Part 5

Chapter 14

The Sacred Pool

"All right," Arri's voice directed them. "Down here. See the break in the wall where the water flows down?"

Once they were close to the wall they could hear the roar of water rushing down to another lower pool.

"Hmmm. That's not what I think it is, is it?" Gabrielle's voice didn't sound very happy.

"It's all right. No one drowns in the sacred pool." The small statue in her hand told her.

"It's not the ride down, or the water. It's being up here," Gabrielle muttered as she secured the statue under her belt, removing the small box that held the fan. She couldn't secure both under her belt. "Here, do you think you can hold onto this?" Gabrielle asked Xena.

Xena stood still for a moment, realizing she would be holding all three sacred items. She sighed and took the box, tucking it securely behind the girdle that no one seemed to notice she was wearing.

"This is cold!" Gabrielle told them both before she pushed off and let the current carry her down and around then down again. "Eeeeep!" She nearly choked on the water as she was pulled and dragged, as the current became stronger.

The small statue was letting out her own screams of glee. She hadn't had so much fun since her imprisonment in the small statue of her physical likeness.

"It's an exciting ride," Arri grinned at Xena before he settled himself in the cold water.

"You're going to be okay?"

"Oh, yea. It's the only thing that was worth staying in that filthy room for…besides sitting in the chair. I was riding down here almost every night and had one of the hostages meet me at the bottom to carry me up. That was before Yerik sealed the entrance. Well, have a nice ride down."

He let the current pull him down and on an exhilarating ride he was familiar with.

Xena was thinking about how lucky she was going to be if her sword and armor didn't rust with all this water she had been in lately. Xena's eyes opened wide as she was whisked away into the darkness, from one side to another, down and then suddenly she was dropped with just her tailbone barely touching the smoothed rock surface the water coursed down.

She arrived at a small pool that the underwater slide dropped her into with a big splash. There were some torches lit so she easily spotted Gabrielle helping Arri to his feet.

"Ya know…that alone could bring people from far and wide to experience!" Xena told the two breathlessly.

Arri's yellow eyes brightened.

"She's over there in one of the holes," Arri gestured.

"Gabrielle why don't you wait here with him. I'll take a look and see if we can…."

Her eyes caught the patterns of designs on the walls all around them. She turned around noting that they were everywhere.

"This is the sacred heart of the cavern," Arri informed her.

"I saw this…or…something like this…in my dreams." Gabrielle informed the two in awe. She left Arri sitting on a rock and approached stairs that led upward. There on the walls were the designs she had dreamed of. Seven of them. Two were smeared…just like in her dream.

Xena left Gabrielle to study the designs while she went to look for the priestess.

"Aerope?" she called softly down the first well.

"Over here," a tired voice called up to her faintly.

Xena moved carefully past two dark holes in the ground and leaned down the third. "How far down are you?"

"You'll need a rope."

"We don't have one." Xena studied the sides of the well. She could brace herself and climb down…but her suspicion as to why the priestess couldn't get out gave her pause.

"I'm chained down here. Do you have a key?" The priestess seemed to read her mind.

"It's over there on the wall," Arri gestured to the stairs when Xena repeated the question. Gabrielle was standing near the bottom of the stairs with her head cocked as if remembering something.

"Gabrielle, can you toss over those keys?"

Gabrielle walked over to the side of the wall where a collection of old keys were hanging. One lone key was set aside from the others. She reached for it without hesitation and tossed it back to Xena.

"Thanks." Xena paused and watched Gabrielle as she turned her attention back to the marks on the wall.

Must be something she's seen in her dreams, Xena thought, remembering Agnes' words. .

"It's the runes. They are Yerik's making. He learned some things from an old shaman's book. Those designs keep the priestess in here. Even if you should free her…she would not be able to leave as long as those symbols aren't changed." Arri explained.

"Yeah?" Xena asked sarcastically, "How bout if we hit her on the head and carried her out?"

Gabrielle had moved toward the drawings remembering in her dream that she had accidentally smeared them. Cautiously she ran a finger through one of the lines of one of the ones she had not touched in her dream. Nothing happened.

"Gabrielle!" Xena's voice startled her and in turning she lost her balance on the uneven floor and put her hand out…just as in her dream. Her right palm ended up in the center of one of the patterns and the shaking of the ground beneath them told her that she may have disrupted something.

As she removed her palm the lines in the design were askew and broken. She turned toward Arri. "Just what is this doing?"

"Well, for starters…you've broken the power of that drawing. I don't know how you were able to do that…try the others. It looks like there are now three broken."

While Gabrielle was moving to the other design Xena tucked the key in her leathered bodice as she felt an urgency to get out of where they were, and start her climb down into the dark well. Whatever Gabrielle was doing, or maybe it was just the buildup of the energy for the last few days, but the earth was trembling more and it made climbing down the wall difficult, though not impossible.

"It took you long enough," an old dry voice sounded close below her. Xena dropped the rest of the way noting where the voice was. There was no light to guide her so she merely grasped the frail figure whose hands gripped hers. Xena felt in the darkness for the chains and found only one around a bony ankle. She unlocked the anklet and proceeded to untie the girdle she had around her. "Here, can you hold this?" She gave the box to the old woman whose hand she could feel shaking as she took the box and tucked it between both of them as Xena hoisted the frail figure onto her back and tied the girdle around both of them.

"Are you alright back there? I don't want to lose you after all this effort to get down here."

"You do what you need to do, but do it now," the voice wheezed. She feel her rescuer's chuckles vibrate in her body. "You must be the dark wielder of the light."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just an old mind wandering. Just you keep moving out of here. We haven't much time. I can feel something happening all around us." The old voice warned.

Xena felt along the wall for the tiny bits of unevenness or places that would give her enough room for a grip or room to place her toes. As Xena began the climb up she could feel the walls vibrate with increasingly small shakes. The movements had their own mixed blessing as rocks stuck out more but the disadvantage was occasionally Xena lost her grip and was left dangling with only one hand gripping an out cropping with feet looking for somewhere to anchor.

"Next time carry rope, Xena," she muttered to herself as she felt another tremor shake the dark hole they were in. Once again she felt around frantically for grips for one hand that was loosen and two dangling feet, as the old priestess's breath stopped for a moment behind her right ear. If not the breathing, Xena would not have known she was carrying someone.

After the tremor stopped Xena continued on. "How are you doing back there?" she asked as she pulled herself up another elbow length.

"Hmm. I'm having a great time here," the voice chuckled.

"Great to hear," Xena' grunted as she moved a little to redistribute her weight. Her fingers found a small hole that would be ideal for her foot to also use. As she shifted to get a firmer hold she felt a string then a bag.

This was getting too…weird.

"That's the stone. You'll be need'n that, yes," the old voice chortled. "I hid it right under their noses."

Xena withdrew her fingers and tucked the small pouch in her bodice. She was beginning to feel rather smug that she was carrying everything Gabrielle would be needing for this ceremony. All she had to do now was discuss it with her since they hadn't had time to talk about this part...but that was going to have to wait until after she got out of the well.

The hairs at the nape of her neck rose accompanied by the familiar dark energy that tickled her body. At one time the owner of the energy was tolerated and sometimes welcomed, but always kept at arm's length and controlled by her knowing that this distance was where her power over him laid. Otherwise, she would have been like all his other toys, easily discarded as he used up their energy and found another younger challenge to corrupt. Now he was not just annoying but unwelcomed in her life.

"Of all the times for him to show up," she muttered darkly under her breath.

The light weight on her back shifted slightly. "Hmmm. I feel it. Who'se that?" The priestess asked in a hoarse voice, that was barely a whisper.

Xena didn't answer, but gritted her teeth as she continued to pull them further up the dark well wall, dreading what was going to be at the top when she reached it.

As Xena's hand reached over the rim of the well a booted foot stepped onto her hand, not crushing it, but with enough pressure to be uncomfortable.

"Ares, get your dirty boot off my hand!" Xena didn't speak very loud but the threat was there, and she knew the god would not only be able to hear her but also pick up the dark thoughts she was directing at him if he had hurt Gabrielle.

When he did not immediately lift his boot, Xena quickly twisted her strong wrist, grabbing the god's ankle and using it to pull herself and her burden over the rim. The motion was in a blur and would have impressed a group of mortals, but Ares was used to her quickness and lack of intimidation of him, which was what gave him shivers of excitement.

Xena calmly undid the girdle that was wrapped about her and the priestess without looking at Ares, catching the frail figure behind her as she let her slide from her position on her back. Xena's eyes had quickly scanned the low-lit interior of the cave and noted a group of slumped forms near the gray stairway. Deliberately she turned her back on Ares as she gently moved the unconscious priestess away from the edge of the well. Her eyes did not miss anything that was behind her.

So, this is unofficial business, she surmised curling her lips in a silent snarl, and in someone else's temple, yet. Nine someone else's.

"What brings you into the bowls of the earth…in the Muses Temple, no less, huh, Ares?" Her voice was even but there was an undisguised touch of impatience. His being here told her that whatever had prevented the other goddesses from entering the cave was removed, and Ares was looking for something his sisters didn't know about.

"Xena, Xena." His sigh was dramatic and predictable. "Can't I pay one of my once favorite warlords a visit now and then? A check up to see how you're doing?"

"Knock off the small talk, Ares. You're not good at it," Xena snapped. She could feel the ground beneath her continue to tremble. She couldn't help but feel they were a prelude to something bigger, and they were not in a good place for this. She wrapped the girdle around her and picked up the fan box, tucking it in the girdle close to her body.

"Feeling a bit shaky there, huh Xena?"

"Get to the point, Ares!"

"Xena, sometimes your impatience…"

A strong shake had Xena turning to grab the priestess just in case her unconscious form would roll back into the well. She didn't trust Ares. She lifted the priestess in her arms and walked passed Ares, towards where the other bodies were laying as if frozen in sleep. Her intention was to see how Gabrielle was and to see who else was there.

She was quick to notice that Arri was nowhere to be seen. Gently she laid the priestess next to Gabrielle's sleeping form. She paused for a moment studying the Bard whose pose was that of someone sleeping peacefully as she was partially curled up with her head resting on a bent arm.

Xena turned to face Ares. The god was standing in a typical pose, one arm held across his chest and the other bent stroking his bearded chin letting his dark eyes openly roam her body with an undisguised look of lust. Usually it took her temper or rage to get that look in his eyes. She frowned as her suspicions mounted at his appearance where he would not normally appear. Is this about Penthesileia? Xena asked, knowing Ares could hear.

He merely pursed his lips and seemed to be thinking of what to say next.

She turned and glanced up at the stairwell then studied the smeared wall paintings. She recognized parts of the designs that were smeared from the shaman Atri's work. They shouldn't be smeared. They needed to be neatly altered. Some of the designs looked familiar.

Now what do they represent?

"Well…have you figured it out yet, Princess?" Ares had moved behind her letting his finger pull back the hair from her shoulders. Xena impatiently flicked the hair out of his reach.

"If you have something to say…say it!" Xena turned around and grabbed him around the throat, shaking him and then releasing him while pushing him back.

Time is important here. Time. The designs had something to do with time. She felt it in her connection with him.

"Xeeena!" he growled stepping back from the force of her push with a raised eyebrow. "I love it when you play rough."

Xena ignored him, and then quickly placed her hands on the side the cave wall when the rolling under her feet started again.

Is he trying to keep me here?

Xena leaned down and hoisted Gabrielle onto one shoulder then lifted the priestess's feather light form onto her other.

"What's your hurry? Xena! Hey, I'm not finished here. Don't you want to hear what this is all about?"

Xena felt a weak pull from Ares' but she leaned forward and let her two burdens help her resist the pull backward. She didn't know what was going on…she knew that was Ares…he's the only one that put out that type of energy she felt when he was near…why is he trying to keep me down here?…and why isn't he using his power to keep me in the cave? Does his lack of power have anything to do with those drawings? Is he here to make sure his daughter's spirit is released? If so, why the games? Time. Those designs represent time. Forward and backward. So what do the gods have to fear about that? Their comfortable and boring lives?

Once at the top of the stairs Xena leaned against the entrance peering out startled, not sure what she was seeing. Before her was a desolate landscape…flat, gray, no vegetation, no rocks, hills or life. She shifted her shoulders under the weight she carried, then realized she lost Gabrielle…and the priestess!

"Blasted god's business," she muttered as she turned back to reenter the cave to find Gabrielle…and the priestess. Why was it so difficult to remember the priestess?

Maybe because she is so light….

"Are you implying I weigh a lot?" An angry Bard stood before her, hands on hips, cloth pouch with her writing materials slung behind her. "Well? Don't I deserve some sort of response?" The hem of her long tan dress was dirty and beads of sweat were across her forehead and running along her upper lip as if she had just been running.

Xena's eyes blinked at the sudden change around her and feeling uncomfortable with the presence of the angry bard that stood before her. What is going on here? Looking around her quickly her blue eyes squinted as she caught sight of a familiar figure standing between two buildings, watching her. Xena started to move towards the figure when a hand on her leathered wrist stopped her.

"I am talking to you and you just ignore me like I'm some sort of…insignificant person…" The young Bard's voice sounded angry and hurt.

Xena tore her eyes away from the figure that disappeared between the two buildings.

"Gabrielle…can't we continue this conversation at a later time? There's someone over there I gotta go see." She moved her eyes quickly back to the Bard as the fingers released their hold on her wrist. Xena paused, as she became aware of the familiarity of this scene and the consequences of the decisions she had made in the past.

What would happen if I did it differently? The next day when she had found a heartbroken Gabrielle she had told her that if she could do it differently she would have…yet, she also remembered with great clarity her promise to herself not to change anything in the past if she ever got the chance again. The first and last time she did have that chance, in the Temple of the Fates, was very sharp in her memory.

Suddenly Xena became angry…at whoever or whatever was messing with the timeline of Fates.

Ares!

Xena grabbed the Bard's arm and turned around to where the cave entrance had been…she ignored the struggling as she pulled her a few more steps down the street.

Ares! I know you can hear me! Get your tight leathered ass here!

The scenery didn't change a bit, as she finally listened to Gabrielle's demands to let her wrist go. Xena released her grip, and continued her walk down the street looking for the stable where she had stabled Argo.

A surprised Gabrielle suddenly found her forward motion stopped and before she could regain her own balance she fell into the dust, face first.

Astonished Gabrielle looked around her before getting up and dusting herself off. What is going on here? The last I remember, I changed the fourth symbol where we were in a cave trying to free the priestess.

She looked up the road and saw the familiar backside of her leather and armor clad friend, stalking her way toward the stables. Gabrielle looked around trying to place where they were. Arcidava. Small town, two inns, one definitely not safe, one slow and willing to take on a story teller, which in one evening, paid two days of meals and a room. What else is there about this town? Here her memory supplied her with a painful incident in an early stage of her relationship with the Warrior Princess.

Gabrielle dusted her long skirt off and pulled her long hair into some type of order, then quickly walked after the retreating form of the truculent exWarlord. She could feel herself getting angry at being treated as either a young kid or as a nonperson. The least she could do was say yes or no, if long conversations were beyond her skill level, she grumbled miserably.

Gabrielle neared the barn where she knew Xena would be. She spends a considerable amount of time with Argo, which if she were a guy...Gabrielle shook her head blushing at where her anger was taking her in thoughts.

"Aphrodite's charms run amuck!" she muttered disgustedly. I'm getting as bad as those soldiers in Pgisi's Tavern. Better keep that impudent mouth in your tongue. Gabrielle shook her head. Hades in a horseless chariot…I mean…tongue in your mouth, Gabrielle…the thoughts that image conjured up had her coming to an abrupt stop in front of the barn door. Best just to keep still for a moment here…get yourself together…She was standing in front of the barn door.

This was where she…found Xena in…she took a deep breath. She remembered the pain she had felt when she walked in unannounced into this very barn the last time. But…we weren't lovers then. It still hurt…to say nothing about being embarrassed. She paused. Xena had kept telling her she had some personal business to attend to and Gabrielle should wait in their room, or entertain the customers with her tales. It was the type of interest Xena was paying the soldier she had been drinking with. She took another deep breath to quiet her pounding heart. Xena had told her if she could, she would have done it differently, but…that same year they both learned that changing situations in the past opened up other possibilities that were equally, if not more painful.

So, do I walk in and go through the drama again…or…Gabrielle looked at her hands that were clutched in front of her…do I turn around and go back to our room? She would be changing the future if she didn't go in. What good came out of my seeing Xena with a man? She shuddered with fear, jealousy and…need. Wanting to be the one who was on her back…with Xena above her, thrusting and panting and her hips rising to meet each push …Gabrielle shook her head as a tear rolled down her cheek.

This is in the past. What is the point here? For a moment she stilled her battling emotions …if I don't go in…it will change the present…okay…you already know what you're going to see…it shouldn't be so difficult…wait a moment here! What am I doing in the past? Xena!

"Xena!" She called as she opened the door to the barn. "Xena!…" she held her breath as she saw the two shadowed forms moving further into one of the stalls. This wasn't the way she remembered it…she looked at the door to the barn…she hadn't entered this way because it had been barred from the inside…she turned back around and closed the large door looking for the smaller one she had entered.

Argo was out in the paddock milling around with a few other horses that were moving to the wooden boxes alongside of the fence that had fresh hay in them. Gabrielle stopped for a moment. Was Argo outside? Xena had been brushing her in the stall. She knew that because she had found the curry brush lying on her boots next to her scabbard. Xena never was far from her weapons…that's when she heard…

She peered into the darkened interior of the barn, now seen from another direction…Do I want to continue with this? Do I want to risk changing the present, she asked herself firmly. No. Just get this over with and find them where you know they are going to be and stop getting distracted with the differences of how I remembered it to have happened. Then…maybe I can figure out what is happening here.

Gabrielle pursed her lips into a grim line and marched up the row of stalls to the one she knew she would find. Xena reacquainting herself with an old…buddy. The anger started to boil through her veins again, a jealously that set her mouth and face in hard lines.

"Well…you certainly haven't changed much Xena." A rough voice could be heard in one of the stalls. Gabrielle slowed her steps breathing hard and finding her resolution to keep going melting.

"Well," a low throaty voice replied, "Gades, you certainly haven't. Looks like you and your partner here are looking real healthy…"

Gabrielle closed her eyes at the groan that came from Gades' throat that turned into a deep growl and then panting.

Gabrielle needed to keep going…she needed to be the naïve…bungling kid…she had been at that time…and walk right into the stall…

The grunting was from two people now. She had to move forward. She didn't want Xena to be pleasured by Gades…she had to keep going…was I all that naïve? Surely I knew what the noise was about…I knew Xena was in the barn…had I purposely acted dumb to stop what I didn't want to happen. I knew Xena had to take care of her warrior's lust… but…why couldn't her sword practice or jumping in a cold river suffice?

She could now see the hairier legs of Gades…the grunts were becoming more urgent. "Xena! Are you in here?" she shouted louder than she needed to.

She heard different noises in the stall as she moved closer, a smile curling on her lips as she knew she had interrupted them.

She heard a muffled curse and Xena's voice telling him to shut up. Then she heard Xena clear her throat. "Gabrielle, go on to our rooms. I'll be there in a bit."

Stubbornly…she had to finish it…she rounded the corner…she stopped.

Blood left her face for a moment…as she took the scene in she felt her face suddenly flush with the on rush of embarrassment…and a twisted smile that she had been able to go through with it…again.

Xena hurriedly pushed her partner off her roughly.

"Hey!" The guy tried to grab Xena but she punched him somewhere that was enough to silence him.

"Gabrielle, I told you…" she growled in anger, her blue eyes bright slits in the shadowed stall.

Gabrielle couldn't help it…she stood rooted where she was…she couldn't see Gades for he was slumped on the floor…but Xena was standing without anything on, breasts free with a small red mark on one of them, and with her black patch of wet hairs showing…her long muscular legs that were trembling …why were they trembling?

Desire crept up Gabrielle's shaking form as she silently felt her own want and need cresting…a low keening started in her throat…she hadn't noticed that then…and a rush of wetness coating her underpants.

Xena grabbed Gabrielle's arm pulling her out of the stall. Gabrielle's arm brushed against Xena's nipple as she tried to pull her arm from the strong grip. It gave her a shiver followed by a hot release of more fluid that coated her inner thighs.

"I told you I had some business…personal business…" she shook Gabrielle's arm.

Gabrielle looked up into Xena's eyes expecting to find the cold stare but she was surprised …there was sorrow there…and…tenderness…

"Gabrielle…go back to our room. Wait for me there…please…We need to talk about …privacy and…other things." She had told her quietly in a low voice. Then she pushed her firmly toward the door she had come in.

Just like in the past…Gabrielle cried on the way back to their room…why? Because for some reason…her heart was actually breaking…she wanted Xena…for herself.

She shook her head over her folded hands on the table that was in their room. She was composed now. She knew Xena would come and look for her…she had done that in the past…she needed to pack her things…not much to pack…leave her a note…she sighed. Even knowing that Xena and her had become lovers…it still hurt.

Why are we going through this again? This is the past? Arri…the cavern…Xena was rescuing the priestess…a flash of light…and now we're here. Reliving a painful past.

Gabrielle found herself standing under a tree…the tree Xena found her under…crying. She didn't remember the walk here.

She was tired. She dropped her bag under the tree and leaned up against the trunk, closing her eyes and taking comfort in its firmness behind her. Then the tears started to flow again. The ache hurt just as she remembered it.

***

Xena reluctantly headed for the barn…she wanted to get this awkward situation over with. She had met Gades one of her soldiers from her warlord days. One of the few she actually took a liking to in more than one way. They started to renew their…more heated type of relationship in the inn over a few mugs of beer while Gabrielle did her thing and told stories to a growing crowd. Xena intended to get the business with Gades out of the way before Gabrielle finished her stories, but Gades talked her into more mugs of ale than she had in a long time …then Gabrielle appeared next to her. That proved to be awkward. It hadn't helped when she felt a desire for Gabrielle rushing through her. She dispatched the annoyed Gades to get a private place ready and she would meet him…as soon as she got rid of Gabrielle. Xena had some battle lust to discharge and it was making her cranky…to say the least. She hadn't been with anyone for a while and Gades happened by at just the right time… then there was Gabrielle.

If she wasn't so naïve…really just a kid…Xena would have thought she was acting like a jealous lover. She tried to interfere and stick to Xena's side no matter what Xena told her as Xena tried to meet Gades for their private encounter.

This is the past, she reminded herself. Now that she knew what Gabrielle's feelings were …was she really as naïve as she thought? Xena pursed her lips as she entered the barn through the main door, and turned to latch the front door.

"It's been a long time, Warrior Princess." A low male voice, full of lust, growled near her.

She turned to face Gades. "Hmm. It has been. You still the stud you were back then?" She asked gripping his leathered shoulder and pulling him closer to her while grabbing him between the legs and biting his lip. She suppressed her repulsion at the feel of his rough bearded face on her tongue.

"Hades balls, Xena!" Gades shivered. "You always gotta lead?"

"That's the way, Gades. I seem to remember…that's the way you liked it too."

"I didn't have much choice then…but you do have a way with c'ha." He growled in a low voice. If Xena didn't have his swollen throbbing manhood in her hand the tone of his voice would have told her the man was ready to beg for release. It was a power thing with her and she felt her heart beat increase and her fluids flow at the anticipation of what was to come.

Xena pushed down the guilt of knowing this was past and things had changed… considerably… in order to let the lust she had been feeling at the time take rein. They moved toward the back of the barn where, near Argo's stall she removed her boots noticing that one of the stalls was freshly cleaned out with a few blankets thrown over the fresh cover of hay. Gades smiled in the shadows.

"Nice and private." He advanced toward her pulling her in for a rough kiss. She opened her mouth to him biting his lips then sucking his tongue, while pushing him into the back of the stall and onto the blankets…

They were past the getting reacquainted and exploration stage when she heard Gabrielle call for her. Had she heard her in the past also, over their heavy breathing?

She had told her to leave her be, gave her, rather bluntly, the reason why she needed to let off some of this energy. She needed to get this out of her system. She reached down and squeezed Gades' balls to make him work harder, and he did increase his rhythm with a sound that was between a growl and a howl. She groaned at the fullness of his cock inside her and the fire it nourished. She liked the feel of the penetration. She blocked out the present memories of Gabrielle and how they pleasured each other. This is the past…this is the past. She needed to get this over with…what in Aphrodite's cloud of lust was all this for? What is the point?

She grunted and groaned as she felt her body reacting to the long full thrusts from Gades, and the pleasure her insides were experiencing at the friction and being filled. She had to close out of her consciousness the smell of him and the feel of the thicker and coarser hairs rubbing against her body that no longer brought her sexual arousal. Instead, the image of her on top of Gabrielle appeared in her mind…thrusting and grunting…panting and groaning. Soft lips around sharp teeth, latched on to her neck as the smaller woman's hips joined hers, taking up the age old rhythm. Heat in her body flared as she pounded Gabrielle's bones with their stiff toy, bringing her a profound release that lifted them to shared heights they had never experienced with others.

"Xena!"

Goddess, her timing is terrible, Xena thought as she felt a sudden panic at the anger in Gades as he moved his hand to throw a knife lying near his belt that was next to Xena's face, not missing in his strokes. Xena groaned in anticipation at the impending stop to her pleasure. Gades had a low tolerance for someone interrupting his fucks. Was that what she was? No, she controlled this. It was for her release that she needed this hard pounding and grinding…she needed it to let out the burn that was in her body from the fire of the competition she had experienced earlier.

"Xena!"

Xena knocked Gades out before he could flick the knife her way. She felt his cock quickly soften inside her, withdrawing into his own body, lying flaccid between them. Xena fought her mounting frustration at the distress calls her libido was sending out for immediate gratification and at the same time fighting with her guilt of knowing…that Gabrielle had loved her then… physically as well as emotionally and that it had been mutual. Aphrodite's brew! she cursed to herself silently as she rose to her feet somewhat awkwardly.

She didn't fail to note Gabrielle's eyes were staring at her swinging breasts then moved down to her patch of wet hair…nor of the licking of her lips as her green eyes widened with desire. She shivered at the thought of Gabrielle's face between her legs, tongue licking, mouth sucking. She shook her head and angrily grabbed Gabrielle's arm steering her back out the door she had entered. Nearly loosing her resolve as Gabrielle's skin bushed her erect nipple.

Aphrodite's tits in a leather and lace bodice, Xena thought disgustedly. Now she was really horny. If she had her saddlebags with her she would be pulling out her toy, strapping it on and ridding out her frustration on Gabrielle. Xena wiped her brow in exasperation at the dual feelings. Once Gabrielle was on her way, she turned back to Gades who was moaning as he came back to consciousness.

Xena remembered she and Gades had resumed their workout, just so she could get it out of her system, as well as save Gabrielle a lot of grief from Gades. She was afraid if she went to talk to Gabrielle now…especially now…she would either strangle the Bard from frustration or pin her to a wall and ravish her. Xena took a deep breath and advanced back on her prey. It didn't take much to get him back up. She rode him until he no longer could keep up.

Xena already knew where she would find Gabrielle. Gades was satiated; her fire was quenched; now she needed to complete the last part. This was the painful part. It wasn't just because it was going to be a sensitive chat with a woman…yes…she was a woman… attractive…strong…and in love with her…and that was the painful part…hurting someone she loved then and especially now. Then there was the going through all this…again…why in Fates is this happening again?

Suddenly she was standing in the shade of a tree…no Gabrielle near her. It was a familiar rest spot. She was dressed in armor, leathers, sword on her back…Argo was next to her. Where was the Bard? Ahhh. She was bathing in the small river near their campsite. She frowned a moment…that's not how she remembered it happening.

She had left Gabrielle at dusk the night before, in a secluded campsite…safe…while she went ahead to see where the smoke was coming from. They had a really long day of fighting three separate groups of soldiers on the road that were looking for trouble and even earlier in the morning helping a caravan that was hit by a group of mercenaries out of work. Both of them were tired…but Xena's cautious nature wanted to make sure whoever left the smoke signals wasn't headed their way.

She liked that particular hidden part of the river and was looking forward to a quiet night of routine puttering around and if she got it right, she would give Gabrielle a massage. Gabrielle needed it. She was emotionally drained with facing so much violence in one day. So, Xena was going to insure their peace and quiet. But even the best laid plans had delays…instead Xena spent a long night picking off the raiders who were trying to pick off the remaining town's people whose huts they had set fire to.

Alright Ares! Do you have anything to do with this? Show that pathetic face of yours, Xena snarled mentally, knowing he could hear her. She was not going to go over this scene again.

The prickly feeling that sent goose bumps, the unpleasant kind, over her arms and legs started. "Ares…I know you're here."

A light flash and the smirking bearded tight-leathered athletic figure of Ares appeared before her.

"Xena….how did you like that replay? Hmmm. Make your….juices flow?" he purred in her ear.

Xena's hand was out and quickly grabbed part of his beard pulling him around to face her.

His hand came down to hit hers away but she evaded it and stood in front of him defiantly with hands ready at her sides.

"So…" He raised an eyebrow. "I kinda liked the show…especially after that stupid little bard of yours left." He grinned. "My type of action…hmmm."

"You don't know why this is happening…do you?" Xena ignored his baiting her and pressed on with her hunch.

"Of course I do," he replied arrogantly, but there was something about the way he held himself that Xena knew he was lying. After all the years of working with him…she knew when he lied or was telling half truths…which was usually all the time. He never could give her a straight answer. In her position as a Warlord…she needed reliable information and…he became an unreliable source of information. She had her own ways of gaining information reading what she could in what he would tell her and what he left out. He became too predictable.

"Hmmm. So, why?" she asked. She was wondering if her guess was right. Whatever was happening to her was happening on Olympus.

"Well, ahh. I think it would do you some good to use that…" He came close to her until she put a hand out to stop him from getting any closer. "Pretty head of yours to figure it out yourself."

"Ares…you're no bull so cut the poop out. You don't know and you're hoping I figure it out for you." She regarded him for a few moments. "Does it have something to do with that part of the cavern?"

Ares sighed. "All right…" He shrugged his strong shoulders and grinned at her. "We don't know. It's something Yerik brought with him. It's not just the stone he has in that cave but the drawings on the walls. You've probably noticed them…swirls…little dots…stuff I don't go in for."

"Why are you?" Xena asked pointedly. She didn't bother to add that the cavern was considered the Muses and his other three sister's territory so-to-speak…making this something Ares would definitely not help with…willingly…unless there was something in it for him personally.

"Daddy dear," Ares barely made the mumbled answer audible.

"Huh?" Xena asked, intending to goad him into saying something he did not intend on saying.

"It's got the old man in a huff."

"Come on, Ares." Xena frowned glaring at him. She knew it was not just the old man. She could feel it in the air and around Ares.

"Well…if you want to know…I'm helping the old man out."

"Right."

Ares was looking uncomfortable but was sticking his chin out so Xena knew this was probably as far as she was going to get with him along this line of questing. Someone's got him by his godly balls. Xena smirked at the god, her blue eyes sparking but without warmth. It was a look that excited Ares, and though he could read the thoughts of mortals…there were some thoughts of Xena's that were not heard by him…nor by any of the other gods. There weren't that many mortals that had that ability to think out of their range.

"So what do these blasts into the past have to do with this Yerik thing, she asks?" Ares spoke in a mocking voice.

Xena laughed to herself letting Ares know she was aware he was changing the mood to relieve his discomfort. She was aware Ares was uncomfortable on two levels…from the subject and from her. Xena wanted to roll her eyes at both.

"Well…" Ares paused and looked Xena up and down with a predatory male look.

Old stuff, Ares. Xena shook her head. He's still plays his games of trying to put her off balance by his change of moods and tactics…but he's predictable and boring…and wasting her time.

"So…who all does this effect back home?" Xena drawled, tiring of the game and deciding to get to the point.

"Xena, I thought that quick romp in the hay would have taken some of that edge off you…but I can tell it has just…wet your appetite. You're so impatient!" Ares was drawing a path with his finger from her chin, her neck, her shoulders and across her armored bodice, letting his large hand come to a stop cupped against her left breast. His thumb drew a circle right where her nipple was.

Xena didn't back away but kept her eyes focused on Ares with a look of disdain on her face.

Ares' heart beat faster at the thought of capturing this emotionally distant mortal whose fire he had once ignited, but only in her warrior heart. He had witnessed her sexual games and possession of others, and then discarding them…and then there were the few that got away with discarding her. This escalated his desire to have her under him…sexually and emotionally. He willed his heart to stop beating so fast, knowing she was aware of her effect on him. She couldn't miss his swollen manhood pulsing against his leathered pants.

Suddenly he pulled back…the image of Xena disdainfully flicking a finger at his bared extended offering that was so close to penetrating between her strong thighs had his swollen member wilting quickly. She had purposely let him read her mind.

Anger filled him as he remembered that Hercules had been to bed with her. His little brother…half mortal…who was not only bigger than he was in those particular parts that men bragged about but that Xena had given herself to him willingly…and it was he, Ares…not Hercules that made her the legend!

"What's wrong Ares…your leathers suddenly too tight?" Xena asked in a low sultry voice. "Are you ready to get back to what you're better at?" Xena watched the handsome bearded face of the god struggle to maintain his hold on his temper.

Oh, yeah. Someone's got your balls locked up in a strong box. Xena turned for a moment to give him a chance to compose himself and to see what scene was behind her. Normally by this time the god would be strong-arming her into a corner somewhere…not giving her half hearted verbal duels.

The river was empty…the scenery was the same…the air…she sniffed …hmmm …blooms …like it's the early morning…smoke…someone is letting their morning campfire smoke…didn't bank it right at night or not watching it carefully for their morning fixings…

Xena found herself leading Argo into the neatly made camp that she had left Gabrielle in the night before. Weary from the previous day and night. She was short tempered, as usual and no Gabrielle about…oh, yea…she's picking berries…not paying attention to what is going on around her…

Xena left Argo near the tree with Gabrielle's gear while she quietly climbed a tree to get a bird's eye view of the area. There they were…five men stealthy creeping in a circle around Gabrielle who was picking berries, eating berries, and practicing a story on the surrounding shrubbery …as if the berries would willingly trade their life for a story. Xena smiled. Of course they would.

Xena located Gabrielle's staff just out of her reach. She watched the familiar scene unfold… Gabrielle will find a bunch of berries out of her reach…get her staff….pull the berries toward her then whap the first guy that thought to reach out for her. The other four were more patient and thought to bide their time with taunts until their fifth member awoke. Meanwhile… Gabrielle was trying her damnedest to talk them out of what they had in mind. Xena sighed. She knew if she dropped down now she could take them all out in no time…but she wanted Gabrielle to learn some things about herself…like, she needed to pay attention to her campsite, her surroundings, always have her staff near at hand, and that she could take these men out herself. What Xena had learned afterwards was that the words the men had used to taunt her had hurt her more than a few of the punches they got in. She had a chance to change that… should she? This was something…that seemed so minor…after all, Gabrielle did learn a lot as they went on in life…but, practice…practice and exposure is where strength is built from. Xena shook her head…this was miserable watching Gabrielle take the verbal insults as if they didn't mean anything to her, yet knowing they did….Fates! This was in the past. Where the Zeus is Ares!?

"You called!" Ares announced happily grinning as he leaned against the branch in a casual manner. Xena ignored the fact that his reclining position on the branch defied a mortal's laws of gravity.

"We were talking about this going back in the past…stop wasting time Ares and just tell me what's going on, who's affected and let me get to figuring out what I can do." She didn't have to add that she could care less if it was merely affecting the gods, but she and Gabrielle were also being affected.

And where is the present Gabrielle?

"That little blond trouble maker is right there." Ares pointed to the Bard who was now fighting the rest of the men, easily reading Xena's thoughts as if she had spoken them.

"So…she's re-experiencing the same past as I am?" That gave her a partial relief for if she also was aware…then she wasn't changing anything either.

"Hmm. You both are rather boring to watch a second time around…you know?"

"Well, I got it figured out why your father and you are worried. If we are being given second chances, that means…your mother will be given another chance to decide whether to take Zeus as her consort or not." Xena guessed. "That also means that if Hera does not give herself to Zeus he does not become joint ruler of Mt. Olympus, you aren't born…in fact…it may go all the way back to Ge's time…"

"Very good Princess. But that also means, no Hercules."

Xena frowned. It meant mortals would cease to exist…perhaps.

"What about this stone you spoke of? What does it have to do with all this?" Xena asked.

"The stone gives added power, focus, to the symbols. Like the stone in Athena's ring."

"So those drawings not only prevent you from entering the caverns but changes time," she surmised.

"His drawings are about connecting past, present, future. At some point Yerik is going to realize he can move around in what you mortals call time…but he hasn't figured that out yet. He only knows it gives him the power to hold the priestess and to keep the gods of this land away from him. He wants the three ritual objects to take to your nemesis in Rome…" Ares pointed to Xena. "I see you have them all…including the stone."

Xena looked down at her dress. To her eyes she was wearing her usual warrior uniform.

"In this timeline you can't see them, but you do still have them."

"So, how do I stop bouncing back and forth?"

"I can't say," he reported, but by the frown on his face she knew it was frustrating him that he did not know. "You're smart Xena. I know you'll have it figured out…before it's too late."

"So, doing something about those drawings is the key. Why not just rub them off…I saw some of them were smeared." The continuing battle going on below her was not lost to Xena. If Gabrielle is aware that we are reliving the past then she knows I'm above her and that she will be able to take out most of the men.

Here Ares looked pained as he moved into a sitting position. He looked down at the Bard between his dangling legs and the two remaining would be rapers. "She's pretty good with a long stick…" Ares chuckled at his double meaning. Xena let it go without comment but she had to struggle with a smirk that wanted to cross her face.

"It seems…your friend down there is the one with the ability to get past…whatever he has protecting the drawings…and smear them…as you say."

"Hmmm. So…she smeared a few from what I could see before we left, and we're here."

Ares shrugged his shoulders. "With the five that were smeared, I'm able to appear…but not for very long…which means…I gotta go." Ares faded.

Xena took a deep breath…her time to appear below to take out the one guy that was coming around who had a knife he could toss into her back was…now. Xena silently dropped out of the tree and did her part. Both women, knowing they had to replay their parts in this experience went through the motions, all the while both thinking to themselves how they had moved from one life experience to another separated by months.

Xena imaged the two of them sitting on a flat rock staring up at the stars they had been enjoying a few days back on their way to Crometh.

Who said it had to be painful moments?

"Geez, Xena!" Gabrielle breathed. She pressed herself up against the leather and armor clad woman, knocking the fur that covered them from the night's cold to the ground below their perch.

For a moment both of them remembered that Gabrielle had dozed while waiting for Selene to reach the top of her climb, when the stars were the brightest in the skies…and she had awaked from a dream that she had said she couldn't remember.

"Careful…you're going to have both of us falling off this rock." That comment was from the past. Xena took a deep breath, as she was about to change the rest…unless…she could incorporate it into the stories they told that night! Xena pulled Gabrielle close to her sliding her hands around the bard's waist and burying her face into the sweet smelling soft hair.

"Yesss." Gabrielle pulled her close letting her hand slide down her strong thighs, moving to the insides of them.

"Gabrielle…this is…" Xena paused remembering that they had for a short time gotten sidetracked from watching the stars for about a candlemark.

"I want to feel you." Gabrielle whispered in her ear. She guided Xena's cold hands between her own legs that were slicked with moisture. "Inside," Gabrielle panted.

Remembering the look in Gabrielle's eyes when she had interrupted Gades and her, in what seemed like only a few candlemarks ago, brought a groan to Xena's throat. She slid her fingers between Gabrielle's wet undergarment and felt the swollen wet lips, bringing another groan to Xena and one from Gabrielle.

Xena pushed Gabrielle on her back, sliding her fingers further into her, feeling the slick sides of her warm cavern tighten around her fingers. Both women groaned as Gabrielle pushed hard against her fingers, moving her hips frantically as she tried to put out the fire that pounded in her veins, knowing only a climax would bring an end to the immediate need. Her wetness coated the two fingers that were increased to three. Gabrielle cried out as her bud was stroked by Xena's thumb that sent her into an uncontrollable shudder of rapture.

She's so ready, Xena thought as she relished in the feel of the wetness coating her fingers and the contracting of muscles as Gabrielle squeezed her fingers. Xena felt Gabrielle's body shudder against her accompanied by the throbbing around her fingers and then a fresh release of juices, coating her cupped hand.

Gabrielle bit Xena's neck and wrapped her legs around Xena's waist, not wanting to give up the feel of Xena's fingers inside of her just yet. She could feel Xena's heart pounding against her breasts. Moving slightly, she let the wet fingers withdraw from her core. Smiling against the neck her lips were pressed against, Gabrielle pushed Xena off her gently, and slid off the rock. She arranged Xena's long legs over her shoulders. Gabrielle leaned against the cold rock pressing her face between Xena's legs, sucking on the wet swollen lips and groaning as the tangy nectar coated her face. Gabrielle rubbed her face in Xena's womanhood, humming at the response from the muscular woman, whose legs tightened around her and hands pulled her face closer into her. Gabrielle sucked her swollen lips, sliding three fingers into the dark cavern that tightened around her fingers as soon as they entered the throbbing entry. She let Xena set the pace, her hips moved quickly, pushing for release. Xena's low growl and the shivering of her inside walls signaled she had peaked. Gabrielle waited before withdrawing her fingers, enjoying the feel of the muscles contracting and releasing around her fingers. Finally Xena shifted and pulled Gabrielle back onto the rock, on top of her.

"If we go through any more of those…" was all that Gabrielle mumbled in Xena's neck that indicated she was aware, but not daring just yet to change any more of their past conversations.

For the rest of the night they used the game of identifying star constellations with lying out a plan. Both hoping they had the same understanding. And then Xena nodded to Gabrielle and as in the past suggested they return to the cavern…


Chapter 15

A Return to the Cavern

They found themselves back at the heart of the Sacred Cavern, ground shaking under their feet. Xena looked around in their dusty surroundings. Things had changed. Instead of the priestess and Ari, there were bodies of satyrs and some men near the bottom of the stairs unconscious. If she understood Gabrielle's message imbedded in a tale dealing with one of the star constellations there were seven drawings on the wall, and she believed she had only messed up two in her dreams.

"Gabrielle, maybe that's it. God's don't dream because they don't sleep…so they can't change the patterns on the wall…that makes sense. Shamans use the dreamtime as part of their normal world. You said you dreamed of changing two of the patterns…that's what I had seen when I looked at the wall." Xena grabbed Gabrielle's arm as the ground shook under them again.

"Well, I don't remember this happening…so that must mean we're….Xena I don't remember what happened to those three drawings. Whooooa. We're on some shaky ground here." Gabrielle increased her grip around Xena's arm trying to steady her balance as the ground beneath them again moved.

"Can you see those designs?" Xena asked as she relaxed a little when the rolling motion stopped.

"Well…yeah. There are seven of them. There are now five that are smeared. I think when you were going after the priestess, I fell forward and my hands messed up maybe one other…I don't remember these other two."

"I can't focus on them. They keep blurring but it looks like…Ares!"

"Xena…why Ares?" Gabrielle asked uncomfortably.

"Because he's been dropping in…and just before all these visits to the past started."

Ares? "Wait…wait…memories….Mnemosyne. What if it's not from our memories but from Mnemosyne's."

"I don't think so. There are small changes in the events we're going back to. Mnemosyne doesn't make mistakes…unless."

"Unless she's trying to make a point by showing it from someone else's perspective."

Both women sighed trying to get an idea of what they were experiencing.

"Okay, let's say that you altered two of the signs, or three…it's bound to influence the one's next to them. Look…they are not that far apart. Even though I can only see a blurr, they look too close together. So, say they deal with time or memories, that means they could be distorting things. And since the gods are involved, I am sure there is havoc going on in Olympus

"Ohhhhh." Gabrielle was recalling her lessons in India about energy. She looked down at her hands. "Xena!"

"Hmmm?" Xena glanced at the smaller woman whose head was bowed looking at her hands. Xena leaned over toward her brushing the long hair out of her face. Green malachite eyes moved to hers, looking worried. "What is it?"

Gabrielle reached up and touched the fingers that were entangled in her long hair. "My….my hair is short in the present….and…" she lifted her hands palms down, "the…" She left it unsaid.

"Great. Just where are we?" Xena glanced around and noticed they were alone. No bodies, no bones, no light coming from the torches…no light coming from the stair well. How on earth are we seeing in this cavern without light?

A rumbling from above them followed by a shout had them both looking up at the sudden light shinning from the stairwell…

Xena was suddenly moving up the stairwell….they mustn't come down here!

A small light stabbed through the darkness shinning on the walls of the stairwell.

"What d'ya think those marks are about, Mel?" a familiar voice asked.

"I don't know. Here, hold this…I want to draw these…"

Nooooooo! Xena cried out in frustration. Xena could go no further than the bottom of the stairs.

"Mel? Do you think we can set up a camera here? It's kinda hard to duplicate these smears?"

Xena closed her mind to the people at the top of the stairs that she could only hear and sent out an explosion of energy in her own mind that she was going back to a memory of…

"Gabrielle…have you ever pondered the meaning of silence….I mean…really tried to get an understanding of it?" a snippy warrior queried the small woman that was ridding behind her. Normally she would have told the wanna-be-bard she was going to ride ahead and check the road out, and left her walking to catch up but she had twisted her ankle and was riding up behind her on Argo. She should have just found a cold river and left her soaking the ankle in the water while she went about her business….but it wasn't safe around here…raiders… displaced villagers looking for a quick dinar or food…or someone to victimize to lessen their own pain.

"Ahhhh. Sorry…I was just trying to keep you awake."

Xena snorted and twisted to look in disbelief at her passenger. Her breath caught, as she looked into green eyes squinting against the sun that her shoulder had been shielding her from. Unconsciously she moved giving her small blond-haired rider some shade so she could see the sea green eyes open wider …sparklingly with mischief…warmth… love…and intimate familiarity.

Gabrielle's long skirt was hoisted up her thighs to allow her to straddle Argo's back, which Xena noticed only when she had unconsciously placed one of her hands on a bare leg. She looked down at the bare white leg turning a pinkish color from the unaccustomed exposure to the sun. She swallowed a few times realizing how…the rubbing of the soft hairs on her own bare thighs was making her edgy.

Looking back up at Gabrielle she could see that Gabrielle was aware they were somewhere neither remembered.

"So…isn't this where you get off the side of the road and find a cold stream?" Gabrielle asked innocently.

"Whhhaaat?" Xena was caught with her thoughts thinking of what she would like to be doing with the woman sitting behind her, that seemed to be intentionally rubbing her bare legs on hers.

"Cold water…soak the ankle time. You take off for a while of peace and quiet time in the woods…or whatever…and I soak my ankle, write and get into some of the usual 'young woman attracts trouble' stuff so you can come rushing back and…save me."

Xena was still twisted in her seat and was not paying attention that she had applied pressure on one side, thus redirecting Argo to pass under a low hanging branch.

Xena's quick reflexes only saved them from a painful drop, but both ended up being swept off Argo's back and onto the ground. Argo continued toward where Xena knew was a campsite that was safe to spend the rest of the day and night at undisturbed.

Then Xena realized she was holding the blond haired woman…no…girl…in her arms off the ground. She was going to drop her to her feet when Gabrielle's arms tightened around her neck and she looked around expectantly.

"Well…where's the river? Xena…yoooouuuu hooo!"

"Hmmm? Oh…right…soak foot…check out the parameter…get food…" Xena mumbled as she started after Argo's retreating figure carrying her light burden with legs wrapped tightly around her waist. It was making her own legs wobbly.

"Xena…this never happened," a quiet voice whispered in her ear.

"Hmmm?" she asked startled.

"Well…in case you haven't noticed…the vegetation is a bit strange…Argo is even stranger looking…for a horse…and you do look quite…different…this gettup…what is it?"

Xena looked down at herself…letting Gabrielle slide gently to her feet. Her upper body was covered in clothing that was in varying shades of gray. She was wearing some kind of short pants with an obvious protrusion budding against her front and her heartbeat was pounding loud in her ears and against her straining member.

Gabrielle had slid her hand down her chest, past her waist and came to rest against her erection caressing it and making it throb to a point of urgent need for release. Her fingers seemed to know what they were doing, as they pulled a small strip of fabric back so that a full sized erected penis popped out, waving invitingly in the breeze.

One part of her groaned and another part was asking, "What the…." She brushed her rough cheek against the head that was kissing its way down to the body part of hers that needed immediate attention.

It suddenly dawned on her that whatever that four wheeled gray creature was that they had been riding…it wasn't Argo….and she wasn't what she remembered herself to be. She could feel her knees starting to buckle as a mouth engulfed her throbbing staff, she fell to her knees, Gabrielle following her down, keeping a hand around her member that was struggling for release. A part of her remembered her tryst in the barn and her desire to ride Gabrielle instead of her male partner.

"Quite a flash back, Xena. Just what life is this?" Gabrielle teased, not seeming to mind the change...

Xena pushed Gabrielle on her back and moved her swollen member into a welcoming opening. Hips came up to meet hers, as both rocked frantically to ride the building energy their need was creating. Xena missed a beat when she realized that the woman below her did not have the same face as Gabrielle's.

Xena closed her eyes to get a grip on her wits. Cavern, cavern, cavern. She kept mumbling to herself then opened one bright blue eye as the feelings in her body subsided.

Chapter 16

Goddess and Mortals

The change around her was so quick that for a brief moment her equilibrium was off. She found herself on her hands and knees, staring at the grass beneath her hands. The sounds and smell around her were familiar; marsh and bird calls. She could feel the weight of her sword on her back, and she was wearing her warrior uniform. Xena looked around her to confirm what her other senses were telling her.

"Hello, Xena." Mnemosyne's voice was soft. In her arms she had a bouquet of flowers that Gabrielle called forget-me-nots.

Xena did not recognize where she was.

"You wanted to talk to me about…?" Mnemosyne prodded as she moved to another bunch of flowers and instead of picking them, she seemed to be planting the long stemmed flowers.

Ahh. Right, "Memories."

Mnemosyne laughed. "That's a rather broad topic. Let's see…do you want to know why no two people remember the same thing though they were both there? Do you want to know why memory changes over time? Or, do you want to know why we remember outcomes, but not always the other details?"

Xena blinked a few minutes. In other circumstances she would maybe take the time to discuss her opinions on that subject, but right now, she felt she needed to answers to other questions. However, she blurted it out anyway. The memory of Gabrielle's anguish at having to relive some events, reminded her that whenever they had a difficult day, Gabrielle was had nightmares that dealt with events in their past…and her memories were not as she remembered them happening.

"Well…why don't two people remember the same event as the other?" She couldn't resist.

"Because, each person is looking at the event from their own emotional understanding of what is happening."

"I understand that…but…past events…oned that we've talked about…why does she still remember them differently?"

The goddess smiled at the hurt that this mortal was carrying. She sighed and did what she knew was going to have repercussions, but not for a while yet. It was easy to see the 'she' she was referring to was Gabrielle.

"Memories aren't reliable, Xena. They change over time. In your countless travels you have witnessed this numerous times, like for example when you sit with old acquaintances and friends and speak of past battles. What complicates memories are stories we hear, what we see and dream of. I am not saying memories are not important…they help form personalities…among gods too. What I am saying is, that what you remember of an event, is true for you but not necessarily for others. But because you believe it, it is what you base your actions and reactions on."

"So…what about facts?"

"A somewhat arbitrary agreement between individuals, created out of a need to communicate. Chaos is difficult to find time to think in." Mnemosyne smiled at the wrinkled brow of the tall mortal. "Let's take your life as a warlord…"

Xena's shoulders tightened. That was one long memory she was just learning to put out of her dreams.

"You use those memories to keep you on what you consider a better path, no?"

Xena shrugged her shoulders.

"But when they don't seem to be giving you the shudders and same intensity of self hate, loathing, that they had once given you, you add more graphic detail."

"What? I don't need to add detail. I was there! I saw the dismembered bodies of children, women dying, men skewered…" Xena shuddered.

"Hmmm. Well, you never personally took a weapon to children, and as for the women, you always had given orders only to hurt villagers that fought back. Your men took it upon themselves to do what they wanted…and you punished them for disobeying your orders."

Xena took a deep breath. Again in her mind the picture of a small child formed, impaled at the end of her javelin, and her standing above the dead child unrepentant.

"No…what had happened was one of the new recruits, hopping to further gain your attention, missed the speech you had given on who to spare, and in front of you, before you could react, killed the child and it's mother. Because it was your soldier, and you had slept with him the night before, you took the responsibility. So, every time you remember that scene, it is you, not him, that is killing the child."

"I…no…it was by my hand."

"Xena, now think."

Xena took a deep breath. "Yea, I did give my troops orders not to kill women and children."

"So…how could you have done that?"

"Ahhh." She took a deep breath. Was she letting this goddess talk her out of her guilt? She couldn't let herself get away so easily with all the villages she laid to waste.

"Ahhh, ahhh. There you go again. You keep saying you laid villages to waste. You did some, but since you had to return back the next harvest, you didn't want to make it too difficult for the villages to recover. This lying to waste is another creation in your mind to make things worse than what it was, because for some reason you need guilt to keep you on the right path. Xena, you don't need it. You now have that strength of your own to keep on the right path. You can stop recreating your past memories to making them into something worse than what they were. They are bad enough without you adding more gore to them. Really."

"So…are you saying that…my childhood memories aren't….real?"

"Sure they are. If you believe them to be real…they are. But, Torres will see the same event from his little boy perspective as your mother will see it from her perspective. It doesn't mean the event didn't happen…just that there are a lot of versions to it. Remember when Torres was finally able to see a different version to why you felt you had to fight the invading forces on your village? And when Gabrielle retold the story of you and the Cyclops? You think she is making up some of the parts, embellishing the story like most story tellers do, to sell the audience. But she isn't. She experiences you in a different way, so she will be seeing it differently. When she meets another Cyclops, and befriends him, her story will change, and her memories of the first Cyclops will also change. Enjoy the differences. Makes for good story telling material."

"Is that why…the barn was different?"

"Oh, that scene. Well, even as you relived it, you were creating, leaving the unimportant things out…like why you wanted to screw the soldier."

Xena's face hardened.

"You were trying to forget how the young Bard was turning you on, so you had decided to put some emotional distance between you two, and of course there was the battle lust that you had to work off."

"I was working off…"

Mnemosyne held up her hand. "See, even I remember it differently. Because at that time on Mt. Olympus, we all could see your attraction to each other, like a silvery band that tied your souls together, so I had another view of the story that was unfolding."

"So…" Xena tried to get her thoughts together, memories and dreams, what a combination. "Whoever is dreaming in the cavern, is not in control of us, because we can move in and out of the cavern, though its through the past and present…well…wait. So, I can dream that we both are back in the cavern and Gabrielle fixes the problem! Or even better, I can dream this is not even happening!"

"No. The magic is there in the drawings. They have to be altered back before you can go back to the point before you enter the city."

Carefully Xena looked about her. She was back in the cavern, but alone. She was still wearing her leathers. Now what? There was no trembling in the ground, but she could feel anticipation in the air. Gabrielle must be doing something.

*****
Chapter 17

Gabrielle Meets Potnia Ge

Gabrielle almost shrieked at the change in Xena, but composed herself quickly as she knew it was Xena by looking in the bright azure eyes. Xena's lack of noticing their change at first was humorous and she couldn't help grabbing the most noticeable change in her body, stroking it and watching in excitement at the near loss of control Xena displayed in her behavior….that was un-Xena like.

Then Gabrielle started thinking quickly. They had to stop this moving around to different times and places, before she started screaming like a siren. As she watched Xena close her eyes, the figure before her became unfamiliar with the beginnings of beard stubble on the familiar soft chin and the look of lust in the man's face as he pushed her back onto the ground.

She imaged herself back to the grotto, back to the sacred grotto where she first met Arii.

The change in the atmosphere was so quick she was straining her eyes, trying to get use to the near darkness. She spun around to face the oracle's tripod chair. It was empty.

She hesitated for only a brief moment, and then hurried up the steps to the seat. Artemis, if this is not right…tell me now. She continued up the few steps and looked calmly at what had damaged Arii to a horrible mass of scarred flesh. Would she fare the same? She had to stop whatever was happening. The time change that was affecting their lives most probably was affecting others and others may change things…for everyone.

Not getting an answer from Artemis she turned and closing her eyes sat on the seat, holding her breath and praying to Xena for forgiveness for not letting her know that she might not return.

You are so serious!

Gabrielle's eye's shot open to see not the cavern, but a peaceful garden. She looked about her in astonishment gripping the arms of the chair in disbelief. As her eyes moved around the area she spotted a beautiful young girl sitting on her side stroking the neck of a small doe and watching her under brown lashes with amusement.

"Pornia theron!" she breathed in awe.

"And who are you?" The young goddess asked bemused, "And why have you called me?"

"I…I'm Gabrielle…a…Queen of one of the Amazon tribes that honor you." She stuttered.

Artemis was beautiful. Brown lashes covered golden brown eyes that lifted in surprise as they regarded her closer. She had on a golden short tunic covering her body to just above her knees. Her legs were long with muscles developed from running with the wild things of the forests. Her shoulders were not broad but they were starting to show strength, as the young girlish body hadn't yet left her.

"Amazons?"

Gabrielle reddened. If Artemis was looking this young, barely a woman, then this must be way in the past.

"Ahhh. Yeeeaaa." Gabrielle was trying to remember what tales she heard of a young Artemis and how she could find out what she needed to know. Which was what?

"You know the cavern I was in?"

"Yes. It was one of grandmother's followers schools…but they had left because it was the end of her time."

Artemis stood up and came over to her seated form. That's when Gabrielle realized she was still siting in the oracle's three legged chair. Artemis sat in front of the chair folding her legs in a lotus position, studying Gabrielle for a long moment.

"I see…" she murmured nodding.

Gabrielle couldn't resist looking behind her to see what she was talking about. There was only the forest behind her.

Gabrielle looked back at the young goddess blushing. Artemis was laughing. "I see why you are here." She explained with an open smile. "Hmmm. It's the designs on the walls you need to change." She frowned for a moment as she thought. "I had watched an old follower of grandmother's in the woods, making designs similar to those, when I had started to draw the same, grandmother was very upset, saying we cannot draw them…it is a magic for mortals alone. It was a gift she had given them to draw power to help them against any of our wrong doings." Artemis sighed. "Something Ares needs to remember, that little brat." She shook her head with regret.

Gabrielle was tempted to ask her to tell her some tales of Ares as a youth but her dislike for what he was in her present, and her worry about time, kept her from asking.

"So…I need to change the designs…but how?"

Artemis looked up at her surprised. "You are mortal, don't you know?"

"No." Gabrielle was about to mumble some colorful phrases to describe her frustration at this point, but instead…"what about your grandmother? Is she around?" Gabrielle, you have such nerve!

"Sure…"

The figure was suddenly standing before them…Gabrielle nearly started to cry at the feelings of warmth…comfort…and love that emanated from the smiling figure. The brilliance of her appearance was toned down almost immediately, as Gabrielle didn't think she would have been able to keep her eyes on her, and at the same time she could not move her eyes from the vision before her.

"Mortal child, you certainly get into a lot of interesting situations." The shining figure laughed gently.

Gabrielle nearly burst with happiness at being addressed so lovingly by this goddess, thee goddess, Potnia Ge.

"I will show you what you need to know…though it is not in the life of Gabrielle that you will learn of them in detail, but in the life of Alekasasha, a shaman."

The next thing Gabrielle knew…she was standing in front of the designs, earth shaking beneath her feet, Xena shouting for her to be careful. The designs were moving and changing their patterns as they reacted from the changes of their neighbors.

Gabrielle moved her hands in a pattern, mumbling the chants Ge had taught her, then reaching through the curtain she could see. She touched the first symbol she had touched in her dream. With a fingertip, and words of power, Gabrielle redrew the swirls, adding to them and breathing a different energy life force onto them. Once the first was redirected and stabilized she moved to the next. The entire cavern was a great big ball of energy that invigorated her and the tingling of the fire that ran up her torso from the ground, to say nothing of the wild discharging energy around her from the misshapen magic swirls, caused her hair to stand on end. Good thing it was short, or she would be spending a long time trying to untangle it later.

Gabrielle didn't know how long she worked on the seven swirls that had been added by the foreigner, but when she was finished she moved to the center of the cavern, not seeing anyone but the magnificent display of flashes of light from the discharging energy around her. She needed to reconsecrate the cavern, readjust the energy lines that ran throughout the land surrounding the cavern, and move the time line back. It was so simple. Ge had shown her…Gabrielle spread her arms to the side of her and tilted her head back…humming the tone she wished to focus the energy into…building it…until….

A bright flash of light that nearly blinded Gabrielle and Xena on their perch above the forest, had both women covering their eyes and holding onto each other.

"Goddess!" Gabrielle breathed in awe. Gabrielle looked up at her partner whose one arm that was wrapped around her had tightened. Their sleeping fur slipped off them and ended up at the foot of the rock they were sitting on, as they were watching Selene's mares drag the small slice of white moon across the star blanketed night sky.

Xena leaned down and kissed the tip of Gabrielle's nose. "You did it, O'Bard of mine."

"I…I remember…I remember it all!" She was referring to her meeting with Potnia Ge.

"Yea…I guess tomorrow we find out just…what has been changed."

"Xena, I meant…I …I…met her!"

Xena looked into the eyes that even in the night light, she could see were tearing up. "Met who?"

"Potnia Ge!" She whispered reverently.

Xena nodded silently, remembering her own visit with the goddess and the overwhelming feeling of…peace she had, if even for a short time…it was…beyond words.

"You're going to have to tell me what happened after….ahhh."

Xena could see the wide grin on Gabrielle's face as white teeth glowed in the early morning's darkness.

Xena grabbed Gabrielle's hand and pulled her with her as she negotiated her way back down the hill and to their safe cave in as less time as possible.

"Hey! What's the hurry?" Gabrielle's hands grabbed the sleeping fur as she was pulled along. Xena finally pulled the smaller woman around the waist and hoisted her over her shoulder. Xena made better time due to longer legs and better night vision that didn't see darkness, but varying shades of gray.

Groans and sighs echoed off the cave wall though the rest of the starry night and well into the predawn. It was only a candlemark before Helios began his ascent that both fell into a satiated doze. But not before each muttered a curiosity at what they would find in Crometh.

End of Part I

Continued in In Search of a Greater Cause II - Return to Crometh