© Copyright 1996-1999 by Clayton J. Powers

Pyronia was a member of one of the great tribes of Amazons that wandered about the northern shore of the Black Sea called Saromatians. The Pindus Amazons weren't nomads. They had lived in the same part of the mountains of Thessaly for centuries, tending to the forests and growing produce in the fertile valleys. The Saromatians were equestrian nomads. They wandered thousands of miles across the vast steppes between the Carpathian Mountains and the Caspian sea tending huge herds of horses that they used for nearly everything that they needed. Pyronia was one of the last of a subgroup of these hardy travelers. She arrived at the Pindus mountains because she was a refugee, a refugee from the siege of Troy.

The war queen of her tribe was the mighty Penthesilea, who had broken into the besieged city of Troy to assist Paris, and his tragic wife Helen, resist the onslaught of Menaleus and the allied Greek army. Not long after she'd arrived, Penthesilea had, foolishly, sent a challenge to the mighty Akhilles to fight in single combat. Penthesilea emerged from Troy with the small party of Amazons with which she had arrived only to discover that the entire Greek Army had been assembled and that they had been lured into a trap. A mighty battle broke out and Penthesilea had been raped and killed and so had nearly all of Pyronia's sisters. She, and perhaps one or two others, had escaped. The way north to her homeland was cut off by the Greeks so she crossed the Hellespont on a log at night, stole a Greek horse, and traveled south, living off the land until she had run into warning totems very similar to her own tribe's. There she met her distant cousins and the woman who would change her life forever, Melosa.

Gabrielle found this absolutely fascinating, and she took detailed notes, but more than just an interesting tale, Pyronia had proven to be a windfall to Xena. She could speak both Hittite and Luvian like a native. Xena reckoned that this could turn into a great advantage in her mission.. So, much of the trip was devoted to Pyronia teaching the languages to the rest of the party. Xena could already speak accented Luvian. All of course spoke Greek. Gabrielle and Ephiny were the pair that needed the most work because neither of them had any exposure to the languages of Asia Minor. Fortunately for both, all of the languages were related, and by the time they had arrived, Gabrielle and Ephiny could speak enough Luvian to survive, and maybe get information.

Mid morning, when the ship began to approach the dock at which Xena had chosen to tie up, all the Amazons who were not rowing were staring at the city. Xena looked with a practiced eye at the panorama and she didn't like what she saw. Turning, she said to Gabrielle and the rest of the party: "Something's up." Finishing her turn, she yelled for the crew to get in the sail. Gabrielle, Ephiny and Pyronia were confused. Xena never told them what she saw--or sensed.

After the ship was secured to the dock, Xena ordered that the cargo netting be hoisted out of the cargo hold and one side of each of them to be attached to the bulwarks of the ship. The opposite sides were tied to ropes which were in turn run through the stay blocks at the top of the mast.

"Why did you do that, Xena?" Gabrielle asked.

"It's a precaution, Gabrielle. It makes the ship easier to defend."

"Julia!" Xena called out. The stocky Amazon slid down a mast backstay like a monkey and landed lightly in front of the Warrior Princess.

"Yes, Xena?"

Xena unfolded a piece of paper and handed it to Julia.

"You're in command of the ship, Julia. I expect to be here a couple of days and then we'll be leaving. I want you to live on the ship and protect it. It's OK to let some of the women go into town and find work to keep them occupied but, always keep enough on board to keep Lyceus up and protect it if things go sour. If you're forced out to sea for any reason, check back in every day to see if we've come back. If we are not back in a month, I want you to hire a captain then follow what's on this paper. Clear?"

"Yes, Xena."

"Repeat it."

"One other thing, Julia. I want you to take some of the gold and buy 2 hundred pounds of each of these three items, then grind them each into a fine powder."

"Right, Xena." Julia replied and she called down a few of her sisters and she ran off on the errand.

Xena hugged her and then turned back to Gabrielle, Ephiny, and Pyronia.

"What are we going to do now?" Pyronia asked

"Lemme guess!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "We're gonna nose around and see if we can find out anything about the Hittites, right?"

Ephiny gave Gabrielle a hard look. It annoyed her when Gabrielle acted like a know it all.

"Good guess, Gabrielle, but that's not all. I want to go up and talk to the King. Melosa gave me a letter of introduction. He should have some good information for us after I brief him and grease his palm a little. Pyronia, Ephiny, cruise the inns and the markets. Ask around. See what you can find out. Pyronia, I especially want you to go to the Hittite neighborhoods. Put your ear to the ground. Remember everything that sounds odd." Both the Amazons nodded. "Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Good, we'll meet at the town market about an hour before dark. Let's get going."

The party walked off the dock and it wasn't very long when the all noticed something wasn't quite right. The streets weren't deserted but they should have been a lot busier. The dockyard was full of cargo that hadn't been loaded on wagons and the stevedores were just standing around.

Gabrielle, turned away from the party for a few steps and asked a man a question and he just shrugged. "Hey wait up!" Gabrielle shouted, and she sprinted to catch up with the party's long strides.

Gabrielle could tell by just looking at Xena and Ephiny that their instincts were humming like a strummed lyre string. Both of the women were looking warily from side to side. Xena turned completely around from time to time to check behind her. Ephiny was even sniffing the air now and then. Pyronia walked calmly but Gabrielle could see she was chewing on her fire stick more strongly than usual. Just to make sure, Gabrielle began carrying her staff at the port position.

Looking around the women could see people staring out onto the streets from upper story windows. Shopkeepers stood in doorways and looked with concern at the lightly populated streets.

"Geesh! This place is tense," Pyronia said.

"What was that?" Ephiny exclaimed. Her sharp hearing had picked up something. Gabrielle saw Xena start too.

"Sounded like breaking glass." Xena said. "Come on!" Xena started jogging towards the sound.

They moved through the narrow, winding streets. The sounds became closer and more identifiable. They were the sounds of chanting, shouting and cries of anguish. Soon the noises were close enough to hear clearly. A crowd of men was chanting: "UNIFY, UNIFY, UNIFY.!'" "GREEKS GO HOME! GREEKS GO HOME!" Then all of the party stopped dead in shock, a heart rending scream was heard from around the corner. This was followed closely by the evident breaking of a large pane of glass. Gabrielle was about to say something but Xena and Ephiny simultaneously shushed her. Xena pointed to Pyronia and then she pointed to the ground and then back down the street. Pyronia nodded and turned her back on the party. She pulled her ax and stood ready. Pyronia was the rear guard.

Ephiny quickly crossed the street and stood with her back against the wall. Xena and Gabrielle did the same on the opposite side. All three of them sidled down the street until they came to the end of the block. Ephiny hung back and let Xena move to the corner first. The shouting seemed to be coming from the right. Xena easily pushed her head out around the corner to get a glimpse of what was happening. Her face hardened and she stepped back. Gabrielle took her place and did the same. When she returned, her face was pale with horror. She nodded to Ephiny. The Amazon sidled forward until she got a look. Her strong but pretty face fixed into a rictus of rage for what she saw was disgusting, and she took it very personally.

There was a group of about twenty toughs outside a tack shop. All of them looked very strong and were not your usual kind of ruffians. Several were carrying signs saying "GREEKS OUT OF HATTI!" Several of the bigger ones had what looked to be the shopkeeper and his wife pinioned against the walls and were beating them. Next door there was what seemed to be a livery stable, or a blacksmith but in front was what had affected Ephiny so badly. An elderly centaur was hanging by the neck from a rope attached to an extended beam that projected from the rafters of the building. He was still alive and despite the fact that all four of his legs were tied, he was thrashing horribly. Many of the men were shouting "CENTAUR LOVER!" repeatedly.

The street was narrow. Xena scoured the entire area to find a way to get a tactical advantage but it looked nearly hopeless. She had to work fast for the centaur would be dead in a few moments There wasn't any advantage to be found. All they had was surprise. Xena turned and softly cooed like a dove and Pyronia instantly turned and joined the rest of the party.

"Bum's rush." Xena told Pyronia. Ephiny pulled her sword and waited for the word. They had to cover about ten yards to get to the mob. Xena prayed everyone was fast enough to cover it before they were discovered.

"Ready?" Everyone nodded. Now stay quiet until just before we hit!" All nodded again.

"NOW!"

The four women burst around the corner at the dead run. Nobody saw them. With about five yards to go, Xena snapped her chakram off her right hip with her left hand and flipped it backhanded at the rope suspending the centaur. The war quoit whined unerringly at its target and it cleanly cut the rope before it buried itself in a building up the block. The falling centaur landed on ten of the thugs and suddenly the situation didn't look so bad.

The roughs were shocked into immobility. Before they came to their senses, the Amazons and Xena were yelling at the top of their lungs. Pyronia and Xena brought the hilts of their weapons down on the backs of the necks of two of the rioters while Ephiny kicked the feet out from under a third and stomped on his face when he hit the ground. One of the men had been missed and turned and charged Gabrielle who was bringing up the rear. A clumsy lout, he left himself wide open to a kick to the groin and a quick downswing of Gabrielle's staff. In a second he was writhing on the ground in pain. The shock of the attack was enough for the rest of the gang. They broke and fled like the cowards that they were.

Immediately, Xena went to the centaur who was still barely conscious and examined him. He was lucky, for his neck wasn't broken. Xena bent down and put an ear to his side and listened. His chest sounded good. Then she reached up and pulled the noose off his head. "You stay down and try to catch your breath. You're gonna be OK," she said. Then Xena went over to the two people who had been beaten. Both had collapsed to the street. Gabrielle was already bending over the woman and examining her. Xena looked at the man. Xena leaned back on her haunches and looked at the two Amazons and nodded. The people were gonna be OK too. Pyronia took the rope from which the centaur had been hung and cut it into shorter pieces with a knife she had taken from her boot. Handing several lengths to Ephiny, she bound the twelve men hand and foot. Just as she did so, Ephiny's sharp hearing picked up the unique rattle of running soldiers. She looked and she saw a squad of about ten men double quicking it down the street.

"What happened?" The leader of the soldiers said when he skidded to a stop in front of Pyronia. Xena stood and turned to him and said, "About twenty toughs were breaking up this couple's store and they had lynched this centaur. We were able to break it up before things got really bad."

By then the centaur had come to. "He reached up and ran one of his hands around the nasty welt that was now forming around his neck. He was ecstatic to be alive. Xena walked over to him. "You're gonna be fine. You'll just have a sore throat for a while."

"I thought I was gone! Did you stop those killers?" he asked Xena.

"Yeah. Me and my friends here. Can you stand?"

"I think so." Gabrielle and Pyronia helped to drag some of the pinned toughs out from under the centaur and his hooves were eventually cleared enough to get a purchase on which to stand. With a grunt of effort, the old animal regained his feet. That done, the soldiers stood up the miscreants and collared them.

The woman and the man had shown signs of life too. Xena went over and examined them closely once again. Both were going to be fine, they were just bruised and the man had sustained a sharp rap on the head. When they finally regained consciousness, both people waved any assistance away.

Xena went to the centaur. "Well, can you tell me what happened?"

"Not much to tell really. These lunatics came down this street yelling their lungs out about how bad and evil Greeks and Centaurs were. I own this stable here and they just came down the street bold as brass and clubbed me when I wasn't looking. They knocked me down and kicked me. My neighbors here came out to protest and they attacked them too. They broke nearly every window in the street.

Ephiny was so mad she was vibrating. "Scum!" She hissed. "What's your name Old one?" she asked. "Equillitus" He said.

"My father in law is King Tyldus."

"TYLDUS! He's a great centaur. My father knew his father. Is your husband here?"

Ephiny seemed to get madder. "He was killed some time back--by centaur haters."

The old animal seemed genuinely moved. "I'm sorry."

Gabrielle had been kicking handbills around that had landed on the street, dropped by the rioters. She picked one of them up and started to read. Her cherubic face twisted up into a look of disgust. "Oh this is just awful!" she said to nobody in particular. Pyronia heard that comment and walked over and looked over the shorter woman's shoulder, then she read:

GREEKS, CENTAURS AND AMAZONS WILL DESTROY US IF NOT STOPPED

"The disgusting, rat like monsters known as Greeks and their whores the Amazons will destroy the blood of Hatti if they are not stopped. They are not human and deserve no consideration as humans. Yet, they control nearly all trade into and out of the Hittite Empire. This abomination to the Mother Goddess, Hebat must be eliminated. This crime is made even worse because the Greeks are lackeys of the real masterminds of the offensive against the purity of Hatti, the Centaurs. These loathsome animals foist themselves on the daughters of Greece to create more of the hideous monsters. KILL THEM ON SIGHT! They are not human, they do not deserve any kind of mercy. Any Hittite that is seen with a centaur should be stoned to death where she stands to assure that no such impure births sully our precious blood..."

Pyronia read the handbill and screwed up her face in loathing. "What bull!" she exclaimed.

"There are hundreds of these things around. They must have a lot of scribes to copy this stuff," Gabrielle said. "Xena, Ephiny, you better come over and look at these."

Both of the women came over and picked up a bill. Ephiny read it and looked up at Xena "Bastards!" she exclaimed enraged.

Xena calmly read the screed and looked the paper over. She looked off into the distance, her eyes becoming progressively more cagey. "This is black propaganda. The Hittite government is trying to undermine the King here.

"How can you tell, Xena?" Gabrielle asked.

"This is very high quality linen paper, much higher quality than you can get in a shop. Also there are many different hands here. That means someone hired a LOT of scribes. It seems to be a good bet. I think we can get more out of the prisoners."

"What by Hades is going on here?" the sergeant asked.

"Have you been having a lot of riots like this lately?" Xena asked the sergeant.

"As a matter of fact, we have. They started about a week ago. But they've always broken up before the cavalry arrived. We couldn't catch anyone before now."

"Wait. Pyronia?" Turning away from the sergeant, Xena gestured for Pyronia to follow her.

Xena walked over to the man she saw leading the thugs. Pyronia walked up behind him.

"What's your name?" Xena asked.

"What's it to you? You, centaur loving whore?" The man was rather handsome. He was dressed plainly but for his military pattern curly toed Hittite boots. He looked with complete disgust at Xena.

Xena nodded at Pyronia who grabbed the man sharply by the hair and kicked him in the back of his knees, collapsing him to a kneeling position. "You heard the lady. You'd better be nice to her!"

"In your dreams, bitch!" the man made an attempt to spit in Xena's face but she was too quick for him. Xena tapped him on both sides of his neck and twisted the muscles of his shoulder. The man immediately tensed to rigidity and became woozy.

"You're dying. I can save you," Xena said chillingly. "Tell me what we want to know and I'll save your miserable life."

The man was panting heavily and reeling.

"What's your name?"

"Attamuawa."

"Where do you meet?"

"Warehouse--Docks!"

"Address!"

"Dock Street and Theta!"

"Who gives you these handbills?"

"Warunkatte."

Pyronia said, "That's the name of the Hittite God of War."

"You're dying you idiot. No god is gonna give you handbills." Xena hissed at Attamuawa, a nasty smile on her face.

"No! No! That's the man's name. I swear! That's all I know. He gives me money too."

"How?"

"In my pocket."

Pyronia reached into the man's tunic and pulled out a 1 talent Hittite gold piece.

"What does he do then?"

"Nothing! We do the rest!" Attamuawa was really reeling now. Xena tapped him and reversed her touch. A stream of blood ran from the man's nose and he collapsed altogether.

"We better find and watch that warehouse." Ephiny said.

"Agreed," Xena said. "Ephiny, Pyronia, I want you to do exactly that."

Xena turned and reassured herself that the injured people and Equillitus were indeed all right. The old centaur was already sweeping the sidewalk with a corn broom while the people were picking up the glass. Xena nodded and turned back to her party.

Pyronia nodded then said, "Ephiny, we better not be dressed as Amazons, considering that crap we just read." The curly haired Amazon nodded. Gabrielle began rummaging around in her fanny pouch and fished out a couple of fifty dinar coins to give her honorary sisters. There was a clothing store down the street," Gabrielle said.

A smirk came to Pyronia's lean face. "Just to bottom things off then! He, He, He!" She walked over to one of the trussed up men and swept his feet out from under him. While she was still recovering from the shock, she stripped the Hittite boots from the man's feet. Ephiny caught on and looked for the smallest man she could find and did the same thing. She looked up at her sister and shrugged, her lips pursed.

"Sergeant lock all these fellows up. I'll sign a complaint. I better get to the King and let him know that there is a big covert operation by a foreign power going on in his kingdom." Xena said.

"Thank you, Miss...? Could you give me your name for my report?"

"Xena."

"Thank you! Awright you sleezebags get going!" The squad then prodded the prisoners into reluctant motion.

"C'mon, Gabrielle. Ephiny we'll meet you at the corner of Dock Street and Theta Streets when we're done."

"Gotcha, Xena," Pyronia said. So Xena and Gabrielle started the trudge up the hill to the citadel.

The two Amazons found the clothing store down the street and it just happened to cater to the Hittite community. It wasn't too long that both were wearing the colorful, long flowing goat wool dresses that were all the rage among Hittite women. Both were wearing the trailing headdresses held in place by gilt bands that were common as well.

"How do women wear these things?" Ephiny grouched trying to arrange her headdress. I feel like a tacky lamp!"

Pyronia grinned. "You'll get used to it. Just stand upright. Good thing it's afternoon. These things get damned hot too."

"The boots are cool though-- very comfortable"

"Yeah they are. We used to toss rings at the toes when we took them off, the toes stick up so high." Py chuckled.

Ephiny's serious expression lightened considerably. Pyronia's silly streak got even to her occasionally.

Both walked down the street back towards the waterfront.

"Geesh, I hate cities." Pyronia said.

"Me too. When Phantes was alive, I was really dreading living in Athens.

"Artemis never meant people to live so crowded together."

"And so many men."

"Well, that's not that bad, but it is kinda odd."

They walked on a bit farther. Pyronia said, "That Xena's a piece a work, ain't she?"

"I'll say, back during the Krykus affair, I thought for sure she was working for the centaurs. She fooled me but good."

"I noticed she's awful quiet. Not like the Amazons I know.

"Gabrielle tells me that she's a sad woman."

"Those two seem to be very close."

"That they are, but you'd think that Xena would lose patience with Gabrielle. She can be a pain."

"Gabrielle? Nah! She's a sweetheart. Its just that she's a lot smarter than most of us. She can talk a blue streak too. With her imagination I can't imagine her any being other way."

"Well, she rubs me the wrong way sometimes."

Pyronia smiled and elbowed her sister. "I noticed. Tell ya one thing. They both know how to fight."

"Tell me about it. Xena cleaned my clock once too."

Pyronia tipped her head back a belted out a gale of laughter then she grabbed her smaller sister on the shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

A commotion soon could be heard and looking down the street the pair could see some activity.

"Good." Pyronia said. "Looks like market day here. We should blend right in."

On the other side of town, Xena and Gabrielle were nearly done with their walk up the long hill to the Acropolis.

"I'm outta shape from being on the boat, Xena." Gabrielle panted. "And I don't have my land legs. Maybe we shoulda hired a ride?"

Xena snorted, "You just don't like going uphill that's all."

The arrived at the huge, iron bound gate of the Citadel and Xena showed the letter of introduction to the gate guard. He called his supervisor and the sergeant then admitted the women into the castle under escort. The palace itself was extremely ornate, its hallways were lined with very large grained stone called gneiss. Gabrielle marveled at the intricacies of the grain running though the stone. Gabrielle was also impressed with the orderly activity she saw and heard around her. There were workman all over, many singing with their work.

Xena heard snippets of conversation and orders being given. Off down by a side gate somebody yelled: "Say Leo, did you say that wheat delivery was tomorrow?" The reply came back, YEAH! They better be on time. You know how the Assyrians love their pita bread!" Xena could hear no more because the background noise swallowed the conversation.

"I wonder what he's like, this King Erginus?" Gabrielle said, her head still turning in wonder at the splendor she saw.

They arrived at the King's office in relatively short order and they were announced.

"Xena of Amphipolis and Gabrielle of Potidaea!" Shouted the herald. The guards opened the gigantic oak door and walked in, the pair behind them.

Erginus was not what they expected. First of all he was short, possibly shorter than Gabrielle, but he was handsome. About fifty years of age, he was perfectly Socratically bald and his shiny cranium was surrounded by a halo of closely cropped gray hair. His face, framed by a neatly trimmed gray beard, was square in shape with a slightly bulbous nose and laughing hazel eyes framed by age lines that Gabrielle considered to be very distinguished. His smile was toothy and brilliant. Erginus moved with the easy grace of an athlete and his voice was deep and characterized by a distinctive rolling of the pronunciation of the letter 'r'.

"So you are the Mighty Warrior Princess!" Erginus said as he walked elegantly from behind his surprisingly simple desk. He held out his hand to Xena who did the same, but, rather than shake it, he swept Xena's hand to his mouth and kissed it. Turning to Gabrielle the King asked, "And you are?"

Gabrielle told him her name and nodded her head in greeting. The King swept her hand up in a very grand manner and kissed it as well. Gabrielle snapped a tiny sidelong look toward Xena who nodded in an impressed manner. "Charmed, I'm sure," said the King in his courtly manner. "Xena, I used to follow your career with concern, but I was fortunate that you never chose to attack us.

"The pirates in my navy got along very well with your merchants. Great profits were had by all, and I got a lot of supplies from you."

The King smiled widely. "One of the pleasures of statecraft, Xena. One of the pleasures of statecraft. So what brings you to my beautiful city?"

Xena handed him Melosa's letter. The King walked behind his desk and began to read. As he went on, the jollity that characterized him visibly drained away.

"Yes, Xena we have been having more and more trouble with the Hittites. I have been under intense diplomatic pressure from the Empire almost from the moment that Tudhalias took the throne. As a matter of fact, my foreign minister is in Hattusas now. Tudhalias wants to propose us a treaty."

"What can you tell me of this new Emperor? I can pay for this information."

The King looked up at Xena and he waved his hand submissively. "If what Melosa says is true, we may be allies soon. I think it would be wise to spread such information. Negotiations for a true alliance might cost money but this exchange would be to our mutual benefit so hang onto your money--for now.

"Fine, why hadn't Melosa heard of this Tudhalias before?"

"Well firstly, Melosa's kingdom is very small and close to landlocked. She would have little reason to deal with the Hittites, especially since they've been so quiet for so long.."

"Why hadn't I heard of him?"

"Well, Xena, you were never one for politics if I remember. I actually think it was your downfall."

Xena grimaced. The King was right.

"Well, this Tudhalias was an employee of the Hittite Foreign Ministry," Erginus continued. "He's not a warrior but he's an expert politician. A very sophisticated and ruthless fellow. If I remember correctly, he was much more involved with personnel matters and with the Assyrians than with us. I doubt that even ever left Hattusas in his entire life. He is also a total snake, and ambitious totally beyond reason. I am positive that there is no person or group he wouldn't sacrifice to keep himself in power."

Gabrielle looked at Xena. She saw a short flash of disgust shoot through her friend's eyes. Xena had often spoken about her extreme disrespect for politicians.

"His predecessor," the King continued. "Suppiluliumsa was not the kind to be manipulated. I'm convinced that Tudhalias had him killed and the government was taken over by force, but it was so smoothly done that nobody could do anything about it." The King went on to brief Xena and Gabrielle on what he knew of the last year of his relations with the Hittites.

Xena took the vicious handbill from her bosom and handed it to the King. "Have you ever seen this before?"

The King read it and immediately became angry.

"We broke up a knot of toughs beating on a couple of people and they were trying to lynch a centaur. We found a lot of these notices on the rioters."

"What do you think?"

"It smells like the Hittites are trying to set you up to be overthrown."

"I agree. I have been getting more and more reports of bullyboys attacking our citizens, both human and centaur. Also the Hittite army is demonstrating north of us. I'm sure it's an intimidation campaign. You say they are in custody?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I also interrogated one of them and found out where their base is. It's in a warehouse on the waterfront. Two of my associates are watching it.

"Guards!" The King called out When the guard came in the king told them, "Bring me the Minister of the Interior!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," he guard said.

"I called the M.O.I., Xena, because I presume you need help?"

"No, King Erginus, I think the smaller the fuss the better, but I certainly would increase your security. Also I need the information about these disturbances too. I might be able to glean more about Tudhalias' intentions. We do agree that this disorder is coming from the outside?"

Directly the Minister of the Interior, one Count Stephan, arrived. He was a tall, thin, cadaverous man who looked at Xena and Gabrielle with extreme doubt in his eyes. The King filled him in. After a moment's consideration he said, "Your majesty, no matter how good this woman's references are, there isn't enough evidence to merit a general mobilization. There isn't enough to even to increase police presence on the street."

The King said, "Will you excuse me for a moment Xena and Gabrielle?" The pair walked the distance to the other side of the room to allow the King and his Minister of the Interior some privacy.

"Who is this woman?" Stephan asked.

"Xena, Warrior Princess."

"The Greek Warlord you were you were once afraid of?"

"Yes."

"What's she doing here?" The King showed Stephan the letter of introduction.

"Oh, Melosa's having some problems too. Can you trust this Xena considering her reputation?"

"I trust Melosa. We've been doing business for years, and she's never put a foot wrong before."

"I wouldn't panic, Your Majesty. I'm not sure that this handbill and a few small disturbances are worth the effort. Besides, resources are limited. The Minister of Finance is strapped."

"I know."

"I think this Xena's reputation has been greatly exaggerated by the stories she's mentioned in. I wouldn't take her all that seriously."

"Thank you for your input, Stephan. I think know what to do now."

"My Lord!" Stephan bowed and strode out of the office.

There was a commotion at the door and the guards admitted a very grubby looking soldier that was covered with dust from head to foot. "Your Majesty! Dispatch from the Foreign Minister!"

The plucky little King quickly tore open the seals on the dispatch, shooed the messenger away, and read it. Then he handed it to Xena who did the same. The dispatch was an account of the meeting the Foreign Minister had attended. Included were the spineless surrender of Halikarnassus's most powerful neighbors and Pausanias' rejection of the proposed treaty.

"You're backing your Foreign Minister I hope." Xena said.

"Please don't be presumptuous, but as it happens I am. I trust Pausanias; we've been comrades and friends since childhood. There isn't a chance we'd cave in to this upstart," the King said heatedly.

Xena looked at the King who asked, "Would you like to work for me, Xena? It looks like I could use a commander of your reputation."

"I'm honored, Your Majesty, but I'm still on a mission for Melosa. It seems you and Melosa are informal allies now anyway. Tudhalias committed an act of war on Amazon territory which cannot be allowed to go unanswered. Erginus, I need to ask you a question."

"Certainly."

"Could I have the names and locations of your people on the way from here to Hattusas? I'll need their help."

Erginus was a trifle taken aback by such a direct and sensitive question. Gabrielle looked at Xena, "How do you know he's got men in the Hittite Empire, Xena?"

The King sat down and stroked his beard. There was a concerned look upon his face. He looked up at Xena and then Gabrielle. "Don't worry about Gabrielle, Your Majesty; she can keep a secret," Xena said.

The King got up and paced. "All right, it will cost you 5,000 Dinars, and it'll be on Melosa's head if you reveal them."

"Agreed." Xena wrote out a note and a messenger was sent for. In a few minutes the note to Julia aboard ship was on its way with an escort to get the gold. The King then wrote out a another note and handed it back to Xena who hid the note in her bosom.

Xena held out a hand to the King who again kissed it gallantly. "I'll make sure you're fully informed of what I find." she said, and she turned on her heel and walked out, Gabrielle right behind her."

"He seems like a good man, Xena."

"Yes, he does.--for now."

Gabrielle looked up at Xena quizzically who just looked ahead at where she was going. Before long both were headed back down to the waterfront to see what Pyronia and Ephiny had been up to.

Gabrielle had a mildly awestruck look on her face. "What can it be like to be a King of such a large city? I've met a lot of kings but Erginus seems to have so much more responsibility compared to many of them. It must be scary to have such a big Empire next to you, especially when you don't understand what they are up to. Xena, you had responsibility like that before, what was it like? I mean It doesn't seem that Queen Melosa has such a big job."

"It's difficult to explain, but being in charge isn't a picnic, Gabrielle. Don't deride Melosa's position either. Leadership is never easy."

Gabrielle looked at her friend and saw that Xena's face had closed. Nevertheless, probably to deal with her own unease, Gabrielle continued to talk.

"It seems as if he's standing at the bottom of a hill with the possibility of a gigantic landslide falling on his head. All of this makes those warlords we used to fight all the time look like small stuff in comparison. Everything hangs on this man's decisions. There has got to be a great story in here somewhere..."

Xena's body language changed without warning. Gabrielle saw that her friend's "combat instinct" was fully alert. Xena's eyes were wide open and bright, and she had walked the last few strides as if she were a she panther ready to spring. Xena pushed Gabrielle up against the wall by which they were walking and stopped. She was staring up the block at a man in a brick colored robe.

"Xena?" Gabrielle asked. Xena put her hand over Gabrielle's mouth for a second and pointed. It was getting on to late afternoon and Xena slid forward a few feet to hide herself in a shadow. The man was acting peculiarly. He was looking around furtively as if to see if anyone was watching. He was standing in front of a hardware shop that was seemingly swamped by a sea of barrels full of tools and other things. Then the man picked up a piggin and slipped something under it.

Gabrielle pulled on Xena's belt to get her attention. She looked at her quizzically.

Xena whispered: "It's a dead drop, Gabrielle. That man's passing something secret to somebody else. I used to make this kind of secret contact all the time when I was a warlord." Xena looked around and saw what looked to be an open room in the building on which they leaned It had a window that faced the street. The pair inched towards the door and entered. Gabrielle found the owner of the building and rented the room for the afternoon. Quickly, the pair ran up the stairs and settled down to watch. Several times during that long first hour Xena had to chide Gabrielle because she was bored and fidgeting.

Back down on the waterfront both Ephiny and Pyronia were getting bored from watching that warehouse. Ephiny was the woman that was doing the fidgeting here.

"How much longer do we have to stand at this damn food stall, my feet hurt!" Ephiny grouched.

"Hang on a minute! I just saw someone go into the warehouse." Pyronia hissed.

Easily, both women put down what they had in their hands and they sauntered over toward the warehouse while drifting apart, the better to look inconspicuous. The warehouse was a very large building for that time, perhaps two hundred feet on a side and two stories tall, but it was otherwise nondescript. Pyronia had seen a man in a brick colored robe look carefully around and slink into the building.

"Wish I could see what is going on in there." Ephiny said to herself. She shot a glance at Pyronia and pointed her head towards an alley, and began to ease her way towards it. Pyronia got the hint, and drifted in the direction of her sister. When they were certain that they weren't being observed, they bolted into the alley next to the warehouse.

The windows of the building were very high in the air.

"Py, gimme a boost will ya?" Ephiny said.

Pyronia rolled her eyes. Giving legs up was one of the "perks" of being the tallest Amazon. "All right!' Shee!" Pyronia crouched and cupped her hands and Ephiny stepped into them. With a grunt, Py hoisted her much lighter sister into the air and Ephiny stepped on her sister's shoulders. "This better be good 'SISTER'! WELL??"

"It's pretty dark but I see that guy rummaging around in there. There are a lot of crates. Doesn't seem to be anybody else in there. Wait!"

"What is it? Artemis! Geesh, you're heavy! Are you sure you lost weight since the baby was born?"

"SH!"

"Well!?"

"I see what looks to be gold and a lot of other stuff. He's writing something." Mercifully, Ephiny jumped down from her sister's shoulders. Ephiny continued briefing Pyronia while wiping her hands. "There looks to be a fancy sedan chair and a lot of fancy cloth. There was a big box full of those handbills.'

There was a sound of moving inside.

Pyronia hissed, "He's coming out!" and both women dove behind a couple of barrels farther up the alley. Both women were dead silent as they watched the side door of the building open and the man in the brick colored robe come out. He was of medium height with dull brown hair and a very undistinguished face. Both women strained hard to find a distinguishing mark or some other point of interest on him . Pyronia leaned over and barely whispered "His ear." Ephiny looked up. His ears had been pierced for earrings, but his left earlobe was split into two halves. Someone had once violently torn an earring out of his ear.

The man furtively closed the door and turned the lock with a big key then slithered away. After a short moment, the Amazons broke cover and moved to the door.

"Py, we gotta get in there."

"Agreed." Pyronia reached into a boot and pulled out her narrow bladed knife and began messing with the lock. Ephiny pulled her sword whose scabbard was covered by the back of her heavy dress and covered her sister. After a minute or two there was a loud clack and the lock gave way. Pyronia slowly pushed open the door and Ephiny stuck her head under her tall sister's arm to peer inside.

Pyronia took the fire stick from her mouth and struck it on the doorjamb; the little fire illuminated what appeared, to her, to be a wonderland. There was a gilded sedan chair, richly decorated with ornate carvings. In several crates there were very rich looking military uniforms with very tall conical helmets. They also found a stack of tunics decorated with flying sphinxes with bearded men's faces and similar helmets all around their seams. Pyronia found an oil lamp, still hot from use, and lit it with her fire stick.

The additional light revealed much more. This was an arms warehouse of some sort. There were bows and crossbows of all types, swords, mostly as Pyronia noted, of the Hittite pattern, and boxes and boxes of arrows.

One of the boxes was a low chest about three feet on a side. Both women looked it over and it looked familiar. It looked like the bullion chest on the ship. The lock was large and looked formidable. "Should we force it, Ephiny?"

"No, No. That would give us away" Ephiny stooped and grabbed one of the handles on the box and tried to lift it. The Amazon strained but couldn't even move it. "Its gotta be full of gold." The women then went deeper into the warehouse.

The women carefully explored further. There was a big door in the walls of the building that opened on the alley on the opposite side from which they had entered. Ephiny noticed that the floor was covered with something white. She bent and swept a finger though it. Ephiny looked at it then wiped her finger off. "Flour. I guess a bag must have a hole in it."

"There's some scattered whole wheat lying around too." Pyronia noted. "This must have been a grain silo before this stuff was moved in." Ephiny shrugged then nodded. The two Amazons turned back the way they came in.

There was also a plain table in the center of the room on which there was a pile of paper, blank paper. Both women looked the stuff over then went to the table. Ephiny sat down next to it and looked at the paper. "This is the same kind of paper those crummy handbills are written on. What's this?" she asked.

"What'cha got Ephiny?"

"Bring the lamp closer. There's an impression on this sheet. If we take it back to the ship maybe we can bring it out."

Pyronia stepped over but recoiled. She had stepped on something and nearly twisted her ankle. "GRRRR!" she said rubbing it. "Hey wait!" she exclaimed. She had stepped on something built right into the floor. Pyronia got down on all fours and looked. "There's a door with a lock down here, Ephiny." Ephiny dropped down with the lamp and joined her sister in examining the discovery.

"Not much of a lock," Ephiny said. She got up and looked around for something with which to force it. She found a keg of long finishing nails and carefully removed the top. She tossed the nail to Pyronia, who poked it around in the keyhole until she got a purchase and pushed the bolt aside. Inside she only found two scrolls made out of very thin paper. The writing upon it resembled the impression on the blank paper.

"There isn't much on these papers, but they must be pretty important or they wouldn't have locked them up." Pyronia said. "What do we do?"

"We copy it out. There's only two pages." Pyronia nodded, drew her knife from her boot and stood behind the door ready to take out anyone who came in.

It seemed to take forever. Pyronia was getting really anxious and she often waved her hand at her sister who was frantically copying. After a bit, the job was done and Ephiny replaced the papers in the safe as carefully as possible and closed the door. She got up and started to go to the door then remembered to take the top two blank sheets of paper and take them with her. In a flash she was at the door and then they were back in the street.

"We better send down someone to wait for Xena." Ephiny said.

"C'mon, Gabrielle. I want you to talk to the shopkeeper. Keep him occupied." Gabrielle nodded and the both left the little room that they had rented. When they hit the street, Xena waylaid a child and gave him a dinar to go down to Lyceus and to get one of the crew to take over the stake out. "Make sure you say Xena sent you now, boy." The urchin nodded and gleamed when Xena gave him the dinar. Then he took off.

Gabrielle went over to the storekeeper and began to ask lots of questions to him about his goods. Xena edged over to the piggin and nudged it off its place with her foot revealing a small pouch. She stooped and opened the oiled sheepskin pouch and took out its contents--200 dinars in gold and a sheet of paper. She opened the paper and read it. Her face screwed up in concentration at first, for the writing didn't immediately make sense, but her eyes lit as the realization struck. Then she concentrated hard in order to etch the paper into her photographic memory. Quickly, she replaced the packet just as she found it. That done, she walked over to Gabrielle who turned on her and handed her something.

"Here."

"What's this, Gabrielle?" Xena said taking the package in a mild state of shock.

"Remember that sharpening stone you needed and never bought when we met Elkton the Mystic?'

"Yeah?'

"Happy Birthday!" Gabrielle said with a smile.

Xena's mouth curled up into a one sided smile. "Thanks."

At the same moment, one of the Amazons, Irene, came pounding up to them. Xena showed her where to go to take up the watch and Xena and Gabrielle headed once again for the waterfront. On their arrival, just at dark, the pair found not Ephiny and Pyronia but yet another of their crew who directed them back to Lyceus. Giving the Amazon orders to keep watch over the warehouse, the pair hurried back to Xena's ship.

Xena bounded onto her ship calling, "Ephiny!?"

"Here!" Ephiny replied hurrying to Xena's side with Pyronia. The two Amazons told Xena what had transpired. Xena was a trifle disapproving. Ephiny had tremendous initiative, perhaps a bit too much for Xena's taste, but this feeling was assuaged by the fact that nobody got caught and that Pyronia and Ephiny had found interesting stuff. However Xena made sure that her feelings were known. "Ephiny, that wasn't a real smart thing to do. You could have been caught."

"It was a calculated risk. It didn't seem likely the man in the reddish robe would have come back soon. He looked pretty certain that he was finished." Xena nodded her head in grudging approval. Then everyone went below to Xena's sleeping area.

"So you found a sedan chair and a lot of military clothing and equipment, Ephiny?" Xena said sitting down at the little table next to her cot.

"Sure did. We also found a huge chest that was so heavy that I couldn't move it. Its nearly identical to OUR gold box. We found this on a table and these other papers in a safe built into the floor too. The blank sheet has a stylus impression on it. And oh! a whole lot of those handbills."

Xena took the paper with the impression and held it up to the lamp. "Julia? Julia!" She called. The stocky ship's cook padded aft.

"Did you get those items I asked for?"

"Yeah, Xena."

"Did you powder it?"

"Sure."

"Good, get me a handful of the charcoal."

Julia ran off and Xena laid the blank paper aside. She then turned her attention to another blank sheet of paper and started writing down what she'd memorized from the paper under the barrel. In a second or two, Julia returned with a small bowl of finely powdered charcoal. Xena replaced the blank with the impression upon it and laid it out as flat as possible. She then took out a small handful of the charcoal and rubbed her hands over the paper, sprinkling it with a fine shower of charcoal. After a few seconds of this, the Xena gently wiped the charcoal off the paper leaving a clear impression of what was written on the paper.

After rinsing her hands off, Xena looked over both the impression and the note she wrote carefully. Then she handed it to Pyronia. "It's in Hittite, but it makes no sense." Pyronia said.

Xena's eyes glowed brightly. She picked up the two sheets that Ephiny had copied down, there were similar symbols on the paper to the two she'd read earlier as well as tally marks and Greek script. Gabrielle kibitzed closely staring over her friend's shoulder. Xena thought for a moment longer then said: "It's a double substitution cipher."

Everyone's eyebrows went up at once. "Xena, what are you talking about?" Ephiny asked. Gabrielle looked totally confused.

"Code ladies, code." The sheets you found in the safe are the key, Ephiny. Good work." Ephiny rocked back on her heels clearly pleased at her own brilliance. Pyronia elbowed her. "Down girl." she whispered.

Xena explained: "This column of numbers substituted for this Greek then its substituted by the Hittite script. Xena then took the sheet with the impression and began to write between its lines. You go here, then here, then HERE..." Xena's face was screwed up slightly in concentration. "...And in a couple of minutes you get..." She then handed the sheet to Pyronia who read:

"Operation Party starts dawn tomorrow. Package A assembles at millpond before dawn. Visitors will be parked. Package A should arrive when party at highest pitch mid day. Package B assembles Point Delta at dawn. On way mid morning. Will be at Mt. Olympus mid day.

Warunkatte"

Pyronia looked up confused while Xena started working on the note she'd memorized. In a few moments Xena came up with:

"Operation Party on schedule. Goods arrive Point Delta dawn tomorrow. Deliver package noon tomorrow.

Warunkatte"

"Xena what does that mean? We broke the code but it's still gibberish!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

Xena leaned back in her chair put her thumbnail to her mouth and crossed her legs. She was lost in thought.

"I'm not sure, Gabrielle, but whatever it is, its big and its going down tomorrow. Ephiny, Can you give me a more detailed description of what you found in that warehouse.?"

"Well, there was a lot of military equipment."

Xena got a bit impatient. "Did it look familiar to you at all?"

"Stuff from everywhere. The uniforms were interesting--very fancy. White linen and gold embroidery. There was a lot of spilled flour and wheat grains lying around too"

"What did the embroidery look like?"

"Sphinxes and winged creatures. Strange, all of them had big beards and what looked like cone shaped helmets on their heads."

Pyronia piped up: "Most of he helmets looked like the embroidered stuff. Here." Pyronia took up another blank sheet of paper and began to draw with a stick of charcoal. She drew a winged sphinx, with highly skilled draftsmanship, that was angular with a conical helmet and a long, stiff projecting beard. When she was finished she showed it to Xena.

"That's Assyrian!" Xena exclaimed.

Julia shouted from on deck up forward; she'd heard Xena. "Assyrian? Xena you'd better come up here and take a look!"

Xena charged up on deck with the rest of the party hot on her heels.

There, just pulling in her oars was a gorgeous, pure white bireme, a warship. Her bulwarks and stern post were decked out in gold leaf. The huge square sail, which was now being gathered in, was made out of pure white cotton canvas. On its very center was a gigantic piece of golden embroidery--a winged sphinx nearly identical to Pyronia's drawing. She was pulling up to the dock next to Lyceus.

Xena jumped up on the gunwale and shouted at the gleaming vessel, "AHOY THERE! WHAT SHIP IS THAT?"

"IMPERIAL ASSYRIAN NAVY SHIP CONQUEROR BEARING HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE CROWN PRINCE ADADNIRARI, AND YOU?"

MERCHANT SHIP LYCEUS OUT OF ZAGORA THESALLY. XENA OF AMPHIPOLIS COMMANDING!" Xena then waved in warm greeting. She jumped off the bulwark back onto the deck. "Now THAT's convenient." she said.

"Xena, I'm getting a terrible feeling about all this. We'd better let the King know what's going on." Gabrielle said with a frightened look.

Xena shook her head. "No, Gabrielle. He'd have to put the town on complete alert and that would do nothing but tip off the mastermind of this plot and make him delay for a while. Time is on his side. Erginus is a liberal King. He believes in freedom for his people, he doesn't have a big internal security organization. He'd have to put his army on the streets. Also, even if we asked we probably wouldn't get much help, that Stephan, the Minister of the Interior, didn't seem to take me very seriously. No, it's our job to break this up, whatever it is."

Gabrielle looked cagey: "What's the plan?"

"Quadruple the watch on the warehouse and triple the watch on the hardware store. Follow anyone that leaves either at a discreet distance. I think we know what millpond is, the warehouse, but we got to find this Point Delta. Next we unload the wagon and the horses. We can keep the horses in the livery stable at the end of the wharf. Keep them saddled. As for the four of us, we got to get some sleep because we got to get up well before dawn. Let's get to work."

A few hours later, Xena, Gabrielle and the three Amazons who had been given the duty to watch the hardware store were huddled in the cold apartment with the window wide open. The cold, still very dark morning, cut through all of the women as the tension seemed to slowly grow as well.

"Someone's got to get that note." Gabrielle hissed. Iphigenia, are you sure that you saw nobody move that barrel?"

"Nobody, Gabrielle. Not a Hades cursed soul." the Amazon said in a horse whisper. How long have we been here?"

"Seems like an eternity." Gabrielle said, frustrated

Xena was crouched by the window sill in her black cloak staring intently at the barrel, as if by concentration itself she could get somebody to approach it. This kind of waiting grated on Xena, she craved action, but her will was immense; there was no way she was going to waste this opportunity for more information. She had to wait these men out. Half of the message was useless. She had to know the rest of it.

The moments dragged and dragged. Even Xena had a hard time blinking sleep from her eyes. Then something went off in her head and she was instantly alert.

"Here he comes!" Xena hissed.

Iphigenia and other two Amazons felt her vibrations and immediately tensed. Only Gabrielle was not up to speed.

"What do you hear, Xena?" Gabrielle whispered.

"SH!" Xena and the three Amazons said at once.

"Too many years in villages." Gabrielle hissed to herself. The sound was the clopping of the hooves of a single walking horse.

A man on a drab brown horse emerged out of the gloom. It was difficult for the average person to see him in the sparse night of the quarter moon, but Xena wasn't average. She watched him ease off the horse, and take a few short strides to the barrel and pull it away. He removed the package and erased the chalk mark that was on the barrel's top. Then he replaced the barrel, remounted and rode away in the direction from whence he came.

Xena motioned and Iphigenia went out of the apartment to the back door of the building and ran the way back to the warehouse to notify Ephiny and Pyronia. The other Amazons and Gabrielle also eased their way out of the back while Xena kept her eye on the retreating man as long as she could. The night before, Julia had the idea of renting a few other horses from the stable and two of those rented horses and Argo were tied out back. Gabrielle mounted Argo in her usual space behind the saddle while she was led around to the front. When Argo was in position, Xena lightly jumped from the second story window and landed square on the saddle. Xena's fall was soundless, and Gabrielle still couldn't understand why.

Xena and the rest of her small party hung back as far as they could depending on Xena's honed senses to keep them on the path behind the man on the horse. They stopped often and darted up alleys and side streets to keep him from spotting them, which was a distinct possibility since he looked over his shoulder often. Finally, they successfully tracked him to his destination, a small house outside town not all that far away from the citadel. Xena found a small creek bed that ran steeply away from the small house and barn and she hid the horses there. Looking around all found cover and settled down to waiting again. Iphigenia, once they had settled in, sent the second runner back to inform Ephiny.

The first runner arrived at the warehouse stakeout as just as things started happening. Small groups of men had begun to arrive. They were entering and leaving the building and walking off in different directions when they left.

"What are they up to, Ephiny?" Pyronia asked chewing on a fire stick.

"I'd bet that they're splitting up and meeting at another spot. See? There's a gap between the arrival times of the groups. They're trying to keep from making people suspicious.

"Not you, eh?" Pyronia teased, gently elbowing her friend in the ribs.

Ephiny snorted at that crack. She was a suspicious person by nature and she admitted it.

Soon a slightly larger group of four entered the building rather than the usual one or two. In a short time they emerged with what looked like a litter.

"That's it! That's the sedan chair. If Xena's idea's right, follow that, and things'll clear up," Ephiny whispered. It was just getting onto dawn giving the women just enough light to see what was up. When they saw the four men with the disguised sedan chair pick a street, the six women of the scouting party split up into groups of two that kept a discrete distance from the chair on the same street and two each on the two parallel streets. After some tense moments and close calls the sedan chair entered what looked to be an abandoned stable not that far from the citadel. The six joined up and again, they settled down to wait.

Ephiny was uneasy. Xena said that there wasn't enough evidence to do anything but watch. But there was Assyrian stuff in the warehouse and just last night of all things an Assyrian warship pulls up at the dock. "Snatch! Snatch!!" Ephiny hissed to herself "They're gonna snatch that prince! Py! Stay put. If a large group leaves follow it! I got to warn that Assyrian ship!"

Pyronia looked at her sister with a shocked expression. "What in Hades are you on about? All right!"

Ephiny broke from cover at a dead run and she sprinted the entire distance to the docks and the Assyrian ship where she pounded up the gangway yelling for someone to come on deck. Someone did. He was only partially dressed and not happy at all.

"What do you want?"

"My name's Ephiny. I'm positive there's going to be a kidnap attempt against your Crown Prince.

"How do you know that? You a member of King Erginus' personal guard?"

"No I'm an Amazon, I work for Queen Melosa of the Thesallian Amazon nation."

"Amazon huh?" The man began leering at Ephiny. I've heard of you Greek harlots. Well maybe you can be of service to me." The man made an attempt to grab at her. "I got a sword that I think you'd like."

"Hey, I'm trying to save your Prince's life, for Zeus sake!" Ephiny couldn't believe it. The man made a clumsy pass at her and even though the gangway was narrow she sidestepped, grabbed his right arm and flipped him into the bay.

He came up out of the water spluttering and yelling "You stupid whore! I'm gonna kill you!"

Ephiny knelt down on the brow, grabbed the man by the hair, pulled him up and hissed: "Have a nice bath, BABY!" and pushed him back under the water. That done she ran over to Lyceus, and roused all the Amazons. Ordering that four remain behind to guard the ship, Ephiny gathered the rest and sprinted back to the stakeout, totally frustrated and worried.

When she arrived, Ephiny dispersed the rest of the Amazons as best she could and then rejoined the original party.

"MEN!" She humphed "The idiot tried to assault me! I hate it when I'm not taken seriously."

"What happened?" One of the Amazons asked.

"The man on watch tried to cop a feel. I threw him into the bay! IDIOT!"

They waited impatiently in their little perch until mid morning when--

"Ephiny, look around. Didn't it get crowded all of a sudden?" Pyronia commented.

It had. groups of more than ten men seemed to appear out of nowhere. Many seemed to be wearing Hittite clothing, then someone waved his arm and somebody else threw a rock through a window. Others began to chant anti Greek and centaur slogans and protest banners appeared. A passerby was pulled off the street and was beaten.

"Ephiny, look!" Julia yelled pointing down the street to docks. Bold as brass, a small party of Assyrian soldiers followed by an ornate sedan chair came up the street. Most of the rioters peeled off and went down a side street. Soon the streets were choked by people trying to defend themselves against the senseless assaults.

"Julia! Go get Xena, NOW!" Pyronia yelled. She had seen several men behind a window of the stable that they were watching. They were wearing Assyrian uniforms.

"Those fools!" Ephiny snapped as Julia bolted out the back of the alley in which the Amazons were hiding. She looked back down the street and the Assyrian Delegation came inexorably towards its doom. In a moment the entire small force and the Sedan Chair was surrounded by the chanting mob and the roughs began to assault the guard who began to defend themselves as best they could. Somebody could be heard calling for the Army.

As the melee continued, out of the stable emerged a party identical to the Assyrians that were being pummeled on the street in front of them. The impostors calmly formed up and resumed the course that the waylaid party was to follow. The rioters paid them no heed.

"IT'S A SNATCH!" Ephiny yelled. Then she turned, put two fingers to her mouth and emitted an ear piercing whistle calling all the Amazons to her. She pulled her sword and yelled at the top of her lungs, "AMAZONS! LET'S GO!!" Pyronia reached down and grabbed her war ax as did several of her sisters and all at once the traditional war cry of HIPPOLYTA! HIPPOLYTA!" blasted from sixteen Amazon throats as the crew of the Lyceus waded into the fray to try to save the Assyrian Crown Prince.

All that dawn and morning Xena, Gabrielle and the two Amazons watched the farm house with increasing frustration. About mid morning a large wagon piled with heavy looking bags had come plodding up the road to the house and stopped. Other than that nothing else could be seen.

"Looks like that wagon driver lives here." Gabrielle said.

"Could be," Xena replied. "But that man we followed has got to come out sometime." Xena carefully took a look and found that there was no way to approach the house unobserved. All of the trees had been cut down recently, and the resulting bare area was thoroughly eaten by sheep. The creek bed that hid her and her companions wound away from the house. All that they could do was wait.

"Xena, did you get a look at the wagon?" One of the Amazons said.

"I did. There seemed to be nothing odd about it at all."

Gabrielle just shrugged. After what seemed to be forever, the wagon slowly plodded out from behind the house and went back down the road. Now that it was lighter everyone could get a better look at the wagon and its driver. The diver was a very nondescript man with a split earlobe. The wagon was very heavily constructed. The planking on the bed was exceptionally heavy, perhaps two and a half feet thick. Loaded upon the wagon was about twenty fifty pound sacks. One of he sacks was leaking very slowly, leaving a very thin trail of white behind it as the wagon rolled.

It seemed an eternity when to everybody's surprise a horse came pounding up behind them without regard to any kind of concealment. On that horse was Julia.

"What in Hades do you think you're doing Julia?" Xena snapped, "You've just blown our position!"

"Sorry, Xena can't help it! There's a riot going on in town. Ephiny says that the people in the warehouse are using the riot to cover them while they kidnap the Assyrian Crown Prince. She is doing what she can to save the situation. She wants you back right now!"

"DAMMIT!" Xena swore running for Argo to unhobble her. Gabrielle had already clambered up behind the saddle and the Amazons mounted as well. With a screech of frustration, Xena jumped aboard her beloved palomino and spurred her into a hard gallop, Julia and the others right behind her.

"C'mon, Argo, C'mon!" Xena urged with Gabrielle hanging on for dear life behind her. The big palomino was running flat out and she was covering ground fast. Despite the excitement of the moment Xena was elsewhere. There was something wrong with what had just happened at the farmhouse. "What was it? WHAT WAS IT?!" Her thoughts screeched. Before long Xena's little party arrived at were Julia had led them and riot was an understatement. Ephiny and Pyronia had a full scale battle on their hands.

Ephiny had at first ignored the rioters and headed towards the phony Assyrians. Soon rioters had joined into the battle and a gigantic melee had started. The Assyrian escort had realized what was happening and they had dropped the sedan chair to assist. The occupant of the chair was a man in his fifties and very fat. He couldn't do much to save his own life. Xena heard the banging of heavy swords on shields and the screeching of women and the grunts of men as the exertion and the madness of combat enveloped them. In the distance one could hear rams horns being blown as, finally, the general alarm was being sounded throughout the city. Gabrielle had just pulled her collapsed staff from her saddle bag and was preparing to dismount when Xena tensed, reined Argo to a skidding halt, and yelled. "FLOUR! IT'S THE FLOUR!!!"

The driver, a very nondescript man with a split earlobe, handed down the bill of lading and the cargo was checked. Themistoclus looked at the wagon and shook his head.

"Mighty heavy wagon for such a small load," he said.

"My boss just bought it. The previous owner used it to haul stone. The price was right," said the driver. Themistoclus then waved the wagon on to towards the back door of the grain storage room. There, Leo met it and began to check in the shipment.

The wagon driver carefully eyed Leo and jumped down from the wagon's seat. "It's all there." he said. "I'll help you unload it."

"Thanks!" Leo said, returning his gaze to the bed of the wagon. The driver reached into the flapping sleeve of his robe and pulled out a long, tapered, two edged knife with his right hand. He carefully walked up behind Leo. Double checking to see if anyone was watching, and nobody was, the driver slapped his left hand across Leo's mouth and pulled hard sticking his right knee in Leo's back as powerfully as he could. Simultaneously, he took the knife and stabbed Leo in between the first cervical vertebra and the skull. The blade entered the man's brain and scrambled it like yesterday's eggs. Leo was dead before he hit the ground. Not a sound had he emitted. The man walked over to the side of the wagon and tapped on it sharply. A trap opened on the bottom of the wagon and out tumbled five men, all dressed in the uniform of King Erginus' personal guard. The man with the split lobe shed his bulky shirt and loose pants revealing the same thing. Quickly, they hid the body in the wagon as well as the bloody clothing.

"Looks like Package A didn't make it. Someone must have stopped them. We're in safe. All set?" the assassin asked. The other men nodded and they walked towards the kitchen door.

The men had no problem whatsoever finding the proper way. Their man on the inside had given them a complete layout of the palace including the guard boxes and whatever secret passages they needed to escape. Whenever they were accosted by a guard, they simply engaged him in conversation then killed him quickly and silently. It wasn't very long before they found out that the King was indeed in his office and that Foreign Minister Pausanias. who had arrived early in the morning, was there as well. At long last they arrived at the King's office. The leader of the assassins walked up to the door guards and began berating them for their poor appearance. He was dressed as a general so they couldn't possibly refuse him. Eventually, he was able to talk the guards away from the door exposing them to attack. Quickly and soundlessly, the two unfortunates died.

With two of the men covering the hallway, three of the men and the leader strode in swords and daggers drawn, to find King Erginus standing with Foreign Minister Pausanias

The King stood. "Who the Hades are you?" He said shocked. Pausanias turned as well and his jaw hit the floor.

"The leader said, "Just call us a welcoming committee from the Emperor. A reward for rejecting the Access Treaty."

The King and the Foreign Minister both realized that they were dead. However, although they were unarmed, they stood their ground.

"Who let you in here?"

"I helped, but Shalamanezer here will get the credit once I'm on the throne." A familiar voice said from behind them.

"STEPHAN??" The King and his Foreign Minister exclaimed at once. The Minister of the Interior had entered from a passage behind a tapestry hanging from the wall behind the King's desk.

"You're both doomed you fools! The Hittite Empire is a thousand times the size of this burg and Halikarnasus will collapse in a second once the Emperor attacks. I'm NOT going to die because of your intransigence."

Pausanias had had enough. He started walking towards his fellow cabinet minister yelling:, "Why you stinking piece of horse......"

"ALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!!!"

Incredibly, a figure crashed through one of the large windows facing the courtyard of the palace even though the room was on the top floor. Everyone was frozen in shock, their eyes nearly flying from their sockets. The figure rolled to its feet then charged at the backs of the four men standing helpless before it. The King and his Foreign minister heard a sword rasping from a scabbard followed by the cracking sound of the blade slashing through the air. They saw as well an arm flying through the air, its muscles still gripping the sword in its hand.

"Sorry to break up the party boys!" it shouted, followed by a sheet of feminine laughter.

"XENA!!" The King screamed.

Before Xena had set herself, she let the sword blow follow through and then its hilt came up and struck one of the assassins on the nose knocking him to the ground. Stephan tried to run back out the secret passage from which he had emerged but he couldn't make it; the King had dived for his ankles and snagged him. He was followed immediately by Pausanias who tackled Stephan high.

Xena could see now that had two down and three to go. Shalamanezer finally turned and looked into the flaming blue eyes that were his death. He made a lunge with his sword but Xena simply kicked it form his hand. Her blade flashed and the chief assassin had more than a split earlobe--a lot more. Xena had cut him in half from the shoulder to the hip. The remaining two men began to cower and back away as the other two came in from the hall. One had a crossbow presented and he fired. Xena turned aside, caught the bolt and threw it away. The two assassins charged but Xena smiled widely and jumped into the air kicking the both of them cleanly under the chin. The men went flying all the way to the back wall of the office. The third lunged. Xena sidestepped and beheaded him as he went past. Then she turned to follow the two that she kicked. One of the men was knocked unconscious by the kick but the other was able to stand and get to his sword.

The assassin was quick, and smart. He feinted with his sword and Xena bit at the fake. He was able to get off a kick that hit Xena on the chin but she had started a back flip an instant before the blow landed and took no damage. The jump gave her the space to see what this guy had to offer. He was aggressive. He made slash after slash, all parried. Xena did a spinning back kick using the force from one of the man's blows to turn her around quicker and it landed square on his ear. With her prey knocked off balance, Xena used the same leg to snap off a short front kick that landed flush on the assassin's chin and knocked him backwards, but he flipped too and landed on his feet. Xena charged. She slashed down and blade caught blade sending the assassin's sword skidding across the floor. It was over now; Xena's right knee came up and hit the man in the nose, breaking it and throwing his head against the polished stone wall. His skull was fractured, he died in a few moments.

Outside Xena heard the pounding of a great many feet, and in a trice Gabrielle came skidding into the office, her staff at the ready, with the gate guards and several other officers bringing up the rear. Gabrielle looked at the situation, jammed the end of her staff into the floor and said grousing, "Xena, are you EVER going to leave me somebody to fight?" She yelled further, "Is everyone all right?

Xena looked at Gabrielle and half grinned while shaking her head. "Yeah, Gabrielle, the King's fine. I can't vouch for the rest of these jokers." she said.

"Your Majesty I can't believe it! Your own brother in law!" The Foreign Minister said.

The King called for the guards to take over handling the still kicking former Minister of the Interior. "Take this 'thing' away. Lock him away VERY deep."

"You're still dead, Erginus! Surrender now before you're eaten alive!" He said.

The King turned to Xena and said, "I'm sorry that I didn't take your advice to increase security. Stephan was telling me that things were under control."

"Before we do anything else Your Majesty, the Amazons I brought with me are up to their necks in a battle to save the Crown Prince of Assyria downtown. Better get more troops down there and tell them to not throw the Amazons into the dungeon."

"Guard!"

"Majesty!"

"You heard her!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The guard left in a big hurry.

"Don' t worry about it, Erginus. You trusted him and he betrayed you. Your brother in law made a good plan, I was very lucky to figure things out in time."

"How did you figure it out, Xena?" Gabrielle asked.

"I first thought that the objective was to embarrass you, Your Majesty, by abducting the Assyrian Crown Prince and holding him for ransom. I knew that the arrival of the Assyrians couldn't have been a coincidence. The Assyrian weapons and uniforms in the warehouse proved that. Then we intercepted some messages that told me it was a two part plan, but we didn't have much more to go on. The messages led me to watch the warehouse and a place where we knew secret messages were dropped. Our watch led us to a small farm house not far from here, but the only thing that happened was the arrival of a delivery wagon full of flour. Otherwise nothing happened at the house. That didn't make sense to me at all."

"Not long afterward Ephiny, one of my Amazon friends, got word to me about the kidnap attempt, and Gabrielle and I rode to join her. The importance of the wagon escaped me until, during the ride into town, I remembered three things: The warehouse had flour and wheat on the floor, that I over heard something about a flour delivery here today, and that the floor of the wagon bed was far too deep. It had to be hollow. The moment I figured that out, I thought that the phony Assyrians were some kind of diversion. But now I suspect that it was another assassination team to do the job if the one we just broke up didn't make it through. The riot was started to cover the kidnapping attempt. Fortunately, Ephiny's quick thinking stopped that team from getting here."

"By the gods, Xena!" Pausanias exclaimed, "How did you get into the Citadel and through a fifth story window?"

Gabrielle said, "If you knew Xena as I do, you'd know. Otherwise its a long story. I'll fill you in later."

"Whatever," the King said. "You saved my Kingdom and taught me a lesson about complacency! Xena, whatever you need is yours."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. If the Hittites are up to what I think they might be, either I or someone I choose will take you up on that offer. Other than that, nothing for now."

"Well, I can't take this then. The King opened up his desk and took out a large bag. Take your money back. The information is on me. You might need it anyway. If you have authority to treat Xena, then I'm Melosa's FORMAL ally as of right now."

Through the open window a sudden cold wind whipped up. Xena's hair went up on the back of her neck. Then she heard a disgustingly familiar voice.

"Do you think this petty victory is going to change the outcome of my plan at all? You disappoint me Xena."

Xena and Gabrielle, who to Xena's total surprise also heard the voice turned in shock. "ARES!" they both said together.

"Oh yes little girl, you can see and hear me now. You've got potential. I might make you an offer, sooner than you think."

Gabrielle stared in horrified fascination. Xena hadn't told her that Ares was so handsome.

"You'll have to kill me first to get your claws on her, Ares."

"That might be arranged, Xena. This little visit is just to keep you from getting cocky. Very soon I'll have you both backed into a corner, helpless. Bye for now!" Ares made a sweeping gesture of his big hand and disappeared.

The King and the other men in the office, who had seen nothing, looked dumbfounded at Xena and Gabrielle. "Are you two all right?" Erginus asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Gabrielle said turning to the King, revealing that her pink face was now as white as a sheet. "We're fine."