There's violence in here... But if you can watch Xena, you can read this...

"Joxer, The Mighty
Roams through the countryside
He never needs a place to hide
With Gabby as his sidekick
Fighting with her little stick
Righting wrongs and singing songs
Being mighty all day long
He's Joxer
Joxer The Mighty!
Joxer, The Mighty
He's very tidy
Everyone admires him
He's so handsome it's a sin..."

'And this could be such a perfect day...' the Warrior Princess thought, as she walked along the road, after her bard and Joxer, the Idiot, leading her golden mare with a long rein. 'The sun is shining, the countryside is great, the arrow wound on my back is healed and Gabrielle got us little muffins for dessert tonight... What could spoil this picture? Joxer! What else? Always there when he's not needed... Then again, is he EVER needed? And if he doesn't stop singing that stupid song of his very soon I'm gonna murder him!', all Xena's muscles were tense enough to show their outlines through her perfectly bronzed skin and her hands were in such tight fists that her knuckles were turning white, as she restrained herself from jumping over that warrior wanna-be to tear him apart, limb from limb, with her bare hands!

Joxer had been attached to the two women like a leach for almost two weeks now, and Xena's small reserves of patience had all but dried out. Anywhere she looked, there he was... messing up, of course! He'd scared the game when she was hunting, revealed their position with a sneeze when they were hiding from an outnumbering group of thieves, spilled Gabrielle's dinner on the dirt, hurt himself while practicing with his poor excuse of a sword... You name it, he'd done it!

And then there was that stupid song he wouldn't stop singing "Joxer, The Mighty...". Agh! How she hated that song! And the way it stuck in her head so she kept hearing it even when he wasn't singing... day and night... Night and day!

And also the way he looked at Gabrielle... almost drooling at times. Pathetic. He'd do anything to get the Amazon Queen's attention. Did he really think he could have a chance with her? Well, if he did he was dumber than Xena thought... if that was possible...

"Xena, are you alright?" Gabrielle asked, tucking her blond-red hair behind her ear. She'd fallen back to walk beside her friend and see what was wrong.

"Fine." The warrior bluntly answered, hinting that indeed not all was as she said, fine...

"It's Joxer, isn't it?" the bard went on, as she tapped on the ground with her staff "That stupid song of his is getting to me too... But how can we get rid of him? Without hurting his feelings, that is..."

Xena could think of a few ways to get rid of the idiot without hurting his feelings... just other parts of his anatomy, but decided to keep them to herself. Her friend would probably not appreciate her kind of violent solution, even against Joxer...

"I tried to scare him away..." Gabrielle went on "saying that we might run into some blood thirsty warlords and murderers, but he still didn't leave. And that song... It's really getting to me!"

'Now that's something we have in common.' The taller woman thought 'However did we get to be friends with that useless slob? Beats me... But Gabrielle is right about something, he is a friend and we have to figure out a way to get rid of him without hurting him... too much...'

"... and specially the part when he says he's every woman's fantasy..." the bard kept saying, unaware that Xena wasn't paying that much attention "...that is really dumb. Do you really think he believes that?" she looked at the tense warrior, waiting for a reply, but as she got none, she continued "Well, I don't. Not even Joxer can be that clueless...I guess...I know what I'm gonna do!" Gabrielle cheerfully said, as if she'd just gotten a brilliant idea "I know how to shut him up!"

"Oh?" Xena inquired, hoping that it would be an idea that really worked, fast, 'cause Joxer's singing, even though he was walking a few paces ahead of her, was driving her insane!

The Amazon opened her bag and looked through the stuff she carried, in search of something in particular... until she found it "Ta-dah!" she held out her hand in front of her friend's blue eyes, happily displaying her secret weapon... a pan pipe. "If I start playing, he'll shut up, right?" Gabrielle didn't wait for an answer and just ran up to walk next to Joxer.

'Great!' the Warrior Princess thought 'As if the idiot's singing wasn't bad enough, now I have to put up with the piping too!' because although Gabrielle had begun to play the pipe, Joxer hadn't stooped singing his self-praising song. 'Who told that bard she can play anyway? I can't stand that tune over and over... Maybe if I told her that I don't like that melody much... Nah! The last thing I wanna do is hurt my best friend...' Behind her, Argo gave a gentle pull on the rein and snorted something at her mistress.

"I know, Argo..." the woman whispered, so that her traveling companions couldn't hear her "I hate that pipe too... But what can I do?"

As a reply, the golden mare pulled on the rein once more and let out a tiny whinny.

"Great idea!" Xena said, as she comprehended exactly what her mount had in mind...

She stopped for a few seconds, to allow the animal to catch up with her, and graciously climbed on the saddle. Giving a gentle kick on the mare's flanks, she guided her to the two noisy travelers ahead. "Gabrielle! Joxer!" she called, interrupting the racket the two were making.

"What?" they answered as one, looking at one another, as if they'd stolen each other's words, and used them without permission.

"I'm gonna go scout up ahead..." Xena said "...to see if the road is clear... You two take care... I'll be right back... Yah!" she cheered her mount to an easy gallop and disappeared behind the next road bend.

'Yeah, right...' Gabrielle thought 'Check the road, you just wanna get away from him and leave the baby sitting up to me... I'm gonna get you for this, Xena!'

"Not to worry, Gabrielle!" Joxer said, landing his hand on the hilt of his sword "If there's trouble, you've got Joxer The Mighty to protect you!"

"Uhm... right... Thanks Joxer..." she faked a thank you smile and kept on walking down the road, returning to her out of tune piping.

"Or at least to try, until Xena gets here..." Joxer said to himself in a whisper, considering what would really happen if trouble came along. "Hey, wait up Gabby!"

**********

Still a long way until they got to Athens to attend little Keifor's birthday party... Why they'd invited her and Gabrielle, she didn't know... Well, maybe she did... Keifor's father, a Centaur named Deric, was a friend of Hercules and a cousin of Phantes, who was the late father of Ephiny's child, Xenan, who'd been delivered by her in the middle of a war... And Keifor's mom, Lyla, apparently looked like her almost as much as Meg and Diana and... Complicated stuff...

But as she rode along the dirt road, Xena was just happy to be away from her traveling companions. Or at least away from Joxer... These were the first moments she had to herself in the last couple of weeks.

The rhythmic beat of the hooves on the ground was washing away his stupid song from her head, and the sounds of nature were slowly restoring her lost calm. Definitely, she had to get rid of Joxer somehow... Two weeks was a long time and she missed the peaceful evenings around the fire, with just her, Gabrielle and Argo. She missed the bard's tales without his silly questions interrupting the story, she missed Gabrielle's reassuring words that kept away the nightmares... He was intruding on their privacy, on their friendship, that was all. And he had to go!

Suddenly, she brought Argo to a halt. "Quiet, girl..." she ordered, as she leaned her head to better listen to the sounds of the surrounding forest. Something wasn't right. The birds' song had changed, and there was some muffled background noise... She decided to go and check it out...

Gently, she guided the golden mare off the road, into the woods, in the direction of the incoming sounds...

She stopped on the edge of a large clearing, before crossing the last row of shielding trees, jumping from the saddle and landing soundlessly on the ground. She got as close as she could to the clearing, without coming out of cover, and leaned against a large old tree. She looked around the small stone temple, evaluating the situation...

The temple was situated on the crossing of two roads, a large one that came from the hills, and a smaller one that Xena suspected to be a side road to the one she, Gabrielle and Joxer had been taking.

The sounds the Warrior Princess had heard, came from a large bunch of thugs, twenty four, she counted, that were having their fun, brutalizing a group of eight old men, dressed in colorful robes. 'Probably magicians or wizards, coming to pay tribute to their protector Goddess...' she thought. 'Well, the day is being boring... so...'

"Yiyiyiyih!" her war cry called the attention of the thugs to the black haired she-demon that emerged from the woods and began to harvest their blood as the first man died at the end of her sword.

**********

Gabrielle pulled the pipe away from her lips and turned her head to the woods "Quiet Joxer!" she ordered to the still singing man. "Listen..."

"What?"

"Listen... that way..." she pointed towards the forest, in the direction she thought she'd heard a strange noise... And there it was again! It was definitely the sound of a battle, with swords clashing and...

"Yiyiyiyih!" Gabrielle heard.

"It's Xena!" Joxer concluded.

"C'mon!" the bard began to run in the direction of the battle, followed close by her companion. She hoped that Xena was alright... But knowing her friend, why wouldn't she be?

**********

The group of thugs, now reduced to nineteen and two disabled men, had the Warrior Princess surrounded, but somehow, that didn't seem to bother her. She had a broad smile stamped on her bronzed face and appeared to be having the time of her life! And that scared them...

Gabrielle and Joxer got to the clearing in time to see the group of old men fleeing into the woods and Xena knocking one of the men out with an uppercut on his jaw, as strong as a horse kick.

"Hey, you!" Joxer called, drawing his sword and getting the thugs' attention "Prepare to meet death at the hands of Joxer, The Mighty! Joxer, The Magnificent! Bloody Joxer!"

'Great!' Xena thought 'Those two had to show up and spoil my fun. Uhm, well... Now that I need to worry about them, the best thing to do is get this over and done with, quickly.'

Two of the men left the circle around the Warrior Princess to go and take care of the Amazon one, and other two went for the armored idiot.

Seeing Gabrielle outnumbered two to one and forced to block the blades of two men with her fighting staff sent a frozen chill down the warrior's back. She had to get to her friend... Now! To the men's surprise, she put her custom made sword back in the scabbard at her back, and pulled a spear off the hands of her attackers, kicking him away from the fight with a foot on his stomach.

She sunk the spear on the ground, head first, and letting out her famous piercing battle cry once more, she jumped to the air, with both her hands on the shaft of the spear and began rotating around it, never touching the ground and kicking all the men around her, until they all laid unconscious in a circle on the ground. It was a useful move she'd learned with M'Lila, so long ago...

Gabrielle had managed to hold her ground and even cracked the head of one of the thugs she was fighting, but still he had returned to pester her. She was happy when Xena pulled away one of the men, allowing her to handle the second one. The Amazon Queen planted both her feet firmly on the ground, and hit the thug with her staff on the back of his knees, rotating her upper body to propel the blow. It worked. The man was caught by surprise and, bending both his legs, fell to the ground on his knees, grunting in pain as a sharp stone punctured through his leather breeches and his flesh. "You little Amazon harlot!" he spat out in rage "I'm gonna... Uh!"

His speech was cut as the bard swung the staff around and brought it to the back of the man's head, knocking him unconscious. By this time, Xena had kicked the butt of her opponent, and the thugs who had been regaining consciousness began to run to the woods, carrying the ones who were still in dreamland.

As both women saw one another alright, they turned to check on Joxer. Surprisingly, he'd manage to overpower the two men who had attacked him and got them on the run.

"Impressive..." Xena commented to the shorter woman on her side, as they both walked to meet their traveling companion.

"Way to go, Joxer!" Gabrielle complimented, patting him on the shoulder "You really showed them who's the Mighty, uhm?"

'Great, encourage him...' the Warrior Princess thought to herself, as she walked around the warrior wanna-be, to stand in front of him. "What's wrong?" she asked him, when she saw a certain paleness on his face and a small hint of pain in his expression. Quickly, she ran her eyes over him to find the source of his problem... And found it, when she saw the blood stain on the left side of his chest.

"What is it?" the blond bard asked, showing a little concern in her tone.

"You're worried about me?" the idiot asked, momentarily forgetting his pain, as Xena assisted him as he sat on the ground "You're so sweet..."

"Knock it off, Joxer, or else..." Gabrielle threatened, showing him the end of her staff.

'Gods, don't let it be serious...' Xena silently prayed, as she seemed, so far, to be the only one to be truly concerned about Joxer's wound. She slipped two long fingers in her mouth and let out a whistled command that called Argo to her side. Gently, slowly, she removed the layers of Joxer's peculiar armor. "Get the bandages and water, Gabrielle." She asked her friend.

As the Amazon took the water bag and the pouch where Xena kept her medical supplies off Argo's back, the warrior carefully removed her patient's shirt. It wasn't a serious wound, only a skin-deep cut, she realized, sighing in relief. She really wasn't looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks nursing and waiting on Joxer... And the truth was, she liked the guy. She wanted no harm to come to him.

'Now look at that...' he thought 'Even the mighty Warrior Princess can't stop herself from sighing at the sight of this magnificent torso...'

With Gabrielle's help, Xena cleaned and bandaged Joxer's wound, and helped him to put back on his shirt and armor.

"You know, Joxer..." Gabrielle said "You really should find yourself a nice inn and rest for a few days..."

'Oh, please, make him say yes! Please...' Xena thought.

"Nah! It takes more than a small cut to get Joxer The Mighty out of action!"

'Damn! I've got find a way to get rid of him... Now! Or else I'm the one who's gonna give him a mortal wound.' Xena turned around to get the idiot out of her sight, while she got her murderous instincts back under control. And the view of the two roads that crossed at the temple, gave her an idea...

"You know, Joxer..." she started with a disguised evil grin that Gabrielle still managed to catch "before getting to Athens, Gabrielle and I still want to go to a place near the Amazon land, to check if someone that nearly managed to waste Callisto is still well trapped..." she lied.

A squeeze from Xena's hand on her own stopped Gabrielle from speaking against that idea.

Joxer's expression changed, as it was clouded by fear. The mention of that name still made him tremble, although he knew she was dead "Cal... Cal... Callisto..." he mumbled.

"Yes..." the Warrior Princess went on "Yeah, she fought with Velasca, Goddess of Chaos..."

"Chaos..." he repeated the word with a trembling voice.

"Of course, you could take the other road, the one that goes to the hills..." Gabrielle added.

"Why would I do that?" he asked, not wanting to seem a coward in the eyes of the two women.

"I heard that Meg is there... And she'd be very happy to see you, and if you chose her company to recover..." the taller woman said, praying to every deity in the Universe to make him go.

"You think?... I wouldn't want to bother her..."

"Oh, yes..." the bard picked up where Xena had left off "Meg adores you. She'd be so happy to see you... And Xena and I can check on Velasca by ourselves..."

"I'd like to see her too..." he said, as he thought of the beautiful tramp who couldn't keep her hands off him "I guess you two will just have to do without my company for a while..." he got to his feet with Xena's help and began to walk along the largest road. "Bye Xena! Bye Gabby!" he said, before he turned his back and went on his way, singing his song to anyone who would hear it.

"You're a genius!" Gabrielle said, turning to her smiling friend "How did you think of that?"

"Well, I don't know... I just know that if he didn't go out of my sight soon, I'd waste him. And you wouldn't like that, would you?" she asked, running her long fingers caressing her friend's silky light hair.

"Oh, I don't know..." the young Amazon playfully replied "Give it a few more days and I'd be begging you to do it..." she finished, giggling.

"Naughty bard... aren't you?" Xena said, climbing on the golden mare's saddle and stretching out her arm to help her friend up.

"I'd rather walk, thanks..." Gabrielle said, refusing the warrior's offer. "This is Artemis' temple, isn't it?" she asked, admiring the small rock building and statue of a huntress that adorned its entrance.

"Yup." Was Xena's reply "Your Goddess."

"My Goddess? What do you mean by that?" she asked, placing her free hand on her hip "Just because she's a protector of Amazon Women, doesn't mean that she's my Goddess, right?"

"Right, sorry..."

"I mean, it's not like I've ever seen her or talked to her, right?"

"You're right Gabrielle. I'm sorry." Xena apologized.

"And Gods are nothing but trouble. You taught me that, remember? I remember. And each time you talk to a God we get in trouble, right?"

"I said I was sorry..."

But Gabrielle had already gotten in her bard mode "Remember when Hades showed up on his chariot and asked you to save Celesta?..."

**********

It had been a quiet evening... They'd made camp near a singing stream, ate a more than satisfying dinner with lithe muffins as a sweet dessert, and were now enjoying the warmth of the fire before they laid down for the night...

As Xena mended a piece of leather armor with a needle and thread. Gabrielle sat near the fire, unrolled a brand new scroll and picked up her quill, tickling her own chin with it's feathered end as she thought of what she was going to put down on the parchment...

"Are you going to write about what's been happening to us the last couple of weeks?" Xena asked.

"No... I don't think so... I think I'd like to write something different... Definitely not about Joxer..."

"Why don't you write about Hercules? Of one of the adventures Iolaus told you about, last time we were with them..." the raven haired woman suggested "You know, they're probably gonna be in Athens too..."

"Yes, that's right... Hercules knows Keifor's parents, doesn't he?"

"Yes. He met them even before he and I met..."

"Uhm... Before you and him met..." the bard whispered... Than she looked at her friend "What happened before you two met?"

"You're asking me?" Xena replied, cutting the thread she'd been sowing with between her teeth "Ask Hercules, when we see him... Or Iolaus, since he likes to hear himself talking, as the big guy says..."

"No, that's not what I mean." The smaller woman sat up straight "I mean what happened to you, what did you do, who did you meet..."

"Gabrielle!"

"I mean it, Xena, I'd like to know... That's what I'd like to write about... And tell me the long version, please." She added, knowing the way that her friend had of making a long story short.

"You know what happened." Xena answered in a tone that didn't hide her discomfort "I left home... I raided villages... I..."

"Tell me what happened just before you met Hercules... About a year before, or something..."

"One year..." the warrior nearly whispered "It's still a long time... A lot can happen in a year... It's a long story... And not a pretty one..."

"There's a lot of time for you to tell it to me, before we get to Athens, isn't there?" Gabrielle replied with a smile.

PART 1

Chapter 1

The warrior sat by the tent fire and slowly begun working the blade of her favorite sword with the small sharpening stone. With the left hand holding the hilt tightly, she kept the point on the ground while her right hand worked down the cutting edge. It wasn't a big sword, but she liked it that way. Something heavier would become more difficult for her to handle so easily... And besides, it's size fitted perfectly with her acrobatic style of combat. 'A small blade can kill just as good as a large one...'

The Warrior Princess enjoyed that shrieking abrasive sound of the stone on the metal. Most people found it aggressive to the ears, but she found it quite relaxing. It helped her to concentrate and think. She had a lot on her mind...

The winter was just roughly past half way and her army was facing serious supplies problems. With the news of her ever increasing power running across the lands, everyday someone else would come to join in, being hardened trained soldiers looking for profit and glory, or simple village young men who wanted more than a small life as farmers. But mostly they were unscrupulous thieves, murderers and bloodthirsty cutthroats. She attracted them like a magnet... It had been so for years now, it hadn't changed.

And being so, there simply weren't enough food or weapons to go around for much longer, and with the river still flooding, they were stuck in that valley for at least a couple of weeks more, and that was if no more diluvial rains came along... She sure hoped Poseidon improved his mood soon...

To keep the moral of the troops, everyday she forced herself and her men to practice the arts of war for hours and hours, making sure that her army would continue being the best ever to roam through the land. But she knew that some of the men were discontent. Some of the older and greedier men. They were starting to have doubts about serving under a woman...again! Anyway, she hadn't been very motivated lately, not like she used to be, and the men had noticed that. She wasn't quite sure why, but war just hadn't been very satisfying lately. Her whole life was just... empty. But no matter that now... Her two lieutenants, both the horsemen commander and the foot-soldiers commander might pose as a threat to her position, and while they were trapped between Menearis' larger army and the river, there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it! There weren't many victories she could achieve to prove herself to her men all over again...

She just hoped that the attack to the supplies caravan had gone well...

**********

Thrallin got up on his brown mare and took the point position. The dark skin man looked over his shoulder, only to see that everything was ready for their departure. He raised his right arm straight in the damp air and, after a shot pause, lowered it, commanding the small group to advance.

The ambush to the supplies caravan had been a success and Thrallin knew that the Warrior Princess would be pleased. The small group of men he was commanding had easily defeated the soldiers that guarded the caravan and had suffered only one serious blow. On the other hand, they took over a large load of dry meat, wine and grain, and also a load of weapons destined to the Warlord Menearis. That had been a pleasant surprise!

Gently, Thrallin guided his mare to the end of the group to check if the prisoners were properly secured. He wouldn't want them to get away... He was satisfied seeing that the two men had their hands tied and were at the ends of ropes that the riders of the purple banner held tightly.

'Yes..', he thought 'Xena will be pleased with the day's catch...' . He rode back to take the lead of the ambush force. "Nazir!" he called to one of the riders, "You go on ahead and advise the sentries of our coming... And don't forget to warn the Princess too!".

The bald horseman kicked his horse's flanks and galloped ahead through the muddy ground to comply with his orders, pleased that he'd be the one to carry the good news to the beautiful Warrior Princess. He liked Xena...

**********

Nazir warned the advanced sentries of the main camp as he passed them by, as he'd been ordered to, and then rode to the central tent, that although it wasn't the largest, was the one that gave home to the leader of the army.

"Princess!", the armored man called, standing outside the heavy curtain that served as the tent's door. Strong footsteps were immediately heard, and as the canvas pane was moved aside, the cavalry soldier knelt at the feet of the warrior woman who walked out. It was an unrequired behavior, but he liked to please the Princess. He found her to be quite an extraordinary person...

Xena was wearing her usual armor with the brown leather bodice with a bronze spider-web over it, serving as a cuirass, and the very short leather braids skirt. The man noticed she didn't have her epaulettes or cloak on, and still showed no sign of being even mildly affected by the cold winter breeze. "What is it, Nazir?", she asked, looking down on him.

The man got to his feet, wiping the sweat of his forehead with the back of his hand, and moved his eyes from her warrior boots to her clear piercing blue eyes, having to look slightly up, since she was a palm's length taller than him. "The ambush has succeeded, my Princess.", he informed. "Thrallin will be arriving soon with the food supplies and also weapons..."

This last part caught her attention "Weapons, you say?", she asked, rising an eyebrow, in an expression that those who rode with her had come to know very well...

"Yes, my Princess.", he confirmed, nodding "In addition to enough food to probably get us through the next couple of weeks of this cursed winter, we also captured a load of iron headed arrows, some bows and Spartan javels... It was quite a catch!"

"Oh, goody!", she said, flipping her long hair back with a slow enticing movement. "Any casualties on our side?"

"Wounded, only... Unfortunately, I'm afraid one of the men was badly hurt, and quite frankly, I don't think he'll make it...". Nazir momentarily lowered his shiny bald head and faced the ground, thinking of times long gone, passed with the man that was probably living his last day. Poole was a friend and he'd miss him if he were to be touched by Celesta's cold hand... "Besides that, nothing serious...", he added.

"Excellent!" was the Warrior Princess' reaction. "I thought our losses might be greater than that... Make arrangements so that the food and weapons are taken care of as soon as they get here, will you?", she spinned on her heels and moved the heavy dark canvas curtain aside, to make her way back into the tent.

"Princess, there's one more thing..." the soldier said, stopping himself before making the mistake of touching the woman on the shoulder to halt her.

Xena turned again, to face the shorter man "Yes, what is it?"

"We've also captured two prisoners. Thrallin is bringing them in.". He was pleased when he saw the satisfaction reflected in his Princess' bright blue eyes and that evil grin dancing on her rose lips.

"Call me when they arrive...", she ordered in a dangerous purr. "Now we can find out what that snake Menearis is up to..."

Xena turned and walked back into the tent. She was pleased with the coming of prisoners. The news of Menearis' army being on the move around the village of Argrean had her disturbed. She couldn't figure out what interest could he have in such a small village like that. Besides, his army was at present time larger than hers, since she had many men at sea, disrupting the plans of Caesar, Julius Caesar... It would be two months or so until she regrouped all of her warriors, and until then, she'd be outnumbered.

In spite of the growing power of this ambitious woman, she knew that she was probably no match for that old warlord Menearis at the moment, and she didn't like to have him moving so close to her. Soon enough she'd know what he was up to... And knowledge was power. A power she always made sure she had…

She picked up her herbs pouch and a bundle of boiled bandages, and went off to meet the arriving group. She couldn't care less about the well being of most of her men, but she knew that an army of disabled soldiers wouldn't do her any good. No, if she wanted to be the conqueror and the most feared warrior of the entire known and unknown world, she'd have to have the best men in battle. So, she often kept to herself the task of tending to the seriously wounded, since she was quite an accomplished healer... The hands of a Goddess, they would say... Better than Aesclepius herself.

**********

Thrallin greeted his Princess, hitting his metal cuirass with a closed fist. "Mission accomplished." He declared, as she returned the greeting.

"I know. Nazir has already brought me the good news." The woman with the raven hair said "Good job, Thrallin!" she had never liked her cavalry commander much... He paid too much attention to her rear end for her liking, but still, she had to admit that he was an exceptional soldier... "And the seriously wounded man?", she inquired.

"Poole died on the way, Princess.", he said, as he begun walking to the place where he'd left the small group of men and the loaded carts. He motioned her to follow, and she did. "I already told Nazir to make the arrangements...", he went on. "The other wounded are nothing to worry about, but if you'd like to see them anyway...", he said, noticing the rolls of bandages in her hands.

Xena looked at the recently arrived ambush group and saw that her men were already being tended to, and only one waited his turn, with blood dripping down his left hand. As long as she was there, the Warrior Princess thought, she might as well make herself useful. "Come here!", she called.

Damon obeyed and when he saw her preparing the bandages and a fresh water basin, he thanked all the Gods in Olympus for his good fortune.

He let her remove his torn leather gauntlet and gently wash the blood off his cut, while the mere touch of her hands made the hair on the back of his neck rise with the arousement she provoked on him. She never faced him, her attention turned to the wound as she knelt next to the bench where he sat. This gave him a chance to simply watch her, to watch every perfect line of her face, her piercing blue eyes and the tiny frown lines on her forehead as she concentrated in healing him.

She was the real reason why he'd joined this army. The Warrior Princess... He'd seen her once in the hills that surrounded his home village, fighting the warlord Pellinares... The most beautiful and fiercest woman he'd ever seen. She had grown to be a legend, the Destroyer of Nations, and he had to meet her and...inevitably, fall on love with the legend... He just watched and enjoyed the gentle touch of her long fingers as she held the bandage roll turned to herself, taking the end of it in her left hand and holding the roll in the right... She slowly rolled it around his forearm, beginning just above the wrist and finishing just below the elbow. She checked if it wasn't too tight, and then tied the ends.

Unfortunately for Damon her task was finished, and she just got up, turned and walked away, never saying a word, never looking back. He kept his eyes on her back until she disappeared behind the weapons loaded cart.

His beautiful Warrior Princess...

**********

Xena solemnly performed the funeral dirge in front of the burning pyre that consumed Poole's corpse, as the ancient warrior ritual she'd grown accustomed to required. As they had no way to give their dead a proper grave, she had decided long ago to use the Celtic funeral pyre and use fire to free the souls of the dead and guide them to the other side.

It wasn't always that she'd lend her voice to the ceremony of the departure of the dead, but right now she felt it would be to her advantage to do so. Xena knew she'd pretty much neglected her men lately, as she wallowed in her own empty loneliness... The singing would give them the impression that she was back to being her old self, and that she cared if they lived or died.

With this obligation out of the way, she headed for the tall old oak tree, at the North edge of the camp. There, the two prisoners were hanging by a rope around their waist, with their wrists tied together, stripped to their pants and freezing under the cold winter night mist that covered the land like a white silky shroud.

The two men were shivering, but not from the cold. They'd already heard stories about this wicked black haired woman who approached them, now in her full armor and cloak. She was evil incarnated, she could fly and spit fireballs and drank blood for breakfast... Or so they heard and believed...

Xena drew her sword and swung it over one of the prisoners' head, cutting the rope that secured him, making him curse as he hit the hard ground beneath him. She placed the sword back in the scabbard and, using all the strength in her well-muscled arms, lifted the man off the ground and pushed him hard against the old oak tree.

The man wanted to look menacing to the beautiful woman before him, but all his eyes showed was plain fear, as he struggled to release his tied wrists.

With a swift movement, Xena raised her hands to the scared prisoner's neck, and with her long fingers pinched a specific pressure point, executing what was known as the Xena touch. "I've just cut off the flow of blood to your brain..." she purred, as the pain started to show on the man's scarred face. "You'll be dead within seconds, or...we can talk. So, what will it be?"

The prisoner didn't want to comply with her wishes and betray his Lord, but his survival instinct was far greater than his loyalty...Stunned by the increasing pain and grasping for breath, he found it hard to form the words "We'll...talk..."

"Good!" the woman hissed between her teeth, restoring the blood flow with another precise pinch on his neck. "You're not as stupid as you look...Bring him!", she ordered to one of her guards, who immediately obeyed, dragging the prisoner who had not yet regained the sensations on his body.

**********

That night, Xena reflected on the information she'd gotten from the smelly prisoner. In the privacy of her quarters, she got out of her grim armor and put on the short unsleeved scarlet dress she liked to wear, when she didn't need to be ready for battle. Than, she lied on her narrow bed and covered herself with a blue warm wool blanket, taking what comfort she could out of its natural softness. She knew that she probably wasn't going to get much sleep, as usual, but there was no point in staying out in cold. Besides, the false sense of security and the gentle caresses given by the wool reminded her a little of home...

The prisoner had told her that Menearis had moved his entire force to the area of Argrean because he'd heard that the village possessed a large amount of gold and valuable artifacts, inherited from the former ruling King or something, when all the villages of the area became democratic. A royal treasure, you might say... Xena knew that any army could use such an amount of gold to increase it's power with better weapons, horses, and even to attract more men...

But what the old warlord wanted in particular, or so the prisoner had said, was a little gold hourglass that was a part of Argrean's treasure. It was said that whoever held that hourglass while it was turned would be invisible, for as long as it took the golden grains to fall. A useful toy...A toy worth fighting for. If it worked, that was... Xena didn't have much faith in magical thingies...

Anyway, the old warlord's army had decided to attack. However, Menearis' large number of men had easily been spotted at a distance by the peasants of Argrean, who locked themselves behind the village's stonewalls. With fresh water springs and food supplies, even a small group of untrained men could hold off an army indefinitely... Xena knew that. And even so, Menearis hadn't given up, he wanted that treasure... But Xena too could use such a treasure... A successful raid to a village, with a reward as big as Mount Olympus, would put an end to the doubts some of the men were having about her leadership and erase any chance that Thrallin or Zoran had of taking her place. 'That treasure will be mine!'.

**********

Lying on her bed, with her eyes set on the gray canvas ceiling of her tent, she thought up a strategy to get to the treasure before the other warlord did.

With Menearis' men all over the place, and with the villagers barricaded behind the walls she couldn't just advance with all the men she had available. No, she'd have to be a little subtler than that... Xena figured that a much smaller force could probably cross Menearis' lines undetected. She believed that she herself could easily climb the village's walls unseen, open the small side door the prisoner had mentioned and allow her small contingent of men to enter Argrean. All she had to do was reach the walls under the cover of the moonlight... Inexperienced in the arts of war, the peasants would probably have fewer guards at night, so she and her men could do everything quietly... Maybe...

Then, they'd still have to cross Menearis' camps again, with the load of gold. Judging from the prisoners' words, the amount of riches must be enormous, but she couldn't afford to be greedy... They'd bring only what the small group could carry. But they were all very strong... She'd bet that she alone could carry a fortune! And if the hour-glass worked... Invisible men could easily cross Menearis' camps and the village walls and carry the rest of the treasure...

With her mind working out the small details and solving all the jinx of her plan, the Warrior Princess slowly fell to the arms of Morpheus...

Not the gentle sweet sleep that a woman could have, not the peaceful dreams of her happy childhood. Xena's sleep was, as always haunted with the faces and ghosts of those who had died under her sword, the death of her beloved brother, the bloodshed she'd witnessed and committed... The expression of a blond young girl while her family burned to death in their own home... The sight of a man's slit throat... Termin, her first kill... The merciless warrior she was now, forever overpowering the soul of the happy little girl from Thrace she had once been... And, as always, the vision of a dark warrior who held the rein of her destiny... The face of her mentor, Ares, who always made himself present in her dreams...

Just before dawn. The Warrior Princess awoke from her troubled sleep... Her body was damp with sweat and the soft wool blanket laid on the ground, beside the bed, where she'd thrown it as she fought the demons in her nightmares.

She got up, slipped out of her small scarlet dress and bathed herself with the help of a sea sponge, using the fresh water in the small gold basin she'd stolen that summer, from a king whose name had already slipped her mind.

After cleaning herself dry, Xena put on her full warrior armor and armed herself with her little arsenal... Her favorite iron sword in the scabbard on her back, the whip rolled up and hooked on her belt, a small breast dagger hidden in her bodice, one more dagger next to the whip... And, of course, the unusual round blade that had become her distinguishing mark, the chakram, attached at her hip.

She was quite an impressive figure, taller than most women and even many men, her shoulders made even broader by the hardened leather epaulettes, the raven hair falling freely on her back, almost reaching her waist, and the long dark cape waving behind her as she walked.

With the light of the sunrise dancing in her blue eyes, she left her camp tent to make all the necessary arrangements. She needed to choose the men that would accompany her on the little treasure hunt, and issue orders to the ones who stayed behind, on the main camp.

And one more thing... 'I still have the prisoners to hang and feed to the vultures...' and this was the first thing she took care of...

Chapter 2

All day long, the Warrior Princess studied maps, issued orders and made preparations to get her plan in motion, so, the next morning, Xena and her ten chosen left the main camp and began their two day journey to Argrean.

In charge of the army, she left Kahn, an old veteran and the man who usually led the small number of archers and on whom she laid her full trust. She was sure he'd do great job, as he always did. She preferred to include Thrallin and Zoran in the group of men who rode with her that day. Her two seconds no longer had her trust and she thought it was wise to keep a closer eye on them... They might try to overthrow her if the opportunity came up... Ares had told her on one occasion that enemies should be kept even closer than friends... It was good advice. Now she'd have to figure out a way to get rid of them... But it wasn't a concern to keep in mind at that moment.

The small group moved on horseback most of the day, having stopped only in the mid-afternoon to eat, drink and rest their mounts. They weren't making good time, just as expected, because they had to move very slowly to make sure they weren't spotted by any patrols belonging to Menearis...

During their brief stop, Xena and her two seconds studied the area map and chose the best path to follow, considering the drawing of the land and the known positions of Menearis' camps. It was a tricky job, but one they were accustomed to.

With the nightfall, the Warrior Princess ordered her men to make camp and settled on her bedroll, close to the warming fire.

Damon was appointed for the first shift of guard duty... And they were all very lucky that no threat was around them, for Damon was absorbed in watching his Princess and paid little attention to his duties. Her feline movements delighted him, the way she combed her long mane of black hair with her fingers... The way the firelight played with the color of her bright eyes... Whenever she was in sight, there was nothing in the world but her... His beautiful Warrior Princess...

**********

As usual, Xena hardly slept all night, haunted by her dark nightmares. Nevertheless, she stayed under the covers, listening to the night owls, and she didn't get up until dawn. She had to allow her body to get some rest, even if her mind knew none...

At her command, the well trained men broke camp and followed their Princess on their way to the small village, all with the gold fever burning in their veins...

Closer to Argrean, Xena and Thrallin walked up to a small hilltop to get a full first-hand view of the walled village and Menearis' camps around it. The two well-experienced warriors had no trouble in distinguishing the main camp and chose a final trail, so that they could avoid it. They had no interest in engaging battle with any of Menearis' troops. They wanted to do everything smoothly, according to the plan...

Satisfied with what they'd seen, the Warrior Princess and her lieutenant ran down the hill to rejoin the rest of the group.

And once again, Damon watched the one he was craving for, drinking the sight of Xena. 'And what a sight she is...' he thought, as he watched the woman running down the hill, with her leather skirt lifted by the wind and her raven hair gleaming under the smooth winter sunlight.

Reaching her gray stallion, Styx, Xena mounted up and let Thrallin pass on her orders. No matter what image she was passing to her warriors, her heart just wasn't very much into this right now... The emptiness inside of her was making a wound that was hurting so much... And she didn't know quite what to do to heal it. But she'd have to find out... She delegated the important task to the lieutenant, although her trust in him was running in short supply...

Her horsemen commander pulled out the map, unfolded it on the ground and called on the men "You men will take this path on the East and hide here, behind the tree line. Watch out to avoid Menearis' men, and if you do run into them, leave no survivors, got that?"

"Yes, Sir!"

Thrallin went on "Zoran, you'll bee in charge of the group. The Princess and I will go the other way, directly to the walls. Hopefully, the night's darkness will keep us undercover. Xena will then climb the wall and open the gate, as we talked about before. From you position you'll be able to see her signal when she reaches the top... You will then, quietly, join us. Understood?" he asked.

Once again, the soldiers replied in a choir "Yes, Sir!"

"Excellent! Good luck men!"

With the plan established, the small group divided in two, the Princess and Thrallin to one side and the rest of the men to the other, all making their way to the target village.

As they parted, Zoran and Thrallin exchanged a significant look that no one else caught. It lasted only an eye-blink, but it was enough...

**********

At dusk, Thrallin found himself alone with his Princess, sitting by a small fire, and waiting for the right moment to enter the village.

But Thrallin had more than the treasure of Argrean on his mind. He and Zoran had seen the perfect opportunity to take over Xena's command. Now he was alone with her in this woods, the rest of the men being on the other side of the village, with Zoran to make sure none of them drifted off in the Princess' direction... And there were even enemies around, so they could pin it on them, if something bad was to happen to the warrior woman...

"Should we wait much longer, Princess?" he asked, casually unsheding his dagger and pretending to polish it, while he paced back and forth behind his commander.

If she'd been her usual self, she would have realized by the tone of his voice that he was up to something... That he was representing danger to her. But she didn't. Or maybe she just chose to ignore it. Xena looked to the horizon and saw that the darkness of the night had almost completely swallowed the red afternoon sky. "Just a little longer..." she said, taking a drink from the water skin.

Seeing her momentarily distracted, Thrallin realized that the right moment had come... 'It's now or never!' With a rapid forward movement, he hit hard on the woman's head with the iron hilt of the dagger he'd been playing with, using all his experience as a warrior, to make sure she'd pass out immediately. He didn't want to have to face her in a fair fight...

An evil grin appeared on his face as he realized he'd been successful. "Your time has come, my little bitch!" he spat out at her "But I won't give you an easy death... No way! You stood between me and the command of this army for way too long to get away with it that easily..."

He inserted the dagger back in its shed and picked his sword from where it laid on the ground. He wanted her to die slowly and in pain... He kicked hard against her ribcage and long legs, making black and blue bruises start to form and shadow the beauty of her bronzed skin. Thrallin bent over and turned her unconscious body, laying her with the stomach down, so he didn't have to see her face. Something in her expression was bothering him, sending a cold shiver down his spine... more comfortable looking at her from the back, he aimed the sword at the place where her stomach was, and pushed the sharp iron blade through the dark cloak, then the leather, and finally, her flesh.

Then, the horsemen commander roughly removed the blade from her body and opened a gash on her right thigh. He waited a moment so that the blood would come out of her exposed wound abundantly and than used her warm life force to cover himself. According to the plan he and Zoran had come up with, it would have to look as if he had struggled to defend his Princess...

He wounded himself on the shoulder, making sure it was a clean, harmless cut, and then used the small dagger to make some cuts on the leathers of his armor and his brown mare's flesh, to look like they'd been in battle.

"Goodbye, Xena...I hope you have a slow and painful death... What can I say? I'll see you in Tartarus!" he mounted the injured mare and rode off to meet the awaiting men.

By the extinguishing fire, the Warrior Princess laid wounded, with her body wet with blood and cold rain drops that begun to fall down the dark nightly sky. But Thrallin had been careless... The blade that was supposed to have pierced her stomach had been diverted by the spider-web patterns over Xena's leather bodice, and with a good fortune possessed only by those who'd been touched by the Gods, no permanent damage was done to the Warrior Princess... The wound wasn't as bad as Thrallin had intended it to be, but still... The blood kept flowing out on to the hard ground and her heartbeat was slowing down...

**********

Before reaching the rest of Xena's men, Thrallin made sure that he was well covered with lots of the woman's blood, and threw himself off his mare, so that he could show some bruises and dirt. Not a pleasant thing to do, but nevertheless necessary. It had to look real...

He leaned on the saddle horn and put on a hurting face mask as he reached the small group. One of the soldiers spotted him and ran to his encounter. "Thrallin, what happened?" he asked in obvious concern, as he helped the man to get off his mount "Are you alright? Where's the Princess?"

He led the cavalry commander to their small hidden camp. Zoran was pleased to see that everything seemed to have gone as planned...

"I have some bad news..." Thrallin declared "Xena... she's dead."

"No!" Damon shouted out as he jumped to his feet "Where is she? We must go back for her! Now!"

Nazir got up and pulled the young warrior down from the piebald horse he was already mounting "Settle down, boy... Let's hear what the man has to say..."

Thrallin allowed a man to check his shoulder wound as he told his sad made up tale... "Xena and I were camped, waiting for the nightfall, when we were surprised by one of Menearis' patrols... I don't really know what happened... We didn't hear them coming, they just showed up out of nowhere! There must have been about thirty of them... You all know how our Princess could fight, but she was greatly outnumbered... I did what I could, but most of them went for her at once and... She's dead... I saw them cut off her head." Thrallin saw by the corner of his eye that Damon was on the verge of tears... He'd have to watch out for that one, or he might become a problem...

The cavalry commander continued his performance, telling how he'd retreated after seeing there was nothing more he could do for his dead Princess and how, looking back, he'd seen them quarter and burn the woman's body.

He was very convincing, and soon enough Zoran gave the order to return to the main camp. Once they were Xena's lieutenants, the men obeyed. It was to be seen which one of the two men would take the place as the new Lord of Xena's army...

**********

She opened her eyes but couldn't really focus on anything. Her whole body felt numb and her head was spinning like a wheel. The sounds were all very distant, almost dream-like... almost like an echo... She was in a dark place and her body was all wet... That she was sure of. But the vision... She thought she'd seen Styx next to her, but now he was gone. No, there he was again! And at the distance... It looked like a boatman...And that awful singing voice... Where was it coming from? No, there was Styx again... Was she standing or lying on the ground? She just couldn't say... But she was sure she'd seen the dark warrior who held the secrets of her Destiny, telling her it wasn't her time... To go back...

Chapter 3

The day had dawned without as much as a single a cloud in the wintry sky, so, as soon as their parents returned to the surrounded village's daily chores, the two kids sneaked into the old temple and got out through the narrow passage, known only to them. It was this little secret that brother and sister shared that allowed them to play outside the walls, on the western side of Argrean. With their parents busy most of the day, once their mother was the village's healer and their father had to stand in the walls' defense, they knew they would only be missed at meals. The rest of the day, all the children of Argrean were left pretty much by themselves...

As they always did, brother and sister ran along the water-sprinkled fields, laughing, playing catch and dreaming of adventures they would never truly live... But that winter day would prove to be different to them...

"Look!" Helena shouted, pointing with a slim finger at the magnificent gray stallion, grazing lazily, not far from where they stood.

Immediately, the two kids headed in the horse's direction, walking, not running as they'd wish to, because they didn't want to scare off the amazing animal.

"It must belong to a handsome Prince..." Helena said, daydreaming as she always did "And he's going to fall in love with me and take me away into his beautiful castle... and..."

"Fool!" Arin stepped in front of his sister "Can't you see that's a war horse?" he pointed at the animal, who now looked back at them with inquisitive bright eyes "It obviously belongs to a warrior, not a Prince! And if there was a Prince around, he'd never fall in love with you, 'cause you talk too much!"

"Idiot!" Helena shouted back at him, with tears approaching her eyes. She was a very emotional girl and her brother's remarks about her impossible dreams always made her cry.

But the last thing Arin wanted was to hurt his sister, he'd fix the damage he'd done "I'm sorry, Helena..." he said in a sweet tone "I was just joking... If there was a Prince around, I'm sure he'd marry you, since you're the most beautiful girl in all the Gods' world!" he saw his words had the desired effect, as a smile covered his lips. A little flattery always worked... "Come on... Let's see the horse."

The two kids continued to go for the stallion but were almost immediately stopped by Helena's finding and consequent frightened scream. "Gods! A dead woman!" she ran over to the place where the bloody warrior laid, face down, showing no signs of life.

Arin, as he was the strongest, turned Xena around and both kids knelt at her side. Helena bent over and pressed her ear against the woman's leather-clad chest, like her mother had taught her to do. The boy stood in silence, waiting...

At first the girl thought the woman was indeed dead, but then she heard the weak rhythmic beat that meant there was still life in that one. "She's alive!" she gladly informed "Come on, we've got to take her someplace warm and tend to her wounds, or she WILL die!"

Arin ran to the stallion, they'd need him to carry the tall woman...

But as he reached for the black leather rein to guide the horse back, the sound of thunder echoed and lightening tore down the sky, reducing a young oak tree to a black burnt stump. And scared by the rumbling sound, the gray animal cried out and furiously galloped away, before the boy could stop him.

"Zeus couldn't have found a worse time to have a mood swing... I guess we'll have to find another way to carry her..." he said to his sister.

**********

It took the two kids a long time to drag the woman to the small cave at the end of the secret passage. She was well muscled and very heavy... They pushed aside the layers of creeping plants that hid the entrance from strangers' eyes and pulled the unconscious woman in. Then, they left the Warrior Princess by the small fire Arin built in a hurry and ran home to fetch what they needed to tend to her wounds.

Together, the kids had decided that they wouldn't tell anyone about their amazing find. Their parents were always complaining about the rapid disappearance of the village's supplies, so probably they wouldn't want any stranger's mouth to feed... They figured if they told the adults, they wouldn't let them keep her... And other kids weren't to be trusted to keep their mouths shut!

With the kids gone, Xena was left alone and unconscious in the small cave. The warrior had begun to shiver and the cold that had kept her alive, by slowing the bleeding, now threatened to kill her, since her body was freezing at a dangerous rate...

Fortunately, it didn't take the young ones a long time to return to the cave... While Arin stirred up the warming fire and lit some candles for more light, Helena removed the woman's armor and carefully dressed her wounds. Then, the girl cleaned Xena's body as she'd seen her mother do quite often since the beginning of the siege. The two of them, then, moved her to the bed they'd fixed with a couple of sheepskins and blankets. They hoped that it would be enough to insure her survival...

Helena took a seat next to Xena's head, and gently wiped the sweat drops from the warrior's forehead. She'd grown a high fever all of the sudden...

"You think she'll make it?" Arin asked the older girl.

"I hope so..." she replied in a whisper "If her fever breaks and she doesn't get any infections, I think so... Otherwise..." she shook her head, telling her brother what would be their patient's fate.

For a while, Helena just watched Xena's still, pale face. She watched each perfect line of her features... "She's so beautiful, isn't she? She must be a Princess..."

"Idiot! She's no Princess." Arin objected "Look at the armor! And the sword and daggers... She's obviously a warrior..." he begun to clean the blood and dirt off Xena's belongings.

Helena was getting angry at her brother's constant remarks "You've got nothing in your silly head but war and warriors!"

"And you think of nothing but Princes and Princesses! She's obviously a warrior!" Arin nearly shouted, pointing an accusing finger at his sister.

"She's a Princess!"

"Warrior!"

"Princess!"

"We'll ask when she wakes up!" Arin said, sure that he was right.

"Alright..." Helena agreed, sure that she was right.

The two kids left Xena as comfortable and warm as possible and then walked up the secret passage that led to the temple of Aphrodite. They checked to see if no one was there to see them exit the passage and then crossed the temple, ignoring the vaults that contained the gold treasure, and went home.

They hoped the woman survived the night...

**********

When the moon ruled high over the sky, the warrior found herself being dragged in her feverish delirium again, stirring in her nightmares and mumbling names of friends and foes, all of them gone to Hades... As her body got drenched with her own sweat, her mind kept fighting away the enemies who had killed her loved ones, burned down her village... She always tried to stop them, but was always too late... She could never quite make it in time to save them all... To save Lyceus... To destroy all the men with the silver masks... And the anger in her heart grew bigger, and bigger, until it smothered everything else that lived in her soul. An anger the entire world had come to painfully know...

But as dawn approached, the fever broke and the nightmares left... Xena slept quietly, too tired to dream or to wake up...

**********

As they had planned, the kids got some food to take to the wounded warrior. Arin hid a couple of apples in his deep pockets and also some wheat bread. His sister fixed a bottle of goat's milk and took the last piece of salt pork, carefully keeping out of her mother's sight.

After both their parents were busy, the father defending the walls and the mother returning to her patients, the kids went to the temple and walked down the secret tunnel.

As they reached the small cave, Helena was pleased to see that the woman's fever was gone and that she lay peacefully under the warm blankets. She was going to live...

While Arin built a new fire over the one that had burned down during the night, his sister washed Xena's body with wet cloths. As she worked, Helena couldn't stop a lonely tear from rolling down her rounded cheek, as she watched the woman's bruised body. So much pain... "You think the mean soldiers outside the village did this to her?" she asked her brother.

"Probably..." Arin replied, as the girl got a fresh linen towel to dry Xena's body "No one from these parts would mistreat a woman like this, and there's no one else around..."

"I guess you're right..." Helena picked up some clean bandages and fresh water and returned to the woman's side. Gently, she changed the dressings on Xena's wounds and was pleased to see that the serious cut seemed to be healing well, with no infections developing... Amazing!

To finish the job, she tied the ends of the bandage around the woman's waist, to keep it in place. But she tied the knots a little too tight, inflicting a sharp pain that awoke the Warrior Princess.

Xena flung her eyes open, and the first thing she saw were a pair of large green eyes, looking back at her... She closed them again for a moment, to try to clear her mind and focus...

She slowly remembered what happened. It was all coming back to her... Thrallin... That disgusting son of a griffon, that bastard, that deceiving creep... If there was a kind of people the Warrior Princess could not stand, were traitors!

"Is she awake?" she heard a boy's voice asking.

Xena opened her eyes again, now slowly, to study her surroundings. She counted two young faces and no immediate threats. 'Goody', she thought, she wasn't feeling too well... and a fight was the last thing she needed right now...

Arin and Helena helped the warrior to sit up against a rock that they'd covered with a sheep's skin. "How are you feeling?" Helena asked, while her brother handed a mug of milk to the woman.

Xena was both thirsty and hungry, so the milk was more than welcome. She drank it all down and at the same time took a better look at her two young hosts. They looked remarkably alike... The same green eyes and long brown hair. She couldn't tell which one was the older of the two... She figured they should be about twelve, give or take a year or two...

After finishing her milk, Xena wiped the little white smudge over her upper lip with the back of her hand, and faced the two inquisitive faces.

"What's your name?" Arin asked, studying the woman's features.

The Warrior Princess made a point of never giving information before receiving some, so she preferred to ask instead of answering "What's YOUR name? And where am I?"

It was the girl who spoke "My name is Helena, and this is my brother Arin." She pointed at the boy "We're just outside Argrean... That's our village, you know..."

Xena accepted the wheat bread Arin handed her and started nibbling on it "Outside the village? I thought it was under siege..."

"You're not with Menearis, are you?" the boy asked, pulling his long hair away from his eyes and narrowing his brows together.

The warrior shook her head in denial.

"Then you can know." he went on "We come in and out through the secret passage." Arin said, pointing at the man-made tunnel, opposite to the cave's natural entrance. "It leads right through the siege and the village walls, straight to the temple of Aphrodite..."

'I've died and gone to the Elysian Fields!' the Warrior Princess thought, seeing the perfect way to get in and pillage the village "What does this Menearis want from you?" she asked, knowing the kids were eager to talk to her, and hoping to find more about the passage and the treasure.

"The stuff we keep in the temple..." Helena innocently answered.

"And why don't you just give it to him?"

It was Arin's turn to answer "Dad says we'll need it because this winter has been very hard. The crops were all destroyed and there'll be nothing to harvest next season..."

"Can you tell us your name now?" the girl asked.

The woman covered herself better with the warming blanket 'It's darn cold!' she thought "My name is Xena..."

"And you're a Princess, right?"

"Silly girl!" Arin said to his sister "I told you she's a warrior!"

"And you're both right. I'm the Warrior Princess."

**********

Soon after, the kids left to have lunch with their parents, and Xena took the time alone to put back on her bodice and skirt. The task proved to be harder than she'd anticipated, due to hardships her body had suffered the previous days. The bruises that covered her bronzed skin didn't bother her, neither did the gash on her right thigh, it was the cut near her stomach that had her concerned... She realized she'd have to stay there for at least one more day, to give her wound a chance to heal enough to stand the trip back to her camp. She was lucky to be such a fast healer, but still... And then she'd have to deal with that traitor Thrallin...

And in the afternoon the kids returned and kept the Warrior Princess entertained with small-talk about their village, not realizing that they were giving her all the details about the way to the treasure, the village's defensive organization and all they knew about the warlord Menearis...

**********

At dusk, the men reached the main camp and passed on the unbelievable news: the Warrior Princess was dead.

While some of them couldn't care less about her death and were only interested in knowing who would lead the army now, others, such as Damon and some other men in Xena's army were devastated and couldn't hold back the tears for the loss of the woman who had become a true force of Nature. Never had there been anyone like the Warrior Princess...

Zoran waited a few hours, for the news to settle in, and then walked in the command tent, where Thrallin was studying the maps, to find the best way out of there. He wanted to get as far from Xena's shadow as possible.

"You're sure she's dead?" Zoran asked, scratching his gray beard.

"By now, for sure! My blade ran her through the stomach. Slow and painful..." the cavalry commander replied, grinning as he imagined the suffering the woman must had gone through, before crossing to the other side.

"WHAT!?" Zoran panicked "You didn't make sure? What if she lives? She'll come and get you for sure! You know what she gets like when someone breaks her precious code... She turns into a maddened hydra! More than she usually already is, that is... Betrayal is certainly against her code! She'll come and get you!"

"Get US, Zoran! Get us... You're in this as much as I am!"

Zoran felt a cold chill crawl up his spine with the thought of having the Warrior Princess against him, even if she was dead... His mother had taught him to fear the dead... And this particular dead... "You mean you told her we planned this together?" he asked with a low voice.

"Well, of course, my friend." Thrallin lied, knowing that through fear he'd insure Zoran's loyalty.

**********

A while before dawn, in that hour when everything seemed to be dormant and still, Xena got up and walked to the small tunnel entrance, where she'd seen the kids disappear through, that same evening, when they left her to go to sleep.

Her wound wasn't bothering her too much right now, and she decided to scout her way to the treasure. She picked a small piece of firewood and wrapped one of the bandages Helena had left behind on one of the ends, and she set it on fire obtaining a small torch.

Slowly, the Warrior Princess entered the dark tunnel and began to walk through its full length. It was just as the kids had described it to her: spooky, long and narrow. The walls and ceiling made of solid stone blocks, decorated with strange paintings, and the ground covered with dry loose dirt, marked with the prints of small feet.

And not long after, she reached the end of the passage, a small opening behind a large statue of the love Goddess... Carefully, she entered the temple and searched the surroundings. Seeing that there was no one around, the woman finally allowed herself some relaxation.

Xena didn't even take a second to admire the beauty of the statue, the magnificent paintings on the wall or the amazing craftsmanship that had been necessary to create the brand new iron torches that lit up the place... Beauty could not distract her from her purpose. The Warrior Princess went straight for the large vaults, on the left corner of the temple.

She chose the central vault, the largest one... Because of her recent wound, she found it hard to lift the sculpted stone lid, but her efforts and pain were soon rewarded when the thing finally moved, with the sight of the treasure. Enough for a king's ransom that seemed to come to life under the flickering light of the torches...

And right there, on top of that pile of gold, was the little hourglass that she'd heard about, the one that was supposed to have magical powers… Xena picked it up and allowed the gold powder that filled it to pour completely into one of the sides. 'Nothing like testing it right now... Than I'll know if it works or not!' Then , taking a deep breath, she flipped over the time-measuring device and watched closely as the gold sand began to slip into the opposite side... But nothing happened. She was as visible as she'd always been... 'Just a lot of bullshit!' the Warrior Princess tried again, and again, but no luck. Another fake tale... Oh, well... It was still a pretty and valuable little thingie...

The tall woman returned the hour-glass to the vault and placed the stone lid back on it's original position and left the temple, taking the secret passage back to the small cave.

It would be easy, so easy...

**********

A dark veil seemed to have been laid over Xena's camp. The daily training routine she'd imposed on her men had somehow been forgotten and everything appeared to be done slowly and grimly. Even the powerful war-horses seemed to mourn their lost Princess and refused to eat their feedings or go grazing around camp by themselves. They just stared into the air, looking for something that wasn't there.

Thrallin and Zoran had anticipated this. They knew it would take a little while for her spirit to leave this army. They knew some of the warriors might leave in the next few days, those who only fought for the Warrior Princess... Those who were led by loyalty and not greed of fear, but they had no use for those people anyway... The sooner they left, the better!

At the present time, each one of the two traitors was busy planning a smart way to get rid of the other. Neither Thrallin nor Zoran had any intention of sharing the command.

Meanwhile, Damon was the first to make the decision to leave. In the late morning he saddled his piebald horse and packed some supplies. He didn't even bother to tell anyone he was going... He just couldn't believe she was gone... Without even realizing it, he took the path that led to the place where his Princess was supposed to have been killed, somehow drawn to it in a way he could not resist...

And he galloped away from that place as fast as he could. With Xena gone, there was absolutely nothing holding him to that army...

**********

Yet another day passed with Xena allowing the kids to tend to her wounds. She never told them she'd gone to see the treasure or that she planned to take it away. She believed that she could make it up to them, getting rid of Menearis. Believing the kids' tales about the siege and what she'd already seen on her way to Argrean, Menearis' army wasn't as good as she'd thought at first, and she was sure that her own army, although smaller right now, with many men at sea, could most likely defeat him.

It never occurred to her that without the treasure, even not having to worry about Menearis' siege, the village would be devastated by hunger... Xena had never given much thought to the consequences of her actions. She couldn't allow herself to, or it would destroy her inside out. She could not allow herself to face what she'd become.

**********

That night, Damon made camp late. Both him and his piebald mount were already exhausted by the time he decided to stop. After choosing a nice spot, he took the saddle off his horse and released the animal to graze.

As he was preparing to eat a small cold meal, the soldier's senses were alerted by the sound of someone approaching... Whoever it was, was coming slowly, but with no intentions to surprise him, since the steps were quite firm and loud.

Damon looked over his shoulder, to his horse, but strangely the animal didn't seem to react to the arriving presence. Maybe it was someone else coming from Xena's camp... Still, the soldier didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. He picked up his sword and sneaked between the trees, in the direction of the approaching sound.

As he got closer, Damon realized those weren't the steps of any person, but those of an animal, a horse to be more precise. He walked to the animal and immediately recognized him. It was Styx, Xena's gray stallion!

Gently, Damon took the animal's rein and walked him back to his small campsite. He removed the stallion's saddle and thoroughly checked him for wounds. 'Strange...' he thought, the animal seemed to completely unharmed, and yet... Damon remembered clearly that Thrallin's mare had some cuts made in battle, but this horse seemed just fine, with no signs of being in a fight... And whenever there was a fight, Xena would take Styx right to the middle of the battle and use him as quite an effective weapon...

He released Xena's horse to join his own mount and decided that the next day he'd go and check out the place where the Warrior Princess and Thrallin had camped, outside Argrean. He was beginning to doubt the cavalry commander's story and wanted to see the battle ground with his own eyes...

Chapter 4

The Warrior Princess got up with the sun. She ate a good meal left by the children the night before and put on her full warrior armor, silently thanking Helena for mending her clothes.

It was still very early when she left the small cave and began the long walking journey back to her main camp. She made sure to leave before the kids showed up, goodbyes were never very pleasant, and she didn't want the kids to see which way she was going, case they got some bright ideas about following her...

She tried to keep a slow but steady pace, so that her worse wound and bruises wouldn't bother her much, but still managed to make good time. Fortunately the sky had dawned clear and the air was announcing the coming of an early spring, with a soft warm breeze... This wasn't going to be as bad as she'd feared...

In spite of the apparent quietude of the day, she stayed alert at all times, listening to every sound and judging every scent, as a wild animal might... Xena knew she'd have to watch out for Menearis' patrols, because an encounter with them now might be fatal, since she was still debilitated... It would be bad enough that she'd have to challenge Thrallin as soon as she got to camp...

It was about mid-day when the Warrior Princess spotted two horses coming over a small hill ahead of her.

'Damn!' Chances were that they were Menearis' men, so she crouched behind a large mossy rock, making sure to pull her cloak close to her, so it wouldn't reveal her position, and watched closely. Only one of the animals had a rider, she noticed as they closed in, a warrior with long light hair, the other horse was... her own!

Xena rose to her full six-foot height, getting out of cover and whistled a command to the gray stallion, calling him to her.

Recognizing his mistress immediately, the stallion cried out, fought until he released himself from Damon's hold on his rein and galloped through the distance that separated him from the warrior woman.

More annoyed than truly angry, the soldier followed the stallion, not yet sure what in Hades' name had gotten over that crazy animal, until he too saw his Princess standing tall, alive, waiting for them.

"Good boy..." Xena said with a small smile, as she got hold of Styx's rein, and stroke his long dark crine, as a reward for his obedience.

Almost at the same time, Damon reached the woman and rushed off his piebald horse, almost falling on his behind "Are you alright, my Princess?" he asked, running his eyes up and down her tall figure, seeing the bad bruises, but relieved that they were nothing to worry much about "Thrallin said..."

"He lied!" she interrupted, facing him with flaming wild eyes "That stinking bastard tried to waste me! But failed..." she walked to her stallion's side and turned to face the soldier "You're Damon, right?"

It thrilled him that she even knew his name. "Yes, Princess!" he answered, unable to keep the silly smile away from his lips.

"Well, Damon... Help me up..." she ordered, placing one foot on the stirrup and both hands on the saddle horn.

The soldier seemed to not quite understand her request. His Princess never shown any trouble in climbing on to a horse's back before... "What did you say, Xena?" he asked, with a puzzled look.

"I said that bastard failed to kill me, not wound me..." and she placed her hand gently over her stomach, showing him the place where Thrallin's blade had gone through her flesh. "He left me with a little souvenir..." she said, tapping gently with her fingers.

Damon nearly panicked 'My beautiful Warrior Princess as been harmed?' he thought as his eyes grew wider and his face lost so much of it's natural color that the woman feared he might faint "Are you alright?"

Xena nodded and kept waiting for his help to get up on her gray stallion.

Unconsciously, Damon let out a sigh of relief, which Xena didn't miss. "Still... maybe we should stop to get some rest..." he said, as he finally helped her to mount up "We could camp here for a while, and eat..."

She could see that the soldier's preoccupation was genuine, but her answer was firm "No. Here we're too much out in the open." She said "Let's go as far as those trees" she pointed "There we'll have some cover. We can't forget that Menearis has men all over this place, can we?"

"I was forgetting..." he said, as he too got on horseback. "You're right, my Princess... As always..."

Xena couldn't tell if he meant it or if he was just sucking up to her. But it didn't matter anyway... He was a man loyal to her, and that was the important thing.

Together, the two warriors rode off, heading to the tree line, moving slowly at the pace she'd marked. As always, Xena took the lead over the soldier, but he didn't mind. It was the way it was supposed to be. The better of the two was in charge, and she was undoubtedly better than him, in every way...

Besides, having her riding ahead of him gave Damon the chance to watch her, as he always loved doing. To admire her perfect coordination with the powerful stallion, the way her hair moved in the breeze...

Xena could feel his eyes on her as she rode ahead, but it didn't bother her. She sensed there was no threat coming from that man. Those were not dangerous eyes, they were adoring eyes and she enjoyed it! The Warrior Princess loved to be admired both as a warrior and a woman. After all, she was beautiful and she knew it...

**********

Just before nightfall, Xena and Damon stopped in the place she'd chosen to make camp, a small clearing framed by large trees that hadn't lost their leaves during the winter. A cozy and well hidden place...

The Warrior Princess allowed her soldier to do all the necessary work. She was tired, cold and in pain, so she just sat on her blanket, rolled up in her cape, and watched as he tended to both their horses, built a small fire and cooked the hare they'd caught earlier that afternoon.

"Here you go..." Damon said as he handed his commander the best part of the meat. "I hope it's to your liking..."

The two warriors ate fast and in silence and soon the only sounds heard were the crisping of the burning wood of the small campfire and the subtle whistle of the cold night breeze.

Damon didn't want to break the silence, as usual he was delighted in just drinking the sight of his Princess, but he could see, although she tried to hide it, that she was not well... With the night, she seemed to have grown a little feverish and in spite of being close to the fire and well wrapped in her cape and blanket, she was still shivering under the cold of the moonless dark.

"Xena, why do you think Thrallin tried to kill you?" he asked, getting up from his place and sitting next to the woman "May I?" he asked, as he put his arm and blanket around her back "You'll be warmer like this..."

"Sure..." she usually didn't like people invading her own vital space unless she invited them, but that night she was willing to make an exception. The cold was really getting to her, and his warmth felt really good. "About you question..." she said "I'm sure that traitor did it so that he'll have a chance of getting ahead of my army. He wants the power... I've known that for a long time, but I didn't think that he'd go this far... Wasn't he taking charge of things when you left?"

"Yes. I mean, he and Zoran were... They seemed to be real pals in the last few days. They've been spending a lot of time together discussing stuff since you... since we thought you had... died..."

"Zoran..." the dark haired woman hissed between her clenched teeth "He's probably in on it too." She said, leaning her head against his chest and closing her eyes. She was just now realizing how tired she really was, and sleep was taking over her faster than she'd like to admit. "So, Damon... Why did you join my army?" she asked, not staying awake long enough to hear his answer...

"Because I love you... Sleep, my Princess..." he whispered, stroking her long silky hair, and holding her tight against his body, hoping to keep her nightmares away. Unfortunately, he failed.

**********

For two more days, the couple of warriors traveled towards Xena's main camp. It took them longer than it normally would because she didn't want to push her luck and go too fast. She was still hurt and didn't want to take any unnecessary chances. She knew that she'd probably have to battle Thrallin and maybe even Zoran too when they arrived at their destination.

During that shot time Xena learned to enjoy Damon's company and adulation, but never allowed him to get that close again. It was just too close... She liked his loyalty and adoration, but there were limits she had to impose... All her men should be like that. It would make things a lot easier for her... If they didn't kill each other fighting for her attentions that was!

On the third day of their journey, they didn't make camp at nightfall as they'd done before. Instead, Xena decided they should move on. Like this they were sure to reach camp late that same night...

**********

"Is everyone here?" Zoran asked as he ran his eyes over the crowd of warriors gathered around the bonfire.

"All but the sentries..." Thrallin replied "Just as we planned..."

"Good."

The two men climbed to the back of the cart to have a vantage point over the others and to make themselves heard across the murmuring rows of Xena's army. Earlier, they'd decided that Thrallin would do the talking because he was better with words and had a natural gift for lying...

"Alright, quiet! Listen up, people!" the cavalry commander shouted, clapping his hands together, to get everyone's attention. The talking in the ranks stopped as all eyes turned and focused on the dark skin man. "As you all know, the river has fallen back into its bed today, and the flooding is gone. This allows us to move on North, just as our Princess had planned. We'll move out tomorrow afternoon, so begin to break camp at first light."

A small whisper broke through the ranks as the warriors discussed if they should follow this man's orders, or even if the army should go on existing, now that the Princess was gone...

"Now I know that things won't be the same without Xena, but that's no reason to give up on our plans. This IS the best army in the entire known world and we are going to prove it! The Warrior Princess made us what we are today. We are her legacy! And her death is no reason to fail her now!" He knew that most of those people were loyal to Xena and admired her courage, even those who cared more about glory and profit than her rage against the world. The best way to get them to follow him would be to invoke her memory, and so he did. "Xena wouldn't want us to give up. Our Princess never gave up! She never heeled!" he raised a wine goblet high over his head "To Xena, Warrior Princess!"

Zoran was impressed with Thrallin's performance. Everyone seemed to have been conquered by his words and was willing to follow him... He didn't know if that was a good thing, since HE wanted the leading position for himself...

"To Xena!" Thrallin repeated the toast, now in choir with all the warriors, once again raising his goblet in the air.

**********

Xena and Damon, on their way to the camp, ran into one of the sentries, but she told the man to stay quiet and he obeyed, although he wasn't completely convinced that he wasn't taking orders from a ghost...

Xena wanted to sneak into camp, to see what had been going on in her absence.

And she got there just in time to listen to Thrallin's little speech. She watched him and Zoran use the weight of her name and memory to get the men to follow them, and saw that it worked. A perfect plan. Or almost...

As Thrallin raised his goblet to her for the second time, the Warrior Princess reached for the round weapon at her hip and threw it through the air. It was time to make her entrance.

The cavalry commander heard the familiar sharp whistling sound but had no time to react before the chakram cut his goblet in half and curved in the air to return to it's mistress' hand.

Everyone's eyes followed the glitter of the gold and silver deadly ring through the air, until they all rested in the sight of Xena.

Like a living banshee, she stood tall next to the gray stallion, capturing every particle of the fire light in her blue eyes. She stood very still for a moment, allowing everyone to get a good look at her, allowing all to see that she was there in the flesh and not in some lifeless ghostly apparition. Then, she released Styx's rein, walked over to the cart and climbed on, hiding the pain it caused her as she did so.

"Congratulations, Thrallin..." she purred, pinning the two traitors down, only with her menacing look. "It was quite a speech..." she moved eyes through the small astonished crowd and than back to the traitors. "Is it now that you'll tell everyone how you ran me through from the back, with your own sword... and left me for dead? Or maybe you were planning to leave that small detail out..."

The silent warriors that waited for an explanation suddenly turned into a maddened mob, demanding the traitors' blood and they would have lynched them right there and then, if Xena hadn't interfered...

"Stop!" she ordered "We do this the right way. We are warriors, not barbarians!" She allowed her men to cease the traitors and climbed down from the cart, moving closer to the blazing fire. "Thrallin... Zoran..." she said, looking each man in the eye "You know your options. As you were part of my people you have the choice between facing the gauntlet or me. So, what will it be?"

It was a huge decision for each of those two men... But one they would have to make, or their fate might be even worse. There was no way that the rest of the army would allow them to just leave... They wanted justice, warrior justice. And maybe more than that, they wanted revenge. They wanted blood. There was no shadow of a doubt in their eyes: they believed the Warrior Princess, so denying her accusations was not an option. They'd do whatever she decided. The gauntlet or her sword... No one had ever survived the punishment of Xena's army and then again, the odds in a fair fight against her were just about the same...

Zoran was the first to speak. "I choose the gauntlet. It's the only way for a warrior to leave an army..." he said, hiding the real reason of his choice... He was a well built strong man, and he figured he'd have a better chance of living through the gauntlet than if he fought against that woman... Xena scared him so much he felt his bones rattle each time her eyes met his... Definitely, he'd rather face the punishment of the ranks...

"Very well." The Warrior Princess said. Then she turned to face Thrallin "What about you?"

Thrallin had given it some thought. There was no way he could survive the gauntlet, not judging by the looks on the men's faces... And even if a miracle occurred and he did survive, there would be nothing left for him but leaving with his tail between his legs... Now with Xena... He knew that the Warrior Princess had been badly wounded, he'd inflicted the injury himself. And if he defeated her in a fair duel he'd probably gain some respect back from the men... And it wasn't unusual for the winner of such combats to take over the command of the loser's army... "I'd rather face you, precious..."

Xena didn't like to be addressed in such a manner, but decided not to make an issue of it right now. They were going to meet in duel anyway... "So be it! Who'll go first?"

Thrallin drew his sword and faced her. "Give me the honor..."

Xena's men gathered around the fire, forming a wide circle in which the duel to the death would take place. Two soldiers took firm hold of Zoran, case he got some bright ideas about leaving in the heat of the battle... He still had to meet his destiny that same night...

Xena called for Damon, handed him her long cape and then motioned him to join the rest of the watching crowd. She would have preferred to do this in the morning, so that she could have what was left of the night to get some much needed rest, but such a suggestion would be taken as a sign of weakness, and she couldn't afford to expose herself that way right now. She'd have to swallow the pain and fight!

The Warrior Princess too drew her sword and posed herself a few feet apart from Thrallin, fiercely looking him in the eye. "Shall we begin?"

The man didn't bother to take the time to answer, hoping to catch her off guard and stroked straight forward. Xena too went for him, shouting her war cry... The clashing of the metal swords echoed through the night as the two warriors met by the bonfire. For what it seemed an eternal moment they just looked each other in the eyes, with the blades crossed between them, studying, evaluating each other...

"You really think you can beat me?" she teased him "I don't think so..." she took in a deep breath and gathering her strength she pushed him back, surprising him with her physical power. Xena saw the amazement on his face and decided to take her teasing even further... She liked to play with her opponents. The Warrior Princess had always loved a good fight, and allowed the feeling to show in the form of a broad bright smile on her beautiful face. It was as if she was the cat playing with the mouse, having her fun before she finally went for the kill... "Now isn't this fun?" she said, flipping the sword in her hand, showing off to all those who watched.

By this time, Thrallin was already getting really nervous, which was exactly what the woman wanted. She knew that if she could break his concentration, he'd get careless and mess up.

The man took a step back for balance, and then stroke at her left shoulder, as hard as he could, but instead of slicing her, his blade met her sword and immediately after her right boot hit his stomach with such a power that he was pushed back quite a few feet...

But already Xena was beginning to feel a little touch of pain in the area where days before the same man she was now fighting had wounded her with his sword and decided not to make her fun last much longer... She wanted to get it over with soon, so she could get some rest.

Once again, the man came at her, for he too had decided to win this thing fast, but when his sword reached the place where it should have met with Xena's heart, she was gone. The Princess somersaulted over the traitor's head at the last moment, hitting the ground on her feet and right behind him. She was planning to use the element of surprise and the fact that she'd landed behind him to put and end to the fight... But the flipping through the air hadn't been such a hot idea. Her wound wasn't completely healed yet and as she touched the ground, she was struck by a sharp pain that stopped her from acting immediately, as she'd planned to do.

Thrallin turned and faced the warrior woman. He raised his long blade and struck down at her waist, attempting to wound her there, where her pain was concentrated.

Xena anticipated his intentions and swiftly moved aside, but not quite fast enough. As it went down, his weapon missed her waist but still managed to touch her right above the knee... A very small cut, a practically painless cut, but still a cut that managed to draw a tiny stream of the woman's blood.

Now she was angry. Angry with him for bleeding her and furious at herself for letting him.

She held on tight to her iron sword with both hands and again releasing her fierce battle cry, that she knew would scare him, she went for him in pure rage, striking to the left, and then to the right , and left and right...

Thrallin kept blocking her blows, but he wasn't managing to stand his ground... He was backing down under her furious strikes, and was finding it very hard to keep up with her speed and power. It would be just a matter of time before he made a mistake. And it wasn't a long time...

Thrallin failed to meet her sword with his as she stroke to the left of his neck and her shining blade was immediately rewarded with red stains of blood as it severed his jugular. It was a quick death.

Xena took in a deep breath and then looked around at the silent circle of men, all watching. "Someone get rid of his stinking carcass!" she ordered.

The circle was quickly dissolved as some soldiers took Thrallin's corpse and others prepared for Zoran's punishment.

Damon walked over to Xena's side and with a sweet gentleness wrapped her in her cape "A great fight, my Princess. You are truly magnificent..." he said looking into her bright blue eyes with total adoration.

"Thanks..." she handed him her bloody sword "Take this to my tent, will you?" she asked, meaning to get him away from the place where Zoran would meet his death, to protect him from witnessing such a violent event.

"Yes, Xena." He took the weapon from her hand and like a well-trained puppy dog rushed to comply with her request.

"They should all be like this..." she said to no one but herself, as she wondered why she'd cared to shield him from the upcoming ritual...

**********

The day was beginning to dawn when the first beats of the drum were heard. The muffled steady rhythm gave the signal to initiate Zoran's cruel punishment. One he would surely not survive.

Relieved of his armor, the man stood at the beginning of the road to his own death, watching the faces of the men placed in two rows that awaited him. Two rows of vindictive men, facing each other with clubs and maces ready to strike. At the finish, a line scratched in the dirt marked the end of the punishment. A goal Zoran was now sure he'd never reach. Still, he didn't want to go down as a coward, so he sucked his gut in and bravely walked the gauntlet as far as he could...

With each merciless strike his body got weaker, slower and more vulnerable... Until he no longer was in shape to move and just laid on the ground.

Zoran died regretting his choice. At least death at his Princess' hands would be swift and almost painless... The gauntlet... was beginning to suffer even before he crossed the line to the Underworld and Tartarus' eternal punishment...

Even after he laid motionless on the ground, the men kept striking with their clubs, until the drum was no longer heard. Only with the silence did the punishment stop.

"Now that this is over and done with, there's work to be done! The Argrean treasure is still there for the taking, waiting for us, and I've got a plan..." the Warrior Princess climbed on the cart where Thrallin had stood for his little speech "But before I need to have a little word with you..." standing tall and proud she spoke to the audience of warriors "This is MY army! Let's keep that clear. And whoever wants to be a part of MY army must do so out of loyalty to ME. Loyalty! Not greed or glory. Do I make myself clear? Loyalty! If someone has a problem with that take this chance to leave now, because otherwise, you will have the same fate has Zoran." Xena jumped off the cart and headed for her tent. "Now rest until mid-day! After that I'll issue my orders..."

Chapter 5

For the next few days, Xena planned to have her men bring the treasure to her, including the small hourglass, using the secret passage the kids had shown her.

But during that time the camp wouldn't stay still. A lot of work would go on as preparations should be made to confront Menearis. The Warrior Princess knew that his army was more numerous right now, but not as skillful. That would have to be her advantage. Her men would have to be the best on the battlefield... So now they'd have to train hard. She knew they would not disappoint her. They'd be ready!

**********

"Xena!" Damon called outside the entrance of his Princess' tent, while tucking some wild strands of hair behind his ears. He always wanted to look his best for her...

What could her men want from her now? Didn't they know she was wounded and worn out, after that trip back to camp and the fight with Thrallin just a few hours ago? She was exhausted and in pain, and all she wanted was to get out of her armor and into her bed... "Come in..."

Damon pushed the canvas curtain aside and entered the dimly lit tent. "I thought that... Uhm... maybe you'd need some help, because of your wound..." he nervously said, placing both his hands on the hilt of his sword, because he didn't know what else to do with them.

"Oh..." she said, giving him her one-raised-eyebrow look "And what ever made you think that?" in spite of the pain she was in, she was intrigued by his boldness and at the same time amused by the embarrassment printed all over his face. She decided she wanted to see where this was going...

"Well, I..." his sweaty hands tightened around the hilt of his sword, as he tried to think of something intelligent to say "I... You're hurt and you might... I mean... I..."

"Didn't know you were a stutter..." she nearly purred as she poured red wine into two matching cups.

"I'm not!" he dropped his arms along his body and tried to regain some dignity in his posture "I thought you might need some help, but if you don't, I'll just go, my Princess..." he turned around, broken hearted, and prepared to leave her quarters.

"Come and help me then..." she said, as she sat down on a small wooden bench. He turned around as fast as a hurricane and she noticed the glint of pure, almost child-like happiness shining in his eyes "Help me to get rid of these..." she placed both her hands on her shoulder plates "Come on..."

With his heart racing due to the closeness to his beloved, Damon removed the hardened leather protections off the woman's shoulders and at his Princess' command, undid the laces of her boots and pulled them off her feet...

"Now this..." she said, while her long fingers ran across the bronze spider-web that covered her chest.

With sweaty palms, Damon undid the small bindings that kept the front and the back webs together and removed the metal armor piece "Anything else, Princess?" he asked with a trembling lustful voice.

"Would you care for some wine?" she pointed at the two silver cups on the table.

Damon picked them up, handed Xena one cup and took a sip of the other 'Good stuff...' he though. He'd never tasted anything like that in his village... Xena sure knew how to take good care of herself...

"I heard that you are good with your hands... is that true?" the warrior woman asked in a low tone purr, looking at him with inviting sheepish eyes.

A shadow of red covered his face from top to bottom as the woman's question hit home and his imagination started to work overtime "My Princess... I ...don't know what you mean, I..."

Xena lost the seductive look, got up and walked barefoot past him, to the table. 'Time to stop playing.' she thought. She set her cup down and searched in a pile of unfolded maps until she found a small parchment. Then she turned and handed it to Damon.

"I need someone good with his hands to built that for me. Can you do it?"

"Build... so that's what you meant..." Damon looked at the parchment and studied the rough drawing.

"Whatever did you think I meant, Damon?" she asked with a naughty lopsided smile, as she took the parchment back from his hands and laid it on the table "It's a chariot of war... Do you think you can build one for me in a short time?"

He took a better look at the drawing... Something like that would take some time to make but he couldn't say no to her, so he promised himself to do it "With help, I'm sure, Xena..."

"Good, get to work!" she said "Now go, I need my rest..."

Damon took the parchment and left, looking back as he walked out the door, catching a glimpse of his Princess sitting on her bed, getting rid of the rest of her leathers... He was sure to have sweet dreams ...

**********

The sun was high when Xena's army awoke back to life, after a busy night...

With the arrival of the Warrior Princess, things returned to the way they used to be, with the soldiers keeping their daily training routine and the dark veil of mourning was lifted from the camp, with the doubts of Xena's dedication somehow miraculously washed away from everyone's minds. Even her own... at least for the time being... Maybe the betrayal had done some good after all...

Damon started the construction of the chariot immediately. He got the help of three men and used the materials from the carts they'd captured with the supplies caravan to build the small two-wheeled vehicle. He planned to follow the design furnished by the Warrior Princess to the detail, so the chariot would be pulled by three horses, that way it should be quite fast, and on the outside of the wheels' axles would be adjusted six curved blades, three on each side. These blades would literally harvest the enemy off the battlefield, working not only with the casualties they inflicted, but also as a fear weapon. It would be quite a surprise to the enemy, whoever it may be, once Xena wasn't known to use war machines...

**********

That afternoon Kahn was called to his Princess' presence and she appointed him as her new chief lieutenant. With the deaths of Thrallin and Zoran that place was left vacant and Xena believed that he would be the best man for the job.

She explained him how the treasure of Argrean would be removed from under the peasants' noses, describing how to find the hidden entrance to the secret passage. Xena demanded that the job was done during the night, so that there was no chance of her soldiers running into the two kids.

"So, who do you suggest to command this little expedition?" she asked her newly appointed second in command.

"I'll do it myself, Princess."

She looked back down to the colorful map unfolded on the table and shook her head. "No, Kahn. I need you here for something else... Send a man who has your trust to lead the group and tell him to bring a small hour-glass he'll find with the treasure straight to me..."

"It shall be done immediately, Xena. And Ixan will be the man for the job." The Warrior turned and headed to the tent's door, wondering what his Princess had in mind for him...

"Kahn!" she called, just before he passed the threshold.

He turned to face his commander and waited for her words.

"Once our little treasure hunters are on their way come back here. There's something I need to discuss with you..."

He nodded "Yes, Princess.", then turned and finally left, to issue orders to retrieve Argrean's treasure.

Left alone in her quarters, the Warrior Princes picked up the map and laid on her bed, stomach down, looking at the drawing of the land, searching for a place that suited her purpose... Searching for good battlefield. And there it was, that valley to the East. It was sort of narrow, with it's rocky boundaries on one side and a tree line on the other, but it would do perfectly...

**********

"What!?" with all due respect, Xena, that's plain madness!" Kahn shouted, raising his arms to the skies above. Had the woman completely lost it this time? "Menearis is the absolute ruler of this region and his army is two times as big as the one you have here now!"

"That's why I'm going to wipe him and his men off the face of the Earth! If there's going to be an absolute ruler of the land, it's going to be me! Soon there'll come a time when no other name will be heard in all of the world but my own! Even if I have to leave an ocean of blood behind me..." she insisted, more to motivate herself than to convince her lieutenant.

"I admire your determination, Xena..." he said, looking into her bright blue eyes "...but it'll take more than words to defeat him."

"I know, my good man. That's why I need your help to cook up a strategy. Besides, my men are better trained..." she said, with a little pride in her voice "I'm planning to do battle with him in that valley to the east, the one with rocky hills on the side... It's narrow, but..."

"We're really going to do this, aren't we?" he interrupted, amazed once again by the woman's display of what he considered to be courage.

"By the Gods, yes we are!"

**********

In the course of the next days, the Argrean treasure was delivered to Xena by her men, including the small golden hourglass.

The Warrior Princess kept busy making plans with Kahn, studying the best way to engage battle with the old powerful warlord Menearis. The daily reports brought to her by the scouts convinced her that most of the enemy army were infantry men, used to fight with spears in a wall formation. With this knowledge, they thought up a plan that used the narrow shape of the valley to their advantage...

Kahn believed that Menearis would use the same battle plan he always did, with the spearmen in front and the horsemen in the back, waiting for a gap in the enemy's formation. Due to the narrow cut of the valley, the battlefront wouldn't be as wide as usual, and Xena's men could build a wall large enough to cover it. They both knew that in this kind of battle, when two spear fronts clashed, it was the front line of the men that made the biggest difference, and here, the fact that the Warrior Princess' soldiers were better trained would work in their favor. They knew that Menearis would probably only provide spears for the first two or three rows of men of his formation, and if these ones opened even a small gap, the following hordes of sword-armed men would be lambs for the slaughter under Xena's cavalry...

Together, the Warrior Princess and Kahn built the battle plan. They'd use a spear wall that although looked to operate just as one, would have a small part in the right flank with a different job... these men were to slowly back down under the enemy's pressure, giving the illusion that they were being overpowered. The rest of Xena's spear line would have to stand its ground. This would cause, or at least they hoped so, that Menearis' men would try to gain ground to Xena's right flank... But only that small portion of the Warrior Princess' men would back down, luring the enemy forward and making them open a gap between the largest portion of the line that was being forced to a halt and the small portion that advanced.

At this time, all of Xena's cavalry would advance and pass through the open gap. While most of the horsemen were to engage battle with Menearis' cavalry, being the numbers here almost at even odds, a small group would work at the open gap at the enemy wall to allow the passage of the chariot. To the war machine it would be easy to harvest the infantry...

It was a good plan, but it required that Xena's men proved to be better prepared than the ones led by Menearis... so the Warrior Princess begun training with them personally, for long hours, repeating over and over again the same exercises, until perfection was achieved. The result was quite satisfying.

She was going to pull this off and defeat yet another powerful warlord!

**********

Late one evening, after whole of the treasure was in Xena's hands, Damon went to find his Princess while she groomed Styx.

Wearing a heavy cloak over the little scarlet dress, she passed the body brush over the animal's shiny coat and whispered sweet words to the stallion's ears.

"Xena..." Damon called to get the woman's attention.

She turned her back to the gray war horse and turned to face the warrior "Yes, what is it?" she asked, while he lost himself in the way the torch's light was absorbed by her blue eyes.

He had to close his eyes for a time fraction to remember what he was going to say, it was impossible to concentrate with the amazing vision she was... "It's the chariot, my Princess..." he finally managed to say "It's finished. Would you like to see it?"

Xena allowed her soldier to guide her through the camp, to the place where lately he'd been spending every waking moment. "I hope it's to your liking..." he pointed at his piece of work and anxiously waited for his Princess' judgment.

She was surprised with the excellent job he'd done, and in such little time... The chariot that stood before her was an exact reproduction of the drawing she'd given him not long ago. The only difference was the addition of her purple banner on both sides of the war machine. "You've done an excellent job, Damon." She said as he opened a broad smile "I'm very pleased with you..." and coming from her those were huge compliments. Xena usually economized her praises "When are you going to give it at test ride?" she inquired, running her fingertips over the smooth wood finishing of the chariot.

"Tomorrow. But first there's something else I'd like to show you..." once again, he guided his commander past the war machine, to the place where he'd been keeping the tools and construction materials he'd been using. "Look." He pointed at a pile of bows laying on the ground in unorderly manner "What do you think?"

She walked closed to the mess of weapons, but saw nothing special, other than the fact that the bows weren't properly stored... "What do I think of what, Damon?"

"Here, I'll show you..." he picked one of the bows from the pile and displayed it by a torch light "See this?" he ran his fingers along the long string "Most are only half the size of these..."

She took it from his hands to better appreciate it "They do have a longer reach than the ones we have now, but... who'd use them?" she asked "I don't think anyone here is trained enough in this kind of weapon to take full advantage of it's range..."

She saw the proud look on his face and guessed what he was going to say "My Princess, I've been training with it, along with the four stable boys..." he said "Place us along the sides of the battle field and we can do a lot of damage in Menearis' lines..."

"Excellent, Damon. I'm sure this is going to help." She said, patting the soldier on the shoulder to show her appreciation.

With Xena's permission, he proudly walked her back to her tent "Goodnight." she said, pushing aside the curtain that gave way to her quarters.

"Goodnight, Xena... And... Don't take this the wrong way or anything... but... You are the most beautiful woman I've ever set eyes on!" with his cheeks red as the blood in his veins, he turned his back and literally ran away into the night.

She smiled and entered her tent. Damon was proving to be a very ingenious man and she realized that she liked his puppy dog manners more than she should... Not good. Not good at all... She'd have to find a way to get rid of those butterflies in her stomach...

**********

With the chariot of war successfully tested they were ready for battle. It was time to send the challenge and for that task, Xena chose Nazir. She knew he had the necessary nerve to do it...

Under a white flag of truce, the soldier met Menearis. He showed him the hourglass as proof that Xena had gotten hold of the Argrean treasure and made the challenge. The two armies would meet in battle in two days, in the Eastern valley. It would be winner take all, horses weapons... But they both knew what that meant. If Menearis won, his prize would be the treasure and the reputation of being the man who wasted the Warrior Princess, if Xena won, it would be yet another Xena conquest, to swell the myth of her invincibility...

The old warlord accepted. He'd heard the wildest tales about this "Princess", but believed she was just a warrior wanna-be, with a reputation much bigger than her skills or deeds and would easily be defeated. Besides, he wanted that hourglass! He couldn't just take it off Nazir's hands, since they were meeting under a flag of truce... So he'd fight for it. And by the Gods, he'd win!

**********

It was time. The Warrior Princess knew that her men were finishing off the last preparations and it was time that she too got ready.

She got off her warm bath and dried herself with white linen towels. The preparations before battle were of the most high importance to a warrior, so she did everything slowly, with no rush, in a ritual she'd repeated so many times before and that she'd gotten to know all too well...

Xena used cinnamon scented oil to massage her body and put on her new dark linen undergarments. Than, she loosened her black hair and gently brushed it until it was glowing under the light of the crowd of candles she was keeping in her tent. She placed a string of mysterious black pearls around her head and braided the ends of it with a small mane of hair on the back of her head.

It was time now to start giving her brand new armor some use... A real mean looking thing that hopefully would induce fear in the enemy hearts.

She carefully put on the black dyed leather bodice and adjusted it tightly. The metal patterns that crossed the leathers would protect her almost as well as a cuirass and would allow her more freedom of movement. This was very important, once she used an acrobatic style in battle. Besides, it was a lot sexier too... She picked up the skirt and festooned it around her waist. It was a bit longer that the one she used to wear before and alternated black leather stripes with stripes made out of little metal scales that would offer extra protection.

She put on a pair of high black warrior boots, complete with leather over her knees and large claw-like metal epaulettes over her shoulders.

Now the weapons... first, the chakram. There was no way she was going into battle without her amazing round blade. She chose a pair of short twin iron swords, with a spike on the hilt, and a large dagger with a gold hilt. That should do it!

Next, a pair of leather gauntlets made to match the bodice and also protections for her upper arms. And for the final touch, a cape. Not too large, because she didn't want it to get in her way in the middle of a fight, but still, there was no way that someone might miss it... A purple cape, the color of her banner… the color of death...

"Princess!" she heard a familiar voice call outside the tent.

"Come in, Damon..."

He entered the tent and greeted his commander, impressed by her new, more menacing look "Kahn asked me to tell you that the men are ready. We wait for your orders..."

She took a deep breath, threw her hair backwards and headed for the door "Let's go!"

As she passed him by, Damon stretched his right arm and laid his hand on her shoulder, bringing her to a halt "Xena, wait..." As she turned, he immediately removed his hand under the weight of her angry look of disapproval "I'm sorry. I just... I'd like you to take this..." From a small pouch on his belt, Damon took a black leather string with a stone pendant and tied it around her neck.

She lifted the pendent to her face to take a look at it. It was a small cross. But unlike the Greek crosses, this one had a lower branch longer than the side branches and the top one was curved up in an arch.

"It belonged to my grandmother... She was a little crazy and many times she didn't talk much sense, but she always claimed to be Egyptian..." he explained "According to her, that's the cross of Aton, or something, a sun God of some sort... It's supposed to bring good fortune and whoever wears it should have a long and prosperous life... I'd like you to have it."

She untied the leather string and tied it again, closer to her neck, making sure it wouldn't be left dangling around and maybe get her in trouble in the middle of the coming battle. "Thanks Damon..." she said in a forced flat emotionless tone "Now let's go, we don't have any time to lose..."

Followed close by her warrior, Xena left her tent and walked over to Styx. She mounted the gray stallion and guided him to pace between the lines of armored men. As she inspected the troops, their call of her name begun to rise as they encouraged themselves for the battle. "Xena! Xena! Xena!..." There was something special about the Warrior Princess, a dark aura, that made herself and whoever followed her believe to be invincible. And believing was just the start...

With her inspection finished, Xena took her place with the cavalry, and slowly the chant of her name died out, as the men awaited the words of the commander.

"You all know what to do!" she shouted "There might be more of them, but they don't stand a chance! We are the terror of these lands, the chosen of Ares. There is no one better! We are unstoppable! Today, our enemy's blood will flood the valley! Let's go!"

**********

From her vantage point, ahead of the cavalry, Xena watched as the right end of her spear wall gave up ground, slowly luring the enemy...

They were taking the bait! It wouldn't be much longer until she could satisfy her blood lust... Until she could get hold of the only thing that eased the pain in her heart, even if it was just for a fleeing moment. Soon she'd be able to let out all her rage, to satisfy it, cultivate it... She longed for the moment of the kill when everything else in the world ceased to exist... There was only her, the victim, and the blood...

As the time approached, her heartbeat seemed to get faster, and louder, until it almost deafened her... Until, finally, the gap in Menearis' lines was open!

"Now!" she shouted, kicking Styx's flanks, driving him forward. Followed by her horsemen, the Warrior Princess slipped through the space left open by the old warlord's troops, shouting her battle cry...

"Yiyiyiyiyih!!" that sound was enough to give strength to herself and her men, and to strike with fear all enemies.

Xena led the men who started to attack Menearis' cavalry... Drawing her sword she begun to leave the trail of death her men were already used to see behind her. The bittersweet scent of the enemy blood covering her own body exciting her and driving her even further, to destroy, to kill...

From the corner of her eye, Xena managed to notice the chariot of war already at work, doing it's harvesting of the enemy troops. And from the hills, Damon's arrows were causing a great mess in Menearis' back lines...

The kill of the old warlord would belong to Santis, Xena's stable boy and his longbow.

And soon enough the battle was as good as won. So the raven-haired beauty gave herself completely to the pleasure of the fight. To doing what she did best... Kill. Satisfy her lust for blood, delighting the God of War as she did so...

**********

It was late afternoon when Xena's blade crossed the heart of the last of Menearis' men. She watched as her own warriors scavenged through the bodies of the dead enemies... This was a task she always excused herself from. Instead, she preferred to dedicate her efforts to the beheading of the dead, sticking the heads on poles and spreading the sinister trophies along the blood soaked valley. It was, in her opinion, a monument to her victory and the perfect warning to anyone who even dreamed of getting in her way...

The victorious army returned to camp with the spoil of weapons and war horses and covering themselves with praises...

But as soon as her camp came in sight, Xena realized that something was wrong "Pull yourselves together men!" she shouted to those who followed her lead "The camp is under attack!"

Kahn moved his horse to the Princess' side "It's those crummy little villagers! They must think they can get their treasure back. What do you wanna do, Xena?" he asked, already knowing the answer when he saw the hatred smeared on the woman's bronzed face.

"I wanna kill'em all!"

The Warrior Princess' battle cry echoed though the air and in a wild gallop the cavalry followed her as she stroke down the armed peasants who were invading what was hers.

No longer with the element of surprise or the numbers on their side, the people of Argrean were like lambs for the slaughter. One by one they died at the hands of the warriors. Some of the villagers tried to hold their claim on the treasure, while others were struck dead as they dropped to their knees and begged for mercy...

**********

It was all over in no time. The bodies of the peasants had the same fate as those of Menearis' men... It was now time to count her losses...

At the command tent, Xena listened to Kahn's report, sitting on a large wooden chair and flipping a small dagger in her hand.

"We lost one man to the peasants, another eighteen to Menearis." The old veteran reported, as he admired the woman. Did she know what she did to a man when she showed up wearing nothing but that scarlet dress? Probably she did. She was a smart lass, that Xena... 'She probably does it on purpose...' he thought, as he knew how much Xena was accustomed to use her body to get people under her spell... "We lost Nazir..." he continued "I'm sorry, I know you were fond of him... What else? One tent burned to the ground as well as two cases of arrows and all the grain. Two pack horses were killed and one had to be put down... a broken leg..." he justified "That's it. I guess we did pretty well, considering who we were up against..."

She threw the dagger to the table before her and got on her feet "Yes, I guess we did..." she said "Thanks you, Kahn. That will be all..."

**********

That night, after the funeral pyre had burned with the bodies of the dead warriors, Xena's camp was lit up with the celebration of the victory over the old warlord... Those who were fortunate enough not to be engaged in guard duty that night, were singing and dancing around bonfires, exchanging exaggerated stories of their role in the battle and checking out their part of the spoil.

It wasn't until the break of dawn that Kahn noticed that the woman warrior wasn't present. He looked in her tent, but couldn't find her there either... "Ixan!" he called.

The red hair soldier showed up, obviously drunk and still carrying a half-full mug of ale in his hand "You called?" he asked, bombing the chief-lieutenant with his goat-breath.

Kahn turned his head to get a breath of fresh air before his question "Have you seen Xena? I can't find her, and I haven't seen her since the funeral ceremony..."

The drunk soldier looked in his blood stained shirt pocket "Nope, not here..." he mumbled "Why don't you ask her scouts? They usually know where she is... And if they don't , let them do their job and scout for her!" he turned his back on Kahn and moved back into a group of men who were as drunk as he was, sipping his ale and singing an obscene song about the married women of Athens...

Although he didn't make a habit of following a drunken man's advice, Kahn did just that. He called Xena's scouts, or rather the ones who weren't too drunk, and sent them to find the Warrior Princess.

It was Deros who finally found her... Xena was laying in the middle of the war horses, drunk beyond consciousness and with her hand tangled in the brown hair of a young boy who laid dead next to her... Surely one of the peasants they'd missed when they rounded up the bodies. This one had been killed with a flagpole sunk in his chest. Xena's purple banner, now stained with blood, was still covering his motionless form, where he laid in an awkward position caused by the fractures in his legs, inflicted probably by the stomping of the horses during the end of the battle...

The scout put his hands under his commander's arms and lifted her up from the ground. The movement was a little too sudden and rough for her drunken condition and made her wake up and throw up all over herself. "The boy..." she mumbled under her wine and vomit stinking breath "... he's dead... he saved my life and now he's dead."

Deros lifted her up in his arms and carried her away from the corps. "It's alright, Xena..."