Discord's Wrath


By Kat

Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own any of the following characters and promise to return them when I am done completely unharmed. I am making NO profit off this story and I have absolutely NO money so PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Please don’t sue me!

Violence Disclaimer: Please this is XENA we are talking about…NOT some meek little girl. YES there is violence! There is some sort of but not REALLY explicit torture scenes, but if you get disturbed very easily, I guess you should go get another story to read! It is about as much as when Xena went through the gauntlet…that is if you saw that episode.

Sex/Subtext: Sex? Well nothing very graphic, maybe a hint. Subtext…*Shudders violently* I personally HATE the irritating blond and I am proud of it! I am the president of my IHG club (I hate Gabrielle) and will bash her at EVERY opportunity…so BEWARE!

Warning: This story is an Ares/Xena story. If for some odd reason you do not like this idea LEAVE! I don’t want you to read my story anyway!

Dedications: I am dedicating my first story to Deleen, Illy, SR, G.O.M, Eris, My dear rotten nut, Tareena, Liz, GA, Jo, and to everyone else at the Ares and Xena Shippers club for their continuous encouragement and support with me on this! You guys are the BEST!

Part one

"That’s ENOUGH!" Discord screamed in rage at her newest warlord named Darien, a thug with no actual skill, and even less brain. How he became a leader, even of the pitiful group of bandits he had, she did not know. His only redeeming quality was the fact that he was particularly handsome and rushed to do her every whim without question.

"If I may ask, what is enough, my dark goddess?" He asked timidly, she frightened him, but he was eager serve, and wanted to figure out what was wrong with his goddess. He wanted to fix it, fervent to prove his worth.

Discord paced with fury around the command tent of her new group of bandits while screeching, "HE pays more attention to HER, than to me, or his duty! He is always looking in on HER and doesn’t pay anymore attention to ME!"

Darien was becoming increasingly fearful of his goddess. She had a nasty tendency to slaughter her followers when enraged. He cowered back a little, but managed to say weakly, "Who, my dark goddess?"

"His little princess, XENA!" she sneered with disgust still pacing the tent with vigor. She had transported herself to his palace on Olympus last night for some fun, but he had waved her off without a second glance, saying he had more pressing matters to attend to. That is when she looked over at his mirror to the mortal realm and he saw HER! Discord abruptly demanded to know why SHE was more important. Reminding him that Xena wasn’t following Ares anymore and had made it clear not to want anything to do with him on numerous occasions, that she HATED him. Ares had visibly flinched at the last comment and brutally grabbed her by the arm and advised her in a deadly voice to stay AWAY from Xena and than roughly crushed her hands until she screamed in pain. Discord had weakly agreed that she would not harm Xena. Ares gave her one last venomous glare and than harshly let her go. Discord left hastily not in any desire to make him any further enraged.

"Xena?" Darien asked meekly, "The Warrior Princess?" He had had plans to destroy whatever it was who would incense his dark goddess so much, but XENA? She was a legend, chosen of Ares, Destroyer of Nations, and an exceptional military strategist.

But, he couldn’t help but think, she is a WOMAN, there is no way she can be as good as the stories say. She would be terrified of a man like me, and if she is as beautiful as the stories say, as well as the other stories, maybe they could have some fun. His spirits brightened considerably at that prospect. He would be the one to take down the mighty Warrior Princess, make her submit to his will, and this would certainly make his dark goddess pleased and she might even promote me, and give me a bigger army. Yes, this would be an excellent idea, he thought to himself. Darien took a deep breath; "I will kill her for you, my dark goddess." He pledged.

"You can’t," She snapped, "I’m not allowed to harm…." She stopped her ceaseless pacing abruptly, and than smiled maliciously, "But YOU are…"

"I can’t wait to see Ephiny, I wonder how she has been. When do you think we will be at the Amazon's, Xena?" Gabrielle looked over at her silent companion who was attentive and alert to her surroundings. That alone was not unusual except by the degree, she was definitely more wary than usual, although it was extremely hard to tell. You could only tell by her stunning, baby blue eyes, which were darting back and forth relentlessly into their surroundings, looking for anything sinister. Gabrielle noticed none of this however and said extremely annoyed, "Xena, have you heard a word I’ve said?" Silence, "Xena!"

"Yes Gabrielle." She sensed a group of people, warriors, following them for a while, a candle mark perhaps. She was trying to determine how many there were, and how to keep Gabrielle safe. Sure, she knew how to use her staff, but she wasn’t skilled enough yet to fight against a small army.

"You aren’t listening to me!" She complained. Why did she always do that! It’s not like she had other things to do. I mean I understand it when she has something important on her mind, but there isn’t anything. It’s been quiet all week, a nice change, but Xena just doesn’t know how to rest. It wouldn’t kill her to relax every one in awhile.

Suddenly there were numerous faint whistling sounds from the surrounding woods. Xena instantly raced to cover Gabrielle with her own body, forcing Gabrielle to roughly crash into the hard dirt with an audible grown of discomfort as an abundant of arrows came darting through the air. Surprisingly most didn’t hit their aim, but a few arrows did, embedding themselves in Xena’s thigh and shoulder.

The bandits, seeing that there attack failed to destroy their intended target, they all came out of the bushes welding an array of weapons, all with a murderous intent. Their weapons were crusty though, and by the ignorant way the majority of the bandits were holding them, Xena concluded that they were crudely trained.

Xena leaped up and unsheathed her sword running to meet the thirty bandits. With her recent injuries she was slightly handicapped, but chose to shut off the pain until she had time to clean the wounds properly. Twenty-five went after Xena and the remaining five went after Gabrielle. By this time Gabrielle had also had gotten up and was joining the fight with her Amazon quarterstaff.

Discord was watching her men fight from a hill, invisible to all mortals, and became furious when she realized that Xena was actually winning, having already killed 10 of the twenty-five who were trying to kill her, and not slowing down much at all. Discord in a blazing fury, hit Xena with a lightning bolt. Xena is thrown into a big oak tree by the force of the lightning bolt, writhing in the extreme pain caused by the bolt and loses her way passes out from the incredible pain. Gabrielle fights hard with her staff, but is quickly disarmed and knocked out with the butt end of a sword powerfully by one of the bandits. Seeing she hit her mark, Discord smiled a spiteful smile and faded away with a dark smile on her face full of satisfaction. Xena would suffer, and Ares will forget he ever met Xena, and I will be first, NOT second. Ares will realize his infinite oversight. I am much more exceptional than SHE is.

Another one of the bandits turned to their leader and asked, "Darien, what should we do with the blond?" Gesturing with a lazy finger in the direction of Gabrielle.

Darien briefly considered and decided that he didn’t have any orders towards the blond girl, "Leave her, we have accomplished our goal." He warily looked in the direction of the Warrior Princess who was lying on the dirt ground, lying unmoving. He had been overwhelmed by her extraordinary swordmanship and knew that his goddess had interceded in order to obtain her goal, without Discords divine intervention, he wasn’t so sure that he would have come out so successful. She had killed over a third of his men alone. But, he couldn’t help but add; she is still a WOMAN. It is inconceivable that she would have come out triumphant against 30 men in a fight. It was just not possible.

He looked her over once more and his wary look turned leering. The stories said she was gorgeous, but none did her any justice. She was easily more dazzling than his dark goddess who in his mind, yesterday could never had compared with ANY mortal. Darien looked her over slowly and shamelessly. He thought, with any luck, the legends about her sexual expertise were an understatement as well. He grinned, well I will soon find out.

Things were exceeding what he initially planned. This bloodbath was turning out to be much bloodier than he had had originally anticipated. There was blood and carnage everywhere. Remains scattered the earth, and it did not look like it was going to cease anytime soon. Ares was enjoying himself immensely; the war looked like it would carry on for at least a couple of days.

Xena awoke to the sounds of two warriors talking from just outside the tent. She could tell she was bound by some iron bindings and knew she could probably escape from them if given some time to try. She carefully felt each restraint, looking to see how far she could move in each direction. Her hands were tied tightly by some iron handcuffs and her feet chained, also to the wall, with some iron shackles. Xena could tell that they were specificly made to hold her.

That took away some of Xena’s unwavering confidence that she could escape. Xena did not lose all of her confidence though. After all she has been in an innumerable amount of unfortunate circumstances worse than this. Xena strained to hear what the warriors were talking about so anxiously, maybe she would hear something that might help her out of her unlucky situation.

"Darien said that we are supposed to torture her."

One of them said, he was very frightened. All warriors hear of the legendary Warrior Princess, chosen of Ares, Destroyer of Nations, who conquered half of Greece. Some just couldn’t believe ANYONE could do what the legends say she has done, others just thought that a WOMAN couldn’t be at all skilled in the arts of war, and the last group knew or believed she was real. He was among the third group, and having seen the devastation she could cause first hand, he had to admit that he was terrified of her. Going within ten feet of her was not high on his list of priorities. In his mind, it was suicidal and an invitation for death.

The other warrior was a lot cockier. He saw her go flying into that huge oak tree. She was as good as the stories say, she was good, but she couldn’t beat ME on her best day, he thought. Although why we have orders to torture such an exquisite body, that was not revealed to him. "Such a shame to ruin such a magnificent body." He said regretfully. He had hoped that he might be able to make some of his most recent fantasies become real, but he knew he couldn’t disobey Darien. He was very close to being promoted to second-in-command and knew that his success on his latest command would be the crucial moment in which Darien would base his decision upon. He had wanted this status ever since he joined Darien last year and he thought he deserved it. He had loyally served Darien since he joined and never failed to do what was asked of him, in his mind, there was no one better.

"I guess so." The fist warrior responded uncertainly. He had not been looking that much of her physical appearance, more concerned with the current stated of his health. "Darien wants it to happen in a few candle marks. Something about needing to please someone."

The second warrior responded, "Alright, let’s first go get the tools we will need."

Xena sighed heavily. She was in for a LONG day, and she knew it would be far away from pleasant. Why did they want her though? She knew there was an infinite amount of people who would love to see her dead or in pain, but Xena had a very good memory and she could not recall a Darien. Although it is still very liable he had still suffered the wrath of the Destroyer of Nations and wanted revenge. Or maybe it was just another warlord who wanted to be the one to defeat the mighty warrior princess.

She tried to test the bonds again, but this time trying to break free from them and an extreme amount of pain shot through her body, especially in her back. Xena quickly stopped trying to move and tried to figure out where she attained the wound. Abruptly she remembered. She was hit with a…with a lightning bolt…what? Only the gods have the ability to make lightning bolts! It’s not like Ares…he would rather see her fight till on side won and would send his elite warriors, hoping to see an awesome battle. Ares would not cut the battle short by hitting her with a lightning bolt. He wouldn’t do anything that hasty. If it wasn’t Ares than who was it? Which god has she angered lately? She asked herself. Xena hadn’t infuriated any of the gods since last moon; they would have taken action sooner than that. The are impatient in extracting revenge.

The bandits didn’t have any markings to show their god. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see, Xena concluded. In the mean time, I’ll just have to wait until I can think of a way to escape this predicament. Even though I’ll be in for a quite painful evening, which is assuming it’s the afternoon outside, Xena thought, I will need my rest and eventually after a prolonged amount of time in time Xena fell into a restless sleep.

Xena awoke with a harsh jolt. She immediately attempted to go directly into battle stance, but was reminded in a flash of intense pain that she was still chained up very securely. She knew that no matter how hard she pulled at the chains, they would not give. She had tested each restraint before she let herself drift to sleep extensively and knew she could not yank them out of the wall even with the amazing amount of strength she posessed.

Quickly taking in her surroundings, Xena saw five warriors. Three of them had hard leather whips. The other two had staffs. All of them were looking notably smug and arrogant. Xena knew immediately what if was that woke her up…and what those weapons were for. She instantly tensed and braced herself for the long and PAINFULL candle marks she knew doubtlessly awaited her.

The warrior who just struck her with his whip was obviously the leader of the camp. All of his followers looked at him for direction. He was a little unsure of himself, Xena noted, he was very arrogant, but not used to the position of torturer. There was a feeling of ignorance that she noticed in the way he held his whip. He held it just a little too tightly and very unskilled. It was obvious to her skilled eyes that he was not experienced with the whip.

So this was Darien, she thought. I don’t recognize him, but that doesn’t mean much. After all, there must be a countless number of people I tormented and don't know about. She uncontiously sighed; there will always be a numberless number of people who has suffered severely by my hands.

Darien didn’t seem to WANT to hurt her, but he also didn’t seem protesting about hurting her either. There were no mockery or thirst for revenge. He did not say a word to her, no taunts or mocking words. Just silence…and pain.

Another warrior punched her in her gut while the first one struck her once again with the coarse leather whip. Xena let out a soft groan from the staggering pain, but would not allow her tormentors the satisfaction they would doubtlessly get if they saw the agony she was in.

Xena tensed her whole body again as she saw a third warrior advanced with his staff. He hit her with several rapid blows to her body. The first warrior, Darien struck her again with his whip, and again, and again. Their captive gritted her teeth and carefully kept a stoic expression, devoid of any emotion. She knew that the torture was just beginning, but also knew that she had endured much worse agony and that it was just a matter of living through all of it. She was too proud to show a weakness such as pain, and that, in effect, gave her more. She gritted her teeth; the torture was going to be drawn-out, of that she was certain.

Gabrielle moaned pitifully in pain as she awoke with an enormous swelling on her forehead. There were a couple of things she noticed as she reluctantly opened her eyes. The first was that the sun was shining brightly and was directly over her. The second was that she was resting upon the hard dirt ground along with a collection of pebbles and rocks. The last thing Gabrielle noticed was that her companion was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly everything from the day before came rushing back to her instantaneously. She remembered the arrows, the bandits, Xena fighting them, Xena getting hit with something, her fighting, a flash of pain, and than… complete blackness.

She jumped up quickly and looked around franticly, WHERE was Xena? Than it hit her all at once. They must have taken her somewhere, but where! Gabrielle realized that she needed help finding Xena and once finding her, rescuing her. That is, she couldn’t help but think Xena isn’t dead already. Gabrielle gulped audibly at the last thought. She CAN’T be dead, Gabrielle thought trying to convince her self, and after all we are talking about Xena.

Gabrielle went to go pick up her quarterstaff which was on the other side of the clearing and determinedly headed off in the direction where she knew she could find help.

She was forcefully stopped when she walked right into a couple of large holes in the hard, dirt ground. Falling with a high pitched shriek and landed on her face. She groaned loudly in pain she picked herself up again and heading in her initial objective, this time she remembered to look at where she was walking.

The battle was awash in blood; two very powerful armies were ferocious and unrelenting in their fighting. There were innumerable dead corpses, which were strewn across the heated battlefield. Invisible to all mortal eyes, surveying the blood stained landscape from a far off hill with a broad smile was the God of War.

Ares was taking pleasure in this war as well as the blood shed. He paused suddenly remembering a similar war like this one, but only notably different for him in one way. The time before one of the armies being lead into battle was by none other than *his* Warrior Princess. That was how he thought of her, as his, even though she continuously denied him. Xena had been magnificent; Ares sighed as he remembered. She had been everything to him… and she still was. Now even more so than before.

Although he would never admit it to himself, Ares actually desired who Xena was now more than the Xena she was before. He had formerly only allowed himself to value Xena as a warrior, too scared to think that that his feelings could be any deeper. He had pulled back, the new feelings he was experiencing every single time he saw her, when she said his name, when she smiled at him… the feelings were just so intense and new that he became panicky and drew back. He always watched in on her though, not one day went by when he didn’t look in on his chosen, but it was now from afar, only talking to her when it was necessary to a special battle or plan that he had.

Things went on like that for many years until his moronic half-wit half-breed, brother decided to intervene and take away the only thing in his life, the ONLY person in his desolate life, which meant ANYTHING to him at all. He was extremely jealous of his brother when he found out that the ONLY person in the world that mattered had slept with HIM. He had wrecked his temple in a blind rage; no one dared to approach him for over moon to try and figure out what was wrong. None of the priestesses or even other Gods would attempt to reason with him in his fury. No one knew what was wrong except for perhaps his sister, the Goddess of Love, but she said nothing if she did know. After a few moons full of madness Ares had finally calmed down enough to attempt reason. Ares came to the conclusion that his princess would come back to him. He really couldn’t believe that she would REALLY prefer helping innocents and stopping wars with an irritating blond peasant who wanted to become a BARD as opposed to doing what she did before… with HIM. As the months came slowly by Ares had to face the unpleasant truth…she wasn’t planning on coming back at all. So he had framed her for murder, disguised himself as her father, and caused so many other tricks and manipulations… but in the end all with the same intent, to have her come back… back to him. She was different, she still loved a good fight and everything about battle, had that same fire in her eyes, but she had changed. At first Ares was angry with that, but as time went by he admitted that actually wanted her more because of it. Ares sighed as he thought of his lost Warrior Princess, he hadn’t talked to her in a moon, and he made up his mind to see her right when this war was finished. Satisfied with that Ares turned his attention once more on the battle.

As Xena slowly gained consciousness there were a few things that she noticed first. The first was that she hurt… a LOT, she winced painfully. She had the two arrows from her thigh and shoulder before, twisted and than wrenched out the previous night, she had several whip lashes on her back that gave her a huge ache all over her body. There were purple and black bruises and marks all over left by the staffs, she had a few broken ribs and she new that she was missing a few of the injuries also sense she could not examine them closely.

The second thing she noticed was that she didn’t know where Gabrielle was. Xena frowned with concern but knew that Gabrielle hadn’t been taken with her or the bandits would have used that the day before to further provoke her. She probably went to go get help… either way there was nothing better I could do than escape, find her and see her myself, Xena concluded. But that brought her to the other big problem, HOW to escape?She was completely tied up before and now she had her wounds that hindered her even more.

She cursed softly in aggravation, this was a BIG mess and Discord is behind it. Xena had overheard severalof the bandits talking about their Goddess and how they needed to please her. All of the other Goddesses had much higher quality warriors than was sent after her and none of them would interfere by throwing a lightning bolt at her. That was another thing that made no sense, Ares just about controlled everything that Discord did and Ares would NEVER do anything like this, it just wasn’t his style. He didn’t want Xena to be tortured or killed, far from that, what he did want, that abruptly stopped her thoughts, what he did want she wasn’t quite sure.

At times she thought that he actually had feelings for her but than almost directly after she was sure that it was all just in her head and all he wanted from her was for her to conquer the world and to lead the ultimate battle. It was very complicated, but would be so much easier if she didn’t have any feelings for him. If Xena were honest with herself she would admit that she DID have feelings for him. It was not love, she would not allow herself to feel anything like that towards him, but it could very easily be if she let herself.

Xena was not honest with her self though and made sure she never put up any appearance in front of him other than pure hatred and disdain, after all he was her enemy right? A dangerous enemy and NOTHING more than that... she had NO feelings for him.

Suddenly she looked up sharply. Two of the bandits from the torture session the night before came in through the dark blue tent. Xena quickly closed her eyes and pretended to still be unconscious, this was her chance and with her wounds she wanted every advantage she could that she could get.

The two bandits slowly moved forward and the first bandit who was more cocky and arrogant, but still was a higher-ranking officer smirked, “She’s still unconscious, not much of a Warrior Princess.”

His partner looked her over, “Darien wants her brought to his tent.” Even beaten so badly she still retained an almost divine quality that made her seem godly and superior. He would never admit it but he had accumulated a huge amount of respect for her in just the two days. The stories did not exaggerate, if anything they fell short in all areas, in her battle skill, endurance for pain, beauty and his leader also was very impressed with her and he wanted to find out if the rest of the stories were true as well. Even after a long torture session she was still beautiful, he didn’t think he could name any other woman who he could say that about…it really was no wonder why the God of War would choose her as his chosen.

The first bandit shrugged, “Well than let’s take her to Darien.” They both moved forward and he removed the various chains that tied her down. Just as he leaned down to pick her up and carry her to Darien when Xena delivered an unexpected kick to his midsection that knocked the air out of him and sent him hard into the ground. Xena made a rapid kick to the other guard’s face that knocked him out.

Xena gasped in pain, this was going to be very difficult. By this time the first guard picked himself off the ground and threw a dagger at her head that she just narrowly dodged landing in a wooden crossbar behind her. When she looked back at her attacker he had drawn his sword and looked determined not to be so easily knocked around again. Xena took in a quick breath, if she wanted to escape she didn’t have energy to spare toying around with him as she normally might do. Without looking away from the bandit, Xena wrenched the dagger free of the wood and threw it with lethal accuracy at him. It embedded itself easily in his heart. After letting out a weak cry of pain he was silent, falling with a thud on the ground on his former companion on his way to the Underworld to meet his fate.

Discord looked at the scene with growing ire. This was NOT what was supposed to happen. Xena was supposed to be DEAD, but, she thought, while she may not be dead she was still too damaged to escape. The Goddess decided to see how things would unfold. She smiled a malicious smile, this would actually be more of more amusement than just watching her be slaughtered.

She was tired, alone, and HUNGRY when she finally reached the Amazon border. Gabrielle sighed utterly exhausted, she hadn’t eaten anything except for some water from the stream, and a few nuts and berries since the day before and it was taking its toll on the young bard who viewed eating as a favorite activity. She never ceased to amaze all with her unbelievable talent for eating anything and everything, how she was not fat was a mystery. The bard was not skilled in catching fish, or rabbits like her tall, dark, and dangerous warrior companion that was in serious trouble at the moment. She smiled slightly despite the situation, what else was new? The young Bard had long ago determined that Xena was the biggest attraction for trouble in the entire known world, there was never a day that went by with her stoic companion where it was even close to quiet and trouble free. Gabrielle heard a bird and turned to see where it was.

Without warning several Amazons landed gracefully and silently on the ground in front of her, all wearing an intimidating Amazon mask and very revealing leather clothing. They were each fully equipped with an assortment of weapons. She mostly saw swords, daggers, bows, arrows, and some with an Amazon war staff, not unlike the one Gabrielle possessed although with less design. There was one Amazon who stood in front of the others. Gabrielle jumped in surprise and immediately assumed the position for the Amazon peace signal. They had nearly scared her to Tartarous.

Each of the awe-inspiring women sheathed their swords and slowly bowed to Gabrielle. After a few moments the Amazon in the front slowly arose standing back up. She pulled back her mask revealing a beautiful woman with blond curls. Her mask was different than the others identifying her specifically as the Queen of the Amazons. Gabrielle who was still blushing from the previous display squealed loudly and shrieked, “EPHINY! It is SO good to see you again!” All earlier signs of fatigue were nonexistent as she ran to give her friend a big hug.

Ephiny laughed and enthusiastically returned the hug.

The other Amazons also had risen by this point and were looking at their queen with quite a bit of shock. It just wasn’t natural for any Amazon queen to act like that, Amazon queens did not hug, squeal or be caught by surprise. EVEN if it was by her sister Amazons. Amazon queens were strong, silent, skilled, and always alert. They each quickly exchanged a look and than once again returned their attention to their queen with interest, but still with a flawless posture, and with perfect silence while in the presence of their queen, like every Amazon was taught to do from very young.

“It’s great to see you too Gabrielle I am glad you made it! Where is Xena?” Ephiny finished the question that all present were thinking. Xena always came with Gabrielle when they came, she was her champion and although Xena denied it, she was an Amazon. The perfect Amazon is what many of the Amazons called her. Many even wished that it were Xena who had been the queen instead of some untrained village girl who wouldn’t even kill. At first everyone was in an outrage when they found out that a BARD was going to become their Amazon queen, but many had accepted it with time while even a few began to be happy that she was their leader. The fact that Gabrielle was never there also caused much dissention in the village. How could their queen, even one many had strong diversion for be out in danger without the protection of an honor guard every single day.

Gabrielle’s face noticeably dimmed, “There is trouble Ephiny, Xena…well Xena was taken prisoner.” Everyone let out a slight gasp. Gabrielle continued softly, “I need your help Eph. I need to find her soon; I don’t know what’s happened or if she’s alive. I don’t know what do.” She looked at Ephiny with a pleading look, “Help me find her Ehp, I NEED to find her soon. She could be dead or tortured or even…” Gabrielle stopped suddenly, and everyone present cringed, they all knew what she was about to say and it made most of them very angry. Xena was Gabrielle’s champion and she had saved the Amazons more times than anyone would like to admit.

Ephiny also had cringed, Xena had personally helped her and she owed her life to Xena, but Ephiny also had to think of her Amazons first as always. The village had just suffered a disease that had killed many of her fellow sisters and put even more in bed sick, it was expected that they would be fine in a few weeks. Her Amazons could not afford to go to war against a strong army over anyone other than their queen right now. Even if the person saved the Amazons on many different occasions. “We will send scouts our looking for her Gabrielle.” Ephiny assured the pleading bard, but than her face took on a downhearted look, “But Gabrielle there is something I need to know. How big is the army? You know what happened to many people of our tribe, we just ca not afford to fight a big army right now.”

The beautiful regent cringed slightly from the dejected look on her queens’ face and when she heard the calls from her sister Amazons saying that they would fight to get Xena back, they could defeat an army, after all they were AMAZONS. Ephiny silenced them with a quick glare reminding them of the situation and of their rank. They were in the presence of their Amazon queen and the queen’s regent and this was not acceptable behavior. Her look silenced them almost immediately.

“The army had about 30 people, but they didn’t seem to be expertly trained. They were targeting Xena, but didn’t seem to want to kill her just to capture her.” Gabrielle said, she knew what her Amazons had gone through in the past few months, but in her mind all of that paled in comparison to the thought of losing her best friend for life. The warrior and bard often argued, but Gabrielle still thought of her dark companion as her home. Xena always would be if the bard had her way.

Ephiny let out a sigh of relief, 30 they could handle.

There was only one problem, where was Xena and who took her? Gabrielle answered her silent question by saying, “I think it might be Ares, you all know how obsessed he is with getting her back, and the warriors did seem to look like his too.”

“Tara!” The regent called to one of her fellow Amazon sisters, “Where is the nearest temple dedicated to the God of War?”

Xena faltered slightly, the pain was so intense. After finding her weapons and her armor without causing an alarm she was heading towards the stable to get Argo. She had been grazing when they were ambushed, but Xena knew that Argo would have came once she found out that her mistress had been knocked unconscious. A small trail of blood was being lead wherever Xena went from her various wounds and she knew it was only a matter of time before someone would see her. Her present condition was making it very hard for her to find her way around without making any sound. Finally she was at the stables, and she saw her beloved horse, Argo!

She went on instant alert, scanning the area with her eyes, her sword and chackram at the ready and in battle stance. There were a few guards coming her way, and Xena unconsciously cringed, this was not going to be the quiet escape she was hoping for.

“Um my queen, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are we doing here?” A young thin and blond haired Amazon named Letha asked timidly. She had just been promoted to honor guard and was exceedingly nervous for many reasons. One of the main reasons was being trusted with one of the most important positions for an Amazon, protecting her queen. Another significant reason was that she had the feeling that her queen was going to do something that might anger the God of War. As an Amazon she was brave and afraid of almost nothing, but to anger one of the most powerful Gods? That was insanity!

The bard looked over at Letha and smiled slightly, her eyes than narrowed with determination; “I am going to talk to ask him what he did with Xena.” They were in front of the rest of the group consisting of 3 Amazons, their queen and Solori who was second-in-command to Ephiny who was directly after the queen in the Amazon power structure. Ephiny had stayed back at the village. The Amazons could not let both their queen and regent go somewhere without an abundance of preparation and protection. Letha gulped, this was not good. There was nothing she could do because after all, Gabrielle was her queen and as an Amazon, she must protect her and follow her every order. Even when it came to the some of the most important decisions for the Amazon tribe it was often only their queen who decided the proper course of action which would most protect all the tribe and its overall well being.

The tribe came to the temple half a candle mark latter and each Amazon including the bard looked at the inside of the temple in slight awe. There was an assortment of weapons lining the walls and an altar with several offerings in the center. Suddenly a few of the priestesses came at them with rapid steps and a brown haired priestess who was the obvious leader demanded hotly in Gabrielle’s direction, “WHAT are you doing! This is the inner sanctum of Lord Ares temple and I will NOT have some harlots disturb his temple!” All the Amazons flushed with anger, who was this whore telling THEM that they were harlots when she spent her life waiting for her Lord hoping he will decide that he wanted her for a screw. They also were enraged that they would dare speak to their Amazon queen in such a way. Each Amazon except for Gabrielle pulled out their weapons intending to defend their tribe and queens honor.

The priestesses each unsheathed their own swords, but they were unevenly matched. There were 5 Amazons all together and 4 priestesses. Although each priestess of Ares was extensively trained so were the Amazons. Solori who was the main person in charge of her queens safety stepped in front of her effectively cutting her off from the fight that was sure to ensue.

Without Gabrielle in the fight it was 1 to 1 and it seemed like it was going to last for quite awhile. Gabrielle looked at the proceedings with distress, they were HER amazons and she would not let any one of them die if she could do anything about it. The bard looked at the statue behind her, a battle in his temple would obviously be the ultimate offering for the God of War, but it wouldn’t be enough to get his attention if he was far away. After all a battle in the middle of his temple was not actually that rare. Gabrielle needed to do something, anything to get his attention; she picked up the statue, a replica of Ares himself and threw it into the ceiling. It shattered with a deafening crash. Each warrior stopped fighting momentarily turning to see what had happened, The Amazons looked on with some dread, which would surely bring the God of Wars wrath upon them now! The priestesses cringed and than their anger rose again, this was NOT acceptable! Just as they were about to start their battle anew they halted as they saw a dazzling ball of blue light near the marble altar in the front revealing a furious God of War.

Each present gasped in shock not just because of his sudden appearance but also because of the rage you could see in his very demeanor. Than immediately after that the 4 priestesses rushed forward and bowed before their Lord. The brown haired leader declared, “It was those harlots my Lord! They came in here and would not leave, and than SHE,” The priestess pointed accusingly at the bard, “Broke your precious statue!”

Ares had stopped listening to Vanora as soon as he followed the direction her finger was pointing at. His eyes narrowed and if it was possible his features darkened even more. There was the irritating blond that had in part stolen away the only thing in his entire existence that gave it meaning. He quickly scanned the group once again searching to see his Warrior Princess although he knew that she would not be among them. He could never NOT notice her first. She had an unmistakable presence full of confidence, strength, beauty, and gracefulness, which pulled in every eye that was lucky enough to be in her presence. He once again with a sense of disappointment moved his eyes back to the irritating blond.

Gabrielle swallowed…hard under the ruthless eyes of the War God, but as she remembered the reason she was here she gathered up what courage she had and she demanded, “What have you done with Xena!” Her words however came out more like a terrified squeak than a demand.

Ares blinked his eyes momentarily in surprise. That was not what he was expecting to hear from her. The surprise was quickly drowned out by a sense of dread as her words finally really sunk in. If the blond was worried about Xena than she must be in trouble. With a growl he said in a tone that commanded obedience, “EVERYONE OUT NOW! Except for the irritating blond.”

The priestesses quickly scurried out of the room not in any desire to suffer his wrath for they have seen what happened to others that made his angry and they were not in a hurry to be the newest addition to that rather long list.

The Amazons quickly went into battle stance at the last command, they could not leave their queen, and after all they were Amazons! They were quickly stopped by their queen as she ordered, “Leave.” The 4 Amazons looked ready to protest, but knew that as the queen Gabrielle could tell them to do anything and they would have to obey. With one last look of distrust at the God they slowly left the inner sanctum of the temple. Gabrielle cringed as the door shut and she took several steps back away from the angry War God.

She gulped as she heard him speak, “What are you talking about mortal?” He would not speak to her with anything but what he felt, just because she traveled with Xena did not make her special. He paused slightly in thought, actually it just made him even more angry at the irritating blond, SHE was with Xena when he was not and she was a big part of why things are still that way.

Gabrielle gathered her nerve and repeated her demand from before, “What have you done with Xena!” The bard knew Xena would go through far more than a God to get her back, it was time she tried the same.

“Where is she!” Ares demanded. He ignored her question from before, after all, she held no importance to him. He did not need to tell her anything, especially when his princess was in danger.

The blond bard was losing some of her nervousness, “What do you mean where is she! You had her taken!” Ares glared angrily at the bard. But inside he had a gnawing inside him telling him that things were NOT right, something had happened to his princess. Every second he stood there he felt the gnawing rapidly increasing. What could have happened to her? Not again, he had already lost her once. If he allowed himself to think logically he would have known that she was not dead, the last time she died it was like he had been stabbed in the heart and he were mortal. He also had feeling of emptiness that had griped his whole being, shaking him to the core.

But Ares did not have a clear head, he demanded, “What happened!?!?!?” Gabrielle gulped, but told him that some soldiers had taken Xena, for some reason she didn’t think that he was behind her best friends capture anymore.

As the news finally sunk in he threw a lightning bolt at a statue of a great warrior, shattering it into bits with a loud crash. He than disappeared in a brilliant ball of blue light which slowly fading into nothing.

She ached all over and her entire body screamed in agony, she was riding Argo as an extremely fast rate that was sending jolts of pure pain shaking her to her very core. She had killed many bandits but now she was in an even worse condition. The dark warrior gritted her teeth in determination.

Suddenly she felt a pain she had experienced just the other day, a lightning bolt. This one was lower in power but still caused her to go flying 50 feet. This time she did not crash into a tree, but on the dirt. Only her fierce persistence kept her awake, she painfully rose to standing position with her sword at the ready. Twenty warriors instantly surrounded her and she bit her lip. These were terrible odds of that she knew. But she would never allow herself to go down without a fight.

Xena began fighting for what seemed like forever, fighting what seemed like a hundred men and killing what seemed like 50. She only fought for about 5 minutes, she was fighting only 20 men and she had only killed 3 of them.

The sword was getting heavier, and harder to carry, just as it was getting more and more impossible to fight. She was losing her strength and it was taking more time to take down her opponents. The pain was immeasurable, her agony so great. Suddenly death and Tartarous was looking like a preferable option. A sword was coming directly at her throat and she could find no strength to block the lethal blow. Xena closed her eyes, so this was it. This was how she was going to die. During an escape plan, wounds EVERYWHERE on her body she could think of, battling against 20 men. She would soon be taking a trip to the Underworld with one major difference. This time it would be permanent though and there would be no Ambrosia to revive her. She mentally counted the time left 3…2…1…WHAT? There was no contact, no finishing blow. Nothing at all.

The sight Xena opened her eyes to was unexpected to say the least. “What?” Xena said in surprise. Everything was frozen, she took a few steps back from the blade that was too close to her neck for comfort, less than centimeters from it’s mark. As she tried to turn around to see what caused this, although she had a pretty good idea of what, or more specifically WHO caused this. A wave of pain suddenly washed over her. Now that she wasn’t fighting, the pain, everything she felt was at its back to its undivided strength.

She stumbled at first trying to stay up and conscious but her attempts were in vain as she soon found out and eventually she saw complete black. Just as she was falling a dark male in leather appeared in a dazzling display of blue light. He caught her gently before she hit the hard dirt. With one last look of concern at Xena who was now in his arms having lost consciousness. They left in a ball of blue light. Once gone everything unfroze leaving several angry and puzzled soldiers behind.

TO BE CONTINUED.......