FADE IN: EXT. VILLAGE CAMPFIRE - DAY The inhabitants of the small village are gathered around the campfire. It is obvious this is where most of the activity of the town happens. There is a small shelter made of limbs and dried leaves to one side, and crude shelves hold pots, cups and other rough serving utensils. Around the fire are set stumps to sit on. Scattered around also, are various projects the villagers are working on - small tables, etc. A pile of dried branches sits to one side, and some bark lies next to it. Peti and several other women are clustered on the far side of the fire, watching Xena and Gabrielle with unfriendly looks. Gabrielle stops and looks around as they enter. Her expression is sober. GABRIELLE They don't have much. XENA No. GABRIELLE Why would raiders bother with them?
	XENA Good question. Casey enters the clearing and walks over to Xena and Gabrielle. CASEY I'm sorry we greeted you so harshly. It's not usually our way to do that. PETI Speak for yourself, Casey. If it was up to us, all strangers would be greeted with worse. CASEY (sighing) Peti, please. Xena pulls a coin from her non-existent pocket. Gabrielle looks at her, then simply takes the coin. GABRIELLE Don't even bother. Gabrielle walks towards the group of women, leaving Xena with Casey. They watch Gabrielle leave. CASEY Is there something wrong with your friend? XENA Nope. CASEY You are friends, yes? XENA Among other things. (beat) So, tell me about these attacks. She looks around. XENA (cont’d) What were they after?
	Casey also looks around, then grimaces, appreciating Xena's point. CASEY Not much here, I grant you. But come, sit down. I'll tell you the whole story and maybe you can understand why we acted the way we did. Xena appears to momentarily regret the non-coin flip. She follows Casey over to the stumps and they sit down. The villagers nearby look at them, but remain silent and continue various tasks. CUT TO: EXT. VILLAGE CAMPFIRE - FAR SIDE OF CLEARING - DAY Gabrielle approaches the group of unfriendly women. She picks a stump near them and sits on it, waiting to see if they start talking. They do not. GABRIELLE Hi. I know you're not really interested in hearing this, but we're not intending on harming anyone here. The women look at Peti, their apparent spokeswoman. PETI You could easily be lying. GABRIELLE (nodding) I could. But the fact is, if we wanted to destroy this place, we would have. The woman all stare at Gabrielle. Gabrielle smiles briefly. GABRIELLE (cont’d) Really. You couldn't stop us.
	Gabrielle pulls a sai from her boot and throws it overhand towards the nearest tree. It sinks into the bark several inches with a loud sound. Gabrielle gets up from her stump and walks over to it, pulling it loose. She puts the sai back into her boot. GABRIELLE (cont’d) So.... Two of the women walk over to the tree and examine the holes. One sticks her finger in. It disappears up to the second knuckle. PETI You captured the boy. What were we supposed think? You acted just like the others. If it smells like sheep, and looks like sheep, I say shear it. GABRIELLE Catchy. I like it. But some sheep are harder to shear than others, and I should know since I grew up with them. (beat) We weren't trying to capture anything. We just didn't want him and the goat to run into us. PETI She put the boy on the horse! GABRIELLE (shrugging) Argo's a big horse. It was the safest place for Xena to put him to get him out of harm's way. The women look doubtfully at her. GABRIELLE (cont’d) Why do you think we'd want to capture him anyway? The women look at Peti. Peti crosses her arms and stares at Gabrielle. CUT TO: EXT. VILLAGE CAMPFIRE - DAY Xena is sitting with Casey and two other men. There is a shocked look on her face. XENA They steal your children?
	CASEY (nodding) We were fine here for two seasons. It's not much, I know, but we managed to gather enough to live on, and we were happy. Anything away from the wars was good, you know? XENA (somberly) I know CASEY Then they came. I don't know where from. I don't know where they settled at, but one day I saw one of them in the woods, and after that... it started. SECOND MAN We're the last of our kind. We don't want anything; we just want to be left alone to live and raise our children, and keep our customs. CASEY Every moon or so, they come down in the night. They never come into the village, but if one goes to get the goats, or to get water, or if they're out playing... they take them. (sadly) We've never seen any of them again. I lost two sons. The second man indicates women on far side. SECOND MAN That's why the mothers.... They're so angry.  We have only four children left. The boy is one of them. They thought you were going to take him when you grabbed him today. Xena looks up and past the men to where the women are. She meets Gabrielle's eyes looking back at her. It's obvious Gabrielle also has heard the story.
	CASEY Anyway, I didn't mean to tell you all that. After all, why should you care? Xena turns her head and looks at Casey. XENA You have no idea where these rats are taking your kids? SECOND MAN (shaking head) Espos... he's a our best hunter. He tried to track them, but they just disappear. We think they come from north of here, but we're....  Well.... XENA You're too scared to find out. The men look embarrassed. CASEY We're not fighters. We tried to leave all that behind us. We're just farmers, trying to live. Xena nods. XENA Well, we're not farmers. But living scared is never a good answer either.
	Xena turns and leaves. The men look after her, both worried and intrigued. CUT TO: EXT. VILLAGE CAMPFIRE - FAR SIDE OF CLEARING - SAME TIME Gabrielle turns back around and faces the women. PETI I don't know why we're bothering telling you this. You don't care. GABRIELLE You're wrong about that. Peti rolls her eyes. PETI Sure I am. GABRIELLE We'll find your children. We'll bring them back here, if they're still alive.
	The women stare at Gabrielle in disbelief. PETI How? GABRIELLE (briefly smiling) We have many skills. But I don't expect you to believe that. You'll just have to take my word for it until you see it happen. PETI I will lay no hope on you, stranger. Come, the rest of you. We have chores to finish, and water to get for dinner. Peti leads the women off. Gabrielle remains where she is, her back turned to the fire. She doesn't even flinch when Xena lays a hand on her shoulder. GABRIELLE Why? XENA Could be a lot of reasons. Slaves, maybe. GABRIELLE Or sacrifices. Xena winces. Gabrielle turns her head and looks up at Xena. GABRIELLE (cont’d) What's our plan? Do we go out now, and look for them? Xena looks at the sky, which is darkening into twilight. XENA (shaking head) Morning. Let's see what we can get to add to their dinner pot tonight. GABRIELLE Ah, the old ‘way to their hearts is through their stomachs’ trick? XENA Can't hurt.
	GABRIELLE (smirking) Yeah, and sometimes it works. Xena looks at Gabrielle. XENA You insinuating something, shortie? GABRIELLE (innocently) Me? Like what? XENA Hm. C'mon. Gabrielle gets up, and they walk off together. CUT TO: EXT. FOREST - TWILIGHT Xena and Gabrielle glide through the trees, making almost no sound. Xena carries a dagger, Gabrielle carries a bow and arrow. Xena signals Gabrielle to go one way, she chooses a second and they separate. Xena creeps up behind a moss covered boulder. She puts her dagger between her teeth and climbs it, cautiously poking her head over the top and looking past it. She spots a wild goat, and she grins. The goat is cropping grass near a patch of trees. Xena climbs back down and circles the rocks, stalking the goat. CUT TO: EXT. FOREST - CLEARING - TWILIGHT Gabrielle has chosen a different hunting method. She has come upon a stream, and has settled behind a fallen log, downwind from the bank. She waits patiently, turning her head to listen to the sounds around her. She hears something. Slowly, she puts the bow in front of her and draws back the arrow, her eyes fixed on an opening in the brush. There is motion, and Gabrielle's shoulder tenses. Then the leaves part and a man steps into the clearing, walking very softly. Gabrielle freezes, then she lowers the arrow and ducks behind the log. CUT TO: EXT. FOREST - TWILIGHT The goat is chewing grass placidly. Ten feet away, the brush parts, revealing Xena's eyes, and a wicked grin. Just then, the goat looks up, hearing something. Stalks of grass drop out of its mouth and it starts, then runs off into the woods. Xena frowns. XENA Don't tell me I'm losing my touch already.
	A sound catches her attention, and she looks towards the far side of the patch of grass the goat was on. Two men step out of the forest, dressed in a mixture of animal hides and cloth, their skin stained a purplish color. Xena's eyes widen. The men slink off into the forest just past where Xena is laying. Xena waits, then she gets to her feet and follows them. CUT TO: EXT. FOREST CLEARING - TWILIGHT The two men step out into the clearing, joining the third already there. They talk together in inaudible voices as Gabrielle watching from behind her log. The three men separate and go to different trees, hiding themselves behind them. There is an open space leading down to the water, the grass is beaten down there by many people and animals going to the edge of the creek for water. Xena creeps up behind Gabrielle and hesitates, not wanting to startle her. Gabrielle reaches back without looking and touches Xena's head, tweaking her hair and pulling her forward. Xena looks a bit surprised. She taps her ear, and looks at Gabrielle in question. Gabrielle shakes her head, and touches her chest above her heart instead. Xena joins Gabrielle behind the log, an intrigued expression on her face. After a moment, she merely shakes her head and presses close to Gabrielle as they watch the now empty space.
	GABRIELLE (almost inaudibly) Trap? Xena nods. They hear voices coming towards them. From between the trees, they can see a group approaching, and after a moment, it's obvious it's the women from the village. Gabrielle grips Xena's wrist and looks in that direction. XENA (inaudibly) I know. GABRIELLE You get the ones on the right? Gabrielle puts her bow down and reaches for a sai. Xena grabs her hand and holds it still. Gabrielle looks at Xena questioningly. Xena points at herself, then at Gabrielle, then at the women. She gathers the fingers of Gabrielle's hand together and closes her fist around them. Gabrielle rolls her eyes. GABRIELLE Let them take us? XENA (shrugging) Easiest way to find ‘em. Gabrielle looks at the oncoming women. Then she sighs, and pushes her bow and arrow under the log, shaking her head. Xena carefully excavates a trench and lays her chakram and her sword inside it, covering everything with leaves. XENA (cont’d) Got in a lot of trouble last time I did this. GABRIELLE (smiling) Gonna take those leathers off too? XENA Shh.
	The women enter the clearing and go to the water, unaware of anything around them. As they cluster near the log, Xena and Gabrielle slip out and join them. PETI What? Oh. It's you. GABRIELLE Yep, it's us. Just needed some water. PETI Well, you'll wait till we finish. Peti and two others go to the edge and start to fill basins with water. A moment later, a soft hiss is heard, and darts fly from the underbrush, hitting the women. Xena hears them. Three women fall, then more darts rush out. XENA Gab....
	GABRIELLE I know. Xena and Gabrielle drop to the ground almost in unison, flopping into attitudes of convincing unconsciousness. No one screams. After a moment, the clearing is littered with women's bodies, and silence has returned to the forest. FADE OUT. END OF ACT TWO