"Damn. Lila, I need for you to go back to the farm, get your mother and a few things, and leave for Amazonia. Take Horse with you." Xena turned to Sophia. "We are going to track him down."

Sophia hopped onto her horse. "Let’s go. Safe journey, Lila."

"You too. Please bring her back." Xena nodded, as she and Sophia took off. Lila hopped on Horse and offered a prayer to the gods for the safe return of her sister and friends.

 ********

Her head screamed with pain. She tried to lift her head, but the dizziness forced her to keep her head still. She felt the breeze on her face, and she knew she was outdoors. Her hands were tied behind her and from the feeling of roughness on her arms, she knew she was tied to a tree. She moved her hands slightly, trying to test the tightness of her bonds.

Herodotus watched as his daughter struggled against her bonds.

"So, you are awake?"

Gabrielle stopped moving. He walked over to her, and jerked up her head by her hair. She winced in pain.

"Looks like you took a nasty bump on the head. It seems you lost a good amount of blood too."

She managed to open her eyes. There was nothing but pure hate and contempt in Herodotus’ eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" His cackle shook her to the core. "As you said before, frustration. You see, I understand about frustrations. Imagine my frustration when I heard that my daughter Lila wanted to run off and join the Amazons. I wonder who put that idea into her head? Imagine my frustration when I heard that someone told my family about what I did to you. You know, you should have never came back here. Everything was going smoothly. You couldn’t be satisfied with the nightmares, could you? No, you had to come back and ruin my life."

"I did not come back to ruin your life, you did that on your own. I just wanted to make sure Mom and Lila was safe…"

He slapped her hard. "I WOULD HAVE NEVER HURT LILA AND HECUBA!!!" He took a couple of breaths. "You see, Lila was all I ever wanted. And Hecuba learned to be a good wife. But you, you never stood a chance. You were born evil, and you will always be that way."