Part two: On the road southeast from Calydon to Delphi
Gabrielle, bard by profession and Amazon queen by right of caste held the scroll the young rider had just brought to her.
"King Iphicles said the message was urgent." The young woman, a member of the king of Corinth's guard told her. "Your . . uh. . .your highness"
"I'm not a highness." Gabrielle chuckled. "And I'm going to read this in just a moment." Gabrielle assured her. "First, though, you're going to sit and drink something and catch your breath, so that you can fill in any details he didn't write down."
"Of course, your . . ." the Guardswoman paused, but gladly gulped from the wineskin she was offered.
"My name is Gabrielle." The bard-queen supplied. "What's yours?"
"Halimeda." The younger woman grimaced. "My father is a ship's captain. I was born when he'd just had a good season's sailing."
"Well, then, the name suits you. You have eyes that shift colors like the sea. Okay, I'm going to read the king's message. But, Halimeda, what's wrong? Is there something else you need to tell me first?"
"Yes, . . Gabrielle, there is. This isn't good news I bear. A friend of the king, and a friend of his brother, Hercules has died, faraway somewhere called Sumeria. For some reason I'm not privy to, they are expecting a lot of trouble in Corinth, soon, and they need your help. I suppose the rest is in the message itself. I can't read, so I don't know. I almost got the idea though that they didn't want anyone reading the messages they were sending out to find you."
"A friend of the king. ." Gabrielle echoed, feeling an emptiness in the pit of her stomach, as if she'd taken an unexpected blow. "and a friend of his brother."
The bard queen breathed deep, trying to keep away the feeling that she knew the answer to her next question before it was spoken.
"Halimeda, the person who died; did they tell you the person's name?"
"Yes," the Guardswoman nodded, her face somber. "he was Hercules' closest friend, . ."
"Iolaus." Gabrielle heard another voice say what her own could not. Turning, she saw Xena, standing like a statue, her sky blue eyes bright with tears. "Iolaus has died. So the rumors we heard were true."
The bard nodded, dropped the message scroll unread and flung herself into the warrior's arms. Wordless, the two women clung to one another, finding their only comfort in each other's presence. Several moments passed this way, before they drew apart. Each woman's face was wet with tears.
Gabrielle touched her lover's face softly. It was still amazing to her to know the once hardened warlord could weep. A small, final sob escaped the bard's throat and she hugged Xena fiercely. As always in times of greatest trouble or sorrow, she was eased by the dark haired woman's presence, bemused, wondering how they had survived thus far, and grateful.
"You're Xena." Gabrielle heard the messenger exclaim softly as she recognized the bard's lover. The younger woman's eyes widened and she sat up straighter, as if in the presence of her own commander. Shaking her head at the often repeated reaction, Gabrielle smiled. She picked up the scroll, but still ignored its contents, knowing she would pour over its details later. Instead, as she'd learned was always more interesting, the bard watched what was going on immediately around her.
"No, relax." Gabrielle heard Xena say. " You've made a long ride to find us. Is there anything more you were told about this situation?" Xena asked the rider.
"Not so much more that I was told, warrior. But a great many in Corinth are getting ready for some kind of trouble. King Iphicles already sent his family to safety and many others in the guard and among the townsfolk are doing the same. No details have been given out. The king says that will keep people from panicking. I think it just makes everyone more nervous."
"In some situations, it does." Xena agreed. "I've always thought its best to know who you're fighting before the fighting starts. Sometimes its just smarter to get the Hades out of there beforehand!"
"It might be, this time." Gabrielle interjected quietly, walking up to the two fighting women. "Halimeda, I'm very grateful you found us. Xena, do you know where there would be a horse trader in Delphi?"
"Of course I do. But Argo's fine. Why do we need a horse trader?" Xena asked her lover, with a confused frown.
"Because, as much as I dislike riding; I have to get to Corinth as quickly as possible. Now, unless you think Hercules' friend Typhon is going to come along and carry me, a horse will just have to do." the bard replied. "There are about thirty dinars in our haversack. How much do you think I should pay for a horse?"
"Well, depending on the age of the horse and the shape its in, no more than ten or twelve. But Gabrielle. . . Gabrielle, look at me. Why are you talking as if you're going to Corinth alone?" Xena demanded.
"Because I am. Hercules sent for me. So I'm going." Gabrielle told her, as she began to separate and repack items from the gear they were carrying.
"Well of course you're going. We're going." Xena frowned.
"No, Xena. This is not for you to deal with. It's for me. This message was for me. King Iphicles sent Halimeda and a lot of other messengers looking for me, not for you." Gabrielle tried again to explain.
"Uh-huh. And why in Tartarus if there's going to be trouble should the king of Corinth send messengers only for you? Iphicles should know I'm not Corinth's enemy any longer; and if he doesn't know it, Hercules certainly does! What reason could there be . ."
"Only one reason, Xena," Gabrielle responded. Then she pulled her lover away from where the messenger sat, doing the best she could to ignore them and make a mid day meal out her trail rations. "And I can tell you in one word."
"Then tell me, Gabrielle." Xena insisted.
"Dahak."
"No." Xena's eyes widened to bright blue circles. "Gabrielle, no!"
"Yes. Xena, I skimmed the message. Go ahead and read it, if you don't believe me. That demon has finally taken a form in which it can be confronted, a form in which it can be fought, and a form in which it can be, gods willing, stopped. And that is exactly why I have to go to Corinth. I have to stop it. Now."
"It's taken a form?" Xena picked up the message and read slowly, carefully. Then she dropped her voice. "It has taken Iolaus' form. Yes, I understand that. The monster thinks that will keep Hercules and the others in Corinth from being able to fight it. But that doesn't exclude me, I'd be glad to crush the life out of it."
"Xena," Gabrielle shook her head, still rearranging their gear, leaving the bulk of it with the warrior. "you're wrong. I'm sorry, love, but this time you're wrong. Your . . history with Iolaus does exclude you, and the demon will know that, too. Do you really think you could crush the life out of someone or something that looked exactly like Iolaus? Do you think it wouldn't bring up all your questions, your doubts about Iolaus forgiving you? Do you think it wouldn't play on your guilt where he's concerned? What was one of the first things you taught me, Xena? She who hesitates is lost. Listen to me: If you go up against Dahak now; and its looking like Iolaus, sounding and moving like Iolaus make you hesitate for even a second, you're lost. I can't allow that, my love. I won't allow that. This whole debacle started with me, Xena. It has to end with me.
This is the reason for everything I've learned; especially the things I never wanted to learn. Don't you see that? Finally, finally there's a reason! I had to learn that I could kill, and I did. I had to learn that I could kill someone I cherished, and I did. I had to learn that I could make life and death choices, and I did. I had to learn that these kinds of choices and actions are as much a part of who I am as they are of anyone else, and I did. Then I needed to remember that I am still the one who makes my own destiny, and I did. Then I needed to remember that some things are worth dying for, and I did. Now, I have to kill that fiend. And I will. No matter what. Xena, you have to understand." Gabrielle insisted, holding her lover's strong hands and her gaze.
"No," Xena replied, shaking her dark head. "No I don't have to understand. And I don't. The demon has turned its attention on our friends Iolaus and Hercules. I hate the idea of their going through the kind of pain and horror we have. I want to help them fight it. The gods know, I'm as willing as I ever was to fight that thing to my last breath, alone, or with all the armies on the face of the earth at my side. No matter what."
"Except. . ." the bard interjected, shaking her head, "you want me to stay out of it, somehow? Xena, you know better than that. Even if you don't want to admit it, you do. Iolaus and I are right in the middle of all this. We haven't been given any choice in the matter. We just are.
But I think I know why we are and it works very much to our advantage. We're not important enough for Dahak to worry about. More than once, that monster has underestimated each of us, Iolaus and myself. I think that's what's happening again, now. I think that's why we stand a chance to defeat it. Dahak tried to destroy you and me. It tried to destroy Hercules and you, Xena. Everyone and everything else around the two of you have only been the tools it would use to that purpose. Well, you're looking at one tool that's going to turn against the demon that wants to use her, and unless I mistake my hunters, Iolaus will, too."
Xena looked at the bard queen, shook her head again and pulled her even further away from where the messenger sat. Her eyes were sad and bluer than the day light sky, her lover thought.
"Gabrielle," the warrior finally said. "do you have any idea how much . .I hate it when you're right?"
Gabrielle nodded, feeling a small grin tug at her lips. "A whole lot?" she guessed. "It's okay, Xena. You'll get used to it, someday."
"Only if I live that long." Xena replied. "Which I doubt. Any case, I'm going with you." she continued, in a tone that left no room for argument.
Gabrielle nodded without making any verbal response, looked at their rearranged gear and laughed aloud. "Well, I was bored with the way these were packed, anyway. I could never find the cooking oil."
After instructing Halimeda to rest herself and her mount, Gabrielle and Xena sent a messenger bird ahead of them. Then with both of them astride Argo's strong back, they set off south and east, for Corinth. Their road took them past Apollo's oracle at Delphi, but neither the warrior nor the bard felt any need to consult the prophetess there. In their own pasts and in their own lives they could easily read what their futures might bring. More than ever before, they knew what they would do and what they would give, to hold their world to the shape they knew and loved.
