Disclaimer: I own no rights whatsoever to any characters from Xena:
Warrior Princess, I am only borrowing them for the length of this story.
This story is for the amusement and entertainment of my friends in the Ares
and Xena Shippers club. I promise to return the characters intact when I am
finished with them. I am making no money from this story.
Handling either child by themself wasn't a problem. Put them together and you didn't just add trouble, you multiplied it by an order of 10. What one couldn't think of, the other could. The constant instigation and encouragement of the other had both of them sitting in the corner more and more often. Exasperation had become Xena's constant companion of late. So far, it hadn't had much of an effect on her relationship with Ares. He would commiserate with her when she told him of the latest escapade of the pair. Sometimes he would laugh aloud at her descriptions of their antics. He had come to really care about those two rascals. They were chaos incarnate and appealed to his sense of humor immensely. You'd never think of the God of War having a sense of humor, but have one he did.
They weren't really bad, they were just chock full of energy and looking for an outlet, any outlet. This particular day started out with Jeb falling and skinning his knee. He promptly got a lot of sympathy and the privilege of kissing one grubby little knee all better fell to Gabrielle. She rolled her eyes at Cyrene even as she completed the action with a hug. Eve was not at all happy with the situation. It wasn't that bad of a booboo. Just a little scrape. How come he was getting all the attention? She ran up to her grandmother and raised her arms to be lifted up. Cyrene obliged, and held her close for a moment. Then Xena called from the kitchen door. "Mom?" She put Eve down and she and Gabrielle went to see what the problem was. The two children were on their own again. This was not at all what they had wanted. Eve was disgusted with the situation, how come Jeb got more time.
Eve and Jeb began a game of tag. Since Eve was five months older, she could run faster. This meant that Jeb never could catch her but that she could always catch him. He soon got tired of that game. He could never win. He went and got a ball, throwing it over Eve's head. She turned and ran after it. They tossed it back and forth for a while. B..o..r..ing. Finally, they decided to go back in the house for a while.
The three women were preparing food for the dining room. They now had permanent help in the actual running of the place. They had a full time bartender and one serving woman. This gave them more time for the children and Cyrene was still making a good profit. The town was growing rapidly. The presence of the Warrior Princess had a lot to do with that. People felt quite safe living in the same town as a warrior of her reputation. Cyrene had added on three more bedrooms, and was now calling the place an Inn rather than a tavern. Inns had a higher class reputation than taverns.Besides there was a tavern on the edge of town, for the rougher crowd and the teenagers to hang out in. Their Inn had the higher class clientele. All the elders and business owners ate with their families at the Inn occasionally. Since she also had a large barn in back, travelers were better served at the Inn. Cyrene had also hired Joxer as her barn boy. He took good care of all the horses in his bailiwick. There was even a large tack room, where they had set up a bed for him.
Joxer also ate in the kitchen with the family. They had been forced to purchase a larger kitchen table since with that many people eating there, they needed the space. The Inn's dining room opened at seven in the morning and there were many people who ate there regularly. The food was always good, the place was always clean, and the employees and management were friendly. People brought their young children to play with the resident terrors, who were usually on their best behavior while there in the dining room. One of the three female adults were usually keeping an eye on them. There were people there at all hours of the day, if only to hear the latest news as they downed a cold one.
There were occasional periods of quiet, when only the family and crew were there. The crew loved those two little imps and occasionally played with them if there was time. There was no one there when the two children reentered the house and proceeded into the dining room to play with their toys. The bartender was a jovial sort, and was a newer resident in the village. He had two small ones of his own and knew just what to do to entertain the two. He could do any number of small magical tricks such as make coins appear from all sorts of unlikely places and other things of the like. The children loved him. He entertained them for a few minutes until a customer entered through the front doors and then, reluctantly, he got up to take care of business. The customer was a stranger, but nonetheless was greeted with a smile.
The stranger sat down at a table and ordered a late breakfast with ale. The bartender called the food order into the kitchen and proceeded to draw the ale. The stranger, in the meantime, had been looking around. It didn't take long for him to spot the children. They had gotten in a small squabble and had raised their voices. Xena heard the ruckus and came out to see what the problem was. She didn't pay any attention to the stranger, but simply walked over into the corner and settled the dispute. She then proceeded to go back into the kitchen. The stranger had observed the situation with a slight smile on his face. Now he knew for sure. Xena was indeed in this town and she did have children in her care. It didn't matter if they were her own or not, she obviously felt responsible for them.
He finished his meal quietly and left. It didn't take him much time at all to gather his friends, who had been waiting outside of town. He filled them in on the situation and they prepared to make their move. He wanted Xena to pay for what she'd done. She had raided his village many years ago and killed his younger brothers. She hadn't actually taken a sword to them, but they had been run down by the horses of her men. She was to blame and she was going to pay.
The men gathered in the woods behind the Inn. They watched as the children came back out to play. They waited until the children were back near the fence and two of them quickly leaped over the fence and grabbed the children. Eve screamed loudly but within a moment was silenced by a large hand. Both children were passed over the fence, which the men then leaped over. They all mounted their hidden horses and rode quickly away, the children held before them.
Screams were not an uncommon occurrence with children, so it was a few moments before someone checked on them. Cyrene was the one to see the men carrying the children into the woods and screamed for Xena. "They've taken the children!" she cried. Xena made a quick dash into the back yard and to the side of her mother. "What happened?" she asked anxiously. "I just saw several men carrying the children into the woods." Cyrene said quickly. Xena made a fast run across the yard, flipped over the fence, and made a sweep of the area. The tracks of five men with horses were clearly apparent to her search. She would need Argo.
She quickly made her way to the barn. Joxer had already been informed of the matter and had saddled Argo. She mounted Argo and urged her into a canter. She was on their tracks before anyone else had a chance to even think about what to do. Cyrene hated to call on Ares for help but it might be necessary. She called out the name of Ares. He appeared almost instantly. With one raised eyebrow he gave her a questioning look. "They've taken the children!" she told him anxiously. "WHHAAT?" he yelled. "Who dared to do that idiotic stunt?" "I don't know, several men appeared in the back yard and snatched the children before we could do anything about it. Xena's gone after them, but she didn't wait for anyone to help. Please.....?"she begged. She hadn't any more than gotten the words out of her mouth than he was gone.
Xena caught up with them before too many miles and drew her sword. Giving her trademark war cry, she attacked. She had disabled two of them and killed a third, when she was brought up short. The final two men were holding knives to the children's throats. "Drop the sword! Do it or they die." The one man ordered. She reluctantly did as he said. "Get off the horse." he went on. She complied. The men took turns dismounting, each still holding a captive child. "Why are you doing this, they've never done you any harm. Why would you want to hurt children, any children?" Xena asked anxiously. "You want to know why, I'll tell you why. You are responsible for the deaths of my two younger brothers. They were killed during your attack on my village, years ago, and I've never forgiven you for that." he replied. "But that was a different me..the evil me..I'm not like that now." she stated quietly. "It doesn't matter a bit to me, which of you is guilty, you're going to pay!" "Leave the children out of it, they weren't even born at that time." she said. "No, but they're someone you care about and it's only fair." he replied. She couldn't possibly save both children, and there was no way to decide which one to save. It was a stalemate. Suddenly, Ares appeared and matters changed drastically. He appeared between the two men, grabbed each child by a hand, and promptly disappeared with them. The two assailants were flabbergasted. They no longer held the winning cards. Xena took out both of them with her Chakram. There was no way they were coming back later to cause more trouble.
Ares had safely returned both of the children to their family. Xena had returned a little later, with five horses. Two of them each had a man tied securely on it's back and the other three had bodies attached. The two survivors had been sent for justice. Kidnapping was a serious crime, since typically it was only the children of the wealthy and the nobility that were targets. The punishment therefore was terrible..
That night, Xena and Ares discussed the kidnapping of the children. Xena thanked Ares for his help. She didn't know what she'd have done without it. He promptly asked what kind of payment he could expect for his efforts. This was said with a grin and a raised eyebrow, so she knew he wasn't serious. She pretended to think for a long moment and then said."Well now, why don't we start with this?" She kissed him teasingly. "And this?" She continued with the kisses - more passionate now - and began to roam her hands over his person. "And how about this?" Now she was getting really personal! He grinned and said. "That'll do for a start.... however, I was thinking more along this line......"
TBC