Behind Every Good Man...

by CCAmazon


Chapter One

Ares swung the sword around a few times before laying it on top of the pile. Strife popped around him with a giddy look on his face.

“So, um, Unc who are these weapons for?” He just gave Strife an evil grin and sat down on his massive throne. The doors of the temple swung open violently. A young blonde woman dressed in black battle leathers entered in front of a group of soldiers.

“Petra,” Ares crooned. “It's an honor to finally meet the warrior who defeated Draco. He was one of my best.”

“Not good enough. He wasn’t even a challenge.” She placed her hands on her hips. Ares smiled in ernest. He liked her, she was bold and wasn’t afraid of him, like most of the pathetic slobs that called on him were.

“A gift for you and your army.” He nodded to the piles of weapons and armor. The small group soldiers Petra had brought with her began to move toward the weapons. She held up a hand and they all stopped.

“What’s the catch, Ares?”

He admired her distrust of him. “No catch...except your loyalty to me.” She moved to one of the piles of swords, her eyes never leaving the dark god.

“Do you mind?” She asked picking up a sword.

“By all means.”

She motioned for one of her men to come forward. Almost cowardly, someone from the back of the ranks moved close to her. She stepped a few feet away from him as he drew his sword. Petra swung out. The soldier moved to block the blow with his sword, but it was no use. Her blade cut right through his. She turned the sword in her hand and slashed through his chest and then on the return swing, beheaded him. The soldier’s head rolled across the temple floor and stopped at the base of Ares’ throne.

“Impressive.” Petra commented, eyeing the sword. She paused for a moment then looked back at Ares. “You have a deal. We’ll take the weapons, and in return, you’ll have our loyalty.” She tossed the sword on the rest of the pile then looked down at the headless body. “Get rid of this.” The rest of the men picked up the body and weapons and followed their leader out of the temple. Strife came out from cowering behind Ares’ throne.

“Man, Unc. She makes Xena and Callisto look like wood nymphs.”

“She does have a certain quality about her.” Ares settled back in his throne. “I have big plans for her, Strife...big plans.”

*********

The warrior slid off her horse and looked around her camp. “Take the weapons and put them in with the rest of our reserves.” She ordered a solider standing next to her. “And, Jude, if I hear or see any of the men with anything from this stash, not only will they have their head hanging outside my tent, but so will yours.” With that said she walked over to her tent. Her tent was, for what it was, richly decorated. A large multi-colored Persian rug covered the left wall, below it was her bed covered with handsome furs. Tossing her sword on the bed she moved to the large table in the middle of the room and began to pour herself a glass of wine. Suddenly a strong pair of arms wrapped around her rendering her own immobile.

“First rule of thumb for a good warrior; Never ever let your sword leave your side.” A voice purred in her ear.

“Who said I was unarmed?” She slammed down on the foot behind her, releasing herself from the iron grip. Turning around, she grabbed her asslaint’s arm and pulled him in to her. She slipped a dagger out from under her gauntlet and held it at his throat.

“Very nice.” He replied. Slowly, she removed the dagger and let the man stand up. She took a good look at her attacker. He had midnight black hair and stunning blue eyes. Petra picked up the goblet of wine and took a long, slow drink, never letting her own eyes leave him.

“How did your meeting go today?” He moved closer, taking the goblet and putting it back down on the table next to her.

“Perfect, Zylus, just perfect.” She embraced him. “We did lose a man, though.”

He pulled back slightly. “Did we?”

“You could say he...” She paused and giggled a little, “...lost his head.”

Zylus gave her a sly smile. “Time for the second part of our plan.” Petra put a hand on either of his shoulders.

“Damn it, Zylus...ever since Hercules kicked you out of the academy, that’s all you’ve been thinking about - getting revenge.” She pushed out of his embrace. “Ares has given us weapons fit for a god and all you can think about is going to destroy a pointless school.” He placed both hands on the table and looked at her.

“I'm going to get even, and nobody's getting in the way.” His fist pounded firmly on the table with that, knocking the wine to the ground.

“Zylus...” She paused. She hated going through this with him, but when he got like this, she had to be the voice of reason. “just look at the bigger picture, instead of focusing on one point. We have the oppertuinty to get whatever we want.” He moved back over to her and looked her in the eyes. She picked up his glove like a weapon. It was heavy and cumbersome to Petra, but Zylus handled it like it weighed nothing more than a feather. “And if that means getting revenge...then I’ll help you get it...” She placed a firm hand on his chest. “but we do it my way.” He stood in front of her, towering just a few inches above her.

“Anything you say.” He kissed her roughly on the lips.

Chapter Two

Hercules and Iolaus walked through the busy market place. Iolaus was telling him about the barmaid he'd been with the night before, while Herc just nodded and faded in and out of the conversation. He was glad that the whole business with Dahak hadn’t changed his friend all that much. He was still concerned with the fact that Iolaus wasn’t willing to talk about it much, but knew that his friend would come around sooner or later.

"Did I tell you that Jason is the head master at the academy now?” Hercules butted into Iolaus’ story before he got too graphic.

"No...when did that happen?”

"A couple of months ago.”

“What exactly did the letter say?”

“Just that he was having some trouble and thought we could help.” Turning the corner, Iolaus bumped into a beautiful young woman.

“I’m sorry.” He said, looking into her clear gray eyes. She had long golden hair that was held back in a simple band of blue cloth, that matched her short dress.

“That’s all right.” She smiled. “My name is Petra.” She held out her hand, waiting for Iolaus to shake it. Hercules gave him a nudge in the ribs to bring him back into reality.

“Oh, sorry.” Iolaus gently took her hand into his. “I’m Iolaus, and this is Hercules.”

The young woman looked up at the bigger man. “It’s nice to meet you both.” Then she turned her eyes back to Iolaus. “I’m sorry I can’t stay and talk longer...but I’m expected back. In fact, I’m running late.”

“Maybe we’ll see each other later.” He replied in more of a wishful tone. She smiled at him one more time and walked away down another street. Iolaus turned and followed her figure until it faded into the background.

“Come on.” Hercules sighed and grabbed him by the back of his purple vest. “You don’t pay very good attention, do you?”

“What’s that suppose to mean?”

“Those gold bracelets she had on her wrists were property markers. She’s a slave, Iolaus, and if you'd gotten your way, you’d either be dead or shopping for a new slave girl.”

Iolaus’ mood turned very quickly. “That just...really burns me.” He grumbled and walked on a few feet ahead of Herc.

“I’m glad to see that some things never change.” Herc muttered and hurried to catch up with his friend.

********

Zylus studied the edifice of the large stone castle. “Is it secure?”

“More secure than the tents we’ve been staying in.” Jude replied.

“All right, move everything inside. Tell the men not to get too comfortable. I don’t know how long we’re going to be here.” Jude nodded and motioned for the men to move into the castle. “Do you like it?” Zylus asked as Petra moved up next to him.

“It’ll do for a start.”

He turned to face her. “Well...” He took in her new outfit. The blue dress was tight and laced up the front. The thin shoulder straps drooped over her bare shoulders. There was barely enough material to come down past her thighs. “You left this morning before I really got a chance to see you.” She stood still while he walked around her, his hands locked behind his back.

“You were still asleep.”

He grabbed her around the waist. “Did Hercules like you?”

“Not as much as his friend did.” She smiled and ran a finger along his jaw. “Either way, you’ll get what you want.” He considered the look of enjoyment on her face.

“I don’t know if I like this plan.”

“Why, are you jealous, Zylus?” He gave her a look. She knew she was pushing it. Zylus always said that emotions make for a poor solider, but she knew he had them. So she pushed a little more. “You shouldn’t be jealous... When he puts his hands on my body, his lips kissing the base of my neck, I’ll only feel your hands. Your lips...” He groaned and pulled her tighter to him. She laughed. “You are so easy! Come on, I have to get out of these clothes.” She escaped his strong embrace and proceeded twords the castle. With a grin, Zylus turned and followed her.

**********

The buildings were still smouldering when Hercules and Iolaus walked inside the Academy’s front gates. They stood there in disbelief for a moment before Jason saw them. “I’m glad you two are here.” Jason greeted them.

“Jason, what happened?”

Jason got a serious look on his face. “I think Zylus is back.”

“Uh-oh.” Jason just nodded his head.

“Who’s Zylus?” Iolaus interrupted.

“He was...” Hercules stopped and tried to find the right words to describe Zylus. Jason finished his thought for him.

“A mortal form of Ares?”

“Wow, that bad?” The hunter asked.

“Why do you think it’s him?”

“Dark-robed warriors with hoods, Hercules. They came riding through here at night and torched the buildings as they went, as if it were a game.”

“That doesn’t sound like Zylus. From what I gathered last time we met, he liked the one-on-one aspect.”

“Maybe he’s got an accomplice.” Iolaus put in, looking at the faces of his friends.

“Who knows. I sent all the students home after the last attack.” Jason explained.

“Didn’t you try to defend...”

“Every time, but whoever's behind this knows that they can cause more damage with small attacks instead of one large battle.”

“Zylus is smart, but I don’t think he could have come up with that one on his own.” Hercules looked around at the rubble. “They’ll be back tonight. We’d better get ready for them."

*******

Petra didn’t even look up when Zylus walked into the room. “So?”

“What?” He asked, sitting on the edge of the large stone bath. This caused Petra to give him a side glance.

“Are the men ready for the raid?” He ran a hand over her back, tracing a long scar.

“Yes...and no. Hercules is there.” She turned and gave him her full attention. A look of pure excitement played in his eyes.

“So, he’s there a little early. We just push up the time line.” She stood up and got out of the tub. “I don’t want you to get too excited, Zylus. Wait until he comes after us before you try to kill him.”

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Acting like what?”

“Treating me like I don’t have a clue in Tartarus about what I’m doing!”

“I don’t need this right now, Zylus.” She closed the black robe around her slim body. “I’m trying to make sure you don’t get yourself killed. Can you live with that?” She placed her hands on her hips and looked up at him.

“Fine.” He stormed out of the room.

Petra followed shortly after him, wondering why she was still with him.

******

Hercules looked out the small window before rubbing his eyes again. The blackness of the night was causing everything to blend together. Then he saw them. A line of soliders dressed in long black robes, their head and faces covered, revealing only their eyes. Each man held a torch illumating the bleakness around them. Their leaders were on horseback in the middle of the line. Hercules moved over to the chair Jason was sleeping in.

“Jason, wake up!” He threw a leg out and kicked the stool out from underneath Iolaus’ legs. “We’ve got company.” He told the other two groggy men. The three raced out the front to the gates of the academy. Petra looked over at Zylus, then at the men.

“BURN IT! We want nothing left standing! NOT A THING! You can kill Jason, but bring the blonde to me, ALIVE! And no one is to lay a finger on Hercules! He gets in your way, fine, other than that, he’s ours!” With a swift lift of her hand, the men went charging into battle.

Chapter Three

Iolaus woke up with the world spinning around him. He closed his eyes and fought back the nausea that was slowly creeping over him. “You’ll be fine.” He heard a soft voice tell him. He opened his eyes again and looked into a pair of clear gray eyes. “I was hoping we’d meet again, just not like this.” She said placing a damp rag on his forehead.

“Petra, what are you doing here?”

“My master was out riding this morning, when he saw the smoke coming from the academy. He went to see what had happened and found you. You were alive, but unconcious, so he brought you back here.” She helped him sit up.

“What about Hercules and Jason?”

She got even more serious and looked into his deep blue eyes. “They’re...dead.” She watched his face twist in grief. “My master sent their bodies to Corinth. As soon as you’re able to travel, he’ll go with you to their funerals.” He remained silent, not watching as she got up and to walk out of the room.

Zylus was waiting for her when she walked into the large bedroom. “Did he buy it?” She gave him a complacent smile.

“Every last word.” Petra moved next to his chair. Abruptly, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down in the chair with him. He was apparently pleased with the way things were going. “Is revenge as sweet for you as it was for me?” She asked him coyly.

“Sweeter. Alot sweeter.” His fingers brushed along her face, then cupped around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. His hands roamed her body hungrily. It took all of her willpower to back away from his intense passion.

“Not now...I have to take care of our guest before he gets suspicious.” She turned around and gave him one more suggestive glance before walking out, passing by Jude. Zylus stood up and placed his hands behind his back.

“That woman is going to be the death of me.”

***

“That makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever.” Hercules angrily paced in front of the large fireplace in the healer’s hut. Jason watched him as the healer finished wrapping his shoulder. “It’s not doing Iolaus any good to just sit here and doing nothing.”

“Zylus has gone way too far this time.” The healer said, looking up from what she was doing and turned to Hercules. “I should have know this was his work.” She said spitfully. Hercules and Jason looked at her couriously. “I used to be the healer at the academy and used to see the horror Zylus would inflict to the other cadets that wouldn’t follow him.”

“Do you know who's working with him?” Jason asked her.

“There was...one person at the academy that might be working with him. Though she left it nearly a year ago.”

Hercules eyes widened. “She?”

“Yes. Beautiful girl, really, Zylus seemed to take a shine to her. I think her name was Petra.”

His face went blank as he remembered the slave girl they ran into in the market place earlier.

“Damn.” He muttered, turning back to them both.

“What?” Jason asked.

“We were set up.”

Chapter Four

Iolaus barely looked up when Petra came back into the room. She moved around behind him and began to massage his shoulders. “It really is going to be all right.” she cooed. “Why don’t you tell me about your friends? It’ll help.” She was trying to sound sincere, but deep down she rather enjoyed watching him fight for control of his emotions. The grief that was tearing at his heart, and the rage. The rage she knew would come later, but she reveled at the thought of what damage he could do when he was enraged. She was truly impressed the night before when she saw him react to the attack. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about you and Hercules.” This finally caused him to give her a small smile.

“Yeah, like what?” She continued to rub his shoulders. “Well, the one I heard and liked the most was when you and Hercules went through a gate to another world and met your doubles.” Iolaus pulled away and looked at her. “Is that really true?” She asked with an innocent look.

“Yeah...it is.” “So the hind blood pendant is real?” She looked him, deep in those blue eyes of his. He shivered remembering the trouble that thing has caused.

“Oh, it’s real alright.” He said with venom laced in his voice.

“You must of had a hard time getting it away from Ares.”

He looked at her in confusion until he remembered that Herc had said something about Ares imprisoning the rest of the gods in the other world, and Herc and his double had to rescue them.

“It wasn’t me. Well it was...but then again, it wasn’t.” She pulled him a little closer to her as if undaunted by his last remark.

“Did Hercules tell you were he hid it?” She ran her hands over his bare chest. This was another thing that amazed her about him. He was at least twice her age, but had the body of a god.

“I think he...” Her soft lips pressed against his bare shoulder. “...said he put it in the Caves of Gaia.” She looked up at him, her lips curled in a malicious smile. “Thank you.” She purred before hitting him, sending him flying to the floor. Suprised by the sudden attack, Iolaus tried to push himself up, but she grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head into the cold hard ground. She placed her hands on her hips satisfied at her conquest.

“By the gods, you have a hard head.” She huffed and through open the heavy wooden door. “He's out.” Petra passed Jude and a few other guards waiting for her signal. “Wait a minute.” She shifted and turned back around. The guards were dragging Iolaus out of the room. Roughly she yanked the heavy black stone amulet off his neck. “We're going to need this.”

***
Hercules moved from in front of the fireplace to the table with Jason and the healer. “What else can you tell us about Petra?” Hercules asked as he took a seat across from Jason. The elder woman gave a little sigh and looked down at her hands.

“Not much, I’m afraid. She came to the academy after her family was killed. Rumor was it that they were killed by Draco and she was taken as his personal concubine. The gods only know what that girl went through.” She sighed again. “But those were only rumors and not very accredited. One sure thing was she never left Zylus’ side and he seemed to never leave her side.” The two men looked at each other.

“But she did leave?”

“Yes, a little less than a year ago. Rumors flew around the academy about that, too. But in the end, I think it was just a strategic move. Zylus could recruit good soldiers from the inside, while she could build and lead an army from the outside.”

“And when I kicked him out, it threw off their plan.” Hercules mused.

“There has to be something more to this than just revenge, Hercules.”

“I think we need to pay a visit to Ares. If she’s as good as we think, he’ll have noticed.”

******

Jude stopped in front of the heavy double doors. He just looked at them for a moment, Petra and Zylus had a tendency to kill first and ask questions later when they were interrupted. Taking a deep breath, he started pounding on the doors.

“Go AWAY!” Zylus bellowed from inside.

“The men are back.” There was a rustling of sheets along with a little laughter, before the heavy doors swung open. Zylus stood in the door, the coverlet wrapped around his waist.

“Did they find it?” Jude pulled the gold pendant out from it’s hiding space and handed it over to Zylus. The smooth gold circle shining in the lamp light. Taking it covetly into his hands, he turned and slammed the doors in Jude’s face. Turning around with a mischivious smile, he made his way back to the bed.

“A gift for you, my Lady.” He presented the pendant to Petra. With a laugh she took it from him and placed it around her neck, before laying back down. “What do you think?” She asked pulling him back into bed with her.

“Beautiful.” She looked at him with some amusement. He ran his fingers along her neck under the gold chain. “There is nothing to stop us now, Petra.”

******

“Rise and shine.” A deep voice whispered into Iolaus’ ear. He opened his eyes and adjusted them to dim light of the dungeon. He tried to move but quickly realized that his arms were chained to the cold wall behind him. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Iolaus now focused his eyes on the young man in front of him.

“Zylus, I take it.” Zylus gave him a cocky smile.

“Very good. I wasn’t sure what your mental state was going to be like after your incident with the floor.” Iolaus could feel the anger rising in him.

“You ordered that poor girl to do that to me.” Zylus was about to answer when a female voice replied instead.

“Who said I was poor?” Iolaus looked behind Zylus. Petra was coming down the steps wearing something quite different from what he had seen her in earlier. Instead of the dark blue slave dress, she now wore black battle leathers that seemed to flow with her every movement.

“I bet you didn’t see this one coming.” Zylus whispered quietly into Iolaus’ ear. Iolaus could feel his heart stop dead in his chest at the first sight of Petra. Then he cursed himself for being used like that again.

“So this was all a scheme to get back at Hercules?” Petra moved a little closer to him.

“I guess you could say that. In all honesty, I was hoping for the chance to seduce Hercules, but your reaction at the market was all too priceless. Besides, you and Hercules are so close it’s like tugging on the same cord.”

“So this was your idea, not his?”

Petra smiled. “It’s like the saying goes, behind every good man...is an even better woman.” She ran a finger down Iolaus’ chest. “We did have some fun, though. I think you could teach Zylus a thing or two about how to please a lady.” Iolaus took a quick look at Zylus. He looked like he was ready to rip Iolaus limb from limb. She was diliberately trying to make him jealous. Iolaus hadn’t laid a finger on her, not that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind - it was her who had instigated the touching. Abruptly she turned to Zylus. “Let's go. I don’t want you to kill him...” She gave a malicious smile. “... yet.”

*****

Chapter Five

Hercules and Jason pushed through the heavy doors of Ares’ temple and walked into the dark throne room. “ARES!” Hercules called out. A thunderous grow emitted from the center of the room before a blinding white light appeared and Ares was standing in the middle of the room.

“You have the worst timing! I was in the middle of starting a new war between Athens and Sparta.”

“I thought Athena told you Athens was off limits.” Hercules raised an eyebrow questionably at his brother.

“She’s off at some pottery contest, so what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “And you two are here, because...?”

“We need some information on a warlord.”

“Why, none of them are around here. Dimoies is in the South, Collkians is off in the East some where, and Matthsis is getting his ass kicked by Xena in the North.” Ares commented nonchalantly and took a seat on his throne.

“No, Ares, a woman.” Hercules looked annoyed. Ares grinned.

“Petra. You should have seen what she did to Draco and his army.” He swelled with pride. “She was amazing. She littered the battlefield with bodies, and had Draco torn into little bits and pieces. I’ve got a feeling we’re going to work well together.”

“You know Ares, I think you’re right.” They all turned to the back of the temple to see Petra and Zylus. They moved down the steps into the center of the room as their soldiers moved around them. “This really is a nice place.” She commented, looking around. “I don’t think I told you that last time we met.”

“What are you doing here?” Ares shot.

“Tying up a few loose ends.” She tossed the heavy black amulet to Hercules. “I thought you might want that.”

“Where is he?” Hercules questioned, turning the amulet around in his hand.

“He’s safe...for now.” Zylus offered.

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s going to have to do for now.” Petra’s eyes narrowed as she found her target. “See, your friend is our insurance. Try to come after us...and he’ll die. Simple as that.” She picked up the long black vase and smashed it against the floor. Ares shot up, infuriated at the sheer sight of distruction within his temple. “That is enough!” Petra ignored Ares’ command and continued to rumage through the broken pottery, finally pulling out a scrap of parchment. Ares was standing now, his rage visible on his face. Not many were openly insolent to the mighty God of War, and those that were didn’t usually live long enough to say they had.

“I wouldn’t, Ares...” Zylus warned.

“NO ONE threatens ME!” Ares started to move closer to Zylus. Hercules watched the young man, who never even flinched, except to signal the archers, as the enraged war god moved to close the gap between them. Ares fell to his knees in pain as an arrow embedded itself in his shoulder.

“How did you - what have you done to me?” Ares growled.

“Did we forget to mention the arrows are dipped in hind’s blood?” Petra put on an innoncent look. “Oops, sorry.”

“Where did you get it?” Hercules shot, trying to get control of his anger.

“The hind blood? Oh, you’d be suprised what your friend will say when, well let’s just say the mood was right.” Holding up the pendant, she let the chain slip through her fingers and drop to the floor. “You can have it back if you want it.” She smiled before she crushed the pendant under her foot. The rest of the crimson liqud seeped out in a pool on the stone floor. “Let’s go!” Petra ordered. Zylus gave Hercules one more evil smile before he followed her out of the temple.

“She is definately getting on my nerves!”

Chapter Six

Ares winced in pain as Jason ripped the arrow from his shoulder. "When I get my hands on that double crossing, back stabbing, little viper..." He hissed.

"Your're going to do what Ares? Wait for her to finish you off?" Hercules shot toward his brother. Ares stopped his sentence and gave Hercules an irritated look.

"You do know what they took, don't you?"

"The map to the Prometheus stone."

Jason looked confused. "What's that?"

Ares was the first to explain. "It holds the powers of the elements as they were in the beginning. It was from this that Prometheus gave mankind fire."

"So what do they want with it?" Hercules sighed.

"It's said that whoever controls the stone controls the elements -like a god." Ares smiled thoughtfully.

"The key word in the that statement is like."

"First we have to rescue Iolaus."

****

Jude carefully made his way down the dungon steps. Iolaus was still hard at work tring to pull his arms free from the chains, when he appeared in front of him. "Are you here to kill me?" Iolaus stopped and looked at the aging man seriously.

"No...I'm here to release you."

****

Iolaus made his way through the black night to find his friends where Jude had told him he would find them, at Ares' temple. Hercules was pacing the floor trying to think of a plan. Jason was sitting in a long chair doing his part in coming up with something, while Ares was slumped in his throne brooding.

"Am I interupting something?" Iolaus asked casually.

"Iolaus, will you..." Hercules stopped himself. "Iolaus! How did you..."

"How did I escape?" He grined. "Petra and Zylus have a traitor in their midst. He let me go."

"Problem one solved, now on to problem number two." Jason stood up and smiled.

***

They all stopped and looked at the gory sight before them. "These two have a sick sense of humor." Jason covered his nose and mouth with his arm.

"That's Jude." Iolaus said quietly, turning away from the bloatted body.

Petra and Zylus had left Jude's body impaled on a spike upside down as a marker to show that they had already been here and were half-way to the stone.

"We'll take him down and give him a proper funeral after we find Petra and Zylus. They can't be too far ahead of us." Hercules replied.

***

They caught up with them just as dawn broke over the high mountains. "Ares you and Jason take care of their army and make sure they didn't get to the stone. Iolaus and I will take care of Petra and Zylus."

****

Zylus jumped infront of Hercules, a cocky grin on his face. "Time to finish what we started old man." He shot.

"Yes, I do believe you're right."

***

Petra stopped dead in her tracks. Zylus was fighting Hercules. She repostioned herself so that she could intervine when it became nesscery. It never did. She saw Hercules' blade disapper and then Zylus stumble back and fall.

She dropped her sword and ran to Zylus. She covered his wound with her hands.

"You have to stay with me, Zylus." She pleaded.

He groaned and lurched in pain. Petra increased the pressure on his chest. She could feel the life draining away from his body. And in the end lay limp and still in her arms.

Hercules looked down at Zylus. There was a gapping hole in his chest, caused by Hercules' blade during the fight. He then turned his eyes to Petra who was kneeling behind the fallen young man. She had manged to pull most of his body into her lap, blood covered most of her hands and upper arms from where she had tried to stop the bleeding. Although, in the end, it was useless.

A few soliders moved from the ranks to pick up their fallen leader's body. Petra sat there for a moment then looked up at Hercules. Her eyes burned with rage. She said nothing as she stood and followed her soliders. Iolaus was watching the secne from a few feet away.

"You're just going to let her go?" He questioned his friend. "After all she's done?"

Hercules let the sword drop from his hand. He hadn't even realized it was still in his grasp. He looked at Iolaus, and then walked away, without saying a word.

THE END

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