They found a cave a short time later. Opening like a huge mouth in the side of the canyon, it was at least 30 feet over their heads & wide enough for a village to fit inside. It went deep into the earth, but Xena & Hercules didn't spend any time exploring it.
Seconds after they entered the shelter, the clouds burst & heavy sheets of rain pelted the ground. Entering far enough to avoid the incoming water, they set up camp and soon found much debris covered the cave floor.
At one time, an army had camped within the grotto, but something had caused it to leave rather hurriedly. Camp fires, long since burned out, lay scattered everywhere, including swords, rotten blankets, petrefied food & other unknown items. They picked a spot behind the litter & collected whatever was burnable to use for a fire.
After unsaddling Argo & unpacking the remainder of her food, Xena set about making the child Mellina as comfortable as possible. She had not said a word since telling them about the cave, and after a meal of aged cheese & smoked meat strips, Mellina curled up and fell sound asleep.
Xena & Hercules sat away from the sleeping girl in the shadows, quietly contemplating each other over the small fire.
"Are you still hungry? Do you want some more?"
Xena asked avoidingly. The tension she now felt with Hercules was new to her. Not even with Marcus had she felt the air seem to hum between them.
"No, I'm fine. Xena," Hercules hesitated, as if to collect his thoughts. "We have to talk."
Nodding her head in agreement, Xena rose and walked to where Hercules sat waiting. She knealt beside him, wary in a way she had never been.
"I think we both can feel what's going on. Or at least, I hope you do. Xena, ever since I saw you in that village, holding Mellina, everything in me has been screaming for attention."
Xena released the pent up breath she had been holding. Shifting into a more comfortable position, she replied, "Yes, I did feel it. It was like a rope drawing me to you. I couldn't risist if I wanted to."
Xena turned away at that. A thought occured to her out of the blue.
"Hercules, do you think this could be some sort of spell?" Xena asked.
"You mean, one designed to draw us together, like one of Aphrodite's spells?"
"I don't know. We've both mentioned how we felt being drawn together, like our futures necessitated it. Couldn't that be a spell of some sort?"
"Or simply fate stepping in. You & I both know Lachesis has an odd sense of humor when deciding our fate."
Xena silently agreed. The fates were known to deal biasly with their favorite mortals. Unfortunately, they had to confer with Hades judges often before a final decision was made.
"What made you think of a spell, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Not at all. I've been having nightmares recently. About things I've never thought of before. Then after finding Mellina, and meeting you..."
Xena returned to her packs & settled as comfortably as she could against them. She spared Mellina a checking glance, seeing the child sound asleep, then a quick flicker at Hercules, who was silently staring at her across the fire.
They hadn't really talked about what he wanted to, Xena knew. But now isn't the right time, she consoled herself, as she rolled over and closed her eyes in sleep.
"Sleep well, Xena." Hercules quiet words chased her into her dreams.
Chapter 6
Sensuous lips were caressing Xena's face. Slightly moist, they left a trail of fire over her eyes & jaw, before settling at her lips. Gently coaxing, those luscious lips urged Xena to submit, to open the honeyed treasure inside. With a groan of torment, Xena complied.
Their tongues curled & lapped at each other, soothing & stimulating all at once. While they kissed each other passionately, Xena felt hands, ones she had studied so intently, caress her sides before moving in a slow glide to her breasts. Her armour & shift were mysteriously gone, but Xena didn't think about that once his roughly calloused hands touched her breasts & began to tease her nipple.
It blossomed at his touch, thrusting a sharp peak against his hand. Xena jumped at the sensation, feeling it streak down to her loins like fire.
Slowly, his lips drew away from her mouth, and spread unending jolts of passion throughout her body by tracing the lines of her muscles with his tongue. Then he reacher her breasts. Xena saw him lower his head thru slitted eyes, until he was only a hairsbreadth from touching her flesh.
With a movement that rocked thru Xena like a flash, he breathed hot & long over the tingling nipple, and only at the end did he thrust his tongue out to touch the tip. Drounding in a sea of rapture, Xena decided to reciprocate the feeling. In long, slow strokes, she ran her hands down his back to caress his tight buttocks, kneading the curves of flesh & delighting in a dimple she tickled, making him jump when she touched it.
His long hair fell like rain over her body, tickling yet enticing as he moved down her torso to lap at her navel. Xena couldn't reach his back, so she concentrated on his hair. She ran her fingers gently through the chestnut strands, stopping to caress his ears & neck occasionally.
In a gliding movement he never expected, Xena moved to caress the firm pectoral muscles and the flat, golden disks of his nipples. They tightened at her touch, with an echoing groan accompanying. Not at all detered, he continued on his journey, sliding down Xena's concave stomach to rest just below the thick growth of black hair at the junction of her thighs. His hands rested on her thighs, and gently pushed them apart, with no resistance from Xena.
Once her legs were spread wide, offering the treasure within, he slowed his pace, not touching the sweetly hot folds, but running his hands gently over the soft flesh on the insides of her legs, allowing his tongue to follow.
By now, Xena was arching her body in an effort to control the passion surging within her. Eyes closed and fists clenched in the bedding, she waited with baited breath for him to touch the one area that screamed for him to hurry.
Finally, after comitting every inch of flesh to his memory, he carefully spread the folds with his thumbs and gazed upon the core of Xena's femininity. Swollen with want & pulsing to feel his touch, he did not touch the silky wet crevice, only concentrating a warm stream of his breath on the ultra sensitive nub nesting at the top of her flesh.
Xena's cry seemed to echo as any coherent thoughts she had previously had disapeared, but before the cry dissolved in the air, he was sucking & licking the heated flesh, spreading her lips wide in an effort to taste as much of this incredible woman as possible. Xena's body bucked & thrashed uncontrollably as the pleasure mounted. She ached to return the touch, feel the muscled slabs of his chest against her breasts and the slim hips moving between her legs.
As if hearing her silent call, he moved from his position between her hips and raised his body until his face was directly before hers. He didn't relinquish her flesh though. His fingers had replaced his tongue and was now moving in slow circles around Xena's sensitive clit.
She moaned, low & long, and he took the opportunity to crush his lips to hers. Xena could taste the essence of herself there. Having his body within easy reach, Xena moved her hands down his flexing chest, over the rippling abdomen to the start of the hair curling at his groin. Hesitating, she twirled the hair between her fingers, but in warning, he nipped at her jaw.
Xena smiled sensuously & moved her hand down to his thick shaft. It reminded Xena of marble. Soft & delicate, but hard as stone beneath. It thrust into her hand forcefully, and she wrapped her fingers around as much of him as she could. He growled low in his throat as she explored her new toy, sliding up to the tip to rub the trace of semen, then sliding down, carrying the moisture with her to slicken his flesh lusciously. While one hand was occupied, the other explored his butt & hips, stopping when they found his balls resting between.
Gently, Xena rubbed & squeezed the two spheres, and the man on top of her, the man who had continued with his bout of pleasure, finally lost the last of his control. He reared back forefully, grasping Xena's arms and capturing her hands in one of his and thrusting them high over her head. With the other, he shoved her thighs apart and aimed his throbbing length for an assault on Xena's center.
With a mighty thrust, he pushed into Xena's body, sinking into her silken warmth until he came to a stop against her womb. She cried out at the sensation, feeling every vein pulse and flex inside her. They were both lost to rapture as he began thrusting his hips, rippling Xena's inner flesh and causing her to gasp and pant for air. Xena's hands were still caught & held by his high over her head, but that didn't stop her from showing him her pleasure. She rocked in time with his movements, making him gasp in exstacy.
The peak of pleasure was building for both of them. They could feel a golden glow envelope their frantic bodies, pouring physical and emotional feelings into every movement. Their cries of delight echoed in the silence of their minds, while the music of their bodies flowed in a timeless rhythm. He thrust harder, faster, trying to reach deeper than anyone had ever gone before, trying to reach her heart. He fondled her highly aroused breasts, and as suddenly as an explosion, a tidal wave inside Xena's body released itself in unbelievable proportions.
She screamed, bucking her hips toward his as her flesh rippled with the most amazing orgasm she had ever felt. Her body's pulsing triggered his own fulfillment, as he followed her into the dreamworld all lovers reach at their body's conclusion. Her hands suddenly free, Xena wrapped them around him and cried, "Hercules, by the gods, Hercules!"
With those first spoken words, Xena woke up. She way laying on the opposite side of the long dead fire, far from her lover of her dream. It seemed so REAL, Xena thought, as she sat up and ran her fingers thru her sleep tossled hair. Never have I experienced anything like that.
The pull of fate between her & Hercules had drawn a little tighter that night. Still silently musing over the dream she just had, Xena's mind automatically began to scan the interior of the cave.
She way nothing amiss at first glance, but a second look found the pallet she had made for Mellina empty. Shoving aside the pleasurable memory, Xena stood & began to search. Nothing. It was as if every trace of her had vanished.
"Mellina!" Xena called, but the only answer was her own voice echoing back through the cave.
"Xena? Is something wrong?"
Hercules asked as he awoke slightly groggy from his deep sleep. He had been having the most intense dream about female flesh... no, that's enough, he mentally chided himself. Time to concentrate on the problem at hand. Awaiting Xena's answer, Hercules sat up, careful to keep the jutting proof of his dreams hidden.
"Mellina's gone!"
Xena forcefully replied. Rarely had Hercles ever seen her this upset, and it was somewhat of a revelation for him. As if from a long distance, his memory flashed an image of brown and black haired children, smiling happily around Xena. When he came back to reality seconds later, Hercules found himself staring deeply into Xena's blue eyes.
"We'd better find her then. The god's only know what trouble she'll get into."
Xena agreed, and the two split up, with Hercules searching deeper into the forbidding blackness of the cave.
Xena exited the cave and began her search outside. As silent as possible, Xena drew her sword. A girl can't be too careful nowadays, Xena humorously thought to herself as she began moving silently from shadow to shadow, investigating each area before she moved on.
Not a single footprint or crushed area of grass showed the direction the little girls flight had taken. Obviously, Mellina hadn't left the cave. Hopefully, she mused, Hercules will find her. The subtle reminder of her dream lover once again awakened the hidden nerves Xena had tamed upon waking. She could feel the blood pulsing faster in her veins as memories of the torrid dream filled her every thought.
Oddly, the images hadn't faded, like most dreams do after a short time. No, this was almost like a personal experience. Real. It felt real, Xena decided. Too real to simply be a dream. Like everyone during puberty, Xena had also experienced the surge of sexual hormones at night. But she had learned to control the feelings.
But this! This was unlike any dream she had ever had before. Her footsteps continued onward, dazed but still moving. Xena's thoughts consumed her, and she was quite startled to suddenly find herself atop the mountain where the cave was nestled below.
Coming out of her trance, Xena noticed the moon, larger and brighter than she had ever seen it. The skies were clear, deceptive by the brisk wind that blew her long, black hair away from her in a colorless cloud. Turning, she saw a sight unlike any other.
Unseen by any other eyes, at night or by day, was a temple. She knew instantly that human eyes had never desicrated it's purity before. Twelve gleaming pillars of gold and white marble rose magestically overhead, resting on a dias of more beautifully gold veined marble. the moon showed thru the pillars, creating twelve equal shadows of various positions, interlocking light spear with dark. At the center, seated on a raised altar, was Mellina.
She looked unworldly, her little girls face and intense eyes staring directly at Xena. While the wind twisted and tossed Xena's long locks everywhere, Mellina's hair stirred not at all. Suddenly, boiling clouds surrounded the mountain. Thunder bolts clashed in bright chaos all around the unmoving Xena. Gentle words, spoken from the center of the marble temple, cut through the atmosphere and released Xena from the spell holding her.
"Come in from the storm, please."
Unhesitatingly, Xena moved, not seeing the lightning that struck the earth with every previous step she took. Xena found herself standing before Mellina, silent as if she lost the ability to talk. Inside the pillars, the sky was once again clear, with no breeze, and moonlight gently casting it's glow on Mellina's face. Xena's mind cried out to ask the little girl why she had left the cave, but the words wouldn't come.
Instead, Xena stood unmoving, awaiting what, she did not know.
"Time is counting, warrior princess. See the hands of fate moving towards your destiny?"
A small hand pointed to the pillars, and Xena saw them begin to spin in different directions. The shadows spun left while the columns of white spun right. Xena, caught in the middle, began to feel the pull of them in her body.
"The shadows move back to your past, returning to the evil you have comitted. The pillars move to your future, bright with their promise. These are the paths of your life. Destiny had once given you the chance to change your fate, but you choose unwisely. Soon you will once again find yourself at a crossroads. But the choice of your fate will not be directly your own. Another, to whom both your lives are linked, will control the outcome. That person's decision will define not only their own life path, but yours,and many others, as well."
Mellina's arm swept wide in an encompassing arc.
"Once the choice is made, your future will be like these columns. You now stand at the center of life. The dark shadows is possibly your future. With the wrong decision, you will return to the darkness of evil, moving unerringly back from your evolution to the bitter warrior, anxious to conquer and kill. You would cause widespread misery every day, and by night, you would be haunted by both the dead and the living."
Xena followed Mellina's pointed fingers and looked into the spinning ring of dark time. Every word the child spoke sumoned a vision of her nightmare. Mellina's cryptic words suddenly had meaning with those visions.
Xena's dream had been about her trying to help people, but more died even as she helped another. The image was now clear. For every person she helped, she would end up killing many more. If she tried to run, they would only chase her down until nothing was left of the good Xena. Images wavered in front of her mind, of stragers and friends, allies and enemies both falling to her indiscriminate sword. Life held no meaning. The Xena of the visions sought out the greatest danger in an attempt to end her own pain, until she was successful.
The culmination of the darkness was a blaze of light, coming from a funeral pyre that celebrating villagers danced around in joy of her death. Her spirit, that indominable part of every person, was trapped therafter in a hell of her own making, never to be reborn.
The image ended, and Xena directed her attention back to the child that was in control.
"Now, the white columns may also hold your future. Look deeply and see your true destiny."
Unusually complacent, Xena gazed into the spinning colunm of white, in direct opposite from the shadows.
A scene Xena had only imagined in her wildest fantasies appeared. She was sitting in a meadow, surrounded by wild flowers and sunlight. Peace dominated the atmosphere, and the physical Xena felt it intensely. She also felt the other Xena's contentment, as if the rippling waters of Xenas psychological lake had finally stilled.
Within a blink, the other Xena was surrounded by children, all with dark brown or black hair and intense blue eyes. In her arms was a baby. Small and delicate, it looked up at Xena with trusting, innocent eyes. Eyes of a child for it's mother.
If the real Xena could have moved, she would have staggered from the power of the emotions boiling in her. But she couldn't, so she continued to watch the scene before her.
All of the children came forward in love and called her mother. The group grew unil children of all colors mixed with the others, all surrounding Xena with their energized spirit. Then, in another blink, the children were gone.
Xena was left holding the tiny baby gently in her arms. A shadow moved in and blocked the sunlight, making Xena gaze up into the face of the father of her children. His long, chestnut hair blew carelessly as he gazed down at his child nursing at Xena's breast. A hand, strong and calloused, stretched down to her in silent inquiry. Without hesitation, she took it and rose to her feet.
The two stood side by side watching an approaching figure. Gradually, the features became clearer as the person moved closer. The baby in her arms disappeared and Xena concentrated on the approaching image until the face was clear.
It was Mellina, only much older and grown up. She moved gracefully towards the couple and with the last few feet, darted swiftly into Xena's arms. My daughter, Xena knew. My first born daughter.
Tears welled in the imagined Xena's eyes as she released Mellina to her fathers embrace. Mentally stepping backwards, Xena finally notices three other figures that had appeared silently.
The woman, a striking figure in a blue robe and strawberry blonde hair, smiled warmly. Gabrielle. The other two, men Xena didn't know at first, stood at Gabrielle's sides. Insight suddenly flashed. Gabrielle's husband and son. A young princeling, from the looks, Xena decided. He smiled winningly and Xena watched as Mellina drifted to his side.
They were to be married. Knowledge leapt into Xena's mind as the images changed yet again. She saw herself and her husband, gazing upon their daughters wedding, the birth of their first grandchild, and the end to many long standing wars that child's birth brought about.
It was a peace that wouldn't be broken for thousands of years. And continuously, Xena and Gabrielle's decendants would be born, spreading constantly across the face of the world, help bring about peace in the world they live in, and die happily from old age.
A dynasty of peace for the future, affecting millions of lives. Yet, time and again, Xena and Gabrielle would be reborn in their decendants, during times of anguish, to help re-establish the peace they had begun. Again the visions faded, and Xena's eyes focused on Mellina once again.
"Only if the right choice is made will this come true. And only in the distant future. It is not yet time for you to forgive yourself. You will wander a long time before this destiny is fulfilled. You must finish atonement before healing will begin. But now is the time of judgement. You must help your fate remember the correct path. If you do not, all will be lost. Goodbye mother. I hope to see you and father again some day."
Mellina's physical body started fading into mist, along with the white temple of pillars. Ghostly words echoed over the mountain top.
"I love you." whispered like a dream. Or was it a dream?
Crashing brush sounded the arrival of Hercules. He stopped short of charging into the clearing, while his beloved features echoed to Xena of dormant emotions.
"Did you find Mellina?" he asked.
"Yes. She's gone."
"How? Where did she go?"
The images in her mind faded away to a curious blur.
"I don't know."
