"Gabrielle", a voice screamed nearby. The blond jumped bleary eyed from her sleep warm bed. She had come home late in the evening from the new construction project that she had started and had barely gotten five candlemarks of sleep. Still the voice had been full of alarm. The sound of metal meeting metal told her that her guards had stopped whoever it was from entering her abode. Quickly she dressed in the rich red set of clothing that her subjects had given her as a gift a few weeks ago, it was kind of the royal version of the red dress she had been traveling in for years. She continually asked them to not give such expensive gifts, but they continued to ignore her claiming that even if she didn't want to she was their queen and they had all right to demand that she was properly dressed for her station. She had at least managed to stop them from giving her a crown.
Quickly she put the Chakram into its customary place on her hip and placed the Sais into their sheaths on her tall boots. Quickly she poured a large amount of water over her sleep tousled hair. "Let her in", Gabrielle commanded and approached the door, while she tried to arrange her hair properly.
Deirdre stepped into her tent, she seemed out of breath and slightly pale. "Gabrielle there is a problem", she stopped to swallow, while Gabrielle waited in silence smiling encouragingly. Gabrielle had after months of work gotten her relationship with Deirdre back on track now all she had to do was get the rest of the so called royal guard back on the ground.
"One of the hunters just came back. She claims to be the last survivor of the entire hunting party that went out three days ago", Deirdre explained.
"That was Yakut's hunting party wasn't it? Where is the survivor?" Gabrielle asked and ran towards the door.
"Yes and Yakut is already in the healers house", Deirdre explained and looked as her queen sprinted away her powerful leg muscles carrying her away much faster than she could ever hope to catch up with.
A little later Gabrielle stood before the assembled council. "It appears that a large band of men fell upon the hunting party and subdued them. Yakut herself managed to fight her way free, but she was severely wounded so there was no way for her to save her sisters from the brutes. She describes them as dressed in animal skins, having only primitive weapons and no horses. There were about 15 of them. We cannot allow such men to take our sisters captive, so I put before the council that a war party is formed with the task to free our sisters from their captors and remove them from our lands", Gabrielle paced as she explained the matter to the council.
All around her the queens looked from one to another. "I guess this place isn't as safe as I promised it to be. I am sorry", Gabrielle looked genuinely unhappy about what the most of them considered a small matter.
"I will lead the war party", the queen of the tribe that had come from the British Isles volunteered.
Gabrielle nearly cursed out loud, she had hoped to lead the party herself, but there was no way she could do that now. "I was hoping to do it", Gabrielle said in a quiet voice.
"No my queen this small matter should not concern you. I am more than capable of handling this", the queen retorted. Gabrielle knew from her previous dealings with the stubborn woman that if she pressed the issue she would only make her angry. It could become a political problem right now, as she was enacting some rather controversial law changes on the subject of having men inside the Amazon Nation. She needed to stay on that queen's good side as she was held in regard by some of the more shortsighted, young and idealistic amazon queens.
"Maybe that is a good idea. I am busy enough as is", she admitted without lying. Ruling was more of a job than she had imagined. In the past she had never really managed to get in the middle of it before her life with Xena had taken her away again. She liked it and she had seen with her own eyes that her decisions made other people's lives better, but still her wanderlust was stirring more each day and she felt like her development was standing still for the first time in a long while. But maybe she had reached a point where she was ready to settle down. She had felt ready once before just after Eve's birth, but Xena hadn't been ready and it had taken until the last weeks of their time together before she had seen any indication of Xena tiring of the life on the road. Problem was that these days Gabrielle would much rather be traveling around than staying here governing her people, handling politics and sometimes despairing at the almost childlike stupidity and conservatism shown by otherwise intelligent people that she saw day by day.
Soon she was back in her hut using the ample room for another the countless combat drills that she completed every day just to stay sharp. Sometimes she trained with Cyane, Deirdre or Varia getting them to fight her almost for just to have some of her edge remaining in the case of her having to fight for real. Combined with the workout she gave herself every day she was in the best state of health ever. Although she would never admit it even to herself, she missed the constant threat of being a traveling hero and she had missed it ever since she had gotten her own house in the town she had founded. Outside her hut the war party rode off into the warm afternoon seeking their new enemies. Gabrielle sat down at her table to look at the first instances of paperwork that the increasing civilization of the amazons had created. She wondered sometimes if it was a blessing or a curse.
It was nearly midnight. Gabrielle slept fitfully in the middle of another of her nightmares that still plagued most of her nights even in these peaceful times, when suddenly alarmed voices woke her up. Quickly she called up her ability to listen for sounds and piece them together. Horses were whinnying, women were groaning, the sound of metal banging against leather and metal studs, angry curses being uttered and the voice of one of their healers crying out in dismay. Their war party had returned and they had been beaten. Gabrielle felt a chill go down her spine. Forty warriors had ridden out this afternoon. For them to be beaten their enemy would have to be strong, organized and clever no matter their weapons and look. Gabrielle quickly dressed summoning a strength and endurance that she hadn't needed for nearly two months now. Before she left her hut she added a long amazon knife like the one she had carried at Helicon to her array of weaponry and walked out of her hut.
"Someone tell me what happened!" She demanded as she stepped up to two warriors that only looked a little tired aside from a few cuts and bruises. They both snapped to attention, when they saw their little high queen in full combat attire appear before them.
"The enemy was a lot more numerous than expected. The trackers followed their tracks out onto the plains, where they seemed to have made camp. We came upon them as they were eating our sisters…" The woman grew pale and swallowed hard.
Gabrielle nodded understanding her reaction. She had met and fought varying degrees of cannibals over the years and they made eerie enemies as you knew that if you lost you were likely to become their food.
"We attacked, but just as we were about to dispatch the last of those swine a much larger group on horseback arrived. They fell upon us from each side and captured many. They were naturally out to get live prisoners. Only 12 of us got away, the queen and her retainers seemed ready to fight to the last, when she commanded us to get back here and warn you. They will probably follow our tracks back here soon", the tired looking warrior explained.
Gabrielle nodded grimly and stalked off to awake the entire village. There was a war in the offing and those barbarians had thrown the gauntlet at the feet of the wrong enemy. The thought of the queen a person she knew well being eaten by those disgusting creatures awoke a fire in her she hadn't felt since she had faced off against Dareios. Those barbarians very existence filled her with revulsion and anger.
A few days later in the outskirts of the amazon forest Gabrielle lay hidden in a ditch besides a small group of her most loyal warriors. "Okay, listen to me. Our enemy hasn't dared to enter forest yet and we want them to. We have all of these nice little traps all setup and awaiting them and I am sure Varia and the main army as well as Cyane and her archers are getting anxious to show those bastards out there what happens when you mess with the amazons. Now I have a plan to lure them in. It does however require some fast runners, which is why I chose you guys. I won't command you to do this and I understand if you don't want to do this. But I ask you to sneak out there, find a good spot, where their scouts can see you and set up a false camp and when they come after you to flee for your life instead of fighting. You're bait. They must be running low on amazons by now and I am guessing that they'll jump at the chance of capturing some for free. And don't forget where the traps are, we're using a lethal poison this time. Just get them to the battlefield we will take of them", she explained and looked around at the handpicked women, who she knew were the fastest runners of all her warriors.
"Will you do it?" She asked and looked from woman to woman. They each nodded in turn not one even seemed to contemplate the horrible fate that would await them if they were caught.
Gabrielle thanked them each and set off to find Deirdre and her cavalry. The plan was that they would attack the right flank of their enemy boxing them in between a hill and the amazon army if her bait could lure them into the right spot. Hopefully the cannibals would be sufficiently decimated to never become a problem again.
Gabrielle felt another pang of regret and guilt over bringing the amazons to another place where they would have to fight to protect their homeland. It seemed to her that she hadn't been any help to them after all but only postponed the troubles of her people.
Soon she caught sight of her cavalry carefully hidden out of sight of the stretch of grassland within the forest she had chosen as the battlefield. Without exchanging anything but a friendly glance with her soldiers she mounted Ghost and began to wait for their signal to attack.
Suddenly they all saw something unexpected. One of the runners she had sent out came barreling out of the forest right in front of them. She was bleeding profuse. "I failed you my queen", she stammered and fell over a dart from one of their traps stuck in her side. Gabrielle gasped as she heard the approach of the enemy. They were coming towards them. If they let them pass they would come upon one of their villages within a few minutes her plan had failed.
"Kati, ride! Get the army here, we'll hold them here", she commanded and sighed.
"Everyone we must stop them here or our sisters and their children will feed these beasts tonight. Forward!" She spurred Ghost into a gallop and rode into the forest knowing that her cavalry would not be far behind. In her hand she held her blade knowing full well that the Sai were not adequate weapons for mounted combat.
One of the barbarians rushed towards her on his black steed. The powerful muscles of Ghost send her towards him at high speed.
He held out a sharpened bone club ready himself for their meeting.
Gabrielle mirrored him holding her weapon. They rode ever closer.
Suddenly at the last moment Gabrielle ducked backwards in her saddle seeing his weapon gliding harmlessly past overhead while she felt her long dagger slide across the side of his horse and his leg. Both man and horse disappeared behind her. Her hearing informed her of his horse's demise in a messy tumble and the resounding crack of his neck braking ensuring her that he joined it.
Gabrielle rose to sit again and found her looking up a hill, where a large man sat astride on what could only be their equivalent of a warhorse. She immediately knew that this man was the leader of this band of warriors and she was pretty sure he saw the same in her.
Three of his mounted warriors stood between her and him. She didn't care.
They rode forward crying out in a grim warcry ready to slaughter her.
Gabrielle answered their charge by stopping Ghost abruptly launching herself into a high air tumble landing behind the surprised warriors.
They began wheeling their horses around.
Gabrielle snatched the Chakram from her belt and flung it sideways at an angle. It split in two as it rebounded on a large stone.
The warriors charged forward.
The Chakram halves flew into the uneven group slicing through armor and flesh, killing two, rebounding on trees and stones for a moment until they reunited in the air and sunk into the chest of the third.
But Gabrielle only heard the Chakram do its thing. She was facing the large man as he stared at the defiant woman who had carelessly dispatched his bodyguard. He cried a challenge in a language that reminded Gabrielle of the Pomira and held a huge club full of long bone spikes high. She just remained standing, while carefully sheathing her dagger and drawing her Sais. He roared with anger revealing his yellowed sharpened teeth and charged towards her.
Gabrielle saw the large man on his equally large horse thunder towards her. She felt each step of the horse in the ground as he rode towards her with the sun shining through the trees at his back. He got very close.
Suddenly Gabrielle threw herself to the side making his huge club sail past the place she had previously occupied. Gabrielle rolled to her feet and threw her Sais at his back with disgust not even wanting to engage in a fair fight with the leader of these disgusting men. They embedded themselves to the guards into his back and he slumped forward dead before he touched the front of his saddle.
But Gabrielle didn't feel happy or relieved as she looked out of the battlefield. The army was coming to their rescue, but her warriors were already engaged with the numerically superior enemy. People she knew well, her friends were in mortal danger. She rushed forward retrieving the Chakram as she went.
She saw Deirdre, who had dismounted to fight two men with her axes to her left and she moved in that direction, while looking for the dead leader, whose horse and owner rode around with her Sais somewhere in this chaos.
She smiled with relief, while kicking one of the barbarians in the groin, as Deirdre dispatched the last of her enemies. Gabrielle focused on her enemy, kicking him in the side, barely dodging one of his stabs with his bone weapon and finally downing with a clever combination of a kick to his knee followed by sliding the dagger across the back of his exposed neck.
She turned and suddenly everything seemed to move in slow motion. All around her the barbarians began to notice the arriving amazon army. She looked forward at Deirdre seeing her raise an axe in happy greeting towards her sisters, when suddenly she became aware of the thundering ground. She turned her head to the side and saw a large warhorse and its rider move rapidly towards her, the rider swinging another one of those massive bone spiked clubs in his left hand. She was ready for him. Suddenly a black haired blur moved in between her and her enemy. She beheld in excruciating how Deirdre only managed to turn her head her eyes apologizing for her action before he passed her, hammering his weapon with all his might into the side of her black haired friends head. It seemed to collapse on itself and a lot of it was torn off carried off by the spiky club. He passed harmlessly by her.
Something in the back of her mind seemed to burst. Like a dam had collapsed she felt a wave of sorrow and seething rage crash down on her consciousness. She saw the death of Perdicus as she could only look on. She was chilled by the look in the eyes of her daughter as her monstrous grandson killed his mother. She saw Eli die at Ares' sword as she stood by doing nothing. She saw the pointless death of Joxer at the hand of Livia. She saw the vision of Xena being beheaded by a samurai and she saw the beheaded body hanging before her illuminated by lightning. Her entire world seemed to descend into a red haze. A warcry just like the one uttered by Callisto many years ago, a cry of rage, a cry demanding vengeance echoed throughout the immense forest. Everything became a blur of movement a blur of images and so much blood. Blood that cooled her raging heart covered it and weighed it down. She let her anger guide her turning herself into an angel of death that made the title of Xena's successor mean something more than an empty honorific for a hero. And then every indication of rational thought seemed to abandon her.
A few hours later…
Varia looked out of the carnage of dead amazons and barbarians that filled the battlefield and shuddered. They were tallying up the deaths now and the numbers were horrific. Most if not all of Gabrielle's cavalry was dead. The infantry and the archers had lost about a 12th of their number, but it seemed from the reports of the scouts that none of the cannibals had escaped from the battlefield.
But the cost could very well be terrible for the entire nation. No one had any idea what had happened to Gabrielle after she had lead the hopeless charge against the barbarian force that by chance had chosen the wrong path into their forest. If the queen had died the entire nation would be thrown out into chaos. There was no clear cut leader right now and many of the new ideas implemented by Gabrielle needed her around to smooth over the troubles that they were causing with the more conservative amazons. It only made things worse that they had found her Sais imbedded in the back of some warrior, but with no Queen Gabrielle nearby to claim them. Rumors of her demise were growing by the minute.
"Queen Varia look", one of her scouts said as a horrific figure stumbled towards them crawling out of a mass of dead horses and men. It held the two halves of the Chakram one in each hand. It looked like it was covered in blood and gore, but as she came closer. Varia recognized the form of her queen beneath the disgusting cover. However her eyes looked up at her and were completely empty. They were devoid of both recognition and emotion; it was as if the brilliant soul that used to reside inside had left.
One of the amazons approached her slowly. "My queen, are you hurt?" She asked. She didn't expect the woman's reaction however. Gabrielle dropped the two halves of the Chakram and fell into her arms, crying in anguish.
Varia didn't fully understand yet, but she ordered the amazons nearby to take the queen back to the central village immediately, clean her up and have the healers look at her. They were also given strict orders not to tell anyone of the queen's condition and she asked them to tell the healers the same. The chaos of not having Gabrielle around would be inevitable now she realized and shuddered at the thought of those empty soulless eyes.