Ghostlike, one of Solari's scouts returned bringing the news of an imminent attack, but before any of the Amazons could consider cutting the Warrior Princess loose, or even decide whether it would be safe to do so, the undergrowth around the clearing erupted and spewed forth dozens of warriors, yelling war cries and brandishing weapons.

Caught at a disadvantage, the Amazons followed Solari's shouted order, "Protect Queen Gabrielle," leaving Xena outside the protective ring of their weapons and disadvantaged by her tied hands.

A warrior rushed towards her his sword held high. Xena ducked beneath his wild slash, and rolled away from him as he swung down at her, only to have his feet kicked out from under him as he did so. Xena sprang athletically to her feet, meeting another man with a double handed punch to the gut and a two fisted uppercut to the jaw that threw him backwards and his sword up in the air to land safely into her waiting hands. With no time to cut herself free, the Warrior Princess turned to face the charging mass, weaving a deadly arc with the blade to keep the warriors back.

The Amazons held a tight cordon around Gabrielle and Patroclese, with the pair mopping up any attackers that got past the Amazon defenders. Many of the sisters had taken wounds as they dealt back death to the warriors who were pressing to reach the bard, but so far none of the women had fallen.

Xena was beating back four warriors, when her sword was clubbed from her hands, leaving her weaponless, once more, in the face of the enemy. She swiftly remedied this with a slugging backhand blow to the nearest warrior, sending him sprawling into his comrades and taking them down into a confused bundle on the ground. As another man ran towards her with an upraised sword, Xena neatly sidestepped and grabbed his passing arm, slamming it down across her knee in two heavy blows that snapped the bone and sent the sword flying. A quick forward roll gave her the opportunity to grab the fallen blade from the ground and, on the upward roll, the momentum to execute a thrust under the ribs of a warrior just about to spit Solari.

Booting the warrior's body off of her weapon, Xena spun with a whipping high kick that struck an attacker across the side of his head and somersaulted him out of the action. Yelling out her ululating battlecry, Xena backflipped over the heads of those converging upon her and landed beside a newly fallen Amazon just in time to deflect the killing blow the soldier swung. A reverse thrust of her sword took out the warrior attempting to sneak up behind her, but as he fell the sword was twisted from her grip.

Swaying to one side, Xena avoided a sword thrust, grabbed the extended arm, spun under it and used the created torque to flip him out of her way into three rushing warriors. The move, however, left her open to attack from her flanks and three warriors leapt at her clubbing her down with fists. They all went down in a heap, but one man was ejected from the brawl with a double footed thrust that sent him skywards to land some distance away. As the two remaining warriors tried to haul the Warrior Princess to her feet, she pushed off hard from the ground, flipping over to break their grip on her and head butted one before back handing another.

A quick look assured her that Gabrielle was fine and in no danger, although the Amazons had lost two sisters, and a couple more looked badly hurt. A glance up, however, told her that the attacking warriors had had enough and were dragging their own wounded and dead back into the forest where they had come from.

Xena scanned the area with a professional eye to make sure that all sources of danger were gone and, only when she was satisfied on that point, did she start to make the rounds to check what needed to be done for the injured. Gabrielle and Patroclese were already moving amongst the Amazons doing what they could to patch them up.

Xena moved to the fallen girl, Alexa, who lay unmoving. Hampered by the ropes around her wrists, she had difficulty examining her. Noticing an abandoned dagger to her side, she started to reach for it, intending to cut herself loose, only to feel the cold steel of a sword blade against her neck. A glance over her shoulder revealed one of Solari's warrior's standing guard over her. Xena shook her head slightly in angry disbelief, before pushing the weapon aside and continuing her examination of Alexa. The girl had a variety of small wounds, none of them serious, except for the sword thrust through her side, "Patroclese," she called, "You better come here. She needs to have this wound cleaned and stitched before she loses much more blood or we'll lose her," she told him.

She looked up into Solari's eyes. The Amazon remained as dour as ever, but she grated out a, "Thanks," before turning back to check on the rest of her sisters.

Xena stood wearily and shook her head. She doubted that the warriors would be back for more, they'd taken quite a beating when they had probably felt they were going to get an easy victory. However, the rest of the night wouldn't be a comfortable one, with very few of them getting any sleep. But they stayed because the injured needed to rest and the group, as a whole, would be better off moving through the forest in daylight, rather than darkness.

Looking down at her wrists, Xena sighed. She'd be damned before she asked Solari to release her again, her pride wouldn't allow it. She hoped that she hadn't made a mistake in bringing Gabrielle to the Amazons, but in truth, the sisters were still the only people that she felt the bard would be safe with. Glancing at the alert Amazon guard behind her, Xena made her way over to where Gabrielle had laid out their sleeping furs and settled down, moodily, to get what rest she could.

The journey was not an easy one, even if short. Most of the Amazons were hurt, and they'd had to make travois litters to carry Alexa and one of the others. There were three dead that were wrapped in blankets and hung across the backs of the horses who also drew the litters. Xena remained bound, and the scouting party divided their attention between watching her and focussing their attention for another possible attack.

Word of the imminent arrival of the scouting party, and those that they were escorting, spread through the village at a pace that only such news can travel. It was also known that, before the party made their appearance, there were several injured amongst them, which meant that the Amazon healers were there to meet them as they limped into the crowds that had gathered for their arrival. The injured and dead were quickly spirited away, leaving Xena, Gabrielle and Patroclese surrounded by a large, inquisitive body of Amazon womanhood. Not all of the faces were hostile, but even the women who were usually friendly towards Xena looked concerned.

A disturbance at the back of the crowd, saw a gap open to allow Ephiny access to the new arrivals, before closing behind her as she passed through. The Queen Regent bowed her head to Gabrielle in formal greeting and then gave the younger woman a quick hug of friendship, before holding her out at arms length and with a smile declared, "Welcome home, my Queen."

Gabrielle returned the smile and was happy at the warmth of the greeting, but she shook her head slightly and said, "You're more the Amazon Queen than I am, Ephiny."

"Only until you return to take your rightful place," insisted the blonde Amazon.

"I'm just glad there's at least one friendly face here," the bard said pointedly, glancing around at the gathered Amazons and the group of guards that surrounded the Warrior Princess, before noticing that Ephiny's eyes hardened as she glanced over to where Xena stood.

As Ephiny observed Xena, a look of hostility edged onto her face, "Hello Xena," she greeted, noting that the warriors hands were bound, and making no move to extend her the friendly reception that she had given the bard.

"Ephiny," returned Xena neutrally.

"You aren't responsible for the scouts' injuries, are you?" coldness evident in her words and her eyes.

The warrior Princess returned the look with an arch of her eyebrow and an icy blue stare that would have frozen most people to the spot. Ephiny forced herself to maintain eye contact with the warrior. Xena had broken her arm when she had tried to defend Gabrielle, and had killed two sister Amazons. As Regent she had to appear strong in front of the Nation, she couldn't afford to seem to be intimidated ... even if she was!.

However, before Xena could make an answer to the question, Gabrielle jumped into the breach and stated, "Actually, I suppose I'm responsible."

The other woman's attention switched back to the bard as Ephiny exclaimed in disbelief, "You! ... But how?"

Gabrielle explained smoothly, "The warriors that attacked us were after me." - Well it wasn't exactly a lie. They might well have wanted Xena too, but they were definitely trying to take me as well. - "If it hadn't been for Xena, all of the sisters would be dead," she told her audience bluntly.

"Is that true?" Ephiny demanded of Solari.

Whatever opinions Solari may, or may not, have held about Xena, the woman had a deep abiding respect for the truth, and quickly verified Gabrielle's statement with, "She warned us that she 'heard' movements outside the camp," she affirmed and the added, "Even though she was bound, as she is now, and weaponless at the start of the fight, she managed to fight off the bulk of the attackers and, not only that, she also saved my life and Alexa's."

Ephiny gave Xena a mildly warmer look. The report of the attack, technically, should have been made in private, but by making it in open public, it gave a lot of Amazons something to think about, other than Xena's attack on the village. It also gave Ephiny something else to think about. However she quickly ordered the Amazons to go back about their business.

As the women dispersed, except for Solari and a guard of nine that included six archers, Ephiny invited Gabrielle, Xena and Patroclese to attend her, "Come with me," she said heading into the heart of the town. As they walked, they were all too aware of the stares that they, or more precisely Xena, was getting.

The silence hung around them like a cloak and, as was usual, it was Gabrielle who broke it, "How's Xenan?" she asked her friend. In a bid to find a neutral subject, she asked about Ephiny's son, named for Xena after the Warrior Princess had delivered him in a difficult birth that had threatened both mother and child's lives.

"Fine," enthused Ephiny, the proud mother, "he's getting bigger and stronger all the time and he's so like Phantes now. You'll have to see him later." She looked over to Xena, concern and coldness back in her features, "You know I have so much to thank you for there, Xena. But we have a big problem, here."

"Do tell," came the warrior's slightly sarcastic reply.

Ephiny chose to ignore the comment, although she did explain the problem, "When you smashed through the village last time, a lot of Amazons were hurt and two died. Charges were raised against you and, now that you're here, Amazon law is going to demand that you stand trial for your actions."

Xena casually answered, "You are supposing that I'd be willing to let you try me," she smiled darkly at the look that Ephiny gave her.

"Xena!" warned Gabrielle as the archers drew their bows and sighted on their prisoner, ready in case the Warrior Princess should attempt flight. Xena flicked the bard a look that said she was aware of the archers and of what she was doing. The bard was not reassured and turned to the blonde Amazon, "Ephiny," she remonstrated, "stop this. It's madness."

Ephiny looked at her friend, her Queen, and said with a tinge of sadness, "I can't Gabrielle. the charges have been laid. There is going to have to be a trial, and neither you nor I can stand against the law." She turned back to Xena and drew a breath, "Xena, you're going to have to stay in a cell until the trial."

"Oh, c'mon!" exploded an incensed bard, "Is that really necessary?"

"Hush, Gabrielle," Xena told her, "Don't worry. We'll work it out." Her icy gaze flickered across to Ephiny, "Won't we."

The blonde Amazon inclined her head slightly and answered, "Tomorrow. We'll organize the trial for the morning," she promised.

Xena swung to look at Solari, "Give my weapons to Gabrielle. I'll want to know where they are when I leave." That, of course, could have been taken in several ways, but at Ephiny's nod, Solari handed over the sword and assorted knives that the Warrior Princess normally carried about her person, Gabrielle already being in possession of the Chakram.

"Thanks," Xena drawled, "Now are you gonna show me to my 'room' or do you want me to find my own way there?"

Solari motioned for her to follow and led the Warrior Princess, and her escort, off to the town gaol, where she would be lodged for the night. Gabrielle watched them go, chewing her bottom lip in concern about how the whole situation was developing.

Turning back to Ephiny, she demanded, "This trial thing is a formality, right? I mean, there's no way that she can be found guilty of anything, right?" She was aware of the look of concern on Patroclese's features that must be a mirror to her own.

"There's a lot of hard feeling towards her, Gabrielle," the Amazon told her, "She's always had a hard core of enemies within the village who have resented what they see as outside interference in Amazon domestic issues, and those people have had a lot of time to stir up feeling against Xena. After what she did, even those who were friendly towards her doubt the wisdom of leaving her loose. She's just too damn unpredictable and violent."

"Is that what you feel, Eph?" the bard asked softly.

The curly haired Regent refused to look her friend in the eye, "Gabrielle, after what I saw her do .. after what she did to me and you ..." she shook her head, "I don't know if we can trust her anymore."

The bard put a hand out and pulled the Amazon to a halt, "What about all the good she's done for you and the Amazons as a people?" she asked quietly, "If it wasn't for Xena risking her life time and again for you, do you really think you'd still have an Amazon Nation?"

Ephiny shook the hand off, "I know, Gabrielle. I know. But isn't she as much a danger to us as those that she got rid of? I owe her a lot, but I have to think of the Amazons and what's best for them."

"Are you sure that's it?" asked the bard, misty green eyes boring into brown, "Are you sure that you're worried about the Nation and not just smarting over being bested by her so easily?" She saw the Regent wince.

"All right, I admit it, she embarrassed me. Broke my arm and trampled on my pride, but God's, Gabrielle! I can forgive her that .. I can, but what's going to stop her from doing that again? .. to you? to us?" questioned Ephiny intently.

"She can't make any promises, Eph, neither can I. But the circumstances were pretty unique and I doubt they'll ever happen again. I'll fill you in on all the painful sordid details, so you'll really know what happened," she told her friend, "Then I hope you'll judge Xena differently. She doesn't deserve your hostility .. she really was a victim of the whole thing."

Ephiny snorted derisively, "Oh yeah! You get dragged out of here behind a horse and Xena comes out of it the victim."

They turned and headed along the dirt streets, through the tight packed huts to where Gabrielle's own dwelling stood. The bard's lips tightened at her friend's comment, but she knew that pushing the matter wouldn't help, so changing the subject slightly, the bard asked, "What exactly happens at this trial?"

"A council of five elders will sit to hear the evidence." explained the Amazon, trying to adjust her perceptions and relegate her own anger from her thoughts, "The trouble is that everyone here knows, or thinks they know, exactly what happened that day. So, at the moment, things don't look good," explained the Amazon.

"What do you mean, 'things don't look good'?" demanded the bard angrily, "I thought there wasn't supposed to be a judgement until all the evidence was heard in a trial."

"Gabrielle," Ephiny explained patiently, "She killed Amazons. Our people want justice."

"I'm all for justice," agreed the bard, "I'm just not into lynch mobs and revenge mentalities!"

"Neither am I," agreed Ephiny, "That's why as Queen Regent, I'm going to appoint the most fair minded of the available elders. I can't sway their decision, but I can make sure that Xena gets a fair hearing."

"I suppose that's something," agreed the bard as they reached her hut, "Ephiny?" she asked, "Can you let me have some scrolls on Amazon law? I think it might be helpful if I know what's going on in the court."

Ephiny smiled warmly, "I'll bring some right over," she promised. "You should know, however," she told her friend, "that although you can't influence the trial as Queen, there's nothing to stop you taking the part as Xena's advocate. You know everything that happened, so you're in a unique position to draw the truth out. When all of the facts come out, it might just be enough to sway the elder's decision." She saw the look of hope spring onto the bard's face, "That's not a certainty," she warned, "but it's better than nothing."

"You're right," agreed the bard as the Amazon turned to go, "Ephiny," she said, "Thanks."

"For what," smiled the fair haired woman.

"For being a friend ... to me and Xena both," Gabrielle told her with feeling.

"I'll do the right thing, Gabrielle. Just don't expect too much of me. I've got a lot of bad thoughts to work through, but I'm willing to listen to what you have to say. Tell me about what happened when I find those scrolls for you, please?" Ephiny asked earnestly as she turned and headed off to find the law scrolls that the bard had requested.

Gabrielle opened the door to her house and motioned Patroclese to follow her inside.

- Here we go again! - thought the Warrior Princess as the cell door clanged shut behind her. They had stripped her of her leathers, giving her a simple white skirt and tunic in their place. The ropes had been replaced with manacles, her reputation doing her no favours in her treatment by the Amazons.

She took a slow perambulation around the room, inspecting the amenities. The cell was a large one, big enough to contain up to eight prisoners comfortably. As she had it to herself, she could please herself which bed she chose to use. She selected one at random and stretched out on it, deciding that she might as well get some rest, if she was going to be forced into inactivity anyway. She closed her eyes and her thoughts drifted back to the events between Solon's death and her and Gabrielle's reconciliation.

Nothing seemed clear about that time. She had been filled with rage and pain over the death of her son, but, the attack on the Amazon village was a total blur! All she had been aware of was the need to find and kill Gabrielle. The muddled images that came hazily to her mind could have been from any part of her blood soaked past; she couldn't connect them directly to what had happened here!

Thoughts of that tortured time filled her with despair as she relived the loss of Solon, yet again, and remembered just how close she had been to destroying the one truly good thing in her life; her friendship, her bond, with Gabrielle. - Get a grip, Xena! - she told herself sternly, - You don't have time for self pity. What happened, happened. It's in the past. Put it aside and get on with your life. -

She focussed on her present situation. As dungeons went, the Amazon gaol was far from the worst one she'd spent time in. She almost chuckled as she thought about just how many there'd been, before deciding that she might as well grab some sleep while she had the comfort of a bed. So, using the professional soldier's skill of resting whenever the opportunity presented itself, she put herself into an instant light sleep, closing her mind to her worries.

Outside, an Amazon guard took a peep through the grill into the cell, "Well," she said in surprise, "She really is a cool one!" she told her fellow guards.

"Probably thinks she's got nothing to worry about, being a friend of the Queen, and all," said another one spitefully.

"You know that our laws don't work like that, Demarris!" Solari admonished her. "The trial will be fair, and the elders will give true judgement. The Queen has no part in deciding the fate of the Warrior Princess."

Patroclese was feeling irritable and impatient. He'd had to stumble through the quagmire of problems that had assailed them ever since they had met up with the Amazons. He didn't really understand what was going on, or what had caused the problem in the first place. Gabrielle was pretty much uncommunicative about the whole thing .. he'd been sent out of the hut to get a meal when Ephiny had returned, and hadn't heard the tale of exactly what had transpired in the past. Now, as the bard worked her way through endless scrolls on Amazon law, he felt that he couldn't put his head outside the door because the Amazon's were suspicious of any man on their territory. His trip to the dining hall had been really nerve wracking.

He sat in a chair and fumed silently, until he couldn't stand it any longer and demanded, "Can't you do anything? I mean, you are the Amazon Queen. Surely your word has got to count for something here."

Gabrielle looked up from what she was reading and answered bluntly, "Technically, I have no say in this whatever. The Amazons brought in a law, many years ago, that removed all jurisdiction of trials from the Queen to prevent judgements based on favouritism, rather than the law."

"So you're just going to sit back and do nothing?", Patroclese sounded incredulous.

"Well," Gabrielle told him thoughtfully, "I can't do anything to influence how the Elders decide the case, but as Ephiny said, I can act as Xena's advocate." She looked a little abstracted as she added, "I'm sure that I can make the Amazons see some of the wider issues that were at play here."

"What issues?" asked the healer in exasperation. "What happened?"

Gabrielle had returned her attention back to the scrolls and was making some notes, "I don't have time to explain it all now, " she told him impatiently, "Wait for the trial tomorrow. You'll find out all about it then."

Patroclese rose from the chair in frustration, and moved across to the window where he watched the Amazon women going about their lives, "Did you get a look at the faces of some of those women?" he asked morosely, "They've already made up their minds about what the verdict should be." He turned back to look at the bard again and asked, "What's the penalty for what she did, if she's convicted?"

"The Elders have a fairly wide range of discretionary punishments that they can hand out." Gabrielle told him quietly, "They range from banishment to death."

"Death," whispered the healer in disbelief, "But they can't ...."

The bard did her best to calm the healer's fears, although her own doubts were clear to read in her eyes, "The Amazons are a fair people," she assured him, "Once they get all the facts, they'll let Xena go." She tapped a scroll thoughtfully, "Besides, if things go wrong, there might be another way out of this."

Patroclese looked a question at her, but Gabrielle just shrugged and told him, "Wait and see what happens tomorrow, before we start worrying about other ways to free her."

The trial was held in the Amazon meeting hall in the centre of the town. The hall had been built to house Amazon gatherings so that it was plenty big enough to hold everyone who wanted to attend .. which was close to being the whole local Amazon community, along with a few of those from farms that lay close by.

The court assembled about two candlemarks after the night's fast had been broken. Xena was brought into the hall, and the assembled Amazons took their seats on the benches provided. The Elders then entered and took their places on a raised dias, behind a long table at the far end of the hall. Xena sat with Gabrielle at a table immediately in front of them, with two guards standing directly behind the chained Warrior Princess. Tarelle, the prosecutor, sat at a second table to the left of the first.

As they waited for the court to come to order, Xena allowed a small, self mocking smile to flit over her face. Gabrielle caught the look and asked her friend, "What are you thinking?"

"Oh," replied Xena lightly, "Just that it seems we've been through something like this before."

The bard smiled back, "Well that turned out all right in the end," she reminded her friend.

"True," agreed Xena. "But I don't think that I'll be able to trick Ares into resurrecting the dead this time," she added. However, she felt comforted by the gentle squeeze that the bard gave her hand.

With everyone assembled, the hearing began. Tarelle, an Amazon who clearly stood with the anti-Xena faction, had been given the task as prosecutor of the charges, "The Amazon People charge Xena of Amphipolis, Warrior Princess of Calmai, Destroyer of Nations, with murder, grievous bodily harm and the abduction of Queen Gabrielle, with the intent to do murder upon her, and thereby commit treason against the Amazon people."

"Now wait a minute," declared Gabrielle hotly, standing up to contest the last part of the charges, "I have never sought to charge Xena with my abduction! And just how could she have committed treason? She's not an Amazon."

With a look to the Elders to gain their approval, the red haired Tarelle turned to the bard and said, "Forgive me, my Queen," it sounded almost as if she choked on that bit, "but you are the Queen of the Amazons and as such your person is part of the Amazon state. It is therefore within the people's right to bring the charge of abduction, because it was their Queen who was abducted."

Gabrielle looked a bit stunned about that, but she wasn't giving up on the charge of treason, "Look, even if the charge of abduction is admitted to the proceedings, there's no way that treason could or should be considered."

"On the contrary, Queen Gabrielle," Tarelle almost purred, "Xena is the Queen's Champion, and as such subject to the laws of treason."

"Tarelle is correct," contributed Elder Katanis, a raven haired woman with flecks of grey at her temples and a hardness to her face that seemed to speak of severity.

Amara, the Eldest, a white haired woman with an air of wise patience about her, made the first ruling, "The charges stand as presented. Tarelle," she instructed, "call your first witness.

"I call Ephiny, Queen Regent, to hold truth," stated Tarelle formally.

The blonde Amazon made her way from one of the front benches where she had been seated. Called to hold truth, all Amazon's were honour bound to give a true testimony of events they were questioned about. Ephiny stood stiffly as she faced Tarelle. Her talk with Gabrielle had led her to re-evaluate her opinions and position on the case.

"Were you present on the day of the attack?" asked the prosecutor.

"Yes," agreed the blonde.

"Did you see the accused in her attack on this village?" continued Tarelle.

"Yes," repeated Ephiny.

"Were you not attacked by Xena as you sought to protect Queen Gabrielle from a savage assault?"

"Yes, I was," agreed Ephiny and tried to add, "but it wasn't the Xe...."

"You've already agreed that it was Xena?" interrupted Tarelle.

"Yes, I know, but...." agreed the blonde Amazon, trying to clarify what she had seen.

"Well then, can you describe what happened?" pressed Tarelle relentlessly.

Ephiny had no choice but to describe how Xena had fought past her attempts to stop her, breaking her arm and attacking any Amazon that had stood in her way until she was able to get to Queen Gabrielle and remove her from the village by dragging her behind a fast moving horse.

"You saw Xena strike Mariss and Denara?" demanded the red haired prosecutor.

"Yes," agreed Ephiny quietly.

"And both of these sisters died of the wounds received from Xena's hand?" she pressed.

"Yes," agreed Ephiny almost reluctantly.

"And you also witnessed the brutal abduction of Queen Gabrielle?" persisted Tarelle.

"Yes," Ephiny stated once more to the hushed hall.

"Did Xena attempt to kill her, while here in the village?" demanded the prosecutor.

Ephiny bit her lip and stood quietly, reluctant to answer the question.

"You are under oath to answer truly," reminded Tarelle.

Ephiny looked an apology at both Xena and Gabrielle, "She threw her chakram at the Queen," she answered in a quiet voice.

"Xena is deadly accurate with this weapon, is she not?" asked the red head.

Ephiny nodded her reply.

"How is it she failed to hit the Queen?" she demanded.

"I deflected her aim," returned the blonde Regent softly.

"I have no further questions of this witness," Tarelle told the Elders.

"Do you have anything that you wish to ask Regent Ephiny, Queen Gabrielle?" asked Amara for the Elders.

Gabrielle rose from beside Xena and moved around in front of the table she had been seated at. Speaking to the Elders, Gabrielle began by saying, "I'd like to go back to the time a few days before the raid on the village took place."

"Is this relevant, Queen Gabrielle?" asked Sarelle, the youngest of the Elders serving as judge, a woman who looked young even though she had reached her fiftieth year.

"It's crucial to the whole event, Elder Sarelle," affirmed the bard seriously.

The Elders conferred quietly together for a few moments before Amara nodded her head and invited, "Please continue, my Queen."

Gabrielle turned to Ephiny who stood to one side of the dias, "I want to go back, before the day of the attack," she instructed her witness, "Can you tell the everyone of the events that took place at the Centaur gathering prior to Xena's alleged attack here on the village."

Ephiny outlined the events surrounding the appearance of Callisto and Hope amongst the Centaurs. She described the murder of Kaleipus and the battles that ensued, along with the many deaths and Xena's heroic part in limiting the damage and those deaths, finally defeating Callisto.

Tarelle, stood and objected to the relevance of the evidence being given, "The trial has been called to judge Xena's crimes against the Amazons, not to applaud her aid to a bunch of worthless animals."

That, drew a heated glare from Ephiny, who had married the Centaur, Phantes, and whose own son, Xenan, was a Centaur Prince. However, the Elder Amara, quickly quashed Tarelle's complaint with the statement, "To understand the instant we must look at the whole," and was backed up by nods of affirmation from the other Elders sitting in judgement.

Gabrielle returned to her questioning, while a fuming Tarelle returned to her seat once again, "And you say that Xena managed to save all the children at the gathering, including your own son, Xenan?"

"Yes," agreed Ephiny, "she particularly made certain the children were safe, as well as managing to ensure the safety of many of the adults as well."

Gabrielle had thought hard about the next questions. She moved behind the table until she stood behind the Warrior Princess and placed her hands firmly on her friends shoulders, partly as support, partly as a form of restraint. She knew that Xena's face was a blank mask, emotionless, expressionless. Her shields had come up as soon as Gabrielle had begun to trespass on the sensitive areas surrounding Solon's death. She also knew that raw pain still existed under that emotional barrier, because this was a topic that still seared her own feelings as well.

"Ephiny, a boy died in the centaur village .. the boy was Kaleipus' adopted son, Solon. Did you know that the boy was Xena's own son, given to be raised by the centaurs just shortly after his birth?" asked Gabrielle clearly, the question bringing a hum of speculation to the hall.

Ephiny shook her head, "At the time I didn't know that Xena had a son. She'd kept his existence a hard secret. It was only afterwards at the funeral pyre that I found out the truth," acknowledged the Regent.

Calming herself, Gabrielle looked at Ephiny and asked, "Do you know who killed Xena's son, Solon?" She tightened her grip on Xena's shoulders as she felt her tense beneath her hands.

"The daughter of Dahak, the child Hope," came Ephiny's quiet reply.

"Do you know who Dahak is?" questioned the bard.

Ephiny nodded and answered, "He's known as the Dark One. He is a god of ultimate evil and destruction, who seeks entry to our world and total dominion over it."

That produced a stir amongst the Amazons, most of whom had never even heard of the entity called Dahak.

Tarelle, stood once more, however, and demanded of the Elders, "Has this any relevance to Xena's slaying of our sisters, or her abduction of our Queen, or her treason? I have heard nothing to shed any light on the Warrior Princess's actions in mitigation of her offences."

The Elders conferred once more and then Amara spoke to Gabrielle, "Tarelle has a valid point. Testimony should be relevant to the charges."

"If you just give me but a moment or two," pleaded Gabrielle, "I'm sure the relevancy of this will become clear."

The Elders whispered together again before coming to a consensus that Amara pronounced, "Very well. You may have a little more time so that we may judge where this is going. But, my Queen, I hope that you are not trying to waste this tribunals time."

Thank you Elder Amara," acknowledged Gabrielle gratefully. She turned back to Ephiny, "Do you know who Hope's mother is?" she continued with a dogged determination, fighting her own feelings while trying to help Xena control hers.

"Yes," responded Ephiny quietly.

"Tell the Elders, and our sisters, please," instructed the bard.

Ephiny looked towards the table of Elders and said in a clear voice, "The mother of Hope was Queen Gabrielle." Surprised murmurs rippled around the hall at that revelation.

When the noise had quietened down, Gabrielle asked, "With your intimate knowledge of the events prior to the advent of the attack, would you say that Xena was deeply affected by grief and a sense that I had betrayed her?", she squeezed tightly on Xena's shoulders, knowing she must have hurt the still tender wound from the arrow at Menassos.

Ephiny licked her lips and hesitated before answering, "With the loss of her son, I think that Xena's grief may have unbalanced her reason. She could have believed you'd deliberately betrayed her."

"Ephiny, when the prosecutor asked you about the attack on the village, you tried to say something about Xena. Could you tell us what that was?" questioned the bard.

The Regent thought for a moment before answering, "It's just that when Xena was in front of me, she seemed like a totally different woman. Everything she said, did, the way she moved were all different from the woman I knew. It was as if she'd become a totally different person."

Gabrielle excused Ephiny as a witness and returned the floor to the prosecutor, "Thank you, Ephiny for your candour in this matter."

Tarelle called more witnesses to give evidence on the events that transpired in the village, basing her case upon the attack itself, without bothering to investigate the cause. In truth that was her task, but this was a far more complex situation that required, wisdom and compassion to fully understand all that had happened and how actions far removed from the Amazons had triggered the attack upon them that resulted in death and injury.

Gabrielle could not refute the evidence of the attack, but she did ask each of the witnesses whether Xena had attacked anyone first, or had only responded when Amazon's tried to attack or restrain her .. in other words acting in self defence. Yet she knew that to win the case, she would need to show something else to gain the Elder's judgement in Xena's favour.

With the end of the Amazon witnesses presenting evidence on the attack, the Elders stood and Amara spoke, "We have had a long morning of evidence, it is time to recess until after lunch. Take the prisoner back to her cell, if you please." The two guards grabbed Xena's arms and escorted her from the hall back to the gaol until the court resumed.

Pacing restlessly in her cell, Xena ignored the tray of food that Solari had brought in for her. The re-hashing of the events leading to Solon's death left her edgy, miserable and angry .. not at Gabrielle, but at the thought that the memories, of that difficult time, would be causing the bard as much pain as they did for her.

- Of course, I could end this right now, - she snorted at herself, jerking the links on the manacles, knowing that with just a little effort she would be able to snap them. - I could break out of here and ride away before any of them could stop me, - she told herself. - The only trouble is, that would hurt Gabrielle, and I've done more than enough damage there. -

She stopped pacing and slumped onto a cot, - It might actually be better this way. If the Amazon's decide to execute me, at least with my death Gabrielle will no longer have to fear Caesar coming after her. - she brooded.

Standing up she started to pace once more. She knew that it wasn't her time to die yet, that she had still much to do, so much to atone for, but she was growing tired of past mistakes, old as well as new, continually coming back to challenge her. - Is it any wonder that I'm ready to give up! - her mind shouted at her, - It would be the easy way out, - she told herself, then stopped dead still in the middle of the cell, - Since when have I ever gone for the easy anything? - she sneeringly asked herself, - C'mon, Xena! Snap out of this. You're just letting those events get to you! - she berated herself, and then more thoughtfully, - I just wish I could remember more of what really happened because, may the gods bear witness, everything that happened here is just some cloudy haze. -

She turned as the bolts on the door were drawn back and Solari appeared, "Recess is over. We have to get you back to the court now."

Dipping her head in acknowledgement, Xena preceded the guard commander out of the door and allowed the escort to conduct her back to the meeting house.

Upon resumption, Tarelle called the bard to the witness stand, "I call upon Gabrielle, Queen of the Amazons, to bear truth," she announced smugly.

As she stood up from her seat beside Xena, she gave her friend's arm a comforting squeeze, before walking calmly, head high, to the witness stand where she turned to face Tarelle and her first question.

"Queen Gabrielle, on the day of the attack against the town ..."

"Excuse me, but the attack was not aimed at either the Amazon's or the town. It was directed at me, personally and alone. It was unfortunate that other people were hurt and killed in the process, but it was not, and should not be described as an attack on Themiscyra and it's people," the bard corrected firmly.

"Perhaps I should remind you that under Amazon law you are the embodiment of the Amazon Nation and, therefore an attack on you is an attack on us," smirked Tarelle with assurance.

"Then I think I should ask the Elders to take under consideration the fact that I have a personal life away from the Amazons and these events stemmed from those, and had nothing to do with the Nation," protested Gabrielle again, turning towards where the Elders sat quietly listening.

"Your point is noted, my Queen," acknowledged Amara, "Now if you could please just answer the prosecutor's questions, we would appreciate it."

"Thank you, Elder," said Tarelle appreciatively.

"As you wish," answered the Amazon Queen simply having made her point.

Turning back to Gabrielle, Tarelle smirked and began once again, "Now on the day of the attack against the town and our people, where exactly were you?"

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "I was in the purification hut where I had been for three days, trying to ...."

"Just a statement of your location is sufficient, my Queen," purred Tarelle making the title sound like an insult. She saw the bard clench her fists and could see the knuckles whiten, "What happened when you heard the carnage taking place outside?" she questioned.

"Joxer had come into the hut to get me after hearing me cry out," Gabrielle remembered.

"Joxer?" questioned Elder Sarelle, who had not been in the town at the time of the attack.

"A male friend of both the defendant and the Queen," offered Tarelle in explanation.

"Very well," acknowledged Sarelle, "Please continue, my Queen."

Swallowing, and looking over Tarelle's shoulder to lock eyes with Xena, Gabrielle continued her narration, "I was weak from the purification ritual, and Joxer carried me outside to revive me. As he stepped through the door I could see there was trouble. Amazon's were attacking Xena, Ephiny was on the ground .. it was a scene from one of my nightmares," she ventured softly.

"What happened then?" prodded the prosecutor.

"I .. I .. don't remember," replied Gabrielle, very aware of the anguish in Xena's eyes as she struggled to recall exactly what had happened.

"Oh, come now, Queen Gabrielle, surely you're not asking us to believe that you can't remember the Destroyer of Nations throwing her chakram at you?" persisted Tarelle.

"I .. It's really not clear," stammered Gabrielle.

"Perhaps the memories, the memory of your best friend trying to kill you, hurts too much?" pushed the prosecutor, "Or perhaps it's what she did after, that you are having trouble reconciling as an act of friendship?" probed the red head relentlessly, "Are you telling this court that you remember nothing of what happened to you?"

"Leave her alone!" growled a voice that promised severe retribution if it was ignored. Xena was on her feet and moving across the floor before her guards realised what she was doing.

Tarelle rounded on her, showing either supreme bravery, or total stupidity, when she sneered, "What! The Warrior Princess seeks to protect the Amazon Queen! There's a turn up for the books. Or is it just that you believe only you have the privilege of inflicting severe physical damage upon her whenever it suits you ... and you alone!"

Having reached Gabrielle, the raven haired warrior rounded on the prosecutor, and the look that Tarelle saw on the Warrior Princess's face made her own blanche. With a furious wrench, Xena snapped the linking chain on her cuffs and bore down on Tarelle who, to give her her due, stood her ground, even though she looked terrified.

"No, Xena!" shouted the bard making a grab for her friend's arm as pandemonium erupted throughout the meeting hall, with guards rushing towards the scene of the confrontation, weapons levelled and ready to subdue the tall warrior.

Amara hammered thunderously with her gavel, trying to restore order before the whole affair turned into a riot, "Everyone stand still!" she roared with an amazing volume of lung power for an elderly woman.

Gabrielle pushed herself between Xena and Tarelle, and tried to use her body to shield her friend from the hostile guards. Knowing that, if she really wanted too, her friend could by-pass her restraining influence in a wide variety of ways to get to Tarelle. Instead she merely pressed forward until Gabrielle felt like the meat in a sandwich as the two squared up.

Ignoring everything that was going on around her, her eyes never breaking contact with the redhead, Xena's voice pitched down to a low threatening register and spoke words that only she, Tarelle and Gabrielle could hear above the noise, "You can say what you like about me, you can accuse me of whatever you want to, but don't you ever speak to her in that manner again!"

The prosecutor went as white as a ghost as she saw and read the undeniable menace in the Warrior Princess's eyes and knew that it wasn't an idle treat. She tried hard, but couldn't stop a convulsive swallow in a very dry throat.

"Be nice!" warned Xena in a deadly tone, "Or I won't be."

Seeing that the warrior was not physically threatening anyone, or trying to escape, the guards had enough sense not to charge in and make a tense situation turn deadly. While Solari snapped orders to the guards, Xena, having made her point, allowed Gabrielle to push her back away from the prosecutor, where members of the guard could surround their prisoner once more.

The bard turned to her friend and hissed in exasperated irritation, "That was plain dumb, Xena. You could have gotten yourself killed, and may have done our case all kinds of damage here."

Shrugging, the dark haired woman, looked down into her friend's eyes and told her, "She was attacking you, Gabrielle. Alright, not physically, but it was still an attack on you, on your position. I needed to let her know that it wasn't a viable option for her, okay," she quirked a smile, "I'm still Queen's champion and protector, remember?"

"Xena ..." began Gabrielle again, still angry and very concerned about the effect the outburst would have.

"Yell at me later, Gabrielle," the warrior told her calmly as she surveyed the shouting angry crowds as those supporting Tarelle demanded that action be taken against the Warrior Princess, while the Elders demanded order and Gabrielle's supporters railed against the way that Tarelle had badgered the Queen.

Finally, after a lot of shouting, threats, and a few outbreaks of physical violence, order was restored to the court, with several of the most vocal and belligerent Amazon's having been ejected from the meeting house by Solari's guards.

Her voice sounding a little ragged from all the shouting she'd been doing, Amara addressed the court, "Since we are nearing the time for the evening meal, and there is still a substantial amount of evidence to be heard as well as tempers to be cooled down, we have decided to adjourn for the day." She turned to Solari, "Take the prisoner back to the gaol."

With alert guards watching her every move, Xena allowed herself to be escorted from the meeting house, ignoring the catcalls and jeers that were thrown in her direction, idly twirling the broken chains hanging from her cuffs.

"As for you, Tarelle, and you, Queen Gabrielle, we'd like to have some words with you in the back chamber," Amara stated, while scribbling a hurried note, handing it to a guard, and quietly speaking a few directions. Noticing the bard's gaze following the prisoner and her escort, she reinforced her order with a curt, "Now."

Cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the dressing down she'd just received from the Elders, Gabrielle made her way quickly across town to where the thick stone walled gaol stood on a backstreet next to Royal Guard command headquarters. Amara and the other Elders had not been happy with the way that the court session had been forced to end; the bard was told plainly that she was expected to answer all questions put to her truthfully, without being influenced by friendship or personal concerns. She was Amazon Queen and it was time she behaved as such, and not some spoilt child!

Tarelle had looked smug at that, but she didn't get off lightly either. She was lectured about harassing and goading witnesses, the Queen in particular, and she was also warned that her belligerent attitude towards the defendant was far too personal. Amara had finally told her, "If you cannot remain objective about this task, we will replace you with someone who can."

Thoroughly chastened, the pair had finally been allowed out of the Elder's chambers and free to plan their strategies for the morrow's continuation of the trial. Gabrielle knew that she had to speak to Xena to try and work out some plan of action. She would try to fudge her evidence as much as possible, but she didn't want her friend getting protective when Tarelle pushed her. Outbursts like the one that had ended the day's session looked bad and made true the statement that the Warrior Princess couldn't control her temper and resorted to physical argument whenever it suited her.

As she reached the gaol, she saw Ephiny approaching with a large covered tray. She stood and waited by the door as the Regent caught her up, "Thought you'd be heading here when the Elders got through with you," she grinned rakishly, "Get a spanking did you?"

"Ephiny!" exclaimed the bard, "We're all mature women, not children."

"Well did you?" insisted the curly haired blonde.

Gabrielle gave her a version of Xena's 'look', but when it made no impression on her friend, she sighed and conceded, "A verbal one."

"Thought so," she grinned, "C'mon, lets get this food into Xena. I've brought enough for you as well, I don't think either one of you ate much at lunch. Solari said Xena didn't touch hers."

Gabrielle scowled as she held the heavy door open so Ephiny could get in, - If I don't watch her, she really doesn't take proper care of herself, - she thought.

"Open it up Solari," she heard the Regent saying, as she hurried along the gloomy corridor to catch up, "Gabrielle's right behind me and I want them both to eat this while it's hot."

There was the sound of a key turning in a lock and bolts being drawn back. As the bard entered the brightly lit cell, her searching eyes soon found Xena sitting moodily on her cot. She was pleased to note that the broken manacles had been removed and not replaced.

Ephiny set the tray down on the bed and then gave the warrior and bard a stern look, "Before either of you starts yelling at the other, you eat what's on that tray. If you don't agree to that, I'll have Solari bring the guards in here and force feed the pair of you .. I don't want you collapsing in court from starvation." she warned. She got a scowl from Xena and grin from Gabrielle, but she also got their agreement.

The Regent left them digging into the large pot of fish stew and fresh warm bread, and knew that they wouldn't be able to resist the soft crumbly cheese that the bard adored, nor the fruit that Xena favoured, - Well at least they'll have full stomachs to argue on, - she told herself as she watched Solari swing the door closed and lock it tight.

"Hey, you're head of the guards, Soli, what are you doing pulling this duty?" asked the blonde intrigued, knowing that her guard captain had plenty of people she could assign the task too.

Glancing through the door grill at the two occupants, Solari sighed and shrugged, "Xena's got an awful lot of sisters ready to try something stupid against her. Poni, Malonda and me figured that the best way to avoid that was to make sure one of us was always around her."

"I didn't realise things were that bad," muttered Ephiny, annoyed at herself.

"Well you've had your hands full with Gabrielle and arranging the trial," soothed the dark haired guard captain. "Poni figured that no one was going to try anything dumb if the three highest ranking officers in the guards were on duty."

The Regent nodded. Technically, Solari and Eponin were of equal rank, Solari as Guard Captain, Eponin as Weapons Master, but everyone knew that Poni was a wily campaigner and probably had more influence than the Guard Captain. Solari didn't mind or care, she knew she still had plenty she could learn from the other woman, and they were firm friends. Malonda was their protege and head of the Scouts. The pair of them were grooming the younger Amazon to fill in where they needed someone they could trust and who thought like them.

- It seems to be working pretty well, - acknowledged Ephiny to herself.

"Eph, what do we do about Xena tomorrow? I know she's your friend, but honestly, we can't have a repeat performance of what happened today in court," Solari ventured.

"Have we got any stronger shackles?" she asked.

"Nothing that would hold her if she was determined to bust them," responded the other woman, "Honestly, Eph, if she wanted to break out of here, there's absolutely nothing we could do to stop her.

"I know," answered the Regent, chewing her lip. "Amara sent me a message just before I brought that food over here .. I haven't had a chance to look at it, but I'm guessing it's about the same thing. I'll go look into it and see what we can come up with. Have someone sent round to Vallis at the smithy. Tell her to stay put, that I'll have an all night job for her. Tell her she'll need a couple of her apprentices as well."

"Sure thing, Eph," responded Solari as she watched the Regent leave.

They had eaten in silence. Xena had a dour expression on her face, knowing that she was going to get a lecture from Gabrielle about letting her fight her own battles. - Well too bad, bard! - she grumbled at herself, - I'm responsible for this. If I hadn't let my anger and rage get a grip on me the attack on the village would never have happened! - She squeezed her eyes shut trying to visualize the events, piecing things together from what she heard in court. She shook her head in exasperation. It was like a thick blanket of fog lay over the events and nothing seemed to shift it.

"Hey?" Gabrielle asked softly when she saw the looked of strained concentration on her friend's face.

Xena's eyes snapped open and she read concern in Gabrielle's eyes, "Hey yourself," she answered trying to keep the angry anxiety out of her voice.

"Wanna talk about it?" probed the bard gently brushing a stray wisp of hair away from the deep blue pools that had an unusually lost look in them.

Fighting the urge to jerk her head away from the touch, any touch, Xena shook her head, "When do I get the lecture?" she asked with a slight quirk to her lips as she sought to change the subject.

"What lecture?" questioned the honey blonde, a frown creasing her brow as she wondered, - Should I let her get away with avoiding my question like that? -

"The one where you tell me to let you fight your own battles .. that you're a grown woman and not a little girl any more .. that I could have gotten myself killed .. you know, that one." supplied the warrior with a lopsided grin.

"If you know what I'm going to say, then there's no need to say it," shrugged Gabrielle, deciding that she was far more concerned about what it really was on Xena's mind, "Now just what is it that's really bothering you?" she asked insistently.

Xena arched an eyebrow at her and growled, "You're not going to let this drop are you?"

"Nope. I'm your advocate, and I need to know what's going on if I'm going to get us out of this," she persisted.

Letting out a long sigh, and giving a small shrug, the Warrior Princess looked away from her friend and said softly, "It's really frustrating, Gabrielle. I listened to the evidence in that court today, and none of it was familiar. It was like I was never there." She looked absently at the wall as if willing the scene to be played out there for her, "I know it's me they're talking about. I remember all the anger, rage and frustration I felt after we .. after Solon ... well after that everything seems to get foggy."

"Xena," the bard spoke gently, "I know it's hard, and we've avoided talking about this because it hurts, but it's important we know now. Just what did you do when you left the centaurs?"

"Do?" she ran her strong fingers through her luxuriant black hair, "Gods, Gabrielle. I don't know. I think I just went off to mourn somewhere."

"Try to remember, Xena. It might help us sort out why you don't remember coming to Themiscyra and what happened here," pressed the blonde Queen carefully.

Chewing her lip, Xena tried to take herself back to the time after the funeral pyres, "I .. I left the village, and travelled north," her brow wrinkled in concentration as she struggled to replace missing time in her mind, "It was cold. I re .. remember snow? A mountain?" She shook her head in frustration, "Gods, Gabrielle," these could be memories from any time!"

The bard looked at her with pleading eyes, "Keep trying, Xena. I know we're getting somewhere. You just have to keep trying."

The warrior pulled in another deep breath and concentrated on the cold, on the mountain, on the snow, "My heart felt as if it had been shattered then crushed," she said in a small quiet voice, the pain of the memories was causing her head to hurt, and it almost felt as if a wall had been erected around those memories to keep her out.

Concentrating hard, sweat beginning to bead on her brow as she fought the building pain and hammered against the stubborn wall. "I found the highest place I could to sing Solon to rest, but my song was filled with the screams of my soul. I was alone again, everything had been a betrayal, I'd lost my son and my best friend ... and ... and then," her eyes snapped open full of fiery rage.

"What?" demanded the blonde anxiously, "what happened, Xena?"

"Ares," the warrior breathed the name like a curse, "Ares came."

Images now flooded into her mind. She felt again the crushing ache that she had felt upon that frozen mountaintop and she knew that Ares had worked on that, on her maternal instincts and the hate that had sprung up, like black bile, to infect her mind, her whole being! He had twisted the knife with the delicate precision of the master tormentor that he was, and she had responded with the murderous rage that had needed Gabrielle's blood to satisfy it.

"Xena?" there was a worried edge to the bard's tone, "What about Ares? What did he do?"

Turning her haunted gaze back to the Amazon Queen, the warrior said in a whisper almost too soft to hear, "I'm so sorry, Gabrielle .. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," the bard tried to soothe her, "It's over, I forgave you long ago."

"I never realised," the dark haired woman choked, "I didn't remember." A single tear rolled down her cheek, "How could I have done that?"

Trying to turn Xena's thoughts away from the harrowing personal attack on her, Gabrielle attempted to get her to focus on Ares, "What happened with Ares, Xena. What did he say? What did he do?"

And so she told her. Haltingly and with much pain filled self-recrimination .. she told the bard all of it, and felt the full weight of what she had done slam into her with a sickening reality that burned her fragile soul.

Morning came early at the gaol. Vallis, the smith, turned up at first light with one of the items she had been working through the night on, "Need to check the fitting on this," she told Malonda who'd had headed the early hour watch. "She likely to cause any trouble?"

"She hasn't so far," shrugged the black haired warrior, her eyes roving over the metal in the chunky smith's hand, "I'll have some guards in there with you, though just in case." Taking the key to the cell from her belt, Malonda turned it in the lock and pulled back the heavy bolts at the top and bottom of the door. Signalling four of the guard detail to follow, she motioned Vallis to proceed her into the cell. They found Xena sitting up awaiting them.

After Gabrielle had left the previous evening, the Warrior Princess had spent a troubled, restless, night when all the memories, that had been clouded by Ares interference, had jumped, with sharp detail, into her vivid nightmares. Several times she had woken in a cold sweat, her raven bangs plastered to her forehead. After the fifth time, she had resolved not to sleep any more that night. She was, therefore, wide awake, and beginning to get restless, when she heard the door being unlocked.

She frowned slightly at the unexpected appearance of the smith, and more so when Malonda and her guards all entered the cell. The black mood induced by a poor night's rest was not making her feel very sociable. She wouldn't pick a fight, but that didn't mean she had to be friendly.

The Amazons, almost immediately, felt the dark shroud that Xena had enveloped herself with. The last watch had warned them that she had been having a restless night, but they'd only heard her thrashing and moaning on one occasion during their watch, so had figured that she'd worked her way through whatever was tormenting her. Obviously she hadn't, they now realised.

"I need to check these have been sized right," Vallis growled without preamble, holding out a strange set of restraints.

Xena eyed them appraisingly. The cuffs were shaped pretty much in the fashion of her bracers, not as long, but tapered to fit snug around the wrist and broaden further up the arm to a comfortable fit, they looked heavy and solid. The restraint between the cuffs was a six inch long, one inch diameter, bar of steel. She wasn't surprised that they'd come up with it after the ease with which she had snapped the shackles the previous day.

"Hold your wrists out," grumbled the smith who looked tired and red eyed from a long night's work over her forge.

Arching an eyebrow at the bluff middle aged woman who seemed almost disdainful of her much vaunted, savage, reputation, Xena had to swallow a grin that wanted to emerge and ruin her black mood. She held out her hands, instead, in fists clenched, palms turned up.

Vallis gave the warrior an amused quirk of her lips. She liked Xena under normal circumstances. The woman was a true warrior, an Amazon in every sense of the word, except her only known connection to their people was through Queen Gabrielle as her champion. However she had seen the miracles that the Warrior Princess had worked on their behalf, more than once, and felt it to be a pity that a brief spurt of mindless violence had brought them all to this pass now.

Giving her head an almost imperceptible shake, she locked the unusual manacles around the prisoner's wrists, checking to make sure that they weren't loose enough to wriggle out of, nor so tight that they would chafe, "Seems a pretty good fit," nodded the smith, taking pride in her work, "If she breaks out of those I haven't got anything stronger that could hold her." She told Malonda as she produced a key to unlock them.

"Don't worry about taking them off, Vallis," Malonda told her touching her arm lightly, "Everyone will feel better if she's under restraint and the court will be sitting again soon, so it'll save us having to put them back on her."

There was something in Malonda's tone that Xena took exception too and she stood in a smooth, menacing, movement that had all the guards tensing in readiness for a fight. Ignoring them, the Warrior Princess turned frosty eyes on the head scout and told her in a low frigid voice, "You got a problem with me?"

"The Amazons have a problem with you, Xena. I'm just doing my job," the warrior replied with a irritated snap in her tone.

"Don't push me, Malonda. I'm not in the mood," warned the raven haired woman, her words resonating ominously.

Malonda looked like she might try and make more of it, but Vallis intercepted her with a strong grip on the other Amazon's arm and pulled her towards the door, "Cut it out Malonda," she told the woman firmly, "what's gotten into you," she chided gruffly, as everyone exited the cell with the door clanging shut behind them.

Xena watched tensely until she was alone, before examining the manacles closely. They were sturdily made and well finished with all the rough edges smoothed to make them as comfortable as possible. Testing the strength of her fetters, she slowly flexed her muscles to see if she could make an impression on that solid bar of metal.

A wry grin edged onto her face as she recognised that these particular manacles were far beyond her strength to deal with, - Might even give Hercules a run for his money, - she mused. - Well Vallis is certainly a craftswoman. Maybe I'll get her to re-shoe Argo before leaving here ... if I'm not having to make a run for it! - she brooded.

Gabrielle had intended to wake at dawn so that she could fit in a visit to the gaol, before the court resumed session after the town broke it's fast. However, early rising had never been the bard's forte and, when her grudging eyes did crack open, she realised that not only wouldn't she have time to visit with Xena, she wasn't going to get a chance to eat before having to endure another day of the trial.

"Oh Zeus!" she swore, as she scrambled out of her bed and struggled into her ceremonial dress with growing agitation over the vast array of clasps and beads that seemed to have minds of their own. She was ready to make a bolt for the communal dining room to grab some bread and cheese, knowing that her stomach would perform a good imitation of Amazon war drums if she didn't, when a light tap at the door brought her up short, "Come in," she invited, trying to sound composed and regal.

Ephiny edged the door open and she carried a tray with her that gave off delightful aromas of fresh baked bread and sharp goats cheese, "Ready for breakfast?" asked the tired looking Regent with a grin.

"Eph, are you bored with being Regent?" demanded Gabrielle as she twitched the tray cloth aside to reveal a bowl of cereal and several pieces of fruit in addition to the bread and cheese.

Looking startled the curly haired woman answered, "No .. why?"

Her Queen grinned and returned, "Well you seem to be looking for a career in catering."

"Gabrie ..." Ephiny tried to interrupt.

"If you'd just woken me earlier we could have gone over to the dining room together," - And I could have taken some time to see Xena, - thought the bard as she continued, "But you really seem dedicated to becoming a waitress." She teased, trying to take her mind off the trial.

"You needed to sleep," objected the Regent testily, having spent all but two candlemarks of the night awake, supervising arrangements to ensure that the Warrior Princess didn't get out of control again .. as much for her safety as for the Amazons. "I thought you'd appreciate something to eat before the court sits again, but then again, perhaps that legendary appetite of yours is really a myth."

The bard's stomach chose that moment to rumble and caused both women to grin in response. Taking a chunk of bread and a wedge of the cheese, the young Queen studied her Regent, noted the irritability and saw the tense tiredness in her friend so asked, "Eph, did you get any sleep last night?"

"Some," she replied, "I had a lot to do."

"What?" inquired the bard flatly.

"The Elders instructed me to find a way to make sure that Xena doesn't disrupt proceedings like she did yesterday. I've spent the night overseeing those preparations." the Regent told her with a shrug.

"What preparations, Ephiny," demanded her Queen even though she had known it something was likely to be done.

"I've had Vallis make up some special shackles that even Xena shouldn't be able to break. Don't look at me like that, Gabrielle," she warned aware of the black scowl on the bard's face, "I was under instruction from the Council of Elders and I had no choice. Besides it's as much for Xena's good as anyone's. We've got a lot of twitchy sisters looking for the chance to get a crack at the Warrior Princess, and I don't want any accidents."

"So chain her up like some animal, so that if some hot head takes it upon them self to exact revenge she won't be able to defend herself!" roared the bard in a livid tone hating the thought of Xena shackled at the best of times.

"C'mon, Gabrielle! You know there will be plenty of guards to protect her," Ephiny tried to reassure her friend.

"Yeah! But who's gonna protect her from the guards?" the Queen wanted to know, aware that the comment was petulant and unfair.

The Regent's face went white upon hearing the insult to the Royal Guards. In a quiet angry voice she said, "The guards are loyal to the throne, your majesty, and would die before they allowed anyone to harm your champion while in their charge."

Gabrielle was pulled up short, as much by the formality of the words as by what the other woman had said. Taking a deep shuddering breath, the bard turned to her friend apologetically and said softly, "I'm sorry, Eph. This whole trial thing has got me on edge." - Oh Gods! - she thought, her eyes widening in realisation.

"The trial!" they blurted in unison, as they scrambled for the door, Gabrielle snagging another, still warm, bread roll as she hurried after the Regent.

They just managed to beat the entrance of the Elders, hurrying with undignified haste that made Gabrielle want to giggle at the image of the Queen and her Regent rushing around like adolescent schoolgirls. Flushed with amusement and embarrassment, she didn't at first notice that Xena was sitting with a face like a thunder cloud.

"Hey," the bard said sitting down next to her friend, "How're you doing?" Getting no reply, she looked more carefully at the raven haired warrior and noticed the tense lines of anger on her face, "Xena?" she questioned quietly. She glanced at the unusual manacles that imprisoned the Warrior Princess' wrists and sighed. "We knew that they'd have to come up with something to try and hold you," she said soothingly, forcing her own anger about the shackles into the back of her mind. "We discussed it last night and you were fine about it then." She didn't bother to add that she'd just had a row with Ephiny about the very same thing that had her friend seething.

Xena glared at her, "I don't mind these," she raised her hands a little to emphasise the fetters, "Well I do, but it's no more than I expected." she snarled, "What I object to is being staked out like some sacrificial goat!"

"What?" questioned the bard, not really understanding.

"Take a look under the table, Gabrielle," growled Xena angrily.

The honey blonde, young, woman leaned back in her seat and pursed her lips. Xena's ankles were trapped into a device that looked very much like the manacles she wore on her wrists; same tapered cuffs secured to an eighteen inch long, inch thick bar of metal that was in turn fixed firmly to the planking of the floor. It was pretty certain that while locked into that, her friend would not be able to leave the vicinity of her seat.

"Calm down Xena," the bard said soothingly. "The Elders don't want a repeat of you disrupting proceedings, that's all. After yesterday's little demonstration, we can hardly blame them, and you knew that they would do something to avoid a repeat performance."

The Warrior Princess glowered at her, but finally, grudgingly admitted, "I suppose so .. it's just that I don't like being helpless, you know that."

"Xena," Gabrielle told her seriously, "They could wrap your entire body in chains, stuff you in a sack and lock you in a cage and you still wouldn't be helpless."

That forced the shadow of a smile onto the warrior's lips, "Only you'd say something like that, my bard."

"Oh, no, no, no!" Gabrielle retorted, "Most of your hardened enemies say that!"

"Hmph!" snorted Xena, finally cajoled out of her bad mood, "I just wish I knew who dreamed up these little joys," she grumbled, although her heart was no longer in it.

"Erm ..." answered the bard unwillingly, "Actually I think it was Ephiny."

"Eph!" snapped Xena a little louder than she should, drawing the Regent's attention. She gave the blonde a cold look that had the Amazon running her fingers through her unruly mane in agitation, "Remind me to have a word with Ephiny about this sometime."

"Oh gods, Xena!" hissed Gabrielle as she lightly slapped her friend's arm, "She was ordered to find someway of restraining you by the Elders. She didn't have a choice and she's been up all night working out the best way to do it so that it's as unobtrusive as possible, so give her some slack here," she chided. Xena just looked at her stonily.

As the Elders settled into place, the court came to order and Amara addressed everyone, particularly directing her remarks to Gabrielle, Tarelle and of course, Xena, "After the scenes yesterday, I hope that everyone understands that we will not tolerate any more such antics .. from anyone," her grey eyes swept the hall to include the assembled Amazons.

Getting no disagreements, - Not that I expected any, - thought the Eldest grimly, - Not if they all know what's good for them, anyway. - Amara turned to Tarelle and asked, "Do you wish to continue with your examination of the Queen?"

The prosecutor stood and answered with a firm, though respectful, "Yes if it pleases the court."

"Just make sure that you don't get too enthusiastic in your questioning, Tarelle," warned Borayne, a dour Elder with a red thatch of hair that had been liberally sprinkled with the grey of age. She had the reputation of speaking rarely and only when she had a clear point to make. Tarelle, knew it was a warning that the Elders didn't intend to have their patience stretched.

At Amara's invitation, Gabrielle resumed her place on the witness stand and waited for Tarelle's first question which, as expected, resumed at the point where the proceedings had been disturbed by an angry Warrior Princess out to protect her best friend.

"My Queen," began the prosecutor with a vicious smirk, "I believe you were about to tell us what happened to you when you emerged from the purification hut." Gabrielle looked at her in silence, "Queen Gabrielle?" pressed Tarelle, although not forcefully, "What did you see when you came out of the purification hut?"

Reluctantly, Gabrielle responded, "I saw Xena surrounded by Amazons, with Ephiny on the ground before her."

"And what happened next?" continued Tarelle who noticed the grimace that flitted across the young Queen's face as she remembered.

"Xena went to throw the chakram towards me, but Ephiny disrupted her aim." she answered flatly.

"What happened then," persisted the red haired prosecutor who was enjoying seeing her Queen squirm as she incriminated her proud, deadly, champion.

"Ephiny shouted out for Joxer to run, but Xena caught up with us. Joxer tried to protect me, but was knocked down and then Xena used the whip to snag my feet." Gabrielle's voice was toneless and her eyes were on the Warrior Princess who's sapphire eyes seemed haunted by the freshly raw memories. The bard forced a quirk of her lips as encouragement for her friend.

"Please tell us of the events that followed," invited Tarelle, who'd seen the brief smile and had taken the chance for a quick look at Xena who seemed discomforted by what was being revealed, - Your turn soon, Warrior Princess, - she silently snarled.

"There isn't a lot I can tell," shrugged Gabrielle uncomfortably. "Xena dragged me behind a horse. I lost consciousness somewhere on the journey. I came to on a cliff. We struggled and I took us over that cliff, intending to kill us both."

There was a hushed gasp that traveled around the meeting hall as the Amazons registered what their Queen had said. None of them had known about the events on the cliff. They knew that the Queen and her champion had disappeared from there, but any fall from that height should have killed both of them.

Waiting for silence to return to the court, Tarelle thought furiously what she should say next. She didn't want to press matters here; Xena's attempt at dragging their Queen to death had pretty much been covered. The last thing she wanted was to get into the sticky mire of Gabrielle's attempting to kill the Warrior Princess. She decided that she'd covered everything necessary here. When the noise finally abated she said simply, "I have no further questions for this witness."

"My Queen?" invited Amara.

Gabrielle turned to the Elders saying, "Since I can hardly question myself," that drew some chuckles from the crowd, "I'd like to make a statement at this point, to clarify some of the things that happened that were the root cause of the deaths of our Amazon sisters, and what happened to me."

Elder Amara looked at the other Elders to gain the agreed consensus before replying, "Please make your statement, Queen Gabrielle."

The bard composed her thoughts carefully. She knew that this was going to hurt both her and Xena, and had to steel herself for the ordeal that she felt would be like thrusting her hand into a furnace, "Some months ago," she began, " Xena and I travelled to Britannia to help Queen Boadicea in her fight against Caesar and his Roman Legions. While we were there, I became interested in a religion that pretended to goodness, whilst really being the worship of ultimate evil ... Dahak."

She paused to collect her thoughts, knowing that her expression was grim. A glance at Xena's face showed that it was set in stone, but the bard was well aware that violent emotions churned beneath the surface, "Xena rescued me from Dahak's altar, but not before he had planted his seed in me." Gabrielle smiled wanly at the Warrior Princess, reliving the terrifying ordeal that Xena had risked her life to rescue her from.

"Within days I gave birth to a baby girl, Hope. Obviously my pregnancy was far from normal, but the father was a god and who knows what is normal to them." She explained to the assembly, "I thought that she was the most perfect, beautiful child that had ever been born and, against all the evidence to the contrary, I was convinced that she was an innocent ... she was, after all, my daughter.

"Xena, however, was convinced that Hope was the embodiment of evil. Her father's gateway into our world. She was certain that Hope had strangled a young warrior who was helping to protect us. He was good and kind and the only people in that room had been me, Xena and Hope. Xena accused my child and prepared to thrust her sword through her. My best friend wanted to kill my baby!" She heard Xena's knuckles begin to crack as her fists clenched tighter at the recollection of the memories and the angry mutters of the Amazons at the callousness of the Warrior Princess.

"I managed to escape with Hope, who was growing at an amazing rate, and eventually, when I knew that I'd never be able to lose Xena, I tricked her into believing that I had thrown Hope off of a cliff. Abandoning my child," she said quietly, "was the only way I had of ensuring her safety."

All eyes were on the Amazon Queen and the Warrior Princess. The suffering and anguish were clear to those who cared to read the signs. The powerful emotions played clearly on Gabrielle's expressive face, while Xena's stone faced blankness could not hide the rigid tenseness that her body language displayed.

Swallowing hard, Gabrielle forced herself to continue, "Some moons later, Hope, no longer a baby, but a growing child, turned up here and freed Callisto from the lava pit where Xena had sealed her and Valesca. An act of evilness in itself," the bard explained. "But, when I found Hope again, all I saw was my beautiful child. Not the daughter of Dahak, the Daughter of Darkness. My blindness to what her father was, and who she was, led to the death of Solon, a truly innocent and good child. And not only him, but others too. There could have been so many more deaths if it hadn't been for Xena!" she declared passionately.

She looked up at Amara and told her, "I poisoned Hope, but it was too late for Solon, and Xena's grief was all the deeper because she had never told him that she was his mother."

Taking a deep breath and allowing the listeners to digest the story she had told them, she then began to explain how these events had lead to the deaths of Amazons, "With emotions twisted into tatters, it was the perfect time for Ares to return to reclaim his Warrior Princess," she told them. "All here know how much the God of War want's Xena, the Destroyer of Nations, to return to his flock.

"He went to Xena and tugged at her frayed emotions, playing on the hatred she felt towards me because of Hope. My deception in Britannia and the end result of Solon's death earned the hatred that was driving Xena at that time, and Ares used that to warp her judgement. She was in no mental condition to fight against Ares' arguments and clever blandishments. He used everything in his armoury to turn her back to her dark side and sent her here to kill me. Not only that, but his interference wiped her memory of these events and we were only able to break through those blocks last night. Needless to say, Xena is suffering through these revelations, the more so since to her they are a fresh, new, wound."

There wasn't a sound in the hall as the Amazon's waited to hear what the bard had to say next, "Well," she continued, "you can see Ares plan worked ... for a while. Xena raided the village, killing and injuring Amazons without really knowing what she was doing. That she eventually regained her senses is shown by the fact that I'm here alive to tell you this story. And the point of me telling you all of this?" she asked rhetorically, "The point is that, if you must blame anyone for the deaths of our Amazon sisters, you could try Ares. Or should Amazon justice require a mortal culprit, then I really am more to blame than Xena is," she finished quietly.

Loud clamouring erupted throughout the hall, but one voice cut clearly across all of the noise, "No! Gabrielle! It was not your fault!" Xena shouted as she pushed the table away so that she could get to her feet, only to be restrained by two Amazon guards.

Gabrielle shot a pleading look at her friend, who appeared ready to do something reckless to the guards, "No Xena," she pleaded, "just let me do this my way. It's something I need to do. Something I have to do." She waited tensely until the Warrior Princess subsided and sank grudgingly back into her chair with the table drawn up in front of her again and the two guards each standing with a hand on a shoulder.

Xena could feel the urgency in the bard's voice and, although it hurt her to allow Gabrielle to try and shoulder the blame, she understood her need to do so. Forcing herself to relax, she allowed bard to continue to handle the situation in the way she chose.

As the noise in the hall gradually abated, the young Queen faced the Elders and declared, "There is no way that I can deny that Xena attacked this village killing and harming sisters. I cannot deny that she took me from here against my will. What I am telling you is that she was not in control of herself. Grief, and Ares, manipulated her actions. She was not responsible for what happened. She was a tool, a pawn, if you like, in the hands of a God."

Tarelle rose to her feet and heatedly shouted, "That's no defence, to hide behind the coattails of a God. She committed the acts. She should suffer the penalty for her actions."

Against restraining hands, Xena forced herself to her feet once more, a deadly look in her eye, her voice the whisper of Tartarus, "I hide behind no man or God!" she declared.

Pandemonium broke out in the meeting hall as the Amazons started to yell the arguments for the side they backed. Gabrielle moved quickly to Xena's side and hissed, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I won't be accused of cowardice, Gabrielle. I face up to my responsibilities," Xena told her bleakly.

"Just go along with me," pleaded Gabrielle. "Don't let Tarelle get to you. If she pulls you down, her faction won't be long in coming after Ephiny and me." It wasn't exactly fair to use that argument, but it got Xena's attention and a grudging nod of compliance.

With a storm of words raging through the hall, the Elders ordered Solari and her guards to restore order within the chamber so that the hearing could continue. When silence had been finally achieved, Elder Amara asked Tarelle, "Do you wish to ask Queen Gabrielle any more questions?"

"No Elder," the prosecutor replied smugly, "I do not believe that Queen Gabrielle's testimony has any baring on this case."

Elder Katanis looked up sharply and reprimanded Tarelle, "That is not your decision to make Prosecutor. Only the Elder's may decide what is relevant to this case." Tarelle bowed in submission and resumed her seat. Only a twitch at the corner of her mouth showed her annoyance at being spoken to so.

"Thank you Queen Gabrielle," Amara smiled at the young ruler, "Your statement has been most illuminating." She turned to Tarelle, "You may call your next witness, prosecutor."

Tarelle arose and said in a clear, gleeful voice, "I call upon Xena of Amphipolis to hold truth!"

The silence in the meeting house was deafening until Gabrielle stood up and growled, "Now wait a minute! Defendants are not required to testify, unless they chose to do so, under Greek Law."

The red haired prosecutor smirked, "But this trial is being conducted under Amazon law, my Queen, and under Amazon Law I have the right to call anyone as a witness, including the accused. I therefore exercise my right under law to call Xena of Amphipolis to hold truth ... if she's capable of it." she added snidely, almost too quietly to be heard.

The Warrior Princess, though, with her remarkable hearing, heard and stiffened perceptively. Gabrielle heard and shot a murderous glare at Tarelle. Most surprisingly, Elder Sarelle heard the comment and glowered, before having a hurried, whispered, conversation with the other Elders whose face's also turned stormy.

Amara cleared her throat and spoke first to the bard, "Tarelle is right about the law, my Queen. She has the right to call Xena as a witness and may do so," her grey eyes were coldly angry as she turned them on Tarelle, "once she has apologised for the unnecessary, and insulting comment she just made, that demeans the Warrior Princess' honour."

The prosecutor had gone rigid with anger and all colour had drained from her cheeks at Amara's words. Her comment had been meant only for Xena's legendary hearing and maybe the upstart Queen's, if her ears were sharp enough. She had never expected her words to be picked up by the Elders. She was well aware of the loud buzz of speculation in the background, as her fellow Amazons discussed just what kind of comment the redhead had made.

Slowly, under the scrutiny of everyone in the room, Tarelle stood and turned towards the table where Xena was seated. Her furious grey-green eyes bored into the raven haired woman's before she forced herself to mouth the required apology, "I'm sorry for any aspersion that I cast upon your honour," saying it in a flat monotone that carried no conviction whatsoever.

The Warrior princess made a slight bow of her head towards the Elders for their intervention and then ignored the event while, once again, a loud buzz of speculation filled the halls as Amazons again wondered about exactly what had been said.

Amara regained the attention of the packed court when she continued, "Due to implemented safety measures, this Council of Elders feels that it would be more suitable for Xena of Amphipolis to give her evidence from where she is seated. Therefore if you'd care to begin, Prosecutor Tarelle?"

The red head had managed in that short time to pull herself together and was ready once again to wage war upon the Warrior Princess, "You are Xena of Amphipolis?" she questioned as she stood up and moved before the warrior.

"Yes," replied the raven haired woman in a cool, clear voice. "Is it not true that you have other, far less innocuous names?"

The question was met with silence.

"Come now, do you dispute that you are known as the Warrior Princess?" charged Tarelle belligerently.

"No," came the flat answer.

"Or the Destroyer of Nations?" continued the prosecutor detecting a subtle flicker of pain in the other woman's eyes.

"No," came the reply once again, flatly said with no emotion to be heard in her inflection.

"Can you tell the court how your acquired these names .. these titles?" sneered Tarelle getting into the swing of her attack.

Gabrielle jumped to her feet and appealed to the Elders, "I object. These questions don't have any baring on what happened."

"I disagree," responded the prosecutor promptly, "The Queen is the one who has insisted upon bringing evidence from the past into consideration, and the Warlord past of Xena of Amphipolis goes a long way to showing that her actions here, within the bounds of Themiscyra, were far from a one off abhoration in her life."

"But she's no longer that person," persisted the bard, "She's changed so much in the last four summers. It's hardly fair to judge her actions by what happened so long ago."

The Elders conferred for several moments before Amara turned back to them with a decision, "We will allow this line of questioning. However much she's changed, the Xena of then and now is still the same person and the latitude we allowed you, my Queen, must be allowed to the prosecutor also."

"Just make sure that your questions are to the point, prosecutor," Elder Borayne interjected.

Tarelle gave a short bow towards the Elder's bench before turning back in time to see Gabrielle return to her seat with a disappointed look on her face. Not bothering to hide a grin of triumph she returned to her question, "So how did you earn those titles?"

There was a long stretch of silence as the whole meeting house waited to hear what Xena would say. Just when it looked as if the Warrior Princess had no intention of answering the question, she gave a soft sigh and said simply, "I was a warlord for ten years. In that time I acquired many names and titles. Those two are the most well known. There were many more, mostly in foreign languages."

"You were a warlord?" prodded Tarelle.

"I have admitted so, yes," agreed Xena.

"And as a warlord you did what? Help farmers? protect villages? What?" pushed the prosecutor.

Xena glared at her before answering in a cold, distant voice, "I led a god's be damned successful army that conquered territory and the cities, towns and villages within those territories."

Tarelle nodded thoughtfully, "You ravaged the land?"

"My army did, yes," conceded the warrior.

"Ah, your army!" the prosecutor repeated as if stunned by the insight. She looked Xena full in the face, "So your army did the things you directed? You didn't participate in the fighting at all?"

"I was the leader," she took a deep breath and added, "I usually led from the front."

"So you were a full participant in the raiding, burning, looting and killing that went on at your orders?" prompted Tarelle sharply.

"Yes," came the agreement.

Tarelle wandered across the floor in front of the Elders bench, then turned abruptly and flung out the question, "Just how many people have you personally killed, Xena?" she demanded.

Gabrielle fought against the urge to squirm as she saw the look of self-loathing fill Xena's eyes. She wanted to stop this, but the Elders had made their position clear here. She watched helplessly as her best friend replied very softly, "I don't know."

Cupping a hand to her ear, Tarelle said sarcastically, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear that answer."

In a firmer voice the raven haired woman replied, "I said, I don't know."

"Oh," nodded Tarelle in a disappointed tone, "Now why is that, I wonder? Could it be that you've killed so many men, women and children that no one would ever be able to count the people that you've personally slaughtered."

"I object!" shouted Gabrielle angrily, "It's well known that Xena has never killed women and children."

"Prosecutor?" questioned Amara giving Tarelle the chance to back up her claim.

"The women and children of Cirra are a well known case, Elder Amara. I'm certain there are others, without the women warriors that have been slain by her hand."

"Can you dispute these?" the Elder asked Gabrielle.

"Well, no," admitted the bard edgily, "But Cirra was an accident. Xena has never deliberately set out to injure defenceless women and children."

"Just defenceless men?" sniped in Tarelle.

"You may have a little longer with your line of questioning prosecutor, but I want to see a connection to the issues we are looking at before much longer" Amara insisted.

"The Point I'm trying to make here, Elder Amara, is that Xena, the Warrior Princess, Destroyer of Nations, has for a large part of her life, gloried in spilling blood and taking innocent lives. She's killed so many people by her own hand that she cannot count the deaths attributable to her. Whatever changes she's made in her life, she is still the woman who has done these things."

"Have you finished with you questions to her?" asked Amara.

"Almost," agreed the prosecutor and turned back to face the defendant. "When you rode into Themiscyra that day, what did you intend to do?"

Xena stared at her for a few heartbeats before answering, "I came to kill Gabrielle."

"Like you have killed countless others before her?"

"Yes," the warrior admitted, feeling the burden of her overwhelming guilt grow heavy once more on her shoulders.

"Was there any difference between the Xena who came here bent upon murder, and the Xena of old? The Xena who was a bloody, murdering warlord?"

"No," came the quiet admission that carried across the silent hall.

"I have no further questions," said Tarelle as she returned to her seat.

"My Queen?" asked Amara, "Do you wish to ask any questions?"

The bard gave the Elders a wan smile as she stood and answered, "It seems that I need to." She walked in front of the table so that she could look at her friend. Her brows knitted in concentration as she looked to find the best way to begin. Her face brightened suddenly and she asked, "Xena, in the last three to four seasons, what have you been doing?"

"I .. I have sought to help people who couldn't help themselves," she replied slowly.

"Why is that?" questioned Gabrielle gently.

"I wanted to .. needed to try and make amends for what I have done in my past," she told her.

The bard assumed a perplexed look on her face "Why?" she asked, "I mean, weren't you happy as a warlord? You'd managed to conquer half of Greece at one time. You were pretty good at what you did."

Xena looked at her friend, puzzled over what she was trying to get at, "Hercules made me realise that what I was doing was wrong. He gave me a chance to change."

"Ah," the bard nodded her head, "So Hercules looked you up, had a chat and asked you to change, so you did?"

"Um, not quite," responded the warrior, beginning to get an inkling of how Gabrielle was handling this.

"Oh? So what happened?" the blonde asked.

"I was trying to kill him," Xena relied matter of factly, and almost grinned at the rumble that ran around the hall at that news. There had always been rumours, but this was the first definite confirmation on it most of them had heard. "We fought. I almost succeeded .. would have succeeded if it hadn't been for his cousin interfering .. but finally he had me down with a blade to my throat. I told him to kill me. He let me go." A very straightforward recitation of bare facts.

Gabrielle nodded and wandered around in the clear space between the Elder's bench and the two tables occupied by prosecution and defence, before turning back and saying, "So you're telling us that the greatest hero in Greece, a man known for his stance on law and justice, had the opportunity to kill you or take you captive? and he just let you go?"

"Yes," agreed the Warrior Princess.

"Why?"

"He said afterwards that .." she paused somewhat embarrassed by what she was going to say next, "there was goodness in my heart." She shrugged.

"So the son of Zeus released you because he saw goodness within you?" re-iterated the bard.

"That's what he said," confirmed Xena.

"Why did you try to kill me?" asked the Amazon Queen suddenly.

The raven haired woman looked at her for a long moment before answering slowly and carefully, "Because you betrayed me."

"Some moons ago, I betrayed you to an enemy in the land of Chin and nearly caused your execution. Why didn't you try to kill me then?" the bard asked feeling a fresh stab of pain at the memories that she was raking over and hearing more muttering from the assembled Amazons, who knew nothing of this.

Xena looked at her manacled hands and tried to find the right words for the answer, "You are my best friend. Your intentions were good, I was angry with you, but I couldn't blame you for what you did."

"Why did you try to kill me here, then?" pushed Gabrielle.

"After the death of Solon .. of my son," she felt a constriction in her throat as the emotion boiled up again, "I wasn't thinking clearly. All I thought of was the time I never got to spend with him, because I had to hide him from my enemies. My heart was full of rage and grief .. and Ares came. You know the rest."

The bard thought for a moment, looking at her boots as she tried to cover the angles, "How many people who have betrayed you more than once are still living?" she asked carefully.

"Just one," returned the Warrior Princess grimly.

"What about the people who have betrayed you just once?" the Queen asked.

"Just one," replied Xena coldly.

Gabrielle looked up at the Elders and said, "Since I betrayed you twice I know who the first person is. But who is this other, that betrayed you."

"Caesar!" the warrior almost snarled.

"Every other betrayer is dead?" queried the bard academically.

"Yes," agreed Xena.

"Then why is he still alive?" she demanded bluntly.

"Because I've never had an appropriate opportunity to kill him," snapped the Warrior Princess.

"If you had the chance, would you kill him?" probed the blonde.

"Yes," agreed the warrior eagerly.

"Then why should the Elders and the Amazons believe that you won't try to kill me again?" came the succinct question.

Xena looked at her blankly for a moment before blurting, "Because you're you. You're my best friend. Gods, Gabrielle! If I was going to kill I would have done it moons ago. No one would have been around to stop me, not that anyone would have been able to should I have really wanted to."

"Thank you, Xena," the bard smiled warmly, "I've finished with my questions, she told the Elders.

"Have you anymore witness's to call, prosecutor?" asked Avena, the smallest of the Elders, a neat, petite woman who sat ramrod straight and had a stern face.

"No Elder, I have finished calling my witnesses," answered Tarelle demurely, giving a slight bow.

"Queen Gabrielle," Avena addressed the bard, "Have you any further witnesses that you wish to question?" "If the court will allow, I would like to ask Solari some questions," responded the honey blonde woman.

Solari came forward to the witness stand as the Elders nodded agreement. She turned and awaited Gabrielle's first question. The bard knew that she could trust Solari to answer truthfully and only intended to use her testimony to emphasise the fact that Xena bore the Amazons no ill will.

"When we met as we entered Amazon territory, did Xena show any hostility towards any Amazon?" she asked.

"No," was the simple reply.

"Did Xena cause any harm to, or any problems for, any Amazon sister?" asked the bard.

"No," returned Solari for the second time.

"During the evening, when we were attacked, can you tell the Elders what actually happened," invited Gabrielle.

Tarelle stood and asked in a weary tone, "Can I ask the relevance of this to the attack on the village?"

"I'm trying to show, that the attack was an abhorration performed at a time of severe mental trauma and not within the bounds of Xena's normal dealings or attitudes towards the Amazons," answered Gabrielle hotly.

"We'll allow this, so long as it's brief," instructed Amara.

Taking a deep breath, Solari gave an honest description of the events of that evening, finishing with, "If Xena hadn't warned us about the imminent danger, we'd all have been dead. Both Alexa and I owe our lives to Xena, who blocked killing blows aimed at us by attackers."

"So in conclusion, could you honestly say, in your own personal opinion, that Xena holds any hatred toward or for the Amazon people or that, in normal circumstances, she would do anything to harm an Amazon sister?" questioned the bard.

"In truth," conceded Solari, "No. Xena has always proven herself to be a friend of the Amazons."

"Thank you," Gabrielle said, turning back to the Elders, "I hope that from the testimony given, and the explanation of the events that led up to the attack, you will see and believe that it would be a very harsh judgement to hold Xena responsible for what happened. It would also be poor thanks for all of the help that she has given the Amazon Nation in the past. Additionally, I hope that you can see that I am in no personal danger from Xena." having finished, Gabrielle returned to her seat next to her friend.

Amara looked at Tarelle, "Do you have anything that you wish to say, before we retire to consider out judgement?"

"If it pleases the Elders," began Tarelle, standing up, "All I wish to say is that Xena is responsible for the deaths and injuries of Amazon sisters. Whatever circumstances led her to do this, there can be no doubt that she is responsible for those deaths and injuries, nor can there be any doubt that she abducted the Queen and so committed an act of Treason, and the judgement should be rendered accordingly."

Amara and the other Elders rose as Tarelle took her seat once again. The Eldest announced, "We will withdraw to consider all that has been said here. We hope to give our decision shortly."

As the Elders left, Gabrielle patted her friend lightly on the shoulder, "It will be all right," she tried to reassure.

"Gabrielle," the warrior said softly, "I ... you ...," she stumbled trying to find the right words as she stumbled over a host of emotions that she had tried to bury, " ... Thank you," she said simply at last.

"Hey," smiled the bard, "What are friends for."

With the Elders leaving to deliberate upon their verdict, the Amazon's slowly left the meeting hall to continue their daily chores. Xena was released from the leg restraints that had kept her in place during the second half of the trial, and escorted back to her cell, even though Gabrielle remonstrated with Solari to release the Warrior Princess into her custody until the Elders announced their decision.

"I'm sorry, Queen Gabrielle," the big Amazon told her, "The law doesn't allow for that. Xena must remain in custody until the judgement of the Elders is made."

"Don't worry over it, Gabrielle," Xena told her, "It's only for a little while longer, and It's as comfortable a place to wait as any." she reassured.

"Xena ...." the bard said, laying her hand on her friend's arm.

"Hey," smiled the warrior softly, recognising the concern in the blonde's mannerisms and loss of words, "I'll be fine. You did a great job as an advocate. No one could have done better."

"Move you," growled one of the guards, giving Xena a rough shove on the shoulder to get her started.

The Warrior Princess gave the Amazon a dangerously feral look before leaning close to her and saying softly so only the other woman could hear, "Bite me!" Before turning and smiling reassuringly at the bard as she allowed the guards to steer her away towards the door.

As Xena was lead away by her guards, Gabrielle looked after and whispered, "But will it be enough? Did I convince them?" She allowed her vacant gaze to flick across the banners of fallen foes that decorated the walls of the meeting hall. Here were the honoured trophies that Amazon Warriors had collected throughout their battle history. She closed her eyes as against the prospect of her Amazons being the ones to bring the Warrior Princess down. - Of all the enemies she has made, is it going to be her friends that finally destroy her? - she wondered miserably.

Patroclese came over to join the bard. He too had watched Xena being led away, standing quietly, recognising that Gabrielle needed time to collect herself. When she finally turned to him she said, "Well, now you know all the details of the problem. As an outsider, how do you think it went?"

The healer looked at her thoughtfully for a moment or two before replying, "You understand that I'm a sceptic about Gods manifesting themselves to ordinary mortals?" Gabrielle nodded her head impatiently, and motioned for him to continue what he thought. "Well, from an outsiders view, the whole thing seems incredible! I mean this thing with Ares chasing after Xena! .... You made it sound like it's an ongoing contest, or something," the healer mused trying to get a grasp on the concept.

"It is," the bard told him quietly, "Xena was once Ares' greatest creation. His Chosen. She revelled in war and destruction. Not only that she was very, very good at what she did. Shall we say very good at being wickedly bad. It's only in the last few years that she turned away from that side of her nature to begin to make amends for all the evil she has done in her life. Ares, however, hasn't given up on her, and he tries his best to return her to the dark path that she followed as his greatest disciple."

She looked at Patroclese and offered him a half smile, "None of that is questioned by the Amazons. They've had their own brushes with the whims of the gods, so they won't be sceptical over that. No, the problem here is that Xena's reputation as a cold blooded killer is too well known, and the fact that she unleashed her might upon them may well have scared them enough to make them forget all the good she has done for them as well."

"Look," Patroclese said taking her arm, "We might as well sit down. We don't know how long the Elder's will be, so we might as well be comfortable, and here's as good a place as any. We've got it to ourselves at the moment." So the pair took seats at the table where Xena had sat with Gabrielle during the hearing and continued the discussion.

"Alright," the healer began, "lets take it as read that the gods played a part in this whole affair." He looked at her with a slight frown of concern, "You really gave birth to a half goddess, and then abandoned her?"

A look of loss and hurt came into Gabrielle's eyes. She really hated talking about something that had caused both her and Xena such pain, but since the story was now common knowledge amongst the Amazons, and Patroclese was fast becoming a friend, she felt she needed to explain her actions, "Patroclese, I know it's hard for you to understand, but although Hope was my child she was always her father's tool. I was blinded to that when she was born. Even after Hope killed her first victim when she was but a few candlemarks old, I couldn't see the evil in her. Xena did. And she wanted to kill her."

The bard wiped a tear from her cheek that escaped through her tightly wound emotions, "I felt I had to protect my baby. Xena doesn't stop once she makes her mind up about something. The only way for me to save Hope was to convince Xena that she was already dead, and that meant I had to abandon her." Her eyes were red with tears she refused to shed, "If I had let Xena kill Hope, so much hurt and suffering would never have had to happen."

They sat silently for some while, Gabrielle lost in her tormented memories, the healer worrying over the conundrum that he had found himself spectator to. - Everything has become so complicated, - he mused. - From the time I met up with Xena until now, I've done nothing but stumble from one scrape into another. I wonder if their lives are always like this? -

Looking across at the tense bard, he asked a question that had been puzzling him, "This other Goddess ... Callisto? Why does she figure in the story?" he asked.

"Callisto was once a mortal. She was everything that Xena once was, cold, uncaring, deadly, ruthless, but where Xena always had a spark of humanity in her soul, Callisto was eaten up by the desire for revenge. She has been Xena's most deadly enemy for a long time. Her hatred consumes her and she will do anything to destroy Xena ... and me. She murdered my husband, Perdicus, and she played her part in the death of Solon," she told him with little emotion, then a thought flickered in her mind and she said in an absent way "I'm not sure if Xena hates her more, or Caesar." She thought about that for a moment, "No I think Xena feels responsible for Callisto, feels pity for her, perhaps, angry that she tries to hurt me and those Xena holds dear, definitely ... but her real hatred belongs to Caesar."

Patroclese looked confused, "What's Caesar got to do with this?"

"Nothing," the bard told him, "Maybe everything." the bard seemed to get a distant look in her eye, "Caesar is so responsible for so much that has happened in Xena's life. If he hadn't had her crucified, and her legs broken, all those years ago, so much of the evilness that she has been responsible for, may never have had to happen. In a very real way, Caesar moulded Xena into what she became and must share the blame for her actions."

"Why was she crucified?" he asked, a hint of concern in his eyes. He had formed a grudging liking for the warrior woman he had heard such bloodthirsty, evil, tales about. In the time he had been with her he had gotten the chance to see that there was so much more to her than the stories could ever convey. - She is. - he admitted to himself, - the most enigmatic person I have ever met. -

"She captured Caesar years ago when they were both very young. Xena, in truth, was not much more than a child. She'd cut her teeth on fighting off a Warlord who attacked her village, and was determined not to allow her family and friends to be threatened again." Gabrielle sighed as she thought about what she knew of those early years in Xena's rise to infamy.

"She lost sight of her objectives though, and she became something of a Warlord and a pirate herself, although she only attacked targets that threatened her village. Caesar was picked up on such a raid. She ransomed him for a huge amount, but while he was with her she fell in love with him, and he made her believe that he felt the same way. He promised her that he'd find her again once he was free. He did, but he came as an enemy, not a lover. He had her, and all her men who survived his attack, crucified. He also had her legs smashed as she hung on the cross."

She looked Patroclese in the eye, "She escaped with the help of a friend, but even then Caesar wouldn't let her go. He sent soldiers after her to kill her. They managed to kill Xena's friend before the Warrior Princess killed them, but that final betrayal was enough to turn her into the murderous monster that you've probably heard about in the stories. She wasn't more than sixteen or seventeen summers old at the time and after that fateful encounter she went from being misguided into a dedicated killer of any and all who stood in her path. So you can see, Caesar has much to answer for."

Gabrielle fell silent for a while lost in a world of painful memories that the hearing had brought crashing back to the forefront of her mind. At last she came back to the present, she looked at Patroclese and said, "You know, you haven't answered my question. How do you think it went?"

Patroclese frowned into thoughtfulness, his long fingers tracing the patterns of the wood grained table top, "It will depend if the Elders want to take mitigation into account," the healer said after some thought. "You built a good case to show that Xena was not fully in control of herself, and you backed it well by showing that Xena had proven to be a friend of the Amazons in the past and present, but none of that will matter if the Elders decide that it bears no relation to the charges."

"Ephiny says that the Elders are all fair minded and not part of any faction, so we can hope that they'll take all the circumstances into consideration," the bard sighed in a worried way.

"Did I hear someone taking my name in vain," asked Ephiny cheerfully, as she returned to the meeting hall with a tray of fresh bread, cheese, fruit and a jug of wine. She saw Gabrielle looking at the food, "I thought you might be hungry." she told them with a grin.

"I'm too worried to eat," the bard told her, just moment before her stomach growled to betray her.

"Eat!" Ephiny instructed, slapping an apple into her hand, "Xena will have my hide if I let you waste away."

Gabrielle looked about to protest, but the apple did look inviting, so she obediently bit into it with a satisfying crunch. She gave Ephiny a sideways look as the Amazon sat on the table beside her, "You know, I'm gonna have Tasha assign you full time duties as a meal server," she grinned.

"Ha!" retorted the Regent, "Who d'ya think you'd get to run the Amazons in my place, then?" she smirked.

Gabrielle's grin faded slightly, "You may have a point Eph," she said softly.

The blonde Amazon gave her friend a worried look, "Hey, I was only joking," she told her softly.

The bard nodded her head solemnly, "I know you were, but I don't think I've really thanked you for taking on the burden, and you've done such a good job here." She looked up at the Regent, drew a deep breath and said, "So thank you, Ephiny, for all you've done for me."

Not quite sure what to say, the blonde attempted to lighten the suddenly very heavy atmosphere, "Hey no problem, but you owe me big-time, ya know?"

Understanding what her friend was trying to do, Gabrielle forced a half grin onto her face and asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Ephiny shot an impish look at her, "I don't know. How about you take over running this place for a moon and let me go and have a holiday?"

Her Queen looked back at her with mock terror in her eyes, "Do you know what Xena would do to me if I agreed to that?" she demanded playfully.

The Regent smiled back at her, "Gods forbid," she laughed, "how about we make it a half moon, then? Your warrior shouldn't be able to object too hard at staying in one place for that length of time."

"Hah!" responded Gabrielle, a real smile shining from her expressive features, "Xena doesn't like staying in one place more than a couple of days .. fourteen would be pure torture."

"Well that will be paybacks for my arm then," snickered Ephiny.

Taking another large bite of the fruit, the bard's mind turned back to the present situation. "How long do you think they'll take to decide?" she asked around a mouthful of apple.

"I don't know. But I think the longer they take the better," Ephiny answered, adding the explanation, "Tarelle was certain that things were cut and dried. She had all the evidence of the attack, after all. But the longer the Elders take, the more it means that they're considering your arguments."

"How do you feel about her now, Eph?" asked the bard softly.

"I think .. I really hope .. that you're right, Gabrielle. For all Xena has done for me in the past, I hope the Elders agree with you. Xena's suffered enough, is still suffering, I think," she smiled as the bard squeezed her arm in gratitude for her words.

Patroclese finished chewing on a piece of cheese and asked, "How long do these things normally take?"

Ephiny considered a moment, "That's difficult to answer. Nothing like this has ever really come up before. Normally though, in straight forward cases, the judgement is usually delivered within a candlemark."

"How long has it been now?" asked Gabrielle who had lost all track of time. She reached for some of the bread and cheese.

"The Elders have been deliberating for about five candlemarks now." the Amazon told her.

"No wonder I'm hungry," admitted the bard.

"I suggest that you go home and get some rest," encouraged Ephiny. "The Elders could be a long time yet."

Patroclese nodded his agreement. He could see that Gabrielle was running on nervous tension, and felt that she should at least try to take a nap while they waited, as he knew that she had got little sleep the night before. Knowing that she hadn't got anything else she could do made up the bard's mind, although she privately felt that she was too restless to relax.

Patroclese and Ephiny walked with her back to her house. They passed the gaol on the way and Gabrielle stopped saying, "I think I'll go and talk to Xena for a while."

Ephiny took a grip on her arm and told her, "You won't be allowed to see her, Gabrielle. She's under the authority of the Elders, and no one but Solari is allowed to communicate with her. And she can only do so with express orders from the Elders."

Gabrielle relented and allowed the pair to guide her back to her hut, where she forced herself to lay down on her bed, and much to her surprise soon found herself asleep.

Xena struggled with the urge to break something .. namely the Amazon who kept prodding her. Keeping her temper with difficulty she made it back to the cell without resorting to bodily damaging anyone. That was probably a good thing as her surrounding guards looked tense and more than ready to subdue any hostile act from their prisoner.

When they reached the thick, stone walled, gaol, she was conducted through the solid, metal studded, oak door and down the short corridor to the cell that had been her lodgings for the last few days. The heavy iron door was opened and a shove propelled her through into the room. Keeping her balance with ease, Xena turned and channelled a burning look at the culprit, wiping the grin off the woman's' face with the menace that she projected. Behind the guard, stood a grim faced Malonda.

"Cut out the rough stuff, Cassie!" warned the Head of Scouts.

Xena just glared at them as the door was swung shut, bolts were shot home and the lock tumblers turned over to the pressure of the key. Sighing, she twisted her wrists irritably in her manacles, moved across to her cot and sat down to brood over the situation.

She knew that Gabrielle had done the best job possible in defending her, but the fact remained that she had killed two Amazon warriors, she had assaulted Ephiny and she had abducted the Amazon Queen with the intent of killing her. There had been mitigating circumstances .. the whole unedifying episode was full of so many unique occurrences that it was impossible to believe that something like that could take place without divine interference. But, however you looked at it, she knew herself to be guilty of the actions .. and so did everyone else. The question was, what should she do about it?

- If they come back with a guilty verdict and a death sentence, do I accept it? - she pondered.

It was very tempting to leave the problems of her life behind her. Tartarus awaited her and all of her past misdeeds would finally get the punishment that they deserved. It would also break her free of the problem of Caesar and leave Gabrielle to live her life in safety. But then, the problem with allowing that was Gabrielle.

- I promised not to leave her again, - she acknowledged guiltily.

There were other problems to consider too. Xena knew that if the Amazons should decide to execute her, then her bard would find it impossible to remain in the Nation. She would see the Amazon's as responsible for her best friend's death, and would never be able to settle with them .. which meant, what would she do? She loved her family and home dearly, but had always found it far to restrictive for her, so returning there would not be a happy option for her. Athens and the Academy might provide the answer, but she'd already turned her back on that life once .. - Would she be able to settle to a life of study and teaching? -

She shook her head, - If they decide to execute me .. and I break out of here .. I can't take her with me. Caesar's not going to have gone away and it would be too dangerous for her to be around me. But ... I know she'd follow me, - her mind worried at the problem.

Unable to sit still any longer, she started to pace the cell, the same problems swirling around in her mind as she tried to find someway .. anyway .. out of the situation she found herself in. - C'mon, warrior, think! Use your brain! You're supposed to be able to come up with a plan to tackle any situation! -

A mirthless grin slowly edged it's way onto her face and she stopped pacing as the seeds of an idea germinated in her fertile mind, - Oh yeah. If there's no other way .. if they condemn me to death, then that's what I'll do! -

It was well into the early candlemarks of darkness when the summons came to return to the meeting hall. Gabrielle felt sandy eyed and no better for the long, deep, sleep that she had slipped into. She had been one of the first notified that the Elders had reached their decision, and so was back in her chair as the hall filled up and Xena was brought back to the chamber under escort.

"You okay?" asked the bard, as Xena took her seat next to her friend.

"Fine, " assured the Warrior Princess, gritting her teeth as the leg irons were locked back around her ankles. "I'll just be glad when all of this is over," she told the blonde, and allowed the faintest of smiles to flicker as the bard squeezed her hand in support.

Once the Amazons had taken their places on benches that stood in serried tiers around the edges of the meeting hall, the Elders returned to Solari's summons, and took their places on the dias behind the table there. They swept their eyes over the assembled Amazons and finally came to rest upon their Queen and her accused Champion. When silence had been attained, the five elders of the Council of Judgement took their seats, followed by everyone else in the hall.

Tarelle looked malevolently across at both Xena and Gabrielle. She exuded confidence, almost as if she already knew the decision that the Elders had arrived at. Gabrielle knew that was impossible, but she was feeling insecure and was looking for trouble where perhaps none existed. The muted whispers and shuffling from the spectators did little to soothe her fragile nerves, either.

Solari moved to a position in front of the dias and rapped her ceremonial staff on the wooden floor three times. The sound echoed through the hall which became suddenly still and silent in anticipation of the announcement that was about to be made, "Quiet!" ordered the Amazon, unnecessarily, but it was part of the ritual of judgement, "All quiet for the decision of the Elders!" she declared in loud, ringing tones, "Amazons stand to hear what has been decided!"

The entire gathering within the hall stood attentively to await the pronouncement of the Elders. Xena stood with the lazy grace that characterized all of her normal movements. Gabrielle could never work out how something so smooth and fluid could appear so threatening at the same time.

When quiet had descended once more over the hall, Amara delivered the Elder's findings to the expectant crowd, "This particular issue has proven to be very complex," she began in a strong voice that carried without difficulty through the hall. "It is far from the simple issue that the charges appeared to present." She looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing, "We hold it as truth that Xena has often aided the Amazon Nation, even though we haven't dwelt upon these issues, it is a well known fact that the Warrior Princess saved the Nation from a senseless, and potentially totally self destructive, war with the Centaurs, as well as ensuring that Valesca, in her madness, didn't lead our people to annihilation. But however important her past actions may have been to the continuity of our people, those actions cannot be used as a broom to brush over the wrongs that she has committed here. The deaths, injuries, abduction and treason are all issues that are required to be addressed."

The statement caused an outbreak of loud mutterings amongst the assembly. Tarelle grinned smugly at the bard and the Warrior Princess triumphantly, certain of her successful prosecution of the case. Gabrielle's face bore a worried look as she began to feel more uncertain about the outcome, while Xena stood in stoic silence, almost apart from the whole affair.

Amara continued as the noise abated, "However, what cannot be cast aside is the interference from the Gods. This has become a problem that occurs far too often in the affairs of humankind. So often, the Gods seek to use us as pawns in their games, and the victims of that interference .. whether they be an ordinary person living their lives as best they may, or one of the mighty, whose lives and actions affect those around them .. suffer enough through the God's whims, without us further inflicting penalties upon them."

The murmurs and noise were even louder this time as the assembled crowd discussed and digested what Amara had said. It was Gabrielle's turn to shoot a look of vindication at Tarelle, and the bard could plainly see the disbelief and bright outrage etched on the redhead's features. Feeling a little more confident, the blonde waited impatiently for the noise to die down once again. She glanced at Xena, who remained stoney faced as she waited for the hearing to play out.

Once again Amara continued as the sound level died, "In this case, it seems that more than one God could have been causing turmoil within the lives of many, Xena included. Evidence given makes it clear that both Callisto and Hope sought to destroy, and cause torment, to not only Xena, but all those present at the Centaur gathering. However, did all those who suffered losses react as the Warrior Princess did? Argument has been given that Ares intruded himself upon her grief, distorting her perceptions. However, we have no proof of this. Queen Gabrielle has told us this was so, having undoubtedly heard the tale from the defendant, but there is no one to corroborate that meeting, making it suspect in the eyes of the law."

Again Amara was forced to wait as the gathering argued amongst itself about the validity of Ares role in the affair. Tempers rose and it wasn't until Solari demanded order, punctuating her demands with the striking of her staff on the floor, that some semblance of control was restored. "Any more of these interruptions and I will start ejecting people from the hall," the Guard Captain warned sternly, glaring at the assembly with intense grey eyes.

"Another aspect," Amara resumed, "that has to be taken into consideration, is the fact that Xena saved the lives of Solari and Alexa, even though she was already under restraint and had been advised that she would be tried for her criminal acts. Her actions here, although they can in no way be used to excuse her killing of Mariss and Denara, do show that whatever drove her to attack the village, had nothing to do with animosity towards the Amazon people."

That raised little in the way of speculation from the assembly as they waited to see where Amara intended to go from there, and were mindful of Solari's warning, "Everyone is well aware of the blood stained reputation belonging to Xena, the Destroyer of Nations," Amara continued, "Her propensity for violence and slaughter has been talked about for many years. Yet in recent times, she has also begun to redress those actions and she has begun to garner a reputation as a Champion of the People, someone who stands for the downtrodden and victimized. We see in Xena a woman of a deeply complex nature who is capable of performing acts of great evil or great good."

Again there was an electric buzz as this was discussed by the Amazons. The pro and anti-Xena factions began to loudly debate their standpoints, almost coming to blows as the arguments became more heated. Solari signalled her guards to move in and eject the loudest and most belligerent of the crowd in an attempt to restore proper order, while Tarelle looked elated. She was certain that the Elders must find Xena guilty: the whole of Amara's summary had looked at and then seemed to discard the defence that Gabrielle had given.

Gabrielle felt desolated. She had been so sure that the Elders would understand what had taken place once it had all been explained. - Surely they can't just dismiss it out of hand when everything had been so crucial to the events that had taken place here? - A glance at Xena showed her to be dispassionately observing the whole affair. - How can she remain so cool? - wondered the bard.

When Solari once more restored order to the hall, Amara finally got to the heart of the judgement, "As to the charges, we the Amazon Elders, find you, Xena of Amphipolis, guilty of causing the death and injury of Amazon sisters. The charges of abduction and Treason we feel to be misplaced. Queen Gabrielle has been returned to us alive and unharmed, and her feelings that those two charges should never have been made, we have decided to respect."

Tarelle had a sour look playing around her mouth, but her eyes gleamed with delight at the guilty sentence passed on the first part of the charge. She waited expectantly for the Elders decision on the punishment.

"We have adjudged you guilty of these crimes, even though we harbour reservations about the events that led up to them," Amara told the hushed crowd, "Our decision is, therefore, that you, Xena, should be banished from Amazon territories for a year and a day, on pain of imprisonment, should you return during this period. The sentence to be enforced from sundown tomorrow to allow you time to remove yourself from Amazon lands."

The hall erupted as the Amazons on both sides of the debate roared their opinions of the verdict. Tarelle looked ready to explode. She undoubtedly had wanted and expected the death penalty to be passed, and viewed banishment as little more than a slap on the wrists. She turned towards the Queen and her Champion and treated them to a glare full of hate and the promise of future retribution, before collecting her scrolls and stalking from the building.

Relief flooded through Gabrielle as she heard the pronouncement. Banishment was just about the lightest penalty that could have been imposed. She turned to Xena and gave her a long tight hug, overjoyed at the outcome to the case that she had feared would be far worse. Xena was uncomfortable with public displays of affection, although she was aware of the bard's need for such comfort, and so stood a little stiffly, but made no effort to disengage from her friend's embrace.

Gabrielle looked up into the Warrior Princess's face and beamed with delight, "Well, it's over with. Things are going to be okay."

Xena disentangled herself from the young woman's arms and waited while a guard released her from the leg restraints. Turning back to Gabrielle, she allowed a tight smile to light on her lips as she said, "I'm going to have to get my things together and leave pretty soon." Two guards remained at her shoulders, and the manacles remained on her wrists. She was a convicted felon of Amazon justice and would remain under restraint until she had been escorted from Amazon land.

"I know," replied the bard sombrely as she realized just how much she was going to miss the travel, the adventures, and most especially, her taciturn, unpredictable best friend.

"I'll send for you as soon as I can," promised Xena as they pushed through the still arguing crowds in the hall, ignoring those around them and the black looks thrown at them by Tarelle and her clique.

Patroclese and Ephiny managed to catch up to the pair as they finally got out of the hall. The Regent, greatly daring, gave the warrior a quick hug before pulling back, brown eyes meeting blue, saying all that needed to be said between them. The healer had a cheerful grin for both of them as they headed for Gabrielle's house, to collect the weapons and belongings that Xena had entrusted to the bard's keeping.

As they walked Ephiny told them, "I don't think that I'd want to go through that again. And it wasn't me on trial." she smiled.

"Well if it had gone totally wrong, there was always the 'Rite of Truth'," Gabrielle returned lightly.

Ephiny stopped and looked hard at the bard, "Gods, but that would have to have been a last resort," she said in a shocked voice.

"That's why I didn't bring it up before," Gabrielle told her. "And death would have pretty much been the last resort," she pointed out.

"What's the Rite of Truth?" demanded Patroclese, as they walked on, quickly arriving at Gabrielle's door.

"It's where the convicted felon may attempt to prove her innocence by force of arms," Xena told him as she pushed the door open.

"Well, why didn't we go straight to that?" asked the healer, "I doubt that anyone here could beat you one on one."

"That's just the point," Ephiny told him, "She'd have to beat the twenty best Amazon warriors in one fight, and not only that, but the fighting takes place over a stake filled pit covered by about ten poles. Any of the Amazon's may move onto or off of the poles at any time during the Rite. But the woman undertaking the rite, must not touch the ground until she has defeated all of her opponents."

"That would have made things interesting," Xena said dryly.

"You knew about the Rite?" asked Gabrielle.

"I was ready to demand it if Tarelle had got her way with the sentencing," Xena told her with a smile, "I was kinda hoping that Tarelle would have been one of the warriors that I got to face."

"But that's a barbaric way of deciding things," object Patroclese, "It wouldn't have been fair. It hardly supports the innocent, just the strong. Has anyone ever gained their freedom by winning?" he demanded of Ephiny, as Xena began to gather her things.

"Nooo," she told him slowly, "I don't think anyone ever has." She threw a glance at Xena and grinned, "But I bet there would have been a first time if she'd tried it."

"Oh, c'mon!" Patroclese said incredulously, "I know she's good ... but is anyone that good?"

"Yes!" came the emphatic reply from both the bard and Ephiny at the same time.

"Look," said the blonde Amazon, "I'll go and get Xena some supplies. She'll need some food for the journey." Gabrielle gave her a grateful look.

Patroclese, having shook off his stunned disbelief, began to hurriedly gather his own belongings together.

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Xena as she looked up and saw the healer's sudden activity.

"I thought I'd go with you as far as the nearest town,' Patroclese answered quickly, "I think I've seen enough of the Amazons," he told them suppressing a shudder, "And I need to get somewhere where I can start to earn my living again." Xena looked distinctly doubtful about the idea, so the healer added, "You know I won't slow you down and I can defend myself if necessary."

Handing her weapons and armour over to the guards that still shadowed her, Xena gave him a brief nod of agreement before, checking through her saddlebags to make sure that she had everything that she needed.

Ephiny returned at that moment with the promised provisions, "Cheese, fruit and trail bread," she said apologetically, "I didn't have time to find anything else.

"Don't worry," Xena told her, "I'm not going to have time to cook."

"Hrmmph?" coughed Gabrielle, thinking about the Warrior Princess's culinary abilities.

"Be nice," Xena told her with a slight quirky smile.

"Um. Patroclese," Ephiny said, noting the healer had got his own gear packed and making the right guess about it's meaning, "If you're going with Xena, why don't you bring her saddlebags and I'll take you down to the stable to get the horses."

Patroclese looked a question at the Amazon, who raised her eyebrows and gestured towards the two friends, "Oh! Right ... yeah," he agreed, suddenly falling in to the fact that Xena and Gabrielle probably wanted privacy to say their farewells. He led the way to the door as Xena threw Ephiny a look of gratitude.

"You two can wait outside until she's ready," the Regent instructed the guards.

"But we're supposed to stay with her," objected one of them.

"Look, she won't go anywhere without her weapons, so just do as I say," growled Ephiny very definitely invoking her authority.

When the door closed behind the Amazons and the healer, the bard and the Warrior Princess stood in silence, neither really knowing how to, overcome the awkwardness that had suddenly risen. Gabrielle finally took the bull by the horns saying, "You know I hate this, don't you?"

"I know," agreed Xena moving to the bard's side to give her a hug, "but it'll only be for a short while." She could feel the emotion building in the younger woman and so pushed her back to arms length and told her lightly, "Hey, look at it this way. You've got a chance to put in some intensive training with the Amazon staff masters. Who know's, by the time we get back together, you might just be able to show me a thing or two."

"As if," laughed Gabrielle sadly. She looked steadily up into the blue eyes that usually appeared so cold .. at least for other people. The bard knew that she was one of the honoured few that got to see some of the soft warmth that was normally shielded by the ice. "You be careful," she warned seriously, "Without me to keep an eye on you, you're bound to get into all kinds of trouble."

Xena chuckled throatily, "That'll make a change."

"I mean it Xena," the bard insisted, "Caesar has it in for you. Don't be too overconfident about it. You're ahead on points, but he's not going to like that and he'll want to even the score."

"I know, I know," The Warrior Princess assured her, "and I promise I'll be careful." she attempted a reassuring smile.

"That'll be the day," grumped the bard, knowing her friend far too well to believe that.

"You just make sure that you stay close to the village," Xena told her in return, "No wandering off on your own."

"I know," Gabrielle told her, "he wants to get at you through me. I'll stay tucked up safe like some chick in a nest," she said in a martyred tone.

"Good!" Xena told her with heavy emphasis. She lifted her manacled hands over the bard's head and pulled the bard into another hug and kissed her lightly on the top of the head. "I'll send Joxer with a message as soon as I get back from Narbonensis," she said as she moved apart from the bard "He'll let you know if it's safe to join me and where I'll be." For a brief, poignant moment, she stood looking at Gabrielle, seeming to imprint her features onto her memory, "I've got to go," she said all too soon as she turned for the door.

"Xena," called the bard as the Warrior Princess reached for the latch. When the dark haired woman turned back to look, Gabrielle said softly, "I love you."

Xena smiled, one of those stunning smiles that changed the whole character of her face and was so rarely seen by anyone, including the bard, "I love you too, Gabrielle," she told her and then she turned and was gone.

Continued...

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