"THE AMULET OF TIME: Once Upon a Time" (episode #1)
A Xena: Warrior Princess fan story
by Suzanne Smiley (gabrianne@xenafan.com)
written: 4/16/99 - 5/5/99. revised: 5/6/99, 6/12/99, 7/16/99, 9/10/99, 9/15/99, 3/15/00, 9/27/00, 10/4/00, 10/12/00, 10/19/00, 11/24/00, 2/24/01, 2/25/01, 3/2/01, 6/25/01, 9/18/01
RATING: G
CHARACTERS: Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Narrator, and two others
SUMMARY: She's just a typical 20 year old until the day an old woman gives her a mysterious amulet a week before her birthday. She soon finds out that there's more than meets the eye to the amulet's strange green stone when she is transported to ancient Greece, over 2000 years in the past. There she meets a certain Warrior Princess and her friends.
TIMING: This story takes place in very early Season 4 of the Xena series, definitely before the whole India arc episodes.
JOXER ALERT: This fanfict is pro Joxer. If you don't like Joxer then you might not like this story. Aw, but Joxer's awesome! And although I tried to treat him better than the writers in the show often did, I do not make him out to be more than he is. Silliness and stupidity abounds! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer and related characters and concepts are (c) 1995-2001 Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal. No challenge of ownership to the trademarked property is intended or implied. I am a simple bard with a story to tell making absolutely no financial gain whatsoever.
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"THE AMULET OF TIME: Once Upon a Time"
6/16/98
It was the second week of June 1998 and I was out of school for the summer. The beautiful sunny morning outside my house in Ocean Pines, Maryland enticed me to take the eight-mile drive into Ocean City to look at the ocean.
Getting to the barrier island was quick. It was still early in the season and traffic wasn’t that bad. After crossing the Route 50 bridge, I made a right turn and headed for the inlet parking lot. Once there, I parked the car, put money in the meter, and walked over to the rock jetty that ran along the beach into the sea. I sat on a large rock and leaned back, my arms stretched out behind me. Closing my eyes, I breathed deeply, taking in the warm sun, listening to the pounding surf on the rocks below me, feeling the salt air blow softly against my face and lightly tease my bangs.
I sat this way on the jetty for a few minutes, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and turned my head. An elderly woman, of about sixty, stood over me. Her long gray hair blew in the breeze. Her baggy clothing sagged on her lean, but sturdy frame.
"Nice weather, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes it is.” Gazing out over the ocean again, I didn’t give it much thought. She's probably just some tourist.
"I treated myself with a trip to Ocean City as a present for my birthday. It's next week."
I was right. She is a tourist. "How ‘bout that? My birthday is next week, too." The Eastern
Shore is a small and friendly place. It wasn't odd to talk to strangers.
“Do you enjoy living here?” the old woman asked.
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“I’m thinking of retiring here.”
“Oh. That’s nice.”
She stood and I sat for a few moments, looking at the water. The only sounds were the lapping of waves against the shore and the cry of an occasional passing seagull.
“I’d like to give you something,” the woman said.
“Huh?” I glanced at her. “No, that’s okay.”
She wasn’t listening. She reached into her pocket, producing a beautiful green stone on a gold chain. "This amulet is very old… from ancient Greece. It was given to me when I was about your age and has brought me great joy over the years, but I'm old now. It's time to pass it on to someone else who I know will appreciate it as much as I have."
“But I hardly know you…”
The woman took my right hand in hers, placed the amulet into it, and closed my fingers. "Take good care of it," she whispered to me, "and be careful how you use it." She smiled as she turned and walked away over the sand.
"Umm, thank you?" I called out. Weird.
I turned the amulet around in my hand. It looked very old and it was heavy, weighing a pound or two, at least. The heavily worn, antique chain appeared to be made of gold and I guessed the beautifully cut green stone was an emerald. If it was really from ancient Greece, like the old woman said, then it was probably worth a fortune. I just hoped it wasn't stolen property.
What was the woman doing with it and what had she meant when she told me, 'be careful how you use it'? That was strange. But what could I do with it? I couldn't just leave it on the beach. Having no other choice, I took it home with me.
For the next week, the amulet stayed in the nightstand beside my bed as I wondered what to do with it. It would have certainly been nice to know a little about the unusual jewel. Wondering if it really was from ancient Greece, I checked out a stack of books from the library on ancient Greece and Greek mythology.
I read for hours in my room that warm summer evening, lying on my bed with books sprawled out around me. Grumbling about not having found anything useful, I opened a book entitled, Ancient Greek Myths… Or Are They?.
Thumbing through the book, I stopped on a random page and began to read a passage…
“Just another warlord among many, the Warrior Princess Xena and her army once terrorized the land of Greece. After many years and acts of unspeakable torment, Xena was given a new lease on life with the help of the mighty Hercules [See HERCULES]. Consumed with terrible guilt, Xena turned against her dark past, vowing to make amends for her previous misdeeds. With her unforgettable war cry, incredible strength, and amazing stealth, the Warrior Princess proved to be a much more memorable hero than the warlord she started out as. Legend has it that Xena’s fighting skills were beyond that of mere mortals. She could run short distances up vertical walls and jump impossible heights into the air, endlessly defying gravity. Xena was also known to battle Ares, the Greek god of war, who continually tried to seduce her into her old ways.”
I laughed, closing the book. “Well, you know that story’s made up.”
Setting the book aside, I reached for the amulet, which had gotten buried under a book called, Ancient Treasures. Pushing a few books out of the way, I rolled onto my back and looked over the stone's glassy surface. "I'll bet you have a lot to talk about, huh?" I said halfheartedly to the stone. "If only stones could talk, you could tell me where you came from."
Suddenly there was a blinding flash and I landed with a thud on my back. Then there was nothing but darkness. For a moment, I thought that my bedside light had burnt out and I had fallen from my bed to the floor. The amulet was still in my hand. I couldn't see a thing so I tried to roll over on my stomach and then get up, but when I did, I felt myself falling… down… down… down…THUNK.
When I awoke, I was lying on my back, staring up at trees. I tried to lift my head, but it throbbed so heavily I moaned a little and had to lie back down.
"She's waking up. Go check on her, Gabrielle." I didn't recognize the voice.
A pretty, young woman, a few years older than me, knelt down by my side. She had long strawberry blonde hair with bangs.
"W- Where, where am I?" I mumbled, somewhat alarmed. "Who are you?"
"Shhh. Don't be afraid," the young woman said softly. "You're safe with us. My name is Gabrielle." She placed a cool damp cloth gently to my forehead. "How are you feeling?"
The cloth brought soothing relief to the horrible throbbing. "My head,” I mumbled, “It hurts."
"I’d imagine so," Gabrielle replied. "You have a nasty bump on your head. It appears you fell out of a tree."
Gabrielle's companion knelt down beside me. She had long black hair and bright blue eyes. She slid her hand under my head and lifted it gently. She held out a small wooden cup. "Here, it's water. Can you drink it?"
I took a sip, still thinking about what Gabrielle had said, "A tree?" I made a face. "What was I doing in a tree?"
"We wondered that ourselves," said the woman who had given me the water. Her voice, though speaking quietly, seemed to carry much authority. It was the same voice I had heard when I first opened my eyes.
The young blonde, who had called herself Gabrielle, was dressed in a short brown skirt and an olive green top that was roughly the equivalent of a sports bra. The other woman wore some kind of leather dress garnished with intricate copper armor. I began to wonder if I was dreaming.
"This is Xena," Gabrielle motioned her hand towards the other woman.
Xena, Xena, where had I heard that name before? Oh, that’s right! The funny story I’d read about the legendary "warrior princess" of ancient Greece who turned against the dark side in order to fight for truth, justice, and the Appian Way... Wait, that wasn't right. Now I knew I had to be dreaming.
“Where am I?” I muttered, wishing my headache would go away.
“In a stretch of woods a few miles outside of Sparta,” said Xena.
Sparta… Sparta?! “Sparta, Greece?”
Xena and Gabrielle nodded.
"You’re kidding me, right?” I asked, ignoring the pain in my head and limbs. “You’re just a dream I’m having from reading all that stuff about ancient Greece last night, right?”
Gabrielle stared at me.
“You must have hit your head harder than we thought,” Xena muttered. "Can you remember what village you’re from?"
"Ocean
Pines." I replied, deciding to let this thing play out. A
dream. It was obviously a dream.
"That's a funny name for a village." Gabrielle looked puzzled. "I've never heard of it."
"I know," I yawned, "That's because I'm from about two thousand years in the future... and this is a dream." I closed my eyes and dozed off.
There was one little problem with my theory. This was a heck of a long dream. Nightfall had crept in and I had yet to awake in my own bed. It had to be a dream, right? I had no better explanation for what was happening. My headache slowly subsiding, I sat up and decided to try and make sense of what had happened so far. I fell from a tree and hit my head, knocking myself out. Bruised, but nothing appeared to be broken. These two women, Xena and Gabrielle, stumbled upon me and decided to play the good Samaritans. I had a hard time explaining anything to them because no matter what I said, the two women blamed the bump on my head. Xena told me I'd stay with her and Gabrielle until I was thinking clearly. That night I fell asleep under a vast blanket of twinkling stars, hoping a new day might bring some answers.
When I opened my eyes, the morning sun welcomed me, shining through tall, leafy trees. A gentle breeze ruffled my bangs as I listened to the distant sounds of birds chirping blissfully. Gabrielle was crouched a few feet away, stoking the embers of the morning fire with a long stick. Sitting up, I watched her for a moment, wondering where Xena might be. I sighed. Nothing had changed from the day before. "Something tells me we're not in Maryland anymore, Toto,” I muttered.
Gabrielle grinned as she propped her stoking stick on a rock. "Hey, how do you feel today?"
The first thing I noticed was that my headache was gone. The bruise on my head still smarted when I touched it, but overall, it was a great improvement. “Better,” I replied. When I tried to stand, I found that I was able, despite some lingering soreness in my limbs. I walked over to Gabrielle. "Where's Xena?"
"I'm right here."
Startled, I turned in the direction of the voice and saw Xena walking up the path toward us. She carried a bundle in her arms.
Gabrielle stood, greeting her friend with a smile.
"I rode into town to get some supplies."
Glancing
up, I saw a cream colored horse standing off in the distance on the edge of the
clearing. Ah, rode into town.
Xena set the bundle on the ground and knelt beside it as she sifted through its contents. "Good to see you're doing better today," she told me. "Here," she tossed me a ball of fabric she had removed from the bundle. "Put those clothes on. You'll be much less conspicuous in those than what you're wearing."
Gabrielle fingered the sleeve of the t-shirt I wore. "Where did you get your clothes, anyway?"
I looked down at my outfit: sky blue t-shirt, dark blue shorts, and a pair of sneakers. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try us," said Xena.
I took a deep breath and let it out. Okay. They asked for it. “If this was a dream, I think I would have woken up by now. Since I haven’t, this must be real. And all of this weirdness started after some old woman gave me this amulet." I reached into my pockets to show them the stone. “What the…” I muttered, searching a bit more frantically.
"Amulet?" asked Gabrielle looking to Xena, a bit confused.
Xena stood up slowly. “What amulet?”
Tears of frustration formed in the corners of my eyes. “I know had it right in my hand before I…” I froze, “…before I fell from the tree,” my voice trailed off. “The tree! Quick, where’d you guys find me yesterday?”
After Xena and Gabrielle led me a short distance down a winding dirt path though the woods, they pointed out the tree where they had discovered me, unconscious and helpless, the day before. Xena carefully searched the ground around the base of the tree while Gabrielle checked under the surrounding brush.
Using my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, I gazed upward in the hope that the amulet’s chain might have snagged a branch on its way down. “Are you sure this is the right tree?” I asked.
“Are you sure you had the amulet with you before you fell?” Gabrielle replied, crawling around under the bushes.
“Yes!”
“It’s the right tree,” said Xena, pointing up into it. “See those broken branches up there? You did that when you fell.” She then pointed to a pile of green leaves and snapped twigs that obviously didn’t come to be there naturally. “We found you right here.” She directed her finger to a large rock beside the pile of leaves. “And that’s probably the rock you hit your head on.”
“Well, maybe we’re just not looking hard enough,” I cried, staring up into the green leafy branches. Wasn’t it possible that my amulet was still there? In order to tell, I needed a better view. “I’m gonna try looking in this tree,” I announced, feebly attempting to jump high enough to reach the lowest branch.
“Oh no you don’t,” Gabrielle scolded with a chuckle, crawling out from under the shrubbery. She brushed her hands together as she approached, stopping beside me. “Don’t you think you’ve had your fill of tree climbing for awhile?”
“But the amulet could be up there, stuck on a branch or something.”
“Allow me,” said Xena. Facing the tree, she took several large steps backwards. She paused a moment to smile at Gabrielle and me, took a deep breath, and raced forward.
“What’s she doing!?” I asked in alarm.
Xena leapt onto the large rock
and sprang into the air!
“Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!!” With
more ease than the fittest Olympic gymnast, she performed a midair flip and
landed perfectly on a branch about ten feet in the air!
Speechless, I turned to Gabrielle.
Gabrielle shook her head and looked up at her friend with a grin. “Showoff!”
Xena smiled and waved from her perch.
I could only stare as the
superhuman feat replayed over and over in my mind. Maybe those mythology books weren’t exaggerating as much as I
thought!
Several minutes had passed and Xena was still climbing around in the tree.
“Find anything?” Gabrielle called.
“Hold on. I’m coming down.” I few seconds later, Xena dropped from the tree to her feet.
“Well?” I asked.
Xena shook her head and looked at me apologetically. “Nada. It had to have fallen to ground with you.”
“But…”
"This is a fairly well-traveled path,” she continued. “If your amulet was here, anyone could have come along and picked it up."
I shivered. If I’d lost that amulet, how would I… It didn’t matter to me anymore whether they believed me. I was going to explain my story to these women again. “All right. Look, I know you think that because I hit my head I have amnesia or something, but I swear to you, I don’t. I am not from Greece. I’m from the future… a few thousand years in the future. Back in my own time, I met this old lady one day and she gave me an amulet, a green stone on a gold chain, that she said was from ancient Greece. I read a bunch of Greek mythology and history books trying to learn what I could. I didn’t find anything about the amulet, but I did read about a legendary warrior princess named Xena. That’s why when I woke up and met you two, I naturally assumed I was dreaming. The old woman told me to be careful with how I used the amulet!” I groaned. “This must’ve been what she meant. We have to find that amulet! It may be my only way home.” Glad to finally get that out in the open, I heaved a sigh of relief, waiting for the skeptical remarks to begin.
"Sounds like you had an enchanted amulet on your hands,” Gabrielle remarked with a firm nod.
Xena nodded in agreement as Gabrielle walked over to stand beside her.
"So, you believe me now?"
A sly grin formed on Xena’s face. "Trust me, we’ve heard far crazier.” She placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this."
"You’re gonna help me?"
"Sure," said Gabrielle with a smile, glancing at her raven-haired friend. "That's what Xena and I do."
As the three of us returned to camp, I remembered the clothes Xena had gotten for me earlier. I retrieved the clothing from a rock by the campfire, the place I’d set them before we’d left. "Where do I, uh, go to put these on?"
"Just go into some of the bushes on the edge of camp," said Gabrielle.
"But don't go too far," added Xena. "It's dangerous out there."
In the bushes, I changed quickly. The clothing Xena had gotten consisted of a brown knee-length skirt, that looked like it was made out of burlap -- and just about as rough -- and a tan sleeveless blouse, scratchy, sort of like a fine grade of sandpaper. The pair of brown leather women's boots was the most comfortable thing there.
No sooner had I gotten dressed, I heard the bushes near me rustle a little. I stood silent for a moment, just listening. Suddenly, a man came out of the brush and stumbled right into me! I screamed! He screamed! I scrambled back to camp as fast as I could.
Gabrielle and Xena both jumped to their feet when they saw me. "There's someone... there's someone out there!" I panted, pointing into the woods.
Xena drew her sword and stood by the bush I had run out of. I hid behind Gabrielle who picked up what I guessed was a fighting staff. The weapon of the ninja turtle, Donatello, came to mind as I stared at Gabrielle, alertly poised, ready for a fight. We waited and listened to the sounds of someone coming toward us through the underbrush.
Moments later, a man stepped out of the brush. In one fluid motion, Xena grabbed him from behind and put her sword up to his throat.
"Ahhh!" the man screamed. "Wait! No, Xena! It's me!"
Xena rolled her eyes, released her grip, and let the man drop to the ground. "I should have known," she muttered. "Joxer, the sooner you learn to stop sneaking up on people, the longer you'll live."
"You're telling me," Joxer sputtered, rubbing his throat in the spot Xena moments before had her sword pressed against. "I'm sure glad you're on my side, Xena." He got to his feet a little jerkily and smiled at Gabrielle. "Hi Gabby."
"Hi… Joxer," Gabrielle sighed, putting her staff down.
How can I explain my first impression of Joxer? He was tall, thin, kinda goofy looking. His raised eyebrows and mirthful grin, his wide eyes full of a child-like innocence. He was dressed like a warrior, but he certainly didn't act or carry himself like one. Joxer’s “armor” was little more than two large metallic disk-like objects, hanging in front of his chest and in the middle of his back. Pale, skinny arms poked out from under heavy leather and metal shoulder pads. His belt carried a scabbard, the hilt of a sword poking out. He wore baggy tan pants with a patch in the knee that ended in a pair of light brown boots. A tall pointed iron helmet, lined with a woven straw material, concealed his hair. He actually looked more like some harmless, mild mannered guy dressed for a costume party than he did a warrior.
"Joxer, you scared the Tartarus out of our friend," said Xena.
I realized that I was still hiding and ducked out from behind Gabrielle.
"Oh hey, I'm sorry," said Joxer who approached me, his hand held out. "I'm Joxer," he paused and added in a bold sounding voice, "The Mighty!"
I introduced myself and we shook hands.
I had missed breakfast so I was glad that it was decided we'd have an early lunch. Gabrielle asked who was going to collect the firewood.
“I’ll go,” I volunteered. “As useless as I felt yesterday.”
Xena brought forth a crude looking fishing pole that she planned to catch our meal with. "Don't go alone," she warned. "Take Joxer or Gabrielle with you."
"If you're going because you think you're useless," Gabrielle advised me, with a laugh, "take Joxer with you, he really is."
She may have been kidding, but I felt that was rather mean. I looked at Joxer to gauge his reaction.
Joxer stood with an expression of total befuddlement and then muttered, "Hmm, I really am what?" He seemed to shrug it off, taking a few broad steps toward the woods. He then tripped on a rock and landed flat on his face. "Ooof!"
I worked hard to suppress a giggle. There was something in the way Joxer moved that made him look comedic even if he wasn’t trying.
Xena and Gabrielle smirked and exchanged glances before Xena, fishing pole in hand, patted her
friend on the shoulder and departed.
I felt horrible for even thinking of laughing at the poor man's misfortune and I ran over to help
him up.
"No, no, Joxer the Mighty doesn't need any help," he said to me in that phony bold voice he had used earlier. Joxer jumped to his feet, curled his hands into fists, and placed them on his hips, letting out a fake jovial laugh, "HA, HA-HA HA-HA! See? I'm perfectly fine!"
Gabrielle strode over to Joxer and punched him in the arm to which Joxer very wimply cried, "Owww."
"Just go get the firewood, Joxer,” sighed Gabrielle. “Xena won't be very pleased if she gets back with lunch and the fire hasn't been started."
Joxer nodded and rubbed his bruised arm for a few moments before marching -- with a slight limp, even! no doubt caused by his fall -- off into the woods happily singing loudly…
Joxer the Mighty
He
roams through the countryside
With
Gabby as his sidekick
Fighting
with her little stick
Righting
wrongs and singing songs
Being
mighty all day long
He’s
Joxer
He’s
Joxer the Mighty!
I shook my head and started after him, but Gabrielle pulled me aside.
"If he gets on your nerves too much," she advised me, "just hit him. That's what we all do."
"How can you all be so mean to him?" I asked, curious.
Gabrielle shrugged. "He's Joxer! He'll get over it."
It wasn't hard catching up to Joxer. I just followed the sound of the singing…
Oh
he’s Joxer the Mighty
He’s
very tidy
Everybody
likes him
‘Cause
he has a funny grin
He’s
Joxer
He’s
Joxer the Mighty!
Thankfully, he halted his off-tune anthem soon after I caught up with him.
"Like my song?" Joxer asked as he bent down to pick up a few good-sized sticks. He wasn't using his "put-on" voice at the moment.
"Ehh, 'like' isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe it."
"Oh, I see," Joxer said quietly. He then added more loudly, "You loved it didn't you?"
I laughed. "Uh yeah… Something like that."
Joxer gave a cockeyed grin and chuckled, sounding proud of himself. "Yeah, that's what I figured."
Okay, I thought. Maybe Gabrielle and Xena did have their reasons to poke fun at this guy. Still, I found myself enjoying his company more now than when he was putting on that hero bit.
"So,"
Joxer went on, "you're staying with Xena and Gabby for awhile?"
I nodded.
"I travel with them sometimes." He then added more quietly with what sounded like a tinge of regret, "Though I think they'd often rather I didn't." He gathered some larger pieces of wood, while I picked up some smaller twigs for kindling.
"But hey, the solitary hero life can get kinda lonely," Joxer continued. "That's one of the reasons every great hero has a sidekick. Xena has Gabby… Hercules has Iolaus..."
"Don Quixote has Sancho," I added with a grin, but I don't think Joxer heard me. Not that it mattered.
"But who does Joxer the Mighty have?" the young man pondered. "Nobody, that's who. Xena and Gabby just don't appreciate that I'm actually doing them a favor by letting them travel with me."
I raised my eyebrows at that. Woo boy.
We went for a few minutes, just picking up wood for the fire. Joxer broke the silence again.
"Hey listen, have you ever thought of living the hero's life?" he asked me.
“No. I honestly never have.”
"Oh, well if you were interested, I could train you." Joxer placed the wood he had gathered into a pile on the ground. "Like Xena did for Gabby! Gabby didn't start out that much different than you, y'know. Yeah, I could make you my sidekick and we could march around the countryside fighting together for the greater good. Striking fear into the hearts of all evil that stands in our way, singing Joxer the Mighty -- that song I know you love so much -- We would be unstoppable!"
Really getting into it now, Joxer jumped up on a rock and flailed his arms about wildly. "Then at night by the fireside, you would sit in awe as I told you of all my past fantastic and heroic adventures. How I single-handedly took my sword and brought entire armies to their knees!" Joxer withdrew his sword from its scabbard and whipped the weapon about, apparently swinging at invisible enemies to illustrate how he fought. "With a swish and a whack and a..."
CLUNK!
"Whooaa!" He lost his balance and fell off the rock, landing hard on his rump with a thud. "Ooof!"
Joxer sat up immediately and wrinkled his nose, "Clunk?" In his excitement he had swung his sword behind him and accidentally impaled the trunk of a large tree. He jumped up and grabbed the sword's handle, trying to pull it out. It was stuck.
For a few moments, Joxer gritted his teeth as he gathered all his strength to free his weapon. But then he suddenly seemed to realize that I was still standing there and how foolish the whole thing must have looked. Joxer propped his elbow against the tree and leaned there, using his body to try and hide what he had done. He smiled at me sheepishly. "So uhh, what do you think of my offer?"
"Sounds like a case of the blind leading the blind."
Joxer and I quickly turned our heads in the direction of the voice to see Xena who had just arrived. She held in her hand a slew of about a dozen fish, hanging from a line.
"Xena!" said Joxer.
"I caught lunch. We're waiting for the firewood."
"Hey great!" Joxer laughed, still attempting to block his sword from view. "You... you two go on ahead. I'll uhh... I'll catch up with ya."
Xena smirked at Joxer, but said nothing to him. She then motioned towards me. "Well, come on."
I handed part of my firewood stack to Xena who held it under one arm. Then I gathered up Joxer's pile. We headed back to camp. I turned to see if Joxer was following us. He only grinned at me and waved.
While I helped Gabrielle clean the fish, Xena started the fire. Before long, a savory aroma wafted from the pan. Lunch was almost ready and Joxer had yet to return to camp.
"Shouldn't someone tell Joxer it's almost time to eat?" I asked.
"Why bother?" snorted Gabrielle, turning the fish over in the pan. “I say, we worked for this meal, we should eat it ourselves."
"Joxer did help get half of this firewood, Gabrielle" Xena pointed out. "Besides, if he doesn't eat with us, he'll probably go hungry."
I nodded. Joxer deserved to eat with us.
Xena smiled at me. “Go find him, will ya?”
Joxer hadn’t gone very far since Xena and I had left him earlier. He was sitting on a rock -- the one he had fallen from -- head in hands, looking down at the ground. I gazed over at the tree. Joxer's sword was still there, wedged tightly into the bark.
He must have heard my footsteps because he frantically reached for his scabbard before remembering his weapon was not there. When Joxer realized it was me, he relaxed a little and stood up. "Oh, hey!"
"Lunch is ready," I told him.
Joxer quickly glanced at the tree that imprisoned his weapon. "I was just, um... well, I was..." That was the extent of his excuse for why he was still out in the woods.
"Do you need any help?" I asked approaching him, nodding my head in the direction of the tree.
"Uh, no... well, I... Umm, no I don't think..."
I passed him and grasped the handle of the sword with both hands. "You gonna help me pull or not?”
Joxer said nothing more. He jumped up to assist me.
“On three,” I said after we both had a good grip on the sword’s handle. “One… two… three!” We struggled and pulled, not but even the two of us together could free the stubborn sword.
Joxer and I decided to break for a moment. He perched on his rock and I selected an old hollow log a few feet away. I knew there was no point in mentioning going back without his sword. Call it pride. Call it embarrassment. Whatever it was it had kept Joxer, up to this point, from returning to camp and I wasn’t about to try and change his mind now.
Things seemed too quiet so I decided to make small talk. "Listen, about what you said earlier… about me being your sidekick..."
"Wait," Joxer interrupted, "Before ya say anything, there’s something I gotta tell ya about me." He lowered his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm... I'm not as great a warrior as I told you I was. Tell ya the truth, I can't think of one person's heart I've ever struck fear into... and... and I've never single-handedly brought an entire army to their knees...” he paused. “Well there was that one time I made my special radish stew... though I don't think that counts.” He sighed. “Look, it may be hard to believe that I, Joxer the Mighty have never done anything truly great, but… Xena was right. You wouldn't want to be a sidekick to someone like me."
Did he really think I hadn't known or was he just deluding himself again? I had to question myself though. Why was Joxer telling me this? He probably could have easily made up another string of boasts. Maybe he realized that although I didn’t buy his hero routine, I wasn't ridiculing him for it either. At least not like Gabrielle. When I got up and stood next to him, he didn't look up at me. "It's not that I wouldn't want to be your sidekick, Joxer. I mean, I like you and all," I know, just call me Sancho, "It's just that I don't even know how long I'm going to be here. See, I'm not exactly from around here."
Joxer nodded. "Thanks. At least you let me down gently. I appreciate that."
"No, I mean it." Hey, I had to tell the guy sometime. "I'm from the future… about two thousand years in the future. Something happened to me… and now I’m here… and I'm not sure how to get home… if I can get home."
Joxer looked up at me and let out a little laugh. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
"Well, you did expect me to believe that you were a great warrior."
Joxer winced a little, but then muttered, "I... I guess I deserved that."
"Ahem, am I interrupting something?"
For the
second time that day, Joxer and I looked up to see Xena standing on the path
that led to camp. I cocked my head,
questioningly. Huh? How the heck does she keep sneaking up on us
without a sound?
Xena appeared more impatient this
time. Her stony gaze demanded answers.
"Well... umm, we, uh..." Joxer hemmed and hawed.
Wordlessly, Xena strode over to Joxer's captive sword and with one quick jerk, released it. She then marched past the slack-jawed warrior, dropping the weapon in his lap.
Joxer laughed uneasily. "Hey great, Xena! You uh, passed my test, I knew you could..."
"Let's go," Xena growled and then headed back to camp.
Joxer let out a forced chuckle, calling after her, "Uh, yeah Xena... g-great idea."
After Joxer had felt that the warrior woman was out of hearing range, he sheathed his sword and muttered quietly, "We loosened it for her."
I smiled.
We ate lunch seated around the dying campfire. Xena was beside Gabrielle, with me a few feet away. Joxer, across from all three of us, still seemed to be sulking from the sword-in-the-tree ordeal.
Gabrielle and I talked a little about time travel, before Xena, who had been quiet most of the meal, spoke up.
"We have to find that amulet of yours," said Xena. It was apparent she had spent some time planning our course of action. "After lunch, we'll travel to the next town and ask around. Maybe someone there knows something about it."
"Amulet?" asked Joxer.
"It's this big green stone on the end of a golden chain,” I explained. “It must have magical powers. I’m pretty sure it’s what brought me here."
Joxer's eyes widened. "Oh." He reached into his shirt, under his armored chest plate. "Is this what you're looking for?" Glinting gold and emerald in the afternoon sunlight, the amulet dangled from Joxer’s hand.
"My amulet!" I cried. I hopped to my feet and in a few short steps was reunited with my precious jewel.
Within seconds, Xena was up and charging toward us. I stepped out of the way and plopped back down where I was sitting before. Joxer sat frozen, wide-eyed and worried. Xena sprang upon him, seizing the front of his shirt and dragging him halfway to his feet. "How -- how... You... you had it all this time?"
"Xena, I'm sorry!” Joxer screamed. “I found it by the road this morning! I was gonna take it to town to see how much I could get for it. That's when I ran into you guys! Honest!"
"Xena, it's okay!" Gabrielle ran over and squeezed Xena's shoulder. "Joxer didn't know. He couldn't have known."
"Yeah, I know," grumbled Xena. She loosened her grip and let him go. “Sorry ‘bout that, Joxer.”
I thought it was nice for Gabrielle to actually stand up for the guy. I figured that maybe she cared a bit more about him than she let on.
"Well, I’m sure glad Joxer picked it up and not someone else,” I said to my friends. "And now that I have my amulet back, I can go home!"
"What? Right -- right now?" asked Joxer, a little alarmed.
I shrugged. "I guess. I mean, my family’s probably worried sick and I've caused all of you enough trouble already."
"No trouble at all," Xena smiled. "We enjoy the company."
Joxer nodded in agreement.
Gabrielle peered closer at the stone. "So how does this amulet work, anyway?"
"Y'know, I'm not really sure," I said. "Last time, it just sort of happened."
"There must have been something specific that you said or did," Xena offered.
I thought hard. What had I said? Then it came to me. "I just held the stone in my hand like this…" I placed the amulet in the palm of my hand, "and looked at it. Then I said something about if only stones could talk, it could tell me where it came from."
"That was it?" asked Xena. "Hmm, that doesn't seem..."
Just then, there was a noise in the woods off to the left of us. It sounded like a little giggle, or maybe a growl. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, something shot past me at lightning speed, snatched the amulet right out of my hands, and dashed off. I was dumbfounded. "Wha..."
Xena, Gabrielle, and Joxer had seen it too and were equally confused.
Xena frowned and drew her sword, bounding off in the direction that whatever had grabbed the amulet had gone. We followed her lead.
In the road a way off, we found our culprit. It was a small creature, about three feet tall with the head of an eagle and pointed ears. Its front legs -- arms? -- looked like a bird's talons. Its hindquarters looked as though they belonged on some kind of wild cat with a tufted tail like a lion. It had white angelic-looking wings coming out of its back. In its beak hung my amulet.
Xena's eyes narrowed. "A griffin."
"Wow," I gasped in awe. A real live griffin!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Joxer in a forced whisper, as he drew his own sword, "Aren't griffins pretty dangerous?"
"Deadly," Xena replied as she slowly edged toward the creature. Gabrielle, Joxer, and I kept a short distance behind her.
The griffin sat calmly in the road and acted as if we weren't even there.
"My army and I had a run-in with a griffin once,” added Xena. “He hadn't been too pleased when I stole his gold. That single griffin wiped out nearly half my troops before we defeated him."
Joxer swallowed hard, glancing nervously at the three of us. "And, uh, exactly how big was this army of yours?"
Xena shrugged. "A few hundred at the time.”
Terrified, I hid behind Joxer, realizing that if this griffin were to attack, even he would surely fare better against it than I.
“It’s unusual to find a griffin in this part of the country, though,” remarked Xena. “And I’ve never seen one so small before.”
“But just as deadly, right?” asked Gabrielle, her voice a bit shaky. She held her staff out in front of her, in a fighting stance.
Xena nodded. “Probably.” She took a few more steps toward the griffin. It only yawned. It was apparent that Xena was growing tired of this as well. She raised her sword and charged the animal. “Arrrrrhh!”
The griffin suddenly jumped to its feet and raced to meet its attacker. I gritted my teeth, waiting for the two to clash, but instead of a confrontation, the griffin scrambled between Xena’s legs, dashed past us, and flew up a tree. Gabrielle spun around to face the tree. Joxer and I shuffled back behind Gabrielle.
“Get back here!” Xena yelled, running up to the tree.
The griffin perched on a branch and noisily twittered at us like a squirrel.
"I don't like this," Gabrielle uttered.
Xena swung her sword at the animal, but the griffin jumped over her head and landed on the ground behind us again. We turned just in time to watch it disappear into the brush.
"Why you little…" Xena growled as she gave chase and we followed.
Our pursuit of the griffin took us deeper and deeper into the woods... and then things.... just...
blanked... out...
Next thing I knew Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, and I were standing in a cavernous room full of timepieces. Hundreds of timepieces from all over history, it seemed. Hourglasses, sundials that appeared to tell time although there was no sun shining on them, grandfather clocks with roman numerals, pocket watches, digital watches, mantle clocks... It almost looked like the opening scene of the movie, Back to the Future had clashed with a Salvador Dahli painting. The ticking sounds were a constant murmur.
We stood in complete amazement, my friends even more so than me. They may have been familiar with hourglasses and perhaps even sundials, but the rest of these timepieces were completely alien to them. I didn't see the griffin or my amulet anywhere.
"Where are we?" asked Gabrielle.
"So good of you to ask," came a voice that echoed through the cavern. Suddenly, a tall figure appeared at the other end of the room. He wore a hooded robe and carried a scythe in one hand and an hourglass in the other. He looked like a younger, friendlier version of... Father Time? "Welcome to my humble home."
Xena gasped and faced the figure with her weapon held out in front of her. "Cronos, the god of time, I presume?"
"Is there anyone in all of Greece you don't know?" Joxer asked Xena in disbelief. He stared at the god of time, but didn't seem very impressed. "Cronos, huh? Somehow I figured you'd be a lot taller."
The god of time ignored Joxer. "Ah, Xena, the Warrior Princess. I always hoped we would meet, but then, I was sure that in due time we would."
Xena sneered, "What, ever since Zeus banished you from Olympus eons ago, you have nothing better to do than meddle in mortals' lives?"
"Very perceptive of you, " Cronos chuckled, "But then, I am not the only god guilty of that crime." He smiled and added, "All gods need to have their fun."
"Alright Cronos," Xena hunkered down, prepared to fight. "You want your fun? C'mon then, come and get me. I'm ready for ya."
"Now, now Xena," the god of time mused, "As entertaining as that proposition is to me, I didn't bring you here to fight. Perhaps another time if you'd like. My business is actually with your young friend there."
Xena frowned. "Gabrielle?"
Cronos shook his head. "Oh, no."
I was caught by surprise as the little griffin came up from behind and grabbed my arm. He brought me before the god of time. I was shivering out of fear.
"Don't you hurt her!" Joxer yelled, a bit more loudly than I think even he wanted to speak, for he added a quiet, "Uh, p-please?" Imitating Xena, he held his sword in front of him and tried to look threatening.
"Don't mind my little griffin friend," the god said kindly. "He won't harm you. He was deemed too small to guard large fortunes and sensing his uselessness, the other griffins wanted to tear him apart. He was lucky I found him. I felt sorry for him and took him under my care. In order to appease his natural instinct to protect gold, I enlisted him as sole guardian of the amulet of time. I'm sorry if he frightened you by taking the amulet, but I needed a way of getting you here."
The griffin placed the amulet back in my hand.
"I'm glad to see that my amulet made it safely to you," Cronos continued.
"Y-your amulet?" I asked cautiously.
"Of course. Who else do you think would be behind the Amulet of Time?"
I became confused. "That woman on the beach was you?"
"No, but it was I who originally gave the amulet to her."
"Then who was she?" I questioned.
"All in good time, my friend," Cronos laughed, "All in good time."
This was beginning to get frustrating. "What do you want from me?"
"I believe the question, more appropriately, is what do you want from me?" said Cronos.
"Huh?"
"You must have many questions. I feel that I at least owe you a few answers."
Darn right you owe me some answers. I certainly did have many questions, but which to ask first? "Why did the amulet bring me here?"
"The amulet did not bring you here," was the god's reply.
"It didn't?"
"You were what brought you here. The amulet only helped make it possible."
"Then how did I bring myself here?"
"You wished it to be."
"I did?"
The god of time led me to a pool full of water and instructed me to look into it.
When I looked into the pool, I saw at first my own reflection that dissolved into an image of my room, me sprawled out on my bed with a dozen or so books on mythology and ancient Greece. The amulet was in my hand and I was gazing at it intently. "I'll bet you have a lot to talk about huh?" I said halfheartedly to the stone. "If only stones could talk, you could tell me where you came from." Then I saw myself disappear from my room in a flash of light only to reappear lying flat on my back, nestled in the branches of a tree. I cringed as I watched myself try to turn over, only to fall from my perch. The images then faded away.
"Those re-entries can be somewhat of a pain," Cronos said with a smile. "But you'll get used to them."
"So the stone helped bring me here because I wanted to know where it came from?" I asked.
"Yes. You were also thinking intently of this time period. Understandable after spending the entire night reading about it."
"So that's how the amulet works? I think about where I want to go and it happens?"
"It's not quite as accurate as I would like," said Cronos, "But yes, that is basically how it works."
"Not as accurate?"
"For instance, you wanted to know the origin of the amulet, but it didn't bring you directly to me," Cronos explained. "You traveled to the correct time, but you re-materialized in a tree and it took my griffin two days to find you. I'm at least glad to see you have made good friends in the time you've spent here. Xena, the warrior princess, always a valuable ally..."
Xena, who had by now, loosened up a little, nodded her head.
"...her companion, Gabrielle, a bard whose writings of Xena will go down in history..."
Gabrielle beamed at what Cronos said about her.
"And… uhh…" the god of time paused, staring blankly at Joxer. He seemed to be having difficulties with what to say, "and..."
Joxer stood proudly, waiting to hear the praise the god of time had for him.
Cronos frowned before he went on. "And a poor lost fellow that even... time has forgotten."
Joxer's jaw dropped. "Hey!" he objected.
The god of time shook his head and
chuckled in a way that indicated he was just playing with him. "You are so easy."
Xena and Gabrielle exchanged small grins.
There was a glimmer in the god's eyes that made me wonder if he wanted to say more, but he didn't. "Okay," I said, "but why do this?"
"Why?" Cronos smiled. "I believe your friend, Xena already figured it out. Why does any god do what he does? It’s not enough that we’re immortal and all powerful. A god's life can get rather dull and we all like to have a little fun from time to time. I can also learn a lot from you. I may live forever, but even the god of time may only travel through space. Not time. Zeus has forbidden time travel to all gods. Only a mortal, such as yourself, is able to use the amulet of time," Cronos told me. "And use it you shall."
"So I can go home and come back as often as I like?"
"Yes," replied the god of time. "I only ask one thing of you. Visit me often and tell me of your adventures. I shall be watching over you, but I should like to hear your stories from your point of view. I have given you a great gift, young traveler. Use it wisely." Cronos paused, gazing over our heads at his many timepieces. He then proceeded. "We shall talk again, but I'm afraid that for now our time has ended."
"Wait!" I cried. "How will I find you again if I need you?"
"Your amulet, as its name implies, will exhibit some protection over you," explained Cronos, "as will my griffin, if he feels that the fate of the stone is in danger. If it is really an emergency, you may ask the amulet to find me and my griffin will come for you as he did today. Otherwise, leave it to me to contact you. Now I must bid you farewell. Until next time..."
With that, things blacked out again and the four of us found ourselves back at camp. The encounter with the god of time must have taken longer than we thought because twilight was setting in. Xena and Gabrielle gathered up the leftover wood from earlier and started a fire.
I had learned so much from the god of time. "I have given you a great gift, young traveler. Use it wisely." Indeed I would, but I was tired. As much as I enjoyed the company of my new friends, I wanted to go home. I told my companions this and they seemed to understand. At least now I knew for sure that I would be able to return.
As my friends and I gathered together to say goodbye, Xena handed me what looked like a brown leather backpack. "For carrying the things you bring here," she explained. My "futuristic" clothes were already inside.
Gabrielle approached me with a bound scroll and a quill pen. "I uh, thought you'd want to write your tale down," she told me and then added with a smile, "And then when you come back we can compare notes."
I wanted to explain to the bard that in the future, no one writes on scrolls anymore, but her gift was so thoughtful I just couldn’t tell her. And in any case, if I did try to tell her, I would have had to explain books and computers.
With a smile, I nodded as I took the items carefully and placed them in my bag. I promised Gabrielle that I would indeed write my story.
"I uh, guess this is goodbye," my third friend sighed.
I turned to Joxer. He looked so sad. "Not goodbye," I said, "Just 'see you later'."
Joxer nodded and hugged me tightly.
It was time for me to go. As a joke to myself I held onto the amulet thinking about home and clicked my heels together three times and said, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home..." The scary thing about it was that it worked!
I arrived back in my room on my bed in the same place I was when I had left. The amulet was in my hand. I was still wearing the outfit Xena had given me and the leather backpack was hanging from my shoulder. I looked at the clock on my nightstand. Virtually no time had passed! I jumped in front of my computer and checked the date on it. June 16, 1998. The exact night I had left! It was amazing. Two days had passed, but I arrived home exactly when I left.
I quickly opened my word processor
and began typing my story, already imagining the possibilities of adventures to
come. I smiled at the green stone of
the amulet next to me on the desk. I
was excited, but a bit nervous about the whole experience. Who
was the old woman? Cronos promised
that question would be answered in good time.
How exactly will I be able to meet
with my friends again? Will time have
passed for them as slowly as it had passed here? Or will I arrive years later from the time I left?
All these thoughts filled my mind as I began to type. For the next few days, I hardly came out of my room as I told my computer my tale...
-- Greek mythology was harmed during the production of this short story... But then, that's really nothing new to us, now is it? --