Gabbyssey #1

[cdybedahl]

This is a bit of an experiment. I'm planning to write a story in installments, and after each one I'll have a poll about what will happen next. It's going to be a X:WP/whatever crossover thingy (unless the votes go against it), but this first bit is pure Xenaverse.

The Gabbyssey, part 1

Written by Calle Dybedahl

The day when Gabrielle first fell through a rift in the fabric of reality started out much better than it ended. She and Xena had left Eve in Varia's Amazon village a few days earlier, and were on their way to nowhere in particular. The Amazons had been nice and all, but after a while their near-worship of them both got kind of tiring. Also, it seemed that Eve didn't quite have the guts to properly make passes on Varia while two of her mothers were watching. So, for their own and her peace of mind, they'd left. With no particular goal in mind, they simply roamed the countryside. Living off hunting and trading in the occasional village. Righting the odd wrong they ran into. Beating a roaming monster or two. Trying to outdo each other in finding beautiful spots to make love in.

That last one was why Gabrielle woke up with the most amazing view laid out before her. Well, second most amazing, after that of a naked Xena in the throes of passion. Nothing beat that one. And it currently wasn't there either, since the warrior princess had as usual woken up way before her and gone to hunt down some breakfast. Literally, probably.

So while she dressed, she had to make do with the majestic splendor of snow-capped mountains reflected in a perfectly still lake surrounded by dark green pine trees. It wasn't at all bad, even if the snow-capped mountains reminded her a bit too much of dying nailed to a cross.

She took their empty waterskins and headed for the lake. The sun hadn't yet risen over the treetops, but its rays found their way between the trees and made the remaining nightly mists glow golden. It smelled clear and clean, of pine resin and drying wood. Birds called in the distance, and occasionally she could hear animals move.

When she reached the lake, she knelt at the edge of the water and started filling the skins. The water was cold, and she could see small fish darting around just under the surface. Here, out of the trees, the sunshine reached her and gently warmed her skin. She turned her face to the sun and enjoyed the heat.

Until she saw, out of the corner of her eye, a darkness much too large to be a fish approach rapidly from under the water. She dropped the waterskin she was holding, rose to her feet and drew her sais in one smooth motion, getting herself ready to face whatever threat was about to present itself.

Out of the water rose a very naked Xena, holding a large fish in each hand.

"Hi," she said, a wide smile on her face.

"Breakfast," she added, wiggling the fishes. "Did I snore a lot tonight, or why the weaponry?"

Gabby gave a short, exasperated laugh. She put the sais back in their boot-sheaths.

"You made me drop a waterskin," she said.

"Sorry," Xena said. "Didn't know you were here."

"I didn't know you were in the water," Gabrielle said. "Thought you were out hunting."

"Felt like a swim. Hope you don't mind grilled fish for breakfast?"

Gabrielle smirked and demonstratively looked Xena up and down.

"Will I get desert?" she said.

"If you're good," Xena said.

Gabrielle put her hands on Xena's bare hips, raised herself up on her toes and gently nibbled Xena's earlobe.

"You already know quite well just how good I am," she breathed into her lover's ear.

"I may need a little more demonstration," Xena said. She slid out of Gabrielle's grip and headed into the forest, fish still in her hands and still stark naked.

"I'll get the fish cleaned and over the fire," she said. "Don't be too long, they cook pretty fast."

"I won't," Gabrielle said. "Don't worry."

As soon as she couldn't see Xena's backside any longer, she knelt to retrieve the dropped waterskin.

It was a glorious morning.

The grilled fish tasted good, in spite of them being cooked by Xena. Gabrielle stretched out on her bedroll, enjoying the sunshine. And making sure to arc her back a little, to give Xena a nicer view of her chest.

"So, what about my desert?" she said.

From across the fire, Xena looked quizzically at her. She was lying on her side, propped up on one elbow and picking the last scraps of flesh out of the skin and bones of one of the fish. She had put on her usual leather slip, but not her armor.

"What about it?" she said.

"Well, I'm waiting for it. Waiting for the big, bad warrior princess to have her wicked way with my nubile young body."

"Nah," Xena said. "Can't be bothered."

Gabrielle sat up.

"You can't be bothered?"

"Yeah." Xena shrugged, as well as she could in her sideways position. "Sounds like work."

"It sounds like work? To make crazy love to me?"

"Well, you know. Been there, done that."

"Oh, you're so going to get it!"

Gabrielle threw herself over the fire onto Xena, tumbling her over on her back and ending up straddling her hips. She grabbed Xena's hands and pinned them to the ground above her head.

Xena wiggled her hips.

"So you've got me, farm-girl. What're you going to do with me?"

With some effort and only using one hand at a time, Gabrielle got her top loose and wriggled out of it. She scooted forward and leaned down so her breasts were just above Xena's face.

"I was thinking about forcing you to do my bidding," she said. "But I see now that that would be wrong."

Xena raised her head and tried to catch Gabrielle's nipple with her lips. The bard pulled away just enough for her to miss.

Gabrielle put on her most innocent expression.

"So I'll guess I'll just let you go. And then go down to the lake and work off my frustrated desires by myself."

She reached behind her and slid a hand up the inside of Xena's thigh.

"Unless," she said, "you would for some reason change your mind."

Softly, she ran a finger along Xena's wet vulva in that way she knew was sure to drive her nearly nuts very quickly. It worked quite well this time too. Before she quite knew how, Xena's hands were cradling the back of her head and pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss. To which she happily yielded, of course. She was every bit as turned on as Xena was.

"Can't have your desires be frustrated, now can we?" Xena said after they had to break the kiss for lack of air. She quickly undid the ties that held Gabrielle's skirt up and pulled it off, leaving her dressed in nothing but boots and bracelets.

"What about yours?" Gabrielle said.

Xena pulled Gabrielle close, then rolled over so she ended up on top.

"Working on it," she said. "Don't you worry."

She quickly pulled off her leather slip and threw it aside.

"Now," she said, "I believe I was about to do this..."

She took Gabrielle's nipple in her mouth and gently played her tongue over it. Gabrielle sighed contentedly and closed her eyes. She put her hands on Xena's back, relishing the feel of warm, smooth skin. Inch by inch, her hands moved up Xena's back as Xena herself kissed her way down Gabrielle's belly into the slickness between her legs.

It was truly a glorious morning.

It was almost noon before they finally loaded up Argo and Horse and left the campsite. The weather had stayed fine, and they had no particular reason to get anywhere, so they didn't hurry. Sooner or later, something bad was sure to happen that'd put a stop to lazy mornings, so it was no more than good sense to make use of them while they could.

They rode along the edge of a small forest stream, going steadily downwards from its source in the mountains until it would eventually reach the sea. They wouldn't follow it nearly that far, of course, but while it flowed more or less in the direction they wanted to go it was good to have it there. No need to save on water, less trees to get in the way of the horses, less risk of getting lost.

Not that there was any risk of getting lost anyway, with Xena around. Gabrielle wouldn't either, these days, but that was because she'd learned tricks like staying with streams. Xena just plain seemed to know where she was at all times.

Argo stopped.

"I think I heard something," Xena said.

"Bad?" Gabrielle asked.

"Don't know," Xena said. "I'll have a look. Wait here."

She jumped off Argo and vanished into the trees.

"Sure, Xena," Gabrielle said to the forest. "I'll just wait here and not do anything useful at all. That's just fine with me."

Even now, after more than five years together, Xena still did that. And Gabrielle still got annoyed by it. One of these days, they'd have to have a talk.

"Are you Gabrielle of Poteidaia?"

Gabrielle nearly jumped out of her skin. The voice came from a woman standing right next to her and Horse, no more than an arm's length away. She was tall and slender, and was dressed in something white that would've looked more at home in that stupid Miss Known World contest Salmoneus once held than out there in the wilderness. Her hair was long and dark, and her eyes were an unnatural golden shade.

"Who are you?!" Gabrielle said. "And where did you come from?"

"I'm a friend," the woman said. "Never mind where I came from. Here, take this."

She held out a leather necklace with a small crystal ball on it. Gabrielle took it. It didn't look very special at all.

"What is it?" she said. "And why do you want me to have it?"

"I don't have much time," the woman said. "Or I would explain. But Xena will be back any moment, and she must not see me. That is a locating orb. It will lead you to the woman you have to find to proceed."

Gabrielle was just about to protest that she had no idea whatsoever what the woman was talking about, and offer the opinion that she might actually be quite insane, when the woman turned her head and looked towards the bit of the forest where Xena had vanished a minute ago.

"Here she comes," the woman said. "I have to go. Remember, whatever you do, don't lose that orb!"

Suddenly, she just wasn't there any more. Gabrielle was left sitting on Horse, holding the necklace and feeling very confused.

Xena jumped down out of a tree.

"Couldn't find anything," she said. "If it was something important I guess we'll hear it again."

She sat up on Argo and continued down the side of the stream.

Gabrielle shook her head and urged Horse to follow. For lack of anything better to do with it, she put the necklace over her head. The crystal ball settled nicely into her cleavage.

She had no doubt all this would come to make sense later. It usually did.

Towards late afternoon the trees were thinning out and the landscape got more hilly than mountainous. They left the stream behind and headed south, towards Greece and their old home villages. Not that either of those villages looked much like when Gabrielle and Xena grew up in them, after their little quarter-century sleep.

"I think I remember this place," Xena said as they rode out onto a large field of grass. "My army once fought a warlord called Ianius on this field."

"How nice," Gabrielle said. "Did many die?"

"Not really," Xena said. "Ianius was a really awful general. His men gave up as soon as they could and most of them ended up joining me. I think only three or four men died, and one of those stumbled and fell on his own sword."

"Relative of Joxer's?"

"Not as far as I know, but I wouldn't rule it out."

"Any good campsites nearby?"

Xena thought about it for a moment.

"Actually, yes," she said. "Unless something's happened to it. It was thirty-five years since I was here, after all. But there used to be a grassy spot sheltered by a couple of large boulders with a sun-warmed pool large enough for a short swim nearby."

"Sounds like it's worth checking out. Unless you'd rather continue on for a while longer?"

"No, no, not at all," Xena said. "Got a late start, may as well stop early."

Gabrielle gave Xena a long sideways look, to see if she was being sarcastic. It didn't look like she was.

"So, which way?" Gabrielle asked.

"This," Xena said and set off towards the side of the field. They rode in that direction for maybe ten minutes, before they reached a cleared space between two boulders. They were both more than twice as high as Gabrielle was tall, and would serve well as shelter from wind. Other people had obviously thought so as well, for in the middle of the space there was a built-up circle of small stones filled with burned-out ashes and coals.

"Nice," Gabrielle said.

"It's all right," Xena said. "I'll set up camp if you go get water. There's a spring about two hundred steps north of here."

"Sure," Gabrielle said. The sun was setting and it was getting chillier, so she pulled her patchwork leather coat on before she left, carrying as many waterskins as she reasonably could. So it was while carrying those and dressed in her usual skimpy red top, short red skirt, knee-high soft red leather boots with sais sheathed to them and a long white and brown leather coat that she turned around a tree and without warning stepped right into a dark swirly thing hanging in thin air.

For a few moments, everything around Gabrielle went black and cold. There was nothing to breathe, and she felt like she was falling. Her ears popped violently and her eyes stung like she'd rubbed them with vinegar. Then, just as suddenly as everything had vanished, it came back again.

Only everything around her was completely different.

[Poll #410932]

Comments

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Nobody else has voted with me, inevitably *sniff*. Quick typo check - you've spelled 'dessert' as 'desert'. Sorry, can't switch off the betaing thing. Happy New Year!

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

Typo fixed in my master copy. Thanks for the pointer!