DAHAK DEATH

(Chapter 1)

By

Tyval


Summary: Two time travelers from the year 2000 follow the incomplete and newly discovered last scroll written by Gabrielle. The scroll tells how they joined forces with Xena and Gabrielle to fight the evil Dahak. And history can't be changed!

Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, and Dahak are owned by MCA/Universal. These versions of Questar, Mace, China Dragon, Billy Ray, and G.O.L.D. (Global Order of Law and Defense), Golden Girl (Apella) are owned by me under my real name since 1986 and in no way infringe on others who might have characters with similar names.

For the purists out there, this story takes place sometime after the reconciliation of Xena and Gabrielle in an alternate reality. Due to the events in this story, they will not journey to India, die in Rome and other 4th season happenings in this reality.


It was late afternoon as Xena and Gabrielle made their way through the sparsely wooded area. They were close to the Aegean Sea, and in fact, could even see patches of clear blue water through the trees. The gentle spring warmth, combined with the sea breeze and the sound of the waves was making the two women lazy. Xena was leading Argo, holding the reins loosely.

The duo were on their way to the port city of Tarlocus, but they wouldn't make it this day even if they hurried anyhow. From Tarlocus they planned on taking a ship to Athens. Xena disliked going to large cities, but Gabrielle wanted to revisit the Athenian library and after much begging had talked Xena into it.

The wind shifted, bringing a new, if familiar sound to the two women. The sound of battle! Close, perhaps only a few hundred yards. Xena quickly tied Argo off to a tree as Gabrielle gripped her staff tighter.

"Just once I'd like to go somewhere without having someone try to kill me," Gabrielle grumbled.

Two men burst through a clump of bushes 50 yards ahead, running like Hades himself was after them. Xena and Gabrielle instantly recognized their uniforms. These men were members of the Dahak's 'Elite Guard'!

Dahak soldiers don't run, Xena thought, least of all the Elite Guard. They're fanatics. For them, to run is to die.

To Xena's surprise, they recognized her and still ran on despite the 10,000 dinar price Dahak had placed on her head. Xena was somewhat angered by the knowledge that whatever these men had been fighting frightened them more than she did.

Xena hurled her chakram at the fleeing men. The disc shaped weapon careened off 2 trees, knocked the first man down, knocked the second man down, bounced off another tree, hit a boulder, then flew straight back to Xena's hand. Gabrielle straddled one man, planting her staff against the man's Adam's apple. Xena landed a quick nerve jab to the other man. Both men had already been beaten to a pulp.

"I've just cut off the supply of oxygen to your brain. You have 30 seconds to talk, dog," Xena ordered. "Dahak Elite are not known for running away, so you're going to tell me what you're running from."

"M-M-M-onsters! T-two of t-them," the soldier gasped.

"Where is your master?! Where is Dahak? Answer me, scum!" Xena demanded.

"T-Tarlocus," the coward confessed.

Xena released the death stick from the cowardly fanatic and motioned Gabrielle to pull back. Gabrielle turned and started to move towards Xena, when the man she'd been guarding pulled a dagger and tried to stab her in the back. Before the would-be murderer could strike, Xena threw her breast dagger into his heart. The other man had also pulled his dagger and lunged at Xena's back. Xena spun around, caught the killer's wrist, and landed a killing chop across the man's throat.

Xena ripped an amulet off the man she'd killed. There was some weird writing on it and Xena thought that maybe Gabrielle might try reading it later.

"Let's go see these monsters," Xena said retrieving her dagger. "Any monster that hates Dahak as much as I do I want to see."

"I knew you were going to say that," Gabrielle mumbled to herself.

The duo took off running towards the sound of the raging battle. Woods quickly gave way to dunes. Cresting the top of one where they could see without being seen, an amazing sight greeted their eyes. Nearly 60 members of the 'Dahak Elite' were scattered prone along the beach. Some were dead, but most were merely unconscious. Another 40 were being beaten bloody by 2 unarmed muscular men.

Monsters, my ass, Xena thought. They look more like Gods! The older man was 6' 6" tall with shoulder length dark hair with piercing blue eyes. Xena knew those eyes. They were hers without the guilt of her past. The younger man was 6' 2" with slightly longer blond hair. He had tried a mustache and recently shaved it off. His green eyes were the exact same shade as Gabrielle's.

Both men were well built. Xena recognized them as having the wiry muscularity of gymnasts or martial artists rather than those of some muscle-bound athletes she had seen. This fact was further reinforced by their fighting style, which combined acrobatics, Shaolin, karate, muy Thai, north and south kung-fu, ninjutsu, and a style that even Xena had never seen before.

The resemblance between them was obvious. Father and son? No, the age difference was no more than 10 years. Brothers then? They were used to fighting together, as they covered each others backs well. Ten more fanatics fell, 7 to the older man.

Xena noticed that Gabrielle was staring at the blond with her 'love at first sight' expression on her face. Xena smiled inwardly. Here we go again, Xena thought, although she was also finding herself drawn to the dark haired man. It was then that Xena realized something else about the 2 men.

"They're not trying to kill," Xena whispered. "There are a few soldiers that are dead, but they're deliberately pulling their punches!"

"I'm glad he's not a killer," Gabrielle whispered staring at the blond.

Xena was proven right on her guess, as the 2 men could now be heard above the sounds of battle.

"You're slowing down, little brother! I'm taking out almost 3 to 1," the dark haired man laughed as he fought.

"Age before beauty, big bro," the blond replied.

A sneak tried to back stab the dark haired man. The coward received a spinning back fist from the older man that separated his head from his body. The head flew 50 feet away from the body.

"Ooooooo! That's gonna leave a mark," the blond said, knocking 2 soldiers out.

Is that what those cowards meant by monsters? Xena thought. The dark haired man had revealed possessing superhuman strength, the younger man undoubtedly did as well. The odds were now down to 20 to 2, with the 20 beat to bloody pulps and the 2 barely breathing hard.

"Aren't we going to help them?" Gabrielle asked.

"In a minute. I'm really not sure that they need any help," Xena answered. "I think they could finish this any time they wanted to."

Few were the men that impressed Xena. This dark haired man was in a class that only Hercules had reached. But even Hercules had never made her feel this way. There was an obvious physical attraction to this strange man, but yet, it was more than that. Looking back at Gabrielle, Xena saw that the bard was totally lost in the blond.

Another cowardly backstabber, this one coming up behind the younger blond man, who was, for the first time, too far away from his brother. The dark haired man didn't see the backstabber as he disposed of 4 men with a single spin kick. Xena's chakram flew through the air sending the fanatic into the next life before returning to her hand. With her distinctive cry, Xena leaped, did 2 mid-air somersaults, before kicking two Elites out of the fight, then landing on her feet sword drawn.

Gabrielle followed, running down the dune, making a beeline for the blond. The cowards attempt on his brothers life lit a fire in the older man as he began using deliberate lethal force for the first time. Within minutes the fight was over with only Xena, Gabrielle, and the 2 strangers still standing.

"Not friends of yours I take it," the older man said.

"These men are the elite force of the Dahak," Xena replied. "They have no friends, only victims."

"Dahak? That's the Chaos Lord we've come to destroy," the dark haired man said.

"Chaos Lord?" Gabrielle asked.

"Evil Elder Gods that even predate the Titans. Very nasty. It took an alliance of a dozen different pantheons allied with mankind to finally kill most of them and send the rest into the Nether Sphere," the dark haired man continued. There are lots of leftover creatures like hydras from that time when man and god fought together. The gods erased the memory from man, but where we come from it was revealed when the Chaos Lords escaped their exile."

"There were thirteen of them, now only Dahak and Daemonus are left," the blond said, shyly smiling at Gabrielle.

"Where are my manners? I'm called Questar, and this knuckle head whose life you just saved is my kid brother Mace," the dark haired man, now known as Questar said, putting Mace in a fake headlock and giving him noogies like Xena and Gabrielle had seen boys do.

"Ow! Uncle! Auntie Em! And your little dog too," Mace said in mock surrender.

"You seem to know about the Dahak, a Chaos Lord you call him," Xena said.

"I should. I'm part of the reason why there are only 2 left out of the 13," Questar said, releasing his brother.

"Oh really," Xena said as she folded her arms, slightly amused.

"I'm second in command of a team of heroes called the Global Order of Law and Defense, G.O.L.D. for short," Questar started.

"China Dragon's our head honcho, but we don't see him much these days," Mace interrupted," So my big bro's really been in charge for about the last year."

"We've been fighting the Chaos Lords for years, picking them off one or two at a time," Questar continued, ignoring Mace. "That's why Dahak came back to this time. The gods don't want to start another war so they'll pretty much leave him alone. Chaos Lords are extremely powerful, but they can be beaten. With only 2 of them left and 12 G.O.L.D. members, Dahak figured that his chances of survival was better if he wasn't around us."

"They killed a lot of us too. In fact, they started killing us first," Mace said, remembering the many fallen heroes of G.O.L.D. and the Alliance of Justice," The Chaos Lords are pure raw evil. They make your Ares look like Cupid."

Gabrielle giggled as the thought of a winged Ares wearing shorts decorated with pink hearts entered her mind. She's so beautiful, Mace thought, so vulnerable and pure, even after all the hell she's been through.

Gabrielle caught Mace looking at her, and blushing turned her head. No man had ever made her feel this way, not even Perdicus.

"We should leave before those two runners get back with reinforcements," Questar said. "We have a camp set up and you're welcome to join us."

"Actually, to tell the truth, we're lost," Mace said sheepishly. "We ran into these guys when we went out searching for someone to tell us the way to Tarlocus."

"You don't have to worry about those two, we ran into them in the woods," Xena smiled.

"Everyone knows where Tarlocus is," Gabrielle said, amazed.

"Uh, we're not from around here. Not by some 2000 years, an ocean and a continent or two," Mace said.

"They attacked us when we asked about you," Questar said, again ignoring Mace. "We asked them if they knew of Xena and the famous bard Gabrielle. I presume that you are her because I've heard of no other warrior woman of this era who could use a chakram like that."

"Yes, I'm Xena. Why are you looking for me?" Xena asked.

Brains and brawn. Despite not knowing where Tarlocus is, Xena thought, it would be wise to be on our guard around these men.

"Famous bard Gabrielle?" Gabrielle asked.

"I promise we'll explain it all later. You will probably want to retrieve your horse. Aton? Atog?" Questar fumbled, forgetting the name.

"Argo. And yes, I think that would be best," Xena said. "What about them?"

"Lao Tzu, 'Let your enemy do your work for you.' Chaos Lords are very intolerant of failure. If Dahak is stupid enough to waste 75 of his own men that's his business. If these guys are smart they'll head for the hills," Questar said. "Either way, we won't have to face this bunch again."

A sad smile crept up on Xena's face. She wondered what Questar would think if he knew that it had actually been Lao Ma that had wrote that. Xena and Gabrielle made their way back to where Argo patiently waited for them. Gabrielle had a silly grin on her face. Once the women were out of sight, Questar and Mace began rounding up the soldiers/prisoners.

"She's so pretty, so pure," Mace sighed. "I think I love her."

"I know what you mean, Max. I feel the same way about Xena," Questar said. "Max, try not to use your powers around them until they can accept what we are. Just because we're telling the truth doesn't mean everything. It's an old scroll, incomplete, with lots of missing parts. And Gabrielle is a romantic."

"They'll probably try SOP time travel number 2" Mace said. "Split us up and try to pump us for information."

"Just tell the truth, Max. They won't believe us at first," Questar agreed, "but we really are heroes from 2000+ years in the future."

Questar and Mace made the beat up fanatics take off their pants and throw them into one pile and their weapons into another. Now they would have no choice but to flee or die as they would return not only beaten, but humiliated as well. Once the soldiers staggered out of sight, Questar used his power of pyrokinesis to reduce the weapons into molten slag. Mace used his own slightly weaker pryokinesis to burn the pile of pants to ashes.

The melted metal cooled quickly. The slagged steel weighed almost a ton, but Mace picked it up with one hand. Mace handed the huge hunk of metal to Questar, who threw it a mile out to sea.

"Sorry about the pollution Poseidon," Questar joked.

"Y'know, they won't believe we're from the future," Mace sighed, "just like we have a hard time believing that all the gods that Xena's met are real."

"You're right. I've known Golden Girl for years, but I never really believed that she was the daughter of Apollo," Questar said. "Since then, our recent experiences with the pantheons of China and Japan, our little trip to Asgard, and all the things that have happened in our war with the Chaos Lords I'm ready to believe almost anything. Most people don't believe that we exist in our own time."

"For real. According to the 'Xena Chronicles' they've actually met Hercules, Ares, Aphrodite, the Furies, and several others that we always thought were just stories," Mace agreed.

Xena untied Argo and the two of them started heading back. Both women had been silent, lost in thought. Even though they had just met the two strange men, Xena and Gabrielle already had feelings for them that they couldn't explain.

"Do you think he's handsome? Mace, I mean," Gabrielle asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"I suppose so," Xena smiled, "but he's a little too pretty boy to me."

"Ha! I knew it! You like Questar, don't you?" Gabrielle teased.

"He's an interesting man," Xena said, thinking about Questar's blue eyes.

"I wonder what they meant saying that I'm famous where they come from? Not that I mind of course," Gabrielle giggled.

"Gabrielle, I want to you to question Mace. Find out all you can about him. I really don't want you alone with him because of the way the two of you have been looking at each other. I don't have a choice though. Questar is older and a natural leader. He may be too clever for you to handle," Xena said.

"You can trust them, Xena," a woman's voice behind them said.

Xena and Gabrielle were surprised to see Aphrodite standing there as they whirled around. Xena was growing angry. She was unused to being surprised and this day had seen far too many for her liking.

"Aphrodite! What are you doing here?" Xena demanded. "Is this one of your tricks? Or one of Ares, perhaps?"

"I resent that," Ares said as he appeared beside Aphrodite. "I wouldn't even be here if father hadn't made me. I don't care much for your latest choices in men."

"Look, Xena, you don't have any reason to trust us. The gods haven't exactly been very helpful, but we don't have any reason to deceive you. That man, Questar, everything he's going to tell you is the truth," Aphrodite said. "Much of what they say will seem unbelievable, even bizarre, but you can trust them. They are men of unusual ability and courage."

"What about this story about the Dahak? Is he what they claim him to be? A Chaos Lord?" Gabrielle innocently asked.

"Don't even mention that name!!" Ares roared, then quickly calmed down. "I fought them, a long time ago. They were unimaginably powerful back then. Even the bolts of Zeus seemed to merely annoy them. It took the combined pantheons of Greece, Egypt, Asgard, China, Japan, and those of the America's to weaken them enough for our combined might to force them into the Nether Sphere. Even then we would not have succeeded if man had not destroyed all of their temples and slain every last one of their followers."

"Listen well, Xena, the Gods are too fearful to aid you in this struggle," Aphrodite started.

"All we are allowed to tell you is that the L word that I hate is the key," Ares finished as he disappeared.

"Xena, Gabrielle, treasure them. They are the finest men you could ever have," Aphrodite said, unexpectedly embracing first Xena and then Gabrielle.

Aphrodite was in tears as she also disappeared. You are in for a pleasant surprise, Little Miss Innocent, Aphrodite thought about Gabrielle.

Back on the beach Questar and Mace covered up the evidence of their powers. Questar was thinking about Xena. Xena's existence had been forgotten by history until WW2 when the first scroll of the 'Xena Chronicles' was found. Later discoveries in the late 1980's had caused a worldwide sensation. This had even led to a tv show along with a merchandise blitz. The real thing is prettier than her imaginary counterpart, Questar thought.

"Time travel is a tricky thing," Mace said, breaking Questar's thoughts. "This is my first time, but you and Dragon used to do it a lot. Dragon really liked going to the American west for awhile. Why did you stop?"

"I think it was when I failed to save Lincoln and learned, once and for all, that history can't be changed. I was right there, I knew where Booth was, I knew the exact moment he would assassinate Lincoln and I couldn't stop him," Questar frowned. "Time travel is such a fickle paradox. Shiro is a genius to not only invent a time machine, but also make it small enough to fit into a watch."

"And don't forget the universal translators in our belt buckles," Mace said," We hear their Greek in English and vice versa."

"Time travel has certain rules, we can't go to the future because it hasn't happened yet, but by the same token we can bring certain people back with us. We can't kill our ancestors or someone important historically important," Questar continued. "I'd love to take out Caesar for trying to crucify Xena, but Caesar, Hitler, Stalin, and all those butchers will get to live. Anyone we do kill, even accidentally, it's because we're destined to."

"And we can't bring guns because they haven't been invented yet. That's weird. We could bring a light saber to here though or bring an Uzi to 1776," Mace said," Man, I can see how this can get confusing fast."

"Our past is their future and it can drive you crazy trying to figure things out," Questar said. "In our time Tarlocus is nothing but ruins. Here, it's a busy seaport for the next 200 years. Steve found the scroll 2 weeks ago our time, Gabrielle is just now writing it today and tomorrow."

"In other words, we can die 2000 years before we're born. What did Shiro say about animals?" Mace asked.

"You can't bring an animal back with you because they don't have the intelligence to survive the journey through time," Questar said. "Dragon himself once had to leave a horse he was fond of in 1887."

Xena and Gabrielle had heard every word of the brothers' conversation. Much of it they could not understand. The men claimed to be from the future and as impossible as that seemed Xena and Gabrielle remembered the words of Ares and Aphrodite to trust them. Acting innocent they rejoined the the men, who smiled as they noticed them. Harmless small talk was all that transpired as the foursome walked the mile to the sheltered lean-to Questar and Mace had built earlier that day.

The sun was getting low as the men gathered firewood that would be needed first to cook on, and later to stave off the early morning chill. A shallow freshwater creek was nearby, so Xena and Gabrielle took a quick dip to wash up. Giving them their privacy, Questar and Mace unpacked their equipment from their 'spatial backpacks.'

Another invention of Shiro's, the 'spatial backpacks' could hold 10 times their size of equipment, but it couldn't reduce the weight of whatever was stored inside. That meant that only people like Questar and Mace who possessed super-human strength could carry one fully loaded. When the women returned Questar and Mace excused themselves for their own bath. This was another plus for them as Xena and Gabrielle liked men who bathed.

After washing up and changing into fresh clothes the men rejoined them. Mace and Gabrielle were staring at each other shyly.

"I think I'll check around to make sure none of our friends decide to have another go at us," Questar suggested, breaking the tension.

"I'll go with you," Xena stated, strapping on her sword, waiting for the excuse to find out more about him.

"Excellent idea. We'll leave the lovebirds here," Questar teased. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do little brother. Of course, there there isn't anything I wouldn't do alone with a pretty girl."

Mace threw several mock punches and kicks at Questar, who easily picked them off laughing.

The End - Chapter 1