"Cortese's army will be here tomorrow," Xena told her brothers. "We have to be ready."

"Are you out of your mind?!" her elder brother Toris asked her incredulously. "We have to get out of here!"

"What, just give up? Toris, if we do that we might stay alive a little longer, but what then? Live like slaves, cowering in fear for the rest of our stinkin' lives knowing that any scum-sucking warlord can take anything he wants without a fight whenever the mood strikes him? Show Cortese that that there's no one in Amphipolis with the guts to stand up to him?" Xena demanded with fierce passion. The intensity in her icy blue eyes drew all the listening men in her mother's tavern into sharing her righteous indignation. The infectious confidence she projected effortlessly bound them all together in determination. "No! It stops right here, right now. If we all stand together we can defeat not only Cortese but anyone else who would dare threaten our home."

The men gathered in the tavern rumbled their agreement, mesmerized by her charismatic leadership. Each man felt at that moment that he was ready to follow this young woman they'd all seen grow up before their eyes to the gates of Hades if she but asked. All except Toris.

"Lyceus, you try and talk some sense into her," he insisted to his younger brother. "Maybe she'll listen to you."

"Sorry Toris, I'm with her on this one," Lyceus told him. "She's right. Running won't help us in the long run. That'll just tell them that they can push us around and we'll just lie back and take it. Besides, if we let them loot the town a lot of us won't make it through the winter. At least if we fight we won't be dying for nothing."

"You're both fools, and you're going to get a lot of good people killed because of it. But I'll be damned if I'm going to stay here and watch it happen," he raged impotently.

"Where are you going ?" Xena asked him.

"I'm taking mother and anyone else who doesn't have a death wish up to the hills where they'll be safe," Toris spat out angrily. "Don't even think about trying to stop me."

"I don't have the time to waste even if I wanted to. But I have no intention of stopping you. I'm happy to get all the noncombatants and cowards out of Amphipolis and out of my way," she told him with icy contempt. "The rest of us are going to stay and defend our homes against these bastards."

Toris' hands clenched into tight fists at her scathing words. If he had the time to waste he gladly would have proven to her personally just how un-cowardly he was, but time wasn't on his side. He had a job to do. Xena was going to get half of their townsfolk killed and there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it. All he could do now was get out of town and convince as many people as possible to join him. She would never leave, but he had to try Lyceus one more time.

"Lyceus, if you stay here you're just going to end up dead," he told his little brother pleadingly.

"Maybe so, but at least I'll take some of them with me and make the world a better place because of it," he replied calmly. His dispassionate response was even more maddening than Xena's angry call for glory.

"Leave, Toris. There's nothing for you here," Xena ordered her elder sibling flatly.

Toris twisted away and punched the wall of their family's tavern with a scream of frustration, but the pain in his bruised knuckles couldn't overpower the tearing agony in his heart. In spite of all their many fierce arguments he loved his sister and brother, and he knew that in a matter of hours he was going to lose half of his remaining family in a hopeless cause. Didn't they understand that they were going to die for nothing? Crops could be regrown with each new spring and towns could be rebuilt, but no one returned from the land of the dead.

Admitting defeat, he stalked furiously out of the tavern. His siblings watched him go wordlessly. Their failure to convince him to stay and fight was just as painful as his was to him. They knew he believed he was doing the right thing, just as they did. Only time would prove which of them was right.

"Gee, do you think we pissed him off?" Lyceus asked with a look of wide eyed innocence. That look had always fooled their mother when she attempted to discover the author of any bit of mischief in her household, but it never fooled Xena. It had gotten her into trouble too many times to count.

"I'd say 'pissed off' would be an understatement," she answered dryly. Forget about him, we don't have time to waste on it. There'll be plenty of time to kiss and make up after we send Cortese and his gang packing."



"Okay, we know Cortese will be coming at us through the Strymon pass. That means we have to position your force on the northwest side of town, Lyceus," she told her brother.

"You can count on us," he promised her.

"Maphias, you'll be in the foothills north of town with everyone we can mount on horseback. When Cortese hit's the town wait for my signal to sweep down on his flank," she ordered her brother's best friend, pointing out his assigned position on her map.

"I'll be in the woods southwest of town with our main body of infantry," she continued. "When the time is right we'll both attack them in a pincer movement and crush them between us," she predicted confidently.

"That sounds good and all, but they'll still outnumber us and they do this sort of thing for a living. Most of us have never actually raised a sword in anger," Maphias reminded her a bit nervously. He agreed with them that they had no choice about the coming battle, but the idea of killing and maybe even being killed still intimidated him.

"I know that," Xena responded evenly," but we can turn that into an advantage if we arrange things the right way. His scouts will almost certainly have seen Toris evacuating the town. Cortese will probably think that anyone staying behind is nothing but a rearguard fighting a suicide mission to give the rest time to escape. So we'll use that assumption against him. Lyceus' company of old men and boys will suck him into our trap and you and I will hammer their flanks. We can wipe them out before they know what's hit them if we strike hard enough with the first punch."

"Just like a bully in a tavern brawl," Lyceus agreed with a grin.

"Hang on a second. It sounds as if you intend to use Lyceus and his men as bait!" Maphias objected. "You can't throw them away like that!"

"If we want to stop Cortese we have to do it," Xena stated shortly. She didn't like it either, but there was no other choice except running away like Toris.

"But Lyceus..."

"Lyceus in a big boy," she interrupted sharply. "He can take care of himself long enough for us to make our move to help him. He's the keystone to the whole plan. I wouldn't have given him that job if I didn't think he could do it. So unless you're volunteering to take his place, keep quiet."

"Yeah Maphias, quit worrying about me. We'll all be facing our share of trouble before the day is done. All that matters is stopping Cortese and saving our town. If you've got a better plan we're all ears, but otherwise we'll do it just as Xena says."

Maphias subsided into an unhappy silence. Lyceus was right, Xena's plan was their only real chance of winning. He wouldn't still be in Amphipolis preparing to risk his neck if he didn't believe in her. Unfortunately he was still afraid, and if he concentrated on his fear for Lyceus' safety he'd have less time to worry about himself. But he couldn't forget that a lot of his townspeople were going to die even if they succeeded- people he'd known all of his life. The thought of ruthlessly sacrificing even one of them, especially the young man who had been as close as a brother to him twisted his gut with nausea and pain.

"All right, you've got your orders. Move out!" she told him coldly. They didn't have any time for doubts about her battle plan. Just as important, she couldn't allow any confusion about who was in charge or they'd shatter into pieces that Cortese could sweep up at his ease. Divided, they were sure to be conquered.

"Yes ma'am," he replied stiffly and then left the tavern to brief his men. Xena eyed him carefully as he left, a hint of sadness unnoticed by anyone else glistening in her eyes. But then she banished that emotion from her expression through an act of will. She couldn't allow herself from showing any doubts either. "Don't worry, Xena. He'll do what he has to do when the time comes," Lyceus assured her, a comforting hand resting briefly on her shoulder. "We all will."

"He'd better," she returned grimly. Because if he didn't Xena would make his failure his dying regret.



Xena was finally alone in the tavern. All the noncombatants, including her mother had cleared out of Amphipolis a little over an hour ago, and all of Xena's soldiers had left at the same time to disguise their purpose. Xena remained in the tavern which she had turned into her command post.

She swallowed a swig of wine as she studied her map yet again. Was there anything she was missing, any advantage she had failed to seize? Her father, a mercenary soldier, had once told her that sometimes the smallest detail was the difference between winning and losing. Xena was ready to let men under her command die to achieve victory but she refused to let them die needlessly. Unfortunately, her inexperience as a general made that possibility all too likely if she wasn't careful as well as clever.

She strode to the other side of the table to study her plan of attack from another angle. Once she reached her destination she froze. She hadn't seen anyone, but she was certain that there was someone behind her. She tried to relax her suddenly tense shoulders and took a deeper drink from her wine cup. Then she spun around, grabbed a nearby candle and sprayed a mouthful of flaming alcohol in the direction of the intruder. He shouted a curse in surprise and dropped beneath a heavy oaken table for protection from the blast.

"Whoa! I'm not the enemy!" her uninvited guest informed her, his empty hands raised to show her that he didn't have a weapon drawn.

She allowed him to stand up slowly and studied him. He looked like a typical mercenary- scuffed black leather armor, dirty brown hair and a jagged scar over one eye. His weapons, on the other hand, appeared to be in prime condition in spite of the fact that they'd obviously been well used. Xena had seen plenty of his type over the many years that she'd worked in her mother's tavern. Her own father Atrius had been a lot like him, or so she remembered. She hadn't actually seen her father in years. This man, however was a complete stranger. Was he one of Cortese's men trying to spy on her before the warlord attacked? The young woman doubted it. If he was a spy he wouldn't be carelessly wandering around the middle of town picking daisies for anyone to see. So that left her wondering who he was and what he was doing there.

Well, there was one easy way to find out- she'd try asking him. And if she liked the answer maybe she wouldn't have a squad of her toughest soldiers ask him again.

"My name is Straton," he told her readily," and I'm here in Amphipolis to fight with you if you'll let me."

"Why would you want to do that?" Xena asked the stranger suspiciously. "We're fighting because we don't have a choice. What do you expect to get out of this? Amphipolis can't afford to hire mercenaries to do our fighting for us, and we may very well end up dead for our trouble."

"You can't ever truly lose by deciding to stand up for yourself, no matter what the outcome," he replied with a warrior's philosophy that echoed in Xena's heart. "But you're right, I do usually expect to make a profit when I fight. Fortunately for you, I don't always measure profit by coins. I'm here to fight Cortese for my own personal reasons."

"Your own 'personal' reasons, hmm?" she repeated. She wasn't sure why, but she believed him. "Okay, you can tag along with me and my men. The Gods know we can use every sword we can get. Just remember that I want you by my side so that I can keep an eye on you, and at the first hint of treachery you're a dead man."

Straton smiled widely, and Xena felt a pull of attraction for the battered mercenary. She'd always had a thing for bad boys. "Keep two eyes on me if you like," he said with a roguish wink. "There's nothing I'd like better than the chance to fight at your side. In fact, I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship."

Xena snorted scornfully at his line but deep down inside she couldn't deny that the idea had it's... attraction. She had just met the man, but already she felt more comfortable with the professional soldier than with any of the men from her hometown. Anyone she had ever known, as a matter of fact, except her brother Lyceus. She shook off the seductive feeling as best as she could. Pleasant though it was she didn't have time for any man, no matter how attractive, with her very first battle looming ominously in her near future. "All that matters to me is protecting Amphipolis from Cortese and anyone else looking to take what is ours."

Straton shrugged with another one of his winning smiles. "Sure, whatever you say. But maybe after all of this is over you'll be ready to start thinking about the future and what it could bring you. I'll be around when you do," he promised.

"I'll be sure and let you know when the time comes," Xena replied with a crooked smile of her own. Who could say what the future would bring? But whatever it was, she felt ready to meet it head on.



The battle went exactly as Xena had planned. Her makeshift army chased away the scattered remains of Cortese's men after inflicting quite a bit of damage to his gang. He and other parasites like him would think twice before they dared mess with Amphipolis again.

She returned to the tavern with her men to celebrate their victory when the mop-up was all but over. She'd lost a number of her own soldiers in the battle, particularly from Lyceus' weaker company, but she refused to dwell on their deaths. Men inevitably died whether in war or in peace, and a good commander had to accept a certain number of casualties as the price of doing business. She was toasting their victory with Straton and the rest of her men when Maphias found her. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Maphias exclaimed urgently.

"Well, you found me. Take a load off and have a drink. You earned it," she invited him with an expansive wave.

"Xena, you have to come with me now!" he told her impatiently while dragging her to her feet. "Lyceus is dying, and if we don't hurry you won't get a chance to say goodbye!"

The intoxicated flush drained from Xena's face. "Dying? How?! I know he wasn't seriously hurt during the battle!"

"It happened during the mop-up after Cortese's retreat. One of his men was hiding in the smithy. Lyceus spotted him, so he pretended to surrender. Then the bastard gut stabbed your brother and ran away," he informed her as he dragged her to her brother's side. "Come on!"

He hurried back to the smithy with Xena hot on his heels, but it was too late. Lyceus, her baby brother and best friend, was already dead. Xena stared down at her brother's twisted corpse. It was obvious from the rictus of pain graven on his youthful face that he'd died in agony. She'd been congratulating herself and swilling wine while Lyceus, the only person in the whole world who had truly loved and understood her had died alone. She felt numb at the sight of his blood-stained corpse, but she knew that a blazing inferno of anger and remorse raged beneath the surface.

Xena couldn't have said how long she'd been staring at him when Straton came and stood beside her. "It wasn't your fault, Xena," he told her quietly. "If anyone is to blame it's Cortese and all the other warlords who won't be satisfied until the entire world crawls beneath their boot heels to escape the slaughter of those they love. You have to stop that. Use your righteous anger, don't let it paralyze you. Just remember that Lyceus was a warrior and that died a hero's death. "But it's up to you where you go from here. If you want Amphipolis to remain safe you have to be ready to do more than just defend it. You have to be proactive, take the fight directly to your enemies and attack them before they can attack you. That means raising a standing army and creating a buffer zone between Amphipolis and the rest of the world," he told her, a quiet intensity shining in his dark eyes. "If you want, I'll help."

Xena met his gaze with his own, hard despite the unshed tears glittering in their icy depths. "You're right. I know what I have to do for Lyceus and my home. But I don't need your help. I don't need anyone."

Xena took one last look at her brother, her tears at last beginning to flow from her eyes and then walked away, never looking back.

The man who had called himself Straton watched her leave. When she was out of sight his form shifted, flowing into a new shape nothing like the man she'd seen. He was now a tall, powerful man with a neat black goatee. Xena didn't know it yet, but she had just met her destiny and the one who would bring it to her: Ares, God of War.



She will be mine, Ares gloated confidently. She was full of fire and rage, the fuel of greatness. Releasing it on the world would be child's play. He would patiently cultivate the seed he'd sown until it grew into a blazing inferno that would consume the entire world.

Killing Lyceus had been the key, he congratulated himself. With him dead Xena would never stop searching the world for revenge. Unfortunately for her peace of mind, she'd never find it. But peace was overrated, the pacifier of the weak. He had given her something far greater. Lyceus hadn't been killed by one of Cortese's men. Ares had done it himself. She didn't know it yet, but the young man's blood had forged a link between them that could never be broken. Her brother had been the only thing standing between her and glory. Ares had only done what he had needed to do to free her to meet it. And maybe someday he'd tell her that, let her know just how much she owed to him.

But for now he'd just watch and wait. It was a good sign that she had rejected his help. The strongest trees in the forest stood alone. She wouldn't have been the one he was waiting for if she had allowed him to take control of her destiny willingly. A leader had to stand alone.

He'd just have to manipulate her behind the scenes to get her where she needed to be. He smiled evilly as he envisioned her glorious future. It was certain to make a good show.