I.

On either side of them passed the marbled gates of the Greek capital; an armed guard atop the battlements barely registered the famed warrior as she rode by. Their nonchalance served as a clear indicator that the Athenian internal guard knew nothing of the Persian army that lay camped only a few leagues away. At once, Xena threw a leg over her mount and jumped smoothly to the ground. She did not waste a moment in grabbing the arm of a passing infantryman.

"You there," she said, her features dark, "I need to speak with your King."

The soldier laughed and pulled his arm free, clearly undaunted by the murderous scowl that stole over Xena's face. "Aye, I see yer a warrior," the solider appraised, grinning lasciviously at Xena's breastplate.

Xena smiled a tight smile, violence not far from her thoughts. "Take me to King Leonidas," she repeated, "Tell him Xena of Amphipolis must speak with him immediately. It's a matter of great importance."

The grin disappeared from the soldier's face as he registered the memories that that name incurred. "Apologies, Princess, I did not know-" he began.

"Shut up," bit Xena, "Just get moving". Gabrielle looked warily down at them from atop Argo, too tired to soothe the soldier's wounded ego. Merely, she held fast to the saddle horn, as Xena marched them on in pursuit of the man who led them.

King Leonidas sat within his council chambers, listening in vague boredom to his Imperial Herald give reports on the state of the Athenian economy. It was not that Leonidas was a brash man, nor that he did not think these reports were necessary to the proper management of the capital, but simply that he enjoyed the drama that wartimes beheld. Ever since the end of the Persian Wars, the King of Athens had sat at his desk, thoroughly buried to the chin in parchments detailing astronomical war deficits and the pleas of homeless citizens. It was hard, tedious work, and it made the King long for the glory and heat of battle once more.

"The cabbage export of the provincial steppes has increased fourteen percent in the last five seasons-" Adonius, the Imperial Herald, droned on in that monotone of his.

Leonidas stifled a yawn.

Then, startling the Imperial Advisors in their chairs, the doors to the council chambers slammed open, crashing against the stone of the walls. Leonidas flew from his seat, hand immediately on the hilt of his sword. What stood in place of an attacker, however, was the impressive form of the Warrior Princess herself. Behind her, a shorter blonde woman limped within the chamber to stand haphazardly at the warrior's side.

"Xena?" said Leonidas, surprise evident in his voice. "Never one for warning are we?"

"No time," Xena growled, "Listen, we've got trouble."

"I'm listening."

"Persians," was the only word she uttered and looked warily at the many advisors gathered in the council hall.

"Leave us," commanded Leonidas and in moments, only the three of them stood together.

Xena drew closer to the King and related in an urgent voice all that she knew about the Persian advance and how they had delayed them before the pass at Thermoplyae.

"You mean to say, you took on the entire advance legion by yourself?" said Leonidas, awe clearly sounded in his voice.

Xena shrugged it off, "I only bloodied their noses. We've got two days, maybe less before they hit us full on."

"Any idea which direction they'll attack from?"

"They planned on a frontal assault, probably at night, judging by time and location of the advance party. I think their plans have changed though. No saying what Artaxerxes will do," said Xena.

A brief look of confusion passed over Leonidas' face. "Artaxerxes? He was killed at sea many moons ago; it is said that the Persian throne passed on to a descendant of Lygdimas of Halicarnassus."

Gabrielle watched as Xena's face drained of color, as the blue of her eyes became transparent diamonds. "What do they call this leader?" she asked, her voice strained.

"They call him Tetram the Great," answered Leonidas, oblivious to the reaction of the Warrior Princess.

Xena regained her composure readily, however, and bade the King to begin preparations at once. Her interest piqued, Gabrielle kept her stare fixedly on her friend, wondering what such a reaction might mean.

"Meet me at sundown in the main hall. I'd appreciate your advice in these matters, Xena," said the King, walking toward the threshold to call on his guard captain. Before he left, however, he paused and glanced back to the warrior and her companion. "I'll have my man prepare a room in the castle for you both. You look like Hades, Xena, and your friend looks worse."

At Xena's slight smirk, the King disappeared through the double oaken doors.

Xena knelt by the hearth in their private chambers, piling kindling onto the flagstones. Gabrielle sat nearby on one of the two pallets in the room, watching Xena as she worked distractedly to set the tinder afire.

"Why are you starting a fire? It's so hot," asked Gabrielle, surprised at how small her voice sounded. Xena glanced around at her companion, meeting her eyes briefly.

"I'm making you that tea," she said.

Gabrielle huffed, "Xena!"

But the warrior cut her off, "Don't you tell me you're not in pain. You could barely make it up the stairs just now."

Instead of answering, Gabrielle flopped down on the palette, forgetting momentarily about her injury in question. "Ow!" she yelped, and immediately Xena was at her side.

"What are ya doing, huh?" Xena reprimanded, gently however.

Gabrielle tried to raise herself again to her elbows, but Xena put one long-fingered hand on her chest, affectively keeping her in place. The bard looked down and found that the warrior's hand lay directly over her own heart and for some reason, tears of frustration sprang to her eyes. Xena raised her eyebrows at the sudden and inexplicable emotion.

"Ugh," Gabrielle made a disgusted noise, "I'm sorry Xena. If I hadn't gotten injured-"

"Don't-"

"No, it's true! I made a series of stupid mistakes in the last few days. Mistakes that nearly cost a lot of lives. So, please, don't worry about me. Concentrate on what's at hand. I saw that look on your face earlier in the council room. Things are worse than we thought, aren't they?"

Xena merely grimaced.

"Who is this Tetram? And why does he have the mighty Warrior Princess turning white as a banshee?" finished Gabrielle, forcing down the lump in her throat.

Xena stood up, and walked back to tend the fire. Stooping down, she collected a few of the larger logs from the woodpile and threw them on. There was an audible crack from the bark and it made Gabrielle jump. Her friend's behavior was unnerving.

"Is Tetram someone you fought long ago?" she probed.

Xena pulled one of their saddlebags close to her and selected the pouch of tea leaves.

"No, he was just a child when I knew him," she replied. Taking a cooking pot, she stood to grasp the handle of the ladle in the drinking water barrel that sat in the corner of the room. Quickly, she ladled water into the pot and proceeded to hang it over the fire.

"Don't tell me you kidnapped him too," said Gabrielle, being reminded awfully of Ming Tien and the horrid history that he wrecked on both of them.

"No," the word came out more harshly than Xena expected. "No," she softened her voice, "I barely knew Tetram at all. It was his mother that concerned me."

"Who was his mother?" asked Gabrielle, her voice taking on a hushed quality.

Xena turned to look at the bard, the flames dancing hungrily behind her and casting her features into a deep shadow. "Her name was Artemisia of Caria," she said.

"Queen of the Halicarnassian sect of the Persian empire," finished Gabrielle, her eyes widening, "famous for her naval prowess in the Battle of Salami. She was advisor to Xerxes himself! But, Xena, she died right after the end of the Persian Wars. You can't have been more than twenty winters by then."

"Aye, so I was," replied Xena, "it was a few seasons after I fought Cortese that our paths crossed."

"You weren't at your loveliest then, were you?"

"No, I was a beast. And what I did to Artemisia was one of my beastliest acts." Xena glanced to the window and surveyed the setting sun. A lazy shadow drew from the sill to the edge of Gabrielle's palette, teasing at her injured ankle.

"So, you think Tetram is carrying out his mother's vengeance?" asked Gabrielle.

"I don't think this is a petty conquest tactic, no. I think they're out for blood, namely my own and those of my people."

Gabrielle sucked in a breath, "Gods! This is worse than I thought."

"I must go now, Gabrielle. The sun is nearly disappeared and I have to confer with Leonidas. Rest now, and drink the tea will you?"

"I'll drink the tea if you tell me the whole story when you come back," bargained the bard.

A ghost of a smile passed over the warrior's face, "Deal."

With that, Xena grabbed up her sword and sheathed it in the scabbard at her back. She glanced once more at Gabrielle, who struggled to sit up and reach for the satchel that held her scrolls and quill. The warrior swept over to the bag and got out the items she knew her friend was reaching for.

"Sometimes it's scary, Xena" said Gabrielle, referring to her friend's ability to anticipate.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Xena replied.

In a moment, she was gone.

In the silence that Xena left behind, Gabrielle set herself to the task of writing the preamble to what she knew would be a tale of no small proportions. A thousand questions raced through the annals of her mind: Who was this Artemisia? And what did Xena do to inspire a legacy of retribution? Certainly, she did not kill the Queen, for it is well known that Artemisia leapt to her own death from the cliffs of Leucas. Legend says that she-a woman with status and power and cunning-had fallen in love with a young man, and when he spurned her, she could not bear the weight and thus gave up gravity into the Aegean. For some reason, that did not make sense to Gabrielle.

And so, in the heat of the room and in the fire of her thoughts, Gabrielle drifted off into a fitful sleep- forgetting the tea and the scroll laid out for her purpose. For those hours, the bard dreamed of arrows piercing a veil of darkness and of a warrior standing upon a cliff and of a woman sinking fast into the velvet blackness of the sea.