The following is a bit of alternative fiction based on certain characters from the Xenaverse. It is not meant to infringe on anyone else's rights.
Its said that your life flashes before your eyes right before death hits you square in the face, right? Not true. I can personally attest that, in fact, your life *stops* and you end up studying the last seconds of your life in full stereophonic detail. This gives you ample time to reflect how dumb you were to get into this mess.
Dumb enough to trust Sal.
Dumb enough to sign that contract with Amazon.
Dumb enough to be *inside* the freakin' simulator when Brad flipped the freakin' switch.
Dumb enough not to sit on your blasted husband and wife so HE didn't go blasting the blasted doorway into oblivion and SHE didn't go opening her blasted mouth and...
Of course that would have been blasephmy from any other mind..but.. You get the idea.
As it was, I wasn't actually cursing them or myself so much as catching a very detailed eyeful of the riders. Had I been thinking a little less, I probably would have grabbed my spouses and given them the long kiss goodnight. Just as well I didn't, as they were both looking too shell-shocked from the realization they couldn't throw lightning bolts right now, that they probably wouldn't have felt a thing.
So my last seconds of life were spent studying our attackers. They were marvels to be sure, Jeff having taken my rough sketches of the Steppes tribes and brought them vividly to life. (and what surprised me was that, as irrational the notion was, I found them so believable that I was *convinced* my life was over) Seven women, each muscular and wild manner, astride massive war-horses were bearing down on us with bows drawn and taunt. The air was pretty much filled with the pounding of their hooves against the hard earth, though I was still in sufficient shock myself that it sounded all several miles distant.
They came at us in classic 'bolt' formation, arranging themselves in a slightly diagonal line as they approached. This way they could shoot without potentially hitting their fellows, either as a single volley or one after the other in machine-gun fashion. Callisto herself had dreamed the formation up as a Captain in Xena's army, and was one of the reasons (besides being a strategic genius *and* conquering the northern Horde tribes with a little under 10,000 men) she was made a General before turning 30.
Little details leaked through, each leaving fissures in the wall of blind panic that held back any reaction. They were each wearing black leather armor that looked *suspiciously* familiar, with mail-link skirts and studded halters separated by bare midriffs. The bows they used were intricately carved and polished to a shine. Their saddles rode with stirrups, and the necklaces they wore were adorned with both bear claws and wolves' teeth. All of which was processed without any conscious thought whatsoever, save a mental shrug and grunt of "Amazons."
*That's* when time started up again.
Just in time to see me push past Ares and Callisto, who were still looking shell-shocked, and clasp both hands over my head. Considering I was a least two inches shorter than Callisto, and who knows how many under Ares, to say nothing of being clothed solely in my birthday suit, I doubt I cut an impressive enough figure to be immediately noticed. My giving the "peace"sign didn't stop the seven of them letting their arrows fly.
I'd instinctively shut my eyes and wished (*really* hard) I *had* kissed the two of them goodbye.
It took a few seconds to realize the wind that tickled my tummy, then circled around and caressed my backside, was caused by seven war-horses riding a fast and tight circuit around us. It took a few more seconds to come to grips with the fact I wasn't dead. I opened one eye and look down, fully expecting at least one arrow shaft sticking out of my gut, and found a very smooth expanse of unperforated flesh waiting for me...
...with three arrow shafts sticking out of the ground at my feet. One of said shafts was still quivering between the big and second toe of my left foot, the other two running parallel on either side of my right ankle.
Its times like this you're very glad you didn't having anything to eat beforehand.
I managed to drag my other eye open and got both of them to defy gravity enough to look up towards the riders again. The riders had slowed their mounts to a brisk trot, having already worn a grove around the three of us, and had shouldered their bows in exchange for drawing their swords. I was understandably *not* encouraged by this, especially not with the added features I got an eyeful of.
Not only were these ladies wielding bows like Artemis herself, which made them fearsome enough, but their swords all looked like something out of a the cheesist sword-and-sorcery movie you would imagine.(okay, so that's a little like the pot calling the kettle black; I was still in shock at not looking like Snuggles when he does his pincushion routine) A few had serrated blades, others all waves and curves, and some just looking downright *mean*. Add to that the very visible bloodstains caking those blades, plus a few headdresses made of animal skulls, and you get the idea these ladies weren't ones for small talk.
I studiously ignored these little details and focused on the one who looked like the leader. She was a tall, broad-shouldered brunette, though certainly no Xena. She nonetheless looked familiar, particularly with the thin sheen of sweat matting her hair and the heave of her ample chest, to say nothing of wild gray eyes that looked me up and down several times over...all quite...hungrily...
"Solari?" The name escaped as a whisper, my mind replaying Pony's after-hours party in the sauna in vivid clarity. 'Wonder if she still has the bite marks on her...' my gutter-of-a-mind put forth unbidden, the sight of her clad like this giving rise to *those* *urges* again.
I guess she hadn't heard me, her attention completely focused on Callisto. "Hail, Goddess!" she declared, bringing her sword up in salute, her fellows doing the same.
Callisto shook herself from her revery and blinked as if she were trying to place herself. I shot her laser eyes over my shoulder, silently beseeching her to keep that gorgeous trap of her's shut and just let these lethal-looking ladies make what assumptions they would. I could see Ares doing the same to her back. The fact she said nothing and did nothing more meant (I hoped) she got the message.
Solari dismounted and gave her a measuring look, catching the subtle difference between my wife and her doppelganger, lips pursing with uncertainty. I'd already deduced we were in a representation of the realm where Xena-in-Callisto's-body was the Goddess of War, though this brought to my attention the unusual sensation now churning within me. Not necessarily an unpleasant one, nor one that really interfered with my ability to see or think. More like a low buzz humming inside me, audible only because it had been absent before. Right then I had more immediate concerns to occupy my thoughts beyond just-hatched butterflies in my stomach. Paramount among them: how to convince the leader of an Amazon war-party the woman before her could incinerate everyone in sight if they stepped the teeniest bit out of line *without* needing a demonstration of said power.
Fast as I was thinking, events proved even faster in unfolding. "You've changed," Solari said after several moments perusal, doubt in her voice. I managed to keep panic from overtaking my already-whirling thoughts throughout this, only to see Callisto open her mouth in reply. All coherent thought fell away at the sight, save for one.
'Goodbye, cruel world!'
I clearly heard what came next, and was fortunately too frozen from delayed shock to faint dead away like I should have.
"So?"was Callisto's immediate reply, accompanied by a very deliberate step into the Amazon warrior's personal space. They were roughly the same height, allowing brown to lock with gray. "Are you suggesting the Goddess of War can't alter her appearance a little?" Her voice was soft, calm, and threatening all the mayhem of Armageddon. I always got nervous when she did that, mostly because it reminded me which of us were the gods and which of us weren't.
At least Solari got the message, and backed up a couple steps with her hands raised in supplication. "Apologies, Goddess. I meant no..."
Callisto gave her a dismissive wave, one that by rights should have tossed the war-party leader a couple hundred feet. If Callisto had wanted. She'd done something similar the last time she and Gabrielle had a..discussion (a rather heated one at that)..., gently wafting her hand about as if thinking of nothing, but demolishing a nearby wall. I couldn't quite recall what the argument was about, but If anybody present had expectations about Godly displays they weren't showing it.
"We'll take one of your mounts back to camp." Callisto announced, casually enough to look bored. I had to close my eyes again, this time nearing despair, my thoughts once again racing. A Goddess of War, riding a mortal's horse?! And who said anything about there being a warcamp nearby?
A thought obviously mirrored by the Amazons. "Goddess?" was all Solari could squeeze out of her throat, her disbelief written large across her expressive face.
"I'm tired." Callisto shrugged, blind to my cringing at the statement. I mentally waved bye-bye to what little cover their confusion had afforded us. Gods, was my wife as monumental a ditz as Aphrodite so often played at?
But I knew one thing was true, just as I knew the truth about Aphrodite.
Callisto was no ditz. Next time I'll remember that.
"Besides," she continued, speaking in that damned drawl that never failed to leave me wet and eyes focused upon me alone. "I have some...business to attend to en route."
"As you wish, Goddess." Solari saluted again, moving back to her troops.
"Your's will serve just fine," Callisto called out, her eyes not leaving my own. Whatever the warrior might have thought or said was lost to me, as I was drowning in an ocean of soft forest brown.
I was lead by the hand to the horse in question, and was gently lifted into the saddle first, my wife slipping in behind me and pulling me back against her. She nudged the beast into motion, Solari calling out as we moved away "What about...?" I managed to look around Callisto and see our husband standing there, managing to look at once intimidating and despondent.
"He can walk with the rest of the warriors," was Callisto's declaration, and I cringed again, but ruefully.
"Ooooo." I hummed quietly. "You are gonna *pay* for that one."
"Hmmm," Callisto agreed as the rest of the riders trailed behind us, one hand holding the reigns while the other gripped my waist and made smooth circles against my skin. At first, I was just enjoying the closeness.
Then.... Then... I could feel the difference...and see. I looked down to where her hand caressed my belly and thought I saw flashes of color, gold and green and vivid red, but I forgot that right away.
Tingles. All over. I shuddered involuntarily and arched against her. My legs clamped around the girth of the horse (at least from where I could reach). I moaned and moved my hands to cover hers and pushed down.
"Shhh," she said, "Easy, easy." Fuck Easy.
Fuck me.
"I know..I know..." Her voice sent spirals of desire and something else that was deep and molten down to my belly. I moaned desperately. I was dizzy with a need that seemed to generate from my the bottom of my spine and flow out from my center and then up and down. My feet were hot. My scalp burned. How could she possibly know? How could she possibly not?
I was starving.
STARVING!
And (continuing with the analogy) I'd just eaten, not too long ago.
I wondered..I wondered if she felt it, really. Had I been on the ground...Had she taken me..there, instead of on this horse....though I could feel its sweet not so docile energy flowing through me....ready to be shared. If we were on the ground....things would be different.. Gaia gives most generously. If we could fuck on the ground, I'd be a harvest.
Right now I was just a triple a battery. But in a few seconds.... if I could get her hand to go where I needed and I'd be a lot more of a charger, maybe I wouldn't need to be on the ground per se. No I didn't need to be..just the touch, her deep probing touch.... and then if Ares... if if ...
"Gods Callisto, it burns...it..please. You need..."
"Shh...not now...you think they can't see."
See? What was to see? A billion colors were screaming past my eyeballs, but my eyelids were closed again. I opened them and looked down. The hand that was caressing me, skin to skin, had started to glow and I understood what was happening and her choice. One doesn't set off a nuclear bomb near the children... whether they were real or not. Then there were the guys upstairs to consider...heck, the whole of Amazon Inc...if we were still in VR. I was close to weeping. "Soon?" I pleaded. It had to be soon. I was sick with need.
"As soon as we can," she promised and I heard the weight of being a Goddess, a responsible one, through her voice. Gods forgive me for doubting. . ."Shhh," she rocked me gently, to the horse's rhythm, carefully, oh so carefully not letting me go to that nuclear edge. I couldn't help the drips that shattered down my cheeks, my chest, onto her thumb. Where the drops hit, a light erupted.
I wondered what the Amazons were seeing and didn't really care. It was more evidence in her favor, weak as she was...if they saw..and if they didn't then it was because Callisto, in her wisdom, didn't want them to, and was covering me. "We'll find the time...the place." Promise. She was mine. I was hers.
'Please Goddess, Mercy,' was my prayer.....I remembered past my anger and frustration, how much I honored her...needed her.
"Shhh," she whispered, her own voice an ache. "Peace...soon." I nodded and gulped back the tears. I sought salvation with what she could give me, with what I could give her. I breathed in with her breath and out, letting the passing scenery become my meditation, her hand's circular motions upon my belly a mandala. .... Her touch, though it seared me, became a kindness. I let her have what she could.
******
I'd found a place of refuge in my soul by the time we arrived. I don't know what my lover was thinking, but though I still hungered, I was momentarily satisfied with the connection we'd had. I had no choice. It had to be enough.
I was quite pleased to see Callisto's instincts about there being a camp were dead on, though I certainly wasn't expecting the sight that met us.
We didn't actually ride that far or fast. I couldn't clearly tell distance, as there was nothing but gently rolling steppes to be seen, with only the occasional outcropping or hill to break the monotony. Callisto let the horse lead us to its home. Topping one of those hills, the rest of the war-party behind us, we came upon a much larger valley than the one we'd left. For a moment I thought it was a lake, as its space was seemingly filled to capacity with dark and vague forms in constant movement. Evening had stolen most of the daylight, so nothing was immediately clear.
Then the torches were lit, dozens at a time. First hundreds, then thousands, bathing the valley with such so much light as to make it day. Cecil B. Demille would've been hard pressed to match the sight: a sea of tents and roving figures and flickering torches, stretching far as the eye could see. I guestimated the numbers here to be over a hundred thousand. Warriors, that is. I wasn't even going to try and figure how many cooks, wives, husbands, healers, what have you were bunking here as well.
I'd never seen the like, not even as Captain of the Bear Corp. Callisto simply pressed her lips into a firm line and nudged our mount forward, her own memories as a General no doubt replaying themselves in her minds eye.
Katrina's Fan Fiction | Fan Fiction Site | Home Page
This page was last updated: October 7, 1998
İOctober1998
URL: ../../STO/sog/sog2summer28.html