Chapter 7:

            The day had dawned only hours ago and she had awakened from her as always nightmare plagued sleep already. Carefully she dressed in the very same outfit she had worn as she had led her army onto the beaches of Helicon. She placed the Sais in her boots and walked down to sit in the relative quiet of the stables to wait besides her horse.

The scent of fresh hay made her remember the many times she, Xena and Joxer had awoken from a comfortable night of sleep in the stables of some place far from here. How much she had grown since then, she mused. From the little farmer's girl she had become bard and amazon princess within the first year of her travels with Xena where only skirted past the borders of Greece a few times. Their second year together had made her into a brave woman, a good staff fighter and even made her queen of her amazon tribe. Xena had grown sweeter and they had become as close as never before. Then the year of darkness came upon them. Sure they had finally traveled far outside of Greece, but it also meant that her blood innocence and youthful naivety became sacrifices to Dahak and Hope. Their relationship had turned from gentle understanding to a dismal chill and to her it had only really turned back to its good old self after their spiritual journey through India the year after. Their fourth year had been both blessed by great adventures and pure beautiful happiness, but all the time Xena's vision from Alti of their impending doom had hung between them just as much her sudden pacifism evolved in her confusion of her increasing prowess at war had done. In the end their pasts, their fears, their weaknesses and a chakram throw by Callisto had brought them to the moment of their deaths and the complete fracturing of her path of pacifism. She had slaughtered eight roman legionnaires. Not in rage as Xena had believed, but in a strange state of coldly calculated fighting haze, where she had been in perfect control of herself capable of killing and terribly good at it. Until Xena's plea for her to stop had shown her, what she had done. Then she had given up. And they had been crucified together white snow falling around them.

Since then she had been on the same path as Xena, but now this morning as she awaited the arrival of an army outside the gate, she was beginning to doubt that her path truly was the same as Xena's way of the warrior. Somehow she had always been too different from Xena for that to be true. Still what she was about to do and the many things she had done in her recent life didn't feel wrong, it just felt a lot like she was missing something important. Maybe she was missing that last bit of clarity that Xena had found in India and that she hadn't found yet.

She forced her thoughts to the matter of Dareios and Rafe. She knew she would have to be as ruthless as she could be to make sure that both her village and her sister would survive and be safe. Not only Dareios would be her problem but also his friend Rafe who in reality led the army roaming the valley. He was an unknown but she would have to take a chance and trust her own opinion based on what she had seen of his army and heard of him from the prisoner. It would have to be a battle of wit and speed not of brawn for her to win.

"Gabrielle they are coming", she heard her niece yell as she came running towards the stables. Calmly Gabrielle lifted the amazon bow with its quiver of blue fletched arrows from the ground and ran out to meet her.

"They are manning the walls now", Sarah explained and pointed towards the gate, where Pavlos were probably already waiting.

"Good. Sarah, go tend to the hospital. There will be wounded coming for care there very soon. Let's hope that there will be few", she explained and ran towards the place, where she could see Pavlos commanding the militia, whose ranks had been swelled with each able bodied man ready to fight in the entire village.

Pavlos heard the light steps of boots dashing towards him and turned just in time to see Gabrielle stopping. He smiled at the young woman and handed her the two scabbards that had rested against the wall. "I've found what you asked for", he commented as she took them with a grim look on her face.

"I've never been too fond of swords, they're too hard to use defensively", she explained as she laid the bow and arrows down. Quickly she placed the scabbards of the two short blades on her back so that she could draw them over her shoulders without problems. She picked up the bow and crawled up to the battlements surveying the approaching menace and the defenses of her village.

"Everyone is ready. There were some anger amongst the artisans about your plans but Nikodemos and the other merchants swore on Hermes that they would give the artisans a fair restitution for each burnt house, they shut back up again", Pavlos explained with a shrug.

"Hermes should be as dead as the other Olympians", she mumbled to herself then focused on Pavlos again. "And the oil is ready?" She asked and turned her head around to look for a hint of her sister.

"Yup they're not finished hoisting it up here yet, but I guess we will be ready, but… Gabrielle, are you sure about this?" He asked and looked pointedly at her swords.

"It has to be done like this or Lila will be killed… If she still lives", she whispered as the horrendous thought hit her as it had done many times in the last few hours. She turned back to stare out over battlefield in front of the wall. "Tell the archers to stay safe and only to fire when they are sure they have a good shot. We don't have too many arrows or archers and we can't afford to waste them in barrages of arrows that do no good or get them killed. If we make it too costly for them they'll have to retreat. We have the advantage and they think we don't know it. That will cost them the battle", she added with certainty.

"You sound like you're sure we'll win", Pavlos commented with curiosity.

"I have learnt that, while any plan can be disrupted by circumstances and coincidence, in most wars the one who knows her enemy, knows the terrain, uses her resources right and can deploy her army in the given terrain correctly is the one most likely to win even if outnumbered. Xena and experience has taught me that. Add a little of the sly maneuvers she taught me and the knowledge that I must always make my plans with flexibility and ignore personal feelings while enacting them, I can think I can hold my own against the most brilliant commanders of their times possibly even Xena herself", she explained with sudden absolute clarity.

"But you just said she taught you this. How could you beat her?" Pavlos asked disbelievingly.

"We were always each other's weakness or knew them. I know how to get at her emotions, how to use her anger and any other feelings against her. She knew how to use my mercy and the like against me. But I think I can see past that now just as she managed to in the end", Gabrielle said with deep bitterness and didn't even have the decency to feel sorry for Xena. Xena had left her and it hurt no matter of right and wrong. She could not hate Xena for it, but neither could she forgive her fully. That would take more time than had already passed. Time would have to heal that wound.

The army stopped its advance just outside of the range of their bows. Gabrielle knew they had no artillery, so she remained standing at the side of the heightened battlements over the main gate, while all her men stayed out of sight behind the battlements.

Two men rode forward inside the range of her bows, but Gabrielle ignored the temptation of having the archers attack them. That would only endanger Lila's life needlessly. As they got closer Gabrielle recognized the huge form of Dareios now clad in a heavier armor of Persian make riding at the side of a lean bearded man with oily black hair that Gabrielle recognized as the foolish man that she had met as she was acting as Ares' not so doting wife back at Xena's grandparents farm. He had made Xena put the pinch of Ares. She had last seen him riding off with Gascar, so this really was the remnants of that army. At least Rafe seemed to have a clear understanding of keeping a functioning army in the field in comparison to the sorry state she had last seen in Gascar's camp.

"Listen up. We come with a simple offer for you", Dareios yelled in his deep bass voice. "You surrender immediately or we'll tear that sorry wall down around you and slaughter all those of you, we can't use as slaves". He sounded mightily impressed with himself after saying that.

Gabrielle chose that moment to step into full view of the pair. "Hi there boys, I'm sorry, but we are really not in the mood to play with you. You and I all know that you have no chance of conquering Poteidaia before help from Corinth, Athens or some other Roman garrison arrives. And then there is the entire matter of us being capable of sitting you out in a long protracted siege that we even have the chance of winning. You see when I happened to light that little fire in your camp last night, I kind of noticed that you had neither the artillery or as of last night the firebombs to do us any serious harm. So why don't you take what loot you've found out there and make trails out of here, before people on both sides gets hurt for real". She formed the last sentence into a plea. "There is no need for bloodshed. We can all still get out of this pointless battle without more people dying", she offered with sadness in her eyes, because she knew exactly what would happen now unless that miracle that she always hoped for in this moment came to pass.

"I knew you weren't as harmless as you pretended to be", Dareios yelled in anger. "But we'll see this through to the end. I will have my fortress, my glorious command". Dareios said with passionate fire in his otherwise dead eyes. Gabrielle sighed; the warlords never seemed to fail to disappoint her hopes.

Rafe waved a finger at her and stammered: "Yeah… Yeah and I was not fooled when I met you the first time either. Farmer's wife my ass you and the warrior princess played us and… And it got many friends of mine killed. I will have vengeance on you little girl! Vengeance", he roared, unsheathed his sword and brandished it in the air. Another roar came from his army who took a few threatening steps forward.

Gabrielle, who was still the only person in sight, stood unflinching until the yelling passed. "Are you quite finished?" She asked casually as if she had just seen a child's temper tantrum. "You've stolen something dear to me. Someone loved by this entire village: My sister Lila. I demand that you hand her over", she commanded.

"You don't demand anything from us little girl", their continuing alluding to her slight vertical problem was really getting on her nerves, but she held her tongue hoping that she could provoke them into an all or nothing challenge over Lila and Poteidaia. "However there may be a deal to be made here. How about you surrender and we give you Lila in exchange. We'll even spare most of your sorry lives. You however will die", Dareios offered offhandedly like he was making a grand gesture.

Gabrielle tried to look thoughtful while she paused like she was considering their deal. "I offer a compromise. You and I fight a battle to the death. If you win I die and Poteidaia surrenders to you. If I win I get Lila and you withdraw your army from this valley", Gabrielle said and tried to sound as neutral as possible.

Dareios looked at her again judging her prowess. He seemed thoughtful then turned to converse for a while with the warlord, who looked up at her then back at Dareios and nodded his approval. "We will fight right here in front of the gate. The militia stays out of sight and the army stays back there", he offered.

"I will agree if you will both swear on Ares that you'll uphold the result of the challenge and that neither you nor your men break your oath. Pavlos will be my witness of our battle and Rafe will be yours. And I want Lila here in the hands of Rafe. No one else and no tricks", she demanded.

They looked at each other. Dareios nodded confidently and Rafe rode off. After a short while he returned with a very angry and slightly bruised Lila sitting in front of him on his horse with her hands tied in front of her. "Now swear the oath and I want you to speak loudly so that everyone is able to hear you loud and clear", Gabrielle demanded.

The two men yelled their oath to Ares. Gabrielle felt a shiver at the back of her neck, she was rather sure that Ares had heard the oath and wasn't that far away. He would probably relish the chance to punish Gascar's former army and with his reputation a little damaged he couldn't overlook any oath breakers either.

Gabrielle smiled reassuringly at her sister, who looked very frightened at the moment and said conversationally: "Be right down". Pavlos rose to stand in her former place. Gabrielle turned and looked at him. "If I lose, have the archers kill those two and rescue Lila. Don't bother to surrender, neither will they", she explained.

"But they swore an oath to Ares, we shouldn't anger the gods", Pavlos stammered suddenly pale.

"Did you hear me swear to Ares? No. We aren't under the same constraints as they are", she said with an impish smile and walked down the stairs to the big gate, where a group of men were ready to open the gate for her. She stopped and looked up at Pavlos to say: "Be ready to get me and Lila back inside in a hurry you never know how an army reacts when their leaders get hurt. Oh and Pavlos you can use my bow. I won't need it right now just don't use all the arrows before I get back", she added with a smile. She had planned to use it if those heartless bastards out there had killed her sister, but now her plan could proceed. The gate opened and the sunlight outside turned her form in the thin and muscled silhouette of very capable warrior woman. Gabrielle focused all her mind and soul on the task at hand.

Lila stared as she saw the pale warrior woman that walked out of the gates of her village. Her body was muscled, her hair short and intensely blond. Her eyes were green and filled with both passion and sadness. Her lips were pale. And she was very armed. On her back rested two short swords made for cutting, at her right side hung the legendary chakram and a sai was strapped to each of her boots. She was dressed in what to Lila looked like ragged brown leather underwear spotted with dark stains here and there. Stains she guessed were dried blood, and most if not all of it was not the blood of her sister. This was the current form of her ever changing sister, who stopped a few feet from her massive enemy.

Gabrielle regarded the massive man in front of her as she wandered towards him. He was wearing a heavy leather breastplate fitted with metal to defeat blades it came complete with shoulder guards and a metal helmet. His leggings and boots were all also made of black leather. At his sides rested two massive metal axes, which she didn't doubt he was quite capable of both wielding and throwing. She glimpsed a dagger hidden in his boot, but she had learned long ago to expect a person to carry more weapons than were normally visible to searching eyes.

"I will make quick work of this. We should be eating at the inn within an hour my friend", Dareios said to Rafe and fixed a mocking glare on the much smaller warrior in front of him. Gabrielle nearly smiled, she had been given an initial advantage, and he still underestimated her. She knew how to fight a big opponent with superior strength. It was done with sheer naked speed and intelligence. "Everyone ready", Pavlos asked from his vantage point up on the wall.

Gabrielle drew the twin blades from the scabbards strapped to her back and held them like she would the Sais resting with the edge of the single edged blade pointing out and the length of the blade resting against her forearm. Gabrielle fell into her combat stance one arm in front of the other. Dareios calmly picked up his axes and gave them a wrist whirl. They began circling each other, while their eyes darting over each other looking for an advantage or an opening.

Gabrielle felt her focus sharpen and her senses became fully aware. For the first time since her battle against the samurai in Japan all in her clicked and was ready for action. She heard his every move. Each muscle in her body was relaxed yet ready. All her focus was ready for that attack that she knew would come soon enough.

Suddenly the big man shifted his weight forward. Gabrielle heard the crackle of the sand underneath his feet. He swung his axes left and stepped forward. She stepped to the right and in swift motion swung her left arm around in a quick sickle motion. She heard the sound of her blade cutting through his leggings and drew a long and deep wound along his left thigh.

He whirled about and snarled at Gabrielle, who was already facing him. He made a short slower lunge swinging his axes down at her. Gabrielle stepped out of the reach of the right axe and made a glancing block of his left one with her left sword and felt the jarring strength of the blow nearly numb her entire arm. Ignoring the pain in her arm she kicked her booted heel into the back of his knee as she moved behind him.

He buckled, but managed to roll forward narrowly avoiding the sword diving for the place where his exposed back had been. With no pause he twisted around in a sweep kick and felled Gabrielle. She used her momentum to roll back to her feet only to get a kick on the back of her right shoulder. Grunting with pain she dropped one of her swords. Judging where he stood from his attack she forced herself to continue ignoring the pain and copied his move making a backwards sweeping kick. She briefly saw Dareios fly to the ground, while she scrambled for her lost sword. She got up only to face him again.

Growling with anger Dareios launched his axes into a series of swirling moves while he advanced on the girl. She scrambled to parry each harrowing attack and with each hit her arms were nearly beaten numb from his strength. She felt her fingers almost losing their grip on her swords. Then she saw with absolute clarity a flaw in his attack. After another jarring hit she suddenly lunged forward and easily rolled to stand behind him, her small shape slipping between his legs with ease.

For the merest moment they stood back to back. Dareios were probably wondering where his enemy had gone. Gabrielle stood with her swords resting backwards against her forearms the point extending beyond her elbows. With all her strength and speed she twisted her body first left then right hammering her elbows into the thinner armor of his lower back, while her blades sank into the leather and bit into his flesh. Dareios stumbled away from her, clutching his back in surprise and pain.

Gabrielle made a forward flip out of his range, not even noticing that she was again doing something that she had never mastered before. She whirled about and remained in her combat stance eyeing her enemy.

"I will slaughter you", he roared and charged her.

Suddenly something inspired her and Gabrielle also dashed forward, but suddenly jumped up, flipped in the air and spun around herself one turn. She stretched herself out and landed with her legs going over the shoulders of Dareios and her butt hammering into his chest. The huge man remained standing, but didn't manage to act from sheer surprise. Gabrielle flexed her stomach muscles and bent forward, while she quickly hammered her swords deep into his neck and body one at a time. He fell backward, while she suddenly found herself sprayed with blood. Gabrielle let herself be carried forward and tensed her legs. She felt the body land beneath her as she suddenly found herself vertical again. Between her legs powerful muscles made the lifeblood of Dareios spurt out all over her leather boots.

"Dareios", she heard Rafe scream behind her you. Gabrielle spun about and saw the black haired man lift a dagger to stab her sister. On pure instinct she ripped the chakram from her belt and threw it forward with a scream of rage not unlike Callisto's.

Lila heard her sister's scream; a piercing metallic scream passed close to her ear and then suddenly warm thick fluid ran down her back. She was still dazed, when her sister ran towards her grasping an almost invisibly fast chakram from the air and tore the headless body of her captor from the saddle they had shared until a moment ago. Her sister climbed onboard, while a strange screaming from multiple voices resounded around her. Lila wondered if her hearing was damaged, while her now much younger older sister rode them towards the quickly opening gate. She kept hearing strange buzzing noises of things flying past them, but she could see anything. She gasped in surprise, when she heard the distinct sound of arrows biting into wood as they came to a skidding stop in the village square. Behind them the gate was quickly shut.

Still in a near daze she felt her sister leave the saddle, while friendlier hands helped her down. Lila turned and saw her sister clamber up the ladder to the battlements, now manned with many archers, who were already busy firing at the enemy outside. She saw her beloved sister snatch up a large bow clearly not of Greek make and fluidly flow into the stand needed to fire the arrows from a quiver standing at her side. Then those gentle hands that had gotten her of the horse guided her to her inn, while they untied her hands. She realized it was her no longer lost daughter just as they passed into the relative quiet of the inn turned hospital. She thankfully didn't get to see her sister order the militia to pour boiling pitch on the attackers or her archers shooting fire arrows into any houses in which the enemy soldiers chose to hide. When she became clearer of mind again, she realized that the battle for Poteidaia was over and they had won. And while no one on their side had died, she was worried about the soul of her once so innocent sister.

Gabrielle surveyed the devastation outside the walls of her village. They had been forced to burn a few more buildings than planned, but then they had at least kept this from turning into a siege. Now it was time to care for the wounded… and bury the dead soldiers on both sides. The meager remainders of the enemy army were running away out in the hills and soon the valley would be safe to prosper again. Gabrielle looked with hurt in her soul at the great loss of life and her own hand in it and wanted to cry, but then she forced herself to turn and look upon the tired but celebrating villagers dancing with joy and swilling beverages in the town square. It calmed her soul to see that.

A grimy Pavlos walked up and stood at her shoulder. "You are truly a hero. Your actions have saved us all. I am honored to have fought under your command and I hope you'll agree with my hope for both of us that it won't need to happen again", he said with a tired smile.

"You'll never find me instigating wars Pavlos. I am there to make sure they end with a minimum of bloodshed and loss of life. Now if you'd excuse me I think I should go do some good as a healer in the hospital", Gabrielle explained and walked slowly in that direction. "Oh and Pavlos the militia is yours now. Keep my family safe for me. That includes my niece. Although that doesn't include any romps in the hay", she commented and smiled at the blushing young man.

Lila looked at her sister as she walked inside and immediately began helping with the wounded. She saw her old sister in that woman that would soothe a man's pain with a quiet hum or story, while she dressed his wound or sewed a ghastly cut. She was amazed to see her sister's deep knowledge about the healing arts as she used techniques unknown to the village healer and old women to treat wounds that would have killed their bearer if she hadn't been there.

Lila suddenly knew right there that that person she had distanced herself from on seeing her acting so brutally was apart of a greater whole, a whole that had grown bigger than what she remembered of her sister. Her sister had reached that greatness that they had talked about when they had been young and typically Gabrielle that greatness was not that which everyone had expected of her. Gabrielle had many skills now. Lila smiled at that thought. She was truly the successor of Xena the warrior princess, just like Xena the warlord had been followed by the likes of Callisto. She realized that she had wounded her sister by denying that fact just like their parents had done by denying her freedom to express her nature. They hadn't been open-minded enough to recognize the amazing creature that they had given birth to and raised. So she had needed the guidance, friendship and love of an ex-warlord to become someone great. She got up and walked over to her sister, who looked about ready to collapse with weariness.

"Gabrielle", her sister looked up at her with those infinitely sad emerald eyes that enchanted even the gods, "I am sorry I said you weren't my sister. I am sorry I didn't understand that these things you did were for not acts of evil, but deeds done in the name of the greater good". Lila nearly cried with happiness as she saw some of the sadness in the eyes of her sister disappear and a wan smile lit up her face. "I think you should go and sleep. We will take care of everything here", Lila explained.

"But I am needed", Gabrielle protested as her sister's gentle hands lifted her from the bandaged patient.

"You won't do us any good if you collapse or get sick. Now go have all the rest you need. We will handle all this without you. Go to your room", Lila commanded and pointed at the staircase.

Gabrielle let her eyes glance around the room and saw that all the women in the room agreed with her sister at least if she judged them on the looks in their eyes. Nodding thankfully she stumbled up the stairs looking for a place to sleep and let her bruises heal. Her sister took her trembling hands and guided her upstairs. The sudden release of tension had finally allowed her to relax. Lila laid Gabrielle down on the bed and they helped each other undress her.

"Wow that must have been painful", Lila commented as she got her first closer look at the dragon that was permanently imprinted on her sister's back.

"Yes. It was a gift from a spirit", Gabrielle explained absentmindedly, while trying to shrub the blood from her body.

Lila noticed the pain hidden in her sister's voice and quietly made her sister's bed, while she washed.

"One more thing I have to ask before you go to sleep", Lila said. "Why do you actually keep on fighting if the killing hurts you so deeply?" She asked with concern in her voice as Gabrielle fell on to the bed.

"Because even if I lose a piece of myself in each war and in each person I kill, each life I rescue from death, each soul I save gives something back again. I have to believe that because it worked for Xena. It was what part of what healed her soul", Gabrielle explained in a dreamy voice and Lila knew that her sister couldn't have lied in such a state. Contemplating that truth she silently let herself out of the room and locked the door behind her. Soon a content snore and some time whisper of Xena's name filled the room.