Violence warning: Most of the stuff isn't that bad, less descriptions than what you would expect in a normal episode. Chapter 5 has some pretty nasty stuff though so be careful, it isn't that bad, but I thought I would warn you.

Sex warning: Sorry. No sex of any type here, no hints or anything.

Other works: This is my second solo story. The other story is "A Childhood Solstice" posted at Lynka's and XenaCrazed's sites. The other stories that I've worked on have been co-authored with Smilegal/awatcher, "Three's A Crowd" and "Reluctant Goddess" also at the previously mentioned sites.

started December, 1997 finished July, 1998 (I know it took me forever)

Chapter 1 "A friend?"

Liss leaned her chair back against the wall and let out a sigh. It had been nearly a month since her last contract and she needed money, fast. She glanced about the room and thought who might be interested in paying for her services. There was a standard contract available from her previous employer, but Liss had hoped she could find somebody else. Grakus paid well, but she didn't like his style, a little too dark for her tastes. If Liss didn't find somebody else to work for today she was going to have to settle with working for Grakus again. She looked herself over and wondered why nobody had approached her. She certainly was qualified, all though a bit young for the line of work she was in. Brown hair and chestnut color eyes that seemed to take in everything around her accentuated her slender but not skinny form. A good physique was necessary in her line of work. Liss adjusted the twin scabbards on her hips that contained two long, deadly daggers and picked up the buckler, a small shield she wore strapped to her left forearm, and started to head for the door. She was a mercenary, a scout to be precise, and a very good one if you asked her. Liss headed toward the innkeeper to pay her bill as she tried to figure out where she was going to get a job. She paused to pick up her cloak that had been hanging on a nearby peg when a woman walked in, a few years older than Liss, carrying an Amazon staff. The woman approached the innkeeper and began bargaining for room and board.

"Twenty dinars for a room," the innkeeper said, "and that includes dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow."

Gabrielle's eyes went wide. "That's robbery! I'll give you eight dinars for the room and meals."

The innkeeper let out a small smile, this was the kind of haggling he enjoyed. Not so much to get money out of travelers, but simply for the fun of it. "I've got a wife and five kids to feed. Fifteen dinars and I'll throw in feed for your friend's horse."

Gabrielle returned the smile with a grin of her own, understanding the game they were playing. "Every innkeeper this side of Athens has a wife and five kids to feed. Twelve dinars and feed for the horse."

The innkeeper barked a laugh, "Deal! We don't get that many Amazons around here and they usually don't like to bargain. What's your name?"

"Gabrielle, and you're right, Amazons don't like to bargain, but they do like a challenge." Gabrielle shook the man's hand, but quickly released it and tightened the grip on her staff when she saw five men out of the corner of her eye walk towards her.

"Well, well, look at what we got here, boys," sneered the nominal leader of the band of drunks. "An Amazon, and all alone."

Gabrielle backed away from the bar to allow her room to swing her staff. "Look, guys, I don't want any trouble and neither do you so why don't we just go our separate ways?"

"You're already in trouble, missy. A bunch of you ambushed me and my friends in the woods two weeks ago a couple of days west of here." The ruffian pointed to a healing wound on his leg.

The young bard snorted, "You had it coming then. Two weeks ago was The Festival of Artemis and a couple days west of here is traditional Amazon hunting grounds. Everybody knows that you don't go there this time of year, especially if you're a man."

The ruffian roared and charged her. Gabrielle brought up her staff and smacked him in the ribcage before spinning around and hitting one of his friends in the head. She backed off and waited for them to attack again. The group surrounded her and she quickly was fighting for her life. She managed to knock all, but two of them out before one of them got behind her. He crept behind her and brought his sword up behind his head to strike when he suddenly let out a gasp and fell face first onto the floor. The man Gabrielle was facing ran out the door as fast as he could while Gabrielle stood there wondering what had happened. She turned around and saw the man on the ground with a long dagger sticking out of his back. Liss pulled her dagger out of the man's lifeless body and wiped it clean on his trousers before putting it back in it's place.

Gabrielle blinked a couple of times. "Thanks for helping me. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but did you have to stab him in the back?"

The young mercenary smiled smugly, "His back was to me."

"Uh, right, okay so what's your name? I'm Gabrielle." The bard stuck her hand out. Liss hesitated before returning the gesture. "Liss."

"Liss? That's a lovely name. I don't think I've heard it before."

"Yeah, well, it's a nickname. Look, I gotta go."

"Please, let me buy you something to drink before you go. I'm sure my friend would like to meet you."

Liss thought about it for a few seconds. It had been a long time since she had been able to sit down and talk with anybody. Her "friends" usually consisted of other mercenaries who frequently wanted to do more than "talk" to her. Liss had decided a long time ago that no matter what happened, not matter how badly she needed the money, she was not going to sell her body. "I guess I have a few minutes."

"Great!" exclaimed Gabrielle, happy to meet someone new. She nearly smacked her forehead when she realized what she had been doing moments before. "Oh, geez, what are we going to do about these bodies? Especially the dead guy." Gabrielle shook her head. She had seen enough corpses in the past three years that another one didn't faze her, she just hated moving them.

Liss solved the problem. "Innkeeper! Time to take out the trash."

"Your mess, you clean it up." Came the reply from behind the bar.

"Your inn, unless you want him smelling up the place. Besides this happens at least once a week."

The innkeeper grumbled, but proceeded to remove the unconscious and the dead. Gabrielle ordered a cider, port, and after consulting with Liss, an ale from a serving girl before leading her new friend to a table in the back of the corner of the room. Gabrielle took the actual corner, forcing Liss to choose between having her back to a bunch of drunken men or the door. She opted to keep an eye on the men, hoping Gabrielle would warn her if anybody dangerous came in from outside.

"What kind of line of work are you in?" asked Gabrielle, hoping for a good story.

Liss narrowed her eyes and took a moment to analyze the woman in front of her. The young mercenary couldn't figure out why, but she felt she could trust the woman. Maybe it was the infectious enthusiasm or the way she talked. She decided she could trust her, in fact maybe she could get a contract out of her if she had any connections high up with the Amazons. "I'm a scout. I free-lance and I am looking for work right now if you know of anyone looking for somebody good."

Gabrielle returned the once over she had just gotten and replied, "Sorry, I don't know much about the mercenary business. My friend might know, but I really have avoided them. No offense, but most don't exactly have a good reputation."

A small laugh came from the woman. "No kidding. It's hard being a woman in this line of work, but the pay is good and I need the money. I just finished up a contract East of here and need to find a good job before..." Liss' voice trailed off as she realized that she was getting too comfortable with the bard. Some things just weren't meant to be shared between new acquaintances.

Gabrielle picked up on the tone in Liss' voice and decided to change the subject. "So, you just came from the East? I just came from the Kingdom of Ionia with my friend, Xena. Where..."

Liss nearly spit out a mouth full of ale when she heard Xena's name mentioned. 'Of all the people to run into! Why did it have to be her?!?!'

"Is there something wrong, Liss?" asked Gabrielle. She had gotten use to such responses at the mention of Xena's name, but never from somebody like Liss who seemed nice, for a mercenary. There was something she was missing, but couldn't place it. The bard decided to take a better look at the woman in front of her.

Liss quickly tried to cover up her outburst. "Xena? Wow! You travel with Xena? That must be...uh...neat." Liss continued mentally, 'Neat? Couldn't come up with something better than that, could you Socrates?'

Gabrielle examined Liss. She looked a little younger than the bard, but a few inches taller. The mercenary was wearing a forest green tunic and deerskin pants with matching boots. Strapped to her waist was a belt that held two nasty looking daggers in scabbards. Gabrielle had already had a first hand demonstration of them. Attached to Liss' left forearm was a buckler shield that was large enough to provide protection against small weapons, but wasn't designed for combat against a well armed foe. Gabrielle had seen Amazon scouts similarly attired for speed rather than sustained fighting. After all, that was a scout's job, find the enemy, not fight him. A small patch that looked like a ram's head was sewn onto the right sleeve of the tunic. Gabrielle had seen that design before, but couldn't place it.

"Neat? Well...I guess you could call it that. We just finished stopping a king from conquering a neighboring kingdom that was peaceful."

"Uh...good for you. I better get going." As she started to stand up Liss suddenly felt a large hand clamp down on her shoulder and a voice from behind her say, "Going so soon?"

Liss froze. She slowly turned her head and saw a six foot tall woman standing behind her with one hand still on her shoulder and the other inches away from a shiny, circular object. The look in the warrior's icy eyes told her going for her weapons would more than likely be the last thing she ever did. The mercenary gulped silently as she took in the warrior. She had never seen Xena before, except at a distance, and she wasn't exactly thrilled to get a closer look, much less an introduction. "Look, I was just leaving."

Xena shook her head and sat down next to Liss and with her back to the wall, but didn't remove her hand from the scout's shoulder. The warrior spoke in a tone that justified Liss' decision about not going for her weapons. "Oh, I think I can convince you to change your plans."

Gabrielle looked at Xena. It wasn't uncommon for her friend to intimidate people, but something told her this was intentional. Xena's face showed no emotion, just the cold look in the eyes. "Xena, I want you to meet Liss," said Gabrielle, not understanding Xena's obvious hostility towards the young woman in front of her, "she helped me when some jerks who decided they didn't like Amazons. She saved my life when one of them was about to attack me from behind. So, do you two know each other?"

"We haven't been properly introduced, but I know her boss, as do you."

The bard frowned. "I don't know any mercenaries at all, except Liss that is."

Xena let go of Liss' shoulder, but gave her a look that convinced the mercenary that it wouldn't be wise to leave anytime soon. "Maybe 'know' might be the wrong word, but we both ran into them in Ionia, remember?"

"Oh, right! That bunch that protected King Fractos's supply lines when he used his entire army to march against Ionia." Gabrielle carried on, more to herself than anyone in particular. "If they hadn't done that, we would have been able to force him to retreat without all that bloodshed. A lot of lives were lost because of a group of greedy thugs." The bard thought back to their recent adventure in Ionia. A corrupt and evil king named Fractos had decided to expand his kingdom at the expense of his peaceful neighbors in Ionia. The army of Ionia was no match for Fractos, who had hired mercenaries to keep his supply lines open in order to bring the weight of his entire army to bear on Ionia. Xena's initial plan had been to disrupt his supplies, forcing him to retreat rather than lead a starving army into battle. That plan had been tossed when they found out about the mercenaries. It would have taken too long to wear them down and then destroy the supplies. Xena and Gabrielle had been forced to give the Ionians a crash course in tactics. The mercenaries had even tried raiding one of the towns while the armies were fighting, but were stopped when Xena arrived before they could do too much damage. She was too late to prevent several of the mercenaries from killing two women. The Ionians defeated Fractos, but at a high price. Gabrielle sighed and then shook her head. "I don't get what this has to do with..." Her voiced trailed off when Xena plucked at the patch that Liss had sewn on her sleeve. "Oh, no, don't tell me."

"Uh, huh," said Xena as she sipped her port. "Liss is one of Grakus's 'thugs', as you so quaintly put it."

At that Liss decided she had, had enough. "I am not a thug!"

Xena sneered, "Tell that to the widows and orphans of Ionia."

"I had nothing to do with what Fractos did," objected Liss as she slumped into her chair. "All I did was scout for Grakus to prevent anybody from ambushing the supply wagons."

"And in doing so, kept Fractos from splitting his army or leaving his supplies unguarded. Either of which would have gave us a chance at forcing him to leave." Xena took another sip of port and watched as Gabrielle tried to reconcile the woman in front of her with the group of mercenaries that had allowed so many people to have been killed.

Liss was starting to get angry. "I did a job, nothing more. It was nothing personal."

"What about when you raided the village?" interrupted Xena. "How do you explain murdering defenseless women as 'nothing personal'?"

Liss dropped her eyes to the table. "I didn't know anything about that until after the battle. I was out with the rear guard and never went near the fighting."

There was a moment of dead silence that descended over the table as Gabrielle thought about what had happened. Xena had decided to try to bring as many of the mercenaries to justice as possible after they left Ionia. Liss was the fourth one they had found. Two had surrendered quietly while the third had died fighting. She wondered which road Liss would take.

The mercenary continued, "Some of the warriors decided to find a 'bonus', but I couldn't do something like that, so I remained behind with the supplies. When I found out about it, I collected the money that Grakus owed me and left."

"I don't understand," said Gabrielle. "Why would you work for such a monster to begin with?"

Liss hung her head dejectedly, "He pays well and I need the money."

Xena laughed and said sardonically, "It always comes down to the almighty dinar, doesn't it?"

"My village was raided a year ago and my mother was killed. My father was left crippled. I'm the only means of support for my family. If I don't raise enough money...look, what do you care what happens to them." Liss slumped into her chair and took a swallow of ale.

"Try me," responded Xena with more emotion than Gabrielle expected.

Liss looked at the warrior, who didn't appear quite so menacing suddenly. She had nothing to lose by telling at least part of her story. "My father used to be a farmer near Rhion, before he was hurt. In order to pay for some of his medical expenses we had to take a loan out on the farm from the local money lender, a heartless bastard named Alope. In addition to that my sister took out a personal loan from him. I've got two months to pay back both loans. If I raise enough money I might even be able to pay for an operation that will heal my father for good. There, happy now?" muttered Liss.

"I'm sorry," apologized Gabrielle. "I didn't know. There must be something you can do besides being a hired killer."

"I am NOT a killer," Liss hissed. "I kill when I have to, and only when I have to." Liss decided she wasn't going to wait around for Xena to figure out what to do with her. She got up quickly and ran for the door. The young woman paused when she realized she wasn't being pursued by the warrior.

Gabrielle jumped up to follow Liss the moment the mercenary started to run, but stopped when Xena grabbed her arm gently to restrain her.

"She's getting away!" exclaimed Gabrielle trying to remove Xena's hand from her arm.

"Let her go," replied Xena quietly as she pulled her friend back into her chair. The warrior gave Liss a nod to go on. Liss didn't stop to question why, she took off and never looked back.

"I don't understand," complained the bard. "We've tried to capture every one of those mercenaries that we've come across. Why did you let her go?"

"Let's just say I believed her story and let it go at that," replied Xena. The warrior recognized the name of the region Liss had said was her home and understood the urgency of her quest for money, especially with regard to her sister's debt.

************************************************************************

Chapter 2 "A job's a job"

After she ran out of the inn Liss darted into the woods. She still didn't understand why Xena had let her go, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The mercenary stopped running after covering nearly a mile in record time.

'Well,' she thought to herself, 'I guess I don't have any other choice, but to go work for Grakus again. It's a good thing he likes my work, otherwise I would really be in trouble.'

She made her way to Grakus's main camp and headed straight for the tent that housed his headquarters. Liss nodded her head in greeting to the guard at the door and entered. Grakus stood behind a beat up table covered with maps. He was covered with from head to toe with dark brown leather and only a person with keen eyesight could discern where the leather stopped and the filthy person began.

"Liss! What a wonderful surprise!" shouted the mercenary leader. "I thought after our last job you weren't ever going to work for me again."

"Well, you may be a son of a harpie, but you keep you word when it comes to contracts."

Grakus grinned. "True, true and I know how much you need money, all though you have never told me why."

"And I never will," retorted Liss.

"You're in luck, little lady. I just got hired by a warlord named Kimon to guard a gap located three days north of here."

"Guard duty for a warlord? Doesn't sound like much profit in that."

The leader laughed, "You wouldn't think so, but it turns out that Kimon just killed his chief rival and has decided to expand his territory in the west. The only problem is the villages on the eastern side of the gap have a mutual defense treaty with the villages in the area he wants to conquer. He can handle one group, but not both. Our job is to hold the gap while he plunders the countryside. Your job is to make sure we get adequate warning when the militia arrives." Grakus popped a piece of mutton into his mouth as chewed as he observed Liss' reaction.

Liss looked disgusted. "You want me to scout for a warlord so he can raid and destroy villages? You must be out of your mind. You know my own village was nearly destroyed by a warlord last year. Now you want me to work for one? Forget it!"

Liss started to leave when she heard Grakus shout, "The job pays three hundred dinars."

The woman stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to face Grakus. "Three hundred?"

Grakus nodded. "Three hundred plus a chance at some real bonus money. If I recall, you were needing somewhere in the area of seven hundred dinars. This job can get you all of that plus more."

Liss did some quick calculations in her head. She hated to admit it, but if Grakus was telling the truth she might be able to get all the money she needed and quite working for scum like him. "What exactly do I need to do?"

Grakus smiled; he knew he had Liss all but hired. "Just what I said a moment ago. I want you to scout the area ahead of my little band and give us ample warning so we can ambush the militia coming to the aid of the villages. That's it, no more, no less."

"Sounds too easy. What's the catch?"

"Never could slip one by on you, Liss," snorted Grakus. "The truth is that the woods surrounding the gap are very dense and the militia could easily sneak up on us if we don't have a good scout. I have never made it a secret of what I thought of your skills in that department. The three hundred dinars is because I know you'll demand that much once you see the terrain. I'm just avoiding the bargaining later."

Liss knew Grakus didn't joke or lie when it came to business. He might cut his own mother's throat for a dinar, but was completely honest when it came to dealing with his mercenaries. If he wasn't nobody would work for him again. "Okay, three hundred dinars. I'll trust you that the terrain is that difficult. I'll need the standard equipment plus access to additional people to act as sentries at certain areas once I've pinpointed critical locations."

"No problem."

"Now, what's this about a bonus? There usually isn't much room to get a bonus in the scouting business."

Grakus poured himself a cup of wine and motioned for Liss to join him. Liss declined and instead went to examine the map of the area she would be working in. The mercenary leader took a long drink and refilled his goblet before going on. "Actually the bonus isn't from me, it's from our employer. It seems that Kimon used to be from eastern villages and holds a grudge against them for kicking him out. He offered a bounty of twenty five dinars for every head of a militiaman you can bring in and fifty for every civilian."

Liss turned pale. "Aren't you getting that backwards? After all it would be harder to kill the soldiers."

Grakus had a sickening grin on his face. "Kimon wants the villagers to know what it means to oppose him. That is why he put such a high price on the civilians. I think you misunderstood the offer though."

"Pretty hard to misunderstand money being offered to kill villagers and soldiers," sneered the young woman.

"No...no, Liss he wants the heads, nothing else. I know you don't enjoy killing, but I also know you really want the money. It's unlikely you will be able to kill that many militiamen, they're supposed to be well trained and travel in groups and you operate alone, but you might be able to get a few women and children fleeing the area."

Liss was appalled; never in her life had she heard of such a thing. Kimon was encouraging the mercenaries to murder innocent women and children. It was true she desperately needed the money; if she didn't get the money her sister would have to settle her personal debt with Alope. Liss shivered at that thought. "You don't expect me to kill women and children, do you Grakus?"

"I don't care if you do or you don't. All I am paying you to do is scout the area and set up look out posts. If you want to go after the bonus on your spare time, that's your business. Think about it. I'm going to start moving the army tomorrow morning. I want ideal locations for ambush sites as well as lookout points by the time we arrive at the gap in three days."

The scout nodded. "Fine, I'll leave tonight and mark the trail as usual. Don't have any of your goons get trigger happy and start shooting their crossbows at me." Liss turned and strolled out of the tent, the perfect image of control, at least on the outside. She calmly walked into the woods and threw up.

'Three hundred dinars will barely cover the cost of the loan on the farm. It will fall four hundred dinars short of what I need for my sister. In order to get enough money to meet both loans I'll need to,' Liss gulped silently and nearly threw up again, 'kill sixteen men or eight women and children and I STILL won't have enough for the operation to completely heal my father.'

As Liss headed over to the supply tent to get the equipment she would need to blaze a trail for Grakus and mark the lookout points, she carried on her mental argument with herself, 'No way! I won't kill any innocents. Soldiers I can deal with; they know what they are getting themselves into when they pick up a sword.' Liss felt relieved as she came to that conclusion, but suddenly became somber again. 'And how am I going to kill over a dozen trained soldiers by myself? There is no way I can do that.' She thought again about the women and children. 'What makes them any more innocent than my sister? She's family, they're nothing more than strangers.' Liss shut off her line of thought and concentrated on her work as she made her way to the gap. Despite her work, she couldn't keep from coming back to the same question: was she willing to kill innocent people to save her family?

By the time she reached the gap Liss had already picked out most of the positions that Grakus would need to position his sentries in order to prevent any sneak attacks by the village militias sent from the east. There were a few blind spots, but that couldn't be prevented without deploying a lot extra of men. Liss knew the mercenary leader would rather keep the men in reserve in case of battle. She decided to routinely scout those areas herself just in case the militia stumbled upon them. Liss spent the next three days checking and rechecking the area while Grakus brought up his army to defend the gap. She briefly met with the mercenary leader and pointed out the prime areas for ambushes and sentries. In addition to his own men, Grakus had a dozen soldiers from the warlord to beef up his strength. He wasn't crazy about the blind areas, but agreed that having Liss scout the area periodically was more efficient than posting men there.

A week went by with nothing happening near the gap. Rumors began that the warlord had started to raid villages, but was coming up empty handed most of the time. There were men left to run the villages, but the women and children seemed to be missing. The warlord, Kimon, had decided to hold off attacking villages until the situation could be sorted out. Whatever was happening to the villagers wasn't Liss' concern, until she was called into the main camp by Grakus.

"Liss, I need you to find out why the villages are being emptied out of women and children before they get attacked," said Grakus as he slouched back in his chair.

"Why doesn't Kimon find out himself?" retorted Liss, angry that she was being asked to do the warlord's dirty work.

Grakus sighed, "He thinks there is a leak in his army somewhere. He can't use his own people without tipping off the villagers. Look, I'm not asking you to do anything other than go into one of the towns he hasn't attacked and find out if there are any women and children around. If there are, find out if they're planning on leaving and how they found out about the raids."

"Why me? Why not one of your regular spies?"

The mercenary leader let out a small smile. "Because you're a woman."

"So what?"

"If, and I do mean if, somebody is planning on getting the civilians out of the town they're more likely to talk to a woman than a man. Especially if you act the part of a scared traveler. And if that doesn't work, try using your feminine charms on them." Grakus grinned at the last statement.

Liss nearly smacked the man, but restrained herself. "Not part of my contract, remember?"

"I'll throw in a hundred extra dinars, Liss."

The young woman mulled it over. There was nothing to be gained by not accepting the offer. She wasn't being asked to plan or participate in an attack, just find out if the women and children were being evacuated. Liss wasn't comfortable about being in a position where her information could lead to the death of innocents, but since she wouldn't be the one actually holding the sword during an attack she rationalized her fears away. The next day she changed into regular traveling clothes and headed to one of the villages near the gap that hadn't been attacked yet.

*******************************************************************

Chapter 3 "To spy or not to spy"

Liss entered the village and immediately felt something was wrong. Nothing was out of place; in fact everything appeared to be normal...too normal.". She saw a few women going about their business and a handful of children, but something was still bothering her. Liss walked up to a man fixing a roof. "Excuse me. I..."

"Sorry, no time to talk," mumbled the man quickly as she scampered up the roof and out of sight.

'Strange,' thought Liss. She looked herself over, nothing seemed out of the ordinary in her attire, typical village girl. The woman headed over to a group of children playing under a tree. She leaned over and addressed one of the children, "Hi, I'm..."

"Mama!" screamed the boy as he ran away. The other children quickly followed him.

'I hope the kid just doesn't like strangers.'

The scout made her way to the local inn and ordered an ale. A young girl took her order and quickly rushed to the bar to fill it. She scanned the other occupants of the inn, but failed to notice anything out of the ordinary. The mercenary did notice that the barkeep seemed to be spending an awful lot of time filling her order and kept talking to the girl in hushed tones. She quickly looked the other way when she noticed him staring at her. The young girl returned to her table with her ale.

"Did you want anything to eat today, ma'am?" asked the girl respectfully as she glanced at Liss' belongings, a small traveling bag that looked old and ready to give out. Liss had chosen not to carry her usually weapons, instead she wore a small dagger strapped to her thigh. The woman pretended to consider eating as she observed the various patrons pretending not watch her. Liss decided it was time to find out if her cover would hold up.

"I wish I could, but I can't afford much right now," responded Liss putting a hint of weariness into her voice. "And even if I did, I don't know if I can afford the time."

The barkeeper came over to the table. He appeared to be checking her out again. Finally he spoke, "Where are you from?"

"Why are you asking?" retorted Liss trying to put a combination of fear and mistrust into her voice.

"Just trying to be sociable," responded to barkeeper in a more pleasant tone. "You aren't from around here you look like you aren't planning on staying too long or have that much in the way of belongings."

"Well..." said Liss warily. "I'm from a small farm about a week's walk due east of here."

The man let a low whistle, "Been a lot of fighting going around that area."

"You're telling me," snarled Liss. "My family barely made it out of there. We heard there was a pass that lead to safety on the other side of the valley. They said they would meet me at the local inn, but..." The young woman started to cry. Liss hadn't truly cried in nearly a year. She had hardened her heart to avoid showing any signs of weakness.

"Whoa, take it easy there miss. If your family made it here then it's possible they already made it through the pass before the raiders got them."

"They wouldn't have left without me!" cried Liss going for as much sympathy as she could get.

"Hey, take it easy. I'm sure they didn't want to leave." The barkeep paused as if passing judgment on the woman in front of him. He nodded to himself before making a decision. The man lowered his voice, "Look, you seem kind of tired. Why don't you stay here tonight and look for your family tomorrow?"

Liss started sniffling and used her sleeve to wipe fake tears from her eyes. "I don't have enough money for a room."

The man smiled. "Hey, don't worry about it. I have a daughter about your age, so I know what your parents must be going through. With all the raiding going on I have plenty of rooms so don't worry about paying. I'll have some food brought over. You take your time and when you get tired find me and I'll show you to a room."

The mercenary decided it wouldn't be wise to turn down the offer. The man might know something and this was just a way for him to buy some time, besides she didn't get a chance to sleep in a comfortable bed that often. Liss nodded and leaned back in her chair as if resigned to a fate she didn't want. The man headed back to the bar and told one of the serving girls to get some food. He also said something else, but Liss couldn't make it out. He left the building after glancing back at Liss once more. She started to get up to follow him, but a servant brought over a platter of food. Liss had to admit she hadn't had a decent meal in a long time. She quickly finished off the food and decided to quietly search the village when the man returned and lead her to a room.

"This is my daughter's room," said the man as he opened the door. "I don't think she would mind if you slept here. It's more comfortable than the regular rooms."

"After sleeping on rocks out in the elements anything under cover sounds good." Liss paused as she looked around the room. "Where is your daughter?"

"We managed to get her to safety before that damned warlord started attacking villages." His eyes looked upward as if in silent prayer. "My wife wasn't so lucky. She was visiting her family in Dorian when they struck. By the time help arrived, every one was killed, including my wife." He paused again and wiped a tear from his eye as he turned around and headed back out. Liss didn't know what to say. She wanted to say how sorry she was, but deep down she knew how hypocritical it would sound to her ears. It was exactly what Kimon was planning on doing once she found out where and how the villagers were escaping. She closed the door and laid down on the bed. The last time she had slept in a bed was back home. Liss closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep. Her dreams jumped between her family back home and the gentle innkeeper who was trying to help what he thought was a lost and lonely girl. It wasn't long before she found herself truly crying. She lay in the dark wondering if she was crying because of what had happened to her family or what she was doing to save them. Morpheus finally took hold of Liss and she fell into a deep, albeit restless sleep. She woke up early the next morning and headed downstairs. The inn was devoid of the normal breakfast crowd and she could hear the bustle of people hard at work in the street. The scout was about to head outside when she was intercepted by the innkeeper.

"C'mon over and eat something. It isn't much, but it's hot and filling. You're going to need it."

"I am?" Liss inquired innocently. 'Finally I'm going to hear something useful.'

"Look, you seem like a nice, young lady so I'm going to let you in on a little secret." The barkeep paused as if rejudging Liss before continuing. "There's a group of people helping families escape from the path of Kimon. The problem is they have to move quickly and quietly through a special trail hidden in the valley to avoid those damn mercenaries, Zeus curse the money grubbing lot of them! Anyway, they can only travel on certain nights; if the people helping out found your family then they took them across as soon as possible. I'm sure they are safe on the other side of the pass."

'So there is a secret passage!' screamed Liss mentally. She knew that no matter how well she scouted the valley there were bound to be ways in and out she would be unable to find. The trail was probably in the area that she was planning on scouting personally. The young woman decided it was time to find out exactly where it was.

"Can you..." Liss started to say when the door opened up. She didn't have to pretend to be frightened, this time it was for real when she saw the warrior start to walk towards her.

"Xena!" shouted the barkeep. "I found another one trying to get to safety."

Liss jumped out of her seat and ran for the window with Xena hot on her trail. She sprang through the open window and ran straight past a startled Gabrielle who was just entering the tavern.

"Liss?"

"Oh, shi..." Liss started to say, but was cut off as she ran into a man preparing to get on a horse. The mercenary grabbed the man by the neck and threw him to the ground, kicking him in the back as he tried to get up. She quickly mounted the horse and kicked the horse into a gallop leaving Gabrielle choking in the dust. Xena trotted up next to her and pulled out her chakram. The warrior hesitated and then returned the weapon to its place at her hip.

Gabrielle was astounded. "You're letting her go again?!?!"

"Relax, Gabrielle," replied Xena. "Kimon and Grakus had to find out sooner or later that we were sneaking people out of the area. Liss doesn't know exactly where the passage is. She will want to find out for sure before telling Kimon or the information is worthless."

"So now what do we do?"

"We go ahead and move the next group through the pass and keep an eye out for our mercenary friend to show up."

"You think she is going to try to follow us?"

Xena lead her friend towards the woods where a small group was waiting. "Yeah, I do. Like I said, just knowing we are getting people out is worthless. Liss needs to find out how we are doing it before Grakus or Kimon will pay her."

The bard let out a sigh as she gathered her gear and started walking, gently pushing some children who were walking too slow. "It all goes back to money with her, doesn't it? I know she needs to get some dinars to pay back the loan, but no farm is worth cashing in on the lives of women and children."

Xena didn't answer. She knew there was more at stake than a farm, but it wasn't her place to tell what she suspected about Liss' family's debts. The warrior looked at the setting sun and started thinking about how she might help Liss. 'Why should I help her? If she wants to kill to save her family so be it. I'm not one to judge,' mused Xena to herself. Deep in her heart she knew she was kidding herself. Just like with Tara and the Urn of Apollo, she would help not because she had to, but because it was a chance to help somebody turn her life around. Xena watched the sun set and contemplated her next move. Liss wasn't just a kid looking for trouble like Tara had been. The mercenary had reasons for actions that went beyond petty trouble making. Xena figured she had one shot, and one shot only to help Liss. She just hoped that the woman would take the help.

Xena quickly decided what to do and called her traveling companion over. "Gabrielle I want you to take these people on ahead. Use the path we designated 'purple', got it?"

Gabrielle frowned. "I got it, but I don't understand. Purple is the path that has the least amount of cover. It maybe the fastest route, but with Liss hanging around shouldn't we be more concerned about her spotting us than speed?"

The warrior gave a feral grin, her teeth shining in the darkness. "That's what I'm counting on. I'll meet you at the campsite we used the first night. Drop off the women and children and double back and meet me there."

The bard nodded and took charge of the group. Xena waited a few minutes and watched Gabrielle lead her group down the left fork of the trail. She took off in another direction slightly parallel to Gabrielle, but a little farther north and higher in elevation. The warrior shadowed the group for several hours until she finally saw Liss hiding behind an outcrop. Xena grinned and gave a silent nod of admiration to the young woman. The site that Liss had chosen would have been perfect for an ambush, but Xena knew that the mercenary wouldn't have brought any soldiers without first confirming that this was the correct path. The ambush would come the next time around. Xena quietly snuck around the scout until she was no farther than a stone's throw away, which was exactly what the warrior did. : Liss instinctively turned, sensing something was wrong. She had but a second to realize a stone was heading directly at her before everything turned black. The next thing Liss saw were stars before everything went black.

********************************************************************* Chapter 4 "The whole story"

"C'mon, wake up sleepy head," teased a woman's voice. Liss groaned slightly and raised her hand to feel the bump on her head.

"C'mon, rise and shine," repeated the voice in the same irritating manner as if talking to a small child.

"I'm up, I'm up," retorted Liss. She looked at the woman and her scowl quickly fell from her face and was replaced by concern. The pair of deep blue eyes she was staring at told her all she needed to know about her situation. The main thing being it wasn't one she wanted to be in.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" asked Liss rhetorically. Xena gave a lopsided grin and handed the young woman a waterskin. While she was drinking Liss took the chance to take in her surroundings. It was dark, but she could see that they were still in the valley. Gabrielle was tending the small fire and shooting unfriendly glances at her. Liss looked again at Xena and noticed that while the warrior was certainly being cautious she didn't seem at all hostile. She finished drinking and handed the waterskin back.

'What does she think this is? A picnic?' thought Gabrielle. 'And I thought she was going overboard with Tara. Sheesh!'

"Why am I still alive? Now that I know about the pass I'm a liability to your safety."

"I'm touched by your concern," replied Gabrielle sarcastically.

"Gabrielle..." started Xena. 'What has gotten into her? I know she doesn't like people getting away with crimes, but if she saw the potential for good in me why can't she see it in Liss?'

"She's right and you know it. THAT woman is going to spill her guts for a couple of dinars and probably get a group a villagers killed," continued the bard.

"Gabrielle..." began Xena again.

"How much? How much are they paying you to kill helpless women and children?" interrupted Gabrielle. She was starting to lose her patience with Xena. It was one thing to try to straighten out a screwed-up kid like Tara, but it was a completely different story with a killer like Liss. There was no way she would even think about killing women and children in order to pay off some debt, even if her family's farm was at stake. No piece of land was worth that much.

"That's enough," growled Xena cutting her friend off before she could continue.

"A hundred dinars if I tell him how you are getting villagers out of the area," sighed Liss. Gabrielle looked like she was about to start up again when Xena gave her a warning glance.

"How much does your family owe?" asked Xena.

"What difference does it make? It doesn't look like I'm going to get a chance to give them one dinar."

"Yeah, what difference?" echoed Gabrielle still upset with the mercenary and beginning to get angry with her friend.

Xena sat down next to Liss and motioned for Gabrielle to join them. "How much?"

Liss let out a long sigh. "Okay, we had to borrow three hundred dinars from the moneylender, Alope, in order to pay for Father's medical bills. We had to put up the farm as collateral. After we paid for Father's expenses we still had to find some way to pay Alope back. The simplest way was to get the farm going again, but with everything destroyed in the raid we had no way to farm again. My sister took out personal loan for four hundred dinars with Alope in order to get the farm up and running. Unfortunately there was a drought and the crops failed this summer." Liss felt a tear roll down her cheek as she thought about her sister.

Gabrielle was still angry. "Okay, so you lose your farm. That's a good enough reason to kill villagers?"

"You don't understand," responded Liss.

"I do," said Xena as she wiped the tear off the young woman's face. 'No matter how tough she tries to act, she's just a kid,' thought the older woman.

"No you..."

"This isn't about the farm, is it Liss? This is about your sister's debt," replied the warrior softly. Liss nodded silently. Xena turned back to the bard. "You see Gabrielle, Rhion has some harsh laws regarding debts. If the debt is not paid off in time the person who made the loan has the right to force the person to pay back the money through servitude."

"I see, I think," replied Gabrielle. It wasn't that uncommon of a practice in Greece and she didn't understand what was so special about the situation now.

Xena continued, "I don't think you do. In Rhion it is the choice of the lender to decide what job is to be performed in order to earn enough money to pay off the debt."

"I still don't get it." Gabrielle shook her head.

Liss held back a sniffle and responded, "The fastest way for a woman to earn money is to work in a brothel and under Rhion law Alope has the right to make her work in one until he is paid back."

"A brothel! That's barbaric."

The young woman's head dropped. "So is trading in on the lives of women and children."

Gabrielle was silent. Once again she had passed judgment on somebody when she should have been trying to help them. 'I'd say I've been hanging around Xena too much and becoming cynical, but this time she figured it out and I am the one who doubted somebody.'

Xena watched her friend think about what she had just been told as well as Liss who was still quietly crying. Gabrielle would eventually get over it, but Liss had to be helped quickly before she started down the wrong path for good.

"Liss I know you are trying to save your sister, but you know as well as I do that what you are doing is wrong."

"There is nothing wrong with being a mercenary," retorted Liss starting to get angry.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," replied Xena sternly. 'Okay, if she wants to be treated like a child then so be it.'

"And who are you to judge me?" asked Liss impudently.

Xena grabbed Liss by her tunic and pulled her so she was only inches from the warrior's face. "I'm older, bigger, wiser and a whole lot meaner than you so knock off the tough warrior act, little girl."

"I...I..." stammered Liss too afraid to think straight. This was the Warrior Princess that tales were told of, not the kind, gentle woman that had just moments before wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't you dare ask me who am I to judge you. I've done things that would make you stomach turn. Do you know how I started out?"

Liss shook her head silently. Xena lowered her down and forced her to sit on a nearby log, but kept her eyes locked onto the young woman's and refused to relinquish her grip on the tunic.

"I started out trying to save my village from a warlord named Cortese. After that I created a militia to defend the village. That militia for defense became an army, one that I lead to conquer neighboring villages all in the name of protecting my home. After a while I got used to the blood and death until it became second nature to me." Xena paused and let go of Liss. She turned away and looked into the surrounding darkness and continued to speak, almost as if she was talking to herself. "It wasn't long before I gave up all notions of being a hero and defending my home. It became all about power. I lost my way. Don't lose yours." The last sentence came out almost as a plea.

"It's not the same thing!" exclaimed Liss. "I'm not trying to build an army or conquer anybody. I just want to raise enough money to pay off Alope. After that I'm retiring for good."

Xena's anger rose again, Liss could feel it emanating from the warrior. "You think it's that easy do you? And just how many people have you killed in your short life?"

"What does that matter? After I get the money I won't kill again."

"Answer the Hades cursed question, kid." Xena towered over Liss again. The girl felt the warrior was on the verge of striking her if she didn't answer.

"A dozen, maybe a few more," replied Liss quietly.

"Maybe a few more?" mocked Xena. "You don't even know for sure!"

"Oh and you remember every one of your kills?" retorted the mercenary. She cringed at what Xena might do for such insolence.

"I've killed more people than you've met in your whole life. A lot more than 'a dozen maybe a few more' so don't get sassy with me."

Liss looked right into the warrior's eyes and she saw the conflicting emotions inside Xena. Gabrielle was awestruck. This was the first time she had heard her friend open up like this to a complete stranger. She was both impressed at Xena's determination to help this girl and also a little confused at why she was telling the story to begin with.

"I..." Liss blurted out, but was unable to complete her sentence with Xena's constant glaring. Finally the warrior let her go and Liss sunk back onto the log. Xena walked over to her gear and pulled out Liss' daggers. She unsheathed them and casually tossed them into the air as if they were nothing but toys, which they were to someone as experienced as her. Xena gave them a final toss and threw them at the log that Liss was sitting on. They embedded themselves less than an inch on either side of the young woman. Liss jumped up to face Xena. She was angry, but fear had a tighter grip on her.

'What does she want from me?' Liss asked herself mentally. 'I guess those rumors of her going soft must be wrong.' She finished off with the thought, 'I'm going to die.'

Xena strolled over to Liss and pulled the deadly daggers out of the log and held them at the mercenary's throat. "Like how this feels?" she asked with venom in her voice. Liss tried to shake her head, but ended up cutting herself on her own weapons. "Do you realize how easy it would be for me to slit your throat? Nobody would know and nobody would care. Is this how you want to lead your life? Is this how your sister would want you to save her? As a killer who will some day end up dead from somebody better?"

"I don't want to kill any more," cried Liss as tears fell from her eyes. "I don't want to kill," she repeated as Xena removed the daggers from Liss' throat and embraced her.

"Let it out, just let it all out," whispered Xena as she comforted the girl. The warrior held her tight as Liss out over a year's worth of pent-up emotions. Xena looked over at Gabrielle and received a smirk. The bard waved her hands as if to indicate that Xena should continue and that she was not going to interfere.

"C'mon, why don't you sit down and relax. Let's see if we can't figure out another way to save your sister." Xena sat down and pulled Liss down with her. The warrior put her hands in her lap to show she had no intentions of hurting the girl.

"She's going to hate me," stated Liss.

"Don't say that. You don't know what she is going to do."

"What am I going to do? If I don't report in what I saw I'll lose whatever chance I had of making enough money to help her."

Gabrielle came over and sat on the other side of her. The bard reached over and gave the girl a comforting squeeze on the knee. "Why don't we start with how much money you need and work from there."

"Okay," Liss paused as she did some calculations. "I need a total of seven hundred dinars."

Gabrielle let out a slow whistle.

"I need three hundred dinars to pay off the mortgage on the farm. That money I can get from doing scouting for Grakus. Aside from having to work for that bastard I can live with myself, even if it means killing in defense." Liss paused and looked at Xena, "Honest, that's the only time I've ever killed."

Xena smiled, "I believe you. I just don't want you to become too attached to the power that comes with being able to kill."

"I think I understand, each time it becomes easier and easier. That thug I killed when helping Gabrielle didn't even phase me. It was natural." Liss stopped talking suddenly and hung her head. "That's what you meant by losing my way, isn't it? When the killing becomes just another chore, right?"

The warrior nodded, but didn't comment.

"Well the money from Grakus for just scouting covers the entire mortgage, all three hundred dinars. He was going to pay me an additional one hundred dinars for reporting how the villagers were escaping to the other side of the gap." Liss stiffened and went quiet again.

Xena knew there had to be more to it than that, but didn't want to push too hard. She got up and walked over to the fire, Xena felt Liss' eyes follow her around the camp. It wasn't fear she saw in them, but rather a hurt expression that the girl was quickly trying to cover up. Xena glanced over at Gabrielle hoping her friend had a clue as to what she was doing wrong. Gabrielle quietly motioned for Xena to return to Liss. The warrior's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out what Gabrielle was getting at. The bard got up and walked over to where Xena was making tea.

"You were on a roll," said Gabrielle. She muttered quietly, "Right up to where you screwed up and walked away."

"I thought she needed some space."

Gabrielle shook her head fervently. "What she needs is her mother to hold her and tell her everything is going to be all right."

"Well I'm not her mother," exclaimed Xena in a hushed tone.

"No, but you make a pretty decent big sister. Just go back there and hold her and tell her things will work out," ordered Gabrielle in equally hushed tones. She emphasized her point by quickly jabbing Xena with her elbow when the warrior hesitated.

"Look, what if things don't work out?"

"You don't know they won't."

"And you don't know they will."

"That isn't the point," responded Gabrielle. "She just needs to be comforted. We can deal with reality later, right now let's shore up her emotional defenses."

Xena let out a sigh and got up from the crouch she was in. She took a deep breath and turned around and started to walk back towards Liss.

Liss wasn't sure how she should feel. When Xena had left she felt both relieved and abandoned. One second the woman acted like she was going to kill her and the next held her while she cried. Liss watched as Xena went to the campfire and prepared tea. She attempted to hear what was being said between Xena and Gabrielle, but all she could make out was Xena was angry at something or someone. The girl watched as Xena walked back to her and sat down beside her. Liss nearly jumped when she felt Xena wrap her arm around her shoulder and smile at her.

"Umm..." said Liss. "What were you and Gabrielle arguing about?"

Xena smirked, "You." Before Liss could say anything else the warrior pulled her closer. "Relax, she was just upset that I left you alone when I shouldn't have."

Liss nodded. "I don't blame her. She was probably afraid I would take off."

"Actually she was telling me that you needed a shoulder to cry on and since I my shoulder is bigger..."

"Thanks. I haven't cried like that in long time. Not since..."

"Not since this whole mess started," finished Xena. Gabrielle returned from the campfire and handed Liss a cup of tea. Liss nodded and was about to drink when she started crying again. Xena gave Gabrielle a panicked look as if saying 'what do I do now?'. The bard glared at her and motioned for her friend simply to hold the girl.

Xena took the cup from Liss' hand and held it until the girl calmed down again. "I think it's time you finished your story," said Xena gently, but firmly.

"I don't..."

"How about telling us where you planned to get the remaining three hundred dinars?"

Liss let out a deep breath. "I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?" asked Xena. "I promise that no matter what you say I won't get angry." She gave Liss an encouraging smile and another hug. "I'm not going anywhere, so relax and talk to me."

"Kimon promised twenty five dinars for the head of every militiaman that was brought to him."

"That's monstrous!" fumed Gabrielle.

"Umm...yeah."

"Liss?"

"Yes, Xena?"

"You want to tell me what is REALLY bothering you?" There was no trace or sarcasm in Xena's voice, only concern. Liss looked up into her eyes and saw how much Xena cared and it was about more than saving villagers, it was about her. It was like talking to her mother, albeit a mother with a large broadsword, but her mother none the less. Xena smiled encouragingly, but didn't push.

"I knew I couldn't kill a dozen armed soldiers so I figured I would go for the other method of getting the bonus." Liss paused to take a breath. "Fifty dinars for every woman or child."

"Bastard," muttered Xena under her breath. She looked at Liss suddenly hoping the girl didn't think she was referring to her. Liss gave a weak smile to make Xena aware that she knew the anger wasn't directed at her.

"I was still arguing with myself over whether I could go through with it or not when you captured me."

"Trying to figure out if you should or if you could?"

"Both. Part of me realized just how wrong it would be to cash in on the lives of innocents, but another part argued that they were strangers and my sister was more important. Another part kept asking if I could even go through with it if I decided to kill."

"Did you reach an answer?" asked Xena softly.

Liss sighed and nodded her head. "Every time I would talk myself out of it I would see my sister and convince myself I was justified. That's why I was following you. I was hoping to find you path and ambush the next group." Liss hung her head in shame.

"And now?" prompted Xena.

"Now? Now I'm more confused than ever. Part of me still wants to do anything in my power to save my sister and the other part doesn't want to do something that she wouldn't want me to do." Liss hesitated before carrying on. "Or that you wouldn't want me to do."

Xena wiped the girl's eyes and lifted her chin up so she could look into them. "I'm honored that you feel that way about me, but the bottom line is whether or not you could live with yourself."

"What should I do?" asked Liss as she looked between Xena and Gabrielle.

"I'm not as good with this sort of thing as Xena, but let's look at all of your options," replied Gabrielle.

'Oh, sure "I'm not as good with this sort of thing as Xena"' thought Xena, mocking Gabrielle's words.

"I only have two options, kill or don't kill," retorted Liss.

"Hey, calm down. Gabrielle is only trying to help."

"Sorry," mumbled Liss.

"That's okay. Now, is there another way you could earn the money?"

"Not quickly enough."

"Okay, will Alope extended the deadline?"

Both Liss and Xena gave the bard a knowing look.

"Okay," said Gabrielle drawing the word out.

"I appreciate it, but this is something I'm just going to have to figure out alone."

"You're not alone, not anymore," said Xena. The group became quiet as everybody tried to figure out what to do. It wasn't long before Xena noticed Gabrielle trying to keep her head from drooping.

"Gabrielle?"

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you turn in? It's getting late and we have to start early tomorrow to get another group across the gap by nightfall."

"Uh, fine with me, replied Gabrielle out loud. 'What is she? Nuts? Liss hasn't said one way or another what she plans on doing and Xena goes and says we are bringing another group tomorrow. I hope she knows what she is doing.'

Gabrielle unrolled her bedding and fell asleep faster than she could have imagined.

"What are you? Nuts?" said Liss echoing Gabrielle's unsaid thoughts only minutes before.

Xena's eyebrows rose in amusement at the girl's tone, but she kept quiet.

"You don't know what I'm going to do and you go and tell me you are bringing another group tomorrow. What if I decide to set an ambush?"

"Are you?" asked Xena innocently.

"I...I..."

"You don't know, do you?" inquired Xena already knowing the answer.

Liss didn't respond. She gently shrugged off Xena's arm that had been around her the entire evening and walked over to her equipment. The mercenary replaced her daggers in their sheaths and buckled on her small shield onto her forearm. She expected a blow from behind at any moment, but it never came. Liss finished arming herself and turned around to see Xena still sitting on the log.

"You're not going to stop me?" asked Liss in astonishment.

Xena shook her head slowly. "I'm not your mother, I can't tell what to do and I won't force you either. It is your decision and your conscience that you have to live with."

Liss walked over to Xena and bent down to embrace her. She whispered into the warrior's ear, "You may not be my mother, but you make a good big sister."

Xena smirked and returned the embrace. When they broke apart she wiped the tears that were starting to fall from Liss' face. "What ever happens tomorrow I want you to remember that I'll always be here for you."

Liss was too choked up to reply, she simply nodded and headed into the woods. Xena watched her disappear and tracked her with her hearing until she was out of range of that as well.

***********************************************************************

Chapter 5 "Decisions, decisions."

Dawn approached too quickly for Liss as she made her way back to Grakus's main camp. The previous night's talk with Xena had stirred up thoughts and emotions that she had buried when first becoming a mercenary. Liss looked up into the morning sky and watched as a hawk swooped down on a smaller bird and plucked it from flight.

'Which am I? The predator or the prey?' mused the young woman as she walked to Grakus's tent. 'Who am I going to betray? My family? My conscience? Xena?'

Liss paused outside of the main tent before entering. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The sounds of the mercenary and warlord camp floated around her. Liss shut them out and thought about her family that was depending on her. The mercenary's eyes opened into tiny slits that revealed a steely determination. 'All right, I've made up my mind and let Hades be my judge if it's the wrong choice.'

Liss pushed aside the flaps of the tent and strode right up to Grakus and Kimon, interrupting whatever they had been planning.

"Well?" asked Grakus expectantly.

The woman didn't answer immediately. She walked over to a table and poured herself a generous cup of wine and downed it in one gulp. Liss slammed the cup onto the table and faced her employer. "I've got the route that they are using to get the villagers out of the area."

"Wonderful! Just wonderful!" exclaimed Grakus. "See! I told you Liss was the best in the business."

"Indeed," responded Kimon as he stroked his blonde goatee. "And how did you go about getting this information when my people couldn't?"

Liss sauntered up to the warlord, stared straight into his eyes and sneered, "You want the best, you pay for the best. Those barbarians you call soldiers out there couldn't find a lost dog if it came up and bit them in the ass."

Grakus guffawed while Kimon turned red, not out of anger, but because the remark struck closer to the truth than he wanted to admit. "Be that as it may, you are going to lead those 'barbarians' tomorrow to the trail the villagers are using."

"Whatever. Just remember the bounty you offered for any heads brought in."

Kimon cracked a sickening smile. "Beautiful AND bloodthirsty, my kind of woman. Perhaps after this is all over you would like to come work directly for me."

"Don't bet on it," retorted Liss. "I'm in it strictly for the money." She brushed past Kimon and Grakus and left the tent.

"I warned you, Kimon," said Grakus as he sat down on a garishly covered chair and sipped from his cup. "Liss is a true mercenary. Nothing comes between her and her money."

"Indeed," murmured Kimon as he eased himself onto the couch.

Liss headed straight for her tent as soon as she left Grakus and Kimon. She opened the chest that she had used to store her excess equipment in and removed an oilskin bundle from it. Liss opened the bundle and pulled out the crossbow that she had taken from her father before leaving home. It wasn't especially large, but Liss had found that with practice she could load and fire twice as fast as an average person. 'I'm going to need that ability if things get messy, and they probably will if Xena is involved.' She spent the rest of the day going over her plans for the ambush in her head. After she was sure she had covered every possible angle that she had control of Liss decided to try to get some sleep. Liss awoke a few hours before dusk. She was amazed that she had been able to sleep at all considering what was going to happen in a few hours. 'I guess that now that my mind is made up there is nothing left to have nightmares about.'

The mercenary armed herself and walked out of tent. She took a deep breath and proceeded to head into woods. 'With any luck I can talk myself out of this. I still can't believe I decided to do this.' Liss had barely entered the woods when she came across one of Kimon's warriors swinging a large warhammer. She took a moment to study him. Something tickled the back of her mind, but she couldn't place where she might have seen him. This was the first time she had ever worked for Kimon and she knew that the warrior had never worked for Grakus during her employment with the mercenary leader. The man was extremely large, almost two feet taller than herself and had to weigh nearly three times her weight. The man stopped swinging his hammer and turned to face Liss.

"Hey little girl, want to see what a real man can do?" asked the warrior. Without waiting for an answer he swung the hammer around his head twice and then directed it toward an unsuspecting oak tree. The head of the hammer collided with trunk of the tree causing it to splinter in all directions. A few seconds later the large tree fell with a resounding crash that shook the ground under Liss. "So, what brings you out here?"

"Just going for a walk before the attack."

"Oh yeah, you're the chick that's going to lead the ambush on those villagers. I've gotta admit, I can't wait to get my hands on them. It's been too long since I had a chance to do some damage on easy targets. Kimon's had me fighting on the front lines so I haven't had a chance to have fun. Not since last year near Rhion, anyway."

Liss froze as the implications of what the brute had said hit her. She forced a polite smile on her face. "Rhion? Kimon raided Rhion a year ago?"

"Yeah, what's it too you?"

"Nothing, it's just that I thought Kimon went after bigger targets than simple farming communities." Liss' stomach started to turn. It finally hit here where she had seen the large warrior. A memory that had haunted her for the past year came unbidden into her consciousness.

"Father!" shouted a young girl, no more than seventeen summers old. A farmer ran from a mounted warrior swinging a large warhammer intent on killing the defenseless peasant. "Liss! Run!" shouted the farmer. He turned his head to get a better view of the warrior chasing him. The warrior swung the warhammer and caught the man behind the left shoulder. The farmer hit the ground hard and was getting up when the warrior leapt from his horse and continued to pummel him with the hammer. The girl watched as her father was beaten to a bloody pulp and left for dead by the warrior, just like her mother whose body was in the barn.

Liss shook her head to rid herself of the memory. This was the man that had killed her mother, crippled her father and forced her sister to risk her life in order to repay Alope. Liss' eyes narrowed as various scenarios ran through her head about what to do.

"You should have been there, kid. It was so easy. I remember this one farm where I toyed with peasant and beat him in front of his family. Poor bastard will probably never walk again. Heh, heh, I wish I had more time, there was this cute girl I would have loved too..."

Liss couldn't take any more. "Do you remember what she looked like? Did she have brown hair, like this?" Liss twirled a lock of her own chestnut colored hair.

"Huh? I wasn't exactly looking at her hair, but yeah, it looked like that."

"I see," replied Liss through gritted teeth. "And did she have brown eyes like these?" The young woman opened her eyes wide so the man could get a good look at them.

"Well, I guess so. I wasn't going to court her, I was going to..."

"I know exactly what you were going to do you bastard. I was there." Liss lowered her hands so they hovered right above the handles to her daggers. Half of her prayed the man would try something, the other half hoped he would just turn away. The Fates chose the former. Recognition finally dawned on the man as he grinned and started swinging his hammer.

"Well, well, well, it looks like I get to have some fun after all. C'mere little girl, what are you going to do with those little toys? You might poke your eye out. Put them down and I won't hurt you...too much that is." He snarled and charged at her. At the last second Liss dodged to the left and stuck her foot out causing the man to slam head first into the ground. He quickly rolled over and edged toward Liss again. This time Liss had pulled her daggers out and was eagerly looking forward to the confrontation.

'This is all your fault!' she mentally screamed at him. 'None of this would have happened if you had just left us alone.'

"What's the matter, girl? Cat got your tongue?" taunted the warrior.

Liss knew better than to try to fight him head on. He was much too strong and his hammer could kill her with one blow. She had to fight faster and smarter in order to win. The scout dodged blow after blow, each time the hammer came closer to her.

"You think you're better than me, don't you?" snarled the warrior. "You're not, you are going to end up just like me, cold and heartless."

"NO!" shouted Liss. She charged him and through sheer strength of will managed to tackle him to the ground, his hammer flying into a nearby tree. They rolled on the ground until the warrior used his strength to throw Liss against a tree stump. Liss shook her head to try to clear it before he attacked again. She saw a shadow loom over her and without looking thrust one of her daggers into the air. The girl heard a grunt and saw the shadow fall back. Liss got up saw that she had managed to stick her dagger through her opponents arm right. The dagger's hilt was barely visible under his armpit while the tip stuck out of the shoulder blade. She had seen enough battle wounds to know that even if he survived the blood loss he would never regain total use of his arm. Liss kicked him in the gut several times until he was on the ground half unconscious. She reached down to remove her dagger, but was stopped by a large hand that grabbed her throat.

"It's going to take more than a little pin prick to stop me you tramp," mumbled her opponent. He pushed Liss onto the ground, pulled her dagger out of his own shoulder and stood over her menacingly. "Now to finish what I wanted to do a year ago." He jumped on top of Liss, suddenly the sickening grin that had been on his face was replaced by one of shock. The man rolled off of Liss and looked down at his chest and saw another dagger imbedded a few inches from his heart. Liss got up on her knees and took her dagger from the man's hand. She reached over for the one she had stabbed him in the chest with and twisted it watching his face contort in pain. Gradually his expression went blank and Liss knew he was dead. She removed the remaining dagger and wiped them both on the dead man's shirt before returning them to their sheaths. Liss got up and started walking back to camp. "I guess Xena was right, it does get easier and easier. There is only one thing more to do before going home."

As she reentered the main area of the camp she saw a dozen men preparing horses. One of the warriors walked over to her. "You're the scout, right?"

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" she retorted.

"Whoa, take it easy. We're the ones assigned to help ambush the villagers. There is still one person missing, a warrior named Titus, seen him around?"

Liss sighed. 'These guys are incompetent. They can't even keep track of their own people.' She turned and asked, "What does he look like?"

"Real big and ugly, carries a warhammer."

Liss blinked and said, "Nope, haven't seen him around. I guess we'll have to go without him."

Liss got on horse that was being held for her and lead the small group out of camp. She watched the sun set and said a quick prayer. The ride into the valley where Liss had spotted, and been captured by, Xena took nearly three hours to reach. Liss had little difficulty in figuring out which trail the warrior had used to escort the next group of villagers.

'It looks like she took a different trail this time. Unfortunately, now that I know the basic route, it is easy to find the specific way they went.' Liss sighed and led her group down the left fork of the trail. Something stirred in the back of her mind as they made their way in the dark. They went about a quarter of a mile before Liss realized what had been bothering her. 'This is too easy. It's almost like...' Before Liss could finish the thought the lead warrior called out to her.

"Fresh tracks, a lot of them. The villagers can't be very far ahead," he exclaimed excitedly. Liss could see the greed in his eyes. 'The bastard can't wait to get his hands on the villagers.' She gulped when she realized that her goal was the same as his. She watched him head off down the trail with the rest of the group following him and her bringing up the rear. Liss scanned the trees on either side of her and watched as they came closer to the trail as it approached a narrow section between two boulders. The lead warrior started shouting and waving his hands. "I see them. I see them, just ahead."

Liss craned her neck and saw the heads of some of the taller villagers bobbing up and down as they ran like mad from the warlord's band. Her eyes followed the group until she spotted movement in a tree off to her left. She strained her eyes, but failed to see anything until she recognized two bright blue orbs staring at her. Eyes that had both frightened and comforted her the night before. Liss looked at the narrow section ahead and saw several soldiers rushing to get into position to ambush her party. She saw Xena's eyes track the lead warriors as they approached the boulders. Time seemed to slow down for Liss as she weighed her options. If she shouted an alarm most of the men from Kimon's group would be able to get through the ambush and kill the villagers before Xena and her followers could stop them. Liss realized why Xena kept such a close eye on the lead warriors, the soldiers weren't in position yet. The same warrior that had seen the villagers would spot the soldiers before the ambush was ready and shout his own alarm with the same result, most of the warriors would be able to reach the villagers. Her eyes locked with Xena's again and in her mind she heard the conversation of the night before,

"You're not going to stop me?" asked Liss in astonishment.

Xena shook her head slowly. "I'm not your mother, I can't tell what to do and I won't force you either. It is your decision and your conscience that you have to live with."

Liss walked over to Xena and bent down to embrace her. She whispered into the warrior's ear, "You may not be my mother, but you make a good big sister."

Xena smirked and returned the embrace. When they broke apart she wiped the tears that were starting to fall from Liss' face. "What ever happens tomorrow I want you to remember that I'll always be here for you."

"You do what you have to do Xena, and I'll do what I have to," Liss muttered under her breath. She raised her crossbow and fired it. Liss didn't have a chance to see if she had hit her target or not, she felt more than heard a buzzing sound and saw a reflection of sunlight off of a flying metal object right before it smashed into her head an sent her tumbling off of her horse and blacking out. Liss passed in and out of consciousness and she heard the sound of battle all around her. She heard men screaming as they died and she smiled slightly knowing that she had succeeded before she passed out for good.

Liss woke up to the same annoying sound that had woken her up the last time she had been knocked out.

"C'mon, waky, waky."

She groaned and felt a bump on her forehead. "What happened?"

"You, that's what happened."

Liss opened her eyes and saw Xena kneeling over her smiling. She looked beyond the lady warrior and saw Gabrielle talking to a soldier who nodded and took off down the path. Surrounding her were the bodies of Kimon's warriors.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" asked Gabrielle as she approached the two women.

"What hit me?"

"Well..." mumbled Gabrielle.

"I did," replied Xena. "It was the only way to make sure you didn't get killed in the ambush."

"So you took me out of the fight and made it look like I was already dead so nobody else would come after me, right?" asked Liss to make sure she had the facts correct. She shook her head to clear out the excess cobwebs.

"You really had me going there for a while, Liss. I mean, I thought you were planning on attacking those villagers, but Xena had faith in you the entire time." Gabrielle grinned. Liss smiled weakly and nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Gabrielle?"

"Yeah, Xena?"

"Do me a favor and catch up with the villagers. I don't want them getting lost out here and accidentally stumbling into Kimon's men."

"Sure, but what about you and Liss?"

"We'll be fine."

Gabrielle hefted her staff and took off after the villagers, taking the rest of the militia with her. An awkward silence fell between Liss and Xena as they watched the others leave.

"Xena, I..."

"Shhh, you don't have to say anything," hushed Xena as she helped Liss get to her feet and lead her over to a tree stump to sit on.

"Yes I do. Gabrielle was wrong, I planned on attacked those villagers the whole time."

"Oh you did, huh?" asked Xena with an amused expression on her face.

"I'm not kidding!" Liss exclaimed angrily.

Xena placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "And your master plan to ambush the villagers involved shooting one of your own men in the back with a crossbow bolt?" asked Xena still smiling, but with a touch of seriousness in her voice that indicated she knew exactly what had happened.

Liss sighed and covered her face with her hands. "Okay, so I couldn't go through with it. I saw that he was going to discover the trap, so I shot him."

"And when you did that you sent the rest of the group into such confusion that they didn't realize they were in a trap until it was too late." Xena paused. "You knew exactly what you were doing."

"Not until I saw you."

Xena shrugged. "I guess I made a bigger impression than I thought."

"You knew I couldn't go through with it, didn't you?" asked Liss as she watched the warrior start sifting through the dead's' belongings.

Xena picked up a large mace and looked back at Liss. "I figured you would make the decision that was right for you."

Liss snorted, "Yeah, right for me, but not for my family. Now what am I going to do?"

"I told you I would be there for you." Xena walked over to Liss and knelt down next to her. She looked Liss straight in the eye and said, "You needed to kill six women or children in order to get the bounty from Kimon, right?"

"Yes."

"Or a dozen soldiers," continued Xena.

"Which would be impossible, so I went for the easy...kill. It doesn't matter now."

"Take a look around you, Liss. There are a dozen dead men lying on the ground."

Understanding dawned on the girl as she followed Xena's line of thinking. Reality hit her when she realized that Kimon would easily recognize his own men, dead or not. "It won't work, Xena. He's going to know his own men."

Xena had a blank, almost sad expression on her face. "I want you to listen to me, Liss. You know about my past, right?" She received a muted nod in response. "And you know I did some things that are best left not talked about in polite company, right?" Another nod. "This is one of those things that should be left unsaid, especially to Gabrielle." Xena walked over to one of the corpses and took a deep breath. She pulled the battle mace in a long, slow arc back near her head and held it there for a second. Xena brought the mace back down and smashed the face of the corpse into a bloody mass of goo with one blow. The warrior repeated the process with the remaining eleven bodies sometimes using her sword, sometimes the mace, and sometimes both. Liss sat there during the entire event, wide eyed at the brutality of what she was witnessing. The same woman that had held her while she cried about here sister was mutilating the bodies of the men she had ridden with only hours before. Xena finished her task by going to each body and severing the head from the shoulders and placing it in large sack. She tossed the sack near the ground where Liss was sitting and walked over to her. To her credit, Liss didn't back away, but sat there and watched as the Warrior Princess approached her.

"I don't think I could have done that," she remarked solemnly.

"Good, because it took a lifetime of death and destruction for me to get used to it. Promise me this is the end of your career as a mercenary, Liss," demanded Xena.

"I promise, Xena." Liss leaped off the stump and hugged the warrior who was still drenched in the blood of the men she had mangled. "I promise." Liss cried as Xena held her. Several minutes went by before either wanted to let go. Eventually Liss broke free and wiped the tears from her face. "Now what?"

"Now you go to Kimon, get your bounty, and go home to pay off your sister's debt."

Liss nodded and grabbed the sack, she was amazed at how heavy it was. She tied the sack to a horse and got on her own. "Will I ever see you again?"

"Are you sure you want to after all of this?" Xena held her hands off to her side to indicate the blood and gore that covered her.

"Yes. I want you and Gabrielle to visit me and my family in Rhion. I want you to meet my sister."

"We'd be honored to."

Liss nudged her horse into a gentle gallop and headed back to Kimon's camp. She collected her thoughts and tried to come up with a plausible story of how her entire party was killed, but she managed to escape without a scratch.

'Well, not with out a scratch,' thought Liss as she rubbed the knot on her head that had come from Xena's chakram. 'I better come up with something other than, "whoops we got ambushed and here I am to collect my reward."'

Liss entered the camp and rode up to Kimon's tent. Grakus was just exiting with Kimon as she dismounted. "Liss, what happened to you?" He pointed at the blood all over her tunic, blood that had come from crying in Xena's arms.

"What do you think happened? We were ambushed by Xena."

"Where are my men," demanded Kimon entering the conversation.

"Dead," responded Liss a-matter-a-factly.

"What?!?!" screamed Kimon.

"We got ambushed because those idiots got drunk and were shouting so loud the dead in Tartarus could hear them. It's no small surprise that Xena and the militia were able to sneak up and attack us."

"So why aren't you dead?" sneered the warlord.

"Because I had enough common sense to head into the deep woods and pick off the militia one by one. I'm just lucky your boys kept Xena entertained long enough for me to pick up these." She cut the rope that held the sack onto the horse. The sack dropped and several heads rolled out of it. Grakus jumped back, but Kimon walked over and kicked one. He watched it sail across the encampment and strike an unsuspecting man in the back.

"Oh, well. Men are easy to replace. How much do I owe you?" asked Kimon in a business like fashion.

"There are a dozen heads in there, or there were before your started playing with them. That comes to three hundred dinars."

"Well worth the price. Come inside while I get your money." Liss followed the warlord into the tent with Grakus trailing them. Kimon picked up a sack of dinars and tossed them to Liss. "There is a little over four hundred dinars in that bag, consider the rest an incentive to work for me again."

Liss nearly lost control. The knuckles on her right hand turned white as she gripped her dagger. She remembered her promise to Xena about leaving this lifestyle and returning home. Killing Kimon might make her feel better in the short term, but it was still another death on her conscience. "No thanks, I think it's time I took a well deserved rest."

Grakus spoke up, "Does this mean you're leaving my employ as well?"

'You bet you son of a bitch,' she thought. "Yup, time to go on a vacation," is what she said. Liss wheeled around and walked out of the tent. She grabbed the reins of the horse and spurred it into a run in order to put as much distance as possible between her and the warlord.

Chapter 6 "There's no place like home."

"Raiders! Raiders!" shouted a young girl as she ran to the farm house dragging her little brother along. In her heart she knew there was no way they were going to make it. Determined to protect her family, the girl turned around and faced her opponent. As the cloaked figured dismounted from the horse she raised the pitchfork and prepared to take a swing at the lone raider.

"Hey, watch where you're pointing that thing," cried a young woman's voice from inside the cloak. The stranger pulled the hood back to reveal deep brown eyes and chestnut hair.

"Liss!" shouted the girl excitedly.

Liss grinned and enveloped her little sister is a bear hug. "It's good to finally be home, Daphne."

Her younger brother approached cautiously. "Liss?"

"Calais, you've grown so much since I saw you last." Liss bent down and hugged the brother she had not seen in nearly a year.

"Where have you been?" the boy asked innocently. "All Daphne would say was that you left and still loved us."

"I...well..."

"Never mind, Liss. It doesn't matter where you have been, or what you have been doing," said Daphne interceding on behalf of her sister.

Liss smiled gratefully, but became somber when she asked, "Where is Father?"

Daphne lost her cheerfulness ask she replied, "In bed. Some days are better than others, but he occasionally is forced to stay inside rather than try to work the fields."

The elder sister looked at the fields and was surprised to see signs of crops poking out of the ground. "How did you get a crop in this year? We lost all of our money trying to get the raise the last one. You didn't borrow money from Alope again, did you?"

Daphne shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. "No, this year enough farmers were able to band together and loan out seed to those who needed it." She paused and let out a small grin. "Alope is going bankrupt from not being able to make any loans." Liss watched her little sister lose the grin as she continued. "We still owe him the money from last year though, that hasn't changed, and this year's crop won't come in time to pay him back."

"You let me handle Alope, Sis. When I left I told you I would find a way to keep you from working for that monster."

Daphne shook her head. "There's no way you could have earned six hundred dinars, not without you..." Her voice trailed off as she left the implication hanging in the air.

"Relax, I'm not about to let you get sold off to work in a whore house, and I didn't work in one either."

"Then how..." Daphne didn't continue. She took a moment to examine her sister, something she failed to do in all the excitement of Liss' return. Liss noticed her sister's eyes stop at the daggers on her belt and the shield she wore on her arm. The blood stains from her recent adventure were still on her clothes since she had ridden home without bothering to wash them out.

"Let's go inside, I'll try to explain everything." The threesome headed to the small cottage and quietly entered. Daphne nodded in the direction of the master bedroom. Liss tiptoed to the door and gently opened it. She saw her father sleeping with his leg propped up on several pillows and a crutch leaning against the nightstand. A wave of anger washed over her, several deep breaths later she closed the door and made her way to the family room. Liss plopped down in her old chair and smiled gratefully as Daphne placed a mug in front of her. She took a long sip and nearly spit it out.

"What's wrong, Liss?" asked her sister, alarmed that the milk might have gone bad.

"Nothing," mumbled Liss around a mouthful of milk. She finally swallowed and looked her sister sheepishly. "I haven't had milk since I left. It's mostly been ale with some wine from time to time."

"Wow! You got to drink ale?" asked Calais wide-eyed that his big sister had gotten to do grown up stuff.

"Ale?" Daphne's nose crinkled. "You always hated the smell, let alone the taste of the stuff. What made you change your mind?"

"Well, there's not a whole lot of choices in a mercenary army."

"A what!?!?"

'Ouch, I blew the subtle approach right out of the water' thought Liss as she mentally berated herself. "So, now you know where I got the money. I've been working as a scout for various mercenary armies for the past year."

Daphne stared at her sister, not sure whether to laugh at what might be a joke, or cry at what her sister did on her behalf. Calais' voice brought her back to her surroundings.

"Neat! Can I play with your knives? Did you fight a bunch of bad guys?" Calais was hammering out questions before Liss could even answer the first one.

"Well..."

"Did you kill anybody?"

THAT struck Liss right down to her soul. She grabbed Calais roughly by his shoulders. "You listen to me, right now. Killing is nothing to ever be proud off. In answer to your question; yes, I did kill people. It's something I'll always regret."

"But they were bad people!"

"Oh, Calais, you're too young to understand, but not all of them were bad people. Some were men just trying to support their family," Liss' voice became softer, "like I was."

Liss wrapped an arm around Daphne. "I know what you're thinking. Don't torture yourself over what I did."

"But you killed those people because of me!"

"It was my choice, besides," Liss have a small smirk, "I didn't kill anybody that wasn't trying to kill me first. Look, what's done is done. I've come home and I don't plan on leaving again, ever. Certainly not to become a mercenary again."

"Honest?"

"Honest, a friend taught me that I wasn't really cut out for it."

"How did he do that?"

"She, and she did that by threatening me and showing me that there are things scarier than the monsters we used to worry were under our beds."

Daphne shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe anybody could scare you, let alone some woman."

"Believe me, Daphne. This is one woman you don't want to tick off. Enough about me, we have all the time in the world to catch up. Right now I want to relax and forget about the past year." Liss tilted her chair back until it was on two legs and the back was up against the nearest wall. She closed her eyes and went to sleep unconsciously keeping one hand near a dagger and her body facing the door.

Daphne decided to let it rest for now and took Calais into the kitchen to prepare dinner. After resting for close to an hour, Liss started to sense somebody was watching her. She opened her eyes to small slits and slowly wrapped her hand around her dagger. Without warning she popped her eyes wide open and jumped out of her chair to face the person observing her.

"Father!" Liss threw herself at the old man, nearly causing him to fall. "I'm sorry, I forgot about your leg."

"Liss, don't worry about me, I'm just happy to see you home."

"Father, I," started Liss, but was cut off by the old man.

"Shhh. I already know what you've been up to." He smiled as he sat down on a well padded couch.

"You do?" asked Liss, her eyebrows furrowing.

"I wasn't always a farmer," sighed her father. "You are too young to remember what I use to do before farming."

"You've always farmed. I do remember when I was young and Mother was carrying Daphne you used to work on someone else's farm and had to leave for long periods of time."

"That's right, daughter. It was about ten years ago and you were about six or seven when I finally quit the mercenary trade. Those long periods of time away from home was when I was out fighting for pay. Your mother hated it, but we couldn't afford to buy enough land to farm so I did the only thing I knew, fight." He paused and gave a grin. "I wasn't half bad until I ran into Tartarus on Earth. That warlord tore through our little band like a hot knife through butter and she was only getting started in the business."

"She?"

"The Warrior Princess, who else? Back then she was fighting to create some kind of 'defense zone' around her home town. Another village hired us to stop her, we failed, but she was merciful enough to let us join her or swear to give up the sword. I chose the second option, obviously."

"Wow, the Fates work in weird ways," mumbled Liss.

"What was that?" asked her father.

"Huh? Oh, nothing." Just then Daphne and Calais walked in carrying supper and the family sat down to the first dinner they had had together in a year. Liss went to her room and quietly took a look around it. She smiled as she noticed that everything was in the same place she had left it. The retired mercenary changed into a shift and closed her eyes, waiting for the next morning when she could go into town and pay off the loans.

The next morning came quickly for Liss. She put on a simple dress that she had left hanging in her closet and replaced it with her normal green tunic. Her daggers and shield were placed in a small chest next to her bed. 'Won't be needing them anymore.'

Liss hitched up the wagon and climbed in with Daphne following her. "You don't have to come, Sis."

"I know, but I want to see the look on Alope's face when we pay him off. He's been bragging about how much money I was going to make for him."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to disappoint him, won't we?" Liss whistled and snapped the reins to get the wagon moving. The trip to the village was uneventful and Liss took the time to fill her sister in on some of the less violent aspects of her year as a mercenary. Daphne was amazed at the places Liss had been and the sites she had seen. She almost envied her sister until she remembered what Liss had done in order to see those places. The two sisters pulled up in front of Alope's place of business and got off of the wagon. Alope came out the front door to greet them. The moneylender was a weasel looking man with beady eyes and one long hair that he seemed to wrap around the top of his head in an attempt to hide his obvious baldness.

"Well, this is a surprise! You still have a week left, Daphne you didn't have to turn yourself over to me so soon. I'm glad you did, and happy that you brought your sister with you."

"We're here to pay off my family and my sister's loan, Alope."

"How did you manage to raise that kind of money, little girl?" asked an astonished Alope as they walked into his shop.

"How I earned it is my business." Liss tossed the pouch of money over to him. "Go ahead and count it, you slime. Come on, Daphne, let's get out of here."

"Not so fast! There's no way you could have earned this much money honestly. Either you have some old man you've managed to seduce or you've taken to a life of crime. It doesn't matter to me, but I want more money or I'll tell the whole town." Alope sneered at them.

Liss closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. 'Stay calm, Liss,' she told herself.

The weasel continued, "You may have saved your sister, but we all know you must have become some sort of whore or otherwise sold yourself. All I want is to see what you got."

A pleasant smile came across Liss' face. She smiled sweetly and said, "You want to see what I've been doing? Sure, no problem." Liss walked over to Alope and put her right foot up on a nearby chair. She pulled her skirt up slowly, teasing the Alope. When her skirt was raised nearly mid thigh she pulled the small knife she had strapped to her leg with her right hand and grabbed Alope's throat with her left. Liss threw him against the wall and held the knife to his throat. She whispered into his ear, "This is what I've been doing. I've been working as a mercenary and you want to know something? I'm damn good at it. I have killed and probably would have killed more if I still had money to raise. A friend of mine told me killing gets to be too easy, she was right, but so help me if you ever talk trash about me or any member of my family I'm going to come out of retirement. You got me?"

Alope nodded vigorously. Liss pulled the knife away from his throat and stepped away. She smoothed out her dress and held her hand out to her sister. "C'mon Daphne, let's go home."

They walked out of the shop and left Alope staring at the puddle he was standing in and the stain on his pants.

A few days passed by as Xena and Gabrielle found themselves on the road that lead to Rhion.

"Xena, aren't we near Rhion?" asked the blond bard as she scribbled on her scroll. Gabrielle had discovered that if she put a small board underneath her parchment she was able to write while she walked.

"We'll never reach the bend in the road at the rate you're walking," retorted the warrior.

"You're just jealous because of my invention." Gabrielle stuck out her tongue.

"Oh yeah, I'm jealous you found a way to walk even slower than before. Look, that idea of yours is great when you have to write and there is nothing to put the scrolll on, but it's not ideal for traveling. Why don't you wait until we make camp?"

Gabrielle sighed and rolled up her scroll, making sure to place the board in her pouch along side it for future use. "There, happy?"

"Just peachy."

"Why don't we stop and pay Liss a visit?"

"I thought you didn't like her?" asked Xena arching an eyebrow.

"Not at first, but she kinda grew on me. Besides she wasn't an evil person, just a kid that got stuck in a bad situation." Gabrielle paused in reflection. "I guess I was just preoccupied with how the end justifies the means. The way she was so determined to do whatever it took to save her family was inspiring, but so wrong."

"It's not like you to judge people like that. Remember who you travel with?"

The bard kicked a stone in the middle of the road. "Yeah, but..."

"But what? That can't be what's really bothering you about Liss." Xena nudged her companion gently in the ribs. "C'mon, you can tell me."

Gabrielle stopped and looked up into Xena's eyes. She stood there as if weighing the pros and cons of telling her friend what was really bothering her. Finally she blew out a deep breath. "I was jealous."

"Of what? Liss? That's crazy, Gabrielle. She turned out to be a friend, but you know you're my best friend. Nothing, and nobody, is going to change that." Xena was shocked that Gabrielle could be jealous of Liss.

"No, you don't understand. I wasn't jealous of her, I was jealous of you." Gabrielle was relieved she had finally gotten her little secret out in the open.

"Me?" exlaimed the warrior. "You have no reason to be jealous of me."

The bard / Amazon Queen merely stared at her friend in annoyance, letting the silence be her answer.

"Okay, so I fight better than you do, that's never bothered you before."

"And you run faster, jump higher, have traveled all over the known world, but that's not it."

"It's not?" Xena was confused more than ever.

"Of course not. I'm not a warrior so I've never expected to be able to match you physically and you're older so I know you have been places I've only dreamt of. It's that fact that in all our travels you've always been the one who has been the fighter and me the talker. This time..."

Xena nodded in understanding. "This time I'm the one who did the sensitive talk and you're a little upset that I did so well. Is that it?"

Gabrielle nodded sheepishly. "I'm not jealous that you did so well, it's just that it was one area that I was better than you."

The warrior grinned and ruffled her friend's hair. "I had a good teacher."

"Really? Who?"

This time it was Xena's turn to stare.

"Really?" asked Gabrielle, echoeing herself.

"Yes really," confirmed Xena. "I've still got a long way to go before I'm in your league, but maybe someday I'll get there." The two friends walked in silence as they continued down the road to Rhion.

The sun was slowly setting as the two travelers reached the outskirts of Rhion. Not a large town by anybody's definition, but fairly selfsupporting and nestled nicely between two mountain ranges that sheltered it from severe storms. Xena fell into an old tradition of scouting out the town for weak points. She smirked when she noticed her fair haired friend doing the same. Gabrielle had gotten into the habit of checking out a village's defense when they entered, it made it easier when a warlord threatened the village since she would already know the area.

"Well?"

"The shrubbery is too close to the village on the north side. It would make it easy for a small group to sneak up from that side," was the reply.

"And?"

"And too many of buildings are close together. If a fire started it could cause the whole town to burst into flames."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I can see, Xena. How did I do?" asked Gabrielle as her eyes continued to roam around the town.

"Not too bad. You missed the checkpoints that are hidden, but unmanned in the trees, but other than that you did fine," replied Xena. Gabrielle had pestered her into teaching her what to look for when attacking a village. It was not something the warrior liked to think about, but her persistent companion pointed out that knowledge itself wasn't good or bad, only what was done with it. "Isn't that Liss over by the tavern?"

"Yeah, I think it is." Gabrielle paused as she squinted her eyes. "And it looks like she might be in trouble."

The two heroes hastened their pace as they headed for the tavern. The group of people Liss had been argueing with had forced her into the tavern so they arrived unseen. Xena and Gabrielle started to hear voices the closer they got.

"You're going to pay for what you did!" came an angry voice of an man.

Xena hear Liss respond, "We paid you, now leave us alone!"

"You owe me interest."

"What! I paid the amount agreed on. I'm not paying you one more dinar, Alope." Xena could tell that Liss was starting to get angry. The warrior peeked in an open window and saw Liss backed into a corner with a young girl, whom Xena assumed was her sister, and several thugs surrounding her. A small man was shaking his fist at the females. A group of tavern patrons were looking on nervously, afraid to try to stop something they obviously didn't approve of. The man held his hand up as if to give a signal. That was enough for Xena. She walked over to the door and kicked it in with enough force to tear it off its hinges.

"Take one more step and it will be your last," Xena growled as she made her way to where the men were standing. "Nobody, nobody threatens my friends," she paused to wink quickly at Liss, "or my family."

"Fa...fa...family?" squeaked Alope.

Xena snatched a sword from one of Alope's men and gripped it with one hand on the pommel and the other on the flat of the blade. She added more pressure until it snapped. "That's what I said, family. You weren't doing anything like that, were you?" Xena practically purred the question, her eyes never leaving Alope's. Alope's eyes on the other hand never left the sword, now broken into two pieces. Xena dropped the pieces of the sword and lifted Alope up by the collar with one hand. The moneylender's feet were dangling nearly a foot off the ground for several moments before Xena spoke again. Her voice dropped and she snarled, "I asked you a question, and I want an answer. NOW!"

"Nnnnnn...no. My mistake," muttered Alope.

Xena dropped him, but didn't let go of his collar. "Good, if anything, and I mean anything happens to Liss or her family I'll hear about it."

Gabrielle cleared her throat, "Ummm...Xena? You might want to let him go before the tavern keeper has to clean up the floor." The bard nodded to a stream running down Alope's pants leg.

"XENA?!? Oh Gods, please don't kill me," shouted a now hysterical Alope. "I swear I won't even look at her, just don't kill me."

Xena shook her head in disgust as she threw him towards the door. "Get out of here, and don't forget to pay the owner for the door."

The moneylender scrambled out the door with his lackeys following close behind. Gabrielle couldn't keep from letting out a small giggle at the sight. Even the normally stoic Warrior Princess had a grin on her face. Xena shook her head as she walked over to Liss.

"Thanks for the help, Xena."

"What are big sisters for?" replied the warrior as she wrapped her arm around the former mercenary.

"Big sister?" asked a stunned Daphne.

"Daphne, meet Xena my adopted big sister. Xena meet Daphne, my little sister," said Liss. She pulled Gabrielle over and introduced her as well.

"I get the feeling you left some details out of your stories, Liss," said Daphne as the group sat down.

"Well, I figured you didn't need to hear everything."

"So you left out about adopting one of the greatest heroes Greece has ever known?" retorted Daphne. "I want to hear everything, the good and the bad."

Liss blew out a long breath and started telling her story to Daphne from the beginning, complete and unedited. Daphne listened intently, not wanted to risk sounding judgemental. When the tale was finished Liss turned her eyes to the ground, not wanted to see her sister's reaction. Daphne, to her credit, turned to Xena and said, "Thank you for helping Liss. As far as I'm concerned you're always going to be a member of this family." Daphne hugged Liss and held her tightly as Xena and Gabrielle got up.

"Hey! Where are you two heading?" shouted Liss.

"Monster's to kill, warlords to crush, you know, the usual stuff. Don't worry, we'll be by for a visit," replied Xena. Liss and Daphne waved as Xena and Gabrielle left town.

A few leagues down the road Gabrielle turned to Xena. "I think I finally got the story down, all except the title. How about 'Liss' Debt'?"

Xena turned to look at her friend. "Why don't we leave Liss' name out of it? I think she deserves some peace and quiet. How about 'A Friend's Debt' instead?"

"Perfect."

The End