The arrow had entered beneath her collarbone and, from the feel of it, the head was pressing against the underside of the bone. She didn't think it had done any major damage, but it needed to come out before the wound became infected. She couldn't risk being incapacitated by a fever; she had to be back on her feet if she was going to rescue Gabrielle.

Carefully, she unclipped her armour so that it slid away and gave her more freedom to work on the problem - So far so good - she told herself mentally, - Now things start to get interesting. -

Clutching the shaft of the arrow, she concentrated her strength to break off the fletchings to leave a shortened stub to work with. The jolting pain that stabbed through her as she did so, told her that the arrow had probably nicked the bone, and with that thought came a wave of nauseating darkness that swept up causing her to black out ....

Consciousness returned with an immediacy as she became aware of a man leaning over her. Movement came without thought and, in less than the blink of an eye, her boot dagger was in her hand and pressed against the stranger's ribs. Even though the motion called up waves of darkness once more, this time she mastered them and forced them back down.

"Easy," came a soft, soothing voice, "easy there. I mean you no harm."

The tone was gentle, comforting and reassuring. Xena recognised it as the tone she'd use to calm a frightened animal, or the type a physician used with a nervous patient. "Who are you?" she demanded, her voice a rough growl from the pain she was enduring. Her eyes blazed as she studied the blonde haired, blue eyed man who filled her line of sight.

He spoke as he continued to inspect the arrow shaft, probing the wound with strong, though seemingly delicate, fingers, "My name is Patroclese, warrior," he told her, still speaking in that soft calming tone, trying to put her at her ease. "I'm a physician ... a wanderer. I heard your horse from down on the road and, since I was lost, I came to see if someone could give me directions ... and found you lying here with an arrow in you." He looked at her and a slight smile played over his features, "I can take the arrow out, although I'd find it more comfortable to work without your knife digging into my ribs."

"Take it out," she told him, blinking the sweat out of her eyes as it trickled down her brow. "The knife stays where it is ... just in case." She looked down at the blood slick half-shaft sticking out from her flesh, "You're gonna have to push it through. I think it's got a barbed head, and it's pressing on the collarbone, probably nicked it on the way in."

"Uh huh," agreed Patroclese, "you seem to know an awful lot about my craft."

"I have many skills," Xena told him flatly.

"If I push that arrow through, and the pain causes your muscles to spasm, I'm likely to end up in a worse condition than you're in now," he told her with a worried glance towards where she held the knife.

"That's the chances you take bein' a good Samaritan," she told him through pain gritted teeth.

"A nice friendly way to put it," replied the physician dryly, swallowing hard.

"Just do it!" hissed the Warrior Princess pressing the dagger tighter to the man's ribs before relaxing it a little.

He nodded his agreement and placed the heel of his hand over the broken shaft. He looked searchingly into her face and asked, "Ready?"

"Do it!" gritted Xena, clenching her teeth against the anticipated pain.

Patroclese shoved hard, feeling the slight resistance from the edge of the bone, before the arrowhead cleared the flesh of his patient's back to stick out covered in crimson gore. Xena groaned, involuntarily with the pain, "Hang in there," he encouraged her as his hand moved around to grip the blood slick arrow and draw it fully from the wound. "It's out," he told her.

The warrior gave a tight smile that never reached her eyes, "As a friend of mine once said, 'That'll wake you up in the morning.'" She moved the dagger away from Patroclese, although she retained it in her hand ready for instant use. She licked her dry lips before gritting out, "Can you get it bandaged? I need to be somewhere else."

He moved to his horse and rummaged in his saddlebags, quickly finding the things that he needed. As he came back to her side he said, "As your physician, I would recommend some time to rest up. You've lost quite a bit of blood and you're right to suspect that the arrowhead chipped the bone. I think we're going to have to stitch those wounds to stop the blood flow too."

He worked as he spoke, cleaning the wound with some alcohol, that caused the dark haired woman to draw in her breath sharply, before inserting three neat stitches into the torn flesh at both the entrance and exit wounds, then smearing a healing salve over them.

"Just patch me up, best you can. I'll take it from there," Xena told him curtly as he slid her leathers and under tunic down to her waist so that he could bandage the wounds securely, oblivious to all thought of modesty. "I'd be grateful for some water if you'd pass the skin before you do that," she requested and drank thirstily when he complied and held the skin to her parched lips, doing his best not to stare at her ripe torso. The tepid water felt like nectar as it slid down her dry throat. She thanked him with a nod of her head and a slight quirk of her lips as he stoppered the skin when she had taken her fill.

Watching him work as he skilfully padded and wrapped her wound, Xena was impressed by the professionalism being shown by the young man. "By the way," she asked him, in a far more friendly tone, as he finished the task, "What do I owe you, besides my thanks?"

"No charge," he told her, "I started treating you without consultation. But," he forestalled the protests he could see about to spring from the warrior's lips, "you could give me some help with those directions and information that I came looking for in the first place."

"Deal," agreed Xena, putting some warmth into her tone for the first time, "What do you want to know?" she asked, carefully testing the shoulder's mobility as Patroclese finished dressing the wound.

"I'm a stranger in these parts ... in Greece, actually," he told her with a twitch of his lips. "I'm looking for a woman, a warrior like yourself. Her name is Xena."

The defensive look sprang back into her eyes and Patroclese found cold metal pressed against his throat as a very sharp blade pressed close, "What do you want with her?" she demanded, her tone as frozen as ice.

Patroclese swallowed hard and became, suddenly, very still, as he saw instant death staring him in the face, "I ...." he licked his lips nervously, "I have a message for her from a friend." He realized that more information was called for and quickly added, "I owed the man a favour and I promised that I'd take his message to the Warrior Princess for him."

"What's this man's name?" demanded Xena pushing the knife a little harder to nick the physicians skin and draw a tiny speck of blood.

"Isumbras of Narbo," squeaked Patroclese quickly, "That's in Narbonensis. He's a merchant," he added suddenly very eager to please.

"That's a long way to come to deliver a message," prodded Xena, although she relaxed some of the pressure on the knife, "Why would you agree to undertake such a difficult and hazardous journey, huh?"

His throat dry and tight from fear, Patroclese swallowed hard again and explained, "I owed Isumbras. He helped finance my studies as a healer and the only thing he's ever asked of me in return was to deliver this message." He saw some of the doubt ease from her eyes and added, "Besides, I always wanted to see more of the world and the chance to meet the legendary Warrior Princess was just too good to pass up."

Xena still looked coldly at him and there was a warning bite in her tone as she demanded, "What's the message?"

"That's private, " tried the physician, sweat beading his fair brow and his blue eyes shifted nervously, "It's for Xena."

A far from friendly smile appeared on the Warrior Princess's face as she said softly, "It won't do anyone any good if the messenger dies before delivering it," she told him grimly.

Patroclese licked his lips, indecision plain on his face, "I ... er ... well, if you put it like that," he stuttered. "He told me to tell her, ummmm," he screwed his face up in concentration to make sure that he got it exactly right, "Remember Artellios. I need you."

"That's it?" questioned the woman, although the healer was pleased to note that she did remove the menacing knife.

"I swear by the gods," promised the physician, relief plain on his face that he was away from the blade. He touched a finger to the spot the knife had nicked and brushed away the blood that had quickly dried there. He saw a look on Xena's face that must have frightened him because he added, "I have no idea what it means. I just agreed to deliver it."

The Warrior Princess looked at him suspiciously for a long moment before sheathing the dagger back in her boot, "Well you've delivered it, " she told him flatly, pushing herself a trifle unsteadily to her feet.

"Y ... You're Xena?" he asked in amazement, "Gods! What are the odds on us meeting like this?" he wondered.

"I was thinking the same thing," agreed Xena suspicion underlying her tone, but her eyes didn't seem quite as cold as they had been. She pulled her clothing back on and refastened the clips to her armour, before gently easing herself back using the boulder to steady herself.

"Gods, but you're an untrusting woman, " Patroclese returned with a nervous half laugh.

Xena gave him the 'look' that could send the cold chill of imminent death through the heart and bones of even the most hardened warlord, and saw the physician take two or three involuntary steps away from her, "It keeps me alive," she told him with scarily quiet menace. A wave of blackness swept up again as she moved her arm too quickly, but she refused to let it take hold, and continued to the healer, "You've delivered your message, and have done your good deed ... I'm grateful for the help, but now I suggest that you go home."

Patroclese nodded his agreement, still having to swallow to get some of the moisture back into his throat, while trying to disguise his nervous fear of this infinitely scary woman, "Yeah, right ... fine," he agreed and was turning away, back to his horse when a movement caught his eye, "Xena, look out!" he cried, diving towards where his horse stood and reaching for the bow that he carried there.

An arrow sped from the screen of trees, straight towards where the warrior was turning to confront the danger. Patroclese just knew that his medicinal efforts had been wasted; there was no way that the Warrior Princess could possibly avoid the shaft that sped towards her.

As he waited for her cry of pain, or for her to drop to the ground, he had to blink in amazement. The warning he had given had triggered the woman's incredible, battle honed, reflexes. With movement faster than the eye could follow, she plucked the arrow out of the air, just as it seemed certain to skewer her throat. All time for thought was instantly gone as a dozen warriors charged from the trees, across the clearing, towards Xena and her companion.

Raising her chilling battlecry, Xena leapt high into the air did a flip and came down in position to tackle her attackers. A heavily planted boot in the stomach met the first man, and a backhand, roundhouse, punch snapped into the jaw of a second. A well placed right elbow to the throat left a third man choking on the ground, and gave her the space to backflip away to draw her sword. But the warriors were quickly upon her and before she was settled, one had clubbed the weapon out of her hands, while a second slammed a staff into her abdomen.

Dropping to the ground, she braced herself with her arms as she swept the feet from beneath the warrior with the staff. A forward roll took her to where her sword had landed and she scooped it up ready to face the next attack. Holding the weapon two handed, she swung with incredible force at the warrior closest to her. He met her blade with his own, but staggered under the impact and failed to recover in time to avoid the straight right punch that plastered his nose across his face.

Xena bounced on the balls of her feet as she prepared to meet the next wave of assailants, only to see the lead man taken out by a well placed arrow through the heart. She spun instinctively, kicking out with a muscular leg, to take out a warrior who was trying to get behind her, then used her momentum to force herself into a low forward flip which enabled her to get in position to be able to sweep her blade across her next opponent's chest. Another arrow buzzed past her to take a threatening warrior in the shoulder, as she fell into a flurry of exchanged blows, finally taking the man out with a reverse sword sweep. And then it was over, with those left alive scuttling for the safety of the trees they had emerged from.

Xena dropped to her haunches taking deep breaths to try and clear away the spots, that were swimming in front of her eyes and the nausea that made her want to vomit. Patroclese was quickly at her side, checking the dressing on her wound and making sure that she hadn't taken another injury. "Thanks," she told him with grudging appreciation.

"Just part of my job," grinned the healer as he adjusted the bandage, "Doesn't look like you've done any more damage, though I can't imagine how you managed to avoid doing so."

"Benefits of a healthy lifestyle," she half mockingly replied. "Thanks again, by the way," she told him in a much more friendly tone than any she used previously, "I'd have chased them off eventually, but your archery certainly speeded things up." She eyed the physician questioningly, "How did a healer learn to use weapons with such skill."

Daring greatly, Patroclese used a question in answer, "I could ask how a warrior learnt quite so much about the healer's art?" He smiled to show it was a rhetorical question, "For myself, I'm not stupid. I knew that being a wandering physician would not be the world's safest occupation, so I took steps to learn how to protect myself."

"Good thinking," agreed Xena as she pushed herself, more than a little unsteadily, back to a standing position, aided by Patroclese who willingly gave her an arm to lean on, although she tried her best to do without his help.

"You really could do with some rest, you know," he told her, "Loss of blood is going to make you weaker for a while, and that could hurt you at a crucial moment."

"I'm fine," she told him, though not unkindly, "I don't have time to rest up at the moment."

He looked at the bodies lying around in the clearing and nodded, saying, "I see what you mean." He hovered behind her as she took a couple of halting steps to where Argo stood waiting patiently, "You know, I'm not in the habit of abandoning my patients before they're fully fit."

"Forget it Patroclese," she told him bluntly, "Where I'm going is no place for a healer," she told him in no uncertain terms. She moved away from him towards Argo, while the young healer checked the bodies of the five men, scattered around them, to see if any still clung to life.

"Are you going to see what Isumbras wants?" he questioned as he moved between the men, finally assuring himself they were all dead before moving across to his own horse.

"Maybe," she told him non-committally, "when I've done what I've gotta do first." She checked Argo's cinch, tightening it a notch. The effort caused her to grunt with pain and sweat beaded on her brow once more.

Patroclese noted the problem, but wisely refrained from commenting on it, "Can you tell me what that message is about?" he asked cautiously, "I've been carrying the thing around with me for a couple of moons now, and it's been driving me crazy wondering about it." He watched the woman mount her horse, before swinging easily into his own saddle.

Xena looked at Patroclese long and hard, and saw an eager young man of good muscular build, blonde haired and blue eyed in a handsome sort of way, with an air of competence about him that shone through in his every movement. He had done her a good turn by removing the arrow from her shoulder, and had stood with her against attackers, "I'll tell you on the way back to the road," she told him with a wry twisted grin.

They heeled the horses into motion and picked their way carefully back towards the road, senses alert in case any of the beaten warriors should be lurking around in the hope of getting a second chance at them. Xena threw a look across at the healer and said, "Isumbras was a merchant, even back when I knew him," she explained. "He supplied me with some of my more unusual needs ... including information." Her eyes seemed to go distant as she allowed the memories to flood back into her mind, "My army was at a little village called, Artellios, and Isumbras provided me with some intelligence that proved vital in keeping me alive." She ducked under a low branch that was in her chosen path before continuing, "He wouldn't take any money for it. He just asked me to remember in case he ever needed anything."

Patroclese nodded his understanding and said, "So you owe Isumbras this big favour, but you're only 'maybe' going to help him. I'd thought better of you, Xena."

"Now look, Patroclese, I know you feel a responsibility to Isumbras, and I know I owe you my gratitude, if not more, for your help back there, but I've got my hands full at the moment and Isumbras will just have to wait until I can get round to him!" she was annoyed that she'd let the healer get to her.

A few minutes later they reached the road, "You'd better head South. You'll find the village of Menassos there and you should be able to get some work there too." she told him.

"Which way are you going?" he asked.

"I'll cut across country. I need to get past some people, and I'd like to do it without having to fight my way through them." she told him.

Xena turned Argo away from the physician, just as a shout erupted behind them. Turning her head she saw some twenty armed men riding up the road towards where the healer sat his horse staring at them, "Patroclese!" she yelled, "This way!" and waited only long enough to ascertain that he followed, before heading the horse into the scant safety of the copse on the far side of the road.

As they broke out of the cover of the trees, and into the more open ground of hilly pasture, Patroclese drew up alongside the Warrior Princess and shouted, "Have you done something to upset someone? Because something seems to have stirred up an awful lot of warriors in these parts."

"Long story," Xena cast back at him, "Keep close to me. Too many people have seen you with me now, so you better tag along until I can find somewhere safe to leave you."