Disclaimer:
This story contains explicit, non-consensual sex, bondage, and considerable
violence. If any of those things freak you out, please dont read this.
If youre cool with them, enjoy.
Prologue:
Xena brushed the pink rosebud across her partners sleeping lips, and
smiled as her soft snoring hitched, briefly. Gabrielles body at rest rivaled
even the rose in beauty, but the warrior actually found her snore equally endearing.
She bestowed a chaste kiss on the bards forehead, and then lay the rosebud
on the pillow between them.
Gabrielle had been chaffing, lately, at Xenas apparent lack of romantic
instinct. She had taken to reading love poems aloud as they traveled, verses
so purple with passion even Argo blushed to hear them. Finding the rose in the
morning was intended to atone for that, in part. Xena eased her way carefully
down in the bed, checking to be sure she hadnt disturbed her lovers
rest, and then sank herself, gratefully, into deep sleep.
Xena awoke alone.
The rose was still there, curled blushing and perfect on the pillow. Xena opened
one eye and peered at it, puzzled. She started to lift her head to look for
Gabrielle, when an odd flickering in the flower caught her gaze.
A spider crawled out of the tightly curled bud. A reddish, jointed-legged spider,
familiar in a sinister way that chilled Xenas heart. It skittered mindlessly
over the pink petals, and then hunched on top of them, quivering. The spider
began to feed.
Its tiny, wicked mandibles tore into a tender petal -- and where it tore,
a bright red drop of blood brimmed, shimmering. Xena watched the spider rip
at the rose in fascinated revulsion, but fear was trying to claim her.
She knew who this was. She knew what it meant.
In a spasm of anger, Xenas fist crashed down on both flower and spider.
She felt a small freshet of blood spurt beneath the heel of her hand as she
ground it into the pillow. And, as she had half-known it would, both the spider
and the blood were gone when she lifted her hand. All that remained was the
tender rosebud, flattened and shredded by the force of her blow.
"Alti," Xena breathed, staring at the ruined rose.
Alti had Gabrielle.
*********
Gabrielle heard voices, and reminded herself to lie still.
She knew better than to open her eyes right away. If she could feign unconsciousness
awhile longer, perhaps she could get a handle on who had her this time. The
bard felt cold, rough stone beneath her shoulders and hips. Her body was immobilized
-- chained, judging by the bite of steel on her wrists, to some flat surface.
The stone Gabrielle lay upon seemed inclined; her head was definitely higher
than her feet.
"Bitch aint awake yet?"
"You mixed the cretebane, Keisha. Blame yourself if you put her in a coma."
Womens voices, strained. The first voice held a generic mid-Greece accent,
the second the softer brogue of the northlands.
Gabrielle tried to sense her surroundings through the pores of her skin. Her
exposed skin, she realized, more skin than her sleeping robe left bare, at any
rate. She felt the waistline of a skirt, and hot, humid air over her bare legs.
She wore some kind of halter top, though not the comfortable green wool that
was her usual apparel. Gabrielle remembered sleeping, in a bed, with Xena, in
an inn. She didnt remember being brought here -- wherever here was.
She heard a gruff chuckle above her. Then a cold, metallic point tickling the
tops of her thighs, lifting the bottom of her skirt. Gabrielle realized, uneasily,
that she was naked underneath it.
"Keisha!"
"I just want to see if shes gold all over. Look at her eyelids move,
Morda, the little sluts listening. If shes still out, Im a
-- "
"Youre a dead woman, if you keep on with that."
Gabrielle registered real fear in the second womans, Mordas, voice,
as she warned her comrade off. She felt the bottom of the strange skirt drop
back down over her thighs.
"Hey," Keisha barked, tapping Gabrielles cheek.
Gabrielle opened her eyes at once. "You touch me again," she said,
"and Ill bite your hand off."
Both women standing over her straightened, fast. Gabrielle couldnt know
the full affect of her flashing green eyes when she was this angry.
"Gabrielle, youre not to struggle." Mordas brogue was
harsher now. "Thats steel holding you, lass, and itll cut you
if you jerk about."
Gabrielle turned her head on the stone and regarded Morda. "You know me,
obviously." She cleared her throat, still trying to shake off the fading
remnants of the cretebane.
"Show me an Amazon who hasnt heard of Queen Gabrielle, Xenas
lapdog," Keisha snorted.
Gabrielle noted that Morda let the slur stand. Damn. Either she didnt
outrank this Keisha person, or she was an Amazon who allowed an insult to the
queen of a sister tribe stand unchallenged. Neither boded well in assuming Morda
might be an ally.
That both of her captors were Amazon was evident in their dress. The bigger
woman, Keisha, wore the colorful drapings of the southern tribes, while her
confederate, Morda, was clothed in the more somber earth tones of a colder climate.
Looking down at herself, Gabrielle noted that she had been dressed in the full
ceremonial regalia of her own faction. The feathered top and skirt were not
the attire of a queen, but they were stately enough to come close.
Gabrielle made herself focus on gathering facts. She lay on an inclined stone
altar in the middle of a forest grove, her wrists chained on either side of
her head. Judging by the angle of the moon, it was hours before sunrise. A large
bonfire raged close by, and its shadowy red light illuminated both Gabrielle
and the two Amazons guarding her. The one called Keisha had appropriated the
bards staff, and her tension was apparent in the way she kept tossing
it from hand to hand.
"About bloody time," Keisha snapped suddenly.
Gabrielle lifted her head, and her heart sank in her chest as she saw Xena
thrown bodily into the firelit circle in front of the altar. The warrior hit
the ground rolling, and there was a clanking of heavy iron as she rose swiftly
to her feet.
The eyes of the woman warrior and the bard met only for one moment -- long
enough to ensure they were both alive. Gabrielle caught the wild, tousled hair
above Xenas bleeding brow, the bruises emerging along the strong jaw.
There was just enough time to see Xenas fierce eyes go soft with relief
-- before ten, no, twenty women raced into the grove. They arrowed straight
for Xena and threw themselves on her, one by one and then in groups, taking
her down. Those who couldnt pile on the heap of thrashing bodies encircled
it, screaming encouragement.
"Amazons, stand down!"
Gabrielles tone rang with authority, and the chaotic group stilled, between
one hoarse shout and the next. Few of them looked back at the altar to see the
source of the voice; they didnt need to see Gabrielle to recognize the
command of an Amazon queen.
Gabrielle tried to suppress her impatience as she waited for the awkward tumble
of womens bodies to lift themselves off of Xena. Finally, they hauled
the warrior upright by her arms, then allowed Xena to shake them off so she
could stand alone.
"This isnt good," Gabrielle whispered.
Xena couldnt have heard her, but the corner of her mouth lifted as if
she had. The warrior knew shed been beaten, but not badly enough to warrant
the bards expression, surely. Then she blinked blood out of her right
eye, and realized how she must look. The blow to her head still bled, a scarlet
ribbon trickling slowly down the side of Xenas face, then wending down
her damp throat.
"Are you all right?" Gabrielle spoke to Xena as if they were alone.
"The same old, inane question I cant seem to stop asking you?"
"Xena could get far bloodier, Gabrielle, if you resist us." Keisha
wasnt about to allow private conferences. She held Gabrielles staff
across her throat in a rather unnecessary gesture of menace.
This big one, then, was the ostensible leader of this rag-tag crew. Xenas
eyes narrowed as she studied her.
Morda, at Gabrielles left, scowled at Xenas cuts and bruises. "She
didnt say to bloody her, Keisha."
"Didnt say not to," Keisha retorted, grinning.
"You have an enthusiastic army, Keisha," Xena drawled, straightening.
"I chased them for three leagues, trying to surrender."
"Thats a lie," one of the pursuing party sputtered. "She
resisted capture, Keisha! We had to drag her here fighting like a damn tiger
half the way -- "
"I resisted the manacles, Clara," Xena corrected dryly. She lifted
a hand to sweep her spiked bangs back off her forehead, frowning at the clank
of steel around her wrist.
"Something tells me this is not a simple gathering of tribes." Gabrielle
tried for a diplomatic tone. Dignity was hard to summon, chained to an altar
in front of twenty-five Amazons who seemed jazzed to the point of riot, but
she found it. "If one of you would tell us -- "
Suddenly her staff was pressing into her throat.
"Youre not to speak unless spoken to, your highness. Didnt
that cunt Ephiny teach you any manners?"
Gabrielle saw it as the ruse it was an instant too late. Xena was already moving,
so fast she seemed to outrace the ringing of her chains. She was not one to
tolerate insults to a queen, not her queen, at any rate, ruse or not. Xena closed
the distance separating her from Keisha in a heartbeat.
Keisha whirled and struck with Gabrielles staff, hitting Xenas
brow with a resounding crack. Xenas hand was almost in time to block the
blow, but the added weight of the manacles threw her speed off one precious
beat. She spun in mid air, and dropped like a stone.
"Xena!"
Morda threw herself over Gabrielle to stop her struggles. "What good are
you trying to do her?" she hissed. "Dont give Keisha reason,
lass, I warn you."
Gabrielle quieted, gritting her teeth with the effort it took. Then she turned
her head and watched three Amazons lift Xena and carry her to a space near the
base of the altar, between two trees. Her green eyes flashed. "What do
you want from me, Keisha?"
"I have no use for your scrawny butt, Gabrielle." Keisha rested her
elbow on the altar at Gabrielles hip. "But then, Im not why
youre here."
"Do I get to know whats going on, or not," the blond woman
snapped, tired of Keishas sly smile. "If cute riddles are the best
you can do, shut up and let me speak to someone in authority."
Morda blinked, and looked up at Keisha.
The bigger womans smile faded. Suddenly she reached down and clenched
Gabrielles top in her hand, and twisted until the fabric ripped apart.
She slapped the halves of the top wide, baring Gabrielles full breasts.
With her other hand she brought the staff down, lightly, carefully, across the
pink nipples. Keisha pressed downward with the staff, and licked her lips as
the white flesh bulged prettily around it.
"Our lady wants these, sexy girl," Keisha whispered. "And, lucky
me, I get to take them for her. Now, watch what we do with the warrior princess,
over there. And every time you disobey me, you earn her a broken bone."
Gabrielle swallowed, hiding the shock still radiating through her since the
violent unveiling of her breasts. She forced herself to be silent as Xena was
dragged erect between the two trees, and more chains were brought to anchor
her arms and legs wide, in a tight, standing X. The warrior was unconscious,
or nearly so, her full weight hanging from her cuffed wrists. Or she was resting,
Gabrielle thought, gathering her strength. She tried to summon her own, her
eyes flickering to the staff caressing her nipples.
Keisha lifted the staff, smiling at the sight of Gabrielles naked breasts.
She tossed the staff casually to a woman nearby. Then she took a dagger from
her belt, unsheathed it, and inserted it carefully beneath the waistline of
the skirt Gabrielle wore.
"Come on, you lot." The big woman raised her head and jerked her
chin at the surrounding Amazons. "You know you're dying to see the Golden
Snatch in all her glory."
One by one the women came, of every shape and color, but mostly young, staring
avidly down at Gabrielles bare breasts, whispering to each other, grinning,
until the inclined altar was encircled by a crowd.
Keisha finished cutting Gabrielles skirt off, but left her decently covered.
Gabrielle saw Keisha tilt her head, as if she were listening intently. Then
the big Amazon shook the dagger at the base of the altar. "Nah, nah, you,
move back. Let the warrior dyke see her little whores body. Xenas
supposed to watch."
Four of the Amazons standing between Gabrielle and the trees where Xena stood
chained shifted to either side, clearing a pathway between the warrior and the
altar.
Xena could see Gabrielle clearly. The bards naked breasts bobbed gently
with her breath, and the green eyes were shadowed. Xenas heart spasmed
with anger at her young wifes exposure, and her blue eyes narrowed.
"Sisters," Keisha hissed, her dancing eyes on Xena, her hands clenched
in Gabrielles torn skirt, "may I present our ladys newest trophy
of war."
Keisha snatched the skirt off Gabrielles hips, rocking her against the
stone. A hooting cheer went up from the mob surrounding the altar -- the release
of suppressed tension, true, but also a sound of rising carnal excitement.
Gabrielles golden-red mound nestled plump and inviting between her muscled
thighs. The surrounding skin of her hips was pale against the dark tan of the
bards arms, midriff and legs. Her body was sleek, but softened into the
feminine curves of full breasts and lush hips. Her breasts were constricted
by the pull of the manacles on her arms, and they swelled slightly. Gabrielle
kept her legs tightly shut, pressed together from ankle to thigh. Keisha seemed
to like this, so Gabrielle tried to stop doing it, but found she could not.
Keisha reached out an curious finger and prodded the furred swell of Gabrielles
sex, gently, as if she were testing something dangerous. The surrounding Amazons
laughed, but their eyes were bright. Even Mordas gaze, Gabrielle noticed,
flushing, was fastened on the juncture between her quivering thighs.
"Youre the same as her." Keisha spoke quietly to Gabrielle,
as if they were alone together. She perched one hip on the side of the altar,
crossed her arms, and lifted her chin toward Xena. "Your bodys like
Xenas, just smaller. Nah, Ive never seen your warrior puta naked,"
Keisha grinned, "but Ive run with women who have, in her old days,
who like to talk. Strong arms and legs, flat belly." Keishas eyes
moved over Gabrielles body. "Womanly tits, in spite of the muscle.
Your sets a bit bigger, of course." She reached over and flicked
Gabrielles right nipple with a dirty fingernail, and the surrounding Amazons
hooted softly.
"Can we touch her, Keisha?" A strained young voice from the rear
of the crowd. There was laughter, but it was shushed quickly; they wanted to
hear the answer.
"Hold your water," Keisha sighed, smiling down at Gabrielle as if
shed share her exasperation at the rashness of the unruly.
"Keisha, youre Amazon," the young queen said quietly. "Even
if Im not of your tribe, Im your sister. Leading other Amazons to
this," Gabrielle nodded down at her naked body, "would be a crime
so grave not even Artemis could forgive you."
"Artemis has forgotten us," Keisha retorted, all gentleness fled.
"Our so-called sisters have thrown us away, Gabrielle, every one of us."
The women around them stirred, in uneasy agreement. "Our home tribes didnt
have the guts to execute us, and they should have. Because Amazons abandoned
will find each other, and perhaps a new deity, as well."
"It seems Alti has found a new herd of sheep, Gabrielle."
Xenas quiet voice drew Gabrielles eyes toward her. The bard looked
at her silently for a moment, drawing strength from the blue light of her eyes,
and then her own widened. In spite of Gabrielles current distractions,
there was no suppressing the quick intelligence in those lovely features.
"Alti?" Gabrielle whispered. "The Amazon witch? The DEAD Amazon
witch?"
"You were told to hold your tongue, young slut." One of the woman
who had bungled Xenas capture shoved her way to the altar. She was silver-haired
but just approaching middle age, and tall, wiry with muscle. Her hand darted
down and latched onto Gabrielles left nipple, and began to squeeze.
"Keisha," Morda protested softly, but Keisha waved her away, watching.
Gabrielle refused to arch her back in spite of the pain. She stared up into
the angry womans face. "Hello, Bethany," she breathed.
"Ephiny herself should be here, you know." The older womans
smile was cruel as she rolled Gabrielles nipple in her long fingers. "Your
regent would love seeing her precious young queen spread out like this. But
Ill relish this time with you myself, Gabrielle. You didnt stop
Ephiny from banishing me, did you?"
"No, she made the right decision," Gabrielle said calmly. "Youre
a bully and a thief, Bethany, and no tribe can tolerate that."
Gabrielle closed her eyes abruptly as the Amazon gave her a vicious pinch before
letting go. Her aching nipple felt enormous, swelling in the warm air under
so many eyes.
Gabrielle spoke without scorn, her gaze moving over the faces of the women
around her. "They wear the insignia of a dozen tribes, Xena, mine among
them. Theyre exiles."
"Criminals and outcasts," Xena corrected blandly. "Yes, Alti
could only attract the dregs of the Amazons, even when she had a pulse."
Keisha kept her eyes on Gabrielle. "Bethany, go kick that banshee as many
times as it takes to break a rib."
Gabrielle cursed, her eyes closing. "Xena, will you shut up," she
hissed.
Bethany stalked over to Xena, smiled at her, and took aim. She kicked Xenas
unprotected side, hard.
Gabrielle let out an explosive breath. "Tell me what to do to stop this,
Keisha!"
Keisha stood up and held out her arms, as though relieved that Gabrielle had
finally thought to ask. "Spread your legs for us, sugar-girl."
Gabrielles heels were already moving, sliding apart.
Keisha lifted a hand. "Hold, Bethany."
Gabrielle opened her legs as widely as possible, bending her knees to spread
them further when Keisha tapped on one.
"Chain her ankles," Keisha droned. Then she turned and walked away,
her stride long and measured. Her space was quickly filled by the Amazons pushing
to have a better look at Gabrielles open vagina as her legs were manacled
into their new position.
"Xena?" Gabrielle craned her neck, trying to see her lover over the
avid stares.
"Im all right, Gabrielle," Xena gasped, finally balancing her
weight on both feet again. "Dont worry about me, Alti wants me alive."
She tried to spit, but her throat was too dry. "Shes gathered this
coven of misfits for this little rite of revenge, and she wont let them
kill off her audience."
"Gods, the ego of warriors!" Keisha plunged her head into a barrel
of water kept near the fire lest the flames try to escape, then straightened,
slinging ropes of silver drops from her braids. She bent and dug one hand into
an open burlap bag beside the barrel. "This isnt about you, Xena,
its about your luscious little sex slave, over there. You know by proud
experience what our Lady Alti can do with the blood of an Amazon queen."
Xena did. That knowledge was what had bolted her back to this haunted grove
like lightning. Gabrielle was only now making the connection, and it chilled
her to the bone. "Alti wants my blood?" the bard said faintly, looking
at Xena.
Xena nodded, her carefully controlled fear concealed in the grim set of her
jaw. "The witch used the blood of another Amazon queen, Cyane, to strengthen
her powers a decade ago, Gabrielle. In this very grove." She waited, letting
Gabrielle remember the terrible story that had only emerged from Xena in fits
and starts, when the lovers were reunited. She saw the bards throat move
as she swallowed.
Bethany snarled the fabric at Xenas throat in one fist and hissed in
her face. "Our lady Alti is no witch, freak!"
"Bethanys right." Keisha slung her dripping braids over her
shoulder and strolled back toward the altar. "Our mistress is no white
light-loving herb mixer, thats true. She exudes a darker essence than
most witches Ive known. And far more power." The big Amazon rested
her hands on the altar, her gaze crawling from Gabrielle's face to her manacled
ankles.
"Then why arent I dead?" Gabrielles question sounded
purely practical, so she must be successfully quelling the dread that tightened
her throat. "Not that Im complaining. But all these florid dramatics
seem a bit much for a simple blood sacri - "
"Anguish spiced Cyanes blood."
Gabrielle fell silent, and Xena's head lifted. That had not been Keisha's voice.
A harsh, gutteral growl emerged from the hulking woman, whose eyes had gone
fixed and blank. It was Alti.
Part 2
"I had you slaughter Cyanes sisters in front of her, before you
impaled the bitch, Xena, dont you remember?"
Some of the other Amazons took a half-step back. Most of them had never seen
Alti in the flesh, but they recognized this voice; any Amazon would have.
"May Artemis shrivel your womb," Xena said dully. It was the only
Amazon curse she could remember at the moment, but it sounded good, though Gabrielle
caught her eye in warning.
"The bitch-queen Cyane died full of despair, and that enriched her blood
thoroughly. Her suffering drove my power to heights even I hadnt imagined."
The whiskey-hoarseness of Altis mortal voice purred from the motionless
Amazon. "Do you think holding a third of Amazon Nation captive in the afterlife
is childs play?"
"I think its history," Gabrielle answered before Xena could
speak. "Xena helped our sisters break your spell, Alti, and Cyane has long
since passed to the Fields." Gabrielles voice assumed the formal
cadences of high office, and Xena stared at her partner. Impossible that this
young woman, tied naked and spread on a stone altar, could summon such calm
authority simply through speech, but Xena was looking at it. "And you were
the one impaled, if I remember correctly, by the time Xena was finished with
you."
"Nothings finished, little girl." Keishas hand encircled
Gabrielles slender throat, her eyes glowing with an alien hate.
Gabrielle didnt drop a beat. "You dont need to kill my sisters
to fill my blood with anguish, Alti." Her voice was quiet, now, and absolutely
sincere. "Slit my throat. Knowing Im going to leave Xena behind,
and knowing what seeing me die will do to her, will accomplish your purposes.
Ill be content with your promise to let Xena live. But be warned, witch."
Gabrielles green eyes glowed as fiercely as Keishas. "Xena
will avenge me. Shell follow you from this world to the next if she has
to."
"I wouldnt let you sacrifice yourself, even if your blood could
poison this she-creep and finish her, Gabrielle." Xena had heard every
word, and she was angry, and her side was killing her. "Dont even
consider compromise, not this time. If Alti regains her human form, shell
build an army of these renegade Amazons to ride against your Nation. If we dont
stop her here, Gabrielle, were going to lose innocent lives."
Gabrielle whispered a curse, rested her head on the stone altar, and closed
her eyes. Ephinys loved face filled her mind, and Solaris. Thousands
of women, equally well loved by thousands of others. Gabrielle couldnt
risk it, even if it meant both their lives.
Gabrielle was suddenly afraid of Altis techniques for filling an Amazon
queen with anguish. Slaughtering her lover before her eyes would do the trick.
The bard struggled through a wave of nausea.
"Dont worry, little queen," Alti murmured through Keishas
lips, her dry palm smoothing Gabrielles damp hair off her forehead. "Im
not going to kill Xena, not tonight. Shes going to be tortured, certainly,
but mostly after your death. Then Ill let her go. Your loss will hurt
Xena far more than I could, Gabrielle, Ive known that since the night
you appeared in our vision. Ill let her wander the earth broken in body
and spirit for a few years, insane with grief, before I kill her."
"Xena was right," Gabrielle whispered, trying to think. "You
are the queen of camp, Alti. Your prose is melodramatic enough to make the tackiest
bard blush -- "
Keishas possessed hand slid again around Gabrielles throat. "There
wont be one scratch on you before you die, little harlot. Youll
be fully awake and aware for the next hour. Because youre not the seasoned
ruler Cyane was, youre a green girl whos never nursed her tribe
through a war. Youre capable of great grief, Gabrielle, but a randy young
queens sexual energy will revive me much more pleasantly. For all concerned."
Xena closed her eyes, but Gabrielle kept hers on Keisha.
"Your climax will begin my rebirth," Alti whispered through Keisha,
and then released Gabrielle abruptly. She turned and lifted a blue candle, as
thick and long as her arm, and it was Keisha, again. "Bring your torches,
Amazons. Its time to melt a golden queen."
Another ragged cheer went up. Then another, as the pack of women scrambled
for the burlap sack, passing out candles. Keisha smiled down at Gabrielle, then
nodded to Xena before she turned to walk toward the bonfire to light hers.
"Xena," Gabrielle called. She looked across the grove to her lover.
"It wont matter, Gabrielle," Xena answered, and her low tone
was kind. "Dont try to stop it, whatever happens. But -- are you
listening?" Xenas alto grew as intense as her gaze. "Seek out
your pleasure wisely, Bri."
"Wh-what?" Gabrielles brow furrowed; she was puzzled now as
well as terrified, as she tried to make sense of Xenas last words. But
Xena couldnt provide clarification, the Amazons were assembling again
around the altar.
The tall candles they carried glowed with flame. Twenty small tongues of light
formed a rough, three-sided curve around the altar, illuminating Gabrielles
nakedness in a red, flickering glow. Morda shifted, moving higher, not wanting
to be within Gabrielles range of vision -- but not lifting her gaze from
the bards body, her brown eyes wide and staring. Mordas tongue snaked
out to brush over dry lips.
Keisha moved to the head of the altar, above Gabrielle, and facing Xena. She
looked down on Gabrielles still form for a long moment. Then she lifted
her candle, signaling a general call to attention. The murmuring Amazons fell
quiet. It was an ugly silence, pregnant with greed.
"Now, this Queen Gabrielle will dance the veils open between worlds,"
Keisha announced, "and welcome our lady and mistress back to the mortal
plane." The large dark eyes dropped, and the big woman smiled down at Gabrielle.
"That means youve got to writhe, Gabrielle."
"What," Gabrielle asked tonelessly.
"Dance for us." Keisha nodded, gesturing at Gabrielles restrained
body. "Push your breasts up, jut open your crotch. All that. Youre
going to refuse, right?"
Gabrielle opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She felt fastened to the
stone, the candle flames and shining eyes around her blurring in her confusion.
But her mind cleared as she sensed a threat to Xena, and Gabrielle looked toward
her just as Keisha signaled Bethany.
Xena steeled herself to absorb the blow, but she still felt wide open when
Bethanys fist impacted below her right eye. She thought for a moment that
the socket had crumbled, but no, it just hurt badly enough to rate that damage
as her head snapped to the left. Her knees still felt shaky from the prior pummeling,
and to Xena's disgust she fogged out again for a moment. She sagged, blood seeping
from the new cut beneath her eye, and swayed by her cuffed wrists.
"Dance," Keisha whispered, staring down at Gabrielle.
Gabrielle began to move. The bard could not move without grace, so her slow
twisting was more sensual than she would have wanted. Her body undulated gently
against the rough stone, her full breasts surging, then lowering, her hips churning
in slow circles, her furred mound rising between her wide-spread legs.
But Gabrielles face was totally impassive, looking up at Keisha. She
was following orders; there could be no complaint with her compliance so far.
Then, cursing silently, Gabrielle felt a small thrill of warmth in her vagina,
pulled open and beginning to glisten beneath so many staring eyes.
"Sweet Hera," one of the watching Amazons murmured. The women were
silenced by the beauty of this forced ballet, hypnotized by it.
"Dont be fooled, you drooling dunces," Keisha chuckled. "Thats
no dance; shes mechanical as hell." She reached into her own cleavage
and pulled out a small, sparkling silver chain. Each end was capped by a gleaming
metal dragons head, with long snouts. Keisha smiled, and fixed her fingers
around the base of the dragons heads. She pressed, and the jaws opened
to reveal twin rows of jagged, but blunted teeth.
Keisha leaned over and clipped them onto Gabrielles large nipples.
Gabrielles gasping brought Xena around, fast, but her chains held her
in spite of her strength. The tall warrior stood transfixed, unable to act,
and watched her young lover writhe in earnest in response to the pinching sizzle
in her nipples. Gabrielle had surrendered control, briefly, as she knew she
would again if this night involved much pain.
Gabrielle had never seen Xena out-and-out tortured, thank the gods, but she
imagined her lover would be stoic even under the lash. Gabrielle, more practical
by nature, preferred to save her energies for planning escape, not pretending
she wasnt hurting.
This pain wasnt much, and it was fading, finally, but the scalding embarrassment
of its placement made it worse. Gabrielle didnt have to see her nipples
to know they were red and swelling fast in the dragons jaws.
"Gabrielle!"
"Its all right, Xena," Gabrielle stammered, her eyes opening,
"it just surprised me, Im not hurt."
"Your moves have improved, though," Keisha pointed out. "Keep
it up, Gabrielle, just like that."
Gabrielle managed to reach some compromise between the rote pattern shed
followed at first and the lewd squirming shed done unwillingly. She twisted
slowly on the stone. She could feel more moisture gathering at the base of her
netherlips, and a maddening tickle set in. She longed to flex her buttocks to
press that itching spot, but couldnt allow that proof of arousal, not
in this hostile grove. She couldnt look at her lover, but she felt the
warriors heated gaze on her surging breasts.
"I anoint Amazon royalty with the midnight blue of our ladys eyes,"
Keisha began, holding her long, lit taper above Gabrielles naked body.
"Better that than the urine yellow of your ladys teeth," Xena
interjected from her chained stance yards distant.
Gabrielle almost sobbed when she heard Bethanys fist thud solidly against
Xenas chest -- time such a blow carefully enough, the bard knew, and it
could kill. She renewed the seductive force of her writhing, the green eyes
on Keishas face showing the first signs of fear. She had to keep the big
Amazons focus off Xena, or shed have the warrior beaten until she
couldnt stand.
Bethany hadnt had the courtesy to knock Xena out. She snapped her sweaty,
dark hair out of her eyes and watched as Keisha tipped her candle over Gabrielles
bare belly, and a small drop of melted wax crested over the candles edge.
The hot liquid fell precisely onto Gabrielles pale skin, and the bard
gasped.
Xena didnt know whether the candles were beeswax or not, but they seemed
to melt at a low temperature. Pain, some, but only briefly, as the wax cooled
quickly. That was good. Xena herself had played this game with candles designed
to evoke slow suffering. She couldnt have watched that happen to Gabrielle.
Xena realized that she felt nauseous, in spite of all this reassurance. She
might have to batter herself unconscious to keep from coming, if Gabrielles
green eyes kept drilling into her own like that.
The blue coin of wax on Gabrielles stomach had cooled and hardened, but
her navel still dipped and rose as she drew quick, unguarded breaths, trying
to control her pulse. Xena had shown her how to regulate her bodys systems
to some degree, and the bard had grown good at it, but the instruction hadnt
included doing it naked and nipple-clipped. Gabrielle had to bite back a half-hysterical
burst of laughter.
"I anoint the breasts all our ladys women will offer on demand,"
Keisha continued, a small smile playing again around her lips. Other Amazons
smiled, too, at the direction Keishas candle was moving. It hovered an
inch above Gabrielles right nipple, and then dipped.
Two drops of hot wax splashed onto the turgid clipped nub, and Gabrielle gasped
again, her back arching so tightly her ribs swelled. She shook her shoulders,
trying to dislodge the searing liquid pleasure at the tip of one breast. Her
breasts flopped wetly together, making a slapping sound.
Xenas knees almost buckled at the sight. She followed the advice shed
given her wife, and made no effort to suppress her growing arousal. The moment
was soon coming when Xena would need all her sexual sensibilities, alive and
receptive. She could only pray Gabrielle caught on to Xenas last message
before she suffered too much shame -- watching the bard humiliated was almost
more painful for the warrior than a beating would have been.
Apparently Xena wasnt alone in her rising desire, and her broad shoulders
tensed. One of the Amazons at the base of the altar suddenly scrambled up on
top of it, and threw her skinny body over Gabrielles chained one, snarling
like someone insane.
Keisha bellowed, dropped her candle, and latched on to the womans cloak.
The Amazons lips were fastened over Gabrielles other clamped nipple,
chewing it around the metal of the dragons teeth. Keisha dragged her off
the stone surface, and then hurled the cursing Amazon three yards through the
air.
"Hold ranks! Hold!" Keisha shouted. Her command held more petulance
than authority, but her volume alone quieted the mob, for the time being. "Youll
get your chance at her, every one of you -- but in Altis time! Jaddin.
You and Pia -- do her breasts."
Keisha waved vaguely over Gabrielles chest, and the two sanctioned Amazons
moved eagerly into place. A trilling war cry rose as two candles hovered above
the captive queens nipples, then crested as the hot wax splashed down
again.
"Keisha, were hurting her!" Mordas unexpected voice was
strident as she pushed up beside Keisha. She looked down at Gabrielles
contorted face, at her head turning back and forth against the stone as the
blue wax dotted her breasts, then gripped Keishas thick arm with icy fingers.
"I didnt agree to this, torturing an Amazon -- "
"Youve been enjoying it up till now." Without looking at Morda,
Keisha reached down and thrust her hand between the womans legs. "Sister."
Morda cried out and bent over, backing away quickly.
"If you dont have the stomach for this, Morda, wait for me in our
tent." Keisha was staring at Gabrielles thrashing form, her breasts
splotched with blue from the continuing splashes of molten wax.
"Take off your clothes and cuff yourself to the beam," she called
over her shoulder to Morda. "Ill deal with you shortly." The
white swells of her prisoners breasts were flushing pink, and the blond
woman was writhing uncontrollably, now, magnificently. It was the most beautiful
sight Keisha had ever seen, and she hardly noticed when Morda ran out of the
grove.
"Kaz, bring the phallus." Keisha smiled as Gabrielles gaze
flew to her face. Her eyes moved to the darkness between Gabrielles spread
legs, and saw the wetness there. Her smile broadened. "Why, youre
starting to enjoy yourself, Gabrielle," she whispered.
In a manner of speaking, Gabrielle admitted silently, but they could cut her
tongue out before shed say it out loud. This was living horror, but at
the same time, she would challenge any healthy woman to stay composed when shes
about to be gang-raped by a bunch of rowdy Amazons, in front of her butch lover
who was chained between two aspen trees . . .
Gabrielle was trying very hard to remember that if she allowed herself to reach
climax, she might release upon the world that crazy sorceress, Alti. And if
Gabrielles movements goaded Xena into protesting her treatment again,
Xena would be beaten some more. Yes, all wise strategy pointed to not letting
these women bring her to orgasm. The hot liquid wax splashed again against both
clipped nipples. Artemis herself couldnt long resist such relentless arousal.
Keisha waited until Kaz returned with the long, hard leather phallus her band
had broken in around one memorably sweaty campfire. "Lets get this
party rolling." Keisha crossed her forearms on the altar beside Gabrielles
head, and jerked her chin at the two Amazons who still shook candles above her
breasts. They backed off, reluctantly, content with watching the splotches of
dark blue wax harden on the creamy swells.
"Bethany, stay close to Xena. The rest of you, act only on my word,"
Keisha called. She did have leadership in her, now, when she needed it most.
And she knew exactly what her lady Alti wanted next.
"Kaz." Keishas voice was the essence of calm. "Shove it
in her, slowly. "Pia, open her thighs and use your mouth on her."
"Pia already got to hurt her breasts," a voice from the back protested.
"This is only the first wave," Keisha barked in irritation. "Maybe
youll get lucky, and well have flipped the little bitch over by
the time its your turn. Hold, Amazons, I havent signaled!"
Keisha waited until the throng around her stilled again. "Bente, Marian,
keep the queens tits busy. Scratch that wax off -- dont break the
skin, but get it off -- and suck her nipples, hard."
"An Amazons work is never done," Bente murmured, and winked
at Gabrielle, who ignored her.
"Keisha, think," Gabrielle said softly. "Theres no turning
back, once your command is given." The lovely green eyes held no real hope.
"Not for either of us, Gabrielle." The big woman cradled Gabrielles
face in her hand, almost tenderly. "Amazons, attack."
The four women swarmed over Gabrielles splayed body, goaded on by the
ragged cheers of the others.
She was aware first of her thighs being pressed further open, and then a smacking
hot tongue plunging through the lips of her vagina and reaming straight up into
her. Gabrielle screamed.
Two other Amazons descended on her breasts, plucking off the clamps, and Gabrielle
drew in a gasping breath. Their strong fingers pinched the huddling swells,
slapping off the hardened blue wax, until the full globes quivered whitely again
beneath their hands, the nipples huge and red and begging for teeth. Bente sucked
hers; Marian began to chew.
"Ah gods," Gabrielle groaned, her chin lifting slowly as her eyes
drifted closed. Keisha stared down the delicate lattice-work of blue veins in
the white throat, and she ran her tongue across her lips. Xenas gaze was
pinned on the same soft spot, just below Gabrielles clenched jaw. The
warrior felt her mouth fill with saliva.
"Any last words, Gabrielle, while you can still talk?" Keisha asked.
"I'll find you, Keisha, no matter how far you run," Gabrielle said
clearly. Tears rose in her mist-green eyes as her arousal surged higher. The
Amazon tonguing her clit had begun to suck it.
"Dont get greedy, Pia." The Amazon named Kaz was spreading
Gabrielles knees further apart. She was careful to stand to one side of
the altar, so as not to block Xenas view. Kaz knew of the warrior princess,
of course, and she loved knowing Xena had to watch her be the first to rape
her Golden Snatch.
The Amazon nudged Pias bobbing head aside. Pia went back to tonguing
Gabrielles clit, to clear the way for Kazs probing leather phallus.
The stiff braided rod skittered in the copious liquid coating Gabrielles
hairy outer lips, teasing her.
"Since when do you know anything about foreplay, Kaz," Keisha snapped.
"The bitch is wet enough, just fuck her."
"With pleasure," Kaz breathed, and Gabrielles hips spasmed
as the long phallus plunged between her helplessly spread legs. It was so thick
it had to root up inside her in stages, but Kaz pushed steadily. Once it was
fully inserted, Kaz began to grind the pahllus, slowly, in circles, twisting
the rod in her fist.
Gabrielle was suppressing another scream. She came close to biting through
her lower lip in her effort to remain silent. Searing pleasure was pumping through
her, now, swirling from the tip of her clit and down the valley between the
bound bards scarlet nipples -- the two women were still chewing them,
frantically, making obscene smacking sounds with their mouths.
Keisha supervised with satisfaction. The queen was being soundly and roughly
fucked. The phallus skewering her was ridged, and squelching noises began to
sound against its thrusting blackness.
Gabrielle felt Keishas fingers snarl in her long thick hair, and her
head was jerked up so she could see Xena. "She's watching you being raped,
Gabrielle. She's watching Alti dig up into you, watching you shimmy your crotch
around like the slut you are. Xena's watching Alti make you come, little --
"
"Not Alti, Gabrielle." Xena spoke the words quietly, but Gabrielle
could read her lips.
Slowly, Gabrielles taut body relaxed against the stone altar. Mentally,
she slowed the rush of heat inside her, but it took great effort. Mouths still
sucked her nipples and her clit, leather still engorged her cunt, but the young
queen lay still.
One by one, the women touching Gabrielle realized their victim had stopped responding,
and they stepped back from the altar in confusion. Kaz left the phallus half-inserted
between the young woman's legs, and took a stumbling step from the altar when
she saw Xena's eyes.
Gabrielle waited for Xena to speak again. No one touching her now, her flushed,
chained body fully exposed to her lovers pitiless gaze.
Xena gauged the precise extent of her young lovers arousal. She took
in Gabrielles voluptuous curves, the turgid, red clit, twitching with
the need for release. She saw the blushing color rising on Gabrielles
cheeks, and to the tops of her full breasts. Her gleaming eyes dropped to the
end of the bobbing leather phallus.
In that moment, Gabrielle had the exquisite features, the hooded expression,
and the heavy-lidded eyes of a mature Amazon queen in thrall to an irresistible
lover. She arched her back. Her image of Xena was framed by her heaving breasts,
and she watched her own nipples swell in offering. They were the only women
in the grove.
"Thats my whip in you, girl." Xenas beloved voice was
cool, dark satin, swirling around Gabrielles trembling body. "Thats
the leather of my bullwhip digging up into you, twisting through your greased
channels."
Xena saw Bethany swing and tried to ignore her, but her breath whooshed out
of her as the Amazons fist pounded into her stomach.
"Xe - Xena," Gabrielle called softly, her eyes widening.
"Listen to me, Gabrielle," Xena snapped, and managed to stand straight
again. She flicked an annoyed glance at Bethany, who was coming for her throat.
Xenas forehead shot forward and connected with Bethanys brow. The
charging Amazon actually spun in a circle before she dropped unconscious to
the wet grass.
"Ouch," Xena added unnecessarily, as blood from the newest split
on her forehead trickled into her left eye. She winced it out as well as she
could.
"Those are my lips sucking nectar from the tip of your clit, Gabrielle,"
Xena continued, her low voice raspier now. "Those are my teeth scraping
back and forth over the tender tip of you. And -- well, you remember how hard
I can bite."
Not one finger was touching her, but Gabrielle felt paralyzed by the cleansing
bolts of pressurized pleasure suddenly building in her groin. Xenas voice
alone could make the bard wet; it had, on a number of inconvenient occasions.
But now Gabrielle was not just aroused, she was cresting, and she couldnt
have stopped it if she tried.
She began writhing again, as she never had before, not even when they were
truly alone. Gabrielle moved sometimes like this, for Xena, because the warrior
liked it. Liked watching her struggle while she tied her wrists with soft rawhide,
and ripped her clothes open. And some of Gabrielles private dances could
steal Xenas breath away, days later, simply when she remembered them.
"Altis not making you come, Gabrielle, I am," Xena purred,
one corner of her mouth curling.
"Alti who?" Gabrielle gasped, and then she came, so explosively her
body smacked down hard against the stone altar and she nearly knocked herself
senseless. The phallus spurted out of her with the strength of the next orgasmic
contraction, and slipped wetly over the edge of the altar.
The bard was swept up in the most excruciating pleasure she had ever known.
She wanted to open her mouth and wail with it, and her jaw did drop, but no
sound emerged. Gabrielle lifted her chin and ground the top of her head into
the stone, the cords in her slender neck standing out, paralyzed by the criminal
bolts of heat shooting from her open crotch as she climaxed.
"No," Keisha said dully, straightening beside the altar, looking
down at Gabrielles wildly undulating body. "It cant happen
this way. Were not even touching her." Keisha looked wildly around
at the stunned women. "Altis not forcing her over, its Xena
. . . " the Amazons eyes trailed to the chained warrior. She pushed
two women aside, and started for her.
"Xe . . Xena." Gabrielle forced herself to focus, in spite of the
waves of pleasure still drowning her.
"I see her," Xena muttered. She was staring at Keisha.
Who might have just taken an arrow in the spine, so stunned was her expression.
But Keishas back bore no mark Xena could see, after the big woman spun
around and faced the altar again. Keisha had nearly reached Xena, but now seemed
oblivious to her.
"Shes coming," Keisha whispered. She obviously didnt
mean Gabrielle. This point was driven home when thunder exploded above the trees
with such a theatrical but deafening roar that a few in the throng screamed.
Then lots of things happened at the same time.
Keisha dropped to the ground and began to convulse.
A hot windstorm broke over the grove. A huge gust whipped the bonfire into
many small fires, and the dry grass below their feet began to smoke. Several
of the more practical Amazons began stomping flames.
Keishas skin began to split, beginning with her skull. Gabrielle stopped
watching her at that point.
The trees outside the grove rang with the calls of the northern Amazons, the
young tribe Xena spoke of with such fondness -- and Gabrielle yelled aloud in
sheer joy to hear them.
Xena recognized those war cries, too, and her knees went weak with relief.
But the warrior also kept one wary eye on Keisha, who was splitting apart down
the back now.
"Gods, cant you ever just come for a visit?" Otere snapped,
popping up at Xenas right side. Her dark eyes were characteristically
serious as she reached high above her to fiddle keys into the cuff binding Xenas
wrist.
"What took you so long?" Xena was delighted to see the young Amazon
again. "Have you no patrols?"
Yakut came up under Xenas other arm, her own sliding protectively around
the warriors waist. "Hi, Xena."
"Hello, Yakut," Xena grinned.
"Are you all right? You're even prettier without the horns." The
young shamaness rose up on her toes to kiss Xenas bruised cheek. "Sheesh,"
she added, frowning sympathetically as Xena winced.
Otere finally freed Xenas right wrist, and turned to stare wide-eyed
at the naked blonde still manacled to the altar. "Wow, is that Gabrielle?"
"Keep your eyes to yourself, kid," Xena warned, only half joking.
"Yes, mother," Otere muttered, working on Xenas left wrist.
"An Amazon called Morda found our hunting camp. She wouldnt come
back with us, shes leagues upwind by now -- "
"Xena, weve got company."
Xena looked up instantly -- Gabrielles voice was deadly quiet. She followed
the bards gaze to Keishas unrecognizable body, split in half, no
organs apparent, and little blood. But a huge, sinewy black shape was rising
from the cavity of the empty corpse. It was a black panther.
"Alti, meet Gabrielle," Xena breathed, trying to rub sensation back
into her bleeding but numb wrists. Yakut took one look at the panther, and started
rubbing Xenas shoulders to restore her circulation. So did Otere. "Gabrielle,
this is Alti."
Gabrielle saw another member of Oteres tribe standing right beside her,
holding a set of keys, and staring open-mouthed at the huge black cat. "Get
me off of here as fast as you possibly can," she ordered quietly.
The Amazon turned immediately to work on the manacles around Gabrielles
wrists, not wasting a moment, Xena noted, even to acknowledge the command. "Youve
trained your women well for crisis, Otere."
Otere nodded. "What now?"
"Its up to Gabrielle." Xenas blue eyes were concerned,
but she nodded at the bard, who was still half-manacled to the altar. "This
was an Amazon rite, and shes the ranking Amazon here. Follow her command."
"No Amazons we know would have done this to a defenseless woman,"
Yakut grumbled, clearly incensed on the blond bards behalf.
Xena sighed, sadly. "Youre so young."
Gabrielle, braced on her elbows, was studying the woods around them, and she
was satisfied with the progress of the battle. The grove was nearly empty, and
the surrounding trees were filled with the sounds of pursuit, not combat. Keishas
troops were bolting for the hills, and it sounded as if her northern sisters
knew enough to be content with a very long chase.
Gabrielle breathed a sigh of relief, that turned into a prayer that no Amazon
would shed blood before the sun rose.
"Gabrielle," Xena warned.
"Present company included," Gabrielle finished her prayer, staring
at the panther crouching in front of her.
Gods, how had it moved there so swiftly, Gabrielle thought, letting out a long
breath as the woman working to free her of her chains looked up. "Get back,"
Gabrielle said softly. The Amazon looked at her, questioning, and Gabrielle
nodded. "Its all right. Get out of harms way, right now."
The woman obeyed, leaving Gabrielle alone on the altar, her ankles still chained
to it. The panthers eyes were fixed on her, and glowing.
"Gabrielle," Xena growled again, impatiently. Her hands were twitching
at her sides in response to the flexing muscle that rippled the panthers
black hide.
Gabrielle had measured the risks, and she spoke with an assurance that made
Otere and Yakut exchange respectful glances. "She can reach me in about
three strides, Xena. I cant get completely off of this thing, even if
I could move fast enough, which I probably couldnt. Got your chakram?"
"Nope," Xena murmured, eyeing the panther with steely restraint.
"Got a knife?" Gabrielle asked.
Both Otere and Yakut whipped daggers from their belts and held them up for
Xenas inspection. Xena didnt even look at the twin blades. "The
panthers blood will be poisonous, Gabrielle. Remember your legends."
"Youre right." Gabrielles cool was half hysteria, but
she didnt show it. Watching the panthers cruel talons tear through
the grass as the paws flexed made Gabrielle feel more naked and vulnerable than
she had all night. Her green eyes flicked up to Xena's face. "Well, what
are you thinking, stud?"
"I think Alti took things a little too far," Xena said, shaking out
her tingling hands. Her eyes were narrowed, and Gabrielle shook her head.
"No macha heroics, Xena, not now," Gabrielle said quickly.
"No macha," Xena promised, lifting her hands and taking a careful
step forward.
"Queen Gabrielle, should we tackle her?" Oteres question was
both respectful and overly optimistic, in Xenas opinion.
"Stand by, little sister," Gabrielle murmured. Her own eyes narrowed
as Xena took another step. "Stop, Xena, please." The panther snarled
at Gabrielles strained voice, and Xena froze in place.
"Dont speak, Gabrielle," Xena hissed. All three Amazons could
see the warrior was serious as hemlock. She was clearly afraid she might not
reach the panther before it sprang its four hundred taloned pounds on top of
her very naked, still-exposed young wife.
"Just listen," Xena said. "I meant it, Alti took things too
far. Shes lost rational control. She cant reason like a woman when
shes in animal form. All shes got is instinct, and thats targeted
on you, Gabrielle. She doesnt even smell me. No crass comments, children."
"Dont joke, Xena," Yakut whispered, crossing her arms uneasily
as Xena moved another step forward.
"Xena," Gabrielle pleaded. "No." Whisper or not, it was
the direct command of an Amazon queen.
"Gabrielle, if you open your mouth again, Im going to leave you
chained up there until the spring thaw."
They were out of time. The panther was hunched, preparing to spring. Xena bent
her knees, her hands loose and relaxed at her sides. She looked like a jungle
cat herself.
"Xena," Otere yelled, "Youre not armed!"
"Neither's Gabrielle," Xena replied, and her muscled legs pistoned
into the ground, launching her through the air like a well-aimed spear.
The panther leaped, its front claws extended, straining for Gabrielles
flat belly. The bard threw herself back, violently, and lifted an arm to protect
her eyes. The talons were an inch from her pale skin when Xenas body hit
the cats side. Its scream blended with Xenas as they rolled,
clutched together in a blur of white skin and ebony fur.
The northern Amazon was instantly back at Gabrielles feet, working furiously
to remove the manacles. Gabrielle sat braced on her elbows, her green eyes locked
on an apparently mortal combat. Between a spectral jungle animal rarely seen
on this continent, and one much-beaten and very human woman, who apparently
planned to choke the beast to death with her bare hands.
Xena was behind the panther, now, on top of her, one powerful arm wound around
its throat. Gabrielle could see that her lover was taking her share of punishment
in this fight -- the bare shoulder slung across the cats neck was striped
with three claw marks. Gabrielle turned her head and looked away, but only for
a moment, when Xena's teeth flashed in a grimace of pain.
The manacles fell from Gabrielles chaffed ankles at last, and clattered
onto the stone altar. Gabrielle bounded off the slanted platform, and fell promptly
on her face in the grass; her long-restrained limbs were far too numb and bloodless
to support her sudden weight. Gabrielle gasped out a few choice curses and slapped
her thighs, hard.
Something in Gabrielles voice again galvanized the panther, and it jerked
and lunged in Xenas arms, trying to break free. Otere ran to help Xena,
and Yakut headed instinctively for the queen, intending to shield her -- the
young shaman would be Gabrielles last defense, if the unthinkable happened.
With a snarl of rage, Xena wrestled the thrashing cat onto its back,
and then bucked its twisting mass into the glowing embers of the bonfire.
The roaring beast landed, and then felt the burning agony in its back.
It snap-rolled erect. Yellow eyes sought out Gabrielles white face, and
the panther screamed with an almost human hatred. Then it bounded off into the
forest, its harrowing snarls fading among the trees.
Xena was sprawled full-length on the grass, but she lifted her head immediately
to see Gabrielle. Gabrielle's eyes hadn't left Xena since she'd thrown herself
at the panther.
"Hey. Hoo. You all right?" Otere was stammering as she bent to clutch
Xenas arm.
"Gabrielle," Yakut said nervously, "I dont think you should
get up yet -- "
Both of the young Amazons were ignored. Gabrielle was up and running, with
as much speed as her still-tingling legs could generate. Xena was up and moving
too, though she wasnt much steadier than her partner.
The collision in the center of the grove was damn near poetic. The warrior
and the bard clutched each other before they collapsed, but it was a near thing.
Gabrielle caught Xena as she fell, and cradled her against her breasts, shaking
so badly she had to put off speech again for the moment. Xenas eyes closed
as soon as her weight settled into the grass, content to feel Gabrielles
warmth against her back, and her strong arms supporting her shoulders.
"I ordered you to stand down, Xena," Gabrielle gasped, finally, brushing
the warrior's sweat-soaked raven hair off her bleeding forehead. "Ive
pledged my heart to a lunatic, I swear."
"No, you just didnt pledge it to an Amazon, Gabrielle," Xena
reminded her, smiling up at Gabrielle like a young child. She looked more than
a little smug.
Gabrielle couldnt smile, yet. "I think I'm going to throw up."
"You still do, sometimes, after a close call," Xena sighed. "At
least lean away from me for once, please."
Gabrielle lifted Xena, trying to see her battered face. "Youre not
secretly bleeding to death, right, somewhere I cant see?"
"No."
The bard rested her forehead on Xenas bare shoulder and closed her eyes
in relief.
"Gabrielle," Xena struggled to sit up as the two Amazons approached
them, still looking worried. "This is Otere, leader of the northern tribe,
and this is her shaman, Yakut."
"Pleased," Gabrielle said, and threw up all over Oteres boots.
"That's okay," Otere said kindly, shaking off one boot. She tried
to hide her shy smile, but couldnt, as she clasped her hands behind her
back and bobbed on her toes. "Wow. Gabrielle. You look pretty much like
we expected, real beautiful. I never imagined you naked, of course." It
was more than Otere usually said in a month, and she was lying anyway.
"Excuse me, Queen Gabrielle." Yakut stopped glaring at Otere, and
gently brushed a tendril of Gabrielles hair off her face, a maternal gesture
that almost made the bard cry again. "But youre still buck naked,
and Xenas hurt, and Im not sure that weird panther is gone for good,
so can we make tracks, soon?"
Gabrielle pressed Xena's shoulders, carefully. "Did you train these two?"
"Nope. They came this way."
Gabrielle spat into the dirt, and then smiled at the two young Amazons. "Bring
me a blanket, or something, Yakut, please. The panther wont be back. Lay
camp outside this grove, Otere, but close to it. Find whatever healing herbs
you brought with you, or can gather. Boil water, tear cloth for bandages, and
post a watch. Then come get us, well be right here." She sighed and
rested her lips in Xenas dark hair.
"Sounds good," Xena murmured.
Both warrior and bard looked up as Otere and Yakut tapped their chests with
their closed fists, then extended their hands, palms down, to Gabrielle.
The queen nodded, accepting the tribute as her due.
*********** end ***********
|