However, it wasn't the local beverages that were souring his mood. He and the others had been in Nemausus for four days now (the journey from Narbo had taken closer to four days than the two that Autolycus had predicted, mainly due to the amount of military traffic on the roads), and had found out almost nothing except that there was a fabulous treasure being closely guarded in the garrison.

He took a draft of the mead and grimaced at the taste. He'd spent the best part of the morning moving from tavern to tavern trying to find any information on either Xena or Gabrielle. News on either was not forthcoming, although he had heard talk of a good hearted healer named Patroclese, who was Caesar's personal physician, and was resident in the garrison building in the city.

Now, Toris sat waiting for the others to return. Iolaus and Joxer had been doing the rounds of the market places, looking to see if they could overhear any rumours that would help them place the bard in the city. They were all, more or less, convinced that the 'treasure' had to be Xena. They could think of nothing else to explain her mysterious disappearance and the sudden emergence of such a valuable cargo. But the other's were adamant that they needed to find Gabrielle as well.

As for Autolycus .. well the thief had been very closed mouthed about what he intended doing that morning. He had mentioned something about a lead that might get him into the garrison, but would not be drawn on it, and refused to allow anyone else to accompany him, pointing out that, "I'm the professional here, so let me do my job."

He looked up as he became aware of the return of Joxer and Iolaus. The pair wore happy grins, and Joxer looked like he was going to burst with the news that he was eager to relay to Toris. "What have you found out?" demanded the dark haired man as the other two sat down at the table.

Before Iolaus could reply, Joxer answered jubilantly, "We've seen her!", provoking warning glares from his companions who preferred that the whole taproom didn't know their business.

"Quietly, Joxer," hissed Iolaus, before turning his attention to Toris and explaining, "We've seen Gabrielle. She's being held in the high tower at the southern end of the building." He grinned, relief evident in his look, "At least we know she's there now. perhaps we can start to do something to get her out."

"What about Xena?" hissed Toris. "Did you see any sign of her?" he demanded, his voice low and vibrant.

"No," admitted the blonde, "but we can be certain that if Gabrielle's there, then Xena is going to be there too. Especially as Caesar's there, and that treasure hasn't moved either."

"That Patroclese is in there as well," Toris told them. "He's Caesar's personal physician. It looks fairly obvious that the man managed to trick both Xena and the bard into Caesar's trap."

"What are we gonna do?" asked Joxer, "I'd give up my life to get them free, but Caesar's got a whole legion in there guarding them, and I don't think the four of us are going to be able tackle all of them. I mean I'll do my bit, I am after all Joxer the Mighty, but I can hardly expect those of you who aren't mighty warriors to fight trained soldiers."

Iolaus scowled at the wannabe warrior, "There's not a legion in there, Joxer, but there's more than we can handle on our own, at least head on." He signed, a note of frustration in his tone, "We can't do anything until Autolycus gets back," he told them. "We need to get into that garrison without raising too much fuss, and he's our best hope for that."

"Do we go up to our room, or do we wait here?' asked Toris.

"Upstairs I think," Iolaus told him, sending a glance at Joxer, "There's less chance that our conversation will be overheard."

Joxer looked at him with an offended frown, "Hey, I know how to keep quiet, when it's necessary."

"It's necessary right now Joxer," Iolaus told him, "Try not to say another word ... ever."

"Ha! Ha!" responded his companion sarcastically.

The three of them made their way to the stairs climbing the three flights to their attic room. It had been the only one left in the establishment big enough to take all four of them. Besides which, it commanded a good view of the streets around them and they had sight of the main road to the garrison. It had proven to be perfect for their needs.

Inside, they found Autolycus busy trying to divest himself of the thick dust that covered him from head to foot. He sneezed heavily, sending up a cloud from his hair and clothing. The other's waved hands in front of their faces and coughed as the dust tickled their throats.

"What in Hades' name have you been doing?" demanded Iolaus as Joxer swung the door shut behind them. The small man moved to the window and opened it to let some fresh air into the room. There was a narrow ledge just outside that allowed the Landlord some access to his roof in case it needed fixing at any time.

Autolycus ignored him as he stripped off his tunic and took it to the window where he waved it frantically, trying to get rid of the worst of the accumulated grime, before hanging his head out and rubbing it with his hands vigorously. When he was satisfied that he'd removed the worst of the debris, he turned back into the room and chose one of the four beds to lounge back on.

There was a glint in his eye that spoke volumes. He had news and was eager to share it. He waited as Toris and Joxer took seats on one of the other beds, while Iolaus leaned against the wall by the open window, "Come on Autolycus, what have you found out," the smaller man encouraged.

"They're both in the barracks," the thief told them with a satisfied smile.

"We've seen Gabrielle," chirped in Joxer, keen to get in his contribution, "She's in the high tower at the south end of the building. She waved to me and Iolaus, so at least she knows we're here."

"The soldiers seem to know we're here too," pointed out Iolaus. "I don't know if either of you have noticed anything, but while Joxer and I were in that market square this morning we had to step pretty smartly to avoid a squad of legionaries who looked like they were heading in our direction."

"It was bound to happen," Autolycus answered, although he sounded a little concerned, "With people asking questions, about an obviously sensitive issue, Caesar was sure to get interested at some point. We just have to make sure we stay clear of trouble until we can work a way to get them out ... which I might add is not going to be easy."

"What's up?" demanded Toris, certain that the thief's reply alluded to a problem over his sister. "Have you found anything out about Xena?" he asked sharply.

Autolycus debated with himself over just how much he should reveal to the Warrior Princess's excitable brother. In the time that they had known each other, he had assessed that Toris did not always think things through before taking action. He tended to have his sister's burning anger, but lacked her iron control. In this present situation it could prove to be a problem. However, he guessed that should he try to keep something back from Toris, the man could erupt like a volcano and destroy any chance they had of getting the two women free.

"C'mon, Autolycus," prompted Iolaus impatiently guessing that something had worried the thief within the garrison, "tell us what happened. The four of us should be able to calmly work out what to do once we have something to go on." It was obvious that the small blonde understood his concerns by the emphasis he'd put on the word 'calmly'. Iolaus would help to control Toris and his volatile temper.

The thief played idly with a lockpick as he told them, "I've seen her and spoken to her," he told them simply, watching their reactions.

Joxer let out a low whistle, "How'd you manage that?" he asked, obviously impressed.

"Being a thief has it's advantages," he told them buffing his nails on his tunic, "and being the King of Thieves gives me more advantages than most."

Iolaus looked as though he was going to be sick over the sound of the thief's egotism, but instead he readied himself to make an impatient demand for more information, while Toris looked ready to explode, so Autolycus continued quickly, "I found a way into the garrison through an old pipe that led into the hypercaust and from there into some air shafts that run throughout the building. I poked around in there until I happened across the one that ran above the dungeons. As luck would have it, there was a vent from the shaft above Xena's cell."

"Then why didn't you get her out of there?" demanded Toris without thinking.

"Listen, hot stuff," Autolycus told him with heavy sarcasm, "Just how was I supposed to get her through an air vent smaller than her head?"

"You didn't say that before," subsided Toris grumpily.

"Use your brains," the thief told him. "Don't you think I'd have got her out if I could?" he demanded, and then added, "Besides, there are other problems."

"Like what?" asked Joxer ingenuously.

The thief scowled, "Like she's in a cell that's open to view by the soldiers in the guardroom. Like she's wearing a heavy set of leg irons and manacles that are fastened to a ringbolt in the ceiling. Like there's at least forty guards in that guard unit around that cell. Like she's watched at all times by at least six men, and like she refuses to go anywhere until she knows Gabrielle's safe." Autolycus told them, ticking off the points on his fingers.

"Hold it," said Iolaus puzzled, "back up! Just how did you manage to talk to her in those circumstances."

"Quietly, my friend. Very quietly," the thief told him seriously. He sat upright and gave them the gist of how Xena had arranged to get a few brief words with him, "As soon as the guards came rushing into the cell, I had to pull back out of sight. The Xena I know wouldn't meekly give in to those Romans like she did. They must be doing something to force her obedience to their orders. My guess is they're threatening Gabrielle, which is why Xena won't think of going anywhere until she knows the bard's safe."

"Damn," swore Iolaus, thinking hard, "How do we get her out of that?"

"There's something you're not telling us?" Toris said intuitively.

Autolycus sighed, "Look, you gotta understand that to those goons, your sister is something akin to a cross between a hydra and a demon from the pit, though she seems perfectly well and healthy," he assured Toris hastily.

"But?" prompted the dark haired man.

"But they're not treating her any too kindly. I saw that young officer punch her before I left ... hard enough to have left me seeing stars. She's also got a slave collar on, though I'll tell you I've never seen anything like the metal it was made from."

"What does Caesar think he's up to?" questioned Iolaus in perplexity, trying to find some kind of sense to it all, "I mean from everything Xena's told me about him, I'd have thought the first thing he'd have done was to have her executed ... but try and make a slave of her? What's he think he's going to do? He's having to tie up men and resources keeping her under constant watch. I just can't figure out what he's up to."

Toris looked at each of the men in the room as they pondered over the question. Not for the first time he wondered how his sister had managed to collect such a disparate selection of men as friends. In their own ways, each of these men knew far more about Xena than he ever would. Oh, he had all the childhood memories, that none of them could really know or share, but they had been a part of her adult life that he'd been excluded from due to their long separation and the total divergence of their lives since Cortese's attack on Amphipolis. "Look," Toris growled in frustration, "can someone please tell me why this Roman hates my sister so much?"

The others looked at him in surprise, taking it for granted that he knew the background to the situation. Joxer blurted out incredulously, "Doesn't your family ever talk? I know Xena isn't a great one for chatting, but surely she must have talked to her family at some time?!"

Toris looked at him, something of a pained expression lay under the mask that he was trying to draw over his emotions, "Xena and I haven't been close for many years. The only things that I'd heard about her were bad," his eyes became distant with memory. "Until I met up with her, a while back, I'd had no idea that she'd turned her back on the evil she was pursuing."

He pursed his lips in an expression that was strongly reminiscent of the Warrior Princess, "We didn't' have a whole lot of time for talking when we were together. She told me something of what happened after I'd left home, but she didn't go in to any detailed explanations of her history, and I didn't ask. It didn't seem relevant at the time."

Iolaus, Autolycus and Joxer looked at each other in surprise. They all knew the basic outline of Xena's history; Joxer probably knew most of her more recent life, but Iolaus had a better, over-all, grasp of the entire story. Getting a nod from Autolycus, Iolaus began to fill in some of the gaps for Toris, before Joxer could launch into a rambling monologue. Trying to cover the details as briefly as possible, Iolaus began, "After Xena had beaten off that warlord at Amphipolis ...."

"Cortese," put in Toris with grimace. Thoughts of that time were still painful for him.

"Right," agreed the blonde man, "Anyway, she started to get ambitious. Protecting Amphipolis became an urge to conquer and she ravaged more territories, eventually expanding her operations into sea raids."

"I know that part," Toris told him, "Where does Caesar fit into all of this?"

Iolaus thought for a moment, "On one of those sea raids, her men captured a young Roman noble by the name of Julius Caesar. She ransomed him for the huge sum of 100,000 dinars and, while she waited for delivery of the ransom, she became charmed by the Roman and fell in love with him. When she got the money for him, she released him and he promised to find her again."

"And?" demanded Xena's brother.

The small man looked hard at Toris before continuing, "When he did meet up with her again, he came not as a lover, but as an enemy. He took her captive with a trick and crucified her and every man in her crew."

Toris swallowed hard. Crucifiction was a hard, painful way to die. But in honesty, he had to admit to himself, piracy merited no less. Still, he had to know what had happened, "How did she survive that?" he asked, "Did she managed to free herself from the cross somehow?"

"Not quite," butted in Joxer, "Caesar also ordered that her legs were to be broken. None of the others, just her. The man she loved really betrayed her. There was no way she should have escaped from that."

However," continued Iolaus, "a slave girl she had befriended rescued her and took her to a healer. But Caesar wasn't ready to let her go. He sent a squad after her with orders to kill her. When they caught up to Xena, at the healer's, the slave girl was killed in the fighting. The whole rotten affair seemed to twist something in Xena and she turned into the monster that so many of the stories tell of."

Toris shook his head. It was so hard to believe. He'd missed so much of Xena's life that, when hearing about these things, it seemed like he was hearing the story of some stranger. He looked at Iolaus, "But why, after all this time is Caesar still holding a grudge?"

Iolaus smiled tightly, "They've had at least a couple of run ins since I've known Xena. Your sister recently orchestrated the rout of Caesar's troops, by Boadicea's army in Britannia. More recently still, she was in Rome where, the rumours say, she tried to assassinate him. All in all, I'd say if there were two people in this world that hated each other more, I've never heard of them."

Toris looked bleak. His sister's troubled path through life had not been easy. He was aware that his own life was driven by powerful emotions that forced him into courses of action without him always being aware of it. But by comparison to Xena, his motivating forces were little more than a tricking stream in relation to the raging torrent of a major river in flood. He looked at Iolaus, "Then why is she still alive? If their mutual hatred is so great, why hasn't Caesar finished what he started long ago."

Iolaus shrugged, "That's what I said."

Autolycus had been studying and weighing his companions as Iolaus delivered his history of the Warrior Princess. Joxer, of course was ... Joxer! An innocent abroad, so to speak. Inept but loyal to a fault. Just occasionally he could come up with a brilliant flash of inspiration at the right moment to solve a problem. But, at the moment he showed no sign of shedding light on the situation.

It was so easy to dismiss Iolaus as Hercules' tag along sidekick. But experience had taught the King of Thieves that the small man was both resourceful and competent in difficult situations. However, like Joxer, the short blonde had no idea of what Caesar was after, or how they were going to get their friends loose.

Toris was the type of man who sought quick easy solutions without understanding the full consequences his actions might bring. He actually knew less about his sister than any of the other men in the room and so the likelihood of him being able to provide the answers to the questions, "What's going on?" and "How do we solve the problem?" looked to be very slim.

That meant it was down to him. His ego was big enough that he could normally take such responsibilities in his stride, and so he set his mind to twisting the few facts that he was aware of into some kind of hypothesis. "Go along with me on this, for a minute," he said to the others when the tension and silence in the room had become something tangible. A nod from each of the men gave him sanction to continue. "We know that if Caesar was running true to form, he would have had Xena and Gabrielle executed. He's got everything he needs to do it. Xena's been convicted of piracy, she's directed rebellion in Britannia and she tried to assassinate the man in Rome. Gabrielle was at least involved in the revolt in Britannia so he has the legal right there too."

"Does Caesar really care about legalities?" asked Iolaus irritably, gazing moodily out of the window.

"Probably not," admitted the thief, "but we know he has the legal right, and we know that he has pursued their deaths in the past, ergo, if he hasn't killed them yet he wants to use them for something ... and I don't mean just as slaves," he added hurriedly as he saw Joxer start to ask a question.

"Seems like we've, more or less, said the same thing already," pointed out Toris quietly, trying to keep a lid on his impulses and finding it something of a struggle.

"Just hear me out," encouraged Autolycus. "We can be fairly confident that he's using Gabrielle as a hostage for Xena's good behaviour."

"Obviously," put in Joxer with impatient sarcasm.

"But why bring them both here to Narbonensis?" asked the thief ignoring Joxer's comment.

That had them all thinking for a while, but Joxer grinned brightly, "They had to come here to spring the trap at Isumbras' warehouse. Xena was hardly likely to walk into Rome again so soon." he finished with a smug sneer at what he saw as Autolycus's short sightedness.

"No wait a minute, Joxer," said Iolaus, suddenly seeming to understand what Autolycus was getting at, "Why didn't Caesar just get on a boat for Rome when he'd caught Xena? Why drag her up here to Nemausus? And why bring Gabrielle here at all, when it would have been quicker and safer to take her straight to Rome?"

Toris looked a little confused, "Whatever he wants Xena for has something to do with Narbonensis?" he asked puzzled.

"No!" disagreed Autolycus, his face seeming to light up as the last piece of the puzzle dropped into place, "Not Narbonensis, but Gaul!" He looked at the bemused faces around him. He knew he was going to have to explain his thoughts to them, "We know that Xena went to Rome and that she was arrested for trying to assassinate Caesar. Well at the same time that all that was going on, a Gaul chieftain was going to be executed by Caesar."

"Verchinex," offered Joxer.

"Bless you!" came the identical response from the other three men.

"No!" drawled Joxer as he tried to make them understand, "The Gaul's name was Verchinex. I read about it in Gabby's scrolls. Xena tricked Caesar so that she could rescue this Gaul."

"But I heard that the execution took place," objected Toris.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," put in Autolycus, "I heard some rumours about that. Something about it not being the Gaul executed, but Crassus, the third member of the triumvirate. Everyone dismissed the rumours because it was a known fact that Crassus died in Syria."

"That was the name of the other man in Gabby's scroll," announced Joxer, "Gabrielle switched this Crassus for Verchinex before the execution could took place."

"Whew!" whistled Iolaus, impressed, "Caesar must have been boiling mad over that."

"It also explains why Caesar's here. He promised the subjugation of Gaul to the Roman's. With Verchinex back with his people, something's got to be done before the whole thing blows up in his face."

"I don't see how Xena and Gabrielle are going to be any use in dealing with that," grumbled Joxer disbelievingly.

"Neither do I," admitted Autolycus, "but I'll bet my reputation that Caesar's got something planned involving them."

"Heads up!" said Iolaus suddenly, as a noise from the street attracted his attention. "You know I was worried about those soldiers in the market this morning? Well it looks like we can worry about them being here, now!"

Toris and Joxer scrambled to look out of the window, while Autolycus dived for the door and stuck his head out to hear the heavy thump of Roman soldiers charging up the stairs. He slammed the door shut, locked it and yelled, "Give me a hand to block this."

A bed was quickly dragged across the doorway and other bedding and beds thrown up against it as a hammering began on the other side. Wood splintered as an axe was used to cut through the obstruction.

"That's not going to hold them long," Toris said as he drew his sword, ready to defend himself, "We need another way out of here ... and quick!" he added as the axe blade bit again to remove a large splinter of wood.

As Iolaus pulled his own blade and Joxer fumbled his out, Autolycus grabbed for his bag of tricks and pulled out his specially constructed, high powered, pistol crossbow, "If we've got just a few moment's I can get us away from here," he told them as he darted for the window.

"Be quick," Iolaus encouraged him, as a large chunk of the door began to disappear now under the assault of two heavy axes.

Autolycus climbed out onto the small ledge outside the window, and swayed backwards quickly as a volley of arrows shot up from the road, "That was close," he muttered. "Good thing that the angle's wrong for them."

He took careful aim with his crossbow and sent a small, heavy set, dart winging across the street to a lower house, trailing a thin, very strong cord behind it. The dart bit into the gable of an attic window with great penetration. Autolycus swayed out of the way of another shower of arrows, before using the bow to shoot another bolt into their room's gable, and then stretched the cord tight.

"Hurry," shouted Iolaus as the door caved in under the axes and the soldiers began to push at the obstruction made by the bedding.

"Ready," returned the thief, "Toris you first."

"Why me?" asked Xena's brother, eager to get the chance to fight against the Romans who were abusing his sister.

"Because you're worth most to Caesar, so don't argue, and bring a blanket!" yelled back Autolycus.

Toris slid his sword back into it's sheath and climbed hurriedly onto the ledge with the blanket, a question in his eyes. He glanced back when he heard the clash of steel as Iolaus and Joxer tried to discourage the Romans from what they were doing, "Throw the blanket over the line hang onto it and swing down to the next roof," the thief explained quickly. "Don't look down and try not to worry too much if an arrow or two flies your way. When you get to the other side hang on for Joxer, then climb over the roof and get out of here."

Toris nodded his understanding and pushed himself off, careening wildly down the rope, to land heavily on the roof of the next building. The move had taken the archers below completely by surprise, so he at least didn't have to worry about that.

"Joxer," called Autolycus, "You next."

"Go on, Joxer," insisted Iolaus, as he parried a thrusting spear that probed through the doorway. "I'll hold them off."

Joxer sheathed his sword, grabbed a blanket and climbed unsteadily out beside Autolycus, "I really don't like heights," he said sickly, as he swayed forward dizzily.

The King of Thieve's grabbed his arm, threw the blanket over the line and tightened Joxer's grip around the end's. "Don't look down," he told him.

"Perhaps, I'd better stay and help Iolaus," he said to the thief, but before he could let go of the blanket, Autolycus gave him a strong push that sent him careering over the edge, "Watch out for the archers!" he yelled.

"Arrrhhhhhh!" screamed Joxer as he flew across the intervening space to be caught by Toris.

"Nicely phrased," muttered Autolycus as he turned to yell for Iolaus.

The small blonde man, swung his sword in a wide arc to encourage the soldiers to back off to give him enough time to grab a blanket and leap for the window. He swung it over the line and with the thief holding one side and him the other they launched themselves off the ledge for the safety of the next building.

"Yodalayheehoo!" yelled Autolycus as they sped down at an increasing rate and felt the brush of close passing arrows as they went.

Toris was busy hauling Joxer up over the apex of the roof and Autolycus, with Iolaus, scrambled quickly to join them. As he reached the top of the roof, Autolycus, ever the showman, turned back to the frustrated Legionaries and gave them an impudent bow, before following his friends down the other side, where they were able to shin down a trellis and disappear into the crowded streets of the city.