Innocence of War
Parts 5 - 6
by Arianwen P.F. Everett
Part 5
The cave they'd discovered in haste, turned out to be small enough, as not to hide any living surprises, but large enough to give comfortable shelter for the evening. The two women decided to make it an early night, and set out their bedrolls, buy their fire. They'd eaten some of the fish they'd salted the night before and some tasteless roots that Xena had remembered eating once in desperate straits, with no side effects.
The baby god was another problem. He needed to eat too, only Xena and didn't have any milk on them. Xena had once been told by a midwife about mixing water and sugar with roots similar to those that were for dinner to feed a baby, if no milk or lactating female was available. They had sugar stored away among their supplies, and so Xena set about preparing the stuff, which had to be softened down to a milky texture.
It took twice as long as cooking their own dinner, but luckily the baby didn't wake. Finally the concoction was ready. Gabrielle slowly picked up the baby, whose eyes suddenly snapped open, looked straight at her, and began to howl.
"SHH. It's okay. It's just dinner time," Gabrielle cooed to the child, who only screamed louder.
Gabrielle somehow managed a spoon full of the sticky stuff, and held the baby, as to get the 'food' in its mouth. It was not impressed, and squirmed away, spitting out the goo, as it slid past his lips. After ten minutes of trying valiantly, Gabrielle had gooey primitive formula all over her and none in the baby god. She let out an exasperated huff, offering the bundle of malcontentment to Xena. "Here, you try!" was all she could say, as she stomped off to clean herself.
The minute Xena held the baby close to her heart, its cries stopped. It looked up at her with an adoring awe-filled expression. "Obviously Gabrielle just doesn't have the touch, does she fella?" she whispered to the baby who giggled. Feeding was another matter though. The baby really didn't want to eat what he was being fed, and fussed. He did however eat a little bit, after a stern look and word from Xena.
Once dinner was done, the two women put the baby down to sleep, and lay down themselves into their own beds.
Gabrielle's mind wandered. "Which one do you think he is?" she asked.
"Huh?" Xena asked.
"Which god? Which god do you think he is? I mean, we know he's Zeus and Hera's child, and we know he's not Hephestus, since his legs are well formed and strong, so who do you think he is? We can't just keep calling him 'Little Guy' and 'Fella'," Gabrielle explained.
"Perhaps he's Apollo," Xena said, running through the list of male offspring of Zeus and Hera.
"Yeah, but Apollo had a twin, Artemis. Where's she?" Gabrielle countered.
"Maybe she's with Zeus. I don't know. Maybe it's Ares for all we know!" Xena said, a laugh escaping her. The thought of the War god as a helpless infant tickled her.
Gabrielle laughed too. Then thought about it. "Xena, maybe it is Ares. I mean, it would explain a lot. His hair is black, and he seems to adore you; hates me. He kicks and squirms like a real champ, and he does have an uncanny fascination with you breast dagger, the way he keeps trying to remove it," Gabrielle said, falling into a fit of giggles.
"I don't know. He is an awfully sweet baby, sleeps well," Xena countered.
"Sweet? That kid is a tornado with me!" Gabrielle shot back.
"Gabrielle, go to sleep. We'll ask him in the morning who he is," Xena said, sighing, as she settled herself. She hoped it wasn't Ares. It would be harder to hate him, having seen him as such an adorable baby. Xena decided not to worry about that now.
They had enough to worry about with baby in tow. With a child of Zeus and Hera in their keep, the chances of Chronos helping them get back to their own time was slim. Rhea had eventually sided with Zeus in this war, so she was a possibility still, but if she was still under her
husband's eye, she probably wouldn't risk it for a couple of wayward mortals. The gods here had even less faith in mortal kind, than those she knew. Perhaps, and this was risky, she had to make them believe in mortal danger. Well, taking on gods was her specialty, she jested to herself, as her mind slowly silenced, and she fell asleep.
WARNING: This part gets a bit gory, but the gore is integral to the plot. Sorry, but if you have a queasy tummy, I'd suggest you wait till you feel better to read this.
Part 6
The baby gurgled and cooed at Xena, and she couldn't help but laugh and play with his feet, as Gabrielle filled their water skins by the lake.
They had been on the move for a little over five hours, and the noon day sun was high overhead. The small clearing they were resting in for lunch was lush with full green grass, and the trees were brimming with leaves. Obviously they had lucked out, and had been dragged out into the end of springtime, whenever this was.
As Gabrielle returned to her friend and their ward, her bright smile dimmed a bit. "Xena, I'm worried about you. You seem to be becoming very... attached to that baby. You do remember he is a god, and that he does have parents, as dysfunctional as they may be," Gabrielle said firmly, catching Xena's eyes.
Xena sighed, though in her heart she had to admit Gabrielle had a point. For all they knew their assumption that this was Ares could be true, and she could be falling into a trap similar to that Gabrielle had fallen into with Hope, loving and protecting a monster, just because it took the form of a baby. She already knew that she wasn't willing to sacrifice this child's life to Chronos, as he would probably demand, in order to get home, and she wondered if that was the right decision. This baby was a god, and therefore should have his fate determined by other gods, not two out of place mortals with a soft spot. But he was also a baby, and Ares was instrument to the future that she and Gabrielle called home, as bad as he was.
She was torn, but a small hand reaching up and smacking her on the chin brought her out of it. "Someone's upset that he's not the center of attention, isn't he?" Xena said, making a face at the baby, who just wiggled and laughed heartily.
Gabrielle shook her head. Xena saw it.
"Look, I know I'm getting all wound up with this baby, and I'm sure I'm going to hurt when I have to give him up, but I do know I have to give him up. And I will give him up, when the time comes," Xena stated sadly, staring longingly at the child before her who let out a big yawn, before looking back up at her and smiling. She smiled back, and gave the baby a gentle hug. She then rewrapped the baby in his papoose, and stood up, as the child slipped into slumber against her. "Ready to go?" she asked Gabrielle, trying to push away her emotions.
"Yeah," Gabrielle said, feeling a small amount of sorrow for her beloved friend, at what she knew she would soon face.
An hour later, as they walked along the stream, the baby god began to cry. Xena tried to feed him some fresh formula she'd made that morning, but he wasn't hungry. She tried burping him and checked his diaper, and still she could not figure out what was wrong. As they continued along, Xena saw some vultures flying overhead, near the spot where the baby had started to cry. She decided to investigate, and sure enough, as they grew closer, the child’s screams became louder. Finally, she smelled the blood, and handed the child over to Gabrielle, who stood perfectly still, despite the squirming baby.
Xena inched closer to see a small group of wolves, picking at a carcass. As she got a closer look, she noticed it was a child, a small centaur child's body, which she realized could not be. Centaurs were created during Zeus's reign as king. She hastily chased the wolves and vultures away, her chakram and sword working as a team to take down three of the beast, before sending the others running for their lives.
As she neared the lifeless body, she realized what it was she was looking at, and her heart jumped. A young hind's corpse lay at her feet. From the looks of it, she'd somehow must have been separated from her group and mother and been hunted down by the wolves. Being only about five or so years old had made her easy prey to those hungry predators. She would give the small body a proper funeral pyre, but she also couldn't pass up this opportunity no matter what.
She knelt down by the corpse, and whispered an apology to the girl. Taking the dagger from her breastplate, she sliced open the child's arm, which was already partly gnawed by the wolves. The already half congealed blood, oozed slightly from the new wound, and Xena dipped her beast dagger and her boot dagger into the blood. She then did the same to the end of her sword, resheathing it quickly, as if to ward off the knowledge of the desecration she was committing, but really had little choice. Fighting a god was tough. She had done it before. But fighting would not be enough. She'd need to induce respect, and Xena knew from experience, gods only respected mortals out of fear. Of hinds blood, they had good reason to fear.
She returned to Gabrielle and the squalling baby and told them what she had found, handing over her breast dagger to Gabrielle, both for the bard's protection and to keep it from the sneaky hands of the young god of War.
Xena no longer had any doubt as to this baby being Ares. She knew from experience that he could smell bloodshed a mile away, literally. He had probably picked up the scent of the girl child dying, rather than the blood after her death. As a warlord, she'd seen ample evidence of the god's dark craft, and she knew Ares. Had this been a human child dying, he probably wouldn't have let out a peep, but it had been a hind's blood being spilt, and instinctively, he'd recognize the danger to himself and gone berserk in her arms. At least he'd given them a potential weapon in the process.
"I'll take the baby, and search for more wood. You shouldn't have any problem lifting the small body, and bringing it here. Then we'll start on clearing enough space for the pyre," Xena instructed Gabrielle, as she walked off again, past the edge of the clearing, into the woods.
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