"To Find the Light"

By

Debir

Chapter Thirteen: "Play Nice"

We're still in 1995. Gabrielle takes her first ride in a 'horseless carriage'.

After lengthy explanations about seat belts, glass windshields, and power windows, the reunited friends get underway to Deerdra's house. To get there, they have to drive through town. Gabrielle sticks her head out of the window to feel the cool night air on her skin and to marvel at all the lights and storefronts.

It takes all of Deerdra's willpower to focus on the road and not on the beautiful woman seated next to her. Her golden hair sparkling in the moonlight being gently ruffled by the breeze. The stop sign she just blew through. The irate driver's honking snaps Deerdra out of her trance and startles Gabrielle.

Gabrielle looks around, "What was that?"

"Oh, that guy honked his horn to tell me he's upset I drove through that stop sign. Red means stop."

"I see. And the hand gesture?"

Deerdra chuckles, "That's to tell me just how angry he was."

"Uh, huh. Got it." Gabrielle reaches down to her boot, "There is something in my boot."

"Those are called feet."

"Ha, ha. I mean something other than my foot."

"Oh, those are called toes."

Gabrielle laughs, "Stop."

"I can't stop. I'm in the middle of an intersection."

That one Gabrielle doesn't get. "A what?"

"A joke too far. So what's in there?"

"This belt is making it hard to reach. Ah, ha! Huh, It's a small scroll."

Deerdra pulls over and turns on the overhead light, "Let's take a look."

Gabrielle holds it up to the light, "It doesn't make any sense. Wait, could this be a spell to send me back?" She hands it to Deerdra.

Deerdra looks at it and chuckles, "It's in Greek. I should have known."

Gabrielle furrows her brow, "Why wouldn't be in Greek?"

"Oh, no. It should be. I've just become accustomed to reading a different language. Give me a second." She scans the parchment, "Yep, it's a return spell all right."

Gabrielle gets all excited, "That's great! You can send me back then."

Deerdra sighs, "No, I can't perform magic. I can just borrow it."

Gabrielle deflates, "Oh."

"However, I do know someone who can."

Deerdra punches it and zips through the rest of town. As the lights fade and the tall pines obscure the moon, they are swallowed by the inky black of night.

Flying through the dark unnerves and exhilarates Gabrielle, "Wow, this is kind of scary, but exciting!"

Temporary as it probably will be, Deerdra is loving every second of being reunited with Gabrielle.

She turns onto a dirt road that leads them deeper in the forest. In the distance, the flames of a bonfire light up the treetops and the voices of several people chanting fill the air.

Gabrielle excitement has turned into fear, "What is that?"

"That, my dear Gabrielle, is where we're going to get our answers."

"That's what I was afraid of."

The road continues, but Deerdra stops the car next to a faint walking path leading into the trees. She unbuckles, "Let's go get some answers."

Memories of past groups of people chanting around an open flame flood Gabrielle's mind. Her heart tries to pound out of her chest. She doesn't move.

Deerdra opens her door and extends her hand. In a gentle voice she says, "It's okay. They're good people. They honor Mother Earth, not what lays beneath it. No one is going to lay a hand you, I promise."

Gabrielle hesitates then takes Deerdra's hand, "I'm sorry, it's just...introduce me to your friends."

Gabrielle doesn't let go of Deerdra's hand as she leads them through the trees and into a clearing where seven women dressed in silken black dresses encircle a medium sized bonfire. The leader, Ann walks over and greets them, "Salutations, Deerdra!"

Gabrielle tightens her grip on Deerdra's hand. "Hello, Ann. Small group tonight."

"Yes, but we will be at full strength at the next gathering." She looks at Gabrielle and is a bit confused by her attire. She knows not to question Deerdra about her personal life. "Have you brought us a new member, Deerdra?"

"Hardly. Ann, this is Gabrielle."

Ann extends her hand, "Greetings, Gabrielle and welcome."

Gabrielle is still tentative, but shakes her hand, "Nice to meet you."

Ann doesn't let go. She's getting a strange vibe from Gabrielle, "You do not belong here." Ann looks at Deerdra, "Is this The Gabrielle?"

Deerdra smiles, "Yes it is and I suggest you let go of her hand before she slugs you with the other."

Ann quickly lets go. "How is this possible?"

"Magic." Deerdra hands her the scroll, "It's written in Ancient Greek, but it's the spell to send her back. Can you read it?"

Ann looks it over, "No, but It can be translated." She walks over to the fire and digs around in a duffel bag. She produces a small pouch full of pink powder. One of the other women rakes some coals away from the fire. Ann sprinkles some of the power on the coals, producing a greenish smoke. She holds the parchment so that the smoke wafts over the words . The letters appear to liquefy then rearrange themselves into American English.

Gabrielle is amazed. She whispers to Deerdra, "How do you know these people?"

Deerdra whispers back, "They're allies." She asks Ann, "Am I reading that right? The spell has to be performed on the night of the New Moon?"

Now it's Ann's turn to be hesitant. She has to tell Deerdra some disappointed news, "Yes, but even with the coven at full strength, we will not have enough power for the spell to work." Another woman whispers in her ear and she perks up, "Right! We can find the one who posses such power."

She gathers the others and after a brief conversation and more duffel bag rummaging, a world map and another pouch are produced. The map is placed on the ground, each woman takes a handful of sand and an incantation is recited. In unison they say in part: "Light the path to the one who can help these women complete their journey." The sand is sprinkled over the map and almost immediately one spot lights up like a flame.

Ann points, "There is where you will find the most powerful one among us."

Gabrielle crushes Deerdra's hand. Deerdra whispers to her, "It's okay. It's white magic. Good magic."

She studies the map, "That looks to be dead center of Kansas."

Gabrielle eases up, "Is that far?"

Deerdra answers, "Not by plane. I'll call my pilot in the morning."

Gabrielle asks, "What's a plane?"

"Short answer? A car that flies." Deerdra turns to the group, "Thank you everyone and be sure that fire is completely out before you leave."

In goose bump inducing unison they reply, "Yes, Deerdra."

Once back in the car, Gabrielle has questions, "Okay, you're friends are nice enough, but they are a little creepy. You said they're allies?"

"Yes, ever since Margret I've had an affinity for witches and vice versa. White magic can come in handy when dealing with demons."

"All right. How do they and those vampires for that matter, know about me? I get that you have a reputation, but me?"

"Gabrielle, I don't know how much to tell you about things that haven't happened yet in your time." Thunder rumbles overhead, "But, yes, I have a reputation among the demon set and way back, they were warned to never say your name or they would suffer a long, slow, painful death."

"Oh, okay." She gasps, "Is that your house?"

It's a 3,000 square foot two-story log cabin with a wrap around porch and balcony.

Deerdra smiles, "Yep."

Gabrielle still marvels, "Alone?"

Deerdra's mood sombers, "The alone part is recent."

Duh, Gabrielle, she was laying flowers at a grave, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Deerdra waves it off, "Don't worry about it." She presses a button on the dash and the garage door opens.

"Wow! More tiny horses?"

Deerdra chuckles, "Yes. Those little buggers are everywhere."

She pulls up next to a four-wheeled drive vehicle and a motorcycle. Gabrielle eye-balls the bike, "That's a funny looking car. Two wheels?"

"It's called a motorcycle or bike for short. Ready for the grand tour?"

Gabrielle is eager to see more of this modern world, "Yes!"

"Don't get too excited. I am in the process of moving. Things are all boxed up."

They step inside and sure enough, there is hardly any furniture or decorations. Gabrielle is still impressed, "It may be empty, but it is still grand. Clean, solid floor and lots of those flameless torches. It's very nice, Deerdra."

"Thank you. It was."

Gabrielle picks up a framed photo. It's a photo of a woman in her sixties standing next to Deerdra. Both are grinning from ear to ear. "Is this her? She's pretty."

Deerdra doesn't look up, "Yes, she was."

"Is that her ring you're wearing around your neck?"

Deerdra's answer is a short, "No," and she doesn't want to get into the truth just yet. "Boy, it's been quite the day. My tired is starting to hurt."

"Your what?"

"I'm pooped. You ready to turn in?"

Gabrielle knows when to drop a subject, "You know, I am getting tired."

After a quick lesson on indoor plumbing, ("What an amazing time you live in!") they settle into their rooms. Deerdra is a little restless. She goes out to her balcony and looks up at the stars, "Quite the emotional day, eh guys? I'm way out of my league here. I hope not telling her about the past isn't considered lying because, Margret, just I don't know what I should and shouldn't be telling her. And you, Hera. Why would you do this? To change the past? Things happened the way they were supposed to. They were happy together. For crying out loud, leave the past alone."

Speaking of which, back to the PAST

The morning after the Harpy attack. Xena wakes and Deerdra isn't there. Xena is snarky, "What did you do? Sneak off to see your witch friend? We're told to watch each others backs and you go get some nookie, typical god." Someone is splashing and humming in the distance. She rolls her eyes, "Oh, brother." She follows the humming and finds Deerdra sitting on a rock next to a large pond and getting dressed.

Deerdra doesn't look up at the crunch of leaves. She knows it's Xena and that she's upset. "Oh, hi. I'm just finishing up."

Xena tries to hold her temper, "Why didn't you wake me for my turn at watch?"

"Oh," she snickers, "I fell asleep."

Xena can't believe it, "You fell...?" She mumbles and grumbles as she undresses. "How's the water?"

Deerdra shrugs, "Fine, I guess. I didn't go all the way in."

"Can't swim, huh?"

"Of course I can swim-if I have to."

"Uh, huh."

Now Deerdra is insulted, "Hey, I nearly drowned when I was a kid because of some demon sea creature. It may not have intended to back then, but now. Now I know something is trying to kill me. But, you go right ahead. You are the Warrior Princess after all."

Xena isn't sure what she meant by that comment, but she does know she doesn't like it, "You and me are going to have to have a talk about attitudes when I get back."

With a splash, Xena disappears under the surface. Deerdra says, "If you come back."

Xena doesn't get very far before the water begins to churn. Xena pops up, gasping for air. She yells, "Deerdra!" then is pulled under by an unseen-something.

Deerdra isn't surprised or sympathetic, "Of course. But don't listen to me. Oh no. What do I know? I'm just two-thousand years old."

Xena pops up again, this time she's punching the unseen something. Deerdra yells out, "Need some help?"

If looks could kill, Deerdra would be a pile of ash. But, she keeps on taunting Xena, "Well, drag it closer. There's no point in both of us drowning."

Xena shoots her another Go To Hell look then slips back underwater. Deerdra stands at the edge of the water and scans the surface, "Come on, Xena. Live up to your hype."

Xena pops up yet again, this time without the watery something. She makes a bee-line for shore, enraged beyond words.

Deerdra back pedals, but still cracks jokes, "All clean, now?"

Xena grabs her by the throat and slams her into a tree and holds her there, "Why didn't you help me?"

Deerdra thinks of a few smart remarks, "You were doing fine." "I just did my hair." "I didn't want to get my shoes wet." She wisely keeps them to herself. Instead, she laughs.

Xena growls, "What's so funny?"

Deerdra squeaks out her answer, "I've never been beaten up by a naked woman before."

Xena tightens her grip further, "There's always a first time."

The rustling of leaves followed by a skittering sound distracts them from killing each other, for now.

Deerdra stops with the wise cracks and gets serious, "You had better get dressed."

Xena lets go of Deerdra's throat, the fingerprints on her neck gives her some satisfaction. "Right."

The skittering sound grows progressively louder, so much so they can't determine its point of attack.

Deerdra holds her swords at the ready, "Can you tell where they're coming from?"

Xena has her Chakram and sword ready as well, "No."

"Back to back?"

A thought runs through Xena's mind, "This woman changes gears faster than Argo eats a basket of apples. She does have a point. We need to work together. She answers out loud, "Yeah, but I still want to wring your neck."

Deerdra states a truth, "I'd rather die fighting you than by whatever evil creature is thrown our way."

"That we can agree on." Xena concurs.

They stand back to back and wait. It's a short wait. Out of the bushes on Deerdra's side bounds the biggest spider she had ever seen, "Uh, Xena. You might want to turn around and see this."

Xena whips around and looks to where Deerdra's pointing. The spider is black, hairy, and as big as a Beagle. "One big freekin' spider didn't make all that noise."

"No, it brought along some friends."

One by one the spiders scurry out of the bushes until the entire ground is covered in overgrown arachnids.

"Holy crap, Xena! What are the odds they bite?"

"I'd say two to one. They'd be better if I had a torch."

A lit torch zooms over the sea of spiders and sticks in the ground at Xena's feet. She crouches down expecting another attack. Deerdra knows where it came from and she smiles, "We have allies. Do you need anything else?"

"Uh, yeah. A flask full of ale." She watches the bushes. A leather flask arcs over the hairy army, landing next to the torch. Xena raises it over her head, "Now we're in business. You're going to have to introduce me to your friends later. Right now, I'm going to fricassee me some spiders."

"Just so you know. I'm not eating fire roasted spider for lunch."

"Aww, you don't know what you're missing."

The spiders advance as one. Xena takes a swig of ale and becomes the human blow torch. She turns in a complete circle, frying the first wave. Deerdra slashes away the ones who launch themselves while on fire. That's their strategy. Fire circle, swatting away flaming spider, then a new player shows up.

"Xena, I think we've gotten her attention."

"Who? Oh!"

Momma spider has shown up, all eight-feet of her.

Xena says, "Now we know why there's so many of them."

Deerdra replies, "And they'll keep coming unless we cut off the source. Think you can handle them by yourself for a few minutes?"

Xena lights another row on fire, "Yep." Then a warning, "You had better come back."

"No worries. I just need to get some height on her."

She takes a running leap over the flaming spiders, bounces off a boulder, then springs up into the treetops. She then maneuvers through the limbs until she's directly above big momma.

Meanwhile, a spider from the back jumps across its kin and latches onto Xena's thigh. "Ow! Son of a...! Take that!" She shoves the torch into its ugly face. It screeches and crumbles to the ground. More spiders start launching themselves, fangs bared. Xena has to forgo the flame thrower and instead turns big league batter swatting the flying hair balls with the torch. She yells "Deerdra! Anytime!"

"Coming!" Deerdra changes her grip and points her swords downward. She jumps and using all her weight, jams her swords into the spiders 'neck' then rips them apart, severing her head. Acidic green blood spurts everywhere burning holes in Deerdra's shirt and blistering her skin. Xena ducks for cover in the underbrush, after ruling out jumping into the pond. The smaller spiders don't fare so well. The acidic droplets cause their bodies to explode. The sound of wet plops fills the air. Plop, plop, plop like some sort of giant sick popcorn popper. It's enough to make a warrior's stomach churn.

Deerdra starts ripping her shirt off and sprints for camp. Xena limp-runs right in behind her. Deerdra grabs their flask of water and pours it all over herself. "Ah, water!"

Even with a throbbing leg, Xena has time to be snarky, "I know a lake you can jump into."

"Ha, ha." She slips on a clean shirt. "Oooh. Your leg looks terrible. How are you feeling?"

Xena eases herself to a seated position. Her leg is red and swollen and hurts like hell. "Like you care."

Deerdra squats beside Xena to get a better look, "Oh, I care. You are needed to bring Gabrielle back, after all." She reaches out to touch Xena's leg, "Does this hurt?"

Xena violently snatches Deerdra's hand away, her anger over Deerdra's attitude rises to the forefront, "What have I ever done to you?"

Deerdra jerks her hand free then stands giving her a grumpy, "Nothing."

Xena knows she's lying and vows to find out the truth even if she has to beat it out of her, but now isn't the time. "I need something to stop this poison from spreading."

Deep sigh from Deerdra, "I might have something in my pack. Hold on." She rummages about and comes up with two ceramic 'vials'. "These are good for poisonous wounds. For a bite that big I'll need to mix them together." She gets a stick and dumps the contents into one of their drinking cups, adds water and stirs to make a paste. "There. It may hurt when I smear it on."

Xena braces herself, "Go ahead."

Deerdra proceeds to spread the cool salve on Xena's hot leg, "Gee, your leg's on fire. Hope you don't loose it."

Xena grits her teeth, "For your sake, I better not."

"Always with the threats. Doesn't that get old?"

"Not when I don't trust someone and I don't trust you. Why are you so angry with me?"

"You slaughter half of my family and I'm supposed to be happy about it?"

"What are you talking about?" Then it hits her, "The Greek gods. I only did what I had to do to protect my daughter."

"I know. I still don't like it."

At least now Xena knows what she's up against. She starts to pick, "So, which one spawned you?"

"Ares."

Xena isn't real surprised, "Ares, huh?"

"If you say anything about my mother, I will cut off your leg."

"No. No comment here. Wait a minute. My leg has gone numb. What did you do?"

Deerdra's rinsing her hands, "Saving your leg. The numbness means it's working. It'll be dead until tomorrow."

"That's just great. How am I supposed to fight with only one good leg?"

Deerdra grins, "You'll have to trust me."

CONTINUED