The calm silence before a battle, Xena knew it like she knew breathing. The air was both still and calm, electrified with the nearly-shot nerves of her companions. True, she was a better person now but, once you've had real battle it's like a hunger; you almost forget about it until the opportunity comes about, and then it sets your blood on fire. And that's exactly why it was hard for her to sit and wait. The plan was going to work, it had to, Gabrielle and her had worked on this what felt like forever whilst training the army. Looking around, the brunette could feel the tension, and it was one-tenth what it had been before the inspirational speech. Subtly, Xena grinned, knowing that she still had the ability to summon up courage with a few pretty words. The smirk that graced her lips unnerved the soldier next to her... she'd have been surprised if he didn't soil himself when she clapped a hand on his shoulder and said "relax, you survived my training, right?" After a minute he nodded, but did not look all that reassured. And perhaps he shouldn't have been, for there was a good chance he wasn't going to walk away from this, but that was his choice. Xena was confident that with her and Gabrielle's training, any of the soldiers 'might' make it out with their lives. But for now there was just silent waiting. She was in the first ambush party. Some of the bravest, certainly not the smartest, were below in the 'bait camp' mulling around trying to display business as usual. Xena couldn't see Gabrielle, and this fact ate at her like snakes in her gut. Were it strictly up to her she would face this army on her own and somehow win, but she realized that, realistically, she couldn't. She needed this army, and more than that... She needed Gabrielle to be safe.
A few meters down the line, Gabrielle also sat in wait. Was she scared? To herself she scoffed at that thought. Just like a thousand extremely well-trained and armed soldiers for a foreign land even Xena doesn't know, there was nothing to be scared of... Except for the possibility of death, the potential devastation of her country, her home, her friends and family... She feared for what might happen to her love ones, and this fear was real, a deepest type of fear. But as Xena had taught her a long time ago, this was the kind of fear she could use as fuel. Setting it temporarily aside then, however, she drew her mental attentions to the battle plan; her battalion was to march out a designated number of paces, after which Xena's was to advance out parallel, closing the enemy in. Once the 'line of war' was created from one front the other... It really was a brilliant idea. Her idea, of course, but good ideas deserve praise, even if they come from their creator. Smiling, the blonde rolled her eyes and braced herself, ready for battle.
The activity in the valley picked up as the soldiers down within did as they had been instructed. Subtle panic glazed their faces as they got ready to fight, lining up across the valley; all part of the plan to try and persuade the other army to play along. Smiles played across several soldiers faces as the enemy army did exactly as expected, readying themselves for 'proper' battle. As they lined up, snarling like beasts in lacquered black armor, a stark contrast to Xena's army, an expression melted their confident smirks and conveyed that which often signals doom for a fighting force...
Xena saw the bait work, the enemy army so egotistical gnashing its teeth, and she let out a low whoop, the perfect pitch to be unmistakable by her own but unable to be heard by the enemy. The warrior woman guided the first ambush party from their cover to grab up the bows and arrows. Leading by example, she fired three high arching arrows before charging forward along the left side of the valley's opening, trampling their forerunning troops in their amazement at the arrows. The 'bait' team then decided it best not to waist this time, cutting down their front lines. The fired arrows rained down, killing the men behind them. Xena's ambush party stopped just past the valley closing, beginning to circle. The rumors she had heard and her memories had not failed her; this army was immense. Even with the dead there was barely room for the first ambush, and the following attachment, to fit. "Perfect," the blue-eyed woman thought. She could tell that the army was trying to halt the fighting so their general could speak, but she cut the men down mercilessly with decapitations, stabbing through their armor like tissue paper, hacking off limbs left and right. She was plenty angry; who in Tartarus did they think they were? With this thought in mind, she willed the rest of her allies to push on into the enemy with a primal scream. Their will, it seemed though, was a bit lacking for this army's apparent might, and so it was in that moment that Ares gave the men, from his invisible perch, a red glow and just enough blood lust to follow orders. The enemy soldiers trying to calm things down, so cool and collective a second ago, were now fighting tooth and nail. Then she saw him. This powerful, brilliant, but incredibly arrogant army had brought their own Achilles heel... Their king was with them.