Iolaus grinned at the merchant, "All right friend," he began in a mild tone, "How much do you want for all of this?" he waved his hand over the goods he had selected.

"Twenty five dinars," the man replied promptly.

"What!" Iolaus almost screeched, "I'm not trying to buy your whole inventory! I'll give you five and even that's blatant robbery!"

"Times are hard friend, costs are high, but I might be able to see myself coming down to say twenty dinar." he conceded.

The short man gave his adversary a hard look. He guessed that the merchant was charging extra because he recognised them as foreigners who would be unlikely to know the local prices. Iolaus considered his options. They didn't really want to have to wander through the town looking for another merchants, it would take long enough to find a horse trader, but he would if pressed to it. He glanced at Toris who stood unobtrusively by the door keeping an eye out for any trouble, however unlikely a prospect it might seem.

He focused his attention back on the merchant and decided that he really didn't like the ferret faced weasel who was trying to bilk them and set about destroying him in a hard bargaining session that finally got them their supplies for a much healthier nine dinars. "Friend," Iolaus offered as he handed over the money, "If you try to charge all strangers those prices, I'm surprised you've managed to stay in business."

The man gave him a sour look, "Nobody forced you to buy from me," he replied sententiously with a shrug added for good measure.

Gathering up their hard fought for purchases, Iolaus divided the supplies between his and Toris's packs, before the pair headed back onto the cobble laid dock road. It was, maybe, a candlemark after noon and so both knew they had to get finished in Pisse and head out if they wanted to make any progress in locating their missing friends.

"Do you want to look for a horse trader?" questioned Toris, who would far rather ride than walk if they were given the option.

"If they charge prices similar to our merchant friend in there, there's no way that we're going to be able to afford to buy them," Iolaus replied with a shake of his curly blonde hair. "Still I suppose that there's no harm in checking the possibility out. We might get lucky."

As they wandered further into the town, they asked directions from people they passed. At first the answers they got were vague, but as they got closer to their target, instructions became much fuller and soon they were standing in the yard of a well kept establishment with a sign above the door proclaiming that Maxis Terricus's Equine Emporium could be found here.

"A name like that's got to add fifty percent to the cost of the animals," grumped Iolaus.

"Well let's just ask," prompted Toris shaking his black hair out of his eyes. Both he and Iolaus had washed the colour out of the hair, but had decided to keep the beards. Once they were out in the wilds they wouldn't have time to play with dyes and so they had rid themselves of that part of their disguise, but opted to keep the face fungus as a concession to the need to remain careful. "Besides," Toris couldn't resist adding with a smirk, "I know you just love to haggle with these guys."

Sighing with the mock air of being so misunderstood, Iolaus banged on the door and called out, "Hey, is there anyone interested in selling horses in there?"

It took a few minutes to get an answer from within, and the banging on the door attracted attention that they really didn't need.

"Iolaus," hissed Toris when he saw an obviously off duty soldier glance their way, "People are staring to look at us."

The soldier was subjecting them to some fairly close scrutiny and seemed to be deciding whether or not he should come across the street to investigate, when the door to the Equine Emporium was suddenly jerked open, revealing a painfully thin, red faced man with bright orange hair. He was hastily shrugging into his tunic and both Toris and Iolaus heard soft female giggling from somewhere inside, "Yes, what do you want?" he asked somewhat testily as he pushed his shirt tail into his trousers.

"Oh, Maxi!" called a mischievous voice from inside the office, "Try not to be too long."

Toris and Iolaus grinned at each other and watched the flaming spread of embarrassment race up Maxi's neck. The flushed man stepped outside and closed the door quickly behind himself, "Ah, please excuse ... umm, err, ... what can I do for you?" he tried again lamely.

"We're looking for a couple of mounts," as the man's face turned a deeper shade of crimson, Iolaus berated himself for a poor choice of words.

Toris checked over his shoulder to see what the soldier was doing, and sighed in relief to find that he'd gone, - Probably just wondered what was taking Maxis so long to open the door, - he assured himself.

"Come with me to the stock yards and I'll show you what we've got," the trader told them, heading out across the yard.

The friends sauntered after Maxis ready to look over his stock and see if they could afford anything he had to offer.

"What kind of animals are you boys looking for?" asked the weedy man conversationally.

"Riding animals, for the right price," answered Iolaus.

Toris let the smaller man do the talking, knowing that he was nowhere near as good as Iolaus in the negotiating stakes. He was, however, a far better judge of horseflesh than the other man, and so it was he who looked over the available animals while Iolaus engaged Maxis in conversation.

There was plenty of choice in the stables, but the most likely looking pair were a deep chested bay that had a mean look in it's eye and showed whip marks on it's flank. It had obviously been misused and likely had a foul temper because of it. It wouldn't be a suitable mount for Iolaus, but Toris knew himself to be a better than average horseman and believed he could handle the animal. Besides, with it obviously being a difficult beast, they would probably be able to get it for a much reduced price.

There was also a sorrel mare. It was an ugly looking brute but it showed evidence of having strong legs and a feel of stamina about her. She also seemed to be gentle and would serve his shorter friend quite well. People so often looked for 'pretty' animals that those with less than perfect looks, were often undervalued.

As Toris rand his hands across the Sorrel's back and down her withers, he became aware of a sudden clattering in the street. Throwing a glance at the courtyard entrance, he saw a double file of armed garrison soldiers rounding the corner and heading straight for them.

"Iolaus!" he warned the blonde man who was deep in negotiation with the horse trader, "we've got trouble."

"There he is!" snarled the leading soldier, "Get the bastard!" he yelled pointing his sword in the direction of Toris's friend and Maxis.

The tall dark man drew his sword and set himself to meet the oncoming rush, noticing, from the corner of his eye, that Iolaus had pushed the thin man away from himself, though his own sword lay with their bundled belongings. Toris decided it was going to be up to him to delay the soldiers, while the blonde found something to defend himself with.

Moving forward at a run, the big, black haired man shoulder charged the first soldier in the line, catching him unaware by coming from behind the sorrel where he'd been partially concealed, and catapulted him into a collision with the man to his left and the two men directly behind them. The ensuing chaos was satisfactory, as the four men went down in a tangle of limbs, causing havoc amongst those running along behind them.

Toris grinned as further confusion was inflicted by a hail of horseshoes being thrown with unwavering accuracy, bombarding the struggling soldiers with a deluge of iron that was both painful and distracting. He didn't have long to be amused, however, as the men at the rear of the heaped mass, began to get around the blockage, and he soon found himself confronted by three angry looking legionaries.

Having run out of horseshoes, Iolaus grabbed a pitchfork and rushed forward to cut off two more soldiers that had got around their downed comrades. With quick hands and a deft touch, he poked the stump end of the tool into his first opponents gut, before sending him tumbling into the heaped mass in the centre of the yard. The second soldier came at him with sword raised for a downward stroke, but Iolaus blocked it with a horizontal presentation of his pitchfork, only to see the metal sheer through the wood, leaving him with just a couple of sticks. With a look of disgust he tossed them aside.

Always inventive, however, the blonde dropped to the ground, braced himself with his hands and swept the other man's feet out from under him, before springing to his feet and kicking his adversary alongside the temple, rendering him unconscious, then turned to see what else needed his attention.

Toris grinned to himself. At last he was getting a chance to fight against the people who were holding his sister ... well at least their men. With relish he engaged the three men before him, parrying their blows and returning them with strong quick strikes. Working with enthusiastic determination, the dark haired man disarmed one of his attackers with a flat bladed strike across his knuckles, before risking a backhanded left fist swing to slam into his victim's jaw, sending him spinning into a corner of the yard.

He suffered for that piece of over enthusiasm, when the one of the others raked his right arm with his sword, drawing a long shallow gash that stung, and bled alarmingly, but in no way hampered him. A feral light sprung awake in his eyes as he clashed his sword, in a two handed swipe against the blade of the man who had marked him, with a shuddering 'clang' that left the soldier staggering, allowing Toris the time to plant a heavy boot in the groin of the third man, who whimpered in agony and dropped his weapon. That gave the blue eyed man the freedom to dispose of the recovering last soldier, felling him with a straight thrust through the chest.

Iolaus had kept a careful eye on Xena's brother as he faced off against three soldiers. He'd never seen the man fight before, but he'd always got the impression that he wasn't very proficient at it. Admittedly, he was basing his assumptions on what Xena had said, and he was fast coming to the opinion that her unflattering remarks had not done this older brother of her's justice. Toris was far better than merely competent .. almost as good as he was himself with the sword (and Iolaus knew that he had a well earned reputation of being very good).

- Of course, - mused the short man idly, as he ducked a sword swing aimed at removing his head from his shoulders, - he's not as good as Xena. But then again who is!? - A round side kick to the ribs folded the soldier over so that he was able to deliver a double handed chop to his neck and throw his erstwhile opponent into the heaving pile on the ground, downing two soldiers, once more, who had almost extracted themselves from the mess.

He'd seen the feral glow light up the blue eyes that were so like the man's sibling's, and felt an uncanny shiver go through him. - Toris might not be the demon with a sword that Xena is, but there's no mistaking they're of the same blood. - he concluded, - I wonder if things had been a little different .. if he'd been as good as she is .. just how the world would have fared against the both of them? - It was not a comfortable thought and he deliberately shouldered it away into some far corner of his mind to be .. maybe .. discussed with Hercules some time in the future. For now, they needed to get clear of this mess before anymore of the garrison troops arrived on the scene.

"Toris!" the blonde shouted above the noise to attract his friends attention, ramming his elbow into a soldiers ribs as the man tried to get behind him.

"Iolaus?" came the questioning response, punctuated with a wide slash that forced back the two soldiers he was currently engaging.

"Let's get out of here, now!" suggested the little man as he bobbed up and down avoiding the wild sweeps of a sword that a soldier was aiming at him.

"With you!" agreed the big, dark, man as he hacked one soldiers shoulder, getting a grazed rib in return from the second man, before he had a chance to sweep his sword around to slice through the soldier's throat.

He leapt over the bodies grabbing up their gear as he heard the officer in the melee on the ground, "Those are two of the bastards that Lord Caesar is after! Forget the horse trader and get them! There's a big reward for their capture!"

- Oh, Ares' codpiece! - Iolaus silently cursed, - they weren't even after us! Probably didn't even know we were in Italia, now we'll have the whole bloody country looking for us! - He executed a forward roll to get him out of a tight situation, and pounded after Toris who had halted impatiently just outside of the courtyard, and flung Iolaus his pack and sword, before the pair launched into a breakneck run along the cobbled streets of the city, intent on losing their pursuers and getting out into the countryside without any more mishaps.

"Have they gone," hissed Iolaus, trying not to shiver too hard in case anyone heard the chattering of his teeth.

Toris carefully parted the reeds and peered out into the gloom of the darkling night. He listened intently trying to recognise if there was a soft buzz of words in the distance. After a long pause, he turned and whispered back, "I think so."

"Then let's get out of this ice bath before I freeze my ... assets off," returned the smaller man with feeling. "Who'd have believed that a river could be so cold in summer?"

"Mountain run off," pointed out Toris as he gestured vaguely to the east where they had seen the mountain spine lurking, before it got too dark to see anything, "Do you want to press on? The night's warm, and it'll give us a chance to dry out our clothes if we keep on the move, as well as putting some distance between us and them."

Iolaus bounced up and down, once he'd managed to struggle back onto dry land, trying to get some feeling back into his cold body, "I guess that's the best idea. We've got to head south, and they're gonna figure that out soon enough, if they haven't already."

"Agreed," acknowledged the dark haired man, "Gabrielle and the others must be between here and Rome and they're gonna be heading south as well. Xena'll turn up there eventually, and now that Caesar hasn't got Gabrielle to hold over her as a hostage, we might just be able to figure a way out of all of this."

"Sounds like a plan," grinned the small blonde, "Let's get moving before I turn into a popsicle."

Hefting their packs the two men headed south at a staggering run, that slowly smoothed out as their bodies warmed up. They made sure that they kept well clear of the road because they would make too visible a target on there, even if the going was easier. They tried to keep back just inside the woods that ran parallel to the road but about fifty feet away. The ground in between had been hacked clear to discourage bandits from setting up ambushes on the imperial highways, and left a wide swathe of clear ground making it possible to sight pursuers from some distance off.

Escape from Pisse had proven to be a close run thing, with Iolaus being scored alongside his ribs, at one point, by an arrow as they'd sprinted away from the city walls. Since then, they'd been playing cat and mouse with the search parties that were combing the area for them. They hadn't had time to stop and tend their injuries, they were, however, grateful that neither of them had managed to sustain a bad wound.

"You know," huffed Iolaus as he ran along trying to keep up with Toris's longer strides, "I'm really not used to this. It's usually Hercules and I doing the hunting, not the other way round."

"Really?" queried, the bigger man who was relaxing into his stride, grateful that there was a full moon so that they could judge their footing.

"Well, yeah," replied the blonde a little less certainly, "I'll admit that sometimes we have people coming after us, but usually we stay and fight it out. This running game feels unnatural."

"Yeah, well," returned Toris as he hurdled a fallen tree, "My sister always used to say that you should pick your fights carefully and, when in doubt, run like the harpies were on your tail!"

Iolaus chuckled imagining Xena saying that, "Sounds just like her. When did she tell you that? When you saw her during that business with Cortese last time?"

"Nah," he returned, "She used to tell the little kids in the village that when the bullies picked on them ... and then go and beat the stuffing out of the bullies for picking on the little ones. I guess she was about nine or so at the time."

The shorter blonde man shook his head in mock disbelief, "Was she precocious, or what?"

"Mother said we were all a little that way, it was just that Xena used to stand out from everyone else, so nobody noticed it so much with Lyceus and me." he explained as they thudded along the tree fringe, keeping to cover as much as possible.

"Used to stand out!? Toris, you could put your sister down into a room of a hundred women and she'd still stand out like a ruby in a pile of glass," Iolaus informed him.

"Nice image," grinned Toris. "You need to stop and walk for a bit?" he asked as he stretched out a hand to stop the shorter man from falling after he stumbled over a root.

"Sure .. it'll be good to get a breather," admitted Iolaus. "Besides, we'll keep going longer that way if we don't tire ourselves out by over-doing the running."

They proceeded in that way for most of the night. First they'd run some and then they'd walk, always keeping moving, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the search as they possibly could. They were very lucky not to turn or break an ankle, a possibility that was very much in their minds, but they were driven by necessity.

When the glow of false dawn began to show itself, Iolaus declared that it was time for them to find some place to hide up for the day. They struck deeper into the wooded margin seeking some secluded dell or maybe a cave in which they could rest and sleep. Following a dried creek bed, they finally found their way into a small, narrow valley, between two steep sided hills. At the back of the valley was a rocky depression which they were able to screen with bushes and so hide their presence.

As exhausted as they were, the pair took the time to tend, stich and bandage each other's wounds .. grateful for the small medical pouch that they had in their packs .. finally collapsing with fatigue onto their welcoming, though damp, blankets and feasting on journey bread and jerked meat, before wrapping the bedding around themselves and drifting off to sleep.

When Brutus was informed that Toris and Iolaus had both been recognised in the vicinity of Pisse, he wasn't sure whether to curse or praise the gods. The fact that the two men had escaped, seemingly without a trace, from the soldiers of the garrison there, made his blood boil. If he had been able to get his hands on those two, his loss of the bard and the other pair might not have been so bad. Having the warrior witch's only brother as a hostage would work almost as well as having her best friend. Xena's emotional attachments were her fatal flaw, and, as Caesar had so often told him, "Divide a woman's emotions from her sensibilities and you have her!"

Well it wasn't worth crying over something he'd had no control of. The two men had escaped, but they were heading south into the heavy cordon that he'd already established to catch his escapees. With just a minimal amount of luck, all five of the pigeons would fall into his hand so that he could present them to Caesar as a personal gift.

"Make sure that all the watches and patrols stay alert!" he ordered his aide who had waited patiently for orders after the messenger had been dismissed, "I don't expect any of them to have reached this area yet, but I don't want any slackness. Let the men know that one man in five will receive twenty lashes, should our quarry slip past them, and that I'll give the men who take them a bonus of twenty gold dinars each. That should make them keen enough to find them."

"Sir," saluted the officer as he left Brutus's command tent.

Iolaus and Toris continued travelling in the pattern that they had established on that first night. However, they became more cautious once the hunt was no longer snapping at their heels, walking rather than running in the darkness, in case of accidents that they could ill afford, and aware that they could be running straight towards a trap.

With a need to conserve their limited food store, they did chance doing a little trapping during the daylight hours to supplement their supplies. They had too cook the rabbits, that they caught in their snares, over small fires made from tinder dry wood that gave off very little or no trace, as they couldn't afford to risk any smoke being seen. Fishing was out, because neither of them could afford to risk being out in the open for any length of time.

Still, they had managed, and were making good time as they pushed southwards, away from Pisse and past the towns of Rusellae and Populonia, moving in the margins between the 'Via Aurelia Vetus', which was the coast road, and the 'Via Clodia', further inland, and both which ran directly into Rome.

The further south they went they found increasing signs of soldiers patrolling the area and Iolaus, being an old hunter, recognised the signs enough to know that they were seeking to funnel the fugitives into a trap, "They know we're heading for Rome," he told Toris, when they heard the soldiers pass by and out of earshot of the bush that they'd taken refuge in.

"We've got to find a way past the guards," returned the bigger man quietly, "Once we get into Rome, we should be able to hide ourselves amongst the crowds of people."

"It's getting into Rome that's going to be the problem," Iolaus reminded him.

"There's got to be away to get through this cordon," insisted Toris urgently.

"Shhhhh!" hissed the smaller man, drawing him down as he picked up the sound of rustling leaves.

The pair remained silent as another heavily manned patrol moved past their hiding place. They kept very still and uttered no sound until they were certain that the Romans were long past. Both men let out soft sigh's of relief.

"I think we'd better head back north and find somewhere safe to wait out the day," he glanced up at the lightening sky, "We'll have to try and work out some way of slipping by them," he explained to Toris.

The dark man gave a slight nod of his head and they very carefully withdrew. They retraced their steps back the way they had come, taking infinite care to do so quietly. Having come so far, they had no intention of falling at the last hurdle if they could help it. As they worked their way up a steep gully, they could hear the sounds of softly jingling equipment somewhere not far behind them. Toris and Iolaus swapped worried glances, and moved forward at a faster rate, praying to any god that cared to listen to keep their movements quiet enough to avoid detection.

A noise ahead of them left them in little doubt that they were in trouble. They couldn't go back, they couldn't go forward and the sides of the gully were too steep to climb without making the kind of noise that would bring the patrols at the double. In frustration they looked at each other knowing that they were caught like rats in a trap.

Both men backed up against the wall of the gully and drew their swords, prepared to sell themselves dearly if they had to. The rocky wall behind them would protect them from attacks from the rear and, depending just how many men were in that patrol, they might even be able to fight their way clear of trouble.

As they braced themselves for the coming fight, both men suddenly felt hands being clamped around their mouths from behind, and their bodies hauled back into, and beyond, the face of the gully. "Shhhhh!" ordered a familiar voice.