Chapter Three

Traveling with Xena

"Did you find her? Did you find those people who took her?" Cyrene was beside herself with worry and anguish, and anger.

"Not yet," the chief magistrate said. "But we will. We have questioned the guards who were at both gates. The one at the west gate said no one entered or left. But the one at the east gate reported only one peddler entering before dawn, and only two carts left. But the curious thing was that one of the carts had a horse pulling it, and one was tied to the rear of it. There were two people, an older man and his wife, but they didn't look wealthy enough to own two horses."

"And this so-called guard didn't think THAT looked suspicious?" Cyrene's anger increased.

"It was very early, just before the shift change. And after being awake almost all night…you understand."

"No!" Cyrene exclaimed. "I do not understand. I do not want to understand! Where is this guard? I want to talk to him!"

"He is not available at this time, he is somewhere in the city, searching."

"In the city! Why are they not scouring the countryside?"

"Because it only makes sense to insure they are not still within the city walls, hiding until they think it is safe to make an escape."

"Incompetent fools! All of you! Incompetent, inept fools!"

xxxx

After the slight worry, when the guard on the east gate gave them a longer than expected eyeing, the journey into the forest, then circling around to finally being on the road heading west eased their minds. But the slowness of the cart worried Gabrielle:

"You couldn't have stolen a wagon? I can walk faster than this cart. With a wagon we could have hooked both horses up and made three times the speed we are now. Maybe four times."

"Relax," Autolycus said, trying to ease her fears. "Right now they are too busy searching the city from top to bottom. It will be tomorrow before they send out a search party. And even then, how will they know which direction we went?"

Gabrielle shook her head, not comforted at all.

"I want to talk to Xena. Can you drive while I do?"

"The horse knows to stay on the trail. Close your eyes."

Gabrielle complied, then said, "Xena, does this guy really know – can he be trusted?"

"Yes, for the most part," 'Xena' replied. "I know where the Amazon camp is. It is many days travel. But you are right, a wagon would be better, faster. In the next town I will have him trade the cart for a wagon. But you two need to travel as fast as possible, I can feel myself growing weaker. And my body will not last too much longer."

Gabrielle opened her eyes. "You heard what she said?"

"I did," Autolycus replied. "The next village is still a day away.''

Gabrielle was silent until they stopped at a stream to water the horses, and to change the one who was tied behind to pull the cart. As they ate a small meal, Gabrielle got curious.

"So, just what were you doing in Amphipolis?"

"I was coming to see you."

"No, I mean why were there in the first place?"

"I wasn't. I was on my way to Athens. I stopped for the night, just two days from there, but when I woke up I was just outside Amphipolis, with Xena in my head telling me I had to find you and her body."

"So you have no idea how you got there? Because I know that Athens is west and then south from here. Many days travel."

"No idea. And I have no idea how Xena got into me, either."

"Does Xena know?"

"If she does, she hasn't told me."

They traveled on the rest of the day in almost silence, and by sunset they were just outside of a small nameless town. The next morning Autolycus drove the cart, without the extra horse and Xena's body, into the village, hoping to trade. In the meantime, Gabrielle stayed out of sight well into the woods. When Autolycus finally returned he had the horse, but was without the cart, and without a wagon.

"I decided that we needed food and supplies worse than we need a wagon."

"So what are we going to do, just throw Xena's body over the horse?"

"No. We make a litter to drag. Not only can we move faster but we can go places a wagon can't."

Gabrielle had no satisfactory argument, so she set about making the litter. She first cut two saplings as big around as her arm and half again the length of the horse. Then using rope Autolycus also traded for, she weaved them between the limbs until they were able to support a body. This she covered with the ragged clothes and cloaks and blankets. The ends of the saplings were affixed to either side of one of the horses, tied to the saddle. Xena's body was laid on it, then several wraps of rope were used to keep her from falling off. Gabrielle mounted that horse while Autolycus rode on the other since he weighed much more than Gabrielle.

And despite her initial misgivings, they were able to triple their distance in the time it would have taken them even with a wagon. But after a while, Autolycus suggested Gabrielle ride backward in the saddle since she turned around so many times to make sure Xena's body hadn't fallen off. He was rewarded with a dirty look.

Over the evening meal, Gabrielle questioned Autolycus again, who wasn't so happy about it, but he knew any lie he might tell, Xena would know and he would be forced to tell the truth anyway.

"I know I've never seen you before, so did you know Xena before she and I met?"

"You might say that. Back in the older days I more or less dealt in weaponry, you know, 'borrowed' swords, spears, bows and arrows, shields – whatever she needed. Xena was one of my best customers."

"I don't understand that. Why would she need to get armaments from you when she could get whatever she needed after every battle?"

"Like I said, it was back in the older, old days. I think it was when she was first forming her army. She only needed around sixty or seventy of each at first. Then it grew to a couple hundred. But when she and Ares joined forces and they moved on to greener pastures they didn't need my services anymore."

"So, when you said 'borrowed', you meant –"

"Yes, I meant 'stolen'. I was a king of thieves back then as well."