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 ELEVEN - END OF INNOCENCE
Gabrielle stood at the entrance to the central chambers of Olympus, where Zeus held court. To one side was a large amphitheater model. Niches on the wall held delicately carved statuettes. She found the floor of the amphitheater already occupied with statues of hands-width height of Draco and Xena. Draco was standing, but Xena was down, on hands and knees.
Gabrielle wanted a closer look at the craftsmanship of the statues and reached over to lift Xena's statue for a closer look. The surface felt like hardened clay, but was warm.
"Wonderful pieces aren't they?" The voice startled Gabrielle and she had to stretch to catch the statuette she nearly dropped.
The bard turned around and found herself looking at a slight woman with honey hair and pale blue eyes. "You're not Aphrodite, I've met her." Gabrielle combed her bardic descriptions of the various goddesses and tried to match one to the woman before her. "Artemis the Huntress?" The goddess nodded.
"What are you doing with Zeus' pieces?"
She didn't answer. Gabrielle sketched a curtsey, glad she'd had Xena teach her since her encounter with Vidalis. "I am honored to meet you, Artemis. I am Gabrielle..."
"Yes, I know," answered the goddess. "You are allowing Ephiny to be regent of my Amazons in your place."
Gabrielle frowned. "You sound disappointed in me. I'm sorry."
"I'm not disappointed, Gabrielle. My queens do as they see fit. I am curious about your reasons though." Artemis went about the business of sloughing off her bow and quiver.
Gabrielle scuffed her boot on the floor before looking up at the goddess. "I tried to stay with them, I did. But then Xena came back, and I realized she needed me."
"Xena needed you? I know that one. She's quite strong."
"She's so unsure of herself sometimes, though. Ephiny leads the Amazons very well. I'd just be in the way most of the time with my inexperience."
"Melosa didn't accept your rite of caste without a little arguing from me, you know, Gabrielle."
"I didn't know that."
"It was very fortuitous that you rose to the occasion for Terreis, Gabrielle. You are very valuable to the future of the Amazon nation."
"Did you plan that?" Gabrielle asked.
"Not really. But I followed it. The Amazons are very important to me," Artemis confirmed. "But you've managed to avoid my question."
Gabrielle blinked. "What?"
The goddess nodded. "What are you doing with Zeus' pieces?"
"These belong to Zeus? What would he want with warlord statues?" Gabrielle corrected herself.
"This is Zeus' amphitheater. Anyone who has caught his attention is rendered by Hephaestus so that he can watch their lives unfold. It amuses him." Artemis moved past Gabrielle and showed the bard the collection of statuettes in niches behind the amphitheater. "Here's Hercules, Perseus, even the annoying Roman, Julius Caesar. He even has a few women, like the one you're holding, and Hippolyta, of my Amazons."
"Why doesn't he just have a mirror like Ares?"
"You're here with Ares? I'm surprised. You don't seem like his type. I'll have to have a talk with him about his rights where my Amazons are concerned."
Gabrielle shook her head. "It wasn't my idea."
Artemis smiled knowledgeably. "It seldom is, dear."
"No, no, that's not what I meant. Ares brought me here because of a deal he made with Xena." Gabrielle pointed to the statuette in her hand.
"Ah, his little favorite. His favor is why I've never let her become one of my Amazons, you know." commented Artemis.
"No, I didn't know. But you know she's foresworn her allegiance to him?" Artemis nodded. "So, why can't she be Amazon?"
"Gods don't mess with other gods favorites, Gabrielle. And allegiance or not, Ares has told me to stay away from her."
Gabrielle's mind fell back to something Artemis had said earlier. "But Zeus... What brought Xena to Zeus' attention? When was her likeness crafted for him?" Gabrielle placed the statuette back into the amphitheater. It promptly crumpled over. The bard didn't notice, as she turned back, awaiting Artemis's answer.
"Don't know that. Zeus keeps his own counsel as to the whys and wherefores of his little statuettes. If you stick around long enough and you might be able to ask him."
"I don't intend to stay." Gabrielle looked back at the amphitheater, saw the change in the positions of the figures and had a thought. "Excuse me."
Artemis watched the bard leave the chamber. When the girl was out of sight, Artemis turned to search the shelves behind the amphitheater. She'd been right. On a shelf, next to several empty niches was a newer statuette. It bore a remarkable resemblance to the young woman who had just fled the room. Artemis was going to have to ask Zeus where he'd become interested in her Amazon bard.
Gabrielle returned to Ares' rooms. She pushed Strife aside, ignoring his grunt of displeasure and stared at the mirror. Xena, Draco and Fracchus were with Ares on the battlefield. Xena was lying on the ground, Draco over her. Fracchus was pleading with Ares to let him take Xena's life. The god was sternly shaking his head.
Gabrielle saw the signs building. Fracchus came to his feet, defeat boiling up in his gut, plain as the nose on his face. She saw the man slide a hand toward his ankle, and knew in an instant that Fracchus had reconciled he was Tartarus-bound already. The god's warnings no longer had weight to sway him.
"No! Xena!" She lunged at the mirror, uncertain what she could do, but determined to try something. In the next moment, Gabrielle stood in the middle of the battlefield, about 100 paces away from the collection of warriors and god. In her hands was a shimmering weapon, steel pounded as thin and fine as the edge of a parchment. She must have grabbed one of the swords from Ares' wall. She looked from the sword to the scene up ahead. She almost dropped it to the dirt and screamed. Then she saw Fracchus raise an arm, his battered sword glittered in the sunlight. Gabrielle didn't think, only ran toward the group swinging the sword like a staff.
In the instant as she raised the weapon above her head, Gabrielle watched Xena lift her head from the ground. There was pain in her crystal blue eyes, and the sight ripped through Gabrielle's chest as surely as if a knife stabbed there. She tore her eyes from Xena, feeling rage, anguish and desperation well up in her.
She swung at Fracchus' back as he leapt for Xena. The warlord pushed the God of War to the ground in his rush to get to Xena. Gabrielle felt the sickening thud as the sword sank into Fracchus' side. Her arms ached with the reverberation all the way into her back. Draco was coming to his feet when Fracchus fell against him. He pushed the man to the ground as Fracchus' last dying breath escaped his lungs.
Gabrielle pulled back, ripping the sword from Fracchus' body. She fell to her knees next to Xena. Gabrielle gingerly touched Xena's bloody body, and passed a hand over her friend's mouth. No warm breath tickled her fingers. Gabrielle came to her feet and charged Ares. "Help her!" He took a step back from the bard, and his face became a mask of impassivity. "You gods!" the bard shouted and noticed the god wince. "Do something!"
"I can't," Ares retorted. "It isn't within my power."
Gabrielle sank back to her knees next to Xena.
Ares looked at Gabrielle, blood dripping from the sword in her left hand as she laid her cheek against Xena's still back. I hadn't thought of that at all. Not at all, he mused. Incongruously he considered another thought. It was funny to him to discover that the girl would wield a sword left handed. "Will miracles never cease," he realized, as his strength began to return. Then it gained an extra push and he looked at Xena, and knew he must leave.
"Take care of our warrior princess," Ares cooed. To the now unconscious Xena he doffed an imaginary hat, "Take care, my lovely. To fight again another day."
Gabrielle sat up, shaking all over. She threw the sword aside, seeing its blood-covered blade touching Xena's body near her bloodied left side. "Xena," she murmured, raising a hand to stroke Xena's pale cheek.
Tears coursed down her own cheeks as she tried to remember what had just happened. She took a deep breath, realizing her weapon hadn't pierced Xena. Fracchus had done that. Then how was it that the sword was bloody? Gabrielle looked around.
She found Draco pushing Fracchus off him. The dead man's gaze fell on her, eyes still open. Gabrielle screamed.
Draco leapt to his feet, the scream making him think there was an attacker behind him. When he found nothing he turned back to look at the bard. Her arms were spattered with blood, both Xena's and Fracchus'.
He brought to mind the strike that had killed Fracchus. Gabrielle had swung wide, not with a proper fighting strike, but the blade hadn't missed the opening below Fracchus' chest plate. It had struck true. The man was nearly severed in half at the waist.
Draco glanced back over at the weeping Gabrielle. She had collapsed back against Xena's still form. He went to check on the warrior princess. The blood on the ground did not bode well, but he had to see. He crouched on Xena's other side and held his hand a few inches in front of her face. No breath whispered against his hand. He laid his fingers on the smooth line of her throat. There was a sporadic echo in her blood to match the weak beating of her heart.
Now he had to get through to Gabrielle. "Gabrielle, listen. Xena's not dead yet. If we can get her someplace safe we might be able to treat her wounds. Come on," he urged, pushing her shoulder. "We've got to get moving."
Suddenly Gabrielle's shivering stopped. She stood quickly and fell backwards over Fracchus' body. Finally she came to her feet successfully and watched as Draco maneuvered Xena carefully to a better position.
Draco was able to hoist Xena in his arms and stepped over Fracchus' prone body as he walked up the battlefield. Gabrielle whistled for Argo. The palomino mare trotted out of the nearby trees and Gabrielle held the reins as Draco mounted up still cradling Xena.
Gabrielle led the horse and her two passengers toward the river she remembered from their earlier visit to Fracchus' camp. Both Draco and Gabrielle were silent, thinking over the last few hours. Xena remained unconscious in Draco's arms aboard Argo. Draco was beginning to get uncomfortable with the warrior princess's blood seeping through the leather of his pants. Then he looked down at the bard leading the mare.
The sight that met his gaze shook him deeply. Golden hair and pale arms were spattered with blood, probably from when she stumbled over Fracchus' body. Her hands, clutching the reins, were covered in blood. She walked stiffly, and Draco recognized shock.
She stopped the horse in a clearing, dropped the reins, and stepped away from the mare. She walked around the clearing, picking up small stones and sticks.
Draco dismounted. "Gabrielle, I need a blanket."
She registered his words without excessive motion. She moved quickly to Argo's saddlebags and untied the bedding. She shook out one of the blankets and bent quickly, efficiently smoothing it over the dirt.
Draco crouched as slowly as possible, but the warrior woman was heavy. She hit the blanket a little harder than he intended. Xena moaned very softly, but did not awaken.
Gabrielle gasped and growled. Draco looked up and shrugged.
The bard's eyes narrowed, but she finished gathering the firewood. Within a few moments she was arranging the stones, and building a fire next to where Xena rested.
The warlord had put a blanket over the warrior and already removed her boots, when Gabrielle returned to Xena's side. He moved to tend the fire, exchanging responsibilities wordlessly with the bard. Gabrielle moved to the saddlebags and withdrew Xena's bag of medicinal supplies.
Gabrielle examined the gaping wound in her friend's side with clinical appreciation. She pressed cloths to it and after a moment removed them to see the condition of the wound. It was deep and long from just below Xena's hip to just above her lowest rib. but it seemed to be a clean slice into the flesh and muscle beneath. Thank the gods for a warrior's attention to his weapons, Gabrielle thought sarcastically. If Fracchus' blade not been honed to the finest edge, Xena's side would look like a meat mallet had torn through it, and be ten times harder to repair.
Draco turned his head aside as Gabrielle slipped Xena out of much of her armor and leathers as quickly as possible. When he saw her pull the blanket back over the warrior's body out of the corner of his eye, he turned back. "Need any help?"
Gabrielle shook her head and pulled out the specially curved needle and sinew thread. "Be glad you're asleep for this," she quipped to the unconscious woman.
When Gabrielle pressed in the first stitch, Xena shot bolt upright, her eyes wide and alarmed as she screamed. "Shh! Draco!" Gabrielle pressed on Xena's shoulders and Draco's help, got the woman lying back once again.
Draco pinned her shoulders while Gabrielle tried as quickly as possible to pull several stitches through and close the wound. Xena was unconscious again for the moment and Gabrielle could see the flush of a fever beginning. With Draco's help, she propped Xena on her side and examined her back. She found the stab wound and bit her lip to keep from crying. A little higher and Gabrielle knew Xena wouldn't have been breathing. She started to clean the wound and realized it would be easy to close and wrap when she wrapped Xena's middle for the side wound.
With a deep breath she started working on sewing the skin closed. After another moment her stomach rebelled and she hurled herself from Xena's side to retch in the bushes.
Draco laid Xena carefully back and went to see to the bard. He snatched up a waterskin and offered it to Gabrielle.
She swigged some of the water and spit it into the bush. Then she took a sip, and another. Finally she collected herself and nodded her thanks, returning the empty waterskin. She came back to Xena's side and finished her nursing. "That should hold. Now I've got to make a salve to go over that, protect it from infection."
Gabrielle came to her feet too quickly, and swayed on her feet. Draco caught her. "Just tell me where it is," he told her. "You sit." He lowered her back to the ground gently.
"I have the makings here, but I need water to mix it with." Gabrielle lifted out several pouches of herbs.
"I'll be right back. You sit by the fire and keep an eye on her temperature." Draco strode off to the river, grabbing another waterskin off Argo's saddle.
As Gabrielle watched him go, her eyes caught sight of the saddle still on the palomino. Xena will be angry when she wakes up if I haven't seen to Argo, she thought. She rose stiffly and went about the task of removing all the bags and pushing off Argo's saddle. The saddle fell to the ground with a loud thud. Argo whinnied her thanks. From the saddlebags Gabrielle filled a burlap bag with oats and settled it over the mare's nose.
Xena was awakening and the pain she experienced made her moan. Gabrielle dashed to her friend's side and urged her, in hushed tones, to lie still. "You'll be all right. Draco and I are seeing to that. We're in a secure location, so just relax."
Xena didn't open her eyes. She calmed and her breathing returned to the soft, even pattern of sleep.
"Come on, Draco, I need that water now!" Gabrielle turned away from her friend's side and yelled toward the water.
"Here," he shoved two waterskins into her hands even as she yelled for him.
"Thanks," she replied sheepishly. Gabrielle laid out a green leaf and began mixing the herbs and water into a paste. She added some white powder. "To take the edge off some of the pain," she explained. "Worked wonders in the paste she made for my injuries in Thessaly." Draco just nodded. Gabrielle suddenly looked at her hands as she started to scoop some of the paste onto her fingers. "I can't do this! Look at my hands!"
Draco took the paste from Gabrielle and responded curtly, "Go wash yourself. I'll do this."
"Be sure to coat the entire wound." The bard came to her feet and headed for the water. "I'll only be a second."
Draco plastered the wound with the paste quickly and thickly, using nearly every drop of the strong-smelling stuff.
"It's only slightly better smelling than I am," he told the sleeping warrior as, in her sleep, she wrinkled her nose when he leaned close. "Don't complain."
Gabrielle returned and checked Draco's work. "Good job. I've got to brew some tea. Make her drink some water while I work on that. She's lost a lot of blood."
Draco sat back and looked up at the bard. "You're doing very well," he said. "I'm impressed."
Gabrielle replied curtly, "Just give Xena as much water as she'll take; I'll do the rest."
Draco raised his hands. "Hey, what did I say?" He shook his head and moved to raise Xena carefully and put a waterskin to her lips.
Gabrielle opened their bags again, this time hunting for their food supplies. The roots Xena liked to make into tea were soon in her hand. She pulled out a small knife and took one bulb, marking the soft part with several small cuts. It would help the tea infuse faster.
She pulled a rock away from the fire and set the second waterskin on top. Xena moaned deeply and Draco stilled her thrashing with his strong arms. Draco laid his hand across Xena's forehead. "She's got a fever."
Gabrielle nodded. She withdrew the waterskin and poured some into a mug over the root. She gave it a few moments to infuse and then removed the root, passing the mug to Draco. "Here, give her this."
Draco, with Gabrielle's help, got Xena to drink down all the tea in relatively short order. A combination of Gabrielle's insistent voice and Draco's strong grip and Xena was asleep again shortly.
Draco fetched the other blankets and smoothed out two more out for bedding for himself and Gabrielle. He put the bard on the outside of Xena, and took the other side of the fire for himself. "Get some sleep, Gabrielle. Both of us will hear anything if she awakens."
Gabrielle laid a hand on Xena's shoulder as her own head sank to the blanket. "Thank you for everything tonight, Draco."
Draco tapped at the fire with a stick, kicking embers away and bringing new wood into the flames so the fire would peak a bit, lasting the night. Then he too lay back, arms crossed under his head, staring at the sky. "You're welcome."
Hades met the shades of those who died on the battlefields across Greece that day. Among those to be judged was Fracchus.
"Interesting life you led, Fracchus of Thermopylae. What have you to say for yourself?"
"I served the gods well. I brought you many residents, Hades, and brought respect to the name of Ares throughout my campaigns."
"You turned on your own commanders when it suited you."
"When it suited Ares' plans," Fracchus protested. "Ask him."
"Ares won't concern himself with your future. You're Tartarus-bound, and you've always known it."
Fracchus nodded. "You are right, of course. I should have been able to bring the bitch down with me."
Hades perked up. "Who?"
Fracchus spat, a neat feat for a shade. "Xena!"
Hades groaned. "Xena was somehow involved in your death?"
"No," responded Fracchus. "Her little bard sliced me open with a sword. But not before I gave her warrior bitch what for with my sword. Xena might be joining us soon."
Hades considered this information. Fracchus was the bard's first kill, and apparently, Xena lay near death. "Thank you for your information, Fracchus. Take him away."
Shade guides, skeletal warriors of Hades' domain, grabbed Fracchus and blinked, with him, out of sight.
Persephone came forward to her Prince. "Love, we owe Xena a debt. Perhaps now is the time to repay it."
Hades knew Persephone spoke the truth. "I'd better get to Olympus and talk this over."
"With whom? Ares?"
"No. Zeus."