Hercules charged up the stairs. Three days -- it had been three days since Gabrielle left Xena standing in the middle of the road, confused and stunned to the point where Iolaus had to take her inside the tavern. After that, she never came out of her room for anything. Hercules had made sure food was taken to her room. The first thing that came into his view as he made the turn to ascent the second flight of stairs was the stack of plates. The food had not been touched. The Son Of Zeus raised his hand to knock on the door. He knew -- only by horrible first hand experience -- how hard it was to pick up one’s life after your beloved disappeared. Granted, Gabrielle wasn’t slain like Danae had been, but she was gone for all intents and purposes. As much as he had wanted to take her aside and let her have a chance to grieve, there were pressing matters to be handled.

“Xena? Xena, it’s Hercules. Listen, Admentus is coming. Some scouts heard horses coming over the valley -- a lot of them. Xena? If you--” The door flew open. Hercules looked through the crack in the door. There was not a single piece of furniture that had not received a gash, dent or just had been plain smashed to smithereens. Hercules looked down at Xena a she braced herself against the door frame. Her eyes were blood red and ringed with shadow. Her hair was tangled, falling down her face and lending a more feral caste to her features. She looked up at Hercules with eyes that would have killed any other mortal.

“He’s here?” She croaked. Her voice was teetering on the edge of rawness.

“Xena, before you go, you need--” Xena blew right by him. She hopped down the steps three at a time, leaving Hercules behind. She landed on the tavern floor and rushed through the crowd like a force of nature. She struck the door and continued to rush for the town square, knocking people aside as they rushed to their assigned places. Had everything been better, she would have admired the way that the villagers went to their posts with no fuss or spare word said. Right now, she was fixated on her own goal.

Charging into the square, she saw Admentus dismount from his horse and stare at her intently. He was sizing her up, doing what any good soldier would do first. A casual smirk brushed his lips. He was thinking that he had easy prey in this stricken Xena.

Think that all you want, you son of a bitch. He swaggered to stand in front of her, his hands resting on his sword belt, not on the hilt of his weapon. He was completely relaxed on off his edge.

“Well, the great Xena. Where’s that little blonde girlie plaything of yours? Well, no matter, I’m sure she fills the grave quite nicely.” He looked over his shoulder to laugh with his men, then focused his attention back on the woman, “Enough of this chatter. I’ve come to make you a deal. Ride with me. You’ll get half of whatever we take -- even the girls. You in?”

Xena’s fingers flew forward like arrows, striking either side of Admentus’ throat with the crunch of collapsing flesh. He gasped and dropped to his knees, clawing at his neck feebly. Blood trickled down his nose, dripping on the dusty ground in loud pops.

“You know the speech.” She hissed as she stepped over the writhing body. “Who’s the lieutenant?” She asked the gathered horsemen.

The assembly looked at each other, until a young man -- no more than seventeen seasons old -- worked his horse forward. “I am.”

“Good, I have a counter-deal. You take your men and completely clear out of this valley by sunset tomorrow and never return. If I hear so much that you’re pissing in their river ten leagues upstream, I will hunt you down and kill you, your men, your animals and then I will work on your families. Got it?” Whatever light burned in her eye must have unnerved the young man. His face paled under the scruff of new beard as he straightened in his saddle. He looked back at the group behind him.

“RIDE OUT AND STRIKE CAMP!” He pulled his horse around and galloped away. Xena turned around to march back to her room. She walked with a new sense of purpose, a new direction that seemed to have lacked as of late. She paused at the body of Admentus. He was still, his eyes fixed forever upwards into eternity. The blood on his lip was starting clot and cool. Xena gave the body a hard tap in the stomach with her boot. It moved under the force of the blow, but did little else.

“Xena! What the hell did you do?” Hercules pointed to the body on the ground. “Why?”

“I had to. I don’t expect you to understand.”

Hercules reached out and grabbed Xena’s arm. “He didn’t merit that, Xena.”

“That,” Xena pointed to the body on the ground, “would have had no remorse in killing you, me or anyone else in the village. He got what was coming to him. Now, I am going after Gabrielle and I will get her back. So lead, follow or get out of my way!” She met his stare. He let go of her arm and took a step back.

“I still object to Admentus’ treatment, but. . . I will help you get Gabrielle back. What do we do?”

Xena looked around trying to focus. “We find out who took her and why. Any ideas?”

“Tell me what the women looked like.”

Xena frowned as she concentrated, closing her eyes to block out distractions. “They wore purple and one of them had a silver pin -- looked like a bunch of grapes.”

It was Hercules’ turn to grimace. He said only one word that Xena recognized after a second’s reflection.

“Maenads.”