Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters here that appear in the hit syndicated TV Show, Xena: Warrior Princess. I do, however, own any and all original characters.
Summary: Eve has a secret, and it will cost her everything to keep it safe.
My Callisto
By
Nikki Brin
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Chapter 1: Secrets, Secrets are no Fun…Xena flicked a carrot across the table at Gabrielle, who rolled her eyes and picked up a fork. "Will you stop that, please?" asked the bard as she shoved the eating utensil towards her companion. Some days the warrior could be as bad as a five-year-old child, at times even worse.
The warrior took the fork from the bard and stared at it thoughtfully for a second or two, unconsciously kicking her feet under the table. "Am I always going to be this paranoid?" she asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
Gabrielle held in a chuckle. "Xena, you're worried about your child. There's nothing wrong with that." She grinned at the pout resting on her soul mate's face. Years of showing the warrior how to pout had really paid off. She was SO cute!
"If you say so..." replied Xena with a deep sigh. She hadn't planned on being worried like this after leaving Africa. The mix-up with Korah in the desert had left them both in need of some more time alone, yet no matter what they did she still couldn't get her mind off her daughter unless Gabrielle was finding a way to keep her busy.
The bard grinned and kissed Xena on the cheek sympathetically. She worried about Eve too, but not half as much as her warrior friend. Sometimes it was downright embarrassing. Just the day before Xena had walked right up to a total stranger, thinking she was Eve and tapped her on the shoulder, saying 'There you are!'
"How about we send a scroll to her and Virgil, huh?"
"I guess," muttered Xena with a shrug. She popped a tomato into her mouth.
"You are too cute when you're sad," teased the bard, hugging the tall warrior.
"Har-har... what the?" Xena all but jumped from her seat and went over to the tavern door, peeking outside timidly.
Gabrielle shook her head. "What are you doing now, Tall Dark and Motherly?" She snickered at that title, which she had given the warrior not too long ago.
Xena clamped a hand over the bard's mouth, her personal way of saying 'SH!!' "It's Eve and Virgil! Look!" cried the warrior anxiously.
The bard stood up on her tiptoes and followed Xena's gaze to across the road. Sure enough, there were Eve and Virgil, talking in the middle of the marketplace. More like Virgil was talking and Eve was listening with a sad puppy dog look plastered on her face. He was frowning, angrily poking his finger at her, while she was obviously pleading with him over something. And, considering their luck, that couldn't be good.
"What're they doing?" asked Gabrielle after biting Xena's hand to make her let go.
Xena idly rubbed her palm and shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"
"Well, let's go see," said the bard, prancing out into the street before Xena could stop her.
"Gabrielle! No!" Xena pushed open the door and began weaving through the crowd after her friend desperately.
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"I can't tell you, Virgil. Please, just let me be for a week or so."
"Eve, your mother left me in charge of you. She'll rip me limb from limb with her bare hands if I let you go off without so much as a good explanation." He clenched and unclenched his jaw irritably. "All I need is a simple sentence about what you're gonna do."
Eve took a deep breath to contain the nervousness building in her stomach. "Look, I'll just send her a scroll telling her that I'm fine and you went home to check on your mother."
Virgil waved his arms around. "HELLO? Your mother is the most powerful warrior in the world right now! I'm more afraid of her than the gods! Why, you ask? Because she killed all of them! There's no way I'm getting sent to Tartarus along with all of Mount Olympus because you wanted some time to shop alone!"
The woman sighed and took his arm. "Fine then… come with me… but if you mention this to anyone I'll make you wish that Mother had ripped you into pieces and not me."
He let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to get his arms ripped off by the warrior princess anytime soon (Eve would never do that to him, right? Right?!) and stumbled after Eve. "Hey, slow down!"
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"Where'd they go?" asked Gabrielle, exasperated.
Xena finally caught up with the bard and looked around. "Will you stop asking me!?"
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Eve led Virgil into a building, then down a set of stairs and into a dark hallway. She grabbed a torch from the wall and they continued down the passage until they came to a large oak door. Eve took a moment to run her fingers over the pattern engraved in it, an eagle with a branch of hemlock in its beak.
Virgil curiously watched Eve caress the sign on the door, and then grunted as she yanked him closer and began to pull open the heavy door. The tall man helped her and soon they had they had it wide open.
"Oh my gods." Virgil stepped into the room with his mouth hanging down to his feet.
A large underground room had been dug underneath the village tavern! The walls were white marble. Expensive purple and blue banners hung everywhere. The floor was covered in pelts and rugs, making it lusciously soft to the touch. Almost royal furniture was spread about the room, their presence giving the room a forebodingly rich look. In one corner there was a large bed covered in elusive quilts, accompanied by a large bureau and full-size mirror. A washbasin sat next to the mirror, wonderful smelling soaps giving the air a pleasant aroma. In the other corner was a little bed and a massive pile of toys. And on that bed was a little girl, fast asleep. She had long, wheat-colored hair that pooled around her head, probably reaching down to her waist when she stood. Her pale skin was smooth and unmarked and her long limbs were slender. Virgil assumed that her eyes, moving rapidly underneath their lids, were blue.
Virgil caught Eve looking at the girl lovingly and a light bulb blinked on in his head. He may have been the son of Joxer, but he wasn't that stupid. "Is that… is that yours?"
Eve licked her lips nervously. "Um… yes?"
Virgil sat down. Quickly.
The short woman rolled her eyes and poked him in the leg with her toe. "I'll explain later."
"No, you'll explain right now, Missy! When you wouldn't tell me what was going on I—" He looked up to find Eve across the room, approaching the small girl. "—am being totally ignored, aren't I?" He got up and quietly followed Eve towards the little bed.
Eve sat down on the side of the bed and stroked the girl's hair gently. "Callie, time to wake up, honey."
Two large, sleepy blue eyes opened. "Mommy?"
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"They couldn't have just jumped into the ether and flown away!" cried Xena, throwing her arms up into the air. "Or maybe one of the gods took 'em... yeah, yeah! It was them all the way!"
Gabrielle shook her head. "Xena, what did I tell you about having hard ale on an empty stomach? You're drunk."
"No I'm not," stated the warrior defiantly. "If I were drunk, I'd be on the floor barfing, now wouldn't I? Hmm? That's what you always do at the Amazon parties."
Gabrielle continued to shake her head at the warrior. Unlike most people, when Xena got drunk her mind raced with ideas and she jabbered them all out loud. Her senses were sharper and her words weren't slurred. In short, the only was to tell if she was drunk was if she became a good conversationalist.
"I hafta get them. What if Virgil killed 'er? What if she killed him? What if they get together and get married and have kids and-"
Gabrielle slapped her friend across the face. "XENA! WAKE UP!"
The warrior blinked a few times. "Thanks… I needed that." She let her forehead drop to the table miserably. Some days things just didn't go her way. "Where's a god when you need one?"
"Well, Aphrodite is kind of mad about you killing Hephaestus and the other gods refuse to speak to us… so I think we're on our own," said the bard with a teasing smile.
Xena glared at her and sighed. "Okay, Miss Know-it-all, what do you suggest we do?"
"Leave your full-grown daughter alone for one. Stop worrying for two. And get outta this town for three. We've been here too long."
The warrior ran a hand through her hair. "Fine, but if anything has happened to either of them I'll—"
"We know, we know; you'll kill someone."
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Virgil sat in a chair on the other side of the room as he watched Eve and her daughter.
Her daughter...
That's kind of weird to think about, he thought to himself.
Studying the small girl, he came to a conclusion that she was about seven, give or take a year, maybe two. It was hard to tell exactly. Now that she was awake, Virgil's assumptions were proved correct: her eyes were the startling blue color that belonged only to the women of Xena's line. In fact, she was the mirror image of Eve except for her golden-blonde hair, which he guessed was a trait from her father.
Wait a minute. Who IS the father? he thought suspiciously. "Eve?"
Eve turned and frowned. "Yes?"
"Could I talk to you for a minute?"
The woman nodded and turned to her daughter. "I'll be right back, sweetie. Then we'll talk about your surprise, okay?"
Callie nodded and turned her shy blue eyes away from Virgil as her mother stood and went over to the man. She had never gotten to actually take the time to see a man up close. Her caretaker always dragged her through the marketplace so fast that she never got a clear look. Not that she didn't enjoy staying down in The Room. All her toys and things were down here. Besides, her caretaker let her play outside the village almost every day! As she studied Virgil, she decided right then and there that she liked him. Maybe he and Mother will take me with them! she thought hopefully.
Eve sat down next to Virgil in one of the expensive chairs and sighed. "What?" she asked impatiently, her blue eyes wanting so much to go play with her daughter more.
"Explain. Now."
The woman let out a deep breath and sat back in her chair. "You really want to know?"
Virgil crossed his arms and gave her a 'Don't-even-try-with-me' look.
"Okay, but where to start?" She ran her hands through her unruly hair. "Well, about seven or eight years ago I was on a campaign in Thrace…"
SEVEN YEARS AGOLivia ran her finger on the dotted line from Thrace to Helicon. "If we march under the cover of the mountains it will put us behind three days, but Helicon won't have a chance to defend themselves against a surprise attack from the foothills. The other two legions will take the western route from Thebes and meet us there the day before the attack. The main parts of the army will attack from three sides while my destroyers and battleships attack from the water. We'll crush them like a bug." She squished a piece of parchment in her hand to demonstrate her point. "Dismissed."
Her second in command, Dephon, nodded and left the tent.
As she poured over the map once again, running multiple scenarios through her head, her lieutenant entered and put a hand on his chest respectfully. "Yes, Cesarius?" she said without looking up.
"Commander Verus of the Spartan army is here and requests to see you, Ma'am."
Livia ran her tongue along the inside of her mouth thoughtfully. "Send him in, but take all his weapons and place them outside the tent as a safety precaution."
He nodded and exited the tent briefly, coming back in with a handsome man in shining silver armor. His hair was a light golden color, with deep hazel eyes that showed a level of intelligence not often found in Spartan men. With arms as big as tree trunks, he looked like a liable contestant for the Olympic games in Athens. A light tan rested on his handsome face, complimenting both his hair color and eye color.
Not that Livia gave him so much as a second glance. "Ah, Verus. I wasn't expecting you until next week. But then again, I guess those Greeks are giving you a run for your money, aren't they?" she said in Latin. She sat and began to scratch out a note on a scroll.
"They killed off half my troops during the night. I sent the rest home and came to make a deal with you in person, since you refuse to speak with any of my messengers." There was a hint of an accent in his voice; a Spartan/Macedonian accent, if that was possible.
Livia's ears perked up. "What would this 'deal' be about?" she asked, turning her blue eyes to his face, then looking back at her war map.
"I need safe transportation to Egypt. The mass of my army is camped just outside there but the Greeks won't let me get to the shoreline. I have no ships and, by myself, it would be too dangerous to hire a shipman."
"What will I receive in return if I assist you? My army is about to conquer Helicon; we have no spare time to waste on the unworthy."
He sighed and set his helmet on the table. "After this Sparta will take time to rebuild their army. I have about one thousand weapons ready but no men with the skill to use them. I also have many, many personal blacksmiths that would be happy to make any weapons you would like, given a certain limit."
Livia considered this for a moment. "Consider it done. Daemon will show you to your tent, and after my army takes Helicon we'll have a clear sea route to Egypt. I hope you can be as patient as they say, Verus."
Verus nodded and bowed at the waist respectfully. "As you wish, Milady."
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The next morning Livia went out hunting just to kill something and brush up on her bow technique, which wasn't too good when compared to her prowess with other weapons. The sun was just coming over the horizon to awaken the world. Squirrels began to come out of their burrows, young animals were out to play, and other animals as well as humans gave their welcome to the new day. She crept through the underbrush, carefully avoiding fallen leaves and branches. Her light footsteps only made a soft sound against the moist early-morning grass.
A doe bounded from the safety of the tall grass into the field, right in Livia's view.
The woman grinned and readied her bow and arrow. Just when she was about to shoot, the deer suddenly looked up and ran away. Livia turned to where the deer had saw danger and her mouth fell open. A bear was barreling down the field, roaring and slashing every which way. Its gleaming teeth were bared for all to see, the morning sun glinting off the saliva pouring from its mouth as the beast came right towards Livia. She dropped her quiver and bow and gulped. As the animal came closer she spotted something on its back.
"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" shouted Verus, holding onto the bear's thick fur in a death-grip. "Yeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaaaw!"
Livia's eyes were as wide as saucers as the bear came closer, childhood memories flashing through her head. She closed her frightened blue eyes and cowered back, grunting as a body hit hers and knocked her to the ground, then roughly yanked her up into a tree.
"Livia, open your eyes. Are you alright? Did I hurt you?" asked a voice, which Livia soon recognized as Verus's.
Livia looked up into concerned hazel eyes. "Oh gods… oh my gods… Verus, you are absolutely, positively insane!"
"But I saved your life despite being insane, didn't I?" pointed out the man with an amused grin.
The woman looked down at the bear below them, who was trying to climb the tree without much success. She shuddered.
Verus, noticing this, asked, "Do you have a fear of bears?"
Livia shook her head and suddenly noticed the position they were in. She was all but wrapped around him; her arms thrown around his neck, one leg hooked onto his, and their faces dangerously close together. With a disgusted look, she pushed herself away and sat on a higher branch. "When I was five my caretaker left me outside while she went to talk with one of my professors and I was attacked by a bear."
"How bad was it?"
Livia sighed and let her shawl drop, revealing an ivory shoulder. From the top of her collarbone down to the middle of her spine was a long, sallow scar; two shorter ones on either side. "I managed to get away before any more harm was done, but I still have that."
Verus nodded sympathetically. "Well, the famine is worse on the animals than it is on us and I plan to help this bear."
"What?"
The man pulled out Livia's quiver and bow. "I want you to shoot that deer over there."
Livia looked at him quizzically. "What?"
"Just shoot it."
She glanced at the deer, which was a good hundred feet away. A sharp breath left her mouth as she shook her head, put off. "I can't hit that!"
"Why not?"
"I'm not exactly Artemis, okay?"
Verus chuckled and moved onto the branch with her. He settled behind her and reached forward, not letting even innocent touches happen. "Just keep both eyes open and make sure all the things around you are right. Wind, underbrush, everything."
Livia nodded and pulled the bowstring taut, her eyes nervously darting from the bear to the deer. She closed her eyes and was about to let go, but Verus's smooth voice broke her thoughts.
"Both eyes open."
She opened her eyes and let the arrow fly, watching as it flew across the field...
And hit the deer.
Verus grinned and settled back into the branches comfortably. "You did it."
Livia's mouth hung open in shock. "How did you do that? I've never hit anything more than fifty feet away in my life!"
The man shrugged, then pointed down to the bear. It was slowly walking away, keeping one eye on the dead deer and the other on Verus and Livia. "See? It'll go for the easier prey and then she and her cubs will stay alive a little longer."
Fiery blue eyes looked him up and down curiously. "If you don't excuse my saying… you're different from most people, aren't you?"
Verus simply smiled and hopped down from the tree. "Come here."
Livia stared at his hand for a moment, then accepted it. "Where are we going?" she asked, brushing off her trousers as she regained her composure.
"I just wanna show you something."
They began walking and as they did Livia studied this man more closely. The way he held his head high and his chest out. No slouching; a gait with long strides and muscular movements. His hazel eyes looked straight forward defiantly, as if assuming nothing bad could happen. "Verus?" she said after a long silence.
"Yes?" He stopped walking and turned to her.
"Um… are you sure you're from Sparta?" The men she had met from Sparta were always rough, burly guys that broke mirrors because they were so ugly; never handsome young men who had idealistic ways and insane habits.
Verus chuckled and replied, "Sometimes I wonder." He stopped walking and looked to the woman.
Livia looked back at him, then switched her gaze to the animal in front of her.
It was the bear.
"AAAH!" she screamed, leaping into Verus' waiting arms. "You're REALLY insane, you know that? Get that beast away!"
Verus set her back down on the ground. "Did you just figure out that I'm insane, or is this a recent development?" he asked, letting his Spartan accent slip out.
Livia felt her heart skip two beats at that accent, which made his Latin sound like a flirtatious drawl without him even meaning it that way.
Verus slowly turned her around to face the bear, who was regarding her silently. "Now, pet her."
"What?! That's a wild animal, not one of Augustus's dogs!"
"Just trust me. Pet her."
Livia glared at him for a moment, then turned to the bear. She reached out a shaky hand and touched the soft fur, wincing as she did. The bear all but purred and moved forward like a puppy dog wanting to be scratched behind the ears. "Oh gods."
"Isn't she soft?"
The woman nodded and began to relax. "You are one different man, Verus."
PRESENTEve stopped her story and turned away from Virgil, pawing at her eyes. "I—I'm sorry. I need some fresh air." She moved to go but Virgil grabbed her arm.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, eyeing the glimmer of tears in here eyes. She might rank as one of the more deadly people in his life, but he wasn't about to let that prevent him from being a gentleman.
"Uh… I just need some time, okay? I'll tell you the rest of the story later." She stood and went out into the dark hall without another word, leaving her daughter and Virgil alone.
TBC…