Part 26:

"So, what do we do now?" Jace asked, his eyes darting back and forth nervously.

"Wait until Xena returns," Hercules replied as he walked over to the open doorway to look outside and keep watch for her. "Hopefully she's found something that will give us some kind of a clue as to where the girls are."

An uneasy silence fell over the small group and everyone jumped in surprise when Hercules said, "She's coming." He moved aside so Xena could enter the room where everybody looked at her with worried expressions on their faces.

"Did you find anything?" Gabrielle asked anxiously.

"This." Xena nodded grimly and held out her hand to reveal the pin. The large sapphire sparkled brilliantly in the candlelight as she turned her palm out so that everyone could see it. "Ares showed up..." Hercules growled but allowed her to continue speaking. "...but if he knows where Eve and Dorie are, he's not telling, the bastard."

"It's beautiful," Melody breathed as she gazed down at the pin.

"That's not anything that was made by a jeweler. Some god made that," Hercules muttered darkly.

"Do you recognize it from anywhere?" Jett asked, his eyebrows rising as he turned his attention to Hercules.

"No, but I can tell that..."

"Let me see it!"

Everyone turned around to look at Joxer, who was gazing down at the pin with an odd expression on his face.

"Joxer, we don't have time for this! We have to find the...!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"Give me that!" Joxer sharply interrupted her, his eyes never leaving the object in Xena's hand.

Xena's eyebrow rose at the harsh tone, but she held it towards Joxer without a word of rebuke and widened her eyes at Gabrielle when she opened her mouth to start yelling at him.

Gabrielle scowled but kept silent as she watched her husband snatch the pin away from Xena's hand.

Joxer's lips puckered into a tight line as his hand tightly closed around the pin and he shut his eyes. He inhaled deeply and frowned in concentration. His breathing grew shallow as sweat broke out on his forehead and ran down his face. Blood trickled from his hand from where the pin had dug into the flesh and slowly dripped onto the floor.

As the others watched in anxious silence, a bluish light surrounded Joxer and a weird, high-pitched whine echoed around the room as the light around him grew brighter in intensity.

Jace and Jett shut their eyes and clapped their hands over their ears, gasping in pain, as did everyone else except for Hercules, who managed to pry the pin from Joxer's vise-like grip and he ran over to the door, shielding his eyes from the glare. He flung the glowing pin into the sky just before it exploded with a tremendous bang, the force of the blast knocking everybody in the house off their feet. "Is everyone all right?" he asked a few minutes later, rubbing a hand over his eyes as he stumbled to his feet.

"I think so," Xena replied slowly as she looked at the others, who were also unsteadily rising to their feet.

Jezda and Gaston ran into the house just as everyone else got to their feet. "What happened? Where did that blast and bright light come from?" she asked. "Is everyone all right? Where are the girls?"

"Long story, Mom, and we're all right. We think that the Gods have Dorie and Eve," Jett quickly replied as he looked over at Joxer and Gabrielle while Jezda gasped loudly at his explanation. His eyes narrowed as he focused his gaze on Gabrielle, who was glaring at her husband with a furious expression on her face.

"What in Tartarus were you thinking?" Gabrielle yelled before anybody else could speak up. "Better yet, were you even thinking when you did - whatever you tried to do? Gods, Joxer! How could you be so damned impulsive at a time like this? For all we know..." she trailed off, her hands clenching together in fists as she tried to calm down.

"She's not dead."

Gabrielle's eyes narrowed to slits at her husband's softly worded response. "How do you know that?" she asked through clipped lips.

Joxer refused to answer his wife's question and stared down at his feet, the muscles on the right side of his face working furiously.

"Answer me, Joxer! How do you know that Dorie's not dead? How can you be so damned positive that she's not dead?" Gabrielle reached out and shook him violently before anybody could stop her.

"Because he'd be dead, too."

Gabrielle whirled around to stare at Xena, who was gazing at Joxer with a raised eyebrow as she folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall. "Am I right?"

Joxer refused to answer Xena's question. He didn't need to. His silence spoke louder than anything that he could've said.

Gabrielle stared at her husband, her hands sliding away from Joxer's arms as her face turned pale. "Oh Gods... It all makes sense now... That weirdly intense connection between the two of you..." She closed her eyes and put a hand up to her forehead to steady herself. "How long have you known about this?"

Jace cleared his throat loudly and everyone else turned around to look at him. "It was Strife - when he tried to regain his Godhood. He told us that if one of them dies, the other one dies too. One literally can't exist without the other," he explained haltingly.

Gabrielle's head whipped around in Jett's direction. He nodded slowly in silent confirmation. Her eyes then met Jezda's, and the older woman shook her head in disbelief.

"All this time... Over ten years..." Gabrielle murmured as she turned back towards Joxer, who wouldn't return her gaze. "I can't believe this! The three of you knew about this and none of you said a gods-damned word! How could you keep something like this a secret from the rest of us?" Her voice rose to a shout and Joxer flinched away from her like she had reached out and viciously slapped him across the face. "HOW COULD YOU?"

"Gabrielle, calm down!" Melody exclaimed.

"LIKE HELL I WILL!" Gabrielle snarled as she reached out and grabbed Joxer's arms before he could move away. She squeezed them so hard that her knuckles turned white and he let out a pain-filled yelp. "WHY IN HADES' NAME DIDN'T YOU TELL US THAT STRIFE SAID THAT TO YOU?"

"Because I didn't want to believe that what Strife said was the truth," Joxer finally said in a small voice as he raised his head to look at her with suspiciously bright eyes. "I didn't want you to worry that something awful could've..." He averted his head, swallowing hard. "I was too scared to tell you."

Gabrielle felt her anger slip away at his whispered admission and her shoulders slumped forward. "Oh Joxer..." she sighed as she let him go and placed her hand over her mouth.

"I shouldn't have kept it from the rest of you and I'm sorry," he mumbled as he ran his hand over his face, closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose.

"I know, Joxer. I know," Gabrielle replied softly as she took him into her arms.

With a sigh, Xena signaled to the others. Without a word, they went outside and stood around in a small circle, ignoring the townspeople who were running back and forth as they continued working on making a blockade.

"What now?" Pierre asked softly, breaking the tense silence.

Xena's eyes met his briefly before she looked at the rest of the group. "There's still a lot of work to do. I suggest that everyone else get back to doing what you need to accomplish." She looked up at the blood-red moon beginning to rise in the sky and scowled.

Hercules, Iolaus and Pierre nodded and walked away, but the rest lingered. "But what about..." Melody started to say.

"We'll get them back," Xena replied, her eyes narrowing as she turned back towards the house where she could see Gabrielle and Joxer still locked in a fierce embrace through the open doorway. "I don't know how yet, but we will." She then turned to glance at Jett and Jace and they both nodded grimly. "For now, I want the rest of you to go back to what you were doing. We have to keep everyone else's morale up as much as we possibly can." She turned around and walked back into the house, Jett and Jace following her.

As Melody began walking towards the inn where Cyrene was helping Nikolas set up an additional makeshift medical area, Jezda started to follow her sons, but Gaston reached out and caught her arm.

"This is something that we cannot help them with, ma chérie," he murmured. "We both know that," he added in as her face set into a stubborn expression.

Jezda bowed her head and sighed heavily. "I know, Gaston," she said after a few moments of silence. She cast one last troubled glance inside the doorway and saw that Jett, Jace and Xena were leading Gabrielle and Joxer over to the table where they all had been sitting at earlier. "I know."

Behlem nodded as he led Adora down the hall. "Mistress, we must find your friend and quickly."

"Yeah..." Adora ran her fingers through her hair and looked around as they came to a stop. "Do you have any idea where she could possibly be?"

"Yes, mistress."

"Good. Then show me." Adora looked down at the odd little creature. "Behlem?"

The creature looked up at her, his black eyes sparkling with worry and fear as he returned the gaze. "Yes, mistress?"

"Stop calling me mistress. The name's Adora," she sighed wearily.

"As you command, miss... Adora."

"Okay then… Let's go find Eve."

Behlem cleared his throat. "Adora, it won't be easy. There'll be danger everywhere."

Adora swallowed hard as they began moving again. "Oh yeah? Well, we'll find a way around the danger." At least, I hope that we will...

The two made their way through the maze until Adora pushed a door open and they found themselves staring outside into a sunshine-filled path that led into a rather sinister-looking forest.

"It should be dark now!" Adora exclaimed when she was able to find her voice as they walked onto the path.

"Things are - different - around here, misstr… Adora," Behlem explained nervously. There was a loud noise that came from the forest's edge and he ran to hide behind her but leaned over so he could peek from around her legs.

"Hey! I thought you were supposed to watch over me."

"I am, mistress! I'm protecting your back!"

"Oh brother! Some protection you are!" Adora rolled her eyes as she bent down to pick up a large and heavy stick. "Whoever's there, you better come out! I'm not afraid to use this!"

A low bark of laughter answered Adora and she gritted her teeth to gather herself although her knees wouldn't stop shaking as they heard slow and lumbering footsteps approaching. Her eyes widened to circles and Behlem squeaked when she saw a huge, gray-skinned Cyclops approaching her. He came to a stop for a split second to look at her and her companion before raising his club over his head and running towards her with surprising speed.

"Do something, mistress. Please save me!" Behlem screeched as Adora ducked out of the way just in time before getting clobbered over the head.

"He's too big for me to fight him!" Adora cried as she swung her stick at the Cyclops, who laughed as he easily dodged the makeshift weapon.

"Use your power!" Behlem begged.

"I can't… I don't know how to… It's not the right time!" Adora fell to the ground and rolled away when the Cyclops struck at her again.

"Mistress, please! I beg of you!" Behlem yelled as he ran after her.

"I told you! I can't! Not now..." Adora gasped as she scrambled to her feet to avoid another blow.

"When, mistress? When?" Behlem begged. "If you don't do something, we'll both be dead!"

"I don't know what to do!"

The Cyclops' club struck the ground then, just missing them, but the vibration from the blow knocked Adora and Behlem to the ground.

"Mistress, please! I don't want to die!" the gargoyle begged as he began crawling away.

"Do you think I want to?" Adora gasped. She looked around, trying to find something to stop the Cyclops, who laughed as he went after her and her companion again. Desperate, she threw her stick at the huge creature, who laughed and easily tossed it aside. A gobbet of spit flew from his lips as he approached her and the terrified Behlem, who squealed in dismay.

Adora reached out for something - anything - that she could find within her reach. Her hand closed over a sharp rock that just barely fit in her hand. Without thinking, she screwed her eyes shut and threw it with all of her might. Behlem screamed and curled himself into a little ball.

There was a dull thud, and when Adora opened her eyes again, she saw the Cyclops looking down at her with a dazed expression on his face. The single eye blinked once and then he fell backward, not moving from where he fell.

"Mistress! You've done it!" Behlem squealed excitedly as Adora slowly rose to her feet, holding her hand over her forehead. "You saved us!"

"I guess so..." Adora replied doubtfully, her eyebrows furrowing together. "Let's get out of here before he decides to wake up - and stop calling me mistress!"

Behlem bowed so low that he almost toppled over. "Yes, miss-Adora," he said hastily. "But where should we go?"

Adora picked up the stick that she had thrown earlier and looked towards the forest. Her lips twisted out in a stubborn pout. "I don't think we've got a choice."

Behlem made a loud squeaking noise. "But what about...?" His voice trailed off as he looked back toward the door that they had emerged from earlier.

"I don't like the idea either, but I think that's where we might find Eve." With a determined look on her face, she set off towards the forest's edge, Behlem protesting loudly as he followed her.

A minute after Adora and Behlem entered the forest, there was a flash of light. The Cyclops stirred as the light's glow faded and he sat up to look into Aer's eyes. "Did I do well, my lady?" he asked once he had risen to his feet.

Aer smirked. "Better than I could've expected. It's just a matter of time now... In the meantime, I must join the others as we attend to our business on Earth. Go - and I will make sure that you are rewarded handsomely for your services."

"Yes, my lady," the Cyclops replied. He bowed once before lumbering off in the other direction.

Aer watched the Cyclops leave and grinned wickedly before she too left the clearing.