Allowing an unpleasant smile to play on his boyishly youthful features, the conquering hero moved deliberately across the room he used as his day office and looked from the large window out onto the drill-yard where his prize captive had been housed. He'd had his people start constructing that pit, with this day in mind, just after she had left Rome the last time. He could, of course, have had Xena housed in his dungeons, but the ease with which she extracted herself and Verchinex had made him leery of entrusting her confinement to a place that she might well have plans laid for removing herself from.

Then again, he could have had her held in the gladiator pens of the coliseum. It would have been functional for training purposes with tight discipline and tighter security. None of the highly trained and deadly fighters that graced it's facilities had ever managed to escape from there .. but then again, none of them were the highly intelligent, infinitely resourceful and unquestionably lethal Warrior Princess.

- No, Xena, - he grinned as he looked towards her prison, - I far prefer having you under my eye. I don't trust you too far away from me, and I want to know just what you're up to every moment of every day. -

Having drunk enough wine for one day, he ignored the refreshment tray and sat down at his familiar desk, glancing through some of the more pressing of the accumulated paperwork that had been left for him by his secretary. His busy mind sorted through, digested and stored the information as he mentally concocted lists of points that required immediate action or clarification.

Never having been a man who believed in wasting more than a minimal amount of time in the arms of Morpheus, Caesar worked long into the darkness, and it was past midnight when the sentry rapped at his door to announce the presence of Brutus.

"Send him in," he replied curtly.

Brutus stepped through the door. He looked tired and harassed, but still executed a smart salute and a confident tone as he spoke, "Welcome back, my Lord. I was delighted to hear of your victory at sea and trust you enjoyed your triumphal entry to the city." He approached his mentor, a man he had called friend for many years.

Caesar watched him coolly, "The Carthaginians were agreeable enough to provide some entertainment for Varanius. Xena, of course, took the opportunity to prove just how dangerous she is and I spent a long day and night adrift with her on the wreckage of a Carthaginian trireme." - No point in not telling him about it, the rumours would be abroad soon enough. - "However, that situation was rectified and the Warrior Princess is where she belongs .. a hole in the ground and under my dominion. Unlike a certain bard, thief and fool that I entrusted to your care. Just exactly how did you allow their escape?"

Brutus flushed redly and stammered, "My Lord, we were hit by a storm and the prisoners were washed overboard," - Well it was close to the truth, - grimaced the swarthy subordinate. "Not trusting to believe that the prisoners had drowned, I had men scouring the countryside as soon as possible .. but they proved to be far more resourceful than anticipated." He was aware of the anger in Caesar's intense brown eyes.

"I see," the powerful Roman Lord said softly. "And just how did three, chained, slaves manage to firstly survive being 'washed overboard' in high seas, and then managed to elude you and half the garrisons of Italy without you managing to retake them?"

"My Lord .. umm .. the thief, Autolycus, he must have found a way to remove the chains before they went into the sea," he tried to explain, knowing that Caesar was livid at the failure of what he perceived as a simple task.

"Ah, so they weren't so much washed overboard as much as they staged an escape," nodded the dark haired noble, seemingly understandingly.

"Yes .. ah .. no," squirmed Brutus, "The situation was very confused. The storm came up suddenly and everyone was forced to crew the ship, or risk going down with her on the reefs that we were close to. The prisoners were shackled to a ringbolt on the decking at the prow of the ship, and appeared to be safe enough .. no one could have assumed that they'd be crazy enough to throw themselves overboard in that high sea with rocks all around us," blurted Brutus desperately.

Caesar watched him with eyes blazing darkly in the shadowy room. What his aide said .. - My friend, said - he thought sarcastically to himself, .. was mostly true. The thief was a dangerous man to try and keep imprisoned, - Almost as difficult as Xena, but in a different way, - he conceded. - I'll have to work out something special for him when I re-take him and the others. Either that, or I'll execute him as an example. Yes, that might well be the answer. It would be a valuable lesson to the bard and the others, and would really cause Xena pain. - His smile was mirthless and chilling, making the swarthy, black haired soldier even more uncomfortable.

"What about the other two?" he snapped at Brutus, not yet willing to allow his 'friend' to relax, enjoying watching him squirm.

"While searching for the escaped slaves," came the answer, "reports came in that the other two we were seeking had been seen in Pisae .. I had their descriptions circulated at the same time as I posted the news about the bard and the other two. It seemed likely that they might show up close to Rome at some point."

"Well at least you did something right," conceded Caesar watching the bearded man carefully as resentment began to flare in his eyes, "So why haven't you managed to lay hands on any of them?" he asked, pushing some more. - Brutus has to understand that he can't rely on friendship to cover for his ineptness in this situation. A sharp lesson now may prove valuable later. Hopefully he won't make such glaring mistakes again .. if he does ... - he allowed the thought to hang as he listened to what his second in command had to say on the subject.

Stifling his flaring feelings, he explained what had happened in a rigid voice that spoke volumes about his anger and embarrassment over the situation, "I had everything well in hand. My men were herding both the bard and her party, and the other two men, into a tight cordon where the trap could be sprung so that the whole bunch would be netted in one fell swoop." He began to get more animated as he related how troops loyal to both the senate, particularly Graccus and his supporters, and those under the command of Pompey, began to execute manoeuvres in the areas where he was forcing the prey into.

"I hadn't got the authority to deny access to either group, and men from either party could have picked up the fugitives, although I strongly suspect it was Pompey's men," he snarled, knowing that the action had caused this humiliation in front of Caesar.

Having shown the stick, it was time to surrender the carrot, "Take a seat, my friend," the nobleman invited, no longer inflicting his anger on the other man, "Indeed, I believe you are right about the good Pompey's involvement in my business. He seems determined to interfere where he is not wanted. I suspect he is going to try and use those 'charming' Amazons against us somehow," he deliberately used the word 'us' to let his friend know he was once more included in his own grand plans.

"Do the Amazons have any connection with the bard, or Xena? If they should join with Pompey against us could it prove to be a problem?" Brutus asked pertinently trying to relax after the grilling he had just endured.

"The Amazons say that they want Xena dead for crimes she committed against one of their past queens," Caesar told him flatly. "That could, of course, have been a lie, but there was something in the Queen's eyes when she told me about it that said there was some real ill-feeling between them over the issue." He drummed his fingers on the polished wood desk before continuing, "The fact that they are residing with Pompey is a problem, but as senior member of the government here when they arrived, he was duty bound to offer hospitality and there isn't a lot that can be done about that now .. although I think I might be able to persuade Queen Ephiny that she would gain more from an alliance with me."

Brutus grinned in response, knowing just what kind of alliance Caesar had in mind. If he succeeded with his ploy then the Amazons would be putty in his hand, for he doubted that the barbarian queen would be able to deny the charming and seductive Caesar anything, once she had fallen into his toils.

"As for the bard and her confederates, I have it on good authority that they are securely locked in Pompey's dungeons under a four man guard's watchful eyes at all times, much like our friend Xena is here. Unfortunately there is no way that I can challenge him to return my property, as I don't want to expose my informant's presence amongst his men. So for now we must be content with knowing where our insurances are, while we work out a way to extract them from Pompey's grasp."

"Did I hear right, from the guards, that a messenger from the Amazons visited here tonight?" asked Brutus testing his re-acceptance into Caesar's confidence.

Frowning the Roman noble considered whether he should issue a reprimand against his guards for gossiping. He decided against it, reasoning that there was nothing really secretive about the message anyway, "It was just a message stating that a high ranking Amazon in the delegation wished to hold talks with me about the Amazon Queen." His frown deepened at the oddly worded and rather cryptic message, "I take it to mean that Queen Ephiny wants to pursue a mutual attraction, but I'll reserve full judgement on that until I meet her envoy."

"Has a meeting been arranged?" asked his swarthy aide, interest piqued.

"Yes. I'll see the envoy tomorrow in the foyer of the senate, before I address that 'august body'," he intoned with deliberate sarcasm.

- Soooo, - the shadow thought, - Caesar has designs on the Amazon Queen. I wonder just how valuable that piece of information is? -

With audacious skill, the intruder scaled the side of the high palace wall and picked a path across the high rooftop, until a place was found where the shadow was able to return to a secluded spot of garden and spirit itself away into the welcoming embrace of the shrouded city.

- Just two more stops tonight, and then home for some well earned rest, before I figure out just how much all this information is worth! - a disembodied voice chuckled within the safety of the shadows.

It was close to dawn when a yawning Autolycus threw his grapnel up to the bathing room's window and scuttled up the side of the building with an agility that almost amazed him .. considering how tired he was, and his still splinted wrist. Still he was feeling pretty good and more than a little pleased with himself. He was certain that he'd been able to identify another four conspirators that Eponin wasn't aware of. His impromptu vigil had put him in place to see some very early morning, hastily whispered, conversations that was a clear identification of guilt, especially since all the chatting had been done with Tarelle.

He gave himself a mental pat on the back as he reached the window and dropped over the balustrade saying softly, "I'm just so good at what I do. I'd take a bow if I had an audience!" he chuckled in a self satisfied manner that was instantly dispelled as a hand grasped his collar.

"You have," a very familiar voice growled in his ear.

The King of thieves stiffened and after a quick attempt at shaking himself loose from his captor, decided to fall back on his unique brand of charm, laughing nervously and saying, "Oh, hi Hercules. Umm shouldn't you be getting some beauty sleep? You need to keep your .. um .. strength up for the contests, you know."

A very strong fist lifted the squirming thief from his feet and turned him so that he could see a very irate looking demi-god, "You better have a very good excuse for putting us all .. and Xena .. in jeopardy, or I might just decide that I'm in need of a sparring partner for a little practice!" drawled a very unamused voice.

Autolycus looked sick, "Er, funny you should say that, but as it happens I do." He saw the blatant distrust and silent demand for an explanation in the big man's eyes, "Aw, c'mon Hercules," pleaded the good looking thief, "Put me down and I'll spill the beans." The look of distrust was still there, "I swear it," he promised, "On my brother's memory."

Knowing that Autolycus never took his brother, Malachus', name lightly, the big man allowed him to drop from the short height that he held him at, eliciting a guilty clink from somewhere within the man's clothing, "Now, Hercules," tried the thief, holding up his hands in front of him in a vain attempt to stop the demi-god's advance on him.

Ignoring his 'friend's' words, the son of Zeus took another secure hold and quickly frisked him, coming up with two heavy pouches full of golden dinars. Letting go of the thief, the tawney haired giant hefted the heavy bags and rumbled menacingly, "Care to explain these?"

"Umm, funny thing about those," he chuckled weakly.

"I'm not laughing," Hercules reminded him.

"Yeah," agreed the thief swallowing, "Well, umm, you see I was, ah, just passing the city's treasury and .. ah, I thought, let's see what kind of security the place has." that last part came out in a rush as he found himself backed up against a very cold marble wall by a slowly advancing hunk of menace.

"So you thought you bring back some souvenirs," growled the demi-god his light blue eyes holding a touch of menace that Autolycus had rarely every seen, "Gods above, don't you realise that if you'd been caught we'd have been in even more trouble?"

Hearing the disappointment in the big man's voice, Autolycus tried to smooth out the situation, "Oh, c'mon Hercules! Do your really think Roman treasury guards could catch the King of Thieves?"

"You've already been caught once," he was reminded.

"Yeah, but that was because I'd got Joxer the Lame Brained along for the ride." He looked at his friend and felt a compulsion to try and ease his fears, "Look, Herc. There really wasn't any danger. I just took a quick look, pocketed a few coins for playing dice with ..." he looked at the two heavy sacks, "well maybe more than a few," he admitted, "and then came right back here. Harpies hairdo's! It was easier getting into the treasury than it was getting close to where Xena's being held," he blurted before he realised what he had said, trying to get through to the demi-god that he'd been perfectly safe.

He knew he'd made a mistake as soon as the big man whirled on him again, "Where did you say you've been?" came the forceful demand.

"Umm, to the Roman treasury?" he tried with a grimace and knew that he'd failed when he saw the demi-god's hands clench. Dropping to his knees, the thief held up his hand in supplication and cried, "Alright, alright, I dropped in at Caesar's to see what the set-up was with Xena and see if she could be broken out!" He closed his eyes, "If you're gonna kill me, make it quick, I can't stand the sight of blood .. especially my own."

When nothing happened, he opened one eye and squinted at the big form in front of him, "Am I still alive?" he asked cautiously, trying to judge the other man's mood.

"For now," Hercules replied, pulling him up to his feet, "But I want to know every detail of where you've been tonight, and exactly what you've been doing."

Pulling his tunic straight, Autolycus watched the demi-god start to precede him into the main room of the suite, "Sheesh!" he breathed, "I was going to tell you all about it anyway." He eyed the sacks in Hercules' big hands and amended, "Well maybe not all of it .. but all the important stuff!" His hands moved quickly to catch the two sacks that were lobbed at him, "Gee thanks!" he muttered sarcastically as one of the pouches split and spilled dinars all over the floor.