ADVENTURES IN THE SIN TRADE

Xena tracks down Hades and discovers that Greek Amazons go to a different land of the dead. And Xena heads off on a horse other than Argo. She kills an animal, collects some herbs, and begins to hear Gabrielle's voice calling her name. She has flashbacks of being with Borias and meeting a Shamaness named Alti. This Alti correctly perceives that Xena is with child. (Solan!) In present day, Xena has adorned herself in Shaman garb. She finds a dead Amazon, fights off some thugs, and buries her. Some other Amazons witness this from a distance. Xena has memories of Gabrielle and mourns. She remembers Alti teaching her that she can visit the dead. Xena slaughters the horse, drinks blood, and goes into a dance trance. "She must want to cross over to the other side and she needs the horse's spirit to do that," says one of the spying Amazons. Suddenly, Xena falls and her spirit is transported to the land of the dead. She meets the Amazon that she buried earlier and tells her about Alti. We hear Alti claim she'll make Xena "the destroyer of nations." Xena also meets the legendary Cyane, Queen of the Amazons. "I killed her." She and her tribe are stuck there. (Alti's doing.) Meanwhile, the spying Amazons relocate Xena's body. Back in the land of the dead, as Xena is told the path to Gabrielle, Xena realizes that she can't follow. "There's something I gotta do; something you'd want me to do." She's going to try to stop Alti and find the right holy word that will allow the Amazons to fully cross over into eternity. Xena returns to the land of the living. Soon, she finds herself fighting the Berserker. He has the power to make you relive your past. But Xena defeats him. And, since this power is ultimately Alti's, she must be defeated next. To be continued....