ACT 3
FADE IN
The Courtyard in Ares Temple outside Athens. Hercules is speechless from his shocking revelation, but soon regains his voice and charges at Ares.
Hercules:
(enraged) Your perversity knows no bounds! You couldn't get a child from the real Xena so you crossed universes and found a Xena who would give you one, didn't you? Didn't you, YOU SICK BASTARD?!!!
Ares:
(defensively) No! That is NOT the way it happened at all! I hadn't even approached Xena about having my child at the time! This was months before the twilight started! Zeus stripped me of my powers! I was mortal! Hedda's conception wasn't just part of some scheme! I doubt you'll believe me, but I truly loved The Conqueror and she loved me! Hedda is the product of that love!
Hercules:
Oh come on Ares! You only love yourself! At least now I know why you keep her around! You think she'll conquer the world for you just like her mother did in her twisted little universe! You have the perfect warlord, a blending of Xena's darkness and your miserable self!
Gabrielle:
(in shock and disappointment) You created a child with some alternate Xena! How could you? I thought you had changed, that maybe there was some good in you now! I guess I was wrong. (decisively) Where is she Ares? I'm taking her with me! If she's Xena's daughter then she belongs with me!
Ares:
Excuse me Gabrielle, but Hedda's an adult and decides where she belongs.
Hercules:
(explaining) She's 26.
Ares:
(contradictorily) She'll be 27 in four months.
For a moment, everyone is silent, collecting his or her thoughts.
Gabrielle:
(truly disappointed) Why didn't you ever tell Xena?
Ares:
(refusing to feel guilty) When do you suggest that I should have told her? When she held the dagger of Helios at my throat, or when she had the power to kill gods, or maybe I should have spoken up when I was a helpless mortal farmer being hunted by warlords? I'm not stupid, Gabrielle. I know what Xena would have done to me, and unlike her, I never had a suicidal streak!
Gabrielle:
(not letting him off the hook) What about after Xena helped you reclaim your godhood? By then she had already lost her power to kill gods. You could have told her then!
Ares:
I wanted to tell her, but Hedda begged me not too. She and her army have made some nice inroads in Chin. She is ruler to six provinces there and the people love her for it. She frees them from warlords who use nearly the entire population as slaves. She is teaching them how to govern and defend themselves after centuries of abuse by their own leaders. Not the way I'd go about conquering the known world, but if it works and she's happy…
Eve:
(shocked again) Hedda's 'The Liberator'?!
Hercules:
Who is 'The Liberator'?
Eve:
I was traveling along the borders of the land of Chin, teaching Eli's word, when I began hearing stories of a dark, Grecian, beauty whose army was freeing the enslaved masses, how she tended to those she conquered, making sure that the new governments she was installing were truly just and included ample funds for the building of hospitals and shelters. Some even surmised that she was the reincarnated spirit of Loa Ma, that woman Mother had said taught her how to open her heart to love. So, I decided to enter Chin despite the danger, to go and see this woman whose compassion was so legendary. I figured that if this Liberator was even half as noble as the people made her out to be that she would take to Eli's word like a fish to water, but before I even crossed the border into Chin, I got word of what was going on here in Greece, so I had to postpone my visit.
Ares laughs loudly at this.
Ares:
Trust me, Hedda is not interested in Eli's word. Even if you weren't involved, 'The Way of Love' would never suit her. Hedda's a true warrior at heart. She may be a bit of an idealist, but she loves the thrill of combat far too much to give it up. She believes that the way to bring order and justice to the world is through compassion-driven warfare against those she sees as the predators and vultures of society, the warlords, the dictators, the bandits…
Gabrielle:
(smiling smugly) She's like Xena.
Ares:
Sorry to burst your bubble Gabrielle, but Hedda doesn't follow Xena's path either. She is Athena's warrior. She and Athena were inseparable, even before Hedda could stand without holding onto something, and almost as early on she spurned my ways to follow that of her favorite aunt. That is why she chose not to meet Xena till it was unavoidable. You see, Hedda still has a great deal of pain and rage in regards to Xena's killing of Athena and her other aunts and uncles. She also knew that the minute Xena found out about her existence, the two of you would have been standing outside her war tent, and she wouldn't have been able to handle that meeting dispassionately. She knew that Xena would never tolerate her empire building, her taxing the people she liberates in order to keep her army strong, etcetera, etcetera, and that she'd have to come to terms with her feelings before she locked horns with Xena, or she'd loose focus, make a mistake, and be dead by her own mother's chakram. Considering the stakes were my daughter's life, and I knew things could very well go down exactly as Hedda was predicting they would, I respected her wishes and kept Xena in the dark.
Hercules:
So it suited your interests as a god, and to Tartarus with the consequences to your child's soul! You are so like Zeus right now, it's frightening!
Ares:
(enraged by the comparison to his father) No, no, see I let Hedda make her own way in the world, even when her way turned out to be completely contradictory to my own! I admit, I always told her exactly how I viewed things, but I never put anything, not even my godhood before her interests! It was Hedda's decision not to identify herself and though I pleaded with her to let Xena know that she existed, she adamantly refused. I wasn't going to disregard a decision she'd made about her own life in order to enforce my wishes upon her. I love and respect my daughter, and I did my best with her! I'm nothing like Zeus!
Hercules:
(defeatedly) You still should have found a way to tell Xena.
Gabrielle:
Where is this Hedda now?
Hedda:
(entering the courtyard) This Hedda is right here, My Queen.
Hedda walks over to the shaken Gabrielle, bows slightly, and extends the traditional Amazon greeting.
Gabrielle:
You're an Amazon? How can you be an Amazon and be in the service of your father? Amazons aspire to the highest ideals, to live independently and peacefully, fighting solely to survive and defend our Sisterhood. Your father's way is summed up in destruction and bloodshed. He only looks out for himself!
Hedda:
(holding all her emotions in check) Firstly, I am NOT in my father's service, and while Daddy is definitely selfish, I'd even go so far as to say he takes selfishness to new levels, you have to admit that wasn't a completely fair assessment or you wouldn't be here to argue the point. As for destruction and bloodshed, they are a part of who he is. I can hate my father for being the God of War as much as you can hate your parents for having been simple village folk. And by the by, I wouldn't be so sanctimonious if I were you. You definitely have blood on your hands, some of it belonging to my family!
For a moment, Hedda and Gabrielle stand face to face, each observing the other silently. The tension in the room is finally broken as Arcetius emerges from the back of the temple. He kisses Hedda on the cheek, and buttons the last few buttons on his uniform. Noticing his patron god standing in the room, he bows before Ares.
Arcetius:
Lord Ares, it is always good to see you. I wish to thank you for your favor in my recent triumphs.
Ares:
(with disinterest) And your sacrifices were very generous. Good work.
Arcetius formally bows again, before turning to Hedda and planting a possessive kiss on her.
Arcetius:
(softly) Sorry, Babe, but me and the guys have got to get going. I'll be back in a few weeks.
Hedda looks into Arcetius' eyes and softly runs the back of her hand along his cheek.
Hedda:
(disappointedly) So, you're saying you've made up your mind about what we discussed earlier?
Arcetius:
I am sorry Babe, but I don't go in for that community service gig. I go where the money and the conquest lies, and I'm not willing to commit my forces to any causes; the rewards are only good if you win. I wish you luck, Babe, really, but these Christian types make nasty enemies. I think I'll hedge my bets till I get a more definite sense of which way the winds are blowing these days.
Hedda:
(regretfully) Well than, I'm sorry too.
Without warning, Hedda fluidly removes a dagger from her waistband and plunges it straight into Arcetius' heart.
Hercules:
(in shock) Hedda!
Gabrielle and Eve wince at the barbarity, as Arcetius' knees buckle and he slips to the ground.
Arcetius:
(in pained confusion) Why Babe?
Hedda:
(neutrally) We need all the men we can get in this war and your army is well trained. Like I said, I am truly sorry. If it makes you feel any better, know that you were REALLY good in the sack, and it will be difficult to replace you.
As Arcetius takes his final breath, Hedda reaches down and rips the sash of leadership off his vest. There is a definite sadness in her eyes, but it's not so much for the man now dead at her feet, as for her own innocence and ideals. When she looks up, Hercules, Gabrielle, and Eve stare at her with condemnation.
Hedda:
(justifying her actions) I did what I had to do. His men are now under my command, and we really do need every soldier we can get. I'm sure even Queen Gabrielle will agree with me on that. I honestly wish it didn't have to be this way but it does.
Gabrielle:
(wearily) But did you have to kill him? Couldn't you have just defeated him in battle in front of his men and let him live, given him a chance to change his life instead of taking it from him?
Hedda:
(irritated) I could have, but Arcetius was an egotist. If I had stolen his army without killing him, he would have turned around and joined up with the Christians, or at least caused us trouble down the road. If my suspicions are correct, he was already playing both sides of the field, selling some of the spoils of his conquests to the Christians while using my father's name to recruit men into his army. Uncle Hercules said it himself; Arcetius had no respect for anyone or anything. At least this way the army he built can be put to good use and all the innocent people he would have killed in the future have been spared.
Ares rolls his eyes at his daughter's words but keeps silent, instead turning his attention to Gabrielle. He looks at her expectantly, as if to remind her that they all have things to do and they are wasting time standing here talking. Gabrielle gets the message and begrudgingly is forced to agree.
Gabrielle:
Well let's move out. We have a day and a half of riding to make it back to Amazon territory. (holding up her hand to forestall Ares protest) I know you can get us there quicker Ares, but the time on the road will do us all good, give us a chance to get to know each other, to form a cohesive unit and refine our strategy.
Ares:
I have recalled several of my priestess from Corinth and other Christian territories. They should make it to Amazon land by the end of the day, and can start training the Amazons on 'Christian decorum'. I know my brother prefers to walk, but I can have Argo II, Nutbread, and Bellona saddled and ready for you ladies.
Gabrielle:
(still not used to working with Ares) Thanks.
Gabrielle, Eve, Hercules, and Hedda exit the courtyard to start their journey, and Ares watches them go, his concerned eyes lingering on his daughter. He fears he will loose her, not so much to death, but to the misdeeds of his past. He's aware that he's done some truly rotten things to Xena, Gabrielle, Eve, and especially, Hercules, and he knows them well enough to know that they will lay it all on the line for Hedda in an effort to 'redeem' her and convince her that she should cut all her ties to him if she truly wants to be 'good'. It worked on Xena, and Ares fears that, given enough time, it will work on Hedda as well. Realizing he can do nothing about it now, he sighs and disappears.
CUT TO:
The road that leads to the Amazon Village. The sun is just beginning to set as Gabrielle, Eve, Hercules, and Hedda near the spot where they will make camp for the night. The three women on horseback trot along in companionable silence, while Hercules easily keeps up with the slow gate of the horses. Being on the road is second nature to them all, and with things as they are, it is more prudent to keep alert while traveling. They can talk later around the campfire.
CUT TO:
A clearing along the road. Just before sunset. The group finally reach an acceptable clearing and tie up the horses.
Gabrielle:
Okay, Hercules, why don't you go hunt us down some dinner, and…
Hedda:
(cutting Gabrielle off) Ah, if it's alright, I'd prefer to hunt. It helps me clear my mind at the end of a day.
Gabrielle:
(slightly annoyed at having been interrupted) Alright. Hercules, you can start…
Hedda:
Thanks!
Hedda doesn't even wait for Gabrielle to finish, but leaps into a nearby tree, Amazon style, and takes off into the woods. Gabrielle shakes her head.
Gabrielle:
As I was saying, Hercules, perhaps you could collect the firewood and fill the water skins from the creek a half mile from here.
Hercules:
(teasing Gabrielle) You're the boss.
As Hercules also goes off into the woods, Gabrielle and Eve start unpacking the horses. When Eve starts to unpack Hedda's horse, she finds a small sack of fruit. She looks inside.
Eve:
(surprised) Peaches! These don't grow anywhere near here, and the season for them is long over!
Gabrielle:
I guess there are advantages to having a god as your father.
Eve:
Maybe… but they don't begin to compare to the drawbacks. At least I got to meet Mother, got to know her. Hedda…
Gabrielle:
I know. I know. I keep thinking about how much Xena wanted to watch you grow up, to make up for not having been able to raise your brother, Solan, and how because of the gods and their prophesy, she never got that chance! Now we find out she had another child, one she never even knew existed! I swear, I'd kill Ares if I could! All that time he was claiming to love Xena, and he was keeping this from her!
Eve:
(gently) But he did love her. Hedda's existence doesn't change that. He gave up his godhood to save her! And he was right, if he had told Mother when he was mortal or when she had the power to kill gods, she'd probably have taken his life.
Gabrielle:
(in disbelief) What are you saying, Eve? That Ares was right to have kept Hedda a secret?
Eve:
No, but I can understand his reasoning. Think about it, Gabrielle. If Ares had told Mother right at the start, even before she gained the power to kill gods, what would she have done?
Gabrielle:
She would have demanded that he turn Hedda over to her so that she could raise her properly!
Eve:
Keep going.
Gabrielle:
(upset) Keep going where? Xena would have taken Hedda with us, and we would have raised her together, like we had planned on raising you! You two would have grown up as sisters!
Eve:
We are sisters, Gabrielle, but that's beside the point. What would have happened to Ares? Where would he have fit in?
Gabrielle:
(angrily) He wouldn't have! He had no right and no place! He would have raised her to be evil, to hurt people, to be like him!
Eve gives Gabrielle a moment to cool down a bit before beginning again.
Eve:
(softly) But he's her father and he loves her, so he does have a right and a place. As much as I loved Mother, she would have taken Hedda away from him without a second thought as to his feelings.
Gabrielle:
Feelings? What feelings? Ares doesn't have feelings outside of what he wants! Do you know what he said when I thanked him for saving us back on Mount Olympus? He calmly explained, around a mouthful of bread, that he only saved you to save Xena from Athena and that I was just an afterthought! The one good deed he does in his entire miserable life, and he does it for the wrong reasons! He didn't understand anything and as for his loving Hedda, I'm more inclined to believe Hercules' theory! Ares may be a bastard, but he was smart enough to know what a child of his and Xena's would be capable of. That's why he tried so hard to blackmail Xena into giving him one! Well he finally got that child, and he did exactly as he'd always planned on doing! He turned her into… (gesturing towards the spot where Hedda last stood) THAT!
Eve:
That? You mean 'The Liberator'?
Gabrielle can see where Eve is going, but she is not ready to hear it. She tries to turn away, but Eve stops her, looking her straight in the eye.
Eve:
Gabrielle, we've both traveled the borders of Chin, and we've both seen the refugees that the warlords there leave in their wake, but before I returned to Greece, I began to see something truly miraculous: people going back, because they had heard from friends or relatives about the Liberator and what she had done for their homeland. One woman I met was 88 and she hadn't been back to her home province since her family was forced to flee when she was four years old! Hedda may have a lot of pain and anger in her, but to do all the good that she has done, she has to have a caring heart! And, as much as it burns my tongue to admit it, Ares deserves some credit for that.
Gabrielle sighs and looks away. She knows what Eve is saying is the truth, but it is still difficult for her to accept.
CUT TO:
In the woods. Hedda is hunting. Waiting silently behind a tree, she spots a deer. The animal stops to eat some berries off a low bush and suddenly two throwing knives come flying at it, striking its vital organs, and bringing it to the ground. Triumphantly, Hedda emerges from the trees, and unsheathing an elaborately decorated hunting knife at her belt. She falls to her knees before the carcass, and is about to cut into it when the design on the handle catches her eye. Suddenly she has a FLASHBACK:
Hedda is in a similar moment in the past, standing before a deer she has just brought down, but in this memory she is just a child of about seven or eight years of age. Artemis and another dark haired little girl come to stand beside her as she looks on at the dead animal waiting for someone to start cutting into it. Artemis kneels and holds out her palms in front of the two girls. A small flash of light in each produces two ornate hunting knives, exactly like the one the older Hedda was about to use to collect the meat from her kill. Each of the girls takes one of the knives, and Little Hedda happily throws her arms around Artemis's neck in gratitude for the gift. Artemis, slightly taken aback, hugs Little Hedda, before starting her lesson on how to skin a deer.
The flashback ends, and we return to the present. Hedda looks at the knife in her hand and smiles sadly before cutting into the deer.
CUT TO:
The clearing in the woods along the road towards the Amazon Village. Half an hour has past and the sun is almost completely set. Gabrielle, Eve, and Hercules are sitting around the newly made fire, starting to prepare dinner and reminiscing about all the good times with Xena.
Eve:
So Mother says…
Eve suddenly gets a nervous expression on her face and stops speaking mid-sentence. Gabrielle and Hercules' eyes follow her line of vision, and their breath catches in their throats. At the edge of the clearing stands Hedda with a sack of venison slung over her shoulder. However, with the small smear of blood on her cheek, the light from the campfire reflecting off of her dark hair, flashing in her blue eyes, and casting shadows along the contours of her face from below, she now bears an unsettlingly demonic and sinister appearance.
Hedda:
(exasperated) What did I do now?!
Hedda kneels down by the campfire and pulls out a chunk of meat, skewering it on the spit Gabrielle has prepared. Realizing that she had been staring, Gabrielle pulls herself together. Plastering on a smile, she pats the ground beside her as an invitation for Hedda to come sit next to her.
Gabrielle:
Nothing. It was nothing. We were just remembering your mother and all the good times we had together.
Hedda:
(chuckling) Wow, you consider being crucified and having your legs broken at her command a good time? My, Gabrielle, you must really be a masochist!
Hercules:
Hedda, Gabrielle wasn't talking about The Conqueror; she was talking about…
Hedda:
I know who she was talking about, Uncle Hercules, but Xena: The Conqueror was my mother. The dictator who crucified anyone who raised a voice against her and the humanitarian who brought hospitals and schools to the people of her world; the Destroyer of Nations in Greece and The Freedom Fighter in Japa; the woman who used children as pawns in her quest for power and she whose last wish was that her own child be raised to be not only a great warrior but also someone who was truly wise, well rounded, and who knew what it meant to love and be loved in return; my mother was ALL of these things and more! Your Xena was a great warrior, a great person, and all my life I was taught to hold her in the highest regard, but she was not (nearly awestruck with pride) MY mother!
Hercules:
Hedda, I know you want to believe the best about your parents. I remember, when I was younger, how much I wanted to believe that my father was a loving and decent person, but there came a time when I had to let go of that image and see what was truly there, a self-centered and power-hungry tyrant.
Hedda puts a compassionate hand on Hercules' shoulder, but looks him straight in the eye.
Hedda:
I'm sorry Zeus hurt you so much, Uncle Hercules. I wasn't born till two months after his passing, so I never got to meet him. Regardless, you don't know the whole story where my parents are concerned. You think you do, but you don't. I know my Father loves me. I know my mother did in the brief time she carried me. That's all that's important. That's all I care about. And that's all I need to know to love them. (across the fire to Eve) What was it your Eli said, 'love is the way'?
Eve nods in assent, whether at the correctness of the quote or it's meaning she will have to consider further. Right now it seems best to change the subject.
Eve:
So, Gabrielle, maybe you can tell us a story while we wait for the meat to cook.
Hercules:
(helping out) Yeah, a story from the most famous bard in all of Greece would definitely take my mind off dinner!
Gabrielle:
(blushing modestly) 'The most famous bard in all of Greece', wow, that's some billing!
Hedda's eyes suddenly light up with excitement.
Hedda:
Oh, tell the one where Sisyphus stole Daddy's sword and Xena had to help him get it back, only she was in that psycho-chick, Callisto's body at the time! I love that story! I've heard it a million times but I still love it!
Gabrielle's heart flips at the expectant look in Hedda's eyes, the same expression that Xena used to wear when she was needling her to make her famous dumplings in red sauce. Beaten, Gabrielle stands up, stretches, then looks around the campfire at her companions before beginning the tale.
Gabrielle:
I sing the song of Sisyphus, king and master in the arts of trickery…
CUT TO:
The clearing in the woods along the road towards the Amazon Village. The next morning, dawn is breaking and Hedda, Gabrielle, Eve, and Hercules are all sleeping soundly in their bedrolls around the embers of the campfire. Everything is peaceful. Suddenly a figure, cloaked in darkness, slips silently out of the brush. He approaches Hedda's sleeping form and withdraws a knife.
FADE OUT
END OF ACT 3
READ ACT FOUR