The Destroyer Of Nations

by AngelKim





Disclaimers:- XWP is not mine, and none of the characters from it are mine either. Don't sue me. 'Nuff said
Dedication:- Always Sarah. And Illy, who encouraged me to get back on the saddle and do something with this baby. Thank you soooooooo much.
Violence/Sex/Romance:- Yes, a little, a little. There is nothing between Xena and Gab in this fice. You will see why soon.







One

"CHARGE!!" someone yelled in the distance…

Before she knew what was happening Aiea felt the earth shake, that could only mean one thing, Xena had returned.

"Aiea run! She's coming!" her mother screamed at the young woman.

The short woman ran for cover, barely dodging the arrows that were raining down on the village. The blacksmiths daughter rushed into her fathers workshop, hoping to find a safe place to hide until the army left…

As Aiea ran inside, her skirts a tangled mess, she found herself falling. Quickly she managed to stand, only to see her.

Xena the destroyer of Nations was standing over a dead body, the warrior woman, dictator of Egypt, spun sharply on her heel and looked at Aiea.

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"Are you looking to die too young woman? Or are you just stupid?" the Destroyers voice was cold, merciless, yet somewhat calm, just like a mad man, "Get out of here before I cut out your heart and feed it to the sharks!"

Aiea nodded weakly and rushed outside again, it was chaos, people were running in all directions, trying their hardest to avoid the soldiers of Xena's mighty army…

Then the Warrior herself emerged from the blacksmiths hut and signaled a halt to her men, she smiled sweetly at the terrified villagers.

"Welcome to your deaths." She said and laughed.

Aiea was shocked, this woman wasn't even going to think to spare them, the destroyer of nations was just as cruel and heartless as they had made her out to be in the legends. She talked about death as though it was her friend, as though she knew it…

The once warrior princess drew her sword and approached a young girl, about eight summers old, her eyes were mocking the girls fear.

"Hey little girl, my name is Xena. What's yours?"

"Trina." She replied sincerely.

"And where is your family Trina?"

Aiea quietly snuck around to the back of the crowd, hoping that she would not be seen in her desperate escape plan. She looked up at the Dictator of Arabia, and for a moment thought that the ruthless warrior had seen her.

Trina pointed to a small huddle of bodies near the edge of the crowd, Xena's eyes lit up, and then it hit home, Aiea knew exactly what was happening. Xena was going to kill them…

"Fire!" Xena shouted and held Trina close to her, almost hugging the child, but still effectively stopping her from getting away.

The arrows came out of no where and pierced the hearts of the little girls family, the crowd began to screech in terror, this woman was a maniac! Aiea squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears, Trina's family was one of the most sociable families in the village, they knew everyone and were well liked…

And now they were dead.

Trina shrieked and tried to pull out of Xena's tight embrace, but the warrior refused to let her go. The Destroyer of Nations smiled and sat down, pulling Trina into her lap.

"They are evil people Trina, quickly tell me who your friends are so that I can protect them from the evil men!" Xena whispered hoarsely, "Quickly tell me!"

Aiea looked away, this woman was insane, bent on power and death, and she was trying to drive the young Trina mad with grief.

The blacksmiths daughter heard the screams of young children as Xena signaled that they be killed.

"You are a demon child Trina, you have to be, otherwise none of your friends and family would die when you pointed to them." Xena sighed, "Guards, have this girl taken to the smallest darkest dungeon you can find, I want her to never see the sunlight again, not for another ten years anyway…"

And with that the crying young girl was dragged away.

Aiea couldn't take it anymore, she had to make a break now, before Xena chose her next victim, and Aiea had to survive this massacre, in order to bring death to the Destroyer…
_~*~_


Xena smiled as she entered her tent, the seizing had gone well, the village didn't put up much of a fight, and not one of her soldiers was injured.

"Lady Xena, a man is here to see you. Calls himself Ares." One of her guards said.
Xena's eyes sparkled, it had been a long time since she had seen him, and it would be good to catch up with the god of war.

"Let him in." she replied icily.

And there he was, Xena let out a small laugh when she saw the gesture that Ares made to her friend as he stepped outside. The once warrior princess leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arm around his neck so that their faces were only fingers apart.

"Ares! I haven't seen you in what? A year now!?"

"That would be about right. I had heard that you were off conquering the western part of Arabia, but you outshone my expectations completely. What you have done here is magnificent!" he kissed her cheek, "You have earned my respect Warrior Queen, and soon, the world will be ours to command!"

"I hope you're right."




*Three years later…*


Gabrielle awoke to the sound of a bell, quickly she sat bolt upright and scrambled out of bed, they army was attacking! Quickly she pulled on her leather skirt and dress, grabbed her war staff and headed outside.

"Gabrielle where are you going?" a woman asked from behind her, "What's happening?"

Gabrielle spun to face the amazon behind her, "Xena is attacking us." She practically spat out the Destroyer of Nations name, "That half bred bitch needs a good ass kicking if you ask me."
Gabrielle's best friend, an Amazon named Illyandria literally jumped out of bed, the young warrior was already in full battle gear, all she needed was her mask and sword.

Gabrielle pulled her Amazon mask over her head and ran outside to check out the situation, Xena had been using catapults, that was evident by the boulders that were still burning from when Xena had her army set them alight.

"Illyandria! Illyandria hurry up!" the young amazon called.

Illyandria came bursting out of their hut, mask on and sword at the ready, "Where are our sisters? We are supposed to have a war council!"

"Xena as taken us by surprise, the best we can do is flee!" Gabrielle yelled, "If we go to the eastern cave we should be able to get some our sisters to lead a sneak attack!"

"Ayiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiya!"

Gabrielle spun in the direction of the war cry, it didn't sound very amazon to her, more like the one of a woman that was not Amazon…

There she was.

Xena rode down to the village in all her glory, on each side of the Dictator of Arabia were an elite guard, they were all dressed in golden armor and each carried Xena's banner, the famed chakram, Xena's most powerful weapon. The Destroyer of Nations herself was wearing a black leather strapless mini top and a black leather tight trousers. On her head sat a turban woven from the finest silver clothe and her arms were literally decked out in silver jewelry, she looked every bit the Warrior Queen of Egypt just how the legends had described her. On her upper left arm there was a tattoo of a snake rearing to strike, and her waist length ravens wing hair was plaited neatly down her back. Her silver sword was strapped to her back and a silver chakram was at her waist.

Illyandria quickly snapped Gabrielle out of her trance, trying to pull the small amazon to safety, another amazon quickly approached them, it was Solari, one of the tribes more capable warriors.

"Gabrielle!" she protested, "Hurry up, Xena is more than a match for you! Illyandria come with us to the barricade, we need your healing skills fast, Eponin has taken an arrow through the shoulder!"

Illyandria nodded, "Very well my queen, Gabrielle hurry!"

Gabrielle suddenly seemed to awaken to what was happening around her, and she rushed towards the other side of the amazon village, Solari brought up the rear, all were hoping that Xena didn't spot them, she could easily take on all three without a worry of losing. But Gabrielle could feel Xena's piercing blue eyes lock onto them.

"Get the Queen!" she could hear Xena shout.

Illyandria looked around, as she ran, Solari was in grave danger, bringing up the rear, and been the one that the men were after it obviously wasn't safe. Quickly the young warrior dropped back behind Solari, making sure the Amazon Queen was less likely to be struck down.

Solari, Illyandria, and Gabrielle quickly rushed into the barricade, just closing the door before Xena and her men were close enough to shoot something through.

Solari beckoned other amazons to come over and help them barricade the door, meanwhile Gabrielle sneaked a peak out the window, only to find Xena's face staring right back at her, the young amazon screamed.

"Solari!" she yelled.

The Amazon Queen ran over to the window and saw Xena, the dictator smiled and seemingly disappeared. An amazon healer named Aiea approached the duo.

"Illyandria and I have managed to get Eponin under control, all we nee now are some bandages for Lydia and we'll be right to go, most of our sisters have minor scrape and bruises, nothing to worry about, but Tares has dislocated a shoulder, so I will need something to pop it back in." Aiea smiled, "Who was it that just tried to take our tribe?"

"Xena." Gabrielle spat, "The insane Warrior Queen of Egypt. Thought that she could take us out with no problems."

Aiea's brown eyes lit up at the mention of Xena, "Xena huh? I thought she was off in Rome, trying to negotiate with Caesar for the wine trade route."

"She was." Illyandria's voice came from behind them, "But the meet was canceled so Xena could take care of some unfinished business with the amazons. Apparently a girl escaped one of her 'conquests' three years ago, and Xena has enough evidence to suggest that she is here."
Solari nodded, "Well, Xena was always one to do a job properly, she is bound to have a plan of some sort, we'll have to make up our own tactics against her, she has the most powerful army in the world at her back, and we are but a small remote tribe in the wilderness."

Illyandria didn't want to hear anymore of it, how could her sisters look so down about it? They were amazons, they never gave up without a fight, and this Xena was no different to any other foe that they had faced. It annoyed the young amazon to death that they would let it look as though they had lost no matter what the odds.

"My Queen, I don't think that it is fair that we act as though we will lose. Even if we do it is best to look at it as though we have a chance, you are doing nothing for morale by saying these things!" Illyandria blurted out.

Solari, Gabrielle and Aiea all glared at the Amazon apprentice healer, she was right.

"I can see your point Illyandria, but we have to look at things realistically. Xena is the most powerful woman in the world, and we can't treat her like a normal warlord. She has far more resources to draw upon." Solari stated firmly, "I am sorry but these are the facts."

"But she is also insane, as insane as they come. In fact, I am willing to bet anything that she will make a stupid mistake somewhere along the line." Gabrielle replied, "And if we can hold out until she does, we should be right."

"What about Hercules, the King of Gaul? I hear that he is in this area! He could help us too you know." An amazon said from behind them.

The amazon queen spun to face the woman that had spoken out of turn, "What is your name?" she demanded icily.

"Kardane, my queen." The young girl replied shakily.

"And which detachment do you belong to? Who is your leader?"

"I am part of the red lake detachment, Ephiny is my commander, my queen."

Solari nodded, "I have heard of Ephiny, her detachment often wins many hard battles, how old are you?"

"Fifteen summers."

"You'd be a scout then wouldn't you?"

"Yes my queen."

"Well, I want you to go to the nearest tribe, tell them our situation and ask for aide, if they don't help us out I don't think we'll be around much longer."

Gabrielle watched as Kardane nodded and quietly slipped to the back of the crowded bunker, the scouts were known for their ability to dissolve into their surroundings, and the best were young.

"My queen, how long do you think that we can stay in here before Xena attacks?" Gabrielle finally asked, the question that everyone had been wanting to hear since they were forced to flee.

"The dictator will not rush herself, she thinks that she has us, so she will wait till our supplies run out and we are weaker." The amazon queen paused, "So I would say the actual attack would be in about four days, which means we will have to get out as soon as we can."

"Where will we go?" Another woman asked from the back of the crowd.

"Probably to the eastern caves, we'll have the advantage of position and better supplies there."

Gabrielle smiled, trust Solari to pull through in a tough situation.
_~*~_


Xena waltzed away from the window, she swayed slightly in the breeze and laughed shallowly. Her elite guard didn't move, this behavior was not out of the ordinary for the insane warrior woman. When she had been younger a man called Julius Caesar had shattered her legs, mind and soul, Xena had managed to hold out, but when her plan to kill Hercules had failed she had cracked and taken refuge in her home town of Amphipolis.

A few years later she emerged a powerful warlord, killing all those that stood in her path. She had taken a liking to Egypt and immediately conquered it. Slowly she had risen to become the most powerful person in the world, even more powerful than Caesar because he had to share his power with two other men, Xena ruled alone. Then she had taken most of Arabia, only stopping to turn her attentions to this group of Amazons living on the shores of the Black Sea, and nothing was going to stop her.

"Well, that went crappy, didn't it now?" Xena wagged a finger at them, "We were supposed to KILL them, not scare them. You're naughty boys. But I forgive you."

The warrior queen glided over to her horse, the faithful Argo snorted happily as she rubbed her nose. Then Xena gave up and quietly saddled her powerful mare. And raising her Arabian style sword above her head she turned around and rode back to camp, her elite guard following their queen.
_~*~_


"Ares."

Xena paced around her tent, the turban was lying abandoned on the floor, and her boots were over the other side of the small tent.

In a shower of sparks he was standing before her, a smile on his face, "You called my warrior queen?"

The dictator smiled ruthlessly, "These amazons, why am I bothering with them? I have just received news that the Zulu's are coming in from the south, and that Caesar has called off the trade summit. And I am going to all this trouble just to rid the world of a pesky group of Amazons?"

Ares sighed, "It does seem a little much doesn't it? I'll come clean with you Xena, this tribe has a girl, calls herself…"

"I know about Aiea, I have already asked for her, not by name though, see if the Amazons are as honest as they claim."

"Not Aiea. The girl that I am talking about is Gabrielle, a good friend of the Amazon queen. Athena has told me of a prophecy and in it, you are killed, and this tiny Amazon girl starts it all. In another reality she and you travel the countryside, helping peasants free of charge, and I can't have it, with her alive nothing is safe."

Xena laughed, her confidence was overwhelming, "I don't think so Ares. Despite what you say, I am NOT into the whole prediction thing. I work in the world of sweat and blood, nothing more, nothing less." Then she cocked her head, "And besides, no puny amazon girl will kill me."

"I hope so, I don't think I could go on without my warrior queen."

Xena giggled, "You could, but the question is, would you?"

The god of War rolled his eyes, "What is it with you and the confusing questions? You are as good with them as you are mesmerizing your victims."

In a battle not too long ago Ares had discovered one of Xena's many hidden talents. She had the amazing ability to move like a cobra, just like the ones that were pets to the snake dancers in her kingdom, and when she did her opponent found it extraordinarily difficult to move. And as soon as they were deep enough Xena would move in for the kill. It usually took place in about thirty seconds, the queen of Egypt rarely used it, it took too long.

"I don't think so Ares. I only do that when I have to, and I am not good at it." she sighed and plopped down on her most comfortable chair, her legs crossing at the ankles, "And I can't dance in front of a group of blood thirsty amazons, I just don't think it would have the same effects. But what I can do…" she beckoned for Ares to come closer, and then dropped her voice to a whisper, "Is kill every one of them."

Ares laughed, "You would. Is there nothing that you can solve without a war of some kind?"
The warrior woman shrugged, "Not yet." She leaned back into the cushions and took a grape from the small bowl next to her, "But I'm sure there never will be."

"That's what I admire about you Xena, you always think on the bright side of things don't you?"

The stunningly beautiful dictator nodded and popped the grape into her mouth, "Well, I am going to leave, I have to get to Alexandria, try to sort this trade thing out, how hard can it be? I mean, we both want this trade thing to happen, and so when I get called to duty, the first thing that he does is call it off."

"Xena, you are not a warrior, you are a queen, pharaoh, dictator, ruler, shah, call it what you will, but you own Egypt, and there is no 'duty' for you in a war. All you REALLY have to is sign and tear up treaties."

"Are you saying I give this up?" Xena stood up and walked outside, "The joy of a battle, a kill, all of this…" she gestured so that she indicated the whole camp, "… just so you will be sure that I am safe? I don't think so."

"Look, I would never force you into something like that Xena, I only want what is best for you."

The young woman strode over to him, "And what exactly is that?" her nimble hand found it's way inside his vest, "Hmm?"

"You're husband won't be impressed if he finds out Xena." The god of war protested.

Xena left out a laugh, "Oh come on, I only married him to get the throne, and now that I have it, I don't need him."

"What about your daughter?"

"Cleopatra? I'm sending her off to the academy, she deserves it too. I'm not going to have a daughter of mine grow up to be a little piss head like the noble women in our country." The warrior queen stated firmly.

"How old is she now?"

"Fifteen, and she is a fighter, she'll stick up for what she believes in, but won't pick up a sword."

The handsome god was slowly getting more and more uncomfortable around Xena, the Destroyer of Nations was feared by all that saw her. Even with her beauty and soft features, you could still tell that she was no woman to be messed with. Not so long ago Hermes had challenged a decision that she made, his grave was on Olympus' highest peak, Ares went to visit it everyday, telling him how stupid he was to defy the warrior woman. And now, everyone on Olympus was scared of her, even Zeus. Hermes had been one of the few gods that moved swiftly, it would have been hard to catch him, even if you were the best fighter in all the land.

And Xena had killed him in a matter of seconds.

"Xena look, you go back to Egypt, I'll take over with these Amazons, and you can sign a treaty with the Zulu's and the Carthaginians, and then all will be well." Ares tried to convince the warrior woman.

"No!" she paused, "Ares, I am beginning to think that you are trying to get me out of the way. By sending me to Egypt, and then trying to take over my command." The warrior snatched her hand back from his chest, "Would my theory be right? Or am I as paranoid as they all say?"

Ares didn't say a word, and Xena knew, he was trying to destroy her!
"Xena, look, you need help, you are crazy. These plots, the battles, it is all madness! And then Athena's prediction! By the gods Xena, you kill on whim!"

Xena's body went tense, and she slowly started to move to a music that only she could hear. Ares knew what was happening before it even started. And then, he couldn't move a muscle. So that was how she killed Hermes, she hypnotized him. And now he was going to end up just like his brother.

*Oh by the gods, why did I help her?* he thought to himself, *I knew it was going to turn out this way, and I thought I could control her. I was wrong…*

Xena smiled and looked him directly in the eye. Her blue gems pierced into his, and Ares felt himself get a headache, she had held his brother like this, and he had only discovered her intentions before it was too late, just like Ares had done.

"Queen Xena!" a man suddenly yelled, "The Amazons are attacking! Not the ones we caught earlier, another tribe!" he burst into her tent to tell her the rest.

The Destroyer of Nations turned to face him, she drew back like a cobra ready to strike, and then brought a hand up to him…

Fire shot out of her palm and enveloped the man, before anyone could see what was happening he had turned to a pile of ash on the floor. A blue light flew out of the remains of his body. Xena's head snapped up and she raised her other hand, and she absorbed the blue light, sucked it into her.

Then in a flash, the god of war vanished.
_~*~_


On Olympus, nothing was well. They had all heard about Xena's attack on the amazons, and Artemis had immediately sent the nearest tribe to help. Athena had massed an army to attack Egypt, Aphrodite had made Xena's husband fall in love with another woman. And Apollo made all of Xena's men fall ill, Morpheus had even taken part by giving the men nightmares so bad that they couldn't sleep. Everyone was putting in something to stop the Warrior Queen, Ares Chosen, from going any further than she already had.

Ares managed to appear in the middle of a crisis meeting, and was first confronted by his half sister Artemis.

"I hope your happy brother! Next on Xena's list is Greece! Your Chosen is doing just what you wanted her to do, conquer the world."

"Look, there is a bigger problem than Xena's army. I was there, and I know how she killed Hermes, she nearly killed me the same way." Ares paused, he had everyone's attention, "Xena is immortal, not so long ago she took the grove where the tree of life rests, I thought she didn't know about it, so I didn't put a guard there, but she must have, now she is immortal, and has a power that can kill a god, she hypnotizes them and then strikes, she give you a splitting headache and then fire burst and you are burnt to a crisp, and then, she sucks out your soul."

Artemis nodded, "I have met her type before. They call themselves shamaness's. There is one called Alti that I know of, she was Amazon."

"You and your Amazons, can't you see that we have a bigger problem. A mortal woman that knows how to kill a god!" Hera demanded tightly.

"Immortal mother, immortal." Apollo corrected.

"She could be a pig for all I care, but she is still dangerous!"

Ares sighed, now there would be a heated debate over whether or not this 'Xena' was actually dangerous, and then how they were supposed to defeat her. Why couldn't his family just trust him for once? He knew Xena back to front, she was his chosen one after all.

"Look, Xena is ready to fight, and she is dangerous, if you have ever met her you would understand what I am trying to tell you, she is probably our biggest threat since the Titans!"

"You are overestimating her Ares, she is just a woman, she couldn't possibly kill all of us, in fact, I am willing to bet that her killing Hermes was just a lucky shot…"

Athena was cut off when a young messenger came in, tears were flowing from her eyes, it was one of Discords hand maidens, Ares could tell by her short black tunic and sword.

"My lords! Something has happened at my goddess's temple." She exclaimed.

"Tell us." Zeus commanded gently.

"A warrior woman came in, she demanded to see our goddess, Helia refused to let her though. And then she went berserk. By the time that it was over I was only one that was left. Then Discord herself appeared. She and the woman fought for a while, and then the woman, she was tall, a dark evil creation, managed to get my lady down." The priestess had to stop her speech to slow the tears that were flowing freely, "And then a flame burst out of her palm, it killed Discord in an instant, and then she caught a blue thing that escaped my lady's body."

Ares' eyes went wide, he had been right.

"Did you manage to catch the name of this woman?" Zeus asked.

"Don't be such a twit father! It was Xena! It had to be. She is the only one that could do such a thing!"

Artemis nodded, "I think Ares is right father, Xena is the only one, and she has been showing herself as a threat lately, I think that we should act.

Aphrodite finally chose to perk up, "This Destroyer of Nations needs to be stopped daddy! She could kill us all you know!"

Ares sighed as once again his family began to argue, this was going to be a long night…


Neriyian, queen of the Amazon bloody hawk tribe smiled, This queen Xena, a girl from Egypt wouldn't be able to stop the most powerful amazon nation. They would wipe the floor with her blood.

"Terian, who is this Xena woman?" Neriyian said quietly to the young Amazon general nxt to her.

"Xena?" Terian paused as she though for a minute, "No one important where we are from, but down here she is THE ultimate power in the world. It is known that she has a daughter and husband. Her daughter is fifteen, extremely rebellious and want's nothing to do with her mother. I believe her name is Cleopatra. Xena is apparently crazy, and uses nothing but her instincts to win battles."

Neriyian sighed, she hated people like that. Not that it was her choice whether or not she wanted to battle them, but usually if she had a choice she would say no. But Artemis had demanded it. This Xena woman had to be a real threat to society if the great Amazon goddess sent one of her most powerful tribes after her.

The small queen stood up and walked towards the large window to her right.

"Attack her army from all sides, no prisoners, not even the Great Pharaoh of Egypt herself. I want them all dead. Burnt to the ground."
_~*~_


Xena rushed out of her tent, her eyes took in the sight around her, her men were scrambling for weapons and the stable hands were trying their hardest to restrain the scared horses.

The warrior lifted her fingers to her mouth and let out a long whistle. As she waited for Argo to arrive she ran back inside and gathered her weapons and turban. As she scrambled about in her own tent she heard footsteps.

Xena spun around. Behind her was a group of young amazons, about five in all. They looked battle weary and in need of rest. Her blue eyes locked onto theirs.

"I am Xena, Destroyer of Nations, Lioness of Amphipolis, Bringer of Death, Great Pharaoh of Egypt, Warrior Queen, Dictator of Arabia and Ares Chosen." She paused for effect, "And you are… dead"

The young group shook slightly, but they held their ground, to be frank Xena was impressed, not many people, even in large mobs, had the courage to stand up to the great warrior queen. She hadn't ever encountered this tribe, perhaps they were more than they seemed.

"We fear nothing, not even death Xena, and not even a woman of such power and legend will scare us away from our destiny." The tall leader said, her long red hair wavered slightly from the girls shaking.

The Destroyer laughed, "I never liked you type, the newbies of the Amazons, all sobered up and nothing to do. Well let me tell you one thing…"

With a shriek the Warrior Queen sent a dagger flying straight at the girl. It flew straight and true, embedding itself in her forehead. The other girls cringed and drew back.

"…There is no such thing as beginners luck."

Xena stepped toward the frightened girls, one little blonde thing took her eye and she strode towards her.

"You, why the Amazons, you are such a pretty thing, a gentle soul with such power behind it. I want that power little Amazon. And no one EVER says no to the Great Pharaoh of Egypt, not even your queen."

"I'm not afraid of you witch! I fear nothing! I am an Amazon. Nothing scares me, not even the threat of having my soul ripped from my body." The blondes brown eyes met Xena's, for the first and last time.

"I'm afraid that is what it has come to young lady." The Dictator of Arabia said slowly, "I didn't want to kill you, but you leave me no choice. You would have been a fine addition to my army you know." The insane young woman paused as she moved to the middle of the group, "And now you all have to die."

All that could be heard after that was the screams of dying women, and then the Destroyer of Nations emerged from her tent, looking calm and collected as her horse made it's way to it's owner. Xena quickly saddled the magnificent creature and rode into the heated battle below her…
_~*~_



Artemis sighed and turned to her half brother, "My amazons are going to lose Ares."

The handsome god of war looked at her curiously, "Why do you say that Arty? They were going brilliantly just a second ago."

"Xena just entered the field."

The god swore to himself quietly, his sister raised an eyebrow, her normally calm features lined with worry.

"I don't believe this. Why hasn't she left for Egypt yet? The boat to take her there just docked, and she is off fighting a battle!" Ares bellowed.

"Brother, we can't do anything now. Xena is there, what can we do? Go down there ourselves? I don't think so, Xena nearly killed you, she is too dangerous to face directly."

"Duh. I just thought that we could do something to stop her from running amuck. This woman is pure danger Art. I don't know how you can dismiss her so easily?"

Artemis sighed, "I don't dismiss her Ares, I just think that there are far more important things at hand, my amazons are dying out there and all you can think about is your little Xena!"

"I know, but she is the one that causes these deaths! She is…"

Artemis spun to face him, her silver eyes went wide with disbelief, "You don't mean…"

"I think she is the one, the Enforcer of Death."

The Hunt Goddess shook her head, "No way. The Enforcer of Death, no. The Fates would have told us that she was alive."

"Maybe they didn't know. In all Xena's living years… I have never seen her life thread." (Remember that all the XWP episodes never happened)

"By the gods." Artemis looked absolutely terrified, "It is her."
_~*~_


"Ayiyiyiyiyiyiyiya!" Xena's battle cry rang through the field as the mighty warrior queen entered the fight.

Immediately everything stopped. Not a soul moved, no one made a sound. Everything as frozen in time waiting to see what the most feared woman in the world was going to do.

Xena seemed to bathe in the attention that she was getting, her eyes were glowing in joy. As she raised her arm for the battle…

Someone dropped their sword.

Xena screamed in fury and violently jerked around to face the young amazon who was shaking so much that she nearly fainted.

"How dare you!"

With that a fire shot out of the dictators eyes and enveloped her. The pretty girl called out in agony, but not one of her comrades moved to help her from the blaze. They were all too afraid of what the warrior woman might do to them if they did.

Everyone stayed still for another minute or so, no one dared to move a muscle with Xena there watching over them.

All of a sudden hooves were heard in the distance. Xena's head jerked up and her eyes began to glow. One amazon, Sorayn, could tell what was going to happen next.

Neriyian rode onto the battle scene, her personal troops were flanking her on either side.

"Amazons! Attack position!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Archers at the ready!"

"Charge!!" Another voice yelled from behind them.

Xena looked around, Solari and her group were standing at the top of the hill to their right, and Neriyian's troops to the left. Ares warrior would be coming in from behind, which meant only one thing…

"Forward men! Forward before they reach us! To the docks!!!!" Xena barked the order tensely, her mind was filled with worry.

The Destroyer of Nations kicked her horse gently, but it was enough to send Argo into a mad gallop. The Queen of Egypt grasped at her battle axe, and pulled it loose from it's place at her belt.

Anyone that tried to stop the beautiful woman was quickly sent to Tartarus, thanks to Xena's sharp weapon, and anyone that felt the need to step in her way was run down by Argo.

"XENA!!!" a sharp voice called through the field.

The warrior's head spun around to see what all the fuss was about, sure enough there she was, the mighty Neriyian, Queen of Artemis' Chosen Ones. Xena pulled tightly on Argo's reins and jumped off her favorite horse. The amazon woman did the same thing.

"Think you can beat me do you?" Xena challenged absentmindedly.

"No, I know I can, why, does it concern you?"

"Not as much as your ignorance amazon." The once warrior princess replied smartly and then held her axe in front of herself in a defensive position.

Neriyian sighed and charged at her. Their blades made contact almost immediately, the momentum nearly knocked both women off their feet. Xena was the first up, she had been used to that happening during battle. Quickly she launched herself into the air, so she would land just in front of the struggling Amazon queen.

Xena dropped to the ground as Neriyian stood up, and then swung her foot out and around so that it caught the young woman by surprise and sent her back down to the ground once more.

The dictator of Egypt laughed, "Didn't they tell you about me Neriyian?"

The Amazon Queen looked up fearfully at her foe. If things kept going the way they looked…

"Queen Neriyian!!!!" someone yelled out from behind Xena.

Before the Destroyer of Nations could look around she felt a war staff make hard contact with her back.

Gabrielle ran around to help her fellow amazon. She had managed to upright the woman when she saw Xena picking herself back up from the hard knock. Quickly thinking the young woman from Poteidaia brought herself to face the Warrior Queen, giving the small muscular amazon behind her a chance to run. But she didn't take it.

Together the Amazons hammered into Xena, sending blows and thrusts aimed straight at her.

The Pharaoh managed to hold them off, barely saving herself from their ferocious attacks. As Xena brought her axe up again to defend herself she sent a foot aimed straight at Gabrielle's stomach. It hit home with a sickening thud and Gabrielle fell to the ground.

The most powerful person in the known world stood posed to hack off the young woman's head, nothing would stop her from destroying the prophecy of Athena.

"Stop!!!!"

Xena looked up and saw Ares standing before her.

"Xena don't!"

"Why not?" Ares' Chosen shrugged, "She is going to bring about the decline of my empire, you said it yourself… I can't let that happen."

"Listen to me Xena, if Athena predicts it, nothing can stop it. What if her legacy is what destroys you?"

Ares argument sank in, she could see what he meant, "Okay, I won't kill her…"

The blue eyed beauty spun around so quickly and precisely that Neriyian didn't even know what was happening until Xena's axe connected with her neck.

The Warrior Queen turned back to Ares, not even sparing a glance to the dead Amazon Queen, "I'll listen to you, take me back to your fortress and we'll talk there."
_~*~_


Ares and Xena appeared in a large room. The Warrior Queen smiled, her blue eyes were aglow with the heat of battle. Ares pointed to his bedside table, where there were two glasses of red wine.

"Right, maybe later, I'm not going to be getting stone drunk until I sort this deal out with you." Xena said jokingly.

Ares sighed, "It was worth a try."

The Destroyer of Nations walked over to Ares throne like chair. Gently and gracefully she lowered herself down and threw her long legs over one arm.

"You look beautiful."

The young woman smiled, "This is just like my throne in Egypt."

The handsome god laughed, "Do you honestly think that something used by mortals could ever compare to the property of a god?"

"Yes." Xena got sick of the chair and stood up, Ares gulped as he looked down her leather encased body, she was the most amazing woman he had ever met… it was a shame she was destined to destroy the gods.

"This deal, what did you have in mind?" The war god asked.

"Greece and my empire, against Rome. An equal 50:50 split on the money and land captured, Caesar doesn't deserve those people, we do, and I want your help to get them."

"I don't know…"

Xena walked up to him slowly, pacing herself so that he had no choice but to look at her, the woman's body was crushed up against his. Without even a slight hesitation Xena brought her face up to his and kissed him full on the lips.

Ares knew what Xena was planning, and by the gods it was working! Never had he felt such desire for a woman in his life! His strong hands crept up her back and pulled her even closer to him, if that was possible.

Together the couple fell onto the sheets…
_~*~_


Solari quickly ran down to the battle field, most of Xena's men had fallen back, Neriyians army had withdrawn and her small group had fled back to their compound. But there was only one problem, Gabrielle and Neriyian were missing. Ephiny had reported that they were last seen fighting Xena.

"GABRIELLE!! NERIYIAN!!" Solari yelled as loud as she could.

Aiea rode up in front of the Amazon Queen, "My queen! We have found them!"

"Is Neriyian okay?"

Aiea's face fell, "No, Neriyian's head was severed from her body, it was a clean quick cut, Xena most likely."

Solari nodded, trying to hold back the sudden flow of fury from her body, this was impossible, Xena couldn't be so powerful as to kill off the Chosen One of Artemis' Chosen Ones.

"Where is Gabrielle?"

Aiea quickly took Solari by the wrist and pulled her through the crowd of Amazon warrior women. Solari looked at all of them, their faces were scratched and dusty, but they would go at it again if they had to.

"Queen Solari?" a woman asked.

"Yes." The young amazon queen halted Aiea's pulling to listen to her fellow amazon.

"Queen Neriyian is dead, am I right?" Solari nodded, "Well, what do we do now?"

The tall queen could see the woman's point, she had to figure out something, she couldn't take them under her tribe. She was not a Chosen Queen, unlike Neriyian, and without a queen, that nation, the most powerful would die out in a matter of days.

"I can't take you under my tribe. You will have to either find a woman that is a Chosen Queen, or learn to govern yourself."

And it was at that exact moment The Amazon general Ephiny decided to show up. As per usual she thundered up on her white stallion, and dismounted with a loud ease that was her trademark.

"Queen. Xena's army has fallen back, the Warrior Pharaoh herself is no where to be seen, we have come to the conclusion that she was either killed during the battle or she has gone back to Egypt and left the army to one of her generals." Ephiny reported enthusiastically.

Solari nodded, she had an idea, and a good way to get rid of the annoying Ephiny for good…
"Well done General Ephiny. You are the new queen of the Red Lake Tribe, the tribe of Artemis' Chosen Ones."

"You're shitting me!!!" The frizzy haired blonde said in shock.

"No, the red lake tribe needs a new queen, and that is you."

Ephiny nodded, trying to restrain her joy of been chosen to lead the most powerful Amazon Tribe into battle and beyond…
_~*~_


Xena woke up next to the handsome god of war, she smiled as details of the previous night crept back into her mind, she had managed to seduce the god of War into an alliance with her, everything was going according to plan.

The Warrior Queen stood up and looked around, she beckoned to the wardrobe, which opened, and one of Xena's set's of armor flew out. This one was more of a short chiton than a set of armor, but it worked for her. It was a short sky blue number that reached her mid-thigh, as it encased her body Xena walked over to the mirror, her hair was a tangled mess, but then in the blink of an eye it was perfect.

"So, you aren't mortal are you Xena?"

The warrior woman spun around. Ares was propped up on his shoulders looking directly at her.

"I am very much mortal thank you very much." The dictator replied icily.

"Really?"

All of a sudden a dagger came out at her and struck her in the chest, right through her heart, nothing happened.

"If there is one thing that I hate Xena it is a liar." Ares got out of the dark red silks that covered his bed, already dressed in his leather attire, "How did it happen?"

The woman smiled, "I found something that you left behind after one of your little visits, I ate it, it was like a cake, and yeah, ka-boom, look at me, I am a goddess."

"And why are you still ruling in the mortal realm?"

"I like it there. I can actually be killed you know, it's just, it takes a lot of blows. I read up on it in Egypt."

"How?"

Xena laughed hysterically, "If you think for a minute that I am going to even consider telling you that, you have another thing coming lover boy."

"Xena, you were not meant to be a goddess."

The pharaoh of Egypt smiled insanely, "Really? Well, what was I meant to be?" Xena silenced Ares with a wave of her hand, "Don't tell me now, I'm a good little girl, I should be allowed to guess. Was I meant to be your servant, the Chosen whore for the god of war, who might I add is more suited to the god of lust? No, was I meant to be a village girl, married with five children, did I mention that I hate the little brats? No. Ares, it is clear to me that I was meant to be a goddess, I just don't think that you can stand the competition."

Ares sighed, he looked the insane woman directly in the eye, "Xena please, go home to Egypt, rule there. I'm begging of you."

"No. I can take over the world you know, and I always reach for the highest possible standing, how does ruler of the universe sound to you? With all the gods under me as my devoted servants." She paused for a second, "Except for Aphrodite, she's an annoying little bitch if you ask me."

"Ex-squeeze me?" the goddess of love appeared in a shower of pink glitter, "I am sooo not! For Zeus' sake Xe, get a grip!"

The warrior queen glared at Aphrodite, "Bad choice of words goddess, be ready to meet your doom."

Suddenly Ares found that he couldn't move, Xena was holding both of the powerful gods in a vice like grip. Her blue eyes glittered red now, and her whole body was rigid. Ares gulped, it was totally up to Xena what she did now, and they had no say in it. Aphrodite was trembling in her little pink slippers, knowing Xena, she would probably have her fun and leave them alone, like she did with most of her soldiers, but there was the insane part to her personality that could flip out and kill them all.

*'Xena, please, I don't want this to be worse than it has to be you could just leave now and all would be well, please, just don't kill us…* Ares thought desperately, but he had to keep the thoughts as quiet as possible, if they were loud enough…

It was too late, Xena had heard his thoughts and with a wild shriek sent a dagger flying into her long hand. Ares closed his eyes knowing that Hinds blood was on the tip of the dagger, and if it impaled him, no matter where, it would be the end of him.

But to his surprise the warrior queen turned on Aphrodite. The blonde goddess couldn't move a muscle, but Ares could tell that she was terrified.

Xena cocked her head, "Are you scared?" she smiled as she ran her finger over the blade and touched the top with the tip of her finger, "I would be too you know, but not so terrified that I would be shivering like you." Absentmindedly she pointed the blade at the young goddess, "I don't get you god types, acting so fearless, but when it comes down to it, all you are is prissy mortals with a couple of extras. No biggy. And then, when a girl manages to kill one of you…" Xena's eyes widened and she darted a hand in front of the goddesses face, "You become a legend."

Ares could feel Xena's hold on him weakening, she was so focused on mentally torturing the love goddess that she had forgotten about the handsome god behind her. Slowly the war god tried to mass up all his power for a strike on her barrier…

A bolt of fire came straight at him, barely missing the man. Xena didn't even remove her eyes from Aphrodite when she said,

"Don't think that I forgot about you babe. I just don't think that you are needed here anymore, you can go if you want." Then the warrior shook her head, as though trying to clear something out of her brain, "Sorry, you can't go, that was my wacky generous side kicking in, ignore it."

"Xena honey, please, let me and Ares go, we'll like totally be able to make you more feared throughout Olympus, and you'll be like, the rage." Aphrodite pleaded with the young woman.
A small smile crept up Xena's face, Ares felt relief flood over him, was the Warrior goddess bending to Aphrodite? He hoped to all the gods that she was, otherwise he could end up in quite a messy situation.

After about two minutes of silence Xena nodded, "You can both go, but I warn you, if this results in my death, you'll both wish you were never born."

Ares nodded, he understood the complications of her words, and it made perfect sense for her to say that. If she died, the chances were her people would take vengeance, if they were anything like the warrior herself

With that the lovely woman vanished into thin air.

The goddess of love, in all her skimpy costumed glory sighed, "She's your Chosen Ares."

Ares didn't laugh, this new revelation made the situation even worse than it was before, if Xena was a goddess then she had every right to kill them, and not stop to think twice about it.

This put a very interesting twist on things…
_~*~_


Caesar was waiting impatiently for Xena, he had nearly called off the trade summit, but the warrior woman convinced him that she would leave from Arabia and arrive the next day for the summit. The Roman dictator had thought of it all as dog shit until he saw her boat arrive at the docks that night. To sail from Egypt to Arabia in one week was amazing, but to make it from Arabia to Rome in one night was impossible.

"Brutus?"

"Yes lord Caesar."

Caesar turned to face his second in command, Brutus looked at him suspiciously, Caesar had not given him a single task for weeks, taking diplomatic training so that he could wait for Xena.

"I want you to go down to the dock, meet Xena, and make sure it is her. If it is that daughter of hers, I want her sent back to Egypt, only Queen Xena is to be here."

"Yes milord." Brutus said and rushed off to follow his rulers orders.

"What do you think Dreya? Is Xena worth trusting?"

A tall woman emerged from behind the silk curtains, her eyes fluttered open, "No Lord, I have heard of this Xena, she is an insane power hungry witch, not even worth a passing glance."

Caesar laughed, the sorceress was a very smart woman, but she often said stupid things, "May I remind you that Queen Xena is the most powerful person on earth? I don't think either of us are in any position to say such things."

"Xena will fall milord, it has been foretold by the prophets of Athena, goddess of wisdom, she will not remain in power for much longer, an amazon called Gabrielle will bring her down, and she will fall from power into the arms of Ares."

Caesar nodded, "What would the prophets know anyway? They said that I was doomed to die at the hands of a mighty warrior princess. I am yet to see that happen."

Dreya smiled passively at her lord. What he didn't know was that one of Xena's many titles had been the Warrior Princess, it was a well known fact that Xena had a lust to see Caesars blood on her hands, ever since Caesar had made her think she was in love with him and then when he had betrayed her, she had wanted nothing more than to destroy his very soul. A couple of years back she had come close. The famous Destroyer of Nations has captured his wife Livia, she had the senators wife tortured and then slain, and finally sent her heart back to Caesar in a box. The Roman had been destroyed by grief but had managed to hide all hide all his emotions and go about business as usual, but Dreya could tell that he was in so much pain that he couldn't stand it much longer. So the young sorceress had gone to him and talked it out with the powerful man. It had taken a while, but the dictator had slowly returned to normal. Luckily enough for Rome, if he had not, Xena would have come right in and taken over Rome as though it was a small village. Pompey had tried to assume command in Caesar's place, but Rome wouldn've been the same if he did.

"Lord Caesar, may I recommend you try and get through these talks with Xena without violence." Dreya looked at Caesar's face and quickly restated her idea, "I mean, if she tries to kill you it is only fair that you take her out, but I am sure if you act civilized towards each other nothing will happen."

Caesar nodded, but Dreya could see a plan forming in his mind, and usually, if he had a plan to kill someone, they didn't come out alive…
_~*~_


"Gaurds!! I want this man thrown overboard!" Xena yelled at her elite men, they moved to do as she commanded, this seemed to be one of Xena's more merciful punishments, all he would have to do is swim back to the dock, "I'm not finished. I want him thrown in with his body weight tied to his feet. Make sure he doesn't resurface."

The Warrior Queen smiled and waved as the guard that had tried to kill her was taken out. He was a part of the Persian group, a small number that had their heart set on ridding the world of Xena's 'evil'.

"You are pure evil aren't you Xena?" a female voice said from behind her.

Xena sharply turned, "Not evil just misunderstood Anat, just misunderstood."

The woman that she had turned to face looked exactly the same as her in every way, the same blue eyes, black hair and perfect figure.

"Okay, you can get back into you own body now."

"Sure." Anat slowly warped back into her own form. Xena shrugged, the Egyptian goddess of war looked Xena up and down.

"Tell me everything went well. Did Ares fall for it?"

"Like a puppy."

"Good, at least now he'll think I am not a woman to be trifled with." Xena sighed, "But these Romans, they are hard to impress aren't they?"

"Yes. I am afraid that is their nature, Jupiter made it that way so that no one except the gods could keep them truly happy." Anat smiled and shook her dark brown hair out from the tight bun that it was in, "Just like you."

The Warrior Queen shrugged, "I know what I said Anat, and you will get your reward, but now is not the time, right now I have to get to this trade summit, immediately Caesar will feel like hanging me if I don't keep my word."

Anat nodded and vanished before the warriors eyes, she understood what the warrior queen meant, the insane woman would always put Egypt first. Despite what people said, Xena the most dangerous woman alive, did care about her country.

"The world will tremble at our feet Xena, I swear it."

The Warrior woman shrugged and marched out of the cabin, leaving Anat to her own private thoughts.

"But not before you tremble at mine." She finished.
_~*~_



Gabrielle and Illyandria stood outside of the cave. The night sky above them was clear and full of stars, it was slightly warm and the air was crisp.

"What are we going to do Gabrielle? We can't possibly stand up to Xena's army. She is far stronger than we'll ever be. The only reason that we got as far as we did last time was because it was a surprise attack." Illyandria clearly stated her thoughts, "And Queen Solari has gone with the scouts to the green tree tribe."

The blonde amazon nodded, "Yeah I know. Artemis is not answering our priestesses either. I don't know how we will withstand any attack that Xena chooses to lay on us."

"She won't." a new voice spoke up behind them.

"Aiea!" Illyandria exclaimed, "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Yeah whatever." The amazon healer walked straight past her apprentice and to Gabrielle, "I don't believe that she will lay siege again Merely because she is no longer here. Apparently our insane pharaoh went to Rome for a trade summit earlier today."

Gabrielle could have jumped for joy. The gods had answered their prayers, with Xena gone, they actually stood a fighting chance.

"Gather the amazons, we should attack at daybreak." Illyandria said suddenly.

The small blonde amazon turned to the apprentice healer, "Illy, I want you to take charge of this next attack. I think that you are ready to do something useful for the amazon nation, you can have as many warriors as you need."

Illyandria smiled and went back into the cave.

Then Gabrielle turned on the healer next to her, "What aren't you telling me Aiea? Why is it that you know so much about Xena?"

Aiea gulped, "Xena took my village three years back, I was the only one that got out alive, everyone else was massacred, including the children. Ever since that day it had been my one purpose in life to kill the bitch."

Gabrielle understood what the older woman was saying perfectly, she had joined the amazons for vengeance too. When she was only Caesar's soldiers had come and killed all her family, they had taken most of the girls above sixteen summers and sold them into slavery, only Gabrielle had managed to escape the carnage.

"I know what you are saying Aiea, but do you really think that killing this mad woman is the way to solve your problems? I mean, the Destroyer of Nations is completely out of her skull, there is no way that she has any comprehension of what she is doing." The young woman tried to reason with the bristling healer.

Aiea smiled and swept her long blonde hair away from her face, "I know that you are trying to help me Gabrielle, but I don't think that you understand." She paused briefly, "Gabrielle, Xena tortured the youngest of the young children in our village, she killed their friends and family, saying that it was their fault. Nothing can reverse something that horrible."

Gabrielle shrugged, "I know that there is nothing that I can do to reverse it Aiea, but what I do know is that you are not going to feel any better by killing her, no matter how evil she is."

The young amazon tossed her long braided hair behind her back, "Think about it. Xena has a daughter, and a loving husband, and I am sure that they all love her for who is…"
_~*~_


"I hate her! I hate her, I hate her, I hate her! She has no right to do this to me!" a young woman yelled.

"Cleopatra, calm down would you?" a mans worried voice replied.

"I don't get it father, by law you are more powerful than my witch of a mother, and yet you don't oppose her crazy antics! She is sending me to a military academy for Isis' sake! Why are you letting her get away with it!?"

A young girl with knee length black hair paced the room. She held a crumpled scroll in her long fingers. Tears were welling in her wide green eyes as she turned to face her father, Ptolemy the King of Egypt, husband of Xena the Mighty Destroyer of Nations.

"Cleopatra darling, you know how she is, I can't stand up to her, she would kill me. I wouldn't live for a second." The lean man insisted, "Listen, I will talk to her about this thing as soon as she gets back from where ever she is."

The princesses eyes lit up for a second, "Did you hear the rumors?"

Ptolemy looked at her queerly, "What rumors?"

"Xena is ermmm, well how does one say it?" the pretty girl cocked her head to the side for a second, "Ahhh yes, she is well, screwing Ares to stay in his favor. And I hear that she is going to do the same to Caesar."


Ptolemy went rigid, "She WHAT!? Pinnaces get in here NOW!"

But no one came.

Cleopatra knew immediately what was happening, "She's ordered us…"

"Killed" Ptolemy finished the sentence for her, "Xena has ordered us killed. She knew that you would do anything in your power to end her reign, and so she struck first."

Xena's daughter nodded, "And she knew that you wouldn't take up a sword and kill anyone, and I don't know how."

"The clever little Queen finally got what she wanted…"

"What is that?"

"Absolute power."
_~*~_


Xena smiled as she sat down in the marble chair, Caesar returned the smile coldly and went down to his end of the table.

"Well, Xena, what is it that we should first discuss?"

Xena nodded quickly, "I want to talk about opening a wine/pearl trade route. Egypt is rich in wines, and ours are far better made than the ones that you have now." The warrior woman smiled ruthlessly, "Or I can just take a city from you, and that would work just as well. Better I'd think."

Caesar returned her smile with a glare, "Well actually, I was thinking more of what I was going to do with you. The Destroyer of Nations would fetch a high price from slavers, but an even higher price from the Amazons and Carthaginians. What do you think?"

Xena looked at him as though he had just gone mad, "Why are we talking about this?"

"I just want to know how much richer I am going to be. Take her."

Almost spontaneously about ten men jumped out at her. The Pharaoh of Egypt stood up and drew her axe from it's place under the long skirts. Quickly the Warrior let out an ear piercing battle cry. The warrior queen didn't have to think as she fought with all her heart and soul, thinking was not something that you did in a fight, you just went with the flow of things. She swung her weapon around and up, catching one man on the throat. Blood burst out of his dead corpse, coating Xena with red.

"Give up Xena." Caesar's voice said, "Or I will have to call Dreya."

"Call whoever you want," Xena said as she ducked low and kicked a man in the shin and then sent her axe reeling into his face, "That won't stop me."

Caesar sighed, he didn't want to have Xena hurt, all he really wanted was to have her locked up and then starved to death. And if she was hurt, he would have to have her nourished, and that would cost him money and time. Not like he would really care if she was killed though. Her husband was a lot weaker than she was, an easy prize, and her daughter Cleopatra, well she was quite the snake, just like her mother, but that would be dealt with in time. The Princess wasn't one bit the ruler her insane parent was.

But as he looked on to see Xena slice open another of his best troops with ease, he knew it was his only choice.

"DREYA!" he called loudly.

Suddenly everything stopped. Caesar's men fell back quickly, fear was evident in their features. The insane Queen tilted her head to the side. She wasn't supposed to fear anyone, yet a wave of fear and power washed over her as a tall woman entered the large conference room. She wasn't really that scary, she was thin, and frail looking. But her face was well sculpted and sharp. Xena smiled tightly, so this was Caesar's prized sorceress, she didn't look that bad.

"So, you're Xena are you? I've heard a lot about the insane warrior queen, not all that the legends made her out to be."

"That's where you're wrong honey, I am every bit as powerful as you." The dictator of Egypt said softly, but her eyes were on fire.

Dreya looked the warrior queen over, she definitely had psychical power, but that wouldn't help her in the next battle, not one bit.

Xena spun around and hurled her axe straight at the woman's throat, her eyes were mad with fury. Everything around her seemed to go slower as the weapon headed closer and closer to the sorceresses throat. Then much to everyone's surprise it stopped in mid air.

"See Xena. You don't need fighting power to win this battle. You need spiritual power." Then with a simple hand gesture Xena found herself flying backwards. The Warrior Princess spun her body around as fast as she could so she didn't hit the wall head first. But that didn't stop her hitting the wall with such force that she blacked out.

As her body slumped to the ground Caesar and Dreya made their way over to the defenseless body.

"Is she alive?" Caesar asked drawing his sword and gently prodding her with it.

"I think so. She should be. I mean, she's Xena, she has to be right?" Concern was thick in Dreya's voice.

The pair tried to shake her awake. But it was no use, they had pushed her over the edge. Caesar knelt down to check her pulse. There was a strong heart beat under his fingers, ensuring him that she was alive.

"MILORD!" Dreya's voice suddenly screamed.
_~*~_


Dreya watched carefully as her master positioned his fingers at the base of Xena's throat, trying to get a pulse out of the woman beneath him.

Then it happened, a small smile spread across Xena's face, and Dreya saw her fists clench and hand slowly towards his neck…

"MILORD!" She screamed as loud as she could.

But it was too late.

The Destroyer of Nations eyes snapped open and her hands moved quickly around Caesar's throat. The smile didn't leave her face as she tried to strangle the ruler of Rome. The young sorceress watched in horror, for some reason she couldn't move. It was rumored that the warrior queen did have some spiritual power about her, but nothing big. But still, it would explain why she couldn't move…

"Caesar!" A loud voice thundered from the front of the hall.
_~*~_


 "Did I ask for this treatment? Did I ask for anything from you?" she screeched.

"Xena…"

"I am NOT Xena! I am the Destroyer of Nations!" she paused for a minute, and her eyes went calm again, "And your soul is mine."
_~*~_


Gabrielle paced impatiently, there had been no news from the scouts of late, and they were due to have reported not so long ago. Solari had gone with another group of the female warriors to try and find out more about the area that they would be fighting on, and also try and get Ephiny to halt her tribes hasty retreat.

Xena had managed to corner the small Amazon tribe, the only way out was a tunnel that led from the caves to a nearby forest, where Xena's army was camped. A few of Xena's men had tried to come through and attack the tribe already, and Solari had posted guards there already, to stop any impending attacks.

"Illyandria!" Gabrielle called.

"Yes?" the young amazon asked cautiously.

"Have you heard from Solari or the scout group yet?"

"No."

Illyandria nearly smiled, Gabrielle's concern for Solari was amazing, she never ceased to stop caring. Everything about the little amazon was loving and giving, except in battle. But just to watch her try to make things right, it was almost inspiring. Just like it was to witness Aiea's healing hands save people. The healer and Gabrielle, both were beacons to the Amazons, and would remain so for an eternity.

All they had to do was live through this attack.
_~*~_


*I don't believe this.* Xena thought to herself as she paced around the room, *This is absolutely unbearable.*

Everything about the Warrior Queen was rigid and deadly. The meeting with Hercules hadn't gone very well, especially after she had claimed his soul as hers. That was when he had gotten slightly pissed off and called in his guards to drag her away. They had put her in a small cell, no windows, nothing, she had been stripped down and put into a long musty brown tunic that reached her knees. The braids had been pulled out and her long hair, usually one of her crowning glories hung limply. Her body was badly battered and bruised, a few cuts still bled, and her back was incredibly tender, probably from the lashes that she had taken.

Guards were watching her at all times, their eyes never left the warrior woman as she had tried to find a way to occupy herself.

Someone was coming.

The warrior straightened herself, even her torn tunic she still looked like a queen, everything about her was regal and imperious.

It was Caesar.

"So Xena how is your new accommodation?"

The Warrior smiled sweetly and moved towards him like a panther stalking its prey.

"I've had better." She said quietly and put her face up to the bars so that it was only inches away from his, "And soon you will too."

The dictator of Rome smiled calmly, "Ah Xena. How I've missed you. You used to be just a prize you know. But now I see it. You're a queen. You are more than one prize, you are a country."

The woman behind the bars snarled, and drew back a little bit, "Any Egyptian commoner is worth a thousand Caesar's!" she paused for a second, trying to think of something that would set him off, then it clicked into place, "So, I was wondering, should I send you the rest of your wife? I think her corpse is still hanging outside my city, it would be awfully disgusting by now! How about a red box this time? I think the whole white box spoiled the look of the heart don't you?"

Caesar's eyes burning with a hatred that equaled hers, "How dare you speak of her!"

"What are you going to do? Kill me? Sorry, I'm not yours to kill." She lightly tapped the tip of his nose with her index finger, "But you could go and hang yourself up next to her, wouldn't that just be the sight to see?"

The roman smiled, despite the pure hate in his eyes, "You know what Xena? I think that you are just another warlord, trying to earn herself a reputation by massacring people and torturing their loved ones. And if that is the only way that you know how to succeed in life, I'm sorry for you."

The warrior woman let out a small growl, and without warning spat in his face, "Well, all that I can say is that you'll be next Julius."

With that she smiled and tilted her head to the side slightly, everything about her was tense and ready, despite her psychical condition. To be frank Caesar was impressed, he doubted that he would be able to keep such an air of defiance if he was in her situation. This was not the woman that he had met all those years ago, this Xena was so utterly smart that nothing would stand in her way, every move was planned and worked so well that it was almost laughable. He almost laughed at himself, it was him alone that was responsible for who she had become, if only he had have seen it coming, he would have stopped right there and fallen back. Nothing could possibly have prepared him for her recent rise to power. Nothing.

Slowly the roman dictator walked away, not sure what to make of her now.
_~*~_


Night came quickly in Rome, but even at night, there was no quiet, everything was just as bustling at night as it was during the day, and it annoyed Xena to no end. *At least in Egypt people know when to shut the hell up* she thought to herself.

The guards that constantly surrounded her cell were asleep. The lazy thugs had obviously underestimated her, despite what their King had told them about her, it was stupid really, the most famed murderer in the world, and they had fallen asleep.

Xena smiled and stood up, one the fat men had conveniently fallen asleep next to the cell, in perfectly decent reaching distance, and he had a key. The warrior queen sighed , he was so stupid, and he would pay for it with his life.

Quietly, so not to wake any of the men she moved towards the edge of her cell, every movement was noiseless and swift, so before the second mark she had managed to position herself perfectly. Her nimble hand slipped between the bars and latched onto the fat mans belt. Then when an effortless ease Xena's hand ran along his belt until it came to the key. She snatched it as swiftly as it could and moved back to the farthest wall of her cell. The man began to stir, but didn't awaken.

The plan began to form in Xena's mind, she went to the door and unlocked it, then she leant against it ever so casually.

"Guard!" she yelled.

All five of the men jumped up and raced to the door.

"What is it slave?" One of them asked roughly.

Xena held up the key and an evil grin spread across her face, "I have the key."

Then with all her might she shoved the door at them, sending all five sprawling to the ground. The warrior queen laughed and stepped out of the cell, without even thinking twice she grabbed a sword that had fallen from the guards belt, it was totally different from the Arabian style swords with the curved blade that she was used to using. This weapon was shorter and a lot heavier, not that it concerned Xena at all, she would still be able to fight her way out with it.

She could hear footsteps approaching from her left, quickly she spun and swung her blade around to meet the opponent.

It was Hercules, the King of Gaul and son of Zeus, with his elite guard at his back.

"Don't move Xena." He said calmly, "Just drop the sword and step back into your cell okay?"
Xena laughed, "You're sweet Hercules." Without warning she leapt into the air, she executed a tight double flip and landed just in front of him, and then, without pausing to regain her footing, she put her blade to his throat, "Incompetent, but sweet."

The fear in the eyes of the handsome man before her was obvious, Xena was known for her unpredictability, and she had a tendency to pick the right option, even if it meant that thousands of men were going to die.

Hercules gulped, he knew that this could either be his moment of death or his moment of truth, it all rested in the hands of an insane, power hungry warrior queen that never thought things through.

"I won't kill you." She whispered into his ear, "I couldn't let Caesar take another country. But, if you let me go today, I'll make sure that he never has the opportunity to take your lands. Or, the other option, you can get yourself killed. Your call."

Hercules nodded, he knew what she wanted, and he was all to willing to give it to her, she was an amazing woman, and he knew that if she told him that she would do something to stop Caesar, the chances were that she would do it without a second thought into the matter. He had to admit that he was rather envious of the woman, she had absolute rule over her country, and no body could stop her doing whatever she wanted. In Gaul he had to go through all sorts of proceedings and meetings just to decide which empire he wanted to support. Yet Xena could do anything, she could decide that she wanted to take over Carthage on night, and it would be done without any questions. And even if she had any second thoughts later, it would still be done.

"Very well Warrior Queen, it will be done." He said reluctantly, "You may leave if you see it fit."

Xena smiled and let him go. Her icy blue eyes sparkled as she walked out of the cell block and down a set of stairs, freedom awaiting her.
_~*~_


Solari slammed her fist down on the table. All the amazons around her snapped to attention, their queen had to speak.

"Look, I don't care what is happening in Rome, I want Xena dead!" she yelled as loud as she could, " And I don't want to know what types of trouble your scouts ran into Kardane! All I want to know is whether or not Xena is still with that gods cursed army on our front doorstep!"

Kardane walked over to her queen, "My scouts say that she is, but our people in Rome have also sighted her walking free from a Roman prison. They were absolutely positive that it was Xena, and no one else."

Solari nodded, "Where is Illyandria?"

The fifteen year old shrugged, "I don't know my queen, if I did I would tell you."

Solari nodded, the twenty odd amazon should have been there by now, and Solari had been told that Illyandria might be a little late as she had some very important affairs of state to attend to.

Quietly she stood up and bowed her head, "Look, this meeting is dismissed until Illyandria can be found, I don't really think that there is any urgent business arising except Xena, and we can't do anything about that until Illyandria is here too."

All the ten Amazon generals at the table smiled at the young queen and walked out the door, Solari often called meetings to a halt, and they were never completed. Not that anyone was complaining, the meetings were usually long, boring and took place in a but that was heated up very easily, and filled with flies quickly. To not have to attend these meetings was an Amazon generals dream, and to attend them was every warriors nightmare.

Solari, accompanied by Kardane, made her way out to the makeshift training yards, of course the meeting didn't take place in a hut now, it had been burnt to the ground when Xena attacked, but they were still a pain in the ass to attend.

"My Queen, I think that we should…"

Solari turned on the amazon next to her like a viper, "You don't think Kardane, you follow orders, it is not your place to issue them."

Kardane smiled, she knew that was what the queen would say, she always did, but it was a nice try anyway. The younger woman walked to the bottom of the small hill where the weapons were kept.

"What say we get some practice my queen? I would be honored to have a match with you."
Solari nodded, her long brown hair blew in the wind and her dark eyes sparkled, not many offered her a match nowadays, ever since Melosa had died, and she had killed Velasca in combat, too many people feared the young woman in her early to mid twenties.

"Suits me fine." Solari replied.

There was a temporary tent where the weapons were stored, these were the practice weapons, the real weapons were made especially for the amazon that used them, there was not a standard or a size, just every weapon for the amazon that used it. These weapons however had been captured about a year back, they were made of Damascus steel, which was the best metal in those days, and they kept very well.

Solari and Kardane walked around the small tent of weapons, the Amazon Queen chose a long dagger, which she attached to her waist, and a staff, which was about three inches taller than the short woman. Kardane chose to arm herself with a spear that stood at the tall warriors height.

Solari looked the scout up and down, she looked very nervous about fighting her queen, especially when Solari was armed with a staff, her weapon of choice. Never had the queen been defeated in a battle, even a practice one. And no one was too eager to try and set the record straight, as Solari had a bad habit of killing her opponents. But Kardane knew that she wouldn't kill her, not after a training session.

"Let's go." The short queen said.
_~*~_


Everyone had cleared from the training area, most had never seen their queen fight, and this was the perfect opportunity. Drums beat and horns sounded, signaling a fight was about to begin. And no amazon in her right mind would miss a fight quite like the one that was been offered here. Kardane, one of the best Amazon Warriors, and Solari, the unbeatable Amazon Queen.

Solari stood down one end of the ten meter long yard, Kardane stood down the other. The brown hared woman was crouched in a fighting stance, her staff at the ready, everything about her was tense and ready to strike. Kardane on the other hand looked barely ready to sneeze, let alone fight.

"Take positions!" the nearest woman yelled, she gave them about five seconds before she yelled, "May the best warrior win! To Artemis!"

Kardane firmly held Solari's gaze, it usually unnerved her opponents to have the amazon before them stare directly at them. But Solari didn't even flinch, silently Kardane braced herself for the oncoming attack.

The Queen unleashed a feral war cry as she leapt into the air. She executed a perfect double flip, and before she even made contact with the ground, had her feet ready to land and her long dagger in her hand. Kardane brought her spear in front of her and charged, unleashing her own battle cry as she went. The amazon scout swung the blunt end of her spear in a circle at Solari's head height. But the short queen had seen the move and, with only one hand, ducked and put her staff up to catch Kardane's blow, then she stuck her foot out to catch the warrior as she charged.

Kardane hit the ground solidly, the breathe temporarily out of her. She closed her eyes for a millisecond to regain her breath, and when she opened them she saw Solari standing over her, the staff pointed down at her throat. The young scout desperately look around, her spear had been thrown across the other side of the training field, she would have to fight with her hands to get it back. She wasn't trained with hand to hand, but she would have to make the best out of what experience she had.

Summoning all her remaining strength the tall girl shoved her foot into Solari's exposed stomach, the queen doubled over, and Kardane chose that moment to hit her with a tightly clenched fist on the forehead. Then, without waiting a second the scout rushed towards her spear.

But when she got there it was already gone. Kardane looked, around, maybe she had gone in the wrong direction…

And standing to her left was the figure of a short muscular amazon woman, a staff in one hand, and a spear in the other. Solari had taken it while she wasn't looking.

And then, much to her surprise, the pretty amazon woman threw it back to her. Kardane caught it easily enough, but she could tell that there was a lot of force behind the throw, if she didn't catch it, the spear would surely have either killed her or sent her flying, both ways she would probably lose the fight. As the young woman assessed the situation Solari ducked behind her and sent a hard kick into her spine.

Kardane gasped and fell forwards, her head spun, she had no idea what had happened, but she knew that Solari had done it. Quickly thinking she twisted her body around and landed on her sore back, then, without even thinking about it she pushed the pointed end of the spear into her abdomen, ever so softly, and jabbed forward with all her might.

Solari was hit in the stomach, the warrior doubled over and fell to the ground. Kardane smiled, she had that point. Then with a small flourish she hit her queen across the back with the spear, which sent her to meet the dirt.

Solari shot up faster than was imaginable and shoved her staff up and around, catching Kardane neatly across the head. Then, letting out a mighty war cry she took one end of the staff in each hand and broke the weapon over her knee, so that there were tow pieces, and both had sharp ends.

The scout knew what would happen, Solari would not stop at beating her, she would kill her instead, just like she did all the others that dared to challenge the Amazon in battle. The young scout prepared herself for the last battle of her life.

Without hesitating Solari leapt into the air, she neatly twisted around and landed perfectly on her feet facing Kardane. Then she sent a fist flying and her fast, dropping the younger woman like a stone. Then she stood over Kardane, one of the bits of staff raised high above her head, ready to kill her…

"So, this is how the Amazons fight is it?" a strong female voice said from the crowd, "I never knew that you fought so brutally."

Solari looked up to try and find the woman that had spoken in her moment of triumph over yet another opponent, but no one that was any different was there.

"Where are you? As queen of the Amazons I demand an answer right now!" she yelled out.
There was a short pause, but slowly a short woman made her way out of the crowd, she had short red hair and wore the dress of a Gaelic warrior woman. Solari didn't recognize her at all.

"I am Morrigan, Queen of Gaul. I was sent by the King of Gaul, Hercules, to deliver an important message to the Queen of the Amazons." She said, and for the first time Solari noticed the Gaelic accent that she spoke with.

"I am the queen." Gabrielle said from the crowd. Solari often instructed Gabrielle that whenever a messenger came that she was to act as the queen until they could be sure the person was worthy of their trust, "I am Solari of the Amazons. And that woman there is Gabrielle, my best warrior."

Solari bowed at the Queen of Gaul, while honestly wishing that she rip the woman limb from limb for interrupting their match. The woman looked Solari up and down and then turned back to Gabrielle.

"I am here to talk to you about a certain woman that has been attacking this tribe for a while now."

Solari could hear all the Amazons scowling in the background, cursing the mention of the Warrior Queen. Morrigan was clearly impressed by their reaction, as Solari saw a small smile creep onto her face.

"Yes, there has been an army camped outside of our village. Why do you want to know?"
"Because it is not Xena out there."
_~*~_



 Ares and Artemis ran into the small temple at the top of the dark hill. They were in the forest of the Banshees, and they had to get to the temple as fast as they could, or the Banshees would soon have them killed. With Artemis' tracking skills it had not been a problem. But the real problem was still ahead of them.

To try and get the Fates to show them Xena's life thread.

The godly siblings could hear the sound of the Banshees as they approached.

"You go on ahead Ares. I'll take care of them." Artemis volunteered, her long black hair shimmered in the eternal moonlight that the forest was famed for.

Ares nodded, he knew that if anyone could handle banshees it was his younger sister. She was a superb fighter, and knew how to kill banshees. He could leave her alone here and not have to worry about what would happen to her.

Quickly he ran towards the black building as fast as he could, his life, and the fate of the world depended on it.

He finally managed to reach the doors, with all the godly strength that he possessed the god of war pried open the black marble doors and staggered inside.

There they stood, the three fates, and there marvelous tapestry of life. The youngest, Clotho was busy creating new threads, whilst the other two dimly discussed the fate of a commoner.

"Atropos!" Ares yelled.

"Yes." She answered.

"I need to see Xena's life thread."

"Why?"

Ares gulped, but at the same time steeled himself, it was the only way to save them all, "I need to cut Xena's life thread, she can't be allowed to live."

Clotho laughed, "But of you kill Xena you will die too you know. As you will of you keep her alive. If she loses the battle… you will die at His hand. But if she wins, you will die at hers. Xena is the Protector of the Gods, she is the one that stops Him killing you all."

Ares looked around, what they were telling him was not possible, it was hard enough to kill Xena, he couldn't imagine his life without her, she was his world. She was the one thing that made his life worth living, she was everything to him. The only reason that he had agreed to going with Artemis on this mission was because he believed that he was doing the right thing. But now, he was not so sure.

Atropos smiled, it was an open smile, and Ares could see all of the crooked black teeth of hers, and he felt like being sick. Slowly the middle Fate Lachesis moved towards him. The god of War shuddered as she pulled him over to where Xena's life thread was. And the Fate of Death, Artopos gave him the scissors that would kill her. The handsome god felt like he was about to pass out, this was the hardest decision that he would ever have to make. It was too much for him to decide on his own. Did he want Xena to kill him, or another man, that they hadn't told him the name of yet.


Ares and Artemis ran into the small temple at the top of the dark hill. They were in the forest of the Banshees, and they had to get to the temple as fast as they could, or the Banshees would soon have them killed. With Artemis' tracking skills it had not been a problem. But the real problem was still ahead of them.

To try and get the Fates to show them Xena's life thread.

The godly siblings could hear the sound of the Banshees as they approached.

"You go on ahead Ares. I'll take care of them." Artemis volunteered, her long black hair shimmered in the eternal moonlight that the forest was famed for.

Ares nodded, he knew that if anyone could handle banshees it was his younger sister. She was a superb fighter, and knew how to kill banshees. He could leave her alone here and not have to worry about what would happen to her.

Quickly he ran towards the black building as fast as he could, his life, and the fate of the world depended on it.

He finally managed to reach the doors, with all the godly strength that he possessed the god of war pried open the black marble doors and staggered inside.

There they stood, the three fates, and there marvelous tapestry of life. The youngest, Clotho was busy creating new threads, whilst the other two dimly discussed the fate of a commoner.

"Atropos!" Ares yelled.

"Yes." She answered.

"I need to see Xena's life thread."

"Why?"

Ares gulped, but at the same time steeled himself, it was the only way to save them all, "I need to cut Xena's life thread, she can't be allowed to live."

Clotho laughed, "But of you kill Xena you will die too you know. As you will of you keep her alive. If she loses the battle_ you will die at His hand. But if she wins, you will die at hers. Xena is the Protector of the Gods, she is the one that stops Him killing you all."

Ares looked around, what they were telling him was not possible, it was hard enough to kill Xena, he couldn't imagine his life without her, she was his world. She was the one thing that made his life worth living, she was everything to him. The only reason that he had agreed to going with Artemis on this mission was because he believed that he was doing the right thing. But now, he was not so sure.

Atropos smiled, it was an open smile, and Ares could see all of the crooked black teeth of hers, and he felt like being sick. Slowly the middle Fate Lachesis moved towards him. The god of War shuddered as she pulled him over to where Xena's life thread was. And the Fate of Death, Artopos gave him the scissors that would kill her. The handsome god felt like he was about to pass out, this was the hardest decision that he would ever have to make. It was too much for him to decide on his own. Did he want Xena to kill him, or another man, that they hadn't told him the name of yet.

The god braced himself and got ready to cut. A tear rolled down his cheek, unnoticed by him or the Fates and fell onto Xena's life thread. Slowly it begun to change color near the end. But the god of war had his eyes closed, and didn't see it. He placed his hand on the thread and ran his hand along it, trying to find where to cut it…


Xena heard the voice, it seemed like a million miles away, but it was still very familiar to her. Slowly she released her death grip on the Romans throat, knowing that it meant her capture and probably execution.

As her blurred vision cleared she saw a powerful looking man at the entrance to the hall. He had shoulder length sandy brown hair that reached his shoulders, about six guards flanked him, three to his left and three to his right. Xena recognized him immediately, it was the King of Gaul… Hercules.

"I see that I have come at a bad time?" the kind king stated, it was more of a question than a fact.

"Not at all. In fact it couldn've been better…"

Xena imperiously rose to her full height, quicker than anyone could have thought possible she regained her posture and grace. The past events seemed forgotten to her as she politely curtsied to the Son of Zeus.

"Queen Xena. What have I done to deserve the presence of the Great Warrior Pharaoh of Egypt?" Hercules asked charmingly.

Caesar immediately saw the chance to repair his damaged ego, "This woman is not the Pharaoh of Egypt I am afraid. She is a look alike that I am going to present to you as a gift, showing the alliance between Rome and Gaul, as long as she lives, so will our friendship."

Xena hissed, "I'll outlive you any day pig!" she managed to say, "Your blood on my grave, I swear it."

"A rather feisty one too might I add, perfectly suited to the warrior queen, quite the appropriate gift I think. As our alliance serves to defeat her." Caesar added, fake enthusiasm thick in his voice.

The King of Gaul gestured to two of his guards, who quickly grabbed her and dragged the struggling woman over to Hercules. The King knelt down to inspect his newest prize. Very quickly he undid the lacing at the back of her dress, and making sure that he kept the front up looked at her bare back.

Sure enough there it was, a small black tattoo on her right shoulder. It was a small snake that coiled around in a circle. It was only given to the queen of Egypt and rightly identified her. This was without a doubt the Destroyer of Nations, not the fake that Caesar had said she was. But he couldn't leave her here, not with Caesar, she would be killed, without a doubt, no matter what special powers she possessed.

"I'll take her." Hercules said as he stood up.

Caesar smiled, he was glad to get the troublesome woman out of his hands, nothing annoyed him more than a captive that wouldn't admit they were beaten.

"Excellent. I take it that means our alliance is sealed?" he asked.

The King if Gaul smiled and nodded, "I think so."

With that the tall handsome man walked out of the room, his guards dragged Xena with them, and for the first time in years the Warrior Queen showed a true sign of a smile on her delicate features, which disguised inner strength.
_~*~_


When they reached the inn that the King was staying at he ordered Xena taken to his rooms, and for no guards to be stationed there with him, he wanted to talk to her alone.

She was brought in, unchained and with a fresh change of clothes, a long white dress that clung up until her hips and then flowed loose. Her hair had been combed and braided, and any wounds that she had were cleaned and, if needed, bandaged.

She was roughly pushed inside the room, and then the guards turned their backs and walked out, leaving Xena alone with the King.

"You trust me?" Xena asked as she looked around the room, weapons, easily accessible ones at that, hung form all sorts of places.

"I know that you are the Queen of Egypt, I also know that you are in what is left of Persia commanding an attack against the Amazons." Hercules paused for a second, "I also know that while you were sailing to Rome, you also attacked Ares and Aphrodite in Ares' own fortress, and then managed to get back to Persia in a second. Care to explain? And don't tell em you're a goddess because I know that is not true, if it was Caesar would be dead, as would I."

The mighty woman that stood before him laughed, "You are awfully smart aren't you? How do you know that I am the real Xena?"

The King brushed his hair away from his face, "Because you have the 'Mark of the Queen', I read up on these things you know. Only the ruler of Egypt is permitted to wear the mark, and you, if I may say so myself, bear that mark." He paused so that she could take it all in, "Now, are you going to tell me what this is all about? I have spies in your army, and they tell me that you definitely there, yet you are right here?"

The half crazy ruler sighed, and sat down on the bed next to him, "I have made a deal, I wanted to create an image of fear. I had already killed Hermes, but I needed more. So I recruited a certain warrior with a knack for shape shifting… Anat, the warrior goddess of my country. She agreed on the contrary that she gets a third of my conquests…"

Hercules nodded, "And you don't want to give it up?"

"No, I was going to…" then for the first time since she was a baby tears welled in the Destroyer of Nations eyes, "… I sent a message for my daughter Cleopatra to go to a military school, because I had discovered that Anat planned to have my family killed under my name, so that I would do what she said. But it didn't work, and now Cleopatra and Ptolemy are probably dead… and it is all my fault."

The King of Gaul took a deep breathe, it was all too much to comprehend, "Okay, ummm, I don't know what to do Xena. I really don't… I want to help but I can't…"

Xena stood up faster than anyone would think possible, her eyes glowed with a cold raged that was only reserved for her enemies, "Did I ask for you help King of Gaul?" she snarled,
The two of them were sitting down on red fluffy chairs, they had been summoned to a meeting of he gods and their Chosens. Xena in particular was not happy with this as the two of them were involved in a lot more important activities at the time.

It was his turn to introduce his new chosen to the crowd. Xena knew that this was the moment of truth, would she be judged as fit to take her position at his side, or would she be kicked out?

Ares stood slowly, and Xena smiled ever so slightly, encouraging her lover to speak.
"This is my Chosen, her name is Xena the Warrior Princess of Amphipolis. She is a superb warrior and well worth the time that I have spent on her. I would not have another person as my Chosen, this woman is an amazing combatant and general."

Artemis stood up her radiant black hair flowed around her like a tornado, "Are you sure that you have appointed this woman for that reason? Or is it because she is good in bed?"

The crowd began to murmur, it was the first time that Ares had chosen a woman to spread his message. And one could not help but wonder if Artemis was correct, as it was clear the affection that the couple had for each other.

"Look, I have chosen this woman because of her skills, no other reason, and you shall see this for yourself Artemis. She is no stupid village girl, rather an extraordinarily smart warrior, and she outshines any Chosen that I have had so far. And if you believe that I am going to give her up, I would rather give up my god hood."



Ares gulped as the memories surfaced. Then he would have given his god hood so that she could stay with him. But that was all in the past, Xena didn't love him, she never had. He had been used by her right from the start. And in all his lust for her, he hadn't realized it until too late.


Xena screamed out in the heat of battle, her eyes shone brightly and her black hair streamed around her. Ares smiled and twisted his sword around, his Chosen was the only one that could even hope to give him a good workout. The god of war swung his sword at her, but the Warrior Princess dodged easily. Then, without warning she dropped the sword and threw herself at him.

Ares was surprised by her actions, only a fool would want to wrestle with the god of war, and those that did knew they were going to lose, what was his lover trying to gain? What did she want to prove to him?

That was when it happened, for the first time, and not the last.
Xena let out a yell, and Ares could feel some of the power been sucked out of him. He looked up and saw a green aura, his power, flowing into his warrior princess
.
"I'm leaving Ares, I am going to Egypt, all these years in Amphipolis are driving me insane, I have to have it. Egypt is the land that I was destined to control. And you have given me the power to rule the known world." She laughed softly.

"Xena, what did you do?" The handsome god asked quietly.

"I created a link. Now, every year at this time, more and more of your power will sucked into me, and it will stay that way until I say otherwise. In about ten years I should be a goddess, and you lover boy, will be nothing more than a slave in my empire."



That had been the last time that they had trusted each other, but for some reason she had kept the position as his Chosen, and he her god. But it was all slowly beginning to change, and soon he would be the Chosen, and she would be the god… it was all so long ago to her. Nothing was the same.

He kept his hand running…


Xena was sitting on her throne in Alexandria. Her long hair was plaited and she wore the dress of a priestess. In order to gain the right to wear one, the warrior queen had been forced to kill 3 high priests and bribe ten others. All of that trouble because she had decided that she liked a dress. Everyone, even the people were shocked at the way their queen had acted. But what could they do?

"Great Pharaoh of Egypt. The woman you requested has been brought here." One of the five guards said.

Xena smiled, "Let the her in."

With that in walked a VERY pretty woman, her eyes were wide and innocent, and her skin was the pale colour of a Greek. Xena was awed by her pure beauty, but refused to show it. For the young woman was the leader of the resistance in the far west, near Carthage. Xena cocked her head to one side and gracefully stood up from her seat. Then without any hesitation, or fear, of the unchained warrior she made her way over to her.

"Callisto of Cirra. It has been a while hasn't it my friend?"

Callisto's eyes were full of fury, "I am no friend of yours witch!" and then, as if she needed to prove her defiance she spat in the warrior queens face.

The famed warrior woman snarled, "You shouldn've done that Callisto. Remember that you are in my country and my palace. It isn't polite to spit in the face of your host." With that she nodded and about ten guards stormed into the throne room, "I want this woman chained and whipped, beaten, raped, I don't car what it takes, just give her the most painful death possible, and afterwards. I want you to cut out her heart and send it to Carthage, as a warning to all those that defy me. And then, hang her body up outside my city. I want every traveler to see her dead corpse hanging. And I want them to fear my empire. And most of all, I want them to fear me!"



Callisto's life string was cut off that night. Ares could see it underneath the string of his warrior. It had been coloured purple, the colour of greatest pain, right up until the moment of her death. When Xena had informed Ares of what she had done to the leader, the god had been shocked to say the least. Not even him, the god of war, had enough stomach to digest what she had done. That day her had told her of the prophecy of her death, and he had told her to go back to Egypt.

And she had turned on him, finally declaring what had been for a long time.

She had totally abandoned Ares, the God of War.

And she was never coming back.

But still every time that he thought about her, thought about killing her, something deep inside him made him stop. He knew that she was evil, and he knew that she would kill him in a spilt second, and not even think twice after she had done so.

But he just couldn't stop loving her.


The sun was just starting to rise over the great walls of Rome, but there was already action as a woman rode out of the gates on a black stallion. All the people around turned to look at her as she rode out of their city as though it was her own. None of them knew who this woman was, but they were sure she was powerful, it seemed to radiate from her and pulse through the air. Everything about her was mysterious and dark, none of the commoners dared to go near her, in fear of what she may do. They all saw the sword at her side, and knew that she would not hesitate to kill one of them.

Bruises covered her face, arms, legs and torso. Basically all she wore was a rag with a rope tied around the waist. Her hair was matted and beginning to dread lock, and one eye was so swollen that it wouldn't open properly.

Yet despite all of that, they still feared her.

The woman was Xena, well and truly, and she was feeling about the same as she looked, like Tartarus on a Monday morning. She was hurting in places that she didn't even know that she had, and would do anything, even give up her whole empire, just for a nice meal and bed. But she had to get back to Arabia and sort out Anat…

*I can't let her take that village. Gods know what would happen if she did. I have to get to Egypt, I have to warn Cleopatra…* The warrior caught herself mid thought and scowled, what did she care about Ptolemy and her daughter? They were merely distractions in her grand plan of world domination. Why in Olympus would it matter to her whether they lived or whether they died?
The answer was simple, although Xena would never admit it to herself…

She cared about them.


Ares took a step back from the thread, and dropped the pair of scissors that could have easily ended her life just a few seconds ago. It was not surprising to the fates, they knew what was happening between the two of them, the War god and his Chosen. They were drifting apart, where Xena embraced change, Ares was repelled by it, especially when it concerned his warrior princess.

Clotho stepped towards him, her young face was lined with concern for her half brother, "Can you not do it? Is your love for her that strong that you cannot even save your own kind if it means her life?"

Ares shrugged, trying to brush it all off, "I would rather die at Xena's hands than at the hand of someone I don't even know."

Atropos smiled, "Your point is valid, for you. But will the other gods accept it? You are the only one that is allowed to order Xena's thread cut, or cut it yourself. The only other way that she can die is of uncontrollable circumstances. We, the fates, have no power over this woman's life, only you do. And you will decide the fate of the world."

The god of War nodded, he knew he complications of his decision all right. He had just sentenced the gods to death, including himself.

That was the moment that Artemis chose to burst in. A half-dead banshee was clinging to her foot, the huntress shook her off and with lightning speed drew and arrow, fitted it into her bow and shot the ugly creation of the fates in the skull. The banshee screamed once and then burst into oblivion.

"Hi." The beautiful goddess said simply, "Well hurry up and cut her thread already."

Lachesis smiled, "He can't, he had the chance and turned it down. His devotion to the warrior queen is too strong for him to allow Xena to be killed."

Artemis' face turned red, her long black hair swirled around her like a tornado, her silver eyes were stormy, you could almost see the lightning flash across them. She was so mad that mad didn't describe her.

"What are you thinking brother!!!" she screamed her voice was like a thousand wolves screaming at the same time, all the glass in the room broke, including the windows, as the shattered glass came to the ground it cut off about 100 life threads, Ares covered his ears, her voice was normally like that of a wolf howling. But it was always peaceful and calm, now it was like someone had scraped their nails down a blackboard. And it made him sick to the bone.

The Fates rushed to the tapestry, all three worked in union to try and save as many of the broken threads as they could. Artemis was absolutely furious, and Ares quickly backed as far away from her as he could.

"This is not happening brother, it can't be! How can you do this?"

Ares' voice was calm, "I had no choice Artemis. I can't cut her thread…"

"Why not?" Artemis challenged, her nimble finger began to drift towards her arrows.

Ares gulped, he had no choice, he had to tell her, there was no way that he could come out of this alive if he didn't.

"Well?"

Ares sighed, "I… I love her Artemis…"


Gabrielle drew back a step, "What do you mean it is not Xena out there? We have seen her there, it has to be her!"

Morrigan shook her head, "My husband traded a treaty for Xena in Rome, he has her in his grasp, there is no way that the woman out there is Xena. As my husband has interrogated Xena, he has discovered that it is not in fact Xena out there, but Anat."

Solari nodded, as did Gabrielle, who spoke, "I see. So you want us to withdraw and go back into hiding?"

The queen out Gaul laughed, "Do you honestly think I am stupid? This is the warrior goddess of Egypt that we are talking about here. Do you even now the complications that this causes us?" Solari moved away from Kardane, who stood up and brushed herself off. Morrigan barely spared them a glance, "As for the queen of the amazons, I would like to speak to her."
Gabrielle was taken aback, "I am she, are you blind?"

"No, I mean the REAL queen of the amazons." Morrigan said, "You don't talk like Solari queen of the amazons. Solari wouldn't go into hiding like you would have. I'd say that the warrior down there is Solari, she holds herself like a queen."

Solari smiled, "You are right, forgive our rudeness, but we didn't know if you were to be trusted. Not many people are not fooled by that trick."

The short Gaul nodded, and smiled ever so slightly, "My husband has mobilized the nearest army to here, they should be here in a matter of days. Xena has also managed to escape, and should be here around about the same time. My husband is riding with his army."

The queen nodded ever so slightly, "We'll fall back behind that hill and wait."

With that all the amazons around them moved to get their things…


The sun had set, and Xena was very proud of herself, she had managed to make it out of Roman territory, by the next morning she would be able to reach the amazons. The battered warrior had managed to set up a small camp, eating wasn't a matter of importance, the matter was trying to keep warm. The fire was only small and wouldn't last the night. And the tall woman had only taken a thin fur coat with her, which was already wrapped tightly around her.

She was starting to lose weight and muscle. There were dark rings under her eyes and the cuts weren't healing too well either.

"You look cold."

Ares materialized and sat down next to her. The Destroyer of Nations smiled slightly and leaned into the warmth that he offered. Ares, happy with her reaction, put his arms around her.

"Why are you here?" Xena asked, her usually lovely voice was cracked and barely a whisper, she had caught laryngitis, and a nasty case too.

Ares just held her closer, "To help you."

"Did I ask you for help?"

"No."

"Then why are you here?" Xena coughed weakly.

"Because you are in terrible shape. Ever since I have meet you, you have not been this torn apart." Ares paused to see her reaction. Xena's madness faded in and out at times, and you had no idea what she was feeling like until you spoke to her, "I just want to save you."

"I didn't ask to be saved."

"Sure you did. The moment that you accepted my warmth…"

Xena laughed, "Always the egotist."

Ares sighed, "Xena you are going to die if you don't accept my help. Do you here me? Die."

The Destroyers eyes glinted, "Well I'll just have to look forward to it as a new experience won't I?"

The god nodded slightly, "I suppose you will."

Xena laughed, her laugh was almost insane, "Now, I'll give you two options my little war god, you can piss off, or we can do this the hard way and you can die."
Ares stood up and moved away from her, "Then you leave me no choice." He paused, "I'll miss you Xena."


Anat paced around Xena's tent. She was still in Xena's form, she liked it there, it was a good body, very strong, very stable. It could take almost anything and still live. Unlike her own frail figure that could be knocked over with just a small gust of wind.

A short lean man made his way into her tent.

"My Queen, the Amazons are falling back behind a hill about three kilometers away." He informed her, fear was thick in his voice as he spoke to her, "The Gauls have also been spotting headed this way. Hercules is leading them."

The tall goddess didn't move, although her body tensed, this couldn't be a good thing. The Gauls favored justice above all other things, and if the son of Zeus was riding at their head, Anat could guarantee that he was not coming to join them. Worry clouded her mind, this was not how it was supposed to be happening.

"I want you post guards around our perimeter, I want to know the minute that someone is within a kilometer of us. If there is a single amazon seen headed towards the Gaul army, or a Gaul headed towards the Amazons, I want them killed straight away." Anat stopped for a minute to catch her breath, "And if you see a lone rider, who looks like me coming, I want her killed on the spot, no mercy, no torture, just kill her. And take as many men with you to kill this woman, she is dangerous. As dangerous as me."

The soldier bowed and rushed out. The goddess collapsed on the pile of cushions behind her. It was not meant to happen this way.

The warrior goddess picked a grape from the pile next to her and popped it into her mouth. As she chewed softly she wondered about what Xena was doing right now, was she even alive?

Not that it concern her at all, the chances that the Destroyer of Nations would get there anytime soon were very thin. And with her family imprisoned, Anat could play Xena like a flute.

Then there was the small matter of whether or not Xena actually cared about the husband and daughter that she had left in Alexandria. In all past experiences Xena didn't give a rats toss whether or not her family lived or died. The only family that she cared about was her mother and older brother, who had died. Caesar had taken the liberty of killing them after Xena killed his wife. It was a family vengeance kind of thing really.

Xena would make Anat's life hell if she managed to get to the amazons. Xena was a military genius; she could easily send Anat crying back to Egypt if she wanted to.
At all costs Xena had to be kept from reaching this area, even if it meant the death of her entire army.

Cleopatra was sitting in a corner, her face was buried in her hands, she sobbed and whimpered for her father. Her mother's guards had come in and taken him. Cleopatra knew what for, it could only be execution. She had struggled, tried to stop them taking her father. But to no avail. She had been knocked clean out and he had been dragged to his doom.
All that rang through Cleopatra's mind was her overwhelming hatred for her own mother. All the young girl wanted to do was find her stupid whore of a mother and slit her from gullet to gizzard. Knowing her she was probably off in a nice warm tent, with her god, Ares, and having the time of her bloody life…


Xena shivered in the cold. She wasn't feeling any better, her laryngitis was getting worse by the second, and her feet and hands were so cold that it was painful to move them, the fire was dimming and her once beautiful hair was matted and dread locking. She was hungry, starving in fact, and the gashes that were beginning to adorn her body were getting infected.

"Ares…" she rasped, her voice was barely even a whisper.

The handsome war god appeared in front of his Chosen. He took one good look at her and nearly fainted. He had never seen the warrior looking so bad, and probably never would again.

"What do you want Xena?"

Xena stopped for a minute, she could ask him for her, she could, and it wouldn't go any further than this clearing, "I just wanted to tell you… I don't want your help anymore… never again… I want you out of my life forever."

It took a moment to register, but when it did, the shock on Ares face was as clear as a summers night. He was stunned, "You want me gone?"

Xena nodded, "I'm going to live through the night Ares, and once I have done that, I think I will have proven to myself and everyone else that I am unstoppable."

Ares nodded, "Fine…"

And then he disappeared, the hurt still evident on his face.

Xena sighed, she hadn't really wanted to hurt him like that, she had just wanted to let him go softly.

The Destroyer of Nations curled up in a little ball, and wrapped the coat even tighter than it was before, her shining blue eyes looked into the tiny flames of the camp fire. She began to think, think about who she was, think about what she was deep inside herself. Was she really the invincible Warrior Queen of Egypt? Or was she just a woman, a woman with a family, a family that hated her, and no friends.

Nothing really did seem to make sense any more, not when Xena looked back on it any way. Everything had just been a huge pile of death and assassinations, political matters and empire building, there had been absolutely no time for Xena to sit down and reflect on what had happened to her over the past five or so years. What had started off as a good show of power turned out to be too much for her mind to handle.

And this is what had happened.

Where did the real Xena go? The young woman that had enjoyed the simple things in life? Climbing trees, dancing, singing and just having fun? How did she manage to vanish like that?

The raven haired woman smiled, maybe it was time for her to wake up and see what was really happening to her. Maybe she wasn't all that she had made herself out to be to all those millions of people. To her people she was a goddess, an invincible force not to be stopped, to Ares she was a child, fragile and precious, but to everyone else in the world she was an evil bitch that had more than likely killed a loved one.

Why did it all have to be so hard?

She stood up gingerly and walked into the forest, she looked around for a good tree. Her eyes twinkled as she found one. The Destroyer of Nations, using all the strength that she had left climbed it.

It was a tall tree, making for a hard climb, and Xena could feel her stomach twisting, both in hunger and nervousness, if she fell down, that would be it for her. But still she kept on going.
The top branch of the tree was pretty big, big enough for the Warrior Queen to stand on without worry of slipping. And as she stood there looking at the moon she threw her head back and laughed.

The warrior summed up all her courage, all of the voice that she had left…
"I'M QUEEN OF THE WORLD!" she screamed out as loud as she possibly could, her voice echoed through the trees and in the entire of the small valley.
Then she collapsed back down on the branch, "But I don't want to be…"

Illyandria bolted up, she was sweating. Birds around her sang merrily, keeping in tune to the wind around them. The girl looked around, worry clouded her face. She had to get back to the village.

She had been out on a morning ride when it had happened, some of Xena's men had been scouting through the forest. And they were headed straight for the fields, where the amazons grew all their grain. Illyandria had taken the liberty of making sure that they never got there. The young amazon had fought them as hard as she could, and she was winning, when t had happened.

Aiea, the amazon healer had come, and she had knocked Illyandria clean out with a large wooden plank. The trusted woman had said something before Illyandria went into Morpheus' realm, something about Solari…


"I'm sorry Illy, but she has to die you know. Not just Xena, but Solari too. They are all evil, all wrong, I just wish that you could see it as clearly as I could. By the time you wake up they will be dead. Then you can come back to the amazon village and live out your life as my second in command." She had moved in closer for this part of the speech, "They have to go to war Illy, and that is exactly what I am going to make them do. You and I… we'll take vengeance on Xena and Solari for what they have done to me."




It didn't make sense. What would have Solari done to make Aiea lose her cool like this? There was only one real answer, and that was that Aiea was totally and utterly insane. Nothing else seemed to make sense to the young amazon. She had to get back to the village, if Aiea was there now, Solari could well be dead.

Illy hauled herself up and looked around, she knew the landmarks very well. And the tree to her left, a burnt up sickly thing told her exactly where she was. The amazon village was exactly eight hundred meters away. A good five minute walk. But only a two minute run.

"Don't worry my queen, I am coming." She said softly and set off

To be continued



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