When she opened her eyes, everything around Gabrielle was dark. At first, she wasn't sure if she had actually opened her eyes, it was so dark. Gradually though, a small light began to shine in the distance. It wasn't bright, more of a dull glow, but it was there. As the seconds ticked by, however, the light began to get brighter and Gabrielle could feel a warmth building in her chest. Once it was finally bright enough to see, Gabrielle started taking in her surroundings.
The area around her was a barren wasteland, and bodies hung from burning trees. The sight made Gabrielle sick to her stomach, but she managed to stop herself from throwing up. Trying to ignore the smell of burning flesh and wood, along with the sight of the dead bodies, the former bard walked towards the source of the light that illuminated the macabre land she found herself in.
With every step she took, she found less bodies and a weight that she hadn't been aware of was beginning to lift itself from her chest. In fact, it looked as if the land was trying to repair itself the closer she got to the light. Small saplings were beginning to shoot out of the ground, along with a few flowers. It wasn't magnificent, but it was much better than seeing burning bodies hanging from tree branches. When she finally reached the source of the light, however, Gabrielle was surprised by what she saw.
Giving off a light brighter than she had ever seen was an image of herself, back before Perdicas. It seemed that the light radiating from her image was pushing the darkness back and giving the trees and flowers the strength to grow. Her curiosity getting the best of her, Gabrielle reached out and touched the replication of her younger self.
As soon as she touched it, the image shimmered before melting into a puddle. The former bard gasped as she jumped back, afraid that she had broken something that she shouldn't have. When the light continued to come from the silvery puddle, however, she stepped forward once more and went down on all fours so she could get a better look at the strange puddle. Again, she was shocked by what she saw: Solan.
What made it even stranger was the weird sensation that she was moving while getting wet at the same time. When she thought this, the shimmering images in the puddle made themselves clearer and she began to realize what was going on. She was asleep, and her dreams had taken her to another mindscape. It was something that she learned came along with her prophetic dreams, although she hadn't had one of those since she left Potidaea. Trying to figure out who's dreamscape she was in, she took in the images that were in the shimmering pool.
There was an auburn haired young woman dressed in Amazon garb riding on a grey stallion beside her. Gabrielle furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out who she was. Unable to figure it out, she continued her scanning of the area.
"Argo!" she cried in excitement when she noticed the mare's head in her line of vision. "So... This must be Xena's mindscape." she mused as she looked around. It explained all the dead bodies hanging from the burning trees. It didn't, however, explain why she was the source of the bright light that illuminated Xena's mindscape. She filed the information to think about later. At the moment, she had more important business to deal with. Finding out what was going on with her old friend, for example. Looking back into the shimmering pool, Gabrielle watched as Argo slowed down and felt herself dismount from the horse...
Rain was pouring down and clouds blocked out the light of the moon. The only thing that allowed Xena and the others to see was the flashes of lightning that occasionally lit the sky. The interval between the lightning, however, left them in complete darkness, so Xena had stopped Argo and dismounted. True, she had hoped to be in then next town by now, but the stormy weather had slowed them down. None of the travelers were very happy about having to travel through the rain, either.
"Are you sure we cant' make it to the next town? or at least somewhere the rain can't get to us?" Solan asked as he dismounted after the warrior. The older woman shook her head and took the bridle off of her golden mare. Amarice dismounted Ice as well, but had to tether him to a tree near the path that they were traveling on so that he wouldn't take off. Unlike Argo, he hadn't been trained to return to them if she let him loose. At least, that's what she told Xena anyways. The truth was that the young woman didn't trust the stallion to stay put because he was a male.
"No, Solan. Without the moon, it's dangerous to ride at night," Xena explained as she pulled two bedrolls off of Argo, handing one to Solan, and began taking the saddle off of her horse.
"Not to mention that if we run Argo any harder, she might be run straight into the ground," Amarice added on for Xena. "She can't handle both your weight and Xena's."
"Oh." There was something about the way Amarice said it that made Solan think that she thought it was his fault they were stuck out in the rain.
"Don't worry. Now that the lightning has finally stopped, we can camp under the trees. That should stop some of the rain."
"Yeah. Maybe we'll find some place dry," Amarice huffed as she pulled her own bedroll off of Ice and followed after Xena into the trees.
"What? Afraid the water will make you melt?" Solan asked with a chuckle. "I heard it does that to bitches." Xena nearly stumbled over her own feet when she heard her son.
"Xena, didn't you tell the brat here that he had to behave on this trip?" Amarice growled. Xena turned around and looked at Solan.
"Yes, I believe that was the deal. I guess he's tired of traveling with us already if he's using that kind of language."
"Yeah. It has been a week since we left, after all. That can seem like such a long time to a little boy."
"It's a shame, too. We're almost to Volos," Xena said, feigning pity.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Solan apologized in a frantic voice. He didn't want to be left in the next town until they came back for him. "I'll behave, I swear."
"Hm..." Xena said, looking as if she was contemplating her decision. Of course, she already knew that she was going to let him stay. "He seems pretty sincere to me. How about you?"
"I don't know. He might be faking it just so we don't leave him behind," the younger woman grumbled. Solan may have been Xena's son, but that didn't stop her from being annoyed by him.
"No, I mean it! I promise, I won't say anything else," he said as he looked pleadingly up at Xena. The warrior seemed to think about it for a few moments before nodding her head and walking away again. "Hey wait! Was that a 'Yes, you can stay' nod or a 'We'll drop him off in the next town' nod?" he called after his retreating friend's back.
"It means you'll be staying with us, kid," Amarice told him before following after Xena, ruffling Solan's hair as she walked by. It would probably be the only time she got to tease him without him being able to retaliate. 'Besides,' she thought with a smirk, 'he's kind of cute when he's frustrated.' That thought nearly stopped her in her tracks. She hadn't just thought that Solan was cute! Looking behind her, she saw the boy trying to stop himself from doing something to get back at her for treating him like a kid. Amarice mentally slapped herself when she caught herself thinking how adorable he looked when he was angry.
"Alright. This should be a good spot," Xena announced, pulling Amarice out of her thoughts. The teenager mentally thanked her older friend for interrupting her thoughts; she definitely hadn't liked the direction that they were going in.
"Thank the Gods. Any longer in the rain, and I may have drowned," Solan remarked before shaking his head to dry his hair.
"Watch it!" Amarice exclaimed as some of the water droplets from his hair hit her. 'Okay, whatever attraction I held for him, just left,' she thought angrily as she leveled a glare at the blonde boy, who gave her an apologetic smile.
"Sorry," he apologized before laying out the bedroll that Xena had given to him earlier. Amarice pulled her own bedroll off her back and laid it out on the ground, careful to pick a spot as far away from Solan as she could.
The next morning found Amarice waking up from a restless sleep before Xena and Solan. She let out a sigh of relief as she sat up, before rubbing her sleepy eyes with a balled up fist. She couldn't believe what was happening to her. She hated men, so why was she feeling like she did towards Solan? The knot in her stomach gave her the answer when she looked over at the sleeping boy in question.
'Ew! He's five years younger than me; and Xena’s son, at that!’ she thought, nearly gagging at the thought of being in a relationship with Solan. ‘Couldn’t I have at least fallen for someone that was a bit older and not the son of someone that could tear me limb from limb if she wanted?’ she asked herself silently. She waited a few moments, pleading with her mind to sop thinking about him, but it wasn’t obeying her.
“Something bugging you?” A familiar voice whispered in her ear, making her jump. Amarice had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed that Xena had woken up.
“Uh no... nothing’s wrong! What would give you that idea?” she stammered as she tried to untangle herself from her bedroll and stand up.
“Usually you’re up and moving around by now,” Xena commented as she watched the girl in amusement. There was definitely something on the girl’s mind. if she couldn’t get out of her own bedroll.
“Oh uh... just couldn’t sleep well last night. I didn’t really feel like getting up.” Amarice told her, but Xena could tell she was lying. She’d let her friend get away with it for now, since it didn’t seem to be anything serious, but she was definitely asking about it again later. “Well then, I think I’ll just get a head start on you two. I mean, the kid does deserve to sleep in a little.” The Amazon quickly began rolling up her bedroll before starting out of the forest.
“Amarice...” Xena called after her, a smirk on her face. The young woman turned back around with a questioning look on her face. “You don’t know how to get where we’re going.” A sheepish expression graced Amarice’s features before she replied.
“I’ll just uh... wait by Ice then,” her young companion said before walking off again, leaving Xena to wonder what was going on in her head.
‘There’s definitely something on her mind,’ she thought with a chuckle before walking over to her son. “Solan... Solan, wake up.” The boy groaned as he tried to crawl further into the bedroll. “Solan, if you don’t get up now, I’m just going to leave you here,” Xena threatened him. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before the blonde was quickly getting out of his bedroll and beginning to pack it up.
“I’m ready to go!” he told her with a salute as he shouldered his sleeping gear. Xena simply rolled her eyes before heading off in the direction that Amarice had gone in. Once they met her at the horses, Xena whistled for Argo. The faithful mare came running in and she quickly mounted her, pulling Solan up to sit in front of her.
Forced to follow after Xena so that she wouldn’t get lost, Amarice ended up thinking about Solan again; and frankly, by it was beginning to get on her nerves by the time the sun traveled closer to the western horizon. There was no way that she could be falling for Solan. He was so much younger than her!
‘That never stopped Xena from falling in love with Gabrielle,’ her voice of reason reminded her.
‘That was different! At least Gabrielle was older than Solan!’ she argued with herself.
‘Love is love, no matter how old you are.’ the voice told her. She was beginning to hate that voice with a passion.
‘That’s not the point. I don’t love him. He’s too annoying for me to love!’ she told the voice.
‘Ha! You’re just upset that he doesn’t tease you because you’re a woman, but because of who you actually are!’ the voice pointed out.
‘Okay fine. How about the fact that I have only known him for a few weeks, and whenever we’re together, we get into some kind of fight?’ she asked, thinking she had the voice outsmarted.
‘Easy. Love at first sight. Love can also be easily mistaken as hatred for a person who isn’t used to the feeling.’ the voice answered smugly.
“Look, I can’t love Solan! He’s Xena’s son and she’d kick my ass if she ever found out!” Amarice shouted, causing her stallion to prance nervously. When she finally got him under control again, she looked up to see Xena glaring at her, and Solan trying to divide his attention between his mother and her. “Uh... did I say that out loud?” Judging by the look on Xena’s face and Solan’s next question, she had.
“You’re my mother?” he asked, now focusing all his attention on Xena. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Xena was, not surprisingly, at a loss for words. She had no idea how to explain her situation to her son.
“Solan, you know what kind of person I used to be. You’ve seen what my enemies are like. I couldn’t risk you growing up like me, or my enemies finding out about you.” she explained as best she could.
“So I was a liability to you,” he stated coolly. “That’s all I am, right? A risk for you, and dead weight for her,” he continued, indicating Amarice with a nod of his head.
“Hey!“ Amarice objected. Hadn’t she just shouted that she loved him? That was what got Xena into this mess, wasn’t it?
“Solan, that’s not what I meant and you know it,” Xena growled in response to his statement.
“How should I know what you meant? You lied to me about who you were. You let me believe that both of my parents were dead for the last fourteen years!” Xena stayed quiet, hiding her inner turmoil as she tried to figure out a way out of this situation. The argument was only made more awkward by the fact that they were both in the same saddle, since Solan still hadn’t gotten off of Argo, which she was grateful for. As long as Solan was still on her horse, it meant that he wasn’t thinking about running away.
“Since you’ve known me, have I ever treated you like I didn’t want you?” she asked, her level voice not betraying her true feelings.
“How do I know that wasn’t all an act?” he asked angrily, refusing to look back at her.
“You don’t. You just have to trust me.”
“Because you’ve really given me a reason to trust you now,” Solan remarked sarcastically.
“You trusted me before we came on this trip,” Xena pointed out with a raised eyebrow. She knew it wasn’t much of an argument, since before they had started the trip, Solan hadn’t know that she was his mother. The boy mumbled something under his breath, but didn’t bother to repeat for Xena. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to say anything more and that he wasn’t going to run away, Xena spurred Argo into movement again. Although they still made it to Volos by nightfall, the rest of the ride had been made in an uncomfortable silence.
“Amarice. Make sure Solan doesn’t run off,” Xena ordered the young Amazon as she dismounted Argo. Both Amarice and Solan’s jaws dropped, but for different reason. Solan couldn’t believe his mother would leave him alone with someone that just claimed she loved him, and Amarice couldn’t believe that Xena was still talking to her after what she said.
“You can’t be serious. You can’t leave me with her!” Solan objected as he watched his mother lead Argo.
“I can and I will,” she told him before looking back at Amarice. “Try not to blow any more secrets. I don’t want to have to cut your tongue out because you weren’t able to keep a hold on it.” After successfully threatening the bigmouthed teenager, Xena let go of the lead and headed for the house that she knew was Gabrielle’s.
“So um... I’m really sorry,” Amarice apologized awkwardly once Xena was out of earshot. She was pretty sure that she didn’t have to mention what she was sorry for. Solan looked back at her for a moment before facing forward again.
“Can we not talk about it right now? Like my so called mother said, you shouldn’t risk blowing any more secrets,” he told her coldly. Amarice sighed and shook her head. She was beginning to see the similarities between Xena and her son; mainly that when they were angry, they stayed angry. She had really screwed up things this time.
Meanwhile, Xena wasn’t getting an answer at the door she was knocking on. Beginning to lose her patience, she began circling the house. The windows were all boarded up, making it obvious that no one had been in the house for a while. The building didn’t have a backdoor, either, so she ended up at the front door again with about the same amount of information that she started with.
“Excuse me, miss... but that house has been shut up for a little over a month now. It’s scheduled to be burned down next week,” came the voice of an old man from behind her. Xena turned around and faced the man that was talking to her. He was leaning heavily on a small, wooden cane, and wore a long, brown cloak that went down to his ankles. The hood was left down, easing some of Xena‘s nerves.
“Can you tell me why?” she asked calmly, although in her head she was running through possible situations. The old man shook his greying head.
“Sorry miss. I didn’t come here until after it was marked for destruction,” he told her sadly. “You could probably go ask the judge, though. He controls a lot of what goes on in this town. He lives just down there.” The old man pointed a shaky hand down the street, showing her one of the larger houses in the town. Xena nodded her thanks, all though she probably could have figured out where the house was on her own because of its size, before heading in the direction he had indicated.
“I’m here to see the judge,” she announced when she entered the large building. She could feel all of the eyes in the room turn to her, and she couldn’t blame them. She doubted that they had women decked in armor coming into their town very often.
“That would be me,” a man called boredly as he walked out of one of the adjoining rooms. “Is there something you needed?” He was flipping through some of the documents in his hands rather than paying her much attention. He seemed to think that she wasn’t much of a problem. Xena would change that before she left.
“Why is the building down the street scheduled to be burned down next week?” she asked, cutting straight to the point.
“I’m sorry, but that is classified information. Only the townspeople are entitled to that information,” he told her, not bothering to look up from his papers. That turned out to be a mistake when he found himself being grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air by an impatient and angry warrior princess.
“I think you’d better make an exception in this case,” she growled at him as he dropped the papers in his hands and began frantically attempting to get free from her grip. She lazily dropped him to the ground and knelt beside him as he gasped for breath. “So what do you think? Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”
“I told you,” he gasped as he stared at her wide eyed, “only townsfolk are entitled to that kind of information. Select townsfolk, at that.” He barely had time to gulp when icy blue eyes narrowed at him before he felt two jabs to his neck.
“I’ve cut off the flow of blood to whatever little brain you have. You now have thirty seconds left to tell me what I want to know,” she informed him as he struggled to breathe. “Now I’ll ask again: Why is that house being torched?”
“There was a murder there. A woman killed her husband.” Xena was still, thinking about his answer. “I’m telling the truth! Take it off!” he exclaimed when it looked like she was going to let him die. The warrior let him suffer a few seconds more before finally taking the pinch off and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Pulling him up with her as she stood up, she began questioning him again.
“The woman; what was her name?”
“Gabrielle, of Potidaea. We found her husband dead in their home one night, and she was trying to escape in the forest. We never found her daughter, so we assumed that she killed her as well, and buried her before trying to escape,” the judge explained as he stared down at the woman holding him up. Judging by the look on her face, she didn’t like the information he was giving her.
“Are you sure that was her name?” Xena asked, shaking him slightly. The judge nodded vehemently.
“I swear it is. I judged her myself,” he assured her. The woman thought about this for a moment before putting him back down on the ground. He immediately began smoothing the wrinkles out of his tunic and wiping his bangs back once more.
“What... What happened to her?” Xena asked, almost afraid to know. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Gabrielle had killed Perdicas. At the same time, though, she was trying to think of a reason why she would be forced to kill him.
“She’s dead, of course. You can’t really think that we’d allow someone like that to run around in society, do you?” the judge told her. It wasn’t exactly a lie, either. Perdicas’ killer was as good as dead where she was anyways. When the woman didn’t answer him, the judge continued on with his story. “Yeah, she came in with some sob story about her husband beating her,“ he relayed to the woman in front of him. He was so busy fixing the collar of his tunic that he didn’t see the flash of anger in the woman’s eyes.
“You mean to tell me that you sentenced her to death after she told you that her husband was hitting her?” Xena growled. The judge, although aware of the angry tone in the woman’s voice, was not going to back down from defending his position.
“I admit, I almost believed her, but a very good source informed me that she used to be a bard and was very good at spinning tales and tricking people with her words,” he told her. Xena’s fist clenched as she heard this news. She knew that Gabrielle would never use her skill with words to trick anyone. If she said she had been abused by husband, then it was the truth. She proceeded to tell the judge this.
“By the way, the next time a woman comes to you claiming that someone is abusing her, you’d better listen,” she threatened him before throwing a punch at his face. Caught off guard, the judge didn’t have time to make any attempt to dodge the punch. He was knocked out before he hit the ground. Shooting a glare at the people staring at her before she left, Xena headed back for the horses, trying hard to ignore the painful ache in her chest.
“Xena, what’s wrong? Where’s Gabrielle?” Amarice asked when she saw Xena coming back empty handed. It was also obvious that she was trying hard to keep herself from losing her composure in front of them.
“Nothing. Let’s just go. We need to get back to Amphipolis,” she said emotionlessly as she mounted Argo. She was careful not to make any contact with Solan, who was apparently ignoring her.
“Xena--”
“I said let’s go!” she barked at Amarice before kicking Argo into motion. They jerked around so fast that Solan had to make a quick grab for the saddlehorn to stop himself from falling off the mare. The dejected young woman quickly followed after Xena, not wanting to be left behind.
It wasn’t until Argo began to froth at the mouth and was covered in a large amount of sweat that Xena finally stopped the horse. Amarice pulled up beside her, Ice panting heavily beneath her.
“What is the matter with you?!” Amarice yelled at her. She had been beginning to wonder if Xena was ever going to stop.
“Nothing is the matter with me. If anything was wrong, I’d know not to tell you,” Xena said bitterly, shooting a glare at the Amazon as she dismounted Argo. Solan quickly followed after, but immediately grabbed his bedroll and headed as far away from them as possible.
“Okay, that’s it Warrior Princess! I admit I made a mistake, but it was an accident!” Amarice yelled at her as she dismounted Ice. She didn’t even bother to tether him to one of the trees this time. “You were going to tell him anyways, so I don’t see what the problem is!” she pointed out.
“The problem is, I was still trying to work out how to tell him,” Xena told her. “Because of your ‘mistake‘, my son hates me. I hope your declaration of love was worth it.” The dark-haired woman turned around, planning to end the conversation there, but Amarice put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around.
“It was an accident. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean for it to come out!” the teenager explained, desperately trying to get Xena to understand.
“Don’t be sorry. Just improve.”
“Excuse me? I’m tired of ‘improving’. I think I have improved enough! At least people know how I feel. You’re the one that won’t even tell me what’s wrong with you right now!” Amarice yelled at the warrior princess, jabbing her in the chest angrily.
“Oh, poor Xena. About to lose her new sidekick after finding out that she lost her old one,” a familiar, but unwelcome, voice chuckled. Not long after, Ares materialized behind Amarice. “Tell me, mighty Warrior Princess, how does it feel to be the cause of your best friend’s death?” he asked as he took a step forward so that he was next to the Amazon.
“What is he talking about, Xena?” Amarice asked, taking a step to the side so she wasn’t so close to the God of War. Although he hardly ever showed up on their travels, she didn’t like him. To her, he represented everything that a man was.
“Oh... you didn’t even tell her what happened to your little friend?” Ares asked, shooting a glance at Amarice. “Well, let me help fill in the gaps. You see, her little bard Gabrielle is dead. That’s why she’s been so upset. Well that, and the fact that it is practically her fault that she’s dead.” He added on the last part with a smirk.
“That’s a lie. Xena cares about Gabrielle,” Amarice spat at him. “She would never do anything to harm her.”
“Ha! Xena, you really have kept her in the dark about what happened, haven’t you?” Ares laughed before crossing his arms. “Well, I think you should explain this part, Xena. I’m obviously not much of a story teller.” With that, he faded away into nothingness, leaving Xena with a very confused Amarice.
“What was he talking about, Xena?” she asked, refusing to believe what Ares had said.
“What did it sound like he was talking about? Because of me, Gabrielle’s dead. It’s exactly like he said,” Xena told her as she pulled a bedroll off of Argo and began laying it out on the ground.
“Xena, Gabrielle can’t be dead because of you. You haven’t seen her in three years!” Amarice reminded her.
“Exactly.” The cryptic answer only served to frustrate Amarice even more.
“Xena, will you please tell me how it’s your fault?” she asked as gently as she could. If Gabrielle had been able to get her to talk about things, she surely could. Xena was quiet for a moment, staring at Argo’s saddle before looking up at the starry sky.
“Perdicas, Gabrielle’s husband, beat her. She killed him. She got sentenced to death by the judge for murder,” Xena explained, somehow managing to keep her voice even.
“Xena, I don‘t see how that‘s your fault,” Amarice admitted quietly. The other woman’s gaze shifted from the sky and went to her instead.
“Amarice, if I had gone back to visit her like I said I would, none of this would have happened. I would have found out about Perdicas, and I could have gotten her out of that mess. Instead, I was a coward and never went back. I thought she was better off without me,” she explained. “Now she’s dead, and it’s my fault.”
“No! Xena, I’m not dead! I’m here!” Gabrielle yelled at the silvery pool as she watched the scene play out in front of her. She couldn’t believe what she had seen. That no good judge had lied to Xena, and then that bastard Ares had made her think it was her fault! “Xena, I’m still alive. None of this is your fault!” she shouted, desperately trying to get her friend to hear her. She couldn’t bear it if her friend went through life blaming herself for a death that hadn’t even happened. Before she could get through to her friend, however, Gabrielle felt herself waking up.
“No! She needs to know I’m still alive! She needs to know that she isn’t to blame for what happened!” Gabrielle shrieked as she fought to stay in her friend’s mindscape. Her efforts were futile, however, and she soon found herself blinking back into her own harsh reality. Mainly, a reality with curly blonde hair and a scar across her face.
“I’m glad you finally decided to wake up, little bard. You make too much noise when you’re asleep,” Callisto told her boredly as she stared into the beady eyes of a rat that she was holding up in front of her face. Gabrielle ignored her, however, as she got to her feet and began pacing around her cells. It was two days after the prison break, and the escape attempt by the prisoners had inspired Gabrielle to come up with a less dangerous way to escape. So far, she hadn’t been able to think of anything.
“Oh, come now Dearie. Don’t ignore me,” Callisto pouted, looking up from her rat. “I’ve been waiting all day for you to wake up.” Gabrielle stopped pacing and glared at the other blonde.
“Callisto, I need to get out of here. Excuse me for not wanting to put up with your sarcastic comments and insane rambling,” she spat back, taking Callisto by surprise with her comment. The willowy blonde didn’t show it, though.
“I’m hurt, Gabrielle. You can’t possibly be thinking of escaping tonight. I mean, it is our first fight in the ring together. I thought that was going to be something special,” Callisto reminded her, standing up and walking over to the pacing bard. She placed a slim hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder and leaned forward, ignoring the fact that the other woman was trying to pull away from her. “I thought that our relationship was special,” she purred before Gabrielle elbowed her in the stomach, successfully pushing her off of her.
“Let me get this through whatever sane part of your mind that you have left: There is nothing between us,” the smaller blonde said before going back to her pacing. “As for the fights... I’ll just have to deal with them as they come.” Gabrielle sighed before sitting back down on the ground. Security had been increased since the escape attempt, making the fortress even more impenetrable. The former bard was beginning to lose hope of escaping.
“Well, you’d better start dealing now, little bard, because here comes the guards to take us down,” Callisto commented, her voice tinged with excitement for the upcoming fight. “Did you know that because we’re fighting together, we get to fight a bigger group? Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“Loads,” Gabrielle replied sarcastically as one guard unlocked the gate and three more kept their crossbows pointed at them, just in case they tried to make a break for it. As they walked out of the cell, Callisto snapped at one of the guards, earning herself a smack in the back of the head for her stunt.
“Ooh... someone’s going to be in trouble later.” The sing-song voice that she used didn’t hide the obvious threat in her words, and the guard visibly gulped. He quickly began going over a list of friends that could possibly take his shift later that night.
As for Gabrielle, she was silent. She just wanted to get this done and over with so that she could go back to thinking of some way to escape the prison. Even as they led her down the ramp, her eyes were scanning the canyon for some kind of weak point. She quickly became discouraged when she couldn’t find one by the time they reached the weapons rack. Callisto immediately chose the sword, of course, and Gabrielle decided to go with the sais again. She was determined to learn how to control herself so that she didn’t kill with them, no matter what it took. Before she had a chance to put the sais in their proper hiding spot, the guards shoved her and Callisto out into the arena.
“You ready?” Callisto asked, a surprisingly serious expression on her face. Gabrielle looked herself over for a moment before shaking her head.
“I’m never ready,” she responded quietly as she took a defensive stance. The willowy blonde chanced a glance at her fighting partner before returning her attention to the other prisoners that were being led down the natural ramp.
“You’d better get ready, then, because if you become a liability, I’ll kill you myself,” she threatened. She could feel Gabrielle’s stare after she said these words. “You don’t really think I’d let someone else kill Xena’s bard, do you?” she asked, a smirk twitching at the edge of her lips. Gabrielle had no time to think about that comment, because their opponents had just entered the arena.
There were four of them. The smallest one was probably a head taller than Gabrielle, and he was wielding a staff that was slightly taller than him. The other three were roughly the same height, and wielding various two handed weapons. Gabrielle was pretty sure she could make their size work against them, but the man with the staff could end up being a problem for her. She was giving no more time to think as the insane shriek from her fighting companion announced the start of the fight.
Gabrielle was immediately attacked by one of the larger men that chose to use a two-handed sword. Luckily, her quick reflexes kicked in, and she was able to bring her sais up and trap the blade between the handles of one. Not wasting anytime, she turned her wrist so that that her sai had a better grip on the blade of the sword before flipping backwards, kicking the man in the chin as she pulled the sword out of his hands.
‘How did I...?’ Before she could finish her thought, she remembered what happened the last time she questioned her abilities and got her mind back into the fight. Just in time, too, because another of the larger men had decided to come help his buddy out by wrapping his bulky arm around her neck. Before he could snap her neck, she stomped on his foot while elbowing him in the side. As soon as his grip loosened, she slipped from his grasp and took a defensive stance between her two opponents; not a good place for her to be. To make matters worse, her first opponent had gotten his sword back. Luckily for her, neither of her opponents were very smart, and they charged her. Thinking fast, she ducked and rolled out of the way of the swordsman’s blade, causing it to plunge into her other opponent’s stomach. Not taking the time to think about the death she had just caused, she quickly got to her feet and wound up behind the man with the sword, who was still shocked that he had killed his own friend. She didn’t give him anymore time to think about it as she plunged one of her blades into his shoulder and used the other to knock him unconscious. Her own opponents taken care of, Gabrielle looked over to see how Callisto was doing.
The willowy blonde was, unsurprisingly, handling herself nicely. She never tried to disarm her opponents or knock them out. She went straight for the kill, which was made obvious by the large body of one of her opponents that had been trying to show off with an axe before she shoved her sword through him. She was now boredly playing with the man that wielded the staff, and the crowd was loving it. Callisto soon became too bored, however, and the man ended up getting the blade of her sword shoved through his face when she sped up her strikes and he couldn’t keep up with her. Then it was over.
Just like the last times Gabrielle had fought, she was led to the weapons rack, where she placed her sais. Just like the last times, she was led back up to her cell. And just like the last times, she threw up. Fighting with a partner hadn’t made it any easier on her. The only thing that had changed was that in the fight, she had been paired with a psycho.
A week after Gabrielle’s first team fight with Callisto, Xena, Amarice, and Solan were finally riding back into Amphipolis. The whole ride back had been filled with an uncomfortable silence. Solan was still angry at Xena, who was still angry at Amarice, who was still feeling bad for announcing that Xena was Solan’s mother. Also, any conversation that she attempted with the younger boy, even teasing, was met with uncharacteristic politeness that she wasn’t used to from him.
Even though they didn’t mention it, Cyrene and Nexa could feel the tension radiating off of the three travelers. After allowing the afternoon to rest from their travels, Cyrene made the decision to find out what had happened, and that meant going to her daughter. Which meant at least an hour of standing outside of Xena’s bedroom with Nexa beside her as she tried to work up the nerve to go into her moody daughter’s room.
“We go in?” Nexa asked, looking up at Cyrene curiously. The innkeeper returned the little girl’s gaze before nodding her head.
“Yes. We’re going in,” she sighed before using her key to unlock Xena’s room and opening the door. What she found was Xena laying on her bed and staring up at her ceiling. The sight reminded her of when her daughter was just a girl. She would often find her up in her room, staring at the ceiling whenever she felt lost, or angry, or depressed. Needless to say, her daughter ended up spending a lot of time in her room when she was in child. Cyrene wouldn’t be surprised if she knew how many pieces of straw made up her ceiling.
“What is it, mother?” her daughter asked, keeping the emotion out of her voice. Cyrene blinked, having been lost in her memories.
“I could ask you the same question,” she remarked as she stepped into her daughter’s room and shut the door after Nexa followed her. The little girl immediately ran to Xena’s bed and climbed up, quickly nestling herself close to the dark warrior.
“You’re the mother that knows everything, so you tell me what’s going on,” Xena reminded her as she subconsciously wrapped her arm around the girl that had joined her on the bed. She sighed before shaking her head. “I really screwed up, mom.” Cyrene could hear the effort it took her daughter to keep her voice level, and it even cracked at the end of the sentence.
“I’m sure you didn’t screw up, honey. Just tell me what happened,” she encouraged the distressed girl as she walked over and took a seat on the edge of the bed. Xena huffed in annoyance as her mother began stroking her head, but she didn’t pull away from her touch.
“Amarice loves Solan; Solan hates me; and I practically killed my best friend,” she explained. Cyrene’s eyebrow rose at these statements as she watched over her daughter.
“I think you may need to explain a little bit more, Xena.”
“Solan found out that I was his mother because Amarice blurted it out while proclaiming her love for him; and now he hates me for not telling him and letting him believe his mother was dead for the last fourteen years,” she added on; and despite the pain that Cyrene could see in her daughter’s eyes, Xena wouldn’t allow herself to cry over what she had just told her mother.
“Go on...” Cyrene gently encouraged her, trying to get her to talk about the last thing she had mentioned.
“Mom, Gabrielle is dead. I didn’t visit her like I told her I would, and she’s dead because of it,” she finally explained, the tears beginning to form in her eyes. Cyrene was about to say something else, but when Xena mentioned Gabrielle’s name, Nexa spoke before she could.
“Momma’s not gone,” the small girl said simply, looking up sincerely at Xena, who, in turn, looked at her mother in question. Cyrene shrugged, indicating that she had no idea what the girl was talking about.
“Nexa, we’re not talking about your momma. We’re talking about a friend of Xena’s,” Cyrene explained gently. The little girl was having none of it, though. How dare they try to tell her that her momma was gone!
“No! My Momma is Gab’yell! She tells stoy’s about Xena!” she insisted, looking into eyes as blue as hers.
“Nexa... what happened to your Momma?” the warrior asked, now extremely interested in what the girl had to say.
“She told me she loved me and that she had to go. Momma gave me to the nice lady and asked her to take me to you. You found me and I went with you, just like she wanted,” she said. “Momma’s alive. I feel it.”
Xena looked up at her own mother in disbelief. They had been holding onto Gabrielle’s child for the past three weeks, and according to her, Gabrielle was still alive. Xena’s mind was telling her that it was just the hopeful wishing of a three-year-old, but the feeling in her gut was telling her that Nexa was right. Gabrielle really was alive. Now, she just had to find her.