Divided Message

Xena and Gabrielle were walking along a dirt road through an overgrown forest. They were travelling at a fast pace, almost a jog, and were arguing. "Gabrielle the world is a big place you know. There is no way will can do this." "Don't give up so easily Xena, we'll find Kallopiea." Gabrielle said smiling "She could be anywhere. She probably isn't even in Europe." "Kallopiea hates to travel from country to country, she is most likely still with Beowulf." "Well that makes things much easier then doesn't it. At least it would if we knew where Beowulf was!" Xena laughed "We have been searching for her for over three weeks now Xena, we'll find her." "Gabrielle we haven't even covered Greece yet, she could be in Rome, Egypt, Chin, Japa…anywhere." "Someone must know where she is. Why don't we go back to her home and see if her mother knows?" "Her mother has enough problems with the Romans, we aren't going to tell her we have lost her daughter too." Xena said more seriously. "Then what do you suggest, come on warrior princess, you think of somethin' " Gabrielle replied, trying to lighten the tone. "Joxer! He will know." "Joxer! Joxer! Oh come on Joxer where are you?" Gabrielle shouted A loud scream was heard by the two warriors, followed by a hard thud. "Ow! Couldn't I re-materialise less painfully? Oh, hi Xena, Gabrielle." Joxer smiled "Joxer we need your help. You have to find Kallopiea for us." "How would I know where she is?" "You're a ghost, you can re-materialise near anyone you want." Gabrielle reminded him "I haven't got use to this whole ghost thing yet." "Well learn fast we have to find her." "OK, OK, I'll be back in a jiffy." Joxer waved then disappeared in to thin air to go on a search for Kallopiea. "Do you think he'll find her?" Gabrielle asked "Not a chance in Tartarus." Xena stopped for a moment and had a puzzled expression on her face. "What is it?" Gabrielle asked "One man, he's near us. To the…." "South, I can hear him now to." Gabrielle interrupted The battling bard and the warrior princess grabbed hold of their weapons and the listened to the footsteps of the approaching man. "Dad, dad are you here?" Shouted a familiar voice "It's Virgil." Gabrielle smiled and ran over into the thick shrubbery to find him. Meanwhile in a land to the north Beowulf was lent over the cold, wet body of Kallopiea. Her head had a bad wound on it and her legs had some bruises on them. "Kallopiea, Kallopiea can you hear me." The tall, broad Norseman shouted. "Come on Kallopiea open your eyes." Kallopiea slowly began to open her eyes and tried to focus on her surroundings. She sat up slowly using Beowulf's arm to pull herself up. "My wounds are not serious, stop fussing over me." Kallopiea insisted "They look serious." "I'm a fast healer, I will soon recover." "I want you to rest for a while, there is no need to get up yet." Beowulf said sternly "We have to find Xena and Gabrielle. I have to tell them about that…premonition, or whatever it was." "You said it was of Xena's past, and included you? It can't be a premonition." "Well whatever it was it could have happened at a better time. We would have won if I had not have fallen to the ground like some helpless fool." Suddenly a fool hit the snow-covered ground, helplessly. He started to spit the ice and snow out of his mouth and looked at Kallopiea. "Are you alright?" He asked in a concerned voice. "Fine, Joxer what are you doing here?" "Xena sent me." "Why?" Beowulf questioned "I don't know she just said find Kallopiea. So I did." "Well you have found me, what now?" "She never said anything else." "Well is she OK?" Beowulf asked "Oh she's fine, her and Gabby are travelling around Greece looking for you. They have been for sometime now." "They must want to talk to you about something." "Maybe they know about the vision." "Joxer, go back to find Xena and ask her what she wants." Beowulf ordered "Joxer do this, Joxer do that. You know if you guys didn't have a ghost man you would be in a lot of trouble. It's Joxer the Mighty, not Joxer the messenger." "Then how about you change it to Joxer the Might Messenger." Kallopiea joked "Oh now that's funny, no really I've never laughed this hard in my life." Joxer replied sarcastically the disappeared. Back in Greece Xena, Gabrielle and Virgil were sat next to a small stream talking. "So then I heard you were in this area and thought dad might be with you. I haven't seen him for a long time." Virgil explained "I can't believe my last scroll has already reached this part of Greece I only finished it a few days ago. How have your stories been going?" Gabrielle asked "OK, in fact I have a good idea that I am working on now it's going to be about the Gods." "I'd like to read it some day." "When it's finished I'll make sure you get a copy." Virgil smiled Suddenly Joxer fell, once again, from the sky and hit the ground in front of Xena, Gabrielle and Virgil. "Dad!" Virgil shouted happily "Son, what are you doing here?" "I came to find you, I've missed you dad." "I know. But I have a busy life what with all the fighting and being a warrior and all." "Not forgetting your current task, did you find the girl you were looking for?" Virgil asked "Yeah. Beowulf and Kallopiea are OK. Kallopiea looks like she has lost a fight recently but she says she OK? The want to know what you want." Joxer told Xena and Gabrielle "Joxer where are they?" Xena asked impatiently. "How should I know?" "We sent you to find out where they were so we could find them." "Oh, well you never said that. They where in a cold place, lots of snow most of it went in my mouth and I even ate some, which is weird because ghosts can't eat. Maybe it's because it's the ground when you think about…" "Joxer!" "Oh right yeah, where they were. All I know is it was very cold." "They must be somewhere in Beowulf's homeland, Joxer go back and find out where they are exactly." "OK, OK I'm going." Joxer smiled at Virgil, then left again. "So Virgil how's your mum?" Gabrielle asked while waiting for Joxer to return "She's OK." Virgil replied. The three of them waited in silence until Joxer came back, when he did he immediately spoke. "Kallopiea said she would travel back to Greece and find you. Apparently it will be easier then you running around in the snow trying to find her." "All we have to do is wait then." Xena smiled. As night slowly came around the four friends set up a camp and waited, reminiscing over past adventures and battles. "That's when I ran in with my sword, protecting Gabby. I got shot you know right in the shoulder, but was I afraid…no I wasn't. After all a warrior is never afraid." Joxer spoke clearly. "Then because of my distraction Xena got the Chakram from Callisto using only her foot, and she broke free of the chair and saved Gabrielle from been burnt alive." "Well done dad." Virgil said humouring his father. "Those were the days, I was in my prime then." "We sure had some adventures." Xena commented. "And it seems like we've got some more to come." Gabrielle said remembering the visions. "Well what ever it is it can't be any stranger then the time we went to Illusia." "I read that scroll, what was it called?" Virgil asked "The Bitter Suite." "I guess it's time we got some sleep." Xena said tiredly. "Good idea." Gabrielle replied and laid on the bedroll next to Xena. "Kallopiea should be here soon." "Hopefully." Kallopiea was on an old, cluttered dock arguing with the man in charge "I realise there is a storm coming, but I have to get back to Greece." Kallopiea said threateningly. "I can take you in three days." replied a tall, thin, repulsive man. "Three days is to late, I will find another sailor to take me back to Greece since you can not help." "You do that." "Then he can have the 100 dinars instead." "100? Wait, where did you want to go?" "Greece!" Kallopiea shouted "Get on board, it looks like the storm will go past us." Kallopiea smiled successfully and climbed on to the beaten up, unsteady boat. "You are sure this boat will survive the trip?" "Look lady this boat has lasted me 30 years and only nearly sunk four times." Kallopiea studied the mans face to determine whether or not he was joking, after a while she realised he wasn't. The sun slowly rose over the quiet, peaceful forest where Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer and Virgil waited. But Xena was already awake and had begun to practise her fighting skills. To the left she heard something, she listened more carefully and heard the footsteps of seven men walking through the forest. She bent down and took her sword off of the ground, just in case the approaching men were a threat. Xena looked around and saw a tall tree, quickly she climbed it and watched the men who were closing in on them. "Looks like trouble." She whispered to herself while studying the black armour of the gang. Quickly she jumped off the tree next to Gabrielle and woke her pointing to the place where the men were. Although she couldn't see them, Gabrielle knew exactly what Xena was pointing to and so she picked up her Sais. The men came into view and saw the two prepared warriors. "Are you Xena?" Asked the man who appeared to be leading them "I am, now who are you?" Xena replied in a threatening tone. "I'm the man who's going to put your head on a stick." "Now that's original." Gabrielle joked as the gang ran over to them. Xena and Gabrielle started to fight them, they stood back to back and fought two or three at a time. After only a few seconds the men stopped and ran off. "That was easy." Xena said and put her sword away. Suddenly she heard something above her and moved out of the way as the leader of the gang tried to jump on her from a tree. He missed and fell flat on his face, quickly he stood and took a few paces backwards. "You may have won this one but I'll be back." He said and ran off. The two warriors looked at each other and laughed then Gabrielle joined Xena in training. Meanwhile Kallopiea was swimming through rough seas helping a weak sailor swim. "We are nearly there now, just keep swimming." Kallopiea shouted at the man. The man started to struggle and went below the water. Kallopiea quickly dived under and pulled him back up. The man gasped for air and stayed close to Kallopiea while he continued to swim. "I told you there was a storm brewing. Now my boat is ruined." "Your boat was ruined before we left the dock." Kallopiea argued. The man smiled in agreement and continued to shore. After a few minuets they reach a sandy beach and swam on to it. "What now? I can't go anywhere, not with out my boat." "There is a dock near here. You will find boats there." Kallopiea replied then ran off. The man watched in amazement at the fast pace she was running, even after the three-hour swim. Joxer was trying to train with Xena and Gabrielle while Virgil continued to write his story. After wiping some sweat from her head Gabrielle sat down next to him. "How's it going?" She asked "Good." He replied deep in thought "Do you have a name for the story yet?" "Not yet." He replied and continued to write. Gabrielle smiled at his concentration then relaxed for a few moments. Then she heard a noise from the trees to the South and drew her Sais. "Xena I thought this place was suppose to be peaceful, more people come through here then the Appian Way." After a few seconds a tried, badly beaten girl came running over to them. "Kallopiea?" Gabrielle said surprised, then lowered her weapon. "Are you OK? What's happened to you?" "I do not know where to start." Kallopiea said trying to look as if she wasn't in pain. Gabrielle ran over to her and helped her to sit down. "Beowulf and I were fighting, when this thing happened. I saw something that was not really happening, I saw Xena's past and when we first met." "You had the same vision Gabrielle and I had." Xena told her. "Well what ever it was I fell unconscious for a while when I woke up Beowulf and I had been taken prisoner by the people we were fighting, we managed to get free and started to run to a near by tavern. But I had been beaten up while I was unconscious and so could not travel very fast and we ended up sleeping in the snow. A few moments after I woke Joxer told us that you were trying to find me then I came searching for you. I had to get a boat across to Greece, the boat sank and I then needed to swim back to the shore with the sailor, who almost never made it. I managed to get back to you as quick as I could though." "You did well Kallopiea." Gabrielle commented "Also there is a man in the wood trying to form an army. When I asked why he wanted an army for he said he planned to put you head on a stick." "We've already met him." Xena said while laughing, "He isn't a threat." "That is good." Kallopiea replied, "So what now?" Just as she said that Xena fell to the ground, holding her head in agony. Gabrielle managed to break her fall and knelt next her waiting for her friend to recover. Xena knew she was having another vision, but this time she wasn't in Hell instead she was in a field. Stood by her side were Gabrielle and Kallopiea. Suddenly a large army of warriors approached riding black warhorses and carrying swords and axes. The three warriors drew their weapons realising it was going to be a hard fight. Suddenly things jumped a few minuets forward and Xena looked down to the ground, Kallopiea was lying there deadly steal with blood covering her face. Xena spun around and watched helplessly as a man crept up behind Gabrielle and slit her throat, Xena heard a noise behind her, she looked around and saw a man on a horse carrying a mace. Quickly he swung it at her but before it had time to hit her Xena woke up. She sat up straight away and took a deep breath, Gabrielle, Kallopiea, Joxer and Virgil were all gathered around her. "What did you see?" Gabrielle asked "Our death." Xena replied almost in a whisper. Kallopiea, Xena and Gabrielle looked at each other all in a state of shock realising that soon the vision would come true. Divided Message by Kitana Copy write Kitana 2002©

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