CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Phillip had fallen back asleep, partly because of the throbbing pain in his head and the other part was a hope that his recent dream if it really was a dream would return.

This time the sound of muffled voices coming from the outer room was what woke him. He groaned in pain as he sat up on the side of the bed and he placed his elbows on his knees as he hung his head in his hands to stop the room from twirling around him, most likely brought on by last night's drinking.

When he was able to look up again, he noticed that across the room, a fire was burning in the fireplace and a tea kettle was placed on a little table, between two chairs with a couple of cups and a small tin of herbs for tea sitting beside it.

He eased himself off the side of the bed and went to retrieve the teakettle to place it on the hanger over the fire; He then turns to the table where the herbs were sitting and picks some from the tin and drops them in the cup sitting next to it.

With that, he falls back into a nearby chair and rests his head back against it to wait for the water to boil.

As he waits he listens to the noises of the people outside in the tavern, a smile crosses his face when the dream from earlier reappears in his memory.

The whistle of the teakettle shakes him out of his reminiscing and gets up to go over to retrieve it from the fire.

As he, settles back into the chair with his cup of tea he hears a knock on the door.

"Come in." He said, turning around to see who his visitor might be when he heard the door open. A smile crossed his lips when he saw a familiar face standing in the doorway.

The other man made his way over to him and reached out his hand in greeting.

"Phillip it's been too long!"

They grasp arms and Phillip clears his throat.

"Yes Toris it had been awhile since I last visited. Not since…" he took a sip of tea to wash down the lump that had formed in his throat then He looked up at Toris, obvious sadness in his eyes and then turned and sat back down in the chair he was in earlier.

"Phillip you do know that my sister isn't here now, she took off out-of-town shortly after you did and we haven't heard from her since."

Toris grabbed a cup from the table and made himself a cup of tea then took the chair opposite of Phillip.

Phillip blew on his tea as he pondered what his friend had said. "So you haven't heard anything from her in all these years?"

Toris adjusted a bit in his chair as he brings his foot up to rest on his other leg and took a sip of his tea. He shook his head in answer to his question.

"We were hoping that she had gone to find you, her being so young we were worried that she would get into trouble."

Phillip closed his eyes and he remembered the painful memory of that day. When he looked at Toris, again, his eyes are moist with tears.

"No she wouldn't have been able to find me because I returned to my ship that night and we sailed out to sea immediately."

Another knock on the door interrupted the two men's conversation and they turned around as an older woman came through the door and walked over to stand in front of them. She placed her hands on her hips as she studied Phillip sitting in his chair.

"King Phillip it's nice to see you again… However, where is my daughter and why isn't she with you?"

The two men exchanged glances then they both look up at Cyrene with a grim look on their faces.

XXX

Damia leaned back against the post of the paddock fencing set up for the horses when the army made camp. She watched as Casey cleaned out his horse's hooves preparing it for the trip. She found out after a late night talking session by the campfire that he was one of the outriders and that his job was to protect the wagon train on the trails.

Casey finished up with his chore of cleaning the debris out of the hoof and then set it easily back on the ground. He straightened a bit to stretch out his back when he suddenly felt a soft touch to the back of his arm. He half turned, finding Damia standing there with a horse brush in her hand.

"Thanks." He said, taking the brush from her. "We have a couple of extra horses. Would you like to ride one?"

She nodded her head yes and looked in the direction of the two horses to make her choice. She pointed Casey to the smallest horse in the pen then she watched as Casey walked over and captured the small dappled gray filly with the black and white mane and tail.

He adjusted the halter around her muzzle, hooked up the tether and then led her back over to where Damia's feet straddle the bottom rail of the fence. She leaned over the top rail to pet the little stead.

"Aww she's so cute. I love her."

Casey could not help the chuckle that escaped his throat as he watched them together. "Yeah, I guess she might have come from one of the many small villages we have passed, she was found following after the extra horses we have tied to the back of the wagons."

Casey walked over to a wagon that set close by the held all the supplies for the animals and retrieved gear for a small horse. When he arrived back at the horse with his load, he saw that Damia was already brushing her. He adjusted the gear in his arms and leaned into Damia's back to whisper into her ear.

"If you're going to ride her I need to get her gear on."

Damia turned and giggled when his breath tickled her ear and she then moved to the front of the horse so she would not be in the way. She cupped her hand under the horse's mouth, lifted her head to look into her eyes, and stroked her muzzle with the other hand.

"I think I'm going to name you Star."

Casey finished fixing the gear to the horse and then rest his elbows in the saddle. "That would be perfect given that she has a star on her forehead would it? That's so original."

Damia patted the steed on the neck and came to the side of her where Casey is standing.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

She put her foot in the stirrup and a hand on the saddle horn, pulled herself up onto the back of the horse, and sat in the saddle.

Casey stepped forward and grabbed the reins.

"No ma'am." He replied, tossing the reins up over the horse's head and into Damia's hands. He then laughed and started towards his own horse and mounted him.

Casey noticed the scouts riding out behind them and he knew it was almost time to go.

"Come on we better go find the wagons, looks like the troops will be moving out soon."

Casey turned his horse in the right direction, nudged him with the heels of his boots, and trotted off in the direction of the wagons with Damia following closely behind…

XXX

Xena sat on a big log by the last of the campfires that still burned in their camp; she enjoyed a cup of tea while waiting for the troops to finish taking down her tent and loading her furniture into the wagons so they could head out, it was already later then she would have liked to get started.

Judging by the expression on her face her morning had not gone well, after wasting half the morning of chasing horses that escaped the paddock because someone forgot to lock the gates and then having to hunt for their morning meal because some raccoons ransacked their supplies the night before.

Now the wagons were loaded and they would be out on the road again towards her hometown, she has already sent the scouts out ahead of them to look for any trouble that they might run into.

She took a drink of tea and then appeared over the rim of the cup when she heard the horses and wagon moving and watched as Maggie took a seat on the tailgate of it and rode along to the rode with the rest of the wagons.

Finally, she said to herself, She casually threw the remaining tea from her cup onto the small campfire as she got up from the log when something hanging from the pegs she had one of her soldiers hammer into the tree where her tent use to be caught her eye.

She knew that Maggie was in the habit of hanging her belongings there she knew it had to belong to her and since had just left with the wagon she decided to grab it for her and give it to her later when she saw her again.

She lets out a deep sigh wondering where these people would be if she were not there to take care of them. She walked over to retrieve the satchel.

She reached up to snatch the bag from the peg but when she does the strap hung up on some brush growing from the tree and broke scattering its contents all over the ground at her feet.

She cursed under her breath as she squatted down to pick up the items and put them back into the bag when something shiny attracted her attention. She picked up the locket and held it in her palm; the engraved design of a wolf head on it seemed familiar to her somehow.

"Hmm… I wonder." She whispered. Then, she leaned back, sat on her heels of her boots, then reached down and dug in the pouch around her waist. She pulled out a dagger she had found in the weapons wagon the day they had left the city. She held it next to the pendant that was still in her palm and let out a deep sigh when both the dagger and the pendant do indeed have the same symbols of the eagle, wolf and the lion. She rocked off her heels and sat on the ground. "Well, I be damned it's been you the whole time. But what could you be after?"….