Surprises Around Every Corner, part 1
Skip to: part two
Copyright 1998
"Where were we supposed to meet them again?" Jindra asked Joxer, "because we seem to be in the middle of nowhere."
"That's how Plankos was set up," Joxer told her. "Don't worry. We're in the right place." Joxer pointed to the smoke circling the trees in the distance. "See that?" Jindra nodded to show she did. "That's the town of Plankos. The founders of the town wanted to be able to keep their people safe so they built it in the thick trees of the area. It looks like you're in the middle of nowhere when boom you're in Plankos. We're supposed to meet them at a tavern called The Crimson Wyrm. Smiling, he grabbed her hand and began pulling her along. "C'mon, they'll be waiting."
Wandering through the marketplace of Plankos, Gabrielle tapped Xena on the shoulder. "Where are we supposed to meet them again?"
"A tavern called the Crimson Wyrm," Xena answered, continuing to head in that general direction.
"It's been a long time since we've last seen them," Gabrielle commented. "I wonder if she remembers us." She stopped to look in a booth that was selling blankets.
Xena turned and shot her a look. She walked back to where Gabrielle was looking. "You wonder if she still remembers us?" Xena asked in an exasperated tone. "Gabrielle, we were the only ones there when she was reunited with the only real family she has left. I hardly think that's something she would forget."
"True," Gabrielle acquiesced, still filing through the piles of blankets, "but if I remember right, at one point you wanted to kill her which I'm sure she'd like to forget."
Xena was a little irritated at that last comment but said nothing in reply to it. "C'mon, Gabrielle," Xena said, quickly changing the subject. "They'll be waiting."
Walking through the streets, trying to find the Crimson Wyrm, Jindra began to think about Xena and Gabrielle. "I know it's been a long time, Joxer, but do you think Xena and Gabrielle will remember me?"
Joxer rolled his eyes at her question. "What do you mean 'will they remember me'? Of course, they'll remember you!" Joxer turned to face her, stopping her from walking any further. "I know it's been a long time since we've seen them but they couldn't have forgotten you. How can they forget the person who saved my life in more ways than one."
Jindra looked confused. "I don't understand," she told him. "Yeah, I bound your wounds and healed you but how else did I save you?"
"You've made my life complete, Jindra," Joxer said plainly. "Before I met you, I was thinking about family and how I've never really had one, even when I was living at home. That depressed me a lot. I was almost to the point of suicide. I knew mother loved me, but I was a sore disappointment to father, and Jett and Jace teased me relentlessly. I had always wanted a sister." He had tears welling up as he spoke. He had never told anyone how he had felt about his family life...or the lack of it. "For a long time I had Xena to sorta fill that void in my life. But now..." Joxer looked at her intently and with much brotherly love. "Now, I have you. You are real family, Jindra." The tears started rolling down his face. "And you accept me for who I am. You might think me an idiot at times and you might get mad at me at times, but you still love me despite all that." He held her hands and looked at the ground. "You really are my savior, Jindra. And for that I will be forever grateful."
Jindra was crying herself as Joxer finished. She grabbed him in a fierce hug and said, "Oh, Joxer, I don't think you're an idiot." She let go of him and calmed down. "I knew you cared about me as much as I care about you but I never knew you thought of me as your savior." Joxer just smiled but said nothing more.
They continued their search for the tavern and finally came across it. Expecting Xena and Gabrielle to already be inside, waiting to chew them out for being late, they were surprised when they reached the entrance at the same time.
"Well, Xena," Gabrielle began, smiling at Joxer and Jindra, "I see we aren't the only ones running a little behind."
Jindra had a sheepish grin on her face and shyly said, "We were having a little trouble finding the place."
"That's at least a plausible excuse," Xena said, looking at Gabrielle. "Shopping isn't." Now it was Gabrielle's turn to show the sheepish grin.
"It doesn't matter," Joxer said, trying to keep the mood light. "Let's go in and have something to eat and to catch up on what we've all been doing since we last saw each other."
They walked in and sat down at the table furthest from the door. As always Xena sat with her back to the wall, facing the door so she could see everything that went on. The barmaid took their orders and soon brought out their food.
Like she always did, Gabrielle ate more than any of them. Jindra had never seen someone eat as much as the bard put away. How does she do that and stay as thin as she is? she thought.
"So, Jindra," Xena interrupted her thoughts, "what have you two been up to since we last saw you?"
"Not too much, really," Jindra answered. "I met Hercules and Iolaus. They were very nice to me. Although, Joxer almost messed things up for me and Hercules."
Xena raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Messed things up between you and Hercules? What do you mean?"
"Well, Hercules and I hit it off from the very start. We really liked each other. We still do but Joxer..." Jindra began explaining.
"What did you do, Joxer?" Gabrielle asked, interrupting her.
"Oh, uh, haha...It was really, ha ha, nothing," Joxer laughed nervously.
"Nothing?" Jindra gave him an incredulous look. "Let me tell you what he did," she said, looking back at their companions. "He got jealous of Hercules because Hercules took a liking to me."
"He was trying to steal you away from me," Joxer said, defending his position. He added in a smaller voice, "At least, I thought he was."
"What happened?" Xena asked. She knew Hercules well enough to know that he wouldn't do anything like that intentionally.
"We literally ran into them on the road near Dalwaine," Jindra told her. "Hercules accidentally knocked me down." She nudged Joxer with her shoulder and continued in a teasing manner, "This silly thing starts yelling at Hercules to watch what he's doing and sulks when I agreed with Iolaus that it really wasn't Hercules' fault." Jindra leaned over to Joxer and kissed his cheek. "But it was sweet of him to want to protect me like that."
"So what happened to make him think Hercules was going to steal you away?" Gabrielle asked curiously.
"Part of that was my fault," Jindra admitted first off. "We went to an inn in Dalwaine to get something to eat and get to know everyone a little better." She lowered her face and gave a guilty look. "Hercules and I kinda monopolized the conversation and we ended up leaving together without saying anything to Joxer or Iolaus."
"Did they know where you were going?" Gabrielle kept up asking the questions.
"I'm not sure," Jindra answered honestly. "I mean, we didn't exactly let them into the conversation but we also weren't whispering so if they were listening at all, I'm sure they heard every word we said."
"Yeah, we knew where you were going," Joxer told them. "But we didn't follow you because you obviously didn't want us around." The tone of his voice let Xena and Gabrielle know that he was a little put out.
"Alright, already. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Do I have to keep apologizing to you for that for the rest of my life?" Jindra asked, feeling as though she'd already paid for it enough.
"Maybe," Joxer said noncommittally. "But you know I already forgave you for it." Joxer gave her a smile that said he was only joking around.
"It doesn't sound like you've had too much adventure," Xena spoke.
"Going off with Hercules was a little bit of an adventure," Jindra shot back at her. "We were on the way to Corinth so Hercules could show me his mother's garden and her grave when these men attacked us. Apparently they were the same men I had defeated just a few days beforehand because they recognized me and said they were going to make me pay for beating them up."
"So you let them have it again, right?" Gabrielle guessed enthusiastically.
"Well...Yes and no," Jindra hedged. "I did get a few of them and Hercules got some but one got behind me and whacked me over the head and another swept my feet out from under me causing me to fall hard. I ended up breaking my collarbone when I hit the ground."
"I'm glad you're OK," Gabrielle told her. "You could have been killed!"
"You and Xena face that everyday," Jindra replied back, shrugging her shoulders like it was nothing. "I guess other than that, we really haven't had too much excitement."
"What about when we went to Cerenaia and Playthos?" Joxer asked. "Didn't we help defeat the warlord Bromius at Cerenaia and Sedric at Playthos?"
"Yeah, we helped," Jindra agreed. "But we really didn't do much other than run diversionary tactics while the village militia did the fighting."
"Maybe, but whose idea was it to do that?" Joxer asked smugly.
"That idea was yours?" Gabrielle asked, looking at Joxer, eyes wide with surprise.
"Nope," Joxer answered, but still looked proud. "It was Jindra's. And it was a good one too! Bromius didn't have a clue what was about to happen and Sedric was still clueless after the fighting was over."
"But you forget, Joxer," Jindra began to gently remind him. "These guys were pretty clueless when we started so it really wasn't that hard to get by them."
"Sounds like you two have actually been pretty busy," Gabrielle said. She looked at Xena who was looking somewhere else. "Wouldn't you agree, Xena?" Xena didn't answer. "Xena, what's wrong?" Gabrielle touched her arm.
Xena pointed toward the door. "Looks like they're about be even busier," she said showing no emotion.
They all turned to look where Xena was pointing. They saw a young man who looked panicked. He glanced in their direction and quickly but cautiously walked over to their table. "You're Xena, aren't you?" the young man asked. When she nodded, he continued, "My name is Phinius and my village needs your help."
"What's wrong?" Jindra asked.
"There's a warlord that owns a gambling hall in my village, Agreus," Phinius explained. "His name is Yatrib and he's ripping everyone off. The games are rigged, the dealers somehow cheat but no one can figure out how. When people do happen to win, he has someone beat them up and rob them. He has to be stopped. Will you help?"
Jindra looked from Joxer to Xena to Gabrielle. "How 'bout it guys?" she asked. "Should we help?"
"I'm in," Joxer was the first to volunteer. The young man looked somewhat relieved but he was also looking intently at Xena for her response.
"How many men does Yatrib have under him?" Xena asked.
"You mean, how many men does he have to beat people up?" he asked for clarification. Xena nodded. "About 20 or so. He doesn't have a huge army or anything, but for all the fear he puts into the townspeople, he may as well have one."
"We can do this, Xena," Jindra told her. "With all four of us there to think about a plan to get rid of him or make him stop his practices, we can defeat this guy."
Xena looked from Jindra to Phinius. She finally said, "OK, Phinius. We'll help your village. How far away is it?"
"It's about 3 days travel from here. Due East," he told them.
She stood up and faced Phinius. "You go back to your village and let them know help is on the way. We'll probably be about a day or so behind you." She turned to Gabrielle. "You and Joxer get some supplies for the trip." Then she looked at Jindra. "Jindra, you and I will secure at least one more horse for the journey. Argo can't carry everything plus people."
They left the inn a short while later and began getting their things together for the trip. Gabrielle did what she does best: haggle over the price of the merchandise.
"We need some food, two blankets, and three waterskins," Joxer told the merchant.
Gabrielle leaned over to him and said, "Don't forget about Argo and the other horse. We'll need food for them too."
"And some horse feed, too," Joxer repeated to him.
"How much food and what kind?" the merchant asked.
"We need some jerky, some bread, and cheese," Gabrielle said. "We need enough for four people for three days."
"I can give you all that for 25 dinars," the merchant said.
"25 dinars!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "That's robbery! It's not worth that much!" She gave him a look and continued in a calmer voice, "I'll give you ten."
"Ten!" The merchant practically shouted back. "Now who's talking robbery?" He pondered for a moment. "20."
"How about 12?" Gabrielle offered. "It's about what it's worth."
"16 and you've got a deal," the merchant haggled with her.
Gabrielle hesitated for only a moment. "Done," Gabrielle said shaking to seal the bargain. As the merchant went to fill their order, Gabrielle whispered to Joxer, "It's all in the way you talk to them. I should really have paid 20 but it's more fun to get the stuff at a bargain."
Joxer just smiled his approval. Then he gently reminded her, "Don't forget about the other shopping we still have to do."
Gabrielle smiled and replied, "I'm way ahead of you, Joxer. There's a store down the street that has just what we need."