Warlord Daze

The following is a bit of alternative fiction based on certain characters from the Xenaverse. It is not meant to infringe on anyone else's rights. If you don't agree or disapprove, please go read something else.

Xex Alert: Oh Boy Is There. .This is a Prurient Piece with a Bit of Kink (If you hear the crack of the whip then you'll be in the neighborhood) Proceed at your own risk. :)

Well it's not so much sex, although things do get a little steamy.

Xena's long arm curved around the body of this remarkable woman, this fair Gabrielle. The phallus lay flat, roundly wet against her thigh and Gabrielle's breath was finally slowing. Her own heart was still pounding and her body was sleek with the sweat and juices of loving. Gods. . .Gods. .she had nearly missed this. The Warlord felt a moment of panic and then a moment of pure clarity.

But she hadn't.

She waded through an evening filled with intentional and unintentional traps and, while setting off a few, dealt with them, and had somehow managed to come out with the greater prize. The woman in her arms moved slightly and Xena's fingertips stroked lovingly along Gabrielle's shoulders. She closed her eyes, letting the rapture of the moment carry her contemplative thoughts.

There is something about baths, about being skin on skin, that is entirely, completely incomparably delightful. They sat in the bath, with Xena positioned so she could see everything and then some. Most of the actual "bathing," had occurred some minutes ago and now they lingered in the warm water and talked.

Xena's hand curled around Gabrielle's waist and lazily caressed the firm belly. Xena could feel the shivers of the Amazon's skin. The smaller woman sat comfortably between the warlord's legs and was currently offering a few tangential ideas on how to deal with Hercules. Some of which had nothing to do with battle, but were typical of what seemed to be her nature. She sought resolution peacefully. Xena listened carefully to everything that was going on around her as she fed herself and the strawberry blonde Queen, turned "slave," from the fingerfoods that were situated on a tray besides the tub. She remained quiet save for a few simple commands and some remarks. Jacosta, Colchak and his daughter had moved towards the tubs to join in the conversation.

The conversation was animated and natural, somewhat jocular. Everyone participated at one point or another, even Evania had spoken shyly. It was all quite smooth and soothing and, Xena suspected, innocent, right up until Gabrielle threw out the question (with perfect timing within the conversation, as natural as you please, but Xena recognized a conversational trap, mild as this one was, when she saw one), "Xena, what do you plan on doing with the prisoners?" Gabrielle turned to look into carefully open blue eyes, "I mean, if they don't accept your offer?" The strawberry blonde's arm now rested on Xena's knee.

Having heard the thoughtful and genuinely intelligent ideas about how to overcome Hercules peacefully, Xena had a feeling the question might come up. Yet, this one had accepted her, it seemed, with a full knowledge of who and what Xena was, and it seemed they were on more of an equal footing than one of the marks upon her body suggested. (A light finger caressed the brand on the woman's shoulder, thoughtfully, remembering its counterpart of long ago). The other mark upon the woman's body, partial though it was and familiar (though she couldn't place exactly where she'd seen it), indicated that this one was her chosen mate. The lover she'd claimed for forever. The sigil, so different than the others she'd made in the past, was like reading her own handwriting saying, *this one is mine and more important than my own life.* It was a strong reminder for one who seemed to be having some difficulty with remembering exactly (save for some very quick flashes, so she knew, as much as her expertise could tell her, that her memory would return in full at some point. She just wanted to avoid the trouble of having to explain *every time* that she didn't remember "x" point) what was going on here.

What she could ascertain was that this was a battle between two parties, herself and Hercules. Well, she'd always wanted to go up against the man, and now apparently he had an army worth fighting. Somehow or another, people had been convinced to join her troops, willingly (and she saw the apparent devotion of individuals to the Queen, and suspected that she played a real role in such willingness to fight and to die.). And they continued, according to Colchak, to pour in from the country side. The world had been handed to her as if on a magical platter, but with the Queen in her arms at this very moment, the world didn't matter too much to Xena.

Xena smiled inwardly. Now we were getting to it. When she'd entered the tent she could sense the filtered ambiance of ulterior motives. Not in any sort of heinous way. Rather as soon as Xena saw the markings upon Gabrielle, she knew that this woman had a proprietary claim to the Warlord that none other held, which meant she also had some expectation of. . .Xena wasn't sure what Gabrielle expected. Right now she was only sure of how her body was reacting to the woman and of the gentle touches and glances that summoned both current and remembered sweetness out of her dark. And if this sensation was as real as it felt, she would lay dinars that she hadn't had a nightmare since this Amazon Queen entered her life.

If she didn't know what Gabrielle expected, she also didn't know what she expected of herself. Which was why she'd decided to play along. The battle had been obvious, and thus easy to play through, and Doba had asked questions that had clued Xena into what she was supposed to do. So she made the effort "convert" those miserable mercenaries into her army or else. The warlord had chosen the course and proceeded blind and now here she was. She glanced up at Aedal and gave him an easy smile. It was returned as familiarly as if one were family, which it seemed they were. And there was ulterior motive number two.

Gabrielle was very clever. Hard to make love when one is being chaperoned, and she avoided the necessity for the bitter bite of jealous wrath quite nicely. Meanwhile, Aedal was technically obeying Xena's order. . .yes, her mate was clever, gentle and kind and someone she wanted to spend time rediscovering. Xena vowed Gabrielle would have no other occassion for such mechanations, unless they really did want a social bath. Those hazel eyes were too entrancing for her to want to see pain in them. Xena grinned wickedly, well, not that kind of pain. Now, however, it was time to see if that gentleness precluded Xena having to do what she needed to. If it did, they would have a discussion, private and too the point. The woman may be Queen of the Amazons, but Xena was the Warlord.

Xena let her hand slide down to the joint between Gabrielle's thigh and hip. She lifted her cup from the tray and took a long sip of wine, then set the cup back down. She looked deliberately into the woman's eyes. "I intended to kill them," she spoke evenly, decisively, truthfully.

Gabrielle was so utterly careful with her expression, not even her breathing changed, but her eyes gave her away. "I see," was all that she said. Xena felt like she'd just stepped off a precipice and wasn't sure where she would land. She felt a sudden clenching in her heart. Had she just found this one, only to lose her?

Meanwhile Gabrielle was thanking Doba in her mind, for letting her know about this before hand. . .Gods if Xena had said this earlier and she hadn't known. . . . The Queen took a deep breath as if she were about to say something very brave, Xena raised her eyebrow in anticipation and Colchak sputtered out, "Oh MY GodS! That's IT!!!!"

Everybody turned to look at him.