“What the fuck is going on here?” Xena barked, loudly into the blackness. She didn’t expect an answer, which surprised her even more when she got one.
“Here so soon, Xena?”
Xena’s eyes strained to see through the blackness, trying to get a pinpoint of the direction of the voice. And then it sunk in…
It was Callisto’s voice.
“No!”
With a loud and anguished yell, Xena wrenched herself free of the blackness and found herself standing beside the bedroll, a frightened and confused Gabrielle shouting along with her.
“Sh…it’s okay…” Xena drew the blonde into her arms, and sat back down on the edge of the bedroll with her. “I’m sorry, Baby…I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Gabrielle sniffed and pulled her head away slightly. Her arms were around Xena’s shoulders, and she looked her lover in the eyes.
“It’s more than that, Xena,” she said softly. “What’s going on with you? Why can’t you get through a night’s sleep without your dreams waking us both?
Xena realized the question wasn’t being asked out of selfishness. Gabrielle wasn’t complaining about her sleep being denied her, even if she had every right to. That wasn’t in her nature. No, her motives were quite different.
At first, Xena couldn’t answer her, so Gabrielle continued.
“Xena, I’m worried about you. It can’t be good for you to have your sleep interrupted so much. You’ve got dark circles under your eyes, and …” She lifted Xena’s right hand by the wrist and they both stared at it. There was a slight tremor there.
Quickly, Xena jerked her hand away, embarrassed by the shaking. “All right,” she snapped, harsher than she intended. “I know I’ve got a problem. You don’t have to keep telling me about it.”
Gabrielle’s eyes looked hurt at first, but she quickly shook it off. “I think I do…” she replied, “Until you get some help. I know how you are…stubborn and so tough you won’t admit it when you need help. Well, you need help now, and I’m going to keep on you until you’ve gotten it.”
Xena completely released her now, and laid back down. “What kind of help do you propose, Gabrielle?” she asked, fighting back a sigh.
Gabrielle did sigh. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Do you think it’s a medical problem, or another kind of problem?”
“I dunno…” Xena shook her head and this time, allowed herself a deep sigh. “I’ve never heard of a problem exactly like this before.”
Gabrielle sat back down finally, wrapping her arms around Xena’s waist, and resting her hand against the firm stomach. “We’ll be near Phillipi in a couple of days,” she said. “Many while we’re there, we could contact a healer.”
“All right,” The resignation in Xena’s voice wasn’t unnoticed by Gabrielle.
It certainly wasn’t a tone of voice she had come to associate with the Warrior Princess.
Xena wouldn’t even attempt to go to sleep this time…not with the sound of Callisto’s voice still ringing in her ears. She wound the fingers of her right hand through Gabrielle’s short blond hair, and stroked it gently. “Try to go back to sleep,” she crooned in a soothing voice. “I’m sorry I woke you.”
“S’okay…it wasn’t your fault,” came the drowsy reply, and then Gabrielle was silent again.
Callisto! Xena couldn’t forget the sound of her blonde nemesis. It had been over a year since she had last seen her, and Xena thought she had finally been able to make amends for all the damage she had done in Callisto’s life.
It never would have happened if Callisto hadn’t managed to strike a deal with the god of the Underworlds, and then Caesar. But as a result, Xena and Gabrielle had ended up on Roman crucifixes, and quite dead.
But rather than ending up in Tartarus or the Elysian Fields, the two of them had ended up in a different place, controlled by an unseen omnipotent being. Xena would never believe this BEING made a mistake or somehow failed to protect Gabrielle from being snatched to the horribly dark place controlled by the Being’s enemy. No, instead, Xena believed it was an opportunity for her to at least partially atone for setting Callisto on the path of murderous violence she had followed for so long.
Xena had discovered the rules for this “underworld” were very different than those she had been used to. She had made the sacrifice, giving up an eternity in Paradise, instead allowing Callisto to take her place. Xena had doomed herself to a violent, painful, dark world of torment.
But, as often seemed to happen to Xena, she was able to change rules that seemed to affect the rest of the world, and Xena and Gabrielle had managed to escape this afterlife and return to the here and now. In the process by which they were returned to Earth through an effort of Eli combined with his God, the Being who just happened to control their afterlife. Upon their return, Xena and Gabrielle had been shown a view of Callisto reuniting with her family that Xena had destroyed years before.
Callisto had seemed so happy…finally at peace…and Xena had felt she had been able to make up for at least one of the most heinous deeds of her pasts.
That was the reason Xena was so puzzled now. She had experienced further dealings with the Supreme Being, and some were rather intense. She found that with Him, it was impossible to cheat or take shortcuts. Xena had never been a follower of gods, but she had the feeling that this One would be around for a while.
Xena thought again of the brief image of the intense dream she had. She was sure it was Callisto’s voice that had spoke to her, and for a moment, she considered whether or not she had interpreted it correctly.
Was it the vengeful Callisto of old that had spoken to her, or was it possible that the blonde had nothing to do with Xena’s enslaved state, and instead was there to rescue Xena, or perhaps, as a fellow prisoner?
“Here so soon, Xena?” The words she had heard replayed in her mind, and Xena had an answer to her question. The voice she heard was the tone of the Callisto of old…the woman hell-bent for seeking revenge on Xena for the acts of her army in Cirra years before.
Xena had no way of knowing whether or not Callisto was back to her evil self by choice, but she suspected she was. She had no knowledge of the brown-eyed blonde before Callisto had first gone on a killing rampage, claiming to be Xena herself.
Xena knew that the death of Callisto’s family was the catalyst for Callisto’s attack. But…she also knew that Callisto had gone above and beyond the call of vengeance, and had eventually begun to act out of different reasons.
It was something Xena understood very well, for the same thing had happened to her. She had begun her illustrious career protecting her home village against any threats, but quickly other reasons took precedence, namely…a lust for power, control, and domination. Callisto demonstrated the same symptoms, but since Xena had already gone that route, she was able to keep Callisto from accomplishing her goals.
Xena still hadn’t determined a whole lot when the sun began to rise. She wanted to tell Gabrielle about the dark vision, but the bard was upset enough by the other dreams. Xena hoped that the black dream might just be a trick her sleep-deprived mind was playing on her…and by the time Gabrielle began to stir, had pretty well convinced herself of just that.
Xena had three cups of black coffee at breakfast, which served to help her feel a little more alert. Still, she and Gabrielle were nearly silent as they travel toward Phillipi. Xena was afraid the steady gait of Argo at a walk would lull her to sleep, so she walked alongside the horse.
It was getting close to time to stop for lunch, when Xena and Gabrielle heard the sounds of swords begin drawn. Turning as one, they saw there were faced by a half-dozen motley men.
Xena rolled her eyes at Gabrielle. “I thought there was a stench in the air,” she said pointedly.
Gabrielle offered a slight smile in return. She never knew how Xena was going to greet troublemakers.
The men had the grace to look mildly offended. “Look, Bitch,” one of them piped up. “We want the horse…that’s all. We’ll even let you keep the saddlebags.”
He took a couple steps toward Argo, but stopped when Gabrielle bent to draw her sais. Xena smiled ferally.
“I give everyone one chance,” she said slowly. “If you men don’t want any broken bones, you’ll turn around and ooze off the way you came.”
There were always a few idiots in the world who seemed to have missed out on the stories of the Warrior Princess of Amphipolis and her Battling Bard of Potodeia. This seemed to be a sizable group of them. Three of the men attacked at nearly the same time.
From the approaching angles, Gabrielle took on two of them while Xena handled the third. There was the satisfying crunch of a kneecap being busted, then a sword arm shattered from Gabrielle’s direction. Xena grinned as the heel of her hand flattened the talkative man’s nose.
Almost immediately, another man was on the attack, his sword upraised as he howled in outrage in the treatment of his friends. Xena blocked his swing with a gauntlet, and he pulled back to regroup and attack again.
Gabrielle took care of bad guy number three this time with a blow to the solar plexus that didn’t break anything, but would feel like it did. She watched the guy fall wheezing into the dirt, then pivoted to make sure there hadn’t been anyone else hiding in the bushes.
There wasn’t, but Gabrielle was shocked to see the final villain had snuck up behind Xena, who was still toying with the avid sword swinger. He kicked hard at the back of Xena’s knee, and it folded beneath her, forcing her to go down on one leg.
Two swords were immediately slashing downward, but came to an abrupt halt when they landed abruptly on crossed sais, held above Xena’s head. Xena tucked and rolled, and was on her feet in an instant, but both she and Gabrielle both knew it could have been a very dangerous situation. While Xena mentally shook herself for her lack of awareness, Gabrielle finished the fight with the final two men.
The men hobbled off in the direction they had come, mumbling something about never going after two women at once again.
Gabrielle watched to make sure none of them doubled back, before turning to stare at Xena. She couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if she hadn’t been there. She had seen Xena in worse jams, but something about the slow reaction time was really disturbing.
It was obvious Xena was just as bothered by what had happened as Gabrielle had been. Probably more, Gabrielle realized. She was now standing, arm crossed, staring off in to the distance. She glanced at Gabrielle, her face unreadable and stoic, and then walked off into the forest.
Gabrielle watched her go, and barely responded when Argo nudged the back of her shoulder. After a minute, she broke out of her trance, and stroked Argo’s nose. She still couldn’t speak the horse’s language likes Xena did, but she was learning.
Argo pushed her again, and snorted in the direction of Gabrielle’s armpit. It tickled, and Gabrielle jerked away. “Stop it!” she snapped.
After a minute, she realized what had happened. “Sorry, Girl,” she said, turning to pat Argo’s neck. “I didn’t mean that.” She scratched Argo’s muzzle, then gave her a kiss. “Just stay right here and get your lunch. I’ll go get her.”
Argo’s head bobbed up and down. She was in full agreement.
Xena knew Gabrielle would follow her, and didn’t bother covering her tracks. Even if she had, the minute she heard the running water, Gabrielle would have headed toward it, expecting to find Xena there.
Sure enough, Xena sat on a flat rock at the edge of a brook, her legs stretched out in front of her. She had a long stick, and was idly moving it through the water.
Her head rose, and she gave a single nod to Gabrielle, letting her know she was aware of her presence.
“Hey,” Gabrielle said, using one of Xena’s favorite greetings.
Xena didn’t respond, but when Gabrielle seated herself next to her, she gave her a little shoulder bump. Gabrielle grinned, knowing she wasn’t being shut out.
They sat there in silence for a minute, lost in thought. Finally, Xena spoke.
“Thanks for what you did.”
Gabrielle gave a slight shrug. “No problem,” she responded.
After a beat, Xena spoke again. “Any chance I could convince you I was just letting you show off?”
Gabrielle giggled. “Nice try,” she said.
“I thought so.”
Gabrielle picked up a pebble and threw it in the water. “What happened, Xena?” she asked, finally not able to stand it anymore.
“I didn’t see him coming,” was the response. Xena tried to say it easily, like it wasn’t a big deal. Once again, it wasn’t very convincing.
“That was obvious,” Gabrielle retorted, “But why? You should have heard him coming the second he looked in your direction.”
Xena shrugged, at a loss for words.
Gabrielle slipped an arm around the broad, bent shoulders. “Look, Xena, I know you don’t want to make a big deal out of this, and I won’t, but don’t you think it could be a cause for concern? I mean, what if this had been a real threat?”
“I would have been paying more attention,” was the reply.
Gabrielle couldn’t help but eyeball Xena. It was almost as though Xena had underestimated the thugs, and that wasn’t like her at all. She was normally thorough to the point of driving Gabrielle crazy.
“Something distracting you, huh?” she said finally, facing the stream.
Now, Xena was narrowing her eyes at her. Gabrielle wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Go on, get it out of your system,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“What?”
Xena smiled ruefully. “What you’re dying to say.”
Gabrielle blinked at Xena, then returned the smile. “Somehow, I don’t think you really want me to say it again, do you?”
“Not really. “ Xena’s hand reached up to rub at her eyes, but she though better of it, instead rubbing her chin. “When we get to Phillipi, I’ll get something to help me sleep, okay?”
Gabrielle nodded. “Okay, than makes me feel a lot better.” She grinned mischievously at her lover. “Guess I’ll just have to protect you till then.”
Xena started to smart off at that, then relaxed visible. “You do that,” she said finally. “It’s about time I get to take it easy.”
“Hey!” Gabrielle was the one who was on the verge of being offended, then realized she was being teased as well.
“Yeah right,” she retorted with a grin.
She was startled when Xena suddenly darted forward on her knees, her hands splashing into the brook. When she pulled her hands out of the water, she was holding a large fish.
“Ready for lunch?” she asked Gabrielle, with a matching grin of her own.
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