Felix's face was completely expressionless. "There's no point in saying all this now. What I want to know is—why are you here?"

He did not even care about the reason behind the lie anymore. He was about to walk into a battlefield where life and death were up in the air—he had no time to deal with drama, but seeing Xena here was still a surprise.

Xena took a deep breath and looked serious. "Can you let Specter go for now? I'm not defending a Malevolent Phantom—I just mean, maybe you could deal with the others first?"

Felix frowned hard, and he stared at her like she had just grown a second head. "I can't believe those words actually came out of your mouth. You're the Phoenix Warlord, and you better give me a damn good reason for that."

Xena felt her heart sink—there was no way she could tell him the real reason. "Please, Felix. Just let him go for now. I promise I'll explain everything later."

At that point, Felix knew there was no way of getting answers from her, so he stepped for