See disclaimers in Part One

**********

Road Show: Part Two
By J.A. Bard

Chapter 1

Hostages

Long strong fingers connected to equally strong hands attached to broad wrists dangled comfortably over the ends of the carved chair's arms. For a moment the fingers traced the carvings that adorned the ends of the arms as if to refamiliarize the owner with the feel. Eyelids slowly closed over the startlingly bright blue eyes that glittered from the torch light in the cavern and the dark head leaned back against the tall ornately carved back of the chair. Inhaling slowly, Aleka held her breath for a moment before expelling it.

She felt comfortable as her thoughts returned to the cavern with the sacred pools. She imagined the two tall pillars that were covered with runes and encryption's representing places both near and far. What Gaia called a vortex was a portal or doorway to places that were known and unknown to Aleka. Each site had a word and tone that identified it and she remembered them as if they were freshly imprinted in her mind. When a tone was chanted for the desired destination a portal opened with a passageway between the two places that allowed objects as large as a horse drawn cart to move through.

The tingling sensation on her exposed skin and the sounds from the water feeding into the pool reminded her of another time and lessons that took place in this very cavern.

She took another slow deep breath letting it out through her mouth aware that her shoulders relaxed further with the rest of her limbs following. Sounds and sensations around her that had heightened faded to nothing. She felt a lighter part of her unattach from her heavier body and was amused that it was so easy. Briefly, memories of previous experiences in both lives for this type of travel overlapped.

She looked around the cavern from her new vantagepoint high above everyone's heads. The women were scattered about, some in groups or sitting alone. She spotted the bright red hair of Gabrielle sitting on a flat rock with her knees pulled up, her chin resting on the knees, and her arms wrapped around them. Her brow was wrinkled as if in deep thought. Her eyes were fixed on the still form that was seated in the wooden chair. Erica was approaching her with Eleanor. Do they think she's going to remember or say something? Aleka chuckled to herself. The voice suggestions may be wearing off.

By the structure of their leadership in the group, Lily and Agnes would normally have said something to Gabrielle but until they return Erica and Eleanor were to lead their respective groups.

Gabrielle must have said something that made the two concerned enough to step in before the other two women returned. Aleka sighed to herself remembering the drug Gabrielle had inhaled. Nothing is calm around the Bard for too long. She didn't think Gabrielle remembered who she is in this life, for she didn't see the familiar look Gabrielle would have in her eyes when they had exchanged looks. There was recognition, but there was mostly guilt and fear. Iaia's memories. For all that Gabrielle has gone through in this life, she would add the guilt of the failed journey to her burdens. Xena thought of the Bard taking on the burden of another life and how much more complicated it would make her life today. Of course it's not her fault! I should have been more discreet! Goddess, if I had known my interest in her would cause problems! I should have known! Will you stop! Xena admonished her. You showed interest in her! So what? You didn't touch her, say anything to her or even insult her. Let it go! I have enough guilt in this life without you adding to it!

Aleka's form was rising slowly toward the ceiling of the cavern as she studied her companions and struggled with her conscious. Abruptly she shot out of the cavern and through the top of the mountain. Right. Concentrate on the business at hand, Ka. You don't need to go there! It's finished! This is something else! Xena pulled her focused back on her plan.

Thinking of the site where Agnes and Lily had gone to brought her spirit form immediately hovering outside of a temple that had seen better times. The cobblestone courtyard was partially covered with earth and brush that no longer had someone to keep them within neat borders. The courtyard was surrounded with silver birch trees. Some had been recently hacked down to stubs with bits of the tree strewn about while others had escaped damage. Aleka turned toward the temple with a heavy heart at the destruction. Here also was the evidence of vandalism as the pillars that were once detailed with the face of the goddess were now misshapen images of something unrecognizable.

She watched with trepidation, as the last of a group of men dressed in the familiar dark clothing and shield sewed to their cloaks noisily moved out of the abandoned temple's courtyard. She saw no evidence of Agnes or Lily in their company. She glided into the temple looking for any sign of the women. Statuary, artwork and tapestry that had once graced the main altar area were now laying about in bits and tatters on the debris covered floor. Most of the damage appeared to have happened seasons ago, for dirt and leaves covered much of the damage. She moved through different rooms looking for any kind of evidence that the two had been there.

The moment Aleka moved into a small room off of the private altar area she knew it was where the portal was. The colors in the room were different than the others and a familiar pulse that was growing faint as the influence of the chant to open it was fading. But there was a definite attraction from the area that she knew if she gave in to that she would be sucked up within it. She remembered she needed to stay away from it while in her present form. Carefully staying outside of its influence she looked closely on the ground for any trace of a struggle. There were a lot of recent footprints with evidence of a struggle but no sign of blood. She found what she was looking for, the feather. It was broken and under debris, as if it had been purposely tucked there.

Aleka moved back to the outside of the temple looking for the dark cloaks. They were not difficult to find for there was a gray to black cloud hovering above the ten horsemen and twenty men walking behind, and she knew it wasn't from the dust of the road. She could not see any prisoners. Her experienced eye picked out signs that indicated many of the members were new recruits unaccustomed to walking in formations or sitting for long periods on a horse. She watched in what direction they were headed and then returned to the area around the temple looking for any more signs that the women had been there. What she was looking for was nearly covered with the prints from the departing horses and boot prints. Cart tracks.

She moved higher to see if she could see anything of the cart. Between tree branches she could see a small group of village men that were resuming their journey after a stop away from the temple. She was quickly above them studying their numbers and what they were hauling in a small caged cart. Two unconscious woman, and by their dress, Lily and Agnes. Both were bound with bags over their heads. The group was loud and boisterous making sure the two prisoners knew what they were planning for them. Though, by the looks of the forms, they were unconscious, for their bodies were bouncing too much as the cart moved over ground that a cart would normally not be pulled over. It was making its way back onto the road. Are they trying to evade the dark cloaks?

The men sounded as if they were drunk which was not the best way to travel on the open road even in daylight. Aleka floated close to the cart and whispered encouragement to the two women, not knowing if either could hear her.

Movement along the edge of the woods had her moving off to investigate closer. There were dark figures shadowing the men. Are they together? It would be a good reason why the villagers have no fear of traveling on the road in winter -- drunk!

From the conversations from the boisterous group, she knew where they were headed. Satisfied she could do no more, she thought herself to an old cavern that was once used by Gaia's followers that was nearest to the cart's destination. It was about a candlemark outside of what use to be a village called Naticus but the men that had Lily and Agnes were calling it Danai. Aleka couldn't help wondering if the men were crazy as they had mentioned they were going to hold as ransom to the goddess Athena the two women, thinking that since they appeared in her temple they were her priestesses.

As her thoughts formed the memory of the cavern she quickly found herself in a space that was without light. For a moment she was frightened she had done something wrong. In the shadowy world she started to perceive with another sight outlines of a wall then the inside of an abandoned cavern that had once been a busy portal. She spotted what appeared to be a large dark ink spot on one of the walls and moved toward it. An exit. She thought of the outside and was hovering outside of the cavern's entrance. The outside also looked deserted.

Aleka thought of the cavern and the carved wooden chair and was back where the others were waiting. Everyone seemed to suddenly become busy with preparations as she looked about with awakened eyes.

Chapter 2

Sitting in a relaxed position in the chair Aleka idly watched the others gather in the order they would be walking through the portal. Camila had brought up the nervous bay horse, Itali that Aleka usually rode and he was waiting near her elbow playing with his bit and shifting from one foot to the other.

Aleka was also aware of Argo's calm presence next to Gabrielle who was standing next to Erica. Argo extended her head and snorted a greeting bearing her teeth in a playful grin, as if she knew Xena was watching her. Xena kept a tight control on her thoughts this time as she moved her gaze back to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle was absentmindedly stroking Argo's neck as Erica spoke to her. By the expression on her face Aleka knew she was listening intently. She wondered what Erica had to say that would be that interesting. Aleka returned her attention to Gabrielle. She studied her wondering when she would remember herself as Gabrielle and then for how long they could restrain from their usual habits of familiarity. A laugh here, a grin there…She closed her eyes for a moment trying to forget the feeling of emptiness at not being able to connect with the Bard, and focused on the character of Aleka, letting her memory of Iaia come back to her. Unfortunately, they were the wrong memories Aleka had of Iaia. It did not give her the resolve to stay detached that she was looking for.

Try practical thoughts, Ka! She admonished herself. A tight smile appeared on her face as she realized it was the second time she used the nickname her mentor had called her -- Little Ka. The small black birds that nested nearby the Temple would make such sounds and as a child Aleka would imitate their cries to amuse herself and the birds.

I was talking to them! The thought startled her. Xena shrugged off the childish indignation of Aleka. Aleka's ability to communicate with plants, other creatures and the elements was distracting to Xena. Xena thought that it would complicate the journey if she became too familiar with all of Aleka's abilities. The possibility that it may submerge too much of Xena's instincts which she felt were necessary for the survival of the troupe, was what Xena was not willing to chance.

She returned her mind back to the more practical business at hand, the questions she wanted answers to. Were the men in the room when the women appeared? They had to have, why else would the women have gone down without a fight? Given her desire for all the women to live through this journey, she would have counseled the women not to resist if it meant death to do so. She balled her relaxed hands into fists out of frustration then released them as she went over her plan to get the women back. The thought that if she had only remembered that she could have visited the place first in spirit interrupted her thoughts. Xena knew Aleka was remembering the failure of the first journey and firmly refocused on the present job to be done. There were too many distractions from this merger of personalities, she was thinking impatiently.

By the diminishing sounds of movement around her she knew it was time. The others were ready. She rose from the seat. Walking to where she could feel a trembling in the air, at what Gaia called a vortex, she took the torch and flint Erica handed her absentmindedly.

The bay followed Aleka with his nose close to her elbow. Standing with her eyes closed she began softly chanting the word that would open the portal for their travel, feeling the tone vibrate against an unseen door. The others behind picked up the sound and chanted with her. It was like a low hum. As the women could feel the air around them change their volume grew. The sound magnified in the underground cavern sending off small sparks of energy around their forms. The bay nervously stamped his feet and tossed his head as tiny lights swirled in front of him.

A breeze that brought a scent from somewhere else passed across her face. Gripping the unlit torch she stepped through quickly tugging the bay's reins gently for him to follow.

The place she entered was dark and dank. It hadn't been used for a long time as her first visit indicated. She quickly stepped aside and lit the torch. Grace waited allowing Aleka enough time to light the torch before timing her own arrival. She lit her torch from Aleka's. They looked around quickly. It was once a storage area. Decaying remains of containers were stacked on wooden shelves that were still standing, though not too securely. The area was large enough to contain their group. What she hadn't seen clearly on her first visit she was able to pick out in the torchlight. There had once been a large pool of water in one half of the underground sanctuary, but it looked like it had been dry for seasons.

"Send the feather back." Aleka directed Grace. Aleka handed her reins to Grace after spotting the exit and quickly ran up the dark tunnel with her torch extended. She had forgotten to check the condition of the tunnel on her first visit.

The tunnel was wide enough for the cart, she noted as she waved the torch slowly side to side for a better view of the condition of the tunnel's walls and ceiling. They would have to walk their horses for it wasn't high enough for riders on horses, but enough for the cart.

She reached the opening to the cavern and looked out. She felt no danger on the outside. Birds were chirping and after sniffing the air she caught the smell of some creatures that wouldn't be around if any human hunters were. Aleka tentatively reached out and felt the energy from the surrounding trees. No one had been around since the last new moon. She turned her head to see what gray shape moved just outside of her vision. In moments the familiar gray muzzle poked through the low ferns. Aleka grinned and retreated back into the tunnel.

She planted the torch in a wall mount taking in the condition of the others that had arrived. Two other torches had been lit and spaced with enough distance to give adequate light so the others wouldn't stumble on any abandoned debris as they quickly made room for each other's arrival. Everyone had arrived by the time Aleka returned. The group felt the need to hurry.

Aleka watched Gabrielle and Erica move around the others checking up on them. Erica nodded toward Aleka when the check was completed. Normally Erica would be paired with a priestess but in this case Camila, whom she was paired with that day was riding the cart so Erica took it upon herself to insure her Queen was well looked after. If Red was conscious that she was being protected she gave no indication and Aleka knew if it were Gabrielle, she would have said something.

"Let's get moving." Aleka said in a low voice, feeling tired. She nodded to Grace, who was her partner for the day.

The tunnel opened out into a cleared area that was in turn ringed by a thin line of trees. The sun was nearly resting on the tall treetops of the surrounding sacred grove, giving them about two candlemarks of daylight left. On the outside were small figurines with the remains of faded flowers and dried up fruit showing that someone was still visiting the small altars on the outside. The gray wolf had her nose buried in one of the dried bouquets.

Now what can possibly be that interesting with an old bunch of flowers, she asked her spirit guide? The wolf turned her yellow eyes toward Aleka.

I want to know who left them.

Oh, one of those – nose things, Aleka nodded trying to hide her smile.

From practice of a time long ago, Aleka placed her hands on the side of the cavern's entrance and whispered a prayer of protection and thanksgiving.

When everyone was ready Aleka gracefully and effortlessly leaped aboard the bay. She prodded him forward into the trees just behind the easy lope of the gray wolf.

Chapter 3

Erica and Eleanor sat on either side of Red on the flat rock.

"Red." Erica nodded as she tried not to let the smile on her face become too broad from the memory of how she got the name red and how now, it was very appropriate. Perhaps their Named was also a seer. Her heart quickened as the green eyes looked deeply into hers.

Red regarded her for a moment, studying the increased heart beat at Erica's throat, the smile she was trying to hide and then the discomfort she seemed to be experiencing. For a brief moment she saw a blur of colors around her head until she refocused her eyes on the face.

"Erica, Eleanor." She returned smiling.

"We need to explain to you some of what you may be going through." Eleanor started. Erica looked relieved that Eleanor had volunteered to do the talking.

"You had asked me some questions earlier that I couldn't answer. Before Agnes and Lily left, I had spoken with Agnes. Agnes was going to talk to you about this…but - well, I think you need to know now rather than later."

Erica nodded. She's got that right, Red! Erica thought relieved. She had seen how Gabrielle was looking at Aleka and sooner or later she was going to say something that may be the wrong thing.

Eleanor explained and filled in some of the gaps Gabrielle's dreams left also giving her small feelings of trepidation that she was responsible for this whole mess the group was in now. At the thought of being responsible for the deaths of a group of innocent people her eyes wandered over to the still figure seated on the chair. Something was tugging at Red's memory yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Did she know Aleka in this life too?

She returned her eyes to Eleanor as she had placed her hand on Red's arm to hold her attention. Red's fear of being condemned by the others was lessened as Eleanor explained in depth their quest and Erica, feeling more confident, interjected a few words.

"And it wasn't your fault." Eleanor reassured her at the end of the recounting watching Red's face closely. We all feel that way. It wasn't your command that ended our quest." Eleanor patted her hand when the frown on the Amazon Queen's face didn't go away.

Red's green eyes that darkened in the shadows, looked into Eleanor's for a long moment. "How do you know that? She objected slowly. "I was there too! If I hadn't…"

"Stop, Red!" Erica told her gruffly shaking her arm. "Like Eleanor said, we are not here to point fingers."

There was silence for a while as Red pulled herself together, and not without a few tears running down her face.

"It will take a while for you to get use to seeing two life times overlap." Eleanor continued.

"Two life times? I can only remember one!" She took a deep breath. "And that one isn't too comforting!" Tears threatened to fall again as she fiercely held them back.

"Maybe for you that is what is best." Eleanor returned gently.

"Great." She muttered. "I have a horse I feel better walking beside than riding and I'm having dreams of a face I can't put a name to, and I feel so lonely…" She stopped and plucked at her sleeve. "And I don't even know if its from this life or Iaia's!" Red turned to Eleanor. "And it's driving me crazy!" Her voice became low and worried.

Eleanor was able to keep a smile off her face while Erica whom Red had her back to did not. "What does she look like. Maybe we know her."

There was silence for a few moments.

"How do you know it's a she?" Red asked quietly.

Eleanor's face slowly turned red.

"It's a guess, Red." Erica tried to save her.

"You know who I am in this life?"

"Yes." Eleanor told her truthfully. "And the face…is it of a tall and beautiful dark haired woman dressed in armor?" She decided to face the problem head on.

Red blinked a few times. "Yessss. Yes, she appears to be a warrior."

"Don't talk about her, Red. Don't even whisper her name in your dreams. Please. When we are through with this journey, she will be waiting for you." Erica spoke with firmness.

Red turned to face Erica. "What if at the end of this journey I still don't remember who I am? What if I don't want to know who she is? Red's voice faltered. Is that what she really felt? Fear of not feeling the same for this woman that kept appearing in her dreams or in her mind's eye when she was awake? Red shook her head and held an apologetic hand up. "Sorry, I think that was from…somewhere else." Her eyes turned back to the still form on the carved chair as if from their own volition.

Eleanor seemed to sense Red's struggle with Iaia's guilt. "Let…it…go, Iaia!" She whispered fiercely. "Let…it…go!" She paused studying the face that was a study in confusion and…guilt. "We have."

"If anyone were to be blamed it would be the Named. She…" Erica stopped when Eleanor glared at her.

"It was the person who gave the order for our deaths." Eleanor pointed out firmly.

The sudden movement from the dark figure in the chair brought the conversation to a halt as the others quickly rose to their feet. Aleka looked around her as she sat up straighter in the chair noticing the women start to gather their belongings.

Erica took a firm hold of Gabrielle's elbow. "Come on, Red. I can tell you're a hard customer to sell the idea of non-guilt to. Stay with me and we'll see if I can convince you." She teased.

With the golden horse beside her, Red took her place beside Erica. Looking in the warm brown eyes of Argo she realized she was her only touch with her present life that and that she had no clear memories of. What consolation is that? She turned off her thoughts and focused on the sound of the chant, feeling the vibration it created in her chest as she took it up. Argo shifted from one hoof to another as if she felt it too. It's strange that my senses are still heightened. Surely the drugs in my system would have worked themselves out by now. She took a deep breath as she felt Argo's excitement and everyone else's. Talk about no privacy, she thought feeling guilty that she was privy to not just hearing the small talk between the women but also the awareness of the covert glances one had for another and the implications it all carried.

The moment Grace disappeared Red moved forward and after counting to ten, she also moved through the shimmering outline of something that looked like a thin thread that led to nothing. She moved through not needing to pull on the reins to Argo's bit as the golden horse willingly walked with her through what Red thought she could not see.

The hairs on Red's arms stood up from the cold but it was over so quickly as she found herself walking into an old storage area surrounded by stone walls. She moved quickly forward to leave room for Erica who was close behind her and followed by the others. The last two would make sure any trace of their prints would be removed.

Red's natural concern for others had her along with Erica checking that the others were feeling fine. Red took a quick look toward Aleka. Her breath caught as she felt how tired their leader was. Instinctively she started to go to her side.

"Red." Erica's placed a hand on her shoulder, which was emphasized with her moving her body to block her view of Aleka. Red looked up into the blond haired woman's concerned face feeling the anxiety vibrate from her form.

"She'll be okay, Red, or would you rather Iaia?"

"I guess it doesn't really matter right now." She sighed. For some reason Erica was distracting her from her concern with Aleka. Why?

"Let us know when you remember your other name, okay?" She added lamely.

She nodded and took comfort in giving Argo a few pats on the neck as she collected herself. "You don't happen to know who the dark haired warrior is, do you?" She whispered in one of the twitching ears. Argo merely pricked her ears forward.

Red and Erica held back with the cart, waiting for the others to move out. They were given the job of covering the group's tracks this time. It gave Red more time to mull over her place in the group.

Red was glad she had talked to Eleanor for she had helped her understand the strange dreams she had been having for the past two weeks. If she couldn't remember who she was or her name, she did remember that she had been dreaming about Iaia for the last few weeks. She was already regretting not talking about it to…Hades! The name was right there! Right on the tip of my tongue! The image of the tall dark haired warrior came back to her but not the name. The glittering blue eyes that could be so cold it made her blood cold yet she remembered the warmth of them too, that sent shivers up and down her spine. Why do I keep thinking of her? Erica had said she would be waiting at the end of this journey. How long is this journey supposed to be? Her curiosity was piqued at the identity of the woman. The feelings of warmth and—of feeling protected when she thought of her made her yearn for her presence.

As Red and Erica followed behind the cart her thoughts returned to what she remembered about Iaia. She had made a promise to Gaia. That was why she was here. A smile appeared on her face. Iaia thought she had not been granted entrance to the sacred site, yet it was the Phythia disguised as the old blind woman that talked to her. She felt smug at knowing this.

So my quest is to fulfill Iaia's pledge to Gaia on this journey. Just what am I suppose to do? All right, so Iaia was not responsible for the deaths her jealous husband had ordered yet…the knowledge that it was from what she thought was a harmless flirtation didn't alleviate her guilt. She was aware that Iaia had refused to speak to her husband on their return trip out of shame. The murders of Gaia's followers caused Iaia to lose her last interest in living.

Before her marriage she had gained a reputation for her portraits which had unusual colorings around the subjects head. Her paintings had supported her ailing father and her after her mother had died. Her mother was also an artist and had taught Iaia her trade. Her father was a potter whose ill health had prevented him from spending much time at his trade. When her father realized he hadn't much time left to live he had arranged her marriage to a merchant that had been asking her father for her hand. He had shown interest in Iaia's work and had enough money to take care of her. Her father felt in such a short time he couldn't have done better. He knew Cadius would settle her in a house of her own, as he did with his other wives, and see her when he was in town. He felt that Iaia could suffer him for those visits as long as she was able to continue her artwork. However, the best-laid plans don't always work out that way. Cadius wanted to set her up in her own house but to paint what he could sell. He felt that he knew better what would sell and therefore gave Iaia directions on what he wanted painted. Suddenly faced with painting on demand and on subjects that held little interest for her she lost her love of painting. As a trade off for painting what he wanted, she cajoled him into taking her along with him on his caravan journeys.

For a moment Gabrielle wondered if Iaia had become despondent over the death of the slim young leader, Aleka, for she remembered Iaia had many times sketched in the dirt outlines of Aleka on her return home. She had been careful to destroy evidence of them when her husband or anyone approached. What did she feel for the young leader? Gabrielle couldn't decide. Iaia was a very focused person. First on her paintings, then on searching for a cure for her aliment, that is, until her visit with the old blind woman.

She leaned over Argo's neck ducking a low hanging branch as Argo followed the others through the trees and onto the road. Once on the road they picked up the pace into a fast trot. Gabrielle hated the trot, but it was the fastest Aleka wanted to go for the cart drawn horse. Looking at the cart as it bumped over the deeper ruts she knew where she was, was by far the better ride, but she would have preferred to walk. She could sense Argo's discomfort of her bouncing around on her back when she missed a beat. How could Argo belong to her if she hated to ride so much?

Chapter 4

They reached the village a little before dusk. They all could see a tall plume of dark smoke curling up in the late afternoon sky. The smell of burning incense engulfed them in a cloud as they drew closer.

"I hope that's not a welcoming committee. Grace mentioned. "I'm too tired to put on a play or recite a poem." She weakly joked.

"Whadaya think it was?" Erica asked to no one in particular. Red who was next to her shook her head.

"It was the previous village protector." Eleanor explained. She recognized the smell of the wood for it was from the terebinths of Mamre, the sacred groves. The trees had a distinct aroma of their own when burned. The followers of Gaia and Ianna had used only those trees for cutting their images.

In anticipation of their leaders next order, Erica kneed her horse forward followed closely by Argo and her rider.

"Let's see if we can find a place for the night." Aleka nodded to Erica. "Go take a look at the other side of the village and see what's going on." Erica nodded and prodded her horse away from the group with Red following. Aleka chuckled at the sight of Red riding off on Argo. By the way she was sitting on her, Aleka could image how sore she probably was and Argo was certainly not enjoying it by the way she was tossing her head and snorting. Oh, yah. They are bonding real well, she thought wryly.

Aleka turned her attention back to the village. Brona had dismounted in the nearby field and was running the dirt through her hands. Aleka moved her own horse over to see what she was frowning at.

"What's up?" Aleka asked. The gray wolf sauntered over to where Brona was squatting and used her paw to dig a shallow hole.

Nothing can grow here, it's been salted, the gray wolf informed her.

Brona's light gray eyes looked up at her puzzled. "I was just wondering what they grew here. The texture of the dirt doesn't feel good."

Aleka looked back toward the village. Salted? Why would someone salt a field? They wouldn't be able to plant anything for generations. No warlord would do that, but an invading army would. Xena remembered the City of Troy's punishment from her enemies was the fields around her torn down and scattered walls were salted. It was an unforgivable desecration of land and the one who gave the order had paid the punishment from Demeter's own hand. Aleka shook her head to forget.

Returning her attention to the present she shut out the familiar movement of the horses and the small talk that she could hear from the others and listened to the other noises around the outskirts of the village. The only sounds were from them. There weren't any winter birds, wild animals in the brush or children playing.

She motioned to the others and they moved into the small village. The street was silent as they proceeded toward the village center. Whatever the heap of ashes had been it was massive. It was in the center of the village; therefore had at one time been an important part of village life. Aleka didn't feel any evil that dark powers usually brought when a village was possessed. She moved past the smoking remains hearing the crack of hot embers that occasionally would break out into flames.

It appeared to have been the village's protector, as Eleanor had said. As Xena, she knew it had been Demeter. When she had passed many years ago with a small detachment of her army the village had been too small to raid and it was too soon after a previous successful battle to stop by. But she did send scouts out to investigate for the sake of caution. She left nothing to chance in those days.

The women came to a halt in the village square. There were men in various stages of unconsciousness or drunken states scattered around the hot embers, not even rousing as strangers entered their village. Aleka's thoughts returned to the men that she remembered had captured Lily and Agnes. They were quite drunk too. With Aleka's eyes she could see a dark cloud over the village that wasn't from the smoke.

This village certainly has a problem. Meleager should go on a quest here! She thought grimly. Hmmm, was Aleka's shared comment.

Aleka spotted a semiconscious man watching them through bleary eyes. He was outside an unmarked building wrapped around a post that had at one time a sign hanging from it. Aleka moved her horse closer watching the eyes struggle to follow her. His disheveled appearance gave the impression he wasn't into personal grooming.

"You know where there's an inn?" Aleka asked studying him. The color around him was a dirty gray.

He tried to focus on the dark haired stranger before him. "Ya hereforthe cellllbration?" He slurred. Squinting at the horse, he launched himself away from the post and fell face first into the neck of Aleka's bay. Itali stepped back a pace but Aleka stopped him for it would have dropped the drunk onto the dirt, being he had a precarious hold on his balance. He made a grab for Aleka's boot to steady himself. Her leg twitched and her face wore a grim look.

"Celebration for what?" She asked quietly trying to control her reflexes.

"T'a protect'r." He tried to pull himself away from the horse in a dignified pose. "Wegodanew god ta protects us." He failed to stand upright and started to lean too far to his left when Aleka's booted foot extended to halt his tilt.

"What god is that?" Her voice lowered. The she wolf was sitting on the stairs of the building the sorry looking man had been clinging to. At the question she cocked her head as if to listen.

The red eyes blinked and tried to put the several faces in front of him into one. His face took on a frightened look for a moment. "Mekor." He whispered this then tried to look furtively around on unsteady legs.

Aleka looked up and around again testing the atmosphere, still not feeling the malevolence that usually permeates the area when evil was around. The gray wolf moved from the porch and nosed around the semi conscious forms scattered about the embers.

"T'ain't here now." He mumbled, noticing her glance around. "Night. There's gonnabe sacrifice. When ta moonsup." The man shuddered and lifted an unsteady hand to his dirty face.

"What sacrifice is that?" Aleka asked drawing her hand in front of the man's face and toward her. His squinting eyes followed her hand.

"Some priestesssss." He mumbled almost inaudibly.

Aleka could feel the hairs in the back of her neck rise. More than one person would be needed to bring evil into the upper world. Dahak needed more than two village's worth of human sacrifice to bring his energy high enough to enter the upper world's portal. Had they already made previous sacrifices? And who was this Mekor? Is that the same as the Dark One that Alala was going to destroy the talisman of? She knew it wasn't Dahak. Aleka gave a mental sigh. Too many gods from the darkness. Ares is bad enough on his peak days.

"Is there a place for travelers to stay the night?" She asked again.

The man once more struggled to stand on his own. "Ahhhummp. Otherside fire." He leaned into the horse putting an unsteady hand on Aleka's leg. "Hey, ya gotanicebitoflesh…'ere." He said after a bold squeeze.

Aleka leaned down swiftly and grabbed the unshaven face firmly in her hand pulling his chin up so that his eyes looked in hers. She looked into the bloodshot faded green eyes that could barely stay open. The man swayed as he squinted into icy blue eyes that made him fear more than his soon to be village protector. He quickly removed his offending hand from the leg he found surprisingly strong.

"How safe is it?" She purred.

The man gulped and tried to pull away. "Bettern' th old woman's." He whispered hoarsely." Suddenly pulling away, he asked. "Whoereyaanyway?" He was unable to break the grip that held his face in an uncomfortable position.

"Someone you don't know and will forget about." Her voice commanded. When she released him he found himself off balance and heading for the hard packed ground, face first. Aleka studied his unmoving form then looked around the village that should have people moving around at that time of day. It also disturbed her that the unconscious man who acted drunk did not smell of ale or any other drink.

Bad breath, yes, but not from ale or wine. Something is not right, even if there isn't any overt feeling of evil. He has a dark cloud around him. Aleka offered. Sounds like drugs. Aleka squinted at a spot above the man's prone figure. It did look like a dark cloud.

"Let's try the old woman's place." Aleka told Grace in a low voice. Grace gave the Amazon sign she had been taught and it was passed down soundlessly. They were on alert. Grace interpreted the look on Aleka's face correctly. Something was amiss.

The inn was called the Eye of the Storm and was easy to find because Argo and Erica's horse were waiting outside. Trust Gabrielle to find an inn, Aleka thought chuckling to herself. It looked like it could use some work on the outside. As they were dismounting the door opened and an old woman stood in the doorframe.

The gray she wolf stood beside Aleka. She can see me.

"Ya got rooms for the night?" Aleka asked as she dismounted. Great. Is that something to worry about?

No. She does not recognize me yet.

"Yep. Plenty this time of the season." The old face regarded her and the rest of the women as they too dismounted. "There's a barn behind here where ya can stable your animals or leave them in the corral, depending how much ya wanta spend. Y'all with them other two inside?" She asked without skipping a beat.

She wants me to sleep with the horses, the gray wolf snorted in disgust.

Grace nodded and smiled at the old woman.

"Camila, Gari and Brona, go and check it out." Aleka nodded to the three. She didn't want to find empty stalls in the morning. The women nodded.

Then maybe you should disappear like you're going to do just that, Aleka suggested. No need to scare the locals. Is she a shaman?

No. But…she can see. Aleka could feel her puzzlement.

Gari took Aleka's reins and led the bay away. Kynthia was riding in the cart and followed them with the extra horses tied behind. "Berik, you and Catherine watch for those men." She spoke to them softly as they stood beside her. "Leave your horses." She told Berik as she had swiftly remounted. She slid back down just as quickly and was gone with Catherine at her heals.

Grace looked at Aleka for a moment and smiled. "They're getting better." Indicating with her head the direction Catherine and Berik took.

Aleka smiled and nodded to the young woman. "Looks like it." She turned to Eleanor. "Notice anything unusual about the locals?"

Eleanor raised her eyebrows and paused exchanging puzzled looks with Grace, before they followed Aleka in.

Aleka followed the old woman in grinning at the look on Eleanor's face.

The inside of the inn was unlike what the exterior gave the illusion to. It was a large comfortable common room with benches that had backs on them. The fireplace opened up into the kitchen so the smell of food cooking filled the room. Aleka could smell bread baking, probably for the next day. There were a few patrons sitting at the front table next to the bar in conversation. Aleka immediately spotted the bright red of Red's head and at the other end of the table Alala's red hair. Not as red as Red's, Aleka thought with amusement. Red had raised her eyes catching Aleka's as she entered.

Red was sitting next to Erica listening to one of the old women. Red was good at making people talk without twisting their arm or breaking a body part, Aleka smiled to herself. Alala was silent and merely nodded as Aleka's eyes glanced her way.

In the dim light she could see Alala's recently bruised face. Oh, oh. More trouble, she thought.

A middle-aged woman came towards them whisking out a towel to wipe off flour and bread dough from her hands.

"My names Martha. What can I get ch'ya?" She asked huskily.

"A couple of mugs of ale n' cider, and whatever you have over your fire, Martha. It smells reeeaal good." Erica responded as she came over and joined Aleka, rubbing her hands. Red rose from Alala's table stopping to assist the innkeeper they met at the door. She was carrying two pitchers. Aleka was thirsty. Erica nodded to Aleka.

Aleka nodded back that she understood. They had something important to talk about, but it would wait.

Grace had pulled out a purse and was taking care of the expenses with the innkeeper. She nodded to Aleka that they had enough rooms. She held up four fingers. They had four rooms Aleka translated. They wouldn't be staying long so it didn't matter, and the women would be rotating guard shifts until they left. It would work out fine. She was hoping they weren't tiny little rooms.

Gari and Kynthia came in when another server brought two pots of lamb stew setting them on the two tables they filled. The old innkeeper returned with a trencher of stacked plates and loaves of bread piled precariously high. Gari sat in the empty space next to Aleka.

"Camile wanted to make sure the horses were comfortable." She told Aleka when Aleka's inquiring brow rose. "There's a horse in there that we recognized, Yori. Ahh, there she is." She nodded toward Alala. She paused with the spoon in mid arc to her mouth. "Ouch! Looks like she has a story to tell."

Erica nodded as she pulled some bread apart and ate hurriedly. "Hmmm"

Gari took a mouthful of stew and chewed it for a while. "Hmm. This is great."

"The barn looks like someone's gone to some extra steps to protect it from raiders or thieves." She continued when her mouth was emptied.

"Good, but we won't depend on that." Aleka mentioned as she played with her food. She watched as one of the Amazons collected enough food for two and left to take it to Brona and Camile. Aleka absently nodded in assent as she passed her.

Aleka had rotated an Amazon with a priestess at the beginning of their journey and the others picked up on it quickly. She wanted everyone to be able to work well with each other and learn each other's preferences and shortcomings. They would make a better team with this knowledge. Aside from the daily drills she had everyone go through, she was able to also judge what weakness each women needed to work on. She didn't want anyone to die from something she could have prevented. A grim smile appeared on Aleka's face as she realized both her personalities had that strong sense of responsibility and Xena wasn't going to attribute it to Aleka's experience alone.

Grace, Eleanor and Agnes wanted to spend time under Aleka's tutelage due to her healing skills.

Aleka turned to Eleanor who was also playing with her food. She looked up and smiled sheepishly. "I should have caught it right away." Grace looked at her still not clear on what the two were now talking about.

Gari looked at Eleanor, Aleka then Grace who shrugged her shoulders as she chewed on her bread.

"What's that?" Erica asked suddenly attentive.

"What was your impression of the town's men?" Eleanor asked those sitting within hearing distance as she took a bite of mutton. The two tables became quiet as they thought about it.

Aleka eyed the women with a grin. "Come on. One of ya had to feel that something was off."

"They weren't drunk." Eleanor finally told them.

The conversation immediately turned to what type of drugs they could be on. As the others discussed this point Aleka looked back at Alala's bruised face. They got the idol back, she surmised. They were running into her too much for her to not be part of the original journey. Aleka guessed she was Lia, the storyteller.

Aleka's thoughts returned to the villagers. If anyone or thing was serious about taking over a village there would be a considerable amount of pressure on the inhabitants to conform to the rules of the new oppressor. Therefore the energy in the village would be heavy with the feel of this energy, yet there was nothing she could call oppressive here. People on drugs had their own energy and that she didn't feel, but that didn't mean it wasn't here. Aleka pursed her lips as she struggled in both her memories for any previous experiences that she could use for a comparison to this village. Would drugging the village be another alternative to taking it over? Were those men going to be able to get themselves together enough to have a sacrifice late tonight?

"So, what's going on?" She asked Erica after giving her a chance to eat more than a few bites.

"Not good news. The talisman was taken from Alala. She'll tell us more after she confers with the women who are priestesses from a temple near by. They're sizing us up on just how much to tell us." She laughed. "Red, here, softened them up a bit, but they don't trust so easily. Without us telling them that half of us are priestess's they feel we don't belong to their small rapidly declining membership." Erica put another mouthful of the stew in her mouth and chewed a bit.

Aleka nodded. Priestesses could be a tight lot if they were on someone's elimination list.

"Hmm. Another thing." Erica nodded toward Gabrielle. "Alala called Red, Gabrielle but she didn't recognize it. She doesn't recognize Alala either."

Aleka looked at Red to see how she reacted to Erica's announcement. It wouldn't have done any good for Erica to whisper this bit of information to Aleka for everyone was aware that with Red's senses still heightened, she would have probably overheard Erica's comment anyway.

"Does that bother you?" Eleanor asked the red-faced woman.

"Well…I…ahh." Red shrugged her shoulders.

Aleka studied her reactions with curiosity. Why would that embarrass her?

Grace leaned over Gari. "Aleka, you haven't been eating."

Aleka looked down at her plate of food she had been idly pushing around. Aleka smiled at the change in attention. She could feel Red's relief that the attention was off her.

"What would you like us to call you?" Aleka asked, returning the pressure but with the intention of giving her some control over how the group would identify with her.

Red was still red faced and seemed ill at ease.

"I…well, if you don't mind, Iaia. Since I'm part of this journey and I'm here to undo…"

"Listen to me!" Eleanor stopped her in mid sentence. "You are not going to take the blame…for any of it…for a decision that was made by someone else." Eleanor told her friend strongly. "I really meant it when I said no one here blames Iaia for what had happened. You were on your own quest, just like all of us. The blame lies with the person that gave the command and those that took lives they had no business taking."

The others nodded in agreement for each had personal memories of their own parts that allowed the assassins into their camp. Due to this guilt none of them yet had discussed it with the other members of the circle of friends.

Aleka remained silent as she watched the women. After the slaughter Aleka's spirit had surveyed the scene and had been privy to everyone's guilty feelings about the part that they played in the group's demise. The anguish of each woman's spirit had left her surprised. With compassion she hoped they get their wish to have another chance. Aleka's spirit however, was ready to move-on. Yet here she was, taking the role of the vessel that held their intentions and as an icon, hopefully giving them inspiration to again face the trials and tribulations that would lead them to some sort of release from their self imposed punishment.

Aleka didn't need to see Red's face to know about her struggle with her feelings of wanting to believe that she wasn't responsible. She could see the heaviness of colors that were around her as well as feel them. It was good that Red forgot herself as Gabrielle for Gabrielle would have made it a mission to carry everyone's burden on this journey. Aleka had a grim smile on her face as she thought of the green sparking eyes that could grow dark when serious.

Aleka kept her gaze on her hands that were wrapped around her mug. She knew what it was like to face guilt and remorse. As Xena she had reached a livable compromise with her self-retribution. Without the compromise she would not have been able to experience happiness and the love of others. Yet Xena still suffered through dark nights filled with dread as she relived brutal attacks that were carried out in her name if not done by her own hand.

After traveling with the Bard for over three years she realized that if Gabrielle hadn't suggested they travel to foreign lands to see what was out there, she would have eventually become over burdened with always fighting someone else's battles with hopeful forgiveness for herself. It wouldn't have happened she realized. It was Aleka's knowledge of thought energy that she understood Gabrielle's wisdom in moving to foreign lands that Xena had not hurt others.

Aleka finished her meal without being aware of what she ate as her thoughts occupied her attention. The innkeeper returned with another pitcher of ale and retrieved her plate after getting the sign she was finished.

Alala left the group of women she had been talking with and made her way to them. She was moving stiffly.

"Come meet my friends." She softly offered.

Aleka rose and followed her to the table motioning for the other five to follow.

"This is what's left of Athena's temple in Malis." She motioned to the two older women sitting at the table. "This is the high priestess Loris and her assistant Corita. Acheta is the owner of this inn; you've met her at the door. Martha and Domica work and sleep here."

Malis, the Temple where Lily and Agnes had been captured.

Two of the women nodded toward Aleka then the others.

Aleka introduced the women that surrounded her.

"They need help, Aleka. I think the men are trying to sell the village's soul to the dark one of the talisman."

Aleka nodded. "We heard they have a priestess they're going to sacrifice tonight."

Loris waved her hand. "They have no priestess. We know all the ones around this area, and we're both here."

Corita snorted in disgust. "We all know who the dark power is. It's from Gaia's times. It calls itself Mekor, but it has no name we care to speak of. She had defeated it once before and some idiot warlord found its prison."

"Largo." Aleka cursed under her breath.

"Ahh, you know of him. But he wasn't the first. He was foolish enough to think he could use it for his own. There have been many after him trying to complete the process. This power isn't like any we've met before." She shook her head mystified. "The village is acting different and we can't figure out just what it is that's happening. The men don't work in the fields or at their trades and the women don't even come out to do their cleaning anymore. The children don't stir either."

"Are they alive?" Aleka asked.

"Yea. They look like they're resting or sleeping."

"Why haven't any of you been affected?" Eleanor asked curious.

"Hmm. I could say that it's because we're priestesses but the truth is as long as you sleep in this inn, you're fine. Corita and I have wandered around at night and day to see what could be going on and we've seen nothing."

"What is it that they've been doing different besides sleeping all the time?" Aleka asked, wanting specifics.

"It's hard to say if you didn't know them before. Only the men move around during the daytime, if they move around at all. Then, there are no normal conversations between the men. When there is a group of them together they don't do anything. It's like they don't have the strength. The few people we do see take a long time to even notice us and even longer to answer a question." She sighed. "It's as if they were elsewhere. They re lucky they had taken their harvest in before this curse had fallen on them, and the sheep are cared for by the herd dogs and us, otherwise this village would be in real bad shape"

"Then this morning we heard a group of men making all sorts of weird noises as they set up a big fire around Demeter's wooden statue. You no doubt passed the fire on your way here." Loris continued.

"Welll, not actually Demeter." Acheta, the innkeeper corrected. "It was originally Gaia but when she lost her influence they eventually renamed her Demeter."

"Wasn't this village once called Naticus?" Aleka asked curious.

"Oh, it is, or was. When the village leaders wanted to change the fate of the village they renamed it Danai. The lazy fools. If they would work in the fields as hard as they think up these grand schemes, that would change things for the better. There's only a few of us original settlers, and we're the ones who do most of the work." Acheta continued. "The original settlers were farmers. The new arrivals that have taken over the counsel are basically do-nothings. They appoint each other to positions on the counsel and try to tax the rest of us to pay for their lives of ease."

Red had moved instinctively to Aleka's side. She felt her hand on her arm in a familiar gesture to let her know that she was there. Aleka had felt her approach but kept herself still. She was wrestling with the desire to smile down at her or to return the touch to acknowledge her presence. She remembered a time when they first started to travel together when she would not have even let the thought cross her mind. The three years together had changed their relationship considerably.

"So how did they get hooked up with the dark one?" Red asked, letting her hand drop when Aleka moved over to give her room.

"The Village Reeve took a ride out to the nearest village, Malis, and somehow got the idea that this particular god or whatever they were worshiping, could turn this village's fate for the better like he said they were." She snorted in disgust. "Good hard honest work could get them the same thing." The other two village women nodded in agreement. "If Corita and Loris hadn't been here to help us out, we would be in a worse mess."

Aleka looked at the two priestesses and wondered how many of Athena's priestesses in Athens would do that for a tiny village, then her eyes wandered to Alala. What is the payoff, she wondered cynically? She looked at her hands for a moment and knew the cynicism was not from Aleka. But if she had been just a little bit suspicious of people's motives, wouldn't the original group have survived? You don't know that, she corrected herself. It was a long journey and that was only the second day. If Cad's bodyguards didn't attack them, they would have sooner or later been overcome by bandits or armed soldiers too bored to let innocent travelers, notably women, alone. She frowned to herself. Why didn't Gaia protect them if they were on a mission for her? They could have used the vortexes. Xena didn't hear any comment from her counter part. Did Aleka know the answer? What is there on this journey that they had to learn before reaching the Mountain? Xena asked more to the point.

"Taking over two towns is not all there is to this." Alala told them frowning. "There's something more going on, at a deeper level. I've also looked around this village and can find nothing beyond the obvious. The town's people are in a stupor of some sort and it's not from a drug. I can't say why, but the idol has some importance to all of this and they have it."

"What do you think they are going to do with it?" Eleanor asked.

"Once an object is a focus of power, even if it were drained, it can be brought back to life. They have taken up residence in caves in the mountain nearby." Loris explained.

"Great." Aleka was thinking about how things were getting more complicated and she had a feeling it would get worse before it got better. That may explain why the dark cloaks were not in the village just yet. They were attempting to build up the energy back into the idol. Xena shuddered when she recalled the fire that burned her insides when she had touched the idol.

Catherine chose that moment to come rushing in. "There's a small group of men approaching but they don't have the cart with them!"

"Who's approaching?" Alala asked alarmed.

They made good time, Aleka thought. Where would they have left the cart and its occupants? "You're sure that's the group?" Aleka asked.

Catherine nodded. "They're dressed just like you described them and that one with his belly hanging over the pink and gray belt. Can't miss him."

"It seems a couple of the locals caught Lily and Agnes in your temple at Milas. From what I overheard, they intend to hold them for ransom to Athena." Aleka explained.

The old innkeeper choked on her laughter. "They are idiots! Can you image any one in their right senses thinking they can do something like that to a goddess?"

Aleka didn't bother to explain that it had been done, was done and will be done by people who thought they had something of importance to the god they were trying to provoke.

"Did you spot Agnes or Lily?" Red asked.

"No, Red. But, the men look real tired." She looked back at Aleka. "I'm surprised they made it this far."

"Erica," Aleka had to place both palms on the table to not jump up and backtrack the group herself to look for the cart tracks. Erica was a very good tracker. "Find out where they took the cart. Take two others with you." She didn't want Erica's back unprotected while she studied the ground. "Catherine, did you and Berick see where the men went?"

"They headed toward an inn at the other side of the village. Berick is keeping an eye on the inn from outside."

"That's they're meetin' place." Martha informed them. "I've taken a peek in there en' they're just nodden off at the tables. Its not like they're talkin or getting somethin' done."

"Where would they take the women?" Aleka asked.

"The only place they can secure anyone is in the temple cellar." Acheta told them with certainty.

"I didn't see a temple in town." Aleka mentioned.

"It's not in town. Just to the east of here. It's not like the other temples that can have an oracle." Corita nodded to Aleka as if she knew. She meant it wasn't built on a place of power.

"It was built for Gaia when times were better but people didn't want to walk too far to give her tribute during the winter months. The village gets snowed under for about a full moon cycle. This temple was rededicated to Demeter and her daughter when the town was renamed." Acheta explained.

"But, we got the back door key from the last priestess as she didn't feel it was safe leaving it in the village. Corita smiled mischievously.

"It's too easy." Aleka shook her head. She didn't feel comfortable with men lying about who seemed drugged, womenfolk whose disappearance was suspicious and dark cloaks that were content to wait. It didn't matter that the ones she saw looked like raw recruits. She needed to be sure what they were dealing with.

"The dark one won't let anyone that said they were interested in its power to just collect people without some intervention or guidance from it's agents, the dark cloaks." Alala murmured as she shook her head. "I've been following some of its agents for two moons and this doesn't seem right."

"Maybe they're waiting for someone." Red suggested.

"Take your search out that way first and see if you can find anything." Aleka directed. The Amazon nodded and quickly left.

"Was the deep well ever anything other than a deep fire well?" Eleanor suddenly asked.

"Hmm. Ya. My grandmother had told us children tales of the times before Gaia. The people here worshiped a fire god that demanded human sacrifices to be tossed into the well. Every first born when she or he reached four seasons was wrapped in black cloth and dumped down the well." Acheta explained.

Red shuddered. For some reason she thought of the fire that the one-eyed man from her dreams was from.

"The practice came to a stop after a group of priestesses passing through to the holy site in the mountain talked about Gaia and her distaste for sacrifice of the living. You can bet that caught on rather quickly. One of the priestesses remained and after ten seasons the fire god was forgotten."

"That had to be a long time ago!" Eleanor said softly.

Acheta nodded. "It's a story that is passed on from mother to daughter. During Gaia's time her temple was held sacred, and children and women were honored and cherished. A time long gone. That's why many of us welcomed Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, as new protectors." "

"I don't understand what happened." Eleanor told her sadly.

"Outsiders, is what happened!" Acheta snorted. The three villagers nodded to each other.

"Yaaa. My dam husband and his family and others came and settled bringin their lazy ways with em. Didn't want to put out anythin extra for anybody. It seems once they settled here, they started to attract the same type of fools." Martha reported darkly.

"Must have put out an announcement or something." Acheta grumbled. "Next thing we know, women aren't allowed to walk around in public, make any decisions nor own anything whether they have a husband, son or any man to take care of them or no." She spat out the last.

"How did you get the inn?" Red asked Acheta, absorbed with the story.

"They didn't change all the laws soon enough! I just can't pass this place on to another woman." She snorted. "It'll be my death pyre and a dam glorious one at that!"

"Well, we have to figure out what we're going to do about getting Lila and Agnes back and" Aleka looked around at her group, "what we're going to do about this dark one." Aleka brought the subject back to the immediate.

"Whatda suggest?" Alala asked.

"Visit the temple. You said there is a back way?"

Corita smiled. She loved the surprises the goddess cooked up when things seemed to really look their darkest. Though she was Athena's priestess she knew her way around Demeter's temple. All temples had the same sacred layout based on Zeus's equations.

Aleka turned to the others. "We'll keep to the usual watch shifts. Let the others know, Erica. As usual, we'll be covering the stables as well. We're short of people so," She took a deep breath. "Iaia," she nodded toward Red, "can take third shift with Erica." Aleka looked at Erica and Erica nodded hiding her smile. She effectively killed two birds with one stone. Aleka always took the third shift so she would be able to keep an eye on Red while she was patrolling. Some things didn't change.

Chapter 5

Alala went out with the first group of guards to assist with whatever information she had already learned on the village's defenses and weaknesses. Loris, Corita and Eleanor joined Aleka as they made their way in the darkness to the backside of the temple where there was another entrance. Every temple was built with the same sacred dimensions squared. Some were smaller but the basic layouts were the same. The escape tunnels however, were the only thing they differed in. The sacred numbers were as important for the energy of the building as the placement so its front entrance faced the east and the underground entrance was south.

The key moved easily after Loris coated it with something. As they moved cautiously down the darkened stairwell Corita's hand found the first torch. She lit it and they moved on at a faster pace. The tunnel twisted around and went further down into the core of the temple where, if they had a Pythia, she would have had her seat. However, this temple never had one, as it was not built on a power site, but the rules of building an acceptable temple were quite clear, power or no.

"It's around this corner." Loris hissed softly. They were all trying to make as little noise as possible as the passageway magnified any sound. Aleka halted the group and peered around the corner. A gray shadow was sitting in front of a door.

"It's about time, the she wolf remarked to Aleka.

Above the wolf was a torch that was at its end, sputtering as it gave out pathetic attempts of illumination. Aleka moved over to the door that was securely bolted on the outside and listened for any sounds. She could hear very slow breathing of two people in deep sleep or drugged stupor. She motioned for the others and took a step up the hall to listen to what she could hear on the other side of the next corner. It led up to a steep set of stairs. She was wondering how they could put a storage room near such steep stairs when she noted another room adjoining the storage room.

Corita had joined her. "It's the seers room. That door hasn't been opened since it was built."

Aleka could see the dust and rust on the door and floor around it. Recent footprints went by it.

Both went back into the room that Loris had opened. Eleanor and Loris had already moved from Lily to Agnes. Corita knelt next to Lily as her eyelids fluttered opened.

"Hey." Lily's voice cracked as she attempted to get her eyes to focus on Aleka's face. "Glad you could make it." She whispered in relief.

"How soon can we move them?" Aleka asked concerned resting a hand on Lily's shoulder. She could feel the women wince under her touch. By the looks of both women they had suffered the usual fate of people taken prisoners. She was hoping their injuries were not serious.

"Give us about a quarter candle mark. The herb has to take effect. They have nothing more serious then bruises. They're lucky." Eleanor whispered.

"Then I'll just take a quick look around. Care to be a tour guide?" Aleka whispered to Corita.

She smiled and gestured toward the door.

They crept up the stairs listening, careful to not make any sounds that would cause an echo, while the gray wolf ran up the stairs as if having nothing to worry about. They heard men's voices and one woman's coming from one of the rooms above ground. Corita led her to a secret room that buttressed up against the wall the voices were coming from.

"It ain't goin' ta go over well with the village if ya kill off all the people!" One of the men angrily pointed out.

"I didn't say they had to be from your village. You asked for protection from Mekor. I'm telling you what you have to do. There aren't any compromises." The young woman's voice reported briskly.

"We don't have any villages close by except Navito and they already follow your ways. Hades! I didn't hear them raiding any nearby villages for sacrifice." The man continued to argue.

"They don't advertise it." The terse voice returned.

Aleka thought it odd for a follower of any dark power to give a choice, especially when they've already spent a moon's full cycle of their time with them. She wanted to see who this young woman was.

"It's the virgin thing that's …"

"We didn't say virgins. You think there really are many of those!" The young woman's voice was sarcastic. "You just need bodies. Live ones."

"Ya have virgins on the mind, ya know?" A male voice pointed out sardonically.

"And one or two people aren't gonna do the trick. How many times we gotta tell ya that? Look, ya got those two women from the temple. You said the old woman that owns the inn ya wanta get rid of and there are a few more women staying there in her inn. Round em up!" The young voice told them matter of factly. "Get them out of that inn!" She emphasized.

"If we keep gathering women from this village we aren't going to have nothing but us men. That ain't something I'm looking forward to."

"You don't sacrifice all your women. You get the people that you don't need. That includes men. Didn't you say there's a few that disagreed with you on this?"

'Those women are paying customers. It may not be in my inn but they still are paying customers. If word gets out that visitors disappear here, we won't need protection from your god. We'll be just as dead to business as we are now."

One of the dark cloaks got up from his stool. "You came to us. If you don't want our protection, that's up to you." Suddenly the man turned on the villager grabbing him by the collar and pulling him up.

"But then, you may start finding people from your village or anyone visiting you gone." He warned in a lowered voice.

"Ya don't scare me!" The sound of metal scraping and foot shuffling could be heard. "I know how ya take them in their sleep. Ya can't get ta me! Now, get out!"

"You just made a very bad mistake." The deep male voice remarked casually.

"Hades codpiece!" Aleka thought. If those young recruits are set loose on the village there won't be a standing building left. What does he know to gamble against those odds?

Corita was shaking her head next to Aleka. Corita and Aleka listened as the temple emptied of its insolent visitors. Once the unwelcome guests left the two crept back down the stairs to the storeroom. Lily and Agnes looked better in the torchlight but Aleka could tell it was the drugs in their system that gave the appearance. They would probably both be hurting when the drugs wore off.

"We gotta get going. It seems the deals off with the dark cloaks." Aleka announced softly. "Don't know when the villagers will be back for their hostages but I think their value has changed."

Corita looked at Loris. "The old fool canceled the partnership with the dark cloaks."

Loris grimaced. "Was it the inn keeper, the one with the scar right here?"

Aleka and Corita nodded.

"Barbous. He and Paxter, that's Martha's ex husband, try to run this village like it's their mini-kingdom." Corita explained to Aleka, "One day they have this grand scheme and the next day its something else. For the one moon cycle we've been here this is the scariest scheme they've come up with. The dumbest was to kidnap one of Athena's priestesses and hold her for ransom. How in Athena's name they got the villagers to agree on this dark ones presence is a mystery."

"Well, these people aren't the type to take a change of mind." Lily mumbled between bruised lips. "We met two of them. An older man and a young woman with white hair." Weakly Lily touched her lips, wincing at the feel of the swollen skin, imagining the pain she would be feeling when the drugs wore off. This is not the fun part of this journey, Lily thought to herself ruefully.

"They have plans." Agnes sighed as she looked at Aleka. "They showed us the statue, their talisman." Agnes paused as she took a slow deep breath. She could feel her bruised ribs move at the expansion of her lungs. "I don't know what happened to Alala. They didn't know that we had attacked their friends but the idol had enough power radiating from it for me to know it can be brought back to importance as their talisman. They also have plans for Gabrielle." Agnes again paused for a breath as she tried to concentrate on what she had to say and walking. The drugs were making it difficult. "They referred to her by name. They've been keeping track of her in her dreams. That's how they have this village. They feed off the psyche when they sleep."

"Alala is back with us. Bruised but doing fine." Eleanor informed the two.

Aleka cursed Morpheus under her breath remembering a previous run in with him concerning Gabrielle. Is he the dark one? No, he can't be. This dark one was during Gaia's time. Morpheus is one of her offspring. Oh.

Corita patted Aleka's arm for attention. "That's not good. We need to talk more with Acheta." She said in a low voice.

Aleka nodded as felt Lily stumble. She put a firmer arm around her waist knowing it was going to be painful for her but it was better than carrying her. The Amazon's dignity would not put up with that. "They won't make any serious moves until it has more power. They have to be waiting for someone who can bring that power to a more focused point."

"That someone is Gabrielle." Agnes whispered hoarsely behind her as she walked on shaky legs with Eleanor's help.

"What do you mean?" That familiar dread was working its way up Aleka's spine and resettling in her stomach. She could feel Lily shudder against her.

"From what I gather, this dark one has been using the dream-state to capture souls for their energy." Agnes whispered. "Think as a shaman, Aleka. How many realms of the underworld are there?" She paused as she let the conversation she had overheard replay. "Gabrielle would be like a beacon of light in the dark realms."

"It would be like moths to a flame. That's how the white haired girl described her." Lily mumbled.

Aleka didn't bother to tell her of Morpheus' attempt at taking Gabrielle for a bride, which when all was said and done, didn't seem to have left bad feelings between the three of them, or so she had thought. Is this Morpheus' way of getting back at Gabrielle? It can't be. Artemis' and Athena would not allow it, to say nothing of Aphrodite, who would not admit it, but took a liking to Gabrielle. But then, did this journey that went back before her allegiance to Artemis nullify Artemis' responsibility to Gabrielle? You have too many Gods! This can get very complicated! Xena felt a pause in Aleka's thoughts as if she was pondering something. There are many realms in the unconscious. What do you mean? Sleep, death, initiation, and then there are the realms of the chthon. Chthon. Yes. I remember something about those realms.

The women left the temple out the back way. When they returned to the inn Aleka woke the priestess at Agnes's request. After both Lily and Agnes strongly ordered Aleka to take a nap Aleka allowed the tiredness that she had been keeping at bay to finally settle over her. Rather than go back upstairs, Aleka found a quiet corner to grab a few candlemarks of sleep. She was still a light sleeper and knew she would wake if any danger were near by. Or would she? A nagging fear that Aleka may interfere with Xena's hypervigilance surfaced as she let her heavy lids have their way.

****

Alala who had taken a guard position near the stables, caught sight of the returning women and stopped in to hear the news.

Eleanor quickly gave her an update then explained about the poisoned darts. "But, we've got something that can counter the freezing up of the limbs." She rummaged around in her herb bag until she found a container that was glazed in dark green. She handed some soft succulent leaves to Alala. "Keep it in your mouth. When you feel like you've been hit with one of those darts, bite on the petal and it will release a sap that can keep your wits about you and counter the muscles from becoming like jelly."

Alala shook her head. "I wish I had that when I got hit."

She left again to pass the word to those on duty that they needed to keep a look out for the dark ones and that they were using darts. She sent the two priestesses on guard duty with their Amazon counterpart back to the inn. The Amazons would have to patrol alone this night. She made sure the Amazons understood when to bite on the leaf, giving them two in case they swallowed one before needed. Alala laughed to herself as she thought about the difficulty in keeping something in one's mouth when moving around in the dark. Unseen dips in the ground or the sudden appearance of a tree in front of one could easily make one bite ones tongue to say nothing of what else was in ones mouth.

Chapter 6

Aleka's dreams for that short nap were not comforting nor did they make sense. She dreamed of herself looking up a steep mountain whose peak was shrouded in thick white clouds. One side of the mountain was slate gray and had few easy to see handholds for climbing up its sheer side but Xena wanted to go up that way for it was more direct to the top and beckoned to her adventurous and daring nature. However, she had a group of young women who were not experienced with climbing that type of terrain so Xena was resigned to take the switch backs on the greener side. As she guided the weary travelers up the steep incline, she looked up once again to see if she could get a fix on their destination. A break in the white cloud cover revealed a small white building that was just as white as the clouds. It was the shadows between the pillars that caused her to see the difference and recognize it as a building. Then the view was gone as the clouds once more shrouded it from view.

Perhaps it was Xena's struggle to accept Aleka's memories of what the different realms of chthon represented that had her feeling like she was on an endless series of switch backs.

When Aleka woke she was quickly on her feet looking around the common room where she had chosen to nap trying to pull her scattered wits together. A small torch was burning; giving off shadows that swayed with the flickering as the last of the torches fuel was burning. Her nose picked up food nearby. She spotted a small covered plate near her table with a scrap of parchment tucked under it. Her heart picked up its steady beat. Was Gabrielle finally remembering who she is? She was surprised her hands were shaking as she reached for the scroll.

Aleka closed her eyes and let her heart go back to a normal rhythm. She was relieved when the handwriting was not Gabrielle's but Agnes'. Taking the plate and note over to the flickering light she sat down to read and chew on her snack.

Agnes had forgotten something one of the dark cloaks had said off-hand to another and she wanted Aleka to know. Aleka's eyes caught movement from the stairs. She watched a shadow move quietly down the staircase. She recognized the movements as belonging to Alala. She was walking more loosely.

Aleka nodded breaking off half the bread and indicating the cheese on the plate. "Help yourself."

Alala gratefully took a big bite out of the offered bread. "I couldn't sleep."

Aleka reflected on Agnes's note and what they were going to do. She handed Alala Agnes' note.

"Hades balls!" Alala let out in a quiet exasperated puff of air. "She's been having dreams?" She asked Aleka.

"Yea." Aleka was thinking how to explain to Alala that Gabrielle had all sorts of dreams. Bad and good, which she knew about because Gabrielle could be as talkative in her sleep as she was in her waking state. She should have suspected with all the tossing and turning with no sounds coming from her sleeping lips that something was not right.

"So, she thinks Gabrielle is the sacrifice for tonight. If they are planning on reaching her soul though dreams, isn't there a way to protect her?" Alala paused, watching the interesting face that the flickering torch revealed. The blue eyes were bright in the reflected light. She wondered if that was how her eyes appeared to others. These were captivating as they flickered over her face in a quick study. "In Athena's temple we're taught that there are always solutions to every problem whether god contrived or not." She continued.

"Yea. There is." Aleka sighed, as she stretched her long legs out in front of her. "We're just getting cramped for time." Her face became still as she thought.

"If it's during dream time that the dark one will make its move, then most people fall into their deepest sleep time either two or three candlemarks after the moon reaches it's zenith." Alala thought out loud.

"Hmmm." The tall figure rose from her seat. "And I'm sure there's going to be a lot of them around her when she does go into dream-time, ready to snatch her body. We need to get her away from the inn. Everyone else in here hasn't been having any problems with their dreams, so this place is protected. We can't let the dark cloaks come in here in the off chance that their presence may change that."

"Yea. Sure bet. They have the talisman and soon the sacrifice needed to reawaken it." Alala grimaced at the thought that she had been making a lot of mistakes lately. She lost Gabrielle, who now can't even remember who she is, and she lost the talisman, which is going to make life real difficult for a lot of people. "Are you going to tell her?"

Aleka sighed as she studied the stairway to the rooms. "Iaia, Red, or Gabrielle," She emphasized with a smile, "will have to know. Besides, she mustn't think she's alone in those dreams." Aleka's face turned serious. "That's how evil usually works, through the loneliness of its victim." Aleka closed her eyes for a moment. Was it Aleka or Xena that was struggling with this inability to go to Gabrielle and explain what was happening. Gabrielle hated being left in the dark with matters that concerned her and now more than ever, Xena didn't want her to be.

Aleka took a deep breath. She needed to concentrate on her role as the Named. Her usual response to protect most anyone in trouble had kicked in by agreeing to become the leader to this group, or so the excuse she gave herself explained. However the overlapping feelings from Aleka and Xena were tiring. She had been using Agnes and Lily's observations to keep a steady perspective for she didn't want to pull the others into her own issues as Xena. However, combating this dark one of the dreamtime she had no confused thoughts on. The group was in agreement on this and would help the two villages free themselves from this dream enslaver. Aleka had an idea where in the lower realms that the dark one might be keeping the enslaved souls.

"I think while some of them are trying to trap Gabrielle, I mean Red, they may send the townspeople and some of their dark cloaks to keep us busy here."

Alala nodded. "Corita and Loris know about the rituals to protect against unwanted energy. Did you know that the innkeeper comes from a long line of shaman's?" She asked abruptly.

Aleka wasn't surprised. She had seen the she wolf. "That probably explains why whoever sleeps here is not touched." Aleka smiled, "All the shaman's I've known have been a little crazy." That brought a grim smile to her face.

"So, what about Gabrielle or Red? Most drugs would have worn off by now. People who are sensitive to one of the herbs have experienced memory loss but it lasts for a short time, days maybe."

"She may be remembering little bits and pieces. Every now and then it seems she remembers something. Agnes and Eleanor will keep track of her. They've had experiences in such poisonings." Aleka didn't want to say much more for she didn't want to have to explain to Alala the whole long story of the journey. She would rather Agnes do so. She was their spiritual advisor whereas Lily oversaw the guard duty of the group. Aleka was the leader however, and made the final decisions on what would be good for the group. So far it was working without too much trouble except for Lily's occasional disgruntled noises at Aleka's decisions that didn't agree with hers.

Chapter 7

Red's bedroll was near Erica's, so when the woman was awakened Erica had only to lean over and tap Red to get her up. Erica was careful not to startle her, for her staff was within easy reach and she knew her Queen was very good at using it, whether she remembered herself as the Amazon Queen or not.

Brona was quietly waiting for them in the common room. Her partner was noticeably absent. Aleka and Alala materialized out of the shadows as Erica and Red moved toward Brona who was chewing on some bread.

"We've found Agnes and Lily. Lily is sleeping and Agnes, hopefully, is resting." Aleka informed the women.

"Great! Athena's shield, but that really is great to hear!" Erica and Brona looked happy with the news as they patted each other on the back.

"Iaia?" Aleka called softly to the Bard who looked like she was partially awake.

"Ya?" She greeted brightly. She tried to appear wide-awake and rested but her body was protesting this early wake-up call and the good news about Agnes and Lily didn't give her any more energy.

"Have you mentioned to anyone that you've been having nightmares?"

She could feel her face flush. She had meant to mention it to Eleanor, but didn't want to add to everyone's worry so she had not mentioned it to her yet. Besides, the nightmares didn't disturb her this night. She shook her head. She didn't want to remember this evening's dream either. And how did Aleka know about the nightmares? Did Erica tell her?

"Ahh. No." She replied hesitantly.

"I wish you had." Aleka said quietly.

Erica looked from one to the other. "I sleep next to her and I haven't heard her have any nightmares." Actually, Aleka had warned her that Red usually talked in her sleep. As an Amazon warrior, Erica prided herself with being a light sleeper. Her fears that her other personality may be influencing her Amazon warrior abilities resurfaced.

"No. You would not hear anyone cry out from these types of dreams. The dark one works its evil where one can't cry out for help. It's what is happening to everyone in the village except here in the inn." Aleka explained to the three Amazons.

Aleka took a deep breath before going onto the next part, feeling the tension that Red was radiating. When she finished Alala filled in what she knew about the dark cloaks.

Aleka looked closely at Gabrielle seeing a stranger staring back at her and knowing she was not the Gabrielle she knew. Carefully she explained to her what part she was taking in the dark ones bid for resurgence into the upper world watching the colors around her head that indicated how she was emotionally feeling about it.

"I…I don't think I can do this." She whispered frightened. It was one thing to go into danger in the physical sense with a strong warrior type at your elbow, but to have one's dreams taken over. Thinking of the nightmares she had since meeting up with the dark cloaks with the exception of this night, made her frightened. The thought of facing the one-eyed man was scary. And then there's Morpheus. For some reason she felt --apprehensive. To go knowingly into another part of his realm --but, Aleka said it wasn't in his realm. She took a deep breath as she tried to stop the shiver that her cold insides were experiencing. Yet, there was a part of her that wanted to take back her dreamtime. She smiled inwardly at this part that was like a warrior determined and loyal to –to what? A sudden realization that she may have put the others in danger by not mentioning her dreams had her looking at her hands that were entwined around her staff. She tightened her hold so the knuckles turned white.

Aleka touched her arm. "If it were possible to prevent putting you in any danger, I…"

"I endangered everyone." Red whispered in a stricken voice. Aleka realized it wasn't Gabrielle that was speaking.

"NO!" Aleka told her forcibly. "We are all in this together. We pull together." Aleka squeezed her arm and continued in a lower voice. "Guilt and feeling as if you are alone is how the dark one robs you of the will to fight. If you take this feeling with you in the dream-time you will become its tool!" Aleka gently pulled Red's body so that it was standing facing her only inches away. "It will try to make you feel that everything is your fault." Leaning closer she nearly whispered in Red's ear as if imparting a secret. "You can create your own reality in dream-time. You know how to do it."

Red held her breath as she let the feel of Aleka's breath on her ear sink down into her. It started a pleasant humming in her body. If felt somehow familiar.

Worried Erica touched Gabrielle's arm. "Red, if you can't do it we'll find another way. You have seen more darkness than most of us. There is nothing to feel ashamed about."

Red's eyes opened abruptly as the energy from Aleka changed with Erica's touch. Aleka stepped back releasing her. Red looked at Erica and patted her hand that was resting on her arm. She wondered if she would feel that way if she saw the eye that kept looking for her, the eye she had a morbid fear of it.

"No. I'll go. So, what happens?" She asked quietly getting a better grip on her fear and the pounding of her heart. She didn't want to think of what was causing her heart to beat so rapidly. Whether it was from Aleka's touch or the facing of the one eyed priest that she knew she would have to face eventually.

"In two or three candlemarks past the moon's zenith you will fall into a dream like state. They will try to pursue you in your dreamscape. We will take your body and find a safe place where we can began to weave our own patterns and attack them there where they think it is safe." Aleka explained.

"They don't know it, but they just showed us how to defeat them. In their dreams!" Aleka told her hoping it would give her courage. "The priestesses have been moving over to the temple since Agnes told us what they were planning. We didn't want to bring any attention to the men who are keeping watch over the inn so we've had to do it between their bladder breaks." She joked trying to bring a smile to the frightened face turned up toward hers. The emerald green eyes sparkled from the torchlight and Aleka held her gaze for a moment longer.

"The Amazons will keep watch to make sure that they don't suspect some of us are missing." She added to break the spell. Her voice was a bit hoarse.

"They'll know just by the body count." Red told her softly finding it difficult to not get lost in the dark centers that were surrounded by strangely familiar blue rings. Sighing she refocused firmly on what she needed to do. The eyes she was caught up in seemed to give her courage. So, she was the sacrifice the dark cloaks were talking about. She was a far cry from a virgin. She shuddered at the memory of another sacrifice she had been part of, closing her eyes and breaking the spell from the blues she had lost herself in. Who was she in this life that something that frightening had happened to? She could see an image in her mind's eye of her leaning over the railing of a ship tossing the contents of her stomach into the pitching seas with the arms of the dark haired warrior supporting her. Britannia.

Aleka rested a hand on her shoulder willing strength and love through the touch, watching concerned as the colors around Red's head changed.

"They won't get a body count. We're going to have them chasing themselves most of the time." Aleka remarked lightly, trying to bring a smile to Red's face. "Erica, you know the plan we had at that small town outside of Itchatia, that's the same plan." She told the worried Amazon.

Erica nodded. "Why didn't anyone wake me." She mumbled.

"You needed to sleep." Aleka told her smiling. "This is going to be a long shift."

"So, what now?" Red nervously asked.

"Go out on patrol with Erica. When we see you start to fall we'll grab you and take you to the temple to hide you until you wake."

"What will happen to me?"

"When you dream now, what do you see?" Aleka had taken the smaller trembling hands in her larger warm ones covering them with her strength.

Red took a deep breath feeling comfort from Aleka's gesture. The cold feeling that gripped her insides began to warm and her hands stopped shaking. She recounted the dreams and the environment she felt surrounded by while in her dream.

"You said there was fire on the other side of the cave you were hiding in?"

"Ya." Gabrielle couldn't stop the shake that went through her. "There's all sorts of cries and screams coming from there. I think that's where the one-eyed man lives."

She paused to let the trepidation pass. "It's a volcano but there's no road to get to it." She frowned for a moment. There was a road but it was far away from her.

"Hmm." Aleka's thoughts were on the description of the one-eyed man. The priest Xena had killed and left for Ares had only one eye. She had left him and the idol that was wrapped in the priest's robe under the tree, just as she had been instructed. Ares said he would take care of the rest. Her distrust of Ares to do something right flared up. He not only forgot to remove the idol but the one-eyed priest whom was now Gabrielle's tormentor. Ares doesn't like Gabrielle, she pointed out to herself. Aleka could feel parts of herself loosening and her sight blurred as Xena's wrath at Ares struggled to free itself from Aleka's consciousness. Stop!

A hand on her arm belonging to Eleanor brought her back. "Center yourself, Named." She told the tall woman calmly.

After a few moments when her sight cleared she smiled at Eleanor gratefully. "I thought you were going over to the temple."

"I came back to tell you we are ready." She turned to Gabrielle and touched her cheek. "We will be with you, just call us."

"Let me escort you back." Alala offered Eleanor. "I'll join you on the trail." She told Aleka.

Aleka nodded. She tried to keep her mind on the overall mission rather than of whom they were using for bait.

Chapter 8

Red moved a step forward at a time listening and feeling the nightlife around her. The need to relieve her bladder increased. Silently she carried on a chastising conversation with the determined organ. Looking around she headed for the dark outline of a bush. Nervously she giggled to herself that even in the darkest part of the night she still wanted the modesty of a bush to cover her personal attentions. Finished she covered the area with debris with her foot and looked around. In the darkness only the bare outlines of the trees against the canopy of stars were clear. Looking back closer to the ground Red let her eyes readjust to the different shades of black around her.

The air was different. She lifted her chin up and felt the breeze lift her bright red hair off her shoulders. There weren't any animals about. She closed her eyes for a moment and was about to whisper a prayer to Artemis but instead remembered she had a covenant with Gaia. Why Artemis as a first choice? She felt the pin prick of the dart and instinctively bit down on the leaf Eleanor had given her. They may have her dreams but they weren't going to knock her out like they had done when the dark cloaks first took her!

Aleka and Alala watched as Gabrielle sank to her knees then fall to the leaf covered ground. Dark figures quickly surrounded her. A torch was lit and it revealed a slim figure with short white hair. She gestured and the dark cloaks formed a circle around Gabrielle lying down with their feet out and their heads in the circle.

How convenient for them that she collapsed in an area they could set up their ritual, snickered Aleka.

The white haired leader stepped into the circle and jammed the torch shaft into the ground next to Gabrielle's unconscious body. Without checking to see what condition Gabrielle was in, white hair pulled out a small sparkling form and put it above Gabrielle's head. She took a position at Gabrielle's feet and sat down with her legs crossed at her ankles. Shutting her eyes she began a chant.

Aleka moved to Alala's side. "I can see the energy she's weaving. She's going to close the circle. You grab the body and I'll cover you."

Alala nodded. "Yes. I see it to."

The two were dressed in dark clothing to lessen the chances of being spotted. Alala made a gesture before jumping into the circle and had picked up the unconscious Bard and was out of the circle and into the surrounding trees before a yell was made. The spell in the circle was completed and those within would stay until dawn. That was what Acheta had assured them and a part of Aleka knew this was so.

The dark cloaks that were to protect their comrades came running toward the circle then scattered looking for the body that seemed to have disappeared. Aleka smirked as she led them to the first trap the Amazons had set for them. Erica was waiting with the anticipation of settling a score and the other Amazons hoped they would get their chance.

Aleka tried to keep her mind on overseeing the Amazons in their defense of the village and preventing some of the villagers that showed up to set the inn on fire too busy to complete their task, without hurting them. It wasn't until she could see Selene on her way out that she left Lily's side to check up on what was going on in the Temple. Eos was preparing for the dawn.

The gray she wolf had been restless and paced impatiently next to Aleka as she waited in the shadows watching the villagers and dark cloaks try unsuccessfully to torch the inn. When Aleka started off at a run to the temple the gray shadow was running beside her occasionally lifting her nose to the air. As she neared the temple her gut was doing its familiar twisting when Gabrielle was in danger. A part of her was relieved that there was still an intimate connection with Gabrielle and another was worried at what the feeling hinted at. Don't you get tired of always being on the edge? Xena didn't respond. It was the same question that she would ask herself, sometimes too many times in one day. But she always came up with the same answer… No. Well, sometimes. But I like the challenge and it's not as bad as it use to be. And…You have Gabrielle to fill in the void. She is more than that. Yes. I feel that. It's frightening to have someone mean that much and to live from day to day with your lives always in danger. It would be that way even if we lived in a village. There are bandits, raiders and a crazy neighbor to worry about. Yes, but it is so frightening to be so open to …hurt I was thinking of the loss. Xena thought about the death of Iaia that Aleka had watched from another place. She realized that after her death she had wandered after Iaia out of remorse and out of fear for her safety. Aleka had seen Iaia's future when she sat close to her on the log.

Xena almost halted in her tracks. Aleka had seen Iaia's future! Why didn't she see the groups? She knew she couldn't see the groups for Iaia's future was so vivid before her that she would have remembered seeing the groups! Aleka remained silent to Xena's curiosity.

Chapter 9

Even as Iaia felt the drug from the dart rush through her veins she also felt the counter effect as the burning pain became a dull throb throughout her body. It was so quick. Before her was the familiar cave she had come to know during her captivity by Malucu.

The heat from the volcano on her back reminded her what she had to face. She turned to face the fire that was burning on the mountain. The cries and sometimes screams sent shivers of fear down her back. Looking down at her hands she found herself looking at long thin fingers covered in rings. Iaia's hands. Looking back up at the smoking and fiery mountain peak she remembered her promise to Gaia.

There were souls that belonged to Gaia imprisoned in a fortress beneath the volcano. It had once been hers and a usurper had seized it. This power that had encircled her flames beneath the mountain had tried through the ages to take possession of the flame with human sacrifices but had not succeeded. Now it was back and again trying to possess this eternal flame using the light of one of Gaia's own followers, her. Iaia could feel the furry build up in her at the thought that she was being used against Gaia whom she had sworn fealty to, to atone for her naivete in the deaths of innocent lives that were dedicated to her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she started. Turning she looked into the yellow eyes of a stranger.

"You must not let your anger be used against you. Remember the end does not justify the means!"

The figure was gone and Iaia was alone again. She was used to being alone.

Standing closer to the edge of the cliff she could see a path that was at the bottom of the cliff that wound its way toward the volcano. She could see no way to get down to the bottom without doing damage to herself. Too bad she couldn't fly. That thought almost had her giggling. Hmm. Now what would the raven-haired blue eyed warrior do? She thought amusedly.

The force from the impact knocked her off her feet and sent her tumbling down the steep embankment that she had been standing on. She had thought it to be a cliff! She didn't know for how long she fell and rolled but between the bruising from the outcroppings and the tumbling end over end, she was a dizzy and battered mess that came to a rumpled heap at the bottom of the dry riverbed. She lay still trying to let her scattered wits and breath get back to some semblance of normal. As her breathing calmed she took an internal inventory. Surprisingly no broken ribs, just tender.

Moving her awareness to outside of her she looked carefully around realizing there was deadness all about her. Rising she heard no sound. Experimentally she picked up a stone and tossed it against the side of the wall. She watched as a small dirt slide started down the side but there was no sound from the movement. Iaia put her hands to her ears and thumbed them. Nothing. It was very strange to have been experiencing the waking world with senses that were acute to her surroundings and now she heard and felt nothing outside of herself.

Well, that push was an obvious hint to get a move on.

The sides of the dried riverbed rose too high around her for her to be able to climb out. In fact there was no where to get a foot or hand hold to climb out. Looking up and down the riverbed under a pale light she could see no evidence of whom or what had knocked her into her present situation. Resigned she headed toward the volcano.

Debris from a long ago flood started to make her passage tedious, as she had to climb over old farm equipment or the bones of animals she didn't care to recognize. At one point she came to a set of ribs that were larger than her forming an arch over debris that looked better going over than through. She gingerly placed her feet over what appeared to be large spinal column of some long ago creature that even her warrior friend would hesitate to confront.

Time, she reminded herself. As she increased her speed she made a mental note to look for something to use as a staff. Not long after the thought she looked up to see an owl sitting on the branch of a dead tree that had been caught up in a flood. Below the owl were broken branches of varying lengths scattered about the tree that laid on its side, partially buried under the hard packed dirt. Without connecting thoughts to action she quickly found a branch that would make an ideal staff for her size. As she continued she idly twirled it receiving comfort from the familiar habit. Her rings however were cutting into her fingers. Stopping her twirls she leaned the staff against her shoulder and started to pull off the rings. She put them in a small purse that was in her waistband and resumed her walk.

The heat increased and the darkened sky caused everything to be in shadows. Rounding another winding curve of the river embankment she faced the opening of what was once an underground outlet for the river's water. Iaia paused as her heart started to beat frantically. In the gray light from the overcast she could see the black opening in the side of the volcano and knew this was where she had enter.

After taking a moment to steady her heart she stepped into the opening and found her own body acted as a soft light in the dark tunnel. She chuckled to herself and thought of the usefulness of this ability. Well, I can't get lost in the dark and that dark haired friend would always know where I was. She frowned. So would everyone else. She wouldn't be able to do anything unseen in the dark. This definitely has its disadvantage.

The soft radiance from her being bounced off the smooth walls revealing scenes taken from peoples lives. Iaia paused to study some of the now faded scenes.

Iaia raised her head suddenly. He knows I'm here! For a moment she let the panic creep up her limbs numbing them with her fear.

Iaia!

Iaia closed her eyes knowing whose thought that was. Eleanor was watching over her.

All right, get a grip. I can do this. She encouraged herself.

She felt his pull and this time she didn't fight the attraction. She passed innumerable darkened passageways that fed into the tunnel she was in. It didn't take too long for her to get confused with where she was going. It was a dark labyrinth. She was getting close for the nefarious energy that she associated with the presence of the one eyed man was getting more intense.

Because the soft glow her body provided did not let her see too far ahead of her the end of the tunnel seemed to come upon her suddenly. A great glowing cavern opened before her emitting a heavy blanket of heat. For a moment she stood just inside the entrance and let her body adjust to it.

The lip of the fire pit was only ten strides from the entrance, which she tentatively stepped up to look around her. With mixed feelings of awe and fear she studied the fire from the restless volcano that was bubbling and spiting up globs of the molten liquid in the pit below her. Her memory flashed on another experience she had of dangling over another molten river with her friend's firm grip pulling her back up from a sure death. She closed her eyes when another memory quickly over lapped of her falling down into a fire pit. The heat from that flame burned her deeply. Quickly she opened her eyes and stepped back from the edge. Those aren't Iaia's memories. She thought to herself with conviction. This Gabrielle doesn't lead a quiet life.

Looking around her for some sort of clue as to what she could do she noticed along the walls that circled the vast underground cavern were what appeared to be sculptured statues of people. One side had only children.

The figure of an old man dressed in priestly garb materialized abruptly beside her. She felt no fear. Here at last she could face her one eyed tormentor. Seeing him wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Iaia stood still while the man circled her puzzled at her lack of fear and his inability to seize her. He used his impressive looking staff with a large sparkling jewel at its top to tap the air that surrounded Iaia like a protective invisible bubble.

As if she knew what she was doing, Iaia raised her own staff and pointed first to each direction of the compass then below her then above. In her mind she sang a song to Gaia. She held her staff out turning in a slow circle mentally hearing the musical chants that she was unfamiliar with. When she had completed the circle she rammed the bottom of the staff into the ground. The ground below her quivered but she felt no danger from the priest whose increased frenzy was not missed by her. Turning to face him she heard a great rumbling as the figures that dressed the walls around them started to crumble with a roaring effect. The protection that was around her disappeared leaving her off balance as she felt the energy around her change as a cloud of dust from the collapsing wall figures descended upon them.

The fury of the priest knocked her to one knee and as the dust cleared enough for her to see, Iaia instinctively pulled her staff into a defensive position. The priest raised his staff in triumph to bring it across her unprotected skull but Gabrielle's skills at staff work kicked in and she let the blow's force slide off her own staff. The priest pulled back surprised but did not stop his attack. Iaia was back on her feet. Both warily stalked each other in a tight small circle with the priest trying to find a weak spot in her defense. She needed to get out of the cavern for the trembling ground below her warned her that it was not a safe place to be.

Iaia did a sweep with her staff and then gave an extra whack that Gabrielle would not have done, sending the falling body on an extra roll. She whipped the staff back and knocked the old man's staff out of his hands, hooking it around hers then tossing it into the molten fire below. Her feet were knocked from under her and she felt her own staff loosen from her hands as her attention became focused on preventing herself from falling too close to the edge. A tight grip on her ankle prevented her from going anywhere until she kicked the hand loose.

Iaia rolled free and nearly stopped in her struggle to escape as she beheld the skeleton of a man in a tattered robe whose bony fingers reached out to grab her. His robe hung like a giant sack. The old man had become a child's nightmare of death.

Iaia grabbed a handful of the robe and pulled, intending to pull him and her into a roll so she could toss him over her shoulder, however the skeleton had strength and she could not budge him coming away with torn fabric in her hands. Iaia was pulled toward the skeleton so that her eyes were level with the eyes of the skull. They were reflections of the fire from the molten liquid below them.

Don't look in the eyes! A voice in her ear quickly warned her. Iaia felt herself being picked up and lifted over the head of the skeleton, taking away the attraction of the eyes. Iaia kicked the bony head with her heel and was rewarded with seeing the skull bump and roll over the rim and into the pit below them. With one hand she reached for a wrist that was holding her off the ground as the two made unsteady progress toward the edge. She had a feeling the skeleton was going to jump in with both of them. She wrenched the wrist, which broke and her body slumped and slid to that side when the support was gone. Rolling free and pulling on the wrist that still held her tight she twisted and pushed the bag of bones aside. On her feet quickly she ran back toward where she had thought she had entered the cavern but lost her sense of direction all too quickly once in the labyrinth.

Frantic as the ground was trembling more she paused a moment mumbling a silent prayer to Gaia. Sound came from her mouth! That meant most of the spell was gone! Loudly she started a chant, the one she had heard Aleka say when opening the portals. A small glimmer in the darkness a head of her gave her guidance in which direction to take, or so her faith assured her.

Sounds started to become more noticeable as what was a soft rushing noise increased to a loud pounding, which vibrated in the walls and the ground. The ground rocked beneath her feet sending her to her knees. Both her knees and palms felt scraped as she skidded into the side of a moving wall. Iaia used the side of the unstable wall to regain her feet. She was only able to see a few steps ahead of her and was suddenly looking at a pile of freshly toppled rocks and dirt creating an impassable wall. The dust from the movement in the tunnel was beginning to become too thick for her to breathe without putting her long sleeved cloak over her nose and mouth.

Turning around she looked for another way out but there was no silvery light showing another way. Iaia again tried to vocalize the chant she had been using but the dust was too thick to take a breath. Another strong shake sent more rocks falling into the tunnel before her and Iaia found herself backing up quickly to avoid the falling debris.

Another sharp shake and she was tossed against the side of the wall. As she slid down the wall she wondered how she could be knocked unconscious when this was a dream. Aleka had told her she could control the dream since it was hers. Well, then, she wished her friend who could do just about everything would come and help her.

Chapter 10

Aleka found the entrance to the back of the temple guarded by Grace who gave her the directions to the room the others were in. On Aleka's way to the temple the knot in her stomach was twisting painfully. As she ran down the tunnel toward the seers room, she was feeling her connection with Gabrielle strengthen as if her life was in danger, or was it because Xena's personality was asserting itself because of her worry?

The room where the priestesses where sitting in was emanating a power so strong it was tangible. She pushed open the door and rushed in looking around frantically for any signs of trouble. Agnes, who was still a little weak from her own ordeal, was sitting outside of the circle. She rose stiffly and made her way to Aleka.

"We can't get her back." She told Aleka softly, least she disturb the concentration of the others.

"Why?"

"We don't know. She defeated the one-eyed priest. We witnessed that. But something is preventing her from returning. We had her until suddenly it was like a key turned and we no longer could feel her."

"Can't one of you go after her?"

"No. We have no ties that we can trace her with."

Aleka looked at Agnes. "What do I have to do?"

She placed her hand on Aleka's arm. "It's very dangerous for you to go."

"I'm going."

Agnes nodded. "Named, step into the circle. I will open a door for you. Think of her and a sound that you feel best describes her."

Aleka nodded. The reminder to stay focused as the Named was appreciated. She was familiar with opening circles of power, both as Aleka and Xena. She took a slow deep breath and thought about Iaia and Gabrielle and the person that she had been seeing for the last few days. A wonderful warm sound came to her and Aleka hoped it was not from wistful thinking from both her personalities but rather what Red vibrated to. Aleka hummed it low to see if it felt right. As soon as the energy that surrounded the women abated for a brief moment she stepped into the circle and keeping her eyes opened felt as if she were walking inside the funnel of a whirlwind. She lay next to Gabrielle's inert body in the center of the circle placing her hand over the smaller one feeling the love fill her heart as she continued humming the sound for her friend.

The silver wolf, Aleka's dream body, had only taken two steps through the tunnel when she felt the sudden shift of the earth beneath her paws. She nearly tripped over something that was glowing in the dust filled space. With her nose she prodded the unconscious form. The entire tunnel moved as if it were to collapse soon. The dust was so thick Aleka didn't dare take any deep breaths. She grabbed a part of the dusty fabric on the unconscious form ignoring the dirt in her mouth. Mentally she pictured Agnes and thought of a sound that would represent her. The growl in her furry throat startled her as she closed her yellow eyes to protect them from the dirt that was thick in the air. Again the tunnel appeared and the gray wolf dragged Iaia's still form back through. They both fell to the ground on the other side.

Aleka woke to find a cool cloth over her forehead. She sat up quickly looking around her. Red was sitting up resting with a cold cloth across her eyes. Occasionally she would cough as if her lungs were still filled with dust.

"She's weak but she's doing okay." Agnes told her as she took the cloth from Aleka's fingers. "We need to get back. Lily sent a message that the townsfolk have all waken up as the sun came up."

"Good. How's everyone else?" Aleka asked softly, letting her eyes rest on the tired priestess.

"Erica had said the dark cloaks that were in the circle had roused themselves as if they had bad hang-overs. Two of the Amazons followed them as far as the main road. The white haired woman was leading them back toward the fire pit letting her displeasure be heard.

"Is there any danger?" Aleka asked hoarsely. She coughed to clear her throat.

"We don't know yet. We'll probably know tonight. For now, most of us need to get some sleep."

Aleka nodded. Eleanor gave her a hand as she rose. The rest of the women on queue also rose and started to move out the door. Eleanor returned to Gabrielle and helped her to her feet. She looked pale but her eyes were bright and they flashed Aleka a look that made her feel better. She followed Agnes back out of the temple.

Alala was sitting inside the back passage way keeping a careful eye out around the entrance.

"See anyone?" Aleka asked.

"Yea. A group of dark cloaks looking pretty sickly." She smiled.

"They passed by?"

"The pit can be reached by a shorter route by cutting across the silver groves over there." Grace pointed out. "Corita had warned us to be careful for that reason."

"We've been lucky so far." Alala told them.

"We should be. I think Acheta has been protecting us with some minor spells. We'll have to thank her." Eleanor told her as she moved to the door to also peer out.

"How are you doing, Iaia?" Eleanor asked placing a hand on the young woman she was assisting.

"I can use a bath and lots of undisturbed sleep. That is, sleep without dreams." Iaia mumbled tiredly.

Everyone nodded.

"How many baths do you think they can get going at one time?" A wistful Eleanor asked.

"They have a large communal tub in the building behind the inn." Alala volunteered. The others brightened at the prospect of not having to wait.

Acheta must have known that the tub was going to be in great demand for she had it warmed and lots of buckets available for the women to do a quick wash before jumping into the larger tub with the Amazons that were already lounging around. As more bodies proceeded to climb in the women who were in the longest reluctantly gave their places up, but willingly helped scoop out the warmer water to make room for the hot buckets of water that were delivered.

Aleka was too tired to wait and did a quick body wash from a bucket feeling as if her skin was coated with dust, then fell onto a pallet that Lily had pushed her toward. This time she dreamed more peaceful dreams, though she didn't remember them when she woke four candlemarks later.

Chapter 11

Iaia felt as if she was coated with the dust she had been breathing in her dream body and wanted to soak for a long time. Eleanor had to finally drag her out of the tub as the water was cooling and she was falling asleep.

Erica was already sound asleep on her pallet and the women who were not on duty were all in various stages of sleep.

After four candlemarks Aleka rose and relieved two of the Amazons. Alala and Lily had also awakened and they also took over posts for the exhausted guards that were struggling with their double duties.

Aleka visited the barn and checked on the horses stopping to spend some time brushing Argo. She enjoyed the mare's happy noises at her as she tickled her nose or scratched behind her ear. She had picked up an apple at the inn and though it was a bit dried looking she knew Argo would like that better than not having one. She finally took her leave and headed out toward the path behind the Temple to watch for unwanted visitors.

For the next two candlemarks she moved around in the trees looking for any sign of movement around her area. The only visitor was Lily who moved from limb to limb, tree to tree at a good pace and with practiced ease. Aleka smiled for the Amazon Ambassador was picking up the skills she left behind when she became an Ambassador. A smirk on Aleka's lips appeared. I hope she doesn't use them on Lesbos. I know a lot of women that would be very upset that their private meetings in the woods were being watched.

Lily stopped on a limb that was near Aleka's, smiling in the dim light as the winter sun was dipping behind the surrounding mountains.

"Coming in for something to eat?"

Aleka nodded and took one last look around. She could already hear the sound of feet running across branches as another Amazon was taking her place.

"We'll bring everyone in tonight. I would rather we stay closer around the village." Aleka told Lily. Lily nodded and made a quick sign to Brona who was relieving Aleka.

Aleka nodded at Kynthia, Brona's partner who was not as comfortable in trees as her Amazon partner and was gripping the trunk as she looked around.

Completing another cautious look about them, Aleka dropped softly to the ground with Lily close behind her. In winter, daylight didn't last long so the energy level of the women would be high this evening. That was good because they would busy, she suspected.

"You think we should expect trouble?"

"Yea." She was quiet for a moment as the warrior side of her appraised their situation. "We have a few options. We can wait out tonight or make a visit of our own." She glanced at the Amazon next to her. "I'm sure somebody is upset by last nights turn about."

Lily nodded letting a big grin cover her face at the idea of doing something besides sitting around. The longer she was out on the road the more she relished the change of life. The idea of going back to her previous privileged life with a lot of responsibilities that covered mind games and few physical, made her tired just thinking of it.

The pair walked into an inn that was full of excited women and children. The noise was deafening. Erica who was keeping an eye out for the two women, motioned to them when she spotted them.

"What's going on?" Aleka hollered above the din while looking around to gauge the atmosphere. The women were excited about something. The children were merely picking up on their mother's excitement.

Aleka spotted Iaia in the middle of the loud group listening and asking questions. Her eyes didn't lift to meet hers, which in the past, as Gabrielle, they had always had that connection.

Must be losing my touch, she thought ruefully and not without some trepidation.

"It seems they woke up this morning feeling like they've been in a bad dream for a long time and now they are free. Acheta said she had weaved a spell around all the women and children to protect them from the dark one when she learned about the agreement the Reeve had made with the dark cloaks. At the time, she didn't know about dreamtime being a trap but her spell protected them from being taken completely as the men folk. But it didn't protect them from going into a deep sleep." Loris explained as they settled at a back table.

"That's why they wanted your friend." Corita gestured at Iaia who was slowly making her way out of the crowd. "She was going to be the light to guide these women and children toward the dark ones side."

"But why her?" Lily asked exasperated.

Aleka remembered the soft glow of light she had nearly tripped over in Iaia's dreamscape. It was Iaia's form she had pulled back into their circle not Gabrielle's. Aleka was conscious of the increase of her heartbeat as she watched Iaia stop to listen to a small child. Xena was aware that Aleka was fighting with her feelings for Iaia. She didn't have a husband to worry about now and coupled with Xena's closeness to the Bard in this life, it was going to be difficult for both of them to stay focused on their responsibility to the group.

Corita looked at her hands for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "I have been a priestess for a long time and have been to many lands."

Her voice brought Aleka's attention back to a greater problem.

"What I have learned is that there are people whose kindness of heart is so evident that they would be beacons of light even in the dark landscapes in the dream realms. What land these people are from or what goddess or god they follow doesn't make any difference." She looked up at Lily then deeply into Aleka's eyes.

"There are different regions in the dream time." She began to explain in detail, "Eros guides seers in this dark underground of dreams and will guide those that know how to call for his help into a place where visions and dreams can give meaning to a problem the petitioner is facing in the waking life. As a priestess I have taken the role of the guide in many instances and have heard of a realm that few return from. It is believed that Thanatos has taken many dreamers into a realm this Dark One has taken residence and ownership of. Normally it is Hypnos that oversees the dreamer in Morpheus's realm. I am sure it is in an area that the Greek gods are not familiar with for Athena has not heard of any problems concerned with our mortal sleep." She paused to gauge her listeners processing of the knowledge she was imparting.

"There is another region, an older realm of Gaia's where priestesses and shamans would go that were not strong enough to pass various trials of their crafts. It was called the Realm of Desolation. This may be where the Dark One is. Acheta knows about it. There is a city of stone that had at one time been a learning center where the Seeker would go into a sleep to learn. I think this place is very near the Realm of Desolation, which was how many got lost and did not return. Not even today's gods are permitted to enter the library without invitation and not without a fair amount of courage. The spell that was cast would only allow those that were ready to bear the information they stood to receive on a visit to that dreamscape. I only know of a few who have entered the sacred library and not go mad with what they had waken from, if they had awakened."

"What happens if they don't wake up?" Gabrielle asked in a small voice.

"Their body withers away." Corita turned to her. She smiled at the tired face that was regarding her wondering how much more the small woman was going to have to give of herself.

"Why haven't the gods done something about it?" Erica asked.

"Why? The power that protects it is older then they. Athena and Artemis will every now and then meet near the city and lay wreaths of flowers in memory of the one time they were permitted into the city. Neither wants to revisit."

"How do you know this?" The young red head asked in awe.

"All of Athena's priestesses have a special connection with their mentor. Mine has been in the historical fashion. I was at one time hoping to be granted the blessing of being able to visit. But, that is another story."

Lily cleared her throat and didn't dare look at Aleka. This was something to think about. It certainly was a lot more complicated than what she had known only one season ago.

Agnes and Eleanor approached the women with a pot of food. The innkeeper followed with a trencher of mugs and ale.

Aleka watched Iaia covertly as she busied herself with a loaf of bread and passing the pot of stew to the next person. Iaia's face was a study in concentration as she mechanically ate and offered no conversation. With her hyped up hearing Aleka wondered how much of the conversation she had heard. She was going to have to ask more about the stone city. Something clicked when Corita talked about it and she wasn't sure why it was important. Iaia also showed more than idle curiosity. But then, Gabrielle had a passion for visiting libraries. But her experience with Gabrielle told her that something was bothering her about the stone city.

As they settled down others started to trickle over to their table. The women and children left as it was getting darker. Aleka tapped Lily on the shoulder and reminded her of pulling the women in. Lily nodded and gave one of the Amazons the sign. She left her plate and hurried out the door.

"Trouble?" Agnes asked as she watched Lily and Aleka.

"Why do you ask?" Aleka raised an eyebrow curious how much the young woman was aware of.

"I can feel something in the air. The others are also feeling something when they were out on patrol and just walking around the village." She answered smiling at their leader and teacher, knowing that the question was asked to test her alertness.

Aleka nodded and finished what was in her mouth. Thoughtfully she placed her hands on the tables edge as if to center herself. "Clorita gave you an idea about the realms in the dreamscape that aren't visited by the gods of today for one reason or another. These realms are grouped under the name chthonie. Chthonie came into being when Zeus and Chronos forced their way into power and Gaia was moved out of her sole rulership. Ga-chtonia became the sacred underworld of the shamans for their initiation journeys. Hypnos knows of only the entrance to chthonie but not the way through the labyrinth of passages that lead to the various realms of this underworld. It is the world of the mystics and shamans that go beyond Hades, Zeus and Hypnos' experiences. Chthonie is still under Gaia's influence and protection. It is in one of these realms that this dark one is residing in and has been doing its business. The idol is its attempt at getting a better opening to the upper world, our waking world. Sort of a key to the door."

"Why can't we just visit the fire pit and be done with them all including the idol?" Erica asked exasperated.

The innkeeper was standing nearby with another pitcher of ale. "That place is not the best place to be visiting. It's too close to the gray city."

"Why, because they've taken it over?" Erica asked.

"Ahh, no, lass. They would not be in the City. They would have taken residence in the caverns and tunnels near the pit. The city is made up of grand buildings carved in the gray soft stone. No one knows really who had done all that work, but there is a spell on the place. Those that challenge the spell and spend the night don't always come back in their right mind."

"There's a gray city there?" Gabrielle asked excited that someone knew more about the city.

Everyone sat without taking a breath. It had to be the stone city Corita was hinting at.

"Aye. But you don't wanna go there." Acheta told Gabrielle firmly, as if reading her mind. She nodded toward Corita and Loris. "They know 'bout the place. Ask them. They call it the City of Stone. Some of the older folks call it the City of Dreams."

Iaia was silent as the pot of lamb stew was passed her way a second time which she mechanically took and refilled her plate. She remembered a dream she had before the haunting dreams of the one-eyed man. It was of a city made of gray stones that were in various sizes and shapes resembling cones. Carvings graced the outside and insides of the homes and various establishments the stone shelters served as. Even the stables for horses were elaborately carved from the stone. She had thought it was bazaar until now. She hadn't had any dreams of the one-eyed priest since she slept in the inn but dreams of the gray city had replaced the scarier ones. A strong urge to get up and leave the inn to visit the stone city was becoming more difficult to suppress. She had awakened several times from her dreams twitching to move but she had so far resisted it. Now that she knew this city actually existed and it was near by, she was worried if she would be able to resist the impulse to visit it.

She wanted to tell Eleanor earlier but everyone was too busy and she had forgotten about it as the day wore on. She had developed a close friendship with Eleanor and her friend Erica and found their conversations about the journey enlightening, to say nothing of the relief she felt that she wasn't alone with her strange feelings.

Aleka was studying the dark circles that appeared under Iaia's eyes. They appeared darker when she held her head at certain angles. She should have gotten rest with the defeat of the old priest, yet she looked even more tired. Agnes and Lily were also studying her. Corita followed their eyes and frowned. The young woman was looking like the men in the beginning of their infatuation with the dark one.

"Iaia?"

She tiredly lifted her eyes to focus on the familiar blue eyes letting the image of the gray city fade.

"What have you been dreaming about since you've been here?"

She shook her head and tried to tell her about the urge to leave the inn but could not. Instead her eyes wandered to the door then guiltily back to her plate. Her thoughts weren't clear and she guessed it was from fatigue.

Lily motioned for the others to leave. This fell under the healer's job so Agnes by wordless agreement remained seated with Eleanor as the others rose to find something else to do.

"We need to make plans for the watch tonight." Aleka worried as she glanced back at the three women.

"Well, I say we make a visit to the caverns." Lily smiled grimly.

Aleka smiled at her eagerness for action. "I think that is a good idea, but not all of us. I don't want to leave the village undefended."

"Three of us could do the job just fine." Lily suggested.

"Right." Erica rubbed her hands. "Now you're talking. I hate this waiting around."

"You may not think so when you get hit with a dart that has something on we don't have an antidote for." Aleka chuckled.

"Who are the three?" Grace asked leaning forward on her elbows.

Aleka took a deep breath. She would have said herself but she remembered the warning that she was not to risk herself unless there was no other alternative. The Named was the focal point of their quest.

"Lily, pick another Amazon and one of the healers. You'll need someone with knowledge of poisons, just in case." Aleka smiled grimly, again looking over toward the three women.

By the look on Gabrielle's face she was not having it easy.

"Aleka." Lily placed a hand on her arm.

"Hmm?" She turned back to Lily.

"You're miles away. I said Brona and Eleanor will come along. I want to leave Erica with you and – maybe Alala will want to come along."

Aleka nodded. "I'm sure she will offer. She needs to remove the talisman and destroy it."

Aleka looked back towards the table and was about to walk over when Lily again placed a hand on her arm. Aleka looked down at Lily's seated figure. Aleka sighed and sat back down. She went over with the women what to look out for and what to stay away from. Alala who had been in deep conference with the innkeeper finally looked up and nodded toward Lily's signal.

"I understand you're going looking for their camp." Alala mentioned as she slid into the seat next to Lily.

The others nodded.

Alala smiled. "According to Acheta there are tunnels that the miners made that run beneath the mountain about a quarter of a candlemark from the firepit. Corita also mentioned them in an earlier conversation."

"Mining?"

Corita nodded. "It helps to be a historian. During the fire god's time the majority of the town mined to make ends meet. Not a rich vein of anything but if the family was persistent and saved what little they dug at for a full season, they could take it to one of the main cities and get a good return to tide them over a hard winter for supplies."

Corita winked at them. "It's not something a small village will advertise for then they would have to expend a lot of gold to protect their town, to say nothing of it being battled over by different factions. In the Athens Temple there is a scroll that has the names of all her temples and information on the surrounding area. This town had three different names but the mining town was called The Gray Valley because of the gray cones and rock formations that surrounded the area from volcanic activity long ago."

"Who carved the village that you and Acheta keep talking about?" Iaia asked as she had rejoined them.

"The scrolls called them the Golden Ones. If the place wasn't surrounded with a protective spell to drive interlopers away you could probably look around and find the art work breathtaking." She looked wistful as she talked about it.

"What kind of a spell?" Iaia asked interested.

"It's older than the Greek gods." Acheta remarked as she joined them with a pitcher of cider for Gabrielle.

"Have you been there?" Grace asked.

"Yes. When I was a child and didn't take to the advice of my elders." She said this as one who wanted them to take her warning seriously.

"Well, what kind of spell?" Iaia persisted.

"It's a warding off spell. Anyone who has not been invited and stays goes crazy. If you can get that person out of there within a certain amount of time they might return back to normal, but some people disappear." Acheta told them solemnly.

"Do you know anyone who did? Disappear, I mean?" Iaia asked.

Acheta looked down at Iaia with a quiet intensity. Sighing, she finally sat on the edge of the bench next to Gabrielle.

"You want to know about the City." She told her mater of factly. "So, I will tell you. For many generations it was part of the initiation of a shaman to spend a night there. If you survived, you become a shaman, if not you become a crazy old woman. Both my grandmother and mother had survived it."

"They sat in the library?" Iaia asked softly?

"Yes. There is a mosaic design in one of the rooms where the initiate lays to enter the Realm of the Shadows."

Everyone waited to hear that she had also. "I could not bring myself to go there when it was time for my initiation. She sighed. "I made the mistake of visiting it when I was only a child and feared seeing again what I had seen then. So I became inn keeper instead."

"But you weave spells." Grace objected.

"They are spells a child could do."

Gari came into the inn interrupting the conversation. "A couple of the dark cloaks were skulking around the barn. What do you want to do with them?"

"We'll have a chat with them." Aleka nodded. She turned to Lily.

"Whatever you ask them, the dark one will know." Corita warned.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"In dream time they are the dark ones. It will know what its soldiers had done or said."

"All right. Bind them and make sure they don't go anywhere. Hades! Corita, didn't you say that in here the dark one can't reach the sleeper?"

"Yea."

"Then bring them in here and we'll ask them questions and keep them the night. We may as well see if there is truth to this."

"What if bringing them in here will give the dark one a foot in the door, so-to-speak." Iaia blurted out as she shuddered at the memory of the one-eyed priest.

"We'll take care of that." Acheta nodded.

"Okay. Go get them," she told Gari. Aleka turned to Lily. "Lily, you'll need to get going now."

"I can show you a tunnel from the miners days, if you like." Acheta offered. "I'm the only one that uses it these days but it will let you out near the lake in the forest."

"Can they come in that way?" Aleka asked concerned.

"Not unless they know the password. It's the only spell I was able to learn to counter by the ancient ones."

"Where is the entrance?"

"Below this inn."

It occurred to Aleka that maybe it wasn't just Acheta's child's spell that she put over the inn that was protecting the sleepers but the ancient ones spell over the entrance to one of their tunnels.

"Was this one of their cities?" Iaia asked.

"Yes. They had three, my grandmother said. The stone city has no soil to grow anything nor for livestock to feed. It was more of a leaning center and merchant's city. This small town was where the farmers lived and the craftsman that needed the woods and clay pit near by for their work. The tunnel was a quick passage during the winter months to the falls and there are other passages that have caved in. Every seven seasons our winters are so harsh that the snow piles too high for much movement outside."

"The tunnel sounds like a good option. Are you all ready?" Aleka asked Lily and the others. The three women nodded.

They followed Acheta down into her cellar. The cellar looked like any other cellar used for storage until she revealed a stone cover that was covered with straw and empty bags. Aleka blinked her eyes to keep the image of the opening from wavering, as something seemed to pass across her sight. She followed the figure of the older women as she disappeared into darkness under the stone cover. Before her a sudden light flared giving off wavering glimpses of the smooth walls that had notches at regular spaces. Aleka guessed for torches to light the way. She looked at the ground, which was smooth and showed no dust. At regular intervals pillars were placed that had scenes of village life by tall and dark haired people carved into them. The pillars were made of gray stone. Aleka wondered how they had moved the large chunks of stone for the pillars down here. The sounds of footsteps behind her were muted, as sound did not carry well.

Acheta finally held her hand up and put a finger to her lips. Aleka and Lily stood behind her looking out from a crevice onto a waterfall that dropped into a stream that when it rained and during spring thaw would have been gorged with debris and water. It was dark outside and the moon's reflection sparkled off the weak stream that was flowing gently over the cliff and falling to the streambed below without much noise.

Acheta had handed the torch back for one of them to hang in a bracket further away from the exit.

"This is not seen from outside so you must remember the landmarks when you step out. The village is off that way. The entrance to the mine tunnels is up that way. You will reach the stone arch first. You can't miss it. It's a dark shadow that looks like an arch that in the summer would curve over the rising moon. Go left for the mines. The village is beyond the arch and you don't want to get too close. On full moon nights the influence is stronger."

Lily nodded. "Let's go. She stepped out, turned and after carefully studying the area in what little light they had moved off into the direction of the gray city. After taking two steps out of the tunnel Alala turned to take a long last look in the faint light of the moon the landscape around the tunnel entrance. Those in the cave realized she could no longer see them even as she stared straight at them.

Impulsively Iaia put her hand out and watched with amusement when Alala jumped. "Very funny!" She hissed back then hurried to follow the others.

Those that remained in the cave giggled.

Acheta laughed and motioned to Aleka and the others. "This is how to seal the entrance should you need to." She showed them a lever that was a work of art. It was difficult to identify the design but it reminded Aleka of what she had seen in Britannia.

Aleka turned to Candra. "I want you to stay here and watch this entrance. If you should think there is any danger," She tapped the arrows on Candra's back. "light one and shoot one in the air. That will indicate danger. If you need help coat it with witches bane. It gives off a distinctive color. Do you have some in your pack?"

Candra nodded. Who didn't? It's the most used herbs for a variety of aliments.

"We'll have someone posted on the inn's roof who will be watching for your signal and for any unwanted visitors." Aleka explained. "Grace you remain with her."

"Don't you usually have one Amazon and one priestess?" Iaia asked innocently. Aleka took a deep breath for she knew where this was going to lead. She was not feeling comfortable with the thought of leaving her here. Aleka shook her head mentally.

"You're right, so?"

"Alala and Lily said I'm an Amazon." The challenge was there. Aleka was not happy that Gari was out patrolling with Kynthia when if she had thought clearer…

"You're right. But this is …"

"She'll be okay." Grace patted Aleka's arm. "We're all in this together, right?"

Aleka took a slow deep breath. They didn't understand that when things happened it was usually wherever Gabrielle was and she would rather…She stopped herself. Would Aleka act this way toward her members? Probably not. But Aleka never met Gabrielle, another part of her argued. I know her through your memories. It is her path.

"Alright." Aleka put a smile on her face. "I'll send some food down later so neither of you get too weak." She joked. "Remember to keep your voices down. It carries in the night."

Aleka turned and hurried back up the tunnel afraid she would change her mind for the wrong reasons.

The night watches checked in regularly. Gari and Kynthia spotted a group of dark cloaks getting ready for an attack in the woods and had managed to rally enough Amazons to frighten them off with their silent but deadly attacks. White hair was not with them to prod them forward or prop up their resolve. Fighting an unseen enemy in the dark over unfamiliar territory was not to their liking. Aleka suspected they would not have ran of if she was leading them. What was she up to?

Aleka paced worrying about the white haired woman. The innkeeper went back down to deliver a sweet loaf of bread from the previous day for the two women to munch on with hot tea to keep them alert.

It was close to daylight and Aleka felt exhausted. She had finally settled to sleep leaning against the wall in the common room.

Her eyes opened immediately when she heard noise from the cellar. Every fiber in her was telling her something was wrong. She was on her feet and down the stairway ready for anything. Lily was holding the torch and laughing about something to Eleanor. They looked up at Aleka's face as she watched the four women enter. Alala looked exhausted. "Where's Gabrielle and Candra?" She asked careful not to show her worry. They probably were left to guard the entrance but now that everyone was back they could go ahead and close the entrance.

"Where should they be?" Lily asked puzzled.

"They were guarding the entrance you just came from."

"There was no one there." Alala told her worriedly. The others looked at each other. They were already physically spent.

"Did you find anything that needs to be talked about now?" Aleka asked quickly.

"We found where they are living. We caused a bit of a problem in some of the caverns so they can't use them, like smoke and fumes of a revolting type. Not many of them were there so we didn't have much of a resistance. White hair was no where around and there was no talisman."

"Alala would you be able to sense the talisman if you got close enough?"

"Yes. It wasn't anywhere in those tunnels and never was taken in there."

"I've got to go find out what happened to those two." Aleka grabbed the torch from Lily's hand.

"We're going with you." Lily and Alala told her together.

"You're tired. Go rest."

"And you're not? Oh, no you don't. Eleanor do you have something to give us a boost of energy for a while longer?"

"Ya."

She ran up the stairs and was gone for a few moments returning with a hot kettle of water, a few cups and Erica.

"Iaia and Candra are missing?"

"We're going to look for them. Do you think you can hold down things here?" Aleka asked as she swished the cup of leaves around before downing them.

"Hmm. It's been real quiet since Gari and Kynthia scared the wits out of a few stragglers."

"Good. Let's go." Aleka didn't wait for the others. The innkeeper had gone down two candlemarks ago with a loaf of bread and some tea. She didn't say anything was amiss. Aleka didn't pay attention to the muted footsteps that were hurriedly following her.

Aleka shined the torch around the exit looking for anything that would give her a clue as to what happened. There were two cups tucked neatly in one of the empty sockets for a torch keeping the area clear. Aleka stepped out after looking closely at the surrounding area that was being bathed in the morning light. She turned to look around for landmarks then continued to look around for tracks. Alala and Lily looked around keeping guard as they let Aleka look for what she needed to find.

"Over here." She called softly to the other two. The gray wolf was lying next to an unconscious form of Candra.

Candra was draped over a stone with a note attached to her back. Lily picked up her quiver and arrows that were tossed a distance from her unconscious form.

"I bet it's that white haired one. Blast she worked Candra over a bit." Lily was furious. They had walked right by here and missed her.

"Looks like she was just left here."

"How do you know?"

"Everything has the morning dew coating it and she's dry." Aleka could see the footprints that someone had not even tried to hide.

"You think she knows where the entrance is to the tunnel we were in?"

"No. She would have done something about it. Lily, take Candra back. Alala and I will go to the Gray Valley. She says that's where she has Gabrielle."

"Hades! I'll get some of…"

"NO! This may be a trick to pull most of us from the village and then their main force will ride in and burn down the village. Alala and I will be enough. Do what you need to keep the village safe. If you have to close off this entrance for safety, leave a sign on this tree. We'll see it easily from over there and be able to keep to the trees until we know it's safe."

Lily nodded. She lifted the young woman onto her shoulder and carried her back in the direction of the hidden entrance. They watched Lily and Candra's forms disappear as if they had walked through an unseen doorway.

Aleka turned quickly and started the pace at a ground-eating lope in the direction that Acheta said the city was located. The gray wolf ran along side of her looking as if she enjoyed the chance to stretch her legs. Aleka angled off to the right following the gray wolf's silver form that pulled ahead of her. They were going to enter the city from the back instead of the place white hair would be expecting them. Alala gamely kept up.

Continue on to Road Show: Part Two - 2