The war meeting had been going on for hours. Gabrielle sighed silently and glanced out the window. It was evening. She thought it would be suppertime soon. What would I usually be doing right now? she wondered. I guess we'd be wrapping up everything for supper, and starting the cleanup. I'd be looking for Hedia or Nasreen and Tannaz to come and take me for my evening bath. I'd maybe have a few moments to talk with Cress and Lila. She rested her head back against the wall with another soundless sigh. She was bored and upset, all at the same time.
A timid knock at the door, and servants entered with trays of steaming food. At the smell of roasted meat, Gabrielle's stomach growled. She folded her arms over her belly and huddled down with embarrassment.
The arrival of the food seemed to jog Xena's memory. She looked over at the corner where Gabrielle was sitting. Then she leaned over and said a few words to Callisto. The blond general made a face, but got up and strode over to the slave. "Get up," Callisto said shortly. "Queenie says you need an armed escort for your bath. Let's go." Gabrielle got up obediently, if reluctantly. She cast a look at Xena, but the woman was engrossed in a set of maps and a discussion with Bennu. Nervously, Gabrielle went. Callisto's hand closed firmly around the slave's upper arm.
When they reached the foot of the stair, Callisto's pace slowed. The slave's slowed down to match it. "So, Queenie's little pet is getting lots of attention now," the general cooed. "Imagine having her generals as bodyguards. That's quite a lot of protection for a little blond lapdog, now isn't it?"
The slave girl peered at her through pale lashes. "I guess," she whispered.
"Ah, the lapdog speaks." Callisto giggled softly. "Now what've you done to Queenie to make her like you so much, hm? Do you have a wicked little tongue?" She tugged Gabrielle closer - entirely too close for the slave's comfort. "Or maybe you just taste...extra good." The slave girl felt Callisto's breath against the side of her neck and shuddered, expecting to feel the general's tongue. It didn't happen. With a chuckle, Callisto straightened again. "Or maybe the gods like you. Hm? Are you pulling favors from Aphrodite, maybe? Or is it Artemis?"
Gabrielle stared at her. She's out of her mind! "Favors from...gods?" she blurted. "I've never even been in a temple in my life."
"Hmm, maybe so, maybe not." Callisto steered the slave down the hall toward the bathing room. "But you've certainly caught Xena's eye. You should be very careful, Gabrielle. That might not be a good thing." She was holding the slave girl so close that Gabrielle could feel the studded leather of the woman's dagger sheath pressing against her side. There were still no overt threats, but the girl was terrified.
Nasreen and Tannaz were waiting in the room. Callisto released the slave's arm and gave her a gentle shove toward the harem women. "Here she is," she said cheerfully. "Get her all scrubbed and oiled up for Queenie, will you? I'm sure Xena's got a long night in store for her little pet."
The body slave blushed furiously. She stood in silence as the smirking Nasreen disrobed her and took the gems from her wrists and throat. Gabrielle's collar was removed last, just as it was every evening for her bath. She felt somehow barren without it. Quietly, the blond girl slipped into the bathtub and passively allowed herself to be scrubbed and lathered and shaven. Tannaz then oiled her from head to toe with something that smelled beautifully of roses. When this was done, the collar was replaced, and Gabrielle was dressed in a fresh tunic of deep blue silk. She knelt down and waited as the two Persian women brushed out her hair. One of them handed her a bit of bread and cheese to eat while they worked.
Callisto had been leaning one shoulder against a wall and watching with an expression of slightly amused boredom. When all was finished, she pushed away from the wall and gestured. "Come, lapdog," she said. "We can't let Queenie's sheets get all cold, now can we?" Gabrielle felt her face flushing scarlet in humiliation. She lowered her head and let herself be led to Xena's quarters.
The queen was sitting on her secondary throne, her legs crossed at the knees and her lips pressed against her folded hands. She looked up as the two women entered. "Ah, Callisto. Good." She motioned absently for her slave to approach. Gabrielle went wordlessly to kneel in her place and lay her head in Xena's lap. "I want a word with you. Tell me about Caleb. I haven't heard that you gutted him, so I assume he's still alive."
The general shrugged. "No. Would you believe it? The one man you gave me permission to kill, and he's been on his best behavior." She tossed her long blond hair back in annoyance. "I've got my eye on him and his men. Believe me - if he takes one step out of line, I'll have my sword through him faster than he can blink."
"Ah." Xena steepled her fingers. "I have an idea there was more than just Duke Cleytus behind yesterday's deadly little game of darts. Cleytus was far too stupid to come up with something that good himself. There are others." She leveled a cool glare at Callisto. "So watch Caleb, and watch him good. If he had a hand in it, then I want that hand cut off. Understood?"
Callisto gave a careless salute with her right arm. "Whatever you say, Queenie," she said. "I'll stick to him like glue."
"Good." The queen smiled grimly. "That's all I wanted to talk to you about for now, Callisto. You're dismissed. Find Simon and tell him to get up here - I've got a job I want him to finish for me before we march out next week." The blond general nodded and left the room.
The slave girl felt Xena's hand sorting through her hair a few moments later. She didn't move. The queen tugged gently on a red-gold lock. "Hey. You all right, goatherd?" Gabrielle sat back on her heels and looked up at Xena. She didn't really know what to answer. The queen sighed at the expression on the slave's face. Her callused hand caught the front of Gabrielle's tunic and gave a light tug. "C'mere." Uncertainly, Gabrielle got up, and was drawn onto Xena's lap. She rested her head against the woman's engraved breastplate and felt the strength of the arms that engulfed her. "What are you thinking, Gabrielle? Tell me."
"I guess I'm just glad that you like me," the slave whispered. "I don't think I'd survive here too long if you didn't. I...I don't know what to think about anything."
Xena frowned. "Still upset about the oaf I killed this morning?" Gabrielle looked down, but didn't say anything. "I take it you didn't see too many executions in that little backwater village I took you from." The slave shook her head silently. "Well, believe me, I went easy on the bastard. He died pretty much instantly. I could have had him crucified, or hanged, or drawn and quartered. He was a traitor, trying to stir up trouble for me. He deserved what he got."
Gabrielle didn't speak. She knew she didn't have a lot of experience in things like this. Maybe Xena was right, and beheading that man had been the best thing to do - Xena certainly seemed to think so. All Gabrielle knew was that she'd watched the queen callously kill someone, and the memory made her feel cold and frightened.
"Hey." The slave looked up, and found Xena's eyes looking into hers. They were soft. The queen's hand stroked her cheek. "I'm not going to hurt you." Gabrielle said nothing. "I could if I wanted to, but I don't. I like you, goatherd. And it's damn seldom that happens."
The blond girl gazed at her quietly. The time for decisions had really passed. She'd already thrown in her lot with Xena - she felt she couldn't do anything else. Something drew her powerfully to this woman and bound them together, and even though what had happened that morning was troubling, Gabrielle couldn't shake that bond. She didn't even really want to. With a soft sigh or defeat, Gabrielle held up her mouth to be kissed. The queen obliged with a smirk.
There came a knock at the door. Xena straightened - a moment later, a young soldier entered. He was clean-shaven, and his brown hair was neatly clipped. He bowed slightly. "You sent for me, Your Majesty?"
"Yes. I did." Xena guided Gabrielle off her lap and rose to her feet. She held up their clasped hands as if presenting the slave to him. "I need you to measure my charming little companion here for armor. She's coming with us when we ride out in a week, and I want something to keep the arrows out of her pretty hide." She turned her pale eyes on Gabrielle, who was gaping at her. "Gabrielle, this is Simon. He's the unlucky bastard who's in charge of all the armorers and weaponsmiths in this hellhole."
The slave was too astonished to do much other than stand there as the chief armorer began to measure her limbs and torso with a length of knotted string, making notes on a bit of parchment as he went. She hadn't really given much thought to what would happen to her while the queen led her army against Athens, but she'd certainly never have expected to be going with her. Gabrielle had never so much as held a sword before. What on earth would she do in an army? She watched in bewilderment as Simon measured around her hips, and then the length of her legs.
"She is sturdy, Your Majesty," Simon said thoughtfully, taking the measure of Gabrielle's shoulders again. "I believe a mail shirt will work well, with a leather gambeson." He paused as he took more notes. "Do you want plates for her legs as well? Or a helm?"
"No. She's not going to be fighting. I want her to be able to see, and free to run like hell if she needs to." Xena's lips quirked. "Have someone make her a surcoat, though. None of the ones we've got are going to fit her."
"As you wish, my queen." The young man measured around Gabrielle's neck and jotted down a few last things on his paper. "It will be done."
"It better," Xena remarked dryly. "The state of your neck depends on it."
To Gabrielle's surprise, Simon didn't seem terribly worried by the threat. He merely bowed once more. "May I go and begin the work, Your Majesty?" Xena waved a hand in dismissal, and the young man turned to go. He nodded his head at Gabrielle with a faint smile. She returned it tentatively. Her eyes followed him from the room.
When he had gone, Gabrielle looked back at the queen and furrowed her brow. "I'm...coming with you, Mistress?"
"Yep." Xena eyed her. "Would you rather stay here?" Gabrielle stopped at this. She thought about the harem where Xena would likely leave her in that case. With a wince, she looked down and shook her head. "Well, then."
Green eyes lifted earnestly. "B-but I...I don't know how to do anything," the slave said. "Won't I be in your way?"
Xena grinned and extended her hand. Gabrielle moved to lay her fingers in the proffered palm and was drawn back onto the queen's lap. "Yeah, you'll be pretty useless on the battlefield, farmer girl," Xena said, slinging her long arms carelessly around her slave's waist. "But you'll be something pretty to look at when I get tired of staring at soldiers' ugly mugs, and you can amuse me when we're riding." Her pale eyes twinkled a bit. "And you can keep my cot warm at night."
The slave girl shivered as one of Xena's hands sensually caressed her thigh. "Okay," she said. "And I guess I'll see some exciting things. Maybe I can make up some new stories."
The queen rolled her eyes. "As long as it isn't more Xena the Hero garbage." Gabrielle didn't say anything.
She lay awake that night, clasped to her owner's chest, her blond head pillowed on one of the queen's muscular shoulders. She knew riding with the army was going to be difficult. They'd be out on the road most of the time, and sleeping in tents at night - and she, Gabrielle, was going to have to ride a horse every day, something she wasn't at all used to, and didn't really like. Her legs had been a little bit stiff after riding on Xena's horse the day she'd been captured. She wondered what she was going to feel like after a whole day on one, or after many days. She wondered, too, what battle was going to be like. People would fight each other and die, she knew. What would she be doing? Would Xena protect her, or would she hide Gabrielle somewhere until the fighting was over?
The slave thought about the duke Xena had beheaded, and about how many people were going to die in the coming war. She thought about the razing of Potadeia. Would Xena's men do the same thing to Athens, she wondered? Would the city be burned and its surviving people be taken as slaves? Would Gabrielle have to stand by while people were dragged from their homes in chains and families were torn apart, just like hers had been? Tears filled her eyes. She shivered and closed them tightly. Gods, she prayed silently, I don't know whether any of you even care about this, but...please don't let me have to see that. Please.
It wasn't until much later that Gabrielle finally drifted into a troubled sleep.