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Episode 3 of 'Conquered' Revelations
The warrior leaned over her map, one hand holding it down while the other punctuated her remarks with demonstrative jabs at the paper. "Post detatchments here, here and here," she ordered her captains cooly, "there's no other way out of the valley as far as I can see. I don't want a single one of the survivours escaping, they might tip someone off and I don't want Astradon getting word of our plan. Besides, slavers from the east will be passing this way in a few days and we can sell them these peasants for a fortune, you know how they love blondes." As she spoke the words she looked over at the girl who sitting in the other corner of the tent, her golden hair shining in the lamplight, and raised an eyebrow as if in warning. The girl's eyes flicked up at her captor, shone with confused horror at the implied threat, and then lowered again to the floor. Seeing how inexplicably devoted the girl had become to her in the last three months, the Conqueror had taken to making these teasing comments every now and again, just to keep Gabrielle on her toes. Despite her frequent cruelty towards her slave, she realised that the girl was getting more and more attatched to her, in fact it seemed almost as if the harsher she treated the young woman, the more attatched she became. Xena wasn't sure if she liked this turn of events. She liked her slaves to be obedient and attentive to her, but this was something else entirely. She swore the girl would actually die for her if necessary. She was used to eliciting respect, fear and lust, but never this kind of unquestioning devotion....she had to admit she found it rather disconcerting. When she had finished giving her instructions she dismissed her officers with orders to get a good night's sleep. They would leave at dawn to attack the town and it would be a long day, for though the place was small and seemingly insignificant it was srategically vital to her plan and it was imperative that the day went without a hitch. She rolled up her maps and put them away before striding over to the middle of the tent and ordering in a harsh tone "get over here, girl! Undress me." Gabrielle scrambled obediently to her feet and moved towards her mistress but, just as she reached out to remove Xena's weapons her wrist was caught and held tightly. She cowered under the blazing glare of the magnificent warrior, not daring to to look into her flaming eyes. "Were you eavesdropping, Gabrielle?!" asked Xena in a quiet but highly dangerous tone.
* * * * * * Gabrielle loved giving her mistress a massage and she had become quite expert at it. The warlord got so tense sometimes and the girl knew it could not be good for her; she was happy that she seemed to have the ability to relax her like this. There was, however, some confusion over the matter in her mind, as there was with so much to do with this mysterious woman. The fact that Xena was willing to put herself in this position of potential vulnerability could mean one of two things: either she trusted her slave completely, or she had complete disregard for her, the thought never entering her mind that the girl would have the ability, intelligence or motive to take advantage of the opportunity. Not that it was much of an opportunity. Xena may be relaxed and naked but if threatened she would still turn into a wild animal. Perhaps it was just that she had total confidence in her own abilities. The warrior sighed contentedly as she allowed the tightness to flow out of her. "Gabrielle," she moaned, "you are getting so good at this." She murmurred appreciatively as the girl's fingers dug into her muscles, "sometimes, I wonder how I ever managed before I found you."
The girl slipped under the furs and leaned over her mistress, whose eyes fluttered open at the movement. "Is there anything else I can do for you before you go to sleep, Princess?" she asked softly, her hand coming to rest on the woman's side. Xena caught the sparkle in her slave's eye and humphed lightly. "I'm sorry, Gabrielle," she murmurred, "I'm far too relaxed to make love to you tonight."
Gabrielle lay still for a while, wondering how to broach the subject that had been going through her mind for a while now. Eventually she reached out to run her hand through the dark hair that lay next to her on the pillow. "Princess," she enquired softly, "may I ask you something?"
"Who was she?" Gabrielle asked again after a while and when the warrior let her arm drop, the girl could swear she saw unshed tears shining in the deep, blue eyes. "The love of my life," she replied simply, "the first one who ever made me feel....complete.....and the last. When we made love it was like we were one person and when she made love to me she gave me so much pleasure I thought I would die of it." She swallowed and hardened her voice as she added "but the Romans killed her. She died protecting me and I changed. I'll never let anyone else touch me like that again."
* * * * * * The morning dew settled over the camp like a cool, crisp sheet and Xena stood up in her stirrups to look down into the valley. Nothing was stirring yet in the town below and as dawn began to creep up on it, painting the rooves of the little houses in pink and gold, its inhabitants had no idea what the Fates had in store for them that day. The Conqueror raised her hand and her army braced itself for action. When she was ready she reared her great war horse, swept her arm down and set off at a gallop, her shouting army thundering behind her to swoop down the valley and descend on the little community like avenging angels. They ripped through the town like a wildfire, rounding up everyone they could find and killing anyone that resisted their onslaught. Victory was swift and complete, and by mid morning the town was in ruins, many of the townsfolk merely corpses in the streets, and the rest huddled together in cages back at the warrior's camp. Several of the peasants had escaped but, as per Xena's orders, every one of them had been hunted down and killed before news of the attack could leak out. The day was not over yet though, there was still the matter of the fortress that lay at the valley's head to take care of. Xena regrouped her army and led them on toward the great structure. She would sleep with a solid roof over her head tonight! * * * * * * Astradon was an arogant man with absolutely no sense of his own limitations. He stood on the battlements of the fortress he had taken a mere two months before and surveyed the scene before him. The valley was beautiful now in the heat of summer, clothed in its bright green foliage, the river that ran along it glinting in the morning sun, bubbling and gurgling happily over its rocky bed; it was a sight to stir the soul. But it was not the greeness, or the lushness, or the beauty of the valley that made Astradon so proud to have conquered it. His contentment in his new possession came from one thing only. It formed a vital section of the trade route from the east and the caravans that came this way would have to pay him to pass along it. His eyes twinkled with avarice at the thought of the gold that would fill his coffers within a few short months. As he surveyed the horizon he was puzzled by the feint columns of smoke he saw rising out of the trees in the direction of Linaris, the little town that guarded the other end of the valley. He had left it largely unmolested because it provided him with supplies for his army, but the inhabitants were becoming restless with his tyrannical rule and there was talk of retaliation. Perhaps, he thought to himself smugly, the blacksmith was firing up his furnace to make weapons for the townsfolk to bring against him. The thought of a herd of untrainned, unruly peasants rampaging through the forest to lay seige to his mighty castle made him laugh out loud. His laughter died in his throat, however, as a arrow flashed past him, narrowly missing his ear, and stuck, quivering, into the door behind him. He turned, saw there was a note attatched and untied it from the arrow's shaft. The only mark upon the paper was a large 'X' in a circle. "Xena!" he scowled, his eyes darting over the forest around him, but he saw no one, nothing, not a hint of movement below. "Where are you, you bitch?" he hissed before shouting down into the courtyard below, "shut the gates and man the walls, we may have company!" He had been humiliated by Xena at their last meeting and had barely escaped with his life as her army soundly trounced his own. It had taken him months to recover the wealth and the manpower he had lost in that encounter and the defeat had been all the more humiliating for the fact that it was a woman that had delivered it. No woman ever got the better of Astradon, at least none ever would again. Now was his chance for revenge and he was determined to teach her lesson she would never forget. He leapt down the steps into the courtyard and began to yell his orders at the top of his voice. The conqueror had been biding her time further down the valley, placing a spy with a telescope - one of the spoils of her recent war in Chin - at the top of a massive oak tree, where he could see down into the castle and give her an account of its defenses. He had reported that there were no more than a hundred soldiers and the only unusal defense was a small, Roman-style catapault, which may have given them trouble if Astradon had had time to prepare. But the message the archer in the oak tree sent swishing past his head, left him no more than five minutes to prepare his defenses before Xena's horde landed on his doorstep. The inhabitants of the fortress had barely had time to shut the gates when the masses of Xena's entourage came thundering out of the trees. The catapault would be useless now, at such close range, and as long as the conqueror kept her army within its circle they would be safe from bambardment from the machine. Being that close to the walls, though, brought other dangers and her army had to endure bombardment of another kind, for the men on the walls were now tossing down rocks on their heads. She ordered her soldiers to hold their shields above them as they began to scale the ladders they had constructed, as others brought the battering ram to use against the massive gates. A few men were pushed from the ladders or hacked as they clambered over the battlements but enough of her warriors made it over the wall to begin the bloody battle and as the ram finally broke through the doors and the rest of them surged into the courtyard, Astradon's face paled even though his blood was boiling. As his soldiers battled for their lives against the merciless onslaught of the mighty conqueror's army, he turned to flee down the steps of the tower. His way, however, was blocked by a magnificent figure with flowing, black hair and golden armour. "Hello, Astradon," said Xena calmly with an arch of her eyebrow, "leaving so soon?" He had no chance to draw his sword before, with a roar of victory, she was upon him, her all-consuming power and passion leaving him no time to breathe let alone adequately defend himself. The once proud, arrogant man was soon on his knees cowering before her but she showed him no mercy and smiled at the feel of his flesh giving way to her sword. The battle was long and bloody, Astradon's soldiers seeming to fight better without him, but in the end there could only one winner. The rejoicing victors carried their commander high on their shoulders as they chanted her name joyously, "XE-NA....XE-NA....XE-NA...." and she accepted their devotion and praises with a raised sword and a roar of victory. She was pumped up already by the glorious conquest but by the time they let her down she was buzzing so hard she thought it must be audible. "Darphus!" she yelled, bringing the captain striding to her side, "send a detatchment to dismantle the camp and move everyone up here. But send Gabrielle on ahead, I want her here as soon as possible."
* * * * * * Gabrielle knocked tantatively on the door of the chamber and waited for permission to enter. Instead, though, the door was torn open and the Warrior Princess stood before her. She was breathing heavily under the blood-drenched aromour she still wore and her skin was slick with sweat. "Where have you been?" she demanded as she grabbed the girl and pulled her into the room, kicking the door closed behind her. Gabrielle had no time to answer, however, as she found herself yanked into stong, shuddering arms and violently kissed. Gabrielle had become used to the effect that tough battles and great victories had on the warrior. The battlelust that was created in her was so intense that in the aftermath of such a victory she sometimes became almost manic and could do nothing more before her lust and disire was quenched. Before Gabrielle came along she had usually sated it by raping one or more of the young women from the village or town she had just conquered but, for some reason she had not been able to fathom, she found Gabrielle much more satisfying and she had given up her former practise. The girl felt herself being lifted off the ground in the warrior's arms and squeezed against the unyeilding breastplate as the woman dived in to devour her kneck. "Princess..." she gasped, trying to free her arms to return the embrace, "let me....take off your armour....please." She struggled a little in the iron embrace and eventually managed to squirm her arms free and bring them around the warrior's neck. She had several of the buckles undone before Xena dropped her to her feet and pushed her against the wall. "Please, Xena," soothed the girl, "take them off."
This was not the making love that Gabrielle and Xena had discussed the previous night, this was pure animal lust, and it took hold of the girl now no less than it had claimed the warlord. She was already more than wet enough to make up for the fact that Xena now entered her viciously with no preparation, and the scream that tore out of her was not of pain but intense pleasure. She held tightly on to her mistress as the woman pounded into her, her grunts becoming louder with every thrust, and her ankles locked themselves behind the warrior's thighs, encouraging her to thrust harder and faster. Xena's other hand kneaded and pinched one breast while her mouth ravaged the other, her bites becoming harder and more painful and ever more pleasurable to the girl. They devoured eachother's lips and mouths with their kisses, the girl's hands clenching in the warrior's black hair and gripping the back of her head convulsively, not able to get close enough. The conqueror felt muscles tightly gripping her invading hand and delved deeper, a spear of arousal jabbing at her as Gabrielle cried out. "Aagh, huh....gods, Xena!!" She screamed as the tension built and built inside her, "m..mistress, pleeeaaase!" She shook uncontrollably as the explosion crashed through her and a wave of tingling heat rushed down her entire body leaving a cold sweat in its wake. The warrior raised herself up and roared like the wild animal she was as, a second later, the wave engulfed her too, and she collapsed on top of Gabrielle, shuddering and gasping for breath. When her strength returned, Gabrielle raised her arms and hugged the exhausted woman gently to her, smiling at the little grunt her action caused. Slowly, tenderly she rolled the warrior onto her back and lay down on her side. She studied the now relaxed face intently and gently ran her fingers down the warrior's cheek. Even streaked with sweat and blood, the woman was incredibly beautiful, breathtakiningly so, and Gabrielle trembled a little at the sight, even now. She smiled as the warrior's eyes opened and clear, deep, sparkling blue looked up at her. "Feeling better, mistress?" she asked, softly.
End of Episode 3  SW
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