Disclaimers: First of all, this story is a follow-on of sorts to the Bacchae Trilogy by M.Keck, which means that it is set after the end of Season 2 but before Season 3. Events that occurred in the trilogy will be referred to and characters who appeared in the trilogy first will appear here, so it will be easier if you read the trilogy first to understand this story, although it isn't vital. Graphic violence will be portrayed in this story, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read it. Yes, I do think Gabby and Xena are an item, but there won't be anything graphic on the sexual side in the story-well, no orgy scenes, but people do have sex you know. There will also be other relationships of a sexual nature portrayed, heterosexual and homosexual. If your too young to read that kind of thing, wait till you've grown up, if it's illegal where you live, move or vote to change it, and if it offends you or insults your beliefs-tough. You don't have to read this story, and I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who will if you don't, so don't bother sending me hate mail and death threats because they will be ignored and deleted, okay? Intelligent criticism is appreciated, and should be sent to: NR185@lamp.ac.uk

Part 5

Solari was so battered that she could barely walk after the beating that she had taken from the Slavers, so she was certainly incapable of defending herself, and Ephiny was comatose, so there was no question of the two of them being left alone for the night. Gabrielle wanted to stay on watch herself for at least part of the night, to talk to Solari as well as making sure that they were safe in case someone in the town turned out to dislike Amazon's to the extent that they would consider violent action after learning that the two Amazon's were present, but Xena overruled her. When asked for one good reason, she pointed out that the young Bard was still quite capable of standing up and fighting her mobility was severely restricted by her sore and slightly-swollen knee, so unless anyone who tried to cause trouble came at her from directly in front of her she would be fighting with a disadvantage that someone with a sword would take precisely a second to take advantage of. This would lead to bloodshed on the wrong side of the battle or worse if the swordsman or woman was competent, and that simply wasn't a risk that the Warrior Princess was willing to take. On top of that, Vandria and she were seasoned campaigners used to carrying broken bones, cuts, bruises and worse if they had to, besides which she was well aware how fast her Soul-Mate healed, so a few cracked ribs were nothing and she knew it. Unable to argue with Xena's ever-direct brutally honest logic, and, in truth, still too tired and in too much pain to really want to fight her corner in this case, Gabrielle had agreed, kissed Xena on the lips as a gentle reminder not to come to bed too late, causing Vandria's eyebrows to rise noticeably, and limped off to bed. Now Xena was sitting at the largest table in the Inn's main room, the fireplace to her left, the open back-room door almost directly in front and slightly to the right of her, her sword on the table in its sheath in front of her, and she was slowly drinking some of her Mothers very potent Ale, sipping it very slowly so that she didn't end up needing help to reach her own room and lover. Vandria was sitting close by on Xena's right, sitting to be sure that she didn't block Xena's view, and she was drinking her way through Cyrene's Ale easily and at speed, showing no ill-effects at doing so. Working her bruised jaw to keep it from stiffening up, Xena looked straight at Vandria and raised an eyebrow. Vandria deliberately took a deep swallow, then sat back and raised her mug to the air. "To Lord Odin, long may he rule wisely and with a stern but fair hand! To his son Thor, God of Thunder, who is what all men should aspire to be! Excepting certain things, that is..." said Vandria, sighing as she briefly closed her eyes before opening them to look back at Xena. "To answer your question, when you drink with all of the Warriors of Asgard you have to take at least a healthy swallow as they recite each and every battle and so victory ever achieved. Asgard has been around since not long after the dawn of time and Lord Odin, aided in part by his sons and daughters, has achieved a great many things, and, more to the point, the weakest ale in Asgard would kill most mortals with a single swallow, yet we Valkyrie are expected to match the men drink for drink and take more than most do. We do, and, thanks to this, we have a tolerance for any mortal drink that would terrify even you. Do I need to go on?" asked Vandria, looking Xena full in the eyes with a totally clear set of her own. Xena shook her head, "No, but one day I'd like to try one of those drinks that you have. What did you mean about Thor, though?" she replied, settling comfortably back into her wooden chair. "He's what all men are supposed to aspire to be, a born warrior, perfect in his craft. His word is his bond, he will never break it, he will never allow a woman to be molested or a child ill-treated, he will always lead from the front in times of battle and war and set the example that others must follow. He will always fight fair in any battle, and will never stop until either victory or his own death, because that is what it will take to stop him, believe me. He's the greatest leader you could ever have, he never forgets even a single one of his followers and always mourns those who fall with the rest, even the commoners, and if he fights at your side you know that you will survive the battle because by half-way through any battle he's in if the enemy have any sense their all trying their damnedest to stay the Hel away from him and so anyone within reach of him. Six feet six tall, long blond hair down to his shoulders and eyes blue as the summer sky, he wields the Warhammer Mjolnir, a weapon that only one who is a true hero can wield since there is a spell on it that prevents any other from using it as well as determining those who are worthy by itself. Is there a picture forming in your mind about him now?" asked Vandria, dryly, but there was a look in her eyes that Xena didn't like. "You could say that if I met this man I'd do my best to get him into bed, lets put it that way. But, and I sense that there is a but, there's something you haven't told me, isn't there?" asked Xena, still looking Vandria full in the eyes. "Yes. Twenty summers ago I was part of an Honour Guard for Thor when we went on one of what he calls excursions from Asgard into the mortal world, where we fought off and annihilated a small army attacking a colony of our people in the Ice Lands far, far to the north of Greece. We could intervene directly since a Demi-God who really should have known better from Asia, Dreckerk was its name, had decided that our people would come around to worshipping him rather than us if he killed enough and frightened the rest half to death. Thor disagreed with him, so did I and four of my Sisters and about fifty warriors, so we went down there against about five hundred of his and killed them all. Before you ask, warriors are immortal but they can be killed like anyone else, and you've seen with me that a mortal wound to a mortal can kill me, so Thor was the only God fighting on our side. Ten of our warriors were Beserkers, though, the rest were merely looking for a good fight and my Sisters and I simply hated anyone who harmed our people, the woman's heart I suppose, so, combined with Thor looking for a good fight as well, it was never a contest. It was what came after that really mattered, though" said Vandria, pausing to take in a deep breath as Xena wondered just what came next. "Us being us, we threw a massive celebration in honour of our victory and the villagers all, and I mean all, joined in. There were three women to every warrior, my Sisters and I got an offer from at least five different men each and Thor had his pick of whomever he chose. Brunhilda accepted all five offers at once, and they were the ones who ended up exhausted at the end of it. Maldia took two, and they still hadn't come out by the time the sun came up. Magda sent for a different man every candlemark, and not one of them could walk away unaided at the end of it, Issia just took one, but I think that she might have genuinely liked him so I'll leave that there. Me? I sent my admirers after my Sisters and went for a walk around the village that we were celebrating near, I always find that seeing just what and who it is that we exist, live and die for helps me to understand this strange life I lead a little better, but the village was deserted in this case-or at least I thought that it was..." said Vandria, her voice momentarily fading away as she saw something in her minds eye that Xena could only guess at, then she continued.

"I found her in a barn in the far reaches of the village, curled up in the hay, completely naked and crying her eyes out. She was turning blue with the cold and I wasn't sure whether she was trying to kill herself or if something so bad had happened that she just didn't care if she lived or died, although I did think that it was strange that I couldn't see her clothes anywhere, even in shredded remnants. So I tried to help her, knelt down, told her I wanted to help and pulled her up slightly to see her face-then I saw the blood" said Vandria, pausing to shake her head as an expression of remembered anger passed over her face. "A lot of blood, coming from a part of her that lay between her legs, shall we say, and, even given the fact that she couldn't have been past sixteen summers of age, it was pretty damned obvious what had happened. I wanted to tear off the hands and testicles of whoever had done such a thing to such a young woman and I would have, to, but for one thing. When I got her calmed down enough to talk and gave her my cape to keep her warm at the very least, I found out just who had done that to her, and the answer almost killed me. Do I need to say who it was? No? Good" said Vandria, her voice becoming cold as she spoke and Xena slowly shook her head, seeing where this was all going even as she dimly recalled that she'd rarely known anything to upset the Valkyrie like this even when she'd followed Xena as a Warlord. "Thor, the best of men-and, as it turned out, the worst in his own little way... Almost four hundred years I'd known that man by then, Xena, I was raised by Odin and Frigga and the Royal family of Asgard, they taught me everything that I knew, they made me who I am, I thought that they were the best of everything there was, they were everything that I had to live up to, and I was becoming very, very good after almost four centuries. To hear what I did nearly stopped my heart for good, and, as part of a Valkyrie's intrinsic powers, I had and have the ability to tell truth from lie with absolute authority. I didn't know what to do for I don't know how long, then I got her home by carrying her, did everything that I could to help her, including promising to keep in touch, then I went off in search of Thor. When I found him there were ten women in his bed and more waiting, others had already been and gone, and you could hear what was going on in his hut from half a mile away. I walked right through everyone in the way, kicked the door off of its hinges, broke his nose, threw him through a wall and did my damnedest to kill him. If he hadn't been a God I would have, to, I made a real mess of him in any case, but even I couldn't even do anything permanent because I didn't have the power or strength. It finally ended when he managed to call Mjolnir to him and hit me with it, he broke every bone in my chest excepting my spine and drove my internal organs against my back with such force that most of them were crushed. I would have died there and then but Odin showed up, saved my life, called off the celebrations that moment and took us all back to Asgard faster than it takes to tell the tale. He dismissed everyone but Thor and me and proceeded to give us Hel over what had occurred. I had to apologise to Thor for trying to kill him, but we all knew that I didn't mean it so he spoke to Thor and I separately to finish it. He told me that Thor had been an idiot, yes, and for what he had done there would be consequences, but he, Odin, would see to that, not me, and absolutely not in front of mortals. If I had a grievance like I had had ever again I talked to him first and he would deal with it no matter what, and I should have known better in any case, but he could understand where I was coming from so he would let it pass this time. This was only fair, I had to admit, so I agreed and he let me leave. I don't know what he said to Thor, but I've never seen the man looking so humbled before or since, favoured son or not. He even tried to apologise and explain, but I wouldn't speak to him and had no intention of being in even the same room in sight of him if I had the choice. That's how we ended up meeting, if your interested, I was avoiding one of the annual ceremonies of celebrating victories at Asgard by collecting the souls of the worthy dead who fall in battle, a duty all Valkyrie must perform, when I saw you butchering my people as though they were beneath your notice, laughing as you did it. Something snapped, I wanted you dead and I didn't care that I was revealing myself to an Unbeliever Chosen of another Pantheon to do it, or I wouldn't have if I hadn't failed, but there you go. Since you asked" said Vandria, softly, observing the very clearly surprised expression on Xena's face. "A real pity, but it just goes to show that you can't trust the God's to practise what they say you should. It also says that your God's and mine aren't so different after all, mores the pity" replied Xena, drinking some more ale. "Too true, I met Ares remember? I'd still take Thor over him, though, at least Thor has a heart" said Vandria, finishing her own mug of ale. Xena, much to her surprise, felt a sudden urge to defend the Greek God of War, as though there was some compelling reason for her to that had reared its head up abruptly despite all that he'd done to her over the years. However, she took great satisfaction in doing nothing of the sort and so silently agreeing with the Valkyrie. Sometimes, though, she did wonder, especially given the fact that, for all his manipulation and blatant use of her over the years to achieve his own aims not to mention the simple physical abuse she'd suffered at his hands when she'd failed, although he'd always healed the wounds he'd inflicted before leaving, he'd never deliberately put her in a position that she simply couldn't get out of no matter what, nor had he ever, strange as it sounded with their history, needlessly inflicted pain and suffering on her. In fact, at least twice, she could recall him actually being tender, even caring, after she'd lost M'Lila and almost everything that she'd had left at that point that had ever meant anything to her, and, once again, a year before she'd ended her career as a Warlord, when he'd done nothing more than appear in her tent one night and, even though she'd been in bed, done nothing more than sit down, drink wine and talk of all kind of things, some of which she could barely even understand. When he'd finished that time he'd asked her for some advice, which had left her so shocked that she couldn't remember what she'd said, but, whatever it had been, he'd thanked her, kissed her chastely on the forehead and disappeared once more, not making a single one of his characteristic sniping comments and sharp remarks. After that, she had to admit to herself at least, she'd begun to wonder just how different Ares as a God was from the human race that all of the Gods claimed relentlessly to be so far above...

Cyrene came in with a tray of drinks, neither Xena nor Vandria missing the fact that there were three rather than two mugs on the tray, set the tray on the table, passed the two mugs one each to Xena and Vandria, then sat down herself at a spare chair and took the third, sipping it slowly and totally ignoring the looks being directed at her by the two warrior women. Xena's look was slightly irritated, slightly surprised, Vandria's was simple surprise, although tempered with a knowing gleam that said that she had half expected what had occurred, but Cyrene carefully avoided either womans eyes until she was ready, then locked eyes with her daughter. Vandria was more than a little surprised that Xena looked away first, but then, as she would be the first to admit, she had no idea of the relationship between mother and daughter, even though it was clearly far from easy. Thinking of the closest thing that she'd ever had to a mother, Frigga, Queen of Asgard, failed to give her insight, mainly since, although Frigga unquestionably loved all of her and Odin's adopted daughters, there simply was not such a bond as one would expect between mother and child who had grown up in one anothers company and had shaped one anothers lives in no small fashion in the process. Worse, she had few ideas as to mortal emotions at all in truth, she simply didn't spend enough time around those who lived and died after at most a hundred summers of life to even begin to be able to guess at what they were feeling, even including the time she'd spent on the mortal plane since being bound to it by Xena, but then that was only nine summers out of four-hundred nineteen, so it was far from surprising. After all, birthed by a human mother and daughter of a human father or not, since before she was old enough to remember she had been raised and cared for by God's and their followers. More than that, even given that her true parents had died closing on four hundred summers ago now, she'd never even known enough about her own origins to be able to actually care about them except as of her blood. That was one thing which was changing, however, even though she had little idea as to where she should even begin to start looking, she was beginning to think that, as mortals tended to say, she should pay her respects at the very least...

"What, Xena? Did you think that I was going to simply disappear and go off to bed or something because you want to talk over the past with your friend here? You really should know me better than that after all this time, my girl. I don't believe that we've been properly introduced, young lady, my name is Cyrene, I'm Xena's mother, and you are?" Cyrene asked, nodding her head in Vandria's direction as a sign of acknowledgement. "My name is Vandria, and, before you ask, I am a Valkyrie, a Warrior-Maiden of Asgard. What that means is a very long and complicated discussion best left for another time, but I will say this. I am four hundred and nineteen summers old, so if anyone at this table is to be referred to as "Old woman" it should be me I am afraid, although I would much rather no-one did, thank you" replied Vandria, lifting her mug in Cyrene's direction in acknowledgement before taking a swallow. "I see, immortality clearly has its advantages after all" replied Cyrene, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not immortal, but as I said that's a very long, very complicated discussion best saved for later. If I may ask though, Cyrene, why the interest in hearing what we discuss here? It was my understanding that you effectively disowned Xena when she became a Warlord, I actually thought you dead of a broken heart long ago before I saw you two together, so why you would wish to know more about the kind of Hel that Xena's past is is a little difficult for me to understand" replied Vandria, looking at Cyrene closely. It was, she was quickly discovering with her Hawk-sharp eyesight, actually very obvious that Xena and Cyrene were related when you looked at one or the other closely enough then the other and compared the two. Cyrene was shorter and more stockily built than her daughter, with lighter-coloured hair and eyes that were soft as melting chocolate where Xena's were hard as flint and as cutting as diamonds, but Vandria knew what to look for below the surface and she wasn't fooled. Cyrene was thirty years older than her daughter, but still had traces of a once-fabulous beauty and slim body that she had clearly passed on to Xena, as well as two other things at least, a will as unbending as the strongest steel that simply didn't comprehend defeat or failure, and a brilliant mind that was concealed from most by Cyrene's soft eyes and Xena's hard ones. Vandria relaxed and sat back in her chair, stretching her back and arms with a pleasant pull of her muscles, she was in the company of two people she could relate to like few others here, one of them more than the other, certainly, but both of them had their own very unique, very different ways of making clear to any who cared not just who but what they were... "The truth? Whether or not you believe it, Xena, the only way I'm ever going to understand you better and were ever going to come truly back together as mother and daughter is if I not only know but can understand and accept what you have done, and you refuse to tell me, Gabrielle doesn't know anything that you haven't told her and all I hear are rumours and hearsay otherwise, so I'd like some solid facts for once. Is that so hard to understand, Xena? Vandria?" asked Cyrene, softly, meeting each warrior-womans eyes in turn. Xena slowly shook her head, eyes downcast, as Vandria sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "I swear by Loki, I am never going to understand this kind of mortal problem-solving..." she grumbled, barely loud enough to be heard but understood by both women, Xena stopping herself from glaring at the Valkyrie with some considerable effort of will, helped by the fact that she was well aware that the Valkyrie still had a great deal of history and pain to go through involving the two of them. "We should just use the method your people do, Vandria, write great songs and tales about our exploits and have Bards sing our praises all about and throughout the land so that we become known far and wide. There's just the problem that I think that this would cause a very large number of people to come to Amphipolis with hammers, timbers, nails and ropes as well as weapons of all descriptions intent on killing me and mine and everyone that I know and care about to make me pay for my sins, excepting Hercules and Iolaus, perhaps. Gabrielle would walk through Tartarus to save me, though, so unless I knocked her out, tied her up and got her sent as far away as possible she'd die by my side no matter what, and even that might not work. Its strange, though, I never stop thinking, that someone like me would attract someone like her like I did, and vice-versa, don't you agree?" asked Xena, softly. Cyrene and Vandria, led by some instinct neither understood, slowly looked at each other, then at Xena once again, before saying, in perfect unison, "Not really, no..."

...The fight was ferocious, vicious, brutal and fast. Very fast, very bloody, and it was over very quickly. "Lets see if I can't out-Amazon the Amazon's!" Xena had shouted, right after she had declared that she herself had killed the Amazon currently burning on the funeral pyre, and then she had literally run up and into the trees, moving like a Panther with a Lions speed and power, chased by the Amazon leaders and Queen Cyane's roared order of "Kill her!" They'd tried, oh they'd tried, but they might as well have fought a bear with their bare hands that moved with the speed of a snake, and they had died, blood flowing, bones breaking, organs collapsing under blows from a force of nature that should never have been so unleashed. At the last, only Queen Cyane had stood against her, and then, after merely a few quick blows, all that stood against her was a corpse held upright by a branch impaling it through the upper chest, a corpse that still had long golden-blond hair, earth-brown eyes and a trace of a majesty about it that had been so visible in life, fading as it did...

...Alti, Shamaness of the damned, a corrupt creature of the inner darkness that had no business in existing. Xena, Warrior Princess, Destroyer of Nations, and the Conqueror in time. Both stood talking by the corpse of Queen Cyane as if she were nothing more than meat. Alti taking her blood in a bowl, for what purpose she had no doubt she would one day know. She was hidden, they were not, their backs were to her, and even Xena would not move fast enough to avoid at least one clean strike if properly aimed and timed. She was tempted, she would do it, but one thing stopped her, and she cursed it for the only time in her long life, an Oath that could never be broken...

...Wings beat, a branch settles, Vandria, Alti and Xena long gone, emerges from her hide and stands before the fallen Queen, a smile in her face, a tear in her eye. "I tried to warn you, beloved, nothing stands where that one walks" she says, so soft a voice that even she barely hears it. A hand reaches slowly outwards, traces the cheek and lips of the fallen Queen, then she leans forwards and brushes warm lips over cool...

..."Damned be you, Xena, to Eternity and beyond"...

"Nhn...noo...DAMN!" exploded Vandria, almost jumping upwards and out of the chair that she had slept in, even though she shouldn't have since she was on guard-mortal life really was starting to affect her more and more, she'd never done such a thing in all her years in Asgard, fighting its battles-and drawing her sword before she'd even thought about it. She closed her eyes, them opened them again slowly, allowing the room to focus about her...she was in the back room, on guard over the comatose Ephiny and badly injured Solari, one large bed lay to her right, both Amazon's atop it. Ephiny was covered by a blanket that Solari was sharing, a feather pillow cushioning Ephiny's head while the Regents right shoulder cushioned Solari's head, Solari's good arm somehow wrapping over the blond Regents chest protectively, which immediately reminded Vandria of Xena and Gabrielle for some reason. She sighed, sheathed her sword and rubbed at her eyes. I must have been more tired than I thought. Still, that's over for now at least, as for that little nightmare...the past is the past, and I should know that as well as anyone now she thought, even as she once again felt the soft yet firm warm touch of Cyane's lips on her own, on her skin, all over her skin and elsewhere-she shook her head, this really was not the time to go into this, even though there was no question that she was going to have a serious talk with the Warrior Princess about it no matter what... She heard it, raised her head, heard it again, more clearly, and swore in the Norse tongue as she realised what it was even as the comparison with herself struck her. Turning and hurrying out of the room, she rolled her eyes and sighed. "If this is what Amphipolis is like normally, I'm going back to the caves..." she growled, looking for Xena as the horses began to draw closer at a trot.

Xena was coming downstairs when she got outside of the back room, so she waited for the Warrior Princess to draw even before going on to the main door of the Inn, the Valkyrie shooting Xena a sharp glance as they did. "I thought that I was the exception to the rule yesterday, Xena, not the rule as it stands around here" said Vandria as she pulled up and clear the bar that was put across the inner door during the night to stop unwelcome late-night visitors, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Xena. "If you spend enough time around Gabrielle you'll get used to this sort of thing very quickly, believe me. Don't ask me what I mean by that, though, just ask some friends of ours who we've spent time near during trouble and you'll see what I mean. Two horses this time, twenty on foot, so I suspect that we've got an even chance of either friend or foe, but if they were all on horseback it would be raiders for certain so I suppose that that's a hopeful sign. On the other hand, I could use a good fight in the early morning to get the kinks out" replied Xena, at which the Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Xena, you really are the only person I know who could even possibly manage to relax through slaughter with the exception of very few people who you don't want to know about..." said Vandria, opening the door as Xena went outside first dressed in her home leathers with her sword and Chakram ready, a dagger sheathed at her left hip. Vandria followed just behind even as Cyrene, half expecting events such as this now with both her daughter and Gabrielle home, came out of the kitchen with a large staff in hand which looked to have seen a great deal of use and sat at a table near the door just in case. She didn't believe that she'd need it, but until Gabrielle was up and about as well-Xena had probably woken her up before leaving, but the Bard simply wasn't the fastest of risers-she needed to keep an eye open in case the new arrivals proved to be trouble and were more than the two warrior-women could easily deal with. However, knowing Xena, Cyrene was sure that in any case she was in no danger, so she simply sat back and listened, fully intending to go out and watch any fight that developed...

Not really to either Xena or Vandria's surprise, the approaching individuals turned out to be Amazon's. Both women had been expecting more Amazon's to show up looking for their lost Regent and her Consort, the only surprise was how quickly these had arrived, and their number. On the other hand, given that they were being lead by a worried-looking Eponin-she was almost as good as the Warrior Princess at hiding it, but Xena knew what to look for-and were accompanied by the Amazon's burly Chief Healer, Ordahlia, both Xena and Vandria suspected immediately that this was a planned-out rescue, not some hastily thrown together frantic search. Given the Amazon's reputation as hunters and trackers, well-earned as both Xena and Vandria were well aware, it didn't take much imagination to work out why and how the Amazon's had arrived at Amphipolis so quickly, and Xena was silently glad that she'd had the foresight to turn the injured surviving Slaver over to the town Magistrate the night before. However, the Amazon's were a problem that could be dealt with once explanations were made and Ephiny and Solari were shown to be alive and relatively well, although relatively well was unquestionably the case in the Regents case. What was a surprise was the presence of the two mounted warrior women, one of whom, the moment that Xena caught sight of her, Vandria half expected her jaw to dislocate because of as the Warrior Princess stopped dead, as though she'd been stabbed in the back at the same time as a Giant had hit her in the chest and face with a tree trunk, hard. Shocked wasn't the word, she'd seen the Warrior Princess shocked before now when something impossible or almost inconceivable had occurred to frustrate her plans in some fashion, leaving Xena in a very temporary state of shock because she was, as a matter of course, among the most thorough planners and brilliant tacticians that the whole land of Greece had ever produced. When something somehow went so wrong that one of her plans failed to work it was a sight worth seeing, if only because you'd never forget the expression on Xena's face as long as you lived, most recently shown on Vandria's own "return" from the dead, but this was different. Something about the dark-skinned woman had hit Xena so hard that it had shaken her right down to the very foundations, torn away every single one of the barriers that locked almost everyone out of the Warrior Princess's soul and left her core momentarily exposed to the world as her eyes grew round and she momentarily actually stopped breathing. The Amazon's didn't notice, except Ordahlia, who was more aware of the people around her than the vast majority of Amazon's mainly due to the fact that she was a Healer so she needed to be, but she couldn't even comprehend just what it was that she was looking at. Vandria could, and she could barely believe what she was seeing as, somehow, she caught a glimpse of a Xena who could have been twelve summers younger, a young woman who simply didn't have the considerable emotional defences and blocks that the Warrior Princess had developed over more than a decade, someone who still held more than a little trace of innocence in her soul... Xena's natural guard snapped back into place so sharply that Vandria had to blink, then the warrior Princess was back.

Gabrielle appeared, finally out of bed and dressed, staff in hand and hair disarrayed due to the speed of her arrival, but stopped next to Vandria as Eponin stopped the Amazon's with a raised hand on catching sight of her and Xena, although she raised an eyebrow at the sight of Vandria. She would have carried on and caught up with Xena, but the Warrior Princess wasn't waiting for anything and had already started towards the tall dark-skinned woman on the horse, who was looking at Xena herself with interest, just before she swung down from the saddle with a grace that defied description and began striding towards Xena herself. Eponin briefly tried to get Xena's attention, but a look of glacial coldness stopped her dead by almost literally freezing her in her tracks so she rapidly turned and looked at Gabrielle hopefully, to an automatic gesture of greeting from the mystified Bard as she watched Xena's actions, trying to surpress the immediate dual feelings of jealously and lust that came into being as she got her first clear look at the dark-skinned woman. Xena came face-to-face with the woman and stood as still as a statue, looking at the tall woman oddly as though she was trying to grasp a concept that she couldn't quite take in, but the dark-skinned woman, a slight, very slight, smile on her face, lost patience with this and, to the evident shock of everyone in sight, stepped forwards and embraced Xena tightly. Normally, anyone who did this without invitation excepting Gabrielle and perhaps Xena's mother Cyrene was looking to loose both arms and a great deal of blood as well as to see their guts on the floor in front of them, but here Xena simply didn't react for a long moment, then she abruptly returned the embrace as hard as she could with what should have been bone-cracking force. Neither woman seemed bothered by the force of the others embrace, however, and, after a moment longer, leaving the Amazon's wondering whether or not this was actually Xena they were dealing with, Xena smiled broadly and openly, then she actually laughed in delight.

A slightly worried Gabrielle watched all of this, even as the second mounted woman smoothly dismounted, a woman almost as striking despite her youth as the evidently older dark-skinned woman, golden-tanned skin and very dark auburn hair making her a magnet to the eye, but the Bards attention was most decidedly focused on the magnetic woman in her Soul-Mates arms and embrace held tight. Both women seemed far too comfortable in such a position, and to Gabrielle's eye it was very obvious that they had been lovers in the past at some point, she knew just how Xena leant into someone if such was the case from a great deal of personal experience. The question that she wanted answered, however, above and before the reasons for the Amazon's presence despite her being their Queen even with the injured Ephiny and Solari present as well, was if this new arrival was indeed a former love, just how could she possibly compete? She was well aware that she'd wormed her way past Xena's emotional guards long ago now, getting a hold on the ex-Warlords heart and soul that she didn't want to believe could ever be broken, that she was as good as sure couldn't, but she'd never seen a woman who even came close to matching the fabulous dark-skinned new arrival for simple physical beauty or sheer presence, and that was measured against the considerable charms of a very large number of Amazon's who'd expressed an interest, a few Greek and Macedonian women and the Warrior Princess herself. However, a still laughing Xena quickly and easily detached herself from the dark-skinned beauty, turned and started leading her towards Gabrielle by the hand, no-one noticing an apparently worried Vandria backing away from the approaching woman, her hand on her sword-hilt. "God's, Elysium, Tartarus, Earth and everything else connected with any of those in any way... Gabrielle, meet a very old friend of mine who, believe it or not, yet again I thought was dead twelve summers ago. Red, Gabrielle, Gabrielle, Red, and its a long story it would be better not to go into here before you ask, Gabrielle" said Xena, introducing the two women quickly even as she kept chuckling, causing Eponin and Thraso to look at each other with raised eyebrows as Andara moved closer to Isoria, who had been marching along close to her lovers horse, and began whispering something into her ear. "Red? Now don't you tell me that there's no history behind a name like that just to begin with" said Gabrielle, reaching out a hand to shake Red's, who turned out to have a grip like a Lions bite backed by a strength that Gabrielle didn't even want to think about. "There is, my little Amazon Queen, but it would give you nightmares for the rest of your life so I suggest that we discuss other things. Xena, you don't know Andara, but she's the woman with me currently becoming extremely comfortable around that blond Amazon. We ran into your friends on the way here, apparently their looking for their Regent and her Consort and they're sure that she's here, in case you were wondering. By the way, is it true that you make so much noise at night that you keep the entire Amazon population awake all night unless your completely exhausted or writing scrolls whenever your in their village?" asked Red, her face straight and eyes clear as she displayed her usual lack of emotion. Gabrielle turned so dark a colour red as she blushed furiously that Xena half expected her to have a nosebleed, while even Xena felt a distinct and uncommon warmth creeping up her neck and onto her face. She should have expected it given her knowledge of Red's total lack of inhibition and total disregard for convention regarding such things as well as a great number of other things, but, somehow, her mind was never quite able to warn her in time every time that she spoke to the woman. "Thank you for that timely reminder of what the Amazon's think of as our way of relaxing at night when were alone, Red. Ares told me you were dead, you know?" Xena said quickly, trying to change the subject as jaws universally dropped among the Amazon's, Andara just smirking. "He did his best, he failed, the short version of a short story. Anyway, its good to see you again Xena, although I see that your taste in women still hasn't changed. Amazon's, Amazon's, Amazon's..." replied Red, with a knowing look on her face. Xena tried very hard to ignore Gabrielle's look at her at this, but she might as well have tried to ignore an arrow through the head as the Bards eyes seemed to drill right through her skull. "Shall we go inside? My mothers waiting" said Xena, feeling uncharacteristically embarrassed and not liking the feeling at all, waving at the Inn's entrance hopefully. "Certainly, and tell your pet Valkyrie to calm down, I may be a fundamental force as she's well aware but I don't arrange the beginning and end of the universe, the Powers that Be do that, I just do what I do and try not to fall over anything that gets in the way regardless of what she may be sensing or may think that she knows" said Red, before striding off and past Xena and Gabrielle, ignoring Vandria altogether as the Valkyrie quickly darted out of her way. Once inside, she saw Cyrene, raised a finger to her lips as Cyrene practically fell out of her chair while having a heart attack in shock, then winked very obviously before walking over to join the shocked old woman, sitting down in the chair next to her just across the table before Xena came in after her, closely followed by Gabrielle and everyone else, who were all beginning to wonder just what was going on here that they hadn't the slightest clue about...

Xena made sure that Mattius was called before she allowed Ordahlia to see Ephiny and Solari, explaining her decision by saying that, truthfully, the elderly Healer could tell the Amazon more than she could, then she went in with the two of them, accompanied by Eponin and Thraso who were along to see just why it was so important that the town Healer had to be called before they could see their own people. After a single glance at the comatose Ephiny, however, Ordahlia went pale, then spun and started demanding explanations from both Xena and Mattius in that order simultaneously. Thraso's face twisted as a dark look appeared in her eyes, part old memories, part old pain, part revulsion at what had clearly been done to the two injured Amazon's, while Eponin's expression set off alarms in Xena's mind as the ageing Amazon ground her teeth so hard that she almost cracked one. Her words did nothing to encourage the Warrior Princess to leave the surviving Slaver alone for any length of time while any of the Amazon's were in Amphipolis either once what had occurred became public knowledge, and, given that these were the Amazon's that she was talking about, that gave her a quarter-candlemark once Eponin had left the room to stop them from simply marching over to the town jail and torturing the Slaver to death. Xena was tempted to roll her eyes, but carefully refrained from doing so. She'd known that the path of a hero was the right one to follow, even though it was, in its way, far more dangerous and complicated than life as a Warlord or even the Conqueror would ever have been, but she liked to think that she had no regrets about doing what was right no matter what. That was a lie, however, sometimes, like now, she longed for the sheer simplicity of the Conquerors lifestyle, where you just did what you thought right and be damned the rest, especially in cases like this, when she had to do something as insane as protect simple, pathetic scum that she would once have merely butchered out of hand, from those who would once have done it for her in a moment even. Eponin's eyes were cold as she spoke, and her smile was chilling. "Xena, I don't suppose that you would happen to know just where the man who survived doing this would be, would you?" the Amazon Weapons Master said, sweetly, Xena not being fooled for a moment as the Amazon's hand twitched a little too close to her sheathed dagger...

"If your all quite finished?" came a voice from the doorway, the mere tone somehow cutting through and across everyone's thoughts and voices like a sword through silk. Everyone was forced to stop and stare at the speaker, Red, who was leaning against the doorframe with a bored expression on her face, and who was somehow making very clear from posture alone that if anyone disagreed with her suggestion that they were now all finished arguing they would a second later be finished doing anything ever again. For a long moment nobody moved, then Gabrielle's head appeared from nowhere at the warrior woman's side, a hopeful, slightly sheepish smile on her face as she took in the five barely-breathing figures inside the room, none of whom had any doubt at all that the dark skinned woman could and would make good on her implied threat in a moment, although only Xena could have begun to explain why out of all of them. "Sorry about cutting in on you all like this, but Red here mentioned that she might be able to help if none of you could do anything and it didn't sound as though you were having any success so I asked her in. Are you having any luck?" asked Gabrielle, raising an eyebrow in question even as she tried to look hopeful, only to have her smile simply vanish as Ordahlia and Mattius both replied "No" at the same time, just before they turned to glare at one another again. Red sighed, "Children, please... Xena, I understand that you've been keeping safe the knife with the drug on that did this to the blond, yes? Give it to me" said Red holding out a hand. Xena pulled the knife from the pouch at her waist that she had been keeping it in, securely hidden, and handed it to Red in a moments brief motion before she even realised that she'd just taken an order from the woman, something that she'd once sworn she'd never do ever again, not even from Ares himself. However, she wisely decided not to say a word and kept all irritation and anger off of her face and out of her eyes with a carefully composed mask of calm. She'd seen Red get annoyed and lived to tell the tale, no-one who had ever annoyed her had, she'd seen why and she'd never needed a better reason to be unfailingly polite to the dangerous woman. Red lifted the daggers blade to her mouth, extended her tongue and licked the blade briefly before swallowing, then making a face. "Well, no surprise there but they've wasted no time... Move aside, I can undo this" said Red, walking over to the bed that Ephiny and Solari were curled up on. Solari was fast asleep, she'd woken up briefly that morning, carried out her morning rituals as best she could then gone back to sit with the comatose Regent, refusing to leave her alone for any longer than was absolutely necessary. The fact that this gave the badly injured Amazon a chance to rest and heal herself hadn't crossed her mind at all, of course, and not one of the Amazons would have even thought to mention it if talking about the two women. The fact that she was fast asleep wrapped about the comatose Regent didn't support this in any way either, of course, she was merely being sensible by staying by her Regent at all times in case she awoke as a loyal Consort should, nothing else was involved at all, or so she would have said. However, despite her good arm being awkwardly wrapped around Ephiny, Solari's body failed to provide any obstruction to Red, who didn't wake the sleeping Amazon since she wouldn't have awoken the senses of a guard who she'd walked past right behind him or her on a gravel surface if she didn't wish to. Red tossed the dagger to Xena, who easily caught it hilt-first before replacing it in its pouch, then reached down and touched Ephiny's forehead with all four of the fingers on her right hand, closing her eyes once contact was made. A brief frown marred her forehead, then her face became completely expressionless as she concentrated, Gabrielle limping over for a better look as this occurred. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen, then Ephiny's fingers began to twitch, her legs and arms, her body and head, her breathing abruptly began to accelerate markedly. Her eyes began to flutter, cloud-grey eyes momentarily appearing then disappearing-Red growled, a sound that resembled nothing human, a piece of the wild and the wilderness where it seemingly had no business being, her upper lip lifted slightly, rising to such a height on the left side that her fangs became visible, causing Gabrielle, Ordahlia and Mattius's eyes to widen in shock as their jaws dropped. Ephiny began to twist and turn, seemingly convulsing, waking a startled Solari up, although to Xena's knowing eye it seemed more as though she was fighting shackles binding her hand and foot she really didn't want to be, Ordahlia, Mattius and Gabrielle automatically moving forwards before Xena pinned them all with a glance... Ephiny's eyes snapped open, and she reared, hands almost tearing the bedcovers as her feet kicked like a horses hooves. She screamed as her eyes opened wide, impossibly wide, so loud and shrill that the windows were threatened as though she was still fleeing from something terrible that she had only just escaped from with her life-Red's hand shifted to a grip and slammed down on Ephiny's head and mouth after a little less than a moment, her other hand pinning the Amazon's right arm like a boulder had been dropped on it. Ephiny's free hand struck her in the ribs and shoulder, a kick caught her in the hip, but it was like kicking a mountain as Red simply ignored the blows with no ill effect apparent. She glanced at Xena, "A little help here, perhaps?" she asked, nodding at Ephiny's flailing arms and legs. Xena motioned to Gabrielle then grabbed Ephiny's left arm and leg, using her weight added to her muscle to pin them as Ephiny fought back with a madwoman's strength. Gabrielle took a kick to the chest, but two years of walking everywhere and fighting with a staff had given her solid muscles and the knowledge of how to absorb a blow without breaking anything from a blunt weapon and she took it in her stride, grabbing Ephiny's remaining leg and practically sitting on it to hold it still. The paralysis that the sudden shock had caused in all others present broke, Eponin, Thraso, Ordahlia and Mattius all abruptly lunging forwards to hold down the frenzied Amazon even as Solari rolled off of the bed to the floor to get out of the way, almost useless with her injuries. All of them together had trouble holding down the frenzied Regent, little trace of anything resembling intelligence showing anywhere in bloodshot eyes as she struggled violently, frantically, but she couldn't get loose and knew it somewhere deep inside from the start. It didn't stop her trying anyway, but she'd have had more chance of shifting Caesar's palace in Rome with her bare hands, and, after about a minute of trying, she slowly relaxed, then stopped, sanity and intelligence slowly but surely returning to her eyes and mind. She closed her eyes, everyone but Red releasing their grip and carefully moving backwards slowly but surely even as Red released the Regent, Solari slowly climbing back to her feet with a half-apprehensive, half-hopeful look on her face. Ephiny's eyes opened again, moisture collecting in them very clearly, then closed once more, but she couldn't prevent tears from running openly down her face. "Sweet Artemis... In the names of all the God's of the entire Pantheon... There are no words..." said Ephiny, her voice weak and barely audible as tears dripped down her cheeks. "I believe that "Thank you" is a common response here, actually" said Red, Ephiny's eyes opening once again at the sound of her voice. "You...? Oh-" Ephiny began, before she sat up straight and embraced Red, fast enough that Xena would have had to have been watching to avoid the movement quickly enough to avoid being caught, although Red could have caught a striking snake in her bare hand when it attacked her without looking at it or even knowing it was there. She didn't seem to mind Ephiny's embrace, though, and, although Xena wouldn't admit as much to Gabrielle, she could understand why even Red wouldn't mind being so physically close to the blond young Amazon. "-Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou-oh, ow, ow..." groaned Ephiny, her hand going to the back of her head as she abruptly swayed, as though something was hurting her and upsetting her centre of balance. Red embraced Ephiny carefully, then just as carefully put her back down on the bed as though she was as fragile as a precious gem that held the world in its core. "A word of advice or three, Ephiny, when you have a skull fracture take it easy until your Healer tells you otherwise no matter what, you'll live longer. Now stay there, Solari make sure that she does somehow, Ordahlia you do what you must. Questions?" said Red, even as everyone began to move to her orders a second before they even realised what they were doing. Again, none of them could have explained it, but the woman's sheer presence and her tone of voice, not to mention her voice alone somehow, simply made you want to do as she ordered. Xena was the only person in the room who didn't automatically feel the need to follow the woman's orders, and even she felt that it would be a good idea for all of her inhuman strength of will. She had to smirk at that, thinking about it, when Red and she had been working together before Caesar Red had indeed taken orders from her, yes, but a large part of the reason that they'd initially been rivals and then become much more was that both knew a real opponent when they saw one, only Red being a threat to Xena and her position and vice-versa. Some things never changed she admitted silently to herself, hiding a smile. "I have one or several. What did you just do, to begin with?" asked Gabrielle, starting off the discussion to no-one's surprise. "The drug on the dagger was a mixture of a Blood-Kins blood and Nightshade, the actual drug knocking her unconscious while the blood allowed the Kin to keep her under and control her if necessary. The owner was in the process of taking control of her mind, I broke the link and killed the owner before she could break from your Amazon friend, she'll be fine now with time to heal. Next" replied Red, to widening eyes from Gabrielle, who knew what the term Red had used actually meant. Ordahlia cut in before anyone else, however. "You can break that kind of lock, whatever it is, that's obvious. What about us mere mortals?" she asked, sharply, clearly unhappy. "The only way to do it for you would be to kill the owner, and I don't suggest less than twenty of you try that at a time, the owners of tricks such as these tend to be extremely hard to kill. Ask Gabrielle what Blood-Kin are, I don't have the patience to explain something that simple, just think of them like this. Physically strong enough to smash their way through a stone wall New-Turned, excepting severed limbs and wounds caused by silver any injury heals in a day, silver wounds heal like a humans, severed limbs will grow back in time. Some can shape-shift into bats, wolves and other predators but they won't behave like those predators normally do so you can tell them apart if you know what to look for. Elder ones can sometimes turn to mist or blood, and the older they are the stronger they get, the harder they are to kill. They live on blood, animals will do but humans is best, they prefer someone in the prime of their life just like any predator, except they really can pick and choose. Decapitation, cutting out the heart and sunlight will kill them, although with some all three is required. Staking paralyses most but can kill New-Turned, a piece of sharp wood through the heart before you ask, fire hurts like nothing else but it won't kill them. If you ever see one walking around in the sun, do one thing-run for your life and never look back, ever, because ancients are very nearly impossible to kill, almost always wield powerful Magic and can do very nearly anything to themselves and mortals with a trick called Blood Majik, don't ask for details on that if you want a good nights sleep ever again. Next" said Red, looking around as everyone turned to look at everyone else except Solari and Ephiny, who were still far too distracted by each other. Thraso looked at Eponin, then at Red, then she spoke softly. "Just three more questions, then. First, are you telling us that creatures such as this are coming to Greece to put us all on our guard? Second, why weren't they here before if so? Third, just what does that make you, then?" asked Thraso looking hard at Red. Red just chuckled, amused by Thraso's direct manner and obvious powers of deduction as well as observation. "In the order that they were asked... First, yes. Second, at, oh, about the time of the creation of the land of Greece as such there was a violent argument between Bacchus and his Bacchae and my kind. My kind didn't loose, but time means little to us so we gave Bacchus and his Bacchae Greece for as long as he could hold it, once he lost it we would move in and take over. I'm sure that you had no idea of this, Xena, but there you go. That Treaty was written out in blood and signed a thousand years ago, so its coming into effect now with your destruction of Bacchus and his Bacchae and there's nothing even your God's can do about it. Bacchus represented them when we negotiated and their authority went with him when he fell, so don't bother praying to anyone you might know or not for help in this, it won't be forthcoming even from Ares. Third, think of me as Achilles, Alexander the Great of Macedon, Gilgamesh and Death all wrapped up together and moulded into a single being, then subtract the ability to care and almost any real feelings, add in millennia of practise, Magic and Blood Majik at levels that even Kin don't want to think about and you have some idea. Take your worst nightmare, add in everything bad that I just said, stretch it to Infinity, effectively subtract a soul and you have a better idea of what I'm talking about. Scared yet? You should be, but don't worry, I don't kill randomly by torturing my victims to death over a month with only a hot poker, a dagger and what nature gives you unless I'm depressed, and I'm actually fairly satisfied at the minute. Any more questions?" said Red, a strange look on her face and in her eyes that somehow resembled amusement combined with a bloodlust that would have done Ares and Artemis together proud. No-one answered as a deathly silence fell, which caused Red to smile. "Goodie, I was getting bored anyway. Cyrene! A barrel of your strongest!" called Red, striding out of the room. Everyone turned to look at Xena, everyone in there excepting her almost too terrified to talk. "Xena, I don't want to believe that woman, but I do, completely, and that doesn't scare me, that's not a strong enough word, absolutely petrified is a better way of putting it I think. By the way, were you aware that that woman is completely insane and very likely the most dangerous warrior alive in Greece, maybe even the world?" asked Eponin, pointedly. "Eponin, think about this. If she was truly insane she wouldn't be half as dangerous as she is, and, in any case, she's half-mad, not insane. If she'd been really mad this Inn would no longer be here after what you all asked her, do you understand me?" replied Xena, softly, her eyes locked with Eponin's. Eponin swallowed and nodded quickly, not daring to speak since she wasn't sure that she could rely on her voice or herself to make sense of what she was thinking and feeling...

The present...

"Were we ever really that young, Cyrene?" asked Red, leaning against the wall outside of the Inn with the slightest trace of a smile on her lips. She wasn't wearing her armour and weapons for once, a sight that had by itself only succeeded in drawing more eyes since, coming as close to relaxing as she ever did, she was wearing a soft snow-white tunic, tight black leggings that showed off her legs to fine advantage and hard black leather boots. When she'd been mortal Red, then known as Meredith, had been chosen from every possible girl of her age, twelve summers at the time, for her looks as much as her talent and potential, and as she'd grown up first into a young woman, then a full-grown physically mature adult, this choice had proven correct, exceptionally good, in fact. Few of the Queen's champions lasted longer than thirteen years with her, always female, since by the time they were twenty-five they were considered in their prime and so they could only decay from that point on. This always led to them being sacrificed to the Blood-God of Telemedia, Kaornos, but Meredith had been different, indeed the Queen and her Nobles hadn't even been sure that she was human because of the slow speed that she aged at and the fact that, as she got older, she simply continued to improve and improve physically and mentally. It had kept her alive, but there was no telling how long it might have lasted and in any case she never got the opportunity to find out. Also, she suspected that Tersis's presence would have prevented her death in any case, he was always much more fond of her blood than any others and, having had so long to think about it as well as the knowledge that she now did to apply, she couldn't help but think that Tersis might have actually been onto something with her somehow. She had all of his knowledge and his memories in her head, but she had others too, hundreds maybe, she'd never been quite able to tell for sure, and the effect of this happening so abruptly when it did the way it did, combined with her brutal resurrection, an impossibility by any standards given what she now knew of her own kind, had been her mind snapping like rotten wood. She wasn't mad, not any more, not completely at least, but she was always in danger of falling back into the abyss with no second chance of climbing back out, so she had to exercise a degree of control over herself that would have driven a mortal human insane just to begin with. Already half-mad she could withstand such pressure, but there was no question that it hurt like having an axe driven into the brain repeatedly every moment of every day of every week of every month of every year of every decade of every century of every millennia. Cyrene looked up at her from the small wooden chair that she was sitting on, smiling in return, the sunlight catching the dark-red shirt and dark-blue dress that she was wearing, simple sandals covering her feet. "Thirty summers ago, perhaps, for me at least, for you the thought of the amount of time in question scares me half to death just so were clear. That's something that I don't recall you ever telling me the last time you, Myniria and me saw each other, though, and that was for some time as I recall, so I'll ask again now if you don't mind. Just how old are you, really?" asked Cyrene, trying and failing to catch Red's eyes as the warrior woman shifted slightly to make it impossible. "Don't tell anyone, but, for you, I'm slightly older than the land of Egypt, twenty-five centuries and a little bit more. Do you think that I've kept my looks?" replied Red, a smile now evident on her face. "Everyone in Amphipolis now excepting my daughter and Gabrielle would kill anyone or everyone else in the town for your looks, Meri, and the Amazon's would seriously try to sack Athens if you asked them to for a smile and your well aware of that. Besides, I know better than most just how you make sure of getting who and what you want when and how you want it or them, remember? I still can't believe that Myniria actually did that even after thirty summers, not that I'm ever going to complain that she did mind you, and don't pretend that you don't remember exactly what I'm talking about" replied Cyrene, raising an eyebrow with a sultry expression. Red's grin revealed all of her too-sharp teeth, even though her fangs were retracted, and she actually chuckled. "That I won't forget in a hurry, I never realised that Amazon's had so much stamina, let alone knew how to make-well, use of themselves like that. On the other hand, you should have been there when Alexander met the Amazon's of Central Asia, he had to go around them too but they worked out a novel method of preventing trouble while they were at it. His army "serviced" every Amazon in the Nation, but he liked men and refused to bed the Amazon Queen-Ciaska I believe she was called-no matter what. She nearly declared war on him for it, but I solved the problem for them. I had to defeat the entire Queen's bodyguard and the Queen herself to prove myself worthy as an outsider, not-Amazon and a woman who followed a man's army, without killing anyone or else. To cut a long story short I did, even though the Queen came as close as any mortal ever has to besting me, she fought like a Demon with her bare hands let alone weapons, but the result was I found myself bedding the Queen only to be joined by the entire Royal Guard, twenty strong, they thought that they might beat me like that if they couldn't beat me through force. Well... I was left utterly exhausted, but I walked out of there, they all slept an entire day away. So, to answer your question, no, I wasn't surprised at what Myniria did, but I wasn't complaining either. Besides, she did it to you not me, I just encouraged her, she did it to me after that if you recall, and I taught her a trick or ten into the bargain. Are we watching training or Amazon strippers here?" said Red, her eyebrows rising as the two Amazon's who had been duelling in front of them came to an abrupt halt as the top of one of them, a dark-haired youth with soft brown eyes, suddenly hit the floor for no apparent reason, leaving her completely exposed from the waist up in front of the two dozen male and female villagers who had been watching them, along with five other Amazon's who promptly shouted for "All the way!" The abruptly topless Amazon turned pink from waist to scalp even as everyone present got a good look at her well-formed chest before she wrapped an around herself, grabbed her top and sprinted into the nearest building. Red shook her head and sighed, "Depressing lack of discipline these Amazon's have, you know, if Ciaska had seen this there would have been bloodshed and heads cracked together by very large Amazon's with muscles and it would never have happened again. I honestly don't know what the Amazon's are coming to, but I don't think its anything good I'm afraid" she said, for Cyrene's ears only. Cyrene nodded in agreement, "Myniria would have had a fit if she'd seen this, no question. Anyway, who's your young accomplice this time? I noticed that you haven't got Ibn' with you?" replied Cyrene, relaxing back against her chair. "Ibn' is elsewhere looking into other things, I don't want him here in any case. Why? He decided that he had to prove himself to me somehow, and chose to do it by becoming the best at what he did on this world, and he is. He seems to have lost the vast majority of his humanity along the way, however, and has reached the point that he is truly capable of killing anything that he sets his mind on as long as he a weapon or a way to do the deed. You wouldn't recognise him, and you never want to meet him, believe me. Andara is the young woman's name, and, don't have a heart attack or anything please, she's Myniria's daughter, the result of a relationship between her and Hermion, a woodsman on the Nation's borders she met one day and fell in love with. Cyrene, if you keep looking like that your going to catch fleas and less pleasant things you know" said Red, as Cyrene's eyes opened up like saucers, her jaw dropping. Cyrene shook herself, closed her mouth and blinked twice to restore her composure. "OH...sorry, I am getting old, I should have seen the family resemblance. How did you end up with her, though?" she asked, old memories filling in the details that she had missed before as she finally succeeded in making the evident connection. "That's a long story, and most of it isn't pleasant..." responded Red, pausing to gather her thoughts...

"I know what she is, I don't care who she is and I don't want to know, Xena, now will you please leave me alone!" snapped Vandria, slamming her fist down on the Inn table so hard that the wood creaked with clear signs of danger. "Not until you tell me once and for all just what your talking about! You drag Queen Cyane out of the past and turn me inside out, very nearly literally, over an act I committed seven summers ago now that I would do anything to change but can't, adding onto this the small but important fact that you were not only her lover but intended to accept her invitation to join the Amazon's, even if I didn't, when she made the offer she'd made to me to you too just to begin with. Then you go on to tell me one of my oldest friends and allies is a monster that even the Demon's of Tartarus are afraid of but you won't explain why, and you simply expect me to accept that?! I'll listen to anything that you have to say, Vandria, but even my patience has limits, so tell me what your talking about now, or else I ask Red herself, understand?" asked Xena, her voice just as sharp as the Valkyries, at which Vandria sighed. "Fine, Xena, fine, I'll put it so simply that you can't fail to understand. You have heard of the Four Riders, yes? You know, Death, War, Famine and Pestilence, End of the World and similar? Well, its a lie, there are five, not four, and the reason no-one's heard of the fifth is because it is what comes after all else and there is nothing left when it does. The last is Oblivion, the End of All, and its Earth-Host is at this moment talking to your mother like an old friend, satisfied? Now leave me ALONE!" snarled Vandria, turning and rising from the table to stride away swiftly, leaving Xena sincerely hoping that she was exaggerating, since the Valkyrie never outright lied...

Ephiny and Solari were finally well enough to travel without being carried born along by a Sister or being carried on a stretcher, so the Amazon's were packing up and getting ready to leave at last, several slightly the worse for wear thanks to Cyrene's ale, some thanks to the rich food that the ageing Innkeeper made so well that had caused their waistlines to expand noticeably, which they were all well aware would have to be worked off in time. The surviving Slaver had been passed into Amazon custody since it was Amazon's he and his men had assaulted, and Eponin intended to have a word with the man, along with several of her Sisters, once they got back to the Nation. Thraso and Eponin had mentioned the problems effecting the Amazon Nation at the moment to Gabrielle in as quiet a manner as they could, marauders, Warlords, roving bands of people who had lost everything to the Amazon's in one way or another, among other things, and had requested her and Xena's presence as soon as possible. Gabrielle had agreed that what they could do would be done, and they fully intended to go to the Amazon Nation as soon as winter was past to do what they could. To everyone except Red and Isoria's surprise Andara requested that she return with the Amazon's to their lands with a view to becoming a permanent resident if she proved herself, and, since she was backed by Xena, Eponin and Thraso, aided by Gabrielle, took very little time to accept her offer. The Amazon's left in mid-afternoon with a view to returning to the Nation just before dark, as Eponin's last message to the Nation had stated they would, which left several of the villages young men and some of the women abruptly bereft of company that they had been finding very pleasant, Red and Vandria staying for a while longer at least since both had unfinished business. However, as Red, Xena, Gabrielle and Cyrene returned to the Inn to begin making it at least presentable for business later on, Vandria swallowed, shook her head and looked up into the sky where she knew the stars were in truth, hidden behind the cloak of daylight before the dark curtain of night fell over all and revealed what was hidden by the light of day, never an improvement in her opinion. She wasn't immortal and she never would be, but she had a unique perspective that even Red could not easily comprehend, and she always found herself seeing what Xena and her like missed, no matter how wise, all seeing and all knowing they seemed to anyone, just as she was doing now. "Things will never be the same again, we just don't know it yet..." she whispered, so softly that even she barely heard it, although Red did, then she turned and walked back into the Inn herself...

Tartarus was a strange place, really, Bacchus, fallen God of Wine and Revelry, had long since noticed, helped by his enforced stay in the deepest lost depths of the Greek Hells courtesy of his father, the King of the Greek God's, Zeus. You expected it to burn and to sear the body and the soul so as to teach you the error of your ways through pain and suffering, you expected tortures unimaginable to the human mind and creatures that inflicted them to be beyond mortal comprehension in both nature and levels of depravity, barbarity, cruelty and simple suffering, you expected Tartarus to be a place that turned you into the pinnacle of goodness and grace should you remember it because of what it was and did to you, but it wasn't like that at all. Of course, this could have been caused by the fact that he had long since lost his corporeal form, destroyed by the thrice-damned heroes Xena and Gabrielle, and the fact that he was half-God, a Demi-God as the mortals rightly called them since the words the God's used for such things wouldn't fit into any human language, but he didn't believe it. No, better, he knew that that wasn't the case, nor the reason that he had been dragged here and chained to three pillars of unbreakable ice by two irate Guardians using links and locks of concentrated power, almost certainly created by Zeus himself, among very few things that could hold a God's life-force anywhere for any length of time. He wasn't strong enough to break his bonds, he wouldn't have been at his greatest power let alone in the exhausted state he was in now after no Ambrosia for far too long and the after-effects of his nightmare struggle for survival on the mortal plane, which he'd lost, so all he could do was bide his time and wait. A glowing blob of blood-red streaked with traces of white lightning as flat as the blade of a dagger and as wide circular as a tall man, constrained by bonds of crackling power attached to ice pillars that were almost indestructible, trapped somewhere in the depths of Tartarus in the middle of a snowstorm of proportions and an intensity that hurt even him every single moment like he was being repeatedly stabbed by Dryad-Bone daggers, leaving him in constant pain and discomfort that could only ever be imagined, not described-something moved nearby. Darkness incarnate, nothing Bacchus had ever seen or sensed before and instinctively knew that he never wanted to again, not even now, but the force remained, came closer, than expanded so fast that Bacchus didn't even register the act before he and the three pillars holding him were completely encircled by the force. The storm died away instantly, everything becoming so calm that Bacchus momentarily wondered whether this was Death incarnate come at last to claim him, then a figure stepped out of the dark. If he'd still had a jaw he'd have had to pick it up off of the carpet, if he'd still had eyes they'd have fallen right out of his head, if he'd had a heart it would momentarily have stopped. Flaming red and raven black hair fell to her feet, a raven-dark black dress revealed more than it concealed of a perfect figure, a beauty that almost hurt the eyes to look upon was painfully obvious, as were the pure snow-white eyes that fastened onto him as though they were looking at something inside him that even he wasn't aware of, and didn't like what they saw. She raised a hand, spreading her fingers and thumb, and five bolts of golden energy lanced outwards as though drawn from the Ether and shaped into force by a will unimaginable backed by a power that he could barely even comprehend. Three bolts hits the pillars, one striking each, and they exploded as though Ares had assaulted them with the Sword of War in a berserk fury, shards and shrapnel spinning and shooting off in all directions, although they presented no danger whatsoever to either Bacchus and his apparent saviour. The fourth bolt struck the chains and they disintegrated on the moment of contact, shrieking like living things as the power used to create them was broken and obliterated with contemptuous ease, while the fifth bolt struck Bacchus himself. He momentarily reeled, then his entire mind simply overloaded with a myriad of colours, sounds and images that even a God's mind had never been intended to absorb. Unable to cope, his mind did the only thing that it could and shut down completely, blackness more complete and total than the deepest depths of starless night engulfing him like the tides closing over the head of a drowning man...

...He came back to himself slowly, painfully, to notice two things. Firstly, that, somewhat to his surprise, he was most definitely, unquestionably, alive. Second, he could feel things in such a way that the only way he could was for him to once more have a body... He opened his eyes, rolled to his chest and quickly stood, eyes scanning the room, an underground cavern as it turned out, then he saw her. The woman from Tartarus, standing in front of him with a fine glass in the shape of a snake curled around and around upside down in her hand so that the large area was the right way up, the glass being filled with something that looked like molten lava but smelt like anything but. Behind him, however, he caught a scent, and all the blood drained from his face as he spun around to see his worst nightmare standing behind him in the flesh. Only two inches below six feet tall, built like the first woman but with eyes that were an impossible mixture of sea-green and emerald while being truly neither, wearing a loose-fitting black dress and brown sandals with a cloak of the same colour over the dress, the hood thrown back to reveal her face, and a smile that had been known to literally scare to death mortal men and women on nothing more than sight. Lilith, Queen of the Dead and the Damned, mother of Cain and first-made Creator of both Blood-Kin and Wolf-Blood, the worst and the best of all that the One God had ever intended to be with none of the restraint that those descended of his true choices, Adam and Eve, had gathered to themselves over the millennia. She also happened to be both Bacchus's deepest, darkest fantasy and his worst nightmare all rolled into one, and for good reason. One, she was the only female alive who was immortal, powerful enough to rival him and a real challenge thanks to a fine mind and body honed over countless millennia into a perfect tool for whatever task she set herself, no matter how impossible, one which she always achieved. Two, the blade that she was drawing out from under her cloak, a blade that was unique in the entire cosmos, even more than she was. The sword was called the Blade of the Holy Tree, and was forged of metal from the gates of Heaven combined with fragments of the wood of the Tree of Life from which all life everywhere everywhen ultimately came, also being in part Chaos incarnate. It was carved with runes that had no meaning to anything less than an Elder God such as Zeus's own father, Chronos, and was feared by every single creature and being that existed excepting Chaos born, who could not be harmed by it, since the impossible mixture made possible an even more impossible feat-the ability to kill anything at all if a mortal wound was struck by the weapon. Lilith smiled, and Bacchus's heart skipped a beat as he saw the warm glow in her eyes that bespoke murder, as he realised that he was going to die once and for all here... He straightened, bowed briefly, then a smile crossed his own lips as a last trace of the nobility he had once held so dear to his heart before Zeus had done what he had done to save his son from his wrathful wife Hera then never changed him back flared one last time in his black heart. He moved back his head, exposing his throat in a final gesture of life, no fear left to show in his heart or eyes. "What, no last minute begging for mercy? No pleas for your life? Useless they may be, but I would have expected the man I knew to have at least tried" said Lilith, her voice like ice on a burn, like cold water to a man dying of thirst, like a song on the tip of your tongue that you can never quite remember but know that you will still never forget for a reason that you will never understand, like music from a being made to make it in ways that could never be known, only heard and wondered at. "A son of Zeus does not die begging, nor on his knees, not now, not ever" replied Bacchus, his eyes wide open and challenging the woman who literally held his life in her hands. Lilith chuckled, "You've finally grown up, Bacchus, son of Zeus" she replied softly, drawing back her sword to strike, "To bad its too little, far, far too late" she finished, and, so saying, swung her blade forwards and about at neck height too fast for even Bacchus to follow as he never saw his death coming. There was a brief moment of pain, a drop of God's blood hit the floor, then Bacchus slipped away into the dark of Oblivion one last time as his body dissolved into the nothingness that it had been created from so long ago...

Leviatha turned to Lilith and winked, "Were even" she said softly, then she was once more gone from that place herself...

On Olympus Mountain and all around Greece, a clap of thunder echoed in an empty sky from nowhere, causing all who heard it to momentarily stop whatever they were doing and look up into the sky in surprise, then shrug and go back to whatever they were doing. On Olympus, however, in the Throne Room, where all knew not to disturb Zeus unless summoned, the white-robed Zeus felt a momentary pain, then a chill emptiness before the thunderclap had died away, and he knew what had occurred. A single tiny tear fell down his cheek, then disappeared, just as a golden glow announced the arrival of the one person who dare disturb Zeus at such a time, his daughter Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. Dark brown hair fell to her waist loose and uncombed, dark brown eyes stared out from under a fall of hair over her face, a loose dark-brown skirt and jerkin covered by the grey furs and claws of a Dire Wolf at her shoulders, back and hips, the wolfs teeth hanging on a string necklace about her neck. Dark-brown leather boots topped with the same wolfs fur covered her feet, a dagger hung from her left hip sheathed on a belt made of animal hide tanned dark-brown, a quiver of dark-brown hardened leather full of arrows and holding her longbow for hunting hung across her back left shoulder to her right hip. No-one saw her twice and mistook this one for anything but what and who she was, not Gods, not anything, and they were constantly reminded of it by the fact that the Huntress never missed anything that she set her mind on finding and knowing or hunting and catching. In this case, she had decided to discover what had occurred, and, since Bacchus had been gone from Tartarus at the time of his Final Death, it had taken her seconds rather than days. She looked at her father, long limbs and curvaceous body shifting with an animals grace in perfect balance, her face showing its feral beauty despite her long hair falling over it, but, aside from moving from foot to foot slowly and smoothly as she waited for her father to speak, she did nothing. "You know" said Zeus, sitting back in his throne and waving a hand over his Scrying Pool to remove the image from it that he had been observing, too quickly for even Artemis's eagles-sharp eyes to catch. It wasn't a question, it was a statement, Artemis was Zeus's favourite daughter for a reason, and it wasn't just that she was one of very few on Olympus who kept her word, nor was it because Zeus knew that he could trust her. It was because, in the main, he could talk to Artemis and get honest replies and argument that were not centred around herself and her interests and, more to the point, she was intelligent and shrewd enough to understand what her father left unsaid as much as what he said when he mattered, a gift which Ares had never acquired, and never would. "Bacchus is dead, that bitch creation of the One God's killed him, not that he didn't have it coming, not that she had every right to kill him, but she did. All that needs to be asked is what happens now, correct, father?" replied Artemis, raising a perfect eyebrow. Zeus to face her, looking very weary and unhappy, and shook her head. "No. I already know what is coming next, much as I wish I did not. Bacchus is dead, but what has come before cannot be undone but what is. He set in motion something that he did not even comprehend, and now we will pay the price despite the fact he has received his due "reward". If there existed anyone we could turn to for help I would already be praying and sacrificing to them, but there is not. The End Times come, and may what is aid us all" said Zeus, softly, meeting his daughters eyes before he turned away once more, to what Artemis would never know...

Well done, you've finished the story! Anyway, if your still here I hope that this means that you've enjoyed it enough to want to send me feedback on it. Read the Disclaimers first, otherwise I'm waiting for you out here. G'bye fer now...