Gabrielle stared down at the body of her dead husband as Nexa's screams filled the house. She couldn't believe she had killed Perdicas. She had repeatedly stabbed him until she felt the life force drain out of his body. She hadn't even wanted to kill him. She just wanted to leave. Then he had grabbed Nexa.
The former bard had never felt so angry in her life. She had been angry enough to kill someone. Not just anyone, either; but someone she had known since she was a child; and someone she was married to. She hoped she was never that angry again.
Finally, Nexa's cries penetrated her hazy, guilt-ridden mind. She looked down at the little girl on the floor that was crawling towards the shorn blonde locks of hair that covered the floor. The loose strands of hair were picked up by the crying child and the familiar feeling between her fingers seemed to calm her down. It was while she was admiring her daughter that Gabrielle noticed how close Nexa was to the blood that was pooling on the floor.
"Come to Mama, Nexa." Gabrielle cooed as she bent over and lifted her daughter up with her good arm. Nexa almost immediately began searching Gabrielle's face for her mother, almost unable to recognize the bloody woman holding her.
"Mama getted a booboo?" Nexa asked, pointing to Gabrielle's bleeding shoulder. The blonde looked over at the indicated wound and then back at Nexa.
"Yes, Mama got a booboo." she responded to the familiar question. "Let's go get Mama's booboos fixed." she suggested to the little girl. Nexa nodded in agreement. Her mama got booboos a lot when her Daddy was home. She hoped they didn't hurt too much.
Gabrielle shifted Nexa's weight in her good arm before heading towards the door that led out into the night. She almost left the body of the dead man in the house without doing anything to the body. At the last moment, though, she placed three coins in his hand and closed the stiff digits. She wouldn't allow her worst enemy to wander the underworld because they couldn't pay Charon's fare to get across the River Styx. Deep down, she also wanted to make sure Perdicas made it to Tartarus, where he belonged. After paying his fare for him, Gabrielle left the dead man behind in the house, already blocking out what she had done from her mind.
The blonde was grateful for the cover of night as she walked down the path that ran through the town. She barely knew where she was going, her mind was in so much turmoil. Luckily, her body knew what she needed, and halfway through town she realized she was heading towards Rosaline's home. She only hoped the healer was still awake.
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The pounding at her door woke the healer from her deep sleep. As she sleepily climbed out of her warm bed, she couldn't help but wonder who had the nerve to wake her up in the middle of the night.
"I'm coming! Have some patience!" she yelled as she made her way through her home. After lighting a candle, she walked to the door and opened it. What she found standing outside she could have never expected. "Gabrielle? By the Gods, is that you?" she asked, stepping outside into the dark night.
"Rosaline... I need help." Gabrielle said, shifting uneasily as she held Nexa.
"I would say so. Get in here and I'll take a look at you." Rosaline ushered the blonde and her child inside. She watched as Gabrielle gingerly set Nexa down and turned away from her.
"Mama getted a booboo." Nexa told the healer, pointing up at her mother. Rosaline looked over and saw Gabrielle holding her shoulder. It seemed that her friend did indeed 'getted a booboo'.
"Gabrielle, what happened?" she asked as she took a step toward the former bard. The blonde retreated a step, leaving Rosaline's sight.
"I'm not ready to talk about it yet. I just need you to help me with something." Gabrielle told her. Rosaline was quiet for a moment before nodding her head.
"Just let me get a fire in the hearth and I'll see what I can do." she assured her young friend before going over to the fireplace and starting her task. "Alright, come over here where I can see." she ordered Gabrielle once she had the fire going. The blonde hesitantly stepped forward into the light, where the young healer could get a good look at her. She found her friend covered in blood, some running from her shoulder and some covering the front of her blouse and skirt. "Gabrielle, what happened?!"
"Please, Rosaline. I'll tell you later. I really need your help right now." Gabrielle told her, her voice cracking as she looked at the healer with pleading eyes. Rosaline sighed and then went to retrieve a chair for Gabrielle to sit in. When she came back, she motioned for the young woman to sit down. "I'll never be able to pay you back for everything you've done." the blonde said with a sigh as she took a seat in the firelight.
"Shush. You don't even worry about paying me back. I won't accept anything you give me." Rosaline chastised her as she ripped the blouse around the wounded shoulder. "By the Gods, Gabrielle!" the healer gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth.
"Perdicas came home from the town meeting." Gabrielle explained as she turned her head away from her friend. "Rosaline, he knew I was going to leave tomorrow. He tried to stop me."
"Gabrielle, I swear I didn't tell him!"
"I didn't think you did. I know you wouldn't betray me." Gabrielle said as she watched Rosaline leave the room. When she came back with a bowl and a rag, the blonde continued her story. "I told him that I wasn't going to stay with him anymore. When I tried to leave though, he followed after me. I guess I had just been hoping he would listen and let me go..." Gabrielle sighed as she looked over at Rosaline, who was washing the blood away from the wound so she could get a better look at it. "He must have grabbed one of the knives from the kitchen because the next thing I knew, there was a knife handle sticking out of my shoulder."
"I can see that. Gabrielle, I don't know if I'll be able to fix this. It looks like someone tried to tear your muscles out!" Gabrielle flinched as Rosaline cleaned the wound out before trying to explain.
"That would be me." The cleaning stopped and the young healer looked over at her. "He grabbed me by the hair. I needed to get free, so I cut it off. In order to do that, I needed the knife." she explained.
"Yeah, I was wondering about the new haircut." Rosaline joked, trying to lighten the mood. Gabrielle gave her a half-hearted smile before turning her gaze back to the fire.
"I... I don't know what happened after that. The last thing I remember is him grabbing Nexa and trying to use her against me. The next thing I knew, his dead body was on the floor." Tears were threatening to overcome the blonde now. "I... I killed him, Rosaline. I've never killed anyone before." Gabrielle choked out the words before the tears started to fall.
"Oh Gabrielle... I don't feel the least bit awful when I tell you he deserved it. He was draining everything out of you, like a poison." Rosaline told her. Seeing that her friend didn't want to listen to her, she stopped cleaning out the wound and took Gabrielle's chin in her hands. "Listen to me. If you hadn't done it, he would have killed you eventually. Then where would your daughter be?" she asked. "You did everything you could to protect her. That's what any good mother would do."
"I guess you're right..." Gabrielle said with a sigh before looking back at the fire. "I just wish it hadn't happened at all. I wish I knew how he found out in the first place... I wish I had a plan for what to do now."
"I'm sure you'll think of something, Gabrielle. I'll be here to help you if you need it." Rosaline assured her with a smile. "Now hold still. I need to sew this up as best I can."
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As the flames took away the body of the beloved centaur, Xena stood there holding a quietly crying Solan. As she watched the smoke rise, she sang a song honoring Kaleipus' memory. He had been a great opponent and an even better ally. He at least deserved this much from her, even if they didn't agree very often.
"Xena, are we really leaving tomorrow?" Solan asked her once she finished the song and the fire burned away, leaving the village in darkness as they walked back to the hut. Xena looked down at her son, waiting for an explanation. "I just don't think I can handle staying any longer, knowing that Kaleipus won't be around anymore." he sighed.
"If you really want to, we can leave bright and early tomorrow." she assured him. "Now, go get into bed. I need to go find Amarice." The blonde boy nodded before running off to Kaleipus' hut, leaving Xena to find the Amazon. 'If I were an Amazon, where would I go?' she wondered as she looked around the village. She smirked when she spotted the hut that also served as a tavern. 'I'd bet anything that she's in there.' she thought as she began heading for the hut.
When she entered the hut, Xena immediately began scanning the room for her traveling companion. A small smile came to her face when she found Amarice, but she quickly rid herself of it before approaching the other warrior.
"I thought I would find you in here." she said as she took a seat. The young Amazon glanced her way before turning back to the drink she had in her hand.
"Yeah, what do you want?" Amarice asked bitterly. "Come to send me packing yourself?"
"Send you packing? Amarice, I came to... what's the word for that thing people do when they've done something wrong?"
"Apologize?" the Amazon supplied.
"Yeah... that." Xena sighed. She was so bad at this. "Look, I probably shouldn't have become angry with you. You're entitled to your own opinion of how my relationship with Gabrielle was." she said. "But you should know the facts. I didn't always take care of her. She grew up and began taking care of herself."
"Grew up and got married, you mean." Amarice muttered. Xena felt her jaw clench but she kept her anger in check.
"Is that what this is all about?" she asked, turning the Amazon's head towards her. "Because if it is, let me tell you something. There are things that I couldn't give Gabrielle, and I knew that from the start. I even tried to get rid of her in the beginning so that she could have those things." Xena told Amarice. 'It's not her fault that she chose to leave when I was beginning to realize that I loved her.' she added on silently as she watched Amarice think it over.
"But she abandoned you, Xena, and the Amazons. And from what you say, she left for someone she never really cared about in the first place! How can you just forgive her for that?" Xena mentally sighed again. This was turning out to be harder than she thought.
"Amarice, you can't be angry at someone just because they want to have a family. For wanting to raise a child." she explained. "I may have many skills, but I admit that creating a baby inside of another person is not one of them." This got a smirk out of Amarice.
"I'm sure you could find a way." Xena chuckled and patted the young Amazon on the shoulder.
"That, my friend, might take a while." she said. "Now come on. Solan wants to know if you still want to travel with us."
"You mean he's coming?" Amarice asked as she stood up from the table. She wasn't sure if she liked the idea of a kid coming with them.
"Only until Amphipolis. I'm thinking of leaving him with my mother. There's a lot he could learn from the traveling bards that stop by at night." Xena explained as she too rose from the table. "Although, this does mean we'll be visiting my hometown more often. Do you have a problem with that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. I think I might be able to handle it." Amarice said with a small smile. Xena laughed quietly before leading her out the door of the drinking hut.
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"So do you know where you're going to go now?" Rosaline asked quietly as they sat cross-legged around fireplace. Gabrielle shrugged with her good shoulder.
"I don't know... Amphipolis sounds good." she replied. 'Amphipolis sounds very good.' she admitted to herself as she thought of Xena.
"Isn't that where your warrior friend is from?" the healer asked. When Gabrielle nodded, Rosaline squealed with delight. "If you weren't hurt right now, I'd hug you! Gabrielle, this means you can finally see Xena again!" The former bard sighed and shook her head.
"One track mind, aren't you?" she joked, although she admitted to herself that that's the track her mind was always on, as well. Even if she was no longer the same Gabrielle that Xena used to know, she still couldn't wait to see her warrior. Although, deep down, there was this feeling of anger towards her old friend. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Gabrielle was angry at the woman for letting her make the biggest mistake of her life. She was angry at Xena for not loving her enough to object to her marriage.
"Gabrielle? Are you alright?" Rosaline asked. Gabrielle pulled herself out of her thoughts and looked at her friend. "You just kind of blanked out there for a moment."
"Sorry. I was thinking." she apologized with a sheepish smile. "Nexa, get away from there, Sweetie." she said, turning her attention to her daughter, who was now wobbling in the direction of the hearth. The little girl, hearing her name, turned towards her mother and smiled before shakily walking over to her. "That's a good girl." Gabrielle cooed as she put the girl on her lap. She absent-mindedly began stroking the girl's soft dark-blonde hair. The two adults sat in silence as Nexa played with the soft fabric of the new robes her mother was wearing. A few minutes of silence went by before a series of soft noises reached Gabrielle's ears. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, signaling that something was wrong.
"They're coming." she whispered, now identifying the sound that she had heard. It had been the sounds of horse whinnies and wagons. Before Rosaline could ask what was going on, Gabrielle was moving Nexa to the floor and standing up.
"Gabrielle... Gabrielle, who's coming?" the healer asked as she stood up as well, bringing Nexa up with her.
"Rosaline, I have to go. Now. The townspeople... they're on their way here." she explained.
"How can you know that?"
"When you travel with Xena, you learn a few things. Like how to use your body to listen, not just your ears. Please, help me get ready to leave! If they find me, they're going to put me in prison! They'll take Nexa away and put her in some orphanage or put her with Perdicas' family!" Gabrielle told her, panic beginning to set in as she frantically looked for her things.
"They won't imprison you, Gabrielle. You were defending your daughter!" Rosaline assured her friend as she grabbed onto the blonde's shoulder with her free hand. Gabrielle whirled around and the look Rosaline received could have frozen a raging river during the dry season.
"Don't you tell me that! The last time I went for help in this town, I found out that Perdicas had friends. The judge is one of them. Do you really think these corrupt people are going to find me innocent? They'll make it look like murder!" Rosaline blinked. She had known that Perdicas had friends, but she hadn't been aware that the judge was one of them. "Please... help me, Rosaline." Gabrielle pleaded quietly, an almost defeated look in her eyes that rocked the healer to the core.
"Anything for you, my friend." she said, her voice filled with sincerity. The blonde gave her a small smile before turning away and looking for the garments that Rosaline had set out for her. After she found them, she shrugged out of the robe and changed as quickly as she could without jarring her shoulder even more. Once that was done, she hurried back over to Rosaline and tried to get through her next task.
"I need you to... I need you to take Nexa to Amphipolis." she said quietly. "There's a tavern there that belongs to a woman named Cyrene. Leave Nexa with her."
"Gabrielle, why-" Rosaline was cut off before she could finish.
"I'm going to take a different route. If they catch me, I don't want them to find Nexa. They'll take her to Perdicas' family if they get her. I don't know what his family is like and I don't want to risk them being anything like him." Gabrielle explained as best she could. "Rosaline, Cyrene is a kind woman. She'll raise Nexa right if I don't make it to Amphipolis." It was quiet for a moment as Rosaline comprehended what Gabrielle was saying. She didn't expect to make it to Amphipolis.
"I'll do it, Gabrielle, but I need to tell you one thing first: You're going to see your daughter again. You'll be the one to raise her." Gabrielle sniffled as tears started running down her cheeks.
"I hope that you're right, Rosaline." she said before shifting her attention to her daughter. "Hi there my big, strong, warrior." she greeted the little girl. Nexa giggled and reached a hand out to her mother's cheek, wiping away some of the tears.
"You wawwior too, Mama." Nexa said. Rosaline had to smile at the little girl's words.
'If only you knew, child... If only you knew.' she thought as she watched the good-byes between mother and daughter.
"Thank you, sweetie." Gabrielle said with a sad smile. "Now, Mama needs you to do something for her." she told the little girl in Rosaline's arms. "Mama needs you to go with the nice healer lady to go see a friend."
"Go see Xena?" Nexa asked curiously. Gabrielle nodded, trying not to wonder how Nexa knew that. "Yay! You come with us?"
"I can't come with you, sweetie." the blonde said regretfully. "I have to go away for a little while, but I'll see you again as soon as I can. And I'll think of you everyday." she promised. Nexa seemed to think this promise over before giving her mother a kiss on the nose.
"Okay. I be good, too." the little girl said, making a promise of her own. Gabrielle smiled, doubting that a child of hers could stay out of trouble for long.
"We have to go now, sweetie. I love you." she said before looking at Rosaline.
"Follow me." the healer said. She led the way to the back of the house, Nexa in one hand and a candle in the other. In the distance, Gabrielle could hear the sounds of the wagons drawing closer. She realized that she probably shouldn't have said such a long good-bye. "Out here." Rosaline said, opening a door that led outside. They quietly shut it behind them before running towards the shadows of another house. Once they were a little safer, Gabrielle turned to her friend.
"You take Nexa down the main road. It won't be as dangerous. I'll go through the woods. They'll be less likely to catch me, that way." she ordered the healer. Rosaline nodded before giving her small friend a one armed hug. Gabrielle quickly returned it. "I'll miss you, Rosaline." she said before taking off towards the forest, leaving Rosaline standing with Nexa in her arms.
"I'll miss you too, my friend." the healer whispered before making her way towards the town stables where she kept her horse. As she saddled and mounted the animal, Nexa in tow, she hoped her friend would be alright.
Giving a kiss to the child's forehead, Rosaline spurred the steed into action. Once they were out of the stables, she nudged the mare into a canter, and then a gallop. Soon, she was riding as fast she could safely go, leaving the corrupt town behind.
Unfortunately, Gabrielle wasn't so lucky.
The former bard had run as fast as she could through the forest, stumbling over roots and rocks as she went. One of the townspeople had spotted her as she broke into the woods though, and the mob had followed after her.
Gabrielle looked back in time to see the light from the torches gaining on her. She didn't see, however, the giant tree root that seemed to come up from out of the ground. As her foot caught on the protruding root and she fell, the ground came up faster than she expected it to and she didn't have time to put her hands out to break her fall.
Stars clouded her vision as she tried to get back up, but the pain in her shoulder, and now her face, made it an impossible feat. She laid there for a few moments, her mind telling her body to move but her limbs to tired to obey it. By the time she was able to force herself to get up, it was too late. A net was wrapping itself around her and the angry yells of the townspeople was filling her ears. Gabrielle fought with all she had until a blinding pain went through her shoulder. As she fell into oblivion, the last thing she heard was the angry chant coming from the villagers.
"Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!"