Chapter Fourteen: The Eye
She left the Bastillia estate hastily, barely saying her goodbyes. Walking through the crowded streets, her shoulders were bumped more times than she could count. Upon maneuvering her way through, she kept hearing her name being whispered, murmured, and shouted in all directions. It was strange to be in the center of chaos, all while her title and name focused on the slowly spreading riots.
Xena pushed herself in between a crowd of men and couldn't take her eyes off her villa in the mountains burning. Trees began to wane as the flames crawled up the bark. Two of the most giant cedar trees craned, then snapped, collapsing onto a bed of brush, igniting another cluster of trees nearby.
Eyes widening at the unfolding disorder, her shoulder was shoved, and she spun around with the sourest of scowls. From afar, in the square, some men began physically destroying shops and homes. Xena walked out into the center of one of the roads and spotted a small boy gawking at the men.
Once a blade was pulled on the child, Xena raced over and throat-palmed the armed man. He fumbled backward, crashing into a wall of a shop. She quickly picked up the boy into her arms, smiling softly. He kept staring at her with his dark eyes, unsure of what had just happened. Xena weaved in and out of more men that began setting fire to merchant carts and wagons.
Coming to an alley, she looked back to see the area was clear. She continued walking through the passage and went to the opposite side of the square, where it was quieter. Ignoring the chaos surrounding her was not only infuriating, only because nobody knew who she was, but also because apparently, she was the cause of it all.
She came to one of the last few standing temples in the area and set the boy down, gently pushing him inside the building. With a quick scan of the temple, several children were already inside, all wearing the same terrified expression.
Gabrielle sat, waiting for Xena's return, only to be succumbed to utter boredom. She swished the spoon in her empty glass while periodically sighing. Her mind was shooting in several directions, one being worried about Xena and the other, reminded of her guilty conscience. She had yet to talk to Erva, and maybe, just maybe, if she apologized, things would settle down for a while. But also, Gabrielle didn't believe the dark-haired warrior was going to forget those hurtful words.
Although what Erva said wasn't exactly kind either, Gabrielle knew that those words were only superficial. Erva was jealous, and she was hurt. She made sure not to take those words to heart.
She slumped in the chair, groaning loudly. "She has been gone for a long time!"
Varinia looked up, more preoccupied with the half-drunken cup of water in her lap.
"Hmm?"
"Xena. She's been gone too long."
Upstairs, one of the doors slammed—the door—and Erva raced down the stairs, dressed for leisure. She paused at the gaping eyes below and combed through her hair quickly to smooth out the soft kinks.
She continued walking, slower this time, down the steps, and came to the sitting area. She immediately snapped a glare towards Gabrielle's wide-eyed expression.
"Do you smell that?"
Varinia gasped, "you smell that too? It smells like vinegar!" she said in abhorrence.
Erva gazed at the young Syrian in question. "Ah, no," she then pointed to the window, "there must be a fire somewhere."
There was a haze hovering over the city, and Erva opened one of the windows, sniffing the air. Definitely a fire nearby. She closed the window, and her heart jumped as soon as she saw Gabrielle standing incredibly way too close for her liking.
"Do you see anything?"
Erva pinched the corners of her lips together and went back to focus on the thickening haze.
"I want to tell you something."
The warrior crossed her arms.
Gabrielle tapped her fingers together, inhaling heavily before speaking. "I want to apologize for what I said to you. And I'm sorry for hurting your feelings."
"Nobody said you hurt my feelings."
Gabrielle bit her upper lip and hesitated, "but you…" she paused, "okay, fine, but I just wanted to apologize anyway." She sighed, mildly frustrated that it was nearly impossible to get through this woman's thick skull.
"You know," she added, "it's so strange how someone can be so distant, yet so present at the same time," she snorted, shaking her head. "I don't know how you do—"
Turning her head, she saw Erva had mysteriously left her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of color and stepped closer to the window. Erva had beat her to it. Always one step ahead, aren't you?
"Xena."
The two brunettes walked back inside, and Erva walked ahead, stopping in front of Xena's path. She gripped her shoulders firmly. "Let me go. I can clear the area."
"I said, no, Erva."
Gabrielle approached them cautiously. "Go where? What's going on?"
"Someone set my home on fire, and now the entire city is about to go up in flames," Xena ripped the veil off her hair and darted up the stairs.
Gabrielle looked up at the distant warrior beside her, "is her villa really on fire? What is she going to do?"
"She wants to go out into the city and put out the fires."
Despite the threat of the fires circling towards the inner city, Eylül ordered every servant in her home to gather all the documents in her office as quickly as they possibly could. Since her early morning interruption, she wasn't able to finish hardly anything regarding the estate documents.
Dressed in a dark gown and purple headdress, she leisurely trotted down the stairs. She slipped on her leather gloves and spoke to one of her maids that followed behind.
"Make sure Augusta Sabina is made aware that I've delivered half of the documents."
"Yes, Eylül."
"Oh, and, one more thing," she spun around, adjusting the gloves, "also tell her that Xena's home has become one with the mountain."
The maid nervously nodded and went to see Eylül off. They exited the back of the large home, and there were three men on horseback who waited patiently. Eylül stepped into the caravan with the help of a lending hand. She sat back and took one last look at her maids standing by the door and smiled just before she and her men galloped off down the road.
"You aren't really going to go out there, are you?"
Xena stood before her reflection, tightening the laces of her bodice. She made the mistake of looking at the petrified blonde's face through the mirrored glass. Making a slow turn, she snatched her gauntlets off the bed, continuing to avoid the question. It wasn't an answer she was ready to hear aloud, herself.
"Xena, don't go out there. You—you can send Erva instead," she stuttered.
"I'm not sending Erva."
Gabrielle smacked a palm to her forehead. "But, you can't go!"
"I'm not going to let all my hard work turn into a pile of rubble in a matter of hours!" she snapped, rendering a flinch. "Gabrielle," she walked forward, "this is my region. The city will continue to burn if I don't do anything about it. I'm leaving."
"But…" Gabrielle wiped her eye and gazed up at the ceiling. "But, what if something happens to you."
Xena smiled warmly, "I've been doing this for a long time. This is my land. Not yours, not Erva's. I'm not going to let my own people destroy everything."
Gabrielle's breath hitched, and she met those steely eyes—those eyes that rendered her speechless more times than she could count. Once, she could count on her hand how many times she was speechless, but now, it was infinite.
"I guess…no matter what I say, you're going to leave."
A warm hand caressed her cheek, a thumb traced her lower lip and wiped away a dried tear.
"I will come back, you know."
Gabrielle wore a bungling smile, nodding her head.
"Oh, I almost forgot." She retrieved a folded parchment from her dress draped on the edge of her bed. "Eylül gave me this. It's a document to one of the estates she purchased from Augusta Sabina. You can read better than I can."
Gabrielle took the document, sliding her fingers along its folded edges.
"One more thing before I go," Xena said, resting a hand on Gabrielle's shoulder. "I need you to take Varinia somewhere safe. She can't stay here."
"Where should I take her? I don't know my way around Edirne. What if I get lost?"
Xena bit her tongue, firming her grip on the anxious artist's shoulder. "I have another place in Kesan. It's close to one of the ports."
"How many villas do you have?"
Xena turned away, hiding a smile. "Erva will take you both there, and then she's going to be gone for a few days afterward."
Gabrielle stood by, watching Xena gather her things to leave. Her eye instantly caught the weapons that were being chosen. The last thing she wanted to do was get stuck with Erva for a day or two, knowing that Xena would be here, alone, and possibly die.
"Where's Erva going?"
"She's running an errand. It's the least she could do since she lied to me." sheathing the sword, she walked over and held Gabrielle's hand tightly. "When I come back, I will tell you everything, Gabrielle."
"About?"
"Me—everything about me." she kissed Gabrielle's hand, then her forehead, softly. "I'll see you in a few days."
Gabrielle gasped. "Days!"
"A week at most," her lip twitched into a worn grin. "Gabrielle. Trust me. Do what Erva says and keep a watchful eye on Varinia. Don't let her wander off, do you understand me?"
Gabrielle looked away, distracted by the skies turning black from the falling ash.
"Gabrielle?"
"I understand…"
Outside in one of the larger markets near the palace, Sabina strolled with her handmaids. She glanced at a few jewelers, who greeted her as she passed by. With a forced smile, she continued walking and spotted a man who was trying to grab her attention from afar. The blond Roman nudged his head, motioning her to join him in a more secluded area.
Narrowing her eyes, she turned around, smiling at her maidens. "I will go look at fabric by that stall over there," she pointed north.
"Augusta, the Emperor told us not to leave you alone."
"It will just take but a moment. Wait here and do not follow me," Sabina warned, flipped the veil over her hair, and hurried off.
She met with the merchant, quickly eyeing her maids, who were trying so desperately to contain themselves from interrupting. She grabbed the merchant by his arm and brought them to stand behind a building.
"I told you not to meet me in public," she hissed.
He pulled out the note from his cloak's pocket and handed it to her. Sabina took the letter, read it, and then raised an eyebrow. The merchant rubbed his chin, growing more frustrated by the second.
"Next step? Next step for what? What kind of message is this?" she crumpled the parchment in her fist.
He sighed and whispered, "Xena has left her villa in the mountains and is now living in the city. Her long-nosed envoy is there too."
"Erva," she said. "Eylül told me about her. She works for Xena, yes?"
Nodding, he continued, "but she also has two other women with her."
Sabina smiled, batting her eyelashes, now intrigued. "Really? Who are these women?"
"How should I know?" he snorted. "One is short with blonde hair, right up to about here," he put a hand to his mid-chest. "And the other is thin, medium height," he guessed, "with long curly hair."
She glanced around at the people passing by and smiled briefly at her maids waiting for her return. She dropped the letter into a pail of water, watching it quickly dissolve.
"Blonde hair, you said?" she asked, and the merchant nodded. "You wouldn't have happened to find out their names?"
His gaze fell, "sorry, Augusta, that's the only information I have."
"Hmm," she crossed her arms, "alright. I will pass the message on. Are you positive that Nero knows nothing of this?"
"I am sure," he bowed with a hand to his chest.
"Very good."
The merchant turned to leave, and Sabina pulled him back, staring into his eyes, their faces inches apart.
"Do not meet me in public again. Nero has his men watching my every move."
Half the day flew by and all three finally made it to the villa in Kesan. Upon arriving, Varinia and Gabrielle gawked at the massive place. It definitely didn't look like any ordinary home in this part of the world. It was nearly the size of Nero's palace. Gabrielle dropped the bag as she stepped through the large front doors.
Erva brushed by, clearly in a hurry. She threw the other bags of clothing onto a table near the entrance.
"There isn't any food here. You'll have to go to the market. There's a road east of here. It leads straight to the market," she said, rummaging through the clothes bag. "I should be back in four days. You aren't going back to Edirne without me."
Gabrielle, ignoring every word, turned around, staring up at the large wooden beams on the ceiling. Completely in awe, she kept twirling and bumped into the tall warrior. Gasping, she composed herself and fixed her wind-blown hair.
"Did you hear me?"
"Yeah," she cleared her throat, "wait for you here. I got it." She then gestured to her surroundings, "when Xena talked about this place, she made it seem like it was some small villa. This looks like a palace."
Erva's mouth twisted into a frown. "It used to be a Roman stronghold."
"And Xena stole it."
"Conquered, Gabrielle. Conquered."
"Mhm," she slipped a smile, nodding her head.
Erva rounded the table and pointed to the long hall on the left. "You two will sleep in the large room downstairs."
"Ah, dictating where I sleep again, Erva? We know that didn't work out so well last time," she teased, snickering under her breath, only to receive a lip-curling sneer.
Varinia entered the former stronghold, admiring the architecture. She approached the foyer's center, took off her coat, and set it on the table. She turned to Erva and muttered something, which soon turned into a conversation, from which Gabrielle was wholly left out from.
Listening to the two babble in their mother tongue, Gabrielle's eyes darted from one mouth to the other. They could be talking about anything, but from their tone, it sounded serious. Or maybe, it was just Erva's accent that made the words she spoke sound harsher than Varinia.
"Can you two stop talking as if I'm not here…"
Erva glared down at the young Syrian and drew the laces of her cloak to a close. "Don't go anywhere except to the market."
As soon as she left, Gabrielle grabbed Varinia's thin arm. "What were you two talking about?"
Varinia shrugged. "Nothing."
"It sure didn't sound like it was nothing."
"Don't worry," she gripped Gabrielle's shoulder. "So, this place is huge!" she marveled. "I'm a little worried something might happen to Xena. She's by herself."
Gabrielle sighed, "I tried to convince her not to go."
"What will happen if the people find out who she really is? Do you think her own people would really kill her?" she anxiously tousled her hair.
As far as she knew, there was a long list of people who wanted to get Xena's blood on their hands. The list was probably miles long. From their little exhibition in Edirne, many citizens expressed their concerns about their invisible ruler. Xena didn't care to hear any criticism concerning the way she ruled the Steppe region. Gabrielle didn't want to think about the outcome.
She wrapped an arm around Varinia, leading her to the exit. "We should go to the market and buy food."
While she had gone through this battle many times, this was different. She hadn't fought against her own people, except when she took this area for herself. Those people were long gone. These people were being led on by something or someone more powerful.
As her eyes fixated on the roaring flames engulfing the entire forestry surrounding her mountain home, her mind focused on the citizens. They were destroying everything in the city. There were hundreds of them and only one of her. If this happened ten years ago, she wouldn't pay mind to the extra bodies around her. But now, she felt differently.
She didn't even have to notify her men to put out the fires. They were already hard at work, pushing people back to create a barricade of soldiers surrounding the burning villa. She watched from afar, mounted on her horse, nearly tempted to pull out her sword to silence the annoying voices that kept calling her name. The call of her name being shamed in every direction was more troublesome than witnessing her home collapsing before her eyes.
The atrocity. The audacity.
She felt invisible, yet she was right in front of everyone's eyes. She had been targeted before in that secluded villa with Gabrielle. That assassin was dead, but there were more. She looked around cautiously, examining the open areas and all the trees for anyone who may be the next person to strike. The last bit of trust in her was wearing thin.
Demir had been sending messages to Rome for who knows how long, and Erva lied. Xena began to wonder what other lies Erva kept hidden. This attack was strategically planned. The city was rampaged with Eylül's men. Had Eylül really become so devious as to burn down the entire city to get her way?
Maybe.
No, Eylül knew that she left Edirne for Rome. She figured out the large puzzle edges but didn't quite have the middle pieces yet. She was gathering piece by piece. But, Eylül couldn't have orchestrated this chaos all by herself, could she?
Perhaps.
The citizens began pushing through the barricade of shields, throwing stones and anything they could get their hands on. Xena sat, narrowing her eyes at the many soldiers who collapsed onto the ground, breaking the wall of men. She adjusted her leather fur hat and slipped on her gloves.
Galloping down the hill, she grabbed a lit torch from the field and came trotting in between the angry mob of citizens and wall soldiers. She waved the fiery torch, pushing back the people. She kicked a man who tried to charge through, and he fell onto his back, groaning.
Everyone gawked at her, dropping their weapons to their sides. The flickering flame outlined her chiseled face and piercing eyes, as well as her menacing glower. The sky, blackened by ash and moon, left a heavy smog hovering over the mountains.
"Enough!"
The soldiers quelled the fires behind her, and she waved the torch in front of the crowd when they began inching forward. They backed away slowly into the darkness.
"You have my attention!" she shouted, scanning the area. "The city will turn into a pile of ash if you all continue this," she took a long pause, then smiled at the silence.
She passed the torch to one of the soldiers who stood beside her. He whistled to the others to continue to smother the growing fire.
Xena tugged on the reins, slowly trotting down the narrow path in between citizens and soldiers. She eyed the men in front, glaring into their dark pupils.
"If you don't leave this area, I will arrest every single one of you." she steered her horse, pacing back the way from which she came. "And I will interrogate every one of you."
It didn't take long for the crowd to begin dispersing from the area. Xena watched and waited until they receded into the darkness. She turned around, staring at her home and roof collapsing in on itself. Hesitant to leave the area, as she thought that was an odd encounter with her people. They went so quickly and without question, which rose suspicion.
As she sat atop her horse, surveying the area, she heard screams and cries behind. Swiftly steering her horse around, she saw her own men killing the citizens near the brush. Widening her eyes, she sat, frozen, listening to the wails of innocents losing their lives echo in the mountains.
Her hand reached for the sword in its scabbard and felt a pinching stab to her shoulder blade. Gasping, she leaned forward, wincing, then felt another shot to her thigh. Opening her watering eyes, she stared at the arrow in her thigh.
Sitting up slowly, she snapped the arrow in half and gawked at the peacock feathers on the end of the shaft—the black pit, staring back at her—the eye.
Restless nights had become a routine by now. Evander didn't bother to sleep at night and instead went on walks until sunrise. In a few hours, he'd have to go to Yunus' shop to work some more. He could hardly focus, but at least Soner left him alone for a couple of days. He didn't question it.
As the sun began to loom over the city, Evander returned to the villa and tossed the satchel on the floor. He didn't bother to pick up any of his clothes lying around the place. He stripped off his tunic and entered his bedroom. He stared at the empty bed, sighing loudly. Lately, he was focused on Varinia, wondering where she was and why she would leave. He had been too caught up in Soner's ridiculous plans to think about anything but that.
He threw his tunic onto the bed and spun around to sit and untie his boots. He gasped at the woman standing by the window.
"What the fuck," he grumbled. "Who are you?"
Erva raised an eyebrow, eyeing his trim physique from head to toe. She tilted her head, her features softening, as she took a good look at him. His face resembled almost everything of Xena's, except for his mouth and nose. He had the same eyes, midnight hair, and chiseled jaw hidden by a thin beard.
Evander grabbed a knife from inside his boot and pointed it directly in Erva's face.
"Get out."
She smiled, grabbing his wrist firmly, twisting his arm until he lost grip of the knife. Evander held in his cries from the numbing agony he was in. He bit his lower lip, glaring into the intruder's dark eyes.
"Did…did he send you?"
Erva stepped closer, letting the boy free.
He sighed in relief, rubbing his wrist, and backed away slowly. He realized that this woman wasn't here to kill him; otherwise, he'd be dead already. Although he didn't trust her. She somehow snuck into his home.
"I sent the letter, I swear."
Erva furrowed her eyebrows.
"I did!" he spat, unnerved by the silence.
She picked up the knife on the floor and held it out for him to take. The blade slowly slipped from her grasp, and then Evander sheathed it inside his boot once more. A smile crept on her lips, confusing the boy even further. He reacted on the defense again and reached for another weapon on a nearby table.
Erva raised a surrendering palm. "I'm not going to hurt you." her arm stretched outward, and she cupped his cheek.
Evander flinched and smacked her hand. "Who are you?"
"You look just like her."
His cheeks soured. "W-hat?"
Erva curled her fingers to a closed fist and lowered her arm. "Your mother sent me to get you."
Too flustered to respond to that word—that one word—he chose to ignore it. He swallowed and clenched his jaw. He sputtered a laugh at the absurdity of the situation and folded his arms.
"Did she now?"
The warrior, mirroring Evander's height, took a step forward. "She has Varinia."
The color drained from his face, as did his churlish grin.
"You're coming with me. Gather whatever you need. I have a boat that will take us to one of the ports." She waltzed over to the window, searching the area before drawing the curtains.
"You…you must be Erva then."
She looked over her shoulder, lowering her eyes to the floor.
"I—I can't go with you."
"I have orders to take you away from here. Start packing."
Evander threw his hands up, "I can't leave! He will kill me!"
"Who? Who'll kill you?"
He plopped onto the bed, burying his face in his hands. Erva lifted his chin and stared into those eyes she had seen every day for the last two decades.
"Who?" she whispered.