While Xena had been haring across the valley to see Ares, Aphrodite had left Joxer on a mission of her own, having told him to stay put until she came back. He busied himself by finding an unused corridor and doing the floor exercises Xena had showed him. After a bruising and tiring work out of a good half hour, he was having a quick breather, when Aphrodite re-appeared before him.

"Hiya, sugar. Working out, huh?" she said, her eyebrows raised at the dust and sweat that covered his body.

"Just a few exercises to keep me in trim. So what've you been doing while you were gone?" he asked the Goddess.

"Oh, this and that," she said airily. "Just a mortal I had to talk to. I'll fill you in later. Okay, time to put my cool plan into action; Here's what you do..." and she proceded to tell him of her plan.

"Wow," he said in amazement, "that is a cool plan!"

"Yes, I thought so!" she laughed immodestly. "Time for you to kiss and make up with Callisto! Gotta blow, later!" and she blew a kiss at him before vanishing.

He exited the hall and found Elena, mixing various substances together in pots and pans and using a pestle and mortar to grind plants and herbs into dust. "Hello Elena, I'm just stepping outside for a breath of fresh air. If Gabby shows any sign of getting better, don't hesitate to let me know," he said.

"Okay Joxer, don't worry too much, she'll be made comfortable as possible until you and Xena come back with the antidote," she said comfortingly.

He nodded and left the Temple with a look of determination on his face, which struck Elena as odd, but she thought nothing of it. He maintained his casual stroll through the village, until he was out of sight, then switched direction to the road and increased his walking pace to a run.

He ducked into a thicket, just before rounding the corner and was met by two familiar figures, both identical to him, though one of the two was slightly taller. As they greeted each other, they spoke in lowered voices, so as to be unheard by any sharp-eared sentries of Callisto across the road.

"Hello brother," said one of them. "Nothing changes, does it? You're still in love with the Bard, but she won't have anything to do with you. So why are you doing this?"

"Hello Jett. She's my friend," he said simply. Both Jett's and Joxer's eyes swivelled left to face their elder brother.

"Hello Jace," said Joxer awkwardly.

"After all this time, all I get is a 'hello'? I don't expect anything much from him," said Jace indicating Jett, "but at least I thought I'd get something more than just 'hello' from you; Come over and give me a hug, for old times sake."

Though reluctant to talk about Jace outside the family, he was still fond of him, despite his unusual lifestyle, and it had been many years since they'd spoken last.

"Are you still running the Ballet school, Jace?" queried Joxer, after a brief hug with his brother.

"The most successful in all Greece," Jace said proudly.

"The only one in all Greece, " said Jett pointedly, rolling his eyes. "So brother," he said, looking at Joxer, "what's the plan of action then?"

"Well, we kill all Callisto's men, torture Callisto until she tells us what the antidote is; if she doesn't, we kill her and get Ares to remove the effect of the Bolt," Joxer said breezily. "Oh, and we only have three hours to do it in," he added as an afterthought.

Jett leant upon a tree and contemplated the options. "Hmm, seems fairly straightforward; eliminate Callisto and her soldiers and threaten Ares until he gives in. So what do I do with the other hand?"

Jace's eyes lit up with delight. "Oh goody, I like a challenge. Let's go and say hello to Callisto, it's rude to refuse a lady's invitation, after she asked so nicely."

Jett and Joxer exchanged glances; even though he appeared a big softy, with running the ballet school and everything, he still had this mad streak in him that made him do things nobody else would even attempt; like the time he got into a Warlord's Castle, which was heavily guarded, sneaked into the Warlord's sleeping quarters, shaved all his hair off and left a basket of fruit and an insulting note.

"She's over there, waiting by that abandoned hut," Joxer said, pointing across the road. They separated and Joxer went to see Callisto on his own....

As soon as Xena entered the Temple, she gritted her teeth and got out the bunch of wildflowers she'd picked from outside the building. She found a nice vase, filled it with water, put the flowers in and put her offering on the Love Goddess' altar. And waited.

Meanwhile, up in Olympus, 'Dite was visiting her son; "Hi Mom, how you doin', " Cupid greeted her as she materialized within his domain.

"Hiya Cupie. Sweet as a nut," she enthused. "Everything's going belly-up for my beloved brother Ares and at long last I've managed to swing things between my boy Joxer and that irritating blonde he's been pining after for longer than I can remember. So how's my Grandson?"

"Aww, you just missed him," he sympathised. "Psyche's taken him to see Grandfather, and she said they'll be there a while yet. So what you got cooking for Joxer?"

"Well, I've got Joxer and..." 'Dite stopped mid-sentence and her face lit up like a Solstice tree, and she laughed long and hard. She got her breath back and beckoned Cupid over to a mortal portal, whereby the Gods and Goddesses could keep an eye on the mortals below.

"What is it Mom? What's brewin' down with the mortals?" he asked eagerly. 'Dite put her hands on the portal, concentrated hard and a picture of the insides of one of her Temples shimmered into focus, revealing a single worshipper, standing poised, having placed a scraggy collection of flowers in a vase on the altar.

"Woah - that was an offering I wasn't expecting," Cupid said, stepping back in surprise.

"Oh puh-leeze! She must know that's not exactly going to grab my attention - and in my least favourite vase too, with that icky pattern and colours." She shuddered, partly in despair at the paltry offering and partly at the appalling choice of vase that had been picked out to house the flowers in.

"Some mortals just don't have a clue," Cupid agreed. "The usual drill, Mom?"

"Totally!" 'Dite giggled and the Godling vanished. He re-appeared a moment later, directly in front of Xena in his mother's Temple.

"Hi Xena, how come you're in Mom's Temple?" he called out to Xena.

"Cupid, where's Aphrodite?" she said urgently.

"Mom? Oh she's having a blast surfing some cool waves down Cyprus, I'm just looking after her Temples until she comes back. So what's up?" Cupid said calmly, unfazed by the sight of the flustered Warrior Princess.

"I need to speak to your mother urgently - Unless you can help?" Xena said more in hope than in expectation.

"So what's up, Xena?" Cupid asked her nonchalantly. Xena told him and he grinned, realising what his mother was up to.

"Sorry Xena, no can do," said Cupid, dashing her hopes. "Going up against Ares is out of my league, that's more Mom's bag." He pondered for a moment, then added, "Of course a nice offering might get her attention and it wouldn't hurt if you offered a prayer up to her, either."

"Right," Xena said determinedly, "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."

"Wonder what she's up to," Cupid mused, as he watched her leave the Temple............................

"Hello Callisto," said Joxer, emerging from the trees.

"What kept you?" asked Callisto easily. "I'm alone and have no weapons," she stated, indicating her empty back scabbard.

"I'm alone and have no weapons," said Joxer, showing his empty wrist scabbards "Unfortunately," said Callisto, picking up her sword by her feet which was hidden by the grass camouflaging it, "I lied."

"That's funny," said Joxer, whipping out his Sai from within his boots and edging towards a clump of trees, "so did I."

"But I lied twice," Callisto said triumphantly, and she called for the rest of her men to come out from ambush. "Come on out boys, it's partytime!"

"You mean these?" Joxer said casually, indicating the lifeless torsos by the tree behind him.

Callisto raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Hmm, nice work Joxer, no wonder I wasn't alerted when you arrived. Shame they were only the sentries and not my best soldiers. Still, learn to live with disappointment," and she turned towards the trees where about twenty warriors emerged.

They were about thirty yards away when Xena appeared behind them and threw her Chackram, felling nearly half of them. She drew out her sword in a flash, and cut down three more before the others knew what was happening. As the remainder all turned as one to face her, Jett jumped up from his camouflaged position and his long knives began their deadly work, the assassin easily avoiding the clumsy blows of the mercenaries that served as Callisto's army.

"Hi Xena, want a hand?" Jett called out to Xena, as she slew yet another of Callisto's soldiers.

"Jett! How did you escape from Maramis?" said Xena, looking surprised to see him.

"Tell you later, when we've dealt with Callisto and her cohorts," said Jett as he attacked a pair of mercenaries. Hearing the clash of swords behind her, Callisto turned to face her old adversary and her unknown partner and was about to charge the melee, when a throwing knife skimmed past her left shoulder.

"Tut tut Callisto, you should know better than to turn your back on an enemy," Joxer admonished her.

"You're threatening me?" she said flabbergasted, unable to believe her ears.

"Come on Callisto, what are you scared of? Bloody Joxer?" he taunted her. She cartwheeled towards him at breakneck speed, aiming to break his ribs with a two-footed lunge, but he moved like a flash, rolling sideways underneath her attack and leapt quickly to his feet. As she landed and whipped around, he ran towards her using all his extra running speed, and she grinned in anticipation of his attack and stood poised with her sword ready.

As he neared her however, he sheathed his Sai, leapt forward to grab a hefty overhanging branch and swung his feet together to thrust into her stomach, winding her. She staggered back, gasping for breath, and Joxer dropped forward to the ground, falling into a rapid forward roll that he'd been practising so hard, drawing out his Sai to slash at her right leg, She recovered herself in time and cartwheeled back 20 yards, so that he was slashing at empty air.

"Well, well, haven't we been practising? First round to you, but the final victory will be mine!" she snarled as she landed on her feet. Joxer jumped to his feet and ran at her again; she counter-charged, both running at full pace towards each other, sword and Sai drawn, lunging at the other simultaneously.

A viscious sword blow that would have decapitated him was just blocked by one of his Sai attacking her right arm and his other Sai also going for her swordarm but only succeeding in cutting into her leather armour. The Sai and the sword scraped against each other, then Callisto grabbed Joxer's right hand in a vice-like grip with her free arm and tried to throw him off her so she could land the final blow.

With no time to slash at her hand constraining him and her superior strength beginning to tell against him, he was fast running out of options. He couldn't sweep her legs away, he couldn't jump over her and he couldn't pivot round her side. Suddenly, Xena's chackram came out of nowhere, striking Callisto's sword out of her hand and the Chackram flew back to Xena's waiting hand.

This distraction was just what Joxer was looking for, and he grabbed hold of her armour around her chest and swung himself between her legs, rolling onto his right side and thrusting his Sai into her left calf with all his strength. She screamed in mortal agony as the Sai delved into her leg and she dropped his right arm, freeing it.

Joxer scrambled quickly to his feet, facing Callisto again and noticed the deep gash his Sai had left in her leg.

"Blood, huh? Guess that means I can harm you after all," he said casually. "So, are you going to run? No? Well, you won't catch me then!" and he raced into a small copse.

Callisto grasped her sword and flew after him with a bloodcurdling scream of anger. She reached the copse where Joxer had disappeared into and quickly scanned the sheltered glade, her instincts on alert, and was amazed to see him holding a knife up to the light feeling its sharp edge.

"You should have run away a lot farther, I'm going to carve you apart. You don't have Xena to save you now," she growled menacingly and she somersaulted herself onto a heavy branch, grabbing it with both hands, accelerating at breakneck speed, grabbing a branch with each hand movement, until she was almost on top of him.

She drew out her sword and dived straight at him, her sword aimed at his stomach, but instead of rolling away as he'd done before, he jumped deftly into the air. He evaded her with comparative ease, then hit her with a salvo of kicks to her back. She landed heavily, forcing her to drop her sword, which speared into the ground several yards away.

Before she could retrieve it again, he aimed a foot sweep at her, hitting her wounded leg. As she fell backwards and flipped herself upright, he picked up her sword and vanished into the trees again. She tensed, waiting for him to re-appear, only to find that two Sai were pushing into her back. Seething with anger being caught like this, her right hand gradually reached for her dagger that she kept in the belt around her waist.

"Don't even think about it Callisto," Joxer said calmly. "I could slash your back into ribbons before you could even get it out of the pouch. You can take that dagger out now - just drop it to the ground; And don't try to use it, I'd hate to kill you by accident."

"How in Tartarus did you get from over there to behind me?" Callisto demanded.

"Very easily," Jace said, emerging from the trees where she'd been looking at, "when you have a lookalike brother."

Callisto took the dagger out of her belt and made to throw it to the floor, but she quickly reversed her hold on it and swung it back towards Joxer. Anticipating this, he slammed his body into her back, so her blow missed him and he rammed both Sai deep into her armpits, the force of his attack lifting her off the ground. Her yell of excruciating pain could be heard all over the clearing, as the sounds of battle ceased behind them.

Having heard the screams, Jett and Xena rushed into the copse, only to see Callisto almost skewered on Joxer's Sai, dropping the dagger on the ground. He ripped his Sai free and she dropped to the ground, giving him a murderous look of hate, fury and pain. Jace dragged her up onto her feet and held her arms tightly behind her back.

"My, aren't you a big girl? If this hurts, don't worry, the pain won't last too long," said Jace darkly.

Casting a startled look at how Callisto was at Joxer's mercy, then relaxing a little, Xena pulled Jett to one side. "I think everything's in hand now," she said with a grin, noting with satisfaction how uncomfortable her old enemy was at being captured by the very man she intended to kill. "So Jett, you were saying about how you got out from Maramis?"

"Well," the assassin replied, "I was planning an escape anyway, when Aphrodite appears before me in my cell. She can arrange for me to be released from Maramis if I help out my kid brother. Naturally I agreed. The celldoor swings open, all the guards are asleep, so I just walk out of the gaol where Jace is waiting with a horse and -"

"Yes, and weren't you grateful?" Jace interrupted him haughtily. "No warm greeting after all this time, just a "Thanks, Jace" and that was it."

"As I was saying," Jett, patently ignoring the interruption, " we were travelling on the horses until we neared the village and we waited for Joxer in that thicket over there. Jace and me killed the sentries, he ambushed Callisto and I was about to ambush her warriors when you turned up."

"Who's he?" Xena asked, indicating Jace with a swish of her head.

"Ah, that would be Jace, our other brother," Jett said with a half-smile, "you haven't met Jace, have you? Why don't you go and have a word with him?"

"Right," said Xena, and walked over to him.

"This isn't over Xena, " Callisto said, eyeing her adversary with a glare of hate and frustration. "You may have me now, but I will have my revenge - Remember who got me out of Tartarus..."

"There's no way Ares is going to help you out, Callisto, he doesn't like failures, only successes," Xena said scornfully, but Callisto smiled to herself secretly.

"I'm Xena," she said, introducing herself to Jace. "I'd shake hands, but I see your hands are full!"

"I'm Jace," he said to Xena. "So you're the Xena Joxer's written to me about. So what have Jett and Joxer told you about me?"

"Well," said Xena, "I know Joxer of course, and Jett I know by reputation, but all I know of you is that you're their brother."

"Only just," Jett muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry Jett, what was that?" Jace said sharply, whose hearing was razor-sharp.

"Don't rush, wasn't it?" Joxer said hurriedly. He was well used to stepping between his two elder brothers that were forever arguing, which was one of the reasons, amongst many others, why Jace had left home first.

"Hmmm," Jace accepting Joxer's version of what Jett said somewhat reluctantly and settling for giving Jett a hard stare, who was oblivious of it.

"Well, I run a ballet school in Thebes and I help out with the troupe of actors that come through the town. The rest of the family hasn't spoken to me for years, Father and Jett despise me and Joxer writes to me from time to time."

After a pained silence, Xena spoke again. "So what's the plan Joxer?"

"Well, we're taking our friend Callisto back for a quiet talk," he replied, and he smiled a knowing smile that didn't bode well for the ex-Goddess.

"Jett, can you tie her legs together?" he said, turning to his assassin brother. "I'd hate to lose her when we've so much to talk about."

Jett tied her legs together around her knees and then he and Jace dragged her down by her arms to the final destination. Joxer hung back with Xena at a gesture from her that she wanted a private chat with him.

"Joxer, if anyone were to make an offering to Aphrodite, what sort of thing would she like that might hold her attention?" she asked him hesitantly.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise and stroked his chin thoughtfully for a minute, reflecting back on all his own offerings to the Love Goddess. "She likes roses and myrtle, a nice scent, carvings, statuettes and a nice urn, but nothing too gaudy."

He paused, pondering this sudden change of attitude to the Love Goddess. "So what's this about, Xena? You're don't have much to do with Aphrodite normally," he asked her seriously.

"I need to talk to her about something and you're the only one I know who's on good terms with her," she said urgently.

"Go on ahead and wait by the Temple," Joxer told her, "I'll be with you in a short while."

She nodded and left. He looked around him and thought carefully about the options open to him; Callisto must have had a bag of pillage around here somewhere, there might be something useful in there. Flowers were in abundance, so that wasn't a problem. Jace probably still carried some scent around with him, though he didn't like to ask why. First things first, he thought, and he quickly found the place where Callisto's camp was. Where would she have left it? Somewhere accessible, yet difficult to get at and close by to where she slept. He scouted around until he found the still smoking embers of the fire and saw a clump of thorn bushes nearby.

He whipped his Sai out and searched each bush thoroughly, until only the largest one remained. He cut away at the topmost and outer branches until his view into the bush was not so obscured. Something flashed at him, reflecting off the early dawn sunlight, and he carefully reached in to retrieve the object.

Ten minutes later, there was a sizeable haul of booty beside the bush, of goblets, a large bag of coins, jewellry, gold plates and assorted statuettes. He wrapped them all in a horse blanket and secured it to what he presumed was Callisto's horse, all the other horses tied up were tired old nags that definitely seen better days, and tied a rope to the horse, gently leading it down the track.

He arrived at the Temple, the horse following him closely behind, to see Xena and his brothers waiting for him with Callisto still in tow. Joxer halted the horse and untied the blanket of booty, laying it on the floor for all to see.

"Look what I found!" he grinned. "Must have been a early Solstice tree, and it's only just past Midsummer!" His brothers and Xena all looked on in astonishment at the cache of treasure suddenly revealed.

"Well, I'm sure the villagers in the valley will be glad of this kind contribution Callisto just donated," Xena said with a smile. She noted Callisto hardly smiled back, just bared her teeth at her. Joxer picked a few items from the blanket and whispered something in Jace's ear. Jace passed Callisto over to Jett, and threw Joxer a phial of liquid. Joxer picked up a selection of items and went with Xena into the Temple.

He passed her the phial of scent Jace had given him and the objects he'd selected from the blanket of goodies he'd found, namely a fine pair of encrusted goblets and a golden statuette of Aphrodite, and looked around the main hall and found a nice urn. He filled it with water from an ewer by the altar and put the wildflowers, from his jacket pockets, that he'd picked from the wood into the urn.

"Alright Xena," Joxer said to her. "These offerings should do the trick. If you put the goblets, the scent, the statuette and the urn of flowers on the altar, and say something along the lines of, "Great Goddess of Love Aphrodite, I humbly give these offerings to you and crave an audience with you."

She looked at him doubtfully, her uneasiness very obvious. Joxer saw how uncomfortable she was with the situation and tried to calm her apprehension. "Xena, I don't know what you want to talk to Aphrodite about, but it must be important, or else you wouldn't be doing it. Given your relationship with the Gods, it's not as though you'll be making a habit of doing this, is it?"

"Well, probably not!" said Xena with a laugh, and she gave a wry smile.

"I'll leave you with Aphrodite, while me, Jett and Jace talk to Callisto," Joxer said, putting the urn on a table beside her and left the building. She took the goblets, statuette and scent, putting them carefully on the altar, then placed the urn of flowers alongside the other offerings.

"Great Goddess of Love Aphrodite, I humbly give these offerings to you and crave an audience with you," she said with her head bowed, remembering what Joxer had told her.

"For moi?" Aphrodite said in mock surprise, as she appeared before Xena. "Ooh, daisies, my favourite flower," she said as she examined the offerings. "Nice scent, and I haven't seen that statue since it was stolen from one of my Temples in Athens. The goblets are a nice touch too; worshippers can toast to me and pray to me at the same time! So what can I do for you Xena?"

"You know what Ares has done to Gabrielle, don't you?" said Xena.

"Yeah, I heard about it - Bro' got Callie to fire that crossbow at the blonde. Major bummer," the Goddess commented.

"We've got Callisto, but Ares holds the key to taking the effect of Ares' bolt off Gabrielle," said Xena.

"So?" said 'Dite, with a shrug of her shoulders.

"So, can you get over to Hercules and ask him to lend me the Hind's blood dagger?" Xena asked.

Conclusion >>>