A/N: Very sincere apologies for so long an interim between updates. The next chapter will follow soon. Thank you for continuing on in this saga!
XII.
With broken oars and fragments of the wrecks,
Struck us and clove us; and at once a cry
Of lamentation filled the briny sea,
Till the black darkness' eye did rescue us.
The Battle of Salamis, Aeschylus
"I don't know what she plans to do," Gabrielle concedes in a low voice. The small group of Persian soldiers listen intently to Ahmet as he translates. Once the words are uttered, there is a collective grimace and shuffle; a few speak out in gruff dissent.
"They don't trust you," says Ahmet to Gabrielle, "you can understand, we will all be tried for treason if Xerxes discovers our agreement with you."
"I'm telling you," the bard pleads, "if I can just talk to Xena, I know she'll call off the-"
But she is interrupted by manic shouts from ahead. Whirling around, Gabrielle looks down from the lip of the cliff and sees with wide eyes, the jungle below crowned in flames. Limping along the edge, she sees that the Greeks have created a circle of fire around the base of the cliff, cutting off the Persian's path of retreat-except for one small pocket of space. This is the chance she has been waiting for: This is Xena's signal. Without thinking, Gabrielle scrambles to lower herself on the nearest ledge.
Another shout causes the bard to look up. Tetram himself stalks toward her, pushing his men out of the way.
"Seize her!" cries the Shah, but no one moves to obey the command. In her chest, Gabrielle feels a heartbeat as erratic as a rabbit caught in a snare. Being very near a fatal fall, however, she cannot move out of his warpath. A trickle of fear falls down her spine like a string. Suddenly, her blonde hair is yanked viciously upward. A scream rips from the bard's throat and she reaches up trying to claw at his grip. Ahmet appears beside his Shah, a debate clearly volleying behind his eyes. And yet then, at this most dire moment, Gabrielle receives into her mind a sound like the ringing of celebration bells.
"A-la-la-la-la!" comes the piercing war-cry. A shape blurs by overhead and there, standing squarely, solidly behind Tetram is the Warrior Princess herself.
"Take your paws off her," Xena growls. Gabrielle feels a current pull through her chest at the sight of her friend, alive and well and… mad. The Shah releases his hold on the bard and barely has time enough to turn, when Xena rips his arm backward-nearly dislodging the bone from its socket-and sends him sailing against a jagged piece of rock.
At once, Xena is assaulted by a deluge of sharp, curved Persian blades. Drawing her sword, she manages to fend off the front-most men. The soldiers continue to draw her in as she simultaneously tries to disengage and get back to Gabrielle. They only have so much time to get through the southern pass before the Athenian infantry light the last of the oil.
"Gabrielle!" Xena screams, sending the tip of her blade into the cavity of a man's chest.
"No! Stop!" Gabrielle yells back, knowing that her entire plan for the Persian subversion is being ruined by every arc of Xena's blade. But the Warrior Princess cannot hear her over the din of battle and the roar of the fire.
"Get through the pass!" Xena twirls and wrenches the arm of one soldier to throw him bodily against three of his comrades.
"I'm not leaving you!" says Gabrielle, now back on her feet and at her friend's side. She brandishes her chained hands, catching the downward arc of a sword and twisting it so that it pulls free from the soldier's grip. Now, with a sword, Gabrielle slashes back and forth, driving those away from Xena's flank. The wild movement allows them a brief interlude and Xena grabs Gabrielle's arm and pulls her away, back toward the edge of the cliff.
As they drop down to the ledge, a fleet of flaming arrows fly overhead toward the peak, catching the Persian soldiers in chests and arms and legs. Screams color the air as the chaos of war overtakes them. Crouching down, huddled against the side of the cliff, Xena throws herself like a human shield around Gabrielle's small body. When the first barrage is over, Xena moves off her friend. After the past days which felt more like empty, black years-both warrior and bard look at one another, savoring the warmth of their connection. Tears spring unabashed to green eyes, tinted orange in the light of the flames.
"Miss me?" she breathes, looking at the state of her friend for the first time, "Gods-"
"I'm fine," smiles Gabrielle.
"Get on my back," Xena instructs.
Gabrielle is about to voice her disagreement, but looks first over the sheer face of the cliff. Giving a short nod, Gabrielle loops her arms around Xena's neck as the warrior wraps the end of her whip around a sturdy-looking root.
"Don't let go," says Xena, her voice reduced to a whisper at their proximity; the bard can feel the tickle of her friend's breath on the side of her neck.
"Never," Gabrielle replies. And then they are airborne, flying through the air as a bird would swoop upon its earthbound prey. The length of the whip detaches from the root and they are free-falling until Xena reaches out and catches them on a hanging vine. The force of the fall jars Gabrielle's grip and she feels herself slipping.
"Xena!"
The warrior reaches behind her and wraps an arm protectively around Gabrielle's chest, hauling her up. Now with the bard secured, Xena positions the vine between the curve of her boots and they zip down hundreds of feet in seconds. Another fleet of arrows fly overhead. Once down on the sloping terrain, Xena turns and drawls Gabrielle's arm up over her shoulder to support her weight.
The deafening sound of another explosion causes them to look ahead.
"Son-of-a-Bacchae!" Xena curses as they watch their only path of retreat go up in flames, "Come on!"
They take off in a sprint toward the edge of the jungle, slowed and awkward by Gabrielle's re-injured ankle. When they get to a point where the flames are nearly licking at their boots, Xena stops and turns to the bard.
"Do you trust me?" she asks.
"Do Amazons dance?" Gabrielle replies.
Xena grins and shakes her head, detaching her whip once more from her belt. With a mighty cast, she secures the end around a tree branch high overhead. Taking her cue, Gabrielle once again climbs onto Xena's back. Emitting a battlecry that could be heard echoing through the halls of Olympus, Xena springs up and launches them into the air once more.
A Greek archer kneeling behind the cover of a felled tree looks up from notching another arrow on his bow. What he sees then he will later re-tell to his friends at the local tavern and they to their friends until the witness itself becomes a tale told by the bedside of children in the far-off future. What he sees is a warrior in a chariot of fire, flying like a phoenix through the air, with an angel clinging to her back.
Landing beside the archer, Xena coils her whip hurriedly and turns to Gabrielle.
"I want you to go back to the northern shore, you'll find a boat. There's a ship in harbor-"
"Xena the fire! It's already spreading faster than you expected. The villages-"
"I already have a man in route to Kamatero."
"And Selinia?"
Xena's expression hardens.
"Xena those people will be trapped. We have to warn them," Gabrielle implores, taking both her friend's shoulders in hand.
"You're too weak. If I had known what that beast had done to you-"
"Let me go. It's the only way! I've studied the maps, I know exactly where Selinia lies in the south."
"No!" the word is a slap, "No, I've already acted against my better judgment with you and look where it got us."
"Do we have to have this fight again?" Gabrielle shakes her head, gazing up at her friend with such sudden passion, "it's the Greater Good."
A firm, foul look passes over Xena's features, but before she can hogtie the bard, the archer that had been observing this spectacle clears his throat. Both warrior and bard turned distractedly to him.
"If it pleases you, Princess," says the archer, "I'll accompany her to Selinia, make sure no harm comes to her."
Torn between slapping this young soldier for giving Gabrielle more reason and throwing the bard over her shoulder, Xena lets out a defeated grunt.
"I'll lead the villagers to the northern shore; there must be room on the ships to take them safely back to Athens."
"Yes, it'll be a tight fit with Kamatero as well, but we'll have to make due. Damn!" Xena kicks an offending root.
"What is it?" asks Gabrielle.
Xena puts her hands on her hips, looks up beyond her sweaty bangs beyond the growing flames and up at the blue sky. "I hoped to end this here."
"You wanted to draw them into a naval battle," finishes the archer.
"Yes," Xena bites, "but it looks like we'll have to retreat back to Athens, re-group there."
"I think that's wise, Xena," says Gabrielle, laying a hand on her friend's arm. She hesitates as to whether or not she should tell Xena about her persuasive attempts with Ahmet and his like. She thinks that discussion will be better suited to a calmer time, when they are back in Athens. Gabrielle knew Xena could never entertain peace with war clamoring so heavily at her heels.
The Warrior Princess gives the bard a pained look. They both do not wish to separate again, especially when they had so recently found one another. Xena glances at the flames, can feel their heat like a desert sun. She looks back at Gabrielle. "Be safe," she whispers.
"I'll meet you at dusk," Gabrielle replies quietly. And then, it is as if the fire melted their world away and only they stood at the edge of a volcanic precipice. Finding again her new resolve, Xena decides to jump into the flames. She leans down and bestows upon a very surprised bard, an imploring kiss, one unmistakable in its designs. Gabrielle can barely respond before it is over, with Xena pulling back and smiling briefly and disappearing into the thick smoke of the jungle.