Chapter 5
Several of the residents of Poditea emerged from their homes to view the worn group of travelers moving through the town.
At the head of the group rode Gabrielle and Alexander, with Mystros and Eve seated behind them. They all looked worn and haggard after two days of hard riding.
Salius raised a hand in greeting as he watched Gabrielle's horse walk wearily past his inn.
When he saw the grim, determined look on their faces, his smile faded.
"Gabrielle?" he called to her. "Where's your David? Where's Xena?"
Before Gabrielle could answer, Alexander spoke quickly.
"They're on their way. Should be here some time tomorrow." Then he put his hand on his mother's arm. "They'll be here tomorrow." He repeated firmly.
Gabrielle's heart felt like a dead weight in her chest as they rounded the gentler curve in the road and entered the property of their farm. When she saw the house, it only made the ache more palpable.
Mystros, seeming to sense her angst smiled sympathetically.
When they had unpacked the horses and the others were inside the house, cleaning the grime from their skin, Gabrielle stood on the porch, her eyes fixed on the road beyond the fence.
"You have a lovely home, here, Gabrielle," Mystros said gently from behind her. His voice startled her out of her revere and she turned quickly, the dull ache in her heart momentarily replaced by a sudden hammering.
"Forgive me," Mystros smiled apologetically. "I did not wish to disturb you. Are you alright?"
Gabrielle smiled softly and turned back to watch the road. "I will be. Once my family is reunited."
"I understand," Mystros replied, but there was a coldness to his voice that Gabrielle couldn't remember hearing before.
When she looked at him, she saw the same gentle look, the same understanding smile, and yet, something in his eyes did not match his calm expression. There was a glint in his eyes that made her suddenly uneasy.
David drew the circle in the dirt with the end of his sword sheath and closed his eyes, muttering to himself.
Once his preparations were complete, he settled himself into a cross legged position and sighed heavily.
"I haven't tried to do this for a lotta years, so bear with me, okay?"
The Rakshasa twitched the whiskers on either side of his nose curiously.
"And what are you attempting, Master?" he asked.
"I'm going to try and send a message," David explained. "I need to warn Gabrielle about Inures and Hope."
"We can do that once we arrive," The Rakshasa countered.
"We haven't run into a single one of Hopes Hoodlums since I found you and my daughter," David said. "Do you really think they're still around? They're bee lining it to Poditea, which means they'll beat us there."
Dread settled in Xena's gut, forming a solid cold mass in the center of her being.
"Now, I don't know how long this will take, so please, don't bother me or touch me while I do this." David explained. "It could be quite dangerous for all of us if this spell is broken incorrectly, got it?"
Xena nodded, while the Rakshasa simply watched in fascination. David closed his eyes and slowed his breathing down as he attempted to find a feeling he hadn't experienced for many years.
Eventually, he felt the old twinges and then the gentle sensation of being drawn upward. In a moment, he was gone.
The Rakshasa looked at David with wonder.
"I did not know that the Greeks had advanced so far on the path of enlightenment?" he said.
"My dad isn't Greek," Xena replied with a faint, proud smile.
"Gaul then? Germanian? He does not bear the countenance of the Asian?" The Rakshasa asked, frowning.
"He called himself an American," Xena said.
"Amurrrrrrican?" The word came out with a feline purr. "I do not know that land?"
Xena looked up and pointed to the West. "Go that way till you hit water, then keep going till you hit land again. That's where he's from."
"From beyond the great water?" The Rakshasa mused. "Fascinating."
Gabrielle studied Mystros's face, trying to discern the incongruous look in his eyes when she felt a soft, gentle, and familiar hand fall on her shoulder.
"Hey kiddo," David's voice echoed in her ear. "How you holding up?"
She smiled and her hand absently drifted up to her shoulder. She could almost feel the fingers resting there; feel his soft breath against her neck. A flick of her eyes revealed that she could see him, shimmering just behind her.
"I'm fine," she whispered.
Mystros nodded, thinking that she was speaking to him.
"I'm sure David and your daughter are well," Mystros reassured her.
Gabrielle blinked and then nodded, forcing a smile.
"Think, honey," David whispered. "Don't talk." She could feel him grinning. "And don't think that…I'm in no position. Once we get this settled and get to Carthidge for that little anniversary we planned, you can think that way all you like."
Her smile widened.
"Now, I need you to listen carefully," David continued. "We're coming to you as fast as we can, but I'm afraid that Hope is going to get to you first."
"How does she know where to go?" Gabrielle asked.
"Inures is broadcasting like a damned beacon," David replied. "He was doing it when I popped in."
Gabrielle looked at Mystros, standing next to her, staring out at the road. His hopeful, expectant look on his face now carried a much more sinister meaning.
"He can't mean to," she thought. "Perhaps he can't help it? Perhaps that's why he's been pursued this whole time?"
"Wrong," David replied. "He's doing it on purpose. He wants Hope to find him. He needs Hope to find him so he can sign on with the Dark Side."
"But-" Gabrielle began.
"You don't have the son of Indrajed at our home, sweetie," David interrupted her. "He IS Indrajed! He's doing everything that his predecessor did before, only he's managed to insinuate himself among us and he's reaping the rewards. He thrives on the torture and torment of others! Think about everything he's already done?"
"He tried to save Alia," Gabrielle countered. "He saved Xena and Alexander."
"And he's been prodding everyone ever since, I bet. Asking harmless questions that make you think about the things that cause pain and regret, right?" David replied. "Always being so understanding and sympathetic, because it keeps your minds on the fact that we got split up! That there's a chance Xena or I could be dead!"
The words hit her like a roundhouse punch and her eyes snapped up to look at Mystros again, and found him looking at her with a combination of curiosity and amusement.
"He's a torment junkie, honey," David finished. "Every time he can goose your pain a little more, it's like he's getting a fix!"
It took a moment for Gabrielle to realize that Mystros wasn't actually looking at her. He was, in fact, looking past her to where David stood at her shoulder, and was actually seeing him!"
At the same time, she felt David's fingers squeeze a little tighter upon her shoulder.
"Oh shit," he whispered.
Mystros raised an inquisitive eyebrow at that last statement and then he smiled.
"Oh, I'm afraid it is true, my dear. Though some of the references your husband makes are unclear to me," he said with that same soft calm. "I have made a few arrangements to secure my place, and while doing so, arranged to experience that which my father never could. When the idea was presented to me to aid in the vengeance of my new partner, how could I refuse that?" His eyes shifted again and his smile grew.
"The torment of the heart that I have experienced in your company over these past few days has been intoxicating," he sighed. Then he nodded, looking past Gabrielle and the ethereal David. "Thank you."
Gabrielle stiffened in horror when a voice spoke behind her, smooth and slightly husky.
"Hello, Mother."
Gabrielle turned and looked into a mirror through time as she saw the younger countenance of her own features. Only the green of Hopes eyes betrayed her true nature. They were as cold as frozen seawater and devoid of any conscience. She smiled and looked at Mystros.
"Have you had enough of this?" she asked, flicking a finger in Gabrielle's direction.
Mystros sighed. "As intoxicating as this all is, I have had enough of it, yes."
"Good," Hope smiled. Her eyes lost focus for just a moment and then returned. At the same time, the myriad of priests concealed around the village of Poditea began advancing.
They moved through the trees, and into the village, burning, killing, maiming, and razing the village to the ground building by building.
Terrified villagers fled in panic and found any escape blocked. Men, women, and children screamed in terror as smoke began to rise from the first of the fires that had been set.
Gabrielle looked back towards her home village in horror, and then at Mystros. He had a strange, almost enraptured expression on his face. She looked back at Hope and saw a satisfied smile on her face as well.
She could feel David, seething with fury as he witnessed all this.
Then Eve and Alexander came running out of the house, drawn by the terrible noise.
The looked towards the village and then back at Gabrielle, just in time to see Hope before a wave of energy flung them across the yard and against the doors of the barn. Both figures slumped to the ground, unconscious.
David's seething fury became a full blown rage.
"Little girl," He growled. "You are writing a check your body can't cash!"
Hope waved a dismissive hand and David vanished with a cry.
David jolted to his feet as if he had been struck. He stumbled and fell back to the ground with a grunt.
"Dad!" Xena was at his side instantly.
When he looked at them, his eyes were haunted.
"They've got our family," David whispered, his haunted look changing to an expression of outrage.
He got to his feet, still giddy from the forced return and began stumbling in the direction of home as fast as his wobbly legs would carry him. He was muttering angrily to himself.
Xena and the Rakshasa moved to follow him.
"Dad"! Xena called after him. "Dad, wait!"
She caught up to him and looked into his eyes.
"They're burning Poditea, honey," he said. "Not just our home. Hope's taking out the whole village."
As much as this news filled her with horror, Xena forced the warrior she had been to the front and placed her hands against her father's chest.
"Okay," she said calmly. "There's nothing we can do about it now, and we won't be able to get there in time to stop it, right?"
David looked at his daughter in surprise and saw the seasoned warrior in the eyes of his child.
"Now," Xena continued. "I learned a few things about Hope recently, which tells me we have some time, and Gabrielle can take care of herself."
It was a testament to how dire the circumstances actually were for Xena to refer to her mother as 'Gabrielle', reverting back to a previous time, a previous life. David could not remember ever hearing that from her before.
Xena looked into her fathers eyes a moment longer and then looked back at the Rakshasa.
"We're not going to be able to do much against Hope's little army of priests," she said. "We could use your help?"
"You already have that, Mistress," The Rakshasa replied, his gold/green eyes burning with feline anger. "The Priests of Dahok will not be an obstacle for you, that much I can promise."
The remains of Poditea were still smoking the next afternoon when the three of them crested the hill that looked down upon that once tranquil valley.
Though Xena had seen this kind of destruction before and her father had recently seen the ruins of Tripolis, the sight of the carnage still turned the blood in their veins to ice.
Robed figures could be seen moving from door to door, building to building in final 'mopping up' actions, as David named it. He drew the enchanted katana from its sheath and his dark eyes went a shade darker and the modern curses issued from his mouth in a series of hoarse whispers.
"Can you get us in there without us being seen?" Xena turned to their inhuman companion.
The Rakshasa nodded his feline head. "I doubt if the acolytes would even perceive us. Inures and Hope, however, may be another matter."
"That's fine," David growled. "I want them to know we're coming!"
"Dad," Xena said, recognizing the look in his eyes. She had seen that look in her previous life.
David said nothing as he studied the carnage below. Once again, the fates had conspired against him to destroy the life he had desired for himself. His world was crumbling before his eyes. Everything that he had grown to understand and love was being obliterated. The one thing the resonated in his heart at this particular moment was that in the previous two instances, he had been powerless to stop it.
First, his parents had been taken from him as a child. The result of a freak accident that had left him the only survivor of the family. The second had been his first wife, ravaged by cancer after only nine years. He had been forced to watch as she had faded away until she finally died.
After that, he had resigned himself to a life of relative solitude until a strange young bard had dropped into his life from the distant past. He had battled the forces of time itself to win Gabrielle, and they had built a long and prosperous life together. It had been a life beyond any hope he could have ever imagined. This time it had given him a quarter of his life and now, the universe was working against him again.
A deep sense of resentment and fury that he couldn't remember ever experiencing in the past began to boil molten in his heart. Instead of the blind rage that he expected, he felt his senses sharpening. He saw the entire scene with more clarity than he had ever seen anything else in his life.
Something like a growl issued from his throat, and Xena actually took a small step back from her father. This was something that she had never seen in anyone before. It was a perfect blending of hot anger with clarity and cold calculation, all in equal balance.
"Dad?" she asked, somehow afraid that her father was no longer with her.
David pointed to the forested area to the east of their home and south of the village proper.
"We'll head around that way," he said. "Come up to the fields by the pond on the east side of the house. There's no way we could make it through town the way those priests are moving about."
Xena looked down at the village and noted that their homestead was the only thing untouched by the ravages of Hopes priests. It lay, a single unblemished spot on the tapestry of destruction spread out before them.
"We find anyone not from the village between here and there, we don't ask questions," David continued. "We take them out!"
Xena blinked. Where was the calm man she had known all her life? Every lesson of compassion and understanding had seemed to suddenly vanish.
"Dad?" She asked again.
David began moving along their intended route, using the surrounding hills as cover.
"No one," he growled. "And I mean no one fucks with my family!"
Despite the surreptitious approach they had chosen, there was nothing subtle about the steady, relentless pace at which David covered the distance. He felt no need for secrecy.
He marched through the trees and descended a shallow culvert along a narrow stream bed. There he spied two of the robed figures lying in wait.
"Afternoon boys!" he said as he approached them. They raised their hands to strike, but the katana slashed across one and up the other, dropping them in a quick succession of lethal moves. David had marched past them before the second man had even fallen to the ground.
Xena saw this and caught her breath.
"Your father is right," the Rakshasa said calmly. "Inures will know of his approach despite anything I do. Your father's torment is as palpable to him as the falling rain."
Xena and the Rakshasa quickly caught up with him.
They were concealed in a low line of brush at the eastern edge of their property, near the small pond where Xena and David had spent many hours in conversation during her life.
"Dad!" Xena hissed. Her mind was still reeling with the cold brutality of her father's last actions.
He looked down at her.
"You need to stay calm," she pleaded. "Slow down, please!"
David's eyes flashed dark and foreboding for a moment, and then, much to her relief, she saw them soften, and some of the man she knew as her father returned.
He wrapped his arm about her and held her tightly for a moment.
"I love you, baby," he whispered fiercely. She held him tightly, feeling that knot of dread reform in her belly. "And I'm sorry."
Xena looked up at him and saw the soft light fade in his dark eyes once more. They became hard and pitiless.
"Sorry?" Xena stammered suddenly. "For what?"
David put his hand on her cheek. "Everything I ever taught you about how and when to fight. All the lessons about compassion and pity."
"I remember," Xena nodded, hoping the tears forming in her eyes would somehow coax the loving gentle man back.
"Don't ever forget them, baby," David said. "Even though I'm about to break every single one of those lessons now."
A sudden realization sank like a stone in Xena's gut. Her father was calm. He was completely calm, totally emotionless, absorbed in the calculated brutality he was about to initiate.
"You can't do this!" Xena hissed. "Not like this!"
Inures and at least a dozen of Hope's priests stepped out from beyond the house, all of them with eyes focused on their hiding place.
"Greetings, Master David!" Inures called cheerfully. "There is no need for you to remain hidden! We know precisely where you are!"
His words were filled with a dark confidence that seemed meant to fuel David's internal fire.
Inures seemed almost euphoric, like a drunken man at the height of his inebriation. As David watched this, a smile began to creep across his face. It was a not a smile of mirth, but of understanding.
Even Xena felt that old fury begin to rise within her, almost too fast for her to check it. It fell back into something more controlled when she saw her father's expression.
It happened so quickly that she couldn't be sure, but she suddenly felt the hairs stand up on her arm, as if static had begun to build, and she could swear that she had seen a tinge of red in her father's one good eye. Like a subtle glow that was gone before it had even registered in her mind.
David's lips began to move, mumbling something inaudible, but the sensation was palpable. It was like a soft breeze flowing towards them from all directions. David's eyes shone with something that Xena could not readily identify. Then she recognized it. Bright, youthful and alive, filled with passionate energy.
With the exception of the few times in her youth, when her father had walked with her through incomprehensible nightmares, she had never beheld the power he was rumored to possess. Now she was sensing it build within him to explosive levels.
"Stay behind me," David said, and he stood up, stepping forward with long, purposeful strides. When he spoke, the words came from the man who had abandoned the comforts of the twenty-first century, filled with the rebellious attitude that had fueled his existence.
"Junior!" he shouted at the demon. "You got a gallon of attitude in a one pint container, and you're spilling it in my yard!"
Inures frowned, as if the potency of the sensations he had been experiencing were suddenly being sapped.
David swung the katana in a few circles, as if warming up his limbs for the coming confrontation.
The priests advanced, some bearing weapons, other chanting incantations that would produce spells of devastating energy.
"That's right boys!" David shouted. "Pull it together! Let's see what you got!"
Several of the priests thrust their hand outward, sending a veritable wall of energy arcing towards him.
He made no move, no reaction at all, except to stretch out his hand to receive it.
The blue white bolts of lightning sizzled against his hand and body, wreathing about him in explosive arcs of fury and death.
"Dad!" Xena cried in horror. Then the firestorm faded, and David stood, hunched over, his leather coat smoking on his body. His long gray hair hanging down in ragged strings.
Suddenly he stood straight again with a loud roar and a fierce laugh issued from him.
"Yeah!" He shouted hoarsely. "That'll wake you up better than a double cappuccino!"
The first of the priests were nearly upon him.
The katana arced through the air, flashing silver fire in the sunlight and three of the priests fell twitching to the earth. David continued forward, the katana writhing like a thing alive in his hands. He was a juggernaut, always moving forward. His weapon arced and flashed smiting anything before him as he moved towards his home.
Several others thought better of attacking this man, and instead, turned and attacked Xena and the Rakshasa.
Xena's weapon joined in the melee of destruction her father was weaving, then there was another blinding flash of power, and five more of the priests fell dead where they stood.
Everyone stopped in that moment. A sudden silence fell upon the battle.
Standing in the center of a ring of fallen foes, stood David, his hand outstretched, his chest heaving from exertion. He lowered his hand and fixed his dark eyes on the startled Inures.
"Something you need to learn, Junior," he growled. "Never fuck with another man's family!"
Hope stood on the porch of the house and listened to the battle, her self assured smile fading as the cries of her own priests changed from confidence to terror.
She looked down at Gabrielle, Alexander, and Eve, bound and seated against the wall of the house.
Eve's expression was one of frightened concern, which Hope expected. However, the other two prisoners had expressions of confidence instead of fear.
She frowned in confusion.
Gabrielle saw this and her smile widened to one of pure defiance.
"One thing that your brothers found out a number of years ago," she said with a confidence she should not have had. "Never, never make my David angry."
As if to punctuate her words, the bodies of several of Hope's priests tumbled into view, motionless and smoldering.
Alexander managed to wince in sympathy. "Man," he muttered. "I thought it was bad when I got grounded."
Xena spun low and ducked a sweep from one of the priests. His sword changed its arc and whistled down at her. She parried the blow and slashed sideways, one, two, three times and watched her assailant fall before wheeling on the next one.
Then Inures was before her. She slashed out at him, only to have her weapon bounce off his hand.
"You're weapons have no effect upon me, here child," he smiled angrily.
"But mine will!" the Rakshasa bellowed. He rammed two priests against one another with a sickening crunch and charged.
Xena rolled to the side as the Tiger headed Rakshasa tackled Inures with an impact that would have jellied a mortal man. They landed several yards away leaving a furrow in the fertile earth.
David had time to smile at the hit.
"Urlacher, eat your heart out," he said and he faced the next opponent in turn, his katana slicing the blade of the priests sword off neatly, like a hot knife through butter.
The priest looked at the hilt in his hand, his pale eyes wide with surprise.
"That had to suck, didn't it?" David asked. Then he slashed cross wise and severed the shocked priests head from his shoulders.
The Rakshasa sank his claws into the flesh of Inures's physical form, holding the demon in check.
"Time to come home, Master," he said in a calm voice that belied the ferocity of their struggle.
Inures screamed in fury, fighting to tear himself from the claws of the Rakshasa, whatever the damage to his physical body.
Suddenly, orange fire lashed across the field and struck the Tiger headed creature in the chest, separating him from his quarry with a roar, and engulfing his fur and robes in a wave of orange death.
The Rakshasa let out an inhuman roar of agony and rolled desperately, his paw like hands swatting at the flames his rolling did not extinguish.
Inures got to his feet, still off balance and bleary from the superhuman impact.
Xena cleared her weapon from her latest opponent and joined David as he charged towards the stricken Son of Indrajed.
Xena got there first; her weapon rose and descended in a vicious downward chop.
Inures's hand rose and blocked the blade, the metal slamming into the flesh without so much as leaving a welt from the pressure.
"Your weapon can not harm me, Xena," He said with a cruel smile. Then his face went momentarily blank and his eyes went wide.
They drifted down and to the side of Xena and saw the long, curved silver blade protruding from his ribcage. He followed the blade up to the hands grasping the hilt and then to the satisfied, pitiless gaze of David.
All his inhuman strength seemed to flow from him, traveling up that conductor and into the foe that looked down at him.
"Mine will," David growled. Soft corona's of greenish blue energy, his energy. His dark power flowed into this strange man. The world went dark before he could so much as utter a breath.
Hope watched her latest ally slump to the ground, his energy and power fading from her perception. Her green eyes blazed and she roared with a voice no human could produce.
With a wave of her hand, David and Xena were flung half way across the yard, rolling in two heaps near the far fence.
Xena seemed to deal with the uncontrolled fall a little better than her father. She let the inertia carry her until she came up in a crouch and reclaimed her blade.
David rolled over a bit more slowly.
"Dad?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
Then she heard something that enthralled and frightened her at the same time.
David was chuckling in a way that told her he was actually enjoying himself.
"Oh yeah," he growled. His eyes rose to face the young, evil version of his wife, standing near the entrance of his home. He knew that the rest of his family was inside. They could be dead, or alive, he didn't know. That ambiguity fed his wrath.
"I haven't felt like this for years!" He finished. Then he turned his attention to Hope.
"Little girl," he said in a vice so menacing that Xena had never heard the like of it before. "I am gonna beat you like the stepchild you are!"
He got to his feet and began stalking forward.
The energies he hadn't called upon for decades came back to him with an effortlessness that he could never remember before. Whether it was the fury at the destruction of his home, or the imposing dread of the possibility that the rest of his family had joined the unfortunate victims of Poditea, or a combination of both, he didn't know. He didn't have time to consider it, really. The young lady was stalking towards him and he could see her energy building for another devastating assault.
"Let's get it on!" he challenged, the old school dialect returning from years past. He focused his own energies for a counter strike.
Xena followed after her father, her fear and fascination building in equal measure. She didn't remember ever seeing this kind of fury, this kind of power from her father in her entire life, though she had heard many of the tales, mostly from her mother, when she was growing up. Now she was seeing this display first hand and realized that the romantic tales told by her mother and father had been more than a little edited.
With a cry, Hope lashed out again with a brilliant burst of flame.
David's throaty growl also rose and he too, flung his hand out.
Xena blinked when the brilliant white blast of lightning intersected Hope's fiery attack. The energies crackled and thundered deafeningly.
While David's expression only added a subtle wince from the strain, Hope's expression changed to one of startled surprise. The energies died and silence fell on the field.
"Impressive," Hope said, stepping sideways away from the house, giving her some distance and room to operate.
"Thank your late lamented friend," David replied.
Hope's surprised expression melted into one of challenge. "I see."
Then she lifted her hands and fallen weapons from all over the stricken forms in the yard.
"How much power have you leached from him, I wonder?" Hope asked.
He felt his daughter turn and stand, with her back barely touching his.
"No," He said quickly. "When this starts, get inside and get your mom and brother."
"You can't handle this," Xena replied, her eyes watching the floating weapons as they rotated slowly in mid air.
"You'd be surprised at what I can handle right now," David said quickly. "I just need to close the distance, and then she can't use the ballistics."
Hope flicked her hands and the weapons shot in.
"Go!" David barked, and then he brought his weapon before him, his hands squeezing the hilt, his eyes closed and he breathed in. The world slowed.
Xena ran for the house, ducking and rolling as the weapons shot past her.
She hit the porch at a dead run and slid to a halt at the doorway.
When she turned to look back, she ducked as a blade impaled the wood where her head had been a moment before.
Her blue eyes went wide with wonder when she saw the other countless weapons bouncing off an invisible barrier that surrounded her father.
When the barrage was over, David leapt forward like a world class fencer, his steps a combination of shuffling, hopping advances that closed the distance between the two of them in a matter of moments.
A long, curved scimitar leapt up from the ground and into Hope's hand.
David lunged, the curved blade thrusting forward at Hope's chest.
Hope parried the attack easily and retreated a few steps, again, with a surprised expression on her face.
David swung the enchanted katana in several arcs, bringing the blade up along his right side, the edge curving down like a scorpion's stinger.
He felt rather than saw the weapon coming from behind, ducked and swung the blade on instinct. The silver blade struck the incoming dagger, knocking it away.
Then Hope struck again, her scimitar lashing in and out in a flurry of precise, well controlled movements.
In a momentary flash, his mind flashed back to a similar duel, less deadly, between himself and his good friend, Dusty. He could almost see his old friend from the future, standing in the white jacket and opaque fencing mask. His eyes flicked to the doorway and he saw Gabrielle, Alexander, and Eve. All of them worn and bruised, but healthy.
His grin widened in relief for a moment and then he focused again on his opponent.
He parried two more attacks from this evil twin of his wife.
"No," she said. "I didn't kill them. Not yet. I want them to see you die first."
"Dream on, little girl," David replied automatically. The two of them closed again, and this time the weapons threw off sparks at the brutal contact. Then he felt something slice against his right arm. They separated and he saw red on the cloth of his shoulder, spreading on either side of a slash in the shirt. Again, the same wound he had inadvertently received from his friend. Instead of dread, he smiled again.
Hope blinked. Something was wrong. Yes, she had broken through his defense and even drawn blood, but she felt different, weaker, as if she had lost something. She frowned.
A song, nearly forgotten through the years, began circulating through his mind and his lips began to move of his own volition.
"Willie the Wimp was buried today."
Hope frowned at that rhythmic chant. Then she was forced to defend herself again from his attack. With each blow, Hope felt a little more of her power, her essence drain away into her opponent. She would have to finish him quickly, or risk losing…what would she lose?
"They laid him to rest in a special way,"
She blocked several more attacks and managed to get a few yards away from the man. Her mind screamed at the weapons lying strewn across the bloodied yard, but only a handful of them leapt towards her adversary, only to bounce away at the last moment as he stood still.
"Sent off in the finest style,"
She heard her unholy father, bellowing in her ears. A mixture of encouragement and threat that she was accustomed to hearing, but now it seemed muffled, almost distant, as if his presence and power were fading off into the distance.
"That casket mobile really drove them wild."
The old man came at her again, even faster than before. He was moving like a man many years younger than hi appearance presented. His eyes were alight with fire. The enchanted weapon slashed towards her and she blocked it, only to feel another bite of her power consumed.
In a moment of terrible realization, the effects of her confrontation became crystal clear.
He was sapping her powers with each attack, pulling her energy and strength whenever their weapons came into contact.
Then she was forced to retreat again. Preferring to give ground than give up a portion of her power.
Desperation fueled inspiration, and in a flash, she changed her tactics, attacking wildly with the last of her strength. She felt her Dark Father fill the void of power that she desperately needed. Her green eyes blazed with fury. She heard his monstrous voice thunder, "Destroy him!"
Now it was David's turn to retreat, surprised by her sudden return of strength. Then he smiled knowingly.
"Stupid kid," he thought. "Real stupid."
He backed quickly away, and deflected two more projectile weapons before they closed again.
In spite of the measure of power he had been able to glean from his previous opponent, and the small bits he received with every contact of Hope's blade, he was tiring. He was sure Hope could perceive it, and he knew his family would. Only one thing to do.
David stumbled away, a little more off balance, his chest beginning to heave.
Alexander and Xena stepped forward, ready to leap out to his aid, but he shook his head emphatically. Then Hope attacked again, and this time knocked David to the ground. He rolled clear of her vicious slash down and got back to his feet, looking drawn and haggard.
"That all you got?" he said in a raspy voice.
Hope, her confidence blossoming, smiled and attacked again, just as David anticipated. He stepped back again and deflected the first blow, dodged the second and managed to weakly deflect the third, but his weapon went bouncing to the earth.
"No!" Xena cried out, wrenching free from Gabrielle's hand. She vaulted the railing of the porch and charged.
In a sudden burst of speed, David rolled sideways and then back again. His ruse of feigning weariness abandoned.
"Wait!" David shouted in a strong voice, and he dove for his weapon, while Hope, distracted for a crucial moment, looked up to see Xena charging, and then her green eyes fell upon David again and she stabbed as the old man rolled back over.
Xena slid to a stop, her mouth open, her eyes going wide in horror.
Hope looked back at her triumphantly as she held the sword in place, piercing David's body just beneath the sternum. Then her triumphant smile faded slightly as she felt something tickle inside her body. She looked down and saw the silver katana protruding from her body, on the left side of her middle. It had obviously not struck anything vital, or she would have felt even more discomfort. Her eyes looked back into David's and saw him smile fiercely.
"Gotcha!" David hissed. Then he closed his eyes and emptied the reservoir of energy he had sapped from both Hope and the fallen Inures. The energy blasted up the blade of the katana and flooded into Hope like a tidal wave, blasting everything out of its path and flooding her soul.
Xena resumed her run towards he father, but a sudden, blinding flash of white and a wall of energy knocked her off her feet, sending her rolling back towards the house.
She dimly saw Hope's figure flying through the air.
The spots died behind Xena's eyes and she saw her father lying motionless on the earth, the scimitar still protruding from his body.
"No!" she gasped.
It wasn't summer any more. It was cold, like late autumn. David looked down at his body, wondering why it wouldn't move. Then he looked back up at the sky, watching the clouds move lazily across the endless field of blue.
"Wow," he breathed.
"Dad?" Xena cried. "Dad!"
She dropped to his side and cradled his head in her lap while trying desperately to stem the flow of blood from his horrible wound. She ripped her traveling cloak from her shoulders and pressed the large wad of cloth against the wound in his chest.
"You're going to be okay!" she whispered desperately. "You're going to be okay!"
David smiled. "It's okay, baby," he said softly.
"You're going to be okay," she said again.
"I'm proud of you," David continued, looking up into her eyes.
"Don't!" Xena hissed.
"Don't have a choice, this time," he replied with a soft smile. "It's alright, though. It doesn't hurt."
Xena felt the tears burning her eyes and streaming down her cheeks.
"Hey," David smiled. "None of that, now. It's okay. I'm not really going anywhere, you know?"
"Don't you leave me!" Xena hissed.
Gabrielle, Alexander and Eve all knelt around him and he looked into Gabrielle's eyes and smiled.
"Hey you," Gabrielle choked. "I knew you'd find us."
"Wasn't too hard. Last I checked, this was my place too." David looked into her eyes, smiled, took a deep breath and sighed. "Man, it's been a busy afternoon. I'm bushed."
Xena laughed in spite of herself. When they looked back down at him, his eyes were closed and he was completely still.
"Dad?" Xena asked, gently shaking him. He made no sound, but lay there, his face peaceful with a subtle smile on his lips.
"Dad?" Xena felt a panic rising in her. "Dad?"
"David!" Gabrielle cried.
Xena shook him again, more violently this time.
"No!" Xena felt the sudden terror of a child awakening to a nightmare. "Don't ! Dad! Don't go!"
She shook him again and then held his body against her, sobbing in total despair.
A cry began somewhere deep within the very bowels of her spirit. When it finally exploded from her, it wailed across the field and echoed forlornly in the nearby trees.
Alexander led Gabrielle from the house. She moved slowly, still massaging the feeling back into her hands. She stopped short when she saw Xena, kneeling on the ground, bent over the body of her father.
Xena's body was wracked with grief so powerful that it caused her physical pain. She clutched at her father, holding him to her, as if she would will his body back to life.
She felt Alexander and her mother fall to the ground next to her as grief took hold of them. When she looked up, Gabrielle had David's hand in her own, while Alexander put a comforting hand on Xena's shoulder.
A soft, low moan of pain from one of the fallen bodies intruded on their sadness.
Xena's entire body froze, and her eyes ceased tearing, frosting over like a meadow in winter.
When she looked back, she saw Hope's figure moving weakly.
Gently she let David's head settle back onto the earth and got to her feet. There was a building pressure of wrath expanding in her chest. It sapped her conscience and made the world flash red before her blurry eyes.
Her breath became raspy as she moved towards the fallen enemy.
Hope pulled herself up and looked down at the blood on her belly. The wound wasn't deep, it wasn't even serious, then she felt fingers grasp her hair and wrench her up to her feet.
Her green eyes locked with the pale blue of Xena's for only an instant, and then the other woman's elbow bashed into the side of her head and sent Hope sprawling again.
Hope bounced on the packed earth of the path leading into the farm. She felt the pain in a way that she had never experienced before. The pain ricocheted through her body and fed her sudden sense of fear. The protection she had enjoyed was gone. In a sudden horrifying moment, she realized that she could no longer draw on the strength of her unholy father. Even his raging voice, so long a portion of her existence, was ominously silent. He hand drifted up to her mouth and came away red. She felt weak, impotent, she felt…human!
Her eyes widened in realization as strong hands hauled her back to her unsteady feet.
Gabrielle, Eve, and Alexander all heard the sickening impact and looked up from their mourning just in time to see Hope go sprawling to the ground again with a thud.
Gabrielle's eyes went wide in fear when she saw the pitiless expression on Xena's face. Was that the way she had looked the first time, before she became the warlord?
"Oh no," She gasped.
Alexander tore himself away from his father and moved quickly to intervene.
He wasn't quite fast enough.
Xena hauled the young doppelganger of her best friend and mother back onto her feet and blasted her forearm once more into Hopes face.
For a third time, the stunned girl reeled back and felt her back ring in protest as she slammed against the fence, sliding to the ground with blood streaming from her nose and mouth. The pain was a dull throb that coursed through her body in a way that the power she had enjoyed before had moved. Only instead of the ecstatic feel of the energy, it was a river of agony. Her eyes wouldn't focus as she watched the amorphous shape of Xena stalk towards her.
Xena lashed out with a foot and caught Hop in the side. There was a crunch and the stricken girl rolled over several times before coming to a halt. A stifled cry burst from her at the contact.
Xena smiled and kicked again, with similar results, watching with satisfaction as Hope tumbled across the yard a second time, her blood staining the ground crimson as she tried desperately to claw herself away from the savage onslaught.
Suddenly a shape interposed itself between her and her prey. She looked up to see Alexander standing in front of her, his hands on her shoulders.
"Xe?" he asked urgently. "What are you doing?"
"Settling a debt," Xena replied and she pushed her brother out of the way, stepping over to stand above Hope, an insane grin on her face.
She flipped Hope over with a kick that exerted only a little less effort than her previous ones, and picked drew her sword.
"Whoa!" Alexander jumped up, his grief momentarily suspended.
He interposed himself between his sister and the fallen girl.
"Don't do this!" he said, holding out his hand to stay her.
"Get out of the way, Alex!" Xena hissed.
"This isn't right!" Alexander continued.
"Get out of the way, Alex!" Xena repeated, more coldly. Her breath was heaving as if the rage itself were a weight upon her shoulders. Her fingers tightened to a white knuckled grip on her sword.
"The girl is helpless!" Alexander protested more sternly.
"She killed our father!" Xena screamed in despair.
"I know!" Alexander shouted back. "But this fight is over! Remember what dad always said? Fight evil all you like, but be careful that you don't become what you behold!"
Xena looked down at Hope, lying helpless behind her brother. Hope's eyes were wide with fear.
"Don't do this," Alexander said more softly.
Xena looked back at her mother, seeing the fearful expression on her face. Her heart was thundering in her chest, as if it would explode from inside her. Her breath felt like fire in her lungs and her entire body trembled with the fury that commanded release.
A cry blasted from the very bowels of her soul, filled with despair and pain. She turned and flung the weapon across the yard, staggered a few steps and collapsed, wracked by grief that caused her physical pain.
Eve stepped quickly to Xena, tears in her own eyes as she wrapped her arms around Xena's shoulders, trying to ease a pain that she knew would never end.
Hope's green eyes looked up at Alexander as he turned to stare at her. She expected to see something that warranted his words on her behalf. A look of compassion, or pity, something other than what she actually saw. Instead, Alexander stared down at her with eyes the same cold, pitiless green as hers. He fixed her with a gaze that was filled with calculating wrath.
"Understand one thing, little sis," Alexander said, kneeling down before her. His voice was completely devoid of the compassion he had expressed mere moments before. His eyes bored through hers and reawakened the terror that she had been feeling a moment before.
"You're alive, now, because if I had let her kill you, you would have won! You would have destroyed her!" His voice was a tight growl, not unlike that of the man she had just vanquished. "And you aren't going to win this one, you little twice baked bitch! No way in hell! You're going to stand trial for what you did here! Maybe they'll execute you, maybe they won't! If they do, I know Xe will be the one swinging the axe, and I'll be the one holding you in place for it! Got it?"
He reached into his pouch and removed a coil of cloth and began tending to her injuries.
"My father will destroy you," Hope managed to gurgle with as much defiance as she could muster.
Alexander stopped and looked at Hope for a long moment. His eyes lost their focus for a moment and then a smile touched the corners of his mouth. A knowing smile that told she knew her threat was empty. Her father was silent in her mind and her powers were forever lost. In that moment, she became acutely aware of how close to permanent destruction she had truly come.