By Nikki B
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Chapter 2: Old Friends, New FacesIt was daybreak by the time they reached the Amazon village, and by then Callie was tired enough to lie down and sleep on the cold, hard ground. Her exhaustion, however, was momentarily chased away when the village finally came into sight. "This is not a village," she said out loud, blue eyes widening to the size of saucers.
The first thing they came to was a huge white limestone gate, towering at least fifty feet off the ground. Flags billowed in the wind at the top. Next to the flags stood two women, both blowing horns with all their might while waving torches high in the sky. The gates opened and the company passed through, hearing the resounding 'crash!' as it closed behind them.
Callie was in absolute awe. Buildings made of stone towered above her to the left and right like ominous giants standing proud and tall. More flags were waving in the morning breeze on these buildings, mostly above the doors, which were all made of hard oak and enforced with steel, or windows, which were made of glass instead of just open with shutters. The roads weren't dirt or gravel, but well-set cobblestone that made a rhythmic clopping sound underneath the horses' hooves. Women and girls were going about their business, haggling and talking and laughing amongst themselves. Some of them stopped to stare as the group entered the city gates, but soon went about their business.
"I know it's wrong to call this place a village, but to call it a city doesn't sound right on Amazon tongues," said the blonde Amazon, whom Callie had assumed to be the leader.
Soon, the mass of women and girls parted. A short Amazon with dark hair and equally dark eyes stepped forward. She was covered in scratches and scrapes, her right eye swollen a bit and a bloodied bandage wrapped around her midsection.
"Trina, who is this?" asked the dark-haired Amazon of the blonde one, gesturing with her chin to Callie.
"Regent Varia, this is Princess Callisto, granddaughter of Queen Gabrielle and Commander Xena!" exclaimed the one called Trina (the blonde leader).
At her words, the entire village came to a standstill. Every woman and girl dropped what they were doing—whether they be on the training field or compromising on a price for fabric—and dropped into a bowing position, noses touching the ground.
"All hail Princess Callisto!" they shouted in unison, causing the ground to rumble, then… all was silent.
Callie, shocked, sat upon Ulysses with her mouth hanging open.
Varia was the first to raise her head, though she didn't get up. "You've come in a time of great need, Princess."
"Where's my grandmothers?" asked the girl, finding nothing else to say. Ulysses pranced nervously underneath her.
Varia's dark eyes softened. "They've been captured." She shifted and made an uncomfortable face as if giving a message.
Callie thought a moment, then a light bulb went on in her head and she quickly said, "Get up! You can all go now!" Slowly, the Amazons responded, rising to their feet. Several decided to bound up, kiss her hand, and then go about their business once again.
"Come, Princess. We have much work to do," said Trina. An Amazon dressed in strange leathers took Ulysses reins.
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Xena hugged Gabrielle tightly as they sat on their prison cot. "Gods, where is that asshole?" growled the Warrior Princess. "I thought he said he had Eve and Virgil captured, too."
"The longer we have to wait the more chance there is that they escaped," said Gabrielle quietly, her head resting on the warrior's shoulder. "Be patient."
Xena muttered a few curse words in various languages under her breath and then sighed in an attempt to calm herself down. "I'm sorry, Ri. I just… I just feel guilty for all this. If I had sent Trina or Nova to check it out instead of you—"
"We would be trying to save them instead of them trying to save us," interrupted the blonde, cutting Xena off. She placed a finger to the warrior's lips. "This is not your fault in any way, shape, or form. There's no way we could've stopped him from capturing someone yesterday." She stroked her soul mate's face.
"I guess you're right," Xena said, then opened her mouth to say something more, but the door to the dungeon opened and they both looked up, shielding their eyes from the sudden flood of light.
"Get in there!" barked a gruff voice.
Xena and Gabrielle jumped to their feet as Virgil was roughly pushed inside, the force of the guard's shove combined with the shackles around his ankles causing him to go smashing into the wall.
"On your feet!" ordered the guard, yanking the poet up by the scruff of his tunic.
The cell door was opened and Virgil stumbled in. Gabrielle rushed to his side while Xena approached the front of the cell. "Where's Eve?" she asked of the rough-looking man who had led Virgil in.
The guard looked at her and grinned smugly. "The little whore we picked up with that piece of shit?" He pointed with his sword to Virgil. "She's coming. We were very tempted to cut the little thing out of her, but Dimitrus ordered them to come to you… unspoiled."
Xena pressed herself against the bars, trying to hit him, but he moved back a step and guffawed derisively at her. Much to her relief, about five seconds later the dungeon doors swung open once again and an unconscious Eve was dragged in by about three soldiers, each of them complaining about how heavy her pregnancy made her.
They ordered Xena back and she complied, allowing them to open the door just a smidgen, slide Eve in, then close and lock it again. She might've been mad enough to snap off their heads one by one, but she would never, ever do anything out of anger that would hurt her daughter… or anyone else she loved for that matter. She turned, knelt next to Eve and patted her on the cheeks a few times, waking her up. "Eve, Evie, are you alright? Did they do anything to you?"
Eve looked up at her mother through sleepy blue eyes. "Mother?" Suddenly she was wide awake and, despite her current condition, she hurled herself into Xena's open arms like a small child. "Gods, Mother…" She buried her face in the warrior's shoulder.
Xena grinned to herself and hugged her daughter back. "Good to see ya too, squirt!" She kissed her daughter on the top of her head, then was suddenly aware of the incessant prodding against her stomach. Gently pulling back from the loving embrace, she inspected Eve's swollen belly suspiciously. "When's the last time you saw a midwife?" Her brow creased into a worried frown.
By this time, Virgil had recovered and stumbled over to his wife with Gabrielle right behind him. They sat down next to their partners.
"She saw the village healer yesterday, why?" asked Virgil. Eve shifted from her mother's arms to Virgil's, her head nestled against his chest as she stroked his biceps with her fingertips idly.
Xena sat back. "Healers know about babies, but midwives are better." She paused long enough to look from Gabrielle to Virgil to Eve. "Thadaius is the healer in your village, right?"
"Yeah," replied Eve. "Why? Is something wrong?"
Xena was silent for a moment, then she said, "Thadaius is growing careless in his old age." Her finger traced the slope of Eve's bulging stomach. "The baby's moved down and forward… it's going to be coming soon."
Virgil's face dropped. "No… no, it can't come now!"
"I thought you should be informed," said the warrior with a sympathetic smile. She rose to her feet. "Eve, you need to get some rest."
Gabrielle stood as well. "Don't worry, you two; we'll get out of here before the baby comes."
"Gabrielle, you have obviously forgotten how quickly I was born," mumbled Eve as Virgil helped her over to one of the prison bunks. She sighed with relief, thankful to get her weight off her twisted ankle, and stared down at her stomach. "You've got very bad timing, do you know that? And I bet you're going to be the kind of child who wakes up in the middle of the night just when Mommy and Daddy need you to sleep!" she told it bitterly, causing the other three occupants of the cell to laugh heartily despite the bleakness of the situation.
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Callie plucked uncomfortably at the feathery outfit she had been given. It was more comfortable than she had expected, but a little bit more elaborate than what she was used to after living in the small village of Menaius for so long. Her mind however, soon drifted from the outfit to the door of what the Amazons had referred to as the 'Council Hut,' which was actually more like a castle, when it opened and a large group of Amazons entered. Callie recognized only three of them: Trina, Varia, and the strangely dressed Amazon.
Varia stepped forward and bowed. "Princess Callisto—"
"Callie," corrected the girl.
Varia bowed again. "Of course." A short pause. "Princess Callie, we welcome you to the newly-named capital of Amazonia—Elysius, in honor of the Elysian Fields. You would have received a much more royal welcome had we known of your arrival. What brings you here?"
"My parents have also been captured," said Callie. "And why do we sit here discussing formalities when some warlord has my grandmothers locked up and another has probably killed my parents?!"
Trina, from the back of the room, commented, "Dimitrus is most likely the one who took your parents… and I can guarantee to you that he didn't kill them. He is a bounty hunter that is well-known for delivering prisoners in good health so he can receive a more generous award."
"How do I get them back?" asked Callie.
"You do not do anything," said Varia sharply. "Leave this to us."
"I'm princess. I can do anything I want! My Grammy Gabrielle said so!" protested the girl. "You can't tell me what to do."
"Princess Callie, I am the stand-in queen," stated Varia through clenched teeth. "And I intend to give the title of queen back to Gabrielle, but right now I am higher rank than you. If you were to die I would never forgive myself and neither would your family!"
Callie fiddled with her thumbs and look at the ground. "Please, Varia… my whole family is gone. I just want my Mama back."
Varia softened. "You could die."
"I know… but I'd feel guilty if your mission didn't succeed… and I'd rather die than know my grandmothers and parents were taken away from me because I sat back and did nothing," said the girl quietly.
Trina moved from the back to the front and gave Callie the Amazon salute. "You speak with words beyond your years, Daughter of the Messenger…" She looked to Varia, who shrugged, then continued, "We will help you on this journey. I am Xena's second in command. I will give you four of her specially-trained warriors to accompany you, along with myself and, of course, Varia."
"Only six of you?"
Trina grinned. "To send five hundred warriors with you and lose half of them would be madness… but to send six into secret battle and lose none…" She let her voice trail off.
Callie, though still unsure, said, "Okay."
Smiling from ear to ear, Trina gestured into the crowd of Amazons amassed around the door. From the group emerged the strangely-dressed Amazon, Varia, and three warriors that Callie had never seen before. They all bowed down in a row. Trina stood up a bit taller with pride and turned to Callie. "These are the best warriors that Amazonia has to offer. Let me introduce them to you." She gestured to one of the Amazons. "This is Nova, captain of the Amazon army. She is from Queen Mawu-Ka's tribe. Many of its members were refugees from a harem in Africa, including Queen Mawu-Ka herself."
Nova stood up and saluted Callie. She had dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin. "If you are anything like your grandmother Xena, I have no doubt in my heart that you will succeed in your mission… and I will give my life to help you." She took the young girl's hand and kissed her palms. "Even if I have to chase those scum-sucking assholes into the bowels of Tartarus myself." Stepping back, Nova resumed her position on the floor.
Trina ran her fingers through her short blonde hair and then gestured to the strangely-dressed Amazon. "This is Reanel, the village shamaness's apprentice. She is one of the last remaining members of the Northern Amazon tribe."
'I guess that explains the weird clothes,' thought Callie as she shook Reanel's hand. She woman wore an elaborate headdress with antlers sticking out of the top — completely covering up any trace of her hair — a leather tunic that hung down to her knees, brown trousers, and leather shoes decorated with various beads and feathers. Her face was young and delicate, very much so reminding Callie of a rose. Reanel said nothing as she got back in line.
"You should know that Reanel is mute; she does not speak except for the incantations needed for her duties as the apprentice shamaness. Few have heard her voice, though they say it is like Chinese silk," said Trina, sparing Reanel a glance. "The horrors she witnessed in the Northern tribe have left her like this, but none dare speak of what happened… for dead women tell no tales."
Callie felt a shiver run down her spine, but ignored it as Trina moved on:
"This is Tei, from Chin."
Tei was a tiny woman, just shy of five feet, with a slight build and small hands. She wore traditional Southern Amazon leathers, but had no feathers in her garb, instead wearing black stone bracelets and anklets from her home country. There was a tattoo of a dragon at the base of her neck, the dragon's tail winding its way across Tei's shoulder all the way down to her wrist, where it ended in the middle of her hand. Across her stomach was another tattoo, this one of a snake, winding its way around her midsection as if it were coiled around her. There were also strange scars on her right cheek that very much resembled writing, but Callie wasn't quite sure…
As soon as she realized that she was staring, Callie quickly looked away and felt the heat in her cheeks. Her mother had always told her it was rude to stare.
Tei, however, simply smiled and kissed Callie's feet. "I owe to your family my allegiance, for without Xena I would not exist."
Callie looked down at her curiously. "What?"
"I am the daughter of Kao Hsin," Tei clarified, her smile widening. "Xena saved my mother's life… and I shall repay the favor." She bowed low and, just like the others, got back into line.
Trina stepped forward once again, her face beaming with pride. "You know Varia and I, so the last warrior I present to you is Gwen, a relative of Queen Gwen-Teir."
Gwen had a head full of flaming red hair, with green eyes as intense as Gabrielle's, but of a richer color, much like the deep green color of leaves during a summer shower. Her face was a mass of freckles, her skin fair and delicate.
"Xena was trusted by all of Amazonia, as was Gabrielle. We will do all in our power to save them," said Gwen, her voice tinged with a slight accent.
Callie smiled thankfully.
"And so you have met the best that Amazonia has to offer," said Varia, drawing her sword and laying it at Callie's feet. "We are the best hope to save our Queens and your parents from the clutches of an enemy not easily swayed."
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When Eve had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, Gabrielle, Xena, and Virgil sat down to have a serious talk. They hadn't wanted to upset Eve in her current state, and now that she was asleep it was the perfect time to formulate some kind of plan.
"They're going to separate us, I'm sure of it," announced the warrior princess. "Dimitrus has been dropping hints of it all over the place. He's a smart one."
"If he doesn't put us in one cell, we can't retaliate all together," added Gabrielle, nodding her head. "But why would he put us together now? And why for so long?"
"For the sheer fun of watching us worry when he separates us," growled Xena. "The way he sees it, if we know that Eve and Virgil are in his clutches then we'll cooperate…and leaving us together for so long is simply a sadistic test; he wants to see what we can come up with."
Virgil's brow creased with worry. "Do you think he'll take me away from Eve?"
"I can guarantee it," said Xena, her voice nothing more than a whisper. "These men have no compassion, Virgil. I hate to have a negative attitude about this, but if we don't get out of here soon, you're not going to be there when your child is born."
Virgil was visibly shaken from her words. "I…I have to be there. I don't care if I have to break through the walls with my bare hands."
Xena sighed wearily. "We've got no assets, no clue where they're going to take you, and absolutely not idea if they're going to sell us in the next five hours or keep us here for years and years!" She gritted her teeth in frustration. "After he separates us, it's everyone for themselves…if you escape, do not risk everything by trying to save us all."
"The Amazons will come for us," interrupted Gabrielle. "Be watching."
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Sure enough, when the guards finally came they took not only Eve and Virgil, but Gabrielle as well, leaving Xena by herself in the cell.
"Where are you taking us?" growled Gabrielle, sparing one final glance at her soul mate before she was yanked out of the room.
"The Messenger, to a cell full of rebels. The poet, to a cell full of ex-Gladiators. And you, little bard…you will be placed with your kind; the Amazons," said the burly guard with a derisive laugh, showing off a mouthful of rotten teeth.
"Why would you place me with my people?" asked Gabrielle.
"So you can rot along with them. It was the least Dimitrus could do." The guard continued to laugh.
Gabrielle craned her neck around and looked to Eve and Virgil. Eve was being dragged by two soldiers while Virgil was being led like a dog by another. She mouthed to the both of them, "Have faith," before she was forced to look forward.
They went up one flight of stairs before the soldier leading Virgil broke off from the group. Eve called for him but one of the guards hit her on the back of the head and she slumped in their grasp, out cold.
"EVE!" shouted Gabrielle as she heard the Messenger's groan and then a thud. Two more soldiers appeared seemingly out of nowhere and held her at bay as they went up another stairwell and took Eve away, as they had Virgil. "Let me go you assholes! Lemme go!" barked the bard as she tried to squirm out of their grasp.
"Be still or we'll kill the others!" warned one of them. He placed a knife at her throat. "And after we do that, we'll kill you so you can join them in Hades!"
Gabrielle glared at him, but stopped fighting.
"That's a good little whore. Now come on!" He shoved her up the stairs.
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Tei led Callie through the Amazon village, quickly and easily weaving her way through the crowd. Because Tei was so small and agile, Callie constantly lost sight of her and had to, twice already, stop and ask a taller Amazon where Tei had gone.
"Hey! Wait up!" Callie finally yelled, shoving her way through the crowd.
Before she knew what was happening, Tei was in front of her, and Callie ran smack into her with a loud 'oof!'
"Don't do that!" yelled the princess irritably.
A smile tweaking at her lips, Tei offered Callie a hand up. "Yes, Princess?"
Callie, from her position sprawled out on the ground, stared up at Tei's tattooed hand a minute before accepting it. "Don't go so fast…please," she said quietly, never taking her eyes off Tei's tattoos. In the Council Hut, she hadn't paid that much attention to them, but now, up close, they made her curiosity flare beyond control. "How…how did you get those?" The princess pointed to Tei's hand.
Tei looked down and laughed, as if just now realizing that the tattoos were there. "You do crazy things when you're in love, young princess."
"I…I don't understand," said Callie, following closebe hind as Tei began to move through the mass of Amazons at a much slower pace.
Another laugh came from the short Amazon as she answered, "Seven years ago—I must've just turned eighteen then—I was wandering outside my home village and met a royal army captain named Lee who had been separated from the army during an attack, along with a small band of his soldiers with him. He was young, not more than a year or two older than me, and was the nephew of the emperor. It was imperative that he get back to the palace alive since the emperor had no sons and he was next in line for the throne.
She paused and looked up at the sky with a smile. "They were allowed to stay in our village long enough to rest up and get needed supplies…long enough for me to fall in love with Lee. He asked me to go with him and I did. When we got the palace the emperor was furious since Lee was already betrothed and I was a mere peasant girl in his eyes…he ordered me killed, but Lee saved me. He got me out of the City and explained that the emperor had priests that could track me anywhere. The only way to escape the priests was to get a protecting tattoo…so I got one and the priests lost track of us…but…" The smile gone from her face, Tei sighed. "If you don't mind, I'd like to finish the story later?"
Callie nodded. "Of course," she said even though she was just itching to find out what happened.
They came to a small building with black smoke billowing out of the tiny chimney. Tei stopped in front of the door and stepped aside. "The shamaness, Lady Brielle, is waiting for you."
"Aren't you coming with me?" asked Callie, alarmed. She had just started feeling comfortable around Tei…and now this?
"Some journeys are best made alone," said Tei with a sympathetic smile. "Go now."
Callie took a deep breath, set her jaw, and entered the shamaness's lair.
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Inside, the air was thick and riddled with strange scents that made Callie cough and wheeze. The floor was, strangely, dirt, and the walls covered with drying herbs or shelves full of jars containing odd-colored liquids.
"Welcome, daughter of the Messenger," said a smooth, familiar voice.
Callie's eyes traveled to the middle of the room, where an old woman sat holding a knife laden with gold. At the sight of the weapon, Callie took a step towards the door.
"Do not fear me, Princess," the old woman said. "I asked you to show me your face, and here you are. Tei has already told you my name, has she not?"
A realization washed over Callie and her eyes widened. "You're the one who was speaking to me in the forest."
Lady Brielle smiled. She was not tall yet not short, with pepper-and-salt colored hair and eyes black as opals. Her face wrinkled and weather-worn, though Callie could tell she had been a beautiful woman in her earlier years. "Yes, that was me," the shamaness said.
"What do you want with me? Varia said we should leave as soon as possible," announced Callie in a matter-of-factly tone.
"I wanted to warn you," said Lady Brielle, her voice lowering to a whisper. "To warn you of what is to come and what you shall have to face…in hopes that you will not falter and fail in your journey."
Callie cocked her head. "What? How will you do that?"
Lady Brielle stood. "Give me your hand, child." She took Callie's small hand into her callused, wrinkled ones and turned it so that the palm was upward. "This will sting a bit." Using the knife in her hand, she sliced Callie's palms.
Taken by surprise, the young princess didn't have time to scream before she slumped like a rag doll in the shamaness's arms.
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"Hello?" Callie stood in a dark room, the only light coming from an unknown source directly above her. Her voice echoed thousands upon thousands of times and she covered her ears. As soon as the echoes died down, a huge portal appeared in front of her, an image playing out inside it:
Nova crept through the prison corridor towards the sleeping guard, her sword tightly clasped in her hand. A bead of sweat dribbled down her forehead. When she finally reached the guard, she raised her hand to kill him, then had better thoughts and knocked him unconscious with the hilt of her sword.
"There she is!" shouted a voice.
The Amazon whirled around to see ten soldiers running down the hall towards her. When the first one reached her, Nova easily disarmed him by kicking the sword from his hand and did quick work of the others. The battle, however, distracted her enough so that more soldiers came down the hall from the other side of the corridor. Just as Nova became aware of their presence, one drove their sword into her back. Blood dribbled from her mouth and she fell to her knees.
"NOVA!" screamed Trina as she turned the corner and saw her fallen comrade. The ten soldiers turned to face her and she glared at them, eyes flaming with fury.
Then, the image changed:
Tei lay on the moist ground as rain poured from the sky, one arrow protruding from her chest, two more lodged in her shoulder. She convulsed and choked for air, eyes wide with fear and pain. Gwen knelt above her, tears streaming down her face.
"Hold on, Tei, just hold on…" Gwen was saying. Tei whimpered in pain and closed her eyes against the rain.
Again, the portal swirled and roared, showing yet another image:
Arrows were falling all around them as they exited Ramesos. Birds flew from the forests ahead of them, as if sensing the oncoming battle. Soldiers rushed out Ramesos's city gates after the group.
Callie, who was not as fast as the others, found her best efforts were in vain. She was quickly overtaken by a soldier who pushed her to the ground and rolled her over so that she was facing him. It was Dimitrus.
Varia turned towards the advancing men, shoved her foot into the crotch of her first opponent, and then pushed him back into his comrades. Looking around one last time to make sure no one was being left behind, she saw Callie on the ground with Dimitrus standing over her. "NO!" screamed the Amazon, running towards them.
Just as Dimitrus brought down his sword, Varia jumped in between them and slammed hers into his chest. A searing pain went through her stomach and she looked down to see herself sliced wide open. Dimitrus fell to the ground, dead, and Varia sank to her knees next to him, her hand pressed against the gaping hole in her stomach. Callie rushed to the fallen Amazon's side.
"Varia, Varia!" exclaimed the mortified princess. "Don't die, Varia! Please!"
Varia smiled up at Callie and clasped the girl's arm. "Keep the nation strong, Callie."
Then, the portal faded and Callie was left in the dark room once again.
"No! No! That can't happen!" she screamed, not caring as her cries echoed throughout the room and made her eardrums feel as if they were going to burst.
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"NOOO!!"
"Callie, Callie, wake up, hon!"
Callie bolted upright and found herself lying in an overstuffed bed, no longer in the shamaness's stifling hot abode, but in a lavishly decorated room. The walls were painted with murals of horses galloping through grassy fields, the ceiling bright blue with fluffy white clouds skillfully carved into it. There was a large window next to the bed and a huge skylight above, lighting the room almost as bright as if she were outside. The effect was calming and Callie instantly relaxed.
"What did you see?"
Suddenly aware that someone else was in the room, Callie looked up at Varia with wide eyes. "I… I saw… death and dying," she said quietly.
Varia brushed a strand of wheat-colored hair from the girl's face. "Lady Brielle's warnings are never subtle; but it is good to know the future."
Callie felt a wave of panic wash over her. "Is… is what she showed me things that may be or things that will be?"
Varia shrugged. "Lady Brielle shows you only what you need to know." She held up a small pack and tossed it to the princess. "Our sources tell us that Dimitrus's army entered Ramesos earlier this morning with prisoners. Come. We must hurry."
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Meanwhile…
Eve was dropped inside her new cell and rancid water thrown on her face.
"Wake up, ya fat bitch!" growled the guard before walking away.
Eve shook the dizziness from her head and sat up to find a group of raggedly-dressed people staring down at her in wonder.
"Are you the Messenger? Is it really true?" asked one of them, a young boy of about fifteen as he knelt next to her.
"I am the Messenger," said Eve, looking around. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"Why, we are—" the boy began, but he was interrupted.
"Ganges, calm down," said a woman as she came to the front of the group. She was in her mid-thirties, with ash-blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes that looked upon Eve in wonderment. "The Messenger is tired, can't you see?" She offered Eve a hand.
"I do think it's going to take more than one of you to get me up," the Messenger said with a laugh, placing a hand on her distended stomach.
"You'd be surprised," mused the woman as she grasped Eve's hand and pulled her to her feet with ease. "Your ankle, it's hurt." She helped support the Messenger, who was on the verge of topping over from the combination of her pregnancy and her ankle, which was still swollen to the size of a honeydew melon.
Eve sighed. "It was somehow twisted it while they were throwing me inside the prison cart. Thanks for your help…" She raised her eyebrow questioningly.
"Daphne. My name is Daphne," the woman said with a smile. "I had a little run-in with your mother about… oh, almost thirty years back. She was seven months pregnant with you then."
Eve's eyes widened. "You know my mother?"
"She saved my father's life… and mine, even though Aphrodite managed to mess things up a bit," said Daphne, chuckling to herself. "Let's get you situated, then we'll talk."
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Virgil winced as the cell door screeched closed behind him then looked around the room he had been placed in. It was definitely dirtier than the one Xena had been left in, and filled with much less pleasant-looking characters. He recognized a few of them as fighters he had seen in the Roman Coliseum, and all of them looked like they could snap him in two by lifting a finger. They had huge muscles, long beards filled with who knows what, were covered in dirt, and most had nasty scars that made Virgil flinch from just thinking about what could've caused them.
One of them, an old, weathered man, approached him. "Who'd you lose to?"
"What do you mean?" asked Virgil standing up a little straighter. The old man was a good five inches taller than him and the poet suddenly felt very small.
"Aren't you a gladiator?"
"No…"
The old man's misty green eyes widened. "Then how'd you get here?"
"I was captured by a bounty hunter," said Virgil with a sigh he turned away from the elderly man and considered the bars of the cage. "I've got to get out of here."
"There ain't no way out of Ramesos, kid," said another prisoner who was even taller than the old man, his head almost brushing the ceiling. "No one's escaped here in the thousand years it's been standing."
Virgil turned to him. "Look, my wife is going to have a baby in the next three days and I intend to be there, by her side."
The occupants of the cell laughed. "Keep dreaming, kid."
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Meanwhile…
Callie urged Ulysses to go faster. The young colt whinnied and bobbed his head in response, his mighty hooves thundering against the ground as they road out of Amazon lands and into Thracian territory. It would take them two days to get to Ramesos, one and a half if they hurried. Dimitrus had no doubt marched his army hard and fast, not stopping until they had reached Ramesos — which meant it had taken them no more than one day. Varia had said there would be more complications on their journey since relations between the Amazons and Thracians were at an all-time low.
They rode for eight hours before the horses couldn't go any further and they stopped for the night. Callie dismounted Ulysses and he trotted a few feet away before flopping down on the ground to rest. The other horses joined him.
Varia had picked a cozy little spot not too far off from a river to camp for the night. As she was setting out her bedroll, she instructed: "Trina, go catch some fish. I'll see if there are any rabbits around. Reanel, come with me. Tei, see if you can find some herbs to cook dinner with, and any vegetables. Nova, scout the area. Gwen and Callie, go get us some firewood."
Everyone nodded and went about their business. Callie was highly suspicious that Varia had put her with Gwen on purpose, just because she wasn't yet familiar with the red-haired Amazon yet. She sighed as she followed Gwen through the forest picking up sticks and dry logs.
Gwen, upon hearing this, said, "If you find my company so horrible, maybe you should go back to camp."
"No, no… it's not that," Callie said quickly. "I'm just tired… and I miss my parents."
"You're lucky to have parents. My mother died in childbirth and, reportedly, my father's village was destroyed during my mother's fifth month," Gwen said with a shrug.
"Oh…" Callie whispered, suddenly feeling guilty. "I'm sorry."
Gwen glanced at her. "No, it's okay. It's better to not know them at all than to lose them after knowing them for so long." She paused. "So… what's bothering you besides that?"
Callie frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You seem to be worried about many things."
"Well…" began Callie, wracking her mind for something to say, "I was talking to Tei and she was telling me this really sad story about a guy named Lee but didn't finish it."
Gwen smiled. "Ah, Tei and Lee. A bittersweet love tale."
"You know about it?"
"Of course I do," Gwen said, laughing. "Tei and I are bond-sisters. We were trained to work together by Xena."
"So… can you tell me the ending? She told me up until she got the tattoo."
Gwen picked up another stick. "Tei and Lee were to be wed secretly by a monastery monk. The emperor, however, had different plans. His soldiers scoured the Chin countryside and found them just after the monk pronounced them married. They stormed the monastery, killed Lee for directly disobeying the emperor, and went after Tei, who escaped. She somehow made her way to Greece where she was made an Amazon by my queen, Queen Gwen-Teir, and given shelter from the wrath of the Chin emperor. A few months later, she had her daughter — turns out the great Prince Lee wasn't as honorable as he said." The red-haired Amazon laughed and shook her head at the thought.
Callie, surprised at the last part, tripped over a stick and fell flat on her face. Gwen laughed as she helped her up. "Sh—she has a daughter?" asked Callie, plucking twigs from her hair and clothes absently.
"Yes. Why?"
"If I had known that, I wouldn't have asked her to come! Her daughter must be feeling what I feel now!" exclaimed Callie, covering her face with her hands.
Gwen's face softened. "Sweet Callisto, do not worry of her daughter. She is in good hands."
Callie sighed wearily and gulped, the image she had been shown of Tei dying still vivid in her mind. "I hope so, Gwen."
============[]++++0 ============[]++++0
Gabrielle cursed as she was shoved into a jail cell. The guards simply laughed at her plight and left.
"Queen Gabrielle?" asked a soft, familiar voice.
Gabrielle felt the hair on the back of her neck rise as she slowly turned around and looked at the roomful of women staring at her. There was a woman in her fifties standing up, hand extended toward the bard. Gabrielle gasped.
"Eponin?"
TBC…