Same disclaimers and copyrights apply.

~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER FIVE
The Warrior's Achilles' Heel

There was a light knock on the door to the room where Xena was staying, waking her up. She looked around her and found she had slept in...Gabrielle was rubbing off on her. The thought of the bard made the warrior curl once more into a ball.

"Xena of Amphipolis?" It was the serving man from that night. His voice was gentle, as if he were caring for someone who was in mourning. "Xena, are you alright in there? May I bring you some food?"

The warrior cleared her throat and lifted her head from the floor. "No, thank you. I'm fine."

The man outside the door sighed. "I was getting worried about you. I haven't seen you for a couple of days..."

"How long have I been here?" asked the warrior as she pushed herself up to a sitting position.

"You've been in there for three days. Are you sure you don't want me to bring you anything?"

Xena processed the information, shocked that she had been out for so long. "Uh...no, thank you."

"Okay. If you need anything...my name's Jerod. Please don't hesitate to ask." He paused a few moments before he turned and walked away from the door.

*Three days...and Gabrielle's not here. By all the Gods of Olympus, Xena, you sure messed things up...* The warrior slowly stood up and worked the kinks out of her back and neck. The food from that night was still on the table, unedible. It didn't matter. Xena wasn't hungry or thirsty. She hurt.

It wasn't the pain of battle or even from sleeping for three days on the hard floor of the room mere paces away from the bed, but it was the pain that she had hurt and lost the only person whom she ever really loved.

The warrior sat on the edge of the bed, dragged her saddlebags in front of her, and rummaged through them to find the little pouch containing the herbs that would take the edge off her headache.

*Dammit...how can these bags hold all this stuff??* Frustrated, Xena grabbed things from the bags and threw them aside. Her clothes, oilcloths, and the whetstone, things she would normally treat better, were strewn carelessly around her in her aggravated search. Finally, she found something, near the bottom, that felt like what she was looking for and pulled it out.

The warrior swallowed hard and closed her eyes under the renewed onslaught of emotion. It wasn't the pouch she had found, but one of Gabrielle's scrolls, the ribbon that was to hold it closed had come undone and the parchment unrolled. Gently, she rerolled it and placed it on the bed next to her, then reached into the bags to dig out the rest of them.

*I can't believe she forgot these...* thought the warrior, reverently running her fingers over the parchment of what she guessed were nearly thirty scrolls. A smile slowly broke the solemn mask her face had become. *And I have a hunch that she'll want them back.*

Xena quickly packed up the saddlebags, making sure the scrolls were safe in the middle, then walked down into the tavern of the inn. She caught Jerod's eye and motioned him over to the table she had occupied three days earlier.

"It's good to see you up and about, Xena. What can I get for you?" he smiled.

She, surprisingly, returned the smile, though there was something in his eyes that she couldn't place. "It's good to be up, Jerod, thank you.
"How much do I owe you for the extra days?"

Jerod looked at her, almost consolingly, and said, "Don't worry about it. I know you need to go. Just do me a favour and take care, okay?" He smiled again and turned to help another table.

Alarm bells were going off in Xena's head and she thought that something might be wrong with the little bard, but since she was going to see her anyway, everything could be dealt with once she'd gotten there.

*But where did she go?* she thought to herself. *I'll try Poteidaia first. It's only a day's ride away. If she's not there, I'll go to the Amazons. I'll go whereever I have to to find her...*

"Thank you, Jerod," said the warrior as she left. One of the patrons turned to the serving man and said, "That was Xena, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah...I feel bad for her, but I'm sure she1ll be able to fix everything."

"Does she even know?" asked the same patron.

"I'm sure she does...they say she can read minds."

~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER SIX
The Bard's Bitter Pill

"Gabrielle? C'mon...are you sure you don't want to eat?" The voice came from the bard's sister, who was standing by the door of their bedroom. It had been a few days since she had arrived on their doorstep, tired and ill with a fever, and the usually wordy blonde had said maybe three whole sentences to her family in that time.

"Gab, are you awake?" Lila prodded, eliciting a shake of the head from her sister. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Gabrielle squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head again, then squirmed further under her bedcovers. Frustrated, Lila closed the door, leaving her sister alone.

"How is she?" asked Hecuba, who had gotten no better reactions from her blonde daughter than any other member of the family.

"The same. She refuses to eat and she's still in bed," replied Lila as she flopped down on a chair next to the fireplace.

"Is this how that Xena let her live? She could stay in bed as much as she wanted?" said Heroditus. "She needs some discipline...she needs to see the sunrise.
"The only way she'll feel better is if she gets married to a nice boy, like that Dorian from down the road, has some children and stays here in Poteidaia where she belongs."

"Oh, Heroditus...go work out in the fields or something," ordered his wife as she shooed him out of their house. She then turned to Lila. "Sometimes your father says the most idiotic things..."

The youngest daughter covered her mouth as she snickered. "He is right about one thing, though...she does need to see the sunrise. She needs to get up and out. At least her fever1s gone..."

Both women turned towards the door when they heard the shuffling footsteps that could only be Gabrielle finally coming out of the bedroom. Her mother and sister were instantly by her side, but the stubborn bard refused their help, seating herself in a chair by the fireplace. Hecuba covered her with a blanket.

"Good afternoon, Gabrielle," she said.

The blonde responded with a weak, but genuine, smile.

"I'll fix you a nice bowl of stew, alright?" At her daughter's nod, Hecuba turned away and hurriedly went about her business.

Lila looked at her sister, who stared blankly at the fire, and leaned towards her. "You're gonna go blind, Gab."

The bard shook herself from her thoughts, yet didn't look at her sister. "I suppose..."

The brunette's brow creased, but she remained silent as their mother returned with the promised bowl for Gabrielle. Hecuba stood over the bard, watching as she slowly ate spoonfuls of the hardy stew. Satisfied, Gabrielle's mother busied herself by tidying up the kitchen.

The only thing that bothered her was that it was too quiet. It had been quiet since Gabrielle left, Lila not having the same penchant for chatting non stop that her sister had, but the bard was sitting right there in her house and hardly a peep came from her. It was deafening.

*What will make her talk? Something she loves...that's easy, travelling with Xena. Where is she anyway?* thought Hecuba. She didn't like the ex-warlord, but found it odd that she wasn't ANYwhere to be seen, especially with what1s going on.

As she washed some dishes, Hecuba looked at her two daughters. Lila was trying desperately to get some conversation out of her sister, who kept staring at the fire. *Maybe Xena's dead? Maybe that's why Gabrielle's back here...*

The woman sighed and dried her hands on her apron then walked into the living room and stood by the blonde's side. *Only one way to find out...then maybe we could talk about what's happening.*

"Gabrielle? Where's Xena?"

Pain flashed briefly across the bard's beautiful features as she stood up and put down the bowl. "I don1t know."

She then walked back towards her bedroom. Without turning she said, "I'm gonna get dressed and go for a walk."

"You want me to go with ya, Gab?" her sister offered.

"I'm sorry, Lila...I need to be alone for a little while.
"Do you work tonight?"

The brunette nodded enthusiastically, making the bard smile. "I'll come by and see ya, if that's okay."

Again Lila nodded as the door to their bedroom closed. Moments later, Gabrielle emerged in her green top and brown skirt, but her staff was no where to be seen.

"Gabrielle...maybe you should take your staff with you," Hecuba suggested. "Especially if you want to be alone."

"I'm not going too far...I'll be okay."

Her mother sighed. *There's no point in arguing with her...* she thought as the bard offered a quick good-bye and walked out.

*****

Apollo's chariot was right above Poteidaia, but Gabrielle was cool in the shade of the forest that was along the outskirts of the village. She didn't want to be around people at the moment. *In spite of the staff thing, Xena's rubbing off on me...*

The bard wrapped her arms around herself and sat on the ground to watch the world pass before her, her thoughts settling on the Warrior Princess.

*First, I have got to come to grips with the fact that I love Xena, that I'm in love with her.
*Second, I've been here for three days...that means I left Xena four days ago and she hasn't come for me. So she's not coming for me.* Gabrielle sighed, but knew this had to be done.

*If for no other reason than for my family, I have to at least pretend I'm okay and at some point leave again. I can't stay here forever. Maybe I'll go back to the Academy...*

Suddenly, a realization dawned on her. *Ah, dammit!! I left all my scrolls with Xena!*

Gabrielle hung her head and fought her tears. *They're long gone...I just know it. Either she found them and threw them out or she has no idea that she's travelling Greece with thirty scrolls in her saddlebags. All that work gone...*

She felt like giving up. To the bard it seemed as though everything was against her, that the Fates were determined to make her stay in Poteidaia, and she was close to acquiesing.

"I need a drink..." sighed Gabrielle. With that, she got up from her vantage point and walked back towards the village, unaware of the eyes that followed her, well hidden by the trees.

Continued HERE.

Back to beginning.

---

Mail for Magenta to: the_AURYN@angelfire.com.

HOME
Table of Contents