Nearly one third of Pegasus' army was gone, either knocked out cold and on the ground, killed, or far, far away and still running fast. Xena didn't want to fight all of them, however, as she knew it was actually best not to, but she was prepared to do so if it came to that. After a few minutes she found herself suddenly cornered by nine men against a tree. She looked around, thinking quickly, and found that almost all of the men were smiling.
"What's so funny?" she asked, breath heavy.
"Looks like you've reached the end of the line," one of the warriors said, and a few of the others laughed. Xena smiled too as the men around her closed in, amused.
"Oh, it's not over 'til it's over," she said. "You should know that by now. Yahh!" The warrior pushed off against the ground with an incredible force, flipping backwards and sending herself up and onto one of the branches of the tree behind her. Keeping almost perfect balance despite the speed of her movements, she then unhooked and shot her chakram from her fingers, beheading two men, knocking four unconscious, and pushing the last three off balance and onto the ground. She caught it as it spun back before it hit her face and smiled wickedly. "Care to surrender now?" she asked, dropping down from the tree. One of the three remaining men fell backwards, having fainted, and the other two stood with brave faces barely still intact.
Just then, not too far away, there was a thundering sound of hooves against the earth, followed by war cries, and the Royal Army came into view. Archers immediately began taking out soldiers, and swordsmen leapt from their horses and began to fight when in range. The two warriors by the tree looked away from the gory spectacle and back at Xena.
"Boo!" she taunted, and they ran off, tripping over their fallen comrades in an attempt to get away fast. Xena smirked, hitching her chakram to back on her hip, drew her sword, and gave chase, charging into the battle. She fought beside the Royal Army when necessary, saving necks and kicking ass, until Therius caught the edge of her attention. Skewering an enemy soldier first, she ran after him.
Swords clashed with intensity and accuracy, but Xena was determined and stuck a few blows. Her hits did not go unreciprocated, however, and she did what she could not to see her own blood.
"Your army is dying, Therius," she said truthfully, blocking her enemy's strikes. She curved her sword cunningly, swiftly then, and knocked it out of Therius' hand. He almost went after it, but Xena caught his neck with the tip of her blade. "Try and retrieve it and I will put this right through you." Her face was hard, her eyes dark and fierce. "Look around you," she said. Therius did so without emotion. It was true, what she was saying. His army was dying, and it wasn't taking its sweet time by any means. His ranks were vanished, some of them, and the ones that were still there fighting for him were dropping out. But even still, a smile crept onto his face, which turned into a grin and eventually a hearty laugh. Xena cocked an eyebrow, not finding the humor.
"Oh, Xena… You haven't changed much at all, have you?" he said. The brunette eyed him. "You may have defeated some of my men, but don't think that you have won." The man began to laugh again. "You're far from any victory."
"And why's that?" Xena asked. Therius raised a tentative hand, pushing Xena's sword aside. He straightened up and turned, pointing a small distance past the battle.
"Do you see that girl, there?" Xena followed Therius' hand, not quite registering what she was staring at. But she focused and looked harder, and her eyes flashed open. There, in the distance, was Gabrielle. She was no her knees on the ground, an arrow sticking through her from the front and poking out in the back, with her arms bound tightly behind her back and a rope around her neck. She didn't look conscious.
"Gabrielle!"