After Xena threw her out, Gabrielle returned to her tent. The side of her face ached and was starting to swell. She held her jaw in her hands as she stumbled into the small confines of her own tent, wondering how it was that she could still feel such terrible pity for Xena. Even though the Dark Conqueror had struck her and frightened her—even though Gabrielle had heard her give the order to kill the prisoners with her own ears, and had only just been able to dissuade her—Even after all that…. An awful sorrow caught her in its grip, choking her, and tears prickled at the back of her eyelids.
The look on her face. She could still see Xena's eyes when the Destroyer of Nations had raged at her, could see the pain and desperate, trapped hear the ache in her voice. It's too late for me, don't you see? The yearning, when Xena had repeated after her, Anyone can change….
Her soulmate…. The thrill that had run through Gabrielle's body when Xena had said that word still tingled along her nerves. She had forgotten to breathe, standing there feeling as if someone had reached inside her chest and brushed her heart. Xena's soulmate…. Could it be true? Was that why she had felt like that? Because when she had said that, it was almost as if— Maybe that's how her other girls betrayed her, Gabrielle thought dizzily. Maybe they did something to disappoint her, or to make her think…And Callisto…. What must it have taken to make Xena wonder if one of her two greatest rivals could have been her soulmate? Oh, Xena….
What am I going to do?
Her head was hurting, and Gabrielle could feel that her thoughts were a mess; she was exhausted, wrung out physically and emotionally. A wave of weariness was rolling over her, dragging at her limbs. Sleep. I have to sleep. I'll think of it all tomorrow….Oh, Xena….
She lay down on her little bed and closed her eyes. A wave of sleep rolled over her, drowning her. Her last thoughts were of the Destroyer of Nations.
A rough shaking pulled her rudely out of sleep. Opening her eyes to the dim gray half-light of early dawn, she blinked blearily up to see a soldier standing over her, fully armored. He was shaking her shoulder.
"Wake up," he ordered her harshly. "Dark Conqueror's orders."
Dark Conqueror's orders…. Gabrielle quickly sat up in the dull interior of the tent, colorless and shadowed in the early morning light. "What's going on?" she asked, blinking at him and squinting. "Does Xena want me to—"
The soldier paid her no heed. He was older than she, close to Xena's age. "The Dark Conqueror's scouts just arrived in. They brought news that the Bright Warrior has been spotted moving in this direction with a large force of men. The Daughter of War believes that Callisto the Fiery is going to try an assault on this position and has ridden out to engage her. I was sent with orders for you to report to the center of the encampment and to remain there until the all-clear is given." He straightened up, clearly waiting for her impatiently.
Callisto the Fiery…. The words lashed Gabrielle's heart like a goad, and sent her scrambling out of bed, hurrying to lace up her sandals with fingers that trembled. Callisto…. Almost the moment she was done, the soldier gripped her arm, drawing her after him out of the tent and herding him before her into the cold, dank morning air.
A strange air of tension hung over the encampment, one that Gabrielle had not noticed before; she could sense it in the quick, taut strides of the men she passed hurrying through the lanes of the camp, in their hushed, clipped conversations. When she reached the square, she saw that she was not alone. The packed earth space was filled with men and women of all stripes—she guessed intuitively that they were noncombatants, cooks and horse-doctors and the like, various support personnel who kept Xena's army running. She saw the healers on the north side of the square, including the short, scarred Krannax; he had a large, ugly knife thrust through his belt that Gabrielle knew he was not going to use in surgery. Soldiers were everywhere, in arms and armor, spaced around the perimeter of the square; Gabrielle realized these men must be there to protect the support staff, although in her frightened state it looked more as if they were holding the men and women prisoner. The man who had brought Gabrielle there had vanished, and there was no one for her to talk to; she looked around for Pallonia, but didn't see her. She was not sure what to do, when her eyes fell on the hideous Dragon Throne; she saw the slave was chained to the base of it again, sitting up and watching the events in the square before him with disdain. She bit her lip, then pushed her way through the crowd and approached him hesitantly.
"What's going on?" she asked him.
He glanced up at her briefly, as if she were not worthy of a longer look. "You're here?" His eyes returned to roaming the square. She wondered what he was looking for.
"What's happening?" she asked again.
"You're asking me?" One dark brow went up, and he gave her a coolly superior look, then seemed to dismiss her. Gabrielle stared at him, feeling angry.
"If you don't know, then that's all right," she improvised cannily. "I'm sure that whatever a slave could know wouldn't be that helpful anyway—"
Oh, that got his attention, she thought, seeing his dark eyes flash with anger. He did not like being called a slave. When he spoke, his voice was tight, his words clipped and metallic. "Xena rode out an hour ago. To engage the Bright Warrior. We've been waiting here since. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"
"Has—has she sent word back since she rode out?" Gabrielle ventured.
The slave looked away. "No."
"When will she be back?"
"Never, if Callisto gets lucky." Gabrielle thought she picked up an undercurrent of anger in his words, though at whom or for what, she did not know.
"What are we supposed to do while she's gone? Does she—are there duties that we're supposed to carry out—"
"Why do you keep asking so many questions?" He glared at her. "If you want something to do, why don't you start by trying to be silent and leaving me alone? All any of us can do now is wait, and that includes you, little girl."
Chagrined, Gabrielle fell silent; the slave settled his head down on his chained arms, ignoring her.
They waited. A hush hung over the entire assembly ground, in the dim gray light of just after dawn. The soldiers fidgeted, their armor clinking as they shifted position; the civilians in the center of the square waited, tense. Gabrielle saw that not a few of them were armed, including most if not all of Krannax's healers; the healers looked more as if they were ready for battle than for healing. Much like the rest of Xena's army…. Gabrielle waited, though along with the rest of them, she had no idea what they were waiting for.
She didn't know how long they had stood there. It might have been an hour, or only a few minutes; time seemed to have slowed to a crawl. They waited, but Gabrielle had no idea what they were waiting for. From time to time she would glance over at the slave, but he paid her no attention whatsoever, leaning sullenly against the base of the throne to which he was chained, watching the traffic in the square.
Suddenly, she heard it. "They're coming!" It seemed as if she had been hearing it all along—the clash of metal on metal, the screams and cries and shouts of battle. They're coming, Gabrielle thought. Gods, they're coming. She retreated toward the throne instinctively, tensing in fear of what was to come. At least during the assault on Athens, she'd been able to hide in the basement; here, she had no such protection.
The soldiers burst onto the scene in a torrent of combat; suddenly, the camp was full of armed and armored men hacking and slashing at each other, so that Gabrielle did not know which way to look, what to prepare for. The men who had been guarding the civilians were engaged at once, striking at their foes, but the tide of battle was too much for them; the lines collapsed into a swirling sea. It seemed that everywhere was confusion. Gabrielle saw men and women fighting, armed, unarmed, with swords, knives, whatever weapons came to hand; she could not tell Xena's men from Callisto's, and had a flash of wonder how they themselves knew, before it was subsumed with fear. At least no one seemed to be targeting her—probably because I'm unarmed and not a threat, she thought, and knew that she could not trust that to hold long; quickly, trembling, she scrambled back against Xena's Dragon Throne, hoping for the protection of the Dark Conqueror.
All was chaos. The square was full of battle. Gabrielle was struggling to impress it on her memory, thinking she might be able to use the scene in an epic, when she heard it—a high, trilling call of a sort that she had never heard before.
Xena! Gabrielle had no idea how she knew that, but she did, and she was right. Her head jerked in the direction of the call, just in time to see it—in a thunder of hoofbeats, sweeping down the main avenue at incredible speed, came the Dark Conqueror, and right on her heels, a blonde woman who was so striking that Gabrielle knew she had to be the Bright Warrior.
It was the first time Gabrielle had ever seen Callisto, though it would not be the last, and she was mesmerizing. Callisto the Fiery was the Dark Conqueror's equal for beauty and presence. Gabrielle saw at once why she was called the Bright Warrior; everything about her gleamed, as keen and beautiful and deadly as light on the edge of a blade. Her wide brown eyes were luminous and shining, a smile of sheer, child-like delight spread across her face. She could have been a girl playing with her puppy, instead of a warrior chasing her mortal enemy. Her brilliant blonde hair streamed behind her, a perfect contrast to the Daughter of War's raven tresses. As the two women came together in battle, Gabrielle could not look away.
The two women pounded furiously into the midst of the square, side-by-side, trading blows. With a piercing, drilling shriek that cut across the commotion of the battlefield and Xena's trilling warcry, Callisto leapt from her horse. Xena launched herself from Argo's back at the same moment, and the two conquerors crossed in the air, their swords clashing with the ring of metal on metal. They were striking at each other even before their feet touched the ground at the same moment.
Gabrielle's heart was in her throat. She had forgotten to breathe, forgotten where she was, forgotten the slave at her feet, forgotten everything but the combat taking place in the middle of the assembly area. She was captivated by the scene before her. Here was an opportunity such as came to a bard perhaps once in a lifetime—a duel between two of the three mightiest warlords in the world—and it was spectacular. As the two women struck at each other, exchanging blows any one of which would have felled scores of lesser mortals, it seemed as if everything else around them faded too—the struggle between the two armies, the shouts and cries, the clashes of arms—it all fell away. It was here that this battle would be decided, and there was not a soul witnessing it who did not know it.
And what a battle it was. The two women traded blow for blow, leap for leap, strike for strike, both invincible, both invulnerable. It was clear to see that they were evenly matched, throwing off such power that it seemed impossible they could be merely human; they seemed not mortal women but titanic, elemental forces of darkness and flames, striving with each other on the field of battle. Callisto fought with manic, frenetic intensity, all wide eyes and gleaming grinning delight, yelping and yipping as she exerted herself against her opponent; the Dark Conqueror was doggedly determined in the face of that glee, her eyes veiled, her jaw set. She looked….
….Betrayed, Gabrielle realized with a flash of insight. She remembered Xena's words of the night before, and drew in her breath. She looks betrayed.
"Oh, Xena!" Callisto gushed ecstatically, leaping out of the way of a strike; her head rocked on her neck and she gave a childlike giggle. "Oh, Xena, you're so good….How I've missed you!" She giggled again, rich and throaty. Xena drove at her hard, but Callisto evaded easily, with a squeal of delight, and aimed a swat at the Dark Conqueror's back.
Xena swung to face her barely in time, catching the Bright Warrior's blade on her own; her jaw tightened further as she reeled slightly under Callisto's sudden attack. Callisto threw her backward and took a step back herself, sword raised in guard position, looking suddenly sorrowful.
"What's the matter, Xena?" Callisto asked softly, her eyes and voice filled with what appeared to be genuine concern. "Not having a good day?" A sparkle flickered in the Fiery Warrior's eyes. "Are you having some sort of problem with me? My, my—what could it possibly be?" And that sparkle grew stronger.
Xena's face set like stone, and she lunged at Callisto again. There was a savage, brutal anger in that strike, though Callisto laughed again as she swayed out of the way. She did not stop talking. "Let's see, what could you possibly have against me? That I defeated you? No, that couldn't possibly be it. I did ambush you yesterday, there is that….wiped out most of your expeditionary force, too—is that it? What could it be?" She tilted her head appealingly. "I can't seem to think of anything. Can you tell me?"
With a snarl, the Destroyer of Nations charged; Callisto's eyes widened; she flung herself to one side, and Xena missed her by a hairsbreadth. Xena's eyes were utterly dark; Gabrielle tore her attention away from the battle to glance down at the slave, checking his reaction. He seemed as mesmerized as she was.
"You killed my mother!" The pain in Xena's cry rang across the battlefield.
"I did." There was no triumph in Callisto's voice; her words were soft. "I had to. We're even now, don't you see, Xena?" She stood with her sword at guard, and was facing the Destroyer of Nations almost as if talking to an old friend. Then she tilted her head. "We're even. You killed my mother, and I killed yours. That's the way it works—a die for a die."
Xena had paused too, putting up her own sword. That look of betrayal had not left her face. "She never did anything to you— Why!"
"Why do you think?" Callisto's eyes were bright, her smile sharp as a blade. "There's a bond between us now, Xena. A bond that can never be broken, something special that we will always share. I know your feelings, just like you know mine—we share each other's pain. I am you now, Xena, and you are me, down to the very soul." Her smile grew wider, brighter. "Isn't that worth losing your mother—to gain your soulmate?"
With a savage cry, Xena charged.
Callisto's blade leapt up to meet hers, and metal rang against metal with such force that Gabrielle was amazed the weapons did not shatter in their wielders' hands. Xena was striking harder and harder, raw savagery in her every movement, but Callisto turned each blow, laughing, eyes bright. The Fiery Warrior began to strike back, and Gabrielle was amazed to see the Dark Conqueror giving way before her, being driven back across the square seemingly inexorably. There was a grim, desperate fury on Xena's face as she fought—the desperation of a trapped animal brought to bay; it stood out even more against Callisto's manic glee. Gabrielle heard herself gasp as Xena fell back; she pressed closer to the side of the Dragon Throne. "She can't—she can't lose, can she?" and it was not until she heard the slave's snarled, "Shut up!" that she realized she had spoken her thoughts aloud.
Callisto lunged, and Xena reeled, swayed and stumbled, almost falling; for a moment it looked critical. Then the Destroyer of Nations gathered her feet under her and rallied. She beat Callisto back, advancing farther and farther, her aura swirling around her like darkness. Her eyes were utterly without light. Boiling with fury, she struck at Callisto again and again, harder, faster, and now it was the Bright Warrior who strove to turn Xena's blows. She faltered, and Xena charged in, blade whirling. Callisto's brown eyes widened.
"Callisto!" Xena shouted.
As Xena surged toward her, Callisto shot a glance over her shoulder. Her eyes caught Gabrielle's—and Gabrielle could have sworn, even at that moment, that she saw Callisto wink. As the Dark Conqueror attacked, Callisto gave a shriek and launched herself into a leap, straight toward the Dragon Throne.
The leap carried her far out of Xena's reach and the entire length of the assembly ground. Gabrielle froze in terror as the Bright Warrior struck the ground in front of her and the slave, her grin broad and keen as a knife blade.
"Well, hello there," she purred, glancing brightly back and forth between the two of them. "I see Xena's hauled her useless crippled bedwarmer out for the occasion—" her eyes gleamed as she looked at the slave "—but who's this? Are you Xena's latest girl?"
Gabrielle had no time to react. Callisto reached out and grabbed her. The Fiery Warrior's grip was like iron as she pulled Gabrielle into an embrace, swinging her around so that Xena could see the two of them from across the square and laying her blade at Gabrielle's throat. Gabrielle went still in fear as she felt its keen edge against her skin. "Xena! I've got your girl! Oh Xeeeeeenaaa!" she heard Callisto cry, delightedly. "Look what I'm doing!"
"You leave her ALONE!"
The Dark Conqueror's shout rang in the air. Gabrielle could see the panicked fury on her face all the way from where she stood; the sight of Xena looking so sent her pulse into the stratosphere. The distance had gone; Xena's blue eyes blazed at the sight of the bard and the Bright Warrior.
"Who's going to make me? You?" Callisto taunted. "Stop me, Xena!" she challenged. "Can you? Can you?" She laughed again, a clear, bright sound, tilting her head back and shaking her hair down her back. Almost too fast to see, Xena snatched her chakram from her waist and hurled it.
It came within a hairsbreadth of clipping Gabrielle's head; later Gabrielle would realize if she had so much as flinched, it would have split her skull. Callisto jerked back from the whirring disk in startlement, and put out a hand; she snatched the circle of metal from the air, but as she did, she threw Gabrielle from her by reflex. Gabrielle flung herself forward, falling to the ground on her hands and knees, then rolling away from Callisto to fetch up against the base of the throne, almost next to the slave, who scrambled away from her. She heard Xena's trilling warcry as the Warrior Princess launched herself, but had no time to look; with a shriek of outrage, Callisto whirled on Gabrielle, and raised her sword. Gabrielle could make no defense; she was disoriented, and could only watch as the sword rose above her. Callisto stabbed savagely downwards—Gabrielle flinched back; she heard Xena's warcry, closer; she felt a rush of air against her face—
—and Xena was there, between them. Callisto's blade slid into her gut.
What?
Time stopped. The sound seemed to go out of the world, as the color fled Xena's face; her sword clattered to the ground, unnoticed. Callisto had gone still, her eyes wide and luminous with shock. Convulsively, the Bright Warrior released her grip on her weapon, leaving it sticking out of Xena's body; she looked disbelieving, almost frightened of what she had done. Her eyes went, almost pleadingly, from Xena to Gabrielle and back; Gabrielle stared back at her in horror. She could not breathe. She was shaking, desperately trying to realize what had just happened. It can't be…it can't be….it can't be—
"Xena!"
That hoarse cry came from the slave. He had gone chalk white, his eyes huge and dark in that deathly pale face. He looked, in that first moment, as if his heart had been ripped out of his body; the chains rattled as he threw himself forward, striving to reach her. He could not. Xena crumpled, as if she were a marionette whose strings had been cut; Gabrielle caught her. Xena was too heavy for her; she reeled and almost fell, striving for balance. Her knees buckled under the weight. I can't hold her!
Then, Callisto was there beside her, taking Xena in her arms, sharing the burden. Their eyes met over Xena's head, and Gabrielle could see that Callisto looked stricken, lost. Gabrielle saw desolation in her eyes. Together, they lowered the fallen conqueror to the ground, bearing her on their laps.
Xena was still breathing, Gabrielle saw, and saw also in despair that it was hopeless; she knew enough from her healing training to know that the wound Callisto had given her was fatal. She saved my life…she saved my life and it killed her— Gabrielle felt tears on her face. "Xena, why did you do that?" she beseeched. "Why?"
"G—Gabrielle." Xena coughed, and Gabrielle could see blood on her lips, bright against her waxen pallor; her features twisted into something that looked like a smile. "Told—toldja—it was too late for me. Didn't I? Toldja it was too late…."
"Xena. Xena!" Callisto's arms tightened around Xena's body, and there was an awful intensity in those brown eyes. "You're not going to get away from me this easily. I won't let you. I won't let you!" The words were a child's cry. The Bright Warrior drew a dagger from her wrist sheath. Her eyes were those of a little girl. She raised the dagger to her throat. "I'll follow you, Xena. I swear it. We'll be together for eternity." Her voice was shaking. "You and me, burning together, side by side in Tartarus forever. I promise—"
"No!" Xena's hand came up and gripped Callisto's wrist with amazing strength. Another coughing spasm shook her body. "You can't. You have to—Promise me." Her eyes found Callisto's face. "Take—take the army. Someone has to end up with all this, else…what's the point? Has to be you. If not you, then who?" She spluttered a bitter laugh. "Take….the army. Finish what we three started together, you and I and Najara. So much left to do….Take the army. Destroy the Crusader. Smash….Smash Ch'in, secure India—Promise me. Promise me—"
The hand holding the dagger shook where Callisto gripped it. She stared at Xena for a long moment, then loss filled her eyes. Slowly, she lowered the dagger, then leaned forward and placed her forehead against Xena's. "I promise you, Xena. I'll do as you ask. I'll conquer the world in your name. Then I'll follow you."
"Good." Xena made another effort to smile. "If….if someone had to defeat me….glad it was you, Callisto. Glad it was you." She reached up with one bloody hand to brush Callisto's cheek, then coughed again, her whole body shaking. "Something else…."
"What?"
Xena's gaze found Gabrielle, and Gabrielle swallowed hard. Her heart was hurting, and fresh tears spilled over her lower lids. Xena spoke, but not to her. "The girl. Bard. Gabrielle. Callisto, promise me—"
"What about her?"
"I mean it. Promise me. Don't—Don't let the light in her face go out. Protect her innocence." Her eyes were a sea of blue, and Gabrielle was drowning in them. Xena….Oh, Xena…. "Promise me. On the—on the blood of your family, Callisto. Don't harm her. Grant what she requests. Promise—"
Callisto's grip on Xena's hand was so tight that her knuckles showed white. Her eyes flickered in Gabrielle's direction. "I promise," Callisto said. "On my family. I won't harm her—I'll protect her innocence. I promise—" A fresh coughing spasm shook Xena's body and Callisto paled. "Xena—"
"Don't….I don't have much time left…." Xena murmured. "Burn me….after I'm gone, Callisto—"
"I will," Callisto promised fiercely. A spark danced deep within her eyes. "Xena, don't you worry about that. There'll be a burning the likes of which this world has never seen. I'll use that crippled slave of yours to light the pyre. I swear it to you—"
Xena found her slave's dark gaze. He looked sick, though Gabrielle couldn't tell if it was at the thought of being burned, at Xena's death, or both. Xena looked at him for a moment. "Nah," she said at last. "Don't bother. He's—" She coughed. "He's not important. He doesn't matter to me anymore. Doesn't….deserve the honor of following me." The slave paled even further. "You—" Then Xena broke off, coughing again. Blood flowed from her mouth. Callisto looked stricken.
"Xena!"
Xena gagged, then swallowed. Her breathing was harsh, bubbling. Her bloodshot eyes moved, touching the faces of each of them in turn—Callisto, her slave, Gabrielle—before settling on Gabrielle. Gabrielle froze, her heart on fire. She could not look away—those eyes seemed to be piercing her soul. "Xena…." she whispered.
Xena's lips moved, tracing words that Gabrielle strained to hear. "I think….you were the one," she breathed. "I do. I think….think that you were….the one…." She sighed. Gabrielle waited for her to draw another breath, then realized she wasn't going to.
It was over. The Dark Conqueror was no more.
She lifted her eyes to look at Callisto, at the slave. They both looked as devastated, in that first moment of grief, as she did. The invincible Xena was gone.
"No…." Callisto breathed, then suddenly shook Xena furiously. "No! Don't you leave me, Xena! Don't you dare! You were all I had—you can't do this to me! Not again! Don't you dare leave me like this! Don't leave me! Don't leave me! XENA!" She threw her head back and shrieked, again and again, a piercing, drilling cry that seemed like to split the heavens themselves.
Callisto knelt in the middle of the battlefield, cradling the corpse of her fallen enemy in her arms, screaming out her rage and pain to the overcast, clouded sky. A light rain had begun to fall.