Transgressions 11
After the ordeal with the bandits, the remainder of Xena, Gabrielle, and Aleta's trek across Euboea had been relatively uneventful. They'd been back on the mainland for two days and had been making steady ground northward to Amphipolis. Xena hadn't even got the faintest whiff of Ares lurking around like he sometimes did. Which, she decided, was just as well since she was still smarting from the bandit's revelation that Ares had told his men that Xena was a good lover, for a mortal. Well, if she didn't stack up to his goddess lays then why in Tartarus was he always coming around? Xena knew she'd been less than a chipper travelling companion in the past few days, Gabrielle blamed Xena's sour mood on pregnancy hormones and Xena let her believe that's all it was. And maybe it was. Xena knew it wasn't like herself to get bent out of shape over the words of a thug, words that might have been shouted only to get a rise out of her in the first place. Maybe Gabrielle was right, maybe she was overly emotional due to the pregnancy. Xena liked that idea better than the idea that she was becoming preoccupied with being judged against Ares' other lovers, which were legion and extended back to the beginning of the time, for all she knew.
"Hey," Gabrielle called, getting Xena's attention and Xena could tell from the exasperated look on her friend's face that it wasn't the first time she'd tried to hail Xena. But Xena had been lost in thought over Ares, again.
"Sorry, what is it?" Xena asked from atop Argo.
"There's a blackberry patch over there. Let's stop for a bit." Gabrielle pointed to a cluster of wild thorny vines filled with modest sized berries at various stages of ripeness.
"Does this mean you'll make those little dumplings?" Xena asked hopefully as she pulled Argo to a stop and started to dismount.
"If you want to make camp early tonight. I think I could make that happen."
"I wouldn't mind calling it an early day," Aleta added her two cents.
Xena checked the position of the sun, then looked northward to Mt. Olympus in the distance. They had made good time, it wouldn't hurt them to take an extra couple of hours to relax. "I'll start looking for a good spot to make camp."
"Great," Gabrielle smiled. "Aleta, would you mind getting my sieve?"
"Sure," Aleta started searching through Gabrielle's pack.
As Xena moved off into the woods to search for a decent, level clearing to make camp, the other women's voices trailed off.
About fifty meters north of the road, Xena found a suitable place to make camp. She whistled for Argo to come to her. Xena cleared some of the debris off the forest floor, nothing worse than rolling over onto a stone or a knotted twig. In the center of the clearing, Xena used a rock with a sharp edge to dig a depression. Around the depression she started lining stones for a hearth. Xena whistled for Argo, again. Louder than the last time. When she finished the ring of stones, Xena took some of the twigs and limbs she'd cleared from the ground and started breaking them into smaller pieces for a fire. She stacked the wood leaving space at the bottom for dry tinder. She looked back through the forest. Where was Argo? Her tinderbox was inside her saddlebag. It wasn't like Argo not to come when called. Something was off.
As Xena neared the roadway where she'd left the other women, it struck her that she couldn't hear Gabirelle and Aleta talking, something they did nearly constantly. Xena stepped more softly, and tuned her ears for the slightest peep out of either woman. Argo whinnied in distress and snorted. Danger. Xena kept her hand close to her chakram as she stepped out of the forest and onto the road. Argo who was visibly agitated blocked the view of the blackberry bushes that Gabrielle had pointed to earlier. Xena slowly crept around Argo.
When Gabrielle and Aleta came into sight, Xena stopped in her tracks. A middle aged-woman with stringy gray hair but an athletic body held Gabrielle with a dagger to her throat. Blackberries were scattered across the ground. Aleta was sprawled unconscious or dead at Gabrielle's feet. Xena took a closer look at Aleta. A subtle rise and fall of the girl's chest let Xena know that Aleta was alive, at least for the time being.
"Xena, it's been too long," Mavican greeted with a sickly sweet smile. Xena remembered the voice all too well, smokey and raspy, and when she'd first heard it, hungry for Ares. The warrioress had hoped to replace Xena as Ares' favorite but she'd misjudge the game. No, not the game, the gamemaster, Xena thought, just like many before her.
"Mavican. You know how it is. I would have hung out with you more, but you hang out in all the wrong places. I had places to go, people to see. A destiny, remember?"
"You think you're clever. We'll you're not, and we have unfinished business."
"Your business is with me Mavican, not Gabrielle. Let her go."
"Oh, she's just an appetizer. You are the main course."
"If you hurt her, I won't give you the satisfaction of a fight."
"Very well," Mavican sighed and thrust Gabrielle toward Xena. "It's you I have to beat to get the job anyway." The words rung in Xena's ears. Had Ares brokered another deal with Mavican? A deal that would reward Mavican if she was able to successfully off Xena?
"You still want to be Ares' number one girl, even after he betrayed you?"
"He didn't betray me. He taught me a valuable lesson. I didn't pay attention to the rules of the game, it nearly cost me my life."
"Mavican, you keep playing Ares' games and it will cost you more than your life," Xena warned and moved in between Mavican and Gabrielle, who had gone down on her haunches to check on Aleta.
"There's no greater cost than one's life, Xena." Mavican threw the dagger at Xena.
Xena deftly sidestepped out of the way of the flying weapon. "You're wrong. You keep messing with him and you'll lose your soul." Xena reached for her sword. "Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll move along. You have a new lease on life. Don't be stupid. Use this second chance to really have a life."
"Doing what, Xena? Good? Like you? I don't think so. I don't know what you've done to cheat time, you and Gabrielle but I want that kind of power. And, I'm guessing he gave you that."
"He's poison, Mavican. Nothing comes for free with him. You'll always be a lowly mortal to him, don't you know that?" The words stung Xena's own heart when she said them. "Go build a life with what time you have left."
"I don't want a life if it's not fighting at his side." Mavican pulled her own sword and prepared to fight.
Xena felt the static in the air change. Ares was there, watching.. Of course he was! Why was he doing this? Why now? He was driving her mad. First he'd dismissed her after they'd made love in Egypt. Then, he showed up and they argued and he basically told her to enjoy the rest of her life. A few days later, he popped up and fingered her off before vanishing into thin air. And now, this! Bringing back Mavican just to torment her.
"I see the Scorpion has reared his nasty little stinger again," Xena called. The comment was meant for Ares but she never took her eyes off of Mavican.
"What?" Mavican asked.
"Gabrielle, take Aleta and Argo and get out of here," Xena ordered.
"Xena, I'm not leaving you. She's a maniac." Satisfied the Aleta was okay, Gabrielle pulled her sais from her boots and turned to face Mavican too.
"You heard me. Go," Xena twirled her blade in hand and checked her footing.
"And you heard me, I'm not going anywhere." Gabrielle readied to block.
"Aww, sweet!" Mavican sneered and thrust her sword toward Xena. The warrior quickly parried and spun out of the attack. Recovering her footing, Mavican swung around to try her luck with Gabrielle.
"Kinda rusty. You know, I bet Ares is laughing at you, right now," Xena taunted drawing the woman's attention away from the bard.
Mavican turned to face Xena. "You know your problem, Xena."
"Oh, I'm sure you're gonna tell me."
"You didn't appreciate the good thing you had."
"She's right, you know," Xena heard Ares whisper in her ear. Could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She shook her head to dislodge his voice. The distraction cost her. In the split second that she'd taken her eyes off Mavican, the blonde slashed at Xena, making contact with her dress, splitting the front of it open and grazing across her skin. Blood spilled from the flesh wound down the front of the leather dress and onto the dirt. Xena quickly went down onto one knee and held her arms in a defensive position to protect her womb..
Aleta, who had just regained consciousness, took in the sight. She screamed.
Gabrielle gasped and ran toward Xena. "No, Xena. No, the baby!"
"Baby?" Mavican snarled and then roared in laughter, "I hope you and your child enjoy Tartarus together Xena." Then with crazy fury, she raised her sword and brought it slashing down toward Xena. Mavican's world came to an abrupt and final end as twin swords gored through her. Xena's metal speared through Mavican's front only to collide with Ares' own blade. The god couldn't act quickly enough to stop the obsessed bitch once he'd found out that Xena was pregnant.
Ares tossed the blood-spurting corpse aside and looked down at Xena. "You're pregnant?"
Xena silently nodded her head and moved to stand up. Ares reached down and helped her. "You're hurt. Is the baby okay? He asked. What had he done? He would've never put their child in danger had he known! He knew Xena could handle Mavican. He shouldn't have been messing with her head when she was fighting. That was what had distracted her. He'd nearly gotten her killed and the baby too! He didn't deserve her! Mavican! That was the kind of woman he deserved. The god had never been more disgusted with himself. He'd never felt such shame, even when he'd groveled at the feet of Dahak. How could one woman bring about both the best and the worst in him? Ares reached down and inspected Xena's wound. It was just a flesh wound but it was deep enough that it would need stitching. "Gabrielle, get out her bedroll," Ares ordered.
The bard did as asked and spread it on the ground. "What else do you need?"
"Some wine and something to sew her up."
"I can do it myself, thank you," Xena spat. He had caused this whole mess, she didn't want him helping fix it.
"Don't fight me on this Xena." The sternness of his voice sent chills all over her body. It was laced with a power he rarely used in the presence of mortals. He didn't need to, his very image was generally enough to make most of them do his bidding. But Xena was stubborn and in that moment, he needed her to understand that he would brook no argument. Complying, Xena sat down on the bedroll.
Aleta, who'd managed to get herself up off the ground despite a throbbing headache, brought Ares a wineskin and Xena's medical pouch.
"It's just a scrape," Xena reassured him. She knew he wouldn't have spoken from power if he hadn't been scared she was about to lose his child. "The baby will be fine." Xena tried to make him look into her eyes but he was too preoccupied with examining the gash in her belly. Xena called to Gabrielle, "get her body out of the road before somebody comes along."
With the wave of Ares' hand, Mavican disappeared. The only evidence that she'd been laying there at all were Xena and Ares' bloody swords that thudded onto the dirt when the body dissolved into air. Aleta rushed to grab the stained blades then propped them next to a nearby boulder.
"Take a drink," Ares demanded.
Xena took a swig and then poured some wine onto the gash. She winced loudly and all of her muscles involuntarily clenched in pain.
"Lay down." Ares took off his vest and bunched it up into a pillow. "Here."
Xena lay back trying to not show how much the movement hurt the wound.
"Comfortable?" he asked as she settled her head onto his balled up vest.
Xena could smell him all over the leather. They hadn't been this close to each other in days. And although she detested herself for it, she was overcome with an unyielding need to touch him. For a minute she was afraid she might die after all. His nearness, the cause of death. Xena gripped his knee."I'm fine, just get it over with."
A fresh wave of blood bubbled from the gash that she'd just cleaned with the wine. "Fuck it, will you just let me heal you?"
Xena's glare told him all he needed to know. With a deep breath, he pierced the skin with the needled that Gabrielle had been quietly threading.
"By the gods," Xena breathed.
"Do you want to show me how to use your pressure points?" He asked, "To numb the pain?"
"No, too close to my womb. Don't want to risk it. Just finish it already."
"How far along?" Ares was nearly certain the baby was his. But he asked anyway. "Is it mine?"
"You're the only one. A couple of weeks. Ayyyye," Xena tried to bite back the pain as he pierced another hole in her skin. "Let's talk about it later, okay." She needed something to focus on or she wasn't going to get through this. Her eyes locked on his lips. Those perfect plump curves that softened his masculine face. Xena closed her eyes as memories of his mouth working her to climax flooded her mind. She squeezed his knee harder. How did he have this effect on her? She was supposed to be angry at him. He'd just set a freak loose on her again and all she could think about was the feeling of being beneath him.
"All done," he whispered and washed his hands off with some wine. When he finished Xena pulled him down gently by the neck and pressed her lips to his. It was a simple kiss laced with a thank you and an I'm sorry at the same time. When she pulled away, Ares asked, "So, we're having a baby?"
"Yes, we need to talk." Xena answered.
"I'm all ears." Ares actually looked eager to have the conversation.
"Let's go somewhere else? I don't want to do this here in the middle of the road. How about we go to the palace?"
Ares looked down. How was he going to tell her that he'd destroyed it in a moment of rage and self-doubt. "Um, about that. I kinda burned it down."
"What?" Anger rolled off Xena.
"I'll rebuild it," he promised.
"What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't. I was hurting and reacting to that hurt." Ares looked at where Aleta and Gabrielle were standing, watching the exchange. He turned red.
"Oh no, don't let me stop you," Gabrielle muttered. "This is progress."
"There's a clearing just north of here. I can make it there." Xena tried to sit up but winced as a hot pain ripped at her stitches.
"Here," Ares took the three women's hands and within a breath, they were at her grandparents' farm. Ares placed Xena gently onto the pristinely clean mattress. Gabrielle and Aleta he'd materialized into the front room next to the fireplace. He could hear Gabrielle trying to calm Aleta down from the shock of being zoomed through the aether. Ares put his vest back on now that Xena had a downy soft pillow for her head. When he looked down at her, Xena raised a curious eyebrow. The farm was the last place she thought he'd bring her. He'd made no secrets about how awful his time spent there as a mortal was.
"I thought you would find this comfortable," he commented, "not exactly my brand of luxury but you certainly seem to like it."
"It's perfect. Thank you. Argo?" she asked.
"She's running free in the valley nearby."
"Sometimes," Xena just shook her head.
"What?" Ares asked.
"Sometimes, you surprise me." She smiled.
"Sometimes, I surprise me." Ares answered and pulled a chair next to the bed. It was time for a heart to heart.
