When Solan opened his eyes the evening of the following day, he saw a tall woman standing over him. "Mother?"

"That's hardly a way to address the empress," Xena said gruffly, but Solan could have sworn it was less gruff than usual.

"I thought—I thought you were my mother for a minute. I think she was actually with me last night, singing to me."

"Your mother's dead," Xena said icily.

"I know that," Solan shot back. "I know I must have dreamed it, but it felt real." Solan thought Xena looked haggard with dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't gotten any sleep. He finally seemed to notice that he was in the empress' bed. "What happened to me?" he asked.

"You were poisoned and no not by me, but you can rest assured that it won't happen again. When someone messes with my personal property, I don't take it lightly."

Solan made a move to get up. "Don't move a muscle," Xena commanded.

He stopped, but he looked up at her in confusion, "Why? Are you going to slice me open with one of your weapons if I do?"

He thought he saw the corner of her lip twitch but then she said sharply, "Because I don't feel like training another servant. You can leave my room tomorrow."

"Where are you supposed to sleep?"

She pointed to the corner where another bed had already been placed. "In here of course. Now shut your eyes and get some rest before I decide your head would look better on my bedpost than on your body."

Xena went to one of the guestrooms. She wanted a private consultation with the god of war, "Ares!"

"You gave my sister back all of her old temples," Ares said accusingly, materializing directly in front of her.

"Don't take it personally. It was a bargain, Solan's health for all of Athena's old temples. You should have shown up and done something about it yourself if you wanted to keep them."

"You didn't give me a chance to. I don't remember hearing you call my name until now."

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about Solan's poisoning would you? Someone came into my room and put poison in one of the goblets. I don't know many people with a vendetta against my servant."

"Now why would I know anything about that? If I was you though, I would take more care. Who's to know that the poison wasn't meant for you? I don't know many people who knew that you were going to take a drink with a mere servant."

"Good, because if I find out you had anything to do with this," Xena warned, "I'll see to it that you don't have a single temple left standing."

"Is that a threat, my dear, because never forget that I helped you create this empire and I can help destroy it even quicker."

"I've got news for you, Ares, I don't care about this empire anymore. However, I do care about what happens to Solan."

He glared at her. The woman was insufferable, but he supposed that's why he loved her. "Far be it from me to interfere in your little game with Solan and I could care less whether he lives or dies. Just do me a favor. When that back-stabbing brat proves he can't be trusted like all mortals, don't say I didn't warn you." He left without waiting for her response.

She gave a sigh of disgust.

Solan watched when Xena came back into the room between slitted eyelids. He couldn't believe such a cold, heartless witch would let him have her own bed. He had no doubt it was more of her mind games. He wouldn't have been surprised if she had poisoned his drink and nursed him back to health just to try and gain his loyalty.

She got right into bed. Although she went straight to sleep, she tossed and turned a lot. Solan wondered if Xena's sleep was always so fitful. He would give a year's wages to know what was going on in her mind right now.

Xena was in a dark cave. She was standing in front of a crowd. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"We may not haunt your dreams often, but you know who we are." It was the blonde girl she had crucified right before the Kronos stone had been stolen. She didn't remember her name, if she ever knew it, but she did remember her face. For some reason, she always remembered the faces.

Xena drew her sword, "I've heard about dreams like these. You want me to feel guilt, so we can switch places. You can forget it. I feel no guilt. I'll kill each and every one of you again if I have to."

An elderly man spoke next. She had killed him in her early warlord days. "We come only to give warning."

She saw rivulets of blood streaming across the cave floor. Although the sight of blood hardly fazed her, she was curious. "Where is this blood coming from?" Xena asked.

A middle-aged woman answered her question. She was one of the more recent, a mother who had tried to interfere in the execution of her son. "It's your blood, it's our blood, it's the blood of people not yet known to you or to any of us."

The blood continued to pour and she was now ankle-deep in it. "How do I stop it?"

"You can't stop it. It's your bloodguilt. Guilt can be ignored, but it never leaves a person. If you don't find redemption, you will drown in your guilt, but you will never escape it."

The river of blood was still rising and now she was waist-deep in it, unable to move. "Surely there's someone who can stop this river of death."

"Only sacred, blameless blood could ebb its flow."

Xena didn't know where blood like that could be found, but it wasn't the blood that ran through her veins. The river of blood swept over her, totally consuming her.

She sat up, gasping for air. Her expression was that of someone who had seen or experienced something worse than death. Solan was still awake and watching as she got up and went over to the mirror. Her features instantly became hardened again and she splashed some cold water from her bowl onto her face.

Solan was more than stunned by what he had witnessed. Was it possible that there was even a speck of guilt somewhere in her black soul? It might mean that she could be convinced to change without more bloodshed. He was willing to give it a try; he would try anything.

The door opened and she threw her sword, pinning the entering soldier's shoulder against the door. He continued with his message in pained tones. "Ares and Athena are having a battle in Sparta. They're totally destroying the place. We thought you would want to be informed immediately."

Xena pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and pointer finger and closed her eyes as if trying to prevent an oncoming headache. "It's not enough that I rule over every man, woman, and child, but I have to keep the gods in line too. I swear to Hades, I'm tiring of this." She pulled her sword out of the man's shoulder. "Get my armor and horse."