Destiny’s Dominion

Chapter Seventeen: A Meeting of Minds
Toris sat at the rough table outside of a Narbo, dockside, tavern. The smell of the harbour was depressingly pungent, but his mind was far away from such mundane irritations. He re-read the letter for about the tenth time since he'd sat down and uttered a few choice, though low voiced, curses. A passing sailor looked impressed and tucked a particularly virulent phrase away for when he had the chance to use it himself.

He'd been in Narbo for three days, and his discrete enquiries had gleaned for him the information that someone answering his sister's description had got off a ship about nineteen days previously ... maybe! - This is so frustrating! - his mind raged! From there he had a possible sighting near the warehouse quarter, but very tentative enquiries at Isumbras' establishment had been met with stoney silences and less than vague threats about what would happen to him if he didn't remove himself post-haste!

The dark haired man glared into his cup of wine, as he shoved the letter back inside his tunic, and tried to work out what he should do next. Things were a lot more complicated than he had expected. Not only couldn't he find much trace of Xena, but there was also no word of Gabrielle ever having been in Narbo. On top of that, he'd also heard rumours that there were other men asking the same, or similar, questions to the ones he sought answers for.

He took a long swallow of the wine and muttered to himself, "Okay," as he tried to concentrate his thoughts, "Xena and Gabrielle have disappeared and there's barely a trace of them to be found." He brooded on that for a moment, but unless he could get some information out of Isumbras he didn't think he was going to be able to get much of a lead to their whereabouts.

- So what does that leave me with? They're in trouble. - he thought yet again, - But how can I help them if I can't find them? - He banged his fist on the table in anger at the seemingly impossible task he's been set.

A shadow fell across him and Toris looked up to see two very oddly matched men before him. One was fair, short and muscularly compact. The other was a joke! He looked like a walking ironmonger's shop and had a face like a tame ape. It was the blonde who spoke for them, "Can we sit down?"

Toris wasn't really in the mood for company, but the tavern was full and the only seating free outside was at his table. He nodded and tried to ignore them as he sought to concentrate on his problem.

A harassed serving maid, found her way to the table and asked, "What's your pleasure gentlemen?"

The blonde grinned and answered gallantly, "A pretty girl like you shouldn't go asking questions like that of strangers," he smiled.

The serving girl laughed giddily and offered, "Oh sir, you know I was enquiring about what you fancied."

His grin broadened into a smile as he replied, "There you go again, well if I was to answer truthfully, would it shock you?"

She blushed prettily before giggling, "Oh sir, you are awful .. you know I was talking about what drink you would like."

"I admit I did, sweetheart," laughed the blonde man, "but as it brought a smile to your eyes it was worth the time to say it. Bring us some wine please," he said handing over a few coins.

The metal, next to him, rattled as if with embarrassment, "Do you have to do that with every girl we meet?" he questioned.

"What?" asked the blonde with a grin.

"You know," said the second man, true embarrassment now evident, "flirt with them."

"Of course," answered the blonde. "A kind word and a friendly smile can take you a long way."

"Yeah," agreed the tin can, "like right to the end of a jealous boyfriend's sword!"

"That was all just a misunderstanding," the blonde told him, "we straightened it all out."

"Oh yeah. Finally. After you agreed to pay damages," agreed his companion, "Just be careful what you do here," he warned. "We're trying not to attract unwanted attention .. remember?"

The serving maid returned with the mugs of wine and smiled prettily at the blonde, who seemed inclined to respond to her before his friend dug him in the ribs with a sharp elbow, "Remember why we're here," he muttered darting a glance at the dark haired man they shared the table with.

"Right," agreed the blonde.

Toris had done his best to ignore the by-play between the pair, but their bickering irritated him. He was trying to concentrate his mind on his problem, so he wasn't in the best frame of mind when the blonde fixed him with a hard stare and said firmly, "I hear you've been asking around town about some friends of ours."

Toris pointedly ignored him. He wasn't sure if it was if it was safe for him to say anything to them having no idea who they were. They could be some of Xena's enemies trying to find out who he was and just what he knew. - Which is, - he thought disconsolately to himself, - a big fat zero! - he looked at them blankly waiting for them to continue.

The tin can obliged. "Hey, look pal! Our friends have gone missing an' if your involved I'm gonna take you apart piece by piece." He reiterated his words with a pointing finger that he hastily shoved under the table when Toris turned his cold blue eyes upon him. - Wow, - came the suddenly worried thought, - he looks just like .... - he allowed the thought to trail off as he cocked his head to look quizzically at the raven haired man.

"Shut up, Joxer!" ordered the shorter man, all evidence of the happy go lucky Romeo now disappeared. He turned his serious gaze back on Toris, "Look. We know you've been asking questions about two friends of ours. All we want to do is pool some information. You know, maybe work together to find them if you're a friend too."

Toris looked at them uneasily. He was almost certain that the fool, - Joxer? Have I heard that name before? - was too big a joke to have had anything to do with Xena's disappearance. He doubted that the man would be able to harm a fly, let alone his ominously dangerous sister. But the blonde man looked as if he was more than able to hold his end up in a tight situation. Anyway, he hadn't been able to get anywhere on his own, it might be worth the risk. - I'll decide that when I know who they are .. and what they have to do with Xena. - he told himself before asking, "Just who exactly are you?"

"My name's Iolaus," offered the blonde holding out his hand, "I'm ...."

"He's Hercules' best friend, is who he is," contributed Joxer enthusiastically, "and I'm Joxer the Mighty, close friend and companion of Xena, the Warrior Princess and her bard, Gabrielle!"

"For Zeus' sake, Joxer," hissed Iolaus obviously angry, "do you think you could have spoken any louder? I don't think they heard you up at the garrison!"

"Ya think so?" asked his companion ingenuously, then realized that he was supposed to keep his connection to their friends quiet, "Oh, right." he said obviously abashed.

Iolaus turned back to the other man at the table and offered his hand again, "I didn't catch your name, friend," he invited.

Toris looked at them levelly. He'd heard of Iolaus of Corinth, knew some of the stories that linked him to Xena, but he didn't know anything about this clown, Joxer. However, if a man like Iolaus travelled with, and trusted him, he felt he should be able to ... to a degree. He held out his own hand and clasped the blonde arm to arm saying, "My name's Toris ... I'm," he hesitated a moment, licked his lips, before committing himself, "I'm Xena's brother."

Iolaus smiled but his muscles tensed as he said, still in a friendly enough tone, "Wait a minute. Xena told me her brother's name was Lyceus and that he died fighting a warlord by the name of Krykus,"

"Wrong. The warlord was Cortese and Lyceus was our younger brother," Toris told him angrily. He'd gotten over all the guilt and suffering of the past, but it still made him angry at times.

"Just testing," admitted Iolaus, "I needed to be sure. Xena's never really said a lot about you."

"Yeah. Well Xena and I hadn't seen each other for about eleven years, until our paths crossed when we both hunted down Cortese for what he had done." explained Toris flatly.

"Right," said Joxer, nodding his head suspiciously, "Gabby told me that story. Something about metal masks and you being on this warlord's payroll."

Toris got angrily to his feet and made a grab for Joxer, who toppled off the bench in his hurry to avoid Xena's brother. Toris looked at him coldly, his eyes almost the image of Xena's, but without the deep intensity that she transmitted. In a low, deadly voice he growled, "I was with Cortese's band so that I could get close enough to kill him for what he did to my brother, my village and my little sister."

Joxer gulped and swallowed quickly before saying hurriedly, "Gabby said that too," he agreed.

"Hey!" said Iolaus, trying to calm things down, "We're on the same side, here."

"That's right," nodded Joxer as he picked himself up and returned to his seat a little warily, "What brings you here anyway?" he said and then added with a cheesy worried smile, when he saw the storm clouds in Toris' eyes, "If you don't mind me asking."

Toris fingered the parchment under his tunic and answered slowly, "The girl .. Gabrielle .. sent me a letter. She said she thought Xena could be in big trouble and asked me to get to here as quickly as I could. She also said a man called Isumbras would probably know what had happened to her, but not to trust him."

"I got the same message," agreed Iolaus, "though she also said that I should try to find a healer by the name of Patroclese if I couldn't find her or Xena. She said she thought he might be able to help us."

"How come I never got a letter?" complained Joxer. "You'd have thought Gabby would have sent me a letter too. Perhaps she knew I'd be with you," he said to Iolaus, "Or maybe I was right and it got lost in the post. Gabrielle would never have left me out of something as dangerous and important as this." he muttered on to himself, ignored by the other two men.

"You must be telling the truth," said Toris at length. "She put that in my letter too." He sat back down and took a sip of his neglected wine. "What have you managed to find out?" he asked.

"Practically nothing," admitted the smaller man with a shrug of his shoulders. He swallowed some of his own drink before adding, "We think we know when Xena landed, and Joxer found a beggar who directed someone, who answered Xena's description, to Isumbras' warehouse. After that," he shrugged again, "nothing."

"We've tried to get in to see this Isumbras, but his men won't talk to us and in any case he seems to have disappeared," Joxer added before saying in a worried tone, "And we've found no trace of Gabrielle, or this Patroclese, anywhere."

"Have you found anything more helpful?" questioned Iolaus.

Toris looked despondent. They hadn't got any further than he had. He'd hoped that they'd managed to turn up something he'd missed, "No," he began in answer to the blonde's question when he was interrupted.

"But I have," said a voice that both Joxer and Iolaus recognised immediately.

"Autolycus!" groaned Iolaus, "What are you doing here?"

"And it's good to see you too, Shorty." greeted the suave thief, "How's the big guy? Is he here. No of course not or I'd have seen him by now," and went on before his somewhat rhetorical question could be answered, "So you're Xena's brother," he said to Toris, "I was wondering about you, but you look enough alike that I should have guessed."

Toris looked completely out of his depth as he surveyed the man before him. He was tall, slim, well built with dark, handsome good looks that boasted a moustache , a thin slither of a goatee beard and a devil may care attitude that irritated everyone around him.

"Hi, Autolycus," greeted Joxer, who had been ignored by the newcomer thus far.

"Who brought him," asked Autolycus in a disparaging way.

"No one brought me," said the tin plated man belligerently, "I brought myself."

"Oh well, I suppose he can't get into too much trouble, can he?" asked the stranger noting the uncomfortable looks the others were trying to hide. "Just who are you?" demanded Toris, his hand resting threateningly on the sword hilt at his belt.

"My! You are like your sister, aren't you?" smiled the infuriating man. "Very well, may I introduce myself?" he didn't wait for an answer, "I, am Autolycus, the King of Thieves," he told Toris as he smoothed his moustache with an aristocratic flourish of his right index finger.

"But what are you doing here?" demanded Iolaus impatiently. His relationship with the thief tended to be a little strained at best.

"Well," drawled the King of Thieves, "Firstly I was having a little trouble in Tressia."

"You took something that didn't belong to you," interpreted the smaller man.

"An exquisite jewelled dagger belonging to the King actually," Autolycus told him with a boastful swagger, "It was a masterly operation spoiled by one fatal flaw."

"You got caught," interpreted Iolaus again.

"Naturally, I needed to be somewhere less ... dangerous to my immediate personal well being," he told his audience.

"What were they gonna do to ya?" asked Joxer with a grin.

"Publicly disembowel me, was the announcement I heard," confessed the thief with a jaunty smile. "So when an Amazon delivered my invitation to this little party, how could I possibly say no!"

"What else made you come?" asked Iolaus suspiciously, feeling that however much the thief 'liked' Xena, he'd need a large inducement to make him risk his own safety for someone else.

"Well, on the way here, I started hearing these incredible rumours about some fabulous treasure that Caesar is supposed to have." Autolycus told him candidly.

"Treasure!" sneered the blonde, "I might have known you'd be more interested in something to steal than in helping us find the girls."

"On the contrary," replied the thief blandly as he tried some of Iolaus's wine, "Mmm. Not bad. Quite a nice fruity tang to it."

"Autolycus," growled the blonde, half rising.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting there Curly," the thief swayed out of the way of Iolaus's attempted grab, "I'll admit, with my varied interests in life, I did take the opportunity to investigate the treasure."

"I knew it!" declared Iolaus in disgust.

"Hey! What'd you expect?" put in Joxer, "The guy is a thief after all."

"King of Thieves," corrected Autolycus.

"Look!" interrupted Toris, beginning to lose his temper, "What's any of this got to do with my sister?"

"Just this," said the thief smugly leaning towards the others conspiratorially, "Did any of you jackasses realise that Xena disappeared right about the same time that the rumours of this fabulous treasure started to emerge?"

Iolaus looked at him, making the connection suggested by the thief's words, "So?" he encouraged him to elaborate.

"So, this 'treasure' left Narbo before first light on the morning after Xena disappeared. Caesar himself was with it and there was an elite guard of close to two hundred men, detailed to watch over a covered wagon, attached to the entire VIIth Legion that went with them. That wagon," he said disparagingly, "for those of you having trouble following this, contained the 'treasure'." He buffed his fingernails on his coat, "That's got to be more that a coincidence, don't you think?" he asked no one in particular.

The others sat in silence digesting the possibilities that this new information offered until Joxer queried, "What about Gabrielle?"

"Now of her," admitted Autolycus, "I could find no trace. But that treasure travelled to Nemausus. I'd bet my favourite lockpick that if we find Xena there, Gabrielle won't be far away."

"Is there any way of getting some verification on all of this?" asked Toris, wondering how far he could really trust his newly discovered companions.

Autolycus looked at him straight in the face and told him, "Short of finding Isumbras and getting the story out of him, then I'd say the only way we're going to find anything out, for sure, is by going to Nemausus."

"How long would it take to get there?" asked Toris, overcoming his doubts and eager to trace any clue that might solve the mystery disappearance of his sister and her friend.

"On horseback, pushing hard? I'd say we could probably do it in two days," ventured the thief.

"We?" questioned Iolaus, incredulously.

"Why sure," asserted the thief, "How else am I going to find out whether it really is a treasure or not?" then he added almost too quietly to be heard, "Besides, I like those two." He noticed the rather wry looks he was getting from Iolaus and Joxer and decided that a change of subject was definitely in order. "Where is Hercules by the way? We could probably use his help."

Iolaus finally recovered his cup of wine from the thief as he rose from the table with the others and answered, "If he'd known about this he'd have been here. But he's off tracking down some hydra that torched a village down in the south." He raised the cup to his lips and cursed when he found it empty, "Autolycus, you thief, you owe me a cup of wine."

The others chuckled as they headed down the street and made plans for their projected journey to Nemausus, while Iolaus and Autolycus wrangled intermittently. All four knew that if Xena and Gabrielle were truly captive of Caesar, they would have a difficult time in effecting a rescue.

Destiny’s Dominion

Chapter Eighteen: Separate Rooms
Patroclese returned late in the afternoon, and this time .. as she'd half expected .. he didn't come alone. Xena watched with narrowed eyes as the healer made his way purposefully across the length of the guard room. Her eyes were not on Patroclese, however, but on the man who strode with a stateliness that spoke of power and omnipotence.

There was a bustle amongst the guard unit as they manoeuvred some heavy object into the guardroom behind the screen of soldiers that trailed at Caesar's heels. Whatever they were doing would become obvious in time. For now, both women's attentions were rivetted upon the Roman Emperor.

As usual, Patroclese entered the cell, leaving Caesar outside flanked by guards .. the door remained open, a noticeably unusual occurrence! Xena sat rigidly on the stone bench with Gabrielle beside her. Outward appearances suggested that the Warrior Princess was calm and relaxed, but there was a tenseness to the line of her jaw, and her eyes remained fixed, beyond Patroclese, on her enemy.

Gabrielle had become instantly aware of Xena's rigidity and the reason for it. Caesar acted as an unfailing goad on the Warrior Princess whenever he appeared. The bard touched her friend's arm lightly and gave it a gentle squeeze of reassurance, and as a reminder of her promise.

Patroclese noticed the looks and the touch, and tried to give an encouraging smile of his own. He liked these women. He had tried not to, but there was something about them. Gabrielle had a purity, and for all the death and destruction she had witnessed, an innocence that burned bright. - And Xena? Well, the woman was terrifying, - he was willing to admit, but she also had an honourable integrity that he hadn't expected. The stories about her varied so wildly from a cold, merciless, evil killer to a woman who fought for the innocent against malignant warlords that preyed upon them, that it was almost impossible to find the real woman in them. "Let's have a final look at your back, Xena," he ordered.

It was almost a physical struggle for the Warrior Princess to break eye contact with Caesar. But she complied with the healer and stood carefully, turned her back on him and raised the shirt back with difficulty, hampered as she was by the manacles, and waited while Patroclese traced the fading outlines of the scars. The wounds had healed quickly and well, as the healer already knew. Faint white lines crisscrossed her skin, and the physician was certain, within time, these would also disappear. Patroclese stepped softly to one side to allow Caesar a clear view of Xena's back.

The Roman pursed his lips thoughtfully. He'd been kept fully informed, by Patroclese, of the seriousness and extent of the damage done to his 'prize'. He was well aware that many men had died from far less serious injuries than she had accumulated. Recovery, from any of the wounds that the Warrior Princess had sustained, was usually a prolonged affair. In fact the two hapless guards who had taken a flogging that same evening, still had livid wounds and had been excused from duty.

Yet, here was Xena, once more on her feet. She had been close to death. And now? Well, all of her injuries were healed. The visible indications were fading into nothingness and she showed every sign of regaining her full phenomenal strength within a few days. It was uncanny!

Patroclese was no less impressed, at a nod from Caesar, he moved back behind Xena and once more probed her ribs. All signs of the bruising had long since gone and the bones felt strong and healthy beneath his knowledgeable hands. If he hadn't known that the breaks had been there he would never have been able to identify where the damage had been located, "All healed up nicely," he commented.

Allowing the shirt to drop back in place, Xena turned around to find that Caesar had entered the cell with four of his soldiers, each armed with the heavy batons that they used to quell riots, and to discipline unruly prisoners. The sudden close proximity of her enemy triggered her instinctive reflexes as she dropped to a fighting stance, ready to launch an assault.

Gabrielle stood quickly and grabbed her friend's arm, "Xena," she cautioned in a low tone, concern evident in her voice.

The bard's warning was enough to restrain her warrior impulses; even as the guards snapped their batons forward in readiness for use against their highly dangerous prisoner, the Warrior Princess modified her stance which melted into casual relaxation that belied the readiness for violence just moments earlier. Her eyebrow rose in a half mocking challenge as she stared insolently at Caesar.

"Very good, Xena," the Roman complimented her, his voice full of smug sarcasm as he added, "Perhaps you can be taught obedience." He smiled mirthlessly as he saw her fists clench, her knuckles turning white with the strain required to control her anger.

As Xena looked into her tormentor's eyes, she silently berated herself for allowing his taunts to antagonize her. No one else was capable of doing that. Only him! It sometimes seemed that all he had to do was enter the same room and her hackles rose, causing her to react without thinking and often regretting it. That she seemed to have an almost identical effect on him was no real compensation. She gave him a cool look and said frigidly, 'Have your fun while you can, Caesar," she warned him, "You won't hold us for too long. I seem to remember two other occasions ...."

Caesar interrupted her, full of his brash arrogance, "Ah, but this time is different, Xena. I know everything there is to know about you now," he told her full of self-satisfaction, "and there will be no opportunity for you to escape. The guards know they face death if that happens."

"You're a butcher," she retorted her tone larded with the contempt she felt for him.

"The men are rewarded well for their vigilance," he told her. "It's only fitting that the penalty for failure should be commensurate. And, because I reward them well, any of my men would march with me against the gates of Dis if I asked it of them."

"Did Crassus agree to follow you, or should I say, precede you to Hades .. sorry, Dis?" Xena stabbed at a very tender spot, and had the satisfaction of drawing a glare before she added, "I wonder if his shade respects your decision to execute him." She smiled knowingly as she saw her barb strike home. Anger flared in the brown eyes before he crushed the emotion ruthlessly.

Caesar fumed inside as he contemplated the only person who could manipulate his inner feelings as easily as he normally manipulated others. - I have to avoid responding to her jibes! - he scolded himself. - She's my property. And she will submit to my will! One way or another. -

He brought his hands out from behind his back where they had been hidden by the folds of the scarlet cloak he was wearing. He held up the thin, metal slave collar that he'd shown Xena in the first night's camp on the road to Nemausus. He watched as Xena began to raise her right hand towards the one that rested around her own neck, before forcing it to stillness once more. He noted that the icy fire in her eyes sparked with rancour and frustration.

Gabrielle had remained silent throughout the exchange between the two old enemies. She recognised the explosive chemistry between them. She was well aware that, once, Xena had been totally infatuated by the Roman, but it had turned to a violent, deadly hatred that had set her friend's feet on the path of a dark destiny that she now struggled to leave behind.

- Caesar has so much to answer for! He used Xena towards his own ends and he continues to do so when he can! And yet, - thought the bard as she watched them spar with each other, - their hatred of each other is so passionate it's almost love! - She looked from one to the other and changed her mind, - Not love, but lust! -

The bard shook her head, trying to throw off the concern that she felt for her dark haired friend. She knew that Xena was seething inside, consumed by her lust to kill Caesar, even if it cost her own life! Caesar's lust was far more complex. He needed to dominate. The Warrior Princess was probably the only person he had ever encountered whom he could not bend fully to his will.

Gabrielle knew that she bore an awesome responsibility here. She was the only thing holding Xena back, even in her current weakened condition, from finalizing the account with Caesar. While the Roman held the bard, the Warrior Princess could be constrained to accept whatever punishment, insults or demands he cared to inflict upon her.

So far, Xena had managed to control her ferocious impulses remarkably well, but Gabrielle had seen the fire leap in her friends eyes as her hand had started to reach for the slave collar at her throat. She knew that the twin collar, in Caesar's hand, had caused that reaction, and she watched as the Roman passed it to the guard on his left, who then moved forward purposefully towards the bard. Xena reacted automatically, stepping in front of her friend, drawing the younger woman protectively behind her.

Gabrielle glanced anxiously at the soldiers, outside the cell, who stood prepared with nets and batons in abundance. This was obviously going to be a test of Xena's tractability. "It's not the time for this, Xena!" she hissed a warning to her friend as she moved past her and confronted the guard carrying the collar. "If that thing's for me, you better put it on."

A quick look at Caesar to gain his nod of approval, and the soldier took a firm grasp on Gabrielle's arm and led her from the confines of the cell, to where a brazier, a small anvil and a hot rivet awaited use. Xena saw the bard pushed to her knees beside the anvil and the collar placed around her neck.

As she was bent forward so that the protruding tangs could beaten closed by the fastening of the rivet, Xena moved a pace forward, only to be caught in the strong grip of two of Caesar's men. Her strength, she found, was not sufficient to throw them off. She favoured Caesar with a glare, "You don't need to do that, Caesar!" she snarled.

He smiled. The smile of a teacher instructing a particularly slow pupil, "Ah, but Xena," he began, as a hammer pounded the rivet flat, "as I told you before. Those collars are unique. They are impossible to remove, so should either of you slip through my hands, you will easily be identified for what you are .. runaway slaves! .. and returned to me as soon as you are re-taken. And believe me Xena, you would be re-taken!"

He watched her like as eagle would study the rabbit it was about to take for it's dinner. Gabrielle was brought close to the cell, between two guards, and the Roman could see a flicker of concern in his prey's eyes as the bard tried to keep the hot metal away from her skin.

"You know," he told them both, "those collars are worth a king's ransom. You should feel flattered about how highly I prize you both."

"Great!" said the bard with feeling, "Just what a girl needs. A slave collar that's worth more than she is."

Caesar smiled unpleasantly at her, before turning an amused glance at Xena, "Now did I say that?" he asked, his voice almost purring with pleasure. "Have I given you the wrong impression?" He cocked an eyebrow waiting for some form of reply. When it wasn't forthcoming, he continued, "Believe me, you are both worth far, far more than those bounties I put on you. The collars are merely a compliment to how much I do value you."

He nodded to the pair of guards who held Xena. They forced her back towards the stone bench, where the third of the soldiers, who remained in the cell, became busy trailing a long thick chain through the bars, up through a thick ringbolt in the stone ceiling, and down to where he waited further instruction. Xena strained against the men who held her firmly, while Caesar looked over at his physician, "Your medical opinion, Patroclese?" he asked curtly.

The healer had remained unobtrusive and silent throughout the contest of wills between his master and the Warrior Princess. However, when his professional opinion was sought, he answered promptly and to the point, "She'll be back to her full strength in no more than three days, my Lord."

"As I expected," Caesar said with satisfaction. He motioned for the soldier to continue his task.

A heavy padlock was produced and the chain fastened to Xena's manacles, "You'll have the freedom of your cell," Caesar explained to her, "but that chain will give the guards a measure of further control, should you chance to become fractious. It can easily be hauled in from outside of the cell to restrain you." he pointed out unnecessarily. Xena had recognised the chain's function immediately. Digging deep into her re-establishing reserves of strength, she finally shook off the soldiers holding her. But in spite of her urge to rip out Caesar's throat, she remained standing where she was.

Caesar's lips twisted into a sardonic smirk,"Gabrielle will go to the accommodation I've had prepared for her." He saw and recognised the distrust in Xena's eyes, "Don't worry, you'll see her each day. She'll be brought here so that you can see she's unharmed. I won't let anything happen to my key."

"Key to what," asked Xena idly as she gently tested the resistance of the new chain.

"You of course, Xena!" Caesar gestured expansively, "While I've got your irritating little friend tucked up somewhere safe, I've got the way to control you, my sweet," he told her chillingly. "Everything fits into my plans perfectly."

Xena's penetrating stare intensified as she asked coldly, "And those plans would be?"

He smiled at her patronisingly, "All in good time, Xena."

- He is frustratingly insufferable when he becomes smug! - she reminded herself.

"I'll let you know what I want you to know, when I want you to know it," he told her.

Xena made eye contact with him, before she seated herself with elegant slowness on the cushions covering the stone bench. In spite of the chains she looked like a queen giving audience from her throne. Her poise was so cool and self assured as she projected an image of power and control.

Caesar had seen it all before, yet she still impressed him .. although he masked his admiration well, "Make sure you recover your strength quickly, Xena. We have a long journey to make and I wouldn't want you to fall ill on me again."

"A journey?" she probed, although her tone was one of boredom.

"All in good time," he told her condescendingly, '"for now, learn a little patience and obedience."

His words and tone stung and she flared back, "Or what? You'll have me flogged again. I almost escaped you through that the last time." She heard Gabrielle's sharp intake of breath at that, but ignored it as she focused her attention fully on Caesar.

The Roman's face took on an almost demonic cast as he tilted his head and the shadows, thrown by the torches that lit the cell, shifted, "Oh, no," he told her, a maliciousness evident in his tone that was not lost on the Warrior Princess, "I'll have Gabrielle beaten."

Xena threw the bard a wild look of anxiety as she sprang from the bench and took a step towards Caesar. She saw him wave the soldiers into stillness and halted when he barked commandingly, "Just stop, Xena!" He waited to make certain she would obey him, but as she took another step he told her, "Every time you baulk, rebel or fail to respond to an order, it won't be you who receives the punishment," he said with cold intensity, "it will be her," he snapped, pointing at the bard but never taking his eyes off of the warrior.

Xena halted her forward momentum. She was caught in a cleft stick. Her whole being rebelled at the thought of conforming to Caesar's dictates, but he had Gabrielle. She couldn't allow Gabrielle to be harmed. Caesar knew he had her and moved in to complete his victory. He slowly walked to where she could easily get at his pressure points. He could be dead in less than thirty seconds. Her dark soul screamed to be allowed to exact it's revenge, while she ruthlessly crushed it as she thought of Gabrielle.

"Do you want to test the process?" he asked grasping her jaw with his right hand to turn her head towards where Gabrielle struggled against the two men who held her. Flaccus stood behind the bard with a baton that he bounced against the palm of his left hand. "She'll take the punishments for your transgressions, and the only person you'll be able to blame is yourself, for your arrogant pride."

She shook free of his grip and struggled to control the rage that flared within her demanding vengeance. She turned furious eyes upon him, but inflicted a rigid command over herself, her body almost quivering with the violence of emotions that gripped her.

"What's it to be, Xena?" he asked her solicitously in much the same tone he'd ask someone if they enjoyed a meal, "Are you ready to become the biddable slave?" she nearly winced at the words, "Or do I order a beating? How much do you think she can take?"

Breathing deeply to try and calm herself, Xena backed off a step, and then another, "You seem to have the upper hand for now," she conceded reluctantly.

"Not for now, my sweet," he smiled with good humour, "for good." He flipped a hand and watched as the bard was pulled away, towards the dungeon exit. "Xena!" called Gabrielle, shooting looks of anxiety, and sorrow, mixed with a plea that warned against rash actions.

The Warrior Princess watched powerless as Caesar turned his back on her and left the cell, closely followed by Patroclese and the three soldiers. She stood, following him with her eyes, as he moved unhurriedly across the guardroom to exit by the prison door in the wake of Gabrielle.

Under the watchful gaze of her attendant guards, Xena felt constrained to give a performance of calm acceptance of the situation. Inwardly seething, and seeing no answers to the problem at the present time, she could only struggle with her frustration and rage as they gnawed at her. - There has to be a way out of this mess, - she told herself, - I just have to focus on the problem and work out the solution! -

Destiny’s Dominion

Chapter Nineteen: An Unexpected Visitor!
Fully recovered, Xena was finding captivity a burden. She had never been a person that took kindly to inactivity, and she moved around her cell like a caged lioness, hungry for any kind of exercise. She had been in the dungeon at Nemausus for almost a moon now! She still had no idea what Caesar wanted with her, and hadn't seen him since the confrontation when Gabrielle had been taken away.

Escape still seemed an impossible dream. The guards remained as vigilant as ever, perhaps even more so since she had regained her full physical strength. She snapped the chains at her wrists irritably, making them crack like a whip as she strained at them. Caesar hadn't lied about the strength of her bonds either; they were far tougher than the run of the mill shackles that were normally used. The noise the chains made drew instant alertness from all around her cell. No one took anything she did for granted. - It's like being the prize attraction at a menagerie! - she thought sourly as she turned her back on them.

She sat down on her stone bench, now boasting only the two original blankets. "Pillows are not for slaves," she had been told when they were removed by Flaccus and his men. She couldn't have cared less! She was far more used to the hardness of the ground, anyway, so the stone bench served her quite well enough.

Sitting brooding over the prospect of escape, she considered what she knew of her location and surroundings. She was aware of the total environment of her prison with intimate detail. A twelve foot square room, with two solid stone walls, two heavily barred walls and a stone ceiling with a thick ringbolt set into it next to a, barely, head sized, barred, air vent that, maybe a rat could wriggle through.

Beyond her cell she knew only of what she could see and what Gabrielle had told her before being removed from the cell. The guardroom with its watchful occupants, the standard cells where the bard had been kept and, an uncertain description of the corridors beyond the dungeon door. That was it. She'd never been to Nemausus before. She had been unconscious when she had been brought to the cell. She had no idea of the layout of the garrison, or the city streets, or just how many soldiers were around that she might have to fight her way clear of. No matter how she attacked the problem, what angle she considered, what plans she made and discarded, everything came unstuck on one problem. Gabrielle!

The bard was brought into the guardroom for a quarter candlemark visit each day, but was not allowed within the cell. All that Xena knew of where she was held, was that it was a tower room. An added frustration to everything else. The chains snapped again as she strained against them without effect.

Sighing, she glanced at her one real luxury and very minor consolation. Patroclese had started visiting her for a candlemark or two each day, and he had brought with him a lightly constructed travelling stool, .. so flimsy it had no value as a weapon .. upon which he had set a board and some carved figures, "Chess," he had answered to her question about what it was, "It's a game that you should be good at, Xena. It's really a kind of battle board where you use strategy and cunning to defeat your opponent."

He had patiently taught her the movements of the pieces and she had quickly grasped the concept behind the game. As Patroclese had predicted she learnt swiftly and was soon displaying a natural ability that the healer found himself hard pressed to match.

As she studied the game in progress, Xena thought, not for the first time, - It's more closely akin to directing a campaign, rather than just a mere battle. - It suited her competitive nature and gave her something to think about other than her present situation .. which was probably the healer's aim.

She stifled a sigh, realizing it would be some candlemarks before Patroclese showed up for his daily visit. Although she still harboured a resentment for his part in causing her problems, she had grown to appreciate his company. She had never felt a great need for talking in her life. But being around Gabrielle had accustomed her to being spoken to. It was something she missed.

She lay on the bench and closed her eyes and ears to the racket from the soldiers around her. If she couldn't escape physically, there was nothing to keep her within the cell mentally. She allowed her imagination to take her far away, to the fields and woods of home which she had haunted with her younger brother Lyceus.

Lacking a father's presence, and with their mother fully occupied in running the family business, the two youngest children of the family had led a wild idyllic existence as they romped and played, hunted rabbits and spent candlemarks fishing without the constricting influence of adults. It was the happiest time of her life, when innocence was in full flower and nothing evil had slithered into the darkened corners of her mind. Life was full and fresh, with new things to learn, new places to see, and all with a child's curiosity that gave zest to each new experience. Now, the memories were a sweet escape and a form or pure torture for her.

With a startling jolt, her awareness was suddenly pulled back to her current reality. Retaining the outward appearance of total relaxation, she allowed her senses to seek for the 'something' that had warned her of a change in the environment around her in some way. She turned her head to study the soldiers within the guard room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. The currently appointed six attendant watchdogs were keeping their usual vigilant observation of her. The men beyond were occupied with their normal practices; some diced, others mended kit, some took the chance to write letters while others worked nicks out of their sword with whetstones.

She flicked her eyes to where Gaius Blasius sat. He was one of the junior officers and it was his turn to command the guard detail during the present watch. He was a big thickset young man, with a permanently dark shadow around his chin .. no matter how often he shaved .. and a mean look in his eye. He was a bully, both with the men and with Xena.

She'd had several confrontations with him since she'd been back on her feet, although nothing major had come of them with the Warrior Princess having to keep a firm clamp on her temper. Xena knew that he was looking for an opportunity to prove his power over her. He was the kind of man who liked to push around people whom he thought couldn't push back. At the moment he was fully occupied in dressing down some hapless soldier who had gotten on his wrong side.

Nothing unusual there, then, to have disturbed the delicate hair trigger on her senses. Yet something was different. She could feel someone other than the six guards watching her, and if the feeling wasn't coming from the soldiers, then there was only one other location for an observer to be hidden ... the air vent!

Her eyes sharpened to narrow slits as they swivelled in the direction of the vent and sought to penetrate the darkness within. She hadn't been mistaken! Above her, looking out from the small, barred, hole was a face she recognised.

Moving slowly, as if stretching tight muscles, she brushed a finger across her lips to command silence. The head nodded it's agreement leaving it to Xena to work on a way to allow communication between them. The Warrior Princess thought quickly. She was going to have to get up to that air vent if she wanted to exchange words with her visitor. The guards were going to see her do it, no matter how she went about it. Her only option was to take them by surprise, and ignore them as long as possible. The conversation would have to be quick, but it was the best she could do. She just hoped that the repercussions wouldn't be too severe.

Getting to her feet, she stretched .. as far as she was able to .. theatrically, and within the blink of an eye, she had launched herself upwards to catch the ceiling ringbolt, "Autolycus?" she whispered, as she swung on the ring. If she could make it look like a form of exercise it might gain her time.

"Sir!" yelled out one of the guards, "You better look at this," she heard him say.

"Fancy finding you here," grinned the thief impudently, "More to the point, how do we get you out of here?"

"You don't!" she whispered back at him. "Find Gabrielle and get her away. I'll find a way of getting myself loose as soon as I know she's safe."

"What's going on?" demanded Blasius' deep voice.

"She's here?" asked Autolycus softly, relief evident in his voice, "We hadn't been able to find any trace of her." He thought quickly, "Do you know where she is."

"A tower room, somewhere in the building," she hissed back as she watched Blasius heading for the cell door.

Hey!" shouted Blasius at her, "What do you think you're doing? Get down from there now!"

"What about you?" asked the thief, concerned about the situation he saw developing.

"Just get Gabrielle out and I'll be fine." she told him softly, barely moving her lips, as she watched the progress of the guards. The key was being fitted into the lock and it looked like a good ten men were going to enter the cell.

"Liar," Autolycus told her, "but we'll do what we can. Try not to upset everyone."

"Who me?" she returned mockingly, "As if!"

"You .. slave!" shouted Blasius, fury evident in his every move, "Get down here, now!"

Xena did a couple of extra long swings on the ring, before using the trailing chain to climb down in a neat display of the skills she had learned in her piratical past. She came to rest gently on the floor of the cell in front of Blasius and assumed an attitude of insolent relaxation to make sure she kept his full attention on her while Autolycus moved silently out of sight.

"What do you think you were doing?" he demanded with angry suspicion, his eyes looking up to the ring and sliding over the air vent with a dismissive flick.

Xena looked at him, her eyes mocking. She arched an eyebrow at him and replied with flippant sarcasm, "I was getting ready to escape through the hole up there."

With absolutely no warning, Blasius hit her powerfully across the jaw with a balled fist, cracking her head to one side with the force of the blow. He seemed a little shocked that it hadn't felled her, but he ground out, "Slaves are not permitted to speak to Romans in that manner!" She slowly turned her head back until she was able to look him full in the face. She didn't move or speak, but the junior officer took a hurried step away from her as her eyes seemed to promise imminent death. "We'll see what the Centurion has to say about this," he told her, trying to regain the upper hand in the situation, but unwilling to make eye contact with her again.

He made a signal and four of the soldiers, outside of the cell, began hauling in on the chain until, with her arms hoisted above her head and her toes barely touching the floor, they were satisfied that she could cause no harm. Blasius looked at her smugly, and snarled, "Hang around for a while, 'til the Centurion gets back. I'm sure he'll be interested to hear all about this."

The guards left the cell and Xena looked up critically at her wrists. She could probably alleviate some of the pressure by climbing up the chain again, but she knew that would just stir more trouble. Hanging there was uncomfortable, but she could bear it, while necessary.

Time would reveal what repercussions would emanate from her little chat with Autolycus. If she was lucky, nothing would come of it. If Caesar felt she needed a lesson, then she knew it would be Gabrielle who suffered. The thought hurt! But if Autolycus and the others - He said we! - she thought wondering just who else was with him, were able to get Gabrielle away, then it might have been worth the risk.

**********

It was some candlemarks before Flaccus returned from wherever he had been. Blasius descended upon him almost as soon as he had been admitted through the dungeon door. Flaccus threw a look in the direction of her cell, and marched, his way across the guardroom.

- The man doesn't know any other way to move! - thought Xena irritably. Her wrists were chaffing with painful weals cut into the flesh and her hands felt alternately numb and afire with vicious needles being stuck into them.

The cell door swung open to admit the Centurion and his junior officer, along with four baton wielding guardsmen. Flaccus stood directly before her and looked her up and down, much as he would inspect a body of troops on parade, "What did you think you were doing?" he demanded.

Xena had considered what her answer should be. She had been flippant with Blasius, because the man's bully boy attitude irritated her and she despised him. Flaccus was a different kettle of fish altogether. He was a hard taskmaster, true. But he was generally fair and administered punishment only where he judged it to be warranted.

"She looked at him levelly and gave him an answer, "I was taking some exercise," she explained. "You know a warrior's body needs to be conditioned to remain at it's peak."

"You are slave," he pointed out, "as such you have no right to do anything other than what you are ordered to do, that includes taking exercise, if that was indeed what you were doing."

He looked at the ringbolt above them and then looked intently at the air vent. He knew full well that his prisoner could not escape through such a small space, but could she have been communicating with someone. There were rumours of men asking questions within the city. It was one of the things he had been summoned to discuss with the Emperor. - The question is, could one have found a way to use the air vent to talk to the woman? -

He turned his attention back the Warrior Princess, "You disobeyed an order, slave. You know the punishment for that." He looked at her jaw where the evidence of Blasius's fist was beginning to show in a purpling patch of skin, "It seems, however, that you have already received some punishment.." He turned the full force of his, not inconsiderable, gaze upon Blasius in silent reprimand. The junior office's arrogant stance wilted before his superior's look.

Flaccus turned his focus back to her considering for a moment, "However, there are rules, and you will learn to heed them. When is the bard due for her next visit?" he snapped at Blasius.

"She should be here any time, sir," answered the junior officer promptly. Eager to regain his commander's favour.

"When she gets here she's to receive three strokes as punishment for this slave's failure to respond to an order. Then she is to be taken right back to her own cell. There will be no communication between them today," he said allowing his glance to stray back to the vent. Then Flaccus pronounced. "Keep her close hauled," he said pointing to Xena with his thumb, "You can relax the restraint after the bard has been strapped and removed."

He looked hard at Xena who returned his gaze with cold silence, "Do you have anything to say?" he questioned flatly, then added when she failed to respond, "A wise decision."

He marched from the cell, trailing his men in his wake. Xena boiled with impotent anger, and just hoped that Gabrielle would understand, eventually, what had happened to cause the beating she was going to receive. - Autolycus, - she offered up silently, - I just hope you can get her out of here soon. -

**********

When Gabrielle arrived, surrounded by her own little coterie of guardian watch dogs, Flaccus informed her that she was to be punished for Xena's misdemeanour. The bard nodded stoicly. She sometimes wondered just how Xena had managed to keep a lid on her explosive temperament. The iron will of her partner sometimes amazed even her! Gabrielle was also intelligent. She knew that whatever Xena had done, it would not have been for a trifling reason. The bard was well aware that her friend would go to great lengths to keep her from harm .. even if it meant that she suffered herself.

She had been brought over to the cell bars and had been instructed to take a firm grip on them. Which she did, although she was far more concerned to see Xena hauled up off of her feet. By the look of the colour of her hands, she'd been like that for some candlemarks. "In punishment for the slave, Xena, failing to obey an order," Flaccus intoned, "the slave, Gabrielle, will receive three strokes of the strap."

The strap was a wide leather belt that would inflict maximum pain, without unduly damaging the flesh of the victim, and could be administered without removing the clothes. A young soldier had been given the task of delivering the punishment .. a task that Blasius would have obviously have liked to have been given. The soldier wasn't light handed, but he didn't swing the strap in the brutal way that Blasius would have done.

As the first blow landed, Gabrielle drew a sharp intake of breath and expelled it quickly with a pained grunt.

"I'm sorry," mouthed Xena to her.

The bard shook her head, as if to say, it was alright, she'd be fine. The second blow fell causing her to gasp and her eyes blinked back the tears that were forming behind them.

Xena locked her eyes on her friend, trying to will some of her own fortitude into the bard, remembering all too well the agony of the whipping she had endured. With Gabrielle looking directly at her, she mouthed the name, "Autolycus."

Looking at Xena in astonished surprise, the bard failed to tense for the third and final stroke and so, with her body more relaxed, rode the blow a little better, although she still gave a cry of pain, as much through shock as anything. She was given no time to speak, as the guards instantly hurried her from the dungeon.

Xena watched her go and hoped that the bard had understood the meaning she was trying to convey. She thought it likely, but it was impossible to tell for sure. With luck, Gabrielle would be alert for any sign that the King of Thieves .. and whichever companions he had to help him .. was looking to rescue her.

Lost in her thoughts, Xena had failed to register the guard as he moved to release the restraining chain. Yet she instinctively dropped lightly back to the cell floor, where she slowly, began to massage some feeling back into her hands.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Returned to her tower, Gabrielle brooded in her confinement. The three strokes she had been given had been painful, and prevented her from being comfortable sitting down, but they hadn't been as bad as she had expected. After seeing the mess that had been made of Xena's back, her imagination had created an expectation of far greater pain than the reality produced. In an obscure kind of way, it was a relief to feel the actuality of the strap.

As for her importance to Caesar, she had few illusions about that. He cared little or nothing about her, personally; she was merely the instrument to ensure Xena's total compliance with his wishes. Without the Warrior Princess, Caesar would have no use for a bard from Potidaea!

She wandered around her, comparatively, comfortable 'room'. She had a reasonably good bed, a small desk for her writing materials, a chair and even some reading scrolls, courtesy of Patroclese, who continued to visit her each day, for a short while, before her guards turned up to escort her for her daily visit with Xena.

The journey to the dungeon was quite a long one. Caesar had taken pains to see her lodged as far as possible from the Warrior Princess. The entire length of the garrison complex had to be traversed before reaching the dungeons where Xena was kept under close guard.

Her visits to the prison never lasted long .. usually just time enough to allow the Warrior Princess to see that the bard remained unharmed .. so long as both parties obeyed the rules and behaved themselves. There was little time for much talk, and what they did manage was closely monitored. Everything had been designed to limit their opportunity to conspire in the slim possibility of an escape attempt.

She felt frustrated, used and helpless. She was angry at her treatment and furious over the treatment of her friend .. although she had been pleased to note over the past few days, that Xena was displaying growing signs of health and vitality. She knew that with the Warrior Princess at her physical peak, they stood a far greater chance of extricating themselves from their predicament.

Sighing she sank onto her bed, only to rise again with a sharp, "Ow!" as she was reminded of the reason for her early return to her cell, that last stroke had descended squarely over her buttocks. Unable to settle, she wandered over to the only window in her accommodation. It was a good sized opening that let in plenty of light, but had been recently equipped with a thickly barred grill that prevented any possible chance of escape.

- Even without those bars, I'd never be able to get out of here on my own, - she thought as she looked out at one of the city's main market squares, some distance below her. The thought of climbing out the window in an escape attempt made her shiver with fear, - Coward! - she accused herself, but knew that didn't make her any less afraid of heights.

As she had frequently come to do, she lost her thoughts in the milling masses that haunted the market square. She liked to pass the time by imagining herself free to wander around the stalls to look at the goods, and maybe haggle with a seller over the price of a scarf, - Or a new frying pan, - she smiled to herself, - if Xena's managed to bust one up in some fight! -

Something familiar attracted her attention, she wasn't quite sure what it had been .. the way someone walked, the set to a pair of shoulders, a hat, maybe, or .. - That was it! A warriors helmet ... well at least a helmet! - she knew that the man under it was far from any real warrior she'd ever met!

Her eyes searched frantically, trying to find that unique piece of headgear once again. She went rigid when she spotted it and willed the face under it to look up and see her, so she could make certain of what she so desperately wanted to see, - Gods! I must be going stir crazy to be desperate to see him! - she thought.

For a fraction of a heartbeat, the crowd seemed to open up, and not only Joxer, but Iolaus also, looked up at her. Their eyes made contact with hers and she felt a warm glow as smiles of delight lit their faces, dazzling her in the emotion of the moment. Friendly faces become a resource to treasure when you are surrounded by enemies and strangers. She waved extravagantly to them and saw Joxer start to raise his hand in reply, before Iolaus knocked it down and gestured with his jaw at the walls of the garrison, - Soldiers on duty! - was Gabrielle's immediate thought.

Her attention was drawn away by a commotion as a squad of Legionaries bulled their way through the crowd towards the spot where Iolaus and Joxer had been standing. Gabrielle swung a worried look back to where she had last seen her friends, but the swell of the crowds had swallowed them, and the pair were no longer to be seen.

Turning away from the window, the bard felt a lightness of heart that she had almost forgotten could exist. She didn't know how Joxer had come to be there with Iolaus, but at least she now knew for sure that they had friends close-by. The fact that Xena had mouthed Autolycus' name said clearly she had at least seen him .. how, she had no idea .. and if she knew their friends at all, they would be working on some way to free both her and Xena from Caesar's captivity.

Chapter Twenty: A Hurried Departure!
Toris sat in the taproom of the inn where he and his companions had taken a room. He glared moodily into the mead that they served here. He found it too sweet for his taste, but he didn't care for ale and wine was prohibitively expensive in Nemausus .. something to do with local taxes he'd heard.

However, it wasn't the local beverages that were souring his mood. He and the others had been in Nemausus for four days now (the journey from Narbo had taken closer to four days than the two that Autolycus had predicted, mainly due to the amount of military traffic on the roads), and had found out almost nothing except that there was a fabulous treasure being closely guarded in the garrison.

He took a draft of the mead and grimaced at the taste. He'd spent the best part of the morning moving from tavern to tavern trying to find any information on either Xena or Gabrielle. News on either was not forthcoming, although he had heard talk of a good hearted healer named Patroclese, who was Caesar's personal physician, and was resident in the garrison building in the city.

Now, Toris sat waiting for the others to return. Iolaus and Joxer had been doing the rounds of the market places, looking to see if they could overhear any rumours that would help them place the bard in the city. They were all, more or less, convinced that the 'treasure' had to be Xena. They could think of nothing else to explain her mysterious disappearance and the sudden emergence of such a valuable cargo. But the other's were adamant that they needed to find Gabrielle as well.

As for Autolycus .. well the thief had been very closed mouthed about what he intended doing that morning. He had mentioned something about a lead that might get him into the garrison, but would not be drawn on it, and refused to allow anyone else to accompany him, pointing out that, "I'm the professional here, so let me do my job."

He looked up as he became aware of the return of Joxer and Iolaus. The pair wore happy grins, and Joxer looked like he was going to burst with the news that he was eager to relay to Toris. "What have you found out?" demanded the dark haired man as the other two sat down at the table.

Before Iolaus could reply, Joxer answered jubilantly, "We've seen her!", provoking warning glares from his companions who preferred that the whole taproom didn't know their business.

"Quietly, Joxer," hissed Iolaus, before turning his attention to Toris and explaining, "We've seen Gabrielle. She's being held in the high tower at the southern end of the building." He grinned, relief evident in his look, "At least we know she's there now. perhaps we can start to do something to get her out."

"What about Xena?" hissed Toris. "Did you see any sign of her?" he demanded, his voice low and vibrant.

"No," admitted the blonde, "but we can be certain that if Gabrielle's there, then Xena is going to be there too. Especially as Caesar's there, and that treasure hasn't moved either."

"That Patroclese is in there as well," Toris told them. "He's Caesar's personal physician. It looks fairly obvious that the man managed to trick both Xena and the bard into Caesar's trap."

"What are we gonna do?" asked Joxer, "I'd give up my life to get them free, but Caesar's got a whole legion in there guarding them, and I don't think the four of us are going to be able tackle all of them. I mean I'll do my bit, I am after all Joxer the Mighty, but I can hardly expect those of you who aren't mighty warriors to fight trained soldiers."

Iolaus scowled at the wannabe warrior, "There's not a legion in there, Joxer, but there's more than we can handle on our own, at least head on." He signed, a note of frustration in his tone, "We can't do anything until Autolycus gets back," he told them. "We need to get into that garrison without raising too much fuss, and he's our best hope for that."

"Do we go up to our room, or do we wait here?' asked Toris.

"Upstairs I think," Iolaus told him, sending a glance at Joxer, "There's less chance that our conversation will be overheard."

Joxer looked at him with an offended frown, "Hey, I know how to keep quiet, when it's necessary."

"It's necessary right now Joxer," Iolaus told him, "Try not to say another word ... ever."

"Ha! Ha!" responded his companion sarcastically.

The three of them made their way to the stairs climbing the three flights to their attic room. It had been the only one left in the establishment big enough to take all four of them. Besides which, it commanded a good view of the streets around them and they had sight of the main road to the garrison. It had proven to be perfect for their needs.

Inside, they found Autolycus busy trying to divest himself of the thick dust that covered him from head to foot. He sneezed heavily, sending up a cloud from his hair and clothing. The other's waved hands in front of their faces and coughed as the dust tickled their throats.

"What in Hades' name have you been doing?" demanded Iolaus as Joxer swung the door shut behind them. The small man moved to the window and opened it to let some fresh air into the room. There was a narrow ledge just outside that allowed the Landlord some access to his roof in case it needed fixing at any time.

Autolycus ignored him as he stripped off his tunic and took it to the window where he waved it frantically, trying to get rid of the worst of the accumulated grime, before hanging his head out and rubbing it with his hands vigorously. When he was satisfied that he'd removed the worst of the debris, he turned back into the room and chose one of the four beds to lounge back on.

There was a glint in his eye that spoke volumes. He had news and was eager to share it. He waited as Toris and Joxer took seats on one of the other beds, while Iolaus leaned against the wall by the open window, "Come on Autolycus, what have you found out," the smaller man encouraged.

"They're both in the barracks," the thief told them with a satisfied smile.

"We've seen Gabrielle," chirped in Joxer, keen to get in his contribution, "She's in the high tower at the south end of the building. She waved to me and Iolaus, so at least she knows we're here."

"The soldiers seem to know we're here too," pointed out Iolaus. "I don't know if either of you have noticed anything, but while Joxer and I were in that market square this morning we had to step pretty smartly to avoid a squad of legionaries who looked like they were heading in our direction."

"It was bound to happen," Autolycus answered, although he sounded a little concerned, "With people asking questions, about an obviously sensitive issue, Caesar was sure to get interested at some point. We just have to make sure we stay clear of trouble until we can work a way to get them out ... which I might add is not going to be easy."

"What's up?" demanded Toris, certain that the thief's reply alluded to a problem over his sister. "Have you found anything out about Xena?" he asked sharply.

Autolycus debated with himself over just how much he should reveal to the Warrior Princess's excitable brother. In the time that they had known each other, he had assessed that Toris did not always think things through before taking action. He tended to have his sister's burning anger, but lacked her iron control. In this present situation it could prove to be a problem. However, he guessed that should he try to keep something back from Toris, the man could erupt like a volcano and destroy any chance they had of getting the two women free.

"C'mon, Autolycus," prompted Iolaus impatiently guessing that something had worried the thief within the garrison, "tell us what happened. The four of us should be able to calmly work out what to do once we have something to go on." It was obvious that the small blonde understood his concerns by the emphasis he'd put on the word 'calmly'. Iolaus would help to control Toris and his volatile temper.

The thief played idly with a lockpick as he told them, "I've seen her and spoken to her," he told them simply, watching their reactions.

Joxer let out a low whistle, "How'd you manage that?" he asked, obviously impressed.

"Being a thief has it's advantages," he told them buffing his nails on his tunic, "and being the King of Thieves gives me more advantages than most."

Iolaus looked as though he was going to be sick over the sound of the thief's egotism, but instead he readied himself to make an impatient demand for more information, while Toris looked ready to explode, so Autolycus continued quickly, "I found a way into the garrison through an old pipe that led into the hypercaust and from there into some air shafts that run throughout the building. I poked around in there until I happened across the one that ran above the dungeons. As luck would have it, there was a vent from the shaft above Xena's cell."

"Then why didn't you get her out of there?" demanded Toris without thinking.

"Listen, hot stuff," Autolycus told him with heavy sarcasm, "Just how was I supposed to get her through an air vent smaller than her head?"

"You didn't say that before," subsided Toris grumpily.

"Use your brains," the thief told him. "Don't you think I'd have got her out if I could?" he demanded, and then added, "Besides, there are other problems."

"Like what?" asked Joxer ingenuously.

The thief scowled, "Like she's in a cell that's open to view by the soldiers in the guardroom. Like she's wearing a heavy set of leg irons and manacles that are fastened to a ringbolt in the ceiling. Like there's at least forty guards in that guard unit around that cell. Like she's watched at all times by at least six men, and like she refuses to go anywhere until she knows Gabrielle's safe." Autolycus told them, ticking off the points on his fingers.

"Hold it," said Iolaus puzzled, "back up! Just how did you manage to talk to her in those circumstances."

"Quietly, my friend. Very quietly," the thief told him seriously. He sat upright and gave them the gist of how Xena had arranged to get a few brief words with him, "As soon as the guards came rushing into the cell, I had to pull back out of sight. The Xena I know wouldn't meekly give in to those Romans like she did. They must be doing something to force her obedience to their orders. My guess is they're threatening Gabrielle, which is why Xena won't think of going anywhere until she knows the bard's safe."

"Damn," swore Iolaus, thinking hard, "How do we get her out of that?"

"There's something you're not telling us?" Toris said intuitively.

Autolycus sighed, "Look, you gotta understand that to those goons, your sister is something akin to a cross between a hydra and a demon from the pit, though she seems perfectly well and healthy," he assured Toris hastily.

"But?" prompted the dark haired man.

"But they're not treating her any too kindly. I saw that young officer punch her before I left ... hard enough to have left me seeing stars. She's also got a slave collar on, though I'll tell you I've never seen anything like the metal it was made from."

"What does Caesar think he's up to?" questioned Iolaus in perplexity, trying to find some kind of sense to it all, "I mean from everything Xena's told me about him, I'd have thought the first thing he'd have done was to have her executed ... but try and make a slave of her? What's he think he's going to do? He's having to tie up men and resources keeping her under constant watch. I just can't figure out what he's up to."

Toris looked at each of the men in the room as they pondered over the question. Not for the first time he wondered how his sister had managed to collect such a disparate selection of men as friends. In their own ways, each of these men knew far more about Xena than he ever would. Oh, he had all the childhood memories, that none of them could really know or share, but they had been a part of her adult life that he'd been excluded from due to their long separation and the total divergence of their lives since Cortese's attack on Amphipolis. "Look," Toris growled in frustration, "can someone please tell me why this Roman hates my sister so much?"

The others looked at him in surprise, taking it for granted that he knew the background to the situation. Joxer blurted out incredulously, "Doesn't your family ever talk? I know Xena isn't a great one for chatting, but surely she must have talked to her family at some time?!"

Toris looked at him, something of a pained expression lay under the mask that he was trying to draw over his emotions, "Xena and I haven't been close for many years. The only things that I'd heard about her were bad," his eyes became distant with memory. "Until I met up with her, a while back, I'd had no idea that she'd turned her back on the evil she was pursuing."

He pursed his lips in an expression that was strongly reminiscent of the Warrior Princess, "We didn't' have a whole lot of time for talking when we were together. She told me something of what happened after I'd left home, but she didn't go in to any detailed explanations of her history, and I didn't ask. It didn't seem relevant at the time."

Iolaus, Autolycus and Joxer looked at each other in surprise. They all knew the basic outline of Xena's history; Joxer probably knew most of her more recent life, but Iolaus had a better, over-all, grasp of the entire story. Getting a nod from Autolycus, Iolaus began to fill in some of the gaps for Toris, before Joxer could launch into a rambling monologue. Trying to cover the details as briefly as possible, Iolaus began, "After Xena had beaten off that warlord at Amphipolis ...."

"Cortese," put in Toris with grimace. Thoughts of that time were still painful for him.

"Right," agreed the blonde man, "Anyway, she started to get ambitious. Protecting Amphipolis became an urge to conquer and she ravaged more territories, eventually expanding her operations into sea raids."

"I know that part," Toris told him, "Where does Caesar fit into all of this?"

Iolaus thought for a moment, "On one of those sea raids, her men captured a young Roman noble by the name of Julius Caesar. She ransomed him for the huge sum of 100,000 dinars and, while she waited for delivery of the ransom, she became charmed by the Roman and fell in love with him. When she got the money for him, she released him and he promised to find her again."

"And?" demanded Xena's brother.

The small man looked hard at Toris before continuing, "When he did meet up with her again, he came not as a lover, but as an enemy. He took her captive with a trick and crucified her and every man in her crew."

Toris swallowed hard. Crucifiction was a hard, painful way to die. But in honesty, he had to admit to himself, piracy merited no less. Still, he had to know what had happened, "How did she survive that?" he asked, "Did she managed to free herself from the cross somehow?"

"Not quite," butted in Joxer, "Caesar also ordered that her legs were to be broken. None of the others, just her. The man she loved really betrayed her. There was no way she should have escaped from that."

However," continued Iolaus, "a slave girl she had befriended rescued her and took her to a healer. But Caesar wasn't ready to let her go. He sent a squad after her with orders to kill her. When they caught up to Xena, at the healer's, the slave girl was killed in the fighting. The whole rotten affair seemed to twist something in Xena and she turned into the monster that so many of the stories tell of."

Toris shook his head. It was so hard to believe. He'd missed so much of Xena's life that, when hearing about these things, it seemed like he was hearing the story of some stranger. He looked at Iolaus, "But why, after all this time is Caesar still holding a grudge?"

Iolaus smiled tightly, "They've had at least a couple of run ins since I've known Xena. Your sister recently orchestrated the rout of Caesar's troops, by Boadicea's army in Britannia. More recently still, she was in Rome where, the rumours say, she tried to assassinate him. All in all, I'd say if there were two people in this world that hated each other more, I've never heard of them."

Toris looked bleak. His sister's troubled path through life had not been easy. He was aware that his own life was driven by powerful emotions that forced him into courses of action without him always being aware of it. But by comparison to Xena, his motivating forces were little more than a tricking stream in relation to the raging torrent of a major river in flood. He looked at Iolaus, "Then why is she still alive? If their mutual hatred is so great, why hasn't Caesar finished what he started long ago."

Iolaus shrugged, "That's what I said."

Autolycus had been studying and weighing his companions as Iolaus delivered his history of the Warrior Princess. Joxer, of course was ... Joxer! An innocent abroad, so to speak. Inept but loyal to a fault. Just occasionally he could come up with a brilliant flash of inspiration at the right moment to solve a problem. But, at the moment he showed no sign of shedding light on the situation.

It was so easy to dismiss Iolaus as Hercules' tag along sidekick. But experience had taught the King of Thieves that the small man was both resourceful and competent in difficult situations. However, like Joxer, the short blonde had no idea of what Caesar was after, or how they were going to get their friends loose.

Toris was the type of man who sought quick easy solutions without understanding the full consequences his actions might bring. He actually knew less about his sister than any of the other men in the room and so the likelihood of him being able to provide the answers to the questions, "What's going on?" and "How do we solve the problem?" looked to be very slim.

That meant it was down to him. His ego was big enough that he could normally take such responsibilities in his stride, and so he set his mind to twisting the few facts that he was aware of into some kind of hypothesis. "Go along with me on this, for a minute," he said to the others when the tension and silence in the room had become something tangible. A nod from each of the men gave him sanction to continue. "We know that if Caesar was running true to form, he would have had Xena and Gabrielle executed. He's got everything he needs to do it. Xena's been convicted of piracy, she's directed rebellion in Britannia and she tried to assassinate the man in Rome. Gabrielle was at least involved in the revolt in Britannia so he has the legal right there too."

"Does Caesar really care about legalities?" asked Iolaus irritably, gazing moodily out of the window.

"Probably not," admitted the thief, "but we know he has the legal right, and we know that he has pursued their deaths in the past, ergo, if he hasn't killed them yet he wants to use them for something ... and I don't mean just as slaves," he added hurriedly as he saw Joxer start to ask a question.

"Seems like we've, more or less, said the same thing already," pointed out Toris quietly, trying to keep a lid on his impulses and finding it something of a struggle.

"Just hear me out," encouraged Autolycus. "We can be fairly confident that he's using Gabrielle as a hostage for Xena's good behaviour."

"Obviously," put in Joxer with impatient sarcasm.

"But why bring them both here to Narbonensis?" asked the thief ignoring Joxer's comment.

That had them all thinking for a while, but Joxer grinned brightly, "They had to come here to spring the trap at Isumbras' warehouse. Xena was hardly likely to walk into Rome again so soon." he finished with a smug sneer at what he saw as Autolycus's short sightedness.

"No wait a minute, Joxer," said Iolaus, suddenly seeming to understand what Autolycus was getting at, "Why didn't Caesar just get on a boat for Rome when he'd caught Xena? Why drag her up here to Nemausus? And why bring Gabrielle here at all, when it would have been quicker and safer to take her straight to Rome?"

Toris looked a little confused, "Whatever he wants Xena for has something to do with Narbonensis?" he asked puzzled.

"No!" disagreed Autolycus, his face seeming to light up as the last piece of the puzzle dropped into place, "Not Narbonensis, but Gaul!" He looked at the bemused faces around him. He knew he was going to have to explain his thoughts to them, "We know that Xena went to Rome and that she was arrested for trying to assassinate Caesar. Well at the same time that all that was going on, a Gaul chieftain was going to be executed by Caesar."

"Verchinex," offered Joxer.

"Bless you!" came the identical response from the other three men.

"No!" drawled Joxer as he tried to make them understand, "The Gaul's name was Verchinex. I read about it in Gabby's scrolls. Xena tricked Caesar so that she could rescue this Gaul."

"But I heard that the execution took place," objected Toris.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," put in Autolycus, "I heard some rumours about that. Something about it not being the Gaul executed, but Crassus, the third member of the triumvirate. Everyone dismissed the rumours because it was a known fact that Crassus died in Syria."

"That was the name of the other man in Gabby's scroll," announced Joxer, "Gabrielle switched this Crassus for Verchinex before the execution could took place."

"Whew!" whistled Iolaus, impressed, "Caesar must have been boiling mad over that."

"It also explains why Caesar's here. He promised the subjugation of Gaul to the Roman's. With Verchinex back with his people, something's got to be done before the whole thing blows up in his face."

"I don't see how Xena and Gabrielle are going to be any use in dealing with that," grumbled Joxer disbelievingly.

"Neither do I," admitted Autolycus, "but I'll bet my reputation that Caesar's got something planned involving them."

"Heads up!" said Iolaus suddenly, as a noise from the street attracted his attention. "You know I was worried about those soldiers in the market this morning? Well it looks like we can worry about them being here, now!"

Toris and Joxer scrambled to look out of the window, while Autolycus dived for the door and stuck his head out to hear the heavy thump of Roman soldiers charging up the stairs. He slammed the door shut, locked it and yelled, "Give me a hand to block this."

A bed was quickly dragged across the doorway and other bedding and beds thrown up against it as a hammering began on the other side. Wood splintered as an axe was used to cut through the obstruction.

"That's not going to hold them long," Toris said as he drew his sword, ready to defend himself, "We need another way out of here ... and quick!" he added as the axe blade bit again to remove a large splinter of wood.

As Iolaus pulled his own blade and Joxer fumbled his out, Autolycus grabbed for his bag of tricks and pulled out his specially constructed, high powered, pistol crossbow, "If we've got just a few moment's I can get us away from here," he told them as he darted for the window.

"Be quick," Iolaus encouraged him, as a large chunk of the door began to disappear now under the assault of two heavy axes.

Autolycus climbed out onto the small ledge outside the window, and swayed backwards quickly as a volley of arrows shot up from the road, "That was close," he muttered. "Good thing that the angle's wrong for them."

He took careful aim with his crossbow and sent a small, heavy set, dart winging across the street to a lower house, trailing a thin, very strong cord behind it. The dart bit into the gable of an attic window with great penetration. Autolycus swayed out of the way of another shower of arrows, before using the bow to shoot another bolt into their room's gable, and then stretched the cord tight.

"Hurry," shouted Iolaus as the door caved in under the axes and the soldiers began to push at the obstruction made by the bedding.

"Ready," returned the thief, "Toris you first."

"Why me?" asked Xena's brother, eager to get the chance to fight against the Romans who were abusing his sister.

"Because you're worth most to Caesar, so don't argue, and bring a blanket!" yelled back Autolycus.

Toris slid his sword back into it's sheath and climbed hurriedly onto the ledge with the blanket, a question in his eyes. He glanced back when he heard the clash of steel as Iolaus and Joxer tried to discourage the Romans from what they were doing, "Throw the blanket over the line hang onto it and swing down to the next roof," the thief explained quickly. "Don't look down and try not to worry too much if an arrow or two flies your way. When you get to the other side hang on for Joxer, then climb over the roof and get out of here."

Toris nodded his understanding and pushed himself off, careening wildly down the rope, to land heavily on the roof of the next building. The move had taken the archers below completely by surprise, so he at least didn't have to worry about that.

"Joxer," called Autolycus, "You next."

"Go on, Joxer," insisted Iolaus, as he parried a thrusting spear that probed through the doorway. "I'll hold them off."

Joxer sheathed his sword, grabbed a blanket and climbed unsteadily out beside Autolycus, "I really don't like heights," he said sickly, as he swayed forward dizzily.

The King of Thieve's grabbed his arm, threw the blanket over the line and tightened Joxer's grip around the end's. "Don't look down," he told him.

"Perhaps, I'd better stay and help Iolaus," he said to the thief, but before he could let go of the blanket, Autolycus gave him a strong push that sent him careering over the edge, "Watch out for the archers!" he yelled.

"Arrrhhhhhh!" screamed Joxer as he flew across the intervening space to be caught by Toris.

"Nicely phrased," muttered Autolycus as he turned to yell for Iolaus.

The small blonde man, swung his sword in a wide arc to encourage the soldiers to back off to give him enough time to grab a blanket and leap for the window. He swung it over the line and with the thief holding one side and him the other they launched themselves off the ledge for the safety of the next building.

"Yodalayheehoo!" yelled Autolycus as they sped down at an increasing rate and felt the brush of close passing arrows as they went.

Toris was busy hauling Joxer up over the apex of the roof and Autolycus, with Iolaus, scrambled quickly to join them. As he reached the top of the roof, Autolycus, ever the showman, turned back to the frustrated Legionaries and gave them an impudent bow, before following his friends down the other side, where they were able to shin down a trellis and disappear into the crowded streets of the city.

Chapter Twenty One: Traveling Companions
Caesar finished reading through the letter he had dictated. He signed it with a flourish before affixing it with his personal seal and closing it with the Imperial seal of Rome. He handed the missive to the waiting courier and told him, "Take it north as quickly as possible. I want an answer as soon as possible after I reach Lugdunum." He handed the messenger a warrant, "You may use this to command fresh horses and escorts when you require them."

"General," the soldier snapped off a parade ground salute and marched from the office, passing Caesar's second in command as he arrived in the chamber.

"Brutus," greeted Caesar cordially, "How goes the VIIth's preparations? I trust that they will be ready to march on the morrow?"

The dark haired officer stood before his commanders desk and replied, "They will be ready to march with the dawn, my Lord. As soon as we join them."

Caesar poured himself, and his second in command, a goblet of wine, motioning for Brutus to take the silver cup from it's place on the tray on his desk, "And what of those four men who have been asking questions about people they should have no reason to believe are here?" he asked.

"My Lord," Brutus began tentatively, "Four centuries were dispatched to arrest them at their lodgings. The men barricaded themselves within their room, and by the time our soldiers had managed to batter past the obstructions, all four men had effected an escape through the window, and across the street where they were able to dodge across a roof and avoid arrest."

Caesar's face took on a hard cast as he looked at Brutus, "How very resourceful of them," he said quietly, "And just how, exactly did they manage to cross a street through the air?" he asked coldly.

"One of the men set up a rope that they slid down to get to the house opposite," explained Brutus as neutrally as he was able to. He had not been present at the scene and was merely reporting events as they'd been reported to him.

Caesar considered the wine in his cup for a long moment. Brutus wisely refrained from paying his beverage any attention whatsoever. He held it in his hand, but had assumed a position of attention and would remain so until, Caesar indicated his feelings about the situation.

"Do we know anything more about these four men?" asked Caesar.

Brutus considered, "We have full and detailed descriptions of them. They sound a very unusual group to be travelling together, although all four are Greeks. From the reports that have come in they spend much time in arguing amongst themselves. We also now have names for them," added the Roman, "although whether these are false or not, it would be difficult to know."

"And the names are?" asked Caesar lightly.

"The small blonde man, who seems, in a way, to keep the group together is called Iolaus. The man who accompanies him, the one people have described variously as a fool or a clown, is called Joxer. The tall dark one with the moustache and beard is known as Autolycus while the brooding young man with the long dark hair goes by the name of Toris," informed Brutus.

Caesar's eyes sharpened as the names were listed. His research into the Warrior Princess's life had been very thorough and the first three names figured prominently in her adventures and history. Yet it was the fourth that was of most interest to him. Capturing all of them would have given him extra ties on Xena, but that fourth man would have been almost as important as the bard. Blood ties went deep and he knew that Toris was the brother of Xena.

"The fools!" hissed Caesar in exasperation, "Netting those men would have tied Xena completely."

"My lord?" asked Brutus unaware of the significance of the men he believed to be of little importance.

Caesar banged his fist on the table, making the wine jug, and his cup lurch alarmingly. He looked at Brutus with a brooding anger, "The first of those men is a close friend, and was once a lover of Xena's, he's competent and very dangerous. The second man, although a fool, she treats as a family member. The third man is probably the most dangerous of all. He is a master thief, 'The King of Thieves' he is known as in Greece, and he has aided Xena on many occasions. But the fourth man. He would have been the true prize, for he is Xena's elder brother and would have been another chain on her. And the fools let them escape!"

Brutus looked discomforted. He did not know what Caesar had planned, but he did know that he aimed to use the Warrior Princess in some way, maybe more than one way. He was also aware it was like trying to hold a lion with a piece of twine. Caesar was playing a deep and dangerous game that was aimed at him achieving total power in the Roman world .. the man was emperor in name, but had his aims hampered by Pompey, who had strong support, and the senate who could still cause trouble. Brutus' aim was to ride his master's coat tail to his own place of dominance within that world. To do so he needed to retain Caesar's favour and ensure that his patron succeeded in his aims.

"My lord, I can order the garrison to make a sweep of the city. They'll find these four rogues and bring them to heel." he assured his commander.

"Don't be a fool Brutus," Caesar rebuked, though without rancour, "Those men are resourceful and able as well as being dangerous. The garrison would never find them and we don't have the time to spare now to direct a search." he fixed his subordinate with a penetrating stare, "You can be sure, though, that they will show up again, and when they do I want them taken."

"I'll order the guards to extra vigilance," Brutus announced, "I'll have their descriptions and names spread amongst the men and sent forward to the town garrisons on our route of march. If they show their faces again, we'll know about it and can arrange to have them taken."

Caesar considered this for a moment, "Double the watch on the girl," he ordered his aide.

"What of Xena, my Lord?" questioned Brutus.

"I think that the security there is well enough. I'm certain that Xena will not think of going anywhere while I hold her friend. No," he said at length, "the key remains the bard. While I have her safe, Xena is mine. The others would have been useful additional tools, though."

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Autolycus's appearance had given Xena plenty to think about, not least that Gabrielle's letters seemed to have produced results; if the King of Thieves was there, then it was a good bet the others were too. That worried her, somewhat. Iolaus and Autolycus were good friends, and she'd hate to see them get hurt on account of her. But Toris was her brother, and she didn't have so much blood kin around that she could afford to lose any ... - And if Caesar should find out about him! - The thought left her cold.

Her situation was bad enough with Gabrielle in his power. If he had Toris as well, things would probably get distinctly worse. Two threats held against her and her chances of ever breaking free of Caesar's clutches would be negligible! - Gods, but I loathe that man! - she had fumed silently to herself.

Yet if things went well, and they could manage to free Gabrielle from Caesar's clutches, it might just enable her to do something about her own situation. She looked forward to the day when her captors could not produce Gabrielle in proof that they still held her. It gave her something to dream about that night.

She was awoken early the next morning. There seemed to be an unusual stir within the guard room, something different from the routine that had prevailed as the soldiers had settled into their new accommodation. She opened her eyes sleepily, focusing on her internal clock which suggested that the time was somewhere before dawn. She sighed softly.

It wasn't unknown for the guards to roust her out for a quick check through the cell to make certain she hadn't managed to secure and hide a weapon. So far she had been able to keep her toothpick hidden from the legionaries, who were looking for something far larger. That tooth pick could be used as a weapon, but it was going to be far more useful for picking the locks on her chains when she finally got the chance to escape. The time her spirit had been lodged in Autolycus's body had provided her with a few more useful skills!

She turned her attention back to the soldiers. This morning's activity was definitely unusual. No one had approached the cell for a search, and the general activity throughout the guardroom suggested something different. To Xena's practised eye, the legionaries were moving in the purposeful way soldiers broke camp. Her eyes narrowed. If the soldiers were getting ready to move, she had little doubt that they'd be moving her and Gabrielle as well.

- Can Caesar be aware of Autolycus and the others? - she questioned herself. She could hardly credit that the Roman would be concerned about a handful of men that he could have arrested without any trouble to himself. She thought about that for a moment and smiled softly to herself, - Well maybe not! - she conceded. But she doubted that her captors were going to run away from four men, therefore the move must mean that Caesar was getting ready for whatever he was planning.

Needing to retrieve the toothpick from the blanket where it had remained hidden, Xena rolled over, rucking up the under cover as she did so, and then began to surreptitiously work the toothpick out of the hem. Once she had recovered it, she slid it into the collar of her shirt, working it around until any sign was hidden by the fall of her hair. With that accomplished, she stretched and rose from the stone bench, and was standing by the time the key to the cell grated in the lock and the door screeched open on hinges that needed to be oiled. The sound had become an everyday occurrence in her life, and she would not be sorry to say goodbye to it.

"Morning boys," she drawled lazily noticing that Blasius was the officer in command of the detail that moved purposefully into the cell, "You goin' somewhere ... like maybe Tartarus?" she asked with feigned politeness.

Gaius Blasius was not amused by her comment and raised his fist ready to strike while Xena stared at him contemptuously. Before the officer could swing his blow, however, Flaccus' voice boomed across the noisy guardroom, "Blasius! That will be enough!"

The junior officer slowly lowered his upraised fist, his eyes sparking with anger for her taunt and his inability to exact what he felt was due retribution, "There will be another time!" he growled at the Warrior Princess threateningly.

"Count on it!" she hissed back, not bothering to hide her disdain for the bully, and bringing a whole wealth of dangerous meaning to the few words.

Flaccus marched to the cell and gave the two antagonists an appraising glance, "Just do your job, Blasius. The General wants her ready for travel. If you can't handle the task, I'll find someone who can."

The threat was unmistakable. Blasius snapped off a smart salute and watched as Flaccus retraced his steps across the guardroom to continue his own preparations for the imminent move.

Xena watched the Roman under officer much as a cat watches a mouse. There was a chance to exploit an opportunity here, - Divide and Conquer is Caesar's motto, - she told herself. If she was careful how she went about it, she might just drive a wedge into the ranks of her guards.

Blasius held his hand out and was given a thick, black leather belt that had a metal ring fixed firmly into the centre of it, "Please give me an excuse," the bully said to her invitingly, "It will make my day to hear your little friend howl because you proved to be difficult."

Xena's jaw tightened a little, but she managed a sardonic twist to her lips as she answered him, "Not in your lifetime," they were words that could be taken more than one way.

"Turn around," he ordered with a snarl.

Taking her time, the warrior turned her back on him and waited as Blasius put his arms around her, as he settled the belt into place. He threaded the end through the buckle and pulled the belt savagely tight, leaving the metal ring on the front side in the centre of her stomach. With a nod to one of his men, Xena's manacles were released from the long chain to the ringbolt, and the padlock was used to lock the manacles to the ring on the leather belt. The system was effective in restricting the use of her hands. She had a limited freedom of movement that would ensure that she could not use her shackles as a weapon, should the opportunity arise for her.

"Caesar afraid that I'm gonna jump him?" she asked lazily.

"You're valuable property, Xena," came Patroclese's voice from outside the cell, "After all the time, effort and money put into acquiring you, you cannot blame Lord Caesar for looking to keep his investment safe."

"Oh can't I," she returned with a distinctly frosty look and a tone sharp enough to cut. "Would you like to tell me where we're going?" she invited, not expecting to get a useful answer, although she was fairly certain that she knew what Caesar intended. Enforced inactivity had given her plenty of time to think, and she knew how her enemy's mind worked.

"You'll find out when Lord Caesar is ready to reveal his plans," the healer told her with a friendly smile, "As we all will," he added.

"Uh huh," she replied neutrally. "Don't forget to bring the chess," she told him far more enthusiastically as Blasius shoved her towards the cell door. The forced momentum, made her stumble in the restrictive leg irons, but her quick reactions kept her upright and she shuffled along as well as she could manage to avoid other pushes.

"Just going to pack it," Patroclese told her as she passed him. "I think that we'll manage to play a game or two on the trip, although you're getting far too good for my poor skill," he complained, and in truth Xena usually won nine out of every ten games they played.

Once into the main guardroom, the soldiers formed up around her and she was marched through poorly lit corridors .. that she was seeing for the first time .. where nighttime torches guttered low, awaiting replacement. It seemed a long walk until they reached the openness of a well lit courtyard. Xena stopped and breathed deeply of the cool pre-dawn air, relishing the freshness after being kept so long from it.

Blasius shoved her to get her moving again and, this time, she was only kept upright by the tight press of bodies around her. She was moved out to the centre of the courtyard close to where a familiar wagon awaited her. The thought of returning to the cramped conditions of the cage, that she knew was within, almost made her grimace.

She looked around the crowded space for something to take her mind off of the coming ordeal of cramped and aching muscles and the inevitable bruising from the jolting she would be forced to endure.

A movement on the far side of the courtyard captured her attention, as she saw another body of soldiers enter with Gabrielle closely warded amongst them. When the bard saw Xena amongst her escort of soldiers, she attempted to move towards her, only to be shoved back roughly by a legionaries spear butt.

"Hey!" barked Xena at the unnecessary roughness of the treatment.

"Quiet slave," ordered Blasius, digging a heavy punch into Xena's unprotected kidneys eliciting a grunt of surprised pain in return.

"Leave her alone!" yelled the bard, throwing herself at her guards and bursting past them with a surprising display of strength, speed and agility that caught the soldiers totally unprepared.

- Gods in Olympus! - screamed Xena's brain as she called out in alarm, "Gabrielle! No!" But it was too late to halt her friend's forward charge.

Soldiers began to converge on the blonde with raised batons. The Warrior Princess, knowing there was little or no chance of reaching the bard, still tried anyway. She could not stand by and watch while Gabrielle was roughly handled. Screaming a battle cry, "Ai,ai,ai,ai,ai,ai!", Xena launched herself in a flip over the heads of her own guards to land with crashing force on five men heading menacingly towards the bard.

The dark haired woman and the five soldiers went down into a tangled heap, as Gabrielle's arms were snagged by two of the guards she had avoided. The honey blonde was pulled to a stop, her arms twisted behind her in a painful lock, as she watched the struggling melee that thrashed on the ground.

Anger, resentment and plain, stubborn, pride, fired the fighting instincts that Xena had been forced to keep a lid on for so long. As she struggled, the familiar dark rage slipped its bonds and compelled her to fight, even though it was a hopeless task. She drove a two footed kick into the stomach of one of the struggling soldiers, ejecting him from the roiling heap to kneel heaving at the edge of the conflict. With limited use of her hands, she employed her head to good effect, using it to deliver crunching butts to anything that came close. One soldier's thigh came invitingly to hand, and a stabbing thrust of her fingers left him screaming in agony as she hit the nerve centre that made the leg a pain filled useless limb.

But there was no way that she could hope to win. Restricted in her movement and ability to defend herself, when six more soldiers leapt into the fray the shear weight of combined numbers finally managed to pin her flat, face down, to the ground. She bucked and heaved, driven by the animal desire to fight for freedom even against insurmountable odds, until she finally managed to regain control of herself and lock the dark rage, that had broken free, back into the silent recesses of her soul.

"What's going on here?" demanded the voice of authority as Caesar stormed into the courtyard to be confronted by chaotic turmoil.

Flaccus snapped off a salute as he presented himself before his commander, "Sir, your slaves broke free of their guards and had to be subdued." he explained.

"And what was the reason for their actions." he growled, knowing full well that Xena wasn't fool enough to attempt an escape when heavily shackled and surrounded in a courtyard by nearly two hundred crack soldiers.

Flaccus explained the events that had lead up to the brawl and Caesar's brown eyes seemed to bore into everyone in that courtyard with a hardness that spoke volumes about his irritation here. The two women needed to be handled with care. Push the wrong buttons and the Warrior Princess exploded into an unstoppable killing machine. He frowned at the soldier who lay clutching his leg and groaned in agony.

His eyes flickered slowly over the bard who strained impotently against the two burly guards who held her and then fixed on Xena who no longer struggled, but remained pinned to the ground by ten men. Acts of defiance could not be permitted. The two women had to be made to understand and accept that they were property, condemned to slavery for their crimes, and as such, subject to discipline for their behaviour. He could not show Xena any weakness that she might exploit. However, the last thing he needed, at this time, was to inflict harsh punishment on either bard or warrior. He needed both to be fit and healthy .. especially Xena. - Very well then. The punishments need to fit the crimes. They need to be hard but not debilitating. -

"It appears that an ill thought out act of defiance from the bard brought this about," Caesar said consideringly, "Very well then. In fairness if she is to be punished for Xena's transgressions, it is only right that it work the other way. Therefore, Xena will receive fifteen strokes of your staff of office, Centurion."

"You can't do that!" objected Gabrielle angrily, "It wasn't Xena's fault."

"No," agreed Caesar mildly, "it was yours. Just as it's her fault for becoming involved in the incident after she had been warned about the price for such resistance. For that, you'll get five strokes."

"Caesar!" yelled Xena, starting to struggle against those who held her again.

"Be very careful, Xena," warned the Roman coldly. "Those five strokes are lenient for your part in this and they can easily be raised."

The Warrior Princess subsided under the soldiers hands once more, although her eyes watched Caesar with a deadly intent, "The girl first, Flaccus," he instructed.

Gabrielle was hauled over to the wagon, where a wrists were quickly tied to a wheel. Flaccus's staff of office was thick, heavy wood that had been carved with vine leaves. Xena knew from past experience that it could raise heavy weals and a cause a lot of pain.

The first blow landed across the blondes shoulders, and made her yell with anger as much as pain. The second was inflicted slightly lower and brought a louder cry. The third blow was again aimed a little lower and Xena heard her friend choke back a sob. The fourth stroke was aimed across the bard's hips and the sobbing intensified as the final blow fell on her thighs.

Gabrielle was cut free of the wagon and moved, unresisting, by her guards to a spot where she stood, arms wrapped around her body, trying to choke back the tears that streamed down her cheeks. The beating could have been worse, but she was still recovering from the punishment she had taken just the day before, and the bard was not used to such pain.

At Flaccus's nod, the soldiers pinning Xena down on the courtyard ground, roughly hoisted her to her feet. She'd taken no injury from the struggle and with her body fit and healthy she doubted that the ordained fifteen strokes would harm her unduly. Caesar was obviously trying to instil discipline without disabling her. The soldier's secured her to the same wheel that Gabrielle had been tied to, and Flaccus administered the fifteen strokes with his normal impartiality. Xena willed herself to make no sound. The vine staff was heavy and painful, but it didn't rip her flesh as the whip had done. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes and stood rock steady through the ordeal, knowing that Gabrielle winced with every blow, feeling responsible for them ... which was exactly what Caesar wanted!

Released from the wheel, Xena stood straight and turned her cold hatred upon Caesar, who smiled back at her knowing just how much it infuriated her when he did so. "Now that we have that little piece of unpleasantness out of the way, perhaps we can get on with the business at hand," he said brusquely. As he turned away he noticed the groaning soldier once more. Patroclese had shown up and was unable to do anything for the man's injury or agony, "You'll oblige me by fixing whatever you did to that man," he told Xena flatly.

There wasn't really anyway to avoid the order. Leaving the 'pinch' on would be an act of viciousness that she no longer allowed herself to do. Defying Caesar would bring more harm to Gabrielle. Pursing her lips, she moved with her shuffling step over to the writhing man and released the nerves with a practised twist of her hand, "You'll be fine in a few minutes," she told him coldly.

Caesar smiled at his victory, minor though it was. The more that Xena could be coerced into obedience, the sooner she would have to come to accept her new situation. He motioned for the soldiers to get on with their preparations, as he stalked off to where his horse stood patiently awaiting him.

The soldiers began to form up, and Xena was roughly manhandled into the wagon and shoved into her travelling cage. She was, however, surprised when Gabrielle was also thrown into the wagon. A leg iron was produced and locked around the bard's right ankle with the other end being fastened to the bars of the cage. "It seems we're going to be travelling together," smiled the Warrior Princess, relieved at having the bard's company, even in the conditions they found themselves. A section of her mind noted the presence of her six watchdogs as well, but they had become a part of her current existence and she had learned to ignore them.

Gabrielle smiled at her and began to apologise saying, "Xena, I just didn't think. When he hit you I suppose my instincts took over ...."

"I know Gabrielle. It doesn't matter," she shrugged off the beating like shedding a coat. "I shouldn't have reacted, then you wouldn't have been beaten."

"Quits?" suggested the bard, deciding that it would be better to end the mutual self recriminations before they truly got started. Her smile deepened at her friends nod of agreement.

"Quits," agreed Xena, basking in the warmth of Gabrielle's smile and realizing, yet again, just how much she missed not being with the bard.

"What's Caesar up to?" asked the blonde as she heard the order to march given. "I mean, all the effort to keep us apart and now this." she said indicating the wagon, "Not that I'm complaining," she added hastily.

Xena shrugged a little stiffly, "It's probably safer to keep us together while we're on the move. We've got a whole maniple surrounding us at the moment and I'm willing to bet that Caesar's got the VIIth Legion all ready and waiting to form up around us too."

"Xena," Gabrielle frowned, puzzled, "have you got any idea what he's up to?"

"Maybe, Gabrielle," she admitted softly, "Just maybe."

Continued - Chapters 22 - 25

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