CHAPTER 2 OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Joxer thrashed around in his cot, his hands grasping wildly in the air for anything to grab onto. His mouth worked silently, screams locked inside his throat as he choked out small grunts. He couldn’t breathe! His chest was on fire, burning, starving for oxygen.
A couple weeks later, the three companions were settling in for the night at the local tavern of a coastal village that had escaped certain destruction when Xena had cheerfully "persuaded" a certain pirate captain and raggedy his crew to give up their ill-chosen careers.
Joxer was absently plucking at his lyre while Xena sipped her port and Gabrielle her ale. The weather was heavy and wet, so even though the tavern was filled with customers, the atmosphere was pleasantly subdued. Warmed by the roaring fire at their backs and pleased with the results of a good day's wrong-righting, the three friends all sighed with contentment at the same time. Xena grinned. Joxer chuckled softly. Gabrielle snickered into her mug of ale.
Lulled by the soft tune Joxer was coaxing from the strings, Gabrielle set the mug down and rested her chin in her palm, swaying slightly to the melody. She watched his fingers as they moved over the strings, her eyelids slowly growing heavy.
She smiled softly, "That's lovely, Joxer."
Joxer shot a glance at the sleepy, swaying bard and pursed his lips in a shy smile, knowing his face and ears were burning red. He looked over at Xena and huffed a quiet laugh when she just winked at him, then ducked his head back down over his instrument, mumbling a thank you toward the bard.
"Does Jace play?" Gabrielle asked, folding her hands over her empty mug and resting her chin on top of them. Her eyes were glued to the hypnotic movements of his fingers.
Joxer nodded, "We all play. Mother taught us when we were little. Father would teach us to be warriors, but she was determined to pass along her own skills, too." His fingers paused and Gabrielle blinked. She looked up at his face and saw a dreamy look pass over his eyes. "She taught us to dance and sing, too." He rested his chin against the neck of the lyre and chuckled softly, "At least, she tried. Jace took to that a lot better than Jett or I did."
Xena huffed in protest and drained the last of the port from her goblet. "You were holding your own with him back in Melodia, though." She set the goblet down and sat back, stretching her legs out under the table. "You sounded great together."
Gabrielle made a little hum of agreement, nodding without bothering to lift her head from her knuckles. "You think he's still there?" she murmured. The flamboyant triplet and his troupe had wanted to hang around the musical town for a while longer when the three of them had been ready to move on.
Joxer shook his head and started playing again, this time a different tune; a low, dark melody with an undercurrent of such sadness, Gabrielle felt tears prickling behind her eyes.
"Athens."
Gabrielle blinked her eyes clear. She shouldn't have had that last ale. She felt all warm and fluffy, with the fire and the music, but her brain was going fuzzy. "What was that?"
"Jace went back to our father's house in Athens." His fingers struck a discordant note and they all winced. Joxer sighed and set the instrument down. He thrust his fingers through his hair, and then dropped his elbows on the table, holding his head in his hands. "He left when we were fifteen and never looked back. I can't imagine why he would now."
Gabrielle frowned, "But how do you know he's there? We haven't received any messages since we left him in Melodia."
Joxer was silent for a long moment then turned to Xena and gave her a pointed look. "I just know." He shrugged at Gabrielle, unable to explain the rather tense dreams he'd had lately of his brother and his childhood home.
Gabrielle lifted her head and looked from Joxer to Xena and back again, her head reeling a bit from the ale. "Did I miss something?"
Xena smiled sympathetically at Joxer then grinned down at Gabrielle and pushed back her chair. "Probably. Come on, let's hit the sack. We're headed for Marathon in the morning."
"Why Marathon? Is there trouble?" Gabrielle got up and followed her, weaving slightly. Definitely too much ale.
Xena glanced at Joxer, who was still seated and looking stunned. "I hope not. We're just going to go and make sure there isn't any."
Gabrielle was confused, but her brain was too fuzzy to try and figure out Xena's thinking at the moment. Joxer watched them head up the stairs to their room and felt a great surge of gratitude toward the warrior. While he certainly hoped there wasn't any real trouble in Marathon, he knew it was a ruse. He knew what Xena was thinking. Since they would certainly be passing through Athens along the way, why not stop by and see how dear old Jace was doing?
It was dark. Darkness everywhere, all around him, was pressing in from all sides, pulling him down. He was falling, falling into a deeper darkness, and he couldn’t stop. Twisting, turning, reaching, finding nothing to catch him.
Only when his frantic movements tossed him onto the floor, did he wake. He gasped, sucking in great gulps of air until he was dizzy. He rolled over onto his stomach and pressed his forehead against the splintered wood, fighting down the urge to vomit.
Another dream. This one so much worse than the others. He had to leave, he had to get there, he had to find him. He had to go now.
He pushed himself up onto shaky legs, shoved on his boots, and grabbed his sword and helmet. Outside Xena and Gabrielle’s room across the hall, he rapped his knuckles twice on the door, waited a beat, then twice again, waited a beat, then twice again. He was ready to pound on it with a fist when it opened.
Xena stood there in her shift, holding her sword. Her eyes showed no sign of fatigue, and he knew she was alert to every sound and movement around them. She scrutinized him carefully and narrowed her eyes in concern.
“What’s wrong?” She noted how his hair stood out in sweaty clumps, how his normally pale face was positively ashen. He was out of breath and shaking. This was not good.
“I have to go, Xena. It’s Jace. He—“ Joxer shook his head, “I don’t know. I don’t know what it means, but it’s bad. I have to go.”
Xena nodded and turned to gather her things. “Give us five minutes.” She grabbed Gabrielle’s pack and tossed it onto the sleeping bard’s chest, eliciting a grunt and a grumbled curse. “We’ll meet you in the stables.”
Joxer swallowed thickly against a dry throat, nodded, and stumbled down the hall. Xena already had her leathers on and was shoving her feet into her boots while Gabrielle rolled up to sit on the side of the bed, reaching for her boots before she was even fully awake.
“Hurry it up, Gabrielle. We got trouble.”
The grim tone in the warrior’s voice shook the cobwebs right out of the bard’s head. She didn’t waste any time asking questions. By the time Xena was sliding her sword in its sheath, Gabrielle had her sais in her boots and her pack on her shoulder and they were rushing out the door.
