DUALITY OF HOPE AND DESPAIR
PART SIX
FINALE
The
citizens of
“A swift death
by the blade!” Hope shouts in a voice that is carried to every ear in
There is no
further resistance. Family and friends try to stay together so that they might
spend their last hours on Earth with those they love. People who have never
spoken to each other in the streets before now clasp hands and embrace each
other. Everywhere the people of
After some time
the Agora is empty except for Hope who still stands on the platform. She looks
around at the quiet solitude of the marketplace. Her thoughts turn to Ephiny
for a moment and she smiles. When the Burning is but one death away from its
initiation she will call a halt to the sacrifices. Then she will seek out her
handmaiden and drag her kicking and screaming if she must into the audience
chamber of the Citadel. There she will make Ephiny watch as the last sacrifice
is made and the end of this world is brought about with the Eternal Fire. She
has yet to decide what to do with the blonde then. Perhaps she will let Ephiny
live so that she can witness the absolute triumph of Dahak over all of
creation. Maybe let her watch as she consummates her bargain with Ares and they
conceive the Six Destroyers.
She feels
something stirring at the back of her mind once more. Whereas before she had to
fight Gabrielle for control, now she just pushes the girl’s soul back to the
pit inside her. “I don’t think so Gabrielle,” she tells the soul still residing
within her body somewhere. “You can’t fight me anymore. You gave up that right
when you called me in
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By midday the
sacrifices are underway. In minutes hundreds die with their blood coating the
floors of the temples in
In the Citadel
, Hope presides over the sacrifices in her audience chamber. Standing on the
dais she cries out in euphoria as each man, woman and child is murdered for her
cause and fed to the Fire. Priests fill the chamber with the same chanting that
was heard outside the temple in Britannia six years ago when she came into this
world. Those being led to their deaths can only understand two words being said
: Dahak and Hope. The members of the
Inner Council are gathered near the Fire as usual with Khrafstar taking center
stage. The sacrifices are brought to him one at the time and he raises high the
dagger that
As Diana had
predicted the secret entrance into the audience chamber is unused. Hope has the
people brought into the Citadel through the main entrance like cattle being
sent to the slaughterhouse. Priests of
Dahak line the walls to facilitate the sacrifices more efficiently. Three stand
before the secret entrance that leads into and out of the chamber. The first
has no inclination of what is happening to him as Xena grabs his head and
twists it quickly and savagely. The
sound of his cracking neck and his gasp of death is not heard over the
chanting. The priest to his left looks to his companion. Before he can say or
do anything he too is silenced as Iolaus grabs him from behind and drives a
sword up and into his back piercing his heart and killing him instantly. The third notices that the man to his left
slumps for some reason. Ready to admonish him for slacking in his priestly
duties he doesn’t notice Eponin rise up behind him. She grabs him by the head
and drives her dagger into the base of his skull.
The three dead
men are dragged into the passageway and are instantly replaced by Octavia,
Diana and Caesar wearing identical robes. Xena, Iolaus and Eponin strip the
priests of their robes and after donning them step into the audience chamber.
In a move nearly too fast for the human eye to follow Jett, clad in the robes
of a priest, steps from the passageway, strikes a priest to his right across the
throat , crushing his larynx and silencing him forever then pushing his limp
body back into the dark passage. The next priest in line turns to see what ails
his fellow and is none the wiser about what has just happened. Ephiny pulls the
robes from this priest and passes them to Amarice. She puts them on quickly
then steps out into the chamber. Darnell, Eli, Solari and Ephiny remain in the passageway for a
moment. Jett places his hand behind his back and gestures for them to come out.
Also clad in priestly robes they emerge into the audience chamber.
Almost as soon
as she sets foot in the massive room Ephiny recalls the vision. The sword
thrust into her gut. The blade twisting savagely then being wrenched from her.
She looks about at all those present. Her eyes linger on Hope for a moment. Of
all those present it is she alone that Ephiny knows will not be the one to kill
her. She tries her best not to think about it too much. But she is filled with
that morbid curiosity about who in this place will end her life.
Caesar looks
all around him and calculates their odds. The audience chamber seems filled
with people. But the vast majority of
those present are people to be sacrificed.
Xena leans in close to him. “There are about fifty to sixty priests,” she
informs him.
Even Caesar
knows those odds are not good. There are only twelve of them and two of them
are not combatants. Outnumbered six to one. Bad odds in any situation. But then
he has faced worse and emerged victorious. Plus they have the one advantage
that the priests are not fighters. But then he has to take into account the
presence of Pompey, Najara , Velasca
and, of course, Hope. All of them proficient warriors. And it is not to
be taken lightly that Hope could just start throwing fireballs around or bring
the entire Citadel down on top of them. But they are the sacrifices she needs.
And she needs their blood to be spilled and their corpses cast to the Fire. She
may not risk using her power in that fashion. Just as he is about to speak to
Xena there is a burst of blue light beside Hope and Ares stands with the Avatar
on the dais.
“Damn it,” he
mutters.
A cry is cut
short as a young girl’s throat is slit by the monstrous high priest of Dahak.
Velasca casts the girl’s body into the Fire.
“We have to act
quickly,” Ephiny mutters to Solari.
“Not yet,” the
warrior tells her. “We have to get Eli as close to Hope as possible.”
“She’s right,”
Eli says.
“Just stick
close to me,” Darnell tells the Avatar of the One. He shifts his shoulders for a
moment to readjust the shield on his back. He reaches up under the loosely worn
robes to slide his gladius from the concave inner side of the shield.
“You’ll get no
argument from me,” Eli tells him.
Darnell and
Solari flank Eli as they begin to move in closer. Ephiny moves away from them
to stand with Xena and Caesar. “They’re on their way,” she says.
“Good,” Caesar
says. Their group begins to move forward as well to mingle with the moving mass
of humanity in the audience chamber. “With any luck Eli will be right in front
of Hope before she realizes what is going on.”
“Fortune favor
us then,” Xena says.
Eponin and
Diana find Amarice and they begin to mill about with everyone. Octavia finds
Iolaus and they walk slowly about. Caesar’s niece keeps turning her attention
towards the Fire. There she sees Alti standing with the other members of the
Inner Council. She turns her head when Khrafstar slits an old man’s throat then
passes his body to Alti and Najara for them to cast to the Fire. Jett stays by the passageway for a moment.
When he sees that their stealthy and lethal entrance has drawn no attention he
moves away from the wall.
Caesar’s
cunning plan seems to be working. No one is aware that they have entered the
Citadel. And no one is the wiser that the one person who may be able to stop
Hope is getting nearer to her with every second. But it all unravels by one
chance encounter.
A priest
pushing his charge forward towards the center of the room and the Fire sends
the woman into Darnell’s back. In such closer quarters the priest hears the
hollow thump his captive’s impact with the man before them makes. “What the…”
the priests says. He reaches past the woman to grab the shoulders of the man.
Darnell is spun around unexpectedly and his hood falls. Not only does it reveal
the blond hair and beard but the very top of the shield on his back. The
priest’s eyes go wide at the sight. Solari moves quickly but not quickly
enough. The priest has the time to scream, “Intruders!” before her dagger cuts
his throat.
Ephiny steps
back as the blood spray hits her. As she does another priest grabs her by the
arm. “You’re not getting away,” he tells her.
Unsure of what
else to do Ephiny pulls down her hood to reveal her identity.
“Handmaiden,”
the priest croaks upon seeing who she is.
Apparently
Hope’s will that no one harm her is strictly enforced now. She gestures for the
man to stand aside. She removes her robes revealing herself in the royal
looking gown she wears. As she walks away she finds the priests parting to let
her pass. She looks back over her shoulder and finds Eli looking at her. She
turns her glance towards Hope on the dais then walks away melting into the
crowd.
Several priests
and their captives back away from the commotion caused by the dying priest.
This draws the attention of Hope and her allies. “What is going on?” the Avatar
cries out.
“Damn!” Caesar
curses. He turns to Xena. “Now!”
Xena tosses
off her disguise and lets loose her screaming war cry. With her sword in one
hand and her chakrum in the other she dispatches two priests near her in an
instant. Then she sends the chakrum sailing away from her. The deadly circle
whines loudly as it hits one priest on the side of the head cracking open his
skull then ricochets over to open up the throat of another before it returns to
her hand.
“Xena!” Hope
and Ares shout at the same time.
Caesar drops
his robes and draws his sword. The gladius cuts open the stomach of one priest
before he spins and slams the pommel into the face of another. Looking over the
heads of many priests and Athenian citizens he spots Darnell and his
companions. He points towards the dais. “Go!”
Hope’s
audience chamber explodes into a battleground.
Solari spins
with lethal grace spilling the blood of several priests before they are even
aware of what she is. Darnell slips from his robes and shrugs the shield from
his back with practiced ease. He hammers a man next to him with the shield then
stabs another with the gladius through his thigh. Both drop not dead but
definitely unable to fight.
Octavia and
Iolaus pull off their robes and toss them on the priests nearest them.
Enshrouded the men have no way to react. Iolaus slams his foot into the face of
one man sending him to the floor. Octavia drives forward pushing her blade into
the side of the man before her. She has no time to think on her first kill as
another priest draws close behind her. She spins and sweeps his feet from under
him them stabs him through the chest. She pulls the weapon free and turns to
face another priest who leers at her with her death on his mind. Iolaus cuts
the back of the man’s leg and he collapses in a heap. “Come on!” he yells to
her. The two of them begin moving forward side by side slashing at their foes while
protecting each other as well.
Eponin ,
Amarice and Diana shrug out of their robes and draw weapons as one. They begin
to attack any black and red clad priests near them. Diana nearly beheads one
priest as he attempts to drag a woman towards the center of the chamber. The
woman looks up into the eyes of the resistance leader. “Who? Who are you?”
“That is
unimportant right now,” Diana says as she fends off the attack of another
priest. She opens his guts and turns back to the woman. “Just get out of here!
Take as many as you can with you! And
tell them and any who will listen that Caesar is here to fight for your lives
ands your freedom!”
The woman runs
away as fast as her feet will carry her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“What the hell
was that?” one of the mercenaries guarding the entrance to the tunnel leading
under the city asks his companion. “Did you hear that?”
“Oh
please,” the other man groans. “You been
talking with those guards that were on that outer wall? The ones that said they
saw a ghost?”
“I’m telling
you I heard something!” the first man complains.
“And I’m
telling you you’re an idiot!” the second man screams at him.
Autolycus
smiles as he creeps past the arguing guards. Too easy, he thinks. As he enters
the tunnel Diana told him about he finds it lined on both sides with more
guards. At least twenty. They are spaced pretty far apart and the torchlight is
pretty sparse. As he prepares to take his first step into the tunnel he sees
the loose nature of the soil leading into it. With each step he’ll leave a
visible foot print. And while these men might think as others have before that
he is a ghost , all it will take will be one lucky thrust of a sword or spear
and he’ll be dead.
He thinks for a
moment. It occurs to him that everything in contact with him is also invisible.
Such as his clothes. And perhaps even his grappling hooks. With a flick of his
wrists he has them both in his hands. He can’t see them. This will be risky and
it will take him a hell of a lot longer than walking down the tunnel. He throws
the first grapple a little ways down the hall where it embeds itself in the
ceiling.
“What was
that?” a guard a little ways down the tunnel says.
“Don’t start!”
the guard across the hall from him says.
“What?” the
guard replies. “We have no idea what’s at the end of this damn tunnel. I mean
come on you’ve heard the noises coming from down there.”
Autolycus swings
the short distance his grapple allows. He finds himself dangling between the
two arguing guards and hanging bare inches from the floor.
“I don’t
care!” the second man says. “I just like
getting paid!”
Still keeping
hold of the first grapple Autolycus casts the other a little ways down the
tunnel. It hits the ceiling again.
“Huh?” another
guard says near where the grapple hit. But he just seems to ignore it.
Trying his best
not to breath too loudly Autolycus waits for a moment then swings down to dangle
before the bored guard. The man’s smell is nearly overpowering as he hangs
there. Twisting just slightly he pulls the first grapple from the ceiling
behind him then casts it ahead of him. It hits into the ceiling but doesn’t
garner the attention of a fat guard who seems to be asleep at his position.
Thanking
Fortune that mercenaries are never the smartest lot to be found in Greece , the
King of Thieves continues what he is certain will be a very long and nerve
racking journey.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Continue the
sacrifices Khrafstar!” Hope screams from the dais pointing at him.
The Deliverer
nods and draws the dagger across the throat of a child before passing her
corpse to a priest. The members of the Inner Council have left their positions
by the Eternal Fire to engage Caesar and his allies in battle.
As the battle
intensifies Caesar and Xena are separated. Caesar is pushed away by a small mob
of priests who he manages to deal with in a rather brutal manner before
regaining his bearing.
Xena slashes
open the throat of a priest and spots Darnell and Solari still defending Eli.
Caesar is no longer at her side. She finds she will be best used defending the
Avatar. But as she stakes a step forward her path is blocked. Najara brings her
sword down and Xena blocks it. She attacks with her chakrum but Najara blocks
her attack with a dagger drawn from her belt. Their weapons locked together for
a moment, the two warrior women glare at each other.
“Xena Warrior
Princess,” Najara says her face drawn up into a sadistic and some might say
insane grin. “I’ve dreamed of this moment.”
“Dream on!”
Xena shouts as she spins herself to come back around at the other woman.
But Najara is
ready and moves in close to both block Xena’s attack and to show the warrior
princess she is a formidable opponent. Xena feels the edge of Najara’s dagger
cut into the skin of her upper right arm. She steps back and stares at the
woman.
“It won’t be
that easy,” Najara informs her.
Xena smiles as
she feels her bloodlust rising to the surface. She grins in a fashion very
similar to her opponent’s. “Good,” she says. “Cause easy is no fun at all.” She
shouts her battle cry then moves in again.
While Diana
focuses on trying to free the captives in the audience chamber , Eponin sees
that some are actually trying to exit through the main entrance which is jammed
with priests and other victims to be sacrificed. She grabs the arm of one young
man running towards the main entrance. She points over to the dark corner where
the secret passage is. “That way!” she yells at the man. The man looks at her a
little confused. “Go!” Eponin roars.
Amarice slashes
and hacks like a maniac trying to kill as many of the priests as possible.
Ashamed of her earlier fear , she now gives into the battle lust that always
seizes her in combat. Sending one man after the next to his death she makes
certain to scream at any citizens she comes across to run as hard and as fast
as their feet will carry them.
She senses
another attacker and turns to meet this new foe. Her short sword and dagger
cross in front of her to block the attack of Velasca.
Velasca looks
into the eyes of the girl before her. “And who might you be?” she asks.
Amarice
recognizes the leader of the Amazons and is somehow glad that of all the people
in the Citadel she has met this one in battle. “My name is Amarice. And I come
to claim vengeance for the Centaurs.”
“Centaurs?”
Velasca says staring into the hate filled eyes of the young warrior. “Oh. You
must mean that village in northern Greece.”
Amarice
released her hold with Velasca’s sword and tries to drive her other blade into
her gut. The Amazon parries the attack and counters with her own. Amarice
catches the blow between her blades again. “Yes!” she cries and begins to twirl
and spin with her twin weapons in an attack that seems more like a dance than
combat.
But Velasca has
been a warrior since she was old enough to hold a weapon. She meets and
counters each of the girl’s attacks. Soon they are locked in a twisting,
gyrating combat that no one is willing to even get close to.
Still clad in
the red and black robes of a priest of Dahak Jett moves with ease through the
throngs of battling warriors and priests. He sees Ephiny walking close to the
wall. She is circumnavigating the audience chamber. He has no doubt that she is
heading for Hope. Though what that will avail her , he cannot fathom. He sees
their allies all engaged in tight combat. He also sees the number of priests
dwindling. While hundreds more wait to enter the chamber few seem inclined to
enter now that they see so many of their fellows dying.
But the
sacrifices still continue. Khrafstar draws the sacred blade across the throat
of a woman before tossing her body into the Fire himself. “More!” he cries in
that animalistic voice of his. “More for the glory of Dahak!”
A few priests
seem adventurous enough and enter the chamber dragging their captives with
them. He focuses his attention on Khrafstar. That is who he will kill. With a
deliberately slow pace he begins to move towards the center of the chamber.
Running he is certain will only get him killed or worse. He glances back at the
dais. Hope stands there watching everything with a look of utter frustration on
her face. He can tell that she wants to stop all this. To just lash out and
kill everyone. But she can’t. She needs the people for sacrifice to the Fire. A
definite twist of irony, he thinks.
Caesar battles
his way to the center of the chamber and soon finds himself standing before the
Eternal Fire. But to his frustration he finds he is on the side of it opposite
the Deliverer. A priest rushes him and he stabs the man in the gut. As he pulls
the weapon free another sword hammers down onto his right arm. Only the thick
metal gauntlet he wears keeps him from having his hand severed. However it
doesn’t stop the impact from breaking his arm. His sword drops from his hand
but he snatches it back up with his left hand before it even touched the floor.
He turns to face his attacker.
“Caesar,”
Pompey says.
“Pompey,”
Caesar responds.
“I’ve waited a
long time for this,” Pompey says twirling his sword fancifully,
“You’ve waited
a long time to die,” Caesar informs his one time friend and ally.
Pompey looks
from the broken arm of Caesar to the hand wielding his sword. “I don’t think
so.” He attacks with abandon expecting
to easily overwhelm his foe. But finds instead each of his attacks blocked or
parried.
“Think again”
Caesar retorts. Movement behind him alerts him to another attacker. He turns
and kills the approaching priest with ease then turns to face Pompey once more.
Their swords clash together time and time again with neither being able to gain
the advantage.
They smile at
one another. “Just like old times,” Pompey remarks thinking of how they used to
duel each other to see who was better. As he recalls Caesar always won. “But this time it’s gonna be different.” He
launches another series of swift attacks.
“How so?”
Caesar inquires as he still manages to thwart each of Pompey’s attacks.
“Because this
time I’ll kill you!” Pompey says gripping his sword in both hands and beginning
to hammer at Caesar’s defense.
With Solari and
Darnell clearing a bloody path before him , it is not long before Eli finds
them closing in on the dais where Hope stands. He shrugs out of his robe
revealing himself before calling out, “Gabrielle!”
Hope looks at
this man is shock. How does he know that name? There is something about him.
Something elusive and mysterious. At a glance she cannot understand him. She
doesn’t like that. She turns to her godly companion. “Ares.”
The god of war
looks down and sees the strange man flanked by the man and woman warriors. “No
problem,” he says as he vanishes from sight.
When he
reappears he is striding towards the three of them. Like a child tossing rocks
Ares hurls a fireball from each of his hands. Darnell holds up his shield to
block the fireball racing towards him. The god projectile slams into the shield
with the force of a boulder dropped from a cliff. The gladiator is hurled
backwards into a throng of priests and
sacrifices knocking them all down. Solari sees the fireball heading towards her
and dives out of the way. The fireball races past and strikes a priest
unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is engulfed
in flame and soon screaming in agony.
Both Solari and
Darnell realize they have failed. Eli is now helpless before the wrath of Ares.
“This is the
best Xena and Caesar could come up with.”
Ares continues to stride forward. Were he not so full of his own ego he
might find it odd that Eli too is continuing to walk forward seemingly
regardless of his presence. Ares halts a step before Eli.
The Avatar of
the One looks into the eyes of the war god and says in an almost conversational
tone, “Stand aside.” The words come out like a request.
Ares laughs. “I
don’t think so.” He reaches out and grabs Eli’s shoulder. As soon as he touches
the man he is seized by a fear unlike anything he has ever known before.
Coursing through this stranger is a power that he does not understand. Nor
could he if he even knew about the Way and the One. Ares has met gods, demons
and demigods of all kinds and races. But never has he felt anything containing
the kind of power that he senses in this man. He meets the gaze of the stranger
and sees something behind those eyes. Behind the eyes of the Avatar of Dahak he
can see Fire. Behind the eyes of this man he can see Light. A Light so intense
that were it to projected here in this world it would blind any and all would
saw it.
Eli stares into
the eyes of Ares. And this time his voice is backed by the same power that Ares
sees behind his eyes. “Stand. Aside.”
Now the words come out as a command. And Ares , terrified to his
immortal core, obeys. He vanishes in an explosion of blue white light.
“Ares!” Hope
shouts in rage that the god has retreated. “You coward!”
“Gabrielle!”
Eli shouts as he draws closer to the dais.
An unnatural
light surrounds Hope. “I don’t know who you are!” she shouts holding one hand
over her head. A blazing white sphere of fire forms in her palm. “But you’re
dead!” She hurls the ball of fire straight at Eli.
Ephiny nears
the dais when she witnesses Ares’ retreat. She is shocked to see it. Eli is
more powerful than any of them believed if he is able to make the god of war
simply run away. Then she sees the ball of fire forming in Hope’s hand. She
watches as the Avatar of Dahak hurls it at the Avatar of the One. “No!” she
cries out.
The fireball
explodes with such intensity it throws anyone close by off their feet. Where
Eli had previously stood is now a column of white fire. Hope chuckles. “Fool.”
Eli steps
unscathed from the fire. Neither his hair nor his clothing are even singed.
“What?” Hope
cries out in total and utter disbelief. “That’s impossible!”
“Gabrielle!”
Eli calls out again.
“How do you
know that name?” Hope cries out. From the corner of her eye she sees Ephiny
moving against the wall not far away. “Ephiny! You traitorous bitch!”
As soon as the
fighting had broken out Alti had cloaked herself in shadow and moved away from
the center of the audience chamber to the wall. She is no fool. She knows she’s
not a fighter. That is best left to the others. She is more suited to the
shadows after all. This attack was the height of stupidity. There is nothing
Caesar can gain by this. Except his death. She looks around the chamber trying
to find some target for her powers. But there are too many people. She can’t
focus her attention on Xena, Caesar or any of the others. From her hiding place
she can see Xena battling Najara. She has always wondered which of them is
better. Velasca is fighting a young woman who is possessed by a battle lust
that rivals Xena’s. Near the Fire Pompey and Caesar fight as well. That was
inevitable.
What she sees
near the dais surprises even her. She watches Ares attempt to stop this bearded
stranger. There is something about him. Even she can feel it from here. Her
power comes from hate and fear. She draws from all the negativity in the world.
But this man seems to be drawing from a power that is the opposite. From love
and compassion. Ares vanishes from sight and as he does so she can feel his
fear.
Then Hope turns
her rage on the man. A fireball capable of reducing a boulder to pebbles hits
him and he is unharmed! Who is he? she asks herself. She hears Hope curse Ephiny and she smiles.
Who cares about Ares running away like a frightened child or all the combat
going on. Ephiny’s death is imminent. And that is what she wants to bear
witness to.
Ephiny refuses
to let the anger in Hope’s voice hurt her. That’s not Gabrielle, she tells
herself. It’s Dahak in Gabrielle’s body.
Hope focuses
her power on the man. If he won’t burn that way then he can burn in the Eternal
Fire. As she tries she finds that he is not lifted into the air and hurled back
into the Fire as she intended. “Who are you?”
Eli continues
his march forward. A priest tries to attack him but finds a sword in his back
as Solari recovers from her evasion of Ares’ attack.
“I’ve come for
Gabrielle,” Eli says. “Return her
Dahak.”
“This is ridiculous!”
Hope states loudly. She summons her power and throws a wall of force at him.
Eli senses the
power’s approach and confident in his faith merely holds up his hand. The
audience chamber reverberates with a sound like two boulders made of metal striking
each other. To Eli’s left two priests of Dahak are swept up by Hope’s power and
slammed into the wall. The wall cracks.
Seeing what has
just happening and knowing what is to come Eli turns to Solari. “Get out of
here!” he shouts at her.
The Amazon
seems puzzled but finds that she has no wish to disobey Eli or that voice. She
runs from the dais and throws herself into the battle going on near the Fire.
Darnell has witnessed the event as well. He doesn’t need to be told. He follows
Solari into a fight that he can understand.
Iolaus and
Octavia fight furiously. He hears the sound of the two Avatars’ powers
clashing. He just manages to see the two
priests crushed against the wall. And he sees the crack that forms. “Oh my
god,” he mutters. In his travels with Hercules he has seen many powerful being
fighting amongst themselves with little regard for the mere mortals around
them. And while he is certain Eli wishes harm to no one, the same cannot be
said for Hope. Dispatching another opponent he turns to Octavia. “We have to
get these people out. It isn’t safe here anymore.”
“What do you
mean?” she asks him.
“Just trust
me,” he replies turning from her and running for the main entrance. She follows
close behind.
Diana still
trying to get as many free as possible sees the two of them running like mad
for the way in. The distraction costs her as a priest’s dagger makes its way
through her defense and goes into her side. She spins cutting open the man’s
neck. She grabs the dagger intent on pulling it out but is stopped by Darnell
who closes his hand on hers.
“Don’t,” he
says. “If you pull it free you’ll bleed out.”
“But,” Diana
says pointing to where Iolaus and Octavia are going.
“I see them,”
Solari says as she too appears at Diana’s side. “Let’s Go.”
Diana looks
around. She wonders what is taking Autolycus so long. They could certainly use
Aphrodite’s help right about now.
“Who are you?”
Hope screams at the man who dares to challenge her.
“My name is
Eli,” Eli informs her. “And I am here to free Gabrielle.”
“My name is
Hope!” the Avatar of Dahak shouts. Extending both her hands forward she sends
her power hurtling towards Eli.
He in turn
extends his hands out before him. Metallic thunder echoes again and this time
there is an explosion to Eli’s right where the wall meets the ceiling. Chunks
of stone fall from the inner walls and cracks spider web across the ceiling.
The sound of stone grinding on stone can be heard. “Stop this!” Eli shouts.
“Hope please!”
Ephiny implores the Avatar to stop when she too realizes the destruction this
may cause.
“Shut up!” Hope
cries as she lashes out with her power towards Ephiny.
Alti sees this
and grins. Could her vision have been wrong? Is Ephiny destined to die at the
hands of Hope?
“No!” Eli screams and extends his hand
towards Ephiny praying for the power that protects him from Hope’s power to
protect her as well.
Metallic
thunder and suddenly the wall behind the dais where Hope stands explodes
outward. When the Avatar turns she is staring out at the city below and beyond
the Acropolis.
“Stop this!”
Eli shouts again. “Please Gabrielle!”
“My name is
Hope!” she screams again drawing her hands over her head to gather more power
to herself.
The Deliverer
is oblivious to everything going on around him as he shouts again, “For the
glory of Dahak!” He slits the throat of a man and hurls his body into the Fire.
The Eternal Fire roars with a life of
its own and grows brighter with each body cast into it. Khrafstar can feel it
moving closer and closer. Soon this world will burn. “More!” he bellows.
Terrified by the high priest , the others bring him more.
Xena and
Najara’s weapons slam into each other time and time again. Sword against sword.
Chakrum against dagger. Neither has ever faced a foe so skilled. And each of
them revels in it. Both made mad by bloodlust they do not hear the metallic
thunder nor notice the structural damage occurring to the Citadel.
Najara lunges
forward and Xena catches her sword in the ring of the chakrum. She twists her weapon
and pulls the other woman’s sword from her hand. Najara turns with the action
and hammers her elbow into Xena’s midsection. Xena doubles over and Najara
brings her knee up into Xena’s face. Xena lashes out with her sword and Najara
ducks. Xena kicks out to land her foot into Najara’s chest which sends the
woman stumbling backwards. Xena presses her advantage and rushes forward.
Najara falls backwards to the floor and reaches back to plant both her hands on
the stone floor. Then she kicks forward using her arms to propel herself
forward. Both her feet strike the advancing Xena in her chest. Najara completes
the move by coming to her feet as Xena now stumbles back. She punches Xena in
the gut doubling the warrior princess over again. With her other hand she
punches Xena in the side of the head as hard as she can. Then she brings her knee up once more driving
it into Xena’s face.
Xena falls back
onto the cold stone floor stunned and unable to react. Najara stomps her foot
and the sword that Xena had wrenched from her grasp is in her hands once more.
She raises the weapon up preparing to deliver the killing blow. Movement behind
and to her left makes her swing in that direction.
A robed form
ducks at the last second and slides into Xena with his full weight. The warrior
princess and the interloper skid a few feet away , robbing Najara of her kill.
Jett stands and
pulls the priest robes from himself. Xena is getting to her feet behind him.
With his eyes fixed on Najara he points behind them. “Stop Khrafstar!” he
shouts.
Xena looks at
the center of the room and sees the Deliverer still butchering people and
giving them to the Fire. She takes off in his direction without another word.
Jett draws
himself into a defensive martial arts stance that one of his teachers in Chin
had taught him long ago. It occurs to him that he should have just stuck with
his task of getting to Khrafstar. But when he had seen Najara about to kill
Xena he had chosen instead to save her and face the murderer of his brother.
“You can’t be
serious Joxer,” Najara says brandishing her sword and dagger.
Jett smiles
hiding his trepidation. Facing this maniac might be his death. She did just
defeat Xena after all. But while he had approached them he had seen something
in the way she fought. Both of them were going all out offensively. Neither
trying to defend. Just doing their damnedest to kill each other. Perhaps that
is the weakness in this woman who has killed so many. Going mad against someone
who is also only out to kill you might be her way of fighting.
Najara rushes
in and Jett moves in for close quarters. But he doesn’t try to attack. He
simply defends himself against her wild lunges and slashes. In such close her
weapons are blocked and any attempt to strike him with her knees or feet as she
did with Xena are blocked as well. She steps back from him. “I’m impressed
Joxer. Did Callisto teach you that?”
“My name isn’t
Joxer,” Jett informs her. “He was my brother. I’m here to claim revenge for my
family.”
“Oh really,”
Najara says going at him again. Using his arms and legs to block her every
attack Jett begins to see that his theory may be correct. And if it is he may
be able to win after all. It will require him doing something he has never done
before. A technique he vowed many years ago to never use.
Najara moves
back from him cursing. “Coward! You can’t defend yourself forever. If you want
to beat me you’ll have to attack!”
“Not
necessarily,” Jett says moving his hands through a elaborate form taught him
long ago. “All I need is one hit.”
“Ha!” Najara
laughs. Her head tilts as though she is listening to someone. “I agree. He is a
fool.” She looks at him. “One hit? Prove it!” She assaults him like a woman
possessed.
Amarice is
holding her own against Velasca but she feels the battle lust in her heart
diminishing. She knows she isn’t as skilled a fighter as the Amazon. Her
intensity in battle is what is making up for this. But with each passing second
she is losing that advantage. With each passing second she is losing to
Velasca. She tries to imagine the centaur village in her mind. To use that
grief to power her rage. But while her mind is filled with the hate she feels
for this woman , her body has never sustained a fight of this intensity for this long. The arms holding her weapons
feel heavy. Her legs are moving slower. And she can hear herself grunting with
fatigue now when Velasca’s sword hits her weapons.
“Getting
tired?” Velasca asks. She continues her barrage of sword strikes and can see
her opponent growing tired indeed. “How can you avenge the centaurs if you’re
too tired to fight?”
Amarice lets
out a half hearted battle cry and attacks with all her might. Velasca parries
the attack then steps into Amarice and elbows her in the face. The force of the
blow nearly knocks her unconscious and she drops to her knees. Her weapons slip
from her grasp.
“Maybe you
should join them,” Velasca tells the would-be avenger of the centaurs. She
draws back her sword. Amarice looks up into the face of the woman about to kill
her. Velasca smiles. She’ll drive her sword right through one of the girl’s
eyes as she did one of the centaurs in that village.
“Velasca!” a
voice calls to her.
The Amazon
leader turns away from her victim. She has just a moment to look stunned.
“Eponin!” She shouts.
Eponin’s sword opens up Velasca’s neck and
blood cascades from the wound like water. The mortally wounded woman drops her
to knees then falls onto her side. Her head turns slightly and her eyes sees
her killer. “But …” she says as blood pools about her head. “Melosa said … you
were …dead…” Her eyes once ablaze with blood lust glaze over in death.
Eponin helps
Amarice to her feet. The young warrior looks from the corpse at her feet to the
Amazon warrior standing before her. “You saved my life,” she says.
“It’s what
friends do,” Eponin tells her.
There is a
sound like metallic thunder and they nearly lose their footing.
“What was
that?” Amarice asks.
“Nothing good,”
is all Eponin can say. “Come on.”
“You have to
get out of here!” Darnell shouts to the priests that try to push into the
audience chamber.
“More!” they
hear the voice of Khrafstar booming.
A priest pushes
forward with a young man. Darnell kills the priest then pushes the man aside.
“We can’t stand
here and kill everyone that comes in,” Diana tells him.
“Right,” Solari
agrees. “We get as many out as we can through the secret passage.”
The Eternal Fie
blazes higher and Khrafstar roars again. “For the glory of Dahak!”
“Not that it
will matter if he keeps killing people!” Darnell says.
“We have to
try,” Diana says. She groans in agony as the dagger in her side gets twisted
when she moves.
“Enough,”
Darnell says. “Get her out of here.”
“No,” Diana
retorts.
“Yes,” Eponin
says as she and Amarice approach them. “You’re no good to us dead.”
“We’ll do
everything we can,” Amarice says.
“All right,”
Solari says without waiting for Diana’s agreement. “We’re leaving.” Her eyes linger on Eponin for a moment. No
words are needed between them. Eponin nods and so does Solari. She practically
drags the resistance leader towards the secret passage. They find Iolaus and
Octavia already there directing people.
“Come on!”
Iolaus says pushing a couple through the passage.
“Go!” Octavia
yells at two women who duck through the passage as well. She doesn’t realize
they are Solari and Diana.
Darnell looks
around the chamber. “Well. There are still a few more priests.” He twirls his
sword.
“More!” they
hear the Deliverer.
“And there’s
still him,” Amarice says.
“Let’s go!”
Eponin says leading the two of them back into the battle.
Pompey
continues his best to get the better of Caesar and he feels he is doing so.
While Caesar’s skill with the blade is extraordinary he is not used to fighting
left handed and that is showing. The movements of his left arm are getting more
erratic and slow. He has only to keep up his attack and he will be victorious.
Hope will reward him well for finally killing the greatest thorn in her side.
Caesar knows he
cannot keep this up for much longer. His arm is growing tired. He’s never
fought with it this long. He trained himself to be proficient a fighter with
both arms. But that cannot make up for the fact that he is right handed. Well
then if he cannot win with strength, he’ll have to win through strategy. He
circles Pompey who does looks rather imposing back lit by the Eternal Fire. And
in that he has his winning strategy. He starts a rapid series of over head
strikes that Pompey counters likewise. He throws all his strength into the
attacks and finds Pompey taking a step or two back. Then he angles his arm over
to try and attack Pompey high from his opponent’s right. Pompey sees the moves
and tries it himself. Both men block the other in exactly the same fashion.
Pompey catches
Caesar’s left wrist in his right hand and Caesar catches Pompey’s left wrist in
his right hand. Pain goes up Caesar’s arm as he holds Pompey with his broken
arm. Though he can close his hand around Pompey’s wrist his arm hurts like
hell.
They struggle
with each other for a moment. “You can’t win Caesar!” Pompey shouts practically
spitting the words at him. “Don’t you understand? Hope is eternal!”
“Maybe she is
Pompey,” Caesar says. He stares deeply into the traitor’s eyes. “But you are
not!” Leaning his head back momentarily he drives it forward slamming his
forehead into Pompey’s face.
The impact
clouds Pompey’s vision with stars and he can feel blood running from his nose.
His sword falls from his grasp. Caesar lets go with his left hand and grabs
Pompey by the face. He locks his right leg behind Pompey’s left and then begins
to push.
It is only now
that Pompey realizes how close he is to the Fire. It is right behind him and Caesar
is pushing him back towards it! He tries like mad to gain the leverage he needs
to fight back.
But Caesar will
not let him. He drops the sword in his left hand and seizes Pompey’s right
wrist. He bears his weight forward and with his leg locked behind Pompey’s
continues to push forward.
Pompey begins
screaming like a mad man and begging for mercy. “Caesar! No! Please!” His screaming becomes audibly unbearable when
his hair catches fire.
Caesar can feel
the heat of the Fire as his hand presses inexorably forward. As the flesh on
top of Pompey’s head is being consumed he feels the flesh on his hand starting
to sizzle but still he will not let go. Pompey tries vainly to grasp at Caesar
with his left hand but all he can do it slap at the other man’s chest like a
child. “Caesar!” Pompey screams as the hellish heat of the Fire rapidly boils
the liquid in his eye balls.
Caesar pushes
once more with all his might driving Pompey’s already burning head into the
Fire. His hand is seared and then consumed by the Fire as Pompey’s head
disappears into the Eternal Fire he has served these years. But he does not cry
out in pain. Pompey’s body goes limp and tumbles lifelessly back into the Fire.
Caesar withdraws the charred stump of his right hand. “Traitors die,” he says
staring into the Fire.
Hope releases
another fireball from her hand straight towards Eli. Eli again holds up a hand
and sends the ball of fire arcing off in another direction. This one impacts
the floor several yards away and tears a gaping hole in it. Around the hole
more stone breaks off and falls into the level below.
Becoming more
frustrated with each passing second Hope gathers still more power to her. “I
will kill you!” she bellows to Eli before sending a tidal wave of her power
cascading across the distance between them.
Eli places both
hands palms out before him. When the force of Hope’s power meets the force of
his faith it drives him back several feet but results in no harm to him. The
Citadel does not fare so well. Rebounding from Eli the power rises up and
smashes into the ceiling of the audience chamber. The fourth level above them
is actually lifted free for a split second and dropped back into place. The
impact dislodges load bearing walls and nearly one quarter of the upper level,
Hope’s private chambers, collapses into the audience chamber.
What falls into
the chamber stuns several people as the skeleton of a centaur falls down
through the ceiling followed by various other items stored in Hope’s trophy
room. But that is soon forgotten as huge chunks of rock fall from the upper
level onto unsuspecting citizens and priests alike. A group of two priests and
their three captives are killed when the largest of these pieces falls on top
of them. The piece is boulder sized and does not stop after killing them. It
smashes through the floor and falls into the second level where it kills two
more and leaves a massive gaping chasm in the audience chamber not far from
where Khrafstar continues the sacrifices.
“Gabrielle!”
Eli calls out to her again. “You have to stop this!”
“My name is not
Gabrielle!” Hope roars like a wild beast as she now begins to descend the dais
steps. She draws back both arms and hurls two fireballs at Eli.
The Avatar of
the One holds out both hands and the fire balls are once more deflected away.
One hits a priest and turns him into a living torch. The other spins away to smash through the
opposite wall letting in more day light from outside.
“She’ll kill us
all at this rate,” Ephiny says. Hope’s power cannot touch Eli. But she doesn’t
care. She continues to assault her opponent heedless of what she is doing.
“For the glory
of Dahak!” Khrafstar screams again.
“Of course she
doesn’t care,” Ephiny says. “Her purpose here in nearly fulfilled.”
“Die you insignificant
mortal!” Hope cries out as she reaches the bottom of the dais and releases
still more of her unstoppable power at Eli.
“No!” Eli
shouts as he sees her attack again. While he is protected her power is lashing
out all about him bringing chaos to the chamber in which they are.
Hope’s power
smashes into the shield of Eli’s faith and splits apart like water on rocks.
The force of it blasts away in several directions. It shears away the wall to
Eli’s right further weakening the structure where it has been damaged before.
That section of wall falls away into the daylight and the ceiling which is
already under stress from previous damage splits like it is being torn open by
an earthquake. More of the Citadel’s upper level collapses into the audience
chamber. More people die as boulder sized pieces of the structure crush them
before it breaks through the floor and falls further.
“Stop it!” Eli
shots at Hope. “You’ll kill everyone!”
“I don’t care!”
Hope replies and forms another enormous fireball in her hand.
Darnell just
manages to jump aside as the roof comes down. “Look out!” he shouts.
Amarice leaps
into Eponin knocking the woman off her feet but saving her from being hit by a
massive chunk of the ceiling.
“This is
insane!” Darnell cries as he stands to his feet. A priest tries to attack him
but he casually guts the man as if annoyed. “What are we supposed to do now?
She’s trying to bring the building down on top of us!”
The roaring
voice of the Deliverer catches Eponin’s attention. “It doesn’t matter!” she
tells the gladiator.
“She’s right!”
Amarice agrees. “We have to stop the sacrifices! That’s all that matters!”
Darnell sighs
loudly. “There had better be some kind of eternal reward for me in all this!”
“For the glory
of Dahak!” Khrafstar screams raising the dagger once more. But he finds his arm
immobile as he tries to use it. “What?”
“I don’t think
so,” Xena says twisting the Deliverer’s
arm with hers then coiling her body about and throwing him to the ground. A
priest moves in to aid him and Xena slings the chakrum at close quarters. The
weapon impacts with his chest and stays there.
When she turns back to Khrafstar he swings a clawed hand at her that
slices open the flesh of her upper arm in four straight , parallel lines.
“You will pay
for interrupting my work!” the malevolent priest bellows at her like some hound
from Hell itself.
“Work?” Xena
swings her sword and he blocks it with the sacred dagger. “You’re nothing but a
killer. A rabid animal that I intend to put down right here and now!”
Khrafstar
laughs. “You cannot defeat me! I am the Deliverer! Soon I will stand at the
right hand of Dahak Himself!”
Xena parries
the dagger away and then cuts off the high priest’s right hand at the wrist.
The severed hand and weapon clatter to the ground. “Too bad you don’t have one
of your own,” Xena tells him.
Khrafstar holds
up the stump of his right hand. Flame shoots out of it and takes the shape of a
hand. When the flame is extinguished a second later his right hand is back.
“You mean this!” He roars with laughter.
Xena lashes out
at him with her sword but he ducks and spins cutting furrows in the flesh of
her leg with his taloned hand. His picks up the dagger and steps away from her.
Xena looks at the wound he has inflicted on her and feels that they burn like
boiling pitch has been poured into them.
“What’s the
matter Xena?” Khrafstar chuckles. “Things getting a little too hot for you?”
There is an
explosion and a massive section of the ceiling falls near them. One slab of
stone barely misses Xena as it falls through the floor into the level below.
The shaking of the ground causes her to nearly lose her balance. Khrafstar advances ready to push her through
the gaping hole behind her.
But Darnell
slams into him from the side with all his might. The high priest is rocked but
stays standing. He swings the dagger and the weapon sacred to his religion
tears Darnell’s shield in half like it is paper. The fighter is shocked by the
ferocity and can hardly react as Khrafstar slashes his chest with his clawed
hand.
Amarice pulls
the chakrum from the priest’s body and does the only thing she can to help
Darnell. She throws the weapon clumsily at the creature attacking him. The
weapon hits him and bounces off without doing any harm. But it distracts
Khrafstar from his attack on Darnell. The chakrum arcs away but Xena manages to
snatch it from mid air and runs back to the fight now joined by Eponin who
slashes at the priest only to find her attack blocked by the gleaming claw of
Khrafstar. She barely manages to jump back and avoid being cut like Darnell and
Xena.
The Deliverer
looks around at the four of them. “Hardly fair odds,” he snarls.
“As long as we
stop you it doesn’t matter,” Eponin says as they start to circle him.
But as they
prepare to attack the entire Citadel shudders as if it were sitting on top of
an active volcano.
As the massive
fireball leaves Hope’s hands Eli knows this will be bad. The huge roiling
sphere of power reflects from him and sails back towards Hope. The Avatar of
Dahak ducks and her ethereal missile slams into the stairs leading up into the
fourth level. The area near the dais has already been damaged before. And now
the Citadel can take no more. One entire side of the massive structure atop the
Acropolis begins to crumble. With no more structural integrity the walls break
apart and fall both into the Citadel and away from it. Everyone standing in the
audience chamber is thrown to the floor as the weight of the descending fourth
level causes the third level to tilt to one side. With all the weight being
shifted to one weakened side the levels collapse in on each other towards the
west side of the Citadel. In a pancake effect the fourth level on the west
crushes the third level then starts to smash down into the second.
Iolaus and
Octavia still helping people out through the passage see the impending
disaster. While the passage is on the east side of the chamber the entire
structure is shifting and no one will be safe in any enclosed spaces. Screaming
can be heard from the lower levels as the upper levels shift and fall. A large section of the ceiling cracks open
and falls. Octavia sees it and pushes Iolaus out of the way.
When he regains
his feet and his senses a moment later, Iolaus can find no sign of Octavia. His
first thought is that she is crushed under the debris. But he sees no blood or
body. He looks all around him but sees her nowhere.
Solari and
Diana exit through the secret passageway into the city itself just as the
Citadel begins its apparent collapse. For one moment they are paralyzed with
fear and indecision. Then Diana screams, “Run!”
As they move
away Solari looks back. To her it seems as though some invisible giant is just
pushing the Citadel over. “Eponin,” she
says her lover’s name and prays that she somehow survives that.
The Eternal
Fire roars high and as the Citadel shifts and goes to one side the otherworldly
flame cuts through the roof like a hot knife through butter. Sunlight pours
through the opening in the roof as it does so.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Far beneath
the Acropolis , Autolycus finds he hardly has need of stealth as dust and rocks
fall from the ceiling of the tunnel. The mercenary guards grumble and move
about unsure of what they should do.
What the hell
is going on up there? He asks himself as he casts another grappling line down
the tunnel. He is nearly there. He only prays he rescues the goddess of love in
time for her to do anything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miles away in
Piraeus , Antony, Palaemon and Vercinix hear a sound like thunder coming from
the east.
“What on earth
is that?” Palaemon asks.
“Sounds like an
earthquake,” Vercinix says.
Staring in the
direction of Athens Antony is certain that sound has no natural origin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holding his maimed
arm close to him Caesar moves through the panic stricken mass of people in the
audience chamber. People fall and run everywhere. The priests of Dahak run
about as terrified as the people they sought to sacrifice. Still more debris
falls from the ceiling as he tries to find his allies in this mess.
Tangled in
close quarters combat , Najara and Jett are thrown to the ground as the Citadel
begins to sway like a tree in the breeze. They roll on the ground for a moment
before regaining their footing. Najara twirls her weapon menacingly.
“I think it’s
time we ended this,” she tells him.
“I agree,” he
says. He takes a defensive stance once again and beckons her to attack.
Her swords are
a blur of motion that few could keep track of. But Jett blocks them every time.
The warrior woman screams in rage at her inability to defeat him. She lunges
with both blades and Jett pushes them aside. The world moves in slow motion for
him as her chest is exposed and vulnerable. It is a moment in time that lasts
forever for him. But he has the opportunity and he takes it. The blow is swift
and precise. His fist slams into her chest just above her left breast and over
her heart. He pulls away and takes a step back.
Najara is
confused to see that he is not in a defensive stance anymore. He is just
standing there with his arms at his side.
“It’s over,” he
says in deathly low tone. “I’ve won.”
“Please!”
Najara laughs. “I hardly felt that.”
“Then come and
kill me,” Jett stands there now holding his arms out to his side.
“Idiot!” Najara
shouts. “I will!” She takes a step forward. But as soon as her foot hits the
ground her chest explodes in pain. Her legs tremble and her arms quiver. She
can barely remain standing. Her vision blurs for a moment and she stares at the
man before her.
Over a decade
ago in Jappa , Jett had learned from a legendary assassin a technique that
could kill a person with a single blow. A punch straight to the heart delivered
with perfect concentration and application. The hit itself would feel like
nothing just as Najara believes. But the strike would begin a chain reaction in
the victim’s heart that would cause the organ to practically overload after
only a few steps. The process is agonizing and torturous. He has never had
cause to use to before. But then he has never hated anyone as much as he hates
this woman. The murderer of his naďve and innocent brother.
“Come on!” he
screams urging her to advance knowing that with each step she will die more.
Najara screams
as well and takes another step forward. As soon as her foot touches the floor
the pain in her chest doubles then triples in intensity. The pain is
unfathomable. Her arms go numb as her weapons fall from useless hands. Sweat
flows from every pore on her body and her head pounds with the rapid increase
in her blood flow.
“What’s the
matter Najara?” Jett asks her as he sees the killing strike beginning to take
its full effect on her. “What do your Djinn have to say to you now?”
She opens her
mouth to respond to his blasphemous words but discovers that her voice will not
come. She manages to lift one arm towards him as she lifts her foot to take
another step. Before she can even place that foot back on the ground her other
leg gives way beneath her and she collapses to the cold, stone floor. The
pounding in her head is a constant humming now that she wishes she could tune
out. She hardly feels herself hit the floor. She wills her limbs to move. Tries
to get her legs and arms to do something. But they are numb and useless. Still
she tries with all her might to get her body to do something. She is still
trying when her heart, beating faster and faster since Jett struck her,
explodes in her chest.
Jett stares
down at the corpse at his feet. “For you brother.”
Xena and Eponin
barely manage to avoid falling into the Fire as the floor of the audience
chamber continues to shift and tilt. Darnell and Amarice move to try and
intercept Khrafstar who is still intent on getting to more sacrificial victims.
Just when it
seems the entire floor will slide down from the Citadel’s superstructure and
down the Acropolis , the shifting stops. Chunks of rock and debris still fall
from the floor above. Massive holes and cracks in the floor make moving around
the chamber now perilous.
Eli regains his
footing and looks all around him at the ruin of the audience chamber around
him. If there was ever any doubt about
the extent of Hope’s power it is gone now. He focuses his attention back on his
foe and finds that she too is rising up from where the destruction she has
wrought knocked her from her feet.
“We don’t have
to do this,” Eli says in a pleading voice as he makes his way around a small
pile of rubble to get closer to Hope.
“Yes,” Hope
announces to him. “We do.” Holding her hands before her she prepares once more
to launch another pointless attack against Eli that will result in only more
death and destruction.
“In mercy’s
name stop this Hope!” Ephiny cries as she too moves closer to the Avatar of
Dahak. “Please!”
“Shut up
Ephiny!” Hope says as her power continues to gather between her hands. “I don’t
care about mercy. Soon you and him and
all this will be irrelevant.”
“Gabrielle!”
Eli calls out again to the soul he wishes to save. “I’ve spoken with Lila.”
The intense
hatred in Hope’s face turns to shock at the mention of Gabrielle’s sister. For
just a moment there is hesitation. “Lila?”
the voice of Hope is an erratic mixture of sadness, confusion and rage.
“She wanted me
to tell you that she loves you,” Eli speaks with compassion as he walks still
slowly forward. To his right he can see Ephiny closing in on Hope. He is fairly
certain he knows what she will try. He prays it doesn’t get her hurt or worse.
“And that she forgives you.”
“Forgives?”
Hope mutters in a voice thick with so many emotions it is impossible to
understand what she is thinking.
In that instant
Ephiny leaps upon the confused Avatar and grapples with her. Now seeing this
for the ploy it is Hope lashes out at Ephiny striking her across the face and
sending her senseless to the floor.
But it is the
opening Eli has been waiting for. At a run he closes the remaining distance
between himself and Hope. He grabs her head between his hands and begins
uttering a silent prayer to the One to aid him in his endeavor.
As soon as
Eli’s hands touch Hope’s flesh she cries out like she is dying. The power she
had been summoning is gone as if it never was. Her body goes rigid as though
she is in one of the seizures that was a signal of Despair’s appearance. In the
center of the Citadel the Eternal Fire begins roiling and seething like a
living creature writhing in agony.
Khrafstar , who
has seized another boy in his clawed hand and is about to murder him for his
god, senses the change about him. He turns to face the Fire and sees its
strange reaction. “What?” he shouts. He feels that something is terribly wrong.
Xena punches him in the face and he stumbles. Eponin steps in close and kicks
him hard in the back. He pitches forward just as Darnell moves it to uppercut
him under the chin. The blow lifts the Deliverer from his feet and sends him
into a pile of rubble nearby. Amarice grabs the boy he was about to kill and
sends him away.
As Khrafstar
rises back to his feet he finds the four warriors closing in on him from all
sides. With blade, hand and foot they deliver blow after blow against him. Some
he is able to block but many more connect. Enraged he lashes out like the
animal they know him to be. Xena and Eponin collide with him at the same time
and he goes down hard. Darnell kicks him in the side and Amarice stomps on the
side of his head. He rolls over and manages to knock the young woman’s legs out
from under her. He stabs the sacred dagger into her leg and she cries out in
pain.
“Amarice!”
Darnell screams.
Khrafstar draws
the blade from her flesh and grabs her leg. He drags her to him and rises to
his feet again. With his clawed hand at her throat he points to his opponents
with the dagger. “What will you do now?” he taunts them. He uses one claw to
open the flesh at his victim’s throat and blood seeps from the shallow wound.
Amarice cringes
in pain but manages to say through it, “Just kill him.”
“Silence!”
Khrafstar demands. The mouth full of elongated teeth opens into a savage smile.
He cackles and places the dagger against Amarice’s throat. “Die you fool.”
Eli’s eyes meet
those of Hope’s and he stares deeply into them. He can see the Eternal Fire of
Dahak not just reflected in her green eyes but behind them as well. “Get out of
her Dahak! She’s yours no longer!” he shouts in a voice backed by his
undeniable faith.
The green eyes
staring back at him suddenly erupt into spheres of reddish flame that undulate
within the eye sockets. Hope’s mouth opens to speak and as it does a heat like
that at the mouth of a volcano spills out with each word. “Never! She’s mine!”
The voice is not Gabrielle’s or even the twisted interpretation of her voice
that has come from Hope’s lips for six years. This one is a roaring that should
not be coming from a body as small as the one he holds. This is the voice of
Dahak.
“No!” Eli
shouts back at the evil addressing him. “She doesn’t belong to you!”
“She gave
herself to me!” the voice of Dahak states. “She came to me and asked for the
power to take her vengeance!”
“You used her!”
Eli retorts loudly. “You never had any intention of granting her what she
wanted! All you wanted was a vessel to work your will! But she’ll serve you no
more!”
“And who are
you to command me!” the voice of Dahak demands of Eli.
There is no
doubt in Eli. “I am the Avatar of the One! And I command you to leave her body!”
“She is mine!”
the voice of Dahak declares once more. “Her body and her soul belong to me! To
The One God Dahak!”
Ephiny gets
slowly to her feet. She watches this battle of Avatars going on before her and
wishes there was something she could do.
She does the only thing she can do. She closes her eyes and prays to the
One for the salvation of the one she loves.
Continuing to
stare deeply into the flaming eyes Eli wills his faith to do all that it can.
His belief is absolute. His desire to help and to heal is without question. He
is the Avatar of the One and the One’s will shall be done.
“I cast you out
Dahak!” Eli intones. “Back to the void from whence you came!”
“Never!” the
voice of Dahak cries.
“In the name of
all the powers of Heaven I command you to leave the body and soul of
Gabrielle!”
“I shall not
leave her! She is mine! Hope is Eternal! As am I!”
“In the name of
the One I cast you out of this body Dahak! Back to where you belong!”
“No! I’ll never
leave! I am the One God! I cannot be stopped! Soon this world and all worlds
will be mine!”
“ This world
belongs to us Dahak! It will never be yours! Leave her now!”
“I! Will! Not!”
“In the name of
the One I cast you out!” Eli screams as loud as his lungs allow him. Then just
as he did when healing the girl Varia he utters a single word. But it is heard by no one as the very breath that
leaves Eli’s lips to speak it distorts and twists the fabric of life around it.
He has spoken the True Name of the One. Incomprehensible to any mortal save him
it is a power unto itself. The True Name of the One represents Eli’s faith and
power in the Way and the path of love. It is love itself. Coupled with his
undying faith in the One it is capable of nearly anything.
The voice of
Dahak erupts from the mouth of Gabrielle as it hears the True Name. Hope goes
limp in his grasp. Her head down and seemingly unconscious. Then her body rises up into the air out of
Eli’s grasp. Hope’s body halts just short of touching the sagging ceiling of
the audience chamber. Her head lifts up and her eyes open. Her arms stretch out
straight from her body and she lets out a horrific scream.
Ephiny opens
her eyes and looks to Eli. But he is alone now. Then she looks up and sees Hope
floating in the air with her arms outstretched like she is on some invisible
cross.
Fire blazes out
of Hope’s mouth like a coiling serpent. At her wrists the skin splits open and
fire begins to seep from them.
Eli watches in
awe at what is occurring. “What is this?” he asks no one in particular.
The three
tongues of flame coming from Hope’s mouth and her wrists move about like living
creatures before they suddenly move rapidly towards the Eternal Fire in the
audience chamber. But before they reach the Fire , the tendrils of flame
transform into a thick crimson liquid. The streamers of blood enter the Fire
and suddenly the column of Fire is transfigured into a column of blood that
explodes through the roof of the Citadel with the sound and force of a tidal
wave.
Hope’s body
drops back to the ground at Eli’s feet. The Avatar of the One watches the
column of blood shooting up through the roof. “In Heaven’s Name,” is all he can
say at the sight.
Khrafstar
screams in pain as something strange begins to happen to him. He forgets the
victim in his grasp and Amarice takes her chance. She slams her elbow into his
gut and his grip on her relaxes. She pushes away from him to stand with the
others.
“What …
is…happening…to me?” the high priest of Dahak wails.
Xena, Eponin,
Darnell and Amarice watch as the Deliverer undergoes a painful transformation.
The horns
protruding from his head begin to crack all along their length. Then they snap
and fall off. His chitenous skin splits and a thick yellow ichor seeps out. His
body contorts as chunks of his inhuman skin begin to drop off like a snake
shedding its own skin. His fanged teeth crack and pieces fall from his mouth.
The long claws on his hands turn gray and brittle then begin to crumble.
“No!” Khrafstar
calls out in a raspy and pained voice. “How is this possible? I am the
Deliverer!”
Eponin is the
first to see the change in the Eternal Fire. One second it is a column of flame
and the next it is a gushing fountain of blood. “The Fire!” Eponin says
pointing to the blood column. “Look!”
Her three
companions turn and stare in shock at what they see.
“The Eternal
Fire is gone,” Amarice says knowing what has happened. “Eli did it!”
“No!” Khrafstar
screams in denial once more.
“That means the
blessing of Dahak is gone,” Darnell surmises.
“Impossible!”
Khrafstar shouts as still more of his skin sloughs off and falls to the floor
in clumps. “Hope is eternal!”
“Afraid you’re
wrong about that,” Xena says. Directly behind the high priest she sees a
section of the floor that has been caved in by the collapsing Citadel. Letting
out a short battle cries she leaps into the air and kicks the flailing creature
with both her feet. Still screaming like a monster , Khrafstar sails back
through the air to disappear into the gaping hole in the floor. Xena lands next
to it and stands to her feet.
Extremely tired
and feeling all the wounds she has
received in this battle, Xena leans against a pile of rocks dislodged from the
upper floors. She sheathes her sword and
hooks her chakrum to her side. “I think I’m going to rest here for a second.”
“Okay,” Darnell
says. He looks around and sees all the priests running around like chickens
with their heads cut off.
Amarice moves
away as quickly as her wounded leg will
allow her to see what has become of Eli.
Darnell follows and puts an arm around her to keep her up.
“You going to
be okay?” Eponin asks. As she asks she feels what seems a drizzle of rain
falling on her. But when she looks at her hand she sees is dotted with blood.
Xena too
notices the blood falling. “Well this is certainly not something I expected,”
she admits. She points towards where Amarice and Darnell have run off to. “Go
on. I’ll be fine.”
“All right,”
Eponin walks away.
Xena exhales
sharply. Can it finally be over, she wonders.
From behind the
rock pile Xena is resting against a dark shape rises. Alti reaches out and
grabs Xena by the back of the neck with such ferocity that her fingernails draw
blood from the warrior princess. Xena gasps in pain and is rendered helpless as
the shamaness causes her to begin to
relive a lifetime of pain in a matter of seconds. “Oh no Xena,” Alti hisses. “I
don’t think we are through here just yet.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In every temple
in every city under the aegis of the Avatar of the One God, it is the same.
Where once the Eternal Fire roared it is transmogrified into a fountain of
blood that bursts through the ceiling of each temple with titanic force. From
Greece to Syria to Asia to Palestina. Hundreds of temples in scores and scores
of cities become massive fountains that erupt like volcanoes sending back all
the blood of those who have been fed to the Fire. In Troy, the main temple to
Dahak is awash in blood. The Amazons stare in horror at this macabre miracle. In Palestina’s capital, a former Roman
governor placed in control of the Hebrew lands by Pompey watches in horror as
red liquid blasts through from the roof of Dahak’s temple. In Piraeus the
temple to Dahak’s roof is blown off and blood soars into the sky. Moments later
it begins to rain down on the Roman, Gallic and Athenian troops fighting there.
Every single man and woman fighting in the port city ceases what they are doing
when the blood falls on them like some rain from Hell. Even those facing each
other over their swords stop when they are awash in the lifeblood of those
sacrificed in Piraeus. Antony and
Vercinix standing on the docks of the city stare up in morbid fascination as
the blood falls.
In every city
that the blood falls there is absolute silence. All combat stops. Weapons are
dropped or sheathed. Armies begin to disperse. Who can fight with the blood of
so many slain for Dahak falling upon them? It is not official but in the hearts
and minds of everyone they know the truth. The war is over. With this bloody
downpour, six years of war and conflict are brought to an end. In the following
years the event will be given a name and will be observed as a religious
occurrence. It will be known as the Rain of Blood.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eli looks from
the form lying motionless before him back to Ephiny. He looks back to where the
Eternal Fire had been. It is gone. And so too is the blood. He has to admit to
himself that he is utterly perplexed by what has just occurred. He points up to
the opening in the roof that had allowed first the Fire then the blood to erupt
forth. Blood still coats the ceiling
around the opening. “What just happened?”
But Ephiny does
not seem to hear him. Instead she is staring down at the still form at Eli’s
feet. She walks slowly to stand over Hope’s form. She sees through the rise and
fall of the chest that the woman is breathing. Can it truly be? She kneels by
the head of the woman. With a shaking hand she reaches out to touch her cheek.
The eyes flutter open. Green eyes look up at Ephiny. Not burning green eyes.
Just green eyes!
“Eph…” the lips
move trying to say something. “Ephiny?” The voice is not Dahak’s. The voice is
not Hope’s. The voice is Gabrielle’s!
“Gabrielle?”
Ephiny says with a tremor in her voice.
Then it all
comes rushing into Gabrielle’s mind. Six years of horrors and atrocities worked
through her body and all thanks to her desire for revenge. She screams for all
of it. She covers her face with her hands as tears stream from her eyes like
rivers.
“Gabrielle!”
Ephiny shouts as she wraps her arms around the woman and tries to hold her
still.
“Dead!”
Gabrielle cries. “All dead. Because of me. Lila. The centaurs. Hercules. Oh gods!
What have I done?”
“You’ve done
nothing Gabrielle,” Ephiny tries to reassure her. She kisses the top of
Gabrielle’s head. “It was Dahak. You were possessed by Dahak. None of it is
your fault.”
Gabrielle tries
to respond but she breaks down in loud sobbing and crying.
“Ephiny?” Jett
says as he walks up on the strange tableau before him. There are many drops of
blood on him. He sees her holding Hope and wonders. “Is that…” he pauses for a
moment.
“It’s
Gabrielle,” Eli assures him. “Hope is gone. Dahak is gone.”
“Then it’s over
at last,” Amarice says as she approaches
with Darnell and Eponin.
Eponin sees the
way that Ephiny holds Gabrielle. Gabrielle is exorcised. Eli did it. And Ephiny
is unharmed. She shares a look with Jett. They both nod knowing that Alti’s
vision was just a lie.
“So it seems,”
Caesar says as he approaches.
Jett sees the
condition of Caesar’s arm. “Your hand? What happened?”
Caesar feigns a
smile. “It’s nothing. Pompey looks much worse I assure you.” He sees Gabrielle
held tightly in the arms of Ephiny. He looks to Eli. “So you did it.”
“Indeed,” Eli
agrees. He sees the drops of blood on them all. “But I don’t know what happened
to the Fire.”
Ephiny looks up
from Gabrielle to address her teacher. “You reversed the process I think.”
“Reversed?”
Darnell says befuddled.
“Gabrielle
become Hope when she murdered her sister to gain the power to take her
revenge,” Ephiny begins.
“Lila,”
Gabrielle mutters as she hears Ephiny speak of her sister.
“Lila’s blood
and innocence were the sacrifice needed to allow Dahak to come into this
world,” Ephiny continues. “Her spilled blood became the Fire through that act
of murder. I always thought the Fire was just the power of Dahak. But it was
Dahak himself invading and possessing Gabrielle. Using her hatred and Lila‘s blood as a conduit.”
“And from there
she ignited the Eternal Fire in this world,” Caesar guesses.
“And when you
drove Dahak from her,” Ephiny says turning to Eli. “The Fire was driven from
her and turned back into Lila’s blood.”
“Then it
returned to the Eternal Fire of Dahak,” Eponin says seeing what Ephiny is
meaning. “And the Fire was turned into the blood of all those who have been fed
to it.”
“Heaven’s
name,” Amarice says. “Do you think it happened everywhere? In every temple?”
“I hope so,”
Caesar says. He turns as he sees Iolaus
approaching. But he is dismayed to see the warrior alone. “Where’s Octavia?”
Iolaus looks
around in dismay as well. He had thought to find her here with the others. “I
lost her.”
“You lost her!”
Caesar shouts.
“A section of
the ceiling came down,” Iolaus explains. “She pushed me out of the way. I
haven’t seen her since. I thought she’d be here.”
“We have to
find her,” Caesar says looking all around him.
Alti is
sickened when she sees the happy moment between Caesar and all his allies not
far away. Hope is gone. And with it her plans for the future. Even from here
she can feel Despair’s presence. Though she can just call her now Gabrielle
since Hope is never coming back. She felt Dahak evicted from this realm. It
galls her that she never knew exactly what Hope was planning. Now she’ll never
know. And now more than anything she
wants revenge for all that she has lost this day. She smiles knowing that she
has the perfect instrument for her vengeance right in her hand. Xena twitches
in pain as Alti floods her with past pains. But she has a different idea now.
She turns
Xena’s head so that the warrior princess can see everyone gathered around
Gabrielle and Ephiny. “Look Xena. They’re all happy.” Her voice is like a
honeyed venom in Xena’s ears. “And look. There’s Gabrielle. You remember
Gabrielle?”
Xena’s lips
move but no words come out. The pain she is experiencing is the totality of her
world now.
“Well then let
me remind you who she is,” Alti cackles. Then she uses her dark powers to flood
Xena’s mind with images of death and horror.
Amphipolis
burns. The smoke is black and acrid. The stench of human flesh on fire in
choking. Men, women and children are lashed to stakes around which heaps of
wood have been stacked. Whole families are tied to one another at the stake.
They burn and scream as one. Every citizen of the small village in Thrace is
burned alive. Tied alone to one stake at the center of town Cyrene wails as her
skin is blackened by the fire. Watching it all and laughing is Hope.
“Mother,” Xena
mutters in anguish as she relives her mother’s last moments on Earth.
In the woods
outside of Amphipolis a dark haired young man runs for his life. He trips and
stumbles many times. He breaks out into a clearing certain he has lost his
pursuers. As he turns he finds himself facing a young woman with strawberry
blond hair and a scar on her right cheek. He looks shocked to see her out here.
“What are you doing just standing there?” he asks her.
She walks up to
him and smiles. “No where left to run now,” she tells him. She draws a slender
dagger from her braided hair and rams the weapon under the man’s jaw with such
force it is driven up into his skull to impale his brain.
“Toris.” Xena
feels a tear slip down her face when she sees her brother die at Hope’s hands.
Confusion
reigns in the domed structure in Carthage. Hope speaks some words Xena doesn’t
quite catch then her chakrum flies back towards her killing an unsuspecting man
standing in front of them. But her husband knocks her aside and takes the
killing blow meant for her. As she regains her senses and her balance she sees
her beloved held up by Caesar. He is speaking but she cannot hear him. Then he
is pulled from Caesar’s grasp and thrown into the Eternal Fire where he is
consumed.
“Hercules,”
Xena moans in anguish as she witnesses his death again. But she begins to feel
a subtle alteration. Her grief is fueling a rage that is growing deep inside
her.
The centaurs
are being slaughtered like animals. A young blond boy races away from the
carnage. In his hands is the sword of his father, Borias. He can hear his
adopted family dying behind him but he dares not look back. Kaleipus had told
him to run and not look back. To escape at all costs. He is nearly at the edge
of the village when some invisible hand knocks him down to the ground. His
sword slips from his grasp. When he regains his senses he finds a woman dressed
in Amazon leathers looking down at him. She smiles and studies him. “You don’t
look much like her,” the woman says. She turns and walks away from him. His
sword is between her legs. “You must take after your father.” she points at the
sword at her feet. “You want this?” she asks. She gestures for him to come and
get it. He stands and starts to walk cautiously towards her. “Silly boy,” she
says. Another invisible hand slams into his face and he drops to his
knees. He slumps forward to the ground
and manages to grasp the handle of the sword. His father’s sword. His most
prized possession. All he has left of his parents in this world. She stomps on
the blade of the sword and it shatters.
He begins to cry. She looks at him. “Oh.
Are you crying? Are you unhappy? You look like you’re in such pain,” she tells
him. She reaches down to grab him by his throat and lift him off his feet.
“Allow me to end it for you,” she says in a sickeningly gentile voice. With a
twist of her hand , she snaps his neck. He quivers in her grasp and then he is
just a corpse in her hand. She grabs the sword and finds it caught tightly in
his death grip. She manages to pull it free at last. She drops his body to the
ground and he lands with one hand outstretched as if reaching for something.
She studies the sword for a moment and the blade and pommel explode. A large
yellow gemstone falls into her hand. “The Ixion Stone,” she says. She drops the
handle of the weapon to the ground among its other shattered pieces. Hope walks away laughing at the death of the son of Borias
and Xena.
“My son.” Her
grief is now blotted out by a rage she has never felt before.
“His name was
Solon. You see Xena,” Alti hisses in her ear. “All your sorrows. All your
pains. They are all the fault of that girl over there that your friends are
comforting like a new born child.”
Xena trembles
with the rage Alti’s vision have infused her with.
“She doesn’t
deserve that does she?” Alti asks.
“No,” Xena
growls. She sees her family dying at Hope’s hands again courtesy of Alti’s
powers.
“She deserves
to die, doesn’t she?” Alti asks the enraged warrior princess.
“Yes,” Xena
says the hate clear in her voice.
“Then kill her
Destroyer of Nations,” Alti whispers the words of encouragement to the darkness
within Xena. “Kill her and have your revenge.” She releases her grip on Xena’s
neck. The raven haired woman stalks with purpose towards the gathering of men
and women surrounding the object of her hatred.
Alti laughs
with delight. She wonders for a moment if it will be Xena that kills Ephiny.
She will soon see. Breathless with anticipation to see what her ploy will cause
, Alti hardly feels the sword as it plunges into her back. So enthralled in
what she has initiated she is only aware of the fact that she has been stabbed
when she glances down and sees the point of a sword protruding from her chest.
Shocked she just stares as the bloodied end of the weapon. She tries to breath
but when she opens her mouth blood rolls out and courses over her lips.
“When you meet
whatever gods you worship in the Hell reserved for you,” Octavia whispers into
the shamaness’s ear as she leans over from behind. “Tell them were sent there
by Octavia. Sister of Octavian. Niece of Gaius Julius Caesar.” She twists the
blade and pulls it from the woman’s back.
Alti drops to
her knees and tries in vain to staunch the flow of blood from her wound. But it
is no use. She is dying. No! she thinks. I want to see Ephiny die! I want to
see Gabrielle die! But it will not be. Using the last of both her physical and
spiritual strength she turns her head to face her killer. Intent on using her
powers to kill or at least maim this upstart girl , she focuses her will and
prepares to give Octavia the pains of lifetimes. But she never gets the chance.
Before her eyes are on Octavia, the young woman has swung her brother’s sword
with all her might. While the blow does not decapitate the loathsome shamaness
it cuts deeply into her neck shredding muscle, bone and sinew. So before she
can have her revenge Alti is a lifeless heap at the feet of Octavia.
She jerks the
sword loose and spits on the body. “Rot in Hell,” she tells the bloodied
corpse.
Iolaus is the
first to see Xena approaching but he doesn’t see the look in her eyes as she
does. “Xena,” he greets her as she nears.
With strength
that seems superhuman Xena steps in amongst them all and with one flurry of
movement she scatters all those gathered around Gabrielle and Ephiny. Ephiny
looks up just in time to be punched by the warrior princess. Everyone is too
stunned to realize what is happening as Xena grabs the ankle of the still
sobbing and grieving Gabrielle. She drags her by the ankle across the debris
littered floor of the audience chamber.
At first
oblivious to what is happening Gabrielle becomes painfully aware of her
situation as her head collides painfully with a protruding piece of the floor.
The blow knocks her senseless but she
still feels the pain as first her elbow then her ankle are slammed against more
stone and debris. A jagged piece of rock cuts deeply into her back as Xena
continues to pull her across the floor to her destination. She tries
lethargically to grab onto something to stop her movement. Her left hand
latches onto a narrow break in the floor but Xena’s strength is too much and
she is jerked loose with a deep gash in her hand for her troubles. In a spot
where the floor has heaved up several inches the side of her head is struck
against the rock rendering her unconscious.
“Xena!” Caesar
says as he stands and watches Xena dragging the prone form of Gabrielle across
the debris strewn floor.
“What is she
doing?” Eponin asks as she gets to her feet and helps both Eli and Amarice rise
as well.
As she nears a
massive hole in the floor Xena slings Gabrielle’s unconscious form up and
around her with one mighty heave of her arm. A second later she is holding
Gabrielle by the leg and neck over her head. She looks down into the hole and
sees many jagged and deadly pieces of rock standing like stalagmites below her.
In a voice teaming with pain, rage and
madness she screams, “Vengeance!”
“Xena! No!” Eli
shouts as he runs forward to try and stop her.
“Gabrielle!”
Ephiny wails as she sees what Xena is about to do.
Dangling
helplessly in Xena’s grasp with death fast approaching Gabrielle becomes aware
of a voice speaking to her. It is passionate but overflowing with a malice that
she finds familiar.
“Are you really
going to let her do this?” the voice of Ares asks inside her delirious brain.
“She’s about to kill you, you know? Xena. The warrior princess.”
A hate begins
to grow within Gabrielle as she hears that name. “Xena,” she mutters in her
mind.
“Yes! Xena!”
Ares exclaims. “The cause of all your pain. The reason you have suffered for
six years!”
Like a forest
fire set in a dry wood , Gabrielle’s hate and rage begin to burn out of control
within her. “Xena,” she says again.
“You would
never have become Hope if it weren’t for her!” Ares screams into the tortured
mind of Gabrielle. “You would never have become a monster! You would never have
murdered your sister!”
“Lila,”
Gabrielle groans in pain at the memory of her sister’s bloody corpse being
tossed away from her like refuse. The hate and rage are soon burning as
brightly as a star.
“And now she is
about to end your life,” Ares explains to her. “Are you going to let her kill
you? Are you going to die without getting your revenge on the woman who is the
cause of all your sorrows?” The voice of Ares calls to her. His voice rises in
passion and intent with each and every word spoken.
“No,” Gabrielle
states.
“Then don’t
hang there helpless in her arms!” Ares roars. “Break free! Show me the strength
of your spirit! Let me see the rage in your heart!”
“Xena!”
Gabrielle screams as her eyes snap open and she lashes out with both her legs
and arms.
Gabrielle’s
action causes Xena to stumble and drop the young woman in her arms. She in fact
nearly trips into the hole she was about to throw Gabrielle into. She manages
to retain her balance by widening her stance and adjusting her center of
gravity.
Gabrielle rolls
away from the hole and Xena. She gains her feet just as Xena does. Cobalt blue and emerald green eyes meet in
truth for the first time in six years. Gabrielle’s eyes are seething with hate
and rage. Her lips draw back in a feral snarl. Xena actually smiles as she sees
Gabrielle rising to her feet. It is not a smile that makes her look happy. It
makes her look mad. And indeed she is. Indeed they both are.
The smile makes
Gabrielle snap. “I hate you!” she screams then drives towards the warrior
princess with all the speed and power her legs can muster. At the last second
she bends slightly at the waist and slams into Xena’s gut with her shoulders.
In the same instant she wraps her arms around the other woman’s midsection and
carries them both over the edge into the gaping hole.
“No!” Ephiny
screams and runs to the hole passing Eli as she does so.
“My god,” Eponin says when she sees them both go over.
The force of
Gabrielle’s attack carries both women over the edge but miraculously over and
past the protruding rock spires that surely would have been their deaths. They
hit the floor hard and roll apart. It takes several seconds for them both to
regain first their senses and their footing. Then they face each other. While
the physical distance between them in negligible there is a gulf of hatred
between them. They both tremble with a rage so potent it can be felt by the
other. Xena draws her sword from its sheath in one smooth motion. Likewise
Gabrielle pulls her eagle guard sword from its sheath. For one instant they
look at each other. Veritable strangers but linked by hate and an all consuming
desire for revenge. Xena screams her war cry. Gabrielle screams at the top of
her lungs. They charge each other.
Eli stares down
and witnesses both women rise to the their feet. There is little distance
between them when they are both finally standing. For several silent moments
they just stare at each other standing as immobile as the very rock around
them. Then they draw their swords and charge each other screaming like wild
beasts.
Amidst the
clanging of swords and the wild shouts of the two combatants Eponin speaks. “I
thought it was over.” She grabs Eli by the shoulder. “What? It didn’t work?”
“It’s not
Hope,” he tells the Amazon warrior.
“It’s
Gabrielle,” Ephiny says as she watches the battle unfolding below them. “The
hate for Xena that consumed her and drove her to seek out Dahak has finally
been turned loose on the object of that
hate.”
“And Xena’s
driving hatred for Hope has now targeted Gabrielle,” Caesar says.
A sudden and
terrifying realization comes to Eli. “We have to get down there!” he shouts.
“We have to stop them!” He turns every which way looking for some way to
descend down to the Citadel’s next level.
He dashes off towards the secret passageway.
“Wait!” Amarice
shouts as she takes off after him feeling the pain in her leg but ignoring it.
“Eli! They’ll kill you if you try and get in the way!”
Ephiny chases
after them as well without a thought.
“Are you people
crazy?” Darnell says as he starts to follow Amarice. “If you even try to get
between those two…”
“You don’t
understand!” Eli yells cutting him off. “Gabrielle and Xena are soul mates!
It’s something Morpheus showed me!”
“So?” Darnell
says as he catches up to Ephiny.
“Their souls
have been intertwined since time began!” Eli shouts as he gets to the
passageway and starts to move down the now cracked and battered steps. “And
they’re supposed to be together until the end of time!”
“Heaven’s
mercy!” Ephiny gasps as she knows what drives Eli so. “If one of them kills the
other…” She doesn’t have the stomach to finish the thought.
“Yes!” Eli says
as he jumps and leaps over any obstacle he finds. “It will unravel fate! Undo
destiny!”
“Are you
kidding me?” Darnell screams as he follows after them.
“You’re saying
that if Gabrielle kills Xena or Xena kills Gabrielle it will negate fate and
destiny?” Amarice shouts in horror.
“Yes!” Eli
replies as he nearly trips over a section of fallen wall. “It will pull the
threads of Fate apart like papyrus and
this world could very possibly collapse in on itself!”
“Well then run
faster!” Darnell shouts as he catches up to Ephiny.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autolycus feels
like the entire Acropolis is shuddering. Finally at the center of the catacombs
crossroads he drops down and retrieves both his grapples . They are no guards
at this point. Without looking back he
dashes right and towards the cell holding Aphrodite. When he arrives before the
cell he has a hard time believing that the pitiful being slumped to the floor
and shackled against the wall is indeed the goddess of love. Strips of cloth
are all that remain of clothing on her. She is dirty and her hair is a mass of
sodden tangles. And her flesh is so pale it seems translucent. She bears absolutely no resemblance to the
goddess that is supposed to be the most beautiful being in all the world.
He takes a
moment to examine the lock on the cell door. It’s nothing special. No doubt
Hope didn’t think anybody but fools would blunder into these catacombs.
Unfortunately for her, the King of Thieves is no fool. The door he can have open in no time. But the
manacles holding her to the wall are a different story. They aren’t the typical
version of manacles used to keep common criminals from escaping their
confinement. They don’t have any locking mechanism. As far as he can tell they
are made from single pieces of metal. Possibly forged by Hope herself using her
powers.
A heart
wrenching call from down the opposite passageway draws his attention. That way
lies the last golden hind. But he can’t think about that now. Aphrodite is the
priority. Especially if she is to help them in the battle. A battle that he is
certain has already begun if the rocking of the Acropolis is any indication.
“Who’s there?”
the chained goddess says lifting up her face.
He is shocked
also by how her face looks. It is pale with lips that are cracked and dry like
someone who hasn’t had a drink of water in days. What must have been delicate
features at one time are now indistinct and sallow. But the worst part is her
eyes. Both eyes seem sunken into her head. The left has the dull sheen of
someone who has not the liquid in the their body to even produce tears. The pupil is dilated almost to the point it
obscures the iris making it look black. And the white of that eye looks red
from all the enlarged vessels in it. But when he looks at the right he feels
sick. Her right eye is not dry like the left. It is wet. But wet with blood
that even as he watches weeps out and
down her cheek. There are several dried lines of blood going down the
right side of her face. It looks like nothing so much as a bloody sphere set in
the socket.
“I can’t see
you,” Aphrodite says her left eye swiveling to try and see who it is that
visits her. “But I know you’re there.”
As if no longer having the strength to hold it up her head drops back
down. “If that’s you Hope just put the
damn blood in my eye and get out.”
Autolycus
removes the helmet of Hades and hooks it on his belt. “Aphrodite?” he says her
name as a query more to be certain that she remembers it than to discover her
identity which he already knows.
It is an effort
for her to try and bring her head up again. She sees the man standing before
but mostly she sees the helmet of her dead uncle draped on his belt. If she
could show rage she would. “How did you get that?” she asks.
“It’s a long
story,” Autolycus replies. From a pouch at his side he pulls a ring on which
dangle many sets of lock picking tools. “But believe it or not , I’m here to
rescue you.”
The goddess
does not reply but instead lowers her head again.
“Okay,”
Autolycus says a bit confused by the reaction. He looks back down the
passageway just to be sure no one is there. He begins work on the lock and just
as he thought it takes him less than a minute to have the cell door open. He
cringes when it makes a creaking sound as it opens. Grabbing the helmet he
waits to see if any of the mercenaries come running. After a few seconds he
relaxes.
When he steps
into the cell with the goddess he sees just how small it really is. He reaches
out but is afraid to touch her. After all he’s never touched a god before. He takes his hand back and instead decides to
try and find a way to get the manacles off of her.
“Why are you
here?” she asks him in a weak voice.
“To rescue
you,” he replies. “Like I said.”
“A mortal never
aids a god without expecting something in return,” she informs him in a voice
that speaks of lifetimes of pain.
He almost wants
to weep at her pain and sorrow. He could lie but he can’t. “You’re right. We
need your help against Hope.”
Aphrodite
chuckles but it is a humorless sound. “Perhaps you have not noticed. But I am
in no condition to help anyone.”
He continues to
examine the manacles for several moments before he comes to the conclusion that
it is hopeless. The metal bands around her wrists are indeed one solid piece of
metal. Nothing to pick.
“I couldn’t
even help my husband or my son,” she tells him. “I just want to die. If I could
kill myself I would. But Hope just wants to torture me.”
Frustrated beyond
words Autolycus tries to come up with something that will help. He turns
quickly again to make sure that no one has come to investigate. As he does both
the helmet and the pouch containing the gem from Morpheus slap against his leg.
He curses himself for a fool for having forgotten the gem stone. He removes a
gauntlet he brought with him just in case and slips it on. Then he open the
pouch and the sapphire like stone drops into his hand. He holds it out to her.
“Perhaps this will help,” he says.
As soon as the
stone is near her Aphrodite can feel the power animating from it and she recognizes the power it represents.
“Morpheus,” she moans knowing that if
she can feel his essence here in the stone then he is dead as well.
“He said to
give this to you,” Autolycus informs her. “That only you can use. That only you
can pass judgment. Whatever that means.”
With great
effort she lifts her head to look into his eyes. Her face contorts in pain as
she speaks. “Touch it to my flesh.”
Autolycus
swallows loudly. “Your flesh?” he says. He looks over he nearly naked body.
“Um…where?”
“Anywhere,” she
gasps.
Closing his
eyes he reaches out and places the gem stone against her chest. He draws his
hand back and opens his eyes when he hears her gasp in pain. The sapphire has
grafted itself to the flesh over her breastbone. As he watches black veins
begin to creep out from it like the marks of an infection spreading. Her body
begins convulsing and he backs away. The sapphire starts to glow with a light
of its own. That light blinks once. Then twice. After a few seconds it is
pulsing like a heart beat. Her arms tremble faster and faster. Then in what
appears more like a spasmodic reaction than anything else she jerks the chains
from the wall. He can see the black veins spreading down her arms and legs.
Where the black veins don’t cascade across her flesh her pale skin stands to
turn as white as marble. And when the black veins reach her wrists the manacles
start to rust and in a second that turn to reddish dust and fall off. The veins
go up her neck and start to crawl across her face. When they reach to her
hairline and continue up her scalp her matted , dirty blond hair seems to
recede back into her head and darken. She doubles over and disgorges what seems
like gallons of dark crimson blood.
The tattered
bits of clothing still on her turn to ash and fall off. Now staring at a naked
goddess Autolycus tries to turn away but feels compelled to watch. He is
certain he is witnessing something spectacular. He just isn’t sure what. The
black veins cease their march across her body and appear almost to melt into
her now pure white flesh. But as they recede something else comes forth. Coming
from her like a dark sweat, a foul smelling ichor starts to coat her chest ,
neck , forearms ,waist, legs and feet. As the strange substances begins to take
shape on her she stands. The dark hair sprouting from her head grows out longer
until it is nearly the length it was before. Whereas before Aphrodite had
curled hair this new mane is straight and just touches her shoulders. Her lips
are such a deep red they are nearly back. Both eyes in her head are now black
spheres that sparkles with minute points of light as if the sky itself now
resides within them. A long red streak runs from the corner of her right eye
down across her cheek ending at her jaw line.
The strange
liquid that exudes from her body begins to harden and a blue, black armor
adorns her body. A breastplate extends from her neck down to below her ribcage
but allows full view of her shapely stomach. The sapphire rests where it had
before and continues to beat like a living heart. Dark gauntlets etched with
swirling interconnected circles cover her from wrist to elbow. A flowing battle skirt made of many dark
strips of what seems leather is wrapped at her waist and trails down to just
past her knees. Boots that shine like metal but appear as supple as velvet are
on her feet. Metallic shoulder clasps resembling wings sprout from the breast
plate and a cape as dark as the night sky extends down to the floor.
Autolycus
stares at her in awe and in fear. He watches her hold up one of her hands and
stare at the ghostly white complexion and the black fingernails.
“Aphrodite,” he
says trying to draw her attention back to the here and now.
The goddess
turns her dark eyes upon him. Then says in a voice that washes over him like a
flood, “No.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ares
materializes by the far wall of the Citadel’s second level and watches as
Gabrielle and Xena battle each other. He puts his hands together and rubs them
in anticipation. “I have waited a long time to see this,” he says.
Their swords
slam into each other and ring out loudly within the confines of the Citadel.
Lashing out with hate and rage they attack, counter, parry and block with
hardly any real sense of what they are doing. Reacting almost out of pure
instinct they match each other stroke for stroke. The ringing of the swords
keeps pace with the pounding of their hearts as each strives for the death of
the other. Neither can hear much except the sound of the blood pumping in their
ears. Through the red haze of their lusts for revenge they can see only one
another. Everything else is insubstantial. Nothing else matters.
Xena parries a
thrust from Gabrielle then slashes out horizontally with her blade when she
finds the other’s chest exposed. Bending backwards at the waist Gabrielle
arches back like a dancer to avoid Xena’s attack. When she has bent back far
enough she places her free hand on the ground then throws her weight back so
that she cartwheels backward. In the process she brings both of her feet up and
back catching Xena under the chin with first one foot then another. Xena stumbles back from the attack, rebounds
off the wall and is barely able to react as Gabrielle rushes forward to cut her
down. She bends and rolls to the ground under the other’s attack and is on her
feet in a moment. She spins and swings her blade at the other woman’s exposed
backside. But Gabrielle is not their. The blonde continued her forward motion
and has basically run up the wall. She is in the process of flipping backwards
over the warrior princess when Xena turns to attack.
Gabrielle hacks
down at Xena’s back but is thwarted when the other woman reaches over her back
with her sword to block. Xena pushes the attacking blade up and away then drops
and spins. She takes Gabrielle’s feet out from under her hard and fast. But
Gabrielle moves with the motion of her fall and flips back to land on her feet
with her sword at the ready. She moves in close and tries to run Xena through
again with the sword. Xena parries once more then steps in even closer. Placing
one foot against Gabrielle’s stomach she runs up the smaller woman’s body
kicking as she goes. At the apex of the run she flips back then lashes out with
her foot again to smash it into Gabrielle’s face.
Leaning back
out of the range of Xena’s foot , she reaches out and grabs it with her free
hand. Jerking down she slams Xena onto her back in front of her then leaps into
the air drawing her feet up as she does so.
Xena rolls to her left just as Gabrielle’s feet impact the stone with
enough force to make the entire floor shudder. She kicks up to her feet and
faces the object of her hate once more.
Seeing the
impressive aerial displays Ares looks up to where he sees Caesar and the others
watching. He points to the two women locked in mortal combat. “You have to
admit!” he shouts. “That was awesome!”
The swords meet
in fury once again as Xena and Gabrielle hammer away at the defenses of the
other. Then Gabrielle attempts to sweep Xena’s legs out from under her. Xena
avoids the attack by cart wheeling over Gabrielle’s leg and slamming one of her
feet against the side of her head. Gabrielle is spun by the hit but she doesn’t
arrest her movement. Instead she continues to spin and lifts herself into the
air to performing a jumping spinning back kick that Xena doesn’t quite manage
to avoid. She looses her footing and falls to the ground again.
Gabrielle
reverses the grip on her sword and raises it high to drive it down into Xena.
But as she does so Xena rolls away again. The tip of her sword brings up sparks
as it hits the floor. Xena doesn’t wait to stand before attacking again and
slams her fist into the side of Gabrielle’s face. The punch puts Gabrielle on
her back who without a moment’s pause draws her feet back then pushes up
driving both feet into Xena’s midsection while jumping up to her feet in the
same motion. Xena is hurled back several feet but lands on her feet with that
same insane grin plastered on her face. But behind that borderline insanity she
remembers something Ares told her in Gaul :
“Gabrielle’s
been trained by the best warriors in the world Xena,” Ares explains to her.
“She learned from Amazons. From Najara . From Pompey. From me.” He says the
last with bloated pride tucking his thumbs behind his belt. “She would kick
your ass so bad it would be a horror to watch. Not that I wouldn’t want to, of
course.”
But
she ignores the warning in the sane part of her brain and presses on.
“Now this is
entertainment,” Ares states.
“I never
thought it would be possible,” Iolaus says as he watches them fight. “For
someone to be able to keep up with Xena.”
“Believe it my
friend,” Caesar says.
“She was a
devil with a blade when she lived in the village with us,” Eponin says to them.
“In a matter of weeks she could beat nearly all of us. She was a natural. Like
she was born to be a warrior.”
Ephiny and Eli
arrive at the nearly blocked entrance to the second level. Ephiny squeezes
through a small opening that Eli has no chance of getting through.
“Ephiny! Wait!”
Eli calls out to her knowing that she may be within harm’s reach soon.
“For what?”
Ephiny replies wriggling through a tight aperture. “We have to stop them.”
Amarice and
Darnell arrives and start pulling rocks out of the way without saying a word.
The
combat between Xena and Gabrielle seems to escalate as they now attack with
swords and fists simultaneously. Gabrielle blocks a thrust from Xena then
punches the warrior princess in the gut. Xena parries Gabrielle’s blade away
then hits her with a left cross that staggers her. Xena steps in and spins
intent on taking Gabrielle’s head off. Gabrielle performs a perfect split in
front of Xena then stabs upwards. Xena turns just in time to avoid the blade
slicing her open. She lifts her knee and it hits Gabrielle in the side of the
head sending the woman rolling away. Her sword slips from her grasp.
Seizing her
advantage Xena runs to her and hacks back at her opponent’s neck. Using her
arms and legs to push off Gabrielle performs a kick up that allows her avoid
Xena’s attack and come to her feet just behind her. Putting her hands together
she hits Xena in the small of the back as hard as she can. Grimacing in pain
Xena spins around to attack again. Gabrielle dives beneath the circling blade
then grabs her sword where it lays and rolls through to come to her feet just
out of Xena’s reach.
Ephiny finally
gets through and finds herself on the second level. The walls that once formed
the rooms for everyone living in this part of the Citadel have been crushed by
the shifting fourth and third levels. Even now
she can hear stone grinding on stone. She wonders just how much longer
the structure will remain standing. She crawls over piles of debris and rushes
as fast as she can to where she prays Gabrielle and Xena are.
After a few
moments Darnell , Amarice and Eli have moved enough rock to get into the second
level themselves. Just as they enter Darnell pulls Eli away just as a large
chunk of the ceiling falls to the floor with a loud crash.
“This place
hasn’t got much longer,” Darnell states.
“Then we have
to get them and get out,” Eli replies as he makes his way in the direction he
is sure Ephiny has gone.
“Them?” Darnell
queries.
“We aren’t
going to leave Xena and Gabrielle here to be pulped,” Amarice tells him as she
follows Eli.
“That’s
assuming we can get the two of them apart!” Darnell shouts as he runs after
her.
Gabrielle
watches Xena for a moment then growls like a beast before charging straight at
her foe. Xena readies herself but she is hardly prepared for Gabrielle’s
tactic. When she just gets within range of Xena’s sword Gabrielle drops down
and slides between her legs. Gabrielle spins and rises after she passes Xena.
But she has overestimated her momentum. As she lashes out with her sword she
finds she has gone too far from Xena. While the tip of the blade slices open
the flesh of Xena’s back it does no serious damage.
Xena hisses in
pain then turns first attacking with her sword then seeing Gabrielle duck kicks
out with her left foot hitting her opponent in her side. Gabrielle goes to one
knee but manages to block Xena’s downward stroke. With her left hand she drives
her extended fingers into Xena’s thigh.
As soon as
Gabrielle’s fingers touch her Xena feels her entire right leg go numb. She
stumbles back but manages to stop herself from falling by using her sword to
support her like a cane. She stares at Gabrielle is disbelief and utters the
first words since the fight began. “Pressure points.”
Gabrielle rises
to her feet with a smile. “A little something Sinteres taught me.”
“This just
keeps getting better and better,” Ares says.
Xena slams her
fingers into her thigh to restore the blood flow. She twirls her sword in her
hand and Gabrielle copies her. Xena lets loose her battle cry and surges
forward. Gabrielle bats Xena’s sword away then much to the surprise of the
warrior princess performs the same maneuver she had earlier. Placing one foot
into Xena’s stomach Gabrielle runs up her kicking as she goes. When she reaches
the apex of the run she flips backwards just as Xena had done. Xena extends her
left hand to counter the attack just as Gabrielle did. But the blonde warrior
has other plans. At the last instant she shifts her weight forward so that
instead of her foot coming for Xena’s face it is her sword. Xena jerks back her
hand and steps back. But Gabrielle’s sword still slices Xena’s palm open.
Xena’s back is against the wall and Gabrielle attacks savagely, her desire to
impale the object of her anger against that wall clear by how she holds the
sword.
Xena places one
foot against the wall behind her and kicks off from it with unnatural strength.
She flips vertically into the air just as Gabrielle reaches the wall and rams
the point of her sword into it. Xena has built up enough force to spin herself
vertically one hundred and eighty degrees into the air. Her feet touch the
ceiling and she pushes off to drive down towards Gabrielle. The blonde looks up
and sees the falling form of Xena. She steps out of the way but not quite fast
enough. Xena’s sword gashes open her back near the shoulder blade.
Gabrielle
rounds on Xena and charges her again. The swords of the two warriors meet again
in such blinding confluence that those watching can hardly see the movements.
Gabrielle gets an opening and drives her forehead into Xena’s. The golden
circlet she wears gives her a distinct advantage in the attack. Xena’s forehead
is split open and she staggers back with her vision momentarily blurred.
Instinctively she swings out with her blade and manages to parry Gabrielle’s
attack. She jabs her hand forward and drives her extended fingers into
Gabrielle’s left arm pit.
Gabrielle feels
her heart skip a beat and her entire left side from her chest down goes numb an
instant later. As she starts to fall she lashes out with her blade deflecting
Xena’s sword. As she hits the floor she drives her left thumb into the same
spot Xena just struck. Feeling returns and she rolls away from Xena’s foot
which tries to smash in her skull.
She jumps to
her feet and swings her sword in a wide arc. Xena hits the sword in mid move
with her own and Gabrielle’s sword goes down and cuts into her own leg. Xena’s
sword falls again but Gabrielle seizes the wrist holding the sword in her hand
and makes a stab at Xena’s face. The warrior princess turns her head to the
side but the tip of the blade still cuts a deep gash into Xena’s right cheek.
Should she live through this the scar that remains will ironically mirror
Gabrielle’s own. Lifting her foot she kicks Gabrielle in the back of her leg
driving the woman to her knees. Gabrielle drops her sword but then slams fingers into Xena’s bicep.
Xena loses all
feeling in her right arm and her sword falls. She backhands Gabrielle and sends
the other sprawling away. Xena presses her fingers into her arm restoring the
feeling.
Gabrielle grabs
Xena’s fallen sword as she rolls away them comes to her feet holding it. Xena
stomps her foot and Gabrielle’s eagle guard sword is in her grasp. Again they
come together in a blinding display of swordsmanship that leaves all watching
in awe. They move and dodge each other’s attacks. They parry and block each
other’s sword play. For every attack there is a counterattack.
Eli, Ephiny and
the others arrive within sight of Gabrielle and Xena. Amarice stares in utter
disbelief at the skill being displayed by both women.
“There is no
way we’ll be able to separate those two,” Darnell states.
“They’ll kill
us as soon as we’re near enough to touch them,” Amarice agrees. “They probably
wouldn’t even notice if they did.”
“But we have to
do something,” Ephiny says in frustration and helplessness. It isn’t fair.
Gabrielle is finally free of Dahak. Now she might die at the hands of Xena.
“Pretty good
show,” Ares says to them from where he leans against the wall. “Don’t you
think?”
Eli rounds on
Ares. “This is not funny Ares. Do you have any idea what will happen if one of
them kills the other?”
“I don’t think
it will come to that,” Ares says smiling and nodding back towards the two
woman.
Amarice watches
for a moment and knows the truth of what Ares says. “He’s right.”
“What?” Eli
says turning back to her.
“They’re too
evenly matched,” Amarice explains. “Both the best. This is only going to end
one way.”
“With them
killing each other,” Darnell completes her summation.
Eli turns from
them to look back at Ares. The god of war just smiles and shrugs. He turns
again to see Xena and Gabrielle locked in combat. What will happen if they do
kill each other? Eli asks himself. Will that still unravel fate? He looks
around not for the first time wondering where Aphrodite is. Did Autolycus fail?
Xena and
Gabrielle clash swords and are in so close to one another that they can feel
the breath of one upon the other. They push off from each other and are soon
many paces apart.
Xena as if
suddenly remembering a sword is not her only weapon pulls the chakrum from her
waist.
Caesar stares
down. This might be the end, he thinks. Aside from gods he has yet to see
anyone survive an attack from Xena’s chakrum unless the warrior princess wished
them to live.
“Xena!” Ephiny
cries out when she sees the raven haired
warrior readying her unique weapon. “Please! No!”
As Xena draws
back the chakrum she recalls the pledge she made on it as she retreated with
Caesar from Carthage. I will not rest until Gabrielle’s life blood is on
this. Now she can make that vow a reality. With all her strength she
throws the weapon and sends it hurtling towards Gabrielle.
Everyone
watching expects the death of Gabrielle including Ares. He is sorely
disappointed. When the chakrum is at arm’s length from Gabrielle she brings her
sword down in a vertical arc directly in front of her. Xena’s sword shatters in
her hand upon impact with the weapon. But the chakrum’s deadly course is
altered. The weapon tumbles end over end passing over Gabrielle’s head. And
without looking she reaches above and behind her to seize the weapon in midair. She drops the ruined sword
and lifts her eyes up to look at Xena. The warrior princess can only stare back
at the blonde warrior in total and utter shock.
The sound of
the sword shattering upon the chakrum echoes through the Citadel. Then it is
followed by a momentarily silence. Everyone stares at Gabrielle standing there
holding Xena’s chakrum. They are all as stunned as Xena.
The silence is
broken when Ares throws up his arms as if in triumph. “Oh yes!” he shouts. He
points to Gabrielle with both hands and exclaims, “Who’s my girl?”
Gabrielle
ignores Ares. Her attention is solely on Xena. She watches the other woman’s
stunned expression for a moment longer. Then she attacks. Spinning her left arm
back and around she throws the chakrum back at its owner in an unusual
underhanded throw that has the weapon whirring back to Xena vertically. Xena
doesn’t have the time to react to try and catch the weapon. Neither is she
certain she could catch it without losing fingers. With both hands on the eagle
guard sword she swings the weapon like a club as the chakrum reaches her. The
eagle guard sword that had at one time belonged to the Amazon princess Terrias
shatters into dozens of metallic shards when the chakrum hits it. The circular
weapon itself spins off in an upward direction. A moment layer it is heard
embedding itself in the stone of the Citadel somewhere. Neither Gabrielle nor
Xena care where it has gone.
“Whoa!” Ares
shouts clapping. “I was not expecting
that!”
Now weaponless
the warrior women scream at each other and charge. Soon they are engaged in
hand to hand combat that moves at such a fever pitch that they are essentially
blurs to all those watching.
“You should all
settle back,” Ares says laughing. “This might take a while.”
As the god of
war settles back to enjoy his entertainment everyone watches and wonders just
what they can do to stop Xena and Gabrielle. Caesar decides he must do
something and shouts for the others to follow him as he runs for the passageway
that leads down into the level below them.
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Understanding
does not come to her immediately. Not understanding of her power. Not
understanding of her purpose. Not understanding of herself. The man before her
called her Aphrodite a moment ago. A statement to which she had to reply in the
negative. For though she is unsure of what she has become , she is certain she
in no longer the goddess of love. In some way she is no longer even an Olympian
god. But some part of her clings to that aspect. Some part lays claim to the
goddess who was wife to Hephaestus and mother to Cupid. A part that though it
accepts this change begs her not forget who she once was.
She has been
reborn. This she knows for certain. The essence of Morpheus has invaded every
fiber of her immortal being. His dark powers and personality have worked their
way been into her heart and mind. Her poisoned body has been reshaped and
remade into a new image. A new countenance that reflects the dreams and
nightmares of all. Yet still retains the beauty of a goddess who once washed up
on the waves of great Poseidon. Now a dark beauty that will stir fear in all
who look upon her as well as passion.
This pleases
her. She should be feared. Though she is not sure why. It both annoys and
amuses her that she can’t quite comprehend why she is here. She is now unique
in all the world. The merging of two gods but far more powerful than either or
both. Similar to both in many ways but not like them at all. The duality of her
nature reminds her of another. One to whom Aphrodite spoke who was also of dual
natures. “Hope,” she says the name of the being she recalls.
“Yes,”
Autolycus says. “We need your help to defeat Hope.”
She takes
notice of him fully and turns her eyes upon him. He steps back and is afraid.
This is good. She studies him for a moment. Her perceptions shifts from world
to world. From reality to dreams. She
tilts her head curiously to one side as she scrutinizes him. It occurs to her that
he is brave and strong. Stout of heart and courageous in spirit. And he is in
love. “You have no need to fear me King of Thieves,” she informs him. His dream
flashes before her eyes. A beautiful woman with dark hair and sparkling eyes.
She is the eternal princess in his eyes. A beauty unequaled by any in this
world or any other.
“That’s all
well and good,” Autolycus says with a laugh trying to mask his uneasiness at
being so close to this dark entity that he can’t and probably doesn’t want to
understand. “But you have to help us with Hope.”
Her head tilts
up and her eyes stare up at the ceiling then through it to what lies beyond.
Understanding dawns. “Hope is no more,” she says to him. “My help is not
needed.”
“What?”
Autolycus says with his mouth hanging open. “Are you telling me I’ve gone
through all this for nothing?”
She does not
answer his question. Instead she touches the pulsating sapphire imbedded in her
flesh. Contact is made and she is flooded with a singularity of purpose. She is
given the dream of another world. A world in which Hope did not rule. A world
into which Dahak never came. A world much better than the one in which they
exist now. The totality of it is hers just as it did Morpheus. She looks to the
ceiling once again and her perceptions pass through the solid matter seeking
what she desires. She finds two souls linked by mutual hatred and anger. Two
souls that should not be fighting. Two souls that should be bound together by
an all consuming love. Not an all encompassing hate. These are the ones she
seeks. It is for their good that she has been remade. Not to save the world.
But to save two lost souls. Singularity of purpose. She knows what she must do.
“Who the hell
are you?” the lead mercenary demands as he leads his fellows into the corridor.
“Uh oh,”
Autolycus says turning to face the men. He wished to the gods he had brought
some kind of weapon. He starts to reach for the helmet of Hades. But what good
will that do him? He’s trapped. The men block the passage. Even if he is
invisible he won’t be able to get past them. “I guess I should have known I’d
die an ignominious death in some dark passageway.”
“There is no
reason to be afraid,” she says as she holds up one arm and stretches it out
before her.
“Really?”
Autolycus says nervously. “You’ll have to forgive me but it’s in my nature to
feel fear moments before death.”
“Who is that?”
another mercenary says pointing past Autolycus to the dark woman behind him.
“This day holds
no harm or misfortune for you Autolycus,” she explains to him in a voice that
seems to lack any emotion at all. “The same is not true of these men.” What can
only be describes as dark lightning cascades along her arm then shoots out to
strike the nearest of the mercenaries in the face. He goes as rigid as stone
and his face stretches into a mask of terror. His eyes open wider than it seems
possible and then they begin darting left and right and up and down. The dark
lightening arcs out from his head and strikes the next mercenary. He too goes
as stiff as a board and the same horrific visage appears on his face. The dark
lightening jumps from man to man until in moments it has hit each and every one
of them. All twenty are standing there like macabre statues with their eyes
darting to and fro.
Autolycus
stares at them for a moment. “What did you do to them?” he asks not sure he
actually wants the answer.
Her arm remains
held out before her as she answers. “I have given them over to the nightmares
that plague them when they close their eyes
to sleep. That place of darkest fears is their world now. And shall be
until they die.”
“Yep,”
Autolycus says. “I am sorry I asked.”
Her hand moves
slightly and he finds her arm extended towards him.
“Hey! Hey!” he
shouts jumping back against the wall. “King of Thieves who helped you escape
here,” he says pointing to himself.
“You have
something that is mine,” she tells him.
The helmet of Hades leaps from his belt and lands in her hand. As soon
as it touches her flesh it melts like metal in a smith’s forge. The golden
material convulses and moves like it has a life all its own. Then it begins to
reshape. Soon it resembles a diadem crown with ten curved points atop it. She
slips it onto her head and as she does so several golden chains extend from it
to flow back down against her black hair.
She stares at him for a second more then speaks. “I hope that your dream
comes true.” She turns her head up so that she is staring at the ceiling again.
“Xena! Gabrielle!” The names echo through the passageways.
Autolycus
watches her outline shimmer like a mirage then she fades from sight all
together. “On that note I think I’ll go,” he says turning to leave the
catacombs. He finds himself face to face with one of the dreaming mercenaries.
He takes a step back from the man whose face is frozen in a silent scream. He
steps carefully among them all not wishing to touch a single one. He is at the
intersection when he hears a low whining coming from the other passageway.
“Right. Guess I should free her too.” He glances back once more towards the
cell where he is certain he just witnessed the birth of a new god. Then he runs
for the cell holding the last golden hind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ephiny can’t
stand it anymore. She has watched Gabrielle and Xena pummel each other with
fists and feet long enough. She doesn’t care if they beat her to with an inch
of her life she has to stop them. She is only a few paces away when she sees a
dark form begin to coalesce between the two women. To her eyes it looks almost
like a rip in the very fabric of the space between them. But they are so
obsesses with killing each other that impossibly they don’t notice it. Is Eli
correct? Is this what he talked about? Is the world starting to collapse
because of Xena and Gabrielle attempting to kill each other?
Her assumption
is proved erroneous when the dark tear explodes with what she can only describe
as black lightening. It causes her vision to blur for an instant. When her
sight returns to normal she sees a pale as death woman clad in black holding
both Xena and Gabrielle by their throats.
“That is
enough!” the dark woman calls out in a voice that causes the Citadel to
shudder. Dust and rocks shake loose and fall all around them.
Everyone
watching is dumbfounded by what is happening now. Only Ares, Eli and Gabrielle
have some notion of who this being is.
Ares moves away
from the wall against which he has been leaning when the dark woman appears. He
knows he must be losing his mind but she looks insanely familiar.
Eli having been
in contact with both Morpheus and the gem stone into which he transferred his
very being is immediately aware that this foreboding creature before them
possesses the dark essence of the Lord of the Dreamscape.
Gabrielle can
feel the fingers crushing her throat as she looks into the nightmarish features
of what appears to be the goddess Hope had imprisoned under the Acropolis for
so many years. “Aphrodite,” she manages to gasp.
“It is time
that you both understood who you are,” the dark goddess says as she forces both
women to their knees. “What you should have been to each other. And what you
still can be. This is the gift given to me. And now it is the gift I give to
you.” With those words she releases the dream of that other world fully and
completely into Xena and Gabrielle.
It is painful
to behold. Another world in which they were the best of friends. Sisters in all
but blood. Soul mates. Xena has seen the dreams before. But now she is given it
all. Not just bits and pieces. Over five years of what her life would have been
with Gabrielle had she not abused the girl from Poteidaia. She sees every day.
Every hour. Every minute. Every second. In the space of moments she lives those
years. The dream of that other world is seared into her mind like the memory of
this world.
Gabrielle has
never known the dreams that Xena has had. They pour into her mind like molten
rock and overlay the life she has led with the life she could have led. Every
single moment of a life spent with Xena for so many years is burned into her
soul. Joy and sadness. Loyalty and betrayal. Love and hate. It fills her so
much that she feels like she will burst from it. It pains her heart to know
that she has lost that life. But as she witnesses all those days and weeks and
years in mere seconds she feels this dream merging into and melding with the
soul shattering reality of these past six years.
They both
experience that other world as if it were real. The shock of it sends their
minds into near overload and blood begins to flow from their noses and ears.
Then it is done. The dark woman releases them and steps away. Green eyes meet
blue and for the first time they feel something other than hate for one
another. They know what should have been. The gift of Morpheus has shown them
what was truly meant to be. Before there was a gulf of hate between them that
could only be bridged by death. Now with their minds overflowing with the dream
of that other world they find there is something else that can bridge it.
Love. Both reach out their hand towards
the other.
Ephiny watches
the strange confrontation unfold before her. She doesn’t have the slightest
clue what is going on. But what she does understand is the look she sees pass
between Xena and Gabrielle. Never in her wildest imagination would she have
thought to see a look so full of love pass between these two who have been the
bitterest of enemies for so long.
“Xena,”
Gabrielle says with remorse and sorrow in her voice.
“Gabrielle,”
Xena says with the shame and regret in her voice.
“Now at last do
you understand?” the dark goddess asks them.
Ares
materializes before the interloper and hits her with a punch that could fell a
mountain. She falls to the floor several feet away. He turns and slaps both
women kneeling before him. “Oh yeah!” he shouts. “I understand that every last
one of you is a damned bleeding heart basket case!”
“Ares no!”
Iolaus and Caesar shout as they enter the open chamber with the others close
behind them.
“I could have
given you everything!” he exclaims pointing to Xena. “And you! “ he shouts
pointing to Gabrielle. “You had everything!” He draws his great dark sword.
“Now you’ll have nothing!” He takes a
step forward driving the sword towards Gabrielle. But his blade does not hit
his intended target.
Ephiny cries
out in mortal agony as the sword is thrust deep into her abdomen. She feels the
blade slice through her guts , bursting organs and shattering bones to exit
from her back. Then she feels herself shudder when the sword is twisted inside
her. Her spine is severed by that malicious maneuver and her legs give way
beneath her as all feeling below her neck ceases. The sword is pulled so
savagely from her that it cuts into and mangles more bone, muscle and flesh.
She can’t feel her body anymore but she can see her view of the ceiling of the
Citadel’s audience chamber far above through one of the massive splits in the
ceiling shift as she falls back. But she does not touch the cold stone floor.
Instead she is caught. Her head rolls back and comes to rest on something. Her
eyes gaze up and she finds herself looking up into the eyes of Gabrielle.
“Ephiny?”
Gabrielle says looking down into the eyes of the woman who has been her friend
for so many years. Though she was
trapped within her own body as Hope she felt the love Ephiny had for her.
Through Hope she had known the caring and compassion of Ephiny’s spirit and
even the touch of her body. Confined within her own body she had been unable to
tell her closest friend what she felt. Ephiny had said to Hope on many
occasions that she loved Gabrielle. And even though she had been able to push
through Dahak’s control over her every so often she had never been able to move
past the grief and the despair to speak with Ephiny directly. Now she can. And
now it is too late. She sees the crimson stain blossoming and growing through
the gown Ephiny wears.
“Ephiny!”
Eponin screams in grief as she too witnesses Ares’ attack.
Just as she had
in Carthage Caesar watches Ephiny shield Gabrielle with her body heedless of
the danger to herself. But this time there is no Avatar of Dahak to save her.
Ares’ blade pierces her effortlessly.
“No!” Eli
screams when he sees Ephiny fall prey to the god of war. He stands rooted to
the spot unable to move. She is his friend. His student. She has shown him that
the path of love is indeed powerful. In the short time he has known her he has
grown to respect and admire the woman despised by so many as nothing but a
whore to the Avatar of the One God. Now he can do nothing but stand there as
Ares twists the sword in her body then jerks it free.
Xena too stares
in horror at the bloody scene before her. She sees the pain in Gabrielle’s eyes
and is heartbroken by it. A dream memory of that other world comes to the
forefront of her mind. She and Gabrielle in the Amazon village. Ephiny’s body
burning on a funeral pyre and Gabrielle leaning against her crying like a child
at the loss of her friend. Now a similar scene plays itself out before her.
“That was
unexpected,” Ares admits looking down at Gabrielle holding the bloody
handmaiden to her.
Gabrielle
taking notice of Ares for the first time turns eyes filled with grief and hate
on him. “You!” she screams.
Ares has the
gall to smirk at her.
Reaching back
she draws the hind’s blood dagger from where it is slipped into the tight braid
of her strawberry blond hair. She throws the weapon right at his black heart.
The god of war
catches the dagger just before the point touched his flesh. He whistles. “That
was close.” Then something shimmers before him and a cold hand grips his. He
looks into what was once the face of Aphrodite. But now she is something else
entirely. And she has the hand clutching the hind’s blood dagger in hers. He
seeks to hold his hand in place but finds that he can’t. She is stronger than
he is! And she is slowly forcing the hind’s blood dagger towards his chest and
his heart. “Aphrodite!” he shouts as he feels his hand pushed closer and closer
to its target. “No!”
“I am not
Aphrodite,” the dark goddess says to him.
“Please!” he
shouts aloud. “Don’t do this!” Fear laces his words then he cries out in pain
as the point of the dagger pierces his flesh.
“Understand
Ares,” the dark goddess continues. “This is not vengeance. This is judgment.”
She slams the dagger home into Ares’ chest piercing his heart with the weapon.
Ares’ eyes and
mouth widen then he crumples to the floor. Dead. So passes the last of the
Olympians. The ground shudders and the Citadel quakes as the Earth marks the
passing of the god of war. This causes still more debris to shake loose from
the walls, floors and ceiling. But the dangers of remaining in the Citadel are
gone as everyone stares at Gabrielle holding Ephiny in her arms. Blood coats
them both heavily.
So Alti’s
vision was true all along, Ephiny thinks to herself. Her vision keeps going in
and out. She hasn’t much time left. But there are some things she must do
before she passes over. She can see Gabrielle leaning over her. It fills her
heart with the greatest joy to know that it is not Hope’s arms she will die in
but Gabrielle’s. Eponin too is within her field of vision. She wants more than
anything to reach up and touch Gabrielle’s face with her hand. To touch the
warm flesh of the woman she loves instead of the Avatar of Dahak. But nothing
works. Her arms and legs won’t move. She can’t even feel them. Ares’ sword
severed her spine.
“Gabrielle?”
she says it is a voice barely loud enough to be heard.
“I’m here
Ephiny,” Gabrielle responds and takes Ephiny’s hand in hers. “Don’t talk . Save
your strength. It’ll be all right.”
“I want you
to…” she begins but pauses as she feels exhausted just by speaking. She feels
so tired. She wants to close her eyes and sleep. But she knows that if she does
she’ll never wake up. This is something she has to do. “I want you to have my rite of caste.”
Gabrielle looks
at Ephiny in confusion. “But Melosa stripped you of it.”
“No,” Eponin
says in a pained voice. “She didn’t. She couldn’t. The rite of caste is
inviolate. Melosa couldn’t take it from her. Even Artemis cannot take the rite
from whom it has been given to. Ephiny has been queen since Hope killed
Melosa.”
“No.” Gabrielle
shakes her head. “You can’t give me this Ephiny. Just stop talking and rest.”
“Please,”
Ephiny groans. “I want you to have it. Please Gabrielle. Grant me this last
wish.”
Gabrielle
blinks her eyes and tears flow. “All right. I accept the rite of caste.”
Ephiny smiles.
One last thing, she thinks. She prays she has enough strength to say the words
at last. She wants Gabrielle to hear them. She tries to speak but at first
nothing comes out. She works her lips feverishly. “I…” she manages to stammer.
“Lo…” But she doesn’t get anymore than that out before she slips away.
“Ephiny?”
Gabrielle says shaking her friend to rouse her. There is no response. Ephiny’s
eyes are open but they see no more. “Ephiny?” Gabrielle says again. She takes
Ephiny’s face in her hands and looks deeply into her eyes. “Ephiny!” She
screams desperate to see any glimmer of life in her dearest friend. But there is
no glimmer. There is no life in her. Ephiny is dead.
“No!” Gabrielle
wails.
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Stripped of the
blessing of Dahak but still alive Khrafstar remains hidden in the ruins of the
Citadel’s second level. He thanks the One God that neither Xena nor anyone else
bothers to search for his body amongst all the rubble. Hiding behind a broken
section of wall he watches everything transpire before him. Xena and Gabrielle
locked in deadly combat. The arrival of the dark woman who stops the two women
from killing each other. He smiles and is overcome with sadistic joy when he
sees Ares stab Ephiny. If only Hope had allowed him to do that years ago. Then
he watches aghast as the dark woman kills Ares. Everyone is soon gathered
around Ephiny and Gabrielle. He can’t hear what is going on. But he hears
Gabrielle scream. Then a few moments later the entire group leaves with the
Amazon woman carrying Ephiny’s body and Xena leading a sobbing Gabrielle from
the chamber.
But not all of
them leave. The dark woman remains behind for a time. At first he is afraid she
has sensed him somehow. She walks around the floor for a bit then looks up at
the ceiling. She reaches up and Xena’s chakrum detaches itself from the ceiling
and drops into her hand. Then she rises up into the air and disappears into one
of the many cracks made in the ceiling. He knows now might be his only chance
to escape. He tucks the sacred dagger into his belt and steps out from his
hiding place. They were so close. The Burning was nearly upon them. He could
feel it like sunlight on his body. If only he could have sacrificed one or two
more. He is certain that was all it would have taken.
As he starts to
walk through the rubble he finds himself standing amid a jumble of strange
items. Swords, armor and other things are scattered about. He surmises he is
standing in what remains of Hope’s trophy room. The fact is verified when he
sees the jawbone of that giant Goliath. A glinting of something captures his
attention. Something is half buried near the jaw bone. He shifts the rocks and
finds a large yellow gem stone lying there. “The Ixion Stone,” he gasps. He
can’t believe it. Surely this is providence. A gift from Dahak. To have found
this object of power here at the time of
the Avatar’s defeat. He picks up the Stone and makes haste to the secret
passageway that will lead him to freedom and the chance to continue his great
work.
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Antony,
Palaemon and Vercinix stand on the wharf that leads up towards the city gates.
They are alone. All Roman and Gallic warriors are on board the ships they
arrived on. They have come not to fight but to call a truce. The gates open and
a single figure dressed in the red and black Romanesque armor of Hope’s forces
steps out and walks stoically towards them. As he draws near he removes his
helmet to reveal a man younger than Palaemon.
“You are
Antony?” the young man asks.
Antony steps
forward and removes his helmet as well. “I am.”
“I am Decius.
Adjutant commander for Pompey the Magnus.” Decius looks from the Roman general
to his two companions. “You are Vercinix?”
The Gallic
chieftain nods and replies , “Yes.” He turns to indicate Palaemon standing
beside him. “This is Palaemon. A member of the Athenian resistance.”
Decius smirks
at the mention of the resistance. “Hope tried so hard to hide that there were
any in Athens who opposed her rule. She had much of the population fooled.”
“We are here at
your request Decius,” Antony says stepping a little closer to the man. “If you
wish for nothing more than to engage in small talk then we should go back to
fighting. It will be time better served.”
The smirk melts
from Decius’s face to be replaced by a morose and dejected look. He turns his
head down and sees the many scattered droplets of blood that had some time ago
erupted from the temples of Dahak in the port city then rained down all about
them. “I think enough blood has been spilled today. Enough blood has been
spilled these last six years to last any of us lifetimes.” Decius draws his
sword and drops it to the wooden docks. He looks back up into the eyes of the
Roman commander. “Did you see it? The blood as it fell?”
“We all did,”
Vercinix replies. “And we all know what
it means. As you said. Enough blood has been spilled.”
“I come to
surrender to the forces of Rome,” Decius says kneeling before the three men
standing before him. “I only ask you that you leave this city unmolested. Do no
harm here.”
“That was never
our intention,” Antony says placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder and
bidding him to rise. “We never wanted to take this city.”
“A
distraction.” Decius understands. “All a diversion. It seems you succeeded. So
what will you do now?”
“We will
leave,” Antony declares. “Once we have collected our dead and our allies in
Athens this fleet will sail from here into the Adriatic then to Rome. We have
business there.”
Puzzled by the
remark Decius stares at them. “You wish no plunder? No garrison to be placed
here? No Roman lords placed in control of this land?”
“No,” Palaemon
answers him. “Greece has never been our enemy. Our enemy was always Hope.”
Feeling ashamed
and disgraced by the words of a native Greek he reaches up and touches the
triumvirate flame etched on his armor. He wishes now that he could pull it from
his armor. He slams his fist over is heart. “My lord Antony. I will escort you
to Athens myself.”
Antony returns
the salute. “That would be most agreeable my lord Decius.”
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“People of
Athens!” Caesar shouts standing upon the very platform from which Hope had
decreed the death of the city’s population. He stands alone amidst a people he
once sought to conquer. But he feels no fear.
The people are
not so crowded into the Agora as they were before. For the simple reason that
so many of their population has been slaughtered this day. As they move about
they are aware of the slick coating of blood that covers so much of the city.
Blood from the temples of the One God that they had trusted for so long. The
blood of many innocents sacrificed for a purpose they may never understand.
He keeps his maimed
arm hidden beneath his cloak as he speaks. “My name is Gaius Julius Caesar! It
may be a name that some of you fear! A name that some of you hate! And you have
that right! But know that I came this day to aid you in a deadly struggle! I
know that you will find little joy in victory! With the lose of so many sons,
daughters, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers! You may
believe me or not but know that I share in your grief! But it is over! Hope is
dead! Her reign of terror is over!” He does not expect any applause or
cheering. And he gets none. For how could there be happiness after such
misery. He thinks of Cleopatra and his
unborn child. He thinks of Octavian. He thinks of Hercules. He thinks of
Ephiny. So many lives lost.
“I came to this
city to stop the Avatar of Dahak! This I have done!” He walks to the edge of the platform. “So now
I shall leave! By noon tomorrow no Roman will stand on Greek lands! This I
promise you!” He jumps down from the platform and begins to walk towards the
crowd.
He expects them
to part before him out of loathing or hate. After all he had once captured this
city and intended to make it his own version of Alexandria. But instead the
people begin to move in closer to him. He feels a tremor of uneasiness. But not
fear. If they intend to attack and kill him , he will not fight back. He did
not come to this city to save its people only to kill them. But there is no
attack. No fists strike him. No blades cut into his flesh. A child not much
older than Lyceus walks up to him and stares up with big brown eyes. “Thank
you,” the child says.
Caesar stares
down at the child with incomprehensibility. A woman steps up behind the child
and picks him up. Again Caesar expects antagonism. He is sure the woman who is
obviously the child’s mother will scold her child for speaking to this monster.
But with tears in her eyes the woman smiles. “Thank you Caesar.”
Hands touch him
as still more people move in close. All around him he hears words he has never
thought to hear in his life.
“Thank you so
very much.”
“You have saved
us all.”
“You are a good
man Julius Caesar.”
“We pray that
you retake your home.”
“Our thoughts
are with you.”
“We are sorry
for the lose of your wife.”
“Wish all your
men well for us.”
“We are forever
in your debt.”
“You and your
allies fought bravely for us.”
“Forgive us for
our ignorance.”
“You are
welcome to stay as long as you need.”
“We are sorry.”
“Thank you.”
Caesar’s vision
becomes blurry and he wonders what is happening. A woman steps in closer than
any of the others and wraps her arms around him. She does not thank him with
words. Instead she embraces him with
love and forgiveness. Unsure of what to do Caesar places his arms around her.
He realizes that his vision is blurry because he is crying. Then all the grief
that has been building within him all these years is released in a torrent of
emotion. Tears flow freely and he sobs loudly as he mourns all that he has
lost.
Still more
people move in close to him and show him compassion and understanding.
“Forgive me,”
Caesar says still clutching the woman who embraces him.
The woman turns
his head up and looks into his eyes. “There is nothing to forgive,” she tells
him.
A small girl
moves in to clutch at his leg as an older man clasps him on the shoulder like
an old dear friend. He looks around at all these people who have lost so much
and he shares their pain. As they share his. “Thank you.”
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Eli sits alone
on the east face of the Acropolis. He had wanted to stay in the Citadel. But
Amarice had convinced him to leave. So now he sits on the hill with his face
buried in his hands. He did it. He defeated Hope. Exorcised Dahak from
Gabrielle. But in the end that seems like nothing compared to the lose of one
so dear to him. He had broken down when Eponin had lifted Ephiny’s lifeless
body from the floor. He had saved the soul of Gabrielle. But it had been at the
cost of Ephiny’s life. It is a cruel twist of fate that Gabrielle should
finally be free of Dahak only to lose the woman who loved her so. He trembles
with the pain of it. Ephiny had been trying to tell Gabrielle something as her
life had slipped away. He knows she had been trying to say only three words : I
love you. But death had not even allowed her those three short syllables.
As they had
gathered to leave he had sought words with the dark goddess who had been
Aphrodite. He had asked and begged her to do something. Surely she could
restore Ephiny to life. But the newly reborn goddess has looked at him and
shook her head. “I am sorry,” she had said to him. “It is not within my power
to call the dead back.”
For the first
time in his life he had wanted in that moment to strike someone in anger. More
than anything he had desired to slap the dark thing that stood before him. But
he would only be dishonoring the memory of Ephiny by betraying the Way. She had
believed in it so fervently. How could he even for one instant in time walk
away from that which he taught. And that which she believed in. But that
doesn’t make it any easier to accept. And he cannot accept it. The pain of it
tears at his soul. How could the One have allowed this to happen? What had
Ephiny done to deserve death? And why couldn’t he have helped her? He can
exorcise demons and heal the sick. But what good is that now? Enraged by the lose and his inability to do
anything about it he rises to his feet. Then looking Heavenward he shouts,
“What good is this gift if I can’t at least protect the ones that I love! Why did you even give
it to me? What am I supposed to do? You show me! What am I supposed to do?”
Light shimmers
brighter than the sun and Lila stands before him. She is dressed in the gold and white she wore before
and her wings are spread behind her. “Why do you say such things Eli?” she asks
him floating closer. Her radiance warms his skin. “Is your faith suddenly so
diminished that you cannot understand?”
“Understand
what?” Eli says feeling somehow insulted that she would ask him this.
She spreads her
arms and her wings before him and he can sense the Light and Love of Heaven
coming from her. “That Love…” she begins.
“Is the Way,”
he completes her statement.
Lila smiles.
“Go to her,” she says as she shimmers like a mirage and vanishes.
As fast as his
feet can carry him Eli races down the Acropolis into the city itself. Amarice
had said that they would be returning to the royal palace. So he makes for that
place with all the speed that his legs can supply.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In one of the
palace’s many guest rooms Autolycus tries to tend to the wounds on the golden
hind. But the creature does not trust him. Each time he draws close to her with
a cloth to clean her wounds she kicks and rears at him. She hardly has the strength for that and
falls every time.
“Please,” he
begs her. “I just want to help.”
A pitiful
whining noise comes form her as she tries to crawl into a corner of the room.
The shadows in
the room seem to expand and stretch like clay for a moment around them both.
Then the dark goddess steps forth from the writhing shadows.
The golden hind
goes wild kicking and screaming.
“Peace Serena,”
she says as she approaches the terrified creature. “You know me. I am not here
to harm you.”
“I’m trying to
help her,” Autolycus states as the goddess draws nearer to the hind. “She’s
hurt.”
She turns her
dark eyes on the cowering being before her. “I understand your pain. I’ve come
to take it from you. If you will let me.”
Serena stares
at the goddess for a few moments. Uncertainty and fear swim in her eyes. She
looks at her bloodied and burned body. The pain Hope inflicted on her all for
the sake of her god killing blood has indeed taken its toll over the years.
Whether she lives or dies, she doesn’t care anymore. She just wants the pain to
end. She looks back at the goddess and nods.
The dark
goddess steps forward and holds her hand open before her. A sphere of darkness
forms there then slowly moves towards the hind. It enters her deer like torso
and vanishes. The dark goddess then begins to raise her hand as she does so
darkness begins to surround Serena and the hind rises form the floor. The dark
goddess closes her hand into a fist and streamers of darkness surround Serena
like a cocoon. When she is completely enclosed inside the cocoon it begins to
spin. Slowly at first then soon it whirls around like it is caught in a
tornado. The dark goddess opens her hand and the cocoon explodes into
nothingness.
A naked woman
with olive skin and long curly brown hair drops to the floor.
“Help her
Autolycus,” the dark goddess says to him.
Autolycus grabs
a big towel and uses it to cover the woman’s nakedness.
Serena shivers
with cold but she no longer feels the pain. She feels the man who was trying to
tend to her wrap a towel about her and help her to her feet. Feet? She is
shocked by that realization. She locks down at herself. I’m human, she thinks.
She is the last golden hind no longer. Now she is just Serena. She looks into
the dark eyes of the goddess who has saved her. “I don’t know how to thank
you.” She is surprised at how easily the human words come to her.
“There is no
need to thank me,” the dark goddess replies. “Now if you will excuse me. There
is something else I must do.” She turns and walks back into the shadows of the
room.
Autolycus
glances at the woman beside him. He turns his face away blushing. “Let’s …
um…”he stutters. “Let’s find you some clothes shall we.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In an unused
chamber of the royal palace many have gathered to mourn the passing of a
courageous and compassionate soul. The grief in the air is palpable. Some have
known her since childhood. Others for years. Some only made her acquaintance
days ago. But everyone knows that the world has lost something precious with
the passing of Ephiny. Her body rests on
a stone table covered by a simple white cloth.
Eponin holds
tightly to Solari while Varia stands before them. Each rest a hand on her
shoulders. Varia is too young to understand the loss her parents have suffered.
But she knows they do not cry often. When they do it is for something very,
very bad. She does not know the woman
under the shroud . She remembers her coming to the home they shared with Diana.
She looks up to stare once again into the tear streaked faces of her parents. She doesn’t like seeing them like this. She
reaches up and places one hand on each of theirs. They look down at her. She
says the only thing she can think of. “I’m sorry.”
Autolycus ,
having left Serena to rest, has come to Diana. Her wound has been tended to and
bandaged. He is careful nonetheless when he steps up behind her and wraps his
arms around her. She turns into him and buries her face in his chest. He lays a
hand upon her head and just holds her. He looks past her to the shrouded body
on the table. He had not known her well either but he had seen her strength and
passion. He hopes that wherever the souls of the Amazon dead go that it is a
glorious place to spend eternity.
Jett stands
alone in a dark corner trying to hide his own grief from the others. He knows,
of course, that if he had truly wished to that he would not have come with them
into this room. He has not cried in a long time. Not since Joxer’s murder. Even
then he had not wept when he had found the body. It had taken weeks before he
had cried for the loss of his inept yet innocent sibling. He had been walking
through a market when he had come across a man selling a pasta strainer. Jett
had stared at the utensil for several seconds. Then he had wept remembering
that ridiculous suit of armor Joxer had always worn. He does not cry now
either. He knows , however, that some time in the future something will remind
him of this brave woman who became such a close friend in such a short period
of time. And he will weep like a child.
Caesar stands
close to the door with his arm across the shoulders of his niece. Octavia like
several here had hardly known Ephiny. Regardless she sees the pain and loss in
the eyes of those who did know her well. It mirrors the way she feels about the
loss of Octavian. That she can certainly understand. So she feels their pain
and it tears her up inside. Caesar looks down at his niece and sees the tears.
He knows her well. She is not mourning the passing of the woman on the table.
She is empathizing with those who have lost someone they loved. Thinking of
Cleopatra and Octavian he feels the same. He does not cry however. His grief is
his own.
Caleb and Nannan wish Eli was here. Perhaps he
could say something. Something that would
at least give meaning to their grief. They both know him so well. He
could do or say something that would ease the pain of everyone present somehow.
Caleb feels that he has been away from his sanctuary for too long. He needs to
return soon. To bury himself in his books and his faith. To forget about the
horrors of war and the death that walks hand in hand with it. After he speaks
to Eli one last time he will go. He has fulfilled the purpose he left his home
for. Nannan can’t help but feel he could have stopped it somehow. He knew about
the vision. What Alti had shown her. He should have made her stay. He knows
inside that he could not have halted Ephiny. No matter what was said or done
she would have gone. He bows his head and prays for the soul of his dearly
departed friend.
Iolaus stands
with Darnell and Amarice. The two warriors with him hold onto each other in a
most familiar way. Clinging to one another for strength. There is something
else in the way they hold each other. Something that speaks of a passion denied
for some time. Of love unsaid. He has seen this many times over the course of
his life. Over the course of his life he has buried many friends. War comes
with a high price. Peace often comes with a much higher toll to pay. They have
won this day. But too many have died in his opinion. Too many good people have
been lost. Octavian. Hercules. Now Ephiny. He has fought too long. Xena called
him one of the greatest warriors alive. After six years of constant combat that
title has little meaning for him now. Especially when standing in a room with
the body of a woman who gave everything to protect what mattered to her
most.
He turns his
head to look at Xena and Gabrielle and the utter irony of the scene before him
Once they wanted nothing more than the death of one another. The deadliest of
enemies now seemingly as close as sisters.
Both have their
arms wrapped around the other. Gabrielle is pressed against Xena and sobbing
loudly. Her eyes look dry and red. She has cried so much for the death of
Ephiny that she has surpassed her body’s ability to generate any more tears.
Xena has her head tilted over and resting on top of Gabrielle’s head. She is
stroking the smaller woman’s back with her hand in an effort to sooth her pain.
Gabrielle gazes at the shrouded body of
the woman who had meant so much to her.
During her time with Ephiny in the Amazon village she never had any idea
of the princess’s feelings for her. Back in those days she was still blind with
hatred and rage for Xena. She had forged a friendship with Ephiny but had been
too arrogant and stupid to see the love in the other woman’s eyes whenever they
looked at each other. It was only after Dahak’s possession and her
transfiguration into Hope that she became aware of Ephiny’s feelings. Hope had
used those feelings and even encouraged them. But the Avatar of Dahak had never
loved Ephiny. Hope had used her like a toy both physically and emotionally.
Through the burning eyes of the Avatar Gabrielle had witnessed it all and
howled in impotent rage. In the beginning there had been something of her left
in Hope. It was that love and kindness that showed through in Hope. But as the
Eternal Fire was fed she faded more and more. She had tried to be strong. But
that day in Carthage she had surrendered herself to Hope knowing that only the
Avatar could save Ephiny. After that only Hope existed. She was shut away in
her own body forever. Or so it would have been had it not been for all these
brave people. And Ephiny. She starts sobbing again. She wishes she could cry.
She wants to cry. But she can’t anymore. She turns from the body and presses
her face into Xena’s chest.
Xena looks down
at Gabrielle and wishes there was something she could do to ease the girl’s
pain. She understands the insanity of this whole situation and accepts it. Less
than an hour ago they had tried to kill each other. And came damn close to it.
But the dark goddess’s dream of that other world had shown them both that this
was all wrong. No more war. No more death. That was all swept away in the
realization of what they are. Soul mates. Her dreams had not been dreams at
all. But visions of another world. Another reality where she did fight side by
side with the girl from Potedaia. Where she did die on crosses with her and
feel at peace with that fact. It is easy to accept. Because it is the way it
should have been. Had simple mistakes not been made it would have come to pass.
She takes strength from the fact that somewhere it did come to pass. She feels
Gabrielle sobbing against her again. She leans down to kiss the top of
Gabrielle’s head. “I’m sorry,” she says as she too fights back tears.
The door
leading into the room opens and Eli walks in. All eyes go to the Avatar of the
One but his gaze does not go to any of them. Instead he is focused on the shrouded
body of Ephiny. He walks past his friends and goes straight to the stone table.
Standing at the head of the table he reaches down and pushes the shroud back to
reveal Ephiny’s face. Her face is pale but peaceful as though she knew by her
death that Gabrielle would live. Perhaps that was what she always wanted. To
die protecting the one she loved. Perhaps but he will not let it be. Reaching
down he places a hand on either side of Ephiny’s face. He feels the stone cold
of death in her cheeks. He ignores it.
“Eli?” he hears
Caleb say.
“What are you
doing?” he hears Xena say.
He ignores them
and focuses on what he must do. Closing his eyes he begins a chant in prayer to
the One. Asking Him for the power to do the impossible. Asking Him to grant him
the ability to do what only gods can do.
His lips move
and speak hushed words in a language none of them can understand. They all
watch in confusion as he prays over the body of Ephiny. Is he performing some
last rite in accordance to his religion?
He begs for the
power to do this. Silently asking and pleading for the One to grant him this
boon. In the name of Love he asks for it. He thinks of Gabrielle mourning the
loss of the one who loved her so. And he knows the one that she loved as well.
He will give up everything if He will allow Ephiny to return. There is no
greater gift in this world than to lay down your life for the one you love.
These words he has said many times when teaching the Way and the path of love.
But perhaps it is a far greater gift to live for the one you love. “Please,” he
says in a voice so low it can hardly be heard. “Live.”
He feels it
behind him. The warmth and the love of one whose love has transcended hate and
rage and murder. Even with his eyes closed he can see the angelic light. Love
is the Way. That is what he has been telling everyone for so long. It is time
to fulfill that promise. To show that through love anything is possible. He
thought he would need to do this alone. But he is not alone. He never is. The
One is always with him. And now so too is Lila.
He opens his
eyes and stares down into the face of Ephiny. “Live,” he says in a much louder
voice.
Anyone who was
not watching Eli before now has their attention on him.
Casting his
eyes up his vision pierces the ceiling above and the sky beyond. For one
instant he sees the celestial eternity of Heaven. “Live!” he shouts as he sees
it all.
Lila, her arms
and wings outstretched , steps up behind Eli and leans in close to him. She
lays her hands on Eli’s and enfolds them both in her wings. She allows the
Light and Love of Heaven to flow through her and through Eli. Together they act
as a conduit for the omnipotent power of the One. And through that power
anything can be accomplished.
Eli pulls his
hands from Ephiny’s face a split second before the woman sits bolt upright!
Alive! He takes a step back and then sits himself down rather unceremoniously
on the floor. He feels Lila’s presence within the room but cannot see her.
Turning his attention back to Ephiny he is overcome with a joy unlike anything
he has ever known. He did it. The One , working through he and Lila, restored
Ephiny to life.
Disoriented
Ephiny looks around her and finds nothing but stunned faces. Almost everyone
has their mouths hanging open in the greatest display of shock she has ever
seen. Then her eyes find Gabrielle’s. For
one second they just stare at each other.
Gabrielle takes
a tentative step away from Xena’s comforting arms. She walks ever so slowly
towards the stone table on which Ephiny sits upon now instead of lying on. With
each step she expects it all to evaporate and to wake up from a dream. She
doesn’t want this to be a dream. She wants it to be real. More than anything
she has ever wanted she wants Ephiny to be alive. When she is nearly to Ephiny
she extends her arm out and then brushes the other woman’s cheek with her
finger. She feels soft, yielding and warm flesh under her fingertips. Her eyes
go wider. This is no dream. She is alive! She steps closer to still and places
her hands on Ephiny’s slender neck.
“Gabrielle,”
Ephiny says when she feels the contact of their flesh. The words flash through
her mind again Are all Amazon princesses this clumsy?
“Ephiny,”
Gabrielle replies. Her lips start to form a smile. The first real smile to
cross her face in six years. “Say it. Please.”
Ephiny doesn’t
need to guess what Gabrielle wants to her. What she needs to hear. And what
Ephiny needs to say. “I love you.”
Gabrielle does
not respond with words. No. she leans in closer and presses her lips to
Ephiny’s with a passion she has never known and never thought she would know.
She loves this woman with all her heart and soul. She has waited six years to
express. She feels her words will be inadequate. So she shows her love with
action instead.
Stunned by the
kiss at first Ephiny soon gives into it wholly. How she has longed to feel the
touch of Gabrielle in this way. She was foolish to give her body to Hope just
to feel it the touch of Gabrielle’s body. Love is not in the body. It is in the
heart and the soul. As it lingers on Ephiny feels more alive than she has ever
felt. Ironic since she is pretty sure she was just dead. She is a little
confused. But she is certain of one thing. Hope never kissed like this. She
slips off the table and wraps her arms around the woman she loves and gives
herself over into the passionate embrace they share.
Xena smiles too
as she watches Gabrielle and Ephiny demonstrate their love for one another. She
tries not to laugh when she sees some faces turn red at the sight of two women
sharing so intense a kiss. She notes that Eponin and Solari are beaming with
joy. She looks down to where Eli sits on the floor. His teeth show through in
the wide smile he displays. He looks so overjoyed Xena is sure he may start
crying any second. His gaze turns to meet hers. “Thank you,” she says to him.
Happy beyond
words Eli can only nod at Xena’s thanks.
Both women are
breathless when the kiss ends. But
Gabrielle still manages to say, “I love you too.”
Ephiny smiles
like she never has before knowing a happiness she didn’t think possible.
Gabrielle
caught up in the moment before is now aware of everyone staring at them. Her
gaze first goes to Eli. She can never thank him enough for all that he has done
for her. She doesn’t think she can put it all into words. She nods to him. He
winks. Her eyes then go to Caesar. She
knows there is one last thing she must do. She’s not sure if she can do it.
Then Ephiny’s hand takes hers. She turns and looks deeply into the eyes of the
woman she loves. There she finds the strength to do anything. Hand in hand they
walk towards the Roman dictator. As she passes Xena her eyes convey her wish
without words. Please come with me, they say. Xena falls into step behind the
couple.
As they draw
near Gabrielle can see the pain in Octavia’s eyes. A pain that is partly her
fault. She has caused so much pain. She may spend her whole life atoning for
it. She will start here. Standing before Caesar Gabrielle reaches up and
removes the golden circlet that through everything that has happened today has
somehow managed to stay in place. As she pulls it off her head she sees Ephiny
do the same with her circlet. Holding the circlet in both hands she offers it
to Caesar. Both she and Ephiny kneel before him. “As overlord of all the forces
following the Avatar of Dahak I surrender to you, Gaius Julius Caesar.” She
bows her. “And I submit myself to Roman justice for my crimes.”
This causes a
gasp that runs through everyone present. Except Caesar who stares down at the
two women kneeling before him. He looks up from them at Xena who stands behind
them. The warrior princess shakes her head. Caesar nods agreement to her
unspoken statement. “Rise,” he say to them both.
“But,”
Gabrielle starts looking up at him.
Caesar holds up
a hand to silence her. “My war was with Hope, the Avatar of Dahak. I have no
quarrel with Gabrielle of Poteidaia.”
Ephiny stands
first and has to help a shocked Gabrielle to her feet. As she pulls Gabrielle
up however she notices that Gabrielle is unsteady on her feet. Her arms and
legs are sluggish to move. She steps in close and places her arm around
Gabrielle’s waist. Anyone watching will take it for affection. She is doing it
because she is afraid Gabrielle may just collapse. She takes the golden circlet
from Gabrielle’s hand and hands them both back to Xena. “Thank you ,” she says
to Caesar.
“What will
happen to them all?” Gabrielle asks. She looks closely at Caesar’s face as she
awaits his answer. She finds it odd that her vision seems a bit blurry.
“The legions
who followed Pompey are guilty of treason,” he explains to her. He frown as he
says the next words, “They will be decimated.”
“I understand,”
Gabrielle replies. For a moment she feels as though she may fall over. Only
Ephiny’s arm around her keeps her from doing so. “There is something I must ask
of you.”
“What?” Caesar
asks.
“The lands
under Amazon control must remain so,” she tells him.
“Excuse me?”
Caesar says suddenly appalled that she would say this. She is asking that
people conquered by the Avatar of Dahak and her Amazons keep the lands they
stole. Perhaps Gabrielle and Hope are not that dissimilar after all.
“Northern
Greece. Thrace. The islands of the Aegean. Asia. Let the Amazons…” she pauses
as she remembers that due to the rite of caste she is speaking of her own
people. “Let us keep those lands. We will ask no tribute. We will conscript no
soldiers. We will rule those lands justly and fairly. The people will be under
the protection of the Amazon nation. I promise that neither you nor they will
regret it.”
“I do not think
that the centaurs would agree with you,” Caesar retorts.
Amarice cringes
at the mention of the centaurs.
“The massacre
of the centaurs was horrible,” Gabrielle agrees. “But those responsible for it
are gone. Hope ordered the attack. Velasca led the assault. Hope is no more and
Velasca is dead.”
“And what about
any others involved?” Caesar asks her.
“I promise you
that they will face Amazon justice for the atrocities they committed,”
Gabrielle promises him. “Please. The Amazons were a dying people before Hope
came to them. But she lifted them up again. In that one thing she lived up to her name.”
“We shall see,”
is Caesar’s response.
“Thank you,”
Gabrielle says. She and Ephiny turn to find quite a crowd now gathering around
them. She looks at them all and is relieved to see nothing but love and joy in
their faces. Miraculously they bear her no ill will. Her eyes settle on Eli who
rises and walks over to them. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she says to him
turning to look at Ephiny.
“No need to
thank me,” Eli says. “Besides I didn’t do it alone.”
“What do you
mean?” Ephiny asks.
In the center
of the room near the stone table on which Ephiny’s body so recently resided a
flash of little appears and grows steadily. Soon it engulfs the room. When it
subsides a being dressed in white and gold stands before them all with her
wings resting against her back.
Gabrielle
stares at her and breathes out one word. “Lila.”
“Hello
Gabrielle,” the angel Lila greets her sister. She turns to Eli. “Did you tell
her?”
“Yes. I did,”
he replies.
“Lila!”
Gabrielle shouts. She wants to run to her sister but her legs feel so weak she
is uncertain whether she could take two steps before she fell to the floor. “Oh
gods! Lila! I’m sorry!” She wants to cry again. Here is her sister. The sister
she murdered in cold blood to gain the power of Dahak. “Please! Forgive me!”
Ephiny has to struggle to hold Gabrielle
up as she moans to her sister. She too stares at the angel. Both Nannan and Eli
had mentioned the messengers of the One. But she never thought to see one. And
judging by the looks on everyone’s faces neither had they. She takes note of
the pained look on Eponin’s face.
“Didn’t you
hear Eli?” Lila asks tilting her head to one side and looking curiously at her
sister. “I already forgave you. You are my sister. We’re family. And I will
always love you.”
Gabrielle gazes
upon her sister’s glorious form and is amazed at the extent of a love that can
allow her sister to forgive her for what she did.
Lila steps so
close to the two women that they can both feel the warmth of her love. They are
bathed in it and both feel all sorrow melt away.
“And if it’s
all right I’d like to be a part of your family again,” Lila says clasping her
hands together in front of her chest in that manner Gabrielle remembers from
their childhood when Lila would ask her for the last sweet bread on their
dessert plate.
“Again?”
Gabrielle inquires in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“Lila,” Eli says
as he moves to stand behind the angel. “I’m not sure if you can…”
Lila looks back
over her shoulder at him. “I can. The One told me so. I can be a part of this
world again.” She smiles. She turns back
and this time meets Ephiny’s gaze. “You are a pure soul. Full of love and
compassion. You love my sister more than your own life. I can think of no
better mother.”
“Mother?”
Ephiny says with eyes as wide as the day is long. What is the angel asking of
her?
“Yes,” Lila
asks. She holds out her hand and it hovers over Ephiny’s stomach. “If you agree
I can be reborn into this world. Reincarnated as your daughter.”
“My daughter?”
Ephiny says still not quite believing this.
Gabrielle finds
Ephiny’s hand and squeezes it. “Our daughter.”
Ephiny turns
her eyes to Gabrielle at those words. “Our?” she says not daring to believe
what Gabrielle is suggesting.
Gabrielle
raises Ephiny’s hand to her lips and kisses it. “Yes.”
Ephiny nearly
loses herself in the emerald green eyes. She turns back to Lila and nods.
“Yes.”
A luminescent
tear falls from Lila’s eye. She looks at Gabrielle. “We will meet again soon.”
She moves to place her hand on Ephiny’s stomach.
“Lila,” Eponin
says stepping away from Solari and Varia to approach the angel. Gabrielle’s
sister is even more beautiful as an angel than she was in this world. And when
those angelic eyes turn on her she feels herself blush. She never had the
courage to tell Lila that she loved her. Now she still isn’t sure she has the
guts. But she summons all her courage. “I…” she begins.
“I know
Eponin,” Lila says. The angel looks from the dark haired warrior to her lover
and their daughter. “Are you happy?”
Eponin nods and
smiles. “Yes.”
“I’m glad,”
Lila replies. With a girlish giggle Lila says, “I’ll see you soon.” She touched
Ephiny’s stomach and suddenly her physical form turns into a silhouette of
light. It coalesces into a shaft that is absorbed into Ephiny.
Ephiny’s
reaction nearly knocks her off her feet. She stumbles away from Gabrielle.
Gabrielle now unsupported falls backwards. She would hit the floor hard if it
were not for Xena catching her in her arms. Ephiny recovers quickly and comes
to their side.
“Are you all
right?” Xena asks Gabrielle.
“Tired,”
Gabrielle mutters.
“Hope didn’t
sleep,” Eli explains. “Her body has been awake for six years.”
Both Ephiny and
Xena look down into Gabrielle’s face.
“It’s all
right,” Ephiny says laying her hand on Gabrielle’s face. “It’s all over.”
“You can rest
now Gabrielle,” Xena reassures her. “We’ll watch over you.”
Gabrielle wants
to say something to them. But she’s too tired now even to speak. Six years of
never resting or sleeping comes on her like lightening. She is deeply asleep a
moment later.
“Hey!” the
voice of Palaemon screams as he runs through the palace. “Caesar! Diana!” He
dashes into the room where they all stand. “Come on! You guys have to see
this!” He dashed from the room as
quickly as he came.
Everyone leaves
the room. But Xena and Ephiny do not follow Palaemon and the others. With
Gabrielle in her arms Xena follows Ephiny down another corridor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Now that is
something you don’t see everyday,” Antony points out to all the others as they
exit the palace. He is pointing towards the Acropolis. As the others look where
he points they all make similar sounds of awe.
The dark goddess that was Aphrodite hovers over the
Acropolis with her arms outstretched. Below the Citadel of Hope is breaking up
into chunks of stone all shapes and sizes. But the stone is not tumbling down
the hill. Instead after they are dislodged the stones are launching skyward
like falling stars ascending back into the cosmos. The pieces of rock whistle
and howl as they are sent skyward.
“What is she
doing?” Jett asks.
“Destroying the
symbol of Hope’s power,” Caesar says as he watches. “Removing the reminder of
her rule from Athens.”
“It would have
taken us years to tear that thing down,” Diana says.
“She’s going to
do it in a matter of minutes,” Autolycus says.
And indeed in a
matter of minutes the Acropolis is a bare hill in the center of the city of
Athens.
The air shimmers
before them and the dark goddess is there. She look at them but her dark eyes
linger on Caesar. “I know you,” she says to him but her words ring of
uncertainty.
“Yes,” Caesar
replies. The amalgamation of Morpheus and Aphrodite that stands before him is
something most men should fear. He does not. Some part of her is still his
great grandmother.
“I am…” she
muses for a moment and tilts her head to one side. She studies him for a
moment. Then the barest hint of a smile touches her lips. “Proud of you.”
With a
practiced but feigned arrogance Caesar replies, “I know.”
She holds up
Xena’s chakrum. “Give this to the warrior princess.”
“I shall.”
Caesar takes the weapon from her.
“What are you
going to do now?” Eli asks the dark goddess.
“I am leaving for
a time,” she explains.
“Where will you
go?” Solari asks her.
The dark
goddess holds up her hands and looks at the pallid color of her flesh. “I do
not know. I have yet to understand truly who I am. What I am.”
“Will we ever
see you again?” Diana inquires. She still remembers her as the goddess of love
she prayed to for so long to bring her true love.
“I shall return
some day,” the dark goddess assures them. “With a new name. And a new purpose.”
She turns and looks into the sky. Then she rockets into the air with such force
it pushes them all back and cracks the ground where she stood.
Eli watches
her form become smaller and smaller as it ascends higher and higher. “God
speed.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“She looks so
peaceful,” Ephiny says as she watches Gabrielle sleep. She has been asleep for
over a day now. It adds another
dimension to Gabrielle’s beauty to see her at peace. It isn’t something Ephiny
has ever seen before. She leans back in
the chair she is seated in and looks back at Xena who leans against the wall by
the doorway. “How long do you think she’ll be asleep?”
“She’s been
awake for six years,” Xena replies. “I imagine she’ll sleep for days. Possibly
more than a week. Just remember to wake her up every few hours to get some food
and water into her.”
Something about
the way she speaks clues Ephiny into something. “You’re leaving soon. Going
with Caesar? Back to Rome?”
“We have to
free Rome from Dagnine’s control,” Xena responds. “He’s too much of animal to
just surrender now that Hope is gone and Ares is dead.”
“When?” Ephiny
asks.
“As soon as
Antony is ready to leave,” Caesar answers the question as he enters the room.
“We’re going to go east for a time. Gather reinforcements from Pompey’s
legions.”
“Will they
follow you?” Ephiny asks him.
“I won’t be
giving them any choice,” he informs her.
She sees a
leather gauntlet where his hand should be. “Is there nothing that can be done
for that?” she asks.
Caesar holds up
the hand. “No. I doubt even Eli could heal. Burned away by the Eternal Fire of
Dahak. If nothing else it will serve as a reminder to how far the most powerful
and the most innocent can fall.” He looks down at Gabrielle. He finds it so
hard to believe that this is the creature he fought for so long, It isn’t, he
reminds himself. He turns to Ephiny. She has changed from her bloody gown into
Amazon leathers. But he sees that she still wears the golden circlet. Gabrielle’s
rests by the bed side. “Tell the queen when she awakens that Amazon lands will
remain Amazon lands.”
“You are a good
man Julius Caesar,” Ephiny tells him.
“People keep
telling me that,” he says with a smile that makes him look handsome indeed. He
pauses by the door to speak to Xena. “Rest easy. We won’t be leaving until
dawn. We need to straighten things out in Athens before we go anyway.”
“Such as?” Xena
asks him.
“Well for one
thing there’s no ruler here at the moment.” Caesar smirks. “But I know a
certain princess that looks a lot like you that is perfect for the job.” Caesar
leaves the room to go in search of Diana.
Passing Caesar
in the hallway Jett sees the smirk plastered on his face. He walks up to Xena.
“He looks rather proud of himself.”
“Jett,” Ephiny
says recognizing her friend’s voice. As
Jett walks into the room she can see by the look on his face that he is
leaving too. “And where will you be
going?”
“You’ve gotten
good at reading people,” he says. He
looks at Gabrielle before turning to face her fully. “I have no idea. But I
don’t think the King of Assassins is the type of guy to hang around for all the
pomp and circumstance which I’m sure will be beginning anytime now.”
Ephiny holds
out her hand to Jett. “Thank you. You have been a true friend.”
He takes her
hand in his and kisses the back of it. “Please don’t tell too many people about
that. It will ruin my reputation.”
Ephiny just
laughs.
“Tell her I
wish her luck,” he say pointing to Gabrielle.
“I will,” Ephiny
responds.
Jett passes by
Xena who catches his arm. “You did a good thing here. You know that?”
“I know,” he
says gently pulling his arm from Xena’s grasp. “Not sure how I should feel
about that.”
“You should
feel good,” Xena tells him. “Just do me one favor. Okay?”
“What’s that?”
he asks.
“Don’t ever
give me a reason to come looking for you,” she says narrowing her eyes to glare
at him.
Jett smiles and
performs an elaborate bow. He turns and walks down the hall and soon disappears
among the shadows.
“So you’re
really leaving?” Octavia asks Iolaus.
“I think I’ve
had enough,” Iolaus replies. “Enough war. Enough death. Enough fighting.”
“What are you
going to do then?” She has learned to respect him over these past weeks. He has
been patient and caring in training her. “Where will you go?”
“East I think,”
he replies looking away from the setting sun. “Maybe seek out someone to teach
me all those mediation techniques I was always too arrogant to learn when I was
younger. What about you?”
As soon as she
asks the question she grips the sword at her waist. “I’m going to Rome with
Caesar and Antony.”
“I thought as
much.” He is not surprised at all. “The soul of the warrior within you has been
awakened. There’s no putting it rest now is there?”
“No.” She feels
no shame in telling him. She began this out of a need for revenge. But she
found no true satisfaction in killing Alti. “I’m going to fight for what I
believe in. For the greater good. As Xena and uncle always call it.”
“I’m glad to
hear that.” He extends his hand to her.
She takes the
hand in a warrior’s grip. “I am glad to have known you. And it was an honor to
fight beside you.”
“Hold onto that
honor,” he tells her. “Sometimes it’s the only thing that will separate you
from killers like Alti. Fight with honor and fight for those who cannot fight
for themselves.”
“I will.” She
puts her hand to her chest in the Roman salute.
He responds in
kind. They part walking in opposite directions with opposite purposes.
Caleb laughs
and points at Darnell. “I don’t think he is going to go over very well in an
Amazon village.”
“They better
get used to the idea,” Amarice says. “Because he is staying with me.” She
clutches at his arm to make her point.
Eli laughs as
well. He is happy to see that Amarice has finally given up her hatred of the
Amazons. She will be joining Gabrielle, Ephiny and the other Amazons when they
return to Amazon lands to begin restructuring the culture. He is also happy
that she has at last admitted her love for Darnell. She has not said it in so
many words but it is obvious by the way they look at each other now. Were he
her father he is certain he would have preferred someone a bit less caustic in
demeanor than Darnell. But she loves him and that is all that really matters.
“I wish the two
of you the best of luck,” Eli tells them both.
“Do you have to
leave?” Amarice asks in a voice that is deliberately whiny.
“I’m afraid I
must,” Eli responds in an overly stern voice.
“You two knock
that off,” Caleb interjects. He readjusts the pack on his shoulders.
“I’ve done what
I came here for,” Eli says. He looks to the Acropolis and its bare summit.
“Time for me to go back. But Nannan will be staying. He can teach the Way
here.”
“I’m going to
come visit you,” Amarice says pointing at him. “I’ll turn up when you least
expect it.”
“Thanks for the
warning.” Eli smiles. He embraces Amarice. “The blessing of the One be upon
you.”
She looks up at
him. “It already is.” She steps away from him and takes Darnell’s hand.
The gladiator
points to Eli and winks. “Be seeing you.” The two of them walk into the Agora
which is filling up with many people who have decided to try and continue
living their lives as normally as they can despite the recent horror visited on
them.
“I hope you
don’t mind a traveling companion,” Eli says picking up his own pack from the
ground.
“Not at all.”
Caleb starts walking as he speaks. Eli falls into step behind him. “Sure you
won’t stay in my sanctuary for a while. I’m sure the other members of my order
would like to meet you.”
“I think I best
get back to the enclave.” Eli looks back as they leave the Agora. “But it was
good to come home. Even if for a little while. Besides. I’m sure I’ll be back.”
“No doubt,”
Caleb replies. He pulls a scroll from his pack. “You know it’s the weirdest
thing. I was looking through my scrolls and I found this three hundred year old
Spartan prophecy. It talks about this great woman warrior and the Twilight of
the Gods.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ephiny stands
on the docks of Piraeus and says the last of her good byes. She isn’t sure what
to say to Xena. So she embraces the woman like a sister.
When they part
Xena holds the other woman at arm’s length.
“When she awakes tell her that as soon as Rome is free I’ll return.”
“I shall,”
Ephiny says. “And you be careful.”
“Have no doubt
that I will,” Xena replies. She turns her head to look in the direction of
Athens. “She’ll make a wonderful queen.”
“Yes. She
will.” Ephiny agrees.
“I want to tell
you something.” Xena reaches out to lay a hand on Ephiny’s shoulder. She isn’t
really sure she wants to tell her this. But she knows that it is important. It is to her at least. And she is sure it will be
to Gabrielle.
“What?” Ephiny
asks not liking the look in Xena’s eyes.
“In that other
world,” Xena begins. “The world I dreamed of. You were our friend. You and
Gabrielle were sisters in every sense of the word. It’s a long story. And maybe
one day I will tell you.”
“We are friends
here as well,” Ephiny points out to Xena.
“In that world
you died,” Xena goes on. “Not defending her. You were murdered on the end of a
Roman blade and we were on the other side of the country. I held her in my arms
while your body burned on the funeral pyre.”
“Why are you
telling me this ?” Ephiny asks remembering the pain of Ares’ sword piercing
her.
“Because if she
remembers it all as vividly as I do she will remember that. There may be times
when she looks at you strangely. And she won’t want to tell you why. I’m
telling you so you’ll know. When she looks at you like that you won’t need to
worry. Never doubt her love for you.” Xena finds that she feels better after
telling her.
“I won’t,”
Ephiny says simply. “I can’t doubt it. It was love that brought me back.”
“Take care,”
Xena says.
“You too,”
Ephiny replies. She watches Xena walk the dock then leap onto the deck of a
ship moored nearby. The vessel is loosed and begins to drift into the harbor.
She sees Xena’s hold up a hand and she waves in return. “Return to us safely my
friend.” She walks back towards the palace with hope in her heart.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 months later …
Over seven
years ago when she was dragged from this place behind a horse half dead, Xena
never thought she would be returning. Nevertheless return to Amphipolis she has. Then she had come back dressed in her
leathers and armor. This time as she enters her home village she is dressed in
a simple blue dress that makes her look more like a villager’s wife than a warrior.
But that is the way she wanted it. The look of Xena in known throughout Greece
almost as much as the name. And she did not want to be delayed as she kept her
promise to return. Neither does she return to Amphipolis with just Argo this
time. She walks beside Argo because Lyceus sits atop the war horse.
The differences
in Amphipolis are striking. Even before she got to the village proper she saw
and was greeted by men, women and children tilling and seeding the earth. When
Hope destroyed Amphipolis, she had wanted no reason for anyone to settle there
ever again. Scorched earth was all that she had left in this part of Thrace.
Now the people that once lived in these lands have returned at the request of
the new ruler to make of this place what it once was.
The village
itself looks nothing like the place she had called home. There are no stick
built houses or ramshackle huts. Nearly every structure is made of stone now.
And what buildings are constructed of wood are made of dense hard woods that
are nearly as hard as stone. It is nearly four times the size it was in Xena’s
childhood. The lanes and roads are wide enough for several wagons to drive
through with ease. And of course there is the wall. Nearly two stories high it
encircles Amphipolis all the way around. Wide gates allow entrance every
quarter mile around its circumference.
“Not quite how
you remember it huh mom?” Lyceus asks with a chuckle upon seeing her startled
glances.
“Very funny,”
she says looking back over her shoulder to scowl at her son. Her steed nays in
that way that says she finds Xena’s predicament amusing as well. “Oh. Both of
you be quiet. Of course it looks different. It wasn’t the capital of Amazonia
then.”
The gate
through which she entered is left open as she walks deeper into the village.
“The Amazons have certainly been busy,”
she says to no one in particular.
“So how come no
one is here to greet us?” Lyceus asks crossing his arms over his chest.
“So I’m no one
now!” Eponin calls out as she approaches them. Varia walks along beside nearly
having to run to match the pace of her mother’s long strides.
“Eponin,” Xena
says reaching out a hand to the woman. They grasp their wrists and shake.
Eponin looks at the other woman’s clothing. “In disguise?”
Xena chuckles.
“I just didn’t want to get harassed on my way here.” She kneels down and musses
Varia’s hair. “And how are you?”
Varia tries to
push Xena’s hand away. “Stop that! I’m doing fine.”
Xena stands,
turns around and pulls Lyceus from the saddle. “Lyceus. This is Varia.” She
sets her son down on the ground and points to the girl. “Varia. This is my son
Lyceus.”
“Nice to meet
you Lyceus,” Varia says walking up to him. She holds out her hand. Lyceus grips
her hand with his.
“No,” Varia
says shaking her head. “Like this.” She pulls his hand further up so that their
wrists are gripping one another.
“Varia,” Eponin
says squatting to look her daughter in the face. “Why don’t you show Lyceus around?”
“Okay,” Varia
says and with a strength belaying her small size proceeds to drag Xena’s son
with her.
“See you
later,” Xena says waving to her son.
“Xena,”
Eponin starts to walk down one of the wide lanes and indicates Xena should
follow.
Still leading
Argo she follows the Amazon. She sees some
trepidation in Eponin’s eyes. “What is it?”
“When we first
arrived here the first thing she had us do was try and find the bodies,” Eponin
says. “But it’s been too long. We found bones but no way to know if any of them
was your…”
“It’s all
right,” Xena cuts her off. “It means a lot that you tried. Maybe the past
is best left buried.”
“I suppose you’re
right,” Eponin replies. She turns to look at the warrior princess as they walk.
“We received news about what happened in Rome. If we can help in anyway I hope
Caesar knows he has only to ask.”
Xena stops in
the road as she remembers what happened when Caesar led them back into Rome.
The city was littered with bodies and with the rubble of close to half the
structures in the city. Even she had not thought Dagnine capable of that kind
of carnage. The battle in the city with Dagnine’s army had lasted days.
Retaking the city had come at a high price and after it all Dagnine had
escaped. “Dagnine is Rome’s problem now. Not mine.”
“Not yours?”
Eponin says not understanding her meaning. When she had come to Athens she had
been Caesar’s Mistress of the Horse. Second in command to Caesar and equal in
rank to Marc Antony. She was practically royalty.
“I have left
Caesar’s service,” Xena tells her as she turns to look around the inner city.
“This is my home once more. I promised Ephiny I would return once my work with
Caesar was finished. Besides he needs no Mistress of the Horse or Master of the
Horse now. The people have crowned him King of Rome.”
“King?” Eponin
responds to that with much surprise. “After all that the senate rambled on
about how they needed no kings.”
“The senate did
Rome no good when Dagnine brought his army to the city.” As Xena talks she
removes a saddle bag from Argo. “They were all dead when we got there. The
people that remained praised him as their savior and placed a crown of laurel
leaves on his head.”
“Extraordinary,” Eponin remarks. She sees Xena
tidying her horse’s tack and whistles. “Caesar a king.”
“And that makes
Julia a princess.” Xena hefts her saddlebag onto her shoulder as a teenage girl
arrives from a nearby stable. “I think my friend Gaius is going to have his
hands full with her.”
“Take Xena’s
horse to the stables please,” Eponin says to the girl.
The girl nods
and takes the lead from Xena. “Yes you majesty,” she says before leaving with the horse.
“Your majesty?”
Xena says looking at Eponin.
“She made me
queen regent over this part of Thrace,” Eponin explains to her.
“Queen regent?”
Xena looks unsure of what she is hearing. “I don’t understand.”
“That might
take a while to explain.”
“I am here. And
I am not going anywhere anytime soon. Explain it to me.”
“Very well.”
Eponin draws a deep breath in order to explain the situation regarding the
current monarchy among the Amazons.
One small
section of the city is not bordered by the massive wall. There the city borders
the sea where a sheer drop of nearly one hundred feet goes down to the water.
Between the edge of the cliff and a two story granary is a small clearing that
she remembers well. It was here that she and her brother Lyceus used to
practice their fighting skills out of sight of their mother who would always
scold and punish them for such barbaric behavior. At the far end of that
clearing rooted precariously on the edge of the cliff is an ancient tree that
she and Lyceus used to climb. Like the fearless children they were the two of
them would scramble up the limbs like monkeys heedless of the fact that a simple
misstep would have meant their deaths.
Standing by the
granary she finds Amarice watching intently across the clearing. She turns when
she sees movement but her concern turns to joy when she sees the warrior
princess. “Xena,” she says and clasps the other woman’s hand. “When did you get
back?”
“Just now,”
Xena explains. “I would have been here sooner but I’ve been having a long talk
with Eponin.” She looks around for a moment. “Where is she?”
Amarice at
first just points to the base of the tree. Then her finger rises until she is
pointing up into the top branches of the monster tree. “Up there.”
“Of course,”
Xena groans. She smiles at Amarice. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Right,” the young warrior say.
Xena runs
quickly towards the tree then leaps up onto the lowest branch and flips herself
up onto it. She stares down and looks at the narrow shoreline below and the
rocks in the water beyond. “Okay. Further down than I remember.” She decides it
would serve her best not to look down anymore. Looking straight up she begins
to leap from branch to branch. Once or twice the hem of the dress she is
wearing gets caught in the branches. “Hated this thing anyway,” she says as she
rips most of the skirt away.
After a few
more moments of perilous climbing she finds the object of her search. Gabrielle
is sitting on a branch with her back against the tree trunk. The first thing
Xena notices is that her hair has lightened in color losing the strawberry tint
to her blond hair and she has cut it to shoulder length. Nestled still on her
brow is the golden circlet. She is
staring at her right palm which bears a scar that was not there in Athens. But
Xena knows what it is. And unlike the scar on her cheek which was a branding of
hate, the scar on her hand is a symbol of love. She opens her mouth to greet
Gabrielle.
“Hello Xena,”
Gabrielle says turning her head to look at the warrior princess. She sees that
Xena’s right cheek is scarred from their battle in the Citadel. It is almost in
the exact same place as the scar Anya gave her years ago. She seems to be
mulling over in her mind what to say next. She draws a blank.
Xena moves in
to perch on a branch nearby. She nods to the scarred palm. “How does it feel?”
she asks.
“I think Eponin
was a little too enthusiastic during the ceremony,” Gabrielle replies holding
up her hand so Xena can see it clearly.
“I didn’t mean
the scar,” Xena says looking deeply into the green eyes.
Gabrielle
smirks and blushes slightly. “You mean how does it feel being married to
Ephiny?”
“Yes.” Xena
watches her reaction.
The blonde
leans her head back against the trunk of the tree. “It has made me happier than
I ever thought possible,” she says. She presses her upper teeth down onto her
bottom lip in a nervous gesture.
“But?” Xena inquires.
“It reminds me
of how I lost Perdicus,” she replies. “You remember? When Callisto killed him
right before my eyes. But then I remember that I was never married to Perdicus.
Not here in this world.” She points to her head and returns her gaze to Xena.
“But in here I was married to him. And I loved him.”
Xena nods her
understanding.
“I know that
what she gave to us stopped our hate,” Gabrielle says she turns to perch on her
own limb. “It made us both realize what could have been. But I think it’s a
blessing and a curse. Sometimes I have a hard time separating my memories of
this world and the dream memories of that world. Close to six years of another
lifetime that I didn’t live are a part of me.”
“I know that
it’s hard sometimes,” Xena agrees. “Fighting by Caesar’s side every so often
the memories of what happened in that other world would surface. I’d remember
that he ordered us crucified. And that I pretty much engineered his death.”
“And sometimes
when I look at Ephiny I remember her funeral.” Gabrielle holds up her right
hand and runs a finger along the scar. The Amazon bonding ceremony calls for
the two women to have their palms cut open and to clasp hands. Sharing blood as
they will share their lives. “I don’t want to imagine my life without her. But
I know a life without her. And it hurts sometimes.”
“What she did
to us was for the best,” Xena explains. “We would have killed each other if she
hadn’t.”
“I know,”
Gabrielle agrees. “But I lived as a prisoner in my own body for six years. Then
nearly that many years of memories get
dumped into my head. Makes it hard for me to know who I am every now and then.”
“It’s a
difficult thing to know exactly who you are,” Xena says as she steps onto Gabrielle’s
perch and sits down next to her. “Take it from someone who searched for their
purpose for a long time.”
“How do you
begin to understand something like this?” Gabrielle asks. “It’s so
complicated.”
Xena places her
hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder. “A very wise woman once told me this. To conquer
others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way. It won’t be an
easy journey to understand yourself. But no journey worth taking is ever easy.”
Gabrielle looks
at her from the corner of her eye. “Sound advise,” she says smiling.
“Indeed.” Xena
slips her hand from her friend’s shoulder. “So what’s this I hear about you
becoming high queen?”
Gabrielle
nearly loses her balance when Xena asks that question. “What? How did you…”
“Even going to
let you change your name,” Xena remarks. “That’s a tradition that hasn’t been
done in centuries.”
“Eponin talks
too much,” Gabrielle growls. “We reign over more land now than we ever have.
But I can’t rule it all directly or effectively as I promised Caesar we would.
So I have six regents ruling the lands under me.”
Xena thumps the
circlet. “I assumed that was what this was about? Does Ephiny still have hers?”
“Yes,”
Gabrielle replies. “I wanted to get rid of them at first. They reminded me too
much of Hope. But Ephiny wouldn’t let me. Said she wanted them to stand for
something good.”
“And they will.”
Xena smiles broadly. “So how is she?”
“Fine. She
keeps waking me up in the morning when she tears out of bed to get sick in the
basin.”
“That happens in
the first months. She’ll be over it soon.”
“So she’ll be
better after that?” Gabrielle asks with relief in her voice.
“Oh no.” Xena
tries not to laugh at the horrified look on Gabrielle’s face. “She’s going to
get a lot worse over the next few months.”
“Xena,”
Gabrielle says her face and voice full of disappointment. “If you are trying to
make me feel better I just want you to know that you’re failing miserably.”
“Just wait
until the mood swings and bizarre food cravings kick in.” Xena waggles her eyebrows.
Gabrielle
groans.
“I know you two
are talking about me up there!” Ephiny’s voice drifts up to them.
Xena looks down
through the branches and sees Ephiny staring up with her fists on her hips like
a scolding mother. It reminds Xena so much of her mother and she finds that the
memory of Cyrene doesn’t hurt anymore.
“I think we’re
in trouble,” Xena says. She looks back to Gabrielle and finds the green eyes
looking thoughtful again. “What is it?”
“It’s just that
I’ve seen what could have been,” Gabrielle says as she turns to look down at
Ephiny. In that other world she and Ephiny had not had the relationship they
have now. “I know what you and I were meant to be.” She looks back up into
Xena’s blue eyes. “We’ve lost so much.”
“It’s true,”
Xena says. “But we’ve the rest of our lives to make up for our mistakes. And
you want to know something that fills my heart with joy.”
“What?”
Gabrielle asks with anticipation.
“That somewhere
out there in another world there is a Xena and a Gabrielle that are living that
life,” Xena says pointing to them both. “And that it was thanks to their lives
and their memories that you and I are friends.”
Gabrielle
places her hand on Xena’s arm. “Thank you my friend.”
Xena smiles.
“Any time.”
“I will not
ignored!” Ephiny screams up at them.
“We better go,”
Gabrielle says.
“Yep,” Xena
agrees. “Shall we?”
Gabrielle
smirks and then pitches herself forward to tumble down through the branches.
Xena follows behind her and seconds later they are both standing before an
aghast Ephiny.
“Heaven’s
name!” Ephiny says in the scolding voice both women were expecting. “I really
wish you wouldn’t do that.”
“Sorry,”
Gabrielle apologizes with all the sincerity of the fox caught coming out of the
hen house.
“Liar,” Ephiny
replies in a voice that doesn’t totally hide her amusement.
“Come on you
two,” Xena says throwing an arm over each woman’s shoulder. “Let’s go home.”
THE END
OF “DUALITY OF HOPE AND DESPAIR”