The summer sun shone brightly upon the young couple walking up the steep hill. There were dandelions littering either side of the road, dancing in the breeze. The two lovers, walking hand in hand, eventually reached the top, and peeked down on to the magnificent view below; from this high up, their village of Potidaea, near the river, was nothing but a white dot in the middle of the lush green landscape.

"Wow!" The young woman exclaimed, "I’ve lived in Potidaea all my life, but I had never realized it was such a beautiful town."

"Neither did I, Rosette," the young man replied, "until I came up here three years ago."

The youth then turned and faced his girlfriend. "Rosette," he said sweetly, as he took Rosette’s hands into his.

Rosette:

"Yes, Edgar?"
Edgar:
"There is something I wanted to ask you…for months now actually…"

Rosette, hopeful and expectant:

"And that is…?"

Edgar bent down on one knee and kissed her hand. "Will…you…marry me?"

Rosette did not answer immediately. She stood dumbfounded; eventually tears came to her eyes, and as she was about to say ‘yes’ a voice thundered from the patch of shrubs ten feet away.

"All right, that’s enough, you lovebirds!"

Edgar and Rosette nearly jumped out of their skin; Edgar bounced up and turned to his right, facing the crasher who had just emerged from the bushes.

"Who are you, and what are you doing eavesdropping on us?"

The man said, "Isn’t it obvious who I am? Now hand it over!"
Edgar:
"Hand what over?"
Man:

"All of your money!"

Both Edgar and the robber sized each other up. The robber standing in front of Edgar was very tall, about 6’ 3". He had a scar down his right cheek, wore a mask over his eyes, and carried an enormous sword in his left hand. Like his shiny, flowing black hair, his outfit consisted entirely of, black, leather: a vest with no shirt and pants. Even his boots were black. He roared again: "Don’t make this harder on yourself, lover boy. Give it up."

Edgar was still pondering whether he should reach for his own sword, tied to his belt. He stood to lose a lot; if he moved, the robber would not only take his money, but would not leave without first laying a finger on Rosette.

Edgar knew he was no match for this huge character facing him now. Edgar never was the physical type, and he now regretted ignoring his father’s wishes for him to take up martial arts.

He was still planning his move when the leather-clad mammoth charged, shoulder first, knocking Edgar senselessly to the ground. He snatched up Edgar’s moneybag.

"As for you, girly…" he muttered as he advanced menacingly toward Rosette.

Edgar, still down, grabbed at the robber’s leg.

"Don’t you touch her, you smelly mammoth!"
Mammoth:
"Try and stop me, you little wimp!"
Edgar used the mammoth’s leg for leverage, pulled himself up, and flew into the man’s nose with a headbutt; together they went down to the ground. The two men wrestled and tugged on the dirt, with Rosette screaming in utter horror. Edgar managed only to pull off the mammoth’s vest, but he was properly beaten up, his face bloodied. The robber got up, gave Edgar a kick in the side, and skipped away with the five hundred dinars.

According to the town elder, this was not this leather-clad man’s first appearance; starting down south, he had been terrorizing villages and was slowly moving northward, according to news brought by a carrier pigeon from a neighboring town.

Edgar was furious.

"You mean we had this coming?"
Elder:
"I’m afraid so."

Rosette:
"So why didn’t you warn us?"
Elder:
"That’s because I thought, as long as Gabrielle was in town, he would not strike this village; no need to cause alarm. What happened to you two was unfortunate; yes, but you were way outside the town limits. He might have thought of you as passing travelers."
Rosette:
"Really? Gabrielle is back?"

Edgar:
"So?! What is she gonna do, wave her staff at the mammoth? We need some warriors to catch this guy!"
Elder:

"Ah, but Edgar, you forget: don’t you remember Xena?"
Rosette:

"The same Xena that saved our village from the warlord?"
Elder:
"Yes. Gabrielle is staying here with her, along with a man; I believe he is called Joxer."

Joxer, sitting in his hut, was studying the three gems carved into the center of what seemed like a bracelet. The blue, red, and green gems offered a high contrast to the rest of the bracelet, which was solid gold.

Xena called out at the entrance. "Hey Joxer, what’cha got there?"

Joxer:

"Hello Xena. This is the ancient talisman I was telling you about."

Xena:
"The one that can drive away spirits?"
Joxer:

"Correct. …Here; I want you and Gabrielle to have it."

"Why?"

"I don’t see myself ever needing that thing…it’s just going to take up space in my saddlebag. But you, Xena…you’ll definitely benefit from it some day, leading the type of life you do."

Xena received the shiny golden artifact, and was starting to open her mouth to say "thanks" when Gabby burst into the door.

Gabby:
"Xena, Joxer. The elder wants to see you—us—right away."

Xena:

"Slow down, Gabrielle. What’s got you so hyped?"

Gabby:
"Listen: there is a serial killer at large, and he’s been terrorizing the villages south of here. And he’s moving northward, headed right for this town!"

Joxer:
"What? Where on earth did you…"

"A carrier pigeon from the village directly south of here brought the news."

Xena, jumping to her feet:
"Well, let’s not all just sit here!"

Xena started to follow Gabby out, but turned around. Joxer was reaching into his pocket for a beef jerky, but Xena snatched it away, and then shoved it back into Joxer’s face. She then grabbed Joxer, who was fumbling with the meat stuck to his forehead, and dragged him along.

"Come on, Joxer. This doesn’t concern just Gabrielle."

The elder explained everything that happened up until this point regarding the robber with the scar on his face, whom Edgar constantly referred to as "the mammoth."

"He has to be stopped before he kills more people," worried Gabby.

Xena:

"It’s highly unlikely that he would just pass up this town. We’ll set a trap for him."

Edgar, after being humiliated by the robber, was anxious to do something. He volunteered to stand guard as one of the lookouts. "We’ll shut all the gates," suggested Edgar, "and we’ll look for the one mammoth dressed in black leather."

"There may be other travelers wearing black," Rosette objected.

Xena:

"We’ll see."

Edgar:

"Just look for a scar on the guy’s right cheek."

It was soon dusk, and as the townsfolk waited, armed with spears, swords, and bows and arrows, one man did approach the locked gates of Potidaea.

Edgar peeped out from the watchtower. "That’s him, all right."

The man was tall, and was dressed in black. He walked straight up to the town gate, as if in a hurry. He pounded on the metal doors, asking to be let in.

Edgar peeked down from the watchtower and shouted, "Do you remember me, you mammoth? Me and my 500 Dinars?"
The man seemed perplexed at first, and then seemed to look down and mutter something to himself. It was getting dark fast, and by now it was impossible to tell the man’s face from thirty feet above.

Joxer:
"If you ask me, I don’t think that’s him."
Gabby:

"I agree with Joxer. Why don’t we do this: first we can let him in. Then we can surround him and question him."

Xena:

"That’s right, Edgar. There is always the possibility; you can’t jump to conclusions."

Needless to say, Edgar objected strongly, but the gate was opened. As soon as the stranger dressed in black stepped inside the gate, and the townspeople closed the doors behind him, Edgar hoisted his spear and attacked the man.

Rosette:

"Edgar! No! What if he’s not…"
Gabby:

"Great! Just great."

Xena, Gabby, Joxer, and five other men rushed toward the two figures in the darkness. "Don’t let Edgar hurt him!" shouted Rosette.

But as it turned out, Edgar was the one who almost got hurt. As soon as Edgar was in range, he jabbed at the man’s leg with his spear, aiming to disable him. But the tall man pulled out his sword with his right hand, grasped it and parried Edgar’s spear. He also did not wear a mask; he drew his sword up, and with amazing speed, immediately started pressuring Edgar, who was not much of a duelist anyway. Edgar’s spear was slashed in half, and the man put his sword to Edgar’s chin and backed him up to a wall.

Xena and the gang froze when they saw that the man in black was not really a man but a boy, about eighteen or nineteen. They were also amazed at his quickness, and how he had almost anticipated Edgar’s move before he made it. Edgar was slowly starting to think he had attacked the wrong person; this man had a scar on his right cheek, all right; but the masked robber had been left handed, and this man had pulled his sword with his right hand.

The stranger eyed the crowd, and, holding the sword to Edgar’s chin with an iron grip, proceeded to explain himself:
"I have a good idea of why you folks are so alarmed by my presence, the young man wearing black leather."

Rosette spoke.

"You—or someone that looks a lot like you—robbed Edgar, there," Rosette indicated Edgar, helpless against the wall.

"I have a job to do in this town, as I did in all the other towns south of here, but don’t provoke me. I will not murder in cold blood, but will kill in self-defense," said the man, indicating Edgar with a jerk of his chin.

Xena stirred uneasily; she sensed something. She could not quite put a finger on it, but she felt as if she knew this young man from a long time ago.

Gabby spoke to the young man.

"Let him go, please, and tell us exactly who you are, if you are not the robber that has been terrorizing the southern towns."
Joxer:
"Yeah. You seem like a reasonable man…say, how did you know about the villages south of here, anyway? Unless you were somehow related to the robberies…"

Man:
"I am, but not in the way you think."

A long, confused silence followed.

Young stranger:

"First of all, I am called Gilead."

Gilead looked around, and seeing undivided attention, continued:
"Someone has been framing me."
Edgar, who had been listening intently to the conversation:

"A thousand apologies, my friend…now, will you release me?"

Gilead backed off one step and holstered his sword.

Rosette:
"WAIT A MINUTE. Are you saying…"
Gilead:
"Yes. This man has been terrorizing the villages pretending to be me."
Joxer:
"How do we know for sure you aren’t lying?"
Edgar, rubbing his numb throat:

"Friend Joxer, please…I can tell this isn’t the same man. He was left-handed; this man is right-handed. Also, the robber was a lot jollier and slower; I don’t know of anyone who can disguise his stomach size to make it smaller."

Xena, who had been silent all this time looking at the young man, spoke:

"But why would he frame you, of all people? Who are you? What do you do? You must have something he wants."

Gilead:

"I do not know; he just picked me, it seems like. As for who I really am…well, I am willing to bet that no one here would believe me even if I told you."

Joxer:

"Oh yeah? Try us!"

Gilead:

"…All right. I am looking for the woman called Xena; I am her son."

To be continued…