Callisto
rolled her brown eyes as he rambled on about his many outstanding
skills and attributes. With remarkable patience, the slight blonde let
Joxer talk until he finished a few minutes later. 'Well, that's my good
deed for the day,' she chuckled to herself before replying to his
earlier question.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know if you'll be able to reach
me when I'm not myself," she said soberly as she leaned forward and got
her face just in front of Joxer's. "Chances are that I'll just kill you
and continue on my merry way. I do think you have a better chance than
most for two reasons: one, you have a good heart. Even when mad I
hesitate before killing an innocent. Two, you pose no threat to me so I
may overlook you. As for influencing my judgement, it'll probably help
if we became friends."
She smiled as she said the last part, which took out a lot of the
sting from her admission that he was no threat. Joxer stared at
Callisto as she stared back at him, grinning all the while. He couldn't
help it and started grinning too.
"All right. I'll accompany you and be your sidekick," he said.
"Why, I bet we'll soon be more famous than Xena and Gabrielle, or
Hercules and Iolaus, or Perseus and his Pegasus, or Jason and the
Argonauts, or..."
Callisto stopped him by putting a hand over his mouth. "We're
going to have to do something about that chatterbox tongue of yours.
You're as bad as Gabrielle: you don't preach as much but you don't tell
any good stories."
The currently rational and very sane young woman got up and stretched.
"Well, we better get going. You did say Xee-nah would be in Patras,
hmm?"
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Chapter 2 - Xena
It always started with her. She could see herself from a vantage point
of a few feet above the ground and about a dozen feet away. In her
black leather armor, blond hair interspersed with a few braids, hands
on hips, sneer on her face, a wild gleam in her brown eyes, Callisto
recognized herself in full madness.
"Xee-nah! How glad of you to join me. Care for some wine?" asked
her psychotic double in a honey-sweet voice as she took a seat at the
table in the middle of the room. "I haven't seen you for the longest
time. You never visit me anymore. Is it something I said? Or did? Or am
about to do?"
The last was said with a little giggle and a girlish smile as she
picked up the flagon of wine and poured some for herself and Xena. 'She
even laughs like a demented harpy,' thought the sane Callisto to
herself.
Xena stood at the entrance of the throne room. To either side of
her, stone columns ran down the length of the room, supporting the
ceiling high overhead. A red carpet with gold embroidery led from the
entrance all the way to the throne, which was bloody but unoccupied. A
wall-mounted tapestry showing a family crest hung behind the throne.
The table and two chairs had been dragged into the center of the room
from another part of the castle. Tall, stained-glass windows lined the
walls. The sunlight streaming in gave the room a surreal quality with
colors splashed in patches everywhere.
Xena herself was resplendent in her black armor, sword out and ready,
chakram at her waist. Her blue eyes scanned the room, searching but
seeing nothing else besides the blonde warrior sitting pleasantly at
the table facing her.
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