Deirdre looked out over the battle field Queen Gabrielle had chosen. These last few days had been a whirl of confusing and grand events for her. First she had met one of her life long heroes and then she had even begun to hope that she might get to see the formidable and legendary Xena in combat. However the Nation had been cast out into mourning upon learning that Xena the greatest non amazon warrior had died and stayed dead even after triumphing single-handedly against an entire army and an evil spirit.
She hadn't felt much anguish personally. She had become too engaged in her new role as helper to the dragon backed heroine that stood in Xena's place. Guilty by association she had become Queen Gabrielle's assistant. Her return in this time was heralded as yet another time, when the brave queen would step up to serve as she always did in a time of crisis.
She had already proven at Helicon that she was more than just the sidekick of a hero and now she stood alone and formidable along side the remaining Queens of the Amazon Nation. Gabrielle, as she preferred to be called, had barely managed to dry the rain out of her clothes before she had been drafted to lead the Amazon army against the Romans. To Deirdre's astonishment Gabrielle had at first rejected the notion until it was revealed to her that the two remaining strong warriors able to take command were either Cyane, a young and inexperienced queen, who kept mostly to herself and wasn't well respected amongst any other tribes than her own or it would be Varia, a capable leader but no longer trusted as a leader by her sisters.
Deirdre remembered clearly the sadness apparent in the eyes of the Warrior Bard as she took over the leadership of the amazons once again. She had immediately set aside whatever it was that had kept her from taking command and begun issuing orders.
The days had continued at such a rapid speed that she barely remembered meals scarfed down in the presence of the unhappy woman, who seemed to get grimmer by the candlemark as she first outlined and then implemented her brilliant but gruesome plan for the battle against the Roman legion getting ready to march out on the plains.
Deirdre still remembered how the blonde queen had outlined her tactics to keep as many amazons as possible alive. The council and senior warriors had been chilled by her plan to start a massive mud and rockslide using a black powder she had learned the recipe for on her travels in the East to explode the hillsides. The rockslide would hit the Legion, when it was in the narrow cliff passes on the way to the main amazon village. It was meant to bury as many men alive as possible to increase their fighting chances. Gabrielle had also managed all the logistics of deploying the army, setting up the many death traps in the forest, distributing poisoned arrows to the archers and getting the black powder made and placed correctly on the rain softened cliffs and hilltops.
However none other than her had seen the small blonde woman walk behind her yurt to vomit and cry for nearly a quarter of a candlemark after giving the final command to set up the black powder charges, nor had anyone but her glimpsed the nightmare tossed sleep of the woman on the night before this. She knew now that this woman knew everything about gruesome warfare and destroying the enemy from her experiences with such evil, but while her plans were cruel and efficient the woman, who made them, did so for the good of others at the cost of her own happiness and peace of mind.
Now she was awaiting the survivors of their traps as the Legion foolhardily pressed on towards the long evacuated amazon village. Every step in the forest made treacherous by the many hidden pits and foot traps filled with spikes covered in debilitating poison. The bravest archers lead by Queen Cyane had spent most of the day attacking the legionnaires from afar with arrows coated in the same kind of poison. The amazon army sat still fresh and strong awaiting the ragged group as it marched slowly onto a small open field in front of a forested hill. On the left side a small but treacherous stretch of river framed the battlefield while the deep and dark forest on the right side hid half of the amazon army under the leadership of Varia.
Deirdre was seeing this from Gabrielle's command position by the hill. Messages delivered either by fast runners or bird calls were constantly being given to Gabrielle, who to her amazement, seemed absolutely calm and collected even though they in a few minutes would be going up against the Legion in open combat.
The sound of studded sandals filled the air as the legionnaires marched onto the battle field. Many were dirty, some were wounded or barely standing. Deirdre recalled the horrible battle at Ares' scar earlier in the week, where they had been captured, where she had killed her first man. Slowly she drew out the twin axes that were the preferred weapon of her tribe. At her side she watched Gabrielle draw her Sais from her boots. She looked pale and tired. For a moment Deirdre wished she could see those green eyes light up in a smile, see that face framed by blonde hair filled with joy, but she knew that such times were a long time off for her queen. And there in the middle of the sudden breaking out of battle with spears, arrows and fire raining around her, she realized that Gabrielle had become not only the Queen of the Greek amazons, but as she looked around her, she knew that Gabrielle was the queen of them all. With a fierce battle cry in her native tongue Deirdre followed her blonde queen into the surging mass of warriors.
The stench of war lying over a battlefield always made her queasy. Gabrielle looked out of the large field where her army had slaughtered the unprepared and weakened Romans. She felt no joy over her victory and didn't pay any heed to the many calls for her to join the victory party that was already being prepared in the rapidly repopulating village. She would rather stand here mourning the loss of life on both sides. Gabrielle stood on top of her former command post looking over the large stretch of land lost in thought, but still well aware that someone was walking confidently up the hill. She recognized the footfalls of Varia just as she came to a halt behind her.
"There will have to be appointed a few new Queens and you'll have to find someone new to stand in for you, when you leave", Varia said and moved to stand at her side. Gabrielle did not answer her.
"I don't understand you Gabrielle. I saw you at Helicon and here today. I realize that you have learned a lot more since then and in fact you're becoming more like Xena than I would ever have thought anyone could be, but still I see that every battle every war hurts you. Why do you endure it? Why? When she is gone?" Varia looked at her.
Gabrielle turned to face her. "I do it, because someone has to stand up for the greater good. And there is no one else", Gabrielle stated heroically.
"Don't give me that. There is more to it isn't there? Is it guilt? Are you punishing yourself, because you couldn't save her?" Varia pressed.
Gabrielle laughed with apparent bitterness in her voice. "No. I don't have any guilt over Xena's death Varia. I could have saved her, but what would have been the point when she didn't want to be saved? There was no way to save her without dooming 40000 souls". Gabrielle fell silent again.
"Then why? I thought I had you figured out. I thought you were weak. I thought all your strength came from Xena", Varia looked at her with confusion.
"Xena only gave me freedom to choose how to live my own life. I am who I asked to be, who my life has made me. My strength is my own. Anyone who says otherwise is in denial about me, who I was from the beginning and who I always was to be. If you have to know about why I keep on doing it, then I will tell you. I do it because rescuing innocents, protecting the weak, fighting and telling stories is all apart of who I am. Even in the beginning when I was just a farm girl with no clue about anything, I had strength. I used my voice of innocence as my weapon. I outgrew that and took up a real but safely blunted weapon instead. I stayed that way out of idealism and Xena's protection of my innocence for many years, but still I learned about fighting all the time simply by watching her, Hercules, Iolaus and even Ares, Caesar and Callisto doing their stuff. Then after I got over a few months of misguided pacifism as well a short time as a dead person I became the warrior my heart has always held. It was always there Varia and in the end it came out. What I am trying to say is that I fight for other people because that is what I have always done and will probably do until I get to old and then maybe I'll settle down and be a healer or a bard or a playwright", Gabrielle smiled wistfully at that, while Varia looked at the blonde woman for a while with the look of confusion still in her eyes, but she held her tongue for while.
"Gabrielle, what do we do now?" Varia asked and indicated the battlefield.
"We save the Amazons from extinction… Don't let anyone onto the battlefield, not even to recover our dead. Wounded are fine, but leave all the dead. Then come to the Queen's council, you'll want to hear what is said there. It concerns you and I want you there. Now I need to go see a few shamanesses' about a few last rites", Gabrielle answered as she saw Varia's disbelieving look. The two women parted as Gabrielle ran off into the dusk, leaving Varia to wonder about her intentions.
Deirdre looked around the large cavern as Gabrielle strode into the room. She looked like she had just come of the battlefield. Her hair was a mess, soot and drying blood droplets covered her brown battle dress, legs and skin. She carried her blood encrusted weapons as well as a bandage across her upper arm where the roman general had managed to nick her before she gave him two big round holes in his chest. The only allowance she seemed to have made for custom was wearing her Queen emblem around her neck.
Around the room the young queens shuffled into their seats. Most of them had only had their positions for less than a year and one was recently field promoted as her queen had died in the battle against the Romans. She walked to stand by the queen of her tribe even as she looked to the blonde Greek for her commands. Gabrielle walked to stand in the middle of the ring bearing the spear that signified her as the overall war leader of the Amazon Nation. Everyone fell silent. Deirdre noticed that Varia slipped in to stand in the shadows.
"What I say now I say for the good of the entire nation. The amazons have come to the end of their rope. From now on the Romans will strive to claim this land as their own. They will not relent or give up", she paused for comments. No one spoke as she slowly turned around before them looking each queen sincerely in the eyes as she explained.
"I have been dealing with the Romans and their leaders or emperors for most of my adult life. And I guarantee you that they won't stop coming, they won't respect any treaty, they won't relent until this nation is dust at their feet. And we will lose such a battle. The Roman Empire stretches over most of the civilized world a world that is now encroaching on ours, because we haven't changed our ways to fit the times, we haven't allowed the men to conquer and rule us. Until a few years ago that was fine, but now they have spread their civilized world so far that we must decide. Stay, fight and die or abandon this forest and seek solace in some deeper wilderness to gain strength and become more than a ghost of a once great nation. I see those choices before us. I will not contemplate the surrender of our ancient ways. I will not sacrifice our ways on the altar of progress or pride, we must leave and grow or stay and die", Gabrielle stopped her speech and walked to her seat. "I put this suggestion before the council of queens for the consideration of us all", she spoke the ritual phrase that initiated the discussions.
Deirdre watched as Varia stood in the shadows as Gabrielle spoke to the council. She seemed to seethe with anger and indignation as Gabrielle suggested they leave the forest to live and grow in peace in a safer place. As the conversation between the queens began in earnest and they mulled over the question of their continued existence and life in this valley Varia got more and more agitated. Then suddenly Varia leapt forward into the circle and screamed: "No, you can't be discussing this betrayal".
"This valley is the birthplace of the Amazons. Artemis created us here and here we shall stay and fight until the very end. This is the last bastion for all women. Many come to us for a place where they can be the warriors their hearts command them to be. Here they come to be free of their drunken husbands. Here we offer them sanctuary. If we leave we will lose that which makes us Amazons. We lose the forest. And what remains of the blessings of Artemis. Gabrielle is misguided in this and I…" Varia yelled, when she was suddenly thrown to the ground by Cyane and found herself held at spear point by the guards.
"No, don't hurt her", Gabrielle commanded. "Pick her up and hold her, but don't take her away", she said and watched in silence as the guards moved their prisoner outside the ring of queens.
"Varia raises some important points that will be asked by all of our people. But I will tell you now that what she claims isn't true. These woods aren't the original ancestral home of the Amazon people and we weren't created here by Artemis. Long ago I learned the true origins of the Amazon people, while I was ruling the northern amazons. There the ghost of a recently slain shamaness called Yakut brought us the Atma dagger. It revealed to us how we all come from an old people called the Tretomlec, who lost all their men to cannibals. It revealed the coming of the first Cyane and how she taught us to use horses. We became the Amazons because we chose to live life without marrying men, living apart from the other men's world forever after defeating their slayers. Artemis came later and she was in the end an indifferent goddess, who barely paid attention to anyone but the Greek amazons and then even when another goddess terrorized her people she didn't come to help to us. I know that most of your tribes never truly worshiped her and most of you still keep the older spiritual traditions alive through your shamaness instead. There is no true original homeland for the Amazons and therefore there is neither dishonor nor fault in abandoning a place that is nothing more than a no longer convenient hideout". Gabrielle returned to her chair.
Cyane the young northern queen rose. "I come from the tribe once ruled by Gabrielle before Xena's battle with the Olympian gods tore her from us. We remember and acknowledge to this day what she spoke of as the truth. I know in my heart that she speaks the truth and if I had my shamaness here she would tell you the same as Gabrielle just did. The legend of Xena and Gabrielle teaching us not to continue to bloody our children has allowed our people to grow and now we are no longer the weakest amazon tribe as we was then. I find her observations are true and I add my own voice to hers. We must move with the times, learn new things and grow or perish like the primitives that once inhabited the lands near Greece. Their civilization will not allow us to live as that we are, so we must create our own or find a way to hide our civilization in theirs for all time. The Amazon ways must never disappear from this world", she said. Many looked on in astonishment as the normally quiet queen spoke her mind with rare eloquence.
Soon the queens were agreeing with Gabrielle. Only Varia remained unconvinced and angry as she looked upon the council. "It is the will of the council that we move our nation to safety from the persecution of the Romans. We have decided that the leadership during this expedition should lie in the hands of our most capable queen. Gabrielle, will you lead us?" Cyane said as the queens nodded their assent.
Gabrielle looked around at the many faces and sighed then nodded yes. She rose and began giving commands: "First of all we must leave our dead on the battlefield. I know this is horrendous breach of tradition, but I have the assurances of a shamaness that she can perform a ceremony to allow them proper passage to the realm of the dead without a funeral pyre. I would normally never disrespect the dead, but we need to convince the Romans that we were so beaten by their legion that our tribes were shattered to the winds by their attack and are now roaming the lands never to become a threat to them again. This will give us the freedom we need to travel to the place I have in mind for us". Gabrielle paused and looked around at the council, who like Deirdre breathlessly awaited the next step in her bold plan.
"We can't move the entire nation in one go, so I propose a strategy for this. I and some of our veteran warriors as well as a portion of the nation start out first. We'll use our head start to make a safe passage for the rest, who're to follow behind with most of the supplies and our possessions. We will also be able to clear the lands up there for your arrival. I think that Cyane should be in command of the main group, while I will lead the forward party. We will need to empty these lands of as much food and goods as we can bring with us. We need horses and new weapons as well and many of the amazons will need to learn how to live in a cold climate. You see I am planning to take us to what was once the stronghold of the Amazon Nation. Back to where I think the original lands of Cyane and Samsara were. There we'll make our future and once again rule the lands with horse and arrow", Gabrielle smiled at the memories that had been poured into her as she had become Queen of the Northern Amazons just two years ago. Ephiny had brought her here to ensure the existence of the Amazons and that was what she felt she was doing. "We must however start now and all be gone from here before the Romans come back", Gabrielle cautioned.
Deirdre looked on in amazement as a new emotion entered the eyes of her queen. Gabrielle seemed to be happily daydreaming about the glorious future of the Amazons.
Suddenly a scream of rage penetrated the room and Varia tore herself free of the guards. She flipped into the circle of queens again and yelled: "I won't stand for this. It is enough. Will you let this blonde twit lead us all to our deaths? Away from our holy lands the homeland I have fought my entire life to protect. The homeland you sisters spilled their blood for at Helicon. No. I won't stand for it. You once tore the necklace of my position from me Gabrielle, and I haven't challenged that decision out of guilt, but I was wrong. You did it then for revenge over my defeat of your earlier challenge and I say it was not legal. I am still queen by right of caste and I challenge you for the leadership of your tribe and all the tribes that follow you. You must be stopped".
"Varia, no one will follow you any more! You should have been killed at Helicon by Amazon tradition and only the mercy of Queen Gabrielle stayed our hand then. You can't challenge her now. We need to stand united now more than ever. This council will not accede to your plans ever again", Cyane explained gruffly and placed herself between Gabrielle and Varia.
"I accept your challenge", Gabrielle's voice rang out in the suddenly quiet cavern.
"What", Cyane said and looked with disbelief at the Greek woman.
"I have to Cyane. She is right. I had neither the right nor power to take her title away from her at Helicon even if it was the only way I knew to save her life. Now please stand aside I want to talk to my challenger", she claimed as she walked forward.
"Choose the weapons", Gabrielle said and looked with pity into the eyes of the angry black haired amazon.
"Staffs", Varia said and looked on the smaller woman with arrogance in her eyes. Varia was well known as a very competent staff fighter. To her surprise Gabrielle grinned for a moment. Merriment was apparent in her eyes as Gabrielle nodded in agreement and motioned for her to leave. By tradition they had an hour to prepare for the fight.
Varia looked around the cleared field in front of the council's cavern. Drums were beating a steady beat in the background as she walked forth in a new leather battle dress. Blue and red feathers had been woken into her long braids. In her hand was her favorite battle staff. It bore plentiful evidence of having seen use many times before. She walked to the challenger's position, while the amazons formed a large and wide ring around the field.
Suddenly the drums fell silent and Gabrielle walked into the ring wearing a dress made of blue fabrics. Strange black armor made for small enameled plates guarded her chest. Gauntlets of cloth and the same type of armor guarded her arms. The materials and cut was foreign to Varia. In her hands Gabrielle carried a wooden staff that easily was the height of her former companion, it was clearly completely new. Varia couldn't help noticing that she didn't sense any fear or uncertainty in Gabrielle like she had the last time. She remembered that fight well. Gabrielle had held her own until she had hesitated just a moment to long. It had cost her a severe beating. Varia fully expected to reprise her success from last time. She was a great staff fighter and had used staves almost as often as she had a sword until a few years ago. Gabrielle grasped her staff with both hands and squared off against her.
Gabrielle noticed that Varia's staff was slightly shorter and obviously made for speed rather than strength. Varia was likely to be able to use it one handed like a club as well. Gabrielle would have to use her agility and experience with the staff as a weapon to win this fight. Without thinking she gave the staff a quick practice whirl. Then suddenly the drums beat began again. The fight had begun.
For a while the two combatants circled each other. Then suddenly Varia attacked making a hard swing with her staff in one hand. Gabrielle easily parried, but was rewarded with a swift kick in the stomach for her troubles. She ducked the second hit and instead swept the feet out under the black haired woman. Varia fell onto her back.
Gabrielle quickly hammered her staff down, but Varia had already rolled to the side and all she hit was sand.
Varia jumped onto her feet and launched her staff into a series of quick blows, which Gabrielle to her astonishment parried with casual ease. Varia realized then that she was not the most experienced staff fighter in the ring. Suddenly as Gabrielle made a high guard and parried another of her attacks Varia received a powerful kick to the side.
Varia ground her teeth together against the stinging pain and struck another hard blow against Gabrielle's guard this time hitting Gabrielle's fingers on her left hand. A small crack resounded across the ring. The smaller woman danced away with pain evident in her eyes, but she didn't let go of her staff none the less.
Varia emboldened by her success swiped a blow towards the head of the blonde queen.
Gabrielle heard instead of seeing the oncoming attack and instinct made her duck, while she swept her longer staff out behind herself and towards Varia's legs. The black haired woman fell down with surprise written all over her face as she landed hard on her back.
Gabrielle pressed her advantage. Quickly she turned and hammered her staff down towards the chest of the downed amazon. Varia's staff quickly came up in defense. Gabrielle whirled her staff back up but Gabrielle merely swung it around in a circle putting all her strength into her next blow. Her staff came up under Varia's staff and smashed the smaller staff out of her hands and away from her grasp.
Varia felt her weapon fly out of her numbed fingers with pure astonishment. Somehow over the last year Gabrielle had managed to become not only faster but also stronger. Still her position standing only a few feet from her head left her open for a desperate counterattack. In the split second after her staff had left her hand, she brought her feet up and managed to weakly kick Gabrielle away. It left her able to get to her feet, but she hadn't counted on her opponent's endurance.
Gabrielle staggered away from the surprising kick and saw Varia leap to her feet. Quickly while ignoring her hurting stomach she ran forward, pressed her staff down in sand and let her entire body fly into a kick aimed at the black haired amazon's head. Varia dropped like a stone and Gabrielle tumbled uncomfortably down on top of her. All around her the amazons cheered. Gabrielle rose and walked over to Cyane.
"Make sure she gets good treatment. We will need her on the trek north", Gabrielle explained to her and walked away cradling one of her hands. Deirdre and a few of the Greek amazons ran after her each eager to help the queen with her wounds. The ring quickly cleared as amazons walked away with happy faces, leaving only a few angry looking women to care for their fallen champion.