Part 3 - The Journey Continues

The air swirled around her, blowing her hair every which way. She kept pushing it out of her eyes, but it always blew back in. That's why she had trouble seeing the person before her. She knew he was taller and bigger than her, but that's all. His face was hidden and his body seemed nothing more than a shadow. A sound pierced the wind, barely grazing past Jonus's ear. She saw an arrow impale itself through the man's heart. He reached for the arrow, but he couldn't. He fell towards her, slowly, slowly, until he was almost on top of her...

Jonus awoke from the dream, her skin cold, but sweaty and her breathe in short spurts. She looked over at Joxer lying next to her, close to the glowing embers of what was once a raging fire. She could hear a light snore.

She breathed deeply and lay back down. She knew the man in her dream was Joxer, she just knew it! Even though she couldn't see his face, she could feel that it was him. But this hadn't been like any other dream she had had before. It felt too real to be the work of Somnus. No, this was something else entirely. She would almost say it was a vision, except that she had never had one before - why start now?

The image continued in her head as she tried going back to sleep.

"Artemis," she sighed. "What does it mean?"

The morning arrived with little sleep having been done by Jonus. She tossed and turned the rest of the night and awoke feeling more tired than when she went to sleep. She figured that perhaps a swim in the nearby pond would help to waken her, especially with the chill in the air. Summer was fast closing.

She groggily went to the pond, stripped off her shortened pants (she called them halvsies because they were half the length of regular trousers) and pulled off her sleeveless shirt. She was just about to remove her bra top when a splash quickly brought her to attention.

There, in the middle of the pond, was Joxer swimming about like he didn't have a care in the world. Jonus's eyes widened and then she jumped back behind a tree and some shrubs. She kept her eye on Joxer, but he did not appear to have seen her. He kept splashing about, dunking his head under and spurting out water when he emerged. He dived a couple of times, floated on his back a while and just generally looked to be having fun.

Finally, after at least half an hour, he walked onto the small, sandy beach and shook his head. He plopped down and sighed loudly. "Nothing like a cold bath to wake ya up," he said to no one. "Yeah, yeah..." He shook his head to his left, trying to remove some water in his ear, then fell back, his hands underneath his head. "What a great day."

Jonus decided that she had better return to the campsite. Although she had wanted to join in with Joxer in his play, she somehow sensed that he would be embarrassed. Well, she probably would be too since she had only half her clothes on. And she remembered the men who caught a peak at Artemis when she bathed. A shiver ran up her spine.

So, she remained behind the tree while Joxer played. Only when he lay on the beach did she notice that he had no clothes on whatsoever. She had to stop and stare, even though her brain screamed to turn away. Her body just wouldn't co-operate. She hadn't seen such white skin before! Artemis and all the other gods had golden skin and from what she remembered of her village, so did pretty much everyone else from working outside so much. But Joxer, well, he was almost sickly pale. As her gaze followed Joxer's form, she did avert her eyes at one point. That was something she had never seen on a man before, only animals. She had to force herself to look at the rest of him, but found nothing else shocking. Except when he turned over onto his stomach. She saw the even whiter lines that crossed his back, as though he had hurt himself a long time ago, and one that was more circular on his left shoulder. She wondered what they would have been from, but shrugged it off. Asking him would only admit to him that she had seem him...well, naked. And that was something she didn't want to admit, not ever.

With the quietness of a leopard hunting its prey, Jonus carefully came out of her hiding spot, grabbed her clothes and ventured back to the campsite. She sat on the ground and sighed once more. "That was certainly interesting, to say the least." She paused. "Of course now I don't quite need that bath to wake up anymore." She smiled and raised an eyebrow. Maybe the new world isn't quite so scary as she thought it was.

Joxer returned sometime later to find Jonus quietly eating some cheese and fruit. "Good morning," he said in his cheeriest voice. "Gonna be a great day, huh?"

Jonus nodded. "Mmm." She took another bite of the apple, not even looking up at Joxer, even though he was fully clothed.

"Boy, you should try that pond. Is it ever cold, but invigorating." He puffed up his chest with a deep inhale, then a slow exhale. "Oh, yeah. That felt great." He bent down and ruffled around in his bag and produced a small knife then turned towards Jonus.

Jonus nearly choked. "No! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to see you naked. Really! Please don't hurt me." Little bits of cheese and apply flew out of her mouth as she tried to talk, her face covered in fear and her body pulling itself up into a ball.

Joxer stood there dumbfounded. "Huh?" His eyes darted around, completely confused. "What are you..." He stopped in mid-sentence, the realisation of what she said fully registering with him. "Oh, hey, I'm not going to hurt you." He half laughed and lowered the knife. "I just use this to cut up my food, that's all." He laughed again and sat near Jonus, shaking his head. He speared the apply lying nearby and began eating. "You really thought I was going to stab you with this? Huh, that's funny." He laughed once more.

Jonus slowly relaxed and wondered when he was going to get mad at her seeing him in the nude. She cautiously looked over at Joxer, but he was still smiling and still munching. Jonus cocked an eyebrow and made an attempt to laugh with him. "Heh. Yeah. Pretty silly, huh?"

"I'll say," he answered. "I'm supposed to be helping you. Artemis would have me killed in a second if I did anything to harm you."

Still no realisation.

"Well, I don't know about that." Jonus began to loosen up. This Joxer guy didn't quite get everything. Could be worse, I guess, she thought. He could have heard me and gotten very angry. Then where would I be?

"Hello?" Joxer tapped her shoulder. "You still here?"

"Huh?" Jonus shook her head and looked at Joxer.

"I said, do you want to go for a swim yourself?" He looked mildly annoyed at her.

"Oh, um, well, I don't know." She began to fidget.

"Go. You'll love it."

Why was this making her so nervous? Was she afraid Joxer would try to sneak a peak at her too? Or was this a guilty conscience coming through. She stopped. I've never had a guilty conscience before. This is really weird.

"Soooo?"

"Uh, well aren't you supposed to wait an hour after eating before going in?" The words slipped so easily out of her mouth. Why was she still stalling?

He just glared at her.

"Okay, okay. Just don't look at me like that."

Joxer was right, the water was cold! Jonus stood at her waist, her arms covering her chest as she constantly scanned the area, waiting to see a pair of eyes gawking at her through the bushes. But none appeared.

"Now you're getting all paranoid, Jon. Artemis never would have chosen him if he was a pervert." She walked a little deeper and shivered a little more. Gods, but it was cold.

"Ah, to Tartarus with it." With a deep gulp of air, she dived under the water and immediately came back up. "Aaahhh...cc...ccc...cccoollddd. Very, very ccoolldd." She brought her arms even closer to her chest.

"Well, what did you expect? This is a spring fed pond after all."

Jonus whirled to see Artemis standing on the beach.

"Artemis! What are you doing here?"

The goddess smiled. "Seeing how you're doing." She looked Jonus up and down. "And by the looks of things, not too good. Come on, get out of there before you freeze to death." With a flick of her wrist, Jonus was on the beach wrapped in a warm fur skin, teeth chattering. "Joxer must be one tough skinned boy to stay in there for so long." She smiled warmly at her protege. "How are things going between you and him?"

"All right, I guess." She leaned in closer to the huntress. "He's not a real smart guy, is he?"

Artemis laughed. "No, he's not. But remember one thing: he is intensely loyal and the best friend a person could have. Don't underestimate his devotion to his friends and loved ones. He may not be a Socrates, but he's still important."

Jonus shook her head in agreement. She remembered a young girl from her village that everyone called dumb. They tormented her, teasing her, calling her stupid and a dummy. She remembered the girl going home in tears on many occassions. But that all stopped one day when it was her that knew how to save the choking baby. Everyone else had panicked or began praying to the gods, but Corina knew just what to do. No one teased her again. Jonus wondered what happened to her.

"She got married and had five children. Her husband was a loving and tolerant man. She was happy."

"Do you always read my thoughts?"

"Sometimes. Listen, I have to go. There's a hunting party praying for me to give them success. I thought I'd surprise them and show up. Give them a little thrill. You know."

Jonus nodded. "Yeah, I do. When will you be back?"

The goddess shrugged her golden shoulders. "I don't know. But I'll be there when you need me, okay?"

Jonus nodded her head. She looked up to see Olympian shimmer away. She pulled the skin closer to her and began walking back to camp.

Joxer looked up from his apple and stopped. He watched Jonus make her way through the brush to find the rest of her breakfast that she had left when Joxer insisted that she go for a swim. She sat down on the ground and began eating. But what Joxer saw was a young woman gracefully seat herself on the earthen floor, slowly pick up her pear and delicately take a bite. He saw the water drip from her wet hair and fall smoothly down her shirt, over her breasts and then to the ground. She lightly shook her head to remove more excess water and Joxer smiled at the spray that overcame him. He breathed deeply, catching her scent and smiled even more.

"Joxer!"

He nearly fell off the log he was on. "Wha...huh?"

"I said, how much longer do you think it'll be until we get to Amazon territory?" She looked puzzled over the expression on Joxer's face, but shrugged it away.

"Oh, uh, probably another three days or so. We still have to go through the Centaur village. And that can be interesting at the best of times."

"Why?"

Joxer noticed the wide-eyed expression on Jonus's face, like a child discovering something new. He cleared his throat. "The Centaurs are a bit protective and wary of strangers. But we should be okay. Just tell them that we know Xena and should be able to pass easily."

"Oh." She took another bite. "I've never met a Centaur before. Are they really as ugly as people say?"

"I don't know about ugly. But they are different, being half horse and half human. The Amazons seem to like them, though." He finished his apple and threw the core into the fire. He wanted to look back at Jonus again, but stopped. Don't go down that path, Jox. You know where it'll lead you. He could feel his emotions welling up insides him and forced them back down. You're only starting to get over...over... Gods, I still can't even say her name! He sighed deeply, closing his eyes and imaging a strawberry-blond looking at him with pity in her eyes. He shook his head.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jonus asked gently.

"Yeah." He got up. "C'mon, we better get going." He pulled out the compass and stared at it for a long time. "This way," he finally said and they set off for the west.

Jonus noticed that Joxer had been extremely quiet since breakfast. Maybe he did realise that I saw him without any clothes and he's so embarrased he's ignoring me. She shifted the bow on her shoulder. Ah, maybe I can get him to teach me how to use this thing. She snapped her fingers. "Um, Joxer?"

"Yeah." He didn't turn around.

"I was wondering if you could show me how to use this bow and arrow?" She held her breathe waiting for his reply. "That is, if we have time."

Joxer slowed then stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned. "You want me to show you how to shoot an arrow?"

Jonus's eyes looked quickly around. "Yeah," she said slowly. She gazed up at her teacher. "If it's okay with you." She waited and hoped.

Joxer furrowed his brow. No one had ever asked him to have him teach them something. Never. But Artemis had said that he would be a teacher of sorts. "Okay," he finally said. "We're going to need a target. Something to aim at." He looked around until he spotted one. "That tree down there will do. You see it? The willow?"

Jonus followed Joxer's gaze to the old willow about 100 paces to their right. "I couldn't shoot a tree, Joxer! Artemis would be very angry."

"It's a tree. What do you think that bow is..." He stopped and took a closer look at the bow, feeling the metal detail work. "This is amazing. Where did Artemis get this?" He looked up at Jonus.

"Hepheastus made the metal. It's beautiful, isn't it?" She found herself relaxing now that Joxer had apparently taken up her offer.

"It is." He looked a little longer at the artwork, then back at Jonus. "And believe me, the tree won't bite you. We can practice on it." He looked to Jonus's side, searching for the quiver and arrows. "Where's the rest?"

"Rest?" She watched the warrior examining her posterior. She felt somewhat embarrassed by this and wished he would stop. "Joxer, what are you looking at?"

"Your quiver. Where's the rest of your arrows?" He pulled out the golden one and was awestruck. It had almost no weight in his hands and almost glowed.

"Be careful," Jonus gasped. "Artemis only gave me one of those." She carefully took it from Joxer's hands and placed it back into the quiver.

Joxer straightened. "Well, we need some arrows to shoot with."

As if on cue, thirty or so arrows appeared on a rock in front of them.

And in less than fifteen minutes, they were all impaled in the tree.

"By the gods, Jonus," Joxer began, "you're a natural at this." He attempted to pull out one arrow, but was having difficulty. He pulled once more and it finally came loose. He looked at the arrow. "Huh, hardly a mark on it." He shrugged and handed it to Jonus.

"You really think so?" She stopped herself. What was that? she scolded herself. Since when have you doubted any of your abilities before? And that voice you said it in...too much like Aphrodite when she wants something. "Um, well, I guess some things come to people later in life."

"Huh, guess so...uggh...There. That's the last of them." He gave over the remaning arrows. "Did you want to practice some more?"

Jonus shook her head. "No. I think we should get going. Besides," She rubbed her stomach, "I'm getting hungry."

Joxer nodded. "Yeah, me too." He looked into the woods and saw a rabbit jump away. A grin crossed his face. "How does rabbit sound?"

Onto Chapter four

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