Chapter 2 (same disclaimers apply)
"Rule number one," I said, when I was sure Gabrielle was paying attention. She immediately went fishing around in her satchel. "What are you doing?"
"I'm getting my scroll," she said. "So I can write down the rules."
I grabbed her hand.
"No writing. Just listening," I said, already growing irritated.
"Sorry, Xena," she said, demurely. "Rule number one?"
"Rule number one is you do what I tell you to."
"In what context?"
"In what? In all of them."
"Oh, okay."
"If I tell you to go fetch water..."
"I say how much!" she said, grinning. I glared at her.
"If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to stay back and hide, you stay back and hide. If I tell you to be quiet, you be quiet."
"I think I get the gist."
"I don't really understand why you are so insistent on following me around, but where I'm headed, there will be trouble. There always is. And I can't deal with that trouble if I'm worried about your trouble." She nodded sincerely at this statement.
"Right, I won't be any trouble at all."
"So I need to know what when I give you an order, you'll obey me. No heroics. Is that understood?" She nodded again, enthusiastically.
"Understood. Rule number one: do what you tell me. Easy. What's rule number two?" I hadn't thought much about what the other rules needed to be, until I thought back on her attempt to convince us she was 19, and the many stretchers she had told to various parties over the previous weeks.
"Rule number two is that you don't ever lie to me. If I ask you something, I want the truth." She looked down, mulling over a thought.
"What about lies by omission?" she asked after the pause. I scowled.
"Those too."
"White lies?"
"Gabrelle," I warned. She lifted her hands in surrender.
"Okay. So rule number three?"
"I reckon that's it." I didn't see the need to over-complicate matters. She smiled, almost condescendingly.
"Come on, Xena, don't you know about the rule of threes?"
"What?"
"The rule of threes. There always has to be a third thing."
"There isn't a third," I said, losing my patience again. She didn't seem to be taking this very seriously. I would need to adjust my tactics accordingly.
"Well, you can make another one now. How about 'don't talk to strangers in seedy taverns' or 'don't keep me awake with annoying questions?' That was my sister Elena's rule before she left to get married."
"Fine. Rule number three," I said, fixing her with a glare that made her instantly shut her mouth. "Don't break rule number one or rule number two, or I'll tan your hide." Her cheeks flushed immediately.
"Xena, I don't think that…" she protested quietly, but I was not going to put up with it. If I was going to be responsible for this imp, she was going to feel the full measure of that responsibility.
"Care for a demonstration?" I asked, my voice deadly serious.
"No," she whispered, looking at her feet.
"Good," I said, turning to Argo's tack. "If those are rules you can live by, then you can travel with me, at least for the time being. If you don't think you can live by them, tell me now, and I will gladly escort you back to either Amphipolis or Potidaea." After a pause, she came up behind me, handing me Argo's saddle blanket.
"I can live by them," she said, softly, adding, "and I don't mind the trouble, you know. That's what friends are for. To stand by each other when they're in trouble."
"Come on then, my little friend," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's time to get moving."
*****..
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"Don't leave this clearing, unless I don't come back before the sun goes down," I said sternly, knowing that this would be a hardship for her. I didn't trust her not to get into trouble in town. It was a crossroads town and it might not be safe for a girl traveling on her own. Here was only farm land.
"Why wouldn't you come back?" she said, a worried look on her face. Didn't she know that this was how it was going to be, that there would always be trouble, some expected and some not?
"I will come back," I reassured, " but you should always have a contingency plan. There's a tavern on the South end of town called Maudie's. Tell her you're a friend of mine and she'll put you up in the stables for a night. She might even give you a room."
"Are you sure you aren't leaving me here?" she said, narrowing her eyes and putting her hands on her hips.
"Yes, Gabrielle, I'm sure," I said, but then narrowed my own eyes. "I mean it, Gabrielle. Say put. Remember the rules?"
"Yeah, yeah, I remember," she said, rolling her eyes slightly. "Rule number one: do what I tell you to do. Rule number two: don't lie. Rule number three: don't break numbers one and two."
"Or?" I said, wanting to make sure she knew how serious I was about her staying put.
"Or you'll tan my hide," she mumbled, barely audible.
"Good." I said, satisfied.
***..
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"Where've you been?" she demanded." I've been looking for you for three days!"
I looked down at her. It was clear she'd been sleeping rough. I sighed. "I thought I told you to stay with Maudie."
"I did!" she said, quickly, and then shrugged before looking at the ground. "Well, I did the first night anyway. But then...well, I thought maybe you'd left me behind."
"I ran into a little trouble," I said.
"And you couldn't send a messenger? I was worried about you. Really worried."
"I'm sorry," I said, and, to my astonishment, I realized that I was. I hadn't thought much about how she'd react to an extended absence. I could have easily sent word, now that I thought of it. I dismounted and felt my side burn with pain. The wound was healing up well, but three days rest had not been long enough.
"You're hurt," she said, the irritation gone from her voice. She grabbed Argo's reins from me. I waved her off.
"It's healing well."
"What happened?" she said.
"An arrow."
"An arrow!" I sighed at her dramatics. She could be an annoying little Mother Hen when she put her mind to it.
"It's fine now. Just a flesh wound, muscle and skin."
"Let me see it!" she insisted, but I put my hand on her shoulder.
"Not now, Gabrielle. It's fine. Listen, there's a farmhouse down the road three miles. Nice people. I want you to wait for me there." I turned back to Argo, to adjust his tack and tighten the saddle bags.
"Where are you going?" she asked, and I turned to her and gave her a look that told her it was not her concern. She was going to Darius' farm. She shook her head vigorously.
"No, no, no! I'm not waiting around while you get to have all the fun. I'm coming this time." With that pronouncement, she turned to leave, but I quickly grabbed her first by the collar, and then the ear.
"Ow! Xena! That's my ear!"
"I'm aware."
"Let me go!" I did not and pulled her to face me.
"Remind me what rule number one is," I said, calmly. I wouldn't take insubordination from the imp, not when there was work to do and when I was not at my strongest.
"Do what you tell me to do," she said, hissing.
"Rule number two?"
"No lies," she yelped.
"Number three?"
"Ow! Ow, please! You'll tan my hide."
"Good, now do as I say," I said, releasing her ear. She rubbed it and sulked, but turned for the road behind
***.
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I'd been on the trail for over an hour, when I started to hear her footsteps in the distance, perhaps 50 yards behind me. To give her credit, she'd had the sense to stay farther back at first, but when the landscape began to get crowded with trees and boulders, she had needed to get closer. I sighed heavily before calling back to her.
"Gabrielle, get your tail over here," I shouted, without looking back. I slowed and waited for her to catch up. When she arrived she was breathless. I refused to turn around and look at her, feeling the urge to lash out at her in my own irritation.
"I'm sorry, Xena, but you can't expect…"
"I don't want to hear it," I said, cutting her off. "You are in deep shit, kid, so you just keep quiet and think about rule number three until I can find a safe stopping point."
"Rule number three?" she said, shakily, stopping in her tracks.
"Rule number three," I confirmed, moving forward at a quick pace.
I hadn't expected her to test me so early, and, to be honest, did not have time to deal with the matter properly in that moment. I also wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the matter. I had punished my subordinates before for disobedience or dereliction, but I had never done so for their own edification or because I cared for the transgressor. I did so out of anger and because I needed my men who watched the proceedings to fear me. It was never about justice or restoration or even behavior modification. The men I had beaten never improved. Most deserted, and good riddance. My job had been to inflict enough pain to strip the man of his dignity, his humanity. The thought of doing such a thing to Gabrielle was abhorrent to me. THe thought of doing such a thing to anyone was now abhorrent to me. But I knew from experience at the hands of both my mother and Lao Ma, that a hiding could restore justice and modify behavior, and that some fear of me was healthy and necessary for Gabrielle. If I was going to keep this beguiling sprite safe, I needed her to fear the consequences of her actions. My impulse was to haul off and set the kid on fire, quickly and efficiently, but I knew that this was my anger speaking and not my reason. Gabrielle's comeuppance would need time, and I needed time to think how best to deliver it. However, it was my hope that her current anxiety would make her a more compliant companion in the confrontation with Cycnus in the meantime.
She was quiet for nearly an hour as we neared the river, which was, I judged, the longest time she had ever not spoken in my presence, at least when she was awake.
"When you were gone, I went looking for you at the tavern," she said, tentatively, as if testing a briar patch for snakes. When I made no reply, she took my silence as an invitation to continue. "Those men at the bar started to bother me again, but I fooled them alright. I saw a young warrior at one of the tables, drinking all alone. He looked different from the rest, kinder I guess, and so I told them that he was my boyfriend. They didn't believe me, though, so I just turned and went right up to him and sat on his lap and said "Act like you know me." And you wouldn't believe it, but he did just that! Got me out of a real tight spot I guess." I decided not to interrupt my silent treatment to tell her exactly how this plan could have backfired, in part because it had been quick thinking for someone who had no other physical skills to rely upon.
"He was actually a really nice guy, though, let me tell you, it sounds like his father is a real piece of work, you know, one of those people who you can never please, no matter what you do. I guess I know what it's like to feel like that with your parents, so I think we bonded a bit, and my conversation with him took my mind off how worried I was about you. Only, you know, he had to leave rather quickly, and I don't suppose I'll ever see him again. He was kind of cute, in a rugged, outdoorsy sort of way, or at least I thought so. But more than that, I think…"
"Gabrielle," I said, sharply, hearing the distant sound of horses. These must be Cycnus's men. They were taking the river pass. Thankfully, Gabrielle had heeded the warning in my voice.
"What is it?" she whispered, and I was relieved to hear the alarm. I needed her to focus. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards Argo, yanking her satchel off her shoulder.
"Get on the horse," I ordered, turning her around to face the saddle.
"I want to help you," she said, but reached for the saddle horn and placed her boot into my proffered hands obediently.
"You can help me by getting on the horse," I said, hoisting her up onto the saddle and handing her the reins, hoping that she had enough riding skills to hang on. She looked down at me, looking so very young and very frightened.
"I need you to be a distraction," I said, hoping this "task" would help her summon her own courage. I saw her take a big breath.
"Just head downstream and don't stop!" I said, more to Argo than to Gabrielle, and smacked down hard on Argo's rump. I watched to see that she was able to stay on at a gallop before turning to my own tasks.