"I suppose it wouldn’t hurt, providing he tells us the truth."

"How would we know?"

"I would know. I don’t think he’s aware that I can read thoughts and emotions. You can talk to him, and I’ll sit back and sense if he is lying or not."

As soon as they finished eating, Xena yelled out for Ares. He appeared on the second call.

"Xena! Hello, Gabrielle. Something I can do for you?"

"Nothing for me," Gabrielle said as she walked away from them to sit by the fire.

"What’s with the wannabe goddess?" he asked Xena.

Xena just shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows?" she answered.

"So did you call me here for anything in particular?"

"Yes I did. Here lately, I’ve been having this feeling that something bad is about to happen, but I can’t quite figure out what it is. Sound familiar to you?"

"No, can’t say that it does."

"You’re sure about that? This is a REALLY strong feeling."

"What about Gabrielle? Does she feel anything?"

"Her? All she feels is people needing help. Tell you the truth," Xena said, leaning in toward Ares and lowering her voice "She’s starting to be a real drag, if you know what I mean."

Ares glanced over to Gabrielle, who was sitting with her eyes closed, and biting the inside of her lip to keep from laughing. Ares looked closer at her then said, "What’s she doing, meditating?"

"Yeah, she does THAT a lot, too. Something to do with flies and mosquitoes."

Ares shook his head sadly, "What a waste of potential."

"Well," Xena continued in a normal voice. "If you don’t think there is anything going on, you’re probably right, but maybe I’ll check with Aphrodite, she might know something."

"Don’t bother. I love my sister, but I think we both know she’s not the brightest star in the heavens. To her, a tragedy is when one of her love spells goes wrong."

"Even so, I think I’ll ask anyway. Just to make sure."

Taking Xena’s arm, and leading her farther away from Gabrielle, Ares lower his voice and said, "Okay, you’re right, there is something. But I don’t know what it is. There is an ominous presence, and it’s getting stronger."

"And you have no idea at all what it is?"

"I have a theory, but if it’s what I think it is, I’d just as soon not know."

"Isn’t that kind of like burying your head in the sand? That doesn’t sound like the fearless God of War I know."

"Xena, I’m telling you, let it go. If it’s what I think it is — Let It Go, Xena, just leave it alone."  And without another word, Ares flashed out.

"Well?" Xena asked Gabrielle.

"He told the truth, mostly. But he’s still holding back. He knows more than he’s saying."

"Do you think he may already be involved with Dahak?"

"I don’t know, Xena. I was afraid to probe too much. I didn’t want him to know I was there. But I wouldn’t trust him, not after he tried to sell out the other gods."

"But he did give up his godhood to save you and Eve."

"Yes, there’s that. But you know as well as I do, Dahak can be very persuasive when he wants to be. Or very threatening, whatever it takes."

Neither talked much as the campfire died down. As they laid out their bedrolls, Gabrielle suggested she sleep next to Xena, ". . . Just in case you need to restrain me. I don’t want to burn everything down again."

"And I thought it was because that after the fabulous back rub you got this morning, you just couldn’t stay away." Xena said, smiling.

"Of course it is. What was I thinking?" Gabrielle answered as she lay down next to Xena.  She eventually dozed off to a peaceful, nightmare-free sleep.

To Be Continued