~ Death Be Not Proud ~
by celticblue
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Universal Studios but the sentiment is mine. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thanks for reading.
Death Be Not Proud
celticblue
Death was weary this night. He had travelled far and claimed many but knew his sojourn wasn't as yet over. Three lives would be needed for the night to finally End and his respite granted. As he ventured into the clearing a fierce battle was unfolding. He watched the combatants reading their faces, sensing their emotions. The odds weren't even and yet; the warrior with the raven hair and defiant blue eyes fought with such passion. He could sense the darkness and pain that were a part of her, and he could feel the primal exhilaration for the fight that defined her as little else did. These abilities had been granted him long ago. Abilities that allowed him to 'see' his potential victims, would aid him in making his final choice. He always felt the pain of the ones he took with him. And he had been doing this a long time. The companion to the warrior was smaller and wielded not a sword but a staff, yet he could feel her determination, could sense her conviction through the sheer effort That was hers. As the violence before him escalated he studied it carefully.
Death was well acquainted with the Warrior Princess. She had kept him busy for too many seasons, had almost succumbed herself on more than one occasion yet she possessed the strongest resolve of any mortal he'd ever seen. He thought with a flicker of a smile, that her resolve was greater than many a god he knew. And he knew many. But that same resolve was being sorely tested as he watched the fighting continue. The younger woman fought with courage and tenacity, an unconscious grace lending fluidity to the movement of wood against steel. As the two women fought he could feel the bond between them, knew instinctively how strong the love they shared must be. He'd felt a bond of love once, had known what it was like to care for someone more than life. And thus a bargain would be made. And his journeys begun. As the battle raged on a familiar sensation washed over him, that of recognition. He could only wait.
*******
Xena found herself challenged such as she hadn't been challenged in a long while. She was being pressed and hard, but it wasn't exhilaration she felt. She was afraid, not for herself but for Gabrielle for these weren't just warriors, they were assassins exceptionally skilled. And she couldn't for the sake of each and every god figure out how they had attacked their camp so quickly and with such stealth. This might indeed be the work of the gods, but she'd just have to figure that one out some other time. The bard was tiring and there were still three opponents to deal with. With a standing leap that crushed the sternum and most of the life out of one assassin, her momentum carried her around to trade thrusts with the second. This one is good the warrior thought, as he matched her stroke for stroke, very good; but I have a few tricks left of my own....
Gabrielle had subdued one assassin, effectively fracturing one kneecap, but her shoulder had been injured in the maneuver making it difficult to wield the staff or maintain any leverage. The remaining assassin grinned as he approached, muttering something in a language the bard didn't recognize and aimed the scimitar for the chest and the kill. Tired and hurting she barely got the staff up in time to block its arc, but wasn't able to avoid a smaller blade that seemed to come out of nowhere to rake her side. She cried out in pain, staggering sideward. As Xena heard the cry she felt the familiar numbing pain deep inside she always felt when Gabrielle was hurt. So she did the only thing she could when she couldn't be two places at once and the chakrum wasn't an option; she whistled for Argo knowing she could depend on the Mare to do what she'd been trained for. Hearing and heeding the cadence that signaled trouble the mare galloped over to where Gabrielle struggled and reared to her full height on powerful hindquarters. Coming down with all the force that was hers, she cleaved the assassin's skull open catapulting him back to land in a broken mass on the edge of the clearing. Dead and wearing a look of total incredulity.
Death looked on. He knew the time was winding down. One dead and two remained. He also knew what was about to take place. He could only watch.
Xena was fighting the last assassin but she was tiring as well. She decided it was time for a move rarely used, a move learned long ago in another life. The timing had to be perfect for the body was left open for one crucial moment as a ruse to draw the opponent out. As the assassin saw the opening he took it. It would be the last thing he'd take as the warrior's sword came round in one downward and disemboweling motion. Quickly making her way to Gabrielle who was down and bleeding but who smiled at the warrior, she leaned down gently brushing the bard's cheek. "We did it, didn't we Xena?"the bard spoke her voice hoarse with pain. "Yes we did." Xena smiled, barely able to get the words out past the tightening in her throat and chest. So relieved was she that Gabrielle had survived, so caught up in the emotion of the love she rarely allowed herself to show, that for the first time she could ever remember she didn't sense the dagger being released from the dying man behind her. With his last reserves he let go. And found his mark as Hyperborean steel buried itself to the hilt between broad shoulders.
Death had been waiting and now the battle was finally over. Two assassins dead, another two injured. One assassin near death. One bard injured and shaken but who would recover. And the woman dying before her friend's eyes. As he contemplated all that was before him preparing to make his final decision the calm that had seemed to settle momentarily was shattered with cries and angry words. Death looked on again and listened. Gabrielle's grief was consuming her. As she cradled the warrior's head in her arms, stroking her hair she screamed into the night. "I won't let you take her." In a much smaller voice looking down "Don't leave me Xena, not here, not this way." Looking out on somber skies, her voice was raw. "Death be not proud that would claim a warrior this way. A warrior who battles for Others, who sacrifices" and her voice caught, "everything." Xena opened her eyes slowly. She needed to tell Gabrielle it was all right. She needed her to know. She'd fought too many battles for her body not to recognize it was time. Her heart told her as much as the pain did. She looked up and into pained green eyes, softly stroking a face as familiar as her own, and smiled. Then she closed her eyes feeling a peace she hadn't known in a long while. The words hadn't come but in the warrior's eyes was the love Xena had always held back unable to fully share with her. And the bard quietly smiled in return.
As Death looked on he did something he'd never done. He appeared before Gabrielle because never before had anyone made him question himself or that which he'd been fated to do and that alone deserved an audience. As Xena lay very still, and Gabrielle silently waited a black shadowed presence appeared before them. "Do not be afraid child. I am Death and I have heard your plea." Gabrielle looked at the presence defiantly. "I must take one other with me this night. Your friend has fought bravely, as have you. "I must either take the warrior felled earlier by her hand", and pointed to the assassin that lie with his sternum crushed and his breathing raspy, life slowly and painfully ebbing from him. "Or I must take, and he glanced down at the still form that Gabrielle clung to, "The Warrior Princess you care so deeply for. Yes child. Your friend has given me more victims then I care to see. "But she's changed now" Gabrielle cried. " Please there's so much more she can do, that we can do. I know better than anyone all of who she is, and the commitment she's made her own. How can I let her go?" And she lowered her head unable to say more. Death listened. He was rather taken by the emotion in this young woman. So like... He looked at Gabrielle. "Answer me this young one if you may. Would you bargain with Death for her life?" Death looked at the bard with almost a gleam in his eye. "I will ask one thing of you and one thing only. Are you prepared to do as I ask so that she may live? It is within my power to grant this." Gabrielle looked straight into Death's eyes. "Anything" she said quietly, "I'll do whatever you ask. Please don't let her die..."
Epilogue
Xena was almost fully recovered form the dagger wound she'd received. Strange but she held no memory of the events of the battle and had to rely on Gabrielle for the details surrounding that night. Normally the bard's enthusiasm in describing their battles was unequaled but this one seemed to have affected her deeply, and when asked by the warrior she simply replied that they'd fought hard and were very fortunate. Xena was concerned about the bard. She'd taken injuries as well and had continued to care for the warrior in her recovery. Although they both were fairly well rested Gabrielle had been too quiet and unusually pensive. She knew Gabrielle as well as the bard knew her and realized her friend would talk when she was ready to. She only hoped she could help her when she finally revealed what was troubling her.
One morning as the day bloomed clear and cool under a sky alive with the colors of fall, Xena found Gabrielle sitting under a tree with a faraway look in her eye and a scroll in her hand. "Xena, do you think about Death often?" She looked at Gabrielle for a long moment with gentle concern in her eyes, wondering what had brought this on and was thoughtful. "I am not afraid of death Gabrielle. It is something that will claim me when the fates call. I only hope I can achieve some measure of good before my time's at hand. That would please me. Why do you ask?"
Gabrielle didn't answer right away. When she looked up it was with sadness in her eyes. "Because I saw Death Xena. I saw him the night you almost died. He appeared before me and as I was holding you in my arms he asked if I would bargain with Death for your life. He said that he would ask one thing of me and if I was prepared to make that choice." "Oh Gabrielle," Xena softly returned. "I told him I would do anything he asked." As Xena watched the bard she felt a fear wash over her and waited for her to continue. At length Gabrielle responded. "He asked me to tell his story Xena, so that all might know death to be a servant who wields compassion in his journeys and who once loved with a heart that was full and happy. "That's all he asked Xena. He said he'd been waiting a long time for someone to sing his tale. I've finished his story."
Xena listened as the bard told a tale of another time and place, a tale of love and battle, of a pride that almost became one man's undoing and of jealous gods at their arduous best. And of a bond that would not be broken. Aranur had loved a woman with fair hair and dancing eyes, and a fighting spirit that wouldn't be silenced. In the end when she was dying in his arms, broken and bloody would his anguished cries be answered. The fates would ask but one thing in return for the life they would give. They would ask that Aranur trade life for death. So it was that a proud, loving man would willingly make a bargain coming to direct fates hand. And would please the fates in his actions...They allowed him his memories as they allowed him a respite each day where he could rest, and forget all that he was, all that he was forced to see. And they occasionally allowed him to alter events that had all but played out in their finality.
Finally the moment would arrive that an angry and grief stricken bard would see Death before her and make her own bargain for the life of someone she loved. Death would honor that love, and a bard would tell his tale."Know that I will always remember" she spoke quietly. "And that I sing your song proudly"
Xena looked at Gabrielle, taken not for the first time by the depth of feeling inspired through her voice and eyes. And was moved beyond anything she had ever felt. Everything that was Gabrielle came through in the sad refrain. After a few moments Gabrielle turned away gazing into the distance. Softly she asked "Do you think he would approve?" Xena smiled as she reached for the smaller hand and held it quietly in her own. "Yes I think he would."
As Death listened he knew he had chosen wisely and he felt honored with the bard's words. He hadn't really wanted to take the woman warrior. He knew the darkness that she lived with, how many lives that darkness had cost. And how she had begun to find new meaning and a sense of purpose with the young one at her side. The bard was right. They still had much to do. Besides once having looked into all too familiar green eyes, he doubted he could have denied her anything.
The Athenaeum's Scroll Archive
