The little family clamored down the steps of the tavern. All four were clad in a mis-match of soft, gauzey Egyptian wrappings, and the feather and bead ladden doeskin of the Amazon tribe. They carried packs of supplies, the lightest weight on Xena's shoulders, as she was still a little weak and unbalanced. The dark warrior looked a bit uncomfortable and out of sorts in the new clothing and flat, leather-strapped sandals she had been given. Still, she moved as she always had; as if the clothing were just another layer of skin that flexed and moved easily with her.
Xena led their way down the steps with Gabrielle close behind; her Amazon necklace hanging heavy on her chest, denoting her rank, and her outfit moving with her sleek, taunt muscles. They needed supplies to go after Hope, and Gabrielle thought she might be able to intimidate some merchants with her Amazon status into getting those supplies faster and cheaper. The pair halted at the base of the steps, Gabrielle's hand immediately set on Xena's arm to still the inevitable sharp temper brewing in her companion.
Eve and Jadxea followed their mothers, the younger clinging tight to the elder's hand, her guilt, fear, and youth all making her feel utterly useless. Jadxea knew her mother well, she would be getting a cold shoulder for her carelessness. So, she stuck close to Eve, who, she knew already, would be quick to forgive and forget. Eve, however, was near to frantic. Not nearly to the degree of Xena, but enough that one could possibly mistake her for Hope's mother, if the girl didn't look so much like Gabrielle. Eve pulled Jadxea along behind her, and true to the youngest's prediction, the idea of Hope's disappearance being Jadxea's fault was the farthest thing from her mind. The pair halted quick behind their mothers, only having made it half-way down.
Every patron of the tavern had stopped, setting down their utensils and mugs, and starred up at the little quartet. Their eyes were trained to them as if they had never seen anything like this little rag-tag band of heroines. Gabrielle's quick eye caught sight of a young woman in the corner of the tavern, sitting alone. She was dark in her skin, eyes, and hair, and she bowed her head when Gabrielle caught her eye, revealing the beads and feathers of an Amazon woven into her chestnut hair. The young Amazon kept her eyes lowered respectfully to Gabrielle for the duration. Others were not so curteous. They gaped at the four of them, frozen behind Xena on the steps. Gabrielle waited, her memory of Xena vivid, knowing that her partner would, more likely than not, allow her temper to take over, and lash out at the unashamed gawking.
Instead, Xena suprised her. Her pulse was fast, and she was still clearly aggitated, which would normally call for a very annoyed comment to the tavern, or her exit like a bull storming through the little building. But instead, Xena turned back, catching Gabrielle's eyes only briefly, before fixing on her children behind her and smiling. She gave them a wink and shrugged. "Oh, if your mother and I had a dinar for every time this happens to us." And at that, she led the group down into the tavern, not smiling anymore, but her face personable and pleasant enough. Xena spun around and huddled them near the bar, fully aware of all of the pairs of eyes still fixed on her. "Gabrielle and I will gather supplies and see if anyone around here has seen her. With any luck, she just wandered into the forest."
"Xea and I will get some food together and see if anyone around here saw her. Tristan seemed a little disoriented when he left us last night. Maybe he stayed up and saw her come downstairs." Eve dropped her pack on the barstool and began rummaging in it for money.
"Good girl," Xena commended, patting Eve's shoulder, and swiftly beginning to make her way through the sea of gawking faces.
Gabrielle turned to follow, but turned back quickly, pointing a sharp finger at her little girl. "You stay with Eve. I mean it!" And with that, she jogged out after her companion.
Jadxea didn't even have time to nod before her mother turned away from her. The little girl climbed onto a barstool and dropped her head. "She's really mad at me," she mumbled.
"She's frightened," Eve corrected. "Hope is very vulnerable. She doesn't remember anything about the world. Who knows what she could encounter and not be able to handle..."
"And it's my fault," Jadxea clenched her jaw to stop it's quivering.
"Hey," Eve had stopped searching, and instead was pulling Jadxea's chin up so that their eyes met, "don't think that. You have been wonderful to her. You loved her first... always remember that!" Jadxea nodded half-heartedly. "I'll bet you she's somewhere right under our noses anyways," Eve tried to be encouraging, but for some reason, neither believed it.
"Can I help you ladies?"A male voice spoke gruff, but kindly. He stood tall behind the bar, his uncomfortable face betraying his kind and hospitable voice.
It was Tristan's father, and suddenly Eve felt ashamed to not know her own cousin's name. But this was not the time for pleasantries, nor reunions, and she quickly set to action. "We're missing one of our party," Tristan's father glanced nervously toward where Xena and Gabrielle had exited. "She's about so-tall," Eve measured Hope's height with her hand, "blonde hair, green eyes, dressed in wraps. She might look a little... lost... bewildered..."
"My," a female voice moved close, and Eve found Tristan's mother coming around her husband to join the conversation, "you do seem to acquire people, don't you?"
"And lose them just as quickly," Eve granted, shrugging. "Have you seen her?" she pleaded, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable and pressed for time.
"Sorry," Tristan's father shook his head, "the only one I've seen even coming close to that description is your friend who left you just a minute ago."
Eve sighed heavily, and finally nodded. "Well... thanks. Um, we're going to go out looking for her. If we could get some food..." Eve dropped four coins on the bar, and Tristan's mother snatched them up quickly, scurrying off to the kitchen with a smile. "Xea, I need you to stay here, and when the food comes, pack it in your bag. I'm going out back to fill the wineskins."
Fast as lightening, Jadxea caught Eve's arm, panick set in her little face. "Alone?" she begged. "But..." she whispered desperately, glancing out into the sea of patrons, "they just keep looking at me!"
And, indeed, Eve found more than a handful of patrons, some male, some female, still starring curiously at herself and Jadxea. Eve bit her lips, thinking as fast as she could. Finally, she nodded, and forced Jadxea's focus back on her. "Don't move from this spot. You won't need it, and I'd prefer you don't even touch it, but...," Eve drew a small cutting knife from her own pack and set it in a convenient location just inside Jadxea's, "Whatever you do, do not tell your mother I gave this to you." Jadxea's blue eyes were rivetted to the little knife, barely sticking out of the flap over her bag. "I'll just be a few seconds!" Eve assured and jogged out the back way, trying to dodge suspicious eyes.
Ever-so-slowly, Jadxea reached over her shoulder and stroked the hilt of the little cutting knife. It was only meant for gutting fish and small game, she knew that. But, it had been given to her for the purpose of protection. For these brief moments, Jadxea had a weapon... and she wasn't sure that she liked it as much as she thought.
...
Eve hurried to the little well behind the tavern, her arms full of animal-skin jugs. She really wasn't comfortable leaving Jadxea alone, now that the child had expressed concern, but they needed everything done quickly... and she would only be a minute, right? As Eve came up on the stone built well, she found a very familiar young man perched on the edge, staring at his hands that were folded in his lap.
"Tristan?" she caught his attention when she came close. Tristan jumped off the well, much more alarmed than the moment really called for. Eve let it go, needing him to clear out of the way to pull up the bucket anyways. "Are you all right? You seemed a little out of sorts when we left you."
"Well... how would you be if a long-lost relative you've idolized your whole life suddenly came back to life?" Tristan made a face and fell back against the little stone barrier, facing away.
Eve smiled at him as she pulled the bucket up onto the wall and dipped the first water jug into it. "Scared. Angry. Incurably curious. Angry mostly, though... I was so angry with her!" Tristan turned to her, his face screwed up in confusion. Eve's eyes remained level, and her smile never waivered, though her hands moved like lightening in the water. "Mother was gone for 25 years of my life. I thought she was dead... she was just," she smirked, collecting the word, "sleeping. It's a long story. Anyway, I understand how confused you are. Sometimes it's best not to examine God's plan too closely."
Tristan ground his teeth thoughtfully, letting the silence fall. The third jug was being filled in the bucket beside him. "So..." he began with the first thought in his head, "you're really into this whole Elijan thing, aren't you?"
Eve's blue eyes flashed up at him, a smile ever tucked into the corners of her lips; the kind of smile that one gives a child who has stated the innocent obvious. "Yes," the fourth jug fell into the dwindling water, "and, God willing, one day you will know why." She cleared her throat, switching topics as easily as a train of thought. "Tristan, we lost one of our group; a young woman, maybe a little younger than you, who looks like Gabrielle. Did you see her at all this morning?"
"No," Tristan shrugged, or shivered; it could have been either, "I've only seen my father this morning. I told him what happened last night. He's starting to really believe I'm crazy."
Eve sighed, corking the last wineskin, and set her hand on Tristan's shoulder. "You have been extrordinary, and it has been so wonderful to meet you!" He tried to interrupt, but she just kept going. "We have to go find Hope, and all of us are riding out. You won't be bothered by anyone anymore, and I can't think of a better person to leave my grandmother's tavern with." He tried to interrupted again, but she already knew what he was about to ask. "We'll try to come back. But," she winked, "my mother is like the wind; ever-changing, shifting." She gathered the skins in her hands and wrapped her arms around her little cousin quickly, "Thank you for everything, Tristan!" And with that, she bolted back into the tavern.
...
"We don't have time for this, Gabrielle," Xena bulked, but clung true to her love's hand as she was dragged into the forest behind the masoleum.
"Just a minute, I swear," the blonde promised, seeming to count the trees, never looking back at the woman she held so tightly to. "This can't wait."
"Hope can't wait!" Xena urged, impatiently. When Gabrielle stopped in a seemingly random area, Xena rested her body against a tree. "I'm nervous about that horse you bought," Xena stated while watching Gabrielle begin to dig up the earth at her feet, clearing leaves and using her sais as shovels. "It looked like it has trouble carrying it's own weight... let alone mine."
"Help me with this?" Gabrielle requested in all of her unsupressed excitment. Xena knelt beside her, taking one sai and using it in equal tandum with her free hand. After a moment of digging, Gabrielle sat back and watched her lover as the sai suddenly made the sound of metal-on-metal and the dark-skinned, elegant fingers wiped dirt away . She smiled, her heart soaring, as Xena lifted her old tarnished breastplate from the soft earth. "I bought some leathers for you while you were looking at the horse. I don't know if you'll be able to wear the plates anymore, but..."
Xena was nearly open-mouthed, unable to make her eyes leave her old armor. She managed to speak, but it was hardly more than a whisper, "I... I burried this... in Japa. How did you find them?"
"It wasn't easy," Gabrielle shrugged. "I couldn't leave it there. They belonged here... with you."
Xena's eyes finally lifted to meet her companion's weak smile. Before Gabrielle had a chance to react, Xena had cupped her neck, and pulled their lips together quickly. "You're an angel!" the dark warrior whispered. Gabrielle's eyes roamed over that beloved face as she reached up and took the hand, so warm against her skin, and kissed the back of it softly.
...
Jadxea helped Eve tighten the strap on the old horse Eve had ridden in on. Eve's pack was secure, and Jadxea couldn't help but watch the woman saddling her horse at the same speed as Gabrielle. A small flash of jealousy passed the little girl's mind. All her life she had tried to be just as fast. She hated being smaller and slower. Cautiously, she lifted her blue eyes to survey the villagers beyond the open barn doors. The villagers starred back at her, curiously. The little cutting knife was still in her pack, Eve hadn't mentioned getting it back yet, and Jadxea made no effort to get rid of it just yet. The villagers here in Amphipolis were unsettling, almost unsafe. For some reason, Jadxea found herself pining for the comfort of the Amazon village. She briefly considered how strange it was that she didn't wish for Egypt, but that was quickly forgotten. Instead, Jadxea's mind wandered to the smokey fire pits of the Amazons, and the smell of Terreis' mother's cooking. She suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to leave Terreis a note, explaining where she had run off to. She wondered how long it had taken them to realize she was gone.
"Xea!" Eve snapped her out of her revery. "Your horse. We don't have time for daydreaming!"
"No, Kepi's staying here," Gabrielle's commanding voice stopped her little girl in her tracks. "Jadxea, you'll ride with me." She went to the stall and pulled Danae by her reins, the horse already saddled and eager to move.
"But," Jadxea's worried little face spun between her pony, who munched happy on her grains, and her mother's face that dared reproach, "I can't leave Kepi."
"We don't have a choice, Xea," Gabrielle was ushering her child back toward her, taking her pack and fastening it to her brown mare. "You rode Kepi hard to get here. She's just a pony. She needs more rest. She'll be too slow. I've spoken to the barnkeep, he's agreed to take care of her while we're gone." Gabrielle began leading Danae out of the barn, with Jadxea trailing behind, nervous and upset.
The bright sun hit Jadxea's eyes hard, and she blinked, trying to adjust faster. When her vision cleared, she found her mother had already climbed up into her saddle, and Eve was already astride her own horse, pulling the old gelding around to face the new, spotted, grey mare that was now joining their team. Jadxea looked up to find the mare's rider and was met with the sight of a warrior, tall and proud, clad in dark, chocolatey leather. Tarnished coppery armor looped and hooked around the leather, creating emblems and patterns across strong arms, legs, and chest. The warrior's long brunette hair fell wild and careless down her back, and her skin glistened bronze in the morning sun. A beautiful, jewel-encrusted sword and scabbered were attached to her back. Jadxea was frozen, starring up at this hero, worthy of every story she'd ever heard, dreamt, or imagined.
The grey mare was pulled back and forth, testing her agility. "Well, you're not going to be so difficult after all. She just needs a little motivation," the warrior remarked to Gabrielle, pulling the mare alongside Jadxea's little paralyzed body.
The little girl watched her circle, and as the horse stopped beside her, her eyes suddenly found the very familiar silver and gold disk attatched to the warrior's hip. The chakram, her mother's chakram, hung from a little leather clip at the warrior's side. Some strange, territorial feeling surged in Jadxea suddenly. That chakram was her mother's; it was all she had left of Jadxea's father; Jadxea knew the story very well. But... the warrior... Xena... she was the hero of all of those stories. Jadxea knew she had no reason to be upset, but something inside her made her want to scold the warrior for taking posession of the precious weapon.
The warrior smiled down at the little girl who watched her so carefully. A large and warm hand stretched out out to the child. "Would you like to ride with me, Jadxea?"
Slowly, the little girl reached out and took the hand offered to her. Faster than she had ever experienced before, Jadxea was swung onto the back of the grey mare, and her little body melded against the warrior's with ease.
"The baker said he saw a young woman going into the woods heading west," Xena's voice vibrated through her back and across Jadxea's chest. "So, we'll head in that direction and try to pick up her tracks."
"She can't have gone far," Eve's hopeful voice broke the air.
"She is on foot. That's our advantage," Gabrielle answered. "We should be able to find her in a few hours."
There was an uncomfortable silence, and Jadxea swore that she felt Xena tense in her arms. "Let's not lose anymore time," Xena declared, and all three horses made their way through Amphipolis and onto the cleared path in the woods, heading west.
...
The sun was high, beating hard on Amphipolis, when Terreis finally found herself coming upon the little village. She swung her sleek young stallion around to face her travelling partner; an older, harsh-faced Amazon with wild auburn hair and blue-green feathers everywhere.
"The tracks lead into the village. Maybe she's found Queen Gabrielle," Terreis suggested.
"We have to be sure. It was your duty to look after the child, and until we find her, you are not absolved of that responcibility," the warrior pushed her horse onward, past Terreis and on toward the village.
"It wasn't my fault, Shirra!" Terreis flared, the stallion prancing up beside her. "I woke up and she was gone. No one in the village heard her leave! What did you expect me to do?"
"Stay awake with her all night if you must!" Shirra snapped. "Now Queen Cyane is angry with all of us. Queen Gabrielle's child was to be kept safe and sacred, and now she is lost!"
Terreis was quiet, anger and shame blurring her vision no matter how hard she tried to push it away. The Amazons were not known for their quiet and reasoning. They were a proud, harsh tempered people; and Terreis was all Amazon. She darted quick glances at Shirra; the hard, set face starring steadily at Amphipolis. Terreis' temper began to cool, and she suddenly found herself considering why Queen Gabrielle was such a revered leader. Gabrielle was raised outside the Amazon world. She came to them from a whole other culture and way of life. She came to them as a bard, not a warrior; the warrior came much later. There was so much more than what the Amazons had been teaching Terreis... maybe Queen Gabrielle's Way, that she'd read about, was just as important to learn.
Terreis considered posing this suggestion to Shirra. But that tough-as-nails warrior beside her wouldn't budge from her momentary purpose, much less her overall lifestyle. Terreis dreaded that inevitable narrow-minded, constant focus more than any shame or death. But there seemed to be no way to avoid it. She was born into the life of an Amazon warrior, and somehow it seemed that she had been tailor-made for it. But some part of her yearned for the choice that Queen Gabrielle had given herself. The choice that she allowed Eve to have. Terreis found herself jealous of little Jadxea herself, and the diversity of such an indeterminant life she had been given.
Terreis and Shirra pulled their horses to a stop in front of Amphipolis' tavern. The villagers worked and mingled, but just as they had encountered in other villages along the way, the people kept their wary eyes on the Amazons. A shiver ran down Terreis' spine. This place wasn't right; somehow, something otherwordly had happened here and it was unsettling. She looked to Shirra and found her companion seemingly struck with the same impression.
"We get in, we find the girl, we get out," Shirra laid out the plan curtly. But she paused, immovable on her horse.
"I don't think these villagers are going to talk to us," Terreis observed with a nervous pitch in her voice.
"We'll find someone," Shirra insisted, still not moving from the saddle, as if touching the ground would root her to it.
"You're looking for a child," an etherial voice called to them from the tavern door, and both woman snapped to attention. The dark Amazon, clad in beads and feathers and deerskin, came down the steps slowly to face the travellers. "The child you seek is no longer here."
Terreis studied the Amazon carefully, concerned that an Amazon, and an unfamiliar one at that, would be so bold and forthcoming. But Shirra wasted no time. "We are looking for a child," the older warrior confirmed. "Her name is Jadxea. Dark skin, dark hair..."
"And sky-blue eyes!" the dark Amazon finished. "Like her other mother. And I told you, she's not here anymore."
"Did you see where she went?" Shirra immediately pounced her question on top of the Amazon's words.
"The great queen," the Amazon declared as if she were making a proclamation to the village, "the beautiful queen, the queen of wisdom and of words; she who has died and been ressurrected from every persecution and hardship, the queen of the light..." the Amazon's words trailed off.
But Terreis didn't need more than the first title to know where Jadxea was. "She found Queen Gabrielle!" she beamed at Shirra.
"Or the queen found her," Shirra's tone was almost scolding, as if Terreis had dared to degrade Gabrielle by suggesting she had been found by a child. "Well, there's no need for us here. Let's go back to the valley. I don't like being the minority among..." Shirra glanced around the people of Amphipolis, "them," she generalized, contemptuously. Reluctantly her eyes fell on the dark Amazon and she sighed, giving into her duty, but not really wanting to. "Many thanks to you, sister. If your tribe is not nearby, we'd be happy to take you back to the safety of our own."
The dark Amazon smiled sweetly, coming all the way off the steps now and coming close to the two women, calmly. She boldly placed a hand on the elder Amazon's thigh, obviously aware how uncomfortable she was, but not removing her hand for any reason. "Shirra," the auburn-hair warrior flinched at the stranger's inexplicable knowledge, "you should try a bit of honesty in your life. It may do you some good. Possibly not in a large way, but absolutely in everything small."
"Are you a Shamainess?" Shirra demanded, her skin growing very hot where the Amazon's hand rested.
"A reader," Terreis corrected, watching the Amazon in enrapt facination, "a seer. She is a prophet."
Dark eyes turned on the fresh young Amazon, and the hand was dropped from Shirra's thigh. "Terreis," the dark Amazon began calmly, stepping close, but never touching her, "you have wisdom. I know your fears. But one day, just like the young princess whom you share your name with, your wisdom will be passed on, and will enrich the lives of your people." Terreis starred deeply into those dark eyes, her heart soaring from this kernel of knowledge given to her, and then sinking into her stomach in rememberance of the story of Princess Terreis. "Your fears are not unfounded," the Amazon prophet whispered. "There is danger around you. There will be until your end. Do not fear the danger, Terreis. Fear the darkness that will follow if you are lost and your wisdom is not passed into the correct hands. The Princess was destined to pass her wisdom to The Great Queen. And while she had her successor, so you have yours."
"This is all quite awe-inspiring, but I have to be honest," Shirra gave the Amazon prophet a sarcastic look, "I'd really rather not be in this pathetic little village for five more minutes."
"Yes..." Terreis whispered, pulling the reins of her stallion so that he retreated from the Amazon, whose dark eyes she never left, "we have to go. We have to find Jadxea."
"No," Shirra insisted, thoroughly unnerved by the apparent connection that she wasn't a part of, and unwilling to be still any longer, "the Queen has her. We know that now. It isn't our place to question where they've gone."
"West," the prophet answered, climbing the steps again. "They went west. And your young companion is right, Shirra. You must find the child of The Great Queen. They travel with two Princesses, one of peace and one of war. They are all in mortal danger. The rebirth of The Child of the Darkness and the Light will bring about the greatest struggle that no one will ever know about."
"Wait a minute," Shirra stopped the prophet in her tracks, "you knew Queen Gabrielle was in danger and you did nothing?" she snapped, viciously.
"Not nothing," the dark Amazon smiled pleasantly, "I've told you."
"We have to go!" Terreis urged, the horse underneath her shifting with excitement.
"No, Terreis!" the prophet suddenly shouted. "You are destined for many things, but not this. The danger lies in the purity of heart among those that follow this path. To be a pure soul, with no stain on your conscience as of yet; you will only encourage the flames! Shirra must go alone, and you must return home to find warriors to aid her."
Terreis' face went red, and the horse danced beneath her, feeling his mistress' eagerness and urgency. "I will not sit at home like a babe while my Queen and her child; my friend; are in danger! If you know my mind, then you know this; since I was a child, I knew, I would be willing to die in the service of Queen Gabrielle!" Terreis kicked her heels into the stallion's sides, and the horse sprang into a gallop, through the village, heading west.
Shirra was left in utter amazement, watching her young companion leave, and she finally summoned up the awareness to swing her own horse around to follow the young woman. But before she could command the horse, a white hot hand was pressed against her thigh, and the dark Amazon met her eyes.
"Heed the words, Shirra. Heed the words!"
Shirra dug her heels into the mare's sides and the beast bolt through the village, toward Terreis and far away from the strange, dark prophet.
...
Tears fell like rivers down the soft, pale cheeks. Dirt patches covered her brow and neck, all down her arms, and where the gauzey wrappings had ripped away from her lean, cream colored legs. Her green eyes were wet from weeping, but she blinked them away as best she could while she pushed branches, brambles, and bushes out of her way. The branches caught her bright, red-gold, sunset colored hair, as they did every so often, and tangled her in the brush. Eventually, she would struggle enough that either the branches or her hair would give way and she could keep moving, keep running, unable to stop.
Finally, a root caught her foot, and she fell, out of the brush, and face first into a rolling valley of tall grass. Dirt now covering her wet face, she tried to wipe it away with her cut and bruised hands. Instead, it seemed to make her situation worse. Eventually she gave up and let her weight fall into the earth, the tall grass encircling her, embracing her, rocking her in the breeze like a craddle. Her body surrendered, she knew she couldn't run anymore. Her muscles burned and screamed their protest, spasming as if they were unable to simply stop their activity, it had to be worked out gradually. The wind blew, and a tree from within the brush creaked with the shifting weight of it's branches.
"Hope!"
She rolled onto her back, sitting upright in one fluid motion.
"Hope!"
She listened hard, trying to find the voice that she had been following for so many hours now. The voices... oh, how they just wouldn't be silenced! But this one was so distinct and so clear, she was sure that it came from someplace. That place was safe, and she knew how much she belonged there, but she couldn't see where it was, or why it was so special.
"Hope!"
She couldn't stop herself now. She began rocking, and words were coming to her from places she didn't know even existed inside her. They insisted, unfiltered, and she was forced to let them out into the world.
"Darkness and the Light. The child. A child. Danger lies in the purity of heart. Unstained... clean... unstained. Two Princesses. A purity of heart. The Darkness... the darkness that will follow... Darkness... Light! One of peace and one of war. The Queen... the Great Queen... the rebirth... the child... danger! It will not do! It will not serve..." she was silent for a moment, the last words coming to her with meaning far beyond her comprehension. "It will only encourage the flames!"
"Hope!"
The voice called, and she answered, climbing to her feet with a will she did not know she had, and running once again through the tall grass of the valley and plunging into the darkness of the forest.