Pale blue eyes turned and studied him. “Old women slip, Alaran, but seldom on a perfect schedule.”
A gust of wind puffed the draperies back, bringing an icy chill to the room.
***
"Stop it!" Gabrielle struggled against the grip of her captor. "Let me down!"
"Shut up!" The man ducked into an alcove and threw her against the wall. "Here - now we've got her"
Gabrielle fell to he floor, stunned, and rolled over only to have hands clutch at her and booted feet slam against her ribs. Instinctively, she curled up into a ball and ducked her head. Old memories became shockingly, vividly present and she shivered in reflex.
"You got her? Good." A new voice broke in, and Gabrielle felt hands pull roughly at her. She tried to get free, but she was slammed against the wall again and hard fingers grabbed her chin and forced her head up.
She blinked as a man's face came into focus, a scruffy, bearded visage that writhed into a snarl
"Wh... what do you want?" Gabrielle blurted. "I didn't do anything!"
The man tightened his grip. "You're the queen's new slut, aren't ye?"
Gabrielle swallowed hard, caught between the truth and what Xena wanted known.
"Aren't ye?" The man repeated, more loudly.
"I'm her chambermaid." Gabrielle finally answered, in a hoarse voice. "Yes."
"Chambermaid." The man laughed "Aye, that's a word for it." He took a tighter hold on her. "You listen to me, little slut. You've got information I want, and you're going to give it to me, right now!"
"I don't know what you mean..."
"Shut up!" The man suddenly slapped her across the face. "I talk, you answer. Got me?"
She was in trouble. Gabrielle felt her heart rate treble. She was in big trouble, and there was no one here to get her out of it except herself. "What do you want?"
"That's better." The man crouched closer to her. "What do you know?”
Gabrielle swallowed, raising a hand to shield herself from the threatening figure standing over her. “Nothing….”
“Wrong answer!!” The man backhanded her violently. Gabrielle’s head slammed against the wall and she saw stars. She felt her shirt tighten around her throat, and suddenly she was being hauled up and half choked.
“All right.” The man was face to face with her, blasting her with breath reeking of something foul. “Now you listen, slut. You’re going to talk, and talk fast, or I’ll break you in half.”
Gabrielle struggled to draw in breath, her hands clutching at his. “B…”
“Something’s going on up that Bacchae’s chamber you’ve been taken into, and I want to know what it is. What’s she hiding?” The man pulled her closer, his eyes boring into hers. “Tell me!”
The grip on her neck loosened slightly. “B.. I don’t…” Gabrielle felt a panic rising.
“You do!” The man shook her hard. “You know, and you know that you know, slut!”
“Hey!!” A new voice interrupted. “What are you doing? Stop it!”
Toris. Gabrielle tried to look over the man’s shoulder. “Toris!”
“Get out of here, you idiot!” The big man yelled. “I didn’t tell you to come here!” He turned and kicked out, catching Toris in the knee and sending him sprawling. Then he turned and smacked Gabrielle against the wall again. “Talk, bitch! You’ve been in there for days, and you know what’s she’s up to!”
“No!” Gabrielle felt blood running down her chin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Liar!” The man hit her again, and again.
The pain was incredible. It felt like her head was on fire. “NO!”
“What is she thinking? What is she doing?” The man screamed at her, spittle hitting her in the face. “You know, you must have listened to her talking! She had meetings with her people! Now tell me!! Tell ME!!!”
“NO!” Gabrielle screamed back at him. “I don’t know! She doesn’t talk to me!”
“Liar!”
The blow this time rattled every bone in her body. Gabrielle felt the breath come out of her and she sagged against his hold. “No.” She whispered this time, tasting blood.
“Tell me!” The voice slammed against her more powerful than any blow.
‘Stop it!” Toris interrupted again. “She doesn’t know anything!”
The man dropped Gabrielle and turned on Toris. He grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him against the wall. “You little idiot. Of course she knows!”
Gabrielle knew she had only a moment. Only a moment while the man was distracted. She turned over and crawled along the wall, hearing the angry voices growing louder and louder behind her. Her entire body hurt, and her head felt like it weighed far too much. She felt her way along, sound starting to echo unpleasantly. Her fingers felt cold stone, and then the warmth of wood.
“I said, leave her! She’s just a poor wretch! Xena’s taken her and made her a bedmate, not a confidant!” Toris bellowed. “Me, an idiot? You’re the idiot! We could have used her to get us into Xena’s chambers!”
The sound of struggling bodies impacted her almost physically. Gabrielle pulled herself up inch by inch, until she felt the door latch under her fingers. She fell back, tugging the door with her and after a long, frightening moment where it refused to budge, it swung inward with a blast of cold rain.
She crawled through it, into the weather. The icy stones under her fingers were slick, and she slipped over them, her knees going out from under her and sending her belly down the steps in a series of hard, painful tumbles to the yard below.
Stunned, she lay there for a moment, just trying to catch her breath. She heard voices above her, yelling out over the storm, and it put an urgency inside her. She got painfully to her hands and knees and crawled off, rolling around the corner of the stockyard and out of view of the door.
Now what? Gabrielle put a hand to her head and felt warmth, and when she looked at her palm, she could see the red stain even as the rain washed it clear. She needed help. Her eyes lifted as she looked around her, seeing nothing but stark gray walls. There was no help for her, her mind dully realized. She tilted her head back a little and looked up at the tower.
No help. She was alone here. She couldn’t trust anyone. Not even Toris. He’d helped her, yes – but only so he could use her for his own purposes.
A sharp pain lanced through her head, and she whimpered, unable to stop the sound. Then she fastened her eyes on the narrow stairs up to the tower walkway, and started to inch forward. She knew there was only one place she could hide.
One place maybe they couldn’t come after her.
**
The door closed behind Alaran’s tall form. The security chief had promised to track down the ambushers, and very gently, very cautiously chided Xena for not telling him earlier.
“Should I have had to tell him?” Xena asked the ceiling. “He’s supposed to know everything.”
But he hadn’t. Which, if she thought about it, wasn’t a bad thing because if he hadn’t known, then maybe no one else suspected either.
Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Xena glowered at the closed door, feeling her temper rise. With a frown, she looked over at the candle, which had burned down a full mark since Gabrielle had left. Were the kitchens that busy?
A chill went down her back. Irritated, she turned and closed the windows.
Maybe Gabrielle was getting something special for her. She seemed the type to do that kind of thing. Xena reasoned. Some melon, maybe. Or more of the mead. She snapped her fingers. That must be it.
The candle fluttered on, burning down further.
Without her even realizing it, Xena had begun to pace. Despite the pain jerking at her at every step, she felt driven to move, driven by a nameless something inside her clawing to get out. To the window, back to the door, back to the window. She leaned on the window, almost short of breath, staring out into the rain. The world outside was gray and formless, the rain making the structures almost invisible.
And then she turned, all her confusion wrapping down tight and centering in her guts around a single thought. Where was Gabrielle?. With a short sigh of frustrated disgust, she made one more trip across the room and this time didn’t stop at the door. She yanked it open and stalked through it, starting towards the steps down to the kitchen. She’d gotten down two of them when a sound stopped her.
Her head cocked to one side, and she listened intently, but it didn’t come again. Xena turned and started down but something stopped her and she turned around again, climbing back up into the rotunda. She moved to stand in the very center of it, her head dropping slightly as she concentrated.
Nothing. Xena frowned, wondering if she’d slipped her senses. She took a breath, and then her instincts gently curled around her, tugging her towards the outer door. She followed them as she always had, trusting in them when she could trust in nothing else. Her hand fell on the latch and she worked it, opening the door out onto the rain lashed walkway. The icy cold hit her in the face and she almost backed up, but that same instinct was prodding her forward and despite the agony each step cost, she emerged into the rain.
Her head bent as she turned her face from the worst of it, and her eyes fell on the inner postern door that lead down to the lower yard. She hesitated, then her ears caught again the sound that had alerted her.
A tiny whimper. As though a puppy were lost, and calling for it’s mother. Xena went to the door and opened it, peering down the stone steps. She blinked the rain out of her eyes, spotting a small, huddled form halfway down. A hot flush of blood warmed her skin, and a surge of urgency washed away the pain as Xena loped down the steps, keeping her balance more by some miracle of inborn grace than by conscious effort.
As she reached that poor, tiny huddled form, it raised it’s head, fair hair darkened by the pelting rain and looked up at her, with frightened, mist green eyes that on locking with hers lost their fear as a shaking hand reached for her in dire appeal. “Xe..”
And just like that, on those stairs, in that cold rain, Xena felt something change inside her. A wall she’d built up over years of hard trials crumbled as she dropped to her knees on the steps and took that outstretched hand, pulling Gabrielle to her as a clap of thunder shook the sky overhead. She wrapped her arms protectively around the girl, feeling Gabrielle’s hands clutch at her gown. “Easy.” She heard herself say.
“H…” The girl struggled to speak. “C…cc”
“I got you.” Xena told her. “You’re all right.”
Gabrielle shivered, huddling closer to her and burying her face into Xena’s robe.
Xena looked around her, ducking her head against the driving rain as she considered her options. Yeah. She had Gabrielle. Now the question was, what was she going to do with her? Her eyes tracked up the stairs, then she turned her head to study the silent form practically in her lap.
Damn.
**
Xena kicked the door open, shaking the wet hair out of her eyes as she crossed the room to the bed. She gently let the drenched body she was carrying down on the sheets, then sank to her knees next to it as the pain finally got through her resolve. Her hands clenched the covers, leaving rusty stains and she knelt there gasping for a long moment. “Augh.” She finally blew out a disgusted breath and lifted her head, having mastered the agony.
First things first. She pulled herself to her feet and went to the door, closing it. Then she stripped out of the soaked gown she was wearing and threw on a shift, raking her fingers through her hair impatiently as she crossed the room again and retrieved the kit from her chest. She returned to the bed and eased herself down next to it, resting her elbows on the surface and examining her sodden little prize.
Gabrielle’s lips were blue, and she was shivering visibly. Her eyes fluttered open and found Xena’s face, fixing there and widening a little.
“What happened?” Xena asked firmly.
The lips parted to answer, but Gabrielle’s teeth were chattering too badly to make anything intelligible and after a moment her jaws clamped shut, and her eyes followed… Impatiently, Xena yanked the covers over her, enfolding her in silk and goose down. She could see bruises across the girl’s face, and at least one cut on her skull, the blood staining her pale hair with brown rust. Her own jaw tightened at the damage. The kid looked like she’d been run over by a supply wagon.
She cupped Gabrielle’s face in her hands. She could feel the icy chill against her palms and heard a faint gasp of relief release from the girl’s chest as her hands warmed the cold skin. “Hey.” Xena pitched her voice low. The rigid muscles under her fingertips relaxed a touch. She gently rubbed Gabrielle’s cheeks with her thumbs and after a moment, her eyes opened again and an odd look of some emotion Xena couldn’t recognize filled them.
Funny, how warm it made *her* feel inside seeing it, though. “Better?” Xena asked.
Gabrielle nodded faintly.
“What happened?” Xena returned to her original goal. “What the Hades were you doing outside? Running?”
The girl nodded again.
“From what? Me?” The queen asked, wincing at the odd pang in her chest as she did spoke the words.
“N…no..” Gabrielle stuttered. “I w.. went down to th…” Her teeth chattered again. “Ss..sorry. Cold.”
Xena pulled the covers closer. “You went down to the kitchen, and they jumped you.” She guessed.
Gabrielle nodded.
“Why?” Xena insisted. She knew the girl’s wounds had to be taken care of, but she needed the information first.
“Wanted to know your secret.” Gabrielle told her.
My secret? Xena frowned. “What were they talking about?”
Gabrielle shook her head. “Dunno.” She whispered. “They just said something was going on, and I had to tell them what it was.”
Ah. Xena cursed inwardly. She’d thought she’d been doing such a good job of hiding it, too. Tiny shifts in schedule, minor alterations in her usual way of doing things – that was all it took to start rumors, and then she’d compounded them by taking in little Gabrielle. “So you told them.” She concluded. “All right.” Her brain kicked in, shifting her plans to account for this new, very unwelcome development.
The girl gazed at her wanly. Her hand emerged from the covers and curled around Xena’s. “No.” She said. “I didn’t.”
Xena’s mental processes abruptly skidded to a halt. “What?” She peered more closely at her young charge. “What do you mean you didn’t tell them? They beat you up, didn’t they? Or did you get all that falling down the damn stairs?”
Gabrielle’s eyes blinked open and shut erratically. “I didn’t tell them.” She whispered. “I didn’t… I swear it…” Her voice rose. “I told them… I told them.. you didn’t talk to me.” She got out hoarsely. “And they… “ Her hand lifted towards her head.
Xena captured it and held it. “And they hit you.”
“Yeah.” Gabrielle agreed softly. “Ow.”
Oh, kid. Xena sighed “All right.” She opened her kit. “Lemme see what they did to you.” She probed Gabrielle’s head carefully, stopping when she heard the quickly indrawn breath as her fingers touched a large lump over the girl’s right ear. She drew her hand back, and it was covered in blood. “Nice.” Her lip curled. “Stupid bastards. Wonder if I should cut them open first and then pull their intestines out, or just reach down their throats and do it from the inside for this.”
Gabrielle swallowed audibly.
Xena looked down at her. “You’re not going to tell me you feel sorry for them, are you?” She asked. “Don’t disappoint me, Gabrielle.” Her hands moved around the girls’ head, cleaning off the wound and the matted hair around it. She leaned closer to see better, and blinked herself as she felt the warm stream of Gabrielle’s breath through the light fabric of her shift. “Don’t… disappoint me.” She repeated, in a softer tone.
Gabrielle remained silent for a few heartbeats. “If they get hurt for hurting me.. who really wins?” She finally asked.
“It’s not about you.” Xena told her, grimacing as she examined a long split in the flesh over Gabrielle’s ear. “It’s about me. It’s always about me. Remember that.” She decided putting stitches there with the kid conscious wasn’t really an option she wanted to take and settled for cleaning the wound well and bandaging it. “I spread the word that you were mine. If they hurt you, and don’t get punished for it, I lose.” She gently chucked Gabrielle’s chin. “I don’t like losing.”
“Oh.”
“Where else?” Xena asked brusquely.
Gabrielle frowned, and reached hesitantly for her head. “Um..”
Xena caught her hand again and laid it down on the bed. “Don’t touch. Where else are you hurt?” She turned the girl’s hand over and looked at her arm, then at the other one. There were bruises, and scrapes near her elbows where she’d fallen, but nothing seemed serious.
Gabrielle watched her in bemusement, but made no move to protest the treatment. “I got your sheets wet.” She murmured.
“Yeah, you did. A wet noodle whipping and bed with no supper for ya.” Xena continued her search. “Does that hurt?”
“Ow.”
“Guess it does. Looks like you might have cracked a rib.” Xena shook her head. “Bastards.” She eased back and rested her elbows on the bed.
They looked at each other in slightly awkward silence for a bit. “Thanks for coming to help me.” Gabrielle said at last, nibbling her lower lip. “Getting up those steps was kinda tough.”
“Hmm.” Xena studied her. “You could have gotten into the store rooms.” She said. “Or through the outside door to the yard from there. Why even try the steps?” She waited for Gabrielle to answer, curious as to what the girl would say.
The blood covered fingers slowly traced a random pattern on the silk sheets, and Gabrielle’s eyes tracked it almost hypnotically before she rolled her head to one side and looked up. “I… “ She hesitated. “I knew I needed help.”
Xena’s eyebrows lifted sharply. “And you thought of coming up here? I’m not known for helping the odd slave kid in trouble, Gabrielle.” She told the girl. “Big mistake.”
This time, though, the warm green eyes didn’t flinch. They dropped to the bed’s surface, then slowly tracked up to Xena’s rain drenched hair. A faint, almost roguish smile appeared on Gabrielle’s face. “But I was right, wasn’t I?”
Xena narrowed her eyes and leaned closer. “Think so?” She asked, in a dangerous voice.
“Yes.” Gabrielle whispered, still smiling.
“Well, you’re wrong.” Xena said. “I was out for a walk, and you were just in my way. Had to move you.”
Gabrielle looked past her out the window, which was being lashed by rain.
“I like walking in the rain. Got a problem with that, little slave?”
Gabrielle returned her gaze to Xena’s face.
Xena sighed, and leaned on her elbows on the bed. She got almost nose to nose with the girl. “Now you listen to me.” She growled. “If you ever, ever tell anyone I did this, I’ll turn you into sheep fertilizer. Got me?” She glared at Gabrielle, outraged when a faint twinkle entered the eyes watching her.
“Okay.” Gabrielle agreed softly. “I’ll never tell anyone, I promise.”
They were still nose to nose. Xena noticed for the first time tiny golden flecks in the depths of Gabrielle’s eyes. “All right then.” She said. “Just so we’ve got an understanding.”
Gabrielle took a couple of breaths before she answered. “We do.”
“Good.” Xena straightened up, biting back an oath as her injury protested. She got to her feet slowly and picked up her kit, then put it down again. “Might need that later.” She told Gabrielle. “Got a headache?”
“Uh… yes.” Gabrielle said. “Most of me aches.”
“You got your head rattled.” Xena told her. “You’re gonna feel a lot worse pretty soon.”
“Mm.” Gabrielle was already feeling worse. Her stomach had tied itself into knots, and a slow burning ache was working it’s way up her side from where she’d slammed into the steps. “And I didn’t even get you breakfast.”
Surprisingly, Xena chuckled. “Put your head down and relax. I’ll take care of breakfast.” She paused, her face losing it’s humor. “And other things.” She let her hand drop to the girls’ head, and brushed her fingers lightly through the pale, almost dry hair. “Since you got my sheets wet, you get to sleep in them. Stay here. Don’t move.”
Damp or no damp, that sounded wonderful. “All right.” Gabrielle agreed.
“That was an order, not a request, Gabrielle.” Xena gently tugged on a lock of her hair. “Try to remember I’m a ruthless woman with no heart and well known homicidal tendencies, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Obediently, Gabrielle closed her eyes and allowed her body to relax against the softness of the bed.
“Gabrielle?”
The girl looked up at her.
“What was his name?”
Gabrielle shook her head. “I don’t know.” She answered honestly. “I never saw him before.” She added. “He was just… um..”
“Big and ugly?” Xena supplied.
“Something like that, yeah.” Gabrielle said. “He… he had a beard. He smelled bad.”
Xena scowled. “Remind me to start asking for more small, pretty slaves.” She muttered. “Anything else you noticed? Anything they said?”
Gabrielle thought back. “Just that they knew you were hiding something… one of them.. came in and tried to stop the big guy. He said they could have used me to get inside here, to you.” She looked at Xena. “But I never would have let them.”
The queen gazed down at her with a rueful grin. “Oh really?” She ruffled Gabrielle’s blond locks again. “I’m sure you woulda stopped em cold, huh?”
Gabrielle acknowledged the unlikeliness of it all with a slight grin of her own.
“Rest.” Xena ordered firmly.
The pale eyelashes fluttered shut.
Xena watched her for a moment, her fingers still tangled in Gabrielle’s hair. Then her shoulders shifted and she drew back a step, her brow tensed in thought.
Her eyes grew cold as ice. She flexed her hands, and headed for the dressing chamber.
**
The slaves were all lined up in the stockyard, in the rain. They shivered, looking around anxiously at the guards near the walls, each cradling a well maintained crossbow.
Xena’s men, all of them. They bore the distinctive hawk’s head insignia on their right breast, a baleful yellow blazon that marked them as her personal guard.
The door to the kitchens swung open and Alaran appeared, stepping forward and looking around before he turned and nodded. He was still under the overhang of the ceiling, but barely, and wayward raindrops darkened his leather armor.
Outlined in torchlight, Xena appeared.
She stepped into the doorway and paused, regarding them all with a cold stare. “This will be very simple.” She said. “It can also be brief, or last all afternoon. I don’t really care. That’s up to you.”
They stared at her.
“One of you struck my chambermaid.” Xena said. “Either the one who did it steps forward, you push him forward, or I’ll start on this end of the line and kill all of you until he either is revealed, or you’re all dead.”
The sodden figures shifted and looked at each other. Several of them whimpered.
“I’m waiting.” Xena folded her hands serenely. “You have a count of ten.” She glanced at Alaran. “Got your bow ready?”
Alaran hefted the weapon, bracing the butt on his knee and cocking it.
Thunder boomed. “Maybe you’ll get lucky, and Zeus will point me in the right direction.” Xena commented. “You’ll die faster if he does it.”
No one moved.
“Right.” Xena smiled. “Start with that one.” She pointed at a stocky, bearded man.
“Mistress.” Alaran hefted the weapon and set the butt against his shoulder. He steadied his aim, then squeezed the release with a curiously gentle pull.
The shaft took the slave in the throat. He dropped with a harsh gurgle, his hands clawing at the arrow. His boots kicked out, splashing those around him with muddy water.
Xena watched, waiting for the grunting and gurgling to peter off before she returned her attention to the slaves. “Next?” She inquired, in a droll tone. They were all shivering, rendered gray from the rain and almost indistinguishable. “No? Okay.” She pointed again. “That one.” Her finger indicated an older woman.
Alaran finished cocking his bow, then he raised it and aimed, his face a cool mask. “Mistress.”
Just then a heavy body stumbled forward and sprawled at Xena’s feet, splashing her with mud. She looked down. “Ah.”
The man rolled over and glared behind him. “Bastards!” He screamed. “Bloody traitors! Damn you da..”
Xena got tired of the noise and kicked him in the head. The man sprawled back into the mud face down. She regarded him in mild bemusement. “Here I thought we’d have to go through half a dozen first. Guess you weren’t as beloved as you thought.” Her eyes went to her men. “Pick him up.”
The soldiers obeyed instantly, grabbing the man and lifting him to his feet, holding him still as they faced him around towards Xena. “You bi..”
“Ah ah.” Xena moved like the lightning flashing above them. She caught hold of him by the throat and tensed her fingers, cutting off his speech. She looked over his shoulder towards the watching slaves, and yanked him to one side, so they had a good view. “Everyone watching?”
“Mistress.” Alaran stepped closer. “Allow me.”
Xena just looked at him. Then she laughed, and let her other hand slip free of her sleeve, revealing her favorite dagger.
The slave started struggling. Xena bent her eyes on him with fierce intent. “Ah… so now you’re scared, eh?” She taunted. “So long as it’s not a pretty little girl you’re beating up on.”
He growled low in his throat.
“My pretty little girl.” Xena growled right back. “Put his hand against the wall.”
The soldiers stretched his arm out, and did so. Xena drove her dagger into the wrist, feeling the shock go through his entire body. She pushed harder, then shoved down, and up, cutting through bone and tendon. Yanking the knife out, she handed it to the soldier, then grabbed the slave’s hand and pulled it right off his body.
Negligently, she tossed it over her shoulder. “Now.” She released his throat. “Who’s your daddy?”
He screamed. Xena lifted her hand and punched him in the mouth. He stopped screaming. “Again.” She repeated. “Who bought you.”
His tongue poked out in agony.
“Want to lose that too?” Xena asked.
“B… “ The man choked. “Bregos.”
“Gee.” Xena sighed. “Here I was hoping it was the cook.” She fastened her hand on his throat again. “I’m getting real tired of her recipes.”
His eyes were half out of his head. With a hawk like strike, Xena stabbed at his face, the blade entering and exiting his eye in a flicker. Blood exploded outward, and he tried to scream. The soldiers held him still. Xena struck again, cutting out his other eye.
Blood drained down his face, flowing over the hand she still had gripping his throat. “B.. I… I told you..”
“Uh huh.” Xena chuckled. “But I never said you’d get anything for it.” She closed her hand, crushing his windpipe.
He couldn’t even scream, but his chest heaved anyway.
Xena lowered her knife, then stepped forward and drove it’s point into his gut. She turned it slowly, then pulled upward, cutting a hole in him and wrenching a tortured scream from his chest despite her hold.
Then she released him and held her knife hand out into the rain, allowing the blood to wash off it. “Hang him on the gate.” She instructed Alaran, before she turned back to the slaves. “He’ll die nice and slowly there. You all can watch, if you like.” She smiled at them. “It’s a rainy day, might as well take advantage of the free entertainment.”
The slaves huddled together in terror, refusing to meet her eyes. Two of the ones closest were sobbing hysterically.
“No?” Xena flicked the last droplets of blood off her dagger. “Well, I’m not going to have to worry about anyone bothering my little friend ever again, now am I?” She let her hawk’s gaze sweep over the crowd. They all bowed their heads. “Good.” She said. “Because if anyone does, I’ll make what happened to him look like a barrel of laughs.”
She let the words hang. Then she licked a raindrop off the point of her knife, and chuckled.
**
Gabrielle woke at the sound of loud thunder. Her eyes blinked open, and she stared around her in total confusion for a moment, unable to reconcile her surroundings.
Then the pain hit, and she remembered.
With a groan, she put her head back down gingerly on the pillow, drawing in a breath filled with unfamiliar scents. The wound on her scalp was killing her. She lifted a hand to it, her fingertips cautiously feeling it’s outlines under the bandage Xena had applied.
Xena. Gabrielle’s thoughts turned and took another tack completely. Her unlikely savior. She knew Xena must have carried her all the way up the steps, and Gabrielle knew it must have hurt her. If she closed her eyes, she could almost remember the journey, her body shaking with cold pressed against Xena’s as the queen surged up the steps.
Дата добавления: 2015-09-29; просмотров: 32 | Нарушение авторских прав
| <== предыдущая лекция | | | следующая лекция ==> |