Joxer followed closely behind his two female friends, Xena, the warrior princess and her sidekick, a spunky bard named Gabrielle. They were on the trail of an evil warlord named, Darius, who had escaped into these catacombs. Joxer's eyes darted from left to right as he held his sword out in front of himself for protection. It was creepy enough crawling around the winding passageways of an underground place of burial even without the threat of a bloodthirsty warlord revealing himself at the next shadowy turn.

Joxer suspiciously eyed the tip of his weapon as it began to dance about before him. He glanced down to discover that his hands were shaking. With a bit of effort, he tamed his trembling hands, hoping that Gabrielle hadn't seen him during his weak moment.

“Are you sure you want to come with us, Joxer?” Gabrielle whispered. “If you're scared, you can always go back outside and wait.”

Oh no, she had seen!! Joxer let out a phony laugh to hide his nervousness. “Are you kidding me, Gabby? I live for this kind of adventure! Danger courses though my blood! Why, when I'm tracking a warlord, I'm like a fierce beast on the prowl. Grrr!”

In one fluid motion, Gabrielle slammed Joxer against the wall of the tunnel with her fighting staff. Joxer yelped in surprise.

“If you don't shut up, you're going to be a dead beast,” Gabrielle hissed at him, “Because I'm going to kill you!”

Xena smirked and shook her head at the banter between the “wannabe” warrior and her best friend. Her eyes scanning the dim tunnel before her, she muttered, “Come now children, play nice.”

Gabrielle glared at Joxer for a moment before she released him and continued after the warrior princess. “I swear, Xena. One of these days…” she growled.

His feelings hurt, Joxer brushed himself off a bit. He often wondered why he let Gabrielle push him around like that. After all, he was Joxer the Mighty, right? Hero, valiant warrior, protector of the meek! Joxer sighed. Who was he kidding? If he was such a great warrior, would Gabrielle treat him the way she did? No. She'd respect him. Instead, she grabbed him by the nose or by the ear and dragged him around when he did something stupid and that seemed to happen a lot. He couldn't help it! He tried, really he did. There was nothing he'd want more than to be a great warrior, to be able to earn Gabby's respect, and maybe, even in time -- although he knew he might be pushing this one -- to earn her love.

Why the false bravado all the time? Long ago, Joxer had decided if he acted brave, he could fool himself into thinking he was brave, and he would eventually become brave. Where had his theory gone wrong? Joxer shrugged. Maybe he just hadn't given it enough time. He grinned. Yeah! That was it! He looked up to see his two friends traveling further and further away.

“Hey guys!” he called out, rather loudly, as if he had completely forgotten there was an evil warlord to track down, “Wait up!”

Gabrielle seethed in exasperated frustration, “JOX-ER…”

Like this short story? Tell me! gabrianne @ xenafan.com

Xena: Warrior Princess and all things Xena herein are (c) 1995-2000 Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal. No challenge of ownership to trademarked property is intended or implied. I am a simple bard with a story to tell, making absolutely no financial gain whatsover.