Xena rode down the newly made road. The way the world always changed around her had never ceased to amaze her. She had only been gone a little over two and a half years yet now there were wide and well traveled roads leading into what had always been amazon territory. The last few days she had constantly been bombarded with the changes wrought by new settlers on the ancestral Amazon lands. Small forests and grassy plains had been cleared to give room to farms and roads. She was seeing budding villages, where the amazons used to have their best protected hunting grounds and above all she was constantly reminded of the Roman power in the area by the constant patrols of legionnaires.
To see the lands of Melosa, Ephiny, Marga, Varia and even Gabrielle reduced to nothing more than another Roman province hurt her inside. The amazons as well as Gabrielle and herself had fought wars, shed blood and lived under harsh conditions to protect these lands. Many generations of amazons had their ashes shattered across these lands, yet with every step of her horse she was reminded not of the heartlands of the Amazon Nation but of just another outskirt of the Roman Empire stretching forth. Even in the hot sun she felt chilled, when she saw an innocent man cut down a tree that so many brave women had bled to protect. Her expression and face must have reflected her desolation and revulsion, because the farmers and villagers shied away from her gaze.
Xena rode relentlessly towards the central village the inner center of the Greek Amazon culture. It would have been the best defended place and if she were to find any clue of where the amazons were now then she would have to start looking there. Her daughter had said that the amazons, who had brought back Gabrielle's scrolls had been disheveled and weak, maybe they were the last survivors the ones left behind of a once great culture.
To her relief the relentless progress of the settlers seemed to have stopped at the central amazon forest, maybe it still contained to many fears or maybe even a few recalcitrant amazon survivors holding out until they also perished on the spears of the Romans. Xena found herself thinking back upon her many adventures with the Greek Amazons both good and bad. She thought back upon her first encounter with Melosa, on Gabrielle stumbling upon a royal title and then later becoming worthy of it. She had come back from the dead here once. She had tried to kill her best friend here as well. They had fought bravely against the Romans and later they had found new friends here in a much changed world after their long sleep in the ice. She rode by the place where Ares' army had made a wide scar of deforested land in the forest, now it like all wounds in living things was slowly healing. The amazons had survived both that and the terrible battles at Helicon hoping to be allowed a reprieve and grow stronger once more. But now no human seemed to live in the beautiful amazon forest.
Xena began noticing the many small indications of the battles that had been fought here only six months after her death. She came upon the narrow passes that made up the best way to reach the central amazon villages, where she had once held back Ares' army by making a rockslide and was treated to an unexpected sight. The narrow pass was no longer a narrow pass. A massive amount of earth and rocks had nearly filled in the entire pass. The cause of which hadn't been natural. Not in a hurry Xena quickly dismounted to take a look around.
She soon found herself in from a marble plaque set into a rock just where the pass had once been. A text in Roman Latin as well as Greek read: "Here many brave companies of the legions of Gaius were destroyed by the cowardice and treachery of the Amazons". Xena turned and cast another glance at the mass of earth and rock. It was far too much dirt to be the result of any rockslide she had made before. Carefully she crawled up the dirt embankment and scaled the last stretch of wall to the top. She searched the mountainside looking for traces of the equipment used to create the rockslide and found something worse. Holes which could only have been made by the black powder they had used during their last time in Chin. That meant that only Gabrielle could have arranged, timed and executed the cruel killing of the legionnaires burying them underneath rocks and dirt. Chilled by that realization she crawled down, remounted and continued on her trek.
Xena rode into a stretch of forest leading up the last hills before the village. She was seeing remnants or scars of battle everywhere. Arrows were still stuck in trees while here and there a bone or skull lay half buried in the dirt looking bleached and white. Many roman weapons were shattered about. Xena rode onto the grassy area in front of the forested knoll hiding the last stretch of way to the village and was treated to the sight of what she could only guess had been the main battlefield.
Everywhere skeletons, broken weapons and rusty armor lay shattered about in the grass. Xena once again dismounted and walked around in the knee high grass. Neither side seemed to have been willing or able to recover their dead. Xena shuddered as she knew that the Amazons would never let any of their dead lie on the ground to rot. Their ways demanded that they all were carefully wrapped in cloth and burned on a pyre with their best weapons at their side. Even when they had been in a rush to recover Varia from the clutches of Bellopheron they hadn't moved before they had given full honors to their dead. She was sure that they had even gone back after Helicon to recover their dead from the cursed beaches where they had been trapped. The amazons would only have allowed this if there was no way for them to recover their dead. Her promise to Ephiny was broken. She had lived to see the end of the Amazon way of life. Slowly she returned to her horse and rode on.
Slowly she rode into what had once been a village. To her astonishment there were no clues to either the war or the fact that there had ever been a village present. There were no burnt out spots, where small huts or yurts had once stood. There were no torn banners flapping in the wind nor where there any indication that the massive caves where the royal council had been based were anything but a normal series of caves in a cliff. Only a rough circle around an uncommon sandy area in the middle of the forest indicated that this place had once been the lively place she remembered.
Xena dismounted again and walked around looking as if her eyes could not believe what she saw. Then she realized something. Scenes of the massive rockslide, the abandoned dead and finally the complete disappearance of the main village apparent around her flashed through her mind. Her eyes went wide from the sudden realization.
If she looked at this from the perspective of the Gabrielle she kept in her mind, a perspective she had developed over the years with her bard to curb her own dark nature, everything that she had seen so far told her of a possibility of a hope. This could all just be a trick. Gabrielle had ever since she had known her been quite capable of manipulating people. No one she knew neither god nor man was entirely immune to her bard. She knew because she had been treated to six years of companionship with her. Gabrielle could play crowds and opinions like Orpheus could play his harp if she put her mind to it. For a long time her skill had been only been used in her storytelling but once in a while Gabrielle's ability to find the good in people as well as invoking different feelings in others had allowed her to talk or cheat them out of a tricky situation.
If she was right Gabrielle had succeeded in doing so with the entire Roman Empire by actually hiding another nation from them. If she was right, all she had to do was to find that hidden nation of warrior women. Unfortunately she still had no idea where to look for them.
Night came quickly and Xena slowly set up her camp. As she sat down to eat her grilled rabbit and thought back on the luscious stews that Gabrielle had managed to cook out of rabbits over the years she once again felt melancholy over the state of her life. She wanted nothing more than a return to the life they had lead after Helicon. Things had been quieting down. There had been no stirrings of things like Dahak or Lucifer. They had been so close to actually be traveling around to see the world and handle small stuff like defeating the odd warlord again, that it had reminded her of the first years of their life together. It had reminded her of a simplicity that she hadn't even known she missed. Then their little trip to Egypt had been postponed by Kenji's arrival and everything had gone really wrong from the moment she had laid eyes on Ghost Killer.
And someone was trying to sneak up on her camp.
Who ever was trying to walk silently through the forest and she was good at it. Just as the woman cleared the clearing and Xena smiled as she looked like a settler, but walked like an amazon through the dry leaves towards her now empty camp. Slowly she crawled down to the ground again without making a noise and playfully decided to have some fun with the amazon in disguise.
Silently she drew her new sword from its well-oiled scabbard and held it over the woman's shoulder letting it rest lightly against her chin. "Don't move", Xena said and almost couldn't help smiling as the woman gasped in surprise. The woman had long and wavy dark blond hair that cascaded down her back and wore a blue dyed dress much like the one Gabrielle had worn back when they had met.
"What is one of the supposedly dead amazons doing out here at night?" Xena whispered in Amazonian. The woman gasped but remained silent.
"Turn around", Xena commanded and took the sword away from the woman's throat.
The pretty woman turned around and stared at her with that same surprised look that most ambushed people had. It was a lot like a small child pouting after being caught about to raid the family food store. At least that was what Xena thought. "Are you an amazon?" The woman managed to stammer in fluent and unaccented Amazonian.
"No, I am not. Listen, my name is Xena. I am looking for someone who can tell me about what happened here and where the remaining amazons are?" Xena asked and hoped that her guess about Gabrielle and amazons was true.
The woman looked like she had been taken aback for a few moments then she swallowed and looked around the small glen as if she couldn't bear looking into Xena's eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about", she suddenly answered the catch in her voice betraying the enormous amount of emotions running through her. She began backing away from Xena.
"I am not out hunting amazons. I must find the Amazon nation. I know it has been hidden away somewhere, where the Romans won't find it", Xena said but remained standing trying to look a lot less threatening and as usual failing at it.
The woman backed even further away looking a lot like a frightened rabbit right before her chakram hit. "I am no amazon. I just speak the language because… because… Oh to Tarterus with it", she suddenly cursed, turned and ran away in a full dash.
Xena managed to raise one of her eyebrows and smile slightly before she somersaulted several times, jumped high in the air, corkscrewed and landed a few yards in front of the fleeing amazon.
The woman gasped in surprise and fell backwards on her butt to stop from crashing into the armor of Xena.
"Now there is no reason to run. I am not here to steal away the secret of the amazons or to reveal the truth about them. I am here, because my best friend is an amazon one of your queens as a matter of fact. I just came back from a trip to a faraway land and I came here to find her", Xena explained, while she helped the startled woman back onto her feet.
Still sounding suspicious the woman asked: "What is her name?"
Xena smiled and replied: "Oh, I hope you've heard of her. Her name is Gabrielle; she is also sometimes called the battling bard of Poteidaia". Xena watched with well hidden glee as the woman's eyes went wide and she gulped.
"If you're a friend of Queen Gabrielle then you truly are a friend to the amazons. I think I can help you find her. Why don't you come with me to my farm then I will tell you everything I know", she offered and pointed to the south.
"You have a farm?" Xena asked and looked at the smaller woman as they walked back towards her camp.
"I thought you knew that all amazons contrary to the rumors don't live in yurts. Anyway my daughter and I have to hide, who we truly are to the settlers, so we act like I am the widow of some brave legionnaire farming the lands given to my family as payment. My name is Mytilene by the way", the woman said, while Xena was busy packing up her camp, secretly hoping that Mytilene was a better cook than she was. Or that she was even luckier and Mytilene had a store of some better beverages than water.
The name of the amazon rattled around in Xena's brain, while they made their way back out of the forest and went towards a small farmstead that nestled against a hill surrounded by a few herds of sheep and a well kept and fenced garden out back. Suddenly Xena remembered the name from Gabrielle's journal about her adventure in Egypt.
"Say? Why were you out in the forest at this time?" Xena remembered to ask as they began the short walk towards the house.
"Oh, I was out checking a few of my traps and I always head up to the old village towards the end of my rounds. Call me nostalgic if you want, but I miss the other amazons a lot", Mytilene answered and shrugged.
They went into the barn and secured her horse and equipment. "Then why do you stay here?" Xena felt a little like Gabrielle asking this many questions but it had been quite a while since she had someone to talk to.
"Let me tell you my story and the story of the amazons leaving these forests for now", Mytilene offered and then suddenly held up a finger to indicate that they should be silent as they entered the common room of the farmhouse.
They walked inside and Mytilene indicated what looked like a two year old girl sleeping in a cozy bed near the fireplace. Mytilene guided Xena out into the kitchen and closed the heavy wooden door. "Do you mind if I make us some late dinner?" She asked and immediately set about making her words true juggling ingredients and smoked meat, while she told her story.
"You see I first met the queen, I mean Gabrielle, when I was still enslaved by the Romans. I had been captured by the forces of Livia some years ago and one of her commanders a man called…" Mytilene began and told the story of Gabrielle's adventures in Egypt from her perspective, while Xena listened intently not minding a bit that this motherly amazon told her a story she already knew.
"I went north almost immediately after we arrived in Greece, but I never made it home. I met this true bastard of a man, who knocked me out in a fight and then had his way with me. He gave me great pain and nightmares, but in a way I am grateful to him because a little later my little gem in the common room came into this world. Well I hadn't given birth yet, when the next problem came up. I had just settled down here finding to my surprise that my tribe had moved here over the years after my capture. I liked these forests even if the Greek amazons were a little too primitive and set in their ways for my taste, but I guess that is what you get from living with Romans for so long. Anyway the Romans were the problem again. You see a year earlier the Roman Emperor at the time had sent a large force into the Amazon forest to protect some religious figure and they had gotten very killed by Varia and her gang of primitives before Gabrielle and Xena… Wow there. You supposed to be dead", Mytilene stopped her story and looked over at the black haired woman.
"Yeah, well I got past that. That's why I am seeking Gabrielle. We haven't seen each other in years and we need to be together. We've always been incomplete without each other. But that is a story best told by Gabrielle. Please go on with yours", Xena begged hoping to avoid further discussion of the painful subject.
"Okay…. I can't believe I am talking to another legend, and then even one that is supposed to have died a few years ago. Oh, well that is life. Anyway the Romans showed up one day with some wild demand that we were to give them most of our land and swear our loyalty to the Roman Emperor or suffer the consequences. But the council never got to formulate a reply, the Romans just suddenly invaded our forests and soon there was about to be an all out war. Of course like she is, and I guess she has that from you. Gabrielle suddenly appeared out of nowhere stalked into the Roman camp, learned their battle strategy, freed all captured amazons and ruined the Roman catapults all before coming here to say hello. The other Queens were glad to place her in command of the unified amazon armies. Well I didn't get to see much of the struggle because I was highly pregnant at the time and was evacuated to the deep forest with the rest of the noncombatants. But I did hear that our army nearly massacred the Romans. We were originally outnumbered 5 to 1, but not a single Roman left the field and we barely lost a fifth of our warriors. I had never known that such a sweet and sensitive woman could cause so much carnage", Mytilene said and placed a bowl of food before Xena and went to get some wine.
While Mytilene was out of earshot, Xena whispered: "Neither did I, but then again she seems to have inherited most of my skills. I only hope that doesn't include inheriting my darkness".
"Well I do chatter don't I. Well I guess that is the effect of years of enforced silence in the presence of the roman dogs. Even now I have no one to talk to except the other amazons hiding in the area and of course you", Mytilene rambled between bites of food.
"So you defeated the Romans", Xena prompted.
"Defeated them, no, we obliterated them. Things went a little weird on the day of the battle. There were a few long meetings between the queens just after the battle. Then Varia challenged out of the blue challenged Gabrielle's demotion of her and Gabrielle's title giving no reason for her challenge. At least that was what we were told at first. But most of us guessed what had really been going between the two a little later. Anyway Gabrielle beat the crap out of Varia in a staff fight and suddenly she was even busier than when we had been preparing the battle with the Romans. Food, water, clothing, weapons and armor was suddenly in extreme demand. We were asked to trade, steal, gather and give all that we could. No one was allowed to give the dead on the field a proper burial and people were talking. Then when the questions began to get louder and angrier the queens dropped another surprise on us. They had decided that the Roman constituted a too great danger and that these forests were too exposed and hard to defend in the battles that would surely come in the future. The Amazon Nation needed move and all amazons who were loyal to their queens would follow. All they asked of anyone, who didn't want to come with them was that they cut all ties to the Amazon Nation, accepted that they no longer were apart of the Amazon Sisterhood and that they would not be told, where the rest of the amazons went. Privately a few of us, either unwilling to leave or unable as I was, were offered another option by Gabrielle. We were asked to remain here in hiding, and would be given knowledge on how to find the clues leading to the hiding place of the Amazon Nation and in turn we would give these clues to all amazons, who we believed were worthy and ready to go rejoin the tribes. I accepted Gabrielle offer immediately. Of course the moment my daughter is old enough to survive the trip we'll be heading out, but until then I stay here doing my duty", she explained while Xena listened intently.
The plan to hide sounded a lot like one of the more convoluted plans that Gabrielle usually came up with when she was given time to think. She would probably have sought a more permanent settlement with the Romans something that would have taught them that they really didn't need to see another amazon ever again. But therein lay one of the differences of her and Gabrielle.
"So do you know why Gabrielle's scrolls were returned to her sister a while back?" Xena asked hoping that the scrolls had been sent back from here, because it could mean that Gabrielle was close at hand.
"They were… I didn't know. Well last I saw them they were tied to the saddle of that completely white horse she rode around on", Mytilene answered and shrugged.
It was nearly midnight as they finished talking about the way to find the amazons, Gabrielle and what had happened here in the time Xena had been gone. Xena walked outside for a brief stroll in the starlit night. "I just got a whole lot closer to you", Xena whispered out into the cool air hoping that somewhere her bard would sense her words and keep up the hope of a happier life. Xena swore that it was time for one of those for the both of them. She could have a future if Gabrielle would accept that she shouldn't follow Xena's path but her own a path of peace that she should never have left. Smiling quietly to herself Xena walked out to her horse to get her bedroll. She would sleep warm to night. Already tomorrow she would continue her hunt her prey now seeming much closer. Briefly she wondered how Gabrielle had fared as the leader of a small army going into unknown lands.