Obsession
Cyrene stared at her daughter sleeping soundly on the bed which belonged to Helena. Without question, she tended to her daughter's horrible wounds that no doubt were inflicted by Alexander and his men. She was unable to get the image of her daughter drenched in blood out of her mind. Deep down, she knew Alexander and his entire family hated Xena and her father. Cyrene knew that hatred all too well and that was one reason why she could never live under the same roof as Nelo.
The two never got along and Xena always pestered her mother to visit the palace in upper Amphipolis. By the time Xena was twelve, Cyrene permitted her to visit Nelo a few times out of the year. As the years passed and as Xena grew older, she began training with the soldiers. Cyrene noticed a change in her daughter around fifteen and she found her daughter to be quite the social butterfly.
Xena hung out with a few of her father's soldiers and later met more young men who were a few years older than her. Cyrene didn't know that once her daughter turned seventeen that she would never see her face again until about five years down the road. She prayed her daughter would return to her but she didn't expect her to return eight months pregnant.
Now, she had her daughter in her home once again needing help. As she continued to dress the wounds, Xena opened her eyes slowly and it took awhile for her eyesight to adjust to the darkness of the room. She blinked and exhaled deeply, feeling the full effects of her injuries and her face contorted in an ugly expression.
"I cleaned your wounds and sewed the gashes." Cyrene said and lifted the bandages on her daughter's chest to check on the healing process. "Alexander did a number on you." She studied her daughter's face and saw the pain in her eyes. She tried to hold it back. "I saw what he did to you in the square…"
Xena furrowed her eyebrows and felt embarrassed that her mother had to witness that heinous act in their family's palace no less. She tried to sit up and tugged on the sheets, breathing heavily through her nostrils. She didn't get very far and fell back onto the pillows, tempted to whimper from the pain coursing through her body. So many arrows. She never saw so many arrows in her body at once and if it weren't for her mother's care, she would be lying dead on the floor by now.
"Xena, what did you do?"
The Empress frowned. "Why are assuming it's something that I did? Did you ever think that Alexander is a piece of shit and he hates me?"
"I mean," Cyrene put up her hand and tried to approach this situation a different way. "What did you do to get yourself in that situation?"
Oh, that, Xena thought of Gabrielle and the Amazons. Her eyes drifted to the bloodied sheets and she ran her fingers over the soiled bandages around her waist and breasts. "I was saving a…friend."
Her mother nodded and sneered. "Must be some friend."
Xena smiled faintly. "She is a great friend." She says without thinking and looked at the shock on her mother's face. She suspected that her mother was assuming that she was talking about a man and not a woman. She too, was surprised that she was able to say and believe that Gabrielle was her friend. "Thank you…for helping me."
"I wasn't going to let you bleed out, Xena." She felt the tension rising and had to mention what had been on her mind for the last four days whilst taking care of her wounded daughter. "You always come to me when you are in a situation that you can't get out of and then you leave. Why should I keep helping you?" she scoffed. "I don't know why I keep doing this. You are just going to leave and start more wars or whatever it is you do in Sparta."
She grabbed the basket of soiled linens and threw in the bottles of dried herbs, ready to leave the room knowing that there was an argument brewing. Xena mustered up the strength to sit up in the bed and wrapped an arm around her sore waist.
"I found Helena."
Cyrene turned around in the doorway and her heart fluttered. "You found her? Where was she?"
"Egypt. I sailed there to find her. Gabrielle helped me –"
"Gabrielle?" Cyrene frowned and set the basket on a chair. "The Queen of the Amazons? That is your friend?" she approached the bed and Xena saw the malice in her mother's eyes. "She is allies with Alexander."
"Not anymore."
Cyrene chuckled and folded her arms, glaring at her stoic daughter. "So, she's on your side now? What did you do to her to make her submit to you? Did you beat her just like you beat your father's senators when they wouldn't listen to you? Did you brand her with your mark?"
Xena clenched her fist and tightened her jaw. A few months ago if she was spoken to the way she was at this moment, she would have lashed out and made her point, but now, she was too tired to bother to argue. She came to her mother knowing that she'd get the help that she needed and that made her feel terrible for inconveniencing her mother. Blocking out her mother's insults, she focused her mind on Helena and the need to get back to the Amazons. She feared that Gabrielle might do something that she'd regret later and gods knows that Leo was already planning an attack on Pella as she lay helpless in the bed.
Her eyes lingered as her mother continued to berate her. She spotted the dress that she sent Helena, draped over a chair. She threw the blankets off and swung her legs over the edge of the bed and tried to block out her mother. Slowly, she stood and Cyrene encouraged her to get back in bed.
Xena walked over to the wardrobe against the wall and opened it up and looked at all of the dresses that belonged to her daughter. She touched the fabric and scanned through the gowns and frowned and turned around to her irate mother.
"Where is it?"
Cyrene tapped her fingers on the headboard. "Where is what?"
"The red dress I sent six months ago. Where is it?"
The mother of the Empress bowed her head and played coy, switching her mood with a snap of a finger. "I didn't give it to her."
Xena tried her best to remain calm and not lash out but it was proving to be very difficult. "I spent a lot of coin on that dress. I had it made especially for her and you didn't give it to her?!"
"You can't buy her love, Xena. She doesn't even know you."
"I'm not trying to buy her love! I'm her mother! I love her unconditionally!"
Cyrene marched over to her and pointed a finger in her face. "You are not her mother! You lost the right to call yourself her mother the moment you walked out of Amphipolis!"
"Then maybe she should stay with me."
She snickered. "Really? And what are you expecting her to say when you tell her that you're her mother? Do you think she will forgive you for lying to her for all these years? You left her and never came back. A few dresses aren't going to save your face, Xena. You can't suddenly assume your responsibilities that you left behind."
"I should have never come home ten years ago." She walked over to the bed and grabbed the cloak that was given to her and wrapped it around her body, wincing slightly.
Cyrene creased her brows together and followed her daughter out of the bedroom. "Leaving again? Go ahead. It's what you do best."
She threw the hood over her head and went through the kitchen to make a quick exit and then halted at the sound of loud banging at the front door. She turned to her mother who now looked nervous, scared even. She nudged her head at the door and the banging continued. "Answer it," she whispered.
Cyrene fixed her apron and walked to the front of the villa then turned back to see her daughter crouching behind the kitchen cutting table. She took in a deep breath and opened the door and Alexander was on his horse, accompanied by two of his generals.
"What…can I do for you gentlemen? It is not often that the emperor makes house visits."
General Ptolemy looked inside the dark home lit by candles. "We are searching for a prisoner of war. The Empress of Sparta. Do you know of her?"
Cyrene pretended to play along. "Of course I know her."
Xena rolled her eyes and then rose to her knees and looked out the window at the stable behind her childhood home. She crouched back down and crawled on the floor to hide behind another table while her mother was being interrogated.
"She escaped the palace in Macedonia and we have been searching all of the homes in Amphipolis. Have you seen her?" Ptolemy asked and tried to peek inside the villa over Cyrene's head.
At this moment she had the choice to give her daughter up to the arrogant boy king or keep quiet and protect her for the hundredth time. She looked at Alexander who was waiting impatiently on his steed and put on her best blank face.
"No, I haven't seen her."
"So, you wouldn't mind if we took a look around?" Ptolemy asked and she hesitated for a moment and smiled at the blonde emperor and stepped aside to allow him entry.
"I don't mind but I do ask that you do not touch any of my belongings…" she graciously added and he walked inside with Antigonus to scope the place out. She anxiously eyed the kitchen area and hoped that Xena was able to escape or at least hide until the goons left.
Alexander kept his eyes keenly on her and she gave him a brief smile while she waited at the entrance for the generals to finish scoping her house. She knew they wouldn't find anything because her daughter was smart enough to leave. But of course, that is what she is best known for: leaving.
Ptolemy came out from the back of the house and dropped a basket filled with bloody linens and her stomach churned. "That is a lot of blood. Is there anyone else living in your home?" he took off his leather glove and inspected the linens more closely.
"No but I have a few soldiers come through my tavern up the road. Sometimes they are injured and I provide aid. I'm afraid you just missed him. He left a few hours ago." she quickly came up with a lie and the generals seemed skeptical.
"That is most kind of you," he commented and tossed the bloodied linens back into the basket and stood. "Are you positive that you did not see the Empress? You do know what she looks like, don't you?"
Cyrene wasn't sure how to answer that. "I…saw her in the square. It was quite a show." She glanced at the emperor who was growing very impatient now as he continued to wait.
Ptolemy frowned and spun around at the sound of a horse galloping behind the villa. He ran to the window near the kitchen and saw a hooded figure in the dark of the night, riding through the green countryside of Amphipolis.
"Your soldier left a few hours ago, you said?"
She felt her nerves kicking in but remained as calm as she could. "Yes, he did."
"Then who was that riding behind your villa?"
"I didn't see anyone."
Ptolemy snapped his fingers at his counterpart and rushed out the door to meet with his ruler. "We need to follow that rider. It is most likely the Empress."
Alexander grinned. "When I get my hands on her I'm going to tear her limbs off!" he kicked the horse and galloped in the dark with his soldiers by his side.
A small entourage of Spartans galloped into Amphipolis with Leo leading the way and Gabrielle right behind him with a few of the Amazons who accompanied her. Gabrielle slowed to a trot and looked at all of the civilians gazing up at her, but mostly their eyes were glued to Leo and the Spartans. They were afraid of the Spartans clad in black and red armor sitting upon their black horses.
There was a certain presence that Xena's army shined when they rode through the dirt roads of outer Thrace. The Amazons were uneasy due to all the eyes upon them and Gabrielle sensed animosity from all the Thracians. Though she was not sure if they were afraid of her or her people, but they were certainly afraid of the Spartans.
A Thracian man stood off to the side of the road and spat on Leo as he passed by on the horse. The Amazons halted and their eyes darted from the horseman to the Thracian who spat on Xena's leading officer. They expected him to lash out at the man but he simply ignored the Thracian and wiped the saliva off his armor and continued onward.
Gabrielle frowned at the Thracian and he followed up beside her horse. Her sisters were wary of his close proximity and attempted to grab the man but Gabrielle grabbed Chilapa's wrist. "No, pay no attention to him," she tells her.
"You are an Amazon," the man spoke to the queen with a sneer on his mouth.
She kept her eyes forward and followed Leo through the streets which became more and more crowded as they continued to ride. All of the people were not happy that they were here. She feared that there might be a mob which would eventually attack them so she tried to keep calm. This was a horrible idea, she thought. Riding through Thrace had to be the worst idea ever, but how else were they supposed to get to Macedonia? She wished there was another way to save Xena; if they could save her.
"I didn't know that Amazons were friends with the Spartan savages," he says with a chuckle. Gabrielle bit her tongue, ignoring him. "I should expect nothing less from the bitch of Sparta. Emperor Alexander put on quite a performance for Thrace."
Her eyes widened. "Stop!" she yelled at Leo and the other Spartan soldiers. Leo stopped and looked over his shoulder. She leaned down closer to the Thracian citizen. "The Empress was here in Amphipolis?"
He nodded. "Oh yeah, she was here."
Leo turned his horse round and met up with the man and sat beside the Amazons. "Where is she now? What did the emperor do to her?" he questioned the Thracian, demanding an answer.
"Why should I tell you?" he folds his arms. Leo grabbed his sword and his arrogance was obstructed by the queen's hand in his face.
"No swords." She warned him. "There are too many people here." She glanced around at the citizens inching closer to their entourage. "What did the emperor do to the Empress? What do you mean by performance?"
"He humiliated her in front all of Thrace. He poured buckets of entrails and blood on her!" he said with a glimmer in his eyes. "She deserved it after what she did to our people."
Gabrielle raised her eyebrow skeptically. "What did she do to your people?"
Leo growled. "We do not have time for idle conversation with this commoner!"
"Yes we do!" she griped and the Spartans lowered their eyes. She turned her attention back to the Thracian. "What did Xena do?"
"I'm sure your Spartan buddy can answer that for you since the Amazons are allies with the most hated woman in Thrace." He smiled and trailed away back to his shop back a few paces.
Gabrielle snapped her head around at the horseman and scowled. He was more eager to get Xena than to tell her information about her. Xena, you were right, I know nothing about you but I plan to find out every little detail.
"What was that man talking about, Leo? What did he mean that Xena is the most hated woman in Thrace? This is her home. Her father was the king of Thrace. How did she become hated by her own people?"
He seemed sheepish and reluctant to answer so she pulled out her blade and held it to his chest. "Tell me," she demanded.
"Must we do this now? It is pertinent that we find the Empress right now, Amazon."
"It is pertinent that I know what happened. Tell me or I won't go any further."
He gazed at the blade against his chest plate and explained, "After King Nelo died, Xena was denied the opportunity to rule Amphipolis in her father's place. She killed three of the senators and publically shamed the others in the village square."
She retracted the sword and furrowed her eyebrows. She felt a headache coming on and she didn't know whether to feel pity for Xena or to feel like she befriended a monster. "And that is why she was kicked out her own state…" she whispers. It all made sense to her now. "Why didn't you mention this when I found the document about her leaving Amphipolis for good?"
Leo shrugged a lazy shoulder. "It did not seem important. We must continue onward if we want to reach Pella."
General Cassandar stampeded through the streets of Amphipolis with a group of soldiers. They ransacked every single home they laid their eyes on. One home in particular was a high priority and he rode over to Cyrene's home and kicked down the door with the front legs of the horse. She, in the entrance, tidying up her home, immediately dropped everything and started to run to the back of the house to the stables.
He jumped off the horse and rushed in then grabbed her by the arms and forcefully pulled her towards the entrance and out of the large estate. He threw her down on the ground and bound her wrists behind her back while her cheek was firmly planted in the dirt.
Gabrielle trotted up by the home and witnessed Cassandar harassing a middle-aged woman and rode over in that direction. She heard Leo yelling at her to forget about the woman, but she persisted. "Cassandar!" she yelled and the Macedon man lifted his head.
"Queen Gabrielle," he said with a smile and tightened the ropes around Cyrene's wrists.
Cyrene gasped and lifted her eyes as high as she could and saw the blonde queen sitting on her tan stallion. "Gabrielle!" she yelled and the Amazon stared down at her. "Xena took off in the plains!"
Gabrielle's frown deepened and Leo finally turned at the mention of the Empress' name. "Cassandar, unhand her."
"Alexander said to arrest her for holding Xena in her home. I have orders, Amazon."
Leo pulled out his sword and the other Spartans did the same. "Let her go, Cassandar!" he yelled. "I'm not going to ask again."
He hoisted Cyrene off the ground and pushed her to the side and whistled at the elite Macedonian soldiers and they came charging at the Spartans and Amazons. Gabrielle panicked and she backed away slowly while her sisters rode in front of her, preparing their bows. Leo jumped off his steed and clashed swords with the general. She looked around at the chaos unfolding and looked over the large home which belonged to Cyrene. She assumed that this woman was Xena's mother because where else would Xena go?
She slipped away from the battle in the middle of the road and galloped through the alleyways in between the Thracian abodes towards the grassy plains that Cyrene spoke of.
Xena raced through the woods outside of Amphipolis and weaved through the trees. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ptolemy and Antigonus chasing her and Alexander in the back with a malicious grin on his lips. Continuing to race through the woods that she was very familiar with, she had the upper hand here but it didn't help that the Macedonians were so close to her.
She winced and ran her fingers over the bandages around her waist and felt warm blood seeping out. She steered the horse to the left and heard running water. The river is nearby, she thought. Riding quickly she halted on the cliff that was at least thirty feet above the rapids below. She heard Alexander behind, yelling at her from afar, but near enough that she could make out what he was saying.
Xena stared at her bloody fingertips and Ptolemy halted his horse as did his counterpart. "Give up, Empress. You are surrounded!" he yelled and she looked down at the running water and he frowned, anticipating what she was about to do.
She gave herself to Alexander because she thought she was saving Gabrielle and her people, but she didn't want to be subjected to any more torture. She had been tortured enough for a lifetime under Alexander's imprisonment. She also knew if she jumped into the wild river that Alexander would be furious and most likely cause uproar with the Amazons. But she couldn't save them if she was dead, now could she?
"Xena, don't you do it!" Alexander warned. "Give me that sword!" he yelled at Ptolemy.
She turned and gave him a very weak smile and jumped over the edge. The generals ran forward and leaned over and couldn't see her body anywhere. "Dammit!" Ptolemy growled.
Alexander jumped off his horse and marched over to his generals and pushed them aside. He took a look for himself and hoped to see the Empress' body in pieces or at least mangled but he saw nothing. "Aren't you going to go after her?"
Antigonus scowled. "Your highness, I am not jumping in that water. That is a death wish."
"Then what do I have you for? To stand here and make me look good?" he scoffed and sheathed the sword, while watching the water viciously running down over the large boulders in the bed of the river. "We will scout the river banks ahead. If she is dead, I still want her body. I want to display her in front of Thrace." He waved his hand, commanding his generals to follow suit.
As he walked back to his horse he glared at Cyrene's horse and took out his sword and stabbed the animal in the chest and Ptolemy covered his eyes, wagging his head. "Let's go," he wiped the horse's blood on his pristine white and gold robes.
Xena held onto a ledge beneath the cliff and waited for the three to leave so she could somehow climb back up. Horse hooves drifted further and further away and she breathed a sigh of relief. She shimmied on the ledge and groaned at the stitches coming undone the more she moved. Immediately, she cursed herself for leaving her mother's house in a condition like this. Horrible and stupid move, she chastised herself.
She was able to shift herself across a few from the cliff and then her fingers began slipping due to her weak upper body. She dug her fingernails in the rocks until all her nails broke off and bled in the beds.
Gabrielle followed the horse prints in the soil that Alexander stupidly left behind. She found a lot of prints and that only meant that Xena was being chased. She stopped by a tree and noticed a few of the tracks were ahead by a few paces.
"They were on your trail…" she whispered and heard running water up ahead. She kicked her steed and followed the sound of the water crashing against the rocks. As soon as she reached the cliff she heard an animal in agony. "And they attacked your horse…" she frowned at the pitiful animal and jumped off the horse and walked over to the dying steed lying on its side.
She thought it best to put the animal out of its misery and bowed her head in a moment of silence for the animal's painful passing. She ran her hand over the mane and stood up to scope out the area. She leaned over the cliff and saw the violent river below and cringed. Kneeling down, she observed the areas that Xena might have escaped to because she knew that Alexander didn't have Xena again. She wasn't that stupid, the queen smirked.
She saw blood on one of the ledges and crawled over to the next ledge and saw a torn piece of dark fabric hanging from a vine attached to the cliff's wall. "Xena!" she called out and ran across the cliff, frantically looking below at the rushing water. That was enough to kill someone if they jumped.
Gabrielle left her horse and ran down to the river banks ahead and found more horse prints and was more leery of her surroundings. She kept her hand on the hilt of her sword and approached the banks cautiously but heard nobody nearby and the tracks lead up the hill to the north side of the river banks ahead.
In a bed of rocks she spotted a dark clothed body lying on the rocks with the water gently splashing against the cloaked person. Gabrielle approached the body carefully and saw a hand drifting in the shallow waters and long black hair sprawled in the water.
"Xena!" she yelled and jumped down into the bed of rocks and wade her heavy fur boots in the rushing river and dropped to her knees. She hissed and looked down at her knees that now had huge cuts on them from the jagged rocks. "Xena…" she flipped her over on a large boulder and brushed the raven hair away from her face.
She cupped the Empress' cold and pale cheeks and examined her body. She gasped at the amount of blood seeping through the bandages. She grabbed Xena under the arms and pulled her out of the water and dragged her onto the grass and knelt down beside her. Gabrielle breathed heavily and slapped Xena's cheeks and put an ear on her chest and heard no sign of life.
"Wake up!" she slapped her cheeks against and then began to resuscitate.
And again.
Again.
"Come on!" she yelled and pinched Xena's nose and gave her mouth to mouth. Lifting her head, she watched her chest waiting to see her breathe life again. "No!" she took in a deep breath and tried to resuscitate her again. Gabrielle growled and shook the Empress' body violently and then gave her mouth to mouth again.
"Wake up, Xena!" she yelled and tears streamed down her face. "It's not…your…time!" she hissed and gave mouth to mouth once more.
Water spewed from Xena's mouth finally and Gabrielle sprung backward and wiped her face then smiled down at the raven haired empress. Xena turned over onto her side and coughed up water violently and then rolled over onto her back and stared at the blue sky above.
Gabrielle leaned over her and the Empress' eyes widened, surprised to see her, almost as if it was dream in itself.
"You…saved me."
"Of course I did." Gabrielle's beaming face alarmed the Empress. She sat her up and wrapped an arm around her. "I care about you, remember?"
