Previously On Clarkus Maximus:
A flash of light caught the eye of the ragtag group of men that were huddled around their campfire. A yearling buck was roasting over the fire on a spit. One burly man turned the spit slowly, but stopped and looked up when the light flashed. As the light receded, the figure of a man stepped forward. The group of rough looking warriors jumped to their feet, brandishing their weapons.
"Hello there," the man spoke. "Put your weapons down. I'm not here to fight you."
One of the men rushed forward, sword drawn. There was a flash of light and sound like a crack of thunder. The man stumbled forward, clutching his chest. He sank to his knees and was dead before he hit the ground. His blood soaked into the dirt. The horses neighed and stamped in fright, the whites of their eyes showing.
Tempus held the gun before him. "Anyone else?" he asked.
The group of men stepped back a few paces in fear.
"Good," Tempus said, holstering the weapon once more. "Now then, I know who and what you are. I want you to do something for me."
"Are...are you a god?" the leader of the ruffians asked.
Tempus smiled widely. "Why yes. Yes I am."
He laughed as he set his plan into motion and instructed the leader on what he wanted him to do.
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The next morning broke warm and clear, the sky above cloudless. After a breakfast that consisted of leftovers from the previous night, they broke camp. They struck a northward path as they walked that afternoon. Xena explained that she was on her way to a Centaur village where she had friends.
They stopped to rest in the mid afternoon. Xena chose a shady spot just off of the main road. Lunch consisted of round, flaky loaves of bread and a sharp yellow cheese. Just as they finished, Clark's ears suddenly pricked up. Even without his super hearing, he could hear the violent rustle of tree branches close by, though there was only a gentle breeze blowing. Xena heard it as well, and was looking intently at the surrounding forest, a slight smile curving her lips, as though she could hear something that no one else could.
Before Clark could say anything, the woman jumped, flipped, grabbed a low hanging branch, and pulled herself into the trees. He blinked in surprise. He'd never seen a move quiet like it before. Moments later, Xena jumped back down, followed by a man in a green tunic and black leather pants. Clark's mouth dropped open as he studied the man before him.
The man looked exactly like Bill Church Jr., down to the unique L-shaped scar on the left side of his chin. The only difference was that this man sported a mustache and goatee. Lois' look of surprise was a mirror of his own.
"Autolycus," Xena said, with the affection of someone greeting an old friend. "Nice of you to drop in."
"That's it!" Gabrielle said, snapping her fingers. Seeing Autolycus had finally jarred the memory she had been searching for.
"That's what?" Autolycus asked, coiling his grappling hook and rope. "And, by the way, good to see you too." His words dripped with sarcasm over Gabrielle's lack of a greeting.
"The Chronos Stone!" Excitement rang in Gabrielle's voice. "You stole the Chronos Stone months ago."
"Yeah," Autolycus said, uncertainty in his voice. "Hercules made sure that the museum got it back though. I guess he told you the story. Uh, why?"
"Legend has it that the stone has the ability to send people through space and time. Is that true?"
Autolycus slowly nodded. "Yeah, I tried it out myself. But uh, why again?"
"Because we need you to steal it again for us," Xena said coolly, picking up on where Gabrielle was going with her train of thought. "Autolycus, meet Lois and Clark. They need the stone to get back home. Lois, Clark, this is Autolycus."
"The King of Thieves," he added, "at your service." He shook hands with Clark in that same odd, forearm grabbing fashion, and then lightly kissed Lois' hand.
Clark glared at the man's brazen move, then turned his eyes to Xena.
"Xena, I don't know about this. Stealing?" Clark said, fidgeting a little. "It kinda goes against everything that I stand for."
"Clark!" Lois admonished. "I know it's not ideal, but really, what choice do we have?"
"That doesn't mean that I like it," Clark said defensively.
"Sometimes we don't have a choice in doing what we would like to do. Did you have a choice when Mazik made you steal those diamonds for him? No, you didn't," she answered for him. "It was either steal the diamonds or have Mazik kill your parents and tell the entire world about who you are."
"Oh ho ho! A fellow thief?" Autolycus asked.
Clark shot him a sharp look. "No. Where I come from, I put thieves and other criminals in jail."
"Clark..." Lois' voice was full of warning.
Clark paused a moment and sighed, collecting his thoughts and calming his emotions. His shoulders slumped in defeat. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I...overreacted. I'm not used to being so helpless. We'd appreciate whatever help you can give us."
Xena nodded in understanding and then turned to the thief. "Think you could do us this favor?"
Autolycus flashed a smile. "Well now, that depends. What's in it for me?"
Xena arched one eyebrow, a knowing smile on her lips. "I hear that the security system in King Quallius' palace museum has been tripled." Her words took on a nearly seductive tone, knowing that Autolycus wouldn't be able to resist facing the challenge to prove that he was as good a thief as he boasted.
Autolycus thought for a moment and smiled back. "Ah, a challenge then. Okay, I'll do it!" His eyes sparkled with the lust for a challenge.
"Come on, let's get moving," Xena said. She grabbed Argo's reins and began leading the little group towards the city where Lois and Clark's best hope to return home lay.
The going was easy. The land rose and fell gently beneath their feet. After a time, the land flattened out once more. They left the path and headed across a wide, open grassy plain. The short grass was springy beneath their steps. Clark marveled at how green the surrounding country was. It was like the world around him was fresh and new compared to the one he lived in. In some ways, it kind of reminded him of some of the areas he'd seen when he'd been in New Zealand. He'd been there for a couple of months before he'd gone on to Australia, where he'd studied the Dreamtime in Aboriginal Mythology.
They talked easily as they walked. For a short time, Autolycus and Xena chatted, catching up with one another. Lois and Clark got the impression that the thief was a close and trusted friend of the warrior woman. Once the two were caught up, the two reporters shared more tales of their various, and often strange, adventures in Metropolis. Gabrielle seemed particularly drawn to the story of how Clark had battled Lord Nor, a ruthless survivor of Krypton's demise. She gasped when Clark related how he'd left Lois behind on Earth to travel to New Krypton with Zara and Ching, only to have to turn right around when Nor decided to invade Earth. Her eyes had gone wide at Lois' depiction of the biased trial that Clark had received and his narrow escape from being executed on trumped up charges of treason. Xena had been most attentive as Clark described dueling with Nor in the streets.
In return, Gabrielle was happy to supply them with more tales from her travels with Xena. She was just finishing the story of how they had teamed up with Hercules and Iolaus to free Prometheus, when they heard the first rumble of hooves behind them. Their little procession halted as they turned to see what was coming.
Amid a cloud of dust, a group of mounted warriors were swiftly approaching. Each had a weapon in his hand.
"Get back!" Xena commanded Lois and Clark. She drew her sword and adopted a defensive stance. Beside her, Gabrielle stood ready, her heavy staff ready in her hands. Autolycus cracked his knuckles in preparation for the fight.
"Shouldn't we run?" Lois asked.
Clark gave her a brief, surprised glance. Normally Lois would be the first one to jump into a bad situation head first. Maybe she was finally realizing how foolish that could be.
"No chance of losing them in this terrain," Xena said. "We stand and fight."
Clark glanced around at the ground, looking for a weapon. He settled on a long, curved and twisted piece of wood. It had probably fallen from a traveler's cart, he reasoned. He hefted the weight in his hands and twirled it like a staff. He forced himself to think of it as a drei - the Kryptonian staff-like weapon that he'd used when he'd fought Lord Nor more than a year before. He dearly wished there was another length of wood nearby. As much as he didn't want Lois to have to fight, he would feel better if she had something to defend herself with. Without his powers, he realized that he might not be fast enough, or strong enough, to protect her the way that he wanted to.
"Lois, stay behind me," he said.
The horsemen approached rapidly. Clark tightened his grip on his makeshift staff.
"Twenty five," Xena said, counting the approaching men.
Gabrielle smirked. "Not good odds for them."
Xena chuckled in response.
Soon, the ragtag group of vicious looking warriors were upon them. Xena was the first to react. With a flip, she launched herself at the nearest man. Her war cry pierced the air. Before the man could react, she had knocked him from the saddle, and he landed with a thud on the grass. Men leapt from their horses. Xena was instantly off the man she'd knocked to the ground, and turned to face a man with drawn sword. A harsh clang rang out as his blade met her own in mid air. Behind her, another man approached. She kicked backwards quickly and her boot collided with the man's stomach. He was forced back several steps and doubled over in pain. Not once did Xena lose focus on the man with the sword. She easily parried each thrust, turning the sword aside time and time again. A new thug approached her from behind. Together, he and the other man rushed her from both sides. Xena ducked into a crouch at the last possible second. Above her head, the two men impaled themselves on each other's swords.
Gabrielle's staff was a blur. She wielded it with expert precision, knocking out thugs left and right. A quick thrust to the chest of one man with a mace dropped him easily. Another swing of the staff brought another man down as it connected with his skull. A low sweep knocked two others off of their feet. Autolycus fought hand-to-hand with another man beside Gabrielle.
Clark was in the fray as well, keeping Lois as close to him as he could. He swung his makeshift staff. One blow connected with a warrior's jaw and sent the man sprawling. Another swing cracked across the chest of another, sending him stumbling backwards. A few times, the weapons of the men attacking him came dangerously close to his body. The thought was alarming. If only he had his powers, he could have singlehandedly ended the fight in seconds. Behind him, Lois was employing her limited self defense moves. Her sneaker connected with the groin of her current attacker. The man's eyes rolled in his head and he dropped to the ground, uttering moans of pain.
Clark chanced a glance at Xena. Five thugs lay unmoving at her feet. Her sword was covered in blood and clots of gore. Clark's stomach turned and he forced his gaze away. Another man was rushing him, a sword in his hands. Clark reacted quickly, trying to parry but the warrior was quicker. Pain lanced him as the sword dragged across Clark's right bicep. The wound was shallow but it burned like fire. A line of blood appeared on his torn flesh. Clark raised his staff and deftly struck the man in his head, crumpling his attacker to the ground.
Xena delivered a roundhouse kick to the back of another man, sending him flying a few feet into the chest of one of his companions. Using her momentum, she thrust her blade into the gut of another man who was rushing at her with a crude club raised above his head. As she fought, she used her free hand to grasp the metal ring that hung at her hip. Pulling it free, she used it as a second weapon, using the razor sharp edge to slice at her attackers. One man caught the deadly weapon across his throat. He gurgled and died as his blood poured from the gash.
Deftly, Xena hurled the chakram at a thug that was approaching Clark. With an arc, the chakram flew through the air and embedded itself into the man's chest, killing him instantly. Xena easily sidestepped another thug and retrieved her weapon. With a grunt, she pulled the weapon from the dead man's chest. She hurled it again at a group who had managed to separate Lois from Clark. The chakram sliced through the empty air. It struck the first man in the group in his helm, stunning him. It then ricocheted from helm to helm, knocking out Lois' assailants, before arching back to Xena. She caught the weapon easily.
"Thanks," was all Lois could manage, marveling distractedly that the chakram hadn't seemed to harm Xena, despite the razor edge that it bore.
Xena barely heard Lois as she turned to trade blows with another sword wielding thug. Sparks flew as metal met metal. Another war cry erupted from Xena's throat as she did battle. She jumped and planted her feet into his chest, using him as a springboard into a back flip. She landed on the shoulders of another thug, her thighs straddling his head. She brought the hilt of her sword into the back of the man's skull, knocking him out. As he fell, Xena flipped again, landing behind a different warrior. Her sword pierced his stomach as he turned to face her, and exited out the other side of his body.
Such was the confusion of the battle that no one noticed when Clark was struck in the back of his head. He went down hard, his glasses slipping from his face as he hit the ground. Two burly men reached down and carried him off. A horn sounded a retreat, one loud, long, high pitched and off key note. Lois saw the horn-blower and couldn't tell if he was blowing into a shell or a hollowed out piece of bone. Warriors began to flee from the battle, mounting their horses and speeding away. Lois heard shouts about the "she-demon" they had fought.
Almost a dozen dead men lay on the field of battle. A few others were groaning in pain from their wounds. Many of the wounds were severe. Xena eyed the carnage with a cold eye. She paused to wipe the blood from her sword on the tattered cloak of a scrawny little man as she stood above his corpse. She watched the retreating warriors for a long moment.
"Everyone all right?" Xena asked, turning back to her friends.
Lois looked around and then panicked when she did not see her husband.
"Clark? Clark!?" She spun from side to side, searching. "Clark?!" Her eyes inspected the whole of the battlefield. After a minute, she caught a glint of something in the glass. She bent to examine it and screamed when she saw it.
Clark's glasses.
"Oh God! No," she whispered. "Clark?" she called out again, hopelessly.
Xena saw the glasses in her hand. She knelt down before a wounded young warrior. As Lois looked on, Xena quickly rammed the index and middle fingers of both of her hands into the man's neck. The man made a strangled gasp, the muscles of his neck tightening and straining.
"Just so you know, I've cut off the flow of blood to your brain," she informed the young man coldly. "You'll be dead in thirty seconds unless I release you."
Fear filled the man's eyes. "What do you want from me?"
"I want you answer my questions."
"I don't know anything," he said.
"We both know that that isn't true. Now, unless you want to meet Hades today, I suggest you stop playing dumb with me. Where did they take my friend?" Her voice was low and deadly.
The man remained silent. Blood started to flow from his nostrils. He seemed to be gagging.
"Twenty seconds," Xena informed him. "Now then. Let's try this again. Where is Clark being taken?" Her voice held the promise of death if he didn't answer.
"The god instructed Spartos and the rest of us to take your friend and the lady," he finally said, his eyes darting briefly to Lois. "The man is being taken to the gladiator traders. The lady was supposed to go to the slave market."
"God? What god?" Lois asked.
"Ares?" Xena asked, spitting the name out like a curse.
The man looked at Lois and said nothing. Xena glared hard at him, a silent threat of further pain in her look.
"If you value your worthless life, you'll answer," she said threateningly. "And believe me, it gets more painful at the end."
"Not Ares. He didn't say his name," the young man finally relented. "He appeared out of thin air last night at our camp. He killed my friend Talos just by pointing at him. Please, that's all I know. I swear on Hades' head, that's all I know."
Xena undid the "pinch" that she'd put on his pressure points. Instantly, color began to return to the man's face and his strained breathing eased. He gulped in large lungfuls of air. Xena did not allow him to get up from the ground.
"What did this god look like?" Xena demanded.
"Short dark hair, strange clothing like I've never seen," the man replied.
"Tempus," Lois said, her stomach churning.
To Be Continued...
