Standard Disclaimer:
The characters: Xena, Gabrielle, Eve, Ares, and Argo II and the backstory belong to StudiosUSA and Renaissance Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. The story and all other characters are my sole property. Anyone screw around with it, you answer to me.
I got sorta bored waiting for the 6th season to come around, so I thought up my own Season 6- Season Premier.
Huge special thanks go to my good friend Sherry Liu, who unfortunately had to move away from us. Without her unwavering spirit and support, and her belief in my abilities, I would have given up writing altogether, though it means a lot to me. So thank you Sherry, this one's for you. P.S. Don't worry, it's not that long.
And to anyone else who has chosen to read my "humble" try at personifying the wonderful characters depicted in this tale, I hope you enjoy it.
Rated: PG 13 || No sex, a little violence, squeaky clean language, as far as I remember
The raven-haired woman warrior sat slouching on the dark twisted log at the fire's edge. She stared through the flickering flames at the calm, serenely slumbering form of her troubled daughter. Her mind went back to the twenty-five long years Eve must have spent thinking that her mother had abandoned her.
"Gods," she thought, "if I could do anything to relieve her of her guilt, her pain, I would in a heartbeat."
She shifted her gaze to the other woman sleeping on another side of the fire. The vigilant warrior smiled gently at her friend, letting her guard down as she watched the golden highlights sweeping and dancing over the warrior-bard's sun-bleached blonde hair.
The warrior's calm face suddenly hardened when her golden mare whinnied as the soft sound of a twig cracking when someone steps upon it reached their sensitive ears. Her smile froze as she checked quickly to see if the bard and her daughter were still asleep. Then, assured that the intruder had not disturbed their rest, Xena stood up and turned to the sound. A gentle tugging at her insticts told her who it was. She took a slow step closer and forced herself to call gently, civilly, "Ares? What are you doing here?"
The dark war god, immortal no more, stepped out from behind a tree. Xena's heart lurched against her will when she saw his haggard expression.
Ares sagged against the tree behind him, his strength most gone. He gazed into the inquisitive sapphire pools of his beloved, and felt a strange rush of new energy.
"I was just checking to make sure you and your daughter are alright." He smirked tiredly, "wouldn't do to have her dying after all that I've done." The grin faded as his exhaustion made itself painfully known again. "But I'm so tired..." he whispered honestly.
Xena grabbed the arm of the man that saved Eve's life as he staggered forward. Carefully supporting him, she ignored mixed feelings about his heavy arm around her waist as she guided Ares to her former seat on the log. As he lowered himself onto the wood, Xena noticed that there was dark red blood staining one of his pant legs. She touched it gently, and then jerked her hand back when Ares hissed.
"How did you?..." She trailed off in realisation, remembering the crossbow arrow she had shot into that very leg.
"Someone shot the God of War," Ares replied sullenly, "the arrowhead's still in there."
The Warrior Princess grimaced guiltily at his non-commitable use of the word 'Someone'. With a very low "Sorry about that..." she turned around and put the pot of lukewarm stew back over the fire.
"Here, eat something first, then I'll have a look at that leg of yours."
"You're not MY mother, Xena," Ares retorted angrily, "I can take care of myself!"
The tall warrior turned a disbelieving and pitying look to the petulant face glaring hotly at her.
"Hey, don't feel bad," she said, unknowingly parroting something Ares had said to her, twenty five years ago. "Remember that you're a mortal now."
Ares looked away with a black scowl written across his dark features.
Xena shook her head and laughed lightly, turning back to the now bubbling pot. She picked up an earthen mug, and ladled some of the stew into the earthenware. Pulling out a spoon from a bag, she stuck it into the stew and handed it to the man.
Ares accepted the mug reluctantly and looked up at the Warrior Princess, into the azure orbs that were sparkling with suppressed laughter.
"Are you going to kick me away after you're done again?" He muttered sarcastically.
Xena's pale blue eyes hardened slightly, and she turned her back contemptously,
"We'll see," she said in her smooth, even voice.
The Warrior Princess rummaged through her saddlebags and got out her herb pouch. Selecting a particular herb, she crumbled it with her fingers and placed onto a small stone plate . Mixing it with a bit of water from her water pouch, she set the dish aside and started unwinding some cloth bandages.
When Xena turned back to Ares, she saw that he had finished the stew.
"More?" she asked, taking the mug from him. When he didn't answer right away, she refilled the mug and handed it back to him in one deft movement. Then she went back to her work with the bandages.
The man had finished the stew, and he stared at her, the most incredible woman he had ever met, and "ever" was a long time for him. He saw the love on her smooth tanned features as she glanced at her daughter, and he wondered if one day she would look at him like that too. When she turned back, and fixed him with that coldly distant stare of hers, he knew unquestionably that that day could be just a distant dream.
That was not acceptable. 'She seems to go for soft loving things,' the scheming man mused, 'What if, I become that way?' His thoughts were not visible upon his emotionless features. 'Well,' he thought, 'I guess from now on I'll have to show her a tame Ares...'
Xena lifted her usual eyebrow at him when she saw that the mug was once again empty, the unspoken query clearly present in her icy blue gaze. When Ares shook his dark head slightly, she took the mug and spoon, placing them none too gently on the ground nearby. Then, she silently picked up the dish with the medication, paused, and put it back down. The Warrior Princess glanced up at the God of War and then down at the clotting, messy wound. Taking hold of the frayed edges of the fabric, she ripped it open quickly.
Kneeling there on the ground, she filled another plate with water, using it to soak a piece of bandage she had cut off using her sharp dagger. Xena swiftly cleaned the blood away from the wound, all the while never loosing her proud athority. Seeing that the skin had closed over the arrowhead, she reached for her dagger. Sending a fast warning glance up at the tense man, she pierced the thin, swollen skin.
Jerking her head up at Ares' noticable flinch, she saw that he was perspiring heavily, and his face was twisted with pain.
Unimpressed at his attempt to be silent, Xena took a piece of cloth and pressed it against his forehead. When he reached up for it, she pulled away and returned her attention to his oozing wound.
Using the leather bound dagger, she carefully pried the bloody piece of flint from his flesh, trying to block out any thoughts about how much pain that must have been causing him. When she had finally worked the arrowhead in question out, she dropped it casually into the mug he had used. Taking the soaked bandage, she washed the wound once more, and bound it, to Ares' consternation, extremely tightly with the poultice she had made.
As the warrior washed all signs of the operation away, Ares inspected his leg. The excruciating pain seemed to be ebbing away slowly, and when Xena directed him to a bed spread, presumably hers, he was able to sink into a restless sleep, still planning untruthful ways to win her trust.
**********
The Warrior Princess awoke early the next morning propped up against a tree at the edge of the clearing to an insistant pulling at her arm, and a cherished, urgent voice whispering "Mother...". Opening her slightly clouded sapphire pools, she caught sight of her daughter kneeling next to her. Bolting up at once, she sat stiffly upright and glanced about in concern. Gabrielle was also up, but her attention was focused on the still unconcious form of the War God. Glancing back to Eve, her blue eyes now clear and alert, she asked gently "Is he bothering you, Sweety?"
Eve ignored her mother's question and asked one of her own, "What's HE doing here??"
Xena leaned back against the tree and gazed into her daughter's searing, stormy eyes, "He was hurt really badly, Eve, and he can't take care of himself very well," the warrior in Xena could not be detected in her soothing voice, "So I'm letting him stay with us for a while...Is that alright with you?"
It was not alright, and Eve made sure her mother knew that, "Is it alright with me for a selfish, conniving, bastard to..."
"Eve," Xena cut her off in a reproving tone, "He saved my little girl's life," She glanced over tenderly at the bard, "and that of my best friend. I at least owe him a hand at getting back on his feet."
"You don't owe me anything," the god's voice startled them all, "I'd rather leave myself..." He sat up and stared at the Warrior Princess. "But that would mean I would have to leave you..." he shook his head in mock-sadness. "What a dilemma..."
Then, his voice faded away, and he stared down in discomfort, picking at his bandage. But unbeknownst to the droll woman warrior, this was partly a phase of his plan, if he is to be presumed changed, he could at least act vulnerable.
The three women gazed at each other in unbelieving amusement, and then burst out laughing, prompting the truly embarrassed man to look up sharply.
"Imagine that," Xena strode over and plopped down beside him, "Ares shy..." she smiled teasingly.
"You should stay, I wonder what else you're capable of now." Her lovely grin faded away, "Ares, you know that numerous wars have sprung up all over the land in the uneasiness without the gods."
Ares smirked at her, "I guess the people still think of the God of War." The uncontainable sneer was wiped off his face very quickly by the icy hard shade of steel the warrior's blue eyes had become.
"Sorry," he said quickly, and raised his hands in the universal sign of "don't hit me".
Xena turned her unnerving stare away from the man. "We have got to stop it," her azure gaze darted between the two most beloved women in her life, "and for that, we need him."
"Whoa whoa whoa..." He who was above mentioned laid a hand on the arm of the beautiful woman beside him, "Don't I get a say in this?"
"No you don't," Xena swung her raven tresses about to face him, but then she relented at his pitiful expression, "Alright, will you help us?"
Ares cocked his head and stared Xena in the eye mockingly.
"Ares..." the Warrior Princess' threatening tone usually works like magic.
"We'll see how it goes," then, at the warrior's shift in position, he spoke hurriedly, in true nervousness, "Alright, alright, I'll work with you."
Eve tried unsuccessfully to smother a chortle, making the War God's dark features redden again. Barely restraining his explosive anger, he jumped up and stormed away, limping badly, in the direction of the fresh running stream he had seen earlier.
Gabrielle and Eve silently congratulated Xena on making him miserable, while the clever Argo laughed in her own horse voice.
When Ares returned later, he noticed that the three women had packed up their gear and seemed to be waiting for him, and rather bored while they were at it. Xena was still holding something though, which Ares eventually recognized to be the poultice she had used on his wound, and a wad of bandages.
"Well finally," Gabrielle grumbled impatiently. "Come on," she prodded Xena, "Switch the poultice and let's move."
"Hold your horses Gabrielle," Xena replied calmly, pushing Ares down onto the log by the fire's ashes again. "I have to check to see that it's not infected."
As she was speaking, the Warrior Princess had already unwound the rusty, blood-coloured bandage that had been used the last night.
"It's healing nicely," she observed, applying the fresh poultice and bandage.
Ares endured her inspection quietly, and then spoke up.
"How do you plan on stopping those wars? Against my better judgement of course."
Xena didn't deign to look up at him. "You are going to command the armies to live in peace."
"Now why would I do that?"
"Because," Xena looked up slyly, and replied, happily pulling the bandage extremely tight again, "You, are the God of War, and you, will order them to stop fighting."
"That might work," Ares gasped, "but what happens if you cut my leg off with that bandage?"
Xena smiled winningly at him.
**********
The God of War swallowed the triumph rising up in his throat as he scanned the blackened fields ahead of him. Parts were a lovely shade of red, from the stinking blood that had been poured willfully upon it, and from the rotting carcasses being torn to pieces by carrion birds, as they baked under the burning sun.
"Pretty sight isn't it?"
Ares glanced at the raven-haired warrior at his side. He was being supported by her lean sinewy frame as he walked.
He shook his head, and continued on in his charade, "You'd think that after all those people I've killed, I'd enjoy this battlefield."
Eve glanced sympathetically at the dark-haired man leaning heavily against her mother from her high seat on Argo.
"How do you stand it, all of you?" Ares grimaced at the foul smell as he continued.
"You just get used to it, I guess." Gabrielle spoke hesitantly, remembering when she had once felt this way. "That's the way life is for a mortal, get used to it." She smiled gently at her soulmate. "Xena can probably help you the most."
The slender warrior shook her dark locks sadly, "It makes me sick, too." She confessed. "Ares," she addressed the man, "Now do you see why we must stop it?"
Ares nodded as the way to trap the Warrior Princess sank into his mind. "This is what you fight against?" He didn't wait for an answer, "I don't want to know." he continued hurriedly, seemingly upset.
He was about to say more, when the beautiful warrior laid a hand on his back and unknowingly scrambled his senses.
"Come on," she said, oblivious to the pleasure she was causing the obssessed god, "We have to hurry."
With Xena's prompting, they left the graveyard of corpses to rest in peace.
**********
Jakkrin chuckled menacingly as the remnants of a Greek army cowered in fear in front of him. He liked these War games that had started it seemed, when the gods had disappeared. Their reign was over, and now it was time for his.
Suddenly Jakkrin heard a man muttering softly. Searching the crowd, he swiftly pinpointed the soldier in question, and motioned to one of his men to pull out that man. When the soldier was kneeling at Jakkrin's feet, he pulled out his blood-caked sword. Running a filthy finger down the sharp, deadly edge, he crooned softly.
"Quite a rebellious one, aren't you? Now, if he were alive, I'd tell you to go show your spirit to Hades, but I guess he's not alive is he?" His manic ranting gave way to a depraved giggle, "I guess you'll be a lost soul, won't you, heh heh..."
With that, he pulled his sword up and hacked it down in a slashing arc, bringing the man's head to rest on the ground, alongside his writhing shoulders, and his twitching body.
Jakkrin sneered triumphantly.
He will win this war game, he decided, and it will be fun.
**********
Xena gently lowered Ares onto the black, jagged stone he had chosen to rest upon. Straightening up, she pulled her arms above her head and stretched out the kinks in her back. Ares watched the simple display, marvelling at the dark beauty and grace of whom he considered HIS Warrior Princess.
'I hope that this works,' he thought, staring at her leather-clad back, 'I don't think I can wait much longer.'
Suddenly aware of the scrutiny, Xena glanced over her shoulder and asked casually, "Can you walk now?"
Ares' dark eyes narrowed at the genuine stinging sensation he felt in his chest. He got the strong impression that the Warrior Princess was asking him that because she didn't want to get close enough to touch him any more than she had too. And he was partly right. "I think so," he replied, his voice smooth and emotionless. He slid carefully off the rock and took a few tentative steps. "Yes," he reported, while his brain sent the different message, 'This is going to ruin everything.'
Sensing a change in his manner, the warrior inclined her dark head, puzzled at the sudden change. 'Is something bothering him?' she wondered.
Dismissing the thought, she joined her companions a little further away.
"Ouch, that must have hurt." Gabrielle gazed knowingly at her warrior friend, while stroking the golden mare's silky coat.
"What hurts?" Xena asked in bewilderment.
"Mother, can't you see that he really does seem to, uh, care for you?" Eve chimed in after a glance to make sure the god had not heard her, "It's surprising, but he's not lying this time."
The dark-haired warrior gazed quizzically at her friend and her daughter.
"Saying something like that," Gabrielle continued in an exasperated tone, "'Can you walk now,' it's like saying you can't wait to get away from him."
"I never meant..." Xena protested.
"I know you never meant, but that's what it sounds like to him." The blonde bard narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, "I get the feeling you DON'T want to be around him anyways," she grinned, "He makes you nervous huh?"
Xena grimaced shyly. "It just feels, I don't know, weird, and I don't trust him too much anyways."
"You're talking about me aren't you?" Ares sank down beside Xena, favouring his injured leg. "I know you don't trust me, but someday, I'll get you to, I'll prove myself trustworthy." The promise though, was something the he knew could be a total lie.
"I'm gonna go scout ahead, get the latest news; be back soon as I find something," the Warrior Princess avoided the issue and stood up nervously.
"I'll come with you," Ares announced.
"No!" Xena blurted out, rather loudly, "I, I work better alone. Besides, you should rest that leg." She pivoted and quickly disappeared in the underbrush, ignoring the dark man's protest, "But if it's purely for reconnaitre...
The four figures left by the temporary camp site remained frozen until Ares spoke up once more.
"Why does she always turn away?" He sat down resignedly.
"She doesn't mean to," the soft, clear voice of the Warrior Princess' daughter sounded in the silent clearing. "She's just a bit apprehensive with you about. After what you did for us, she doesn't know how she feels about you anymore."
Ares smiled, a thin, false, seemingly grateful smile at the girl. "I wish she'd figure it out sooner, though," he stared down at his hands, "I hate waiting for someone, I'll probably do something I'll regret for the rest of my life," he paused thoughfully, "And I mean I'LL regret it."
Gabrielle laughed softly at what she presumed was the man's noble attempt at humor, and in doing so she found out that she was beginning to feel differently about this handsome god sitting there dejectedly.
'He just might have a heart after all, if he's so upset about this, situation.' she mused silently.
The bard, the girl, and the god settled down to wait, each thinking about a different part of the same problem.
**********
'Why does he make me feel like that?' Xena wondered as she rushed blindly through the forest.
After a while, the Warrior Princess came out of her private thoughts when she heard voices ahead. Cautiously, she crept through the greenery and settled under a bush to listen.
"That Jakkrin's sure to beat the Persian army."
A disembodied voice floated over to where the tall warrior lay.
"Hah, that Jakkrin's gonna beat any crappy army."
A second voice retorted loudly.
Xena narrowed her icy pools of sky. 'Jakkrin would be that powerful warlord they said was winning the wars' she surmised, 'he's must be the main player in this game.'
"Ya know what I know? Two armies, then Jakkrin's the winner o' the whole game."
It was the first voice again.
One corner of Xena's mouth lifted slightly, she had found her target. Now, all she needed was the location of the army.
Sounding her identifying war cry, she stormed in on the startled twosome and knocked them both down with one mighty blow. Then she honed in on one man.
"I've just cut off the flow of blood to your brain," She said quickly, and then leaned forward to send another kick into the face of the man sneaking up behind her, knocking him unconcious.
"Thirty seconds, you don't tell me what I want, you die." She finished.
"Whaddaya wanna know?" the ruffian choked out.
"Where's Jakkrin's army located?" she asked, her tone hard as ice.
"They were last at the huge valley due north o' here, they probably headed East...please, that's the truth," he sobbed, though Xena had not moved, "I don't wanna die!" Shaking her raven locks with a contemptuous sneer, Xena released the deadly grip on his throat.
Gasping, the man collapsed immediately.
"If I were you," Xena threatened, "I'd probably make myself scarce, in case I decide to finish what I started." she stalked away without a second glance.
Having left the two soldiers behind, the Warrior Princess took a roundabout route back to the camp, planning her strategy with the information she had just gleaned, she almost didn't notice a guard posted up ahead in the direction she was going.
The warrior stopped in her tracks when she saw a soldier hiding in a copse of young treelings, trying to look inconspicuous. 'Obviously a guard,' she figured, and ducked behind a tree.
Quietly creeping up behind the unknowing guard, she swiftly slipped an sinewy arm around his neck and got him in an unbreakable choke hold.
"Well, I do believe that's Craxon's symbol," she whispered threateningly, fingering the unevenly embroidered gauntlet. "What's he doing around these parts, eh?"
"Uh," The guard strained to breath against Xena's strong arm, "We're gonna attack Jakkrin's army," he replied frantically, scrabbling at his throat, "He's just defeated the Persian army, if we stop him we win the Game."
Xena's lips curled up in a feral sneer, "Not you, you won't get to see that scum Jakkrin's defeated expression." With finality, she pulled out her short, deadly breast-plate dagger and slid it hard across the guard's bulging throat.
The icy warrior stepped away from the writhing form of the guard, ignoring the scarlet life-blood spouting from the gaping wound on his throat. Wiping her dagger on a leaf, she headed back to the other three and the horse, the dagger back in it's hidden place.
**********
Ares jumped slightly when the Warrior Princess slipped silently up to stand next to him. She touched his arm and announced assuredly, "We have a target, Jakkrin. He might be the untimate winner of this Game, if we stop him, we win."
She smirked at the startled face of the War God, "Guess what Ares, you get to be all high and mighty again." She transfered her grin to her female companions, "The god of war is going to win the war."
"Break camp," she commanded, and strode over to saddle Argo.
Astride the strong mare, Ares looked down at the raven mass of the warrior's wind-blown tresses as she led the steed through the forest, focusing totally on the mission ahead. 'How can she put herself through this so many times? Why doesn't she just walk away?' he wondered, 'Is she really that noble?'
Then, when the warrior glanced up at him with her steely pools of ice, he knew that the very existance of her determination was one of the reasons he admired her most, but at this point, that same determination was a problem. 'If she keeps this focus up, I could never get close enough to her.' Ares was extremely worried.
Using much willpower, he tried to push the maddening matter out of his mind, and straightened his back proudly, like the War god he was.
Xena explained carefully to Ares what she wanted him to say, but when his handsome features did not seem to register what she had just told him, she stopped the progression of the quartet and turned to face Ares.
"Ares," her voice was low and threatening, "Did you hear what I said?"
Ares jerked, jolted out of his angry thoughts, and stared into the warrior's pale, impatient eyes, "Did you, uh, say something?"
The annoyed Warrior Princess repeated the words slowly.
"When we get there, and I kill Craxon," Ares' lips lifted in a very slight, murderous smile at Xena's unperturbed use of the word 'kill', "You get off my horse and shout, "I am Ares, God of War, I am now the commander of this army.' Got it?" when Ares nodded interestedly, she continued, "Then whatever happens next, I will improvise, You keep your mouth shut. You hear me?" Ares nodded silently again, trying to keep an amused grin off his concentrated looking face.
"Kill?" It was Gabrielle, "Xena, don't you think that's a bit harsh?"
Ares had to strain to prevent himself from putting in the phrase: "I don't," Instead he just gazed at the Warrior Princess, trying to predict how she would answer.
"I'm sorry Gabrielle, but this is war," she grinned slightly, painfully, at the memory behind those words.
Ares crowed happily, it was nearly the exact words he had believed she would say. 'I really know her, mind and soul.' The victorious thought ran through his mind.
"Is there no other way?" Eve was slightly upset about witnessing another execution.
"Believe me, if I thought there was another way, I would have taken it." she smiled tenderly at the girl. "Eve, I know this warlord, and he is scum. I know it's not nice to judge people, but I truly believe he deserves to die." She swung her head around to stare ahead as they resumed walking, "There is no better way."
The warrior bard and the warrior's daughter shared a unsure glance at the finality of the last sentence, while the god of War gloated inwardly, silent and triumphant.
**********
Craxon was very nervous, 'This is it,' he thought, 'the final battle that will determine who wins the game.' It was especially hard on the nerves to be pitted against the force that had defeated even the powerful Persian army.
Drawing on his egotistic confidence, he reassured himself with the thought that his army had also defeated the Persian force, it had not been easy, but it had been done. So it was down to two warlords, each powerful, each having defeated every other army besides each other. 'This is sure to be interesting,' Craxon concluded.
Stepping out of his large tent, he began issuing orders.
"Euraedecles," he called in his harsh booming voice. The liutenant hurried quickly to his commander's side.
"Sir!" Euraedecles said stiffly, standing at attention.
"Are all the men armed?"
"They are preparing themselves this minute, sir!"
"That is not good enough!" Craxon thundered, making the liutenant shake in fear, cold sweat beginning to run down his bone white face. "They should be prepared right now; the enemy could attack any second."
"A scout has been discovered near the east end of the valley," the man reported fearfully, dreading the warlord's reaction.
"Yes?" Craxon demanded impatiently, "did he report?"
"His, his throat was slit, sir." the soldier stuttered.
The ugly, squashed in features of the warlord became bright red with fury. "Why did you not tell me earlier? I have even less time to prepare now!"
The liutenant stood silent, shaking in his boots.
"That Jakkrin is smarter than I thought..." Craxon muttered quietly, "Tell the men to hurry up, double speed." he barked angrily.
"Yes, sir!" Euraedecles replied, indescribably relieved that he had been let off the hook so easily. He began to pivot, and then stopped in his tracks when a chilling, high pitched war cry drowned the anxious murmuring that could be heard throughout the camp.
Xena landed, perfectly balanced, just an arm's length away from the frozen form of Euraedecles. Stepping forward, she pushed the immobile body of the astonished soldier out of her way.
By this time, the warlord's grotesque face was livid.
"Xena!" Craxon snarled. "You killed my guard."
"Oh him," the warrior waved her drawn sword off-handedly, "He was such a coward, I did you a favour and terminated him for you." A corner of her mouth lifted menacingly.
Craxon growled, and pulled out his own blade, "Prepare to die, Warrior Princess!"
Blocking his blow easily, the swift warrior took a swipe at the man's legs. Jumping back heavily, the warlord swung his sword hard at the dark-haired warrior's chest. His own long, filthy dirt coloured hair fell over his eyes, and prevented him from seeing Xena duck behind him. Quickly dispatching a soldier trying to sneak up on her, she turned back to the overbalancing warlord, who was flailing his arms wildly, trying not to land on his already flattened facial features.
Since he seemed to be trying to stand back up, Xena helped him by steadying the man and spinning him around. He was still reeling though, so the Warrior Princess settled his problem by running her deadly sword through his chest. Twisting the sword, she gutted the man, and pulled the weapon out, stained furiously scarlet with the warlord's blood.
A trickle of red appeared at the corner of Craxon's mouth as he sank slowly to the hard ground.
The woman turned, a disgusted sneer marring her chiseled features as the dark War god swept majestically across the terrain on Xena's palomino. Stopping near the Warrior Princess, he swung himself off the rippling waves of muscle that was the magnificent animal, and proclaimed loudly, in his natural god of War way,
"I am Ares, God of War. I am now in command of this army. From now on, let it be known that this is the Army of War!"
The flabbergasted soldiers stared at the tall, confident form of the War deity as he spoke one last sentence, "All commands from me will be transfered to you by my second in command: Xena, Warrior Princess!"
Xena smirked at the god's overlordly attitude, and then turned to the soldiers.
"Let's hear it," she roared, "Who's army is this?"
"Ares, God of War." A few scattered voices responded.
"That's not good enough!" the Warrior Princess somehow managed to roar louder, "Who's army??"
"Ares, God of War!" the crowd thundered back, "Ares, God of War!!" it was repeated, as more soldiers caught on.
"That's right!" Xena yelled loudly, and glanced at Ares, who gazed back at her in a slightly unsure way. She pointed him to the commander's pavilon, and turned back to the army assembled before her, wondering if she had imagined that comtemptous sneer she thought she had seen on Ares' face a split second after she had turned to face him.
"To arms," she ordered, "We attack Jakkrin's force at dawn." There was a small pause as the order registered, then, "Dismissed."
As the Warrior Princess strode away, she caught a wisp of conversation. "I know why she's second in command," a soldier as telling another, "She's Ares' girlfriend."
The crowd froze once more as Xena spun around and stormed over to the soldier who had spoken. Her azure pools paled with fury, she thrust her still bloody sword through the man's abdomen, killing him at once.
As the lifeless corpse of the soldier dropped to the ground, she bellowed at the rest of the army, "Anyone else care to share their opinions about rank?" In the dead silence, she panned through the fearful crowd with her steely crystal glare, and walked away once again, leaving the relieved men to hurry away.
When Xena saw the troubled faces of her best friend and her daughter, she paused in mid-step, grimacing unhappily, "I'm sorry," the slender warrior carressed her daughter's soft chestnut tresses, "but we're too new to the army. To gain total control on such short notice is hard...it's the only way."
Eve nodded understandingly, for she could remember clearly how she had done that same thing many times in her past. Smiling gently at her tall mother, she reassured the beautiful warrior, "I know, Mother," She smiled gently. "I just hope this is over soon."
With a sigh, Xena led the twosome to the commander's tent to see about the women's accomadations for the short night ahead.
**********