Part Four
Xena notices several things as she moves. I am
never out of breath. And the warrior realizes she has no urge for food or
water. That is when the questions begin as she runs effortlessly through the
woods, along the paths and all night, all day.
What am I?
She passes through a village, one that is all too
quiet. She is cautious, nervous back among the living. Blue eyes dart around.
And if she listens intently enough, she can hear... beyond the edges of
reality... A voice... But it is
broken by the sudden rumble of hooves upon the ground. Xena jumps back,
startled. The voice is lost in a haze of dust.
What is going on with me?
The warrior stays to herself. She ignores the inn.
She bypasses the ragtag market. She clutches the now frayed parchment in her
tireless hands. Gabrielle...what is this all about? In her
former life, Xena found it hard to feel things, to allow emotions. Yet, her
body moved with a grace, an ease. Now... I feel
too much, sense too much. I am aware, then not.
Even her own thoughts seem different. They focus
with unnerving precision.
I am not like before.
Xena looks at the paper in her grasp once more.
She studies the threat, mulling it over and over. Who
wants the Amazons dead? There are no gods, no vengeful sons or name-making
warlords behind this pursuit... Who has this kind of wealth?
The ground shakes again, revealing the same group
of men on horseback as moments ago. It seems celebratory - and Xena then sees
why. Dragged by her arms, a young woman with the markings of a fighter upon her
face... an Amazon.
Before anyone can react, Xena is up, rushing
toward the girl.
Her fingers tighten, turning into a fist and
connects with someones face... then another and another, until every man there
is running, bloody and beaten.
She releases the Amazon, cradling her broken face.
"You...you are..." Weak. Fading. The
girl can barely form words.
Xena curses the fact that she didn't notice the
girl before, so caught up in her own confusion, her own mind.
"I am Xena. Who did this
to you?"
And the woman smiles, a brilliant and dying
expression.
"Artemis..." The Amazon whispers.
The goddess Artemis? She would not hurt the Amazons.
Xena sets up the pyre and lights it.
But they are all gone. Artemis is gone.
The warrior stands back, arms crossed and looks to
the sky. Smoke rises up, red and yellow sparks shoot forth.
Unless...
And Xena feels the tingle up her spine, the sense
of being watched. This voice, this sensation of being followed for
days...
"I know you are out there." Xena says
quietly, before turning away from the make-shift funeral and back to the road,
back to racing to the Amazons, to Gabrielle.
To an answer.