Part II:

Chapter Three

Xena's arm ached. The woven bandage gripped her arm and she wondered if the healer was indeed just another pawn meant to kill her. Why had they let her live? She remembered the enraged Callisto ranting above her and the light beaming off of the crazy woman's sword blinding her just as it struck her arm. Gabrielle's screams had overpowered even Xena's own. Before the crazy woman's blade could part Xena's heart from her chest the slave girl's body had blanketed her. Gabrielle begged Callisto to stop.

Back in the present, Xena leaned her head against the cold cell bars. In the distance she heard a commotion and the sound of two people talking. Maybe the guard? Maybe she would finally get her last meal, she thought.

"Najara ordered you on deck," came a faint voice.

"This time o' night?" the guard replied. "What for?"

"Look, do you want me to stand guard for you as I was commanded or not?" came the faint voice again, a little louder this time.

"Fine, but don't disturb the Roman bitch."

Xena turned her head, following the shadows cast on the hallway walls as the guard exited. Creaking floorboards followed and soon the shadow was upon her cell. She squinted her eyes against the light of a candle and barely made out the face of the slave girl.

"Girl?" Xena asked, her voice weak and hoarse.

"Xena!" Gabrielle immediately fell to her knees beside her. "I'm so sorry! I don't even know where to begin. Are you okay?"

Xena swiftly jerked her head away. "I'm alive. For now," she said through gritted teeth.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Najara is keeping you alive until tomorrow. She's going to ask for you to join with her or be shown to the 'light'… which I've gathered means killing you," Gabrielle spoke frantically.

Xena clenched her jaw. "Why are you telling me this, girl?"

Gabrielle froze and swallowed hard. "I have a plan to get you out of here-to get us out of here."

"You are the reason that I am here at all," Xena said sourly, finally catching eyes with the girl. "Why did you protect me on deck before? Why would you save me, if that meant putting yourself at risk? You could be free, girl. You're free now," she spat. "Out of Potadeia and free; isn't this exactly what you've always wanted?"

The girl slowly shook her head. "My heart told me to."

A wave of déjà-vu washed over Xena, recalling why the girl protecting her seemed so familiar, recalling a time long past when another had risked everything to save her… for what appeared no reason at all. The girl continued to speak frantically and quickly broke her trance.

"Xena, by the gods… Xena, you have to believe me. I didn't know-I didn't know this was going to happen. Just let me explain."

"You can't expect this to change anything, girl."

"Fine, but hear me out," she pleaded.

The former empress shrugged and motioned to her chains. "I suppose I don't have a choice."

"That day you sent me to Ephiny's hut-and after she taught me to dance-I went to bathe. In the woods, I saw those two women. I overheard their conversation and I don't even know what they were saying, but it must have meant something to them. Before I knew it Callisto had me pinned to the ground with a dagger pressed to my throat. If it hadn't been for Najara she would've killed me."

Xena pressed her attention into the wooden floorboards underneath her. She didn't have much sympathy for the girl now, let alone that Najara had saved her life. A surge of jealousy rushed through her gut as Gabrielle continued to speak.

"I told her that I was Caesar's slave and Najara said that she would have me freed. Gods, Xena, it was all such a blur. I walked around in the woods for a good two or three candlemarks after that, hoping to somehow come into a sense of stability again. My body was still shaking when I returned to Ephiny's hut. Sure, she didn't believe my story about a long walk but she didn't question me anymore. Then, you came to take me back..."

Xena remembered this part well… that was the night that this girl became her slave. The night that the girl had relinquished herself into Xena's care. The girl belonged to her. Xena looked up and into Gabrielle's shadow-cast eyes. "I remember."

Gabrielle paused and stared down at her hands. "I don't know why I didn't say something. I can't say I forgot, but Hades, I was just so happy to be yours. Maybe it was a subconscious thing-I don't know. Maybe I was too afraid to tell you."

A sad smirk came upon Xena's face and she felt the subtle burning of tears in her eyes. "You were mine. And I never hurt you. Not ever."

"Please, you have to believe me when I say I care about you," Gabrielle pleaded. She reached out and put her hand on Xena's cheek. "I would never do anything to harm you, Xena. If it hadn't been for you, I would have died in Rome, and you know it. When I woke up on this ship, you were the first thing on my mind. I thought you were dead. By the gods, at least you're alive Xena. As long as you're alive, I can still get redeem myself to you. I promise I will make things right again. I promise."

Xena's eyes bore into the darkness, the warmth of the girl's palm on her cheek stirring heat throughout her body. She took a deep breath and met her former slave's pleading gaze. "Tell me your plan then."

x.x.x

The noon sun beat down on the deck of the ship. Prisoners taken captive from the raid on Rome lined the center of the deck in chains. Former slaves and Najara's men encircled the perimeter awaiting the spectacle. Apparently all of Najara's men had once been in the same position. Gabrielle accompanied Najara as she commenced the light ceremony.

"Brothers and sisters of the light! Today, you witness the end to your journey as slaves as your master's whip is forever silenced by the lashing of our own!" Najara bellowed, her arms rose in triumph, a sword bracing her waist and a whip gripped in her hand.

The crowd cheered. Random voices in the midst cried to see the blood of their masters upon the ship's floor.

"But first, we must do as the Gin command," she said, hushing the crowd back into attention. "First, our prisoners have a chance to forever turn from the darkness—they get a chance to embrace the light!"

The former slaves looked on without cheering while Najara's men stood stoic.

"They don't seem to like that idea," Gabrielle whispered.

Najara shook her head. "It must be done."

The first prisoner looked up as Najara spoke. "You will never have my word," he spat at the floor. "I am an Egyptian. I am Cleopatra's personal escort!"

The Egyptian guard's dark skin cracked with the red lines of cuts at the hands of Najara's men. His eyes held no fear for death and they never left the crusader's gaze.

"You will not submit to the light of the Gin?" Najara asked, carelessly. "It is your only chance for redemption… the only the Gin offer outside of death."

"Then kill me you fucking bitch!" the Egyptian yelled.

Without hesitation Najara's free hand found her blade and sliced the prisoner's throat.

Gabrielle screeched and turned her head away as the man's limp torso dropped to the floorboards, blood pouring from his neck toward her feet. She swallowed down the sick feeling in her throat and tried to hold back the sting of tears in her eyes. For the briefest of moments her gaze met Xena's piercing blue eyes from down the line. Xena nodded and even risked a weak smile and wink.

The crowd lifted into continuous uproar as Najara's blade tore down the line of prisoners, all but two accepting the 'privilege' of life under Najara and the Gin's command. Blood smeared across the deck; footprints from the guards who had dragged the bodies away lead to the side of the ship. That is where Gabrielle found herself after the first twelve deaths, lurching over the side.

The warmth of someone's palm on her back raised her from her depressed spell. "You okay, sis?"

Gabrielle wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned to Lila. "All this death… it's just not fair."

"The Roman woman… did she hurt you like they all say?" Lila asked softly. "Seeing her death might mend old wounds."

When Gabrielle met Lila's eyes she saw something she never expected to see: lust for blood. "No Lila, Xena never—" she stopped herself. Surprised to be in a place where she could not even trust her sister with the truth, she clenched her jaw and slammed her fist against the top of the railing. "She never stopped hurting me, Lila. Ever."

"As was my master, Barillas," Lila began. "A sour old warlord with nothing but cunt on his mind… his hands always upon me." She took a deep breath and her voice grew weary. "His death today at Najara's hand—it lifted the pain. To see his tongue cut from his mouth and know that he has finally tasted the blood of my revenge."

A well of guilt built inside Gabrielle's stomach and she turned away to again throw up off the side of the ship. Her entire body shuddered and she couldn't fight the tears. What had she done? "I'm so sorry, Lila."

Suddenly, a loud cheer from the crowd shook the air. "Kill the Roman bitch!" the onlookers cried.

Gabrielle walked quickly toward the circle and busted through the crowd. Najara had begun her questioning of Xena.

"You will never win," Xena spat at Najara's feet. "Rome will come for you."

The crowd burst into laughter and boos.

A smirk came to Najara's lips. "Submit to the will of the Gin or find yourself overboard with the rest of your kind," she said confidently while pointing the end of her blade to Xena's throat.

Gabrielle placed an urgent hand on Najara's shoulder. "Don't kill her," she said, her voice demanding.

"If you can't handle the blood, go below deck… darling," Najara said sternly, her eyes never leaving Xena.

"No," Gabrielle said willfully. "Give me the whip. I would see to the Gin's will. But I would do it myself."

The crowd grew silent.

Najara's eyes turned from Xena, pulling her sword away from the former empress's throat. "You would do this? Your first kill?"

Gabrielle took the sword and whip from Najara's grasp, her eyes determined and focused. "She tortured me. I would see the same done to her before I rip her heart from her chest," she said with strength in her voice. "Chain her up."

Najara smiled and motioned for her guards to do as commanded.

Once Xena had been chained, standing away from the crowd with her arms tied above her head, Gabrielle approached her from behind. She ran the tips of her fingers against Xena's skull and clutched a wad of the warrior's black hair in her hand. She swallowed and yanked her hair back, slowing whispering into Xena's ear, "forgive me, Empress."

Xena couldn't help but smile at that. "Don't hold back, girl."

Gabrielle backed up so she was again at Najara's side. She raised the whip above her head and cracked it down upon Xena's back. A wail followed every strike and Gabrielle tried to do as Xena commanded and give it her all with every lash.

"You are worthless!" Gabrielle cried as her whip called for blood. With each of Xena's wails of pain Gabrielle focused to maintain her resolve. With every lash, Xena's tone became more jagged, more inflamed, as did the wounds painting the warrior's back.

Gabrielle recalled the first time she saw Xena's naked back in her bathing chamber on the day they first met. The inception of what would become something more than master and slave but something less than friends; tainted by the elevation of Xena's station, tainted by the existence of Roman law itself. She wished she knew more about her. She wished she knew who inflicted the first scars that maimed her former empress' beautiful skin. She wished she was not the one who was reopening these old wounds. Yet, another lash found its way to Xena's back. And another. And another. She hoped that Xena could embrace the pain long enough to fulfill their plan of escape.

"You took me from my family!" Gabrielle cried as she whipped Xena's back again. "You're worthless! The Gin don't even want you to surrender!"

Xena cried again, her body limp against the chains with blood dripping down her back to the wooden floor. "You're wrong girl!" She said between coughing. She threw her head back, seeming to revel in her next words, "I didn't take you from your family… I merely had my use for you in Rome. You were not the first girl to suffer at my hands. But… I do know the name of the slaver Caesar bought you from."

Gabrielle paused for a moment, glancing over to Najara and back again. "Who?" she asked.

Xena laughed, a sound bordering on maniacal. "He's a warlord. I used to run with his clan before I came to Rome… "

Gabrielle looked cautiously to her sister who burst through the crowd.

"He must be the man that slaughtered our village!" Lila yelled, the redness of tears forming in her eyes.

Gabrielle grasped her sister's shoulders as she shook with sobs.

"He murdered mother and father…" Lila cried, falling to her knees and cradling her head in her hands.

Gabrielle bent down with Lila and ran her hands through her hair. She glanced up at Najara, the strength of fresh rage behind her gaze. "We must do something, Najara."

Najara shook her head and yelled to Xena. "From where does he hail?"

Xena spit blood to the floor and looked back at them. "I can take you to him."

Najara approached Xena and looked down at the beaten woman. "Why are you telling us this now?"

Xena smirked and looked up at the crusader through half-lidded eyes. "The Gin have a use for me, Najara. They want me to live. This man… Draco… is an elusive warlord. He never leaves camp and only responds to his allies. I can take you to him."

"We need to keep her alive!" Gabrielle yelled. "She can take me to my revenge…" she reached out for Najara's hand. "Please, this must be a sign from the Gin. I must kill the warlord Draco."

The crusader clutched Gabrielle's hand and after a moment of silence she leaned in to kiss her lips. "You will have your revenge, my love," she said softly. Then she roared to the crowd. "We will have the head of the warlord Draco! Through him we will free more slaves… and one of our own shall make brutal amends!" She shot her and Gabrielle's hand up in the air in victory and the crowd of freed slaves bellowed in applause.

Gabrielle caught eyes with Xena after the kiss she shared with Najara, heat still warming her cheek. Her former empress shot her a half-hearted smile but quickly averted her gaze. Silently, Gabrielle made plans to visit her again tonight.

Najara motioned for her guards and commanded, "Take her below deck!"

x.x.x.

Hours passed and still the celebration on the ship raged. Gabrielle sat on deck with Najara's arms around her at all times. Najara's hot lips tasted of ale and merriment. Even Lila stumbled from person-to-person passing along cups of stolen Cestian wine. Yet, Xena was all that occupied Gabrielle's thoughts. She imagined Xena's beaten form lying in agony on the cold wooden floor of her cell—because while Najara allowed her to live it was clear that Xena's death was imminent. Xena, still a captive, and Gabrielle, still Najara's pet.

Gabrielle shook her head at the thought and raised her cup of wine to her lips. There was cause for celebration—they were both still alive, thanks to her plan. And now it was just a matter of waiting for them to dock on the shores of Greece. Once there, escaping from Najara and her men would be possible—even easy.

Lila broke Gabrielle's thoughts as she stumbled into the table and fell into her chair laughing. Her mouth, now purple from the wine, mumbled out a joke and again burst into laughter. Najara joined her in the celebration and lifted her cup to cheers. How was Gabrielle going to convince Lila that Najara was the true villain? It didn't seem possible, given Lila's blood thirsty reaction to Najara's execution of over a dozen slave owners and disciples.

"Ya know, Gabrielle," Lila muttered. "You and Najara. You're beautiful together."

Najara's wide smile brightened and she lifted her cup again in cheers, this time insisting Gabrielle join in the toast. "To Gabrielle, the 'light' of my world. May we always find peace in each other's arms."

The younger blond forced a smile and raised her glass, an unwanted blush ever reddening her face. "To Najara, for showing mercy today—for allowing our revenge," she said, taking Lila's hand in her own. "And to Lila, for forgiving her sister."

Lila narrowed her eyebrows, raised the drink to her lips, and then suddenly laid her head on the table. Within moments, a small snore arose from her deep-breathing form.

Gabrielle reached out to stroke her sister's long brown hair. The wine was starting to take its toll on her senses and the well of guilt that she felt in her sister's presence overflowed and without warning hot tears stung her cheek.

Najara kissed the tears as they rolled down and brought Gabrielle face to meet her own. "You don't deserve these tears. Draco is the menace."

"No," Gabrielle said hopelessly. "I did this to her. I ran away. Draco and his men found her and mother and father because I led them to my village as I fled."

Gabrielle drank down the rest of the wine in her cup and abruptly stood. "I need to—"

Najara stood as she did and pulled her into her arms. "I'm here to fix this. That's what my crusade is all about, Gabrielle." The younger woman broke down in sobs and clutched Najara's shoulders. She had forgotten how good it felt to be held. "I am here to make sure that no one ever takes advantage of the innocent ever again."

Within an hour, Gabrielle was in Najara's bedchamber, lying naked across her sheets while Najara's mouth explored her untouched body. Instinctually, the crusader's tongue elicited tingles all over her, but as the moment bore on thoughts of Xena vexed enjoyment. Before the crusader's tongue could slip between her legs, Gabrielle suddenly sat up and hurled over the side of the bed.

x.x.x.

"You smell like wine, girl," Xena said with a small smile on her lips. Xena slowly scooted herself up into a seated position, gently leaning her inflamed back against the coolness of the wall. "Mm… that actually feels good."

With a jingling of keys, Xena watched as the bars opened and the girl let herself inside the cell. She collapsed to the floor and immediately swung her arms around Xena's neck. Hot tears poured onto the nape of her neck and she instinctively brought the girl into a tight embrace. She decided she would wait to ask her how she'd come into possession of her cell key.

"Hey now… what's going on? I'm okay," Xena said in a hushed voice.

The girl shook her head and Xena caught another whiff of wine on her lips.

"I think you might have had too much to drink, girl," she said wearily, pulling the girl's face from her neck. Even with swollen eyes she was still beautiful. While trust had not been fully restored between them, Xena's heart leapt as the girl moved into kiss the side of her face. Xena bowed her head and pulled the girl's face away. She repeated, "I think you've had too much to drink, girl."

The girl's face sunk down in tears and her long blonde hair covered her face. "I'm so sorry, Xena… I can't believe I did this to you."

Xena silently laughed at her initial thought. She couldn't believe the girl had done this to her either—turned her into a blubbering fool with a crush on a common girl from Potadeia. But she decided to keep that little tidbit to herself. "I'm alive because of you."

Gabrielle shook her head. "No, I did this to you. Just like I did this to Lila. My entire village is dead or enslaved because I wanted to have adventures, tell stories, live in a dream!" She paused to clear her throat and move the hair from her face. "Xena—I am the reason you're now at the mercy of a crazy woman… I have so much guilt that I don't even care that even after everything, I might as well call Najara "empress.""

The thought struck a violent cord. If anything, Xena had imagined the girl's life would have been full of splendor given her close relationship with the crusader. She wondered, "Does she hurt you?"

The girl reduced to tears again, her upper body shaking. "I almost had sex with her, Xena."

A surge of jealousy winded tightly around Xena's chest. She opened her mouth to speak but words failed her. Her mind screamed, 'You are mine, you're supposed to be mine!' but her clenched jaw ensured her raging thoughts did not burst into speech.

"I couldn't do it. I mean, yeah, she's beautiful Xena—and while her methods may be flawed, her motives are pure," the girl rambled.

This only further fueled Xena's tempered anger. "The ends should not justify the means."

"I know, Xena, I know—but ultimately no matter what I couldn't go through with it," the girl said, purposefully averting her eyes. "When I dream, she's not the person I belong to."

Xena allowed herself a tender moment, moved by the girl's sudden change in disposition. The wine might have induced her current state but the truth remained. She reached out and brushed a tear from under the girl's eye, finally embracing her gaze. "Everyone deserves to have their dreams, Gabrielle," Xena spoke quietly.

"Xena—you just said my name," Gabrielle said, tears drying. "How… what changed?"

"Let me tell you a story this time, Gabrielle," Xena said softly, her hands falling back to her sides. "Years ago, after Caesar betrayed me and left his mark on me, I came upon a village. I entered into a large crowd, likely some kind of harvest festival. The men of the village had heard of me—they knew I was a warlord that had terrorized nearby villages. So in my weakened state, they beat me until I had no fight left. They were going to kill me. And then, out of the chaos a teen girl threw herself over me. She screamed 'Don't kill her Daddy! Don't kill her." Two of the men began fighting each other and while the drunks were distracted she dragged me to the edge of her village… she led me to safety. When I asked her why she would save a criminal, her only response was, 'my heart told me to.' That was the last time I ever saw her—or so I thought."

Xena's palm felt Gabrielle's heartbeat rage on the side of her neck.

"Little did I know that same girl would save my life again years later… more than once."

Gabrielle took a deep breath and stared, stunned, back into Xena's eyes. "I can't believe that was you. I can't believe it. I've been hoping to meet you again my whole life."

Xena allowed herself a smile and took Gabrielle's hand in her own. "I owe you my life more times than I hope to ever have to repay you. From this day forth, Gabrielle, I am in your debt," she said and bowed he head in severance.

Xena felt a tingle in her arm as Gabrielle's fingertips traced up her forearm to her shoulders, and finally to her neck and face. She kept her head bowed until the smell of wine from Gabrielle's lips again flooded her senses. A rush of heat pulsed between the two of them, a rhythm, a cord finally to be strum.

"Xena, since the day I met you, you've been in my heart," Gabrielle said, her breath on Xena's cheek.

Xena took a deep breath in an attempt to dispel what she might have called magic encircling them. Doubt crept in again and again, replaying her betrayal, replaying her kiss with Najara, replaying the night they met in Potadeia, replaying the night she entered her bedchamber as her slave, replaying all of the lives she'd taken, replaying Gabrielle's tears as Najara slit the throats of slave traders. "You don't want this, Gabrielle. I am only going to hurt you."

Gabrielle nudged Xena's chin up so that she could meet her gaze. Their noses nearly touching, her hands on Xena's neck and their shared breath ragged with desire, Gabrielle spoke the only words Xena needed to hear, "I love you, Xena… at the very least, you owe me this."