Xena Warrior Princess; Sins Of The Past

Prologue

In the beautiful mountains of ancient Greece,

a lone rider cantered out of the mist...

Xena rode through the blackened remains of a village.

A village that had been raised to the ground by her army, on her orders, while shouting her name. She could still hear the screaming as she and her men had slaughtered its inhabitants, innocent people.

A young boy stepped out of one of the ruins. "Hello." She said.

"You got any food you could spare?" He asked unaware of whom exactly he was talking to.

"Food's scarce everywhere, no one has anything to spare." She replied flatly. "Where are your parents?"

The boy looked up at her with sad eyes. "The other side, they were killed by Xena the Warrior Princess. She came down out of the sky in a chariot, throwing thunderbolts and breathing fire."

Remorse and guilt washed over Xena in a crashing wave. She had made her mind up. She would lay down her sword for the last time along with her dark past. Reaching behind her, she retrieved some food wrapped in cloth from her saddlebag; dropping it in front of the boy she urged her mare, Argo, into trot and then canter. The boy picked it up unwrapped the food, and smiled after her.

Xena pulled the palomino mare to a halt near a copse of trees. She dismounted, pulled Argo's reins over her head, hooked them over a dead branch on the ground, and walked resolutely into the trees. Once in the among.the leafy bows she made a shallow hole in the earth with her hands and threw her sword, still in its sheath and her belt into it.

Taking off her knee guards and her skirted corset,- the skirt was made up of inch wide strips every second piece was tiered and had small silver studs placed evenly from top to bottom, all was made of smooth dark brown leather- and put them in as well. Then her golden-bronze colored breastplate and the shoulder-guards, which were no more than pieces of hard leather inlaid with gold swirls and patterns. Last, to come off were her upper- they were two inches wide and circled her bicep- and lower arm guards- which reached from her wrist to just below her elbow narrowing off to a point on her outer arm- also inlaid with gold curls and spirals both made of the same tough dark brown leather. Then her back guard, that was spirals and Celtic knots made out of the same gold metal as her breastplate. Putting her chakram, a circle of tough silver and gold metal, inlaid with pale green gems, on top, she covered everything up. She stood up, wearing only her pale pink/white shift,her face haunted her body numb. Her almost black hair fell around her only her thick hair band, made out of braided leather, keeping it out of her face.

Her blue eyes were unfocused, seeing only the past. Blood, so much blood and death, villages and towns burning, people cowering from her, their faces blank with fear. The screams of frightened people echoed through her mind, innocent people, victims, victims of her and her army. Women screaming as their husbands and brothers were killed.

Women shrieking, Xena's attention snapped back to the present. People were all around her, shouting and running. She backed quickly into the bushes. About twenty men with spears and swords were herding a group of peasants, mostly young women, into a frightened huddle. One of the men stepped forward; he had a few long hanks of hair sticking up out of what looked like a light piece of carved wood about two inches wide and half an inch high. It curved from his forehead to the top of his neck. Xena guessed he was the leader from his self-assured manner.

"Ok." the leader said whose name was Hector. "We can do this one or two ways. You can let us have the girls and go back to those hovels you call home, or we can hack you all into little pieces and take the girls anyway." He laughed. Some of his men chuckled in agreement. One of the peasants, a blonde-haired young woman, rushed forward.