Pt.3
XENA
Ha ha! Come to Mama.
EPHINY
Nice one Xena.
Ephiny, Willow, and Clover stood spread out along the riverbank with Xena as they saw Xena pull a large fish from the water.
WILLOW
That makes how many now?
CLOVER
Pretty sure that's twelve.
WILLOW
That can't be right.
CLOVER
It can be when it's Xena.
WILLOW
Still, we've only been fishing for a little over an hour and no one else has caught anything. How on earth did she already pull out twelve?
EPHINY
I learned a long time ago not to think about it. Doing stuff that doesn't seem possible is just what Xena does. And it's actually thirteen by the way.
WILLOW
Of course, it is.
XENA
Whew, I think that's good for now.
The other three women shared a look of slight annoyance as Xena walked over to where they stood, carrying everything she caught all strung together.
XENA
What?
CLOVER
(Joking) It's no wonder we can't catch anything, it looks like you've just about fished everything out of here.
WILLOW
(Joking) I wasn't aware that fishing was a part of your already extensive repituar.
Xena gave a cocky smirk.
XENA
I have many...
The rest of the small group groaned as they already heard Xena's famous "I have many skills. " line far too many times to count. And it was usually after Xena had bested them in some way or another. Despite being cut off Xena just shrugged as Ephiny, Willow, and Clover all decided to call it a day for fishing as they pulled in their lines and Clover heard the others chuckle when she unexpectedly pulled in what must've been the smallest fish that any of them had ever seen.
WILLOW
(Laughing/ Joking) Oh look, Xena missed one.
CLOVER
At least I caught something.
Clover glanced over at Ephiny and Willow.
CLOVER
Unlike two people.
After Clover released the fish that was much too small to bother keeping back into the water, the four women left the riverbank and headed to find a good spot to make camp. It had been a couple of days since Xena and the others had left the village for the hunting trip and everything was going well. The group was having a good time and the weather had been fairly nice. It was sunny during the day so it didn't seem as cold and they had brought plenty of blankets to keep them warm at night as well. And the only falling snow they've had to deal with was a light dusting on the first morning as they had woken up on the trip. Otherwise, everything was going just fine.
GABRIELLE
Hey now, there's no need to cry. Shhh. It's okay.
Gabrielle lightly bounced Aurora in her arms as walked around the living room, trying to soothe the crying toddler.
SKYLA
I don't think I've ever seen the little princess get so fussy.
Gabrielle continued walking around as she looked at Skyla who was sitting on the couch.
GABRIELLE
She usually isn't. I'm not sure what's wrong.
SKYLA
I think it might be you.
Gabrielle stopped as she gave Skyla an unhappy look.
GABRIELLE
(Slightly Irritated tone) Excuse me?
SKYLA
Uh, that came out wrong.
Skyla smiled as she got up and walked over to Gabrielle and held out her arms to take the little girl. Gabrielle handed her Aurora and Skyla began lightly patting the toddler's back and walking around, leaving Gabrielle stunned when the little girl began to calm down.
GABRIELLE
How did you do that?
SKYLA
Like I said...
GABRIELLE
(Sighing) It's me.
(Sarcasm) Great my own daughter doesn't like me. I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until she was a teenager.
Skyla giggled a little.
SKYLA
(Joking tone) Relax your highness, I'm pretty sure Aurora still loves her mommy very much.
What I meant is I think that Aurora is picking up on your emotions. A lot of the time children and animals can be pretty empathic to those around them. So you're being bummed out about Xena being gone is having an effect on our favorite little princess here and making her fussy.
Gabrielle looked at Skyla for a moment fairly surprised by the depth of what her typically comical friend had said.
GABRIELLE
Huh, I hadn't thought of that. But Skyla how did you...
SKYLA
(Joking tone) Get so lucky to have both beauty and brains?
She shrugged casually.
SKYLA
(Joking tone) Not sure. Must just be a gift from Artemis herself.
The comment got Gabrielle to smile for a moment as she shook her head. But then her smile disappeared as she realized just how right Skyla was. Ever since before Xena had even left, Gabrielle had a feeling of unexplainable dread. And while Xena had tried to put her unease to rest and Gabrielle had tried to ignore it and convince herself that she was being paranoid, the feeling had gotten significantly worse since Xena had left. And though Gabrielle didn't know why, she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go very, very wrong. And she had no idea what she could do or just how right she actually was.
XENA
(Whisper) Hey found some over here.
It was late the next morning as Willow came over to where Xena was crouched and got down beside her as she examined the deer tracks that Xena had spotted.
WILLOW
(Whisper) Looks like there's a couple.
Xena smiled to herself.
XENA
(Whisper) Yeah, and one of 'em is a big one.
WILLOW
(Whisper) These look fresh too.
Xena stood as she pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back and settled in place on her bow as she began walking slowly, following the tracks.
XENA
(Whisper) Exactly.
Two days had gone by since the day the group spent at the river fishing and they hadn't had much luck of getting anything since. Xena included. Ephiny and Willow had each managed to get a rabbit on separate occasions. But that was it. Not counting the extremely little fish that Clover had caught by sheer coincidence. But luckily they had brought some food with them as a precaution just in case they ran into this exact issue so they weren't completely out of luck with needing to go hungry. Given that the trip was basically a bust the group was contemplating cutting the trip short. But then had decided to give it one more day to see if they could find something that could salvage the time that they had otherwise wasted. And now with a good-sized buck in her sights, Xena may have done just that. With eyes locked onto her target and taking steady aim, Xena drew back the bowstring and after waiting for just the right moment, released the arrow and sent it flying. It struck the buck in just the right spot, dropping the buck and killing it instantly.
CLOVER
Nice. Looks like we'll have something worthwhile to bring back after all.
Everyone stood from their crouched positions and moved to where the deer layed. They then proceeded to skin and prepare Xena's kill for easier transport back to the village. As they worked Xena suddenly stopped when her superhuman senses picked up on something. Everyone else noticed the change as Xena switched to high alert.
EPHINY
What?
Xena stood as she drew her sword and began to slowly scan the area.
XENA
I'm not sure. But I just got the feeling that we're not the only ones out here.
WILLOW
Could it be some other wildlife or someone else hunting or traveling?
Xena felt a strange sensation run down her spine. Of which was distantly familiar to her. But still, one of which she could never forget no matter how hard she had tried.
XENA
No. It's something much, much worse.
Even though she hadn't felt the feeling in a very long time, Xena knew that there was no mistaking it. And because of this Xena knew all too well that they were about to be in very big trouble. But despite their individual feelings of sensing something wrong coming just over the horizon, neither Xena nor Gabrielle could have ever foreseen the true fight that they were about to be in. Of which would throw them into very deep metaphorical waters. And only time would tell whether they would be able to swim through the storm heading their way or be swept up by raging waters and drown.