Chapter 20

The Madman, the Mystic, the Warrior and her Bard'

The handle turned unassisted in her hand and the door swept soundlessly back. In the glow of torches lit at intervals on the walls, Xena could see Hesperos standing before the dias, smugly expectant. "Welcome, Xena...Elkton."

Social pleasantries aside, Xena wanted nothing more than to fly across the room, vault over the dias and wipe that smug smile from Hesperos face.

Elkton had the same thought, but warrior and mystic, sharing the same discipline, the same focus, held themselves in exquisite check. "Hesperos, said Elkton, making a place for himself at Xena's side. "You might at least have the decency to look surprised to see us..."

Hesperos loosed a single derisive note of laughter; in the confines of the crypt, there was an echoing, booming retort. "You were sent for and expected, and I should feign surprise? Please, come in...join us." He gestured broadly with the sweep of his arm. "Hurry in to your deaths."

"I wouldn't make any plans for the future, either, if I was you, " Xena quipped. She eased into the room on the balls of her feet, scanning the interior as she did so. She could make out the suggestion of Manus' body in repose behind Hesperos...but there was no Gabrielle.

"That's far enough, Xena," Hesperos said, raising a hand. "And you, Elkton, come all the way in...where I can see you."

Even as he complied, Elkton felt Manus' presence, that unwelcome second skin, slip from him, leaving him feeling curiously vacant and unnerved. As long as the two mystics had battled for control of his consciousness, Elkton felt some comfort in knowing where to find his enemy. He likened the experience to holding a lethal viper by the tail, but now he had the uncomfortable feeling Manus was beyond his reach, and therefore, beyond retribution.

"Retribution..." said Hesperos. Meeting Elkton's gaze when the mystic's head snapped up, he seemed to relax. "Divine...or otherwise...I hope you're both prepared to die."

"Wouldn't you care to stall for time?"

Conciliatory. "I thought, Elkton, in your last minutes on this earth, you might appreciate the honesty."

"Oh, yeah, very refreshing," retorted Xena drolly. Elkton leaned into her and whispered something, at the same time gesturing at the empty braces above the largest of the tapestries in the room. The sword of Psyche was missing, but Xena seemed unconcerned, so single minded was her quest. "Where's Gabrielle?"

"I like that, Xena, straight to the point." Hesperos was silent for a moment, his gray eyes vague. Presently, as if alerted by some internal signal, he smiled, but the gesture seemed more predatory than friendly. "As your time is short, I'll spare you any further delay. You want to see your young friend?"

"You know we do," countered Elkton.

"Gabrielle!" Xena called, her eyes sweeping the room. Hesperos laughed. Xena snapped a dangerous gaze on the cook and twirled the short sword absently in her hand; it cut the air with an impressive whoosh. "What've you done with her, Hesperos?" He smiled vaguely but she thought she recognized the ghost of fear in his eyes. "Gabrielle!" Xena exclaimed, real frustration telling her in voice.

"Bellow all you like, Xena," said Hesperos, and then gentled his tone, "But it is the whisper she hears." He kept a steady gaze trained on the warrior while stepping to one side and elegantly extending his left arm towards the dias behind him. As expected, Manus lay, still and cold, on the dias; it was the appearance of Gabrielle which gave Xena pause. The bard lay sleeping beside her master, her knees drawn slightly into his hip, one arm draped across his chest, her head tucked beneath his strong chin. To the uninformed, the two might appear as lovers, wrapped in Morpheus' arms, but Xena knew better. She opened her mouth, intent on rousing the girl, but raising a finger to his lips, Hesperos admonished, "Shh, now..." He wagged that same finger at her for emphasis. "You were about to wake her." He moved lazily behind the dias. "She presents the picture of innocence when asleep, don't you agree?" One of Hesperos' hands fell lecherously upon Gabrielle's shoulder.

The muscles in Xena's jaw jumped. "Touch her again...you die."

Without warning, Hesperos produced a fine-bladed dagger from within the folds of his robes. Laying the blade aside the sleeping girl's throat he said, "I don't respond well to threats, Xena."

"Funny," retorted Xena. "Neither do I."

Hesperos' brow furrowed in genuine confusion. "Did I not deliver Gabrielle as promised? For here she lies..." He drew the blade feather-soft along the bard's jawline, and with his free hand, tucked a strand of honey-gold hair behind her ear. "Whole...and yet fragmented...empty, yet full...yours...and yet...not yours."

From his place at the warrior's side, Elkton could just see the muscles beneath Xena's bronzed skin jumping, humming along the impressive frame that would, within microseconds, explode across the room in a breathtaking display of grace and fury...and death. Yes, thought the mystic. He knew without question that there would be death at the end of it all, and he knew, too, that Xena would be as surprised as those who claimed she could not be killed, to find herself mortally wounded at the hands of a cook. For all her bravery, wits and skills, Elkton knew that Xena did not know her enemy as well as she suspected. "Now, Xena," he began, using the lull in conversation to quell her fire if he could. "Surely Hesperos here is a man who can be reasoned with..."

FAITH IS YOUR WEAPON, Manus' whisper found a receptive ear. OR IS THAT JUST SOMETHING YOU TELL YOUR STUDENTS?

"I'm not here to harm you, Hesperos," said the mystic; to demonstrate the point, and his faith, Elkton let the heavy short sword slip from his fingers to the stone floor.

"Elkton, are you crazy?" Xena's eyes glowed with anger, but Elkton's steady, unflinching gaze was centered on Hesperos. When the mystic spoke again, Xena recognized that familiar, hypnotic note of calm that had so enraptured Gabrielle in the temple kitchens and at last she understood.

"I'm going to give you a piece of advice, Hesperos..." crooned Elkton. "...and you're going to take it." Hesperos, his glazed eyes half closed, cocked his head, listening intently. "Walk out of here. Walk out of here and leave Manus to us."

"Leave Manus..." came the monotone echo.

LEAVE ME? DREAM ON. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO...

Elkton shook his head violently, a single jerk, an intent to dislodge his unwelcome tenant. "Leave Manus to us..." Elkton continued once he found his voice. He gave Xena a sideways glance and he could see that she was poised on the balls of her feet, waiting for an opening. "Put the blade down and walk out of here, Hesperos..."

Abruptly, Hesperos snorted and threw his head back in a soundless laugh. "Save your breath to cool your soup, old man, and save those meager psychic energies, as well...you're going to need them."

"I'll make you this offer only once," Elkton continued, dropping his voice for effect. "Leave this temple while I still have some influence over --" The old mystic stole a meaningful glance at Xena and hoped Hesperos got the inference. "-- things. Leave now. Run as far and as fast as you can." He raised a bushy eyebrow at the younger man and tried to gauge the impact of his words; Hesperos was stone-faced. "If the end goes badly, I can guarantee you won't live to see another day." Elkton let out a gasp of surprise when he felt the tip of a sword press firmly into the small of his back. Over his shoulder, Phyus glared at him with intent. "Phyus, what're you doing?"

"I would have thought that would be abundantly clear, Elkton," interjected Hesperos, even as the second of the two sentries, Androcles, approached Xena to disarm her. "Your sword, Xena..."

Xena felt a hard knob bear down on her spine and she cursed herself she hadn't seen the ambush coming. She recalled that the armed sentries, prostrate at the crypt entrance, had both appeared deeply comatose, like the villagers. She hadn't considered them much of a threat, less so after she had put one of their weapons into Elkton's hand, a weapon which he had discarded at the first opportunity. She set her jaw and groaned inwardly. Later, providing she was still alive to dally in reflection, she might attribute her lapse of attention to exhaustion, or anxiety. She looked at the discarded blade, cold and gleaming on the stone floor and was reluctant to surrender her own sword to gravity.

"Your sword, Xena," Hesperos reiterated with all of the conviction he could muster.

SHE MUST RELINQUISH THE WEAPON, HESPEROS. SHE MUST BE MADE TO PROSTRATE HERSELF BEFORE THE DIAS.

One sword at Elkton's back, the other on the floor...DO THE MATH, XENA! Logical thought rallied in her head. HE WANTS YOUR SWORD BECAUSE HE ISN'T ARMED. "Careful with that finger," she drawled, stealing a glance over her shoulder. "You might hurt someone." Androcles looked down at his hand. Convinced there had been an immaculate blade clutched in his strong fingers only moments earlier, now he could see only his knuckle jammed painfully against the small of Xena's back. He looked up at her, and almost before alarm had time to register on his face, she gave a small cry and head butted him, connecting solidly with the bridge of his nose. He fell to the floor in a crimson blossom of blood and bone, and did not move.

Hesperos' hands came together twice, and when she turned to face him, he said, "I'm impressed, Xena." That was no lie. Hesperos admired her defiance, had indeed anticipated it with something akin to delight. From his place at Manus' altar, he gazed into the fathomless depths of her azure eyes, and beyond. He could read determination there, cunning, and a controlled rage; she cared for her own life only slightly more than she cared for his, and armed or unarmed, that made her immeasurably dangerous. "Now. I will ask one more time," he said at last, fixing the younger sentry, Phyus, in his sights. Elkton sucked a burst of air across his teeth as his robe was torn and the cold metal blade touched exposed skin. "Drop your sword."

YESSSSSSSSS

"Don't do it, Xena!" Elkton said.

DO IT!

Phyus forced the old mystic to his knees. "It doesn't matter what happens to me, Xena," Elkton cried. "Don't submit."

"I can kill with a word, Xena," said Hesperos with a quirk on his lips.

"Big surprise. You're boring me to death," quipped Xena, even as she unclenched her fingers from the sword hilt to hold it more loosely at her side.

"Xena...look at me, Xena..." When the warrior turned to regard him, Elkton gave a small shrug and said, "I'll surrender, Xena...so you don't have to." The old mystic slumped to the floor, putting space between his vulnerable back and Phyus' sword.

Xena used the younger man's momentary confusion at losing his hostage to her advantage; with a speed that belied her exhaustion, she employed a roundhouse kick, sweeping the sword from his grasp; before it hit the floor, Phyus collapsed to his knees, rendered uncon- scious by a blow he had never seen coming. Xena knelt at the old mystic's side and put a finger to his throat; his pulse was slow and steady. He was alive, but she feared for him, as she feared for Gabrielle. That thought galvanized her. Sword in hand, she moved unhesitatingly towards the dias.

The blade in Hesperos' hand dented the tender flesh of the sleeping girl's throat. "Submit, Xena. I'm warning you...I'll do it!"

"You know, Hesperos," she began leisurely, as if she had all night, "there are necessary times of truce...this isn't one of them." She stepped upon the dias and was close enough now to reach out and touch the sleeping girl's boot, to see her eyes flicking wildly behind closed lids, and to hear her soft breathing. The bard was either totally at ease with her current predicament, or totally ignorant of it.

"Last warning, Xena..." Hesperos murmured, passing his tongue over his dry lips. Sweat had gathered at the tips of his hair...the little trembling movements he made rained salty droplets into his eyes. "Move and she dies."

From her vantage point at Manus' feet, Xena could see a tiny crimson pearl form on the tip of Hesperos' knife and then roll lazily down the length of the blade...a little more pressure, together with a clean, horizontal jerk would effectively end the standoff. "Do it."

Hesperos blinked and stared at her dumbfounded. "What did you say?"

Xena took one calculated step towards him, crossed her body with the short sword and settled the blade in the crook of her elbow. "I said do it'...cut her throat...or are you all talk?"