Disclaimer: Xena Warrior Princess and its characters are the properties of Renaissance Pictures, Studios USA and MCA/Universal. This text is a strictly non-commercial piece of fan fiction inspired by and celebrating this wonderful show.This is general fan fiction intended to read as an episode, not really as a piece of literature.
Spoiler alert: The plot takes place between season 5 and season 6, that is between the episodes 5.112 (Motherhood) and 6.113 (Coming Home). It does contain references to major events in season 5, but there are no spoilers for season 6.
Sex & violence: Some violence, but not very much by XWP standards.
Don't miss out on Christopher and Sofia's site The Chakram Arcs! http://medlem.spray.se/chakramarcs
Stroke of Genius
by Christopher Härnryd
"As you know, Aeschylus, my appreciation of your plays is not based upon friendship alone, but stems from the distinctive quality of your writing."
They were walking away from the theatre in the middle of the night, dim noises of evening revelry already beginning to fade as the city of Athens slowly drifted into sleep. They were both older men with beards, but the one who had spoken kept his beard short and was wearing a dark red robe and a golden circlet on his head, while the other one evidently had refrained from shaving for most of his life. He wore a black mantle over a greyish robe and waited with lifted eyebrows for the rest of the statement.
"But it is purely as one friend to another," the speaker continued with such perfect diction that he was occasionally hard to understand, "Indeed, as one close friend to another, that I would venture this one comment or rather inquiry…"
"Er, yes?" Aeschylus had by contrast a squeaky voice and treated most consonants except "s" as optional extras.
"Immediately after Orestes slaying of Clytaimestra and Aigistos, is it really necessary to have that huge custard-pie fight?"
"Of course! The audience expects it."
They rounded a corner and passed a tavern from which laughter and light spilled out into the dark street.
"I wonder; it is a tragedy after all."
"I could use black custard."
Aeschylus stopped and put a friendly hand on the other one’s shoulder, thus halting him too.
"You know, Euripides, I think you take this stuff far to seriously. Let’s go for a drink, huh?"
"It is still my firm opinion that your play would benefit to no end…"
"Excuse me," said a female voice and the two playwrights turned as one.
A young woman emerged from the indistinct darkness between two houses on the side. She wore a white dress of billowing fabric, a thin girdle glittering immediately below her bosom. She was quite beautiful and the initial suggestion of chubbiness was only a result of her round face and clothing. Her blond hair was set in a conch-like arrangement, but strands of hair had begun to tear free and hung on one side of the face.
She had a knife in her hand.
Euripides and Aeschylus tensed and their automatic smiles froze, but she immediately reversed her knife so that she held the small blade.
"I’m sorry, so sorry, I didn’t mean to threaten you. You are Aeschylus, aren’t you?"
Placated by the admiration in her voice, Aeschylus relaxed and his smile broadened:
"That’s me. And this is my good friend and colleague Euripides," he said and added generously:"You might’ve heard of him."
"Who hasn’t?" she asked rhetorically and equally admiringly. "But I have a gift for you first, Aeschylus the bard."
She shyly held out her knife, hilt first, to him. Not one to spurn a gift from a beautiful admirer, he nevertheless looked at it first. It was bound with black leather strips and adorned with blue gems, somewhat like pearls in shape but translucent and glittering. The pommel was a female head wrought in silver. He stretched out his hand and took the knife slowly.
"Why, this is the prettiest thing I…what? What?"
Euripides watched in amazement as Aeschylus raised the dagger, pointed it to his chest and buried the silver blade there to its hilt. Shouting confused denial, Euripides grabbed his friend’s hand to wrest it from the knife, but Aeschylus’ hand was already limp. Automatically catching him as he collapsed, he then grabbed the knife and jerked it out. Aeschylus was coughing is last breath and shook his head repeatedly:"I didn’t…"
Then all strength left his body. It had happened in a matter of seconds. The stunned Euripides looked at the drenched knife in his hand and then at the woman. She had a large handkerchief in her hands know and was dabbing her eyes.
"It’s for the best," she said and snivelled a little.
Euripides, master of words, could not find anything to say as he in disbelief raised the knife and stabbed himself in the heart.
"I know it’s for the best," the woman repeated as both bards lay dead at her sandaled feet. She knelt and retrieved the knife from Euripides and planted a kiss on his forehead. Then she rose and walked back into the shadows. Behind her, the laughter continued for a few more moments before crystallizing into screams and shocked exclamations.
The bald innkeeper put down bread, cheese and wooden mugs on the table before Xena, Gabrielle and Eve. Then he continued by placing, before Gabrielle only, a bowl of soup, a chunk of meat, a tin plate with a couple of fish and some eggs and an apple. Lastly, he held out a sealed scroll which she accepted with a puzzled look.
"Oh, no. Don’t eat that," said Xena mischievously.
Gabrielle commented by letting out the shortest of laughs, more like a cough than anything else and glared at her before returning her gaze to the scroll. She turned it and looked at the seal.
"I don’t know if I’d call it style or greed to give you the bill in advance as a sealed scroll," she said.
"No bill," said the innkeeper as he returned with a bowl of vegetables and a plate of squid.
"No squid," Gabrielle said. "Please. What is it then?"
"I’ve no idea. This guy came along with this and paid me to keep it here until someone matching your description popped up."
He leaned down and whispered in a mock conspiring tone:
"I think it’s a letter."
He left with the squid. Xena and Eve began eating their bread and cheese.
"Go on!" urged Xena between mouthfuls. "We’ll be here all day if you don’t open it. Whose seal is it?"
"I’m not sure," Gabrielle answered and stared at it. Two closed eyes.
She shrugged, took a large bite from an egg and opened the scroll. Her chewing stopped almost immediately and she read the whole content. Then she distractedly rolled up the scroll again and sat staring at nothing with her chin resting on her raised hand.
"Well?" asked Xena, her meal finished, and put down an emptied mug.
"It’s from Homer," Gabrielle said, straightening up. ‘He has heard that we’re alive and wants to meet us. Meet me. He wants to apologize for something and put things to right."
"Homer?" said Eve. "The bard who wrote about Ulysses and Troy? You know him?"
"I met him long ago, at the Bard school in Athens. So he did write about Ulysses and Troy?"
"Yes! I wasn’t much for books in Rome but you couldn’t help picking up some things. His is the definite account of the Trojan war and the adventures of Ulysses. All my teachers used to go on about how he must’ve been in the middle of it to be able to retell it like that."
"Well," said Xena with a slight smile. "We sure didn’t see him at Troy or on Ulysses’ ship. I can guess what Homer wants to apologize for."
"You think he found my scrolls and published them as his own?" Gabrielle exclaimed in disbelief. "I know him. He’d never do anything like that!"
Xena leaned forward over the table and patted her on the shoulder:
"Lighten up! We’re on a forgiveness tour, remember? Why not give him the chance to explain and give you the credit you deserve?"
"I suppose…"
"And while you’re at it, do finish your meal will you?"
Gabrielle grabbed a fish and viciously bit its head off.
On route to the town of Lamia, they had taken a break for lunch in a meadow. Eve was packing foodstuff back into a saddlebag, but was distracted for a moment by a magnificent spider web between two trunks. A shy and fleeting smile on her lips, she returned her attention to the saddlebag, but glanced back at the web almost immediately.
A group of armed men was running towards her, looking like scuttling bugs between the strands of silk.
"Xena!"
Xena jumped to her feet, nearly knocking over Gabrielle who sat next to her. Gabrielle followed nimbly, looking this way and that while trying to find the cause for alarm. It was not hard.
The men came running into the meadow, not armoured but waving swords and knives. As Eve retreated, Xena rushed to stand before her. Gabrielle pulled out her sais and ran to stand next to Eve as well. She was now protected by a living triangle of Xena, Gabrielle and a horse.
As one, the attacking group veered to one side and attacked Gabrielle.
"Murderer!" a man yelled and tried to sweep her head off. She dodged and straightened once the blade had passed, caught the man’s wrist in her sai and twisted it, causing him to stumble headlong to the side. An attacker waving two knives was caught in the chest by a firm kick and fell backwards. A third one with a wicked-looking curved knife engaged her in a quick sequence of cuts and parries, knife to sai.
Xena, unused to being ignored in battle, kicked the legs out from under one man running past.
"Eve! Stay behind me…"
Her voice trailed off as she realized that everyone was attacking Gabrielle and only Gabrielle.
"GABRIELLE!"
She leapt into the fray, dragging one man aside and elbowing him in the face for good measure and stabbed another lightly in the neck with two fingers, paralysing him.
Gabrielle was fighting furiously, whirling and kicking high, blocking blade after blade with her sais, sometimes managing a twist that sent the sword or knife flying from its wielder’s grasp. When she momentarily had locked weapons with a red-haired brute, another attacker managed to hit the back of her head with a knife-pommel. Temporarily stunned she blinked and swayed on her feet, dropping one of the sais as the brute yanked his sword back. He raised it with a triumphant roar in unison with the backstabber who reversed his knife to plunge the blade into Gabrielle’s back.
Xena’s fist cracked the red-headed one’s arm and his battle cry turned to howling when she grasped his sword hand and used it as her own to strike above Gabrielle and deflect the descending knife.
Gabrielle crouched and looked around quickly, fully conscious once more. She struck out with her remaining sai, reversed in her hand but evidently painful enough when it connected with the backstabber’s stomach, making him double over and gasp.
Xena tossed the brute aside and kicked him further away. There did not appear to be anyone left in fighting condition among the men who had attacked them.
"I’m all right," Gabrielle said, but had no choice but to submit to Xena’s rapid examination of the back of her head.
"But I wonder why they attacked us," she added and straightened up as Xena let go of her head and shoulders.
"So do I," Xena answered. "Which reminds me…"
She knelt by a panting and purple-faced man.
"You’ve, let’s see, about five seconds left to live unless you tell me why you attacked."
"She!" He gasped. "She murdered…!"
"I’m listening…"
"Mother!" Eve interrupted from behind Xena.
Without comment Xena pinched his neck again, releasing him from death’s door.
"Well?" she asked him.
Gulping down air and massaging his aching head, the interrogated got a cunning look in his face and remained silent. Xena picked up a fallen dagger and flicked the dirt off it with a tiny movement. Then she grabbed his collar and leaned towards him:
"Five, four…"
"It was her!"
He pointed at Gabrielle.
"It was her what?"
"She killed Euripides! And Aeschylus."
Gabrielle looked as if hit by another pommel.
"What? But…is he dead? I didn’t, I…when?"
"You," said Xena after a glance towards her companion. "Listen to me carefully. Gabrielle did NOT kill EITHER of those gentlemen. If I thought you cared about such things, I’d prove it to you. Now, tell me all you know about their murder."
"Ask her."
"Three, two, one…"
They rode into the town of Lamia, its rich fields echoing the basking sun in colour.
After some inquires at a tavern - there was no inn anywhere in sight - they went to the next house.
Gabrielle knocked on the door, waited, exchanged shrugs with Xena and entered anyway. This startled a tall and thin man with a large nose. He had apparently been sleeping in a chair with a handkerchief on his face. The handkerchief floated gently to the floor, but the chair landed with a crash as the man jumped up and grabbed a stout club.
"Whoa! Take it easy!" Gabrielle said and showed her palms in a calming gesture.
The man eyed her suspiciously but appeared to note her muscular frame and that of Xena who entered the room, the pommel of her sword visible above her left shoulder.
"Well, you could’ve knocked," he said and lowered the club. "But no matter, can I offer you a room for two…three?"
Eve was just about visible behind Gabrielle and Xena.
"We’re looking for Homer," Gabrielle said. "Is he staying here?"
"Who’s asking?" was the frowning reply.
"I’m a friend of Homer. A colleague. He sent word that he wanted to see me."
"Oh. In that case, I’m happy to oblige. Down the corridor, second door to the left."
He pointed the way out of the small room where clumsy plaster imitations of famous statues lined the walls. They entered the corridor, reached the door in question and once again Gabrielle knocked. And, once again, the person inside failed to reply.
"Homer? It’s me, Gabrielle."
She knocked again.
"You’re sure he’s in?" Xena turned and asked the man with the club.
"Positive. He hasn’t left his room for days. Really into his work, that man…hey! Stop that!"
Xena ushered Gabrielle aside and yanked at the doorknob. When the door proved to be firmly locked, she stepped back and gave it a vicious kick. She was in the room before all splinters had landed, but Gabrielle was not far behind.
They stared.
And not at the flies that rose in an angry cloud.
Eve was putting a blanket over the corpse. They had put it in the bed for now. Xena was searching the room, opening and closing the window shutters, feeling the texture of the wooden planks that made up the walls. Gabrielle sat at the table, reading the text he had been writing. Soon, Xena was done and came to stand next to Gabrielle.
"Well," she said briskly. "No one could’ve entered the room and there’s nowhere to hide. And that thrust to the heart was expertly done. Death must’ve been immediate. No time for him to disperse with the weapon and there would’ve been blood all over the place if he’d tried."
Gabrielle looked at the rusty stains on the scroll in her hands, her face blank.
"He was changing it," she said softly.
Xena looked at her and Eve went to stand on Gabrielle’s other side.
"He was writing another beginning for his tale of Ulysses, mentioning my scroll as the original. But he was writing it at the time. Look! In mid sentence!"
She waved the scroll for them to see.
"I agree that he couldn’t have killed himself," Xena said. "But there are bloodstains on his right hand like you’d get if you’d stab someone’s heart."
"That’s right," Eve nodded.
Gabrielle looked from one to another and shook her head, a humourless smile on her lips.
"You two…"
"So," said Xena rather more sharply than she intended, before she continued in a moderate tone. "So, we’ve a fake suicide that wasn’t supposed to look like a fake suicide. That means a murderer with a twisted sense of humour or an even more twisted plan. And we’ve two bards in Athens dead in what seems to be a similar manner."
She paused.
"This could use some thinking."
Later, at the tavern.
"Gabrielle," asked Xena. "Did Homer have any enemies at the school in Athens?"
"I was only there for a few days. But enemies, no, none I knew of. And anyway, that was more than twenty-five years ago."
"Eve? Anything else on Homer from Augustus’ court?"
Eve shook her head, holding her cup tightly in both hands.
"No. But as far as I know, it was the tales of Ulysses and Troy that he was famous for."
Gabrielle sighed.
The tavern keeper came with a bowl of soup and bread for Gabrielle.
"Sad business," he said, shaking his head. "Now Homer too, this is definitely getting out of hand."
"What do you know about it?" asked Xena.
"Well, all these dead bards, that’s not helping our culture now, is it?"
"Keep talking."
"Haven’t you heard? Last week, Euripides, Aeschylus killed on the street and Aristophanes killing himself in the bath. Yesterday Pindaros committed suicide. And now poor Homer. His Ulysses, now THAT’S a story, that is."
Three pairs of eyes stared at him and he excused himself and left them.
"Well," said Gabrielle. "Someone is targeting the bards of Greece."
Catching Xena’s eyes, she burst into fake elation:
"You don’t believe someone will come after me? Those bards, they are, they were famous, masters of storytelling."
"Gabrielle, so are you. And anyway, these are the one’s we’ve heard of. Who knows how many lesser bards who’ve died?"
"Thank you," Gabrielle answered wryly and tore off a piece of bread and dipped in the soup.
"The question is," Xena continued after a few moments." Who have the means and the motive to kill in this manner?"
"A group of assassins?" Eve volunteered. "Or a god."
"Maybe," Xena answered with a touch of impatience. "But who and why?"
Just then they all three heard a familiar name cutting through the din of conversation in the inn:
"…is Gabrielle. At the table with your fellow Amazon and the Hestian."
Gabrielle peered at the door where a group of women stood listening to the tavern keeper. He was making gestures in her direction. She sighed and turned to Xena:
"I’ve been an Amazon queen at least three times, and just for once I…"
There was another interruption, louder this time.
"My dear," said a raised female voice. "You are very much mistaken. We are not Amazons."
With some apprehension, the trio turned their full attention to the speaker. She was smiling with teeth whiter than the stars and peculiar staring eyes. Her light brown hair looked fantastically healthy and vibrant but seemed firmly fixed in place. Her dress was red, trimmed with gold and she held a tiny golden scourge in her hand like a banana she was about to eat. Behind her were other women, largely obscured by her, although it was possible to make out a feathered shield. But one was clearly visible at her side. She wore a top and a short skirt in blue silk and black studded leather, as well as high boots with military-style steel armour plating. Long black hair split in the middle framed a very pale face with heavy black makeup. In her hands she held a bizarre instrument like a megalomaniac lyre.
She took a step forward and struck a chord. A whining growl resounded through the room. At that same moment Gabrielle realised that the feathered shield was a pair of feathered wings. The speaker continued:
"We are the Muses."
They all entered in a kind of dance, their body language differing wildly but all moving as one with the slow, rhythmic music that suddenly was everywhere.
A short, blonde, with an impertinent nose as the one noteworthy thing about her pretty if somewhat bland face. She was of the same height as Gabrielle and wore her hair cut at similar length, but her arms showed no signs of sai-practise. Rather, she carried a tiny silver flute in her hands and blew high tones like the essence of singing birds. She wore a simple white tunic and a thin scarf, also white, draped around her neck.
Next, the image of a guardian angel complete with wings, but carrying a bundle of scrolls in her arms and a look of distain in her dark face.
A sensuous contrast then, a woman moving like kelp in a stream, a large red flower tucked into her dark, wavy hair, her crimson dress reaching the floor but at the same time showing lots of leg. She held a tambourine above her head, which jingled a slow and steady rhythm. She was humming a tune as well.
After her danced a girl with freckled skin and red hair that was very curly and very short. She wore a tunic where multi-coloured floral patterns were mixed with what looked like real flowers. She was giggling as if remembering something very funny.
Then came the white robed woman who had given Aeschylus and Euripides her knife, which she now wore tucked into her girdle.
Last, a woman moved as if shyly tagging along. Her mouse-coloured hair combed to one side in an unflattering manner, she sucked her lips nervously, but nevertheless wore a low-cut black dress that clung to the outlines of a shapely body. Her hands clutched an object somewhat like the skeleton of a ball made out of metal circles.
All the while, the somewhat armoured woman was playing the extravagant lyre, causing it to keen and undulate in a most unusual manner but somehow blending with the other music to an otherworldly ambience.
Staff and guests, Gabrielle and Eve sat entranced, some swaying with the music, others smiling broadly, a few sighing deeply with faraway looks in their eyes.
Leading the way was the woman with the scourge and the staring eyes, her sights set on Gabrielle.
She halted, cross-eyed, with the tip of Xena’s sword resting on the bridge of her nose. The music silenced, but the other Muses began fanning out until they stood in a semi-circle, facing the standing Warrior Princess and glancing at Gabrielle. The latter shook her head as if to dispel a dream and was quickly on her feet, sais in hands. Eve made as if to grasp a knife on the table but halted her hand and closed her eyes briefly. She remained seated.
"You touch Gabrielle or Eve, you die."
Xena spoke calmly but totally without humour.
"Xena dear, we are the Muses, we bring inspiration, not death."
"Except for the last few weeks. Am I correct?"
"Yes, I am coming to that. But we have an offer for all three of you."
She stepped back and spread her arms in emphasis. Xena didn’t follow but moved her sword slowly in an arc.
"Xena," whispered Gabrielle. "There are only eight of them and there are nine Muses."
"I know. Watch your back."
"Calliope is… elsewhere," the Muse said. "I am coming to that too. Now, can we please speak with you?"
"Seems to me you already are," Xena said without lowering her sword. "Get it over with."
"Such sad paranoia," the Muse answered. "But, understandable, I suppose. Now, I am Polyhymnia, the Muse of hymns and sacred chants. Thalia here is the Muse of comedy."
The girl in the flowery gown made an extravagant curtsey.
"The winged one is Clio, Muse of history. Next to her is Melpomene, Muse of tragedy."
Xena’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at the knife in Melpomene’s girdle. Polyhymnia hastened on:
"Erato in red, an understudy of Aphrodite, she is the Muse of love songs. Urania with the globe is the Muse of astronomy. Euterpe with the flute is the Muse of poetry…"
"And music!" Euterpe added with surprising vehemence.
"…and Terpsichore, Muse of dance, and some would say, music."
The lyre growled. Euterpe glared.
"LaDIES!" Polyhymnia cautioned.
Xena flipped back her sword and let it rest on her shoulder.
"What do you have to offer?" she asked. "That you don’t kill me and I don’t kill you?"
"Nooo," Polyhymnia answered, "but that would be nice too. No, our offer is for Gabrielle and Eve."
"Really? I’ll pass it on to them," Xena said with a raised eyebrow.
"No Xena," Gabrielle said and went to stand next to her. "It’s all right."
Eve followed as well.
"Gabrielle, we want you to become a Muse like us."
Gabrielle’s eyes became as round as her mouth. She was momentarily speechless.
"And you Eve, will have to die, but…"
And that was as far as Polyhymnia got before Xena slammed her fist into her face, hurling her into Melpomene. As they fell to the floor, Xena whirled her sword and simultaneously drew her Chakram, a feral grin on her lips.
"Wait!" cried Thalia. "We’ll resurrect her at once!"
"What?" exclaimed Xena, freezing her pose but for the sword that completed one more circle.
"Please hear us out," Polyhymnia panted as she struggled to her feet, accepting Urania’s helping hand with ill grace and grimacing while fighting to get enough air to continue.
"The Olympian reign is at an end," said winged Clio in a smug contralto. "But the annihilation of every divinity belonging to it is in no way necessary. The death of you, Eve, will end the prophecy and allow the surviving deities to work in peace for the common good."
"But Thalia speaks the truth," Polyhymnia said even as she touched her cheek gingerly. "If Gabrielle agrees to become a Muse, we will have the power to bring Eve back to life."
Then she glanced around at the few remaining patrons of the tavern who sat listening with open mouths and wide ears.
"Let us continue this conversation elsewhere."
She made as if to touch Xena but thought better of it and indicated the door with a smile.
"Shall we?"
The sky was full of clouds erupting with twilight colours as a number of extraordinary women stopped on a gentle slope a spear’s throw from Lamia.
"We are not like the gods," Polyhymnia said, while looking at the setting sun. "Gods are natural forces, states of being, primitive emotions."
She turned towards Xena, Gabrielle and Eve:
"We are like you. The high arts that no sunset however striking can reproduce, that no animal can comprehend. All that is beautiful in the human mind, that is us."
"Well," Xena mused. "Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re not as powerful as the gods either. And this talk about resurrecting someone…I know how hard that is, even for a real god."
"Like Ares," Polyhymnia nodded. "Clio hid behind a pillar during the battle."
"Smart move," Xena commented.
Clio snorted.
"But if it cost Ares his immortality to revive two people…" Gabrielle began.
"Not quite," Polyhymnia interrupted. "It cost him his immortality to revive two people against the wishes of the queen of the gods, Athena at the time. Raising the dead is costly but not usually dangerous to a god, provided no other god objects. But, as I pointed out, we are not gods."
"No," Melpomene added with a tear glistening on her cheek. "Resurrecting even one will drain a Muse of immortality and life alike, leaving only the naked soul to linger on the shores of the river Styx."
"Let me guess," Xena sneered. "Calliope is the lucky volunteer."
"She will be soon," Polyhymnia answered with a serene smile. "Once all the great bards of Greece are dead…"
"Yes, about that…" Xena interrupted. "If you think we’ll allow you to kill anyone else, or let these murders go unpunished, you’ve a lot to learn."
"Officially, their deaths were suicides. And their popularity will soar due to this," Clio observed coldly.
"Suicides, huh?" Xena asked. "Did they have even a remote fighting chance?"
"None. None at all," exclaimed Melpomene. "Only another Muse could have stopped the impulse once the dagger was in their hands."
"Their lives were finite to begin with," Clio added. "In this way their demise serves a useful purpose for posterity."
"No!" exclaimed Eve. "You haven’t got the right to decide whose death is useful and whose isn’t. I’ve learnt that much."
"Please," said Polyhymnia, waving her hand in dismissal. "Preach to the flock and not to the shepherds."
"Baah!"
"Shut up, Thalia. Now, dear Gabrielle, you have not given us an answer yet. We understand the need for contemplation, but we would like your answer soon."
"Right," said Gabrielle, still somewhat hazy. "And, just out of curiosity, exactly what Muse would I be?"
"Weeell, we do have somewhat loose boundaries between our areas of responsibility, but your main task would be to replace Calliope as Muse of epic stories. That is your field of expertise, wouldn’t you say?"
Gabrielle licked her lips and nodded once slowly:
"I’ll think about it."
"And you, Xena. The decision concerning Eve is in your hands. Even if she decides to humour us, we know it will come to naught if you interfere."
"It will," Xena agreed and folded her arms.
"Just consider: we are offering a brief moment of death for a lifetime of peace afterwards. Would you not rather live without having to worry about hostile divinities every day, every night? And would not Eve prefer that too? Then you could devote your efforts to other things."
The evening was lit for an instant by the kaleidoscope of eight departing godlings.
"Why can’t they accept that their time is over?" Eve asked of the night.
"People seldom do," Xena answered and turned to go back into the town. "That’s why we…Gabrielle!"
Gabrielle blinked rapidly a couple of times before answering:
"What is it?"
"What do you mean by that look on your face?" Xena asked, clearly vexed.
"I…what look?"
"I can’t believe you’re considering their offer! They’ve killed all those bards, they’re killing one of their own and they’re offering to kill my daughter!"
Gabrielle turned towards Xena and looked at Eve as well:
"Xena. You know I’ll do anything to protect Eve. This plan they’re following, it’s…sick. But you have to give me a few moments to come to terms with the fact that the Muses asked me to join them."
Xena’s expression softened. She cocked her head, the shadow of a sad smile on her lips.
"It’s like when Ares began tempting you all those years ago," Gabrielle continued and paused.
"But there’s one other thing. What if you fight with the Muses and kill them? What then?"
Xena was silent.
"They’re right, you know."
"Are they?" Xena asked and raised an eyebrow.
"They are all that is beautiful in the human mind. What if you kill them? What if you kill the dreams of us all?"
Xena straightened, and the shadows of the evening took root in her face.
Faint, blue light from moon and stars filtered into the room through the window. Small particles of dust floated gently in the pale beams.
Suddenly, something disturbed the tiny motes, causing them to rush and swirl like fish caught in a current. The light increased and a multitude of tiny stars lit up in the room, faint, but together forming a human shape. As quickly as they had appeared, as quickly the stars darkened and died, but in their place someone stood.
And Xena rolled out of her bed, swept the feet out from under the newcomer with a horizontal kick and was firmly on her feet as the unknown person fell with a yelp and a metallic bang.
This awakened Gabrielle who sat up in the double bed and clutched her and Xena’s blanket to her bosom, more out of defensive instinct than modesty. Eve awakened as well on her narrow bed at the other end of the room, but out of fatalism or drowsiness made no move.
Xena kicked at a round metallic object with the side of her bare foot, making it bounce against the wall. She caught it in her hand as it rebounded and held it level with her face as she glanced down at the visitor.
"I’m sorry," the visitor panted. "Please don’t break it, please don’t kill me!"
"Stand up, Urania," Xena ordered.
Rubbing her leg, the Muse obeyed, clumsily in her tight dress.
"I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m so sorry…"
"Fine," Xena interrupted. "What do you want?"
Urania gulped for air, hesitated, took another breath, hesitated again, and then blurted out:
"You’ve got to stop Polyhymnia and rescue Calliope!"
The following silence was only broken by Gabrielle getting out of the bed with the blanket wrapped around her.
"What’s your angle, Urania?" Xena asked.
Gabrielle lit a candle, replacing the ghostly blue half-light of the night with warmer colours.
"I care for my sisters, both of them. I don’t want Calliope to die, and I want Polyhymnia to live too. But her plan is, is, dangerous. She wants us to become the new Olympian gods."
"By killing people?" Gabrielle asked.
"No. By worship. Polyhymnia says there are empty niches now and if we act fast, we can pick up the dropped portfolios."
"But you don’t want that," Xena stated. "Why not?"
"We’ve tried it. Calliope tried it. She was worshiped once, and…it didn’t work out."
"But Polyhymnia thinks she can avoid Calliopes mistakes," Xena mused. "Whatever they were. Do you know why?"
Urania nodded, a furrow between her eyes and a helpless smile on her mouth:
"She’s the expert, after all, the Muse of religious poetry. She thinks she can handle anything her worshipers might do."
Her smile disappeared.
"I must go. The others might notice my absence."
Immediately she started to dissolve into a tiny cluster of stars.
"Wait!" Xena interrupted sharply. "You must go where?"
"Parnassus," came an echoing and quickly fading reply.
The stars died.
"Thanks for taking us along," Xena muttered.
Eve turned towards them then, but shut her eyes and appeared to drift into sleep instantly, as if nothing in this room concerned her in any way. Gabrielle glanced at her but turned her attention to Xena and padded up to her. Xena was staring at Urania’s point of departure, the metal ball firm held firmly in her hand.
"Xena, what is it?"
"Some toy of Urania’s. Probably the map of the universe or something else very useful to us."
"I don’t mean the ball."
Xena turned to look at Gabrielle. With like amounts of affection and annoyance she said:
"I’m fine, Gabrielle. Just fine."
Gabrielle hesitated but continued:
"It’s just that, there was a time when you wouldn’t have pulled a sword at someone wanting to talk to you."
"You’re right," Xena nodded with a bitter tone. "That was just before all the gods started to hunt my child."
Gabrielle glanced at Eve, but when she looked back, Xena’s eyes were steadily locked on Gabrielle’s. For a few seconds they stared at each other. Then Xena deliberately closed her eyes and opened them slowly again, the steel gone from her gaze.
"You are right," she repeated with resignation and something like sorrow.
She sat down on the bed and let the ball roll out of her hand. It dropped to the floor. Gabrielle followed but remained standing.
"That day on the beach, when it was over and you and Eve were alive and the gods were dead, I felt a kind of peace I hadn’t felt for…I don’t know how long."
Silence. Then:
"Even when those men tried to kill you, I mean, I was angry and even if I knew you could take care of yourself, I feared for you. But that was just anger and fear in the heat of a battle."
She drew a deep breath and held it. When she let it out, she smiled briefly without mirth:
"I guess the Muses brought it all back to me."
Gabrielle sat down beside her and put a hand on Xena’s left shoulder. Xena put her own right hand on top of Gabrielle’s. As Gabrielle snuggled closer and let the side of her head rest on top of Xena’s hand, Xena glanced at her.
"I’ll be a little bit more relaxed," she said to the blonde hair on her shoulder.
The hair stirred slightly.
"Do you promise?"
Xena pulled out her hand from under Gabrielle’s head and grabbed the hair, gently.
"Yup."
"Was I right?"
"I told you twice already. Don’t push it."
The next morning, Gabrielle stumbled on the metal ball as she struggled out of bed. Her landing and the crash of the overturned chair were heard for several blocks.
Polyhymnia hummed to herself as she waved a blue pillow in the air in front of the prisoner. Although the surroundings had little of prison over them, being the end of a wide corridor liberally decorated with pillars, vaults, flowerpots and windows with at most webs of filigree, the prisoner was indeed a prisoner. She sat with her back towards a massive pillar, her arms spread and manacled. Her hair was dark red and curly, hanging down over her face but quite short in the neck. She wore an open jacket in pale leather with lots of pockets out of which tiny scrolls, pens and even inkhorns jutted. Closest to the her body, she wore a long white dress and low boots in the same leather as the jacket.
"Are you sure you don’t need a pillow?" asked Polyhymnia.
The prisoner raised her head and glared through the hair.
"I sing of Polyhymnia, deaf as well as mad and likely to one day find the largest pen in the world stuffed up her…"
The voice was trembling with barely controlled fury. Polyhymnia smiled beautifully and sat down on her knees.
"Calliope, sister dear. I only want you to be as comfortable as possible during your final days."
Calliope banged the back of her head against the stone pillar and then stared straight ahead. Polyhymnia put down the pillow, leaned forward and pushed away the hair from Calliope’s face. Unmoving, with clenched jaw muscles, Calliope let it happen. Polyhymnia continued in a lower voice:
"Come now. You will accept this in time. As your bards die, your essence weakens. It does not die, I know. But I also know that you are a Muse at heart. There is one thing you love more than immortality itself. You will assume your responsibility eventually. It is the only way. You are soon too weak to inspire anyone. And while the best had to die, new talents are out there, just waiting for that spark to set them on fire and fill the universe with the stories all mortals need."
She straightened up.
"You will not stand in their way. The stories are too important."
Then she stood up, smiled again, and left Calliope to stare at nothing.
Polyhymnia approached the gem-studded gate made out of bars of silver formed into extravagant shapes of flowers, musical instrument and graceful beings. A swarm of birds descended from the trees outside and opened the gate for her by pressing against it with their little beaks and flapping furiously with their wings.
She could have just willed herself outside, but short walks were good for her intellect.
Thalia lay sprawling on the grassy slope outside. In one hand she held a mask that looked a lot like a madly grinning Xena. In the other was a mask of a longhaired Gabrielle, a toy arrow sticking out of her forehead. There were other masks lying around nearby.
It was dawn.
"Any change?" Thalia asked while extending a finger through the Xena-mask's mouth, making her look like a cannibal with bad table manners.
"Sadly, no."
Polyhymnia shook her head, her face radiating patient compassion.
"Small wonder. Your argument is not what I'd CALL EYE OPÉning…"
Polyhymnia winced:
"That one needs a lot of work."
"Sorry," pouted Thalia and picked Xena's nose with the protruding finger. Then she looked up and past Polyhymnia at Urania coming out from behind a tree. Polyhymnia turned and followed her gaze.
"Ah, Urania, I have decided to give Xena, Gabrielle and Eve until tomorrow evening to decide."
"Yes, Polyhymnia."
Urania smiled meekly and began walking towards the gate. Polyhymnia raised her hand slightly and said:
"There is no need for you to visit her right now. I just did."
"But…okay."
"And I trust you have better things to do," Polyhymnia continued.
Urania managed an unhappy smile but did not comment. Instead she turned and began walking away hastily. One or two motes of light began dancing on her back.
"Finding your stellar globe for example."
Urania halted and the motes went out. She heard Polyhymnia’s steps on the grass, approaching. She tensed as if for a blow. When Polyhymnia put her hand on her shoulder, she jumped.
"Come, come, you know you can’t keep secrets from me," Polyhymnia said with steely playfulness. "I know you have been to see them."
Polyhymnia raised her finger and shook her head:
"No need for a ‘seen who?’ charade. Did you think I would object? Your sharp eyes are just what we need to keep informed of their actions. So, what can you tell me of them? Are they considering the offer or just preparing their defence?"
"They…haven’t decided, Polyhymnia," Urania mumbled.
"Good. We need a little more time." Polyhymnia leaned forward a little, placing her mouth near Urania’s ear, but glanced up in the air while she continued:
"Keep spying, there’s a good girl. And do find your globe. You might need it for some…redecorating, when all this is over."
She left Urania’s side and went back to Thalia. The Muse of comedy was picking up a mask of a pale man wearing an outrageous helmet with outwards sloping lower rim. The helmet was circumvented by a black ribbon of mourning. Thalia reverently hung the mask on a low branch of a nearby tree. She whirled then to face the approaching Polyhymnia and curtsied quickly:
"Yes, of course, Polyhymnia."
"Ah, you are thinking the same thing as I," the red-robed Muse smiled.
"I've no idea. Just saving time."
"Adorable. Go and tell Terpsichore to be ready. Urania has turned coat."
She held up her golden scourge and instantly added:
"Don’t say anything inventive about coats."
"Polly want a godhood."
Rainbow petals drifted gently to the ground as Thalia disappeared. Polyhymnia looked at them for a moment. Then she nodded with thoughtfully lifted eyebrows:
"Yes, she does."
They were riding towards Parnassus. The road was carrying them through a light forest.
"I wonder if the old Palatine is still alive," Gabrielle said.
"Probably not," Xena answered in a carefree voice. "He had many enemies. To some, it takes more than a beauty pageant to reconcile."
"True," Gabrielle agreed. "Imagine…"
"Mother, does the shame ever go away?" Eve interrupted. Gabrielle fell instantly silent.
"The shame of needless killing?" Xena answered, the slight smile of the earlier small talk still in place, although with a subtle change around the eyes. "No it doesn’t. If anything it grows stronger."
"Oh," was all Eve could say. It sounded like the disappointment of a young girl over some petty misfortune.
"You feel like something is freezing and burning you inside, in the belly, on your shoulders, don’t you?" Xena continued softly.
Eve nodded. Her face seemed permanently moulded into a mask of dismay.
"The trick is to take all that feeling and turn it into energy. To tap into it when you feel tired and just want to give up. To use it as a shield when you want to do things the easy way, instead of doing what you know is right."
"You make it sound like an advantage," Eve said, somewhat angrily.
"Oh, it's the hardest thing there is! Apart from…" Xena trailed off for a moment before continuing. "Anyway, it's why we're here together. It's easier if you have help. Believe me."
Eve smiled shyly, as if afraid that her mouth would break.
They rode on, through a part of the forest where the sunlight fragmented into minute shards that swept over them as they passed.
To one side of the path, the play of light took on a blue tone and became truly sparkling. Eve's horses neighed loudly and Gabrielle's snorted and stamped hard with a hoof. Urania tried to disengage from the shrubbery in which she had materialised.
The trio halted. Xena put her hands on her saddle with studied calm.
"Do you need help?" Gabrielle offered as the Muse of astronomy wrestled with a particularly vicious branch. She smiled in embarrassment and shook her head. Then she became stardust once more, but as each mote faded, it reappeared on the road in front. Soon the whole of Urania was standing there, her hair slightly ruffled.
"Do you want this?" Xena asked and held up the stellar globe.
"Yes, please!" Urania answered smiling and went to take it. "I feel all retrograde without it…"
"Not yet," Xena said and put the globe down again. "Is that what you use it for. Navigation?"
"Well, in a way," she answered despondently. "But its primary use is as an astrogonic device.""Very interesting. Can it be used in battle?" asked Xena.
"Yes, though not as a weapon. Or for defence. I mean, you can use it anywhere, if you like. But, no, it's really of no use to you, or to anyone else but me."
Xena smiled evilly:
"Oh, you're wrong. At the moment, for example, I can use it as insurance for your good behaviour. You see, I don't trust you, much."
Urania accepted this:
"I know. And maybe you're right. Polyhymnia knows I'm here. She thinks I'm spying on you. I came to tell you this, and to ask if there's anything I can do to help you liberate Calliope."
"Can you take people with you when you zip?" Gabrielle asked and continued when Urania's eyes grew round and her forehead wrinkled, "Disappear and reappear somewhere else?"
"Ah. No. Maybe someone small, but I'd be exhausted afterwards."
Xena glanced around. Then she asked:
"Calliope is chained in some manner, yes?"
"Yes. Her hands are chained with manacles of Hephaistus' strongest alloy."
"Okay. Here, you can have your ball back. But I want your complete co-operation." Xena tossed Urania the stellar globe. The Muse caught it clumsily with both hands. Then she nodded, wide-eyed.
Xena and Eve were walking the steep and winding road up the side of Mount Parnassus. Below and far to the side was the city of the same name, a white and brown hedgehog resting among green mounds.
"Hello," said Polyhymnia as she suddenly appeared behind Eve. But it was Xena who whirled instantly and Eve who turned sluggishly.
"Hi!" yelled Thalia and poked her head out of a shrub higher up on beside the road. "Why couldn't Gabrielle return home? She was the barred from Poteidaia! What does a fat philosopher that can't lie have in common with a chakram? Round, sharp and gets thrown out a lot! How many…"
"I wasn't aware that the hostilities had started," Xena remarked to Polyhymnia, ignoring the babbling bush.
"I wasn't aware that there was going to be any," she answered with a smile. "But I DO hope you have considered our generous offer. And I do hope to meet sweet Gabrielle soon to hear her decision, not just the one you make for her."
Xena opened her mouth, but Eve interrupted:
"I can speak for myself too, Mother. If it was only me involved, I would gladly die to end this feud. But there's more at stake here. And while I don't fully know my part yet, it's not for me to stop this."
"I see," said Polyhymnia, still smiling. "But don't you overestimate yourself just a tiny bit, dear? Xena is the one who can kill gods. And that…ability was given to her by a Power, who, admittedly can work in mysterious ways. Why is it impossible to consider that we, the Muses, might be the instrument through which that power acts this time? A necessary death that sets great things in motion. Is that not what happened to Eli?"
"You heard her answer," Xena cut in. "Now, are you coming with us peacefully to Athens?"
Polyhymnia appeared taken aback and her smile lost its confidence:
"What?"
"You and Melpomene," Xena explained calmly and Eve pressed herself towards the mountainside to allow her to pass as she walked towards Polyhymnia. "You're both involved in the murders of a number of people, but if you come quietly, I can guarantee a fair trial."
"And I thought Thalia's jokes were bad," Polyhymnia shook her head. "But if you insist, how about this? I promise to spare the life of Gabrielle and to go along with the original plan, including resurrection for Eve, if you walk away from here. You will have to let me go at once, otherwise I believe I will not have time to stop Erato and Euterpe from killing Gabrielle. She, at least, have no known ability to kill gods."
Xena was silent for a moment and frowned.
"Better yet, I think I shall drop in and urge them on. Bad call, Xena."
Golden chimes and a mist of incense filled the sudden void where Polyhymnia had been.
"Come on, let's move," Xena urged Eve on and they started running up the path.
A sudden banana peel materialised exactly under Xena's foot. Shrill laughter erupted from the bush, as she stumbled and almost fell. Xena smiled with her mouth and continued more carefully.
"Good one," she called out.
The head in the bush nodded eagerly:
"Nothing like a classic at the proper time. Besides, have you heard what they used to call Dahak after dark?"
"Do tell," Xena smiled even broader.
"Nighthawk! Har, har, har!"
Suddenly, Xena sprang forward in a dizzying series of somersaults towards the bush. She grabbed Thalia by the arm before the Muse had time to teleport.
"Gabrielle is uncomfortable with me killing you Muses," Xena hissed and twisted Thalia’s arm so that she had to kneel, leaning backwards and grimacing with pain. "And I’m uncomfortable with you killing her."
She dragged Thalia upright by the twisted arm and continued:
"So this is what you’re gonna do: you’ll leave here and never bother me or anyone else again. Oh, and please answer with a joke. I’d love an excuse to be humorous."
Thalia made an effort to grin sickly, but then her eyes widened slightly and she answered:
"Time out?"
Xena frowned and tightened her grip on Thalia’s arm, but something in the Muse’s eye caught her attention. A jagged shape, barely visible against the reflected sky on the moist pupil of Thalia…
Xena caught her by both shoulders and danced around half a turn with her.
The airborne Muse of history thus sent her shimmering bolt straight into her sister’s back. Thalia gagged and coughed and stared wide-eyed at Xena. Her face changed. Furrows appeared, a multitude of them. The flesh on her cheeks sagged and melted. Her eyes became heavy, her lips peeled back and exposed teeth that darkened and fell off in places. Her short hair paled to pure white.
It was over in seconds, and then began to reverse. The grey skin became lively and healthy, the furrows disappeared, the hair darkened to normal. Clio flapped heavily, frowning, and then switched target.
Eve was like a fly on a wall, unable to find any cover whatsoever. Clio aimed with her outstretched hand and sent away her aging bolt with a sudden spread of the fingers. Eve yanked one half of the Chakram from her belt, and deflected the bolt with the teardrop crescent of unearthly metal. The geriatric attack slammed into a sapling on the path instead, and caused it to rapidly turn grey and collapse into a flaking stick.
"Gee, sis, I didn’t know I was eight foot ten with shredded leather-mini and a brass-bra the size of WOW…"
Thalia’s sarcasm was interrupted when Xena changed grip to her right wrist and kicked up Thalia’s right leg and caught the ankle. She then began to swing the captive Muse round and round and round.
Suddenly, she halted and let go of Thalia with a grunt of effort. Little more than a screaming projectile, Thalia shot through the air and collided with Clio. Both Muses plummeted out of sight.
"I’m all right," Eve panted in answer to Xena’s inquiring glance.
They continued up the path.
The stars flickered and died and became instead Gabrielle, leaning on a staggering Urania. Gabrielle looked around quickly. The corridor looked like Urania had said, wide, long and decorated with various art objects. But the main objective sat chained with spread arms with her back against a large pillar.
Calliope looked up suspiciously, but began to stare curiously at Gabrielle.
"I know you," she said, even as Gabrielle stepped forward.
"You do?" Gabrielle answered and halted.
"Oh, yes. You are quite good."
Everything else forgotten, Gabrielle blushed at the praise from the Muse:
"You think so?"
Calliope nodded:
"Considering the absurd eclecticism of your topics, your stories often turn out to be surprisingly readable. But you really ought to be more straightforward when describing your relationship to…"
"Er, the chains?" Urania interrupted, still panting with the effort.
Gabrielle blinked as if awakened from a hypnotic trance.
Then Urania screamed and tumbled backwards, clutching her pierced left arm. The short shaft of a blowgun arrow was protruding from her skin.
"The chains stay, I think," Erato said as she and Euterpe emerged from the shadows of an alcove. Euterpe was already reloading her flute with another arrow from a dark belt that contrasted sharply to her white tunic.
Gabrielle whipped out her sais and went into a defensive crouch. Euterpe raised her silver instrument of death and followed the sideways-moving Gabrielle with her aim. Then she fired. Gabrielle managed gasping to catch the tiny arrow between her rounded sai-blades.
Erato chose this moment to enter a whirling, dancing attack-routine. She slashed at Gabrielle with her tambourine, and it came close enough to Gabrielle’s face to make her realise that the edges of the tiny cymbals were razor sharp. The Bard moved not quite as gracefully, but with a compact explosiveness that matched the Muse evenly. But then there was the other one…
A new arrow came whizzing, and Gabrielle jerked back her upper body to avoid it. When she had regained her balance, she jumped a low sweep of the tambourine and counter-attacked Erato with some face-level stabs. And she cried out:
"Aphrodite!"
"What do you want with her?" Erato asked as they temporarily parted and circled each other. Euterpe calmly loaded another arrow. "She has no jurisdiction here at all, you know."
"I didn’t know you knew words like tha-at," a female voice said, or rather squeaked.
Aphrodite appeared leaning on a virile and not overly dressed male statue. She wore her customary pink-cloud impersonation costume and her hair was as golden as ever.
"But I know you’ve many hidden assets," she continued in a more normal voice, and looked playfully at Erato, who had stopped dead in her tracks. Gabrielle wisely refrained from pressing her advantage for the moment.
"Stay out of this, Aphrodite!" Euterpe exclaimed angrily and halted the flute’s way to her lips.
"Little moi, skipping a girl’s night with my fave bard, my fave Muse and two other…mice?"
Aphrodite left the statue and stepped into the middle of the frozen battle. Erato drew a deep breath.
"Do you know Gabrielle?" she asked incredulously.
"Du-uh, Right-to," the goddess answered, smiling, and appeared to notice Calliope for the first time. " But what ARE you doing to this defenceless young woman, I’m so SHOCKED!"
Calliope rolled her eyes.
"You could’ve hinted!" Aphrodite scolded with mock sternness. "There’re loads of gizmos in my temple at Syra I could’ve brought…"
Erato lowered her tambourine and took a step towards Euterpe and whispered to her:
"I’m sorry, I can’t waste a friend of Dite’s"
"What…?" Euterpe said in a hollow monotone that carried little of inquiry and lots of tired disbelief.
"Is that the new temple with the twin domes?" Erato said loudly in a carefree tone to Aphrodite.
Aphrodite turned to face her, gaping as if she did not believe her ears:
"No, it’s the old temple with the un-tubular smell and cracked ceiling. ’Course it’s the new one. Haven’t you been there yet?"
"No," Erato shook her head smiling, "Could we visit right now? Please?"
"Grab this," said Aphrodite and stretched out her hand gracefully.
"Later," twin voices said and the corridor bathed for a moment in golden light.
When Euterpe raised the flute to her lips, a round-kick from Gabrielle sent it flying.
Furiously, the Muse clenched both fists together and swung sideways at Gabrielle’s head. She ducked easily and delivered a fast sequence of sai-pommeled punches to the Muse’s stomach, simultaneously stunning her and driving her backwards. The staggering Euterpe tried to retaliate, or at least defend, but Gabrielle made a high kick that connected to Euterpes jaw, and a fast follow up that hit the mid-torso. Euterpe fell backwards and lay motionless.
Unsure how long the Muse would remain out, Gabrielle ran back to Calliope.
"You don’t happen to have a key?" Calliope asked.
"No," smiled Gabrielle as reversed the sais in her hands with twirling motions, "but I…"
Something golden flashed to the right and caught that sai, yanking it from her grasp. Almost instantly, another flash to the left took that sai as well. Gabrielle turned with stinging hands.
"…would not have had the time to use it anyway," Polyhymnia filled in as she retracted the strands of her tiny scourge and the sais dropped to the ground at her feet.
Xena reached higher and flatter ground. Some distance away was an extravagant portal into a steeper part of the mountainside. Outside on the gentle slope were small groves of trees.
She began to march purposely towards the silver portal. As she passed a grove, a murmur was heard. It had predatory undertones and a whining quality she recognized. She pulled out her sword and swept it slowly from side to side as she triangulated the source of the sound.
Suddenly, a ray of flame shot out from the grove and struck her sword. The force was moderate, and she kept her grip on the weapon, but very quickly the blade began to glow and the leather-bound hilt began to smoke. She dropped the scorching weapon and it landed hissing in the grass.
The growl, which had reached an abrupt fortissimo when the fire erupted, had receded to its initial level, but was now building.
A rhythmic tapping began from a high branch in one tree. Xena could just about make out a woodpecker. Very quickly, another tapping, slightly different in pitch, started. And another, and another…
A multitude of drumming sounds, sharp and limited individually, but booming and irresistibly rhythmic together.
Terpsichore emerged from among the trees, playing a very simple sequence of a few fast notes in slowly climbing pitch on her lyre.
"No weapons," she half-screamed, half-snarled with a surprisingly hoarse voice. "Too bad!"
Xena vaulted to the side as the beam of fire scythed across where she had been standing. It was emerging from the tip of the lyre. The flock of woodpeckers increased the tempo and a furious beat like the innards of an asylum smithy echoed over the slope. Terpsichore extinguished the fire for a short burst of cadenzas, but screamed and fired again. Xena jumped and rolled, first over, then under the ray as it pulsed and swept this way and that.
Suddenly she took a giant leap that carried her up and above Terpsichore, who followed with her fire, painting a burning arch after the tumbling Warrior Princess. As Xena reached the trees, she caught a smooth, thin tree-trunk with both hands, swung herself halfway round, and then propelled herself to the direction from which she had just come flying. Terpsichore swore and dimmed the fire to get a visual of the destination of Xena.
The image she had time to get was two rapidly growing fists followed by a grinning face with a halo of whipping black hair.
Terpsichore tumbled back head over heels with the force of the twin blows. Xena more or less followed suite, but somersaulted in a more controlled manner and landed with both feet on the belly of the disoriented Muse. Air and liquid erupted from her lips. Xena dropped to her knees, with her legs spread slightly to allow her to capture Terpsichore’s arms between knees and feet. Sensing some muscle-movements, Xena’s arms snaked back, and without loosing eye-contact with Terpsichore, she caught her knee on its way up to kick her in the back. She grabbed hard and made a sudden and complicated move with her hands. A crack was heard and Terpsichore howled.
The drumming was building to a deafening crescendo as Xena let go of the wrecked kneecap and put her hands above Terpsichore’s face. Extending the long- and index fingers of either hand, she jabbed twin points on corresponding areas of the neck. The Muse stopped panting and every vein in her head began to bulge.
After a few moments, Xena reversed the cardio-vascular block and got up. She looked down at the air-sucking Muse:
"Do we have an understanding? Good."
As Xena left the grove, the woodpeckers calmed to a slow and confused clattering. She glanced at the still smoking sword and let it lie. She got eye contact with Eve, who had kept her distance during the battle, and then continued towards the silver gate.
Gabrielle reached for her belly and came up with something hitherto hidden behind the broad belt of her short skirt. Polyhymnia’s eyes narrowed. Gabrielle hesitated for a moment, guarding. Then she made a movement towards the chaining pillar.
"Oh, no," Polyhymnia growled and lashed out with her scourge. She was too far away for even a full-length whip to reach, but the short, golden strands elongated instantly and hissed bitingly across the pillar, Calliope, and Gabrielle’s arm with the other half of the Chakram. Gabrielle withdrew her hand as red welts formed on her bare arm. Calliope had whip-marks in her face as well.
"Ranged weapons have their uses," Polyhymnia told them smugly and waved her scourge, tiny again. "Oh, but I forget. That is part of the famous Chakram you are holding, is it not?"
Gabrielle darted a gaze at her, then at the chains binding Calliope.
"Are you that expert a thrower to risk your one shot at me?" Polyhymnia went on. "You seem to be running low on armament, dear…"
"I wouldn’t say that," Xena said as she came striding down the corridor.
Polyhymnia did not turn, but rather nodded:"Now."
A projectile sped towards Xena from above and to the side. She caught it with snakelike stealth. A mauve shimmering then came from the origin of the projectile, atop a large statue of a woman balancing a jar on her head. The same shimmering came into being in front of Xena, as Melpomene materialised.
Xena held the beautiful dagger in her hand and stared at it. Ever so slowly, she began to move her hand to her chest.
Gabrielle strained to see what was happening past the back of Melpomene. In an instant, she realised.
"NO!" she screamed at the top of her voice.
Blinking, and shaking her head, Xena halted the point of the dagger, mere inches from her left breast. All the Muses present gaped in disbelief. Polyhymnia was the first to recover. She raised her scourge and struck out against Xena. She ducked to the side.
"Mother!" Eve yelled from behind. Xena half turned and caught her half of the Chakram as it came spinning through the air.
"Xena!" Gabrielle echoed immediately and threw her part underhand. Polyhymnia snaked her scourge to intercept, but the Chakram sliced through and severed strands coruscated to the floor.
Xena held out her free right hand with the part from Eve and caught the second part directly into place with a hiss of metal and a soft click. She thrust the completed weapon into its belt-hook. Polyhymnia glanced furiously at her half-ruined scourge and then lashed out again with the remaining strands. Xena intercepted them with her hand, and as they surrounded and bit her fingers, she clenched shut, catching the strands firmly. Then she pulled hard and the surprised Muse stumbled towards her, unwilling to let go of her trademark weapon. Xena darted forward in turn, yanked the scourge from her grasp with a sudden twist, and threw it back over her shoulder. Eve ducked to the side as if to avoid a thrown viper.
Then Xena had Polyhymnia by the wrist. But when she spoke, it was not to the Muse of sacred hymns:
"I’ll leave the ending to you. Choose wisely."
With that, she thrust the hilt of Melpomene’s dagger into Polyhymnia’s unwilling palm. Instantly, her fingers closed around it. Xena let go of her wrist. The Muse sneered:
"I resist its power."
"You can’t. It doesn’t work that way," Xena stated calmly.
"But, I’m a Muse," Polyhymnia exclaimed with sudden fear as her hand began to twist and move the dagger’s point towards her.
"But you’re not another Muse," Xena continued. "However, they are."
She indicated the others with a gesture. Calliope met Polyhymnia’s gaze unblinking. Urania had fainted from her arrow wound.
"Melpomene!" Polyhymnia cried as the dagger’s point shook in contact with the fabric of her gown.
Melpomene seemed equally distraught. She opened and shut her mouth several times and blinked at the tears.
"No," she said in an almost inaudible voice. "The time of the Olympians has passed. Only by remaining true to what we are can we remain. There will be no goddess Melpomene and no goddess Polyhymnia. Oh, but I will mourn you so!"
She hid her face in her hands and her shoulders shook. Polyhymnia only stared at her, a grimace very much like a smile was upon her lips as the dagger pierced her heart and ended her existence.
"She’s weird," Gabrielle whispered to Xena as they stood some distance away from Urania, who was manipulating her stellar globe with a concentrated look.
"Why?" Xena whispered back.
"When we had carried her out into the sun so that you could have better light for surgery, I held her head. And when she opened her eyes, she looked at the sun and at me. Then she said "Great to see you again, main sequence yellow dwarf"."
"That was a bit rude," Xena agreed with some surprise. They fell silent for some moments. They were at the top of a high hill. There was only wilderness as far as the eye could see, which was not very far since it was night. Calliope was standing between them and Urania. Then Gabrielle whispered again:
"I’m still not sure how I did that. Stopping Melpomene’s dagger. I thought becoming a Muse required some kind of…process, ceremony…thing."
"You can’t become what you already are," Xena answered and turned to face her.
"What do you mean? I was never a Muse before," Gabrielle said with a quite laugh.
"Yes you were, and you are. I thought long and hard on what you said about the Muses, and I realised that you were right. We do need Muses. But Gabrielle, anyone can be a Muse to someone. You are my light, my inspiration. You are my Muse! For real."
Before Gabrielle could say anything, if indeed she could think of anything to say, Urania approached them with a smile:
"I’m sorry I had to take you so far away from home for this. And thank you, Calliope, for helping me bring them."
"Well since Melpomene was off conveying Olympian treasures to those orphanages, Terpsichore was indisposed and the others also quite busy…" Calliope answered with a smile. "At any rate a short trip to the uncharted south seems a small price to pay for having my life saved."
"It was necessary," Urania continued. "You see, the sky is pretty crowded above Greece. Only this far south was there any room for what I had in mind. Watch!"
She raised the globe above her head. It began to hum and glow softly. Suddenly thin but blinding needles of light shot up from it and pierced the sky. When they faded, four new stars gleamed brightly overhead.
For a while, no one spoke.
"It, it looks like an ‘X’" Gabrielle whispered then.
"Do you like it," Urania asked, timidly.
Xena stared at it.
"I don’t know what to say," she managed.
"This is our way of thanking you for your help," Urania said. "No one lives on these islands yet, but some day some probably will. And I want them to be able to look up at the sky and see your sign and remember you."
"And I think they always will."
The four women stood on the high, rounded hill. The darkness around them was so deep that the surrounding countryside of valleys, forests, marshland and seaside was visible only as shades of blackest blue. But above them the sky was thick with stars. It seemed more real than the murky earth, a frozen explosion of bright embers.
And brightest of all the stars were the four that made the sign of Xena, Warrior Princess.