The current pair stood stiffly and wore long suffering, patient, looks on their faces as they hoped their reliefs would arrive before their ruler decided that she needed to yell at someone again. Since they were the only one's to offer a likely target, with everyone else keeping their heads down and well away from the council chamber, they had taken more than their fair share of Ephiny's blistering tongue.

"How long before this state visit sets off?" hissed Calli, a young woman with mousy brown hair who had just been promoted into the Guard.

"Tomorrow," replied her older partner, Amantha, feelingly. "Hopefully she'll calm down once she gets on the road, otherwise I can foresee much misery for our sisters."

"I'm glad we're not going," muttered back Calli, who had gotten over her disappointment at not being chosen as part of the escort having been subjected to the Regent's bad temper during the past week.

"I can hear you muttering out there," came a thunderous voice from within the building, "If you two can't stand your guard as Amazon's should, perhaps you could both use some time in one of the outer villages digging up some weeds."

Amantha rolled her eyes theatrically, "Has she been taking lessons from the Warrior Princess?" she murmured to Calli and almost yelped as the door was flung open to reveal a scowling Ephiny.

"I heard that, Amantha," she snarled, her eyes sparking dangerously and giving ample warning that the Regent's temper was still full blown. She glared at the older Amazon who lowered her eyes and had the grace to look embarrassed at being caught out. "I want you two to get Eponin and Solari for me. You'll find them in the corral."

"Umm, we're not supposed to leave you unguarded you know, Eph," put in Amantha tentatively. The fact that she didn't really want to disturb the other two Amazon's who were rumoured to be sorting out some of their current differences .. strictly against the Regent's orders as she'd decreed that the pair should stay well away from each other .. was the only thing that gave her the courage to say anything.

"Ye Gods and Gorgons!" roared Ephiny, "Amantha, you and Calli get over to wherever they are and tell them to stop the fight right now and get back here to me, double quick, or I'll have them both hung out to dry and after they can join you out on the farm digging weeds until I get back!"

The pair took one look at the enraged Queen Regent and shot off faster than a speeding chakram heading for the corral behind the barn, where they knew that Solari and Eponin were 'sparring'.

"I don't think I'd want to be in their shoes," Calli told her friend as they sprinted along.

"At the moment, Calli, I'm not too keen on being in our shoes," commented Amantha wryly.

Ephiny glared around the town square of Themiscyra and had the satisfaction of seeing several curtains twitch as women pulled their heads back to avoid attracting their Ruler's dubious attention. Nodding her head in satisfaction, a scowling Ephiny, stalked back into the roomy, well appointed chamber that had one door and one large window at the rear .. furnished with some good rugs and comfortable chairs.. and made her way to her desk, sitting down with a thump on the cushioned seat.

She drummed her fingers on the table in nervous anger. Even after she had made her decision about who went and who stayed, Solari and Eponin had continued to bicker, finding things to niggle each other about, causing Ephiny, who was concerned and short tempered with worry about Gabrielle and Xena, to descend into a mood that had been likened, by more than one Amazon, to a bear with a mouth full of sore teeth.

The whole situation had gotten so bad, she had forbidden the pair to approach each other. The fact that they had disregarded her orders, over that, was bad enough, but to be so lax about it as to allow her to hear about their projected duel, was well out of order. She had enough to worry about without her two lieutenants acting like children and allowing Tarelle and her bunch to observe the whole sorry business.

That was how she'd found out about the 'sparring' match. Tarelle had taken great delight in revealing it to her at lunch, even telling her the time that it was due to start, which was how she knew when to judge to send Amantha and Calli off to round them up. Now she sat and waited, her temper at boiling point and she just knew that she was going to end up saying something to the pair that they were all going to regret.

Lost in her reverie, she almost didn't hear the soft creak of a floorboard behind her. Reacting with the ingrained instincts of a natural warrior, Ephiny flung herself out of her seat, executing a forward roll and came up ready to face her attacker as she heard the heavy thud of chobos smashing into the back of the chair she had just vacated. A quick glance took in all the relevant details. The woman was dressed in Amazon leathers, but her hair and features were hidden by a kind of hood that had eye holes and was drawn closed around the neck. Whoever the assassin was, she didn't intend to be recognised.

Ephiny braced herself for the attack that she knew was coming, watching the expert way that the chobos were flourished as the assassin stalked her intended prey. With a startling rapidity, the attacker swung a weapon towards the Regent's legs and, as Ephiny reacted, reversed her stroke hitting the blonde warrior hard in the stomach and heavily across the upper left arm with the second chobo.

Grunting with pain, Ephiny tried to back off from the assassin who stalked her intently across the room. The Regent threw a chair into the other woman's path, which the intruder neatly side-stepped and gave a low chuckle in response. Attempting to buy herself some time, Ephiny took a leaf out of Gabrielle's book and tried talking her way through this situation, "Who are you? What do you want?" she demanded, knowing that they were inane questions, but the bard always said it didn't matter how you got started, just find a way to make your enemy talk.

Another low chuckle was the only response she got, followed by a lightning quick attack, that Ephiny barely avoided by launching herself into another diving roll across the room. The move brought her close enough to where she had left a fighting staff leaning against a wall from a practice session a few days before. Heaving a sigh of relief, she grabbed the weapon and turned to face the assassin who backed off warily, knowing that facing an unarmed Regent was one thing, while being matched against an angry armed Regent was quite another.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, the woman, gave another low laugh and backed off before turning suddenly and diving out of the rear window that she'd entered the room by. Ephiny rushed after her and swept the area outside the window with angry brown eyes. There was no sign of the assassin to be seen.

The noise of the door opening behind her made her almost leap out of her skin as she whirled, with her staff at the ready, to take on any other would be attackers. She lowered it slowly as she realised that it was only Solari arriving, "Where's Eponin?" the Regent demanded with a snap in her voice that demanded an immediate answer from her lieutenant.

"How would I know, Eph?" returned the taller dark haired woman, calmly, "You ordered me to keep away from her, remember?" Her intent gaze took in the dishevelled look of her ruler and the unusually untidy condition of the chamber, "You wanna tell me what's up?" she asked quietly, "and why weren't Amantha and Calli at their posts?"

"I sent them to find you," Ephiny told her tensely. "I'd heard that you and Ep were going to try to knock each other senseless down in the corral."

"What!" yelled Solari, "and you believed it! What's more you left yourself unguarded! Eph, what's gotten in to you just lately?"

Ephiny looked at her guard commander in utter disbelief, "WHAT'S GOTTEN IN TO ME!" she shrieked, her anger, worry and recently inflicted fear all rising to push her into a roaring rage, "Not only do I have our pig headed, stubborn little Queen to worry myself sick over, along with her half mad, wholly dangerous and likely unstable champion, my two lieutenants have been snapping at each other like schoolgirls, and someone has just been in here ...," she swallowed and paused before adding in a softer tone, "... trying to take my head off with a damned set of chobos."

"What's all the screaming in here?" demanded Eponin as she shouldered her way into the council chamber past a dumb struck Solari, "Oh, hi Soli," she said quietly putting a little distance between herself and the guard commander before turning back to the Queen Regent, "What's up Ephiny?" she asked carefully, "Why did you send Amantha and Calli to find me?" she asked, gesturing to the two guards who stood just outside the open doorway.

"Because, I thought ..." she looked at her two expectant lieutenants and tried again, "Because I was told ... Oh Hade's armpits!" she cursed, "I was taken for a sucker is what," she told them as she ran her hands through her fair curls and winced at the pain that spasmed in her upper left arm.

"You're hurt," accused Eponin, moving over to Ephiny's side as Solari moved to the other.

"It's nothing," she assured them slapping away their anxious hands, "Just a bruise. There's nothing broken," she told them firmly.

"Who told you that we were supposed to be having a fight?" questioned Solari intently, drawing a questioning glance from Eponin. "We were supposed to be having a go at each other in the corral," she told the weapons master.

"Tarelle," admitted Ephiny.

"You think she set this up?" quizzed Eponin, her face turning grim.

A cough came from the doorway, "Ah, excuse me," broke in Amantha, "That fight was common knowledge. Anyone could have started the rumour. Tarelle might just have been gloating, or she could have instigated it," she pointed out carefully. "If she started the rumour, you can bet you'll never trace it back to her. She'll have covered her tracks pretty well."

"You two get in here," ordered Ephiny roughly, "and close that damned door behind you," she instructed, "We don't need everyone hearing this."

"Is this going to alter our plans?" asked Eponin as she seated herself on the desk and raised an eyebrow at Ephiny until she resumed her seat in her chair.

"No," the Regent said firmly, "It's important that we find Gabrielle and make sure she's safe, and the only place we're going to do that is in Rome." She sighed and wiped a hand across her forehead, "I don't think whoever it was intended to kill me, probably just hurt me enough to stop the embassy from leaving. If they'd wanted my death they'd have used something other than chobos."

"You're probably right," agreed Eponin. "A crossbow bolt would have done the job perfectly," she said eying the window. "Isn't it about time we put guards out there too?" she asked Solari, whose responsibility that was.

The guard commander looked as if she might argue the point with Eponin, but then sighed and shrugged before saying, "We tried that when Gabrielle was here the time before last, but she went ballistic and told me it was like being a prisoner. So for self defence, I removed the window guards, figuring that Xena would be around to take care of any problems. We never got around to replacing them. It was an oversight on my part and I'll take responsibility for what happened."

"Bit late for that now," grumped Eponin.

"Oh, hush," Ephiny told her quietly, "You two and this bickering is what gave them this opening in the first place. Now I want it ended here and now. There is to be no feud within my supporters." She looked at Solari, "Soli, I know that you're disappointed about not being able to go with us, but you really are the best person for the job here, and Ep is the best for the work we may have to do in Rome. So let's just stop all this niggling and make sure we've got everything settled before I leave in the morning." She wiped a tired hand over her brow, "You two," she said to Amantha and Calli, "go back to your posts. One of you take the door, while the other take the window for now, until we get the rosters changed."

Both bowed and intoned together, "As the Queen commands," grinning as they straightened up.

"Get out of here," smiled Ephiny in return.

Once they had left the room, the Regent turned to her two remaining companions and spoke clearly and calmly, "The burden of trying to solve who my attacker was is going to fall on you, Soli," she told the guard commander. "I very much doubt that it was Tarelle herself, although I can't be absolutely certain because she had a hood on. Don't be too obvious about it, but see what you can find out."

"Of course I will, Eph," assured the competent woman, "I don't take kindly to having the Queen attacked by one of our own, so if ... no when I find her, I'm going to make her wish she had gone straight to Tartarus in a bucket. It should give me something to occupy my time with while you're gone."

"Oh believe me, Soli, you'll have plenty of things to do," she assured her friend, "You won't believe the things that pile up if you don't attend to them each day." Ephiny turned her attention to Eponin, "You're going to have another problem," she told her.

"Tarelle?" the weapons master asked.

"If she was behind this, then she's going to cause us trouble in Rome, if not before we get there. I want her and her playmates watched carefully at all times. That's going to be your responsibility Eponin. Make sure that the people you use are fully loyal to us." the blonde regent instructed solemnly.

"I've got a dozen or so that I'd trust with our lives," nodded Eponin in confirmation.

"Yeah, but make sure that they can be trusted with Gabrielle's life too ... and Xena's if possible," pointed out Ephiny with concern evident in her voice.

"Don't worry over it too much, Eph," answered the dark haired Weapons Master, "We've handpicked the guard, except for Tarelle and her bunch. I'd trust all of them. They're loyal to Gabrielle and most of them have a respect for Xena, even if they're a little wary of her ... but then there are not many who aren't, are there?"

"Fine," acceded the Regent, "I'll leave that in your hands then. Well ladies, we better get to work, I want to be on the road at first light in the morning."

The following morning, the Amazon contingent set off on the first stage of their trip to Rome. They had been on the march for a quarter of a candlemark before the sun pressed above the thickly treed forest and gave promise of a hot, cloudless day. Nearly all the Amazon's were in high spirits, the exception being Tarelle and her crew of seven who had done everything they possibly could to avoid taking this trip.

It was a long, hot tiring day, as Eponin pushed the pace hard. They didn't expect any trouble this close to home, but the scouts were sent out anyway, as a routine precaution and to ensure that everyone got used to being alert and ready for any trouble that might come their way. Amazon's were often feared and misrepresented in the areas surrounding their territories, and such a large, heavily armed band, passing through the lands was bound to attract attention .. likely unfriendly.

They made good time and were close to the edge of Amazon territory when they stopped to make camp for the night. Tarelle and her clique had been assigned kitchen duties .. Eponin was not about to entrust them with scouting missions, nor allow them out from under her eyes. The reluctant travellers weren't too keen on either being there, or the tasks they had been assigned, but under direct orders from the Queen Regent, there wasn't a lot that they could openly do about it.

The atmosphere within the encampment was generally happy and good natured with most of the Amazon's looking forward with eager anticipation to the delights and sights of Rome. Hardly any of them had travelled far from their own lands, partly because they never found the need, but mainly because their people were looked on with resentment and suspicion from others. This trip, then, was something of a thrill for the older hands as well as the younger woman who had been brought along for the experience.

The Amazon's were just settling down for the night's sleep, when one of the pickets came loping back into the camp, making straight for where Ephiny and Eponin were settling down.

"What's up Karrellie?" asked Eponin, sitting up on her sleeping furs.

"The forward patrol's come across a man camped at the border of our lands, they're bringing him in now. He says he knows the Queen. Both of them," she added.

"Does this man have a name?" questioned Ephiny with sharp interest.

"Soma passed the word that he was calling himself Hercules," supplied the picket, "They should be here almost any time."

"Okay, Karrellie," said the Weapons Master, throwing off her blanket and climbing to her feet just a moment after Ephiny, "go back to your post and make sure you keep your eyes peeled." Eponin threw a glance at the blonde Regent, "Do you know Hercules?" she asked.

"We've met," she admitted, "and he's a real good friend of Gabrielle's and more especially, Xena."

They waited impatiently for Soma and her patrol to bring the man they had found back to the camp. Most of the Amazon's were asleep by the time that the group reached the encampment, but those still awake watched with frank appreciation as a huge, well muscled man strode confidently into the camp surrounded by six Amazon's who looked faintly on edge.

As his gaze lighted upon Ephiny, the man's face broadened into a friendly smile and his blue eyes twinkled in delight. The Regent had to admit to herself that he was a handsome man. He moved with a confidence that gave him a natural grace, for all of his size, and yet he exuded a gentleness that seemed totally out of keeping with the prominent muscles he sported.

"Hello, Ephiny," he greeted, moving towards her and Eponin, "Or should I say Queen Ephiny?"

"Ephiny's fine, Hercules," she responded warmly, "What brings you to these parts?"

"I was looking for news of my friend, Iolaus," he explained. "I heard that an Amazon delivered a message to him while I was away, and that he rushed off on some mission somewhere. He's been gone weeks now, and no one seems to know where he is. Can you tell me anything?"

Eponin and Ephiny looked at each other before the Regent drew a deep breath and waved Soma and the patrol away, "Go send out a fresh patrol and then get yourselves something to eat." As they moved off Ephiny turned back and faced the demi-god and motioned him to sit, "Can I offer you something to eat or drink?" she asked politely.

"No, I'm fine," he assured her with a relaxed smile, "but I really would like to know what's going on. It's not often that over a hundred Amazon's are seen headed out of their territories, and I really would like to know what you can tell me about Iolaus."

A fire close by crackled and popped as a knot in the wood exploded in the heat, almost making them start at the unexpected noise that had filled the sudden silence. Ephiny took a breath and tried to work out where to start, "This is a long convoluted tale," she warned him, "and for it to make any sense, I'm going to have to go back a way."

Hercules nodded, "Well I'm not in any hurry to go anywhere tonight," he assured them, "Tell me your tale and let's see what I can make of it."

"Did you know about Xena's son, Solan?" the blonde Amazon asked intently, "because that's where this story starts."

"I've heard the stories," Hercules admitted, "I haven't seen Xena or Gabrielle since it happened."

Ephiny crossed her legs and rested her arms on her knees, making herself as comfortable as possible as she began her story, "I was there, at the Centaur conference," she explained, "You know my son, Xenan, is a centaur prince, grandson of Tyldus?"

"I know," smiled Hercules, "I hope he's well, he seemed a fine young boy."

"He's just great, he's staying with Tyldus for a while," smiled the Regent happy that Hercules remembered her son, "Well Xena and Gabrielle came and what you've heard is most likely true. Do you know Gabrielle's daughter, Hope?"

"Our paths have crossed," he said bleakly.

"Well, she freed Callisto and then the pair of them plotted the death of Solan, Xena's son. Gabrielle was caught in the middle. She didn't want to believe her daughter was evil, the instrument of her father Dahok, and her love blinded her to it. She placed Hope in a position where she was able to kill Solan and that betrayal destroyed something in Xena for a while. Yet even in her pain and suffering, she pulled off some kind of miracle by sealing Callisto up in the Ixion Caverns, while Gabrielle used poison to kill her daughter."

"Sounds like they both had a pretty rough time," came Hercules's sympathetic comment when Ephiny paused.

"It got worse!" came the blunt response, "The two left the centaur village as strangers, Gabrielle came back to Themiscyra with me and Xenan, and Xena disappeared, until she turned up a few days later doing major damage to some of my warriors, killing two ..."

"And breaking Eph's arm," butted in Eponin.

"... and dragged Gabrielle off behind a stolen horse .... Hercules, all the stories I'd ever heard about the bloodthirsty warlord, were nothing in comparison to what I saw in Xena's eyes that day," she shivered, "she was deadly and unstoppable and there was nothing any of us could do to prevent her from taking our Queen, knowing that she intended to kill her."

"What happened?" asked the big man gently as he saw the Regent lost in thought.

"I sent trackers to trail them, and followed on with as big a party of warriors as I could assemble. If we'd caught up to them, I think I would have had the archers just pump arrows into Xena until she was dead," Ephiny sighed taking a deep breath, "Xena was a friend, she'd saved my life and the life of my son, but that wasn't the Xena I had come to know." It was a painful thought, "Anyway, we lost them. Their trail just vanished at the top of a cliff above the sea. Something told me that they weren't dead, so I had strong watches kept throughout our territories. I knew that one day they'd come back, and that Xena would have to face Amazon justice."

Eponin stood up quietly and went and retrieved three cups of good, hot, herbal tea, insisting that Ephiny drink some before she continue with the story, "You don't want your voice giving out on you, do you your majesty?" she asked playfully.

"Cut it out Ep, I'm not a kid," growled the blonde.

"Humour me," insisted the dark haired Amazon.

"Thank you," accepted Hercules as Eponin handed a mug to him. He took a tentative sip, "This is good," he complimented.

Ephiny swallowed some of the tea down under Eponin's watchful gaze before going on with her narration, "They arrived back here about two moons or so ago. My guard commander, Solari, was out with a patrol and found them. She placed Xena in custody and escorted her, Gabrielle and a healer named Patroclese back to the town, but there was some trouble on the way back, some bounty hunters attacked and hacked up the patrol pretty badly. They were after Xena and Gabrielle and there would have been a slaughter if Xena hadn't held them off."

"Must be a pretty big reward to make bounty-hunters risk getting caught in Amazon territory," commented Hercules pointedly.

"Two hundred and fifty thousand dinars for Xena and fifty thousand for Gabrielle, is what we've heard," supplied Eponin.

"Whew!" whistled Hercules in response, "Who wants them that bad?"

"Caesar!" Ephiny told him starkly.

"I'd heard that they'd been to Rome, and I know that Xena and Caesar have a history, but she must have done something to really make him mad." considered the soft spoken giant.

Ephiny nodded, before continuing with her story, "Charges had been laid against Xena's actions when she came and took Gabrielle, so we had to have a trial. The Elders pronounced a years banishment from Amazon territories for Xena and she left right after the pronouncement taking the healer with her and leaving Gabrielle with us. She wanted our Queen safe, while she drew off the bounty-hunters and had managed to get Gabrielle to agree to the plan."

Hercules smiled as he thought about the feisty bard, "That must have taken quite a bit of fast talking on Xena's part. Gabrielle can be really stubborn about being left sometimes."

"Don't I know it." grinned Ephiny, "Anyway, about five days after Xena left, that healer came back and told Gabrielle that Xena was heading into a trap in Narbonensis. She'd been asked for help from an old acquaintance and thought it might take the heat off if she left Greece for a while. Apparently, Caesar set the whole thing up and this healer heard some men discussing it in the village where Xena had left him. Gabrielle immediately decided that she had to try and warn Xena about the trap. She thought she might have time to get there ahead of her, because Xena was going to run the bounty-hunters over a good portion of Greece before leaving for Narbonensis." She swallowed down the last of the cooling tea and turned her brown eyes full on Hercules.

"Before she left she wrote three letters and asked me to have them delivered. One went to your friend Iolaus, the second went to Autolycus and the last was delivered to Xena's brother, Toris. I don't know what was in them, but obviously they asked those men for help. Gabrielle promised to write to me as soon as she got to Narbo. I haven't heard a thing from her. The reason that I'm sitting here talking to you is that I'm on my way to Rome on a State Visit. I think that's the only likely place that I'm going to find out what's happening to our Queen and Xena. I'm pretty sure they'll turn up there eventually. If Caesar had had them killed we'd have had news about it by now."

Ephiny looked at the demi-god in consideration, "It's likely that if Xena and Gabrielle end up in Rome, then your friend Iolaus and the others will turn up there as well. Do you want to come along with us and see what we find?"

Hercules considered the offer for a moment. What the Amazon Regent had said made sense and if Xena and Gabrielle were in trouble, Iolaus wouldn't be too far away, "Sure," he said with a slow smile, "I'd be glad to accompany you, though how you're going to explain a man being in an Amazon entourage I have no idea."

"We'll think of something," grinned Eponin mischievously.