They walked around to the back of the small thatched house and found there was a back door, but it was just as stubborn as the front door.

"Looks like somebody didn’t want anyone coming in." Xena said.

"Is it possible they died in there?"

"That’s very likely. Living way out here, it could happen. Can you see anything through the window?"

Looking through the cracks in the shutters, Gabrielle answered, "No, it’s too dark inside. So now what? Do we just leave, or should we break open the door?"

Thinking it over, Xena decided it wouldn’t hurt to break in. "If there is a body in there, the least we could do is give it a proper burial. It’s too dry to risk a funeral pyre."

After trying it a couple of times, Xena stepped back several steps from the front door, then with a short run, kicked the door just above the handle. The door cracked but didn’t open. It took a third kick before it sprung open to the inside.

Slowly walking through the doorway into the house, Xena and Gabrielle allowed time for their eyes to get used to the darkness. Dust and cobwebs were everywhere. A couple of broken chairs were turned over. Rats scurried into their corners. Gabrielle walked to the window and briefly struggled, but got the shutter open, allowing the sunlight into the hovel.

"Doesn’t look much better now that we can see." Xena said. "Maybe there’s something in the back room."

Xena had just walked into the room when she called for Gabrielle.

"What is it? Oh, Xena! Is she . . . ?" Gabrielle asked as she saw the shrunken body of an old woman lying on a crude cot.

"She’s alive, but barely. No telling how long she’s been here."

Picking up the woman, Xena told Gabrielle to move the bed into the main room. As she lay her back down on the cot, the old woman’s eyes fluttered open, squinting against the brightness. When she was able to see, she looked from Xena to Gabrielle and back again. Several times she opened her mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out.

Trying again, the old woman managed a dry squeak, then coughed a weak, dry cough.