Untitled

By: Shelby

"Gabrielle, you're going to get yourself killed." Xena was calm. She knew Gabrielle wouldn't listen to her and so there was no reason to get excited. She looked up into the tree where Gabrielle was preparing to jump onto Argo's back, as she'd seen Xena herself do so many times in the past.

Gabrielle ignored Xena. Xena didn't think she could do anything. Xena thought she was some kind of child, but she knew she could do this. She took a deep breath and jumped.....as Argo moved. She landed in a mud puddle, embarrassed, but not hurt. She got to her feet and looked at Xena. "Not one word, do you hear? Not one."

Xena had more than one word to say, but she was interrupted by a loud scream from around the bend. She and Gabrielle ran towards the sound, stopping suddenly at the sight that greeted them around the bend.

What appeared to be giant spiders were attacking an old woman. The woman was trying to fight them off, but wasn't having much luck.

Xena grabbed her Chakram and looked quickly around. She threw it at an outcropping of rocks and watched as it bounced off and neatly sliced the front legs from three of the spiders. She caught it and returned it to it's place on her hip, while drawing her sword. She glanced at Gabrielle and saw that she, too, was busy with the spiders.

In no time, Xena had sent five of the six spiders to meet their maker. She looked over at Gabrielle, who was panting, as she took care of the sixth. Xena smiled and helped the old woman out from under her wagon. "Are you all right?"

The old woman smiled at Xena and said "Thanks to you two. But, there are more of them and they are heading toward Dargana. The people in the village have no weapons of any kind. They'll be wiped out......."

Gabrielle looked at Xena. "Let's go!"

By taking a shortcut that Gabrielle knew, they got to Dargana before the spiders did and they sent the villagers away. After meeting them, Xena and Gabrielle had decided they would be more of a hindrance than a help.

Xena sent Gabrielle into the tavern to collect all the alcohol she could find, while she dug a huge pit. Luckily the villagers were heavy drinkers and the alcohol, when dumped into the pit filled it to the halfway point. They began to cover the pit with large branches.

When they heard the spiders, they quickly stood on the other side of the pit, waiting. The spiders saw them and charged, all but four of them falling into the pit. Xena quickly threw the torch into the pit, and had a moment to watch the spiders burn.

The four spiders that were left tried to run, but Xena and Gabrielle were faster. Gabrielle slammed the end of her staff into the eye of one, killing it instantly. Xena's sword flashed and split one of them in two.

Gabrielle rammed her staff into the underside of one, causing a cry of pain to erupt from it. She twisted her staff and smacked it in the face and then brought the other end down on top of it's head. The spider backed up and fell into the burning pit.

Xena blocked the final spider's feeble attempts to fight and with her sword swing from side to side, backed it into the pit, as well.

Xena looked at Gabrielle and said "So, what else do you like to do for fun?"