Chapter 1
Xena traveled the well worn road through the green canopy of trees. Her ears picked up the soft burbling sound of a good sized brook nearby and decided to stop for a break. She led Argo to the side of the road and let out a tired sigh as she dismounted, stretching out her stiff muscles with a soft groan. It was a beautiful day with a nice, cool, gentle breeze. Perfect weather for riding, but she had already been on the road for the past four candle marks since sun up and it was time for a well deserved break. So far, she was making good time. She had told Gabrielle that she could expect her to be in Larissa a little past noon today; a lengthy lunch break would not cut into her time frame. She led the mare through the trees for a bit before they came upon the small brook. "Here we go girl," she said with a smile, turning to untack the bridle. To her amusement, Argo turned and snorted at her impatiently, while eyeing the refreshingly cool-looking water. "Don't you take that tone with me or I'll just leave your saddle on for our break. The mare remained quiet while Xena finished relieving her of the cumbersome items, immediately making her way to the brook without so much as a thank you snort. "You're welcome," Xena huffed with a resentful scowl. She shook her head and grabbed her water skin, following at an easier pace. The brook wasn't too big; just barely large enough to wade through. She scanned the area as she filled her waterskin. Her eyes wandered over the banks and surrounding scenery, allowing herself to relax when she sensed no imminent danger. A contented smile grazed her lips for a moment and then vanished when she spotted an outstretched arm on the ground from behind a group of large boulders. Her breath caught in alarm and within moments, she ran along the small embankment, quickly forgetting the waterskins and kneeling beside a young teenaged looking girl. Her jet black hair was a tangled, matted mess, with dried blood partially covering a long, nasty gash on her scalp. The thick blood had run down her face and neck, leaving any to wonder if the wound was, in fact, lethal. Her face was colored with bruises from a black eye, and bruised jaw, to a gash on the bridge of her nose and a split lip. Her light blue linen tunic was tattered and torn and covered in blood and dirt. In her left hand, she tightly held on to a black staff. Xena gingerly grabbed the girls wrist and felt for her pulse. She let out a quick breath of relief when she felt the gentle push against her fingertips. "Hey," she gently murmured with a soft shake.
The low velvet voice drifted into the depths of her consciousness, pulling her to the surface. She groaned painfully. Gods it felt like she had been hit by a chariot and dragged a few miles. "Kid, are you okay?" She let out a soft groan. Her head throbbed mercilessly as her memories seeped back. Her eyes snapped open. Those cutthroat bastards had attacked her! She couldn't remember how many there had been or if she had gotten them all, it was all too fuzzy. Finally taking note of the warrior woman before her, she suddenly sat up in alarm and gasped at the searing pain in her ribs. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on there, you're in pretty bad shape. Lie down for a bit," Xena said with concern, putting her hand on her shoulder and trying to ease her back down, but the girl was having none of it. She was caught by surprise as the young teen expertly knocked her hands away, rolled onto her side, and stood up in an ungraciously swift motion. So ungracious, she nearly stumbled back to the ground if not for a well placed staff that kept her balanced. Xena stared at her incredulously before narrowing her eyes. The little stunt took more energy than the girl possessed and yet there she stood, pale and gasping under the agony of what she could only guess to be broken ribs. She leaned heavily against her weapon and assessed her own injuries through the various and degreeing points of pain on her body. Xena rose and watched her curiously as she lifted her shirt to look down at her torso, noting the dark bruising on her ribcage and a shallow cut across her stomach which she tentatively grazed with her fingertips.
"A lucky strike." She smirked with amusement before looking back to the warrior woman. The comment was barely a whisper but Xena's sharp hearing picked it up without effort. Curiosity then turned to disturbed wonder. The conceit in the girl's smirk spoke volumes. Turning with a slight limp, a set of vibrant green eyes struggled to focus on her.
"It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you," Xena tried, taking a step closer. The girl seemed about ready to collapse again as she swayed unsteadily but somehow remained upright.
"Get away from me!" she spat, still trying to focus on the tall woman before her. Xena held her hands up peacefully. She hadn't come across anyone this aggressive in a long time and the fact that this was a child had her genuinely concerned.
"I'm only trying to help, I promise. I found you passed out and thought you were dead." The girl blinked as her sight slowly came into focus. The woman's bright blue eyes regarded her with concern, however, the brown leather corset with fancy bronze armor and sword strapped to her back did nothing to convince her of such intentions.
"I'm fine," she snipped, and before Xena could say another word, the girl abruptly turned and limped away, leaving her blinking in surprise.
"Your wounds need cleaning and medicine, plus that head wound is gonna need some stitches. I can help you," she said, taking a few steps towards the girl. The girl tensed, reacting to the footsteps that followed her too closely and she suddenly stopped and spun around. Xena took a breath as her gaze met with a very familiar, green glare she didn't think to place.
"I did not ask for your help," she said sharply. "Now leave me alone, and do not follow me." Xena stopped abruptly and raised an eyebrow as the girl turned and continued on. Only two things were clear to her at the moment as she watched the girl make her way through the thick brush. One; the girl was a fighter. Her reactions said it all. The way she maneuvered herself out of her grasp and how she was aware of her proximity to her when she followed behind her were tell's of a fighter. Two; she was hiding something. She'd come across some hostile kids but, usually, some words were said in between introductions and condescending attitude. Even Tara and Amarice weren't this bad. She smiled softly at the fond memories the girls brought.
"Argo, come here girl," she called with a mischievous smile. Oh, she had no intention of following the girl, but she had some ideas to find out what was going on. Normally, she'd let something like this slip through her fingers but the fact she was so young and badly hurt; she needed to be sure the girl was safe before she left her alone.
She shut her eyes tightly as she felt the rib snap and the pain rippled through her body, dropping her to her hands and knees. Instantly, all was quiet and what she was so sure to be the sounds of fighting, were replaced by songbirds and gently rustling tree branches. The ground beneath the palms of her hands felt very much like grass. Still gasping from the pain, she looked up and blinked. The view before her was a worn road through a lush, green tunnel. How in Tartarus did she get here? By the pain she felt, and the way her wounds bled, she knew she had just been in a fight but, looking around, there was no one in sight. She tried to remember what happened, but there was no memory there to recall. Nothing was making sense….. her wounds were fresh, yet there was no one around. She dabbed the side of her face and looked at her fingers as she felt a slow sticky, warmth, flowing down. Blood. Still oozing. A soft nicker called to her and she looked back at her huge black warhorse. A flash of searing pain came and went before she could cradle her head. "Atlas," she whispered in recognition. She winced at the sharp pain in her knee as she slowly rose to her feet and limped over to grab the reins of the horse. "Hey there, old boy. How'd you get here?" she asked, petting his nose as she perked her ears for any sounds. There seemed to be a stream nearby where she could clean her wounds. On her way there, she found a small clearing that she decided she would use as a campsite, considering, it was almost sunset.
After a quick cleanup at the stream, she had been able to inspect all of her wounds, including old, horrible looking, and even deadly scars she held in question. She went about setting up camp and found it more exhausting than she had imagined it would be. Night came quickly as she sat in front of the campfire for a rest, letting the rabbit she had snared, cook in the small pot she found in one of her bags. Atlas stood nearby, dozing off. It was getting very dark but her frustrations kept her awake late into the night. Why couldn't she remember anything! She sniffed and clenched her fist in irritation. She had no memories of anything except for her horse. The same questions spun around in her head for hours, with no answers. A deep exhaustion began to weigh on her mind, lulling her into darkness; She never felt her eyes close.
Her eyes snapped open when she heard a loud whinny, only in time to feel a blow to the head which failed to knock her out but instead left her dazed. She slumped over feeling the hot blood begin to stream down her face again. "Knock her out, you idiot!" She didn't get a chance to turn around when she felt a blow to the back of her head, followed by darkness.
Hours later, she slowly regained consciousness to the sound of the thugs talking amongst themselves. She tried shifting around only to be met with resistance across her chest and arms. Looking down, she realized they had tied her to a tree. With an annoyed sigh, she lifted her head to inspect her captors. There were six of them, mostly young men. Riff-raff, if she recognized any, trying to prove their worth as men only to cater to a life of delinquency. It was mid-morning now. She looked up to try and see the position of the sun but the trees were too dense to get a good look at the sky. "This stew is good. Maybe we should keep her around? She'd be good for-"
"No. We eat her food, take her things, and have a little fun before we finish her off. That's it. I'm not about to make life complicated by dragging around a wench." She ignored their 'small talk'. Even that bit about having 'fun' with her. They could have been planning to rule the world for all she cared, in the end, they would be of no consequence to her. Instead she looked around for her horse. Atlas was nowhere in sight but she knew he was around, waiting for her. Despite being a warhorse, he could certainly be a coward sometimes! That or he was simply too lazy to help his perfectly capable master. Either way, he was in hiding for sure. She absently wondered where he might have gone. After having noticed she was awake, they checked the ropes to make sure she was secured and continued their conversation by the fire. For what felt like hours, she listened to those idiots, talking. They never noticed her cutting the ropes with a small sharp stone she found.
"Well lets hurry up and get our bit of fun. It's getting close to noon now." The men began chuckling, trying to decide who went first. By this time, the girl had already cut through the ropes and simply waited, calmly. She could hear the men laugh and cheer as they sent their first man. Apparently, he won the right by the sounds of it. "Get on with it then, Loukanos! Don't keep the rest of us waiting!" She heard the stumbling footsteps as he was, no doubt, shoved in her direction. She looked up as he approached her and leaned down with a smile. He didn't seem much older than herself. A sobering thought as she considered his mortality. He might have even been handsome with his sandy hair and blue eyes if not for his filthy…..everything. "Time for fun," he leered, licking his lips. She smiled back sweetly, causing him to pause. It was then that she quickly jabbed her palm into his nose with a satisfying crunch and reached for his sword. He hadn't even recovered when she ran it between his collar into his body. Time froze for an uncalculated eternity, as she pondered at the casual way she could take a life. It was reflex and yet more than that. It was not just her muscle memory but her mindset and process was simplified and primal, in the moment. No thoughts, no emotions, just actions. Time unfroze and rushed into a moment of intense self awareness as she took a deep breath. She pulled out the sword with a soft gushing sound. The men immediately turned at the sound of his body dropping to the ground and shouted in alarm, quickly jumping up and pulling out their swords. She calmly straightened up, baring her teeth in an amused grin and twirled the sword in excitement. Even with her injuries, the men were easy to dispatch. She found herself mostly sidestepping, and deflecting. They practically impaled themselves onto her blade. If it wasn't for the wounds she already had, she would have been pouting in boredom. However, the last one was a bit heavy. He ran at her like a fool, and though he was dead before he reached the hilt of her blade, he toppled right onto her. She screamed out in agony as he landed beautifully onto her broken rib. Tears blurred her vision as she struggled to push the big lump off. After a few minutes of struggling, she finally managed to stand, cradling her side. The pain was unbearable! She staggered into the camp and picked up her staff to lean on while trying to get a good breath of air. It was a seemingly impossible task, as every breath brought a stab of pain with it. She decided to try and walk it off. The darkness ebbed at her vision, but thankfully, didn't encroach. She had walked until she found the small stream from earlier and sighed with relief. The cold water would certainly be a comfort to her injuries. She made her way to sit on the boulders near it before tripping over a half buried stone, once again falling straight onto her ribs and knocking out the air in her lungs. She curled up onto her side and let that insistent darkness embrace her.
The girl walked into the small clearing where she had made camp and took in a deep breath. "What in Tartarus am I gonna to do now?" she mumbled to herself. The six bodies littered the camp in a bloody mess, just as she had left them. "Can't say it's nice seeing you bunch of idiots again, though your disposition is convenient. It gives me less to worry about," she spoke to the dead bodies as she approached the nearest one, crouching down and searching the pockets. She pulled out a small coin purse and a nice little black and gold dagger, no doubt it must have belonged to a rich or nobleman. All of its jewels were missing, leaving it pretty plain looking. She pocketed the items and grabbed the heavy man by the collar of his shirt, dragging him to the tree where she had been tied. "By the God's, you're heavy!" She paused, panting lightly as she leaned over to rub her aching knee. She kneeled down and searched the first man she had killed as well, finding another small coin purse, two more daggers, and a small silver pendant tied with a leather cord around his neck. She ignored the dull ache in her head as she eyed the small necklace. It had a lion's head symbol on it that seemed very familiar but the more she focused on it the more intense her head ached. "Dead men need nothing but a burial," she said, relenting on placing any more thought on the symbolic pendant. She pulled the necklace over her head. "Too bad you won't be getting one from me. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone deserves a burial, even vile filth like you idiots, but as banged up as I am, well, you'll have to do without one," she spoke to the dead men casually, as she continued to search their pockets. It suddenly dawned on her how strange it must seem to talk to the dead and made a quiet mental note to keep this kind of bad habit to herself. She jolted up as she heard the snap of a twig and quickly grabbed one of the dead men's swords. It must be that warrior woman she left back by the river bank. "Why don't people listen?" she asked herself quietly as she hid in some thick bushes nearby, keeping an eye on the clearing as she waited.
AN: Before the bad reviews hit the comments, hear me out! I know 'the girl' hasn't been named. She doesn't have a name. This is intentional! She will not be named throughout the story until the end. The reasons will slowly come to light as you continue on =) I hope my writing entertains you well enough, as this is my first fanfic, Comments and constructive criticism are welcomed!