Mail would be appreciated at: kamouraskan@yahoo.com

For Disclaimers: see Part one

Hercules leaned over to James. "Would it be too much to ask exactly what that is about? Am I really expected to pound the head healer into the ground?"

James sighed. "Actually, the answer is sort of yes. I don’t know all of it, but I think Saras can’t believe that a blood stained maniac like Xena is allowed to get within 50 leagues of the Queen, much less joined, and Xena knows that Saras is related somehow to Valasca, and every time there’s an injury they get into a turf fight over who’s in charge...."

Hercules held up his hand and picked up what appeared to be a really dense tumbleweed, and looked over to the kids.

"I have an idea I’ve been kicking around for a while. How about if I deal with the kids, and YOU pound Saras?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Hercules gave him a look at the familiar phrase. "Sounds like you’ve been hanging around them for a little toooo long."

Returning his smile, James got up, and Robin followed discretely.

Robin realized that she had been right. This was some sort of infirmary. Gabrielle was stooping over to talk to each of the patients, and as she listened to her conversations Robin realized that most of the infirm were here because of the Queen’s staff demonstrations. Picking her way through the tables, apologizing to each patient, she was forgiven by each with the same soft doe-eyed look she had first noticed on Iolous and James.

Meanwhile James was making his way to the main bout, Xena versus the head healer Saras. He was welcomed by Xena’s patented look that seemed to say ‘Oh Good. More people I have to kill before I can relax.’

To Robin’s amazement, he ignored Xena and brought the older woman aside.

"Saras, how many years has this gone on? You and Xena, fighting over patients? Two, almost three years? And it looks to me, like it’s getting worse. Would you be willing to try a possible solution, no matter how dumb it sounded, as long as it worked?"

Saras’ suggestion of what the solution might be was imaginative, but obscene.

James spoke softly over his shoulder, knowing that with Xena’s hearing she would have been following the conversation.

"What?" The warrior growled.

"A solution, are you interested?"

There was no answer, so he took that as a yes.

"Saras, you have to admit that Xena knows more about some types of combat injuries right?" Silence was again taken as assent.

"And Xena, you know that Saras is in charge here, right?"

Again silence.

"So Saras, if Xena would just ask permission, before bringing in a patient, do you think you could swear that you would always let her in?"

"What?" exploded from both women.

James continued as if they hadn’t spoken.

"Now, Xena. If Saras swore that she would always let you in, if you’d ask, could you swear that you would always ask?"

"This is nonsense." Grumbled an angry warrior princess.

"Let’s try it. Xena. Please ask Saras if you can use her hospice to treat a patient."

Robin watched in amazement as James coaxed the words slowly out of the warrior.

Saras was next. And when she was done, he turned to the two and said, "and unless you both enjoy arguing, while sick and injured people go untreated, you can now swear to do this every time."

Robin watched disbelieving, as they did just that. Then he left the two women, both staring daggers into his back. Outside, she was astonished to see that Hercules had organized large group of the kids into teams kicking his tumbleweed about the common. Clearly deputizing a few of the older kids as coaches, he rejoined Robin and James at the benches.

"Just don’t start having them wear numbers," James suggested.

The big man was puzzled for a moment. "What? Oh, that’s another one of those things I’ll get in two thousand years, I’m guessing."

"Right."

Hercules sat down with a satisfied sigh and reached for his drink. Then looked up to see a dark storm cloud now looming above him.

"I believe," said Xena, in a deceptively calm and deliberate manner, "that I asked YOU to pound someone into the ground? As my guest, it was just a small request," at this point she smiled sweetly," and I so seldom ask you for these little favours."

Hercules gave her a lazy shrug, saying, "I think you’re just upset because for someone who conquered half of Greece, you can’t admit to giving out the wrong assignments." He looked pointedly to James, and then to where the kids were playing.

James took a sip of his ale and added "It’s called proper use of your resources." Both men nodded at each other.

Xena stared at them. Robin began to wonder where the steam would come out, and moved to safety down the bench away from the men.

Xena clenched her teeth for a moment, and finally spat out "Resources?" and then stalking away, continued to growl." I’ll tell what proper use of THESE resources would be...."

James looked at the cringing Robin.

"See, she’s really just a pussycat."

Taking another sip he said "Good ale eh?"

Smiled Hercules. "Tastes a bit better now, for some reason."

It was about half an hour and several ales later that Xena returned with a malevolent grin. Clearing a space across from Hercules, she set three sets of five mugs of the high proof port in front of the two of them. Knowing that Xena seldom drank excessively, at least excessively for her, Hercules raised his eyebrows but accepted the challenge. A look to James followed, and he too leaned forward and grasped a tankard.

Robin decided it was time for her visit to Gabrielle.

She found the Queen’s hut with some help, but hesitated at the door. There were two Amazon guards at the door, but before they could step aside, she was seized by a series of memories, so compressed that she almost fell. One of the guards steadied her, and she waved them away to concentrate on the images.

"The problem, Xena, is in your own words, your greatest wish has been granted! You still can’t believe that the little girl from Potadiea would stay with you. You can’t believe that she would eventually love you... so you know you can’t deserve this, right? You assume it has to be the another punishment for all you’ve been.

"Robin?"

She opened her eyes to sparking green. Gabrielle was in front of her on her knees. Ephiny was behind her holding a struggling child.

"Robin, are you all right? We sort of lost you."

"I met Aphrodite?"

"What? When? How did she..."

"No, in Amphipolis, I just remembered meeting you the first time...."

Gabrielle face began to hope but then she looked deeper into Robin’s eyes and her face fell again. "But you only remember parts of it, right?"

Robin began to feel uneasy. "Is there something I should know about us, something..."

Gabrielle laughed, "Yes. No! Nothing like that, it’s..., I’m being selfish. It’s just that there are certain experiences, that are so...important... that when the people you shared them with are gone, or lost, you lose a part of yourself, do you know what I mean?"

Robin nodded.

"Don’t let me put anymore pressure on you than you already have."

Robin looked up. "Is that...?"

Gabrielle grinned. "Yup, this is Lycea."

"She’s gorgeous."

Her mother cocked her head and examined the golden haired child with a smile. "We think so. Would you like to hold her?"

Ephiny cautiously passed over the future ruler of her tribe, while Gabrielle remained with Robin kneeling on the floor.

"Gabrielle?"

"Uh huh."

"I have this memory, that there is a strange kind of connection between James and I, but..."

Gabrielle became still.

"Yeah. That’s something else we should probably talk about. Does it scare you?"

"What do you expect? I don’t know him. I mean, we haven’t even been on a date, and suddenly..."

"Nobody is ‘expecting’ anything. James is a good person to have as friend. He wouldn’t rush you, so don’t you go rushing yourself."

"What’s really weird to me," she said rocking Lycea in her arms, "is that I’m calmly accepting all this. I met Aphrodite, for God’s sake! What is it about this place?"

"Well, from what James was willing to tell me about where you guys come from, I think I’d consider that most of what you think as normal, is just as amazing." The little Queen pointed out. Robin just shook her head and began making cooing noises to the bundle in her arms.

"And Robin?" Gabrielle hesitated. "About the bed in your hut? That was a gift from Aphrodite. James and I knew nothing about it...James said he figures she passed some sort of Notell Motel?, whatever that is, on the way to pick you guys up, and liked it. We would have told you earlier, but James was afraid you might find the idea of Goddesses with bad taste a little more than you could handle right away."

Robin laughed. "He was right, but can you get it out of there?"

A galvanized Gabrielle leaped up. "I’ve got a few ideas. ‘Cause you see, it’s too big for the door, so I figure we can lift up the hut with these levers Xena uses. But then I was thinking, that if we put some wheels here and here..." she put some drawings in front of Robin.

"But don’t you need something to attach them to, up above?"

Gabrielle wasn’t phased. "Well that’s where this tower comes in..." and she reached for some other sketches.

"What does Xena say?"

"She says sleep in the bed."

Meanwhile, the drinking had long since past the point of being casual. Hercules had already kicked back more than he could remember in his life. ‘It really was nice’, he thought, ‘to have a place where no monsters or Gods could spring out at you. I wonder if Xena really appreciates being with the Amazons?’ He squinted across the table. She was relaxed, smiling. ‘Gods’, he thought, ‘she must be pissed’. No, he smiled. It wasn’t just the alcohol, and he wondered again at the change from the hate filled woman he had once known. Not that she had lost any of the fire within, it was just...directed, he thought. He remembered when he had first heard that she was traveling with a young girl...who would have ever imagined...?

James had switched to tea, when he discovered that he was too drunk to stand to go to the toilet. At one point, the weapons master, Eponin had been playing some incredibly dangerous knife drinking game with Xena, but had then disappeared. James vaguely hoped she was all right. What was bothering him was that he suddenly seemed to have at his command, all of the tribal laws of the Amazons, and he knew he had to bring the subject up.

He turned to his companions, concentrated on basic tongue function, and said "I think I may have received a case file."

Xena was immediately serious. "For here?"

"Definitely. But..."

Hercules moved closer. "What’s a case file?"

Figuring that Xena knew as much as he did, and was more able to communicate, he made a gesture of invitation to her and drank his tea.

Xena had questioned James carefully about his assignments. She now trusted the traveler as much as she could, considering he seemed to be the pawn of unseen powers. Regardless of their proven good intent, Xena never trusted anything to do with powerful outside forces.

"When James arrives at a.." she searched her vocabulary unsuccessfully"...job,"

"Assignment" James interrupted.

Xena gave him a glare, which he ignored. "An assignment, he always has a complete scroll in his mind of all the information and profiles of the people he might need to bother..."

"...help, is the word."

"Yeah, right. Help, so he can do whatever he’s there for."

"And what does he do, exactly?"

Considering the grin on Xena’s face, James decided to field that one.

"I’m usually sent to someone in emotional pain. Actually, all I do normally, is talk to them. And then, if I’m successful in helping them deal with it, I pop back home, and for me, it’s as if no time has passed."

Xena added, "James is an empath, he finds these people by their pain. Emotional, not physical pain. He links with them," a glance passed between the two that Hercules just caught, "some, more than others."

Now James was really rolling "But this trip, ‘cause ARP, Aphro, APHROdite... brought me, us, and it wasn’t a , anassig , a job, of course I had no file."

"Of course."

"Until just now. This minute. But I’m wondering if it’s really a case or..." He belched.

"Or what?"

"You see, Robin and I have this connection, a bond, but somehow it disappeared when we got home, along with her memories of the whole trip. It was bad enough at home, but now we’re back here..."

He stopped and sipped at his mug.

"So, here I am, loving her, but totally useless. AND, she hates me. I’m jealous of everyone she talks with. Surrounded by hundreds of women any of who, whom, could kick my ass in a second. Plus, in this corner, we have the Yin and the Yang of sexual attractiveness; the warrior Princess and the Amazon Queen, and if she doesn’t swing that way, we have Iolous, Furking Autolycus, and, if that wasn’t enough," waving his hand in frustration towards the demi-god "Fricking HERCULES!"

"I prefer the mighty Hercules, but never mind." that worthy responded amiably.

"Sorry, mighty. Anyways, I’ve got to wonder whether this is a real file, or I needed something to impress the girl?"

"Tell us about the file." suggested Hercules.

"I suddenly seem to know all of the tribal laws of the Amazons."

Neither of his companions seemed impressed.

"Look, while we’ve been drinking, I’ve been thinking. About the way we were greeted. About some of the stares Herc and I have been getting, and I’ll tell you, some have been not too friendly. I saw maybe half of the troops loyal to Gabrielle in the infirmary having been Gabwacked... He stopped and sipped the tea. "So a while ago, I went and talked to one of the guards. Bam!" Xena ducked as he waved his hand, "I got a blast about feeble Amazons partying every night, children being assigned to watch men, and how this is supposed to be a warrior camp..., I mean no one came out and gave me the line about Valasca being right, or that Gabrielle isn’t a real Amazon, but now I suddenly have all these regulations in my head..."

"And?"

James faced Xena directly. "Did you know that as the Queen’s champion, there are still certain challenges that you must leave the Queen to take?"

"So..."

"But as Consort, those loopholes close."

Hercules watched as the gears began moving in Xena’s finely tuned brain. "So if anyone wanted to try a Queen’s Challenge directly against Gabrielle, their time is about run out, right? Tell me, what kinds of challenges?"

"Well, Here’s a good one. Civil war. With the majority of the ACTIVE warriors supporting the contestant, the challenger can even choose weapons. Gabrielle wouldn’t be able to use her staff. That’s the one I would worry about."

Hercules interrupted. "Wait, Civil War? Everybody loves Gabrielle."

Xena was grim faced "Maybe, but are they convinced she’s what the Amazon’s need? All these peace treaties, her refusal to kill..."

"Valasca had a lot of supporters, and they weren’t all banished, and with the lack of discipline of the past few days..." James added.

"Well, we can fix that fast enough. "

Instantly sober at the thought of a threat to Gabrielle, Xena stood up. "Where’s Eponin? We need to roust some of these soft butts."

"And get some real Knives at the throat." James suggested.

Hercules was still confused. "Why would we want that?"

"Because as the only men here, we’re focuses of anger, especially you. Because, if there’s a fight, they know where you’ll stand. Me, I may need someone with a horse who can act if I get another hunch about what’s going on. And, oh yes," asked James nonchalantly, "what are you going to tell the Queen?"

"I’ll tell her whatever we know, not what we’re guessing, which right now is nothing."

"Here’s a prediction from this oracle. You’re going to get yelled at."

"I’m a big girl. So where in Tarterus is Epinon?" Xena rumbled. "We need to get the watches out, security has to be checked out..."

From out of the dark came a complaining voice. "I told you all this days ago. But you were too busy building your fricking palace."

"Eponin? Where are you?"

"Where you furking left me, under the table with a knife pinning my arm to the chair!"

"Oh right..." Xena smiled. "You lost."

Leaving the planning of security in the hands of the experts, James decided to try to sober up with a stroll to the Queen’s hut to visit the now and future Queens of the Amazon Nation. He was almost there when he was struck by an anxiety attack that he recognized as coming from Gabrielle. He broke into a run, but just before reaching the hut he was passed by a blur he knew would be the Warrior Princess.

"What’s wrong? "he managed to gasp out when he finally got there.

Gabrielle was pointing to Lycea, standing alone in the centre of the room. Both Ephiny and Robin were tense, but Gabrielle was hyperventilating.

"Lycea, she’s, she’s walking!"

Seeing that Xena did not appreciate her fear, she emphasized "She’s less than four moons old! And she’s walking!"

Figuring that he knew why Xena still didn’t understand, James moved behind Gabrielle.

"Relax `Ri. Xena, when did you start to walk?"

With a shrug Xena answered "Three, four moons. Why?" This last said with a hint of asperity.

Gabrielle looked across to the child and the warrior to see two pairs of identically confused blue eyes. She sighed, and reached for her baby. James whispered in sepachrul tones, "I take it back, Be Afraid, Gabrielle, Be Very...Afraid."

Batting at him with one hand, Gabrielle kissed her child and then handed her over to her other mother and said to them;

"She’s walking, so that’s going to mean You Know Who will be getting ready, sooner than we thought. So, I think we might consider Robin being here a Godsend. Maybe someone should talk to her and ask if she’ll help with the plan?" indicating a strawberry blonde hairpiece on a shelf. And with that cryptic remark, she grabbed her staff and asked James "Would you like to go for a walk? I think I’d like to talk to Cyrene."

* * * *

Hearing that Cyrene was still involved in the decorating of the wedding site, or more likely being roped into working at Salmoneous’ tavern, the two had a pleasant stroll through the village to the border, being stopped occasionally by various young Amazons. When they came to the boundary, James was surprised to see Eponin carrying her ale as well as new guard patrol assignments, trying to explain her latest wound to Iolaus. It clearly wasn’t his first mug of the day either, and both seemed rather relaxed.

"Hey there," grinned Iolaus, as he stood for Gabrielle. She waved him back down, saying "We’re just looking for Cyrene, I have a few questions for her."

"She went to check out some supplies, and she’ll be right back." said Iolous.

"Questions? said Eponin, "Like what?"

"It was just brought home to me that Lycea may be more like Xena than I thought, and I think I should ask the expert."

Iolaus and Eponin looked at each other. Then at Gabrielle.

Gabrielle was not amused by their expressions. Eponin ventured out first.

"You’re going to ask Xena’s mother... for advice about child rearing?"

"Yes, " Gabrielle responded patiently.

"Xena’s Mom?" Iolaus repeated in a strangled tone.

"Ye-es. Does that seem STRANGE to you?" Still being patient, but a little colder.

"Well, of course not." said Iolous.

"Certainly." agreed Eponin.

"Wouldn’t want the child to grow up..." Iolaus searched.

"Unfriendly..." put in Eponin.

"Naughty...added Iolaus

"Occasionally moody.."

"Dangerously psychotic..."

Gabrielle was tapping her foot by now.

Then of course," Iolous considered, "of course, you want to avoid any problems with normal sexual orientation..." and froze.

Gabrielle’s foot was no longer tapping. He looked up to see the Queen of the Amazons smiling a cold smile.

"I’ve always found Xena’s orientation, to be quite..." she searched for the right word," ...unerring." Pleased, she turned, and taking James’ arm she regally walked away.

Behind them they heard Iolaus and Eponin say together "Unerring?"

* * * *

Night fell. Head aching, still buzzed from the afternoon and having learned more than he wanted to know about Xena’s childhood, James made his way back to his hut under the stars. There was a light burning inside, so he was cautious as he opened the door. The giant bed was still there filling the entire room, but sitting in the middle was Robin reading what he knew to be one of Gabrielle’s scrolls. She looked up and to his relief, smiled.

"Have you read any of these? They are incredible. How much of it is true? Did Xena really do these things? And the story telling...."

"You have to hear the storyteller herself, the scrolls are only a part of the performance. I’ve seen whole rooms of troglodytes crying in their beer when she gets going." ‘And the scrolls really are only part of the story’, he thought. He fell silent for a moment. This wasn’t the time for a serious talk. The combination of the events of the day and the after effects of the marathon drinking had him running on empty for some time. He could barely keep his eyes open. Robin didn’t seem to notice.

"Some of them are hilarious. Who is this poor sap Joxer? Is he here?"

He leaned over to see what she was reading, trying to ignore her proximity. It was titled ‘Been There, Done That’. He shook his head to try to clear it.

"Yeah, he’s not only here, but I think I lost some sort of bet while drinking with Xena today, and now I have to have a talk with him."

"About...?"

"He has always had a thing for Gabrielle, and apparently he didn’t see this coming. Xena wants him to feel better." He rolled his eyes.

"Xena cares about this guy?"

"She cares about all her friends. Loyalty is very big with her."

"So you have to make Joxer feel better about Gabrielle being Gay, or not with him or what?"

"You think Gabrielle`s gay?" he thought he mumbled before finally passing out onto the bed.

Pain.

He was struggling to open his eyes, because it was important that he wake up. There was this terrible ache in his stomach and he wasn’t alone. Everyone around him was groaning and he couldn’t stay standing on any of his legs. Legs? He woke up.

Robin was gone. On their last visit she would disappear for hours with Titan, so he figured she probably still wasn’t back from her late night ride.

The dream was important, he knew, but he was losing it rapidly. He tried to focus. He had been a horse? no human...Centaurs! What had Solari said? The Centaurs are securing the ...eastern entrance. Now, he thought, how sure am I that I know what it means? And where is a good Knife when you need one?

"Hello? Who’s on duty?" hoping to the Gods that it was someone took their job seriously, not another sweet kid.

"What by Narcissus’ Nuts do you want?" came a familiar voice outside the door.

"Shit, is that you, Pony? What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be sleeping it off, or in the infirmary or both?"

The door opened and the big weapons master shambled in and bumped into the point of the foot of the bed. She swore at it.

"I’ll have you know that drinking helps me stay awake. Also, I took this duty because I would rather be on site, than dragged out of my bed if something happens. So," Eponin perched on the edge of the ludicrous bed, "Is something happening?"

"Would you believe, I’d like you to try to put the whole village on as close to alert status as possible, but not wake anyone up."

She sighed loudly. "More information."

"I think we could be in big trouble, but I don’t want to bother anyone in case I’m wrong."

She rolled her eyes in disgust. "Civilians. Let me get Xena."

Outside they both heard the sound of an approaching horse. James turned to Eponin.

"You do what you can to prepare for an attack from the east side, but if that’s Robin, I’m going to hitch a ride and check out the Centaur camp. Soon as you can, you follow us, OK?"

"Wait, what kind of attack! What’s wrong with the Centaurs?"

"If I knew, I’d have you roust everyone, but all I’ve got right now is a bad feeling about the Centaur encampment. Tell Xena, and do what you can with whoever is already up. And get everything ready for whatever you do when there’s an attack."

"Thanks for all the technical instruction."

The approaching rider was Robin on Titan.

"Is he rested enough to go for a quick ride?" He asked her.

"Another midnight ride?" Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright.

Realizing this meant she had recovered at least part of their previous excursion, he grinned back.

"Getting hooked on adventure?" he grunted as she pulled him up.

"There are worse things. Where are we going?"

"Whatever looks east. It’s June, so the line should be right along the sunset, ride away from the sunset." The sun rise, shit, he thought. He yelled back to Eponin "My vague hunch is now centred around dawn. Does that help any?"

"Apparently not" he mumbled into Robin’s shoulder as they galloped away from the Weapon Master’s cursing.

"I hope you have some better directions once we start through the woods." She called back to him as they left the village.

"What? Can’t tell the direction from the stars? Oh, Miss Big Amazon in Training?"

"What’s that supposed to mean?" She yelled over the hoof beats.

"You asked Gabrielle about some sort of staff training, so she signed you up for the whole nine yards. As of this afternoon, you are a member of the tribe for as long as we stay. You already swore your oath last time you were here, so you join the rest of the trainees tomorrow. Unless you don’t want to?"

"Are you kidding?" She made a credible Amazon cry and Titan moved into overdrive.

"Are you all right back there?"

"Bruises on top of my bruises but keep it up!"

"Yeeeaaahhh" yelled the Amazon in training.

All James had to direct her with was his gut, the sense of wrongness that had woken him early, but within a half hour they approached the silent camp. No guards or sentries were visible. They hastily dismounted and approached the larger of the tents. Sprawled out front were two Centaurs.

"They’re still breathing," Robin told the relieved James after a quick examination.

"Of course. Whoever did this didn’t want to make any permanent enemies. Not here, and not yet, at least. Give me a second to think." He looked up at the range of mountain cliffs that ringed the eastern gate.

"OK. You’ve got to ride back and take a message. Let’s see, One, describe the conditions here. Two, say that it’s got to be an attack at dawn when the sun will be in the eyes of anyone coming from the village. Now, we still don’t know what kind of attack, who or what we’re facing, but they are probably working with people inside the nation. So" he made his decision. "Three. Tell Xena to get the wedding present I left with Ephiny the last time I was here. Make sure Gabrielle has it and points it ..." he followed the ridge with his eyes. "There, right where that tree stands alone in the cleft. Can you see it well enough to describe it to someone so they can find it?" She nodded.

"Are you sure? Now repeat what I said."

When they were sure she had it down, she mounted again, and hesitating, surprised him with a quick kiss before riding off. He stood watching her for a moment, and then started to make his way to the base of the cliffs.

Xena was not one for subtle alerts. When Eponin rousted her, she had immediately begun waking up the rest of the warriors she and Pony trusted. As they waited, already mounted, watching the preparations, the weapons master brought up her concerns.

"You know, that by bringing only loyalists to what is probably a trap, we’re doing exactly what whoever planned this wants us to do."

"I know, but if the choice is to ride into an attack with friends or traitors, I pick friends."

Gabrielle had been wakened without the usual struggle. Sleeping without Xena had not been conducive to deep sleep. So she was dressed and ready to take her position on Argo while many of the warriors were still putting on their leathers. Ephiny looked as though she might object when she saw Gabrielle on Xena`s horse, but she was satisfied with a reminder that neither was to leave Amazon territory. She was the first to see Robin, and they rode to meet her.

"Wedding gift? Ride halfway? " Sputtered Eponin. "I mean, I like him, for a guy he’s OK, but he’s got all the military smarts of a carrot. I’d rather Argo was plotting this defense."

"We go with the man in the field until he makes a mistake." decided Xena.

Robin would not wait, and had already begun the ride back hoping that Titan still had one more trip left in him. The present was found with a parchment attached, and so with Argo in the lead, they began a slow march towards the eastern gate.

Aware of Ephiny watching her like a chaperone, Gabrielle dropped the arm that had been holding Xena and unwrapped the gift. She was able to read the parchment in the moonlight. It was mainly a series of warnings.

`When we see him again, I’ll tell him curtains would have been fine,’ Gabrielle thought. ‘What has he got in here?’ Gingerly she unwrapped the heavy package revealing what looked like one of her regular leather scroll cases. By this time, Xena had finished the note.

"If it’s some new kind of black powder, I’m all for destroying it now."

"It looks like a scroll case so far." She unsnapped the clips and almost dropped the two clear glass disks that slid out. "So that’s what he had the glass blower make, at least that explains why he needed all those dinars. Wow! They’re flawless!

"OK, there’s more instructions. They snap in at either end apparently..." There was a click as they fit in position. "Now we pull on the ends..." and she watched as the scroll case extended until it was triple its original size. " Oh, that’s clever, there’s a series of smaller covers inside. Now what? ‘Gabrielle’, that would be me I guess,’ Look through the smaller end,’ that would be this one, ‘and point the other at the moon.’ OK, I can do tha....GREAT APOLLO IN THE

MORNING!!"

"What?" Xena quickly brought Argo to a halt. She looked at her partner who was shaking.

"The moon is round." the bard said quietly.

"What?"

"The MOON is ROUND."

"I know the moon is round."

"No round, all the way around."

"Is that what this gift is, the gift of insanity?"

"No, you dumb warrior, look through the small end and look at the hillside."

Then there was silence. Long and complete.

Xena began to rant, forgetting entirely the impending crisis.

"Do you know what I could have done with this? Do you know how many men I could have saved by knowing where to attack ahead of another force? I could have moved armies like pieces on a chess board! The signals I could have sent over ten times the distance of any other army, the..."

"Do you realize the secrets I could discover?" Gabrielle blurted." Things no one is supposed to guess at, I could prove!"

Silence.

Then simultaneously, "We can’t keep it."

More thinking.

"On the other hand, it could be a defensive weapon. We could do reconnaissance from a distance instead of risking our lives every time." Ignoring her Regent, Gabrielle moved up to behind Xena’s ear and whispered, "we could finally not worry ‘bout being surprised while on the road... we could... relax sometimes, hmmm?"

Crawling up a cliff in the dark had left James with several more scrapes and bruises, but he noted that nothing seemed to be bleeding seriously. He was in position, and watched the camp below him prepare for the attack. There was light enough now, and he shifted from time to time to watch the horizon where he hoped the Amazon forces would halt before approaching further. He figured that the renegades were waiting to capture or kill the dawn courier. When she failed to report, a small hand picked force would be sent out from the village to investigate, only to be slaughtered. Then the Queen’s slack reign would be blamed for the losses, the loss of loyalists. Simple enough, but who were the leaders? Not this group below him. What were clearly the banished Valasca Amazons were pointedly avoiding a dozen or more greasy males. It would still be an hour before the sun was fully over the horizon, what would they do when the courier never came?

It was then that he caught the sight of what he was hoping were horses moving in his direction, but was it only his imagination that saw the flash that might be glass? Please, he prayed, let them stop, as he watched the renegade Amazon archers move into position below him. And please, let Gabrielle have the telescope.

The Warrior Princess might have many skills, but one of them was not Charades. He stood up, and sheltered by the outcropping from the army below, began waving.

"I see him!" Gabrielle cried out excitedly. She pulled her eye away from the lens and marveled again at the change in perspective. She adjusted the lens and continued to view, calling out to Xena in front.

"He’s got his hand in front... he’s motioning to stop."

"Great." groused Eponin sidling over on her mount. "We’ve already stopped. What’s the next bit of strategic brilliance?"

"He’s doing something with his head, and neck..."

"Oh, God’s..."

"No, it’s head dresses and necklaces.... Amazons?"

"Banished Valasca supporters." Xena said. "How many?"

"He’s holding out his palm... five." She watched as James mimed an imaginary drawstring. "With bows...now he’s pointing... they’re ringed around to his right...."

"We would have ridden right into that," Xena called back to the waiting mounted warriors. "Dismount!"

"Now he’s rubbing his finger and thumbs..."

"Now Eponin was amazed, "You can see that?" she said staring at the cliff face.

"He’s giving something to someone, paying them..."

"Mercenaries," Xena was already off Argo gathering the commanders together. "How many and where?"

"Five, ten, fifteen,.." Both Xena and Eponin tensed as the count continued and relaxed when it stopped. "Twenty. All grouped directly behind the archers."

"No back-up, no sentries?"

Gabrielle shook her head. "Why would they think they’d need them? Wait, he’s indicating we split into two and circle behind them..."

"Gee, thanks James. Maybe we’ll just try that." Eponin said sarcastically.

"Now he’s pointing, there’s someone approaching. He wants to know who it is? Oh God’s, it’s Robin!"

Xena already had split the forces into two groups of twenty-five and given command of them to Ephiny when she heard Gabrielle. She grabbed the telescope and grunted in dismay.

"She’s too far ahead for us to stop her, but James has left his position and is going down towards her. If we move fast on foot, we’ll still be too late, but since we can’t cross the border to fight, at least we’ll be able to help them."

Tying off their horses the three crouched low and began to run.