Them Bones, Them Bones

Alti returns through the spirit world to gain control of Xena's unborn baby's soul and use for herself to return to the surface world. To combat against this, her and Gabrielle must go to the spiritual realm and defeat her there, by using the teachings of Yakut and the Northern Amazons.

Summary
When Xena experiences sharp pains in her stomach, Gabrielle takes her to see a midwife. As the midwife examines her, a baby skeleton tears out of Xena's belly. Horrified, Xena screams and loses consciousness. Gabrielle calls out to Xena and she wakes up & it was only a nightmare. The midwife tells Xena that she needs bed rest, but Xena is convinced that someone is trying to kill her baby. She tells Gabrielle and Amarice that they are going to see Yakut, a shamaness and leader of the Northern Amazons.

Upon their arrival at the village, Yakut performs a ritual and tells Xena that her child is being drained of its life force in the spiritual realm by Alti, the evil shamaness Xena killed. Gabrielle knows that Xena can't fight Alti in her condition in the spiritual world, so she convinces Xena to send her instead. Xena hands Gabrielle the dagger she will need to kill Alti and tells her not to let go of it no matter what.

The two perform an elaborate ceremony and Gabrielle falls into a trance. Alti greets Gabrielle with a fierce blow that knocks the dagger out of her hand. The shamaness turns the knife into a dove that flies away. In the real world, Xena sees the dagger disappear from Gabrielle's hands and desperately tries to wake her, but can't.

Gabrielle wounds Alti just before Xena pulls her back into the real world. When Gabrielle tells Xena that Alti said she needs the baby to be born, Xena realizes that Alti is trying to reenter the world by taking away her baby's soul and replacing it with her own. Xena figures the only way to stop Alti is to perform the burial ritual for restless souls.

She sends Gabrielle and Amarice to the Scherian Caverns to retrieve a special amber that, when placed on Alti's remains, will trap her soul when it hardens. Xena and Yakut leave to recover Alti's bones, but when they find them, the skull is missing.Yakut tells Xena that she took the skull because she thought she could harness Alti's power and use it for good. But now Yakut knows that she's responsible for Alti's return.

Later that night, Yakut puts herself in a trance and enters Alti's realm. Xena wakes up and sees that Yakut is unconscious. She enters Alti's dreamscape and Alti punches Xena in the back and retracts a glowing orb. As Xena and Yakut awake from their trances, Alti tells Xena that she will give her child's soul back if she is brought back into the physical world.

Meanwhile, Gabrielle and Amarice enter the caverns and are greeted by Chi'Ah, an Amazon mystic who guards the amber. But Chi'Ah reveals that Amarice is not really an Amazon and will not let her pass. Gabrielle retrieves the amber and she and Amaricereturn to Yakut's camp. Determined to retrieve the child's soul, the Amazons perform an elaborate ceremony and Xena brings Alti out of her realm.

But in actuality, Xena has tricked Alti. She merely transferred her from one dreamscape to another, which has weakened her powers. Alti, in skeletal from, attacks Xena with a vengeance. Xena steps out of her skin and the two skeletal forms go head to head.

In the real world, Gabrielle sees that Xena has the upper hand and pours the amber on Alti's bones, which causes Alti to freeze in place in the spiritual world. Xena takes her sword and slices Alti right down the middle, causing the bones to explode. Xena returns to the real world with her child's soul perfectly safe...at least for the time being.

Gabrielle rewards Amarice for her bravery by making her an Amazon. Instead of resuming her travels with Xena and Gabrielle, Amarice decides to stay with the Northern Amazons.

Disclaimer
Xena and Alti were Bad To The Bone during the production of this motion picture.

Background Information

 * At the Chicago Con Claire Standsfield was asked if she had read the original Steve Sears script  for the episode and what she thought of the changes. She said she had and indicated that the original script called for her to be naked and that she was to fight the Amazons. She enjoyed her "controversial" lines, but added that a stunt double's arm was what we saw going into Xena's stomach.
 * This episode originally was suppose to have featured Ares, his role in the episode was going to be trying to get the Northern Amazons to his side, and would be helping them against Alti and also learning about Xena's pregancy. Alti and Ares were going to meet, but all these plans were canned, very early on, and decided to drop the whole Alti/Ares meeting thing.
 * Buddy Williers is credited as the writer, and Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are credited as creative consultants. Buddy Williers is a pseudonym for Steven L. Sears, who chose to use it when his original draft of the episode was heavily edited by Orci & Kurtzman. Sears stated, "This isn't even a comment on quality. I just had no way to take responsibility for any of it.
 * Donogh Rees (Chi'ah) makes her first appearance on Xena, but has appeared several times on Hercules, most notably as Frigga in the episodes "Norse By Norsevest" and "Somewhere Over Rainbow Bridge".
 * Yakut first appeared in the two part episode "Adventures in the Sin Trade". During those episodes, Xena declared Yakut the new shamaness, and Otere the new queen. So where was the queen this time around?
 * Final appearance of Jennifer Sky as Amarice.
 * In this episode we learn Amarice is really not an Amazon, she just joined up with the Amazons so she could be a part of something. When the character was created they intended her to be a real Amazon, but when Jennifer Sky got the part of Cleopatra on Cleopatra 2525 they needed to park the character somewhere, so they thought that having her stay with the Northern Amazons while learning to be one of them was the best way to write her out as their travelling companion.

Guest Stars
Claire Stansfield as Alti Jennifer Sky as Amarice Kate Elliot as Yakut

Cast
Donogh Rees as Chi'ah Beryl Te Wiata as Midwife Rachel Hayward as Amazon