This adventure is musically enhanced.

When I set out to write my first online full-length Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess story, I knew it had to be something big, something that no other author I knew of had done before. Something that addresses all the questions still unanswered in the midst of H:TLJ's fifth season... How did Xena and Gabrielle deal with the news of Iolaus' death? Where exactly did our favorite sidekick run off to in Redemption, and what could he be doing there?

So, this tale takes on many of the questions voiced by several of my fellow Iolausians, from the imagination that is fandom. This is your guide to the characters and the roles they play in The Wind Carries You. The novel is now fully completed! Enjoy! -Iolausian Groupie Ingrid, Keeper Of The Iolausian Dimension.

The main character and one of the heros of The Wind Carries You is, of course, Iolaus. After the defeat of Dahok in fifth season's Redemption, Iolaus was lead into a brilliant light with the man who helped end Dahok's temporary reign in Greece, Zarathustra. He also discovers he's been granted powers similar to the Greek gods, necessary for his new duties as a "guardian" of the people of Greece. Proclaimed as a "champion of the light," Iolaus promised Hercules in their tearful goodbye to, "see ya 'round." Knowing that his new life isn't easy to accept for the hunter, Zarathustra must teach him about many things before Iolaus can begin to help out the living. In doing so, he finds that Gabrielle and Xena are traveling to Corinth to help Hercules defeat Dahok, unknowingly in vain, as Hercules and Iolaus defeated the demon long before the two women had even received news of what was happening in Corinth. The drastic changes, to Iolaus, of being immortal, are hard and he feels like nothing can ever be as it was - but finally being able to be by Herc, Xena, and Gabrielle's side again - he realizes that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

After his friends death, Hercules was a broken man. Being able to say goodbye to Iolaus in the right way ("Redemption") renewed his love for life. Meeting up with Iolaus again in this novel at first is to quote, 'weird,' but Herc is of course glad to share another adventure with his best friend. Noticing the closeness of Iolaus' relationship to Gabrielle and his protectiveness of the bard brings him closer to Xena, as the two share long conversations and laughs together in the novel. Being able to let go of all the anger and pain he felt because of Iolaus' death helps Herc to revive the good times the four have had in the past. This comes alive in the story.

Zarathustra is the mortal (and ex-immortal) from which Dahok both gave and took away immortality from. Several hundred - more like thousands of years ago, he was fooled into trusting Dahok to help him better humanity, and was granted immortality by the god. And like Iolaus, he's still fighting to defeat him. In Redemption, when he attempts to destory him, Dahok takes away his immortality and Zarathustra disappears. He becomes Iolaus' guide and teacher for his 'assignments' in Greece to help humanity in the story.

Xena arrived in Corinth expecting to be in battle with a god she'd dealt with yet never had seen - Dahok - and to be in the company of Hercules and Iolaus in doing so, but soon finds that the god of darkness is already long gone. She joins up with Hercules to cross to the other world to stop Ares from murdering one of the gods. She knows perfectly well that her best friend would voice protest against her going alone, (even though she'd be with Herc) and against her wishes, Gabrielle follows her lead. It's there that they first meet up with Iolaus and Zarathustra.

Gabrielle, Iolaus' proclaimed soulmate, and Xena's best friend, plays an important role in The Wind Carries You. She takes the news of Iolaus death anything but lightly, and strangely senses that someone is there with her as Herc and Xena enter the blue vortex to their opposite world. She is the first to see and hear Iolaus. During the journey being alone together brings back memories of pastime adventures, and the two once again become romantically involved. Iolaus knows the mission is too important to jeopardize but can't hide his feelings for her. She knows that Iolaus isn't supposed to tell her a lot about how he's able to be with her and travel with her, Xena and Hercules, or the source of his powers, but that changes as the novel progresses.

The infamous God War is the main villian in this adventure. A wild but surprisingly smart plan with Discord to set his half-brother up turns out to be perfect material to Zarathustra as Iolaus' first assignment. Iolaus has to prevent the "death of one very important to the world" and they both believe at first that Ares is going to try to kill the Zeus of the other dimension. Ares uses the Sovereign to further convince anyone trying to foil his plans that Zeus is who he's after. Soon they discover that the God Of War isn't after either version of his father, the King of the gods. He's going for Hercules!

The Goddess of Chaos, as I like to refer to her, she's the one who helps Ares open up the vortext to start the set up of Hercules. Originally, I wanted Callisto to be his accomplice, but I'll save her for another one, lol. She decides to make it her mission to find out how it's possible that Iolaus can be alive and have powers like her and the rest of the gods, if he was killed by Dahok, which Ares vows is true.

These are the main players in my novel, but there are several other characters involved, too - The Sovereign, Ares - God of Love, Zeus, Cupid, Aphrodite, etc. I have completed the novel recently and I hope you enjoy the unfolding of the plot. This story was a huge undertaking and was very carefully written. The entire novel was written down on loose leaf and edited several times before I even touched the computer keyboard. Over all, I think it's been a worthwhile project and has taught me a lot about myself and my writing. It's of course more fun than watching most of season 5 - and I think ANY Iolausian would agree with that! :-) I also found it amazing how many elements of THE WIND CARRIES YOU were found in the writers' version of Iolaus coming back - REVELATIONS. This novel was written two months beforeforehand - kewl, eh?

Start Reading THE WIND CARRIES YOU!



Pictures for the Guide Book come from all over the net: Tom's Xena Page, Gabbygab and Mariner's look at Xena:Warrior Princess, Fireheart's Den, a couple of crazy Iolausians (lol) and the sites can be found in the links section of this site. :-) Soundwave file Dreams by The Cranberries is courtesy of PopRock Midi City