She allowed her eyes to flicker open and they lazily focused on a sleeping face. A beloved face. A face that, at one time, she believed she would never see again. Xena allowed a faint trace of tenderness creep into her eyes as she gazed up at the motionless bard. Gradually, she realized that she lay with her head in Gabrielle's lap, - That's a change! - she thought ironically.
As she lay still, so as not to disturb the bard, she became aware that she was being roasted alive by suffocating blankets. Trying to move gently, Xena attempted work her arms out from within the swaddling, only to find that her strength wasn't up to the effort, - Gods! - she swore to herself, - A new born kitten has got more strength than I have! -
Weak as Xena's struggles had been, they were enough to jolt the bard into wakefulness. She looked down at the Warrior Princess, concern written large in her expressive eyes as she studied her friend for any sign of the reoccurrence of fever, and found none. She smiled. It was an expression full of love and worry and it dazzled Xena with it's brilliance, "Hi there," said the bard.
"Hi, yourself," the warrior greeted weakly.
"Glad to have you back with us," Gabrielle told her, "You had me worried there, for a while."
There wasn't a lot that Xena could say to that, so she struggled again to free herself from the confinement of the sweltering blankets, "Can you get these off of me, Gabrielle?" she asked in frustration when she failed to achieve her aim, "It's like the inside of an oven in here." Her voice was a little hoarse but gaining in strength.
"Patroclese said that you were to remain wrapped up," the bard told her firmly. "He said a chill on top of that fever would probably kill you now. He still doesn't know how you managed to survive anyway."
"The healer's here?" questioned the Warrior Princess as she turned her head, and registered the bars of the cell for the first time. "Where is here, anyway? and how long have I been out of it?" she asked irritably. She hated the feeling of disorientation she was experiencing.
"We're in the Roman barracks in the city of Nemausus," Gabrielle told her, "and yes, Patroclese is here too. He's the reason I'm here, Xena. He's Caesar's man, and he lead us both into Caesar's trap. You've been here five days with a raging fever. The worst of it broke the second night, but it's taken until now for you to fight it off," she said carefully feeling her friends forehead pleased that her skin had cooled considerably.
The news didn't surprise the Warrior Princess. She regretted the healer's part in the affair, she had rather liked him. But all the parts now fell into place and made perfect sense to her, "Well, it's no good worrying about what's past. We've got to work on a plan to get out of here."
"Well, there's no point in worrying about that until we get you back on your feet. At the moment you can't even fight your way out of your blankets, let alone out of this cell and through all the guards," Gabrielle pointed out.
A look of determination flared in Xena's eyes as she focused her will and began to wriggle, trying to work her arms free, just to show Gabrielle that she was not going to be treated like a helpless invalid ... even if she was one!
"Quit that Xena," the bard told her firmly, or I'll call Cornelius in to help me snag you up in those blankets so tight you'll never get out." She watched anxiously as the Warrior Princess continued to struggle. "One of these days I'm going to learn to keep my mouth shut," she muttered, knowing that her friend found it impossible to resist a challenge. "Well not this time, Xena." she told her and drew a breath to call the little orderly who had left the cell to get some sleep in one of the bunks close by.
"Alright, alright, you win," growled Xena testily, more over the fact that she wasn't making much headway as for Gabrielle's threat.
"That's a first!" the bard told her with feeling. She looked at her friend and tried to warn her, "Xena, you've got to try and stop fighting the whole world. One of these days it's going to fall on you."
"Funny, from where I'm laying it feels like it already did." grumbled the irritated warrior.
A commotion amongst the guards, as the cell block door was opened, revealed the return of Patroclese who had left about a candlemark before Xena awoke to inform Caesar of the current medical situation. Xena turned her head to watch the confident young man stride across the outer chamber, escorted by Flaccus. The Centurion unlocked the cell door and swung it open to the normal accompanying screech of the hinges, before closing and locking it after the healer entered.
Patroclese moved directly to where Xena lay, and quickly felt her brow with a cool hand, "Warm, but that's only to be expected. The fever has finally broken. How are you feeling?"
"Hungry," admitted Xena, "and like a herd of centaurs just ran over me."
"That's to be expected too, considering what you've been through," he told her professionally.
Xena looked at him with a cold icy glare, "Tell me about it," she said chillingly. "It seems your responsible for all of this."
"No," he replied mildly and with self assurance, "I just followed my masters orders. All of the injuries you have suffered you brought on yourself. Weren't you offered the chance to surrender?"
She wasn't going to answer that! She also couldn't blame him, fairly, for his part in bringing about this situation. He was right. He was doing his master's bidding and had no real part in the intense animosity she felt for Caesar who bore the responsibility for all of this.
Patroclese moved to where the fresh batch of vegetable broth had been kept warm since being brought to the cell at first light. He ladled out a half a bowl full for Xena, and a larger amount which he gave to Gabrielle, "I'll feed her while you have something to eat," he told the bard. "You're not going to be able to nurse her if you collapse from lack of sleep and food."
"I slept!" objected the blonde indignantly.
"How much?" questioned the healer as he sat on the edge of the bench and carefully began to spoon some of the broth into the Warrior Princess.
"Some," admitted the bard reluctantly, "I wasn't tired," she told him defiantly as she tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a betraying yawn.
"Uh huh," Patroclese said.
Both of the women ate their lunch and Xena thirstily drank down a measure of water that the healer allowed her, Patroclese decided that it was time to check on her wounds, "I don't like having to undo those strappings around the ribs, " he told her, but I've got to make sure that we got out all the infection from those whip cuts." With Gabrielle's help, the healer released Xena from her prison of blankets and helped her to sit up. Her breathing became a bit shallow and ragged as the pain from the ribs bit, and a bead of perspiration dripped from her forehead and down her nose.
Patroclese took a small pair of scissors and, carefully, cut through the bandages and gently peeled them off where they had stuck to the wound's bloody furrows. With Gabrielle supporting her friend from the front, Patroclese scrambled up onto the bench and began to gently probe the wounds to check them for any sign of festering and inflammation. Xena winced involuntarily as his fingers worked over a particularly tender spot.
"Looking better," he told them, quietly satisfied as he began to smooth salve over the wounds again. When he had finished, he wrapped fresh bandages tightly around her ribs once again.
Between them, they got Xena laying back comfortably on the cushions once more and, despite her voluble protests, snared her once again in the blankets, "She's never been a very good patient," Gabrielle said scoldingly. "She's great at making sure others follow her medical advice, but she hopeless when it comes to taking it herself."
"That I can see," agreed Patroclese. He gave Xena, who still struggled weakly to free herself, a thoughtful look, "I think I can fix it so that she lies still and gets some rest,' he told the bard as he prepared a cup of water mixed with another powder.
"Will you two stop talking about me as if I'm not here," growled the disgruntled and reluctant patient, "It's ... it's rude," she told them in annoyance. She looked suspiciously at the cup in the healer's hand, "What's that?"
"Just a sleeping draft. You need to rest without all the struggling." he told her.
Xena looked rebellious, "I've had enough sleep to last me a lifetime," she glowered.
"You have a choice here," Patroclese told her calmly, "Either you can drink this down of your own choice. Or I can call half a dozen guards in here with a funnel and force feed it to you."
Gabrielle took the cup from him and said, "C'mon Xena, You want to be up on your feet as quickly as possible, don't you?"
Giving both Patroclese and the bard a withering glare, Xena drank the potion down without further resistance. Within just a short while, she found her eyes drifting shut as a deep, dreamless sleep claimed her, and allowed her body the rest it needed to begin it's healing work.
Over the next few days, life for the two prisoners fell into a routine that involved eating, sleeping, checking on wounds and re-dressing them. Xena began to remain awake a little longer each day, and it was evident that her inner healing was diverting all of it's efforts to mend the wide collection of wounds and injuries that afflicted her. Also, although it was a slow process, bit by bit strength began to return to her weakened limbs.
Passing the time was spent in trading news of how they had been captured, remembering happier times and occasionally brooding darkly about the future. Gabrielle did her best to chivy Xena out of those moods, but the feel of the shackles and more especially, the slave collar, caused a bleakness to settle into her friend that was hard to dispel.
By the seventh day, after Patroclese had cleansed the infection from her back, he was pleased to announce that, not only had the flesh knitted together healthily, he fully expected there to be none of the scarring that normally remained after a flogging. Also, after gently probing the areas of the broken ribs he had found that they were setting satisfactorily. Her breathing had improved with the ribs' mending, and although they remained a little sore he made the decision to refrain from strapping them again.
"Do you feel up to me trying to put that dislocated shoulder back in place?" asked the healer as he packed up his equipment.
When Xena nodded her agreement, Patroclese called for Cornelius to join him. The little medical auxiliary had fussed around Xena over the past five days like a broody hen with just one chick. Gabrielle had had to cover the smile that sprang to her lips every time she heard the little man call her big intimidating friend, "Pretty," and had earned more than one icy look from Xena in the process.
With Xena sitting on one end of the bench, Cornelius sat on the other and took a firm grasp of the Warrior Princess's left arm, before raising a booted foot to brace under it. The manacles complicated things but they worked it out.
"Wait a moment," Patroclese ordered hopping up on the bench behind Xena's back. He worked an edge of blanket between Cornelius's boot and the woman's unprotected skin, "Now when I say go, pull strong and steady. The joint's been out for quite a while, so it probably won't go back easily. I'll manipulate it from above, you just keep the strain constant, understand?" he asked the little man.
"Yes sir," agreed Cornelius. He smiled at Xena, "You ready, pretty?"
The Warrior Princess glowered as Gabrielle covered a smirk with a cough, "Do it!" she told him firmly.
Cornelius leant back and pushed with his foot, seeking to draw the joint apart from where it lay, a bit like a rack would work. Patroclese probed with strong fingers looking to guide the joint back into it's true socket. Finally, after an agonisingly long session, and with an audible "Pop!", the shoulder sprang back into it's correct alignment.
"Ahhhh!" Xena yelled as the joint was reconnected. It had hurt worse than she had bargained for, and she knew the arm would be all but useless for a day or so as it recovered from it's rough treatment.
The following day, with a blanket wrapped around her nakedness, Xena stood for the first time since being dragged unconscious into the cell. She leaned heavily on Gabrielle and the pair talked in low voices, trying to keep their conversation as private as possible. They knew it wouldn't be long, now, before Caesar removed the bard to a place he considered safe. She was his trump card. With Gabrielle safe within his power, Xena could be compelled to conform to his wishes, whatever they might prove to be.
Taking, cautious, deliberate steps, Gabrielle supported the Warrior Princess as she shuffled around the entire twelve foot square area of the cell. Xena's legs were weak and unco-operative, from their long period of inactivity. She felt unsteady and light headed after her illness, but it could no longer be doubted that she was mending fast.
"Well, at least we've got you back on your feet," encouraged Gabrielle.
"Uh huh," agreed the dark haired woman as she gritted her teeth and concentrated on staying upright.
"Any chance that you might be able to summon up that power from Chin and blast a way out of here for us?" the bard asked more in jest than expectation, knowing that her friend had never been able to recreate the incredible feat.
Xena shook her head, and explained, "I think I have to be empty of all emotion. Just now I'm filled with a raging hatred and a desire for revenge." she looked at the bard, "I know you think that revenge isn't the answer, and that we need to find forgiveness in our hearts, but I don't think I can, Gabrielle. Not for him. Not for all he's done," she said bitterly.
"I understand," the blonde told her, "and I can't blame you for that. I know how hard it is for you. But for your sake I wish you could set it aside." She was rewarded with a blank stare and knew that now was not the right time to be preaching forgiveness to her friend.
They took a few more heavy steps as the bard gathered her thoughts to ask the question that had been bothering her since she first saw the Warrior Princess here, "Xena?" she asked hesitantly, and looked full into the blue eyes of her friend as she turned her head towards the bard, "Were you trying to die?" There was an almost indefinable look of hurt lurking in the shadows of the blonde's eyes, that her friend identified immediately.
They had reached the starting point of their walk and the warrior sank gratefully back onto the bench before answering her friend's question, "I don't think so," she answered slowly, unsure in her own mind whether she had been or not.
"You don't think so?" pressed the bard who needed more of an answer than that.
Xena put her hand on the bards shoulder and looked at her full in the eyes to show that she wasn't trying to hide anything, "I think I had in mind that Caesar wants me for something. I didn't think he'd let me die until he had achieved what he wanted from me. I suppose if I'd have been willing to beg him for treatment, food and water, he would have been delighted to give it. But I'll ask nothing of him, Gabrielle, not now. Not ever." she said that with a voice like granite, "So, I suppose the whole thing became a test of will and nerves," she said with a rueful grin and finished with, "I won this time ... I think!"
"Xena, what if he'd decided that he didn't want you after all?" asked Gabrielle in concern. "Patroclese wasn't certain that he'd be able to save you, even at the time he began treating you. If it had been another day ...." her voice trailed off.
The Warrior Princess looked at the bard with a hint of compassion in those, oh so blue, eyes, before saying almost too softly for Gabrielle to hear, "I think Caesar miscalculated, but it might have been for the best."
The bard rounded on her, green eyes blazing with anger and more than a touch of fear, "Don't you say that!" she growled with a terrifying intensity, "Don't you ever say that!" She punched Xena's right shoulder to emphasise her point. "Too many people rely on you ... need you," Gabrielle swallowed hard to stop the tears from flowing, "I need you," she told her, " and you promised me!"
The chains clanked as Xena rubbed her arm where the bard had hit her. It hadn't really hurt, but the atmosphere had suddenly become way too tense and the Warrior Princess felt an instinctive need to back off and lighten the atmosphere that surrounded them, "Go on," she said with a small grin, "hit a woman when she can't defend herself." She watched as the anger slowly washed from Gabrielle's eyes although more than a tinge of concern remained in evidence.
"Xena, we will get out of this, somehow," the bard promised.
"Of course," agreed Xena with a false heartiness that didn't fool the bard at all.
"You know, we may get some help," Gabrielle told her seriously.
"Sure," agreed the Warrior Princess moodily, "Ares will show up any time now and promise to free us if I agree to return to him and lead his army."
"No I'm being serious," the bard told her in a barely audible voice. "I had a vision ... kind of ... before I left the Amazons, and it scared me so much that I sent off three letters before heading out to try and catch you."
Xena looked at her with curiosity. She knew her bard friend had occasional flashes of the future, so she was not about to make light of what she said, "Who to? and what for?" she asked.
Gabrielle got a distant look in her eyes, "I had this feeling, a premonition, a vision, something," she tried to describe. "Whatever it was I felt that something was going to go very wrong, so I sent out those letters. One to Toris," she ignored the vexed look from Xena, "another to Iolaus and the last one to Autolycus."
"There's no great chance that they'll come," Xena said seriously, and tried to hide a faint grin as she said, "Autolycus?" in partial disbelief.
Gabrielle grinned and shrugged spreading her hands, "I know it's a long shot, but ...."
"Autolycus?" grinned Xena again. Gabrielle just shrugged and both broke into grudging laughter at the thought of the thief coming to their rescue.
When Patroclese turned up the next morning to check on his patient, it was clear that he was pleased with the progress that Xena was showing. He got her to raise her arms above her head, which she was able to do for the first time without help, and his probing fingers soon ascertained that the ribs were once more whole and strong. He shook his head in disbelief, "Eleven days ago you were on your way to Charon's boat," he told her. I've never seen anyone who could heal as quickly as you do."
"I've lead a tough life," Xena told him flatly, "and I've learned a few things along the way," she said thinking back to Lao Ma and all that she had been taught and shown by that incredible woman. "Now you've finished prodding and poking me, don't you think it's time that I got some clothes?" she demanded, "A blanket is all very well, but it's hardly the height of fashion, even in a place like this." She gave a very definite glare at the six sentinels that stood, as ever, watching her every move.
Patroclese let a faint smile ghost across his lips as he pulled a pair of cloth trousers and a creamy wool shirt from a bag he'd been carrying, "These should fit you well enough, and you'll find them more functional than one of those shifts you wear."
"My leathers would be better," she told him flatly.
"Not a chance," he grinned.
Xena bared her teeth at him in what could be taken as a smile, but any humour in it failed to reach her cold eyes. She was still not fully certain of her attitude towards Patroclese. He had a manner she liked, and there was something in him that she appreciated, perhaps a form of integrity. The god's knew he had betrayed her and Gabrielle to Caesar, but as he was already Caesar's man, could it really count as betrayal? The Warrior Princess reserved her opinion of him.
"Might be a touch difficult getting the clothes on over these," she told him as she rattled her chains at him.
"Yes," agreed the healer with a perfectly straight face, "that problem had not escaped my attention." He looked at Xena as if assessing his options. "There is a standing order that you are never to be released from those shackles without direct authority from my Lord Caesar." He made eye contact with her penetrating, clear, blue, gaze that could cause such fear when she chose. "If you give me your word not to attempt some futile escape, or resist being re-shackled, I have the authority to release you while you dress."
Xena's eyes flicked over Patroclese to the six guards alert around the cell, to the rest of the forty garrisoned within the guardroom. Added that she was barely strong enough to stand on her own, so even if she could batter down a locked cell door she doubted very much, with the best will in the world, that she'd be able to fight her way clear of the guards before the noise brought a hundred more men running! "Agreed," she told him, "You have my word."
Patroclese produced a key and unlocked the left wrist cuff of her manacles, allowing Xena to pull the shirt over her head and work her arms in, with Gabrielle guiding the chain and cuff through the sleeve. Once it was on, Xena fixed the healer with a cold stare and held up her wrists for Patroclese to snap the chain back into place. The same process was followed with the leg irons with a minimum of fuss.
"What about some boots," asked Xena, wriggling the toes of her bare feet.
"Sorry, that's all you get," shrugged the healer. "I'll be back this afternoon, just to check that you haven't taken too much out of yourself with the walking this morning."
As Patroclese left, Gabrielle admired Xena's new 'look', "Different," she said, and after another considering inspection, "Suits you."
"Yeah, well," drawled Xena unconvinced, "its better than nothing, as I well know, and it's a lot warmer too." She wriggled her toes again, "Pity about the boots, though."
"Oh yeah," grinned the bard, "they know how hard you can kick with boots on." She sat down close to the Warrior princess and said in a whisper, "Xena, if you've got any ideas of how to get us out of here, I think we'd better discuss them soon," an urgent note registered in her tone, "I don't think they're going to let me stay with you much longer."
The tall, dark haired warrior rubbed her friends arm in a reassuring gesture, ignoring the clank of the chains as a minor irritation,"I think they'll move you this afternoon when Patroclese comes back, " she agreed. "I'm back on my feet now and healing fast. they'll want you safe so that they can use you to hold me. Caesar won't want to take the chance that I'll get loose and break you free at the same time. In fact I'm surprised that they've let you stay so long." She tensed her muscles, testing her strength against the metal of the chains, "Perhaps Patroclese thinks I'm still too weak to put up a fight."
"Xena, you're barely able to stand up on your own. I think Patroclese might be right." She saw the dangerous glint in the Warrior Princess's eyes that said she'd rise to the challenge, "Don't even think about it, Xena," the bard warned. "You've only just started to mend. I want you to promise me that you'll wait until you're fit enough to stand a chance of success."
Xena had that stubborn look that the bard knew only too well, "Gabrielle, if there's any chance ...." she began.
"That's just the point," the bard broke in quickly, "there isn't any chance. So I want you to promise me that you'll wait," she insisted.
"Gabrielle ...."
"No, Xena. I want that promise," repeated the bard.
A look of angry frustration flickered across the Warrior Princess's features. She knew that she had to make the promise or Gabrielle would nag at her for the rest of the time they had together and she didn't want that, "I promise," she said reluctantly.
The bard smiled in relief, "I don't know what's going to happen to us, Xena. But let's try and make sure we survive if we can. You can't make Caesar pay if you get yourself killed you know," she said shrewdly hitting Xena's weak spot.
"I know," agreed the warrior, "Believe me I know."
