When Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) turn the tables on two masked assassins who ambush them on a mountain trail, Xena learns that their leader is none other than Cortese (Michael Lawrence), the ruthless warlord who destroyed her village many years before and set her on the path of war and destruction. Determined to defeat him once and for all, Xena rides into a small town under siege by Cortese's masked bandits, emits a piercing war cry, and
