Ides Of March, An Awakening VIII
by Ms. Hunter Ash
ripperbard7@...
frost29@...
Disclaimers: As usual, I don’t own Xena, Gabrielle, etc etc etc. For the suits and skirts, don’t bother suing me, it definitely wouldn’t even be worth the court costs.
Subtext/Alt Fiction/Sex: The story assumes a loving and sexual relationship between people of the same gender.
Violence: Gladiatorial games and a rough description of crucifixion. No bad language. Warning! This story gets a little rough for our favorite characters and can be painful to read. It was painful to write.
Storyline: This is part of the Awakening series. I hope each one can stand on it’s own but you might want to start with the others and catch up.
Ides of March: the Amazons have been attacked and some taken prisoner, Gabrielle and Xena must figure a way to get them out of Rome before the Ides of March. There’s one problem, Caesar and his crosses are waiting for them.
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Four candlemarks later soldiers began filing into the cell area and the jailer began unlocking manacles. The soldiers lined up the Amazons against a wall with their swords drawn. Caesar walked into the room with a frown.
"All right, listen up, barbarians. You will be escorted to the gates of Rome where you will find horses waiting for you. You will have three hours to get out of my sight." he yelled.
Ephiny stepped out of the open cell door and approached him cautiously, holding her arm.
"What’s going on?" she demanded.
"Seems someone more valuable than all of you wishes to exchange themselves for you. The Senate agreed, even if I didn’t. Marc Anthony will see to your safe passage." Caesar growled.
"It’s a trick," Ephiny protested.
"No it’s not, Ephiny. Go and get the Amazons to your northern sisters in Belgica." Xena urged.
"Who would trade themselves for us?" Ephiny demanded.
"I would." a voice caught her attention and Ephiny looked at the door at the top of the stairs and almost went to her knees.
"No!" she yelled and was grabbed by two Roman soldiers.
Gabrielle walked down the stairs slowly and over to Caesar.
"I have his word and the word of the Senate that you’ll be given safe passage out of the city and out of Roman territory. Head straight for Aeolia’s tribe, you’ll find help there." Gabrielle ordered.
"I can’t let you do this!" Ephiny protested and looked to Xena for support.
"It’s done, Ephiny." Xena said simply.
"No, you both can’t sacrifice yourselves! No!" Ephiny screamed.
"Get them out of here!" Caesar ordered and the soldiers began herding a protesting number of Amazons up the stairs.
"Go, please. I order it as Amazon royalty. Don’t come back for a rescue either." Gabrielle ordered. Ephiny was still cursing and fighting as they closed the jail door.
Caesar turned to Gabrielle and began circling her, looking her up and down.
"Nice trick the Fates pulled on me, wasn’t it?" he asked with a grin.
"What do you mean?" Gabrielle asked, keeping her eyes on Xena.
"I recognize you, Dancer." Caesar hissed in her ear. "I had all of the Empire looking for you and you were in my own slave quarters. Amazing."
"Now what?" she asked.
"You spend the night in one of these comfortable cells and tomorrow I’m going to send you back into the Arena, both of you. If you live until the afternoon, I’m going to have you crucified. How’s that sound?" he grinned.
"Not particularly amusing but I’ll take it as long as you keep your word to the Senate about the Amazons." Gabrielle stated easily.
"You know, the Amazon bitch was right, you shouldn’t have sacrificed yourself for them, either of you. Xena, you amaze me, actually." he commented as he approached the warrior, his hand to his mouth in pretend thought. "The Xena I knew wouldn’t have hesitated to sacrifice all of them."
"You don’t know me, Caesar." Xena growled.
"You’re right, I couldn’t believe the stories of you being reformed were true. Tell me, did you conqueror her in bed or did she conqueror you there as well?"
Neither woman answered him nor looked at him. Caesar laughed. "Look where you are, Xena, and tell me I don’t know you now. She must be amazing for you to sacrifice yourself like this."
"She is." Xena agreed simply.
"Tell me, Dancer, which would you prefer," he leaned into her neck again and Gabrielle resisted drawing away. "A night with me and a return to the Games or ending up on a cross with your lover?"
"Gabrielle, take it." Xena urged.
"No, I won’t leave you and a cross would be much better than a night with him." Gabrielle hissed and Caesar merely kept grinning.
"You might change your mind during the flogging. Ever see a Roman flogging? I would hate to see that beautiful, lightly scarred back of yours hanging in bloody tatters."
Gabrielle attempted to keep from showing her fear and anger.
"I’ve seen you fight, I wonder if you’ll die as well. Ever hear the most hardened criminal beg as the spikes are being driven into their ankle bones? It’s amusing."
"You’ll not hear me beg." Gabrielle promised with a hiss.
"No? I’ll guarantee you that I’ll hear you scream." he countered with a promise.
A guard approached at Caesar’s hand signal. "Put her in the cell opposite of the warrior bitch. They can look but not touch, eh?"
The guard shoved Gabrielle into the cell Ephiny had been in and then hesitated to close the cell door. Caesar noticed. "What is it?"
"The prisoner, Caesar."
Caesar approached and Gabrielle moved to the far end of the cell, letting Caesar and the guard enter. The guard drew his sword and kept it trained on Gabrielle while Caesar bent over and examined the male prisoner laying on the straw. He loudly began cursing and turned to Xena, face an angry red.
"What?!" he demanded.
Xena shrugged with a smile. "Don’t look at me, I was over here the whole time."
Caesar cursed again and walked out of the cell. "Drag him out of there and leave the body here to keep our ladies company." he ordered.
Gabrielle leaned against the bars as the jail door slammed shut.
"Hey, lover."
Xena frowned at her and then smiled. "Hey, couldn’t stay away, huh?"
"No, never. We’ll face everything together."
"Oh how so sickeningly touching!" a male voice sneered and Ares appeared between the two women.
Xena sighed, looking at the War God with a frustrated look.
"Can’t I go through the last hours of my life without dealing with you?" she demanded.
Ares smirked back. "What in the name of the Gods are you doing here?" he demanded.
"Getting ready to fight?" she asked with an innocent smile.
"Why did you leave Greece for two years?"
"I wanted to travel."
"Without Miss Blond and Irritating over there? Don’t give me that. Do you know where I found her and what she was doing?" he asked with a grin, pleased when Gabrielle began blushing.
"Yes, I do. She was a slave in a gladiator school and sleeping with her female trainer." Xena answered in an even voice and was pleased when Ares frowned, obviously disappointed.
"Ares, what do you want?" Gabrielle demanded.
"Oh, he wants the usual. He’ll get me out of here if I come back to him, right?" Xena answered.
"Right. I’ll even throw in Gabrielle in the package. I’ve seen her fight, she’s good. She could be as good as you with a little help." he grinned.
"No deal, Ares. Leave us alone." Xena answered.
"You know," he whispered, moving in close to her body, grinning when she couldn’t move away from him. She growled a warning growl as he began to nibble on her neck. "you look absolutely," his hand slid up between her legs as she struggled in the chains. "ravishing."
A string of curses from a cell across the room made him smile. He grinned and grabbed Xena’s jaw and kissed her, forcing his tongue past her lips and then pulled back laughing as she spit at him, eyes flashing bright blue with anger.
"Hey, always been a fantasy of mine." he grinned and was gone.
"Arrrggghhhh!" Xena yelled, spitting after him.
"I could kill him!" Gabrielle muttered.
"Stand in line!" Xena snapped. "I’d better have a chance to kiss you tomorrow, I refuse to die with him on my lips!"
"We’re not going to die!" Gabrielle snapped back.
"The odds of surviving that long on a cross are not good, little one."
"As long as you’re with me." Gabrielle whispered, shaking the cell door.
"I told you that you wouldn’t go to that cross alone."
"Oh gods, okay, I admit it, I’m scared." Gabrielle sat down, leaning against the bars.
"Me too." Xena said quietly back to her mate.
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"What happens in the Arena?" Xena asked in the darkness.
"They’ll come for us in a little bit. Chain us, blindfold us and take us by wagon to the Arena and put us in cells down below. We might be given the chance at some light leather armor and a small breakfast. Then you’ll feel the heat of the place, it’s like someone pressing on your chest. Then the roar, that feels like someone pounds on your chest. You can feel the energy and hear the animals, they sense it also in another part of the underground."
"I wish I could touch you." Xena complained.
"So do I, my love. More than life itself right now."
"Any tips for the Arena," Xena grinned in the dark, knowing Gabrielle could sense it.
"Yup, don’t play fair."
"I think I can handle that one. Can you?" Xena asked with a frown, knowing that killing without emotion in the Arena was one of the things that caused Gabrielle nightmares. Now she was back in the same position again.
"I don’t think I have a choice." the bard answered with a touch of anger in her voice. "I just pray Caesar kept his word and Ephiny and the others are safe."
"Me too, and Hercules, the northern Amazons, Iolaus and Sasha and everyone else."
"That saving the world thing again." Gabrielle smiled in the dark and felt her heart skip a beat as a key unlocked the upper door. "Oh gods," she whispered. "See us through this."
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Xena frowned as Gabrielle slipped on the light leather tunic and began lacing it up. They had been held below the Arena for hours while other fights had raged on. The bard had been right, the roar of the crowd was like a physical blow to the chest, especially when things got bloody. Xena had seen a number of fighters carried in on litters towards the hospice, most to die in agony or have limbs amputated. Many fighters didn’t come back.
Unlike soldiers facing a battle, these fighters kept quiet and to themselves as they waited chained to the wall or benches. Xena noticed that the guards didn’t look at the prisoner’s faces a lot either. Gabrielle explained that these were the prisoner fighters, they were meant to die in the Arena. On the other side were the fighters from schools and professionals. On that side of the Arena there would be laughter and last minute betting among themselves and the guards.
On this side hope was in short supply.
Xena had been pleased that she and the bard had been chained next to each other, they could at least hold each other and comfort each other a little as the time dragged on. As it got closer to the afternoon and a simple meal of stew and bread with water was brought in Gabrielle got quiet. When the last of the fighters left the holding area the guards unlocked their chains and motioned to the stack of armor and the bard quickly moved to find a leather tunic that fit. Xena followed her bard’s example.
"When do we get weapons?" Xena asked.
"We don’t." Gabrielle answered simply.
"What?"
"We’re enemies of Rome. We go into the Arena without weapons."
"Then we’d better finish the first fight quick and grab their weapons and shields."
Xena drew the bard into her arms and felt Gabrielle relax and hug her back. "I love you, little one."
"I love you too, Xena."
The bard broke the contact at the sound of the crowd roaring. Xena frowned as she noticed the change in Gabrielle’s eyes and shift in the way the bard held her body. The ex-warlord realized that she was looking at Dancer, dangerous gladiator.
The sound of the doors opening caused a shift in the warrior as well as her blood began humming and her pulse started racing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After five rounds of fighting Xena and Gabrielle leaned on their swords, breathing heavily. Gabrielle went down on one knee, catching her breath. They had fought at least ten men and they were all dead. The bard wiped her bloody hand on her skirt and dried the hilt of her sword with the hem.
Xena placed her hand on the bard’s shoulder as the slaves removed the bodies of their most recent kills. Both warriors ignored the roaring and impatient crowd and both glanced at Caesar at the same time. The leader was lounging on his sofa, grinning at the two women. He tossed a grape up into the air and caught it in his mouth easily. The Roman raised his goblet in a mock toast.
"He’s too cheerful," Gabrielle complained.
"Yup, he’s got something planned. He doesn’t want us to die in a fight, he’ll want to humiliate us and make us suffer with the execution. This can’t go on much longer."
"If we drag out the fight we get tired and might make a mistake, if we finish them off quickly he’ll just send more in." Gabrielle stood up and gauged the movement of time by the sun. Still too long till sunset.
"Don’t rush it, Gabrielle. Brutus might be able to get most of the senators to agree to the treaty around Caesar before tomorrow’s session."
"Most of them are here, Xena. It’s a long shot. Gods, it’s cold for Rome!" she complained.
"Here come some more." Xena muttered as the doors opened.
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The warrior bard and Warrior Princess made a good team in the Arena, everyone had to admit who saw the matches that day. When facing heavily armored opponents they worked as a team, dodging under heavy sword swings to dance in and strike enough blows to tire the fighter out until a fatal blow could be struck. Like wolves stalking a reindeer.
When fighting lightly armored opponents they fought back to back, protecting each other and not giving the other fighters any opportunity at a blind side or weak opening.
Time seemed to drag on for the fighters and the body count rose by the end of another four matches. The total of fights unheard of in the Arena, especially by two women warriors.
Xena held a hand against a light sword wound along her ribs and Gabrielle sank to her knees as the slaves cleared away the latest bodies.
"Xena," the bard gasped. "I can’t....."
"I know." the warrior agreed.
Both couldn’t help but look at the posts at the north end of the Arena, set up just for them.
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