She had dressed in a nicer white dress with all her jewelry and washed herself thoroughly before heading over to the tent that Plini had indicated earlier. The smells of cooking fires and food had spread although the camp as the light of the sun slowly descended towards the horizon. Plini's tent seemed unguarded but she could clearly make out a pair of gruff male voices inside.
"So I heard that you picked up a guest after rescuing that patrol. A woman if I heard correctly", a voice of a man, she didn't know, asked as Gabrielle paused and bent down, seemingly to get a stone out of her boots.
"Yes. A very rare woman she is. Imagine meeting a traveling amazon warrior out here in the middle of the desert. She was riding with a caravan headed toward Syria. She said something about being on her way home. She seems to travel a lot. I didn't ask why", she could hear Plini explain.
"An amazon, be careful with amazons my friend. They aren't like other women, they aren't pliable or obedient. They have a society where the females rule and they are fearsome warriors. I heard they have fought against gods and demigods. Their land is one of the few no one has ever conquered. I should know I was apart of one of Livia's expeditions into the area. If it hadn't been for Livia herself, their warriors would have been too much in single combat. Did she give you her name? I remember the names of some of their heroes and outcasts from my conversations with the slaves we took back then", the other voice told.
"She didn't and if I was you I wouldn't mention it around her. I got the feeling that she wasn't the type that approved of taking warriors as slaves without just cause", Plini suggested with what seemed to be a slight hint of anger in his voice.
"Then we should get rid of the one, who is serving us, she is an amazon I kept around after the raids", the man said. Gabrielle felt a rising anger at the thought of her amazon sisters being kept as slaves in this very camp. She added their release to her list of things to do. She was in no danger of being recognized though; Eve had raided those amazon villages before her and Xena's return from their cold sleep. She rose and walked into the tent.
"My dear, I am glad to see you", Plini greeted her as she stepped inside. She saw the amazon slave busying herself with cutting the meat for their meal. Gabrielle decided to hide her distaste for the practice of slavery for a while.
"Plini", she greeted him and smiled then turned to look at the other man seated to her right. He was around Plini's age with black curly hair and a suntan. He seemed well trained and the Roman sword at his side was lain down in such a manner that it could be drawn even now as he was sitting in a tent eating dinner. His eyes shone with intelligence, cruelty and arrogance. He was expensively dressed reminding her of how Pompeius had dressed complete with a roman breast plate and a white undershirt. Gabrielle sighed inwardly and was happy that she had brought her weapons with her, this man exuded danger and high rank.
"And this is?" She asked and indicated the seated man with a smile.
He rose, walked over and gave her a polite kiss on the hand. "Lucius the younger, governor of Egypt and a representative of Rome", he said. "And with whom do I have the pleasure", he asked and looked at her with curiosity.
"Ephiny and it's a great honor to meet such a luminary of Rome", she answered and gave him a dazzling smile.
Neither of the men noticed that the amazon slave in the background turned around slowly and looked at her with anger in her eyes. Gabrielle noticed how her eyes studied her, but seemed unable to reach any conclusions.
"You're share the name of one of your great heroes", Lucius stated and looked at her triumphantly as if proud of his ill gotten knowledge.
"Ephiny the regent of the greek Amazons is famous for her deeds and leadership. My mother named me after her in her honor", Gabrielle explained and for a moment remembered her amazon sister and friend.
"Let's eat", Plini offered as the slave began sitting the food on the table and pouring what looked like red wine.
Gabrielle politely sat down after the men and began eating the luxurious food offered to her. She noticed that the amazon slave kept watching her while serving the food to the two Romans.
"So Ephiny you are far away from the Amazon nation. What brings you to Egypt?" Lucius asked.
"Oh, I must admit that I am just passing through your land on my way home. You see I am afflicted with a great wanderlust and I almost never stay in one place for long. It has been like this for almost seven years now", she explained. The key to keep people from seeing through a disguise was to mix enough of truth into the lie.
"Seven years. That is a long time. You must have seen a great deal of the world then", Plini exclaimed and looked at her again.
"Yes a lot. There is, I can say without boasting, only very little of the eastern deserts, some islands in far east and what lies beyond the great desert to the south of here remaining then I have at least passed through all the lands open to me", she told almost slipping into her storyteller voice, but reminded herself not to bring these two dangerous men any closer to the real truth about her.
"Really you're still so young. You must have begun when you were but a girl", Plini commented, while Lucius had some more wine poured.
"Yes. I was probably much too young and innocent, when I left my home. And I have only been home a few times since and then I have only stayed for a few days each time. I sometimes regret that. But I think I will not stop my traveling until I get much older. There is still so much of the world to see and little quiet corners, where I haven't been at yet", she told them wistfully. She decided to move the attention away from her.
"Enough about me, I am rather more interested in what you're doing here, Governor. I heard from Plini here that you're out here looking for ancient Egyptian treasures. Why would you interest yourself in such trivial a matter, if my question doesn't offend you or touches on some big secret of the Roman Empire", she asked and tried to sound as if she thought it a minor question more like an offhand comment than anything else.
He looked at her for a short moment then said: "Well let's call it a hobby. My dear father, may he rest in peace, was a great lover of the Egyptian culture and I practically grew up in the Library at Alexandria together with him. I learned a lot about their past as well as the philosophies and ideas of many cultures like the Greek philosophies of Plato and Socrates. But I was always fascinated by the great age of Egypt personally. You see during the age of the great Egyptian pharaohs, they buried their kings with a great amount of his worldly possessions so that he could go to into the land of the Dead and exists according to his station. Imagine they even believed that the pharaohs descended from the gods and that many of them were themselves living gods. To think that image was so entrenched that many of their peoples and slaves labored and died just to build their massive tombs like the Pyramids or some of the structures found around here".
Gabrielle noticed how he got a burning look in his eyes, like he was seeing something he deeply desired in his mind's eye.
"And you're digging up those ancient offerings. Plini said that was why we were attacked. The people around obviously don't approve of grave robbing", Gabrielle said before remembering that she shouldn't show her opinions so obviously.
Lucius was torn from his musings and looked her straight in the eye. Gabrielle hid any sign of disapproval deep inside and returned a neutral even questioning look.
"No, the locals don't approve, even though I sense the hand of the priests and their long dead gods in this. Still I must fulfill my orders and they include the stripping of such treasure from Egypt", he explained and took a long drink from his mug of wine.
"So Ephiny have you ever seen the glorious city of Rome", Plini asked obviously anxious to move the conversation over to another subject afraid that one or the other of his guest might become offended rather soon.
"Yes, I have. I have even seen a couple of amazing gladiatorial fights in the arena. However for some reason I have never had the time to stay there for long either. I like the food there though and a friend of mine used to have a smithy nearby", she explained.
"So you do make friends on your way around the world", Plini commented.
"Of course I do. Traveling is all about making friends in new places", she explained and looked at the two men with a smile.
"It must be lonely to travel through the world all alone", Lucius said and looked at her with unexpected pity in his eyes.
"Yes, traveling alone is very lonely and not very safe. I used to travel with one or two friends, but they have both passed away over the last two years", she said and allowed her sorrow to well up in her eyes and show on her face. Her eyes watered involuntarily.
"They must have been good friends", Plini found as he saw the look in her face.
"I didn't want to open up old wounds", Lucius added with even more unexpected sympathy.
"You didn't. They are unfortunately quite fresh. My best friend, the one who originally lured me away from my home and more or less taught me every thing I know, died only 9 weeks ago in a far away land. I haven't been able to get over the sorrow yet. My friend's death is my reason for heading home", she explained, while a single tear ran down her face.
"Let's talk of happier things. Do you know anything about philosophy Ephiny?" Lucius asked, while Plini rolled his eyes with a smile on his lips.
"Philosophy and history are amongst the first things taught to an amazon", she echoed the words of Terrias from back in time when she had just meet Xena.
"Good…", and so Lucius and Gabrielle began a hours long conversation about comparative philosophy, surprising Lucius not only with the width but also depth of her knowledge, while Gabrielle carefully sifted her arguments to avoid any confrontations about morals or showing too much of her true values.
Finally as the night truly began and the stars shone besides the moon in sky, Gabrielle retired back to her campsite, more confused about Lucius than before. He seemed a much civilized and nice person than she had expected or wanted him to be. He seemed well liked by his soldiers and a well educated man on top of that. He had shown real care, when she had revealed a little of her sorrow. In fact if it hadn't been for his practice of keep Amazons as slaves and that he obviously was obsessed with finding something out here in the desert then she would probably like him to become one of her friends.
For a few moments she considered what would happen if she revealed the full truth of her identity and if she could change Lucius' mind about his treasure hunt. Then she remembered the fire and conviction she had seen in his eyes as he spoke of his treasure hunt and Plini's quick action to move the conversation to another area. He would be almost impossible to change. She would have to find some way to end this treasure hunt thereby ending the pointless battles. And save her amazon sister or sisters from their captivity. With a sigh she lay down to rest her dreamless sleep at her camp site between two large stone pillars of the ruin.
Gabrielle stood in the middle of large white marble pillar hall. At one end she could see the waters of the Nile flowing placidly past the huge opening, the sun gleaming of the water. The room was huge and the wall filled with beautiful paintings in vivid colors and golden lettering. She looked down at herself. She wore a dress reminiscent of her harem outfit, when she had let herself be sold to Gurkhan as his slave. Her hair was beautifully set with golden threads and all her jewelry looked like what she had only seen worn by the richest of rulers. Only the bare necessities were covered by the purest white silk. Suddenly there was the sound of whispers behind her and she turned to look at what seemed to be the entrance to a temple. She could see into an even wider hall with a beautifully painted roof. Everything looked exceedingly expensive. She felt drawn in that direction and walked into the hall, which was just as empty of people as the previous one had been.
The room she had entered looked like the main hall of a large temple. It was beautifully decorated in white and gold, here and there a well kept palm and no people. At her end of the room there were two other entrances both leading outside one to what looked like a huge garden and the other to some courtyard make of the same yellow stone as the rest of this rocky region of Egypt. There were no people or voices to be heard. Then suddenly from the opposite end of the temple she again heard whispers of one or more human voices. She walked toward that end seeing the row of immense and beautifully made statues each representing one of the Egyptian gods as she approached the central dais, where there was no altar, but instead a simple coarse carpet and at the end of the room two doors leading into the inner chamber of the temple. Something in her memory or was it instinct told her to take the right opening. Carefully almost as if fearful she walked into the darkened door opening, which turned out to be a staircase leading down.
She walked down for a long. A feeling of having done this countless times before overwhelmed her. She knew somehow that she should avoid a step, and then she should press something in that wall. Slowly something in her mind guided her down the stone steps, a memory she couldn't have getting her past traps that she had never seen. She ended up in a short hallway leading up to a stone door, which was open. It looked intricate with a swirling opening mechanism. She gingerly stepped over the small trap that would initiate a rock slide and went into the room. Inside a small room shelves lined each wall except for the wall opposite the door. There stood a pedestal on which a golden scroll case rested. An imposing dark haired woman stood besides the scroll case dressed in the same style as her but using silver. She looked towards her and smiled. She looked like a cross between Xena and an Egyptian like Cleopatra. The likeness was uncanny but not complete. "Tepemkau, you made it. We must find a better place to hide the scroll. The natives have found out about it. If their leaders learn its secrets then there will come another generation of living gods and if that continues the balance will be disrupted and another great flood will come. You must decide what to do. You made it…" Gabrielle's vision became blurry and tore.
She awoke as something touched her arm. She lunged up, hammering her head into the face of someone standing over her. Quickly she back flipped up to standing position. Then she saw that she had head butted the amazon slave, who was holding a small cooking knife in her hand. She sat in the sand in a daze, but was smiling and looking at her with respect in her eyes.
"I am so sorry", Gabrielle apologized in whispered Amazonian and walked over to see if she had hurt her amazon sister.
"You didn't hurt me. I came to see you and… Maybe I thought you could help me bring a message home to my sister", the thin and scarred woman asked in what sounded like the northern Amazonian dialect.
"I am going to do better than that. I am going to get you home", Gabrielle told as if it was a matter of fact.
"Don't try that please. Lucius would have you killed or enslaved in the blink of an eye. He is very dangerous, no matter how much you impressed him or Plini at dinner", she stopped for a moment noticing the look of resolve in Gabrielle's eyes. "How could you get me out of here, we're in the middle of a Roman legion", she asked a small measure of hope mixing in with the hopelessness reigning her voice.
"We could walk out of here now, if that was my only problem. However I have to stop Lucius from finding what he is seeking here. Do you know what it is he is seeking?" She asked hoping that Lucius like so many other Romans forgot that slaves were people with ears too.
"Y-Yes, I heard him talking with Erkan, the leader of the treasure hunters about it. They are looking from some legendary book or scroll, which is said to contain the secret of the gods of Egypt. They've tracked it to these ruin over the last year of digging. And they're close. I heard Erkan telling Lucius that they have found the entrance to the place where it was kept. But the diggers are scared, because the legend says that the ones, who protected it, were capable of keeping even the gods out of this place. Lucius had to order the whipping of several of them just to get them to dig. There have been deaths from traps and the like already. I don't think anyone could stop him now though. He will sacrifice all his slaves and men to get his hands on that scroll, he has been obsessed with it every since his father died of age. I think he is afraid of dying", she explained.
"Thank you so much. Listen to me. I will get you out of here and back to your tribe even if it is the last thing I do. I swear it", Gabrielle said while holding the amazon by her shoulders.
"Thank you. But I must ask. Which tribe are you from? I can't place your dialect", she whispered.
"I can't tell you now. When we are out of here then I will tell you my story and you will tell me yours. Now this is important. Are there any other of our sisters around here?" Gabrielle looked around partly to emphasize her point and partly to see if anyone needed to have a chakram thrown in their chest.
"No I am the only one. I know of a few amazons living as slaves in Rome, but that is it", she explained.
"Go back now. I will come to get you, when I have finished my other task. You must endure just a little longer", Gabrielle said and gave her a little push in the direction of the large set of tents with Lucius standard standing outside, which she expected were his. She watched her sister amazon moving soundlessly towards what was hopefully one of her last days of slavery.
Gabrielle noticed that the day would soon dawn so there would be no point in going back to sleep now. Instead she busied herself with patching up her battered red leathers, while thinking about the vivid dream she had. It had been the past and it had been here. Could it be that she had lived one of her past lives here in Egypt with some incarnation of Xena. It would fit what they had been told in India. But the woman said that they were going to hide the scroll. Unfortunately she had been woken up before she had heard about any other hiding places for the scroll; she would have to figure that out later. Xena always tried to make her more flexible instead of just focusing on one unalterable plan. But if their personality were anything like theirs, then she could be a little surer what to expect. Suddenly she sensed the beginnings of a plan. She began the preparations immediately. It could go either way and she was taking a chance, but as Xena had shown her. You had to take chances to get to your goal.