THE CHOSEN PART 6
By D.virtue
He came to The Conqueror after leading a successful campaign against one of
Draco’s and The Conqueror’s mutually hated enemy. It was then that The
Conqueror took him for her own soldier, although Draco didn’t like it, the
idea of losing one of his best soldiers he knew The Conqueror could have him
erased from the picture if he protested, but he found that by not voicing any
opposition he had gained a respectful position as a war advisor in one of the
kingdoms within her Realm and he would only have to answer to her and no one
else. He was also given the privilege of not having to salute her, this was
done for all the old times they’d had together. All of these things pleased
Draco that he did not argue, but excepted the offer.
Dreadus having been chosen to take the first watch as the exclusive protector
of the slave because of his idea about the rotating schedule, he felt somewhat
guilty about taking the credit for an idea that was not his own but in fact
had been one of the many tools used by The Conqueror in her days as a Warlord.
He remembered how the Warlord took her army against a rival warlord who
obviously didn't have the common sense to take the hint some of his soldiers
were giving him when they surrendered to The Warrior Princess without ever
raising their sword, and although he had thought he eluded the warrior
princess she had actually sent a detail of soldiers to find him with
instructions to just watch and report back to her where he was along with the
rest of his soldiers.
Dreadus actually shuddered at the memory of what followed the arrival of the
Warrior Princess into that camp. He remember seeing the evil that came into
the Beautiful woman’s blue eyes, she was like a Demoness from Hade’s realm who
brought Tartarus with her back to the world above. The carnage was
unbelievable. He even remembered how he himself had gotten ill at what he had
seen. Everyone of the warlord Avirus’s soldiers were slaughtered, and the
Warlord himself was slowly tortured to death while he pleaded for her to
spare his life, but after awhile he was pleading for her to end it. Her eye’s
dark and lustful at the sounds he was making as she tortured him. He
remembered how she smiled at his agony, it was as if she was gaining strength
from his agony and pain. Finally, he died.
The soldiers that had surrendered earlier before the battle were brought to
the battle area to see what had happened to their once fellow soldiers, then
taken to see their old leader. at which point all of them became ill and thus
convinced that what they had done was the only right choice. It was then and
there that everyone of the soldiers pledged their swords to fight and died if
need be to Xena The Destroyer of nations.
He also remembered the warning that was issued to the soldiers. By The
Conqueror,
“ If any of you ever betray me, or desert your post, I will make sure that
your deaths will take longer than it took your leader’s. Do I make myself
clear?”
he could see the twisted smirk on her face as if she were standing right in
front of him at that moment. He remember the effect and the results that
followed. None of those soldiers ever betrayed her, in fact,many of those same
soldiers had worked their way up in the ranks.
While thinking about the past, Dreadus saw Diana, she had come from around one
of the corners and was heading towards an Inn, and then he noticed the young
girl walking and talking in an excited way. he saw the kind gestures the slave
made to the young girl, he saw the admiration in the younger girls eyes and
the returned look of ...what was it? he couldn’t tell, was it a look of
concern, respect, friendship... as they got closer he recognized the look for
what it was...Love, as one would give to a sister or the dearest of friends,
just as he thought it, he heard the slave say to the younger girl,
“Gabrielle you are my sister as if by blood, I haven’t any family here ...but
you know part of the story behind that, anyway, whether I’m here or there you
will always be my sister and I will do whatever I can to protect you from
anyone who would hurt you including exchanging my life for yours without ever
a thought of regret.”
he noticed that the younger girl had stopped walking and was staring at the
slave with tears in her eyes. The younger girl, obviously being overwhelmed
with all the love she was feeling for the older girl grabbed the slave
around the waist and buried her face in the older girls arms and neck. Dreadus
noticed how the slave had obviously become overwhelmed by what the younger
girl had done saw how they just stood there holding each other.
Dreadus felt wetness on his cheek and with some irritation he said to
himself,
“I don’t believe this, wimp!”
wiping the dampness from his cheek he looked around to see if anyone had seen
his lost of composure, satisfied that no one had, he went back to watching
the two women who by now had broken their embrace and with a smile for each
other they headed towards the Inn.He followed from a distances stopping in
different doors as if interested in what was displayed in the windows, only to
return outside to see the two enter into the Inn. As he headed to the Inn he
noticed two Warrior Women, one was pointing in the direction the two girls had
gone and was now following them into the Inn. Dreadus having seen the
tenderness in the slave, was now feeling his role as that of the Protector.
He headed to the Inn and was inside within a moment , but then he realized if
the Warriors didn’t cause a problem he would be giving himself away
unnecessarily, so he decided to continue his watch and would only intervene if
he saw a real need. Dreadus saw that the slave and the young girl Gabrielle
had found a table at the further end of the dining hall much the same area
that Xena would have chosen for herself so that one could take in the whole
room but not be obvious. Dreadus saw that the two had just finished ordering
when the Two Warrior women followed into the dining hall.
Diana noticed the Warriors first and she immediately tensed without being
obvious. She had learned from her not to distance history , that at least one
woman warrior was capable of winning a fight against her, so she being
distrustful of other warriors was ready none the less if there were any plans
to hurt Gabrielle, or herself. Diana noticed that the two Warriors were
looking at her and Gabrielle, she then noticed they had no interest in
Gabrielle and with a sense of relief she relaxed.
She figured that if it was her they were after she could get them away from
Gabrielle by sending Gabrielle home and then handling whatever situation that
was presented. Diana watched the warriors make their way over to the table. It
was the caramel colored warrior who spoke first to Diana upon arriving at the
table.
“Hello ladies...”
acknowledging Gabrielle in the greeting.
“I’M Nebula and this is Atalanta ,we’re just visiting here for a while and
thought it would be nice to meet some of the locals.”
Nebula finishing with a smile.
Diana still suspicious of the two women assessed them. One brown the other
suntanned, both nice looking, neither actually dressed in a warriors outfit
but warriors of some type none the less. She noticed that they were taller
than she was but not quite Xena’s height, but tall never the less. After
assessing the two Diana finally responsed to the two warriors.
“Really?”
She said.
“Yes.”
said Nebula. Gabrielle feeling Diana was uncomfortable decided to see if she
could alleviate her concerns.
“Hi, I’m Gabrielle, and this is my sister Diana... “
“Sister?! “
both warriors said with surprise.
“Yes,”
Gabrielle said now grinning from ear to ear at the obvious look of confusion
on the two warrior’s faces. After a moment she let them off the hook ,she
finished and said,
“obviously not by blood, but sisters none the less. Sister’s who would die
for one another.”
Gabrielle’s words not being lost on any of them, including Diana who looked at
Gabrielle and smile.
The warriors stood for a moment more before Nebula said,
“No problems here.”
Atalanta then asked
“May we join you both for breakfast?”
the two young girls looked at each other and Gabrielle seeing no real
objection in Diana’s eyes said
“Join us.”
The two warriors smiled and grabbed a chair while waving the servant girl
over. They ordered breakfast and sat back in their chairs and waited for their
meals to come. It was Gabrielle who started asking all kinds of questions.
Doing the meal Diana had found out lots of information about the two warriors
and found she had not only become comfortable with the women but that she was
actually enjoying their company. They laughed and joked and she listened to
each of the stories being past around the table by Gabrielle and the two
warriors. Diana didn’t say much about herself and Gabrielle made sure not to
tell any of the stories that Diana had told her about her life. Dreadus
watched and listened to some of the exchanges, he laughed at some of those
that he could hear.
Diana was intrigued that Nebula was a pirate and the best there was, and that
Atalanta was an Olympian. The four women talked and laughed well past noon
meal before Diana said,
“ Gabrielle we have to go, Lila and them will think something’s happened.”
“Oh, ok,”
Diana noticed the disappointment in Gabrielle’s voice, especially since she
was in her element of story telling and learning more stories.
“We can have evening meal with Nebula and Atalanta if they want to join us?”
Looking at the two warriors, who were smiling,
“How could we pass up an invitation like that? we’ll be here.”
Nebula finished with a wink to Gabrielle. Gabrielle clapping her hands
together said
“Ok!. we’ll see you both back here for the evening meal, we might as well
finish?”
everyone looked at Gabrielle to gage her meaning and she laughed and said
“Well, we’ve already had morning meal, snack, drink, afternoon meal, snack and
drink, the only one left is evening.”
ending her logical summation with a
“right?”
everyone at the table laughed at the thought of having been sitting in the
same place for such a long time. Gabrielle knitting her brows together from
confusion as to why no one answered her question she asked again. “Right?”
everyone stopped laughing for the moment to look at Gabrielle because of the
tone of her voice, finally, almost at the same time they realized she was
waiting for an answer... Diana, Nebula, and Atalanta all said at the same time
“Oh yeah, right, right makes sense to us.”
then they all laughed again when Gabrielle finally said
“Ok.”
Diana and Gabrielle met the two warriors later that day for evening meal and
again they talked and laughed for hours. After saying good night to the two
warriors Diana and Gabrielle went up to her room. The next few days passed
pretty much the same way with the two girls enjoying the company of the
warriors . One evening after going to Diana’s room in the Inn, Gabrielle
asked if she could stay at the inn with her for the night so that they could
talk about the last few days. Diana knew that was not the reason why Gabrielle
wanted to stay. She knew Gabrielle wanted to hear more stories of her other
life, as well as, more about her experience with The Conqueror.
“Is it ok with your mother and them?”
“Yes,” I asked them before I met up with you this morning.”
“You are so sneaky.”
“No, not sneaky...just insightful.”
Gabrielle said with a straight face that was obviously trying to not break
from a threaten smile.
“Ok.”
Diana said, walking to the balcony and opening the doors.
”Great!”
Gabrielle said with excitement.
That night The Conqueror and Terais arrived in her armies camp. She was given
a brief update of the whereabouts of her slave to which she then ordered that
no one was to know they were there not even the other soldiers, and the watch
was to continue until they heard differently. She then turned to Terais and
said.
“ go and secure us rooms and report back to me once you have the rooms.”
After securing 2 rooms connected, Terais made her way back to the camp and
she reported where the rooms were, along with the setup of the Inn.
“Did you make it clear that the Innkeeper was to tell no one but one
servant that I was here?”
“Yes My Lord, I informed him if anyone at all found out that you were here,
that you would take it as a personal offense and disconnect his head from his
shoulders, and place it on a stick outside of the town as a warning, and
lesson to others of what happens to those that offend The Conqueror.”
The Conqueror smirked at the soldiers description of a punishment she use to
delve out on those early offenders. Terais blushed, at the humor the
description provided.
“I’m pleased.”
Xena said raising a brow to emphasize. Xena Knew that Terais’s desire for
her would cause her to misread the gesture. But she liked teasing her every
now and again. Terais seeing what she wanted from the gesture lit up with a
bright smile for the fantasy she longed for.
Xena and Terais made it to the Inn after Terais made sure everyone was indeed
gone as told to her by the Innkeeper. While Terais stopped at the Desk to
reinforce the warning, The Conqueror continued to the stairs and stopped at
the bottom and looked back to assess the man’s reaction to actually seeing The
Conqueror in his Inn.
He almost fell over when she first walked in. She was power incarnate, 6ft.
tall with Raven black hair flying behind her, piercing blue eyes and chiselled
features. He had heard of the Beauty of The Conqueror but no one did her
Justice. He could only think of one other woman that he had seen who was as
beautiful, and that was the young girl Diana.
The innkeeper never took his eyes off of The Conqueror, he also couldn’t help
but notice the clothing the Conqueror was wearing. She was dressed in Black
leathers with armor and weapons glistening. She was wearing a black and gray
two tone cloak fastened at the top. He then looked into her eyes and saw the
warning in them. He shuddered at the thought of their meaning, and he knew how
deadly The Conqueror was and it was this thought that caused the man to
tremble and pale in awe.
He handed a parchment to Terais and then turned back to the Conqueror and
bowing his head and lowering his eyes he said,
” My Lord, anything you wish for is yours to command, I am humbled that you
have chosen my Inn in which to stay.”
The Conqueror having made her point only said
“I know.”
With that, she turned and continued her stride up the stairs, with Terais
running to catch up so as to check for any peasants in the hallway, as well as
for any unexpected appearances by Diana.
They made it to the room which was quite large. It had four main doors the
entrance, the bedroom, the balcony, and one door to a connecting room.
“What’s this?”
“My Lord, I thought it would be better if I were close just in case you
needed me... “
Terais said trying to be convincing that there was no hidden reason.
“uhhuh, Xena said with a smirk and a meaningful look that said, who do you
think you are talking too. She closed the door and said
“if I need you, you’ll know.”
Turning she went to the balcony doors and asked
“Why a balcony?”
Terais didn’t say anything but just walked over to the doors and opened them.
Then motioned for The Conqueror to step out onto the balcony. The Conqueror
looked at her with some irritation towards her, but signing she stepped out
onto the balcony.
It was quite large and had an unobstructed view of a lake, and a few trees,
and some type of vegetation, possibly flowers, she couldn’t see what type,
but she could smell them. The moon offered light enough to make it a nice
looking evening. She then thought she smelled Hyacinth, one of her favorite
fragrances. At that same moment she thought of Diana and the sweet smell that
radiated from her when she had her pinned against the wall in the village
where they first met and also when she had her on the couch. Then another
thought crossed her mind, the Hyacinth was a foreign fragrance and it was only
imported to certain areas and then to specific people to which she personally
approved of, and so she knew one thing for sure Poteidia was not one of the
places she’d approved to receive it.
She was so deep in thought that she almost missed the voice. She looked around
at the other balconies to see if someone was on the other balconies, seeing no
one, she then heard the voice again coming from below her. She stopped to
listen to the voice again and
“Yes it was her.”
She thought about leaning over to see the speaker but decided against it due
to the risk of being seen, but she knew the voice, so she motioned to Terais
to bring a chair....Quietly. They then sat in the chairs that Terais had
brought out onto the balcony.
The end of part 6.
go to part 7.
Let me know what you think of the story so far (: