"Tira Darkheart…you came back?" Gabrielle squeaked impotently. She had hoped that the young woman would have had the sense to stay hidden away for some time, possibly forever. She certainly did not expect to see her again half a day after they had parted.

"Get out of here," Xena rumbled, furious. "Just what in Hades do you think you're doing?"

"So you're telling me you didn't know this prick was 'bout to toss a dagger straight through your throat, eh? Once again, I'm disappointed. You shouldn't be so distracted, Xena. Lousy way ta go into battle."

Xena swallowed hard. It was true that she hadn't sensed the danger. She told herself that if anything had been thrown at her she could have dodged or deflected it easily, but the fact that an inexperienced punk had taken aim at her without her knowledge bothered her. She had to admit her focus was off. "What do you want?"

"Friend of yours?" Hireitis asked tentatively.

"Not exactly," Gabrielle answered, thinking it best to keep the Destroyer's identity quiet for the moment. "But we know her. It's nothing to worry about."

Xena resumed her all-business attitude as she evaluated the unconscious man who'd taken a frying pan to the skull. "I'd like to interrogate him. Gabrielle, get his armor off." Together, the two women stripped their captive to the waist. He remained limp. Xena made a fist and dug her knuckles into the man's breastbone, hard. "Wake up. Get up, scum. Open your eyes." It soon became obvious that no amount of cajoling was going to rouse the soldier. Xena dropped him, frustrated. "How hard did you hit him with that thing?"

The Destroyer shrugged nonchalantly. "Very hard. Maybe he'll never wake up. I'm not sure. Didn't give it much thought."

Xena sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Gabrielle, see that he's tied up. Treat him if you want, but not before any surviving villagers that you can help. I'm going to set out after Miltiades's party and see if I can track them to a campsite where they'll stay the night. I didn't see anything like a fortress around here. Hopefully it's more than a day's march."

As Xena was conferring with her friend, the Destroyer walked up to Hireitis and offered her the handle of the frying pan. "You want this?" The young woman gazed around at the smoldering ruins of the village. "Hm. Might have been more useful earlier."

The grief-stricken widow muttered something about having to attend to the children and left, tears streaming down her dirt-streaked cheeks. The Destroyer dropped the frying pan onto the half-naked soldier's stomach, again producing no response. Gabrielle, who had heard the end of the brief exchange and seen Hireitis walk away, frowned severely. "What you just did was cruel, Tira Darkheart."

"Why? She has nothin' now. Thought she could use it. Ah well."

"Listen up, you ignorant little brat. I'm in a bad mood already and you being here is making it much, much worse. So you better explain why you're here, and fast. Did you bring that damned cat along too?"

"Mendi's at the edge of town, laying low. Didn't want to spook the villagers. I can call him anytime. You're going to fight someone. I've decided to fight too."

"Do you mean to tell me you think you're going to try and help? You're completely insane. I am going after Miltiades, and by the time I get back I expect you to be gone, you and Mendi. Understand? Gabrielle, take care of this, somehow. I can't afford to waste any more time." Xena stalked off in search of clues as to which direction the raiding party headed as they escaped.

"Xena has a funny way of saying thanks," the Destroyer mused. She picked up the dagger that the unconscious soldier was going to throw and twirled it deftly. "This would have hurt, I bet."

Gabrielle sighed. She was not happy to see the wild woman, but she had to acknowledge that she had helped Xena. "She – you make her very angry, Tira Darkheart. And I'm not thrilled to see you either, to tell the truth. But you did just protect my best friend, so I'll thank you, even if she won't. I appreciate what you did. I really do think you should get out of here, though. We're on a mission now, and distractions aren't going to help us."

"I'm not a distraction if you don't let me be. I told ya, I'm gonna fight. But not just yet. Right now I'm gonna track the soldiers with Xena."

The bard turned pale. "I think that's a very bad idea."

"Xena prolly does too. That's stupid. I'm a better tracker than her. So it's actually a good idea. Don't worry, Gabrielle. I won't leave you here alone to clean up the mess by yourself. Come over here." The Destroyer led Gabrielle to a spot at the edge of the village, out of sight of those still milling about. There she directed a sound almost like a wildcat's snarl towards the tall grasses. Mendi materialized in moments, seemingly from nowhere. "Mendi'll help ya."

"The – the big cat?" Gabrielle protested. She was not sure how she felt about being left with an animal she couldn't communicate with or control. "What can he even do?"

"Look out for you and maybe move some things. You can ask him for help but be nice about it. And speak slow. His Greek's not great. Don't let the villagers see ya do it. People tend to freak out when they figure out a cat talks, y'know?"

The blonde woman realized that there was no use objecting. It might be worse to make a scene and frighten the already terrified and vulnerable villagers. "All right. Mendi? Come here please?" She held out a hesitant hand. The great cat cautiously sniffed at her fingers. He snorted in response to the scent, but he nudged his head briefly against one of her boot-clad shins.

"Stay with Gabrielle for a little while, all right? I have to go, but I'll come back soon," the Destroyer whispered to Mendi. Gabrielle could have sworn she heard the cat whine, but when she returned to the village center, the animal followed her some distance behind. Satisfied, the Destroyer set off on her own to catch up to the Warrior Princess.

Xena crouched down on the muddy bank of what would normally have been a stream, except for the recent dry weather which had caused it to evaporate. She could clearly see all of the hoof prints of the war party's horses, but she knew that tracking them on foot this way was useless. They had sped off as soon as they finished setting the fires, and the only way she would catch them now was by returning to the village and mounting up on Argo. Tempting as it is, launching a one-person assault on a mounted party out in the open with no cover is foolish. There's nothing to do now but go back and see if I can get some information from that captive, assuming he'll ever wake up.

"Figured out they're too far away, finally?"

Xena whirled in surprise and anger to face the impudent voice. How? How did she come up on me without my knowing? "What do you think you're doing here? I told you to get lost."

"Looks like you're the one's got lost, Xena. I knew from the beginning of the trail it was no use going on like this. But you're all locked up inside your head and weren't paying attention." As if to emphasize her point, the Destroyer casually tossed a familiar throwing dagger at the warrior's feet. Xena fumed, but the brown-haired woman spoke on, changing to a less confrontational tone. "I'm not pickin' on you, Xena. Happens t'me all the time. But bad things happen when you get trapped up in your head. Trust me, I know. I'd have the scars to prove it, if I could scar."

"You think you can show up and talk to me like we've known each other for years now? Just who the fuck do you think you are? Why won't you show enough sense to stay out of my way?"

"To be completely honest, I'm intrigued by you now. You're like a puzzle, Xena. By rights, I shoulda killed you already. You did attack me unprovoked, after all. But there's so much I'm tryin' to understand, and every moment I spend watchin' you just raises more questions. Here's one I can't figure. Why is it me bein' around makes you angry with Gabrielle? I heard you two fightin', and I knew it was 'cause of me but why? Why should meeting one strange girl, and don't get me wrong, I know I'm strange, but why would that affect a friendship of years? Can you explain it to me, Xena?"

The Warrior Princess was livid. She would barely tolerate such a question from her own mother, let alone someone she hated as much as she did the Destroyer. "Fuck you! I'm not some project for you to study! This is my life you're talking about here, and the life of my best friend! Even if I would answer a question like that, which you've no right to ask, it would be pointless. You could never understand something like that. Never. You know nothing of friendship, of love, of sharing your life with someone else. How could you? You're nothing but a monster that happens to look like a girl. You're a dangerous, degenerate creature masquerading as human, and that's all you'll ever be!"