WARNINGS AND DISCLAMERS

The next morning breakfast was extremely quiet. Xena had tried to talk to the bard, but Gabrielle just ignored her for the most part. The answers that the bard did give were short and to the point.

As soon as breakfast was over, Gabrielle got out her scrolls and completely absorbed herself in them.

Xena spent some time with Argo currying and checking her hooves and doing a lot of thinking. When she finished she decided it couldn't hurt to try to talk to and spend some time with Gabrielle; after all the bard was her best friend, she had to keep trying to help her; even if she kept saying she didn't need or want any help.

"Gabrielle will you go to the lake with me to swim for a while?" Xena asked.

"I think I'd rather work on my scrolls." Gabrielle said cutting her eyes at the warrior.

"Come on Gabrielle that's what you told me last night. I don't want to swim alone, come on and go with me," the warrior asked again with a glint in her eye.

"Xena..." the bard started and seen the look in the warrior's eye that said she wasn't taking no for an answer and wasn't beyond picking her up, carrying her to the lake and dumping her in. "Ok... I'm coming. Let me put my things away."

Gabrielle put her scrolls up and grabbed a rag to dry on and followed the warrior to the lake.

It wasn't long before the usual splash fight and dunking started and Gabrielle was starting to act more like herself.

Then Xena dunked the bard when she wasn't expecting it. Gabrielle took in a mouth full of water and came up sputtering and gasping for air. The water was over the bard's head and she was frantically fighting the water trying to get some air. Xena picked her up in her arms and headed toward shallower water, so Gabrielle could catch her breath.

Gabrielle caught her breath before they reached the bank and started trying to push herself out of the warrior's strong arms. "Xena put me down... please." The bard said with a chill to her voice. She actually wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around the warrior and hang on for dear life... and yes, even make a fool out myself yet again.

"Gabrielle wait until I get..." the warrior started.

"Please put me down now." The bard insisted.

Xena complied with the request and put the bard down on her feet. Gabrielle waded out of the water, picking up her rag drying herself as she headed back to camp. Xena just stood there watching after the bard. Damn, how could I have been so stupid? Xena picked up her own drying cloth and headed back to camp on the heels of the bard.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in mostly silence except for the scratches of the bard's quill as she wrote in her scrolls and the warrior's occasional grunts as she practiced with her weapons.

Xena had kept Gabrielle under constant scrutiny ever since last night. The warrior wasn't sure what had happened, but she didn't want a repeat if she could help it.

Besides Xena had had an uneasy feeling nearly all day like they were being watched. The warrior had done some short scouting trips around the camp but had found nothing. She'd finally decided that maybe it was the way that Gabrielle was acting that was spooking her. It was making those little hairs stand up on the back of her neck and she didn't like it.

Xena knew that she was going to have to go hunting for food and Gabrielle didn't like hunting. The bard would rather release anything caught in a trap. The bard would live on a steady diet of berries rather than look into the eyes of some small creature as she killed it. Xena knew it was a lost cause even before she asked, but she really didn't want to leave Gabrielle alone.

"Gabrielle I need to go find us something to eat. Would you like to go with me? You could practice on the rabbit trap I showed you." The warrior said encouragingly.

"No, not this time. I'd really rather work on my scrolls and I still have a few things I was wanting to wash out." Gabrielle replied.

Xena didn't want to worry Gabrielle and didn't tell her about the uneasy feeling she'd had all day. Besides she wasn't sure what was causing it, if she had the warrior would have already dealt with it.

"Come on Gabrielle, I'd feel a lot better if you'd go with me." Xena finally said.

"Xena I'm not a child and I'll be perfectly all right by myself. I want to stay here." Irritation was starting to tinge the bard's voice.

She may have pushed and won the fight over swimming but the warrior knew this was one argument she'd never win with the bard. Gabrielle would just go pick berries and the warrior wasn't ready for a berry diet.

"Well, I'll be back as quick as I can." Xena said. Reluctantly the warrior left the little bard behind determined not to be gone very long. If need be she'd make trips back just to check on her.

Xena got lucky and it only took a about a half-candlemark to catch a rabbit, skin it and head back to camp.

The warrior stopped just before the campsite came into view. The hair on her neck rose and she sensed something was definitely wrong. She laid the rabbit down and pulled her sword and quietly moved toward the camp.

As soon as the camp came into view she could see the bard was gone, but this time it was evident that there had been a scuffle. The warrior could see many large boot prints and Gabrielle's staff was laying close to her bedroll with blood on it.

Xena cautiously continued into camp ready to fight if she had to. As she crossed the camp she called out the bard's name, but got no answer. One of the bard's scrolls still laid on her bedroll and Xena picked it up and started to read it.

Xena turned the parchment over as her anger grew and tears welled up in her eyes. There was no doubt in her mind or her heart that the one that slapped the bard would be one of the first to die for having dared touched the bard.

"Brantius you bastard. You touch her and Hades will receive you in pieces." Xena screamed toward the heavens. Xena ran to Argo and jumped in the saddle and urged the mare into an all-out race to get there in less than a candlemark. Brantius it only cost you an army the last time. You really didn't want a rematch, this time it's guarantied to cost you your life.

It had been a very long time since the warrior had felt this kind of rage racing through her blood. She could feel the warlord lust starting to devour her and she let it come, her hate for this man driving it ever closer to exploding to the surface.

Xena knew in her heart that the bard was in some real trouble now and that what she'd written about them killing both of them was the truth. She was hoping that Brantius wanted her badly enough to take her and let Gabrielle go or that maybe there would be some way to force him to do so.

² Copyrighted January 1998 by DelShannon