Gabrielle was just hanging there a little too far up in the air to use her sias to get free from the netting. She swore repeatedly cursing herself for being so sloppy as to fall into someone's snare. The blond leaned her head back and sighed heavily her thoughts going out to the one person that would be able to save her from this mess. Her mind was racing but not with fear. Funny the things you can get used to if you've been through them enough times.

Her mind was just going back over the many times that she had been in trouble in one way or another and had to wait for a rescue from her soul mate. Their early time together seemed like every week she was stumbling into some kind of trouble and her soul mate would come rushing to her rescue. It was a wonder sometimes why Xena just didn't let her rot in some dungeon. It would have made the warrior's life a lot simpler

Or would it have? Xena had been wanting to find redemption for her past deeds. What better way was there than to keep some stupid kid out of trouble and usually in turn help out a village or a king or whoever was also in trouble. Still it had been a lot of work for the warrior princess to keep the bard out of trouble. Learning to use the staff had helped in a small way. It had made her feel like she was actually contributing instead of always just being in the way.

Times had changed though and less and less had the bard gotten into trouble. Oh there was always trouble and the bard was always there to help solve the problem in any way she could. I think I liked it better when we were able to work side by side and together better than being the damsel in distress and waiting for my very strong warrior to come rescue me.

As if on cue a familiar sound caught her ear and she saw the flash of the chakrum hit the rope. Quickly she was descending to the ground but she was not scared at all. The familiar sound of someone doing her summersaults and she knew what was going to happen. Sure enough she fell into the strong and capable arms of her warrior. A couple more sounds and the warrior used a free hand to catch her chakrum. Their eyes met and there was a bit of bemusement in the tall dark haired woman's eyes. "You fell for me all over again I see."

It was so deadpan. The voice showed no emotion one way or another. But those eyes had that look that Xena got when she was up to something. It was a rarity to be seen except for by the bard who saw it all the time. Gabrielle just kept her arms wrapped around her soul mate's neck and enjoyed the closeness of their bodies. "I fall for you every time I look into those baby blue eyes my love."

The voice that came out now had a sultry tone to it. "I feel the same about a certain pair of green ones." They shared a kiss and reluctantly the warrior put her bard down on the ground. "Hope you weren't up there too long." She walked over and eyed the netting. "This isn't mine and I don't think this is yours which means we have more than Draco to worry about."

Gabrielle came up from behind her to look at the netting. "Can I see that?" The warrior handed it over to her soul mate so that she could get a closer look at it. There was something familiar about it. Son of a Bacchae. "This is Amazon. I wonder if it was Varia or if it was one of the renegades. Although I didn't think they came this far north."

Xena now had a very concerned look on her face. "This is just great. We are the only fighters here and we have who knows how many of Draco's men coming and now some possible Amazons?" She began to look around the ground for any signs of clues. When there weren't any she climbed the nearest tree and began to swing from branch to branch. After she'd been in at least a dozen trees she let herself simply fall to the ground. "You are right. There were Amazons in these trees."

The bard sighed heavily. Then a thought sobered her quickly and she took off in a run. The warrior princess was hot on her heels easily catching up to her. "Varia…" She took a lungful as her paced quickened. "What if there were those that supported her." The blond was headed straight for the stables. "Diversion."

The warrior princess put herself in her fastest gear leaving her bard behind. I should have recognized the rope. I should have realized what was going on. I think I really do need to get away for a few days. It's messing up my senses. She halted just as she got to the outskirts of the village. The inn and the stables were clear in the afternoon light. The warrior let her senses go and felt something out of place. Something but she could not sense what it was.

First she waited for Gabrielle to catch up to her. Then she held up a hand in the familiar gesture of not knowing what was going on and to keep silent and still. Slowly the pair walked in tandem to the stables. There were only the low sounds of animals eating or drinking. That was it. It made Xena's skin crawl thinking something was not right. Without a sound she opened the door.

The bard's first instinct was to run past the warrior but she knew better. Liam was slumped against the back wall of the stable. Xena slowly entered the barn letting her senses flow out taking small careful quiet steps. Finally she motioned for Gabrielle to enter so the bard moved with both grace and speed to their friend.

Xena made for the stall to see that it was empty of its prisoner and muttered under her breath about building a proper jail before she did anything else. The warrior could see the very faint traces of at least five people. They were Amazons by the looks of the boot marks that they had tried not to leave behind but with the warrior's eyes she could easily detect them.

The warrior stood back up and knelt down next to her partner. Luckily it looked like there was just a large bump on his forehead. "Damn! I knew I should have had you stay here and watch her." She sighed heavily as yet another one of her friends was hurt. This is getting to be a very bad habit around here. I think my reputation is slipping.

Gabrielle got up and got one of the water skins and carefully splashed they young man with a sprinkling of water. Instantly he was awake and tried to sit up. She held his shoulders firmly down ensuring that he remained half leaning against the wall. "Easy. You have a nasty bump on the head. When you do move do it slowly. The room is probably going to be spinning when you try to stand. Can you remember anything?"

Liam looked at the bard and then looked at Xena. His eyes found the open stall and knew that Varia had gotten away. Instantly he was ashamed of himself for letting a woman even if she were an Amazon escape. "I'm sorry." He had trouble looking either of his two heroes in the eyes. "I guess I screwed up royally, huh?"

Xena carefully helped the young man to his feet and kept him steady as he wavered slightly. "If anyone screwed up it was me." Gabrielle was on the other side of Liam and the pair helped him walk towards the inn. "I should have thought that Varia might still have some friends left in the Nation. I was just hoping that the latest featherhead queen had more sense than the last few." She glanced over at her soul mate who was smirking. "Present company excluded from that comment."

"Sure, Xena." Gabrielle was reveling in the fact that her soul mate had just lumped her in with a bunch of brainless Amazons. But she knew what she had meant. "I'm no ordinary featherhead. I'm your featherhead." Liam looked a little uncomfortable at the banter going on between his two heroes and yet to him it seemed natural as rain. "Liam, it could have happened to anyone but Xena. Even I fell into one of their snares and had to have my soul mate here get me out."

The bard's kind words instantly made him feel better. They really are amazing women and not just because they fight for what's right and normally win. No. they are amazing women because they are kind and think about others before they think of themselves. "Still I am sorry that she got away. And I'm sorry for what happened to Toris. I never really got a chance to say that."

The warrior smiled slightly. This young man really is going to be one of the better citizens of the village. We were lucky he came here. Gonna have to make sure that he knows that somehow. "Thanks. Like Gabrielle said. There was no way that you could have known. In fact I should have thought of it. But we'll just deal with it all when the time comes. Let's just get you fixed up."

Somehow Sarah was at the door to the back of the inn and was helping to lead their burden up the stairs and into his room. The young woman looked beside herself and instantly was camped out by his side. The bard and the warrior shared a knowing look. It was getting more and more evident that these two young people would soon get married and then possibly the first child would be born in the new village of Amphipolis.

They left the two alone and made their way to stop in at Toris' room. They softly opened the door to see Lila who had a hold of one of Toris' hands. The dark haired man was sound asleep and the dark haired woman looked like she could do the same thing. Quietly the bard made her way up next to her sister while the warrior came and stood on the other side of the bed and began to gently check her brother's various injuries.

Lila looked up into green eyes that had concern in them. "Hey!" She whispered and looked over as Xena was doing her healing thing. "I didn't even hear you guys come in." The dark haired woman glanced at the window and saw that the hour was now getting near suppertime. "I didn't know it was that late. Boy time sure has a way of getting away from when you are worried."

Gabrielle glanced over at Xena and knew just how true those words. There were quite a few times when watching her partner struggle with a nagging injury and there was nothing she could do about it. It was the frustration of knowing just how much pain the other person was in that was what was so draining and distracting at the same time. "I can relate." Their eyes met and they knew in an instant.

Toris never stirred under his sister's careful touches. Xena seemed pleased with how he looked. "Well at least none of the cuts look like they are getting infected. Even with the best herbs and cleanser there is always that fear." The bruise on his eye was concerning her the most as the eye appeared to be swollen shut still. She knew that could lead to blindness if it didn't clear up soon. Just another reason to hate that damn Amazon.

Ezra's shout caught their attention. The duo ran down the stairs and out the front of the inn. The old man was standing on the porch pointing to the eastern entrance to the village. There was a lot of dust being kicked up on the path and what appeared to be a lot of riders coming in slow. The bard put her hand over her eyes to shield the remaining remnants of the sun out. It's too soon. Damn it is them. I can't believe they made such good time.

"Trade caravan." Xena smiled to herself. She felt an arm go around her waist and it made the smile grow even larger. "I thought they'd still be at least a day out." Both the bard and the warrior began to close the distance between them and the incoming strangers. Finally they met up with the lead guard and the warrior put her hand out and it was graciously taken. "You made good time. Glad to have you here."

"Xena!" The man hopped off from his mount. "My name is Tebis." He looked at the blond standing next to the warrior. "I remember you. You're the battling bard." The soldier held out his hand and it was also taken. "I know your name is Gabrielle. I loved hearing your stories when I was just a little spec of a thing." Raised eyebrows from both the warrior and the bard. "I was but a lad when you helped out the queen when she had her first born. You told stories the night you left. I almost followed you both."

Gabrielle was actually blushing slightly at the thought. That was a lifetime ago. And he remembered all these years later? "Well it's an honor to meet you Tebis. I hope that while you are here I can oblige with some stories once again." She looked at Xena who nodded the barest of nods. "But that might have to wait. We've been having just a little bit of trouble as of late."

Tebis looked at the bard and then into Xena's ice cold blue eyes. "I'm sorry to hear that." He let out a whistle and a man on horseback came to stand with them. "This here is Gregious. He's the healer they sent to come along in case we came upon trouble." He looked at Gabrielle then back to Xena. "Looks like we've come upon trouble."

"I've been tending to the injured." Xena's voice was a bit strained. "I am a healer in my own right but I wouldn't mind a second opinion. It involves my brother." The healer nodded as if to say whatever needs done will be done. "If you go to the inn and ask the man at the door he'll send you to my brother's room. I'd be grateful. We'd all be grateful." Without a word the healer took off towards the inn.

The captain of the guard took a couple cautious steps a little closer to the pair he had grown up idolizing. "The queen told us to turn back as soon as we had helped unload the supplies." He took in the exchange of glances between the two women. "However the princess told me that I should help out here for a few days until everything was settled. And if there was trouble I'd be in trouble if we didn't stay to help out."

That got a smile out of Gabrielle. "She has grown in the past few weeks. Though I started to see the change while I was still there." The bard felt a little relieved as there was the possibility of a handful of seasoned warriors that would be here to hopefully help out. "We are facing Amazons and a warlord named Draco."

Tebis took this in not surprised by the fact that Amazons were involved. He had kept up as much as he could with the adventures of his heroes saddened when they had supposedly died and happy when their tales started to surface again. Then there was the last tale which he was glad was true and had been corrected. "We've had dealings with Draco ourselves. I've never had the pleasure of fighting Amazons before."

"It's not a pleasure." Xena's voice was at its deepest. With a passion she hated the damned featherheads but it was something that they would always have to deal with as there was no way for her soul mate to give up her right of caste. "I'd rather fight Draco and his men. I just hope that we don't have to fight both at the same time." She started for the supply train and turned back to her new friend. "Tell anyone in your party not to stray too far." She let a feral grin appear on her face. "Traps."

The lead guard nodded his head in understanding. He knew that if anyone could set a nasty trap it would be the warrior princess. He watched as the woman made her way to the wagons to sort out the assorted items that had been promised to them. Then he turned his attention to the bard who seemed to be somewhere else. "There are some new parchment papers in the lot."

That snapped Gabrielle's attention back into the here and now. Her thoughts had been in a past that seemed so far ago. But that was for another time and this was the here and now. "Well, let's go see what we've got then." The bard walked over to where her soul mate was and was surprised when her partner actually jumped when she touched her back. Something was shoved to someone else causing the bard to become very curious. "Are you hiding something from me?"

Xena turned and rolled her eyes at her younger partner. "Like I could hide anything from you. You know me like the back of your own hand." She walked toward the rest of the guard. There were a total of fifteen men. It wouldn't be much of a force for defense but better than what they had now. The warrior was barking out orders and making every one a bit nervous.

The bard watched her with a bit of curiosity. She used to act like that when she was trying to surprise me with something. But what? Then she decided if her soul mate wanted to surprise her she would trust her completely and just wait until her lover was ready to share. A whistling sound alerted her and somehow she was grabbing an arrow. "Xena!"

The warrior snapped her attention to her soul mate and saw the arrow in her hand. "Behind the wagons! Now!" Everyone scrambled including the fifteen soldiers. There were also ten wagon drivers to worry about. The arrows were coming freely and the warrior cursed under her breath. Gabrielle found her partner and handed her the arrow. "Amazons."

Gabrielle sighed heavily having so hoped that she could have turned Varia around. Guess there really was too much bad blood between us. I know I can't redeem everyone but it sure hurts when I think I can and then they still turn on us. "I know you know this but we're sitting ducks here." There was a howl from far away. "That sounded painful. Was that the spiked log trick you think?"

Xena smiled and nodded her head. She was glad that the damned featherheads weren't unsusceptible to her little traps. Some warriors. Gods I hate Amazons. There was another volley of arrows and then there was silence. Then there was another scream this time it was the warning of an oncoming attack. The warrior stood cautiously and she could see at least ten Amazons attacking. Her smile grew large as she whistled. All fifteen soldiers and her soul mate stood up and revealed themselves.

Ten Amazons, Varia in the lead, came to a screeching halt. The Amazon had thought they would only be dealing with Xena and the wannabe queen. Instead she found that they were facing off against fifteen soldiers. "Retreat!" Her words shocked the other Amazons but they took off running. Without even a word the fifteen soldiers took off after them.

A curse escaped the warrior. "Damned soldiers." Xena wanted to go after them but decided to let them run off what looked like extra energy. "Hopefully they'll think about it and turn back here where we need them more." She started to turn around and found herself looking down into sparkling green eyes. "What?"

The only answer that she received was a hug that lasted for what seemed like forever. Xena was taken aback but she just held the pleasurable embrace. "You know," the warrior drawled. "I do have to get these people settled for the night." Again sparkling green eyes shown up at her. "I love you too." I wonder if she suspects something. Oh well. I'll find out once we get this mess with the Amazons and Draco settled. Then I'm going to become even luckier than I already am and make it official. If she'll have me…