A few days later, Iolaus and Medea were involved in intecnse hand-to-hand sparring . She jabbed with her left which he easily blocked and kicked at her. She jumped up and at the top of her jump, she tucked her legs up and somersaulted in the air, landing behind Iolaus and sending him flying with a kick to his back. He landed face-down in the dirt, and lay there for a second before raising himself up on his forearms.
"Nice move," he said admirably.
"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself," said Medea as she leaned down to give him a hand up. She pulled too hard, and Iolaus was propelled towards her. He wrapped his arms around her waist so that they both wouldn't fall. Once they were steadied, she looked into his eyes and brushed a lock of blond hair from his face. "You're a mess."
"So? What are you going to do about it," he asked with a smile on his face.
"Nothing. But you might try taking a bath once in a while," answered Medea as she shoved away from him.
As Medea walked away, Hercules came over to Iolaus from under a tree, where he had been watching the combatants.
"She wants me. She just can't be obvious about it 'cause she's trying to be an amazon," said Iolaus.
Hercules gave his friend a disbelieving look and nodded. "Yeah, uh huh."
"So what's up? I saw you talking to that guy earlier."
Hercules ran a hand through his blond hair and began. "Well, he was a messenger from Cheiron. Jason and Lilith got back to the academy safely. And Cheiron's not going to do anything about Medea right now. But he did send a messenger to his kindre right after we left, so we're supposed to watch out for them, just in case his second messenger doesn't get there in time."
"Oh great, Amazons and centaurs at it again. Reminds me of that time Strife and Discord captured Simula and --"
Iolaus's remembrance was cut off by a scream and a splash. The two cadets took off at a run towards the river the amazons used for water and bathing. They passed amazons until they finally reached the river.
"Do you see anything," asked Hercules.
They all scanned the river until Cyane yelled, "Over there!" She pointed to a spot a few yards down the river to where a golden blond mass could be seen floating just on the surface. They all took off running toward the spot, Iolaus in the lead.
For a split second, Medea's head surfaced as she floundered in the fast-flowing river. She yelled for help and sucked in air greedily before she was swallowed by the torrents of water again.
"Medea!"Iolaus yelled as he continued running toward her. When he reached the spot where they'd last seen her, he dove head-first into the river. He surfaced, and found that though the river was fast, it wasn't very deep and he could stand in it without much trouble. He waded against the current to where she had been and dove beneath the seething surface. Not finding her, he came back up and looked around.
"Iolaus! Get out of the water," yelled Hercules, getting ready to dive in after him.
"If he gets out Medea might drown," argued Cyane.
"If he doesn't they might both drown. He can't swim," said Hercules before he dove into the river.
"Men," said Cyane with a sigh, before she turned back to watch the battle with the river. Hercules swam fast and strong to Iolaus, who was repeatedly diving under the surface and coming back up in a vain attempt to locate Medea. Just when Hercules reached him, he spotted Medea's hair.
He dove under, found the amazon and wrapped his arms around her waist. Planting his feet on the river bottom, he surged to the surface, dragging Medea with him. At the surface, Hercules grabbed a hold of both of them and pulled them back to the shore.
Once they reched the shore, the amazons pulled a prone Medea out of Iolaus's arms, as he and Hercules rolled over and coughed up the water they had swallowed. Iolaus realized that Medea wasn't near him and rolled onto his stomach so he could push himself up. As he looked around, his eyes caught Cyane's as she shook her head.
"No!"
Iolaus crawled over to where Medea was lying and leaned down to hear her breathing. She was just barely breathing, and her pulse was almost gone, when he remembered something Cheiron had taught him in survival training class. He pinched Medea's nose, tilted her head back, and breathed into her mouth once, then twice. He rose his head and began pushing on her chest. He bent back down to her head and began breathing into her mouth again when she started coughing convulsively and all the water she'd swallowed came out. She slowly opened her eyes and looked deeply into Iolaus's, before they rolled back into her head and she collapsed against the ground.
"Medea!" he yelled.
"Iolaus! She'll be okay now! She just fainted from the shock. Help us move her and get her warm," said Cyane, trying to get through Iolaus's panic.
It seemed to work, for Iolaus lifted Medea into his arms and cradled her, walking back to the amazon camp, followed closely by Cyane and Hercules. As he entered the camp, he strode into a tent and tenderly laid Medea on a bedroll. Her breathing had evened out, the color had returned to her face, and her pulse had returned. She seemed to be in a very deep sleep.
"Iolaus," whispered Hercules and touched his friends shoulder.
"Go away," said Iolaus, his voice tight with concern for the injured Amazon. He reached for her hand, and squeezed it tightly.
Cyane grabbed hold of Hercules arm and dragged him out of the tent. When they were outside in the sunlight, she said "Let him stay. He's become very attached."
"Yeah, just what I need." Hercules was exasperated with his friend. "Another girl for him to fall in love with and be rejected by."
"This one could be different."
"Iolaus! Go to sleep," yelled Hercules.
"But what if she wakes up," asked the concerned young man.
"Then she wakes up peacefully because she doesn't see your face right away. That's what made her faint that first time," joked Hercules.
Iolaus was clearly not amused. He shot Hercules a look that clearly warned the demi-god to watch what he said at this point in time. Hercules just shook his head and stood up, walking over to his friend.
"Look, Iolaus, I'll ask Cyane to come and get you if she wakes up while your asleep. But you've been sitting beside her bed for a day and a half straight. If you don't get some sleep and eat something, you're gonna be the one fainting."
"You're right," said Iolaus. He leaned down close to Medea's face and kissed her forehead, whispering "Sweet dreams." He stood up straight, not an easy task for someone who had been bent over for a day and a half, and walked out of the tent to where he and Hercules had made camp before Medea's impromptu swimming lesson. He stretched out on his blanket, and the minute his head hit the mat he was out cold.
Cyane walked into the hospital tent and over to where Hercules was standing, watching the sleeping amazon. "Why don't you follow your own advice and get some rest? I'll get both of you up when she wakes," she said, wrapping her arms around Hercules' waist.
"I was just about to," he replied, covering her arms with his. "You know, it's hard to believe that she actually attacked the academy. Once you get to know her she's almost....."
"Sweet? Nice? Caring?"
"Forgivable. And nice," he added to avoid getting hit by Cyane.
"I suppose. Now go," she said pushing Hercules in the small of his back out the opening of the tent.
She turned back inside the tent to see Medea propping herself up on her forearm staring at Cyane. "Welcome back."
"You and Hercules are really close," Medea began. "I didn't think amazons let themselves get that close to men."
"If it's the one the gods have fated you to be with, you get that close, whether you like it or not. There was a time when I didn't want to be friends with him at all. I wanted to destroy him. But that was when I didn't look past the deeds of one person to find the heart of another. I blamed Hercules for Zeus' interference, and that was wrong of me. It took Hercules setting us free from Leceus to make me realize that. If he had been like his father, he would have let Leceus take us as slaves so he could have some materialistic reward," said Cyane.
"Do you think the gods fated Iolaus and me to be together?"
"Only time, and your own heart, will tell."
Birds flew low over the trees, whistling their sweet song in the crisp morning air. Amazons walked softly through the thick underbrush gathering roots and berries for their breakfast meal, attempting not to wake up the sleeping cadets. Cyane and Medea, however, were not so gentle.
"WAKE UP," yelled the Amazon queen, dumping a waterskin full of cold water on Hercules' head. Medea followed suit over Iolaus' head. The two cadets woke with a start and spit water out of their mouths.
"Am I drowning again," asked Iolaus, shaking his head in an attempt to get rid of the water.
"No, but if you don't stop shaking you're gonna be," answered Hercules angrily. The cadet wiped as much water from his eyes as he could before opening them to find the culprits. He opened them to stare at a pair of finely crafted leather boots encasing strong calf muscles. "Good morning to you Cyane," he said as he stood up.
"You had to wake up sometime."
"Yeah, but I can think of... gentler ways to wake a guy up," he said with a smile.
"I'm sure," Cyane replied before walking off.
Meanwhile, Medea handed Iolaus a towel to wipe the water out of his face.
"What'd you do that for," asked the soaked cadet.
"So you'd wake up. Why else," asked Medea.
Iolaus stood up, walked a little closer to Medea, and started whipping his head from side to side really fast.
"Stop it or I'll deck you," yelled the amazon.
Iolaus stopped shaking his head and smiled at Medea. "And how are we feeling this morning, Ms. Sleepyhead?"
"Quite well thank you."
Hercules had walked over to where they were standing and asked, "How'd you fall in the river?"
Medea took a deep breath before she began. "It was my turn to hunt some food. I don't know about you guys, but I am tired of the same old deer meat every day. So I thought that maybe I could catch some fish from the river. I had seen an old hunter catch five fish with his bare hands, and it looked so easy I thought I could do it too. So I waded out to the middle of the river, and tried grabbing at fish. All of a sudden, this big log hit me from behind, sending me underwater. I never learned to swim, and I tried to scream as I was going under, and swallowed a lot of water. But I got my head above the water and was able to call for help before....." Medea broke off as a wave of fear flashed through her eyes.
"Well, neither you nor Iolaus can swim, so you're a match made in Olympus," Hercules joked, which earned him a poke in the ribs from Iolaus. "Uhf. Um, yeah, well, I gotta go get Cyane back for that wake-up call." And with that Hercules walked off and left the two alone.
Iolaus looked at Medea, who looked up at him. Slowly, carefully, the amazon closed the distance between Iolaus and herself. She cautiously placed her hands on his chest and leaned up to kiss him......
"Iolaus? Iolaus. IOLAUS!"
"Huh? wha"
Medea frantically waved her hand in front of Iolaus' face. "You in there?"
"Uh, yeah. I was just thinking of something. I'm sorry what did you say?" Iolaus was very startled to have had that vivid of a daydream, especially right in front of Medea. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs from his mind.
"I asked you how you were feeling this morning. Are you okay," asked Medea. She seemed really concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Really. How about you, you took a really long nap," replied Iolaus.
Medea looked at him incredulously. "You just asked me that not even five minutes ago."
"Oh sorry, I just-"
Iolaus' words were cut off by a shrill whistle. Medea straightened, looked around, and began walking off in the direction it had come from.
"Medea, wait. Where're you going?"
"You heard that whistle. It was from Cyane."
"So?"
"So it's a call to arms. Someone's attacking us, and we're going to war."
Iolaus froze in his footsteps, not really believing what Medea had said. "You're doing what?"
Medea paused in mid-stride and turned around. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at Iolaus. "You heard me! We're going to war! Now if you'll excuse me, I don't have time to chit-chat." Then she turned and stalked away.
Iolaus found his feet and ran after Medea, only to run right into Hercules. The two cadets fell to the ground. Hercules was the first to recover his breath.
"Iolaus! Watch where you're going," he yelled.
"Herc, the Amazons are going to war." Iolaus stood up, and brushed himself off. Then he reached down to help Hercules up.
"Yeah I know. I saw the attackers with Cyane. I tried to convince her to let me try and talk to them, but she wouldn't listen. And my ear is ringing from that war-whistle," said Hercules as he moved his jaw around and shook his head, trying to make the persistent ringing go away.
"Herc we gotta stop them! Medea could be hurt, Cyane could be hurt, they all could be hurt!" Iolaus was rather frantic now.
Hercules just shook his head dejectedly. "If we try to negotiate peace talks with the other side, Cyane and the Amazons will think we have betrayed them and will try to come after us. We gotta do this on our own, we have to be sneaky, we have to be conniving...." Hercules trailed off as he turned to look at his friend.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll come up with a plan. Wait, you said you knew who the attackers were. Who...?"
"Cheiron's kindra."
