Gabrielle yawned through most of the afternoon, worn out from being awakened so many times the last few nights. Xena was too far gone with exhaustion to be in the yawning stage. She was having trouble with her imagination, seeing things out of the corner of her eyes when there was really nothing there. The few times Gabrielle spoke to her, Xena found herself really having to concentrate on what was being said, and even then, she was finding it hard to respond with coherent statements.
Gabrielle heard the very subtle slurring pattern Xena’s speech was taking, and added that to her list of concerns for her tall companion. The travel was extremely slow, and she wondered if they’d still make it to Phillipi the next day.
“We’ll make it,” Xena nodded, as if reading her thoughts. “One way or the other, we’ll make it.”
It wasn’t long after that then Xena noticed Gabrielle was nearly nodding off, and was lagging further and further behind. Finally, she asked Xena if they could stop for the day, saying she didn’t think they could go on much further.
Xena considered it for a moment. She certainly wouldn’t make Gabrielle continue to walk, but wondered if maybe she could talk Gabrielle into climbing on Argo’s back and traveling that way for a at least a while. But at this point, even that wouldn’t be fair, knowing how tired Gabrielle was feeling.
Xena was acutely aware of how tired she was too, of course, but it was different because the problem was hers.
“We’ll stop at the next clearing,” she said aloud, and received a grateful nod.
It wasn’t long before they found a spot to make camp. Gabrielle quickly gathered firewood while Xena hunted for some dinner. She chakramed a pheasant hen, knowing that was one of Gabrielle’s favorite meats. Xena plucked it on the way back to camp. Gabrielle was a first rate cook, but she did not like dressing their game.
Xena reentered their camp and spotted Gabrielle immediately. She had started a fire, and was curled up on top of her bedroll nearby. She was sound asleep.
With a sigh, Xena hung the pheasant up from a fairly high tree branch, where it would be out of reach of most predators. At least, pheasant was always good for breakfast.
Despite the fact that she felt like she could collapse at any time, Xena had no intention of going to sleep that night. No sleep meant no dreams, and no waking up Gabrielle. It also meant the feelings of guilt for the kind of activities she had participated in during her past could be suppressed a while longer.
And finally, it meant no more of the total blackness and the haunting voice of Callisto. That was the thought that was bothering Xena the most. She was afraid that she would step back into the blackness, naked and restrained, with Callisto there.
The words came back to her. “Here so soon, Xena?” Callisto had been expecting her. She was waiting for Xena’s appearance wherever it was she found herself. Had Callisto been waiting there all alone? Had the progression of dreams been calculated steps in capturing Xena?
Xena’s mind reeled from that thought. She didn’t see how it could be possible, her being imprisoned at Callisto’s command. With the exception of Borias’s taking her anally, all the other dreams had been about her being the one in control, the dominant. If a dream was going to involve Callisto, Xena had little doubt that she would suddenly find herself the submissive.
Staying awake wasn’t as difficult as she would have imagined it to be. For the first part of the night, Xena just sat on her bedroll, watching the fire burn, thinking hard on what might be happening, and how she could stop it.
Then later, her thoughts turned more toward Gabrielle. She couldn’t give up on trying to figure out what was happening. She could come up with no plausible reasons, unless the entire purpose was to drive her mad or weaken her until she was totally defenseless. The former was the more likely of the two…even with the torture she was going through, Xena was far from being that weak.
There was the thought that this was all actually a plot to get to Gabrielle. Gabrielle cared about Xena above everyone else in the world, and she was incredibly worried about her. Yes, it had served to help protect Xena today …but as the day went on, Gabrielle had become quieter and more worn down.
But Xena knew that wasn’t it. She didn’t have to tell Gabrielle the nature of the dreams, and in fact, had left out a lot of the details. There was no sense in telling her everything.
And there was Callisto’s comment, “Here so soon, Xena?” That made Xena pretty well convinced that whatever was happening wasn’t focused on Gabrielle.
Every argument and possible reason Xena came up with, she was able to shoot it down with another argument or theory. It kept her busy the vast majority of the night, and when her eyelids finally began to droop in the early morning, Xena turned to physical activity.
It was harder than she ever would have imagined. She started with a few of her most practiced sword drills, intending to loosen up her very stiff muscles After a few minutes of that, she took to the trees, intending to get some climbing, flipping, and swinging practice in. More than once, however, she lost her footing or her grasp, and nearly crashed to the Earth as an end result.
Of course, the fact that it was a cloudy moonless night had something to do with that, but Xena didn’t think it should affect her that much.
Every bone seemed to hurt, every one of her muscles ached, but a half hour later, Xena was confident in her ability again. She continued to work out for a couple more hours, then found a cold lake. Just as the sun was beginning to rise, she had herself an early morning bath in near freezing water.
Gabrielle was stirring up when Xena reentered the camp. The blonde took in Xena’s wet hair and freshly scrubbed appearance. “Good morning, Xena,” she said. “How long have you been up?”
Xena hated to lie, but she shrugged and said, “A while.”
Gabrielle yawned and stretched her back, arching seductively. Xena didn’t miss the action, and she felt an area of her body that she had just cleaned grow warm with fresh secretions.
“You look beautiful this morning,” she said, her voice sounding lower than usual to even her ears. She slid the seductive half-smile that Gabrielle loved so much over her features.
Gabrielle’s face showed immediate disbelief. “I just woke up from a twelve hour sleep,” she replied. “I’m sure I look like nothing more than Monday morning in Tartarus.”
“Nah…” Xena shook her head and sat down next to her lover. “You look sexy; your hair all tousled by sleep, your eyes bright and sparkling. She slid her arms around Gabrielle and gave her a long good morning kiss.
Gabrielle accepted the kiss eagerly but giggled when it had ended. “Gods, Xena, are you sure you’re not the one of us who is a bard? You always know just what to say.”
Xena grinned, but looked at a loss when Gabrielle pulled herself away from her. “Gotta make a trip to the bushes,” she explained.
While waiting on Gabrielle to return, Xena packed up camp. Much as she would have liked to, she didn’t really feel up to making love that morning.
But she had given Gabrielle the kiss and the brief flirtation for a reason. It had helped stir her arousal and got her blood pumping a bit more. The feelings it evoked in her would help her get through the day a little easier.
Xena, once again, chose to walk that day. Gabrielle’s night of sleep had refreshed the bard completely, and Xena was actually the one who felt like she was slowing them down today.
Gabrielle attributed Xena’s slow gait to the fact that they would soon be in Phillipi, and Xena was probably in no hurry to get there, since she had promised Gabrielle she would seek out some help for her problem. Gabrielle knew Xena would keep her word, but it didn’t mean she had to like it.
It was mid-afternoon when the outskirts of the city came into sight. The large city, located in Northern Greece was often the first place travelers from Northern Europe stopped, and because of that, was an extraordinarily cultured city. Not only were there goods of all kinds for sale, there were also people of a wide variety of occupations there. It was known as a haven of healers of all sorts, and many a parent had risked life and limb to get a sick child there.
Xena had been there for that purpose a few times herself but it was always seeking help for someone else, not herself.
As the gates of the city loomed larger, Xena stumbled along a tree root, and righted herself before Gabrielle had noticed. Still, she cursed herself for her clumsiness. It was only a matter of time before sleep deprivation had her doing something really foolish, and she was becoming more aware of that all the time. That realization alone was enough to push Xena onward.
Gabrielle found them a room while Xena stabled Argo upon their arrival. That was standard procedure for them.
They met up a few minutes later outside the inn. It was past time for lunch, but Gabrielle wanted to skip it, more eager to get Xena to a healer than eating.
Xena just sighed, ready to get it over with.
Holding hands, they walked through the bustling city, checking out the various businesses they passed. Several of them caught Gabrielle’s eye, and she mentioned that she’d stop back by them later. Xena just nodded, feeling a sense of dread growing even more imminent within her.
The various healers were mixed in with all the other businesses they passed. There were midwives, herbal healers, poison experts, just a wide variety of about every kind of healer one could think of. Finally, Xena and Gabrielle came across a building which featured a sign proclaiming to help with sexual and sleep disorders.
Xena raised her eyebrows with a grin at the second half of the sign. “This is great,” she quipped. “Maybe I can get the healer to attach a dick to me after we get the other thing out of the way.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” Gabrielle replied with a teasing voice. She stepped closer, and laid a hand on Xena’s arm. “I don’t want anything getting in the way of that sweet pussy of yours.”
Xena leered at that, then burst into a wide grin. “Don’t worry,” she added. “I wouldn’t want to give it up anyway, even if I had the opportunity to bury about eight inches in you.”
Eight inches. Gabrielle shivered from just the idea of that. Their phalluses weren’t more than six inches, but if Xena really did sport a male member, somehow, she knew it would be large.
Tasking a deep breath, Xena entered the shop, followed closely by her bard.
“Hello?” Gabrielle called out after they didn’t see anyone moving around for a minute.
After a beat, she called again, “Is there anyone in there?”
“Coming!” a female voice from somewhere above them sounded a few seconds later.
“Must be working on someone’s sexual problems,” Xena winked, and Gabrielle broke out into a nervous laugh.
“Very funny,” she commented.
While they waited, Xena walked over to a series of shelves on the far side of the room, to study the variety of objects there. She recognized many of them. They were accessories lovers would use.
Gabrielle followed her over, her own eyes opening wide. She knew what some of the items were, but many of them were unfamiliar to her.
Xena pointed to a particular favorite of hers, which looked suspiciously to Gabrielle like five small balls attached to one another by string. She looked at it, then Xena, obviously not sure how the thing was used.
Xena nodded, then broke into a grin. “We gotta get us one of these before we leave town,” she said.
Before Gabrielle could really question that, a door behind her opened, and a woman joined them in the room. “Hello,” she said. “My name is Dinah.”
“Hello, Dinah,” Gabrielle replied, with a bright smile. “I’m Gabrielle, and this is Xena.”
Xena crossed her arms and gave a curt nod. Dinah was about Gabrielle’s height, with gray curly hair and friendly hazel eyes. She wore a light blue dress, with a white apron over it and looked more like a grandmother than a healer.
Dinah had been looking at Gabrielle, but now she turned to give Xena the once over. She quickly turned back to Gabrielle, and smiled.. “What can I do for you?” she asked pleasantly.
Gabrielle took Xena’s hand and led her forward. “Xena’s been having a difficult time sleeping lately,” she began.
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