Flaccus pursed his lips as his mind worked quickly, "Who's commanding the VIIth's men?" he demanded abruptly.

"Tribune Aemilius Honorius, sir," responded Lucas quickly.

"Right. My compliments to the tribune, tell him that under Caesar's authority, I want his troops to surround the palace .. tight cordon, no one gets in or out without written and sealed permission from me. Oh, and Lucas."

"Sir?" responded the decurion.

"Make sure that the tribune understands that the slave must be taken alive, preferably with as little damage as possible. Got that!" snapped Flaccus, in full command mode. He glowered up at the top of the building as Lucas saluted and sprinted off. He knew that she was still up there. She wasn't going to get too far in leg irons and manacles and with Honorius' forces at his disposal, he could afford to take his maniple up there and root her out.

"Titus!, Scaurus! Horatius, Laertes!" barked the senior centurion calling for the junior centurion and his two most reliable Optio's, "I want our men split into five groups of twenty-five men. Make sure each group has five net carriers and that the rest of the group carries dart bows with the drugged darts, then each of you take your men up through the roof access' that I assigned to you previously and make sure that you catch the bitch. Secundus has got a group up there already. If anyone see's her, try and bring the other groups in and surround her. You know how dangerous she is, don't take any chances and above all, try not to damage her too much."

"Sir!" all four men executed salutes and turned to organise their troops.

"Get the boys together, Narda," Flaccus ordered his chosen Optio as he looked up to the roof to where he expected his quarry to be, "Let's get up there and collect our troublesome slave. I want the animal back in her kennel before the whole of this night gets wasted .. and half of Rome finds out that we can't keep one troublesome barbarian locked up where she belongs," he muttered angrily to himself.

With Autolycus providing a steadying hand as they moved quickly over the difficult roof, they soon reached the place that the thief had chosen as being the safe haven for him to work on Xena's shackles. Apart from providing a certain amount of cover and three escape routes, it also gave the Warrior Princess a good view of a large section of the grounds around the building. As the King of Thieves worked with muttered imprecations and nimble fingers on the stubborn locks, Xena kept a vigilant watch for the enemy.

Precious moments passed before they heard the sharp 'click' of the lock mechanism turning on the right manacle that had prisoned the warrior's wrist, "At last," grumbled the thief as the cuff dropped loose. He reached for her other wrist.

"Unlock one of the ankle cuffs," whispered the warrior, her senses telling her that their time was rapidly running out. She could feel the enemy closing in and she didn't want Autolycus caught, or anywhere close-by when the likely fighting started. - With luck, though, - she thought soberly, - I'll have a chance, thanks to Autolycus. -

A glance down into the grounds and she could see the men of the VIIth Legion beginning to deploy, "Out of time, my friend," she whispered. "Time for you to go," she told him firmly.

"C'mon Xena!" he hissed almost plaintively, "Just a few more moments and I'll have it."

Reaching behind her with her freed hand, she deftly unbuckled the leather belt and began wrapping it's length around her left forearm in a crude bracer, securing it with the buckles. It was heavy with the attached chain, but it gave her a freedom of movement that would allow her to fight.

"No time," she reiterated, "Get out of here while you can." She saw the stubborn look on his face, "I'll follow if I can, but the last thing I need is for you to get caught here."

"Xena ..." his face held an anguished look.

"I know, Autolycus. Thank you for trying." She swallowed hard, "Now get the Hades out of here."

The King of Thieves turned to reluctantly leave, before turning back, "Just in case," he said, "You better have a quick outline of what Herc and the Amazons have got planned." In a hurried whisper he explained what she was going to need to do.

"Okay, now get going!" the warrior told him urgently, her senses screaming that the enemy was on hand.

With a sudden movement Autolycus gathered her into an embrace and kissed her with a passion that surprised both of them, "I'll try to draw some of them off. Good luck." With a swirl of his cloak he disappeared into the shadows.

"God's be damned, Autolycus," she muttered not sure whether to be angry or flattered, in the end deciding that she hadn't got time to be either. Wrapping the length of chain firmly around her right wrist, Xena picked out a different route to try and complete her escape. The leg irons were going to hamper her, but at least, with her hands free she stood a fighting chance.

"Spread out, keep the nets ready, the dart bows primed and your eyes open. Remember she's dangerous and that we need to take her in one piece," Flaccus warned his men as they deployed on the building's massive rooftop.

He'd spread the four new groups so that they could drive their quarry in towards the centre of the building, surround her and take her down, hopefully without losing any men in the process. That was the plan, but the senior centurion knew better than to count on it working, which was why he needed his men to be alert and ready for any tricks that the bitch might pull.

"Alright," he growled, "light the torches and move out." He'd debated with himself long and hard about using the torches. It would probably attract unwanted attention from the city, but he wanted every chance of spotting the escaping slave, and there were too many black shadowy areas for her to hide unnoticed in, so he'd made provision for light and would answer any query with the standard response of it being a training drill.

They moved slowly making sure that they searched every nook and cranny where the fugitive could be hiding. Flaccus knew that they had the grounds covered and that no one was going to get through the men staking it out, but he wanted his men to retake what they had lost. He hated the thought that the palace guards, or the men of the VIIth would make the capture .. it was bad enough that he'd had to call them in for support in this matter.

"Over there!" shouted a man towards the end of the line near the roof ledge. Flaccus looked to where he was pointing and saw a black cloaked figure bounding agilely across the hazardously sloping roof, heading for end of the building facing the barracks.

"Yodelayhehoo!" came the almost impudent cry as the dark form leapt from the top of the palace over the wide gap and down onto the flat barracks roof, landing with a controlled roll.

- Where did she get a cloak from? - the thought skittered quickly through his mind as he shouted, "Take her down with your darts. She seems to be free of her shackles!"

As the squad began to turn and signal the other groups, a deadly figure rose up from the shadows, a warcry erupting from her throat, "Aiaiaiaiaiaiai!" as she struck out with a chain and leather wrapped fist that sent an unprepared legionnaire screaming over the edge of the roof! "Aiiiiieeee!" the cry reverberated off the palace walls and was ended abruptly by the sickening thump as the soldier hit the paved ground below.

- Got to get their minds off Autolycus! - Xena had acted as she made the decision knowing that she couldn't accept her freedom at the cost of one of her friends losing theirs. Her fist lashed out smashing into another soldiers throat, killing him slowly as the blow destroyed his ability to draw breath.

"She's behind us!" shouted another soldier as he tried to defend himself from the blue eyed executioner that advanced upon him swinging a chain with deadly intent.

Flaccus looked from one shadowy figure to the other, before barking out the command, "Leave the one in the cloak! The boys on the ground will get him. We've got a slave to subdue. Narda," he growled to his Optio, "Signal the other groups that we've found her."

"At once sir," returned the junior officer, swinging his flaming torch in the pre-arranged pattern that would signal to the other squads that their quarry had been found.

As the soldiers tried to close in around Xena, the Warrior Princess deliberately backed off to the edge of the roof. She knew that they wanted her alive, and if they tried to dart her while she balanced so precariously, she would likely join the guard laying dead on the ground below. She allowed an evil chuckle to escape her as she swung the chain with skilled menace, keeping the growing number of soldiers at bay, "Come and get me boys!" she taunted.

"Don't use the darts!" shouted out an officer, "Just keep her surrounded."

When no one moved within range, she slowly began to move along the roof's edge, heading towards the place where she'd see Autolycus leap from. She doubted that they'd let her get that far, and even if she did, the guards below would have seen the thief's escape route .. at least she hoped he'd escaped .. and would have moved to block it off. Glancing across the swell of faces, she tried to pick out Flaccus. She had a deep score to settle with the hard bitten centurion and hoped she'd get her chance before this ended .. one way or another. Failing to see him, she pushed aside her desire to see him dead, and concentrated on keeping herself out of the soldier's clutches.

Flaccus realised what Xena was up to almost immediately. He left some hasty instructions with Narda and gathered up the first squad of men to reach them from other search areas, as it happened it was the group who had followed the slave up from the solarium, "You lot, come with me," instructed the senior centurion in a low voice, leading the group of thirty men away from the confrontation on the edge of the roof and down into the building below.

Grinning wildly, her eyes a blaze of azure blue in the light of the torches, the Warrior Princess continued her deliberate progress along the narrow ledge she had claimed, taking the occasional glance down to check her progress .. lashing out with the chain when one of the legionaries ventured too close. She'd already removed three more of her stalkers. One was nursing a broken arm, another was at least temporarily blinded having received a wicked slash across the eyes, while the third had had his neck snapped by the fast moving chain that was wielded with such power and accuracy. It hadn't reduced the odds she faced by much, but it kept them all wary and back away from her.

More Romans joined those penning Xena to the edge and soon they were thick about her so that further progress was no longer an option, "Give it up , slave," called Titus from somewhere in the crowd of faces. "You can't go anywhere .. except back to your pit. Don't make things worse for yourself."

Barking out a short laugh, Xena looked down once again, before making up her mind. "Roman, things couldn't be any worse if I spent an eternity in Tartarus."

"Enough games!" snapped Titus, "There's nowhere left to run, no more surprises left to pull. Just surrender .. NOW!"

She grinned at him, still swinging the chain to keep the legionaries back, "No surprises left, huh? Well, I'll bet this is one surprise you weren't expecting." So saying, she did a backflip off of the roof, twisting her body in mid flight so that it fell parallel to the building where she grasped the banner pole that displayed Caesar's personal colours. As the soldiers rushed to look down from the ledge, Xena swung on the pole to build a little momentum before launching herself through a dark window, into the building and away from the pursuit.

Chuckling to herself, she moved as quickly as she could across the room, her eyes quickly adjusting to the gloom. Hampered as she was by her leg irons, she knew that she had to move quickly because it wouldn't be long before they could gather the forces to renew the chase. Even so, she wasn't quite ready to throw all caution to the winds. At the door she stopped and listened for anyone in the corridor beyond. Hearing nothing, the Warrior Princess slipped out into the hallway and made her way down the thickly carpeted passage, looking for a way out that would give her a chance at her elusive freedom.

"There she is!" she heard the cry from behind her as five soldiers rounded a turn at the other end of the corridor.

The whining buzz of a dart registered in her mind after her hand had reacted to snatch it from the air, followed by a second that she dealt with in a similar fashion. A quick look told her that the other three men were preparing to fire as well. Being close to the turn in the passageway at her end, she elected not to chance missing one of the drugged missiles. Flipping along the carpet was quicker than struggling with the constrictions of the shackles, and she reached the turn before the darts could be launched ... only to be buried under three nets by the soldiers waiting for her there!

- Not again! - her mind screamed, as she thrashed to find a way out of the prisoning mesh.

"A good chase, slave!" snarled Flaccus from close by, "One you're going to be sorry for," he promised.

"Go stick your head up your .." She never got to finish her jibe, because a heavy baton crashed down on her head, knocking her senseless.

Flaccus looked down on her, a bleak smile on his face, "Get those shackles back on her and get her back to her pit." He watched as the nets were untangled and his men worked to carry out his orders, "Oh and find a chain long enough to lock to her collar and the pit grill. Let's make it a little easier to get her out of there when we want her."

The senior centurion watched as the unconscious slave was dragged away and his mind turned to the report that he was going to have to write on the incident, - First, however, I've got to see if the that damned intruder was caught and get rid of all the extra men we've got littering up the palace, - he thought sullenly. - I hope for their sakes that they didn't let the bastard get away! - He turned on his heels and stalked from the building.