Chapter 29 – Part II of V: Revival of the Warlord

Octavius had arrived a day after Xena did to the Balkan Mountains and was oblivious as to why he was lead to this place, but by the tracks he knew that Xena and her army were hiding here. He had no idea where they were hiding, which obviously gave Xena the advantage here.

Xena was hidden behind a large amount of trees with Gabrielle by her side. Solan and a group of men had gone to the cities in Thrace to retrieve weapons. She hoped that there would be enough for everyone, though she was known to improvise when necessary. Octavius obviously had more than enough weapons but not nearly enough men as her. Though, numbers were not important to Xena. A bigger army didn't always mean that you were better than the opponent. It often meant that they were gloating or showing off. Xena just happened to doing all the above. She wanted Octavius to leave and never come back, but she knew the only way that would be happen was if he was dead. And she was going to rid the Roman Empire of this young arrogant emperor.

Gabrielle squinted her eyes and saw Octavius and some of his army in the open field, completely unaware that they were staring right at him. He was giving himself away, but she knew that would happen because this was unfamiliar territory for him. Normally the battles were fought on flat land, nobody had anywhere to hide, but now, there were many hiding spots.

"When do we attack him?" the blonde asked, quite eager to get this on with.

Xena smiled, putting a finger over her lips, "not yet, Gabrielle. He is looking for a place to set up his tents for his army," she frowned, glancing around seeing exactly where he was planting his campsite. It was so obvious to her, though she was sure he was feeling anxious about this entire war.

The days were short in these mountains thus making darkness the ultimate advantage for Xena. A sneaky grin appeared on her lips and she grabbed Gabrielle's arm, pulling her along with her. "I have an idea," she was ecstatic. Gabrielle huffed and followed forcefully with Xena.


Later that evening Octavius was camped in his tent. They had found a reasonable spot, at least in his eyes. They were hidden in the trees, though not far from the stream down below. He sighed as he was looking for a map of the area. He was unfamiliar with these mountains and he had yet to see Xena and her army. He knew that she was here, which also made him incredibly nervous. He had no idea where she was hiding, but if she was here, then she'd already know that he'd arrived.

One of his men came into the tent and the emperor put down his quill staring at the young man. "Sir, we have the entire campsite set up."

Octavius nodded, "good. I want guards posted on the outskirts," he rubbed his bare chin, "I don't want Xena's men coming anywhere close to us. I know she's here, hiding in her snake hole."

The soldier quirked his mouth, "sir are you sure that she is here? We haven't seen any sign of them."

The emperor stood up and balled his fist, "of course she's here! The tracks lead us here!" he groaned and began to pace around. "Make sure we are well guarded," he shooed him away and the soldier left, bowing his head firmly before exiting. Octavius sighed and plopped down in his chair once more feeling stressed about this entire war. He was beginning to regret destroying Xena's home because he made a personal attack and Xena did not like it when her personal life interfered with political warfare. But considering that Xena had been out of practice in warfare for fifteen years, he wondered how well prepared Xena was, if she was at all. With all the years he had known her, he knew never to underestimate her. Since he did an unconventional act against Xena, he knew that was making her blood boil. She looked livid when he saw her face as she exited her flooded palace.


Back in Xena's campsite she gathered up a group of some of her men and some of Samuel's. She of course asked Gabrielle to accompany her. Since her last big war with Octavius twenty two years ago was definitely a victory, Xena was not able to participate as much as she'd like to, but this time it was different. And since Octavius was no longer playing by the rules then that meant that Xena wasn't either. She was going back to her roots, forgetting politics and elegant warfare of the empress status she worked so hard for. She forgot her title and was now a soldier just like everyone else. She wasn't going to stand off in the sidelines watching the battle from afar. No, she wanted to be a part of this war effort.

Dropping her crown as empress and her extravagant armor and cloak, she striped down to the bare necessities. Wearing only pants and a long sleeved top. She hooked her chakram onto her belt and strapped a bow to her back with a cluster of arrows.

Gabrielle stood with her arms folded quite confused as to what Xena's plan was. "Xena, what exactly are we doing?" she asked.

Xena grinned, "guerilla warfare, Gabrielle." She, the soldiers and Gabrielle were in a swampy area of the mountains. She knelt down and dipped her fingers in the mud, rubbing it in between her fingers. She then spread the clay mud across Gabrielle's cheek. "If Octavius wants to play, we can too." She gestured to the mud and the men immediately covered their faces in the clay. Gabrielle was still confused but she did as the others did.

Group of five men tagging along behind Gabrielle with Xena leading the way. Xena pinned back her bangs and her face and neck was covered in mud, making sure her silhouette was unseen to the naked eye in the darkness.

Everyone crept behind trees down to where Octavius' campsite was. Xena saw a few soldiers guarding the outskirts and halted her hand. Gabrielle crawled on her knees and eyed the soldiers. They were pacing around slowly, complaining about the cold crisp mountain weather. She looked up to Xena with a curious grin. Xena nodded and Gabrielle grabbed a rock throwing it at one of the Roman's helmets.

The Roman groaned and his partner immediately unsheathed his sword. His eyes dancing around trying to find who threw the rock. His heart began to race as he heard rustling in the trees. "Come out here!" he yelled, but nothing. His moaning partner growled and began walking to the bushes with a torch to get a better view.

One of the Persian archers smiled and drew his bow, shooting the pacing Roman. He groaned and fell to the ground. His partner gasped, turning around to see an arrow sticking out of his friend's chest. Now he was beginning to become afraid. It was so dark out here and there was no light from the moon and stars due to the high mountain peaks.

Xena crept behind the tree, smiling at the frightened Roman. She quickly grabbed him, covering his mouth pulling him into the darkness. With a quick move, she snapped his neck and drug his body behind a large tree. She waved her hand to the men behind her. Gabrielle came beside Xena and stared at the young Roman soldier.

"I've never seen you use these tactics before..." Gabrielle was really curious now. Xena winked at her and walked ahead quietly.

"Sometimes, you must go back to your old ways to win something new..." she whispered and crouched down. They all came to a stopping point and there Xena spotted the wagons filled with weapons. "If we don't have weapons, neither should he..." she grinned mischievously.

Gabrielle saw a Roman walking around with a torch circling the wagon. She saw Xena eyeing the wagons and something came over her. She smiled and ran forward. Xena's eyes widened, fearing that Gabrielle was going to ruin the entire plan. Gabrielle now understood what Xena's plan was, even though she was rather cryptic about it. She took out a dagger from her boot and covered the mouth of the Roman, slitting his throat.

Slowly, she lowered his body to the ground and took his torch. She saw some other soldiers were unaware even though they were a mere fifteen feet away from her. She threw the lit torch into one of the wagons and ran back into the trees.

Breathing heavily she grinned, quite proud of herself. Xena blinked, surprised at her skills. Gabrielle looked to her brunette consort and shrugged. "What? It's what you wanted, right?" she snickered.

Xena smiled at her then saw the other Romans screaming and yelling that one of their weapon caravans was on fire, burning all the bows, axes and arrows. "Well done Gabrielle," she drew her bow and shot three arrows at the three Romans running around like fire ants.

Two Persian soldiers ran forward and grabbed the other torches from the fallen Romans and lit the other three caravans on fire. Xena frowned as she saw a slew of Romans coming for them. She ran down below and looked up at the frail branches of the trees above the path the Romans were running through. She smiled and lit two of her arrows on fire and closed an eye, aiming upward at the branches. She shot the arrows and the frail branches immediately caught fire and Xena saw the Romans running. Her eyes widened wildly as she glanced at the branches beginning to break.

Gabrielle's mouth gaped as she looked above and saw the branches break and collapse on a bunch of Roman soldiers coming their way. The soldiers screamed in agony as their flesh began to burn and she looked to see Xena was elated.

"Xena..." she said breathlessly, "you've been holding back on your skills," she grinned widely and Xena pat her shoulder firmly. The empress whistled to the Persian soldiers to retreat. She knew more Romans would come and the job had been done. Step one, get rid of Octavius' resources. This was to be a fair fight, right?

Everyone returned to the campsite and Xena took the bow off her back, throwing it on the ground. Gabrielle looked below and could still see the fire and it had spread some. Black smoke filled the dark skies and she shook her head. She saw Xena beginning to wipe the mud off her face with a cloth. She sat beside her and drank some water. "You seemed excited back there," she nudged Xena's arm.

Xena smirked, "it has been awhile, but...it was nice," she gave Gabrielle the satisfaction of being right.

"Should we expect an attack soon?" Gabrielle asked, now coming back to reality. They had just destroyed hundreds of extra weapons and that would surely enrage the emperor.

Xena shook her head, "no, Octavius would not be foolish enough to attack at night. The dark is not his friend," she smiled and splashed her face with some water, trying to get the clay off her skin.

"Until the morning then," Gabrielle said with a mysterious grin.


In the dead of night a soldier burst into Octavius' tent with baited breath. The emperor frowned giving the man his full attention. "Sir! The caravans –burned! The weapons –gone!" he exhaled harshly.

The emperor's eyes grew irate. He growled and the map of Thrace off his desk. "Xena!" he yelled and flipped his desk over, growing more angry by the second. He brushed passed the young soldier exiting his tent. He looked around and saw his men running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They were in a panic.

He snarled, his upper lip quivered thinking that Xena had done this. She was playing dirty and she was so good at it. he had truly underestimated her skills as a fighter even at her age. He thought that this was going to be easy but he was wrong.

Looking around he frowned deeply. "Where are you..." he hissed. His head snapping around in all directions trying to figure out where the gorgon was hiding. Wherever she was hiding he was determined to find her. She was smart and had no open camp fires out in these dark mountains. She was good at hiding, it was a skill of hers. "I will find you, Xena," he smiled deviously.

A few short hours later morning arrived and Octavius had not slept all night. The war had not even touched its peak and he already lost at least ten men. Ten men he couldn't afford to lose compared to Xena's large army. He also lost his extra caravans of weapons, which was not good news for him. He needed those weapons. It was the only advantage that he had against her but he suspected that she knew that and got rid of the weapons to put herself at the top of the mountain.

Riding on his horse with a few men he pointed to his left. "Some of you go that way and the others will go the other way. I want you all to scout for Xena and her men. I want to know where she is hiding." He frowned, looking around. He thought it would be easier to see where she was during daylight, but he was wrong. She could be anywhere. "I also want to move our campsite elsewhere. Since she knows where we are, we are right in her trap." The men nodded to him and left to their respected areas.


Xena knew that Octavius would be on the move the following morning and so she was prepared. Sleeping a few hours was just enough for her to come up with a new plan. She had asked for a set of armor from one of her men. She was able to retrieve two sets from her men, of course they gladly offered it to her.

She returned to the camp and threw the armor on the ground startling Gabrielle as she was eating some fish. Gabrielle jumped and dropped her spoon in her bowl. "What's this?" she glanced up at Xena.

The brunette smirked, "our new armor." She began taking off her own gauntlets and putting on the male's large gauntlets.

"But we have armor..." Gabrielle wasn't following. She set her bowl aside and saw Xena continuing to don the armor set. She slipped the chest plate over her torso and tightened it with the leather straps. Gabrielle rolled her eyes and stood up. "What are you doing?"

Xena picked up the extra chest piece and pushed it into Gabrielle's chest. "We're going in disguise as male soldiers, Gabrielle. Come on, keep up," she jested and the blonde eyed her questionably.

"And why would we do that?" she asked though slipped on the heavy armor. She grunted and pulled the straps as tight as they would possibly go. She learned not to question Xena's ways of doing things but this was just unconventional. Xena's tactics were unlike she had ever seen and they were new to her, though Xena had obviously used these tactics before a very long time ago. Perhaps when she was a young warlord just starting out in the battlefield and as she grew more powerful she hid behind her veil of power. This war with the Roman Empire brought out a new side of Xena that Gabrielle had never witnessed before. It was refreshing though confusing at all once.

Xena smiled, "we're going hunting," she took one of the Persian's turbans and wrapped it around her face, hiding her long locks and feminine face.

She gathered up a group of ten men from her army and Gabrielle followed her. They went east in the mountains. Xena knew that Octavius was going to try and find her, but she wanted to confuse the poor emperor. He will never find me, she thought, even though I am right in front of him.


Everyone had their faces covered with a black long piece of fabric, including Gabrielle. They walked together in the woods and Xena stopped, looking up at the trees. She eyed Gabrielle with a bit of mischief in her eyes. "do you climb trees, Gabrielle?" she hissed. Xena jumped up and grabbed onto a tree branch, swinging her legs up and over, landing on the tree branch.

Gabrielle's eyes widened and now she didn't even know who Xena was anymore. She had been in battles with her before but this style of strategy was unknown to her, especially with her own upbringing. She had trained with Roman fighting styles but this method was almost archaic and tribal. She wondered where Xena learned how to do this.

A few voices were heard and some of the men managed to climb up in neighboring trees. Gabrielle wasn't even going to try, she thought she would definitely injure herself. Instead, she crouched down behind some brush, peeking through the leaves. Looking up in the tree above she saw Xena crouched down against the tree trunk, listening to the voices come closer. Gabrielle sighed, feeling her heart racing. It was such a thrill, yet scary all at once.

Xena creased her eyebrows and peeked from behind the tree and saw Romans on horseback and foot searching the area. She looked to her men in the trees across from her. She shook her head preventing them from attacking. She smiled and saw the last Roman on horseback riding behind the entourage. She silently jumped down onto the horse and covered the Roman's mouth.

He looked back and saw a soldier with his face veiled. Xena smiled behind the veil and dug her fingers into his neck, knocking the soldier out and then slit his throat before throwing him off the horse. She rode behind the Romans and they were completely oblivious.

Xena's men above crouched down and walked across branches from one tree to the next, trying to keep up. Gabrielle came out from the brush and saw the dead Roman lying on the ground. She quietly followed behind hiding in the trees, remaining unseen by the Roman soldiers.

"I can't believe he's making us look for Xena," one of the Romans said.

Another scoffed, "yeah, it's pretty obvious that she doesn't want to be found."

"She hides a lot. It's what she's good at!" the other Romans laughed along with him.

Xena frowned and pulled out a dagger, throwing it at one of their necks. He let out a loud cry and fell off his horse. The other soldiers turned around and saw one of their cohorts dying on the ground. They also saw a masked soldier, one of Xena's men. She waved at them and they drew their swords, hopping off their horses. She jumped off the horse and withdrew her own sword waiting for this moment.

Gabrielle was still hidden behind a tree and she smiled, drawing her Sais out from her boots and attacked one of the men from behind, stabbing the Sais into his calves. The Roman cried out in agony and collapsed onto the ground. Xena winked at her and thrust her blade into an oncoming soldier.

The archers in the trees aimed and shot their arrows into the Romans down below. One of them was missed and he looked up and saw Xena's men in the trees. "What in Hades is this?!" he yelled in fear. He saw his brothers being slaughtered by just a few of Xena's men. He quickly ran to his horse and dropped his weapon out of fear and a hurry to get out of this area. He didn't care about Xena and her men, he didn't want to die.

Gabrielle punched one of the Roman's in the face and stabbed him with the Sais. She breathed heavily, feeling her blood pumping through her veins. Glancing up she saw one of them escaping. Xena growled and kicked the soldier down onto the ground and twirled her sword in her wrist right before plunging the blade into his chest.

"He's getting away!" she yelled and Xena pulled out her sword, finishing the last of the small group.

She sighed and took the veil off her face, and watched the coward ride away into the woods. "Let him go. He's going to die anyway when Octavius finds out that all of his men died," she smirked. Looking around at all the dead Romans surrounding them. She placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Good job, Gabrielle. You're getting good at this," she smiled and began walking off into the western mountains.

Gabrielle took the veil off and gaped at Xena. "Good at what? Xena!" she ran after her.


Solan was able to travel to neighboring cities in Thrace to gather weapons like Xena asked him to. He rode on his horse further into this village and squinted his eyes from the bright sunlight. A smile came to him once he realized where he was. It was his mother's home, her true home when she was a child and teenager. Amphipolis. He had been here before a very long time ago, but hadn't been back since that last time to see Cyrene, his grandmother.

Xena did not seem to keep in contact with her mother as much as he'd hoped. A lot had happened in the last decade, but he did miss this area. It wasn't as busy or metropolitan like Athens was. It was calmer here and relaxing too. The people here were also very kind and not so business-like compared to the larger Greek cities. He wondered if Amphipolis was still the same as he left it so long ago.

Riding into the city he saw many people staring at him, of course, he was not recognized, but he recognized all of the shops and homes in the village. Everything was the same except for one thing. The Romans had invaded Amphipolis which definitely sent Xena over the edge. He attacked her homeland in hopes to gain more territory and that's what perhaps started this entire war, or at least one of the things.

Smiling at everyone, the group of men behind him saw fear in the people's eyes. They looked afraid of them. These people had obviously been through a lot and he almost didn't want to ask for any weapons from them.

He came to the outskirts and saw his mother's old home, it was larger than most homes, probably because her mother, Cyrene, owned not one but several taverns throughout Amphipolis and various Thracian cities. She was considered rather wealthy in this small village. Solan hopped off his horse and told his men to stay behind and wait for him.

He walked towards the home and exhaled heavily, not sure this was a good idea especially in the middle of a war. He knocked on the door and took a generous step back from the door. He waited for awhile and heard rustling from inside. Gradually the door opened and he saw Cyrene, she looked much the same, minus a few grey hairs in her auburn brown hair.

Cyrene squinted her eyes at the man at her door then her eyes widened. "Solan?" finally recognizing who he was. He was a lot older than she last saw him. He reminded her of her youngest son, Lyceus –the same blonde hair, eyes and facial structure, although he had a lot of Xena in him. His smile was definitely Xena's and his slim build.

"Solan?" she smiled and he grinned back at her nodding his head. She stepped out of the house and embraced him warmly. "What are you doing in Amphipolis? Is your mother with you?"

He pulled away with a pained face. "Well, she's not in Amphipolis but she is here. We're warring against Octavius right now in the mountains in the west. She asked me to come gather weapons for the war effort, but..." he looked around at the people in the village, "I don't really want to ask you guys for weapons.." he grinned sheepishly.

Cyrene shook her head thinking of Xena. She hadn't seen her in many years and thought she was done with those Romans, but apparently not. "Your mother is very stubborn. She will stop at nothing, will she?" she smiled weakly.

He shrugged his shoulders, "you know how she is," he chuckled softly.

Cyrene agreed, "yes I definitely know how she is," she smiled looking at what a fine young man Solan has become. "You've grown up so much, Solan. I wish I could have been there more for you," she sighed then her eyes lit up, thinking of her other grandchild, Eve. "How is Eve? Is she with Xena?"

Solan quirked his mouth, "no she's in Egypt right now." He saw his grandmother's confused face. "She's um," he tapped his chin, "she's pregnant and mother didn't want her anywhere near the war right now."

She stood still and silent. Solan blinked, watching her expression go unchanged for a few moments. "She's pregnant?" she couldn't believe her ears. "When did that happen?"

He didn't really want to talk about Eve and Samuel's relationship because it was his sister and also was none of his business. He smiled kindly, "about six months ago. Maybe when this is all over, we can bring Eve to see you," his smile widened.

Cyrene grinned quite liking that idea a lot. "I still remember when Eve when a little girl, somehow I believe that she grew up to be quite a handful, considering Xena is her mother," she exhaled heavily.

He scoffed, "you have no idea! She was definitely more than mother could handle especially when she was a teenager. Now though, she's more calm," he smiled.

"I hope so. Is Gabrielle with Xena right now? I miss that girl, she's so smart, isn't she?" she grinned.

Solan nodded, "yes she's with mother. She's great, I love her a lot. I don't know where I would be without her by my side. She and mother have been through a lot. It will be tough to separate those two," he smirked. He looked to his men who were waiting for him and he sighed, "well, I need to get back to the mountains with these weapons."

Cyrene hated to see him go. She hadn't seen him in so long and now he was leaving her once again. "Tell Xena...that I miss her and she should come visit," she said sadly.

He nodded with a wide grin, "I will," he hugged her tightly before saying goodbye to make the trek back to the Balkan Mountains. Cyrene watched as he mounted his horse and left with the caravans of weapons with the soldiers in tow. She sighed thinking that she had missed so much of her daughter's life and now Eve was pregnant, which would make Xena..a grandmother. Cyrene couldn't imagine her daughter's face when she found out about that. Xena was always prepared for the worst but somehow she believed that Xena wouldn't have been prepared for a surprise such as that.


Gabrielle walked over to Xena as they sat down in their small campsite. They waited and waited for another attack but she presumed that Octavius was running out of ideas and obviously had gotten word from that soldier that left the scene on horseback. She sighed drawing in the dirt with a stick.

Xena was cleaning her sword and looked over to a disturbed Gabrielle. "What's wrong, Gabrielle?"

She glanced up and smiled weakly, "nothing. I was just thinking of all the skills you have." She tapped the ground with the stick and scoffed, "how did you learn how to do some of that stuff?"

Xena smiled, "I learned from the Amazons a long time ago. Their skills are very useful in a battle like this."

"Amazons? You met Amazons?" Gabrielle rubbed her forehead. "You are full of surprises, aren't you?"

The brunette winked, "I like to keep you on edge at all times, Gabrielle. It's my secret for staying so young," she teased. Gabrielle chuckled softly and then saw Samuel come up to them.

"I did what you said, Xena. My men are guarding the perimeters of our camp." He pulled out a pouch from his vest and frowned. "I didn't find the berries you asked for, but I did find these leaves. They're very poisonous." He tossed the bag to her and she looked inside, smelling the leaves.

Gabrielle frowned, "poisonous leaves?" she almost didn't want to know.

Xena nodded, "Gabrielle, I have a mission for you." She stood up and pointed to the stream close to Octavius' camp. "See that stream over there?" Gabrielle nodded. "I want you to crush these leaves and put it in the water."

"You want to poison their water supply?" Gabrielle was surprised at these tactics. Xena nodded her head with a sneaky smile. "Well, alright," Gabrielle grinned mischievously, now excited that she was assigned a special mission. It was obvious that Xena wanted to get rid of Octavius by taking out all of his resources without bloodshed first. It was smart, yet dangerous too.

"Take a group of men with you," Xena called out and Gabrielle nodded, running off to find a willing group to go with her. Now Xena was alone with Samuel and he was being very quiet. She sat down and continued cleaning her blade. Samuel stood looking out mindlessly at the waterfall below the hill.

"Something troubling you, Samuel?" she asked nicely and he turned to her, shaking his head in silence. She smirked, "you know I don't like when people lie to me."

He sighed and leaned against a tree, folding his arms. "It's been almost two weeks since I've seen Eve."

Xena knew that he definitely missed Eve and it was painfully obvious in his face and lack of voice. "I know you miss her, but once this is all over you will be able to see her again." She smiled.

He nodded, understanding her but still didn't fix the fact that Eve wasn't here with him now. He kicked some dirt with his boot and sighed deeply. "I don't know how long this war will go on. So far, it's very slow."

Xena grinned deviously, "it won't be slow once Gabrielle is finished with her mission." She looked at the clean blade and set it aside. She pat the empty spot next to her and he waltzed over and took a seat beside her. "I know you've never been in a war before, but it doesn't always end as quickly as we want it to. Sometimes wars go on for years. I just happen to shorten mine," she winked and he smiled weakly. "Wars that go on for years are pointless and very costly." She saw her speech wasn't really making the Persian King feel better at all.

They sat in silence for awhile and then she sighed. "Eve asked for you when we were in Luxor." She saw his eyes lit up. "I know she misses you as much as you miss her. What you two have is special and even when you're far apart, know that it's only temporary."

Samuel agreed to that. "I know, but it feels so long!"

She grinned, "when you're young everything feels that way, but as you get older it becomes easier. I promise you," she pat his shoulder and he smiled.

"I just want to help her as much as I can and I can't do that while I'm here so...I guess that's why I'm so...so..." he was trying to find the word to convey his angst.

"Upset? Depressed? Sad?" she teased and he looked to her. "It's pretty obvious, Samuel." She saw his cheeks blush and she smiled. "Only temporary, remember that," she winked and he grinned at her, feeling a bit better than he did earlier.

She stood up sheathing her sword and watched from behind a tree. She saw Gabrielle creeping around the waterfall to the other side where the Roman camp was. Samuel came beside her and he asked her, "so after Eve has the twins, I should talk to my mother about the wedding, right?"

Xena's eyes widened and she grinned nervously. "One thing at a time, Samuel," she pat his cheek and he blinked.