Chapter 15 –Revival of The Commander
Ernak waited on the border of Balaam with his brother. Idly, he sat in the snow, drawing pictures in the frosty soil, bored out of his mind. Dengi sat on his horse and squinted his eyes, overseeing the border. He trotted a few paces and saw dark horsemen riding right towards them. "Xena's horse!" he yelled.
Ernak jumped up and ran closer to the border. "That's not Xena. It's Anastasia!" he hopped on his horse and rode out with brother. "Where the hell is everyone else?!"
Dengi frowned. "I don't know but those are Persians following her." He drew his sword from his belt. "Let's go!"
Anastasia turned her head around and saw the Persians were ganging up on her, riding closer and closer to her. Looking ahead she saw Dengi and Ernak coming to save her. She smiled seeing them and then moaned aloud in agony. Glancing over at her shoulder she saw an arrow pierced through her. Gripping her bleeding shoulder she crossed through the border, riding past Dengi and Ernak.
She came to a slow trot and Zolten ran over to her once he immediately saw the arrow sticking out of her shoulder. He lifted her off the horse and briskly walked into the Adame. Tuya came down the hallway and saw Anastasia in the arms of Zolten and frowned. Kreka came out of the sitting room where she was working on Anastasia's dress and saw Zolten walk by with the queen in his arms.
She ran over and Tuya stood with her mouth agape. "What happened?" she asked.
Tuya shook her head. "I don't know but she is wounded."
Kreka spun around and saw her sons outside fighting against Persians. Of course, she thought. "Stay with Anastasia," she said and walked to the entrance of the Adame.
"Me?!" the queen mother gasped and Kreka shot her a glare. "She doesn't like me!"
"I don't care if she doesn't like you. Stay with her. I'm going outside!" she picked up her dress and ran down the steps to meet with her adult sons. Tuya folded her arms and looked down the hall towards the queen's quarters, already people trailing in to aid Anastasia. She swallowed her pride and tread down the hall.
Entering the bedroom she saw the healer beside the bed, tending to Anastasia's wound. The screeching scream echoed through the room when the woman pulled the arrow from Anastasia's shoulder. Tuya cringed and Zolten walked over to her with concerned eyes.
"Tuya Khatun, will you stay in this room? I must go outside to help Dengi and Ernak," he asked and she exhaled heavily, not really wanting to stay but with nobody else here it looked like she had to stay. Finally, she nodded and he bowed his head then hurried out of the room.
Hesitantly, she walked over to the side of the bed and Ana's head lolled over on the pillows as she breathed heavily. A frown imminent on her face when she saw Tuya in her bedroom. The healer kept dressing her wound and she soon forgot about the pain, glaring at Navaz's mother.
"What are you doing in here?!" she yelled and Tuya lowered her eyes. "Get out!" she hissed.
"Your highness, please, stay still," the healer advised. Anastasia clenched her jaw and relaxed against the pillows, doing as told.
Tuya folded her arms and felt Anastasia's on her the entire time, burning into her flesh. "Kreka asked me to stay with you," she said calmly. She saw the vehemence in the young Hun's eyes. "I know you don't want me in here but –"
"You got that right. Get out, Tuya." Ana said as the healer began wrapping her shoulder. Wincing, her shoulder was lifted off the pillows and the woman tried to be as careful as possible, but even the smallest movement caused her a lot of pain and discomfort.
At that moment the queen mother then thought of what Kreka told her yesterday. She was advised to be nicer to Anastasia and put in some effort showing that she cared for her somehow. But the reality was that she didn't like Anastasia and certainly didn't like Xena and wasn't too fond of Kreka either. But at least they both had one thing in common –Navaz. She loved her son dearly and he was only her child and son. She wanted to make him happy but her recent actions hadn't proved fruitful among anyone, especially with his wife.
Ignoring Anastasia's demand she pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. Ana's eyes widened at this and the healer had finished wrapping her shoulder and gathered the bloodied clothes. Quickly, the healer left the bed to go find some medicine for Anastasia to take to make the pain subside for awhile.
Now the two were alone in the bedroom and Ana lifted herself up slowly, leaning on a mound of pillows. Tuya blinked slowly at her and smiled softly. "I thought I told you to leave," the queen hissed.
Tuya nodded. "You did, but I am staying here. You are in no condition to fight me on this, Anastasia," she arched a brow. "Are you...alright?"
Ana scoffed. "Stop asking as if you really care."
The queen mother sighed heavily and leaned back in the chair. The room was silent and incredibly awkward. One could cut the air with a knife the tension was so thick. "I'm trying to be nice."
Anastasia smirked and turned to the khatun. "And that's so hard for you, isn't it?" she said and Tuya whipped her head around, her mouth ajar and her dark eyes wide. "You've been nothing but rude to me ever since I got here. Why don't you like me? Navaz likes me. What is it that he sees that you don't?"
Tuya frowned and unfolded her arms, now less defensive since she came in here. "I wanted my son to marry a girl from our own tribe," she said, finally admitting her true feelings. "But he wanted you. He refused all the young women that I brought to him before you came to Balaam. When he saw you he told me he wanted to marry you and no one else."
Anastasia's eyes softened when she heard that. She didn't know that Navaz had really liked her so much when they first met but they didn't know each other very well and she still felt that she didn't know him as well as she'd like to. She only agreed to marry him because Kreka told her it was the best thing to do at the time. She didn't hate Navaz then and she certainly didn't hate him now. In fact, she thought they had grown to be such good friends now and hopefully more. He was so nice to her it was hard to believe that Tuya was his mother because she was not nice at all.
"And you hate me because of that?" she asked, a bit confused.
Tuya shook her head. "I don't hate you, Anastasia. I was upset that he married someone out of our own tribe. I wanted him to marry a Caucasian woman, not a Pannonian."
"Well, I'm afraid you're stuck with me now," Ana said and Tuya nodded then turned to see the smile on her face. "You know...it would be a good idea to become friends with my mother. It would make your life a lot easier."
Tuya blinked and assumed that Anastasia was not privy to what happened between her and Kreka awhile ago. Xena must have kept that secret from her daughter and rightfully so, otherwise her son would be obliged to believe his wife. He adored Anastasia.
"That is unlikely to happen..." she grumbled.
"Despite my mother's hard shell she can be very forgiving," Ana advised. "She is very protective of Csaba and I don't think this child will be any different. You're going to have to pry the baby from her arms if you want to see it."
Tuya's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought of that and she certainly knew that Xena loved Csaba a lot and would do anything for him. Xena made that perfectly clear when they last spoke. The realization of Anastasia carrying her son's heir finally crossed her mind. She was so preoccupied with herself that she hadn't thought of the aftermath of the baby. Kreka was right, this was her grandchild too, not just Xena's and if she wanted to see her only grandchild then she would have to be nice and somehow make Xena like her or at least tolerate her. Even if she didn't care for Anastasia or her mother, she needed to make a concerted effort to show kindness to them both.
Navaz rode into Balaam with Gabrielle sitting behind him. He narrowed his eyes and saw Dengi had all of the Persian soldiers tied up by their necks and wrists. He yanked the reins of the horse and halted in front of the line of Persians, scowling.
Dengi sheathed his sword and eyed the king. "What the fuck is going on and where the hell is Xena?!" he growled.
Gabrielle shot a glare at Navaz. "Someone left her behind!"
"You did what?!" Dengi marched over to the king, snarling.
"It wasn't intentional..." the king lamented. "Where is Anastasia?" he asked.
Ernak tightened one of the ropes around a Persian's wrist and stood, wiping his bloody hands on his pants. "She's inside. She took an arrow to the shoulder," he said and saw Navaz's eyes widen fearfully.
"Salak!" Kreka yelled as she stormed through the snow in her black fur coat. Her sons turned at the sight of her and saw malicious intent. They immediately took a step back as she was marching right towards Navaz. She pointed her finger at him. "You!" she hissed and Navaz's face paled. "You allowed your wife to ride back by herself! And now she is injured!"
He frowned, "I did not. That is not how it happened, Kreka."
Gabrielle spun around hearing loud horse hooves and smiled seeing Xena riding back with the rest of the elite Huns behind her. She immediately hopped off Navaz's horse and Xena came to a skidding halt and saw Kreka glaring at Navaz then looked at all the Persian soldiers tied up behind Dengi and Ernak.
"What is going on?" Xena asked.
Gabrielle bit her bottom lip as she was about embrace Xena's wrath, something she hated to see. "I was taking Ana back to Balaam like you asked but Persians followed us. I told her to ride back so I could fight them off myself."
Xena shot her a menacing glare. "You what?" she said lowly. "That is not what I asked you to do! I told you to get her back safely, Gabrielle!" she growled and jumped off her horse, limping over to Kreka. "Where is she?"
Kreka folded her arms. "Inside the Adame with Tuya. An arrow pierced her shoulder."
All color drained from Xena's face and she spun around to her blonde consort. "Gabrielle!" she yelled. "Because of you my daughter is injured! If you would have done what I told you none of this would have happened!"
Gabrielle huffed and marched over to the irate warrior. "What was I supposed to do?! They were going to kill her! I did what I thought was the best thing at the time!"
"Wrong!" Xena stormed forward, towering over the blonde. "There is always another way. You know that. You weren't thinking and this is your fault." She spun around and walked briskly through the snow to get to the Adame.
Everyone stood in awkward silence and Ernak clicked his tongue against his cheek. "So..." he began, breaking the silence, "what do you want us to do with these assholes?" he grinned.
Navaz frowned, "execute them." He said then rode off to the Adame.
Dengi turned to his brother with an eager smile. He saw the fear in the Persians' eyes. Withdrawing his sword he walked over to the line of soldiers, staring into their fear stricken eyes. "I guess the king is really pissed," he cocked his head. "You hurt the queen, Xena's daughter. Bad move on your end, boys." He sighed and raised his sword over his head.
Gabrielle cringed when she saw one of Persian's heads roll in the snow and Ernak let out a hearty laugh. She turned and saw Kreka glaring at her. She not only had Xena angry at her but now she had Kreka angry at her as well. She thought she was doing the right thing by letting Anastasia go back to Balaam on her own but apparently she was wrong and now everything was her fault, according to Xena.
Ernak came to stand beside his brother. "Okay, okay. My turn," he grinned. He turned to see Gabrielle standing off by herself with her arms wrapped around her body. "Oh sorry, you want a go at it Gabrielle?" he asked.
She turned and frowned then walked off. He shrugged then smiled. "I get this one and you get the next," he told his brother.
Xena stormed into her daughter's bedroom and saw Tuya sitting beside the bed. Anastasia lifted her eyes and gasped. "Mother! You're alright, you –"
"Are you alright?" she asked, interrupting her daughter.
Anastasia nodded. "I'm fine but...but what happened? Where is Navaz? Gabrielle? Are they okay?" she sat up and winced from her shoulder wound.
Xena opened her mouth to speak until Navaz entered the bedroom. "Anastasia!" he said and she spun around to see the king brush by her to go tend to her daughter. She folded her arms and then saw Gabrielle appear beside her and frowned deeply, not happy to see her.
Gabrielle dipped her head and felt Xena's cold shoulder. She didn't think it was fair that she was being blamed for Anastasia's injury. She was only doing what she was told and didn't think that Ana would get hurt in the process but she didn't have a choice. She wasn't going to let Anastasia fight alongside with her and she was lucky that Navaz showed up when he did otherwise she might have had some serious injuries or be dead.
Navaz sat on the edge of the bed, eyes roaming over his wife's body and his hands touched her arm and face, examining her thoroughly. Ana smiled and grasped his hand. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, concern written all over his face.
She nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. What happened to the Persians?"
His eyes darkened and his hand slipped from her grasp. "I told Dengi and Ernak to execute them." At that her eyes widened, not expecting that to come from his mouth. That was something she expected to hear from her mother not Navaz.
Xena cleared her throat and all eyes turned to her. "Navaz, you need to tell the Nezak Huns to attack Persia immediately. Word will get back to Zeno within a few days. We don't have a lot of time."
The king gave her a curt nod and turned to his wife, smiling warmly and kissed her forehead. He left her side and stood beside Xena.
"I will have a letter sent out right now," he said.
Gabrielle spoke up, "I can write the letter for you," she offered and he gave her a small smile and nodded. She eyed Xena briefly. Still ignoring me, she noticed. Then she trailed out of the room with Navaz to go to his office to write the letter to Malka.
Xena briskly walked back to her yurt through the light snow storm and saw the two sons of Attila smiling, talking among themselves. They immediately caught sight of her and shut their mouths. She pointed to the Persians' decapitated heads on the ground. "Send the heads to Peroz."
Ernak smiled, nodding his head. "Yes ma'am." He said and she narrowed her eyes. "Yes Xena," he corrected and she shook her head, storming off to her home.
She charged through her yurt and threw her cloak and sword onto the floor. Rubbing her temples she sighed heavily and began pacing around in a circle, talking to herself quietly. When she was Attila's Commander things were a lot easier because she was in charge and Attila was by her side most of the time. He allowed her to have free range to do almost anything she wanted, except for a few things. She and Attila were a great team and relied on one another for years, thinking in sync with each other.
Bu this –this was different. She was not commander anymore, her daughter was. This was not Pannonia and these people were not Pannonian. Valentinian and Theodosius were dead and had been for a few years now. Emperor Zeno and the new emperor of just one year, Odoacer, were nothing like their predecessors. It only made matters worse that Xena knew Odoacer very well many years ago. She also hated Zeno and really wanted to crush his little holy city all by herself, but she couldn't do that.
Anastasia and Navaz were the monarchs of this area and Xena had no say here. She was beginning to wonder if her daughter would ever let her help indefinitely but she understood why her daughter wanted to do things by herself. After all, she did well for herself a year after the war in Pannonia. Anastasia married a king and tolerated his family and people. She is a queen but she doesn't know how to rule and Kreka is also a queen but has no authority in Armenia. Tuya is the queen mother but she too has little authority in her own kingdom now that her son is married and has a new queen.
Tuya depended on her son to rule Armenia but now she had little to no say in anything because of Anastasia. Xena sat down on the floor, resting her chin on her palm, thinking what a chaotic mess this has turned out to be. She thought that she had pretty easy Roman emperors to deal with when she was an active commander. Anastasia and Navaz had ruthless Roman emperors at their doorstep and they were very young, too young to know how to control them and keep them away.
The couple may be king and queen but they are not a team, Xena thought. She rubbed her chin and frowned, gaping at the wall in the sitting room next to the entrance. They do not know how to work together because Anastasia wants to be in charge of the army while Navaz aims to please her and his people.
"This is not going to work," she muttered to herself.
She kept thinking of Attila's and Kreka's relationship together. After their marriage, Kreka ceased all combat when she had her sons. She too was from a warring tribe in Asia, though her bloodline comes from the Balkans. Kreka allowed Attila to rule over his people while she had some say, they worked together as a team on and off the battlefield. Even if Kreka was not present on the battlefield she knew what was going on and Xena would be in charge of the entire army. Attila and Kreka worked well together. Anastasia and Navaz were not working together and that was the problem.
She was beginning to think it was impossible for a queen to be a commander and overseer of the people at once as well as a mother. It was extremely difficult and maybe that is why Attila's campaign over all the Hunnic tribes was so successful. He had a queen and a separate commander. Although, it was not impossible to have a queen as a commander, it was just not very ideal and often failed.
Xena allowed Kreka to work as her second in command during the war with Theodosius in Nicaea, but that was different. They still worked together and Attila was still in charge of his own people, holding his own. She felt like this campaign that Anastasia wanted was going to fail indefinitely if she did not take over no matter how much her daughter didn't want her to. This was not down to experience but about teamwork and Anastasia is not a team player. She didn't quite understand the consequences of her actions yet and thinks it is easy. Xena realized her daughter has too much on her plate and should focus on a political campaign at home in Balaam instead of building an entire empire.
Baby steps, she thought and a smile came to her lips. She turned when she heard the flaps of the yurt and Gabrielle stood in the doorway. Her smile faded once she saw her and turned back around, brooding silently. She couldn't help herself but to blame Gabrielle for what happened to Anastasia and sensed the blonde inching closer.
Gabrielle took in a deep breath and sat down beside her. Xena ignoring her, staring at the wall in a tense silence. "Are you going to talk to me?" she asked.
Xena breathed heavily through her nostrils. "You could have gotten my daughter killed."
"Xena, I didn't know what to do! I thought I was doing the right thing by sending her off by herself!"
The dark haired warrior whipped her head around, her eyes wild. "You weren't thinking! You've been enough tough situations to know what to do when you are surrounded! You knew they were going to follow her and you stupidly left yourself open for an attack!"
Gabrielle huffed. "I'm not like you, Xena! I rely on you!" she frowned, lowering her eyes. "Maybe too much..." she mumbled. "I was lucky when Navaz showed up."
Xena narrowed her eyebrows. "You should have let him fight the Persians on his own and you go after Anastasia. He can take care of himself."
"Are you saying that I can't hold my own?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then what are you saying, Xena?" the blonde's frown deepened and she crossed her arms, glaring at the blue eyed warrior.
Xena sighed and looked into Gabrielle's bright green eyes. "I don't want to lose you Gabrielle. I asked you to get my daughter safely back to Balaam and you couldn't do it! You say you rely on me too much and you do. I'm not always going to be there when things go sour. You said you were lucky when Navaz showed up to help but you should never rely on luck. That's a recipe for disaster and you know it."
Gabrielle's eyes softened and she uncrossed her arms. "I reacted on impulse," she said softly, "and I was wrong. I shouldn't have done that I know."
"I should have never allowed Anastasia to come with us in the first place," Xena grumbled.
"Xena, we didn't know that Peroz was going to attack us."
Xena lifted her eyes, gaping at the wall. She lifted her chin and said, "and I'll make sure that never happens again." She rose to her feet and grabbed her cloak.
Gabrielle turned around. "W –where are you going?"
"I'm going to talk to Navaz and convince him to agree to a proclamation to forbade Anastasia to never claim her role as commander ever again," she wrapped the cloak around her shoulders, buckling the clasps.
"Xena...you already tried that and she said no."
Xena sighed and sheathed her sword at her hip. "I can go above her head to her husband who is the king. This system they have is not working. This kingdom will be in the ground by the end of the season if Anastasia continues with her obstinacy."
Gabrielle stood and brushed the wrinkles out of her tunic. "She's not going to like what you're doing, Xena."
"I don't really care." Xena said. "And you're going to help me write the proclamation."
"Oh great so she can hate me too?" the blonde scoffed.
"This is not personal, Gabrielle and I know she's going to take it that way but this is not a game." Xena placed her hands on her consort's shoulders, smiling softly. "Help me."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "Okay but...do you forgive me?"
Xena squinted her eyes as her smile grew. "I already did but..." she said and Gabrielle's eyes widened in fear. "We're going to need to work on your tactics."
Three days later Gabrielle stood next to Navaz flipping through the proclamation that she and Xena drew up together. He sat glaring at the document listening to Gabrielle speak and his eyes lifted to Xena sitting across from him. Kreka and Tuya stood behind Xena with both their arms folded.
Gabrielle turned the page and pointed the feather pen at the lengthy document. "And this states that Anastasia will no longer be commander in any shape or form. She will be in charge of political matters only. This also states that she is obligated to form a court of her own to help her with decisions. You do not need to be present when she makes the decisions as long as the court's votes are unanimous." She stated.
She turned to the last page. "This last page states that you need more than two signatures of royal authority to commence this deal that Xena and I have made. So you will need to sign here," she pointed to the bottom of the page, "and your mother will sign beside your name and Kreka beside hers. Any questions?" she asked and looked into his dark eyes.
Navaz sighed heavily and scratched his head, looking at the empty space at the bottom of the page and Gabrielle holding the pen close to his hand, begging to sign the proclamation. "So...this means that I have to enlist Xena as the commander of my people?"
Gabrielle nodded, "correct," she smiled. "But you are the overseer. Xena will do anything you say as long as she agrees with you."
"She is fair, Navaz," Kreka spoke up and Xena smirked at that comment.
He shook his head and grabbed the pen from Gabrielle's hand then quickly signed his name. Gabrielle grinned and pushed the paper towards Kreka and Tuya. Both signed their names and Gabrielle nodded her head and clutched the document to her chest.
Xena and Navaz stood, staring at each other. "There is one more thing you need to do to seal this deal," she said and he raised an eyebrow. "You need to make Anastasia sign the document."
"You must be joking?" Navaz scoffed.
Gabrielle handed over the proclamation to the king with a smug grin. "Afraid she's not. It's your duty to do this, Navaz."
"Don't tell me you're afraid of your wife, Navaz," Xena teased.
"I would be," Kreka scoffed and shrugged her shoulder when the king shot her a glare.
Navaz sighed and rubbed his temple, fearing the worst. Anastasia was the last person he wanted to talk to about this. With her injury she had been in bed for days now and she wasn't allowed to leave until her shoulder was semi healed at least. Now he was going to have to tell her that she had no rights as a commander and he wasn't ready for that especially since her mother and Gabrielle decided this for her.
"I will tell her tonight," he said and walked out of the office eager to get away from all the women.
Xena chuckled and shared a devious smile with her counterpart. She then turned to the queen mother, looking her straight in the eye. "Thank you for watching over Anastasia these last few days," she said and Tuya blinked surprised to hear that. She smiled and grabbed Gabrielle's arm leading the way out.
Kreka smirked and folded her arms staring at the miffed queen mother. "I suppose you are getting in her good graces after all."
That evening Navaz presented the document to Anastasia over dinner in her bedroom. She flipped through the pages three or four times as they sat in silence. He anxiously waited for her response but so far she was silent and that was either a good thing or a bad thing. He hadn't been close enough to her to know what her reactions were to these sorts of things. He was beginning to sweat the longer his eyes were glued to her as she continuously flipped back and forth of the signed document.
"Anastasia," he said and she lifted her eyes. "Please, say something," he begged. He had been on the edge of his seat for almost half an hour now.
She sighed and closed the large packet of papers and scooted it over on the table towards him. She read over the proclamation and instantly recognized Gabrielle's handwriting and her mother's words transferred onto paper. She couldn't blame her mother for trying to look out for her and she really wanted to be angry but she was too tired to be angry anymore. She tried so hard to make something hers when obviously she was incapable of executing it. She wanted to make her mother proud and though her mother did say she was proud, she knew her mother meant that. Her mother was not a liar and would never say words of encouragement out of pity. She was just being...a mother and it was apparent she really wanted to be a commander again.
She also forgot about her child and realized that she was acting very selfish and didn't even think twice about the child inside her. Once, she hated the child because of what it represented and then she slowly grew to love it and now she neglected it once again to thrive in her new position as queen and commander. Her mother was right, you can't do everything at once. It was nearly impossible and she could have died a few days ago but she was lucky that she didn't.
Sighing heavily she nodded her head. "Okay," she said then grabbed the pen and signed her name at the bottom.
Navaz grinned, happy that she was willing to agree. He didn't want to have to deal with an angry wife especially since they shared the same bed together as of late. He was very surprised to see that was being very agreeable and immediately became suspicious.
"You're not going to argue?" he asked hesitantly.
She shook her head. "No, not anymore. I'm done arguing with everyone," she exhaled heavily then caught him staring at her with a big grin on his face. "What?"
"Nothing," he lowered his lingering eyes. "I'm just surprised. You've been..." he trailed off, not wishing to finish that sentence whatsoever.
She frowned, "I've been what?"
"Never mind," he leaned forward and kissed her hand. "How's your shoulder?"
"It's better. Have you been able to check on Csaba? I haven't seen him in days," she frowned sadly.
He nodded. "Kreka has been taking care of him."
She quirked her mouth and ran her fingers through her hair. "She's been doing everything for me lately and so has Gabrielle and my mother. I really owe them my life, don't I?" she half smiled.
"I'm sure they would do anything for you, Anastasia. Everyone cares about you, including me," he winked and she blushed lightly.
"It seems everyone is taking care of me except me," she sighed. "I hope you know what you just did , Navaz. You made my mother your commander."
He frowned and grabbed her hands, gaping into her light eyes. "Should I be worried?" his throat suddenly became dry.
She shrugged a shoulder. "Worried is not the word I would use but you just gave her full control of the entire army. Under Attila, he allowed her to do whatever she wanted. She was ruthless. If the Romans find out that she is your commander you bet they will come for Balaam. Valentinian and Theodosius tried to get rid of her but failed. Zeno almost did but he failed and she knows Odoacer." She gripped his hands and felt sweat on his palms. "She will attack Rome, Navaz. She hates Romans. Attila never attacked Rome during his reign."
His head dipped and he let go of her hands then leaned back in the chair, rubbing his bearded chin contemplatively. "But don't we want to attack Rome?" he asked quite unsure of himself now. He had never been in a war before and his people were of no concern to anyone except the Persians.
Anastasia smiled. "That's no longer up to you." She saw the fear and anxiousness in his eyes. "You don't know how this works do you?" she chuckled. "My mother is now in charge of everything. She carries out anything you want but she is allowed to do what she pleases too. You have no idea what you just signed away, Navaz."
"But, I can still trust her, right?" he asked, now rethinking this document that Xena and Gabrielle wrote up together.
She sighed heavily and folded her hands in her lap. "My mother is very fair and trustworthy. You don't have to worry about trusting her, it's her actions that you will have to worry about."
Xena smacked the long wooden rod on the map upon the ground of the royal office inside the Adame. "We will go to Pannonia and attack the Bulgur's camp." She said and the elite soldiers folded their arms and stood in silence.
Gabrielle rubbed her chin and she turned to Xena. "Why do you want to attack Pannonia? What will you gain from it?"
The commander smiled faintly. "If we take back Pannonia then the White Huns will share the territory. We will have more land and that scares Romans. We want them afraid of us, Gabrielle."
"So, you are following through with Anastasia's original plan to take Pannonia back?" the blonde asked.
"Precisely but we do things my way," Xena eyed the soldiers. "We ride out tomorrow. I will tell Navaz and Anastasia the plan tonight." She said and the men nodded.
Zolten interrupted, "how many men will we need?" he asked.
She shrugged, "two fleets, three at most."
His eyes widened in fear. "But, commander, the Bulgur Huns are among the hundreds in Pannonia. Surely, we will need more men?"
"Are you questioning my tactics, officer?" Xena grinned maliciously and traced the long wooden rod along Zolten's throat.
"No commander..." he bit his tongue and her smile grew as she lowered the stick.
"Good." She tapped the stick against her palm. "You can go now. Prepare for tomorrow. We leave at first light."
Gabrielle folded her arms and saw Xena focused on the floor map intensely. "You really want to take Pannonia back for yourself, don't you? You never wanted Anastasia do it by herself but it's alright if you do it?" she arched an eyebrow.
Xena lifted her head and turned to her concerned yet irritated consort. "I wanted to protect Anastasia. She doesn't know anything about being a commander so I will carry out her plan for her. Her idea of unifying all of the tribes is not a bad idea but she couldn't do it alone. Now that I finally have her consent I will crush the Bulgur Huns into submission." She grit her teeth and snapped the stick in half.
Gabrielle nodded and gave a mocking smile. "Really?" she chided. "Surrender or die? Is that what we're doing now, Xena? You're resorting to that?"
"Gabrielle," the commander sighed and held the broken stick in her hands, somewhat embarrassed. "Pannonia was taken from us. When I get it back we will have control over everyone again. I will make them submit to me!" she growled.
"To you? Or to the White Huns?" Gabrielle frowned.
Xena smiled faintly and tossed the stick aside, crossing her arms. "To us of course. Don't you trust me?"
"Not really, no. I've known you as a commander the entire time I have been with you. Attila, Ellac, Dengi, Ernak and now Anastasia. You can't stop and I don't want you to do this again –go down that path."
Xena's eyes darkened. "I was a fair commander under Attila's sons. You saw me! You were with me!"
"Yes you were but things are different now. Zeno wants you dead, Xena. This is going to be harder than it was ten years ago. I never forgot that look in your eyes back in Stagira. You wanted to kill Zeno and I see that fire has not left your body. You've been waiting for this."
Xena frowned sadly. "Gabrielle, I can't let another war destroy my people's homes again. I won't allow that to happen. I failed last time and lost everything –almost everything," she smiled softly, touching the blonde's full cheek. "I love you Gabrielle and I want you to be on my side. I want to win not for me, but for everyone."
Gabrielle sighed and kissed Xena's palm. "I want Zeno dead as much as you do but I also want peace."
"So do I but we can't have peace without war, unfortunately. I won't go overboard," she said and the blonde leered up at her. "Promise."
A smile came to the blonde's lips. A promise meant everything to her. Xena's promises were like gold and everyone could always count on her to fulfill her promises. "There is one thing that I want to do though..."
"Yes...?" Xena asked nervously.
"I want to be your adviser!" her eyes grew as did her smile.
Xena's mouth gaped. "Adviser? You don't want to be a scribe anymore?"
Gabrielle scoffed. "Please, Xena. I am more than qualified. Plus, I just want to keep you in check," she winked at her consort.
"You're not going to let me say 'no' are you?" Xena said and Gabrielle shook her head. Sighing she relented. "Alright...fine..."
"I need to get permission from Navaz don't I?"
"Let me take care of that for you. I'm sure he won't disagree..." she grinned.
Anastasia stood in her room wearing her new dress for the senlik that she was opposed to last month. Kreka sat behind her, adjusting the bodice of the gown. She pulled the fabric close together and Anastasia gasped.
"Too tight?" Kreka asked and Ana nodded. "I hope you will be able to fit into this next month." She dug the needle into the fabric and began sewing slowly.
"What are you saying?!" Anastasia griped and turned around.
Kreka grunted and turned Anastasia's body back around. "Nothing, talti kiz," she smiled. "Your baby is due at the end of the season and I want this dress to look amazing on you!"
Ana sighed heavily and felt a tug on her breast area. "Too tight," she said and Kreka loosened the bodice some more. "I feel huge everywhere!" she groaned. Looking down at her enlarged breasts and ran her hands down the fabric.
"Anastasia, you look stunning as always," the khatun grinned and accidentally poked Ana's backside. "Sorry."
Xena and Gabrielle walked into the bedroom, seeing Anastasia in her burgundy gown. Xena's eyes lit up and she immediately circled around her daughter, admiring the gown as Kreka sat continuing to sew. She came round to her daughter and cupped her cheeks.
"You look beautiful. Pretty girl," she kissed her forehead and Anastasia grinned softly.
"You always say that." Ana said shyly.
"But I always mean it," Xena said and took a step back, admiring the dress. "Who picked out the fabric?"
"Csaba did. He said I look good in this color," she rolled her eyes.
Gabrielle pinched the fabric in between her fingers. "Well he sure knows what he's talking about."
Xena pulled up a chair and sat down lazily leaning back. "Anastasia I want to let you know that I will be taking the army to Pannonia. I'm going to make the Bulgur Huns submit to us."
Her daughter's eyes lit up and her smile brightened her face. "You're going through with my campaign?" she asked with hope and clamped her hands together.
Xena smiled, not able to resist enjoying seeing the happy look on her daughter's face. "Yes and Gabrielle will be my adviser."
Anastasia jumped up and down lightly with the smile firmly planted on her face. Kreka groaned. "Aptal kiz! Stop moving!" she chastised.
"Sorry, Kreka," her cheeks flushed and she stared at her mother. "Thank you mother, and you too Gabrielle. This means so much to me."
"See Ana, we just wanted to help you. We've always wanted to help you," Gabrielle said.
Anastasia nodded. "I know but I wanted to do everything by myself but I obviously can't." she felt a tug on her waist and gasped. "Kreka! Any tighter and I won't be able to breathe!"
Xena stood and placed her hands beneath her daughter's breasts and stared down at Kreka. "Why don't you just loosen this part of the dress?"
Kreka smirked and took the needle out from her mouth. "Who's the one sewing here? Not you, Xena."
"I know how to sew!" Xena combated the khatun.
"Flesh wounds," Kreka chuckled softly and stuck a pin in the bodice to be sewn later.
Xena frowned and came behind her daughter and ripped open the back of the dress and Kreka gasped. "This is too tight."
"Xena!" Kreka stood, throwing the basket of thread on the table. "I've been working for weeks on this dress! Now I'm going to have to redo everything!"
Anastasia rolled her eyes and Gabrielle shook her head. She mouthed the words 'save me' to Gabrielle.
Xena smiled. "And now you'll do it correctly this time." She teased.
"If it's so imperfect then why don't you do it?!" Kreka growled.
"Because I'm leaving for Pannonia tomorrow."
Anastasia gasped and slipped the gown off letting it fall to the floor. "Tomorrow?!" she reached over for her silk black robe and brushed her long locks behind her shoulders. Kreka sat in the chair holding the dress in her lap, cursing under her breath quietly.
Xena and Gabrielle both nodded in unison. "The more allies we have the better," Gabrielle said.
"Which reminds me...the Bulgur that imprisoned you," a devious smile came to Xena's lips. "Basil was his name, right?" she cocked an eyebrow.