Chapter 47

The War God had once again heard her sweet silky voice calling out his name. That time it was very faint but it still rung loud and clear in his head nonetheless and he became a bit nervous of what he was going to find once he arrived. He didn't like the tone in which she had said his name, something was not right with her.

"Now to what do I owe this lov…" Ares began to question in a teasing tone before he fully appeared before her but his words stopped short when surprisingly he felt himself get stuck with something. He jerked some from the unexpected object and looked down to see a sword that was now sticking out of him. A confused look soon came across his face at the situation- why was she attacking him?- and he glanced up slightly to the sight of Xena on her knees a few inches in front of him, completely exhausted and barely remaining conscious. Most of the long, razor sharp blade had pierced his immortal body- scarcely stopping just short of making contact with the Warrior Princess' chest, for his body was the only thing that had stopped the sword from reaching its true destination.

Just as quickly as the blade had struck, it was pulled from his chest and he angrily turned around to face the person who had just been as reckless as to do so- whoever it was must have had a death wish and he soon came to stare at a man that was now filled with fear.

Before addressing the poor fellow, Ares cast a fleeting look around his surroundings for the first time and took note of all the men standing around the clearing and all the dead ones that laid on the ground around him. So, it appeared that his Chosen had been keeping herself quite busy when he wasn't looking! He was so proud of her, not a lot of people could have taken this many on and he was a little disappointed that he had missed out on the show, wasting his time on that hopeless battle when he could have been watching his Princess in action and kicking some ass. But why was she out here by herself, where were those other goofy harpies that she liked to run around with and who thought they were exceptionally good at combat?

An inquiring look soon formed on his face as he took his time to shift his gaze from the man to Xena and started to put together what was going on. He took a few steps in his Princess' direction and brought his hand up and rested it against her cheek and caressed her skin softly and watched as she leaned in to the contact for a brief moment. He looked down at her tenderly as she responded to his touch and then he shifted his gaze up and glared at all the men standing in the clearing. He slowly pulled his own sword from its sheath as he turned back around to the lone man that stood before him and shifted in front of Xena protectively.

"What do we have here?" the words dripped from his mouth like acid and Ares gripped his sword tight in his hand as he began to walk towards this fool. The moment that he took one step away from Xena he made an invisible shield surround her.

"Please, we don't want any quarrel with you." the leader of the group tried to reason with him but he could see the rage that was flaring in this man's eyes, "All we want is the girl." he knew that before him stood the God of War and a very angry one at that.

Apparently, this woman had Ares himself on her side and could call on him at will- this was not what he signed up for. Disposing of cheap sluts, yes, but facing angry, vengeful Gods, now that was a death sentence and one he wouldn't have ever willingly accepted if he had known, especially since it was this God that now stood before him- a merciless God whose reputation he knew of very well and hoped that he would never find himself on the receiving end of his fury, which he had done quite well of avoiding, until now.

"I'm afraid that she is not an option!" Ares growled out venomously, "She is mine and I don't share."

"There seems to have been some sort of a misunderstanding." the leader tried to talk his way out of this new situation that he found himself in as he slowly backed away from the fuming War God.

"Oh no, no misunderstanding at all. Everything is perfectly clear to me." Ares said as he continued to advance on him, taking one slow deadly step at a time.

"Look, we didn't know that she belonged to you. We thought that she was just some random cunt and we were just trying to have some fun with her, get her to loosen up a bit if you know what I mean." the man joked, laughing nervously as he hinted to Ares at what type of fun he meant and his men began laughing in response, agreeing to what he had just said. But of all the things that he could have said, that was a poor choice of words on his part and it wasn't long until he realized his terrible mistake.

Ares stopped dead in his tracks upon hearing the man's words and the round of approval the other men gave out and he looked around the clearing once more. He softly began to laugh along with them and he nodded his head at the man's comment, letting him know that he knew exactly what he meant by his words. The instant he looked back down at the ground though, his laughter began to get a little louder and the rest of the men started to laugh more nervously along with him, not really knowing how to take his reaction. The War God turned his head up towards the sky as his laughter began to die down and he took in a deep breath. He shook his head slightly as the smile started to fade from his face and his eyes began to grow darker at the thought of what these men were going to do to his Princess. He took one last look in Xena's direction and saw the way that she was entirely worn out, the trail of blood that was streaming down her arms from the few cuts that she had sustained from them, the slight blemishes that were forming on her cheek from where she was hit by one of them and how she was shivering from the cold. His rage was building at the sight, this was some sort of ambush plotted against his Chosen, one meant to take advantage of her and that she was supposed to lose very badly in an unfair fight and he turned his head back in the direction of the man that was standing before him.

"Fun, huh?" Ares asked him in a relaxed tone as he started to pick at his nails, seeming rather bored with the situation as if he didn't really care what the man's answer would be. Not getting a response right away, the War God shifted his eyes to him and tilted his head in a go on already gesture and watched as the man just looked at him, unsure of what to say before he finally nodded his head in agreement to his question.

Ares gave him a small smirk and watched as a nervous smile began to form on the man's face. He began to laugh lightly again as he pointed in Xena's direction. "Yes, I know exactly what you mean. She is quite the beauty, isn't she? You just can't help but want to ravish her and ram your cock into her and fuck her brains out, am I right?"

"Yea-yeah, exactly." the leader agreed nervously and he licked his lips at the sight of her. He was a bit relieved that the War God seemed to have calmed down from the minor misunderstanding and, to his incredible luck, it even seemed that the Olympian was now offering her to them. Apparently the God could be reasoned with after all.

"Is that what you want to do? You seemed very eager before…." a big devious grin began to form on Ares' face, "To rip the clothes from her body and shove your cock into her and have some real nice fun with that succulent body, huh? What would it be worth to you if you could?"

The man smiled big at the Gods' blunt offer to let him have her and he nodded his head enthusiastically as he thought about how he was now going to claim that luscious body of hers like he wanted to do from the start. Ares grinned wide at the man but then it soon faded from his face as he cast him a nasty sneer and before he could even realize what was happening, the God of War appeared in front of him and gripped him by his throat and he lifted him off of the ground. The leader of the group started to thrash about against the War Gods' strong grip, struggling for breath, bringing his hands up in a desperate attempt to try and get himself free.

"Let me show you just how much fun I can be!" Ares hissed out on a venomous tone and then he threw the man across the clearing.

Not having the slightest chance of stopping what was happening to him, the leader collided viciously into a nearby tree. One man tried to come to the aid of his fallen leader and he rushed the God of War but it proved that his heroic attempt was the last thing he was ever going to do cause the very following moment a fireball collided with his chest, reducing him to a pile of ash the second he had taken one step in the War Gods direction. The leader of the group tried to get to his feet, he reached for his sword but before he even had a chance to react, Ares had grabbed his arm and then snapped it like a twig, breaking the bone and causing it to now protrude from the skin and his weapon fell from his grasp. He was shoved to the ground violently and he held his injured arm close to his body. The War God turned his back to him and casted a vengeful sneer to all the men that were standing the closest to him and they all shrunk back from his malicious gaze. As he took several lethal steps in their direction, drawing nearer to them a wicked grin beginning to form on his face.

In the meantime, seeing it as the only opportunity that he was ever going to get, the leader quickly tried to reach for the dagger that he had at his waist with his left hand and he stalked closer to the War God. But he never made it more than a few feet before Ares had simply waved his hand and broke his other arm. He screamed out in pain while he watched the dagger fall to the muddy forest ground and he soon found himself on the receiving end of the War Gods' blade as he sunk it deep into his chest. He gasped out in pain, blood starting to pool out of his mouth while he stared up into the dark eyes of the God before him. His body shook with fear from the darkness that he saw in them. He slowly felt the life beginning to leave him and the last thing he saw were those pitch black eyes.

Ares kicked the pathetic excuse for a warrior off of his sword and started to casually wipe it clean on the man's clothing before he turned to the others. He let his dark auburn eyes scan the clearing thoroughly- this was going to be so much fun.

"Now..." an evil gleam began to form in his eyes, "… who else wants to play?"