Chapter 6
Livia dressed quickly but before she could leave the room to find Augustus, Ares appeared.
"Going somewhere? I though you might want to stay and play?" He gave her his best smile while his arm snaked out to pull her body close to his.
She pushed him away angrily. "Why didn't you tell me there is a rebel army a league away from here? I looked like a fool in front of Augustus. Now I have to go and assure him that I am the only one that can take care of this problem before he decides that he doesn't need me anymore."
Ares' eyebrow rose at her tone of voice and his eyes darkened in anger. She was never a witness to his temper before; the God of War always showed her the side he wanted her to see. She was about to experience the full spectrum of a god's wrath. A bolt of red lightning hit her body pinning her against the wall. Ares advanced on her like a hungry tiger. "You would do well to remember who taught you how to fight, Livia. I am not your lap dog. If I want you to know something then you will; otherwise, you will have to fight the rest of your battles alone. Now, go run after your Caesar and see if he will treat you any better than his uncle treated his 'lady love.' Don't call on me, Livia, the next battle you will have to fight on your own. See if you have what it takes to take the throne that you see as yours." He disappeared the same way that he appeared.
Livia felt a moment of real fear. She knew that she could lead the Roman Empire but what if it was only because Ares had been on her side. What would happen now? Livia straightened her shoulders and marched out of the room. She didn't need him; she didn't need anyone.
~~~~~~
Elissa fell back into a troubled sleep only to dream once more. This time her dream was a normal prophetic dream showing her the enemy's plan. She saw Livia commanding a large contingent of Roman soldiers and they were marching towards the encampment. She heard Livia order that no one be left alive and the bodies were to be desecrated as a warning to any others who dared to raise arms against Rome.
She got up quietly from the bed so as not to wake her mother. Slipping through the camp towards Xena and Gabrielle's tent, Elissa silently moved inside. Xena sat up and looked at their intruder in question. Elissa put a finger to her lips then motioned to the still sleeping Gabrielle and Xena nodded.
The two stepped outside and before Xena could say a word, Elissa spoke. "I had a prophetic dream. The Romans know about us and will be marching on us in the morning. There were legions of them led by Livia herself. I have an idea of how we can surprise them but you are the leader of this army and it will be your decision." She explained what she had in mind and Xena agreed having used a similar method and knew its effectiveness. The two women went about waking up the rest of the camp and explaining the plan. They assigned different work details both glad to be on the opposite side of the camp from each other. Two strong personalities either mesh or clash, unfortunately they were destined from the beginning to clash.
Lysippe found her daughter ordering people about her face glowing with exhilaration. She couldn't help but smile at her child, there was nothing Elissa like better than a good campaign. She was able to see the weakness in plans and solve problems with ease. "You seem much better. Why didn't you wake me? I know that you had another dream."
"I wanted to let you sleep after waking you earlier. I told Xena since it was her decision to make as the leader of this army. We are getting along, mother." Elissa stopped what she was doing to smile at Lysippe. "As long as we stay on opposite sides of the camp."
The impish gleam in her daughter's eyes caused the Amazon queen to laugh. "What do you want me to do? I already have our area taken care."
"They need some help over there with those pits. Go and show them what it means to have a real leader."
~~~~~
Livia addressed her troops as she rode back and forth before them. "These savages need to be taught a lesson once and for all. Their will be no quarter given and once they all lay dead at our feat we leave their bodies for the carrion to feast on. They have dared to defy Caesar, to defy Rome. We are going to show them the error of their ways in the most painful ways possible. Who is with me?"
"LIVIA. LIVIA. FOR CAESAR, FOR ROME." They stomped their feet and started their march to battle. The higher-ranking soldiers were on horseback but the majority was on foot. Swords beat on shields in time with marching feet and drums.
She rode ramrod straight in the saddle. They had called out her name before Caesar's or Rome's. Her destiny was to rule Rome with or without Ares' help. As soon as she returned victorious once more, Augustus would take her back to Rome and marry her. Livia knew she would have to wait a short time before doing away with the Emperor then take his place and rule all of Rome and possibly the world. She kicked her horse into a gallop anxious to get to the camp and begin this battle that would begin her true destiny.
They thundered into the camp only to find it empty. There wasn't a single sound to be heard and all the campfires were stone cold. Livia went into a rage tearing anything within reach. She stormed through the camp and the others didn't know what to do but to follow along behind her. Once they were directly in the middle, surrounded on all sides by tents all hell broke loose.
People appeared as if by magic, they dropped down from the trees, from pits dug in the ground even tarps laid on the floors of the tents. They surrounded the Roman army like locusts with wild battle cries. The soldiers were used to overpowering their enemies by sheer numbers combined with fear and the advantage of surprise. They had none of these on their side this time. This was guerilla warfare and the 'enemy' was the only one who knew the rules of engagement. The savages as they called them were experienced warriors used to fighting in close conditions.
Roman after Roman fell to a spear, arrow or sword. The battle was not going to be a Roman victory this time. Elissa saw Livia fighting not far from her and headed over to put an end to the Roman bitch's reign of blood once and for all. She saved a young man from Livia's sword by stopping it with her own.
"Why don't you try me? I understand you have a taste for Amazon blood. Care to try some of mine?"
"I thought I had taken care of all your kind but I will remedy that fast enough." Livia lunged forward only to be blocked. Her arm tingling all the way up to her shoulder and her eyes widened in shock. Once again, she knew the taste of fear and wanted to call Ares but knew that he wouldn't come.
"You aren't as good as you thought you were; what a pity. What won't your lover come and rescue you? Now get ready to die like the bitch that you are." Elissa swung at Livia again and again forcing her to the ground. She knocked the sword out of her hand and was about to administer the killing blow.
~~~~~
Xena fought two Roman soldiers at once finishing them off then looked for her next target when she stopped dead in her tracks. It couldn't be but it was - Eve. Xena took off running to get to her daughter before Elissa killed her. She shoved the Amazon from behind to stop her from stabbing Eve.
Elissa turned and when she saw who stood there her eyes narrowing and turned into green ice. "I should have known that you would betray us. Were you working with her and Ares all along?"
"Elissa, you don't understand she isn't who you think she is. She's..."
"She is the person responsible for wiping out whole tribes of my sisters not to mention your own people Xena, Warrior Princess. But that doesn't matter does it; you brought us here to help her finish what she started. You make me sick. I've heard the talk of how you and Gabrielle help people; that you are trying to make up for your past but you are no different than this animal and never will be." About to turn back to the battle at hand, she never got the chance.
Livia watched the two women argue as she inched towards her sword. Once it was in her hand, she stabbed Elissa through the back. She smiled at Xena in thanks while Xena watched in horror at what her daughter had done to an honorable woman. What had her daughter become and would she be able to protect her from not only the Gods but also now from every remaining Amazon?
Lysippe ran across the clearing after watching Xena's part in her daughter's death. "I will kill you myself then I will finish what my daughter started. I told you that you should step down if you couldn't lead. Elissa warned me that you would betray us but just this once I wanted one of her dreams to be wrong." She was an excellent fighter even stronger than normal fueled by a mother's anguish and rage at the murder of her child.
"It was an accident. I didn't want Elissa to die, even though we didn't see eye to eye I admired her skill. Please Lysippe let me explain." Xena merely defended herself from the Amazon who seemed to have grown several additional arms and legs.
"No, no more explaining, now fight me or die." She swung her sword again followed by a fist to Xena's face.
Gabrielle saw her lover and friend fighting and didn't understand what was happening. She rushed over to stop them. In all the confusion and seeing that they had lost the battle Eve slipped away. Xena kept an eye on the way that she went and sighed when Gabrielle stepped forward.
"Lysippe, what is going on? Stop this now, Xena isn't the enemy."
A hysterical laugh burst from her lips. "That is where you are wrong old friend. Are you a part of this? Have you betrayed us as well? Did you lure us here to wipe out the Amazon nation?"
"I don't understand what you are talking about. Xena what is going on?"
"What we have been searching for is here and I need to go after it before we lose it again."
Understanding lit Gabrielle's face and she nodded. Xena ran off after Eve and Lysippe tried to follow but couldn't get by. The two former friends struggled but ended when Gabrielle accidentally stabbed Lysippe. She gathered the Amazon queen into her arms as they fell to the ground. "I'm sorry; Xena is only trying to save someone's life someone very important to her."
"Like she saved the life of that Roman bitch?" Lysippe coughed up blood. "Like she stopped that same bitch from killing my child. I curse you, Gabrielle, you are Amazon no more and each time you meet the one who holds the largest part of your heart you will lose them once again. It will be an endless cycle the same one that played over in my mind a thousand times in the few short minutes it took for me to watch my child die."
Gabrielle looked on in horror. Eve killed Elissa, for some reason this saddened her even more than the death of Lysippe by her own hands. She carefully laid her old friend down then rushed after Xena, the curse ringing in her ears.
Chapter 7
Elissa sat up taking in a deep gasp of breath. Standing up on shaky legs, she looked around only to find dead bodies everywhere, their own army, and Romans. Her legs quickly returned to their normal strength and she rushed over to any of the bodies that she recognized. Her search continued and her hope soared with each body that she turned over that wasn't her mother. Finally, she turned over the last one with a shaking hand, her head fell back and a scream tore from her lips that echoed throughout the empty valley.
There was a ritual that was known only to Amazons and Elissa used it now. She touched her fingers to her own eyes then pressed them to her mother's. "From sister to sister, mother to daughter, share you last moments with me so that I may know whether you died in battle with honor or by deceit."
Her mother's last moments on earth replayed in Elissa's mind causing tears to fall down her face. She picked up her mother's body and carried it to a clearing deeper in the woods. Elissa made several more trips for her sister Amazons placing them side by side creating their tribal symbol then set them on fire. "Artemis, hear my cry. Your daughters were betrayed when they came to one who took the right of caste. They fought honorably and should pass into Eternity. I will avenge their deaths and make the ones responsible pay. Take care of my mother and my tribe. I am as always your servant."
Elissa walked away after calling for her horse and happy to have him answer. She made a special note of all the face that were not among the dead and promised her that she would find them no matter how long it took her. She knew how most men felt about Amazons and if any of her sisters were injured; they would be easy targets for capture. Some men would keep for themselves while still others they would sell to slave traders. Elissa would not allow this to happen and she didn't care if she had to go to the ends of the Earth to find them; she would return her remaining sisters to their home.
She gathered what remained of her and her mother's things from their tent then rode out of the valley up to the highest hill above it. Looking back down on it as far as the eye could see there were dead bodies, Elissa looked up to the sky and once again asked a god for help. "Mighty Hades, do not allow these soldiers who fought bravely on both sides do not allow their bodies to be desecrated send them on their way into the after life."
~~~~~
The gods who remained on Olympus, now led by Athena for the last twenty years, watched the scene as it played out. This Amazon princess, who was in fact now the queen with her mother's death, even now after everything that had happened was asking for mercy for her enemy along with her own fallen comrades, she intrigued them all.
"Do you think she knows yet what she is and what she is capable yet still of becoming?" Athena turned to her half-sister Artemis.
"She is a child of prophecy which means she knows more than any mortal should but we all know that she isn't a mere mortal. When Dahak impregnated Gabrielle, the two parts of the child's soul fought within, and the dark side, with Dahak's help, won. That doesn't mean that Elissa is still not the daughter of a god, each of us have a light and dark side. She is all that was once good in Dahak before his corruption by his hunger for power. We have all seen it before sister, even in our own father. Now that Xena has chosen this course, I am afraid that Elissa will remember everything. There will be no turning back this time and no way to stop what will be. Our time is fading and it cannot be stopped. The Fates are already weaving the threads of our last days. The only remaining threads shining throughout their weaving are Elissa's and Hercules'. They will be the remaining children of the true gods. The offspring of lesser deities are scattered about but they have no real power and are not true immortals."
Artemis stopped talking to watch the young woman whom she personally removed from the Amazon Land of the Dead. She watched over this particular Amazon since her second birth. Elissa was soon to learn about her heritage, her past and her gifts. Artemis wondered exactly what she would do with that knowledge. Elissa watched as the bodies melted into the ground as if pulled under by invisible hands. She sighed with relief to know that the dead would rest.
Chapter 8
Elissa's horse walked away from the camp as if it knew exactly where it was going. She watched for signs from her sisters and wasn't surprised to see one not far from the encampment. There attached to a bush was a small lock of hair, it could easily pass for an animal's fur except for the intricate braiding. She followed the trail for the rest of the day to a camp of roughly twenty men. They sat around the fires while three women, who Elissa recognized as Phoebe, Celaneo and Eurybe shuffled about with their feet, tied together pouring wine in waiting flagons.
She watched the men laugh and grab at the women making ribald jokes about what they planned to do with them. How they would teach them about being a real woman. Elissa moved forward silently, waiting for her chance to free her sisters. It came quickly and she acted in response to the opening provided to her. Her knife sliced through Phoebe's bindings and the Amazon guard found a sword once more in her hand. She freed Celaneo and Eurybe then went to help Elissa teach the men what it meant to treat Amazons dishonorably.
Elissa let out a war cry then flipped through the air straight into the middle of the men. They looked on in shocked wonder when she knocked the wine from their hands with her foot. Her sword moved around her wrist in a blur while her hands and feet lashed out administering Amazon justice. The others joined her happy to have their honor returned to them. They didn't mind losing in battle, any warrior expected their time to come in that manner. It was the fact that the men who they allied themselves with betrayed then captured them. With Elissa there to lead them, it didn't take them too long to overpower the men.
"Who leads you?" Elissa demanded, pushing the tip of her sword into the side of the closest man.
"We aren't telling you anything, Amazon." A burly man near her spat out only to receive a foot in the face.
"When I want your opinion I will ask it. Now, who is the leader here? If you do not speak up I will kill each of you, one by one." The men laughed nervously but stopped abruptly when Elissa's sword cleanly skewered the first man. "Anyone else think that I am not speaking true?" Complete silence met her question. "I didn't think there would be. I will ask until I have my answer."
"I am the leader here." A middle age man spoke out.
She walked over to him then bent down close so that she could look into his eyes. "Did you order these men to capture my sisters? Warriors, who agreed to come to your aid in a fight which was not their own and they were treated as chattel. Please explain this to me, so that I will be able to understand. I find myself with an uncontrollable need to teach a severe lesson here. Explain to me why I should not?"
The leader was a seasoned warrior and this was his twenty-fifth campaign. He faced Romans, Barbarians and none had caused him the fear this small woman did. There was an air about her that left no doubt that she could and would do what she said.
"When the fighting was over there were only a few hundred of us left. It took everything that we had to pay for this war and lots of our women were lost as well. The few women that were still alive were all Amazons. We decided that we would start over and captured them. My men would take them as wives; they were to be honored not abused."
A harsh bark of laughter erupted from Elissa's mouth. "You think that capturing them to become your wives was an honor? Did they not beg you to allow them to bury our dead? I know that they explained that in order to find peace in our fields of rest a proper ceremony was needed?" The man at the end of her sword gave a small nod, hoping not to cause her to cut his throat. "But, you in all your manly wisdom thought nothing of their request or the fact that they had families that they left behind to come and help your people. You spit on all of our beliefs and ways of life, tell me one reason why I should not send you to join your fallen men?"
"I, I can tell you what the others planned to do with the other women." He gasped out when the point shallowly pierced his skin.
"You will tell me that no matter what fate I decide for you. If you do not, then I promise to kill you slowly but not before, I kill each and every one of your men. The one who looks like you, a son perhaps? He will be first. Now start talking." Her anger came off of her in waves that blasted all those in close proximity.
Phoebe looked at the other two Amazon's with a spark of fear deep in her eyes. They all admired and respected their new queen but her famous temper had never burned this hot before. Each of them knew that Elissa would lay down her life for them but they were used to having Queen Lysippe around to help temper the young princess's volatility.
The leader's words spilled over the top of one another, but Elissa didn't miss a single syllable. The other men didn't want to have to take the time to 'tame' a wild Amazon. They decided to sell them to slave traders with the hope that they would make enough money to start over again. Each man's name and description was burned into her mind while she decided what to do with the ones in front of her now. She looked over to her sisters and knew that they needed to return to the tribe.
"Get up." She moved her sword back a mere inch allowing him to get to his feet. "Since your crimes are against my sisters even more than me, they will decide what happens to you now."
Phoebe looked at Celaneo and Eurybe then stepped forward to speak for all of them. "There has been enough killing, my queen. Let them go so that we may go and find our missing sisters as quickly as possible."
Elissa nodded to her second in command. "You have found pardon from those you would have separated from their tribe and families. Be glad that they were responsible for your sentence; I wouldn't have been as lenient. Go before I change my mind."
She didn't have to say it twice. The men rushed for their horses not even bothering to break camp. Soon the four women were the only ones in sight for miles around. Elissa walked over to her own big black horse, easily mounting it in one smooth movement.
Phoebe rushed to her side and laid a hand on her thigh. "Where are you going my queen? We need a few moments to gather our things and dismantle the camp."
Elissa looked down at her friend. "You aren't coming with me, Phoebe. I need you all to return to our home. Let the others know about our sister's fate. I need you to stand in my place until I can return the ones that were taken. You all have someone waiting for you and they need to know that you are still alive. I can't return until I know that all of my sisters are free. There is something else that I must do which no one can help me with; it is my last promise to my mother. I will make those responsible for her death pay and I can't return home until I do. When I find each of those taken from us, I need to know that you will be there to welcome them home."
Sadly, the Amazons understood that they had no choice but to obey the orders of their new queen. They watched her ride off in the opposite direction the men fled. Phoebe turned back to quietly begin the task of breaking down the camp. Celaneo and Eurybe joined her and all three women ignored the silent tears that dripped down their faces.
Chapter 9
Gabrielle and Xena finally caught up with Livia who was not happy to learn that the gates of the city have been closed to her. She stood outside of them demanding that she be allowed inside, that as Octavian's representative and commander of his armies they had no right to keep her out.
"Emperor Octavian gave me the orders personally. You are no longer to be associated with Rome in anyway. I have been left in charge of the city. The Emperor sailed for the mother country as soon as you were out of sight. No one will follow you again, Livia. Go and see if you can survive without the hand of Rome protecting you." He spat over the edge of the gate causing Livia to jump back.
She spun her horse around cursing Octavian, Xena and anyone else she could think of for her current predicament. That was anyone but herself. She looked up to the skies and screamed her lover's name. "Ares!"
He appeared with a flash of light and his trademark smirk was firmly in place. "You screeched dear?" His eyebrow rose in challenge.
Livia remembered their last meeting and quickly changed her tone. "I need you, Ares. I have no one but you." She moved close to him, her hands smoothed over his bare chest. They slid inside his leather vest to tease flat brown nipples.
Goose pimples pricked his skin, but he caught her hands to stop their movements. Ares knew Livia better than she knew herself. She reminded him so much of Xena in the early years. Just thinking her name caused her beautiful face to appear in his mind's eye.
~~~~~
Xena and Gabrielle watched from their hiding place. It was all that Gabrielle could do to keep her lover from going after the God of War. "Xena, please, calm down. We can't talk to her with him there. It is obvious that they are involved and if you attack him, Eve will only pull further away."
The Warrior Princess walked away knowing that Gabrielle was right but it didn't make it any easier. She couldn't believe that her daughter and her ex-lover were involved. It was almost incestuous in her mind. Too many things had happened in a single day for Xena to be able to wrap her mind around them all. She closed her eyes only to see Eve kill Elissa without an ounce of remorse. It was still unfathomable to her mother's heart to realize that Livia and Eve were one in the same. Her daughter surpassed her mother's ruthless and bloodthirsty past, which was breaking Xena's heart. She thought that Eve would be safe if she wasn't around but now she realized that it only made things worse.
"We did the only thing that we could. Everything we did was to protect her, Xena. No one could foresee the way that this would all come about."
A small hand cupped Xena's cheek to force her to turn back to the bright green eyes that knew and loved her so well. Xena closed her own piercing blue eyes and reveled in the peace that Gabrielle's touch always gave her. "I know Gabby but she is so close and I want to help her. How could she turn out this way? She is worse than anything I have ever done. It wasn't supposed to be this way, she was supposed to have a good life, be a good person."
"We will show her how to do that. You changed and it only took the right person to help you see that what you were doing was wrong. Hercules helped you and we will help her. I know what it feels like to do something that you wished you could take back and so do you. We can teach Eve how to live with what she has done and to instruct her in how to be a better person." They both turned back to watch the rest of the conversation between Eve and Ares.
~~~~~
"What happened, Livia? I thought that you were supposed to show those heathens the error of their ways."
"There were more of them than the scouts reported and they ambushed us. They annihilated my whole army. I barely escaped with my life but I took out that Amazon bitch even if I didn't get a chance to kill that Warrior Princess."
Livia screamed when Ares hauled her roughly up to growl in her face. "Did anything happen to her? Tell me now!"
"Why? What do you care about some pathetic fool who fights with these savages?" Ares shook her until Livia thought her neck would snap. "I didn't do anything to her but when I left she was alive."
Ares dropped her on the ground and walked away from her. "You are lucky that you didn't try becuase she would have handed you your head."
"What are you talking about? I would have taken her but that isn't important now. What am I supposed to do now, Ares? Octavian returned to Rome without me. He was supposed to take me to be his Empress. Then I would have found a way to take the throne away from him and rule Rome myself. You will take care of me won't you? I mean we are lovers." She looked up at him with a soft look in her eyes. Eve never intended to end her relationship with the God of War when she married Octavian.
"Sorry Livia, you are on your own. I have something that I need to take care of, ta." He was gone as quickly as he appeared.
Chapter 10
Elissa followed the trail of the men to the first outpost. Six more Amazon's were released mysteriously from a holding cell. She moved in like a shadow in the night and knocked out the guards. The women warriors were in bad shape but they would be able to make their way back to the tribe. Amazon's knew how to maneuver through the woods, which were Artemis' holy place. She was the Goddess of the Moon and Hunt and her warriors were safe in wooded areas no matter where they were located. Elissa moved through the town until she found exactly what she was looking for - the slave auctioneer. She slipped into the house and made her way to the master's bedroom.
Selicious woke when he felt the cold edge of a blade pressed into his neck. "What, what do you want? I am but a humble tradesman and have no wealth."
"That isn't what I heard. The Amazons that you sold, each one brought you a pretty dinar. I want to know who bought them and where they took them. Tell me and I will leave you as if I found you but I am not a patient woman. Either speaks or I start slicing, I wonder how you would look with only one ear." Elissa nicked his ear for good measure.
"Don't please, don't. I will tell you whatever you want to know but please don't hurt me. A man who serves Gurkhan bought them for his harem. His stronghold is in the city Mogador. It is in North Africa. A wall surrounds the entire city and Gurkham is not a man that you want to mess with."
"Let me worry about that. How many did he buy? I know that they wouldn't have taken all of them." Elissa removed her sword but didn't move away from the slave trader. She didn't want him to get too comfortable.
"There were two others that took some of the girls. One was from Japan and the other was from Norway, I'm not sure whom they were buying the girls for, I swear. That is all that I know." Selicious was sweating and praying to every deity that he could think of. He closed his eyes expecting to feel the cold steel bite into his neck. When nothing happened, he opened them again only to realize that he was once again alone.
Elissa moved through the outpost to the outskirts where she left the black. She quietly led the large horse through a dense forest. Creating a smokeless fire, she sat staring into it until her eyes no longer saw the flames.
"Artemis, I call to you. Your humble servant needs your guidance and council."
The Moon Goddess appeared before Elissa. "What do you need from me, child?" She sat across from the fire and looked at the woman who would carry on the Amazon ways after she was gone. No matter what Athena thought, Artemis knew that the Twilight of the Gods would soon be here. The Fates were never wrong and their tapestry was almost through.
"I have sworn to free my sisters from their enslavement but the need to avenge my mother's death ways heavy on my heart. Which should I pursue first; I am afraid that if I don't get them back quickly they will be lost forever. Please Artemis, what should I do?" Large green eyes looked into the blue ones of the Goddess of the Hunt.
"You will be faced with a choice and only you will know which path to take. Until that time arrives, go and free my followers. Your numbers are growing smaller and if your tribe is not strong then I am afraid that your way of life will fade forever. Elissa, there is much that you will learn in the days to come but the most important thing will be to always follow Amazon law. It will carry you through even the darkest of times. Promise me that you won't forget my words."
Elissa bowed her head. "I promise what you ask. My mother taught me as a small child why our laws are so important. I will honor your request and her teachings."
Artemis kissed the small blonde's forehead then disappeared. Wrapping herself in her cloak, Elissa quickly drifted off to sleep. Artemis continued to watch over her charge guiding her to witness part of her lost memories. She knew that Elissa wouldn't find out that Gabrielle was her mother until the time was right and that wasn't now. Elissa couldn't interfere in the gods coming twilight; it was not part of her fate. Artemis was saddened to know that she would not be there to watch this woman mold the Amazon nation into a glory that none ever dreamed. When the Fates told Artemis of Elissa destiny she could barely comprehend how this small child would play such a large part in the world's future.
~~~~~
Elissa fell into the dreamscape. She saw a clearing and recognized a group of Siberian Amazon's. It was almost as if they could feel her watching them. She continued to watch and to her surprise, she saw that one of the women held a baby in her arms. The other women surrounded mother and child creating a living wall of flesh. Somehow, Elissa could see everything that happened. She knew how each of these women ended up here, who they were and why they could not cross over into the Amazon's land of the dead. She didn't understand why they were here instead of in Eternity.
In the blink of an eye, she knew that the she was the baby. It represented her spirit, her soul. The woman who held her was her mother but she couldn't see her face, only blond hair the same color as her own. A sharp pain hit her directly over her heart and it was all she could do not to cry out. Memories rushed at her with the rage of a Fury. She saw the woman impregnated by Dahak then herself in the womb. Elissa felt the struggle between her soul and that of the abomination that was the darker half of her. The one called Hope then later the Destroyer inherited everything that was dark from Dahak where Elissa was the only piece of good left buried deep inside of him.
Finally coming back to the woman holding the child, she saw that she was starting to fade a little at a time. The others gathered around her trying to give comfort. Her mother wept loudly when she realized that her baby wasn't going with her.
Cyane, the former Amazon Queen of the tribe that Xena killed stepped forward. "We will watch over the little one. There has to be a reason for her being here and we will care for her until it comes to pass."
"How can I leave my child? How will I feel whole without her in my life?" Tears filled her eyes and overflowed onto her cheeks.
"There is a special purpose for this child. None of us will know until the gods decide that it is time for her fate to be unfolded."
Before anything else could be said, her mother faded from site. Artemis stood before her followers but stopped them from bowing at her feet. "No, my daughters, I come to help you cross over and to take this child on to her destiny. I will allow each of you time to give her a proper goodbye. Just know that the Amazon nation and all that it represents will rest on her delicate shoulders. Bless her with your best wishes, daughters." The regal goddess stepped away knowing that each woman fell in love with the child the moment they saw her.
Cyane now held the precious bundle and her tribe came up one at a time to give their blessing.
"May you have my eye and see what is close at hand and distant. Look and understand, little one."
"I gift you with my skill with the staff for it kept me alive on many occasions."
"You will have my memory, so that you will never forget all that came before so that it will not be repeated in the future."
"My skill with the sword."
"My speed of foot."
"My knowledge of healing."
"My ability to track even the lightest of markings." Each woman stepped forward placing a kiss on the small forehead and blessed her with their strongest trait. If they could do nothing else, they wanted the baby to have everything that they could give her. They moved away with tears in their eyes and as each new woman joined the group, they held onto each other the way they longed to hold onto the child. As each gift from transferred to the child, a soft golden glow encased her tiny body.
Cyane was last. She looked down into eyes of the purest green. The baby looked back at her as if she understood everything that was happening and Cyane wasn't sure that she didn't. "My gift to you is my knowledge of warfare and the ability to lead. I know that the goddess will watch over you and keep you safe." Cyane walked over to Artemis and carefully placed the baby into her waiting arms. The Amazon queen went to join her tribe finding comfort in their welcome embrace.
They disappeared in a warm light leaving Artemis alone with her charge. "You will not remember this time until it is needed, little one. You are the hope of all Amazons and I pray that you will be able to handle all that will be demanded from you."
Artemis left Elissa's dreamscape. She knew that it wasn't time for her to learn about Gabrielle, the Fates told her that she would know when it was the right time. Unlike her sister, Athena, Artemis was satisfied to allow the threads of Elissa's destiny play out in time.
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