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Part 3

Chapter 3

She sat stock still, allowing the all-encompassing silence to envelop her. Her breathing slowed perceptively, deepening and relaxing. She tried to let her mind ease, to allow all thoughts to blur and dissipate. Slowly, she envisioned her mind emptying, willing herself deeper into the meditation process.

"Go away!" The old words jarred her, ringing in her ears again as they had so long ago.

"Just go away, Brie!"

Meditation forgotten, memory flooded her soul. "But I just…"

Full of ire and ice, and all the more beautiful because of it, a younger Xe stood before Gabrielle's mind's eye. Had it really been so long ago- 6 years- that she had brought the woman's anger so forcibly to the fore?

"I only…"

"What?!" the word had shot like a dagger across the dusty tell where she had tracked her idol, her hero, the woman who had never attempted to fit society's mold, who challenged even the commands of her parents. "Just say it and be gone!"

"Congratulations," the word was so low, she was unsure it had even reached Xe's ears.

"How old are you, Brie?" the soft words, tinged with remorse, still carried an angry edge.

"Twelve."

Cold eyes continued to study her. Brie watched as Xe unconsciously placed a hand to her abdomen, a telling move to protect the child soon to come.

"And," Brie continued with a sudden burst of courage, "I brought you some water. Gran-Mel was worried." Extending the bottle, the girl was inordinately pleased when Xe accepted the small token.

"Thank you." She clutched the water in a white-knuckled fist. "You can go away now," although her tone had lost some of its bite it remained wholly unfriendly.

Brie turned as if to leave, but suddenly changed her mind. "Granma Janice told me about your parents. I'm sorry."

"You're still a little girl, what do you know?"

Understanding, but not caring, that the question was rhetorical, Brie spun back around. "I'm not that little! Besides, I read, I watch the evening news reports…" Her burst of anger threatened to falter under the rage-filled eyes that bored into her.

"Brie, go find someone worth while to idolize."

So she had known all along. "But you're so strong."

"So was Eleanor Roosevelt."

"She's dead."

"As will you be if you don't back off."

"I don't care! Your parents shouldn't have tried to make you give the baby away. Who cares who the father is. The baby will have you, who could want a better, stronger mother than you? I know what everyone thinks, that you're no good," Brie paused at the shadow of grief that swept across Xe's face, "but Granma Janice and Gran-Mel don't believe it, and neither do I. Granma Janice says you're better than all of them put together."

"Go away, Brie," her tones were soft but filled with unleashed anger.

"No! I won't leave you out here all alone. The grandmothers are worried about you."

"I came out here specifically to be alone. The grandmothers are well aware that I can take care of myself, and you know what I can do to you if you don't leave."

Brie was suddenly filled with trepidation. Xe was right, she did know, she remembered all the martial arts lessons Xe had undertaken, and hadn't Gran-Mel said she had started kick boxing too… "But you wouldn't. You don't mount the offense, you only defend."

"Remind me of that when you're picking yourself up off the floor, little girl. Believe me, you don't want to make me any angrier."

"Get up!" Gabrielle jerked out of her musings; she hadn't even heard the guard come into the room.

"Come on." The door was held open, Gabrielle ushered out.

"So, don't tell me, let me guess. You've finally realized that it's all been a big misunderstanding and you're going to let me go now, right?"

Xena Cadmus, unofficial Macedonian antiquities expert, slammed her hands down on the steering wheel; there was nothing to do but wait for the goats to clear out of the road. She only hoped the herdsmen were more competent than they appeared.

The jeep was unbearably hot; lack of air conditioning and the immobile windows intensified the morning's stagnant, stifling heat. After her introduction the day before, once the site manager had regained his composure over his initial shock, Xe had been shown to the tent where Brie's possessions had been left. She had been left to her own devices to decide what had happened to the girl. The two men had wandered back to the group still gathered around Dr. Eban's car, everyone would need to be questioned before any decisions could be made.

Xe however, had already decided on a course of action. If they wanted Xena Cadmus, so be it. Making certain Brie was out of danger would be the hardest part of her plan.

In the morning's pre-dawn hours Xe had risen and dressed in the loose tank top and khaki shorts that had been her trademark at the grandmothers' sites. She supposed anyone who knew of her knowledge in Aegean antiquities would have seen her in association with one of those sites in Macedonia or Greece with the grandmothers. Dressing the part only made sense.

Sitting in the jeep she had 'borrowed' from the Catalhoyuk excavation, a virtual island in a torrential sea of goats, she pulled the note from her pocket. If the circumstances weren't so dire, she would find a lot of humor in the way the abductors had dealt with the missive. The ancient script was punctuated here and there with English terms they couldn't translate: her name, Gabrielle's name, and the grandmothers' names, as well as terms such as 'Chinese consulate' and 'no police involvement'.

She tugged the mass of hair up off the back of her neck and shoulders and plied it into a rough twist secured with a wooden pick she found in the glove compartment. She'd have to back track, she knew. The meeting was to take place in Antalya, three blocks from the airport.

Gabrielle struggled to free her hands of the rough twine that bound them; her efforts had managed to only slick down the knots with sweat she hoped, rather than blood.

"You won't escape." The voice came from somewhere beyond the glaring light in whose pool she sat.

"Can't blame a girl for trying," she muttered, squirming in the metal chair. "I don't suppose you'd consider untying me…" she queried, "if I promised to stay put?"

Silence.

"What if I told you that I have difficulty breathing if my hands are bound? Even when I was a little girl and would get my arms caught up in my winter sweaters I'd have to scream for help before I'd hyperventilate."

Only silence.

"I'll take that as a no."

"It will soon be over."

"What will be over? Why am I here? What do you want? Why are you doing this?" Her carefully constructed façade of pleasantness was rapidly giving way to the real fear she had managed to push into the back of his mind. If only she knew what this was all about, then she'd be able to fight.

Footsteps echoed off to her right and she peered into the darkness.

"She's here."

"What's going on?" Blind, illogical terror won control and Gabrielle's voice raised to an unnaturally high pitch.

A blessedly familiar voice cut through her anxiety. "It doesn't matter, Brie. You're safe now."

"Xena Xandria?" Her childhood idol stepped into the ring of light, her somber features clouded with concern.

"Yeah, it's me. You all right?" Kneeling in front of Gabrielle, Xe reached up to brush away the tears she hadn't realized were there.

"I guess so, but I don't…"

"I know," Xe cut her off with a frown and swiveled on her knee to confront the voice within the darkness. "I'm here, she can go now." The resulting silence only served to bring Xe's anger closer to the boiling point. "The deal was…"

"Oh, I'm well aware of our agreement, Ms. Cadmus. I'm afraid there's been a change of plans."

A cold smile curved Xe's lips. "What a surprise," she drawled in a voice steeped in sarcasm.

Deep laughter emanated the darkness, sending an involuntary chill down Xe's spine as she glanced again at the blonde with whose welfare she had been entrusted.

"Xena?"

"'S okay. You're going to be just fine." She laid a comforting hand on Gabrielle's knee.

"But what about us?"

"Sorry, poor choice of words." Black eyes met hazel ones as the elder rephrased her assurance, "We'll be all right, the both of us."

"How touching." Xe rolled her eyes at the bodiless voice and directed a glare into the darkness.

"Show our guests to their room, I'm sure there is much they wish to discuss."

Xena studied her surroundings, lost in an ocean of thought. She had hoped to see Gabrielle freed but had not been fool enough to expect anything so positive. She was however, thrilled to see the girl relatively unharmed.

"It's not exactly the Hilton but I haven't seen any critters or creepy-crawlies, and it's so clean you can smell the bleach."

Xe turned to face Gabrielle. "What have they said to you?"

"Nothing." Xe's questioning look was all it took to launch the younger woman into a flood of words. "Almost every day I'd try to get the guard to say something, to say anything, but he never would. I don't even know how long I've been here. All I've been able to find out is that the guard doesn't like my singing. No one else ever comes here besides the guard and he's so anti-social…"

"Two weeks."

"And I-- what?" She had been so caught up in the joy of conversation, Brie had almost missed Xe's gentle words.

"You've been gone for two weeks. The site manager contacted Granma Jan a couple of days ago."

"My father must be furious! And that's why you're here." A heavy silence fell between the two women. "I'm sorry, Xena. This whole situation is so stupid. What about little Ea?"

"Ea's with the grandmothers, probably having a grand time and wrecking havoc with Granma Jan's new exhibit. How did they catch you?"

After Brie described the events leading up to and including her abduction, Xe slowly shook her head. "Being abducted wasn't stupid. You didn't know they were up to no good. I probably would have done the same thing. Once I finally made it to Catalhoyuk a note had been left. Brie, none of this has anything to do with you. They only took you because they knew I would come looking for you."

"They abducted me to get to you?" A nervous giggle escaped as Gabrielle turned the idea around in her mind. "That's actually kind of funny. Who would have thought of kidnapping the person who tormented your holidays for most of your life as a means of getting your attention?"

"Someone with a very sick sense of humor to be sure." Xe drew herself closer to Gabrielle, taking the woman's hands into her own to examine the raw, torn skin at her wrists. "Let's see what we can do about this."

Gabrielle watched silently as Xe bathed her wounds with cool water from the sink. The gentle, sympathetic sounds she murmured reminded Gabrielle of her late mother when she had treated her childhood scrapes and scratches. "Are we going to get out of here?"

"Yeah, we're getting out. I'll see to that." Xe nodded to emphasize her assurance when she saw the doubt in her companion's hazel eyes. "I'm working on a plan, I just don't have the specifics yet."