I'll have to pass an exam soon, I wanted to finish this chapter before, so here you are.
Thanks to the reviewers!!!
I Believe in You – Chapter 4
After one day Xena and Gabrielle decided to camp by the trees aside the road. They were close enough to see whether the soldiers leave, and far away enough for the soldiers not to see them.
Gabrielle was glad to get some sleep when the night came and they finished dinner. She layed down and cuddled deeply into her bedroll, The warrior princess resting next to her. Xena smiled when she saw the content expression on Gabrielles face when the blonde closed her eyes.
But after a few moments Gabrielle reopened them. Xena looked at her with surprise.
"I'm cold…", Gabrielle said. Xena let out a small laughter.
"I see. Come here.", she held out her hand to Gabrielle. The bard thankfully took it and scooted over to the taller woman, wrapping her arms around Xenas waist. Xena ran her finger through Gabrielles hair and pressed her gently against herself.
"Goodnight, Gabrielle."
"Goodnight, Xena."
--
Varia let her gaze fly over the land. She had spotted two figures coming towards the village and had soon seen that they were Lia and Ariana. About afternoon the two amazons reached the village.
"Varia.", Ariana said when they met the amazon leader and took Varias hand, "We found him. What about the other tribes? Are they already here?"
Varia smiled.
"Of course not all of them are here. Some are waiting outside, hidden in the forest, but the Queens are in my house, waiting for you to tell us the way. Some warriors will follow our traces, to surprise Roan by not coming at the same time. This surprising effect will be important for us to continue. I cleared it all with Xena before. Now, do you need a rest? How far is it?"
"A rest would be good. It's about two and a half day from here if he army didn't move on.", Lia explained.
"Alright…", Varia mumbled, "So we'll leave tomorrow. You can go and prepare for then now."
"Thank you.", Lia and Ariana said in chorus.
--
About one hour before sunrise the first group of warriors were ready to leave. Ariana leaded them, Lia was to lead the second group a few hours later. The rest would follow about a day after Lia left.
--
"They should be arriving soon. Let's head for the camp now. I think I'll try to talk to him before we get into a senseless war.", Xena said. Gabrielle put one hand onto Xenas shoulder.
"Do you think he'll listen to you?", the blonde asked.
"I'm not sure. I guess I'll mkae him listen. You stay here and wait for Varia. When I'm not back by tomorrow, you'll have to attack."
"Xena, I'll die with worry about you!", Gabrielle protestet, but Xena raised her hand to silence her.
"I know, my love. But there's no other way.", she explained to Gabrielle, turning to the blonde and giving her a gentle hug.
"Take care of you, Xena. I love you.", Gabrielle said softly.
"I will. I love you, too. See you tomorrow.", Xena kissed Gabrielle gently, then headed towards the camp, leaving a worried bard behind.
--
"Hey, Beorn. Did you hear that, too?", one of the guards asked his companion. Xena recoginzed him. Beorn, the one who had helped Roan.
"What are you talking about, you idiot?", Beorn asked rudely.
"There was something in the trees over there.", the man replied.
"You're kidding. Shut up."
Xena smiled.
You'd better listen to that guy, dumbass.
The warrior princess greeted them from behind, taking their shirts and knocking them out. She couldn't supress a grin when Beorn let out a quiet sound of surprise. Afterwards she stepped inside Roans tent.
The warlord was drinking from his cup of wine. He spitted the liquid at his servant when he saw Xena enter.
"What in heaven's-"
"Don't you dare to say heaven with your dirty tongue, Roan.", Xena hissed.
He drew his sword.
"I can't remember calling you here!", Roan groaned," So I'm gonna show you the exit."
"I only wanna talk to you.", Xena assured, staying calm and refusing the urgy to throw her chakram at him.
He glanced at her, obviously uncertain of what to say.
"Sit down." It was more an order than a request, but Xena did.
"Roan, I don't know what we should fight for. I know that you want revenge, but why do other – innocent – people have to die for that? I think we should settle this peacefully.", Xena explained.
He just stared at her, his eyes telling what he thought about her suggestion.
"Shut up, won't you. I don't wanna hear any of this nonsense. You'll pay for ruining me, I you like it or not. Put her into the cave.", he ordered his soldiers. One grabbed Xena and turned her arms on her back. She couldn't react fast enough and was unable to move. A second soldier brought two chains and tied her hands up.
Not the way I wanted it to be. Shit. This will make the whole thing a bit harder.
"So, Xena. Now you're gonna pay. I guess you've left your blonde friend somewhere 'round here. Look for her, you stupid idiots! The one who brings her is gonna get a huge reward!", Roan said, grinning evilly. He winked and the two men brought Xena outside, pushing her into a dark cave near the tent. Inside the cave where some wood cages where. A young boy was sitting in one of them. Xena was thrown inside to him, then the soldiers locked the cage and left.
Xena looked at the boy. He backed away from her.
"Pl-please, don't hurt me, I-I didn't d-do anything, I-", he stammed anxiously.
"Shhhhh...", Xena calmed him,"I'm not gonna hurt you. What are you doing here?"
He watched her, not sure if he could trust her.
"They imprisoned me here after destroying the village... I-I don't know why, I never did anything false, I, I never...", he broke and lowered his gaze.
"Hey, uh…" Xena wished she had the same skill with words as Gabrielle.
Gabrielle. That's it!
"Hey, little one, will you help me?", she asked. He stared at her.
"Of course... I will...", he answered hesitantly.
She gave him a small smile.
"Come here.", she called him and he came over to her.
"Listen closely now, it's not that easy, and you'll have to be fast. I'm gonna talk to that guard a bit and you're gonna escape while he doesn't see you. Run away and into the forest over there, you'll meet a woman with blond hair, maybe some amazons as well, but don't be afraid, they won't hurt you. The blonde one is called Gabrielle, tell her Xena is in trouble. She'll understand. You're free, then. Okay?", she explained. He nodded.
"You're a good boy.", she said and smiled again. This time he returned the smile.
"Hey, you.", she called the soldier standing ahead. He whirled around.
"What do you want?", he yelled. She licked her lips.
"What do you think would a woman like me want from a man like you?", she asked and gave him an encouraging smile. He grinned goofily and walked over to her. When he leaned over to her she rose her thumb to the boy. He understood and escaped through a hole in the cage. Xena now punched the guard onto his nose. He screamed with pain and soon many other soldiers arrived.
"Hey, you warrior bitch, making trouble? That's not good! I think we'll have to teach you a lesson." The onw who had spoken snapped his fingers and two others grabbed Xena and brought her outside.
By the gods, please, Gabrielle, hurry up!
--
He ran faster and faster. Suddenly he heard a yell behind himself, but he was too afraid to turn around. He already saw the forest in front of him. The trees would give him protection so that he would be out of sight. He jumped the last meters and fell down into the fallen leaves. He breathed heavily and rested a few moments before he remembered that he still had to find that Gabrielle. He struggled to his feet and went deeper into the forest.
All of a sudden there was another yell and someone grabbed his shoulders and forced him down.
"Please, I'm not a soldier!", he called with surprise. The one who had pressed him down let go and pulled him back onto his feet. He turned around and faced the other person. It was a blonde woman with green eyes.
"The blonde one is called Gabrielle, tell her Xena is in trouble. She'll understand.", he remembered the dark haired woman's words.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you.", she apologized.
"Are you Gabrielle?", he asked instead of an answer.
"Uh, yes, how do you know?", she asked with surprise.
"I have a message for you. In the camp, there was a dark haired woman called Xena, she asked me to tell you she's in trouble. I think is really getting hard, because she hit one of the soldiers and he-"
"Wait, wait, Xena's in trouble???", Gabrielle interrupted.
"Yes, she hit one of the soldiers, he screamed, and so the rest of the camp must have heard him. They'll punish her for sure.", he explained.
"Damn it!", Gabrielle hissed. "Could you please stay here and wait for some amazons to arrive? They should be here by dawn." Gabrielle took a piece of her scrolls and wrote a message to Varia," and give them this? There's some dried meat in the saddle bag, take some if you wanna."
"Thank you.", he said and took the letter from her.
"I thank you.", she said to the boy and took her daggers, heading towards the camp.