What Now?
96 - Run Ragged
Strife was feeling a little ragged. He’d taken his duties up again and had spent the whole last week trying to get caught up. Not that his family had let everything go but he was woefully behind on all kinds of gossip and news. The Mischief god had to visit each of his priests and priestess at his lone temple and those at Ares‘ main temple. He had to check in on his special projects and the newly devoted.
He had finally got back on track but he was worn out between the backlog, daily things and trying to adjust to his powers once again. It was like going through puberty all over again, only he wasn’t dealing with being gangly and shy as well. Strife was however, horny. Teenage hormonal overload horny.
And that was all Cupid’s fault. Stupid pretty winged bastard.
The damn shirtless Love god always around taunting him with all that bare skin. Strife could remember the taste and feel of that glorious skin. How was he supposed to even think with such a distraction? If Cupid had ever been alone then Strife would have just jumped him. But Bliss was always in toe.
Strife couldn’t really complain about that though, since he enjoyed spending time with Bliss almost as much as with Cupid. The little munchie was all cute and evil and giggly, always hanging on him and smiling. So Strife didn’t foist the kid off on Joxer so he could molest his Cupid properly. Even if it was tempting.
Strife added a few drops of aphrodisiac potion to the wine goblet of a politician's wife. The resulting chaos would give him a nice power boost and disgrace the politician; leaving the way open for one of his followers. Strife vanished back to Olympus without even a glimmer to mark his passing. Tired he decided that he’d just crash early.
He tucked the bottle of potion into a chest on his desk, perching on the edge to kick off his shoes. He walked into his bedroom and pulled his shirt off when a noise caught his attention. Cupid was standing beside a table that hadn’t been there that morning. The Love god was stretching the seams of a pair of deep red leather pants. There were heaping dishes crowding the table and candles glowing around the room. Strife stood there in shock, shirt hanging off one arm.
“What’s all this?” Strife asked dropping his top.
“Dinner. I figured that you’d be hungry. Mom’s watching Bliss so I thought... we could do something special, just the two of us.”
Strife ginned at the blond and pulled him into a kiss. “That sounds great. But I need a bath first.” Strife started backing away toward his door to the bathing chamber. Cupid nodded, trying to hide his disappointment. “Join me?” Strife asked coyly, toying with the ties of his pants.
Cupid loped after the dark haired god catching him for another kiss. They walked to the large tub; Cupid draped over Strife not letting him get more then a few inches away.
Amazingly, Strife was feeling a lot less ragged.
97 - Winter Fun
Strife lay out along a bare branch waiting for his prey. He was high enough and far enough away that the travelers would just barely been able see him - had he been visible. He’d been planning for MONTHS, waiting to lull them into complacency.Oh, but now, NOW he was going to have his fun. Strife felt his lips curl at the thought of all the pleasantly evil things he was going to do to them.
A moment later the snap of a twig sounded from down the path. Strife watched gleefully as the blonde woman screeched and tried to jump back out of the half frozen mud puddle she’d stepped into. Her jump only succeeded in braking the skin of ice behind her. Chilled and wet her voice turned shrill as she demanded her companion let her ride her horse as well.
After struggling out of her wet pants and into a dry pair the dark hair woman wrapped a blanket around the now sniffling blonde and they set off - both on the pale golden horse. Strife chortled softly to himself and flashed ahead to the next trap.
Ten minutes later the doubly burdened horse came into view. He almost felt sorry for poor Argo, but not enough to stop it. The golden horse trotted down the trail when his right fore-hoof collapsed a rabbit burrow. Down he went, his riders flung over head, horribly twisting his leg. Strife reached out with his hearing to eaves drop on the women.
“What in Tartarus happened?” The blonde moaned.
“You alright, Gabriel?”
“I flew off your stupid horse, Xena! Do I look alright?”
Xena huffed and stood up gingerly. She’d skinned her hands and smacked her head against Gabby’s in the fall. Once standing she made her way to Argo shushing the hurt horse and reached out to run a calming hand over his head.
“That’s just great! Check the horse before me.” Gabby whined and crossed her arms.
“Gabriel, you’re not unconscious or spraying blood and your arms obviously work the way you’ve been flailing them about - you’re fine.” Xena sent her a withering glance. “Argo on the other hand might not be. I need to see how bad he’s hurt; if we need to find a place for the night or can continue on.” She turned back to her horse ignoring the woman on the ground.
Strife knew the answer to that one. Poor Argo wouldn’t be carrying them anytime soon and the women would never make it to town by dark walking. He subtly brought the near-by cabin into sharper focus for the blonde. Strife would never have tried such a trick on Xena, the warrior woman would have been far to wary and much more likely to detected his manipulation.
“Hey, Xena. Look over there. I bet we could stay there for tonight, it looks abandoned.” Gabby pointed toward a slightly rundown cabin. Xena nodded and started to lead the limping horse to the building, she stopped to give Gabby a hand up.
Strife smirked, the twit had done just what he wanted. Now the fun could really begin. He would watch the rest from the comfort of home, the house would take care of the clean up without his presence. He might even save the events on a scrying mirror so he could watch it again and share the joy with his family. The Mischief god flashed away to the Halls of War, humming a jaunty tune.
Xena ducked inside first to make sure the house was indeed empty and not booby-trapped. Gabby took their bags inside the two room cabin and Xena led Argo around back. She tied the horse to the rail of the awning - pleased to see there was some hay bundled in the corner that was not too old or mildewed. She took a few moments to rub down Argo before she left him with a final fond pat.
Meanwhile inside Gabby had been nosing around. The cabin was dusty and had cobwebs along the ceiling and shelves. But everything looked fine otherwise. The table and chairs were sturdy; the bed lacked animal nests and there was a catch of firewood and kindling by the hearth.
Maybe she could talk Xena into staying here a few days. They could dry out, sleep in a real bed for a change and give Argo a chance to heal up. Besides as thick as the dust was who ever built the place had obviously abandoned it so no harm in staying. Gabby turned around surveying the room hands on her hips. A glint in the corner caught her eye. She wandered over and there under all the cobwebs was a metal box.
She dusted of the top and pulled it from the shelf. Behind her Xena came in latching the door tight against the wind. “Hey, Xena, come look at this.” Gabby turned the box over in her hands admiring the engraved swirling pattern. “Isn’t it pretty?”
Xena light the lantern on the table so they could see better and reached out a finger to feel the dull gray metal. She peered over Gabby’s shoulder as the blonde opened the lid.
Strife set forward in his chair, toes wiggling in anticipation, as he watched the two women handle the metal box. He pulled the scrying mirror closer. Any moment now...
The hinges of the lid groaned in protest as the lid lifted. Gabby gasped as a glowing gently pulsing orb was reveled nestled inside the metal box. Xena shot her hand up to close the lid but it was too late. Rays of white light spilled forth freezing Xena and Gabby where they stood. The light rebounded off the walls like sun off new snow. The light tinted blue and collapsed back in on itself, taking the women with it.
The box fell to the floor, rocked slightly from the impact and the lid snapped shut.
Strife laughed maniacally head thrown back, nearly vibrating from the high of success. When he had came down a little he snapped the triggering crystal and the box thumped to the floor in front of him. In Sparta at Ares main temple an injured pale gold horse appeared in the stables. The stable boy - a young acolyte started in surprise before moving to care for the animal.
Strife gingerly picked up the box, he ran a careful finger around the lid seam. It melted away leaving the box solid. Now he just had to find a good place to hide it.
98 - Punishment
Xena woke to the sound of banging. Her whole body ached from laying in the awkward position she’d landed in. The last thing she remembered was Gabby opening that box. Taking a look around she realized she wasn’t in the cabin any longer. Where in Tartarus was she?Xena rolled to her feet, there was her saddle bag and bed roll but no sign of Argo or Gabby. She picked up her things and made her way cautiously toward the light to her right. Finally she stood at the mouth of the cave. It was a long way down but off in the distance she could make out a village.
Hopefully Gabby was also making her way there. Xena whistled for Argo but the horse didn’t come. Just as well, Argo would have had a harder time getting down then scraggly mountain side the she would.
Gabby woke face down in the mud. Thick, gritty, smelly mud. She managed to stand up but not before slipping and covering her backside in muck as well. Her bedroll was off to the side but there was no sign of her staff. “Xena! Xena!” Gabby yelled. There was no response, the brunet must be to far away. Resignedly she started walking down the road.
Not to far along she found a sturdy stick, not as good as her staff but better then nothing. She had been walking for half an hour before boredom set in. Mental she started going over her best works trying to smooth out the flow. It wasn’t long before she started reciting them out loud, as they should be appreciated.
It took Xena the whole day to make it to the village. Going down the mountain had been time consuming and painful; she’d fallen twice aggravating the scrapes she’d gotten falling off Argo. There was something... odd about the villagers. They kept giving her strange looks and gave her a wide berth. Xena surreptitiously sniffed herself. She didn’t smell strongly, a little sweaty but not foul.
Maybe they had problems with raiders and were just wary of outsiders. Xena decided that the best place to ask after Gabby would be an inn. If the village even had one.
Gabby screamed in frustration as she found herself once again at the mud puddle she’d woken up in. The first time hadn’t been too bad, she’d found her satchel a short distance off in on the other side. But this was ridiculous. She’d been so careful to watch the sun making sure it stayed to her right. But now night was falling and she’d some how gotten all turned around!
This was just not fair! And where in the world was Xena! Had they really gotten so separated that the brunet had failed to find her? Gabby scowled at the trees around her. She was going to make camp here tonight, she couldn’t possibly go any further.
99 - Punishment 2
Xena wasn’t sure how things had gone so wrong. Not only did she fail to find Gabby but she didn’t even know the name of the village. Hardly surprising considering the residents had run her off. She had spent the night in the stables behind the what passed for an inn - that had been the last sane thing to happen.After waking up she had gotten food at the tavern, the inn didn’t serve any, and tried to ask if anyone had seen Gabriel. Time and again she was ignored. At first Xena took this as unfriendliness on the proprietor's part. But not even the other patrons would speak to her.
Frustrated she left. Outside there was a lot of commotion in the town center, preparations for some festival from what she could gather. Again she tried questioning people and again she was ignored. Finally she had given up on getting anything from the villagers.
Xena turned around to leave and was almost hit in the face with a pole meant for a cart awning. Startled she stepped back. Right into a man pushing a load of melons. The wagon tipped sending the fruit rolling across the ground. The green balls had a rider’s horse high-stepping to avoid them. The horse knocked into a rickety stand collapsing it. Which lead to it’s neighbor's demise, thus startling another horse - this time attached to a wagon, the basket of fish inside fell out sliming people and taking out an old lady.
The whole square was in chaos. There was an argument, yelling, some threatening and Xena might have hit someone... or a couple of someones.
That’s when they’d chased her. With pitchforks. Feeling less then her best, Xena had run rather then try to fight off what must have been the whole village. Now she was trudging along an unfamiliar road that was more like a horse trail, heading south through a large bramble patch.
Her day just couldn’t get any worse.
As soon as she finished the thought a fat rain drop hit her shoulder. The slightly overcast day had turned suddenly dark and wet. There was no where to go to get out of the rain. If she left the path it would take her ten minutes just to cross the bramble patch and her legs would be torn up. The rain was cold and falling fast, Xena was soon soaked through. She kept moving forward.
Gabby spent the first half the night tossing and turning, sure that she could hear a wolf howling in the distance. The fire she started almost died twice and she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get it going again so she stayed awake.
Daylight greeted an exhausted wretched figure huddled next to a barely flickering fire. Gabby sniffed feeling miserable for her self. As soon as it was light enough to see she hastily packed her things and trotted off moving as fast as she could to get away from that thrice damned mud pit.
The god’s were surely laughing at her. There was no other explanation for her currant situation. Well she’d put a stop to that. Aphrodite still owed her a favor, all she had to do was find a temple and yell until the blonde goddess showed up.
Plan now firm in her mind she set off stubbornly across an open field. Gabby was already doing better then yesterday, she never made it this far with out getting turned around. Such a trial having the gods meddle in one’s life. She’d have to compose a verse about this. Busy writing in her head Gabby failed to notice the ground was becoming pock marked with deep holes.
She narrowly missed a few before stepping to close to the edge of one. The rim crumpled, her ankle rolled and down she went. When she came to Gabby found herself at the bottom of a pit, the opening feet out of her reach.
She screamed and cursed and kicked the walls. By the time she wore out her rage it had started to rain. Startled by the sudden cold her mind blanked. Then she remembered a trick she’d heard of. She pressed her shoulders to one side and lifted her feet to the other. It was almost too much of a stretch.
Gabby started to ascend slowly. It was hard work made harder by the rain. It pelted her stinging her flesh and slicking the walls. Finally. Finally she made it almost to the top, just a little more and she would be out!
Gabby wiggled her shoulders higher and lifted her foot...
And fell all the way back down.
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