"No. Get those guys first," argued Autolycus.

Using her newly found knowledge Gabrielle quickly opened the door to the cell holding Iolaus and Maris.

"Let's get out of here," said Maris, eyeing the steps.

Gabrielle glared at him in disgust. "We're not going anywhere without Autolycus."

"But we don't have time to..."

"Maris, if you want out of here you're on your own. We're not leaving him," whispered Iolaus fiercely.

Gabrielle rushed to Autolycus' cell door. In less than a minute she had it open.

"I wonder how Xena's going to like the idea of you learning the art of breaking and entering," teased Iolaus.

"I prefer to think of it as learning a trade," retorted Gabrielle airily. "You know, like a locksmith?"

Quickly Iolaus and Gabrielle made their way to the side of their friend.

"Don't worry," said Gabrielle, "I'll have you out of here before you can say Xena:Warrior Princess."

"I'm afraid it's going to take a little longer phrase than that," groaned Autolycus.

"What do you mean?"

"These manacles are new. They have the latest locks on them," said Autolycus. He coughed once again and continued, "Gabrielle, leave me here. I'm no good to you like this."

"Never. We're not leaving here without you. Now shut up and let me work," commanded Gabrielle gently.

Although she couldn't see it she could tell Autolycus was moved.

"You know, you've been hanging around Xena too long. You're beginning to sound just like her," he said.

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Gabrielle.

"I meant it as one."

She ran her hand along his arm until she came to the manacle. She cupped her hand around it to determine how tightly it bound his wrist.

"Pretty tight, isn't it?"

"Tight enough for me. Say, Gabrielle, since you're determined to do this would you mind removing my left boot?"

Gabrielle wrinkled her nose. "Huh? Autolycus, you're not getting delirious on me are you?"

"Nah. I keep a spare set of tools in there. You'll stand a better chance of getting these off if you use them."

Gabrielle latched onto the heel of his boot and began to tug. "Unngh.Unngh. Gosh, when was the last time you had these things off?"

"Here, let me help you." He placed the big toe of his right foot behind the heel of his left. "Now, when I push down, you try to work it back and forth a little."

He pushed on his heel while the bard pulled on the boot with all her strength.

"Grrrrr....whoa!"

The boot popped off and she tumbled over backward almost to the cell door.

"Shhhh! Gabrielle you're making enough racket to wake the dead," warned Iolaus.

"Nag, nag, nag," retorted Gabrielle, rubbing the bump on her head. She was in no mood to be rebuked now.

"Iolaus, I should have left you in that cell. And I would have too-if I didn't like you so much."

"This is a friend?" asked Maris, incredulously.

Iolaus could only smile. Gabrielle's growth was a constant source of amazement to him. It seemed every time he saw the bard her confidence and abilities had reached yet another level. She had come a long way, indeed, from the timid little village girl he had first met on their quest to free Prometheus.

Iolaus nodded with a half grin replied, "Yes, Maris, a friend." He then added under his breath so softly no one but himself could hear, "A friend to die for."

Gabrielle ran her hand into the boot and, finding the tools in a small pocket, retrieved them and set to work. Following Autolycus' instructions carefully, she tried again and again to open the lock. Ten...twenty...thirty minutes passed. The perspiration now began to pour off the bard.

Finally, in exasperation, she turned to Iolaus, "Do you want to give it a shot?"

"Meee? Gabrielle, I'm all thumbs when it comes to stuff like that. No, you're doing great."

"Gabrielle, I'm telling you, leave me and get out of here."

"No! I'm not going to leave you, Autolycus."

"You're wasting time."

In her heart she knew he was right. Pharbus surely had both the dragon's eyes now and, for all she knew, was at this very moment on his way to Kysa. Still, she couldn't bear to leave Autolycus at the mercy of these bastards.

How ironic, she thought. The very destruction of mankind may be at hand and the two most capable of stopping it are off playing nursemaid to some silly king. Gods, oh Xena! I may never get to see you again, or to tell you how much I love...

"Uh, Gabrielle?"

Her reverie was broken by a hand upon her shoulder. "Huh?"

"You can stop now," said Autolycus. "The lock, it's open. You did it."

Her thoughts of Xena had so overwhelmed the little bard she had not even noticed when the manacle fell from Autolycus' wrist.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Gee, I did, didn't I?"

"Here, let me have those."

Gabrielle gave him the tools and, despite using only one hand, the King of Thieves had the other manacle open in a manner of seconds.

"Wow," gasped Gabrielle.

"Hey, it's my job. It's what I do, remember? Now, let's blow this joint."

Iolaus looked toward the steps and gritted his teeth. "Okay, this is where I come in. Stay here."

Silently he eased his way up the steps. Upon nearing the top he lay flat on the steps and peeked up into the room. One man sat dozing at the magistrate's bench and another sat by the door eating something. I can't let that guy get away and sound the alarm, thought Iolaus.

"Meow. Meeoooowww!"

"What the...?" The man put down his food and cocked his ear. "Did you hear that, Plantius?"

"Hmm." Plantius looked up and yawned, "Hear what?"

"I swear I heard a cat," said the man.

"Aw you must have been dreaming," said Plantius.

"Meeoooww."

"By the gods there is a cat in here," said the man.

He walked to the steps and and peeked down. Suddenly a hand grabbed him by the neck and a fist punched him in the stomach. Iolaus put both his hands together into a double fist and planted it right between the man's shoulder blades. Again taking the man by the neck, Iolaus threw him down the steps.

No longer able to contain herself, Gabrielle was halfway up the steps just as Iolaus' victim came tumbling down. Fortunately, she kept her head and managed to avoid getting her legs tangled up with him.

Before Plantius could react Iolaus was upon him. Two good left jabs and a straight right hand to the jaw were all that was need to return Plantius to dreamland. Immediately he set to work tying Plantius up.

Iolaus then ran to the steps and threw down a length of rope. "Maris, tie that other guy up."

Gabrielle bounded up the steps and quickly scanned the room. There! She ran over to the magistrate's bench. picking up her staff she announced, "I believe this belongs to me."

Soon Maris and, finally, Autolycus had joined Iolaus and Gabrielle.

"What do we do now?" asked Maris.

"Do? We try to find this 'pool of tears' and stop that no good Pharbus, if we can," said Gabrielle.

"Uh, guys, I think I know where it is," said Autolycus.

"You do? How?" asked Iolaus.

"Well, uh there's this place. I happened onto it by chance one day. Since then I've ah, kind of used it for a hideout from time to time. There is a small cave there that is almost impossible to find unless one knows where to look. Not far from this cave there's a rock formation that does sort of bear a resemblance to a human face and from out of what you could call one of the eyes there's a trickle of water that flows constantly out onto the ground. This trickle does form a small pool of water at the base of the formation."

"A 'pool of tears'," mused Iolaus.

"This cave," Gabrielle wondered, "could it be where the dragon is located?"

"Nah, it's too small," replied the King of Thieves. "It's not much bigger than one of those jail cells.

"We've got to get there as soon as possible," said Gabrielle.

"And do what? I don't see what we can accomplish." It was plain to see Maris was not anxious to continue his involvement in this little adventure.

Gabrielle took Iolaus by the arm and began to walk him away from the others. "Could I speak with you a minute?" she asked sweetly.

When they were what she thought was a safe distance away she hissed at him, "Iolaus, we've got to dump this guy."

"But..."

"He's just going to be in our way," the bard insisted.

This display of toughness by Gabrielle took Iolaus aback somewhat. He had not seen her like this before. Well, tough times call for tough people, he thought. It was just one more reason to admire her. When they were together Xena was tough enough for the both of them, and then some. Gabrielle was then more than content to walk in Xena's shadow. But the Warrior Princess was not here and Iolaus could see that his little friend knew she had to step out into the light and use her talents to the utmost. I'm glad you're on my side, Gabrielle, he thought. Besides he knew she was right.

Iolaus bent over and winked at the bard. "You're right. Funny though, he used to be as tough as they come."

Gabrielle's hard countenance softened. "Maybe he's just scared," she offered.

"No, it's not that," said Iolaus. "I'm scared-you're scared, but we both know we are not going to let that stop us from doing what we have to do. No, he's changed."

Gabrielle's mind hit upon a plan. "Play along with me, Iolaus."

"What are you going to do?"

"Kill two birds with one stone."

She walked over to face Maris. "Iolaus and I have a very important job for you."

Maris' eyes grew wide. "Meee?"

"Yep." She walked around behind the magistrate's bench and quickly wrote out a note. "We need you to take this message to Xena and Hercules at the castle of King Aron."

"Aron?"

"Yeah. Do you know the place?"

"Yeah, sure."

Iolaus picked up where Gabrielle left off. "Now, Maris, this is very important. We need you to bring back Xena and Hercules."

"But they won't believe me," argued Maris.

"The note will take care of everything," Gabrielle assured him. "Xena knows my handwriting. She will know it's real. Just make sure that no one, and I mean no one, reads this but Xena or Hercules."

"But how will I get past the guards?" persisted Maris. "They won't let me just walk in there."

"Use your imagination," said Gabrielle, in exasperation. "Tell them you need to speak to Xena about the king's safety or something. You know, make it up."

"I'll never make in time," said Maris. "King Aron's castle is a good ten leagues from here."

"Do your best, we're counting on you," said Gabrielle.

Just on a hunch Iolaus began searching through the little cubbyholes that lined the magistrate's bench. Before long he let out a grunt of satisfaction.

"Uh huh."

"What have you got there, Iolaus?" asked Autolycus.

Iolaus extracted a small pouch from the cubbyhole. Tossing the bag to Maris he said, "Walk south to the next village and buy a horse."

"How did you know about that?" asked Gabrielle.

Autolycus felt he was more qualified to answer the bard. "That's money collected from fines," he said. "Usually most magistrates let it accumulate for a month or two before turning it in to their town's general fund."

"So now we add theft of public property to our other charges?" grinned Gabrielle.

"Hey, if we are going to be criminals let's go all the way," said Iolaus.

"Besides," he added, "they took your money didn't they?"

"Why, so they did. That makes us even then," allowed Gabrielle.

"Well, from one criminal to another," said Autolycus, "I suggest we, uh, what do they call it-'take it on the lam'?"

"You should know," said Gabrielle, her eyes rolling.

Iolaus cracked open the front door and peeked out. By now it was well after sunset and, as far as he could tell, not many were stirring.

"Looks like the coast is clear," he said and started out the door.

"Hey, wait a minute," said Autolycus, "I almost forgot."

He walked over to a large box with a hinged lid on it and began rummaging through it.

"What are you doing?" demanded Gabrielle. "We don't have time for this."

"My stuff is in here," replied Autolycus. "Aha!" With a smile of satisfaction he removed his grappling hook and his tools from the box. Grinning at the bard he added, "The tools of the trade. I never leave jail without them."

"Oh brother," sighed Gabrielle.

"Can we go now?" asked Iolaus impatiently.

Once again he carefully opened the door and looked out. "Okay, let's go."

Slowly, cautiously, the four of them slipped out in the night.

"No moon tonight," whispered Iolaus. "Thank the gods for that."

"C'mon," said Maris, "follow me. I can get us out of town without being seen. I know every shortcut and back alley in this town."

"Lead on," said Iolaus.

True to his word, within twenty minutes Maris had led them to the side of town away from the bazaar.

"Good work," said Gabrielle. She placed a hand on Maris' wrist and continued, "Maris, we're counting on you to bring help."

Maris drew himself up to his full height before answering, "I still have enough of the old soldier in me to accomplish an assigned mission, Gabrielle."

"Good. And may the gods go with you," said Gabrielle.

Maris nodded and trotted off up the road, disappearing into the darkness.

Pharbus picked up his precious stones and lovingly cradled them to his chest.

"Just think of it, Milan, with these little stones our honor will be restored."

"But Zeus..."

"Zeus will be destroyed," snapped Pharbus. "The dragon will not be defeated by that lecherous god a second time."

"How can you be so sure?" bleated Milan.

"Zeus is not the all powerful being he once was. These days most of his thoughts are about whom he can bed next. He has gone soft. It is said even his legendary skill with the lightning bolts has eroded."

The priest licked his lips and rubbed his hands together. "No, my faithful assistant, Zeus is ripe for the plucking. We will start for Kysa at first light."

"It was most fortunate for us the thief was able to secure the other eye so quickly," said Milan.

"Yes, the man...what was his name again?"

"Autolycus."

"Oh yes, Autolycus. The man undoubtedly is very skilled at his profession. To be able to steal something from the Egyptian pirate Kalmar and survive requires great skill indeed."

Pharbus gleefully remembered the look of consternation on the thief's face when the realization he had been double crossed finally dawned on him. The fool! Did he think I was really going to pay him five thousand dinars for the stone?

For a brief time Pharbus thought the Fates had been conspiring against him. It had seemed a cruel blow indeed to receive the eye taken from the thief only to hours after the first one had been stolen.

Oh well, he thought, I am in no hurry. My order has waited centuries for this day. Surely we can wait one more day. The thief and the wench will be taken care of in due course. He placed the stones in a leather pouch and hung it around his neck.

"So how did you get involved in all this, Autolycus?" asked Gabrielle.

"Well, it's a bitter potion for a man of the world such as myself to admit it but I was tricked," said Autolycus.

The three of them were wending their way along the narrow leading road to Kysa. Even without the aid of moonlight Iolaus, being very experienced at night movement, had no trouble leading the little band.

"You said you were double-crossed," said Gabrielle. "What happened?"

"About three weeks ago I got a message from this Pharbus guy. It said he had a job for me," said Autolycus.

"Since when did you start contracting out your uh, 'services', shall we say?"

"Never before" came the reply. "And never again, I can tell you."

"Humph," snorted Gabrielle, "serves you right. So what happened then?"

"I went to meet this guy and he told me he had just learned the whereabouts of a very sacred religious relic that had been stolen from his temple many years ago."

"An eye from the Kalimos Dragon," said Gabrielle.

"Pharbus didn't call it an eye," said Autolycus. "He merely said it was one of a matched set of stones with very special significance to his order. He told me he had heard of me and," Autolycus breathed on his fingernails and rubbed them on his chest, "how good I was with religious items."

"Hey, temple defilements are your specialty, right?" teased Gabrielle.

"Those were my very words, Gabrielle. Anyway, he offered me five thousand big ones to bring it back."

"So where was it?" asked Gabrielle.

"Thaaat was the tricky part. How he discovered where it was he didn't say but he had learned it was in the possession of Kalmar."

"Kalmar? The pirate? I hear he's a tough customer," said Gabrielle.

"You're not kidding," said Autolycus. "Any other time I would have told him he was nuts but uh, ahem, well, I was broke and I needed the money."

"One of these days, Autolycus," warned Gabrielle, "you are going to get in over your head. Look, you're a smart guy, why don't you try doing something honest for a change?"

"You mean like...(gulp)...work?" The King of Thieves gave an involuntary shudder at the very pronunciation of the word.

"Yeah."

"Well you're one to talk, Gabrielle," retorted the thief. "I mean you and Xena aren't exactly out there plowing the fields every morning, now are you?"

"Xena and I don't crave dinars like you do either."

"Shhhh. Can you two hold it down a little?" asked Iolaus. "You want every Tomas, Dicharus, and Harey to know where we are?"

"Sorry, Iolaus." whispered the little bard.

"To make a long story short," continued Autolycus, "It took me ten whole days to set it up but I finally managed to steal the stone from Kalmar. Then, when I brought the stone to that rat Pharbus, he sicked the magistrate's men on me-he told them I had stolen the stone and was trying to blackmail him."

"Didn't they realize how stupid it sounded to try to blackmail someone with the particular object on your person?" asked Gabrielle.

"I got the feeling they didn't care, Gabrielle." He put his hand to his ribs and winced. "In fact I still have the feeling with me."

"By the way, how are you feeling?" asked the bard.

"It only hurts when I breathe," said the thief.

"You know, you don't have to go with us, Autolycus, " said Gabrielle.

"She's right," agreed Iolaus. "There's no telling what lies ahead."

Although she could not see his face, Gabrielle nevertheless could sense the indignation in Autolycus' voice. As always, he had to express his true feelings for his friends in the form of a joke.

"What? And have to explain to Xena and Hercules why I abandoned their sidekicks in their hour of need? Nooo, thank you. No sir, a cracked rib is but a trifle compared to what Xena would do to me."

Gabrielle angled close to him and touched his arm. "We like you too, Autolycus," she whispered.

All night long the three of them followed the dark, lonely road. Just after daybreak they reached Kysa and took the road leading eastward.

"Maleus! Maleus! The prisoners, they have escaped!"

The morning watch had found the night duty guards bound, gagged, and sporting several large bruises-courtesy of Iolaus. The sergeant banging on the door knew there would be Hades to pay for this. Well, he thought sadly, there goes our wine ration.

To Maleus these early morning poundings on his door were invariably the harbingers of bad news. If it wasn't someone finding a body murdered during the night it was some merchant wailing his shop had been broken into or two neighbors arguing over something as stupid as an olive tree. Large complaints or small, during his nine years as magistrate Maleus had just about seen everything. But never had anyone broken out of his jail.

"Maleus!"

"I heard you, damn it! Stop breaking down my door. Get the men assembled, sergeant, and meet me at the jail in twenty minutes."

"Right."

Maleus sleepily donned his clothes and wrestled on his well worn boots. "This is what you get for nine years of honest public service," he grunted. "Worn boots and little rest."

Although the magistrate had never once personally did anything dishonest he knew his men sometimes had. They were paid so little, however, it was hard for him to punish them as long the offenses were small.

With a sigh he trudged off to tell Pharbus. "He is going to have a fit for sure," said the magistrate, under his breath.

"They what?!"

Maleus had been right. Pharbus was completely beside himself with rage.

"How could let that happen?" he bellowed.

"I don't know yet. I haven't inspected the cells," said Maleus.

"Haven't inspec-- Don't you think it's a little late for that? THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED!"

Maleus thought the priest's eyes were going to pop right out of his head.

"Don't worry," said the magistrate, "we'll get them back. They could not have gotten far. That one, the thief, has a bad rib, you know."

For the first time Maleus noticed Pharbus was not dressed in the usual robes of his office but trousers and a tunic. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"I am going to donate a day of my time to the help the good people of Paltros dig their new well," lied the priest.

Maleus knew the priest was lying even before the last words were out of his mouth. Pharbus never "donated" anything to anybody. He had been doing a lot of this sort of thing lately-leaving the temple for a whole day at a time. No, he was up to something.

"Very well," sighed Maleus.

In his twenty years as high priest Pharbus had managed to extend his influence far beyond the walls of the temple. Not only the ordinary folk but the town's leading citizens had come to view him as something of a conservator.

After all, it had been his idea to host the annual bazaar that now pumped tens of thousands of dinars into the local economy. It had also been his idea to take some of the proceeds from the bazaar to establish a magistrate and hire men to keep the peace. Since then the town had, for the most part, become a very safe place to live.

It had also been through his recommendation that Maleus had been named magistrate. For this reason Maleus still felt indebted to Pharbus and Pharbus knew it.

All these outside interests aside, Pharbus had never let himself be distracted from his true purpose; to restore to Hera what was rightfully hers.

"Darn it I still don't see why we didn't pick up something to eat back there in the village," said Iolaus.

He had not eaten since yesterday morning and his stomach was now protesting its neglect rather strenuously. The three of them had stopped in Kysa but for a moment and that was only to take some water from the well in the village square.

"Like I said before, Iolaus, we couldn't risk drawing attention to ourselves. If you had gone around banging on doors to get an inn to open up don't you think people would have noticed? And besides, time is too short," said Gabrielle. "We have got to find that 'pool of tears' before Pharbus does."

Gabrielle, too, was getting hungry but she was not about to let that interfere with the task at hand.

"Well, it's not going to do us any good to find the place if we are too weak from hunger to do anything," protested Iolaus.

"Oh, will you..."

"Ah, guys?"

Gabrielle cut short her rebuke and turned to see Autolycus grinning widely and stretching out his arm.

"I think breakfast is served," he said.

"Huh?"

"Look over there, Gabrielle. See it?"

Gabrielle's eyes followed the direction of Autolycus' arm and focused on a small stand of what looked to be some kind of fruit trees off in the distance.

"All right!" beamed Iolaus. "Autolycus, you have good eyes."

"Well," replied the thief, modestly, "in my line of work it is an advantage."

Iolaus turned to the little bard, "Quick, give me your bag."

"My bag?" blinked Gabrielle.

"Yeah, hurry up."

In the blink of an eye Iolaus was over the low rail fence and on his way across the field to the orchard.

"I hope he doesn't get caught," remarked Gabrielle.

"I think that's the last of our worries right now, don't you think?" asked Autolycus.

He too, was already relishing the thought of some fresh fruit in his stomach. He looked both up and down the road and, turning to Gabrielle, added, "I think we ought to get off the road. Someone might get suspicious if they saw us just standing here gawking."

Fortunately, Iolaus was not discovered and he soon rejoined his friends.

"Oooooh, pears!" gushed Gabrielle.

"Yep," answered Iolaus, proudly displaying his booty. "Aren't they beauties?"

The huge pear tree had been no more than a very minor hindrance to him. After inspecting the pears he picked out the three best ones and gave them to Gabrielle.

"You don't have to do that," protested Gabrielle mildly. "I..."

Iolaus smiled and placed a finger over her lips. "Just this once, will you allow me to have my way?"

The little bard blushed and replied, "I'm sorry, I guess I have been a little pushy, haven't I?"

Autolycus never missed a beat. "Yeah, what is all this anyway?" he teased. "Is this the new Gabrielle or something? Hmm, no wonder Xena ditched you. I bet you scared her or something."

"Ditched? Ohhh you..." Gabrielle grinned and took the good natured ribbing with feigned indignance.

Their moment of fun over, Autolycus asked the question that was foremost on all their minds. "Suppose we do find this, uh, dragon. What do we do? I don't see how three of us are going to be able to stop that crazy priest. He's sure to have some of that magistrate's men with him."

"We'll just have to play it by ear," allowed Iolaus. "Maybe we can slow them up until Hercules and Xena get here."

"We don't even know if Maris made it," Autolycus reminded them.

"Whether he did or didn't is irrelevant," said Gabrielle. "We have got to stop this guy."

"Well, we don't have to much farther to go," said Autolycus. "Maybe a half league or so."

"What do we do then, I mean, what do we look for?" asked Iolaus.

"Remember what the scroll said," Gabrielle reminded them, '"Follow Sappho."

Pharbus reluctantly decided he had better slow his horse down some before he ran it into the ground. The priest had not eased up since his departure from Kysa and he had spent the entire time chastising himself. You fool, he thought, you should have known they would go there. After all, didn't the little man say they would try to stop me. I should have recognized the significance of that.

His day had not been a good one. First those meddling strangers had escaped, then he had lost precious time convincing that idiot Maleus not to follow him. The magistrate had, for some reason, seemed less pliable than usual. Pharbus, however, could not afford to have the man snooping around while he searched for the dragon. Now he had no choice but to fetch the magistrate.

His scowl reflected his frustration. He had thought today might be the day. But that morning in Kysa he had stopped at the inn to purchase some food and, by chance, had overheard a couple of the locals discussing the three strangers that had been observed drawing water from the well just after dawn. One did not have to have the intellect of Plato to deduce the strangers were the escaped prisoners. Pharbus was not worried they would actually find anything after all, he had searched the area several times and so far had found nothing. However, he did not want to leave anything to chance. If only I knew what that reference to Sappho meant, he thought. I know that must be the key to all. Here is where the omission of the dragon's location from the copied scrolls really came back to haunt Pharbus. The significance of Sappho, being part of the omission, was long since lost and, over time, she was virtually forgotten. Consequently Pharbus had been unable to ascertain who this long dead poetess was or what she had done.

"Well guys, there it is." Autolycus stretched out his arm toward the hillside.

"Oh my goodness," gasped Gabrielle, "it is a face!"

The King of Thieves' description of the place had, indeed, been very accurate.

The configuration of the rocks did form a well defined face on the hillside. There were two distinct indentations (the eyes) flanking a piece of stone (the nose) jutting out from the hillside. There was even a crevice that formed a kind of mouth on it. And, just as Autolycus had said, out of the left "eye" a steady trickle of water gently flowed down the "face" and onto the ground forming a pool at the base of the formation.

"It's remarkable," said Iolalus.

Gabrielle's quick mind began to engage itself. "Iolaus, you're the expert, exactly which way is north by east?"

Her friend had anticipated this question. Since early that morning he had been very careful to maintain his bearings.

He pointed over the little bard's shoulder, "That way."

"Let's get started then," said Gabrielle.

"Ah, I think we've got a problem here," said Autolycus.

"What do you mean? inquired Gabrielle.

"Well, like I said, I've been here before. If you step off one hundred and fifty paces in the direction Iolaus indicated for about the last thirty of them you are going to be needing Daedalus' wings."

"Huh?"

"There's a cliff over there, Gabrielle. A sheer drop of about fifty paces," Autolycus continued.

"Hmmm, tell you what. Let's pace if off anyway," suggested Gabrielle.

Autolycus shrugged his shoulders, "Okay."

"One twenty-six, one twenty-seven, and ooone twenty-eight." Autolycus last step placed him at the edge of the precipice. "Okay, Gabrielle, that's it."

Iolaus squinted and peeked over the edge. "Now what? We can't just walk on air."

The little bard stood there turning the problem over and over in her mind. One hundred fifty paces...twenty-two more...but where? Left? Right? Do we backtrack? Like a pesky insect the phrase "follow Sappho" kept buzzing around her. But that's insane, she thought.

Gabrielle got down on her hands and knees and crawled to the edge of the cliff. Being somewhat afraid of heights she felt very uncomfortable to be so near the edge. Lying flat on the ground she forced herself to look over the side.

"I just don't...Oh my!" Quickly she retreated from the brink and sat there looking up at them with a gleam in her eyes.

"Are you all right?" asked Iolaus. Her gasp had startled her friends.

"Follow Sappho! Don't you see? We have to follow Sappho."

Autolycus placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

"Okay okay, so we follow this Sappho. Uh, Gabrielle, just who is this Sappho anyway?"

Of course this was right up Gabrielle's alley. "Sappho was a poetess," she began. "Not much of her work survives but by all accounts she was very gifted. Sadly, today she is almost unknown."

Gabrielle eyes twinkled as she placed her hand to her mouth. Iolaus could not remember seeing her this excited.

"C'mon, tell us the rest," urged Autolycus, now genuinely interested.

"Well legend has it that Sappho fell in love with a beautiful youth named Phaon. Alas, the youth did not return her affections so in despair she threw herself off the promotory of Leucadia and into the sea."

Gabrielle decided it would be best to omit the details of Sappho's sexual preferences.

"Yewww," groaned Autolycus.

"But... I still don't get it," said Iolaus.

"Follow Sappho," repeated Gabrielle. That means down.

Iolaus' eyes grew wide. "You mean jump? Are you nuts? I'm not-"

"No no," squealed Gabrielle, barely able to control herself. "It means down the cliff. The side of the cliff."

"Huh?"

"C'mon Iolaus, can't you see? It's a hundred twenty-eight paces to the cliff and twenty-two more down the side of the cliff."

Her old friend walked to the edge and looked over. "You mean we have to scale down the side of this and look for some kind of entrance?"

Gabrielle smiled at him and nodded once.

"How do you know it doesn't mean to go to the base of the cliff and pick up the count from there?" asked Autolycus.

"Because the count isn't supposed to be interrupted," replied Gabrielle.

Remember, it said 'one hundred fifty paces, unbroken'."

"Well," sighed Iolaus, "let's get to it."

Autolycus removed his grappling hook and unwound its cord. "You know, of course, this is not going to be long enough," he reminded them. "We need more length."

"Then let's see what we can find," said Gabrielle.

The three of them fanned out and began to look for something, anything, to supplement the cord's length.

About fifteen minutes later Iolaus hit the jackpot. "Hey guys, over here!" he shouted.

Gabrielle and Autolycus ran to where Iolaus stood staring up a large tree.

"See that vine?" he asked.

"It's perfect," said Autolycus.

Gabrielle looked up and wrinkled her nose. "How do we get it down?"

"Looks like it's the King of Thieves to the rescue again," sniffed Autolycus.

He reached into his right boot and removed a small knife.

"Another tool of the trade?" asked Gabrielle slyly.

"Just my fingernail trimmer," he answered innocently.

"Yeah, right."

"Give me that thing," said Iolaus.

He placed the knife between his teeth and began to climb the tree. Gabrielle and Autolycus stood there marveling at his agility and athleticism. The huge tree was no more a challenge to him than water to a duck. In a few short minutes Iolaus was two thirds of the way up the tree.

"This ought to be enough don't you think, Autolycus?"

"Yeah, it should be."

Iolaus began cutting notches into the vine and before long it fell spiraling to the ground. Soon the vine and the cord were tied together and secured to a large rock near the edge of the cliff. Iolalus kicked the coil over the edge and watched it tumble down the side of the cliff.

"Well," he grinned, taking up the vine, "here goes nothing."

"Be careful," cautioned Gabrielle.

"Hey, just call me Prudence," laughed Iolaus. He began to slowly back his way down the cliff.

Maleus was getting tired of this. I ought to quit this damn job, he thought. Yeah, right. And do what? Go back to farming? Not likely. On the whole being magistrate was not all that bad but Pharbus was beginning to aggravate the Tartarus out of him. These constant, snide reminders of his debt to the priest were wearing very thin by now.

Now Pharbus was even telling him how to do his job. First, it was search west of Selonia. Now here he comes running after them wanting them to follow him to some place east of Kysa.

"Are you sure you know where they are?" Maleus asked the priest.

"Of course," snapped the priest. "I figured it out when I learned which direction they were taking." Pharbus' eyes became very hard. "Maleus, these people are very dangerous. I don't believe they will allow you to take them alive a second time so you must be prepared to do your duty."

Now what's that supposed to mean? wondered Maleus. Is that a hint we should kill them? What is he up to?

Autolycus stood watching as Iolaus eased his way down the cliff. "Boy, Gabrielle, look at this. That Iolaus is like a squirrel."

"Ah, no thanks," gulped the bard. "I think I'll stay here." Her previous experience at the edge had been enough for her.

"How far down do you think I am?" yelled Iolaus.

"Just a little more," answered Autolycus. "You see anything?"

"Nah, not yet."

Iolaus dropped down a few more feet, carefully inspecting the face of the

cliff as he did so. Dropping still further, he felt the rock face give as his foot banged against it.

"What the--? Hey, I think I found something."

At first this particular portion of the cliff had seemed as solid as the rest of it but it was merely an illusion. He again placed his foot against the rock and pushed. He was amazed to feel it give easily. This must be it, he thought.

Planting both feet on a solid part of the cliff, he bent his knees and pushed as hard as he could. He swung out away from the cliff and came crashing back into the soft spot. To his surprise he broke right through the rock face.

Autolycus couldn't believe his eyes. "Hey, where'd he go?"

"What happened, Autolycus?" asked Gabrielle, noting the alarm in his voice. Her fear of heights did not keep her from rushing to the edge to see what was happening.

"Iolaus just disappeared," he replied.

"What are you talking about?" The little bard fell flat on the ground and peeped over the brink. "Oh no...you don't think he...fell do you?"

"Nooo, he just...disappeared," repeated Autolycus.

Gabrielle just lay there staring down the face of the cliff. "Ohh, Iolaus."

Then, to her tremendous relief, she saw her friend's head just seem to pop out of the side of the cliff.

"I'm okay!" she heard him yell. He waved and pointed inside. "You were right, Gabrielle, there's a cave in here."

Gabrielle pulled back from the edge and sat upright. "Oh gods, Autolycus, we did it. We beat Pharbus to it."

"But not for long, my friends," a voice called out from behind them. It was Pharbus. "Seize them!" he shouted to Maleus' men.

"Quick, over the side," ordered Autolycus.

Acrophobia or no, Gabrielle knew she had no choice. She took up the vine and dropped over the side. Autolycus waited a few very tense seconds to allow Gabrielle to get clear before, he too, went over the side. Instantly the searing pain in his ribs almost overwhelmed him but he gritted his teeth and held on.

By the time Maleus' men reached the edge Gabrielle and Autolycus were almost down to Iolaus. One of the men picked up the vine and drew his sword to cut it.

"No!" ordered Maleus. "Take them alive."

"Maleus, I'm warning you," said Pharbus.

"Pharbus, I'll do this my way," countered the magistrate.

"What's happening?" Iolaus asked the bard as he pulled her in to him.

"It's Pharbus and that magistrate."

"Great, just great."

Autolycus didn't know how much longer he could hang on. It was becoming very difficult for him to breathe and he was beginning to get dizzy. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. Don't black out, he thought. Just as he felt his hands loosen on the cord four arms locked themselves around his legs and pulled him down inside the mouth of the cave.

"Thanks guys," the King of Thieves gasped. "I was just about a goner there."

"You okay?" asked Iolaus.

"Yeah," lied Autolycus.

Gabrielle bent over and looked him in the eye. "Don't ever let anyone tell you you're not plenty tough," she told him.

Iolaus looked out and saw the cord shaking violently. "C'mon, they're coming. Let's get out of here."

They helped Autolycus to his feet and scrambled deeper into the cave. The light from the opening streamed into the cave and reflected off the walls with surprising luminosity. Upon falling farther back into the cave the little band came to a huge mound rising up off the cavern floor.

And there it was.

"Oh...my...gods, "Gabrielle gasped. "The dragon."

Perched at the summit of the mound was a huge stone effigy of ferocious looking dragon.

Iolaus stood there gaping at the thing with wide eyed wonderment. The growling of Maleus' onrushing men snapped them out their stupor.

Iolaus grabbed Gabrielle by the arm and pushed her toward the mound.

"Up there," he barked. "Get going."

She cursed the fact that she had had to leave her staff up on the edge of the cliff. Desperately, she scanned the floor of the cavern in search of a weapon.

"Get going, I said!" screamed Iolaus.

The little bard began to stumble up the mound.

The first three of Maleus' men were now upon Iolaus and Autolycus. Iolaus ducked under the first assailant's slashing sword and kicked him in the groin. As the man crumbled Iolaus kneed him to the forehead and relieved him of his sword.

Autolycus knew this was do or die. Doing his best to ignore the pain in his ribs he lashed out at his man and caught him under the chin with a good left hook. The man staggered back and Autolycus followed Iolaus' example and planted a knee in the man's groin, finishing him off. By now Iolaus was engaged with the third man and Autolycus was stunned to see him slash Iolaus just above the navel with his sword.

Now Maleus, Pharbus, and the other three of Maleus' men were charging into the cave. Pharbus circled around the fighting and ran straight for the mound. Just before Maleus and his men joined the fight Iolaus managed to ram his foe in the guts.

"Autolycus, over here...with me!" yelled Iolaus.

Autolycus picked up his man's sword and staggered to Iolaus' side. Maleus and his men were upon them.

"Wait!" shouted Maleus. "There's been enough bloodshed here. I call on you to surrender, now!"

"No!" screamed Pharbus, now almost to the top of the mound. "Kill them!"

"He's right," growled one of the men. Iolaus recognized him as the one he had tricked with the meowing last night. "I owe this son of a bitch."

The man rushed at Iolaus. Now there was no holding them back. Iolaus turned to Autolycus and yelled, "Follow me!"

The two of them fired right past their enemies, rushed to the cavern wall, and turned to face the onslaught. Within a few moments of the fight Autolycus received a wound to his thigh but somehow managed to keep his feet.

Meanwhile Pharbus had now reached the summit. He stood there for a long moment staring at the awesome spectacle before pulling out the bag hanging around his neck. He dumped the stones into his hand and strode toward the dragon.

"Now Hera," he whispered hoarsely, "after four hundred years, yours will be done."

"Noooo!" From the priest's right Gabrielle leaped out of the shadows and belted the priest with a solid right hand to the jaw.

Stunned momentarily, Pharbus dropped one of the stones and Gabrielle deftly snatched it up before he could recover. Pharbus reached to his belt and extracted a dagger.

"Give me the stone, harlot," he demanded.

"Ohhhh no."

Pharbus took a clumsy swipe at the bard and she easily dodged him, whacking him hard on the shoulder with her fist as she passed by.

"You slut," he hissed. "You torment will be eternal for this."

Back on the cavern floor Iolaus slashed one of his opponents across the knee, disabling him, but he received a blow to his shoulder for his trouble. He could see Autolycus was weakening considerably and he knew they were just about done for.

Maleus had, by now, noticed Pharbus battling with the girl up on the summit and he did not like what he saw. It seemed he was trying to kill the girl! He bolted up the mound in an attempt to stop him.

Gabrielle saw Maleus coming and she knew this was her chance to prove their innocence to the magistrate.

"Pharbus," she pleaded, please let us go. You know we are innocent of any wrongdoing. If you promise to speak to Maleus on our behalf, I swear I'll give you the stone."

"Your innocence is irrelevant," he snarled. "Maleus believes whatever I tell him. If I say you are guilty-you are guilty. Now give me the stone."

He began to advance on Gabrielle. The bard turned and hurled the stone against the dragon, shattering it.

"You bitch," Pharbus roared, his eyes now filled with blood lust.

"Pharbus, stop," said Maleus.

"It's too late for that, Maleus," said Pharbus. "This one must die"

"Noo, Pharbus!" Maleus was too far away to do anything and he watched helplessly as Pharbus closed on Gabrielle.

The air was filled by a screaming whine and a streaking flash of silver shot across the cave. Pharbus' suddenly halted his advance, his eyes bulging out grotesquely.

He did a half turn to reveal a familiar weapon in his back. Xena's chakram!

"Xena!" shouted the bard but at first she did not see the Warrior Princess.

Xena was busy at the moment making short work of Autolycus' and Iolaus' attackers. Her work finished, she looked up to Gabrielle.

"Are you all right?" she shouted.

"I'm good," called out the bard happily.

Maleus stepped toward Gabrielle.

"You even think about hurting her," warned Xena, "and I'll pound you into mush."

"No, Xena, it's okay," assured the bard.

Xena stood there staring at him just to make sure as Gabrielle passed by him and joyfully made her way down the mound.

"Oh gods, Xena I'm so glad to see you."

Xena, however ignored the bard's greeting and carefully looked her over to satisfy herself that her love was, indeed, all right.

The bard smiled and took Xena's hand. "I told you I'm all right," she repeated.

"Xena, I must say your timing is impeccable," said Autolycus.

"Xena! No wonder."

Xena turned to face Maleus. "These are my friends. Now what's this all about?"

An hour later they were all back up on the cliff. Gabrielle had related the story to Xena and Maleus, learning Pharbus true intentions and satisfied as to the innocence of Xena's friends, loaded up his men and started back for Selonia.

Gabrielle watched them leave and looked up at Xena. "How did you find us so quickly?" she asked.

Xena looked down at her beautiful little bard and smiled. "You friend Maris got to the castle very early this morning. When I read your note and saw the part about the pool of tears I knew exactly where you were. I got here as fast as I could and saw all the horses and the vine extending over the side of the cliff. Aannd..." she stomped her foot down and up popped Gabrielle's staff, "I saw this."

"Well I'm sure glad you got here when you did," said Iolaus.

Xena looked at her friends and said, "You guys did a great thing here.You probably saved the world. I'm proud of you guys."

Iolaus turned to Gabrielle and smiled, "It was mostly Gabrielle here," he said. "She was the one that figured it all out."

"She's really something, Xena," added Autolycus.

The Warrior Princess turned to lovingly gaze into Gabrielle's green eyes.

"Yes, I know," she said softly, more to the bard than to them. Autolycus' subtle cough broke up their reverie.

"So, uh," began Xena, regaining her composure, "are you guys able to travel?"

Autolycus looked down at his leg and grimaced, "I don't know, Xena. This saving the world stuff was pretty hard on me. I gave my all for our..."

"Okay, okay," said Xena, rolling her eyes. "I'll ride into Kysa and bring a cart back for you." Xena walked over to untie Argo.

Gabrielle leaned over and whispered to Autolycus, "That was pretty slick. Especially the part about giving your all."

"Hey," grinned the King of Thieves, "when it comes to getting out of walking..." He raised his eyebrow in a gesture so familiar to the both of them and continued, "I have many skills." He held up the other dragon's eye and added, "Aaand I have this."

Gabrielle jabbed him in the shoulder and smiled, "You're impossible."

By that evening the party was back in Selonia. Xena attended to the guys' wounds and put them up at the inn. She told them that Hercules and Maris were due to join them tomorrow.

About an hour before dark Gabrielle managed to convince Xena to walk over to the bazaar with her. As they passed the stable the two of them stopped in for a moment to check on Argo.

"You know," mused Gabrielle, "I never did get a chance to buy you a gift."

Xena placed her arm around the bard and drew her near. "Gabrielle, every morning when I first see your face, that's a gift. When I hold you on those cool nights and feel your warmth, that's a gift. Every time you tell me one of those stories of yours, that's a gift. Every time you say you love me, that's a gift more precious, more treasured, than anything even all the gods on Mount Olympus could offer up."

The bard melted in her arm and sighed, "Ohhh, Xena, if I could I would tell you a million times a day I love you."

Xena turned to her bard and wrapped her powerful arms around her.

"Just tell me once, Gabrielle," she whispered huskily.

Before Gabrielle could oblige Xena kissed her, her tongue probing lasciviously..

Gabrielle drew back, coughed once, and blinked. "Uh, what do you say let's forget the bazaar," she suggested coyly.

Xena looked around and, seeing the stable empty, walked to the stable door and, with a sly grin, closed and locked it. "Gabrielle," she purred, "You've made me an offer I can't refuse."

The Bard's Corner