Chapter 6

It was shortly before dawn when Agenor returned to his village with his guests. With the light of the moon, he directed them to Kaleipus' hut, and knocked lightly on the door. Almost immediately, the door swung open. Kaleipus had not been able to sleep, and had finally decided to just get up and wait for his friend.

"Come in, come in. I'm so glad you got my message and were able to get here so quickly." The centaur leader moved away from the door, inviting his guests inside.

Ephiny entered first; she was not dressed in her ceremonial leathers as queen, but instead garbed as a warrior. Behind her paced a small centaur, only about one year old. Ephiny grabbed his hand, and led him to the one-eyed centaur. "Kaleipus, this is my son. Xenan, this is Kaleipus. He is leader of this Nation."

Xenan shyly hid behind his mother, but smiled when Kaleipus ruffled his hair.

"You are both welcome here. And Agenor, thank you for your help. We'll be leaving soon, but should be back in a few days time."

"Don't you want me to go with you? I would be more than happy to be a scout for you on the journey."

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea. I don't want Lorenz to think of us as a warring party, and I don't know how he is going to react to us when we arrive. Return home, my friend. And thank you again."

After Agenor left, the centaur leader turned to Ephiny. "I'm going to gather up what supplies we'll need. Why don't you go wake Gabrielle? She's through there," he indicated, pointing to a doorway. "Solan, my son, is with her."

Bringing Xenan with her, Ephiny found the two still curled up on the bed. The amazon knelt on the ground next to her friend, and gently brushed some stray strands of hair off her face. Gabrielle still had dark circles under her eyes, and Ephiny could only imagine what the bard had been through. Stroking her cheek, Ephiny whispered, "Gabrielle?" to the sleeping woman, and watched as the muscles around the woman's eyes began to twitch into wakefulness.

"Xena? Can't we sleep a little longer?" The bard finally opened her eyes. "Ephiny..? What are...oh!" She threw her arms around her friend and buried her face into the soft curly blonde hair of the amazon.

Ephiny rubbed her friend's neck as she comforted the hurting bard. "Gabrielle, it's time to go. Are you ready?"

The bard didn't answer; instead she just nodded her head up and down against the other woman's shoulder. She released her grasp on the amazon, and turned to Solan, kissing him on the cheek.

"Solan, honey, it's time to get up."

The boy sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes gently with his fingers. When he finally did open his eyes, the first thing he saw was a small centaur staring at him. "Solan, this is my friend Ephiny, and her son Xenan. We're all going to Lorenz' Nation."

After being caught staring at the boy, Xenan again hid behind his mother. Although he was being raised in both the Amazon's camp, and the camp of his father's relatives, he didn't know too many human children. This was the first boy he had ever met, and he didn't know what to expect. Solan looked friendly, but Xenan decided to let him make the first move.

Kaleipus entered the room. "Ready when you are."

The small group made its way to the stable. While Kaleipus saddled one of the village's horses, Gabrielle got Argo ready for the journey. She watched her eat an apple as she checked the saddlebags, and to see if they had enough provisions for the road. At last satisfied, she led the horse from the stall, and helped Solan into the saddle. Getting up behind the boy, she turned to see Kaleipus hand Xenan up to Ephiny on the stable horse's back. The little centaur was barely awake from having walked all night from his mother's village; Ephiny cradled him in her arms and settled him down for a nap.

The sun was just peeking over the edge of the horizon when Kaleipus led the small group out of his village.

"Xena?" Terek asked. "I'll be leaving soon. Are you...um..."

A raspy voice croaked, "Yes," in a barely audible tone. Xena's feet were so cold she could no longer feel them; her legs were buckled at the knees, most of her weight resting on the shackles at her wrists. She could now feel her arms and shoulders, because it seemed as if her shoulders were being dislocated from trying to hold her up. Her thoughts were not as clear either; she could not concentrate and it was harder and harder to enter the mental state where she could relax and recall specific details of events she shared with Gabrielle. She tried to lick her lips again, but it was a useless effort. The chains above her head jangled constantly from her shivering. Still, she refused to give in to her jailers. She desperately tried to call up images in her mind to take her away from her reality. The only thing that came to her was a vision of Gabrielle's face. The blue-green eyes looked at her fondly as she smiled quietly at Xena. Holding this picture in her mind, Xena worked to forget about the pain in her body as she waited for her trial.

Gabrielle and her friends only stopped once for a brief rest and to water the horses as they made their way to Lorenz' village. Again following the river, they reached the campsite before dusk where Solan had first found Xena and the bard. Even though Gabrielle wanted to push on immediately, Kaleipus called a halt to their journey so they could go through their plan one more time. Since he didn't want to go to war against his own kin, the leader hoped he could reach Lorenz through reason.

"Gabrielle, you're to stay hidden in the woods while we talk to Lorenz. I don't want him to think that the Amazon Queen would be another easy 'capture', and until I can find out what he's thinking, I want you safely out of sight. Ephiny will call out the signals to you to let you know if it's safe to come in, or if we need your help, ok?"

The bard nodded as Ephiny nudged her horse closer to Gabrielle, holding out a large saddlebag.

"What's this?" Gabrielle asked, and took the bag from her friend. Opening it up, she saw her queen's mask wrapped carefully with a blanket to protect the delicate feathers.

"Just in case we need the Queen to help us out, Gabrielle."

The young blonde squeezed her friend's arm in gratitude. "Thank you."

"And if you hear this call," Ephiny continued, as she cupped her hand to her mouth and made a distinctive bird whistle, "that means we need you as Queen. This call," the regent said as she imitated a different bird, "means Gabrielle, Xena's friend is needed."

"All right, let's get going," Kaleipus said and headed down the trail to the village. The others followed quietly behind, lost in their own thoughts and concerns. When the centaur saw the trail widening, he stopped and helped both women from their mounts. "Gabrielle, you'll wait here with the horses. Ephiny, Solan, and Xenan and I will try talking some sense into my cousin first. Hopefully he can still see reason and what's good for the Centaur Nations."

"Good luck,' the bard whispered as they walked away, and sent a heartfelt prayer to Artemis.

Xena could barely keep her head up. She felt so numb from the cold that she couldn't feel anything at all. Only the constant thirst reminded her that she was still alive, still conscious. Javet had been silent all day, not speaking a word to her. She didn't know if she should be grateful or not for the quiet; any noise might help her stay awake, but the silence made her lose track of time. She couldn't remember if Javet had just arrived, or would be leaving soon. For all she knew, the guards could be arriving and leaving at different times to confuse her and keep her off balance. She thought her trial would be soon, but even that idea seemed hazy at the moment. Taking a deep breath, she tried once more to focus her thoughts. A picture of Gabrielle entered her mind, and she struggled to hold onto it while she shivered in the damp cell.

Kaleipus and his group were spotted quickly as they entered the village. The centaurs recognized Solan, and most knew Kaleipus, but the woman and the little centaur were strangers to the camp. Nobody challenged the group as they made their way to Lorenz' hut.

The red haired centaur was already awake when he heard the commotion from the square. He opened his door to find his cousin and the others on the stoop. "Well, Solan, it seems you brought your uncle here to try to save your 'friend'."

"Yes, he did. He knows injustice when he sees it. Why don't we go inside and discuss it, Cousin?"

"Her trial is tomorrow, and we should see justice then." Lorenz would not back down to his older cousin; he was the leader here, and he would define what justice was. Spotting a familiar face heading towards the jail in the crowd, he shouted, "Terek!" He caught the centaur's eye and motioned him over to join the group. "Terek, it seems we have to convince my cousin here that the Destroyer of Nations is evil. Let's all go inside."

The village hummed with rumors and questions about the meeting going on in Lorenz' home. A few centaurs dared to stray close to the building in order to eavesdrop but little could be heard. Those that did hear bits of conversation made their own rumors to spread around.

"Lorenz," Kaleipus started, "this is Ephiny and her son Xenan. Ephiny was married to a good friend of mine, who died needlessly due to ignorance between men and centaurs. It seems to me that you are doing the same thing."

"Cousin," the red haired centaur snorted in laughter. "If your friend died needlessly, the woman will not. She has done more to harm the Centaur Nations than any other person. You are witness to that fact. This trial is justified and long over-due."

Kaleipus shook his head. "The Destroyer of Nations is no more. Xenan wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Xena. The warrior helped deliver a member of our Nation. Is killing one woman important enough to destroy the alliance we have with the Amazons?"

"A nice story. But it's only your word against mine. And what do I care about the Amazons? There are no Amazons in my territory."

Realizing that there would be no reasoning with his headstrong cousin, the older centaur turned to Ephiny. "Regent?" He nodded his suggestion to call the Queen, and turned back to Lorenz shaking his head. "If you only knew what you were doing..."

"I know exactly what I'm doing! And it's something that should have been done long ago!" The leader glanced at Terek, but the young centaur would not look him in the eyes. In disbelief, he realized that the prisoner had somehow gotten Terek to respect her, to sympathize with her. That thought alone made his anger increase another notch. He watched as the strange Amazon opened the door to his hut and gave a brief whistle. "What's this supposed to prove?" he demanded, hands clenched at his side.

"I want you to meet one more person before you seal our fate. You must reconsider!"

Lorenz snorted in disgust at his duped cousin.

Gabrielle was going through a mind clearing exercise that Xena had taught her when she heard a whistle. Unfortunately, it was Ephiny's first whistle, the one that meant Queen Gabrielle was needed. She put on her mask, and walked purposely into the village.

When the centaurs saw yet another strange woman enter their village, a new round of rumors and whispers broke out. No one stood in her way as she walked directly to Lorenz' hut to join the group already there.

The Queen was grateful that the mask hid her eyes from Lorenz. Inside, her heart was beating painfully fast, and she had to struggle not to let her hands shake. This was the centaur who had her lover, and her life was in his hands. She knew she had to be strong for all of them.

Barely glancing at the small woman, Lorenz turned to Kaliepus. "And who is this? This little person is going to be the one to stop me from serving justice to the prisoner?"

Ephiny spoke up. "This is Queen Gabrielle, Queen of all the Amazon Nations."

Lorenz laughed. "Again with the Amazons? Cousin, I've told you, I don't care about them. The trial is set for dawn tomorrow. You and all your Amazon friends are welcome to attend..."

Kaliepus cut him off. "Well, if you don't care about a war between our two Nations, then how about a civil war?"

"What are you talking about?" the younger centaur scoffed.