Within- Chapter 10

Gabrielle stayed where she was for a minute, just looking adoringly at the magnificent woman who was finally resting quietly. Xena would never fully admit the extent of her troubles, but Gabrielle had finally wheedled it out of her that she wasn’t going back to sleep after the dreams each night. Gabrielle knew how tired SHE was just from having her sleep interrupted the last few nights, but to not have any sleep at all…she couldn’t imagine what Xena had been going through.

 

 

 

Gabrielle sat up long enough to pull her own leathers off, and slipped into another of Xena’s sleep shifts. She had no doubt she was going to sleep very well that night herself, and might as well be as comfortable as possible.

 

 

 

Xena opened her eyes and immediately recognized the place she was in. It was the same coal black place she was in during her second dream that night. She wasn’t surprised to find herself chained to…something again. But this time, she was dressed in some kind of covering which felt similar to the shifts she used as an undergarment.

 

Xena strained her ears, trying to get a fix on either where she was, or who was there close to her. She sensed there was no way she could be there all alone.

 

Gods, the darkness was enough to drive someone insane! Xena came to the conclusion that she had to be underground, deep below the earth for there to be such an absence of light.

 

Something brushed her arm lightly and she jerked it away, startled. She expected it to be some sort of creature, but then she heard a very human giggle. One she recognized.

 

Xena drew a deep breath, then spoke. “Callisto, what’s going on?”

 

After a pause, Xena’s ears caught the sound of a moving body. There was a touch on her shoulder again, then another light stroke over the side of her face.

 

“Stop it, Callisto!” Xena growled in the direction the touch had come from. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m definitely not in the mood for any of your little games right now.”

 

“Mmm…she sounds so intimidating, doesn’t she?…”

 

The words weren’t spoken to Xena, but Xena realized Callisto might just be railing to herself. She did that sometimes.

 

Xena shook her head slightly to clear it. The OLD Callisto did crazy things like talk to herself. The OLD Callisto would be the one to get her hands on Xena with the express purpose of tormenting her.

 

But that Callisto was supposed to be gone. Xena had sacrificed her heavenly life to give Callisto a chance to live in a divine eternity. Xena had seen it with her own eyes…Callisto had been reunited with her family, and smiled beatifically at her, thanking Xena for what she had done.

 

That bothered Xena, just as it had with Grinhilda and every other person she’d saved from a Hell Xena herself had created. Xena didn’t deserve any thanks…they never would have been in that position to begin with if it hadn’t been for Xena lustful greed for power.

 

 

 

Dismissing those thoughts for now, Xena spoke. “What’s going on, Callisto? Where am I? How did I get here, and why in the hell am I chained up?”

 

 

 

There was another giggle then, and Xena’s heart sunk when she realized there was no clarity in the tones Callisto was using. It was more of her old sing-song manner of speaking…the kind of voice that grated on Xena’s nerves and reminded her that the blonde wasn’t quite all there.

 

Xena steeled herself not to jerk back when Callisto touched her face this time. She felt two sets of long fingers brushing over the sides of her face, and then Callisto’s voice was right there in her face. “Just be patient, my Gorgeous Warrior,” was her response. “And conserve your energy…cause you’re going to need it.”

 

Xena opened her mouth to speak again, and was caught off guard when she felt Callisto’s mouth pressing to her own. A tongue licked over her own, then sucked erotically at her lower lip before releasing it. A shiver ran involuntarily through Xena’s limbs at the unexpected tenderness. Oh, this was not looking good at all.

 

 

 

“Callisto!…” Xena called her name, but could tell from the sounds that Callisto was moving away from her. “Gods be damned, Callisto…come back here!” Xena used her most authoritative voice, even though she knew it wouldn’t do any good.

 

 

 

She was left there in the darkness, her arms and legs chained up in a spread-eagled fashion.

 

 

 

Two hours later, Xena was having an argument with herself. Half of her kept saying she was finally asleep…and whatever the black world was, it was just a part of a horrible nightmare. The other half of her felt this was real life, and Callisto had waited for her to be under the effect of the sleep elixir, then somehow pulled Xena from Gabrielle’s protective custody and into this world.

 

 

 

She knew the only way Gabrielle would have given her up would have be with a fight…and Gabrielle was quite a fighter.

 

Not able to stand that line of thinking anymore, Xena told herself she had to be in some sort of dream state.

 

 

 

She was pondering over the possibility of falling asleep while dreaming, when she heard sounds in the distance. There was a soft rustling sound, then a tiny flash of light, and then the area was suddenly engulfed in light. Xena squeezed her eyes shut immediately, but not before the brightness had plunged through the back of her eyes like shards of glass. She clenched her teeth, feeling tears roll down her cheeks as the pain continued. Eventually, her pupils would adjust so she would be able to slit them open, but it was going to take a couple of minutes.

 

Xena sensed someone was nearing her again, and she heard Callisto’s voice from just behind her this time. “Sorry about the light,” she crooned in Xena’s ear. “But I’ll help you with that.”

 

 

 

Xena couldn’t help emitting a slight moan when she felt something cool and soft sliding in front of her eyes.

 

“You can open those baby blues now,” Callisto whispered.

 

Xena didn’t see the point in even trying, but obeyed anyway. She could still see blackness in front of her, but it was a normal darkness, if that was possible. It was the kind of darkness with just a hint around the edges that told her there was light shining somewhere.

 

“How about letting me go now?” Xena asked, trying to keep her voice even.

“Oh, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” came the words that were apologetic in meaning, but certainly not in tone. “At least, not for a while…”

 

Xena was never known for her patience, and hers was wearing very thin now. “Why am I here, Callisto?”

 

“Oh hush, Darling,” came the irritating reply. “You just got here and you have a long way to go. Don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”

 

When she felt Callisto licking over the inner structure of her right ear, Xena tried to draw her head back. Callisto didn’t relent though, and just followed the movement. In a very low voice, Xena heard the words whispered into her ear. “A piece of advice…the more you resist, the harder it’s going to be…”

 

“The harder what’s going to be?” Xena growled, as Callisto pulled back.

 

“Shh!” Callisto hissed at Xena, and smacked her shoulder at the same time. Then, in the same lowered voice, Xena heard her say, “The harder it will be for you to survive.”

 

Xena was well aware Callisto could be trying to trick her, but she had no way of knowing at this point. Xena made her voice much more light and vulnerable sounding.

 

“Can you at least tell me how I got here…please?” she asked.

 

Callisto chuckled. “A few friends and I got together and decided we wanted to see you. That’s all I’m saying right now.” She chuckled and petted Xena’s shoulder again. “You’ll get reacquainted with at least some of them very soon…just be patient, Darling.”

 

Xena opened her mouth to say more, and felt a hand being pressed against her mouth. “No more questions!” Callisto whispered. When she pulled her hand away and Xena tried once again, to speak, the Warrior Princess felt a rough piece of cloth like material being shoved in her mouth. She tried to pull her head away, but it was no use. A few seconds later, she felt the cloth being tied in place behind her head.

 

“I told you not to talk…” was all Callisto said.

 

 

 

Xena had no way of knowing that Callisto was waiting for the elixir to filter all the way through her bloodstream, knocking her out so completely, that when they got going, Xena would be totally helpless.

 

Her physical body in the inn had relaxed completely by now, and Gabrielle was curled up next to her, sound asleep. The bard had tried not to become too upset when Xena’s life signs had done exactly as she and Dinah said they would, plummeting to an unbelievably low level of existence. They leveled out though, and now Xena looked as though she were enjoying a highly relaxing sleep, something she had not been able to do for days.

 

Gabrielle finally succumbed to her own exhaustion, and laid down next to Xena, hoping if Xena had any distress, Gabrielle would wake up immediately.

 

 

 

Xena wasn’t distressed…yet. But she was very tired of standing in the same position, and the circulation had long ago left her arms. Her shoulders ached from being stretched dos far above her head for so long. Her back had been forced into an unnatural arch and was aching from the strain.

 

Besides, the two visits from Callisto, Xena had seen no evidence that anyone had inhabited this place for a long time, maybe n ever. The dark soured smell reminder her of water left standing in a puddle for too long.

 

 

 

But now, even the smell wasn’t as sharp as it had been. She was getting used to the odor, and her mind was filtering it out.

 

 

 

A while later, there were sounds of someone approaching her again. Xena’s keen ears zeroed in, and told her it was more than one person approaching. She could hear multiple footsteps ringing along the floor.