© Copyright 1996-1999 by Clayton J. Powers

Persephone, Demeter's beautiful and kind daughter emerged from a nearby chamber into her husband's office. When she entered, her eyes widened with delight for Athena and she were friends. They had much in common for both goddesses put a premium on serenity and compassion. When Athena saw Hades' wife, she opened her arms wide and gave Persephone a warm hug.

"Dearest Persephone! How are you, cousin? Is your time in the underworld going well?"

"Wonderful! Hades is such a kind and endearing god, but I do wish he wouldn't work so hard. He gets so serious sometimes."

Hades blushed. What his wife said was very true. While it couldn't be said that he loved his work in the underworld, Hades did do the very best he could with a depressing business. He was constantly reviewing files on the recently deceased as they sat in Asphodel, the underworld's waiting room, while he made his decision as to whether to send them to the Elysian Fields or to Tartarus. The volume of disembodied souls was always extremely heavy and room, especially in the Fields, was at a premium. Hades was always firing off memos to Zeus asking for larger facilities or more staff, and the King of Heaven almost never answered them. So, Hades was nearly always in a state of frustration. Nevertheless, although he was feared for the job he held, he was greatly respected for his honesty and even-handed approach to it.

"Darling, Athena's here on a sad errand. You had better sit down," Hades said.

Persephone, greatly disturbed, sat down on a nearby bench and gave her attention to the Goddess of Wisdom.

"Persephone, your mother is missing. Sadly, we cannot find her either on Olympus or on Earth. Apparently you were the last god to see her. Can you remember how long ago you saw her last?"

Persephone, who was very sensitive. was greatly upset by this news and she began to think very hard. Then she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Cousin. The last time I saw mother was at the time my husband told you about. I haven't seen or heard from her since."

"Persephone, I'm terribly sorry to be so persistent, but there has been some grave consequences for Earth. What was her mood? Did she act as her usual self?"

"Yes, very much so. She was wonderful and very sweet. Why do you ask?"

"She allegedly invited some mortals to begin tilling the soil in the forbidden valley of Lake Ohrid in Illyria."

Hades eyes went wide in shock. He almost never heard of what went on over his head on Earth or Olympus. "Surely you don't mean the valley we gave the giants for allowing us to inter the Titans in that cavern in Attica?"

"Yes Uncle, that very valley! The contravention of the treaty released the giants and many of them have again sworn vengeance against us. I was barely able to get the people to evacuate the area before they were killed."

"This is a universe shattering disaster!" Hades exclaimed. "The consequences for all of existence are unimaginable if the giants carry out their threat. What's Zeus going to do about it?"

"We don't know. Father isn't to be found either." Athena said.

Hades shook his head, his lips drawn tight. "I knew it! I should have fought him for the job of King of Heaven. He has got the biggest job in existence and he is always off screwing around. He's just too irresponsible for the job. Zeus ought to be King of the Sea and Poseidon ought to be down here."

Athena looked at him chidingly.

"Yeah I know. You can't fight the Fates and Themis too." Hades groused. "Has the war started yet Athena?"

"By the Fates, no. It seems that the giants are politically divided. They are fighting each other. This has given us some time."

"That's something anyway. If Demeter can be found and her reasons for abrogating the treaty explained, maybe we can prevent the war."

"That is my great hope"

"I can't believe it. That could not have been my mother doing such a thing." Persephone exclaimed.

"I agree." Athena said levelly. "Demeter is too honest and gentle for such behavior. Even when she is in her murderous moods she is never dishonest."

"Gods!" Hades exclaimed. "If the gods and giants start fighting each other where am I going to put them down here? We didn't have any room for the Titans."

"If the war does start Uncle, we are going to have to call you up to Olympus to help stop them.

"Oh great! Charon can't handle the job down here."

"We have no choice, Hades." Athena added.

Persephone rose and the three gods started walking. Eventually, they passed the opening to Tartarus.

"Athena, we just entered Tartarus. Do you want to go back?" Hades asked.

"No, I'm fine."

All around them, the wicked were in many different kinds of torment. Gluttons were being force fed, Sisyphus was pushing his rock up his mountain, Darphus was still being eaten by Grigus. A great but evil bard was forced to listen to lousy poetry. Eventually, they passed a huge wooden door.

"Oh hey, Athena. I just got in something cool from Hephaestus. Wanna see it?" Hades asked.

Athena, who was always interested in technical things, entered and found that the room was a torture chamber filled with all sorts of incredible and disgusting instruments. Well, at least Persephone thought they were disgusting. Many of the implements, racks, tables for drawing and quartering, water torture rigs and thumbscrews were in use. Most prominently, there was a raised platform in the center of the huge room where there was a big chair. Seated on that chair was an incredibly beautiful blond woman with huge brown eyes who was strapped into place by hand, foot, and around both wrists. Her head was pinioned to the chair's hard back by a metal band.

"Athena, I thought you might want to meet Callisto here. She is one of our most deserving and difficult of Tartarus' residents. She represents everything you despise."

Athena pursed her lips but looked at Callisto benignly.

Callisto hissed like a snake then laughed. "It seems I've been more successful torturing Darky here than he has of me."

Hades ignored her. "See most people hate pain, especially burning. Callisto here has been driving me crazy because she LOVES having pain inflicted upon her, and it doesn't matter if it's psychological or physical.: Xena the Warrior Princess, found a method of torture that worked for a while --confronting her with all the people she murdered, or the people whom she blamed Xena for murdering. However, she got used to that kind of torture and then even began to like it. So we're holding her here till I figure out what to do with her."

Athena looked down and saw that one of Tisephone's aides was tickling Callisto's bare feet with a huge feather. It wasn't working. Callisto was still smirking. Athena looked at Hades inquiringly.

"Well most people like it, but she's such a perverse bitch she might hate it."

"Don't hold your breath, Hades!" Callisto snapped.

After a minute of watching, the three walked to the other end of the room. There standing in a corner was what appeared to be a bright shiny coffin shaped like a woman's body. Hades opened the door and Athena saw that the entire inside of the coffin was studded with razor sharp knives. "This is it, Athena. What do you think?" Hades asked.

Persephone grimaced. "Hades that's disgusting!"

Athena kept a straight face but a tiny flicker of distaste flashed through her eyes. She knew that torturing the wicked was Hade's job, and that he was more interested in the aesthetics of Hephaestus' workmanship than of the use of the device. She examined it closely and really admired the incredible craftsmanship of her half brother. Then they started walking back to Hades' compound.

"Sorry to say Uncle, this interview hasn't been much help."

"I know. I'll search, but it's hard knowing where to start."

"I'll have to go back to Apollo and have him consult the Oracle at Delphi. She is the only one who could give us a clue in this situation. Thank you, Uncle." With that Athena remounted the godly car that brought her to Hades' domain and she was whisked away by Hermes and the golden woman back to Olympus."

When Athena returned to Olympus she found that Apollo was still staring into the pool in the Temple of the Godhood.

"Any changes, brother?" Athena asked.

"It looks bad. Enceladous got Porphyrion in a headlock and then succeeded in binding him. That's true for Polybotes, Rhoetus, Thoas, and Tityus too. The entire peace faction seems to be out of action."

"Wonderful, and still no sign of father. All right, call everyone to Olympus in battle order. Poseidon too. Maybe we can cow them into talking. HERMES!?

"Yeah, Sis?"

"Find Zeus and that's an order!"

"All right already. I'm tryin'!"

"Try harder!" Athena ordered.

As silently as he could, Hattusilis sidled down the ditch like a land crab, dropping to the ground from time to time to listen and assess the situation. It was dicey. It seemed to him that there were thousands of Tudhalias' bully boys out looking for him. Every one of his relatives' villas were watched. The streets were interrupted by checkpoints, and there were even dogs out looking for him. Fortunately, he was smart enough to have stolen some peasant clothing the moment he found out he was being chased. He had to get away from Hattusas and the farther the better. Right now though, he was more concerned to find something other than earthworms to eat and maybe a few hour's sleep somewhere. Just then he caught a break, a large wagon designed to carry fire wood crossed in front of him and the knot of soldiers. In a flash, he bolted from hiding and dove underneath the slowly moving wagon, wrapped his arms and legs around its central frame, and hung on as it moped its way out of the capital city. The harsh sound of his breathing was covered by clopping of the dray's huge hooves.

Ephiny grunted softly and continued watching. What she was observing was a spy's mailbox. A few minutes earlier, the pair had placed a piece of paper in that mailbox with a coded message written in lemon juice upon it. Xena had to make contact with Pausanias' men in Hatti, so she had written a message with the proper passwords to introduce herself to this cell of his intelligence network. The mailbox itself was under a rock that was wedged in between the branches of a hollow tree. The tree was in front of a small house in a backwater neighborhood of a good size town about forty miles outside Hattusas called Yozgat. To the Amazon's advantage, nobody was home. Nobody was home because it was midmorning and all the residents of the houses on this street were off working. The approaching man walked up the street, reached into the tree, pulled out the piece of paper, replaced the rock and then continued up the street.

Without warning, Pyronia flinched and both Amazons pushed their faces into the ground. She had heard the sound of two pairs of booted feet walking in rhythm. The foot falls were accompanied by animated voices speaking Hittite. It was the regular militia patrol--policemen walking their beat. Pyronia and Ephiny held their breaths and listened as the militiamen passed and their foot falls faded into the distance. A few shallow breaths later, the authorities were no longer audible, so Ephiny turned to Pyronia and whispered: "Let's get out of here. We got to find the return drop box."

"Right," Pyronia whispered. And the warrior women eased themselves from their hiding place and moved stealthily to their nearby horses, mounted and rode off as quietly as they could.

"Oh my! What a LOVELY little town!" she cried.

She nodded and the wagon driver and servant girl fell in side by side behind her. Then the woman did not so much walk as sail towards the entrance of the inn.

The servant girl whispered out of the side of her mouth to the driver. "I don't know how much more I can take of this."

The woman the servant was escorting suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and the servant girl ran into her employer's back.

The strawberry blonde young woman suddenly dropped to the ground and pleaded, "Oh, Your Majesty, I'm so sorry! I'll watch where I'm going MUCH more closely!"

The woman turned her head and glared at her servant for a tiny fraction of a second. When her countenance regained its look of wonder, she again glided towards the inn's doorway. The driver's eyes were glittering with mirth but his face remained a rigid mask. Just as the woman reached the inn's portico, the servant girl scurried around her and opened the door. Then the woman wafted through the entrance with the servant and the driver right behind her.

She stood in the center of the busy antechamber (it was lunch time) and the driver approached the innkeeper and arranged for three rooms. "Make sure that the large room has a connecting door to the smaller room. They are for My Lady's servant and ladies in waiting."

"And who might she be, bub?" said the innkeeper.

"I'm shocked, SHOCKED that you haven't been notified of our arrival! My Lady is the magnificent Princess Diana of Trius. I demand nothing but the very best for her." The driver pulled a huge purse out of his pocket and plunked it on the desk.

The innkeeper picked up the purse, hefted it and his eyes went VERY wide. He snapped his fingers calling the bell people who immediately fell all over themselves in being helpful.

"My name is Demodocus. I am Princess Diana's personal chaplain. Whom do I contact to arrange an audience with the Emperor?"

"I could get you in touch with the town Council of Elders and of course there is the Temple of the Mother."

"Excellent! What time do we dine?"

"Oh Demodocus, I'm so tired! The trip was so hard on me! Can we please go to our rooms?" the Princess said in a sweet piping voice.

"Of course, ma'am. Let's follow these gentlemen upstairs. Tessa?"

"Yes, Demodocus?" Tessa the servant girl answered.

Please help these men with the luggage and then join the Princess and me in her room." Demodocus asked.

"Yes, Demodocus." The servant tried very hard to conceal a sharp glare but she just couldn't quite hide it. She then turned and followed the bell men to the wagon.

A few minutes later Princess Diana was ensconced in her room and all of hers and her retainers' baggage was brought in and settled. Demodocus made sure that everything was in order, tipped the bell people lavishly, and started to send them on their way.

"Just a moment gentlemen!" the Princess chirped. She reached down into her own purse and pulled out two large gold coins. "Thank you so much for your service. You've been ever so efficient and nice!"

"Why thank you. THANK YOU!" Both bell men said while pulling on their forelocks. As they retreated out of the room, one could be heard to mutter: "Gee I hope she comes back here again....." as the door was closed behind them.

Diana pulled her hat and snood off, threw them on the bed, shook her hair loose, unbuttoned the uncomfortable high collar of the hot dress and then let out a long breath.

"Priest, I like and care about Diana a lot, but being perky is just not my idea of fun. Gabrielle's much better at it than I am!" Xena exclaimed once again in her own low, silky voice.

From the adjoining room Gabrielle exclaimed, "Keep treating me like that, and perky isn't gonna be to easy for me either!"

Demodocus manfully tried to stifle a laugh, but it came out as a series of snorts anyway. Xena snorted in amusement. "Hold on there, Gabrielle. You won't have to play servant all that long. Right now I want you to go get yourself some dinner." Xena said flipping her friend a five dinar coin. "You'll have to eat with the staff in hotels and with the servants in castles, but I think you'll find that servant's gossip will be very useful to us. Actually, your the lucky one. Demodocus and I have to listen to government officials all day. Can you think of anything more boring, Priest?"

"Nope."

"Besides this'll probably be the last day we can all talk together without watching what we say. The castle is going to have spy holes all over it. At least with the servants you can be more yourself.

Gabrielle shivered. She was worried she might slip and say something that would do the mission damage. She knew herself well enough to think that keeping her mouth shut was very hard sometimes. "If you say so, Xena."

The floor creaked and everyone went on alert. There was a knock on the door and a familiar voice came from outside. "Your Majesty, it's Ephiny!" Xena immediately assumed Diana's posture and countenance. "Yes my darlings. Please do come in." Xena rose and went to the door as Demodocus held it open. Both Amazons had changed from their suede leggings to rich but demure long dresses. They looked in the door sweetly and Xena invited them in grandly, then approached them and gave each a warm hug as well as a tiny kiss on the cheek. Demodocus closed the door. With that, the party dropped all their roles.

Pyronia grimaced. "Is Princess Diana always so, well--mushy?"

"Gods I hope not, she'd be worse than Gabrielle," Ephiny added.

"HEY!" yelped Gabrielle.

Xena nodded. "Yep, she is. What happened?"

"Went off just as you said, Xena." Ephiny said handing Xena a piece of papyrus. "Here's the response. It was in the horse's nosebag."

Xena quickly found a candle and Pyronia pulled out and lit one of her fire sticks then touched off the wick. Xena took the papyrus and looked at the candle through it, then lightly passed the paper though the flame quickly so that the paper could be heated but not catch fire. In a few passes writing could be clearly made out. Xena read the paper and thought a moment. When she was done, she lit the paper in the candle and put it in the fireplace. "I've got to go out tonight--alone," she said when she'd finished.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Xena. I mean just riding into town here the place is an armed camp. I've never seen so many soldiers before." Gabrielle commented.

Xena walked over to several of the windows in the back of the room and looked out. They faced a small alley that was well shaded by trees. It was a twenty five foot drop with no handholds. She then turned to Gabrielle. "No choice, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle glared at her friend for a second then shrugged. In cases like this, Xena was never to be denied.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Xena placed Diana's habitual smile on her face as Demodocus opened the door. There stood a messenger with his hand outstretched. Demodocus greased the man's palm, took the message and opened it. "It's from the local Priest of Hebat, the Mother Goddess, named Tavsanli, Your Majesty. You and I have been invited to dinner tonight."

"Good!' Wonderful! I'm dying for stimulating conversation.. Not that you, Dear Demodocus aren't stimulating enough! I mean a chance to find out about other gods is so exciting! We must go! We must!!'

"Tell Reverend Tavsanli, that the Princess and I would be very pleased to come to dinner tonight. We have much to discuss." Demodocus tipped the messenger again and sent him on his way while closing the door.

"Goody!" Xena said as Diana. This was followed by "Goody." with one of Xena's own sneers as soon as the door was latched.

"Do you think this is a good idea, Princess? This priest is probably a secret policeman." Demodocus said."

"Yes. We may find out something about Hittite security."

"It's your call, Princess."

"What about us?" Gabrielle asked for the other Amazons.

"Gabrielle, I want you to do exactly what we discussed. Go do some shopping and ask around. Eat downstairs and do the same, just make sure your questions are vague enough to prevent giving yourself away. Pyronia, I want you to play tramp. Find the army garrison. Hang out in some of the bars nearby, and try to get soldiers talking. Buy them a few drinks, and try not to kill anyone or set fire to the place. OK?"

Both Pyronia and Xena grinned.

"Ephiny, you're stuck with me and Demodocus at first. I don't think it's gonna be much fun, so grit your teeth. You'll be fine.'' Ephiny frowned and nodded. Xena continued, "When we get back from dinner. I want you to go out and find the garrison too. However, I want to know what it's like. Get inside the cantonment if possible. Check out their equipment and security. Most importantly, see if you can get me any information about how the officers relate to the troops. I think that the soldiers are pretty much enslaved by them. They don't seem to have much initiative at all. I need that confirmed. Keep your ears and eyes open."

"OK, Xena."

"Priest, after you escort me back, I want you to return to Tavsanli. Get to know him. See if he has connections to the court. I'm pretty sure that he'll get us an invitation to court anyway but see if he was planning to."

"Sure, Princess."

"One other thing. Can your gift tell you if someone is lying?"

"Yes it can, Xena, but it's hard to tell to whom the person is lying. A lot of the time the person is lying to himself. I can usually piece things together out of the context of our conversation though."

"That's good. See what you can do. Pyronia, Ephiny, it's gonna be a long night so you had better get some sleep. I'm going to as well. Gabrielle go get some lunch in the kitchen and do your shopping. I see the management has left some watered wine, cheese, fruit and bread here. We can eat that."

"Gotcha, Xena. Don't worry. I'll get 'em talking."

"Xena, may I have a word in private please?" Demodocus asked.

Xena's face looked at her lover quizzically and she waved everyone else away to do what they were supposed to do. When they all had left, Xena raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Xena, I'm afraid."

"That's OK Demodocus, I'm afraid too. There's no question that we're all in danger.'

"No, Xena it's not that. Surely you've noticed that I haven't used my gift on either you or Gabrielle in the three weeks since we left Halikarnassus."

"Yeah, I noticed. Normally you do it quite a bit. I know that Gabrielle really loves it when you use it on her. She says it makes her feel just wonderful. Come to think of it, I like it a lot myself. It really helps on hard days."

"I haven't used it because Athena hasn't come to me. I can handle only a part of the feelings I absorb. Athena takes away the rest. I don't know what will happen to me if I try to absorb those feelings without her help. I could go insane."

"Demodocus, I'm sure that Athena left the gift with you because she had confidence in your ability to deal with these feelings by yourself. Didn't she say hasn't broken her link with you? I thought she said she can't answer you or visit for the time being."

"I'm not sure, Xena. I get a lot of `background noise' in my mind from other's strong feelings, even if I don't contact them. Normally this isn't a problem, but now it is becoming a problem. I've prayed and prayed hard and there has been little change. Indeed it is becoming worse in very tiny stages as time goes along."

Xena walked over and stroked Demodocus' beard. "Priest, you're the man with the strongest heart I've met since Hercules. Athena gave you that gift because of your heart. You always had it. Remember you kicked Dionysus all by yourself. I'm sure you'll be fine. Now go get some sleep, and I'll get you when it's time to go to see Tavsanli."

Demodocus smiled, his confidence restored. "You know I can't resist any of your orders." Demodocus cupped Xena's chin in a hand and then bowed and walked out to his adjoining room.

"Telepinus, old comrade, surprised to see your prince laid so low?" The Prince said; then he coughed harshly.

"Now you be quiet! Come on now." The burly old man hoisted his Prince out of the mud, slung one of the Prince's arms over his shoulders, and helped him into his nearby house. "I thought you were dead."

"Well, I guess I'm harder to kill than I thought."

"Sire, here." Telepinus said as he sat his Prince down, took a skin of wine off the wall and offered it to him. Hattusilis uncorked it and took a long draw. "Are you all right?"

"Tired and very wet but I'm fine. I haven't slept in a week. To tell you the truth when I saw you, I thought I was dead. I don't have any more strength to go on. You can turn me over to the Imperial Guard now. "

"Sire, don't be stupid! I heard the stinking lies Tudhalias has been spouting about you. I know what those fanatics of the Imperial Guard are about. I have never heard such garbage in my life. There is not a chance you could have murdered the Emperor for your own ambitions. I knew you and Suppiluliumsa. It's ridiculous! There are a lot of us old veterans who hate the Imperial Guard. Bunch of stupid lunatics that's what they are. Everybody knows that they weren't the Emperor's troops anyway. Those were Tudhalias' troops and that lizard Kumarbi's It's just that you and your uncle were the first members of your family that realized it."

"I better be getting out of here soon. It's crawling with the IG out there. I don't want to see you crucified."

"Don't you worry about that. You've got friends. More than you know. 

The cook and the waiters of the big establishment thought that they had gotten the measure of the talkative young lady with the strawberry blonde hair and they were disposed to smile at her tolerantly.

"Your towns are so big and so beautiful! Yozgat is so big it makes Athens seem like a little seaside village. I mean you have so many people and they are so big."

"Here you go my girl." The scullery maid said handing Gabrielle a positively wonderful looking ground lamb stuffed half eggplant. Gabrielle sniffed it and it was fragrant with allspice, oregano and lemon. She dug in with a will.

"Gee this is so Good! My mistress must try this some day. We haven't had cooking like this since we left home."

"Where's home, Tessa?" The maid said using Gabrielle's cover name.

"Trius, a lovely town in Boetia, Greece. My mistress is Princess Diana, and a kinder boss doesn't exist. She is just as sweet and nice as her home town. I'm a very lucky girl!"

"Greece?" The cook asked flipping an egg. "We don't get many Greeks around here. What are you and your mistress doing so far from home?"

"Princess Diana is out on a tour. She is always looking for ways to improve herself. She loves her horizons broad. I like it too. I've learned so much."

One of the waiter's grumbled: "Our aristocrats are ignorant and love us more ignorant still."

"Hey, that's not nice, Jake! Take it back," another waiter said. "Besides the walls have ears."

"AH!" Jake exclaimed with a dismissive gesture. "You're paranoid, Herm!"

Another waiter, Samuanlis snapped, "Hey! Knock that stuff off! The Emperor is doing what's best for us. He's beating those bastard Assyrians and getting back our tin mines. We've never been so rich. I mean I got my job here because of the Treasury.

"Yeah! The Emperor has put a lot of us back to work building temples and dams and stuff. Life is good. Jake said.

"Life is good? For some of us maybe. All these new laws trapping women at home and making all non Hittites second class citizens are just unfair. Besides, you'll keep your mouth shut when the press gang comes to get you," Herm said.

Gabrielle perked up but somehow was able to conceal it. "Press Gang? What's that?"

"Army recruiters. They go around picking up men of the right age to be sent into the army. The poor wretches have no choice. If they resist or run away, they are hunted down like dogs and killed." The maid said.

Gabrielle was horrified. Xena thought that the army was probably conscripted but Gabrielle didn't realize that the conscription process was so brutal. She considered what to say, and finally said nothing.

After that little outburst the staff settled into a surly silence. No prodding by Gabrielle could get much more out of anyone but the most basic pleasantries. Gabrielle finished her meal, which was genuinely delicious. She tried to heap praise on the cooks but her fulsomeness had little effect upon them. Finally, she stood and took her leave and went out to do her shopping and looking around. She had learned two valuable things. The army was recruited by force, and at least the staff of the inn was afraid.

"It feels kinda familiar here." Ephiny observed.

"Yes, it's very tense." Demodocus said.

"There are those black and silver troops on almost every block too." Xena said. "Combined with all the checkpoints we passed on the way in here. I think Erginus' information about a search going on for the Crown Prince is true. He must be a hell of a guy; three weeks we've been in country and they haven't caught him yet."

They rounded a corner and the Temple loomed before them. "All right Ephiny!" Xena said and she slouched slightly, affected a wide eyed smile and the slightly mincing walk of the princess. Ephiny stepped back behind her as did Demodocus and they walked up the stairs. Tavsanli, the Priest of Hebat himself greeted them.

"You must be the lovely Princess Diana!" He said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Xena nodded slowly with a demure smile. "What a pleasure it is to meet you." she replied. Inside, all of Xena's warrior instincts were on edge. The man was clearly putting on an act. He looked more like a back alley tough than a priest. Although of medium height his hands were thick and knobby, as if he had been handling heavy tools all his life. His face was ugly and weather beaten with a bulbous nose and pockmarked skin.

Xena made all of the required introductions and they entered the temple. Using the word temple to describe the building was an exaggeration. Inside there was a rather large room with an altar, but most of the building seemed to be devoted to offices and work rooms. Most of the rooms were full of people writing.

"My, you certainly have a great many people working for your Mother Goddess." Xena said earnestly.

"Oh yes, indeed, Princess. Hebat demands much work and devotion. Our monks and scribes are busily copying out scriptures to be distributed to worshippers."

"Perhaps then the people of Trius could benefit from this kind of activity! Their spirituality is always on my mind! So few seem to go to Temple."

Tavsanli dismissively waved his hand. "I don't wish to sound critical, but you Greeks are so undisciplined. In order to bring any God's blessing upon a people, they must worship. We avoid this problem by requiring attendance. Here, while society teaches self discipline, the government assures that society conforms."

"You require attendance?" Demodocus asked.

"Yes, it's very much like going to school. The temple is responsible for the people's education and enlightenment so, if a citizen doesn't go to temple, he is made to go or he is arrested and fined."

Ephiny suppressed her anger but said: "If the government makes the people worship will the gods hear their prayers?"

"Most assuredly. Our gods don't care how they receive worship, just that they do receive it."

"Amaaazing! Your gods sound very stern indeed." Xena said in wonder.

"Oh yes. Hebat has chosen us above all other people to lead, so she is a very hard taskmaster."

An eyebrow on both Xena and Demodocus went up.

"Is that why there are so many troops in the street?" Demodocus asked. As he did so, the Demodocus, who was just to the left and behind his host reached up and very lightly touched Tavanlis' head.

"No, Yozgat has been sadly suffering a bit of a crime wave. Cutpurses and thieves mostly," The Hittite said.

Demodocus went white and he doubled over. "NO!" he hissed, his throat sounding as if it were full of water. He stopped walking and dropped to one knee.

Xena became alarmed and struggled to stay in character, "Demodocus what's wrong?" She dropped her knees next to her lover and picked his face up where she saw it was a mask of extreme anger, rage even, that Demodocus was trying incredibly hard not to show. Ephiny stood bolt upright, fear shot through her eyes and instantly left.

"I'M FINE!" Demodocus shouted in a near fit of anger, then his face suddenly relaxed.

Tavsanli leaned over with a look of supposed concern on his face. "Are you quite all right, Demodocus? Do you require a healer?"

"No! No, I'm quite all right now. Please, let's continue" Demodocus breathed evidently winded, but much more relaxed. "Perhaps it was the water from the inn." The Priest regained his feet, a wan smile returning to his face.

"Yes, I understand. Shall we?"

As Demodocus began walking, slightly unsteadily, the pair dropped back a few paces and Xena whispered in Demodocus' ear. "What happened?"

"It is as I feared. The man is full of anger, terrible anger. I couldn't handle it." Demodocus said with grave concern on his face. This look was followed by one of regret and disappointment.

Xena's face showed compassion for an instant but then whispered. "Lying?"

A small expression of hurt passed through the Demodocus' face. He nodded slightly.

Xena put Diana's smile back on her face, rejoined the Hittite and the party continued to their dinner, but its conviviality was decidedly forced from then on.

Pyronia the Amazon was wearing the usual long Hittite tunic dress but it was open far lower down the front than was usual for a "good" Hittite girl. Her hair was braided and wrapped around her head and she was bedecked in much gaudy jewelry. Her makeup was extremely heavy, especially around the eyes.

She was hellishly uncomfortable, but she was a good subordinate and understood that information was the commodity for which her party was all looking. She also reminded herself that she was playing a role. She herself was not on the line here; therefore it was safe to treat all the men in this stinking dive as if they were objects to be exploited. So, there wasn't any need for self consciousness. Pyronia hoped that all the embarrassing fuss that Gabrielle made over her costume was going to be worth the effort.

Pyronia winced as the soldier tripped over a bench and landed right at her feet. The stench of stale beer emanating from his breath was nearly overpowering.

"Wow! Thephey've really stharted growing broads BIG around here!" The soldier slurred again.

"Too big for you buddy!" Pyronia said as she stooped, stuck two fingers under the drunk's chin and pulled him to his feet and beyond. On the floor nearby was a brass spittoon. Py carried the drunk, making a point that his face was directed away from hers, and dropped him into the cuspidor. "You ought to be right at home in there!"

That distasteful task done, she sat down at a bench with her back to the wall and put a long, long leg up on the table and surveyed the scene. It was still fairly early and the clientele was just starting to file in. The drunk not withstanding, they looked to be a neat and military bunch. Pyronia tried to adopt a come hither look but she was worried that she couldn't hide her discomfort. The worry wasn't necessary, for some of the men looked very interested in her indeed.

"Say honey, where'd a big beauty like you come from?" A tall, average looking soldier oozed as he walked slowly towards Pyronia's seat.

Py slowly took the fire stick from her mouth and began playing with it. "Here and there. Wanted to see what big city life was like."

"You're not gonna find that here."

"Well, I was headed towards Hattusas.

Another soldier, this one a sergeant came over. He was older and a lot more handsome but the look on his face seemed a lot more dangerous. He had a square craggy face, a neat black beard with tendrils of gray in it, and piercing brown eyes.

"Nah the private here is dead wrong. If you're looking for action, you can't get more than with the 4th." The sergeant said.

"Fourth huh? Fourth what?"

"Fourth Battalion of the Imperial Guard Company D. We're the best the Emperor's got."

"OH I'm impressed." Pyronia said with a smirk.

"You ought to be."

Another man came to Pyronia's table, took a chair, turned it around so that he leaned on the seat back. "You're no Hittite woman."

Pyronia became alarmed but hid the feeling. "Sure I am. I sound like one don't I?"

"Sure, but no nice Hittite woman acts like you. They stay home with the hubby and the kiddies."

"Who said I was nice?" Pyronia asked. That crack got a howl of laughter from the three men who called for the waiter to bring over a pitcher of mead "I'm an orphan. Girl's got to do what she must to survive. You don't get nice in a life like that. "Give me something stronger!" Pyronia called out flipping a 2 dinar coin at the barkeep.

"Well I guess she AIN'T very nice fellas!" This comment by the sergeant brought even more gales of laughter. What's your name?"

"Helen." Pyronia's self consciousness melted away. She was enjoying herself. It seemed to her almost as if she were fishing with very light tackle. Sooner or later some of these men would be hooked and landed, giving Py all the information that she wanted. Slowly nursing her drink, she induced her companions to drink more and more. She asked: "So tell me fellas why are you guys all over the place? Trying to improve the scenery?"

"Nah, Nah. We're looking for somebody." The sergeant said, getting even more tipsy.

"Oh Who?"

"Weee, wee ain't supposed to tell!" One of the privates said. He was now so loaded he was repeating himself like a broken record.

Pyronia winced because the private was beginning to smell like a closed brewery, but she looked at him directly. "Come on! You think a nice girl like me is gonna get you lovely guys into trouble?"

"Well...If it's OK with the Sarge."

"Why do I care? We got no firm orders on it" The sergeant said.

"OK. We're looking for the old Emperor's nephew, Hattusilis." The private said.

"Oh really?" Pyronia asked again. "How come?"

"He killed his brother and tried to become Emperor himself. Emperor Tudhalias stopped him. Our master's are still afraid he might take the throne."

"I still can't believe that," the sergeant said. Hattusilis was a great guy. When he was with the Army he really took care of us. He was dead honest too."

The other private said, "Ah, he did it. All politicians are alike. Dangle power in front of a politician's nose and they'll do anything to get it."

"You getting close to finding him?" Pyronia asked.

"Yeah! (hic) Oh sorry!" The first private said.

"Company C caught sight of him yesterday. He's really close."

"What are you gonna do with him once you catch him?" Py asked.

"Crucify him for treason I suppose." The sergeant said.

"What's he look like?

"Ah 23-25. 5'7" tall. 150 pounds. Black hair, brown eyes. He's in really good shape. He once went to Greece for the Olympic games. First Hittite admitted. He won his weight class in the Pankration. BURRRP!" The first private said.

Pyronia was impressed. The Pankration was a kind of no holds barred blood wrestling with brass knuckles. A lot of men got killed playing it.

"I still don't believe he did it." The sergeant said again.

"Did what?" asked another soldier who was already stinking drunk. He approached Pyronia's table and made to join his comrades. This man was an officer.

"Well what kind of bitch do we have here?" He said in a voice that was far too loud than necessary.

"Hey, Lieutenant! You don't have to say that. Helen here is a bit of all right." said the sergeant.

"Shut up! She's just another Yozgat whore!" You haven't been talking have ya?"

"Us, Lieutenant? Never!"

"Well good, so why don't we use this second hand mattress the way she's supposed to be used."

Pyronia became alarmed, but she stayed calm. "Mattress huh? I think you might find me a tad lumpy."

The men laughed--but not the lieutenant.

"Just what I like, a real snot nosed harlot. C'mon men! Let's go have our real fun!" he said while grabbing Pyronia by the arm.

The sergeant was really reluctant but his officer had ordered him, so he went along. "Sir! This is a Hittite woman. All she wants is a little company. She has never asked us for anything. She even bought our drinks for us! How would it look for the Imperial Guard to be so dishonorable?"

"Do you think I care? The Emperor's ordered us to make sure that all Hittite women're home making babies, well I'm gonna teach this `woman' that lesson. You disobey me and I'll have ya crucified!" The lieutenant was really drunk but was cogent enough to make his desires well known. The Sergeant's shoulders collapsed and he grabbed Pyronia's other arm.

Pyronia didn't resist, but she was terribly disappointed. The three men she from which she had gotten the information seemed like good fellows, but the officer was an animal, just like the one that Melosa had caught. She let the two privates drag her out the door into the alley, stand her up and pinion her hands behind her.

"Now come on sweetheart! I'm only going to make you a good little girl. It's the DUTY of the Hittite women to provide the Emperor with new soldiers." The lieutenant purred. The privates snickered. Pyronia was taller than all of them.

The lieutenant started to put his hand down Py's tunic. The Amazon shrieked and pulled up both her legs and kicked the lieutenant in the face knocking him into the wall behind him. The concussion of the kick had driven both privates into the wall behind them forcing them to give up their grips. The sergeant stood back with a shocked expression for the woman turned landed a quick straight right to the nose of one of the privates and a left hook to the jaw of the other. Both were knocked cold. Behind her the lieutenant shook his head and groaned. Then he got uneasily to his feet.

"ARRRRRGH!" The lieutenant roared, his sword rasped out of his scabbard. and he charged the Amazon.

"LOOK OUT HELEN!" screeched the sergeant. Immediately, Pyronia spun and crouched. She pulled her commando knife out of her boot and with an underhand snap of the wrist she threw the knife which struck the charging soldier in the neck severing his jugular vein and carotid artery. He bled to death in seconds.

"That's IT! I've had enough! No more of this crap! I will not stand by and watch women get raped for no reason but to keep women in their place!" the sergeant exclaimed. He quickly unbuckled his black and silver armor and threw it on the ground. He pitched his helmet behind some bushes. "I'm not going to stand by and watch the Imperial Guard keep dishonoring itself ANY MORE!"

He raced over to Pyronia who had recovered her knife and who quickly swung towards the threat she thought was coming.

"No don't! You did the right thing!" The man who was once the sergeant held his hands over his head to show that he was unarmed. "What you just did was amazing! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You better get out of here! The rest of the company'll be here soon."

"If I go you'll be blamed for this!"

"The pig deserved to die. Now get out of here. There's no such thing as self defense for a woman in Hatti."

"What are you going to do? You'll die for sure!"

"Don't worry about me. I'm pretty hard to kill. You don't put in 30 years in the army without learning something. I got friends who are fighting this madness from underground. Now get lost before they wake up!"

"What's your name?"

"Kotamuwa."

"All right Kotamuwa, Artemis protect you!" Pyronia exclaimed and she bolted into the bushes behind the inn like a deer.

"Artemis? ARTEMIS? WHO THE HELL IS THAT?" Kotamuwa called as Pyronia's figure disappeared into the gloom.

"I'm sorry, Demodocus but we were there for a reason! We needed to get information from him and with your help we did, despite the fact it wasn't much. Besides you were able to handle Tavanli's feelings without Athena anyway."

"Well that's not exactly true. I still felt Athena in my mind and she took away some of it, but far far less than usual. It was terrible! I really needed your shoulder to lean on then and there."

"I know, Priest, and I really wanted to give it to you but it would have given us away. It could have gotten us killed."

Demodocus had finally cooled off. "I'm sorry I jumped at you, Princess." he said as he came over and hugged Xena.

"Don't mention it, Priest." Xena said looking into the Priests eyes and stroking his beard, but the caress didn't last long enough because Gabrielle entered.

"What did you find out, Gabrielle?" Xena asked.

"Not much. I have never been in a place were people didn't want to talk before. I'm used to people talking my head off and vice versa." Xena, and Ephiny who had just changed back into her leathers and come in from the adjoining room, shrugged. "First of all, you were right, Xena. The army is being conscripted by force. The marketplace is flooded by the same kind of handbills that we found in Halikarnassus. Seems like a lot of the people believe them, but a lot don't either. So many always seem to be looking over their shoulder all the time, and lying if they thing they think they are getting into trouble. I heard the expression `The walls have ears' everywhere. Also, there are thousands of hand bills that say that it's all right to turn in a family member if they are `thinking wrong'. Xena I never heard of a place where it wasn't legal to THINK what you wanted to. "

"It wasn't that closed in the countryside we passed through getting here. The government must not have the resources to keep tabs on everyone--yet. The army is going to get really big really soon so they might be able to do what's happening here everywhere. That's something anyway. We'll have to be more careful." Xena said. "Demodocus, does this match what you know?"

"Yes, it's much as I had been told, but it sounds far worse. The government has really clamped down."

"I'll tell you one thing, as soon as they heard my Greek accent, many people just got so tense I couldn't get close to them. The Government is blaming us Greeks for everything that's wrong here. I felt like that the only thing that kept me safe some places was because I was working for a Princess," Gabrielle continued.

Ephiny came into the room. She was dressed in three tone gray leathers. Every bit of exposed skin was painted in two tones of gray and black makeup designed to break up her silhouette. Her curly blonde hair was stuffed in a black woolen cap. She was armed with a short recurved bow hung from her shoulder and a small quiver of arrows on her belt on the right hip. She also carried a combat knife on the belt at her left hip, and an Amazon narrow sword in a scabbard strapped to her back.

The moment she closed the door behind her, Ephiny tensed. She heard a sharp but soft noise. TINK! TINK! The sound went again. The noise was something striking the window in the rear of the room. Everyone else immediately went on alert. Ephiny dove into the room she'd just left to hide her camouflage. Gabrielle blew out the candelabra on the table leaving one candle burning in the corner of the room. TINK! The sound came again. It sounded like a rock hitting the glass of the window. Xena, who was dressed in her leathers, armor, and black cloak, walked in a crouch over to the window and opened it. In the darkness she heard a scraping sound and a little light flared into existence.

"Easy folks it's Py!" Exclaimed Xena in a hoarse whisper. "What are you doing down there?"

"Long story! Just get me up!" Pyronia hissed.

Xena shot a look at Gabrielle who stripped Xena's bed of its sheets and knotted them together. Xena then fished her whip out of her trunk and tied it to the end of the sheets. Xena fed out the extemporized rope and held on as Pyronia scrambled up as if she were a leopard.

There was another sizzling sound as Pyronia struck another fire stick and lit off the candelabra. Xena closed the window and pulled the shades.

Ephiny, who had reemerged from the next room, looked upon her sister in horror. "Py, what in Hades happened?" She had seen that Py's Hittite tunic dress was torn and very very bloody. "Are you all right?"

Pyronia shook her head in disappointment. "Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that things went a little wrong. Xena, I had to kill somebody."

Xena glared. "What happened?" She said, her voice low, almost a growl.

"I was doing what you told me to do Xena. I got three soldiers loose and talking really nice, when their officer, loaded by the way, came over and ordered his men to grab me and take me outside. I didn't resist in the bar. When they got me outside the officer tried to rape me. First he had to spout on about how it was the duty for Hittite women to be home making babies. I resisted then and fought off the three of them. The lieutenant pulled his sword and charged me, but since I was still in a vulnerable position, I hit him with a knife throw to the throat. I guess the blood sprayed a long way." Pyronia looked down at the tunic dress in disgust.

Xena relaxed considerably. She let out a breath. She was still disappointed but said: "You did the right thing, Py. What we heard about the woman hating that goes on in Hatti lately is true. What bugs me is that we didn't get anything out of them."

"That ain't true!" Pyronia exclaimed. "I did get three things: First, I found out that all these troops are around here to look for a man called Hattusilis, who is supposed to be the dead Emperor's nephew.

"King Erginus was right!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"Go on, Py." Xena urged, her blue eyes glittering with interest.

"Second, I found out he was seen here in town yesterday. He couldn't have gotten too far."

"Interesting." Demodocus said.

"Third, there is an organized resistance movement against the government."

Xena smiled ironically and slapped her fist into her palm. "How do you know that?"

"There were four men in the group that tried to assault me. One of them, an old sergeant named Kotamuwa, saved my life. He warned me about his officer. That's how I was able to kill the bastard. Kotamuwa not only helped me, but he took off his armor and deserted the army then and there also. He told me that he was sick of the Imperial Guard dishonoring itself all the time, and that he had friends who were fighting the Emperor and the Imperial Guard from underground. By the way, the black and silver troops are the Emperor's own Imperial Guard, Fourth Battalion Company D. Judging by the two of the officers I met, The one back home and the one here, they're all Sons a Bacchae. I wish I could have stayed longer to ask more, but he told me to get lost quick, and I took his advice."

"You did well, Pyronia. You did well." Xena said. "We're just going to have to be more careful about you now. Good thing you were in disguise anyway. Did they get a good look at you?"

"I doubt it Xena; they were drunk and too busy looking at my legs and cleavage." Pyronia grimaced self consciously.

"See? What did I tell ya? Takes swill to catch pigs!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

Everyone, including Demodocus glared at her.

"Hey! It's true!"

"All right Ephiny? You ready to go?" Xena asked.

Ephiny nodded.

"Good. Everyone remember what to do if me and Ephiny don't come back?"

Everyone nodded again. All of Xena's companions were ordered to get out of town as fast as they could as soon as they could. They had memorized a list of people to contact that Xena had given them.

"All right then, get some sleep. Especially you, Py. Burn that dress.

Ephiny blew out the candelabra and Xena opened the window and dove out of it, her cloak opening like a pair of bats wings. Xena landed lightly and stood aside. Xena could take a twenty five foot fall in stride but Ephiny couldn't. So when Ephiny dove out the window Xena was there to catch her.

"OOF!" Ephiny expelled as she landed in Xena's outstretched arms.

"9.6." Xena said.

"Thanks!" Ephiny whispered.

"Come on!" The both woman warriors broke off in opposite directions at the dead run.

She skirted around the base of the wall in a crouch. She found her first security breach about fifty yards down the wall where a large cedar tree was overhanging. Ephiny scrambled up the tree like a doe squirrel and shinnied out on a branch where she got a good look at the compound. She saw eleven buildings, ten barracks and one administration building. The barracks looked big enough to hold one hundred men. The wall itself was about twenty feet thick made of mortared stone with guard posts every ten yards down its length. To Ephiny's advantage, the wall wasn't well lit and it looked like only every other guard post was manned. She rolled off the branch and landed lightly on the wall in a crouch. She duck walked down the wall until she got to the first guard post where she watched and listened. The only thing she heard was snoring. She peeked into the window and saw a man stretched out across a desk reeking of cheap mead. Slowly, she eased her way though the post and found a stairway. She shook her head. Why would this post be ignored with the rest of the base on alert?

Once on the ground, she darted from shadow to shadow, while working her way closer to the main gate and the parade ground. There was a lot of activity near the wall dead ahead so she darted across the space to the closest barrack wall and hid behind a rain barrel. There were a lot of men filing in and out of a building constructed out of the wall. Ephiny darted over to the wall and slowly stood and peered into the window. It was the arsenal.

"sergeant! Come out here!" A loud voice came from the direction of the main gate. The sergeant in the arsenal came out.

"SIR!"

"All the weapons we needed been issued?" The question was asked by a burly scar faced officer with a VERY ornate uniform. Ephiny thought it must be the battalion commander.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Lock up and go to bed."

"Yes, SIR!"

Ephiny pushed herself back into the shadows and tried to get a small as she could. She had just learned something useful. A unit's weapons were issued from the armory when they were needed rather than the soldier taking care of them. The armorer sergeant came out of the room and locked the door, taking the torch with him. Ephiny waited a few minutes and pulled a picklock out of her belt and set to work on the door. Once the door was opened, she carefully slid inside and closed the door behind her. She scraped one of Pyronia's fire sticks on the wall and looked around, praying that the tiny flame wouldn't give her away. There were weapons all around. Spears of all lengths, short bows, and short, heavy infantry swords made out of iron. There was a weapon that she had never seen before. It was a sword that was curved like a sickle along the end one third of the blade. Also there were plenty of the single edged curved swords she had seen on the Hittites captured in Greece.

"Ouch!" she hissed. The fire stick had burned down to her fingers. She wanted to light a torch but that would have given her away for sure. Cursing to herself, she struck another fire stick and continued to look. She noticed a great many crates stacked up along the far wall away from the ready use area. She went over to investigate.

When she arrived at the crates, she cursed to herself that she couldn't read the Hittite stenciling upon them. She struck another fire stick and found the edge of the crates which were screwed shut. Ephiny took out her combat knife, and by feel, she systematically unscrewed one slat at a time. What she saw inside alarmed and intrigued her. She then replaced every slat, carefully screwed them down, eased her way back to the door and then back to her hidy hole behind the barrel.

After a few minutes, she then shifted her position over to what she thought was the administration building. It was very busy for this time of night. There was a lot of candles glimmering through one of the windows. She silently slid under the window and put her ear to the wall and listened.

"You mean to tell me you have know idea who this woman was that beat you up?"

"Sir! No idea, Sir! We thought she was a simple whore."

Ephiny heard that there were three men in the room. One was asking questions and two others were answering.

"What did she look like?"

"She was tall, very tall."

Ephiny knew immediately that the men being questioned were the two soldiers that survived their encounter with Pyronia.

"Anything else?"

"Sir, other than she was really built, that 's everything! We were pretty skunked."

"I don't believe it! You murdered your own commanding officer didn't you? Cut his throat when he wasn't looking?"

"NO, SIR! We both loved lieutenant Potamilis!

"Not from what I heard."

"Sir, we knew he was tough but he was a good soldier!" He never did anything we didn't expect." One of the privates said.

Just then Ephiny heard a knock on the door. She slowly stood and peeked into the window. Another soldier had entered.

"Sir, we talked to the bartender. There was a very tall, unfamiliar woman at the bar the time these men place her there. We have instituted a search."

"Good! Anything of sergeant Kotamuwa?

"No, Sir! We're still looking. We did look more closely at the body, Sir. He was not killed by a Hittite issue weapon. It was a very narrow knife. Single thrust under the right ear."

"Good!"

"You two men are free to go! Get some sleep and don't mess around with strange bimbos again!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Ephiny slumped down. It was gonna get pretty hot for Pyronia.

She continued to slide along the wall, until she came to yet another window.

"I wish this staff work would get done sooner. I haven't been to sleep in three days!" One voice said.

"AH don't worry, Major. We'll be moving out soon. Didn't you get an order saying that 6th Battalion are coming here to relieve us, and we're gonna take those new weapons and head to Mugla.

"Yeah! We move out day after tomorrow."

Ephiny made another mental note and then moved off. As she moved through the compound she came across a large field that was full of chariots. There were hundreds of them parked wheel to wheel. They were very large for chariots. Ephiny figured that they were capable of carrying three men a piece. Nearby was the shuffling and snorting of horses. There were a great many of the animals there as well. Fourth Battalion was a Chariot outfit.

Once she had made her assessment, Ephiny figured it was time to get out. She had gotten information that would be useful. Slowly, she headed back for the walls looking for the stairway on which she had entered. She patted herself on the back for she had done damn well up to now. Finally, the fates stepped in. The wind shifted and it blew directly towards the horses. This made them very nervous and they started to whinny and neigh loudly. In a second a dog began to bark.

"Great!" Ephiny yelled to herself. She ran as fast as she could towards the stairway across the compound.

The tocsin began to sound, and men began to boil out of the barracks by the hundreds. Ephiny pulled her knife out and rather than look for the stairway she came down originally, she took the one nearest to her. She charged up the stairs just as the sentry began to come down. Before the man could react, Ephiny leaped on him from the gloom and hit him on the jaw with the butt of her knife, knocking him cold. She got up into his guard post. The candle was still lit. Ephiny smiled for she caught a break. Hanging on the wall was a rope ladder, a reserve to use if the stairway was blocked. She grabbed it off the wall and ran outside along the battlement. She ran and ran staying as low as she could until she found an area in shadow. "Thank the gods the sentries all abandoned their posts." she prayed. Hooking the top rung of the ladder on the crenalation of the battlement, she pitched it over the side and scrambled down and bolted into the gloom, safe at least for the moment. 

He finally did. The man carrying a small torch walked up the street from her left, stopped at the hitching post, wiped out the chalk mark and sat. Xena knew that he would stay until dawn if necessary to make contact. Xena looked up and down the quiet nearly dark street and heard and saw nothing. Most importantly, she could feel nothing. She had become so adept at anticipating her enemy's movements it was as if she had been given the gift of sight. Gabrielle called it Xena's combat sense. She got up from her hiding place and duck walked back down the alley until she was out of sight of the bench then carefully stole behind the houses until she found the next block. Staying as close to the walls as she could, she worked her way up the two blocks until she reached the alley behind the blacksmith's

Gabrielle always was awed by Xena's ability. She was constantly yelling at Xena to not sneak up on her, for when Xena didn't want to be heard, nobody could hear her. When Xena did not want to be seen, nobody could see her. When Xena did not want to be smelled, nobody could smell her. The man Xena was stalking, did not do any of those things for he yawned widely even though Xena was less than a foot behind him, her hand poised to strike. She did strike. Her right hand closed around the man's mouth while her left arm bound him to the bench like a band of iron forcing his breath from him.

"Samos," she said. "Samos!" She repeated, then she loosened the grip on the man's mouth.

"Discus!" he exclaimed gasping for air.

Xena dropped her hand from the man's mouth who spit on the ground and glared at her.

"Why did you do that? You nearly gave me apoplexy!

"Sorry, just being extra cautious."

"Come on." he said. We have a safe house nearby, we can talk there."

The safe house was a ground floor room in a five story tenement about three blocks away. They entered the back door of the building and the man let them into the small room. Xena pulled a fire stick out of her cloak pocket, struck it on the rude plaster walls and lit the candelabra on the small, plain table. The light revealed something very odd. There were clothes lines stretched all across the room and there was what appeared to be a large bathtub in the room's center. The clothes lines were hung with women's clothing. On the fire was a huge caldron of water. The room reeked of cheap perfume.

"What was that?" The astounded man asked.

"Just something a friend of mine dreamt up." Xena said extending a hand. "My name's Xena." Xena looked at the man with an arched eyebrow then pointedly looked around the room.

"Oh sorry! This place is a brothel. We have to take accommodations where we can get them. My name's Leamas." The man replied. He was in his mid thirties, of medium height and balding--a completely unremarkable man. "I saw from my master's earlier communications and your contact note that I was to expect a woman, but certainly not one like you. In the circles I travel in, beauty is not often encountered."

Xena smirked at the surroundings "Sorry but I don't have any time for small talk. I have something to give you. Xena took a packet out of her cloak pocket and handed it to Leamas. He opened the paper and saw it was encoded. He excused himself and went to a desk at the other side of the room and began to work. In a few moments he returned with a shocked and white look on his face.

"What do you want me to do?" He said.

"Did you know that Hattusilis, the late Emperor's nephew, has been seen in town?"

"We suspected as much but we couldn't substantiate the rumors we had heard."

"What do you know about any resistance movements?"

"There is considerable grumbling in town and around but we have seen nothing organized. Everyone's afraid of the priests and the army."

"I want you to make your network's highest priority to find him. I also want you to find a man called Kotamuwa. He's a deserter from the Imperial Guard. He has contacts with at least one group of the resistance. You should know also that the Hittite Government attempted to overthrow King Erginus about a month ago."

"You've got to be kidding! A coup attempt? How do you know about this Kotamuwa?"

"Can't tell you. Need to know."

"Well, I still don't know who you are, but that message from Pausanias is real. I'll follow your instructions. But I'll tell you something. The priests run a very efficient security service. It is very hard to set up any contacts with any possible sources because what groups already exist have probably been penetrated by the Security Ministry. We have worked hard to get someone into the palace and failed. So watch your backs. "

Xena nodded, then her expression changed. Her neck stiffened and her eyes became hard yet distant, as if she were straining to hear something. "Leamas, is there a back way out of here?"

"Yes!" Leamas sallow face became whiter, if that was possible.

"Take it! Get out of here now!" Xena hissed. "I'll contact you!" Xena stood and backed her way towards the window which was on the wall across from the door. Leamas threw back a rug, opened a small trap door and dropped through it.

Outside the door four members of the Imperial Guard stood with a piece of paper and at least one torch. One of the men, a sergeant, was reading it and looking over the hallway.

"OK, men, this is the place!" The sergeant whispered

"Are you sure, Sarge?"

"Yeah, it fits the description!"

"I dunno, there are a lot of places like this!" Another voice said.

"This place looks familiar to me! What is it?" A third voice said.

"All right, that's enough!" The sergeant hissed, and then he turned and pounded on the room's door with the hilt of his sword. "OPEN UP! IMPERIAL GUARD! WE'RE HERE ON THE EMPEROR'S BUSINESS!

The loud sound of the splashing of water was heard coming from inside.

"OPEN UP I SAY! NEXT TIME I BREAK THE DOOR IN!"

The sound of more water splashing was followed by: "Keep yer codpieces on. I heard ya!" The voice was deep and rich and very, VERY feminine.

The four men shot shocked looks at each other. They weren't expecting a woman. There was a little more shuffling and scraping and the door finally creaked open.

All the men in the little party felt their jaws fall to their chests. What confronted them was a very tall, awesomely beautiful young woman with very wet black hair streaming down her back. She was wearing a very frilly purple and white robe that was tied around the waist. The robe was open very low and the men could see an immense amount of cleavage. Not only could the men see that, but below the tie cord the men could see a very long, muscular, tanned leg also. The woman's eyes were glittering blue under hooded lids. On her broad face was an open half-smile. She looked each man up and down as if she were shopping for a ham off a hook.

"Sorry boys, we're closed!"

"Uh! Sorry to get you out of your bath, Miss. Have you seen a man about yay high?" The sergeant held his hand about at the level of his ear. "Plain guy. Brown hair?"

Xena reached out and started running her fingers longingly down the man's breast plate. "Sorry honey! Ain't seen him. I'm new in town."

"Well, shee!" The sergeant said as the men began to tease him by tapping him on the ribs. "Well, if you see anyone like that around here, go to the Imperial Guard cantonment and talk to Major Tiglath. He'd want to know."

"I'd rather talk to you sweetie--when I'm working, that is."

"Well I, ah, AHEM!" The sergeant spluttered.

"First time's on the house! G'nite fellas!" Xena said, stroking the side of the sergeant's face. She then stepped inside and slowly closed the door, mouthing a kiss to the sergeant as she moved the door the last inch.

The men began to snort and catcall quietly. Xena heard them turn and walk out. She also heard:

"No wonder this place is familiar. It's the officer's brothel!"

"Oh, great!" the sergeant said. "The priest must have given us the wrong description of the building."

"Funny how the officer's whores are exempt from the reproduction laws."

"Yeah, I noticed!"