posiedonstar4

Poseidon's Star

Page 4

                    "Quick Autolycus!'' Xena said with urgency in her voice. She had just managed to defeat the giant reptile, but knew someone would investigate the noise soon. "I know (Autolycus said),I've almost got 'er. Come on..." Xena dropped the borrowed sword before drawing her own. "Sure you don't need help with that lock? I want to get out of here before we get anymore company." "Trust me Xena, five more minutes and The Star of Poseidon is ours!" "Unfortunately we don't have that long. " Xena shook her head and sliced through the chains holding The Star in a small but heavy cage. "Actually, it's already too late I'm afraid." Ascelious said from directly behind them. "Now why don't you make this easy on everyone and just hand it over?" The god stuck out his hand a little. "You want it? You got it!" Xena said punching Ascelious in the face with the end of her sword. It knocked him out cold. "That's my Warrior Princess! "Autolycus exclaimed. Xena smiled and reached inside the cage for their quarrie, before heading for the door. Autolycus looked at her, then back at the lock lying on the floor. He grabbed it before following Xena. "I'll master this baby eventually." Xena rolled her eyes at him and headed for the quickest exit with The King of Theives hot on her heels.        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After going through numerous floors and doors Iolaus came to a barred heavy oak door. By now he was almost too tired to speak. He opened the door expecting to finally find Gabrielle inside,but found himself face to face with a humongous white tiger. He shut the door with a loud 'YIPE!' After walking a little farther to the next door he thought it a good idea to say something first. He was relieved to her the sound of Gabrielle's voice. In a flash he had opened the door and was unlocking Gabrielles chains. "Who are you?" she asked, curiously looking at his costume. "Iolaus" He had almost forgotten he was in disguise. "Iolaus!?" She repeated rubbing her sore wrists. "Yes. How do look?" "Great." "Thanks. We gotta go. Xena said to met her at a lake not far from here." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                        Once everyone had assembled at the lake Xena hugged Gabrielle. "Are you OK? He didn't harm you did he?" At Gabrielle's long winded words of assurance, Xena relaxed. She took The Poseidon's Star from Autolycus and proceeded to thoroughly examine it . "It must be genuine. We can head back to Atlantis tommorrow." She smiled. "It better be real, I'm not going back there again." Autolycus said to Xena. He looked at the others. "It was a good thing Ascelious hadn't obtained that many guards yet, or we might never have gotten out of there!" This started everyone telling each other about their adventures at the temple. Xena glanced at her friends before walking into the nearby woods. They were too occupied to notice her absense.
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           Ares appeared before she could call him. Xena smiled briefly at his astuteness. "What's going to happen to Ascelious?" She inquired of him. "I asked Zeus to keep an eye out on him. He agrees that Ascelious isn't ready for that kind of power." Xena nodded. "I'd hate to have to go after that stone, every time he was feeling inferior." she smiled tentatively. "And I'd hate to have to constantly guard every one of my possessions from him." Ares looked down at the red and gold ring still glinting on his finger. "You only have to worry about Autolycus now." They both glanced over to where Autolycus and the others could be seen in the distance, then back at each other. Neither knew what else to say, now that buisness was taken care of. Both Xena and Ares knew that while they may have been on the same side this time, that was far too often not the case. Briefly Ares considered mentioning that if she would just switch sides they'd work together much more often. Thankfully Xena's next remark stopped him from saying anything stupid. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you." Xena said after the interminable minute. Ares smiled. "Count on it." He disappeared and Xena started to walk back to her friends. She was smiling a little too.
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                                                       CHAPTER FOUR
         A day later when they reached the harbor Xena filled Hercules in on all that had happened and showed him The Poseidon's Star. Alcemene had given him a reprieve since he hadn't had Iolaus there to help him. Because of this, Hercules was free to accompany his friends. All of them then set forth to Atlantis to put the stone back. Once they had reached the island, they walked through the now nearly deserted streets to an ancient stone tower nestled between the sea and the city. On the way back to Atlantis Salmoneus had told everyone what had occurred before Xena arrived. The citizens hadn't known the cause of the sinking till a young boy spoke up about seeing a man through the big windows at the top of the tower two days before. When the boy went up to investigate he had only caught a glimpse of black hair and black leather and assumed it was Ares from the stories his grandmother had told him about the gods.

       Normally the tower was located in a position that it would be totally accessible, without getting wet. This time though it was obvious they were going to have to take a boat. Hercules, Gabrielle, Xena, and Autolycus decided keep going. Salmoneus couldn't bare to leave his 'valuable' merchandise and Joxer and Iolaus offered to help him protect it. Salmoneus couldn't figure out why they smiled so widely when they offered, but he was really glad of the help none the less.               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once the others reached the tower they looked up at it with a mixture of awe and fear. Due to the unaccustomed water, the tower might very well be dangerous. Everyone agreed that they needed to risk it though. The old tower was lined with huge arched windows following the winding staircase. This provided the perfect way into the tower since the real door was under the waves. Hercules reluctantly agreed to stay with the boat because there was no where to moor it. Misfortune soon hit his friends as Xena, Autolycus, and Gabrielle travelled up the stairs. They quickly realized that the farther they went, the windows became fewer and fewer and the tower became increasingly skinnier. Eventually Autolycus could go no further. He explained that with his devious theives' mind he would have found another point of access to the top if he had really wanted up there. He gave Xena his lock picking device and she and Gabrielle kept going till they came to a door slightly bigger than what a child could fit through. It was unlocked.