Chapter 11

 

Gabrielle entered the smoky tavern, stiffening herself against the odor of stale sweat and sour ale that assaulted her nostrils. Here in Pella, there were three areas to the capital city of Macedon. The extremely wealthy section, the middle class, and the ne'er do well's area. The small blonde chose the end of town where only the most destitute or those wanted by the law congregated. It was part of her plan to do everything the opposite of what Xena would think her to do. It would throw the warrior off, if and when she came searching for Gabrielle.

 

It was early evening and Gabrielle had been walking or running for nearly twenty-four candlemarks. She was able to hitch a ride with a few farmers and a wealthy trader. She had to pull her hood far over her face, once she realized the trader who stopped his wagon to give her a lift, was the same man who just left the Amazon village. He sold a number of Thessalian horses, excellent stock, to the young Queen and her village. Gabrielle congratulated herself, once the man left her off near the crossroads at Timinus. He'd talked for three solid candlemarks and never realized to whom he was speaking.

 

The small woman crossed the room, feeling the weight of the stares that followed her into the tavern. She realized that must be how Xena felt whenever she walked into a room. The looks that were a combination of wonder, leering, and fearful. Gabrielle decided to play her part to the hilt. After all, when one has no regard for their life, it's easy to bandy it about.

 

"A room for the night," Gabrielle asked the man serving drinks behind the counter. She set her voice lower than usual, imagining what her wife sounded like, speaking with just a hint of intimidation.

 

The bartender looked over at the cloaked figure and watched as a beautiful woman pulled back the hood of the cloak. He grinned, but the smile froze on his face as soon as he met the green eyes. They stared back at him with an emotionless glint and he followed the length of her small body down to the floor to capture the sight of long dagger-like weapons protruding from each of her boots. He swallowed, smart enough to know that warriors came in all shapes and sizes…even genders.

 

"That'll be six dinars," he said.

 

"Six!" Gabrielle responded before thinking. She knew that was highway robbery, but considering that's probably what half the current customers did for a living; she had no choice. The small blonde loved nothing better than a good haggle, but that would be the first thing Gabrielle would do. Completely opposite, she said to herself.

 

"Yes…b-but that includes a hot meal."

 

Gabrielle was tired, hungry, and her feet hurt something terrible. She arched an eyebrow and fixed the gaze on the young man.

 

"For a little extra, I can see you get a hot bath…private…in your room, of course," he added nervously.

 

"How much extra?" The words, hot bath, suddenly interested her.

 

"Three more dinars."

 

Gabrielle grumbled a bit as the young man showed her to a table and he ordered a serving girl to bring the blonde a plate of food. Gabrielle ordered mead, a drink she usually avoided, but was determined to carry out her vow to do things differently.

 

The young man stood at the table, once he delivered her drink, apparently waiting for his pay. Gabrielle remembered Xena's words, to never allow anyone to see your money purse. Keeping that in mind, she slipped a hand inside her cloak, reaching into her bag of dinars, she pulled out the appropriate amount. She dropped the coins into the man's hand and watched as he examined the money. She held her breath as his gaze went from the coin, then back to her again.

 

"Amazonian dinars…" he said thoughtfully.

 

"Silver is silver, isn't it?"

 

"Oh, sure…it's just that we don't see too many of these down here anymore."

 

Gabrielle gave the man a disarming smile. "I just sold a sizeable herd of Thessalian horses to an Amazon village."

 

"Ahh, yes, I heard tell of a big herd of horses moving from down south. Funny," he grinned nervously as he glanced at the coin once more. "She looks kinda like you," the young man referred to the embossed image on the coin.

 

Gabrielle's smile was beginning to cause the young man to blush. "Can I help it if one good-looking girl looks pretty much like another?" she lied about the one thing she forgot. It was Gabrielle's own image on the silver coin.

 

The young man laughed.

 

"Corlis!" Get over here boy and leave the warrior be!" an older man shouted from behind the bar.

 

The young man excused himself quickly and left Gabrielle to her meal.

 

**********

 

Gabrielle leaned her back against the wall, taking in the assortment of characters inside the busy tavern. She sat in the back, beside the kitchen door, sipping on her second mug of mead. The heavy meal, the warm fire, and the drink, all combined to put her in an easy, relaxed state; something she hadn't felt in quite some time.

 

A woman walked into the tavern, a quiet baby in her arms, a small child hiding behind her skirt. The woman appeared timid and afraid, but there was a certain look of determination in her eyes. Gabrielle watched as the woman bravely approached the older man that tended bar beside the younger one, who first greeted Gabrielle. The small blonde noticed more than mere determination in the woman's gaze. It was almost a fierce, yet silent desperation.

 

"Excuse me, sir. Would you have a room for the night, something I could work in exchange for? I can cook, clean, or serve," she explained with a hopeful look.

 

"Just gave away the last room. You can bed in the stable if there's an empty stall," the older man said gruffly.

 

As the woman nodded and turned away, he called back to her. "Look, if you want a hot meal, I'll give you enough for you and the kid. Got a tubful of dishes in the kitchen that need washin'."

 

"Thank you, sir," the woman said and Gabrielle continued to watch until the woman passed her, to walk into the kitchen.

 

As the woman moved past, Gabrielle felt that the stranger was probably many seasons younger than her physical appearance indicated. She stared at Gabrielle, pulling her child along by the hand. The small blonde simply stared at the small bundle in the strange woman's arms. The stranger paused at Gabrielle's stare, unconsciously pulling her children closer to her.

 

Gabrielle sighed deeply and got up from her seat, approaching the older man at the bar.

 

"Give that woman my room," she said shortly.

 

"You crazy?"

 

Gabrielle had to stand on her tiptoes to do it, but she grabbed the neck of the man's shirt, pulling him hard down to the bar. The smaller woman had surprise on her side; that and the fact that she was in no mood for an argument at this point in the evening.

 

"I am going to sleep in that spot in the stable," Gabrielle hissed. "You are to tell the woman that, out of the goodness of your heart, she doesn't have to cook or clean your miserable dishes." Gabrielle flipped another few dinars onto the wooden counter. "This is for her food. I'll be here all night. If I find out that the woman didn't get the room…or the hot bath I paid for, I'll be back to discuss this further with you. Do you understand?"

 

The muscles in Gabrielle's arm stood out against the tight leather of her sleeve and the portly man could only nod, the small woman's surprising strength holding his face down to her level. Gabrielle shoved the man back slightly and walked from the tavern, a number of admiring eyes following the small warrior in the dark cloak.

 

**********

 

Gabrielle had slept in worse places by far. Actually, she experienced a pang of lonesome homesickness, lying on the soft, dry hay in the stable's loft. She remembered the times she and her sister, Lila, spent the hot summer evenings sleeping in the loft of the barn in Potidaea. Her reminiscing turned painful when she thought about the nights she and Xena would have been more than grateful for a nice dry stall sleep in. She shook off the waves of anguish that threatened to overwhelm her. She could no longer afford to feel sorry for herself, breaking down into tears at the slightest provocation. She was out in a world where human frailties were considered a weakness. There was no one to protect her from those who were stronger or smarter. She was on her own and the only way to stay alive was to keep up your guard. With that thought rolling through her brain, the young Queen fell into an exhausted slumber. For the first time in her life, Gabrielle slept lightly, knowing she was the only thing to stand between danger and herself.

 

She surprised herself by waking just before dawn the following morning. Actually, the sky was a rather predawn gray and seemed to stay that way for the longest time. Gabrielle was up and washed before the sun eventually made it's way into the sky. The Queen couldn't help wondering what her father would be doing, allowing so much time to lapse before he piloted his chariot across the sky.

 

Gabrielle had a thought just before she fell asleep the previous evening. It was an idea, although she wasn't sure it was the smartest idea she'd ever had, but it was a plan, and it most certainly was the opposite of what Gabrielle would ever do.

 

"I need to purchase a mount," she said to the man who walked into the stable that morning.

 

The grizzled looking man rubbed his hand over a few days worth of beard growth as he appraised the small figure in front of him. She was a tiny thing, but he'd lived in this part of Greece long enough to know that size didn't count for much. He'd seen smart warriors live a heck of a lot longer than the big, dumb beefy ones.

 

"Heard you sold a herd up at the Amazon village?" he asked.

 

"Word travels quick around here," Gabrielle responded warily.

 

"That ain't the half of it. Guess I was wonderin' what happened to your own mount if you brought a herd up from Thessaly."

 

The man made a good point, but Gabrielle was finding that she was becoming a quick thinker, or liar, however you wanted to look at it.

 

"I sold him, too. Hey, I saw the money the Amazons were offering for Thessalian horseflesh," Gabrielle grinned sheepishly, "guess my greed got the better of me."

 

The man laughed loudly. It appeared that Gabrielle came up with a concept that the old man could understand.

 

"Let's walk out to the corral. I'll show ya what I got."

 

Gabrielle took one step and looked down at her boot. The soft mud she thought she stepped in was something else entirely.

 

"Lovely," she whispered. "What a nice way to start the day."

 

The old man laughed again, slapping Gabrielle on the back as he passed. "If it's brown and it's warm, it ain't mud!"

 

He continued laughing as Gabrielle followed along, rolling her eyes. Note to self, stable hands have an odd sense of humor! Gabrielle kept the last thought to herself.

 

They walked up to the corral where a couple of patrons from the tavern were already haggling over a scrawny looking mare.

 

"Now this one here is nice and gentle, she--"

 

"That one. How much?" Gabrielle asked, pointing her finger to the far side of the fenced in area.

 

"Are you insane?"

 

"How much?" Gabrielle insisted.

 

"You do know that's a stallion, don't ya? He ain't no ridin' in the country animal, he's a warhorse, and as wild an' unbroke as they come."

 

"How big do you think he is?" Gabrielle asked the man, quietly reevaluating the insane notion.

 

I'd say 15 hands to his back would be a fair guess," he answered. The old man looked at Gabrielle, waiting to see if he'd misjudged her.

 

Gabrielle swallowed hard. She decided she needed a horse to help her put some distance between her and her home. Gabrielle would definitely choose the gentle mare, and anyone asking after her would certainly be told that a short blonde bought the most timid animal of the lot, and they would immediately know that the buyer was Gabrielle. Completely opposite, she repeated. The snow-white stallion reared up on its hind legs and kicked the fence nearby where the men from the tavern were dealing. They scrambled out of the way, throwing curses toward the beast.

 

"Oh, yea…this is turning out to be a great day," Gabrielle muttered.

 

"Name your price…with a saddle," Gabrielle added pointedly, and she and the old man shook on it.

 

It took three men to get a bridle and saddle on the wild horse, but they each held a noose around the stallion's neck as Gabrielle approached. The horse eyed her warily as she stepped up, the animal's muscles jumping and quivering with anticipation. It snorted air through its nostrils and to the small woman; it may as well have been fire.

 

Gabrielle gingerly took the reins, the horse pawed at the ground with his front hoof when she placed a hand against the saddle. Xena taught Gabrielle to ride, but she never considered doing anything this crazy. Gabrielle knew the Thessalian secret to breaking horses, but she'd never practiced it. She was seriously wondering if it was truth or just a rumor she'd gleaned from a drunken centaur.

 

The Queen caught the men from the tavern out of the corner of her eye. They added a few more to their number in the last few moments and she watched as three more showed up. They exchanged handshakes and began tossing money in a pile, and she suddenly realized they were betting on her little situation. She was rather curious as to whether they were betting on her or the horse.

 

The old man stood behind her and laced his fingers together to give her a leg up. "As soon as your ass hits the saddle, they drop the ropes," he said in warning.

 

Gabrielle nodded her head and took a deep breath. Well, this is about as opposite as you can get, old girl.

 

Gabrielle took the hand up and the instant she hit the saddle, she tucked both feet into the stirrups. The men dropped the ropes and scrambled for the fence. There must have been a dozen gamblers around the corral now. There was only one problem with it all…the horse wouldn't move.

 

The animal looked at the men scrambling over the fences as though he didn't even know anyone sat astride him yet. The long white neck turned and the animal was very nearly eye-to-eye with the Queen. Gabrielle thought if it hadn't been so damned dangerous, the stallion's antics would actually be laughable. She thought that for all of three heartbeats, because that's how long it took the animal to realize she was there.

 

"Hey, there," she murmured nervously to the horse.

 

She didn't know it was possible for a horse to jump straight into the air. She certainly never saw Argo do that. She did a good job of hanging on while the animal was airborne, but the minute the streak of lightning hit the ground, the Queen, and the saddle parted company. She even fancied she heard one of the men saying that he didn't know a woman could fly straight up into the air like that. Of course, in the young Queen's mind, the flying part wasn't so bad. It was when she landed in the dirt, and assorted other soft piles of things she would rather not mention, that her day started getting worse.

 

She looked up from her position on the ground, flat on her back and swore the horse was laughing as loudly as the men watching the display were.

 

"Well, this day just keeps getting better and better," Gabrielle got up slowly, wiping a foul smelling mess off her sleeve. That's when she heard it.

 

"Hey, little darlin'," one of the tavern patrons called out. "If you're lookin' for somethin' to mount, I'll give you a ride that'll be a lot safer!"

 

"Get him back over here!" Gabrielle said coldly and the stable hands were quick to comply.

 

The whole routine was about to begin again, but this time Gabrielle wasn't going to waste time. She would have to put her plan into action the moment she hit the saddle. She took a deep breath, just like the last time. If this trick didn't work, she was silently reminding herself to go back to that bar in Athens, where she waited all afternoon for Xena, and castrate a certain drunken centaur.

 

The stallion was waiting around this time. The moment he felt Gabrielle's weight, slight as it was, he was airborne. The Queen didn't waste her opportunity either. She felt herself rising from the saddle and leaned over the beast's neck, quickly grasping one of the animal's ears. She lowered her head further and bit into the horse's ear. It wasn't a little nip, but a full-fledged bite. Gabrielle wondered if she went too far when she felt her own teeth, bite into each other.

 

The stallion came straight to earth on all four legs. It let out a neigh, that while it wasn't a scream, it was the highest pitched sound Gabrielle ever heard come from a horse's throat. The animal stood stock still, quivering from tip to tail, sort of like a dog, shaking the water from its coat. The animal pawed the ground once and snorted, shaking his mane back and forth.

 

Gabrielle composed herself, listening to the deafening silence around her, a smug smile appearing unbidden on her lips. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and tested the stallion against the rein. He did exactly what his mistress bid, but the look in his eye indicated he wasn't sure why.

 

Suddenly the noise began and men started laughing, talking, and arguing all at once. The amazed and the ones who said they knew she could do it, all congratulated the small blonde. Gabrielle thanked the well-wishers, doing her best to slink away in the ensuing commotion. The last thing she needed was talk of a small blonde who tamed a fierce stallion. Although, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Xena and the Amazons would never take the character in the legend these men were about to spread, for their Gabrielle. She dismounted and led the huge stallion from the corral.

 

"I never would have believed it, if I hadn't of seen if fer myself!" the old man exclaimed, almost to himself, as Gabrielle left the stable.

 

**********

 

Gabrielle made her way through the end of town, managing to ignore the stares of those who simply had to do a double take at the tiny woman on the huge stallion's back. She started past the maze of market vendors and she paused her horse when she saw the woman from last night. She watched as the young woman gave her small daughter a hard chunk of bread to chew on and tucked the young girl into the top of a wagon, loaded with household and personal belongings. The woman looked into a bundle of moving cloth beside the girl, smiling as she adjusted the objects around the baby to protect her on all sides.

 

The youngster appeared to be three or four summers, judging by her height. She gnawed on the piece of bread, distracted by the sites and sounds from the market.

 

"Ooh, mama…look at the sweets there." The young girl pointed in Gabrielle's direction.

 

When Gabrielle pulled even with the wagon, the woman was on the other side, securing the harness that held the roan mare pulling the old wagon. The youngster looked at the blonde and smiled broadly.

 

"I remember you," she said. "From last night."

 

Gabrielle enjoyed the way the easy smile transformed the little blonde-haired girl's face into a small bundle of sunshine. What captured the Queen completely were the incredible green eyes that made her feel as if she were looking at her own image.

 

"I remember you, too," Gabrielle replied.

 

"Wanna bite?" the girl asked, holding her bread out to the Queen.

 

Gabrielle chuckled. "No, but thank you. I don't think I'll have any breakfast this morning."

 

"Oh," the girl responded seriously, "you don't have money for food neither, huh?"

 

Gabrielle's heart broke at the words and the expression on the child's face. Just then, the girl's mother climbed aboard the front of the wagon, and when she looked back to her children, she met Gabrielle's eyes.

 

The young Queen saw another mirror image in the woman's face. Pain and unhappiness made themselves known from within the stranger's carefully guarded features. The woman pulled back at Gabrielle's attempt to draw the stranger in with a smile.

 

"Good morning," the small blonde finally said.

 

"Tai, don't bother the warrior," the woman said and snapped the reins on the horse's back. She steered the wagon clear of the growing throng of people visiting the market and left.

 

The young girl waved a tiny hand at Gabrielle and the young woman found herself repeating the action.

 

Gabrielle noted the wagon taking the same road she would be using, since it was the least traveled path into Thrace. The Queen visited a few of the food vendors and bought more food than she would be able to eat in days. She tied the sack onto her horse's saddle and looked back toward the booth that had so captured the young girl's attention. She smiled at her horse and patted his neck. The white stallion snorted a bit in response.

 

"Yea, I know," Gabrielle said to her mount. "I shouldn't, but I'm a sucker."

 

The Queen walked over to the vendor and when she returned, she tucked the small sack into the larger one on the saddle. It was a good thing she worked with a staff and built up her upper body strength, she told herself. Mounting her horse again was an athletic feat, considering his back was about as high as the top of her head. She was actually starting to get the hang of jumping up and pulling her body onto the beast's back.

 

It was a good two candlemarks later by the time the small blonde had the blacksmith fashion a new set of shoes for her horse, and she was traveling down the quiet road. Most of the roads to Pella were non-stop traffic, but Gabrielle knew that roads like this, in poor condition, or used by farmers for cattle and sheep, were the most likely route for someone trying to stay out of the flow of the city. There was just one real drawback to that fact and as she spied the woman's wagon up ahead of her, she saw four of them surrounding the woman and her children.

 

Trail thieves were always common, but you took your chances when you traveled the back roads. They knew the people who used the out-of-the-way side roads, usually had something to hide themselves, therefore they were the least likely to report the bandits.

 

They all looked up as Gabrielle strolled in on the huge white stallion, stopping beside the wagon. She acted as if she hadn't a clue as to what was going on.

 

"Nice day, isn't it?" Gabrielle commented to the men, cheerily. "Think we'll get any rain?" she asked, looking into the sky.

 

One of the young men on the ground in front of her followed her eyes, looking up into the sky. The man next to him slapped him in the head; he was obviously the leader of the group. Gabrielle lifted her leg over her horse's neck and jumped to the ground, landing in front of the men. The leader eyed her stature, and then followed her body down to the weapons in her boots.

 

"What do you want?" he asked suspiciously.

 

"My friends were waiting her for me to catch up with them," Gabrielle offered, keeping a hand on the stallion's rump as she spoke.

 

"No they weren't, we stopped ‘em," the first young man replied, only to be slapped in the head again by his friend.

 

"I see," Gabrielle began.

 

Two of the four men began to sidle their way behind the small blonde. The white stallion neighed and shook his head back and forth.

 

"That horse of yer's is a might skittish," the leader said, drawing his sword and taking a step forward.

 

Gabrielle reached for her sais and easily flipped them over so the handles were in her grasp, the shafts tucked against the inside of her forearms.

 

"I guess he just doesn't like anyone behind him," the Queen said. Without moving her eyes, she saw the shadow the man moving up behind her, cast on the ground ahead of her.

 

"Neither do I," Gabrielle finished ominously.

 

Reaching out quickly with her left hand, Gabrielle placed a gentle, yet well placed jab into her horse's rear flank. The stallion knew exactly what the young woman was thinking because he kicked out with both of his rear legs, striking each man and causing them to sail a good 10 feet away.

 

The Queen stepped into action, easily knocking out the first man in front of her. She knocked aside a few blows from the leader's sword, waiting for her opening. It came and she took advantage, rendering the tall man unconscious with a shocking uppercut to the jaw.

 

By the time Gabrielle looked at the four, very unconscious men, the young girl that the woman called, Tai, was jumping up and down in the back of the wagon.

 

"Wow, mama did you see that…did you see that?" she giggled with glee.

 

"You better start off and put as much distance as you can between you and these guys before they wake up," Gabrielle instructed the woman. "Oh, wait."

 

The Queen turned back to her horse, patting him on the neck. "Good boy," she said softly. She grabbed the large sack of food and stood before the woman.

 

The woman eyed her with something more than wariness; almost fear. "I don't have any money…anything of value. You can look, but it's just personal stuff in the wagon, I promise. I just ask that you don't hurt my babies."

 

"What?" Gabrielle asked in awe. "Do you think--look, I'm not like them. I'm not a thief, and I most certainly would never hurt your children. I…uhm, I have too much, she said, holding out the sack to the woman. "I hate to see it go to waste."

 

When the woman wouldn't take the bag, Gabrielle laid it beside her in the wagon. "Look, I know you don't have to believe me, but I really am a nice person. I just--" Gabrielle turned her head sharply at the sound of the baby crying, tears filling the Queen's eyes at the natural response.

 

"I just thought that maybe since we seem to be headed the same way, we might travel together for a while. As you can see," Gabrielle offered a small smile, waving her hands around her. "I can come in rather handy at times."

 

For the first time the woman smiled and Gabrielle thought it made all the difference to her appearance.

 

"Well, I have to admit, you're right there. I do thank you for the protection…and yes, we'd be happy for you to keep us company for a spell."

 

"Great," Gabrielle jumped up on the stallion's back and rode beside the woman in the wagon. It was simply nice to have someone to talk to again.

 

"Just one thing, warrior," the stranger said.

 

Gabrielle looked up, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

"Someone should have told you, but…well, you smell pretty bad," she said to Gabrielle.

 

The Queen's entire face flushed scarlet. "I…uhm…" Gabrielle looked down at her clothes, unwilling to think about what the stuff was that had dried and caked on her leather shirt and trousers. "I had an accident. I'll wash them, and me, as soon as we stop."

 

"Es okay," Tai said, listening from her spot in the wagon. "That happens to me sometimes, too."

 

"Thanks," Gabrielle said, fighting off a grin, simply happy for some human company.