- So the noise had come from out there, - the blonde surmised, - Thought so! -

The both stood cautiously and edged across to the window, flanking both sides as they peered out into the night, looking for ... they really didn't know what, but were far from surprised to find an absence of four guards out there.

"Rescue?" questioned Malonda softly.

"That would be my guess," returned Ephiny, swinging open the shutters and nearly having a heart attack as a dark head popped into sight!

"Can I interest you ladies in a boat trip?" asked Autolycus impudently.

"Autolycus!" the Regent let out an explosive whisper. "You scared the Hades out of me!"

"Sorry about that," he grinned unrepentantly, clinging easily to the balcony as he exchanged words with her, "Didn't have time for social niceties!"

"Hurry up, Autolycus," hissed an exasperated voice from below.

Ephiny looked a question which the thief answered with, "Iolaus ... he's kind of worried about a large cavalry detachment heading this way from Rome."

"What?" demanded the Regent smothering her yelp just in time and turning it into a low growl.

"We figured that Caesar managed to get out of his bonds quicker than we gave him credit for."

"Autolycus!" came a frantic whisper from below.

"What?" called back the thief.

"That cavalry unit's heading here! Hakine's signalling that we need to move ... now!" came the tense reply.

"Ladies?" invited the thief as he produced a thin coil of rope and attached it to the balcony. "I think our welcome has been worn out."

Without further preamble, Ephiny swung herself over the railing and quickly lowered herself the three floor levels to the ground. Malonda was right behind her and, after retrieving his rope, Autolycus scrambled down the vine he had used and reached the ground just fractionally after the scout.

"Now what?" he asked Iolaus.

"Way I see it we've got two choices," the shorter man told him. "We can steal a boat and get Ephiny back to the ship."

"That's speaking my language," agreed the thief approvingly.

"Or we can go and join up with Herc and see if we can link up with Xena's group attacking the watch tower!" finished Iolaus.

"That sounds more like it," grinned Ephiny, much more interested in the prospect of a good fight than slipping away unseen.

"Now why'd you have to go and say that?" complained Autolycus to both of them, "when I could have found us a nice boat and got back to the ship." a stray thought struck him. "And that's what we should do I think."

Iolaus gave him a demeaning look, "Don't you ever think of anything other than stealing things and saving your worthless hide?"

The King of Thieves glared back at his companion, "Not often no! But in this case, O great warrior cum hunter cum sidekick, I think we should steal a boat so that we can pick up Xena and her crew and get them back to the ship. Didn't I tell you that they swam out to that tower?"

"No," answered Iolaus with enforced calm, "No you didn't!"

"Sorry, must have had my mind on other things."

"Won't Nebula send the boat for them?" asked Ephiny pointedly.

"Um .. maybe!" conceded Autolycus.

"Guys," whispered Hakine urgently as she ran over to them, "We need to get out of here now! Those soldier boys just went into the building .. anytime now they're gonna find out that Malonda and Eph are missing then all Hades is gonna break loose."

They slipped into the shadows, intending to head away from the danger area, and into the relative safety of the tightly packed streets. The only problem was that the world and his wife seemed to be packing the streets. They retreated, nervously, back to the concealing bulk of the building they had just left.

"We need to decide on a plan," reminded Iolaus as they edges carefully around the building looking for any kind of cover to hide them for a short while.

Ephiny cast a considering glance in the direction they had come from and then sighed, "We'd better get back to the ship. I think the road to the tower is going to be filled with Romans before too long and getting caught by them would be plain stupidity. Besides with Hercules and the others joining them there, they may need an extra boat when they're ready to leave." She motioned for Autolycus to lead them to safety and hopefully back to the harbour.

Flaccus had pushed the cavalry detachment hard to get them to Ostia as quickly as possible. He was no horseman, preferring to travel on his own two feet under normal circumstances, but he was capable of sitting a horse when the occasion demanded and he had managed to weather the punishing pace that he had insisted upon.

There were five hundred men in the mounted unit of the VII. - Enough, - he hoped, - to contain the fugitives until the General arrives with the rest of the Legion ... as long as that fool harbour master did his duty and stopped the ship from leaving! -

The pounding of the horses hooves was sure to alert their quarry of their presence, but there was nothing he could do about that. Besides it made no difference so long as the ship was still there! The slave and the Amazons would be restricted to the ship out in the middle of the Tiber and no amount of warning could make any difference to them in that situation.

He felt a palpable relief, upon cresting the small hill that led down to Ostia, as he spotted the truant ship held beneath the vigilant sentinel bulk of the guard posts. Allowing himself a smile of victory, he exulted, - I hope you enjoyed your brief taste of freedom, slave, because once I get you back to Rome, you and you friends are going to learn your place, even if I have to have every inch of hide off of your body, and beat each and every one of your friends to death in front of your eyes! -

Urging on his men, the cavalry detachment stormed through the sleeping city, waking many a light sleeper who rose to stick a careful head out of their shutters to see what was happening to cause such a commotion. The site of the long column of men thundering by on horseback was enough to draw many of the more adventurous out into the night, concerned about the unusual event.

Knowing his way around the port, Flaccus led his contingent directly to the harbour master's office and, with a tail of some twenty men, entered the building demanding to see Gessius, immediately, in the name of Caesar! He waited impatiently for the petty official to be summonsed while he paced tensely, eager to be getting on with his task.

When the portly harbour master arrived in his office he was distinctly unhappy to be confronted by the pacing centurion. "What's the meaning of this? By what right was my sleep disturbed!"

"By the right and authority of Caesar!" snarled Flaccus slamming his staff of office down on the bureaucrat's desk, glowering at the little man.

"You have no right ..." began Gessius huffily. He hated jumped up soldiers trying to order him around.

"Wrong!" snarled the looming centurion. "I have every right! You're just lucky that damn ship's still out there or you'd be gracing a cross by now .. that's if I didn't have you flayed alive!"

"But .. but ... that's the Amazons .. Lord Caesar's current favourites. I know the ship belongs to a pirate ... but." stuttered Gessius rattled by the soldier's anger.

"Those harlots helped a couple of very valuable and very dangerous slaves, belonging to Lord Caesar, escape and are trying to get away with them. The general wants them back .. and the Amazons as well as anyone else with them!" roared Flaccus.

The harbour master paled at the angry tone and tried not to flinch, "Actually, we have the pirate captain and three men from her crew locked in the cells here, and the Amazon Queen and a guard are 'guests' in one of the upper apartments." he soothed.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" snarled the centurion. "Get the Amazons down here at once. We can use them as bargaining chips. Get a couple of sets of shackles for them too! I don't want them escaping. We'll use them to make sure that the bastards on the ship behave themselves."

Gessius looked happy to be able to do something to relieve himself of Flaccus' immediate ire. He sent one of his men up to the room holding the Amazons with instructions for the guards to escort the women to him immediately. The second he sent down to the cells to fetch the requested manacles. He returned, reluctantly to where Flaccus stood glaring at him, "It shouldn't be long now, centurion. Maybe you'd like to take a seat .. some wine perhaps. You appear to have had a long, hard journey."

"No I don't want any damn wine," rumbled the tense soldier, "I want to know just what precautions have been made to insure that the thrice cursed ship is going to be safe out there until I'm ready to go aboard and reclaim Lord Caesar's property!"

"Um .. yes .. of course," tried to soothe Gessius. "Well the ship is held by the chain boom and that won't be lowered until we have permission in this situation." He was encouraged by what could have been a grunt of approval from Flaccus. "The towers have been notified to train all ballista upon the ship and will open fire on it at the slightest sign of trouble." He checked to see if the centurion showed any sign of objecting to the measure. "Finally, I sent out a squad to secure the ship as it is a known pirate vessel," he finished smugly.

"You did what?" demanded Flaccus .. the vein in his temple beginning to throb alarmingly!

"Um .. sent a squad out to the ship .. it's standard procedure," assured the harbour master.

"Saturn, Jupiter and Mars!" cursed Flaccus roundly. "The gods save us from imbeciles in the minor bureaucracy! Have you any idea just what is out on that ship?" he demanded rhetorically, "No! Of course you don't, but you've likely just consigned a squad of good soldiers to their deaths!"

"I really must protest!" objected the harbour master strongly.

"Protest all you want, little man," growled the centurion, "but it won't change anything and it won't save those men." He drew an angry breath, "And just where is the Amazon Queen!" he demanded.

Gessius spread his hands helplessly. There was obviously nothing he could say to placate the furious soldier and he was beginning to be concerned about the length of time it was taking for his men to get back. Of course, the women may have been sleeping .. but even so.

Just as he was about to suggest that he go and see what the delay was, Gessius spotted the return of his messenger and beckoned him forward quickly, "Well?" he asked in a harsh whisper, "Where is she?"

"Gone, sir," came the worried answer. "The room was empty."

"Dammit! What about the guards?" Gessius almost squeaked.

"The ones on duty outside the door didn't hear a thing, sir. I went to check on the outside sentries and they're all unconscious sir," responded the guard.

"Sweet mother of Jupiter!" swore the harbour master as he spotted his second messenger return with the shackles. "What took you so long, Tomas?"

The young soldier looked a bit uncomfortable as he relayed his share of bad news, "When I asked for the shackles, the decurion in charge made some joke about running out, sir. I asked him what he meant and he said that he'd just used four sets on the prisoners he had down there so they could be escorted back to Rome."

"They're gone?" screeched Gessius, seeing his world coming crashing down around him.

"Yes sir!" affirmed Tomas.

Flaccus who had remained silent all this time in growing fury, turned to the optios behind him and barked out orders, "Get the men up to the watchtower. If they've broken their friends free they'll attack the towers to neutralize the ballista and try to lower the boom. I want them stopped. Kill anyone who resists, except if you see two women with unusual silver slave collars round their necks. If they're there, use the nets and take them alive!"

The soldiers saluted and scrambled to get their troops moving. The centurion sent a withering glare at the harbour master who looked ready to collapse under the strain. "Get all of your troops turned out and sent to reinforce the watchtowers. Expect heavy resistance and make sure they understand that I want those two slaves alive at all costs! Do you understand me!"

Gessius barely had enough time to nod his comprehension, before Flaccus was leaving his office like an enraged whirlwind.

Eponin guided the row boat into a rocky jetty beneath the imposing bulk of the tower she had been delegated to neutralize. Her warriors knew what to do. They were going to have to scale the tower wall (without being seen) and then work their way down the line of ballista and break the winding mechanism (after making sure that the catapult had been unloaded - they didn't want any accidents sinking the ship!). The problem that Eponin had was that she wasn't going to be able to lead the assault. Her ribs were going to make it difficult for her to make the climb and so it had been agreed that Karrellie would lead the attack and the Weapons Master would guard the boat with Tassi and provide back-up if required.

So now she sat gnawing at a broken fingernail, listening to every slight sound from above like a nervous hen with a single chick! "I really, really, hate waiting!" she grumbled to Tassi, who rolled her eyes behind her superior's back.

Eponin's lack of patience was legendary .. all the guards knew about it and her blazing temper that was almost a match for the Warrior Princess'. On those occasions when both patience and temper were frayed, most sane Amazons headed for the nearest cover. Those unlucky enough to be on duty usually offered up silent, fervent prayers for Artemis to make them invisible.

The Weapons Master paced back and forth muttering darkly, and Tassi caught the occasional word like, "Stupid! .... ribs ... damned wall ... staying ... enough ... see!" The guard decided it was time to try and melt into the scenery before Eponin exploded in her direction. Surprisingly, when the Weapons Master turned towards her she was completely calm.

"Take care of things here," Poni had instructed. "I'm going to see what's happening."

"Ummm ... Ep? Aren't we both supposed to stay here?" tried Tassi diplomatically.

"You stay ... I need to see what's happening," retorted Eponin grasping for a credible reason she added, "for strategic purposes!"

"Okaaaay!" drawled the sandy haired Amazon, "but aren't your ribs gonna make it difficult to climb the tower?" she asked reasonably, knowing in her heart of hearts she should keep her mouth firmly shut. She went on anyway, "I mean that was the reason you stayed here in the first place, wasn't it?"

Eponin's caramel coloured eyes hardened, "Do I look like I need a nursemaid?" she demanded heatedly.

"Um, no ma'am," Tassi conceded hurriedly. She'd stuck her head out quite far enough. She wasn't about to bring the wrath of the Weapons master down on her head if she could avoid it ... even if she did, privately, feel that at times like this Poni did in fact require someone to make her act sensibly. The trouble with that thought was that she only knew of three people who could achieve it. One was in Roman detention, and one was probably having as little success in keeping the third member of that select group out of trouble as she was with Eponin.

"Good!" growled the Weapons Master belligerently, "I'm glad we've got that settled. Stay sharp. I'll send someone back to keep you company."

"Sure thing, Ep," grinned the Amazon warrior weakly. "Whatever you say."

"That's right! I'm boss here and don't you forget it, young Tassi."

The other Amazon had to bite her lip from laughing .. she wasn't that many summers younger than the Weapons Master, but she doubted her observation would have been too welcome at that point in time. She watched as Eponin adjusted her weapons and took a couple of tentative deep breaths, before turning her attention to scaling the rough rocky wall of the tower. "Be careful," she whispered, knowing that the word 'careful' was not one that habitually graced the other woman's vocabulary.

Eponin began to climb, ignoring the shooting pains that pierced her chest and caused her to breathe in short sharp gasps. About halfway up, she began to mentally berate herself! - Of all the stubborn, pig headed, centaur brained, dumb featherheads, you just about take the prize Poni! Couldn't wait at the boat, could you? Had to get in on the action, didn't you? Gods dammit woman, you're a Weapons Master not some young stripling who doesn't know better! -

Poni continued climbing higher concentrating on strong hand and toe holds rather than the burning in her chest. - I wonder if she's having this much trouble! - the Amazon grumbled to herself thinking about Xena and just knowing that the warrior would be taking everything in her considerable stride! She sometimes couldn't help herself from thinking that it really wasn't a fair distribution of skills and abilities that left Xena so far above ordinary mortals in so many areas.

- Perhaps I should take up cooking? - she considered, knowing all about the Warrior Princess' ineptitude in that area. She seriously thought about it as she dragged her protesting body up a few more feet. - Nah! I'm almost as bad at that stuff as she is! - she ran that around her head as she moved to within inches of the parapet, - Can't even beat her at being the worst cook! And I can't even practice to be worse than her, - she told herself as she pulled herself over the top of the wall, - She's just too naturally talented in that area too! - she grinned.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, the Weapons Master surveyed the progress her team had made, and all seemed to be preceding relatively well. There were a variety of oddly shapeless lumps laying in the shadow of the wall, - Guards, - her logic told her. - They obviously dealt with a sleepy watch quickly and efficiently, - she thought with burgeoning pride for the skill of her warriors. They'd heard no noise below at the boat, which meant that the assault had been executed with ruthless skill.

Eponin began to move with quiet stealth along the parapet walkway, stopping every now and again to check an inert body just in case a soldier was shamming! She noted, as she passed that the first of the ballista's had been disabled. Axes had cut the thick cables and damage had also been done to the windless mechanism which together drew the catapult's arm down for loading.

Pleased with what she was seeing, the Weapons Master continued along the walkway, when her innate senses kicked in to warn her that something was wrong. She looked up at the work detail that was tackling the final two ballista, nothing seemed amiss there. She glanced down at the courtyard below .. all remained quiet, none of the fallen legionnaires had stirred either. Her intense gaze returned to the catapults checking every detail of the process until she realised what was wrong.

"Karrellie! Stop them!" she shouted pointing frantically at the team working on the ballista, as she broke into a rib jarring run, trying to get to her fellow Amazons as quickly as possible.

The Scout turned to see the Weapons Master running excitedly towards her, gesticulating wildly at the catapults. Swinging around, a frown on her face, Karrellie immediately realised the problem, but was too late to do anything about it as the tension cables to both remaining weapons were cut, shooting the heavy rock, that each carried, high into the air in a curving arc heading for the defenceless hull of "Wave Dancer".

"Son of a bacchii!" she swore vigorously, as she rushed to look over the parapet to watch the two missiles fall towards their vessel.

Eponin joined her just as the first smashed into the deck of the ship, but were unable to assess the damage it caused. The second fell away from the ship, towards the harbour area, sinking a rowing boat that had been heading towards 'Wave Dancer'.

"By Artemis' bow! Which of you imbeciles forgot to unload the damn things?" demanded an irate Weapons Master. Half a dozen voices began to speak at once all with feeble excuses. "Enough!" roared Poni to quell the din. "We'll sort this out back on the ship."

She felt an urgent hand grasping her shoulder and turned to see Karrellie looking down to the courtyard that had suddenly come alive with soldiers, "We got more problems, Ep" she said quietly.

The Weapons Master's tactical brain kicked in, "Jade, Lasca ... get back down to the boat and help Tassi protect it .. it's our only way out of here, we'd never make it back to the ship swimming against the current. The rest of you form up. We'll stage a fighting withdrawal at the south end of the tower, and slip as many over the wall as we can, while keeping the bastards off of them. With luck we'll all get out of here before they can get fully organised or realise where we're going," she smiled grimly.

They had slipped into the warm waters of the Tiber and allowed the flow of the river to carry them silently to their destination, heads just bobbing above the surface .. no need to swim a stroke as the current drew them to their intended destination. It was an uneventful trip .. except when Faline had been caught in a rip current that pulled her under. She would have drowned if Xena hadn't seen her get into difficulties, battling the vicious under-tow to pull the flame headed Amazon to safety.

"Are you okay?" demanded Gabrielle in a harsh whisper as she drifted closer to her best friend.

The warrior did her best to hide the grimace of pain she felt when the stitches in her back had torn under the pressure of the urgent movement needed to save Faline, "Just fine, Gabrielle," she lied lightly. The middle of the river being neither the time or place for worrying about her wounds.

The bard had not been fooled by the confident words. She's seen the flicker of pain in the other woman's expression and guessed that she'd re-opened the deep gash in her back. The thing was, though, that nothing could be done until they got out of the water. "I want to look at the wound when we're clear of the river, warrior!" she told Xena firmly.

Knowing that Gabrielle wouldn't be brushed off, the Warrior Princess nodded her acquiescence, and concentrated on making sure that her party stayed together .. and safe .. for the rest of the way to the tower.

Seventeen wet women, waded silently out of the river, at the point that Xena had selected. They moved with stealth and caution, establishing a security perimeter to give the dark warrior time to issue last minute instructions as to exactly what she wanted the Amazons to do.

"Once we're in, I need you to find and disable those ballista. Cut any ropes and cables you see and smash the windlass mechanisms for drawing back the arms. They won't be able to fix those in a hurry, which will give us the time we need to get the ship out to sea and well away from here."

While Xena was explaining her orders to the waiting warriors, Gabrielle quickly unfolded a small oilskin pouch from which she took a fresh, dry, bandage and a thick pad of cloth. - Nothing like being prepared, - she thought. - I just knew that she'd break open those stitches. - She carefully eased the warrior's leathers down to her waist without interrupting anything that Xena was saying, and removed the wet, blood soaked bandage from around the wound.

- Could be worse, - she thought critically as she applied fresh salve over the area. - Only three of the stitches tore out and the amount of blood looks worse than it is because of being diluted in the river. - She applied the thick pad of cloth and then bandaged it tightly, her attention suddenly peeked by what the warrior was saying.

"We're gonna have to scale the wall of this tower ...." Xena told her troops.

"What?" hissed Gabrielle. "Xena you know I don't like heights."

Ignoring the bard, the Warrior Princess continued, "Once inside you take your warriors, Turra, and work on the catapults ... I'll find the barrier mechanism and destroy that ... any questions? Okay let's get going."

"Xena ... you know I hate heights," began the bard as the Amazons started scaling the tower wall.

"You can always stay down here, Gabrielle," the warrior told her calmly.

"No way, Xena. I told you that I'm going with you. Why didn't you tell me about this before we left the ship?" demanded the bard.

"Would it have made any difference?" came the shrugged reply.

"No," admitted the honey blonde.

"Thought you'd say that," sighed the raven haired woman. She bent down and picked up a length of rope left by the Amazons. "Tie it around your waist," she instructed the bard, as she began to fasten the other end around her own. "We'll climb together. I won't let you fall Gabrielle." she promised.

"I know that .. you know that," muttered the bard, "but has anyone made sure that the wall knows that!"

Xena hid the grin that threatened to bloom over her normally blank features and settled for giving Gabrielle some instruction in the art of climbing walls. "When we start climbing, we'll try and keep side by side so that I can keep an eye on you. There are plenty of hand and toe holds, you just need to look for them. I'll point them out for you as we go. Keep looking up as we climb .. concentrate on getting to the top and I'll be with you all the way."

The bard gave her friend a nervous smile, "Okay coach. Let's get this done."

They picked their way over the stoney shoreline where the Amazons were eagerly waiting the chance to get started. There was the prospect of a fight in the offing and all of them were ready for a little action. Xena shook her head and muttered "Amazons!" to herself, earning a dig in the ribs from Gabrielle who'd heard her. She arched an eyebrow at her friend, who returned the look with one of her own, before the warrior turned to the waiting women and asked softly, "Hear anything up there?"

Turra shook her head, "Not a thing."

"Alright," the Warrior Princess said, "Get up there as quickly and quietly as you can. Try not to get too enthusiastic. Just take out the Romans carefully and silently so you don't rouse the entire garrison."

"You got it!" grinned the Amazon leader happily.

"Don't say it," hissed Gabrielle in her ear as the watched Turra start her troops up the wall.

"What?" demanded Xena in quiet exasperation.

"You know," insisted the bard in a stubborn whisper.

The big warrior scowled, "Gabrielle ..." she began.

"You always say 'Amazons' in that exasperated tone of voice," persisted her friend.

"This isn't the place for this," the raven haired woman tried to point out, keeping her voice low.

"Well I'm an Amazon too, and I could learn to resent your tone. Now," she glared tugging at the rope that joined them, "haven't we got a wall to climb?" and set off to find a likely place to begin the ascent.

"Bards!" breathed Xena in perplexity.

"I heard that!" hissed the said bard.

Xena grinned.