"A Friend In Need 3: Isle of Fire"

Disclaimers:

The characters of Xena and Gabrielle belong to MCA/Universal/Ren-Pics. Ani (who in my story is female) and Osiris belong to history. All other characters are mine, do you hear me all mine! There is some violence, hey it’s Xena! There is some unusual grammar here, things like sentence fragments are inserted purposely for effect.

Love/Sex Warning: Subtext main text what the heck??!! They love each other.

Dedication: This story is dedicated to Andrea who said, “Hey why don’t you write a Xena story?”

Comments, feedback, and constructive criticism may be sent to pyrotic71@worlenet.att.net. Thank you.

Gabrielle remained on the rock long after Xena’s form faded from her side. She tilted her head toward the skyline and realized how much she simultaneously hated yet needed Japa. It was where she lost the flesh and blood Xena, and gained the spirit one. She wanted to run while immersing herself in the first and last place she experienced a physical connection to her soul mate.

She sat and listened; listened the way Xena had taught her to. She waited for the sounds behind the sounds. As she tuned in, the gentle rolling of the fountain became deafening. With a sure, but graceful motion, Gabrielle dipped her hand into the water and watched it slip through her fingers. She stood, with a heavy heart, and then something in the distance caught her attention; it was her pack. Something, indescribable, yet magnetic compelled her to reach inside. She retrieved a small purple glass vial that hung from a gold chain. Gabrielle had long forgotten about it. She filled it with water from the fountain, and placed it around her neck. Something partially inside of herself, and partially in the air around her made her perform this task. She sighed, “It’s a reminder of what should have been Xena, as if I could forget,” and with that she walked away.

Gabrielle absorbed the gentle to and fro of the deck beneath her feet, and with eyes closed she breathed deeply of the salt air. The urn, held tight within her grasp. An hour later, the sun’s shadow had consumed half of the deck, and Gabrielle remained, half smiling, heartbroken, but proud. Just as Gabrielle opened her eyes, a young Greek crewmember gently grasped her shoulder and asked, “What are you doing?” Gabrielle turned to him, his smile was as comforting as a warm coat on a winter’s day. Gabrielle sniffled and a single tear splashed on the top of the urn, and trickled down the side. “Loving her,” she responded. Her voice barely above a whisper. He nodded, “Word of Xena’s and your sacrifice have spread quickly. She was blessed to know someone who loved her enough to let her go.” Just then, a salty breeze struck Gabrielle’s face like an angry hand. “No,” she croaked, “I was the blessed one.” Gabrielle smiled at his young face before retreating to her tiny cabin.

She retreated when she really wanted to scream, “I didn’t let her go! She will always be with me, only not in the way I need or want her to be.” Gabrielle sobbed breathlessly. She sealed the shiny pot, and gently tucked it into her pack. She dropped to her knees, and yelled into the air, “I died out there with you. I don’t accept this Xena; it’s not right! XENA!” Xena appeared and knelt directly behind the subdued, sobbing figure. Xena thought she looked so tiny and alone. She spoke not a word, she gently snaked her arm around the warrior-bard’s waist, pulled her down to the bedroll, and held her until sleep overcame her. When the sun broke through the horizon, Xena kissed Gabrielle’s forehead, and departed for a brief journey through the spirit world.

As Gabrielle slept on the tear sodden bedroll, a subtle awareness enveloped her mind. The same sort of awareness that balances one between wakefulness and twilight sleep. The voice of the Ghost Killer rang through her ears, “Akemi has done you and Xena a great injustice.” The voice was weak, but unmistakable. Gabrielle sat bolt upright, thinking it was either a dream, or an auditory hallucination brought about by her grief, and the jealousy that was eating through her belly. The jealousy that shouted, “There was someone who was capable of taking Xena away from you, despite your love for her.” Gabrielle shook her head in disbelief and before she could take her next breath, not only could she feel Xena, she could see her again. Xena reappeared with a fiery red and yellow desert flower. Gabrielle forced a smile as Xena handed it to her. “Xena, where did this come from?” Xena cupped Gabrielle’s face, “The other side of the world my. . . ,” and Xena stopped herself from finishing the sentence. Gabrielle lowered her head, “Xena I will never get used to this. I can see you; I can touch you; no one else can. I can only talk to you when we are alone. I can’t.”

“Gabrielle” Xena responded, “You have never run from anything in your life. We can do this.” Gabrielle wanted so much to believe Xena.

The next several weeks passed in much the same fashion. Gabrielle dwelled between the upper deck where she acknowledged Xena’s presence with a nod, or a smile, or a look, and the lower deck where she could fully acknowledge her beloved warrior. The day before docking in Egypt, Gabrielle sat on deck relishing the smell of the sea, and Xena sat on a nearby chest smiling. “Gabrielle, you have changed so much; you’re beautiful.” Instead of a nod, Gabrielle leaned over and kissed the tip of Xena’s nose. “I love you Xena.” Xena hung her head, “Don’t Gabrielle, someone may hear you.” Gabrielle looked as if a whirlpool had swallowed her. She spent the remainder of the journey sitting next to Xena, in silence.

When it came time to disembark, the young Greek crewman approached Gabrielle. “Guard those ashes” he whispered “and don’t get caught talking as you were here, they don’t look upon death in the same way we do.” Gabrielle’s eyes widened as Xena gently urged her down the ramp.

The town was overrun with markets, camel drivers, and families washing clothes in the river, or running their errands. Women held children’s hands, and couples smiled as they walked across the marketplace. In the distance behind a haze of human traffic and swirling sands, stood the pyramids. Gabrielle felt a pang surround her heart. She felt the worst of all human curses: feeling alone in a sea of people. Xena placed her hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder as a gesture of quiet understanding.

After searching for, but not finding the tomb robbers who had killed a boy “who had got in their way,” Xena and Gabrielle settled in the room at the back of a small beer house. The room was dark save two candles, but it suited Gabrielle. Gabrielle was sleepily undressing for bed when she heard it again. “Akemi has done you a great injustice, it can be undone!” Gabrielle spun around, knocked over a water pitcher, and saw only Xena in the room, and Xena gave no indication of hearing anything. “Gabrielle what’s wrong?”

“Nothing Xena, I. . . you just surprised me that’s all.” Gabrielle began to think her grief was driving her insane.

After three weeks on the coast, Gabrielle was sure her stay would be uneventful. The tomb robbers she searched for had emerged from a freak sandstorm with silver and blue jeweled daggers protruding from their chests. “Xena it’s not what I thought it would be,” Gabrielle said one night.

“Gabrielle, look at what you have accomplished. You stopped those thieves in the market, healed the sick, and found that missing girl.”

Gabrielle looked up into the most ice blue eyes she had ever seen, “Xena, it’s hardly doing honor to your name.”

Xena grew angry, “You have nothing to prove to me, do you hear me? Nothing. Your loving me was more of an honor than I ever deserved.” Xena opened the door to their room, and escorted Gabrielle on a late night walk, down a deserted road.

“Xena, I thought I heard Ghost Killer talking to me today. He said a great injustice had been done that could be reversed. I bet I can bring you back.”

Xena smile was like white lightening. “Gabrielle, I am so sorry. Seeing you suffer like this is like dyeing all over again.” The tears cascaded down Xena’s face. “But, I can’t come back.”

Gabrielle leaned into Xena trying to swallow the lump in her throat. “But I thought I was your way. Akemi broke your heart Xena, and you broke mine.”

Xena’s composure shattered. “You are, you always will be my way. I will be with you through your life, and after your death.”

When they returned to the room, it had been ransacked. The bed was flipped against the wall, the chairs were overturned, and the wall broken. Gabrielle scrambled for the pack she hid under the floorboard, and brought it close to her chest. Her hand instinctively reached for the chakram as a cloaked figure emerged from the shadows. Before Xena could utter a word, Gabrielle was prepared to release the deadly instrument.

“No,” the stranger shouted, “I am unarmed, I want to help.” The figure stepped into he light to reveal her tall frame, graced with a deeply tanned face. “I am Ani; the scribe from the temple of Osiris. I tried to warn you upon your arrival, but I could not get here in time. Every would be thief between here and Memphis is looking for you. When word arrived that you were coming with the warrior’s ashes, chaos ensued. It is believed if one eats the ashes of a great warrior, one takes on the characteristics of that warrior.” Gabrielle gulped.

Xena whispered to her, “It not an unusual practice”

The vein in Gabrielle’s neck pulsed as she shouted to Ani, “It’s not bad enough I lose Xena, now people want to eat her ashes!”

Ani replied in a voice sweetened by age, “But child, you have not lost Xena, she is right beside you.”

Gabrielle breathed, “You can see her?” Ani answered, “Yes, and she loves you very much.”

Xena nodded in agreement, “I knew she could see me, but I waited for her to make the first move”

“Gabrielle,” Ani said with a soft sadness in her black eyes, “I will help you protect the ashes until you are ready to leave. You and Xena can do nothing against those who would kill you for them.” Gabrielle nodded, and she and Xena agreed to meet Ani the following morning in the temple.

Gabrielle drifted off into an uneasy sleep, while Xena stood guard. Once again, Gabrielle was visited by Ghost Killer. “Gabrielle, I am very weak, listen closely. Follow Ani, do not doubt her. Akemi tricked Xena, not into avenging the 40,000 souls, but into delivering them into her power. Akemi is very much like her father, she is draining the life force from each soul so that she may reenter this world. But without Xena’s soul, Akemi will remain in what we call the in-between place. The redemption in Xena’s soul burns bright, brighter than any other. It contains the energy required to thrust Akemi back into the physical realm. Once that is done, Xena’s spirit will be obliterated. The vial you wear is the key to saving Xena. The water from the fountain is comprised of a tiny part of every soul that has passed, including Xena’s, and when the time comes, Ani will tell you what to do.” The voice suddenly disappeared. Gabrielle awoke sweating. Xena lay beside her and placed a gentle arm around her. “Gabrielle, it’s just a dream.” Gabrielle was sure this was no dream, or manifestation of her desire.

The warrior-bard spent the early morning in quiet contemplation. She ate breakfast while she and Xena laughed, joked, and talked about past adventures. Then suddenly, Gabrielle’s tone became hushed, and her eyes brimmed. “Xena, I have loved you from the moment I saw you, and the only regret that I have about our life together, is that it was short.” Xena reached across the table and intertwined her fingers with Gabrielle’s. “Gabrielle, please remember, even in death I will never leave you.” A sour feeling climbed up from the pit of Gabrielle’s stomach. She wanted to believe she could bring Xena back, and if she couldn’t, she wanted to believe Xena’s spirit would accompany her until they were both on the other side.

Xena trailed a few feet behind Ani and Gabrielle as a morning breeze blew through large palm leaves. Gabrielle’s voice, barely above a whisper, reached Ani’s ears. “You destroyed my room, didn’t you?” Ani answered, “Yes. I am sorry about that. I wanted to get your attention.”

“Well Ani, you did. But no one wants to eat Xena’s ashes do they?”

“Dear Gabrielle,” Ani laughed, “that is the truth. Xena’s ashes are highly sought after.”

“Ani, but I know we aren’t going to the temple to hide the ashes are we?”

“No,” she responded, “we are not. We are going to try and bring your warrior back.”

A whipping cloud of sand stung Gabrielle’s eyes. “Ani, how do you know we can?” Then suddenly, something in Gabrielle’s recognition changed. Ani was tall and dark like the other Egyptian women, but her features were Asian.

“Gabrielle, my mother was one of the 40,000, and the Ghost Killer who visits you, is my grandfather.”

Gabrielle lost her footing and stumbled a bit. “Why, play all these games if you knew all this already?’

“Gabrielle, they are not games. It’s important to keep Xena in the dark. It’s a dangerous task you take up, and if Xena knew exactly how dangerous, she would surely try and stop you.”

Gabrielle ran her fingers through her hair. “I am sure if Xena knew what a horrible wrong had been done to her, she would want to help.”

Ani brought her scarf up to protect her eyes. “Akemi has already begun to drain Xena. If Xena interferes, it will destroy her. The protection of the temple is the only safe place for her now, Akemi can not touch her there.” Gabrielle trudged ahead, more determined than ever to reclaim her love.

As they entered the temple, Gabrielle heard six unfamiliar heartbeats. She drew her sais, and she, Ani, and Xena were surrounded by six cloaked men, all carrying the same silver and blue daggers found sticking out of the tomb robbers’ chests. Xena hoped Gabrielle’s newly honed skills would serve her; however, Ani quickly dispelled any worries. “Xena, Gabrielle, these are the renegades of the temple of Osiris, they will help us with our task. They killed the tomb robbers to speed you on your way.”

Gabrielle approached Xena. “Xena give me your hands. Xena I need you to trust me. Please, this is the most important moment of my life, do what I ask of you.” She gave Gabrielle her hands, and Ani led them into the temple vault. Ani explained that in Egypt, the dead are rarely mentioned, and reincarnation is reincarnation within the afterlife, not in this one. As a result, the renegades are priests who have taken it upon themselves to intervene with the gods, and right the wrongs of this life through magic.

Xena looked confused, and asked, “But what wrong needs to be righted?” Ani and Gabrielle did their best to explain Akemi’s plan, while the renegades prepared for an elaborate ceremony. Xena’s eyes and heart overflowed with a combination of love for Gabrielle, and anger for Akemi. “Gabrielle, I will do what you ask of me, only if you are not put into any unnecessary danger.”

Gabrielle spoke from the bottom of her heart, “Oh, it’s not unnecessary.” Ani approached the couple, announcing that they were ready for the ritual.

The vault’s walls contained hieroglyphics depicting life, death, and rebirth into the afterworld. Tonight, however, a chosen few would be witness to a remarkable rebirth into this world. The temple doors were sealed shut, and one of the renegades reached into a sack and spread red sand over a cold, stone alter. Ani instructed Gabrielle to lie on one end of the alter and Xena on the other so that their soles were touching. The ash filled urn was placed between their feet, and the renegades lay their daggers around the base of the alter, points facing outward. Candles and incense burned, filling the room with a cloudy mist of smoke and fragrance.

Ani stood over the two women, “Today is a day for honor, rebirth, and redemption not just for Xena, but for the 40,000 souls who died in that terrible accident.” A sudden tear stung Xena’s face, and Gabrielle pressed her feet harder against Xena’s. “Gabrielle, do you have the vial?” Gabrielle clutched the piece of glass tightly. “When I read this incantation, the two of you will be transported to the place of judgement, the Isle of Fire. Osiris will ask what you want of him. You will tell him you want Xena and the 40,000 souls rejudged.”

“Ani,” Gabrielle spoke up “if they are to be rejudged, and rebirth comes only in Egyptian afterlife, then how is Xena supposed to come back?” Ani’s beautiful blue and yellow robe billowed as she smiled down at Gabrielle. “That is what the daggers, the sand, the incantation, and this whole ritual are for—they will help Osiris return Xena to you. The renegades and I will call you back to this life. The souls will be saved, the two of you will be reunited, and my grandfather will be honored with rebirth.” Gabrielle nodded.

A muted screech filled the room as one of the renegades played what sounded like a dirge on a pair of bagpipes. Ani stood behind the alter and unrolled her papyrus. She began the incantation in a voice that lulled Xena and Gabrielle into a twilight sleep. The two were guided along on what seemed like a gentle breath of air to a craggy cliff. The two heard Ani telling them to go forward, and within a heartbeat, the two were thrust to a new world. They had reached the Isle. The sky burned red, the air reeked of sulfur, and the water bubbled. The intense heat matted Xena’s hair, and drenched Gabrielle’s face.

The two looked at one another in wonder. “Xena, this is unbelievable.”

Xena frowned, “It’s a dangerous place, and if you get hurt. . .”

Gabrielle interrupted her. “Xena, it’s worth it. Either we die or we live together.” Xena took Gabrielle’s hand, and together they trudged across the smoldering sand. As the two approached a clearing, a thunderous rumble followed by a blast of hot, sulfuric gas shot up from the desert floor. A mammoth statue rose from the ground. It was a giant eye, and in the pupil was a fountain from which the clearest water flowed, creating the illusion of the eye shedding tears. A loud voice boomed from all directions, “I am Osiris god of the underworld. What is it that you seek?

Gabrielle stood before the eye, “I ask that you rejudge the souls contained in this vial. They are the souls of many good people, including the great warrior Xena. An evil spirit named Akemi tricked Xena into turning these souls over to her so that Akemi may be reborn into the world of living. As part of the bargain Xena lost her life. Please, set things right.”

The god boomed, “Why should I?”

Gabrielle stood her ground, “Because Xena and I have helped many, including your people, your queens, and your pharaohs. Because Xena and I have many more people to help, because I can’t live without her.”

The voice, slightly softer spoke, “It shall be done, but as you know, rebirth will be a rebirth into my world, not the world of the living.”

Xena explained, “We have asked the temple renegades for their help. They have my ashes, as you know, your will combined with their magic will bring me back.”

Osiris declared, “It shall be done.” He instructed Gabrielle to pour the contents of her vial into the fountain. She felt the blood surge in her veins, and heard her heart pound in her head. She pulled the vial from her neck and drizzled the contents into the eye. There was an explosion of white hot heat and animals of every kind emerged from the desert in droves. Camels, snakes, birds, deer, cows, cats, dogs, and rabbits poured from every corner. Osiris laughed, “These are the souls reborn, they will continue to attain higher forms of being throughout many lives, all except those two.” Osiris pointed to two lowly scarabs crawling away. “That is Akemi, and her father; doomed for eternity to crawl on their bellies.” Once all the animals dispersed, a single blue droplet remained suspended above the eye. “This is Xena,” replied Osiris. “Go back to your world, and Xena will return in flesh and blood, in body and soul.” And with that the two were hurled back to the temple vault. A fire sprang up above the urn, Osiris added the drop of water, and with a sudden burst of steam, Xena’s soul was forced back into her body.

Gabrielle was the first to descend from the alter. She helped Xena to her feet, and embraced her. “You’re back, you’re really back!” Xena held her bard tight, and smiled as rivulets of sweat continued to fall from their faces. Gabrielle stepped back from the warrior and took one end of the chakram, while offering the other to Xena. Xena’s hand held it firmly, and the two stood for several moments staring into one another’s eyes. Ani approached, smiling broadly. Xena and Gabrielle thanked her and the renegades. Ani covered her face with her scarf, and bowed. “I am so pleased, and thank you for restoring my grandfather’s peace. However, please be aware, you must never step foot on the soil of Japa again, or all will be undone.”

The two women, now holding hands, nodded, and Ani and the renegades departed from the temple. Xena pressed her forehead against Gabrielle’s. “I can live with that.”

Gabrielle agreed, “Uhuh, so can I.”

Xena lowered her face a bit, and she and Gabrielle kissed with all the intensity of fire, and all the coolness of water.

FADE TO BLACK

THE END

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