"Hold her!" commanded the stern voice of Sheraya who also seemed to be embroiled within the pile.
"By the gods!" came the muffled voice of Patroclese, "Has anyone bothered to tell this woman that she shouldn't have the strength for this?" he demanded only partly in jest.
"Someone please snag her wrist before she manages to take my eyes out!" wailed an unknown voice.
"How do you suggest we do that, Jade?" grumbled another unknown voice, "She's got more limbs than an octopus .. and I can't believe she's doing this and managing to stay asleep!"
Gabrielle shook her head in disbelief, "Alright! Everybody get off her. NOW!" She moved quickly across to the cot and, with a surprising show of strength hauled one of the Amazon's out of the fray, while the others tried to disengage themselves.
As the weight was removed from her body, Xena seemed to spring up off the bed directly into the protective arms of the bard. One look into the warrior's haunted eyes, told Gabrielle that her friend was indeed still held in Morpheus' realm and was experiencing one of those terrifying visions that so often assaulted her dreams. Visions that she fought violently against in her torment, lashing out at everything as she sought her path back to the light.
When Gabrielle wrapped her arms tight around her warrior friend's frame, the haunted look almost instantly faded from the bright blue beacons of Xena's eyes. The tension that had been flowing off of the raven haired woman in crashing waves, seemed to evaporate, and with it went the strength that had enabled her to fight off the six people who had been trying to subdue her.
"It's okay," Gabrielle assured her softly, her tone comforting and soothing. "You're safe here. I'm here. Nothing can harm you now."
The Warrior Princess slumped heavily against her smaller partner her eyes drifting closed as the bard's gentle words surrounded her with the unconditional love and protection that she offered the stoic, often withdrawn woman whom she had chosen to follow and befriend.
"Alright Xena. Back to bed," the honey blonde coaxed, "That's it. Carefully," came the encouragement as she got her safely seated on the dishevelled cot. "Now lie down so that I can pull the covers up. That's it," she gently pressed the exhausted warrior back down and snugged the blankets around her, frowning heavily at the frayed evidence of the ropes that had been used, unsuccessfully, to bind the warrior to the bed.
Once she had her friend tucked in, she sat down on the edge of the cot, taking one large hand in her much smaller grasp, and lightly brushed the dark bangs away from her champion's closed eyes as the warrior allowed herself to drift fully into a restful sleep for the first time since she had been brought to the infirmary.
Silence reigned in the cabin, other than for Joxer's snores and the wheezing gasps of Lasca which were slowly being brought under control. Patroclese looked down at the two women and shook his head in wonder, "I have never seen anything like that," he said with studied disbelief. "How does she do that?" he said almost rhetorically.
Sheraya, who looked up from where she was tending to the gulping young Amazon, shook her head slightly and winced from the pain of the purpling bruise that had been raised on her cheek just beneath her right eye which would, no doubt, induce the flesh surrounding the orb to turn black. "It can only be trust," she muttered, turning her attention back to the young warrior in case she had damaged more than her pride. Being on the receiving end of one of the Warrior Princess' fists could well result in a cracked or broken rib ... even if the said Warrior princess was far from capable of lashing out with her normal power.
Ignoring everything, except making sure that Xena was settled down enough to get some much needed rest, Gabrielle fought hard to control her rising temper. Not only had she returned to the infirmary to find her best friend fighting with the people supposedly caring for her wounds, but there was also clear evidence that showed the warrior had been tied down to the bed.
- The stupidity ... the idiocy of it! - she silently snarled. - Don't these fools realise just how badly hurt she is? - She had the grace to colour lightly as she heard the painfully wheezing Lasca being helped to her feet and led to where she could sit quietly on a chair to fully recover. - Alright, - the bard conceded, - Even out on her feet she's more than a match for most people. They could have come to get me .. she would have been alright with me looking after her. -
Gabrielle cracked a mighty yawn that even a healthy dose of angry adrenaline couldn't keep at bay. - Okay, so maybe I wouldn't have been much use. But me just being here would have kept her calm. - Seeing that Xena was resting peacefully, she carefully disengaged her hand from the warrior's larger one, soothing her softly as the injured woman looked about to start fussing, "Take it easy, I'm still here. I won't leave you again."
Satisfied that she would continue to rest, the bard stood, crossed her arms over her chest and moved across to confront Sheraya, "Just what in Tartarus was going on in here when I arrived?" she demanded.
The Amazon healer noted the rigid set of her queen's shoulders and the uncustomary scowl on the normally laughing face, "She was having a nightmare. I needed to stop her from thrashing about and opening her wounds again. Or would you rather I allow her to bleed to death?" snapped the older woman, her own personal pain and loss making her less than diplomatic in her reply.
Gabrielle's scowl was replaced by a frown. She knew that Sheraya had a reputation for speaking her mind and for taking no nonsense from any Amazon of any rank, but even she had never been this blatantly rude before. Something was upsetting the healer, making her more abrupt and more than normally vitriolic in her remarks. However, at the moment, it was Xena that concerned the bard and she replied with a cold anger, "No I wouldn't." She twirled the end of a piece of rope in her fingers, "Why was Xena tied down? Isn't that a rather unusual way to care for a sick patient?"
Sheraya's brown eyes became stormy, "It is when the said patient is thrashing around so much that she is a danger to both herself and her healers!" She touched her purpling cheek and saw the bard's eyes twitch away from her own. "However, even that precaution didn't seem to work with your champion, my Queen ... whereas your arrival worked wonders." She took a deep breath and ploughed on, "So I think it may be best if you remain in the infirmary ... that way my other patients might get some rest and I may be able to treat them all without having to hold down a ... delirious warrior," she finished weakly having changed her wording from psychotic to delirious when the young queen's eyes took on a defensive glint and challenged her to say anything detrimental.
"That might be for the best, yes," conceded Gabrielle graciously, successfully hiding her smirk behind her hand as she manufactured a cough.
"However," the healer's tone was once more filled with steel, "you will follow instructions from me or Patroclese while you are here ... I shall expect you to help with the other patients, but your main responsibility will be to ensure that Xena doesn't cause any more havoc!"
"Of course, Sheraya," agreed the bard meekly. She wasn't about to cross the volatile healer any more than necessary ... although the Warrior Princess might argue the fact, she rarely went looking for trouble. And aggravating the intimidating Amazon healer was looking for trouble with a big stick.
Sheraya looked at the young woman dubiously, - Girl's got backbone, - she thought. - Suppose she needs it being around the warrior all the time. Well while she's in my infirmary she'll do what I tell her ... or we'll see just how much backbone she really has got! -
"Right lets go and check on her wounds ... see what damage she's caused by throwing herself around that way."
"Yes Sheraya," answered Gabrielle submissively.
"Then we need to change Poni's bandages and check for infection ... you say you have had medical experience?"
"Yes, Sheraya."
"Well that's something to be thankful for ... then we must check that Joxer's legs are set straight and I want to give Patroclese another examination before I let him out of that bed for good ... it will be helpful to have another qualified healer to help here ...."
Gabrielle trailed along in the older woman's wake, knowing that it was going to be a difficult few days ... so long as they could evade Caesar's ships ....
With the wind still favouring them, 'Wave Dancer' stretched over the swells doing his best to maintain the ever decreasing lead he had over the ten chasing biremes snapping at his heels. Further behind those ten limped the two vessels chastened by their brief run in with 'Dancer's' inventive captain, and unusually talented crew.
- About a couple of candlemark's past midday, - estimated Nebula, squinting speculatively at the bright sun above them. - with the wind running true we must have been covering at least seven miles in an hour ... so maybe nine hours sailing, that should put those damned cays and rocky isles just about in sight. -
"Two points to starboard, Iolaus," she instructed her current helmsman, sparing him a long burning look as she devoured the sight of his compactly muscular body. - Rrrrwwwlllll - she purred silently, - Down girl ... time enough for that later when we're out of these waters! -
"Aye, aye, Captain," agreed the blonde hunter, turning the wheel to make the course correction required, and felt the slow burn of a blush that radiated up his neck and made his ears glow, as he realised that the pirate's predatory eyes were on him once more. He decided to try and ignore it as best he could. Every time he'd objected to her scrutiny so far, he'd come off the worse in the verbal sparring that had ensued.
Nebula pouted a little as Iolaus declined to say any more and turned her attention to the ships chasing along behind them. Although they were closing at a consistent rate, they weren't attempting to race each other any longer .. obviously having learned their lessons from the earlier failure of the two defeated ships. - No. This bunch intend to catch us en-masse, and not give us any chance to slip away from them. -
She turned back to her study of the sea ahead .. - Somewhere, just out there, is what I need to get us some leeway and time so that we can lose them in the night. All we have to do is get there with a little bit of a lead so that we can work some sailor's magic! - she told herself.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop giving Iolaus such a hard time," said Hercules softly, having approached her so silently that she'd failed to register his presence.
Controlling her natural reaction, which was to jump out of her skin, Nebula responded as nonchalantly as she could manage, "Oh? I didn't think my presence was a cause for hardship. Besides, he's hardly a callow youth. If he has something he wants to .. say to me, well then I'm sure he's man enough for the job."
"Nebula," sighed the demi-god patiently, "this really isn't the time or place for this."
"For what, Hercules?" asked the pirate, batting her eyes innocently.
The tawny haired hero looked astern at the ships that dogged them, "With a substantial squadron of Caesar's ships and men after us, we don't have time for you to be flirting with Iolaus ... we're in too much trouble and we need your undivided attention on the matter at hand."
"Oh my mind is definitely on the matter at hand," she replied casting a smouldering look towards the ships wheel and the man in question. She saw the look forming on Hercules' face and sought to forestall him by saying, "Besides, I don't flirt!"
"Oh?" the son of Zeus looked at her with exasperation plain on his face, "And just how would you describe what you've been subjecting Iolaus to?"
"Subjecting? Oh no, no, no, no, no! You have that wrong lover. Iolaus was just caught up in my allure. He was enchanted by the rapture of my dazzling attraction. In short .. his desire is on heat, but he hasn't worked up the courage to do something about it yet .... Maybe by the time he does, I'll have lost interest. After all .. it's the joy of the hunt that's important. Being able to predict your prey's actions and reactions is often more fun than going in for ...," she sent a wicked, wanton smile in the blonde's direction, " .. the kill!" she finished.
Hercules shook his head in almost stunned disbelief, "Have you been hanging out with my sister, Artemis, by any chance?"
"Girl with a bow? Green eyes? Chestnut hair?" she asked.
"Sounds like her," agreed Hercules with a frown.
"Sorry ... never seen anyone like that in my life!" grinned the pirate irritatingly.
"Dammit Nebula!" swore the demi-god .. hating to be made a fool off. "Can't you take anything seriously?" he demanded.
"I'll tell you what I take seriously, Herc. I take the welfare of my ship seriously, because 'Dancer' gives me the freedom to live how I want, not how some would force me. I take the threat of those ships behind us seriously, because they'd take away my freedom and maybe my life. I take the pleasures of life today, seriously .. because there may not be a tomorrow. But until we reach those islets, or the Romans catch up to us, there's not a whole damn lot I can do .. so I seriously intend to have some fun. Iolaus is a big boy, Hercules. He can look after himself. Why don't you go and see how that Warrior Princess of yours is doing, and save us all some aggregation."
"Nebula ... leave him alone," warned the hero. "He needs to be focused on steering the ship when the time comes, not having his thoughts scrambled so that his reactions are slowed. It's going to be a long voyage ... you have plenty of time to play your games with him once we're loose from our chasing tail."
The pirate thought hard for a moment. It was true that she got a lot of enjoyment out of teasing the blonde hunter ... and sometimes she believed that it went beyond teasing on her part ... but what Hercules had said was true. Iolaus needed to have his wits about him for the coming dance through the rocky shelves and their attendant sandy cays and high barren islets where she intended to try and shake free from pursuit.
"Alright, Herc. I'll leave him be until we've ditched the Romans ... then he's fair game. Deal?" she asked.
"Deal!" he nodded in reply and turned away with a wry grin on his face. He suspected that on an even playing field, where Iolaus didn't have to split his concentration, he might just give the pirate a run for her dinars.
