Chapter 16

"Can't they do anything right?!" an angry voice yelled as a fireball went flying across the room destroying a nearby pillar. Several priests and priestesses scurried out of the way to avoid their lord's wrath. They knew better than to be near him when he was like this. His temper was a deadly one and to try and interfere when he was angry was to ensure your own death. It was best to just let him finish and deal with the aftermath. None of them wanted to meet an untimely death, they all quickly left the throne room before they could get caught in the crossfire of his fury.

Ares threw a few more fireballs for good measure to let out his anger over his general who had once again messed up a well laid plan. All he had to do was follow his orders and everything was supposed to work out perfectly But noooo, he had to alter the plan, thinking that he had somehow come up with something better , something that would magically make him gain Ares' favor by showing him that he could think under pressure. Not only did he fail in his attempt, but all he succeeded in doing was to seal his own death, after having caused the War God to lose an important battle.

Ares watched through a portal as his general's lifeless body was dragged over to the rest of his fallen men. He shook his head at the image he was now following and let out an annoyed deep breath. Good help was hard to find and he was beginning to lose hope of ever finding that perfect warrior who would lead his army to victory in battle. His current generals were constantly of no use to him. Always having to bail them out of their own mess and when he did, they still managed to screw it up. He couldn't understand why they couldn't stick to a damn plan.

"Why can't I find a warrior that is worthy of fighting in my name?" he asked himself. "Must I continue to be tortured with worthless warriors who can't even manage to keep themselves alive?!."

He moved to sit down on his throne and he put his head in his hands. He started to massage his temples while struggling to think of someone who could possibly salvage his plans. Out of all the generals he had, he could think of no one who possessed the skill or the ability for war. He needed someone who had the spirit of war running in their veins, someone who could be one step ahead of the enemy. Someone who was as cunning and creative in their battle plans as he was, someone able to catch the enemy off guard with their intelligence….

He pounded his fist into the armrest of his throne as he could think of no one who met these qualities. 'What about her?' a rogue thought shot through his mind. A small smile began to form on his face as he began to think about that option. Yes, she possessed something he had yet to see in any of the warriors that served him throughout the years. With a wave of his hand he changed the image in the portal from the bloody battlefield and it now focused on an image of Xena. She was going through a drill with another of Athena's warriors.

He settled himself more comfortable into his throne and causally draped a leg over the side of it as he watched her work. The way she went through the routine as if it were second nature to her- never giving her opponent a chance to best her- was like a breath of fresh air to him after all that day's failure.

He grinned widely. She was moving as if she had the whole fight plotted out in her head. There came a point during the drill when the other warrior seemed to be getting the best of her as she continued to push her back. He couldn't seem to place at what point things had gone wrong. Then, all of a sudden, the God saw a spark flash in her eyes, and his entire body vibrated, aware of what she was doing: leading her opponent to believe she had the upper hand. Once Xena was in the desired position, she flipped over her opponent and quickly struck out with her sword causing the other to lose their balance. One quick kick to the midsection and she was on her knees and Xena moved to disarm her.

Ares watched the passion that shined behind those blue eyes of hers. They energized him like nothing else had done it before ; he could watch her in action for eternity and never get tired of watching her work. He made a goblet of wine appear in his hand and he took a small sip as Xena began to get ready to go up against another. She quickly had the other girl on the defense after she let her get in a few small jabs with her sword, like she was testing to see what she was capable of.

"That's my girl!" he praised as he continued to leisurely sip his wine. The day might have started off bad, but it was certainly ending well for him now.

Meanwhile, standing idly a few feet away from Ares' throne was Aphrodite. She had arrived just as he had finished destroying his own temple and watched him as he sat on his throne. Knowing that his bad temper could last for days at a time she had planned to try and cheer him up when he suddenly perked up where he sat. She curiously wondered what he was smiling about when he changed the image in the portal to show a warrior woman. But it wasn't just an ordinary warrior she noticed, it was the same one from the other night. And what she also saw, was the way in which she had him completely mesmerized. Aphrodite was in shock. She could hardly believe that the simple thought of this woman had changed the War God's mood so easy. Even she couldn't get her brother out of his bad moods no matter how hard she tried. Wanting to know more about the girl who had captured his thoughts she tried to dig for information.

She walked up behind his throne and leaned her head down next to his. She could clearly see that he was way too occupied with watching the portal to realize that she was there.

"Is that her?" she asked, startling him out of his thoughts.

Taken aback by the sudden voice that was so close to him, Ares jumped and dropped the goblet of wine he had been holding. He turned to face his sister who was beaming at him with an all knowing smile.

"Her who? " he asked with annoyance for being interrupted. He turned his attention back to the portal as Aphrodite moved to sit next to him on his armrest.

"The Warrior Babe that you can't seem to take your eyes off of." she said, gesturing towards the image of Xena in the portal. "Is she the one that distracted you the other day?" she asked. She figured she should get straight to the point since she had caught him off guard again, hoping he'd be more open to giving up details that way.

Ares could see that she was back to poking around in his business again. He tore his eyes away from the image before him and tried to prove a point.

"As I told you the other day, there is no she. She.." he pointed at Xena, "is just another warrior." He kept his gaze on his sister.

The Love Goddess looked at the portal for a moment then back at Ares.

"I don't know….. you two looked pretty cozy together the other night."

He just stared at her with a blank expression while she kept testing the waters, trying to see if she could get a reaction out of him. Soon, she moved on to the second part of her plan.. "That is until Apollo interrupted." She could see she hit a nerve by mentioning Apollo.

Ares' face grew hard at the mention of the God's name. He was going to teach that Bastard a thing or two about touching things that didn't belong to him. Trying to calm himself and to repress the anger rising inside him from the stunts the Sun God had pulled, he took a fleeting glance at the portal. The practice drills were over now and she was smiling as she helped her comrade to her feet. His features soften and he turned back to his sister.

"Apollo merely interrupted a business deal we were discussing. She is a warrior and I am in need of a warrior." he simply stated, doing his best to dismiss the notion that she had swirling around in that head of hers.

Aphrodite noticed the change in his eyes immediately though and was completely in shock. Hearing Apollo's name had sent him into a rage but one look at the warrior babe and it was like nothing ever happened. She could see that he was going to be very tight lipped about the whole subject, but there was no way in Tartarus she was giving up.

One way or the other he was going to confess something…anything.

"A warrior she is, yes. But I thought you didn't train women warriors?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Something about them not belonging on the battlefield and that they were never of any use to you?. Well not entirely useless ….."

She gave him a small smile at her last comment.

"She's different." he replied. He knew she was fishing for something and he didn't like it.

"How is she different?" she asked, refusing to give up that easily with that simple answer.

"She just is!" he barked back. He was tired of her questions and he needed her to leave.

"Alright, no need to get loud about it." she pouted, getting up off of his throne and backing away from it not liking the anger she was getting from him. She knew it wasn't going to be easy but she wasn't expecting that kind of a reaction.

Seeing that he had hurt her feeling with his stupid outburst, Ares tried to make amends. "Dite, I'm sorry. You just caught me at a bad time. One of my generals is dead and now I have to find a replacement for him."

"No worries, I can take a hint. Too many questions." she gave him a small smile as she moved closer and gave him a small hug. She could never stay mad at him for too long.

"Now, I have something to take care of. I assume you can show yourself out." Not staying to hear her response, he vanished from his temple.

"Oh yes, I know the way out. Don't worry about me." She looked back at the portal that Ares had created. She watched as the woman that she had so many questions about make her way to the baths. A huge grin began to form on her face as she thought that it was time she paid her a visit. If she wanted to know what was going on then she needed to get all sides of the story. "I think it is time we had a little girl chat."