A BLOODY VICE WITHOUT EQUAL
Demetrius moved his horse slightly faster keeping up the pace with the others they had left a small camp along with a small number of warriors, werewolves black smiths and a few healers. Ceto, Thaleia and Phantasos had also stayed behind as they would be in danger if they went in to battle. Also it was always good practice to leave a small camp behind as it meant when that any wounded could be taken back to camp and dealt with there and then if they were injured outside the city. He turned to Iona who was on a horse close by. "Do you know where Thaleia was last night she disappeared for three hours?" Iona raised her hand. "Look I mean no offence but it's not my job to keep tabs on your partner." Demetrius breathed in deeply. "I'm not asking you to keep tabs on her, I'm just curious." Iona rolled her eyes. "Last time I saw her she was in the werewolf side of the camp, I just assumed that she was moving around and learning about their culture." She paused. "You know you can't keep tabs on her at all times she is her own person." Demetrius shook his head. "I know that and I respect that, I guess I just feel uneasy as we are at war I don't want anything bad to happen to her." Iona eyed him for a long moment. "I think you worry too much she can take care of herself. Plus I don't blame her for spending time on the other side of the camp it's really fascinating in many ways, it feels almost primal but at the same time educated and focused." Demetrius felt a smile form. "I'll remember to do that after we warn Athens that they are in deep trouble." Iona moved her horse forward. "Wouldn't be the first time..." Demetrius felt his smile widen. "No it wouldn't be the first time, for ether of us."
He looked up as the huge walls of Athens appeared in the distance they were made from the strongest stone and cement to keep out intruders. He'd been in Athens when they'd been rebuilt as a younger man after the Empress had liberated the city it had been one of the biggest city rebuilds he had ever seen. "I do hope Yalena is doing a better job than the last hoplite general I mean they lost control of this city and fled." Iona raised her hand. "She is a Spartan they don't break command and flee they fight to the death, plus doesn't she have Iphicles with her, he's one of the most decorated warriors in the Greek Empire. He was the Empress's second in command for years during the war against the Macedonian kings and their queen." Demetrius nodded. "The very same, Iphicles and the Empress were friends for years." Iona smirked. "I heard they were much more than that." Demetrius adjust his horse hair helmet. "Well I wasn't general then so I couldn't tell you I was a captain in one of the lesser armies and it was many years before I rose up to this rank and was learning the ropes the general never told me anything even when I asked, he kept his secrets even in death." Iona looked at him for a long moment. "I'm just surprised the Empress didn't put Iphicles in charge of Athens." Demetrius put a hand on his knee. "That's complicated it was diplomatic decision to put Yalena in charge of Athens as Leonidas killed her husband when she refused to fight, she gave a lot to the war effort. No the Athenians weren't happy with it on any level at first but Yalena's loyalty is to the Empress and she has ruled Athens under her rules not her Spartan ones and she has proved to the Athenians that not every Spartan is evil or out to kill them."
Iona took in a deep breath. "Just glad it worked despite the risk I mean it could have ended very differently." Demetrius watched as Xena stopped her horse he stopped his watching as the army behind him came to a slow halt. "I think we are all glad it worked out." Xena took in a deep breath eyeing the huge walls of Athens there was no denying it now something just didn't feel right. It was a gut feeling and one she didn't like as it was so familiar, it was that feeling that everything was far too quite and it made her feel tense and uncomfortable. She leaned forward in her saddle seeing that the huge gates was both closed which made even less sense it was early morning now and the fire torches were still lit but there was no one around and there was normally always someone selling something outside the gate. Like Corinth the huge gates of Athens were always open to allow people to come and go freely, she turned to Gabrielle who was studying the gates carefully. "Something's not right it's far too quite and there is no body here." Gabrielle looked at her for a long moment. "It has been years since I've been here but I recall that the gates were always open and there being food sellers outside." Xena took in a deep breath turning to Demetrius. "I want ten warriors only we are going to get closer, I want everyone else to stay back." Demetrius eased up his hand. "At your command Empress..." Gabrielle shifted in her saddle watching as Demetrius moved his horse allowing a mix of city guard and hoplites to come through she turned in her saddle eyeing Idomeneus. "Give me ten werewolves who are willing to walk beside the Empress's warriors."
Idomeneus turned to the werewolves behind him. "You heard the Golden Hind she wants ten of you!" He watched as a number of men and women ran forward taking their places as they readied their weapons. Xena began to move her horse forward very slowly watching as Gabrielle followed along with the other warriors whose faces were all filled with uncertainty. There was still no movement and it was just too damn quite and she hated that more than anything it wasn't normal. Her gaze drifted upwards as a warrior appeared stepping on to one of the platforms so they could see him. He wasn't one of her own of that she was certain his armour looked wrong but it hard to see it in this light. She stopped her horse along with Gabrielle turning to her keeping her voice low. "He's not one of mine." Gabrielle felt her body tense she recognised his armour even from this distance with its black plate and red feather horse hair helmet it was a generals armour and not a normal warriors which she used to wear even she'd become Horn Hind. Despite her long absence from werewolf sociality very little had changed the generals still liked their over decorative armours to show of their importance. She spoke in a low sharp whisper to her lover. "No he's not one of yours he's from the Imperial Council I recognise his armour."
"Ah so you finally show yourself Golden Hind!"
Xena eyed the man who smiled smugly down at them. "Who are you?" Baltsaros looked at the dark haired woman in disgust. "Be quite Empress, I wasn't addressing you!" He turned eyeing the blonde woman sitting on a horse next to her. "Welcome to Athens whore king, oh I've heard so much about you and frankly I am not that impressed by any of it, you are breaking one of our most scared laws sleeping with a human woman and it's shameful and disgusting." Gabrielle felt the twinge of anger over being called that name but ignored it. "Who are you?" The older man smiled. "Baltsaros I'm a general loyal to the Imperial Council here in Athens you see this place was in drastic need of new leadership the Spartan bitch and the limp dick second in command they put in charge here just really weren't working out." Gabrielle felt a cold smile form. "Thank you for telling me your name I'll remember it when I kill you." Baltsaros laughed as he looked down at her. "You kill me, big words coming from someone who has nothing but a rebel scum army and a bunch a stupid human's in tow." He grabbed hold of one of the fire torches close by. "Because you're a stupid bitch let me make myself as clear as possible just so you understand! I have this city its mine I have hostages hundred of them all chained up here along with what's left of the Empress's pathetic army. We control this city and if you come one step closer to it I will kill every single man, woman and child here. I will bring a reign of terror down on this place the likes of which you and your bitch Empress have never seen and don't think for a second that I'm bluffing because you will be sourly mistaken." Gabrielle felt her eyes dart clearly he was talking about collapsing the city but he wasn't aware that she knew about it. "Killing innocent people is the act of a coward."
Baltsaros shook his head. "Ah the words of a sentimental fool the Imperial Council were not joking when they said that you care too much, from one warrior to another one day that will be your downfall." Gabrielle shifted her horse moving it to the side. "Maybe I do but when I die and when I'm judged I will go to a better place than you, you will rot away in what hell you worship for all eternity." Baltsaros felt his smile fade he eyed the torch in his hand. "That remark is going to be very costly to you whore king." He smirked. "Just to make my point clear I'll give you a taste of Athens power, after all the Empress rebuilt this wall to be impenetrable and lined it with catapults." He signalled with the flaming torch watching as the warriors around him moved closer to the catapults. "I did make a little adjustment to the Empress's catapults I do hope you both enjoys the taste of Greek fire!" He signalled again. "Kill them all!" He watched as all along the wall line the catapults were lit there flames lighting up in the darkness of the morning sky. Xena felt her body tense this was not how she had wanted this to go! She knew that those catapults would be far reaching. "Pull back now!" Her next words were cut off as a row of flaming balls flew through the air above her. She turned her horse watching as everyone began to run for all they were worth including the army behind them as the first fireball came down exploding in flames and throwing its awful tar like substance out across the snow as it caught fire, the snow did nothing to stop these flames. She breathed in as the as an inferno exploded close to part of her army screams of pain hit the air as a couple of warriors were set alight. She could see Gabrielle galloping some distance trying to get away as an exposition came down narrowly missing her.
Baltsaros laughed watching as the fire exploded all around the fleeing army, honestly he had assumed that this would be much harder. Clearly the Empress had gone soft and stupid, she had built this wall to keep invading armies out she had obviously never expected it to be used on her. The catapults lined every wall all around this city and there were even more defences inside. He watched as the catapults were fired again raining down on the still fleeing army, he smiled as one of the bombs caught a number of men and women at the edge setting them alight in a ball of flames. Even from this distance he could hear the screams of pain and agony as the fire and oil burnt through there bodies which fell to the ground as death took over, making black burning impressions in the white snow. He smirked pulling out the pipe from his armour slowly lighting it on the torch before placing it back on the holder. He took in a deep breath from the coltsfoot before breathing out the dark smoke as he watched the as more bombs hit the snow spreading thick fire some way from the gate causing as wall of flames. He moved the fire torch from the stand making a single with it which meant that they should stop firing as the huge army vanished in the cover of the huge forest some way a way. He watched as the last catapults fired before they all became still again, he turned to his second in command the Egyptian woman narrowed her dark eyes as he passed her the flaming torch. "If they appear again and get that close I want you to fire on them." He paused. "If they try and scale the wall or try to breach the gate, well I'm sure you know what to do Haji." Haji raised the torch. "I'll make sure they don't get close but if they do well what can I say, this city was nice to look at but it'll look nicer when it's a rumbled mess that has collapsed in to the ground."
Gabrielle felt the pain as one of the branches snapped painfully against her face followed by another, she had never galloped before and she didn't know how to stop! She had been told but she had never done it in practice, her thoughts were cut off as she caught sight of a tree branch which hit her squarely in the shoulder throwing her sideways in the saddle causing her to loose her grip on the reins. The next moments turned to blinding pain as she hit the ground hard on her back. She felt her fingers grip the snow if there was one thing she hated more than anything it was being humiliated by dishonourable generals it had happened once to often in her life. That bastard had called her a whore and she hated being called a whore and when she met him face to face he would pay for that remark. She pulled herself out of the snow getting to her feet, ignoring the pain seeing that Argo had stopped close by. Her gaze drifted upward as two huge fireballs skimmed over the trees above her followed by the echoing boom as they landed in the forest some way from her. She walked over to Argo's reins taking hold of them as she moved deeper in to the thick forest realizing that she had been completely separated from every one else. She heard the blasts as the last of bomb came down some distance away and everything went quite once more. She ignored the feeling of cold blood as it ran down the side of her face as she made her way through the trees dragging Argo behind her who snorted. She eyed the horse as she carried on moving. "Yeah, yeah I know you didn't mean to drop me off, I just fell." She looked up as the sound of voices hit the air. It was distant but she could hear it, she turned going in that direction. She looked up seeing large group of warriors some distance away in a clearing, no one was in formation it was just a mass of men, women and horses who were unhappy as they were to close to the mass of werewolves warriors.
There were wounded warriors crying out in agony in another small group who were being tended to by a number of healers. Their wounds were horrific even from this distance she could see third degree burns from the intense flames and oily tar pasted on there skin. The werewolves would heal from these burns but the human's wouldn't it would leave horrific scars for life. She caught sight of Xena running towards her the concern in her eyes as she spoke. "Thank the gods your okay, I saw your horse get separated from mine." She paused. "You're bleeding." Gabrielle moved in to the clearing putting her hand on her face she pulled it away seeing the blood on her fingers. "I'm fine I just fell of my horse again." Xena pulled out a cloth from her pocket. "Let me clean that up." Gabrielle raised her hand stopping her. "Look its fine." Xena put her hand under her chin moving the cloth up ignoring her protect as she wiped the blood away, it was just a small cut but she wasn't going to lie to herself she didn't like seeing her lover covered in her own blood, not since the fall she'd had from the balcony when fighting Adrienne. Gabrielle took her bag of Argo's saddle watching as one of the warriors took her horse away putting it with the others as the last of the warriors flooded in through the trees. Xena put the cloth away. "That didn't go so well…" Gabrielle felt a cold sneer form. "I'm going to kill that bastard first I'll rip out his throat and then eat his eyeballs." Xena walking in to an empty area stopping watching as her lover did the same. She put her hands on her shoulders. "Easy now, he will pay for this I promise but right now we have a much bigger problem." Gabrielle folded her arms not liking where this was going. "What's that?" Xena shook her head. "When I took Athens years ago I rebuilt the walls they will be much harder to get through."
She took in a deep breath. "The wall was my own design with catapults which are on every wall and Baltsaros has control of all of them as we've just seen." Gabrielle pulled out the leather underground map putting it flat on the floor as she kneeled down putting her bag to one side watching as the older woman did the same. "I've never breached a city before I've broken though a village's defences and fought army to army." She pulled the water skin free her bags side pocket taking a long drink from it, it was filled with the herbs she needed to keep the mating urge at bay and keep her calm think clearly right now. She closed the water skins top putting it away. "I have never breached a wall but I know my people can scale it if we got close enough." Xena eyed the map. "There are opening all along the lower walls if you tried to scale it the arrows would hit you before you reach the top." Gabrielle eyed the map trying to remember everything Damokles had once told her on this subject. "What if we broke down the gates with enough werewolves I could force that gate open." Xena put her finger on the wall. "Right here is a funnel it's there to force armies in to a small space above cauldrons filled with hot oil can be poured on to the incoming army as they come through, while the archers carry on firing at them it's a death trap." She paused. "How long would it take for your people to dig under it?" Gabrielle put a hand through her hair in frustration. "It would take to long and I don't know how many builder I have I saw two people close to me die so I've already lost warriors and so have you." Xena eyed the map she had never regretted a tactical decisions to protect her people until now. "I didn't think your people would take Athens." Gabrielle looked up slightly meeting her concerned gaze. "It's not your fault Xena werewolves don't normally do this, cities have never been of any interest to my people, until now."
She shook her head. "I don't think any of those things will work anyway Baltsaros threat was one he meant, I think if we attack he will collapse the city he clearly thinks that we don't know about the Imperial Councils plan. I will not risk innocent people's lives to break through that wall I'll do what ever it takes but with out hurting them." Xena paused as a thought crossed her mind. "Your race when they make tunnels I assume they take great care not to touch any existing tunnels?" Gabrielle eyed the tunnels. "The builders never touch any underground structure already in place as it would alert people to our presence underground, why what did you have in mind?" Xena slowly met her uncertain gaze. "How do you feel about swimming in crap?" Gabrielle tensed not liking on bit where this was going. "Please tell me, you're not talking about the cities sewage aqueduct." Xena leaned over the map. "Yes I am." Gabrielle eyed the map. "Great…" Xena put her finger on an area of map. "Under the city runs an aqueduct, your people have marked it on the map but they clearly do not realize that a part of it extends outside the city. You see the waste that comes out of it is used to help fertilize fields it's basically I semi lake filled with waste all year around but it will be mostly frozen over right now." She put a hand through her hair. "The tunnel outside is large you and me and a group of our best could get through it." Gabrielle eyed where her hand lovers hand was pointing. "How far would we have to go before we get inside the city?" Xena took in a deep breath. "About a mile, give or take the sewage aqueduct open up towards the end giving you space to move around properly its opening very close to the Temple it's a massive well."
Gabrielle felt her eyes dart. "Wait a second the upper area of the aqueduct runs right next to a large open underground area under the temple my people could knock an opening in the aqueducts wall and crawl through there's no cement in the tunnels so they'll be easy to break through." She moved her fingers along the tunnels. "Then our people can work together to cut all the ropes that are connecting the underground rope system. So even if they pull the lines above it will do nothing. Then my people can force the gates open from the other side so the rest of our armies can get in." Xena eyed the gate on the map. "The gate has two large turning mechanisms normally it takes three warriors to operate them but I'm sure your people will have no trouble turning them. Then we can take back the whole city and beat this army in to complete submission." She looked up catching sight of Demetrius and Idomeneus coming towards them the concern in both their faces. "How bad is the damage?" Demetrius took in a deep breath. "Ten warriors are dead, fifteen more have serious burns, the seriously wounded I've had one of Iona's warrior's escort them back to the camp." Gabrielle got to her feet looking at Idomeneus watching as the older woman stood up. "What are our casualties?" Idomeneus breathed in deeply. "Five dead and three seriously wounded but they will heal up, we were worried that you maybe hurt as well as we saw that you get separated from the group." Gabrielle eyed him for a long moment before speaking. "I had problems stopping my horse, I'm new to riding." Idomeneus nodded he wasn't going to push this topic anymore as he'd already seen her fall off her horse once already and he got the impression she was getting her head around riding. Riding did not come naturally to werewolves so he doubted he would be doing any better if their roles were reversed. "Evidently the Imperial Council knew that we were coming."
Demetrius breathed in deeply. "Yes and now we have a problem we need to get inside those walls they are clearly keeping the whole city as prisoner and I'm sure they'll collapse it if we try that again." Xena eased up the map so they could both see it as a sly smile formed on her lips. "We both have a plan and you'll fit in to it nicely." Demetrius felt himself tense he knew that smile the Empress only ever gave it when her plan was going to be risky and dangerous in some manner. "Why do I not like the sound of this?" Xena held the map up. "I need Iona and her warriors they will all be perfect for this mission." Gabrielle looked up slightly. "I need werewolves who don't mind swimming in sewage and crawling through dark open spaces and don't care about risk." Idomeneus put a hand on his beard. "There are a number of warriors I know but they are not well what I consider sane but they are good at things like this. Normally we don't put warriors like this on the front line we prefer to keep them for special missions like this." Gabrielle shook her head. "This is a special mission and I need all of them because I'm going to get in to that city." Idomeneus breathed in deeply. "I would prefer to go with you my sister can lead the army with Demetrius." He paused turning to the older man next to him. "That is if you don't mind teaching my little sister how to get in to a breached city, she's been reading about it in scrolls." Demetrius shook his head. "No I don't mind I'm sure she can learn a lot, this isn't the first time I've taken a city, while someone else has distracted it from with in." He paused meeting the Empress's gaze. "So how are you both intending to get in to the city?" Xena eased up the map so they could see it better. "Let's just say it won't be in the most pleasant way." Gabrielle looked up slightly. "But it does work to both our races advantages, as it gives us what we need to stop the city being collapsed."
End of part 28
Silvermoonlight
