As if in slow motion, the queen’s eyes flashed to her face in shock, as Gabrielle did the first thing that came to her mind and she threw what she had in her hands towards the man.
A laugh. Bitter.
Xena’s hand caught the hilt of the sword and in just that breath she drove it into the mace wielder’s body, her arm swinging in an underhand motion that still had enough power to bury the weapon to it’s hilt in his chest.
The man toppled forward, dropping his mace but slamming his body against Xena and taking her down under the cursing, struggling men. She battled to free herself, shoving against the rock almost oblivious to the blows raining down on her.
She got an arm free again and clawed at the air, hitting armor and blood and gore as she was borne to the ground by the sheer weight of numbers, touching at last a hand that clasped hers back with desperate strength.
She heard her name, heard the fear and the pain in Gabrielle’s voice and knew in that moment that she’d finally found that one, rare instance of true loyalty that proved her lifelong rule.
Irony, thy name is Xena.
A crushing blow hit her in the back of the head, and it went dark, so fast she didn’t even have time to hurt.
“NO!” Gabrielle gripped the hand that had gone slack in hers, slipping and falling on the bloody stone as the men started to wrestle and cheer so loudly they didn’t hear the sound of the crossbows and neither did she.
All she cared about was that the bodies were shifting, moving away and letting her get to the limp, bloodied figure lying still and battered on the ground in a pool of rich, spreading red.
She gathered Xena in her arms, not even hearing the renewed sound of battle, or the chaos around her. All she could do was hold her, cradling the queen’s head against her chest and whispering her name over and over and over again.
“Hey.”
Almost choking in shock, Gabrielle looked down incredulously, to see just the tiniest sliver of blue eye looking back at her from the mass of dirt and blood.
Trembling, it winked ever so faintly.
The battle moved past them, as Xena’s men shoved the raiders back with a desperate charge, just enough to surround the pair near the rocks and pull them both to fragile safety before falling again into a frantic retreat.
**
It was dark, and it was cold, and she was very, very scared. Gabrielle sat with her back to the rocks, Xena’s body cradled in her arm as she heard the soldiers making a desperate attempt to protect their position.
They had fallen back to the cave, but the attacking men had found them and it seemed only a matter of time before their far greater numbers overran the hastily thrown up blockade across the cave entrance.
She had no torch. Only a bit of a tallow candle sat on the ledge nearby, giving her just enough light to see the battered face she was trying to wash off with a bit of cloth moistened from her waterskin. They had carried Xena in here, three men whose attitude despite the chaos was heartbreakingly reverent to the limp form they gently put down within the circle of her arms.
They knew she was dying.
Gabrielle knew it. She could hear the queen’s breathing growing more labored, and the sense of desolation growing inside her was only matched by the helplessness she felt as all she could do is comfort the woman with meager skill.
She leaned over and kissed Xena’s forehead. “I love you.” She whispered. “Please don’t leave me.”
The dark lashes quivered, ever so lightly. After a breathless moment, Xena opened her eyes and looked up at her.
It was like nothing Gabrielle had ever felt. All the dark cynicism was gone, and now all there was in those eyes was a fellow human being, in great pain, whom she loved utterly. “Xena.”
“Tol..ja to run.” Xena whispered.
“And I told you I’d stay by you, no matter what.” Gabrielle felt a tear roll down her face.
A faint smile appeared on Xena’s bloodied face. “Y’did.”
Gabrielle pulled her closer, carefully, but with an intensity of emotion so profound it felt like drowning. She rocked gently back and forth, just loving her.
“Here I was…” Xena uttered “Trying to give ya a decent story…”
Gabrielle started crying, audible sobs shaking her body. “D… don’t want a story.” She stuttered. “J.. just want you.”
Despite the pain, Xena felt a sense of peace she’d never experienced before. She knew herself to be in a state of grace that was as undeserved as it was unexpected, but that didn’t stop her from reveling in it as she lay there in Gabrielle’s arms and understood what it was to be truly loved.
This kid really did. No matter what Xena did, Gabrielle looked past it and delivered to her a very real, and very honest devotion.
The oracle had told her it would never happen. Xena mentally made a rude gesture, since physically she wasn’t capable of it. Well, now she could let Charon take her off to Tartarus, now that she had this memory to take with her.
A hiccupping sob made her look up again. Through the faint candlelight, she could see Gabrielle’s face, wet with tears, tensed with an anguish that clutched at her heart unexpectedly. “Hey.”
Gabrielle just hugged her more tightly.
“C’mon.” Xena managed to get out. “You c’n go be a famous bard now.”
“No.” The slave gasped. “No..no..no….”
It made Xena feel sad. She knew she was dying. She knew Gabrielle knew it. She was ready for it, Hades, with the pain she was feeling, she would welcome it. Happened to everyone, didn’t it? She’d lasted longer than she’d though she would, and gone higher than anyone had ever expected.
She’d done it all.
So why be sad? There were worse ways to die than fighting like Ares chosen one, holding off a whole damn army, wasn’t there?
Gabrielle stroked her cheek gently with trembling fingers. “Don’t leave me.”
Don’t leave her? Xena gazed up into the bloodshot green eyes above her. Oh. Right. She’s a slave. She’ll have a problem, won’t she? “D’on worry.” The queen whispered. “I’ll free ya. They won make ya do dishes.”
Gabrielle just started crying harder.
The pain was becoming overwhelming. Xena rested her cheek against Gabrielle’s breast, and just wished it was over. It was getting difficult to breathe, and she thought it would be better if she just…
Gave in.
“Xena.”
Damn kid. “Yeah?’
“I love you.” Gabrielle said, in a broken voice. “I don’t want to live without you.”
Through the pain, Xena examined the words. “Oh.” She managed to get out. “S’gonna be a problem.”
Gabrielle cleaned the blood off her face again, and they both fell silent as the sound of fighting drifted in from the outer chamber. Grunts, and the clash of steel sounded suddenly loud, and ominous.
“Then ag’in.. maybe not.” Xena mumbled.
Gabrielle lifted her head, turning it to watch the shadows against the wall. It occurred to her suddenly what Xena meant – that they both might die here, as the men were overrun by their attackers.
She should be afraid, she knew that. But rather than fear, a sense of almost relief came over her, and her panic calmed at the very thought.
“Y’e’ll never take us!” Brendan’s voice was suddenly loud, filling the cavern. “For our mistress! Yeahhhhhhaaaa!!!!!!!!”
Xena exhaled, her fingers twitching lightly.
“They love you too.” Gabrielle said. “They came back for us.”
Idiots. Xena felt her eyes closing against her will, and the noise faded into a soft echo as the sound of Gabrielle’s heartbeat overcame it.
**
Brendan leaned against the rock, wiping blood off his face. The front of his armor was slashed, and he was limping. “Sent em off, for now.” He told Gabrielle.
The slave looked up, a damp cloth in her hand as she finished cleaning off Xena’s wounds for the nth time. “Are you all right?”
The old soldier limped over and lowered himself to one knee next to her. “I’ll live.” He peered at the queen. “How is she?”
Xena’s eyes were closed, and her skin was pale. She lay in Gabrielle’s lap, her chest moving so slightly he had to nearly put his hand on her to detect it. “Ah, lass.”
“She’ll be okay.” Gabrielle smoothed the dark hair back with a loving gesture. “She just needs some rest.”
Brendan looked at her with gentle pity. “Gabrielle.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m glad she knew ye.”
A tear rolled down the slave’s face. “Don’t say that. Don’t give up on her.”
The soldier touched her cheek, taking the tear away with his fingers. “They’re out there, figgering how to come back at us, little one. Men’r getting some food and water.. I’ll bring some in here for ye.”
“Bring some for her, too.” Gabrielle insisted, stubbornly. “Can’t we call for help? We’re not that far form home.”
Brendan exhaled. “Sent a boy down the road first off, lass. The gods only know if he got far. I don’t.” He stood up wearily. “Be a long night.”
Gabrielle nodded, rinsing out her cloth and continuing her patient work. “How… how about if I tell you a story, Xena. Would you like that?” She asked, her eyes searching the queen’s face for even a flicker of response. “I’ll try to think of a really good one. I know you don’t like silly stories.”
One of the soldiers came back and set down a small, rude wooden dish with some fruit and dried meat in it, and a skin of water. He put his hand over his chest, then left without speaking.
Gabrielle shifted, putting her cloth down and picking up the water skin. She uncapped it and took some, feeling an almost shiver when the cool liquid hit her empty belly. Then she put the skin down and stroked Xena’s bangs back, damp from her careful cleaning of the hideously swollen, bruised lump on the side of her head.
Otherwise, her injuries, though numerous, did not seem all that bad. There were cuts and scrapes all up and down her arms, and two places where something sharp, arrows or knives Gabrielle wasn’t sure, had penetrated her torso. It was the head injury that….
Gabrielle closed her eyes. That was killing her. The thought haunted her, then with a fierce determination, she put it out of her mind, and gently tried to wake Xena again. “Xena?”
Did her eyelid move? Or was it just wishful thinking?
“Xena? Please… “ Gabrielle eased her thigh up a trifle, raising the queens’ head. “C’mon, I’ve got some really great water here. I know you’d like some.”
There was no answer.
“Xena?” Gabrielle carefully parted the queen’s lips, and with agonizing slowness, trickled some water into her mouth. “C’mon.” As the liquid reached the back of Xena’s throat, she swallowed reflexively. “That’s it… great. How about some more?”
The still face remained blank.
Gabrielle leaned over, and kissed her, putting all the emotion she was feeling into the act. She felt the lips under hers warm slowly, and tasted the faint breaths emerging from between them. She sent her own life’s breath back, imagining all her love carried on it.
Then she lifted her head, and started trickling the water again, just a bit, just a tiny few droplets every time.
It took a long time, but that was all right. She wasn’t going anywhere. “Xena?” She called at last, willing the queen to respond, convincing herself that the pale face had moved ever so slightly.
That the jaw had clenched, just a little.
That the nostrils had flared, and cupped the air in deeper breaths.
Unexpectedly, the blue eyes opened and gazed up at her. “Still ‘ere?”
Gabrielle felt a smile spread across her face. “I was giving you a drink.” She held up the waterskin. “Would you like some more?”
Faintly, Xena nodded.
The slave shivered in barely felt hope, and lifted the skin up. She touched the spout to Xena’s lips, but the queen slowly lifted her hand and shifted it aside, then knotted her fingers in Gabrielle’s shirt and pulled with scant force instead.
For a moment, Gabrielle was puzzled, then as the pressure increased, she realized what Xena was doing and almost laughed. Then she leaned over and they resumed kissing, holding the darkness at bay at least for a little while.
**
“Given up for the night.” Brendan told her. “Tried pitching some fireballs in here, but we’d wetted the blockade down, and they didn’t do more than outline theyselves for us to pick em off. “ He said, crouching down next to where Xena was laying.
Gabrielle had gotten the queen’s furs, and made her as comfortable a nest as she was capable of. Xena’s head was now resting on one of her silk pillows, and she had a soft blanket tucked around her. The queen’s eyes were closed, but as Brendan leaned closer, he could tell her breathing was a touch easier than it had been.
Gabrielle had gotten up and stretched her body out, and she was now curled up next to Xena, chewing on the dried meat he’d left earlier. The girl was obviously exhausted, both physically and mentally, but she showed no signs of wanting to give up her vigil over the queen’s sleeping form.
“Will they attack in the morning?” Gabrielle asked him.
“Aye, probly.” Brendan sighed. “They know it, we know it, can’t keep em out forever.” He looked apologetically at Gabrielle. “Just stringing it along, lass.”
She nodded slightly. “I’ll take any time I can get.” She admitted in a hoarse voice. “Because you never know, Brendan. Good things could happen.”
Brendan patted her hand. Then he got up and left the little alcove, shaking his head slightly as he disappeared.
Gabrielle knew what he was thinking. But she didn’t really care. What did she have to lose by hoping, and thinking good thoughts? Would it make it any better to be gloomy?
No. She decided. Besides, she had promised Xena she would tell her a story. So now she had to think of a really good story to tell her. She thought about it as she finished off the dried meat, and swallowed several mouthfuls of water.
That made her consider something else. She got up, a little surprised at how stiff and sore she was, and picked up the water skins. Looping their cords over her shoulder, she eased around the stone wall and emerged into the main cavern.
Everyone looked at her. Gabrielle had become used to that, but though she was tired she realized this time was different. Several of the soldiers came over to her and offered to take the skins and fill them, and two of the servants brought more food, including a small pot of what looked like plain soup.
“Thanks.” Gabrielle accepted all of it. “I think I could get her Majesty to have some of this.”
The woman blushed. “Is the mistress doing some better then, m’lady?”
“Just Gabrielle.” The slave gave her a kindly smile. “It’s hard to say, but I think so. Thanks for asking.” She waited for the soldier to come back with her filled skins and returned to Xena’s side, anxious until she saw the steady rise and fall of her queen’s chest.
Then she settled back down onto the small pile of furs she’d tucked next to Xena and got back to the business of caring for the queen, and thinking of a story. She had no sooner gotten comfortable when Xena shifted slightly, and woke up. “Hi.”
The blue eyes tracked to her face, full of pain. They brightened when they recognized her, though, and that made Gabrielle smile. She reached over and touched Xena’s cheek, encouraged by the lessening of it’s former clammy feeling. “Brandon says they’ve stopped coming for us until morning, he thinks.”
Xena watched her with a quiet sadness. “Won’t keep em off long.”
“You never know, Xena. After all, you were keeping them all off for a really long time.” Gabrielle objected earnestly. “Maybe they’ll get tired, or get cold…”
The queen’s lips pressed together into an almost smile.
“Why think about the worst, when you can think about the best?”
Xena exhaled, just a little. “Cause the worst usually happens.”
“I don’t care.” Gabrielle stroked her cheek gently. “I thought I had the worst thing happen to me, and it turned out to be the best.” Her jaw squared stubbornly. “So there.”
This time Xena did smile, and she shook her head, just a tiny bit. “Nutty muskrat.” She reached a hand out for the waterskin, then let it fall as Gabrielle scooped it up instead and offered the spout to her. She sucked the cool liquid, her swallows sounding loud in the quiet space.
“Are you feeling any better?” Gabrielle asked, in a soft voice.
The look in Xena’s eyes could only be described as wry. “Well.” She licked a drop of water off her lower lip. “I’m not dead.”
Gabrielle took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “I was just going to tell you a story.”
“Ahh.” Xena nodded a trifle. Good a way as any to pass the time, she reasoned. If she hadn’t died yet from her head wound, it was likely she wouldn’t, not that it would do her any good. The minute the army outside broke in, they’d kill her in a heartbeat.
Kill Gabrielle too, since the kid would probably do something stupid like try to protect her.
Xena exhaled. Least it would be fast.
Dying in battle would have made a Hades of a better tale, though. The queen mused. Rather than lying here having to think about what an idiot she’d been to fall into a trap like this and get them all killed. At least if she’d died in the pass, and they’d escaped…..
Ah well. Xena looked up at her caretaker. The candlelight’s flicker revealed Gabrielle’s dirt smudged face, a long scrape marring one cheek. The rims of her eyes were still swollen and reddened, and as the queen watched, she blinked in evident exhaustion. “Hey.”
Gabrielle looked at her in question.
“Take a nap.” The queen ordered.
“I…”
“Ah ah.” Xena whispered. “Lie to the queen, and I cut your tongue off.”
Gabrielle’s eyes dropped, and she hesitantly allowed a grin to shape her lips.
Xena patted the furs over her belly. “Head down.”
Obediently, for once, the slave curled up on her side and did as she was told. They gazed at each other down the length of Xena’s torso. “If I go to sleep…” Gabrielle asked. “Will you be here when I wake up?”
That look was almost too much for Xena to handle. “I’ll be here.”
Trustingly, Gabrielle gave in and closed her eyes, her body relaxing almost immediately, except for the fingers she had clasped around Xena’s hand.
Xena lay there for a while, merely watching her sleep as she reconciled a life changing experience she hadn’t even been aware of.
She was, she realized, no longer responsible for only herself. Her wants, her desires, her choices. Hades, she couldn’t even just die if she wanted to, because all that bloody damned mattered to this little scrap of a shepherd’s kid, just barely a woman, who was sleeping on top of her.
And Gabrielle’s dying mattered very much to Xena. She didn’t want that to happen.
So.
Xena’s eyes lifted to the cavern ceiling, lost in darkness above her. How do we get out of here?
The minutes lengthened as she thought.
**
Gabrielle woke, to find Xena and Brendan talking in low voices next to her. She was still lying with her head on Xena’s belly, and the queen’s hand was still clasped in hers, Xena’s thumb rubbing idly against her fingers.
Brendan nodded, and got up, bowing before he disappeared around the corner of the rock, leaving them alone again.
She had no idea how long she’d been sleeping, but she felt a lot better. Her head was no longer throbbing, and her eyes no longer felt on fire. In the ear she had resting against the furs over Xena, she could hear the queen’s heartbeat and for a long moment she merely listened to it.
She had dreamed lightly, the details already fading of a green, well lit meadow and her running through it. It wasn’t something she thought she’d ever done, but she remembered laughing, and a sense of giddiness that made her smile now in reflex.
Xena noticed. “Ah.” Her tone seemed stressed. “You’re awake.”
“Hello.” Gabrielle cleared the huskiness from her voice. She noticed that the queen looked very tired. Her eyes were drifting open and closed, and there was a crease of pain across her brow. “How are you doing?”
The queen remained silent for a few breaths. Then she frowned a trifle. “Not real good.”
Gabrielle sat up and scooted forward. “Can I help? She asked. “Is there something in your bag, or…”
Xena let her head rest against the pillow. “Nothing that’d help this.” She admitted. “Listen.” Her hand closed on Gabrielle’s a little tighter. All trace of her normal mocking humor were absent. “Some of the men found a passage, way in the back. Got no idea where it goes.”
Gabrielle exhaled, watching her face intently.
“Don’t have time to check it out. We either take it, or we stay here and wait for them to starve us out or kill us.” Xena said.
“Can’t we fight them? Xena, you held them off..”
“I can’t fight.” The admission itself seemed painful. Certainly, Xena paused after she said it. “They’ve got five men to every one of mine. We’re nearly out of arrows, and we’re low on supplies.”
“Oh.” The slave murmured. “So that’s our best choice?”
“It’s our only choice.” Xena said. “But I’m gonna give you one other. You can stay here, behind those rocks. They won’t see you.” Her eyes searched Gabrielle’s face. “Stay. Live. You don’t have to go into that hole with us.”
Gabrielle took a breath to answer, but paused when Xena held out a strip of parchment to her. Mechanically, she took it, her eyes questioning.
Xena waited, patiently.
The slave unfolded the parchment and looked at it, reading the words several times before the penetrated. She looked up at Xena.
“You’re a free person.” The queen said. “You don’t have to die here.”
Gabrielle’s face contracted, an expression of hurt bewilderment appearing on it. “You want me to leave you?”
For her own sake, Xena knew what the answer to that should be. There was no need for both of them to go into that darkness. The soldiers.. they would go with her because they had no options. Any of them going outside now would be killed, regardless of if they surrendered or not.
They were Xena’s men.
Yet, looking into Gabrielle’s eyes, seeing that hurt, stabbed her deep where she hadn’t expected it. Right or not, she found she couldn’t lie to her. “No.” Xena told her. “But I do want you to have a life, Gabrielle. That means something to me.”
She wondered if the sound of a part of her fracturing could be heard outside her own heart. It had been so seldom in her life that she’d put her own wants aside for someone else’s, and now that she felt the pain of it, she understood why.
Gabrielle seemed to understand what she was trying to say. She examined the parchment again.
“You can leave after they come in and figure out we’re gone. They’ll either come after us, or leave. Go down the valley.” Xena told her. “Back to that first town. Give them the note. They’ll take care of you.”
She spared a moment to imagine the girl back in a world she understood, away from the dangers of Xena’s court, and the thought brought a sad smile to her face. “Name one of your kids after me.”
“My kids?” Gabrielle whispered mechanically.
“Hey.. you’d never have any with me, so..” Xena attempted a faint joke. “Point for freedom, huh?”
Freedom. Gabrielle inhaled, thinking hard about what that meant to her. She compared it soberly to what Xena meant to her. She thought about all the things Xena had taught her, in so short a time, and she thought about her future.
Xena watched her in silence.
Finally, Gabrielle reached over and held the parchment up over the candle flame, blinking a little as it caught fire and burned. She let the last scrap loose as the red line reached her fingertips and it fluttered to the stone floor with only the tiniest scattering of gilded sparks.
For a long moment, she just looked at the curled, blackened remains. Then she turned and met Xena’s eyes. “Thank you.”
The queen’s lips twitched.
“I guess that didn’t make much sense.” Gabrielle admitted. “Maybe I’m just not… I don’t think… “ She fell silent for a minute. “I’d rather stay with you, even it if means crawling into some old black hole and never coming out.”
Xena blinked several times. “You’re right.” She sighed. “That doesn’t make much sense.” Her brows contracted together. “You sure?”
Now, Gabrielle smiled. “I’m sure.”
“You’re a nitwit.”
“I know.” Gabrielle gazed down at her folded hands. “But I’m a happy nitwit.”
The queen covered her hands with her own. “All right, my friend. Then get your stuff together. They’ll be in here to pick my useless ass up and start moving any second.”
Gabrielle leaned over and hugged her.
Xena accepted the hug, glad that the dim light and Gabrielle’s position kept her from seeing the sudden tears that stung her eyes.
**
Gabrielle kept her hand firmly clasped on the edge of the litter Xena had been lain on. The darkness was already closing around them – the soldiers had doused the lights in the main cavern and they were all shuffling through the narrow passageway towards the hole one of the men had found.
She was scared. She wasn’t the only one either, she could hear the soft cries of some of the servants who had chosen as she had to go into unknown rather than stay behind and suffer the mercy of the attackers.
They moved forward and now she could see the inky black hole they were heading for. Her knees started to shake, and she tried to keep her terror under control.
A hand touched hers, and she nearly leaped into the low rock ceiling before she realized it was Xena. Fingers curled around her wrist. “Still sure?” The queen’s voice softly emerged from the shadows.
Gabrielle borrowed some of Xena’s courage and took a steadying breath. She watched Brendan stoop to enter the crevice, and her heart started to pound. “Y…yes.” She whispered back. “B… but don’t let go of me, okay?”
Even in the dark, even through the terror, she could sense the smile on Xena’s face. “Never.” The queen said. “You’re really mine, now.”
It was amazing how warmly reassuring those words could sound, to the right ears. Gabrielle squared her shoulders and swallowed her fears as the walls closed around them, and they moved off into the blackness of the mountain.
**
Part 18
Gabrielle found herself shaking as the walls closed in on them. She tightened her jaw, to keep her teeth from chattering and held on to the edge of Xena’s pallet with a death grip. She had determined that she would go wherever Xena went, do whatever Xena needed her to do, but determining that and then facing the reality of the darkness was two very different things.
A nightmare screamed through her head, laughing. Gabrielle almost stumbled, then she caught her balance and continued on.
“Hey.”
Xena’s voice coming out of the shadows made her jump. “Y…yes?” Gabrielle stuttered. She leaned over and peered at the queen. “W…wh..”
Xena’s fingers curled around her wrist, feeling incredibly warm. “Where’s my story?”
Story? Gabrielle was seriously wondering if she could even talk at this point, and this woman wanted her to tell a story? “Uh…”
“C’mon, c’mon…I haven’t got all night.” Xena said. “Well, actually, we do have all night, but I’m not just gonna lie here and wait for spiders to hit me in the kisser. So get moving with the story.”
Gabrielle found that focusing her attention on the queen helped her take her mind off the rock walls. She half turned and put her other hand on the pallet edge, composing herself as best she could. “Um… “
“No sheep.”
A smile found it’s way onto the girl’s face from somewhere. “Not even one about a funny sheep?” She asked. “I.. kinda thought maybe something sorta light would…”
“Hjmmmmmm….. “ Xena rumbled, low in her throat. “How funny can a sheep be?”
“Well..”
The men carrying her pallet chuckled softly.
“Better be damned funny, cause these guys deserve a laugh for having to carry my carcass around.” Xena exhaled.
“Tis an honor, Mistress.” The man in back answered. “If I were taking my last breath doing it, would be an honor.”
Xena looked up at him in pensive silence. Then she turned her head and fastened her eyes on Gabrielle. “Well, lambchop?”
“Okay.” Gabrielle stole a glance ahead of them. The column was moving very slowly through the narrow corridor, and the gloom seemed to stifle most conversation. Certainly the men and women nearest them had fallen silent, and she felt just the smallest bit self conscious as she cleared her throat and prepared to start her story. “When I was a little girl..”
“Whoa.” Xena spoke up.
Gabrielle managed a wry, faint chuckle. “Okay, okay. When I was younger… a LOT younger..”
The men chuckled softly.
“One day I went out to bring the sheep in..”
“To your house? That explains a lot.”
“Xena.” Gabrielle found herself laughing. “No, not to my house. Into the barn. It was night. It was cold.”
“Thought they had..”
“They were sheared.” Gabrielle got ahead of her.
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