A Fistful of Dinars

Xena is drawn into a treacherous treasure hunt that forces her to team up with a desperate assassin and a ruthless warlord -- who happens to be her former fiance.

Summary
Xena intercedes to save her old friend Lycus from a furious attack by his pursuer Klonig, but only manages to save what the two men are fighting over -- a leather pouch containing one of four clues to the location of the Lost Treasure of the Sumerians. Only Xena knows that part of the treasure is the Titan Key, which unlocks the Hall of Ambrosia where the legendary food of the gods can be found.

When Xena learns that the wily assassin Thersites already possesses two of the clues to finding the treasure, she has no choice but to team up with him in the search. But she explains to Gabrielle privately why she must get to the Titan Key first -- any mortal who eats Ambrosia becomes a god.

Xena then sets out with Gabrielle to find Petracles, the ambitious warlord who holds the fourth clue. The warrior princess warns her young companion that Petracles is a dangerously attractive, ruthless and manipulating liar and reveals how she knows this -- she and Petracles were once engaged to be married. Appealing to his greed, Xena convinces the brashly confident young warlord to join in the hunt for the treasure.

It is quickly apparent that there is no love lost between Thersites and Petracles as the foursome heads for Mount Poulis. En route through the Paeus woods, they are surprised by a sudden volley of arrows unleashed by unseen attackers. Racing across a battered wooden footbridge spanning a deep chasm, they barely make it to the other side. That night, despite Xena's repeated warnings, Gabrielle finds an excuse to talk with Petracles away from their campsite.

When she questions him about his engagement to Xena, he confides that he was too young to understand love and confused it with the thrill of conquest. With sadness and regret, he admits he lost interest in Xena as soon as she agreed to marry him. Deeply concerned about Gabrielle's attraction to her former fiance, Xena later threatens to kill Petracles if he does anything to harm her friend, in spite of his protests that he is a changed man.

The next day, they reach the Temple of Demeter, the first location revealed by the clues and, after waylaying the temple warriors, make off with the Heart of Demeter -- the priceless ruby they have come to retrieve. At the next location, they find three large totem poles. After Thersites and Petracles square off in a fight over sharing their clues, Xena manages to place the ruby in the correct position on one the poles. At sunrise the following morning, a beam of light hits the ruby, pointing at a cave in the hillside.

Inside the cave, they discover the magnificent Sumerian Treasure of precious gems, jewelry, sculptures and coins, as well as a silver tablet which reveals the existence of the Ambrosia and the Titan Key which leads to it. As Xena races toward the Key, Thersites extinguishes her torch and disappears in the darkness with both the Key and Gabrielle.

Xena and Petracles go after them through a dangerous secret passage into the Hall of Silence, which leads to the Ambrosia cave. Barely avoiding being crushed by boulders when Petracles disturbs the silence, they enter a small chamber where a bowl of Ambrosia rests on a table. Thersites, holding Gabrielle hostage with a knife at her throat, orders Xena and Petracles to back away, but Gabrielle is able to pull away from her captor just enough to allow Xena to disarm him.

Then Xena, Petracles and Thersites become embroiled in a violent three-way battle, with each trying to keep the other two from winning possession of the Ambrosia. When Petracles finally pushes Xena back and turns on Thersites, he is stabbed by the evil assassin. Thersites grabs Gabrielle as a hostage once again, but before he can reach the Ambrosia, the fatally wounded Petracles rises to turn the assassin's dagger against him. As the dying Petracles sinks to the ground, a saddened Xena realizes that his claims that he had changed were true after all.

Disclaimer
A villainous assasin and a tough-guy warlord were harmed during the making of this motion picture, but only one of them deserved it.

Behind the Scenes

 * Shooting Dates: November 9 through November 17, 1995 (7 day shoot)
 * This episode was originally going to be called Three For Godhood or The Hard Way.
 * The title of this episode is play on words of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western film A Fistful of Dollars.

Key Events

 * This is the first appearance of ambrosia in the franchise. It is explained that consumption of it by a mortal will grant godhood. Aside from infrequent references, it will factor prominently in "The Quest", "A Necessary Evil" and episode "Top God".

Trivia

 * Xena doesn't use her chakram in this episode. In fact, it doesn't even appear at all, as Xena keeps the pouch with her clue in it on her hip, where the chakram should be.

Guest Stars

 * Jeremy Roberts (Thersites)
 * Peter Daube (Petracles)