WARNINGS AND DISCLAMERS

Three days after having watched Xena in the moonlight, the pair was attacked by bounty hunters determined to collect the price on the warrior's head. Xena still wasn't back to full strength after her bout with death and had some difficulty taking care of the bounty hunters.

Gabrielle had watched Xena's back and had taken three of the men out of action with her staff, while Xena finished off the rest. Xena walked over to Argo and held out her arm for the bard to mount the horse with her. Although Xena said nothing the look in her eye told the bard she would take no argument.

Gabrielle took the warriors arm and Xena lifted her into the saddle behind her but it wasn't accomplished with the usual ease the warrior exhibited in doing most things.

"Gabrielle hang on we need to get out of here, they might come back." The warrior said gruffly. Xena headed Argo deeper into the woods to the east trying to put as much distance between them and the bounty hunters as possible.

They hadn't traveled far when Gabrielle realized that she was being drenched in blood. The bard started looking and seen that the blood was pouring from the warrior's side. "HADES! Xena why didn't you tell me that you were hurt. I'm being drenched in your blood." The bard said with concern evident in her voice.

"Gabrielle I know I'm hurt, but we can't stop yet... we're not safe." The warrior was already starting to feel the weakness coming over her from the loss of blood and didn't want the bard to worry, so she tried to keep the weakness from being heard in her voice. "Gabrielle I need you to do something for me until we can stop and take care of my wound."

"I'll do anything and everything I can, you know that." The bard said with determination.

"Get a rag out of the saddle bag and stuff it into the wound to try and slow the blood down a little. Then I need you to apply pressure to the rag to make sure it stays in place." Xena said through the pain

"Xena you're bleeding too bad for a cloth to do any good. The wound needs cauterized and you know it." The bard said in dismay to what Xena was suggesting that she do.

"It's really not that bad Gabrielle and we can't afford to stop to take care of it until I'm sure we're safe. Please just get the rag and do as I've asked. Just hang on for a little while longer and then we'll stop and make camp for the evening. I promise I'll let you take care of it properly then." Xena tried to use her most commanding voice.

Gabrielle did as she was asked, but could tell that it hadn't done very much to slow the flow of blood at all, so she had tried again to get the warrior to stop. "Xena this isn't working, blood is still pouring down my leg. Please... we have to stop and fix your side now!" the bard pleaded.

"Gabrielle I'm not stopping until I know that it's safe to do so. Just keep as much pressure on my side as you can." Xena replied. Making sure the bard was safe no matter what happened to her personally was more important to the warrior.

After they had traveled for close to a candlemark Argo started to slow and just before she came to a complete stop the warrior had started to slump forward a little in the saddle. Gabrielle slid from Argo's back and stood back for Xena to dismount. Instead of her usual dismount the warrior just seemed to slide sideways off the mare and not having the strength to get her feet under her, was headed for the ground as the bard rushed forward and tried to stop her fall.

Gabrielle managed to slow the warrior's plunge to the ground, but had to ease her on down to the ground. The warrior was just too heavy for her to hold.

Gabrielle started to build a fire so she could cauterize and sew up Xena's wound the best she could. She took the warrior's knife and plunged it into the coals to get it hot enough to do its job. She then retrieved another knife from Argo's saddlebags.

The bard knew that Xena would not be happy with what she'd planned to do with the knife, but she was afraid to move the warrior any more than absolutely necessary to do so would only cause more blood loss and possibly the warrior's life as well.

She took the small knife and started to cut the leather back away from the wound. She did the least amount of damage to the leather that she could and still get to the wound. Gabrielle noticed that since the warrior had laid still and was no longer bouncing around on a horse, the blood flow was slowing down as it started to coagulate around the cloth stuffed into the wound.

The bard was frantic with worry about the warrior and was trying to remember all the right things to do without the warrior to give her step by step instructions. While she was waiting for the knife to get hot enough, she started putting up a makeshift campsite around where Xena had fallen.

The bard had tried to bring Xena around before she started to work on her. She knew that what she was going to do was going to hurt like Hades and she didn't want the warrior coming around in the middle of it and not knowing what was causing all the pain. Gabrielle knew that Xena could do some serious damage very quickly even in a weakened state. She'd witnessed the warrior's amazing stamina too many times.

Gabrielle had not been able to bring the warrior around, but knew she had no time to waste waiting on her to come around. She got the needle and thread ready to finish sewing together the outside once she finished with the hot knife on the inside. Although the warrior had never regained consciousness, the bard also got a skin of ale just in case the pain from her ministrations brought the warrior around.

Hopefully Xena would realize she was trying to help her or she prayed to the gods that her reflexes would be fast enough to get out of the warrior's reach before she really got hurt.

Gabrielle poured some of the ale into the wound trying to clean it some before she used the hot knife on it. The warrior moaned loudly, but showed no signs of coming around. The bard then brought the knife over to get started and said another quiet prayer to any gods listening for the safety and recovery of the warrior.

It didn't take long before she had to try out those reflexes. The warrior regained consciousness ready to do battle with the demons of Tartarus. Xena hit the bard hard enough to send her staggering back about 10 feet before her head cleared. Gabrielle was glad that she was already moving away from the warrior at the time or that could have really hurt. It was definitely bad enough the way it was.

Xena had hit the bard nearly dead center in the face. Her right eye started to immediately swell along with her nose that she was sure had been broken and was bleeding.

Xena had realized too late, to stop the punch, that the little bard was the victim. She instantly tried to get to her feet to go to the bard and help her, but instant pain from the movement kept the warrior where she was. "Gods Gabrielle... are you all right." The warrior was nearly shouting from the worry.

"No..." The bard sounded like she had a head cold, but it was the swelling causing the voice change. "But it's going to feel great when it quits hurting." Gabrielle tried to lighten the mood of the warrior a little despite her pain. She didn't want the warrior to start getting upset over what was an unavoidable accident. The bard had done what she felt like she must even knowing the possible outcome and she didn't want the warrior hating herself over it.

"Gods Gabrielle... I'm so sorry. Please come over here so I can get a look at it."

Gabrielle walked back over to where the warrior was laying, but not to let the warrior look at her nose, she needed to finish stitching up Xena's wound so it wouldn't get infected. The bard handed the warrior the skin of ale. "Here maybe you'd better drink some of this for the pain, I still need to do some more work on your wound." The bard said matter-of-factly with her new nasal sounding voice.

Xena took a couple of large swallows then corked the skin. "I'm really sorry, please let me look at it."

"Xena let me finish what I started and then I promise you can look at it all the time until it heals." The bard said with an attempted wry grin.

Xena laid still while the bard checked the cauterizing to see how well she'd gotten it sealed before she had to leave in a hurry. It might have been all right, but with Xena's attempt to get up it was still bleeding plenty. "Xena... I'm sorry, but it looks like I'm going to have to cauterize this some more to get the worst of the bleeding stopped before I can sew it." It had turned the bard's stomach to do it the first time; she wasn't looking forward to such a quick repeat and really sorry... for herself as well as the warrior.

"Gabrielle just do whatever you have to, I PROMISE that I won't hit you again." The warrior said with the solemness of an oath being spoken in her voice.

Gabrielle picked up the knife that had gone flying from her hand when she was hit. It was still warm but not near hot enough for what she needed to do. She got a rag and put some of the ale on it and wiped the knife as clean as she could get it before she stuck it back in the fire. Gabrielle handed the ale back to the warrior. "Here, you better drink some more of this before I start again."

It wasn't long and the knife was again hot enough. Gabrielle picked up the knife and crouched next to the warrior. "Are you ready?" The bard said not really liking this at all.

"Yeah... do it." The warrior gritted her teeth waiting for the searing pain she knew was coming.

Other than a slight flinch the warrior never moved this time, but the bard had little time to think about it as she rose quickly once she was done and moved off a ways and started throwing up.

"Gabrielle are you all right?" The warrior asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine in just a minute... I just need to let my stomach calm down and then I'll finish your stitches." The bard replied as she hung onto the tree next to her.

Gabrielle finished the stitches just as soon as she was reasonably sure that she could do it without throwing up all over the warrior. Her stomach was again a little queasy by the time she finished, but this time she was able to keep it under control. Now she needed to help the warrior onto her bedroll that she'd laid out next to her.

Gabrielle hadn't tried to put anything under Xena before she'd started to work on her; if she moved her the bleeding would start again and Xena had already lost a lot of blood; maybe even too much. The bard not only wasn't wanting to move the warrior, but knew that anything put under her would only get soaked in blood and need to be replaced; it was bad enough that she wasn't going to be able to remove the warrior's leathers.

When at last Gabrielle was finished with what she could do for the time being the warrior closed her eyes. The bard wasn't sure if she'd gone to sleep or if she'd blacked out from the pain, but knew the warrior was going to need plenty of rest for a few days.

Gabrielle put some cool water on a rag and held it to her face trying to reduce the swelling some. It helped, but her nose was still awful swollen. It was still aching when the bard lay down for the night and caused her a little trouble trying to fall asleep.

When Gabrielle did manage to go to sleep she was again hit hard by the old nightmare of Xena dying in her arms. She awoke shivering and crying. She checked on the warrior that was lying next to her to be sure that she hadn't woken her, but Xena still seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Gabrielle wet the rag again with cool water to put on her still aching nose and lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. The rest of the night was mostly fitful sleeping, the bard constantly waking to make sure that Xena was lying safely beside her and still alive.

The next day Gabrielle tried several times to get the warrior to eat and drink but didn't have much luck, as the warrior would just drift back off into sleep. Gabrielle kept an eye on the Xena's wound making sure it didn't bleed any more and continued to apply more healing salve and clean bandages while the warrior slept.

It was early the second morning when the warrior finally woke on her own. Xena opened her eyes and looked around and seen Gabrielle standing by the fire. "Hey Bard, what are you cooking? It sure does smell good."

Gabrielle turned with a smile on her face and she heard Xena gasp. "Hello sleepyhead. I was wondering when you were going to wake up again." Gabrielle said relief evident in her voice. "I'm making a broth and adding a few spices. I'm afraid it's a little thin, but you know I'm not much of a hunter. I'm sorry it isn't something better."

"Never mind that, look at your face!" The warrior gasped at the sight of the bard's swollen face.

"No thanks, I've seen it staring back at me in a cup of tea." The bard said chuckling.

"Gods Gabrielle I'm so sorry." The warrior said with deep regret.

"Xena please don't worry about it. The swelling has gone down some and it doesn't hurt near as bad as it did." The bard replied still looking at the warrior with a broad smile. Gabrielle was just so relieved that Xena was finally awake.

"Gabrielle get the medical bag and some of that water so I can make up a paste to put on your nose." The warrior said in a commanding voice.

Gabrielle got the bag and waterskin that Xena asked for. She walked over handing it to the warrior and sat down beside her. The bard watched as Xena fixed the paste to put on the bard's face to help with the swelling and bruising. Xena continued to apologize over and over again for the injury to the small bard's face.

After Xena finished with her nose Gabrielle got them each a bowl of broth to eat. They ate mostly in silence. When Xena would look up the bard was just smiling at her. The warrior was finding it a little difficult looking at the bard, having pangs of guilt every time she did so.

"Gabrielle there's a small lake not too far from here. It was where I was headed before I passed out. I want you to help me get there. I have to get these leathers off, they're full of dried blood." The warrior stated.

"Xena don't you think it would be better to wait for a day or two before you try to do so much and move that far." Gabrielle said worriedly.

"Gabrielle these leathers feel like they're stuck to me and they're so stiff that it pulls and hurts every time I move a little. I have to get them off." Xena explained to the small honey-blonde.

"Xena I can help you and we can do it here. We don't have to go all the way to the lake." The bard continued to resist the warrior.

"Gabrielle it's going to hurt bad enough to try and get these things off. It will be a lot easier if I soak some of the blood out of them first." The warrior was starting to get frustrated with the bard's reluctance.

Gabrielle knew from the edge that Xena's voice was starting to take that the warrior wasn't going to take no for an answer. Reluctantly the bard started gathering their things together so they could move closer to the lake. Going to the lake was far enough for the warrior to go in her condition, there wasn't going to be any coming back here.

With some soaking, the bard's reluctant help and a great amount of determination the warrior was finally free of the bloody and damaged leathers.

The bard took the leathers and started to wash the blood out while Xena did some washing to free her body of the rest of the blood and grim. Gabrielle then helped the warrior dress in a clean shift. Once the warrior was quietly resting on the bank Gabrielle took the soap and waded back in a short way to bathe and wash her hair. Xena watched with great appreciation of the beautiful lithe body in front of her. She could sit and wait for hours on the bard with this kind of display to occupy her time and thoughts.

They were heading back to camp all too quickly for the warrior; she had enjoyed herself very much.

Back in camp Gabrielle laid out the warrior's leathers to dry and then got the salve and bandages to doctor the warrior's wound.

"Xena I can't believe how much better this is looking after only a couple of days." Gabrielle said amazed at how quickly the warrior was healing.

"That's only because of your expert care my bard. Xena told her with a smile across her face. The bard enjoyed the compliment but blushed furiously.

Gabrielle wasn't as experienced as Xena when it came to catching something to eat and knew she needed to get started so they would be able to eat some time tonight. She figured that fish would probably be the easiest to deal with... she still didn't seem to have the hang of the traps Xena had showed her.

The bard wasn't good at catching fish the way that Xena did either; so she had to make an old fashioned pole. Once she had her fishing pole made she headed back to the lake to try to catch something for dinner. It took her a little longer than it did the warrior, but she managed to catch enough that they wouldn't starve and they might even get to eat before it got dark.

After dinner the bard worked on her scrolls keeping her eye on the warrior, who was acting kind of edgy. The warrior turned her attention to sharpening her sword as she sat and thought about the possibilities of the bounty hunters returning.

Gabrielle didn't tell Xena about the nightmares that had returned last night. She was hoping that she could handle them or that they would go away as they had done before when Xena returned. She was just hoping that it was the excitement and exhaustion that had caused them to return. Besides she didn't want the warrior to worry or blame herself for the nightmares.

It wasn't long after Gabrielle had drifted off to sleep and the nightmare again woke her and again left her shaking and sobbing, but this time it had awoke the warrior.

"Gabrielle are you all right?" The warrior asked worried.

"I'm fine just a sad dream... I'll be fine. Do you need anything?" The bard asked changing the subject.

"I could use a drink of water." Xena told her fully aware of the bard's attempt to change the subject.

Gabrielle rose and got the waterskin and handed it to the warrior and laid back down on her bedroll turning away from the warrior and pretending to have fallen back to sleep so the warrior wouldn't ask her any more questions about her dream.

The rest of the night passed much as the one before for the bard and it was starting to extract a price on her nerves.

² Copyrighted January 1998 by DelShannon