AN: it's been awhile...

Chapter 26

One Year Later

Gabrielle and Alexa decided to leave the Amazon grounds to go exploring in Greece. It was a much needed escape that both of them needed. Gabrielle liked the Amazons and had grown well accustomed to living with them and being one of the same. She felt as if these women were not strangers to her at all and that she had known them all her life. As time passed by Gabrielle had slowly forgotten about Xena. She began to think that she was dead as she hadn't heard anything from her for over a year now. She also thought of how Xena would contact her, she didn't know where she was nor did Gabrielle think that Xena cared. The only constant reminder of Xena was Solan, who now was a little over a year old now. He had sandy blonde hair and reminded her of Xena's younger brother, Lyceus. Gabrielle made a promise to herself that she would go to Amphipolis to see Xena's family again and this time bring Solan, but she needed to find the right time to do so. This was not the right time, she knew that.

Outside a small village near Athens Gabrielle and Alexa walked through a street filled with vendors. Some had fruits, vegetables, wheat stalk and many had clothes. It was hard to resist clothing. Gabrielle had grown to like the Amazon clothing but she still enjoyed other clothing. She always liked shopping and Alexa didn't seem to like it much as she was bored for two hours as Gabrielle stopped at every clothing vendor.

"Gabrielle...must you look at every little piece of fabric..." the redhead groaned as she slumped down on a stool next to the vendor's cart. The blonde smirked as she wrapped a scarf around her neck, admiring the fine craftsmanship.

"I'm sorry that you're so bored. I promise I'm almost finished," Gabrielle teased. She looked down to see Solan playing with some rocks in the dirt and Alexa snickered.

"See, even he is bored. He has resorted to playing with rocks," she stood up and hoisted Solan on her hip. "I think we are going to go somewhere else...less boring," smiling she left Gabrielle's side off to find somewhere more interesting.

Alex and Solan wandered around the street and she found a small tavern. She entered and saw everyone turn and look at her as she entered. She smiled at all of the men and made her way through. Solan reached out to many of the guests passing by. Alexa sat down at a table and set Solan on her lap. "This is a lot better right?" she grinned at Solan and he simply smiled at her with a toothless grin.

A nice waitress came up to them and offered if she wanted anything to drink and Alexa kindly refused. She said she'd come back in a little while if they were still there to ask again. The redhead looked around the tavern and thought it had been so long since she had been in one of these. Living with the Amazons they didn't have anything like this especially in the remote area they lived in.

She knew she couldn't stay here too long without Gabrielle because she'd come looking for her and Solan. Sighing she relaxed in the chair allowing Solan to play with her fringe top as she waited for Gabrielle to finish her little shopping spree.

As she sat there she heard a couple of young men chatting among themselves. She didn't mean to be rude and listen in but it was so hard not to since they were talking so loudly and they were a few tables away as well.

"Are you sure you haven't heard of that lady pirate?" one of the men asked loudly. Alexa groaned and opened her eyes glaring at the two but they ignored her.

The other man shook his head, "nah, I haven't heard of any female pirates, guy. There's no such thing as female pirates," he scoffed and finished off his ale.

The young blonde man groaned, "I'm telling you she's real. Long dark hair. Lots of braids too. She's tall too! Real tall! Taller than Erephtes, my cousin, I swear to you," he grinned. His friend seemed less convinced. Alexa raised a brow listening to the young lad go on and on about this female pirate with dark hair. She was more intrigued now.

Alexa grabbed Solan and walked over to their table. The two men stopped talking and looked up at her with a nervous smile. "Did you say there is a female pirate with long dark hair?"

The blonde nodded his vigorously, "yes! My friend here, Palis, doesn't believe me. He thinks that this woman is some kind of folktale," he chuckled.

Palis rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. The lanky man rubbed his cheek growing frustrated with his friend here. "That's because it is a folktale, guy." He looked up at Alexa with a small grin. "There's been a story going around about some female pirate. She deals with slave traders and takes women from brothels around all the seas." He shook his head and tapped his fingers on the rim of cup. "It's a load of horseshit if you ask me."

Alexa nodded her head, finding this information very useful to her. She wondered how long this story had been circling around. "And nobody's seen her before?"

The blonde grinned, "my cousin has seen her before when he was in the desert a few moons ago. They call her The Wanderer because nobody knows her real name."

She had a feeling that this 'wanderer' was Xena, but it didn't make much sense. A pirate and not just any pirate but a slave trading pirate? Gods knows what kind of mayhem this woman gets herself into. First she was trying to take over and destroy the centaurs, tried to assassinate the Roman emperor and now she is...a pirate? Alexa didn't want to jump to conclusions but it all seemed to add up especially with the description that these two men revealed.

"Thanks for telling me all of this," she smiled and hurried out of the tavern. The two men looked at one another a bit baffled at the young redhead.

"Do you know her?" Palis asked. The friend shook his head and shrugged his shoulders equally as confused.

Alexa came out of the tavern and quickly skipped over to the vendors only to find Gabrielle in the same spot she was when she left earlier. she began calling her name out and finally got her attention. Gabrielle frowned as she saw her running towards her with a strange look on her face. Alexa slowed her breathing and Solan reached out to Gabrielle.

"Gabrielle..." she said in baited breath. Gabrielle frowned, unsure what was going on in this girl's mind. She took Solan off her hands and gave her a chance to catch her breath.

"Breathe, Alexa," the blonde teased.

Alexa exhaled sharply and began again, "Gabrielle, I think I found out where Xena is...well, sort of...I found something that might be related to her or it is her...I'm not entirely sure but it sounded a lot like her from your stories..."

Gabrielle really wasn't following her now. She was all over the place and wasn't make a lick of sense. "What are you talking about?"

The redhead gathered her thoughts and tapped her boot on the ground, trying her best to make this sound less ridiculous than that guy did back at the tavern. "I...was listening to two men talking in the tavern down the road. One of them mentioned a female pirate with dark long hair. Nobody knows her real name so she's called The Wanderer and they also said she works in the slave trade –taking girls from around the world. Whatever that means." She stared into Gabrielle's green eyes and they seemed unconvinced.

Gabrielle shook her head, "Xena isn't a pirate and why would she...take girls?" she didn't like the sound of that. That woman that those men spoke about couldn't be Xena. It was just too strange. "It's not Xena, I know it's not. She wouldn't do that."

Alexa's jaw dropped. "If it's not her then who would it be? It's a perfect description of her Gabrielle..." she smiled. "I thought you would be happy to hear something like this," together the two walked alongside one another as they left the village area.

"Alexa, I was trying to forget about Xena," she faced her with a firm look in her eyes. Alexa seemed taken aback but remained silent. "If she is alive and is somewhere out there I want to make sure I hear it from a reliable source. Not these...stories about a pirate who steals girls." She shook her head in disgust.

Alexa pulled on Gabrielle's shoulder and stepped in front of her. "Hey I'm sorry. I just wanted to tell you...thought it would give you some hope," she lamely said.

"I don't need hope, Alexa," she took off without her and adjusted Solan on her hip walking up a large hill. "We should get back home." Alexa sighed and ran up the hill following her blonde friend.

The two made camp out in a forest nearby so they could rest before walking the rest of the way home in the morning. Gabrielle made a nice bed for Solan and he was sound asleep laying on his stomach upon a blanket that Alexa packed in Gabrielle's bag. Alexa tended to the fire silently and she looked over to see Gabrielle writing on one of her scrolls.

"What are you writing?" Alexa asked and Gabrielle looked up, now distracted she stopped writing and stared at Alexa as she was in the middle of a thought.

"Just something I needed to get off my chest. I like to write whenever I can. I wrote a lot when I was with Xena. I stopped for awhile since I lived with the Amazons." She continued jotting down more of her thoughts and a small smile crossed her lips. Alexa liked seeing Gabrielle smile, it was always a nice sight to see and ever since she mentioned the story about The Wanderer being Xena possibly, she was in a sour mood. She was just glad that Gabrielle wasn't stuck on that and was able to channel her feelings on parchment instead of verbally.

Six Months Earlier

Naseem had traveled with Xena throughout the coasts of West Africa, the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf in search for his slave women. Xena did as promised and hoarded off any intruders or trespassers in the way. Along the way she picked up a few noblemen to work with her and Naseem allowed her to invite them to be a part of the ship's crew. She felt more important now that she had a group of twenty men following her orders instead of being a one man band.

Every time they entered a new territory on the coast of whatever country they were in Naseem made deals with brothel owners, mainly men in charge and he would pay for slave girls. Xena had little contact with the girls he picked up but whenever she was done with the raid there would always be new faces below the ship's deck. Each place she went to she would buy new clothing there to blend in. she couldn't remember the last time she owned this many pieces of clothing.

Xena enjoyed the raids with her crew but she began to question why she was always following someone else. That wasn't her end goal. She wanted to be solo and do things her way. How could she do that when she was always in someone else's shadow? She didn't begin to feel this way until one night Naseem docked his ship in the Persian Gulf. Sometimes they did the exchange during the dead of the night but usually it was during the daytime. It was that night when she snapped and she changed the course of her entire mindset.

Naseem was in his office counting silver coins piece by piece. He heard a knock and saw Xena standing there wiping her sword down. He smiled and gestured her to sit down across from him. When she didn't take the offer he stopped counting and frowned. "Something the matter, Xena?" he asked pretending to care.

She shrugged, "I just want to know why we're staying here for an extra night," she questioned curiously.

He smiled, "I just got word I have extra business to conduct. I have a special mission for you, are you up for it?"

Xena frowned and sheathed her sword folding her arms. "I already did a raid earlier today, you want me to do another one?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You're just full of questions tonight, aren't you? You wanted this job and I gave it to you. You do as I say, remember? Xena, I am a very easy going man, but don't cross me," he chuckled. Xena nodded her head remaining calm. She didn't really like being told what to do but this evening Naseem was acting rather strange. He seemed to almost be greedy or something of the sort. He continued counting the silver coins and she watched him bag each one individually.

Once he finished counting every silver piece he tied the large bag and smiled at the brunette warrior. He pulled out a map from a drawer and pointed to her to come closer. She waltzed over to his desk and peered down at the map. "I want you to go through these secret passageways. There will be someone there to meet you. This isn't a regular raid. I want you to be stealthy."

Stealthy? What in gods name? "I'm not a thief, Naseem. Stealth is not in my name," she blurted out immediately.

He hushed her. "I know this, but this time you will be. I'm not asking you to steal anything, just to be quiet. Understand?" he eyed her and she pursed her lips remaining still. "The guard will meet you half way and he will escort you to a room. When you get to that room act casual. Don't show any sign of violence or you will ruin the entire plan."

What is the plan exactly? He went to explain further in detail but Xena felt so lost. She felt like she was stealing a giant jewel or some sort instead of raiding the area. The ship was docked near a large palace and that was a sign to her. There was something important that Naseem wanted in that palace and it was definitely bigger than a jewel.

After the sun had set Xena took two men with her and they went through the secret passages that Naseem showed her. She had memorized the entire map earlier and now knew where everything was. She crept down the dark hall with a torch in her hand and saw a shadow pass by. The shadow waved his hand and that must have been the signal to come forward. Halfway already? She thought. She and the two warriors tread carefully and the man was indeed a royal guard. Xena felt so strange doing this. She had no idea what she was supposed to retrieve for Naseem. He said it was something very special but that's all he would say about it.

What seemed like a lifetime later they finally reached a door. The guard opened it with a key and a bright light beamed into Xena's eyes. She blocked the light and stepped inside the room that Naseem spoke of. The guard blocked the way preventing Xena's two right hand men from coming forward. "They are coming with me," she demanded.

The guard shook his head, "no men are allowed in this area, I'm sorry." He shut the door and now she was all alone. She blinked and looked around to see pillows, couches, water pipes, candles and women sitting together. They were young women too, many of them younger than she was and she wasn't that old. She watched all of the women turn and look at her. She wasn't dressed like them which seemed odd in their eyes. She wore knee high boots, black pants, a black coat and her hair was naturally dreaded from the salty sea water, reaching her hips. She adjusted her fingerless gloves and made sure to hide her sword under her coat flaps.

She walked around the lowly lit room a bit hesitant to find out why she was really here. Naseem never told her what exactly she was supposed to bring back with her. There was a pool in the middle of the room and a few young girls no older than she was, relaxing in the water, though their faces were far from relaxed. Xena stepped around the pool and many of the women stared at her with fearful eyes. They looked like they hadn't seen a woman dressed like that before or maybe they have and they knew exactly why she was here? She had no idea what thoughts were running through these girls' minds.

Suddenly she saw a door open from the other side of the room and a man dressed in all black appeared. All of the girls covered themselves and those in the water sunk below the surface. Xena raised a curious brow and the man pointed to her. She had her hand on the hilt of her sword just in case. Slowly she came closer to him and he scanned her body then nodded to a man whom stood behind him. Next thing she knew she was ushered inside and the door closed behind her.

Xena didn't like the feeling of this place. It was like Naseem sent her on a ghost mission with no real end goal that she knew of. She walked down a long narrow hallway and saw an elderly man sitting on a couch with two young girls sitting next to him. Xena did her best to hide the disgust written all over her face. Whenever she did raids she never actually saw what kind of business Naseem did, but he sent her to do his deeds this time. It only made sense because she was a female and he couldn't enter this area of the palace. Once again she began to feel used by a man and she promised herself that she wouldn't allow that to happen. Not to mention these girls were far too young to be in a place like this. This was a harem and she knew that girls were taken from their homes to come here and train to be brides. She assumed that the elderly man was the groom. She prayed that wasn't the case.

One of the men went into a separate room and Xena heard some rustling and a low yelp from a young girl. He brought out a teenage girl, probably no older than sixteen, to the center of the floor. Xena looked at the thin girl and her skin was pale with a lot of bruises on her legs and arms. The girl wrapped her arms around herself and looked up at Xena with pleading green eyes. Her hair was blonde and long. Xena's eyes widened and the longer she stared at the girl the more she reminded her of Gabrielle. All of these girls here were Gabrielle's age and they were here against their will. Naseem had sent her to retrieve this girl to be traded elsewhere.

The man went up to the older man, most likely the sultan of this palace and whispered in his ear. He gave him the bag of silver that Naseem had counted earlier. Xena frowned as she watched the two exchange and seal the deal.

"How much is she worth to you?" Xena folded her arms.

The elderly man was taken aback at her question. He was never asked questions. His right hand man started to come for Xena but the man raised his hand and smiled at his guest. "What's it to you?"

Xena took another step forward cautiously watching the other guards in each corner of the room. "You just sold this girl and I asked you how much she is worth to you."

The man laughed under his breath. "She is property to be sold and I sold her for someone better," he scanned her body up and down making Xena's lip twitch. "If we cleaned you up nicely I'm sure you'd be worth more than all of these females in my harem," he smiled enticingly and Xena cringed.

She grabbed the girl by the arm, hoisting her up, hugging her close to her body. The girl was weak obviously and she clung onto Xena unsure what was going on. Xena pulled out her sword and pointed it directly at the sultan. "This practice is disgusting and barbaric. No human should be bought or sold for the sake of a pig's entertainment," she spat.

The sultan frowned and snapped his fingers. "Grab her," he demanded and all of the guards came closer to her. Xena looked around, circling to see she was outnumbered. She pushed the girl aside and reached for her whip on her hip. Two guards from behind came at her first and she elbowed one of them and he crashed to the floor. Cracking her whip she wrapped the other man's legs together and pulled the whip tautly and he joined his buddy on the floor.

Four other men came at her with swords and javelins. She took out a dagger hidden in her boot and slipped it into her mouth for now. She twirled the sword in her hand with a toothy grin and made a muffled screech, driving the sword through one of the men's shoulders and kicked him down to the ground. The blonde slave girl's eyes widened and she scooted away from the violence. She watched Xena slice and dice through the guards with ease almost as if she were watching a very violent dance. She was so graceful and agile yet fierce and precise with her movements. Each strike she sent her blade into each man's flesh sending them to the ground pleading for their life or flying a few feet away from her.

Xena looked around and saw the girl was no longer close to her. The sultan was still sitting down not enjoying seeing his men being defeated by a woman no less. She looked up and saw a candlelit chandelier hanging above the sultan's seating area. Taking the dagger out of her mouth she threw it above and cut the chandelier's rope and it fell onto the pillows and low couches as well as the sultan, setting everything up into flames.

He screamed in agony as his flesh began to burn slowly and he was trapped by the heavy chandelier. Xena smirked then saw the girl hunkered down in a corner, hiding her face. She ran to her and grabbed her arm. "We need to leave."

They ran out of the room and smoke traveled into the harem. All of the girls gasped and saw Xena hobbling over with a blonde teenager. They were all very confused and then saw the hallway lit in flames. "Get out, all of you!" Xena yelled at them and they refused to move, almost as if they were in shock. "What is wrong with these girls..." she whispered, "I said get out!" she yelled again and finally they listened. The harem girls gathered their clothes, or what little they had and hurried out the main exit, something they thought they'd never see again.

Xena helped the teenager slowly but surely get out of the room. They were the last ones out and she was sure there would be more guards turning up very soon so they needed to hurry as fast as they could. The girl coughed and looked up at Xena as they walked down a long hallway. "Why...why did you save me?" she asked a hoarse voice.

Xena looked down at the thin pale girl. "You reminded me of someone," she smirked.

All of the girls were lead outside of the palace and Xena set down the teenager in the sand and saw the ship waiting for her. She told everyone to wait there and she marched onto the ship, hurrying through the sea of men on deck.

Xena made her way to Naseem's bed quarters and kicked open the door. He was in bed drinking some wine, relaxing and obviously waiting for her return to deliver his prize. He raised his eyebrows at her entrance. "Xena...you look angry," he teased. She drew her sword and pointed it directly at him. He sat up a bit more sober now. "What is this..."

"You sent me to buy a girl only to be traded off to some other pig to use her," she began and came closer to his bed.

Naseem shook his head, "it's just business Xena," he grinned nervously. "Why don't you put that sword away..."

Xena smiled deviously, "oh I'll put it somewhere...I want your ship and all of your 'merchandise'" she felt so disgusting even mentioning the girls like that.

"You're insane! I'm not giving you my ship!" he yelled and went to reach for a dagger laying on a table next to his bed.

She jabbed his wrist with her blade, digging it deeper into his flesh. Naseem screamed in agony as blood poured down his arm. "One last chance Naseem..." she smiled and he refused still trying to grab the dagger. She sighed and pulled the blade out of his wrist. She grabbed the dagger before he did and twirled it slowly. "You want this?" she looked at the curved blade and then back down at the dark haired pirate. "You can have it," she slit his throat with the dagger and he held his throat, gurgling as blood poured from his mouth.

Xena sighed and wiped the blood off her hands onto Naseem's white silk sheets. She sheathed her sword then grabbed Naseem by his arms and dropped him onto the floor. She knelt down and grabbed him by his legs and drug him across the floor and up the stairs to the deck. Leaving a trail of blood behind her she reached the deck.

All of the men heard footsteps and saw Xena emerge from below. She grunted and brought Naseem's body to the middle of the deck and dropped his legs. Everyone took a step back and she put her hands on her hips. "If you don't want to end up like this I suggest you follow my orders from now on," she looked around at the fearful eyes. The deck was silent, no whispers, just the sound of the wind hitting the sails. "Good. I want all of those girls brought aboard too," she pointed to the lost harem girls standing in front of the ship on the sand.

Slowly but surely all of the girls were brought onto the ship and some of the men refused to help and left the ship never to return. Others stayed, mostly the ones that Xena recruited during the raids in various territories in East Africa.

For the first time Xena felt good about herself. She had done something good and saved a lot of innocent lives and it felt...right. It wasn't what she had in mind when she wanted to be in control of something but perhaps Gabrielle was right all along about doing good for others. One could still be in control while helping others.

Later once the ship had set sail the blonde teenager saw Xena overlooking the dark sea by herself. Her face lit by fire and moonlight, she looked so different from the rest of the women she knew in her life and she didn't know many. Most of the females she knew were the girls in the harem and they were all girls just like her –taken and used.

She approached Xena slowly wrapping the blanket around her body tightly from the sea breeze. Xena saw her coming towards her and she smiled softly. The girl stood next to Xena, admiring the ocean and moonlit water. "It was really brave...what you did for me and the girls," she said awkwardly. Xena frowned sadly at that. Brave was not a good adjective to describe her.

"I'm glad that you think so," Xena answered lowly and did not make eye contact, continuing to gaze at the starry night.

"Where did you learn to fight like that? I've never seen any woman fight like that, you were incredible!" the girl beamed.

Xena smirked, "a lot of pain," it was the truth. "But nothing like what you girls went through," she stared at the girl's solemn face and tapped the railing with her fingernails. "What is your name?"

The girl half smiled up at her, "Penelope," she answered. It had been a long time since she said her real name. Xena said nothing and kept staring at her then a small smile appeared on her lips. "What is yours?"

Xena's smile disappeared and she straightened her posture. Setting a hand on the girl's shoulder she said, "I think it is best that I stop telling people my name," she smiled and left Penelope's side. The blonde turned around and watched Xena walk away into the darkness and descend below the deck. She looked out to the open waters in hope for a better life. A smile appeared, a thankful one.