Specific Disclaimer: Please note warning for STRONG non-consensual
sex. Really. With men and everything. Watching those damn crucifixions took
a lot out of me, and I used this story to work out pent-up angst, so it is ug-lee.
This picks up in the cell scene. I thought the things the lead characters said
to each other in the script needed to be said, so assume they already have been.
I've just taken the liberty of adding a few more lines of dialogue, and then
twisting the outcome of the scene all to fuck and gone.)
*****
"It won't be long now."
Gabrielle acknowledged the centurion's warning with a glance. Then she rested
her head back on the pillar, and returned her gaze to the woman lying in her
lap. Her hand moved in soothing circles across Xena's waist.
The warrior had been fading in and out for awhile. She'd taken several telling
blows in the yard, even before the chakram Callisto cast nearly crippled her.
Gabrielle shuddered at the memory, the echo of the chakram pounding into Xena's
back with a base chime that left her faintly nauseous again.
The bard told herself to get a grip. Worse was coming for them both, even
before the horror of the nailing. Stories of the punishments inflicted before
crucifixion had wrenched Gabrielle out of deep sleep more than once. Flogging
with steel-barbed whips to the point of unconsciousness, for one. Gabrielle
closed her eyes, and resolved to pull every string available to a condemned
Amazon queen to see that they were tortured separately.
She bent over Xena and rested her lips against her damp forehead. "Artemis
grant us that much," she whispered.
Vivid blue eyes opened abruptly, startling her. "I feel you."
"What?" Gabrielle stammered.
"I feel your hand, Bri."
Gabrielle's fingers stilled for a moment, and then a smile broke over the
younger woman's face like sunrise. "Xena -- that means your spine's not
severed."
Xena smiled back, but it was a feeble effort.
"It does not mean you should entertain any crazy ideas about moving,
however."
Xena lifted an eyebrow, amused by the Amazon-Queen resonance in her young
partner's voice. Then her face relaxed into a pleased drowsiness, and they lay
quietly for awhile, watching each other.
It had been so long since she'd truly studied Xena's face, Gabrielle thought.
Funny, she used to do it constantly, when they were first together. She'd skip
backward down a treacherous, sloping path in front of Xena, trying to discern
the tall warrior's mood from the slightest flick of dark eyelash. And the effort
was worth it; she had learned Xena so well. Not just her facial expressions,
but the eloquence in her broad shoulders, her expressive hands. Now the smallest
change in the deep music of her voice sent such clear signals, Gabrielle assumed
she divined them. She drank in this last chance to imprint her lover in her
mind; she would need that sweet distraction, soon.
Xena's eyes moved over the bard's face, enjoying the soft loveliness of her
features; a sentimental luxury for a warrior on the brink of execution, but
she didn't care. She figured this was the best possible way to spend the time
they had left, and she wouldn't waste it on machisma.
"I've watched you grow up," Xena said.
"You've helped me grow up."
Xena shook her head, making a mental note that that small movement, at least,
did not bring on any killing pain. "Not so much as you think, Gabrielle.
I'd love to take full credit for shaping such -- an amazing young woman. But
your Artemis would smite me for slander." Xena smiled and shifted, and
the smile became a rictus as a spasm of pain shook her. Her sprawled body tightened
in the bard's arms, and Gabrielle strengthened her own hold around her bruised
shoulders.
"Xena! I saw that chakram hit you, okay?" As always under this kind
of pressure, Gabrielle's fear emerged as anger. "I heard that chakram hit
you. I can still hear it hit you, now stop jerking yourself around, and lie
still."
The terse command gave Xena something to focus on until she got the pain under
control. Finally she lay still in Gabrielle's lap again, relaxed, but shivering.
The cell was cold.
"I'm just saying," Xena said carefully, "that you turned out
very well, I think."
"Thank you." Gabrielle smiled, and her green eyes filled again.
She patted Xena's shoulder until her vision cleared. Then she combed her fingers
carefully through the dark, tangled hair warming her thigh.
The bard's voice was low and sweet when she spoke again. "Xena. I don't
want you to worry about me. I'll be all right. This next part will be over pretty
quickly." She nodded in the direction of the snow-shrouded mountain. "We've
been afraid of this for so long. It's easier to handle, now it's here. It's
not the end, not for us. We'll find each other again, wherever we end up. That's
good enough for me."
They both started as they heard the rattling of keys in the rusted lock of
the cell. Green eyes met blue ones and held, and Xena lifted her hand to touch
the side of Gabrielle's face.
"Too soon," the warrior murmured. Gabrielle nodded, and then closed
her eyes on fresh tears as the barred door clanked open.
Their dismal cell had begun to feel like hallowed ground, and the intrusion
of the tall centurion was jarring. Xena felt Gabrielle's fingers clench over
her shoulder, and she noted their chill. The warrior closed her eyes and tried
to prepare herself.
Five of Caesar's soldiers stood just inside the cell door. They carried few
weapons and wore no helmets, but each boasted a full complement of shining body
armor. The eldest of them reached the two women and and stood at attention,
folding one arm behind his back.
"Gabrielle, queen of the eastern tribe of Amazon Nation," the centurion
intoned. "You slaughtered eight of our men today. A grievous loss to one
of the finest regiments born of holy mother Rome. The time has come to satisfy
Roman justice." The man's eyes met Gabrielle's for a moment. "Whether
our ranks support the Amazon proposal is immaterial. We have a sentence to carry
out."
"You wear Brutus's crest," Xena noted quietly.
The centurion's nod was barely visible. He was middle-aged, but looked older.
The scarred condition of his leathers and armor testified to long years of fighting
in Caesar's service. It hadn't twisted this one, yet, though, Xena thought,
or not entirely. Beneath the demeanor of the professional soldier, something
human still flickered in the man's eyes.
""I am Trikus, second in command of Brutus's regiment. Xena of Amphipolis
-- twelve of our number fell by your sword in the yard. For this, and nefarious
past crimes, Caesar has ordered your crucifixion, and that of your confederate."
He turned his gaze on Gabrielle. "My Lord Brutus sends this message to
the Amazon queen. He has no power to commute your sentence, Gabrielle, or that
of the warrior princess. But he does have jurisdiction over the punishment inflicted
before the sentence is carried out."
Xena felt hope and struggled against it. The sudden tension in the thigh beneath
her neck told her Gabrielle realized the implication of the centurion's words
as well. The brutality of Rome offered a variety of pre-execution penalties;
none were pleasant, but not all were bloody.
"Brutus reminds you that you slaughtered half a battalion," Trikus
continued. His voice was unreadable. "There will be punishment, certain
and sure. But Brutus has fixed on the penalty he has deemed most fitting. He
bid me tell you he prays his instincts are correct." He nodded, curtly.
"You have a moment to prepare." He turned and stalked back to the
group of huddling soldiers at the cell's entrance.
Xena waited until his shuffling fell silent. Her throat was bone-dry. "Bri.
Do you understand?"
"I do." Gabrielle couldn't suppress the tremor in her voice, but
she shook her head sharply when Xena looked up at her. "Xena, don't you
dare fight them."
"How can I?"
"Xena . . . this is a gift. If we make it one." Gabrielle swallowed.
"I don't know if it's intended to be a blessing, from Ares or Artemis --
"
"Don't credit Ares with anything resembling compassion, Gabrielle,"
Xena snapped.
"It doesn't matter." Gabrielle cupped Xena's face in her hand and
turned her head carefully. "Listen to me. If this is our fate, we have
to accept it. But didn't you teach me we can make what we will of our lives?
We still have some power in our hands, Xena, and some choices." The bard's
eyes were afraid, but her tone was even. "Better this than a night of torture.
I'd rather we were raped than beaten, or branded. That's my choice. And I've
made one other."
"Gabri -- " Xena's brow furrowed as she looked up at her partner.
"All right. Tell me."
"I'll be doing it for you," Gabrielle said. She hesitated, and then
nodded. "Everything that happens to me, everything they -- make me do.
It'll be for you, for your pleasure. I owe you so much, Xena. Please, this could
be a gift, the last one I can give you. Let me."
"Gabrielle." Xena swallowed and tried for calm. "This is no
time to go touchy-feely cryptic, honey -- "
"Will you shut up and listen? Xena, I know you fantasize about it."
Gabrielle saw something vulnerable rise in Xena's eyes, and her voice lowered.
"Look, I know you'd break the kneecaps of anyone who dared touch me against
my will. If you could." Gabrielle paused. "Or you'd hold them while
I did it. Anyway. I'm safe with you, Xena. That's why it's all right that you
imagine -- forcing me, sometimes. I just wish you'd admitted this a little sooner,
to be honest." The smile creeping over Gabrielle's face was half-gamine,
half-seductive. "You never learned what I might say -- honey."
"Gabrielle, nice try, but -- "
"They won't hurt me." Gabrielle pressed Xena's shoulders quickly.
"I'm hardly a virgin, right? We can do this."
The soldiers had entered the cell, and Gabrielle's smile faded as they surrounded
them. "Xena, I love you."
"I love you back, Bri."
"Get them up." Trikus was purely in professional mode, now, and
his eyes were dispassionate as his squad surrounded the two women.
Xena tried to brace for the jolt of being lifted off Gabrielle's lap. She
was only partially successful, and a grunt of pain escaped her as two of the
soldiers grasped the warrior's arms and dragged her upright.
"Hey. Hey!" Gabrielle scrambled to her feet. "You can't yank
her around like that -- "
The bard's arms were snatched in burly fists, and she was hauled bodily to
the far wall of the cell. Gabrielle jerked herself free and elbowed a soldier
aside to see Xena. The warrior was held erect between the two men, her face
white with pain.
Trikus began without ceremony. "Strip, girl."
Gabrielle turned to stare at the centurion. The men around them grew silent,
but the musty air of the cell pulsed with a dark eagerness. The girl could feel
their gazes on the swell of her breasts. She knew Amazons had long inhabited
the dark fantasies of most of the military sons of Rome.
Trikus frowned. "You heard me. Strip, Gabrielle, or your garments will
be taken from you."
Gabrielle's eyes moved again to Xena's pale face. Not in entreaty, or out
of fear, but because she needed something from her lover before she could begin.
She found it in Xena's eyes, as she'd found so many answers there -- the cobalt
blue of them had gone white-hot. The scathing indifference the tall warrior
focused on thin air all but sizzled through the cell. Gabrielle felt herself
fill with it, a defiance of the enemy only the doomed can dare, and a savage
joy went through her.
The young bard hesitated one more moment, watching the flames dance in the
bracketed torches high on the wall, lighting the cold, silent cell. Lighting
her. Then Gabrielle's shoulders relaxed, and her green eyes emptied. She reached
back and silently untied the rough muslin strip wrapped around her chest. She
freed the wrap, and a wash of dank air swept coldly over her naked breasts as
she bared them.
The sleepy gray eyes of the soldier next to Gabrielle went volpine as he saw
the full mounds bounce when they escaped the cloth. He stared at the girl's
nipples sharpening in the chilled cell, her aureoles pebbling visibly and flushing
with color.
They would both hang naked soon, Gabrielle thought, feeling her arms break
out anew in gooseflesh. Their clothing would be ripped from them at the base
of the cross. Now Gabrielle revealed herself, with her own hands, and not for
her captors' pleasure. She dropped the muslin strip, and her cold fingers moved
to the swath of material covering her hips.
As she pulled the cloth free, Gabrielle shifted slightly to face the captive
warrior as she exposed her softly furred mound. It was a subtle, but deliberate
movement, establishing for all concerned the true owner of the goods on the
block. The corner of the dark woman's mouth lifted as her gaze moved over her
young wife's body.
Gabrielle's nakedness was something exotic, arousing, and sweetly familiar
all at once. The delicate lacework of mendhi stood out against the girl's tanned
skin, and the sapphire eyes were eerily remote. She stood with her arms graceful
and still at her sides, making no effort to cover herself. She was the essence
of passive composure.
Xena started in the grip of the two soldiers, and they both tightened their
holds. She'd been startled by an unexpected sensation -- a quivering tendril
of heat snaking through her belly. She closed her eyes briefly in relief --
then opened them again. What was she grateful for? That feeling might return
to her legs by the time the spike crushed the bones in her feet?
Trikus jerked his chin at the two soldiers flanking Gabrielle, and they took
hold of her arms again quickly. The two holding Xena promptly lowered her to
the ground, stretching her out on her back. Trikus had been in the yard that
morning, and he had seen the fury of the younger woman's attack when the warlord
fell; he knew to restrain her before her partner was suspended. Gabrielle hadn't
resisted the men's hold on her arms until now, but she fought when Xena's wrists
were clapped into cuffs linked to heavy chains strung over the floor.
"Trikus!" Gabrielle's tone was sharp -- but with command, as well
as fear. "We all know this penalty, and we know what Brutus commanded.
You saw what happened to Xena in the yard, she can't be -- "
"Brutus selected your punishment, Gabrielle." Trikus studied the
young queen evenly. "He allowed me to choose the warrior's. Up."
The long chains were thrown over a thick beam high in the ceiling, and Xena
was pulled erect in grinding jerks and starts. Her arms were stretched into
a tight Y. Her useless legs dragged on the floor until she was high enough that
they hung, dead weight, beneath her. The iron cuffs dug cruelly into the warrior's
wrists as her body steadied, rocking slightly between her outstretched arms.
Her feet were level with the knees of the soldiers locking down the chain. The
sound of Gabrielle's cursing struggles reached her, faintly.
"Gabrielle." Xena had to fight down the concussive bolts of pain
pounding through her back in order to speak calmly, but she managed it. When
she finally opened her eyes, they were dispassionate again -- just cool, blue
jets of light on Gabrielle's face.
It might have been an illusion, but it was a good one. The condemned cripple
vanished, if she had ever been; a warrior woman hung chained in her place. The
champion of an Amazon queen, Gabrielle's lover, her closer-than-sister, her
best friend.
The stoic dignity of Xena's carriage didn't falter when the two soldiers began
ripping the thin muslin wrap off her body, rocking her tall form painfully.
Her firm breasts were revealed, capped by tan nipples, and then unexpectedly
feminine, lush hips. Even hanging naked, her strong body swaying, covered with
bruises and cuts and still mud-streaked from the yard, Xena's cerulean blue
eyes remained coldly, distantly fixed on nothing.
As she'd remembered only minutes earlier, Gabrielle spoke Xena fluently. Her
green eyes glowed with pride. The bard straightened and stood still, breathing
deeply from her attempts to free herself, but no longer fighting the hands grasping
her arms.
Trikus nodded at the two soldiers who had secured Xena's chains. "Bring
the barrel."
"Wait, Trikus." The husky, brutal-looking soldier clenching Gabrielle's
right arm frowned, his brown eyes muddy above a ragged mustache. "I'm to
be first at this Amazon bitch. It's my right, it was my brother her spear took
out, pierced him through before he could -- "
"I remember my promise, Zaccheus." Trikus sounded tired. "You
can have her first, after she's restrained -- "
"I want her here. Now." Zaccheus yanked at his belt, his face flushing
red. "I want the bitch spread for me by my brother soldiers. It's my right,
Trikus."
Gabrielle stared at the man's profile, feeling his fingers dig cruelly into
her upper arm.
Trikus looked up at Xena. Then he nodded at his men. "Don't bloody her,"
he said quietly.
He went to stand beside Xena as the four men fell on Gabrielle.
They may have been led by an ethical commander, but they were soldiers of
Rome, and they knew how to position an unwilling woman.
Two of them pulled Gabrielle's arms over their burly necks and held her hands
fast, as if they were comrades assisting an injured man off a battlefield. A
third braced his arms under the girl's round buttocks and lifted, suspending
her hips at waist-height. He put one hand in the small of her back to keep her
naked body level. He gripped Gabrielle's left knee with the other, and the man
Zaccheus came around and lifted her right knee. The two men spread her legs
wide and held them open. They looked toward Trikus, as if holding the prisoner
ready for his inspection.
Gabrielle's body was rigid, her eyes squeezed shut, but she still offered
no resistance. She felt greedy eyes dig into her small, neat vagina, exposed
and glistening between her wide-spread thighs. Then Gabrielle looked up to see
Xena's impassive blue gaze fastened on her twitching nether lips, and she felt
a spasm of arousal tighten her vaginal walls.
"He was his mother's youngest, Amazon." Zaccheus fumbled with his
breeches, his eyes smoldering as he took in Gabrielle's large breasts. "Come
dawn, I'm going to hammer those spikes through your hands myself. But first
I'm going to pound home a spike of my own . . ."
The man freed his organ, which bobbed pink, thick and long between the girl's
muscular thighs, its bulbous head moving up toward her slit as though sniffing
for it. One of his compatriots muttered, "Dig her out, Zaccheus -- "
"Xena," Gabrielle whispered. "For you."
There was nothing ceremonial in Zaccheus's movements; he was on family business,
and he was brutal and quick. He took hold of his thickening penis and socketed
it snugly in the opening of the girl's vagina, clenched her buttocks in his
hands, and drilled up inside her. Gabrielle shrieked in a ragged breath. The
other three soldiers unleashed hoarse shouts of approval, crowding tightly around
to watch the young queen's first rape.
Xena reacted in spite of her resolve to remain impassive. She saw Gabrielle's
face contort, and her head ground back against one of her captor's shoulders.
The pole rooting up into her was stretching her, hurting her. Xena knew it by
the small moans escaping the bard, the heaving of her full breasts. The most
inner reaches of the diminuitive bard's body were fairly narrow, and had to
be coaxed open gently at first. Xena was master of the subtle melodies that
made those muscles relax -- but now Gabrielle was being skewered, impaled on
a burly man's thick cock. The warrior's body temperature lowered by entire degrees
as she hung from her chains, watching.
Gabrielle gasped raggedly as the muscled pole dug repeatedly in and out of
her. She fought to maintain a mask of remote composure. But then Zaccheus grunted,
loudly, and screwed his crotch in lewd circles against her groin. She lost the
battle with her demons and rebelled, twisting and crying out in the iron grip
of the soldiers. But she could feel Xena's fevered gaze on her body, and even
in her horror, Gabrielle's arousal surged higher under those heated blue eyes.
"Warrior princess!" The tall, blonde soldier with the pocked face
struggled to hold Gabrielle's thrashing body still to receive the grinding thrusts.
"Want me to suckle your little Amazon whore for you?" He plunged his
head down and fastened whiskered lips around Gabrielle's large pink nipple,
swirled his coarse tongue across it, and began to suck and chew. Gabrielle's
eyes widened as she stared at his churning mouth.
Xena closed her eyes, but the sounds of the brutal rape were as bad as the
images, as Gabrielle cried out again. The warrior's heart, and her mind, still
rebelled at the thought of finding pleasure in this chillingly violent performance
-- but her body was turning traitor, and she could feel her soft inner muscles
clenching in response. Gabrielle whimpered at a particularly punishing thrust,
and Xena jerked, as if in denial of her rising lust.
"Trikus," Xena gasped.
"Her skin won't be broken, warrior." The tall centurion stood by
Xena's swaying hip, his eyes avid on the sentence being carried out yards away.
"That's all Brutus promised."
Zaccheus pumped in and out of the young prisoner faster, bellowing, and then
he stopped dead and bent his knees as his seed spurted deep into Gabrielle's
cavern. His comrades gave him a ragged cheer, and the blonde soldier's tongue
scrubbed one last time across the turgid nipple.
Gabrielle lay still in the mens' grasp, her face a mask of revulsion. But
then her green eyes opened, and sought her chained lover across the cell. After
a moment, the corner of Gabrielle's mouth curved into a smile. It was even a
bit smug. Xena's eyes took on a low, gleaming light.
Zaccheus stumbled backwards, bent, and pulled up the breeches that had snarled
around his ankles. He stared down at Gabrielle, weaving slightly, lacing up
the front of his pants.
Gabrielle looked up at the man who had raped her. Her mouth opened twice before
she could manage coherent speech, but she was finally able to produce sound.
"I can't be sorry I protected my lifemate, soldier." Gabrielle cleared
her throat. "But I am sorry your brother had to die. You've avenged him
here, and you will again at the cross. Let your family's part in this stop,
with my death."
Zaccheus said nothing for a moment, his grizzled features still slack and
sated, but apparently he was thinking. "All right." He met the young
queen's eyes for the first time. "Blood will be satisfied at the cross.
Then I'll carry no grudge, into what comes to your Amazons."
Gabrielle nodded, and then she closed her eyes, and tried to prepare for whatever
came next. The night had only begun.
"The barrel, Kronius. Cedrin." Trikus shifted, for the first time
since he'd reached Xena's side, and drew out the long, coiled bullwhip he'd
held beneath his cloak. Xena saw it out of the corner of her eye, and she drew
in a long breath.
"Your brother fell, too, Trikus?"
"My lifemate," Trikus corrected. "By your hand, Xena."
Xena watched the two soldiers roll a waist-high wooden keg into the cell's
torchlit square, their breath steaming out in white clouds. There was an eagerness
in their movements that chilled the warrior far more than the cold air could.
Gabrielle was allowed to stand and walk to the big barrel, but her arms were
crossed cruelly behind her, held high up against her back. Her shoulder-blades
stood out prominently as she turned, her breasts jutting forward with the forced
arch of her spine. Trikus moved in front of Xena, not blocking the view of her
lover being pushed down backwards over the curve of the barrel, but facing her.
"He was everything I've ever wanted to be, myself." The centurion's
voice was mild, and Xena tore her eyes from Gabrielle to stare down at him.
"Platius wasn't long for Ceasar's service, he was better than this. I've
never known a braver man, Xena, or a kinder one. You took him from me."
"It might have been my strike." Xena's voice was almost kind. "But
war widowed you, Trikus."
"Ready, Trikus!" The bellow came from one of the men milling around
Gabrielle, whose arms were securely tied down, anchoring her upper body over
the swell of the barrel. Her feet dangled a foot above the floor. Her legs were
untied, and Xena could see the play of muscles in the bard's thighs as she held
them together.
The centurion nodded, and folded his hands together behind his back, still
clutching the coils of the bullwhip, still looking up at Xena. "Tobias,"
he called. "The Amazon cut your uncle's throat in the yard. You're next.
Cedrin, you and Kronius each lost close comrades at arms. Take her in turn.
Zaccheus, you may go again if you're ready by then. All of you, remember --
never block the warrior princess's view of the prisoner. Begin."
Gabrielle had time to lock eyes with Xena for one second before they swarmed
over her again.
Xena used inhuman force on herself to look away from Gabrielle, and down again
into Trikus's strange eyes as the men's shouts rose a second time. "You
know better than to ask a fighter to regret a kill, Trikus. But for what it's
worth, if you're the one that raises my cross, I won't grudge you your vengenace."
Trikus nodded, but he didn't move. "Brutus left your punishment to me,
you know. I could have had you raped, in front of the girl, or alongside her.
It's what my men wanted. Or tortured, really tortured, not this petty beating
I'm about to administer. I chose the whip, though, because I'm the man to swing
it. I'm going to scourge you, Xena." Trikus's hands flexed powerfully around
the whip coiled behind his back. "And I'm going to enjoy it."
"I know." Xena nodded. "And I do regret that."
Trikus averted his gaze, and then ducked beneath Xena's outstretched arm and
went around behind her, snapping out the long bullwhip with an automatic grace
that spoke of years of skilled practice.
The blonde soldier named Tobias was buried deep in Gabrielle. He had one of
her legs hooked over each brawny arm, and he'd pushed her knees up against her
belly as he drilled into her. His face was a fixed mask of effort and grim pleasure,
his squinting eyes locked into the air above him as he pounded relentlessly
between the young queen's open legs.
Kronius stood beside the barrel, grinning down at the bard's bobbing breasts.
He held up a long string of twine before Gabrielle's wide eyes, and then lowered
the strand to run beneath a protruberant nipple. He sawed the twine back and
forth gently, laughing as Gabrielle gasped and tried to shrink away from his
touch.
"Give me the end, Kronius." The smallest soldier, Cedrin, hands
trembling, took the other end of the twine, and together the men strung the
harsh cord beneath both nipples. They scraped it back and forth across the sensitive
buds. This was entertaining for an amazingly long time as Gabrielle surged painfully
up and down on the barrel, impaled on Tobias's fleshy cock, grunting softly
and helplessly.
Xena's eyes were filling with lavender as she watched. She could feel it happening.
Lavender is a very different shade than sea-blue -- it gives off a lighter,
faster heat, and much more intense. Only Gabrielle could summon this color to
Xena's eyes, and that rarely. But Gabrielle could see it rising now, and her
lover's arousal increased her own.
Then she saw Xena's eyes close abruptly, and in the next instant she heard
the thunderclap of an oiled bullwhip striking its mark. Xena shuddered deeply,
and her body rocked slightly between the chains binding her wrists.
And suddenly Tobias was flying across the cell, propelled by a sudden shove
of muscled legs. Gabrielle smashed her knee into Cedrin's nose, and then kicked
viciously at the other men trying to duck her flailing legs.
"Trikus!" Gabrielle gasped. "It's enough, leave her alone!"
Xena struggled to contain the pain of that first strike. She realized, with
no little relief, that the bullwhip was not studded. Without steel barbs embedded
along its length, the bullwhip would bloody her, but it wouldn't tear off chunks
of flesh with each blow. Ares must be disappointed, Xena thought, but she wasn't.
Her vision cleared enough that she could see Gabrielle again. "Think
of it as payback, Gabrielle."
The bard stopped thrashing, and stared at Xena. "Wh-what?"
"It's payback, I said. If we choose it."
But then the second lash cracked across Xena's back, and the bard rebelled
outright, struggling viciously again in the soldiers' hands. The men had recovered
sufficiently to mount an offense, and it was quick work; Gabrielle's hands were
too securely roped to the barrel to allow any real chance of escape.
"Bind her tits, then flip her over." Kronius's face was brick-red
as he moved to the end of the keg, untying his breeches. "Zaccheus, you
take the twine to her -- "
"No, those are mine," Tobias wheezed, limping up to shove Zaccheus
aside, so he could stare down into Gabrielle's heated eyes. Smiling slightly,
he took the long string of coarse twine and began weaving it in figure-8's around
the bard's full breasts. He pulled the slack hard as he encircled the pale globes,
watching their tips flush with color as they were constricted in the biting
cord.
The bullwhip snapped again, and Gabrielle saw the warrior clench her teeth
against the fire streaking across her shoulders. The bard looked back up at
Tobias, and spat directly in his face.
Xena's breathing grew more ragged. Studded or not, a bullwhip was designed
to elicit impressive suffering, and Trikus was wielding it with considerable
force. The next crack of the lash across Xena's back sent a small spray of sweat
blasting through a sunbeam lighting the suspended warrior.
Gabrielle's hands were untied, and she was grabbed and turned roughly over
on the barrel so that she lie face down. Her arms were extended in front of
her again, and the weight of her upper body was forced down on those twine-bound
breasts, pressing the sensitive globes hard against the gnarled wood. She cried
out as her large nipples scraped across the surface of the keg, but she kept
her eyes on Xena.
The warrior was struck again, and Xena's powerful body flexed to absorb the
blow. She was beautiful -- all tawny strength, tanned muscle, and wild midnight
hair writhing under the lash -- and her lavender eyes were on her lover.
Both were remembering how many times Gabrielle had performed this very dance
beneath Xena's whip -- scourgings much more gently administered, true, but thorough
ones. The bard understood, very well, how a flogging aroused the recipient.
Now, for the first time, she understood why they aroused the flogger.
Xena smiled down at Gabrielle with eyes so feline, the bard moaned aloud with
the carnal rush that washed through her groin. The warrior was more poignant,
and more powerful in her chains than Prometheus himself.
"I'm going to drill you from behind like a dog, your majesty." Kronius
clenched Gabrielle's hips in his hands and rolled the barrel upwards. He pulled
on her waist until it smacked against his crotch, then reached down to position
his prick between her inverted lips. He plunged into her, hard, and Gabrielle
surged over the barrel, her bound breasts scraping painfully against the weathered
wood.
Trikus drew back the bullwhip and sent it hurtling forward again, this time
to curl over the top of Xena's right shoulder. A line of blood appeared in the
lash's wake, and Xena's head dropped back briefly as pain overwhelmed her, her
breasts twisting sinuously, the tanned nipples full and hard, now.
It went on for a very long time. Tobias clenched Gabrielle's blonde hair in
his fist and twisted her head on the barrel, forcing her to watch Xena's sentence,
not knowing the bard could not look away in spite of herself.
Kronius thrust rapidly in and out of the girl's straining cunt, his groin
slapping wetly against Gabrielle's shuddering buttocks. He squirmed his hands
between the bard's thighs, and his groping fingers found her turgid, quivering
clitoris. He scrubbed the nerve-rich knob hard with three fingers, gasping as
he felt himself build toward explosion.
Xena's breasts shuddered as the bullwhip thundered again across her back,
and her lavender eyes drilled into Gabrielle's wide, staring green ones. The
long lines of the warrior's suspended body swam in Gabrielle's vision. The thunder-clap
strike of the bullwhip rocketed a cruel a bolt of fire through her clitoris,
and all the bard's muscles locked. The oncoming force of her climax terrified
her.
"For you, Gabrielle," Xena murmured, and the bard imploded, shrieking
in breath between clenched teeth.
The four soldiers had to struggle to hold the thrashing, muscular body of
the young woman as she convulsed with pleasure, spears of it streaking through
her, pulsing in her large, pressed nipples. Tears rose in Xena's eyes as she
watched. Even Trikus was captivated by the image of the blonde prisoner's insensible
writhing, and he let the bullwhip's long lash drop to the hay-strewn floor.
Silently, he coiled the whip and attached it again to his belt.
When Gabrielle finally quieted, she was weeping. The tears were simple release
-- there was no sadness or fear in them. The four soldiers assembled, silently,
behind the barrel, standing shoulder to shoulder over Gabrielle's hunched body,
and Trikus came up to stand beside Xena's chained form. The cell was silent
for a long moment.
"Untie me."
Gabrielle's voice was low. The command was spoken quietly, but the queen expected
it to be obeyed. She kept her eyes shut, her long lashes dusky against her pale
cheek, while the soldiers looked to Trikus. Gabrielle couldn't know whether
Trikus nodded, but she suddenly felt hands on the ropes binding her.
"Stand down," Zaccheus growled, as he worked loose the knots. His
words were directed at Tobias, who did not seem happy at this turn of events.
"We've had our fill."
Gabrielle sat up on the barrel and looked up at Xena, pulling the twine snare
off of her breasts with a last shudder. Her breasts bounced free, encircled
by red lines that contrasted cruelly with her milky skin. Her face was calm,
even regal as she swung her legs over and dropped lightly to her feet. She stood
still a moment, swaying, and Xena thought she was going to faint. She was shockingly
pale, she'd gotten up too swiftly, and her legs were probably numb.
But Gabrielle had no intention of fainting; she steadied herself. The naked
queen could have been draped in royal robes -- her shoulders were level, her
posture almost imperiously relaxed. The green eyes fixed on Xena's as she walked
toward her. She crossed beneath Xena's outstretched arm and turned to look at
the warrior's back. Gabrielle almost faltered for a moment, when she saw the
bleeding welts -- her lips trembled, and she had to look away, but not for long.
Then she turned sapphire eyes on Trikus.
"Anything else?" Gabrielle asked dully.
The centurion returned Gabrielle's calm gaze, and then he tilted his head
to look up at the warrior. Xena saw that Trikus's face was covered with sweat.
He had exerted himself, certainly, but the cell was too cold to explain his
pallor. It didn't take a healer's eyes to recognize the man was heart-sick.
"I've had my fill, too, Xena."
Xena was using the time Gabrielle couldn't see her face to try to compose
her features again. It was idiocy and she knew it, trying for macha stoicism
at this stage, but old habits die hard. Her spine was definitely not shattered
-- Xena could feel her entire back, from shoulders to waist, and it was a sheet
of flame. But she could also feel the tendril of warmth that still flickered
between her thighs.
Trikus received no reply, but he had expected none. He turned dead eyes on
Zaccheus. "We've got two crosses to lay. Move out."
"Trikus," Tobias sputtered, pointing, "What about the kick
that little witch fetched
me -- "
"We'll be back for the prisoners when we're ready for them, Tobias,"
Trikus cut him off. "Now move."
Muttering, the soldiers filed out. Only Zaccheus looked fully at Gabrielle
as they passed, but she was otherwise engaged, and didn't notice.
She came around in front of Xena again when they were alone, and stood close
to her. She couldn't put her arms around her because she didn't want to touch
her abraded back, so she stood as close as she could. Her breasts brushed Xena's
flat belly, and her knees touched her feet.
Gabrielle smiled up at Xena, and it was the shy, sparkling smile of the village
girl from Potadeia. "Payback, Xena."
Xena squinted down at her, and then her eyes widened. "Gabrielle. Don't
even think about it."
Gabrielle's eyebrows lifted. "I've done nothing but think about it for
almost four years, Xena. You think seeing you whipped, instead of being whipped
myself, was payback? My payback comes now, warrior." Gabrielle put a hand
on her hip, and poked Xena in the belly with one finger. "You have never
accepted this from me -- you're going to, now. Don't you dare knee me in the
nose."
Watching her face carefully, Gabrielle lifted Xena's thighs, one by one over
her strong shoulders. "Okay. I'm going to say goodbye to you, Xena, with
more love than any ten people are blessed to find in one lifetime."
Gabrielle wrapped her hands around the warrior's hips, stepped into her, and
rested her full lips gently on her mound in a reverent kiss. Then she dug into
Xena with her mouth, and settled in to a long-denied feast.
Xena was wet, but not abundantly so. The warrior never was, even in highest
arousal; a seeming contradiction for such a powerful woman. Gabrielle knew she
made up for it, however, in sensitivity -- Xena's clitoris was a tinderbox awaiting
the coarse stroke of Gabrielle's tongue, and she obliged by igniting it with
a succession of dragging licks.
Xena twisted, groaning, in her chains, the manacles digging deeply again into
her wrists, but she hardly felt it. She was aware only of the rapid-fire churning
of her lover's tongue through her folds. Gabrielle's hands ground into Xena's
hips, pressing her mouth more deeply into her. A snarl rose out of the merciless
queen as she raped her prisoner with her lips and tongue, and Gabrielle felt
that alien joy shoot through her again when Xena's hips began to undulate in
her hands.
Gabrielle growled against Xena and ravaged her with her mouth, her teeth tightening
over her straining clitoris, then releasing it, and beginning a series of rapid,
sucking bites. It didn't take long. Xena made no sound as she came, but her
body snapped taut. The warrior arched, magnificent in her chains, the cords
in her neck standing out with the detonation of heat in her belly.
Finally, Gabrielle straightened. She lifted Xena's limp thighs off her shoulders
and eased them down, carefully. Then she reached up and palmed the sweat off
the tall woman's forehead and face, a small smile playing about her lips. Gabrielle
draped her arms loosely around the warrior's waist, avoiding the worst of the
whipmarks, and rested her head on Xena's flat stomach. Both women closed their
eyes, and said goodbye for now.
As Gabrielle predicted, the next part didn't take very long.
Trikus and his men returned to the cell. The two women were separated, and
Xena was taken down. Both were clothed again in their remnants of muslin. Then
the bard was pulled, and the warrior was dragged, out of the cell and into the
snow.
*****
The cell stood empty and silent. Empty but for the presence of an unseen god
of war, and silent but for the sound of his weeping. Then that too faded, and
was gone.
----- End -----
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