Thanks for continuing to follow along, everyone! I promise the next chapter will involve more Sabir action. ;)
Chapter 26 –The Calm Before The Storm
Xena stared at all the women lying dead on the floor and never once had she seen a massacre like this within a tight knit household. There were only few people who had access to this room and those were the women of the Adame, the children, and occasionally the men if they were granted permission. This attack was done quickly and instead of allowing herself to grieve she studied the bodies and how they were killed. It was fast and smooth. Each woman was stabbed in the same place aside from Leila and Fairuza, who had throat wounds.
A sword driven to Fairuza's throat and Leila's was slit by the sharp blade, quickly which caused her to bleed out. Xena frowned at Leila as she stood over the corpse of the petite Hun woman. The silver tea pot was lying very close to Leila's hand. Xena picked up the tea pot and it was half empty which meant that she attacked whoever was coming at her.
She was stabbed in the chest second, given the amount of blood around Leila's throat. Xena dropped the tea pot and looked over at Bakkah and Handan who had the same wound in the exact same spot –the spine. She eyed the door and saw blood marks on the floor. The attacker dragged them away from the doors. They were trying to escape.
"Gabrielle," she called out and the governor came to stand beside her. Gabrielle could hardly look at the women lying on the floor and turned her cheek, staring at the wall. "Stand by the doors and don't let anyone inside."
She nodded and hurried over to the doors. Xena turned and saw Kreka sitting beside Tuya and Fairuza. There were four Hun queens and now there were only two left. She sighed and knelt down beside the bodies and stared at the khatun's hazel eyes dry as a bone and fixated on the fallen queens. She looked at the edges of Tuya's dress where her gut wound was and dug her fingers in the wound.
Kreka lifted her eyes and grabbed the commander's wrist. "What do you think you're doing?"
Xena raised her free hand and Kreka let go of her wrist hesitantly. She closed her eyes and dug her arm further into the warm wound and pulled her bloody arm out. "The wound was caused by one of my swords." She concluded.
"How can you tell?"
Xena pointed to the serrated edges of Tuya's dress around the gut wound. "The cuts are very clean. Whoever did this went in the armory and stole my sword. They waited to do this at the right time. The women were alone, the men were far away and the children weren't around."
Kreka covered her mouth and turned away, no longer able to bear the sight of the corpses. She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself. "Why would this person kill these women? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to kill the men?"
"Women are easier to take down than men, especially the men in this household." Xena wiped her bloody arm with a cloth and stood up, staring down at the two queens. "Help me carry them out back. The medic will clean their bodies before burial." She grabbed Tuya's legs and began pulling her dead weight. "Kreka."
The khatun stood still with her back turned and Xena dropped the White queen's legs. "Kreka, I need your help. The children are going to come looking for their mothers and I don't want them to find their mothers like this."
Kreka took in a deep breath and turned around, staring at Tuya lying on the ground with one arm over her head and the other sprawled out to the side. She grabbed her arms and Xena grabbed the legs and lifted up the tall queen. They walked towards the back of the women's quarters and Xena kicked the door open with her boot and together they carried Tuya outside and placed her in the grass.
Gabrielle waited outside the room patiently and was curious as to what was going on inside there. She didn't hear anything from Xena or Kreka, but she definitely wasn't going to open the door to find out what was happening either. She saw Soran, Talat and Toran approaching the doors and she held the handles behind her back.
Soran smiled at the governor and she returned the smile. Talat and Toran yawned and rubbed their eyes. "Good morning Gabby. What are you doing out here?" he asked.
"I was…instructed to stay outside to make sure you boys don't go inside." She tapped his nose and he frowned.
"Why? I want to see my mother." He tried to get around her and she gently pushed him away.
"You can't go in there." She felt a lump in her throat and all three boys stared at her confusedly.
"Why?"
"Because…the commander said so." She thought that would deter them but it didn't work.
"Arielle's crazy grandma doesn't make the rules!" Soran chastised and tried to pull Gabrielle's arms away from the large door handles. She pushed him backward and then Handan's boys tried to distract her by tugging at her arms and legs.
Ernak walked up carrying his sleeping son in one of his arms. He saw all three boys climbing on Gabrielle and her yelling at them to go away. "Hey, hey!" he yelled and the boys turned around with big eyes. "What is going on?"
"She won't let us in!" Soran pointed at the governor.
"Well I'm sure she has a good reason." He smiled at Gabrielle and she blinked at the prince. She didn't want to see his face when he found out that his beloved wife had been murdered. He loved Bakkah and he had a baby to take care of and she didn't know how he was going to take that loss. "Gabrielle, why can't they go in?"
She swallowed and lifted her chin, staring at the three scowling boys. "The commander said not to let anyone inside right now."
Ernak nodded. "Good enough. Come on, we can go to the king's quarters and wait." He suggested and all the boys whined and moaned. "It's not going to kill you to wait awhile." He chuckled and the boys followed him down the hallway.
Gabrielle exhaled deeply and thought what a poor choice of words that was. She was tempted to peek inside the room but refrained. She heard a loud thump from behind the doors and her stomach knotted. She pressed her ear against the door and heard Xena talking to Kreka in a firm tone.
Kutilzis came out of the hallway and saw the three boys walking with the Hun prince towards the king's quarters together. Ernak smiled at the Sabir boy and adjusted his son in his arm. "Kutilzis, would you like to join us? We're going to play a few games."
He looked over at the governor who was guarding the women's room and grinned at the Hun prince. "No, thank you." He pulled his sleeve down, careful not to expose the horrible burn on his arm. Ernak noticed the burn but did not question him and continued walking with the talkative boys behind him. The Sabir teen grimaced and eyed the staircase where the kin of Attila lived. He knew that Ernak shared a room with his wife upstairs as did Dengizich, Ellac, and Csaba.
He made his way up the long curved staircase and eyed all of the double doors. There was a room in the center of the upstairs, another to the left, another to right and two in the far corners. He raised his eyebrow, wondering which room belonged to whom. He figured that the doors in the center belonged to Ellac and Anastasia but he was unsure about the others.
Farah brushed her hair in front of the mirror and then set the brush and looked at her reflection. She adjusted the black dress she wore and adjusted the brassiere beneath the gown and frowned. Her eyes dipped downward at her breasts overflowing out of her brassiere. The door opened to the room and she put her hands over her chest when she saw Kutilzis.
"Kutilzis," her cheeks flushed. "What are you doing in here?"
"Just checking on you, Czarina." He said and she smiled then picked up a bottle of oil and poured some into her palm and smoothed it over her hair. When he saw she was distracted he frowned and approached her from behind. He pulled out the same sword that he used to massacre all of the women.
She paused when she heard the metal and grabbed the bottle of oil. He cried out and swung the sword downward and she got out of the chair before it was able to strike her. She threw the bottle at his face and he moaned closing and whipping his eyes doused in oil.
She ran around the vanity and he turned around, blinking rapidly to get the oil out of his eyes. He jumped over the bed and as she opened the door he swung the blade down and cut into the wood doors. She screamed and looked for anything near her that she could use to hit him with. She looked at a vase and he grabbed her arm and pushed her against the wall. He grabbed her face and she slapped him on the chest several times, trying to get away.
He smiled and brought the blade close to her neck and she stomped on his boot and he yelled out aloud. She pushed him backward and made a run for the door. Groaning, he hobbled over to her and sliced through her dress. She gasped and her hand went to the side of her belly and saw blood on her hand. She quickly opened the door and screamed out for help as she ran down the hallway.
Rabia came out of her bedroom and her sister came running towards her with the Sabir following behind. "Farah!" she ran and grabbed her sister's hand and saw blood on her palm. "O doamne," she muttered and set her sister aside and frowned at Kutilzis. He rolled his shoulders backwards and had a malicious smile on his lips.
Ellac swung open the doors and saw Kutilzis holding a sword and heading towards Farah and Rabia. He ran across the hall and tackled the teenager to the ground. Anastasia ran out of the room and Farah was on the floor, leaning against the wall, whimpering. Ellac was on top of Kutilzis, wrestling for the sword and Ana ran over to Farah and Rabia.
She cupped Farah's cheeks. "What happened? Are you alright?" she inspected her and Farah showed her a shaky hand drenched in blood. Ana's eyes widened and she looked at Rabia. "Go get Dengizich!" she yelled at Rabia. "Go!" she pushed the Czarina and Rabia ran down the corridor to the next room. She grabbed Farah's hand and looked at the small gash on her abdomen. "Don't worry; it doesn't look that bad, tatli kiz. You'll be fine."
Gabrielle walked with Xena out in the field. "What did you do with their bodies?" she whispered.
"They're in the medic's yurt. Kreka is going to bring him fresh dresses as soon as he's done cleaning their bodies." She said quietly and saw her daughter waiting outside of the midwife's yurt. She quickened her pace and Anastasia stood with her arms folded, glaring at the Adame.
Gabrielle touched the queen's shoulder. "Anastasia, what's wrong? Why are you out here?"
She took in a deep breath and rubbed her forehead. "Kutilzis attacked Farah. Rabia is inside with her."
Xena whipped her head round and glared at the Adame. "It was him." She pulled out her sword and Gabrielle creased her eyebrows, sharing the same look as the commander.
"What are you talking about?" Ana asked and then her mother walked back to the Adame in silence. "Mother!"
Gabrielle sighed heavily and looked at the worried queen and then heard Farah whimpering within the yurt. "Kutilzis...he…he killed them all –the women –they're all dead." She explained and all of the color drained from Ana's face. "Fairuza, Tuya, Leila, Bakkah, Handan. Kreka found them in the women's quarters this morning." She waited and Anastasia's mouth parted. "I'm sorry." She rose to her toes and kissed the queen's cheek then squeezed her shoulder. "I should go…with your mother." She slipped away, although was worried to leave her by herself after that bomb she just dropped on her.
Csaba walked back from the bathhouse and rubbed his wet hair with a small linen cloth and turned to see his mother standing outside of Marsa's yurt. He made his way over and saw tears streaming down her cheeks but she was silent. "Mom?" he waved his hand in front of her face and she gazed at her son. "Are you alright?"
She wiped her cheeks and nodded. He heard Farah talking to Rabia from within the yurt. Immediately he became concerned and frowned at his mother. "Why is Farah in there? Did something happen to her?"
"She…was attacked," she barely managed to say. That seemed like such a minor occurrence considering the amount of deaths behind closed doors. She couldn't imagine the looks on the men's faces or her own daughter's face when she was to find out that her grandmother and stepmother were dead.
Csaba threw down the linen and tried to side step his mother to enter the yurt and she put her hands on his shoulders. "I want to see her!" he demanded. He knew that men weren't allowed anywhere near a midwife but that didn't stop him. "Please mother. I want to see her."
She let go of his shoulders and stepped aside to allow him to pass. He brushed by her gently and made his way into the yurt. She buried her face in her palms and wagged her head. The amount of destruction that these Sabirs caused had gone too far. Suddenly, her lust for blood seemed to dwindle away as the pain induced by Boareks and her family, slowly invaded her space and home.
Ellac pushed Kutilzis on the floor within his quarters and Ernak grabbed his son who started to cry. The three boys stood up and looked at the Sabir who was trying to scurry away from the enraged king. Dengizich kicked the teenager down and Ellac looked at the sword Kutilzis was holding.
"That's Xena's sword. What are you doing with that?" Dengi asked.
He smirked. "Why don't you ask your wife?"
Ernak stood and shoved his son into Soran's arms. "Take Kurt and the others with you outside," he whispered in his ear. Soran worriedly glanced at the Sabir teen and held the heavy infant in his arms and walked out of the room with Talat and Toran.
Xena stormed in and pointed her sword at Kutilzis. "YOU!" her voice echoed. Attila's sons turned around and gawked at her. She approached the boy who now feared for his life. The sword in his hand no longer mattered. "You killed them." She said and Ellac looked at his brothers and stepped back. "It was you."
"Killed who?" Ernak asked and Gabrielle ran in breathing heavily. She looked at the fear in the Sabir's eyes and Xena threatening to skin him alive with her blade. "Killed who?!" he asked again and Xena's eyes darted to him and the look on her face said it all. He shook his head and felt ill all of a sudden, knowing that his wife was dead. He didn't need Xena to spell it out for him. He ran out of the room and Dengi looked at his elder brother with the same look of sorrow.
Gabrielle bowed her head when the prince eyed her. He felt like his throat was closing up and he clutched a fist to his chest, slowly stumbling backwards. The thought of sleeping with that woman behind Leila's back entered his mind. He thought of all the things he should have done and maybe Leila would have forgiven him and maybe…she'd be alive. He too ran out of the room, following Ernak.
Ellac scratched his beard and Kutilzis was focused on the commander glaring at him with those fiery eyes of hers. "Xena, what did this piece of shit do?" he asked.
"He killed all of the women, including Navaz's wife. You should go. I can handle it from here." She nudged her towards the door. The king saw the look on Gabrielle's face and knew that Xena wasn't lying about this. This wasn't a cruel trick and it was written all over Gabrielle's face –the truth.
Ellac stood over the Sabir and pointed his finger at him. "If Farah or my grandchild is harmed in any way, I will let the goats fuck your corpse." The boy's eyes were void of emotion, void of life, much like his mother's. "Have fun," he said with a smile and slapped Xena's shoulder.
Gabrielle walked over to the commander and eyed the sword in Kutilzis' hand. "We should keep him alive."
Xena scoffed. "Get real, Gabrielle. He murdered five women and hurt Farah! He's not walking out of here alive."
"Just hear me out," she raised her palms. "We keep him alive and use him against Boareks in war."
"She doesn't care about him."
The boy smiled. "I'm her favorite son. She was right about you Huns. You lie and steal." He spat at their feet and Xena slashed his arm and he hissed. It was the burned arm and she took a good look at the burn and knew how he got it.
"Leila poured hot tea on you," she crookedly grinned. "And then you slit her throat and stabbed her in the chest, didn't you?"
"Your people raped my mother!" he blurted out and Gabrielle raised her eyebrow.
"We didn't even know your people existed until this year," the governor tells him. "Who told you this lie?"
He breathed deeply and couldn't seem to get away from the sword in his face. He completely forgot about the stinging burn on his arm. By the expressions on their faces, he knew they weren't lying. He felt deceived by the Banat prisoner, Pascal. He was fed lies and he actually believed Pascal because he was so convinced that's why his mother hated the Huns but in reality, she hated them because that's the way she was. She hated everyone, even her own children.
"I…I…" he stammered.
"Words can't save you now, boy. I'm going to gut you."
Gabrielle grabbed her fiancée's arm. "Wait! We can still use him. Boareks might not care about her other sons but she will care about him."
"No!" she pushed the blade into Kutilzis' throat. "He needs to pay for what he did!"
"Killing me isn't going to bring your family back." He said with a wicked grin.
Xena's eyes enlarged and she cried out then plunged her sword into his stomach. Gabrielle gasped and covered her mouth. She looked at the boy's eyes and all the wicked senses in his body left and now he was faced with the fear of death. He wheezed, struggling to breathe and looked down at his bleeding gut and reared his head back on the floor and clenched his fists several times.
"It won't bring them back but it feels so…good." She winked at the teenager and intakes his last breath and his fists opened up. She pulled the blade out and bleed gushed out his wound. She turned to Gabrielle who was fuming inside. "I…I'm sorry but I had to, Gabrielle. He wasn't sorry for what he did. He killed women and now their children are without their mothers. I couldn't let him live."
Suddenly there was a switch that went off in Gabrielle. "Send his body to Boareks. She'll get the message."
"I like the way you think." Xena smiled and reached down to retrieve her sword. This sword killed five women and she felt somewhat responsible for this, but she thought her daughter was going to feel horrible. She allowed Kutilzis to stay here so close to the family members and he was keen on getting away from his mother, but apparently not. He came here with a vendetta or perhaps that vendetta was planted in his mind.
"I still don't understand why he killed the women."
"His mother was set on killing all of the Hun queens so he fulfilled her wish. Two queens are gone and Anastasia and Kreka are all we have left. He would have killed them too, but he was careless. There are too many people here."
Gabrielle glared at the dead Sabir boy and folded her arms, heaving deeply. "Now that Fairuza is dead won't that mean Arielle is the new queen?" she asks, knowing about the rules of the empire. Navaz was unlikely to find another wife to replace his previous one. She couldn't imagine a ten year old in charge of an entire empire surrounded by viziers to tell her what to do and how to conduct treaties either.
Xena felt the need to burn her sword and was disgusted by just touching it. "Arielle cannot be queen of Balaam." She shook her head, refusing to allow that to happen.
"But…it is a rule. Ellac became king at fifteen when Attila died. Arielle is next in line after Fairuza."
"She's ten years old! She doesn't care about politics! She doesn't even listen to Anastasia when given a command. Someone will have to take her place until she's old enough to take the crown." She scratched her scalp and looked at the boy's dark eyes gazing at the ceiling. "We need to get him out of here and delivered to Balaam. I'll put you in charge of that since it was your idea."
She paused and looked at the sword which was the cause of so many lives lost. "I need to help build the pyres."
In the center of the field all five women were laid out on the funeral pyres in their pristine gowns and kozaks covering their hair. All their wounds were patched and skin clean of any leftover blood. Each pyre was surrounded by the closest family members of the women. Anastasia, Xena and Gabrielle stood off to the side watching all of the children ogling their mothers and husbands gazing at their pale wives' faces.
The pyre in the middle of the five was Handan and her family stood all around her in a circle. Ebnedzar looked at his very young wife and thought what a different life she would have had if he didn't save her from a man she was to marry in Suevi long ago. He glanced over at his older and first wife, Ursula who was sobbing and who was also being comforted by their son, Oran. In fact, if it weren't for Ursula, Handan would have married a man twice her age and would remain trapped in an abusive marriage.
Ursula insisted that he save the girl and after refusing her three times, he finally relented and took Handan from her fiancé and took her into his home. Not long after, due to his wife's persistence, he married Handan only because Ursula couldn't have any more children after she had Oran and desired more children. It was easy to fall for Handan as she was very young and pretty.
Now, he had two young sons who were lucky enough to have Ursula to look after them. He couldn't speak for the other children in Pannonia.
Ernak draped his arm over Bakkah and looked at her lifeless face. She was last of the Khazar tribe but now the Khazars truly ceased to exist no thanks to the Sabir princes and queen. He wasn't married to Bakkah for very long and now he had a baby to take care of all by himself. He turned with red eyes to his mother holding Kurt in her arms. His son had no idea that he would never see his mother again and he was sleeping through it all with his head laying on Kreka's shoulder and drooling on her dress.
He wiped his cheeks and looked over at the next pyre and saw Dengi sobbing into Leila's chest. Ellac stood beside him with a hand on his back. Ernak frowned sadly and thought how horrible to lose a wife and a daughter years earlier. He had nothing and despite the recent marital problems that they had, Dengi very much loved Leila. Ernak suddenly felt very grateful to have his son with him.
Navaz stood in between the pyres of his mother and wife. He held Soran in his arm and Arielle held onto his hand. She rubbed her teary eyes and couldn't look at her grandmother's pale face or her stepmother either. Fairuza's neck was wrapped with a scarf to hide the heinous wound inflicted by Kutilzis.
Soran sniffled and breathed in and out unsteadily. "Did…did you find the person who did this?" he asks.
Navaz inhaled and nodded. "Xena killed him."
The boy looked over his father's shoulder at the commander and he tapped his father, demanding he be put down on the ground. He slid off his father and ran across the field. Navaz turned around and frowned at his son racing towards the commander.
Xena was focused on all of the men hovering over their wives and suddenly a small person crashed into her legs. She stumbled backward and looked down at Soran who had his arms wrapped around her, hugging her tightly. She looked over at Gabrielle who was at a loss for words then she looked at her daughter who shrugged her shoulder.
"Thank you," he whispered and wiped his nose on her pants.
She lifted a brow. "For what?"
"For killing the person who did that to my grandma and my mother." He lifted his tear stained face and she smiled and ran a hand over his dark hair.
A soldier came by with a large torch and handed it over to Anastasia. She thanked him quietly and walked over to Xena. "Mother." She extended the torch and Xena sighed then grabbed the torch and pried Soran's arms off her and he ran over to Anastasia and clung to her legs.
She walked to the center of the field and asked everyone to move away from the pyres.
Csaba sat on the floor with Farah inside of the midwife's yurt. Farah laid her head on his chest and he ran his fingers through her hair as they sat in silence for the last few hours together. Rabia was busy pacing around and proceeded to bother Marsa, asking questions and worrying over her little sister.
A melodious voice echoed throughout the entire field of Pannonia and Farah lifted her head. Csaba wrapped an arm around her and slowly slid out from underneath her and propped a pillow behind her back. Rabia stopped pacing and listened to the singing.
"What is that?" Rabia asked.
He peeked out from behind the yurt's curtain and saw his entire family standing in front of the burning pyres and smiled. "My grandmother."
Farah looked up at the ceiling and listened to Xena belting out a tune to honor the fallen. She grinned and brought the blankets over her legs. "She has a beautiful voice."
The air filled with smoke as the five pyres burned and Csaba leaned against the yurt, listening and watching. "Yes she does."
A couple of days later the wounds were still fresh and the entire Adame was incredibly quiet. Dengi and Ernak remained in their rooms while Ellac and Anastasia sat together in the conference room. Navaz sat across from them and Gabrielle was sitting next to Ana. All of their eyes were plastered on Arielle and the princess nervously fidgeted with her ringlet hair.
"Arielle," Gabrielle began in a soft tone. "I know this a lot for you to handle but this is very important and I want you to pay attention. Can you do that for us?" she felt like she was asking so much from this girl.
Arielle looked around the circle at her parents, Ellac and back to Gabrielle. She finally nodded and was handed a paper with language that she didn't understand. She grimaced at the formal political jargon and tried to understand it but didn't.
"Fairuza left everything to you so your father owns half of Balaam and so do you." The governor explained.
Arielle's eyes lit up and her squabbling over trying to comprehend the document seemed much less interesting at the moment. "Me?" she grinned and her mother frowned.
"Don't get too excited," Ana interjected. "You're too young to be a queen and rule an empire so –"
"Queen?!" she spat and her jaw dropped. "I am the queen now?" she asked and looked at her father who bowed his head.
"Legally yes, but you're too young. Someone is going to take your place until you're old enough for the position." She saw the instant disappointment on her daughter's face. "Your father decided to give the position to Queen Yeter for the time being so if you would please sign the paper." She grabbed the quill and waved it in her daughter's face.
Arielle frowned and looked at Gabrielle across from her. "Oran's new wife is going to be queen of Balaam?" she didn't like the sound of that.
"Only until you're old enough. Sign the paper, Arielle."
"Do I get to say anything about this?"
"Arielle!" Navaz hissed and she slumped her shoulders, feeling incredibly small. "Sign the damn paper." He grabbed the pen from Ana and shoved it in her face. She signed her name at the bottom of the document and Gabrielle smiled faintly and took it from her.
She blew on the wet ink and looked over the lengthy contract. "I will take this to Yeter so she can sign it then everything will be done."
Anastasia nodded. "Thank you, Gabrielle."
Farah sat in bed lying against a large pile of pillows. She had Csaba's grandmother staring at her and tending to her for the last couple of hours of the morning. Occasionally the two would share a look with each other and Farah would grin nervously. As much as she hated when Rabia fussed over her, she wished that her sister was here right now instead of the commander.
Xena smiled and grabbed a fresh bandage and attempted to lift Farah's dress but the Czarina shifted awkwardly. "I need to dress your wound, Farah. Let me see." She urged and the girl refused to move so Xena lifted up her dress and looked at the bandage across the gash on the side of Farah's belly. "You're lucky that this is a surface wound and it didn't cut deeper."
Farah nodded anxiously and the bandage was slowly taken off and she looked at the small gash. Xena gently smeared the ointment on the gash and Farah winced.
"You don't have to be afraid of me, you know." Xena lifts her eyes to the uncertain girl staring at her intensely.
"I'm not afraid of you. It's not that I don't appreciate your help but shouldn't you be in…the field or something?"
The commander smirked and grabbed a fresh bandaged and placed it over the wound and pressed her palm gently on the wound to secure the cloth. "I'm not always working in the field with the army and I made a promise to myself that I would always make time for the people I care about because you never know when they might slip away from you."
Farah cast a sad frown. "I can't believe that Kutilzis did that to all those women. He would have killed me if it weren't for the king. He saved me."
"Ellac cares about you. He wouldn't have let you die, I promise you that." She lowered Farah's dress and covered her with the blankets. "Out of all of Attila's sons, he is the softest one. He lets my daughter do whatever she wants, which isn't always the best idea, given how she can behave sometimes."
"But…they argue a lot," Farah noted.
"They've always been like that. You are lucky to have Anastasia as a mother in law. I wasn't exactly very kind to Ellac when she was pregnant with Csaba. I'm sure he's still afraid to be around me sometimes."
Farah chuckled and wrapped an arm over her belly. "Why is he afraid of you?"
"I tried to kill him." She said bluntly and the Czarina's eyes widened. "But as you can see, he is very much alive." She joked. "Well, I don't want to bore you. I'm sure your sister can watch over you now. If Csaba gives you a hard time, let me know." She winked and Farah hid a shy grin.
She walked towards the door and Farah sat up. "Xena!" she called and the commander turned around swiftly. "When you leave…to go to war with Queen Boareks, who will stay here?"
"Ernak is staying and so is Kreka. She will watch over you while we are gone." The fear in the girl's eyes made her laugh lightly. "There's no reason to be afraid of Kreka. She will take very good care of you and you have Rabia too."
Csaba entered the room with a large tray of food and he bumped into his grandmother. "Oh, what are you doing in here?"
Xena looked back at Farah. "I was just leaving." She passed him and grabbed his shoulder. "You take care of her or I will hurt you," she whispered and he nodded his head rapidly.
He rushed over and set the tray down on the bed in front of his wife with a big smile. Farah looked at the bowls of fruit and a large saucer filled with a white soup. She raised her eyebrow and examined the soup cautiously. She dipped the spoon in it and stirred around the incredibly thick soup.
"It's yogurt soup. It's good for the baby. That's what my mother said anyway." He sat down and encouraged her to eat it and she set the spoon down. "You're not even going to try it?"
She pushed the tray away. "The sight of yogurt makes me sick," she regretfully said and saw the defeat on his face. "You know what would be really great though." She grinned and he feared she was going to ask for something that he couldn't give her. "It would be nice to have fish."
He pursed his mouth and looked at his eager wife. "We don't have any fish in the kitchen right now. Nobody's gone fishing in the last week."
She grabbed his hands and widened her green eyes. "It would make me very happy," she coaxed him and he sighed. She pulled him closer and said, "It would make the baby very happy too." She lifted her brows and he lowered his eyes.
"Okay…" he grabbed the bowl of soup and got off the bed. "I'll be back later."
Xena walked across the field and met up with Gabrielle who was leaving Oran and Yeter's yurt with a parchment in her hand. "What's that?" she tried to grab the paper and Gabrielle spun around. She reached around and pinched the governor's arm and snatched the paper out of her hand. Gabrielle grumbled and Xena scoffed after she read the document. "Yeter is going to be queen instead of Arielle?"
"Navaz decided it." She took the paper back and rolled it up. "Arielle was not happy about giving her role as queen away to Yeter."
"Who would? She's a piece of work." Xena said with a snicker. "After Boareks receives her son's body, we move to Balaam to attack her. She will know that we are coming when the messengers come back."
Gabrielle folded her arms looking at her incredulously. "Those messengers aren't going to come back. I sent them on a death mission."
Xena nodded. "I have hopes, alright."
That was the only thing that bothered Gabrielle. It wasn't sending Kutilzis' body to the Sabir queen that bothered her. It wasn't even when he was killed by Xena that she felt bad. She felt remorse over sending those soldiers to Balaam knowing that they were never going to come back. At one point in her life she would have hated to see a child die but that Sabir prince caused so much destruction in one night. That's all it took one night.
Csaba walked quickly through the field and Gabrielle looked at the prince with a mission. "Csaba, where are you going?" she asked and Xena turned around.
"Fishing." He said with a bit annoyance in his tone.
"The water's freezing!"
"I'm aware." He grumbled and kept walking. "I'll be back in a few hours." He waved at them and kept his eye on the water beyond the trees.
"Why do I get the feeling that Farah is behind this?" Gabrielle said and looked up at the knowing commander. "That's so sweet of him to do that for her. He must really love her. Would you do that for me?" she hinted.
Xena sneered. "Pft, no. You won't catch me in a river at the beginning of winter."
"I'm really feeling the love," Gabrielle sarcastically said in a monotone voice.
"So here's what we do. We're going to ride to Balaam with our army and the Romans next week. Boareks should be expecting us. We will be taking ten catapults and the cannon. Since…Fairuza isn't here," she paused and Gabrielle rubbed her arm for comfort. "Navaz will be in charge of the archers. Ana and Ellac will be in charge of the ballistic line and I'll be in the front, giving the orders. You memorized all of the Chinese tactics, right?"
Gabrielle sighed. "Xena, you haven't really given yourself time to grieve."
"I don't have time to grieve, Gabrielle. I want Boareks dead. When she's dead then I will grieve."
"That doesn't seem very healthy."
"What are you? My psychologist?" she joked. "I'm fine, Gabrielle. Really."
"If you say so. I have to go give this to Navaz now. If you need to talk –"
"You're always there for me, I know." She kissed her forehead. "But right now, I am focused on ripping Boareks' head off her body."
"Wonderful imagery."
Navaz waltzed into Anastasia's room and she lifted her head as she was attempting to sew to distract herself. He lifted the paper in his hand and told her, "Yeter signed it." And she faintly grinned then continued to sew. "What are you making?" he curiously wandered over to the bed and she let out a huge defeated sigh.
"I'm trying to make an outfit for my grandchild," she lifted the half sewn outfit and Navaz chuckled. "This is really hard. I can't believe my mother made all of my outfits when I was a baby." She looked over at him and knew that he didn't want to talk about baby clothes.
"What am I going to do?" he buried his face into his palm.
Anastasia set the fabric aside and scooted close to him then wrapped an arm around him. "Soran is always welcome here. He can stay here with me. He likes me." She tried to make him feel better but that didn't work. "I'm sorry, Navaz. I liked Fairuza a lot. She was very nice and a great stepmother to Arielle. Tuya and I hardly got along but she was your mother and I know how difficult mothers can be." She joked and he let out quiet sobs. She frowned and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'll be here for you." she reached for his hand and laced her fingers with his.
He wiped his eyes and tapped the scroll in his palm. "Is it alright if…Soran stays here? I want him to be around Arielle."
"Of course he can stay!" she squeezed his hand. "He will have a great time here with the other children and besides, you have to rebuild Balaam and who knows how long that's going to take."
"Thank you." he kissed her hand. He grabbed the half sewn baby outfit and chuckled. "So, how's this coming along?"
"I don't have a gift for Farah so I want to make an outfit the baby. I'm not very good at this."
"It looks fine. Are you going to be able to finish it in time?"
She sighed. "I might ask my mother for help…" she felt embarrassed to even say that, but there was no way she would be able to finish within the next two months.
Boareks stepped out of the Adame as soon as one of her men came looking for her. Supposedly, there were Huns sent from Pannonia so she was eager to see what they had to offer. She hoped they would surrender to her considering they had nothing left but two tribes and they were incredibly far apart. She folded her arms as she walked out of the Adame and stared at the two Hun soldiers.
"What do you want?" she asked.
The two men grabbed Kutilzis' body off the horse and threw him onto the ground then took off the shroud which covered his face. Boareks paused and unfolded her arms. She walked down the stairs cautiously and she could see from afar, her son's dead body on the snowy field.
"The king and queen of Pannonia say they are ready for you." one of the men spoke with a malicious smile. She frowned and waved her hand at her men. The Sabirs approached the two Huns with swords and the Hun soldiers got on their horses and galloped through the snow before the Sabir swords could strike them.
She walked down the stairs and approached her son's corpse. She stood over him and crinkled her eyebrows together. His face was pale, blood soaked through his black vest. She knelt down and examined the gut wound and lifted an eyebrow. She had no knowledge of what he did in Pannonia nor did she care.
"More disappointment," she muttered and stood up, wrapping the black veil around her midnight tresses. She walked back towards the Adame and turned to one of her leading officers. "Get rid of his body."
"Shall I burn it, your majesty?"
"I don't care. Just get rid of him." She waved her hand and trailed up the stairs.