Diamonds are a hydras best friend

Diamonds Are A Hydras Best Friend  
By Logan   
  
  
As our story opens we see Gabrielle and Xena with funny masks covering their faces as they turn we see strapped to their backs are two hollow gourds each with tubes running to openings on their masks.  
  
"Gabrielle are you sure this is the latest thing in fun i feel like i'm trying to scare children!" "Xena you know what your problem is you just don't know how to have fun!" "How can you say that didn't i go to that dance with you the other night!" Yeah but who was it that knocked out the lyre player just because he told you to go ahead of him in line!" Well i thought he called me goathead"  
  
"That is exactly my point why if you thought he called you a name couldn't you just let it go?"   
"It's hard to explain Gabrielle haven't you ever done anything by pure instinct then regret your decision almost the same instant you made it?"  
"Yes but,hold on do you see that bright light on the horizon?" "Yeah it seems to be coming from the direction of Thebes,Let's get out of these weird outfits and investigate" "Hey we're not going to just leave these lay here for just anyone to take i paid 30 denars to rent these for the day" "Xena!! "Answer me!" "Hey wait up!"   
  
Just ahead of our heroes in Thebes there is a ruckus being raised by a wild band of barbarians.  
  
"If we don't get the supplies we came for we will ransack this entire town and leave nothing standing!" "As we're doing this we will take what we can out of your miserable hides to compensate us for our trouble so what will it be?" "The choice is yours!" "Give us what we want and we will let you alone for now!!" "Or don't and lose everything now!"  
  
"We can't give you what you want this was a bad year for us the crops didn't survive the hard frost that hit us this year if we supply you we will all starve!" "Thats your problem I didn't come here to listen to your morose excuses just to get the supplies for Lord Tireous army  
don't make me go back and tell him of your refusal you won't like the consequence of that sorry decision!"  
"Daddy!!"Daddy!!" "Are you all right if these men have done anything to you i'll well i'll........"Spit it out woman what will you do just stand there looking like someone i'd like to get to know better! Don't make the mistake alot of others have made in the past and rely on our mercy because you will find it is nonexistent in all of the men in Tireous's army.""So speak up woman what will it be??"" "I like to let my chakrum do my talking!" "Xena splits the dress that served as her disguise and let fly with her chakrum taking out all but the leader she goes over and uses his pressure points to interrogate him"Why does Tireous need to supply his army i thought he was happy ruling Carious?"  
  
So you haven't heard "warrior princess" the scroll detailing the location of the fabled Hydras Eye Diamond?" "The very gem containing all of the strength of the gods" "Imagine having the strength of Hercules able to influence the course of mortal history"  
"Even you warrior princess would not be able to stand against an army of virtual Hercules!"  
"Ha,ha,ha!!!!!"  
"what do you find so funny"  
"Well for starters if you are under the impression that Hercules influence over the respect people feel for him is solely based on his strength and not on his character!!"   
"Oh we have something better the lack of mercy but don't take my word for it "princess" just wait till Tireous finds it and then you will see who has last laugh"  
"I think when i'm granted my share of the diamonds power i'll come back and make you sorry you ever laughed at me"  
"How would you like to be the slave to a virtual god??"  
"Ok i've heard enough out of you" Xena says as she strikes the warrior across the face knocking him unconscious at the same time letting off on her pressure point attack, slowly she walks towards the door listening to the commotion outside hoping to glean even a little tid-bit of all important information.  
  
When she feels all is clear she makes her way to the town stables where she left Gabrielle til she came back from her reconnaissance mission."Gabrielle!!" "Over here Xena!!" "Out of a butter churn comes Gabrielle" "Why were you in there Xena says with a smirk on her face"  
"Well you told me to keep out of sight and the barbarians came in to get oats for their horses!"  
"Well we need to take a little trip to the barbarian camp and i need you to follow my instructions to the letter am i making myself clear" "As clear as ares lust for you"  
"Ok smart ass let's get moving"  
  
so we leave our heroines and skip ahead to the camp of Tireous two miles on the outside of Thebes.  
many warriors can be seen moving exitedly through the camp...  
  
"Tireous is what i hear true have you found the fabled scroll that leads to the Hydras Eye Diamond?"  
"Yes what of it dog!" " Well we do have an alliance between our two city states" "Past tense we did have an alliance it is now over as is my use for you"  
"My soldiers will back me Tireous we will overthrow you and take the scroll from your cold dead fingers"  
"Are you so sure fool i've made subtle hints that ultimate power awaits any smart enough to side with me so do you want to take your chances or will you leave my sight your stench offends me"  
Defeated the warlord leaves but silently he mumbles"This is far from over and soon we will see who the true fool is"  
  
We look in on the camp again this time it is dark and we see two guards unworried about their duties on this night.When from out of nowhere comes a familiar shape that splits in two mere inches before reaching it's two targets rendering them both unconscious."Gabrielle tie those two up and get their clothes" "Armor included?" "Yes it is the most important piece if we want this to work. Slowly they worked their way to the other side of the compound and then to just outside the tent."Ok Gabrielle i'm going into the tent you try to make your way towards their armory to see if you can sabotage any of their weapons" "Xena be careful i don't want Eve to lose her mother so soon" "That reminds me Gabrielle if anything happens to me find Hercules i want to make sure if you have to raise Eve without me that you have help in protecting her" "Xena don't talk that way" "Promise me Gabrielle!!!"  
"Ok i'll find him if i can" "I don't think that will be a problem i have the feeling that he knows about Tireousand his plans for the Hydra Diamond he is undoubtedly on his way here at this very moment"  
  
Without any backwards look between them they both set off to accomplish their respective tasks slowly Xena walked up to the tent of Tireous but as she stepped closer she felt a stinging sensation in her right thigh it was a knockout potion as she lost consciousness her last thoughts were of Gabrielle and Eve.  
  
When she awoke she was strapped to a large wheel suspended above a line of spears she tried to move her hands but found herself to be securely bound with no wiggle room.Tireous walked into the tent and looked at Xena with a long look of admiration "The Xena of legend would have never fallen for so easy a trap"  
"Well forgive me if i don't live up to your expectations,I only have one question how did you know i wasn't one of your guards??" "Well my dear all my guards wear different colored armor and they are forbidden to move around to different parts of the camp under penalty of death,you stole orange armor and moved into the gray part of the camp so you stood out like a harpy at a beauty contest" "I'm pretty impressed your pretty clever for a moron" "Clever enough to capture you and your companion,don't worry she is unharmed just on her way to a slavers camp nearby" "If anything happens to her i swear you will pay with your misbegotten life "  
"If i were you i would be worried about myself not some worthless little trollop who isn't a good enough companion for a true warrior" "Like i told your man earlier you possess the strength of Herculesand even if you did you have none of the things needed to truly possess it so why don't you just let me go and i'll go easy on you" "Defiant till the end i think i just changed my mind about some things namely let your daughter live i'll just have to dispatch some troops to Amphipolus to eradicate your little brat, How defiant do you feel now about losing everything you hold dear,I think i'll even have the trollop dispatched!!"  
"It's just one more reason to see you die slowly!!"  
(but inside Xena was torn because she knew that even if she got loose she couldn't save both)"Well i must take my leave of you now my most beauteous adversary i have many plans to set into motion"  
  
With that the warlord turned and stocked out leaving Xena to her thoughts.  
  
"Lord Tireous we have done as you asked and have dispatched men to kill the trollop and are readying the troops to march on Amphipolus to dispatch the child" "Good hadus i'll not make the mistakes Athena did mark my words the child will die but i think i will lead the troops myself after we make a little side trip to pick up my treasure" "You mean it is near Amphipolus?" Yes dog but don't get any ideas it is well hidden" "Never my lord i'm your obedient servant""Just see that you keep it that way have the troops ready to march in two hours"  
  
Xena could hear the troops march out of the camp she knew she had to escape but being taken by complete suprise she was unable to sneak any implements of escape she wished Autolycus was here. suddenly the side of the tent was split by a sword,into the tent stepped a warrioress that had the flaxen hair of Callisto but as she entered further her features could be more clearly seen she was clearly a woman to be contended with."Xena i presume the whole i'm pissed look is a good one for you suits you to a "T" "So you know who i am but who exactly are you?" "Well my friends call me Unicorn i'm what you could call something of a bounty hunter i've been chasing Tireous for about six months now" "By yourself" "No i have a battalion of some of the finest warriors to come out of Sparta " "Well could you and some of those fine warriors see fit to let me out of this contraption" "First i need your promise to let Tireous to me i'm not losing my bounty to anyone " "all right but with one stipulation if he has harmed my baby or my friend all bets are off" "Fair enough i think we will be able to stop him before either happens" "Geemis let her down" " Ok Uni we subdued all the troops that he left here what should we do next?" "Well i figure that is up to Xena which do we do first??" We go to protect my child Gabrielle will be able to look out for herself for a while Eve is defenseless"  
"Ok Geemis leave ten men here to guard the prisoners  
and have the rest ready to move out immediately" I will accompany Xena because i know she won't wait for anything ok Xena ready to go" "Of course lets go i have an appointment to pound on some heads"  
  
at that moment 3 miles to the north in the camp of the slavers.......  
  
"So how does it feel to be the friend of a warrior princess knowing that it's the reason you were put into such danger in the first place!" "I think it is worth any danger to be with Xena but i don't expect a slaver scum like you to understand that!!" "You would be suprised the things i understand girl like my instructions they said i'm to deliver you but they don't say anything about not making use of you on the journey to the camp if you understand my meaning" "Xena will find me and when she does you better pray to what ever gods you believe in that she doesn't kill you" "Well till then lets see what you have to off........ not finishing his sentence Gabrielle looked up to see why,protrudeing from his head was an arrow looking towards it's most likely path of travel Gabrielle saw a sight to bring a smile to her face for the the first time in hours for when her rescuers came into view it was then that she knew that she was glad to have so many good friends she just wished that she had seen Xena among them!  
  
meanwhile outside of Amphipolus Xena and Unicorn down to see Tireous was very obviously angry and he was tossing his troops around like they weighed mere ounces. Before him laid Xena's mom unconscious Xena went to move but Unicorn held her back" "Do you want to deprive us of our chance of ending this with as few casualties as possible" "No but if my mother is unconscious then where is Eve?" "I don't think Tireous knows either he seems pretty mad at something and i'm willing to bet that it is he can't find Eve" "Unicorn i hope your right but that just leaves the question where is she?" "I don't know but Tireous is moving out back towards the camp,Geemis send a runner to tell the men to move out after they destroy the camp" "Yes Unicorn"  
"Ok lets go i want to see if my mother knows where Eve is"   
  
slowly they make their way down to the town square  
  
"Mom where is Eve?" "I sent her away where she would be safe she is with your friends i figured you would want them to take care of her till this blew over" "Which friends mother?" "Why Hercules and Ares they didn't seem to happy to be working together but they said they needed to cooperate because if Tireous realized the full potential of the diamonds all of mankind would suffer" At hearing this xena felt half her burden lighten if Eve was with Hercules she would be ok,but what of Gabrielle? As if on cue Gabrielle emerged from the fringes of the woods at her side was Iolous and Autolycus!! "Xena!!" "I'm so glad to see you " Gabrielle i'm glad to see you also i see if i leave you alone for to long you go and find a couple of guys to keep you company" Xena goes over and embraces them in a hug as she does this she thinks to herself now that everything is safe that i love i think i'll go......... Suddenly a flash of light appears to the right of where she is standing instantly Ares & Hercules appear and sleeping peacefully in Hercules arms is Eve" "You sure have the touch" "Hey she just knows a handsome guy when she sees one" "Why thank you dear brother" "Not you Ares" Xena has to laugh at the attempt at humor."What are we going to do about Tireous" Unicorn says" Well i'm going to bring him to justice for his crimes not to mention my bounty" But what of his strength?" "Oh that will pass he doesn't have the gem anymore it has been replaced by a fake" "How by w.... oh never mind Xena says as she looks towards Autolycus" "But to be on the safe side me and Iolous will accompany Unicorn and Geemis to see that Tireous is put where he belongs so you guys just leave it to us he will be brought in Goodbye Xena,Gabrielle,Eve" that being said they turn and start to walk towards the camp of Tireous."Now there goes a guy that i wish hadn't had to lose his children he was a good father i bet" "And he is even a better friend" "Unicorn i thank you for your assistance if you ever need me!!" I know i'll be seeing you" With that they are all transported by ares to catch up with Tireous leaving our little family to welcome each other together again......  
  
  



End file.
