CONQUERING THE CONQUEROR

pt.27

In the dead of night, a pair of shadows were casted onto the wall of Gabrielle's dimly candle lit room. One of them a terrified Gabrielle, whose mind was in a state of pure panic as her eyes locked on to the caster of the other shadow, the Conqueror. Gabrielle let out a muffled, fearful moan from beneath the hand that had been clasped over her mouth as the woman who stood over her simply looked at her with an unreadable expression as the shadow from her long hair covered her face like an eerie mask. Again Gabrielle tried screaming but only a quiet, muffled sound came from behind the Conqueror's hand as Gabrielle began to struggle to get the other woman away from her. She fought against the larger, stronger Xena for several moments as she kicked, pushed,,scratched and hit her with no success. All the while the Conqueror's expression didn't change as Gabrielle could see the woman's normally bright blue eyes were now darkened and bloodshot as they stared down on her with a deep absorbing gaze that appeared void of any feeling whatsoever. Gabrielle continued to struggle against her attacker and caught Xena's face with her hand as her nails dug into the Conqueror's skin,leaving a good set of deep scratch marks across her cheek. Xena let out a yelp of pain that caused her to pull back and hold her cheek just enough for Gabrielle to turn slightly, raise her leg and with as much force as she could, plant her foot square in the center of the Conqueror's chest. And while the kick by average standards wasn't very powerful and in Xena's normal state, likely would've only caused her to take a small step back, due to the Conqueror's drunken state paired with the fact that she was still recovering from the injury she'd sustained to the area, the impact had a much greater effect as the Conqueror was sent stumbling backwards and into the wall that was opposite from the one that Gabrielle's bed sat against. As Xena worked to regain her balance and stand back upright Gabrielle took the opening and swiftly leapt out of bed and made a mad dash for the door. It was just a few long steps from the bed to the door of the small room as Gabrielle grabbed the doorknob, turned and began to pull the door open before a hand came from behind Gabrielle and slammed against the wooden surface, forcing and holding it shut. Knowing that the Conqueror was now right behind her and not knowing what else to do, Gabrielle turned around and stood face to face with the other woman. She pressed as far against the door as she could as Xena placed her other hand on the other side of Gabrielle's head and against the door. Gabrielle trembling in fear as the Conqueror stood so close to her that she could feel the woman's breath on her ear as she leaned her head down slightly and spoke.

XENA
You know that scratch really hurt, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that again.

Gabrielle felt the Conqueror pull back slightly as she then found her face being lifted slightly until she was looking Xena in the eye. She looked at the woman with a terrified expression as she felt the Conqueror lightly stroke her thumb against her cheek for a second.

XENA
So soft, sweet, innocent. Eyes that still have a light behind them. Tell me, do you dream?

Gabrielle looked at Xena now both terrified and confused as she tried to think of what the woman wanted to hear that might get her to just go away and leave her alone.

GABRIELLE
Sometimes.

XENA
Of what?

GABRIELLE
My family, going home.

XENA
What for?

GABRIELLE
Because I..

Gabrielle paused in giving her actual answer as she tried to decipher what it was that the Conqueror wanted to hear as Xena spoke again.