Chapter 5

The Abyss

Xena blinked her eyes. Darkness. She opened them wide, forcing them to stay open to pull in any light at all. Nothing. Her head hurt! Not only had the blow given her a massive headache but the spot where she'd been struck at the base of her skull ached fiercely. Her left hand throbbed from where Ares had hit her with the fireball. She brought her right hand up to the back of her head to feel for blood. No wetness. Xena was grateful for that at least, but she knew she wasn't quite out of the water yet. She hoped the blindness wouldn't be permanent. Xena felt around to get a better sense of her surroundings. Was she still on the floor in the hallway? How long had she been unconscious? Her hands slid over cobbled stone. The floor was nothing like the smooth black granite floors in the Main Hall of the Halls of War. Ares had taken her somewhere else. Which meant she'd been out for more than a few minutes. The thought worried her, making her fear that the blindness might be lasting. Xena sniffed the air, it smelled earthy and damp. There was no noise, it was eerily silent. She knew she was indoors somewhere. Or in one of his little game worlds where he liked to pit mortals against one another. Xena started feeling along her person. Her weapons and armor were gone. So was her leather dress. He'd left her only in her cotton shift. She wiggled her toes. The bastard had even taken her boots. Xena reached between her legs. Thankfully, her undergarments were still intact. At least he'd saved her that humiliation. Slowly, Xena pushed herself off the floor, careful to put her hands out before moving her head. The last thing she needed was to bang it on something and knock her own self out. Her muscles ached as she moved. She must have been on the floor for some time. Hours likely. Xena winced as she rubbed out the tenseness in her lower left back. Xena knew if she just called for Ares, she'd get all the answers she needed but she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction.

Xena took a breath, centered herself and then decided to start a mental grid of the space she was in. She stood stock still and extended both arms out in front of her, stretching her fingers as far as they could reach. Empty space. She turned 90 degrees and repeated the action. Same. She rotated another 90 degrees. Nothing. Another 90. One block down. Xena reached one boot out and tapped the floor in front of her. Satisfied that the next step had even and secure flooring, Xena took a step forward. She turned to her left 90 degrees and started the process of gridding again. After about ten minutes, or it could have been forty for all that time mattered in such a situation, Xena reached a wall made from what she thought was the same cobblestone as the floor. Once she'd found the wall, she switched her mapping tactic. She placed her back against the wall. Nothing or no one could attack her from behind if the wall was at her back. Xena didn't know what kind of torments Ares might send her way. He had, after all, surprised her by actually pulling the trigger and hitting her full force with his powers. If she hadn't moved away when she did, she'd be dead now. The thought both infuriated her and saddened her. But there was something deep inside her that knew he'd only been reacting out of love for their daughter. Was it possible that he could love the child so much that he would kill his favorite for her? More likely, Xena reminded herself, he just saw Rini's deadly potential. Her ability to surpass Xena, now meant that Xena was little more than a liability. Xena gritted her teeth. She couldn't think about him, right now. She had to figure out where she was first. With her back flush against the wall, Xena extended both of her hands and stretched her fingers out. She could feel the wall behind both hands and struggled not to cry out when her burned hand scraped against the stone wall. Satisfied that she could move in either direction. She chose to go right to so she wouldn't have to keep using the left hand. The decision had been a fortuitous one, after only seven more steps she came to the corner of the room. Xena turned and put her back against the wall that ran perpendicular to the one she'd been edging along, then started mapping it the same way she'd done the first wall. After five steps, Xena felt the hinges of a door. Eagerly, she started feeling along the door looking for the handle. She tried it but it wouldn't budge. She ran her hands along the frame looking for any latch that might need to be moved for the door to open. Nothing, it was clearly locked from the other side but in the middle of the door about two meters off the ground she could feel a slit of a window, the size of a pair of human eyes. It was slid closed on the other side. Xena's heart sank. There was only one place close to the Halls of War that fit the description of the room she was in. The Abyss of Agony. Ares' personal torture chamber buried deep within the mountain beneath the Halls of War. Ares had always reserved its use for the most vile of his enemies. Xena had seen him in action only a couple at the Abyss during their days together but the memories of the abuses he'd doled out were branded in her brain. Xena sank to the floor. If there was an inescapable prison on Earth, she was in it.

After a deep breath to calm herself, Xena smiled. Two realizations had come over her. First, she wasn't blind. She couldn't see because it was truly pitch dark in the Abyss. It was so deep within the earth that no natural light could reach the walls. Secondly, Xena realized that Ares didn't want her dead. Still, she wasn't sure if he wanted her alive because he still loved her, or if he wanted her alive so he could torture her. Either way, she hated the thrill that both thoughts brought her.

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After Ares had locked Xena up and stored her things away, he made a quick trip to Olympus. His sudden and unexpected arrival set the gods' tongues wagging. Most of them had been more than happy that he'd embraced a hermetic lifestyle and left them in peace. Ares ignored their chatter as he made a beeline for Aphrodite's estate. It was considered taboo to enter another god's Olympic estate without permission. Ares was so pissed at Aphrodite's betrayal that he broke the taboo for the first time in his immortal life. He kicked her front door off of its hinges, shattering its frame and causing the front wall to buckle a little. "Aphrodite," he bellowed.

Aphrodite's minor gods and goddesses-in-waiting scattered. They'd never seen the wrath of the God of War at its extreme. Aphrodite, on the other hand, floated down her staircase with her head held high. "Ares, that door was cut from Britannic Stone. Hephy carved it, himself."

"Hephy. Hephy," Ares nodded. "Do you remember who killed Hephy, Aphrodite? Do you?"

"Ares," her tone was that of an adult trying to placate a toddler.

"Noo, no, no, no, no. You lied to me. You knew what it was doing to me, living without her. And yet you kept lying. Knowing about Rini. And then, you come into the Halls of War and try to help her imprison me."

"Ares," her voice dropped this time defensively.

"I could demand a trial. You'd find few friends if I told them who you aided. But I won't give Apollo the satisfaction of lording it over you. But know this! We are done. If you ever show your face at the Halls of War again. I will kill you on sight, Tartarus be damned. Are we clear?"

Aphrodite's eyes welled up and she nodded. "Ares-" she tried again to plead her case and for the first time there was a hit of apology in her voice.

He held up a single finger but fought to keep it from shaking in his anger."One more thing. You can go tell that blonde bitch that you're both so fond of that I have Xena and that my daughter will be staying with me. And if Gabrielle makes one move against me or tries to free Xena, I will personally wipe the Amazons from the face of the Earth."

"Ares," Aphrodite tried again to reason with him but he turned a deaf ear, marched out the broken door and disappeared into silver light.

AXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAX

Rini was reading Thucydides in the courtyard when Ares returned. The trip through the aether hadn't been long enough to cool him off but the sight of his daughter where she belonged steadied him. She looked up as he walked through the pillars toward her. The smile that she beamed his way was impossible not to return. It felt good to have someone look forward to seeing you come home to them. That's what family was, Ares mused. And for the first time, he realized that he'd never really had a family. No one had ever looked forward to seeing his return.

Ares reached out his hand to Rini,"Are you ready?"

Rini rolled up the scroll and tucked it into her bag. "Yes, I feel like I was born ready but no one ever taught me." She took Ares hand.

They started making their way through the courtyard walking toward the rear of the estate. "Your mother taught you some things, at least. You were preparing for the trials."

"Sure, I can shoot a bow, use a quarterstaff, I'm even handy with a shortsword but I need to know how to . . ." she struggled for her words and as she did her grip on his hand tightened.

"To unleash what's inside of you."

"Yes, that's it. How did you know?" Rini looked at him with the same hungry eyes Xena had when they first met.

"I've seen it before," Ares answered as they made their way under the archway that led to the open fields of the estate. "I haven't used the training grounds here for quite some time. But they will suffice for now. First, we are going to start with what you do know. And then, if need be, we will unlearn a few things, after that. . . .well, we will see what you're truly made of." Ares smiled as he walked them through the colonnade of the training grounds.

"You sound like, Mom. Why does everything have to be so slow? I'm ready now. Just show me how."

"I don't sound like your mother. I molded her. She sounds like me," Ares corrected.

"Whatever. You know what I mean. Everyone is always putting a collar on me. Or a freaky net. What was that thing anyway? And where is she?"

"The net was a dirty trick. It's made of a special metal, the kind that can contain gods. And I told you I would handle Xena."

"What does that mean, exactly? She won't give up. She'll come back and likely with the whole damn tribe with her."

"She can't come back if she doesn't leave," Ares answered then nudged Rini to go to the center of the grounds. "Now, enough about your mother." Ares waved his hand and to Rini's right appeared a cadre of weapons. To the far end of the field appeared an archery target dummy. In another section where there had been a second earlier only grass and marble was a full agility and balance training course.

Rini looked at him in wonder. That was what she wanted to do. Create something out of nothing. Make the world in her own image.

"Let's start with the basics. Grab the bow."

Rini reluctantly picked up the short bow and took an arrow from the quiver.

"Start at fifty meters," Ares called as he took a place on the side of the field so he could observe her. He crossed his arms as he planted his feet.

"I can do 100," Rini responded.

"I didn't ask what you could do. I told you what to do." Ares knew that just like her mother martial skills were going to be much easier to teach than discipline.

Rini let the arrow fly. Bullseye, dead center of the dummy's head.. Ares nodded. "70 meters."

Rini sighed and trotted back twenty meters. If she'd wanted archery lessons, she could've stayed with the Amazons. "Dad."

"Shoot," Ares demanded.

Rini rolled her eyes but pulled back the string nonetheless. In the instant that she fired, Ares caused a gust of wind to fill the arena. Rini hadn't been able to adjust for the wind and the arrow landed in the dirt to the dummy's right. "The wind."

"Go again."

Rini centered herself, pulled another arrow. She wetted her finger and tested the wind. The air was perfectly still. She surveyed the treetops. No movement. Rini readied to shoot, eyed the target and released. Again a wild wind blew her arrow off target.

"Do you want to go back to 50 meters?" Ares asked.

"No, I can make it from 100. It's just those gusts that came out of nowhere."

"Did they?" Ares asked."Go back to 50."

Growing agitated with Ares and the wind, Rini grabbed the quiver and marched back to the fifty meter line. Again she fired, and again the wind threw her arrow off target.

"What the?"

"Do you need to go to twenty?" Ares gently taunted.

"No, I can do it from 100."

"Go to twenty," Ares ordered.

"This is ridiculous." Rini lined up her shot. Fired. Missed. She threw the bow down in frustration.

"There it is," Ares surveyed her. "That anger, that frustration. Feel it. Touch it. Taste it, Use it. Go to ." 200

"200, that's not possible. The range of this bow is 120, 150 at best. "

"It is for you. Now go. But remember the anger. Pick up the bow. Don't lose that energy on the walk."

"Who says I'm walking?"

In a flash she went from the 20 meter spot to the 200 meter spot. Ares grinned. She was picking up. She was tapping into her power. Rini pulled the arrow, lined up her shot and as she released Ares sent another gust of wind straight for the arrow but Rini felt the wind coming off him this time. Her anger at being tricked by him pumped through her veins. Did he think her a fool? Rini reached into her own energy to counter the wind, blowing it back toward him. The gust hit Ares in the solar plexus just as her arrow landed in the dummy's head. The force of the blow to Ares' gut caused him to stumble but it hadn't been strong enough to topple him. "That's it. That's my girl." He cheered but paled as Rini slumped to the ground.

Ares went to her in a flash. Had the effort killed her? Ares cursed himself for his foolishness. Rini made the same mistakes most godlings in training made when faced with an impossible obstacle, they overused their power, spent it all in one action. Godlings, however, were immortal and their spent energy just simply meant they'd feel weak for a few minutes to an hour, nothing that a good shot of nectar or mother's milk wouldn't cure. But Rini was different, he reminded himself, she wasn't a full goddess. Tapping into that energy to its very reserves was much more dangerous. Why hadn't he considered that before taunting her? Xena! Of course it was Xena. Ares had seen her do things no mortal should be able to do. She'd always seemed superhuman to him. He'd been expecting the same from their daughter. But she was just a child and a willful one at that. Of course she'd used everything in her, like a baby snake unloading all of its venom without fully understanding the painful consequences.

Ares scooped her up into his arms and was grateful when he heard her moan in protest.

"It's okay. I've got you," he soothed.

"You cheated," she managed to mumble out.

"There is no such thing as cheating," Ares instructed. "You have to be ready for any contingency, even supernatural ones."

Rini blinked open her eyes and looked past his shoulder to the dummy with her arrow sticking from its head. "I nailed it." And then she lost consciousness again. Ares smiled, she was going to be fine. She was too full of her mother's stubbornness to let a discharge of Olympian power kill her.

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Once Ares had tucked Rini into bed and made sure that Millie would check in on the girl every half hour, Ares grabbed a waterskin, a chamber pot, a blanket, an oil lamp, a jar of burn salve, and a loaf of bread. He put all of the items inside a single crate then transported the crate and himself to the dark and desolate caverns that led to the Abyss of Agony. Ares wondered if Xena had regained consciousness yet and if she'd realized where he was keeping her. Xena would understand instantly the implications of him imprisoning her here. No mortal had ever left the cell alive. A few immortals had even spent their last days there, a punishment doled out for offenses the Olympians deemed too grievous to allow the god or goddess to continue to live among them. Ares wondered if he'd have to kill Xena. There had been only a few times during her unnaturally long mortal life that he'd actually wondered if it was going to come down to him or her left standing. But none had felt more potent than the present. She'd kept from him something that could never be returned. As much as he was looking forward to tutoring his daughter, guiding her, he knew there were things he missed, things that could never be gotten back. Plus, she'd played him for the fool one too many times. Let him mourn her. As Ares took his time walking through the twists and turns of the path that descended into the bowels of the Earth, he wondered if she'd planned the whole thing. Had she slept with him in order to get pregnant and then secret away with the child. One last sick victory in a game he hadn't even known they were playing. Flames danced in Ares' wide pupils as the wall sconces that lined the cave wall flared to light as he neared them. He laughed at her wickedness. Yes! It had been her plan all along. To own the one thing he wanted and keep him from even knowing it existed. By all the gods she was a most malevolent witch. And he wanted to fuck her with the force of a thousand thunderbolts.

Ares stopped and put down the crate he'd been carrying. He reached down and cupped his swelling crotch. He couldn't go in there with that energy. She'd find a way to use it against him. He looked down the hall at the door to the cell where he kept her prisoner. Fuck her! How did she have this control over him? Even now? After all that had happened? After all that she'd done? Ares leaned his back against the cave wall, spit in his hand and then pulled his cock from his leathers. With his eyes fixed on the door, Ares began working himself off as images of punish fucking the woman on the other side ran unbidden in his mind.