Within- Chapter 11

The Warrior Princess tensed her shoulders and waited for someone to speak or come closer. The steps stopped a few feet away from her and Xena heard nothing for long seconds, but very faint breathing.

 

 

 

A hand touched her face, once again startling her, and Xena pulled her head back out of instinct. The hand left her, and then she felt it smack hard against her cheek. Her flesh stung from the blow.

 

 

 

A hand touched her other cheek then, and once again, Xena automatically recoiled. This time when the hand struck, it caught the side of her nose too, making Xena’s eyes water. Whoever hit her was very powerful.

 

 

 

The flesh on either side of the face was still burning with pain, when Xena felt a movement behind her. It was the unmistakable pressure of a woman’s body against her. She could feel the hardened tips of soft breasts brushing against her shoulder blades. Whoever it was, the woman was either very tall, or she was standing on something.

 

 

 

Xena strained her ears, trying very hard to get a clue of who it might be. She didn’t think it was Callisto, at least judging by the size of the breasts and the lengths of the arms reaching above her. The woman seemed to be much taller in size.

 

Xena felt her arms being lowered from the painful position above her head, and struggled mightily to move them. They were still connected by the chain, and only had about six inches of play. Her shoulders were too numb for her to have any control of her movements, and all she could do was swing both hands in tandem.

 

She felt her hands caught in an iron grip, which came from in front of her. The hands were larger than Callisto’s slender ones, telling Xena there was definitely at least two people there.

 

 

 

She had just come to that conclusion, when the hands holding her jerked hard on her already overtaxed limbs. The pain that shot through her shoulders and upper back made her shriek against the gag. The pain made her feel nauseous, and bile threatened to rise in her throat, but she forced herself to swallow it back down, knowing she would just choke on it.

 

She was still reeling from the pain when she heard the rattling of more chains. She felt hands touching her ankles, and then the cold touch of metal there. A brush and a tug soon told her the shackles on her ankles were being attached to those still holding her wrists.

 

Then to her dismay, she felt yet another chain being attached around her neck. The length of the chain wasn’t long enough for her hands to rest against her body. She had to hold her hands slightly out from her body, and that caused more pain to dig into her shoulders.

 

 

 

There was a jerk on the chain between her neck and hands, and Xena realized she was being urged forward. She lifted her feet, and found the chain connecting them to be very short, less than a foot wide. She was greatly limited in the size steps she could take.

 

 

 

The pace she was being urged at wasn’t brisk, but Xena found herself having to concentrate on not tripping. Just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, she found her brain counting the number of steps it took just to keep herself occupied and moving with the same easy pace.

 

 

 

Still gagged and blindfolded, Xena couldn’t tell much about where she was headed. If her senses were registering correctly she was headed down a slight decline. The temperature in the air even began to feel a little cooler.

 

The walk took about five minutes, and Xena suffered through the pins and needles sensations during it, as the blood flow returned to her shoulders. It was agonizing, but walking at the same time helped her deal with it. By that time she felt her captor pulling her to a stop, and she obeyed.

 

 

 

She was pushed forward another step, and felt a solid object against the lower part of her stomach.

 

A second later, she felt a hand on her head, forcing her to bend forward. As she did so, her hands were pulled out and over the object. There was a tug at her neck and feet, then she heard the unmistakable sound of a key turning in a lock. By the time it registered her hands had been freed, they were already attached to something else, apparently something mounted to the floor.

 

 

 

After a moment, no one was touching Xena anymore. She felt a coolness blowing on her skin, which told her the captors had stepped back a step.

 

 

 

The fact that Xena was nearly naked suddenly occurred to her. She wasn’t embarrassed by her state of dress, even if she had been naked. It had never been any concern for her to appear unclothed before others, and in fact, had found that it often caught others off-guard when she appeared in front of them that way.

 

 

 

But now, for the first time really, Xena realized there was a real vulnerability, especially when she was restrained such as she was now. She had no protection against attack.

 

 

 

And Xena couldn’t help but wander if that’s what was coming. She could figure out absolutely no reason for her to be held hostage unless it was to kill her.

 

 

 

There was one flaw with that theory though that Xena could see. If whomever was holding her wanted her dead, why didn’t they kill her? Why keep her chained up and not identify themselves?

 

She remembered Callisto’s words, about the more she fought the worse it would be.

 

That was telling Xena that she was here to be tortured. It wouldn’t be the first time in her life that she had undergone torture. She really had no idea how many times in her life she had been held and tortured for information or in an effort to get her to do certain things.

 

It didn’t work on her. No matter what methods were used, and some had been extreme, none would work when they were employed on Xena personally.

 

 

 

However, Xena wasn’t quite as tenacious when other people were at risk, particularly people she cared for a lot. She couldn’t stand it, knowing someone was being hurt because of her.

 

Of course, the worst-case scenario hostage would be Gabrielle. She had been hurt many times before because of Xena, and each time made the Warrior Princess feel guiltier than the last. Gabrielle was a peaceful soul, and did nothing to earn it.

 

Xena was in the middle of those thoughts and somehow, they made her feel better about the situation she was in now. Despite the fact that she had no idea where she was, why she was here, or even who had her here, there had been no sign of the bard, and that was good.

 

 

 

Xena suddenly became aware that Callisto was speaking in her ear.

 

“If you’ll behave yourself, I’ll take your blindfold off for a while,” she was saying. “I’m sure you’re getting tired of being in the dark.”

 

Xena felt the woman’s hand at the edge of the blindfold. “How about it, Gorgeous?” Callisto asked. “Will you behave for a while?:”

 

Xena didn’t even hesitate, but gave a nod.

 

“All right,” Callisto singsonged. “But I’m trusting you…”

 

Xena kept her eyes clamped shut when the black cloth was first taken away. Even with closed eyes, she could tell the place she was at had at least some light.

 

Gradually, Xena began opening her eyes a bit…and then a bit more.

 

She found herself bent over a narrow table, and she saw her earlier assessment had been correct. Shiny gold chain was wrapped around her wrists, and the links were thick and strong looking

 

Xena was bent awkwardly and her hands were partially pulled under the table so they were reconnected with her ankles and also attached to an iron bolt embedded to the stone floor.

 

She tried to lift her head and get more of a look at her surroundings, but it just wasn’t possible. That frustrated her, but Xena was careful not to let it show too much. She knew Callisto might take that as her being a “bad sport”, and she would find herself blinded again.

 

From beneath the table she was stretched out over, she could see a pair of leather boots. She couldn’t tell whether they were men’s or women’s, but the toes were rather slender, and Xena suspected it was more than likely a woman, possibly the same woman she had felt up against her earlier.

 

One thing…it wasn’t Callisto…for she was standing to one side of Xena.

 

Xena craned her neck, and looked up at the blonde, trying to plead with her eyes to get Callisto to pull the gag from her mouth.

 

Callisto actually almost looked sympathetic, but shook her head. “Sorry…can’t do that right now,” she said.

 

The blonde looked around nervously, and Xena noted she gave a nod to the person behind her. Suddenly, she squatted down so she was eye level with Xena.

 

“Try to relax,” she said, once again sounding surprisingly sincere. “We’ve got a few things to get ready, but will be back soon. Then the real fun is going to start.”

 

Xena followed Callisto’s movements for as long as she could, which really wasn’t long given her position. She saw the other boots had moved too, and Xena suspected she was now alone.

 

There wasn’t much of a view, and Xena almost wished that she was blind-folded again. It was rather disheartening, being in this position, and she tugged at her bonds, even though she knew it wouldn’t do any good.

 

She had come to the conclusion that wherever she was, it wasn’t part of the real world. Since Callisto had been dead for some time, and now seemed very much alive, that meant Xena was in HER world now.

 

Wherever that was.

 

After a while, the blood rushing to her head began to make Xena feel disoriented. Her head pounded from the unnatural position, and she lifted her head as much as she could, to try to relieve some of the pressure. It hurt her neck, for it was attached to the chain, but also helped keep some awareness in her.

 

 

 

Gabrielle woke a couple of times during the night, and both times, she automatically lifted her head to check on Xena. True to Dinah’s word, Xena hadn’t changed positions and appeared to be resting comfortable. Her face was a little flushed, but there was nothing else of note. Gabrielle cuddled up beside her love, and soon fell asleep again.

 

Xena must have dozed off. She jerked awake suddenly when she heard the sound of feet echoing on the floor again. The footsteps were approaching from the side her lower half was on.

 

 

 

“Hello, Xena…”

 

The voice that spoke wasn’t Callisto’s this time, and it only took a few seconds for Xena to realize who had spoken. Her heart sank.

 

There was a chuckle from the same voice. “It’s probably a good thing your mouth is being held shut,” it said. “I would probably get offended by what you have to say to me.”

 

 

 

The woman walked around so Xena could take a look at more of her. Her lips moved in a cold smile directed at the Warrior Princess.

 

“Surprised to see me, huh Xena?” Alti asked. “I’ll bet you didn’t know Callisto and I hung out together.” Xena stifled a groan when Alti ran her hands down her own body, starting at her own shoulders and ending on her lower abdomen. The situation was looking worse and worse.

 

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Alti snarled, reaching out a cruelly tugging a lock of Xena’s hair. “Not that kind of hanging out. I’m not a slut like you, letting your titties almost hang out of your clothing.”

 

It was a ridiculous statement and both Alti and Xena knew it. Hanging over the table like she was, forced Xena’s breasts to hang slightly toward the floor, pressing them near the opening of her shift, but it was all gravity at work and beyond Xena’s control.

 

 

 

Xena heard Callisto’s giggle at Alti’s statement and the blonde approached to stand beside Alti. “She does look like a whore, doesn’t she?” she asked.

 

Alti nodded. “She is a whore,” she said. “Once a whore…always a whore…right, Whore?”

 

Alti still had Xena’s hair in her hand and she tugged Xena’s head up and down with it, forcing Xena to nod. Xena’s eyes revealed her anger at that, but she was in no position to do anything about it right now.