Author: theLogBook.com

Xena and Gabrielle’s morning of fishing is interrupted when some men chase a young boy into their area. After dealing with the men, they learn from the boy, Icus, that his father is going to sacrifice him and that was why he was being chased. Xena hides Icus and Gabrielle in a cave that she once used for her army, and goes to talk to the boy’s father. His father, Anteus, seems relieved that Xena and Gabrielle are watching over his son. Maell convinces the zealots that Xena must die. Gabrielle is telling stories to Icus, but the boy isn’t listening. He’s wondering about why his father wants to sacrifice him. The bard tries to reassure him that Xena will find a way to keep that from happening. She then wishes she had something to eat, since the fish that she and Xena caught were used as a weapon by the warrior. Icus says he has plenty of food that his mom packed for him. One of the things that he has to eat is a large piece of nut bread, one of Gabrielle’s favorite foods. The warrior finds his mother at the temple of Hestia. She tells Xena that the supreme one told Anteus to make Icus the next leader instead of his older brother Maell. She then asks Xena to take more nutbread to Icus. She has some that Maell had specially made for his father. Xena realizes that there is something wrong with the nutbread and races back to the cave. She finds Gabrielle asleep on the floor of the cave and Icus is gone. When she wakes the young woman, the bard acts strangely. She has no idea what happened to Icus. Xena tells Gabrielle to stay in the cave, while she goes to find the boy. Icus, concerned about his new friend has returned home to ask his mother to help Gabrielle. But the zealots come and grab him. One stands guard over his mother, while the others take him to Anteus. Xena takes care of the zealot, and goes after the ones who have taken the boy. She distracts them and is able to get Icus away from them. Xena and Icus find Anteus slumped over the altar. He’s exhausted and Xena helps him return home. She asks him again to spare his son, but he won’t. She tells him that she will stop him, and Anteus says part of him hopes she will succeed. Once the warrior has returned the father and son to their home, she explains that the nutbread that Maell has been giving Anteus is drugged. She’s interrupted by a knock on the door. It’s Gabrielle. She was told by a rock to come and find Xena. The warrior points out that the bard has been hearing voices because of the nutbread she ate. Icus spots his brother and the zealots outside. He runs out the other door and Xena follows him. He’s angry and says that everything would have been fine if she hadn’t interfered. Xena returns to the house and finds that Maell has Gabrielle with a knife to her throat. He promises he won’t hurt anyone as long as Xena cooperates. He has the two women thrown into the well.

written by Chris Manheim
directed by Michael Levine
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: David Ackroyd (Anteus), Karl Urban (Maell), David deLautour (Icus), Teresa Woodham (Zora), Sean Ashton-Peach (Zealot #1), Jack Dacey (Brawny Zealot), Peter Ford (Zealot Guard), Graham Smith (Senior Zealot)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

The warlord Kirilus has just checked on the young women his soldiers captured to sell as slaves, when Ares appears. The god of war tells him of how pleased he is with the work Kirilus has done to assemble his army in such a short time. He then tells him he has found his successor. The warlord is upset. He tells Ares that no man could do a better job with his army. Ares tells him the one who will replace him isn’t a man. Kirilus realizes he means Xena. When Ares leaves, the warlord begins to make plans to prevent that from happening. Xena and Gabrielle are in a tree not from Kirilus’s camp. They heard the cries for help and are there to rescue the women. They notice a man come from out of the woods and confront the guards. When he begins to get into trouble, Xena jumps down from the tree and goes to help him. She brings him back to where Gabrielle is and treats his injured arm. When Gabrielle calls out her name, the man looks surprised. He tells Xena that he’s her father, Atrius. The warrior doesn’t believe him. Xena heads back to the camp. While she fights the guards, Gabrielle frees the captives. One of the women runs away from the group, and the bard orders the others to wait there. Xena arrives and sends them on into the woods. When Gabrielle catches up to the woman, one of Kirilus’s men starts after him. Atrius appears and knocks the man out. Xena arrives just in time to see that. Atrius insists on trying to help her and Gabrielle return the women to their village, but she refuses his help and continues to deny he’s her father.

Ares returns to Kirilus. He taunts the man about loosing his captives and about Xena taking over his army. Kirilus says he won’t take orders from Xena. The god of war tells him he won’t have to. He’ll be dead. When Xena and Gabrielle stops the group for a rest, the bard goes and talks to the one who ran away. Rhea explains that when Kirilus’s men came and grabbed the women, she volunteered to go. She tells Gabrielle that she did it for her sister. Gabrielle also manages to get Xena to talk about her father. She has a happy memory of him, but says that she was fine with him leaving. Suddenly Atrius appears on horseback. He’s being chased by a couple of men, as he calls for Xena’s help. The men accuse him of stealing the horse. Atrius insists that he won it from them. As the men are heading back to the village they came from, Xena stops them and they confirm that Atrius did win the horse.

Kirilus sends one of his men out with a dart blower out to kill Xena. But the warrior snatches the dart from the air, before it can hit anyone. She then locates the man and breaks the dart blower. Atrius corners the man. He’s angry that the man tried to kill Xena. They fight, and Atrius disarms him. Gabrielle enters the clearing in time to see Atrius stab the man, who was surrendering. When Xena approaches, the bard tells her what she saw. But Atrius says it was self defense – the man had a dagger. Xena rolls the man over, and sees the dagger on the ground. Gabrielle is puzzled. She didn’t think the man was armed. Atrius tells Gabrielle that he realizes that she and Xena are a team. And once the former captives are returned to their village, then he will leave. Gabrielle talks to Rhea and comes to a decision. She goes to Xena and tells her that she will take the women on to the village while the warrior and Atrius wait for Kirilus and his army.

written by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster
directed by Charles Siebert
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Kevin Smith (Ares), Tom Atkins (Atrius), Stephen Lovatt (Kirilus), Sonia Gray (Rhea), Nancy Broadbent (Areliesa), Lutz Halbhubner (Tarkis), Heidi Anderson (Slave Girl), Robin Kora (Village Elder), John Manning (Ranch Hand #1), James Marcum (Warrior #3), Mark Perry (Warrior #1), Tony Williams (Warrior #2)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

A young woman finds Xena in the forest and begs her to save Lord Seltzer from the warlord Talmadeus. As she arrives in the village, Xena hears a familiar voice call out to her. Lord Seltzer is actually Salmoneus. While Xena fights off Talmadeus’s men, she is hit in the neck by a dart. She checks the dart and finds that it has been dipped in Talmec poison. The stoic warrior keeps this information to herself. Salmoneus tells Xena that Talmadeus is after him because he sold the warlord weapons and armor made from Talgamite. Talagmite dissolves in water, and it rained on Talmadeus’s army during a big battle. Xena decides to go find Talmadeus, and Gabrielle goes with her. The warlord and his lieutenant are out with a patrol looking for her. Xena fights the men, while Gabrielle watches from a distance. But when the warrior reaches Talmadeus, the poison begins to affect her. The warlord presses his advantage and is about to kill Xena when Gabrielle throws her staff at him and knocks his sword away. Xena recovers enough to kick Talmadeus in the stomach and whistles for Argo. She and Gabrielle retreat back to the village.

Gabrielle is angry that Xena kept the fact that she had been poisoned hidden from her. Xena isn’t sure how much worse she will get, but she knows that she is in no shape to take on Talmadeus. It’s decided that Gabrielle will dress as Xena and act as a decoy. They hope it will be enough to fool Talmadeus into thinking that Xena is well. Talmadeus is confident that he’s sent Xena on the run. He sends his lieutenant out on another patrol to find her. They encounter “Xena” and chase her back to the village. But the real Xena has rallied the villagers. Armed with seltzer bottles that have spikes in the corks, the villagers chase the warriors away. Xena tells Gabrielle that she needs to attack Talmadeus’s camp. She has had the villagers prepare incendiary devices to use in the attack. But Gabrielle is concerned about her friend. Xena tells her she needs to do this for these villagers in spite of her ill health.

Talmadeus is readying his army for an attack on the village, when he hears a familiar war cry. A ball of flame flies through the air and lands on a tent. Several more land on other tents and around the camp. He looks up to see “Xena” charging into the camp on her horse. He quickly grabs a staff and blocks the horse’s path. When the horse jumps over the staff, “Xena” is thrown into a horse’s trough. The warlord is surprised to see that the rider wasn’t Xena after all. In the warehouse at the village, Xena has managed to get out of her bed and has headed for her weapons. Two of Talmadeus’s warriors try to sneak up on her, but she manages to take care of them before collapsing to the ground.

written by Steven L. Sears
directed by Gary Jones
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Robert Trebor (Salmoneus), Peter McCauley (Talmadeus), Timothy James Adam (Kalus), Jonathon Hendry (Ness), Natalya Humphrey (Photis), David Mitchell (Gorney), Kenneth Prebble (Old Man)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell