CHAPTER 14
"And then—"
"Let me guess," Robin interrupted, "Xena saved the day?"
"How did you know?" Gabrielle's surprise shone on her face.
Robin just laughed. He'd heard a lot about Xena in the last couple of days.
How Xena did this, when Xena did that, what Xena did here, etc, etc. He was bemused. This Xena led as active a life as Batman did. In fact, the parallels between the two struck Robin as being uncanny. Being privy as he was to Batman's past, he was in a position to make the comparisons.
Both Bruce Wayne and Xena had lost loved ones when they were young. Bruce had seen his parents gunned down in front of him. Xena's brother, and most of her village, had fallen to the sword of a warlord. Both were plagued by feelings of guilt, feelings that they could have done something more, something different.
Both had embarked upon trips around the world, learning all they could about the fighting arts, and sundry other talents. Both used fear and intimidation to cower their foes. And as such, both required the restraining influence of a 'sidekick' in their lives to keep their darker sides in check. A light to balance the dark.
They even dressed similarly, in primarily dark colors. And they both had their distinctive symbols: for Xena the chakram, for Batman the Batarang.
The more Robin heard of Xena, the more he was amazed. But he kept all this to himself as he walked along with Gabrielle, listening to more of her tales.
It had been only a couple of days, but he had begun to form an opinion of this highly chatty, and slightly older, girl.
It was obvious that she'd led a pretty sheltered life until about a year ago. And she herself admitted the fact. She said her life hadn't really begun until she'd started traveling with Xena. To Robin's jaundiced eye, she was rather naïve. And in a possibly bad way.
While Tim had by no means been the worldliest of kids when he donned the Robin mantle, he'd held no illusions as to the nature of the job either. He'd gone into this eyes wide open, knowing full well the sort of hard choices he might be forced to make some day, and the ordeals he might have to go through.
Gabrielle, on the other hand, seemed blithely unaware, almost indifferent, to them. And to Robin, that spelled a recipe for disaster.
Both he and Gabrielle were costumed adventurers, and as such, Robin knew that in their chosen avocation things happen - sometimes very bad things.
Death and maiming were common. Relationships can break down, loved ones leave, friends become foes. Hostages don't get rescued in time or antidotes are too late. He could give a thousand instances where things go wrong, but all this went with the territory, and it was something most people knew when they put on the suit.
Only, Gabrielle didn't - and no one had told her. In Robin's opinion, she was ill equipped to handle it if something major happened. The fact that nothing had yet was a miracle in itself.
Gabrielle struck him as being extremely sensitive, and also blind to the realities of the situation she was in. She went around with rose colored glasses on, so to speak, and one day those glasses would shatter and she'd have to face reality for the harsh fact that it could sometimes be. Unprepared, it would do her irreversible harm.
It was like she was traveling down a path filled with pitfalls with her eyes closed, and only by some miraculous chance had she avoided falling down so far. But the longer luck held out, the more devastating it would be when she finally fell.
She was too gentle, too vulnerable, to endure the rigors and pitfalls of this business. It took more than fighting skills and a naive sense of righteousness to be in 'the game'. It took a complete understanding of what was at stake, and an ability to find within oneself the means to weather the storm. He didn't think Gabrielle had that. Oh, she might survive the 'rude awakening', but she'd never again be the same, of that Robin was sure.
This Xena was partly to blame, Robin thought hotly. As Gabrielle's mentor, it was her responsibility to instill these values and understandings in Gabrielle, but she hadn't. It seemed to Robin that she was using Gabrielle in a way, keeping her as an embodiment of 'innocence' to draw from, while threatening the very thing itself in doing so.
It was selfish to risk Gabrielle's mental health and well being just to satisfy one's wish fulfillment. The longer Xena kept Gabrielle in the dark about the truths of their occupation, the closer she came to losing the very thing in the bard that she so cherished.
Innocence without knowledge is naiveté. And naiveté leads to suffering down the road. For everybody. Gabrielle's situation was a time bomb waiting to explode.
"Look," he finally said, after they'd stopped to make camp, their third night together. "Do you know what you've gotten yourself into?"
Sitting down on a nearby rock, Gabrielle frowned, "What do you mean?"
"About this," he indicated the camp, the woods around them, everything. "Going around the countryside, 'righting wrongs and singings songs'. The risks involved."
"Oh, those…" Gabrielle snorted. "It's not like there's a warlord behind every tree. And besides, Xena's taught me so much since I've been with her." Her eyes glistened with pride.
"And I'm learning more every day. Pretty soon I'll be able to take on whole armies." Grinning, she took her staff and pantomimed fending off a large host of foes.
In her excitement, she overreached and tripped herself up. Smiling sheepishly, she made her way back to her seat, none the worse for wear. But to Robin, the display only exemplified just how 'green' and unprepared Gabrielle was.
This wasn't a game, the way of life they had chosen. If you weren't cut out for it, you'd get killed - or worse. Frustrated, he let the subject drop. But it would not be the last time he broached it.
"So, tell me more about yourself." Gabrielle requested, after they'd fed themselves and had begun to stare at the fire.
"Me?" Robin responded. "You could say I'm a kind of squire…" He'd decided he'd level with Gabrielle… after a fashion.
"'Squire'?" She mulled over the unfamiliar word.
"A sort of friend-slash-confidant-slash-helper to a knight."
"Knight?" Again, the bard's features screwed up in puzzlement.
"A kind of warrior."
At that, Gabrielle's face lit up. "Like me and Xena! Wow, really? 'Squire'…"
***
The army had suddenly veered north for no apparent reason. The development troubled Batman. Up till now, it had appeared the Joker, and the mob he was keeping company with, were heading west, seemingly to the coast.
But now they were headed north. Why, he didn't know, but he'd follow them all the same. He'd been able to make good time and was gaining ground. It wouldn't be long until he caught up with them. And then, he flexed his hand, the devastation he'd been witness to would end.
***
Xena didn't know what to make of this most recent development.
Callisto had been on a steady westward march across Greece, yet as of the last village she attacked, she had gone north. Why north? There were richer pickings to the south and east. Even her original westward trail held more opportunities.
Xena couldn't think of what Callisto could want up north. In fact, the only thing Xena could think of in that direction that was worth mention was…
Xena's eyes widened in horror.
"Gabrielle…" And with that half moan, half exclamation, she spurred Argo on to even greater speeds.
***
He'd never been much of one with maps, so it wasn't till the afternoon that the Joker realized they had changed direction. Urging his horse forward, he came to a trot beside Callisto.
"I thought we were going west," he said, jerking a thumb in what he hoped was the right direction.
"Change of plans," she replied coolly. "I recognized where we were, so we're heading north."
"Not that it's any of my business," the Joker said ruefully, "but what's up north?"
"The question is what will be."
"Okay, I'll bite. What 'will be' up north?"
"Xena…"