Hercules and Iolaus arrived back at the campsite with the supplies. Xena was already back, gutting the fish.
"We were told that a neighboring village has been experiencing some problems with a warlord. Iolaus and I thought we'd ride over there and set him straight."
"I'll come along too," Xena said, standing up. "I'm in need of a little diversion and this sounds like just the thing."
"I thought you'd want to stay with the children," Hercules said. "It really won't take too long."
"I'm fully recovered from the delivery and the children can come along. Besides, who knows the mind of a warlord better than I do? You may need me." Xena said, taking out her sword and testing it in her hand.
"I know better than to argue with a woman who has a sword in her hand," Hercules laughed. "We can all go then."
Gabrielle said, "You might as well learn now babies don't slow Xena down. This is fairly calm compared to some of the situations we faced with Eve, at least the babies won't be a target."
Iolaus chuckled while they started preparing to go. "Only in this family would taking out a warlord be a family affair."
sss
A day's ride brought them into the village of Aigio. It was the typical situation. The warlord had demanded more than the village could afford to give and now his army was going to ransack it.
Hercules and Xena selected the villagers that looked strong enough to help defend the village and armed them with farm tools that made good weapons. Iolaus and Gabrielle lead all the rest of the villagers to the dusty temple in the center of the village that had once been a shrine to the now dead Hephaestus.
There was only one good road leading into the village because it was nestled against a mountain.
"I thought you and Iolaus were going to be in Hephaestus's temple with the others?" Xena questioned when she saw that Iolaus and Gabrielle were sitting outside on the temple steps.
"We decided that we'll guard the twins from the temple steps. That way if you needed my help, I could join you or if the villagers needed to scatter, we could run in to warn them. It's a better overall position," Gabrielle told her.
"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug, "because they'll never make it this far into the village. I can assure you."
Xena climbed up on one of the roofs to wait for sight of the advancing troop. Hercules stood in front of the villagers, showing them techniques that would help prevent them from getting killed.
"Oh, the joys of being old and a sidekick," Iolaus told Gabrielle. "Do yourself a favor, Gabrielle. Don't get old."
Gabrielle smiled, "I'll give it my best shot. Is it really so bad though? It looks like you still get to help out."
"Oh, sure. The things I do are useful, but once you've been in the heat of battle time after time, sitting on the sidelines doesn't really appeal, does it?
"No, but it helps to keep the peace and they've entrusted us with a very important duty."
Xena jumped down from the roof. "They're coming and they're a very small troop. It's going to be like taking candy from a baby."
Xena's prediction wasn't far off. There was some intense battling, but they had faced worse armies and while there were wounds, no one had been killed yet.
Gabrielle became concerned when she saw that Joxer seemed to watch the battle with interest. She supposed it was normal for a baby to become curious at the sounds, what with all the metal ringing and the war cries, but she wondered if perhaps they shouldn't have been inside the temple after all.
Gabrielle had been so intent on Joxer that she hadn't noticed that the warlord had Xena on the ground with a sword pointing over her. Xena was about to roll sideways out of harms way when a small fireball hit the man's hand instead. He dropped his sword and cried out in pain.
Xena jumped up, looking around wildly for the source of the fireball, expecting and hoping to see Ares in the vicinity, but the direction it came from was the temple steps. The shocked looked on Gabrielle's face left no doubt of the source.
Xena finished taking out the warlord and the army retreated with no leader to hold them together. Hercules followed Xena to the temple steps.
"He's a half-god," Xena said over the happy cries of the villagers. "I guess it's time I finally admitted it to myself. You were right, Gabrielle. The question is what are we going to do about it."
"I was wrong about some things," Gabrielle said. "He just threw a little one. What harm can a little one do?"
"A lot of harm if it should catch something on fire. I know they don't seem to be deadly yet but what happens when they are?"
"He's just a baby," Gabrielle said. "This isn't like with Hope. He's not the spawn of evil. He just doesn't know what he's doing. It's sort of like that time Cupid's son shot all those love arrows. Trust me. It was like a baby discovering that he had feet for the first time. He was as surprised about the fireball as anybody."
"That's what makes it so dangerous. He can't control it and you can't tell him how to control it."
Gabrielle nestled Joxer closer to her. "What are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting that maybe only a god could handle raising this child." Xena's eyes shone, but her expression was firm. "You don't know how much this pains me to say it but maybe we need to think about giving him to Ares to raise."
"No!" Gabrielle cried. "He might want to take Cyrene too and who knows what Ares would raise him to be!"
"Well, maybe we could give him to Aphrodite then. She did a pretty good job with Cupid."
Gabrielle shook her head vehemently, "I refuse to let you give up on your son. You'd regret it. I know you would."
"A man who's dealt with Ares as many times as I have," Hercules spoke up, "should be able to handle this little fellow. After all, this is what I'm here for, isn't it?"
Xena nodded in consent and seemed relieved that she didn't have to make the choice to give up another son, at least not yet. "There are no signs that Cyrene doesn't favor her mortal side which is a relief," Xena said. "This task would be impossible if we had to handle two babies with emerging powers."
As if purely to contradict her mother, one of Aphrodite's rattles flew out of the saddlebag and into Cyrene's waiting hand.