Chapter 55
How hard could it have been, really? She was only a mortal and there was no way that she could have escaped that brilliantly staged set up and it definitely should not have taken her this long. There was no doubt in her mind that she had went down fighting- though she was a talented warrior, in the end the Goddess had made sure that the odds were completely stacked against her and there was no way that she was going to make it out of it in one piece, let alone alive. So there she sat, pretty relaxed and happy with herself in the throne room, waiting for the news that she wanted to hear but for some reason it was taking way longer then she had originally expected it for those words to reach her divine ears. It had been about two months since she had sent Xena to her death and she figured that those cutthroats had more than likely decided to really have their way with her for awhile before they killed her- and she was fine with that- but she had been anticipating that long awaited announcement and she was growing restless since she still had yet to hear from them.
Now, she could have very well gone and checked out what was keeping them so long to deliver with what they had discussed, but still, being a Goddess meant that she had a reputation to up hold after all and she couldn't risk being caught in that type of company, word was likely to spread like a wild fire amongst scum like that and it had been a big enough risk already by having one of them come to her temple so she was stuck with having to wait.
With that thought in mind, Athena shifted a bit restless in her throne, wondering what could have possibly happened in that forest, telling herself that keeping that little traitorous bitch alive more than necessary was a bad idea despite how much she loved having them satisfy their own little disgusting fetishes with her. She really didn't care what they did to her but she needed her dead and she wanted the news of that death immediately and she didn't want to wait any longer for it.
In the end, she decided to send one of her own warriors to investigate on what was keeping them, impatient and angry with all of this waiting. One insignificant mortal whore was not that hard to kill and surely they had to be tired of fucking her by now, she was probably too mangled anyway for anyone to even want to go near her.
The Goddess of Wisdom started to frustratingly tap her fingers against the arm rest of her throne; Astra should be back at any moment now and hopefully she would come bringing news of a most glorious downfall. A slight heartless smile soon formed on her face at the thought, oh how the mighty must have fallen and she could just imagine the desperate look in Xena's eyes when she realized what the Fates had in store for her and the Goddess' pitiless grin grew more.
That was what happened to treacherous conniving sluts who allowed themselves to be persuaded so easily in exchange for a bit of rough sex with that good for nothing, deceitful brother of hers. If she had wanted to be fucked, then she should have taken care of her shameful mortal need more discreetly and she should have definitely known that by sleeping with Ares, she was sealing her fate and there was only one way for it to end. The Goddess couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped her throat thinking that Xena had more than likely had that little disgraceful need of hers fulfilled repeatedly by now- enough to last her a life time.
A few seconds later, she sighed out a bit remorseful…She had had such high hopes for her- she was a fine warrior after all- and she might have even asked her to be her Chosen with the way her skills only seemed to have been improving, but it was a good thing that this little incident had occurred, because she needed someone who was loyal and didn't falter away the moment a small amount of temptation had been placed in front of her.
Suddenly, the sound of footfalls could be heard making their way down the hall and several moments later Astra had made her way inside of the room. Athena's interest had immediately peaked with seeing that her warrior had returned and she couldn't wait to hear the confirmation of the news she had been waiting for all this time. A cocky grin began to form on her face while the warrior made her way closer but at a second glance, the Goddess could see that she seemed a bit troubled by something. Those thugs better not have laid a hand on her if they knew what was good for them, touching one of her warriors was completely off limits, they had their plaything to do with as they saw fit and harming someone under her protection was something that they better not have dared to do.
"Astra, you seem disturbed, those thugs didn't harm you, did they?" she asked her, wanting to know if those pigs had taken advantage of her warrior and if they did then they wouldn't know what was coming next.
At first, it seemed like the warrior didn't even hear her Goddess talking, her mind was still back in that forest and what she had seen to have even taken notice that she had spoken. She wasn't even sure how to describe it, there was just so much carnage and she had been in quite a few bloody battles before but she had never seen anything alike. She knew Xena had a ruthless streak in her but that was pure callousness and she still wasn't entirely sure if what she had seen was actually real. There was just no way that one woman alone could have done all that and she was still trying to process everything.
"Astra!" Athena shouted, trying to break the warrior out of the stupor that she seemed to have fallen into.
What could have possibly happened to get this reaction out of her? It was making the Goddess a little anxious; her ever growing silence was not sitting well with her and whatever it was that she had to tell her she knew that she was not going to like what she heard. After having called out her name a few more times, Astra finally lifted her head and looked up at her Goddess though.
"Athena." the warrior acknowledged, still stuck in her trance.
"Is there something that you wish to share?" the Goddess persisted, wanting her to just say it already so she can enjoy her victory over that skank, "Did they show you Xena's dead body?"
"No…" came her ghostly reply, her mind flashing to all those dead bodies that littered the forest ground, "They were all dead."
"Dead? What do you mean by that, there is no way that whore could have killed them all!" Athena stated, growing irritated that somehow her flawless plan had been ruined, not to mention the fact that the slightest possibility that Xena might still be alive was driving her crazy..
There was just no way that she could have survived that and this just didn't make any sense at all to her. Everything had been planned for in advance, there was no chance for her to escape and if she did then she couldn't have gotten that far- before possibly dying from whatever injuries were inflicted upon her beforehand.
"It was a butchery, not one single survivor and some of the things that were done to those men…" her voice faded out while she thought about it, "… She's a monster, I've never seen anything like that before."
"But what about Xena's body…?" the Goddess insisted, wanting to finally hear what she had hoped for… "… did you find it amongst them? Is she dead?"
"I did not see any sign of her anywhere, there was just so much carnage, and there was no way for me to be able to tell for sure."
After several more moments of having her warrior inform her on what she had found, Athena dismissed her and tried to put her own logic to it. Things just weren't adding up and some of what she had said didn't make any sense at all, a mere mortal could not have done some of things that Astra had described. She was missing a vital piece of information, one that she believed she already knew the answer to, and she needed to see for herself just what it was that had happened if she was going to get it and thus she quickly vanished from her throne to try and piece this puzzle together. Xena should not have survived.
Not taking nearly as long as her mortal warrior, Athena soon reappeared in the middle of the clearing where the deadly battle had taken place and she looked around for a moment. It was indeed a complete massacre- just like her warrior had said- bodies and not to mention several detached limbs laid scattered all over the place and there were quite a few strategically placed bodies adorning a few of the trees. Every single one of these men had been cut down ruthlessly and she couldn't help but notice that to a certain extent some of them seemed to be piled up against each other when there was a significant amount of space all around them, almost as if they were confined to this one single area and had nowhere else to go.
The scent of the decaying forms did not mask entirely the slight smell of fire and with a more attentive eye, she noticed the several scorch marks that ran along the ground and some of the tress and the small piles of dust that were randomly speckled throughout the ground. Several of the bodies were badly burned and she looked around the clearing once more and then, what she had failed to notice when she arrived, there was just this one sole area that was completely untouched by the destruction that seemed to have roared on all around it sitting right in the middle of it all. Fresh patches of green grass were growing vibrantly in that one space while the ground around it looked like a totally waste land. It wasn't long before she started to put the pieces together and it seemed that she had underestimated her brother after all, a mistake that was not going to happen again.
This whole scene had Ares' calling card written all over it, the savagery that had taken place was just his usual routine, show up and destroy everything and everyone without a second thought and apparently his interest when it came to Xena had been a bit more serious then she had originally thought it was. She didn't doubt for a second that he had made an appearance here and then took her- a bit surprised she was too that he actually did that to begin with but he had a new fuck toy and he probably hadn't gotten his fill with her just yet but she was not his to take and the Goddess still wanted her blood with a vengeance.
There was no way that the War God was going to keep Xena from her, the Warrior Princess belonged to her anyway and he had no real claim over her besides the occasional barbaric screw that they engaged in with each other as long as she reclaimed her as her own, which she planned to do immediately and he would have no choice but to be forced to hand her over from wherever he must have stashed her because she knew that Ares would not willingly give her up now that he had his claws into her big time. There was just no way that Athena was going to lose Xena to him and she was not going to except that and allow the both of them to continue to make a fool out of her without paying for it.
The Goddess knew just where to start to get her wayward warrior back and out of his diabolical clutches and with a bit of luck she would also be able to humiliate her brother in the process of doing so. This turn of events seemed to be working out for the better after all, getting to kill two birds with one stone and she was going to enjoy making Ares suffer by forcing him to watch his new favorite dolly die. He better enjoy his little fuck buddy while he still had her because soon her blood was going to be nourishing the earth and nothing was going to get in the way of that. There was nothing that Ares could possibly do or say that was going to stop her either.