Sometime after midday, following a long night of hard riding, they reached the boundary marked by Amazon totems that were there to warn off the unwary. Here it was that Eponin called a halt to the group and fished out the key to unlock the heavy manacles that still graced raven haired woman's wrists. She quickly unlocked them and handed the restraints to one of her warriors, as she watched Xena briskly chafe her skin where the irons had sat.

Eponin handed over the woman's, leathers armour and weapons before coughing softly to draw the warrior's attention, the Weapon's Master gave her friend a smile, "I'm glad things were worked out okay .. I was worried there, for a while, but I should have known that Gabrielle would work her usual charm."

"Know what you mean, Ep," agreed Xena as she hurriedly re-clothed herself and re-placed her armamnets.. "Speaking of Gabrielle .. I want you to make sure that she stays safe. She's in a lot of danger right now, which is why I'm leaving her with you .. don't disappoint me," she warned, a hard edge creeping into her tone.

"We'll take care of her, Xena," promised the Weapon's Master, "You have my word."

"Good enough," acknowledged the warrior as she swung up onto Argo's golden back and waved a farewell, "Take care of yourself too, Poni!" she called as she headed, away from Amazon lands, at a fast canter, heeled by Patroclese.

Eventually, Xena allowed the pace to slow, somewhat, although she kept a wary eye out for any trouble, all too certain that Mavrikios and the other bounty hunters would be waiting for her somewhere. They would know that she would be unable, or unwilling, to stay in one place for long and she had no doubt that there would be fast mounted messengers posted at strategic points around Amazon lands ready to pass the word of her emergence .. it was, after all, what she would have done!

It was early evening when she found the perfect place for a campsite. In a small, difficult to find, valley she discovered a fair sized pond. Being off the beaten track, it was unlikely anyone would stumble across them, unless they were closely following the pair's trail, but she had taken steps to hide their passing as far as possible. Not only that, anyone seeking to approach could only come from the direction they had entered the valley from themselves, and the entrance was a tight winding cleft that a grandmother could hold with a broom.

"Do you like fishing?" Xena asked the healer eying the pond speculatively.

"I don't think I've ever tried it," he replied.

"Guess it's going to be down to me then," she told him. "You see if you can get a fire started. With a bit of luck we'll have something to eat other than trail rations."

Patroclese looked confused, "But you haven't got any fishing line?" he told her.

She looked at him as if he'd just told her that she couldn't defend herself because she didn't have a sword, "You just make sure you get the fire started," she told him as she began to peel off her armour, leathers and boots, before wading into the cold water in her shift.

Patroclese had barely finished collecting the wood and getting a blaze going, when the Warrior Princess returned with four fat trout, "Why don't you see to the horses, while I see to these," she told him sitting by the fire to dry off.

"How did you do that," asked the healer as he started to get up to do what she had suggested, "I mean, that was so quick and ..."

"I have many skills," she told him levelly. But then she added, "However, cooking isn't one of them, so I'll clean these, but I hope you can do something with them, otherwise we'll have to risk my culinary expertise."

"No! I can cook," Patroclese told her hurriedly. He'd listened to some of Gabrielle's descriptions of Xena's cooking as they had travelled to Amazon territory.

By the time he got back from unsaddling the animals and hobbling his own horse .. Argo needing no such restraint .. the trout were all ready to be cooked and Xena was back in her leathers, although she had left off her armour.

Patroclese proved to have many skills of his own. He'd gathered some wild onions, after seeing to their mounts, and one or two wild herbs that he knew went well with fish. The meal he produced elicited a compliment from Xena, who rarely seemed to take much notice of the quality of the food she ate.

Both tired from a long day, and the tension of the trial, they fell asleep early. Xena, however, frequently roused herself to check the perimeter, just in case their camp had been spotted and enemies were on the prowl.

When the sun made it's sluggish appearance, the two were already on the road and heading for a village called Daxion. It was a small community, and so they were eager to welcome the young healer as the village boasted none of it's own .. other than the grandmothers who dispensed herbs as best they could for any given ailment.

As Patroclese climbed down off his horse outside the village's only inn, he turned to the Warrior Princess and offered her his hand. She clasped it warmly in the warrior's grip, hand to wrist, as he wished her, "Safe journey."

Xena inclined her head slightly for his good wishes, "Take care, healer," she told him. "You've been a good companion and friend over these last days. Don't let anything happen to ya, y'hear?"

"I'll be fine," he promised, "Just you avoid anymore arrows." he called after her as she waved a goodbye and headed Argo down the road.

After leaving Patroclese at Daxion, Xena began to actively cast around for signs of those hunting the bounty on her and Gabrielle. She needed to get their attention so that they'd chase after her and leave the area around the Amazon's safe and free. - It was - she decided - a bit like playing chicken with a rabid wolf! -

The big problem was to achieve her aims in a way that didn't seem obvious to those after her. The last thing she wanted them to figure out was that she was deliberately leading them away from Gabrielle. It required a subtlety and a finesse that gave her almost as much enjoyment as the dangers of battle. - In fact - she conceded to herself, in the privacy of her thoughts, - this is fun! -

Once she had managed to make sure that all the warrior bands showing an interest had begun to move towards the west in her wake, she started to get a little more creative. Things would become far safer for everybody if one or two warlords managed to cripple their opposition .. after all none of them wanted to share the bounty with a rival. So Xena began to 'arrange' for contending groups to stumble across each other as they chased her. The results were fully satisfactory and managed to eliminate several of her hunters.

She did have an added problem, however: not all of the groups hunting her were behind her! There were several newcomers to the game and they were travelling east to where she had been reported to be. Some were a little smarter than others and set ambushes for her as their scouts reported her presence. She managed to avoid at least six of these, and in four cases had managed to lead those chasing her to spring the ambush for her. However, two had been particularly well lain, and she had found herself in real trouble, needing all of her far from inconsiderable fighting skills to get her out of the pot without being scathed. She frowned at those memories, knowing that she had escaped more through luck than skill.

The first time, the warriors had been so certain that their trap had worked that they moved in too quickly and, after a tough fight, Xena had been able to take advantage of the gap that had opened up around her, and dive through on the back of Argo. It sounded fairly innocuous when she replayed the description in her mind, so she could tell Gabrielle about it, but she knew that she'd been within a hairsbreadth of going down and the trap sealing on her.

The second time had been an even closer call. She'd been playing tag with Mavrikios' men, and they'd got a bit close to her tail feathers. She'd sorted out an emergency escape route for just such an eventuality, but unknown to her, one of the new boys had set a beautifully laid ambush in a gorge she'd had to traverse. With her attention on her pursuers, she'd been brought down and netted before she'd realized the ambushers were there!

Of all things, it was Mavrikios who saved her. He'd continued to push on behind her and had stormed into the gorge just as her captors were trying to get her secured. With the confusion created as the two sets of warriors started to fight for possession of her, she was able to cut the ropes, that bound her hands behind her, on a sword that fell close in the melee, and from there it became a relatively simple task to gather her weapons, extract herself from the fighting and retrieve Argo with a whistle.

Shaking her head for the luck that had delivered her, she could only be thankful that Gabrielle hadn't been there, because she was certain it would have taken far more than luck for the two of them to wriggle from either of those two traps! Keeping her senses on full alert, she pushed on.

She'd been in the province of Epirus for two days now, and it was time for the hunters to lose her trail. At the town of Athamania, she took passage for herself and Argo on a fast looking river boat that had a destination somewhere down in the neighbouring province of Ambracia. To anyone following her, it would send them off on a completely false trail, once she and Argo disembarked in the night and faded away to the south.

Travelling the back hills and the little used tracks, she made good time as she moved out of Epirus, round the province of Ambracia .. where she'd sent her false trail .. through the region of Dolopia to get to the province of Acarnania, where she headed for the port town of Astakos.

About a days walk from the port, she sidetracked into a little backwater village bearing the name of Tassos. She'd been here before on more than one occasion, but rarely stayed longer than was necessary to leave Argo in good hands. Not wishing to become the topic of gossip for villagers who rarely saw a stranger, Xena waited until deep night, when the farmers had long since sought their beds and the village lay dark and silent.

With almost unnatural stealth, the Warrior Princess worked her way around the quiet houses, until she reached the blacksmith's shop. A village as small as Tassos was lucky to have a blacksmith as a resident, but Xena knew that Kolianis hadn't always followed his peaceful trade. He had in truth been a farrier in her army at one point, until he grew sickened by war and sought out the peaceful life in a remote village normally too far off the beaten track to draw more than a handful of visitors a year.

When she reached the smithy, Xena whispered to Argo, "Wait here," before slipping around to the dwelling, where she found Kolianis' window with a sure proficiency that spoke of her having done so more than once. She scratched lightly on the shutters, knowing that the smith was a light sleeper, and waited for him.

"Who's there?" his deep base voice rumbled like a giant bee as he tried to whisper.

"Xena," the Warrior Princess told him softly, so as not to disturb her friend's wife.

"A moment," rumbled the voice.

Quietly, Xena slipped back to where she had left Argo, knowing that Kolianis would soon join her there. She began to remove the gear that she would require for the rest of her journey, slinging a long brown cloak around her shoulders and, after checking through the contents of her saddlebag, she swung it over her shoulder, just as the smith arrived at her side.

"Xena," he greeted with a smile, clasping her arm in greeting, "Been a long time. What brings you here?"

"Trouble," Xena told him seriously.

"So?" he asked, "What's new?"

"Cynic," she told him shortly but with affection. "Can you take care of Argo for me for a while?" she asked.

"You know I will," Kolianis answered her, "Where're you headed?"

"I can't tell you that, my friend. Just at the moment the less people who know where I'm bound, the safer I'll be," she told him.

"Bad?" he questioned quietly.

"Bad enough," she answered him, "Things have been worse, but not for a while," she looked into the smith's eyes, "I'm not sure how long I'll be either."

"No worries," he told her, always a man sparing with his words, "Argo'll be fine 'til you get back."

"Thank you, my friend," Xena told him warmly as she headed into the darkness.

"Luck!" he called after her in his rumbling base whisper.

Knowing that she'd be able to rest on board ship, the Warrior Princess opted to walk through the night and into the early part of the day, so she would reach Astakos as early in the morning as possible. When she reached the town, she headed straight for the docks where a series of enquiries led her to the captain of a trading vessel actually heading for the town of Narbo.

"How much for passage?" questioned Xena, knowing that she'd have to haggle.

"Thirty-five dinars," he told her.

"What!" she demanded incredulously, "I want to buy a passage, not the whole ship."

"I can guarantee a fast journey," he told her. "We're shipping spices and if I get to Narbo ahead of the competition I'll make a fortune."

"Well then," she told him quickly, "you won't need to charge so much for my passage."

"Money's money," he responded equally swiftly.

"How fast's the ship," she said casting an expert eye over the lines of the vessel and liking what she saw, even if she didn't show it.

"The Gull's about the fastest ship around these parts," the captain assured her with more than a touch of pride.

"Tell you what," she said, "I'll give you twenty dinars."

"Thirty and not a copper less," he returned firmly.

"Twenty five," came Xena's counter-offer, "and if we run into any trouble I'll help out."

"Got any experience," he asked almost insultingly, because he'd recognised the way she'd taken the measure of the Gull in that glance.

"I've sailed a ship or two in my time," she told him in an offhand manner. "I'm also a fair hand at fighting off pirates."

He looked her up and down and recognised her for a warrior to be respected, "Well then, I'd say we've got ourselves a bargain," he agreed. "Name's Bellis," he told her holding out his hand.

"Xena," she told him, grasping him firmly, wrist to wrist. "When do we sail?"

"This afternoon," he informed her. "Haul your gear on board when you're ready,"

"Got everything here," she assured him, patting her saddlebags, "so I might as well come aboard now." She quickly counted out the money and handed it over to Bellis.

By mid afternoon, with the tide running high, The Gull put out to sea and Xena stood by the rails looking back. Not at the port, but far away in her minds eye, to the east where the Amazon homeland lay. She'd been right to insist that the bard remain in safety. She wouldn't have been able to keep them both safe in the scramble to out fox the bounty hunters: it had been a close thing sometimes just on her own.

Still, standing alone by the deck rail, with nothing to do to keep her occupied, the full force of her isolation descended upon her. She felt a loneliness that she was unused to. A lack of something important at her side. In the silence of her soul she admitted to herself - I miss you Gabrielle! -

The sharp crack of wooden staves punctuated the normal sounds of the village as the session on the practice fields wound down. In her final bout of the morning, Gabrielle faced Eponin, the Amazon's acknowledged expert with the weapon. Even though this bout was more in the style of a teaching session, the bard was having to work hard to keep from being hit by the Amazon's whirling staff.

"Don't carry it so high," Eponin told her sharply, as she stung Gabrielle's hips with a swift blow.

"It's hard not to," the bard admitted, "my usual sparring partner is quite a bit taller."

Eponin ignored the remark as she feinted with a blow to the shoulder and swung a quick reverse to whip Gabrielle's legs out from under her, "You must learn to be more flexible," she scolded, "You need to adjust your style to the opponent you face." The Amazon reached out a hand to pull her Queen up out of the dust.

"That's why I lost to Ephiny and Uri? Because they're smaller than I'm used too?" asked Gabrielle.

"Nope," Ephiny chimed in, "You lost to me because I'm better than you."

"Says you!" scoffed the bard. "I've seen Solari trounce you and I've beaten her every time we faced off."

"Solari just doesn't want the Queen to lose face too often," Ephiny told her lightly, getting a serious frown from the Amazon enforcer, "On the other hand, I'm quite happy to show you just how much you still need to learn."

"Ignore her, Gabrielle," Eponin told her. "You beat the taller opponents because your used to practising with a tall woman. You're also able to deal with their greater strength because you're used to fighting someone far stronger. The problems you have are all to do with opponents who are smaller, attack lower, and use guile often in place of power. As I said, you need to be aware of this and allow you style to become flexible enough to compensate for it."

Looking around the field, Eponin announced in a loud voice, "Practice is over for the day. Time for you all to get on with some serious work."

"You know," Gabrielle smiled at Ephiny, "If I can get the hang of what Eponin's been trying to teach me, I might just manage to give Xena a real surprise next time we spar."

"Are you daydreaming again?" Ephiny laughed, "I've yet to see anyone who could fully best Xena with any weapon."

"God's, has she been paying you to sing her praises?" demanded the bard. "Every time I tell her I'm going to get her back for something she's done to me, she always says more or less the same sort of thing that you've just said."

"Pardon?" asked the blonde Amazon, irritatingly.

"You know what I mean," Gabrielle told her with a laugh, "But one of these days I am going to surprise her."

They laughed together over the mental picture of the event that sprang to their minds. The two had been steadily cementing their friendship in the nine days that Xena had been gone. Ephiny was doing her best to instruct the bard in the culture of the Amazons and how to rule. Things did not always go smoothly, but they were beginning to develop an understanding, in the area, that was gradually improving with time.

They had almost reached the bard's house when she heard a familiar voice call out, "Gabrielle!"

"Patroclese?" questioned the bard in confusion as she turned to see a scout party bringing the healer towards her, "What are you doing back here?"

The tall fair haired young man tried to push past his Amazon guards but they expertly prevented him from getting through their spears. Frustrated, he looked pleadingly at the Amazon Queen and said, "I've got to speak to you privately, Gabrielle!"

Motioning for the warriors to let him pass, Gabrielle signalled the healer to follow her and included Ephiny with a quickly glanced invitation. They hurried to the bard's home where, as soon as the door was closed behind Ephiny, she turned and demanded of Patroclese, "What's the matter? Is it Xena?"

He nodded slowly, almost reluctant to speak now he had the chance.

"What's happened?" Gabrielle demanded, as her stomach clenched in alarm.

"Nothing .. Yet ... As far as I know," he faltered, agitation plain in his mannerisms and speech pattern.

"Nothing? Then what's got you so worked up?" demanded the bard as she quickly added, "And just what are you doing back here?"

"Please just listen, Gabrielle," he pleaded and waited for her acquiescence before he continued, "After leaving here, Xena dropped me off at a village called Daxion. the village hasn't got a healer and so I've been able to spend several days treating the sick and injured and earning enough for food and lodging at the inn, as well as a little more besides."

He noticed that the bard was beginning to become impatient with him, and hurried on, "Three days ago, some soldiers came into the village, one of them needed patching up. From what they were saying, Xena's been heading west. They were part of Mavrikios' force, but when they got cut up by another band of warriors after the bounty, these three decided that they'd had enough and cut and run."

"What's this got to do with anything?" Gabrielle demanded, "We knew that Xena was heading west!"

"I know, I know," agreed the healer, trying to calm her down. "One of those men had a pretty nasty cut across the face. I needed a herb to help clear it of infection, and I went to get it from my kit. On the way back, I heard them talking."

"Go on," encouraged the bard.

"They were talking about the bounty. They said that it wasn't worth the money they got even just to chase her," he licked his lips nervously, "They said that they pitied the poor bastards in Narbo who tried to pull the trap closed."

"What!" Gabrielle erupted grabbing the healer's arms and squeezing them tightly as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. The thought sprang into her mind, "The only reason she's going to Narbo is because of the message you brought her from that merchant."

"Isumbrus," agreed Patroclese dejectedly, "I know," he told her as he saw the look of accusation in her face, "That's why I had to get back here to warn you. I feel a fool. I was tricked into delivering a message that has baited a trap for a woman I've come to admire," he told her miserably. "I thought that maybe, between us, we could come up with something to warn her or, if the need arose, to rescue her. I've got to do something. I must make up for my part in this, even if I was tricked into it by a man I've always counted as a friend."

Swallowing her fear, Gabrielle touched the healer's cheek softly and said, "It's not your fault, Patroclese," her mind was whirling with plans and odd images that flashed through her brain leaving vivid pictures that caused her to clutch her temples as if in pain.

"Are you all right?" asked Ephiny who moved to her friend's side, recognising some kind of problem.

"I'll be fine ... in a moment," Gabrielle told her, although she was grateful for the support Ephiny's arm gave. The Amazon guided her to a chair. "A little much exercis and sun," she tried to reassure the Regent. She looked up at the healer and told him. "We need to get to the nearest port that has ships bound for Narbo, or as close as we can get to it in Narbonensis."

"Xena told you to stay here," Ephiny told her sternly, "She told me to keep you here," she added.

"Everything's changed now, Ephiny," the bard told her briskly. "Xena's walking straight into a trap and I've got to try and stop her."

Ephiny looked mutinous, "Xena knows what she's doing. She's quite able to take care of herself. You going after her might just get her into the kind of trouble she can't get you both out of. You know! The reason she wanted you to stay here in the first place."

"I know Ephiny," Gabrielle agreed with her, "I know. But Xena thinks she's going to help an old friend. She thinks she's left all of Caesar's traps behind her. I wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn't try to warn her, would I."

"We could send a couple of Amazon scouts .. or I know Poni would go if I asked her," protested the Regent.

"They'd stand out like sore thumbs and you know it, Eph .. at least I'm used to travelling outside the Nation. If Patroclese comes with me it will act like a disguise they're not going to be looking for a man and his .. wife, now are they?" argued Gabrielle persistently.

Ephiny sighed in defeat, before a grim determination came over her. She crossed her arms across her chest and asked, "How many sisters should I ready to go with us?"

"Pardon?" questioned the bard taken by surprise.

"How many sisters?" repeated Ephiny.

"Ephiny, you can't come," Gabrielle told her firmly, "You're needed here as ruler."

"That's your task," reminded the blonde.

"I have another one to perform,' she said to the Amazon, "And I'm not taking any of the sisters, either," she declared firmly. "They'd attract too much attention, and I'm going to need to try and be as inconspicuous as possible."

"Is there anything I can do for you, then, my Queen," was Ephiny's flat response.

"Cut that out, Ephiny," Gabrielle told her shortly, "We're friends. Don't go all formal on me just because you don't like a decision."

Ephiny looked mutinous again, but she slowly controlled herself and sighed once more, "Is there anything I can do for you, Gabrielle?" she asked in a milder tone.

"Yes. Will you please take Patroclese and find some supplies and a horse for me. I'll join Patroclese after I see you back here." the bard told her.

Nodding her assent, the Amazon lead the healer away with her, giving Gabrielle a chance to bundle her things together hastily. Then, with the images she had seen still burned into her mind, she took three sheets of paper and wrote three almost identical letters. She sealed them with wax she softened over the candle flame, inprinted the sels with the Royal Amazon crest and wrote three different names on the outside.

By the time that Ephiny got back, she had finished and was ready to leave, "Can you make sure that these get delivered as quickly as possible?" she asked her friend.

Ephiny looked quizzically at the names and shot Gabrielle an intrigued glance.

"It's a feeling, that's all," the bard told her. "Sometimes I see things. I think that they might be some help."

"Well, it's certainly a mixed group," the Amazon told her, "Patroclese is down by the stable. Good luck, Gabrielle," Ephiny told her as she gave a quick parting hug. As the bard left the house, she added, "Be safe, my Queen."