The heart fear and agony that once might have frozen a young girl from Potadeia had no home in the Amazon Queen who now faced the lion Goddess of Egypt. Gabrielle's eyes were still as stone; her heart rate steady and her muscles fluid with a warrior's strength and agility. Sekhmet's fire bolt had done her a favour. She had never really recognised the difference the immortality had made. Her detachment from a pain that should have crushed her; to once again see Xena dying before her eyes instead filled her with determination. She could not fail to rid Egypt of this menace. Not for Xena but for all the peoples who would suffer under her in the millennia to follow.
She extended the blade; her eyes narrowed in concentration and raised her left arm; crooking her finger to beckon Sekhmet on.
"C'mon bitch. Don't disappoint me."
The Goddess focused all her rage on the immortal warrior and ran at her; dagger whipping quickly towards her body. The two weapons struck at incredible force but Sekhmet's short little blade was no match for Khnum's mighty khopesh. It decapitated the blade at the hilt but even as Gabrielle arced the weapon in a reverse strike Sekhmet had already moved to closer quarters; ramming her fist into the warriors gut and landing a crippling kick to her forearm. Gabrielle lost her grip on the weapon as it clattered into the writhing nest of vipers now spilling out across the marbled floor. Sekhmet's height was telling but Gabrielle had long practiced against a taller opponent and she immediately cracked her head backwards into Sekhmet's chin. She dived for the blade without hesitation and plucked the weapon from the writhing vipers.
Still underestimating her opponent Sekhmet had continued to rush after the warrior; focused only on the kill. Another vicious leg sweep took Sekhmet to the floor and Gabrielle pounced on her; knee to her back and hand winding into her hair to wrench her head backwards to expose the deity's throat. Her fist tightened on the khopesh. One simple strike and it would be over.
. . . . . .
"Well Xena," Ares began as the warrior princess writhed in agony at his feet. "It seems like now would be a good idea to negotiate a new deal between us…"
Xena blinked the sweat from her eyes; the pain was unlike anything she had ever known and then as suddenly as it struck a familiar energy filled her; cooling the burning in her blood.
"I save you, you become my warrior Queen, you know. The usual," Ares continued. "Maybe I'll even throw in helping out Gabrielle…"
"Ares…" Xena whispered through gritted teeth.
He knelt beside her and peered down into those blue eyes. He hadn't expected her to agree so quickly.
"Gabrielle doesn'tneed anyone's help!"
Xena's fist landed firmly with a satisfying crunch against his nose. She sat up as Ares reeled backwards clutching his face. She shifted slightly and looked towards her leg. The burning of the venom had gone and only a shallow cut remained.
"Mother!" Eve had begun running the moment she had seen Sekhmet strike her down. "You're alive…You're immune to the venom!"
"Seems that way," Xena acknowledged.
"So the God of Eli brought you back a little different after all," Ares remarked; still pressing gingerly at his nose. He smiled a little and glanced at Eve. "Well played but the game's not quite over yet…"
He returned his gaze to Gabrielle who now had her khopesh levelled against Sekhmet's neck. Just the right amount of pressure and that divine weapon would cleave her head and rid him of his rival. Xena saw his interest and pressed shakily to her feet.
"You bastard. This is what you wanted all along? Get one more war God out of the picture?"
Ares sighed and glanced at Xena as Eve pressed her mother's sword into her hand.
"It won't do any good Xena. You'll never get there in time to stop Gabrielle now. And after everything Sekhmet did to her are you sure you really want to deny her revenge? Besides, one can't help but wonder where Cambyses went…"
. . . . . .
The sound of her own heart beat thumped in her ears and Gabrielle was beset with a strange calmness that seemed to invade her senses. It was crazy. Her, the little runaway from Potadeia now holding the life of a Goddess in her hands. There was a faint rustle of fabric as Aphrodite made her presence known at Gabrielle's side.
"Don't say it," Gabrielle warned her softly.
"I wouldn't weep for her death. She murdered Khnum and what she did to you….She's a total head case for sure but do you understand what it means to be immortal?"
Gabrielle tilted her head listening; her grip on the khopesh unwavering as it pressed tightly into Sekhmet's throat.
"You're going to spend an eternity with the decisions you make now," Aphrodite advised her gently. "You want to start a war? Between Egypt and Greece? Is that what Ares has done to you? Because killing her is what it will mean. You're immortal. You'll survive it but the thousands who will fight in Sekhmet's name…"
"She killed Xena," Gabrielle persisted; anger sliding across her features.
Aphrodite's slender fingers squeezed gently on her lovers shoulders as a greater pressure exerted itself on her own heart. There would only ever be one name on Gabrielle's lips.
"Not this time sweet pea, look," Aphrodite said.
Her eyes drifted up and beyond the Goddess at her feet; Xena was already jogging across the temple flagstones; sword sheathed on her back and chakram at her waist. Her muscles relaxed and the humbled Sekhmet felt the pressure ease on her throat as Gabrielle's grip loosened. It had been a noble sentiment by the Goddess of Love but Sekhmet seized her chance as Gabrielle's attention wavered.
Sekhmet flattened herself backwards and twisted suddenly upwards to seize the warrior's sword arm in her iron grip. Under Sekhmet's guidance she steered Gabrielle's sword arm wildly away and the khopesh slashed straight across the unwitting Aphrodite's stomach. Her fingers slipped from Gabrielle's shoulders as she fell.
Time slowed as the most beautiful of all Goddesses fell wordlessly and limply to the ground; a growing stain of red across her middle leaching out across the delicate pink folds of her gown. She lay broken against the flagstones, her curly golden hair in a halo around her head; eyes closing as he body remained disturbingly still.
Sekhmet blinked in shock at what she had done. Declaring war on the Greek pantheon had never been her plan. She turned; suddenly all too aware of the dark fury of Ares radiating close by and heedless of Gabrielle whose anger unfurled in her like a caged beast.
Gabrielle angrily tore the weapon from Sekhmet's shocked hands and twirled it in a great heaving spiral. The blade sliced cleanly into Sekhmet's neck and severed her head in one decisive and devastating strike. The lion god of Egypt was dead and then Ares was at her side; prising the khopesh from her numb fingers as all around them the temple began to heave and shake.
"Aphrodite," Gabrielle whispered dropping to her knees and cradling the immortal's head in her lap, her fine golden spun hair spilling through her fingers. Despair re-awakened in her heart. Not again. This was not happening again.
"I will not lose another person I love," she gritted out and the angry knot of grief so long buried uncurled its wings in her. Gabrielle leant down and kissed the Goddess silent forehead.
"You have the power to save her Gabrielle," Ares advised her; an unaccustomed note of genuine emotion in his voice. She raised her head and stared deeply into his dark brown eyes. Ares had given up his immortality once to save her and Eve. A stray memory stirred. Aphrodite explaining how she had accidentally made her immortal.
"Sweet pea, Caligula wasn't just sucking the Godhood out of me. I was practically giving my immortality away..."
"With every kiss," Gabrielle said remembering Caligula as he stole the last piece of her Godhood. "Oh Gods…But can't you take it back the same way?"
Aphrodite shook her head.
"I'm sorry but it won't work. When Xena gave me Odin's apple it restored my immortality. All of it. I don't have any room to take it back and you can't surrender it to anyone else. I'm sorry."
"You have room now," Gabrielle whispered into her hair. "You can take it back, you can…you have to…"
She shifted slightly and gathered the Goddess into her arms and gently closed her lips around hers; tender, giving, surrendering. Slowly the faintest thread of light seemed to unwind itself from around her body. She felt something pass between them and then suddenly the kiss deepened and the Goddess' damaged immortal body instinctively took all the strength it needed from Gabrielle.
Ares watched on as his sister fed on the mortal she favoured so dearly; a look of regret etched on his features. She would never forgive herself if her immortal life cost that of Gabrielle's. He would get earache about that for millennia.