En route to the games at Thrace, Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) and Iolaus (Michael Hurst) come upon a band of thugs looking for a fight. Hercules is content to ignore them, but Iolaus' pride is offended by their taunts and a brawl ensues. Hercules finally steps in when his friend's life is threatened, but instead of being grateful, Iolaus angrily protests that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Iolaus' irritation persists and when the two reach a fork in the road, Hercules goes one way and Iolaus the other, betting his friend he will reach Thrace first. Hercules hurries ahead eager to win the wager. When he comes to a broad river, he persuades a boatman (David Stott) working on shore to let him use his vessel for a crossing in exchange for launching it into the water for free.
Meanwhile, Iolaus finds himself on a dark and dangerous road. Suddenly, he is surrounded by several horned bestial satyrs, who knock him unconscious and carry him away. They dump him into a deep prison cave where he encounters Lydia (Lisa Chappell), a young Thracian woman who has suffered the same fate. He learns from her that their captors are really human thieves masquerading as satyrs in order to keep the locals away from the area. As the two speculate on their fate, bandit chief Rankor (John Dybvig) orders his lieutenant Rak (Jeff Gane) to kill both prisoners. Rak drops a rope and descends into the prison cave to carry out his orders. Iolaus quickly hustles Lydia into the shadows and urges her to take off her dress. Upon reaching the floor of the cave, Rak lasciviously advances on "Lydia" only to receive a punch in the face from Iolaus. The prisoners make their escape into the woods. Along the way, Iolaus and Lydia battle murderous thieves and a giant eel.
As Iolaus struggles on his journey, Hercules is visited by his childhood sweetheart Nemesis (Karen Witter), who first appears to him as a graceful bird diving into the water before transforming into the svelte and lovely young woman he instantly recognizes. After discovering that Nemesis is now working for the gods dispensing divine retribution, he is upset to learn that Hera has sent her to kill Iolaus for the sin of pride. Despite Hercules' angry protest, Nemesis explains that it's too late -- the events have already been set in motion to cause Iolaus to bring retribution on himself.
Hercules arrives at a clearing and sees the bloodthirsty bandits surrounding the mouth of a cave. Just inside, he sees Iolaus battling a ferocious hydra but before he can move, Nemesis appears and reminds him that he must not interfere. She stresses that it was Iolaus' injured pride that led him to this point and that he must win or lose this battle for himself. Frustrated, Hercules looks on as Iolaus grapples with the deadly hydra while Rankor waits outside. Deep in the cave, Iolaus momentarily subdues the hydra, who is afraid of fire, by igniting a wall of flammable moss. Knowing the fire will soon burn itself out, he lures Rankor into the cave and quickly escapes, leaving his foe to face the angry hydra alone. Overjoyed to see Iolaus safe, Hercules slips away towards Thrace and arrives first to win the bet.
When Iolaus and Lydia reach the city, Lydia begins to sing the praises of her companion, recounting to Hercules his acts of courage and bravery. Hercules, in turn, proclaims that he would trust Iolaus with his life. Brashly putting his friend's words to the test in front of a large crowd, Iolaus places a pomegranate on Hercules' head, borrows a bow and arrow from a passing archer and asks Lydia to blindfold him. Just as Iolaus takes aim, a battered Rankor -- who has followed his quarry to Thrace -- draws his bow and aims at Iolaus. At the last second, Nemesis merges into Rankor's body and redirects the arrow, causing it to smash the pomegranate on Hercules' head instead. Quickly realizing the situation, Iolaus turns and fires at Rankor, killing him. When Hercules thanks Nemesis for sparing the life of his best friend, Nemesis reveals that the blindfolded Iolaus never intended to follow through on the dangerous pomegranate stunt for fear of injuring Hercules, and thereby earned his own reprieve.
Starring: Kevin Sorbo (Hercules)
Guest Starring: Michael Hurst (Iolaus), Lisa Chappell (Lydia), Karen Witter (Nemesis), John Dybvig (Rankor), Jeff Gane (Rak), David Stott (Boatman), B.J. Johns (Ugly on Bridge), Eric Gruendemann (Fisherman)
Written by Steve Roberts
Directed by Peter Ellis