When they awoke in the morning, several things had happened. They'd fallen asleep. Xena had ridden away unnoticed. And they were confined to their bedroll. Or more specifically, their bedrolls were tied together. With them inside.

Xena smiled to herself as she trotted away. She wasn't sure what they were up to last night, but they'd certainly have a lot of time to talk about it. She was glad that they were safe though - taking on a Goddess was going to be no picnic, least of all for untrained fighters. This was going to take all of her cunning and experience to survive this one and the likelihood of her friends being used against her had to be on the cards.

Taking the distance to the coast at an easy pace, the horse and her rider reached the ferry in good time. With dawn not long up, she and Argo were the only passengers and the ferryman took the three of them across. He muttered under his breath about early starts, but the passage payment she gave silenced him. Once disembarked, she sacrificed speed for stealth, and hid Argo within a cave.

The land was bare for the most part, barring an orchard and assorted bits of scrub. Using such cover as there was, she moved carefully inland for a few miles until Cirra came into view. The hairs on the back of her neck were prickling, her instincts telling her something was about to happen. It was the same, yet not. The huts, the barn, the olive grove and farms - they were all as they had been when she first raided it all those years ago.

Something else was wrong here – there was a sense of death and foreboding. Even the birds and animals had forsaken this place. Nothing stirred, save the low whistle of the wind. Xena took a long hard look at the barn, then at the scattered dwellings and huts. Broadsword at the ready, she leapt onto the roof of a building. Breaking open a hole big enough to see through, she peered through. And was caught by surprise as a fireball flashed above her head. Ducking instinctively, her dodge pushed her off balance – she grabbed the chimney, but it refused to hold her weight and she fell through the hole she'd just made.

"Knock, knock!" a familiar voice greeted her. "Nice of you to drop in Xena. I've prepared a warm welcome for you."

Picking herself quickly off the floor, she rolled to safety to a corner looking over the details of the room. There were sacks of flour gathered around, plus a stack of bread and a large oven in the middle of the room. Looking up at the broken roof, she cast her eyes around to see what she could use to lift herself to the roof again. The door of the oven slammed open and intense, searing heat flew out. Even in the corner, she felt it and drew back. A bag of flour wilted under the pressure and burst open, spilling its contents freely.

While she was debating what to do, the hut caught aflame as a fireball hit it. The walls may have been made of stone, but the roof, floor and door weren't as they emitted a red glow. Thinking quickly, Xena picked up a bag of flour and stuffed it in the oven door. The temporary break from the heat gave her the chance to escape; she picked up the chimney - which had landed with her from the roof - and cast it at the door with great force. Weakened by the flames, the door collapsed outwards and Xena leapt free.

She stared about angrily as her enemy was nowhere in sight. "Cone on out Callisto! It's not nice to invite someone and not be there!"

"Time for hide and seek, Xena," Callisto answered, her voice echoing around the village and giving no indication of where she was. "I could be anywhere..."

"Maybe I'm here..?"

A door flew open in a building opposite the burning bakery.

"Or here...?"

A tree uprooted itself in the olive grove and crashed to the ground.

"Or maybe I'm right behind you!"

Xena whirled about, but there was no-one to be seen. Aware she was still being toyed with, she ran into another building. As she cautiously opened the door, there was a large slate sign on view, along with assorted joints of meat on hooks.

'Today's special – Duck' the sign read.

As she read it, the door behind her slammed shut, the window already boarded up. Not liking the odds of another trap, she strove to break free, her sword flashing down at the wood blocking the window. As the wood splintered into pieces under the force of her stroke, the butcher's shop lit up with light from outside. A carving knife flicked up in the air from the counter and flashed at her, narrowly deflected by Xena's sword into the roof where it shuddered briefly before sticking there. This was followed by a volley of knives and hooks all flying at Xena and aiming true.

Xena was just as quick, dropping her sword and picking the slate up to absorb the deadly blades in a single movement. The Slate clattered to the floor as Xena discarded it, pierced on all sides. It was accompanied by a peal of manic laughter echoing around the village. "It told you to 'duck' Xena!"

"Come and face me Callisto," the Warrior Princess growled, emerging from the now open window. "I'm not in the mood for games."

"Alas! This shall be our last game together," Callisto said regretfully, standing upon the roof of the barn. "This is where it all began, and where it will end. When you least expect it. Suddenly. Unexpectedly. When your reflexes fail you...."

She whistled up a fireball and tossed it casually on the palm of her hand. Barely a moment after Xena dived for cover into another stone building, the ground shook under the impact of the missile. There was a brief pause as Xena pulled all the shutters down and shut all the light out.

'If she can't see me, she can't pull another trap,' she reasoned.

Even a Goddess needs something to aim at. And the stone building she'd chosen wouldn't burn so easily. Looking around the hovel she'd chosen for cover, it was a large room with a friendly glow emitting from two of the four walls. Examining it closer, there was a collection of candles on poles and mantlepieces in a variety of sizes, all with a gentle flicker of flame wallowing in the darkness.

Xena suddenly lifted her head up sharply as a musky scent wafted through the air. She smelt it and recoiled, her breathing slowing on inhaling. Quickly drawing her sword, it scythed through a line of candles nearest her. As the flame on each candle extinguished however, they exploded with a small charge. She looked down in horror at her broadsword, which now had several kinks in it and the point missing.

"Ah! You've found my special candles," Callisto declared, as the candles expired loudly. Her voice rang around the village clear as a bell, almost as though she was in the buildings. She sat casually on the roof of the barn watching the chandler's shop from her viewpoint, though her sight was denied by all the doors and windows shuttered down.

"You've been through the butchers and the bakers – now you're in the candlestick maker's. Only he never made candles like these..."

She cast her hand at the hut, and all the shutters and doors instantly had padlocks and bolts keeping them firmly in place.

"I do so believe in heat preservation, don't you?" Callisto noted, as the hum of Xena's chakram beat against the door and windows to minimal effect. "Of course, it does keep the air out too."

"These are combination of Hemlock and black powder," the Goddess added by way of explanation. "As the flame burns, the hemlock breathes out. But! If you extinguish the candles, they go Boom!"

She ended her sentence with a fireball aimed at the butchers, which brewed up on cue. Confined within the stone walls, Xena coughed under pressure from the hemlock slowly filling the room and wondered how to escape from this pickle. The doors and shutters had just been reinforced, as her chakram shot had just proved, so any swordwork would likewise be useless. The walls and roof were made of stone and therefore impervious. There remained the possibility of using her chakram to extinguish all the candles, but in the confined space might very well take her with it.

"When I was a little girl - before you came –" Callisto continued, "it used to be the tradition here that when the oracle died, the great bell was sounded. I think that was a lovely gesture, don't you?"

Xena didn't reply. It was as much as she could do to hold her breath under the pressure of the hemlock fumes. She glanced at the candles again, then carried a bundle of the bigger candles to stand by the wall, coughing for breath as she did so. Annoyed she could not see Xena die, Callisto vented her frustration by torching the houses farthest away.

A brief hum could be heard from within the candlemaker's, as Xena's chakram took to the air. There was a brief pause then the wall exploded, stone flying in all directions. Barely a moment later, Xena emerged at a sprint with something covering her mouth and nose. The inside of the workshop could be seen now, where a fortuitous counter had acted as a shield and was now covered in wax, dust and assorted debris..

"Aww, you're no fun Xena," Callisto complained, throwing a flurry of fireballs at her enemy who just managed to avoid them by bouncing off the walls "Why don't you die like a good girl?"

"Mother told me bad girls get to have all the fun," Xena retorted, before ducking into the shed next door.

The doors of the shed shut and were met by another fireball, which quickly set it alight. Before the shed could set aflame properly, the doors burst open again to a two-horse chariot being ridden by Xena.

"A moving target!" Callisto breathed, the vehicle stuttering and stumbling as Xena threw it from side to side under ranged fire. As the cart took its unsteady course, there was a definite point of direction. Namely, the barn where Callisto was perched.

Not missing this trick, Callisto changed her point of attack and aimed her barrage at the two horses leading. The beasts of burden leapt in fright as the fireballs hissed around them, their headlong charge faltered. Not keen on moving forward under fire, the horses ground to a halt until Xena leapt from the cart onto the halter bridging them and chivvied them forward into a brisk trot.

Callisto sighed impatiently and whistled up a jumbo fireball in both hands, Xena's eyes widening in shock as she saw the fiery spheres loom large. "Bye bye Xena," Callisto said softly and the chariot vanished on impact as though it had never been, the two riderless horses scattering.

She walked over to the smouldering embers and smoke, giving it a wary search. There was a well a few yards away but its dank, dark insides revealed nothing bar a low level of water. The water dried up into a minor puddle as the intense heat of a fireball evaporated the water to reveal a stone bottom but nothing else "All gone," was the Goddess's solitary thought on the death of her long-time rival and disappeared in a pillar of flame.

The village was deserted once more, only the crackle of burning buildings and what little remained of the cart disturbing the peace of Cirra. The wind picked up briefly, mixing the smell of torched wood and straw with the unwholesome odour of hemlock as the dust flew about. There was a hint of a whinny from one of the frightened horses, who was less reluctant to gallop away now the fireballs had stopped, and then the air was still.

"Well?" Ares snapped, folding his arms impatiently as he arrived on the scene.

There was a movement that flickered past his eye, then his arm shot out and retrieved it. It hung there shimmering on his hand, the previously pristine metallic edge now having a smoked and scorched look. He looked it over casually then tossed it back from whence it came.

There was a slight noise as something dropped to the ground, rolled forth and stood up in a single movement to retrieve the weapon. "What kept you?" Xena demanded wearily.

"Been busy," he shot back. "As have you."

"Remind me to help you out more often," she remarked sardonically.

"So where is she now?"

"Rhodes."

"Want a lift?" he commented, making a thumbs-up gesture as though she were a passing taxi.

"Only if you're going my way," she replied shortly, knowing full well that any journey by sea would take time she did not have. He smiled a knowing smile and they vanished, leaving Cirra to its ghosts.

Conclusion >>>