The Gauntlet

S1, E12: Hercules's (Kevin Sorbo) enemy, Xena (Lucy Lawless), wreaks havoc across the land, but when she stops the slaying of an infant, her ruthless lieutenant, Darphus, denounces her act of compassion as weak and forces her to succumb to the gauntlet -- a deadly warrior ritual. Xena survives and staggers alone into the wilderness where she later challenges Hercules to a duel. With Matthew Chamberlain.