Death Mask

Xena and her older brother, Toris, try to stop the warlord who destroyed their village years ago. Gabrielle beats up another thug all on her very own and is not held at knife point once (hooray)! Xena launches her first breast dagger via breast propulsion proving just how dangerous her breasts really are (see ‘Dreamworker'). And, Xena wins first place in the wet-towel-whip competition.


Gabby catching her first (and most likely last) arrow
Gabrielle: "I don't get it. I mean, I've seen speeding arrows come right at you and you just catch them before they hit you. Nobody can do that. I mean, even when you don't see them coming you do it. Now, I can't figure this out."
Xena: "Stop trying."
Gabrielle: "Huh?"
Xena: "Stop trying to. It's not something you can think your way through. It's your body that has to listen."

Xena: "I guess you don't need my help."
Gabrielle: "Not this time, but stay close."

Xena: "Where'd you get this mask? Who sent you? That pinch to the neck stops the flow of blood to your brain. If I don't relieve you, you'll be dead in thirty seconds. Now, who gave you the mask? His name, say it."
Soldier: "Cortese."

Xena: "Cortese."
Gabrielle: "Who is he, Xena?"
Xena: "The men who attacked and razed my town to the ground wore the mask of Cortese...this mask. I have never stopped looking for him."
Gabrielle: "So he's the one that made you so ... you know ... aggressive?"
Xena: "It was fighting him that twisted me into what I became. But now ... I have him."


Malik: "You know of her (Xena)?"
Cortese: "I created her."


Gabrielle: "Did you see that?"
Xena: "Hmpf."
Gabrielle: "Yeah, of course you did. Even while you were explaining it, my whole body was listening for that arrow. I can still feel that warrior fever just coursing through my blood."
Xena: "You think you could do it again?"
Gabrielle: "Yeah, well, most of the time. If you shot ten arrows at me, how many do you think I would miss?"
Xena: "Only one."


Gabrielle: "I thought you said your brother was dead?"
Xena: "No, that was my younger bother. Gabrielle, this is my older brother, Toris."
Gabrielle: "You're full of surprises."

Gabrielle: "You know, my sister and I used to argue. Yeah, yeah, we would go for hours without talking to each other. Come on, this is supposed to be touching. I mean, a brother and sister who haven't seen each other for years should have more to say to each other than just ..."
Xena: "So, you're an assassin now, hm?"
Gabrielle: "It's a start."

Xena: "I want to get Cortese as much as you do, but murder is not the answer. I learned the hard way about justice since ..."
Toris: "The hard way? Are you bragging? What I saw of you when we left our village, Xena, was not something to be proud of."
Xena: "And what did you see? Someone had to step forward. Cortese would have killed us all if we hadn't fought."
Toris: "If our people would have followed me into the hills ..."
Xena: "Cortese would have hunted us down like dogs. I had to make a stand, and I wasn't the only one who believed that."
Toris: "That's right. Our brother believed it. Lyceus stood by you ‘til the end, and it was his end. Remember?"
Xena: "I said ‘fight' because it was our village. Lyceus believed that, and I will say it again."


Gabby standing her ground
Xena: "That mother who's child you saved the other day..."
Gabrielle: "Yeah."
Xena: "Ask her to put you up for a few days. You know, guard the village."
Gabrielle: "Oh no, no, no, that's your way of saying, ‘it's too dangerous to be around me right now, Gabrielle.' Well, have you ever considered that there isn't a safe time to be around you? That village does not need any help, but you might and I'm going with you. Now, if that's all, I'll just be practicing with my staff ... end of discussion. Sorry you had to witness that, Toris."


Toris: "You don't know what those monsters do to women."
Xena: "Know? I'm counting on it."

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... we have lift-off!
Xena summons forth her god-like powers to launch the first ever recorded dagger via breast propulsion.

Malik: "Now, my dear, let's not waste time with pleas of mercy or senseless games. Let's get right to it, shall we?"
Xena: "Have it your way ... (whack!) ... Right to it. I like that."


Listening with her body
Toris: "What are you doing?"
Gabrielle: "I'm listening with my body. Xena says you have to listen for the attack before you see it. She's just ... she's amazing. I mean, I have learned so much about inner strength just from watching her. When we first met, I was this little girl from Potidaea ..."
Toris: "She's doing to you what she did to our village."
Gabrielle: "Excuse me?"
Toris: "She turned our simple villagers into warriors and got them killed. She's doing the same thing to you. She hasn't changed. I can't believe we share blood."


Toris: "The castle's pretty well guarded."
Xena: "Oh, I have my ways of getting in. Hey ..."
Gabrielle: "Oh, I know, it's easier to get two in than three. I'll just go guard some villagers or something ... even if they're not in danger."


Aescalus: "How did you get this far? I had guards posted."
Xena: "Oh, they're lying around ... somewhere. I need to talk to the King, and I don't like formalities."


Gabrielle: "What's going on, Xena?"
Xena: "The Good King and Cortese are one in the same."
Gabrielle: "Not happy news."
Toris: "We could have murdered him ... but we didn't."
Gabrielle: "Murder? You can't just murder someone."
Toris: "As if you know the difference between murder and justice."

Xena: "Toris ..."
Toris: "How do you put up with that girl?"
Xena: "Why? She know more about wisdom and justice than you'll ever know."
Toris: "At first I thought she was just blindly following your lead, and that you were going to do the same thing to her that you did to our village ... use their fear to manipulate them. But that's not it. She's brave because that's the way she is. I was so sure that I had you figured out, that I never figured myself out. All these years I've been trying to convince myself that I knew what was best for our village."
Xena: "Toris, we all made decisions based on what we thought was right. We did what we had to do because we cared about our friends."
Toris: "No. No, you don't get it. You stayed because you cared for us all. I left because ... because I ..."
Xena: "You were afraid."
Toris: "I was afraid I would die. That was all I could think of."

Toris: "I was a coward."
Xena: "Murdering Cortese will not erase that guilt."

Xena: "You listen to me. I already lost one brother to that madman, and I'm not going to lose another."

Toris: "What did it feel like after you'd beaten Cortese?"
Xena: "Feel? I didn't have time to feel anything. Maybe that was the problem. I knew that he'd come back, so I decided to form an army for defense. And then, I figured to take the surrounding villages for a buffer. And then, somewhere, I don't know where, I changed. I didn't have the time to feel anything. And I promise you, Toris, if you murder Cortese you'll become what I was."
Toris: "I've seen you kill, Xena. What's the difference?"
Xena: "Maybe it's just the difference in my head. But the pure evil of murder is that it's premeditated, it's not in the heat of battle, and it's not in self-defense. You have been planning this for years."


Toris: "I'm sorry I got you into this mess, Xena, but I'm glad you're here."


Xena: "Now, where is the King?"
Aescalus: "I'd rather die."
Xena: "That can be arranged."

Xena being ... um ... persuasive
Xena: "Take a good look at my chakram, Cortese, it'll be the last thing you see if you don't tell them now."

Xena: You're so hungry for that blood, you'll never wash off. Here he is. Everything I hated about me you're determined to make of yourself. Go ahead, do it ... and then tell me how you feel about yourself ...... Lyceus would be proud."


Toris: "I feel so free after so long. In all the rush, I forgot to tell you something. I've missed you."
Xena: "I guess you had other things on your mind."
Toris: "The wrong things."

Toris: "I'm going back home to see Mother."
Xena: "That'll make her very happy. Tell her I said ... just tell her you saw me."


DISCLAIMER: No messenger doves were harmed during the production of this motion picture. However, several were reported missing in action, and search-and-rescue efforts are under way.


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