"We said, you will not find Sorrow here, Lord Ares."

Ares could not believe his ears. He had just barely materialized in the Hall of Fates, and before he could even step forward, all three Fates were speaking to him as one, and he didn't like what they were saying.

"Excuse me, Ladies?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"It is simple, My Lord," Lachesis said most matter-of-factly, never once looking up from her eternal measuring. "My daughter has escaped your prison."

"How do you know that?"

Clotho looked directly at him, "We know everything, Lord Ares. Lachesis told you that she would one day slip through your fingers, and she has."

"Okay, so tell me something I don't know," Ares sneered back at her, "like, where I might find her!"

All three women stopped their tasks and looked directly at him, and for the first time he could remember ever, the maiden, the mother, and the crone all began laughing at the same time, presumably at him! At first their uncharacteristic outburst only left him feeling rather disconcerted, but it gradually sank in that he was being ridiculed.

"Laugh it up while you can, Ladies," the war god growled, "but you won't be laughing when I'm done with your little girl! She's having my child, and I have every right to that baby when it's born, and I will exercise my rights!"

"No one disputes your rights to the child, Lord Ares," answered Atropos, snipping a thread for emphasis. "We dispute your right to keep Sorrow captive, and withholding her from her duties."

"I see no call for that," Ares spat. "In fact, I have purposefully left off starting wars to help out in that arena - "

"You have left off starting wars because you have begun courting the Warrior Princess, Lord Ares," Lachesis revealed. "In fact, you have made her offers to have your child in return for your protection."

"So?" the war god shrugged. "I'm entitled to sow my seed wherever I see fit. Xena is more than adequate to mother my children."

Clotho looked at him with the shaming eye of a child, and said, "You love her, Lord Ares. You wish to take her for your wife, and make her a goddess."

"Again, my prerogative."

"Agreed," all three Fates said in unison.

"So, why are we arguing about this?"

"Because you have no need for Sorrow, if you are wishing to take Xena to wife," explained Lachesis.

Ares' eyes narrowed as he faced off with the middle Fate, "You forget, I have no guarantee that Xena will become my wife - I need to keep my options open."

"And I am telling you that you will never woo Xena if you keep Sorrow from the man she loves," Lachesis silenced him.

Ares stared her straight in the eye, but the Mother would not flinch, and he knew he would never intimidate her the way he'd intimidated her daughter. The words she spoke were hard on his ears, and made his face burn with anger that his plans were any of their business to begin with.

"What Xena doesn't know, won't hurt her," he finally pronounced, and without another word, he dematerialized, leaving the three women to look to each other silently with obvious concern for all involved before obediently returning to their work.

Ares rematerialized back in the Halls of War, where he began pacing manically, trying hard to think of all the places a goddess might go to give birth if she were in hiding, and who she might go to for help. He figured it was safe to say that the girl wasn't getting any help from her aunts and uncles, for they were all too distracted with finding a way to beat Xena and destroy her child. But, she surely wasn't doing this on her own.

The God of War felt deep in his heart that Sorrow had made a friend of the man who had bested all three of his very carefully designed locks, and odds were that she was relying on this person now. But who this clever person was, was truly a mystery to him.

However, with so few truly clever people yet in so young a world, Ares was certain that he'd pick out the individual with a little detective work, and when he found his thief, he would find the mother of his child.

Iolaus awoke the next morning to the horrendous smell of salt pork frying and trail biscuits baking. He fought the scents as long as he could, but it bored into his consciousness until he finally awakened and, without opening his eyes, groaned loudly, "Ughh, Herc, you know I hate food for breakfast!"

When two familiar, but unexpected, voices erupted in laughter, the hung-over hunter pried his eyes open just enough to let him see the shadowy forms of Xena and Autolycus looking back at him, and confusion took hold. Leaping up from his blanket, he demanded, "Where did you two come from? And where in Tartarus are we?"

"We're in the forest outside Corinth, Iolaus," Xena answered gently, then nodded toward the thief. "Autolycus is better informed on why we're here."

Autolycus threw Xena a look of chagrin because he didn't exactly want to tell Iolaus what he knew just yet. He tried to tell himself it was because he just wanted to be mean to his old nemesis, but it wasn't exactly true. Sure, he and "Curly" had never been great friends, but in truth, he had come to expect more than this from the Golden Hunter, and it disturbed him to see the hero turned into nothing more than a lush. In small retaliation, he avoided the truth as much as Xena would let him and said, "Uh, well, let's just say that someone really needs to see you, and I offered to come find you for them."

Xena lifted a questioning eyebrow at the Master Thief, and Iolaus squinted at him in the increasing light.

"Who?" Iolaus demanded suspiciously.

Autolycus looked up at Xena, silently indicating his unwillingness to tell and begging her not to tell, either. The thief would explain himself later, if he could, but for now he truly believed the word on Sorrow should be kept from even her truest love. To Autolycus' amazement, Xena went along with his wishes.

"It's a surprise!" she smiled cryptically for half a second, then stalked away from the campsite as quickly as she could. Iolaus was one person she could not bear to lie to, so she went away so that the thief could uphold his decision alone.

"Hercules, right?" Iolaus suggested in exasperation. "I knew sooner or later he'd catch up with me again, and he's probably going to give me pure Tartarus for . . . this . . ."

Autolycus stared straight down at his cooking and replied, "Oh, I don't doubt he'll show up sooner or later, the way my luck's been going, but no - Hercules didn't send me."

"Then, who did?"

"I'd really rather not say."

"Why not?" Iolaus demanded, planting his hands on his hips firmly, for he was beginning to lose his patience with the thief.

Autolycus fixed a serious eye on the hunter, and said lowly, "I don't think it's a good idea to tell you just yet. Just suffice it to say that someone important wants to see you, and we're taking you to them. Just think of it as a surprise, like Xena said."

Iolaus stood silent for a moment, then stamped his foot in a sudden outburst of near-fury, and fumed, "Dammit, I hate surprises!"

"Yeah, well, you're gonna like this one, so just shut up, will ya?" barked the thief. "And sober up while you're at it - you look like the road to Athens after Bacchanalia!"

Iolaus fell silent in amazement at the thief's rare exhibition of stern authority, and he suddenly felt strangely unsure of himself in relation to his two companions. He didn't trust the thief as far as he could throw him, but he felt he could still trust Xena. Surely she wasn't leading him astray.

As though she sensed that he was thinking of her, Xena's voice rang out through the forest, "Iolaus - come down to the river! I want to show you something!"

Iolaus looked in the general direction of her voice, not knowing whether to obey or not, and he shot a quick look back at Autolycus. The thief was now watching their breakfast closely and deliberately not paying any attention to the hunter, so Iolaus shrugged in disgust and sulked away toward the riverside.

"What is it, Xena?" he demanded unhappily as he approached. Xena was standing by the river, newly dressed, with her hair still wet after her morning bath.

"Come down here," she lured him with a seductively crooked finger, and Iolaus almost grinned back. He remembered a time when that look had meant the world to him, and it still did to a certain extent. However, he knew she was just his friend, and he still felt indignant that she wouldn't tell him what he was there for, so he shuffled his feet in complaint as he neared the embankment. When he was close, he tried again.

"What do you want, Xena?"

"Well, I can't show you from there," she insisted. Fixing him with one of her "looks", she repeated with finality, "Come here, Iolaus."

Knowing better than to challenge the Warrior Princess when she used that tone of voice, Iolaus threw up his hands and began to descend the last few feet to the bank, remarking impatiently, "Okay, but this better be good, Xena."

"Oh, it is," she purred temptingly, a sly smile rising to her lips. "Believe me."

Iolaus didn't know whether to keep obeying or cut and run. The last time she promised him that something would be good, he'd ended up having one of the most intense sexual experiences of his life. On the one hand, the lure of the past was too much to deny, while the fear of returning to the past was just too much altogether. Exasperated, he chose to move closer to the edge, not sure what to expect, but knowing he had no choice but to obey Xena's orders.

"Okay, so show me," he insisted impatiently when he reached her, and she pointed at the slowly rushing water in front of them.

"Right there - look close at the surface of the river and tell me what you see."

Now curious, Iolaus stepped up to the bank and bent over slightly to peer into the glassy surface of the running stream, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. "I don't see anything there, Xena."

"Sure you do!" Xena proclaimed as she silently stepped up behind him. "Look more closely."

Iolaus bent over a little farther, then grumbled, "What am I supposed to see?"

"YOU!" Xena exclaimed, and before he could react, she placed her hands firmly on his back and shoved, and he suddenly found himself flying headfirst into the river!

"Hey!" he sputtered as he struggled to right himself in the cool water. "What was that for?"

"You needed to sober up," Xena shrugged. "So, now you're sober. And clean!"

Iolaus slammed his hands into the water, inadvertently splashing himself full in the face. As Xena shook her head at him humorously, he shook his fist at her and proclaimed, "I'll get you back, Xena! Just you wait and see!"

"Wait til I need the bath as much as you did!" the Warrior Princess smirked back at him as she easily climbed up the bank and headed back to camp.

Iolaus watched her go in angered amazement, knowing that he'd been totally tricked, and his mood only darkened further when he saw a bar of soap, a washrag, a mirror, and a straight razor waiting for him on a rock. The items had escaped his notice before, and now he was infuriated that he had missed such incredibly pointed clues.

Grudgingly, he removed his clothes and washed them with the soap before washing himself carefully. He had no clue what his companions were up to, but he obviously had to look his best for it, and he decided that he really had nothing better to do, anyway - why not go along for the ride? Besides, he'd just about worn out his welcome in Corinth, and was anticipating a reprimand from King Iphicles any day now. Carousing and picking fights weren't making him popular in the taverns, either. And, his mother and stepfather were probably getting close to throwing him out, as well. He was beginning to think this adventure might be just the thing to get him out of his rut and get him back into circulation.

He'd fallen into a bad way after he left the Halls of War that day, now almost a year ago. Afterward, he spent his days doing his best to help Hercules help others, but the nights were filled with only thoughts of Sorrow, and with feelings of dire helplessness. What was worse, he just knew Sorrow was feeling as helpless as he was, and the sight of the world without her was hard to take. The people of Greece were sorely missing her presence as the Goddess of Lamentation, and women in particular were suffering miserably without her.

Iolaus, himself, suffered most miserably because he missed her gentle touch, the lovely timbre of her voice, and the soft scent of the ocean lingering about her. Her sweet, loving presence had fulfilled his life completely, and without her he was simply lost. And he knew deep down that she must be feeling lost, too.

Depression slowly settled in upon him, and it finally took hold of the courage in his soul and wore it down. He awoke one day to find that he no longer cared whether good or evil prevailed in the land, and though it was the hardest thing he had ever had to do, he arose before the sun and woke the demigod to say goodbye. The sad thing was, Hercules didn't even try to talk him into staying. He knew his friend was hurting far too much to be of help to anyone, least of all himself, and so Hercules had wished him luck and watched sadly as Iolaus took up Sorrow's carved fighting staff and walked away. It had been the hardest decision of the hunter's life, but he saw no other recourse at the time.

Of course, in Corinth, he felt completely useless at his mother's farm. His stepfather had things well in hand, and Eryetheia was at a loss as to what to do to help her forlorn son. With nothing to keep him occupied, Iolaus found himself heading into the city daily, ending up stumbling home late in the night, and finally passing out in the barn. The very thought of going on in life without Sorrow was just too hard to deal with, and stiff drams of ale were the only elixir for helping him forget. But even that was getting old, and he was beginning to wonder if maybe the Fates were going to make him move on regardless.

Indeed, it was time to move on, and he saw that as plainly as he saw the dirt being scrubbed from his body. Wherever Xena and Autolycus were headed was as good a place to go as anywhere else, and he was soon dressed and ready to head that way.

Except for one thing.

"I have to go back to my mother's farm before we can go," he announced when he rejoined his companions. Xena looked up from her breakfast, and Autolycus looked up from checking on the biscuits.

"What for?" Xena asked gently, not sure they had time for him to bid his folks goodbye.

"I gotta get something," he answered vaguely, but most earnestly. "It won't take us far out of our way . . . if we're where I think we are?"

"We're headed toward a place not far beyond Amphipolis," Xena replied, seeing a certain something in the hunter's eyes that told her he really did need to go by his mother's farm before they left Corinth for good.

"Then it's definitely not out of our way!" Iolaus proclaimed, his eyes lighting up just a fraction. "I promise - I won't be but a few minutes there!"

Xena and Autolycus exchanged concerned glances, for neither knew when the goddess would go into labor, and the threat of Ares showing up at any time was ever-present. There was no time for dallying about at his mother's farm.

Later, outside the farmhouse of the late General Skouros, Iolaus excused himself from their company, but to their surprise he didn't go to the main house to speak to his family. Instead, he went to the side of the barn where a large barrel stood. Even hung-over, Iolaus was able to agilely vault himself onto the top of the huge keg. He then reached up underneath the eaves of the building as though he were looking for something. After a small amount of searching, Iolaus jumped down from the barrel again, bringing with him the exquisitely carved fighting staff of the Goddess of Lamentation.

"Is that what he came back for?" Autolycus half-whispered, half-whined to Xena.

"Apparently so," she nodded in wonderment. She'd never known Iolaus to favor the quarterstaff before, for the sword was far more beneficial to the Golden Hunter and his situation. However, there was nothing to say he might change his mind and switch to a less-deadly mode of protection.

"Nice staff," Autolycus casually remarked as the hunter approached.

"Thanks," Iolaus blushed. "It's not mine." And that was all he would say about it. He then set out ahead of them, carrying the staff as though it were the golden scepter of a royal kingdom.

Before they followed him, the King of Thieves whispered to the Warrior Princess, "Now, that is weird!"

"Come on, Auto," Xena barked impatiently, beginning to truly worry for the sanity of her former lover. "We're burning daylight."

On to Chapter Twenty Seven

Back to The Power & The Passion