Plot summary
Xena and Gabrielle encounter dying Athenian soldiers fleeing a people the soldiers call the Horde. Xena recognizes the weapons and remembers terrible losses from her own military past. After escaping an attack, the women reach a starving, demoralized garrison surrounded by enemy fighters.
Xena takes command and restores the soldiers' willingness to resist. Her methods also revive the ruthless commander she once was: she uses bodies to create an illusion of reinforcements, organizes lethal traps and treats questions as threats to her authority. Gabrielle instead takes charge of the wounded and becomes frightened by the pleasure Xena seems to take in the fighting.
A captured enemy repeatedly says a word that the Athenians assume is a plea to a war god. Gabrielle discovers that he is simply asking for water. Refusing to surrender her compassion, she goes onto the battlefield to give water to the wounded on both sides.
The enemy interprets her actions as a truce and comes unarmed to retrieve its casualties. Xena finally recognizes that her fear has kept her from understanding their customs. Observing that the prisoner will not attack her because she is the opposing commander, she realizes that challenging their leader may end the siege.
Xena defeats the Hordemaster in single combat and steps away. His own warriors kill him with their axes, then withdraw. The garrison survives, but victory also exposes the cost of the hatred that nearly consumed Xena again.
She acknowledges that future understanding may depend on people like Gabrielle, capable of seeing shared humanity where warriors see only enemies.
Credits
Adapted from Legendary Journeys Wiki contributors, The Price. Complete episode narrative, rewritten and condensed for clarity; causal developments and the episode's ending retained. Illustrations, dialogue quotations and non-story metadata omitted.