The Lost Tribe of the Kapru Kale
conclusion

by baermer

For disclaimers, please see part one

Xena kicked discarded swords and shields out of her way. Dust flew up from under her boots but it hardly mattered: she felt dirtier than she had ever been before. Sweat-trapped dust coated every speck of exposed flesh that wasn't caked in blood-soaked mud. Death had a stench to it that would be hard to wash away.

A numbing hollowness had subsumed her normally driven nature. She knew it would return... once she figured out how to get Gabrielle back. That was all that mattered now.

First things first. She needed an army, one that was whole and well. And the Amazons were far from that. They'd lost almost a quarter of their number to death or serious injury. Almost everyone else was walking wounded. They'd have to set up a base camp where the wounded could rest undisturbed, and find a defensible position close to the fortress from which they could attack.

"Xena?" Eponin jogged toward her. "We could use your help. Despoina has a broken leg. Auge, the healer, took an arrow in her arm and the rest of us are having trouble getting Despoina's leg set."

Xena grunted and fell into step with Eponin to the healer's tent. It didn't bode well that the healer was injured, but Auge was at least alert enough to give instructions when asked. Xena and Eponin walked past a number of women barely enduring the pain, resting uncomfortably on blankets which were little cushion from the hard ground. These women needed a better place to recover. "We'll have to move everyone."

"Solari said you'd probably suggest that. Just tell us what to do and we'll get it done."

The weight of that statement hardly impacted Xena's thoughts. It was a tacit approval of her command, but one she never doubted she'd receive.

Setting Despoina's leg took some knowledge of leverage and a good tug. She did her best to ease Despoina's plight, applying pressure points applied to alleviate some of the excruciating pain. Still, only time would heal that leg. Time was the one thing Xena was unwilling to give.

Xena walked among the wounded enemies. She noted their angry gazes. It didn't matter. They were just fodder for later bartering if the circumstances allowed it. At the back of the tent, Xena spotted Phrygia lying quite pale and still, under the watchful eye of the tall warrior woman. Themis had one arm in a sling; two of the arrows had found her left shoulder. Many more had embedded themselves into Phrygia's body while she sat at the warrior's back in the saddle and unprotected.

She knelt at Phrygia's side. Xena could read death in the brutally wounded body. It wouldn't be long before the young woman crossed over. She spoke softly to Themis. "You tried to save her."

"I did."

"She loved you."

"As I loved her."

Phrygia moaned and fluttered her eyes open. When she saw both Xena and Themis with her, she smiled. "Please... trust her."

That was her last utterance.

Xena left them in peace.

* * *

When they had a camp erected back in the trees near a hill with a good overlook of the valley, Xena finally sat down. They'd finished their work by firelight, making certain that all of the wounded were cared for. Only those prisoners who were capable of escape were under guard and none was cruelly bound. Xena saw to that. It would do no good to antagonize them.

The enemy wounded lay alongside Gabrielle's Amazons. Only their strange clothing differentiated them. Xena would have preferred to have the wounded under guard as well, but they didn't have the forces to accomplish that.

The warrior squeezed her eyes shut and stretched her hands toward the flame of the roaring fire. The heat held such power. It warmed her, provided light, balanced the darkness in which she sat.

The fire mimicked all that roared inside her. The flame was contained in its ring, but it flickered unpredictably, sending a crackling spark to the skies, dying back to be reaffirmed and lick at her heels. It had the ability to destroy entire forests or to cook a meal for two hungry women. It could save a life or take a whole family. It could burn and suffocate or be a beacon to the lost.

Now her flame would wane. Her fire needed to be fed by loving hands, hands that risked the singeing heat. Xena needed her light, her heart, and her power to win this war. Now that her source had been taken from her, she would take it from somewhere else.

And yet conquering the fire meant extinguishing it. Was that her fate here? Would she have to kill every last Kapru Kale Amazon in order to save her bard? It wouldn't be an outcome that either she or Gabrielle would want.

And what about Gabrielle's first vision? Would it even be possible to save her?

* * *

Morning found Xena, Eponin, and Solari at the overlook.

"If they have belly bows, we'll have to pull back beyond that big rock," Xena advised. "Fired from the roof, the height will give those arrows the distance to travel twenty body-lengths longer than you're estimating."

"Good thing you're here, Xena. We'd have been sitting ducks." Eponin stooped to draw a map in the dirt. "So if we build a barricade, say, twenty five body-lengths back, we should be in as close as we can safely stay."

"They're damn good archers, aren't they?" Solari grumbled.

"Yes," admitted Xena. "So either we stay out of range, or keep things as mixed up and confusing as yesterday. The horses are a problem, but I'm hoping to get some of theirs the next time they attack."

Solari cheered up. "Oh, I like that plan."

"Yeah, well, we don't know when they'll attack next." Xena sighed and kicked at the crude map Eponin had drawn. "They don't need to, now. They have both Ephiny and Gabrielle."

Eponin finished wiping the map away, then stood up. "So what do we do?"

"Let them make the next move. They'll do something soon. We should be patient for now and see about getting more of our friends in condition to fight. And build that barricade."

* * *

By the afternoon, The Kapru Kales had made their move. They attached a message to the shaft of an arrow, delivering it near the newly erected barricade on the open plain. They'd been able to put the arrow dangerously close to the walls. Xena chastised herself for not being more conservative in placing the barricade.

The message came from Queen Thalestris herself. In a bold hand on an ornate scroll, Thalestris suggested trading captives for the injured. She was concerned about her fallen subjects and wanted nothing but the best for them. For that, she was willing to give up what she held.

Xena knew that was too easy. She had no choice but to play along.

* * *

Xena watched as Solari approached the gates. They opened slowly and one lone Amazon emerged. She was dressed as the others had been, in leather shirt and leggings, and a cloth hat. Fortunately, she was unarmed as was Solari. Of course, an arrow could fly from any corner of that fortress and there would be nothing Xena could do about it.

The two women spoke at length. Solari kept her back to Xena, as instructed, forcing the Kapru Kale Amazon to face the barricade. Xena wanted to read as much as possible from her face, her posture, and maybe her lips. The Kapru Kale liaison remained calm. She had the upper hand. She had nothing to lose. Xena hoped that Solari could get her to say something to show their hand. Of course, Xena could already guess what it was.

They did not exchange any papers. They did not offer to grasp each other's forearms in respect. Solari merely turned on her heels and headed back, trudging across the flat plain toward the barricade. Her mouth was set in a grim line wrought by anger and betrayal.

Xena had guessed correctly.

* * *

Eponin slammed her fist down on the table, rattling the tray and pile of scrolls. "That is totally unacceptable. I can't believe we're even discussing it."

"No one is suggesting it is acceptable." Xena tried to defuse Eponin without losing her own internal battle. She looked to the world as if nothing could rattle her. The well-cured mask had served her in years past, and now, once again thrust into a position of authority in front of an army, she wore the imperturbable mantle as if it were a second skin. Inwardly, she could barely control her roiling guts.

Eponin persisted. "If they want a trade, then it has to be everyone or no one."

"Then it will be no one." Solari reconfirmed what she'd been told in the meeting with the Kapru Kale liaison. "They are not going to budge on that."

Eponin still couldn't accept it. "How in Tartarus are we supposed to decide between trading for Ephiny and Gabrielle?"

"We're not," Xena replied.

Solari reminded them again of the proposal. "Thalestris demanded we answer her by sunset."

"We won't." Xena once again spoke in an even tone belying none of the turmoil she felt from within.

"Xena, Thalestris said she'd kill them both unless we made a decision. She's already killed Opis. She's not bluffing."

"She won't," Xena said tersely. She took a breath and realized Eponin and Solari deserved an explanation. "If she kills them, she'll lose her power to bargain. Opis didn't carry any kind of leverage. In their eyes, she was expendable and useful just for this purpose: to dare us to take them seriously. But if she wants us as slaves, we have to be healthy enough to do the work. For that reason alone, she's going to try to avoid another battle."

Xena absently straightened the scrolls that Eponin had dislodged pounding the table earlier. "The only power we can exert now is in withholding information from Thalestris, so that's what we're gonna do. If we just give in, she'll believe she can defeat us. Doubt is a great ally for us. We have to plant the seeds of doubt and let them take root before we make another move."

Eponin recoiled. "That's a helluva a risk to take."

Xena knew that. She'd tried to devise a better plan. There wasn't one. "It's our only choice, Eponin. We can't storm the fortress. We can't let them believe we're weak."

Xena got up and left Eponin and Solari in the command tent. If she'd stayed much longer, she wasn't sure she could have kept up the facade of unshakeable faith in her plan. This had been much easier when she was a warlord and she could completely bury any feelings she had for her victims. It was Gabrielle who had taught her how to tap those feelings again, and it was the bard who helped her to begin the process of purging them.

At times like these the floodgates threatened to open, releasing the pain she still had to work through from thousands of needless deaths. She couldn't afford that debilitating distraction right now, nor did she wish to undergo such a trial without Gabrielle at her side. It was only under the comforting care of the little fair-haired women that she ever dared to revisit her past. If the old guilt were to force its way out now, it would surely bury her under its suffocating weight.

Needing to stay busy and useful, she headed toward the healer's tent intending to learn more about Thalestris from the injured Kapru Kale Amazons. What greeted her, however, made her forget that purpose. The healer looked terrible.

"Auge, did you sleep at all?" Xena chastised herself for not taking over for the injured healer and forcing her to rest the night before.

Auge merely narrowed her eyes at Xena as if to point out the absurdity of the question. There were wounded to attend to and no healer would choose to give into her own needs over those of her patients'. At least not willingly. "Three of the Kapru Kales have dangerously high fevers. They've been going in and out of chills and sweats. I can't understand it. It doesn't seem to be related to their injuries."

"It's not." Xena knelt by one of the women Auge tended and smiled at her. "Many of your comrades suffer from this as well, don't they?"

The woman nodded, shaking from the bone-deep tremors of a fierce chill.

"Hang in there. I think I know what to do." She glanced quickly at the other two. One was sleeping soundly, but Xena could tell from the sheen of sweat on the women's skin that she had recently purged a high fever. The third woman's fever was steadily climbing even as Auge labored to cool her with a damp cloth. Xena returned her gaze to the woman on the pallet before her. "Do you know if a cinchona tree grows near here?"

"Don't know... what it is," the woman managed to say between body-convulsing chills.

"I think I can find one." Xena patted her arm. "A tea from its bark will help you and your friends."

The woman smiled briefly, then closed her eyes and trembled under the blankets. Xena considered her options. An innate sense of duty argued against her leaving the camp, but these poor women were sick and it wasn't their fault. If one of them didn't know about cinchona bark it was possible that none of the Kapru Kales did. So they needlessly suffered and that forced their queen to take otherwise unacceptable steps to protect their future. It wasn't so different from how Xena would have handled it.

Long ago.

The right decision was to treat this sickness, now that she'd seen it for herself and had her suspicions confirmed. She had heard Hippocrates mention the disease. He called it malaria and told her it could occur near marshy areas. Were these Amazons so isolated from their neighbors around the Black Sea they didn't know that others, especially those up along the eastern shore, endured the same sickness? Too often, according to Hippocrates, it infected the young and the weak with fatal results. The healthy, when afflicted, could fight it off, but it never really left their bodies. It recurred at various intervals, incapacitating the victim for days at a time. And sometimes, if they came down with another bout when already run-down from a harsh winter, poor food, or other illness, it killed even the sturdiest warrior. With their battle wounds, the risk of death for these Amazons increased dramatically.

Xena flicked her head around as someone approached. "Hello, Themis. How are you feeling?"

Themis lowered herself onto a stool not far from Xena. "You're very kind to us. Why?" Her bandage had been changed recently and she wore clean clothes.

"There's no reason not to treat you fairly." Though there was one very good one, she told herself. These are the people who hold Gabrielle hostage. Pushing those thoughts aside, she focused on the immediate need. "Do you know what a cinchona tree is?"

Themis arched her brow causing Xena to chuckle inwardly. It was a gesture reminiscent of how she might respond to something Gabrielle asked her.

"If you can help me find one, I can make a medicine that will help these people."

Themis smiled broadly revealing straight, white teeth. They stood out in contrast to the dark circles under her eyes. This was someone, Xena remembered, who had lost the woman she loved just the night before. Themis, though, rallied her hopes. "What does it look like?"

* * *

Xena walked purposefully, not unaware that every movement she made was being observed by sharp eyes. Phrygia was right: she and Themis were alike in many ways. She thought of the woman who had made a fateful decision to ignore her familial loyalties in favor of those which were in line with her heart, only to lose her life before her dreams were met. It surprised the warrior how much the passing of that gentle soul touched her. And what was it she had said just before she died? 'Trust her.' Which way did it go? Was that a request for Themis to trust me or a plea for me to trust Themis?

This situation warranted risking the blunt approach. "Themis, Thalestris has proposed a trade. She wants me to give up all of the prisoners we hold in return for either Ephiny or Gabrielle."

Themis surprised her. "I'd hardly call us prisoners."

"I hate to break it to you, but you are." Xena curled one side of her mouth as she spoke. It was ironic that she was strolling around the woods, chatting with her 'prisoner'.

"We're treated with much more compassion here than at home, Xena. Phrygia told me a little about you before she..." She cleared her throat. "Well, Thalestris would have had half of our wounded up and working by now."

"I heard you were loyal to your queen. Why do you put her down in front of me?"

Themis kicked a rock off the path, sending it skittering into the woods. "I am loyal to the queen. Speaking the truth is not a disloyalty."

"Your army turned against you, Themis. Are you so certain they believe your loyalties?"

Themis stopped, looked beyond the trees for a moment, and then appeared to make a decision. "What you saw yesterday was only a portion of our army. Most of those riding had pledged fealty to Agave, though the majority of our troops are faithful to me. It was she who gave the order to attack me. It was she who ran that attack. It was she who turned against me and Phrygia. I knew what might happen but I didn't have the means to outmaneuver Agave without the risk of losing too much. Agave was the only one of us who had been with you. In Thalestris' view that made her the better commander."

"And what was it that Agave argued for that you argued against? Thalestris must have been forced into choosing between you because you and Agave disagreed on something."

Themis smiled. "You understand politics well."

"Only out of necessity."

"But you're right, Xena. I told the queen that an attack would only assure that you would never freely choose to help us. Agave said hers was the only sure-fire way to bring you into the fold, that Thalestris only needed your service, not your allegiance. Agave planned to kidnap Gabrielle to force you to capitulate to every demand. She said it would be the quickest way to prove you were no match for us."

Xena felt the fire burning under her skin. "Agave ordered Gabrielle captured?"

"It was the whole reason for the attack. She told Thalestris that Gabrielle was your greatest weakness."

"She's wrong about that." Xena's temper smoldered. "Gabrielle is everything but a weakness."

The steaming pot emitted an acrid, rancid smell as Xena stirred it. She dunked the slips of bark one at a time with a wide wooden paddle and then watched them surface and bob in a thin layer of yellow foam. With each dip of the paddle, she talked herself into waltzing to the front door of the fortress and handing the Kapru Kales a supply of the cinchona bark infusion. As each piece floated up, resisting her efforts to keep it submerged, she weighed the merits of keeping such an advantage to herself for a bit longer.

If they did indeed trade the captives for Ephiny or Gabrielle, then word would spread of the positive effects of the medicine from the returning prisoners. Perhaps the medicine would be more valuable to Thalestris than her remaining hostage. It should be that way, but unfortunately pride might prove the more ferocious enemy. Thalestris might be unwilling to give because it wouldn't fit into her style of command. From what Xena had learned so far, the Kapru Kale queen made choices based on ego as much or more than logic or passion.

Or maybe the Kapru Kales already knew about cinchona bark but the information was shared only between their healers. In that case, the medicine would have no value in the negotiation process.

"Are you okay?"

Xena looked up, startled. Themis' concerned brow towered over her.

"Just thinking."

"You were mumbling under your breath. Didn't mean to disturb you." The warrior woman backed away.

"No, it's fine. This should be ready, anyway." Xena dipped a mug into the pot and poured the steaming concoction through a piece of linen to strain it, leaving the cloth stained dark brown and dotted with slivers of bark. "Try to get them to drink a whole mug."

"Will do," Themis bowed slightly to Xena.

The gesture caught Xena by surprise. Maybe, as Phrygia suggested, Themis could be trusted. "This disease works in cycles. The tea works slowly. It won't do anything for them until they get through a whole set of chills, fever, and sweating. And when they're already weak..."

"Anything will help, I'm sure." Themis busied herself with her sick friends, helping them to sit up, staying by them to gently coax the vile-tasting tea down.

* * *

As the sun set, the sharply angled light painted evil grins on the faces of the Dogheads. Xena sat by the fire, her chin resting on bent knees, arms snug around her legs. If they were going to call her bluff, it would happen now.

Even with dozens of Amazons around her, talking, working, and preparing the evening meal, she felt utterly alone. Waiting was always much easier with Gabrielle's tempering presence nearby. The ache Xena carried with her now felt boundless. No measurement could describe its girth. Only one person could soothe it.

Solari stepped toward her quietly. Xena appreciated the effort, particularly because the Amazon had no intention of sneaking up on her. The approach was merely less obtrusive.

"They're signaling," Solari reported. "Do you want me to go?"

Xena sighed. Another decision thrown in her lap. "What do you think?"

Solari sat herself by the fire as well, and leaned back against her hands. "If I don't go talk to them, it might make them nervous. If I do go and tell them we're not going to answer, it could make them mad."

"Or the other way around."

"Which would you do, Xena? Make 'em sweat or shove it in their faces?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." She genuinely laughed. Solari had a way of lightening the mood no matter how grim things got. "I'd tell them they could stuff it up their asses."

Solari leaned forward and propelled herself up. "One 'up your ass' coming up."

As the Amazon walked away, Xena noticed her gait subtly shift from one with a light step to one with a determined sense of purpose. It was women like Solari who kept the Amazons sane and gave Xena reasons to like them.

And when Solari returned a short while later, Xena thought about how much Amazons like Thalestris threatened the very existence of the nation as a whole. Leaders like her could become a catalyst for their extinction.

Even before Solari could reveal to the Kapru Kale liaison their position on the trade, Thalestris changed the deal. The liaison stated that in exchange for all of the prisoners, Thalestris would release Ephiny and only Ephiny. Gabrielle was non-negotiable.

Xena was furious but not surprised. Thalestris wasn't about to let herself get into a position to be dictated to. And Agave knew too much about them. She knew how to manipulate the situation to take the wind out of Xena's sails. Xena didn't have any return ammunition.

Word came that Themis wanted to talk to her. She strode to the healer's tent, leaning into the diversion.

"I have an idea," the Kapru Kale warrior whispered to her. "Can we go somewhere else to talk?"

Xena nodded and lead her to the vacant command tent where she poured them each a port.

Themis sipped it slowly. "I told you that some of the attacking party was loyal to me."

"Yes."

"We've been talking."

"And..."

"We'd like to help you."

"And why should I believe that?"

"Because..." Themis' voice trailed away. She took another sip of port before putting her mug down and palms flat on the table. "There is no logical reason in the world to give you, Xena. But the world doesn't always take the logical road." Themis smiled. "And actually, I'm kind of partial to things when they aren't so logical. Reason is sometimes a blind judge that compels you to simplify everything that's complicated. To make something simpler, you have to subtract something, and too often what gets taken out is what you feel and what gets left in is what you can tell somebody that sounds true. Truth comes in a lot of forms, not just the kind that sounds simple. Or logical."

Once, Xena would have disagreed. She would have argued that everything had a single, unifying purpose and it was all a matter of gaining power, becoming the one. That was a simplistic view of the world. But a little bard had opened up richly layered vistas within her that Xena had never even imagined existed. She could feel this woman's veracity. And she could see the logic in rebuffing logic, a circular proof but one that couldn't be refuted. "What's your plan?"

"We can attack from the inside. If you agree to Thalestris' demands, you'll get Ephiny back and I'll get in to talk with my friends. Thalestris has gone too far this time. There was no reason to treat Ephiny as anything but a royal guest and yet she became a hostage. There was even less of a reason to take Gabrielle from you. I know I can convince enough women on the inside to right the situation."

"But when you walk in there, won't you be hung as a traitor? Agave has had a lot of time to talk poison in your queen's ear."

"Xena, you forget that I am the queen's champion. She may take Agave's word above mine every now and then in a political situation, but she's not going to have me executed."

This didn't ring true to Xena. "You tried to protect a traitor in the middle of a battle. I can't believe the queen would look the other away about that."

"But I am her champion."

Xena thought back to the misunderstanding between Phrygia and Gabrielle on the very same subject. "Themis, I think our roles as queen's champion are very different."

Themis scowled. "How can something so sacred to the Amazons be different somewhere else? You fight for the queen, right?"

"I do, when it's necessary."

"And you service her as well, don't you?"

Xena had to restrain herself forcibly. Quite slowly, she answered, "I do not service her, Themis. What we share is mutual."

"And Thalestris feels the same about me."

"No, I don't think you understand. I love her."

"I know of other champions who have developed those feelings for their queen. I can't say that I have, but I believe the queen would do everything in her power to protect me."

"Let me get this straight. You have sex with the queen because it's your... duty?"

That scared Themis. "What? You mean... you..."

"I told you, I love Gabrielle."

"Even before she became queen?"

"Yes. Well, no, not really. It was after that when things changed between us, but they'd been heading that way for awhile." It made Xena uncomfortable to talk about such intimate and private matters with anyone else but Gabrielle, and even with her, there were times when she reverted to her old silent practices. She kept reminding herself of why she was having this discussion. "Look, Themis, Gabrielle and I are together because we love each other. It has nothing to do with her position."

"You mean, you... and the queen..." Eyes filled with the wonder of a child, shaded and shaped by years of tradition-dictated decisions, asked the question Themis hadn't dared to believe possible.

"Yeah," Xena answered her gently. "Like you and Phrygia."

* * *

They needed only one wagon; most of the injured had recovered enough to walk the distance home. Even some who hadn't recovered preferred to arrive under their own power as a point of pride. Amazons, thought Xena. They're worse than I am.

Eponin took charge of organizing everyone and moving the severely injured to the cart. The party moved slowly across the open meadow, neither camp making a move to escort them. When it drew nearer to the fortress than the barrier, the great doors opened, and out from the stone walked a solitary figure, her blonde curls distinctive even at a great distance. She waited just outside the gates until the cart arrived. Several Kapru Kale Amazons descended out of the fortress, lending support to their returned sisters. They swarmed around the cart, raking through the straw that lined its coarse boards, and examining the underside for any marauders so foolish to attempt an infiltration. Satisfied that their enemies had kept their word, they guided their returned captives through the gates and in their place, brought out a hand cart laden with a burlap-covered cylinder. Ephiny stepped between the handles and lifted, shifting the center of gravity back over the pair of wheels. Slowly, she traversed the distance toward freedom.

* * *

"You what?" Ephiny couldn't believe what she was hearing. She refused to believe it.

Eponin tried to calm her, make her see the same logic she had. "We didn't have a choice. It was you or neither of you."

"First, you let them take Gabrielle, then you let them keep her? She's your queen! Eponin, have you lost your mind?" Ephiny's battered body had suffered the consequences of an inhumane captivity. Bruises ran along her stomach and legs, her back and arms ached from the abuse of hanging by her wrists. None of it inhibited her enraged tantrum. This situation, as far as Ephiny could tell, had gotten completely out of hand.

"Eph, there weren't any other choices."

She paced on wobbling legs. "Don't try that sorry bullshit on me."

"Look, I know you're upset..."

"Upset? Me upset? Whatever gave you that idea? What is there to be upset about? First, you bring the whole village here. That makes their godsforsaken idiot of a queen send out a slaughtering army you're not prepared for. Then you do everything but the most important duty of protecting your queen." She could feel the blood in her veins crackle with a fire that had been lying dormant for days in a cold, wet dungeon. "And then... then, you had the gall to give into that woman and..."

The knife called to her, so enticing with its blade gleaming in the candlelight. She wanted to grasp its hilt, feel its power weigh heavy and balanced in her hand, posses the jewels that decorated and twisted its purpose into something to be admired and coveted by the rich and poor alike. She needed to wield it against someone, something, anything. The power of the future made her drunk from potentiality. She swayed under the possibilities.

"Ephiny, sit down please, before you pass out." Eponin bounded up and caught her as she fell toward the floor. "For the love of Artemis, Eph, who's being the dumb one now?"

* * *

Xena waited. She had been waiting and would continue to do so, but now she waited with a finely-honed sense of purpose. The wait was still uncomfortable, her breathing labored yet quiet, her body supine and ram-rod straight against the splintered boards.

She heard voices around her and a heartbeat nearby. Still she waited.

Don't spoil it, she pleaded with herself. She repeated the mantra over and over, using it to keep every muscle in place, wearing it as a suit of fresh air, to imagine herself on a mountain top overlooking a wide ocean below, unfettered.

She was in a coffin. Nailed into a tiny place to be forgotten by the living.

Patience, she chanted. Patience.

Above her, she felt the boards creak. Leather boots softened the steps but a few of the hastily constructed planks bent under the weight. The pressure squeezed first her legs and then her right hand.

Soon, bodies were lifted away and the boards resumed their more spacious angles, allowing room for her chest to expand and contract in meditative breathing.

The cart moved again. She smelled hay and a well-mucked barn, groomed horses and the old metal of shovels and spades.

Finally they stopped. She watched the light around her slowly fade, kept in place only by the ironic urgency of her need. The last lantern was extinguished, the barn doors latched, the horses left to themselves for an untroubled night.

She reached out and tapped Solari's hand. Together, they pushed the trap door from the cart open and exited their sliver of space. Thus far, the plan had worked.

Following Themis' directions, Xena found the long-forgotten entrance into the catacombs, and with Solari at her heels, they descended into the murky, wet darkness below.

Her hand rubbed against the wall, working across the moldy rocks until it found the protruding basket. She pulled out a long stick, feeling for the cloth-covered tip, then located the pocket of flints. It took several strikes for the flint to conquer the dampness. When the torch sputtered to life, Xena gave her internal animal a little more rope, felt the untamed instincts urge her forward.

Her wildness must have shone clearly on her face, even under the dull light of the torch. Solari's eyes reflected back at her with a hint of alarm. Whether it was fear of the dank, dark corridors, or of the savage instincts she'd let out of their tiny corner, Xena couldn't tell. She quelled her beast. Solari smiled.

Counting corridors, six left, three right, six more left, then the hub that Themis said could be tricky. But Themis' mental map, clearly relayed to an attentive warrior princess, guided them without fail. One half-arc, a double archway, to the right and down. They were almost there.

Xena allowed herself the luxury of imagining Gabrielle's face, the moment of surprise followed by bursting tears. She'd never been able to watch a woman cry before she met Gabrielle, always turning away, disgusted at the sight. Now she longed to catch the tears, to hold the bard, cooing softly until they stopped. It was a kind of magical power that still amazed her, one she'd never coveted, one she exerted with only one person.

But it was always balanced, always returned, given and taken freely. It was power without greed. Power without anger. Power without harm.

It was intoxicating.

Solari put a hand on Xena's shoulder. They had come to the door, too near the dungeon to risk talking until they knew who and what were on the other side. Xena ran her fingers along the catch, learning every creak from its surface before she would push it open and bound in.

Putting an ear to the door, she listened. All seemed quiet. Luck was with them. Her legs shifted to better propel her body forward. Lunging, her shoulder leading the way, she flung the door from its rusting hinges and exploded into the dungeon.

Only a distant drip greeted her.

"Where's Gabrielle?" Solari whispered, fear speeding the words.

"Not here." She shouldn't have built up her expectations, shouldn't have let herself believe.

"Why isn't she here? Where is she?"

Oh gods, what had they done with her? Had they... Xena didn't even want to think it.

Solari watched her, put a tentative hand on her armored shoulder. "Hey, Xena, I'm sure she's okay."

Why wouldn't they keep her in the dungeon? "They need her alive. She's here somewhere." If she sounded certain, perhaps she could convince herself.

"I know. We'll find her." Solari tried to sound convincing as well. "This is a terrible place to keep someone."

Xena's stomach dropped. What if Gabrielle had experienced another vision? It would have scared the Kapru Kales, given them reason to move her out of such a decrepit environment. That would mean Gabrielle was lying in this fortress somewhere, needing her more than Xena had initially realized.

Xena knew she had to stop this unbounded speculation. It wasn't accomplishing anything but to fray her nerves, slicing into them into long, thin tendrils flapping in the wind, each a ribbon-like conduit for excruciating pain.

She remembered the plan. "We'll have to wait here for Themis. As much as it will drive us both crazy, it'll be best."

Solari pulled a stool out from one of the cells and sat down near the main door. Xena closed up the portal they'd used to sneak into the dungeon. She propped long splinters of wood in front of it, breaking up the outline of the door and fading it into the obscurity of the other walls.

And while she worked, a kernel of fear grew in her. It wasn't the type that was fostered from idle speculation, but the kind that Xena knew to pay attention to. Until then, Xena had believed Gabrielle was safe. Not in a good situation, but not in a life-threatening one, either. Now the tides had turned. Something had changed. Perhaps the bard had had a vision. They sometimes shared versions of prescience as they had so many days back, at the beginning of this long adventure. Xena had felt something was wrong. She just hadn't put much stock in it until Gabrielle's vision, but she had felt it, her own warning signal.

That's what was happening now, as well. Xena's gut told her matters had changed. She needed to hurry. Needed to find Gabrielle before too much more time had passed.

Faint footfalls echoed toward them. Solari stood and moved out of Xena's way. Someone was coming.

Ephiny had physically tried to fight off the healer, slapping those gruff hands away, but Eponin held her down, and in her weakened condition she was no match for the two of them. She begrudgingly admitted now, though, that the full night's sleep without any interruptions had done her a world of good. Besides, she knew better than to complain about Auge's stitching and wrapping, accomplished while she was asleep. Everything hurt a little less this morning.

Until she turned her thoughts back toward that fortress. Xena and Solari were running with a pack of rebellious, renegade Kapru Kales lead by Thalestris' champion, on a mission to rescue the queen. If she'd been asked to conjure an impossible plot, she'd have been hard-pressed to have come up with one as ridiculous as the one they now waded through.

She stretched tentatively, feeling her maltreated muscles squeal in protest. Before she could pull herself out of bed, though, Eponin opened the tent flap, carrying in a mug of dark, toasty morning tea. The smile took over her lips without her permission.

"Feeling better?" Eponin asked, trying not to be caught staring at Ephiny's grin as she accepted the tea, inhaling the wisps of steam that rose from the liquid's surface.

"Don't you ever do that to me again." Ephiny warmed first the tip of her tongue, then filled her mouth with the potent drink, feeling the comforting heat of it caress her throat as she swallowed. "Holding me down. Really, Eponin, you'd think I was a six-year-old."

"When you act like one, you get treated like one."

It served as an apology between them. Eponin brought her tea, Ephiny didn't yell.

They sat together silently while Ephiny finished the drink, taking pleasure in the shock start it gave her tired body. At least nothing was broken. She could live through everything else. She took stock of their situation which, she concluded, she didn't much care for.

"You agreed to this?" she asked Eponin after putting the empty mug on a table. "Even though it meant sitting here like impotent ducks?"

"I don't know what to say, Eph. Xena is the best damned tactician I've ever seen. Even she was stumped. This Themis woman got under her skin somehow, and, well the next thing you know, the two of them are talking to Solari and deciding how things would go."

"Felt a little left out, did you?"

Eponin shrugged. "They left me in charge."

"That's because you're the only one Xena trusts not to do something stupid. Take the compliment as it was meant." Ephiny shook her head. Sometimes Eponi n and Solari got so competitive with each other. It wasn't always a healthy rivalry. She remembered a certain incident with two horses, a bucket of pig entrails, and three Centaur Border Guards. Ephiny had been able to defuse the situation before it really threatened to get out of control, but she could have skinned them both for their lack of control.

"So what do you think, Eponin? You must have been hatching a back-up plan. Let's hear it."

"Who? Me?" Eponin laughed shyly. "I've been trying, but nothing's been hatching. Gods, Ephiny, there's the biggest, baddest castle I've ever seen full of ornery Amazons on prize-winning horses who can launch an arrow into a clove of garlic at fifty feet blindfolded. We don't have any way in but through them, and we already know that would be a mistake."

Eponin got up and moved their mugs to a low table near the tent flap. She turned and walked around the center pole, stopping finally to brace her back against it. "Do you know how much I hate this? Sitting here waiting, not knowing if everyone is all right."

"Yeah," Ephiny said softly. "I think I've got a dammed good idea of what that feels like. Gimmie a hand, will you? I've got to get out of this tent and out in the air before I go crazy."

She looked everyone of them in the eye as they greeted her and told her how happy they were that she was safe and back among them, and how much they'd missed her. She knew Eponin stood behind her, glowering at each of them in turn, making sure that none lingered too long. Eponin would be worried about her getting tired. Soon, she found herself sitting quietly, munching on hard bread and cheese, Eponin never more than two steps away.

The self-appointed guardian eventually settled next to her regent. "Feel like talking about it?"

"'Bout what?" Ephiny asked blandly, refusing to look toward her friend.

Eponin answered directly and without preamble. "About what happened in there."

"The usual." Ephiny still didn't glance toward Eponin. "Everything was fine until we arrived. Then they threw me in the dungeon, tried to beat some sense into me, and let me go. It wasn't anything I didn't expect."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind." Eponin didn't need to know what Gabrielle had told her. Ephiny knew what she was walking into before she agreed to go with Agave. She did it to protect her queen, not to lead her right into a trap. "They think Gabrielle is our downfall. Thalestris said that we were too easily conquered by an outsider."

Eponin snickered. "I'd hardly call it conquering, more like we begged her."

"They used it like self-glorification. Agave told them that Gabrielle hypnotized us, stripped us of our heritage, and is now leading us down the path of ruin. I tried to set them straight. That's when they took to the whip."

"Oh, Ephiny. I'm sorry."

"They only hit me twice. Agave convinced Thalestris that as soon as they defeated Gabrielle, they could repossess our lost tribe, and it sort of pointed them away from me." Ephiny shuddered at both her memory and Gabrielle's predicament. "Thalestris plans to absorb us back into the 'true Amazon culture', as she puts it."

"That's a little scary." Eponin reached over and began to rub Ephiny's neck. "She's creepy."

"You don't know the half of it." Ephiny didn't want to think about it again, didn't want to dredge up those pain-accompanied haunting thoughts. But the only way to purge them would be to say them and let them go. "She still orders archers to cut off their right breasts. She sends all male babies away or kills them as soon as they leave the womb."

"They're barbarians."

"That's exactly what they called us." Ephiny let her eyes lock with Eponin's. "We were once as they are now. I don't want to go back to those days."

"None of the rest of us do, either, Eph. So the question is, what do we do now?"

"We're going to get Gabrielle and go home, that's for damned sure." Ephiny stood up quickly, swayed a moment until Eponin supported her. "I think I'd better have a nap."

* * *

"Eph, sorry to wake you."

Ephiny rolled over groggily, wincing as she hit a particularly sore spot. Eponin wore a worried look. "What is it?"

"Thalestris wants to meet with us."

"Good." She sat up. "I guess. You don't seem very encouraged."

"She's asking for Solari."

"Why?"

"That's who they've dealt with before."

"Tell them Solari isn't available." Ephiny rubbed her eyes and tried to wake up more quickly. "No, let's just send someone else. You go, Eponin. I would, but..."

"That wouldn't be a good idea."

Eponin reported back a short while later. "She said she'd talk with Solari or no one."

"Do you think she's onto us?"

"I don't know, Eph. She's not happy with us."

"That's nothing new." Ephiny wrapped her arms around her waist and wished for her stomachache to go away. Her gut had done nothing but generate acidic juices since getting out of the Kapru Kale's clutches. "I hope Xena hurries up with whatever she's doing."

* * *

Somewhere beyond the fog, she heard her name. The voice calling to her wasn't familiar. She fought to reach it nonetheless, some temporal constant in a mercurial storm. Her eyes blinked open and focused on a very old woman.

"That's better," the wrinkled mouth said to her.

Her head pounded and stomach swirled in nauseating circles. She tried to speak, to ask the woman's name, to ask where she was, where Xena was, but only a raspy wheeze came from her throat. A glass was pressed to her lips with a vile-tasting concoction, also unfamiliar.

"You gave us all a good scare."

A voice from the distance boomed. "What did she see?" It was loud and demanding.

Gabrielle blanched. She couldn't put a name with the voice but she recognized the peril it brought. She felt alone.

The old woman smiled at her, drew a cool cloth across her brow. "These things take time. She'll tell us when she can."

A single knock echoed through the room. Gabrielle heard a door opening, clothes swishing in on soft steps.

That voice again. "Make sure you tell everyone she's sick. No one must know it was a vision. If I hear that word spoken outside my chambers, your head will reside in my trophy case by the morning."

"Yes, my queen."

She heard more movement, a door opening and closing. The room spun. She thought she remembered throwing up.

* * *

Xena drew her sword and waved Solari farther behind her. She planted herself in front of the thick, iron-barred door, waiting for the approaching Amazon to open it. A deep, resonant thunk marked the heavy latch being moved. This was followed by a long creaking squeal as the door pushed inward.

Themis' voice called out in a loud whisper. "Xena?"

Xena grabbed the door and opened it fully. "Where is she?"

"Gabrielle is upstairs, just off the throne room. She's with Thalestris and Agave under heavy guard."

Quickly, Xena asked for more information. "Have you seen her? Is she okay?"

"I've had to keep a low profile but I've been told they haven't harmed her." The Kapru Kale warrior smiled. "Seems she's already made several friends up there. I haven't had to work very hard to spread the word about her." But Themis' face fell. "Apparently, she's gotten very sick, Xena. I've heard it's pretty bad."

Once again, her instincts proved right. "She must have had another vision. It's really hard on her."

Themis put her hands on her hips and blinked a few times. "She's a mantic?"

Xena merely nodded, distracted by the vague though convincing corroboration of her hunch.

Themis slumped into a chair. "This changes everything."

Xena molded her body into a fighting stance. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh sorry," Themis looked up, clearly stunned by the news. "Augura foretold this. She said that Thalestris would bow to an oracle."

Solari piped in, "But that's good news, isn't it? Doesn't it mean that Gabrielle will become queen here as well?"

"No, Solari, it's not good," answered Xena in a cold voice. "It means she's more of a threat than ever, especially if Thalestris knows about the vision."

"I'd better hurry." Themis stood. "You can't use the catacombs to get to her. It would be impossible for you to try to get to Gabrielle now. Wait here and I'll try to shift the guards around, see if I can stock the next shift with guards who are loyal to me."

"Don't take long, Themis. I don't have much patience left."

Themis set her face and met Xena's gaze. Xena was certain the Kapru Kale understood.

* * *

When next she opened her eyes, a long, late afternoon shadow fell across the floor from a single window in the stone walls. Gabrielle knew that if she could look out that window, she would see the stone fangs of the Dogheads howling at her.

"Feeling better?" The old woman was back.

"A little." Gabrielle drank what she was given. She shivered from the foul taste, trying not to gag.

"I know it's bad, but it should help you. You've had quite a time."

The pillow caught her head as she fell back onto the bed, drained. "How long?"

"You came in yesterday, had the spell right soon after. Woke up once or twice since then is all."

Gabrielle tried to remember. Scenes from her memory overlapped with what she'd imagined over the last several days. Nothing seemed certain. Everything whorled about her head.

"Can you tell me what you saw?" The old woman prodded her.

Gabrielle needed some grounding in all this uncertainty. "Who are you? What's your name?"

"I am Augura. I have been waiting for you. I knew you would come."

"Quit the small talk and hurry it up. Get it out of her and be done with it."

Gabrielle tried to sit up again, to see the face belonging to that other voice. When she moved this time, she felt how wet the sheet was. She'd been sweating. Now she was cold. Augura pressed her back into the bed. It took very little pressure from the old woman.

"What did you see, Gabrielle?"

Where was Xena? Gabrielle closed her eyes and recalled a bit more. She'd been taken, handled roughly, brought before Thalestris. That's who owned the demanding voice. Gods, she thought, Xena will be worried about me.

"Gabrielle, we need you to try to remember." The old woman, Augura, seemed compassionate.

"Okay." What good would it do her to hide it? Maybe it was something she was supposed to tell them. But all she could grasp onto were wisps of thought. "There was a pomegranate. It looked fine but inside... inside it was rotten." She took a deep breath and tried to control her stomach. "A river came up and washed it away."

"That's it?" Thalestris yelled. "That's the vision? What does it mean? Who cares about pomegranates?"

Augura left Gabrielle's side. Gabrielle could just barely make out what was said between the two women. Something about hidden meanings, Persephone and Hades, maybe the winter's food supply. Thalestris became unhappier as the conversation continued.

"Wait," Gabrielle spoke. She pulled herself upright and fought against passing out.

Augura came back by the bed. "I'm sorry you're not feeling better. I've done what I can."

"It's okay." The bard patted the old woman's arm. "Thalestris, we need to talk."

"I'll talk when I'm ready." The Kapru Kale queen edged closer. She was tall and lanky with high cheekbones set above a narrow face. Small brown eyes sat too close together over her delicate nose, her best feature, Gabrielle decided. Thalestris didn't wear the leather shirts the Kapru Kale warriors did. Instead, a richly ornamented belt buckled a short tunic over dark red leggings. Around her neck dangled a necklace studded with jewels. It seemed so inappropriate, something more likely to be worn by a conquering warlord than by an Amazon Queen.

Gabrielle took in the imposing sight her adversary presented. She didn't back down. "We need to talk whether or not you're ready. Why are you holding me here against my will?"

"I don't need to tell you that," Thalestris shot back.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. She was going to have to play a political game to keep up with Thalestris and she was in no condition to do it. "It would be considerate for you to tell me."

"You don't deserve any consideration. You've single-handedly brought death and destruction to an Amazon tribe."

She wished she had the strength to stand. This sort of debate would go better if she were on more equal ground. "I'm not certain what you mean by that. Have I, in your eyes, harmed the Kapru Kale?"

"No, you idiot!" Thalestris kicked the bed, propelling the unprepared bard hard against the far wall. "It's those sissy-pants out there you dare to call Amazons. You've wiped out their traditions, stripped them of their very nature, watered them down until they were nothing but spineless, mollycoddling wimps."

Gabrielle settled her back against the wall and moved her body around so she faced Thalestris. Everything ached. The cold stones should have supported her, but instead they sent their enervating chill into her body, sucking away the vestiges of warmth she still had. And they reminded her too much of her earlier vision, crushed by stones such as these. She fought down her fear and continued to talk to Thalestris. "I'm sorry you feel that way. If you'd just get to know us, I'm sure you'll see that there are many exceptional women among us."

"That's in their past now. Their glory days are over. You changed them."

"I haven't tried to change them," she offered weakly.

"Then why are they friends with the Centaurs? They trade with their neighbors, even protect them." Thalestris taunted her much like a angry school girl would. "What happened to the fierce warriors they once were, Gabrielle? The women who could defeat any army that dared march against them? Have you made them all into peace-loving weaklings with no backbone? By the gods, there is an army outside my door and they aren't doing a damn thing but sitting on their asses! What are they waiting for?"

"I'm sure they're trying to settle this without bloodshed." A cold fear seeped into her bones from the inside, multiplying the chill she already felt from the fever and from the debilitating stones. Would she want them to attack? Could she ever give that order? Would Xena or Ephiny order them to storm the fortress if it meant saving her life? Could she live with that?

"You're concerned about their blood? They're going to be extinct before you know it. And it will be your name they spit out when they finally admit defeat. Your name, Gabrielle, that leads them into unmitigated failure. They're all damned fools."

Gabrielle looked for Augura. She was not in the room. "No," the bard began softly, trying to look Thalestris in the eye. "That's not it at all. They'll survive because they've made treaties..."

"So that when an army marches in, they'll be greeted with open arms. You'll feed them and give them your fine port to drink. Don't you realize that when you're asleep, they'll cut your throats as you lie in your own beds?"

"No, that won't happen." Even she heard the uncertainty in her own voice.

"You're an outsider, Gabrielle. How can you possibly think you understand Amazons?"

"But..."

"Go back to your pissant roots and leave the Amazons to the Amazons."

Thalestris sneered, then turned and left, the closing door sending a hollow echo to punctuate the Kapru Kale Queen's words.

Maybe I'm the pomegranate, thought Gabrielle.

* * *

The throne room bustled with nervous energy, Thalestris at the center of it, pacing the short length of the room. A cluster of aides followed her, noting her orders, offering their praise as she thought out the problems at hand.

The liaison burst in, walking quickly, just short of a trot.

"Well?" Thalestris asked not bothering with a greeting.

"They will not bring the Solari woman."

"Did you say anything to the one you talked to?"

"Only that our business was with the Solari woman and no one else."

"Good." Thalestris tapped her foot, followed the dark red threads of the tapestry she loved to walk on. It had been a recent conquest and although many gasped when she tossed it on the floor, she so enjoyed the audaciousness of treading on a priceless work of art, that she left it where it landed and gave orders for no one to touch it. "Don't they understand etiquette?"

No one answered her.

"Trying to change liaisons. How uncultured. They have no manners." She let the toe of her boot trace the dark red threads, a line of blood trailing from the body of a young doe. Thalestris always ignored the noble hunter, standing tall before his prey. She preferred to study the victim. "I don't like it." She spoke toward the floor. "I don't like this at all." Turning her chin up, she found the liaison's eyes. "And Xena? Has she been seen?"

"No, my queen."

"I've had enough," Thalestris suddenly said.

The room stilled around her.

"Have that little woman brought in here. It's time we killed her and got on with matters. If the rest of them won't be real Amazons and submit to me, slaughter every last one."

They demanded she walk. The bard leaned heavily on the arm of one of the guards, willing her legs to hold her. She wasn't sure if Augura had given her bad herbs or if it was just that she took so much strength from Xena after one of these bouts, but Gabrielle couldn't remember feeling this bad after a vision. The exertion of walking from one room to the next left a sheen of sweat on her whole body. She felt hot and yet she shivered.

Two very tall thin doors opened. A pair of guards stood ramrod-straight as she walked by them. Now they decide to get formal, Gabrielle thought. Maybe this isn't a good sign.

The guards walked her up to Thalestris who now sat upon an ornate throne, raised on a dais so even while seated, she was above everyone's eye level. Agave stood behind her, off to the right. "I'm tired of this game," Thalestris told the bard.

Gabrielle tried to smile. She wanted to appear as neutral as possible, afraid that almost anything could set off Thalestris. When guards let her go and stepped back, she almost lost her balance and fell.

"I'll give you one chance to live. You write them a little note. Explain that you've abdicated to me. Tell them to lay down their arms."

"And then what?" Gabrielle asked curtly before she could stop herself.

Thalestris reached down and slapped her hard. Gabrielle tried to catch herself but couldn't. She landed on the tapestry, right in the middle of the bleeding doe.

"Get off!" Thalestris bounded down from the throne and yanked the bard off the tapestry, recklessly tossing her to the cold floor. "No one touches that but me, you understand."

The sudden movement brought on another attack of queasiness. Gabrielle curled up and held on, doing her best to quell her turbid stomach. Breathing hard and taking several swallows, she focused again on the crazy woman standing over her. "Is it right for an Amazon to take another as a slave?"

"Don't you dare call yourself an Amazon."

"What about those women out there? Are they Amazons?"

"No."

"Then why would you want them among you?"

"They could be Amazons." Thalestris leaned over. Gabrielle could see the fire in her eyes raging out of control. "But you won't let them."

"You're wrong." Determined to fight for her beliefs, Gabrielle dug down and found the energy to sit up. Her head pounded. "Being an Amazon means many things. It means sharing your life with a community of women."

"It means being a warrior."

"A warrior fights all kinds of battles. Any struggle well met can make you a warrior." Gabrielle wondered briefly if that made her a warrior but she couldn't take the time to sort it out.

Thalestris straightened up slowly. She seemed to relish what she was about to say. "The only battle that matters is the one where you risk your life."

"And risking your life includes losing your way of life. What about these women around you? The women right here in this room. If they weren't here waiting on you, what do you think they'd be doing? I think they'd have real lives."

"That has nothing to do with what we're talking about."

"It has everything to do with it. Being an Amazon means not submitting to servitude. You've taken away the lives of your own people and now you want to take more lives away. Do what you want with me, Thalestris, but you're never going to get me to agree to abdicate. You'll never get me to sacrifice my friends out there."

* * *

Xena paced. It had been too long. The knot in her stomach had grown to enormous proportions. She trusted that innate sense that told her Gabrielle needed her. "Come on, Solari, we're getting out of here."

"Hey now, Xena. Themis will be back. I know she will."

"I don't care." Xena jerked the iron-barred door open and began to hurdle up the stone steps, taking three at a time. Well behind her, Solari complained and tried to keep up. It didn't matter to Xena.

Before she reached the upper floors, Xena heard the door clanking open. Someone was about to come down. That didn't matter either. She would simply go through them.

But the intruder was Themis. "Hurry. She's given the order to have her killed."

Xena neither needed nor wanted that confirmation.

"Follow me." Themis sprinted along a maze of hallways, Xena on her heels. They both ran with swords drawn, ready to impale anyone who blocked their way.

But the corridors were strangely empty.

Themis led them through an arched entry into a hall lined in white statues under an intricately carved ceiling. Their steps were muted by a thick rug that ran the length of the long hall. At the other end, two tall, thin doors stood open. Pandemonium reigned inside the throne room.

"Seems we're a little late for the start of the party," Themis yelled to Xena.

In the back of her mind Xena noted Kapru Kale fought Kapru Kale. It meant nothing to her. She zeroed in on only one person: Gabrielle. The bard was down at the far end of the room. Xena plowed right through the middle of the skirmishing Amazons, knocking blades and bodies out of her way.

She slid in, along the floor, just in time to bend her body over Gabrielle's. She both heard and felt the blade clink off of her armored breast plate. Xena flipped over and kicked the attacker's sword from her hand. One more kick landed in the assailant's gut, knocking the air from her.

Xena turned her attention to Gabrielle who moaned softly but otherwise didn't respond. Xena could feel the heat from the bard's body before she laid a hand on her. She had a wickedly high fever. Her skin felt clammy, its tint too wan for comfort.

It would be too dangerous to try to get the bard out of the fray. To do so, Xena would have to carry her. With Gabrielle in her arms, she'd have no way to fend off an attack. She didn't know who was friend or foe, or even if any of the women in the room would have tried to help her but for Themis.

She took a moment to survey the room. Solari was slowly working her way toward them. Themis scuffled in a group of women, some working with their backs toward her, apparently on her side, others jabbing their swords into the cluster around Themis. Xena began to separate out two distinct groups: those loyal to Thalestris and those rebelling with Themis.

Amidst the bustle of noise around her, Xena was still able to distinguish the faint sound of a sword being drawn back. She faced the source of the sound.

"This will be my pleasure, Xena."

"I was wondering when you'd show up, Agave. I thought you might have fled when the fighting started."

Agave circled Xena as if she were held in her path by centripetal force, Xena the string exerting pressure on Agave at its end. The position was easier for Xena because nothing was going to move her from her protective stance over Gabrielle's body. Agave could taunt and jest all she wanted, but the Kapru Kale would still have to make the move.

"I am going to take great pleasure in killing you, Xena. Even though you have given me a great gift, the Mask of the Kapru Kale."

"Take a look around you. I think that mask is up for grabs."

"It is mine, now." Agave lunged in with her sword, slanting not for Xena but for the small body on the floor at her feet.

Xena countered, matching the stroke of Agave's blade with her own, the clanging of metal against metal blending in with the rest of the din.

Agave chuckled wildly, waving her blade around just outside of Xena's reach. "You shouldn't bother to protect her. She's going to die anyway, you know."

"You have no idea how strong she is."

"And you have no idea what true strength is, Xena."

Agave flew forward using her shoulder to push Xena back. As she leapt, the Kapru Kale angled her blade so it was perpendicular to the ground. It was more difficult to defend against and it was headed directly for Gabrielle's limp form.

Xena went with the force, stealing the momentum to brace her legs and push against it, low to the ground. She slid over the bard's body, feeling the edge of Agave's blade slice into her own arm. Xena simply braced her sword's hilt on the ground, blade pointing skyward, and tugged down on Agave as the Amazon passed over them. The scream was so loud, it carried above all else in the room.

Xena recovered her sword and tossed Agave's body to the side.

Near her she noticed the ostentatious throne. A tall, bloody body draped over it, having already taken its last breath. The pretentious clothing gave her identity away. For a split second, Xena wished she'd been the one to kill Thalestris, jealous of whoever had done the deed. But at last Xena felt satisfied about the situation. Both Thalestris and Agave were out of the way.

Solari stumbled toward them and raised her voice to be heard over the ruckus. "What the Hades is going on?"

"An internal matter, I think." Xena chose light words but knew she hid nothing from Solari whose eyes traveled down to Gabrielle's curled form and then back up to Xena. "Solari, I need you to do something for me."

The Amazon took one step closer, showing no concern about the battle around her as if she knew she was under Xena's protection.

"Go back to the camp and bring the cinchona bark infusion. And you should probably bring everyone in to help clean up."

Solari smiled and started to turn toward the door.

"And Solari..." Xena stopped her. "Hurry."

* * *

Xena recognized those footfalls in a short but purposeful stride as belonging to Ephiny. She'd been expecting the regent to come and find them since the fighting had stopped.

The door opened slowly. Blonde curls announced the Ephiny's arrival. "How is she?"

Xena knew Ephiny could read the tension lines incised in her face. There would be no reason to lie. Still, the words were almost impossible to form. She felt her upper lip quiver and betray her, so she dropped her head and looked away.

Ephiny moved to stand by the large bed. Xena had her back against the headboard, the bard's head in her lap. The fiercest warrior in Greece stroked the Amazon Queen's cheek with the most delicate of motions.

"Auge said she has that sickness."

After the noise and melee in the throne room, voices spoken in this cold room of stone seemed so remote. Xena merely nodded in return.

"She okay otherwise?"

"Bumps and bruises, mostly."

"Those women out there, they're worried about her. They say that this diseaseisn't too bad if you're healthy when it hits, but..."

"Yeah, but she wasn't. Three visions might have taken too much out of her." A sigh escaped her lips. It had been a rocky path for all of them. "How are you?"

"Bumps and bruises." Ephiny reached out to caress Gabrielle's face then boldly moved up to do the same to Xena's. "You take care of yourself, too."

Xena glanced at the gash Agave left on her forearm, quickly tied off with a strip of cloth. It would need stitches but it could wait. She hardly felt it for her body was numb to everything but the horrifying truth of what lay in her lap.

Ephiny followed the Kapru Kale guard from Gabrielle's room, loath to leave her but duty-bound to take care of political matters. With both Thalestris and Agave dead, great doubt clouded everything. No one was certain who should represent the Kapru Kale, if Gabrielle was their queen now, or what the future might bring.

She was shown into a room, much less imposing than the throne room. A comfortable set of chairs were positioned around a rectangular table. The thick wood displayed the honest work of a skilled carpenter.

Presently, Augura and Themis joined her, poured her a glass of good port, and asked politely if she would sit with them.

Augura's age-curled wrists rested on the table. That alone was a sure sign that the stifling formality had ended. "We would like to know your next step."

"I was going to ask the same of you." Ephiny gauged their expressions, their body language. They were much more subdued. They were here to listen as much as talk. "But the first task, I think, is making sure the sick and the wounded are taken care of. That would be my top priority now."

"Yes, of course." Augura smiled. "We appreciate that."

Ephiny decided to be more bold. "How do matters sit here? You've just had what amounts to a civil war."

Themis answered her. "I wish I could say our foes were squelched, but I can't. It's particularly sticky at the moment."

Augura butted in. "Because no one knows who's in charge."

Ephiny tipped her hand. "Isn't that up to you?"

"Is it?" Augura replied with a thousand questions behind it.

Ephiny twirled the wine in her glass and watched as it slid down the sides in long parallel lines. The answer would have to be spoken carefully. "Gabrielle isn't able to make a decision about this now, but I know what she'd say. Each tribe should have leader, someone who understands them and is a part of them. Someone who can guide and support them. We're lucky. Ours is a visionary." Ephiny laughed. "Well, Gabrielle wouldn't say that, but the rest of us would."

"She is why we were able to finally topple Thalestris' rule."

Augura interrupted Themis but she spoke warmly. "Shush, you weren't even there." Then, turning to Ephiny, she continued, "Your Gabrielle was the first person brave enough to tell Thalestris the truth. And she had the audacity to do it in front of dozens of armed Amazons."

"She never was one to hold her tongue."

"Well, she let it go just fine, may Artemis protect that voice. A lot of women were wavering between doing what they'd been told was right and doing what they felt was right." Augura took a long sip of wine. "Passion won."

That warmed Ephiny's heart. "And so now what are you going to do? Who held Thalestris' Rite of Caste."

Augura curled her lip. "No one."

Dumfounded, all Ephiny could do was stare at them.

Themis explained. "She could never decide who would succeed her. I think she believed no one would be capable of it. Each time she started to trust someone, they'd say one wrong word or step on that damned tapestry, and she'd have a fit. She never officially passed on her rite."

"So, who is in charge?"

Augura and Themis exchanged a curious glance. "We were wondering if that would be Gabrielle," Augura said.

That put Ephiny in an awkward position. While she would normally defer to Gabrielle, she didn't know how long it would be before her queen would be able to bring the situation to a resolution. But if she asked the Kapru Kale to wait under these circumstances, there was no telling what could erupt from the uncertainty of a holding pattern.

Ephiny made up her mind, confident Gabrielle would concur. "We did not come here to conquer you, nor are we interested in taking leadership from those among you who deserve it. We'll be glad to help in any way we can, but you have to rule yourselves."

Augura narrowed her eyes. "And your queen? She would agree?"

"She taught me that."

Themis' shoulders dropped, a great weight lifted from them. "The mask is yours, Augura."

The crone spoke testily. "You say that as if it were a treasured gift."

"Just a well-placed one. You're stuck with it."

"Fortunately, I won't live much longer." Augura reached out and gently patted the warrior's arm. "Are you still interested in being Queen's Champion?"

"It is my sworn duty."

"Stuff your duty in Aphrodite's vase. Do you want to do it?"

Themis stared at Augura, open mouthed. Ephiny stayed out of the discussion.

Augura added more to the offer. "There are no strings attached, Themis. I don't care for you to share my bed."

Themis arched a brow in mock distaste. Her smile, however, gave her away. "I'll think about it."

"And take Captain of the Guard or nothing at all."

Ephiny stood. "Well, it looks like you have things under control here."

* * *

Xena was awakened by Gabrielle's trembling. She'd fallen asleep keeping vigil over the bard, at first fighting the overpowering need to let her own body rest and then finally giving in when she realized she had her limbs completely wrapped around Gabrielle and any change would snap her from sleep.

"Hey there." She spoke softly. "Everything's going to be fine. You're gonna be fine." She said it to convince herself; Gabrielle wasn't conscious enough to hear her.

Xena knew the chills were a precursor to another round with a high fever. She'd planned to get more of the cinchona infusion down Gabrielle, but the bard hadn't awakened enough to drink. Xena was forced to use a hollow reed to deliver it drop by drop into Gabrielle's mouth. She hoped it would be enough, but it didn't look like it had done any good at all. Gabrielle seemed even sicker than before.

The chills got so bad, Xena opted to hold Gabrielle in a warm bath. Too hot, and the ensuing fever would get a jump start, but since the tandem of the blankets and her own warm body couldn't bring Gabrielle any relief, it was time to take more drastic measures.

She had hot water brought in, testing the temperature as the bath was filled. When it felt pleasantly warm to the inside of her wrist, she asked for two more buckets of hot water to be left with them. She could add more as the bath cooled.

The bard's nightshirt peeled off, sticking to her back and chest. As the cold air hit her skin, she grew restless, her body searching to regain what little warmth it once had. Xena cradled the small woman, calming her immediately, and then by the grace of her unbounded strength, effortlessly stepped into the tub and lowered them both gently into the warm water.

She held Gabrielle to her chest, keeping the little woman's head above water by resting it against her breast. The bard settled down and burrowed into Xena, instinctively understanding where to go for safety. "My little cuddlebunny," Xena whispered. "This'll get you warm or I'll light a fire under the Black Sea and turn it into a giant sauna for you."

Before she'd dipped into the second pail of hot water, Gabrielle's temperature started to soar. Xena scooped her companion out of the bath, toweled her dry, and dressed her in a clean, dry nightshirt, ready for the next ordeal.

As Gabrielle's temperature rose, so did her penchant for moaning which gradually became talking. Most of the time, as Xena rinsed a cloth in cool water then rested it on her forehead or drew it across her arms and legs, the bard mumbled unintelligibly. But as it continued, and her fever rose above the worrisome peak it had reached last time, her inarticulate murmuring became a bit more coherent.

The final scene with Thalestris came out in catches and snags. Xena pieced them together enough to figure out that Gabrielle still felt inadequate. The bard worried if she was the right person to lead the Amazons. Perhaps, thought Xena, when you're feeling better, I can parade the members of two entire Amazon tribes by you and let them convince you otherwise.

Xena again dipped the linen in cool water, wrung it out, and smoothed it over Gabrielle's sweaty skin. She willed the bard to turn the corner, wished she could reach in and pull the fever down.

She admitted to herself that this scared her. It frightened her like nothing else could. In her darkest nightmares, nothing compared with the terror she harbored about losing the bard. If her companion were to die like this, in her arms, Xena had no doubt of what she would do. She'd catch up with Gabrielle before the bard had even reached Charon's boat. The unquestioning commitment from one life into the next, one she had begun to understand was shared equally by her partner, gave her some relief from the panic she felt.

She dribble more cinchona tea into Gabrielle's mouth and continued the ritual of rinsing the linen and cooling the bard's brow.

* * *

Ephiny pushed the door open, Augura at her back. They both tiptoed in, trying not to disturb the two women in the room.

What Ephiny saw shook her. It was just as Gabrielle had said it would be. There, in a great gray stone room, Xena sat on a palette, bowed before the queen who lay on the bed. Ephiny held her breath as she realized Xena was crying and glued her eyes to the blanket that covered Gabrielle's chest, praying to every last god on Olympus that it would move.

Gabrielle took a small breath. Ephiny felt Augura's hand flatten against her shoulder and squeeze. Xena flipped around, saw them, and then hid her face as she wiped the tears away, embarrassed.

Ephiny walked up to the bed, put both arms around Xena, and kissed her on the temple. It was no time to be afraid of the warrior's normal brusque reaction. But Xena returned the hug, if only briefly. Ephiny let her go and knelt by Gabrielle's head.

The bard's breaths were shallow, her skin pale and pallid from sweating off the fever. Even asleep, the bard looked in pain, as if every muscle in her body ached.

Augura shuffled in, leaned over Ephiny, and pressed her palm to Gabrielle's forehead. "She'll be fine now. This was only the second attack. I think she was ill before because of the vision."

Xena's voice was deep and hoarse, "She gets pretty sick from them."

Augura stood up and spoke directly to Xena. "I tried to give her something to calm her stomach and headache, but I'm afraid it backfired."

"Did you give her skullcap?"

"Yes, I did."

"She can't take it."

Augura closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I had to find out the hard way myself, one night. Even Gabrielle hadn't realized she had bad reactions to skullcap. It wasn't too long after we'd started traveling together. She was very quiet one day. I kept asking her if something was wrong but she'd shrug it off like she always does. I finally had to convince her that if something was wrong and she didn't tell me, it could get us into trouble if we ran across a group of marauders and I expected her to be at 100 percent. She gave in and told me she had a headache. Then I had to talk her into letting me give her something for it. She'd told me that it would make her feel worse, but I didn't believe her. I made her take skullcap."

Xena cleared her throat and continued the story. "After dinner, she just got worse and worse. She never complained, though. It wasn't until I came back from washing up at the creek and I saw her doubled over in pain that I realized what was happening. It was a rough night for both of us."

"How is she now?" Ephiny asked without taking her eyes away from the soft face nestled in a pillow.

"I wish I knew, Eph. Her fever got too high. Sometimes people just don't wake up after that."

Ephiny turned her head and smiled at Xena. "Gabrielle's too hardheaded for that, Xena. She'll be fine."

As the regent and new Kapru Kale queen left, Ephiny saw Xena shift and lie down by the bard, pulling Gabrielle's head against her shoulder. She wished there was something she could do for both of them.

* * *

Late in the hours of darkness, long after the night owls had bedded down and before the early-rising harbingers of dawn stirred, came the time of passage and transformation. A time when dreams faded from one to another, souls of this realm left in favor of the next, and bravery slept, allowing demons and spirits to roam the world.

But in a cold-walled fortress far from her home, one lone warrior offered her strength and courage and heart to the slight woman resting beside her. By the dim light of a single burning wick, Xena watched a pair of puffy green eyes flutter open, find her face, and smile.

The fierce warrior melted.

Xena implored the cranky bard. "I know it tastes terrible, but you've got to finish this."

Gabrielle's face screwed up. "Do you honestly know how bad it tastes?"

"I stirred it for two hours while it steeped. I think I have a pretty good idea of what it tastes like." Xena pulled Gabrielle back up into a sitting position after she'd dramatically flopped onto the bed in protest. "Please, Gabrielle. Finish it for me, okay? It's the only thing that's going to make you feel better."

"Feeling better is a relative thing." But she slogged it down in two large gulps. Then she dragged her tongue along her upper teeth trying to grate the taste from her mouth.

Xena handed her a glass of water. She had squeezed the juice of half a lemon into it, hoping it would cut the taste of the cinchona bark tea. In truth, she actually had tasted the tea and almost gagged on it, but she wasn't about to reveal that to her patient just yet.

"Thanks," Gabrielle said, handing the empty glass back.

"You're welcome." The pleasantries barely camouflaged their feelings; Xena's a combination of relief and further worry, Gabrielle's guilt and exhaustion.

"I seem to recall Ephiny mentioning something about a treaty this morning. I think it would be a good idea for me to go and sign it."

Xena's eyes widened in anger before she smoothed them back. "You're staying in bed."

"I feel better. Just sore and tired. I think a little walk will do me good."

"You're staying in bed, Gabrielle," Xena said more forcefully.

Gabrielle considered her options. The choice became easy once she thought it out. She knew that Xena had put aside everything but the bard's health and well-being the past few days. She owed it to Xena to let her get her way. "Can I sign it if I stay in bed?"

Xena relaxed. "Sure."

The treaty called for permanent ambassadors, plus an initial party of Amazons to stay among the Kapru Kale to help them heal from their internal battles, and to exchange stories and knowledge. Ephiny offered this suggestion to Augura who happily accepted it.

Augura insisted on giving Ephiny horses for their journey home. The magnitude of the gift was not lost on Ephiny. It would have taken all of the treasures of the tribe to purchase them. She tried to decline, but Augura's emphatic insistence gave Ephiny no choice. Everyone would be able to get home either on a cart on or horseback.

A small group of witnesses stood around the bed in a semi-circle as Augura, Ephiny, and Gabrielle signed their names to two copies of the scroll, one to reside with each tribe.

While Augura agreed to tell Gabrielle some of the stories passed on through the generations at Kapru Kale, Xena and Themis walked through the catacombs, discussing the fortress' defenses.

"I'm thinking of having them filled in," said Themis. The tall warrior held a brightly burning torch in front of them, lighting the murky passageways.

"Perhaps that would be a good idea, but you might have as many uses for them as any enemy. Remember, it was your knowledge of them that led me here. If you hadn't said anything, I would never have known about them."

"And, perhaps, things would have ended badly. I hadn't thought about that."

"It's hard to think of every possibility." Xena recalled a time when she believed she could. Now she knew better. "Sometimes, it's best to leave all your avenues open. They won't always lead down the best path, but I think it's worth the risk. They might also take you to your dreams."

Themis stopped and turned to Xena, the golden light flickering on her face. "I miss her."

"I can only imagine," Xena said. "Phrygia is still with you, Themis. And someday, maybe you can use her faith in you to help you build other relationships."

Slowly, they climbed the stone stairs that led into the battle room. Gilded swords and scabbards lined the walls, a testament to the Amazons' ancient nature. Wearing a menacing face could often be enough to deflect someone's attack. Certainly, that type of thinking would lead the Kapru Kale in the years to come. A dirty tapestry of a hunter and his prey hung in the corner.

"I have a gift for you, Xena." Themis opened a long wooden box. The interior was lined in a rich red fabric. The Captain of the Guards pulled out a curved bow, ceremonially carved with pictures of Artemis, the patron goddess of the Amazons.

Xena accepted it graciously. It was not a gift of war, not even a gift of weaponry. It was a symbol of the Amazon nation shared between two Queen's Champions.

"Thank you, Themis. It's beautiful."

"You've given me more than you can know. This is only a small token of thanks."

"It's more than that." She locked her eyes with Themis. "You're a good person. You know how to see truth."

"And you are the perfect Amazon."

"No... no, I'm not." Xena shifted the bow to rest in the crook of her arm. "That would be Gabrielle, not me."

* * *

"Come on, Xena, I can get it myself."

"Nope," Xena said as she hopped over the edge of the bed. "You're still supposed to follow my whims and I want you to stay in bed."

Gabrielle watched as Xena called a guard and asked for a tray of food to be sent up. The bard had already been coddled with a long bath and a massage. That had felt so good, for her muscles still throbbed from the fever. She hadn't mentioned it to Xena, but somehow Xena had known.

And after the bath, after she'd been thoroughly dried by a very attentive warrior, she was laid on the bed. Xena started on her legs, rubbing up the long muscles, working her fingers in around her knees and at her ankles. She massaged Gabrielle's feet, lingering on the toes, as Gabrielle mumbled her approval.

Next came Gabrielle's arms and hands, each finger given attention until it was warm and relaxed. Then Xena worked her shoulders and neck, lifting and digging in until the muscles and tendons turned to jelly.

Gently, Xena turned her over, working her magic on the bard's back. She pushed along her spine, through her shoulder blades, and down her sides. Everything felt pampered, wonderful, loved.

Ephiny brought the tray of food in. "Just caught them bringing it up and I wanted to come in for a bit anyway."

Xena laughed. "You make a good slave, Eph. Care to travel with us?"

"Sure, Xena. I'm certain you want me tagging along." Ephiny elbowed past her playfully, set the tray on the table and hopped up onto the bed to join Gabrielle, smiling. "You missed a great evening, Gabrielle."

"Really?" The bard reached over for a piece of bread, then handed some grapes to Ephiny.

"Oh, yes. We had a splendid meal. Okay, so mostly it was cold by the time it was served. And lots of people talked. Well, they gave speeches. And they were full of interesting things to say for, oh the first two or three breaths."

"Get a little bored?" Xena asked. She'd pulled a chair over, sat down, and tucked her feet up on the bed under Gabrielle's legs.

"Horribly bored."

"That's the price you pay for power, Eph." Gabrielle poked her. "Besides, I think you secretly love it."

Ephiny laughed. "Let's say I don't mind it and once in awhile it's fun."

Gabrielle finished her piece of bread and regarded Ephiny. "You have a good friend in Augura. She's a true Amazon."

"There are a lot of them around here." Ephiny winked at Xena. "But you're right. She's a wise old woman we all have a lot to learn from. She'll be a good leader for them."

"A lost tribe has been found." Gabrielle curled her fingers around Ephiny's. "Let's not lose them again, all right?"

"I can't imagine that ever happening, Gabrielle."

* * *

Gabrielle's eyes followed Xena as the warrior tidied the room, folding the towels and taking them into the bathing area, then putting the now empty tray outside the door to be picked up. The bard drank in the sight of this magnificent woman, one who had captivated two Amazon tribes and pulled her through an illness she predicted would kill her.

"I was worried about you, Xena."

"What?" Xena cocked her head and smiled crookedly.

"I was. I know how you can get when things don't go well and I just wanted to be there for you."

"Gabrielle," Xena said in her smoky voice. "You don't have to worry about me." She finished her work and came back to the bed, sliding in and cradling the bard.

Gabrielle kissed the bare flesh under her lips. "And what if I said you didn't have to worry about me?"

"Not possible. You get into way too much trouble."

"Funny, Xena. Not that I disagree or anything."

They lay together, gently caressing each other's bodies. It would be a time before they could move on. Gabrielle needed several days to recover fully. Until then, they were content to spend their days and nights together quietly.

Gabrielle felt Xena shift, felt herself being pulled up and into the warrior's lap.

"Gabrielle?"

The vibrations tickled her ear where it was pressed against Xena's chest.

"Are you still worried about being able to lead the Amazons?"

Gabrielle froze. She hadn't mentioned it in quite a long time. Why had Xena brought it up? "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just because."

Gabrielle waited for Xena to elaborate. Finally, she poked her in the ribs.

"When you were really sick and burning from the fever, you talked a little."

"Oh." Gabrielle hadn't wanted to saddle Xena with any of that burden. She regarded it as something she could keep to herself and work out on her own.

"Don't you realize that you were the one responsible for uniting these tribes?"

"There were lots of people involved in that process, Xena. Don't take anything away from them or from yourself."

"But you were the center for us, our source. You showed people the truth, Gabrielle. They couldn't look away from it once it was set before them. The rest of us had nothing to do with that."

"I was scared." She had finally understood that. "I was so scared that I would start a war, that I'd send women to their deaths." Gabrielle swallowed and took a breath. "I did that, Xena. I started a war here, didn't I? Whatever I said certainly set it off. They were pulling swords out of Thalestris before I even knew what had happened." The strong arms around her squeezed her.

"Like I said, sometimes there isn't a right answer. Sometimes you just have to pick the best one among a bunch of lousy choices." Xena leaned over and kissed her gently. "The Amazons were united because they learned about each other, not because of a war."

"But then I changed them, Xena. What right do I have to do that?"

"It's been my experience that you bring out the best in people, not force them to become who they aren't."

"That was certainly true with you. But the Amazons are different."

"Are they? Are they really?" Xena kissed her again, letting her lips linger a little. "I don't think so. You've only shown them who they could be, you haven't changed them. Besides, they still managed to have a pretty fierce skirmish."

"And you rescued me from it."

"You do your job and I do mine."

"Okay. But I don't like the parts when we have to do our jobs separately."

"Neither do I, Gabrielle." Xena let her hands roam freely. "Neither do I."

end.

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

What follows are short notes about historical aspects of *The Lost Tribe of the Kapru Kale*. I took several liberties with geography in favor of the needs of the story (and personal preference).

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