Servant Girl Author: Gayla Feedback: gaylarain@yahoo.com This is a what if story. What if Xena had immediately chosen to stay a warrior and fight to protect people and that she wouldn't go home until she had redeemed herself? However it is mostly about what would have happened to Gabrielle when Xena wasn't there to rescue her from Draco. Here is one possibility. Disclaimer: I don't own them. However I here there going to be on the market pretty soon so maybe you can get them then. Archive: Anybody. Just keep my name with it and tell me if you get it. Gabrielle tried to keep the other village women calm and for the most part managed it. She told them stories of anything and everything to keep their minds off of where they were but occasionally you could hear one or two weeping. If truth were told she was probably as scared as the rest and more uncertain about what would happen to them. Their captors had not said anything to them and Gabrielle was afraid that they hadn't decided what to do yet. She had the hope that the village men would come back early from the hunt and come to free them, and the worry that if they did they would all be killed in the attempt. She tried to keep everyone's hopes up for rescue without sharing the worry. "Draco, why haven't you given the village women to the men yet? That's usually the first thing you do to teach them their new place in life." Asked Tozan one of Draco's lieutenants. "I'll tell you why. We have been having quite a good run lately and I think it's time we pay a tribute to Ares." Draco replied smugly. Tozan looked at Draco in astonishment. "You have never given him tribute before! You have always said you didn't need the God of War to be a Warlord." "That is why I am paying him a tribute now. He won't feel I am slighting him and ruin our good run. If we continue this way for a few more years we can retire to run our own personal kingdoms. Live the pampered, no more sleeping in tents and always being on the move." Draco paused obviously fantasizing this perfect life. "That is more than enough reason to give up one measly slave." "So which one are you going to give him?" Tozan asked, having been eyeing one or two for his own pleasure. "It has to be one of the virgins since, after all, we can't give the God of War spoiled goods. However I haven't decided yet so I can't give them to the men. I will make my choice in the morning and take her to Ares closest temple before dawn. Making the girl a dawn sacrifice, so to speak. The man can have whichever women I leave." Tozan recognized the order to leave and bowed as he exited. "As you say Lord Draco." The next morning as Draco walked over to the cage holding the women he evaluated what he saw in the firelight. He saw a young blond girl moving from woman to woman offering comfort. The blond was the first to see him coming and roused the other women. "Married women to one side single to the other." Draco barked out fully expecting them to rush to obey. When they did not he was surprised. Especially as he saw they looked to see what the blond did first, and she was not moving. "Why?" Was all she asked. "Because I said so." Draco replied, he continued with a leer on his face. "If you want further reason, it is to find out which of you are virgins. Virgins fetch more on the market. If you disobey me on this I will have one woman beaten to death for every hour you refuse to comply." Draco spoke as if he was addressing all of the women but Gabrielle knew he was talking specifically to her. Gabrielle turned to her fellow captives. "Go ahead. Follow his orders, try to avoid whatever punishments you can." The women shifted, with Gabrielle moving to stand beside her sister on the single women's side. Truthfully Draco had already made his choice even before they split sides. Ordinarily he would take the rebellious slave on personally and teach her respect for her owner. However he had an out in this case. He could hand his problem slave over to Ares and let him deal with her. He called her forward, "You girl, the one who questioned me. Come here." He opened the cage door and motioned her out. He shut the door and held onto her as one of his soldiers put manacles on her. The women in the cage heard him say to her as he led her off, "I have special plans for you." Draco had scarcely been gone an hour and the sun was slowly rising when the attack came. The men of the village had come to get their women back. Draco's men were overconfident and the sentries were sleeping on duty. The Poteidaian men were already well into the camp before any warning cry was given. Without Draco there to lead them they were unable to competently recover from the surprise attack and all of Draco's soldiers were wiped out. The village men retrieved their women and kept Draco's spoils as their own. Everyone was saddened to learn that they had lost Gabrielle but there was no way to track her and they didn't have any clues as to where Draco had taken her. After they were back home in Poteidaia the wives and daughters who had been captured let their men know how courageous Gabrielle was and how she kept them together. It was unanimously decided to give Horace and Hecuba a larger portion of Draco's treasure as a way to say thank you, and to show their sympathy. Draco had Gabrielle in front of him on his horse. "I suppose your wondering where I'm taking you. Well you can relax, I am not taking you to a potential buyer." Instead of relaxing Gabrielle stiffened more as she caught the obvious hole in his logic. If he isn't taking her to be sold where was he taking her and what was he going to do with her? It was hard for even her imagination to think up horrible things that he could be going to do to her. After all most of those he could have done back at the camp. Her curiosity had always been one of her larger character traits and it liked to get her in trouble. Like now. Although still afraid her curiosity demanded she ask. "What are you going to do with me?" Draco laughed. "I was expecting that question when we first got on the horse. You held out longer than I thought you would, and as a reward I am going to tell you. I am giving you to the God of War." Draco held her tighter as if expecting her to fight, but she was too shocked to fight. "It's good to know you can be sensible sometimes. You might want to remember not to fight the God of War. He can do a lot worse to you than I can. We're here anyway." At this point Gabrielle would have fought to get away if she thought it would do any good. Instead she decided to save her energy, she would probably need it later. She looked to see where they were and she saw an extremely run down temple. Draco decided to make an impressive entrance and swung her to dangle over his shoulder. He strode into the empty main chamber. It looked as if no one had used it in months. He carried her over to the main altar and set her down. He reached into his belt and retrieved the key to her manacles. He unlocked them only long enough to wrap them through an iron loop on the side of the altar. He said simply, "My Lord Ares I give you this tribute of an untouched slave. She is yours to do with as you wish." He then turned and walked out the door shutting it behind him. Gabrielle was too overwhelmed to protest this treatment by Draco. Until she realized she was chained to an altar to Ares in an unused temple. She started tugging at her chains testing their strength and the amount of movement they aloud her. It wasn't much. Because of the way Draco had chained her, the most comfortable position was laying down in a rather provocative pose. "Great now I'll either starve to death or Ares will come and I'll suffer a fate worse than death." Gabrielle muttered sarcastically. "Oh, Please. Don't give me all that blushing virgin crap." Ares said irritably, startling Gabrielle. He had appeared behind her so she had to crane her head around and look at him upside down. Needless to say this wasn't the most comfortable position and did not make the greatest impression of intelligence on her part. Embarrassed by her gracelessness Gabrielle retorted waspishly, "So I take it unless you leave me here, starving to death is off the list of options? And come around in front of me. I can't exactly turn to face you chained like this can I?" Gabrielle heard a snap and then her chains were gone. "Better?" Ares asked. Gabrielle immediately sat up and faced him while rubbing at her wrists. "Better. I'm sorry I snapped at you this hasn't been a great day for me, what with being made a slave and everything." Gabrielle offered in apology. She hoped to smooth things over, as this wasn't exactly someone she wanted angry with her. Ares sat down on his throne facing Gabrielle. They stared at each other for a few minutes in silence before Ares spoke up and asked his most pressing question. "What am I supposed to do with you?" "Well, since I take it raping me isn't in your plans?" At Ares agreement she went on. "You could let me go." "I can't do that your tribute. I can't have everybody thinking I'll just let my tribute go. It would cause havoc. Not to mention the other gods would think I've gone soft." Ares paused before continuing with a different line of thought. "Why is it that warlords give me slaves as tribute. Slaves are of absolutely no value to me. I'm a god for crying out loud." "Well if that wasn't a rhetorical question, may I ask if all of the slaves you're given are young and female?" Gabrielle asked quietly. "Sure and for the most part virgins. What would I want with whimpering, whining virgins? Give me a woman of experience any day." Ares asked. He truly did not understand the reasoning behind the warlords' actions. "Well most men see you as the ultimate virile male. They think that like any virile male you would enjoy, er, conquering unexplored territory." Gabrielle began blushing and hoping he wouldn't ask for further detail. She hurried to change the subject. "What do you usually do with your 'tribute'?" "Well ordinarily I put them to work as servants at one of my temples and eventually marry them off to warriors who think they are privileged to marry a servant of Ares." Ares began to look slightly uncomfortable. "However I can't do that with you." Gabrielle immediately began to get upset. "Why not? Why am I different from the rest? What are you going to do with me if not that?" "I can't let you be seen by anyone. Draco brought you here as tribute so I wouldn't turn against him. Unfortunately he left it a little too long. His entire camp was just wiped out by your men folk. If anyone sees you and begins to ask questions they won't see it as my taking offense at someone not giving me my due. They will see it as me turning against one of my warlords." Gabrielle paled. "Are you going to kill me?" "No, I need you as proof to Draco that I accepted his tribute. I will go to him and tell him that I had his camp wiped out as a warning not to go so long between tribute. I will also tell him not to leave me slaves as tribute. They're more trouble than they're worth." "Then what are you going to do with me?" Gabrielle asked fearfully. Ares looked around searching for an answer, and found one. "This temple hasn't been used in years. I don't know why Draco used it. However this is where I come when I don't want to be bothered by my priests or my family. You clean it up and keep it cleaned and ready for me. I will give you everything you need and it will stay stocked with whatever you want. You will be my personal servant. That means you will do what I want when I want." Ares tipped her face up to look her in the eye. "Is that clear?" Gabrielle nodded and told him, "Clear." Ares set his hand on the top of her head. Gabrielle felt her body shiver as a cold sensation ran through her body and then turned warm making her feel that she must be glowing. "You can't leave the temple grounds so don't try. If you have need of me call I will hear you." With those parting words Ares left in a flash of light and smoke. Gabrielle was left to ponder how much her life had changed in less than a day. She was captured at noon the day before and hadn't eaten or slept since then. She made the decision to see to her own needs, before tackling the huge project that the god of war had left her. "He never even asked my name." Ares found Draco in the ruins of his camp. He appeared standing beside him. "It's a shame isn't it? Nice army like that one gone, all in the space of a few hours. Of course it didn't take that long to happen. They were wiped out in the space of a few minutes." Draco turned to him furious. "How did this happen? My army was well trained. Who could have taken them so quickly?" "Why villagers of course, coming to take back their women." Ares said carelessly. At Draco's incredulous look Ares smiled. "Of course they couldn't have done it without my help. Next time don't wait so long to pay me tribute. You can also do better than to give me a slave. All slaves do is clutter up my temple. Don't worry you'll get an even better army now that you have experience being a leader." Ares started to walk away before turning for one last comment. "That village you attacked? That's under my protection now. You try for revenge and you will be wishing you had been here too." Gabrielle was muttering to herself as she cleaned. "I can't believe this. It's like one of my stories. Not even one of the adventures, no this is like one where the moral is the driving force for the story. Unfortunately for me I don't know what that moral is yet. Hard work is good for the soul? I need to learn humility? The fates are laughing their heads off at me?" Gabrielle decided to clean the cobwebs out of the corners of the ceiling. "I'm going to need a ladder." One appeared in the closest corner. Gabrielle closed her eyes and sighed. "I wonder if I will ever get used to that." The bedroom of her dreams had been a surprise until she realized that was what she had been wanting, so it was given to her. Now she is just glad it was clean so it was one less thing for her to do. She was pleasantly surprised to find that all the temple really needed was a good spring-cleaning and then it would be much easier to keep it neat and clean. Over the course of cleaning the temple Gabrielle learned that wanting is an extremely broad term. A lot like wishing. She became adept at manipulating her surroundings simply by wanting it so. If she wanted a table cleaned it was so if she wanted it moved two feet it was so. She also learned that being given everything she wants did not extend to Ares wing of the temple. That had to be cleaned by hand. Fortunately it was not as bad as the rest of the temple, due to Ares constant use of it. After making sure the temple was as clean and nice as she could get it, as well as one or two makeovers. She decided to see what constituted the temple grounds so she knew where she could go outside. In the front of the temple she walked up to the nearest road which was past a line of trees obscuring the temple from view. She found that she could walk up to the road but not onto it. It was like walking into a brick wall. She sat on the ground stunned for a moment before getting up and putting a hand out to touch the 'wall'. She began to walk beside the 'wall' with one hand on it. She traced the temple grounds, memorizing land marks so she would be sure not to bump into the 'wall' again. The temple stretched over a fair piece of land and she immediately started planning a garden for behind the temple. She stayed out side for several hours just enjoying the beautiful day. She returned to the temple building as it grew dark. She entered through the main doors and lit the wall torches. "You've gotten quite good at that haven't you?" Ares said from his seat on his throne. Gabrielle jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to face him. "You startled me. I hadn't realized you were here." Then as she remembered what her job was: "Is there something I can do for you Lord Ares?" When he didn't speak she became nervous. When Gabrielle is nervous she tends to talk. "Is that not the right form of address? I'll call you whatever you wish have I done something wrong?" Gabrielle resolved not to say anything else until he spoke. That intention lasted ten seconds as he continued to stare at her. "Can I "Enough! You tried to leave." Ares stated. Gabrielle's relief showed on her face. "I thought you were angry about something worse. I didn't try to leave I was just seeing what the temple grounds encompassed. I wanted to know how far I could stroll in any given direction. You told me I can't leave the temple grounds and not to try. So I won't try." Gabrielle took in a deep breath to continue but Ares cut her off. "Alright I believe you. Shut up already. I want a bath drawn in my quarters as well as a meal and a massage. Bath first, then the massage, then the meal. Got it?" Ares asked while looking her in the eye, warning her he wouldn't take any more babbling. "Got it." Gabrielle said before hurrying to his quarters. As she drew his bath she thanked every god she could think of that she had taken the time to learn how everything worked. When the bath was ready she rushed to the main room to tell Ares. Ares stood as she entered the room. "Go prepare a meal for me. I will call you when I'm ready for my massage. "Just wonderful a war god in a bad mood, and I don't know how to give a massage." Gabrielle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ok, I really want a scroll with instructions on how to give a massage." One appeared in her hand. The Basic Massage Techniques the scroll read. "Good I can only handle basic right now. However I will be doing a lot of studying of the various things he may ask me to do as his personal servant in the next few days." Gabrielle sat down to read the scroll. Gabrielle was still studying the scroll intently when she heard Ares call out. "Girl! I'm ready for my massage." "Here we go." Gabrielle muttered to herself as she headed toward Ares room. As she entered she blushed bright red as she saw Ares laying face down on his bed naked as the day he was born. Ares turned his head to face her and saw her face. "Sigh. I had almost forgotten your blushing virgin status. Well don't worry girl I don't have any designs on your body and you might as well get used to the sight. This will be a regular part of your duties." Gabrielle swallowed hard as she made her way to Ares bed. His bed was huge and he was in the middle of it. The only way she was going to be able to reach him was to climb onto it with him. She climbed up beside him slowly and settled kneeling by his side. She slowly worked up her courage and reached out to touch him. She had just barely touched him only to jump back as Ares spoke. "Get on with it I'm not made of glass. I won't break." Gabrielle was so embarrassed she forgot herself and snapped back at him. "I realize that! I've just never done this before." "I told you I'm not expecting you to give yourself to me I just want a massage." Ares said in exasperation. "Well I've never given anybody a massage before so I'm nervous." Gabrielle said trying to defend herself. "Why didn't you say so? Never mind. Just start doing what you think is right I'll talk you through it as we go along." Ares said as he lay back down. "Alright." Gabrielle decided to try and follow the scroll's directions and whatever Ares told her to do. Surprisingly this worked rather well. With what she had read from the scrolls and a little coaching from Ares as to what he liked she did quite well. "I think you've got it now just keep doing what you're doing now." Ares declared wanting to relax fully into the massage. Gabrielle spoke up hesitantly. "I do better if I talk. Do you mind if I tell a story as I work?" "Whatever, just not too loud." And that is how one of their first traditions came about. Ares became engrossed in the story and always after that when Gabrielle gave him a massage a story went with it. Several weeks past with Gabrielle growing used to many things. One of which was seeing Ares naked body. Apparently when he was in his room he was always an encumbered by clothes. Since many of her duties were accomplished in his room it became something of a familiar if always breathtaking sight. Her duties expanded as time went by and she learned more. One duty, which was not always called upon, was to bath Ares. Although seldom called for when she did bath Ares it had an almost ritualistic feel. She desired to be the best servant Ares could hope for. She had no other purpose for which she could live. So she vowed to herself to learn everything she could to be the best companion for Ares she could be. It was something she had learned as a child. Whatever you endeavor always give it your best. Being Ares servant may not have been what she set out to be, but she would give it her best. The first thing she set out to learn was the more advanced techniques of massage. As she learned more she became enthralled with the body and how it worked. As she learned new techniques she would practice them on Ares. She found the body's pressure points fascinating and experimented with them quite a bit until Ares all but banned her from them. Apparently a few of them were quite painful. She was quite curious about many things and so Ares gifted her with a library from which she could learn all the things she wanted to learn. Probably one of the most surprising parts of their arrangement was that even though Gabrielle fulfilled all of her duties, Ares allowed her to talk to him as if he was her equal. Even more surprising, that was how he talked to her. She experienced Ares uncertain temper more than once. He would sometimes show up in a rage and trash various rooms in the temple. Her library was accepted as off-limits for these rampages. However Gabrielle quickly learned to adapt and for the most part could sooth his temper. It was one of Ares rages that caused a profound change in the routine they had come to. It had been three months since she became Ares servant. Ares had still never asked her name. They were in the main hall of the temple and Ares was throwing everything he could get his hands on. Gabrielle had long since given up trying to avert his temper and was now trying to ride it out. Unfortunately she was trapped without a way out of the room. Ares picked up a wine cup from his altar and threw it blindly not caring where it hit. Gabrielle saw it coming and tried to dodge, but she was too slow and it glanced off the side of her head. Surprisingly Ares immediately stopped his rampage and came and lifted her from the floor where she fell and carried her over to his altar and sat her there facing him. Ares put his hand to her head and she felt the cold followed by warmth that she had felt when Ares first laid a spell on her. The pain of the blow faded until it was gone and she knew he had healed her. She looked up at him. Ares was frowning. "You could have avoided that girl. Your reflexes are too slow." The next day Ares began training her as a warrior. Ares created yet another room in the temple. This one was rather large and dedicated to her training. "Alright, obviously you have never had any type of physical training at all. That means I will mold your abilities from the ground up. We will start with hand to hand fighting techniques. Don't be fooled when I say start with hand to hand I mean that you will be an expert at using your body as a fighting tool before you will ever pick up a weapon." "Ares I don't want to learn to kill people." Gabrielle stated unequivocally. Ares eyes narrowed before he smiled smugly. "Girl by the time I am through you will be so good you won't have to kill anybody to defeat an opponent. Besides the words 'she is yours to do with as you wish' comes to mind. I can do with you whatever I wish. If I wish to teach you how to fight I will teach you how to fight." Gabrielle narrowed her own eyes as she replied. "Fine I will learn everything you chose to teach me. However I will chose how I use those skills." From that point on Gabrielle's training became a battle of wills. Over the next few weeks Gabrielle gradually became extremely adept at dodging anything Ares threw at her. Whether it was for training or one of his rages. The causes of these periodic fits of anger were a mystery to Gabrielle, since he refused to talk about it. That was in itself a mystery since he had taken at the very beginning to talking all of his plans out with her. She had gotten very good at spotting holes in his battle strategies and plots. The reason for his fits of rage was cleared up two months after she began her warrior training. Ares showed up in her room while she was taking her bath. He had never been into her room before. It had always been her sanctuary. His reasoning was soon clear. "I have brought a 'guest' to stay for a while. You will give her whatever she needs but she is not to be allowed to leave the room she is in. Do not go into her room. You can watch her from the mirror hanging in the main hall. She is a project I am working on and she may be here awhile." Ares paused as he looked around the room. "Nice, not exactly to my tastes but nice. It's classy." Gabrielle laughed. "No, I don't see you as a pastel or white person. I will see to it that she has everything she needs. Will there be anything else?" Ares turned back to face her. "Yes, today's training will have to be put off for a few hours I have a meeting on Olympus that I have to attend." Gabrielle spent the next few days in the main hall for the most part to be certain the 'guest' had everything she needed. Her curiosity about the woman in the mirror grew. Ares hadn't included sound as one of the mirror's features but she hardly needed it as she had learned to read lips as a child. For anyone as curious as her it was a necessity for knowing what all the grownups didn't want her to hear. She watched as Ares confronted the woman. From what she could tell the woman was once one of Ares warriors and no longer wanted to be one. She kept refusing Ares and Ares kept getting angry. Every time she got to him he would leave her room and vent his anger in the training room. Gabrielle could tell that the woman was desperately trying to escape. She could tell that Ares was holding a good woman against her will, and she was going to have to help her escape. No matter what Ares would do to her when he found out. She planned to help Ares' prisoner after he had left for one of his more important campaigns. She had to wait three days before she had the opportunity she was looking for. Gabrielle hurried to where she knew the woman's room to be and wanted a door to appear. As soon as it did she opened the door and prepared to go in. She looked around but the woman was no where in sight. Had Ares moved her? She entered the room. Gabrielle's instincts were the only warning she was given before she was attacked. She had managed to turn around, so as the woman landed on her Gabrielle fell back and used her feet to toss her across the room. Gabrielle was quickly back on her feet and in a defensive position although she was quick to speak up. "Wait I'm here to help you get away." The woman held her attack. "Why should I believe you?" "There's the door you can leave now if you want." Gabrielle responded. The woman moved in that direction as Gabrielle backed away from the door. "Why are you doing this? And who are you?" "I am doing this because you are a good person and Ares shouldn't be holding you against your will. As for who I am, I am Ares personal servant." "You don't have to be! Come with me. I can protect you from Ares." The woman said earnestly. Gabrielle laughed. "Like you protect yourself from Ares?" Gabrielle asked sarcastically. "I didn't think he would try anything like this. Now that I know better I can guard against it." The woman spoke fiercely. Gabrielle frowned. "It doesn't matter I can't leave the temple grounds. You had better leave. I don't know when Ares will be back, but you had better be long gone by then." "I can't just leave you here for Ares to punish." Gabrielle shook her head. "He'll be angry but he won't do anything permanent. He never does." "Alright I'll go for now but I will be back to free you." The woman promised. Gabrielle began walking forward trying to get the woman to leave. "Don't bother I am Ares servant. I will be fine, just leave." The woman just nodded once and then ran toward the main hall. Gabrielle followed at a slower pace. Once in the main hall she sat down on Ares altar to wait for his return. Gabrielle waited for three hours before Ares returned. Gabrielle had kept the mirror on and she watched as Ares went there first. Ares appeared right in front of her. Closer than she was expecting and he growled into her face. "Where is she?" Gabrielle had become something of an expert on Ares levels of anger, and right now he was nowhere near as angry as he should be. "I let her go." Ares straightened. He wasn't expecting her to tell him right off. "What do you mean, you let her go? You just took it upon yourself to let one of my prisoners go?" "Yes, and if you really want to know I did you a favor." Gabrielle sat up straight and did not give in one inch. "How was it doing me a favor girl?" Ares demanded. "You weren't getting anywhere with her and she wasn't getting anywhere with you. You were deadlocked and you had trapped yourself in a corner. You couldn't let her go without seeming to lose and you no longer wanted her here." Gabrielle answered. "I was playing a waiting game with her." Ares blustered. "You were not! Just admit it Ares. She got the better of you, and judging from your temper, I would say not for the first time." Gabrielle challenged. "Alright yes, I've been having a tough time with her since shortly after you got here." Ares was angered to have to admit it. Gabrielle sighed. "Come here Ares. Sit down and tell me about it and maybe I can give you some advice." Ares went and sat in his throne and Gabrielle turned to face him. It was there customary places for these types of talks. Ares cleared his throat as he began. "Her name is Xena. She used to be one of my greatest warriors." Gabrielle interrupted. "I'll say. That was the Warrior Princess you had in that room? It's a wonder I survived letting her out." Ares glared at her for the interruption. "Anyway something happened to change her and she fell for my brother Hercules. He has her doing this hero to mankind thing now. It's disgusting! She destroyed her army before leaving and now she travels by herself protecting villages and the like. Unless she's traveling with Hercules and his annoying little friend!" "Ares it sounds as if she's a lost cause. If I were you I'd stop trying to get her back. Instead you can think of ways to make her life difficult like you do Hercules. Give them both the same treatment." "That is a good idea! Trying to get her back is more work than one warlord is worth. There will always be other warlords. Finding worthy opponents for those warlords is much harder, and Xena added herself to the list." Gabrielle could tell Ares was back on an even keel. He was already planning things designed to torment Xena. From what she could tell Xena could take care of herself, and at least she had gotten him to stop trying to get her back. Two days later Ares was in the middle of showing her a throw technique when he left abruptly. Gabrielle rubbed one of her bruises as she got up from where she was thrown. "Must have been called." She thought no more about it as she went out to check on her garden. Ares wasn't as lucky. He was being called to one of his temples about a day and a half away by his brother and Xena. "What now? I haven't done anything to either of you in two days and I'm not running anything in this area so you can leave me alone now. Go ahead run along." Hercules wasn't about to be dismissed. "We've come because we want you to release one of your servants. The one who helped Xena escape. If she's still alive." "Why would I want to do that? She is my servant and she will stay with me. You have no say in the matter. You can't just demand I release my servants. I don't let go of them even when they wish it. So get over it." Xena spoke up for the first time. "We will not get over it. I want that girl free and I am willing to do everything I can to see it happen." Ares began to frown. "What do you care about the girl anyway? You only spoke to her for a moment. It was only a moment wasn't it?" Ares eyes narrowed. "Did she talk to you before she released you?" "No she didn't. I nearly knocked the girl out before she told me she was releasing me. What is her name anyway? I can't keep calling her 'the girl'." Xena asked in exasperation. "Sure you can, I do it all the time." Ares quickly replied. Hercules was suspicious of his quick reply. "Why don't you want to tell us her name? It's part of one of your plots isn't it? I don't know how but it has to be. Tell us Ares. We won't give up until you do." Ares glowered at them but knew Hercules told the truth. They wouldn't give up until he told. "I can't tell you." "Can't or won't?" Xena asked menacingly. Ares growled before replying. "I can't, because I don't know it." "You don't know it? You're a god and you don't know your own servants name?" Xena asked incredulously. "Yeah well, I've never asked her and she never volunteered the information." Ares answered sullenly. Xena and Hercules didn't quite know how to take that information so they got back to the reason they were confronting him in the first place. Hercules decided to offer a compromise. "If you won't release her we want to see her to make sure she isn't being mistreated." Ares snarled at him, "I don't mistreat her!" "I'm sure you'll understand if we want to see for ourselves." Xena purred dangerously. "Fine," Ares conceded. "If you want to see her you can walk to the temple I held Xena at. She is always there." Ares started to leave but Hercules grabbed his arm. "I don't think so. You would have over a day to heal any of her wounds. You will take us to her now." Hercules stated absolutely. "Fine you see her, you determine for yourselves that I treat her fairly and then you leave." Ares stated with equal strength. They arrived in the main room of the temple. Gabrielle was nowhere to be seen. "I thought you were taking us to her?" Xena questioned ominously. "I have. She's here but I didn't want your presence to startle her. I'll call her now. Girl! She'll come now." Ares stated smugly as he moved to sit on his throne. Xena narrowed her eyes. "I can tell you right now that will change." "What will change?" Ares asked in an unconvincingly innocent manner. "You will call her by her name or I will use the rest of my mortal life to make your godhood excessively uncomfortable. You will also treat her with respect." Ares seemed amused by her threats. "Whatever you say Xena." Xena looked at him closely before following Hercules as he took a closer look at the room's furnishings. "Xena this is strange." Hercules pointed out. "You mean how on the surface it looks like one of Ares temples but you look closer and you see definite refinement in the décor? Yeah I noticed it too. Now that I think about it the room I was kept in had a great deal more class than Ares usual flashy style." Hercules and Xena were in the corner examining a small tapestry when a small whirlwind burst through the main doors. All they could do is watch in shock at what they saw. "Hey Ares, sorry it took me so long but I was out in the back woods watching the squirrels prepare for winter. It's the funniest thing to watch." A bowl of fruit appeared on one of the tables and as she passed she grabbed an apple and began to eat it between sentences. She quickly walked towards Ares before sitting on her customary place on the altar. "You should have seen this one squirrel. I was sitting there enjoying the day when this squirrel comes running down out of this tree. He looks all around for other squirrels and starts to bury this nut. He just gets finished burying the nut when this other squirrel comes out of nowhere and tackles him. They start to chase each other all over the clearing. They get too close to another squirrel and drag him into the fight. The funniest thing is that while all this is happening, a fourth squirrel runs up digs up the nut and takes off with it. The first squirrel never saw a thing!" By the end of the story the apple was gone, Ares was laughing, and Hercules and Xena were stunned speechless. Ares slowly stopped laughing. "That was a good one. Did that really happen or did you make it up?" "It was true! Would I lie to you?" Gabrielle asked mischievously. "In a heartbeat. Besides it sounds like one of your stories where the moral is the only reason for the story." "Really? Then what was the moral of the story?" Gabrielle dared. "Avoid being distracted?" Ares guessed. Gabrielle laughed. "Now I have another moral story I can tell and it's all thanks to the God of War." "Speaking of distraction. You've been so distracted you haven't even noticed our guests." Ares teased her. "What guests? You didn't bring any other prisoners here did you? I would have thought you would have learned your lesson the last time." Gabrielle teased back. "No I brought some people concerned for your welfare." Ares said as he gestured for her to turn around. She did and she was amazed to see Xena and some man she didn't know. "Xena! I wasn't expecting to see you again. Who do you have with you?" Ares responded for her. "That little girl, is my little brother Hercules." Hercules stepped forward to shake her hand. "Yes I'm Hercules, and your name is?" "My name? You can call me girl." Gabrielle said seriously. Ares looked irritated. "Just tell them your name." Gabrielle turned to face him. "No." "What do you mean no? Just tell them your name so they can ask the rest of their questions and leave." Ares told her as he leaned into her space. Gabrielle didn't move one inch other than to fold her arms in front of her. "No I won't. I am not going to tell anyone my name until you give me a good reason to. You haven't seemed interested in learning my name before so I'm not going to let you know now." Ares and Gabrielle stared at each other until they heard a muffled sound to the side. They turned and saw Hercules and Xena trying to stifle their laughter. Hercules managed to control his laughter long enough to make their good byes. "That's all right Ares, I think we've found out everything that we came to learn. We'll stop by for a visit in a couple of months maybe you'll have the name situation under control by then." Gabrielle spoke up after they left. "See it's not an issue. They don't really want to know so you can let it drop now." "I don't think so. I know everything else there is to know about you except your name. I know your parents your sister and practically your whole village by names but not you. I even know about your extra toe. Why won't you tell me?" Ares asked in exasperation. "Because you never bothered to find out before. I won't tell you simply because someone else brought it up." Gabrielle said trying to be reasonable. "I will find out. You know how stubborn I am. I won't rest until I find out what your name is." Ares said firmly. Gabrielle walked over to her seat on the altar and thought over the situation. After a few minutes had passed she looked up at Ares on his throne. "I have a deal to offer you. For one year we continue as we are. However during that year you will try and find my name. Only one guess per day. You can try and trick me into giving it away and you can try and get it from other people who know me. My condition is that you cannot look into the future or the past to find out what it is. If at the end of the year you still don't know my name I will tell you what it is and you will let me go. If during the year you learn what my name is I will stay with you for the rest of my life plus whatever concession you wish." Ares stood up and began pacing in front of her. "Do I have to name what concession I will want now?" "Yes." Ares stood still in front of her. "The concession I want is if I win you will use the skills I teach you and become a warrior in my name. Do you still wish to make the deal?" "Yes." "Then I agree to your terms." Ares smiled smugly. Gabrielle smiled slyly. "You're going to have to get really creative to find out what my name is Ares. No one in my entire village will speak my name. They think I am dead. My village believes that when you speak the name of the dead it disturbs their rest. They will only refer to my place in the family. I will be referred to as first daughter, never by my name. Good luck finding someone who can tell you my name." Ares was stunned. "You tricked me! You are a lying, sneaky, devious, daughter of a Titan. I don't believe this." Gabrielle smiled impishly. "What can I say? I learned from the master." Ares stepped up Gabrielle's training. By the time Xena and Hercules came to visit Ares had decided she was almost ready to begin weapons training. There was one problem. She didn't have that special edge she would need to really be able to be a warrior. She didn't have the mindset of fighting for survival. To Gabrielle it was just something fun to learn and an exhausting workout. Ares decided to enlist Xena's help in changing that. Gabrielle and Ares were in the training room. Ares was attacking her with a staff while she defended herself without any weapons. Gabrielle was doing well. She was managing to block or dodge all of his blows while getting one or two of her own in. Ares finally managed to get in a solid hit to her side and she fell. He quickly moved forward and positioned his staff for a mortal blow. Ares reached down to help her up. "You are doing very well if I wasn't a god I wouldn't have been able to get that blow past your defenses. In a few days we will start you on arms. It will work the same way as learning to use your body as a weapon. You will completely master each weapon before we will move on to another weapon." Gabrielle nodded before asking, "Why don't you start me on weapons tomorrow?" Ares laughed. "Because little one, there are still a few lessons you need to learn before I will put any kind of potentially lethal object in your hands." Ares turned and started to walk out of the room. He paused at the door and looked at her with a smirk. "You might want to clean up, Hercules and Xena will be here any minute." Gabrielle gasped. "You jerk! Why didn't you warn me?" Ares laughed again. "I just did." He said as he walked out the door. Ares was alone in the main hall when Xena and Hercules arrived. He was surprised to see that they had brought Iolaus. "I see you brought the comedic relief with you." "Nice to see you too, Ares. I'm just here to meet your apparently nameless servant." Ares began to growl at Iolaus and Hercules quickly stepped in hoping to avoid having to go to the Underworld to retrieve Iolaus again. "Speaking of that. Has she told you what her name is yet?" Ares transferred his glare to Hercules but before he could say anything another voice chimed in. "Not yet." Everyone turned to see Gabrielle standing in the doorway looking very nice in a variation of an amazon outfit. An emerald green variation to match her eyes. Hercules and Xena were rather shocked at the change from the last set of clothes they had seen her in. They had been very nice classy outfits, but they had covered a great deal more of her. Gabrielle noticed their shock and decided to give the simplest explanation. "Ares told me I should where something more in line with a warrior. The green is more vanity than anything else though." Gabrielle said with a mischievous smile. She turned towards Iolaus. "Isn't anyone going to introduce us?" Iolaus quickly stepped forward. He bowed and kissed her hand. As he straitened he gave her his most flirtatious smile. "I'm Iolaus, I occasionally travel with Hercules. And you are?" Gabrielle returned his flirtatious smile and then turned an impish one on Ares. "I'm afraid I can't tell you my name. However I am Ares personal servant." Ares let out a breath he hadn't even been aware he was holding. He glared at Gabrielle for a moment before deciding he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of a response and proceeded to ignore her. "Xena, would you care for a spar in our training room? You can check out the equipment." Ares decided to try and get Xena alone to propose his plan for furthering Gabrielle's training. Xena looked surprised for a moment before agreeing and following him out of the room. They had barely gone through the door when Gabrielle burst out laughing so hard she almost fell over and had to lean on a table for support. She laughed for a minute before she could calm herself. She looked up to see Hercules and Iolaus staring at her like she was crazy and it almost set her off again. "I'm sorry. You just don't get the joke. Let me tell you what's so funny." Gabrielle explained to them her deal with Ares and it's conditions. By the time she was through they were both leaning against each other trying to hold themselves up. As their laughter wound down Iolaus spoke up. "Wait until we tell Xena." This started a whole new round of giggles. Gabrielle finally managed to stop giggling. "Come on, I'll get us some food and we can swap Ares stories." Ares had begun to tell Xena of Gabrielle's progress as soon as they were in the training room. When he finished he asked her what she thought of his plan. "I don't see why this is necessary. If she can hold her own against you she is much better than I gave her credit for." Xena replied. "I am training her to be a warrior. She doesn't know what it means when I tell her that she will be fighting for her life. She doesn't have the experience to correspond with the words in her mind. She can't progress further until she knows what it is she's learning." Ares stated firmly. "Alright. But I will use my own judgement on when she has learned the lesson. You can't be here you know that. It would never work if you were here. If you're here she won't believe she is in any danger." Xena stated staring him in the eye, daring him to object. "Anything you say, Xena. I will have to come up with an excuse to get Iolaus and Hercules out of the way." Ares said thoughtfully. Xena's eyes took on a slightly playful look. "It should be simple enough. You tell them you are off to start a war and they will chase after you to stop you. I will stay behind to get to know the girl better." "Perfect." Ares gave Xena an admiring look. "That was always one of my favorite qualities of yours. Your ability to come up with plans within seconds of knowing the lay of the land." Xena gave him a cold smile. "Get over it." Ares and Xena returned to the main hall to put their plan into action. Ares immediately walked over to Gabrielle. "I have a war in Lyka I need to be at. I will leave you to entertain our guests." Ares immediately disappeared. Gabrielle looked surprised but decided to continue her conversation with Hercules and Iolaus. "I think now will a good time to tell her about my deal with Ares. I'll let you tell her while I get Xena some food." Gabrielle turned to walk out of the main hall. She was almost to the door when another round of laughter started. Gabrielle returned a few minutes later. The guys were talking to Xena in low tones. "Can I get you gentlemen something else?" Gabrielle asked. "No that's all right. Iolaus and I have to be going now. Maybe we can visit again soon." Hercules answered. "You have to leave right now? I thought you were going to stay longer. At least stay for dessert." Gabrielle said trying to entice them to stay. "Well I don't think" Iolaus trailed off as Hercules elbowed him in the side. He turned to see Hercules glaring at him with a warning look in his eyes. He hurriedly turned back around. "That we can stay. We just remembered that we promised to visit um we promised to visit" "My mother." Hercules broke in. "She'll worry if we aren't there on time." "Yeah she knows us both too well. She'll think we ran into trouble." Iolaus put in. "So we will be going now." Hercules said as he practically dragged Iolaus out the door. Gabrielle stared at the door for a minute before turning to face Xena. "You know that was probably the worst example of lying I have ever seen. Where are they really going?" Xena gave a crooked smile. "After Ares, they are going to try and stop the war he has brewing." "Well good luck to them, but why did they lie about it?" Gabrielle asked in confusion. Xena smiled again. "Probably because they didn't know whose side you would be on and they didn't want to upset you. Come on and spar with me. Ares says you have gotten very good very fast. Let's see you in action." "Alright let me just go get changed and I'll meet you in the training room." Gabrielle tried to walk past Xena but she grabbed her arm. Gabrielle looked up to see a completely different woman. "I don't think so. I think right here is just fine." Xena told her before backhanding her. Gabrielle landed on the floor and immediately rolled away. That instinctive reaction saved her at the least broken ribs at the most a crushed chest. Gabrielle was immediately on her feet. Xena was on her in a heartbeat. They began exchanging blows at a speed so fast you could hardly see them. It became apparent that Gabrielle was off her game and she was mostly on the defensive. She was managing to defend herself but she should have been able to at least equal Xena on the offensive. Xena saw that she would have to get her focused instead of working off of instinct. She backed off to attack psychologically. "Is that the best Ares new pet can do? I was better than that before I became his chosen. You don't deserve to be one of his warriors. You don't have the fire the talent or the brains. I might as well save Ares the trouble of getting rid of you himself." Xena said viciously. Gabrielle found her focus. She realized this was a do or die fight and she was not going to die. She immediately launched an all out attack. After the first flurry of blows the fight became even. Once the initial exchanges were over Gabrielle realized that she didn't have the long experience with battle that Xena did. She needed a way to end the conflict fast. Before Xena could take the fight because of her superior endurance. Gabrielle went onto the defensive to give herself time to think of a strategy. She went through what she knew. They were evenly matched on strength and speed. Ares had trained her thoroughly on all the aerial tactics, so they were evenly matched there. Gabrielle decided that in order to win their duel she needed to make her blows as effective as possible. She went over everything she had learned about the human body and decided that going for Xena's pressure points were her best option. Xena was taken off guard by the complete change in tactics. Gabrielle managed to hit a pressure point in Xena's right arm to disable it. She instantly went for a kill point while Xena's defenses were handicapped. It didn't register on Gabrielle exactly what she had done until she saw Xena kneeling on the floor holding her throat. She had shut off the flow of blood to her brain. Xena was now dying and she had done it. She took several steps away and tried to control her breathing as she watched a woman she thought was her friend die. As she watched Xena did something extremely unexpected. She reached up with her good arm and twisted something in her neck. Gabrielle's mind recognized that Xena had released the pressure point while her body got ready to continue the fight. She waited cautiously as Xena released the pressure point on her arm and stretched her neck. "Well that was unexpected. Ares didn't tell me you knew pressure points." Xena said cheerfully. "Ares?" Gabrielle asked uncertainly. "Don't look so worried. This was a test. Ares deliberately lured the boys away so I could test whether or not you would defend yourself. Not could, would. We knew you could fight. We just didn't know how far you would go to defend yourself. You did very well." Xena said tacking the praise on to her explanation. "This was a test?" Gabrielle demanded. "It explains a few things but I could have killed you." She seemed to choke before continuing. "I certainly tried." "What did it explain?" Xena asked curiously. Gabrielle gave her an ironic look. "Well it explains why you suddenly attacked me for one. It also explains why Ares said where he was going he doesn't usually. For another you weren't gone long enough for you to have had a sparring session. More like a strategy session I take it?" "I knew you were a smart one. You tend to spot the holes in any story." Xena complimented. "That is what I wanted to do before I became Ares servant you know? I wanted to be a bard. Now after everything I've learned, from Ares and on my own. I don't think I could ever be just a bard. I've changed mentally and emotionally. I see things differently now. I will fight to protect people however I can." Gabrielle stated passionately. "I'm going to need time to think this through though. It is a major change in where I thought I wanted to take my life." Gabrielle was beginning to come down off of the adrenaline high she had been on. Xena could see that she was going to become depressed in the aftermath of the fight and tried to head it off. "Like I said before, Ares didn't tell me you knew pressure points. Where did you learn that?" Gabrielle looked up and smiled. "Surprised you didn't it? I sometimes use it when I give Ares massages. That was the first time I used it in a fight. I was improvising." Xena laughed. "A girl after my own heart. If you want I can teach you to really be able to use them in battle." Gabrielle gave Xena her brightest smile. "I would really like that. There were some other moves you had that I would love for you to show me." Gabrielle and Xena moved into the training room for a real training session. That was where Xena was when Ares came looking. "Where is the girl?" Ares demanded. "She had a big change in the way she thought of herself today. She went outside to think about those changes." Xena explained scathingly. "By the way she saw through the plan. Not enough to avoid being taken in by it but enough to accept I wasn't a true threat to her fairly easily." "I told you she is good." Ares said smugly. "Yeah, she is so good you can't even find out her name." Xena said tauntingly. Ares flushed and tried to defend himself. "She tricked me on that. I didn't know her village would consider her dead much less about the disturbing their rest part." "It doesn't matter anyway. I only have ten more months to teach her everything I think she needs to know. Then she will leave." Ares finished gruffly. "Why Ares, if I didn't know better I would think you didn't want her to leave." Xena said teasingly. "I've gotten used to having her around. Besides it's nice to have someone who understands me." Ares said seriously. "I would like it if she stayed." "Then why are you teaching her to be a warrior? A warrior does not stay in a temple all the time." Xena questioned his reasoning. "I accidentally hurt her one time and I didn't want it to happen again. The rest is because I couldn't just teach her half way. Besides that she enjoys learning how to be a warrior and she is very talented at it." Ares said trying to justify his actions. Xena decided to let him off the hook. For the time being. "Just make sure you teach her what she wants to learn. Not what you want to teach." Xena stayed for two weeks teaching Gabrielle several specialized techniques. Gabrielle was sorry to see her go. Xena had been a good teacher, but was now an even better friend. Her training stepped up a notch again. She had learned several weapons when Ares decided to switch her from simply discussing battle plans to planning battles on her own. She became his right hand on his various campaigns. Although thanks to her the campaigns had slowly taken on a less destructive nature. He took her from temple to temple with him but never could she leave their grounds. Occasionally the fighting on the campaigns would overrun the temple grounds and Gabrielle would lead in its defense. They grew steadily closer as the time passed. Guessing her name became something of a joke between them instead of a sore spot. Ares threatened several times simply to rename her. Ares wasn't the only one who liked having someone who understood him. Gabrielle still told her stories; she didn't give them up. They were just told to an audience of one. He was probably her most appreciative audience. On the final day of her servitude they performed all of the ritual chores that had developed over time. Gabrielle was saying goodbye to being Ares servant and he was saying goodbye to that part of her as well. The next day found Gabrielle up at dawn, and standing just off of the road yet still on the temple grounds. Ares came up to stand beside her. Both of them were staring at the road in front of them. "It's time." Ares said as he reached out and cupped her face in his hands. Gabrielle shuddered as she felt the cold heat of his power flowing through her. "The enchantment is gone now. You can leave whenever you want." Ares said sadly. Gabrielle broke away from him and took several steps into the road before turning and looking back at him. Ares spoke before she could say anything. "Will you stay with me? I want you to be my wife and my chosen. I would make you immortal so you could be with me always. I am not asking this lightly." Gabrielle gazed deeply into his eyes trying to gauge his sincerity. The love she could see warmed her and confirmed her decision. "Yes Ares, I will stay with you. I will be your chosen. I will be your wife. And my name I give to you freely. Gabrielle. My name is Gabrielle." "Gabrielle, thank you for telling me." Ares said quietly. "I have just one condition." Gabrielle said breaking the mood. "What is that?" Ares asked warily. "That we have our honeymoon somewhere that is not one of your temples." Gabrielle said teasingly as she moved into his arms. "Definitely." Ares said as he lowered his head towards hers. Gabrielle tried to say something else but Ares lips reached hers first and after that she had no interest in talking. The End