Disclaimers: See Chapter 1

Additional Note (Please Read): This tale is a companion with, The Conqueror & Ri: A Twist of Destiny. If you haven't read both stories' chapters preceding this one, you should do so now. A special thanks to all my patient readers and my lovely Beta, Jinxie 2015. Also, a shout out to luck dog, I hope you continue to get wrapped in my stories. Enjoy. :-)

Xena & Gabrielle

A Turn of Fate

By Ahkiken

Chapter 36: An Exodus

She remained on her knees, feeling nothing for the past fifteen minutes. The last resort of supplicating Eli for both his presence and aid to restore Gabrielle back to her was seemingly dashed, making Xena's lowly propitious deportment deteriorate. Now her emotions had become obtund. Contrary to earlier motives, other than gaining the martyred Avatar's cooperation or guidance, her options for finding a peaceful solution to recover the cropped blonde appeared out of reach.

What more could Xena do?

Albeit it was the Shogun's accountability that instigated the battle between them, contending with him had left her in a precarious spot. Surely Harukata had possibly told his elite Samurai 'bout their fight, causing her to lose sympathetic and trustful allies whom could make the ongoing journey to Japa extra stressful. At the very moment, they could be gearing up to forcefully obtain her for arrest, if not execution for what she'd done to the old provincial leader of Shinto.

That dire thought didn't register inside Xena. She could care less what the Shogun and his men planned for her terrorism inflicted upon him. Prior to their swordplay, he stood in her way while she tried to get information from Ri, and thus suffered for his interruption. Though the Warrior Princess had stopped asking questions in favor of delivering a beating to the storyteller, Harukata should've adhered to her course of action, in lieu of challenging it. Whether it was right or wrong to assault Ri, Xena believed she played, at least, a minor role in the plot for the Omphalos shards to whisk her soul mate away. Therefore, Ri's peccancy was just as great as the Conqueror and Minerva's.

'I'm at fault as well.'

Expelling a lamenting sigh for her and Gabrielle's predicament, Xena arose from the kneeling posture. She turned slowly to the cot, but quickly averted her gaze off of it. Seeing the bedding had stirred Xena's memories of the previous night again, recapping what took place on it with Gabrielle. Also, it precipitated stigma for the osculation she bestowed on Ri during the early dawn. Settling that it was the clone's culpability for refraining or denying to inform Xena of her authentic identity once the kissing and fondling commenced, she abjured guilt from her mind to continue wallowing in numbness.

Glancing at the side of the cot, she descried the bard's weapons that resided on the floorboards, and Xena's perambulation brought her to the assortment of arms. Bending down, she picked up the Amazon's pair of sais, twirling them in her hands before setting both on the cot. Next, Xena lifted the katana and admired its metallic alloy, predominantly the Japian letters that were engraved onto it. Even after she lied to Gabrielle and broke her heart, the disconsolate, nimble Samurai had branded the Warrior Princess' name on the blade.

['I couldn't cogitate on a more fitting symbol to bestow its steel.']

Depositing the katana beside the sais in a finical array, Xena rebuffed another fervent recollection. With no other weaponry on the floor, she stared at the few that were arranged, instantly realizing a pivotal one was missing from the assemblage.

'The chakram!' Xena conceived, her insentience subsided within, and she let the darkness fill its regression. 'Ri! That bitch seized it! I had apprised Kenji to guard her and averred that she could be dangerous! Now she's taken the gift I gave to Gabrielle!'

Completely immersed in ire and not worrying over the feasible ramifications for any truculence on her part, Xena exited the cabin to seek the innocent victim who ostensibly purloined the metal disc.

{X&G}

On the second tier of the vessel and still absconded in Xena's lodging, the monk finally disengaged the mitigating embrace after Ri had shown signs that she was stable. Howbeit she consistently rubbed her eyes of the wayward tears that kept escaping. Kenji simply observed her, noting the storyteller's childlike appearance.

'I wish there was something I could do for her.' He ruminated sadly.

"Thank you, Kenji-San, for comforting me." Wiping the final droplet off her cheek, Ri attempted giving Kenji a winsome grin, whereby couldn't supersede her sorrowful irises.

It wasn't lost on Kenji that her poise hadn't improved. "You are most welcome, Ri-Kun. Are you positive that you are all right?"

Wanting to allay him, she nodded her head, then decided to speak honestly, "No, I'm not. I don't know what will become of me."

"You'll be fine." Kenji replied. "Nothing is gonna befall you whilst you're here."

"But..." Ri hesitated avowing, "Xena frightens me."

Kenji recalled the raven-haired warrior's choleric attitude throughout the couple of weeks she'd first arrived on the ship. "Xena-Sama's demeanor can be a tinge irascible at times, withal you needn't fear her. She wouldn't hurt you."

Ri scanned the monk with apparent incredulity. He didn't witness the trepidity that she was privy to. She seen Xena's rich infuriation as she struck out with a debilitating punch that would had knocked the diminutive female unconscious if Harukata hadn't impeded it. Nor had she forgotten how the Shogun's intervention to protect her caused him to suffer maximum pain from two jabs of her fingers to his neck. Once her defender became incapacitated, Xena returned her minacious attentions on her.

Shutting her eyes for a split moment, Ri vividly remembered Xena's overt threat while she stalked towards her cowering form.

['Say your prayers to Minerva if you want, girl. Either way, no-one's gonna save ya.']

Reliving that terrifying event, her eyelids reopened instantly. She rightly presumed that Xena was going to hurt or kill her forthwith. Advancing to stage her vow of menace, the Warrior Princess' madness purely vanished when Ri screamed an imploring plea of lenity and disclosed her inner foreboding. Subsequently, only Xena's departure from the enclosed room alleviated Ri's anxiety.

"Xena..." Several years of congenital servitude to her betters had compelled Ri to use the exact title Kenji did. "Xena-Sama holds me, Milady, and the patron goddess of the Realm, liable for what is occurring. The deprivation of Gabrielle-San is dictating her conduct... No disrespect, Kenji-San, but I'm justified in my fright of her."

Kenji pondered on what she had adduced to him, engendering his caution to emerge. He didn't want to consider that the Warrior Princess could stoop to being splenetic to Ri, an individual who'd become displaced like Gabrielle. Nonetheless, by the Shogun's behest to transport the former Handmaiden from Gabrielle's cabin to this one, and getting notified to be assured that Xena didn't occupy it, he had no choice but to take what she said under advisement.

He merely had speculations, whereas Kenji was confident that something happened in the dwelling between the three occupants while he'd been gone. Having endured Xena's temper himself, the monk was effete to offer a refute in her defense. Thereon, Kenji's cerebration burgeoned, provoking multiple queries that centered on the mysterious person who Ri addressed as Milady, the Realm, and its godly patronage. Moreover, he was disquisitive on how it became possible for Gabrielle and Ri to swap worlds.

Lifting her bowl of rice, Kenji put it on Ri's lap. "You should finish your breakfast. Okayu doesn't taste well if it becomes too cold."

"Thank you." Ri accepted the food with a wane smile, feeling a combination of content and dissatisfaction because Kenji didn't propound a counter to her claim anent to Xena victimizing her. 'He's silently acknowledging that I have merit for my distress.'

Clutching the utensil, she scooped a portion of the lukewarm meal and brought it to her mouth, apathetically chewing its bland texture. Stewing in consternation over her wellbeing, Ri sheltered no delusions that if Xena chose to pummel her, nobody aboard the warship could hinder it from coming to fruition, even if the Shogun had challenged the fearful warmonger. Due to the accommodation of the Omphalos shard's efficacy of future insight, she had a gander of what the dark warrior could do against the Japian fighters; littering the deck with their defeated bodies. Ri's own eyes saw how effectively and swiftly she disposed Harukata, bringing the elder man to the brink of plausible death.

'None of them can save me from Xena's ferocity... I'm at her mercy.' Ri rationalized, whirling the spoon in the porridge once more and beseeching her deity in a precise prayer, 'Wise goddess, please preserve me.'

"Ri-Kun?"

Kenji's questioning tone evoked her notice. "Yes."

"You've divulged a few things that has piqued my interest." He professed. "If it isn't an affront to you, can I ask about them?"

Ri halted the continual swirling, giving the monk her full contemplation. "Sure, Kenji-San. I'll answer with the best of my knowledge."

"You honor me, Ri-Kun." Kenji bent his head in a low bow, thankful for her affability. "Who is Milady and the patron goddess?"

A thin beam formed on Ri's lips, stating proudly, "Milady is the Lord Conqueror of the Realm. The divine Minerva is the Realm's benefactor."

"And what is the Realm?"

Ri rejoined, "Milady's Grecian Empire. She's the ruler of expansive lands, ranging from the entirety of Greece, Macedonia, Chin, Mesopotamia, Britannia, Gaul, and I think she have ownership of some places in Turkey, too."

"Outstanding." Kenji was astonished. "The Conqueror has so many countries in her possession, I'm surprised Japa isn't in addition to the list."

"No." Ri pronounced, retaining her knowledge of the island that was farther from Chin. "Milady has visited there, however, she never had intentions to conquer it. She'd imparted to me that it is called the Land of the Rising Sun, which is odd, seeing that the god Apollo draws the chariot to make Helios rise."

Reminiscent of the Conqueror's travels a year ago, it educed Ri to remember her return to the Corinthian castle with Akemi in tow, elevating the Japian girl to the status of chambermaid. The promotion hadn't triggered a pother, till the Lord of Greece conferred the platinum necklace to Ri, eliciting jealousy from the foreign servant. Preceding trading worlds with Gabrielle, the strawberry-blonde was visited by a drunken Lyceus in the middle of the night. The inebriated Prince had evinced that she'd told him of Ri's obsession with the Conqueror and the kiss they'd shared in Minerva's temple.

Although she was disappointed at Lyceus' bellicose comportment, and had disdain for Akemi's contrived embellishments to mislead him, Ri blamed herself, too. After being summoned to Meleager's sojourn chambers to converse on her travelling arrangements to Athens, she'd gotten into a heated argument with her rival and asserted nasty remarks once Akemi articulated a retort that referenced Ri's whilom rank as a Handmaiden.

['That's a fatuous declaration, Akemi. I begged Milady for the position when I was younger so I could bask in her glory. Isn't that what you want, you sniveling cow? She'll never love you intimately the way she loves me. We even kissed before she departed Corinth. Top that, you silly foreigner!']

'I should've kept my mouth shut.' Ri mused. 'Giving into frustration and irritation, I permitted Akemi to gain the upper hand by conflating truthfulness with falsifications.'

Oblivious of Ri's troubling cogitation, Kenji queried, "Helios is what the sun is referred to in your world?"

Ri solemnly shrugged. "That is probable, if the sun supposed to be compared to it. Helios breaks the twilight of Aurora, and the silver-colored Selene shines during the peak of Astraeus."

"Does Selene glow at dusk?" The monk prompted.

"Yes."

Understanding Ri's predication more strongly, Kenji expounded, "In this world, Selene is labeled the moon and Helios is our sun. Apollo must be the Greeks' deity for the golden orb, but in Japa, the celestial Amaterasu is its goddess."

Ri had to repress her shock. Learning that there were different appellations for Helios and Selene paled in comparison to discovering other deities existed. To her perspicacity, where she'd come from, everyone on Terra worshipped the same gods and goddesses. It was blatant sacrilege to praise a false god above a legitimate one.

"Will Amaterasu take offense that I carry on calling Apollo the Lord of Helios?" She prodded in a small voice.

"I don't believe so. Notwithstanding, it can conceivably offend Japians who are worshippers of the sun goddess. You'll need to pay reverence to your pantheon in private, especially when we arrive in Japa."

"We're going to Japa?" Ri became wide-eyed, as the destination sparked remembrance of her second presage. "Your country is in danger, isn't it?"

Kenji was preparing to explain Japa's quandary to her, 'til the resonance of the cabin's door getting flung open and impacting the wall had silenced him. Instead, the monk gazed at the Warrior Princess who was oozing malcontent, and from his peripheral vision, he could see Ri hastily discarding her breakfast aside to kneel in timorous deference to Xena.

Commencing her obeisance, the trim maiden berated herself for feeling assuaged that Xena wasn't harmed by the Shogun, whilst presently becoming pusillanimous 'cause of Xena's irruption into the lodging. The room began resembling an immured prison as Ri became perceptive that there were no other apertures for an exodus from the Conqueror's duplicate.

Choosing to dispel the tense atmosphere, Kenji questioned, "Xena-Sama, how goes the second squad's duels?"

"I'm not overseeing any concours today, monk." Xena snapped, crossing the entryway and espying Ri with narrowed eyes. "I want my chakram."

Ri was confuddled by Xena's accusation. "Chakram? What is a-"

"Don't act dumb, girl." Xena interjected, advancing to where Ri knelt. "You must've taken it when I left to get Harukata. Now hand it over!"

Hearing what Xena was arraigning Ri for, Kenji rose off of the floor to dissuade her from doing anything injurious to the strawberry-blonde. "I was in Gabrielle-San's cabin with Ri-Kun, and she didn't vacate the cot throughout the whole time you'd departed it. Whatever you are accusing her of taking, she couldn't have."

Xena trained her evil leer on him. "You watched her through the entirety of my absence?"

"Well, no." Kenji confirmed. "I had my back to her while I set the basin of water on-"

A quick and powerful shove from Xena disrupted Kenji's avowal. "You're exempted from exonerating her!"

Ri helplessly looked on as the monk's body slammed onto the table, beforehand of focusing on Xena again, noticing the thin line of dried blood on her neck.

Hence, she'd begun adjuring her, "You don't have to hurt anyone. I... I wouldn't take or conceal an item that is yours. You're welcome to check me if you aren't inclined to have faith in my honesty."

"I do not trust you." Xena responded, and reached downward to grip both of Ri's arms, pulling her to stand up. "You had ample opportunity to nick it."

Ri was on the verge of tears whilst Xena divested her of the brownish-cloak. Reckoning that the circular disc wasn't hidden inside the loose garment, the taller woman pushed the shorter one onto the floorboards once more.

"I know you have it, Ri."

"Please, I wouldn't lie to you, Xena-Sama." Ri affirmed, wearing nothing, except her night shift. "I didn't steal your belongings... I swear to the gods. You threatened that if I break my word, you would break something on me."

Throwing the cloak across the room and kicking over the half-eaten bowl of okayu, Xena bellowed, "Where is it! Tell me, or I'll strip you naked and beat your lying-ass with my fists!"

Ri's reply hadn't come fast enough and Xena grabbed the storyteller by her throat, squeezing it. The familiar pressure on her neck made Ri ruminate on what the Prince of the Realm had done, and she suddenly got angry. Whether it was General Draco, Lyceus, or this incarnation of the Conqueror, she'd grown weary of being terrified and bullied by people.

"Do... do it then." She uttered huskily, surrendering to her fate.

Xena tightened her grip, sealing off oxygen from entering Ri's lungs and Kenji viewed the strangulation, begging, "Stop, Xena-Sama! You're killing her!"

Remorse for the ex-Handmaiden had flickered out, and the Warrior Princess engrossed herself in the turpitude of her psyche. While choking Ri, everything seemed to proceed at a slower rate to Xena as she allowed all of her negative energy to have an outlet in the duration of pointless and unmitigated violence. She couldn't hear Kenji's obsecration for Ri's life, nor feel the petite woman's pulse weakening, until her cognition abrogated the dark side; criticizing herself for doing the opposite of what she'd proclaimed.

['I won't enact my frustrations on her.']

'Why am I prone to keep terrorizing Ri?' Xena's grasp loosened, and her instincts cautioned danger.

Forgoing removing her sight off of Ri and using a single appendage, she caught Kenji's wrist, astounding the monk. Kenji deduced that he could halt Xena from murdering Ri by stealthily sneaking behind her to assail the supposed savior of Japa with an incapacitating attack.

Knowing that he had failed, caused him to entreat her again, "Xena-Sama, she couldn't have stolen your chakram. Upon exiting Gabrielle-San's room, Ri-Kun didn't-"

"Be quiet, Kenji..." Xena enunciated gingerly, barely conciliating the beast, and was ken to the fact that the paucity of rational thinking wouldn't cage it for long. 'I have to get out of here.'

Becoming a bit dislodged from Xena's hand, Ri coughed and breathed in a gush of air. Grateful and confounded that Xena was letting her live, she was certain that the younger version of the Conqueror had chosen to complete the malicious deed.

Xena released Kenji first, prior to tilting Ri's head backwards and leaning close to her oppressed mien, purporting, "I promise, if I ascertain that you have my chakram, no-one, mortal or god, will shield you from me."

Absolutely extricating Ri from her clutch, Xena speedily trudged the area, seizing her long sword and the Sacred katana. Equipped with her weapons, she didn't espy neither two people whilst exiting the lodging.

Thereafter, Kenji raced to Ri's side, checking on her welfare. "Are you okay?"

"No." Ri cried quietly, massaging her burning jugular. "I am not alright, Kenji-San. I want to leave this world, 'fore Xena-Sama kills me."

"She won't." Kenji had to asseverate sternly. "I'll request for the Shogun to have Samurai protect you."

"It wouldn't matter." Ri recalled the slight laceration on Xena's flesh, fearing that she knew who it stemmed from. "Nobody on this ship can encumber her prowess... She's unstoppable, and her rage will consume me."

To Be Continued...