Disclaimer:	This story is not intended to violate any copyrights held by MCA, Universal Studios, Renaissance Pictures or any other entity involved with the making of Xena: Warrior Princess or Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
Bard Rates It:	NC-17
Warning:	This story is rated NC-17 for graphic sex between a man and a woman. If you are under 18, if this is illegal where you live, or if this offends you, please find another story to read.
Summary:	Takes place after the events of Sacrifice II. Xena is forced to team up with Ares when an evil god returns with a little help from his friends.
Bard Notes:	Chapters 1 – 22: completed July 1999; Chapters 23 – 33: completed January 2000; Chapters 34 – 55: completed August 2000; Chapters 56 – 77: Completed March 2002.
Feed the Bard!	The author of this story is Skkye Blue at skkye_blue@yahoo.com. Bards are always hungry for feedback; please send a note.
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Dark Revelations (Chapters 52 thru 55)

by Skkye Blue

CHAPTER 52

Ares ran a hand through the woman’s brown shoulder length hair. A look of sadness was in his deep brown eyes as he gazed down at her unconscious face. "Oh Artemis," he wearily sighed. The war god lifted his sister’s unconscious form and proceeded to carry her down a long white marble corridor.

When Ares reached the end of the corridor, it opened up into a large circular room where a centaur, stood waiting. The war god placed his sister’s form into the muscular outstretched arms of the centaur. "Cephalus, place my sister with the others."

"Yes, lord Ares." Cephalus turned and carrying Artemis’ unconscious form departed the circular room.

Ares stood there a moment more before going about the necessary task.

Yesterday had begun the weeklong celebration in honor of the five millennia of Olympian rule. All the gods of Olympus had gathered together in their ethereal realm for the opening festivities. Ambrosia wine had been served to toast the celebration. Soon after everyone had drank the wine they all fell ill. It didn’t take long for the gods to discover that they had been poisoned with Hind’s blood.

Fortunate for Ares, he had only made a brief appearance at the opening festivities and left before the toast with Ambrosia wine so he escaped being poisoned. The war god knew Dahak was behind the poisoning but wondered where he had gotten Hind’s blood since the golden creatures were extinct. And to make matters worse, Dahak had destroyed some villages using thunderbolts---Zeus’ trademark. This act increased the discontent among the mortals with the gods of Olympus. Dahak had made it appear as if Zeus had destroyed whole villages, killing hundreds of innocent people all for the amusement of celebrating their five thousand-year reign.

Right now, the other gods were still alive but they wouldn’t be for long if an antidote for the Hind’s blood poisoning wasn’t found. For centuries, Ares had desired the demise of his fellow gods and with it now being a possible reality, the war god was actually sad. Despite all his disagreements with the other gods, they were his family and try as he did to deny it he would miss them.

That’s why Ares was now determined to make sure they did indeed live. He did not want Dahak to strike at the gods in this weakened state, so he had all of them moved from Mt. Olympus and taken to the caves located beneath his mountain fortress in Macedon. The move had gone well, except for one problem---Zeus was missing.

The King of the Gods had been poisoned like the others but he had not slipped into unconsciousness yet. Ares knew that Dahak was responsible for his father’s disappearance. Now he feared what the evil god had in store for Zeus.

**********

In the town of Assiros, a large angry mob had gathered in the town square, shouting cheers in agreement with the man standing before them.

"To the Olympians, we are nothing more than figures on a chessboard...to be played with and discarded at their whim," the man declared.

The people gathered around him shouted in agreement.

"Look at how they celebrated their five thousands years of reigning over us...Zeus destroyed ten villages with thunderbolts."

Shouts of anger are heard from the crowd.

"For centuries, the gods of Olympus have taken for granted the worship of the people of Greece. But I am hear to tell you that worship will end today!"

Again the people shouted in agreement with the man.

"From this day forward, the people of Greece will not have their fates dictated by hypocritical, murdering, self-centered gods. We will be the masters of our own destinies."

Again, the people shouted in agreement with the man.

"But first, we must punish the gods of Olympus for their numerous crimes against the people of Greece."

The crowd parted as two men ushered an older man, his hands bound with chains, to the center of the town square. The man wore a robe made of the finest silk. His shoulder length hair was snowy white along with a closely trimmed moustache and beard. He appeared to be disoriented and having trouble standing, so the two men were practically dragging him to the center of the square.

As all eyes followed the trio, someone in the crowd shouted, "It’s Zeus!"

Chatter erupted in the crowd as all realized that it was indeed the King of the Gods who stood before them, bound in chains.

"That’s right, this is the once all powerful Zeus!" The man’s tone was mocking and his eyes burned with contempt as he gazed at the King of the Gods. "But it appears he did a bit too much celebrating and has lost the use of his powers. That’s why we were able to capture and bind him with ordinary chains." The man stretched out an arm, pointing a finger at the people gathered around him. "Now all of you will get to decide his fate."

"Kill him!" One man in the crowd shouted.

"Yeah, death to Zeus!" Another shouted.

Soon the whole crowd was caught up in a chant of "Death to Zeus! Death to Zeus!"

The King of the Gods looked like an ordinary old man as he stood in silence listening to the crowd of people demand his death. But he seemed to be oblivious to the chants because a disoriented look was still plastered on his very pale face.

"It looks like we stopped in the right town to rest the horses." Aurora’s gaze was fixed on the bound old man standing at the center of the town square.

"But that rest will have to be cut short because we found who we are looking for and now we have to get him out of here before these people kill him." Solari glanced at the angry crowd around them.

The Amazons had gotten word that Dahak had kidnapped Zeus and were told to be on the look out for the King. Aurora and Solari had stopped in Assiros to rest their horses before continuing their journey when they came across this hate rally for the Olympians taking place in the town square.

The two Amazons quickly formulated a plan to rescue Zeus.

Solari and Aurora had made sure a nearby building was entirely empty before they started throwing lit torches through the structure’s windows. It didn’t take long for the structure to be consumed by the spreading flames.

**********

"How should we kill Zeus?" The man asked the crowd.

"We should hang him!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Nah, hanging is too good for him!" Another shouted in the crowd.

"It’s a pity we can’t kill him with his own thunderbolts!" One of Zeus’ captors shouted. This got a laugh from many in the crowd.

"We could burn him at the stake!" Someone shouted in the crowd.

"That would be the closest match to his thunderbolts burning people alive in their homes," the man said. "So, burning at the stake it will be!"

The crowd shouted in agreement.

"Look everyone...the schoolhouse is on fire!" Someone shouted.

All turned to gaze at the schoolhouse being consumed by flames that threatened to spread to nearby structures.

"We must put it out before it spreads!" Many in the crowd took off to get the water wagons.

With the crowd now distracted by the fire, Solari and Aurora made their move to save the King of the Gods.

Aurora took care of the two men who had brought Zeus to the town square while Solari went to rescue the King. The two men were no matches for the Amazon. With a few punches and kicks to their faces and bodies, both men lay on the ground unconscious. The man who had incited the crowd stood by the disoriented Zeus. One of his hands gripped Zeus by the arm while the other brandished a sword, ready to ward of Solari.

"Shame on you!" Solari easily kicked the sword from the man’s grasp.

The man stood there with a surprise look on his face that quickly turned to anger. He released his hold on the weakened god and charged Solari, swinging a fist.

The Amazon easily dodged the blow as she delivered a hard one of her own to the man’s stomach.

The man was doubled over and gasping for breath when Solari grabbed him by the scruff of his collar. "You should have joined your fellow townsfolk in putting out that fire." She shoved the man headfirst into a wooden pole planted in the town square. The man fell to the ground unconscious.

Aurora had already removed the chains binding Zeus’ hands.

"We have to get you out of here." Solari took hold of Zeus’ right arm and along with Aurora led the weakened disoriented god to where they had left their horses.

The town folk were too busy trying to extinguish the spreading fire to even notice the two Amazons and the King of the Gods who walked right by them to their waiting horses.

They got Zeus safely atop one of the horses. Solari rode with Zeus while Aurora mounted the other horse. Without looking back, the trio quickly departed the town of Assiros.

**********

Gabrielle removed the cloth from the basin of cool water. She wrung out the excess water, then placed the cloth on the forehead of the woman lying before her. A faint smile crossed her lips as she gazed at the woman’s flushed face. Despite the woman’s dire condition she still radiated with divinity. The smile faded from the bard’s face as she brushed aside a dark brown lock of hair from the woman’s cheek. She had always wanted to meet the Goddess of Wisdom, but not like this.

Athena lay in a coma due to Hind’s blood poisoning. Gabrielle looked around to all the other beds set up in the caves under Ares’ mountain fortress. Each was filled with a god, lying in comas just like Athena. Some of the servants from Ares’ fortress moved about the beds, tending to the incapacitated deities. All of them would die if an antidote was not found.

A sigh of fatigue escaped Gabrielle’s lips as she rose to her feet. It was time for her to head on up to the castle and spend some time with the twins. The children knew something was taking place under the castle and were curious to find out just what but Gabrielle made sure they never went down there. She figured they were too young for such sights.

The bard was walking between the many occupied beds when in a burst of pink rose petals the Goddess of Love appeared before her.

Aphrodite’s blue eyes were filled with tears as she quickly scanned the beds around her. She put a hand to her mouth to keep a wail of sorrow from escaping her pink lips. When she finally noticed Gabrielle, she quickly moved to stand before the bard.

"I came as soon as I heard...this is just awful," the goddess sniffed. Out of nothing, she produced a pink silk handkerchief and began dabbing at the tears, which now rolled down her face.

"Aphrodite, it’s good to see you walking around and healthy," Gabrielle said with relief. "I was beginning to think that Ares was the only one who escaped the Hind’s blood."

"So, Ar is okay too huh? That is good to hear. But I guess the rest of my family..." Aphrodite looked around at all the occupied beds again. "Have all been poisoned?"

"I’m afraid so," Gabrielle replied in a grim tone. "It appears Dahak managed to get his hands on Hind’s blood and used it to taint the wine served at the fifth millennium celebration held on Mt. Olympus."

"That damn Dahak!" The Goddess of Love growled. "If only we had listened to Ar months ago...none of this would be happening." She wiped away the new tears that began forming in her eyes. A soft smile formed on her face as she gazed at Gabrielle. "Hey sweetpea, I never did tell you how great I think it is that you are alive again."

"Thanks, it’s good to be back." Gabrielle let a soft smile crease her own lips.

"Uh hon, could you show me in which beds I can find Cupie and Hephie?" Aphrodite asked.

"Sure." Gabrielle took the goddess by the arm and led her over to the beds containing her husband and her son.

The two gods lay in beds right next to each other. The servants tending to them moved aside when Gabrielle and Aphrodite approached. Each god was very pale, their foreheads beaded with drops of sweat.

"Oh Cupie," Aphrodite sighed with sadness as she put the handkerchief she held to her mouth. She ran a slender hand through her son’s blond hair.

Gabrielle stood silently nearby, her face etched with sympathy for the Goddess of Love.

Aphrodite turned her attention to Hephaestus, who lay in the bed next to her son. She sat on the side of the bed, held one of his pale clammy hands in hers as she gazed at his comatose face. "You have to come back to me Hephie, so I can tell you I didn’t mean the things that I said." Aphrodite turned toward Gabrielle. "Y’see, Hephie and I had this major fight, it was really about nothing...we said some awful things to each other. That’s why I skipped the opening celebration. I was still so mad at Hephie and didn’t want to run into him at the party. I wished he had a lousy time at the party...but nothing like...like this." The goddess bowed her blond head and began to weep.

Gabrielle approached Aphrodite, putting her arms around her in a comforting gesture. "I’m sure deep down inside, Hephaestus knows you didn’t mean the things you said." She ran a hand through the goddess’ blond tresses. "We will find the antidote to the Hind’s blood poison and Cupid and Hephaestus will be as good new...as will the others," she assured. "I was about to go up to the castle, you should come with me." Gabrielle helped Aphrodite to her feet. She kept an arm of comfort around the goddess’ shoulders as they made their way to the stairs that led to the fortress above.

**********

"Damn it...I can’t believe it’s all gone!!!" Discord angrily pounded her fists on a table.

The petite goddess gazed about the room in which she stood. The place looked like it had been hit by a cyclone. Chairs were tossed about the room and drawers from tables laid about the floor. This was one of the rooms in her own residence and it now mirrored all the others, like it had been it by a cyclone. The goddess had frantically searched one room after another and each time came up empty. Just like all the other structures on Mt. Olympus, the ambrosia she kept in her own residence was gone!

Discord’s breathing was heavy as she began to pace the floor. Her brow furrowed with deep thought as she brushed aside the wild raven tresses now hanging in her face. It was obvious who had taken all of the ambrosia, now she just had to discover where he had hidden the famed food of the gods. Discord was brought out of her thoughts about the ambrosia when she heard a familiar deep voice.

"YOU!!! Why does this not surprise me?"

The goddess turned to see Ares’ black leather clad form leaning against the doorframe, his muscular arms folded across his broad chest.

"I don’t know what you are talking about," the goddess replied in an innocent tone.

"Oh yes you do---your walking around and being unscathed by Hind’s blood poison is proof of that!" Ares proceeded into the room and stopped some feet away from where Discord stood.

"My not being poisoned only proves that I made the right choice, just as you did by not attending the fifth millennium celebration."

"Oh, cut the bullshit Discord! Dahak needed someone inside the Olympian pantheon to do his dirty work and that someone was YOU---you are the one who spiked the ambrosia wine with Hind’s blood!"

"Me!?!?!? You are the more likely candidate for such a role!!!" She huffed. "After all, you did betray Olympus once before to team up with Dahak and you could have easily done it again!"

"My alliance with Dahak was a ruse," the war god calmly stated. "Only someone filled with jealousy, bent on revenge and completely STUPID...all three characteristics that you, my dear, possess, would ally themselves with the One Great Evil."

Discord’s porcelain face darkened and she was now seething with anger. "Oh, I allied myself with Dahak all right and it was the wisest choice I ever made," Discord proudly admitted. "He’s smarter than you, more ruthless than you and...he’s even a better lover than you!" Her blood red lips curled into a wicked smile as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Dahak has played you for a FOOL, Discord! He used you to bring down Olympus and now that you have served your purpose, he will dispose of you right along with the rest of us!" Ares started to lessen the distance between him and the goddess.

Upon hearing Ares’ words, the smile on Discord’s face faltered, but came quickly back into place when she started backing away from the approaching war god. "Don’t you think that idea has crossed my mind? That’s why I’ve taken precautions to protect myself."

"If you are talking about the Hind’s blood...it can’t kill Dahak. As I told you, the only thing that will kill him is the Holy Saber." Ares let his features soften as he continued to speak. "It’s not too late for you to re-establish your loyalties to the family. Just give me the Hind’s blood I know you kept for yourself. It’s needed to create an antidote to cure the other gods."

"Since when did you start caring about the well-being of the other gods?" With lightening quick speed, Discord hurled a fireball directly at Ares.

The war god dove out of way, seeking safety behind an overturned table.

Discord shot off several more fireballs before fleeing the room.

Ares came from behind the table and ran over to the door. The war god held out his hand, that emitted a glow from a ball of energy. He only intended to stun Discord with a hit because he needed her alive to find out where she had hidden the Hind’s blood. As the war god prepared to hurl the energy ball at the goddess’ retreating form, he was hit from behind with a ball of energy.

The energy ball hit Ares on the right side and to his surprise was agonizingly painful. He had a pretty good idea who had thrown the ball but he turned anyway to see who it was.

Dahak stood in the center of the room. He was dressed, as he was when Ares had first seen him face to face in Herakleia---black leather covering a slender muscular form, shiny black leather boots, and a black cape billowing down his broad back.

Ares ignored the pain in his side as he addressed Dahak. "You certainly are brazen to be walking around Mt. Olympus."

"Since the gods of Olympus will soon be no more, I’d figured it was time to check out my new home." Dahak had a wicked grin on his face, revealing perfect white teeth. But the smile quickly faded as his handsome features darkened. "It appears you have gotten a reprieve from the Hind’s blood poison but I’m afraid that’s about to come to an end." Dahak raised a hand and hurled another energy ball at Ares.

Still feeling the pain of the first hit and not wanting to feel that again, Ares quickly vanished in shards of blue light.

**********

Gabrielle invited Aphrodite to have dinner with her and the twins at Ares’ fortress. Spending time with her newfound niece and nephew actually brightened the mood of the Goddess of Love.

Gabrielle decided to go back down to the caves under the fortress. She left Aphrodite engrossed with entertaining the children with a tale of how she unified two kingdoms with love between a prince and a princess.

When she finally reached the caves, the bard was informed by one of the servants that the state of the comatose gods had not changed but two of her Amazon sisters had arrived since her departure. She found them in one of the smaller caves.

"Solari...Aurora! What are you two doing here?" Gabrielle embraced each Amazon in a hug.

"We brought Zeus here," Solari replied. "The Hind’s blood poison has left him weakened and disoriented. We found him with a mob of angry villagers."

"And not a moment too soon. They were about to burn him at the stake," Aurora added.

"Thank goodness you found him," Gabrielle said with true relief. "Where is he now?"

"We placed him in the largest of the caves. Ares is with him right now."

Gabrielle excused herself and went to the larger cave. She found the war god standing over the bed his father now occupied. Quietly she approached and stood beside him.

Ares gave a sideward glance in her direction before speaking. "He was awake when the Amazons brought him here but since then he has slipped into a coma...just like the others." The war god moved away from the bed containing his father and moved to stand by the bed containing the comatose form of his half-brother Hermes.

Gabrielle remained by Zeus’ bedside and gazed at the war god. She would swear his brown eyes were welling up with tears as he ran a hand over his brother’s blond hair. His lips were curled downward in a sad frown.

"Dahak had a spy on Mt. Olympus."

"Who was it?" Gabrielle asked.

"Discord," Ares replied as he turned to face the bard. His cool demeanor was firmly back in place.

"Discord!" Gabrielle was truly surprised by this news. "I know she hangs out with you, so she can be quite a bi…" Gabrielle stopped herself from finishing that sentence and went another route. "Why would Discord ally herself with Dahak?"

"I think it was mainly out of jealousy...you see, I essentially tossed her aside for another and this was her way of getting back at me plus there’s the power angle."

Gabrielle had a pretty good idea who the other was that Ares had ditched Discord for but decided now was not the time to bridge that subject.

"I found her trashing her own place. She was looking for the ambrosia...and oh was she mad that I had confiscated it all."

"Why did you take all of the ambrosia?" Gabrielle asked.

"When I saw how the other gods were poisoned, I knew Dahak had to have a spy on Mt. Olympus. I also started thinking that they might make a move to grab the ambrosia and turn Dahak’s ol’ buddies who are now walking around in mortal bodies into gods. It’s not the power they had in their Watcher bodies but it’s the closest they will ever get." Ares left his brother’s side, went over to a large boulder and carefully seated himself upon, trying not to grimace.

But the discomfort he was obviously feeling did not go unnoticed by Gabrielle. "Are you okay?"

"I’m...fine," he replied not too convincingly.

"No you’re not." Gabrielle walked over to where the god uncomfortably sat on the boulder.

"I told you I’m fine so just leave me alone and go tend to the gods who really need it." Ares had his left hand protectively resting on his right side.

"No, I won’t." Gabrielle removed his hand, to her surprise, without much protest. She knew the god was injured but the leather was in the way. "Please, remove the sword belt."

A weary sigh escaped Ares’ lips as he removed his sword belt.

Gabrielle proceeded to open his leather vest but stopped when Ares winced. She resumed opening the vest but with more gentleness. When she finally had it open, a gasp of shock escaped her lips. "Gods Ares, this looks awful!"

Running along the war god’s right side and partially onto his stomach was a deep red burn that was covered with blisters.

"If you think this looks bad, you should see the hole in my other vest." A chuckle escaped his lips that soon turned to a groan of pain because the slightest movement made his side hurt.

"You should have told me you were injured so I could take care of this." Gabrielle went over to a table, retrieved some cloths sitting atop it and brought them back over to the war god.

"There was nothing you could do. This wound should heal itself anyway."

"You need to remove your vest so I can bandage it."

Ares remained silent but rolled his eyes as he removed the vest.

Gabrielle proceeded to wrap a roll of cloth around his midsection. "Why do you have this wound anyway? I thought god’s couldn’t be injured."

"Normally we can’t but Dahak is responsible for this wound."

"Dahak!!!"

"After I confronted Discord, she tried to flee by hurling energy balls at me. When I tried to reciprocate, her evil boyfriend hit me from behind with an energy ball. Dahak was there to check out his new digs and I vanished before he had a chance to hit me with another ball."

"There...all done," Gabrielle declared when she had the wound bandaged. She handed the god his vest.

Ares gazed down at her handiwork before putting back on his vest. "I guess you learned this from Xena."

"As a matter of fact I did." Gabrielle let a faint smile crease her lips as she handed Ares his sword belt.

"Dahak may be a fallen Watcher but he still possesses powers that surpass even us gods." Ares refastened the sword belt around his waist. "This wound should heal by itself but it will just take some time." He winced slightly as he rose off the boulder and to his feet.

The smile had faded from Gabrielle’s face. "Dahak is winning, isn’t he?"

"The gods of Olympus lay dying and the people are discontented more than ever, so yeah, he is winning," Ares admitted. "But when Xena and the others return with the pieces of the Holy Saber, the tide will turn in our favor."

CHAPTER 53

Iolaus leaned over the bow of the ship as he gazed up at the dark gray clouds blanketing the sky above. "It looks like we are in for a pretty fierce storm."

"You are right pal." Hercules too, gazed up at the graying sky. "That’s why I better make this dive while the waters are still calm."

Nebula strolled over to where the pair stood on the deck of the ship. "Here you go Hercules, the air bags are all ready."

"Thanks Nebula." Hercules took the bags that would be his air supply on the deep dive. The demi-god was dressed in nothing but a loincloth, so Nebula couldn’t help admiring his exposed muscular frame."

"I wish I could go with you, Herc," Iolaus confessed.

"I wish you could too but unfortunately the dive is too deep and the pressure would kill a full mortal."

The Oasis was anchored somewhere in the virtually unknown waters, west of the Great Sea. To the letter, they had followed the map and instructions Cyrus had prepared. Once the Oasis reached the unknown waters, the ship had to travel through a wall of thick fog. For three days, they could not see a thing. On the fourth day, the Oasis had passed through the wall of fog and the wide ocean was visible to view again.

On the night of the fourth day, a low hanging star was the only constellation in the black sky. The star had four visible points and had been drawn on the map Cyrus had made for them. The four-pointed star was visible on clear nights and always hang in the sky over the ocean, where a piece of the Holy Saber could be found. When the Oasis reached the spot under the four- pointed star, the anchor was dropped. That had been last night, and now Hercules was preparing to dive to the underwater caves where the piece to the Holy Saber could be found.

"Good luck Herc." Iolaus gripped his friend’s forearm in friendship one last time before he would leave the ship.

Without warning, the ship began to violently rock.

"What in Tartarus is going on?" Iolaus did his best to remain on his feet as the ship continued to violently rock.

"I don’t know but I intend to find out." Hercules held on to the side of the ship to keep his balance.

Nebula was doing the same as was the rest of the crew.

"Look, there’s something in the water!" The man in the crow’s nest shouted.

All eyes looked to the water as two large tentacles rose out of the sea. They wrapped themselves around the center of the boat and in the process knocked some of the crewmembers into the water, including Hercules’ best friend.

"Iolaus!" Hercules shouted as he dove into the water after his best friend.

Nebula pulled out a sword and began hacking away at one of the tentacles wrapped around the ship. The crewmembers standing about the deck joined in the hacking with their own swords. Their actions angered the sea creature that tossed the ship more violently about.

Nebula and the crew fell to the deck and were splashed with water as the ship violently rocked. All heard the screams of their shipmate in the crow’s nest as he lost his footing under the violent rocking of the ship and plummeted to the waters of the sea.

As the Oasis appeared to be under attack by a large sea creature, Hercules did manage to find his friend who had fallen overboard. The current of the ocean had taken him some distance away from the ship.

"Hey Iolaus, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I’m fine," Iolaus replied as he spit out seawater. "Some creature is attacking the ship." He fixed his gaze on the Oasis and the large tentacles wrapped around it.

"It looks like it may be a giant octopus or squid," Hercules commented.

"An octopus or squid? Gods, I didn’t know they could get so big," Iolaus confessed.

"Not many people have ventured out this far, so who knows what kinds of creatures live in these waters," Hercules said. "We got to get back to the Oasis and give Nebula and the crew a hand fighting whatever that thing is."

Hercules and Iolaus began to swim towards the Oasis when the waters of the sea began to churn violently. Large waves immediately formed and tossed the pair about, greatly inhibiting their attempts to reach the Oasis.

As the waters continued to churn, a giant whirlpool formed. The sea creature released its grip on the Oasis and the ship was pulled into the whirlpool along with Hercules and Iolaus. Around and around went the ship and the two men in the water until they finally reached the center of the whirlpool where all disappeared below the surface of the deep waters.

**********

"Ohh," Hercules groaned as he began to regain consciousness. Slowly, he opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the light of his unknown surroundings.

As his eyes began to focus, he could make out what appeared to be dark gray stone. "Ohh," he groaned again as he moved to a sitting position.

Hercules could now see his friend who lay beside him unconscious. "Iolaus, wake up." He lightly slapped the face of his friend.

"Ohh," Iolaus groaned as he regained consciousness. His eyes opened and they focused on his friend kneeling over him. "Hercules?"

"Yeah, it’s me pal. Are you okay?"

"I-I think so." Slowly, Iolaus rose to a sitting position. "Are we dead?"

"No we are not dead," Hercules replied with a chuckle.

"Then where are we?" Iolaus looked at the dark gray stone walls around them.

"It appears to be some type of cave," Hercules replied.

"How did we get here? The last thing I remember was being in the ocean. We were being pulled into a whirlpool, then everything went blank." Iolaus said.

"That’s all I remember too." Hercules rose to his feet and began to walk around the cave.

"I wonder what happened to Nebula and the crew of the Oasis?" Iolaus asked.

"I can pretty much answer that for you." Hercules stood in a part of the cave not visible to Iolaus. "Come give me a hand."

Iolaus joined his friend in the other part of the cave. Hercules was standing over the bodies of Nebula and the crew of the Oasis. The pair immediately went about reviving their unconscious comrades.

"What happened and where are we?" Nebula asked when she regained consciousness.

"We don’t know what happened and we don’t know where we are," Hercules replied.

"We may not know where we are but it looks like we are someone’s prisoners." Iolaus’ gaze was fixed on the metal bars blocking the exit out of the cave. They had been so busy reviving their comrades that they hadn’t even noticed the bars until now.

Hercules, Nebula and the crew immediately joined Iolaus at the metal bars. The demi-god gripped the bars with his hands and tried to pull them apart with no success.

"Whatever these bars are made of is obviously impervious to even my godly strength," Hercules stated after giving up on trying to pry the bars apart.

At that moment, they all heard footsteps headed in their direction.

Five men came to stand before the barred cave. All five were dressed in uniforms with insignias no one locked behind the bars recognized.

Accompanying them was a very beautiful young woman. She had long coppery colored hair and violet eyes. Her slender form was covered with an iridescent, shimmering blue dress. A purple sash that complimented her eyes ran diagonally across the bodice and around the waist to hang off a hip.

"Good, you are all awake. Now we will have the chance to check you over," one of the men said with a pleased smile. He was older than the other four men and his uniform was a little different, indicating a higher rank.

One of the other men unlocked the door made of bars as his three comrades pulled out sticks emitting an electric charge.

"Back...all of you get back!" one of the men ordered as he touched the side of a crewmember with the stick he held.

The crewmember screamed in pain as an electric charge surged through his body, knocking him back and out of the way.

The men, apparently soldiers, continued to touch the prisoners with their electrified sticks until all were at a safe distance for inspection.

Now that the prisoners were subdued, the commanding officer and the young woman entered the holding cell.

The young woman let her violet eyes wander over the prisoners until they finally settled on Hercules. Her gaze raked over his muscular form, his only piece of clothing being a loincloth. "I’ll take him."

Two of the soldiers moved towards Hercules.

"I am not going anywhere with you!" Hercules picked up one of the soldiers and tossed him into his comrade.

The two other soldiers immediately struck Hercules with their electrified sticks.

The demi-god howled in pain until he fell to the floor unconscious. The soldiers held their sticks in a threatening posture to dissuade any ideas the other prisoners had of attacking them. The other two soldiers had recovered from Hercules’ attack and now grabbed the demi-god by his arms and proceeded to drag him from the cell. They followed behind the young woman and their commander as they left the cell area.

"I wonder what they are going to do with Hercules?" Iolaus stood by the bars of the cell. His hands firmly gripped them as he gazed out into the cave with a look of worry on his face.

"I’m wondering about that too," Nebula said. "But I am also wondering about what they are going to do to us.

**********

"Ohh," Hercules groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. Twice in one day, he was waking up to pain.

Slowly he opened his eyes to take in his new surroundings. They were much more comfortable then the dank cavern he had just left. He was lying on a plush couch. The room had a feminine flair to it that his sister Aphrodite would definitely appreciate. The walls of the room were salmon in color. There was a table made out of crystals surrounded by four seashell chairs. There was also a large circular bed in the center of the room, surrounded by a white lacey curtain.

But what really caught Hercules’ attention was the large glass window. With some discomfort, he rose from the couch and went over to the window. He had never seen anything like it before. Windows in Greece where just square holes in walls. He let his hands touch it. He was amazed at how it kept the seawater from entering the room. Hercules finally gazed out the window, his mouth dropping in awe as he stared at the view. It appeared to be a city and the whole thing was on the bottom of the ocean floor!

He saw people moving about the streets and they appeared to be breathing right from the water because they had no air bags. He saw carriages similar to ones on land but some strange creature that had the face and neck of a horse but the body of a fish pulled them.

"It’s beautiful, isn’t it?" A feminine voice from behind him asked.

Hercules turned to see the young woman from the cavern cell enter the room and proceeded over to where he stood by the window. "Yes it is. Where am I?"

"You are in the underwater city of Meridia."

"And you are?"

"My name is Helena. What is your name?"

"I’m Hercules."

"How are those people down there able to breathe underwater?" Hercules gazed out the window again with fascination at the people moving about the street, far below.

"They have gills...everyone in Meridia has them." Helena lifted her coppery colored hair and let Hercules see the slits behind both of her ears. "We also have lungs just like you land dwellers but we prefer to live in the sea." Helena let her hair fall to her shoulders again.

"How did my friends and I get here?"

"The whirlpool brought your ship down to the sea floor," Helena replied.

"Yeah, that whirlpool was really something. We got caught up in it after a sea creature attacked our ship."

"Oh, you mean Oligar."

"Oligar?" Hercules’ face was riddled with confusion.

"Oligar is the giant Octopus who captures land dwellers travelling upon the sea and brings them here to work in the Tarconian mines."

"What are the Tarconian mines?"

"Tarconian mines is where you can find Tarconia, the ore that sustains my people’s existence on the sea bottom. It heats our homes and is the corner substance in glass making."

"So, I guess my friends will be working in the Tarconian mines but what about me?" Hercules asked.

"You will be my personal slave." Helena let a soft smile crease her lips as she ran a slender hand, down Hercules’ bare chest.

Hercules removed her hand from his chest but maintained his grip as he stared down into her violet eyes. "Helena, my friends and I can’t stay here. We only came in search of an object and once we find it, we must return home."

"I’m afraid that’s not possible, Hercules. Once land dwellers enter Meridia, they stay here permanently...so you and your friends will NEVER see your homeland again."

**********

Zhen Yu did some snooping around the town of Shu and found out that the local warlord, Wong Tai was throwing a twenty-fifth birthday party for himself at his fortress located at the foot of the Daba Mountains.

All the local landowners of considerable wealth had been invited to the party. One in particular was a rice baron named Chen Yee who Salmoneus favored considerably.

This Chen Yee happened to be a distance relative of Zhen Yu’s wife so he convinced the rice baron not to go to Wong Tai’s birthday party and let Salmoneus go in his place. Chen Yee never liked Wong Tai and agreed to Zhen Yu’s request.

Fitted with a black wig and the right clothes, Salmoneus was almost a perfect double for Chen Yee. Autolycus and Meleager were fitted with black wigs and proper clothing too. They would also attend the party as *Chen Yee’s* assistants along with Zhen Yu.

The foursome had the real Chen Yee’s official invitation and easily got through the fortress walls to attend Wong Tai’s birthday party.

For a feared warlord, Wong Tai threw a very civilized party. Guest were dressed in their finest silk clothing as they moved about beautifully decorated tables adorned with the many food delicacies of Chin.

"Hey, I think I am finally getting the hang of these chop sticks," Meleager declared as he shoved a pair of peapods into his mouth using two slender sticks.

"Don’t say that too loud," Autolycus warned. "Remember, you are suppose to be Chinese and have used such sticks your whole life."

"Oh yeah, that’s right," Meleager softly replied as he shoved some dumplings into his mouth.

"Hey guys, this is really a great party!" Salmoneus declared as he and Zhen Yu took their seats at the table with their friends. "I’ve met some businessmen that I would sure like to keep in contact with once I get back to Greece and the Odyssey."

"We are not here to network Salmoneus." Autolycus lowered his voice so people at the tables around them would not hear. "We came here to steal the piece of the Holy Saber that Wong Tai is using as a good luck charm and that’s all."

After everyone had eaten, the guests were entertained with a play that was about of all things, Wong Tai’s life and how he rose to power over the region. After the play, everyone was treated to a dazzling fire works display.

It was rather late when the fire works display came to an end, so all of Wong Tai’s guests stayed the night at his fortress. Since Salmoneus was believed to be the wealthy rice baron, Chen Yee, he was given a huge bedchamber with three adjoining rooms for his assistants.

Once again, the foursome inspected a layout map of the fortress that Zhen Yu had been able to obtain. When they were sure everyone had indeed turned in for the night, they made their way to Wong Tai’s bedchamber.

The four moved cautiously and quietly around the fortress, blending into the shadows whenever they spotted Wong Tai’s warriors walking about the deserted corridors.

When they made it to the corridor outside of Wong Tai’s bedchamber, Zhen Yu put to use the bag of goodies he had brought. He shot two darts laced with a sleeping potion at the two guards stationed at the door of the bedchamber. They instantly fell to the floor in a deep sleep.

"Before I go back to Greece, you’ve got to give me some of those darts. They would certainly come in handy on some of my jobs," Autolycus whispered.

"Just forget about the darts and go in there and get the sword piece!" Salmoneus whispered.

"Okay, okay, I’m going." Without making a sound, Autolycus made his way into the bedchamber while his friends remained outside and acted as lookouts.

The rays of the full moon provided the only light in the bedchamber. Unlike the custom for most in Chin, a bed mat on the floor, Wong Tai actually slept in a raised bed like they did in Greece. The King of Thieves made his way over to the bed and gazed down at the sleeping warlord. Autolycus had to hold back a chuckle after seeing that Wong Tai, a feared warlord, sucked on a thumb as he slept.

Autolycus had gotten from Zhen Yu, a dart laced with a sleeping potion that he stuck in Wong Tai’s arm, making sure the warlord did not wake up during the theft. Since the potion took effect instantly, Autolycus knew Wong Tai was sleeping like the dead and easily removed the gold chain attached to the piece of the Holy Saber from around the warlord’s neck.

"You truly are the best, Autolycus ol’ boy," he whispered to himself as he secured the Holy Saber piece on his person. He spotted what appeared to be a very expensive ring on one finger, which he deftly removed and secured on his person too.

Autolycus was preparing to leave the bedchamber when a medium size dog ran out of the adjoining room. He had seen several dogs just like this one stationed at various places around the fortress wall. The breed was called Chow-Chow and they were used as guard dogs.

"Easy boy, that’s a good dog," Autolycus cooed as he cautiously made his way to the bedchamber door. The room only had the full moon for light but he could see the dog’s eyes following him and a blue-black tongue hanging out of its mouth.

When the dog began to snarl, Autolycus stopped dead in his tracks. When the snarling ceased, Autolycus started for the door again. Suddenly, the dog started barking as it leaped in the air and landed on Autolycus.

The dog’s loud barking was heard by other guards who immediately appeared in the corridor outside of Wong Tai’s bedchamber. Zhen Yu was able to disable some with sleeping darts but there were too many guards and not enough darts.

Autolycus was rolling about the floor with the Chow-Chow, trying to keep the dog from biting him. He heard the commotion in the corridor outside the bedchamber and knew it must be filled with guards. He hoped his friends had gotten away.

Autolycus knew he had to get away too. He delivered a hard punch to the dog’s head that dazed the animal. With all of his strength he tossed the animal aside then quickly rose to his feet. He made his way to the window and jumped down to the empty courtyard below just as the guards made there way into the bedchamber.

Staying in the shadows of the courtyard, Autolycus made his way to the front gate. The disturbance in Wong Tai’s bedchamber had attracted the attention of all of the guards, so none were stationed at the front gate. Autolycus was about to walk to freedom when a petite, slender dark figure jumped down in front of him and delivered a kick to his midsection.

Autolycus stumbled backwards, almost falling down but he remained on his feet.

"I saw you take the ring," the attacker hissed. "Now give it to me." The attacker delivered a spinning kick to Autolycus’ head that knocked him to the stone courtyard.

The kick to the head had left his vision blurry. His attacker’s face was hidden behind a mask but he could tell the soft whispery voice belong to a woman. "Who are you?" Slowly, Autolycus tried to rise to his feet.

"Who I am is not important!" She hissed. "Just give me the ring!" With lightening quick speed, the woman delivered several chops to Autolycus’ neck and face that knocked him to the courtyard floor once again, but this time unconscious.

The petite masked woman kneeled over his unconscious form, running her hands over his body. She located the ring and the Holy Saber piece, securing both on her own person. Then she quickly made her way through the front gate.

**********

"Ohh, my head," Autolycus groaned as he slowly regained consciousness.

His eyelids fluttered several times before staying open. Autolycus’ mouth gaped open in fear as he gazed at the guards all standing around him.

A man wearing a dark green silk robe stepped out of the guards and approached Autolycus’ fallen form. The King of Thieves recognized the man from Wong Tai’s birthday party. His name was Juang Thao and he was the warlord’s second in command.

Juang Thao now stood over Autolycus and roughly removed his disguise, revealing him to be a stranger from the west.

"I don’t know why you are here foreigner." Juang Thao grabbed Autolycus by the hair and forced him to look up at his face. "But before you DIE, I will know ALL!"

**********

"Can we stop and rest a bit? Draco asked.

"Yeah, we have been traveling for awhile, so we should stop for a break." Darnelle set down the gear he carried.

Glaphyra and Ahkmim did the same with their gear.

Draco had a thankful smile on his face as he sat on the ground and used the trunk of a tree as a backrest.

The former warlord was still recovering from the poison dart so he tired easily. He had received the antidote to the poison about four days ago. Only one of the two men, Soleb had returned to their camp with the Nimbuki plant so Ahkmim could concoct the antidote. The other man, Buto had been frightened by the Simbutus and had headed back home alone.

When Draco was in a better condition to travel, the journey to the volcanic mountains had resumed. But two days ago, the traveling party came across signs that they were entering deeper into Simbutu territory. They came across many decapitated heads on spikes and one of them happened to be the head of Buto!

The sight had left all shaken but Soleb had been the worst effected. The next day when everyone had awakened, he had taken off in fear and on his own was trying to make it back to Egypt. Draco, Darnelle, Glaphyra and Ahkmim now feared that the frightened man would probably end up just like their dead companion.

After a few hours of rest, their journey had resumed. They set up camp for the night in a valley at the base of the volcanic mountain called Kilimanjaro. According to Cyrus’ translation, it was there that they would find the Holy Saber.

"Well, tomorrow guys, we will climb up that big ol’ mountain over there, find our piece of the Holy Saber and then as quickly as we can, flee the land of the cannibals," Glaphyra said.

"Amen to that," Darnelle said.

"I second that motion," Draco said.

Ahkmim just laughed at his foreign friends as he lay down for the night.

The next morning, the three men woke up to find Glaphyra’s bedroll empty.

"Maybe she went to take a swim in that river we saw on the way into the valley," Draco suggested.

"No way, she would have never did that. Glaphyra knew with the Simbutu’s wondering around it was too dangerous for any of us to go off alone," Darnelle insisted.

"I’m afraid that Glaphyra has been taken by the Simbutus," Ahkmim declared. "There are bare footprint tracks throughout our campsite...all of us are wearing some type of footwear. They probably crept into our camp while we all slept and just carried her off."

Draco and Darnelle both had looks of fear on their faces over what would become of Glaphyra.

Ahkmim noticed the looks on the two men’s face. "I don’t think we have to worry about the Simbutu’s eating Glaphyra."

"But Ahkmim, I thought you said the Simbutu’s were cannibals and they preyed on outsiders?" Draco asked.

"Yes, they do. But I believe they grabbed Glaphyra for a different reason," Ahkmim said. "Glaphyra remembered some of the words, the Simbutu who attacked her spoke and told them to me. The man was grabbing Glaphyra not for food but for a mate."

Both Darnelle and Draco were relieved to know they didn’t have to worry about their friend being the main course at a feast but they were not too happy about her being mated to someone against her will, especially Darnelle.

"The main village for the Simbutu’s is not that far from here," Ahkmim stated.

"Good, because we are going to go there and let this guy know that Glaphyra is already spoken for and to hand her over," Darnelle declared in a firm tone.

CHAPTER 54

Xena, Cyrus and Joxer had made it to the town of Gnewitz, located in Northern Europe. They boarded their three horses in the city’s public stables, then sought passage on a ship that would take them across the narrow waterway to the town of Ramshog. According to Cyrus’ translation, just outside of the town were caves---the resting-place for a piece of the Holy Saber.

When the ship reached Ramshog, the trio disembarked but before heading off to the caves, got a bite to eat at the local tavern.

"That hit the spot." Joxer put the last morsel of food into his mouth, leaving the plate before him empty.

"Yes, it did." Cyrus gulped down the last of the mead in his mug.

"Now that we have all eaten too much, we can go work it off by exploring those caves." Xena motioned to the barmaid to bring their check.

The trio had arrived at the tavern at just the right time. It was right between breakfast and lunch so the place was deserted and peacefully quiet.

Once the check was paid, the trio rose from the table and prepared to depart. They had just reached the door of the tavern, when a little boy, who was in a hurry, came crashing through the door and collided into Cyrus.

"Oh, sorry," the child shyly replied. His eyes were wide with fear as he gazed up at Cyrus.

"It’s okay." Cyrus smiled down at the little boy. He had red hair and looked to be around Lycus’ age.

"Ivan! How many times do I have to tell you that the tavern is no place to be running around!" A heavyset woman with red hair shouted. She came out of the kitchen, stormed over to the foursome and roughly grabbed the child by the arm.

"Hey take it easy, the boy didn’t do any harm," Xena insisted.

"My son has been warned countless times about keeping his play outside." The woman gazed at Xena then to the child standing beside her. The features of her face had grown stern. "Since you can’t do as I say, then up to your room you will go!" The woman gave the child a smack on his rear and ushered him towards the stairs that led to the second floor.

Xena and her friends resumed their departure. They were exiting through the door when they heard the child shout, "Mama, I havta tell ya somethin’...it’s about Erika...she’s trapped in the caves!"

The trio immediately halted their departure and proceeded over to the stairs where the woman stood with her son.

"What???" The woman squatted down and holding her son’s arms, gazed into his face. "How many times have I told you and your sister to stay away from those caves?" Tears formed in the woman’s eyes and began rolling down her cheeks.

"I’m sorry Mama." Ivan softly murmured as he bowed his head.

Xena, Cyrus and Joxer stood gazing at the pair, now both softly crying. "Excuse me, but my friends and I couldn’t help but overhear your son say that your daughter is trapped in the caves, maybe we can help," Xena offered.

"That’s very kind of you." The woman rose to her feet. She pulled a handkerchief from her apron, blew her nose then continued. "But I wouldn’t feel right asking anyone to risk their life by going to those caves. "Erika is...already lost..." The woman’s voice started to crack. "Gunther has probably killed her by now."

"Who is Gunther?" Cyrus asked.

The woman was too overcome with sorrow about the loss of her daughter to respond to the question so her son answered. "Gunther is the mean giant who lives in the caves. He hates all us little people." Ivan turned his attention to his mother who had seated herself in a nearby chair and had started to cry again.

Xena, Cyrus and Joxer huddled together for a private pow-wow.

"I knew this trip wouldn’t stay smooth," Joxer said. "Now we will have to fight a mean giant if we want to find that piece of the Holy Saber."

"I’m not worried about the giant, I’ve dealt with his kind before," Xena said. "I just hope we are not too late to save that little girl."

"If we want the chance of doing that, we better head on up to those caves now," Cyrus said.

The trio approached the woman and her son.

"Uh miss..." Xena began again as she now stood before the woman

"My name is Sophie."

"Hi Sophie...my name is Xena and these are my friends Cyrus and Joxer." She took the woman’s hands in hers. "I don’t want you to give up on Erika. She may still be alive and if she is, we will bring her home."

"Oh no, I can’t let you do that...Gunther will kill you all."

"Gunther is the one who better watch out, ‘cause Xena has beaten his kind in the past," Joxer boasted.

"But the caves in themselves are so dangerous."

"There is no need for you to worry about us," Cyrus assured. "We happen to have a map of the caves that details all of the nasty spots."

The woman gazed at the trio standing before her. Not a one had fear in their eyes. "I guess if I can’t convince you not to go, I can at least thank you and pray that the gods will protect you all."

**********

It was mid-day when Xena, Cyrus and Joxer reached the caves just outside the town of Ramshog. Cautiously, the trio proceeded into the caves. Large lit torches adorned the rocky walls, brightening the dark cave.

"We can certainly thank Gunther for providing us with light. Now we can at least see where we are going," Joxer commented.

"We can also see Gunther if he tries to attack us, so keep a sharp look out for him," Cyrus added.

The trio proceeded deeper into the cave and there appeared to be no sign of Gunther or Erika for that matter. They came to a section of the cave that broke off into two caverns. They decided it was best to stay together and proceeded into one of the caverns.

"Well, well, well...it looks like Gunther does indeed live here after all," Joxer commented breaking the silence. "Check out the furniture, he must be one huge giant."

The trio had entered a cavern that was obviously being used as living quarters by the giant. A large stone table and chair sat in one corner of the cavern. In another was a huge pile of straw that was probably his makeshift bed. There was also a large pile of fruits and vegetables.

"For a cave, this place is pretty warm. It must be all of the torches." Joxer began to loosen the fur coat he wore.

"Will you hush up! We don’t want Gunther to know we are here!" Xena hissed.

At that moment, the trio heard loud thumps, proceeding in a hurry towards the cavern in which they stood. Before they had time to hide, Gunther stood in the opening of the cavern. Joxer gasped in awe. He had to be at least three stories tall. He was rather pudgy for a giant. His shirt and pants were made from the skins of many animals. He had scraggily brown hair, beady dark eyes and grimy skin. When his eyes fixed their gaze on the trio, his mouth contorted in an angry snarl, revealing brownish-yellow teeth, some missing.

With a speed surprisingly fast for someone so big, Gunther charged the trio, swinging a large club. The trio quickly scattered in separate directions as the club the angry giant wielded hit the ground where they all previously stood with an earth-shaking thud.

Xena ran as fast as she could, deeper into the cavern. She immediately came to a stop when the cavern floor dropped off into a chasm. She turned around and saw no one behind her coming down the cavern. At least she knew Gunther had not followed her. She hoped her two friends had fared just as well.

Xena glanced at her new surroundings. Just like the other parts of the cave, lit torches were positioned on the stone walls. Large stalactites hung from the roof of the cave. A faint sound of running water could be heard in the distance. "That means there must be another way out of these caves," Xena muttered to herself.

Cautiously, Xena approached the rim of the cavern floor that plunged into a chasm. As she peered down into its dark depths, she figured it was probably bottomless. A cool breeze made its way through the cavern that Xena greatly welcomed. Her quick run through the cave had heated her body and this helped to cool her off.

As the breeze subsided, Xena began to hear what sounded like the distinct whimpers of a crying child. She listened more closely. It sounded like the whimpers were actually coming from the chasm itself!

Xena dropped to her knees and peered down into the chasm again. She listened closely again and once more heard the whimpers. Xena could not see anyone but she knew it had to be the little girl who was lost in the caves and feared dead by her mother and brother. She was still peering down into the cavern, when in a soft voice, she called out to the little girl. "Erika...Erika are you down there?"

Abruptly, the soft whimpering stopped as a soft young voice replied, "Yes...I’m down here...and I can’t get out." The little girl started to cry again.

"Don’t cry honey, I’m going to get you out of there," Xena assured in a comforting tone. "But right now, I can’t see you---you have to let me know where you are."

Xena gazed intently down into the chasm, waiting for the child to signal where she was. A moment later, Xena saw a small hand waving from what appeared to be a crevice in the wall of the chasm, several feet below where she kneeled. She deduced that the child had probably fallen into the chasm as she ran from Gunther. Xena could see thick vines lining the wall of the chasm and figured the child must have grabbed onto one and made her way into a crevice in the chasm wall and that’s where she had remained all this time.

With a hand, Xena grasped one of the vines hanging down the chasm wall. She gave it a tug. The vine had supported the weight of a small child but she didn’t trust it to support the weight of an adult. She rose to her feet and quickly scanned the walls of the cavern. There were vines running up and down them too but they appeared to be sturdier. Xena removed the chakram at her waist and sent it flying through the air, headed for a wall. The round metal object sliced through a vine, sending it to the cavern floor below. Xena immediately retrieved the vine and headed back over to the chasm. This vine was definitely of a sturdier construction. She tied the vine around a boulder, made sure it was secure then tossed the free end into the chasm. With a firm grip on the vine, Xena made her way down the chasm wall. She looked downward and saw the little girl peeping out of the crevice in the chasm wall. "You hold on sweetie, I’ll be there very soon to get you out."

Upon hearing Xena’s words, a faint smile creased the child’s tear-stained face.

Xena was halfway down the chasm wall, when she heard faint voices from up above.

"Xena...Xena...where are you?"

"I’m down here." Xena gazed up to see, Cyrus and Joxer kneeling at the edge of the chasm.

"What are you doing down there?" Joxer asked.

"Erika is trapped in a crevice in the chasm wall and I have to get her out. You two keep a look out for Gunther."

Cyrus and Joxer nodded in understanding, then disappeared from sight.

Xena continued her climb down the side of the chasm wall. When she finally reached the crevice, a blond little girl with a face and clothes smudged with dirt greeted her but she was smiling with relief.

The crevice in the wall was too small to hold Xena, so she had the child come to her. "Okay honey, come to me."

The little girl was scared and refused to move.

"It’s okay Erika, nothing is going to happen to you now...just come to me."

Cautiously the child came over to Xena and reached out to her.

"That’s a good girl. Now you just put your arms around my neck and hold on tight."

"Okay," the child softly replied.

Slowly, with Erika’s arms wrapped securely around her neck and her legs around her waist, Xena began to climb out of the chasm.

"What is your name?" Erika asked.

"Xena."

"That’s a pretty name."

"Thanks. Erika is a pretty name too."

"Thank you. I was named after my great-grandma."

Their conversation came to an abrupt end when they heard loud thumps high above them.

"Gunther is coming back!" Erika wailed as she held Xena even tighter.

Xena did her best to comfort the child when she heard a voice from above again.

"Gunther is coming this way Xena. Joxer and I will do our best to distract him, so you and the child can get out of the chasm," Cyrus said.

Xena nodded in understanding as she slowly made her way up the chasm wall.

"Okay Joxer, here he comes, get ready," Cyrus said.

At that moment, Gunther stormed into the cavern. He immediately noticed the two small men running around yelling and began to chase them about the cavern.

Cyrus and Joxer did a good job of keeping Gunther distracted as Xena and Erika made their way out of the chasm.

Xena finally reached the rim of the chasm and was hauling Erika out when Gunther spotted them. He stopped chasing the two men and headed in their direction. Erika let out a scream of terror just as Xena told her to "Run...run as fast as you can!"

The little girl did as ordered and disappeared from sight. Xena was hauling herself over the chasm rim, just as Gunther grabbed the end of the vine tied to the boulder. It instantly snapped as the giant lifted the vine and began whirling it high above his head. One of Xena’s arms had gotten the vine wrapped around it, so she now too was being whirled high above the giant’s head along with the vine.

Erika had made her way to Cyrus and Joxer. Now all three stood watching in horror and wondering what would happen to Xena.

"HA-HA-HA!" Gunther roared. He was having a good time whirling the small human hanging onto the vine high above his head. "You shouldn’t have come here, little woman, now you’re gonna DIE!!!"

Xena’s raven tresses whipped around her face as she reached within the fur coat she wore and pulled out her breast dagger. She proceeded to cut the vine from her entangled arm. When her arm was finally free, she still held onto the vine as it continued to whirl at top speed high above the giant’s head.

Xena released her grip on the vine and landed on the giant’s shoulder. Gunther angrily tossed aside the vine and tried to grab Xena as she stood on his shoulder.

"Yiyiyiyiyiyiyi," she cried as she leaped into the air just as a large hand came smacking down on his shoulder.

Xena headed straight for the scraggily bangs of hair hanging in the giant’s face. She grasped onto the hair and was dangling in front of Gunther’s beady eyes. Before he had a chance to grab her, Xena quickly unsheathed the sword on her back and plunged it into one of his eyeballs.

Gunther let out an ear-piercing howl of pain. Xena pulled out her sword and leaped from his body just as his large hands came up to his injured eye. She grabbed hold of a large stalactite. She leaped from one to another and then another, until she made her way over to the cavern wall, then she used a vine running down it to reach the floor of the cavern. She immediately joined her friends and Erika and watched as Gunther stumbled about howling in pain.

The giant was not paying attention to where he was going and ended up stumbling into the bottomless chasm. The foursome listened as his screams echoed out of earshot.

"Mean ol’ Gunther won’t be terrorizing the people of Ramshog anymore," Joxer declared.

"And now we can search the caves for that piece of the Holy Saber but first we should take Erika home." Cyrus gazed down at the little girl standing beside him.

"Cyrus is right." Xena ran a hand through the child’s blond locks. "I know your mother and brother will be so happy to see you." Xena noticed an object she held in a small hand distracted the child’s attention. "Hey, what is that you’ve got there?"

"I found it in the chasm wall. It’s some piece of metal with a real cool design on it." Erika held up the piece of metal for the adults to see.

"Let me have a look at that." Cyrus took the piece of metal from the child.

He could see some of the design to which the child referred but most of it was covered by dirt. Cyrus gently removed the rest of the dirt. His hazel eyes wandered over the object a few moments before a smile broke out over the former Watcher’s face.

"What is it Cyrus?" Xena gazed intently at her friend’s smiling face.

"This metal is not just some old scrap...it’s a piece to the Holy Saber."

"Cyrus, are you sure?" Xena moved closer to her friend as did Joxer.

"Yes I am but see it for yourself." Cyrus handed the metal object to Xena.

Joxer moved closer to Xena so he could get a better view of the object too.

As Xena’s eyes wandered over the metal object she now held in her hands, she could see that it was indeed part of the blade to a sword. And the design etched in the metal did match the one seen in the old scroll drawing of the Holy Saber.

Talon had also been inspecting the metal object Xena held in her hands and it was indeed part of the blade to the Holy Saber. He had seen his comrade Metatron, now known to the world as Dahak with the sword on many occasions. Talon had always admired its impeccable craftsmanship. "It looks like our search is over before it’s even began," he commented.

Xena turned to gaze at the little girl who had been silently watching the adults inspect the metal object she had found in the chasm wall. "Erika, do you mind if we take this?"

"I was gonna give it to Ivan but you are the one who saved my life, so you can have it."

"Thanks." Xena had a smile on her face as she grasped one of the child’s hands and proceeded to depart the caves. Cyrus and Joxer followed them.

When the foursome arrived at the tavern in Ramshog, Sophie and Ivan were overjoyed to see Erika alive. Sophie couldn’t thank Xena and her friends enough for finding her daughter and bringing the child safely home. The overjoyed mother wanted to give the trio some money but they refused. But they did accept Sophie’s offer to stay at her place free of charge for the night.

It was the dinner hour when the foursome arrived at the tavern so Sophie was busy with patrons. Cyrus and Joxer made themselves busy too, leaving Xena alone with Ivan and Erika. She had a great time with the children. They reminded her so much of Lycus and Lysia---she missed them terribly. And now that they found their piece to the Holy Saber, they could head back to Greece.

The next morning, Xena, Cyrus and Joxer prepared for their journey back to Greece. Sophie, Ivan and Erika, went with the trio to the harbor and bid them goodbye before their ship set sail for the town of Gwenwitz. Once in Gwenwitz, they retrieved the horses from the stables where the animals had been boarded then headed south.

Spending time with Erika and Ivan seemed to improve the lousy mood Xena had been in for most of their journey but the improvement proved to be short lived after a stop in a town on their way back to Greece.

The horses needed to rest, so they stopped for a few hours in a town. The trio decided to replenish their own strength at the local tavern. They were eating their meal when a local thug entered the tavern and began harassing a barmaid. It was obvious the woman did not welcome his attention and when no one else came to her aid, Xena took it upon herself to rescue the woman. She would have beaten the man to a pulp if Cyrus along with Joxer hadn’t pulled her off of him.

This incident had happened hours ago. The trio had left the town behind and had set up their camp in the forest. They were sitting around a roaring fire. Joxer sat in silence as Cyrus and Xena had a heated argument about her harsh behavior earlier in the day.

"Xena, the man had backed off of harassing the barmaid...there was no reason for you to attack him like that!"

"Look Cyrus, I have seen his type before. After we left he would have been all over that barmaid. But now, it will be a while before he comes near the woman again." Xena let a devilish smile crease her lips.

"Xena, if Joxer and I hadn’t pulled you off that guy, you would have beaten him to death!" The former Watcher stared at his friend incredulously. "What has gotten into you lately?"

"I don’t know what you mean Cyrus...I am perfectly fine."

"No you’re not! Ever since this journey began, your temper has been short, you are quieter than usual...and now this incident at the tavern..."

"Oh, will you just get off my back Cyrus!" Xena yelled as she quickly rose to her feet. "I have plenty to deal with already so I certainly don’t need you questioning my actions!" She stormed away from the campsite and disappeared into the forest.

An exasperated sigh escaped the former Watcher’s lips. He retrieved a stick and began poking at the campfire. Joxer still remained silent but quietly rose to his own feet and disappeared into the forest to find Xena.

Hidden in some foliage, Joxer watched Xena as she sat on a large rock down by the banks of a river. In one hand she held a water skin that she uncapped then proceeded to put to her lips. A wicked grin formed on Joxer’s face as he watched her empty the water skin---it contained the last of the crimson substance.

Joxer left the foliage and strolled over to where Xena sat on the large rock.

"If you are here to get on my back about beating up that guy...don’t even start...’cause I don’t want to hear it!" Xena rose from the rock and now gazed out at the river.

"I’m not here to talk about that guy, Xena. Like you, I think you gave him what he deserved."

"Well, it’s good to know at least one of my friends is on my side."

"I actually came down here because I was curious about your situation with Ares."

"Oh really?" Xena finally turned to face Joxer and there was a curious look on her own face.

"I know that you and Ares only formed an alliance to fight Dahak but now there are a couple of kids so I was wondering what your plans are?"

"Ares and I both agree we have to do what’s best for the children, so right now we are getting along great, in fact, better than we have in years." Xena had a pleased smile on her face but it quickly turned to a look of uncertainty and worry. "But right now, we have a common purpose...defeating Dahak. I don’t know what will happen once that is accomplished and we go back to our regular obligations."

Joxer put his hands on Xena’s shoulders in a comforting gesture. "No matter what happens, Xena, I want you to know that I will always be there for you and the kids." He embraced her in a hug.

"Thanks Joxer, that really means a lot to me."

Under normal circumstances, Talon would have never made his next move but the fallen Watcher figured since Xena had drank the last of the crimson substance, meaning the transformation was almost complete, that it was worth a shot. Besides, he had been dying to do it ever since he first laid eyes on her.

Talon pulled away from his comforting embrace with Xena and gazed into her crystal blue eyes. Slowly, and cautiously, he leaned his face into hers, claiming her lips in a gentle kiss. When she put up no resistance he deepened the kiss. But suddenly, he felt her hand reach up to tightly grip his throat and push him away.

Xena’s crystal blue eyes were blazing as she stared into his face. "You are NOT Joxer!"

"No...No, I’m not," he admitted, letting a wicked smile crease his lips.

"WHO are you?" Xena’s gaze bore into him as she gave his throat a threatening squeeze.

"The name’s Talon...I’m an old friend of your father’s."

Anger began to rise in Xena upon learning that one of Dahak’s demon cronies resided in the body of a dear friend. Xena maintained her tight grip around his throat as she shoved him back into the trunk of a nearby tree. "I want you out of my friend’s body, NOW!!!"

"Me leaving Joxer’s body will not bring him back, Xena. Joxer is gone for good...he is dead!" Talon managed a devilish grin despite the grip Xena maintained on his throat.

A growl of frustration escaped Xena’s lips as tears began to form in her eyes. She removed her chakram from her waist and was now holding it, poised to kill the demon residing in Joxer’s body when her own body was hit with an excruciating pain. She released her grip on Talon’s throat and backed away from him as the pain intensified. Xena lost her grip on the chakram as she dropped to her knees and doubled over in pain.

"W-what’s h-happening to m-me?" She gasped between now labored breaths.

"The pain will go away if you stop fighting the transformation, Xena." Talon made his way over to where Xena was on her knees. He reached out to touch her chin and tilted her face up to look at him.

"YOU...you are responsible for this!!!" Xena jerked her head away from his hand. "What did you do to me???"

"I’ve been spiking your water supply with Dahak’s blood. That water you drank just a while ago was the last of it, so now you will once again embrace your dark side."

"You BASTARD!!!" Xena roughly gripped Talon by the shirt but another pain surged through her body, so she dropped to the ground, groaning in pain.

"The more you fight, the more painful the transformation will be." Talon knelt down beside her. "Just relax Xena...let the darkness caress your soul." He soothingly ran a hand through her raven tresses.

Soon her groans of pain stopped and her breathing returned to normal. "That’s a good girl," Talon cooed in an ear. The fallen Watcher rose to his feet, pulling her up with him.

At that moment, Cyrus stepped out of the forest and proceeded to approach the pair. Xena had her back to him as she stood facing Joxer. The former Watcher sensed there was something wrong with her, so he asked, "Xena, are you all right?"

"I’m just fine, Cyrus." Suddenly, Xena whirled around, throwing out her right hand that released an energy ball that hit the former Watcher square in the chest, knocking him unconscious to the ground

Talon draped an arm around Xena’s shoulders as evil laughter escaped his lips.

"Why, I haven’t felt this good since my warlord days." Xena’s crystal blue eyes were as black as the abyss of Tartarus as an evil smile formed on her face.

CHAPTER 55

"Uh Gabrielle, what is that suppose to be?" Lysia asked somewhat hesitantly.

"It’s a cow."

The little girl had a look of skepticism on her face.

"It’s so obvious," Gabrielle insisted. "See, here is the udder."

"If you say so." Lysia shrugged her shoulders as she continued to work on her own drawing of her father’s black winged stallion, Serpico.

Lycus let out a chuckle as he listened to the chatter of the two females. The little boy was finishing up his own drawing of a battle elephant.

Gabrielle and the twins were in one of the back rooms located in the main Temple of Ares in Thebes.

The war god had a meeting with his top warlords and decided the children could come along but only if Gabrielle kept them busy in one of the back rooms.

The kids liked to draw, so Gabrielle found some chalk in multiple colors and for the past few hours, she and the children had been busy drawing on the walls of the back room.

Gabrielle had been doing a lot of practice with her powers and knew how to make the walls clean again so Ares wouldn’t freak.

"Hey, Gabrielle, I got an idea. We should do a big drawing together," Lysia said. "We could make it something really nice that even Daddy will like and maybe he would let the drawing stay."

"That’s a great idea, Lysia. Now we just have to come up with what we want to put in the drawing."

With the two girls embroiled in chatter about their drawing collaboration, Lycus decided to leave the back room and check out his father’s meeting with the warlords. The little boy figured that if he stayed hidden and didn’t make a sound, no one would ever know he was there.

**********

"General Andocides has sent word that he has found Dahak’s main base of operations. It’s the isle of Thera." Ares pointed out the island on a large map lying atop the table at which he stood along with several of his warlords. "For the past few months, the island has had a lot of volcanic activity so it was abandoned. That’s when Dahak and his followers took up residence."

"But lord Ares, how will we attack Dahak’s base without losing our men to demon possession?" One warlord asked that got many mumbles in agreement from his comrades.

"You will find your protection against demon possession on the ships that will take you to Thera. The ships will set sail this afternoon and you should reach Thera within two days. An attack at night would be best..."

"Ah Ares, despite our conflict, you still manage to impress me..." a disembodied deep voice stated.

The warlords standing about the table looked around the temple hall for the unseen speaker. Their eyes widened when in a flame of fire, Dahak’s form appeared. He wore his usual black leather and black billowing cape. "...your defeat is inevitable yet you still insist on launching attacks against me."

"It’s Dahak!" One warlord declared. His eyes filled with fear along with those of his comrades.

A fireball formed in the evil god’s right hand that he hurled in the direction of the table. All, including Ares, jumped for cover but the fireball did manage to consume two of the warlords.

The surviving warlords had eyes wide with fear as they watched their burning comrades stumble about the temple, screaming in agony. Eventually their charred corpses fell to the floor. The surviving warlords still had fear in their eyes as they first gazed at the smoldering remains then to Dahak. They all made a quick exit out of the temple, as Dahak’s evil laughter echoed around them.

The evil god stopped laughing and turned his gaze toward the war god, now the only other person in the room. "You managed to flee Olympus right when our confrontation was getting hot. But you won’t be so lucky this time." Dahak unsheathed his sword and charged the war god.

Ares quickly unsheathed his own sword and deftly blocked the blow of Dahak’s incoming sword.

The sound of clashing steel echoed throughout the large temple hall as the two immortals repeatedly exchanged blows with their swords. It appeared the two gods were evenly matched in their sword skills, so they backed off their mutual attack and began to circle one another.

Ares had a curious gleam in his eyes as they focused on the red tint to the steel of Dahak’s blade.

"I see you find my sword fascinating and so you should," Dahak said with a wicked grin. "Hind’s blood was mixed into the metal." The smile on Dahak’s face widened as he saw Ares’ eyes widen in surprise. "The deadly blood was forged into the steel, giving the blade its red tint." Suddenly, with viciousness, Dahak swung his sword at Ares but the war god deftly blocked it. "One nick from the blade of my sword and you are finished Ares!!!"

"Then I will have to keep on my toes," the war god firmly stated, as the two gods began to circle each other again.

"Oh, you will have to do more than keep up on your toes."

At that moment, Ares heard a whizzing sound headed straight for him. With lightening quick speed, he raised a hand just in time to halt an arrow from piercing his chest. The war god intently gazed at the arrow---the tip was a deep red.

"It’s Hind’s blood just like my sword," Dahak confessed. "You see, I plan on making sure you don’t leave your temple ALIVE!"

Ares quickly gazed up at the balcony running along the top of the hall. It was now lined with archers. They had obviously entered the temple when he was engrossed in his battle with Dahak. All of them now stood with arrows dipped in Hind’s blood poised against their bows. The war god was definitely in the battle of his life. For not only did he have to ward off Dahak’s blade of Hind’s blood but the Hind’s blood tipped arrows of archers!

Ares didn’t have much time to absorb his dilemma before a hail of arrows was fired in his direction. With lightening quick speed, he batted them away with his sword. While he was warding off the attack of arrows, Dahak decided to lunge at him with his sword. The war god managed to block the blow and give the evil god a kick to the midsection, knocking him some feet away.

Before another attack could begin against him, Ares used his powers to beckon a shield to him.

**********

Lycus had been standing behind one of the temple’s large columns, listening to his father speak to the warlords when Dahak’s form had appeared in a flame of fire.

The little boy had never seen this god before but there was something about him that was familiar. When the fight between the two gods began and the evil god continued to speak, Lycus suddenly realized what was familiar about the other god. His crystal blue eyes widened in fear. It was his voice! His voice sounded exactly like the snake man from his nightmares. The god fighting his father didn’t look like the snake man of his dreams but the child was sure it was him.

Lycus began to fear for his father when he heard the evil god talk about something called Hind’s blood and said it could kill the war god. The child’s fear increased when the arrows of archers, also laced with this Hind’s blood were shot at his father. But the fear soon turned to anger as he watched his father not only fight off an attack from this evil god but deadly arrows too.

Lycus decided to give Ares some help. The little boy retrieved his slingshot from a pocket. It was a good thing he had filled the other pocket with rocks. Lycus put a rock against the band of the slingshot, got one of the archers in view then let the rock fly.

**********

Ares was doing a pretty good job of using the shield to ward off the deadly Hind’s blood tipped arrows and Dahak’s deadly Hind’s blood blade when he noticed the arrows shot at him were lessening. When the war god took a quick look at the balcony above, he saw archers falling over as they quickly drew their hands to their eyes. It appeared that someone had managed to take out some of the archers and he greatly appreciated it.

"Ah, no ya don’t." Lycus sent off another rock that hit one of the archers directly in the left eye. "Yes, a bulls-eye," the child giggled. He thought this was definitely a lot more fun than drawing battle elephants on a temple wall.

Lycus had another archer in his line of fire and was about to hit him with the rock he placed in his slingshot, when he felt someone grab him from behind, lifting him off his feet. The person knocked the slingshot from his grasp as they put a hand over his mouth.

"I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth. Don’t even think about screaming or I will slit your throat here and now!" A female voice hissed.

Lycus felt something cold and wet against the skin of his throat and knew it was the blade of a dagger. He also recognized the woman’s voice. It was the goddess he had encountered that day in the Halls of War when he had been playing with his father’s miniature soldiers.

**********

Ares noticed that the arrow attacked had picked up again. He had lost whoever had been helping him. With the constant hail of arrows, plus Dahak’s fierce attack, it was becoming harder for the war god to defend himself.

Dahak saw an opening in Ares’ defenses and delivered a punch in the side he knew he had injured with an energy ball on Mt. Olympus. The war god howled in agony as he stumbled back away from Dahak. He was near the many temple columns running along the walls and quickly dodged between them.

Dahak let an evil laugh of triumph escape his lips. "You can run Ares but you can’t hide forever!"

As he moved along the shadows of the columns, Ares knew he had to flee the temple if he wanted to survive but first he had to get to Lycus, Lysia and Gabrielle. They had to flee the temple too.

**********

"What are ya gonna do to me?" Lycus asked.

"I’m going to kill you. This dagger at your throat is laced with Hind’s blood. If it just nicks your skin...you will DIE!" Discord cooed in the child’s ear.

The fear Lycus earlier felt was starting to creep back upon him but he was determined to suppress it when he casually addressed his immortal captor. "My name is Lycus. What’s yours?"

For a little kid with a dagger at his throat, Discord thought he acted pretty nonchalant. But then again, this is what she would expect from Ares’ and Xena’s kid. She figured telling him who she was wouldn’t hurt since he wouldn’t be alive much longer. "I’m Discord."

Lycus remembered hearing the name when his grandfather Zeus had visited him and Lysia at their father’s castle in Macedon. The King of the gods had recounted for them some of the pantheon’s history and the family tree. "Hey, you’re one of my Dad’s sisters. That makes you my Aunt."

"Yeah, so?" Discord snorted.

"We are family. Ya shouldn’t kill your family."

The goddess evilly chuckled at the child’s innocence. "For your information kid, it’s a tradition in our family to kill one another."

Lycus began to panic when he felt the Hind’s blood dagger press harder against the delicate skin of his throat. "But why do ya wanna kill me? I’ve never done anything to ya?"

"You just being alive is enough reason for me to want you dead. Besides, I know how devastated your Dad will be over the death of his *precious* son!"

"No! Lemme go! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" Lycus screamed as he began to squirm in Discord’s grasp.

"I told you what would happen if you screamed brat!" Discord prepared to slice Lycus’ throat open with the dagger she had drenched in Hind’s blood.

But before the dagger could penetrate the skin of the child’s throat, Discord felt someone grab hold of her hair and yank hard, forcing her to release her grip on the little boy who fell to the ground.

Discord got a quick glimpse of Ares’ enraged face as he still roughly gripped her wild tresses. The war god effortlessly lifted her petite frame off the ground and hurled her with great force into one of the temple’s stone walls. The goddess slumped to the floor unconscious.

Ares immediately knelt before Lycus. "Are you okay? She didn’t hurt you did she? " He turned the child this way and that making sure Discord had not nicked his skin with the dagger laced in Hind’s blood. He produced a cloth and wiped away the Hind’s blood staining the child’s throat.

"I’m okay, Dad."

Ares noticed the slingshot lying on the temple floor. "That was you who knocked out the archers shooting at me?"

"Yeah, I used my slingshot to take out those guys." Lycus let a sly smile crease his lips.

"Thanks." Ares mussed the child’s curly black hair before rising to his feet. "Lycus, I want you to go to the room where Lysia and Gabrielle are and tell them you must all leave the temple at once."

"But Dad…I don’t wanna leave. I wanna stay and help ya," Lycus pleaded as he gazed up at the war god.

"No, it’s too dangerous. Now do as I say and get your sister and Gabrielle out of here."

Lycus had a disappointed frown on his face but he did obey his father. He quickly retrieved his slingshot then headed off in the direction of the room where he had left Lysia and Gabrielle.

Once Lycus was out of sight, Ares turned his attention to Discord once again.

The goddess was just regaining consciousness from her earlier collision with the stone wall, when she felt someone roughly grip her right arm and haul her to her feet. When Discord’s vision finally cleared she gazed up into the angry face of the God of War.

"I gave you the opportunity to make amends for your betrayal of Olympus but this time, you went too far BITCH! You tried to kill my son!" In Ares’ other hand was the dagger laced with Hind’s blood that the goddess had tried to use on Lycus. The War God was bringing it down to slice Discord’s throat when his actions were suddenly halted. Ares released his hold on Discord as he gazed in shock at the arrow piercing through his side.

"Yes! A direct hit!" Minos declared from his hiding place in the shadows of the temple. The exalted high priest was finally getting his revenge on the war god. He quickly lodged two arrows with Hind’s blood tips against the bow he held and fired them at the injured war god.

**********

Lycus made his way to the room where he had left Lysia and Gabrielle. The two hadn’t even heard the commotion going on in the main hall of the temple and were busy using the colored chalk to create their drawing collaboration.

"Hey, you two, we all have to get out of here now!"

Lysia and Gabrielle immediately rose to their feet upon seeing Lycus’ rushed state.

"Why? What is going on? Gabrielle asked.

"Dad is fighting the snake man from my nightmares in the main hall of the temple!"

"The snake man is here!" Lysia’s brown eyes were wide with fear.

"That’s why Dad wants us all to leave now...he said it was too dangerous for us to stay here."

Xena had told Gabrielle about Lycus’ dreams and Dahak being behind them so she knew the child’s reference to the snake man meant that Dahak was the one Ares was fighting. "Okay kids, lets do what your dad says and get out of here. We will go out the temple’s back exit and head into the woods." Gabrielle ushered the kids out of the room and all three headed towards the back exit.

**********

After the first arrow pierced his body, Ares stumbled over to one of the large columns and used it to stay upright. He was breaking off the end of the arrow piercing his side when he felt the sting of two more arrows that penetrated his back. Ares was no longer able to stand and fell to the floor, on his back, pushing the two arrows that penetrated his back through the skin of his chest.

He could feel the Hind’s blood poison racing through his body as he lay on the floor of his own temple, unable to move. His breathing was becoming labored as his brown eyes focused on Discord who now stood over him.

"Ha, and you were going to kill me with the Hind’s blood but it looks like you are the one who is dying now." Evil laughter escaped the lips of the goddess that was mixed with the laughter of a man who now too stood over Ares’ fallen form.

Ares face was riddled with confusion as his glazed over eyes focused on a face he hadn’t seen in years. "Minos! But you...are suppose...to be dead?" he breathed.

"Oh, I was dead Ares, but the Dark One brought me back to life to serve him once again." Minos let a wicked smile crease his lips as he gazed down at the fallen war god. "It appears Dahak was right after all when he told me that revenge is a dish best served cold." Minos broke out into evil laughter again and Discord joined him.

The two ceased their laughter when Dahak approached. "Well Minos, I see you are the lucky archer who stuck Ares, congratulations!" An evil smile creased the god’s lips.

"Thank you Dark One," Minos replied returning the evil smile. "Oh, I must inform you that I saw your grandson in the temple."

"You saw Lycus! Where is he now?" The god demanded in a rushed tone.

"After Ares prevented Discord from killing the child, he ran off. He probably fled the temple."

"Discord! You tried to kill my grandson!" Dahak roughly grabbed Discord by her throat pulling her towards him.

"She had a dagger laced with Hind’s blood...I saw the whole thing." Minos added.

"And you kept some of the Hind’s blood for yourself, huh?" Dahak’s dark gaze bore down into Discord’s face.

Discord glared at Minos for ratting her out before she set her gaze on Dahak. "I don’t know why you are getting all bent out of shape about me wanting the brat dead! After all, you did have Hope kill Xena’s oldest son."

"Solan was too mortal to be of any use to me. But Lycus is almost a full god and he must remain alive for him to serve my purpose." Angrily, Dahak hurled Discord away from him. "It would be best for you to get out of my sight right now!"

Discord did what the evil god suggested and in a sparkle of light, quickly vanished from sight.

"You...you will never get Lycus...Xe-Xena will...stop you," Ares breathed.

"Ah Ares, as of now, Xena will probably personally hand Lycus over to me. That boy is destined for such greatness and it really is a pity his father won’t live to see it." Dahak raised his sword high above his head and in a quick vertical motion, brought the blade down to pierce right through Ares’ chest.

In one last effort, Ares tried to remove the sword being held in his chest but his muscular arms quickly lost their strength and fell to his sides just as his eyes closed one final time and the temple started to violently shake.

**********

Gabrielle, Lycus and Lysia had safely made it through the back exit of the temple and proceeded into the thick forest, directly behind the large structure. They didn’t know what a safe distance would be and kept on running. But Lycus came to a stop when the ground began to violently shake.

The child had a bad feeling regarding his father and took off in the direction of the temple they had just left. Gabrielle looked over her shoulder to see Lycus heading back the way they had came. "Lycus, what are you doing? Come back!" Gabrielle took off after Lycus and Lysia followed her. But the path of the two girls was blocked when the shaking earth uprooted a dead tree that fell directly in their path, halting their pursuit of Lycus.

**********

The earth continued to shake a few moments more then stood still again.

Pleased smiles crossed the faces of Dahak and Minos as they gazed down at the now lifeless body of the war god. Dahak removed his sword from Ares’ chest before the pair headed towards the front entrance of the temple.

When they got there, they found the archers. Most had recovered from Lycus’ assault with a slingshot.

"The god of this temple is dead," Dahak announced.

Pleased smiles appeared on the faces of the archers.

"Now all of you must find my grandson who fled the temple only moments ago. You must bring him to me…alive. He answers to the name of Lycus and looks quite a bit like the deceased war god but he does have my eyes. Now get moving!"

Upon hearing Dahak’s commands, the archers immediately exited the temple in search of Lycus.

Dahak and Minos exited the temple soon after them. Once the pair was outside, Dahak raised both of his hands, unleashing giant energy balls that reduced the Temple of Ares to a pile of rubble in a matter of moments.

The people of Thebes who were in the street when the temple was destroyed stood in silent shock as they gazed at the large pile of rubble. Fear formed in their eyes as they gazed at the man who had just destroyed the Temple of Ares.

"PEOPLE OF THEBES," Minos shouted. "THE GODS OF OLYMPUS EXIST NO MORE...MAKE WAY FOR THE ONE GOD...LORD DAHAK."

The people of Thebes looked on in horror as the pair erupted into evil laughter. Instantly, a flame of fire appeared consuming their two forms, then they vanished into nothingness.

Chapters 56 – 58

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