From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   3-04 The Deliverer   
      
   First air date Oct. 20, 1997   
      
   The episode starts out in some kind of armory or war room with Ares swinging a   
   sword around,   
   testing its balance, etc. Discord is there and wants to talk about some cult.   
   He tells her not to   
   worry because he has his best man on it. Discord asks why he doesn't destroy   
   the temple. Ares says   
   that none of the Olympians want to go up against it, and the mortal is the   
   best way to go.   
      
   Gabrielle and Xena are walking along talking about how large things are just   
   made up of smaller and   
   smaller things. Xena doesn't get it. Then they see soldiers with several   
   prisoners. One of them   
   tells Xena they are rebels and he is talking them back to Gaul for trial. Xena   
   walks past but one   
   of the prisoners says his people will never give in to Caesar. This stops Xena   
   and she tells the   
   soldier he has to release them. He won't so Xena beats them up and they run   
   away.   
      
   Xena asks one of the prisoners, named Khrafstar, why Caesar wants him. He says   
   he has been   
   recruiting mercenaries to fight with Boadicea in Britannia. Xena says she will   
   go with them to   
   fight against Caesar.   
      
   They all go down to the sea where a ship is waiting. Before they board, Ares   
   appears to Xena. After   
   arguing about Ares trying to get Xena to kill her mother, Ares says Caesar has   
   control of a temple.   
   Xena says it must have strategic value. Ares says if Xena destroys it it will   
   humiliate Caesar.   
      
   While on board Khrafstar talks to Gabrielle about his "one god".  Xena isn't   
   impressed.   
      
   Xena confesses that years earlier she was allied with Boadicea then took her   
   army, betrayed her,   
   and tried to have her killed.  Roman soldiers have boarded the ship and tells   
   them they aren't   
   allowed to land under orders of Caesar. Xena climbs to the top of the sails   
   and signals someone   
   using the reflection of the sun off her sword.   
      
   They land without being seen. Several solders find their boat but see a   
   chariot racing toward them.   
   It is Boadicea. When she confronts them, Xena and the others come from behind   
   and defeat the   
   solders. While running away, the solders capture Gabrielle and Khrafstar and   
   take them to Caesar.   
      
   In Boadicea's camp Xena realizes Gabrielle and Khrafstar are missing. She goes   
   to Boadicea who says   
   she knows they were captured but didn't tell Xena because they had to get back   
   to her camp. Xena   
   figures Caesar won't kill her because he knows she and Xena are friends.   
      
   Gabrielle tries to convince Caesar that Xena barely knows her but he is   
   smarter than that and has a   
   plan to use Xena's emotions against her.   
      
   Xena and 15 men go to save Gabrielle and Khrafstar.   
      
   Khrafstar tells Gabrielle that his one god kept him from killing a warlord   
   that destroyed his   
   village after praying to the same gods Khrafstar did.  Gabrielle is impressed.   
      
   The next day Gabrielle and Khrafstar are tied up on crosses and Gabrielle's   
   legs are to be broken   
   as a message to Xena. Before it happens Xena pops up from a camouflaged hole   
   near the cross and   
   stops the soldier. Others come out of holes and fight off the few soldiers   
   there. Xena tears up   
   Caesar's personal banner.   
      
   Caesar is watching from a distance, and gets angry and throws a spear at Xena.   
   She throws her   
   Chakram at the spear. It splits in two and one of the splinters goes into   
   Caesar's hand.   
      
   Xena and Boadicea make plans for the battle. The temple is on one of the hills   
   they need to secure   
   so Xena says they will start there. They easily defeat the few soldiers   
   guarding it.   
      
   Khrafstar and the other followers enter the temple.   
      
   Ares appears again to Xena and asks why she didn't destroy the temple. Xena is   
   suspicious about   
   Ares' motives. He says the is no place for "one god" in their world. Xena   
   reminds him that before   
   the Olympians it was the world of the Titans, and maybe he's afraid history   
   will be repeated. He   
   says the Olympians aren't evil but this god is. Xena doesn't believe him and   
   leaves to join the   
   battle to come.   
      
   Inside the temple the followers prepare for a ceremony of rejoining. One of   
   the women, Meridian,   
   asks Khrafstar if he will permit her to do the ceremony since there have been   
   changes since he was   
   away. He agrees. Gabrielle joins them   
      
   Meridian begins the ceremony and Khrafstar notices the changes and tells   
   Gabrielle. But when   
   Meridian starts talking about blood sacrifice and a winter of a thousand years   
   and Dahak killing   
   everyone, Khrafstar yells out it isn't their god. He is seized and tied to an   
   altar. Meridian is   
   about to kill him with a sacrificial knife,  but Gabrielle breaks free from   
   the men holding her and   
   goes to his rescue. She grabs the knife and cuts him free. Meridian tries to   
   kill Gabrielle with a   
   sword, but Gabrielle stabs her in the belly with the knife, killing her.   
      
   Khrafstar thanks Gabrielle for the sacrifice of her blood innocence. And she   
   was responsible for   
   Dahak entering the world. He tricked her.   
      
   From a distance, Xena sees ominous clouds over the temple and knows Gabrielle   
   is there. She leaves   
   to make sure Gabrielle is okay. When she runs into the temple, Meridian is on   
   the altar and   
   Gabrielle is hysterical with blood on her hands. She tells Xena she murdered   
   her. Khrafstar tells   
   Xena it was her hatred of Caesar that brought Gabrielle to them, for which   
   Dahak thanks her.   
      
   She tries to fight Khrafstar but he has supernatural strength and tosses Xena   
   away. Suddenly the   
   altar explodes in flames. A tongue of fire grabs Gabrielle by the foot and   
   drags her toward the   
   fiery altar, and suspends her above it, flames curling around her body.   
      
   Khrafstar turns into a demon and says he is the Deliverer. Xena throws her   
   Chakram at him but he   
   deflects it with his sword. They fight but Xena doesn't do so well until she   
   cuts him with her   
   breast knife, and she knows he can be killed. The fight some more with Xena   
   taunting him. She   
   throws him into the fires of the altar and the flames die down. She dives   
   across the pit grabbing   
   Gabrielle and saving her.   
      
   The temple begins to fall apart. They crouch down and are safe. The ruins of   
   the temple look like   
   Stonehenge.   
      
   Xena tries to comfort Gabrielle, but Gabrielle says she hurts inside, and   
   everything has changed.   
      
   ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''   
      
   Man! After a couple of humorous episodes, what a change of pace!   
      
   And what a curve ball! During most of the episode we were seeing Xena going   
   against Caesar once   
   again. But then suddenly, it's not about X&C at all, it's about Gabrielle!   
      
   And, for once, it looks like Ares was almost a good guy. But if destroying the   
   temple was the way   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)