ACT THREE

FADE IN

Montage of Xena riding hard over various landscapes. Near a river, Xena slows, pulling Argo to a trot.

XENA:
     Bet you're thirsty, eh girl?

Xena dismounts and brings Argo to the riverside, where Argo drinks thankfully. Xena pulls her water skin off Argo's saddlebag and begins to fill it up.

XENA:
     I'm sure by now you've noticed that we're following fox-prints.

Argo whinnies, then continues drinking.

XENA:
     I'm figuring out kitsune is traveling in his fox form. But at the rate he's traveling, we'd get to Imat before him. It's better if we can catch him before he gets to the village. That way we might avoid bloodshed.

Argo knickers into her water. Xena pulls her water skin from the river and takes a deep drink. A rustle across the river draws her attention.

On the far bank, a fox halts its movement, regards her skeptically and then darts off into the forest. Xena has an odd look on her face.

XENA (mounting Argo):
     Come on girl, let's catch that fox.

Xena and Argo back away from the riverbank and then Xena sends Argo forward at a run and Argo clears the river, landing smoothly on the other side. Pursuit of the fox begins instantaneously. Xena and Argo ride swiftly through the forest, barely catching glimpses of the red fox, which they chase.

XENA:
     You're mine fox!

Xena almost falls off Argo as Argo stops very suddenly. Directly in front of them is the fox they had been chasing, sitting as calmly as if nothing was happening. Its tail twitches slightly as Xena levels a glare at it.

XENA:
     I'd prefer to fight you in a human form but if you want to be slaughtered as an animal, that's fine by me.

As Xena draws her sword, the fox tilts his head, black eyes shining in the afternoon sun. Xena hesitates, and the fox swishes its tail. Xena's eyes widen and she seizes Argo's reigns.

XENA:
     Gabrielle! (a look of horror crosses her face as she sheathes her sword and she gasps out a single word) Eve...

Xena sends Argo crashing through the foliage back in the direction they came.

CUT TO

Eve and Gabrielle are just finishing the burial mound, the land around them is still bloody but there are no bodies in sight.

GABRIELLE (adding a stick to the top of the high pile of wood and stones of the burial mound):
     That's it Eve. That's the last of them.

EVE:
     May Eli watch over them and may they find peace in the afterlife.

Gabrielle sits down, exhausted.

EVE:
     Aren't we going to go help Mother in Imat?

GABRIELLE (somewhat bitterly):
     No. We're meeting her in Athens. She says it's too dangerous for us to come in so far after her. That the chance we'll get caught is--

A black-haired man with a scar over one eye interrupts the bard. Neither Eve nor Gabrielle had heard him arrive.

MAN:
     Is as ever-present as ever.

Gabrielle draws her sais.

GABRIELLE:
     Who are you?

MAN:
     I suppose an introduction is in order. My name is Ibu, formerly of the Rekai, and (glances around) orchestrator of the mess you just cleaned up.

Gabrielle and Eve both wear angry expressions.

GABRIELLE:
     You did this.

IBU:
     Mmmmmm... Yes.

EVE:
     Don't you have any remorse?

IBU:
     Remorse is for those who can afford it.

GABRIELLE:
     You're sick.

IBU:
     Call it what you will. Personally, I prefer playful...

With a twisted look of anger, Gabrielle throws a sai at his head. Ibu catches it with ease.

IBU:
     That wasn't nice.

Gabrielle hurls her other sai at him. Again he catches it.

IBU:
     Are you so angry that it's clouding your judgment into thinking that if you throw those hard enough, you'll be able to catch me?

GABRIELLE:
     You deserve to die.

IBU:
     That seems to be a common consensus. I've never really bought into it, myself...

Gabrielle seethes with anger.

IBU:
     Oh, you're out of weapons. That puts you at quite a disadvantage, doesn't it? Tell you what; I'll give you these (he lifts the sais between each of his forefingers and thumbs) back. All you have to do is fish them out of your peaceful little friend.

Ibu hurls the sais at Eve at an alarming rate. Only Eve's skills as a warrior allow her to catch them in time.

IBU:
     How amusing. The pacifist isn't as helpless as she looks.

EVE (darkly):
     Believe me, you're out of your league.

IBU:
     A threat? From a peace-lover? This just got a lot more interesting. Now, if only the true warrior would show up... You know, it's rare that someone has so powerful a fighter's spirit that I can smell it. But your friend...

GABRIELLE (hatefully):
     Her name is Xena.

IBU:
     Your friend Xena, well she positively reeks of a warrior heart. She'll be a great adventure to kill.

EVE:
     And us? (Eve idles Gabrielle's sais, unconsciously) Will we be a great adventure to kill as well?

IBU:
     You? I'm not going to kill you...yet, anyway. You see, you're bait.

He sneers and Gabrielle and Eve's faces fill with worry as we:

FADE OUT

END OF ACT THREE