Caslewarming Chapters 341-350
by Hercules Forum Collective
Chapter 341
by RainCloud
The three of them watched, as Greensleeves, Eeyoraus and the rest of the
party left with the boys in tow.
"I'm going to check on RainCloud," said Lyrical, "Salmoneus, would you see
if we have any left over soup? I really think RainCloud could use something
to eat."
"I'm pretty sure we do," he answered, " I'll heat some up and bring it to
her."
As Salmoneus walked toward the cooking area, Lyrical and Hercules started
towards the lean- to's. Once outside the one that RainCloud occupied,
Lyrical said," Why don't you go and rest, while I check on RainCloud." She
indicated the lean-to beside next door.
"Only if you promise to join me after you make sure she's alright." said
Hercules.
"Try and keep me away." she said with a smile. Lyrical checked RainCloud
and found her still sleeping peacefully. She smiled and left quietly to
join Hercules.
Once inside the lean-to, the two of them snuggled together. Neither had
anticipated being able to spend more time with each other but it had worked
out beautifully. Hercules ran his hand along Lyrical s back, the sensation
he created had her emitting soft moans of pleasure, one could almost call
it a purr. Lyrical ran her hand slowly over the soft mat of hair covering
his chest, feeling the tremble of his muscles brought a smile of
satisfaction to her mouth. It truly amazed her that someone as strong and
brave as Hercules could tremble at her touch, her heart filled to
overflowing with love for him. As their gazes locked, Hercules slowly
lowered his lips as he sought out hers.
RainCloud had awakened feeling thirsty, she slid to the side of the cot and
sat up slowly allowing her head to clear for a moment. Gods, but she was
exhausted, the incident had taken more out of her than she realized.
Holding on to the back of a chair left near the cot, RainCloud rose to her
feet. Upon putting full weight on her right foot she screamed out as she
felt a sudden severe pain in her ankle that radiated up her leg. The pain
was so great that she lost her balance and tumbled over the chair onto the
ground, the chair slid into a table that in turn tipped, causing a piece of
potter to fall with a loud crash. RainCloud lay on the ground panting
rapidly in an attempt to gain control over the pain as tears fell from her
eyes.
Hercules and Lyrical sprang apart as they heard a both heard the scream
followed by a loud thud coming from the lean to next door. Sprinting into
the lean to they found RainCloud in a heap upon the ground.
"RainCloud what happened?" asked Lyrical as both she and Hercules knelt on
the ground beside her.
" I was thirsty...I...I..was getting some wa..water." said RainCloud having
trouble catching her breath.
" Where do you hurt?" questioned Hercules as he gently began running his
hands over her shoulders and arms checking for injuries.
"It s my right ankle, it hurts so bad." shuddered RainCloud as a fresh wave
of pain went through her.
Hercules moved and began to examine her ankle, gently probing the area,
RainCloud suddenly pulled her leg back away from the discomfort the
palpation had caused, and in doing so created an even more intense pain.
The room began to darken as RainCloud was slowly losing consciousness ,
beads of perspiration formed on her upper lip, and their voices seemed very
distant.
"Pick her up, and lay her back down on the cot please," Lyrical said to
Hercules.
Once he had RainCloud back on the cot, Lyrical continued.
"Could you go outside and get me some snow in this bucket. I want to get it
on her ankle as soon a possible. It should help to bring the swelling down.
I just wish I knew if it just sprained or if it's broken."
While Hercules went to get the snow, Lyrical put a cool cloth on
RainCloud's forehead. When Hercules came back a few minutes later,
RainCloud was still unconscious, but her breathing was much better.
"Hercules, do you think we could get a healer from the town to come out
here?" Lyrical asked. "It would just be until RainCloud was up and around.
I know the basics of treating injuries, but my knowledge is limited."
"That is a great idea." said Hercules." I'm sure they have more than one
healer in a town that size. You can use that radio, that Greensleeves gave
you to contact Kendaa. I'm sure they can spare one to come out and give you
a hand."
"It would be an opportunity for me to learn more about healing as well."
said Lyrical. " I plan on asking RainCloud to teach me more about her
craft, once she is up and around again. Until that happens though, another
healer would certainly be welcomed. Especially right before a major
battle."
"Why don't you go outside and call Kendaa. I'll stay here and keep a close
watch on RainCloud." offered Hercules as he set up the chair and sat down.
Lyrical smiled at him, bent down and placed a kiss on the top of his head.
Hercules, reached up, taking her face in his hands, pulled her close and
kissed her softly on the lips.
"I promise," he said "once this is all over, we will spend some time
together, just the two of us alone...." Lyrical kissed him, smiled and left
the lean-to. RainCloud, started to moan, and Hercules gave her his
undivided attention. First he replaced the cloth on her forehead with a
fresh one. Next, he gently lifted her injured leg and placed an extra
blanket, folded several times, under her ankle. Next, Hercules took some of
the snow from the bucket Lyrical had him bring, and packed it loosely
around her injury. RainCloud started moaning once again, and Hercules went
back to the chair and took her hand. He started to gently rub each finger
in turn, working his way to the back of her hand. As he rubbed, RainCloud
started to relax. Drifting into a peaceful sleep.
Autolycus quickly reached the clearing and could barely believe his eyes.
The party that he had been following had become involved in a vicious fight
with beings that were obviously not of this world. Gabrielle had the
presence of mind to grab her warstaff from the cart before she took off
with Joxer. She used it now to dispatch two or three Bacchai at one time.
Unfortunately they refused to stay down - popping up again and again like
some sickening game of "Whack-a-Bacchai". Joxer wielded his sword with all
his might but the creatures kept coming back for more. Greensleeves had
taken up Maddie's fallen, burning tree branch and appeared to be having
some success. The creatures were not at all fond of the flames. She was
attempting to use this advantage to make her way over to Maddie, who had
crumpled to the ground near the edge of the clearing.
Maddie unconscious form spurred Autolycus into action. He dismounted and
ran toward the tree which was hit by lightning. It still burned and might
provide some ammunition in the fight. By then, though, he had been cut off
by several of the Bacchai who were looking at him as if he were the first
course at the all-you-can-eat buffet. They slowly closed in.
"Now ladies," Auto began, "I'm genuinely flattered by your attention and .
. . and . . . ah . . . any other time I'd be, yikes, happy to return it but
. . . I'm . . . sorta spoken for, well, actually I'm in a very healthy
relationship right now so . . ."
His grappling hook in hand, Auto connected with a nearby branch and took
flight. He landed safely near the burning tree. He wasted no time
collecting flaming branches and quickly tossing them to the little band of
fighters. The four managed to back the snarling Bacchai to the edge of the
forest with their torches. Joxer glance at Greenie who wore a "now what?"
look on her face.
The question was answered for them as the Bacchai disappeared, leaving only
a trace of evil, masculine laughter behind. Greenie fell into Joxer's arms
with pure relief. Auto began to cross the clearing to where Maddie's body
had laid face-down under one of the trees. She had regained consciousness
and was shakily attempting to stand. As he crossed the clearing he noticed
Maddie's hat lying on the ground. He picked it up, anxious to return it to
her.
Maddie had managed to get to her feet fully but still seemed quite dazed.
Auto could think of nothing but being by her side.
"Well," said Auto as he brushed the dirt gently from Maddie's hat, "I must
say, my dear, this was not one of your better ideas. Could you at least
wake a person up when you decide go off for a ride in the middle of the
night?"
Auto expected one of several responses - anger, sarcasm, (the
glad-to-be-alive -wrap-your-arms-around-your-hero response was always nice)
but there was no way he could have expected what he received. Maddie turned
on him with one amazingly fast motion. Her eyes burned yellow and huge
fangs protruded from her mouth. She lunged at him.
Deep in his lair Bacchus and his followers watched with growing interest.
"Let's see what happens to our new student when her friends turn on her,"
he said. "With any luck she'll dispatch them all and come running to me. I
think we could make her a lovely home here, couldn't we?"
Autolycus' reaction to Maddie was completely uncharacteristic. For what
might have been the first time in his life, he had neither words nor
action. He stood completely and utterly stunned until Joxer's push brought
him back to his senses. Joxer came up behind Auto shoving him violently to
the left, placing his torch between them and the now-snarling Maddie. She
swiped at it briefly, than retreated slightly in fear. Her yellow eyes
blazed as Joxer held her back.
"What in the name of all that's holy is going on?" Autolycus bellowed.
"Auto, look in Maddie's hat," said Joxer. "Is the tuning fork still in it?"
"Tuning fork?" asked Gabrielle.
"Yes, we used it a while ago to help the bewitched bards," said Joxer.
"Orpheus gave it to Maddie. Maybe it has the same powers as his lyre."
After some desperate fishing, Auto retrieved the small golden tuning fork.
He hit it on the side of his hand, producing a soft, hypnotic hum. The
vibrations began to fill the small clearing. Even the horses seemed to
calm, somewhat.
Maddie's snarling ceased. Her yellow eyes focused on the tiny instrument.
Auto cautiously moved closer, motioning Joxer to lower the torch.
"You're going to calm down, my dear," said Auto as he moved closer. By now
the tuning fork was just inches from her ear. "You are going to relax
completely. Remember who you are. Remember how much we all love you . . ."
Maddie's eyes lost their focus and she collapsed again, this time into
Autolycus' waiting arms. Her breath came in sobs.
"By the gods," said Greensleeves as she moved to Joxer's side, "what do we
do now?"
"One thing is for sure, she's not cured yet," said Gabrielle. "I've been
there. I know. That thing may calm her temporarily but she will remain a
Bacchai."
"Then, there's no hope?" asked Auto as he held the silent Maddie.
"No, there's still a chance. She's not fully Bacchai - it takes the blood
of Bacchus himself for that. But she will not be returned to normal until
Bacchus is dead."
"I thought Xena took care of that," said Joxer.
"So did I but is anything certain when dealing with the gods?" asked
Gabrielle. "To complicate things even more, only a Bacchai can kill
Bacchus."
Shambalayogi and Ioannes had decided to explore the council chamber
building for some place that would give them some privacy.
They had found a room in the council building which seemed to have lots of
chambers built into the stone building. No one could tell this from the
outside or when they were in the council chamber itself. The gifted
builders and masons who had built the gates of the city had also created
the town council building. From the front, the council building looked like
other buildings with four walls in a rectangular or square shape. But the
back wall of the council chamber was not the back wall of the building, as
it appeared from inside the chamber itself. The back wall of the building
was a half-circle. Between the back wall of the council chamber and the
back wall of the building was enough space for several smaller rooms which
could serve many different purposes.
The room they found was very plain and had one high window. There was a
round raised platform in the middle of the room. It could have served as a
table or as a bed. Some kind of covers and cushions had been piled on it.
It didn't look like anyone had been there since the linens had been stored
there. They laid their packs and weapons to the side. They moved some of
the linens out of the way, spread out some blanket and covers to lay down
on.
Without saying much of anything, Shamba had fallen into an exhausted sleep
right away because of recent events and ale. Ioannes was pretty drained but
too full of tension to fall asleep. He did some breathing exercises until
he was calm enough to meditate a while. Now, he sat for a while just
watching Shamba sleep. He hadn't realized until just now watching her how
desperately he had missed her these passed few months.
When her heard the rumors about the King taking the army to fight the
warlords, he had felt something close to panic. He was suddenly full of
fear of her being caught in the situation outside the city. Underneath that
fear was a deeper fear, a much worse possibility, that she would just not
come to meet him by the spring equinox. Up to that time, he had just
figured she would be in Corinth by the time they'd agreed on several months
before. He had received a letter from her just after the shortest days of
winter, saying she was coming. But she could have decided to stay in India.
She was much more likely to stay in the ashram than he would have been. Or
she could have gone to her brother's village on the sea somewhere south of
Corinth. Or gone to her parent's house in Corinth without telling him. If
that had happened, he would have found her easily. Or, or …
He shook off the temptation to follow that line of thought. He had found
her and she was fine. She certainly would have been safe with the Amazons
was until this was over.
Weariness came over him, and he laid down on the bedding next to Shamba.
She had slept still and motionless when she first fell asleep. Then her
sleep had become more restless. He reached out to touch her thinking that
his caress would comfort her driving away whatever disturbed her. He knew
it would comfort him.
At his touch she made small noises in her sleep … she stirred and opened
her eyes. She softly called him by the name she'd known him in the ashram.
They kissed, small,affectionate kisses at first, then deeper and more
passionate. Whatever tiredness they'd felt seemed to melt away ….
Bacchus continued to watch the group in the forest. He was slightly annoyed
that things were not going exactly as he had hoped - the small tuning fork
seemed to hold his latest recruit at bay. He would have enjoyed seeing her
rip the little band to pieces. Still, the night was young and opportunities
were plentiful. Perhaps she could catch up with her missing friend after
all.
In the clearing, Autolycus sat Maddie down on a large rock and tried to
determine her condition. "How do you feel?" he asked her.
"Strange, tired and scared," Maddie replied, then asked much more urgently,
"Did I hurt you?"
"Not a scratch, my love," Auto replied. "Though Joxer's mighty shove could
use some work."
"Hey," said Joxer, "I didn't exactly have time to say 'please', you know."
"And we both thank you for your quick action, my friend," Maddie
interrupted. It was clear that, although acting normally, Maddie was
definitely changed. Her eyes were still rimmed with yellow and she was
abnormally pale.
"Darling, why were you out riding alone outside the city?" asked Auto.
"Rhiannon's messenger told me that Aquillea was going back to the Bacchai
village to fight them alone," said Maddie. "I thought if I could cut her
off before she got too far, I could persuade her to come back before anyone
got hurt. Didn't get too far, did I?" She buried her head in Auto shoulder.
"Another person missing in action," said Greensleeves. "Now we have two
people to worry about. And a battle about to begin. What should we do?"
"I think those things could return at any minute and there's plenty of
night still to come," said Gabrielle. "We should go back to Antianos and
get help. We need to sort this out, come up with a plan."
"But what about Aquillea?" asked Greenie.
"I agree with Gabby," said Joxer. "We have to take Maddie back to town
before we can go on to anything else. Perhaps Xena can help."
"Perhaps," added Auto, "and perhaps the townspeople find out that she's
been bitten and want to stake first, ask questions later. No, sir, we are
going back to goonsville and finding that son of a . . ."
"Auto's right," Greenie interrupted. "It's the only way we can save both of
them and . ."
Maddie's head was spinning as the argument went back and forth. She thought
it very possible that she could hurt someone in the state she was in. Plus
'Quillea was still out there alone. Her ears rang violently. She had to run
somewhere, anywhere to stop the pounding in her head. As the little group
stood preoccupied by their lively discussion, Maddie slowly got to her feet
and backed further away into the clearing. She began to walk. Soon, she was
running.
The argument was reaching a pitch when a strange voice broke in. "Excuse
me!" it said.
They looked around in stunned silence. There was no one but themselves and
the horses.
"Excuse me, please!" Edmund repeated. "You may not have noticed but Maddie
just left!"
"Am I still dreaming?" asked Auto, "or did that horse just talk?"
Morpheus too had observed the altercation in the woods with great interest.
He was now beginning to wonder if he had underestimated Bacchus. It was
only a marginal miscalculation on his part as the Bacchai clearly hadn't
scored a complete victory, still, the dream god was worried. "If Bacchus
saw fit to send 10 followers after one Amazon. . . an Amazon who didn't
even know the secret of dispatching Bacchai. . . . just how many Bacchai
does he already have nesting in that village?" Morpheus wondered.
Unseen in the dark woods, the Olympian began to pace. It had been a mistake
to lure his prize Amazon to the Bacchai village alone. Even in prime
condition, he was not sure Aquillea could have single handedly eradicated
all the followers Bacchus must have amassed there. "And you've made certain
that she's already in less than prime condition, haven't you?" he reminded
himself.
The benefit of the extra daylight had allowed Aquillea to get well ahead of
her would-be rescuers. Now, the Bacchai ambush was allowing his pet to put
further distance between them. Morpheus reached out his left arm to lean
against a tree and tapped his finger against the trunk as he concentrated
on formulating a plan.
With a loud crack, another streak of lightning from the approaching storm
etched its way across the night sky. Morpheus glanced up to watch nodding,
then his head and shoulders dropped dejectedly. He knew what he had to do,
he just wished there was another way.
Aquillea shook her head as she watched the light show above her. "Rain?! .
. . . Like I don't have enough problems!" Ordinarily, the dark Amazon loved
storms but these circumstances were far from ordinary. She spurred her
stallion on to an even more furious pace hoping to stay ahead of the
approaching front.
Suddenly, a deafening boom sounded and a blinding light flashed from
everywhere and nowhere at once. Aquillea never heard the splintering
overhead and, although Mischief attempted to dodge the falling limb, there
was no avoiding it. The heavy branch hit the Amazon hard, knocking her from
her mount. The fearful stallion, already growing fond of his new human
partner, nuzzled the woman trying to rouse her, but she lay motionless
beneath him. Although the thunder and lightning grew more frequent and
intense, the horse stood guard over the woman, waiting hopefully.
From behind a nearby tree Morpheus sighed. "Sorry, my little Amazon. . . .
You have no idea how much I hated doing that. Well, at least my aim was
better." Then the deliverer of nightmares smiled a chilling smile adding,
"Pleasant dreams Aquillea."
When Shamba woke up, the first thing she saw was the sky through the high
window. There was a fading reddish light in the upper part of the window.
Then there was a tiny strip of pale green color before the sky turned blue
that became darker. Then there was one faint star. The sun was setting and
the moon would rise close behind it.
She felt much better than when they'd found the room and literally dropped
their packs and things on the floor. She remembered almost falling down on
the platform and then sleeping. Smiling, she turned and nudged the still
Ioannes beside her. He didn't move. She tried again and got some results
this time. He saw her and mumbled something about being too early to get
water from the well.
"Rama … Ioannes," she shook his shoulder gently. "We're not in the village.
We're in Antianos, in Greeceland … and the sun is setting."
That got his attention. When this thought sank in, he was fully awake.
Thoughts of where Hercules and various Amazons had gone to, filled Shamba's
mind as she moved around the room.
When they were both dressed and ready, they picked up their weapons and
packs and went back to the main council chamber not knowing who or what
they would find there.
Kendaa and Xena had been making plans. Using the excellent maps, Patrocles
had brought from the army and other maps from the city library, they had
laid out a plan with leaders of the city militia, Antianos hunters and the
hunters of the other two villages. The commanders had kept careful watch of
the activity in the camps all afternoon. The senseless killing and fighting
had continued although there was a lull in the fighting just about the time
the sun began to set.
The commanders' plans were basically to move out of the city walls just
after the moon had been risen. The total number of warriors had been
divided into three parts. Xena seemed to be sure that they would be able to
hear or see the Corinthian army coming. They didn't really want to engage
the warlords much before the King because they didn't want their full force
of them turned on their relatively small one.
"All those horses and soldiers coming, we'll know they're on their way for
sure." Xena told Kendaa. Patrocles had also told them that the standard
bearers had small horns that they would blow just before the first army
troops were ready to hit the warlord camps. They were as prepared as they
could be and now the moment had arrived. With one puzzling and important
issue. Where were some of their best warriors?
At the moment neither of them could figure out where some of their key
personnel were. Hercules was in the base camp they knew. But Iolaus was
nowhere to be found. Several visible Amazons were missing-Maddie, Aquillea,
Greensleeves. And with them, it could be assumed Joxer and Autolycus. A few
Amazons were in the relocated base camp. Lyrical and Raincloud were
supposed to be there. Salmoneus was last seen at the base camp. The Greeks
yogis, as Xena called them, had disappeared somewhere. The woman from the
future had left a while ago with Shana. Kendaa figured she was safe with
Shana but who knows where they'd gotten to. Aphrodite's granddaughter
hadn't been seen that they knew of.
They could do a good job fighting without these people but they could do
much better with them all.
"At least," Xena said with some exasperation. "We'd know they weren't in
any trouble and might need help." She hadn't seen Gabrielle and was
actually becoming concerned about it. Xena was not a worrier most of the
time. You did what you could at the time with what preparations you could
make. And you just did your best with what you had. But you should never,
never, never be so confident that you weren't just a little nervous about
the unknown coming into play.
This battle didn't shape up to be a desperate fight. There could be losses,
destruction and a few days fighting. The warlords had become an enormous
threat in the area and they wanted to put and end to it. But forces of the
Corinthian army and the Amazons and other warriors arranged against the
warlords should be able to take of this problem.
There were some individuals who were not directly under their control.
Angel and Eeyoraus were probably willing to help using what powers they
had, but they were not subject to any commander unless they chose to. The
two Greek yogis, too, and Arkie had done as Kendaa asked. But she had also
been concerned about their safety and now that they were relatively safe,
she felt they were not obliged to fight.
And was Ares partial to one side or the other here all? Gabrielle had said
earlier to them, if he brought the camp up here with everyone intact, she
didn't think he was interested in seeing their side lose much. Xena and
Kendaa had agreed with her at that time. They had done the best they could
with what they knew. They were beginning to feel concern about some of
those unknowns though.
Exiting the alehouse, she and Arkie quickly made their way back to the
building where Kendaa and Xena was still making plans. On the way, they
stopped at the market, made a few purchases and picked up 'shana's laundry.
As they slipped into the planning room, 'shana realized that many of the
Amazons were not anywhere in sight. She wondered what was going on.
She could see Timmy and Rob on the other side of the room, but the kids
were no nowhere in sight. Asleep or tucked away , she thought to herself.
Shoshana decided that the other Amazons must be getting ready for the
approaching battle in their own ways. For 'shana, the best offense was a
good offense. So she began to inspect her battle leathers for rips and
tears. Once she was satisfied with the state of her leathers, she checked
her crossbow strings and arrows. Finally 'shana got to her favorite part of
the battle preparations - sharpening her sword. For some reason, sharpening
her sword always soothed and relaxed 'shana. She could visualize her
attacks and defenses and knew she was in control.
As she sharpened, she kept a watch out for her fellow Amazons and talked to
the Amazon from the future. You never knew when a piece of info would come
in handy. Besides, 'shana wanted more 'future words'.
Shoshana really started to become concerned about the missing warriors and
sister-friends - where were they? Shoshana looked up and smiled as she saw
~Wikewike enter the room with her trusty warstaff. "Hey Wike... over here!"
'shana called. Wike changed direction to join 'shana and Arkie.
Shoshana dug in her new pack as Wikewike sat beside her. 'shana pulled a
clean and neatly folded tunic out of the pack. "Thanks for the loan, Wike.
That really saved the day."
Wike grinned and accepted the tunic as she sat near Arkie and 'shana. She
looked around and asked "What's going on? Where is everyone?"
"I don't know" 'shana replied. "I'm pretty concerned myself".
Arkie stood as she caught a glimpse of red coming from Shamba and Ioannes'
direction.
