One Wild Ride
Part 6
The day outside was beginning to wane. The rain had cleared,and the fading light reflected in a purple wash off the waterfall thunderingoutside their hiding spot.
Xena stood just inside it, her arms crossed and her eyessearching through the moving water, watching the outside for any signed oftheir pursuers.
She didn’t think they’d approach the cave – the fallsobscured them, and the rushing creek would take a damn good swimmer to makeheadway against. But she could see at the edge of the water, near the lastbend, a few hairy figures hunkered down waiting.
Fair enough. Xena conceded. But how long would they stayfor?
The warrior sighed. After investigating their little nookfully, she wasn’t really that happy about it and she was already pondering ifthey should sneak out after dark and find a better.
Gabrielle lay flat on her back, her head pillowed on hermakeshift sack and the remainder of the hide under her. The light was fadingoutside, and she was using what was left to study the craggy ceiling as shelistened to Xena rattling around near the front of the little cave.
She knew the warrior wasn’t happy. Xena never paced andmuttered when she was, but there was little the bard could do about it at themoment, so she merely stretched her body out a little, mourning the hard stoneunder her, and tried to relax as much as she could.
They had the wood drying in one corner, and their clothingdrying in another. It was a little chilly in the cave – the cold water emergingfrom the rocks and the faint mist from the waterfall was putting a fewgoosebumps on her bare skin but it was bearable, and certainly better thansitting around in wet stuff.
For a long time, she’d never understood Xena’s need to be inthe moment. The warrior put the past aside, and didn’t concern herself with thefuture, instead, she lived very much in the present and had, since the bard hadknown her.
Right now, though, she understood it. Yesterday wasunrecoverable, tomorrow was uncertain, but right now was right now and it wasgood to lay quietly and rest, making idle patterns from the crystals winkingdown from the cavern roof.
Xena came over and sat down on the hide next to her, layinga warm hand on her belly and giving her a friendly scratch. “Miss our cabin?”
“Hah!” Gabrielle chuckled. “You need to ask?” She blinked alittle as her body reacted to the gentle touch against her skin. “I’d evensettle for your tree at this point.”
“Me, too.” The warrior laid down so they were side by side.“Know something?”
“What?” The bard turned her head so she could watch herpartner’s face.
“Being out in the wet, with no clothes and no tools isn’t mything.” Xena pronounced. “Don’t like it. Not into it. Want out of it.”
Gabrielle let her eyes wander down her companion’s nakedbody, then one of her eyebrows quirked upwards a trifle. “Oh, I dunno.” Shedrawled. “It has it’s moments.”
Xena grinned wryly at her. “Let’s just say it’d be a lotsexier on the bearskin rug in front of our fire.” She folded her hands over herstomach. “I’m not sure how good an idea this was.”
Gabrielle mimicked her posture. “Well.” She wriggled hernose, then reached up to scratch it. “I didn’t think we had many options. Theywere about to catch us, Xe.”
“Yeah, I know. But there isn’t much in here, and we can’tstick around.” The warrior complained. “A couple rocks, yeah, but aside fromclean water, we don’t have much else.”
“Except each other.” Gabrielle reached out and tangled herfingers with her partner.
Xena’s eyes searched the cavern roof, a faint smile playingat her lips.
“You think they’ll stay out there?” Gabrielle went on. “Theyhave to go eat and sleep sometime, right?” She asked, reasonably. “I’m sure wecan find something to use to get away with, Xena. We’re both pretty brightpeople.”
The warrior chuckled softly. “Yeah, we are.”
“So, what’s the problem?” The bard asked.
Xena sighed. What was the problem? She wished she knew. Shewished she understood more of what was going on around them, where the strangeanimals came from, and the even stranger creatures. Finally she shrugged. “I’min a bad mood.”
“Ah” Gabrielle reached over and gave her a comforting paton the arm. “Damn, I left my honeyballs at home.”
Xena snorted softly. “You left everything at home.”
“Almost everything.” The bard agreed. “Brought the onlything I couldn’t live without.” She watched the warrior’s profile from thecorner of her eye, seeing the tensing of the skin across her cheek as shesmiled. “And I don’t know.. there’s something to be said for traveling light.”
Reluctantly engaged, Xena made a show of eyeing hercompanion up and down. “Speak for yourself, shorty.” She advised, but shereached over to run her fingers through Gabrielle’s hair. “I think I’m justbeing cranky.”
“You just hate not having sharp things, don’t you?”Gabrielle asked, in a mild voice. “Xena, you can make a weapon out of anything.Not only do I believe that, I’ve seen it. Pans, pots, trees, water, cups ofmead, beads, bangles… pfy.”
Xena gently covered the bard’s mouth, stifling her. “There’sno percentage in tricking and killing animals, Gabrielle.”
The bard’s brows converged across her forehead.
Purple shadows chased across the warrior's features."I've been in tough spots before. You know that." Xena said."I've never shied from going in against the odds."
The brows creased further.
Xena sighed. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"
The bard shook her head.
Xena removed her hand. "Yeah, I think I need anap." She admitted. "I don't know what the Hades I mean either."One hand lifted and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "We can hole up in herefor a little while.. long as that meat lasts. No fish from the spring."
"Mmhmr."
"Sorry." Xena removed her hand.
"So'kay." Gabrielle reached out and stroked Xena'sarm. "Long day."
"Mm." Xena's tone was pensive.
"But we're here at the end of it." The bardcontinued, with a gentle smile. "So how bad could it be?"
How bad could it be? Xena felt her bad mood slipping away,surrendering before Gabrielle’s barrage of romantic pronouncements. She knewthey’d think of something, figure out some way to get out of the mess they werein – she just wished she could think of it *now* instead of later. That’sall.
Patience had never, really, been her forte. Xena turned herhead so she could study the naked woman at her side. Gabrielle had her ankles crossed, and the smooth lines ofher muscular frame and the fine arch of her ribs became a lot more interestingto contemplate than the creeps outside. “Think that stuff’ll dry out enough forme to make a fire?”
"Let's just take it one thing at a time." The bardsaid. "Let's see what we can put together for fighting those guys, then wecan maybe figure out how we can distract them so we can slip out of here."
Hmm. Xenarolled over, and draped herself over Gabrielle's body, making the bard's greeneyes almost come out of her head with the sudden, warm assault. "I think Igot something that'd distract em." She purred into Gabrielle's ear."Whadda you think?'
"Erf?" Gabrielle felt a hot tingle ignite insideher, banishing the chills.
"Erf?"
"I'm distracted." The bard ran her hands along herpartner's ribs. "And you know what? We don't need any fire." She letthe rush of the spring and the thunder of the waterfall rush through her,staying in the moment and forgetting what waited for them outside.
“We don’t?” Xena nibbled her way down Gabrielle’s neck, herfingertips exploring further.
“Nope.” Gabrielle found even the discomfort of the rocksfading. “We do.. ooh.” Her wordsfaded into incoherence, ending with a soft, guttural sound.
“Good.”
**
Gabrielle was drowsing, her body wrapped up in the skin asnight fell outside. She felt relaxed and sated, her head pillowed on her arm asshe listened to Xena tending the tiny fire they’d actually managed to getstarted
The sound of the waterfall obscured almost everything, butshe could catch hints from outside, the scream of a cat, a howl.. it made herglad she was inside the cave, plain as it was. “Whatcha doing?” She asked Xena,hearing a soft clonking sound from whatever the warrior was up to.
“Seeing if I can boil water.”
Gabrielle’s mist green eyes opened immediately and shesquirmed around to see her partner. In the very dim firelight, she caught sightof what Xena was doing, and the oddness made her sit up and peer closer. “Wh…oh.”
Xena sat back, observing her work with some satisfaction.The one thing they had in plenty in the cave were rocks, and she’d build up apile of them with room in the bottom for her fire. On the top of the pile,she’d left an opening about the size of her two cupped hands, and in that wassitting a half round object.
“What is that?” Gabrielle pointed at it. “Xena, you didn’tgo back and get that turtle, did you?”
Xena looked at her. “Listen.” She rested an elbow on herknee. “I love you, and I respect you, my bard, but if it comes down to usstarving or me killing a turtle, the turtle’s a goner, got me?”
“Aww.” Gabrielle ran a hand through her hair. “We’re notstarving!”
“Speak for yourself.” The warrior said. “But it’s not thedamn turtle so don’t worry about it.”
At that, Gabrielle got up and walked over to the littlemakeshift oven, peering more closely at the bowl. “Oh.” She wrinkled her nose alittle. “Deerwhatever skull.”
“Mm.” Xena tended the fire carefully, feeding it with thefew sticks that had managed to dry out. “I needed to let it harden for awhile.. I think it’ll work.” She eyed the unevenly cracked bone. “Did the bestI could with it.”
Gabrielle walked over and picked up her clothing, feeling itand finding it mostly dry. She pulled her top on and tightened the laces, andthen wrapped her skirt around her. “Know what I have?”
“Cute kneecaps.” Xena poked her fingertip into the waterinside the skull, grunting a little as she detected some warmth near thebottom. “Getting there.”
“Mint leaves.” Gabrielle carried her makeshift sack over andsat down cross legged next to her partner. “Or were you just planning ondrinking hot water from that animal head?” She dumped out the contents of herbag and sorted through them, putting the mint aside along with the elderberryleaves and berries.
Xena picked up a leaf and examined it, biting into the greenbit and chewing it experimentally. “Mm.” She licked her lips. “It’s mint.”
Gabrielle gave her a look. “Listen, partner, I’ve beencollecting your tea leaves long enough to know which ones they are, okay?” Sheput a pile of the mint leaves on her knee. “I wasn’t about to repeat the time Imistook mint for oregano.”
The warrior chuckled briefly. “I remember that.”
“You spit hot tea over Argo’s head. I’m sure you do.”
Xena remembered those too. “You were so cute.” She agreed.
“That was not cute.”
“Sure it was.” The warrior disagreed. “Just the way you’dlook up at me with that helpless look.. got me every time.”
Gabrielle looked down at the leaf in her hands. “Do you knowhow many nights I cried myself to sleep, thinking you thought I was a uselessnitwit?”
Xena took the leaf from her. “About as many nights as I satup wondering when you’d figure out I wasn’t worth your time of day and leave.”
Gabrielle’s lips tensed, then after a moment, twitched intoa wry grin that belied the glint of tears in her eyes. “Love sure is an amazingthing, huh?”
The warrior nodded silently.
The bard scooped up a handful of the mint leaves and pickedup a bit of stone, pounding them gently to bruise the surface and let the oilsout, relaxing in the soundless understanding between them as she went throughthe familiar motions.
She remembered Xena teaching her this very step, somethingshe’d never seen her mother do or anyone in her village but which the warriorknew because of her being a healer.
She remembered the many, many cups they’d shared togetherover the years and remembered the time she’d finally realized the wooden cupXena’d been using for months was the one she’d given her, all others havingbeen discarded.
She remembered the first night after Xena had come back fromthe dead, and they’d drank from the same cup tea that was half leaf and halfher tears.
She remembered the first time she made them both tea again,after the bad times and forgot to think twice about it.
“Gabrielle?”
The bard looked up. “Hm?”
“I think that’s enough.” Xena indicated the small pile ofpulp in front of her. “You can dump it in now.”
“Sorry.” Gabrielle gathered the leaf fragments up and putthem in the half skull, watching them drift into the water. “I was justthinking about us.”
“Mmhm.” Xena nibbled off some more berries. “Guess we’ve gotthat, some meat and these.” She indicated the berries. “We’ve had worse.”
“Oh yeah.”
Gabrielle fished out the dried meat and started cutting itinto manageable pieces, her eyes darting occasionally over to watch Xena as shedragged a small pile of round river rocks in front of her. “Where did thosecome from?”
“Spring.” The warrior picked among them and selected oneabout the size of her fist. “I’m gonna try something.. saw it done once, a longtime ago.” She picked up a much larger rock, a piece of granite from the cave,positioning it above the selected stone and slamming it down unexpectedly, witha resounding crack.
“Yow!” Gabrielle shielded the meat with one hand to keeprock fragments from littering it. ‘What the heck was that for?”
Xena lifted the granite and set it aside, examining theresults. The river stone had been cracked in half, but the crack had happenedon the diagonal. She lifted one half of the rock, and showed Gabrielle theinterior. It was a glassy iridescent surface, with sharp angles. “See?”
Gabrielle peered at it. “Yes, but I have no idea what I’mlooking at except a half of a rock.”
Xena picked up her hand and brought it close, running herfingertip over the edge.
“Yow.” Gabrielle jerked in surprise. “That’s sharp!”
“Exactly.” Xenaturned the rock over in her hands and regarded it. “Now let’s see what I can dowith it.” She set the rock down onit’s end, and picked up a second, tapping it experimentally.
Gabrielle watched, trading off taking a piece of meat andfeeding Xena one as the warrior worked with both hands on her task.
“Ow.” The warrior hit her finger with the rock she was usingas a hammer. “Bacchae.”
Well, even unending talent took practice, after all.
**
Eponin climbed the last little bit of the path to the cabin,glad of the peaceful night sounds that had finally descended around her. On herback was a sack that contained some rough rations, scrounged from the back ofthe inn where everyone and their grandparents were taking shelter.
What a freaking mess. Eponin actually found herself lookingforward to being in the solitude of Xena and Gabrielle’s place, Dori or noDori. At least here weren’t hissy elders, muddy merchants, or cycling Amazonsinside.
She mounted the steps to the porch and paused to shake thebiggest raindrops off her cloak, before she pushed the door open and steppedinside. “Hey.” She stopped toremove the cloak, and hang it on the wall peg.
Ephiny was lounging on the bearskin, idly watching Dori dosomething or other. “Hey.” She looked up when the weapons master entered, andlifted a hand for a wave. “How’s it going down there?”
“First rank crap.” Eponin dropped her pack onto the floorand sat down in one of the chairs. “What a bunch of townheads.” She waggled herfingers at Dori, who turned around to look at her. “Hi, ya little wild weasel.”
“Poopoo.” Dori greeted her solemnly. “Wet.”
“Uh huh.” Eponin agreed. “Everything’s wet. Town’s wet, ourvillage is wet, the whole damn mountain is wet.”
“Mm.” Ephiny nodded.
The weapons master looked around the cabin. “Only thing practicallyfor leagues that ain’t wet is this place.” She looked at Ephiny. “Rocking pick,boss.”
Ephiny’s hazel eyes twinkled. She lifted a hand and made asomewhat autocratic gesture. “That’s why they give me the big feathers.”
“Pincess.” Dori pounded the wood floor with her stuffeddragon. “No gots pincess, gots Famby.” She explained. “Mama take Famby, go tofishes.”
Ephiny reached over and picked up the stuffed animal. “Didmama send Flameball to the fishes because he gets dirty? Do the fishes washhim?”
“Go fishes, make good smell.” Dori agreed.
“She’s really into water, huh?” Pony mused. “You see herswim?”
“Mm.” Ephiny pounced the dragon over to where Dori wassitting, legs spraddled. “Like a little fishie, huh Dor?”
“Fishie!” Dori squealed. “Like that!”
Pony chuckled, shaking her head as she started unpacking herbag, laying the provisions she’d scarfed up on the table. A loaf of bread, ahunk of cheese, a sausage she’d stolen right from under Cyrene’s nose and a bigbunch of grapes. “Ain’t much.”
“Looks good to me.” Ephiny said. “I’ve got some of that soupfrom yesterday left… we’ll be fine.” She tickled Dori’s foot, chuckling as thechild scowled at her. “How’d the river look?”
“Still rising.” Pony said. “They managed to get the plateaudrained down at our place, though. Things are working out there.”
“Good.” Ephiny hoisted herself to her feet and came over tothe table. She sat down and laid her hands on the top of it, smoothing theneatly fitted wood. She had atable in her quarters in the village, but it was far more roughly made, and thelegs wobbled at bit. This one sat square, and the top had a pretty inlay ofdarker and lighter woods in a pattern. “This is pretty.”
“Yeah.” Pony agreed. “Musta cost em.” She added. “But theygot the dinars for it.. I guess.”
“Xena made it.” The regent disagreed.
“Yeah?” Pony seemed honestly surprised. “No poop?” Sheexamined the table with more interest. “She really made this, by herself?”
Ephiny nodded. “Yeah.. I asked Gab about it over in theother place.. figured someone in the town had done it up for them. I wantedmaybe to get one like it.. she thought it was pretty funny.”
“Uh.”
“Suggested I commission Xena to do it.” The regent grinnedwryly. “She made that desk of Gab’s, back in the old cabin, too. They’re gonnamove it up here.. just waited for the roof to be done.”
“Wow.” Pony murmured. “Anything she can’t do?”
“Cook, apparently.” Ephiny got up and walked over to thehearth, swinging the pot back into place over the fire. “But I found outsomething today, and I’m not sure what to do about it.” She continued on,picking something up off the mantle. She walked back to the table and put itdown in front of Eponin. “This.”
Pony picked it up and looked at it. “Nice.” She glancedaround. “You find it in here? I’m sure all the places they been, they’ve foundgods only knows what.”
Ephiny shook her head. “No.” She sat down. “I found it inthe little creek up above the ridge.”
“Huh.”
“Dori’s got a whole collection of pretty rocks like this.”The regent said, meeting Eponin’s eyes meaningfully.
Pony turned the rock in her fingers. “Eph, this is worthmore than our whole damn village.”
“I know.” Ephiny rested her chin on her fist. “And, theyhave to know, Pon. Xena and Gab, I mean. They gotta know what this stuff is.”
Dori came over and climbed up onto the smaller chair at theend of the table. “Go play with pitty rocks?” She asked, seeing the piece ofstone in Pony’s hands. “Boo makes pictures.”
The two Amazons looked at each other in silence.
Ephiny nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too.” She agreed.“Cause frankly.. anything else would just suck.”
“Mm.”
“Really suck.”
“Yeah.”
**
Gabrielle had tidied up what she could, and packed away whatshe could, and now found herself with nothing more to do than relax and watchXena work. The tea had turned outpleasant, though drinking from the edge of the bone cup had not been, and she’dmissed their usual dose of honey in it.
She suspected Xena missed it even more than she did thoughthe warrior hadn’t commented on it either way.
Xena had knocked off the other side of her rock, but thenthe entire thing had split on her, and she’d discarded it, moving on to thenext rock, a stubborn look on her face. She’d gotten that one, slightly bigger and more round, broken to hersatisfaction and now she was working with a smaller piece of granite in shapinga rough sort of blade with it.
Gabrielle really wanted to curl up with her head on Xena’sthigh, but her beloved partner was scattering bits of sharp rock everywhere andshe really didn’t want it hitting her in the face. She contented herself withfinding a comfortable a spot on the hard floor as she could instead. A piece ofstone ended up near her anyway, and she picked it up. “That’s pretty.”
Xena glanced over at her. “What is?”
Gabrielle held the shard up. It was a very thin piece of theriver stone, and it had facets that caught the firelight.
“Pain in the ass to work with.” Her partner grunted, going back to her task.
“Mm.” Gabrielle studied the piece further, sitting up alittle and experimentally trying the edge of the stone against a scrap of thehide. To her mild surprise, it cut through the skin easily, with as much effortas she’d normally have to use with her oft sharpened hand knife. “Wow.”
“Huh?”
Gabrielle displayed the cut. “That works.”
“Mm” Xena indicated her discarded sack boots. “Wanna makethose fit me better?”
Delighted at both the chance of doing something productiveand the added bonus of doing it for Xena, Gabrielle immediately got up andretrieved the boots, which already were showing the hard wear very typical ofher partner. “Let’s see what I can do.”
“Wish I had socks.” Xena eyed the makeshift footwearmournfully.
Gabrielle reached over and tweaked one of her toes. “You canhave mine.” She touched a raw spoton the top of the warrior’s foot. “You should have said something.”
Xena wiggled her toes, and gave Gabrielle a mildly sheepishlook.
Gabrielle scooted forward a little and took the batteredappendage into her lap, giving the warrior’s powerful ankle a pat before shestarted to work. Xena had merely wrapped the bottom layer of the makeshiftboots in a large fold of the hide, tying it tightly around her leg to try andkeep it in place.
It hadn’t really worked that well and after a day’s traveland all the mud and rain, the booties were looking pretty sad. “Xena,
“I was preoccupied.” Xena went back to delicately tappingher rocks. “You were yelling my name.”
“Hm.. so I was.” The bard decided to start by attaching thesole of the boot to it’s upper. She patiently poked holes in the hide with oneof the fishbones, threading gut through them in a running knot stitch. “Nowthat you said that, I started realizing just how much I do that.”
“Do what?”
”Yell ‘Xena!!!!” Gabriellesupplied. “I don’t even think about it. It’s just total reflex.”
Xena knocked off another flake, turning the rock in herhands and studying the results. She’d produced a very rough looking point onone end of the stone, a teardropshape that was heavy enough and sharp enough as she hefted it in her hand to dosome damage.
Experimentally, she lifted her arm and swung in an imaginarystrike. Though she came within a whisper of Gabrielle’s bend head, the bard didn’tso much as twitch, her fingers busy on her task. “Hm.”
“How’s it going?” Gabrielle asked.
Xena sighed. “It works.. but I’m not sure it’s worthanything.” She moved her arm in a stabling gesture again. “If they’re thatclose, I just as easily could break their necks with a kick. Probably saferto.”
Gabrielle glanced down the length of her partner’s very longlegs, and had to agree that was probably true. One of the big advantages shehad with her staff, in fact, was that she could reach far beyond her own bodylength to get to attackers before they got too close to her.
She looked back at the rock. “Could you tie it ontosomething? Like a hatchet?” She asked.
“Hm.”
Gabrielle went back to the boot, drawing the sides of thehide up around Xena’s calf and reviewing the results. After a moment’spondering, she made two careful slits in the hide, and inverted their ends,sewing a seam up from her instep.
Xena watched her, a brow lifting, then a look of thoughtful acceptance crossed her face.She went back to studying her new weapon, looking around the cave for somethingshe could use to put Gabrielle’s idea in action.
They had some wood, but most of it was small, and brittle –ideal for use in the fire but not very good for anything else.
Well, duh. The warrior sat quietly, her mind trying to shapethe hard antler into a form that could hold her stone ax. There were a fewforks in it, and… yes. Her head nodded once or twice. A fork, with two or threesmall prongs she could sharpen into a point as well around it.
If she fit the stone ax inside, she’d have a reasonableweapon, and the antlers were curved – that would amplify her already powerfulswing and give some advantage out of it.
Excellent. Xena relaxed, setting the stone down andreturning her attention to the fully absorbed in her work bard. Gabrielle hadthe tip of her tongue sticking out, and she was bent over the hide,painstakingly pushing the tattered bit of gut through to hold it together.
The bard’s hands stopped moving, and she looked over. Botheyebrows lifted in question.
“Gotta tell ya. I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather bestuck in a place like this with than you.” Xena told her sincerely.
Gabrielle looked around, seemingly either puzzled orconfused, then she looked back at her. “Um… thanks.” She said. “Did I dosomething and just missed it or… what?” Her eyes dropped back down to the boot.“Or am I not doing this right?
Xena merely looked at her in bemusement.
“Or are you just saying that?” Gabrielle grinned hesitantly.“And I’m being insecure and silly?”
Xena rewarded her with a sexy grin.
“Hey, what can I tell you.” The bard chuckled with a touchof embarrassment as she went back to her task. “It’s a little strange, being inhere, isn’t it? The falls blocks everything outside. I can’t hear anything butwater.”
“Mm.”
“Do you feel safe in here?” Gabrielle finished herstitching, and laid a hand on Xena’s leg.
Xena looked around. “I feel like I’m in a dead end here.”She replied honestly. “I think if they want to bad enough, they’ll figure out away to get in, so the longer we stay here, the less safe it feels.”
“Okay.” The bard said. “You think we should get out tonight,then?”
Xena hadn’t really thought about it for a while, but hearingthe words, she knew the truth of them. “Yes.” She said. “We can wait until themoon sets. Go out in the darkest part of the night.”
“Okay.” Gabrielle said again. “I better get sewing then.Hold still.” She drew the twoseams she’d just finished together and mimed a lacing. “I figured if I didthis.. and you pulled it tight it would go around your foot there, like.. yeah.
Xena wiggled her foot and grunted approval. “Good.” The hidenow felt much snugger around her leg and more comfortable. “Now I know where togo for my next set when we get home.” She teased.
Gabrielle stuck her tongue out, then went back to herlacing. “Do you think they have any human qualities at all, Xena? I mean, likeus?” She asked quietly. “There’s no way for us to reach them.. to communicatewith them?”
Xena drew up her non-occupied knee and rested her arm on it.The answer wasn’t a simple one, and she knew Gabrielle deserved more than asimple answer, given their history.
Given her history. “We don’t have a common language.” She said. “I’m not sure they have alanguage at all.”
“Why?”
“Just didn’t see it.” Xena replied slowly. “Even with handsignals.. grunts, .. you can see when hunters are communicating. They weren’t.”
Gabrielle remained quiet for a few minutes, working hard.“Oh.” She finally said. “And if they don’t communicate with each other, there’snot much chance they’ll communicate with us.”
“Yes.”
“So, what do they really want from us?” Gabrielle looked up.“Is it just an animal thing? That doesn’t make sense, Xena. We run into wildanimals all the time, and none of them yet have tried to.. um… “
“Yeah, I know.”
“So what does it mean?”
The pale blue eyes, hazel in the fire’s golden light,blinked at her. “I don’t know what it means, Gabrielle.” Xena said. “What I doknow is that they meant us harm, when we did nothing to them. I’m not going tosacrifice either of us to find out what their motivation was. Or is.”
“But..”
“No buts.” Xena laid a hand on her partner’s leg. “Thisisn’t the Horde, Gabrielle. I’m not going after them. They’re coming after us.”
“Mm.” The bard half nodded. “I just hate the unreasoningnature of it. I can’t escape thinking that if people can talk, they can workthings out between them.” She covered Xena’s hand with her own. “But you’reright about one thing.. I’m not sure they’re people.”
“Hm.”
“But while we’re getting out of here and getting away fromthem, if I get a chance, I’m going to find out.” The bard’s eyes met Xena’sdirectly.
“All right.” The warrior’s mild look didn’t waver. “If youget in trouble while you’re trying to find out, I’m going to pick your butt upand haul you with me head down if I have to.”
Fair enough. Gabrielle went back to her boot making. Thenight was promising to be a long, and probably unpalatably interesting one.
**
“Ready?” The warrior held on to the wall, straining her eyes to seethrough the curtain of water. “We’re gonna have to swim a little.”
“Desert. Desert. Desert.” Gabrielle chanted almost soundlesslybehind her. “Okay, I’m with you.”
Xena cinched the pack on her back a little more tightly, and took agrip on her newly finished stone ax. The weight of it was a little off, thoughshe’d balanced it with another stone on the bottom, but it had enough heft toplease her warrior’s sensibilities, and she was moderately happy with it.
Her boots felt snug, and more comfortable, and they’d shared anotherhead bowl of tea and some meat before they’d packed up, which made them readyas they were going to be to face whatever was going to come next.
Gabrielle reconciled herself to the cold water as she followed Xenainto it, sitting down on the edge of the cave lip before she eased into thepool, stifling a grunt as the chill hit her bare midriff.
The current caught them immediately and carried them through thefalls, emerging into a gray and faintly silver landscape capped with a thickblanket of unexpected stars overhead. Gabrielle’s eyes were drawn up immediately and she smiled, glad to seeher old friends.
The coldness of the water made her shiver, but it took little effortfor them to move, the current taking them right away from the cave and towardsthe far banks. “It’s quiet.” Gabrielle whispered, once they’d moved far enoughto outreach the thunder of the falls.
“Yeah.” Xena was stroking through the water next to her, eyes alert andscanning the banks. “Looks okay for now.” She said. “Let’s make for that farpoint, see if we can get out there.” She pointed to a bit of land jutting out into the water.
“Gotcha.” Gabrielle was just glad their time in the water was goingto be limited. She’d fallen asleep again after they’d finished their task, andXena had only recently woken her up. Her body seemed to think it should stillbe curled up next to the fire, and wasn’t cooperating all that willingly at themoment.
The current tugged at her, and she swam harder, trying to keep upwith Xena’s powerful strokes. Having her staff bump into her every time she turned around wasn’tmaking it easier. “Xe?”
The warrior turned andspotted her, reaching out with one arm and catching hold of her leather belt,adding a hefty tug that pulled her free of the current and got her going in theright direction again. “Thanks. Sorry.”
Xena caught a protruding branch near her selected exit point and shepaused, pulling Gabrielle close. “Hang on here a minute. I want to check thisplace out.” She fitted the bard’s hand around the branch, and slid over to thebank, reaching up to grab two rocks that overhung it slightly and liftingherself up out of the water.
Gabrielle found her body almost getting used to the chill, and shewaited quietly, watching the dim starlight reflect off the drops of water onXena’s skin. After a minute of stillness, the warrior hoisted herself up ontothe land, remaining crouched close to it and going still again.
She knew what Xena was doing. She was presenting herself as atarget, so that if anything was out there waiting for them, they’d jump ather. The warrior had her newweapon at her side, and there was an air of wild confidence about her visibleeven in the dim light.
Gabrielle felt completely safe, which was an odd thing to feel giventhat she was in a mysterious valley surrounded by dangerous creatures, in waterup to her neck at the moment. She kept her eyes on Xena’s profile, then pushedherself forward when the warrior turned and extended a hand towards her.
“C’mere.” Xena’s tone was low, but not a whisper.
Willingly, Gabrielle handed up her staff, then put her hands on therocks Xena had used and pulled herself upward.
It wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t as easy as Xena made itlook. The bard kept at it anyway, hauling herself forward with a grunt andscraping her stomach on the rocks before Xena got hold of her and pulled herall the way up. “Thanks.”
“I told you I’d get you up here.” Xena chided her.
“Wanted to try it myself.” Gabrielle bumped her aside. “C’mon, it’sbreezy out here. I’m freezing.” She rubbed her arms and trotted over toretrieve her staff, following Xena as she led the way towards the trees andaway from the creek.
The ground they were traveling over was rocky, as the valley hadbeen, but there were tufts and hillocks of grass that came up to their knees toget through as well. Xena shifted her grip on her ax and wished she wasn’tdripping, anxious to get away from the waterfall so she could put her ears tobetter use.
They had a relatively large open space to cross before they werehidden in the trees, and despite the lack of moonlight
Or anything.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Gabrielle murmured, as they crossed thelast bit of open space, and entered the forest. The light, what little therewas, vanished and left them in a deep gloom that amplified the least sound.
“All right.” Xena put a hand on her back and guided her, thewarrior’s eyes adjusting to the dark quickly. “I’ve got the feeling thesethings aren’t night creatures.” She said. “So I want to get as far away fromthem as we can while we can.”
“Makes sense.” Gabrielle probed ahead of her with her staff, seeingmostly musky shadows. “But what if we run into something else?”
Xena sighed. “Then we do. Keep your voice down.” She opened her eyeswider, trying to see the forest around her, but the very dense foliage over herhead blocked out any possible starlight, and all she could detect were vagueshadows.
It was creepy. Xena could hear things moving somewhere around them,little rustles and clicks her mind did not readily identify.
“Okay.” The bard whispered. “It smells funny in here.”
The warrior sniffed, catching the odd, almost spicy scent that madeher nose wrinkle. “Yeah.. hm.” Shewished she had a torch suddenly. “Wonder what that is.”
“Hope we’re not about to step in it.” Gabrielle muttered, feelingher heartbeat pick up. “Xena, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“No.” Xena admitted. “But I don’t’ think we have any good options,either.”
Gabrielle moved closer to her partner. “If I walk into a hugespiderweb, I’m gonna lose it, Xena.”
Spiders. Xena’s eyes widened and she looked around her. She hatedspiders. “What made you mention that” She asked sharply.
“The smell.” Gabrielle supplied readily. “It reminds me of the timeyou squished that big hairy..”
“I remember.” Xena cut her off. “The tarantula.”
She hated spiders.
“That thing, yeah.” The bard agreed. “Gods that was ugly.. but itsmelled the same and so I..pmf.”
“Sh.” Her partner whispered in her ear.
Gabrielle nodded, and was released. She waited for Xena to dosomething, surprised when the warrior merely continued to walk along in thedarkness. After a few steps, shejust shrugged and followed, shaking her head.
Now that Gabrielle had identified the stink, Xena couldn’t get itout of her mind, never evenconsidering her nostrils. Every hair on her body was on end, and she keptimagining the touch of hairy legs on her arm or her head or..
Stop it. The warrior took a deep breath, and released it. Her handshifted on her new ax, bringing it up as she casually swept it in front of herbody to deflect.. well, anything. Moss.
Branches.
Bats.
Spiders.
“Xena?”
The warrior nearly jumped out of her skin at the quiet voice next toher. “Wh.. yea?”
“You okay?”
“Fine.” Xena scowled, unseen in the dark. Something brushed againsther arm and she stifled a vocal reaction, realizing it was Gabrielle’s fingersfastening warm and sure around her wrist.
“You sure?”
She could hear the concern in the bard’s voice. “Just trying toconcentrate on where we’re going.” She reassured her partner. “Don’t’ want towalk off a gully edge or something.”
“Uh huh.” The bard’s tone was gently knowing.
Something touched her other arm, and Xena couldn’t prevent herselffrom reacting, swinging her new ax around in a tight, vicious circle. “Son ofa..”
“Xe.”
The warrior stopped walking and listened, aware of her heightenedbreathing. “Yes?”
“I have an idea.”
“What?”
“How about we go towards that break in the trees over there, and goright at the edge of the forest, so we can see stuff better?” Gabrielle had noidea why her usually stolid partner was freaking out. She laid her hand on Xena’sback, feeling the faint quiver of her muscles under the touch. “This is gettinga little creepy.” She offered hesitantly. “Isn’t it?”
Somehow, she knew Xena was looking at her, even though she couldn’tsee the warrior’s face in the darkness. “Listen.. oh!” She felt somethingcrawling on her back and she jerked in reflex. “Yow!”
“Great idea.” Xena decided. “Let’s go.” She grabbed the bard’s handand headed fro the break in the trees, slashing her ax in front of her like ademented wheat harvester outside Amphipolis. They plowed through someunderbrush with thorns, making them both yelp, then after a last struggle theyemerged between the trees, breathing hard and looking around.
“Okay.” Xena circled her partner, relieved when she didn’t find anycrawling invaders on her. “You all right?”
“Yeah.” Gabrielle peered at Xena’s ax. “Yuck. What is that?”
The warrior looked at the weapon, which was wrapped in sticky grayfilaments. “Spiderweb.”
“Ew.” Gabrielle made a face.
Xena shook herself violently, shrugging the pack off her back anddropping it to the ground. She was fairly sure she didn’t have any on her, butwith spiders, you couldn’t be too careful. Not only did she hate the littlesuckers just because she did, some of them could kill you with a single bite.
Gabrielle seemed to guess what she was up to, and she circled her,examining her carefully. “No spiders.” She gave her a pat. “Gods, I hate thosethings. They used to give me night mares when I was a kid.”
“Hm.” Xena shook out her pack, just to be very sure.
“Yeah. My mother never cleaned the ceiling in the house. They livedup there.. and they’d drop down on us at night. Uggh!” Gabrielle shuddered.“That night.. when you killed that one? I didn’t sleep a wink after that.”
“Mm.” Xena kicked her pack, unsatisfied with her examination.
“Or the next night.”
“I remember.” Finally, the warrior picked up her burden andreluctantly resumed it. “You didn’t until I took you into bed with me, if Iremember right.” She ran nervous hands through her hair. “I felt bad for ya.”
“Hm.. yeah.” Gabrielle started forward after her, staying close tothe edge of the forest to take advantage of it’s protection, but enough in thestarlight to see her way. “I think I decided spiders had their good pointsafter all.” She mused. “I felt very safe from them with you, that’s for sure.”
Xena snorted softly, swinging her head from side to side as she usedthe meager starlight to find a good path through the fringe of the trees.
So many things had gone through her mind that night.
“Besides, you smelled great.” Gabrielle’s casual commentarydisrupted her memories. “It was the first time I really thought about leatherbeing sexy.”
“Thanks.” Xena dismissed memories and thoughts of spiders, andconcentrated on finding their path instead. The forest curved around ahead of them, and then marched upyet another in an apparent endlessseries of ridges.
It was almost like a well used road, the warrior mused. When wagonwheels had kicked back hard packed dirt for so long, it created ripples in theroadbed. The valley looked a bit like that, as though some god had put a handon either end and compressed it into wrinkles.
A low cough, in the distance alerted her. She stopped, and listened,Gabrielle pausing next to her now in silence.
The cough came again. Xena held a hand up, and cursed softly as shefelt the wind at her back, knowing the sound was coming ahead of her. “Don’tlike that.”
“What is it?” Gabrielle tensed. “Bear?”
“Cat.”
“Great.” Gabrielle sighed. “Well, at least this kind of thing weunderstand.” She said, with a comforting pat on Xena’s arm. “We’ve gone upagainst those before.. and you’ve done it alone.”
“True.” Xena lead the way forward. “Let’s see if we can get to highground. Maybe we’ll see the damn thing coming.” Maybe they would get lucky, andit would be a small cat, which, if she killed it, could provide them withanother useful pelt, and some teeth.
Gabrielle flexed her hands around her staff, her body shivering intoalertness. All the fatigue she’d felt when they’d started was gone, replaced bynervous energy, and in a way she was glad they were on the move, rather thanhanging out in the cave.
She only hoped she felt that way when the sun rose.
**
Xena shifted her ax from one hand to the other, and pulled her bodyup onto a rock escarpment. It had started raining again, and even the starlightwas now blocked by clouds, impeding their progress significantly.
She wiped the water out of her eyes and peered across the ridge,blinking out the stinging raindrops. “Damn it.” Hopping back down to theground, she walked over to where Gabrielle was waiting, her body pressed upagainst a tree in the lee of the wind. “Can’t see a damn thing.”
“Great.” Gabrielle crossed her arms, her wet hair hanging down overher eyes. “Okay, so what next?” She heard the testy note in her voice andgrimaced a little, but didn’tregret the honesty. “Xena, does this really make any sense?”
The warrior glared at her. “Not a gods be damned thing in two dayshas made any sense!” She said, in exasperation. “You got a better plan? Let’shear it!”
Gabrielle looked around her. All she could see was the forest, a lotof wet bushes, some rocks, and too many clouds to count. They’d been travelingfor two or three candlemarks, and had barely crossed two ridges and now theywere faced with a third, steeper, with no easy path up.
So. Either they climbed the rocks, or tried the forest or stayedwhere they were. No good choices, but then, Xena probably knew that better thanshe did. “Pig turds.”
“Well?”
The bard half turned and looked at her. “No, I don’t.” She statedquietly. “So are we going tofigure out what to do, or just stand here yelling at each other?”
“Well, I’m open for any suggestions.” Xena walked over to thenearest tree and smacked it.
“Oh, that’s useful.” The bard sighed. “Xena, come back over here.”
“I like it better over here.” The warrior shot back. “That allright?”
Oh boy. This was going nowhere fast. Gabrielle debated her options,then decided to stay where she was. She knew Xena was frustrated. No sense inpushing the warrior when they were both…
“Stupid son of…Gabrielle!”
Instinctively the bard grabbed for her staff, sensing motion to herleft that hadn’t been there a second ago. She’d gotten halfway in position whensomething big and heavy hit her from behind, slamming her to the ground withextraordinary violence. “Xena!!!”
“Stay down!” The warrior yelled as she bolted past her.“YYyahhhh!!!!”
Gabrielle heard a growl, and a hideous, tearing sound, and smelledthe hot, feral, musky scent of cat. She rolled to one side and tucked her armsand legs in, twisting around quickly as her eyes sought her partner.
What she saw froze her in mid motion. Outlined in the dim light a huge animal, it’s head toweringover her partner’s leaped over her and bore Xena to the ground, a flash ofhuge, white teeth heading directly for Xena’s throat.
Xena grabbed it’s neck, and shoved upward, her eyes huge andwide. The beast’s weight wasoverpowering, though and it drove down towards her, snarling.
Gabrielle snapped out of it and got to her feet, her staff alreadyswinging around as she charged the animal with utter disregard to her ownsafety. “Yaaahhh!!!” She slammed the beast in the back with her staff, whippingit up and slamming it down again with frantic energy. “Get off!! Get off her!Damn it! Xena!!!!”
Xena arched her back and got her feet up under the beast’s belly,kicking it with all her strength. She lifted it’s hindquarter’s off the groundas the huge teeth grazed her chest, and then the animal turned it’s head asidein anger and confusion as Gabrielle continued to whack the Hades out of it’sspine.
“Get… Off… Get.. Off!” The bard screamed at the top of her lungs.
Xena felt the animal try to lift off her, to escape the pain in it’sguts from her kicking, and the pain in it’s back from Gabrielle’s attack. Therespite gave her time to get to Gabrielle’s small knife, and she grabbed it,following the animal up as it turned to attack Gabrielle and jamming it intothe beast’s throat.
It roared in fury. Xena leaped on it’s back, and now it was her turnto knock it to the ground despite it’s huge size. She got one arm around it’sneck and kept stabbing as it writhed under her, it’s huge claws missing her armby a hair only. “Die, damn you!” Xena yelled, shoving the knife in as far asshe could and hoping she hit something lethal. Yanking her arm back, she feltthe knife slash through something thick, then hot, reeking blood was eruptingall over her as the animal thrashed wildly, screaming now in fear as itstruggled to live.
Gabrielle hadn’t let up for a second, and she was still pounding thecreature, until she saw it slump to the ground, the gray dimness reflectingonly barely off a darker glint coloring it’s thick, dappled fur.
Slowly, the warrior let the animal’s neck loose and straightened,her own breathing strained. “Son of a bacchae.”
Gabrielle circled the dying cat and dropped to her knees beside Xena, leaning on her staffas the rain came down harder. “You okay?”
Xena wiped the small blade on the creature’s fur, and stuck it backin her boot with shaking hands. “No.” She swallowed, dragging one knee up andresting her forearm on it. “Biggest damn cat I’ve ever seen.” With a lightsigh, she let her head rest against her hand.
Gabrielle put an arm around her, feeling the shivering under hertouch. She pressed her cheek against Xena’s shoulder, then kissed the skinthere. “Gods.” The bard whispered. “How long was he stalking us?”
Xena shook her head in silence.
The animal gave a tiny, weak cough, and then its chest wentstill.
The bard slowly pushed herself to her feet and circled the animal,crouching down in front of it to stare. “Xena, look at those teeth.”
“Saw them up close, thanks.” The warrior said briefly.
Gabrielle felt a once familiar anxiety hit her in the guts. Shelooked at Xena across the carcass, and the anxiety increased as the warriorrefused to meet her eyes. Quickly, she got up and came back over, this timekneeling down in front of the silent woman and letting her staff drop to theground.
Xena looked up at the clatter. Gabrielle reached her hand out andtouched her face, leaning closer to banish the gloom between them. “Xena. It’salready terrifying here. Please.. let’s not fight. I can’t take it.”
The warrior’s eyes dropped, and her body posture shifted, themuscles on either side of her neck relaxing a trifle.
“Sorry I got snippy before.” Gabrielle went on. “I know you’re doingyour best to get us out of here.”
Xena glanced back up, a perceptible softening in her eyes. “Sorry.”She uttered briefly, clearing her throat. “I over-reacted a little. Must betired.” She admitted. “Anyway… Iguess we should take care of this thing and get moving. All the noise..something’ll come looking.”
Gabrielle remained where she was, her fingers still stroking Xena’scheek, until she felt an answering touch at her waist, and only then did sheget up. She waited for the warrior to stand as well, and then she moved in togive her a quick hug. “Thanks for saving my butt for the nth time in my life.”
“Likewise.” Xena responded in a more normal tone as she returned thehug, giving the bard a light scratch on the back with the tips of her fingers.She felt a faint quiver in the arms clasped around her and exhaled, allowingthe frustration to simply dissolve.
They had no time for that, really. Gabrielle was right. The lastthing either of them needed right now was a petty spat over nothing. Shetightened her arms, then gently released the bard. “Give me a hand with this? Might as well not waste that damnpelt.”
“Mm.” Gabrielle felt her guts unkink and it almost made her weak inthe knees, but she left that aside and went to help her partner roll the beastover and make it ready for her to skin. Its fur was extremely thick and soft,and in the light might have even been pretty, with its mottled spots. She ran ahand over the body, and shook her head. “It’s so big.”
Xena tilted the huge head back and shook her head, her hand claspingaround one of its huge front teeth. Her fingers barely fit around it, and itwas longer than her hand, half the length of her forearm. “Damn.. look atthis!”
“Incredible.” Gabrielle leaned closer, touching the other, bloodcovered tooth. “Xena, that would have gone right through you.”
“Yeah.” The warrior pushed the head aside and started to work. Thebeast’s frame was large, and very muscular and she knew she’d survived theattack only by the grace of a lot of luck, Gabrielle’s staff, and a fortunatekick in the right place. “Knowwhat I’m worried about?”
Gabrielle lifted a heavy leg so she could get to the skin under it.“That there’s more than one of these?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe that’s why the other creatures are not into being out a night.”The bard mused. “Maybe they find a safe spot.. you think this was the kind ofcat that attacked them the other day?”
“Maybe.” Xena tugged the pelt, giving her head a shake to clear thewet hair from her eyes. “I think we should take the hint.”
“Mm.” Gabrielle looked around with a touch of trepidation. “So we’vegot the creatures to deal with in daylight, and these suckers to deal with atnight. Xena, we’ll never get out of here.”
“We will.” The warrior replied softly. “Pull that.. yeah.”
Gabrielle did so, hoping Xena would hurry up. Just the thought ofanother cat jumping out at them was making her twitch and now they had the taskof once again finding shelter. “Damn rain.” She wiped the moisture from hereyes with the back of her hand, then went back to pulling.
Xena listened to the thunder of the rain around her, and mentallyrepeated the curse in a more virulent form. Was there no end to their lousyluck this trip?
“Xena?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s a female.” Gabrielle had ducked her head closer to the animal’s skin. “Look.” Shespread the fur across it’s belly apart, and revealed nipples. “Uh oh.” Shegrimaced. “Xena.. check this out.”
Xena leaned closer to see what alarmed her. “Oh.” She exhaled,seeing the evidence of milk, and recent usage. “Great.”
“Huh?”
“Hang in there, Gabrielle. We may have caught a break.” Xena grimlycontinued her work. Maybe they’d get lucky after all. She only hoped the bardwouldn’t insist on the obvious inevitability if she was right.
“You don’t mean we’re going to look for the cubs.” Gabrielle lookedat her in disbelief.
The warrior shrugged. “They’ve got shelter somewhere.”
Gabrielle stared at the dead animal. “Are we going to keep them?”
Xena didn’t answer.
“Then you better hope we don’t find them.”
**
It was raining so hard when they finally got moving, that they wereforced to enter the forest again, this time skirting the ridge that had proventoo steep to reasonably climb. Xena moved along in front with her ears cocked,the cat skin added to her pack along with the rest.
She’d decided against looking for the cubs, after all. It had onlytaken a brief consideration of the possible outcome of finding them, and theknowledge that the fight that would ensue would not be a pointless or mild oneto eject the idea from her mind no matter what the possibilities of a nice drycave were.
Besides. Xena exhaled. With the way things had been going, the damnthings were already dead, or their hiding place was a mud hole and theywouldn’t even get shelter out of it.
Gabrielle kept close behind her, staff held at the ready. The rain,however, seemed to have driven all the other animals under cover, because theydidn’t encounter so much as a lizard on their trek through the trees. That wasboth comforting and intimidating, and she found herself wishing she’d see justone or two other creatures out in the weather with them, just to prove theyweren’t totally nutty.
Maybe even a turtle or something. They liked rain, didn’t they? Shehunched her shoulders and shaded her eyes from the worst of the downpour, gladat least they were somewhat sheltered from the wind. There was a mossy wall ofrock to their right, and she reached out to idly touch it, her fingers movingover the fuzzy surface and suddenly finding something strange. “Hey, Xena?”
The warrior stopped plodding in front of her and turned, apparentlyvery willing to be held up from their march. “Yeah?” She walked back the few steps to where the bard was nowstanding, her entire hand laid flat on the rocks. “Something wrong?”
“Feel this.” The bard urge. “It’s warm.”
Xena obligingly put her hand next to her partners, and found to hersurprise that the rock surface was, in fact, warm to the touch. “Huh.” Shesearched the wall. “Interesting.. but not much use right now, I guess.”
Gabrielle leaned her entire body against the rock, closing her eyesblissfully. “Speak for yourself.” She sighed. “Boy, that feels great.”
Xena leaned her shoulder into the rock, feeling the warmth radiateagainst her skin. “Hm.” She mused. “All right, you’ve got a point there. But wecan’t hang out holding the wall up, Gabrielle.”
“Meanie.” The bard reluctantly edged away from the stone. “Hey, ifthis is warm.. you think you can find a hot spring around here to go with it?”She joined the warrior as they continued their trek. “Wow, could I use one.”
The warrior paused again and studied her, noticing the faint bluishtinge to her partner’s lips even in the very low light. “You need to stop?” Sheasked. “You should have said something.”
“I thought I did.” Green eyes met hers wryly. “I’d forgotten howlittle subtlety works on you.” Sherubbed her arm, trying to stifle the shivers, now made much worse by the briefforay into warmth. “I should have stayed away from that rock, is what I shouldhave done.”
Xena put an arm around her and started forward again. “Soon as wefind a spot, we’ll stop.” She promised. “Stick by me until then.”
Walking together was awkward, since Xena had all their stuff on herback, and Gabrielle was carrying her staff, but they managed somehow, squeezingthrough the trees as the rain continued to pour down through the branches.
The constant deluge was beginning to get on Xena’s nerves. Shesearched every square inch of their surroundings, hoping for even a littleoverhang they could squeeze into. The wall was curving away to the right alittle, and she decided to stay close to it, even though the ground was slopingdownward and a small race of rainwater was covering her feet.
A pair of trees were growing almost up against the wall, and theysquirmed through the tiny space available, then Xena had to stop sinceGabrielle did so in front of her. “Hey.”
“Look.” Gabrielle pointed.
Xena peered at the shadowy crack in the rocks. A slab of granite haddropped down off the escarpment, and was leaning against the wall at an angle,providing a small, but very welcome hiding spot. “Uh huh.”
Gabrielle nodded, sticking her staff into the opening and proddinggently, both of them tensed and ready to back off if something came out andobjected. She could feel nothingbut rock surface inside though, not even leaf litter to indicate it was in useby any other creature for a den. “Feels okay.”
Gratefully, they crawled inside. Gabrielle felt the inside wall and almost groaned in reliefto find it holding some of the warmth she’d felt previously. She settled downwith her back to it, glad to be out of the rain and wind and thankful to besitting down.
She was cold, and tired, and she wanted nothing more than to let herhead rest back against the rock and stay still for a while. The cat, the rain,the spat, the creatures… she was on overload and she knew it.
That would have been way too much. It was bad enough her mind kept imagining the poor littlethings crying, alone in the storm, for a mother that would never come back tothem. She could feel for them, even as she didn’t regret one bit of her attackon the cat who was trying to kill her partner.
Life just really sucked sometimes.
Xena had wedged the cat skin across the opening, exposing the insideto the clensing rain while she also provided a wind block. Now she crawled overto where Gabrielle was sitting, carrying the folded skin. “Wanna get up asecond?”
“No.” Gabrielle did so anyway, reaching up to grasp an uneven crackon the inside of the leaning slab and pulling herself up off the ground longenough for the warrior to put the hide down.
“Okay.” Xena sat down on one side and extended her legs, wrylygazing at her sodden self.
Gabrielle lowered herself back down and let her hands rest on herthighs, smoothing the wet fabric of her skirt out with tired fingers. “Thanksfor stopping.” She remarked quietly. “I’m toast.”
Xena folded her hands together and leaned back, absorbing the warmthof the stone. “Me too.” She agreed.
“No, you’re not.” The bard rolled her head to one side and peered ather. “You could keep going for three days. So don’t even start with that.You’re just trying to make me feel better about being a wimp.”
“You’re not a wimp.” The warrior avoided the accusation.
“Not usually, no.” Gabrielle squirmed closer, to take advantage ofXena’s body warmth as well as the rock’s. “I think it’s all this darn, darnrain. It’s making me nuts.”
The little nook was losing its chill, and they both relaxed andleaned against each other. Gabrielle rested her head on Xena’s shoulder andclosed her eyes, content to simply go mindlessly blank for a while.
Xena studied her sleeping companion quietly for a few minutes. Shekept one hand clasped around the bard’s, and laid the other on her ax. Shecalculated they had a few candlemarks left to go before dawn, and she wasn’ttaking any chances in sleeping herself. Despite the storm, and their shelter,the thought of another of those cats, or worse, finding them was making hersenses twitch and every crack or rumble of dislodging stones in the rain senttension singing through her.
She hadn’t felt this vulnerable since she’d given birth to Solon. Itwas both aggravating and terrifying, and she was torn between anger at theirsituation and frustration at herself for not having better answers for it. Thatwasn’t really fair to her and she knew it, but she also knew the simple factthat Gabrielle was depending on her to get them home – yes, she’d help withevery ounce of her strength to do whatever Xena needed done, but the plan waswhatever Xena said the plan was.
Damn it. Xena gazed through the darkness at the stone. It would bedamn nice just once to have someone else have the plan. She wriggled hershoulderblades into a slightly more comfortable position, and tried to relax.Maybe in the morning, she’d ask Gabrielle what *she* thought they should do.
Gods knew her own plans hadn’t gotten them anywhere useful so far.
She could hear the rain coming down harder outside, and after awhile she allowed the thrum of it to relax her, its thunder providing a shieldof sorts she couldn’t begin to really resent.
**
Gabrielle was chiefly aware of it being very quiet when she woke up.There was light streaming in from behind the hide in the opening, and the airwas comfortably warm and actually somewhat dry. She was curled up on her side,with her head on Xena’s leg, and she wondered briefly how exactly she’d gotteninto that position.
“Morning.”
Gabrielle rolled over and looked up, rubbing her arm that had fallenasleep against the stone. She found Xena looking back at her, the warrior’sdark hair in complete disarray and a smudge of dried mud across the bridge ofher nose. “Morning.” The bardreplied, with a smile for the sight.
“Feel better?”
“Anything would feel better than what I felt like before.” Gabriellereplied honestly. “Rain stop?”
“Yep.”
“Is that actually sunlight out there?”
“Yep.”
The bard patted her chest. “Be still my beating heart.”
“Not if I have anything to do about it.” Xena gave her bare belly agentle rub. “It’s been quiet out there. Think we can go find something forbreakfast.”
On cue, Gabrielle’s stomach rumbled, making them both chuckle. Thebard sat up and pulled her legs crossed under her, pushing her own rattyfeeling pale locks back off her face. “Wow.” She rested her elbows on herknees. “Why exactly did I ever find this whole sleeping on the ground thingromantic?”
“Speak for yourself.” Xena remarked dryly, as she crawled to theedge of the alcove and peered cautiously out past the cat hide. The sun hadindeed come out, and it was splashing over the rich, green forest with analmost luscious vividness.
She pushed the skin aside and slipped out of the crack in the rock,straightening to her full height with a grimace as her spine cracked intoplace. “Ugh.” A patch ofsunlight was nearby and she walked into it, reveling in the warmth as the lighttouched her face.
She looked up, to see mostly blue sky overhead, and felt a sense ofrelief despite the cover the storms had given them. They had enough challenges, she figured, without having todeal with half drowning every minute.
“Ahh.. this feels great!”
Xena turned, to find Gabrielle strolling up to join her. The bardhad her arms extended, and she was visibly reveling in the sunshine thatgathered around her and lit her skin with a golden glow.
For a moment, the warrior stood, entranced. “Glad you thinkso.” She finally said, as the bardarrived at her side.
“You don’t?”
“I do.” Xena draped her arms on her partner’s shoulders. “I’d loveto be dry for a while.” She looked around at the forest, which was quiet save agentle wind stirring the branches. It blew against her face and she lifted hernose into it, sniffing deeply.
Gabrielle watched her, caught by the quintessential wildness of themotion and marveling at the proud nobility of her somewhat scruffy lookingpartner’s attitude. It reminded her suddenly of the very first time she’d seenher soulmate to be, all that time ago.
Wild, and untamed, and dressed not unlike she was now with hershredded rags and lack of weapons. “Xena?”
Xena finished her study of the wind, then relaxed, finding nothingout of the ordinary on it. “Yeees?” She cocked her head and regarded the bard.“Gaaabrrrielle?”
Gabrielle closed her hands gently into fists and pushed them againsther partner’s stomach playfully. “You’re so cool.”
“What?”
“C’mon.” Gabrielle bumped her again. “Let’s get ourselves togetherand figure out what we’re going to do next.” She looked up. “I’m sorry.. I’vebeen letting myself fall into that old trap of expecting you to knoweverything.. you should have spanked my lazy butt.”
Xena only wished all her problems would resolve themselves with suchneat rapidity and completeness. “All right.” She turned the bard and pointed.“How about you get some water in our skull, and I’ll see what I can salvage ofthat.” She indicated the cat skin.
“Good start.” Gabrielle agreed. “Then, how about we figure out howto get past this wall?” She indicated the rock escarpment. “Because I don’tknow about you, but I don’t really want to get trapped here.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
They walked back towards the cleft. “Now.. why did you say I wascool?” XEna asked, patting herself. “I’m not, am I?”
“No, hon.” Gabrielle muffled a chuckle. “It was just a joke.”
“A joke?” The warrior
“Xena, forget it. It was a compliment.”
“A compliment?” The warrior repeated. “I think your head was soakedtoo long last night.” She pulleddown the cat skin and turned it over, laying it out on the now dry ground. Shepicked up some of the pieces of river rock she’d patiently chipped off, andbegan to scrape the inside.
Gabrielle retrieved the half skull and headed for the sound ofwater. She prudently picked up herstaff as well, and let her eyes shift from side to side as she walked searchingfor anything useful. There wasn’t much around, though, and she arrived at theedge of the small brook she’d heard pretty much empty handed.
The side of the bank was open, a thick, rich grassy area slopingdown towards it in a natural ford. Gabrielle knelt beside the water and stuckher hand in, then moved it towards the rocky edge on the side of the ford.“Whoohoo.” She chortled, feeling warmth against her fingers.
Given the heat in the rocks above, she wasn’t that surprised to finda hot spring, but it was welcome nonetheless. A quick glance in the surface of the water made her wince ather grubby reflection, and she made an instant decision to take advantage ofher find.
She sat down and started unlacing her boots, looking behind herthrough the trees to where she could just see Xena’s outline bending over herskin. The nearby presencereassured her, and she quickly stripped off her clothing and slid into the warmwater of the spring.
“Oh, boy.. this feels good.” Despite the fact that she’d spent the entire previous day drenched, shewas glad now to feel this waters touch on her, and she submerged to her neck,feeling her body loosen up as the heat penetrated stiff muscles.
Ah, that felt even better. The bard exhaled, reaching behind her torub the small of her back, where a knot was in the process of unraveling. She’dcome off the road this time in pretty good shape, and the weeks at homesleeping in a decent bed had improved that, but there were still those littlethings now she found she had to deal with sometimes.
An aching knee in cold weather, for example, a legacy of the threeor four times she’d damaged it in this or that fight or the odd jumping overwalls. The knot in her back. Theoccasional twinge in her neck after a long session with her staff.
She ducked her head back, wetting her hair and watching as the lightcurrent took away a swirl of mud from it. Idly wishing for their herbal soap,she was glad enough to use a handful of sand from the banks to scrub her skin,all the time mindful of the time and her surroundings.
Finishing with that, she dragged her clothes into the spring andscrubbed them as well, taking the time to work most of the bloodstains out ofthe weave of her top. Satisfied atlast, she swam over to the rocks and stood up, the warm water sheeting off herbody and exposing her to the sun as she draped the cloth over stone to dry.
Then her senses prickled, and she turned her head, searching thearea to locate whatever had alerted her. She had to sweep over the far banktwice before she spotted it – a face in the brush peering out at her.
Every muscle tensed as she focused on it, and she glanced quicklyover to where her staff was. But the face didn’t move, and after a second sherealized something else – it was female.
Okay. Gabrielle waded over to the ford and reclaimed her weapon,bracing it in the stream that came up to her knees. Should she call Xena? The person or whatever had shown noinclination to come out of their hiding spot and did not even seem to realizeGabrielle had seen her.
On the one hand, maybe she could open up some communication here. Onthe other, if there were a ton of bad guys behind that innocent looking face,and she got hurt or worse, Xena would….
Xena would. “Xena!” Gabrielle let out a yell.
The face reacted, disappearing into the bushes. Gabrielle stood herground, her hands wrapped around her staff until a rhythmic thrumming behindher heralded the arrival of her partner. She turned her head as Xena splashedinto the water and approached her, taking in the alert look that briefly wentvery puzzled as the cold creek she’d expected turned out otherwise. “Someone’sover there.” She pointed with the end of her staff. “They were watching me.”
Xena spared her a wry glance. “They’ve got good taste.” Shecomplimented her. “More of the same?” She put a hand on the bard’s bareshoulder. “And are you naked for a reason?”
“Washed my clothes.” Gabrielle supplied succinctly. “No, it was awoman, Xena.” She indicated the bank. “I was enjoying a nice warm bath here,and I felt someone watching me.” Her hands shifted on her staff, and shereleased the fingers of one hand to run them through her damp hair. “It’s a hotspring.”
“So I feel.” Xena started across the creek, stolidly gripping hermakeshift ax. “Stay there. I’m gonna go see if I can find anything.”
Gabrielle considered, then stepped back to the rocks and leaned backon their warmth, resting her hands on her staff and crossing her legs at theankles. The sun poured down overher and she squinted a little, keeping Xena’s moving figure in focus.
Xena plowed through the water, her eyes searching the far banksintently. She reached the other shore and climbed out onto it, going directlyto the bushes and peering behind them. Light footprints were in the damp sand,and confirmed Gabrielle’s identification of the gender of the watcher.
The prints led away from the shore, toe imprints and knee scuffs,along with hand prints indicating the person had crawled off with littleattempt to disguise their tracks. Xena could see them leading off, and shepaused for a moment to look back at her partner before she followed them.
Gabrielle was standing at the edge of the brook, watching her, thebard’s pale hair glistening in the sunlight. Xena lifted a hand and made asign, waiting a moment as her partner returned the signal. “Yeah, sure she’llstay there.” The warrior sighed, shaking her head and turning to follow thetracks.
The ground sloped up from the creek, towards a scattering of heavyboulders and the footprints lead directly to them. The wind was at her back,and Xena wondered if she was walking into a trap – creatures or no, she’d seenwolves lure prey into a band of their brethren and she had no doubt thecreatures were capable of doing the same.
Well. Xena hefted the ax and felt the familiar tingle flow throughher body. They better be ready for what they’re looking for.
Part of her success as a warrior was her confidence in her ownskills. Xena understood that, and she understood that it was this confidence,as well as the skills themselves that often allowed her to come out on top overan opponent, or opponents who were in reality stronger, faster, or more deadlythan she was herself.
It came down to being dangerous in your own mind. Xena called upthat part of her that was a natural born killer and stepped forward, crouchingand leaping up onto the first of the boulders, scaling it to the top andleaping to the next one, which would give her a view over the pile.
There was motion, and her body reacted, blood rushing to her skin asshe turned to track it, her arms spreading out as she crouched and got ready tospring.
Staring back at her was a small, hunched over woman wrapped intattered skins, her eyes wide in terror.
Xena’s eyes flicked to either side, but she saw no other movement. Shestraightened up and stepped off the rock, tucking her body into a lazy flipbefore she landed near the woman and stood, studying the intruder withexpressionless eyes.
Unlike the male creatures she’d seen, this thing before her was farmore recognizably human. She had a thin frame, and thick, russet hair that waswild and unkempt, but grew pretty much only on her head instead of
The woman looked warily at her, edging back against the rocks.
Xena took a step forward. The woman reacted in fear, letting out awild, screeching howl that fairly pinned the warrior’s ears back.
From the other side the rocks, she heard a sudden splashing. Xenajumped towards the woman, grabbing hold of her and clapping a hand over hermouth to stop the sound, then pulling her to her feet and heading back the wayshe’d come.
Gabrielle could try communicating with her, assuming the screamingdidn’t bring the rest of the creatures down on them or she didn’t scare thething to death before she could bring her back to the camp.
**
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