The Ides of March
Awakenings 8, XWPMs. Hunter Ash
frost29@post.com
ripperbard7@yahoo.com
rating: PG13
pairing: X/G
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Xena dropped the bloody sword with a snarl as seven soldiers ran in from one direction and another seven from the other. She leaned back into Gabrielle and felt the bard’s answering touch along her thigh and the bard dropped her shield and sword as well. Xena spun on her heel and found her mate standing up to reach her as well as their bodies melted together, lips meeting once more.
Rough hands grabbed them and pulled them apart, pinning their arms behind them. Both women found daggers at their throats. Neither resisted.
"Citizens of Rome! You have witnessed the brutal fighting skills of these enemies of the State. Now it is time for them to pay for their war against Rome, their sentence is death!" Caesar yelled to the crowd who roared their approval.
Gabrielle couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat when slaves began dragging a patibulum out of the holding area with a ladder. She counted only one cross beam.
The bard saw Xena frowning and look up at Caesar. Gabrielle followed her eyes and sought Caesar’s eyes and growled when he merely laughed at their puzzlement.
"Citizens of Rome! Death by crucifixion for the Queen of the Amazons!" the crowd roared it’s approval. Gabrielle saw Brutus standing next to Caesar, trying not to let emotions show. She prayed that she hadn’t been played for a total fool and that the Roman might actually turn on his would-be Emperor. "For the Warrior Princess, death by beheading," he paused with a smile, "tomorrow at midday. Until then, she can watch her lover die for Rome."
Gabrielle was stunned. She wouldn’t face death with Xena? After all this time? After all they had been through? The bard had faced death in the Arena before but always with the thought that Xena was safe with Sasha. Now she’d died before Xena and her mate would have to watch? Xena would face death alone?
Xena went berserk. The guard behind her dropped his dagger when she smashed her skull into his nose and the guard on her left, having loosened his grip, found himself being thrown into the guard on her right, smashing heads together with a bone jarring crack.
The warrior let out with her famous war cry and grabbed up a spear just as another soldier got too close and ran the spear through him. She grabbed his sword away and slashed another soldier’s throat. The remaining soldiers surrounded her and more were pouring into the Arena.
"Xena, no!" Gabrielle called out, struggling with her guards until she felt blood at her neck and stopped struggling.
The warrior took out another two soldiers before she was taken to the ground screaming by a net, followed by blows from fists and sword hilts. Xena was dragged backwards to one of the posts and chained with her hands behind her. Caesar laughed heartily as the warrior struggled against the chains, cursing and screaming at him. The crowd roared it’s approval.
"Xena! Save your strength!" Gabrielle yelled but the warrior couldn’t hear her.
The knife at her throat disappeared and the bard was shoved forward and tripped at the same time. Before she could react she found herself turned over and being dragged by her arms over the sand towards the other post. She was thrown roughly down on the ground and positioned on the patibulum. The cross beam was resting on blocks of wood so the slaves could tie her to it easier. The bard ignored the rough edges at the back of her neck and let the slaves tie her without resisting. Gabrielle tried to control her breathing and rapid pulse without success. She knew that if she were merely tied to the cross then she stood a good chance at surviving at least for a day, if nailed, it could be harder.
She had only a moment to be grateful that Caesar seemed to be skipping the traditional flogging when she felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of a soldier approaching with spikes and hammer.
"No," she whimpered involuntarily and closed her eyes.
Xena thought she would rip her hands off at the wrists from the chains when she heard Gabrielle’s screams and the sound of the hammer hitting the spikes.
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"Xena!" the voice finally broke through the warrior’s red berserker haze. She raised her head, breathing heavily. With a growl she rattled her chains again and again they held firm. Xena whimpered at the sight of her bard on the cross fifteen feet from her.
Gabrielle was bathed in sweat even though it had grown quite cold in the Arena after the crowds had left. Xena blinked in the torchlight, realizing that it had grown dark.
"How long," she croaked through her raw throat.
"Three candlemarks." Gabrielle gasped.
Caesar had also foregone spiking the bard’s ankles to the cross, merely having them tied to the wood beam. This was a mixed blessing, both bard and warrior knew. On one side it saved the bard shattered bones and pain, on the other side it made pulling herself up on the cross more difficult, thus ensuring a shorter time on the cross before her own body would drown itself and collapse her lungs.
"Talk to me." the bard requested, pulling herself up with a whimper.
Xena felt herself whimper in sympathy. Her own wrists were a bloody mess from her struggles against the chains but the sight of the spikes sticking out from her lover’s wrists brought fresh tears to her eyes.
"You’re the bard, little one." she protested.
"Please, help focus." Gabrielle’s body slumped and she cried out in pain as her body weight pulled on the spikes. She brought her weight back up with a struggle.
Xena began talking. What she talked about she could never remember. All she knew is that she talked and kept talking, watching her lover struggle endlessly against time and pain.
The sky was turning purple in the pre-dawn when Xena couldn’t talk any longer, her voice long gone from screaming and talking. Gabrielle’s eyes were unfocused in the pain and concentration. During the night Xena had talked with her bard in a tone she had learned from Lao Ma, sending the bard into an intense form of concentration, focusing beyond the pain, focusing on nothing other than tensing and relaxing her muscles again and again through the night.
Xena watched the sky, cursing the slow movement of the rising sun. She knew the Senate wouldn’t meet until mid-morning and she had no idea when the assassins intended on striking against Caesar. She hoped it was soon, someone would have to distract Marc Anthony and they would have to move fast.
Then everything depended on Brutus getting Marc Anthony to agree in freeing her and Gabrielle. Time, it would all take time and the warrior wasn’t sure how much more Gabrielle had as the bard slumped again, coughs racking her small frame.
"Gabrielle, fight it!" she growled, fighting to find a voice. "Come on!"
The bard threw her head back and struggled to raise her body again, gasping for air. Xena heard a growl out of her mate as Gabrielle bit her chapped lips in pain and concentration. The bard’s muscles were twitching in cramps repeatedly, reminding the warrior of when her mate had been poisoned.
It was about two candlemarks past sunrise when the bard’s body slumped again and she stopped responding to Xena’s cries and screams and the bard’s coughs got weaker. The warrior pulled uselessly at her chains as the cold wind whipped through the bard’s short blond hair, her skin a deadly pale.
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"Xena! Gabrielle!"
The warrior raised her eyes to see Brutus running across the sand towards her with several slaves and guards following. He skidded to a stop behind her and the warrior felt her chains being unlocked. She watched two of the slaves grab the ladder and raise it to the cross that held her lover.
Xena looked to the sky and judged the passage of time to be at midday.
Brutus stepped around and pulled Xena to her feet and held her as she steadied her legs under her, watching the slaves over his shoulder as they took pry bars and removed the spikes from Gabrielle’s wrists. The bard didn’t move or respond to the pain and Xena shoved past Brutus, stumbling across the sand to her mate.
The slaves reached out and cut the ropes holding Gabrielle’s arms and Brutus pulled out his dagger and cut the ropes holding the bard’s legs. A part of Xena’s mind noted that his dagger was blood stained and realized that it must be Caesar’s blood if he was there with her.
The slaves gently lowered the bard into the arms of Brutus and Xena. The Roman knelt beside Xena as she sank to the sand with Gabrielle in her arms. He waited as she quickly checked the blond woman.
"Oh gods, she’s so cold." Brutus whispered.
The Roman felt tears streaming down his cheeks at the sight of Gabrielle. Her blond hair had been matted from her day in the Arena and then a night on the cross but the wind had dried it and was gently blowing it across her forehead. Her face had taken on the racked look he knew well from those executed, the face of extreme pain finally at an end. Her lips were chapped and bloody and he winced at the pool of blood forming in the recesses of the bard’s wrists and noticed how blue her skin seemed.
He closed his eyes as Xena began to cry. Then opened them with a snarl.
"You!" he pointed to two of the guards. "Get litters in here, I want them moved to a wagon waiting just outside the North gate. On Marc Anthony’s orders, move!"
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Marc Anthony leaned over his horse to look in the wagon at the two women lying on the straw, the small blond in the arms of the dark warrior. Xena opened her eyes wearily and brushed away her tears and held Gabrielle’s body close.
"Brutus will see you safely to your Amazons." she nodded. "Now that Caesar is dead, is your war with Rome over?" he asked.
Xena closed her eyes and then looked at the handsome general. "If your war with the Amazons is over." she whispered, throat still raw.
"Get them out of Roman territory and it is." he stated.
Xena nodded. "My battle was personal. It’s over." she whispered and he nodded, moving his horse away.
A coughing fit from the bard brought her attention back to Gabrielle.
The bard opened her eyes and smiled at the blue ones looking at her.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Hey," Xena answered back. Brutus looked back into the wagon with a frown.
"There’s water and food to your left, Xena. Also bandages and salve for the wounds." he looked down at Gabrielle who had closed her eyes again. "Is she okay?"
"No. Fluid on the lungs, muscles strain, blood loss, possible infection, exhaustion, dehydration, but she will be. It will be close, Brutus."
"I know. I know." he muttered, urging the horses through the streets of a maddened Rome. Xena shut her eyes and mind to the sounds around them as Brutus swore, cracked his whip and threatened anyone in their way. Xena didn’t need to look over the boards of the wagon to realize that Rome was insane right then with the news of Caesar’s assassination and Marc Anthony’s rise to power immediately.
"Thank you, Brutus." she said hoarsely. "I owe you."
"Call it even, Xena. Maybe this can make us even."
"What do you mean? You save Gabrielle from the Arena as a gladiator, you kept her from Caesar, you saved both of us from execution and you helped save the Amazons."
"I was the one that lead the attack on the Amazon villages." he muttered.
"What?" Xena’s tired mind tried to absorb this new information.
"Caesar sent me. He said it was either the Amazons and Gabrielle or my son on a cross. I think he was hoping that I would kill Gabrielle with the Amazons and then you would kill me and he would kill you. A convenient way to rid himself of several enemies and gain even more power."
"I’ll try, Brutus." the Roman merely nodded.
"I love you," a whisper brought the warrior’s attention back down to her mate.
"I love you too," she answered. The warrior smiled as she rummaged through the packs Brutus had brought and pulled out the bonding bracelets. She laughed a grim quiet laugh, realizing that it would be awhile before either of them wore the bracelets again. She reached for the bandages.
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The wagon caught up with the released Amazons later that afternoon and at the Northern Amazon village two days after that.
Brutus pulled the wagon up slowly inside the Roman encampment, next to the Commander's tent. The Roman general in charge exited his tent with an obvious scowl on his face.
"Brutus, welcome to my camp. What in the name of Mars is going on? We were just about to attack and finish off the barbarians when the rider from Rome arrived and said to hold, there was a cease fire and now you come in with more Amazons."
Brutus held up a hand and passed the reins of the wagon horses to Xena, sitting next to him on the wagon seat. He jumped down from the wagon and clasped the other general's forearm in greeting.
"You heard Caesar is dead," Brutus began.
"Yes, a messenger arrived yesterday. Marc Anthony is now in power."
"Yes, for now." Brutus pulled out a message tube and handed it to the general. General Tiborius opened the tube and read the encased parchment with a frown. He looked at Brutus with a look of puzzlement and anger.
"I'm to let them go?" he demanded.
"Yes, the Amazon Queen has made a treaty with Rome and the Amazons have agreed to leave Roman territory. Let the Amazons pass." Brutus said simply. Tiborius turned with a snarl and began issuing orders to his surrounding officers and aides. Brutus turned and looked up at Xena.
"It's done, get your people out of here."
"Thank you, Brutus, for everything." the warrior smiled, motioning the Amazons to move through the Roman ranks towards their sisters in the village.
Brutus looked down at Gabrielle in the wagon. She managed a smile.
"Goodbye, Gabrielle. Be well."
"Thank you, Brutus."
The warrior urged the horses on and ignored the frowns and scowls from the Romans moving aside the barricades to let the wagon pass along the road towards the Amazon village.
The Amazons had moved barricades on their side of the conflict when they saw their sisters riding towards them from the Roman camp. Shouts of joy broke out on the Amazon side as relatives, friends, and lovers reunited.
Ephiny leaped from her horse and into the arms of Solari who dropped her crutches as her mate embraced her.
"I saw you fall, I thought you were dead!" Ephiny cried, burying her face in mate's hair.
"I'm all right, love." Solari whispered, tears also falling from her eyes in happiness.
Xena moved the wagon into the Amazon ranks and broke into a grin as Hercules appeared from behind one of the barricades with Solan, her son.
"Mom!" the blond teenager yelled and ran for the wagon as Xena jumped from the seat and grabbed her son in a tight hug. She pulled back slightly with a worried face as she examined the bandage on his head, taking the place of his usual headband.
He shrugged. "It's nothing, just a scalp wound."
She grinned. "You're getting big." she commented as he grinned in response.
Hercules looked tired as he walked up to the warrior, a frown on his face. "Gabrielle?"
"In the wagon, can you bring her into one of the huts until we get everyone ready to leave?" he nodded and started towards the wagon, Xena placed a hand on his arm. "Hercules, she’s been hurt," she said, preparing him.
The demi-god stopped in shock as he looked down at the small bard in the back of the wagon. "Oh gods," he whispered.
Unknown to Hercules, the bard actually looked a lot better than she had two days before but he was still shocked at how pale she was, the bruises and especially at the sight of the bandaged wrists sticking out from under the blanket. The bard opened her eyes and attempted a small smile.
"Hey, big guy." she said softly.
"Hey, yourself."
"Not bad as looks." she whispered and closed her eyes again coughing. He frowned and climbed into the wagon and gently lifted her into his arms and climbed out the back, cradling Gabrielle in his arms as he walked to a hut with Xena and Solan following, both frowning.
Solan looked to his mother and she shook her head. "I'll tell you both when we get her settled."
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Half a candlemark later, Xena finished telling her friend and son what had happened in Rome. Of her capture by Caesar, the exchange of the Amazon prisoners for Gabrielle, the fight in the Arena, the crucifixion of the bard, Caesar's assassination and their rescue by Brutus and Marc Anthony.
Solan was looking very pale and Hercules was muttering under his breath at the description of their small friend being crucified. The demi-god looked over at the sleeping bard with a pained expression.
"Will she be okay?"
"If we can clear up her lungs, yes. The bones in her wrist weren't broken, thank the gods."
"How about your wrists?" he asked, nodding towards her own bandages.
"Scrapped up some, I kinda lost it when I was chained there."
"I can imagine." he grimaced at the thought of Xena being chained to a post while Gabrielle was being nailed to a cross beam. He made a mental note to ask the Healer to check her muscles and nerves for any damage.
Ephiny entered the hut and quickly hugged Solan and frowned at the sight of the sleeping Amazon Queen.
"She's sleeping a lot." she commented.
"The body's trying to heal. It was close." Xena said softly, fighting back tears.
"Everyone's ready to move." she stated, readjusting the sling around her neck.
"Good, let's get out of here. I'll feel better with several miles between us and the Romans." Xena ordered.
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Xena pulled the blankets up over her and her bard and settled in the back of the wagon after they had gotten several miles away from the Amazon Village and the Roman soldiers. Ephiny had reported that a small group of soldiers were following behind at a respectful distance and Xena had expected that. They all expected to be followed until they reached the border area of Germania. The warrior only hoped that Iolaus had been successful in purchasing land or permission for the Amazons and Centaurs to settle somewhere away from other settlements.
The warrior knew it was a temporary measure but one she hoped would hold off another move or war for a few years. She knew they'd face either the Romans or unfriendly Goths in the future as land became more and more scarce.
Gabrielle whimpered and moved closer to her warrior, settling into Xena's shoulder with a sigh. Xena felt a shiver run over her body as the bard's gentle lips nuzzled her neck, her warm breath stroking the warrior's ear lobe.
"You could have had Artemis take you to Sasha, you didn't have to stay." the bard whispered, gently laying an arm over her warrior's ribs under the blankets.
"I couldn't leave you, little one. I came so close to losing you again. I couldn't go through that." Xena whispered, kissing Gabrielle's forehead and then moving slightly down to kiss her lover's lips tenderly.
"I'm sorry it was so close, I couldn't hold on any longer."
Xena wiped a tear from her eyes as she squeezed her mate closer. "Don't apologize, little one. Caesar meant for you to die that night, that's why he didn't spike your ankles, it makes it harder to pull the body up to breath. You lasted longer than he anticipated."
"Is it over?"
"With Rome, for now." Xena reassured her mate. "I’m sorry about Nikki."
Gabrielle closed her eyes and fought back sudden tears, remembering her Gladiator trainer, friend and sort of lover.
"Ephiny told me she took several soldiers with her before she fell. Shouting to Valhalla and Othinn with a grin on her face. Reminds me of someone else I know." the bard attempted a small smile. She could picture Nikkita of the Northern Amazons swinging her crutch and sword with a laugh before falling to Roman spears and swords. Gabrielle would miss the tall, blonde warrior.
Xena held her close.
"Brutus returned our weapons and bonding bracelets." Xena said gently to her mate.
"Hoped he would." another coughing fit racked the bard and caused her to whimper in pain. "I love you."
"I love you, little one."
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Later that afternoon the warrior sat with her back to a tree by the roadside while everyone rested and ate lunch. Gabrielle sat between her legs, leaning back into her love.
"You know, during that long night, I thought of some words I wanted to say to you but I couldn’t get them out." Xena said softly, wrapping her strong forearms around her bard.
Gabrielle leaned into Xena’s arm, welcoming the warmth. "What, my love?"
"Promise not to laugh, you’re the bard, not me." Xena growled and Gabrielle smiled and nuzzled Xena’s arm.
"Promise."
"When your head dropped forward that morning, I thought I was going to die right then. The thought of you dying, facing that torture without me, I was insane."
"I remember." Gabrielle did remember, even through her pain of keeping her body alive she could see Xena only a few feet away tearing at the post and chains that held the warrior away from her. The madness in Xena’s eyes had been frightening but not as frightening at the callous way Caesar had merely laughed at Xena’s struggles and Gabrielle’s torture. She mentally made a promise not to remind Xena of that part of the afternoon.
"Then I knew I would follow you, no matter what it took. No," Xena placed a finger on the bard’s lips to cut off any protests. "my choice, love. I knew then I couldn’t live without you and I also realized I no longer feared that we’d be separated on the other side. I’ve always been afraid that I’d lose you in death but something told me that I wouldn’t that day and these words came to me."
Gabrielle waited patiently, she knew it wasn’t easy for the warrior to talk about feelings and even harder for something like this.
"Feel the cold wind blowing, freezing the ground on a winter’s day,
I wish I could have saved you, but now the time has come
to say our last goodbye and to look into your eyes
I watch the burning tears arise
your way ends here on that cross
tonight on the Ides of March"
Gabrielle felt tears beginning to fill her eyes and felt Xena catch her breath as well, working around her own tears.
"You’re precious life’s been taken, pierced by the nails
driven through your flesh
you were the best thing in my life
still I never took the time to make true love to you
the snow gently covers my skin, releases me from my burden of my sins
tonight on the Ides of March"
"Hold on, trust a little longer until we pass the gate to eternity
then we will be together, share our life forever
you and me, tonight on the Ides of March."
Gabrielle turned in her lover’s arms to kiss and hold her lover as they both cried at how close they came to dying. After a moment Gabrielle pulled back, cuddled in Xena’s strong arms.
"But you have made true love to me," she protested.
"No, I’ve held back." Xena’s eyes dropped slightly and Gabrielle frowned, raising Xena’s chin until the warrior looked at her in the eyes. Green meeting blue. "I always thought I would die before you and we would be separated. I always accepted that but it held something back in me, hope. I never really believed in plans for a long future with you, even when Sasha was born and you came back to me. I thought it was easy to face death until you faced it without me."
Xena frowned, gathering her thoughts.
"I thought it would be all right, facing it together and then that bastard put you on that cross and let me live to watch. At first I went crazy but then I realized that we had beaten him and everyone else, Ares included."
"What do you mean?" Gabrielle asked softly.
"I knew we’d be together soon, even if I had to force them to kill me and that I’d find you waiting for me. Caesar wanted to separate us, Ares wants to separate us, the world wants us apart most of the time. They lost because I believe we’ll be together."
"Forever." Gabrielle agreed, kissing her warrior’s lips again. Then she grinned. "Wow."
"Wow?" Xena questioned.
"If you’ve held back in life and in love, what will it be like to make love to you now, I wonder?" Gabrielle grinned and was pleased when Xena began blushing.
"Just remember, I know where you’re ticklish!" Xena warned and Gabrielle began giggling and squirming.
"Hey, no fair! I don’t have hands yet!" the playful moment was cut short by another coughing fit. Xena held her mate close until the bard’s body stopped shaking.
"I guess it’ll have to wait a bit." Xena groaned.
"Guess so," Gabrielle gasped and then snuggled into Xena’s arms again, trying to catch her breath. "I’m getting tired of having to do the recovery bit." she complained.
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"Xena!" Hercules' voice brought the warrior up with sword in hand. She looked from behind the tree and frowned.
"Not again." she muttered. Gabrielle rose up slowly beside her with raised eyebrows. The encampment stopped as they took in the sight of Artemis in the center of the road. Ephiny bowed her head and Xena frowned.
"Easy, warrior. I came to thank you for saving the Amazons and to especially thank you, Gabrielle. I knew I had chosen well when I picked you."
Xena was pleased to see her mate blushing, much like the old Gabrielle.
"It had to be done," the bard shrugged.
"Well, I owe you both and I know a way to repay that debt. Ephiny, take the Amazons north for two days travel and you’ll meet up with a German named Axel and his family. They’ll take you to your new lands deep in the forest they call the Black. It’s wild and hard living but you’ll be out of Roman hands probably for years."
"What about us?" Hercules asked.
"You all could use some time off from saving the world." Artemis raised her hands and Xena looked around to see that she, Hercules, Solan and Gabrielle now somewhere else. She looked around and grinned as she recognized the village. Xena noted the fact that their wagon, with their few belongings had accompanied them. They all looked towards the inn of the village when someone yelled at them.
Hercules let out a yell of surprise and pleasure when he saw Iolaus standing in the doorway of the inn with Sasha in his arms.
Xena grinned at a familiar figure walking out of the inn as well.
"Mom!" the warrior reached back and helped her mate stand up. Gabrielle had improved a lot since being taken down from the cross but she was still weak and very short of breath. Xena placed an arm around her mate's waist to steady her.
"What about Ares?" Gabrielle muttered.
Artemis appeared once again in front of them. "Don't worry about dark and brooding. Aphrodite is going to keep him busy for quite awhile."
Xena smirked. "I don't think I want the details to that!"
Artemis shrugged her shoulders with an equal smirk. "I certainly don't!" she agreed and was gone.
"Come on, little one. We've got some rest to catch up on and my mother's cooking to help fill you out again." Xena grinned, lifting the bard into her arms, heading for her waiting mom and little daughter.
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