Chapter 10

Xena stared at the stars glimmering in the dark velvet sky. She held Gabrielle tightly against her body. She thought about Ankh's question from the previous evening about desire. She suspected that there was something going on to explain the passion that seemed to saturate the air around them. The passion that pushed back all the hurt, all the sorrow and wanted only to be fed even more. Ankh had been vague on the details of what she was trying to do. She had to get to Hecate's temple before the equinox. That was all she revealed. Knowing they had no friend in Morpheus, Xena wondered about the dreams that had been visiting them since they encountered the strange warrior. Gabrielle moaned and pressed her body against Xena almost in response. Was there something too voracious in their recent lovemaking? Her mind flickered back to the image of Ankh and Callisto falling together like swimmers drowning. Something was going on, why were her dreams immune? Then she thought of her jealousy from the other day. Her cold rage at the sight of Callisto. Desire, jealousy, rage, very strong emotions to tap into. Someone was counting on those emotions to confuse them, delay them? Callisto, where did she fit into this? Although Xena could not imagine a more fitting agent of unchecked emotions. Someone was counting on her reaction to Callisto, Gabrielle's reaction... Whoever was behind this wanted to use these emotions to cleave them apart. Xena narrowed her eyes, Ares perhaps? No, too subtle. Whoever it was that Ankh was going up against? Hecate? Could she weave a spell like this? Xena sighed in frustration, little was known about Hecate, she didn't think the Goddess was this vengeful. And anyone who stole from Hera...Well...

Xena sighed again. What she had seen in the forest was going to complicate things. She had not told the bard about Callisto's arrival. She barely had time to process it herself. There had barely been time for dinner and they did not eat very much at that. Xena felt a small shudder electrify her spine at the memory of Gabrielle's fingers and lips on her body. Gabrielle responded in her sleep, her hands beginning to move over the warrior's body. Xena drew in a sharp breath and gently disengaged herself from her lover's roaming hands.

She moved towards the fire, settling down, absently twirling a stick. Ankh had tried to keep them from getting involved for a reason. Did she know this would happen? Or did she just know something would happen? Xena snapped the stick and threw both halves into the fire. She needed to speak to Ankh and get more details. Xena smiled wryly at the fire, somehow, she could not envision Callisto and Ankh settling down in a small thatched hut somewhere. Maybe Callisto would make her the high priestess?

Xena whirled at the sound of a stick cracking just outside of camp. Ankh moved into the circle of flickering light cast by the fire. Xena gazed past her into the darkness.

"It's just me" Ankh whispered as she collapsed before the fire, her eyes burning deep in her skull. Xena sat across from her, noting the confusion on the other woman's face.

Ankh looked up at the warrior, "You and Gabrielle should leave me in the morning.

"Ankh, we're in this far with you..." Xena paused, "Do you know who that was? In the forest?"

Ankh laughed, a hollow empty sound, "No. She spoke my true name and spoke words to me that...She ask that I burn for her as she burns for me." Ankh shivered even still as small electric surges licked beneath her skin at the thought, not even curious how Xena knew.

"Callisto." Xena said softly.

Ankh groaned and buried her head into her hands. "The Callisto? Godling? The one from the stories this morning? Oh Gods, what am I doing?"

"What indeed? Do you believe this to truly be just your actions alone? No, someone deliberately chose Callisto. Someone is going to great lengths to muddle things up for you, us. You need to tell me everything from the beginning." Xena murmured to the distressed woman. She saw the marks of passion clawed across Ankh's shoulders, disappearing down beneath her tunic. Red welts from bites littered the base of her neck like jewelry. And there, along the collarbone, a burn that curved into a small 'c' at the base of her throat. Callisto had marked Ankh in her own special way.

"Is it battle lust.?" Xena asked as Ankh finally lifted her head to look at her.

"No...Battle lust can be satiated. This hunger claws at me with no relief. No matter how often it comes, whenever she is near, I want more." Ankh choked out. Xena saw the shadow of shame in Ankh's eyes. Xena did not know how to respond, too many memories crashing in and stirring to life.

"How did you get back here?" She finally spoke, pushing the prowling images back down.

"I...awoke alone in the clearing." Ankh replied, her body trembling as she recalled the force that quelled her into unconsciousness. The scream still trapped in her throat. When she had awakened, she was chilled and alone. She had recovered her clothing by the light of Artemis's grace. There was no sign of the blonde godling, of Callisto, save the indentation on the ground beside her and the delicious ache that covered her body.

"L'ankha'chein." Xena spoke firmly, seeing the smolder return to the steel polished tint of the other woman's eyes.

"This is not only affecting you. I don't think. We may need to see someone for direction on this one. I know about winning battles using desire, but not desire like this. Not passion that is boundless and this fierce."

"Do you speak truth warrior?" Ankh asked, her eyes glittering like jewels in the night.

Xena did not look away, despite the draw of the fire in those eyes and what it touched inside her. "I know about conquering and possession, I know about need so deep it renders everything else secondary. I am asking you, the woman I traveled with this morning, not the desire ridden puppet I see before me, to tell me more. From there we can determine if this is something that we can handle without outside help."

Ankh lowered her eyes, Xena's words were like daggers of ice. "I have already involved the two of you, that is too much. There are more lives at stake here than just my own. All things eventually come back don't they? I tried to run from everything and hide away with my lover and deny the evil that I lived with, that I nurtured, that I loved. I took on everything for her..."

Xena narrowed her eyes, "Tell me about your relationships. Not just the one you are bound to, but the other's. Tell me who gave you that scar." Ankh looked up, fury and sadness battling for control.

"Why does that matter?" She asked, her voice threateningly low.

"Have you always been drawn to darkness? Callisto was chosen for a reason, and I am beginning to see things here that intersect through you." Xena replied, unflinching before Ankh's mercurial mood shifts.

Gabrielle moaned and shifted beneath the blanket. Ankh's gaze traveled past Xena to the sleeping bard. Gabrielle gasped out Xena's name as her eyes opened wide.