WARNINGS AND DISCLAMERS

Xena took the mug and walked back over to the fire and poured up some more broth for the bard. "Here you go." Xena handed the mug back to Gabrielle and again sat down next to her. "Have you remembered any more about last night?"

Gabrielle let the smile slip from her face, "No… nothing except what I've already told you. The rest just isn't there." The bard said sounding frustrated at not being able to remember.

"Don't worry about it any more for now. Right now I’m going to fix you some more medicine to help you with your healing and then I want you to lay down and try to get some more sleep." Xena patted Gabrielle on the arm, rose and walked back over to the fire. She put some of the tea in another mug and added some powders that would help fight infection and help the bard get a good night’s sleep.

"Here drink this and lay back down." Xena said handing the mug to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle looked at the warrior questioningly.

"Yes, it probably tastes bad, but I want you to drink it all anyway." Xena said with a smile playing on her lips.

Gabrielle downed the contents and handed the mug back to Xena. "Thank you for coming after me and for taking care of me."

"Gabrielle I couldn't do any less and I explained that." Xena took the mug from her and helped the bard lay back on her bedroll.

"I’m going to go get the salve and doctor the rest of your cuts and bruises before you go to sleep." Xena walked back over and got what she needed of the medical supplies and sat down next the still pale woman. By the time Xena had finished dressing the rest of the wounds Gabrielle had already dropped back off to sleep and seemed to be resting comfortably.

Xena cleaned up the camp and then got ready to go to sleep herself. The warrior laid down on her bedroll that she’d moved back next to the bard’s. She awoke a few times during the night when the bard had moved or made a sound. The warrior would rise up and assure herself the Gabrielle was all right and then lay back down and go back to sleep.

Without much sleep Xena still awoke before dawn. The warrior first checked on Gabrielle, who still breathing evenly and seemed to be sleeping very soundly and then went over to untie Argo to let her graze.

Xena collected some wood to get the fire going again and put some water on to heat. She also wanted to pick some fresh fruit for the bard, but didn’t want Gabrielle to wake while she was gone and be frightened. The warrior walked over and laid her chakram down next to the bard before she left.

About half a candlemark later Gabrielle awoke to something very soft and velvety brushing against her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw Argo. "Well good morning Argo… is your mistress about?" Gabrielle sat up and rubbed the horses nose and looked around to see if she could spot Xena. Gabrielle didn’t see Xena but did find the Chakram that she'd left for her. She knew Xena was telling her that she hadn’t gone far or for long. Gabrielle gave out a bird whistle and listened. She heard a returning whistle that told her that Xena was close and had heard her.

A few minutes later Xena came walking back into camp holding a bag of fresh fruit she'd picked for their breakfast. "And how are you feeling this morning, my bard?"

Gabrielle gave Xena a huge smile. "My headache is a lot better. I guess that nasty tasting stuff works."

"That’s great!" Xena said relief evident in her voice that the bard was mending.

"Argo woke me when she came to tell me good morning." Gabrielle said giggling at the horse still nuzzling her.

"I’m sorry… I turned her loose to graze, I guess I should have left her tied until you woke up." Xena said cutting her eyes at the mare.

"Don’t worry about it… it was a very nice good morning." The bard said continuing to rub the mares nose.

Xena grinned and walked over to the bard and grabbed a bag that was by the top of her bedroll. Xena opened it and tossed an apple into the bard’s lap. A grin broke across the bard’s face. "I see you had a motive in waking me up." She started to chuckle and handed the apple to the mare.

Xena got the bag of medical supplies and sat down next to the bard. "Do you feel up to letting me change your bandages?" The bard nodded and Xena went about cleaning, applying new salve and wrapping the worst of the cuts. "There… all done. Wasn’t so bad was it?" The warrior said as she returned to supplies to the saddlebag.

"No… actually it's all feeling much better." The bard replied smiling at her.

Xena got the fruit and cut it up into pieces and then walked over and sat back down by the bard. "Would you like to have something to eat?"

"Yeah, it looks good," as the bard picked up a piece of the fruit.

They ate in silence except for some usual conversational pleasantries about the weather and such. Xena cleaned up after they ate and fixed a mug of tea for both of them and sat down facing the bard.

"Gabrielle… I think we need to talk and get a few things straightened out between us." Xena stared into the beautiful jade green eyes across from her.

A look of desperation crossed Gabrielle face and she looked like she wished she could crawl under a rock somewhere and hide. "Yeah, I guess it's time…" a look of defeat now crossed the small woman’s face as she lowered her eyes back to the ground. It was too hard to even look into the face of the warrior.

"Gabrielle I really feel that it’s important for us to talk, but if at any time it becomes too much just say so and we'll stop." Xena was worried about Gabrielle seemingly fragile emotional state. "You said you didn’t remember anything after going to sleep on your bedroll until you woke up in the woods, is that right?"

"Yeah… that’s all I can remember." Gabrielle looked puzzled.

"Well when I got back to camp I found blood splattered around from your head injury and there was blood and some of your hair on that rock over there." Xena pointed to a rock on the other side of the fire. She then turned and looked at the bard intently as Gabrielle turned and looked into sky blue eyes. "Gabrielle I also found this." Xena pulled the knife torn piece of parchment out from under her bedroll. "There was a knife sticking in it pinning it to the ground." Better to start out small and see if she can handle it before I tell her about the rest of her scrolls.

Gabrielle took the proffered piece of parchment and looked at it. "Xena this seems to be what I was writing before I went to sleep, but I don’t understand…" Xena watched as a look of surprise came to the bard's face.

"Gabrielle… I wasn’t here. I can’t tell you what happened, I can only tell you what I found." Xena had dropped her gaze to her lap. "I can also tell you that I found no footprints other than yours." Xena glanced up to see how Gabrielle was taking the information so far. She was really hoping that all this wasn’t going to push the little bard over the edge again.

Gabrielle looked at Xena in disbelief. She didn’t want to believe what she was hearing, but she knew without a doubt that the warrior would never lie to her no matter how much it hurt. "Xena is there anything else you haven’t told me yet?" the bard’s features had changed to a slightly worried look.

"Gabrielle we don’t have to go into everything now. We have all the time in the world to discuss this. Why don’t I dress your wounds and you just get some more sleep for a while."

"No Xena, I think I need to hear the rest of it… now!"

"Gabrielle that piece of parchment wasn’t the only part of your scrolls ruined. Most of your scrolls were at least partially damaged…" Xena saw the tears starting to well up in the bard’s eyes, "though none near as badly as this piece, the rest are salvageable. Gabrielle I picked them all up and carefully rolled them and placed them back in your bag."

Gabrielle wasn’t looking very consoled, so Xena got up and got the bard’s scroll bag so she could check them for herself. Gabrielle fingers reached out reluctantly and took the bag from Xena’s hand. The bard started looking through the bag and seen that what Xena said was true that none was as bad as the one small piece. Gabrielle was still aghast at the amount of damage to the scrolls. Her scrolls were her life; she just couldn’t understand how she could have done such a thing. She smiled through a few tears that had managed to slip out of her eyes. "Thank you for trying to save them for me." The bard turned slightly and gave the warrior a big hug.

"You’re welcome." Xena said patting the bard on the leg. "I think that’s enough for now. You look like you’re getting tired and I need to round us up something to eat." Xena helped Gabrielle lay back on her bedroll placing a kiss on her forehead and then left to do some hunting as soon as she was sure the small woman had finally fell asleep.

Xena took her bow with her and got a deer for their meal and to replace some of their food stores for the trail. She field dressed the animal leaving the remains in the woods for the other wild animals. She even managed to find a few nuts and berries to add to their evening meal while she was hunting.

When Xena returned to camp the bard was still asleep. It was a hot afternoon and the warrior removed her weapons, armor and leather. She remained dressed only in her tunic that would be cooler for working on the venison, but first took care of Argo's needs and did some other small chores before starting on the meat. She finally started to cut the meat up so she could dry and smoke some for jerky that could be eaten while they were on the move. A small portion of the meat the warrior would prepare for their dinner.

It had already grown dark when Gabrielle awoke to the smell of venison cooking over the fire. She raised up and saw Xena standing over the fire working on their dinner. "Hey..." The bard said pleasantly.

"Hey yourself. How are you feeling?" Xena replied with a smile.

"I only have just the slightest headache. I guess your medicine and the sleep is helping."

"Hang on and I’ll have you a plate fixed here in a second. We have a little wine left or you can have some of the tea I made with your dinner." Xena said glancing over at the bard from her crouched position at the fire.

"I think I’ll try some of the wine if you think that it will be all right!"

"I don’t see how a little wine will hurt anything. In fact you might not need any of the pain medicine to sleep if you drink some. I think I'll have some too, it sounds pretty good." Xena said turning back to the fire with a grin. She sure was glad that the small bard didn’t seem to have any lingering ill effects from her ordeal.

Xena carried the plates over to where Gabrielle was sitting on the bedrolls and handed the bard hers. She sat her own on a nearby rock and got a bowl and put some of the berries and nuts she’d gathered into it and then picked up the wine and a couple of mugs and returned to sit beside the bard.

Ó Copyrighted December 1997 by DelShannon