LOVE/SEX WARNING/DISCLAIMER: This story depicts a love/sexual relationship between consenting adult women. If you are under 18 years of age or if this type of story is illegal in the state or country in which you live, please do not read it. If depictions of this nature disturb you, you may wish to read something other than this story. VIOLENCE/EXTREME VIOLENCE WARNING/DISCLAIMER: This story depicts scenes of extreme violence and/or their aftermath. Readers who are disturbed by or sensitive to this type of depiction may wish to read something other than this story.
Chapter 9
Gabrielle stirred the pot of stew that was bubbling over the small campfire. Ankh had been more than generous in replenishing their supplies. She had disappeared briefly after their lunch at the Inn and returned clothed in new clothes. The dark leather was soft and supple looking. It was a simple design, a tunic and loose pants. No added protection save for rivets that added chain mail to provide protection to her upper arms. Gabrielle noticed that she wore no bracers or greaves. Not even knee high boots. The utter lack of weapons made the ensemble look even more incomplete. "That fits well for off the rack." Gabrielle had joked as Ankh handed her the rest of the purse. She was not rewarded with a smile or reply. Gabrielle couldn't help but notice the tension and silence that had hung in the air since the attack. Ankh moved away from the young bard. She needed to get away, wanting to check the freedom of movement of her new outfit. Gabrielle turned and watched Xena moving through their small camp, thoughts of the steam cave rose unbidden to her mind. The way her skin had glistened, her muscles rippling beneath the gleaming bronze sheen as she had arched into the pleasure that Gabrielle lips and tongue were giving her. Gabrielle shook her head, first her dreams last night, now this. It was a far cry from the last few weeks but still. A small blush crept across her neck and towards her face. She wasn't complaining.
Xena watched as Ankh slipped quietly into the forest, saw her glance back over her shoulder to ensure that no one saw her disappearance. Xena debated letting her go, but something about the way the woman had been acting since the attack prompted her to follow. She caught Gabrielle's eye and mouthed "Be right back." and nodded towards the already hidden form of Ankh.
Gabrielle nodded and settled back by the fire. Thoughts of her lover dancing in her mind. Xena crouched and studied the ground, then the leaves above her. Ankh was rather adept, stealthy and light. She hadn't had someone like this to track in quite some time. The nearly full moon helped Xena follow like a shadow, only occasionally glimpsing sight of her quarry. Finally, Xena came to a small clearing in the woods. She stopped, settling into the foliage.
Xena watched as Ankh stood for a moment. She appeared to be collecting herself before falling back and executing a series of dizzying quick leaps and kicks. Her arms a blur of motion as her body arced and twisted in a fluid series of movements. Her feet landed lightly on the mossy ground and she stood, poised.
Ankh paused to listen to the forest around her. The slight rustling of leaves, the wind and the silence. Silence she wished she could absorb into herself. She drew a slow steady breath and fell back slightly. Rocking gently on the balls of her feet, she lifted her hands and began to weave the air with slow intricate designs. The supple leather moved comfortably with her movements.
Xena and Ankh both tensed slightly, Xena crouched lower, blue eyes scanned the shadows around the clearing and then up to the treetops. Ankh merely slowed her movements ever so slightly. Xena caught the flash of black leather and blonde hair moments before she saw it spinning through the air towards Ankh. Her fingers reflexively clutched the Chakram at her waist.
"Callisto." She hissed at the sight of the blonde goddess, her eyes narrowed.
Ankh sidestepped and turned to face the figure that landed behind her, her arm coming up easily to block the blow. Her moon reflected eyes met with earth dark brown eyes. A small involuntary gasp escaped as she recognized the warrior lover from her dreams. She saw the slightest flash of surprise in the other's eyes before she had to deflect another attack. Callisto moved forward, pressing the other woman back easily with her attack. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the face that turned towards her. Not quite the same, the hair dark and flowing wave like to frame that face. Not pale, flat and silken, but certainly the same silver eyes that ignited her core.
Ankh ducked away from Callisto's steady attack and got behind her. She did not attack though, something in her feared initiating any sort of contact with this woman. Her body had already begun to respond to the mere sight of this warrior who had haunted her dreams. Callisto whirled around, facing off with the woman. Xena watched the interaction, her Chakram poised, but taking no other action. Callisto had not said a word, which was odd considering how much she loved to taunt and torment her victims during battle. The question was not how Callisto had escaped but why. Xena felt the cold rage come over her again. She had left Callisto trapped beneath the mountain for a reason. Ankh gazed at the woman, her heart beginning to pound in her ears, her lungs tightening. She was beautiful. The strands of unkempt blonde hair that hung over those brown eyes, the curve of dark brows, the curl of those lips. Callisto met the gaze, following the angles and curves of the face before her. The heat of her desire burned beneath her skin with a snarl she charged at the woman. Ankh stumbled backwards, her earlier grace gone as she tripped over an exposed root and fell back against the trunk of the tree. Callisto moved in and trapped her there, her arms on either side of Ankh's shoulders, her face inches away.
Holding that luminous gaze, slowly, methodically, she spoke the words that Aillia had told her to speak-
"L'ankha'chien, bar'aes te mier bar'aes miet du'vuer. Sek'ien mier, fier'nyech mier, cher'jechin mier iru du'vuer." -burn for me as I burn for you. I am your need, your want, surrender to your desire for me as I do mine for you.-
Ankh moaned as she heard the words coming from the dream's lips. This woman could not know what she was saying or else she would not say it. She leaned back into the tree, trying to escape the face before her and the desire that was igniting in her body. Callisto saw the smolder start in those mercury eyes, she leaned forward to graze her lips against the other's. She felt a glimmer of resistance as Ankh tried to turn away, Callisto moaned as the her newly discovered godlike hunger flared in her again feeling the resistance melt away and then Ankh's almost urgent response.
Xena's rage transformed into shock as she watched stunned at the exchange. What had Callisto said? The look on Ankh's face had been one of what? Shock, panic, fear, and then abject surrender. She watched as Callisto pressed Ankh into the tree, positioning her thigh between the other woman's legs. Grinding ever so lightly, her hands twined into Ankh's dark hair. Ankh pressed into the body against her, her own arms snaking around Callisto's back, pulling her tighter. Light and dark hair mingling as they locked in that passionate embrace. Xena backed away slowly, her own breath quickening at the display of desire before her. She made her way quickly back to camp.
When she got there and Gabrielle glanced up to meet her gaze, she saw the slow burn in those green eyes ignite.
Callisto gazed down at the face beneath her. Feeling the warmth of the body beneath her. She wanted more of this woman. More of the taste of her, the sound of her, the feel of her. She bent down to lightly kiss those sculpted lips, feeling Ankh's hands moving slowly along her spine, over her hips, trailing back up along her ribs to slide over her shoulders and wrap themselves in her hair, pulling her closer to the teasing tongue and lips beneath her own. Callisto moaned, exhausted but still not satiated, and powerless before her need.
Aillia watched from her vantage in the woods, smiling at the image before her, pseudo Goddess and mortal lying on the forest floor. She chuckled at the sheer brilliance of it. Callisto burned with a want that matched her stupid sister's. Hecate was right, the godling was no match for a true deity's power. The world could pass them by, so consumed were they. Ankh would lose everything and be Aillia's, forever. Watching Ankh roll so that now she was over Callisto, and the trail of her fingers as they fluttered down the blonde's side, Aillia felt a small pang of...jealousy? Nonsense, she sneered, soon enough, Ankh will be only mine.
Ankh leaned down, her lips kissing along the slope of Callisto's jaw to her ear. Nibbling at the lobe, she murmured into it.
"How can you be this good?" Before moving down the sensitive skin along the neck, already colored with small marks from her earlier attentions. She flicked the tip of her tongue out, tracing the outline of the collarbone, sucking gently at the hollow at the base of her throat. Beneath her lips, she could feel the blood pulsing, feel her heartbeat accelerate.
Callisto felt her body respond to Ankh's kisses, already parts of her aching for those lips to make their way to them. She placed her hands on Ankh's shoulders and stopped her slow descent.
"Look at me." She asked, her voice hoarse from earlier screams and new kindled need.
Callisto did not know why she had stopped the woman and asked her to look at her. Gazing into those shimmering eyes staring at her with a tenderness beneath the fire, Callisto felt something else shifting loose. Making it's way as opaque as milk in a stream into her heart.
Callisto pushed the sensation aside, and pulled the woman back towards her lips, re-igniting the inferno that lay so close to the surface for both of them. She heard Ankh's willing moan and surrendered to the blaze as it consumed them both again.
Before Callisto had pulled her back to her lips, Ankh saw the flash of emotion that crossed like lightning over the plains of her eyes.