Disclaimers: The following story is classified as Fan Fiction. The characters of Xena, Gabrielle and others who have appeared in the series, Xena: Warrior Princess, are the property of MCA/Universal Television and Renaissance Pictures. I only borrowed them. The story itself is mine and cannot be redistributed in any form without my consent.

Timeline: In the series, consider this a standalone story near the end of season 2. It's my version of how and why Gabrielle lost her blood innocence. No Dahok, no Hope, etc.

History Cast in Amber

by LZClotho

(c) July 1997

CHAPTER SEVEN - SEPARATION

Xena worked on twisting her body so that she was beneath the bard as the two hit the water in the middle of a river. Then the warrior rolled so that she was stomach down, and rolled Gabrielle over. "Hold on!" she cautioned the bard.

Gabrielle complied, grabbing Xena's weapons belt as the warrior began stroking strongly after Argo. The mare was struggling onto the far shore, weighted down by the wet saddle, bags and blankets.

The current carried them down a bit from the horse but did seem to be driving them away from the camp side of the river instead of toward it.

Xena felt her booted feet touch ground and she stood, helping her friend onto the embankment. "Were we followed?" asked Gabrielle, picking herself up.

Xena looked back over her shoulder. "I lost track of them with all of Argo's maneuvering." Thinking of her horse made Xena bolt out of the water to check on the mare. Argo stood shivering next to a tree. The mare looked over at the two women, and Gabrielle correctly translated her look as, "Well, I did it, didn't I?"

"You did wonderful, girl," she told the horse. "Next town we stop in, I'm going to buy you the biggest harvest of apples you can imagine."

"Let's worry about the here and now." Xena's used her hands to sluice the bulk of the water out of the mare's coat. "We'd better find deeper cover. Pretty soon the whole camp will come looking for us."

Gabrielle was wringing out her hair when Xena grabbed her arm. "Down! Now!" Gabrielle found herself flat on her stomach buried beneath the encroaching branches of a bush. Xena gave a birdlike whistle, and Argo trotted off deeper into the trees.

Xena kept one hand over Gabrielle's back as she inched forward to watch the shoreline.

A search party of three of Fracchus' soldiers tried to trot their horses into the river and pulled back. "They couldn't have made it across this river. Not here anyway. Let's try looking a little further down river."

Gabrielle murmured a thank you prayer to a gutsy palomino war-horse. "Shh!" warned Xena, still watching until the party was out of sight. "Okay, get up. Slowly."

The two women came to their feet. Xena shivered, finally feeling the soaked leather against her skin.

"We have got to get dry, right away," Gabrielle noticed the warrior's shiver and knew her own lips were turning blue. "All our gear is on Argo. Do you suppose miracle of miracles, she managed to keep her back somewhat dry?"

Xena whistled for the mare, and both women breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the palomino trot toward them from a copse of trees.

"I'm going to walk. Get myself warmed up," Gabrielle explained as she refused Xena's hand up onto Argo's back.

"Suit yourself. Let's move quickly." Xena kept Argo at a walk. She studied her friend and realized, "Hey, your staff is gone."

Gabrielle shrugged. "Lost in our little mad dash out of Fracchus' camp."

"I'll be going back. I'll get it for you then." Xena sounded matter of fact, as usual, but this time, Gabrielle didn't want heroics on her behalf. She said as much. "I have to rescue Draco, too," Xena reminded the bard with a gentle smile.

"Speaking of Draco. He's really not a warlord anymore, is he? What warlord could withstand such a beating and not have burning coals for eyes? I can't believe he's still in love with me. He's really changed."

Xena shrugged. "He didn't notice you tonight. Perhaps he isn't really doing all this for you, but for himself."

"Like you changed because somebody thought you could?"

"Just so." Xena continued to sluice what water she could from the mare's withers and neck as they walked along.

Gabrielle became dreamy-eyed. "Still, to think he would go through all that because he loves me. Nice thought."

Xena rolled her eyes. "Yes, I suppose."

"Come on, Xena. You don't think a man being willing to change just for you isn't romantic?"

"Oh, it's nice. But romantic? Hardly. What good is he to anyone if his heroics get him killed?" Xena grimaced as her own memories assaulted her, and she tried to push them aside.

But Gabrielle saw the grimace. "We're not talking about Draco anymore, are we?"

"Who says?" Xena's voice was just a little too tight, a little too curt.

"Fine. I won't mention it anymore."

"Good."

"Fine."

The two women moved along in silence. Xena finally slid off Argo's back, unwilling to trot the horse and leave Gabrielle behind. She was so in need of moving to release her frustrations, she was afraid she'd kick Argo if she remained mounted another moment.

She walked on the opposite side of Argo from Gabrielle, glancing occasionally at the bard, to see the stiff back, the extra stomp to the step. She grimaced again. Damn, I shouldn't have snapped at her. My past shouldn't be such a secret between us anymore. We've been through too much. She thinks it's unfair, and she's probably right.

"Gabrielle?" Xena broached the silence carefully, choosing her words with the same care she would use to test an opponent before swinging out with the first strike.

"Yes?" Gabrielle's voice reflected her hurt.

"Gabrielle, I'm sorry."

"What for? I'm not supposed to bring it up, remember?"

"Listen, Gabrielle. I'm still not comfortable with ... everything," the warrior finished lamely. "I'm really pleased to see your romantic notions. If my own past has taken them away from me, it's not your fault. And I was wrong to take it out on you."

Gabrielle watched Xena struggle through one of the longest personal statements the bard had ever heard her utter. Supportively, Gabrielle moved around Argo, bringing the horse to a stop by gripping the bridle strap under the mare's chin. "Who was it?" she asked the warrior softly.

"A tale better told when we're warming by a fire."

Gabrielle's smile lightened two hearts. "Let's settle in for the night then. Hmm, the river's back there." She started picking up small branches as they walked. "I'll collect the firewood."

Xena shook her head. "I'm taking you back to Amber in the morning."

Gabrielle and Xena stopped in a wide clearing. The warrior removed Argo's saddle and quickly emptied the saddlebag contents, laying them out atop a blanket. Nearly everything was damp, but little was completely sodden. "Here, catch!" Xena tossed their bedding to Gabrielle. "It's actually not completely soaked."

"Gods bless you, Argo!" Gabrielle smoothed the bedding on the ground. "I'll go get some real firewood. Start with these." After dropped a small fire starter collection of twigs, Gabrielle left the clearing.

Xena turned from rubbing down Argo with a towel. "Be careful. We moved pretty far out of the camp's range, but they may still be looking for us."

"They have stopped," came a dark voice. "But I could bring them here."

"Ares!" Xena spun on her heels but didn't draw her sword, unwilling to be drawn into the god's sphere of influence. She waited for Ares to reveal his intent.

"You're getting so patient, my warrior. Must be the bard's influence."

"Why can't you just leave me alone for...a couple of days." Xena leaned back against a tree trunk, her eyes warily trained on the slippery god.

He smirked. "You'd get so lonely, my dear. Alone? Would you really know what to do with yourself?"

"Ares, without you, I'd be the happiest woman alive," Xena countered.

"Ah, you are so bright. That is what draws me to you. I may have claimed your soul for a while, but it was only after seeing what you had become entirely without my help."

"Thanks for the reminder," the warrior snorted. "Now, why can't I seem to get rid of your 'help'?"

"Because it's mine to give and yours to receive, Xena. And that is how it will always be."

Xena threw up her hands exasperated. "Great. Now could you get out of here? Gabrielle will be back any minute, and I don't want her to find you here."

"You don't want..." Ares bowed his head as if acquiescing. "Of course, I always give you what you want..."

"Hah!" Xena stalked across the campsite, snatching out her breast dagger, and stood toe to toe with Ares. "Now, listen. I want you out of here before Gabrielle gets back. You scare her, and I won't have her upset."

"Such sentiment for the little bard. Do you really want me to leave you alone?"

Xena glared at him. "Totally." She took a deep breath, knowing she did not have enough glibness to express herself to this annoying immortal, but she had to try, for Gabrielle's sake. "You can take me on some other time. Right now, I don't have the time to deal with you. I have bigger things to deal with than an insecure god."

"Oh, low blow, my dear. All right, you shall have your wish. You will be left totally alone for a period of three days. Long enough for you to wrap this little mess up, don't you think?"

"Ample. Now, go before Gabrielle gets back." She waved her dagger tip under his nose. It didn't intimidate him, but it made him back up all the same. With a gleam in his eye, Ares bent slightly at the waist and faded from sight.

Xena turned and cleared the space for their fire pit, circling it with rocks. It didn't take long for her to have a small fire going. She was feeding it smaller chips of wood from the nearby ground when she suddenly realized Gabrielle should have been back by now. "Gabrielle!"

She studied the foliage where Gabrielle had gone to collect wood. What could be taking so long about collecting a few fallen tree branches?

Argo neighed. "I'm sorry, girl. Here." Xena moved over and efficiently filled and settled the nosebag of oats on the mare's head. "It's a bit damp, but it should be fine," she commented as the horse snorted.

Xena half-expected, during the moments she was dealing with the horse, that the bard would come waltzing back into camp. It didn't happen.

Now Xena became worried. Maybe some soldier from Fracchus' camp had found them, and taken Gabrielle. But she would have heard something. A sick feeling clawed her stomach. She called again.

"Gabrielle!" No answer. Xena called again, then moved to the edge of the clearing where Gabrielle had disappeared. She followed the bard's tracks easily for several twists and turns in the dirt. She could see where the young woman had picked up a piece of wood here and there. She hadn't gone more than a hundred paces from the campsite at that point, surely the bard had heard Xena?

"Gabrielle!" She began looking for signs of anyone else moving through their part of this forest. Nothing.

Wind whispered through the trees and around the warrior as a night storm came closer. "Gabrielle! Come on, this is not the time to practice your stealth!" Xena looked up into the surrounding trees, then shook her head. Gabrielle was smart enough to know that she shouldn't be playing games tonight.

Xena traced Gabrielle's tracks around again. She found a discarded pile of branches, and began looking harder in the area for signs of her friend. Finally, she found several long strands of Gabrielle's blonde hair caught in a bramble bush. "Gabrielle!" Xena tamped down on her panic and tried to think.

The whisper of the wind took on a deep quality. "Three days, my dear. Alone for three days!"

Xena swore something vile. "Ares. I told you to leave me alone!" She swore again, wishing a curse on the God of War.

"The little bard will be returned to you in three days time, Warrior Princess. Solve your little problem and get to my temple in Corinth. We'll work out a ... trade."

Xena hated speaking to air. "Get out here, Ares. I want to see you!"

"Not even a handful of minutes, Xena. You really are awfully pathetic."

Xena shook her fist at the sky. "I demand your solemn oath - on the River Styx - that you will not harm Gabrielle."

"Why would I do that?" The god's voice reached her full of smugness. "As long as you do as I ask, the bard will not be harmed."

Xena gripped her chakram. "Swear it!"

There was a sigh of breath carried through the trees. "All right, Xena. I swear on the River Styx that I will not harm the bard."

Xena nodded. "I'll tear down Olympus with my bare hands and drag you to Zeus myself if you break that promise, Ares."

Another sigh through the trees. "I promised. Isn't that enough for you?"

Xena did not answer. Satisfied, for the moment, that Ares intended to keep his word about Gabrielle, she returned to the campsite and packed up most of their things. For Argo's sake, she built up the fire and kept the horse close. She settled into her blankets but sleep did not come.

Xena tried to go over all the events of the day, looking for any clues as to why Ares would snatch Gabrielle. There had been that business about being left alone. That twisted little conversation must have given him the idea. She guessed that he figured she might, since no longer influenced by the bard, let herself go out of control during the battle and take over Fracchus' army instead of disbanding it. But Draco was really doing the most damage. She recalled that Ares had not stepped in when Draco lay beaten and helpless. Could there be some advantage in teaming up with the rehabilitated warlord?

Two heads were better than one. In the morning, Xena decided, she'd go back to see Draco. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing some important piece of information. Ares was constantly plotting to drive Xena back into his arms, but somehow this time was different. She drifted to sleep only reluctantly, knowing, despite the company, that Gabrielle was safe for the moment. Not even recalcitrant Ares broke an oath sworn by the River Styx. Would he?