I would just like to take the time and apologize now. I am sorry, but all is fair in love and war. Do not stone me! :(

Chapter 71

As the Warrior Princess and her men made their way down the narrow dirt road, Xena just could not shake the feeling like they were being watched. She let her eyes slowly search along the tree line, looking for anything out of the ordinary but kept coming up with nothing. This just did not feel right, something was off… but what?

There was someone out there, who was it, she was not quite sure. Looking around at her men Xena could see that none of them paid any real attention to the surrounds around them and she sighed inwardly to herself. That was something she was going to have to change, they could not take the risk of being caught off guard. While Xena kept looking pensively around, seemingly preoccupied in her own head, Gascar was watching her every movement wondering just what in Tartarus she was looking for.

She did not seem to be paying any attention to where it was that they were going, and he sneered to himself with the War Gods stupid decision when it came to her.

"If you would like to keep those eyes in your head then I suggest you stop staring at me." Xena causally said, not breaking her gaze from the trees, still slowly scanning the horizon as they began to head to a clearing up ahead.

That comment had taken Gascar by surprise since she did not even look at him yet knew that he was staring at her. His shock quickly turned to bitterness though as he did not like the way she so causally threatened him for the second time in one day. She talked a good game, but we will see just how much those words would protect her when it came time for action.

"Care to share with the rest of the group what you find so fascinating with the trees?" Gascar condescendingly spat out, gesturing wildly at their sides as he chuckled and a few of the men laughed along with him.

"It'll take more than daydreaming at the leaves to lead this army." He purposely stated, causing several of the men to look at him questioningly for having challenged her like that, more than a few of them nonchalantly moving away from him at the possibility that he could be struck where he sat. They have all seen the War Gods wrath before and none of them were looking for a one-way ticket to Tartarus because he could not hold his tongue.

"Perhaps if you spent more time paying attention to your surroundings then what it is that I am doing then you would know that we are being followed…" Xena mockingly said, not even sparing him a glance which only pissed him off more for her lack of acknowledgement of him, "… which has been for about a mile now."

Her men became more alert at her words, some of them looking around more watchful to see if they could see what she was talking about. It was then that the Warrior Princess finally decided to cast her gaze towards this worthless soldier. What Ares ever saw in him she had no idea, though she supposed good men were hard to come by these days but honestly, Gascar was pissing her off and she was growing tired of his constant insubordination.

"If we were being followed then I would have known." He sneered confidently, trying to boast his own short comings, "Maybe you're not as good as our Lord seems to think. Wouldn't the rest of us have picked up on this so-called follower?'

His blatant disrespect of her only started to make Xena's blood boil. He was walking a far too thin line when it came to this and she wanted nothing more than to cut it and watch him fall into the abyss he was creating for himself. The moment that thought had entered her head, her hand unconsciously had already moved and rested on the hilt of the dagger at her side. It would be so easy she thought, he would not even stand a chance and at least then she would not have to listen to his annoying voice any longer. That would certainly show him as that dagger sunk deep into his chest, that cocky grin ever so satisfyingly falling off of his face once he realized what happened.

The thought of it alone made a gratifying small smile begin to tug at her lips but before Xena had the chance to act on her urge to just end his pathetic life, she was snapped from her thoughts with shouting.

"It's a trap! It's a trap!" one of her scouts had screamed as he came rushing back towards Xena and her army.

"You were saying?" Xena mockingly questioned, looking back at Gascar and seeing the utter shock and disregard in his face for her having been right.

"Alright boys, look alive…" Xena shouted out to her men, a gleeful smiling pulling at her lips as the thought of the coming battle filled her head, "… now the fun really begins."

Truth be told, she missed the thrill of the fight, it had been a while since she found herself on the battlefield, not since Athena's cowardly way of trying to get rid of her. She could not wait for the day that she made the Goddess pay for that but for now this little distraction would have to do. As the Warrior Princess and her men made their way into the clearing, Xena recognized instantly the banner waving on the other side of the battlefield and her mouth curled up in a hateful sneer at the sight. Looks like she would not have to wait too long to wipe the floor with the Goddess of Wisdom after all.

She had to give it to Athena though, this was a good ruse. Sending out false information and then turning the tables on them with a surprise battle when they were not prepared for one. Looking out across the field Xena could see that the Goddess troops were indeed ready and if she were not mistaken, those elite archers of hers had been the ones tailing them this whole time. Curious she thought though that they had not attacked sooner. Just what kind of trap was the Goddess trying to lay.

Without trying to spend too much thought as to why, Xena quickly started yelling out orders to her men to form ranks and prepare for battle. Some of them were sloppy with their tactics as they were not expecting to go in to battle so soon but the Warrior Princess was good, and she quickly dispelled any desertion notion from their minds.

"Soldiers of Ares" Xena yelled out loudly, quickly capturing the attention and mindset of her men as she rode back and forth on Argo to make sure they heard her.

"There is our enemy…", she said pointing out across the field to Athena's troops, "… they think they can best us, but they won't. We will not stop… we will not surrender… not until every last one of those pathetic soldier's blood stain your swords. You are the army of Xena, the Warrior Princess…" several of her men looked at her when she said that; some of them shocked that she did not say their Lord Ares' name instead, "… We're going to kill'em all!" she screamed, taking her sword out of its sheath as she did, and she raised it high above her head and her men shouted out with her at her words. They were her men now.

Across the field, Athena had watched the display with mild amusement. Xena always did have a way with pep talking everyone into battle, it was a weird blood lust that the Goddess never understood when it came to that mortal woman. But that traitor would live to regret the day that she decided to betray her. No one made a fool of her and just got away with it. With a small nod of her head, one of the Goddess' men gave the signal for attack and her army moved forward. Seeing this, Xena let out her battle cry and it ignited something deep within her men and they rushed forward to meet Athena's troops.

It was not long before both armies were full out raging in war against each other but given the unexpected surprise attack on Xena's army, Athena's troops had the upper hand. The Goddess gave another signal, and it was not long before her archers had joined the fray.

The Warrior Princess gazed around at this tactic, fighting off several of Athena's men as she did. They had certainly caught them off guard and her men were not entirely prepared for this battle but Xena just could not believe it. Some of the tactics that the Goddess was using was some of the same ones Xena herself had trained Athena's army to do. Was the Goddess really that blind by her hatred for her that she did not even think to change the game up a little? The Warrior Princess' men were fairing well but Xena knew that Athena's method was better. In a spur of the moment decision to try and disrupt the Goddess' plan of victory, Xena yelled out new orders to her men, causing them to change up their approach to counter act the Olympians' plan.

It was not noticeable at first as Athena stared out upon the battlefield, her eyes filled with delight as Ares' army was slowly being defeated. She found Xena on the field and she shook her head slightly at the wasted potential she had given up and for what? That diabolical excuse for a brother of hers? Their eyes had connected then and Xena just gave the Goddess of Wisdom a vindictive grin as she sliced her way through one of her men, breaking their connection for a brief moment as she spun around to take out another who tried to sneak up behind her before returning the Goddess' stare with pure rage. She wanted Athena to know that she was not going to be able to get rid of her that easily.

It was then that the Goddess started to realize it, the same thing that Xena had managed to do some many countless times in the past when she served her that she still did not know how she always managed to do it. Somehow, that traitor had turned the tides in her own favor and Athena was none too happy with what she was seeing as her own troops failed to counter act her defense as they simply lacked the mindset to be one step ahead of their enemy. Even her archers were not getting the military commands that they needed, Astra was really letting her down and the Goddess only grew furious at the thought.

It was not long after that a resonating horn started to go off and Athena's men started to pull back as Xena's army looked around confused for a moment, not sure what this meant. The Warrior Princess kept her men steady though, already setting up new ranks, preparing for the next wave of attack for whatever the Goddess thought she had up her sleeve. The Olympian was not going to win this, not by a long shot.

"Congratulations, Xena…" Athena's voice could be heard loudly as Xena's army stood there ready for what was to come, many of them looking around for the cause of the voice, "… you may have won this battle, but I would like to once again remind you that you picked the wrong side." She hissed out triumphantly even though she had indeed lost to this mortal woman again, but she was going to have the last laugh.

With an almost unperceivable motion of her head, two of Athena's elites started to bring someone forward from further behind where the Goddess was standing. That far away Xena could not make out who it was given their head was covered with a sack and she watched as Athena's archers cruelly knocked the person to the ground. Their hands were tied behind their back, so the person fell harshly to the ground from the shove. The archers roughly moved him to their knees and left them there as Athena slowly walked up to them. She wanted to leave Xena with a parting gift and she was absolutely certain that this would get her attention and make her rue the day that she had defied her.

"I warned you once before that by allying yourself with Ares would only bring you pain and suffering…." Athena calmly said as her voice continued to reverberate throughout the field, "… This is your doing Xena… remember that."

The Warrior Princess just looked on in confusion, what in Hades was she going on about and what did this person have to do with anything. It was not long before she got her answer though and Xena looked on as Athena lifted her hand to the persons head and pulled off the sack that had been concealing them. Xena's eyes had widened in shock once she saw who it was, she could not believe her eyes for a moment and her heart sank once she finally accepted it.

There he was, Lyceus… he looked like he had been through the pits of Tartarus with how dirty and tired he looked. His eyes peered out wildly on the field, looking for someone, anyone that could help him and that is when his gaze fell upon his sister and a small sigh of relief escaped his lips. She would get him out of this, there was no doubt in his mind about it that she would not.

Athena looked on as the two siblings looked at each other. Each one thinking that somehow, they could avoid the inevitable. Pity, she really did hate that it had to come to this put she needed to get her point across, and she was not going to be shown up by a mortal. With a slight nod of her head, one of her men moved forward and before Xena even had a chance to react the man drew his sword and with one strong shove, his blade impaled Lyceus from behind, blood immediately pouring out of his chest and his mouth as he started to cough it up from the impact.

Xena's eyes had grew wide in disbelief at what had just taken place and she watched as the man savagely kicked Lyceus off of his blade and into the dirt.

"No!"